The Divine Center 

THE SECRET OF LIFE, of abundant life, with its strength, its joy, and its unbroken peace is to find the Divine Center within oneself. It is to live in and from that, instead of in that outer circumference of disturbances—the clamors, cravings, and argumentations which make up the animal and intellectual man. These selfish elements constitute the mere husks of life, and must be thrown away by him who would penetrate to the Central Heart of things—to Life itself.

To not know that within you which is changeless, and defiant of time and death, is not to know anything, but is to play vainly with unsubstantial reflections in the mirror of time. To not find within yourself those passionless Principles which are unmoved by the strifes, shows, and vanities of the world, is to find nothing but illusions which vanish as they are grasped.

He who resolves that he will not rest satisfied with appearances, shadows, and illusions shall, by the piercing light of that resolve, disperse every fleeting fantasy, and will enter into the substance and reality of life. He will learn how to live, and he will live. He will be no slave of passion, no servant of opinion, no enthusiast of fond error. By finding the Divine Center within his own heart, he will be calm, strong, and wise. He will ceaselessly radiate the Heavenly Life in which he lives—which is himself.

Having taken himself to the Divine Refuge within, and remaining there, a man is free from sin. All his yesterdays are as the tide-washed and untrodden sands. No sin shall rise up against him to torment and accuse him and destroy his sacred peace. The fires of remorse shall no longer scorch him, nor can the storms of regret devastate his dwelling-place.

His tomorrows are as seeds which germinate, bursting into the beauty and potency of life. No doubt shall shake his trust, no uncertainty shall rob him of repose. The Present is his, and only in the immortal Present does he live. And it is as the eternal vault of blue above, which looks down silently and calmly, yet radiant with purity and light, upon the upturned and tear-stained faces of the centuries.

The Death of The Ego-Personality
Men love their desires, for gratification seems sweet to them, but its end is pain and emptiness. They love the argumentations of the intellect, for egotism seems most desirable to them, but the fruits thereof are humiliation and sorrow. When the soul has reached the end of gratification and reaped the bitter fruits of egotism, it is ready to receive the Divine Wisdom and to enter into the Divine Life. Only the crucified can be transfigured. Only by the death of self can the Lord of the heart rise again into the immortal life, and stand radiant upon the Mount of Wisdom.

Do you have trials? Every outward trial is the replica of an inward imperfection. You shall grow wise by knowing this, and thereby transmute your trials into active joy. You shall find the Kingdom where trial cannot come. When wilt thou learn thy lessons, O child of earth! All your sorrows cry out against you. Every pain is your just accuser, and your griefs are but the shadows of your unworthy and perishable self. The Kingdom of Heaven is yours. How long will you reject it, preferring the lurid atmosphere of Hell—the hell of your own self-seeking self?

Where self or ego is not—there is the Garden of the Heavenly Life and—

"There spring the healing streams 
Quenching all thirst! there bloom
the immortal flowers
Carpeting all the way with joy! there throng 
Swiftest and sweetest hours!"

The redeemed sons and daughters of God, those who are glorified in body and spirit, are "bought with a price," and that price is the crucifixion of the personality, the death of the ego-self. Having put away that within which is the source of all discord, they have found the universal music, the abiding joy.

The Choice Is Always Yours
Life is more than motion, it is music. It is more than rest, it is peace. More than work, it is duty. More than labor, it is love. More than enjoyment, it is blessedness. More than money, position, and reputation, it is knowledge, purpose, and strong and high resolve.

Let the impure turn to purity, and they shall be pure. Let the weak resort to strength, and they shall be strong. Let the ignorant fly to knowledge, and they shall be wise. All things belong to man, and he chooses that which he will have. Today he chooses in ignorance, tomorrow he shall choose in wisdom. He shall "work out his own salvation" whether he believes it or not, for he cannot escape himself, nor transfer to another the eternal responsibility of his own soul. By no theological deception shall he trick the law of his being, which shall shatter all his selfish makeshifts and excuses for right thinking and right doing. Nor shall God do for him that which it is destined for his soul to accomplish for itself.

What would you say of a person who, wanting to possess a mansion in which to dwell peacefully, prepared the site and then knelt down and asked God to build the house for him? Would you not say such a man was foolish? And of another man who, having purchased land, set the architects, builders, and carpenters at work to erect the edifice, would you not say that he was wise?

As it is in the building of a material house, so it is in the building of a spiritual mansion. Brick by brick, pure thought upon pure thought, good deed upon good deed, must the habitation of a blameless life rise from its sure foundation until at last it stands out in all the majesty of its faultless proportions. Not by caprice, nor gift, nor favor does a man obtain spiritual realities, but by diligence, watchfulness, energy, and effort.

"Strong is the soul, and wise and beautiful 
The seeds of God-like power are in us still; 
Gods are we, bards, saints, heroes, if we will"

Building The Inner Mansion
The spiritual heart of man is the Heart of the universe, and, finding that Heart, man finds the strength to accomplish all things. He finds there also the wisdom to see things as they are. He finds there the peace that is divine. At the center of man's being is the music which orders the stars—the Eternal Harmony. He who would find blessedness, let him find himself. Let him abandon every discordant desire, every inharmonious thought, every unlovely habit and deed, and he will find that grace, beauty, and harmony which form the indestructible essence of his own being.

Men fly from creed to creed, and find—unrest. They travel in many lands, and discover—disappointment. They build themselves beautiful mansions, plant pleasant gardens, and reap—boredom and discomfort. Not until a man falls back upon the Truth within himself does he find rest and satisfaction. Not until he builds the inward mansion of faultless conduct does he find endless and incorruptible Joy. Having obtained that, he will infuse it into all his outward doings and possessions.

If a man would have peace, let him exercise the spirit of Peace. If he would find love, let him dwell in the spirit of Love. If he would escape suffering, let him cease to inflict it. If he would do noble things for humanity, let him cease to do cruel things to himself. If he will but quarry the mine of his own soul, he shall find there all the materials for building whatsoever he will, and he shall find there also the central Rock on which to build in safety.

Howsoever a man works to right the world, it will never be righted until he has put himself right. This may be written upon the heart as a mathematical axiom. It is not enough to preach purity, men must cease from lust. To exhort to love, they must abandon hatred. To glorify self-sacrifice, they must yield up self. To adorn with mere words the Perfect Life, they must be perfect.
When a man can no longer carry the weight of his many sins, let him fly to the Christ, whose throne is the center of his own heart, and he shall become light-hearted, entering the glad company of the Immortals.

When he can no longer bear the burden of his accumulated learning, a man should leave his books, his science, his philosophy, and come back to himself. There, he shall find within, that which he outwardly sought and found not—his own divinity.

He who has found God within ceases to argue about God. Relying upon that calm strength which is not the strength of self, he lives God, manifesting in his daily life the Highest Goodness, which is Eternal Life.

Chapter 2

The Eternal Now

Now is THE REALITY in which time is contained. It is more and greater than time; it is an ever-present reality. It knows neither past nor future, and is eternally potent and substantial. Every minute, every day, every year is a dream as soon as it has passed, and exists only as an imperfect, and unsubstantial picture in the memory, if it is not entirely obliterated.

Past and future are dreams; now is a reality. All things are now. All power, all possibility, all action is now. Not to act and accomplish now is not to act and accomplish at all. To live in thoughts of what you might have done, or in the dreams of what you mean to do, this is folly. But to put away regret, to anchor anticipation, to do and to work now, this is wisdom.

When a man is dwelling upon the past or future he is missing the present. He is forgetting to live now. All things are possible now, and only now. Without wisdom to guide him, and mistaking the unreal for the real, a man says, "If I had done so and so last week, last month, or last year, it would have been better with me today." Or, "I know what is best to be done, and I will do it tomorrow."

The selfish cannot comprehend the vast importance and value of the present, and fail to see it as the substantial reality of which past and future are the empty reflections. It may truly be said that past and future do not exist except as negative shadows, and to live in them, that is, in the regretful and selfish contemplation of them—is to miss the reality in life.

"The Present, the Present is all thou hast, 
For thy sure possessing; 
Like the patriarch's angel, hold it fast, 
Till it gives its blessing.
"All which is real now remaineth,
And fadeth never:
The hand which upholds it now sustaineth
The soul forever.
"Then of what is to be, and of what is to be done,
Why queriest thou?
The past and the time to be are one,
And both are NOW!"

Now Is The Ideal Time
Man has all power now; but not knowing this, he says, "I will be perfect next year, or in so many years, or in so many lives." The dwellers in the Kingdom of God, who live only in the now, say, "I am perfect now," and refraining from all sin now, and ceaselessly guarding the portals of the mind, not looking to the past nor to the future, nor turning to the left or right, they remain eternally holy and blessed. "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation."

Say to yourself, "I will live in my Ideal now. I will manifest my Ideal now. I will be in my Ideal now. I will not listen to all that tempts me away from my Ideal. I will listen only to the voice of my Ideal." Thus resolving and thus doing, you shall not depart from the Highest, and shall eternally manifest the True.

"Afoot and lighthearted, I take to the open road. 
Henceforth I ask not good fortune: I myself am good fortune.
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing. 
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms. 
Strong and content, I take to the open road."

Cease to tread every byway of dependence, every winding side-way that tempts your soul into the shadow-land of the past and the future, and manifest your native and divine strength now. Come out into "the open road."

Tomorrow Is Too Late for Anything
That which you would be, and hope to be, you may be now. Non-accomplishment resides in your perpetual postponement, and having the power to postpone, you also have the power to accomplish—to perpetually accomplish. Realize this truth, and you shall be today, and every day, the ideal man of whom you dreamed.

Virtue consists in fighting sin day after day, but holiness consists in leaving sin, unnoticed and ignored, to die by the wayside. And this is done, can only be done, in the living now. Say not to your soul, "You shall be purer tomorrow;" but rather say, "You shall be pure now." Tomorrow is too late for anything, and he who sees his help and salvation in tomorrow shall continuously fail and fall today.

Did you fall yesterday? Did you sin grievously? Having realized this, leave it instantly and forever, and watch that you do not sin now. While you are bewailing the past, every gate of your soul remains unguarded against the entrance of sin now. You shall not rise by grieving over the irremediable past, but by remedying the present.

The foolish man, loving the boggy sidepath of procrastination rather than the firm Highway of Present Effort, says, "I will rise early tomorrow. I will get out of debt tomorrow. I will carry out my intentions tomorrow." But the wise man, realizing the momentous import of the Eternal Now, rises early today; keeps out of debt today; carries out his intentions today; and so never departs from strength, peace, and ripe accomplishment.

That which is done now remains; that which is done tomorrow does not appear. It is wisdom to leave that which has not arrived, and to attend to that which is; and to attend to it with such a consecration of soul and concentration of effort as shall leave no possible loophole for regret to creep in.

Throw Off Your Illusions
When a man's spiritual comprehension is clouded by the illusions of self, he says, "I was born on such a day, so many years ago, and shall die at my allotted time." But he was not born, neither will he die, for how can that which is immortal, which eternally is, be subject to birth and death? Let a man throw off his illusions, and then he will see that the birth and death of the body are the mere incidents of a journey, and not a beginning and end.

Looking back to happy beginnings, and forward to mournful endings, a man's eyes are blinded, so that he beholds not his own immortality. His ears are closed, so that he hears not the ever-present harmonies of Joy. And his heart is hardened, so that it pulsates not to the rhythmic sounds of Peace.

The universe, with all that it contains, is now. Put out your hand, O seeker, and receive the fruits of Wisdom! Cease your greedy striving, your selfish sorrowing, your foolish regretting, and be content to live. Act now, and, lo! all things are done. Live now, and, behold! you are in the midst of plenty. Be now, and know that you are perfect.