72/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

At present, every human being begins the brief period known as the “earthly life” heavily handicapped by a legacy of materialistic propensities, acquired prenatally; and, in most instances, this subconscious heritage is supplemented and reenforced by conventional education of a similar description;

so that, arriving at the point where independent thinking and acting are possible, men find themselves bound hand and foot, like the fly in the spider’s web, by a network of traditional notions and habitual practices from which they must slowly, and often painfully, extricate themselves.

All eyes are turned toward the twentieth century in hope and expectancy. To those who penetrate beneath the surface of life and feel its deep undercurrents, it seems inevitable that the long promised triumph of the true philosophy of human relations is about to be realized.

It is only quite recently that the value of systematic right-thinking has begun to be appreciated; but its power is practically unlimited. Who would dare to prophesy the results that may be achieved, even within two or three generations, by healthy, vital, idealistic thinking! The possibilities of intelligently directed education are boundless.

Conscious realization is only limited by finite thought; its confines are wholly arbitrary. As the ideal of a divine, cosmic type of man, and a new order of society, appeals with real emphasis to a growing number of people, the movement will gather increasing impetus. Children born and educated to appreciate the larger aspects of life, will find natural tendencies leading them forward to express them.

The marvelous achievements of early Christianity were directly due to the spiritual influence radiated by a single life. “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” What, then, may we not expect when that ideal shall again be manifested in actual life in our midst, as it surely must be at no distant day!