The Way of Peace | Page 7

has
realized the profound simplicity of Truth, for this unbiased, tranquil, blessed state of
mind and heart is the state of Truth. He who attains to it dwells with the angels, and sits
at the footstool of the Supreme. Knowing the Great Law; knowing the origin of sorrow;
knowing the secret of suffering; knowing the way of emancipation in Truth, how can
such a one engage in strife or condemnation; for though he knows that the blind,
self-seeking world, surrounded with the clouds of its own illusions, and enveloped in the
darkness of error and self, cannot perceive the steadfast Light of Truth, and is utterly
incapable of comprehending the profound simplicity of the heart that has died, or is dying,
to self, yet he also knows that when the suffering ages have piled up mountains of sorrow,
the crushed and burdened soul of the world will fly to its final refuge, and that when the
ages are completed, every prodigal will come back to the fold of Truth. And so he dwells
in goodwill toward all, and regards all with that tender compassion which a father
bestows upon his wayward children.
Men cannot understand Truth because they cling to self, because they believe in and love
self, because they believe self to be the only reality, whereas it is the one delusion.
When you cease to believe in and love self you will desert it, and will fly to Truth, and
will find the eternal Reality.
When men are intoxicated with the wines of luxury, and pleasure, and vanity, the thirst of
life grows and deepens within them, and they delude themselves with dreams of fleshly
immortality, but when they come to reap the harvest of their own sowing, and pain and
sorrow supervene, then, crushed and humiliated, relinquishing self and all the
intoxications of self, they come, with aching hearts to the one immortality, the
immortality that destroys all delusions, the spiritual immortality in Truth.
Men pass from evil to good, from self to Truth, through the dark gate of sorrow, for
sorrow and self are inseparable. Only in the peace and bliss of Truth is all sorrow
vanquished. If you suffer disappointment because your cherished plans have been
thwarted, or because someone has not come up to your anticipations, it is because you are
clinging to self. If you suffer remorse for your conduct, it is because you have given way
to self. If you are overwhelmed with chagrin and regret because of the attitude of
someone else toward you, it is because you have been cherishing self. If you are wounded
on account of what has been done to you or said of you, it is because you are walking in
the painful way of self. All suffering is of self. All suffering ends in Truth. When you
have entered into and realized Truth, you will no longer suffer disappointment, remorse,
and regret, and sorrow will flee from you.
"Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul;
Truth is the only angel that can bid
the gates unroll;
And when he comes to call thee, arise and follow fast;
His way may
lie through darkness, but it leads to light at last."
The woe of the world is of its own making. Sorrow purifies and deepens the soul, and the

extremity of sorrow is the prelude to Truth.
Have you suffered much? Have you sorrowed deeply? Have you pondered seriously upon
the problem of life? If so, you are prepared to wage war against self, and to become a
disciple of Truth.
The intellectual who do not see the necessity for giving up self, frame endless theories
about the universe, and call them Truth; but do thou pursue that direct line of conduct
which is the practice of righteousness, and thou wilt realize the Truth which has no place
in theory, and which never changes. Cultivate your heart. Water it continually with
unselfish love and deep-felt pity, and strive to shut out from it all thoughts and feelings
which are not in accordance with Love. Return good for evil, love for hatred, gentleness
for ill-treatment, and remain silent when attacked. So shall you transmute all your selfish
desires into the pure gold of Love, and self will disappear in Truth. So will you walk
blamelessly among men, yoked with the easy yoke of lowliness, and clothed with the
divine garment of humility.
O come, weary brother! thy struggling and striving
End thou in the heart of the Master
of ruth;
Across self's drear desert why wilt thou be driving,
Athirst for the quickening
waters of Truth
When here, by the path of thy searching and sinning,
Flows Life's gladsome stream, lies
Love's oasis green? Come, turn thou and rest; know the end and beginning,
The sought
and the searcher, the seer and