Suffering is a part of every earth experience. There are none of us who can escape it entirely. While there are many reasons for our suffering, they can all be grouped into three main classes: The suffering that comes from the reactions to our own actions, committed in this life; The suffering that comes from our own acts, committed in a past life (karma); The Suffering that is caused by the acts of others, for which we are in no way responsible.

The suffering that comes to us from the first cause is a result of the Law of Consequences. It is a direct result of our causing suffering to others. As the Nazarene said, "With what measure ye mete, so shall it be measured to you again.

When we do that which creates suffering to another, we set into motion a reaction which must, in time, return to us and cause similar suffering, though not necessarily by the same individuals.

There are many subtle, and not so subtle, ways that we may cause suffering to another by our thoughts alone: by holding grudges against him; by being jealous; by thoughts of bitterness or resentment held toward him; or even, by our lack of responsiveness to his kindnesses.

While our thoughts have the power to hurt, our words can be even more damaging, for example: by saying unkind things to others, friend or foe; by spreading evil reports; or by innuendo, insinuation and subtle suggestions of discredit.

Much of the suffering we experience comes from the reactions of such common activities. As we come to truly understand the Law however, we will attempt to put such thoughts and verbal expressions aside, not so much because we fear their consequences but because our love of good is so strong that we do not want to do anything that would bring sorrow to another.

The results of the second cause of suffering are similar to those mentioned, only the causes are more difficult to trace since they lie in past incarnations.

Suffering from the third cause, that in which we are in no way responsible, should be considered as an investment rather than a punishment or the paying of a debt. It is like accepting a note from us. We have the note, but he has the cash. However, in due time he must pay the amount of the note to us, along with the accrued interest.

Since it is usually very difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain which of these three possibilities is the cause of any specific suffering, we should learn to accept all suffering with humility, patience and forbearance.

The best example we have of how to manage suffering comes from the life of the Nazarene. No matter what he had to suffer, he always bore it with patience, without a word of complaint, as though he was meeting something that was his due. Yet, for every agony he went through, he received greater power to do good, and greater strength to sustain him.

From his life we see that no one is exempt from suffering as long as they are on this earth plane. The spiritually advanced frequently suffer as much as does the most unenlightened. Perhaps even more so, since their sensibilities are more refined and tender.

The earth plane is a training school. There are many lessons we have to learn during our sojourn here. Some of the most difficult, but also the most beneficial and effective are taught through suffering. It is not for us to know from whence the suffering comes, but it is for us to know that it is wise to accept all of it in harmony with the law of love.
Posted 8-21-03 Removed 11-10-03
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Over the last few centuries the Old World has been held in the deadly, tenacious grasp of a most dangerous and destructive force. This dominating power is the benignly perceived but insidiously ruinous weakness - inertia.

During its formative years, America was free of this failing. However, beginning with the 20th century, this beguiling influence has also "infected" our great nation as well. While this "disease" was only recently introduced here, we have embraced it wholeheartedly and are now a country blighted by those most accursed of all beings - drones and parasites.

This Soul-destroying influence of inertia not only affects the mass but unfortunately, many Neophytes as well and has retarded, if not entirely nullified, much of their progress both materially and spiritually.

We are now entering the last days of the Old dispensation and the scythes of the Avenging Angels are being sharpened for the final strokes necessary to complete the separation of the "wheat" from the "tares." Those who have been deceived by this most subtle of passions must, at this late hour, bestir themselves or be left behind. In the New renaissance inertia will be considered unacceptable by all noble men and women.
Posted 11-10-03 Removed 12-1-03
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"Mind Is the connecting link with the Superior Intelligence and there is no limit to the amount of intelligence the individual may draw upon. Solomon was able to answer all questions and solve all problems by reason of being in tune with that Infinite Intelligence. Just as we are able to plug in appliances to the all but limitless electrical energy supplied by a distant generator, so is the human personality, through the link of the mind, able to tap the all-pervading energy of the Universe.

"The closer the mind is attuned to God, the greater the capacity to attain to consciousness (the Awareness of God) and the greater the degree of Consciousness, the greater is the degree of Immortality of the personality or Soul."
Posted 12-1-03 Removed 1-5-04
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"We all have our origin in this universal sea of life. The formless form is there to be shaped by ourselves as we desire. Harmony is the ideal manifestation of the Infinite, and the more we bring ourselves into harmony with the laws of life and of God, the more will we become at-one with Him."
Posted 1-5-04 Removed 2-8-04
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Why is the study of yourself so important? Because you are a mysterious combination of a body - mind - spirit - and a Soul. The command to Know Thyself, is the command to study the complete and entire being. You are not to study the body alone, as do the anatomists - you are not to study the mind alone as do the psychologists - or the spirit alone as do the Spiritualists. No, the command to Know Thyself means to study your entire being, and learn the mystery of life, and the great mystery surrounding you.

I do not deny the fact tht the anatomist does learn many things from the study of the physical body. I do not deny the fact that the psychologist does learn many useful things from the sutdy of themind, nor can I deny the fact that the spiritualists and religious ones learn many useful and interesting things from the study of the Spirit of Man. But it is only in the study of the entire human being that you learn the Mystery of Life, the seat of understanding, and the source of wisdom.
Posted 2-8-04 Removed: 4-8-04
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To know the truth and to face it,is to abolish fear. We really fear only the unknown. We fear sickness because the reason for it is not rightly placed and seldom known. Once we now the cause, we can remove it - there is nothing t fear. We are afraid of poverty because the reason for it is unknown, being unknown it cannot be removed. Once we find the cause, there is no longer reason for fear.

It is thus so all along the walks of life. Life and its results are a mystery to most of us, consequently we are in constant fear. When we come to comprehend the possibility of becoming one with the source of all that is, then only are we beginning to live and, one by one, all the things we looked upon as evil will pass us by, and life will take on the hues of the beautiful and desirable.
Posted: 3-8-04 Removed 4-3-04
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When the soul of man, the Divine Spark, entered into the body of flesh, it became a seed covered with earth. Unlike the seed in the realm of nature...the soul seed cannot grow except through positive, continuous effort. Through an irresistible urge it forsakes evil when it learns the nature of evil, and as definitely adopts the good, thereby working in harmony with Divine Law.

The Soul came from a world of Light, from the storehouse of God, where all is Light, into a body of darkness. Now and then it sees a glimmer of Light, and intuitively feels that there is a way to find it. This thought becomes an urge and gives him no rest.

This ebb and flow of the urge upward and onward occurs to every man. Resolutions are made and broken times without number. He drops back with discouragement only to start forward again at the call of his mind, or reason. All this means growth. It is experience.
Posted 4-3-04 Removed 5-4-04
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In a lecture delivered by the Rev. Dr. Gerald E. Poesnecker, he listed the following as the attributes most detrimental to all spiritual growth:

1. Judging: We can never walk in another's moccasins. So we can never know another's motives. Therefore we ought not judge.

2. Blaming: Everything that comes to us is either payment for past deeds or points to our credit for the future. Blame no one, not even yourself.

3. Resentment: This is the cancer of emotions. It actually causes physical illness. It comes from a misunderstanding of Divine Law and a lack of faith. Those whom we resent are our sandpaper, our greatest helpers. They bring us the opportunity to overcome our weaknesses. We ought to accept them and bless them.

4. Self-pity: This is the most destructive of all. It is self-generated, insidious and results in ultimate negativity. It is usually caused by one or more of the first three.

All of these traits need to be eliminated if we are to progress spiritually.
Posted: 5-4-04 Removed 6-6-04
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The Kingdom of Heaven can be ours only when we obey Divine Law as we are conscious of it and are one with, or at peace with our conscience. We must obey the law without a thought of what others may think or say; at the same time being certain that we grant them the same freedom of thought and worship, least we become persecutors and enemies of the Laws of God and the Freedom of Men.
Posted 6-6-04 Removed 7-9-04
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The Soul came from a world of Light, from the storehouse of God, where all is Light, into a body of darkness. Now and then it sees a glimmer of Light, and intuitively feels that there is a way to find it. This thought becomes an urge and gives him no rest.

The ebb and flow of the urge upward and onward occurs to every man. Resolutions are made and broken times without number. He drops back with discouragement only to start forward again at the call of his mind, or reason. All this means growth. It is experience.
Posted 7-9-04 Removed 8-4-04
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We are made in the image of God. He is the ultimate creator, but we have the ability and power to create using the same forces He does. This is our destiny. This is the reason for life and our gift of free will. No man can be truly happy if he is not fulfilling his reason for returning to this Earth. The Biblical story of the talents demonstrates this very well. He who will use the talents given him by the Creator to the fullest will be rewarded with even more talents and opportunities. This is the simple fundamental working of the Divine Law.

To be happy we must create whatever we came to Earth to create. This may be a book, a painting, a bridge or a new rose. The creation is up to the individual, and God in His wisdom, knowing that the world needs many things, has given His children a wide variety of talents to help enrich His Creation. The particular talent is not the important part; the effort is; the fulfillment of the dream is.
Posted 8-4-04 RemovedL 9-7-04
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"Imagination is mind at play, builder and destroyer of all form in the real world. We go to sleep reveling in it, and waken to at once take it up. That it may be working an injury we never consider, hence, unless reason and a determined will control it, ti drifts at will among the shoals and rocks of fear, pride, grief, disease, accident, the worst forms of evil and degenerate thought, bringing death to the soul and body.

"The Student must be impressed with the danger of allowing the imagination to drift idly, on negative or evil lines, and aroused to the necessity of beign master of this most important adjunct of youth.

..."'The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts,' their dreams are far reaching and have a lasting influence upon the whole after life, because the delicate tissues are plastic. Beware than of the sort of imagery for which the mind is used, for by it a man or woman may be made or ruined. Death or invalidism, poverty and failure may be wrought by this faculty, or glorious achievements, mighty orations, splendid possibilities or dreams come true.

"Be masters of imagination and not mastered by it, thus becoming a blessing to all mankind, inspired and using powerfully, for good, this gift of God. Every achievement of man was first brought forth in his imagination before he wrought it in reality. God has given in every soul His own image, therefore imagination must be considered a holy thing, and of mighty soul building power."
Posted: 9-7-04 Removed: 1-6-05
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"Jesus taught this principle of Truth. He taught men the mighty force of Love, Unity, and good fellowship. He taught men that only from good works could they reap a good harvest. His idea of Divinity, His daily ministrations proved it to be Love, Understanding and Purity. We cannot lie to our spirit. Every vibration sends forth a record of each deed, good or bad, which we commit. Love of Truth, of God-likeness, of beneficence to our fellowmen, opens the door to the Unfoldment of the Christ WITHIN us. Every vibration accumulated and concentrated bears fruit of its own kind.

Every human being has a part of Divinity WITHIN him. It is his spirit, his own Creator, the speck that created him, and through every day of his life is still creating. All that we live in or draw to us we have created."
Posted: 1-6-05 Removed 8-13-05
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The real road to happiness can be given in a single sentence. People are so constructed that they derive their greatest happiness and pleasure not so much from the capture, BUT FROM THE CHASE.

Eureka! Here is the answer! We are not supposed to gain our greatest satisfaction from the attainment of our goal!

Does this principle of goals apply as well to the spiritual world? It certainly does. As a wise man once said, "As you approach your goal, it continues to recede." Why? For the same reasons as in the material world. Were we able to find any lasting peace of contentment in the spiritual world we, as in the temporal, would tend to cease all future efforts.
This is not to be.

It is not within the Laws of our Creator, who wants us to constantly strive for greater and greater perfection. Here too, however, we are not denied happiness or contentment, but as in the material world, it must be extracted from the GAME and not from the SOLUTION.
Posted 8-13-05 Removed 3-5-06
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"As an event, the birth of Jesus, or the Nazarene, coming at the beginning of a new age or cycle, had a peculiar significance; but the physical birth, though important as a vehicle for the Soul of the Christ to be, is not to be confused with the birth of the Christos.

This Christ Birth in the broader sense has no connection with time or place, But denotes Soul Illumination; the coming into spiritual Consciousness of the Soul. The Nazarene was the exemplar, so that all men might believe and follow Him. There was but one ‘Jesus,' or son of the flesh, born in Bethlehem, in whom a Christ should manifest, but there is a potential Christos, or Divine Spark, in everyone destined to become Immortal.

The Nazarene received His training and discipline through God's appointed agents, the Essenes, or men of God, before attaining Christhood or Soul Consciousness...

The realization of the potentialities of the Divine Spark or Christos becomes the possession of the seeker for spiritual things, call this being ‘saved' or Soul Conscious, only as he awakens to its need and desirability; expresses a willingness to seek Soul Illumination, and diligently, yea, gladly, follows in the path of the Nazarene by living accordingly.

To find the Christ who became the Son of God, or to attain Illumination, is to become conscious of an actual contact by the Soul with God. This is fully revealed in the statement made by the Nazarene after He had become God-Conscious, or the Christ: ‘I and the Father are one.'

The Nazarene came but for one purpose, to manifest the Light, so that others might follow it and be free. This is made clear by the statement: ‘Christ is the Light that cometh out of darkness.'

Out of darkness - the flesh - must be born the Light so that it may ‘Light every man that cometh into the world.' When this happens, such men will no longer follow the Herods of the world, but the Light of the world, and there will be no place for egomaniacs, nor will the followers of the Light permit them to bring death and destruction to humanity as now happens."
Posted 3-5-06 Removed 7-5-06
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"The son of man, the creature of flesh we think of as highest in God's creation, must become changed, transmuted and regenerated before he can become Illuminated and the Son of God.

Men fail to comprehend that the mystery of the resurrection in whomsoever it develops, whether in the Carpenter of Nazareth, ot the humblest aspirant of the present day, always takes place at the exact moment of the awakening of the mind and Soul into a new life and activity on the spiritual plane of being.

Not until men are able to free themselves of the habit of thinking only fearful, doubtful, carnal, malicious and other destructive thoughts, and instead begin to aspire for an ideal and constructive life, can the Soul be aroused and begin to build toward this end, the attainment of Soul Illumination.

It is written that when the Nazarene's disciples turned their gaze away from eart and toward heaven they were able to see the Divine vision and hear a voice proclaiming: ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven , shall to come in like manner, as ye have seen Him go into Heaven.

We must ‘look upward,' that is, we must raise or elevate our thoughts and desires. In this way we will lift ourselves up; That is, we will thereby regenerate our entire being. Then will the savior (the saving power) and the Holy Ghost (the Spiritual Light) come upon us; for is it not written; "For unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin (free from all that is debased unto salvation."
Posted 7-5-06
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