Man's suffering is not caused as a punishment by God, as mankind has been taught to believe. Shocks and hurts and suffering are caused when man's will is set rigidly against the Will of God. God's will enfolds all creation in love and tenderness as all things are moved forward by its fulfilling, unless one's personal will is set in resistance and selfish determination to accomplish its own greedy or adverse little desires.
In God's divine Will is held the perfection of all things and all conditions. Mortal vision has not been lifted high enough to become "single to the glory of God." Mortal men exert their own immature wills according to their degree of comprehension -- or lack of it. If one sets his heart and mind upon what he personally wills or desires, he is not considering God's will at all, nor is he viewing that divine, higher glory, to which his eyes are supposed to become single.
Those who can lift their vision above their own little, mortal, selfish, personal desires and lusts will begin to develop the higher vision. Within that exalted view one's eyes become "single to God's glory." And as one begins to behold the glory of God he begins to reflect and to take on that glory. "Who can interpret the wonders of the Lord? For he who could interpret would be dissolved and would become that which is interpreted."
When one uses his will to blend with the exalted, perfect Will of God the little mortal self steps into its maturity and all things work together for his good. This is love in action. Such a one achieves the power to step beyond his own little physical lusts and desires to conform his hopes and desires into the great Will or Plan of the Almighty -- which plan is the unfolding of himself in divine perfection.
As one lifts his vision to behold the glory of God he "Becomes filled with light and there is no darkness in him. And that soul who is filled with light comprehends all things. And God will unveil His face unto him. It will be in His own time and in His own way and according to His own will." In God's Will is the great perfection held. When His Will is permitted to complete its work then will the results be fully accomplished. The time is established as the time when man lets God's Will fulfill its perfect works.
It is in man's own determined resistance, his self-willed actions and violent, discordant reactions, that all man's sufferings and misfortunes lie. Man's hurts and anguish and almost impossible conditions of desolation are the results of his contrary efforts as he sets his own bleak, distorted, over-indulged, puny little will in opposition to God's holy plan for his own perfection as well as for the perfection and glorification of the world.
When an individual can train his "eyes to become single to the glory of God" his vision will become exalted or lifted to the higher reality. As one learns to blend his will into the Will of God, all things begin to work together for his good. This is God's great law of completion as all things begin to be fulfilled in the individual -- and for him. As one relinquishes his will in a vibrant, living surrender he proves his love. Until this is accomplished love has been perhaps, only a desire, a belief in one's own self-righteousness, a fanatical acclamation of words, a yearning hope and yet remained an unfulfilled achievement. When love is perfected the little personal will is exalted into a triumphant, glorious, exalted vibration that blends with the Will of God in everlasting power and divine accomplishment.
To surrender one's will does not make one spineless nor does it turn him into an inanimate, listless stodgy, a "rubber stamp" or a weak little "yes man." As one's will is purified and one's love exalted to the degree of such infinite, glorious understanding he becomes vibrant and alive and filled with the ineffable powers of eternity.
In the Will of God there is nothing withheld -- no powers, no glory, no happiness and no unanswered longings.
I first beheld the wonder and the perfection of the things Christ holds within His holy hands when lovely Linda lay at death's door -- and was healed instantly as I relinquished my will to Him. I beheld the glory of the gifts He holds out to a world so lost in darkness and lack and misery. I saw the unspeakable magnitude of His plans as He waits in tender patience to place His limitless powers into the hands of those who will only lift their vision high enough to comprehend and to desire gifts of such unutterable magnitude.
There is no need for lack or for illness or for want and poverty and anguish. These things have never been a part of God's plan, nor are they contained within His Holy Will. He is waiting anxiously to bestow His powers upon any who will desire them and be-lieve the laws required in order to produce the necessary faith and develop the required love. There is the power to supply every need, to heal every illness, to bring to pass every noble desire, accomplish every task and complete every glorious hope. All the ineffable powers of fulfilling and completion are awaiting man's acceptance of them. There is not only the power to live nobly and happily, as one learns to rule his life in perfect beauty and divine satisfaction, but there is power to reach out into eternity and exert and influence upon the very stars.
Such were the things that were revealed to me so long ago. And since I have beheld the actuality of their truth. At that time I could not understand, for then, I believed that each man had been created to fulfill his full measure of suffering and pain and misery without even a glimmer of happiness or joy.
And I beheld that man esteemed His priceless gifts and powers as of no value, casting them aside for cheap, red glass beads -- or for the worthless trash the world holds forth.
And so man suffers and is distraught and is at war with himself as he battles against all that is perfect and divine.
"As one learns obedience by the things which he suffers, the suffering ends." This suffering has been caused, not by God's punishing hands, but by man's own created, adverse vibrations as he has set them in contrary motion against his own fulfilment.
Each individual desires to reform and remake everyone else but himself. He desires others to fulfill the perfection he holds within his own inner being, but not for "all the king's horses and all the king's men," or for the king's whole realm for that matter, will he make the least effort to change himself. Each man is in a deep rut of self-satisfaction and semi-petrified unprogressiveness, or blind indifference.
Man has erroneously believed his joy and happiness is contained in outside circumstances and possessions and conditions. Man does not yet realize that there is no permanent joy or lasting value contained in the acquisition of worldly goods. "Even if a man gains the whole world, and loses his own soul, of what profit would it be?" The loss of a man's soul may be contained in his failure to contact that sacred soul, housed within himself.
That desolate, yearning cry of the soul is not fulfilled by the accumulation of worldly wealth, or academic or worldly knowledge. "The learning of the world is foolishness to the Lord." If knowledge, that has been gleaned from other men's thoughts, as one has buried himself in books and schools and libraries, is foolishness, then that one has only made himself a receptacle of accumulated foolishness. What a lamentable waste.
And all the treasures one may gather, and all the wealth one may hoard, and all the lands one may claim can never really be possessed by any man at all. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." One can only hold the substances of this earth in stewardship, not in ownership, as he will be held accountable for the use he puts that stewardship to. He has only the right to use the treasures of this earth temporarily. They are only borrowed and for a very short time -- at the longest -- the length of his own life. The treasures of the earth can never actually belong to any mortal man. Each generation has staked its claims and in turn has had to relinquish them.
And all material treasures are subject to moth and rust and to loss by thieves. Even if one has accumulated belongings which he may so securely hold in his greedy clutch none can part him from a single coin, death will come and pry his fingers loose and his hands will be emptied of even the smallest grain of sand.
All that truly belongs to any man is his own individual experiences as he has acted out his daily life, or as he selects and lives the part he plays, and chooses the way he plays it. In the unfolding of the character he creates will be contained his own values in his actions toward others and his re-actions to their needs.
One may think his treasures are gathered by the many church meetings he attends, the contributions he makes or the donations he contributes. In this thought he errs. Even while a man is performing such acts he may be so filled with hate or selfish scheming he has not lifted a single thought or vibration in one degree of increased love. Worse, he may be resentful and covetous of that which he gives, to be seen of men. Such outward rituals and contributions and services have no value for the individual. They may even be considered as evil. And certainly they are in vain. "If a man gives all that he has to the poor and even his body to be burned, and has not love, it is as nothing."
What actually belongs to the individual are only the things he has built into himself. The virtues one has developed become an everlasting part of the man. Not even his physical body goes with him, unless he has exalted it to the spiritual height of his own divine potentialities. No man can lay a permanent claim to a single nickel or a handful of dust, or even to a chest or a chamber full of jewels. All that is his, by right of permanent possession, are the ideals he holds, the kindness he feels, the good he has done, the love he has developed and the tolerance, patience, understanding, compassion, integrity and courage he has established within himself. These treasures alone are his own. These are the treasures in heaven, the priceless, everlasting wealth that is eternally his as he has embedded their virtues into the fibres of his own innermost being. These are the treasures of heaven -- "The heaven that is within." After these riches are established within a man they can never be forfeited, or relinquished or destroyed. Neither moth nor rust can claim them, nor can thieves break through and steal.
But until these treasures are permanently established, as a definite part of the individual, he himself can relinquish or forfeit them by changing his attitudes and his thought habits as he yields to temptations and animal lusts. If, however, he holds to a noble course long enough these virtues become his own -- and he becomes them.
One does not need to die in order to reap the reward of his good. These priceless treasures of integrity are his constant source of strength and well-being. He can draw upon them in every emergency as they give him the power to meet and triumph over every misfortune, vicissitude or disaster.
Money in the bank? Yes. They are that and much, much more. They are the treasures within oneself that fulfill and answer his every urgent need. They increase with use instead of diminishing. They grow brighter and more valuable with usury and the principle and the profits belong to the owner of these divine treasures of heaven -- "The kingdom within."
Anything that is outside of an individual is not his own, though he may lay claim to it in his foolish arrogance. Only the things that have become an actual part of one's self are his own. It is the noble aspirations, the kindly deeds, the unselfish actions, the exalted thoughts that are one's permanent possessions and his only real treasures. One takes on the vibrations of his own burning desires, his intense thought vibrations. He becomes these things as they are stashed away into the living vaults of his own being. These dynamic things he stores into his kingdom of heaven, even the everlasting tones of all that he has done and all that he has thought and felt are his own. These vibrations are the eternal reality of his true possessions.
And so, it may be possible that one is only the owner of all the evils and wickedness he has brought forth in his selfishness and lusts or his slothfulness or hates. Such a one has no bank account to draw upon. He has no treasures to insure him any comfort or happiness either in this world -- or in the world to come. He has only an accumulation of debts encumbered by his unjust actions, his lusts and jealousies and hates, or by his own inert slothfulness. Such a one has mortgaged his soul -- and his debts increase with compounded interest.
The treasures of heaven continually pay their dividends and the one who possesses them constantly reaps their rewards. His every day is enhanced and worthwhile as he draws upon the interest from his treasures to fortify and ennoble his labors even while assuring him of success and honor in all his mortal dealings.
It is not the visible treasures of earth that have any value. And it is certainly not the treasures of this world to which a man can lay permanent claim. A man is only wealthy who has "laid up for himself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through and steal." And where death has no power to pry his fingers loose as he is left clutching nothing but his dismal regrets and an overdue mortgage.
The virtues one develops within himself, the caliber of his mercy, the honesty of his dealings with his fellowmen, the worth of his word, the integrity of his actions, the nobility of his thoughts, these are his treasures as they are laid up in the kingdom of his own heaven, the kingdom within himself. These alone are his. His wealth consists entirely of his virtues.
"Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (because none of these things are your own, regardless of your claims);
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire (of your own soul), that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Rev. 3:17-18).
The gold that is tried in the fire (of a man's own soul)? Yes. That gold is the only wealth any individual can possibly possess permanently. He who possesses such wealth is rich indeed. This wealth, one is invited to purchase from God, is paid for by the golden coins of love as his devotion expands. This wealth is purchased by unselfish actions, by kindness to a neighbor, an acquaintance, a friend -- or better still, an enemy, multiplied and continued and enlarged until every act is noble and beautiful -- and divine. This wealth is purchased by the golden coins of tenderness, by the inspired moments of true prayer, by one's degree of gratitude and in his exulting praise and inner awareness.
These treasures of the soul exalt a man into a noble person of goodness and honor and power. They also release into his hands the keys of abundance as his joys multiply and his happiness increases.
Whatever a man builds into his own character becomes his permanent possession, his indestructible riches, his everlasting treasures of boundless wealth. These treasures are beyond decay and destruction and the reach of thieves.
All worldly treasures, that are accumulated in greed and selfishness and mis-directed energies, are outside of the individual and therefore are not his own. They are treasures he can lay no actual claim to, "For the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." The worldly wealth one may lay claim to cannot possibly become his own. All that is his are the attributes and the selfish desires that were used in acquiring such outside possessions. These treasures of the earth are only a counterfeit, worthless collection of valueless, temporary duration. And for these worthless, impermanent possessions one may have forfeited his own soul.
The only real, lasting treasures are the ones which a man has gathered into himself as he has enriched that divine "Kingdom of heaven -- which is within."
Man has ignored the invitation to lay up for himself treasures in heaven because he believes they are too remote. He thinks they only pertain to and have value in another day -- another life -- another dimension. Man does not realize that the treasures he builds into his own character are his to enjoy and to rejoice in every moment of his present life as he walks with his head held high, unbowed by shame and unencumbered by inferior qualifications.
And the treasures that are of the most value are the kind actions one performs when no record is made of them. They are the actions one does when he believes no one is looking. These are the works that one does in secret, no letting his right hand know what his left hand is doing. This sacred silence means that he can share his deeds with no one, not even the mate of his bosom. If he so much as shares these actions with a living soul he has, in a measure or even fully, reaped his reward from the admiring approval of his fellow man. If he retains his silence he deposits the greatest treasures of all into that divine kingdom of heaven. Such deposits bring the eternal rewards that reach beyond all earthly values.
This silence is also true of those who perform little unworthy, sneaky acts when they think no one is watching. These sneaky little actions are the most detrimental of all to a man's soul. To counteract these weak, immoral inclinations of man the confessionals were established in medieval times. These confessionals hold, at best, only the weak power of a smeared erasure in their effort to surplant virtues for vice. They contain no beneficent value whatsoever unless they establish living virtues within the heart of the penetant.
Within each man is the kingdom, or the bank, into which his merits are deposited. In the next world a man is not judged by his possessions or his learning or by his earthly honors or positions. A man is judged by what he IS. What he is is the only measure of valuation. He STANDS FORTH the sum total of all that he has thought and felt and done. He is nothing more and nothing less. And his virtues are his own -- and he is them.
"The white raiment," which man is counseled to buy of God, that the shame of his nakedness or worthlessness may not appear," is the great Christ Light as it is brought forth from within. Those who develop and release this "Light of Christ, which has been given to abide in every man who cometh into the world," will be clothed in its glory. And they will belong henceforth to the great Brotherhood of Light, the holy anointed ones who are Christ's true followers.
That apparel of effulgent power and beauty is brought forth from within as one "begins to lay up for himself his treasures in heaven." That glorified white raiment is the outflowing interest that accrues from one's deposits, made in love and gratitude and praise.
These treasures of heaven are the divine gifts and qualities a man develops as he releases the hidden, God-given potentialities within himself and actually becomes them. These are the treasures indeed -- the everlasting, glorious gifts of God. These are the gifts and powers that God holds forth to all. They are all in His plan as He waits patiently for man to accept them.
In God's holy Will the unfolding plan of glory and perfection and eternal joy and everlasting happiness and unimaginable power works out for the individual's complete fulfilment. This will be accomplished whenever the individual opens his mind and heart to comprehend and begins to co-operate. Or when he "anoints his eyes with eyesalve that he might begin to see" -- "with eyes single to the glory of God!"
The perfect plan for every man's unfolding is contained within the man himself. He lays up these unspeakable powers and gifts as his mind opens to behold them and as he develops them and thus permanently establishes them within himself in complete awareness.
"For it is given to abide in you, the record of heaven, the peaceable things of immortal glory; the Comforter; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, and maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things and hath all power."
These unspeakable powers are contained within the individual and are brought forth with the Light of Christ and with the comprehension and development of that sacred, divine Seed of God as man brings forth this most holy of all gifts. Within the divine Will of God is contained the perfection of every child of earth. When a man can so lift his will that it blends with God's holy Will his love will be perfected. When, in complete relinquishment, one can truthfully say, "Not my will, but thine be done!" His love will be proved and his own fulfilment be accomplished.
In, and through, the gift of love the power of faith is fulfilled and becomes knowledge. In and through love all things are transmuted into their highest excellence. By love man himself is transformed and translated from a grubby, earth-bound mortal into a true son, clothed in everlasting light.
Prove your love by blending your will into the holy Will of God and by such devotion you can easily purchase the gold tried in the fire and the white raiment and all the gifts and powers ever promised or given unto the children of men. And they will become your own.
Within that holy spark or Seed of God that lies dormant within man is held His complete Will and the full perfection of His divine plan for the individual's complete fulfilment and everlasting glory. Every virtue established within is only the awakening of those inner traits of splendor as one brings forth that divine, immaculate Conception contained right within himself -- his own inborn divinity.
As one begins to store up for himself treasures in heaven he will soon realize the power and speed with which they multiply and accumulate is astonishingly, almost overwhelmingly gratifying. He will soon be able to sit back and watch himself grow into his own truest excellence. He will discover that he is indeed the treasure house of all that is beautiful and worthy and desirable. He will know that the pure gold, which is the only gold to which he can ever rightly lay claim, is the gold that has been tried in the purging fires within his own soul. And the white raiment, which is purchased with the golden coins of his own devotion, is the glorified Christ Light as it is brought forth to completely enfold him.
Rejoice in these great, dynamic treasures of fulfilment as heaven yields its wealth and its unlimited interest -- an hundred-fold! Yea! More!
As one stores up the lasting treasures, that cannot be destroyed or stolen or forfeited by death, he will know of the priceless value of these divine gifts and will walk in the majesty and the security and the power of their strength. Such a one will know the value of the true wealth and receive the everlasting riches and be "arrayed as even Solomon, in all his glory, never dreamed of being." He will be arrayed in Light, or the white raiment of everlasting achievement and worth and power.
Such a one will be himself, without shame or pretense as he STANDS FORTH, endowed with the treasures of divinity and perfection enfolding him -- a glorified son of God!
"Labor not for the things that perish," or for worldly wealth. He who labors for the things of this world is not laboring for God. Neither is he laboring for himself, as he has mistakenly believed. He is spending his time and his strength and his energies to labor for mammon, or for the world. And mammon will reap the fruits of his labors as he is finally required to relinquish the last worthless farthings of his life's efforts and returns them back to their original source -- the earth.
A man is required to live honorably, to live up to his obligations to society, to keep himself and his loved ones fed and cared for and supplied with the necessities of life. This is required of him. And this he may do. No one has the right to expect others to feed and clothe him and supply his needs. For-shame to those who believe they have the right to live on the physical labors of their fellowmen as they store up their hoards of wealth. It is when one's worldly acquisitions begin to take over his life and his mind and his affections that an individual reaches the danger point where his soul relinquishes its right of supremacy and becomes the slave of his greeds and evils as he serves mammon. He is no longer free. No longer has he time or understanding to labor for the everlasting treasures, which alone can become his own.
As one uses his spare time, not to think up new ways to make more money, but to serve and worship God, he is laying up for himself the treasures within the kingdom of himself. Then it is that mammon finally loses its claim. That man who worships God with all his heart, all his mind and with all his soul will be released from the earthly demands and requirements, "So that all things will begin to be added unto him, and he will no longer need to labor for the things that perish," for food and clothing and shelter and the physical needs of the flesh. Such a progressing one will be released from the earthly demands and requirements for he will have overcome the earth and all things pertaining to it.
Every true and lasting treasure of worth belongs to him who lays up the eternal virtues of patience, goodness, kindness, compassion, virtue, tolerance, mercy, generosity, understanding and dynamic, everlasting love within his own heart. These divine treasures are much more than words. They are the true realities. They are the immortal treasures of timeless value. They are infinite and endless. They are more than thoughts and habits and desires. These are released, living vibrations which continually flow out from the very inner essence of a man's own being as they become indestructibly established within. These are the MAN in his fulness and completion as he steps forth clothed in the light and radiance of his own divine fulfilment. These are his treasures.
As one, thus arrayed in the divine vibrations of glory, steps across into the higher realms, he by-passes all inferior groups and levels and is ushered instantly into the highest -- or the exalted dominion of his own merits. He takes his treasures with him. They are himself. And none can claim such treasures except he who has earned them.
Treasures in heaven? Yes. Virtues of beauty and power and everlasting glory -- these alone are his own. And he is them. These are not the sham, counterfeit virtues of the hypocrite who spends his life and time in deceiving himself and others with his sanctimonious self-righteousness. This is the true righteousness which is established by emotions and thoughts and actions and eternal love as one worships and adores, with eyes single to the glory of God.
Man, "lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves cannot break through and steal, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also." If your treasures are within the kingdom of yourself you will be rich indeed and no individual or power will ever be able to rob you of your wealth. It will be your own and you will become the divine being of your true self as your own pattern of divinity is completed and fulfilled.
The gold one is invited to purchase of God, that he may be rich, is the spiritual gold that has been tried in the fires of his own divine soul. This gold, when purified and stilled, becomes the pool of glory, the mirror that reflects out into the universal substance the vision or desire a man images into it. This is the gift of imagination perfected into its highest excellence and full purpose of functioning. This pool of pure, spiritual gold, at the center of the soul, as explained in Temple of God, must become stilled with the inner stillness. "Be still and know that I Am God!"
This is the stillness that is expressed in the divine, holy gift of peace -- "The peace that passeth understanding." This is the peace God offered to the world with the gift of His Son. This is the peace Christ reaffirmed as He offered it in His last, gentle words, "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you." His gifts are always from within. That divine gift of peace is established when love and faith become active. And in the great inner stillness the divine, superb peace is perfected.
When one reaches this point of peace he is no longer disturbed by any outside happenings. He remains unruffled, unaffected and undismayed by all outside confusion and turmoil. They never touch him.
In this peace, the gold that has been tried in the fires of his own soul, is completely stilled and purified so that it reflects only the pure image of his desires. This is rayed out to reflect the pattern of his thoughts into the great universal substance of "things hoped for." And that substance or material takes tangible form to fulfill every need, supply every want and fulfill every desire.
Anyone who has become so spiritualized he can use these divine powers of creation without having the image marred and distorted by greeds and evils and selfishness and discords has the gold that is completely purified. This is the gold that has been tried in the fires of his own soul. This is the real wealth. This is the power of creation as one learns to use it humbly, joyfully and in singing gratitude and eternal praise.
With this wealth always at hand one does not need to store up the corruptible treasures of earth.
This gold is the literal "pot of gold at the rainbow's end," described in Secrets of Eternity. This is the pure gold that is found when one can stand in the midst of his heartbreaks, amid the floods of the tempests of his life and lets the sun shine through the rain of his tears as a smile is called forth, in love and gratitude, to dispel the gloom and eradicate the threats of submersion. This is the power of eternal triumph over mortal disasters and storms as the spiritual gold reflects one's highest hopes and most noble aspirations and converts them into glorious realities. This is boundless wealth. This is power unlimited. This is God's power in action.