Speaker 1: Knowledge and victory.
Speaker 2: Faith is the beginning of the triumphant life, but knowledge
is its consummation. Faith reveals the way, but knowledge is
the goal. Faith suffers many afflictions. Knowledge has transcended affliction.
Faith endures, Knowledge loves. Faith walks in darkness, but believes.
Knowledge adds in light and knows. Faith inspires to effort.
Knowledge crown's effort with success.
Speaker 1: Quote. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Unquote.
Speaker 2: Knowledge is the substance of those things possessed. Faith is
the helpful staff of the pilgrim. Knowledge is the city
of refuge at the journey's end. Without faith, there will
be no knowledge. But when knowledge is acquired, the work
of faith is finished. The life triumphant is a life
of knowledge, and by knowledge is meant not book learning,
but life learning. Not superficial facts committed to memory, but
the deep facts and truths of life grasped and comprehended.
Apart from this knowledge, there is no victory for man,
no rest for his weary feet, no refuge for his
aching heart. There is no salvation for the foolish except
by becoming wise. There is no salvation for the sinful
except by becoming pure. There is no liberation for man
from the turmoil and troubles of life, but through divine
knowledge reached by the pathway of a pure and blameless life.
Nowhere is their permanent peace except in an enlightened condition
of mind. And a pure life and an enlightened mind
are identical. But there is salvation for the foolish because
wisdom can be acquired. There is salvation for the sinful,
because purity can be embraced. There is liberation for all
men from the troubles and turmoil of life, because whosoever
wills to do so, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned,
can enter the lowly way of blamelessness, which leads to
perfect knowledge. And because of this that there is deliverance
for the captives and victory for the defeated. There is
rejoicing in the high places, and the universe is glad.
The man of knowledge, being victorious over himself, is victorious
over sin, over evil, over all the disharmonies of life.
Out of the old mind, marred by sin and sorrow,
he has framed a new mind, glorified by purity and peace.
He has died out of the old world of evil
and is reborn in a new world where love and
faultless law prevail, where evil is not, and he has
become deathless in immortal good. Anxiety and fear, grief and lamentation,
disappointment and regret, richedness and remorse. These things have no
part in the world of the wives. They are the
shadowy inhabitants of the world of self, and cannot live. Nay,
they are seen to have no substantiality in the light
of wisdom. The dark things of life are the dark
conditions of a mind not yet illumined by the light
of wisdom. Them they follow self as the shadow of substance.
Where selfish desires go, there they follow where sin is
there they are. There is no rest in self, there
is no light in self, and where the flames of
turbulent passions and fires of consuming desires or life, the
cool airs of wisdom and peace are not felt. Safety
and assurance, happiness and repose, satisfaction and contentment, joy and peace.
These are the abiding possessions of the wise, earned by
right of self conquest, the results of the righteousness, the
wages of a blameless life. The substance of a right
life is enlightenment, knowledge, and the spirit of knowledge is peace.
To be victorious over self in all the issues of life,
To know life as it is in reality and not
as it appears in the nightmare of self. It is
to be in peace in all passages, and not to
be stricken with trouble and grief in the common happenings
of life. As the scholar is no more troubled by
incorrect work and lessons imperfectly done, and the painful reproof
and punishment formerly inflicted by his teachers are left behind forever.
So the perfected scholar in virtue, the wise man and woman,
the enlightened doer of righteousness, is no more trouble with
wrongdoing and followed which are merely the imperfectly accomplished lessons
of life, and the scourging sorrow and remorse have passed
away forever. The skilled scholar has no more doubt or
fear concerning his ability. He has overcome and dispersed the
ignorance of his intellect. He has attained to learning, and
he knows that he has attained. And he so knows
because having undergone innumerable tests in the form of lessons
and examinations, he has at last proved his skill by
passing successfully through the severest tests of scholarship. And now
he no longer fears, but rejoices when severe tests are
applied to prove his ability. He is capable, confident, and glad.
Even so, the skilled Doo of right sighteousness is nor
more troubled with doubt and fear concerning his destiny. He
has overcome and dispersed the ignorance of his heart. He
has attained to wisdom, and he knows that he has attained.
And he so knows because where he formerly failed and
fell when tested by the wrong conduct of others, he
now maintains his patience and calmness under the severest tests
of accusation and reproof. Herein is the glory and victory
of divine knowledge, that, understanding the nature of deeds, both
good and bad, the enlightened Doo of good deeds no
longer suffers through the bad deeds of others. Their actions
towards him can never cause him pain and sorrow, nor
rob him of his peace. Having taken refuge in good,
evil can no more reach him nor harm him. He
returns good for evil, and overcomes the weakness of evil
by the power of good The man who is involved
in bad deeds imagines that the bad deeds of others
are powerful to do him injury and are fulled with
grievous harm against him. He is stung with pain and
overwhelmed with sorrow, not for his own bad deeds, for
these he does not see, but for the wrong deeds
of others. Involved in ignorance, he has no spiritual strength,
no refuge, and no abiding peace. The man victorious over
self is the true seer. He is not the seer
of spirits or supernatural phenomena, for such seeing is narrow
and illusory. He is the seer of life as it is,
both in his particular aspects and in his divine principles,
the seer of the spiritual universe, of the cosmic law,
cosmic love, cosmic liberty. The man of knowledge and victory,
who has shaken off the painful dreams of self, has
awakened with a new vision which beholds a new and
glorified universe. He is the seer of the eternal and
is blessed with perfect love and endless peace. He is
lifted far above all sordid desires, narrow aims, and selfish
love and hate. And being so lifted up, he perceived
the lawful course of things and does not grieve when
overtaken by the inevitable. He is above the world of sorrow,
not because he has become cold and cruel, but because
he abides in love, where no thought of self can enter,
and where the well being of others is.
Speaker 1: All in all. He is sorrowless because he is selfless.
Speaker 2: He is serene because he knows that whatever he receives
it is good, and whatever is taken from him, that
also is good. He has transmitted sorrow into love and
his fool's infinite tenderness and abounding compassion. His power is
not violent, ambitious, worldly, but pure, peaceful, heavenly, and he
is possessed of a hidden strength which knows how to
stand and when to bend for the good of others
and the world. He is a teacher, though he speaks
but little. He is a master, yet he has no
desire to rule others. He is a conqueror, but makes
no attempt to subdue his fellow men. He has become
a conscious instrument for the outworking of cosmic law, and
is an intelligent, enlightened power directing the evolution of the race.
At this the beginning of a new epoch. Let the
good news again go forth throughout the world, that there
is purity for the sinful, comfort for the afflicted, healing
for the broken hearted, and triumph for the defeated. In
your heart, O man o woman, stained as it is
with sin and torn with conflicting desires, there is a
place of power, a.
Speaker 1: Citadel of strength.
Speaker 2: You are the dwelling place of the supreme Good, and
the scepter of victory awaits you. Deep in your consciousness
is the high seat of empire. Arise, o stricken one,
Ascend to your rightly throne.