h, and it
is not for us to attempt to select one teaching from the many in this
work. The reader will find many references to these various explanations
and teachings as he reads the several chapters of this book, and he may
use his own discrimination and judgment in selecting that which appeals
to him the most strongly. But he will notice that there is a fundamental
agreement between all of the teachings and beliefs--the principle that
the movement of the soul is ever upward and onward, and that there is no
standing still in spiritual development and unfoldment. Whether the
end--if end there be--is the reaching of a state of Bliss in the
presence of the Divine One--or whether the weary soul finds rest "in the
Bosom of the Father," by what has been called "Union with God"--the
vital point for the evolving soul is that there is "a better day
coming"--a haven of rest around the turn of the road. And whatever may
be the details of the Truth, the fact remains that whatever state awaits
the soul finally, it must be Good, and in accordance with Divine Wisdom
and Ultimate Justice and Universal Love.

The majority of occultists look forward to an end in the sense of being
absorbed in the Divine Being, not in the sense of annihilation, but in
the sense of reaching a consciousness "of the Whole in the Whole"--this
is the true meaning of "Nirvana." But whether this be true, or whether
there is a place of final rest in the highest spiritual realms other
than in the sense of absorption in the Divine, or whether there is a
state of Eternal Progression from plane to plane, from realm to realm,
on and on forever Godward, and more and more God-like--the End must be
Good, and there is nothing to Fear, for "the Power that rules Here,
rules There, and Everywhere. And remember this, ye seekers after
ultimate truths--the highest authorities inform us that even the few
stages or planes just ahead of us in the journey are so far beyond our
present powers of conception, that they are practically unknowable to
us--this being so, it will be seen that states very much nearer to us
than the End must be utterly beyond the powers not only of our
understanding but also of our imagination, even when strained to its
utmost. This being so, why should we attempt to speculate about The End?
Instead, why not say with Newman:

"I do not ask to see the distant scene.
One step enough for me--
Lead Thou me on!"

It is said that when Thoreau was dyi