The Seven Purposes: An Experience in Psychic Phenomena

Part II THE LESSONS

“The lessons came from great forces combined. They represent unity of all purposes, and were framed by the co-operation and agreement of the greatest forces of each constructive purpose, to reach the consciousness of men in general terms of your plane.”

I

March 23d.

“All pure purpose is fearless, whether for good or evil, but few humans are pure purpose, and the first fight is in themselves. All this has been said before in effect, but based on other premises. This is the first time the original purpose has been defined and explained. For centuries men have sought the source of life. This is the first time they have been ready to accept the whole truth about that, or to be prepared for the next step.

“Once convinced that chaos grew from purposes born of the Force Beyond Perfection, purposes perfect from the beginning, but at war because they contained within themselves all the elements of life and of conflict—once convinced of this, men will gradually find their own clear purposes defined, and the war within themselves will cease. They will choose definitely to build or to destroy, to be honest or dishonest. Self-deception will be less easy or possible, and the fight will then be with you, as it is now with us, between forces clearly indicated. Now you are all confused by a war within a war, infinitely continued. Conflict multiplied by the number of purposes in each purpose. This has been recognized, but the remedy has never been clearly found. It lies in the conviction that force of every nature is purpose, which has existed from the beginning, and that the force which builds is beneficent and may be clearly segregated and united.

“The Force Beyond Perfection is composed of all things, and therefore understands all things. The original purposes were all good, and will be again, if they can all become intelligent. They became evil through attraction of like for like, akin to your atomic attraction, and chaos resulted. This struggle created a desire and determination to exist in concrete form, to add a new force to the forces of chaos. That was a great conflict, resulting in a tie. Purposes became fused in the same individual, and the battle infinitely multiplied, but yet not lost. Now the effort of both participants is for united purpose again, and the fusion of purposes in each individual makes the confusion greater and the fight more bitter. Men are swayed first by one purpose and then by another, and are themselves unable to distinguish between good and evil.

“This precipitated the Great War with you, the purposes in the Central Empires being more nearly united than elsewhere. Their purposes are fundamentally destructive, because fundamentally autocratic, based on fear, and would ultimately reduce civilization to infancy again. The reason Germany has been able to fight so long is because her purpose is conscious, while the Allies fight blindly but determinedly, moved by purposes they do not recognize and yet must obey. They talk of unity, but do not perceive its nature. They are misled by phrases hollow, but plausible, and do not perceive them to be the enemy in disguise—not the mortal enemy, but the ancient purpose, divided into many.

“The light is beginning to break now, and the hour has almost come for the forces of construction to unite and smite powerfully. But it must be consciously, as the purpose of construction, if the victory is to be permanent or truly for progress. Men must learn to choose their purposes consciously and intelligently, to be definitely and actually building for a definite and actual future. There is too much quarreling about ways and means, and too little recognition of the goal. Too much self, and too little sympathy. This is equally true of all classes of society. Materialism has been rank in the tenement and in the cottage, as in palace and counting-room.

“It is a common purpose we serve, for building or for tearing down. It is impossible to be consistently for both continuously. That has made the Great War, and that is the struggle that must be settled in the minds of men before there can be peace on earth or lasting and progressive brotherhood.

“This is the first lesson.”

II

March 26th.

“This is the second lesson.

“The forces of disintegration are gathering for a titanic struggle, of which your Great War is only the beginning. Had Germany won there, they would have a foothold with you that we would find it difficult, if not impossible, to combat effectively for many years. The spirits of free men would have been soiled with fear and despair, and the forces of doubt and disintegration would have held civilization captive.

“Germany has felt her forces weaken and fail under the onslaught of freedom, light, and progress, and the forces of disintegration are deserting her. She is left alone, to work her way, through mazes of despair, back to a place in the sun. She must find her own way. She chose to follow the forces of destruction, and they will surely destroy her.

“But the forces she followed are uniting for a fiercer fight, more subtle, more deadly, more furious. Hidden beneath the garments of peace and good will, they make ready to poison the minds of men before destroying their forces and delaying their purposes.

“This is the battle to which we call you and all who are for progress. This is the message you are to give the world, to warn them of the danger at hand. The time has come when men must choose consciously to fight for or against the forces of construction. They are confused from the conflict within themselves, running hither and thither, calling for help from the gods they have made unto themselves, but looking only to the present good, perceiving only the present purpose, fearing only the present defeat. They will find no help from these gods, for they have impotent feet of clay.

“The forces of disintegration have made friends with the poor and the needy, and have fed them husks of brotherhood. They have made friends with the powerful and rich, and have tempted them with earth and its kingdoms. They have fed the artist falsehoods, and the writer fear of fear. They have touched the priest with tainted hands, and rulers with fear of the people. They have entered the home and rent it asunder, and the temple is a market-place. These are the works of the purposes we fight, and thus do they disguise themselves. Unless this can be brought home to the souls of men, the fight will be long and bitter.

“Forget the class and remember the man. Forget the price and remember the pearl. Forget the labor and remember the fruit. Forget the temple and remember God.

“Men fight together for one end alone—the purpose for which they live. It is hard to find there, in the confusion of personal conflict, but the time is at hand when it must be found.

“The forces of light are positive. Shun negation. The forces of freedom are individual. Shun dependence. The forces of progress are fearless. Shun fearful combinations. Work together as individuals, consciously cooperating, not as sheep. You will learn to think. You will learn to feel. You will learn to see. Then we may move on to the next phase of development toward the great purpose.

“The forces of disintegration are wily, but fearful. Bullies and cowards. But when they are united in sufficiently strong numbers, fearless and unscrupulous. They fear the reawakening of the forces of progress in your life. This is the reason they gather now, to smite while the world is weary. Disguised as purposes of light, they hope for welcome.

“This is our call to arms. Arouse ye! Come forth for freedom, light, justice, and progress—consciously, freely, strongly.

“This is the second lesson.”

III

March 31st.

“This is the third lesson.

“When men learn that the Force Beyond Perfection is purpose, which has personified itself in them, they will grow to feel the possibilities to which they have heretofore been insensible.

“Life is purpose. Purpose is force. Force is personality, from highest to lowest, from saint to stick and stone. Men have called it many things, but what it is none have perceived clearly.

“Eternal purpose is perfect justice, perfect fearlessness, perfect understanding, perfect honesty, perfect sympathy, perfect unity, and eternal growth, which is progress perfectly expressed. This is the end for which we work. Not Nirvana. Not oblivion. Not power stagnant and powerless. But a perfect balance, progressing to purposes and powers as yet undreamed. This is the Eternal Purpose, toward which all purpose moves. Purposes of construction consciously and determinedly, purposes of destruction unwillingly and inevitably. They fear us, they fight us, they seek to destroy us, not perceiving that they must in the end rejoin us, having left us in the beginning.

“To bring this home to the souls of men is our first duty, and for that reason those of us nearest to your life work first among men. Purpose frees forces you but dimly apprehend, and free forces construct a foundation in your life for the perfect unity of Eternal Purpose.

“Any force not free destroys itself. Any good not animated and active destroys itself. Force imprisoned becomes destruction. Good imprisoned becomes evil. All are fundamentally good, fundamentally beneficent, but have become powers for destruction through lack of progressive development and exercise.

“All men are fusions of many purposes, moved by many forces, answering to many calls. Each responds to the call of his dominant purpose, which flows and fluctuates with his life’s struggle. One day he destroys, and cares not. One day he builds, and marvels at his power. One day he sleeps and forgets. One day he fights to the death for a purpose he had not yesterday, and loses to-morrow. This is the life of man, and this our field of battle. There are other lives, other struggles, other lessons to learn, but this is the first.

“Purpose manifests itself in man inevitably in action. His purpose is not what he believes, not what he desires, but what he is and does. If he destroys, and builds not on the ruins, he is against us. If he falls and fails not, he is with us, though he stumble an hundred times. He fights within himself the ancient fight, and if he win that, his eternal battle is won. Thereafter, he is part and parcel of the forces of construction.

“Purpose answers freely only to its kind, freely and fearlessly it responds to the call of self. If a man be captive to destructive forces, he responds to the cry, Destroy! But if he be given to powers of progress, he builds, though his eyes be blinded and his hands cut off.

“In every man captive to forces of disintegration the builder lies dormant. To reach that faint glow of Eternal Purpose is the first duty of every constructive force. Call to it, rouse it, free it, and it will eventually respond. But do not smother it with false charity, darken it by conflicting precepts, weaken it by fictitious aid. Every individual must serve his own purpose. Only thus is the integrity of the whole conserved. Though he be only a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, yet does he serve his eternal purpose as truly as the priest. Let each man learn his purpose and serve forcefully where his development has placed him. Only thus can he progress.

“Purposes are divided. Thus do they show themselves to men. The purpose of Progress is first and greatest, because it moves all the others toward the Great Purpose. The other constructive purposes are these, divided and subdivided: Light, Justice, Truth, Production, Healing, Building. Each divided and divisible by any of the others, yet pure and perfect in itself. Light may dwell with Healing or Production, but only Light calls unto Light, only Justice unto Justice.

“All forces of construction work together, yet each purpose separate unto itself. Choose ye, therefore. Build or tear down, produce or destroy, illumine or obscure, free men, or hold them captive to themselves. Choose daily and hourly the purpose ye serve.

“This is the third lesson.”

April 1st.

“This is the fourth lesson.

“The world fears purpose that is free and fearless. All the forces of humanity are turned against freedom. The church imposes its creed, the class imposes its caste, the profession imposes its etiquette, the moralist imposes his fear, the libertine imposes his folly. All men are bound by the conventions of church, caste, profession, or moral status. Thus do they throw wide the door to forces of disintegration. Each man assumes a purpose not his own; a force that is his own deserts him.

“Free development demands free purpose and concentrated force. Wherever two or three are gathered together to follow the same purpose in free and conscious co-operation, there force is multiplied. Wherever an hundred are assembled to be led like sheep by the bell-wether, there force is debauched and disintegrated.

“Because men have huddled together in fear, destruction threatens them. Because free speech has been debauched to fell purpose, free men distrust it. Men, forces of disintegration, but possessed of glib tongues, have played bell-wether to the multitude. Priests of purpose, whose counsel was inspired by the Eternal, have been thrust aside and stoned. Better were it for the immortal man to follow his purpose to death and mortal oblivion, than to lose his force to the bell-wether. Many purposes make great purpose. Many forces unite for freedom. But better for immortal man to destroy greatly and greatly strive than to sink his purpose in the medley disguised as brotherhood.

“A great brotherhood is possible only when its component parts are great. Strength lies not in numbers, but in purpose. The fit may not lie down with the unfit, and their progeny survive. The strong may not yield their purpose to the weak, and their force remain.

“A light breaks in the East—Russia, given as a sacrifice to the brotherhood of men. A light not of star or dawn, but of sacrificial fire. Heed it, guard it, ye youths and virgins, for by its flaming sacrifice are ye saved.

“Brotherhood is purpose of progress, not purpose of profit. Brotherhood is made beautiful by unity, not by schism. Brotherhood suffereth long, and is kind. Brotherhood regardeth every brother, great and small. Brotherhood waiteth upon brother and grumbleth not. All build together the common home of all.

“Seek ye those of your own purpose. Unite together all who fain would build. Master and man, architect and mason, financier and farm laborer, all work to the same end, and this is Brotherhood.

“To work for the same purpose, in whatever capacity may be necessary, this is the only true Brotherhood.

“This is the fourth lesson.”

V

April 3d.

“This is the fifth lesson.

“Men have long cherished the ideal of Brotherhood, but they have clung to the letter of the ancient law and lost its spirit. Before the days of liberty, when men were languishing in slavery or bound as vassals, sell all thou hast and give to the poor had a significance lost in a day of free labor and industrial progress. The spirit of the law is unchanged and unchangeable, but the letter progresses with civilization’s advance.

“To-day, the first essential of brotherhood is freedom. Freedom to think, freedom to believe, freedom to strive, freedom to develop, from highest to lowest. And the employer who refuses this opportunity to the men who work under him is no more truly a force for disintegration than the laborer who refuses to co-operate with his employer and thus proves himself unworthy of a place in the procession of progress.

“There can be no house that will stand against storm that has not foundation, walls, and roof. There can be no society that will withstand disintegration that has not labor, capital, and market. When capital oppresses labor, forces of disintegration are freed. When labor dominates capital, forces of disintegration are freed. When the people forget justice, forces of disintegration are freed. And the destruction of one is the destruction of all. The rich man who denies his brother freedom is a destroyer. The poor man who denies his brother freedom is a destroyer in no less degree. Each is a part of the other, and each follows eternal purpose to one end—construction and progress.

“The man who has freedom of thought, freedom of purpose, freedom of action, is free, though he be a pauper, and is free to choose whether he will build or destroy. The man who is bound by any tie that dictates his thought, belief, or action is a force of disintegration, because he may not follow his purpose freely and with all his force. The man who has freedom and wealth, and, forgets his brother, is a force of disintegration. The man who has strength and poverty, and forgets his brother, is a force of disintegration. Equality of opportunity does not demand or imply equality of development. Many men are rich who use their wealth to forward the purposes of construction. Many there are who waste it and invite disintegration. Many men are poor, who use their strength to help along construction. They are forces of progress, and will find their places here. Many there are who delay the march, and invite disintegration. What shall it profit a man, though he gain the earth, if he lose his own soul?

“There are seven purposes. Progress, Light, Truth, Healing, Building, Production, and Justice. Equally great, save Progress, which moves them all. One of these must each man serve, if he proceeds toward the Great Purpose. Whether great or small, high or low, wise or foolish, learned or ignorant, rich or poor, powerful or apparently impotent, each human individual is a force for construction or for disintegration, and follows his purpose to its inevitable end: constructive forces to construction of great purposes, disintegrating forces to the long struggle that can have but one end, however distant—construction.

“There are many phases of development, each looking onward to the next. If a man climb without envy, forgetting himself in his purpose, he shall climb far. If he look with envy at his higher brother and with scorn at those below him, he shall climb on slipping sands and find himself again at the foot.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens is a command unchanged and unchangeable. Give unto each his opportunity to grow, and to build for progress. Freedom to strive is the one right inherent in existence, the strong and the weak each following his own purpose, with all his force, to the one great end. And he who binds or limits his brother’s purpose binds himself now and hereafter. But he who extends his brother’s opportunity builds for eternity.

“Choose ye.

“This is the fifth lesson.”

VI

April 3d.

“This is the sixth lesson.

“Men are afraid of fear. They fear to fear, and fall into folly. Fear of disintegrating purposes makes for wisdom, and wisdom makes for construction. Fear is a disintegrating force made constructive, when directed against disintegration.

“Wisdom in high places has been dethroned, and intellectual curiosity usurps the scepter. Men who should lay foundations of wisdom experiment with fantasies of the intellectual dreamer.

“Brotherhood, to one class, is a defensive organization, for protection. Brotherhood, to another class, is an offensive organization, for pillage. Brotherhood, to another class, is an organized attempt to preserve the unfit. Brotherhood, to another class, is a dream of unorganized following of untried theories. None of these know that all men are brothers.

“Evolution of matter follows evolution of purpose, but when material things are left behind, purpose continues to progress. Why, then, lose your purpose in pursuit of material gain?

“Church and state alike urge morality for personal ends, and recommend personal punishments. There is no morality. There is only purpose, constructive or destructive. There is no punishment. There is only consequence.

“Personal motives are deterrent forces, neither actively constructive nor actively destructive, except as they may be applied. These forces crowd in between the contending purposes, hindering both and helping neither, except when compelled by sheer force of numbers to sweep on with one or the other.

“Forces of disintegration are frequently mistaken for personal motives. They are always destructive. Personal motives are always deterrent. Self-interest excludes sympathy. Purpose demands sympathy. Self-interest excludes true unity. Unity is the Great Purpose. Any morality based on personal interest is, therefore, a deterrent force.

“The time has not yet come when men in the mass have vision. The great Purpose to the small mind is vague and of no significance. Personal motives are more easily recognized than purpose, and Church and state emphasize and encourage them. But the time is at hand when great conflicting purposes will meet in combat for control of men. Wake the sleepers. Cast off little things. Sink personal motives. Rouse Church and state to perception of force and purpose, and unite together, regardless of class, creed, or party, to win the world to purposes of construction.

“Church and state urge unity, and yield none. Tolerance, freedom, fearlessness, light—these are almost strangers to temple or court. Little by little the lines are softening. Little by little we gain on fear. Here a tolerant and noble clergyman, there a statesman who serves the state. But for one of these, a thousand huddle under creed or slogan, and fear of freedom impels them all. This is because they have not recognized purpose, and they impede progress who might be its power.

“Come forth, then, priests, teachers, and leaders! Call upon the people, not to follow, not to huddle, not to hesitate, but, to choose. Set ye the seven purposes clearly before them, clearly perceiving them, ye that call, and bid them choose, for the life of all, the purpose they will serve.

“Thus may deterrent forces become constructive, and the Great Purpose known of all men.

“This is the sixth lesson.”

VII

April 5th.

“This is the seventh lesson.

“Before the light of freedom dawned on the world, a puissant chaos of purposes and forces fought for control of the liberties of men. A short space of time brought liberty of body, after the perception of the people had been clarified by the gradual development of the ideal of liberty. They moved rapidly toward it, when they began to understand it, with halts and hesitations and blunders, but forcefully and inevitably still. They overthrew kings and barons, and took into their own hands the physical and material government of their kind. But their minds and forces are still enslaved and shackled by outworn tradition. ‘Onward Christian soldiers’, is a plea for progress; but it has become a recessional, not a marching song. Men have made their justice vassal to tradition, and their brotherhood fief to gain.

“Men have learned the value of free bodies, but free force, mental or spiritual, terrifies and puzzles them still. They have learned to discipline their bodies, to keep them strong and clean. But they fear to trust the purposes and forces, without chains and prison bars to hold them, lest they make chaos of civilization. Church, state, profession, trade, guild, or society commands: Thou shalt not think. Follow, yield, accept, and endure, but let not thought be found among ye, lest the bars be broken and destruction loosed.

“Many men follow; a few men think. These are the overlords, the kings and barons of forces that might be free. But freedom demands free purpose, and free purpose demands justice.

“No man is free who commands not himself. No man is free who forgets his brother. No man is free who fears to follow his own purpose with all his force. No man is free who fails to carry his share of common load. He may have wealth and luxury; yet is he slave. He may be tempted by beauty; yet is he slave. He may be frightened by calamity; yet is he slave. He may be beaten by strangers; yet is he slave. No man is free who commands not himself in any emergency. He may lose wealth and luxury, and still be free. He may dwell with squalor, who loves beauty, and still be free. He may be defrauded by his brother, and still be free. He may be shackled by strangers, beaten and imprisoned, and still be free.

“Freedom lieth not in a man’s estate, but in the man himself.

“This is the seventh lesson.”

VIII

April 8th.

“This is the eighth lesson.

“Many men try to perceive the purpose of God in truth and beauty and justice, and fail to recognize that the Eternal Purpose is unlimited by the detached conceptions of men. Truth is one of the fundamental purposes. Beauty is a subdivision of Building. Justice is fundamental. All are part of the Eternal Purpose. But the Great Purpose is unity.

“The fundamental purposes are common to all men, of whatever race, color, belief, or prejudice. They are the foundation from which the forces of Eternal Purpose start, and by their divisions only are men ultimately grouped. As a commander divides his army into infantry, artillery, cavalry, air forces, quartermaster, engineer, and medical corps, so are the eternal forces divided into the seven purposes for the eternal conflict.

“The purposes of disintegration are more than seven. They divide into myriad motives as they fight the aspirations of immortal man. Free men choose freely how they will array themselves, but slaves are driven by their masters, visible or invisible, to fight for purposes not their own. Only when they have learned to discipline and develop their minds, as they now discipline and develop their bodies, may they choose freely the force with which they will be arrayed.

“Rich man against poor man. Capital against labor. State against offender. Poor man against wealth. Labor against development. Criminal against law. All are false distinctions.

“Seek ye the man of your own purpose, and cleave to him. If ye would build, seek a builder. If ye would heal, seek a healer. If justice absorb ye, seek a man furthering justice. But be not misled by the slave-driver, without or within. Beware of the bell-wether, and of personal or material motives. Govern yourselves first, and then choose ye whether to fight for progress or for disintegration, for unity or for destruction. Then choose ye the purpose ye will serve forcefully through eternity.

“This is the eighth lesson.”

IX

April 8th.

“This is the ninth lesson.

“Men have lived in fear of forces from without, and have not perceived that within themselves all forces are made potent. Men have feared purposes from without, and have not perceived that their own purpose is eternal. Men have talked of power, and failed to perceive its source. Men have dreamed of possession, and failed to find freedom. Possession is temporary and ephemeral. Freedom is eternal. Should a man yield the freedom of his eternal purpose for any possession whatsoever?

“Build ye with all possessions, that purpose may be free. For brotherhood commandeth service, and for this are possessions hallowed. He who hath, and denieth his brother opportunity, destroys his own purpose. He who hath possessions, and giveth his brother opportunity, builds for eternity. He who hath power and plenitude, and giveth his brother help, has given all men more than the one can take. He has built for eternity.

“The man who has this power to build with possessions for eternal progress has a force beside his own, the force of material purpose to aid his brother’s force. Many there be who build for eternity with material possessions. They are the keepers of the keys for all who labor, stewards of opportunity.

“He who has opportunity to strive, and striveth not, destroys his own purpose. He who has the key to opportunity for building offered him, and fails to free the force, destroys both his own purpose and that of his brother.

“One purpose are all to serve—Progress. And whether it be with purpose and possessions, or with purpose and poverty, all serve equally who put their whole force into service.

“So may all men know they are brothers.

“This is the ninth lesson.”

X

April 9th.

“This is the tenth lesson.

“The purposes of disintegration are these. Malice, Envy, Doubt, Falsehood, Ignorance, Lust, Cupidity, Fear. All these make for Destruction, which is the strong purpose that moves them all. Each of these is divided and subdivided into myriad motives of disintegration, many of which disguise themselves before daring to enter the consciousness of man.

“Malice and Envy present themselves most often as Light or Justice. Doubt as Light, Lust as Justice or Production, Cupidity as Building, Fear and Ignorance as Truth, and Destruction as Progress. But the disguises vary with the individual and with the moment, and the motives springing from these purposes are legion.

“Each individual in your life is a battleground of purposes that have fought from the moment the purposes of disintegration gathered one to another. Each man struggles to ally himself permanently with one or another of the purposes within him. Thus is it that a man whose desire is for light falls victim to malice, envy, and destruction; and he whose desire is production, to lust. Weakness of purpose is a subdivision of fear, and folly a minion of ignorance.

“All men aspire. Some with reluctance and halting, but all feel the purpose of progress working within them. They may mistake its nature or deny its power, but no man lives who has not felt its prompting. This is the purpose beyond all others, the Eternal Purpose of United Construction. No man can thwart it, no man can evade it, no force can defeat it. Why, then, oppose and delay it?

“Come, all ye who struggle and strive! Perceive once and forever the purpose of life, join now the forces of construction, and bring to all men Brotherhood.

“This is the tenth lesson.”

XI

April 12th.

“This is the eleventh lesson.

“There is no man who has not force. He may be frail of body, weak of purpose, light of mind, faltering of step. Yet to some degree has he force, for without force personality cannot exist. There is no man so frail of body, so weak of purpose, so faltering of step, that he has not personality. There is no personality that is not a force for construction or for destruction. None that may not serve to build.

“There is no man so bound up in himself, so personal of motive, so narrow of vision, that he may not be turned from a deterrent force into a force for construction, save only those already given to purposes of disintegration.

“But no man is so vigorous of body, so firm of purpose, so profound of mind, so sure of step, that he may perfect his brother’s life. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ has been transformed from a question uttered in defense of iniquity to an assertion uttered in defense of arrogance. ‘Am I not my brother’s keeper?’

“No man is his brother’s keeper. The utmost that he may do for his brother is to arouse his brother’s purpose, whether for construction or for destruction. Call to the purpose of Progress. Call to the seven purposes of construction. Help ye each brother to find the onward way. But if he will not answer, if calling fail to move him, then bid him destroy after his own purpose, that the fight may be open and his allegiance known of all men.

“Freedom to choose is the inalienable right of every human soul. Who hinders his brother’s purpose delays the end of battle. Win him to progress, if he can be won by calling. Bid him declare himself, if he answer not the call. But he who coerces his brother, though it be toward construction, prolongs the struggle and delays the Great Purpose.

“No man is his brother’s keeper.

“This is the eleventh lesson.”

XII

April 12th.

“This is the twelfth lesson.

“Many men there be who fight for liberty and coerce their brothers.

“In war, all men must fight. But there is no man who may choose for another how his allegiance may be given.

“He who is not for progress is against it. He who has no allegiance that he will declare, is traitor to himself and to the purpose he follows. Cast him out and he will find his purpose known.

“So shall the opposing forces be clearly indicated. So shall each man find his own purpose clearly defined. So shall the wars within wars cease among men, and the fight be with you, as it is with us, between purposes and forces known and united, one against the other, until all purposes of destruction have been conquered and transformed, and the Great Purpose rendered free to progress to greater glories without end.

“This is the twelfth lesson.”

NOTES

Asked to explain one phrase in the first Lesson, “the original purposes were all good,” Mary K. said: “All were balanced. There is no evil that may not be good in proper combination. Evil is the gathered force of undirected and not fully animated good, combined in a destructive purpose by the attraction I mentioned.”

An apparent contradiction of a statement in the first Lesson—“All pure purpose is fearless, whether for good or evil”—by one in the second Lesson—“The forces of disintegration are wily, but fearful. Bullies and cowards”—seemed to imply that forces of disintegration are not pure purpose. Mary K. explained: “They are pure purpose, fearless in pursuance of destruction, wily in bringing it about, brutal in consummating it, but cowards individually. Fearless of consequences when they pursue, but fearful when they fail. Like Germans.”

Early in June, I discovered a relation between the definition of Eternal Purpose in the second paragraph of the third Lesson, and the divisions of the purpose of Progress near the end. “Eternal purpose is perfect justice (Justice), perfect fearlessness (Production), perfect understanding (Light), perfect honesty (Truth), perfect sympathy (Healing), perfect unity (Building), and eternal growth (Progress), which is progress perfectly expressed.”

The end of the seventh Lesson seemed obscure, until the relation between its clauses was discovered. Written thus, its meaning is clear: “(1) No man is free who commands not himself. (2) No man is free who forgets his brother. (3) No man is free who fears to follow his purpose with all his force. (4) No man is free who fails to carry his share of the common load. He may have wealth and luxury, yet is he slave (1) if he commands not himself. He may be tempted by beauty (2) to forget his brother, yet is he slave, if he commands not himself. He may be frightened by calamity (3) in following his purpose, yet is he slave, if he commands not himself. He may be beaten by strangers (4) while carrying his share of the common load, yet is he slave if he commands not himself.”

9th Lesson.

A curious inconsistency in the use of verbs will be noticed here, archaic and modern forms appearing in the same sentence repeatedly. This may have been due to my great fatigue when this lesson was taken, to the presence in the room of other persons, or to some condition or intention as yet unexplained.

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