Outline:
- Every object, an expression of some divine idea
- Evils have no place in God’s Kingdom
- Our acts are lens through which we can see anything
- We are master of our destiny
- The condition of doing best work
- The need of being cautious and logical
- Wise man does not envy
- Reciprocal process
- Who is the free man?
We are born to lead a virtuous life. Everybody and every object of nature is an expression of some divine idea and if we see things in the light of truth, we see things as God made them and not the distorted images which we see through the ugly, glasses of our own wrong thinking and vicious living, everything would say to us, “Be happy, be successful, be harmonious.” If we were perfectly normal, we should be so contented and happy that life would be a perpetual joy. There will be no poverty, no suffering when all the world arrives at the point where everybody can see realities and live the truth.
Selfishness, greed, sin and all discordant conditions has no place in God’s kingdom. Every act of dishonesty whether others know it or not is waster. Every act or thought of impurity every unholy desire is a success sapper. Such a man is slave to his passions. Wrong thinking tears down his mental and physical structure. He cannot attain health and happiness. He is not a free man. He is a bondman. He is dominated by his moods. He lacks self-control. He indulges in violent passion. It shatters the nervous system. It lessens the will power and induces great disorders.
Only the transparent, sinless mind can see realities and beauties. Every sinful thought, every wrong thought, and every vicious act hangs an additional film over the eyes that see the things as God made them, and we must get these films off by right thinking and right living before we can see the world as God made it or appreciate man as God made him.[the_ad id=”17141″]
Every film of selfishness or self-seeking, every film of dishonesty or taking advantage of another, of standing in another’s way or keeping another back, must be removed before we can get the clear, crystalline vision of reality, of trụth. Follow the laws of God in every walk of life and you will be free from hunger and want. This is true Freedom.
No man can see anything in this world except through the lens of his own acts, of his own thought, of his own motives. The vision must be coloured by the medium through which we look. Every act of our lives every thought, every motive, is hung up before our eyes and we are compelled to look at everything through them. If the act is clean; the thought is pure, and the deed is true, there will be perfect transparency and we shall see truth and beauty and realities instead of distorted, ugly, vicious, hideous images. We must get the films off the eyes before we can have perfect vision.
We make the world we live in and shape our own environment. Some of us live in dungeons of our own making and then complain of the darkness and the gloom. The men and women who see darkness, despair, disaster, and deterioration every where going backward, carry very little weight compared with the men and women who see the best in everything, these are the people who enjoy liberty of thought and action. They live without fear. Such people are not afraid of even death. They believe that death is the window of life. They work and win. They move freely.
Only those deserve to be free who are blessed with reason and virtue. People who know what to do, when to do and where to do. These are the people who are not blind followers. Their judgment is out of the reach of the waves of emotions, passions or moods. They win liberty by a strong will and unchangeable decision. They know that weakness and yielding vacillation lead to ruin. They know how to consider all the pros and cons of the matter. They make a program and carry it out. They know their mind. They know their want. They are not the victims of conflicting options.
[the_ad id=”17142″]Until we control our moods and marshal our thoughts at will as general marshals his army, we can never do our best work. We must master our thoughts or be their slaves. No man who is at the mercy of his moods is a free man. He only is free who can rise to his dominion in spite of his mental enemies. The man who lives within permanent principles lives without fear. He only flourishes and prospers who acts upon the unchangeable law of God. Only he is a free man who brings his passions, emotions under the yoke of reason and his reason is married with the permanent principles.
Bring reason to bear on all things. Test all things. Be eager to know and understand. Be logical in thought. Be consistent in word and action. Bring the searchlight of knowledge to bear on your condition of mind, in order to simplify in and remove its errors. Question yourself with searching scrutiny. Let got of belief, hearsay, and speculation; and lay hold knowledge. He who stands upon knowledge acquired by practice is filled with sublime yet lowly confidence and is able to speak the word of Truth with power. Master the task of discrimination. Learn to distinguish between good and evil. Learn to perceive the facts of life and understand them in their relation to one another. Awake the mind to see the orderly sequence of cause and effect in all things, both mental and material. Thus will be revealed the worthlessness of pleasure seeking and sin. Thus the glory and gladness of a life of sublime virtue and spotless purity will dawn upon you.
A man who does not bring reason into play is a slave to his passions. So long as an individual is in bondage to passions he can neither know nor experience the joy of Liberty. He is governed and controlled by just what happens to feel at any moment.
He is like a man wearing colored spectacles, everything he sees through them and takes on the same colour. Prejudice and partiality are byways for the feet of slaves. Wise men walk by Principle and judge by righteousness.
The liberated man considers calmly his position. He neither frets nor complains. But with judgment and reason he weights pros and cons. He looks forward and always finds a way out of all his difficulties.[the_ad id=”17150″]
A wise man never envies another. He is never discontented with his share of things. He knows that envy is a blighting and withering poison. He rejoices with great joy in the happiness and good fortune of another. He knows that no good can come to him but what he earns and deserves. He knows that discontent is foolish and futile.
The slave to feelings and passions is ever sinning and ever repenting. He acts today and repents tomorrow. He who sins and repents, acts and regrets, is not a wise man or free, but is held in bondage. The wise and free acting from reason, thought and judgment, repent not because they need not to repent, knowing that their actions were according to their highest judgment and after their holiest convictions.
They know that regret is an utter waste of time and energy. For, no regretting can ever alter one jot of the past or undo what is done. Therefore the liberated man is strong, calm and just. He is governed in all things and under all circumstances by the light of Reason. He sees no evil. He thinks no evil. He speaks no evil and does no evil. Thus enters the soul into Liberty.[the_ad id=”17144″]
The cause of your bondage as of your deliverance is within the injury that comes to you through others is the rebound of your own deed, the reflex of your own mental attitude. They are the instruments, you are the cause. Destiny is a ripened fruit. Each man in just measure receives the fruit of life, both bitter and sweet. The righteous man is free. None can injure him. None can destroy him. None can rob him of his peace. His attitude towards men disarms their power to wound him. Any injury, which they may try to inflict, rebounds upon themselves to their own hurt, leaving him unharmed and untouched. The good that goes from him is his perennial fount of happiness. Its root is serenity. Its flower is joy.
Man’s power subsists in discrimination and choice. Man does not create one jot of universal conditions or laws. They are the essential principles of things and are neither made nor unmade. He discovers, not makes them. Ignorance of them is at the root of the world’s pain. To defy them is folly and bondage. Who is the free man, the thief who defies the laws of his country, or the honest citizen who obeys them? Who, again, is the freer man, the fool who thinks can live as he likes, or the wise man who chooses to do only that which is right?
Man is in the nature of things, being of habit and this he cannot alter but he can alter his habits. He cannot alter the law of his nature, but he can adapt his nature to the law. He is the good man whose habit of thought and action are good.
