Attuned  To  The  Eternal  Vision

Uranda  September 23, 1945

Somehow, my mind is inclined to turn to thoughts of the Sun Dial, when we have an opportunity such as this—and here we are indeed Spiritually in the Garden, and to the degree that each one has that Peace that has its Source in the Divine, we bring into focalized expression the Garden of Peace. The world needs the influence of the Garden of Peace more urgently now than it did in the days of conflict that have come to a close. The sound of battle and carnage obscured the turmoils and frictions, the selfishness and the greed that manifest in the hearts and lives of human beings in high places and low.

Any change for the better in world conditions must be based upon a transformation within individuals. We cannot, by any means or method, hope to improve world conditions without first improving individuals, and it is utterly impossible to improve individuals except as they themselves have a longing to experience that improvement. These are fundamental facts, and they have a direct bearing upon every phase of activity in which we may be engaged in the Service of the Lord. They influence, properly, every individual expression from within ourselves.

All too often I find the horizon too narrow, the vision too fore-shortened to a point where the immediate things of lesser importance occupy too great a degree of the attention. Of all the people in the world, we have the greatest privileges and, therefore, the greatest responsibilities; and it is incumbent upon us, individually and collectively, to remember to maintain the vision, to see always the relationship between the things of daily life, the things immediately at hand, and the things in the broad scope of the world picture.

We have no illusions concerning the outworking of human affairs that are based upon human, individual strength and wisdom. We have no illusions about the possibility of establishing, by any means whatsoever, some national or international control by means of which one might, as it were, restore goodness to the world. It cannot be done. At the present time, followers of democracy, as it has been known, appear to be following only for the loaves and fishes, for what they think they can get out of it. Following on the basis of the Spirit of Truth and for true expansion, appears to be well nigh a thing of the past.

Many individuals portray for the future a marvelous world, a marvelous era, in which great inventions will bring, supposedly at least, an increased pleasure and joy and opportunity in living. I do not deny that such a thing comes within the realm of possibility. Anything comprehensible to man becomes possible within the range of the outworking Currents of Creative Force in the Cosmic scheme of things. In other words, with increased knowledge these inventions are entirely within the scope of the possible, but when we stop to look at the quality of humanity as a whole, we do not find a sufficient number of individuals ready to give into life that which would enable that sphere of life to manifest with any certainty. If there were a reasonable degree of goodness toward turning to Reality, where God is considered—within certain cycles at least—if there were a reasonable turning to goodness on the part of humanity as a whole, it is very possible that such a vibration, with a goal established and maintained and adhered to by the majority of people in the world, would permit the development of what might in a sense be called a Utopian period. It could rise out of the world conditions as they now are, and form an interval between that which now is and that which is to be. And that interval, depending upon the mass of humanity, might last conceivably for even hundreds of years. It would last for whatever length of time it took for one of two things to happen: either for it to move into a still higher expression of Reality and a more complete attunement with the Divine as a whole; or for crystallizations and decay to set in—in which case we would be right back where we are now, although that decay in such a case would take place much more rapidly than we have anticipated in the outworking of events in relationship to the world and our own nation.

While our nation boasts itself as being the most powerful in the world—and as a citizen of this nation, I would be very much inclined to agree with that statement—those of us who look carefully to the national health must recognize that there are many signs of decay, many signs of breaking down, although it has not become an old nation yet and might not, under some conditions, for a long period of time. But those signs point at least in the direction in which it is moving and, broadly speaking, it is not the direction in which we should like to have it move. From the standpoint of a dispassionate, impersonal analysis, then, I am inclined to feel that we should be forced to admit that the probabilities, from the standpoint of this Utopian period, are very remote.

Man appears to feel that he has well nigh reached the goal of knowledge where he can be as a God, knowing good and evil, but those who think they have achieved the goal of human supremacy find that their foundations invariably crumble beneath them. It does not work. We cannot arbitrarily change the situation in the world and we cannot force human beings to have a new vision and understanding of the Divine. I say a new vision and new understanding, not because it is new—for it is old—but because it is only now, insofar as this period is concerned, that it is beginning to be really recognized. It is new to this day but it is as old as man himself, as old as creation; and so this vision that is new to this day requires that we ourselves shall be so filled with the absolute conviction concerning the immutable nature of God's Laws and with such a complete realization of the certainty of the outworking of God's Will that we refuse to allow the little things or the things near at hand to cloud our vision and understanding—so that we maintain the vibration clear, full and free for all people of the world who long to know the Way, the Truth and the Life.

You will recall that in times past I made certain predictions concerning the outworking of things and I think that the record bears it out to a remarkable degree, and yet I found Emissaries setting their course of action upon their own concept of the fulfillment, or the known fulfillment of specific predictions. I found some functioning as if they thought that they knew just how certain things were going to work out, and that they could, somehow, by riding on the crest of a wave, come into some new or promised land according to their own desires. It does not work that way. Such things are perhaps interesting and intriguing, and from the standpoint of Reality it is perfectly legitimate for us to consider them, but actually, insofar as we are concerned, it should not make any difference whether that outworking comes in thirty days or fifty years—a hundred hours or a hundred centuries. The time element is really of very little importance.

In any case, regardless of time elements, the same principles hold true, the same laws apply, the same Goal stands, the same necessities for Service exist—and so this evening I have been expressing along this line in order to help clarify for you my vision of this matter, so that you can consider it in relationship to your own vision. Seeing it from this standpoint, which is the Eternal standpoint, nothing is little in this world and nothing is great. Nothing is unimportant and nothing is important enough to cause us to let it become a barrier in the Way. Value must be based upon Eternal Realities, insofar as we are concerned, and an achievement that may seem to be entirely insignificant according to human vision, may in the years to come prove itself to be of far-reaching consequence.

To what degree are our minds constantly and consistently, in relationship to all matters, attuned to the Eternal Vision? And when I say Eternal Vision, I do not mean our individual concepts of what the world will be when it is made new. I mean a recognition of the operation of Divine Principles in relationship to everything that we think and say and do, here and now. That which we do in relationship to little things, in relationship to everyday experience, is that which the world of Responding Ones tends to do. In these things we set a course for others—we establish a vibration, and we open the Way. When we open a way, we should consider whether or not it is a way in which we should like to see tens of thousands walking as a path of Spiritual life. When we set a vibration, in our own minds its value should be measured not on that which appears in the immediate environment but on the influence that would be seen to result in the world if we could watch that vibration reach out into the world and touch hundreds of thousands of lives.

To what degree it does reach out, and whether one life or a million lives are influenced, makes no difference, anymore than it makes a difference whether the final outworking of events comes next week or a thousand years from now. The fundamental Realities with which we are working are the expression of the Christ Kingdom in this moment, just as surely as they will ever be in the future. That which is of Reality will not become more than Reality when the Christ Kingdom fills the whole world. That which is of value will not become more valuable when the Kingdom is known to every man, woman, and child.

It is in such hours as this, when we are privileged to gather in the Garden of Peace for a greater consideration of that which is important to us and to the world, that we know beyond a shadow of doubt that our lives are important only to the degree that we accomplish that to which we are called by our KING. Peace, true and lasting peace, which the world needs so much, must spring from the hearts and minds of those who have found peace. Strength and courage and vision to do that which is in harmony with Reality must spring from the lives of those who have found the Way, if others are to be influenced, so that a transformation of lives will begin to work a transformation of the world—for the world is not and can never be any better than the people who live in it.

© Emissaries of Divine Light