January, 1943

We are learned in secondary things.

Our learning is useful to us, and there is nothing that we have ever learned that we really should forget; but there is something else that we have to learn, and that is the secret formula of binding what we know together into one structure, so that it means something and works for us.

We need the common denominator, we need the great, cohesive principle that is to unite knowledge, in order that it may become what it was originally intended to be, one great stream of intellectual energy flowing through the world and through man to the perfection of man and the perfection of the world.

February, 1943

"The path of glory leads but to the grave." We know the dictators of Europe will fall, we know their disintegration is intrinsic within themselves. We realize their entire concept and policy is contrary to that which we know is essential to survival. We realize it is only a matter of time until these little men in tall boots are going to strut their way off the stage and leave behind them the chaos which always follows in the wake of despotism.

March, 1943

We know that too much effort to accomplish anything frustrates that accomplishment itself; and that people who try to happy are never happy, for even this trying is a form of tension. Effort toward a desired thing is just as much tension as worry is. Tension, in a blocking of the flow of energy, sets up a fixation point along the psycho-nervous system. Physical ailments result from tension; the nerves tie up the muscles, the muscles impinge the blood circulation, cutting it off by muscle tension. Always, whether in the inner life or the outer, tension limits and destroys function.

April, 1943

Greatness is in essence a challenge, smallness is an instinct. Very, very young in trying to build this better world, we know we have to build it or die; the prehistoric creature knew it had to change or else become extinct, for all forms perish in the void. Nature will not sustain a stasis. To be born into a new world plan for peace the approach must be simple, and honest, and gentle, with the commandments of this new plan firmly set in consciousness with our souls knowing that basic feeling of integrity which must dominate us in the days to come.

May, 1943

Our liking is for the approval that comes with success, for the power that comes with wealth, for the freedom and liberty that come with executive positions. The material life produces material power because it is a short, intensive pattern, well organized. Its definiteness makes it something for which the ambitious man will sacrifice himself and his world. If today's man had convictions as strong as his ambitions we would have the Golden Age now.

June, 1943

Life...brings us finally to the place where we say, "If I knew more, I could do better." Life is ever reminding us of our own inadequacies. Philosophy presents a viewpoint, a new reference frame, and all that can be brought within it are those things out of our lives that have been philosophical. Entrance to the Temple of the Mysteries requires the conviction that we know absolutely nothing, that we are willing to learn again. Plato said, "In the presence of the hierophants of Egypt I was a child and in ignorance."

July, 1943

Taoism leaves a loophole. It says, the worlds beyond cannot be stormed by anyone; those not fitted to live in them must be returned to the hazardous existence of our mortal state, and reincarnate through life after life, until they build the life that survives the grave.

August, 1943

The proof of all things relating to the inner life of the individual must be derived from inner experience. A person proves that which he realizes, knows, and discovers within his own consciousness; and there is no other possible way of proving the things which are beyond the external senses of man. We do not prove things because we show them, or perform them, but because within ourselves we know. Something which is thoroughly established in the knowledge of the individual is proved to that individual. All the spiritual aspects of life are justified by inner experience, not by outward proof.

September, 1943

Thus thousands are performing every form of mental, emotional and physical contortion, and they believe that out of this curious scramble which they call a process of living that some formula of thinking is going to cause them to be suddenly happy, successful, enable them to participate in Eternal Truth. But, if Truth could be the possession of those who merely desire it, the wise would never want it.

October, 1943

By various means we can alleviate suffering, we can reduce a crisis, we can check a critical moment in many cases, if the karma in the circumstances does not deny that right. The actual healing however must come from the ailing one's own increased understanding and wisdom. The majority of people are much concerned about their aches; but they are not concerned with why they ache. And the only metaphysician who has the right to practice is one who is able to express to the patient in an intelligent and intelligible manner the causes of the ailment which afflicts him. The ailment may be due to one of a thousand causes, but he who claims to heal must know the cause.

November, 1943

If we can realize that the principal cause of ailments which afflict our physical life come not from the body, but from the consciousness behind the body, we then can consider man as a superphysical entity. And knowing we must have balance, we must discover, if we can, what particular mistakes he makes in his higher nature that result in a bad type of ailment in his body. That means, what kind of bad thinking, or wrong feeling, or wrong living results in a particular disease. Man, bearing witness to himself, is the mirror of his Superior Self. Each person's degree of development of that Superior Self is the degree of the dominating keynote of his life.

December, 1943

There is a change coming and it has to be faced, it has to be met. We are beginning to think in terms of rearranging and reorganizing our world. Even thinking of what might be termed the international nation, in the process of making one world out of many worlds. We are realizing that only when we gather all the world together in some kind of a constructive pattern, is it going to be possible to keep that peace which is the bedrock of religion.