We shall attempt in this volume to weave a tapestry of life— your life—and to provide viable answers to those questions that everyone has asked at least once: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? How do I go about getting there?
We all came forth from the Source of Oneness, and to it we shall all one day return—with or without our individuality. But at this point in time we see neither the beginning nor the end of our existence. Both are remote in the distant past and future.
Having lost the perspective of both shores, we try to fashion meaning out of relativity. Actors on a stage, playing many roles, we are no longer able to distinguish “the real me.” We make merry and join clubs, playing the games people play; and if we dare to think, we attempt to find a rationale for our Weltanschauung, which at best, is incomplete. Then, when we think we have found the logic of “the way,” we close our minds to all other interpretations, dis- missing them as heresy.
We become so insulated by the contraptions of a synthetic so- ciety and the convictions of our own minds that we have no link to Reality, hence no means of escape. We have forgotten our wondrous origin and our glorious destiny. We grovel in the dark; we continue in the rounds of a senseless existence; we ask, “Why?” Many voices with many answers fail utterly to satisfy our soul’s longing for Truth.
We go to bed at night, we dream, and when we awaken we are relieved that “it was only a dream.” We have no remorse for the unreal. We dismiss it and we go on. Thus we distinguish the night from the day. But we fail to realize that there is a synthetic world that is also a dream from which we must one day awaken. What’s more, the transition from unreality to Reality will be just as natu- ral as our awakening from an unpleasant dream.
Much of the world’s knowledge we may do without, especially in an age of increasing specialization. As individuals, we can be quite con tent without having the slightest idea of how an atom is split, what makes our TVs and electrical appliances function, our cars run, satellites orbit or rockets escape the pull of gravity. Whether or not the moon is made of green cheese is, after all, not a question of life and death.
We can survive without the knowledge of such complexities, but can we survive without the knowledge of Reality? Little do we know how necessary to our everyday life is the faculty of discrimi- nation—the ability to distinguish the Real from the unreal. Without it, it is impossible to determine our beginning or our end. Light and Darkness, white and black, Good and Evil—where does one leave off and the other begin?
We may do all things, but we will never reach the shores of immortal life until we have mastered this art. Others may build our homes, service our cars, manage our finances, treat our ailments and spoil us with gadgets, but no one in heaven or on earth can fulfill our destiny for us. This we must do by ourselves, each man with his God; for He—call him Infinite Intelligence, Divine Love or Science, if you will—is essential to the plan.
It is vital that we have in hand accurate knowledge of the laws governing our destiny. For only with the knowledge of the Law can we develop the ability to distinguish the Real from the unreal, to wield the Flaming Two-Edged Sword and to answer the question that has been asked a thousand times, What is Truth? Once we have this knowledge and its attendant skill, life is ours to command; Principle is ours to apply. Love is there waiting to be realized, and we become progressively more real as we behold Reality.
The Path of the Higher Self
We offer this work to those who are tired of the long sojourn in the rapids of a half-real existence, to those who would get on with the journey, to those who have the courage to approach the jagged rocks of Truth, though the ship of unworthy concepts be dashed into pieces. They know it is possible to reach the Shore while the tides and the winds are in their favor; they remember the words that beckon them onward and the Poet who stands upon the Shore, waiting to throw the line with a mighty heave of welcome:
Onward, courage! Then blame not the Bard When the wind and the gale Sweep o’er the moor And bow down the sail, For the ship shall move on And the Port be obtained If the courage be high And the will be maintained!