THOUGHTS ON
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
By A Disciple
The principle of our existence is spiritual. The direction of our energies, the promulgation of our thought, the inspiration of our lives, is the soul. The rest is subsidiary and transitory. In the spiritual ...rests man's greatness. And it is a poor economy that gives time and effort to the lesser at the expense and to the detriment of the greater.
Around finite and material things, if we but pause to think, there always cling the elements of undesirability; the difficulty of their acquisition, the uncertainty of their possession, the limited tenure of their association. But our concept of the Infinite presents none of these objections.
Spiritual growth is superior to material delinquencies. Its existence is above and beyond the material, and truth is eternal. Material entities in themselves are good, as all creation is good per se. Apart from metaphysical goodness, too, rises the goodness of utility. Man is free and may choose between the manifold kinds of good ...apprehensible by the intellect.
But who chooses spiritual good and the compensations of spiritual development ...chooses the highest good. His reward is unlimited and unalloyed, and his possessions are truth and eternity. The development of humanity must come through spiritual achievement. And this in turn must come from the individual. Each atom in the mass will partake of the perfection the mass exhibits. The atoms individually must first display the virtues ...the whole makes manifest.
The spiritual man is reading in the trees and flowers, in the mountains and sky ...new lessons of truth whose beauty charms. He is creating in all who know his conduct ...a belief in spiritual values. And he is finding in his own being, in his own life ...a peace ineffable.