When we inquire as to the greatest need of mankind, our answer must invariably be, to know more and more of the truth; and this answer is based upon the principle that it is the increased understanding of truth that alone can provide the human soul with those essentials that are required to the living of life and the fulfillment of destiny.

The need of more and more truth has been deeply felt in every soul at every time; and therefore we find the human race constantly in search of the truth, although it is quite evident that the majority do not realize, most of the time, why they do want to know the truth. The soul, however, does know; and it is this prompting from within that causes the mind to go out in every direction, and employ every possible means to the end that a greater measure of truth may be realized.

The truth that we may know at any particular time, provided it is all the truth that we can understand at that time, will satisfy our purpose for the living of a full life in that special period; but the very moment we come to a place where the needs of life have been enlarged and made more extensive, we shall feel at once the need of a greater measure of truth. This leads the soul into an attitude that we all have experienced - an attitude that may be described as the hungering and thirsting for something within, or for something higher that we do not seem able, at the time, to gain possession of; but what we really do want at those times is more truth; and the moment we find the greater truth we are in search of, the soul is satisfied, and the greater needs of life, for the moment, are perfectly fulfilled.

When we examine the relationship that the knowing of truth sustains to the living of life, we find that the truth of to-day is for to-day only; and that new truth and a greater measure of truth becomes absolutely necessary as the soul grows or advances into larger and higher states of existence. We find therefore that whenever a new step is taken, or something higher is undertaken, the truth that we have known in the past will prove insufficient. We find that we must have new truth, and that we must gain a higher and a larger understanding of life before we can proceed with the new step or undertaking in view.

However, if we do not succeed at once in gain ing this larger understanding, we shall experience a deep dissatisfaction with almost everything in life; and we have all had this experience at various times; but now we know what it means; and we can avoid such experiences in the future if we will make proper provision for the greater needs of the future by learning to search the truth in all places, and by learning the art of entering into a higher understanding of truth according to the demands of human advancement.

In our search for the truth in the past, we have confined ourselves almost exclusively to ways and methods that have been more or less uncertain; that is, we have not developed a definite system for the seeking of truth, or for the finding of truth, and this is especially true of spiritual truth. Accordingly, the race has not advanced spiritually to any degree of satisfaction, although great advancement has been made along other lines, because the search of truth in the material world has been carried on more thoroughly, according to science and system.

The soul must have more truth, however; and therefore we find large masses of people coming, at frequent times, to places where they do not know where to turn because the understanding of the past does not serve any longer; and they do not know how to find the greater understand in g that is demanded. In brief, they wish to discard old conditions and old beliefs, but do not know where to go for new ones; therefore they find themselves in conditions that are anything but favorable to the highest welfare of man.

We find that this very thing has happened in history, again and again; and during such seasons of change and uncertainty, there have been prolonged periods of spiritual darkness. The cause of this we can readily understand, because when the light of the past proves insufficient, and the greater light desired is not at hand, the soul must of necessity find itself in a state of darkness, or at least in a state of confusion; and mental confusion almost invariably produces more or less spiritual darkness. To avoid this, because it should be avoided by all means, we must seek to work out a more definite system for the search of the greater and the greater truth, as demanded by the growth and advancement of the soul. In brief, we must provide for ourselves a method of growth in the truth that will enable us to continue in the spiritual light constantly, without meeting at any time those periods that invariably follow when the supply for the higher is not at hand to provide for greater demand.

We all realize the situation, and the needs of such a situation; but the question is, how a more thorough system can be provided through which we may find, for each day, all the truth that we need for that day; but here we must remember that it is not a system of belief that we are in search of. We do not desire systems of belief, but rather a definite system for mental and spiritual growth into a higher and higher understanding of truth. The finding of such a system, however, will not prove so difficult as we might think, because we have the principle in our very midst.

When we look into the material world, we find that in that world a perfect system has been evolved for the search of more and more truth; and that system is based upon the scientific method - a method which is practically infallible, and which can be applied in any domain, even the spiritual domain. The value of the scientific method in the material world becomes very evident when we discover the fact that the world knew practically nothing about the material universe previous to the coming of the scientific method; but since that method has been employed so extensively, in connection with all visible and tangible objects and forces, the material universe has become almost like an open book. We can read nearly all its secrets at the present time; and its mysteries are no longer hidden, but have been clearly revealed to all intelligent minds. The fact is, that the scientific method has revealed the material universe to us in such a wonderful manner that we are now able to perform miracles almost every day in connection with tangible forces and elements; and still we realize that we are simply in the beginning of real knowledge in connection with material things. The discoveries that have been made in connection with the tangible, and the inventions that have been perfected, are nothing less than extraordinary; but greater things in connection with the visible universe will be evolved and perfected from this time on, because we are learning to apply the scientific method more perfectly every day, and upon a much larger scale.