We have somewhat abolished our old, long-established Hell, and now, to be consistent, we must also do away with our preconceived ideas of a Heaven of eternal rest; for why should the souls of men be wrapped in useless slumbers, until the strong overwhelming influence of the law of progress sweeps them up like dry leaves before a whirlwind, and rushes them along to the gates of a conscious life, through a new relationship upon the physical plane?  The spirit does not weary, and when the exhausted body is laid aside, why not enlist the services of all to whom any appeal can be made?  Thus shall we all be growing together, and Death shall be forced to cast aside its grim and dreadful seeming and show for the angel it is.  Ah! how could we go on and on in the narrow limitations of this small beginning of a life, if Nature did not kindly call a halt somewhere on the road, while we, taking fresh courage, start out in our new career with our entire being adjusted to laws which are working in harmony with the divine will.

SLOWNESS OF EVOLUTION

There have been times in the lives of all soul-grown people when the inner consciousness has clearly perceived that some given experience may mean an important crisis in the expression of their individual character.  But not frequently, in the ordinary lives of human beings, do they meet up with really great events, or personal experiences that create for them special overturnings of their ideas, or any change of personal habits.  To the mind of youth, life seems a plainly simple, straight-forward way; but when overtaken by results of unconsidered actions, for which there has been no preparation, there dawns upon it the consciousness of appalling vistas, and visions of future possibilities that are overpowering.

As we journey forward on the path of existence, life becomes ever more and more complicated, and the need, the overwhelming demand for an understanding of the ever-varying problems presented to the mind for consideration, and the constantly urgent necessity for wise decisions must call into action all our highest powers of the intellect and reason, in order to secure to us the best results from the opportunities given us to acquire knowledge.  Every one of our experiences are bits in the mosaic of our lives, and without them the picture would be incomplete.

But with all, we are forced to realize how unfinished and unsatisfactory are nearly all of our experiences of earthly existence.  It is, indeed, “a thing of shreds and patches.”  But we are caught in the web of material existence from which there can be no lawful escape, save by unpremeditated physical death.  We are thrust into the seething cauldron of formative life.  The entire race of man, forced forward by the resistless power of the law of progress, is on the everlasting journey to the heights of perfected being.  To us, enmeshed in the ties of interest and affection, the various heredities and the worldly Karmas which hold us fast, the slow, unnumbered processes of evolution on this, our home world, as recorded in history seem unendurably long.  But time is naught—­eternity is unending—­and “ten thousand years are but as a day with God,” the great Maker and Moulder of our immortal souls.