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BOSICBUCIAN PHILOSOPHY
QUESTION
oSTo. 146.
Would the .contemplation of the God within, if persist-
ently carried on, aid one in spiritual growth and bring
one to adeptship?
Answer: We are living at the present time in the
workaday Western World, where it is our duty to fill whatever
niche is ours. Each of us has a work to do, and if
we shirk it for the sake of a morbid introspection, we shall
not only not grow, but we shall degenerate spiritually.
Some people, unfortunately, think themselves justified
in leaving their earthly duties when they imagine spiritual
progress calls them, but until we have fulfilled every duty
here, there can be no true spiritual advancement; whatever
may seem so will in the end turn out to be dust and
ashes.
The far Eastern countries illustrate, by horrible exam-
ple, the evil results of neglect of material duties for the
indiscriminate pursuit of what they imagine to be spiritual
power. There people emaciate and deform the body by
such practices as holding an arm above the head until it
withers. That is not true spirituality which does not pro-
mote the good of the whole world. It is sometimes said,
that "every herring must hang by its own gill and every
tub must stand upon its own bottom." But it is also true
that what does not tend to lift all will never lift anyone.
A deepseated and heartfelt desire to further the common
good is the only valid justification for expending the effort
incident to cultivation of spiritual power. Stories have
been told of mothers attending mothers' meetings to dis-
cuss how best to care for home and children, meanwhile