The Way of Peace - James Allen
For such a one there is no more regret, nor disappointment, nor remorse,
for where all selfishness has ceased these sufferings cannot be; and
whatever happens to him he knows that it is for his own good, and he is
content, being no longer the servant of self, but the servant of the
Supreme. He is no longer affected by the changes of earth, and when he
hears of wars and rumors of wars his peace is not disturbed, and where men
grow angry and cynical and quarrelsome, he bestows compassion and love.
Though appearances may contradict it, he knows that the world is
progressing, and that
"Through its laughing and its weeping,
Through its living and its keeping,
Through its follies and its labors, weaving in and out of sight,
To the end from the beginning,
Through all virtue and all sinning,
Reeled from God's great spool of Progress, runs the golden
thread of light."
When a fierce storm is raging none are angered about it, because they know
it will quickly pass away, and when the storms of contention are
devastating the world, the wise man, looking with the eye of Truth and
pity, knows that it will pass away, and that out of the wreckage of broken
hearts which it leaves behind the immortal Temple of Wisdom will be built.
Sublimely patient; infinitely compassionate; deep, silent, and pure, his
very presence is a benediction; and when he speaks men ponder his words in
their hearts, and by them rise to higher levels of attainment. Such is he
who has entered into the Infinite, who by the power of utmost sacrifice has
solved the sacred mystery of life.
Questioning Life and Destiny and Truth,
I sought the dark and labyrinthine Sphinx,
Who spake to me this strange and wondrous thing:--
"Concealment only lies in blinded eyes,
And God alone can see the Form of God."
I sought to solve this hidden mystery
Vainly by paths of blindness and of pain,
But when I found the Way of Love and Peace,
Concealment ceased, and I was blind no more:
Then saw I God e'en with the eyes of God.
SAINTS, SAGES, AND SAVIORS: THE LAW OF SERVICE
The spirit of Love which is manifested as a perfect and rounded life, is
the crown of being and the supreme end of knowledge upon this earth.
The measure of a man's truth is the measure of his love, and Truth is far
removed from him whose life is not governed by Love. The intolerant and
condemnatory, even though they profess the highest religion, have the
smallest measure of Truth; while those who exercise patience, and who
listen calmly and dispassionately to all sides, and both arrive themselves
at, and incline others to, thoughtful and unbiased conclusions upon all
problems and issues, have Truth in fullest measure. The final test of
wisdom is this,--how does a man live? What spirit does he manifest? How
does he act under trial and temptation? Many men boast of being in
possession of Truth who are continually swayed by grief, disappointment,
and passion, and who sink under the first little trial that comes along.
Truth is nothing if not unchangeable, and in so far as a man takes his
stand upon Truth does he become steadfast in virtue, does he rise superior
to his passions and emotions and changeable personality.
Men formulate perishable dogmas, and call them Truth. Truth cannot be
formulated; it is ineffable, and ever beyond the reach of intellect. It can
only be experienced by practice; it can only be manifested as a stainless
heart and a perfect life.
Who, then, in the midst of the ceaseless pandemonium of schools and creeds
and parties, has the Truth? He who lives it. He who practices it. He who,
having risen above that pandemonium by overcoming himself, no longer
engages in it, but sits apart, quiet, subdued, calm, and self-possessed,
freed from all strife, all bias, all condemnation, and bestows upon all the
glad and unselfish love of the divinity within him.
He who is patient, calm, gentle, and forgiving under all circumstances,
manifests the Truth. Truth will never be proved by wordy arguments and
learned treatises, for if men do not perceive the Truth in infinite
patience, undying forgiveness, and all-embracing compassion, no words can
ever prove it to them.
It is an easy matter for the passionate to be calm and patient when they
are alone, or are in the midst of calmness. It is equally easy for the
uncharitable to be gentle and kind when they are dealt kindly with, but he
who retains his patience and calmness under all trial, who remains
sublimely meek and gentle under the most trying circumstances, he, and he
alone, is possessed of the spotless Truth. And this is so because such
lofty virtues belong to the Divine, and can only be manifested by one who
has attained to the highest wisdom, who has relinquished his passionate and
self-seeking nature, who has realized the supreme and unchangeable Law, and
has brought himself into harmony with it.
Let men, therefore, cease from vain and passionate arguments about Truth,
and let them think and say and do those things which make for harmony,
peace, love, and good-will. Let them practice heart-virtue, and search
humbly and diligently for the Truth which frees the soul from all error and
sin, from all that blights the human heart, and that darkens, as with
unending night, the pathway of the wandering souls of earth.
There is one great all-embracing Law which is the foundation and cause of
the universe, the Law of Love. It has been called by many names in various
countries and at various times, but behind all its names the same
unalterable Law may be discovered by the eye of Truth. Names, religions,
personalities pass away, but the Law of Love remains. To become possessed
of a knowledge of this Law, to enter into conscious harmony with it, is to
become immortal, invincible, indestructible.
It is because of the effort of the soul to realize this Law that men come
again and again to live, to suffer, and to die; and when realized,
suffering ceases, personality is dispersed, and the fleshly life and death
are destroyed, for consciousness becomes one with the Eternal.
The Law is absolutely impersonal, and its highest manifested expression is
that of Service. When the purified heart has realized Truth it is then
called upon to make the last, the greatest and holiest sacrifice, the
sacrifice of the well-earned enjoyment of Truth. It is by virtue of this
sacrifice that the divinely-emancipated soul comes to dwell among men,
clothed with a body of flesh, content to dwell among the lowliest and
least, and to be esteemed the servant of all mankind. That sublime humility
which is manifested by the world's saviors is the seal of Godhead, and he
who has annihilated the personality, and has become a living, visible
manifestation of the impersonal, eternal, boundless Spirit of Love, is
alone singled out as worthy to receive the unstinted worship of posterity.
He only who succeeds in humbling himself with that divine humility which is
not only the extinction of self, but is also the pouring out upon all the
spirit of unselfish love, is exalted above measure, and given spiritual
dominion in the hearts of mankind.
All the great spiritual teachers have denied themselves personal luxuries,
comforts, and rewards, have abjured temporal power, and have lived and
taught the limitless and impersonal Truth. Compare their lives and
teachings, and you will find the same simplicity, the same self-sacrifice,
the same humility, love, and peace both lived and preached by them. They
taught the same eternal Principles, the realization of which destroys all
evil. Those who have been hailed and worshiped as the saviors of mankind
are manifestations of the Great impersonal Law, and being such, were free
from passion and prejudice, and having no opinions, and no special letter
of doctrine to preach and defend, they never sought to convert and to
proselytize. Living in the highest Goodness, the supreme Perfection, their
sole object was to uplift mankind by manifesting that Goodness in thought,
word, and deed. They stand between man the personal and God the impersonal,
and serve as exemplary types for the salvation of self-enslaved mankind.
Men who are immersed in self, and who cannot comprehend the Goodness that
is absolutely impersonal, deny divinity to all saviors except their own,
and thus introduce personal hatred and doctrinal controversy, and, while
defending their own particular views with passion, look upon each other as
being heathens or infidels, and so render null and void, as far as their
lives are concerned, the unselfish beauty and holy grandeur of the lives
and teachings of their own Masters. Truth cannot be limited; it can never
be the special prerogative of any man, school, or nation, and when
personality steps in, Truth is lost.
The glory alike of the saint, the sage, and the savior is this,--that he
has realized the most profound lowliness, the most sublime unselfishness;
having given up all, even his own personality, all his works are holy and
enduring, for they are freed from every taint of self. He gives, yet never
thinks of receiving; he works without regretting the past or anticipating
the future, and never looks for reward.
When the farmer has tilled and dressed his land and put in the seed, he
knows that he has done all that he can possibly do, and that now he must
trust to the elements, and wait patiently for the course of time to bring
about the harvest, and that no amount of expectancy on his part will affect
the result. Even so, he who has realized Truth goes forth as a sower of the
seeds of goodness, purity, love and peace, without expectancy, and never
looking for results, knowing that there is the Great Over-ruling Law which
brings about its own harvest in due time, and which is alike the source of
preservation and destruction.
Men, not understanding the divine simplicity of a profoundly unselfish
heart, look upon their particular savior as the manifestation of a special
miracle, as being something entirely apart and distinct from the nature of
things, and as being, in his ethical excellence, eternally unapproachable
by the whole of mankind. This attitude of unbelief (for such it is) in the
divine perfectibility of man, paralyzes effort, and binds the souls of men
as with strong ropes to sin and suffering. Jesus "grew in wisdom" and was
"perfected by suffering." What Jesus was, he became such; what Buddha was,
he became such; and every holy man became such by unremitting perseverance
in self-sacrifice. Once recognize this, once realize that by watchful
effort and hopeful perseverance you can rise above your lower nature, and
great and glorious will be the vistas of attainment that will open out
before you. Buddha vowed that he would not relax his efforts until he
arrived at the state of perfection, and he accomplished his purpose.
What the saints, sages, and saviors have accomplished, you likewise may
accomplish if you will only tread the way which they trod and pointed out,
the way of self-sacrifice, of self-denying service.
Truth is very simple. It says, "Give up self," "Come unto Me" (away from
all that defiles) "and I will give you rest." All the mountains of
commentary that have been piled upon it cannot hide it from the heart that
is earnestly seeking for Righteousness. It does not require learning; it
can be known in spite of learning. Disguised under many forms by erring
self-seeking man, the beautiful simplicity and clear transparency of Truth
remains unaltered and undimmed, and the unselfish heart enters into and
partakes of its shining radiance. Not by weaving complex theories, not by
building up speculative philosophies is Truth realized; but by weaving the
web of inward purity, by building up the Temple of a stainless life is
Truth realized.
He who enters upon this holy way begins by restraining his passions. This
is virtue, and is the beginning of saintship, and saintship is the
beginning of holiness. The entirely worldly man gratifies all his desires,
and practices no more restraint than the law of the land in which he lives
demands; the virtuous man restrains his passions; the saint attacks the
enemy of Truth in its stronghold within his own heart, and restrains all
selfish and impure thoughts; while the holy man is he who is free from
passion and all impure thought, and to whom goodness and purity have become
as natural as scent and color are to the flower. The holy man is divinely
wise; he alone knows Truth in its fullness, and has entered into abiding
rest and peace. For him evil has ceased; it has disappeared in the
universal light of the All-Good. Holiness is the badge of wisdom. Said
Krishna to the Prince Arjuna--
"Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness,
Patience and honor, reverence for the wise,
Purity, constancy, control of self,
Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice,
Perception of the certitude of ill
In birth, death, age, disease, suffering and sin;
An ever tranquil heart in fortunes good
And fortunes evil, ...
... Endeavors resolute
To reach perception of the utmost soul,
And grace to understand what gain it were
So to attain--this is true wisdom, Prince!
And what is otherwise is ignorance!"
Whoever fights ceaselessly against his own selfishness, and strives to
supplant it with all-embracing love, is a saint, whether he live in a
cottage or in the midst of riches and influence; or whether he preaches or
remains obscure.
To the worldling, who is beginning to aspire towards higher things, the
saint, such as a sweet St. Francis of Assisi, or a conquering St. Anthony,
is a glorious and inspiring spectacle; to the saint, an equally enrapturing
sight is that of the sage, sitting serene and holy, the conqueror of sin
and sorrow, no more tormented by regret and remorse, and whom even
temptation can never reach; and yet even the sage is drawn on by a still
more glorious vision, that of the savior actively manifesting his knowledge
in selfless works, and rendering his divinity more potent for good by
sinking himself in the throbbing, sorrowing, aspiring heart of mankind.
And this only is true service--to forget oneself in love towards all, to
lose oneself in working for the whole. O thou vain and foolish man, who
thinkest that thy many works can save thee; who, chained to all error,
talkest loudly of thyself, thy work, and thy many sacrifices, and
magnifiest thine own importance; know this, that though thy fame fill the
whole earth, all thy work shall come to dust, and thou thyself be reckoned
lower than the least in the Kingdom of Truth!
Only the work that is impersonal can live; the works of self are both
powerless and perishable. Where duties, howsoever humble, are done without
self-interest, and with joyful sacrifice, there is true service and
enduring work. Where deeds, however brilliant and apparently successful,
are done from love of self, there is ignorance of the Law of Service, and
the work perishes.
It is given to the world to learn one great and divine lesson, the lesson
of absolute unselfishness. The saints, sages, and saviors of all time are
they who have submitted themselves to this task, and have learned and lived
it. All the Scriptures of the world are framed to teach this one lesson;
all the great teachers reiterate it. It is too simple for the world which,
scorning it, stumbles along in the complex ways of selfishness.
A pure heart is the end of all religion and the beginning of divinity. To
search for this Righteousness is to walk the Way of Truth and Peace, and he
who enters this Way will soon perceive that Immortality which is
independent of birth and death, and will realize that in the Divine economy
of the universe the humblest effort is not lost.
The divinity of a Krishna, a Gautama, or a Jesus is the crowning glory of
self-abnegation, the end of the soul's pilgrimage in matter and mortality,
and the world will not have finished its long journey until every soul has
become as these, and has entered into the blissful realization of its own
divinity.
Great glory crowns the heights of hope by arduous struggle won;
Bright honor rounds the hoary head that mighty works hath done;
Fair riches come to him who strives in ways of golden gain.
And fame enshrines his name who works with genius-glowing brain;
But greater glory waits for him who, in the bloodless strife
'Gainst self and wrong, adopts, in love, the sacrificial life;
And brighter honor rounds the brow of him who, 'mid the scorns
Of blind idolaters of self, accepts the crown of thorns;
And fairer purer riches come to him who greatly strives
To walk in ways of love and truth to sweeten human lives;
And he who serveth well mankind exchanges fleeting fame
For Light eternal, Joy and Peace, and robes of heavenly flame.
THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE
In the external universe there is ceaseless turmoil, change, and unrest; at
the heart of all things there is undisturbed repose; in this deep silence
dwelleth the Eternal.
Man partakes of this duality, and both the surface change and disquietude,
and the deep-seated eternal abode of Peace, are contained within him.
As there are silent depths in the ocean which the fiercest storm cannot
reach, so there are silent, holy depths in the heart of man which the
storms of sin and sorrow can never disturb. To reach this silence and to
live consciously in it is peace.
Discord is rife in the outward world, but unbroken harmony holds sway at
the heart of the universe. The human soul, torn by discordant passion and
grief, reaches blindly toward the harmony of the sinless state, and to
reach this state and to live consciously in it is peace.
Hatred severs human lives, fosters persecution, and hurls nations into
ruthless war, yet men, though they do not understand why, retain some
measure of faith in the overshadowing of a Perfect Love; and to reach this
Love and to live consciously in it is peace.
And this inward peace, this silence, this harmony, this Love, is the
Kingdom of Heaven, which is so difficult to reach because few are willing
to give up themselves and to become as little children.
"Heaven's gate is very narrow and minute,
It cannot be perceived by foolish men
Blinded by vain illusions of the world;
E'en the clear-sighted who discern the way,
And seek to enter, find the portal barred,
And hard to be unlocked. Its massive bolts
Are pride and passion, avarice and lust."
Men cry peace! peace! where there is no peace, but on the contrary,
discord, disquietude and strife. Apart from that Wisdom which is
inseparable from self-renunciation, there can be no real and abiding peace.
The peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification, or
worldly victory is transitory in its nature, and is burnt up in the heat of
fiery trial. Only the Peace of Heaven endures through all trial, and only
the selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.
Holiness alone is undying peace. Self-control leads to it, and the
ever-increasing Light of Wisdom guides the pilgrim on his way. It is
partaken of in a measure as soon as the path of virtue is entered upon, but
it is only realized in its fullness when self disappears in the
consummation of a stainless life.
"This is peace,
To conquer love of self and lust of life,
To tear deep-rooted passion from the heart
To still the inward strife."
If, O reader! you would realize the Light that never fades, the Joy that
never ends, and the tranquillity that cannot be disturbed; if you would
leave behind for ever your sins, your sorrows, your anxieties and
perplexities; if, I say, you would partake of this salvation, this
supremely glorious Life, then conquer yourself. Bring every thought, every
impulse, every desire into perfect obedience to the divine power resident
within you. There is no other way to peace but this, and if you refuse to
walk it, your much praying and your strict adherence to ritual will be
fruitless and unavailing, and neither gods nor angels can help you. Only to
him that overcometh is given the white stone of the regenerate life, on
which is written the New and Ineffable Name.
Come away, for awhile, from external things, from the pleasures of the
senses, from the arguments of the intellect, from the noise and the
excitements of the world, and withdraw yourself into the inmost chamber of
your heart, and there, free from the sacrilegious intrusion of all selfish
desires, you will find a deep silence, a holy calm, a blissful repose, and
if you will rest awhile in that holy place, and will meditate there, the
faultless eye of Truth will open within you, and you will see things as
they really are. This holy place within you is your real and eternal self;
it is the divine within you; and only when you identify yourself with it
can you be said to be "clothed and in your right mind." It is the abode of
peace, the temple of wisdom, the dwelling-place of immortality. Apart from
this inward resting-place, this Mount of Vision, there can be no true
peace, no knowledge of the Divine, and if you can remain there for one
minute, one hour, or one day, it is possible for you to remain there
always. All your sins and sorrows, your fears and anxieties are your own,
and you can cling to them or you can give them up. Of your own accord you
cling to your unrest; of your own accord you can come to abiding peace. No
one else can give up sin for you; you must give it up yourself. The
greatest teacher can do no more than walk the way of Truth for himself, and
point it out to you; you yourself must walk it for yourself. You can obtain
freedom and peace alone by your own efforts, by yielding up that which
binds the soul, and which is destructive of peace.
The angels of divine peace and joy are always at hand, and if you do not
see them, and hear them, and dwell with them, it is because you shut
yourself out from them, and prefer the company of the spirits of evil
within you. You are what you will to be, what you wish to be, what you
prefer to be. You can commence to purify yourself, and by so doing can
arrive at peace, or you can refuse to purify yourself, and so remain with
suffering.
Step aside, then; come out of the fret and the fever of life; away from the
scorching heat of self, and enter the inward resting-place where the
cooling airs of peace will calm, renew, and restore you.
Come out of the storms of sin and anguish. Why be troubled and
tempest-tossed when the haven of Peace of God is yours!
Give up all self-seeking; give up self, and lo! the Peace of God is yours!
Subdue the animal within you; conquer every selfish uprising, every
discordant voice; transmute the base metals of your selfish nature into the
unalloyed gold of Love, and you shall realize the Life of Perfect Peace.
Thus subduing, thus conquering, thus transmuting, you will, O reader! while
living in the flesh, cross the dark waters of mortality, and will reach
that Shore upon which the storms of sorrow never beat, and where sin and
suffering and dark uncertainty cannot come. Standing upon that Shore, holy,
compassionate, awakened, and self-possessed and glad with unending
gladness, you will realize that
"Never the Spirit was born, the Spirit will cease to be never;
Never was time it was not, end and beginning are dreams;
Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the Spirit for ever;
Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems."
You will then know the meaning of Sin, of Sorrow, of Suffering, and that
the end thereof is Wisdom; will know the cause and the issue of existence.
And with this realization you will enter into rest, for this is the bliss
of immortality, this the unchangeable gladness, this the untrammeled
knowledge, undefiled Wisdom, and undying Love; this, and this only, is the
realization of Perfect Peace.
O thou who wouldst teach men of Truth!
Hast thou passed through the desert of doubt?
Art thou purged by the fires of sorrow? hath ruth
The fiends of opinion cast out
Of thy human heart? Is thy soul so fair
That no false thought can ever harbor there?
O thou who wouldst teach men of Love!
Hast thou passed through the place of despair?
Hast thou wept through the dark night of grief?
does it move
(Now freed from its sorrow and care)
Thy human heart to pitying gentleness,
Looking on wrong, and hate, and ceaseless stress?
O thou who wouldst teach men of Peace!
Hast thou crossed the wide ocean of strife?
Hast thou found on the Shores of the Silence,
Release from all the wild unrest of life?
From thy human heart hath all striving gone,
Leaving but Truth, and Love, and Peace alone?