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THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH
THE ZODIAC MESSAGES
"INFLUENCES, IMAGINATION AND INSPIRATION"
An address by the celestial messenger 'Zodiac' (the
unnamed scribe of the Bible and a teacher in the Temple
of Jerusalem at the time of Christ), through the mediumship
of Miss Winifred Moyes in the earlier part of the twentieth
century
-
"CHRIST, our Companion and our Friend, gather
us all in this evening; and grant that, resting on
Thy strength, we may be healed of the pains of mind
and body; and thus restored, may go on, not only with
determination, but with the inexpressible joy which
comes from giving up ourselves to Thy service.
-
"O God, increase our faith; grant that the shadows
may be powerless to throw over the bright future those
clouds of grey, which make Thy children hesitate over
what lies in front. Grant that the spiritual sight
with which Thou hast endowed them may enable them to
see the Light and the Light only.
-
"Father of Infinite Love, we, Thy little children,
have much to learn, have much to understand e'er we
can partake of even a limited number of the uncountable
joys which are our own - through Thy tender generosity.
Let us be charged with faith, with trust, and with
that greater comprehension, so that the way may be
gladsome indeed, and the past and all its memories
powerless to hurt us more.
-
"Father, we ask all these good gifts, as children;
knowing that Thou art always ready to bestow, and will
help and guide us. Amen.
-
"MY children, we must go a little slowly in the
beginning, because the enemies of the physical have
been rather troublesome today; and, as you know, the
effect of these struggles is a weariness of heart and
mind, which hampers the Spirit a little - in the measure
that the physical and spiritual minds are not in harmony.
You have been told that physical weakness and the vicissitudes
of daily life are a source of gain to the Spirit; and
I would not have you overlook that point. But it is
quite consistent to say that, at the time, there is
an adverse effect which such encounters leave behind:
and it is with 'the present' I am engaged now.
-
"Children, there are so many subjects to discuss
that, although these evenings were arranged for in
that far yesterday, as you have been told before, yet
the events and the thoughts and the conditions in which
my fast-growing family is placed make me hesitate a
little in regard to the presentation of those grains
of knowledge which I have been instructed to impart.
-
"You see, dear children, that when we are free
from the body and its many restrictions; when we have
seen and have heard a few of the many wonders which
are everywhere in the Realms of Light, then it is a
little difficult to choose just that aspect of the
grain of Truth we wish to teach - just the aspect which,
at the time, will be most acceptable to the physical
mind.
-
"You see, I am treating the physical mind as a
thing of some importance; and so it is. It is the weapon,
the tool, the vehicle of self-expression which is tangible
to you during the earth stages. Comparatively few people
ever stop to consider or to analyse themselves - I
mean they are quite content with the physical aspect
of their lives; indeed, the body and its needs, its
desires, its many requirements provide such an interesting
topic for conversation and for private thought that
they do not wish to be bothered with anything further.
-
"Look around you! How few there are who are conscious
that, primarily, they are Spirit; how few who realise
that the physical body is but a garment to be worn
for a little while, until that which is within, having
out-grown its use, lays it aside; when, so far as the
actual 'body' is concerned, it will be forgotten and
unregretted.
-
"You see, human nature is still in a very elementary
state in regard to those higher things of the Spirit;
which, however, one day will have to engage the attention
of all whether they will or not.
-
"I want you to think very seriously about those
two instruments of use with which you are provided
- I mean the physical and the spiritual minds: and
although I refer to them under separate headings, this
is entirely and only because man, as a whole, makes
the division himself.
-
"The physical mind is even as a sensitive plate,
as you have been told before. It receives countless
impressions; and, in its turn, through the vehicle
of speech and of action, is able to pass on those impressions
to others. You call it 'influence' and it can well
come under that designation - but, after all, what
is influence? Influence is the domination of a stronger
thought, a stronger feeling, or a stronger vision over
that which is weaker; and, as you know only too well,
'influence' can be detrimental in the extreme.
-
"Now, in regard to the physical mind: that mind,
to a certain extent, is at the mercy of its environment.
The people you mix with, the books you read - these
and a multitude of other emanations from things as
well as from people - these being focussed on that
which is intensely impressionable builds up the thought
and the attitude of mind which you carry on from day
to day.
-
"It is an interesting subject; but when you come
here, dear children, you will see that indeed it has
its sad aspect as well. There are so many 'influences'
at work of which the children undergoing their physical
experience are entirely unaware. But, Our Lord and
all who followed in His steps have ever exhorted mankind
to keep close to God - close to the protection which
He provides in so lavish a way.
-
"Can you not understand that it was not possible
to tell the people of that generation how the position
really was: to tell them that not only those in the
body, in their daily life, were influencing and swaying
that physical mind - not yet closely fettered to the
Divine - but there were countless thousands, free from
the body, it is true, but, alas! not free from the
memory of physical thoughts; and these, dear children,
do destructive work indeed.
-
"I speak most seriously tonight, because, unfortunately,
those who are in a sensitive condition of mind are
influenced to an enormous extent by those others, who
never cease to force their evil and harmful thoughts
upon those who are out to climb.
-
"Cannot you grasp what I would warn you against?
Yes, there are those among my children who have suffered
grievously from these attacks; and sorrow and heart-break
and something akin to despair has been their portion
as a result.
-
"Children, if once you could see these enemies
of Our Lord and Master you would spurn them for ever
more. It is because you cannot see them, and because
you are scarcely on your guard sufficiently to 'feel'
the nature of these destroying forces, that you allow
them to approach.
-
"There is so much underlying my warning; and I
speak in most compassionate, most understanding tones,
especially to the younger ones among you. I entreat
you, for the sake of your Spirit, for the sake of that
God-given happiness which awaits you - I entreat you
to meet these enemies as you would meet an enemy in
physical life: Not to quail, not to cringe, not to
ask for mercy; but in confidence, with perfect self-control
to say: 'I am linked to One who is stronger than you
all!'
-
"Oh! my children, how I long to help you more;
yet if you refuse that unlimited help which is offered
to you what can we do but to pray and pray again. The
Spirit is held free and untouched by those attacks,
but - as I explained in regard to the weakness of the
physical body - at the time, there is damage done which
we find it very hard to work against.
-
"But let me go back. We were thinking of the physical
mind; and while I am on this subject I want to take
you a little further in regard to that much-discussed
gift which you call 'imagination.'
-
"Now, dear children, as you know, it is against
my practice to attempt to destroy any of the many theories,
so carefully thought out, concerning these different
questions; and when you get on a little farther you
will find that the position is this: That I have destroyed
very little that man has attempted to explain. I have
merely taken you on from the physical aspect into the
spiritual; and, it all fits in quite harmoniously and
no blanks or awkward corners are left behind.
-
"My children, imagination is a gift from God;
but, as you are well aware, it can be used by those
who are evil indeed. That 'image-making', which those
who have studied the question find it quite easy to
explain, on physical grounds - to their satisfaction
and to the satisfaction of the majority - that word
is, purely, a misnomer. Image-making, or imagination
is something which is built up by other 'suggestions',
influences and scenes; yet tonight I tell you quite
simply that imagination - true imagination - has its
roots in the Spirit and is of the Spirit alone.
-
"Children, not only when you are asleep but for
a large portion of your waking hours, the Real You
is not fettered to the physical world at all; it is
wandering in the Realms of the Spirit. And when you
say, or you see, that a person is 'lost in thought',
it means that the real self is functioning in one of
the countless spiritual realms, while the body remains
on earth doing its duty, following out its mundane
tasks, may be - but only that which is akin to the
world remains behind.
-
"Children, in regard to the physical and the spiritual
minds: when you get on a little you will find that
they can be so intermingled that it would be difficult
to draw the dividing line. And yet I must explain this,
otherwise you will get a false impression:
-
"Now, the physical mind is the tool, the vehicle,
which even the youngest souls bring with them for use
during their earthly experience. As the soul evolves
it disentangles itself from that same physical mind,
in one sense. Or let me put it another way round: that
physical mind is slowly but surely becoming spiritualised.
And if you could draw a map representing the two gifts
you would find that, as you grow spiritually, as experience
is made your own and overcome, so that which represents
the physical mind is slowly but surely submerged by
the spiritual. And it is possible - it was worked out
by those servants of Christ who carried on His ministry,
and it has been illustrated, again and again, by the
so-called saints and holy teachers of all time - it
is possible that e'er the body is laid aside that that
which represents the physical mind exists no longer,
because the Spirit, rising and dominating that which
is of the earth, is able to bring about this transition
- which appears even as the 'destruction' of that which
is associated with the body.
-
"My children, I want you to get this clear. I
want you to realise, more and more, that the physical
and the spiritual interpenetrate again and again. It
is purely a matter of personal effort - there is no
division, so far as the Father is concerned, between
that which is of Him and that which is of the world.
Your part, during your earthly sojourn, is to take
that which is not of Him and, by prayer and effort
and understanding, to change it from greyness into
brightness - change it from that drabness which represents
the thought of the world into the Light and the Joy
and the Beauty which is of God.
-
"Never despair, little ones, if, on going through
your physical minds, you feel that your task is only
just begun - never despair. Because all have been through
that stage, all those whom now you long to be like
- all those dear ones, the bright ones, the visitors
who come to you in this way - they have been through
the hard stages too; and many, yes, many are going
through desperately hard stages now. The only difference
being that they know, they are certain that that which
is not allied to the Spirit can be and will be made
one with the Divine within.
-
"Children, talking thus intimately with you, I
take little points, here and there, which I think will
help you on your upward way; but again I come back
to the chief subject, as it would appear to you: What is that illusive thing called 'Imagination'?
-
"My children, it is at once a complex and a perfectly
simple thing. It is memory, pure and simple - memory
which brings its responsibility as well as its privileges.
During those periods when the mind of the Spirit escapes
from its imprisonment it receives impressions of a
varied kind; not only conceptions of things scarce
understood by the physical organ - revelations of the
wonders and the beauties which lie everywhere in the
higher realms - but also impressions from those darker
planes of thought, which are gathered close round each
one in the world to-day.
-
"Children, it is very much the same as listening
to a complicated and intricate explanation in the form
of a lecture - only those highly trained can bring
away with them an accurate and comprehensive impression
of what has been said. The majority, for the most part,
are glad to fix upon given points; and, holding these
'points' firmly in the mind, at leisure, to go back
over them and, by that same 'memory', fill in as many
blanks as possible.
-
"There, in illustration, you get a simple explanation
of 'imagination.' The mind of the Spirit soars out
and away. During the sleep state it is taken on many
journeys far, far from the earth plane indeed. So much
is acquired, so many sights and sounds and wonders
and marvels are thrown upon that exquisitely delicate
mechanism of the mind of the Spirit which, by their
very spirituality, cannot be transferred to the mind
of the body. Yet, what happens is this: A thought,
an 'inspiration' is able to penetrate, but nothing
more; yet from that thought, that inspiration the busy
physical mind starts to build, and, as with the lecture,
the individual, remembering a point here and there
- by the aid of the Spirit power which is all around
them - is able to conceive something which is harmony
of sound, of beauty or of structure.
-
"And there you have the explanation of 'genius',
whether it relates to the fine arts or whether to that
greatest gift of all - the gift of understanding a
little more of the things which are of God.
-
"Children, this is a vast subject; and I want
you to give me your full attention tonight. I am seeking
to make the tangle straight, to give you a clear and
lucid idea of the processes of the physical mind and
its relation to the mind of the Spirit.
-
"In regard to 'imagination' - and, of course,
all the great 'masters' of art, in every form, have
this gift in great proportion - in regard to imagination
it can be a gift of God. Or it can be turned into a
wicked gift - as one of those so 'inspired' has put
it. (Tennyson?)
-
"Here you get your warning; here you see the sign-post!
Those who are sensitive in the degree that they retain
the 'memory' of what they have seen, what they have
experienced through the mind of the Spirit - those
so sensitive have their choice. They have their choice
as to whether they will walk in the Fields of Holiness,
or on those lower planes of thought and feeling which
have been built up by the thoughts and feelings of
men and women during their physical lives.
-
"Now think you of this as it stands: It is possible
for you, or for anyone, even during your waking hours,
to send that mind of the Spirit - which is free to
wander where it will - to send it into conditions which
are intensely harmful.
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"Children, free-will is never interfered with.
And although 'imagination', so-called, is a gift of
God, yet, because of that freedom of will, it is quite
possible - indeed it happens more often than not -
that that which is so free wanders in planes of thought
which are destructive to the work which the Spirit
has set itself to accomplish. And here you get the
desecration of art, here you get 'genius' used by the
evil indeed.
-
"Children, there are many in the material world
who, under the name of 'art', do much destructive work.
They concentrate on the things which are of the earth,
on that physical body which, as I have said, is but
a garment to be laid aside and forgotten. Under the
name of 'art' thought influences which are dangerous
to others go forth; and I would warn all those who
read my words against this great mistake. Because that
which is impure comes under the heading of 'art' it
does not make it pure; and, in God's sight, that which
is built, that which is created, that which is portrayed
which appeals only to the lower emotions - in God's
sight that is enemy work indeed.
-
"Children, never allow yourselves to be persuaded
that because thoughts which are impure, thoughts which
are destructive to the Spirit within - that because
these are presented to you as 'art' - never allow yourselves
to be persuaded that this is excuse enough.
-
"So characteristically - so terribly characteristically
- man concentrates on the body, on that which is physical
- on that which never becomes anything more than physical
- ignoring the quest of the soul within, ignoring the
fact that although the body in which it is encased
may be beautiful according to physical standards, the
Spirit, which is of God, is lovelier, far lovelier
in every sense there could be. The time will come when
that which they regarded as beauty - that grace of
form or of feature - when they will turn from the remembrance
of that with loathing, because it signifies the state
of bondage they were in, and how that 'imagination',
how that 'memory' illustrated the journeys the mind
of the spirit undertook - using that term 'spirit'
purely in the sense that it signifies that within which
is free, free to wander where it will outside your
limited earth plane.
-
"My children, the responsibility towards the real
spirit, in regard to these journeys, is terrific. Cannot
you see that yourself? The Father gives you unlimited
freedom - except so far as that little which is 'physical'
is concerned - the Father gives the real you that wonderful
freedom to roam where it will; and, more than that:
helpers and guides, trained servants of our God, wait
to take you into those higher realms where holiness
abounds on every side. Yet the freedom of the will
cannot be interfered with; and so it is that during
the hours of sleep many wander, not in planes of evil,
it is true, but in those destructive planes of sadness,
where 'the past' and all the 'questionings' are held.
-
"Children, cannot you understand? Think of the
countless thousands who have lived and had their day:
their regrets, their repinings, their backward thoughts,
their prayers against the Spirit. These 'influences'
stand, remaining until the soul within humanity has
grown sufficiently strong to destroy them - and in
these planes of twilight many wander during their daily
life, as well as during the hours when sleep claims
them.
-
"I want you to look at things in a practical way.
Life, physical life, may not be easy for many; it is
difficult, indeed. Yet, in addition to grappling with
the inevitable strain - unconsciously though it may
be - the lesser self sends the greater self through
those planes where misunderstanding has built up an
atmosphere of sorrow and depression.
-
"Oh, my children, let it be your part not only
to control your own thoughts, but also to warn others
of the danger which lies so close at hand! At will
- mark you, at will - that which is free within can
soar into the spheres where darkness is unknown; but
you must send it thence deliberately and with intent.
And then, dear children, I can promise you, and I can
promise them, that the 'imagination' - that all those
thoughts which float through the mind, coming from
you know not where - all these shall bring a reflection
of the brightness which the real you has left behind
- left behind because you could not grapple with or
bear the Joy which is the keynote of those conditions
which are of God. Yes! as I said, enough brightness
to gladden your lives and to change the whole aspect
of your point of view. This you shall bring back to
the mind of the body, and then no more will the days
seem long, no more will time pass on leaden feet: because,
though imprisoned in the flesh, you will be living
and acting and functioning, and even seeing, in the
Spirit - the Spirit which is all around, ever more
pressing, ever more persistent, and, by its magnetic
force, pushing further and further away - or, if you
will - covering more closely, more effectively that
which still remains 'physical' in the minds you use.
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"Children, after all, I have been able to say
very little. There is, as you can understand, a variety
of aspects in regard to the physical and spiritual
mind, which must be understood either in your world
or in those conditions hereafter. But I want you to
think over what I have said: I want you to give that
gift of 'imagination' its rightful place, and also
to control its going out and its coming in - to allow
yourselves no latitude in that direction...
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"The fields of Light, those realms of holiness,
of beauty and of power are open to you in a way you
little dream. Then send the mind of the spirit upward
and ever upward, and close the door for ever on that
which is destructive indeed.
-
"My children, I will leave you now but I must
return to this subject again in the days to come. Prepare
your minds so far as you are able, and remember what
I have said: that if you could once see, with the eyes
of the body, those 'influences' who masquerade as 'holy
sorrow' and 'rightful grief' - if only you could see
them you would shrink from them in very truth, shrink
because you would know they are allied to that which
is of darkness, using their powers solely to strike
the Tender Heart of God. Because, remember, when you
suffer He suffers too, and when you grieve and when
you feel the journey is over-long, then, because you
are His own, so that which is Love Divine is hurt and
hurt again . . . And now I leave you."
©GWCSA
GIFT
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