God's Kind of Love

God's Kind of Love

Dedicated to You—

From Meslom

Try to realise the importance of understanding something of the soul. 

Believe me when I say that this simple exercise will help you to strengthen the mind and body, and to become conscious of the soul. 

When you have reached this, you will be at peace—

While there must be trials, you will know how to bear them, and help others.

Life is real!

Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal―

Dust thou art, to dust returnest was not spoken of the soul.

Let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate―

Still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labour and to wait.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) 

MOTHER!

I am here! 

I am so glad I am alive again. 

I never knew I could come back. 

I am alive—

Alive! 

I am alive! 

I am alive again, and so happy.

I appear to be in a wonderful light, and in a marvellous country of perfect conditions. 

Everything is so beautiful— 

You would love it. 

Beauty is all about me.

I am a happy little beggar in a wonderful state of life.

You need not grieve at all.

It is a life such as you sometimes dream. 

You never grow tired, and you are always interested and ready for new and delightful experiences. 

Those who have developed their minds find they are able to go right on without any effort. 

 

Nothing is difficult.

How do you understand love now?

Love is a vast and wonderful sense of life―

It is the atmosphere you breathe. 

Without love, you could not continue to live. 

You are divided immediately on leaving earth—

There are many entrances—

I find myself among those who are young and strong and very ambitious.  

I am ambitious, but not in an earthly sense. 

There is a destiny that shapes your ends, rough-hew them how you will.

I want to know and go on. 

I feel elated and uplifted by a sense of life and force and joy beyond expression. 

I know my life is just beginning, and I am conscious of every moment. 

I am like in a beautiful dream.

Beautiful scenes of nature surround me, and I am conscious of an uplifting force of love.

This love is a real, tangible thing—even more tangible than sunlight is to you.

It is a force—

A marvellous certainty of never-ending―never-failing strength.

In this life, nothing interferes with the real spiritual and intellectual exchange of ideas, and you soon find your own.

Are you never lonely?

Loneliness and happiness are incompatible.

I am happy.

Do you have to eat and be clothed?

No more than you do in a beautiful dream. 

You move about without effort by a mere wish―or desire. 

Space and time do not exist. 

Your condition is of light and action. 

It is as though a wonderful intelligence is all that really existed, and that intelligence makes you perceive that your life is sustained by the most marvellous life-giving love.

The life you lead on earth is your preparation for your life here, and your life here is the result of your previous development.

How are you taught?

In classes?

Your exchange of ideas is without conversation. 

Your ideas and thoughts and desires are understood without expression and received by those with whom you are in harmony.

This is a real and tremendous experience. 

You are not separated. 

Our natural bodies are separated, but I have never been so near―or so much in sympathy as now.

You are instructed by a sort of absorption of this life-giving love. 

You are freed from all restraint.

Your real nature and love of the beautiful and the ideal are able to go on untrammelled.

I long for the complete and full expression of my nature, and know with a marvellous certainty that it is to come.

When I awoke, my surprise was very great. 

My joy abounded to think I was really alive with all the vigour and vitality of youth, and all the joy of its most supreme moments fulfilled.

I have since learned that the mental condition of the dying always affects the first state of consciousness in this life.

Christ's teachings were pure and true, and if really lived would make the earth a foretaste of heaven, for all that really matters in mortal life is that you should be honest—

The naked, real purpose, which underlies your acts, and sincere of purpose, and with a real love of our fellows.

All are not strong enough to face the truth without fainting.

Love is essentially unselfish in its essence and beneficent in its results.

It radiates and gives strength and joy and life becomes perfect in its warmth.

Here Love has a different meaning.

Life must be lived for the good it radiates. 

It is not necessary to go far afield to search for work to do. 

The everyday exercise of thought and love towards all is sufficient.

Your intelligence is part of your divine essence and persists when the envelope―or body has been cast aside.

Earth's dogmas, with the exception of the two great laws, are superfluous and more―or less confusing.

Love God above all things, and your neighbour as yourself.

From the first, I was quite conscious of my own old personality with its desires and ideas, only the externals had disappeared. 

My curiosity to know was as great as ever, and it was as if I had suddenly been transported to some strange and delightful country where conditions of climate and beauty of aspect were so perfect that the annoyances incident to earth life had vanished, and all the obstacles to perfect expression had dissipated.

I remembered my past, but could realise its best aspirations, and felt free and happy in the conscious strength given me by the transcendent atmosphere of love.

Love is something of which earth gives you no idea.

The transcendent atmosphere of love is real, intelligent and exquisitely beautiful. 

It is exhilarating, and gives clearness of vision and strength of purpose, life and certainty of progression. 

In its light and joy, you know that the best is possible.

The joy that pervades life on this plane is difficult to put into words for you.

Thoughts and ideas are interchanged by a sort of automatic intercourse―or rather an interpenetration of mind. 

Words and languages have ceased to be necessary as a vehicle of communication.

I am sauntering along paths among exquisite flowers and trees in the glorious light of a perfect day.

This light is a marvellous pleasure to the senses I now possess. 

It is a glorious, enveloping, self-radiant glow that leaves no shade and comes from no sun. 

It seems to be self-generating, but does not seem to generate heat—only light and joy.

There is no hurry, and I know I can only see so far as my development permits, but I know that there is no obstacle to perfection. 

My life is a purely intellectual one passed in the pursuit and absorption of knowledge, which becomes clearer every day.

There is clarity of vision here. 

No artificial obstacles come between the searcher and the truth―

No barriers are set up by personalities. 

The mind is liberated from all bonds, and is not only perfectly free, but is entirely capable of understanding more and more each day.

There are many classes―or conditions of life on this plane.

Do you remember how you felt in those rare moments of life when natural beauty was so great that words were not only superfluous but discordant? 

So, I feel, and so, my language stops before the beauty and glory of nature as I see it.

You are permitted to progress, for no one was ever entirely bad. 

There are moments of aspiration for good in every life, and this divine spark of life—even if suffocated by evil deeds on earth—is eternal and inextinguishable.

Those whose lives on earth were sincerely and consistently devoted to their spiritual development and to doing good to their fellows are received in the light. 

They go on just where they left off, and their progress towards perfection is rapid.

The individual here is still endowed with free will and can choose the particular sphere in which he will work. 

It is among these that you find the searchers for truth and light who wish to remain in communication with earth. 

They bring some of the certainty they now possess of immortality to others still groping in the dark.

Many never think. 

They live superficially, and in a state of reflected morality, which is without force―or character either for good―or evil. 

They remain long in the shadows―or mist, and are slow to progress. 

Ultimately, they gather strength from the force of love about them and so begin to question and grow. 

They are like bulbs buried in the earth—

They have glorious possibilities, but remain impervious to them until exposed to the sun of truth, which must penetrate the cloud of their ignorance.

Until you recognise your own shortcomings and ignorance, it is impossible to receive help.

Many who fall victim to the varied temptations in life suffer periods of purification, which are bitter and full of remorse. 

They realise that it is entirely through their own weakness that they have failed to follow the good they frequently glimpsed, for, in this pure and radiant light, they see their own lives.

They are permitted periods of repose and joy, which refresh and comfort them, and they themselves will to return to the expiation work, which they consciously undertake. 

The periods of exaltation, which they enjoy make them realise that all that is best and noblest is within their grasp, and they gladly devote themselves to whatever work is given to them.

I want to try to make a little clearer this expiation I mentioned.

Despite great suffering and anguish, there can never be despair among them, for the periods of light cast an effulgence over their days of suffering. 

Their suffering is real, but it is voluntarily undertaken to expiate their past sins.

My work of expiation is partly this [intercommunication]. 

It is a great joy and a glorious privilege, but it entails suffering beyond your power to conceive, mingled with visions so transcendently beautiful that no words can ever convey my gratitude to you for the opportunity.

I am in the radiance.

I know by a knowledge, which comes to me through senses developed since coming here, that immortality is a glorious fact—that you are still alive and will have full opportunities of perfect fulfilment.

You are conscious of the sweetness of God’s Love and its perfect reflection in your fellow beings. 

The atmosphere, which surrounds you is like a tonic, giving you strength, joy and knowledge. 

The further you go, the more you are able to withstand this radiance. 

By your sincere regret of your past, you ask that you be permitted to do something to atone.

You gladly and consciously leave the glory of this radiant day, and return to the gloom where you face your worst self, and others in the same sad condition. 

You bring to them a glimpse of the light and try to atone for your sins of the earth.

I have learned that Heaven means Perfect Knowledge and Infinite Love, which generates Eternal Life.

Those who have been willingly and consciously bad suffer greatly here. 

Such are admitted to the light, but are as little children, and their education must be made. 

They are committed to the care of guardian spirits and are led gently to higher spheres.

While the shadows are deep and filled with suffering, there is never despair.

Those who are intellectually developed, but who have allowed their impulses of love and charity to dry up (spiritual atrophy), and who have lived selfishly suffer greatly. 

They are enclosed in a shell formed by their own selfishness. 

They see outside this shell, but it is extremely difficult for them to break through. 

Their attitude of mind has made it almost impossible for them to ask for help ,and love is more like a wave breaking against a rocky cliff than a soft spring rain being absorbed by the rich earth.

This voluntary return to darkness is not in the nature of a punishment. 

It is the inevitable result of a clarified vision. 

Seeing more and more clearly what is essential to spiritual progress, you long to share this knowledge with others still in the darkness of ignorance. 

Feeling more each day the vitalising effect of God’s Intelligence, you long to express your love, for real love is selfless and beneficent.

The mortal mind cannot grasp the meaning of infinity.

It is a blessed dispensation that you are permitted to reflect the infinite love, which He gives so freely, and its realisation makes it inevitable that you should search for a way of expressing it in your turn.

The essence of God is Life and Love.

Infinity fills all space―all-time―

Infinity is All-knowing―All-present―All-powerful.

This knowledge is clear to you, and love vivifies to an extent undreamed on earth.

You are the image of God—

 

You have in you a spark of the divinity.

You cause actual and active harm through ignorance―or faulty education―or weakness engendered by habit and association. 

This evil is not real in the eternal and unforgivable sense, but it forms vibrations, which go on indefinitely and influence others.

The mere ignoring―or denying of wrong does not annihilate its effects.

Perfect Knowledge sees the innermost reasons of every act and takes account of an individual’s limitations. 

There is salvation—the realisation of God’s transcendent love for all—but the road is long and the trials are not limited to life on earth.

It would be easier if you could know on earth what is really and eternally right and wrong, and this knowledge would help you to understand the possibility of a God of infinite love and goodness who is equally a God of justice. 

You may ask any questions you wish.

Why is man subjected to earth's trials?

What is the fundamental essential for all, and why is there no way of having this essential understood by all?

God is an Infinite Spirit―or Intelligence emanating life and love. 

Intelligence includes all that ever was―or will be. 

One of the attributes of intelligence is Freedom. 

Each emanation of that Infinite Intelligence partakes of its essence, and when expressed is endowed with freedom of development and God-like possibilities. 

There are many spheres, and all eternity, in which to perfect this tiny ray of the great Creator. 

The mind becomes progressively more the paramount expression of the individual, and is able to grasp the meaning and reason of life, and the absolute necessity of its free development.

The degree of understanding of each life is superior to the preceding one.

Truth is one of God’s eternal attributes, and is synonymous with reality. 

The Ray of Light, which proceeds from the Word―or Infinite Intelligence gives eternal life.

Without it, nothing could exist.

Truth includes all the essentials.

Life on earth is given you as a period of preparation—not as your ultimate end.

You do not live in time, but for eternity.

God knows best.

He is Eternal and Infinite Wisdom and Love, and He sees that the pains and sufferings of his children are nothing in comparison with their eternal happiness. 

If it seems to him best that they be removed from the earth, it is for a good purpose.

 

Truth is one, and its essence is infinite and unchangeable. 

Only its expression varies with the varying power of the age and the individual to give it form. 

Everything that has in it the spirit of truth is necessarily harmonious with all other forms of truth.

Jesus brought into the earth's teachings a far fuller measure of truth than had yet been given to man.

His teachings revolutionised society through love.

He was understood by a few because of their unwillingness and inability to leave their old standards. 

The measure of truth was too great, for immediate understanding by the masses, but served as a vehicle for the intelligent comprehension of God’s Love.

While you remain on earth that understanding is purely intellectual―or real by faith― 

Here you are conscious that it is that Love alone, which gives you life.

You understand that love and life are attributes of divine intelligence―

God, the great Creative Spirit, is Intelligence, and every outpouring of His Mind forms an individual, partaking of His Essence and sustained by the love this divine life has generated. 

The expression of this life, which on earth was enclosed in a body has now become clearer here.

The earthly body has given place to a spiritual one, which remains, in its personal characteristics, the same, but has progressed mentally and spiritually. 

Earth senses have given place to spirit senses, among which is a faculty of imparting and receiving knowledge by a conscious absorption of His vivifying and enlightening love. 

Limitations of the earth are removed.

Language has become unnecessary.

Cause and effect are clearly understood. 

Here you are conscious of all the past and present and as much of the future as your development permits. 

You are freed from the weaknesses from which you suffered on earth, and in this clear and radiant light, you have no errors to combat. 

Truth is inextinguishable. 

Every word and every earnest desire for truth sets in motion vibrations, which go on in widening circles forever.

God is Truth, and if you  would vibrate in harmony with him, you must search far and deep.

You must learn to put away the enveloping covering of error, custom, self-interest and worldly considerations. 

You must be willing to sacrifice everything that prevents―or obstructs the perfect unison, which would exist between you and truth―or harmony with God.

It was to clear away the clouds of ignorance that Christ became man in Jesus.

The clear, simple rules that He gave are all that are needed.

Love radiates force and strength, joy and happiness, confidence and peace.

When you vibrate in conscious unison with love, you expand and enlarge your possibilities to receive more of the divine elixir.

Love is an active principle of life.

The way to purify and fit yourself to receive a fuller measure of the sustaining and life-giving force of the Universe—Love—is to search deeply within yourself every day—

Find the seeds of selfishness and uproot them—

Be honest with your inmost self—

Find out the naked truth of your own heart and try to uproot the weeds, which prevent the growth of your soul. 

Your soul can never die and will one day be reunited with God in its perfection.

Love God above all things, and thy neighbour as thyself include everything.

Love is unselfish.

Even the earthly love, which is true thinks always of how it can help and bring happiness to the loved one. 

Try to imagine how great and beneficent is the divine, all-sustaining, all-comprehending love of God. 

God who is love itself sees and pities the sufferings of His children, but in His perfect knowledge, He sees that these sufferings, which are only real for time and not for eternity, serve to develop and strengthen the growth of the individual.

A broken doll seems a sad and tragic thing to a sensitive child, but the mother knows that another day will bring forgetfulness and a need for another toy.

In the light of eternity, your greatest sufferings can be as easily consoled.

Any teaching, which helps humanity to believe that there is another life, and that the soul is strengthened by trials bravely met and weaknesses conquered is good, for it has that much fundamental truth. 

When it reveals a God of love, it is better, and if humanity could comprehend this divine love, all suffering, even on earth, would cease.

Heaven means perfect happiness.

Where there is Absolute Knowledge and Infinite Love, there can be no doubt, no fear, and no pain.

Your soul―or spirit existed from all eternity in God’s divine intelligence. 

In the fullness of time, and in harmony with His Divine Plan, his thought found expression in you, and you became endowed with free will and understanding. 

Divinely implanted in you is the souvenir of the Creator and your immortal destiny persists and guides you through life’s paths.

Errors in education and the environment make your voice weak―you have all of earth's accumulated faults and habits to combat. 

The nearer you come to perfection on earth, the higher your intellectual and spiritual development will be―the clearer your perception will be when arriving here of the truth, and the greater your strength will be to meet the new conditions and duties.

You see clearly here the inevitable results of your past lives, and realise that the waves set in motion by every thought and act of your earth-life go on forever.

One of your tasks here is to undo the harm of earth―to harmonise the discordant waves.

You must consciously will to learn and fulfil your high destiny.

You are helped greatly if your spiritual development has made you prize the truth as you were able to discern it.

If you gladly undertake your task of redemption, you catch glimpses of the illimitable and glorious possibilities beyond. 

With your ever-widening vision and ever-increasing capacity for absorbing and reflecting divine love, you will be permitted to soar ever higher and ever nearer through the coming evolutions of your immortality to the Divine Centre, the Infinite God, the Generator of Life, of Love, and of Light.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.

Repeat this often and try to grasp its meaning.

Try to understand that each ray of that divine light will shine forever. 

Try to realise that it really exists in each individual.

Try to help all and each one you come in contact with to clear away the cobwebs of ignorance and error, which dim the light of this divine ray. 

The ray is the immortal soul. 

It will shine for all eternity. 

If you help, even infinitesimally, to permit this ray to penetrate the earthly envelope, you are doing the work of the Saviour. 

Never doubt its existence. 

Never fear that the love you give in thought and deed will be lost.

Does the evolution of the individual begin with his earthly appearance?

While self-radiant and capable of wonderful development, the individual soul is still a part of the divinity. 

Each (wo)man is not God, and yet each soul contains a particle of the divine essence, divinely implanted.

To reach the Centre of Light and its perfection, each individual progresses through many evolutions, each one permitting a fuller measure of light. 

Each evolution has its duties and tasks to perform, its education to make and its errors to overcome. 

These are not existent―they are the natural outcome of liberty, free will and limited understanding of the imperfect individual. 

Naturally, they differ in each plane, but the nearer you come to the fount of wisdom, the stronger you are, and the greater is your happiness, for you see more clearly the meaning of life and its glorious possibilities.

The believers in the doctrine of reincarnation deny the infinity of God. 

To your earthly logic, it may seem just and inevitable that the undeveloped soul should be permitted to complete that development among the same earthly surroundings, which saw its beginning―the earth, which witnessed the sins and injustices of an earthly career should be the theatre of its punishment in some other earthly form, but this idea limits the power of God, and so denies God Himself.

You are indissolubly connected with the Divine Generator of Life who is God.

God is infinite―

He knows all―fills all space―is all-powerful. 

In Him are all the attributes of perfection. 

His thought is life-giving―

His love is life-sustaining. 

He does not need the earth as His only theatre for your development. 

All the conditions of earth are outgrown forever.

Can the butterfly enter the cocoon ever again?

No, its life is in the free air.

So your afterlife is one of greater freedom.

The whole universe is before you and your free will takes you ever higher, for as you see more clearly, so you must progress. 

Progress can never mean retrogression. 

The earth is the cradle of the human race, but that is all.

Why is there such a diversity in the degree of intelligence of human beings if each is the expression of a thought of divine intelligence?

Each individual is perfect. 

Each soul is a ray of divinity—an unquenchable ray, which is capable of radiating eternally, but that ray is like a seed planted in the soil. 

It must follow the law of its evolution. 

It must disintegrate and permit the living principle to develop sufficiently―to uplift its earthly covering and permit its appearance in the sun. 

Even then it needs the soft rain and the warm, life-giving sun to bring it to maturity. 

It has always to struggle against the encroaching weeds, but it always follows its destiny and struggles to blossom and perfect itself in fruit―or flower.

Even when it drops again to earth and decays, it liberates its vital part and comes again to life in another form.

So each individual soul is brought to maturity through difficulties. 

The differences in earthly environment and opportunities do not make a great difference in the real development of the soul. 

Life on earth is very short. 

Each stage of development reached depends on the individual only and not on outward circumstances.

The very best work you can do on earth is to permit each little child to work out its own destiny. 

Give it only a few simple rules of virtue and honesty with the fundamental of love God above all things, and your neighbour as yourself.

Love God above all things, and your neighbour as yourself contains the whole law.

If these are learned, there will be an ennobling and simplifying of life in all its expressions, and liberation of the spirit, fitting it better to leave its earthly environment in tranquil faith, ready to go on untrammelled in its future evolutions.

The most essential need is to understand God.

God is Perfect Wisdom—

He knows everything—

Nothing is hidden from Him―

No secret underlying motive can be hidden from Him, and no weakness―or inherited tendency is ignored by Him. 

He is the Creative Force of the entire universe.

Nothing exists except as an expression of His intelligence. 

God knows the entire Plan and Scheme of Creation, and since He is goodness itself, He knows all is good. 

You will reach perfection eventually, and the trials, which you have to meet are given for your development.

God sees all—

Eternity is His outlook.

Your earthly career is only an episode in your live, and, in His Clear Vision, He knows that free will is one of His noblest gifts. 

It is Godlike in itself. 

If you could understand this, you would see that nothing in your power can interfere with this God-given gift.

The soul is free and must make its own progress.

This does not mean that you should be selfish―or self-centred, for love seeks the good and happiness of all regardless of earthly conditions. 

God’s Love is the Real Sustaining Force of the Universe. 

It is an active principle. 

It is given fully and freely to all. 

It rests with you to decide how much you are capable of assimilating His Love.

God is Infinite.

God is Absolute Intelligence.

God is Perfect Love.

God is Pure Spirit.

Nothing could exist without Him.

Each thought of that Infinite Intelligence generates Life, which is forever sustained by His Inexhaustible Love.

Each step counts.

Each sincere aspiration lifts you higher.

Each stumbling fall is useful if it makes you know yourself better and forces you to seek for light and help from above.

Justice and mercy are not incompatible. 

Human justice and Divine Justice have little in common besides the principle. 

Divine justice is based on Absolute Knowledge, and takes into consideration all the circumstances. 

For instance, when you leave earth, no court sits in judgment―no sentence is passed. 

 

The only judgment you must submit to is the inevitable result of the law, which brought you into being, and which declares that every act and every thought of your earthlife sets in motion waves―or impulses, either good and harmonious with their divine origin―or bad and inharmonious.

Since you have a soul, which is a part of that great Creative Spirit, and which must ultimately come into perfect accord with that Creative Force―or Spirit, it follows that the waves of dissonance must be accorded.

If you create, either in your earth―or afterlife, sufficient waves of good, they will neutralise the bad.

A true and worthy life on earth places you in a better position for further effort than a life, which has created discordant waves. 

It is the discovery of this law, which is your only judgment God’s Justice sees each tiny effort and aspiration, and these influences are great.

In the infancy of life, which is your earth experience, you perceive within yourself the instinct of your immortality. 

Regardless of civilisation―or other outward circumstances, you are conscious of aspiration for something better. 

It is an infantile grasping, for a ray of light, but it is an indication of another life. 

If on earth you follow this infallible guide, you grow into splendid maturity, and put into motion splendid waves of harmony, and when reaching this life, your eyes are opened and your intelligence perceives the reasons, and the laws, which govern your development. 

With this clear vision, you perceives also the tremendous task before you of creating enough good influence to overcome the bad.

This is your judgment.

It is not a punishment, but an accepted consequence of your past.

In the stage of life immediately following the earth experience, there is a longer―or shorter period of darkness and unconsciousness, but as soon as you are awakened, you perceive the new conditions surrounding you, and face your past, and realise that your conscious life is in its infancy. 

You grasp the facts from which there is no escape. 

You understand its logic, and the stronger you become, the more you realise the tremendous task before you.

This task is in absolute proportion to your earthly life. 

Every wave of discord must be met and overcome before reaching harmony and perfect happiness. 

Every step taken willingly and consciously leads to a clearer vision and fuller consciousness of the glory and love of God.

God’s glory and love are realities, and their dimmest perception brings more happiness than all earth could ever offer.

In the clear, soft radiance of a perfect day, you rest amid surroundings quite indescribable to you because your senses here are so much greater and you enjoy happiness beyond the power of language to convey. 

It is like a state of ideal perfection as to atmosphere, perfume, the beauty of aspect and free, untrammelled intercourse with beings who permit you to partake as fully as you are capable of in the perfect knowledge for which you always longed. 

There are no more vague longings and inarticulate aspirations.

How can I paint for you the joys that are ours?

How can I describe the exaltation, which possesses you when after a task is faithfully accomplished, you are permitted a glimpse of what is before you?

There is fulfilment. 

There is no regret, for you know that you are permitted to work out your own atonement, always sustained by the never-failing love of God. 

Each period of rest finds you further on with capabilities enlarged, with vision broadened and with heart overflowing with gratitude and love for God who gave you intelligence unbounded in its possibilities and untrammelled in its outlook.

Why has it not been made clearer for you to understand the reason of life?

 

Why have you been left groping in ignorance when God in His infinite power could reveal Himself clearly?

The Divine Instinct of Immortality is your infallible guide through the difficult period of development and change of form, but your free will is your individuality, which can never be withheld.

In God’s Divine Plan of Creation, each expressed thought is an individual perfect in its essence and destined to ultimate perfection and accord with its divine Creator, God.

This instinct of immortality is not your only guide and help. 

From the beginning of time, teachers have been divinely inspired to guide mankind.

They brought to the earth such measure of truth as man was capable of grasping. 

The last and perfect expression of the Spirit of God was Christ Jesus. 

In Him, the conscious knowledge of immortality had its fullest expression. 

He knew His divine origin, His task of redemption and His glorious destiny. 

Yet even He suffered untold agonies in the moments when His mortal sufferings veiled the divine vision.

Intelligence conscious of growth is also conscious of love and joy. 

Intelligence and soul are terms used synonymously to express the individual creations―or expressions of the Infinite, All-inclusive Intelligence called God.

New ideas are difficult to accept―

New ideas are difficult to describe.

The Infinite Creative Force has given expression to ideas, and clothed them in multitudinous forms from all eternity, each carrying within itself the seed of immortality. 

Each individual is capable of growth―or development, and progresses through many stages until freed from all materialism.

Many ages are necessary to reach this perfection.

No two individuals are ever alike. 

The Divine Expression, which bestows your individuality is always different. 

Each soul remains forever independent, and there is always dissimilarity in the complete and perfect happiness that perfection brings.

Perfection is reached by all but individuality is never lost. 

Your individuality and consciousness take cognisance of the reasons for your creation, fitting you for further progress.

Life on earth is only a preliminary expression, and must be well and nobly lived in anticipation of a higher and broader and fuller experience immediately following your so-called death.

Each individual is of immense importance.

You have left off your earthly body with its pains and sorrows and mental limitations. 

You still have a body, which seems as real to you now, as it did on earth, except that it has become obedient to your intelligence and can be transported by desire wherever you wish to go. 

Even this body must disappear. 

It is a vehicle of expression for this sphere and will be left aside when you are able to progress beyond its necessity.

You must try to prove to all who are searching that they do actually exist in another form.

Anyone who thinks at all sees the earth as only one of a vast number of planets―a tiny speck even in the visible creation. 

There must be a Central Force, which rules the physical manifestations of creation. 

The Intelligence, which brought into being the Universe, and guides the movements of the firmament must have had a reason in creating you, and placing you on earth.

Life means movement.

God is an Infinite Spirit―or Intelligence who has existed for all eternity.

He had no beginning and can have no end.

Each expression of that Infinite Intelligence finds manifestation somewhere in the Universe, and is compelled to progress, develop and grow by overcoming obstacles and becoming pure intelligence―or spirit in the majestic symphony of Nature.

Without beginning

Without end

Course of lives

Real and unseen

An avalanche of experience

Rich

Toward the

Pinnacle of

Onement

The fact that no one has ever succeeded in forming―or germinating the tiniest spark of life proves conclusively that life is something outside the laws of natural science.

Nothing in Nature is ever lost―

Life does not cease to exist because the physical body is destroyed.

Life―or Intelligence is Spirit, and continues to exist somewhere.

Since God is infinite, and each expression of His Life-giving Intelligence finds manifestation somewhere, it is evident that earth must be a small part of the universe.

When you leave your body, you leave material conditions. 

You live in eternity, and you try to understand something of your new surroundings. 

Progress is essential. 

Standards are not the same as on earth. 

There are no conventions―or creeds. 

Each individual is taken alone and goes on―or remains behind exactly according to the real worth of his inner self.

I will reach the standard of perfection you have set for me even if it takes all the help from the angels of heaven to accomplish it.

Everything learned on earth has value, for it has developed the thinking power of the mind. 

Cultivation of the intellect and growth of the soul go hand-in-hand even when that person has followed wrong ideas. 

This is an intellectual―or spiritual stage of existence, and the developed intelligence grasps quicker the truth and is able to absorb Love’s All-enveloping Strength.

Earth education is filled with pitfalls, and human theories are often contradictory and inconsistent with simple fundamental truths. 

If you remain sincere, you will be brought through this darkness into the light.

Each child should be told that he has an immortal soul that will someday reunite with God―the Creator of All Things and the Source of Life, Truth and Love. 

He should be told that truth and sincerity should guide his life, and although he himself will have to answer for every thought and act of his life, he is always surrounded by God’s Infinite Love. 

Mistakes may lead him astray, theories may bewilder him, and sin may tempt him, but his instinct of immortality, divinely implanted, has been strengthened, and will always guide him towards truth. 

His training may lead him towards materiality, but his instinct will impel him towards spirituality.

It is extremely important to put firmly into the minds of children the great fundamental truths.

The clearness of vision, which comes to all here and obliges each to see and examine his own past life in the light of truth brings a vision truly appalling to most mortals. 

Such is the force of this penetrating light that no subterfuge―or self-indulgent excuse can hide from view the truth.

You see yourselt in your first innocent ignorance and are forced to follow every step of your life and weigh each advantage given by circumstance and education. 

You are obliged to face the selfishness and unworthiness of each sinful act.

When the whole awful picture is complete, you are given glimpses of the part you are intended to take in the universe. 

You see that each thought and act has put into motion waves, which go on forever—

There is no escaping from the absolute necessity of overcoming the discordant waves by your own personal efforts.

Each act of our earth life is faced and judged according to its innermost reasons, its circumstances and consequences. 

Each soul is forced to be its own judge. 

It is made clear that no one can undo the harm except one's own self. 

It is a terrible moment fraught with tremendous consequences, but each stands absolutely alone. 

If they will to undo the harm and ask for help, they are immediately granted a vision of transcendent loveliness in which they see the glorious spirits all about them amid scenes of exquisite beauty and splendour.

They are immediately conscious of an angel guide who takes them by the hand and tells them to have no fear. 

They are conscious that the glory all about them, the hope and joy is a manifestation of God’s Love. 

They are overcome by a great desire to know more of this marvellous Love. 

Their education begins, and the strength they receive carries them forward and enables them to return to the darkness where they may be given an opportunity to do work of atonement.

There can be but one truth, and all which obscures the vision of truth must be removed. 

Each soul finds an angel guide who takes charge of him. 

It is easy to understand how the trained thinker begins far in advance of his ignorant neighbour, but no progress can be made by intellect alone.

Remember―

You are always the same individual you were on earth. 

Remember that Soul is Intelligence. 

Remember that Intelligence is a Ray of God’s Infinite Intelligence. 

Remember that to come into harmony with God, the soul must be freed from everything that interferes with its clear growth.

Intellect begins its experience strengthened by the absolute certainty that God exists and that it is His Infinite Love, which sustains the life His Intelligence bestows.

Perfection is reached when the individual is fully conscious and capable of sustaining the dignity of his divinely bestowed individuality, free from all sin and ignorance, experiencing, in absolute perfection and intelligence, the splendour, majesty, glory and the perfect happiness of its divinely bestowed soul.

The little ones, and the ignorant who are simple and loving are tenderly helped and sustained. 

If their earth-life has been free from sin, they are able to go on without suffering, for their purity and innocence had made them capable of absorbing freely the splendid Life-giving Love.

God is the Creator and Sustainer of Everything.

Remember that Love, truth and Infinite Life are inseparable.

Each moment of fuller and more complete life gives you your transcendent periods of pure joy and progress. 

By helping others, you purify yourself of the materialism, which clings to you.

You never lose the vision of your past, which came as your judgment.

You must search deeply to understand the theory of expiation.

You know God is Pure Spirit―or Intelligence—Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent. 

He is the perfection of all the qualities you know and admire and love on earth, and an infinity of others beyond your earth conception.

God is perfection―anything other than perfection is discordant with Him.

He is Love and His Compassion is without limit. 

You know that ultimately you will reach this perfection, and it is your duty to find out how it can be done.

Love, in its purity, puts in motion waves of great intensity.

It is for this reason that Christ said that a cup of cold water given in His Name was of infinite value, while the greatest act one could perform if dictated by unworthy motives would put in motion discordant waves.

Before reaching perfection, peace and happiness, the sum of all the discordant waves must be equalled by harmonious waves, both in intensity and number.

God is Love—a Pure and Perfect love—which goes out from the Divine Centre endlessly—infinitely—sustaining—vivifying—comforting and glorifying. 

To reflect this love, you must be purified of self. 

You must learn to give of your inner self—not for our own good—not even for your eternal salvation, but as a pure and selfless reflection of God.

Think of your own life.

Can you recall any one act absolutely devoid of self?

Even here, it is almost impossible of attainment.

When you learn the theory of good and bad waves―of harmony and discord―light and dark, you are filled with the desire to begin your work of atonement. 

You see your own glorious destiny, and wish to achieve it quickly. 

Pride and selfishness are not yet destroyed, and to understand God’s love, you must begin by understanding human love. 

Fortunately, you are given a glimpse of pure love in infancy. 

Almost without exception, a mother loves her child, and this pure expression of love is the most unselfish earth can know. 

It is accepted, as a matter of course by the child, but is understood to some extent later in life, and is the saving grace of many in a moment of darkness.

Complete unselfishness can be reached only through love.

I say this is one instance of love, as you know it, but I do not say it is quite devoid of self. 

It has moments of pure unselfishness, for every mother recognises from the first that the baby she has borne is a separate, independent being from the moment of its birth. 

By natural law, she is her child’s guide and comforter, but her moments of pure love are the rare experiences when she is able to immolate self completely.

Pure love also is sometimes seen in the devotion of children towards parents.

Patriotism inspires some of the purest expressions of love, as it calls for the entire immolation of self to a great idea. 

No man can show greater love than he who lays down his life for his brother except him who lays down his life for God. 

The Brother is One Ray of Light. 

God is the Luminous Centre from which that ray proceeds.

You must learn to love God above all things because He is the splendour of the morning―the glory of noon―the majesty of the night―

He is eternally giving―never receiving―

His unfailing tender love is forever sustaining the life His Divine Intelligence bestowed―

His justice makes it inevitable that each expiates his sins―

His mercy and love give you strength and courage to wish to attain the glorious perfection where you will understand Him―commune with Him―freed from all imperfections―conscious of your own magnificent and splendid life, giving fully and freely the gifts so generously bestowed, reflecting fully the glory of God’s love.

Knowing God, you would ineludibly love Him above all things. 

You would understand that knowing God means understanding that you are an emanation of The Divinity―

You are an expression of Divine Intelligence―

You are a manifestation of Eternal Spirit―

You are a reflection of Beneficent and Vivifying Love.

Therefore, try to know God.

Remember―

God is not personal―nor power―nor intelligence―nor love―nor life alone. 

He is Spirit, and Spirit includes all these. 

You must try to grasp spiritually the Idea of God as an Infinite Spirit.

Education helps you to grasp and follow abstract ideas, but beyond these is the ever-present spiritual truth, which manifests either in instinct in the savage―or idealism in the cultivated man. 

This instinct of immortality is truth.

You must learn to put out of your consciousness all thought—to sink into complete silence―deeper than sleep, but still fully awake.

Take a few moments each day, preferably immediately after waking, for quiet meditation and thought, glorifying God, and asking Him simply and sincerely that you may know Him better. 

Try every day to do some little thing as truly unselfish as you can—to reflect God’s love by making someone a little happier.

These simple exercises will help to quiet the turmoil of your senses and strengthen you for the ever-greater tasks before you.

Let your first waking thought be a desire to know truth. 

Glorify God for all the marvellous perfections in which you are capable of investing your highest idea of Him. 

Thank Him for your life, and ask sincerely and humbly to know Him better. 

This daily practice will lead to meditation and contemplation.

Knowledge of God includes all-wisdom and all-love.

You must not expect to find miracles. 

The growth from materialism to spirituality is slow. 

The transition from the confusion of many ideas and impressions to the peace and unity of truth is slow, but every step leads you to a fuller knowledge of that truth, which includes all-knowledge and all-love, and is the real you—the image—the essence—the child of God—conscious of your real self with its glorious freedom and possibilities of perfection, and conscious also of the duty this brings to do all your part in aiding this growth.

The sincere desire to know God brings a sure reward. 

If you truly ask this, you will receive it. 

You will learn to know yourself, and that knowledge will bring with it immense respect for the immortal being within you. 

It will make you anxious to turn from all that is unworthy of your real self. 

It will make you ready and willing and anxious to help others regardless of their appearance―or condition, and to know their own real selves.

It is absolutely impossible for real knowledge―or even real desire for knowledge to be selfish, for knowledge is truth, and while truth shows you your high destiny, it also shows the equally high destiny of All God's Creation, and their unity with their Creator, and it shows the immense task before you of overcoming self.

Each step makes you more conscious of love and the duty of reflecting that love in care and thought towards all.

Eternity is without beginning and without end. 

Eternity was forever and will be forever filled by the Infinite Spirit—God. 

He is Intelligence―He is Life―He is Love. 

All the vast universe is an expression of some thought of that Divine Intelligence―each particle carrying within itself something, which—being an outpouring of the divine nature—is immortal, and after reaching its full development will find its place in the divinely planned whole.

Do you begin to understand how God who is Eternal Wisdom includes all?

Do you begin to perceive how that Infinite Wisdom absolutely repels all that is not truth?

You retain your natural tastes. 

The tendency of the mind is given broader scope. 

It is like comparing the mind of a great scientist on earth to that of a little child. 

You are not only capable of grasping more of truth itself, but you find every facility for investigation.

Judgment of your past is passed by the spark of the divine in you―when you have developed sufficiently to recognise and understand the meaning of life, and are brought face-to-face with the inevitable effects of the working of the fundamental law of cause and effect. 

To reach this clearness of vision requires greater―or less effort according to your previous intellectual development. 

I do not say it requires a greater―or less length of time, for time as you know it has ceased to exist. 

Progress is measured by the degree of intelligence reached. 

Even if you could imagine the development of someone’s intelligence as requiring one year, another might require an aeon.

You are conscious of eternity, and as you emerge from the mist―or sleep following death, there comes the wonder of the awakening in strange surroundings. 

A period of rest follows where you are strengthened by absorbing the love of God reflected from the ministering angels. 

You are led gently through misty paths―or resplendent heights―guarded, guided and strengthened by angels who to your earthbound senses seem to you beautiful human beings clothed in radiant, semidiaphanous garments.

Gradually, you become strong enough to ask questions, and seek to understand instead of blindly accepting a state of semi-consciousness. 

Your instruction begins, for always remember that free will is yours, and the conscious desire for knowledge brings with it enlightenment, absorbed in a marvellous manner automatically as inevitable cause and effect.

Sooner―or later, you are strong enough to ask the question—What does it all mean? 

You are brought face-to-face with that tremendous revelation of truth, which reveals to you your soul as a part of the essence of God, and the absolute necessity of the development of your soul to permit it to take its place in the divine whole.

Your intelligence grasps some of the meaning of life and your past is revealed in detail.

Try to put out of your mind limitations of time.

You know that you yourself are obliged to do what is necessary to permit you to progress. 

Certainly, the revelation is appalling to most individuals, but remember that what to you would mean almost annihilation can be borne here, for you are sustained by your certainty of immortality―by your quickly gained knowledge that desire means fulfilment, and your consciousness that God is—that the glory you dimly perceive―the happiness you sometimes experience―the beauty you catch glimpses of―the reality of the love, which sustains you―the unbounded horizons opened to you by your desire for knowledge is all a manifestation of the Infinite, Ever-present, All-sustaining, Ineffable God.

As your intelligence grasps the truth and understands the necessity of putting into harmony the discordant waves emanating from you, you see clearly the enormity of the task before you, but no matter what stage of development you have reached, there are always others of less degree who need your help. 

Is it possible for you to ignore and refuse to help them? 

No, for awakened intelligence brings with it absolute sincerity, and the truth you perceive enables you to understand what to do to fulfil your part in reflecting God’s love―of which you are increasingly conscious in exact ratio with the awakening of your intelligence.

This love is a marvellous reality.

Oh! that mortals might know something of this sustaining, vivifying, comprehending love! 

You would see that you are never alone―that each thought is a real, causative, creative force, fully understood by the divine, ever-present mind of God. 

You would realise that thought is even a greater force than action―that sincerity and honesty of purpose are the most important things in life.

God—the All-creative Spirit of Life—the Omniscient Intelligence is infinite, comprehending, sustaining, never-failing love itself—a love that knows all your most secret thoughts—understands all your weaknesses—appreciates all your honest efforts—gives you the courage to face any trial—makes you willing to do anything to understand and reflect it more, for you see that each honest effort to do good to others carries you further into the realm of intelligence pure and unbounded where you prostrate yourself in adoration and thanksgiving before the splendour of the transcendent genius of the limitless intelligence and the boundless outpouring love.

All that God created is good.

He is not the creator of evil.

Your soul is an emanation of the Infinite Spirit―or Soul of God, and is pure and perfect in its essence, and its destiny is to be a perfect part of the infinite whole.

One of the attributes of God is liberty. 

Your soul is truly an image of God―is capable of limitless development, always carrying to further perfection the gifts inherent in its divine nature, but never losing liberty―or free will.

Before reaching happiness―harmony―light―peace―fulfilment―all evil, which is the effect of mistakes caused by limited intelligence must be overcome, and every step, which leads to clearer vision helps to show the way.

Love with its joy and strength and power is the never-failing reward, but intelligence must light the way.

Spirit is intelligence. 

The great All-inclusive, All-causative Spirit―or Intelligence is God. 

Every emanation of that Spirit―every idea of that Intelligence takes form somewhere in the Universe. 

Each Divine Ray of Light from the Central, Life-giving Light―

Each emanation of the Infinite Spirit and each idea of the Infinite Mind when expressed forms the soul of a wo)man. 

These qualities are all contained in the soul, as the flowers and the fruit are contained in the seed.

The soul is immortal and partakes of the qualities of its Creator—God.

The liberty bestowed with individuality never forsakes that soul and the blossoming of the divine qualities keeps parallel with the growth of its intelligence―or spirituality.

Remember―

You are thinking without limitation of time―or space.

There is room in the universe for the full and perfect development of all.

The practice of taking a few moments immediately on awakening each morning to quietly praise God―thank Him―and ask Him to increase your knowledge will help you more than any other practice you can form. 

It need not take long—thought is quicker than lightning—and your aspiration for knowledge of God must be absolutely sincere and your only desire.

Try to understand the process and its results.

The formulating of the aspiration Glory to God! lifts you immediately out of your self-preoccupation and brings a glimpse of comprehension of an Omnipotent Creator who hears your thought.

You thank that Divine Creator for having given you life and you ask that you may know Him better. 

The aspiration carries with it hope that this instinct calling on God may be the truth. 

The gratitude for life carries with it a question—What is life? and this leads you to a spiritual perception of the truth—that each life, your own particular life, is indissolubly connected with its source and opens the way for further comprehension of the fact that your real self—your immortal soul—is not a vague spirit from which your present life is disassociated, but a real power, the centre and reason of your being, and it is possible for you to become so familiar with its workings that you may consciously investigate the cause and effect of each act and feeling of your life.

The sincere desire to know God better, expressed in the most fleeting aspiration, brings with it steady progress in knowledge, which includes all knowledge and leads to wisdom. 

It brings an ever-increasing faculty of perceiving the truth and an ever­ fuller experience of the real, ever-present, all-fulfilling love, which is all about you and is as necessary to your continued life as the air you breathe.

Never fail to raise your mind and heart to God on awakening.

No matter what the form may be, it is the sincerity of the thought and desire, which count, for God is. God is.

He really exists. 

In you is a Ray of His Divine Life―a seed of His Divine Wisdom. 

His Omniscient Intelligence and His Omnipresent Love fill the entire universe. 

Nothing is ignored―or neglected. 

You are permitted to follow your individual development from the moment of the expression of the Divine Idea, which gave you life. 

You have always within you the instinct of your immortality, and if you truly and sincerely ask to know more, you will be all right.

God gives so much and asks so little.

Never forget that in giving you life He has given one of His noblest gifts, which is liberty.

Never again can you be anything but yourself.

You carry within yourself the Divine Germ and you must be permitted to develop it according to your own individuality.

The writer has prepared an abridged and edited copy of Mary A. Mc Evilly's Meslom's Messages from the Life Beyond (published before 1923 and now in the public domain).

I

image Credits (Top to Last)

CaNaPy laser during a field test in Germany | F. Kamphues/ESO

Sunset at Paranal | ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

Green flash at Paranal | ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

Ripples across the Chilean sky | ESO/S. Brunier

A double green flash | G. Lombardi (glphoto.it)/ESO

Fine shades of a Sombrero | ESO/P. Barthel; Mark Neeser (Kapteyn Institute, Groningen) and Richard Hook (ST/ECF, Garching, Germany)

The planetary nebula IC 4406 seen with MUSE and the AOF | ESO/J. Richard (CRAL)

Comet McNaught | ESO/G. Blanchard

Stars trails over Armazones | F. Char/ESO

Comet McNaught | ESO/G. Blanchard

Moon eclipse seen from La Silla | ESO/F. Char

Planet alignment | F. Char/ESO

The Vela supernova remnant | ESO/J. Pérez

Stars trails over La Silla | ESO/J. Pérez

Dizzying star trails over SEST | ESO/José Joaquín Pérez

NGC 6188 | ESO/J. Pérez

NGC 2547 | ESO/J.Pérez

Cometary globule CG4 | ESO/J.Pérez

Iconic, conical Licancabur watches over Chajnantor | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Icy penitents by moonlight on Chajnantor | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Planetary analogue | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Crescent moon at ALMA | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Conjunction seen from Paranal | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Startrails over the Atacama | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

The crescent Moon and earthshine over ESO's Paranal Observatory | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Circumpolar star trails over the Atacama | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Southern star trails above La Silla | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Southern star trails above La Silla | ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Moon and VLT | ESO/C. Malin

Crescent | ESO/C. Malin

Sunset and moonset | ESO/G. Brammer

Framing the night sky | ESO/G. Brammer

Moonrise behind an AT | G. Brammer/ESO

Another clear day at Paranal | ESO/G. Brammer

Moonrise at Paranal | G. Brammer/ESO

Startrails | G. Brammer/ESO

LT at night | ESO/G.Brammer

Antarctic air visits Paranal | ESO/G. Brammer; F. Kerber (ESO)

Ashen Armazones at sunset | ESO/G. Brammer

Star trails over the ESO 3.6-metre telescope | ESO/A.Santerne

Snow at Paranal | ESO/J. Girard (djulik.com)

Atacama star trails | Carlos A. Durán/ESO

Sky on fire | ESO/Sergio Otarola

The Moon, the telescope and the big blue sky | Sergio Otarola/ESO

ALMA layered in snow | S. Otarola/ESO

Startrails over Licancabur | S. Otarola/ESO

Chilean moonset | S. Otarola/ESO

Hanging Moon ESO/Sergio Otarola

All in a spin | A. Duro/ESO

Chilean landscape in a new light | ESO/A.Duro

Northern Chile | ESO/A.Duro

Total solar eclipse, La Silla Observatory, 2019 | ESO/P. Horálek

Clear-weather simulation of the 2019 eclipse viewed from La Silla | M. Druckmüller, P. Aniol, K. Delcourte, P. Horálek, L. Calçada/ESO

Planet La Silla and the Milky Way | ESO/P. Horálek

North Meets South | P. Horálek & J. C. Casado / ESO

The Hunter and La Silla | P. Horálek/ESO

Planet SPECULOOS | ESO/P. Horálek

Lunar eclipse seen from Garching | ESO/P. Horálek

Dusky light on the ALMA antennas | P. Horálek/ESO

X marks the spot | ESO / P. Horálek

A full-dome family portrait | P. Horálek/ESO

Venus and the Moon strike a pose | P. Horálek/ESO

North Meets South (360 Degrees) | P. Horálek & J. C. Casado / ESO

Blood Red | ESO/P. Horálek

Startrails seen from Paranal Observatory | ESO/P. Horálek

Peering into a star factory | ESO

The Milky Way panorama | ESO/S. Brunier

The Carina Nebula | ESO

The Carina Nebula | ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R.Gendler, J-E. Ovaldsen, C. Thöne, and C. Feron

VISTA's infrared view of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) | ESO/VVV; Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

VST image of the Lagoon Nebula | ESO/VPHAS+ team

The glow of the Lagoon Nebula | ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/ R. Gendler, U.G. Jørgensen, K. Harpsøe