! ^ ) 2 - Lo f 4 CV'.*^'- .X> * 1 V r,. .'f •M; f ( . -• / ■' Glints of Wisdom HELPFUL SAYINGS FOR LEISURE MOMENTS ABSTRACTS FROM LECTURES DELIVERED BY W. J. COLVILLE ^ ^ In Union Square Hall, New York Compiled fro7n Epitomized Reports by ALICE E. LIVINGSTON _ ON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT BILL. MASS. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. — Proverbs, xxv. ii. f: ‘ t / : C Q G t - / BOSTON JHT PUBLIS 9 Boswortii Street BANNER OF LIGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY 1896 •‘^44 . *- *7 * • t’M' t y ^ A'f,’ Copyright, i8g^, By Alice E. Livingston. ulary; it signifies limitation. We find ourselves at war with all limitation immediately we place confidence in Omnipotent Spirit. 24 GLINTS OF WISDOM. SERVILITY. The weaker people are, the more easily they can he influenced in any direction. It is intellectual laziness and servility that lead to so many of the ailments of the present time. It is the combination of servility and laziness that produces all the ailments extant; we may add one other cause, anger. To get rid of all these, we must get rid of all limitations; to get rid of all anger, get rid of all fear, get rid of alT laziness, get rid of all mental as well as physical servility. Fears manifest tliemselves in dis¬ order. Anger, fear, servility, laziness — four demons. When we have got rid of these four, we have become well. We can then read Nature’s book without a hin¬ drance. It is the right and privilege of every person to be healthy, and it is equally the privilege of every person to be free. How many free people are there to-day? How can we expect health in captivity ? Belief hampers many people to such an extent that they are bedridden, because they believe in that condi¬ tion. Their thoughts are so crippled that they have not liberty to move their bodies. The majority of people to-day cannot account foi their diseases, for the reason that they take upon them¬ selves tlie conditions of people around them ; and this is because of their mental servility. Every blind following of a fashion or custom means vastly more to the mental scientist than it does to the QLINTS OF WISDOM. 25 physicist. The mental condition of which such an act is an expression matters greatly. We do not mean, as metaphysicians, exactly what we say, when we object to the wearing of a certain hat; hut the mental condi¬ tion, of which the hat is the expression, is what we care about. It is not the articles of clothing, but the mental servility which makes such clothing worn which can hold people in bondage. The person who wears anything he doesn’t like be¬ comes ill through the mental condition Avhich caused him to wear it. When people do not dare to live up to their own honest convictions, they break the first commandment of the Decalogue. We must not wear intellectual corsets and tight shoes, if we wish to become psychically liberated. Many women permit themselves to become psycholo¬ gized by their husbands. No one need be in any kind of bondage to another. The moment the soul asserts its own freedom, it need never be under the control of any one—in heaven or earth. No one is free until he is self-emancipated. EEFLECTION. If we are in free thought, we shall enjoy free breath. All disorders, such as bronchial troubles, proceed from some bondage in thought. 26 GLINTS OF WISDOM. t INDIVIDUALITY. Our individuality expresses itself through our person¬ ality. You are the same individual^ but you are not the same person that you were a year ago. We are new people in old situations. The people with whom we associate — why should we expect them to be the same in the new year as they were in the old ? They have undergone necessary ex¬ periences ; they are not the same jDCople ; they are what they were then, plus what they have gained. Do not feel that you have to deal with the same old people, in the same old way. We overcome personal limitation by discovering our spiritual individuality. The personal man comes from the dust of the ground. The Lord God is the spiritual man. The personal man is the copy of the individual man. We body forth our desires. The process of embodying is the process of showing forth what is contained in the original. In¬ dividualization is absolutely necessary in the copy. Physical attitudes are results of mental attitudes. People’s voices show their mental conditions. One’s movements show individuality — or the lack of it. The q^uestion often arises, “ How is it that so many seemingly good people are not well ? ” Until we have become individualized — have obtained control of all our hidden chambers — we cannot be free; therefore we can¬ not be well at all times, for we lack the requisite under¬ standing. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 27 People who are simply agnostic, or sceptical, are shallow; they may be perfectly sincere, but never pro¬ found. The materialist is a simpleton, though he may be quite sincere. The trouble is in our not thinking rightly of ourselves and others; we are not sufficiently independent and in¬ dividualized. That false humility which makes us think others better than ourselves is as detestable in the light of science as the stupid pride which is the other extreme. What is needed to-day is an adventurous soul that will break the bonds of all conventionality. Perfect individualization is necessary to the highest morality as well as health. There is no morality in in¬ justice ; where there is no justice, there is no morality. It is the woman who has to do with the little infant. The great thing for woman to do to-day is to hold her¬ self in respect, in the silence, as well as in the spoken word. Woman’s power psychically is far greater than her power physically. Woman holds an enormous spiritual power, of which she is for the most part unaware. When people are tempted and tried, what does it mean ? It means that they are upon their metal. They are being tested. Thus, character is developed. If you could always see the Divine countenance, then you would be less than a hero. Stand upon your own metal, and reach the point where conscience becomes an infal¬ lible guide. Everything that puts people upon their own footing is of the utmost value to them. 28 GLINTS OF WISDOM. Every individual must come into a conscious knowl¬ edge of how to regulate his own life. As long as we depend upon other people, we do not decide for our¬ selves, therefore we cannot become individualized. Man must dominate the earth as represented within himself, before he can dominate the earth around him. Man can rise entirely superior to all the lower influences around him, but only by first gaining the needed victory within his own economy. We are capable of unfolding the Divine within us, because we have it to unfold. Man is a spiritual entity here and now. Man’s body is his own; he claims the right of ownership. Is it right for the master — the spirit — to control the flesh ? or, is it right for the flesh to dominate the spirit? It is our individuality that needs to be recognized. To do this is where people fail so lamentably. The greater the manifestation of life, the nobler the form appears. It is absolutely necessary to have a form as a means of expression on any plane. When we no longer have the physical body, we shall sustain the psychical body — in its own way. We can only build up the physical body in a psychical way. This physical body must be perfected before we ex¬ change it for a higher body. To have a body that would serve the spirit perfectly, would be to have a body volatile — a body that would come and go at will —- not a body of bones and sinews, flesh and blood. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 29 The psychic body can be made perfectly tractable — be¬ coming visible and invisible, at will. A body entirely under the control of the will of its owner can be mate¬ rialized or dematerialized at its owner’s pleasure. The difference between one form of life and another is that one expresses more life than another. It is only a question of the lesser and the greater that decides the value of expressions. Every one who believes in an angry God worships not the Divinity within him, but the animality. What people call rebellion against God is really a phase in the development of their lives. All the records of the fall of man and God’s consequent anger are falsely interpreted, owing to our ignorance. God has always been looking on man with perfect complaisance, satisfied with his own work. Lucifer, according to Milton’s “ Paradise Lost,” says, “ I had rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven ” ; and the opportunity was given him. The fall of Lucifer represents the human soul falling into the kingdom of materiality, developing its own self-consciousness, and determining to reign in its own kingdom. We do not believe that man ever fell in a manner to offend God. Man, before the fall, according to the spiritual theory, lived in a natal paradise. The soul, in that primeval paradise, was perfectly conscious, but not self-conscious ; we must discriminate between consciousness and self- consciousness. When we add self-consciousness to con¬ sciousness, self-consciousness is a desirable acquisition ; the simple consciousness remains, but the self-conscious- 30 GLINTS OF WISDOM. ness being added, we are not content to know that we are alive, but ask why we live, and what we are living for. The account of Jesus putting the little child in the midst of the people illustrates this. The child is an in¬ terrogation-point, a query. The child is determined to develop self-consciousness. The little child is a symbol of the individual fii'st awakening to self-consciousness. INTERROGATION. Our individuality persists now, in spite of all the changes of the body. Why should it be destroyed when we lay oft this body ? MOTTO. Character is something one has to develop within himself. A reputation may be bought; a character must be earned. MEDITATION. If you are worthy of a recommendation, you do not need one; if you want one you are not worth it. MOTTO. One cannot make a decided impression when he him¬ self is undecided. MENTAL HEALING. Metaphysical means beyond the physical. There could not be a metaphysical if there were no physical. There must be a physical to admit of a metaphysical. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 31 He is a metaphysician who goes all the way the phy¬ sicist may go, and then transcends this limit. What is mental healing? Mental healing is accom¬ plished educationally. You can overcome whatever you will to overcome; there are no limitations that can hold you any longer than you are passive to be held by them. It is not the will of the people that we have to change in metaphysical healing, so much as to enlarge their under¬ standing. Just so long as people believe that they have to be unfortunate, they will not succeed. There must be co-operation of the will with the understanding. A ver}^ necessary mental attitude to take when giving a treatment is, that unless you admit that you have the power to do anything, you cannot do it. In giving a mental treatment, you must admit that your patient has both the will and the power to express the state he de¬ sires to manifest. In treating one’s self, let the will alone, but appeal to the intellect. Come to realize that all good will can be called into effect. All pathological conditions are abnormal. We alloAv no place for unhappiness, no place for failure; these are abortions, not necessary to the complete work of Nature. No one need be ill, no one need be unhapp}^ no one need fail; there need be no disorder in the world ; these are entirely unnecessary. Society is a sick man, and you have to treat society —• just as you would an individual. How shall you pre¬ scribe for it ? You must take people as you find them; but do not 32 GLINTS OF \Y1SD0M. leave them as you found them. Your influence must be to lift the world to u state that it was not in when you found it. One who has more than ordinary access to the unseen realm can help others — on their own plane ; and then, just as you take your children and educate them, you . take grown people along. Make any present “ craze ” or ‘‘ fad ”— if people choose to call it so — a means of taking people along acknowledged paths to something higher-—to the discovery of the soul. The true idea of mental healing is that one can help another into similar harmonious relation with the uni¬ versal supply. A great many tilings are spoken of in the plural; but the intelligent mental healer is one who endeavors to bring everything to a point of unity. There are many expressions of one universal and entire interest. Human nature is in all respects a unit; all the interests of man¬ kind are positively one. The word “ healing ” means, properly, “ making whole.” We meet many people who were born feeble, both physically and mentally. When metaphysical healing was first presented to the public, we heard much of peo¬ ple applying to be cured of various complaints and dis¬ eases ; and they talked about “ mind cure.” Mind cure ’might mean the healing of the mind when feeble. But metaphysical healing includes every branch of therapeu¬ tic practice ; there is no possible ailment, or lack of health, which it does not undertake to cure or supply, GLINTS OF WISDOM. 33 as the case may be. It rests upon only one basis, man’s ability to rise above every conceivable limitation. Every treatment that you give, that is given wisely and well, is in recognition of a state not yet attained, but which can be attained — and the more easily with your aid. All negative processes — all processes that aim simply at eviction of disorder — are on the wrong side. The true metapliysical healer does not undertake to fight disease. As we claim that the condition of the flesh is due to the condition of the blood, and the condition of the blood is due to the condition of the thought, it follows that if the thought be pure, the blood will be pure and ultimately the flesh likewise. It is affirmed by many talented physicians that all dis¬ orders proceed from derangement of the lymph or the blood. People cannot avail themselves of the benefit ex¬ pected from outward conditions unless in a mental con¬ dition to receive benefit. Send out a thought which will place before the mental eye of the student or patient a state which expresses what you and he alike wish to see expressed. We do not apply mental healing to physical disease, but to the mental disease which produces the physical effect. No intelligent mental healer ever attempts to treat people’s bodies with his mind, but to instruct them by a mental process in the science of so thinking that their bodies must express outwardly the harmony which is within. 34 GLINTS OF WISDOM. We cannot successfully treat any part of the body alone; treat the body as a whole, through the mind. Our contention has always been against specialism in metaphysical treatment, because every part of the body is related vitally with the whole. No matter what the malady, you must deed with the human organism as a whole. In o one can intelligently deal with any part of the body without dealing with the whole organism of which the oi'gan is a part. Do not treat, in any sense whatever, with a disease; never deal with an eye, or an ear, or any organ, as a part; but with the Avhole system, which includes the seat of the abnormal function. There is no occasion for any quari-el between physi¬ cians and metaphysicians; the one is dealing with a physical, the otlier with a mental condition. While the metaphysician is dealing with our thoughts, the physi¬ cian is dealing with our physical systems. There is not anything like the fanaticism in the medi¬ cal profession that is supposed to exist. Many in it are acting in accordance with their best light. The regular ph3-sicians — many of them — are thor¬ ough metaphysicians ; a great many of them are true ps^^chical healers. In metaphysics, the apparent evil is not called a dis¬ ease, but the result, the effect of a disease — mental; in physics, it is called a disease. We deny that any disease is ph}^sical, but we do not deny the physical effects of disease. We say that dis¬ cord is mental; all disease is mental. But just as you GLINTS OP WISDOM. 35 might say, from a physical standpoint, that the disease is physical and produces mental effects, we say that dis¬ ease is mental and produces physical effects. One tumor may be removed; then another forms, another, and still another. Why ? Because the method of cure is entirely false ; the reasoning is false; the dis¬ ease is mental, and the tumor is its consequence. If you remove that physical effect or consequence, you are not destroying the disease^ any more than you are de¬ stroying the hair by shaving. As long as the root remains — which is the mental condition of the patient — so long the liability or susceptibility remains; there is, therefore, no guarantee or security of any sort that there will not be a relapse, and that the last state of that patient may not be worse than the first. We should not undertake to cure bv attacking disease. t/ O Never oppose any disorder as such, but undertake to in¬ vigorate the system, so as to effect a harmony that will expel the fruits of any disorder already in the system. Let us consider the utter fallacy of seeking to turn out a disease. If you undertake to fight a disease, and you overcome it as if it were an entity, you turn one devil out; and, as in the case of the event recorded in the Bible, into the man out of whom one devil was driven, seven others entered, so that the last state of that man was worse than the first, so many other devils — or dis¬ eases — come in to take the place of those expelled. The vacuum left by turning out one devil opens the way for more to enter. t The true spiritual scientist is not chiefly interested in 36 GLINTS OF WISDOM. mere recovery or restitution, but in helping onward the individual treated to a higher plane than he had ever previously reached. As we develop on to higher planes, we cannot be sus¬ ceptible to disorders as we were on lower planes. Quite a few mental healers do a great deal of injury, both to themselves and their patients, by false beliefs of their own. The cause of our illness may be our false belief in re¬ gard to the thoughts of people around us toward our¬ selves. If you have any ill-feeling toward any one, you de¬ serve to be ill. You cannot enter into heavenly societies when you are out of love to your neighbor. If there is any hatred in your heart toward any being, you will be ill — and you need the illness. There are two distinct factors in healing: first, the knowledge of what to do; second, the doing of what is necessary to be done. If we have not clear knowledge, it is hit or miss with us; sometimes we succeed, and sometimes we fail. What has produced a cure in days of old will always produce a cure in days to come. The word and faith cured people of old, and the same word with faith cures people now. “According to thy word be it unto thee ” holds good still. But the people have walked in ignorance, regardless of the power dis¬ played in the undeviating working of Nature’s law. We must look for the common ground of healing GLINTS OF WISDOM. 37 methods; underneath all superstructures there is the same foundation; that foundation is, that there is a law of health in the universe; and when the way is opened, vital power will rush in. A great many people would rather pay a large bill for the privilege of swallowing medicine, than a small bill for instruction. This is intellectual laziness. There is no more disgusting work than trying to probe out disease. The worst work ever done by men¬ tal healers is trying to diagnose sickness. It is a rem¬ nant of the old methods; it is not yours if 3^our methods are spiritual or metaph^^sical. What people call disease is an effect or result of disease. If people say their ej^es are dim, that is not a disease; it is the expression of a mental state of dimness. We should not care to know what people commonly call disease, because what they call disease is only the effect of disease. We care far more for the physician who t^lls us how to get out of difficulty than for the one who diagnoses the disease. A good Chinese idea of the province of a doctor is to pay him while the people are well, instead of when ill. The true mission of the doctor should be to keep people well, not chiefly to cure them when sick. All the best teachers to-day, who are undertaking to heal the sick, are steering clear of the old saying that people are not suffering pain. They admit that pains and sufferings exist, but claim that they are only tem¬ poral and they are remedial. Just as soon as we dis¬ cover the law, and obey all its precepts, we shall suffer not one more twinge of pain — not one more pang of sorrow. 38 GLINTS OF WISDOM. Our senses are not false witnesses when normal, but they testify inadequately. We treat our senses as we would witnesses on the stand; some can throw but little light on the matter, others have more important testi¬ mony to offer. We have to employ our intellect — our reason — to help out the testimony of the senses. We hold that all the senses of man bring in a limited amount of testimony, but the bulk is inadequate. A well-ordered life gives the greatest attention to the vital organs; and mental healing will affect lungs and heart when it will not touch the hair, because treatment goes to the centre of the organism. Hair is only a cov¬ ering and an ornament. What is most vital and internal builds up first, and then the spare force goes to the integuments. GOLDEN MOTTO. The spiritual gift of healing is like unto a vase of roses — imparting fragrance to the atmosphere of a room. MEDITATION. In mental treatment we can reach the internal organs long before we can reach the skin, because all expres¬ sion is from within outward. The greatest mistake is in thinking to change any¬ thing on the outside ; we cannot change things from the outside, but must always work from within outward. Do not treat people only, but treat places. Leave your best thought everywhere. When you leave your helpful thought, you leave a rich blessing. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 39 INVERSION. The present disordered state of society is shown by the language of the people. All error and seeming evil should be regarded as in¬ version — like an angel standing on his head; as illus¬ trated by Swedenborg, in his description of the “ celes¬ tial ” and the “ infernal ” standing feet to feet; the celestial standing upright, the infernal showing the in¬ version. All disorders are inversions. ■'Things are not good and evil in themselves; things only appear evil when inverted or distorted. Everything, when known for what it is, is assuredly good. As man has within himself the divine element, so he has also the element of animality within him; and, sometimes, he yields to the temptation of the lower, which endeavors to dominate the higher; then he ex¬ periences evil. When he gives place to the highest within him, he knows only good. Very seldom do we strike the golden chord of love to all mankind. At one time, we are extremely altruistic; at another, intensely egotistic. We are thus always contending between emotions; we are between two fires, listening to two voices. We hear the voice of God, and the voice of the serpent. When we try to obey the two, we produce confusion. ‘‘ Man shall not live by bread alone ! ” To merely gratify the animal propensities is to live a starved life. When the soul is starved, the body gets starved. Unfed conditions of the soul produce wasting diseases, nervous 40 GLINTS OF WISDOM. debility, anaemia. The only way to conquer all this is to realize that the soul gets hungry; the soul calls out for its dinner. You are feeding your bodies all the time and often starving your souls. When we come into harmony, we feed the soul, and thus allow the soul its fair opportunity to regulate the body. A great many people honestly entertain the fallacy that if they were to be thoroughly honest in their busi¬ ness dealings, they would have to starve. Starvation or dishonesty is not the alternative. We can carry out the Golden Rule in our business and social relations, and be splendid social and business successes. We do not say you can become a-several-times-millionaire and do it; but you can be in perfectly comfortable circum¬ stances. It is not what a person believes, or what a person in¬ tellectually adheres to or perceives, but whether the mental window is open or closed. Health is the normal, disease an abnormal condition; instead of health being a rare acquisition, or very hard to maintain, we find that animals — except in captivity — enjoy perfect health. An animal in captivity is in an abnormal state, and hence, subject to illnesses unknown in the natural state. We find birds ill, in cages; but we have no reason for inferring that the same birds would be subject to such ailments if free, in their natural condition. Natural instinct belongs to man as well as to animals ; if we did not deny our normal instincts, we would be well. The health of civilized communities is vastly lower GLINTS OF AVISDOM. 41 than it is in savage states. Bnt the theory that the more highly intellectnal people become, the poorer their health, is to be denied, except as methods of culture may be artificial and unnatural. If every faculty of mind and body is strained to the utmost, if nearly all the measures resorted to are abnormal, it is not physiology, it is pathology that is accountable for an enfeebled con¬ dition. Education is conducive to health and strength. Health is the normal play of all the faculties, and edu¬ cation is a delightful stimulus to all the organism. The natural, normal life, is a life where everything is beautiful. So far as beauty is concerned, it is a means of grace. Beautiful form and beautiful color may be regarded as steps toward Heaven — Heaven is altogether beautiful. There is nothing conducive to spiritual growth in wearing ugly clothing, or in being plain and unattractive, or in living upon poor food. Anything obtained without doing any injury to others is perfectly right — speaking of the accumulation of property. We do not for one moment believe that it is • wrong to appropriate the beauties of the earth; tlie error is in placing them in a false position. MOTTO. Never dissociate the secular from the sacred. Sanc¬ tify the secular, but do not desecrate the sacred. In order to be spiritual we do not have to give up any- thiim: but we do have to fit the conduct of life to the truth. 42 GLINTS OF WISDOM. MEDITATION. You cannot have too much of a good thing. Only a thing that is itself an inversion creates an abnormal craving. That is the rule in all spiritual, artistic, musi¬ cal and other desirable pursuits. REFLECTION. There must be a place for everything, and everything must be in its right place — for perfect harmony. When a thing is not in its own place it is evil in appearance — not in reality. Disorder is an inversion. There is no unhappiness, no pain, that is not due to inversion. The cure for ignorance is always more knowledge. There is a divinity in things seemingly evil. Evil is a question of undue proportion. We shall understand this when we learn that evil is not real but is simply disorder. LIBERALISM. There is a central spiritual philosophy upon which all the religions in the world rest. People mistake fractions for the whole; that is the cause of all the discord in regard to the different schools of science. All sciences are fractional expressions of one Universal Science. The fractional statements which we continually hear may be resolved into one, by con¬ centration upon the idea of Universal Truth. One of the most pitiable sights in the world is that of people trying to find wherein they disagree, instead of GLINTS OF WISDOM. 43 trying to find their points of contact. Humanity would be saved if every one would only give up his label or his tag. Whatever makes for harmony makes for health. As long as we have any prejudices or antipathies, we shall be ill. We cannot be well until these are done away with. We should do away with the word “toleration” and take instead the word “ appreciation ” ; thus, instead of tolerating our neighbors, we should come to appreciate them. We must attribute to no one a motive that we would not like to have applied to ourselves. People make many mistakes and blunders, no matter how honest. And we must take the very same ground in correcting one class of ailments that we would in correcting any other error. We should be glad to have our mistakes pointed out to us, so that we can correct them; but no one has the right to impute an unworthy motive to any one. A spiritual revelation is not to point out an error for the sake of exposing it, but to give the people something higher in place of it — something they could get in no other way. Spiritual power has for a long time been suppressed; but people to-day, on their own account, are going feai'- lessiy to work investigating their own nature. We have nothing to say to the happy and contented, except that we are glad there are people in the world who are happy and contented. If they are so, they are 44 GLINTS OF WISDOM. right — on their plane ; they may be in a state of mate¬ riality; they are naked and not ashamed — unfallen Adams and Eves. If one is content with his present condition, we have nothing to say, except to rejoice in his contentment. If you invite a person to go to the Father’s house be¬ fore he is ready to go, the invitation lacks everything of pleasure or profit to his mind. We should never try to restrict others by what agrees with ourselves. We should remain insular, if we held narrowly to one creed or cult. Every cult is too small, and every creed loo narrow. This is well shown in the metaphor of four persons going up the four sides of a mountain. All were honest in their convictions, but each travelling a separate path had, necessarily, a different view; and each claimed that his particular view was all there was to be seen. Argument and dispute arose* among those four short-sighted but perfectly honest people. The gift of seeing the four sides of the mountain at one view is only enjoyed by one who has reached the top. The one who has had this wider experience — standing upon the height — is able to look in all the different directions, and to see where the various roads lead. Criticise not, unless you wish to be criticised. When you criticise a song, it is yourself that you criticise. One critic interprets one way, another interprets another way; they can only tell how it strikes them. No one makes any progress in spiritual development until he is perfectly willing to read all reviews, but not to be GLINTS OF WISDOM. 45 guided by them. Never allow anybody else’s mind to act for you to the suppression of your own. One star (or sun) is of orange hue, another blue, another red, and so on; yet all those suns are equally beautiful, resplendent, magnificent. So is it with flow¬ ers — so is it with trees, birds, gems. One differs from another in its phase, not necessarily in its degree of beauty. So, in hninan society, we find that all gifts of the spirit are of equal value, and equally interesting — if Ave know how to employ them aright. One who has come into spiritual understanding has no favorite floAvers. Because you love the roses, there is no reason why you should not also love the lilies. A larger conception enables us to rejoice in all the forms of beauty we behold in the universe. They each have their own mission to fulfil, and we must know ourselves in relation to all of them alike. The greatest teachers have always been super-personal and super-systematic. , The perfection of a man differs from the perfection of a woman. There can be perfection in all states. Per¬ fection may go along from birth to maturity, manifesting on rising planes. We must stand for universal brotherhood and sister¬ hood ; there must be no sex qualification anywhere. We maintain that man and w'oman are the joint expressions of the one super-personal God. “ I take great comfort in God,” said Lowell. People have been taught to fear God in the Avrong Avay. There is a great deal of religious hysteria in the Avorld to-day. 46 GLINTS OF WISDOM. In all ages, there has been established precedent in the way of all life — in the way of all progress. There has always been a very large Cancer in the Zodiac, a Crab, whose tendency has been to oppose everything new. Whatever is asserted is for investigation; all is for consideration; no one should accept without question the sayings of any person. It is not liberality to go down into the dirt because your neighbor is down there; remain on the heights yourself, and beckon him up. Don’t try to get even Avith people, but help them to get even with you ; then there will be two of you on the heights, instead of two of you in the gutter. All truth, all honor, if it is going to do any practical good, must go down among the “ evil ” and rescue them. How can Ave expect the annihilation of evil — the reform of girls and Avomen in all sorts of horrible places — Avhen Ave hold ourselves aloof ? There is no Avay to help these girls and Avomen to rise to the ideal of noble Avomanhood, except by going among them and lifting them up. If you associate Avith people on any plane, objective or subjective, Avho are beloAV you in groAvth and moral character, and you turn to them in blessing, instead of their cursing you, you Avill do them good; and you Avill never get any harm, as you Avill never do anything but Learn from the strong ones; give instruction to the less advanced. What is a temptation to one is not a temptation to GLINTS OF WISDOM. 47 another; what is an attraction to one is not so to another. Put the right kind of temptation in people’s way; a temptation is not simply something you can comprehend with your bodily senses. The best and highest treatment is to put spiritual temptation to a nobler state within the reach of every one. GOLDEN MOTTO. Do not think your altitude is your own special prop¬ erty ; it is to enable you to help others. MEDITATION. Deep down in the nature of every one there is a settled conviction that it makes a person worse to call him evil, and better to call him good. DEFLECTION. God’s law is only diml}^ shadowed forth in the purest human legislation. UNIVERSAL STATEMENT. God is the parent of all humanity. Woman is as much God’s image as man is. THE COMING RELIGION. The universal religion is the religion of science. You may take seven different systems of religion — they are all right, like the seven rays of the rainbow. 48 GLINTS OF WISDOM. the seven tones in the musical scale — each right in its own place; but no one of them can be the scale. Every later revelation contains all the truth that the older revelation embodied. It makes no difference where the body is, Heaven is as near to us in one place as another. It is only when we come to know what it is to be regardless of time, re¬ gardless of place — to feel that one point is as sacred and near to God as another — that we can realize the truth. No one will be one step nearer Heaven by going to Egypt and meditating, as he walks down the “Avenue of Sphynxes,” than by remaining at home and realizing that Heaven is in the very locality where his present action lies. ALTERNATIVE. It is only through the discovery of Universal Law that we can know how to fulfil our desires. When we are in universals, we are one with God; when we are in personals, we are not in harmony with God. When we come into right relations with the interior state, we shall always desire what is best for us. We find ourselves, continually, in positions where we are obliged to choose between two things; we can have one or the other, but we cannot have both. This goes on through life — this or that, but not this and that. There will often come an opportunity for the culture of the spiritual, or the material. If we put the spiritual GLINTS OF WISDOM. 49 list we shall never secure any spiritual development tliat is worthy of the name. But if we say, “ I will have the highest I ” then we may draw from the fountain of Spiritual Truth. The reason why we cannot draw more from the spiritual world is because we live so much in the external. To bring children up not to depend on externals is to bring tliem up to realize themselves as magnets for spiritual realities. Those who desire it earnestly, become possessed of the deepest secrets of Nature. Tliis knowledge comes to us when w^e give up the love of externals. We be¬ come qualified for just what we set our thoughts upon. If we regard externals as the chief good, they will be the only things we can associate with; we can keep our places just where we elect to put ourselves. Man’s spiritual power is universal. Without this spiritual power we should not be men and women. Whatever a seer or prophet has done, some one else can do. Tliere is always possibility for further development alonof the same lines. We shall be able, when spiritually developed, to regu¬ late ourselves through the law of natural selection. All normal, liealthy human beings will, tlirough this law, select the very things that are best for them. You are spiritually well and strong; Avhatever is best for you to have, that you will crave. Wlierever there is a great feeling of need there you can always develop power; it is not easy to develop p(jwer where there is no feeling of necessity. 50 GLINTS OF WISDOM. The reason why so many people never receive any¬ thing on the psychic plane is because they pay too much attention to externals. We can all have whatever we want in this universe. Just as we vibrate, we can put ourselves into relation- chip with whatever we wish. We can vibrate with it. Everything says, “ If you seek me with your whole heart, you will surely find me”—everything in the uni' verse! If you seek the higher spiritual development you can rise entirely above your present limitations. Things cannot move you when you have attained the jiower to move them. You must either be the operator, or you will be the subject — in the affairs of your daily life. If you say, “ My circumstances shall obey me ! ” you will control them. I never propose to get under any circumstance. Whenever a circumstance comes up we must realize that we can govern it. Whenever you approach a summit, you are vibrating on a plane much above the ordinary. You have to sur¬ render on one plane to operate on another. It is a ques¬ tion of choice or alternative. If the internal is culti¬ vated, the external is sacrificed. Whenever we under¬ take to give to the higher and take from the lower, it is a question of exchange. And this is our idea of the true meaning of the word “sacrifice.” In living a con¬ secrated life the higher nature always makes demands upon the lower; it is consecration, not destruction. You do not destroy the body, but let the spirit use the body as it will. You will liave a good physical body as long as you GLINTS OF WISDOM. 51 need one; then, there will be no unwelcome death — no disease. Yonr transition will only be to you a state of passage from one plane to another. Yon overcome the fear of death. There will then he no undesired death, no sickness. You are at once perfectly at home in tlie spiritual world — no sense of bereavement is possible to those who live now and always in the realization of omnipresent life in spirit. GOLDEN MOTTOES. Things cannot move you when you have attained the power to move them. Man is the arbiter of his own fate. The idea is a true and important one, that man makes his own paradise, or his own sheol^ here and hereafter. We do not have to be unsuccessful. We get what we invite, and nothing else. Human will ought not to be considered as something to be contested; the essential will is all right, always. CHASTENING. The word “ chasten ” means to cleanse. The world is undergoing house-cleaning. We can well imagine angels going about on earth with scrubbing-brushes and pails and soapsuds, — and even raising clouds of dust while sweeping. If Adam and Eve did fall, it was not our fault: wliy should we l)e made to suffer? There is no divinity 52 GLINTS OF WISDOM. where there is no equity. Punishment is an arbitrary word that should fall into disuse. Chastisement means purification; correction means setting straight that wliich is crooked. The reformation of the fallen, the protec¬ tion of society — of all human interests — that is always humane and wise. The improvement of society — the betterment of human conditions, through correction of the offender — this is exceedingly salutary; all may unite upon this reasonable basis. In the fifty-first Psalm, original sin is recognized. This Psalm, whether written by King David, or some one else, was written by one who was conscious of the results of wrong-doing. The man endeavors to account for his sinful tendencies, and also tries to ease his con¬ science— smarting under a consciousness of wrong. This is not at all unnatural, and not altogether unjusti¬ fiable — the desire to get rid of a little of the responsi¬ bility of the wrong-doing, seeking to excuse one’s self. Th is Psalm shows the inevitable results of the doino- of O a wrong; it is more explanatory than profoundly philosophical. It is to be regarded as something of a mirror, in which one can see one’s self. People can look at themselves, in the light of literature, and see the re¬ lation between cause and effect in human experience; if they will only reflect how people feel in certain posi¬ tions, they may avoid similar evils. In Isaiah Ave are told, that “ The son shall bear the iniquities of the father”; and, again, that he shall not. ‘‘ Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall ]ie also reap.” And yet, we are told that one person bears the GLINTS OF WISDOM. 53 burden of another’s sufferings. When we find state¬ ments apparently so conflicting, are we not wisest if we try to find the points of reconciliation in such seemingly contradictory statements ? When we live on the spiritual plane, there are no disasters for ns ; on the higher plane, so-called disasters are but stepping-stones to further development. We only require certain discipline until we have outgrown it. Just as long as any good may be obtained from dealing with what may be called the cross, the cross looms up; but when the time comes that the cross has fulfilled its mission, that cross becomes a crown. The “ world ” which passes away, is not the planet, but a state of society, etc. In a figurative sense, the “sun shall be darkened and the moon turned to blood,” is fulfilled in the spirit; it means a new order of society. There is much misinterpretation of the inspired meta¬ phor of the Scriptures. The “ earth ” means the objective. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Earth refers to visible things ; it is the natural showing forth the spiritual. The expression, “ the world is passing away,” is always used to signify an ex¬ isting state of society in its decline. We would certainly say if any one is given to any of the foolish interpretations formerly held, he had better give them up. There will not be an external fulfilment of the prophecies, but a spiritual verification. We are now on the verge of a new era. 54 GLINTS OF WISDOM. MEDITATION. The cross is transmuted into the crown. The trans¬ formation of the cross into the crown is like the baser metals being placed in the crucible; the dross is con¬ sumed and the pure gold remains, purified by fire. GOLDEN MOTTO. We cannot wipe out anything with tears. There is but one at-one-ment — go and sin no more. PERSISTENCE. A dormant faculty remains dormant until something comes to call it forth. Those who are contended against, become strong. The very best thing that can liappen to people is when they are subjected to severe privations. Our great minds, as a rule, come out of strong effort, and out of much contention with what the Avorld calls mis¬ fortune. It is looking back and turning back, getting discour¬ aged and disappointed, that hinders success; going on and on, persistently, is what makes for success — dogged persistency. One may have much to battle with; but by going on, steadfastly, we all shall succeed. Do not stop to fight the enemy. Go to sleep whenever you wish to. But when you steadily hold before you that one persistent consciousness that you are a magnet to GLINTS OF WISDOM. 55 draw toward you whatever you will, you will bring it to you. Man’s desire is an expression of man’s potency; every one can do what he desires to do. But the voli¬ tion is fulfilled gradually, in a process from within out¬ ward. (3ur desires must be fulfilled through steady, constant expectation. The desire must be firmly and consis¬ tently held. It fulfils the law, “ Every one that seeketh, findeth.” It is to ask for one thing definitely, and then do everything with that one object and expectation. Never permit anything to come between you and the fulfilment of your desire. A teacher cannot give us ability, but can help us to unfold our ahility. Our desire is an evidence that we have some talent for the thing desired. Never allow yourself to become discouraged because your progress seems slow; you must never take any notice of seeming failure or defeat. Note only your successes. And use ever to yourself, correct versus incorrect language. It is exactly the same in regard to any progress; do not say, “ I do not seem to make much progress,” but, “ I am sure I do this a little better than I did.” Obstacles come to us to be conquered—to be overcome; but any one who will stand aloof will gain nothing. Let the will remain where it is; the will is good enough, but the intellect is often all wrong. The will that says “ I wish it ” is to be left where it is ; but tlie intellect must be brought to realize that “ I will do it, and I ca 7 i do it.” The very moment that you bring tlie 56 GLINTS ON WISDOM. “ can ” instead of the “ cannot ” into relation with the will, you have overcome the difficulty. The word “trust” is used constantly, in connection with the word “ faith.” Before we can trust, we must acknowledge the trustworthiness of the thing in which we trust. We must use the word “can” potentially before we use it actually. MEDITATION. Work is something that we love to do ; labor is soine- thiug we have to do. Work is a blessing, but labor is a curse. Always maintain that you will have the strength for whatever necessity may arise. All })rogress is by means of a spiral stairway; we do not go forward in a straight line, but by a spiral path¬ way, and this pathway often appears to have its ups and downs. We are not going simply round and round, but truly going forward. CONCENTRATION. Tlie restless character is not the ideal character. In order to develop general power, one has to learn to work witli one’s mind. Whenever you are afraid that you are going to lose something, and are always troubling yourself about it, you set in motion a destructive current of force. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 5T We can do as we choose with our own faculties. This is the first lesson in concentration. If you say you can¬ not help it, you are a confessed creature of circum¬ stance. According to whatever you expect—whetlier you will it so, or whether you will it otherwise — shall it be unto you. Like attracts like; everything attracts its own kind, throughout the universe. But there are those who desire one thing and expect another; this explains wliy many persons remain ill. You can have anything you like in the universe — })rovided you set about attracting it in the right way. Can you not make a mental picture of anything you want ? The first question is. Do you know what you want? If you do not know what you want, no one can help you. In business, unless you know what you want, a business person cannot tell you how to get it; it is just the same on the psychic plane. Find out what you desire most of all. Choose out some place and some occupation, and put yourself iu relation with it subjectively, in your quietest momentsi If we know what we want, we can relate ourselves to it. Go into the silence and find out what you want. Do not rise from your chair or place of retirement until you know what you want. Every individual is a magnet to draw to liimself wliatever he needs to draw — whatsoever is steadily de¬ termined upon. The result is attained by living con¬ tinually with one object and one determination. When 58 GLINTS OF WISDOM. people will to succeed, that is one-half; when they ex¬ pect to succeed, that is the other half. This is to govern fate, instead of being governed by it. We put all speculative topics aside; we will not dog¬ matize upon them at all. The question is not whether our desires are the result of reincarnation or the result of heredity. But, your desire being what it is — your desire being yours — you can gratify the desire. We cannot change our past incarnations. What we main¬ tain is, whatever your desire is now — let it result from whatever it may — you can fulfil your desire through the law of attraction. If you do not care about a thing, you do not want to get it. There is not a per¬ son on this earth who really wants a thing and cannot ofet it. The desire is that which attracts. Make conditions for success by calling out mentally whatever you wish to attract. You are a magnet to at¬ tract it; it is entirely through the law of attraction. Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Wherever two or three are gathered together in any mental condi¬ tion, if joyful, they are a magnet to attract joy; they attract whatever they concentrate upon. Not in use, but in abuse, lies the injury of any fac¬ ulty. Never make an unpleasant effort to produce any effect. Doubt and fear — and strainful effort produce injurious effects. When people try to do anything, they almost invariably fail to do it. Never say “ I’ll try, ’ but say “ I’ll do it.” “ I’ll do it! ” is what con¬ quers obstacles. GLIi^TS OF WISDOM. 59 If a person wants anytliing, let liiin know that he wants it and open himself to it. “ I 'will have what I want, because I want it,” is the attitude to take for the accomplishment of anything. • When jmn wish a prophecy for your own life, go into the sacred silence; don’t ask anybody else, but go into the deptlis of your own consciousness. When you can go into the holy silence at will, then yon will soon be¬ come a genuine theosophist. The way in which the highest knowledge comes to ns is the way it came to the early prophets; they went away by themselves — they went into the wilderness. If we liave pure eyes and loving liearts, we can read the book of Nature. There is meaning to every voice, and a significance to every form. The true condition is perfect rest, but continual activity. It is not the length of time we consume in doing -any woik, but the amount of energy we throw into our work that truly tells. People who are always running about and trying to accomplish a great deal, often accomplish very little. Quiet industry is most effective. GOLDEN IMOTTO. The greatest and the nol)lest things often take the longest in coming to maturity. 60 GLINTS OF WISDOM. DESTINY. While only what is involved can he evolved^ we know that irrigation is necessary for the fertility of the soil. A fertile soil is necessary for perfect expansion of the buried seed. If we have different works to do, this necessitates varying endowments. One star differs from another star in glory — not, necessarily, in the greater glory of one than another. We must regard humanity as the Grand Man. The Grand Man has all the members and all the parts which the human body has; and one member cannot do the work that another should. We must admit that there are people born into the world who cannot do the work their brothers or sisters can. The same talent is not demanded in all. There are always some people who not only see ahead, but work ahead. There are some who are in the brains of the Grand Man; these have to Avork in their studios, preparing great things for the Avorld. There are societies of angels who perform the functions of the mouth; others who are in the province of the hands. Those who are called upon to run on swift errands are in the feet of the Grand Man. There are those who are especially qualified for out- Avard kinds of Avork; there are those who are qualified for esoteric action only. We may find our places in the Signs of the Zodiac. Not every one is qualified to be in the brain, or in the eye, or in the tongue of the Grand Man. Some GLINTS OP WISDOM, 61 must be in the hands, others in the feet. We are to aim after organic harmony — a perfect organism. We are perfectly in harmony with Nature when we claim that there may be twelve manners of people —as represented by the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac — all correspondences to tlie different parts of the body. We may also note fancied resemblances in people to the different animals; thus, some people exhibit the characteristics of tlie wolf; others show the traits of the dog or the cat. (All this may tend to support the theory that our lower selves have evolved througli the various stages of the animal kingdom.) Desire to fulfil your own mission in life, whatever it may be ; then, when you take this ground, that you will work for the good of humanity, you will find that in these days, as in days of old, there is a Sinai. You will find yourself on the hill, conversing with the Higliest. Learn to appreciate every one’s gift, your own in¬ cluded. And then, do not care what particular tiling you are called upon to do, what situation you are called upon to fill, but seek to attain the liighest state in any. Alany will say they cannot do the things they are called upon to do. If any one feels in that way, he should compel himself to do the thing over and over, until he feels no aversion to it, and can do it well. The words “ gift ” and “ mission ” have a universal signification. Every human being has a mission, a distinct destiny. Some have missions which seem to elevate them, in a 62 GLINTS OF WISDOM. certain sense, above others. There are those who may be regarded in a special way as lights of the world. No one’s work comes to an end because it has been a failure, but because it has been a success. The law is that all affairs and events of human life remain until their successors are ready to appear. Always feel that if one thing goes away, you are ready for something higher. Never say, “I have lost something,” but, “ I have come to the end of a certain period in my journey, what is the next thing for me to do ? What is the next good that is coming to me ? ” What has a beginning must have an end; what has no beginning can have no end. At this particular time, we are at the end of a cycle — at the close of an age. It seems as though this concep¬ tion were in the air; every one seems to feel it. But the majority of people fail to interpret the signs. We are not yet in the new dispensation, but we are in a period of what might be called interregnum. The world is now passing through a narrow passage-way, like the bar at the mouth of a river. The generally in¬ stilled feeling everywhere says we are in a transitional epoch. It is as people usually feel at a period of liouse-moving — a great deal more than a simple change, like going into some place or condition with which we are not familiar ; there is an element of mystery. The unknown, even if it may be an unknown blessing, is still dreaded; that is why there are so many restless hearts and minds at present. We hear it truly said, “There is a good time com- GLINTS OF WISDOM. G3 ingl” We are in the dawn of the “Golden Age.” We cannot tell how long it will last; a “thousand” signifies a great number. As all the baser metals are transmutable into gold, so every cross that the world has borne is to be melted into a crown. The cross becomes a crown through transformation of energy. It is the destiny of Columbia to lead the nations. Every land is to become a Palestine. Think of the territorial area of the United States! This is to be the new nation ! A new nation is being “ born in a day ” — in the day when people can see the light, in a period of light and universal illumination. The Orient and the Occident shall join hands. We believe there will spring up here (America will take the initiative) a new dispensation of Light and Truth to dawn upon the whole world. The new order of things will not be born all at once ; it will come as a little child, but it will grow, continu¬ ally increasing in wisdom and stature. MEDITATION. Every man is the arbiter of his own fate and the shaper of his own destiny. There is a destiny in the sense that there is a destination. The destiny of man is involved in his nature. We must not believe in physical power as we do in intellectual and moral power. Spirituality alone justi¬ fies optimism, finite step is a final step. We should look upon our past lives as stepping-stones 64 GLINTS OF WISDOM. to the higher lives we are to live. We rise from the (lead; not the resurrection of the dead, bnt from the dead is our blissful heritaofe. Nothing can go until the time has come for its de¬ parture, You cannot destroy what has a message yet to deliver and a mission yet unfulfilled. The reason why some structures and some books re¬ main, while others are lost or destroyed, is because they have something yet to teach. Nothing is destroyed or lost until it has fulfilled its mission. GOLDEN MOTTO'. Let us ever realize a Trinity of Love, Wisdom, and Use. HEREDITY. The doctrine of heredity is the old doctrine of original sin in a somewhat new and professedly scientific guise. We are told that in consequence of the transgression of the first parents of the human race, sin came into the world. There are two theories with regard to original sin: one, that man inherits sin from his forefathers ; tlie other, that of imputed sin. If people believe simply in heredity, they make them¬ selves irresponsible creatures. This is hopeless pessi¬ mism for a great many people ; it is only the old Calvin- istic doctrine of original sin dressed in a new garb. If tliis were true, the race would tend to final corruption. ‘‘ He that overcometh shall inherit all things.” GLINTS OF AYISDOM. (35 There are no invincible tendencies. You can over¬ come the tendency to consumption just as reasonably as you can overcome the tendency to drink or any other immorality. Persons may become intoxicated, and suffer from delirium tremens; that is the penalty. You can dis¬ cover the law of cause and effect so as to work with it. Most people think it very wrong to tell a falsehood; it is wrong, beyond a doubt, but a person may have just as much a tendency to lying as to consumption or cancer. If a person has a tendency to tell lies, he ought to overcome it; then he must have the power to over¬ come it. One cannot do what one is constitutionally unable to do. We must teach ability, or our moral counsels, even the highest of them, are idle, impracti¬ cable vaporings. GOLDEN MOTTO. We are not bound by the law of heredity. All tendencies can be encouraged and developed, or they can be suppressed and overcome. SPECIALTY. Great specialists are not apt to be interesting to people in general. Information should be obtained upon all points, but we have plenty of room for specialists. There are cer¬ tain (pialihcations, however, Avliich are as necessary for one as for anotlier. 66 GLINTS OF WISDOM. There never will be a successful worker in any field wiio has not qualified himself for that special field. We must understand our business. Whatever may he the particular qualification one desires, one must live for that work in particular. To be specialists in any great line, we must con¬ centrate our forces on that special line. If you want to succeed in anything, you can become great wherever you really desire to be great. It is asked, “ Is it not true that any scientific demon¬ stration demands that one’s life should be given up to it ? ” If we desire to be eminent scientists in any line, we must give ourselves entirely to our work. We must be people of “ one idea ” ; we must have one central ob¬ ject. We may read all literature, and interest our¬ selves in all arts and amusements, but we must make everything subsidiary to the chosen end. Make every¬ thing you hear — everytliing you do — tend in one direction. Be able to illustrate your subject in mani¬ fold ways. People may carry the thought of psychic development with them wherever they go, into every¬ thing they do; never allowing anything to be a hin¬ drance ; keeping the desire always fixed upon the un¬ folding of the interior. If one is to use his eyes, he must have an occupation which calls the eyes into use. Give out your best and highest, in every way; in the newspaper article, in your novels, in your conversation, in your silent thought. The majority of people, who write hysterically on GLIKTS OF WISDOM. 67 various subjects, start on their subjects from nowhere, and, therefore, cannot possibly reach a satisfactory con¬ clusion. In going into the practice of healing, do not give up your special talent, but through the exercise of your gift do your work. The daily newspaper, the theatre, the novel, all are to be used as channels to carry the higher truths to the people. Every one is to use his own special talent, and give to the world what he has to give, through that special channel. Some people have, undoubtedly, greater capacity than others, but no one should lay aside his special vocation. MEDITATION. We rest by changing our occupation. But let people go to doing nothing, and think that idleness will pro¬ duce a cure, they will not find what they expect but ex¬ actly the reverse of it. When people talk about attracting whatever they want, it is perfectly true; but they cannot want what they have not potentially the means of procuring. GOLDEN MOTTO. Whatever is involved in any soul can be evolved tlierefrom. THE LAW OF ATTRACTION. There is a Law of AttractioJi, which is absolutely nniversal. Everything is a link to attract that which is like itself. Thus one may be brought into relation with 68 GLINTS OF WISDOM. all ill Nature that is like unto the object upon Avhich one elects to concentrate. Every individual is by nature a magnet to draw from the universe what is needed to build up his own organ¬ ization. It is not for one to give up to another, nor to ask others to give up to us. Whatever comes into any building, or into any per¬ son’s individual sphere, comes because it is attracted thereto through the LaAV of Attraction. We hear of attraction and repulsion: the Law of At¬ traction is the only law we recognize. There is in reality no law of repulsion, though there appears to be such a law. Everytiiing follows the line of greatest at¬ traction, which is the line of least resistance ; thus it ap¬ pears to us that there is repulsion, while really there is only attraction. Any limitation that anybody is groaning under comes through the Law of Attraction. Whether a person knows it or not, he gets whatever he is in a condition to receive. Many will say — “We came into the world with differing endowments.” That is not asking “ How did we come to be what we are ? And where did we get our tendencies from ? ” Granted that you have any desire, you can fulfil that desire through the operation of the Law of Attraction; making yourself a magnet, you can draw to 3^ourself anything you want. Tlie action of this Law of Attraction is, that wliat- ever we seek, we find. And, if two persons can be GLINTS OF WISDOM. 69 found attracting the same conditions, they will have precisely the same experiences — provided they are in the same mental conditions. We shall eventually know how to produce anything in this world that we wish to produce. Let people assert something, instead of attempting to deny something; trust in the Law of Attraction, not in the Law of Repulsion, conquers. No one need suffer from a sense of neglect, nor through hyper-sensitiveness from disappointment and heartache; there is a cure for all this. When feeling sorrowful, pronounce the words “Joy, joy!” Try this, it will he found successful. Everything answers to its own name. Everything re¬ sponds to the name by which it is known! It is the Universal Law: “ Call upon me and I will answer! ” This is universally true; it refers to the higliest, and the lowest, and to all that is intermediary. Whatever you call will ahvays respond. When we pronounce certain words mentally, making positive assertions, our words return to us; and they do not return to us void. It is entirely the condition of the person himself wliich causes the treatment he receives. Those who get the worst treatment bring it upon themselves. If you have bad dreams — if you have niglitmares if you wake in tlie morning feeling badly — it is en¬ tirely yonr OAvn fault; not necessarily your sin, l)ut your blunder. dJie Law of Attraction needs to be understood. If you are in a condition to attract children, and do not 70 GLINTS OF WISDOM. know that there are any children in the neighborhood, they will be attracted by you and will come to you, be¬ cause of that attraction. It is not only so with chil¬ dren, but also with animals — with dogs and with birds. It is not probable that they understand this, but they surely feel drawn toward you because of the sympa¬ thetic vibration between you and them. This is the Law of Sympathetic Vibration. If there is such a law as that of repulsion, we have nothing to do with it. People do not know what the action of their vibrations is upon things around them, many times, and thus attract things they greatly dislike. Let ns be thankful for everything that comes to us ; if it ought not to come, it would not come. It is the effect of a cause. If we did not attract it, we should not have it. In the same way that the physician draws towards liim the sick, will the wise person draw toward himself the foolish; the moral will draw the immoral, aaid so on; because we can help others thus. Only the outward form of a work can be regulated ])y wliat we call circumstances. Why do the ignorant go to teachers? For the en¬ lightenment of their understanding. We should feel that Almighty God is paying us a compliment when he sends to us people with down- Avard tendencies. What does the Law of Attraction find to work upon in such cases ? It Avorks upon the germ of lionor, Avhich is like a diamond set in mud. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 71 Those who come into the sphere of pure influence can be affected for good by unconscious influence. MEDITATION. We can become related to all that is beautiful in the world, through the Law of Attraction, tlirough a mental process, regardless of what our exterior surroundings may be. The Law of Attraction explains entirely the wisdom of prayer on a scientific basis. When you follow the Law of Attraction, you are drawn in a superior degree to a certain place; and if you are at all versatile, 3^011 will be sometimes drawn to one place, sometimes to another, but always to the right place at the right time and in the right way. You say a certain thought strikes you. Why? Be¬ cause you were in a condition to be struck. Unless you were in a condition to be struck, it could not have struck you. RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATION. The right of every individual is to do whatever lie or she can do well. Qualification is the test of ordina¬ tion. The qualified healer is the ordained healer. It is recognition of qualification that we need. The very moment people claim an3dhing as a right — the veiy moment we get to that point — we are ready for some¬ thing ; and we never get it until we are ready for it. Y2 GLINTS OF WISDOM. We do not always see liow the Law of Attraction honors all who trust it, hut that is only on account of our shortsightedness. Silently, we can become magnets to attract every thing we desire. But what is the genesis of desire ? There must he a cause for desire. If we had no capacity, no talent, we would never have the desire to express it. The very moment we can see a thing, we are ready for it — else we could not see it. The very moment we have come to see a higher state, we can begin to make it manifest. Only those Avho have had a metaphysical education know how to discriminate hetAveen the potential and the actual; they recognize the possibilities Avithin every one and distinguish between the potential and tlie actual. To recognize the kingdom of Heaven Avithin, is to help that Heaven to shine forth, to actualize. If yon place before the eyes of people — within easy range of their vision — that Avhich symbolizes a state Avliich they have not yet attained, but which they can reacli, yon aid them in reaching it. We must affirm that a person has it Avithin him to express Avhat he has not yet attained, Avhenever Ave are seeking to aid him in any department of education. GOLDEN MOTTO. Wlierever there is Qualification, there is a signet of Divine Ordination. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 73 POLARITY. People who are unsnccessful are not rightly polarized. Many persons are imperfectly married within them¬ selves ; they may be emotional but not intellectual, or intellectual and not emotional. Where intellect and emotion are perfectly united, how much grander and more glorious the results I When the two blend in us, then our spiritual gifts unfold; we attain the highest psychical state. What is brought forth in us as spiritual jiower is through the blending of these ele¬ ments — emotion and intellect. Everybody is susceptible to something — proof against something else. When we come into knowledge of our inner selves, we shall be conscious of being susceptible to everything we wish to be susceptible to, and proof against every- tliing we wish to be proof against. One’s sensitiveness can be brought so entirely under Ids own control that he can be open to any influx, and close himself aofainst an influx lie wishes to avoid. We are influenced by the erroneous thoughts of those around us, if we are in a negative condition to their influence. Until you can realize that you have tlie magnet witliin yourself to draw to you at any time that wliicli you need, you are in a degree of servitude. Wlien ^mu can declare, “ God is everywhere ! The Divine Spirit is within me — Avithin you — throughout the universe I ” then, you do not have to yield to anything. No one need yield to circumstances. 74 GLINTS OF WISDOM. We hear much about electricity and magnetism. Every thinker to-day is a believer in the unity of force; not two forces, one magnetic and the other electric, but one force which acts in both directions, one law, mani¬ festing itself in a variety of ways. One force, moving in a northerly and southerly direction is magnetism; moving easterly and westerly it is electricity. Force may move in one direction and be magnetic ; then in another, and be electric. People one would call “ sweet,” and “ gentle,” may be very easily wounded — have their feelings hurt; they allow their feelings to be wounded. They do not say anything, perhaps, but go to their rooms and have a “good cry,” and often go to sleep in that mood. How can they expect to be well! Such persons are weak, far too negative. There are two wise courses of action: either take no notice of an annoyance, or else have it out with a per¬ son. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations are wrong on both sides; it is better to have it out with the one who has injured you or wounded your feelings. It is entirely unnecessary that you should remain ab¬ normally sensitive. No one can be too sensitive to spiritual influx of a high order; but sensitiveness is wrongly interpreted. People are sensitive on very different planes. A negative state of disorder expresses itself in weak¬ ness, debility — too little strength ; a positive state of disorder, in positive ailments. Unsatisfied is a purely negative state. Dissatisfied is GLINTS OF WISDOM. 75 a different condition altogether. There are many people who are both — confusion of condition. When people are unsatisfied, a new’ hope, a new desire, a new ardor is growing within them. Very sensitive people, who are too negative, catch dis¬ eases ; why not catch something good ? Just as it can be definitely stated on the physical plane, that certain requirements are necessary, so on the mental plane, one’s condition is all-important. There is no law that will favor one more than it will another. If one takes the “grippe” and another does not, it stands to reason that if both have been exposed to the same atmosphere, they are not in the same con¬ dition. We are differently affected by things because of the different magnets within ourselves. We can adjust those magnets so that we can go on attracting just what we wish to attract. All that we attract is in the atmosphere ; we become related with it through our thought. There is all the difference in the world between read¬ ing a condition, and taking on a condition. Reading a condition is all right; but taking on a condition is very wrong. Many people, when they go anywhere, take on conditions. Now, we maintain that the scientific clair¬ voyant or psychometrist will be able to see, without yielding to conditions. There is a normal and ab¬ normal sensitiveness. One may be able to give clair¬ voyant diagnosis, but, keeping it external, may avoid taking on the condition. We may become sensitive to 76 GLINTS OF WISDOM. information; but all the knowledge we make use of is not to sadden us. To see events is all right; but the abnormally sensitive person would feel the fright. The psychic, if duly fortified, would keep deranged conditions external; one must get to this point before he can be¬ come a successful mental healer. There is such a thing as the prostitution of the mental faculties I By holding ourselves external to suffering, we re¬ verse the picture — as all suffering is inversion; we can then help the patient to get rid of it. We should never allow ourselves to come under the influence of a thing, because we see it. “ With God, all things are possible!” “All things are possible to him that believeth.” Nothing shall be impossible to such. When a man is working according to law, all things are possible to him. If he ignores the Law of the Universe, he will very soon find that the Law of the Universe will have its own way regard¬ less of his opposition, and his opposition is what will cause his own inevitable suffering. There are people who take a decided, positive ground, and affirm their own individuality truly, who are never annoyed by outside influences. We must be able to become positive and negative, at will. The line should be drawn resolutely at interference or control of our in¬ dividuality by any hypnotic influence. MEDITATION. Perfect equanimity, mental quiet, is essential to read the Book of Nature. “ Be still, and know that I am GLINTS OF WISDOM. 77 God! ” The mighty silence — and waiting ! Blending of fearlessness and calm expectancy is essential to genuine attainment in any direction. f GOLDEN MOTTO. A person who has attained to the higher carelessness is the one who is ready for every emergency. ATTAINMENT OF VIOTOKY. If you gain a victory on aii}^ plane, that victory stands you in stead for all future time. Yon have risen superior; it is the rising superior to sometliing that is of use to us. If you rise in your own mentality and score a victory once, it is a growth that can he employed for all time to come. Once gain a victory, puid that victory is yours forever. We can change at will the polarity of our own con¬ dition. There is a scientific law of action, which can be acted out by all wlio are industrious and fearless enouo'h to trust their intuitions. O One cannot be ha])py, harmonious or well, so long as he allows the caprice of any being to make or mar his harmony. One Avho can liurt my feelings is above me, and will not attempt to do so; one who would hurt my feelings is below me, and cannot hurt me. All feeling of mental uncertainty makes the sight uncertain. Cultivate certainty within by finest medita¬ tion. 78 GLINTS OF WISDOM. HARMONIOUS VIBRATION. Peace is from the heights above ; discord is from be¬ low. We can make our surroundings tributary to our needs ; this is the Law of Harmonious Vibration. Through the Law of Attraction we can get from the universe whatever we need. We should so relate our¬ selves with the universe that we can say with Paul, “ I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” How very few are the necessaries of life! ‘‘ High thinking, and plain living I ” If people were living according to spiritual law — understanding and obeying that law — they would be able to change poisons, even, into liarmonious food. They would be able to so control the different ele¬ ments taken into the system as to cause one element to go to one place, and another to go to a distinct part of the body: making different combinations. Therefore, it would be possible — if a person were highly enough unfolded — to really convert usually harmful substances into nourishing food; just as fertilizers are put upon the earth, and serve to increase its fertility. The ele¬ ments are changed in their relations, through disin¬ tegration and reintegration of their constituent par¬ ticles. We believe that there is a proper diet. The ideal diet would be a diet of fruit and nuts. The very highest type of man would be perfectly sustained upon fruit and nuts ; but until we can put ourselves into that state, GLINTS OF WISDOM. T9 we must get out of what we now take, sucli aliment as we need. This is the law of demand — to make such use of the food and beverages we take, as to get what we require from them. It all depends upon what you do with the coffee after you drink it as to whether it is well for you to drink it at all. Whenever you go against any force, you make that force your adversary. Go and place yourself in harmony with those elements that you are at enmity with; go and make it up with the east wind, or the rain, or the snow, or the cold; those elements are good for us, pro¬ vided we put ourselves in harmony with them. There is a psychical force in all Nature which will strengthen and invigorate us, if we put ourselves in harmony with it. We may so relate ourselves to the universe that we shall be as lamps living upon the atmosphere. If w'' know how to relate ourselves to our surround¬ ings, we can keep ourselves in perfect order. People do not become spiritual in consequence of what they eat; but, as they become spiritual, they re¬ late themselves differently to food — to everything. We act upon the fluid secretions of our systems entirely through our mental or psychical states. What is the condition of your system ? What do you do with the food after you eat it ? — that is the impor¬ tant question. If you eat a boiled egg, in a certain mental condition, it may liave a totally different effect iq)on your system than when eaten in another mental condition. 80 GLINTS OF WISDOM. Mental health is all-important. If we feel opposed to anything, we must bring our¬ selves into harmonious relation with it, and thus cure our antagonism. Whatever we hate — whatever we oppose — whatever we antagonize — we give power to hurt us. We must overcome antagonism and prejudices. Wherever there is antagonism, or wherever there is fear, there is danger. All prejudices and fear must be overcome; because, just as^ long as these exist, there will be illness. All remedial agents are useless as long as there is an antao^onizing- force in the individual. Until we have O O trained our intellects to act in harmony with our wills, we cannot be well. There are just two courses of action v/hich are safe; to put ourselves in harmony with our surroundings, and go with them; or to live outside of them. We should never allow ourselves to go against anything — never allow antagonism. There are many whom we need not feel called upon to work with. Do not have any hard feelings in regard to such; merely let them alone. Every body gets out of things just what it, as a magnet, draws out of them. Tlie ideal state is to be able to relate ourselves harmoniously with everything with which we must come in contact. A very small act may be an indication of a condition. Everything has its own rate of vibration. The question is asked, “ How can we learn the rate of vibration of anything we desire, so that we can vibrate GLINTS OF WISDOM. 81 with it ? ” It is not necessary to know the rate of vibra¬ tion, in order to come into harmonious relation with anything. Whenever we put ourselves through sympathy en rapport with anything, we vibrate with it — at the same rate of speed. Whenever you put yourself in relation with anything in the universe, you can attract it. If you choose to believe that your key to the universe is only through another person’s magnetism, you will have to believe that that magnetism has reached you in some way be¬ fore you can be helped. But you should get free from such belief. God might say, “ When did I ever appoint a janitor to open and close the door of Heaven?” We can have anything we want in our own spheres, if we can only relate ourselves to it. We must realize that it is our own state. It is not the external surround¬ ing, it is the individual himself that needs to be effectu¬ ally dealt with. If evolution and revolution are twins, astronomical revolution combines both. There are ever two move¬ ments of the heavenly bodies ; the one, round and round; the other unceasingly forward. Man travels as the planets travel, and the planets travel as man travels; man cannot separate himself from the rhythmical motion of the heavenly spheres. A person vibrating outside the ordinary circles is not appreciated by the masses ; it is a circle that the major¬ ity of people do not know anything about. One will be 82 GLINTS OF ^yISDOM. healed and blessed by being brought into any circle if it be a superior one to the one in which he has been revolving. The vibrations which give one pleasure may give another pain. One should never place one’s self in an attitude of antagonism, because this attitude always injures the one who holds unlovely thought. You can put yourself in harmony with anything by mentally going with it; make yourself its friend, and it will be your friend. We are susceptible to the mental influence of those we make heroes of, if we associate with them. We can also relate ourselves with them, through the Law of Vibration — even in absence. If you get into a mental condition which causes more rapid circulation of the blood, the rate is increased — the blood flows more freely. The mental condition is the only thing to calculate. GOLDEN MOTTO. Will yourself into a serene mental state, and you need never trouble about external things, as they will all come right without your worrying. TELEPATHY. The T jaw of Vibration is the universal law. Vibra¬ tions do not have to reach the tympanum of the physical ear. Acknowledge such a thing as telepathy —- thought- GLINTS OF WISDOM. 83 transference. Make yourself a magnet to attract the special quality of thought you most desire. You can be that magnet, wherever you may be; it is a mental con¬ dition. Your circumstances do not matter at all, pro¬ vided the thought formed is always held in the recep¬ tive attitude; but if you allow the thought to intrude that something is a hindrance, it will be a hindrance to you. By keeping the mental magnet always firmly fixed, you will draw towards you whatever you desire to attract. Telepathy — the ability to produce mental action at a distance — may be developed by every one who will patiently seek it. The best time for sending a mental message is just wlien you feel all aglow with it. Get into a condition where you are full of a thought, then project it. The ability to send and receive telepathic communica¬ tions depends upon the development of the persons — and, like everything else, it takes practice. Much is lost by anxiety and striving for results. You may not find your wires working perfectly, at first; your cables may even break, until you have had wider experience; but the time is coming when all these difficulties will pass aAvay. Almost invariably, people put themselves into the most uncomfortable attitudes when endeavoring to give • a mental treatment, or to send or receive a mental tele¬ gram ; instead of being perfectly easy and natural about it, they are usually in an unnatural attitude, and en- deaAmr to force themselves into difficult positions. 84 GLINTS OF WISDOM. The ability to work wonders is not through technical knowledge, but through psychical development which produces a higher rate of vibration. Those who are not yet developed to the point of being able to project their thought, for them there is not any credible proof of the power of sending thought long dis¬ tances. Long-distance telepathy is, however, abundantly proved by constant practice on the part of the serene- minded. Hold yourself firmly where you are; encourage your perception to extend itself. Many people develop hysteria by trying to get out in the astral body, and do things they are not yet prepared for. CORRESPONDENCES. Everything external is the correspondence of some internal condition. Our own souls are in correspondences with Divine Good — in each working out our own salvation. This world is only a world of effects and correspond¬ ences. Christ builds his church upon the rock (Peter) of in¬ tuitive perception of truth. Jesus Christ means goodness and truth — goodness, the love of right; truth, the knowledge of right. “ A stone for his pillow,” signifies resting on the rock of truth. All external things are correspondences ; sweet fruit GLINTS OF WISDOM. 85 is a correspondence to some good witliin us, of wliich it is the ultimate. When a man is bald, it signifies, in correspondence, that he has nothing to conceal, or that he is unable to conceal. In correspondent language, snow-white hair means that one has come into a condition where, from good and pure internals, one has come to express pure ex¬ ternals. There is the same adapted relation between the psy- i^ical body and the psychical world that there is be¬ tween the physical body and the material world. Because the interior existence of all things is spiritual, the exterior existence may be spiritualized so as to bring it into perfect conformity with the inmost. There is a perfect analogy between subjective and ob¬ jective experiences. The “ white stone and new name written therein ” granted to those who are “ sealed in the forehead,” is the clear perception of truth which an individual enjoys who has earned illumination through fidelity under all provocation. ASSOCIATION AND ORGANIZATION. Association and organization are words vastly dif¬ ferent in their signification. An organization must be a perfect whole; a body having its different members, each important in its place. 86 GLINTS OF WISDOM. There is not a single religions organization that does not in some way cramp its members. Can you form a Spiritual Organization ? If you can form a spiritual organization without a material head, you can obtain the most remarkable results. Real spiritual work does not involve business man¬ agement. A company of people, aibracted to ea,ch other by the law of psychical affinity — held together in the embrace of true brotherhood and sisterhood — these might meet, in each other’s homes — no initiation fees — no dues — such might attain true spiritual development. If you come together with one accord, your purpose shall be granted. MEMORY. Loss of control over memory is a sign of insanity. . People strong mentally have good control over their memories. We do not ever forget, but something comes between our mental vision and the recollection of an object. No one ever forgets anything. Instead of endeavoring to strengthen memory, we must undertake to gain an adequate, where we now have a very insufficient com¬ mand over our memories. Take the mental attitude, “ I will remember whatever I Avill to remember.” Will the memory of our follies remain forever? No ; not when we have overcome them. The sight of evil is GLINTS OF WISDOM. 87 our penalty; if we create discords, they will ring in our own ears. We should endeavor to interpret the doc¬ trine of Karma broadly. If I make a discord in my own psychical sphere, that discord rings in my own ears — just as our individual environment is of our own making. If I throw into my own individual sphere that which makes me suffer, I need to change my own state. Out¬ side things are well enough; we must change ourselves inwardly before we can rightly relate ourselves to any surrounding. There is a universal Book of Remembrance, where everything is recorded. This volume is the interstellar atmosphere. “Absent-minded” expresses many a case exactly; absent-minded here, present-minded somewhere else. Our objective and subjective entities are not fully con¬ nected on this plane of existence, and until they are, remembering and forgetting must perpetually exist as phenomena in our experience. KARMA. When we consider man as the child of God, we find the true basis of incarnation. Chaimeful Karma has an existence ; it has no sub- O sistence. It is so with all evil or error. We may accept the doctrine of Karma, but not all modern interpretations of it. Karma is simply se¬ quence, the inevitable connection between cause and 88 GLINTS OF WISDOM. effect, not a force which is bottled up and awaits one at the threshold of a new incarnation; for we are sowing and reaping every moment we live. Karma is con¬ tinually operating: we are making it — modifying it — changing it — not only by every act, but by every thought we entertain. We cannot interfere with Karma, but we can learn to make it serve us. A person may be treated mentally, by hypnotism; if a person is willing to be hypnotized, he can be hypno¬ tized. Not that any one yielding to mesmeric or liypnotic influence has his Karma interfered with there¬ by ; but the Karma of the different phases of existence — the consequences of past life, remembered or unre¬ membered— is what permits this influence. In mental treatment, some people seem to yield at once, others much more slowly, or not at all; they are impenetrable, like a rhinoceros’s hide. Karma is made manifest by their different degrees of susceptibility. Their Karma cannot be interfered with! One person may require treatment, another may be able to give treatment to others; there, again, is a mani* festation of Karma. The susceptibility to disease shows an evidence of Karma. Again, we see an evidence of Karma in susceptibility to temptation. We have the power to call out from those easily influenced any phase of character we will. The Karma of different individ¬ uals is made manifest by these various degrees or con¬ ditions. If })ersons come to you who are capable of being helped in any way, don’t leave them to their Karma I It GLINTS OF AYISDOM. 89 is your Karma as much as theirs that has brought you together. If you help them, you are not only making good Karma for yourself, but helping them also to make good Karma for themselves. Do not leave people to their fate ! The most pestilential doctrine is that of leaving people to their Karma. No one is making any¬ thing that could be called good Karma unless he is doing all he can to uplift humanity. The wave of mental influence that goes out to help others, must help one’s self also. Kesignation to a supposed inevitable condition — if a person is suffering from anything — on the plea that it is his Karma, merits no sympathy whatever. When bad Karma makes itself manifest; the way to get rid of it is to work in some good Karma. All talk about souls dying out, or losing a soul, is mediseval rubbish ! The doctrines of Karma, and of re¬ incarnation can be stated in such a manner as to prove acceptable to all deep thinkers. The real doctrine is, that every human soul has a history. If there are can¬ nibals on earth to-day, they will rise to the heights we have attained; we shall never go down to their level, but they will rise to ours. We may have been where they now are. We never go down in the scale of devel¬ opment. When we speak of the evolution of mankind, we mean that the human race is continually rising. We liold that individual man rises as the race rises, that each has a past which has led up to his present. When the soul seeks another expression on earth, Karma will cause it to seek those parents appropriate 90 GLINTS OF WISDOM. to its further development. Choice manifests our intel¬ ligence ; choice is one thing, freedom of choice is a growing quantity. It is not at all strange that souls should precipitate themselves into very disastrous surroundings. That the soul to be reincarnated has the opportunity of choosing its own environment, and deliberately makes choice of its parentage, is the doctrine promulgated by many wise minds. Mistakes are made again and again, through inexperience. There will be final triumpii over these obstacles. Every one rises by gradual stages to the accomplishment of noble results. On the basis of Astrology, a person born at a certain time will have certain opportunities peculiar to himself; those opportunities may be embraced, or not, as the in¬ dividual may elect. There is such a thing as relative human freedom. Some say it is not right to interfere with Karma. Karma cannot be interfered with, because it is the law of cause and effect. If we make our Karma, we can unmake it. To affirm that a person cannot turn around and make good Karma appears ridiculous. Those people are entitled to no sympathy who say, if their Karma has brought them into the pitiful condition in which they now are, they will have to wait for it to work itself out, for it is only their own activity that can relieve them. If you have a bad tenant in your house, you must get him out. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 91 Every one lias it in his power to repair the damage done by himself. No human act is irrevocable, but he who did the deed is the only one who can undo it. Evil deeds are only overcome by good deeds. EMANATIONS. Every one throws out a psychical and a physical mag¬ netism — and must, just as flowers throw out their odors. We can produce such a chemical change in our organ¬ ism, by improved thought, that it can be detected by those around us. Every one gives out a psychic force, and that force penetrates everything he touches. When people gather in any place, they produce a psychic condition therein, which can be felt by all sen¬ sitives. Man is constantly evolving that which is within him. The very atmosphere is being saturated with our ema¬ nations ; everything is permeated with the flux of our mentality. We are giving character even to the utensils which we employ ; and, go where we v/ill, we are con¬ stantly characterizing everything with which we come in contact. How do we give out our psychic emanations ? In tlie same way that we breathe, in the same way that we perspire. Different people give out different emanations ; and the same people give out different emanations at 92 GLINTS OP WISDOM. different times. Yoiir emanations can be analyzed. One in a sensitive condition can detect emanations — just as when we come in contact with the perfume of a flower. Decisive people give out distinct emanations. Ac¬ cording to the individuality is the force of the emana¬ tion — like the odors of flowers, differing in quality and degree. We every one of us endow even inanimate tilings with psycliical influences; there is such a thing as a virtuous pocket-haudkerchief. You can throw some¬ thing of your goodness into your apron, so that others who may chance to wear it will feel the influence. Some of our psychical force goes into all the things we touch. By our thoughts — by our atmosphere — we can con¬ secrate the very air of our dwellings, and make them abodes of blessing. People in the best thought have only to go into a room, to consecrate it. Every thought we think in any place influences more or less the atmosphere of that plaee, and, to some extent,’ influences every one who comes into it, according to the degree of sensitiveness of the person. People in a sad condition render the air depressing. Spirit, we admit, works through material means to ultimate expression. There is the great metaphysical demonstration — to use material things, and then show how, through ordi¬ nary material channels, mental effects may be produced. The psychical principle enables us to work cures, even through the use of material means. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 93 In regard to emanations from psychical power, the intention regulates the psychical force tlirown out. Endow everything you give out with an electrical principle, then you can effect cures with external things; but unless you can endow them with the psychic principle, they will not produce cures. The true basis of healing scientifically is to he some¬ thing, and then do something because you are something. It is utterly impossible to carry a spiritual influence anywhere without that spiritual influence doing its work. The emanation from an individual is what it is because he is what he is. It does what it does because the individual is in the condition he is. All the work of giving treatments, as usually practised, is a limited phase of the “ gift of healing.” We can endow whatever we touch with a psychical quality which we impart to it; and this psychical qual¬ ity can be imparted by the administerer to the receiver. A great many people are healed through these agencies. It is this psychic faculty which, has made it possible for the performance of the cures ascribed to shrines, amulets, magnetized paper, and feticlies of every sort. People are influenced by both tlie mental and physical emanations which others have thrown into these recep¬ tacles. Every person gives out a psychical emanation, which is the direct result of his present condition. On the spiritual plane, one who is living in the higher thought constantly, projects that thought continually — just as beautiful flowers give out the fragrance which 94 GLINTS OF WISDOM. properly belongs to them. But you cannot get the odor of a rose from an onion. Aura partakes of the chemical constitution of the individual, exactly as in the case of a flower. It is just so on the plane of thought—one must he something in order to do something; and being what he is, he does what he does. You simply give out what you have within—the result of what you really are. We always get our best thoughts most readily in tran¬ quil places Avhere people have thrust out good or wise thoughts. MEDITATION. We give out whatever we possess; we cannot help it. Our emanations must be in accordance with our centre. We do not lose anything or become depleted by giving out emanations, for w^e receive on the one hand as we give on the other. THE REAL EGO —ATMA. There are four distinct planes of life : the sensual, the intellectual, the moral and the spiritual. In the region of sense-consciousness, man lives a physical life ; a well-ordered physical life is proper, on the physical plane. There are two distinct elements manifested on all planes of human nature; the one the emotional, the other the intellectual; both of which need to be taken into account. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 95 What is life ? We are not inquiring What are lives ? but What is the one life ? and how may we discover it ? Man is to reveal his soul. The soul is within, but is capable of unlimited expansion. The spirit cannot be put into man, but must be brought out of him. It is not as though the Holy Spirit were a surgeon, going to perform a surgical operation and take an old heart out. Within the old nature of the man is to be found the new. Like the evolution of the butterfly from the grub. I shall never find all there is to find in my soul — in this stage of existence. When you are introduced to your own soul, you will find it is simply your own higher self. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as a physical sense or a physical faculty. The five so-called bodily senses are only five modes of sensing things which can be sensed spiritually. It is I who smell — not my nostrils. I may feel through my fingers, etc.; but Jam the seer, the hearer, etc. My body has no ability to do anything. There is but one sensorium: there are five distinct ways l)y which unitary sensation expresses itself. The whole intellectual process is summed up when you say, “ I knoAV it! ” ‘‘ Melcliizedek ” does not refer to an individual, but to the life principle of man — the real Ego. Wliatever is from eternity, is to eternity ! Does everything live forever? No ; only that which j)artakes of the quality of Divinity can live forever. 96 GLINTS OF WISDOM. Man is immortal by virtue of his possession of the in¬ dwelling principle of Divinity. Man has but one heing^ but he may have many exist- ances. Tlie true Ego works through the brain, whether it be in a healthy or unhealthy condition. The brain is sim¬ ply the vehicle through which the intelligent entity ex¬ presses itself outwardly. “ Atma ” is the term for the Divinity within. Atma — the essential spiritual principle —may become so unfolded that it will entirely dominate the material senses,— it is thus unfolded in those who may be called Mahatmas.” Mahatmas are those in whom Atma (Divine principle) is unusually unfolded. Those through wlioni the soul is more than usually expressed. They stand upon mountain heights. A mountain is climbed through continuous, persistent effort. Upon the top of the mountain a vision is obtained which cannot be viewed by those on tlie plains; from this similitude arises tlie title “ Himalayan Brothers.” To speak something into manifestation is to cause its inward form to appear in external shape. There is a distinction between form and sliape. The external shape is the outward similitude; the interior form re¬ mains forever the same. Therefore, shapes come and go, form never changes. As form ever exists, there never will or can come a time when there will lie no liuman form. The shape can lie spoken into existence tlirough the operation of the Law of Vibration. Man can create and GLINTS OF WISDOM. 97 destroy shapes, but man has no power over form — eitlier to produce or annihilate it. Form itself is eternal, immortal; and the correspond¬ ing shape answers more or less perfectly to that form. Things which are unseen by the mortal eye are easily seen by the eye of the spiritual body. Things unheard by the fleshly ear are clearly heard by the spiritual ear. If people would only study the interior meaning of things, they would greatly improve their phrase- ology. The human structure renews itself from within. When our work on this plane is completed, we shall pass awa}^; not that you will be obliged to go, your body will not be taken from you. There will be no ravaging dis¬ ease, no pain; you will simply let your body go. It will be immediate yet tranquil disintegration. There is no such thing as a separation of principles at physical death. Death simply means dropping the material body. Death to old conditions and birth to the new, is a change which may take place in this world — a death unto carnality and birth unto spirituality. There is no separation of principles in reality, but the transmutation of the lower into the higher. Tlie mo¬ ment we can see that there is a transformation or trans¬ mutation of the lower into the higher, we have solved the mystery, we have overcome death! There is no essential difference between the condition of the spirit after dropping tlie body and the sleeping condition every night. If Ave could l)ut understand what Ave do Avlien Ave are asleep — Avhere Ave go Avhen 98 GLINTS OF WISDOM. asleep — we could very well say that what is called death is but a continuation of sleep. According to the teaching of electrical physiology, the germ of our organization does not change ; it vital¬ izes the new organization, which will be made up of new combinations of elements. All that is necessary to restore a person to health is to arouse the electrical germ to activity. A person in a state of perfect health — in what condition is he ? The electrical germ at the centre of his being is so active that it fully vitalizes the whole system, and then life overflows; the individual is so vitalized, so electrified, that he radiates life wherever he goes. He is in a har¬ monious electrical condition. If such a one comes into your room, he will leave his psychical emanations there — wherever he has stopped, upon whatever he has touched. You feel much stronger than before, much brighter and more cheerful, after the visit of such a per¬ son. One who lives according to Divine Law, must have this overplus of vitality, and therefore is a spontaneous healer. MEDITATION. Man, while a unit, manifests on many different planes. “King of Salem” means he who rules in Peace. No one can attain to this peace until he has found his soul. Our own soul is God’s messeuQfer in us I Do as God tells you in your own soul! Take any (][uestion — no matter how trivial the inquiry may be — GLINTS OF WISDOM. 99 into the silence, and receive the Divine response. As people come more and more into the presence of their own higher selves, they will know where to find a counsellor and advisor, at all times. A man must get acquainted with his own soul before he can be truly influential. One who does this can dis¬ cover how to live in divine harmony in all conditions. Every psyche can take care of its own body if left to its work uninterruptedly. GOLDEN MOTTO. Whatever we cannot destroy is good, for good only is permanent. DREAMING TRUE. In dreams and visions to-day, as in olden times, man may see what is before him. Any one may be as Joseph. But anybody can dream — anybody can have a vision, like Pharaoh and his butler and baker — they could dream, but knew not the meaning thereof. Jo¬ seph not only could dream, but was able to see the interpretation of his own dreams, and theirs also. Some will say, “ If a deluge is coming, what good does it do for us to know it? Are we benefited by crossing bridges before we come to them ? ” Such reasoning is no reasoning at all: it is specious fallacy and mere sophistry, for there is no analogy. In regard to the approaching seven years of scarcity: 100 GLINTS OF WISDOM. during the seven years of 2 )leiity, enough might have been saved up to last the nation through the years of famine; all might have made the same provision that Joseph did. This is a pictorial lesson of vast import. The state of dreaming is an evidence of man’s psy¬ chical consciousness. While most of us dream false or imperfectly, there are some who dream true ; we all dream true occasionally. We talk of composing ourselves to go to sleep. You can go to bed with an uncomfortable thought, but do not allow yourself to go to sleep with it. No one should ever allow himself to sleep without first putting his mental house in order. Never allow the shadows of night to fall until you have put out of your mind every discordant thought. Fumigate your 7nental apartments by putting yourselves into right mental attitude; cleanse your mental apartments; ban¬ ish mental microbes ! Do not most of us retire at night in a flijipant way ? How many people think that it is really necessary to take thought about it ? How many of us are careful about our mental clothing? We are very particular as to the care of our bodies, priding ourselves upon our cleanliness, putting on clean linen every day, etc.; but that is only skin deep. What about our thoughts ? Of the two, it is better to have a clean heart and dirty hands, than clean hands and a dirty mind. A person’s occupation may be of such a cliaracter that he is obliged to get Ids liands and clotltes soiled; circumstances greatly control these things. But there are no condi- GLINTS OF ^yrSDOM. 101 tions ill which wc cannot govern onr tlioughts ; circum¬ stance, surrounding environment, matters not at all in this regard. Again — about sleeping with yonr head in a certain position—^this cannot always be regulated, as when travelling. People must give up all such puerilities, if they wish to become rightly related to the spiritual uni¬ verse. It is bondage to things which causes all the sick¬ ness in the world. The mental condition attracts all things — according to its attitude. The mental condi¬ tion must have its corresponding effect upon the physical condition. About dreams: bad dreams are usually attributed to late suppers, etc.; it may be so, if a person is in the mental condition to make a supper disagree with him. It depends altogether upon the mental condition. Put one thinof is certain : it is never safe to retire to rest with even an uncomfortable thought! During the night—in the subjective, negative state — people do not know what influences they are open to. No end of mental and physical ailments result from bad dreams and insomnia. Wrong thought makes people ill through their dreams, causing a feeling of illness or languor in the morning. We not only must remain posivive during the day, but must maintain that mental attitude upon going to sleep. At night, we are in the condition to draw towards us whatever we please — by going to sleep in the proper mental state. 102 GLINTS OF WISDOM. We are magnets ! Take a mental batli every night before going to bed. Put away from you everything that could be a magnet to attract what is bad or un¬ pleasant. The mind in a chaotic condition will cause confused dreams. One needs to be in a perfectly healthy, well- balanced condition, to be able to dream true — not dreaming of missing tmins, and a good deal else that is hysteria. You cannot get into a condition for dreaming true until you are in peace and harmony with all around you. Instead of always jumping to the conclusion that people you misunderstand are unkind, calmly ask for an explanation; when you do this in a quiet, calm way, errors may very often be explained away. This calm, quiet attitude prevents great misery. It is a most dano'erous thino' to P‘0 to bed havinof a good cry over some grief or misunderstanding, drawing all the depressing influences that sucli a state must needs attract. The best way is to have an understanding — clear the atmosphere; sometimes it takes an electrical storm to do this. Thinking that people wish to injure us is usually a symptom of hysteria. Hysteria is the high road to in¬ sanity. If cats keep one awake, his mental state is not very far developed. We should not throw a boot-jack at the cats, but throw it at ourselves — mentally. By placing ourselves en rapport with any thing or any place we choose to select before going to sleep, we can GLINTS OF WISDOM. 103 draw to us during sleep the influences which we desire to relate ourselves with. A dream, ordinarily, is not a vision. A dream is a reflection; whatever we dream or image, we reflect. A true dream is a true reflection, while a false dream is a false reflection. The original meaning of a dream was - “a vision of the night” — not what people usually call dreams in their present ignorance. Vision means a sight of something. We may have visions in the night — and also in the day, when we are awake. There is undoubtedly a distinction between a dream and a vision. Now, what is a dream? There is actually a dreamdife. We travel while we sleep. We may travel, or remain stationary where we are; but we can become related to anything we choose by concentrating our thought steadily upon it. Man is capable of living in other worlds during sleep. When people talk of another world, they often think of a long, attenuated cord stretching out into space to other worlds. We should not say “the other world and this,” but “ the other side of this.” Let us understand the distinction between the sub¬ jective and objective — man’s dual mind. Let us go over onto the other side. When we are in the subjec¬ tive, let us go over to the objective ; and when we are in the objective, let us go over to the subjective state. The subjective is simply tlie unseen. The word “ unconscious ” is greatly misajiplied; instead, we should say, a person passes from one plane of consciousness to another. t 104 GLINTS OF WISDOM. When people give puerile little interpretations to great words, they do things as absurd as did the Hitler¬ ites. Extended perception — the definition of this faculty of going to chbsen places during sleep — may be devel¬ oped. When liberated from the mental state of thral¬ dom, the mind can travel where it will. Thus, it is well to use the night-time for the process of attraction. Do not try to go anywhere, in the s-eiise of making a journey, but resolve to relate yourself with what you wish to know. We can relate ourselves with anything in the universe; but full expectation must go with this effort. At night, we have withdrawn from the ordinary occu¬ pations of the day. That simple withdrawal gives us a chance to contemplate spiritual things, causes us to be receptive to the spiritual; it is thus that people have experiences during the night, which they do not have during the day. In regard to going to sleep in order to see one’s self in some other position or plane, it is sometimes asked, “ Why do we not see the angels during the day, as well as during the night ? ” Why do we not see the stars during the day ? When we speak of regulating our dreams, we must always recollect that we cannot govern everything at first — on a psychic plane — as long as we are living here on the material plane in states of comparative bondage. We have first to gain victories over things lying nearest to us. GLINTS OF WISDOM, 105 We can get anything during sleep by holding for it before going to sleep — persistently. People may relate themselves, on the psychical plane, to the very sources of knowledge, and so absorb information at night that they can use it by day. Knowledge during sleep soaks into one, as it were. It starts with the interior and works out if not inter¬ rupted, to the extremest plane of objective conscious¬ ness. These things which are taken into the subjective entity during sleep may not be apparent to the outer consciousness at first, but they will come forth as they are needed. Many things are not remembered on the objective plane, but the effect of our having undergone an expe¬ rience is just as real, whether we have any recollection of it, or not. This is true in relation to true dreaming, when consciousness is functioning on the psychical plane. “ We are such stuff As dreams are made of, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.” PSYCHICAL UNFOLDMENT. Anybody can develop the psychic temperament who chooses. Some people are born with a much greater development than others, but it is embryotic in us all. We all have it potentially, but to express it is a matter of unfoldment. 106 GLINTS OF WISDOM. There are far more distinct temperaments than are usually regarded; very few people understand the psychic temperament. The psychic temperament is peculiar to itself; it is one which has to he judiciously cultivated, in order to get the best effects. It is the temperament which is necessary for unusual success along psychical lines. It requires some development of the psychical faculty to give mental treatments. The ability to give mental treatments successfully is a result of growth or devel¬ opment. Some children are born with the psychical faculty developed to a marked degree. People who possess tills temperament are usually considered highly nervous; but their nervousness is normal, not abnormal. It is simply that their nerves are unusually active ; they may be highly strung. This unusual sensitiveness may prove either a blessing or a curse. If it is physiological, it is a very great blessing ; if pathological, it is a curse. The rate of vibration with such people is decidedly higher than the average; their pulses beat more quickly; their blood circulates more rapidly. If you take the temperature of the body of a person of the psy¬ chical temperament, you find the temperature and pulse above the normal standard. The pulse beats quickly, yet the person is perfectly well; it is not a pathological condition, it is purely physiological. It has been proved that some psychics can ]_ilay tricks — for the sake of experiment — with their own pulse, putting it up very much higher than usual, GLINTS OF WISDOiM. 107 and also putting it down below the normal rate with them. The development of the psychic faculty is of the ut¬ most importance to the human family, because it can show us the inside of things we come in contact with. It teaches us to be utterly unprejudiced; not to judge from appearances in reading people, but through dis¬ cernment of interior qualities. Woman, from her introspective position, has had more opportunities to unfold her psychical power than man; tliis explains why she has come to the front, in many directions at the present time. Woman’s function of maternity gives her a psychic development that man does not naturally so soon unfold, owing to his different capacities. The opening up of the psychic faculty is sure to take place naturally when one is truly individualized. When we come into realization of our psychic power, we will find it only the intensification of powers already possessed. The more we trust in any faculty the more we unfold it. Allow the faculties to grow and increase naturally and normalljq in the same way that everything in nature appears and develops. Instead of looking upon what we call psychic endow¬ ments and spiritual gifts as the property of the few, these will be revealed in the majority, in times to come. What are now called exceptional psychic endowments will become universal. Psychical endowments belong to the race, they pertain to humanity ; but such pow- 108 GLIl'TTS OF WISDOM. ers need, as seeds require, opportunities for develop¬ ment. The psychical element in man is as natural as the physical vision, or taste, or smell, or touch. The masses of people do not need special psychic "ifts. Those who are satisfied without them do not O need them; but just as soon as we desire psychical powers, then we require them. There comes a time when these gifts within us stir themselves ; they make themselves felt. If psychical perception becomes universal, it will be of no use for any one to tell an untruth, because no one will be deceived by it. And it will be exactly the same in any endeavor to palm oft the false for the true, in any case. Forgery, therefore, will be a lost art. The modus operandi of psychical development is exactly similar to that of physical development — con¬ stant use, but never over-exertion. Never strive to do work that is too difficult; no straining of the faculties, but constant use and steady thought, fixity of purpose. Sight unfolds through recognition and exercise. Even pliysical sight may be brought to phenomenal function- ing by recognizing the gift — allowing it to develop by constant use and expectation. All the physical senses may be largely developed by training, even to a phenomenal degree. But, in all culture, there must be no strain after arduous effects ; the moment of strain results in injury. The psychic faculty unfolds wherever it has the oppor¬ tunity to do so. The power is within every one; so GLIi^TS OF WISDOM. 109 there is no process for acquiring it, but there is a process for unfolding it. Many people organize what they call ‘‘ developing circles.” They “sit” together, holding each other’s hands ; and expect — by some kind of physical contact — to develop some special spiritual gift. They are look¬ ing for the so-called psychical phenomena, which are producing so profound an impression upon many minds of the present age. But we find, to-day, that the more intelligent people who are interested in psychical re¬ search, are dispensing witli extraneous methods. The gift merely needs to be permitted to unfold. Permission to unfold the psychic faculty is what every natural child wants when that child demands mental liberty. We do not recognize any danger in seeking psychic development. There is no danger when we learn to discipline our forces. But it is better to get beaten once in a while than never to obtain knowledge. There is danger in being prompted by an unworthy motive; and that is all the danger there is. By deliberate cultivation of the psychic power, one can do a greater amount of work with a smaller amount of energy. Whenever you endeavor to unfold any psychical power within you, put yourself into the easiest attitude possible. There is no need of making any effort. Do not take any strained mental attitude. Wearing too mucli clothing, or anything Avhich binds or presses, wastes the forces or prevents their harmoni¬ ous outflow. no GLINTS OF WISDOM. It is not what we do, in the sense of our occupation, but it is the frittering away of our forces which wearies us. Some people are always moving their hands or their feet. This occasions.loss of psychic power, shows an abnormal state of the mind, depletes the psychic force. It is certain that one can give undivided attention to only one thing at a time. We are not conscious of the subjective life going on all around us, when engaged with our usual avocations. On the psychical plane, we cannot be judged by our dress, or by any external appearance. As the universe expands to us, we shall enjoy all we have already had, and vastly more added. As our fac¬ ulties ever grow, more and more transcendent revela¬ tions will come to us, so that we shall grow to be so completely at home in the psychic realm that the veil of mystery will be rent in twain, and what was formerly regarded unknowable Avill be freely known. The possession of spiritual power of attainment is universal. It is not necessary that we should be acquainted with all the contents of our being. The containment of our nature is vastly more than our knowledge of that containment. We have within us abilities that we know not of. As we come to know these more and more, the universe becomes wider to us. On the psychical plane — on the subjective plane — the more you can see and hear the better. There are those who say it is wrong to attempt to pry into God’s secrets. If God has any secrets that he doesn’t wish us GLINTS OF WISDOM. Ill to know, we may be sure that he has guarded them so carefully that we could not pry into them if we wished. Wliateyer psychic endowment one may possess, let him give it freedom, and never allow himself to be in- lluenced by the scarecrowism in the world. There is no danger in searching into the psychic realm, if one’s motives be pure. It will unfold more and more. It will drive away the blues and sickness; it will do away with all sense of loss and bereavement; and it will enable us to acknowledge that every wonder of the olden times can be duplicated at the present day. Wherever you can have the most privacy — whenever you can feel quiet, alone, or in company with some con¬ genial friend or friends — put yourself into the most comfortable attitude, and allow yourself to drink in wliatesrer may come to you. Let there be no straining, no forced exercise of the will, no trying to grasp some¬ thing difficult to catch, but a perfectly quiet, receptive attitude, as of one who enters a theatre to witness dis¬ solving views. The curtain lias not yet risen, you see now only the blank screen ; as you sit quietly in your place, you make observations. If you like, take — in tlie bright light — a glass of pure water, and watch for what may appear upon its surface. Tlie fixing’ of the eves on the water secures the O needed concentration. All such things may be of some aid, for the sake of helping the concentration of the mind. Sit quietly waiting for what may come ; make obser- 112 GLINTS OF WISDOM. vation of what comes. Make no definite statement until it has already appeared ; then, A¥hen it has clearly come, merely make note of it. MEDITATIONS. We carry onto the psyehic plane exactly what we encourage and foster on the material plane. When a man is unfolded on the psychic plane, the powers he has heretofore possessed become infinitely expanded. Every spiritual endowment is just as naturally tlie right of mankind as intellectual or physical endow¬ ments. Every man who truly seeks it shall find th.e mystic key, whereby he can cause'the spiritual gate within him to turn on its hinges and reveal to him his real immortal selfhood. It is of no use for anybody to attempt to use psyehic power until he is truly individualized. When you are truly individualized, you have realized that you dare to go directly to the heart of the universe —■ direetly to the Infinite Spirit. As long as one submits to any form of tyranny, one cannot become truly psyehie, much less spiritual in the higher sense. All proeesses are mental; all victories are mental, and all defeats are mental. That cause which appears material ean be at most only a secondary cause. Aeeom- panying phenomena should not be confounded with con¬ sequent phenomena. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 113 There is no use in trying to force anything until its time conies. When the hour for anything strikes the will to procure it is present. SPIRITISM. Clairvoyance and clairaudience have always been conspicuous among those who were prophets. Clair¬ voyance may cover nearly all the territory of spiritual¬ ism. It is not probable that spirits on higher planes know anything about our material conditions, but they read our thoughts. When people endeavor to become mediums — as gen¬ erally understood — the manifestations they receive may be genuine, but they try to get the spirit world to come down to their state, not to bring themselves to a higher plane. The higher spiritualism is the reverse. Only the lower spiritualism is trying to bring the spirits down to the earth plane. Instead of trying to get the spiritual to manifest to the senses, we should endeavor to ascend — not asking the spiritual world to descend. The lower spiritualism is merely catering to our senses. The most truly spiritual persons never get any phys¬ ical manifestations whatever, never see anything with the material eye. When you come down to material sense, what mes¬ sages do you receive ? Oidy platitudes ! 114 GLINTS OF WISDOM. Think of the knowledge to be gained from the higher relationship ! When we come into that higher spiritual relationship, we may become inventors, artists, authors, on planes not yet imagined. The mere fact of people going into particular places will not attract spiritual influences. It is the mental state, the motive, which always serves as the magnet. Tlie ordinary theory in the world is that there is necessarily invocation, in order to bring the spirits near to us; we hear of ‘‘ spirit return,” etc. If people only understood how to express themselves, they would be able to approach the subject intelligently. We have nothing whatever to do with inviting “ spirit return.” The whole thing that concerns us, as scien¬ tific investigators, is a change in our own consciousness, affording conditions for spiritual perception and demon¬ stration. It is only a question of the opening up of our own perception. There is an element of disordered imagination, a great deal of hysteria, in so-called spiritual and psychic expe¬ riences, until the desire for mere phenomena yields to a genuine craving for absolute truth. Beware how you have any dealings with the “ familiar spirits ” of self-seeking persons. The expression “ fa¬ miliar spirits ” is a very significant one. This is ap- })licable where the motive is money, or other unworthy object. Speaking of “ obsession,” it is because people acknowl¬ edge everything but the universal spirit of good that they are subject to obsessions. GLINTS OF ^YISDOM. 115 It is not to be denied that the phenomena of obses¬ sion are genuine. We believe the accounts in the Bible — that undeveloped influences were present and that Jesus and his apostles turned them out. But the cause for any such experience is nothing but false belief. The recognition of truth is the only antidote. Supposing one is very sensitive or mediumistic, why cannot such an one polarize himself, so that he will draw toward him always the good? Right polarization is most important in mediumship. Let people place their confldence in the good and in the true. This is what everyone must do in put himself into right relationship with the universe. Divided attention has a great deal to do with all un¬ pleasant psychic plienomena. When we put ourselves into the subjective condition with the deliberate inten¬ tion of gaining knowledge, it will come to us. You have only yourself to blame if you have dis¬ agreeable influences around you; you can keep only what you attract. It is not to be understood, however, that these influ¬ ences might not still be in your vicinity; they could be near that you might teach them. We are as sure that there are individual communica¬ tions with spirits as we are sure of anything. MEDITATION. If people are spiritually developed, they cannot be deceived; when holding for the truly spiritual and nothing else. 116 GLINTS OF WISDOM. GOLDEN MOTTO. We cannot conceive an idea of a state of life that is not expressed somewhere. ELECTIVE AFFINITY. Once grasp the Law of Elective Affinity, and tlie cause of spiritual phenomena will he clearly under¬ stood. Yv e do not usually come into psychical relation with tilings, hut with people; and we may often see ob¬ jects surrounding tlie persons in psychical relation with us. We may not be able to put ourselves en rapport with mere things, but with persons who may be in certain places, at certain times; and through our harmony with them we can become familiar with their sur¬ roundings. We should endeavor to put ourselves in relation with some person and go with him, when we wish to see a certain place, or obtain certain knowledge. It is one human being en rap)port with another human being, not a man with an inanimate object. This rapport may be entirely unconscious or involuntary on both sides. Two persons maybe in*natural affinity,like two harps attuned together; if one is struck, the other responds. This sympathy or affinity is not the result of flesh and blood relationship; it is a spiritual kinship. We can GLINTS OF WISDOM. 117 encourage it; we can intensify it, perhaps ; but it must be iiiate to begin with. We get results proportionate to our mental states. We can put ourselves en rapport at will, with whatever we desire to communicate with, if we take the right mental attitude. REFLECTION. One prime requisite is always necessary — the per¬ fect love of truth; we are then invading the psychic realm in safety. AURAS — PSYCHICAL ENVIRONMENT. Most people when they talk of environment, sur¬ roundings, and circumstances — which all mean the same — refer to these things as something over which they can exercise no control, as governing factors in their lives. You can make your own environments, surroundino-s and circumstances. You are surrounded O with a psychic envelope which is primarily your encir¬ cling habitation. The aura belongs to the individual just the same as feathers belong to a bird. It is the particular aura of the individual that condi¬ tions ]iis work. If you know liow to generate an aura, you can go to work and generate any circumstance you You can bring into your daily life the things and places you will, if you go out on the* psychical current. 118 GLINTS OF WISDOM. You will find many circles, many planes of existence. When you get onto a plane above your ordinary one, your soul is at home on that plane; to the psychical faculty that plane is real and seen. If you allow yourself to go out onto the psychical current—if you go naturally — you will feel a great deal stronger, have a much greater power of endurance, with much less expenditure of force ; you will generate force much more rapidly and recuperate much more readily. When you can read the auras of different people, you can tell at once if you can help them. If their auras blend with yours, there can be psychical relation to mutual advantage, but not otherwise. Those with coarse auras may heal a great many peo¬ ple on the animal plane ; but in all cases of high-strung people they would fail. Very sensitive people could not bear such a one to come into their presence. Differ¬ ent people are reached on their different planes ; that is why no ordinary healers can reach all cases. When you feel your aura draw back into yourself, the conditions are not harmonious ; you will not blend with any person from whom you feel like drawing away instinctively. It is always well to respect this instinct. If you can realize the aura, where the auras of differ¬ ent individuals blend, there it is easy to effect telepathic communication; and the same applies equally to men¬ tal healing. We find as we study into tlie psycliic realm that we can wear just what we please psychically. GLINTS OF WISDOM. 119 On the external plane, everything corresponds exactly to the psychical plane. The word “ raiment” is a varied form of “rayment.” It is, properly speaking, rayment^ radiation. The halo or nimbus encircling the head of a saint is in accord with this idea. This radiation must proceed from the individual him¬ self. A person can be mentally surrounded by whatsoever radiation he himself gives out. Nothing is here for us that we do not take in through our own perception. Every one can make his own immediate environment. Can clothe himself with his own shell. We can also, by means of this aura, gain access to the external world, so that we can take into our own world what we wish, and keep out whatever we do not desire. Man may really be compared to a bivalve; he can shut out or take in whatever he pleases. We make our own world in two ways. By radiating we develop from within outward; we unfold and give out, and surround ourselves with our own radiations. Also, we attract to us whatever we desire to possess, provided we confidently expect it. Just as we can take what suits us from the different kinds of food placed before us, so we can draw from tlic atmosphere the kind of emanations suited to our vari¬ ous needs. Any one can choose his own surroundings, on tlie psychic plane. 120 GLINTS OF WISDOM. There is a spiritual world in which we are now liv¬ ing. When we are concentrated upon any special object, we are oblivious to all other objects for the time being. There is a scientific reason for this which immediately suggests itself to the reflective student. MEDITATION. Whatever we want is a little more than what we already have — something that if we did not have it within us, we should not conceive of. Tlie moment people undertake to make their own world, they can have any kind of a world that they like, for one’s own world is a surrounding atmosphere, a port¬ able environment. GOLDEN MOTTO. Tlie reality of everything is spiritual.