The higher powers of mind and spirit

There are times in the lives of all of us when we glimpse a life-our life-that is infinitely beyond the life we are living now. We realize that we are living below our means. We long for the realization of the life we feel should be. Instinctively we perceive that there are powers and forces within us that we make inadequate use of, and others that we do not use at all. Practical metaphysics, a more simplified and concrete psychology, well-known laws of mental and spiritual science, confirm us in this conclusion. Men and women who are awake to these inner aids - these powers and forces that direct, shape and sustain, that belong to the realm of mind and spirit - are never found among those who ask, "Is life worth living? For them, life has been multiplied by two, ten, a hundred times. There is a divine current that will carry us peacefully and safely to its bosom, if we are wise and diligent enough to find it and follow it. To struggle against the current is always difficult and uncertain. Going with the current lightens the drudgery of the journey. Instead of being continually uncertain and even exhausted in the mere effort of going forward, we have time for pleasures along the way, as well as the ability to call out a word of comfort or lend a hand to a neighbor, even on the road. Natural, normal life is by a divine law under the guidance of the spirit. It is only when we fail to seek and follow this guidance, or when we deliberately turn away from its influence, that uncertainties arise, legitimate desires are not fulfilled, and violated laws bring their own penalties. Life is not so complex unless we continually persist in making it so. The Supreme Intelligence, the Creative Power works only through law. Science and religion are but different approaches to our understanding of law. When both are real, they complement each other and their results are identical. The ancient Hebrew prophets, through the channel of the spirit, perceived and enunciated some wonderful laws of natural and normal life, which are now being confirmed by well-established laws of mental and spiritual science, and which are now producing these identical results in the lives of a great number of people among us today, when they said, "And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left." And again, "The Lord is with you as long as you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you." "You shall keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed in you, because he trusts in you." "The Lord in your midst is mighty." "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall dwell in the shadow of the Almighty." "You shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you." "Entrust your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will accomplish it." Now, these formulations all mean something of a very definite nature, or they do not mean anything at all. If they are actual expressions of facts, they are governed by certain definite and immutable laws.