53/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
Even the desire to prolong his earthly career until the precepts he had been inculcating in his disciples had become more firmly established in their lives as the spirit of prudence and policy, which too often dictates the course of moral and religious endeavors, would have suggested, did not induce him to abandon his sublime purpose.
Instead of encountering the opposition of the Jews by publicly teaching in Judaea, he could easily have retired to some less frequented locality where, unmolested by his enemies, he might have instructed his disciples more fully in all things relating to “the kingdom of heaven” he sought to establish. By adopting such a course he would have gathered together a large body of sympathizers to perpetuate his work.
But, no; his uncompromising attitude in the face, not alone of personal peril, but, apparently, of imminent danger to the new movement, not yet securely established, was the crowning manifestation, in all ages, of the eternal quality of the life that bears witness to the Truth. An evasion of this issue would have been a practical denial of his faith in the potency of the spiritual type of life.
Christianity is primarily, then, the life which bears witness to the Truth, the spiritual Essence of things. As that is its single end, it cannot deviate from its path to secure incidental results, or seek for rewards in material things. It must achieve success, for the highest success lies in the kind of satisfaction the spiritual consciousness brings.
In the midst of outward circumstances of the most discouraging sort, Jesus preserved a calm, even temper, and exhibited such apparent indifference to his surroundings as to amaze even his most intimate disciples, for they had not then grown to appreciate the meaning of his inner life. Even in the face of impending crucifixion he prayed that his “joy might be fulfilled in them.”
Spiritual consciousness is not an outgrowth of intellectual beliefs or forms of any kind. One must learn to know the Spirit of truth inwardly before he can find it in any book, creed, or act. Superstitions, false notions, erroneous beliefs, and dogmatic assumptions, will ultimately fall away and disappear in the light of spiritual consciousness. “The Spirit of truth . . . shall guide you into all the truth.”
A single, deep desire to know the Truth, is all that need concern the independent truth-seeker. The path ahead will be illumined if he walks by the light he already sees. Adequate intellectual interpretations and knowledge of facts will follow in due time if only one recognizes and appreciates the spiritual Essence of things.