 Do you know that a plant will not grow without leaves? And it will not bear fruit, and will die early, if it has too many leaves? The plant suckles moisture from the earth and the sun draws that moisture away again, through the tiny and innumerable pores of its leaves. So the healthy existence of a plant depends upon the living stream of moisture which must continually flow through the plant. Simply to flow into it is not enough; and when the stem is severed we quickly see the results of too much flowing out, with nothing flowing in. Death is the inevitable result of any continued disturbance of that steady flow of sap up from the earth, through the plant, and on out again into the atmosphere. Of course, a sterile earth can give little sap to the plant and it soon dies; and the more fervently the sun kisses it and draws upon it the more quickly the plant expires. On the other hand, if the leaves are plucked, so that there are not pores enough for the sun to suck the sap through, the plant must die. But plants are wonderfully intelligent little things, and full of ingenious contrivances for regulating supply and demand in such a way as to maintain the equilibrium which means health. The little wild things are wiser than we tame beings, in looking out well for number one. The cactus grows thick, fleshy leaves where it stores up moisture for use in the long, hot seasons when supply is small and demand great. And it glazes its leaves so that the sun cannot draw from it all the moisture it would. Many plants and trees glaze the entire upper sides of their leaves, so that the sun may draw from the shaded side only, where he cannot kiss so fervently. Some trees turn only the edges of their leaves toward the sun. And a great many refuse to grow wide. leaves, and the drier the soil the narrower the leaves, even in trees of the same family. All plants show this intelligence. We human beings are built by the same Intelligence and after the same manner as plants. Our healthy and continued existence depends upon the same law. We, too, draw our sustenance from the earth and give it all off again through our pores and lungs. To glaze our skin pores would kill us. To shut off our breath would kill us. In either case our giving off would be curtailed beyond our limit of endurance. And, of course, to cut ourselves entirely loose from earth (at present)—to cut off our supply of food and water, would end our existence. So we try to maintain a poise of receiving and giving, to the end that we keep on living. Eternal life depends upon eternal poise of receiving and giving. It depends upon our ability to LET life flow through us, unimpeded and freely. This is the law of being. Law is omnipresent. Not a crack nor cranny in all the universe, in all time and space, which is not filled with Law. No place so tiny that the Law is crowded out. No place so large that the Law is dissipated into nothingness . Law is the all-pervading “fourth dimension” of matter, as well as of spirit. Two and two make four. This is Law. It works just the same whether it expresses through worlds or atoms, or through ideas only. Two worlds and two worlds are four worlds; two ideas and two ideas are four ideas. The law of perpetual flow is the law of continued existence of any form, whether it be “physical,” “mental” or “spiritual.” A physical body which refuses to give off as much as it receives quickly dies; if it persists in giving off more than it receives it quickly dissipates itself. A mind which refuses to receive as much as it gives, soon grows weak; if it refuses to give it stagnates and decays. Do you see that the law of life is a good circulation? And that it works in body, mind, and money? A plant. draws its stream of life from the earth. Man has loosed himself from the earth and is learning to depend less and less upon it as his source of supply. He is learning to live not by bread alone, but by the word. He is drawing his supply more and more fully and consciously from the unseen. But this does not free him from the law of good circulation. Plants receive carbonicide and give off oxygen. Man receives oxygen and gives off carbonicide. Plants receive from the coarser and more tangible forms of ‘matter” and give it out. again in finer essence. Man does the same. But man has likewise thrown out roots in the Great Unseen, through which he receives an ever increasing portion of his sustenance; which is brought down and given out in coarser form to earth and plant. Man’s veins and arteries carry the transmutations of earth matter, which he invisibly gives out; while his nerves reverse the order, and throb with wisdom and love, which come down from "spirit" into “matter” and are given off in coarse and concrete form. Just as man must receive food and give out to the atmosphere, so he must receive from the spiritual atmosphere and give downward to earth. He must express wisdom and love, inspired from above earth; express it in terms of earth. Thus it is true that “The worlds in which we live are two, The world I AM and the world I do." Human and divine life are One, and the individual continues to exist as long as there is good circulation between the ideal and the real. Some time in past ages man’s feet were simple roots, fast to earth. He learned by centuries of effort to pick his roots out of the ground and walk off on them—in search of more food. This is a great advantage to him. But if he should now go up in a balloon and stay there for some days, breaking all connections with earth, he would melt into thin air. In childhood the imagination is firmly rooted in the ideal world, and his feet are at the same time firmly set upon the earth. So he grows fast, mentally and physically, and increases in wisdom, love and power. But by and by he begins to detach himself from the ideal. He detaches one rootlet after another and all the other earth folks pat him on the back and congratulate him because he is “growing up” and becoming “sensible.” So he goes on detaching himself from the world of spirit, whilst he plants himself more firmly in earth. By and by he is altogether detached from heaven. He scoffs at such silly, childish visions of glory. He has got both feet loose from the ideal. About this time he reminds me of Pat’s horse, which up and died just as Pat had got him well trained to live on sawdust. Man dies for no reason except that he educates himself to live on earth instead of in heaven, with babes and idealistic fools. Of course, every man has a right to make his choice of associates and places. But by and by, we are all going to be wise enough to choose childhood and a good circulation. |
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