POSTSCRIPT

　Your world is concerned with bodies. We are concerned with spirits that have to express themselves through bodies. If the spirit is expressing itself properly, all will go well with the body, for matter is always the servant, not the master. Spirit is king and matter is subject.

　This truth has illumined your life and made all the difference. You have found yourself. It has brought you knowledge and an understanding that cannot be assessed in earthly language or even material wealth.

　This is an abiding truth. The knowledge of this reality is the key that unlocks all the riddles and enables everything to fall into its proper place. It is not what affects the body which is so important but what touches the soul. We can never say to you that no problems will cross your path, no difficulties will arise, or that you will encounter no obstacles or handicaps. That would be untrue.

　Earthly life is a struggle in which inner perfection seeks to express itself through imperfection, in which the gold seeks to drive out the dross. Difficulties, problems and obstacles and handicaps are the essential milestones on the road of spiritual unfoldment and attainment. If the prizes of the spirit were easily attained they would not be worth having. Self-discipline, self-mastery, self-illumination, self-unfoldment, these are the prizes to be earned, but no one can come by them easily. There is no royal road.

　It is through struggle and strife, through finding light when you have been in the shadows, appreciating the sun-shine because you have endured the stormーit is only thus that the soul comes into its own. As correspondingly low as man sinks so correspondingly high can he rise. There could be no Mount of Transfiguration without the Garden of Gethsemane. What happened to the Nazarene is in essence what happens to every human earthly life. Defeat and victory are both essential, for how can you know victory unless you have tasted defeat?

　I am trying very hard to put in nutshell form the aphorisms of the spirit which have strict application to daily life. This is not abstruse philosophy. It is very practical spiritual teaching, which teaches you how to derive from life all that it has to offer. The satisfaction is an inner serenity and radiance, an inner tranquillity and confidence because the soul is coming into its own. When the soul is aware of this, you have found yourself and you have found the Great Spirit. Then life's pinpricks will not touch you, you will have access to that tremendous armoury of the spirit which can sustain you at all times.

　There is no problem so great that you do not possess the power to solve it, no burden so heavy that you do not possess the power to carry it. These are truths which I have tried to instil into you and others. Because I know that once they have obtained a lodgment within you, you are so well armed that nothing will daunt you. The power of the spirit is very mighty, but it can flow only where the means allow it to do so. You are the channels.

　You give us the channels and we will see that the power flows through you and through others. You give us the willing heart and mind and soul that aspire to serve and you are providing conditions by which that majestic power of the spirit can flow. And as it flows through you, it always leaves behind that deposit, which stimulates your own life. There is nothing in this world of matter that can touch your soul in any way unless you allow it so to do.

　You have learnt many lessons and you must learn them, for I cannot learn them for you. The hardest part of our work is to stand aside and watch while those we love fight the battle. I do not mean by standing aside that we do not help them. What we would willingly do is to fight it for them. We must not rob you of your incentive or divest you of the means by which your soul grows.

　The Nazarene said that the kingdom of heaven is within. That is a great truth. The Great Spirit is not in some far-off, remote or inaccessible sphere. The Great Spirit is within you and you are within the Great Spirit. Within yourself there are the means for achieving all that is necessary for your own growth and development. That is what you are in your world for.

　Because of what I have seen I have an unshakable con-fidence in the power that rules the universe. I marvel and respect that Intelligence which, with unfailing constancy, and guided by divine love, establishes the whole course of the universe. If only those who live on earth would learn to harmonise themselves with that power, then they could change the whole of the world in which they live. This is all freely offered. There could be nothing more lavish than the bounty which the Great Spirit offers to every child.

　Never despair, never be despondent. Try not to worry or to allow anxiety to find a lodgement in your being. Never permit fear to draw close to you. Banish fear, that cold and unwelcome visitor who should never be given admit-tance to your temple. You have enjoyed momentarily that inner serenity which comes when you have known that you are one with the purpose behind life. Allow that spirit power, which is round and about you, to guide you. It will help you. It will clearly show you the way. When con-fronted with any problem withdraw from the rush, the bustle, the seething controversy. Withdraw to the silence and allow that power to point the way.

　The jewels of the spirit never tarnish or lose their lustre. People who have much of your world's goods do not realise that they are only trustees. To the soul who understands, wealth, like knowledge, brings greater responsibilities. You are an instrument of the greatest power in the universe. You may wear no prelate's robes or have a cardinal's ring on your finger. These are trappings. They have nothing whatever to do with reality. The power of which you are one instrument is greater than all popes, prelates or car-dinals. It is the mightiest power of all.