Chapter XXII

The next morning we left the village with only Emil and Jast accompanying us, our objective being the village we had decided upon for our winter quarters. The winters in this part of the country are quite severe and we felt that we wished to make certain of comfortable quarters before the cold spell set in. In this as in a great many other matters our fears were not well grounded for when we arrived we found comfortable quarters all ready for us.

Our trail from the village led across the plateau, then up a long winding canyon to the divide where the second fortified village that guarded the plateau we had crossed was located. The canyon walls were from two hundred to five hundred feet perpendicular and joined the mountains which rose to an elevation of two thousand feet above the crest where the trail crossed the divide. At the top of the divide two great rock ridges jutted up on either side of a level space about five acres in extent. These two ridges were about six hundred feet apart. A wall forty feet high had been built across the open space, thus connecting the two ridges of rock and forming an effectual barrier.  This wall was sixty feet wide at the bottom and thirty feet wide at the top and was so constructed that the top formed a runway over which huge rocks could be rolled, then dropped to the ground on  the outer side of the wall where the ground sloped sharply and connected with a steep declivity, down which the trail passed on the way to the other side of the divide.

There were chutes arranged along the wall at intervals of one hundred feet so that the  rocks would gain headway enough to clear the base of the wall before they struck the ground. When they did strike they would roll down the slope, then over the declivity and on down the canyon for about four miles before they would stop, if they did not fly into pieces from their own momentum. In all, this formed an effectual defense, as the canyon was not over fifty feet wide at any place in the four miles, and it was steep enough to give great momentum to the rolling rocks. There were also two places on each side of the canyon where rocks could be loosened and would roll down. These places were   connected by trails cut along the mountain side from each end of the wall. There were a number or rocks, each about twelve feet through, placed along the top of the wall ready  for an emergency. We were told that it had not been found necessary to use any of them,  as there was but one tribe that had ever attempted to gain access to the village uninvited, and this tribe had been all but annihilated by rocks released from the four stations in the canyon walls. The first rocks released in their downward course had released others until an avalanche swept down the valley, carrying all before it. We were told the rocks on top of the wall had rested where they were for over two thousand years, as there had not been a war in that country during that time.

We fond that the six houses comprising the village were built into the wall, three stories high, with the roofs level with the top of the wall. Access to it was thus gained by stairways leading up through each story to the roof of each house. Openings for windows were left in the wall at the third story. These windows overlooked the canyon below.

The trail could be seen from these windows and the top of the wall, as it wound around the mountain side, miles away.

We were made comfortable for the night in the third story of one of these houses and,  after an early dinner, we went to the roof to see the sunset. We had been there but a few moments when a man apparently fifty years of age came up the stairs to the roof. After being introduced by Jast he joined in the conversation. We soon found he lived in the village we had selected for our winter quarters and was on his way there. We supposed he was traveling as we were and invited him to join our party. He thanked us and said he   was able to make the distance much more quickly than we could, that he had stopped in the village to see a relative, and would be home that evening. The conversation then  turned to the temple the three of us had visited with Emil and Jast. This man spoke   quietly and said, “I saw you sitting on the parapet of the temple that night.” Then he went on and gave the dream or vision just as it came to me and as it has been set forth in this book. This came as a surprise to me and my associates as I had not mentioned the occurrence to them. This man was a perfect stranger to us, yet he recounted the dream as vividly as it had appeared to me.

Then he went on to say, “You were shown just what we are shown, that man comes forth in unity just as long as he has consciously realized this and used the power and dominion rightly; but the moment he, in his mortal self, conceived dual powers, he began to see dual, he misused this power, and brought forth duality, for man is a free will agent and brings forth that which he gazes upon. Then diversity and wide separation resulted and this has followed him all over the earth. But a change is coming. Diversity has about reached its limit and mankind is recognizing that all came forth from the one Source.

Recognizing this, men are now coming closer and closer together. Man is beginning to realize that every other man is his brother instead of his enemy. When man does fully realize this, he will see that just as all came from the one Source, all must return to that Source or become as brothers in reality. Then he will be in heaven and will recognize that heaven means the inner peace and harmony created by man right here on earth. He will then see that he makes his heaven or hell just as he chooses. This heaven has been conceived rightly but misplaced geographically. He will know that God dwells within   him and not only within him but in everything about him, every rock, every tree, every plant, every flower, and every created thing; that God is in the very air he breathes, the water he drinks, the money he spends; that God is the substance of all things. When he breathes, he breathes God as much as he does air; when he partakes of food, he partakes  of God as much as he does of food.

“It is not our wish to form new cults, or sects. We feel that the churches that are established today are sufficient and they are the logical centers to reach out and help the people to the realization of God, through the Christ in all. Those associated with the churches must realize that the church but typifies the one thing, the Christ Consciousness in all mankind. If they realize this, where can the diversity lie but in the concept of man’s mortal mind and not in the church? Wherein then is one church or society different from another? The diversity thought to exist today must be wholly in man’s mortal mind. See what this diversity has led to, the great wars, the intense hate engendered between nations and families and even individuals, and all because one church organization or another has thought that its creed or doctrine was better than that of another. Yet all in reality are the same for they all lead to the same place. It would not be possible for each to have a heaven of its own; for if it did, when a fellow man finished with his particular brand of church organization and was ready to receive his reward, he would be obliged to spend  the remainder of his existence looking through the maze of heavens for the particular one he is destined for. The church organizations and those associated with them are coming closer each day and the time will come when they will be united as one. When all are as one, there will be no need of organization.

“Yet the fault does not lie wholly with church organizations. Few people have awakened to the realization of what life really holds for them. We find the greater majority drifting through life, dissatisfied, dazed, crushed, or uncertain. Each must learn to lay hold of life and begin to express, from his own life center, with purposeful, definite action, the gifts that God has given him. Each must unfold his own life. It is not possible for one to live  for another. No one can express your life for you and none can say how you must express your own life. `As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given unto the Son to have life in Himself.’ A soul cannot realize this and just drift, for the whole purpose of life reveals itself in the privilege and opportunity of expressing the God self within. That man is and shall be the divine image and likeness of Himself is God’s purpose for man. To express that which God has conceived for him should be man’s great purpose in life.

When Jesus was on the mountain top and His disciples came to Him, see what words of wisdom He spoke unto them. His consciousness was awakened to this realization and He had become established in this high resolve, that man can unfold in the fullness of power only when he has a true ideal, a real purpose in life. A seed can begin to grow only when it is firmly fixed in the ground. The God power within can bring forth a true desire only when it is firmly fixed in the soul of man. We must all know, as Jesus did, that the first spiritual impulse toward expression is the definite desire to express.

“Jesus said, `Blessed be the poor in spirit,’ realizing that any limitation in life that can create a desire in the individual to rise superior to the limitation and free himself from it    is good. He realized that need is the prophecy of fulfillment. He looked upon every need  as soil prepared for a seed. If the seed were planted, then allowed to grow and come forth, it would fill the need. Need or desire, in the unfoldment of life, is misunderstood. That it must be crushed out of the heart is taught by some great teachers. Jesus said, `Woe unto you who are satisfied.’ If you are satisfied, you are at a standstill. In order to contact life fully, we must seek each moment to express life fully. Desire for this is the urge toward   it. Weary of crawling in the dust of the earth, man yearns to fly, and this longing invites him to find the manifestation of law that will enable him to rise above his present limitations. Finding it, he is able to go where he will, without thought of time or distance. It has been said that man proposes and God disposes. The reverse is true, for God  proposes and man disposes; if man is so disposed, he can do all that God does. Cannot    the Son do what the Father has done?

“The failure of outer things to satisfy leads the soul to seek the power within. Then the individual may discover that I AM, he may know that within him lies all power to satisfy the soul, to fulfill its every need and desire. This knowledge may not come until the individual is driven by the buffetings of the world to seek this inner plane of peace and calm. When he knows I AM is the fulfillment of his desire, the desire is filled. To look outside the God self for the fulfillment of his desire is folly. To unfold, the self must do the unfolding.

“Then what a realization, what an awakening to know the I AM; to know that within is  the power, substance, and intelligence from which all forms take form; and to know that the moment a definite and true idea of desire can be intelligently formed, the power, intelligence, and substance of spirit must flow to it and bring it forth. Are these not treasures in heaven that we have not beheld? Here, in the unformed, lie boundless treasures hid within ourselves. How clear this is to the one that has found the pearl. Then think, `Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (right-use-ness) and all these things shall be added unto you.’ The reason they are added is that they are made out of the very essence of Spirit. The consciousness must first find the Spirit before it can form the desired thing.

“The awakened one perceives the creative principle within; then he sees and his  realization is his life opportunity. He has a vision or becomes aware of his possibilities or the possibilities that lie before him. With the knowledge that the creative power lies within, he recalls his heart’s desire; this becomes an ideal, or mold, that draws forth   power and substance to fill the mold. I SEE is the soul’s conception; it is the Promised Land, the dream come true, toward which the soul may look in faith. Although it may not yet be consciously possessed, it must come forth into visible form as he fulfills the law. A wilderness of experiences may have to be met and overcome. This but makes the soul worthy of atonement. Understanding the vision as a Land of Promise, an ideal that is to   be realized or to become real, the soul now sees only the good, the object of its desire.

Here there must be no doubt, no wavering, no hesitation, for this would be fatal. One must be true to the vision and press on. This vision is typical and as necessary as the plans and specifications of a building. One must be as true to the vision as the builder is true to the plans and specifications the architect has furnished. All but the truth must be eliminated.

“All great souls are true to their vision. Everything brought forth was first a vision, a seed idea planted in the soul, then allowed to expand and come forth. These souls never allow the unbelief of others to influence them. They are willing to sacrifice for their vision, they are true to it, they believe in it, and it is to them as they believe. Jesus remained true and steadfast to His vision. He adhered to His plan, even when those nearest and dearest to Him were unbelieving and untrue. It was unto Him as He believed and it is so unto all.

“When the individual starts for the Promised Land, the land of darkness must be   forsaken, forgotten. He must leave the darkness and start toward the light. It is impossible to go and stay at the same time. The old must be forsaken, the new adhered to. He must forget the things he does not wish to remember and remember only the things he wishes   to retain. One is as essential as the other. The vision only must be remembered if he  wishes it fulfilled. He must remember by holding in mind the vision he wishes to reproduce. He must disremember or refuse to remember the thing he does not wish to reproduce. Every idea, thought, word, or act must be true to the vision in order to bring it forth. This is true concentration, the concentration of devotion, the centering of the forces upon the essential. This is loving the ideal. It is only through love that an ideal can be given expression. Love makes the ideal become the real.

“If at first he fails, he must be determined and press on. This is the exercise of the will,  the cry of self-confidence, the expression of faith directing the power toward the ideal. This ideal could never be attained without this conscious direction of power, this exercise of the will; and yet it would be fatal to the ideal if the will, too, were not ideal. The will must possess the same quality as the ideal to serve. If the will does not possess the desire to serve, the power the will wishes to direct cannot be released from the soul. THE WILL TO BE SERVED TURNS THE LIFE CURRENT AGAINST SELF. THE WILL TO SERVE KEEPS THE LIFE CURRENT FLOWING THROUGH SELF AND KEEPS THE SELF IN RADIATION. To serve gives purpose to vision; it releases love in life. How can love be expressed unless it flows through the one expressing life? If it flows through the consciousness, the whole organism responds; it thrills every cell with the love it expresses. Then the body becomes harmonized; the soul becomes radiant; the mind becomes enlightened; the thought becomes keen, brilliant, alive, definite; the word becomes positive, true, constructive; the flesh is renewed, purified and quickened; affairs are adjusted and all things assume their true position. The I AM is expressed through the ME and the ME is no longer allowed to suppress the I AM. If the body is not obedient to Spirit, how can it express the Spirit? The conscious mind must seek and want the Spirit in order to learn the power of the Spirit. In this way the individual learns to know that Spirit is the fulfillment of the need. In no way can it be given higher expression than when it is allowed to fill the need of others. It is the flowing forth to others that opens the   storehouse of Spirit. It is the `I will to serve’ that opens the unlimited storehouse of God   to all and brings its realization to the soul.

“The soul has returned to the Father’s house as soon as it has willed to serve. The prodigal who is serving becomes the feasted son; the hireling feeding on the husks becomes the prince of a royal household, the household of his own possibilities. He knows the love of God and understands and appropriates his Father’s gift. None but a son can receive this gift. No servant, no hireling can enter into the joy of the son’s inheritance. The servant is always seeking to attain; the son has already inherited all that the Father has. When we know that we belong to the Father’s household and that we are heir to all that the Father has, then we can begin to live as the Father wishes us to live. `Behold now are we Sons of God.’ The Son consciousness causes the fulfillment; the servant consciousness causes the lack. We will find every desire of the heart fulfilled by the Father as soon as we act the  part of the Son in thought, word, and deed. We will find that the Sons of God are free.”

Here the speaker arose, bade us goodnight and, with the remark that he hoped to see us when we arrived at winter quarters, departed.

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