The Sign Posts.

The inhabitants of a certain country have always been travellers who journey towards a distant city. The roads are many, and numbers lose their way and perish.

By orders of the King, a broad and easy road was therefore constructed, sign posts erected, an army of official guides trained to instruct and prevent wayfarers lagging or going astray. Originally these guides understood their work, and to avoid unnecessary delay, taught the energetic shorter routes; but as time passed on knowledge of the more difficult paths was gradually lost.

In order to keep the road easy, so that the weakest might progress, the road makes wide detours, often going many miles in quite the wrong direction to avoid some obstacle, for the country is rugged and difficult.

The sign posts belonging to this easy road are all painted the same colour called “ orthodox,” the people being taught to look to these and the official guides for directions, a very good plan for the sickly and feeble, but irksome to the more robust, who find the easy gradients and windings tedious and progress towards the goal extremely slow, since the official guides no longer possess information about short cuts for the energetic.

A few years ago some of the travellers, hearing of the existence of an old road which is more direct, but for that reason more difficult, investigated for themselves, and finding how rapidly they got on, returned to tell their friends and to put up sign posts for this quicker route.

A few of the official guides welcomed this rediscovery and gladly passed it on to the others, saying: Why spend all your lives travelling, when by this direct path, that may be entered from any point of the easy road we have all trodden, you can by strong endeavour quickly reach the Golden City?

The majority of the officials, however, refuse to investigate the new route, and continue to do all in their power to prevent others doing so, disparaging the hopeful reports and giving out that “ the easy road is the only route,” and that these new ways must be avoided, for the following reasons:

First, and most important - they say - the “ sign posts” are not lettered with our alphabet! Secondly, although we must admit that personally we do not know anything of the people who erected them, we assure you that they are deceivers and of evil character!

CHAPTER I - The Dawn of Truth

After Darkness comes the Dawn - then Daybreak - and the glory of the Rising Sun.

For many centuries Europe has been in spiritual darkness, but there are signs of a spiritual dawn now being perceived by people in all parts of the world; for though the majority may shut their intelligence to these signs, and refuse to see them, this does not prevent the light increasing.

The sailor knows that in the dim and uncertain light of dawn mistakes are possible, that too great reliance must not be placed on what is seen. Still the navigator does not refuse the assistance of the dawn; on the contrary, he hails it with gratitude, putting all his attention into making the most use of it for the safety of his vessel. In addition to what he can see for himself, he listens to the reports of others, and before acting applies every test suggested by his knowledge, experience and common sense.

We should have a poor opinion of the captain of a ship who, on receiving reports, said: “ No, I see nothing, your imagination is running away with you, it is absurd to pretend to see things which I do not see myself,” and who paid no attention to the warning, or who on the other hand, when an unexpected light was reported, immediately jumped to the conclusion that it indicated danger and altered course to avoid what a little investigation would have shown to be the glimmer of a friendly lighthouse warning him that he is out of his reckoning.

Yet this attitude of mind is similar to that of those who refuse to listen to the experiences of others, or to consider the new light that is being shed on things spiritual.

For ages in Europe it has been said that it is impossible to know from whence comes the Spirit of Man - whither it goes - what it is - or anything practical about its existence before birth or after earth life. We find many of the spiritual teachers still saying, “ These things are unknown. They are not intended to be known. It is impious to try to find out.” To would-be questioners they reply: Do not ask questions. Do not think for yourselves. Do not reason. Be content to believe that at birth your Soul was created, and that at death, after judgment, you will either be rewarded in Heaven or punished in Hell, for all eternity, according as in this life you have believed, or not believed, the simple faith we teach. As to the untold millions who have lived or are now living in other parts of the world without this knowledge, they are lost souls. Only you who live in this favoured part of the world, and attend to our teaching, are the elect of the Creator.”

To these spiritual pilots, as well as to other men, come the reports of the Dawn. Science, through specially trained scientists, working with her physical methods of investigation, reports that in certain particular experiments she finds forces acting for which she cannot account, unless Spirit is the agent that produces the phenomena.

Many leaders of the Church, seeing the approach of the Dawn of Truth, now express their belief in a conscious and active life after the death change. “ Man is the same five minutes after death as he was before so far as his character is concerned” (Bishop of London).

Psychical Research, through specialists in such matters, reports cases, as well authenticated as is possible by human evidence, of the acts of ghosts or the spirits of dead people.

Theosophy and Spiritualism, through special sensitives and seers, report to the careful inquirer of the continued life of Man, or rather of the Spirit of Man, after the change called death, and give from the so­called dead teaching concerning how to live and prepare for the wider life that begins at death. They also furnish cases of direct communication between the living and those who have passed over to the next life.

Both of these teach the Fatherhood and Motherhood of God, the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. They offer explanations of many little-known laws of nature and our being, and besides stating the qualities and characteristics necessary for spiritual life, indicate how to obtain them.

As these schools of thought search only for truth, they cannot be against or destructive to religion, but reveal the spirit and life contained in the various creeds, and throw illumination on the religions of the world. Through clairvoyants and trained investigators they report, with full and scientifically arranged details, facts concerning the life of the spirit, the purpose and use of all the various conditions of human life; as well as giving logical and convincing explanations to many puzzling questions.

The reception these reports meet with is curious; many simply refuse to listen, others, without making any investigation, say “ It is of the Devil.” No doubt the explanation for this is to be found in that queer trait in human nature of objecting strongly to new ideas, merely because they are new, many minds being so accustomed to run in grooves that when a new fact is presented to them they are for a long time unable to consider it rationally.

When trains were first invented one reads that people, well educated and very intelligent on other subjects, said that to go in a train was to fly in the face of Providence; that we were never intended to tear about the world in such a fashion, and that the invention was of the Evil One.

The report of the invention of the telephone was at first laughed at, for it seemed incredible that an instrument could be made into which one could speak, and the voice in some wonderful way be transmitted along a wire miles in length and then be reproduced audibly at the distant end.

Perhaps one should not, therefore, be surprised to see the same attitude of mind towards new information of progress in matters spiritual, and since so many of the orthodox leaders of the Church, whose religious training should have made them specially capable of dealing with these reports, refuse to consider, or even listen; it is left to ordinary people to investigate the matter for themselves.

But one may say, Why should ordinary people trouble about these questions, since at death they will discover the facts? Three good reasons occur out of many.

1. It must be remembered that in each our spiritual nature grows to the extent it is cultivated by thought and attention; all who take the trouble to train in this way will at death find themselves possessed of developed and useful spiritual vehicles. But if during life our attention is concentrated only on physical matters and spiritual affairs are neglected, then the development of the higher vehicles is retarded, incapacity and darkness resulting for a while after the incident of death.

2. If in this ordinary life it were known that at some future date a journey would have to be undertaken to a distant country where one would have to live quite cut off from the previous life, would it not be wise to make some preparation by finding out as much as possible from books and travellers about that distant country, and prepare one's mind by study for the sort of work one would expect to find on arrival?

Is it not obvious that the man who has taken this trouble will be in a much better position than the foolish fellow who has made no preparation, but has contented himself with saying, “ Oh, I shall find out all about it when I get there” ?

3. There is in the present day a world-wide belief that a great Teacher is very shortly coming to the earth.

About 2,000 years ago there was a similar expectation of the Messiah, and we read that the orthodox Church of that day expected, in accordance with its interpretation of the Scriptures, that He would come as a Great King, who would establish a perfect kingdom and slay its enemies. To day the Church expects the Second Coming of Christ and teaches that He will come with power and great glory, and the Scriptures are taken to mean that Christ will literally descend to Earth from the sky, surrounded with angels, to establish a material kingdom on Earth, destroying all who oppose.

We now see that the Church of 2,000 years ago misunderstood, and, owing to its narrow-minded way of reading the Scriptures literally, missed the true spiritual meaning, and could not recognize the Christ when He came as a spiritual Teacher instead of the earthly King it expected; nor could it accept the teaching He brought of a higher standard of life to that which it had set up as sufficient for salvation.

If Christ should now again come to the world not as a King surrounded by angels, but as a spiritual Teacher, bringing revelations of a higher standard of life than is taught by the Church of to-day, is there not danger that the Church will fail to accept Him, and refuse to listen?

And is there not also danger to ordinary people, if they have not thought about these questions and personally studied what I have called the “ Reports of the Dawn,” that they, too, may fail to acknowledge the Coming One?

It therefore seems wise for each of us to consider these most important subjects, and to make use of our brains and intelligence, remembering that on ordinary matters one does not acquire knowledge worth having without effort and study; also that until one has considerable knowledge, a too positive frame of mind is unwise, for we are only in the Dawn of spiritual truth.

Clearly those who so act, besides gaining the advantage of understanding life and losing all fear of death, will be in a most favourable position to recognize the Great Teacher should he come, whilst those who decline to take the trouble to consider these matters, may find themselves in the position of one who, coming suddenly from darkness into sunlight, is so dazzled by the light that for all practical purposes he remains blind.