At the present time the statement that all is good is heard frequently, and as it seems to be a contradiction of human experience, it has naturally led to many arguments and much research into metaphysics, as well as the fundamental cause of things. There is, however, a large number that is convinced that in some form or manner all is in reality good; but the majority still cling to the idea that much is evil and wrong.

When we consider the subject from the standpoint of what we may call eternal reality, defining the term "reality" as consisting of that something from which everything proceeds, it is not difficult to prove that all is good in its original state; in other words, that all that is real is good, just as we might say that all substance is good, and that all law is good. We know that no law has evil intentions, fundamentally, and we realize that every law has possibilities for good, in one or many directions, although the results from the use of any law will depend upon whether the original purpose of the law was applied, or whether there was a misuse of the original purpose. We know that the same is true with regard to principle, and with regard to all the elements and forces in nature. They all are good in themselves, and we must naturally conclude that all things, wherever they exist, must necessarily be good in themselves. We realize, therefore, that when we deal with reality, or the fundamental side of things, we find that all is good.

However, when we deal with the whole of life, or life as it appears in its various forms of expression, the question is if we can say, in this broad and general manner, that all is good. To answer this question, we shall have to ask ourselves what we are living for, or what we are here for; and we need not go very deeply into the analysis of that phase of the subject before we convince ourselves that we are here to learn some most important lesson. We are here to acquire certain qualities, certain attainments, and to develop towards a certain supreme goal; and we soon find, in viewing the subject in this manner, that we shall, in order to fulfill our purpose in this life, find it necessary to follow a certain path; that is, the one path that naturally leads to the goal we have in view. This path we may speak of as the straight and narrow path; and although it is not narrow in the sense that it restricts us to an extent where we do not have privileges out side of a certain system of life or thought, still it does restrict us from the enjoyment of those things that are not conducive to the great purpose we all have in view.

Here we must remember that the enjoyment of life is a part of the great purpose of life; and therefore the great pathway must necessarily provide, not only for enjoyment, but for the highest form of enjoyment, and at every step of the way. When we learn this, we find that the principal reason why we have not had more happiness in the past is because we have been drilled so long to believe that the moment we were becoming happy we were on the wrong path. We were of the opinion that happiness and pleasure lead to destruction; but the new doctrine declares that you cannot be good unless you are living in the highest form of happiness that you can appreciate at the time. The contrary of the old doctrine declares that if you are not happy you are not good; that is, if you are not thoroughly enjoying life you are not living upon the great pathway of life.

Knowing this, we realize that if we are unhappy there is something about our living that is contrary to the great law of the ever ascending life; or we may be practically off the path, so that the remedy would be to seek the great path once more; and we shall find, after we have en tered into the realization of this new idea, that it will be much easier to gain that fullness of happiness and joy that we all desire so much.

We may begin our analysis of this subject, therefore, by making the statement that we are here to learn a great lesson, a lesson that is so large and so wonderful that the objective mind cannot possibly comprehend it under any circumstances; but as we develop the higher form of understanding, we realize more and more the fullness of its meaning, and we also realize that this lesson can be learned or worked out only as we follow the great path.

To proceed further therefore in our study, we must understand the meaning of the great path; and we find that it is not some restricted mode of living, but a mode of living that we enter into when our whole attention is directed upon the great light of Supreme Wisdom. In other words, we are on the path when the whole of life has been consecrated to the best, to the highest, to the truest, to the richest and to the ideal, including the best that can be found everywhere on all planes of life. Briefly stated, we are on the path when we are inspired with that great and wonderful purpose.

But do we always follow this path? We find that we step outside frequently. We turn to the right and to the left almost every day, and in fact, almost every hour; and when we do step outside we experience pain, adversity, sickness, want and all those conditions that we have spoken of as evil.

Now the question is, if those things really are evil. We have thought of them as such, but we must analyze further before we find the real truth upon this important subject. We all know, through experience, that whenever we step outside the path we have pain, and we also know that this pain reminds us of the fact that we are off the path. Is this pain therefore an evil? It cannot possibly be an evil if it reminds us of our duty to our highest light. On the contrary, it is a good friend, and the moment we take the advice of this good friend and return to the path, there will be no more pain.

From this brief analysis we must conclude that pain is good; that is, it acts as a friend under every circumstance to encourage us to return to the path. We shall find that the same is true of all these other conditions that we call evil; they are reminders, some existing on the left side of the path, others on the right side of the path; and whenever we step outside, then these reminders inform us that we are off the path. Therefore, we must think of them as good, for indeed they are very good. If it were not for those reminders we would possibly remain outside of the path for ages, and thus be deprived, for all that time, of the wonderful realizations that are in store for us as we advance in the scale of eternal ascension.