PEACE PILGRIM STEPS2

THOUGHTS

We can all spend our lives going about doing good. Every time you meet a person, think of some encouraging thing to say--a kind word, a helpful suggestion, an expression of admiration. Every time you come into a situation, think of some good thing to bring--a thoughtful gift, a considerate attitude, a helping hand. There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. That criterion is, Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them--so keep trying. If you love people enough, they will respond lovingly. If I offend people, I blame myself, for I know that if my conduct had been correct, they would not have been offended, even though they did not agree with me. "Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound." To those who feel depressed, I would say: Try keeping your surroundings full of beautiful music and lovely flowers. Try reading and memorizing thoughts that inspire. Try making a list of all things you have to be thankful for. If there is some good thing that you have always wanted to do, start doing it. Make a meaningful schedule for yourself and keep to that schedule. Although others may feel sorry for you, never feel sorry for yourself--it has a deadly effect on spiritual well-being. Recognize all problems, no matter how difficult, as opportunities for spiritual growth, and make the most of these opportunities. From all the things you read and from all the people you meet, take what is good--what your own `Inner Teacher' tells you is for you--and leave the rest. For guidance and for truth, it is much better to look to the Source through your own `Inner Teacher' than to look to people or books. Books and people can merely inspire you. Unless they awaken something within you, nothing worthwhile has been accomplished. No one is truly free who is still attached to material things, or to places, or to people. We must be able to use things when we need them and then relinquish them without regret when they have outlived their usefulness. We must be able to appreciate and enjoy the places where we tarry, and yet pass on without anguish when we are called elsewhere. We must be able to live in loving association with people without feeling that we possess them and must run their lives. Anything that you strive to hold captive will hold you captive, and if you desire freedom you must give freedom. The spiritual life is the real life--all else is illusion and deception. Only those who are attached to God alone are truly free. Only those who live up to the highest light they have find their lives in harmony. Those who act on their highest motivations become a power for good. It is not important that others be noticeably affected. Results should never be sought or desired. Know that every right thing you do--every word you say--every positive thought you think--has good effect. All people can be peace workers. Whenever you bring harmony into any unpeaceful situation, you contribute to the total peace picture. Insofar as you have peace in your life, you reflect it into your surroundings and into your world. That which is received from without can be compared with knowledge. It leads to a believing, which is seldom strong enough to motivate to action. That which is confirmed from within after it is contacted from without, or that which is directly perceived from within (which is my way), can be compared with wisdom. It leads to a knowing, and action goes right along with it. In our spiritual development we are often required to pull up roots many times and to close chapters in our lives until we are no longer attached to any material things and can love all people without any attachment to them. You cannot leave a situation without spiritual injury unless you leave it lovingly. If you want to teach people, young or old, you must start where they are are--at their level of understanding. If you see that they are already beyond your level of understanding, let them teach you. Since steps toward spiritual advancement are taken in such varied order, most of us can teach one another. Physical violence can end before we have learned the way of love, but psychological violence will continue until we do. Only outer peace can be had through law. The way to inner peace is through love. Concentrate on giving so that you may open yourself to receiving. Concentrate on living according to the light you have, so that you may open yourself to more light. Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that the body is just a transient garment--that the reality is the indestructible essence which activates the body. After you have found inner peace, spiritual growth takes place harmoniously because you--now governed by the higher self--will to do God's will and do not need to be pushed into it. Nothing threatens those who do God's will, and God's will is love and faith. Those who feel hate and fear are out of harmony with God's will and are likely to have difficulties. All difficulties in your life have a purpose. They are pushing you toward harmony with God's will. There is always a way to do right! What we suffer from is immaturity. If we were mature people, war would be no problem--it would be impossible. Of course I trust the Law of Love! Since the universe operates in accordance with the Law of Love, how could I trust anything else? For Light I go directly to the Source of Light, not to any of the reflections. Also I make it possible for more Light to come to me by living up to the highest Light I have. You cannot mistake Light coming from the Source, for it comes with complete understanding so that you can explain and discuss it. Judging others will avail you nothing and injure you spiritually. Only if you can inspire others to judge themselves will anything worthwhile have been accomplished. Never think of any right effort as being fruitless--all right effort bears good fruit, whether we see results or not. Just concentrate on thinking and living and acting for peace, and inspiring others to do likewise, leaving results to God's hands. You cannot change anyone except yourself. After you have become an example, you can inspire others to change themselves. In a conflict situation you must be thinking of a solution which is of advantage to you. Only a solution which is fair to all concerned can be workable in the long run. Your motives must be good if your work is to have a good effect.

FROM MY CORRESPONDENCE

Q: Do you work for a living?

A: I work for my living in an unusual way. I give what I can through thoughts
and words and deeds to those whose lives I touch and to humanity. In return I
accept what people want to give, but I do not ask. They are blessed by their
giving and I am blessed by my giving.

Q: Why don't you accept money?

A: Because I talk about spiritual truth, and spiritual truth should never be
sold--those who sell it injure themselves spiritually. The money that comes in
the mail--without being solicited--I do not use for myself; I use it for
printing and postage. Those who attempt to buy spiritual truth are trying to
get it before they are ready. In this wonderfully well-ordered universe, when
they are ready, it will be given.

Q: Don't you get lonely or discouraged or tired?

A: No. When you live in constant communication with God, you cannot be lonely.
When you perceive the working of God's wonderful plan and know that all good
effort bears good fruit, you cannot be discouraged. When you have found inner
peace, you are in contact with the source of universal energy and you cannot
be tired.

Q: What can retirement mean to a person?

A: Retirement should mean, not a cessation of activity, but a change of
activity with a more complete giving of your life to service. It should
therefore be the most wonderful time of your life--the time when you are
happily and meaningfully busy.

Q: How can I feel close to God?

A: God is Love, and whenever you reach out in loving kindness, you are
expressing God. God is Truth, and whenever you seek truth, you are seeking
God. God is Beauty, and whenever you touch the beauty of a flower or a sunset,
you are touching God. God is the Intelligence that creates all and sustains
all and binds all together and gives life to all. Yes, God is the Essence of
all. So you are within God and God is within you--you could not be where God
is not. Permeating all is the law of God--physical law and spiritual law.
Disobey it and you feel unhappiness--you feel separated from God. Obey it and
you feel harmony--you feel close to God.

Q: What are the good things, and how do I fill my life with them?

A: Good things are of benefit to you and to others. You may get some
inspiration from the outside, but in the final analysis you must know from the
inside what good things you want to fill your life with. Then you can make a
schedule of what you think the good life should be like, and live according to
that schedule. It may include something beneficial to the body--like walking
to exercise. Or something to the intellect--like meaningful reading. And
something uplifting for the emotions--like good music. But most important of
all, it needs to include service to others if it is to be spiritually
beneficial to you.

Q: When confronted with a problem, can I do anything about it intellectually?

A: If it's a health problem, ask yourself, "Have I abused my body?" If it's a
psychological problem, ask yourself, "Have I been as loving as God would want
me to be?" If it's a financial problem, ask yourself, "Have I lived within my
means?" What you do in the present creates the future, so use the present to
create a wonderful future. Constantly through thought you are creating your
inner conditions and helping to create the conditions around you. So keep your
thoughts on the positive side, think about the best that could happen, think
about the good things you want to happen--think about God!

Q: How can I really live life?

A: I began to really live life when I began to look at every situation and
think about how I could be of service in that situation. I learned that I
should not be pushy about helping, but just willing. Often I could give a
helping hand--or perhaps a loving smile or a word of cheer. I learned it is
through giving that we receive the worthwhile things of life.

Q: How does an ordinary housewife and mother find what you seem to possess?

A: One who is in the family pattern (as most people are) finds inner peace in
the same way that I found it. Obey God's laws, which are the same for all of
us--not only the physical laws, but also the spiritual laws which govern human
conduct. You might start by living all the good things you believe, as I did.
Find and fit into your special place in the divine plan, which is unique for
every human soul. You might try seeking in receptive silence, as I did. Being
in the family pattern is not a block to spiritual growth, and in some ways it
is an advantage. We grow through problem–solving, and being in the family
pattern provides plenty of problems to grow on. When we enter the family
pattern, we have our first outgoingness from self-centeredness to
family-centeredness. Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of
receiving anything in return, and the family pattern provides the first
experience of pure love--a mother's and father's love for their baby.

Q: Will there always be pain in one's becoming more beautiful?

A: There will be pain in your spiritual growth until you will to do God's will
and no longer need to be pushed into it. When you are out of harmony with
God's will, problems come--their purpose is to push you into harmony. If you
would willingly do God's will, you could avoid the problems.

Q: Will I ever come into a state of feeling at rest, with no more need to
become?

A: When you have found inner peace, you have no more feeling of the need to
become--you are content to be, which includes following your divine guidance.
However, you keep on growing--but harmoniously.

Q: What is a truly religious person?

A: I would say that a truly religious person has religious attitudes: a loving
attitude toward fellow human beings, an obedient attitude toward God--toward
God's laws and God's guidance, and a religious attitude toward self--knowing
that you are more than the self-centered nature, more than the body, and life
is more than earth life.

Q: What overcomes fear?

A: I would say that religious attitudes overcome fear. If you have a loving
attitude toward your fellow human beings, you will not fear them. "Perfect
love casteth out fear." An obedient attitude toward God will bring you into
constant awareness of God's presence, and then fear is gone. When you know
that you are only wearing the body, which can be destroyed--that you are the
reality which activates the body and cannot be destroyed--how can you be
afraid?

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