en its own plane, which is the plane of reality. If the level of the waking personal consciousness be akin to that of the soul, much of the personal consciousness clings to the soul when the soul indraws to its own plane during the sleep of the body. The gods and the ways of the gods, in that world, are revealed. But, standing between the world of spiritual reality and the level of waking consciousness, there are the planes of the psychic world, both higher and lower, and the elements of our personal consciousness which have clung to the soul during deep sleep, have to pass back through these planes of the psychic world before entering once more into contact with the physical brain, which is the organ of registration. The lower planes of the psychic world, as they exist in most of us, are planes of confusion, of trivial interests, of intense but passing emotions, which, however, catch our attention again as we go through the process of waking up. Consequently, whatever real experience we have brought back with us from the spiritual world, is likely to become entangled, through association of ideas, with pictures and impressions we have registered previously on these lower psychic planes, particularly at a time when the will is still dormant, as too often it is when we first awake from sleep. The result is a blur, or 'incoherent, meaningless dreams', when we wake gradually, as most people do. On the other hand, when we wake quickly, with alert will, we turn our attention as a rule to some outer duty, or to some form of prayer, and become engrossed in that without first looking for the thread within us which, if we were to pick it up and follow it back, might lead us to the memory of our night's real experience."

"May I ask what you mean by 'looking for the thread within us'?" our Visitor inquired.

"I mean a quiet turning of the heart's attention to anything which may have been brought through'; a quiet expectation that some thought will be found in the mind which, if considered, will open the way for the other connected thoughts and impressions, of which only this one thought has emerged, but all of which were garnered during deep sleep. . . These inner processes, remember, are not easy to describe !"

"But what is the use of thoughts or dreams or of deep-sleep experiences if we do not remember them?" asked our Visitor.

"There are two ways in which to answer that question", the Philosopher replied. "First: we can remember, and we ought to remember, and it is our own fault if we do not. Very few people try. Second: we do remember, inasmuch as many of the most helpful ideas which come to us during waking consciousness, and I suspect by far the greater part of our good will,' are percolations which filter through in the course of the day, from the higher planes of our sub-consciousness, and which were left there in pockets or eddies as we made our way back from deep sleep."

"Humph!" said our Visitor. "I wonder if that's true."

We laughed. "Test all things," the Philosopher rejoined. "Watch your own experience, really watch it. See if, when some particularly clarifying idea comes to you during the day, it will not prove, on examination, to be a link in a chain which you can trace back to a dream, or to some impression received during sleep.

"Theosophy does not dogmatize. It is a record of experiment and experience, which it will do no one any good merely to swallow, and which every student is expected to verify for himself."

"One more question if I may", our Visitor said. "On what plane of being are we to think of the existence of the Lodge? Is there a term to describe such a plane?"

It seemed fair to pass this on to the Ancient. So the Recorder appealed to him, asking him to depart from his usual three-sentence method, and to answer the question fully.

"Not so easy," replied the Ancient. "How describe to a man who has never dreamed-if there were such a man-the world of dreams? People always assume that the physical world is the real world, and that all other worlds, or spheres of consciousness, are relatively unreal. To answer such a question properly, I think you would have to begin by upsetting that idea. You might point out, for instance, how much more real is the psychic than the physical world. A single experiment will prove it. Suppose you are driving in an automobile and you just miss. a serious accident,-turning a corner, perhaps, with a narrow escape from collision with another motor. Your driver stops. Your heart, which for a moment almost stood still, begins to beat violently. You turn pale. It takes some minutes to recover your equilibrium. Do you realize that it is the psychic and not the physical event which has frightened you? By 'psychic event', I mean your imagination of the accident which might have happened. You can prove this by turning your attention instantly in another direction; by forbidding your imagination to look at your escape. Even if you are unable to prevent the initial inner commotion, you will be able to check it completely, not by using your will directly against the physical reaction, but by using it to divert your attention from the 'picture' in your mind which causes the physical reaction. In a hundred ways, and drawing only on the experience of the average man, you will be able to substantiate the statement that the physical world is unreal in comparison with the more intense reality of the psychic world.

"Having jarred, somewhat, the fixed and mistaken ideas of those who see reality only in terms of the physical senses, I think the next step would be to postulate, at a jump, that the physical world, as seen through the medium of the physical senses, and as thus perceived by the lower personal consciousness (the ordinary waking consciousness) is no more than an imperfect and often distorted reflection of the real world, as known to the eye of true vision. This real world is above the

four lower planes, all of which are planes of reflection. Thought of from below, in terms of a three-dimensional consciousness, it would be a world of four dimensions. This means that the 'matter' of the real world, infinitely more real and substantial than the 'matter' of the threedimensional world, passes through or over this 'matter', much as a threedimensional body passes through or over a line drawn on a floor, which, as an obstacle, does not exist. Ordinarily invisible, a real man, a ‘fourdimensional' man, in what Paul the Apostle called a spiritual body, can make himself visible at will to beings on the physical or psychic planes. He can cross the ocean in a steamship if he wants to make contact with the physical world in that way; or he can cross the ocean as you would cross a line drawn on the floor,-almost without moving.

"But the main point to emphasize is that the plane on which the Lodge exists is permanent. Death has no power there. It is a world of activity more intense, of forces more tremendous, than anyone on the physical plane can imagine. But it is not in a state of flux; there are no upheavals; absolute order prevails there. It is a world of changeless values, and it is the world of the future, destined to become manifest to all men who survive the process of selection which you call evolution."

Our Visitor remarked that he had enough to keep him busy-"the thing I call my mind"-for several days, and, explaining that he had an engagement which he ought to keep, said good-bye with many expressions of thanks for what he characterized as our patience with his everlasting questions.

Almost immediately the door opened and a Friend whom we had not seen for some months, quietly entered the room and greeted us with his well-remembered salutation. Some of us wondered if he had passed our Visitor on the stairway, and, if so, whether our Visitor had noticed him. The ability to see that Friend for what he is, even in part, is a supreme test of perception. His intimates say he can travel anywhere unobserved and that, as he goes from centre to centre of the world's activity, he makes less noise and leaves fewer visible foot-prints, than anyone they know,-except the highest. The Ancient has often declared he would never have recognized him for what he is, if he had not been. told, years ago, by Mr. Judge.

We did not ask this Friend where he had been or any personal questions. We knew he had come for a purpose, as he always does.

"I wanted you to know something of their meeting", he said. "I was not there, but I have word, and was told to convey word to you. I quote from memory, but this is my understanding of what I was to say: "We have been considering the future of the world. The phenomena which you see as complicated and unusual, we see as simple and as very familiar. We have lived with these things for ages: the same actions, the same reactions, though on a slightly different plane each time. So there is really no problem, so far as world affairs are concerned.

World affairs invariably are simpler than problems of the individual soul. Your recent studies should suggest one reason why.

""The is my hope. Remember that that which men turn to in haste, and that which many turn to like sheep, following a leader, becomes merely a new name for old habits. Growth is slow. Conversion is not growth. Conversion can be no more than the beginning of growth in a good instead of a bad direction. Therefore I would rather have three men, earnestly striving for discipleship, working together with that in view, and thus constituting a group, than multitudes following a leader, forsaking their old sins only to adopt them again in new forms. The vice of one age, abandoned by thousands, has too often become the religion of the next age, clothed in arrogance and more difficult to convert than the worst of sinners.

"Work steadily, therefore, primarily on yourselves, to align the least of your purposes with mine, that we may become a united body. I desire above all things union of purpose, and then the clear recognition by each that the purpose of the others is his own.

"Do not be disturbed by the upheavals around you. . . . How foolish to suppose that the antagonisms of a thousand years are to be overcome in ten! On the other hand, froth on the surface (all you can see for the most part) is as light as the "statesmen" who produce it. A breath blows it away,-for new froth to form.

"Go forward with serene heart and fixed will. Work for the future. In others, as in the events of life, make yourselves see the permanent, the underlying, the real, and make yourselves distinguish between that and the surface indications. Above all trust my love as the cause of all that happens to you and to those around you, that they too may trust

For nearly an hour he stayed of the days for which we hope. ence, New York or Hell", he said, "so long as they are the centres of his work and peace!"

with us, this Friend of the far past and Then he left us. "What is the differ

T.

When you meditate, desire all the love which a soul has ever had for Me, and I will receive your love according to your desire.

CHRIST TO SAINT MATILDA.

Discouragement in anything is the worst of all faults. It is the death

of manhood.-LACORDAIRE.

DEAR

March 8th, 1914.

Please get and read Fénelon's Letters to Women, and The Spiritual Letters of S. Francis de Sales. They are both in Mrs. Sidney Lear's series. Read one letter at a time and then apply it to yourself. Do not think how well it would do for or some one else, but

think of it as said by St. Francis or Fénelon to you.

Now for general principles-a general Rule for daily use. You are a strange mixture of ups and downs. You have a talk with and it is an even chance whether you go away in despair or in ecstasy. The difference of course is in you and your mood; and your mood is the result of your reaction to circumstances, to daily and hourly events, so that this new rule is an effort to give you something that will prevent these violent oscillations and reactions. It is this: Use your slips, your shortcomings, your mistakes, your negligences, your faults, or sins, if you prefer the term,-use them all as offerings to the Master, just as you would offer him a prayer or some definite act of sacrifice or devotion.

If you have nothing but rubbish to offer him, offer him rubbish ; and be grateful that you have rubbish to offer. Let him be the judge if it all be rubbish. Even New York City refuse is picked over and much of value is found in it before the balance is burned or buried. He will find something of value in the rubbish you offer him, you may be sure. Remember, no agonizing because you have only rubbish to offer him, but gratitude that at least you have something.

Do this quite simply and literally.

You ask: "What is the difference between self-indulgence and selfsacrifice and common sense?" Perhaps you can get a clearer perception of the difference if you think of self-indulgence in terms of self-will. We want our way, not the Master's, or that of any constituted authority. Self-sacrifice is to control that self-will, our natural impulses, our lower nature, in order to do his will. There is a higher stage where we want to do his will; where we have no other will, where self-indulgence is eliminated, but we are a long way from that yet.

With kind regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

DEAR

C. A. GRISCOM.

June 28th, 1914.

I received your letter of the 18th just as we were getting off for Watch Hill. I return the enclosure.