Prayer:

The true potential of the human soul is known only to God its Creator. The Sacred Scriptures have emphasized this indescribable, immeasurable, and unknowable nature of each and every human soul by applying a comparison the essence of which can be understood by the most primitive, undeveloped, and limited intellect.

It is written that if all the Manifestations and prophets of God that have ever existed, that exist in the present, and will exist in the future, were to combine Their spiritual knowledge and understanding that they would be powerless to grasp the essence and nature of a single human soul so great is its potential and so vast is the range of its qualities and attributes. The human soul was created by God and only God is aware of its final form and destiny.

The soul, however, is not a physical product of nature regardless of whether it inhabits a physical form through which it is enabled to progress and express itself in a physical world. The human soul is indestructible, imperishable, and infinite in its existence and when the human body finally gives way to the irresistible laws of nature and its constituent parts disassemble and return to the dust from whence they were born then does the soul depart this world and take up residence in a new sphere of existence and continue its spiritual journey wherein those inherent qualities by which it is in the ‘Image and Likeness’ of its Creator will exert their innate urge to become manifest and will continue, throughout the infinite worlds of God, to advance toward that inevitable destiny for which they were created. This physical world is but one of an infinite number of worlds of God and the degree to which its inherent attributes and abilities manifest themselves will be in direct proportion to the degree of effort and sacrifice expended by the soul to this end. The human soul, not the human body, is the embodiment of God’s attributes and, let their be no mistake, the bond and union of the soul and body is by design and only the death of the body can release the soul from its journey through this world which, we have been told, is the only world in which we can exhibit choice to the extent that we can voluntarily and deliberately choose between good or evil, right or wrong, kindness or cruelty for in the next world and all worlds thereafter the progress and direction of the soul will not be afforded this blessing but will be imposed upon it and from which it will be unable to digress.

The soul will enter the next world in the state and condition in which it left this world and will either rejoice over its elevated position or bemoan the plight of its station the status of which was earned according to its actions and/or inactions in this world. Retribution and karma are unavoidable and, universal laws of creation that impose their equity and justice upon the soul throughout the worlds of God, will be either to the distress or joy of the soul which will be acutely aware that it has fashioned its own abode in the next world and every world thereafter either through its neglect or obedience to those laws and principles revealed to humankind through its divinely inspired Prophets.

The essence of every single human soul is so charged with potential that not even the soul itself, no matter how divinely inspired, can foresee it in its final state of development and fulfillment. The soul may be likened to a locked door that requires a key to unlock it and reveal the treasures that lie hidden behind it and which, when opened, reveals several other locked doors each of which requires a separate key to unlock and reveal its hidden treasures behind which lie further treasures and several more doors increasing exponentially to infinity the extent of which is incalculable. The first door that begins this process exists in the physical world and the key that unlocks its treasures is prayer.

The worlds of God do not admit of error, and imperfection exists only in the mind of the interpreter who can only see it at that level of evolution in whatever stage through which it is passing. Only God can see both the beginning and end simultaneously for it is only God Who is able to embrace and surround both time and matter which are elements which He alone has fashioned and which are characteristics that exist only in a physical world. The soul although abiding temporarily in a physical abode must, perforce, cultivate those qualities inherent within it in this world by which it will be enabled to progress and develop in the next world and prayer is the medium and key that unlocks the door to these treasures of the soul.

Prayer and its counterpart meditation are inseparable attributes that enable it to commune with God. Prayer has been described as ‘Talking with God’ and meditation has been described as ‘Listening for His answer’. Each is a separate key that unlocks different treasures but, though separate, must be exercised together and in their proper order. To employ one to the exclusion of the other is simply to handicap the soul in its conversation with God and to limit its receptivity to His wisdom and response. The more passionately the soul communes with its Creator in the form of prayer and the more uncluttered, naked, and freely exposed it presents itself in the form of meditation, the more like unto a hollow reed it will become through which the Voice of God can commune and inspire it.

Prayer and meditation are weapons of the soul by which it wages a battle against the temptations and corrupt inclinations of the world of nature from which it will eventually escape but during which, in its brief sojourn, the soul is held captive and subjected to the incessant demands of its animalistic and predatory urges. Urges which, if unchecked, lead the soul into the depraved abyss of behaviour that causes the inmates of heaven to weep oceans of tears and to wring their hands in agony and despair over such a spiritual waste. Prayer and meditation are the guardians of the soul that guide its steps, inspire its spirit, bring joy to its heart, illuminate its mind, and raise it to breathless heights that no other earthly organism can either achieve or imagine.

Prayer is of two kinds, that is to say, there is the prayer conceived in the mind of the human soul supplicating to its Creator for His assistance and then there is the prayer that emanate from God through the medium of the Holy Spirit that is conveyed by way of those Holy Souls specially chosen by God to carry His message to His creatures and which carry a special power and force in each letter of each word of each phrase in each tablet. They are imbued with a supernatural force that can neither be described nor detected by the senses but the effect of which is as certain and irresistible as the physical forces of gravity and motion. Prayers revealed by the Founders of Religions and which are inspired of God exert an influence upon the heart and mind that can raise it to unimagined heights and elevate it to a level of ecstasy that cause the very atoms around it to dance in delight. Although not always immediately apparent, the force and influence of prayers revealed by God’s Prophets will exert its beneficial effect upon any and all souls that repeat them with a sincere heart unsullied by the desire for personal advantage. Both types of prayer are acceptable at the threshold of God but it is self-evident which holds greater potential for the most positive results.

To journey through life without being clothed in the armor of prayer and meditation is foolhardy, fraught with danger, and an exercise in futility which the soul will ultimately be forced to concede and thereafter will bemoan its plight and reap the harvest of its neglect. In order to maintain its spiritual health the soul is obligated to engage in prayer and meditation on a regular and ongoing basis throughout its odyssey in the world of nature and without which is destined to fall victim to the tireless and unsleeping snares of ever-present immoral and unethical temptations that lead the soul astray and into the darkened world of depravity and corruption. The soul must either pray or be prey and in this physical existence the soul has been granted the right to choose which path it will pursue.

Gossip:



He stood at the top of the hill and pondered the events that had conspired to bring him to this point in his career. The wind howled out its rage causing his loose fitting clothes to billow like the sails of a racing craft. He finally loosed his firm grip on the large bag he was clutching and released its contents to the whim and mercy of the elements around him. The feathers were instantly scattered randomly in all directions carried like a foreign potentate on a litter until they finally began to settle all across the countryside seeking sanctuary in the most unlikely nooks and crannies. He then instructed the slight figure that was almost hidden in his shadow to take the bag and gather all the feathers and return them to the bag without missing a single one.

" That is impossible." she wailed in retaliation. "How can I possibly know where the wind has carried them. No matter how hard I might try I could never find them all or even know where they might have carried. What you ask is beyond my ability to accomplish. It is unreasonable. It is cruel and I cannot believe that you could expect me to engage in such a task."

"In the same way that you find this task impossible," he replied, "so too is it equally impossible for you to call back the gossip and slander that you have been spreading that is swept by the wind of waggling tongues into corners and memories that we cannot reckon. The damage that your careless and irresponsible tales have caused to the good name and reputation of undeserving victims can never be completely erased and, like a stealthily spreading disease or cancer, will continue to infect healthy, untainted minds and hearts wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself. You have much to regret and, God willing, this practice of maligning whoever happens to invoke your anger, by alleging contrived stories and false accusations, will never again occur. Take this empty bag and, whenever you are provoked to strike back against some alleged injury or slight, recall this moment and your inability to perform this task and it will give you the strength and resolve that will enable you to resist the temptation. Go my child and gossip and slander no more."

He watched the tiny figure descend the mountainside for several minutes until it finally disappeared from sight. He followed in its wake, weighted by the agony he felt for those who had been contaminated by this child's lies and fabrications, and uncertain that the lesson he had just demonstrated would have the power to deter her from further repetitions.

Victims of Arrogance



One symptom of arrogance is the overwhelming
Conviction that you are smarter than everyone else.

Another symptom is the belief that your truth
Is the only truth and that all else is false

A further symptom is the self-perpetuating myth
That access to wisdom can only be gained
Through your exclusive pathway and that
all others are merely misguided ignorance

One more expression of arrogance is the use of mockery
Insult and slander against all with whom
You disagree or who disagree with you

“Arrogance may be likened to a prison cell
In which an inmate & criminal is confined.”

Arrogance is a blight that is blind
To the sight within and the sight without
It is a symptom of a mind unkind
That knows not what the world is about.

Arrogance and ignorance are both unlikable
And bedfellows betrothed in blindness
Without shame or conscience and both indictable
Nor are they touched with kindness.

“The heart that is arrogant and the
mind that is ignorant occupy the
common abyss of self-deception and are
Trapped in the vortex of ego.”

Can right be wrong?


To believe that what we do is right is reward in and of itself, however, this belief does not always derive from truth. We can be sincere and yet be sincerely mistaken. We can be honest but, nonetheless, be honestly in error, and, we can believe with a belief that is predicated upon a false premise. Sincerity, honesty, and belief are praiseworthy and admirable virtues that should characterize, in all things, the activities of humankind, however, they are not a guarantee of truth. Humankind is frail, riddled with shortcomings, and prone to error, however much they may pursue truth and rightness with diligence and determination. The annals of the history of humankind are replete with atrocities and depravity committed in the name of righteousness and morality. Examples of moral rectitude descending into moral turpitude. What is required is a yardstick, a criterion, a standard by which to measure and on which to base our conduct and from which derive universal principles of right and wrong that can be recognized and agreed to by each and every person.

A yardstick and/or criteria must be one which all may recognize and accept. Consider, for instance, the concept of God. All of the major religions advance the premise that He is All-powerful, All-knowing, All-loving, All-compassionate, All-forgiving etc. and is without blemish or shortcoming, has no imperfections, and holds the entire universe and all it possesses securely in His grasp. Nothing occurs without His knowledge. And yet it is not uncommon for discussion of God to drag Him down to the level of an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, a schizophrenic, unpredictable, player of favorites, and a higher power afflicted with an abundance of human frailties. God can be both God and not-God at the same time. God is just but plays favorites. God is loving and compassionate but permits suffering and pain and cruelty to exist. God is portrayed as being in the ‘Image of humankind’ rather than the other way around. It is not possible to reconcile this misrepresentation and distortion of God. The solution to this paradox lies securely in the convoluted concept of God embraced by the perpetrators of these contradictions.

How is it possible for God to be both God and Not-God? How can He be both All-Loving and hateful? How can He be both All-Forgiving and vengeful? How can He be both All-Compassionate and jealous? How can He be both Infinite and human? On the one hand we have the virtues of God and on the other their counterpart or antithesis. They are not the same but God is all too often represented as possessing and expressing both. Sadly, God is represented as being human with all its shortcomings and deficiencies. This misrepresentation alone is warrant for each and every person to conduct their own investigation into the truth of any philosophy or principle with which they are confronted. To be influenced by the beliefs and convictions of others is a reasonable starting point but to fail to subject them to the scrutiny of reason and logic and criteria that are acceptable to all humankind is akin to driving along a twisting and circuitous highway while blind. A person needs to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears. Anything less is fraught with danger and deception. To become prey to or to descend into the abyss of someone else’s misconceptions is an affront to the nobility of the human spirit and an indictment of our laxity in the exercise of our inherent virtues and attributes.

Who or What is God?

Before any meaningful discussion can take place regarding the subject of religion and the requirements it imposes upon those who have faith, trust in its validity, and who seek to pattern their lives according to its principles and laws, there must first be established an agreement by all persons or parties involved as to the nature and identity of the Deity upon which their faith, trust, and pattern of life is predicated.

The question inevitably arises. “Do we all mean the same thing and is our conception of God the same for every person so involved?”

There was a time in the not too distant past when the controversial statement that “God is dead!” was both shocking, disconcerting, and thought provoking and yet, in the minds of those who heavily favoured this belief, religion had so disintegrated and was so clothed in the garment of imitation, distortion, ritual, myth and superstition that to accept its tenets was an offense to the intellect of any reasonable person and, hence, the hostile, antagonistic, and defiant assertion that any God Who permitted such moral and ethical incongruities to continue must either not exist or had long since died and was no longer in control of anything.

It is evident, therefore, that all parties to any discussion of religion must, of necessity, be in complete harmony and in full agreement as to exactly what is meant by use of the word “God”.

By “God” is meant That which created the entire universe both visible and invisible and all of the laws by which it operates and to which it is irresistibly subject. Humankind is included in this definition, however, humankind is the only species on earth that operates in both worlds simultaneously, that is to say, we progress and are subject to the laws of both the visible and invisible universe. We are both physical and spiritual at the same time. The body and soul are partners and co-habit but are distinct and separate entities. One is temporary and perishable whilst the other is immortal and capable of journeying throughout the infinite immensity of all the worlds of God.

It is self-evident that we did not create ourselves. As a matter of fact we cannot create anything. To create, by definition, means to be able to bring something into existence out of nothingness. This we cannot do. We simply discover that which is already there and then act creatively in applying it to our advantage. Only God can create. We discover what He created and then we creatively use it for our own purposes, however, at no time can we take credit for having created that which we discover. This then is what is meant by the term God regardless of the religion that expresses it and this is the foundation upon which any discussion of religion must necessarily rest.

God is an absolute – the only absolute. Everything other than God was created by Him, is less than Him, is limited and, hence, by comparison imperfect. God possesses each and every quality to an absolute degree, an accomplishment that we can neither grasp nor ever duplicate. Humankind possesses each and every quality of God but each to a limited degree. The limited and imperfect can never grasp or embrace the absolute but can, nevertheless, know that an absolute exists because of the evidence that abounds attesting to its existence. This is knowledge without understanding an example of which would be a large cannon in a valley lobbing shells over an intervening mountain that separates it from another valley on the opposite side. The people in the valley opposite the cannon certainly know that the cannon exists because of the indisputable evidence thereof but, nonetheless, cannot see the cannon or know its type, size, etc. We know that gravity exists but we cannot see it. We can see and feel its effect which is the proof of its existence but it is invisible to the naked eye or to any instrument so far devised. To deny its existence because we cannot see it is ludicrous.

The entire universe both visible and invisible or whether in the microcosm or macrocosm is evidence of the existence of God and it is an axiom of our intellect that we neither created any of it nor do we understand but an infinitesimal fraction of it. God exists everywhere in all things and at all times and nothing exists that does not express at least one attribute of God nor bear testimony within it to the creative action of God.

Because God is an absolute, the only absolute, He is perfect in every way without limitations or imperfections and is incapable of making mistakes. God does things right the first time every time and never has need to correct something that went wrong. God created the universe, hence, the universe is perfect and is unfolding as it should and God has no need to intervene in a creation that is already perfect. What we often perceive as God is nothing less than a self-regulating universe with built in safeguards designed to protect its design and to ensure that no actions or circumstances can deflect it from its pre-ordained destiny. Nothing whatsoever whether in nature or in humankind can frustrate the will of God. What God has purposed shall come to be and no power whether in the heavens or on earth can resist or alter His purpose.

God possesses all qualities to an absolute degree and, therefore, cannot express Himself in a limited way. When we call God the Creator it is implicit in this title that He creates infinitely and, by His own nature, cannot ever stop creating. He is infinite and so is His creation. As long as God exists so too will His creation and so too will He continue to create and inasmuch as He is infinite and indestructible so too is His creation the duration of which will never end. The form may change or terminate but the process will continue forever.

Perhaps one of the most important factors to be considered when discussing religion is always to remember that we did not create God but, rather, that He created us and He created us in His image and likeness. Too often religion becomes distorted and an affront to the heart and mind when humankind creates God in a human image with all its imperfections, limitations, and shortcomings. God can only be measured against Himself and can never be compared to anything except Himself and, since God is unknowable, incomprehensible, infinite and perfect, none of which attributes can be applied to humankind, then it irresistibly follows that when God is presented to us with even the least trace of human characteristics and is attired in the robe of human anger, violence, or vengeful malevolence, we must reject such an image or portrait as the feeble flailings of a misguided and misinformed mind. If God is All-Loving then it is impossible for Him to be hateful. If He is All-Forgiving then it is impossible for Him to be vengeful and cruel. These are qualities that are more readily perceived in humankind and in a physical universe but are anathema to any legitimate concept of God. Hate, cruelty, vengeance, violence, and an unforgiving heart are distinctly human qualities and have no legitimate place in any religion and are simply the fabrications of a deluded mind that seeks to drag God down to a wretched human level and thereby attempt to give sanction to unholy and irreligious practices.

To sum up this topic on what is meant by the term “God” is to exhort the participants in any religious discussion to be vigilant and diligent in remembering, and to bring that memory to bear on any issue under discussion, that God is All-Loving, All-Merciful, All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate, All-Knowing, and All-Powerful and when all of these attributes cannot be applied to the image presented by any alleged spokesperson or messenger of God then we must seriously question the validity of their authority or capability to represent God in particular or religion in general.

Whose truth is truth?:

Can a tree talk about itself? Can an animal write an exam? Can a rock develop a philosophical argument? Why is it that only humans have a written and oral language? What animal, tree, or rock has a written, organized, and historical record of itself? What is the only element in nature that possesses qualities and attributes not found elsewhere in nature? What is it that makes a human a human? Can a rock decide what is fair? Can a tree distinguish between right and wrong? What other organism has been able to extract the hidden secrets of nature from its grasp and then employ them to its own ends in a way not revealed or expressed in nature? Nature produces that which we call natural whereas humans are able to develop that which is synthetic and which does not occur naturally. The three kingdoms that lie beneath humans, to wit, the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, never have and never will be able to develop radio, television, computers, microscopes, telescopes, printing presses, satellites etc. because they are deprived of the intellectual tools found only in humans whereby the hidden secrets of nature are brought into visibility and extracted from its jealously guarded grasp. Humans do not have the power of creation but they do have the power of discovery and it is this power of discovery manifested through human curiosity that is the motivating force behind research. Research, experiment, and intellectual reasoning are the tools by which we explore the mysteries of nature and discover that which was hidden.

If humans were just another product of nature why is it that they possess qualities not found elsewhere in nature? It can be argued that because the human body is a part of nature and humans have intellectual reasoning that it necessarily follows that intellectual reasoning is, therefore, a part of nature. This is a superficial argument and does nothing to explain how a product of nature is able to produce that which nature cannot. If we are to take a cup of water from the ocean it cannot be argued that the cup can contain that which the ocean does not since all it contains was taken from the ocean and all it will ever be is contained in the ocean. This is not true of humans. The human intellect is superior to nature even if it is housed in a physical receptacle formed from elements taken from nature. It is not, however, the body that is superior since the human body is generally inferior in most respects to the other kingdoms of nature. It is the human mind, the intellectual personality, the deductive reasoning power of the human spirit that animates and utilizes the material body all of which enable the mind to function in a physical world.

What is required is for each and every person to exercise their God given power of discovery and deductive reasoning to arrive at self-evident truths and to not be diverted by the misguided conceptions and superstitions of others. Imitation may well be the greatest expression of admiration in arts and crafts but in the realm of common sense and philosophy it can be the greatest deterrent to the truth. To believe something simply because someone else believes it, without conducting your own personal investigation into its verities, is nothing more than moral and ethical foolishness that can launch a person along the pathway to error and potential disaster. Because a person is a celebrity or an expert in some particular field, or even our parents or siblings, is no guarantee that their views and opinions are valid and not simply the imitation of someone else whom they admired and assumed could not be mistaken. Truth, whether it be scientific, philosophical, or religious must be that which we have arrived at by applying our own resources and exploration and equally must not be that which is imposed upon us arbitrarily by some outside alleged source of authority. This is not anarchy but is, rather, the exercise of our native talents in the pursuit of truth.

Truth, however, is relative and that which may be true for one person, group, or nation may not necessarily be true for another. This can apply to social customs, history, or empirical experience, nonetheless, there are universal truths that apply to each and every person without exception and if these are not recognized, embraced, and incorporated into a criteria by which to evaluate and discriminate between spiritual and moral truth and to separate it from that which is sheer superstition and myth then we become nothing more than emotional and spiritual sheep being led to the slaughter by wolves ‘dressed in sheep’s clothing’.

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Nature is indeed a strange and fascinating entity. Ostensibly random and without direction or purpose, acting in mindless obedience to the laws by which it is shaped, and exhibiting neither conscience nor remorse for the events that arise within it, and yet, at the heart of each event lies the seed of Divine intention and within the operation of each physical law is deposited a Divine intelligence without which all matter and all phenomena that derive from it would cease to exist.

Many phenomena, although ostensibly random, act in accordance with and bear eloquent witness to the pervading presence of, universal laws that govern the behaviour and direct the operation of all matter, whether in the observable universe or in those as yet undiscovered.

Nature is guided by an infinite Intelligence, incapable of mistakes, absolute in Its control over all things both visible and invisible, and infinitely patient in the gradual disclosure of Its secrets. What may appear to be bizarre or unique or an anachronism not in keeping with the normal course of events can, in retrospect, be recognized as a self-regulating expression of a perfectly designed, self-contained system, that requires neither intervention or improvement. What may appear to be intervention, or wrath, or the correction of inherent errors, or the remedy for oversights, or the introduction of measures to compensate for flaws in the original design are, in reality, the outer expression of inherent safeguards intrinsic to the original blueprint and not, as is so often mistakenly advanced, Divine attempts to rectify deficiencies in the original design.

When the need arises and occasion demands, there will appear, with varying degrees of capacity, those who will meet the exigencies of the period in which they appear and who, by virtue of their example, will assist humankind in its advance toward a pre-determined destiny the duration of which can only be measured in infinity. And, there are Those within each epoch Who arise and, as Divine Spokesmen for the age in which They appear, found the great religions, uplift the human spirit, edify the soul, cultivate the morals, enlighten the mind, animate the heart, and inaugurate a new and vital cycle of progress for humankind as a whole.

The human soul & the hereafter:


If we are to come to grips with the spiritual concept of the immortality of the human soul and to embrace the belief that it will journey throughout the infinite worlds of God then we must, of necessity, construct a logical framework of reasoning that will support this theory and will, due to its self-evident nature, refute any claim that denies either the existence of God or the presence of a human soul and will also dispel any mistaken impression that God has either a peer or a competitor who vies with Him for possession of the human soul.

Each and every idea that we hold to be true must, by its very nature, express certain implications and lead irresistibly to further ideas. We cannot with any sense of logic and reason hold any idea to be true without also embracing the ideas that it suggests and which reason dictates are the logical consequences of it.

God is an axiom, a self-evident truth, an irresistible postulate advanced by every major religion and philosophy from the dawn of Adam until the present. The existence of God has been a central belief of the most advance civilizations and also of the most primitive tribes because the human mind is endowed with the ability to recognize its own limitations and infer from this fundamental reality that it is neither responsible for its own creation nor can it take credit for anything it discovers. All science is the result of discovery and presupposes that what is discovered preceded our discovery of it and that we are in no way responsible for having created that which we have discovered. God creates and we discover.

The term God, by definition, refers to That which created the entire universe and all it contains and all that operates outside of it. The term does not describe God but simply acknowledges His existence because of all the evidence that attests to it. Humankind is proof of the existence of God. Science is proof of the existence of God. The universe is proof of the existence of God. There is a world of proof of the existence of God but there is not one iota of proof that God does not exist. The atheist, however clever and however persuasive, however articulate and however eloquent is, nonetheless, confounded by this irrefutable fact. God exists and refutes all attempts to disprove His existence.

Proof that God exists, however, cannot be expanded so that it describes the reality of God which is beyond the scope of the human mind to grasp. God is an absolute. God is the only absolute. God possesses all attributes to an absolute degree which is what makes Him God. God cannot be less than God and still remain God. God is always God and His absolute nature will always resist the feeble attempts by the human mind to capture Him. The human mind is limited whereas God is an absolute. How can that which is limited surround that which is absolute? God will forever remain beyond the ken of any human mind to grasp by virtue of His absolute nature. When we assign an attribute to God such as that He is, All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Loving, All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate etc., it is not because these descriptions, due to the imperfection and limitation of language, are capable of expressing his attributes but, rather, because they tell us what God is not. We cannot possibly know what it is to be All-Loving but the use of the term indicates that God is incapable of hatred. When we use the term All-Powerful it indicates that God is incapable of weakness. Because we are created in the ‘Image and Likeness’ of God we possess all of God’s qualities but each to a limited degree which is what makes us human. We cannot know what it is to possess even one quality to an absolute degree and, hence, we are forever deprived of the ability to grasp even one attribute of God let alone to embrace His complete essence. God will forever remain alone in His essence and beyond the feeble efforts of the mightiest mind to aspire to know Him. And yet, even the simplest of minds has been endowed with the ability to know that God exists because of the overwhelming evidence that surrounds us and because that mind, simple though it may be when compared against more sophisticated minds is, nonetheless, infinitely beyond the capacity of all other earthly creatures and perfectly capable of comprehending that it did not create itself and that something other than it must be the Author of that creation.

When we call God the Creator it is not that we can understand what it is to be an absolute creator but, rather, to indicate that God is incapable of not creating. Only God can create, that is to say, He can bring something into existence out of nothingness. By this definition humans cannot create but can only be creative with that which they discover and which was created by something other than themselves. God created the material world of nature of which we are a part but according to definition could not have stopped at creating just one world but must have created an infinity of worlds through which our soul, which is not physical, must pass. It follows, therefore, that if our soul must traverse an infinity of worlds that it must also be possessed of an infinity of qualities and attributes that will enable it to function effectively in each of those yet to be experienced worlds and that those qualities and attributes, although hidden and not required in this world of matter, will emerge in accordance with the needs of the world through which it is passing. It further follows that the potential of the human soul is so vast as to be incomprehensible in the same way that an infinity is incomprehensible.

A Prophet has cautioned us that the veil between this world and the next is deliberate and necessary because if any human soul were able to gaze unhindered upon the joys and wonders of the next world it would become so entranced and dazzled by these attractions that waiting to reach that world in the normal course of events would become unbearable and life in this world would become a hindrance to the extent that it would feel compelled to take its own life. Each of the worlds that the soul passes through is by design and is necessary to its spiritual growth and each must be encountered and experienced in its proper sequence in order for the soul to reach its ultimate destiny in that state and condition for which it was designed. Any attempt by the soul to deliberately leap frog from world to world in order to avoid the pitfalls and enjoy the fruits of worlds to come would limit and diminish rather than benefit that soul and so its efforts would be thwarted and its loss would be great.

Accidental death and an abbreviated lifetime are not punishments nor do they retard the progress of the soul for the reason that they are not deliberate or self-imposed and are not an attempt by the soul to subvert the normal course of its progress. Each and every world of God has built in safeguards that not only protect the soul in its journey through it but which also protect that particular world from encroachment by the worlds on either side of it. God works and creates with absolute justice and any appearance to the contrary is simply the inability and ignorance of the observer to perceive that moment or those moments in relation to the overall infinity of the journey. God is incapable of injustice, cruelty, ignorance, or error and the onus is mandatory upon any soul to apply this criteria when appraising any incident or combination of incidents. The surest and most trouble free path that the soul can pursue on its journey through the infinite worlds of God must be predicated upon confidence that God is loving, kind, just, and incapable of mistakes, that all matters occur through the operation of His Will, and that the inherent wisdom of any circumstance will invariably in the inevitable course of time be revealed to us. It is not for the creature to test God but, rather, it is God Who tests His creatures.

When the soul passes from this world into the next it does not come to a sudden stop whereby it is confronted by God, asked of its doings, and is then subjected to the retribution of His judgment. If this were so then there would be no need for an infinity of worlds and since God by his very nature must create an infinity of worlds then it necessarily follows that each world has its own particular set of conditions that are designed to nurture the soul and to cultivate those attributes within that will best fit it for the next world to come so that the continuity of its evolution is unimpaired and its full potential is ultimately attained. It necessarily follows that each soul will arrive in the next world in a state and condition achieved in the previous world and will, whether healthy or crippled by its own corruption, continue in that state and condition from world to world. Its ultimate destiny is predetermined by God and is not subject to alteration, however, the straightness or crookedness of the path to that destiny is a burden that rests squarely upon the shoulders of the soul.