LETTER XLI
A CONCLAVE OF MASTERS
SOME day the races of men will return to the love which they have now forgotten. Some day German and English, Italian and Austrian, French and Turkish, will all sit together at the banquet table of life and drink to the health, not to the death, of one another.
And that day is not so far distant as the present hate and slaughter would indicate.
There is peace after strife, and love after hate, and sunshine after the storm.
Love and hate! To know the one you must have seen the other. Surely I need not tell you this! What did you know of love till you had been hated?
Love and hate are the twin-born children of emotion.
Some day men will look for their enemies within themselves; some day men will fight the evil in themselves, and then they will not need to slay their brothers. Some day love will re-establish itself upon the pedestal of the world, and hate will return to the shades.
I have told you of the evil beings who brought about this war. There are also loving beings who long to do away with war between brother and brother.
To-night in the spaces above the world there is a strange quiet. Is it the quiet before the storm, or the quiet after the storm? It is all rhythmic. Be poised and wait, trusting in God.
Some storms clear the air. The present thunder and lightning will clear the air. Yes, the world has been too sultry, and the atmosphere had to be broken.
Do not cry out, do not weep, do not laugh. Be quiet, and trust in God.
What do I mean by God? Look deep in your heart and see I AM THAT I AM.
In the childhood of the world men believed in a Power beyond themselves. Now in the maturity of the world men believe in a Power within and beyond themselves. That is God, I AM THAT I AM!
Seek the high place of the Spirit and prepare yourself for the service of the world. The Spirit is crucified on the cross of the world. Christ clothes himself in matter that he may raise it. Love wears the garment of hate, that love and hate may become one.
What do I mean? Do you not know that love and hate are One Thing—the eternal opposites that complete each other?
When hate rests, love comes into its own. When love rested, hate came into its own. This night do hate and love unite. Find out my meaning if you can. Look in the glass of visions and find the picture there.
The uniting of love and hate! There is a neutral point where the two join hands.
There is a council held this night among those who serve the world—a conclave of Masters. At what hour, you ask? Go to sleep, and learn the hour. If you are still enough, you may listen at the keyhole. If you are not still enough, you will hear nothing.
Do I seem to write strangely to-night? All things are strange to-night, if by strange you mean unusual.
Be still, and know that God dwells in the hearts of all men, though in some He lies asleep. For the God in you will sleep until you awake Him.
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
Love your enemies, even when they smite you; for the God is asleep in those who smite with hate.
You will never understand your enemy by hating him. You will never understand the Masters until the love and hate in you unite.
On the declaration of peace your love will flow out again to your enemy. Can you not anticipate the event, and love your enemy to-night? The enemy needs love when he shows least of it. Be still, and know that the world is the footstool of the Spirit.
Hate will not serve you. Hate never serves willingly. Remember the words of the Man-God, “Forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Go to sleep now, and listen at the keyhole of the Masters’ council-room. You may hear things that you cannot tell the world.
May 14.