from the position he had gained that made
the further opportunity possible. For him, for the time, further
progress is blocked; he must turn all his efforts wearily to retread the
ground he had already trodden, and to regain and make sure his footing
on the place from which he had slipped. Only when this is accomplished
will he hear the gentle Voice that tells him that the past is out-worn,
the weakness turned to strength, and that the gateway is again open for
his passage. Here again the "forgiveness" is but the declaration by a
proper authority of the true state of affairs, the opening of the gate
to the competent, its closure to the incompetent. Where there had been
failure, with its accompanying suffering, this declaration would be felt
as a "baptism for the remission of sins," re-admitting the aspirant to a
privilege lost by his own act; this would certainly give rise to
feelings of joy and peace, to a relief from the burden of sorrow, to a
feeling that the clog of the past had at last fallen from the feet.

Remains one truth that should never be forgotten: that we are living in
an ocean of light, of love, of bliss, that surrounds us at all times,
the Life of God. As the sun floods the earth with his radiance so does
that Life enlighten all, only that Sun of the world never sets to any
part of it. We shut this light out of our consciousness by our
selfishness, our heartlessness, our impurity, our intolerance, but it
shines on us ever the same, bathing us on every side, pressing against
our self-built walls with gentle, strong persistence. When the soul
throws down these excluding walls, the light flows in, and the soul
finds itself flooded with sunshine, breathing the blissful air of
heaven. "For the Son of man is in heaven," though he know it not, and
its breezes fan his brow if he bares it to their breaths. God ever
respects man's individuality, and will not enter his consciousness until
that consciousness opens to give welcome; "Behold I stand at the door
and knock"[324] is the attitude of every spiritual Intelligence towards
the evolving human soul; not in lack of sympathy is rooted that waiting
for the open door, but in deepest wisdom.

Man is not to be compelled; he is to be free. He is not a slave, but a
God in the making, and the growth cannot be forced, but must be willed
from within. Only when the will consents, as Giordano Bruno teaches,
will God influence man, though He be "everywhere present, and ready