London Lectures of 1907 | Page 9

of whom all forms
are manifestations.
We dare not call ourselves spiritual until we have reached that point
which none of us as yet has reached, for to reach it means to become a
Christ. When, looking at the lowest and basest and most ignorant and
vilest, we can say: "That is myself, in such-and-such a garb," and say it
feeling it, rejoicing in it--because if there are two of you, and one is
pure and the other impure, and the two are one, then neither is perfect,
but both are raised above the level of the lowest--that is the true
atonement, the real work of the Christ; and the birth of Christ within
you means the willingness to throw down all walls of separation, and
the stature of Christ within you means that you have accomplished it.

For the most part we claim our unity above; we do not take pride in
claiming our unity below; we are glad to say, "Yes, I also am Divine; I
am a Christ in the making; I am one with Him." Harder to say: "I am
one with the lowest of my brethren, sharing with them the same Divine
life." Yet our Divinity is only realised as we recognise that same
Divinity in others. You may remember that exquisite story of Olive
Schreiner, breathing the very essence first of the unspiritual, and then
of the spiritual life. In the first case a woman, pure and spotless, her
garments shining with whiteness, and her feet shod as with snow, went
up to the Gates of Heaven and trod the golden streets. And as she trod
them in her shining robes the angels shuddered back, and said: "See,
her garments are blood-spotted, and her sandals are stained with mire
and blood." From the throne the Christ asked: "Daughter, how is it that
your garments are blood-spotted and your sandals stained?" And she
answered: "Lord, I was walking in miry ways, and I saw a woman there
down in the mire, and I stepped upon her that I might keep my sandals
clean." The Christ and the angels vanished, and the woman fell from
heaven, and wandered again in the miry ways of earth. Once again she
came to the heavenly portal and trod the golden streets, and this time
she was not alone. Another woman was with her, and the garments of
both were blood-flecked, and the sandals of both were stained with the
mire and blood of earth. But the angels seeing them pass by, cried out:
"See how whitely their garments shine! And see how white are their
feet!" And the Christ, when they came before the throne, said: "How
come ye here in garments that are soiled?" And the answer came: "I
saw this my sister trampled upon, and I bent down to lift her up, and in
the picking of her up my garments were soiled, but I have brought her
with me to Thy presence." And the Christ smiled and lifted them up
beside Him, and the angels sang for joy. For it is not the sin and the
shame that are shared that soil the garments of the Spirit, and leave
upon it the mire of earth.
If, then, you would lead the spiritual life, go downwards as well as
upwards. Feel your unity with the sinner as well as with the saint. For
the only thing that makes you divine is the Spirit that lives in every
human heart alike, in all equally dwelling, and there is no difference in
the divinity of the Spirit, but only in the stage of its manifestation. And

just as you and I climb upwards and show more of the spiritual life in
the lower worlds, should we raise our brethren with us, and know the
joy of the redeemer, and the power of the life that saves. For Those
whom we call Masters, Those who are the Christs of the world, Those
are reverenced and beloved, because to Them there is no difference, but
the sinner is as beloved as the saint--nay, sometimes more, because
compassion flows out to the weaker more than to the strong.
Such is the spiritual life; such the goal that every man who would
become spiritual must place before his eyes. Very different from the
psychic, and not to be confused with it--the unfolding of the divinity in
man, and not the purification and the organisation of the vehicles. Both
are good, both necessary, and I finish with the words with which I
began, that while to be psychic is no proof of spirituality, to be spiritual
is to possess every power in heaven and on earth. Choose ye each your
road. Tread whichever you will, but beware that by the growth of your
powers here, in