|  THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH
THE ZODIAC MESSAGES

"SELF-PRESERVATION".
A reading of an address by the celestial messenger
'Zodiac', given through the deep trance mediumship
of Miss Winifred Moyes at the Zodiac Circle, 15 Nightingale
Square, London, SW12, on Saturday, 3rd July, 1926...
"O Christ the Saviour of mankind, we thank Thee for
Thy wonderful gift of Love, and we ask Thee to teach
us how to love in turn. We ask Thee to so inspire us
with love for others, that we, in miniature, may reveal
something of the mighty Love which Thou hast for all...
"O God, loosen the chains of the physical mind, and
grant that Thy little children may be able to perceive
beyond today, may be able to look into the future and
see what yesterday has wrought... Oh give us consciousness
of the great purpose which underlies the discipline-of
physical life; grant that we may learn our lessons
- not reluctantly, not with doubt and misgiving, but
with certainty that what is, is best. and that out
of our pangs we shall arise renewed, remade; for Love
has called us to take the steep path and Love protects
us each step of the way...
"O Christ, cleanse us, imbue us with a sense of responsibility
toward our greater selves, and grant that as Thy children
in faith we may approach Thee for healing and find
the comfort which Thou holdest out to all...
"fah-the, we thank Thee, thank Thee that we can come
and get this reassurance, which makes the past so clear,
and which reveals the glory of the days to come...
fah-the, we thank Thee... Amen...
"My little children, tonight it has been laid down
that I speak to you upon a subject which is closely
al-ied to your own lives, that I should teach you just
that little portion of Truth which will enable you
to say within yourselves: 'God's way is Love, God's
way is Light'.
"My children, when thaat which is of God within. takes
upon itself any experience which holds pain, you may
be certain that the spirit, in a measure, is free.
Those in your own lives whose path appears smooth,
they represent to the blinded eyes of man, success
- something to be envied, something which it is desirable
to possess. But we who are free - and those many who
love you who have laid aside the garment of flesh -
we look at things from an aspect totally opposite to-that
presented by the earth...
"Oh think you to yourselves: Is it not reasonable that
those who have so much, that those who fly to this
and that distraction, who fill their lives with non-essentials,
with the encumbrances which keep the true self, as
it were, in sleep - that these, holding in their hands
so much of-that which is of the earth, earthy, they
have no room for the things which are of God.
"Confuse not my meaning. The things of the world, the
gifts of the world - they can be used to demonstrate
Christ in the world, but not by retaining, not by harvesting
for self, but by showing the love which lies within
by giving out of that which is your own to others...
"My children, is it not reasonable that the Christ
who suffered so much, who laid aside all those things
which seem so desirable to the unevolved soul, is it
not reasonable that Christ gives of Himself to those
who desire to follow in His steps? Sorrow, suffering,
the betrayal by friends, aye, and the pains of the
body, the deep anguish of the spirit within. these
things were the Christ portion, this was the lot chosen
by the Holder of all...
"So it is, my little ones, that in your troubles, in
your griefs, ah, their you contact with the Beloved,
with the One who understands you best. And because
your fah-the and Mother God comprehends that to little
children, the way sometimes seems over-hard, your fah-the
and Mother God has bid me give you that explanation
which will, for the time being, make the past seem
clearer, the present more understandable, and the future
full of promise and hope...
"Children, I speak tonight on 'Self-Preservation' -
and I want you to consider, with me, thaat which you
regard as the preservation of self.
"Even from the world's point of view, much lies in
that word which is good, and, again, much that seems
even as the wilderness-of self in its lowest sense.
Those who are thrifty, those who look forward to the
coming of that which they name a 'rainy day', if their
resources allow, they try to make provision; they say
within themselves: 'Youth will pass, and old age will
overtake me; I must take care lest in-that far time
I am left in straits which are hard.
"And so they do without this, and they decide to reserve
that. and that in itself, because it shows forethought,
is good, but only in the degree that it represents
forethought for others. They wish to be not a burden
on the one they love, they look around and they see
those in their vibrations who have burdens of their
own, and they would not add to them, they would not
be the-last straw which breaks the back of the one
who wishes to do his best...
"That. dear-children, is the world's view, and then
we get a little higher up. There are the parents who
not only anticipate the day of want for themselves,
but they are troubled, lest perchance trouble overtake
the ones they love so well. And these, parents in spirit
as well as in name, think to themselves: 'While I can,
I will make provision, so that my child can face the
future with an untroubled mind'.
"You see, dear-children, that their sense of self-preservation
has got a little nearer to the spirit of the Christ,
who taught us so much...
"And then the third stage is this: Young or old, they
commune with themselves, drawing from the wisdom that
is stored within. and they say: 'Yes, I have provided
for the material needs of my child, but how about their
character. How about food for the hungry spirit. Can
I provide the Bread of Life. Am I fit to pass on to
them that which I have myself. Does the future hold
for them protection from the ills of the world, but
a heart and mind easily assailed by temptation, when
all my thoughts for their material needs are swamped
by the lack of the peace of God which should be within'.
"Ah, my children, you see that, in this, the spirit within the parent is awake indeed; you see that the one gifted with a child - the most precious possession that anyone can have - is, in miniature, trying to copy His Father God, trying to minister to that which must feed or starve, to provide strength for that which must fight or be conquered, to give to the individual the treasure which shall never be taken from them - or to erect in their path obstacles between them and their God which it will take uncountable years, long after the body is forgotten, to cast away...
"And then, dear-children, we will get away from the
earth side, from the weakness and the strength, from
the courage and the shrinking, and we look at God's
side, as it were, free from the body, free from that
most distorted vision thrust upon the children of the
earth by those who are chained themselves; and we stand
and from within look out over our lives, over the saddening
experiences, and what do we see? Oh children, a hope
so glorious, a promise radiant with the love of God.
"Think you to yourselves like this: 'Self-preservation'
- what meaning lies beneath those words? Oh it must
appeal to all. Not to provide a week of happiness,
of freedom from obligation and responsibility, and
then, when those brief days are over, to find yourself
in a wilderness where love and service have no place.
Is this self-preservation? Nay, the most extravagant
folly, even looked at from the lowest material point
of view. It is the act of the speculator, of the gambler,
not of the one of judgment, not of the one who can
be relied upon to provide for themselves and those
others in their care.
"Yet, this is what takes place, and that is what the
children of the earth envy, out of their ignorance
of things as they are. Children, this physical life
of yours is shorter than a week, is shorter than a
day, compared to the Life which has no end. The experiences,
the blows, the pangs, yes, severe they may be; but
if this was presented to you - if you were asked to
endure a night of pain for the sake of the freedom
from anguish during the long days to come, would you
not say it were madness to refuse, would you not say
that only the foolish could be so short-sighted when
so much lay at stake.
"This then is the Christ view, and this is as physical
life will seem to you even a few short months after
the body is no more. Then you will stand, gifted with
the sight of the spirit, able to penetrayte into the
past, able to view-that portion-of the future which
you can bear, and my words will come back to you: 'Even
as the short night of pain was life to this little
earth, even as the short night of pain'.
"My children, when the spirit within you chose its
experiences, chose its sorrows, oh, thaat was self-preservation
in the Christ way, self-preservation as the God within
you saw and understood. What was it fighting for. Ah,
for that which shall never pass away. What had it in
view. Thaat nearness to the Saviour, to the One who
endured so much, thaat fragment of understanding without
which you are powerless to work when all-that which
is your real self cries out to do, to construct.
"This then is the teaching of the holy Master. To the
many who have found the hill to God so steep, I speak:
I tell them that the spirit within took the long view
and forced the mind of the body to acquiesce. Oh my
children, can you not grasp the value of experience,
can you not see God's Hand at work. Think you in your
daily life: To whom do you go in your difficulties,
in your trials, with those secret griefs. Ah, to the
one who can understand. Not to the one who has the
possessions of physical life, which, so often, bring
selfishness of heart; not to the one who is immersed
in probing the secrets-of science and of the things
of the earth, for such a one, as yet, has not penetrated
into the wisdom of the Spirit; not to the one whose
life is level and care-free, because they cannot understand...
"Yes, when grief folds its grey garment around you,
when the heart seems as though it were nigh unto breaking,
then-that which is strong with in first thinks of Christ.
and then, because you are in a physical world and you
feel the need of physical sympathy, of one like-placed
as yourself and restricted by the narrow view. So in
your mind, you go over those you know. Is the Christ-spirit
within this one. Ah no, they could not understand.
Is the Christ-spirit within that one. They are as children
in experience, they know nothing of the deeper anguishes
which assail the heart. Then, at last, perhaps you
find one, just one on earth, to whom you can take your
sorrow and be certain of that sympathy which indeed
expresses the Beloved of us all...
"This is the physical stage - and I speak most solemnly
- I say it is God's will, that the children of the
earth should be able to go to their own kind and receive
- not criticism, but compassion and understanding.
And woe unto those who have shut themselves in the
prison-house of self, who can look on the troubles
of others and say: 'It must be through some fault of
their own'. Woe unto them, for they have not yet left
the valley, and freedom is far from them.
"Oh my children, the value of experience, the gifts
it brings. Each time your heart is wounded, why, is
it not preparation, is it not giving you that understanding
which will enable you to soothe another? And when the
body is no more, those realms-which are Spirit, are
barred from you if you have not, in your hands, the
tool of sympathy, the weapon of love, the most precious
possession of understanding.
"So, my little ones, you see what God's Love works
out of the evil which has struck you, out of the very
blows which have fallen upon you from those who are
bound and maimed by the physical mind. Cannot you see
how God has taken the wish, the desire to strike, and
brought you gain, given into your hands the key-which
will open the door-into realms-of happiness totally
beyond your comprehension now.
"This is the Christ view, this is the true view; and
when you hear from one and the other, that coldness
has been given in place of sympathy, when others pass
you by on the other side and ministered not to your
wounds, oh, pray for them, for they have much to learn.
And thank God for those wounds, thank God for pain,
thank God for the laying aside of the toys of the earth,
thank God that the spirit within you was sufficiently
awakened to fight for the preservation of self; for
though you mourn during the short night, joy cometh
in the morning, and the blessing of the Most High not
only awaits you, but surrounds you now - you are centred
in the Love which never fails...
"This is the only view of self-preservation which has
truth in it, which will remain after the earth stage
has been forgotten. And I entreat you - because I fight
for-that which is of God within. I entreat you to open
the shutters of your mind and to let the sunshine of
understanding shine in, when you will be able to place
your troubles where they belong, when you will rejoice
because, though the mind of the body complained, the
spirit held on; though things went so hard, self -
the real self - was preserved...
"Yes, my children, we see things so differently when
we are free, and we see that it is not God's wille
that His little children should tread the steep path
without this knowledge, without this explanation. And
those who have faltered on the threshold of Wisdom,
who have found themselves silenced by the grief of
a mother, a mother whose child, so she thinks, has
been taken from her - when the representatives of Love
have no explanation, no hope with which to soothe the
tortured heart, those - aye, and there are mennie -
those who could have known, and faltered upon the threshold,
these must suffer when illumination comes...
"Christ, upon earth, sought to prepare His children
for this great Truth - for this further revelation
of the Love of God - but they could not understand.
They could not understand until sorrow had gripped
them, and then because of the love within. seeking
here and their, for the Beloved who had gone from them,
so out of their anguish the Light - some portion-of-the-Light
- was able to find a lodgement within the mind of the
body; and that Light they gave to others...
"Butt, children, the door between them and revelation
was the same - so ominous it appeared, so high so darke
so impenetrable. And that door is sorr-owe, but the
key is within your hands. By faith all things are overcome,
by trust you have not to hack down-that barrier, but
in your hands lies the little jewel which turns the
lock, and the glory of God lies beyond...
"Yet, there are mennie, who, weeping sore over-that
which has taken place, find themselves too weak, too
ignorant spiritually to arise and ask how to pass through,
how to get free from that which thwarts. Here is your
work and here is our work. Because we know and because
we have seen, because faith has been present though
doubts assailed, so we can go to the weak, the frail,
the broken-hearted, the ones who have stumbled by the
way - and by our personal experiences, yes, out of
the very suffering which has torn our hearts, we can
raise them, teach them, strengthen and inspire them,
so that they too may pass within and sorrow is no more...
"That is the Christ work, that is the work to which
you are called. The things of the world, aye, though
they bear a semblance to the things of the Spirit,
they are the second-best; and they are snatched up
by those who have not found-with in the strength to
seek and to find, who wish to go forward on the efforts
of others, who are unwilling to take the laborious
steep hillside. They come to the door - the selfsame
door, so they think - and a door is there, but it is
not the door of sorr-owe; it is-that which has been
built by those out to deceive, who say to this one
and that: 'A shorter way is here - this also leads
into the glory of the beyond'. And lo, because of that
which is missing within themselves, they go forward
and are enchanted by what they see.
"But, my children, it is but the beauty of the Summerland
which lies before them - the temptation - that great
temptation, which, because they wanted the easy way,
they have entered into, and know not how to find a
way out...
"Oh think you not that I judge anyone, think you not
that I condemn, but the way to Christ is ever the same.
Doors there may be in plenty, but only by the door-of
sorrow can you step into those conditions which are
pure, which are Spirit through and through.
"And so, my children, in going back over the past,
say not to yourselves: 'I have lost this, I have laid-that
aside; here an enemy struck me sore, their a friend
betrayed'. But look at Christ and thank Him, thank
Him for the gift - the gift of sorrow - which He has
turned into unlimited gain; for lo, thaat which seems
so hideous to you now, bound by the flesh, will, when
you are free, put into your hands the power to do-that
work which then will seem all important, which then
will represent the spirit's sole desire...
"The earth view and the Spirit view, so strangely different
- but it was not God's wille that the children of the
earth should have been deceived so long. Here and there,
a strong man, a strong woman, rose up, and by faith
penetrated into understanding, and taught others-that
which-they had learnt themselves. But the majority,
like sheep, followed after a shepherd who knew not
the land, a shepherd who, because of that ignorance
- and because of his fear to put faith to the test
- led them along the valley, and failed to find the
freedom of the hillside.
"Oh my children, the responsibility upon these teachers,
these expounders of the Word of God: Pure though their
hearts may be, anxious tho they are to serve - and
this is treasure held for them in the days to come
- yet, that will not stop the deep reproach-of the
Divine within because they failed to take God at His
word, because they clove to the old familiar paths,
which, though they led not down to the precipice, yet
indeed took not the flock out of the valley up the
steep road which all must climb...
"And then there is this: Children, steepness and roughness
are entirely the result of misunderstanding; they have
the power to torture the mind of the body solely because
the meaning of Life has not been revealed. Oh think
you to yourselves this: Would you not willingly, gladly,
joyfully, take that which was difficult, if you knew
that a span-in front lay your heart's desire. Is there
a mother - nay, there is no mother - who would flinch
if, by undertaking-that which took toll of the body,
she could reach the child she loved so well.
"Her child - ah, from the child, think of Christ, for
though love may fill your being for the little one
you have brought into physical existence, I say that,
in comparison, you know not love until Christ has been
seen, has been felt; but out of the love you give to
the child - out of that love - you have gained a fragment
of understanding of the Love of God...
"So, my children, in reviewing your lives, thinking
in the Christ way, so comfort will come. Say not to
yourselves: 'How unfortunate I have been' - but: 'How
wonderful are the ways of God that He has allowed me
to take on this and that for a little space, so that
in the Great Hereafter, I may have the joy which nothing
can quench'.
"Self-preservation - how wide a word is this and how
little understood! Self-preservation - preserving your
real-self, thaat which is of God within. preserving
it from the enemies which would maim; preserving it
so that when the garment of flesh is cast from you,
you may be free from the memories of the earth, from
the bondage which it represents; aye, and from the
spiritual ignorance which it stands 4 to so menie...
"And then there is this which must be put into words
tonight, and swerving a little from my custom, I speak
to the one you name Alice, (Note: Mrs. Hornstead). Instructed by my Master I tell her this:
"Child, in the past there was one to whom you gave
much, and that one - understanding not, as it were,
a prisoner in the dungeon of self - that one failed
even the little which might have been expected; and
there were times when the mind and heart questioned
why, questioned why.
"Tonight, I speak to you in explanation: Had it not
been for your love, had it not been for your forgiveness,
that man, for many an age, would have been in a wilderness
which was twilight indeed. This then is what has been
wrought by pain, wrought by those sufferings which
cannot be voiced in words. Using the very pangs within
you, Christ, the Healer of all, redeemed His child
and brought him into the Light. But without that which
you gave and what you have given since, it would have
been impossible until many a year had passed.
"Think you to yourself like this: 'I may have suffered,
yet what is my suffering compared to ages of suffering
and of isolation for another human soul.' Using your
love and forgiveness, the one who had forgotten to
preserve the self within. has awakened to his responsibilities
and all is well... Tonight, shaken, it is true; weak,
it must be so; but tonight, in this room, that man
is present; he has come to receive his baptism, and
though he cannot speak to you direct, I pass on to
you his gratitude, his gratitude to the one he used
so ill...
"Mighty is the Mind of God; infinite are His ways of
mercy. Oh the tools that are used, the thoughts, the
desires, the holiness which is culled from one and
the other... If there is a child on earth who can be
sure of having saved one other, great is their reward.
If there is one who, by suffering, yes, by the suffering
which real love brings, has brought consciousness of
Love to another who understood it not, will not they
say: 'God's ways are best. God's Mind is Love itself'.
"Oh on little things we build, because we know that
it is in the little things that the courage so often
fails. Out of the little acts, out of the little attentions,
out of the thoughts - those thoughts which are prayers
- so the one who had condemned himself to that which
represented loneliness indeed, has been brought back,
and henceforth will serve his Master and thus redeem
that which he threw away...
"Most solemnly I speak, and there are others present
to whom this personal message equally applies; I bid
them take heart, I bid them get the Christ view, and
I bid them count their treasures - for that which represents
loss has been transformed into a gain no words can
express...
"Now, my children, I will leave you. I want to underline
that tonight is essentially a night of work. Those
whom you love came to you on another occasion; my children
here, they expect not either this one or that, I underline
that tonight is a night of work - work upon the spirit
- and though the mind of the body retains but a fragment,
the spirit within has learnt and learnt... And now
I go".
(Note: After others had spoken, Zodiac returned and
continued.)
"Well, my children, I bring this sweet communion to
a cloze with the thought of the bountiful gifts of
God - how the-fah-the, ever mindful of the individual
needs, pushes aside that which would seem to you as
'best', and in its place puts that which is the highest
of all...
"Tonight, dear-children, there has been wrought that
which you know not; tonight, we have met together in
Spirit, physical restrictions for a space having been
laid aside; I have treated you as disciples of the
holy Master, as those willing to work for Him, willing
to give, willing that those natural desires should
be set aside...
"Yes, the highest and the purest and the sweetest -
to-that you are called by God Himself; for in the following
of the steep path, so those entanglements - built up
by the world and held together by the doubts of mankind
- so those entanglements are thrown from you, and you
as pilgrims pass on.
"Yet, in passing-on - and oh, remember this - in passing-on,
send back your power, your strength to retrieve others.
Literally on the pangs you have borne and the sorrow
which has filled your heart and mind - literally on
this, you climbed the hill to God, and it has built
steps for others - steps out of the physical desire
for ease, out of the cloying pleasures of the world,
out of ministration to the lower self, into the preservation
of the self which lasts for ever...
"And now, my children, I will leave you. I have used
up the physical strength of my child, but the strength
and the power of the Spirit of God dominates all things.
"In His Name I ask you to rise and fight for the very
best - to put aside everything which comes between
you and that lofty ambition; for the spirit within
is strong and the spirit within is sure, and in these
days there are those wanted, who, with all reverence
and in true worship of God, will say: 'From henceforth
my life is dedicated to Christ, dedicated to the God
who created me, to the Divine purpose, to that most
compassionate plan -the freeing of the bound, the opening
of the prison-house for those who have condemned themselves
therein, the encouragement of the weak, and the purification
of all'.
"Oh remember that the heart and the mind of the individual
can be purified only by the Love for Christ which is
within. and that that love can only be demonstrated
by your efforts in regard to others. Therefore, the
path in front is self-preservation in the Christ sense
- the preservation of-that holy gift which God Himself
bestowed.
"And now, my children, I will go... Rest in peace,
and let the consciousness of the Christ Presence linger
after I have left you in this way - the consciousness
of the Christ Presence. Let your thoughts and let your
speech be of those things which last for ever...
"Goodnight my little ones".
The Zodiac Messages © 1965 - 2019 incl.
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