LETTER XXVII
THE WATCHERS
February 3, 1918.
I
stood one day before a great soul that had renounced the rest in heaven, and
questioned him as to the work that called us loudest. What do you think he
said?
“Labor with those who fear for the future.”
“Are there so many, then, who look forward with
apprehension?” I asked.
“All those who think and see and have responsibilities are
apprehensive,” he replied.
Then I wandered here and there about America, looking in upon
all sorts of men and a few women. And I read in their minds a great
uncertainty.
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof,” I thought so intensely at them that many responded with a
hopeful smile.
Yes, I can win response from many people when I think strongly
enough in their company.
The faith of one great soul out here has helped many to stand
steady when the winds blew strong against them. He knows that America cannot
fail of her destiny; but that she may not take a wrong tack, he would guide
the hand and brush the mists from before the eye of the skipper.
There are often mists before the path of
the “ship of State” in these grey days. When Wilson took over the railroads,
what courage was there! When all is over there will be many to criticize and
blame him; but criticism and blame are ever the rewards of those who
depersonalize themselves and labor for the good of their country or the
world. The man who is great enough to cast his personality overboard is not
hurt by criticism. It is only the personality that can be hurt. The soul
stands serene and pure above the adverse storms.
I do not advise all men to disregard their
personality. Only those who bear great responsibilities may safely become
impersonal. The small man, the undeveloped man, could not persuade his soul
to take the place of his lesser self. For the soul must be persuaded to
descend and dwell in the personality. Most souls are only partially
incarnated. The higher self of most men dwells above and apart. It is their
Silent Watcher; but it seldom acts save to warn and save. It leaves the
lesser self to acquire experience and learn its lessons through suffering
and joy, through success and failure. But when the man has so far evolved
that his acts become of more than personal significance, then the soul may
descend and truly guide and influence the man, for the designs of the soul
are ever beyond the personal. It is a conscious part of the great whole, a
conscious part of God whom it worships and serves, however the lower self
may be immersed in trivialities and blasphemies.
In any man who has not lost his soul the
Higher Watcher has an interest. For the Watcher is One and he is many. He is
your link with God, Oh, men! He is your link with immortality.
You do not meet him merely by dying, for you may dwell long in
the astral and lower mental world before meeting him face to face. But if
you can ascend after death to the higher regions, you will find him there
waiting for you. You may bring to him all the fine fruits of your recent
life, and he will enjoy them with you.
I have met my soul face to face; but I am unable to remain in
the higher regions in peaceful contemplation of his beauty while there is so
much work to be done for the races on earth as calls to me now. Bye and bye
I shall re-ascend; but when I go to heaven for a long sojourn you will hear
from me no more.
Yes, I too have seen your soul. But I need
not describe its face to you, who see it better than I. Cling to it. The
failure of mortal friendship has no power to shatter the faith of one who
can reach to his own Silent Watcher. And the soul of the faithless friend is
pure as his own, and understands all things. Friendships, like loves, are
made in heaven, and true friendship cannot die. Its roots are deep in waters
of eternity. It is deathless as the Ygdrasil, and its roots are also above
and its branches below.
But it is better to fail in business than
to fail in friendship.
If a man is great and strong enough, he may draw down his soul
to dwell with him wherever he may be. Then the man is a whole man, he is an
adept. Lincoln is such a man, such a soul. He has become one with his Higher
Watcher, and the two that are one can work even in the regions of the
astral. But such a marriage of heaven and earth is uncommon, as adepts are
uncommon.
Your father in heaven is one with the Father, and if you are
really one with your father in heaven he can dwell with you even on earth.
The higher souls of men are closer to men
now than they have been for ages. The doors have been opened. Grief and
terror and pain and devotion to ideals of duty have raised the race of men
in three and a half years as it could not have been raised in a hundred
years of peace. If the race falls back now, it will be a lost opportunity.
But the race will not fall back.
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