'this great truth' - change and progression is ever possible, indeed, assured; happiness is being stored up for us like an inheritance, safeguarded in a spendthrift trust, beyond the squandering reach of an immature beneficiary - yes, even for those who presently spurn, and writhe, in the spheres of probationary suffering

An ancient Spirit Guide, serving as missionary in the Dark Realms, comments to his younger helpers on the future of humankind:

“To what ultimate height of development we shall reach, I know not—none can know since there can be no limit to our knowledge or our progress. But I believe that could we foresee the ultimate destiny of our own small planet, as we can, in part, judge of it from seeing the more advanced ones around us, we should learn to look upon even the longest earthly life, and the longest saddest probation of these dark spheres, as but stepping stones on which man shall mount [so to speak] to the 'thrones of angels' at last.

"What we can see - what we do know and may grasp - is the great and ever present truth that hope is truly eternal and progression is ever possible even to the lowest and most degraded and sin-stained soul. It is this great truth we would have each of you to preach both to mortal and immortal man, when you return to the earth planes and to your [missionary] work there; and, as you have been helped and strengthened and taught, so do you feel bound by the obligations of gratitude and the ties of Universal Brotherhood to help others.”

religion and philosophy of our world, along with teachers on the other side, have long asked the question: can human nature be changed

Most often, when this question is posed, humankind’s unlimited potential is not in focus but, instead, the heart of darkness.

We look at the endless wars and oppression of history and we wonder if it could ever be different. In the next world, there is a faction of teachers who believe that, with good education and uplifting environment, the Earth might be transformed into a paradise. They’ve issued various prophecies to this effect during the last 150 years, that a new golden age is coming, but they’ve always been wrong. See a full discussion in the writing, “500 tape-recorded messages from the other side.”

Some believe that what we need is more experience, and that this will lead us to a transforming wisdom. The reincarnationists promote this view, but experience is just a form of education, and therefore cannot bring about fundamental change at deeper levels. See the “R” page for 100 articles discussing the error of this doctrine.

Is real change possible for humans? For this to happen, some say, we need to rid ourselves of the evil within, basic human drives and cravings which get us into trouble. However, to expunge these from our natures would be tantamount to becoming a kind of new creation. But this view is also errant. It couldn't work because to excise inherent human proclivities would also excise essential humanity. We’d no longer recognize ourselves.

The essential problem is this: Human drives, cravings, penchants are not dysfunctional per se but merely misused. This subject takes us to a discussion of the nature of evil, which is an illusion. What we call evil is just misdirected good or “turned inside out.” We discussed all this in a series of articles on the “evil” page.

When the ancient Spirit Guide, referenced above, said that change and progression are ever possible for those currently suffering in the Dark Realms, he was not intimating that these unfortunates would need to undergo a kind of “moral lobotomy” – no, not that kind of change. Instead, what is needed, for all of us, not just the denizens of dark places, is an elevation of consciousness, an accessing of the inner life.

When this happens, common human drives, cravings, penchants automatically become refocused toward positive, non-egocentric, socially-constructive outcomes.

a Q with a moral center 

Star Trek: Next Generation, episode "True Q"

Amanda discovers that she had latently possessed the powers of the Q Continuum:

She’s now able to transport herself anywhere at the speed of thought. Simply by focusing on a mental object, it’s brought into existence. Hidden intentions suddenly manifest in the 3-D world as reality. Her capacity for knowledge acquisition and understanding is multiplied by many factors of ten.

As we learn from thousands of afterlife reports, these same abilities reside within advanced ancient Spirit Beings. The typical citizen of Summerland does not yet enjoy these talents as they lie undeveloped, latent within; the "made in the image" potential is there.

Picard comments that Amanda represents the best of humanity, now a being of vast power but “with a moral center.” This is our future.

Editor's note: One of my treasured books in the area of early childhood development is Dr. Benjamin Bloom's "All Our Children Learning." Dr. Bloom's research led him to conclude that any normal, healthy child can earn A's in any subject if the child is offered the right guidance to surmount pockets of confusion which inevitably arise.

It's a principle true in this world and in the next. Over there we will have access to highly competent teaching-masters, ready to lead us, or point the way, to any level of competence of our choosing.

the last shall be first

Many years ago I was listening to some taped lectures on the subject of time-management ("Time Power" by Charles Hobbs). I still recall a story that was offered, and I’d like to share it with you

In England, about two or three hundred years ago, there lived a scullery maid, a common servant, who worked and lived in a lord’s mansion. One day, as she was scrubbing the stone floor-tiles in the kitchen, she noticed an ant. Nothing unusual about this, but, on that day, her mind suddenly became fascinated with this little creature. What was it doing? Where did it live? How did it spend its life? Did it have a family? These questions invaded the solitude of her life.

Her eye followed the ant’s trajectory as it escaped into a hidden world behind one of the floor-tiles. Intrigued, she could not help herself but to pry loose the tile in order to observe a tiny network of ant-pathways.

This scullery maid had not been an intellectual person. To this point in her life, she had contented herself with the ordinary detritus of unsensational and illiberal existence. But she had one thing going for her: she possessed a soul “made in the image,” one with infinite riches within; and despite a thousand lackluster previous days, this would be the day when she came alive to a small patch of the universe around her.

She wanted to know about ants. How to begin such a search? In her day, there were no public libraries. Books were very expensive. However, she learned of a lecture to be delivered by a noted British entomologist, and, on her night off, she made her way into London to attend. Utterly enthralled by new knowledge gained from the speaker, she would now devote her free time, little as it was, to gathering more information, though hard to secure, about ants.

the secret life of ants

As her knowledge grew, she corresponded with noted naturalists the world over and discussed with them the secret life of ants. Over long years, she labored alone, quietly and sedulously, building her knowledge, fact by fact, concerning a subject which had captured her imagination.

One morning, however, a morning not so different from other mornings, she perceived her life-situation to be different; she awakened to realize that she, herself, lo and behold, was now a world authority on ants. And, as I recall, she would now be the one writing books and giving lectures at the Royal Albert Hall, or its equivalent of that day.

And the point for us is this: What are you interested in? – no, not the kind of passing interest like tonight’s tv movie, but – what burning question, the kind that won’t let you rest, has God dropped into your head that you must now devote your life to finding the answer?

the secret life of you

When you are blessed with such vision, then, not only will you blossom and grow as a person but, you will distinguish yourself - whether in this world or the next. As Prof. Myers said, you will be "undisguised," a radiance, an embodiment of "energy and force."

And it doesn’t matter if you hadn’t been able to attend an ivy-league college; and maybe you were a scullery maid or grew up working in a cornfield while others played, but none of this matters - for, if you stay with your subject, amassing knowledge, day by day, over the coming many years, a time will come when no one will be able to gainsay your hard won intellectual capital.

And it shall be just as Jesus said: “… the last shall be first.”

Editor’s note: Reading between the lines, we sense a raw nerve touched with Jesus’ assertion. He knew all about being "last." He was the one about whom the Jerusalem Big-Religion elites derided, “Can any good thing come from Galilee?” – that social backwater, that intellectual hinterland, that unprestigious zipcode from the wrong side of the tracks. Nothing up there but construction laborers and scullery maids.

A final point on this anti-elitism: One of the most influential authors of my life, his book replete with devastating, penetrating insights into human nature in its unenlightened, cultish state, is Eric Hoffer and his seminal work "The True Believer." Eric was no lauded university professor but one of the deplorable "last" - just a dock-worker, just one of the guys, whose perspicacity sets the world on fire.

The following channeled information is from Flashes of Light from the Spirit-land, through the mediumship of Mrs. J. H. Conant, by Allen Putnam, Frances Ann Conant, 1872.

Question. Is it true that in the spirit-land we may pursue and follow out any branch of knowledge, whatever it may be, that has claimed our attention here, but which we have not been able to continue on account of the shortness of our stay here?

Answer. Yes, it is true. The bud that is blasted here blooms there. That which really belongs to us by soul-right, we can pursue there as a pleasure or as an employment in the spirit-world. If the artist was such from his inner life — if he was such because he loved to be, not because external circumstances forced him to be — then he is an artist still, and all the circumstances that tended to cramp his efforts here are swept away there. He finds a larger range, greater liberty, more power. He finds that his artistic faculties unfold; he has those which he did not know he possessed here.

Silver Birch: "The whole purpose of earthly life is to awaken the dormant slumbering souls to the reality of their existence. Your world is full of living sleepwalkers who go through the day’s activities in a dream."

Dr. Peebles, speaking via Mrs.Wickland: "Let us develop the truth within us - find ourselves. Do not let us look far away; do not let us look in the past, do not let us look into the future, but let us find ourselves in our present condition and let us be true to ourselves. Let us forget all theories and dogmas. Let us know and feel the nearness of God… Let us learn to find ourselves. While I am sorry to say many have not found themselves, let all of us here acquire knowledge so that when we go to the spirit side of life we shall go on to a higher life."

George Harrison, testimony from the afterlife: He addresses “the wandering soul … those who are not yet ‘self-discovered’ … the soul, spirit of who we truly are, continues for an infinity of creation... consider that you already know why you are here because that knowledge is locked deeply inside of you…[open] the door to the many possibilities of life and [with] permission to explore. From there comes gratitude and wisdom, peace and healing. When we give ourselves permission to seek this wisdom and understanding we also give ourselves permission to open the doorway to the soul, and that is the end game. Namasté my friends. I am still here.”

nobody told you how to unfold your love that's sleeping...

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

I look at you and see the love there that's sleeping...
I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you...

Cora Richmond: “We can only say, study your souls as you do your bodies, pursue the science as you do any other. Make the lamp of the human spirit the subject of your inquiries and investigations, and, like the happy astronomer who triumphed in the exercise of mathematical faith, you too shall triumph in the certainty of spiritual knowledge.”

Walt Whitman: "The whole theory of the universe is directed to one individual... namely to You."

U.S. Andersen: “All about me I perceive the manifold forms of the Divine, and I perceive Him dwelling in each. There are no different selves in the universe, but one Self only, one sense of being, one awareness, one I, which is always and eternally God. When I love another, it is God I love. When I perceive in each form the Presence that inhabits all forms, then I know the Divine and in that knowledge I love all and my love is complete. No longer do I rail against loneliness, for God is within me. No path is too solitary, no way too deserted that I may not take it with the joy and knowledge of the companionship and comfort of the Divine. He guides my every step.”

Dr. Carl Wickland, “Gateway Of Understanding”: “Our spirit co-worker, Dr. Root, in addressing the audience [via trance-medium Anna Wickland] at one of our circles, said: ‘There is a life after this and it is progressive… Understand and learn that God is the life of everything and everyone. In each one is that spark of the Divine God… Try to find the God within you… Understand that you are a part of God… Learn all you can, before you pass out, regarding the other side; then you will not be an earthbound spirit causing trouble and suffering to yourself and others… You must learn to know yourselves and to develop the highest that is in you.’”

White Feather: Coming to see the evidence for the afterlife is just the first step. "Once you have acquired proof that life is continuous and death is only a doorway through which all must pass, do not rest on your laurels. Expand your search beyond seeking evidence and discover for yourself the eternal truth and wisdom that awaits you. Be not content with mere snippets of fact, but find [within] also the joy of knowing your own unique purpose and place in the great scheme of life that is forever unfolding."

Jiddu Krishnamurti, the famous "dissolution speech," August 3, 1929: "Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path… Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it... You are accustomed to authority, or to the atmosphere of authority, which you think will lead you to spirituality. You think and hope that another can, by his extraordinary powers -- a miracle -- transport you to this realm of eternal freedom which is Happiness. Your whole outlook on life is based on that authority... You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else… Organizations cannot make you free. No man from outside can make you free; nor can organized worship, nor the immolation of yourselves for a cause, make you free; nor can forming yourselves into an organization, nor throwing yourselves into works, make you free… Again, you have the idea that only certain people hold the key to the Kingdom of Happiness. No one holds it. No one has the authority to hold that key. That key is your own self, and in the development and the purification and in the incorruptibility of that self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity. So you will see how absurd is the whole structure that you have built, looking for external help, depending on others for your comfort, for your happiness, for your strength. These can only be found within yourselves. You are accustomed to being told how far you have advanced, what is your spiritual status. How childish! Who but yourself can tell you if you are beautiful or ugly within? Who but yourself can tell you if you are incorruptible?"

Channeled testimony via the mediumship of W. Aber, presented in the book The Guiding Star: “The great thinker scales the mountain side, and delves deep into its caverns for the ore of truth. What cares he that the unthinking multitude are surging and wrangling at its base? What cares he though he have only strength to bear his precious burden to the surface? ... It is noble to soar to heights unattainable by the multitude; and it is noble also to descend, that you may meet and interpret to the thousands upon the plain that which was given to the few upon the mount.” Editor’s note: This nobility “to descend” is an extremely important part of “going within,” a journey to unmask the “false self” in one’s being. Without this clearer perspective, we will never attain to zenith levels of spirituality, no matter the platitudes one might offer nor the charitable works one might engage in. See the “spirituality, part 2” writing.

Gottfried de Purucker, leader of the Theosophical Society, Questions We All Ask (1930): “You don't live outside of the Universe, you are a part of it, as a part is an integral portion of the whole... What the Universe is, that you are; what you are, the Universe is… Know thyself, O son of man! For in thee lie all the mysteries of the Universe. Thou art its child; inseparable from it shalt thou ever be; for It is thou and thou art It. This is the pathway to all wisdom, to all knowledge, to all achievement. It is also therefore the pathway of evolution - of evolving, of unfolding, what is folded up or latent within you.”

Frederic W. H. Myers, in the afterlife, transmitted to Juliet S. Goodenow, Vanishing Night: “Man could not be great, approaching the Divine counterpart, if faculty [of the inner riches] could be discerned at a glance, or ‘man measured as a measure of barley.’ The deep recesses of a lofty mountain containing all within and without, are more indicative of man’s [enormous hidden] faculty… [T]he perfect man, [is] created in the Image of God. Within this perfect creation is resident a power many fail to find. Nevertheless, it lies deep within the complex nature of mankind. Animals [too] have this power, to some extent. The normal man is a god, but rarely does he come to his estate [while on Earth], through ignorance of his inheritance…it is a matter of development. A man is a bundle of faculties, to use according to his will and education... There are vast fields of discovery within, worth exceeding scrutiny; there is no wall of division between that interior wall of man on that side [the Earth side] and the man free from Earth’s limitations on this side… there is nothing to obstruct your voyage [meaning, these powers can be released while on Earth]… for the veil that separates the seen and the unseen is very thin.”

Frederic W. H. Myers, in the afterlife, transmitted to Juliet S. Goodenow, Vanishing Night: "You should cultivate your impressions, your intuitions - trust them as your guide where you travel and discover by sense. This faculty is easy of cultivation, when the student applies himself to the task. The cultivation of the spiritual will be slow as learning a foreign language... the dross of matter will obscure the transcendent realities awaiting discovery."

Frederic W. H. Myers, in the afterlife, transmitted to Juliet S. Goodenow, Vanishing Night: "We have learned that within is the universal way leading to this Wisdom... [Man] is himself the sovereign of his destiny, the master of his fate. Created in the Image of God, he is the Son of the Most High. Lighted by the lamp of conscience, he builds an empire within himself; his lordly possessions reach within to Infinitude... You have the ability to think the thoughts of God... your mind is therefore the mind of a god, analytical - powerful." Editor’s note: What are these vast abilities lying fallow deep within of which Myers speaks? We cannot measure their final length just as we will never map the entire range of God’s abilities; ours and Hers are linked. But, as one indication of what the highly developed human looks like, see the report [the inset-box] of the shamans of the Kogi people, who know things that extend well beyond the reach of even our high technology; also see Franchezzo's report of missionary Guides in the Dark Realms with "super-hero" powers.

Frederic W. H. Myers, in the afterlife, transmitted to Juliet S. Goodenow, Vanishing Night: "Man dwarfs his knowledge by not using to his capacity, his God-given implement of knowledge. For, within his own organism is resident full knowledge of Man, of Life, of Creation, of Destiny, Purpose, Action, Wisdom, etc. For Man contains in embryo the complete creation, awaiting development under his own masterful direction.”

Cora Richmond: "Spiritual knowledge, the unfoldment of the highest from within, this alone can change the shadowed states of Earth into brightness. Every life must be reached; every mind touched and awakened by the spirit; the good that is within each must be brought forth."

Eliza Duffy, Heaven Revised: “I, who prided myself upon being a close and correct observer, a careful analyzer of all that came under my observation, and a deep and original thinker, have been overwhelmed with astonishment, not to say chagrin, in discovering how little I knew of even the surface life around me; how still less of that deeper and inner life which is the real and actuating power of humanity, but of whose existence there is so little realization until it comes to the surface here…Truly, yes, without disguises or concealments; and we shall learn to know ourselves as well. This self-knowledge is not acquired at once. I realize that it is only beginning with me; for when I have come to a thorough knowledge of self, I shall have acquired a knowledge of all things, even of God."

"You must measure success and failure within, not by anything I or anyone else might think."

the inner cosmos, the final frontier

Channeled testimony via the mediumship of W. Aber, presented in the book The Guiding Star: “The first thing is to make resolute search within your heart and make the great discovery of the aim and usefulness of your individual life. He who succeeds in this discovery, and holds firmly to it all his earth life, has made a success, whether he wears purple and fine linen, or homespun. You scan the heavens with telescopes, but far wiser is the man who becomes the astronomer of his own soul, [the inner cosmos]. You make analysis of the soil of the field, but more difficult, more desirable it is to make analysis of the soil of your own heart, and find what flowers may grow there best, and what noxious weeds must be guarded against. It is not what a man does that makes him great, but what he is. Action is merely thought dressed in visible garb. Being must ever precede doing. Below the surface which the world sees, are springs [see John, chapter 4] which feed the life. To keep these springs fresh and sweet, is the best object of endeavor. Study yourself carefully; and also study the seeming simple things of Nature, and you will learn that the secret of life is eternal Progress; and that the Earth life, which is of the utmost importance, is only the primary grade of life. Learn your first lessons well, that you may have a solid basis for your future unfoldment.”

Channeled information from medium Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet, The Future Life: January 19, 1856. A person on the other side, having lived an egocentric life on Earth, landed in a dark place, wherein he drifted and sought escape for many decades. Finally, in a more humble frame of mind, he called out for help. A Spirit Guide responded: “... thou hast not outlived all of Earth and its errors; yet thou wilt overcome them one by one, and daily thou wilt acknowledge that man's heart is a universe, wherein is contained all the mystery, all the beauty, and all the love of the divine Godhead, constantly unfolding a spark at a time; but never, never canst thou imagine the heights and the depths to which it shall reach in the unending cycles of eternal thought... Be not strangers to yourselves; listen to those intuitions which speak unmistakably to thy spiritual being... Thy span of life, what is it? A thought, a flash, which but wakes thee to the journey before thee."

George W. Meek, The Certainty Of Living Forever: George Meek, engineer and inventor, spent his retirement years traveling the world, gathering scientific evidence for the afterlife. (See the video on his life's work.) Using electronic equipment, he successfully communicated with his departed wife, Jeanette, and others in Summerland. (See Mark Macy’s report on George’s accomplishments here.) Aided by the advice of Jeanette on the astral plane, George created a stair-step diagram summarizing things to know for a harmonious transition to the other side. On the first “step,” the most important item, George wrote: “Seek first the Consciousness of God.” Then, on the second “step,” “Learn to know and to love your real self.” Only farther along on the roster does “Service to Others” make an appearance. All this is exactly right. So many want to put charitable works at the head of the list, but this is wrong. Unless altruistic deed is founded upon one’s “true self” linked to God, no lasting good will come from service efforts. See further discussion in my four articles on “Spirituality: How To Become A Good Person.”

Lord Dowding, Lynchgate: “Have faith in your innermost convictions: accept the words of no man: let your heart be your guide in truth and sincerity. Seek to understand in humility: offer your [altruistic] services.”

The Gospel Of Thomas: focuses on the “inner light,” the soul riches as part of having been “made in the image.” The Gospel Of John was written as polemic against Thomas as the former emphasizes external salvation rather than a personal link to and communion with God. READ MORE

Dr. Kurt Gödel: considered as great a thinker as Aristotle, Einstein, and Newton: “I don't believe in empirical science. I only believe in a priori truth.” “I am convinced of the afterlife, independent of theology. If the world is rationally constructed, there must be an afterlife.”

Marcus Aurelius: “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.”

Andrew Jackson Davis’ Death And The Afterlife: Eight Lectures On The Summer-Land: "Put down the errors in the temperaments inherited from your ancestors. Become natural, and substantial, and wholly yourself. You cannot enter the ‘superior state’ by any way less straight. Become healthy in your inmost; then you will see the Summer-Land in visions of the night."

Know Thyself, from ancient temples in Luxor and Delphi: The ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" or "gnothi seauton" is one of the Delphic maxims, inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, according to the Greek writer Pausanias. The phrase was later expounded upon by the philosopher Socrates who taught: "The unexamined life is not worth living." The aphorism may have [originally] come from … the ancient Luxor Temple [in Egypt], comprised of the External Temple, where the beginners would enter, and the Internal Temple, where a person was allowed to enter only after proven worthy and ready to acquire more knowledge and insights. One of the proverbs of the External Temple is "The body is the house of God." That is why it is said: "Man, know thyself". In the Internal Temple, one of the many proverbs is "Man, know thyself, and you are going to know the gods". (Wikipedia)

Editor's note: In I Cor. 6 the apostle Paul draws distinction between "sins that are without the body" (that is, relatively unharmful) versus those that are "against the body," the result of sexual liaison with a non-Twin Soul partner. Paul's phrase, "the body is the temple of the holy spirit," precisely reflects the sense offered in the Luxor-Temple teachings, "the body is the house of God."

(See an expanded discussion of Paul's I Cor. 6 Twin-Soul teaching in "The Wedding Song"; also note that ancient Spirit Guides, communicating to William Stainton Moses ["Spirit Teachings," 1883], refer to marriage as "the holiest and divinest law of life" but, nevertheless, condemn its current degradation as a "buying and selling," a "social slavery," a "deterioration and retrogression," because humankind has not learned that "the body is the avenue of the spirit.")

It is more than passing coincidence that Genesis metaphorically speaks of sexual coitus as a "knowing," a self-knowing, but such lofty perspective is available only to divinely-appointed Twins, not to John and Mary: to employ Luxor's words, they shall not "know the gods." Similarly, in this we find the heart of Paul's argument: a failure to "know thyself," the sacred deeper-self, makes it impossible to enter into authentic spirituality as one's link to God is facilitated only by way of the inner-person, the locus of consciousness. 

David Hume, the great philosopher: He "puts man in the middle"; he analyzed himself, watched himself watching, which became for him a self-knowing. This introspection allowed him to overturn certain errant ideas, going all the way back to Aristotle.

Dr. Eben Alexander: The brain is a filter, a reducer, and dumbs down consciousness to a very slim trickle of information; the answers are within us all, but it's by going deeply within consciousness that we might know this

Judge John Edmonds: An afterlife-researcher, Edmonds offers advice given to him from the other side: "No one can begin to progress until he (or she) has correct ideas of the future existence, [along with] knowing our spiritual nature and destiny..."

Channeled testimony via the mediumship of W. Aber, presented in the book The Dawn Of Another Life: “No mortal is able to really find peace until he is absolute master of, and knoweth himself, for then and only then, does he know God; and even so as a man cannot know God without a perfect knowledge of himself, neither can he be thorough in the knowledge of himself unless he also knoweth the perfect knowing power of God! These which must be united as a whole … thereby they shall attain Spiritual advancement, not otherwise known… Just in proportion as you expand and develop, your wisdom increases.”

a sense of individuality, the knowledge of self: the most pernicious program of all

Star Trek: Next Generation, episode I, Borg, featuring Hugh

Emerson, Self Reliance: “Man is his own star [source of light, truth]… Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events… Great men have always done so [trusted themselves], and confided themselves childlike…”

Channeled information from medium Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet, The Future Life: November 30, 1854. "The Inner Temple: There must be within every living soul, a still, deep fountain, ever bubbling in freshness and sweetness, giving food and drink, sustaining and making beautiful, the temple which surrounds it. Make unto thyself a world of beauty within; an inner life, a holy of holies, a sacred palace where none may intrude, a spot dedicated in all its beauty and glory as the sanctuary of the most high God. This is within thee, it is a part of thee, it is all-sparkling and shining; it needs but to be pervaded by the holy presence, the essence of soul, the life of light.”

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733). "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride.”

Kahlil Gibran: “My soul is my friend who consoles me in misery and distress in life. He who does not befriend his soul is an enemy of humanity, and he who does not find human guidance within himself will perish desperately. Life emerges from within, and derives not from environs…  If they place me in vacuum, I will live together with my soul, the child of Love and Beauty…”

Raymond Lodge: fallen soldier of WWI, son of knighted British scientist, Sir Oliver Lodge. He transmitted messages, over a period of years, to his parents via psychic-mediums. On the other side, a sensitive, Freda, helped Raymond to communicate with his parents on the Earth, relaying this:

“If only people would go within themselves more, just now and then, they could reach out and get a good deal of what he [Raymond] has learnt [in Summerland]. But when they want to do things on the Earth-plane, they don’t wish to go within themselves, because they are afraid of reaching a decision against what they [that is, their lower natures] wish to do. That is the reason people can’t choose between right and wrong.” Raymond asserted, regarding the efficacy of “going within,” that this process “made everything on the Earth-plane, about religion, about right and wrong, clear - made it all so clear! [Raymond] often thinks that if he could come back [as a mortal], he could fly through life!” [with the success offered by accessing one’s inner person]

Editor's note: compare Raymond's observation concerning people's fear of going within to the following comment by Eckhart Tolle, The New Earth: "You may not want to [deeply] know yourself because you are afraid of what you may find out. Many people have a secret fear that they are bad. But nothing you can find out about yourself is you. Nothing you can know about you is you." Why is this so? - the true self is linked to the unfathomable God / Universal Consciousness; therefore, as God is essentially unknowable, so it is with the true self.

Cora Richmond, "the most famous woman in the world" of the latter 1800s: "The first sphere of spiritual existence [dark detention, not a pleasant place], like the first sphere of material existence, is thronged with human beings in pursuit of self interests... a selfish [existence]... instead of seeking the innermost stages of being. The result is a corresponding spiritual poverty; for you find that, when you have pursued self only, you are defeated..."

Private Dowding, fallen soldier in WWI: "Make yourself a vessel that you may receive the gift of the Spirit [that is, Universal Consciousness]. You will then require no teaching from outside. Revelation will come to you from within. Retire into the Hall of Silence. Think on these things." Editor's note: compare this with the apostle John's statement below.

Robert Benson, Life In The World Unseen: "The members of these [religious] communities [on the other side] know that they have passed on, [but] they think that part of their heavenly reward is to continue with their man-made forms of worship [attending church as the did on Earth]. So they will continue until such time as a spiritual awakening takes place. Pressure is never brought to bear upon these souls; their mental resurrection must come from within themselves. When it does come, they will taste for the first time the real meaning of freedom."

Channeled information from medium Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet, The Future Life: An address to the Circle of Hope, by Apollos Munn, who had lately passed to the other life - October, 1852. “Let each and all of you measure your own heaven by your own experience… Be content with the unfolding of the germ [of your expanding mind] which in due time will become a bud, and which, when the bud is sufficiently matured, will burst into a flower… My wish is, that every soul may see its own heaven. Oh, do not measure your own experience by one another's, but look within your own hearts, and receive the draught of happiness in whatever measure it may be meted out to you, and be assured that you receive as much as you are able to bear, though it may seem to come slowly... As ye seek so shall ye also find, and when the desires of your heart shall knock at the door of the inner world, it shall be opened to fill you with the joy for which you are seeking…”

Thomas Paine, from the afterlife: "In all things l believe that the mind and spirit of man is capable of adjudicating matters that pertain to human freedom, and human enlightenment, and to the knowledge of that which is divine. Beyond that reason, which is the external guide of human thought, there is the divine prompting coming from within; from a realm of which I had little knowledge when on Earth, but which now is the divine reality of being, viz., the realm of intuition, the realm of the spirit, the inner and diviner nature of every human being which determines for him [a sense of] the right, which declares to him the truth, which reveals to him the higher and nobler pathway."

Andrew Jackson Davis’ The Great Harmonia, his mystical insights on the nature of true love and marriage: Speaking to the process of finding one's eternal mate: "No clergyman, no testimony, no legalized contract, or record in Church or State, can determine upon the proper conjugal associate, nor develop the everlasting affection which the spirit demands. The evidence is within. Search yourselves. If ye are truthfully married, then will ye have mutual or parallel attractions, corresponding desires, and similar constitutional tendencies; and where the one goes, the other will go; and on earth, as in the higher spheres of existence, ye will have one home, one purpose, one destiny, one God, and one religion." Editor's note: As an aside, one of my very favorite encouraging quotations from Davis is this: "That Spirit which is still seeking and praying for congenial companionship, should rest perfectly assured that it has somewhere a mate, somewhere an eternal associate. Life will not always be incomplete. Let the seeker remember this; and, being already in principle joined to some true and faithful one, let the heart be glad and let it realize, by means of anticipation, the final meeting, which, if circumstances and earnest desire do not consummate it on earth, will be inevitably developed, perfected, and confirmed in the higher country."

Dr. Carl Wickland: "If you have not found the Joy within, then you might want to return [to the Earth]; those who have [found the Joy within], even if it were possible [to return], would never, ever do so."

Sir John Pensley, from the other side: "I determined to see for myself whether there was within me any true, unerring guide to lead me right; for I reasoned: If I am a spark of intelligence emanating from God, the Great Sun and Center of all Intelligence, is there not within me enough to show the light by which to travel back to the source whence I sprung?" See more of Pensley's channeled testimony.

Infinite Potential: The Life and Times of David Bohm, David Peat: “Faced with explaining gyroscopic motion, most physics students learn the various formulae, involving conservation of angular momentum, and produce an explanation in a relatively mechanical and formulaic fashion; but Bohm needed a direct perception of the inner nature of this motion. Once as he was walking in the country, he imagined himself as a gyroscope, and through some form of muscular interiorization, he was able to understand the nature of its motion. In this way he worked out, within his own body, the behavior of gyroscopes. The formulae and the mathematics would come later, as a formal way of explaining his insight. From very early on in his scientific career, Bohm trusted this interior, intuitive display as a more reliable way of arriving at solutions. Later, when he met and talked with Einstein, he learned that he too experienced subtle, internal muscular sensations that appeared to lie much deeper than ordinary rational and discursive thought. Without explicitly knowing it at the time, Bohm had returned to that ancient maxim ‘as above, so below,’ the medieval teaching that each individual is the microcosm of the macrocosm. Bohm himself strongly believed himself part of the universe and that, by giving attention to his own feelings and sensations, he should be able to arrive at a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe... For Bohm, physics was an inner journey grounded in the conviction that his own body was a microcosm of the universe.”

Khalil Gibran: “Every man is two men; one is awake in the darkness, the other asleep in the light… Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man's life, and it is the sole purpose of being.”

Jesus of Nazerath: the gospel of John, chapter 4: "I will give you living waters of eternal life, and you will never be thirsty again!"

Editor's note: The Greek words for "living water" refer to an artesian spring which produces endless water-flow, naturally bubbling up to the surface from the depths - a perfect illustration by the Master Teacher of the inner riches of the soul refreshing the surface personality. In this illustration, we also find his meaning for the statement, "The kingdom of God is within you." And when he said, "Call no man your father," the sense of his message was, "Call no man your infallible guru or final word on anything." Father, as the term was sometimes employed then, meant "great teaching authority." We find the same prohibition against following Dear Leaders in the next item from John the apostle: instead of surrendering autonomy to any external source, we are to quench our thirst for truth via the artesian well of our own sacred inner-person.

the apostle John: attempting to counteract arrogant teachers who claimed that truth could be known only by their authority, John asserts that all important things of life are taught by "the holy spirit, the anointing," that is, the purified consciousness, and in this process no human teaching agency is required:

"I am writing these things about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you... his anointing teaches you about all things." (I John 2:26-27)

J. Donald Walters: "Intuition is the innate ability in everyone to perceive truth directly - not by reason, logic, or analysis, but by a simple knowing from within. That is the very meaning of the word 'intuition': to know, or understand from within - from one's own self, and from the heart of whatever one is trying to understand. Intuition is the inner ability to see behind the outer forms of things to their inner essence."

Rainer Maria Rilke: “There is only one way: Go within. Search for the cause, find the impetus … Dig deep into yourself for a true answer. And if it should ring its assent, if you can confidently meet this serious question with a simple, ‘I must,’ then build your life upon it. It has become your necessity. Your life, in even the most mundane and least significant hour, must become a sign, a testimony to this urge.”

Two Years In Heaven, Dr. C.H. Carson, from his wife Rose, her experiences in the afterlife: "My mind is filled with plans of what I hope to do. How glorious it will be to enter into active work and to realize that whatever I set out to do I shall be able to accomplish through the efforts I make! It seems good to be alive; to feel so well and strong that one’s whole being vibrates with new and wonderful life… Every moment of the time I spent in spirit life was occupied with something helpful and instructive… [to] furnish me with some helpful idea that I could impart to others to aid them in their progress toward higher, grander, and better things... My soul is alive and vibrant with plans for the future, and I am happy and more glad of life as each day passes, not for myself alone, but for those who are to follow after me and whom my influence is to lead heavenward... The consciousness that I have attained tells me this great truth: The soul aspiring for progress never retrogrades; it goes on and on, throughout all eternity, toward greater achievements and higher realizations."

Thea Euryphaessa: “Our destiny is aligned with our heart's innermost longing, a longing embedded within our soul before birth. This longing is a unique pattern or configuration reminiscent of the constellations in the night sky. When we express (press out) our unique configuration, it shines through us with an otherworldly luminosity, manifesting abundance in our lives and the lives of others. Our sole task is to yoke our inner destiny, thread it through our lives and weave it into the world. All else is just shadows and dust.”

Mary Bruce Wallace, The Thinning Of The Veil (1919), channeled information from the other side: “All power comes from within and is never generated from without. Great reforms will be accomplished when Inner Forces are brought into activity … We are illumined by our own Higher Self. It is to attain this [sense of independence, of relying on one's own inner life] that the Guides are given to us [that is, the very purpose of Spirit Guides having been assigned to us is to bring us to a state of heightened self-awareness, of helping us to 'wake up' to our own inner riches; compare this to the channeled teaching below via William Stainton Moses ]… The first intuition of the soul is usually the correct one…intuition guides one most unerringly… [the Guide] said: ‘Heed not the voices of the World, but at all times heed the inner voice of the Spirit.’ Within the soul of man shineth the Eternal One, invincible, all-conquering. The higher we rise, the more clearly we realize this… The coming age is to be a day of big things in the soul of man and then big changes in the external world. Prepare by enlarging your consciousness -- enlarge, I say, ENLARGE. Rule without from within. You can do more than you know by the power of thought which is the greatest force in the universe… As we rise in the scale of evolution, this becomes more and more clear to us. Realize your Divine Power. Use it with thankfulness and awe.”

The Essene Gospel Of Peace: "In the Garden of the Brotherhood, each shall follow his own path, and each shall commune with his own heart. For in the infinite Garden there are many and diverse flowers."

The Gospel and the Book of Thomas: "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you” … "Whoever finds [the true] self is worth more than the world" … "Whoever does not know [the true] self does not know anything, but whoever knows self already has acquired knowledge about the depth of the universe" … “Beings that come from above derive their life from their own root."

Channeled information, facilitated by the mediumship of Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet, concerning  Apollos  Munn,  then recently  passed  to  the other  life, 1852; as reported in “The Future Life”:  “Will any murmur, if even a lifetime should  be spent in endeavoring to cast a ray of light on the path of their fellow-travelers, that they may also know and experience the beauties  of the light which has been shed upon your way? And is not  the enjoyment of this light richly worth seeking for? Does it not  cast a gleam of joy upon your souls when they are heavy-laden? and does it not come to you as a ray of sunshine when all looks dark in your material state? As ye seek so shall ye also find, and when the desires of your heart shall knock at the door of the inner world, it shall be opened to fill you with the joy for which you are seeking… And they tell me that I am yet a very child in the enjoyment of the rest which is prepared for those who love truth.”

Excursions to the Spirit World by Frederick C. Sculthorp: “Many spirits seem quite contented, as they feel well and do not tire, but their minds do not seek for, or know of, anything better, nor can they be pushed forward. The spirit law seems to be that the urge must come from within, which will happen in time... We are helped by our spirit friends in all ways, but the end, personal awareness, they cannot provide. This must come from within.”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Famous for his Sherlock mysteries, Doyle spent the latter part of his life as staunch advocate of afterlife research. He spoke from the afterlife via the Flint direct-voice: "What I feel is the tragedy that so very few Spiritualists are concerned with spirituality. So very few are concerned with discovering [what] is within each and every one… so few who are concerned with spiritual truth… with allowing this tremendous truth to revitalise them and make them new again… man [must see] within himself [that] every man has great possibility. For every man is a spirit and every man has the opportunity to develop the spiritual powers that lie dormant within him. Everyone has the same opportunity."

Private Dowding, fallen soldier in WWI: "I don't like to think that my impressions about myself and my present life are mere illusions [as suggested to him, a new-arrival in Summerland, by a Spirit Guide]. That rankles, it humiliates. Unfortunately, I fear it may be true… Anyway, my life seems quite as real as it did on earth, even more real. There is something that lives and moves within me that is not illusion. That something will forge its way out into the light some-day.”

Dr. Carl and Anna Wickland, “Thirty Years Among The Dead.” Two Native American spirits (circa. 1924) spoke via the trance mediumship of Anna Wickland: “We believe in the Great Spirit of Love, Wisdom and Knowledge, and that we are a part of the Great Spirit… When we are a part of that wonderful Spirit how could we be full of sin? … We could not fall away from Him because we are a part of Him; we live in Him... We could not get away from Him because He is everywhere. He is the whole Universe… We put ourselves in rapport with that Great Spirit … We do not believe, we know… We must find the Great Spirit within, not look outside. Find ourselves and we will find Him, for we are a part of that wonderful Mind… The Christians look for God outside; we look for God within ourselves… When you find God within yourself you cannot do wrong. Find God within you, then you have Power, Strength and Love… All of you here are a part of that Universal Light, and you must all have that light from the candle. Do not worship the candle, but worship the Light of Understanding and God… Medicine Men study Nature's forces and have power over them… The Medicine Man knows the Secret of the Universe, the Secret of Love, the Secret of Knowledge and the Secret of Wisdom and Truth.” Editor’s note: See the entire transcript here. Also, see further discussion of the Indians’ advanced standing and leadership roles in the afterlife due to their natural religion allowing them a keen understanding of the Great Spirit.

Elizabeth Fry: speaking from the afterlife via Leslie Flint: "We all realize, automatically, within ourselves, what our part is, what work we have to do; and we realize that we are all interwoven, one with another. I think it is [that] we are all very conscious of this oneness of spirit... You cannot, surely, build a truly spiritual realization of God on something which is of a material conception. God is not found, in a sense, in buildings or places ... God is found within one’s soul, within one’s inner consciousness."

The following is channeled information from the other side via the mediumship of Robert James Lees, Through The Mists (1898): A new-arrival in Summerland is instructed concerning how God teaches everyone via the Spirit of truth, the “whispering still small voice” within each human being: Do not say that God spoke only “in the days of the oracle… Not so! Say rather that [communication from God] has ceased because of the unnatural and erroneous teachings [of the worldly rogue Church] which have gained the ascendancy… [The authentic, spiritual] Church in every age should … demonstrate this truth [of Spirit guidance]… [the Bible is not a] finished and perfect revelation [but only] containing the Word of God to a specific people, designed for guidance under certain conditions, and but a fragment of … revelation... Jesus wrote no law which was handed to His disciples with [no] command to keep, neither did He commission anyone else to do so after His departure. His injunction was to preach, and that only as the Spirit should give them utterance - that voice of the Spirit being the continuance of revelation until time should cease, leading His followers into all mysteries… the tradition and authority of the [worldly rogue] Church has usurped the living word and lively oracles of God, with the unavoidable result of error and confusion… [as] self-interested [religious] teachers promulgating error, by concealing certain aspects of truth for base and unworthy motives [In other words, the worldly rogue Church claims that the day of revelation ended with the apostles, but this position is taken only because it effectively offers the Church great power as the only arbiter of the divine will]… God has never left [the world] without a witness [of divine revelation]; faithful watchers in the temple [that is, the true spiritual Church] have always kept the lamp of revelation burning, and the oracle alive… the salt of the earth [true followers of Christ] who maintain the standard and show the possibilities from which the [worldly] Church has degenerated - these only emphasize the truth I am declaring to you… They are men and women who think for themselves - who, catching a glimpse of celestial visions, do not turn away and consult the opinion of any teacher as to the legitimacy or otherwise of listening to the voice which calls to them from the cloud of glory, but following the dictates of their own souls they answer ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,’ and thus are drawn into that communion of saints which needs no mediator, seeks the aid of no priest, and is rewarded by a vision of the true shekinah from which the rended veil of doubt is torn away, bringing them into the hallowed presence of the Lord… [These the world vilifies as Satanic.] The faith of the [worldly rogue] Church is in these traditions of men, not in the living, ever-speaking God, hence it is no wonder that the days of miracles are past, and men laugh at the idea [of those living by the Spirit of truth]."

Channeled information, facilitated by the mediumship of Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet, as given by Voltaire, 1852; reported in “The Future Life”: “When curiosity settles into inquiry … the springs are set in motion that act on the dormant faculties of the mind which have hitherto remained unknown … the latent energies of the mind will be developed, the character of the individual will be remodeled and beautified, simply by calling into action the powers which were already in his possession but unknown to himself.”

Krishnamurti lecture: 07.May.1966. "Meditation isn't apart from daily existence. One can't be ambitious, ruthless, vulgar and at the same time talk about God, truth, love. Meditation is a most dangerous thing. To be aware of the total process of existence, without choice, to be completely attentive, makes the mind tremendously active and revolutionary, not a domesticated animal, conforming to the pattern of society. This is dangerous because you may have to alter the whole structure of your life. Unconsciously, you know the danger of it, so you get nervous because you want to lead a secure life. What is being talked about might destroy all that. You will no longer be a Christian, or an Englishman, or an Indian, or this or that. You'll belong to no group, no sect. You'll have to be tremendously alone."

Rabindranath Tagore: A Nobel laureate in literature from Bengali, featured in the Omega Point “beauty” article, Tagore from the afterlife offered the following through the Flint direct-voice: “Man has very little realization of how to overcome the self, how to release the self, the real self from the physical body… if man would learn to use the power of the self, the inner self, and concentrate on that, he would learn how to overcome… The great Buddha and Jesus all understood these truths of the inner self which was how they were able to achieve and to do the things which has been recorded in history… they knew of the power of the inner self, the inner soul, how to use that power to overcome all the limitations of the body."

The following is channeled information from the other side via the mediumship of Robert James Lees, The Gate Of Heaven (1931): The “gate of heaven” is a metaphor indicating spiritual progress; that is, one’s taking up residence in Summerland after physical death, merely to lose the mortal body, is not the end of one’s advancement. Within Summerland, there is a further “gate” to the real heaven which is an accessing of the inner life, our link to God via our “made in the image” capacities. A Spirit Guide comments: “Well spoke the Master when He said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden in a field.’ It is the same figure as I have spoken of - the spiritual treasure in the earthen vessel … God never fails to answer the truly earnest and patiently waiting soul… It may take a long time to bring the soul into such delicate tune with the Divine that it may be able to catch the sweet modulations of the sacred Voice, but it is certain to be heard, when the attuning is completed. Get away from the tumultuous discord without; find the way into the silent shrine of your own soul; wait – listen for Him in the sacred hush, and you will presently hear Him.”

Channeled information, facilitated by the mediumship of Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet, as given by a spirit-person to his brother, 1852; reported in “The Future Life”: “My experience as a spirit in the land of spirits has not been of long duration, and I cannot give you as much information as others can; but I have been here long enough to realize the difference in the degrees of happiness to be enjoyed, which men make unto themselves… Persevere in the work you have begun [concerning] truth which will come to the world as fast as the world can be prepared to receive it. This truth is so simple, so natural, as to be mixed in your every-day walks. Why, as you walk the streets, you may look up and receive divine wisdom from on high, and grasp at the divine revelation which is ever at hand to him who earnestly desires it. The more the mind expands, the more it is fitted to enter the sphere of progression… I mourn over the time I lost on earth. I buried every talent deep out of sight. Yet I had thoughts which neither you nor any mortal man knew of. My soul thirsted for a something, it knew not what, but I shut its longings up — I repressed them — and oh! what have I not lost! It was only when I came here that my longing was gratified. Thank God! There is such a thing as Progression — such a thing as enjoying here the lessons I should have learned before… Ask for more, and more will be given you. Prepare the minds of men for the truth… Be humble and sincere in this great work. It is no child's play. It is a solemn duty that rests on each one… I feel myself much more at home here than I did on earth; and it is because … I now live my real life, and new thoughts are ever flowing in upon my soul.”

Dr. Daniel Robinson of Oxford on the work of Bishop Berkeley (paraphrased, from a lecture): “Without apperception, experience avails nothing; the Self is different from the idea; content different from the knower. Apperception is paramount to the process: to be experienced at all, the successive experiential data must be combined or held together in a unity of consciousness, which implies a unity of self, and this inner integration is as much an object of experience as anything is. Therefore experience, both of the self and its objects, rests on acts of synthesis that, because they are the [pre]conditions of any experience, are not themselves experienced.”

Editor's note: "Apperception" is not a common word. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) coined the term (from the German apperzeption). He did so within the context of his “monads,” which he said are building blocks of reality, a “self-sufficient indivisible simple substance.” There are four different kinds of monads, Leibniz postulated, with God as the supreme monad, followed by humans, animals, and other items of the world. All these have a degree of perception, but God (and humans) enjoy a higher grade, an “apperception,” which is self-consciousness (that is, the One who describes himself as the great “I Am”); further, he asserted, God demonstrates absolute apperception and appetition (this latter becomes a desire directed towards a specific purpose. See the youtube lectures of physicist Dr. Frederico Faggin, inventor of the first computer microchip in 1971, who sees Leibniz’s “monads” as a starting point to explain that Consciousness, not matter, forms the elemental essence of all reality. The appetition of Universal Consciousness is to know itself which, as Dr. Faggin puts forward, is the driving force of evolution in the cosmos).

Kant distinguished transcendental apperception from empirical apperception. The first is the perception of an object as involving the consciousness of the pure self as subject--"the pure, original, unchangeable consciousness that is the necessary condition of experience and the ultimate foundation of the unity of experience."

Spirit Guides warn against emphasizing, too much, physical phenomena as evidence for the afterlife

William Stainton Moses, "Spirit Teachings," (1883): Moses channeled extensive teachings from Spirit Guides covering many subjects. The wisdom received is impressive and most valuable; but, for our purposes here, it should be noted that the Guides strictly cautioned against becoming too enamored with physical phenomena - i.e., rappings, table liftings, levitations, receipt of apports, and the like -- but, instead, one should focus on the inner journey of the soul, "the spark struck off from God." See the following excerpt from "Spirit Teachings":

low-level spirit entities unduly promote physical marvels

"Beware of encouraging the promiscuous evolution of violent physical power [when you seek for a psychic-medium]. Such comes generally from the lower and more undeveloped; and its development is frequently attended by spirits for whose absence you should pray. In the encouragement, especially in newly-formed [psychic-medium] circles, of undue care for physical marvels is a great risk.

do not rest in material evidence but seek for something higher

"Such are necessary to the work, and we do not in any degree undervalue their importance to certain minds. We desire to bring home evidence to all; but we do not desire that any should rest in that material form of belief, in an external something which is of little service to any soul. We labour for something higher… Nor do we rest content even with showing man that beings external to himself can interfere in the order of his world. If that were all, he might be so much the worse for knowing it."

These Guides are so adamant for us to experience the inner life, the true riches of the soul, that they fear we might be made “worse,” even by knowing of their existence; bedazzled and distracted by a messenger from heaven, diverting our attention from the real action within.

one sole aim

"We have before us one sole aim … to demonstrate to man that he is immortal, by virtue of the possession of that soul which is a spark struck off from Deity itself. We wish … to show him the life that leads to progress, to point him to the future of development and growth…"

even the scientific evidence of the spirit world, they say, can become a detriment if it distracts us from our primary task, that of realizing the “spark of God” within

Feel the flow of the Guides' argument. They say they have one “aim.” It is to inform us that we are “immortal,” that is, made in the image of God. By what demonstration? “by virtue” of the fact that we possess a divine “soul,” which is like a “spark," a particle of the divine essence, "struck off” from God. And how shall we assure ourselves of this divine possession? We will know that our essential life is divine and from God because it will reveal itself as a “life that leads to progress,” to a “future of development and growth.”

In other words, we can know that we are immortal, fit to “live with the gods,” by our awesome potential to enlarge and by a commensurate innate desire to improve, to become, to achieve, to soar. Granted, the “false self” has dampened this success-mindedness with its fear, guilt, despair, and anger – but these merely cloak and overlay and do not represent our natural state. We are to “go within” and discover who we really are, the "made in the image" heritage from which we derive. Special note: compare this desire to achieve and improve with Jesus' teaching, "Embrace this god-life, really embrace it!"

Restatement: What is the Guides’ “one sole aim”? It is not merely to inform us that we are “immortal,” that we'll live forever, but that we are “sparks” of God, an expression of the divine essence. The implications are huge. If we could truly perceive what this means, it would change everything for us: how we live and die, think and act.

physical phenomena, including the scientific evidence of the afterlife, should be seen as a mere first step to conviction, but then, as soon as we can, we are to move toward what really matters, the true evidence of the afterlife, which is coming to know God within

"If we use such [phenomenal] power at all it is because we find it necessary, not because we think it desirable, save always as a means to an end… Regard [the phenomenal] only as means of conviction, as so many proofs to your minds of actual intervention from the world of spirit with the world of matter.

the scientific evidence of the afterlife is merely the 'material foundation on which' is to be built 'the spiritual temple' of authentic experience with God via going within

"Look upon them as such only, and use them as the material foundation on which the spiritual temple may be built. Rest assured that they of themselves can teach you no more than that ... you must go on to further steps…

the physical evidence is as ‘nothing compared with the inner communing of spirit with spirit’

"When you can reach out beyond the phenomenal to the actual investigation of Truth for its own sake—when, in short, you can believe our pretensions—then we can open out to you a realm of which you are yet ignorant, and which has been far more fully revealed to earnest seekers in other lands than yours.

"To few, only, in your land have higher revealings of spiritual truth been vouchsafed. Even this means of communing by writing, which seems to you such an advance on the clumsy rapping out messages and such material means of communication is as nothing compared with the inner communing of spirit with spirit without the intervention of material signs… [we] encourage you to rise above the material to the spiritual plane.

the Guides ‘yearn’ for our maturity which will allow us to discard the physical phenomena and focus solely on ‘the higher revealings of Truth’

"Receptivity [to the inner communion with spirit] must precede higher development: but we yearn and pray for the time when you shall have shaken yourselves free from earthly trammels, and seek only after the higher revealings of Truth. To that end you must have singleness of purpose: you must have shaken yourselves free from human opinion, and have dissociated yourselves from the material plane, so far as an occupant of earth may do so."

Rainer Maria Rilke: “A billion stars go spinning through the night, glittering above your head, but in you is the presence that will be when all the stars are dead… Think... of the world you carry within you… your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it you will find all your paths.”

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Editor's note: What are we to make of this long list of admonition toward "know thyself" and "going within," a virtual command to "enlarge"? We must conclude that the "riches within" constitute an unfathomable inner-cosmos of raw capacity to be actualized. Apotheosis is in our future. Father Benson appears to be correct: "no discoverable upper limit" to our potential.

swan rising in dazzling sunlight: becoming who you were meant to be

the 'Absolute Sovereignty of a Human Being' principle:

we are not allowed to abrogate a sacred mandate for self-determination  

the following is a quotation from Adrian Smith's new book, "A Prison For The Mind"

The central doctrine of [the English] constitution is known as “the legal sovereignty of Parliament.” This means that Parliament can legislate on any subject matter and having legislated, no court or other body can challenge the validity of that legislation… There are only a few things that Parliament cannot do. It may not bind its successors with such wording as “this Act shall be for all time to come.” Parliament must remain free to change its mind and Parliament may not abrogate its unique powers by giving them away to some other body. Parliament is omnipotent in all things, save the power to compromise its own omnipotence…

I have often thought that I would like to adopt a personal constitution on the UK model and make it my own operating system. We could call it the Absolute Sovereignty of a Human Being. We can have our opinions and convictions, but never bind yourself and always remain free to change your mind. You may not abrogate your unique responsibility [of final word on the course of your own life]…

In the holographic universe, which some scientists believe we live in, the whole is contained in each of its tiny parts. This means that the infinite creative power of the whole universe is enfolded in the individual. We need to stand confidently in the full knowledge of who we are and to command those spirits who would [cultishly enslave us and] keep us ignorant of our true identity…

[When we fail to live our lives according to the sacred directive of self-determination, a personal power vacuum is created in our spirits. During such phase of our lives, Needy Egos, requiring external affirmation, will step in to fill the void.] Perhaps these people are just our teachers at some deep level. They are what happens when you give away your power, when you violate “the absolute sovereignty of the individual” principle. If [a particular cultish leader] had not existed, I would have had to invent him. [In other words, this was an accident poised to happen; if not with that one, then another despot would have arisen to provide the lesson of self-hegemony]...

The entire universe, and we in it, are participants in [an evolutionary process]. The rejection of fundamentalism [not just the religious sort, but all guises in society] allows for a return to the evolutionary path. Fundamentalism, on the other hand, is an evolutionary cul-de-sac, a prison for the mind.

Editor’s note: The apostle Paul in I Corinthians asserted, “We know in part” – there’s so much we don’t know, creating, what Dr. Richard Feynman called, “an expanding horizon of ignorance.” But fundamentalists say the opposite: “We know, we provide certitude, we have the final answers.”

This kind of dogmatism posing as knowledge shuts down the evolutionary, the personal development, process. If we know everything, if all mysteries find resolution in the testimony of a denominated Special One, with the rest of us as mere plebs of the hive, then how are we to move forward from this “prison of the mind”?

Fundamentalism creates a closed system of reality. It hates debate and discourse, as such rational free-flow of ideas would invite scrutiny of its anti-humanistic party-platforms. And this is why fundamentalism so easily and readily drifts toward censorship, ad hominem attacks, and narrow views. All of which short-circuit the normal and natural evolutionary path of human beings.

It will be asked, why is there a mandate to enlighten oneself, to honor the “Absolute Sovereignty of a Human Being”? Who will stop us? If we feel fine-and-dandy, if we feel comfortable remaining as loyal drone in a neighborhood or national cultish organization, maybe that’s our choice.

Well, “choice” sounds very “PC,” but it will cut no ice in certain circles. Who will stop the march toward mindless fundamentalism? The answer is – you will, I will, the “higher self” of each sacred individual will.

If we enter into hard-core alliance with cultish elements of our world, then, when we cross over, when the mortal shell is set aside, we will find ourselves in a dark place. It’s a kind of detention where people, having violated the Absolute Sovereignty of a Human Being principle, will be forced to enter into honest communion with themselves. No angry “Sky God” with a long white beard sends us there. We, ourselves, our higher selves, arrange for this 1-star accommodation.

Why does it happen? It happens because “penalty flags” have fallen as we’ve forgotten that our purpose is to enter the sacred evolutionary path toward godliness. READ MORE on this page.