Chapter 5

The Inner Life II

ONE could say much about the inner life which would be intelligible to only a small percentage of our readers. We shall therefore say what we have to say very simply indeed, confining ourselves to the elementary aspects of a very big and deep subject.

By meditation, communion and real prayer it is possible to make contact with the secret Source of Life and Being. If we do this daily, in addition to living the life, rendering service to others, and doing the Will of “our Father in Heaven,” we not only cultivate the spiritual life, but find, also, the real inner Eternel Life of God, or Kingdom of Heaven.

It is unnecessary to possess occult knowledge, to develop psychic powers, to be able to leave the body and visit other planes, to go into trances, to use breathing exercises, to indulge in mystical ecstasy, to receive messages from the other side, or to practise any complicated methods of so-called development, in order to find the inner life. All that we have to do is to follow the teaching of the Supreme Teacher, the Lord from Heaven, outwardly manifested as Jesus Christ, and inwardly, as the Christos within in the soul, born not of the will of the flesh, but of the Spirit from above.

All complicated, wonderful, esoteric, psychic, occult and secret practices can be put on one side. They are not only unnecessary, but they may lead out of the true Path. The Kingdom of God can be found simply through waiting upon God, finding the Christ within, bringing every thought and desire into captivity to Him, and by following the teachings of Jesus in our life and conduct.

Through quiet prayer and meditation the spiritual part of us becomes nourished and strengthened. The Christ Child within grows according to the amount of spiritual nourishment It receives through our quiet waiting upon God. Every time that we turn to the Divine Father we draw strength from above. The Christ Child within grows and expands until He takes entire charge of our life; then the old self is obliterated and we know it no more. Through prayer and meditation, by right thinking, plus right living, an entire transformation takes place. The character becomes completely changed. We become new creatures, not after the likeness of the imperfect Adam, who is of the earth, earthy: but after the pattern of the perfect Christ, the Lord from Heaven.

The Kingdom of God is not to be found, neither can the inner life be nourished, by the feverish reading of many books, the attendance at lectures, the vain rushing after first this teacher and then that, nor by listening merely to fine sermons, but only by quiet waiting upon God in the secret place, and by living the Christ life day by day.

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seest in secret shall recompense thee.”

By retiring into the quiet chamber of the soul: by shutting the door upon external things, and by communing with our spiritual Father, we touch the One Source of all Life, becoming quickened by the Spirit and filled with Divine Power.

No one who does not practise this inner secret communion with his Spiritual Source can ever keep alive the flame of his inner life. Many start out upon the great quest with joy and enthusiasm, but comparatively few finish the course. So many fall by the wayside. They lose interest, become cold, and go back to the “beggarly elements of the world”. The reason is, in every case, that they neglect the inner communion with the Father in secret. They think that they can do without it. They think, perhaps, that public prayer will do instead, or that a few statements of Truth repeated during the day will do just as well. These things, good and necessary though they be, can never take the place of the inner, secret communion with the Author of our being. Without the daily meeting with God in meditation, contemplation and true prayer, the inner Life languishes and dies. The one who was so enthusiastic over spiritual things goes back to the old life, but never to find either happiness or satisfaction again. One glimpse of the higher, richer and fuller life of the Spirit: only one short experience of the power of the risen life of Christ, makes it impossible for us ever to be satisfied with the baubles of the world and the selfish pleasure of sin. No matter how madly we may plunge into pleasure; no matter how deeply we may drink of its intoxicating draught; we can never for-get—the worm dieth not.

Well do I remember—and every time I think of him it gives my heart an ache—one who, with the writer, years ago, publicly acknowledged himself to be a convert to Christianity, and an avowed follower of Jesus Christ. No one can publicly confess the name of’ Jesus Christ as his Lord without receiving a blessing. But this mao seemed to receive a double portion. I never remember seeing anyone so lifted up and exalted. His face glowed with the Light of the Spirit. His voice was tremulous with joy as he told us that everything spoke to him of God, even the leaves of the trees shouted aloud His name.

But the uplift went, as it always does, and this man went down, as we all have to do, into the wilderness to be tempted. He neglected the secret place: he thought he could do without prayer: he lost touch with his Divine Source: his spiritual life became dried up and withered at the roots.

In time he went back to the old life. Drink claimed him as a victim. But, no matter how much he might drink, he was not happy. He was not happy even in his cups, but only quarrelsome. Finally, he committed suicide.

And when I think of that time when the voice of his Beloved was heard even in the whispering of the trees, I could weep, and doubtless would do so, did I not believe that God is able to overrule everything for good, and to save even that poor soul out of its wretchedness and woe. When I heard the sad news of his tragic passing, I said: “There goes H. T. H., but for the Grace of God.’’ We are all backsliders, more or less, but God is able to save even to the uttermost.

Such a sad history as this only makes one the more anxious to warn all and sundry that the inner life can be cultivated only to the extent that we wait upon God and commune with Him, as spirit with Spirit, in the secret place.