38/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

The eternal life is not a dream of the future; it is without beginning or end, centered in the eternal NOW.
Outer phenomena are symbols of inner experiences. We are acquainted with matter in solid, liquid, and gaseous states. When any solid substance is exposed to a definite degree of heat, it is reduced to a liquid.

Likewise, when the temperature rises to a definite point still higher, the liquid becomes a volatile gas. Through the influence of heat, ice is converted into water, and water into steam. In the solid state it is characterized by rigidity a tendency to hold unyieldingly to its own.

This state corresponds to the cold, crystallized, materialistic, selfish, exclusive, personal type of life which refrains from giving out or relinquishing its selfish life, for fear of losing something it deems its rightful possession. In the liquid state it is characterized by mobility a tendency to relax, spread out and extend superficially, thereby parting with specific distinctions of form.

This state corresponds to the broad, mutual, inclusive, social type of life, which reaches out and sacrifices itself for the common good, never fearing the effacement of individuality or the loss of its own peculiar rights and prerogatives.

In the vaporous state it is characterized by expansiveness a tendency to move out in all directions and to escape from confinement by bursting asunder the bonds that restrain it. This state corresponds to the spontaneous, eternal life the life of spiritual freedom that transcends finite limitations.