So many people have justified themselves in waiting for some future date because they have said, ‘‘No one understands me, encourages me, no one helps me; others make ridicule of my noblest attempts." This is but an excuse, for after all, it would not be if they were in the joy of their self-respect, in the gladness of their own resolves, in the security of their own confidence and faith in themselves. If all of this were grounded within them, if they were true to themselves and knew they could continue true to themselves they would find that instead of looking in the eyes of others for ridicule, they would find they moved forward; others would turn to them in surprised expectation, because they had become the positive and the old negative beliefs in them would be challenged by the change of consciousness; by the change of motive, the change of living. It becomes possible for man to say, “I shall be true to myself and know that I am true, no matter who calls me false, no matter who is untrue to me." And as he begins living this life, he must remember that positiveness rules the negative, that the larger encompasses and includes the lesser, and that he is not giving up all other things in seeking the kingdom of heaven. Instead of pretended confidence, he is winning real confidence, instead of pretended response he is receiving a genuine appreciation and response. Instead of flattering and pretending and professing things for selfish gratification and for benefits others expect to gain through him, that which will come from them will be from their hearts, true reverential appreciation, a true giving of their service and co-operation and commendation, a real reward for him instead of a false hollow mockery which he has been trying to make the best of, which he has been trying to satisfy himself with as the reward of the merit such as he deserves and will surely have.

So we say he can work from his center out, he need confess himself to none but himself and as he works into a larger consciousness, into a fuller confidence, into a fuller reliance upon himself, he find that the day never arrives when he will have to bow his head in shame and confess this or that; but he will be working it out as Karma, he will be undoing, overcoming, he will be earning releases from the fetters that he has bound himself with, the day never comes that becomes more bitter, more humiliating, and revelation more painful to him than the day in which he discovered himself deceiving himself, untrue to himself and made his resolution!

So we declare the path of the disciple is not the bitter path that many claim it to be; it is not the path that is a leaping of chasms as many who have not tried this course believe it to be. Because man is not linked up with this full consciousness of his divinity, it seems to him far off; it seems foreign to him. Because he is not conscious that it is the only lawful, satisfying, joy-giving life to live, he thinks it is a life of hardship and sacrifice; he thinks the false is the true; he thinks it possible for him to continue on and falsify. He deceives no one so much as he deceives himself. So it is not worthwhile. And the point is here - that he knows and this is why the compound interest multiplies over him. If he did not know it, the interest would accumulate very slowly; but because he knows it, and persists, does this compound interest take place.

So, I recommend the gradual process of growth, of evolving into harmony with oneself, rather than the old custom of self-abnegation, self-crucifixion and self-exposure and these fetters that made the living of the natural life seem so repulsive to the perverted soul.

We do know that the souls that have taken up the highest walk; the beings who have challenged forth all of their highest potentialities, to express; who stand within themselves, loving themselves, loving their virtues, loving their possibilities out into manifestation - these beings are the happiest ones that walk the earth.

We do know that these are going to be the helpful, prosperous and secure beings who walk the earth, as they are in heaven. And those who persist in a perverted course, in an attempt to deceive others and themselves, are coming through this evolution of the race with less excuse for blindness and perversion than before there were no illustrations and no evidence. When there were no penitentiaries and when there were no asylums, the result of these perverted acts was less evident to man; but today, with everything a suggestion of the contrasts, everything a reminder of the reward of virtue and every condition continually reminding him; such as his own disappointment in himself, his own humilities, his own follies, undermining of his selfhood and contentment; I say to you time is fast coming when man walking the earth will not even have the courage to pretend falsehood, be cause he is an open book, because his aura is gray and black, because his very atmosphere is sensed constantly by those coming in contact with him, his very environment will take on his expression, his body will be in disorder, his mind will be in disorder, his domain unruled. And so this is the law of evolution, this is the law of cause and effect and explains the truth, that by a greater knowledge his responsibility increases. As ye know, according to your knowledge, be ye judged.

And as man comes on, in the course of his evolution, to realize the uselessness and worthlessness and folly of living under the old standards, there will not be those left to even think themselves intelligent who will persist in the old course. But of course, it is true that the unwise, the infant, the ignorant, will be with him always, the innocent will be with him always, the unbalanced will be with him always, on the planes of beginnings. And when the consciousness lifts itself into at-one-ment with the absolute reality and perfection of the now, he finds his infancy, his ignorance, and his sickness and poverty; and all of his scales will fall from him and he will come out in the pure glory of his conscious divinity.

It is true that in all stages of consciousness from the slumbering consciousness of the first soul, the atom, up through all the combinations that life is evolved through and vehicles of expression have evolved through, according to the knowledge has re-sponsibility been pressed down. If you know better, you must do better in self-preservation. If you can do better and do not, there is a decay going on within you, a destroying of your poise and equilibrium, just as when great physical forces come forward and develop all power and then cease to use it; just as the athlete develops his muscles and power of deep breath and endurance then lives his life in negativeness for a time, inaction for a time, not expressing his possibilities up to their power, up to the standard he had attained; if he does not progress or continue to express more and more, but less and less, consumption and disorder occur. That which is unused retrogrades. The muscle which has been built up must be used. The knowledge you have and do not use pollutes your very being even that which is good. Every element has its two sides; that which can preserve can destroy; that which can illumine can blacken; that which can strengthen can weaken. There are both sides to all conditions; and when we learn to study and to use this divine intelligence which belongs to each and every being, we will find the symphony of life one great accord, and humanity one great family.