| CHAPTER 5 : Marriage And Motherhood |
|
It is quite obvious that throughout history the demonic theory has been advanced by man to excuse his animal cruelties to his fellows.
To cure disease in ancient Egypt it was a common practice to puncture the skin and even bore holes in the skull to let out little demons. More recently the Jekyll and Hyde idea of two contrasting characters embodied in one person has been advanced, and actually, for demonstration purposes, is quite well suited to such use. For the combined preconscious and spiritual minds reflect the total personality, and the degree to which one dominates the other governs the person's conduct and outlook on life. In attempting to sow these seeds of understanding, the results will vary in ratio to the amount of nourishment they are given, plus the type of soil on which they fall (i.e., insight, plus the environment to which the individual is being subjected). Cynicism may be likened to a hard crust of rock, impenetrable; humility, to the soft, pliable earth best suited for growth. One's intelligence quotient is of no consequence. At the moment of conception a fortunate or unfortunate mingling of chromosomes dictates the animal physique and mentality. Environment develops these in accordance with natural rules. Deity has no hand in the matter, and is little concerned with the material product. Therefore, spiritual human beings have no cause to take pride in basic natural ingredients, as many do, or belittle others less generously gifted. Justifiable cause for pride can be taken when these same gifts are brought into maximum production and shared for the benefit of others. To cultivate them for personal use, and thus raise one's own self esteem, can only result in weakened reception to new ideas. Integrity must always be one jump ahead of intellectual achievement -- a state of affairs never yet reached by earth's inhabitants -- which makes it no less essential for the survival of our civilization. Continued association with the spiritual mind within has brought mankind slowly to the stage where The Master now feels that man is able to accept His solution. Through thousands of years, and many martyrs, His patience and teachings have gradually brought man to the recognition of his more obvious predatory tendencies, and the disasters they precipitate. It is easy for the mature to discern a young man throwing away his life's happiness by dissipation and viciousness. In fact, the faults in others, and more particularly in other people's children, are blatantly obvious. Now the time has come to take the next stumbling step forward, to see the animal and spiritual as separate and opposing forces, battling even in the best of men; in fact, the better the man, the greater his awareness of the inner struggle for spiritual supremacy. Examine the logic of these revolutionary statements. Certainly they will seem strange at first, even as Jesus' teachings were considered revolutionary in His day and therefore rejected by the preconscious of His fellows under the heading of Unable to find an association. Moses' flock thought the same thing about the Ten Commandments. Yet the life work of each was devoted to the benefit of mankind as we easily recognize now, having become accustomed to the ideas, and having thus far bent our will to the Will of Wisdom -- having advanced from the idea of "an eye for an eye" to "turn the other cheek." Yet even as it took many generations for these new ideas to gain acceptance, so it will be in the minds of men today. We there-fore cry out to the next generation, the mothers and fathers of tomorrow. Let's face it: world affairs are in a mess. The continual struggle, first for dominance of small areas of land surface, and then for larger areas and more power, has brought matters to the point where we can either submit to the will of Master Mind or face annihilation. War, deformity, violent death -- is this the future we wish for our children?
The gigantic task before humanity falls first to the women of the earth. United the female of the species shall arise with grace and dignity to become the rock on which the child's character, the national character, the human character will be built. This calls for some drastic changes in her present way of thinking. A false sense of values in choosing a mate, aware that a divorce is available should the situation become too complicated, is not in accordance with God's law. In youth the animal instincts run rampant, clamouring for expression. Without parental or mature guidance, many make wrong decisions which can lead only to disaster for both the young participants, and more serious yet, for their progeny. Clamour not for easier divorce laws. Request more responsible guidance in making marriages. For marriage is a Holy Sacrament, when the participants are sincere, to be violated by none. Neither can divorce be bought or sold. Nor can it apply to one section of society and not to another. Those who are spiritually and physically joined together no man can put asunder. Successful union must in all cases be preceded by a complete purging on the part of both participants to a highly responsible party, initially in separate sessions. The weaknesses of character should be brought to light, and the young people familiarized with the dangers these defects precipitate. Every effort must be made to overcome any defeats with sincere prayerful meditation. Recognition and sympathetic under- standing of the partner's similar problems, plus joint counselling sessions, should satisfactorily resolve the major issues prior to the union. Sam and Chris, seeing each other realistically, could have found great happiness. Discard fantasy; face reality at this time. Getting deeply involved in credit buying for the purpose of keeping up with the Jones is a favourite trick of the status-hungry ego. Ignore the appeal of advertising designed to create overspending. The responsibilities involved should be clearly understood, and solemn promises made that they will be fulfilled to the participants utmost abilities. All physical aspects, cooking, housekeeping, financing, and lovemaking require attention. Learning to put God first, submitting the carnal will to the Will of Wisdom, ensures blissful unity. If one partner ever suggests anything not in accordance with His Will, it is up to the other to gently point out the error (i.e., excesses, status-seeking, lack of respect for neighbours, etc.) so that the other's personality may benefit and their union be enriched. Jesus Christ spoke of eunuchs with quiet equanimity. By the very fact that he did not condemn this practice he condoned a gross violation of nature's law by one man of another. How could the Son of God condone such practices if man, the animal body, was created by His Father? Yet, more than once Jesus condemned fornication of men and women. How could this be? Spiritually the eunuch was unharmed, though his body was mutilated. Yet by self-indulgence, lust, and fornication, the spirit is clouded and thus the Master of Spirit is offended. Furthermore the eunuch would be without issue, unable to pass on to future generations any of the vices from which he, himself, might suffer. Not so the fornicators, who are capable of parenthood. Truly it is written: "The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children of them that hate Me, and I will shew mercy unto thousands in them that love Me and keep My commandments." For this reason, the Master has separated adultery from other forms of stealing and covetousness in the commandments given to Moses, and Saint Paul further condemns lust in the heart, because it represents untold repercussions of pain and bewilderment to many innocents.
Think well on these matters, prospective young mothers. With its first cry of life, your baby places in your hands, its whole future conduct, innocently trusting that you will do whatever is best for its welfare. Awakened while yet in the womb, the conscious will transmit to the babies preconscious all of the associations you pass on. Guided by Divine Spirit, your aura will expand to embrace your newly born, who, though not understanding, senses in the pre-conscious mind the goodness and security of a spiritually dominated Mother, and a strong bond of unity built between the mother and child will leave its mind open for reception of love throughout every phases of later life. Your newborn child is innocent, its spirit spotless, the young animal knowing but one desire, the instinctive will to live. To this end it turns to its life-giver, its Mother, seeking food for its animal requirements. The spiritual mind, also awakened at birth, adds its strength to that of the physical in its desire to have the child live, for as God loves this tiny spirit baby dearly, so the spirit loves the animal baby in its charge. Examined closely, it will be found that during the late prenatal and very early suckling period, should the mother's thoughts turn against some particular food or odour, her reaction can be passed on to the baby by a form of mental telepathy; hence in a family of children there can be many likes and dislikes in varieties of food. Mental telepathy between Mother and infant is reality. Later of course the father's impressions are also picked up. Being partly animal the child will pass through the six sexual stages of development from birth to adulthood.
Thus the animal reaches adulthood; the maternal task is to see that adulthood and maturity coincide. For a mother to aim at producing more offspring than can be properly cared for defeats her own purpose. Birth control is a physical matter in no way connected with the spirit, provided, of course, that the motives are unselfish ones. Justifiable abortion is in the same category. It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of filling all the child's preconscious filing cabinets with sound values. Mother must represent a non-conflicting image of love, truth, and wisdom in order that a solid foundation will be provided to guard her child in later experiences. Father and mother must represent unity and harmony, so that to love mother is to love father as well. The family must represent a bond of solidarity, a haven of warmth, where God is recognized by each member as the heavenly Father of the spiritual self within. Send your child forth, not wavering to be blown like a straw in the wind; teach him confidence in purpose, sound judgement, self-control, integrity, and awareness of Infinity. It might be just as well to mention in passing, that in earlier, less progressive societies, in which polygamy was accepted and generally practised as it was in ancient times, the children born of these unions were fully respectful of their parents, and no gross spiritual maladjustment was created; in pre-biblical times, woman was sufficiently immature spiritually to be no perfect match for spiritual man. Even Saint Paul's writings reflect woman's spiritual subservience. Only now has woman reached her rightful place in God's scheme of things and as a demonstration of this fact, he has honoured a woman with the task of teaching this and future generations of His will. No longer shall the female look to the male for leadership. Many women may, in fact, have more time than their husbands for study and meditation. While the hands are busy with the daily tasks the spiritual mind can float aloft with praise and prayer. It is hoped that many will take advantage of these opportune moments, and take advantage of their equal rights to teach and preach (after the family has grown up). See the valuable role woman can play in shaping the future; she can be dedicated but not dull, sparkling with sincerity, and glowing with grace. Should any couple, by some quirk of nature, be unable to fulfil their lives by bearing a child of their own, spirit has for these a gift rewarding beyond compare; the opportunity to take a young spiritual-animal baby, who otherwise might be lost on the sea of error, whose need for love might otherwise go unfulfilled; a mite who, though he may have the best institutional care possible, would never know the true meaning of "Mama." A loving childless couple can share their love for one another with their chosen baby. Be sensible about this step, though -- not sentimental. The more unfortunate the child the greater will be its need for your inner resources, and these will be replenished in over-flowing measure; as you give, likewise strength will be given unto you. There should be no desire to receive love and homage from the child, these will come naturally. Enter into adoption with but one thought: to give the child all the advantages of love tempered with wisdom. "Do it unto the least of these and thou hast done it unto Me." The necessity of recognizing the child's animal self cannot be too heavily stressed if it is to have every environmental advantage. For it is the lack of understanding, the inability to control the fleshy mind, that creates the errors, commonly called "sins" of misassociation that has plagued mankind since his creation. The spiritual mind has become overshadowed with animal error. Therefore no child is too young to be taught either directly or indirectly of the virtues of integrity and to be given spiritual guidance. For the sake of clarity let us reclassify the categories of mind.
In the beginning the conscious mind developed and had its function in directing all bodily movements, the heartbeat, breathing, animation, etc., which were originally very simple actions. Then the increasing workload demanded natural development of the preconscious to be its helper. The preconscious took over the every day routine movements of the heartbeat, breathing, etc., to give the conscious more force for its actions until, developing the power of thought, it made the conscious subservient. This directional development gave the preconscious the ability to like or dislike, to register pain, and to learn, but originally along very simple lines; a food for instance, tasted either good or bad; heat or cold was either pleasant or unpleasant. Affection was born when the preconscious developed the power to feel, and with this introduction of inner feelings (as opposed to receiving all sensations from the five senses) complications arose as a result of the many errors the preconscious makes in its association. These misassociations can be further complicated by the people with whom daily contact are made. When the Master loaned the animal a spiritual mind, the purpose was to give spirit experience on Earth to better equip spirit for its work in eternity; as a fleshly muscle develops strength through exercise, so it was intended that spirit should develop power through exercising virtue. In addition, the sum total of the knowledge acquired by the animal is taken by spirit when it leaves the flesh to return to its Creator. The spiritual mind has the power of independent thought. William Shakespeare's works make a very good illustration of this point (as do the writings of many others) for he could see beyond the realms of his own experience, and all knowledge acquired beyond the realms of earthly learning is spiritual. A brilliant man with a powerful animal brain, an astonishing "intelligence," as we call it, fades into insignificance beside the genius, whose vision extends beyond fleshly horizons. This is the Master's hand at work, releasing a little of His own Wisdom to that person. At present we have a young North American Indian artist confounding the experts with his perception. Pitifully, though, the predatory animal minds of others often grasp these ideas, insidiously twist them around and sometimes turn them into weapons of destruction. Dr. Einstein's work is a recent grim example. Oh, the limitless good that could be done for humanity if we thought in terms of using atomic energy for progress instead of destruction! Vague wishing will never make it so; the call is "action stations!" This is the generation to be brought to a sharp "Halt -- About face!" We are to be set back on the right path to sanity; to be made to start thinking constructively rather than in terms of destruction. Listen to reason and stop running with the pack. Dare to do right; dare to be sane; dare to refute those who suggest otherwise. Your spiritual mind thinks in terms of all that is right and good, it can give you the glow of pride in exercising these powers. This pride may be likened to the driving force behind love and virtue.
Associations are at first sensations. The baby is pricked by a pin. The nervous system sends this signal to the conscious mind which in turn passes it over to the preconscious for class-ification. In this case the conscious mind is ordered to make a protest. It is not until the baby is able to preconsciously associate a pin prick with a particular sensation of pain, that it can definitely for all time, associate pricks with pins, and can even be made to register protest at the sight of a pin, or the commencement of a similar type of routine which caused the pain originally. The same goes for hot and cold water, etc. During the years of growing up, the "spirit baby" has also been growing, completely ignored by the preconscious which has been far too busy accumulating associations and filing in its own haphazard, untidy way. Gaining strength along with the animal, the little spirit has been attempting to impose itself on the conscious mind. Having the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, it has been trying to teach these distinctions to the preconscious but there are obstacles which vary according to the parental and environmental care the child has received. For instance, the spirit will say, "There is our little friend from next door; he's nice, let's go and play with him." But if, in the course of the game, the other child bites or pinches it has created an association of "Dislike, and the spiritual mind's task will be doubly hard the next time it makes the same suggestion. For the universal law is the golden rule of conduct: not only shalt thou love thy neighbour as thyself, but "Bless them which persecute you; return love for hate; turn the other cheek." Parents, pity those children with parents unfortunate enough to be manacled by ignorance when you have the Truth and freedom from animal dominance. Weep for this child whose lot has been less fortunate than your own child's. Love it even more because it needs your love even more than your own child does; its plight is desperate. This is the lesson spirit has to teach the baby animal. Nothing short of a total and combined effort on the part of all parents can make peace on Earth a reality. We say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." Never let this prayer receive only lip service. Sincerely, Parents, understanding the misfortune the other child has to combat when it harms your own precious infant, give out your love to this other babe who needs it so desperately. Bless this child who persecutes your own, for the other's tiny self is saying, "I'm so little, and already I'm all mixed up, I am filling my filing cabinets with spite and error. Shed a little light on my soul -- please show me what love is." For, Mother, as your own child's spirit is of Him, trusted to your keeping, the other child is His spiritual child also and equally dear to The Father. Give to those less favourably situated; give of yourself. Learn to expand your aura of Divine Love to embrace this other child, and teach your little one to do the same. No greater lesson can you teach it so early in life; no greater assurance can you give your child for future happiness. Overcome evil with good; teach your child the joy of forgiveness; demonstrate how your own fierce maternal instinct can be sub-servient to your inner, wiser self; how the urge to strike back can be controlled only by spirit; or, in the words of our Beloved Teacher, "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right check, turn to him the other also." Fear not damage to the body. This very act may be the means of strengthening your inner power, of creating a warm glow of joy in the heart of The Sovereign and, in loving Him, what could be a more rewarding experience? Also in the words of Jesus, "And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also, and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." Your baby has a toy, the other child grabs it; it is the same if the stealing is by word, deed or thought. The other recognizes that you have something it has not, something very desirable, something to be coveted. This only serves to illustrate how much more fortunate you (or your child) are than they. How much greater is the other's need for a feeling of security. So again, give them your love; to those who criticize, the insecure, offer support with a little genuine praise. Help them along the way, and when your child is grown to manhood he won't need to be taught "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." His inner power by this time will be of such magnitude, in his strength he will sit at the conference table, not blinded by suspicion and self-interest; in fear of giving an inch. All men so trained will debate with the shining glow of integrity emanating from them, understanding Truth, speaking as brothers. If they make con-cessions, what does it matter? "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," saith the Lord. Leave justice to God; He and He alone sees every aspect. Each is judged according to the Aura; when stripped of the flesh, the spirit stands before the Heavenly Host there can be no more lies, no self-justification, for the maze of preconscious association is shed with the flesh, and one is face to face with Truth. No one can harm The Master; He has no need for vengeance. His interest is in justice; no one but man could invent the word "vengeance;" it is used above as a quote from the Bible. The only person that any individual can harm is self, that spiritual core which has to submit to the purifying process of remorse and repentance before the risen spirit can enter His house; before it can occupy the place prepared for earthly spirits by Jesus, even as He promised: "In My Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." Thus, young mothers, you can make your child's path smooth or stony. The empty filing cabinets are yours to fill with good or bad association; Truth or error. Parental guidance is all important.
Parents often caution their children not to do a certain thing such as go close to a place where they might fall from a height, believing mistakenly that parental love instigates this. On closer self-examination, however, they might find themselves a pre-conscious victim of this same fear, passed on from their own parents, and that this fear appears in words or thoughts quite frequently. The nimble child mind will quickly associate height with fear and store this fear away in its cabinets. On the other hand, calmly taking the child by the hand, add to the evidence of the eyes by the evidence of the ears (the more senses used in demonstration the more tangible the impression). Let the child see for itself and analyze the danger, influenced by the full respect it has for parental wisdom. Don't teach the child morbid fear; rather instill in him a reasonable respect for heights in an analytical way. To become irritated or annoyed with a child reflects immaturity. Never start on the vicious circle of meaningless parental nattering. Earn your child's full confidence; spend a little more time on a decision and then stick by it, please, never succumb to childlike begging and pleading, or substitute a material gift when what the child wants is your understanding. This is why it is so essential to spend some time on self-analysis prior to baby's arrival, to recognize and defeat your own fears and mistakes, and to practice self-control; to learn to know thyself. The practice of filling a young mind with morbid fears connected with such things as storms, bats, or darkness is not done consciously, yet can do untold harm in the future. For older children who have already formed mistaken ideas, it is suggested that, after self-purification, the parents alert themselves for any situation which may arise to give an opportunity for a lesson. Let's suppose Junior swears. Instead of bellowing, take him calmly to one side for a little discussion. No reference to theology is required. Ask "What made you say that?" then listen patiently to the reasons given before refuting the child's logic with spiritual logic. Treat simple lying or boasting in the same manner. Don't make these situations, but never avoid any that arise or let an unkind word go unprotested. The little animal is only exercising its animal instincts; help the little spirit overcome them. Become fully aware of the grave responsibilities you accept as parents, and as citizens of earth and eternity. Know surely that your spiritual mind can never pass on a wrong thought, and any unkind thoughts are animal in origin. There is no such thing as a "bad spirit." Your baby's spirit will be in His likeness; take a look at his first smile and see for yourself. Nourish this inner glow. Give your child the opportunity to utilize its finer qualities for the benefit of self and all with whom it comes into contact. In later chapters we will discuss the dire consequences of a situation wherein the carnal and divine minds begin a lifelong battle for supremacy and the hopeless, illogical, miserable existence this struggle can bring. Mental harmony is the only state of happiness man can know. |
|
[Chapter 6: The Laws] |