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Basics
"The soul is the self-reflective,
truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world. Self-consciousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral self-consciousness
is true human self-realization and constitutes the foundation of the human soul, and the soul is that part of man which represents
the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice
and spiritual attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the characteristics of the soul. The soul
of man cannot exist apart from moral thinking and spiritual activity. A stagnant soul is a dying soul. But the soul of man is distinct from the divine spirit
which dwells within the mind. The divine spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human mind, and
that is the occasion of the birth of the soul." |
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Harmony
"The saving or losing of a soul has
to do with whether or not the moral consciousness attains survival status through eternal alliance with its associated immortal
spirit endowment. Salvation is the spiritualization of the self-realization of the moral consciousness, which thereby becomes
possessed of survival value. All forms
of soul conflict consist in the lack of harmony between the moral, or spiritual, self-consciousness and the purely intellectual
self-consciousness."
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Proof of Soul
"The human soul, when matured, ennobled,
and spiritualized, approaches the heavenly status in that it comes near to being an entity intervening between the material
and the spiritual, the material self and the divine spirit. The evolving soul of a human being is difficult of description and more difficult of demonstration because
it is not discoverable by the methods of either material investigation or spiritual proving. Material science cannot demonstrate the existence of a soul, neither
can pure spirit-testing. Notwithstanding the failure of both material science and spiritual standards to discover the existence
of the human soul, every morally conscious mortal knows of the existence of his soul as a real and actual personal experience." |
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Stress
"The human mind does not well stand
the conflict of double allegiance. It is a severe strain on the soul to undergo the experience of an effort to serve both
good and evil. The supremely
happy and efficiently unified mind is the one wholly dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven. Unresolved
conflicts destroy unity and may terminate in mind disruption. The survival character of a soul is not fostered by attempting to secure peace of mind at any price, by the
surrender of noble aspirations, and by the compromise of spiritual ideals; rather is such peace attained by the stalwart assertion
of the triumph of that which is true, and this victory is achieved in the overcoming of evil with the potent force of good."
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The Test
"While you cannot observe the divine
spirit at work in your minds, there is a practical method of discovering the degree to which you have yielded the control
of your soul powers to the teaching and guidance of this indwelling spirit of the heavenly Father, and that is the degree
of your love for your fellow men. This spirit
of the Father partakes of the love of the Father, and as it dominates man, it unfailingly leads in the directions of divine
worship and loving regard for one's fellows." |
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Anger
"Anger is a material manifestation
which represents, in a general way, the measure of the failure of the spiritual nature to gain control of the combined intellectual
and physical natures. Anger indicates
your lack of tolerant brotherly love plus your lack of self-respect and self-control. Anger depletes the health, debases the mind, and handicaps the spirit
teacher of man's soul. Have you not read in the Scriptures that 'wrath kills the foolish man,' and that man 'tears himself
in his anger'? That 'he who is slow of wrath is of great understanding,' while 'he who is hasty of temper exalts folly'? You
all know that 'a soft answer turns away wrath,' and how 'grievous words stir up anger."
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Clarification
Jesus made clear these truths: Until the races become highly intelligent and more fully civilized,
there will persist many of those childlike and superstitious ceremonies which are so characteristic of the evolutionary religious
practices of primitive and backward peoples. The religion
of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty, and progress. The religion of the mind (the theology of organized religious authority)
requires little or none of these exertions from its formal believers. Tradition is a safe refuge and an easy path for those fearful and halfhearted souls
who instinctively shun the spirit struggles and mental uncertainties associated with the daring adventures of faith in search
of spiritual realities as they may be discovered by the progressive human mind and experienced by the evolving human soul. |
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Rebirth
"I have called upon you to be born
again, to be born of the spirit. I have called
you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility
of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make--the supernal experience of finding God
for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition
to the experience of knowing God; thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith
achieved by actual experience; and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true
religion of spirit which shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment."
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Tolerance
As you grow older in years and more experienced
in the affairs of the kingdom, are you becoming more tactful in dealing with troublesome mortals and more tolerant in living
with stubborn associates? Tact is
the fulcrum of social leverage, and tolerance is the earmark of a great soul. If you possess these rare and charming gifts, as the days pass you will become more
alert and expert in your worthy efforts to avoid all unnecessary social misunderstandings. Such wise souls are able to avoid
much of the trouble which is certain to be the portion of all who suffer from lack of emotional adjustment, those who refuse
to grow up, and those who refuse to grow old gracefully. |
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Prejudice
The wise and effective solution of any
problem demands that the mind shall be free from bias, passion, and all other purely personal prejudices that might interfere
with the disinterested survey of the actual factors that make up the problem presenting itself for solution. The solution of life problems requires courage and sincerity. Only
honest and brave individuals are able to follow valiantly through the perplexing and confusing maze of living to where the
logic of a fearless mind may lead. The emancipation
of the mind and soul can never be effected without the driving power of an intelligent enthusiasm which borders on religious
zeal. It requires the lure of a great ideal to drive man on in the pursuit
of a goal which is beset with difficult material problems and multiple intellectual hazards.
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Spiritual Communion
The worshipful meditation performed habitually
by Jesus brings the relaxation that renews the mind; the illumination that inspires the soul; the courage that enables one
to bravely face one's problems; the self-understanding that obliterates debilitating fear; and the consciousness of union
with divinity that equips man with the assurance that enables him to dare to be Godlike. The relaxation of worship, or spiritual communion as practiced by
Jesus, relieves tension, removes conflicts, and mightily augments the total resources of the personality. |
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Prejudice Is Selfishness
Prejudice blinds the soul to the recognition of truth,
and prejudice can be removed only by the sincere devotion of the soul to the adoration of a cause that is all-embracing and
all-inclusive of one's fellow men. Prejudice is inseparably linked to selfishness. Prejudice
can be eliminated only by the abandonment of self-seeking and by substituting the quest of the satisfaction of the service
of a cause that is not only greater than self, but one that is even greater than all humanity - the search for God, the attainment
of divinity. Evidence of maturity of the personality consists in the transformation of human desire
so that it constantly seeks for the realization of those values that are highest and most divinely real.
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Soul Enrichment
The union of souls is the mobilization
of wisdom. Eventually, every human acquires
a unique concept of this world and a unique vision of the next. It is possible, through personality association, to unite these views of temporal existence
and eternal prospects. The mind of one augments its spiritual values by gaining much of the insight of the other. Men enrich the soul by pooling their respective spiritual possessions.
In this same way, man is enabled to avoid that ever-present tendency to fall victim to distortion of vision, prejudice of
viewpoint, and narrowness of judgment. Fear, envy, and conceit can be prevented only by intimate contact with other minds. |
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Friendship
Isolation tends to exhaust the energy charge
of the soul. Association with one's fellows is essential to the renewal of the zest for life and is indispensable to the maintenance
of the courage to fight those battles consequent upon the ascent to the higher levels of human living. Friendship enhances the joys and glorifies the triumphs of life.
Loving and intimate human associations tend to rob suffering of its sorrow, hardship and bitterness. The presence of a friend
enhances all beauty and exalts every goodness. One of the crowning glories of human friendship is this power and possibility
of the mutual stimulation of the imagination. Great spiritual
power is inherent in the consciousness of wholehearted devotion to a common cause, mutual loyalty to a cosmic Deity.
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Material Success
Some men's lives are too great and noble
to descend to the low level of merely being successful. Animals must adapt to their environment, but the religious man transcends his environment and in this way
escapes the limitations of the present material world through the insight of divine love. This concept of love generates in the soul of man a superanimal
effort to find truth, beauty, and goodness; and when he does find them, he is glorified in their embrace. The religious man is consumed with the desire to live in truth,
beauty, and goodness - to do righteousness. |
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