THE HUMAN SOUL’S PAST

Most men and women hope for a future. The religious voices proclaim that there is a future for man other than in a racial sense upon these outer planes; that there are Heavens beyond; that there are Angelic ministries. But even the voices that proclaim such, seem to have no past for the Soul. Where was it in the ages when the prophets spake? Where was it during the time of the long night, when all the children who were upon these planes anguished in the degree of their consciousness, because of their travail?

The present is built up out of the past. The present is the crown of the Past. Even all the evil that is in the world today is the manifestation of the up-gathered evil which has been prevailing through the ages. Everything has its fruitage. An evil thought, until it be changed, bears its own fruit. You cannot grow figs (wisdom) on thorns, (prickly and smiting thoughts). You cannot produce grapes out of stubble. The spiritual status of every Soul contributes to the sum of the Race; and the sum of the past ages of the individual’s growth is related intimately to the growth of the Race. The state of individuals and nations to-day is the resultant of the past. The evil that is in the world, with all the manifested inter-racial hatreds, is the sour-grape of ages, the fruitage of long misdirected desire and purpose. Likewise, whatsoever there is of good is the resultant of the past yearning of the Being. And as the present is the resultant of the past, so the future is dependent upon the present, and will be exactly commensurate for the individual, the community, the race, and for the world, with what to-day brings forth.

THE MYSTERY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

What is consciousness? It seems elusive. We cannot touch it. We cannot hold it. Nor can we fully define it. We can, however, define and relate its powers. Is it evanescent like the things that come and go as the passing of years? Does it just come and go as the Human Soul moves on to or away from these planes? Is it never permanently suspended?

We know that in sleep consciousness seems to be partially, if not altogether, suspended. In a very deep sleep the individual, on awakening, has no consciousness of anything nor of the time that has intervened. Yet in the awakening, consciousness flies back to the individual. Where has it been?

If we understand consciousness, we will know that it is of the nature of those things which never die. It is of the Eternal. It belongs to the Eternal. It is of the Spirit. And, like the Spirit, its limitations of operation are conditioned by the vehicle through which it operates. Consciousness on the outer planes becomes manifest when we are functioning through the vehicle which corresponds to the objective world, to the realm of observation, to the field of outer activity. But when the activity of the outer ceases, and the power of observation within the objective world becomes veiled for the time being, consciousness does not cease to operate. It is active in other spheres. Even in your sleep you are being ministered unto. Soul as well as body grows during sleep. Had it not been so through the ages, you would not have been here in the high state of consciousness you are in today. But for the guardianship of the Heavens you could not possibly have endured the ages of travail. And in that guardianship there has been ministry given during the night-watches. “HE giveth unto HIS beloved ones in sleep.” Oft-times lovely thoughts break upon your mind during the day which have been given to you in the night-watches. The new energy with which you awaken in the morning has not been gathered altogether from the hours of rest of the outer vehicle, but from the renewing of strength through Angelic communion whilst the vehicle slept. The new hope with which you awaken to undertake your earthly burden which, on the previous day seemed to fill you with despair, has been poured into your cup by some lovely ministrant whilst your body and mind rested from the burdens of the daily round.

Consciousness never dies. When an individual passes from these planes and is said to have died, the consciousness which is of the Spirit, is indrawn. It is withdrawn to another realm. It may be that greater vision and fuller realization, come of being liberated from the limitations with which it has been consciously bound.

Quotation from The Continuity of Consciousness (pp. 7-9) by John Todd Ferrier.
© The Order of the Cross

The quotation from The Passing of Souls relates to the above.

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