Here is another chapter from Henry Thomas Hamblin's wonderful book "The Life of the Spirit"! May it be a blessing and encouragemant to You! You can find the book by clicking the link at the top of the page, saying :"As A Man Thinketh $ 1.99" ...this book too was so cheap! ...but here is the text:
"By retiring into the quiet chamber of the soul: by shutting the door upon external things, and by communing with our spiritual Father, we touch the One Source of all Life, becoming quickened by the Spirit and filled with Divine Power.
No one who does not practice this inner secret communion with his Spiritual Source can ever keep alive the flame of his inner life. Many start out upon the great quest with joy and enthusiasm, but comparatively few finish the course. So many fall by the wayside. They lose interest, become cold, and go back to the "beggarly elements of the world". The reason is, in every case, that they neglect the inner communion with the Father in the secret. They think that they can do without it. They think, perhaps, that public prayer will do instead, or that a few statements of Truth repeated during the day will do just as well. These things, good and necessary though they be, can never take the place of the inner, secret communion with the Author of our being. Without the daily meeting with God in meditation, contemplation and true prayer, the inner Life languishes and dies. The one who was so enthusiastic over spiritual things goes back to the old life, but never to find either happiness or satisfaction again. One glimpse of the higher, richer and fuller life of the Spirit: only one short experience of the power of the risen life of Christ, makes it impossible for us ever to be satisfied with the baubles of the world and the selfish pleasure of sin. No matter how madly we may plunge into pleasure; no matter how deeply we may drink of its intoxicating drought; we can never forget - the worm dieth not.
...the inner life can be cultivated only to the extent that we wait upon God and commune with Him, as spirit with Spirit, in the secret place.
If you want to know the way, ask the one who has traveled it," is a wise saying. If we would learn how to tread the Path of Attainment we must go to the One who has successfully passed through it. Entrance to the Kingdom of God is not to be found through a mere assent to creeds and dogmas. They may be true and sound enough, but they cannot save. If we are to learn how to climb the steep ascent to God we must go to the One who has already climbed it, and has prepared the way for us. This One is Jesus Christ.
...the most outstanding thing is our Lord's dependence upon prayer and communion with the Unseen. Jesus did not attain the mastery over His human self and its weaknesses, the power of darkness, and the forces of nature, by idle wishing; neither was it given to Him without any seeking on His part. Having taken upon Himself all our weaknesses and limitations, our Lord had to win His way into the Kingdom of the Higher Consciousness in just the same way that we have to do, viz., by prayer, meditation, and communion with the Unseen.
He spent hours and whole nights in prayer. If it had not been necessary Christ would never have spent all this time in prayer, for it would have been a waste of time. The fact that Jesus spent so much time in meditation is, we think, the best possible proof that much prayer and communion was necessary. We too should spend as much time as possible in the Secret Place, where, by making contact with our Divine Source, we draw upon inexhaustible fountains of Life, Wisdom and Power!
It does not matter how "tangled up" our life may be, nor how filled with disharmony and trouble, if we make daily use of the secret place for quiet meditation upon, and communion with, our Divine Source, everything will, in time, become harmoniously adjusted. Divine Order is inherent and is the reality. The disorders of life are due to a violation of Divine Law which causes a disturbance or rupture. The disturbance subsides when we cease producing it. We cease producing disharmony when we turn to God and meditate upon His Divine Perfections. The effect of meditation is to change us into the likeness of that upon which we meditate. It is easy to recognize one who practices daily meditation. The face is calm and spiritual, showing forth the fruits of the Spirit rather than the desire of the flesh. For the reason that we cease disturbing the Divine Order and violating Divine Law, and, instead, meditate upon the one Source of Harmony, the disorders of life cease. The inherent Divine Order appears of its own accord, as a natural consequence.
It is only by the cultivation of the Inner Life that the outer life can be made harmonious, happy, and truly successful.
By meditating upon God, finding Him in the Secret Place, the Presence of the Most High, into which mortals, who are sufficiently in earnest and pure in motive, and who can be trusted, may enter, the inner life becomes harmoniously adjusted, so that it conforms to the Divine Order of the Spirit. The natural consequence of this being that Divine order and harmony become reflected in the external life.
This does not mean that we are not to take our troubles and difficulties to God, but rather the reverse. If we take them into the Secret Place and meditate upon God as Wisdom, Guidance, and so on, allowing God a free hand to solve our problems in His own way, and being willing to be led entirely by the Spirit, everything works together for good and the only possible right course is taken.
The great error we are at first prone to fall into is in jumping to the conclusion that we must have this thing, or that, in order to get free from certain limitations and irksome conditions, and in using all our mental and spiritual powers and the great power of prayer in an endeavor to bring to us the thing which we think we must have.
What we think we must have is probably the worst possible thing for our happiness and well-being. If we succeed in demonstrating it, great disorder and unhappiness are the result, and it seems necessary to make more and more demonstrations. One the other hand, if we are not successful in "demonstrating" that which we think we must have, we are unhappy because we cannot have what we think is vitally necessary, and our whole life is filled with failure and discord, because all our energies are directed into a wrong channel.
Instead of saying that we must have this thing or that we should go to the Fount of all Wisdom, and by meditation become filled with wisdom not our own, so that we are led to do the only wise thing, and to take the only right course possible in the circumstances.
So long as we seek merely for comfort, trying at all times to make life easier and pleasanter for ourselves, we make life more difficult and delay our own spiritual growth.
Life's problems are the stepping stones which lead to attainment. Each problem is perfectly arranged to provide us with the experience that we need in order to make the next step upward along the spiritual path. When we have overcome our immediate problem, we have built something permanently into our spiritual character - we have added something to our eternal spiritual body.
Problems and difficulties, then, instead of being looked upon as evil or as nuisances, must be met as friends who have come to help us. Whatever our problem, grief, perplexity, difficulty or painful experience may be, it is the best thing for us at the time. Some lack of character within has called them into being and we can get rid of the problem or difficulty only as we ourselves become inwardly changed.
Our aim, then, when meeting difficulty, should be not to overcome in order to have a pleasant and enjoyable time again, but in order to develop the special quality of character that is demanded of us. Therefore all problems and difficulties should be taken into the Silence and spread our before God, so that the Spirit who is guiding us in our journey towards Divine Union, can show us where we are wrong, what weaknesses must be overcome, or wrong attitude of mind changed.
When the test is completed, and the steadfastness of the aspiring soul proved, the obstacle melts away and the victorious march is resumed.
One who has realized the great truth that life consists of a series of initiations and that each experience is necessary and exactly suited for the needs of the moment, such never complains of life's experiences. He may not welcome difficult or perplexing circumstances with enthusiasm, but he never complains or finds fault. For one thing, he knows that he will come safely through them if he is patient and steadfast, looking to God, and trusting entirely to the Spirit in the face of seeming disaster or apparently insuperable difficulty.
In spite of this knowledge, born of experience by the way, the pilgrim at times finds his path very dark and his burden of perplexities about as much as he can bear. The great thing to do at these times is to go right up to the difficulty. Suffering, terror, anxiety, are due to an unwillingness to meet the trouble or difficulty. When, however, we walk right up to it, knowing that we can be led only to our highest good, the threatened evil passes away, and Divine Love and Wisdom stand revealed."
I wish You All many blessings and great success in all You do,
Eve
