Insight and nobility in the pursuit and practice of virtue. There at last comes
a time when a divine insight dawns upon the mind. It searches into the
causes and principles of things, which, once attained, establishes its possessor firmly
in virtue. It renders him invulnerable to the assaults of temptation, and invincible
in his work for the world. When the understanding is ripened by the culture
of virtue, vicious inclinations disappear, and wrongdoing becomes impossible. When individual conduct
is perceived as an unbroken series of causes and effects, the perceiving mind finally
decides for virtue, and the lower selfish elements are just cast away forever until
a man perceives the just law which operates in human life. Whatever virtue he
may manifest at any given time, he is not firmly established in nobility of
character. He is not fully armored with righteousness, and is not safely lodged
in his final refuge. Not having acquired that perfect insight which no good and
evil, and which perceives the effects of all deeds, both good and bad,
he breaks down when assailed by temptation, at those points in his character
which are not well fortified, those which have so far dimmed his spiritual insight
and barred him from perfect vision. By thus breaking down, he discovers that
within which has hindered him, and by setting to work to remove the hindrance,
he ascends still higher in the scale of virtue, and approaches nearer to
the perfect insight into the true order of life which makes a man divine.
Under certain circumstances, a man held in restraint by the influence of friends,
by a custom and environment, and not by his own inherent purity and strength,
will appear to have and may believe he possesses a virtue of which he
knows nothing in reality, and his lack of such virtue only appears when all
outward restraints are withdrawn, and under temptation, the concealed weakness and vice make
themselves manifest. On the other hand, the man of superior virtue will seem,
in a familiar environment to be much the same as his weaker fellows,
and his virtue will not be apparent to those about him. But when he
suddenly brought into contact with great temptations or extraordinary events, his latent virtue appears
in all its beauty and strength. Insight destroys the dominion of evil and reveals
the faultless operation of the good law. The man of perfect insight cannot sin
because he fully understands the nature of good and evil. And it is impossible
for one who knows good and evil in all their ramifications of cause and effect,
to choose the evil and reject the good. Just as the sane man
would not choose ashes in preference to food, so the spiritually awakened man would
not choose evil in preference to good. The presence of sin is an indication
of self delusion and of ignorance. The spiritual vision is warped or undeveloped,
and there is confusion of mind concerning the nature of good and evil. In
the early stages of virtue, a man arrays himself against the forces of evil,
which appear to him to be overpowering in their might and almost, if
not entirely, unconquerable. But with the advent of insight, a new light
is thrown upon the nature of things, and evil appears as it actually is,
a small, dark, powerless thing, a mere negation, and not
a formidable force or combination of forces. The man of insight knows that the
root of evil is ignorance and not an intelligent power, and that all sin
and suffering proceed therefrom Thus, knowing evil to be merely a deprivation of good,
he cannot hate it, but manifest compassion for all sinning and suffering beings.
Indeed, he who has so far conquered the evil in his own heart
as to know the nature and source of evil, cannot possibly hate, dislike,
or despise any being, no matter how far removed from virtue it may
be. But while fully perceiving the degradation of character, he understands the dark
spiritual condition from which such degradation springs, and so he pities and helps,
where without insight he would hate and despise. Love ever attends upon insight,
and pity waits on knowledge. That insight, which proceeds from self purification and
long acquaintance with virtue, makes itself manifest in the form of ripeness of character.
There is an unchanging strength and sweetness, combined, a clearness of intellect,
a viral strength of will, and a gentleness of heart, a combination
which denotes a cultured, mellowed, perfect being. One who has acquired sympathy,
compassion, purity, and wisdom. Thus, while quote goodness gives insight,
unquote insight renders goodness permanent fixes the mind and love and practice of all
that is pure and noble, and stamps upon a man's brow the seal of
divinity. The man whose goodness is of the kind that does not alter with
altered environment or with the changing altitudes of those around him, has reached the
divine goodness. He understands the supreme good. He's no longer concerned with evil
as a thing that can harm, but he is concerned good only, and
so he ignores evil and recognizes only good. He perceives that men commit evil
out of the mistaken idea of good, and thus perceiving no hatred can enter
his peaceful heart. The life of such a man is powerful, no matter
how obscure it may be, for goodness is the most powerful thing in the
world. The fact of his living and moving among men confers incalculable benefit upon
the race, although during his lifetime this may not be perceived or understood.
So powerful is goodness that the destiny of the world was, is, and
will be in the hands of the good Those who are good are the guides
and emancipators of humanity in the present period of its development. They are taking
the race rapidly along its evolutionary journey. And this not in any mystical or
miraculous sense, but in a very practical and normal sense, by their exemplary
lives and the power of their deeds. The good men who help the world
are not wonder workers, though undeveloped minds have ever tried to make them so
such, but the workers of righteousness, servants of the good law. The
world never was, is not, and will not be under the dominion of
evil, for such a condition would mean non existence, evil being merely the
negation of good, as darkness is the negation of light. It is light
and not darkness, which is the sustaining power. Evil is the weakest thing
in the world and cannot accomplish anything. The universe not only makes for good.
The universe is good, and evil always falls short and fails. Inside
is the seeing in the light of truth, that light which is the revealer
of all things, as the light of day reveals all objects in the world
in their proper forms. So when the light of truth enters the mind,
it reveals all things of life in their proper proportions. He who searches his
own heart, by the aid of truth, searches all hearts. He who,
by long searching, has perceived the perfect law which is operative in his
mind, has revealed the divine law, which is the stay and substance of
the universe. Inside disperses error and puts an end to superstition. Sin is
the only error. Men attack each other's beliefs and remain in ignorance. When
they get rid of their own sins, they will become enlightened. Superstition springs
from sin. Looking through dark and eyes, men see evil things, which
are delusions of ignorance, conceiving in their hearts and lawful things. Their imagination
is troubled with monsters and terrors, which have no existence in reality. Where
there is pure insight, there is no fear, devils, demons, wrathful
and jealous gods, vampires and evil spirits, and all the hideous hosts of
ideological monsters have vanished from the universe, along with the feverish nightmare which gave
birth to them. And before erect gaze of the purified one, there spreads
a universe of orderly beauty and inviolate law. The man of insight loves in
the beautific vision of the saints, not as a fleeting experience in a moment
of exceptional purity, but as a constant, normal condition of mind. He
has completed his long journey through self and sorrow and is at peace. He
has conquered and is glad. He sees all the sin, misery, and
pain that are in the world more plainly and vividly than other men. But
he now sees it as it is in its cause inception, growth, and
fruitage, not as it appeared to him when he was blindly involved in it
and his mind was distorted by impurities. He watches the growth of beings from
the immature to the mature, through periods of change and pain, with tender
compassion and solicitude, as the mother watches the growth of a child through the
helpless period of its infancy. He sees justice operating in all things. While
men are waxing wrathful over the triumph of Wrome, he knows that wrong has
not triumphed, but is brought to naught. He sees the overruling right,
which, though concealed from worldly eyes, remains forever unshaken. He sees the
littleness, the peeny, weakness, and the blind folly of evil, as
compared with the majesty, invincible power, and the all seeing wisdom of good.
And thus knowing and seeing, his mind is finally fixed in that which
is good. He is devoted to truth, and his delight is in the
doing of righteousness. When insight is born in the mind, reality stands revealed,
not a metaphysical reality distinct from the universe, not a speculative reality other
than the things of life, but the reality of the universe itself, the
reality of things in themselves. Insight is triumphant of a change in decay,
for it perceives the abiding in change, the eternal, in the transient,
the immortal, in the things which pass away. And herein is the meaning
of that fixed nobility of character of the saints and sages, and superlatively of
the great teachers of the race. That they perceive and abide in reality,
they know life in its completion. They underst stand and obey the righteous law.
Having conquered self, they have conquered all delusions, have triumphed over sin.
They have triumphed over sorrow, having purified themselves, they see the perfect
cosmos. He who chooses the right, the pure, the good, and
clings to them through all misunderstandings, insults, and defeat, reaches at last
the place of insight, and his eyes open upon the world of truth.
Then his painful discipline is ended, the lower conditions no more affect him or
cause him sorrow. Purity and joy abide with him, and the universe again
rejoices in the triumph of good and hails another conqueror.