THE WAY TO THE KINGDOM. Joseph Benner
you had entered, and which now is the all compelling spirit of your life.
You will remember that this experience came when you were shepherding your thoughts during the night period, when all seemed most dark and you were sustained only by the faith born of your long seeking. It was then that a glow of wonderful light flooded your night of waiting, and a song as of angels filled your consciousness. In deepest humility, you sought to know the meaning of it all, and you soon found there was cradled in your heart a tender, beautiful, all-compelling love, that from then on filled and possessed you, and gradually grew in power until it influenced and inspired much of your thinking, speech, and actions.
Surely at the Christmas season we should remember the birth of the Christ-child, especially now that we know that It is the actual love of our Father-God—His Holy Spirit, growing, thriving, working in our hearts, seeking to merge our whole nature—body, mind and soul—with His Nature, that He may without hindrance live His life in us, do His will in us, and be His Christ-self in us.
Ah, dear ones, let us not only remember, but let us open our hearts wide that He, the Blessed One, may come forth and possess us and do with us as He wills. May we dedicate ourselves wholly to Him, letting His Love be our life, and our bodies and brain minds His perfect means of expression.
It is true that some who read may deem the above but words, it having no real meaning for them, the Christ-child not yet having been quickened in their hearts. To such we would say with Jesus, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Like Nicodemus, they may be masters of Israel and have great occult knowledge of the law and of the inner worlds, but unless they are born of the water of Divine Inspiration and of the spirit of Christ-Love, they can never find and enter the Kingdom.
In the preceding chapter, Aspirants were reminded of that point reached on the Path where they had more or less consciously renounced the old life and were quickened into a new consciousness; the Christ-child had been born in their hearts; the Prodigal had started on his return journey to his Father’s house; the dedication of the Aspirant to the higher life had been registered and he had become a Disciple on Probation.
It was at this point that you actually started out to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Whether you were aware of it or not in your brain consciousness, your soul had unfolded to the stage where it saw its Father’s house afar off; and now it no longer can find rest until it reaches home and can abide there forever.
Along with the birth of the love-nature there awakens the desire to serve selflessly, and from then on according to the extent that Love is permitted to grow and lead, will the Disciple gradually become aware of a voice within which speaks whenever it gets the attention of the conscious mind. It will be no audible voice, and there may be no actually heard words, but nevertheless something speaks within and the Disciple will hear and understand. He will also note that when he heeds and obeys a blessing in some form follows, but when he fails to obey the hints or “leadings” given, failure, trouble and often suffering result. Thus the Disciple gradually learns of his higher and inner nature, and that it is unmistakably related to Love; more and more he finds himself turning within and seeking to know more of this inner self and he strives to let it guide and direct him in all things.
As he thus definitely gives his allegiance to Love and to his better self, he is made aware of qualities in his lower nature rising unexpectedly to prominence and displaying elements of selfishness and baseness that surprise and startle him. For the lower self that had held a dominating part so long in his life is not yielding without a battle—in fact, it is fighting for its very existence.
It is then you begin to realize that the Path upon which you have entered is not an easy one. The fact is, in the conquering of the lower self, you are assuming a task that will test you to the limit of your strength and endurance. But you will gradually discover that from the same source that comes the Voice will also come the strength needed to conquer and to sustain you along the way. Also you will learn that loving and selfless service releases the strength and gives the wisdom to meet every test, for while serving you are enlisted in the Cause of Brotherhood and in such work the Great Brotherhood of the Spirit always supplies all the wisdom and the strength needed to accomplish it.
For you who are truly seeking the Kingdom, the time has come to hear certain truths, to see if your Higher Self deems you ready to receive and accept these truths and to make them a part of your soul consciousness. If so they will bring to you an illumination of understanding that will quicken your soul, free your mind from what has been holding you back perhaps for many lifetimes, and will con sequently now permit you speedily to proceed on your journey.
But if you are not yet ready to accept these truths it is well, for your Higher Self has certain necessary experiences in store for you, from which He will be enabled later to teach you to accept them and to want to follow us on our way to the Kingdom.
Consider first the real meaning of these words spoken to His Disciples by the Christ of Jesus—“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”
Can the Divinity within any man be reached by any but the Christ Way? These words of our Master tell us definitely, No.
Many of you who read may have come along the route of Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Spiritualism, and other occult movements, and according to your study and understanding of what they teach you have an intellectual grasp of much knowledge of the constitution of man and of the Universe, of the laws of matter, and of the hidden side of life, which should be a great aid to you in governing your life and actions—up to a certain point. These, movements help man very considerably to know himself and thereby enable him to gain mastery over qualities and elements in his nature whose influence before was not understood. Such knowledge should dispose him to deal more kindly and justly with his fellows who are of like nature. But does that always result in those who have all the knowledge that these movements teach?
Those who gave this knowledge to the world through these different movements are said to be Masters of Wisdom, Adepts, Initiates, or at least very learned Teachers. Unquestionably some of them are of vast knowledge and powers, those who have far outstripped ordinary humanity—Supermen—our elder brothers, judging from what they taught and what they know. It is their due that we honor, revere and be grateful to them for all they have taught us, and we certainly should strive to use the knowledge gained wisely and for the good of all.
But who was the real teacher who pointed out in the teachings that which you were to accept and which to pass by? Who helped you to apply the truths in the teaching to the experiences of life through which you were led? And who guided and chided and cautioned, and always held before your mind’s eye the ideal toward which your face has ever been turned? Was there not One within you who did all this, and Who has a purpose for you and a part for you to play—when you are through seeking without for what the world and its teachers have to offer and you are ready to turn within and get fully acquainted with Him, and are willing to wait upon Him and to sit at His feet and to be consciously taught by Him?
We say to you who have been “born again” you within whom the Christ has been born—you Disciples on Probation, that One is your Master—even the Christ-Self of you, Who has more knowledge and power than any initiate, adept or master who has not received the anointing of the Holy Spirit—who has not yet been Christed. For such are but “masters of Israel,” like Nicodemus. They are great souls, even as John the Baptist was great, of whom Jesus said:
“This is he of whom it was written, behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
“For I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; but he that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”—Matthew 11:10-11.
Just as John the Baptist lost his head, so may even one of great knowledge lose his head (mentally) unless he has wedded wisdom with Love.
Such Masters who inaugurate new movements for the enlightenment of men in our modern days are as the Prophets of Old Testament times. They may be considered as the