6 THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE

THIS is the Spirit of Infinite Peace, and the moment we come into harmony with it there comes to us an inflowing tide of peace, for peace is harmony. A deep interior meaning underlies the great truth, 'To be spiritually minded is life and peace.' To recognize the fact that we are spirit, and to live in this thought, is to be spiritually minded and so to be in harmony and peace. Oh, the thousands of men all about us weary with care, troubled and ill at ease, running hither and thither to find peace, weary in body, soul, and mind; going to other
countries, traveling the world over, coming back, and still not finding it. Of course they have not found it and they never will find it in this way, because they are looking for it where it is not. They are looking for it without when they should look within. Peace is to be found only within, and unless one find it there they will never find it at all.

Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one's own soul. We may travel over many different avenues in pursuit of it, we may seek it through the channels of the bodily appetites and passions, we may seek it through all the channels of the external, we may chase for it hither and thither, but it will always be just beyond our grasp, because we are searching for it where it is not. In the degree, however, that we order the bodily appetites and passions in accordance with the promptings of the soul within will the higher forms of happiness and peace enter our lives; but in the degree that we fail in doing this will disease, suffering, and discontent enter in.

To be at one with God is to be at peace. The child simplicity is the greatest agency in bringing this full and complete realization, the child simplicity that recognizes its true relations with the Father's life. There are people I know who have come into such a conscious realization of their oneness with this Infinite Life, this Spirit of Infinite Peace, that their lives are fairly bubbling over with joy.

I have particularly in mind at this moment a comparatively young man who was an invalid for several years, his health completely broken with nervous exhaustion, who thought there was nothing in life worth living for, to whom everything and everybody presented a gloomy aspect, and he in turn presented a gloomy aspect to all with whom he came in contact. Not long ago he came into such a vital realization of his oneness with this Infinite Power, he opened himself so completely to its divine inflow, that today he is in perfect health, and frequently as I meet him now he cannot resist the impulse to cry out, 'Oh, it is a joy to be alive.'

I know an officer in our police force who has told me that many times when off duty and on his way home in the evening, there comes to him such a vivid and vital realization of his oneness with this Infinite Power, and this Spirit of Infinite Peace so takes hold of and so fills him that it seems as if his feet could scarcely keep to the pavement, so buoyant and so exhilarated does he become by reason of this inflowing tide.

He who comes into this higher realization never has any fear, for he has always with him a sense of protection, and the very realization of this makes his protection complete. Of him it is true, 'No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper'; 'There shall no ill come nigh thy dwelling'; Thou shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.'

These are the men who seem to live charmed lives. The moment we fear anything we open the door for the entrance of the actualization of the very thing we fear. An animal will never harm a person who is absolutely fearless in regard to it The instant one fears they open themselves to danger; and some animals, the dog for example, can instantly detect the element of fear, and this gives them the courage to do harm.

In the degree that we come into a full realization of our oneness with this Infinite Power do we become calm and quiet, undisturbed by the little occurrences that before so vex and annoy us. We are no longer disappointed in people, for we always read them aright. We have the power of penetrating into their very souls and seeing the underlying motives that are at work there.

A gentleman approached a friend the other day, and with great show of cordiality grasped him by the hand and said, 'Why, Mr. —, I am so glad to see you.' Quick as a flash my friend read him, and looking him steadily in the eye, replied, 'No, you are mistaken, you are not glad to see me; but you are very much disconcerted, so much so that you are now blushing in evidence of it.' The gentleman replied, 'Well, you know in this day and age of conventionality and form we have to put on the show and sometimes make believe what we do not really feel.' My friend once more looked him in the face and said, 'Again you are mistaken. Let me give you one little word of advice: You will always fare better and will think far more of yourself, always to recognize and to tell the truth rather than to give yourself to any semblance of it.'

As soon as we are able to read people aright we will then cease to be disappointed in them, we will cease to place them on pedestals, for this can never be done without some attendant disappointment. The fall will necessarily come, sooner or later, and moreover, we are thus many times unfair to our friends. When we come into harmony with this Spirit of Peace, evil reports and apparent bad treatment, either at the hands of friends or of enemies, will no longer disturb us. When we are conscious of the fact that in our life and our work we are true to that eternal principle of right, of truth, of justice that runs through all the universe, that unites and governs all, that always eventually prevails, then nothing of this kind can come nigh us, and come what may we will always be tranquil and undisturbed.

The things that cause sorrow, and pain, and bereavement will not be able to take the hold of us they now take, for true wisdom will enable us to see the proper place and know the right relations of all things. The loss of friends by the transition we call death will not cause sorrow to the soul that has come into this higher realization, for they know that there is no such thing as death, for each one is not only a partaker, but an eternal partaker, of this Infinite Life. He knows that the mere falling away of the physical body by no means affects the real soul life. With a tranquil spirit born of a higher faith they can realize for themselves, and to those less strong can say:

Loving friends! be wise and dry

Straightway every weeping eye;

What you left upon the bier

Is not worth a single tear,

'Tis a simple sea-shell, one

Out of which the pearl has gone.

The shell was nothing, leave it there.

The pearl—the soul—was all, is here.

And so far as the element of separation is concerned, he realizes that to spirit there are no bounds, and that spiritual communion, whether between two persons in the body, or two persons, one in the body and one out of the body, is within the reach of all. In the degree that the higher spiritual life is realized can there be this higher spiritual communion.

The things that we open ourselves to always come to us. People in the olden times expected to see angels and they saw them; but there is no more reason why they should have seen them than that we should see them now; no more reason why they should come and dwell with them than that they should come and dwell with us, for the great laws governing all things are the same today as they were then. If angels come not to minister unto us it is because we do not invite them, it is because we keep the door closed through which they otherwise might enter.

In the degree that we are filled with this Spirit of Peace by thus opening ourselves to its inflow does it pour through us, so that we carry it with us wherever we go. In the degree that we thus open ourselves do we become magnets to attract peace from all sources; and in the degree that we attract and embody it in ourselves are we able to give it forth to others. We can in this way become such perfect embodiments of peace that wherever we go we are continually shedding benedictions.

But a day or two ago I saw a woman grasp the hand of a man (his face showed the indwelling God), saying, 'Oh, it does me so much good to see you. I have been in anxiety and almost in despair during the past few hours, but the very sight of you has rolled the burden entirely away.' There are people all around us who are continually giving out blessings and comfort, persons whose mere presence seems to change sorrow into joy, fear into courage, despair into hope, weakness into power.

It is the one who has come into the realization of their own true self who carries this power with them and who radiates it wherever they go, the one who, as we say, has found their center. And in all the great universe there is but one center, the Infinite Power that is working in and through all. The one who then has found their center is the one who has come into the realization of their oneness with this Infinite Power, the one who recognizes themselves as a spiritual being, for God is spirit.

Such is the man of power. Centered in the Infinite, they have thereby, so to speak, connected themselves with, have attached their belts to, the great power-house of the universe. They are constantly drawing power to themselves from all sources. For, thus centered, knowing themselves, conscious of their own power, the thoughts
that go from their mind are thoughts of strength, and by virtue of the law that like attracts like, they by their thoughts are continually attracting to themselves from all quarters the aid of all whose thoughts are thoughts of strength, and in this way they are linking themselves with this order of thought in the universe.

And so to them that hath, to them shall be given. This is simply the working of a natural law. Their strong, positive, and hence constructive thought is continually working success for them along all lines, and continually bringing to them help from all directions. The things that they see, that they create in the ideal, are through the agency of this strong constructive thought continually clothing themselves, taking form, manifesting themselves in the material. Silent, unseen forces are at work which will sooner or later be made manifest in the visible.

Fear and all thoughts of failure never suggest themselves to such a man; or if they do, they are immediately sent out of their mind, and so they are not influenced by this order of thought from without. They does not attract it to them. They are in another current of thought. Consequently the weakening, failure-bringing thoughts of the fearing, the vacillating, the pessimistic about them, have no influence upon them.

The one who is of the negative, fearing kind not only has their energies and physical agents weakened, or even paralyzed through the influence of this kind of thought that is born within them, but also in this way connect themselves with this order of thought in the world about them. And in the degree that they do this do they become a victim to the weak, fearing, negative minds all around them. Instead of growing in power, they increase in weakness. They are in the same order of thought with those of whom it is true—and even that which they have shall be taken away from them. This again is simply the working of a natural law, just as is its opposite. Fearing lest I lose even what I have I hide it away in a napkin. Very well. I must then pay for the price of my 'fearing lest I lose.'

Thoughts of strength both build strength from within and attract it from without. Thoughts of weakness actualize weakness from within and attract it from without. Courage begets strength, fear begets weakness. And so courage begets success, fear begets failure. It is the man of faith, and hence of courage who is the master of circumstances, and who makes his or her power felt in the world. It is the man who lacks faith and who as a consequence is weakened and crippled by fears and forebodings, who is the creature of all passing occurrences.

Within each one lies the cause of whatever comes to them. Each has it in their own hands to determine what comes. Everything in the visible, material world has its origin in the unseen, the spiritual, the thought world. This is the world of cause, the former is the world of effect. The nature of the effect is always in accordance with the nature of the cause. What one lives in their invisible, thought world, is continually actualizing in their visible, material world. If he would have any conditions different in the latter they must make the necessary change in the former. A clear realization of this great fact would bring success to thousands of men who all about us are now in the depths of despair. It would bring health, abounding health and strength to thousands now diseased and suffering. It would bring peace and joy to thousands now unhappy and ill at ease.

And oh, the thousands all about us who are continually living in the slavery of fear. The spirits within that should be strong and powerful, are rendered weak and impotent. Their energies are crippled, their efforts are paralyzed. 'Fear is everywhere -fear of want, fear of starvation, fear of public opinion, fear of private opinion, fear that what we own today may not be ours tomorrow, fear of sickness, fear of death. Fear has become with millions a fixed habit. The thought is everywhere. The thought is thrown upon us from every direction.... To live in continual dread, continual cringing, continual fear of anything, be it loss of love, loss of money, loss of position or situation, is to take the readiest means to lose what we fear we shall.'

By fear nothing is to be gained, but on the contrary, everything is to be lost. 'I know this is true,' says one, 'but I am given to fear; it's natural to me and I can't help it.' Can't help it! In saying this you indicate one great reason of your fear by showing that you do not even know yourself as yet. You must know yourself in order to know your powers, and not until you know them can you use them wisely and fully. Don't say you can't help it. If you think you can't the chances are that you can't.

If you think you can, and act in accordance with this thought, then not only are the chances that you can, but if you act fully in accordance with it that you can and that you will is an absolute certainty. It was Vergil who, in describing the crew which in his mind would win the race, said of them: They can because they think they can. In other words, this very attitude of mind on their part will infuse a spiritual power into their bodies that will give them the strength and endurance which will enable them to win.

Then take the thought that you can, take it merely as a seed-thought, if need be, plant it in your consciousness, tend it, cultivate it, and it will gradually reach out and gather strength from all quarters. It will focus and make positive and active the spiritual force within you that is now scattered and of little avail. It will draw to itself force from without. It will draw to your aid the influence of other minds of its own nature, minds that are fearless, strong, courageous. You will thus draw to yourself and connect yourself with this order of thought. If earnest and faithful, the time will soon come when all fear will loose its hold; and instead of being an embodiment of weakness and a creature of circumstances, you will find yourself a tower of strength and a master of circumstances.

We need more faith in everyday life -faith in the power that works for good, faith in the Infinite God, and hence faith in ourselves created in His image. And however things at times may seem to go, however dark at times appearances may be, the knowledge of the fact that 'the Supreme Power has us in its charge as it has the suns and endless systems of worlds in space.' will give us the supreme faith that all is well with us, just as all is well with the world. 'Thou wilt keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.'

There is nothing firmer, and safer, and surer than Deity. Then, as we recognize the fact that we have it in our hands to open ourselves ever more fully to this Infinite Power, and call upon it to manifest itself in and through us, we shall find in ourselves an ever increasing sense of power. For in this way we are working in conjunction with it, and it in turn is working in conjunction with us. We are then led into the full realization of the fact that all things work together for good to those that love the good. Then the fears and forebodings that have dominated us in the past will be transmuted into faith, and faith, when rightly understood and rightly used, is a force before which nothing can stand.

Materialism leads naturally to pessimism. And how could it do otherwise? A knowledge of the Spiritual Power working in and through us as well as in and through all things, a power that works for righteousness, leads to optimism. Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power. The one who is centered in Deity is the one who not only outrides every storm, but who through the faith, and so the conscious power that is in them, faces storm with the same calmness and serenity that they face fair weather, for they know well beforehand what the outcome will be. They know that underneath are the everlasting arms. He it is who realizes the truth of the injunction, 'Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him and He shall give thee thy heart's desire.' All shall be given, simply given, to him who is ready to accept it. Can anything be clearer than this?

In the degree, then, that we work in conjunction with the Supreme Power do we need the less to concern ourselves about results. To live in the full realization of this fact and all that attends it brings peace, a full, rich, abiding peace—a peace that makes the present complete, and that, going on before, brings back the assurance that as our days, so shall our strength be. The one who is thus centered, even in the face of the unrest and the turmoil about us, can realize and say:

I stay in my haste, I make delays,

For what avails this eager pace,

I stand amid eternal ways,

And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,

The friends I seek are seeking me.

No wind can drive my bark astray,

Nor change the tide of destiny.

The waters know their own, and draw

The brooks that spring in yonder height.

So flows the good with equal law

Unto the soul of pure delight.

The stars come nightly to the sky.

The tidal wave unto the sea,

Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,

Can keep my own away from me.