LETTER XXVII
THE WATCHERS
February 3, 1918.
I STOOD one day before a great soul that had renounced the rest in heaven, and questioned him as to the work that called us loudest. What do you think he said?
“Labor with those who fear for the future.”
“Are there so many, then, who look forward with apprehension?” I asked.
“All those who think and see and have responsibilities are apprehensive,” he replied.
Then I wandered here and there about America, looking in upon all sorts of men and a few women. And I read in their minds a great uncertainty.
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” I thought so intensely at them that many responded with a hopeful smile.
Yes, I can win response from many people when I think strongly enough in their company.
The faith of one great soul out here has helped many to stand steady when the winds blew strong against them. He knows that America cannot fail of her destiny; but that she may not take a wrong tack, he would guide the hand and brush the mists from before the eye of the skipper.
There are often mists before the path of the “ship of State” in these grey days. When Wilson took over the railroads, what courage was there! When all is over there will be many to criticize and blame him; but criticism and blame are ever the rewards of those who depersonalize themselves and labor for the good of their country or the world. The man who is great enough to cast his personality overboard is not hurt by criticism. It is only the personality that can be hurt. The soul stands serene and pure above the adverse storms.
I do not advise all men to disregard their personality. Only those who bear great responsibilities may safely become impersonal. The small man, the undeveloped man, could not persuade his soul to take the place of his lesser self. For the soul must be persuaded to descend and dwell in the personality. Most souls are only partially incarnated. The higher self of most men dwells above and apart. It is their Silent Watcher; but it seldom acts save to warn and save. It leaves the lesser self to acquire experience and learn its lessons through suffering and joy, through success and failure. But when the man has so far evolved that his acts become of more than personal significance, then the soul may descend and truly guide and influence the man, for the designs of the soul are ever beyond the personal. It is a conscious part of the great whole, a conscious part of God whom it worships and serves, however the lower self may be immersed in trivialities and blasphemies.
In any man who has not lost his soul the Higher Watcher has an interest. For the Watcher is One and he is many. He is your link with God, Oh, men! He is your link with immortality.
You do not meet him merely by dying, for you may dwell long in the astral and lower mental world before meeting him face to face. But if you can ascend after death to the higher regions, you will find him there waiting for you. You may bring to him all the fine fruits of your recent life, and he will enjoy them with you.
I have met my soul face to face; but I am unable to remain in the higher regions in peaceful contemplation of his beauty while there is so much work to be done for the races on earth as calls to me now. Bye and bye I shall re-ascend; but when I go to heaven for a long sojourn you will hear from me no more.
Yes, I too have seen your soul. But I need not describe its face to you, who see it better than I. Cling to it. The failure of mortal friendship has no power to shatter the faith of one who can reach to his own Silent Watcher. And the soul of the faithless friend is pure as his own, and understands all things. Friendships, like loves, are made in heaven, and true friendship cannot die. Its roots are deep in waters of eternity. It is deathless as the Ygdrasil, and its roots are also above and its branches below.
But it is better to fail in business than to fail in friendship.
If a man is great and strong enough, he may draw down his soul to dwell with him wherever he may be. Then the man is a whole man, he is an adept. Lincoln is such a man, such a soul. He has become one with his Higher Watcher, and the two that are one can work even in the regions of the astral. But such a marriage of heaven and earth is uncommon, as adepts are uncommon.
Your father in heaven is one with the Father, and if you are really one with your father in heaven he can dwell with you even on earth.
The higher souls of men are closer to men now than they have been for ages. The doors have been opened. Grief and terror and pain and devotion to ideals of duty have raised the race of men in three and a half years as it could not have been raised in a hundred years of peace. If the race falls back now, it will be a lost opportunity. But the race will not fall back.