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VADE MECUM, VOLVENTIBUS ANNIS

THE MAYANS
6- 7 SAN ANTONIO. Number 85
TEXAS
Copyright 1947 by The Mayans
 Rev. 85; P1: G;H: 4.59

PHILOSOPHY SERIES ONE

(Part Two)

6th and 7th Degrees

SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION
THE ABUNDANT LIFE

Beloved Companion:

Abundance is all about you, through you, and radiating from you, for you
are of the selected ones, of those chosen to explore the Mayan Path into these
degrees. I greet you in the 3rd, the 5th and in the 7th Degrees. May your ways
and your good Mayan Ministry be blest.

You are the grain of mustard seed to our noble Mayan Order. You are the
recipient of your Mayan Companions’ love, faith and cultivation. From you, Mayan—
ry expects growth like the mustard plant, of many members, strong limbs of the
parent vine. We pray that you will heed the call to gather around you those worthy
of Mayan Membership, and that you, in turn, will bring them to the Revelations of
Mayanry.

In the past several lectures to this Worthy Class of Mayans, we have con-
sidered various phases of spiritual cultivation by the conservation and use of
spiritual values. Now let us consider the kind of living one should have when he
puts all those principles into operation and begins to fit those values into a
pattern for living.

When the Master said He had come that we might have life and that we might
have it more abundantly, He meant exactly what He said, and much more than is gen-
erally realized. He meant a more deeply religious life, and He meant a life richer
in material rewards, but He meant much more than that. He meant life fully develop-
ed and uxffolded, life that has realized all it was created to be,— life that is
like a perfect flower in full bloom.

We have scarcely begun to live life as we might. We let it be blighted by

war, pestilence, and negative conditions; but we do an even more damaging thing
in that we go through the years without realizing how wonderful life could be. We
are not credulous enough, not daring enough.

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Rev. 85: P2 ~1:H~4.39

We let most things remain like a bud or a seed —only possibilities. We

should always be working these possibilities into actualities. We fail to make
the progress we might because we assume that the work of creation is finished and
content ourselves with things as they are. If we look at things in terms of their
possibilities, the so—called realists sneer at us and call us idealists in deri-
sion. That is just where the self—styled realists miss it. They are so busy
looking at the incompleteness that is, that they never see the glory of the com-
pleteness that might be. Their philosophy stops all progress in its tracks,
while the idealist always has the grand adventure of going on to something better.

Jesus emphasized much this fact about the nature of life and the Kingdom
of Heaven which life must compose. Once He put it in the form of two little
stories, one about a lump of yeast that leavened three measures of meal, and one
about a grain of mustard seed that unfolded into a tree. Life is like that, and
we are making a failure of it when we are not going on to completeness.

In other words, WE ARE HERE TO CHANGE POSSIBILITIES INTO ACTUALITIES. We

should not be too cautious in our conception of what is possible either. We cut
ourselves off from untold good by assuming that some desirable thing cannot be
done, that it is too good to be true, or that we are not equal to the task.

It is said that in a New England cemetery there is a grave with this in-
scription on the headstone, “She hath done what she couldn’t.” The woman whose
body rests there must have been one who learned what faith is for, and who dared
to venture out upon God’s ocean of promise unafraid. Others, like her, will dis-
cover on examination that the promises in the Bible are simply stupendous, that
they are supported by the experience of people who have tried them, and that even
they are only general outlines of what human beings could be, and have, and do.

The abundant life is not something to dream about but something to live.
It is not something to live sometime or other, but something to begin living now.
It is not a theory but A PRcX3RAM that is being suggested here, a program that
would need to be worked out in four general phases, the personal life, material
abundance, human relations, and achievement. Why not put the matter of material
prosperity first? For the simple reason that it does not belong there. Remember
that the Master said it is something to be added to those who have first sought
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

In its personal phase, life begins to become abundant through increasing

awareness. The stages in the development of animal life up to man are distinguish-
ed by their capacity -for awareness0 What we are not aware of does not exist for
us; therefore, our AWARENESS IS THE BOUNDARY of our personal universe.

A schoolgirl asked a teacher for his definition of culture. He replied

that it is a growing awareness of the universe. Remember that it is a growing
thing, for God’s universe is too vast and complex to stand still in. The wisest
people best understand how much more vast the truth is, than any knowledge of it
yet acquired. There is plenty to work on. Keep an honestly inquiring mind, and
ADD something to its store EVERY day.

But the awareness of the abundant life does not stop with the knowledge
of facts. Knowing that facts are but broken fragments of truth, it pieces them
together so the larger patterns may appear. It builds its knowledge into wisdom.

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Rev. 85: P3:-G:H: ~4.59

Unless that is done the whole process is in vain. Learning that stops
with facts is not learning. Like unneeded and unused possessions, it is so much
excess baggage to worry with. Such knowledge is what makes the learned ignoramus,
the person who knows many things and hasn’t the least idea what they are all about.

Wisdom is truth built into personality and life. It gives poise in all
kinds of conditions, and makes the individual calm and capable in the face of all
kinds of problems and tasks. The person who has built knowledge~~into wisdom is
one who is in harmony with the universe, and therefore knows that nothing can
really harm him.

The abundant life does not stop even with wisdom in the ordinary sense.
It develops and uses the spiritual senses also. It knows that much of the uni-
verse lies beyond the reach of ordinary means of perception, so it makes use of
faith and the powers of the spirit. These powers of perception are as normal as
any others, and they are supremely important because by means of them we can
establish awareness of anything, visible or invisible. They enable us to see
without eyes, hear without ears, and walk by the light that never was on land or
sea but that is in the consciousness of man.

Here is what all this reduces to: Discover God. Having discovered God,
walk with Him. This is not the prospect of the Kingdom; it IS the Kingdom itself.

We may now pass on to the question of abundant living in the realm of

material prosperity. St. Paul says that all things are ours. There are two ways
in which this is true. One is that all things form a part of our environment.
The other is all things belong to God, and all God’s children have access to their
Father’ s storehouse.

Instead of merely arousing our cupidity, this should make us pause and
think. It is not an invitation to start grasping and trying to exploit God’s
lovely world for our own benefit, or to get its resources to waste while others
suffer need. If you abuse the privilege He will not continue to let you have a
key to the storehouse. You may not claim more than your share, and you may not
snatch bread from the mouths of others. The Father’s table is abundant, but each
of us must approach it as one of the children, coming reverently and gratefully
to receive his own rightful share. Not only that, but each of us must take an
interest in the matter of whether all the others get their rightful shares also.
Together we stand or fall.

How do we go about obtaining the material blessings of God? Strangely

enough, by not going about it at all. The Master discussed this rather fully in
the Sermon on the Mount. In the first place He told us to seek the Kingdom and
its righteousness before bothering about material things at all. In the second
place He said that real abundance comes to those who do not worry about their
needed supply but assume it, like the lilies and the birds.

Think prosperity. That is, assume that when you have done your part,
Providence will supply your daily bread. Do not start out to acquire wealth,
for reaching and scrambling for it is a way of assuming need and thinking poverty.
Do your work and expect your reward, but keep your thinking out of the red if you
want to keep your accounts so.

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Rev. 85: P4:G:H: 4.59

The materialist gets his wealth by seeking it, fighting for it, doing
anything necessary to obtain it, even by snatching it from the needy. He finds
that it never satisfies, seldom lasts, and he often blights himself and those he
loves. A better way is to realize one’s sonship; keep the way open for the
Father’s blessings, and receive with gratitude.

Count on God to take care of you, but leave the details to Him. Be care-
ful about asking for a new car, a new house, or a new dress. You might be making
a mistake. Ask God to consider your needs and supply them.

Recognize a need only after you have carefully considered it. Do you
really need it? Do you deserve it, or will you try to? Have you done your part?
Will you use it rightly if you get it? These questions settled, go into silence
and submit the matter to your subconscious mind in order that it may cooperate
with the Divine in the work of possible realization. Visualize what you need if
you can, and in your silences watch and see if you see the image materializing.

A man was taken through a house in his silence. He noted the furniture,
the decorations, and the patterns of the rugs. A few weeks later he and his wife
moved unexpectedly into a home two thousand miles away, and he found it was the
house he had visualized.

A certain man often wished he could have a car, but resources did not
permit it. One evening when he happened to close his eyes he saw clearly the
trade symbol of a certain make of car, but one he never thought he would buy.
At the same time his sense of smell was stimulated to catch the unmistakable odor
of the finish of a new car. He thought little about it, but about a year later
he suddenly found himself able to buy a car, with careful financing. It turned
out that the only dealer who would sell him a car on terms he could meet was the
one handling the make of car the trademark of which he had seen.

Read again the story of the giving of the manna to the children of Israel
in the wilderness. The rules under which it was given make a blueprint of God’s
law of supply. It came as if from nowhere. It was in a form no one expected,
for no one had ever seen it before. It was to be gathered equitably. If a man
gathered more than he needed, it spoiled. It could be gathered only on six of
the days of the week, for on the day of rest none fell, but on the day before an
extra portion was provided.

One can cut off his blessings by trying to dictate their nature and the
conditions under which they shall be given. Leave the details with God. He will
often surprise you, as he did the man who felt he needed a car; but the surprise
itself will be good.

Don’t try to get your material supply from other people. Depend on God
for them, and accept them from others as God chooses that way of bestowing them.
Thus you can be sure that others do not suffer for your benefit. When blessings
come through the hands of others see that value received is given in the form of
service or kindness.

We have said that the abundant life has a human relationship angle. The
thoughtless sometimes say that spiritual development tends to make one solitary
and queer. On the contrary, the right kind of spiritual development tends to

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Rev. 85: PS: G:H: 4.59

make him a social being in the best sense.

It does so because early in the development of the higher awareness one

faces the fact of the presence of other people in the world. Do not smile, for
it is true that many people go all the way through this life and never seem to
find out that there is anyone here but themselves. We have not even begun to
think till we get the social viewpoint, nor to live until we begin acting in terms
of the common interest.

Think of the cells in the human body. Each has its own individuality, but
they all live in coordination and cooperation, each serving the common interest
and desiring nothing better for itself than to do so. These little bundles of
life seem to understand that the best interests of all are the best interests of
each. The human race is a social body; its institutions are organs, and we are
the individual cells. We must get the same viewpoint, and the higher awareness
will give it to us.

Wherever confusion in the cooperative work of animal cells occurs a cancer

results. That should prevent us from allowing conflict of wills and interests in
the collective body, but it does not always do so. Successful living, and even
safe living, for the individual and the race, require that a way be found to live
and work together, for the building of a better world is a cooperative enterprise.
Together we can realize the Kingdom of God, but broken up into conflicting self—
interest groups we cannot.

Two simple things should clear away the problem of getting on with our
fellow human beings, and they should both emerge in full strength from the proces-
ses of higher spiritual development.

One is respect for personality. Think it over and see if it is not clear
to you that much of the world’s strife, confusion, and sorrow come from the habit
of regarding others meanly. If another human being is just something to push
around like an animal or a machine, life and its happiness will naturally be con-
sidered cheap. If, on the other hand, one always remembers that a human being is
created only a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor, he
will naturally treat others — all others — with courtesy and respect. That would
make this world a pleasant, friendly place in a day, if it were universally tried.

For one thing, this is the difficulty behind the alarming marriage and
divorce problem. If two people think they have married physical bodies to be re-
garded as long as they are young, well—dressed, and attractive, and mistreated
or cast aside when they are no longer so, there will be a divorce problem in
their little world. If, on the other hand, each realizes that he has promised a
human person not only his love but his Constancy, Devotion and Loyalty; .
Beloved Companions for life; the marriage is safe. See that all candidates for
marriage realize the respect for personality phase, and you have no divorce prob-
lem any more.

The same principle applies in all human relationships. The common people
heard Jesus gladly because they soon realized that He had complete understanding
and respect for the individual and would always show full regard for his dignity,
whoever or whatever he might be. Try treating EVERY person you meet as one with
royal blood, WHICH INDEED HE IS; and see how much better you get along.

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Rev. 85: P6:~ G:H: 4.59

The other solving factor in human relations is to understand that in a

very real sense, WE ARE NOT MANY BUT ONE. Then one thinks of himself as an iso-
lated identity he is wrong. No man lives unto himself, and no man dies unto
himself, said St. Paul. We are separate only as the cells of the body are separ-
ate, but like them, we are parts of a unified universal life.

One may go from farmhouse to farmhouse in a country community, and find

one or more wells of water at each place. These wells seem distinct and separate,
but they are not. If the ground were opened you would find that they are all
openings for the SAME vein of water FL’YIING FAR BELOW ThE SURFACE. People SEEM
distinct and separate too, but it is the SAME current of life that animates us
all. This is the Brotherhood of Man.

The meaning of that is, that one cannot TRULY say that what he does af-
fects ONLY himself, nor can he rightly assume that what he does against another
hurts ONLY the other person. That we do to help or harm anyone in the whole
wide world helps or harms us at least as much as it does the other person. If
you become angry with a leg or hand and strike it you only hurt a part of your-
self. It is the same if you harm any member of the human race, either by mis-
treatment or neglect. It will come back to you, because you have only damaged a
part of yourself.

The redemption of the world by the Christ is not some automatic thing
that is going to take place in some magic and spectacular way at a chosen, myster-
ious time. It is the effect on the world life of our learning and living these
simple things the Master lived and taught — respect for ourselves as children of
God and respect for others as parts of the same universal life we share. The
one makes high—grade human beings, and the other enables them to live and work
happily and effectively together in the world.

There is no place in the plan for exclusiveness. There are no aliens in

God’s family. Read again John’s description of the City of God in the last two
chapters of the Book of Revelations, and notice that its walls have three gates
on every side. That is a symbolic way of saying that no matter from what direc-
tion or by what road one approaches it, there are three broad Degrees, or gates,
to welcome him in. In other words, that new world life must be for all races,
classes, kinds, and conditions. In the Father’s household the only test of a man
is his manhood and the measure in which he has realized his sonship to the Divine.

The fourth phase of the abundant life is in the field of endeavor. The
adequate cultivation of one’s spiritual self certainly should reveal its power and
value in the way in which he performs his life work and helps his generation to
work toward the best possible life in the best possible world.

For one thing, it will require that he choose HIS form of service with
great and reverent care. He will realize that God CALLS people to all kinds of
needed work in the world, AND ThAT A LABOR TO WHICH GOD WOULD NOT CALL ONE IS NOT
WORTH DOING. He will therefore choose his work earnestly and seek all the divine
guidance he can receive in choosing it and carrying it on. He will not be content
to let it be a mere job. To him it will be a calling, and IN ThAT SPIRIT he will
do his work.

He will go the second mile with his work, just as he will in getting on
Rev. 85: P7: G:H: 4.59

with others. It is that second mile that yields the excellence, that transforms
an occupation into a Line art, that makes the ordinary person a master. The rea-
son some never do anything notable with their work Is just that they do not go
that second mile. The Shakespeares, and Edisons, and Curies of’ the world have
been people who did what was necessary and then went on and did more than was
necessary. They went the second mile, the stretch of’ road that lies beyond the
usual.

What holds you back from undertaking the extraordinary thing, from
trying to achieve the unusual excellence, from attempting the ser-
vice that has baffled others? If’ ANYTHING does, It, more than
likely, is just the ASSUMPTION that you cannot do It or that rio
one can. That is the most expensive piece of’ guesswork known to
man. HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T DO IT IF YOU NEVER TRY?

Some years ago some of’ the motor car mariu.facturers adopted a type of’ car-
buretor with two gasoline jets. One operated in ordinary use, but the mechanism
was so constructed that when more power was needed for a sharper grade or a high-
er speed, the second jet opened arid supplied the additional power. We are built
with these auxiliary sources of mental arid physical energy. We never know we
have them till we have pushed hard enough, far enough, and high enough for the
second jets to open. And, if’ there is a second power source, why riot others?
All running records are made after the runner uses up his breath and gets his
second wind. The same is true of’ all achievement, inc1udin~ that of’ the mind arid
spirit. Upon THIS hangs the success of’ the individual and the progress of’ the
race.

Of’ course, some progress always occurs, but it is never enough, because
too few people ever realize their responsibility arid power. Not enough of’ us
catch the creative dream, and come to see that God created us to live arid f’unc—
tion individually on a very high level, and together to build the world of’ joy
and beauty which is symbolized by the New Jerusalem of’ the Book of’ Revelation.

Undertaking to share in this creative dream is a daring thing, but God’s

plans are always daring. One must remember, of’ course, that the development of
any great plan is gradual. Remember that, like infants, we must crawl before we
can walk; but never fall into the Idea that we are destined to crawl forever.
Too, a new world life cannot be built in a day. We must be content to do today
what can be done, but always to strive in the direction of’ the completed plan.
The important thing now is to BEGIN. The next important thing is to KEEP GOING.

A building, a bridge, a machine, a task, or a life, is a dream come true.

The idea is conceived, blueprinted, arid then built in tangible form0 One should
never be content with anything less than what is best for him and what is best
for mankind. Never say it can’t be done. If’ a thing is right, there is some way
to do it. Your business is to find that way.

All power to achieve is God—given, of’ course, but the divine storehouse
of’ power is always open to one who Is willing to try. It takes work arid prayer,
and it is strange how the two blend in the warmth of’ endeavor.
A poet said in his communion with God:

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Rev. 85: PS: G:H: 4.59

“Work shall be prayer, if all be wrought

As Thou wouldst have it done;
And prayer, by Thee inspired and taught,
Itself with work be one.”

Now a few final observations. First, as you develop the abundant life,
keep it balanced. Do not become so absorbingly interested in any one phase that
you neglect the others. Like the Master, live abundantly in body, mind, spirit,
and social relationships. Remember that the holy, or whole life, is the complete,
symmetrical life.

Second, keep your growing personality healthy. Egotism, selfishness,

willingness to use the divine power for base purposes, fear, negative attitudes,
unfaith — these are all blights that weaken and destroy. Protect yourself from
their attack.

Third, take frequent account of how you are getting on. Do not go by
feeling, for it may assume too much. Realistically compare what you are today.
with what you were a week, a month, or a year ago. Be sure you are making prog-
ress, for when a thing stops growing it begins to die.

Fourth, remember that the WHOLE life requires nourishment just as the
body does. The power and ability of the complete self depend on food, exercise,
practice, and the divine empowering. See that you know what they are and avail
yourself of them. To try to get on without the divine empowering is to live like
a plant under a board away from the air and sunshine, — yellow, flabby, and weak.
Keep the way open for God to make you strong and able.
The Abundant Life is yours, NOW and ALWAYS. To claim it, simply RADIATE
ABUNDANCE to ALL.

May The Father Bless You.

Your Class Instructor

in The Mayans

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