fly
to its final refuge, and that when the ages are completed, every prodigal
will come back to the fold of Truth. And so he dwells in goodwill toward
all, and regards all with that tender compassion which a father bestows
upon his wayward children.

Men cannot understand Truth because they cling to self, because they
believe in and love self, because they believe self to be the only reality,
whereas it is the one delusion.

When you cease to believe in and love self you will desert it, and will fly
to Truth, and will find the eternal Reality.

When men are intoxicated with the wines of luxury, and pleasure, and
vanity, the thirst of life grows and deepens within them, and they delude
themselves with dreams of fleshly immortality, but when they come to reap
the harvest of their own sowing, and pain and sorrow supervene, then,
crushed and humiliated, relinquishing self and all the intoxications of
self, they come, with aching hearts to the one immortality, the immortality
that destroys all delusions, the spiritual immortality in Truth.

Men pass from evil to good, from self to Truth, through the dark gate of
sorrow, for sorrow and self are inseparable. Only in the peace and bliss of
Truth is all sorrow vanquished. If you suffer disappointment because your
cherished plans have been thwarted, or because someone has not come up to
your anticipations, it is because you are clinging to self. If you suffer
remorse for your conduct, it is because you have given way to self. If you
are overwhelmed with chagrin and regret because of the attitude of someone
else toward you, it is because you have been cherishing self. If you are
wounded on account of what has been done to you or said of you, it is
because you are walking in the painful way of self. All suffering is of
self. All suffering ends in Truth. When you have entered into and realized
Truth, you will no longer suffer disappointment, remorse, and regret, and
sorrow will flee from you.

"Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul;
Truth is the only angel that can bid the gates unroll;
And when he comes to call thee, arise and follow fast;
His way may lie through darkness, but it leads to light at last."

The woe of the world is of its own making. Sorrow purifies and deepens the
soul, and the extremity of sorrow is the prelude to Truth.

Have you suffered much? Have you sorrowed deeply? Have you pondered
seriously upon the problem of life? If so