Norwich bulletin., 1910-07-23
THE LAND OF THE REAL.

world. you shrink from taking the first
STEP"
tested stoutly.
yet Dante went first through hell,
and afterwards through purgatory. be-
fore he was fitted to enter paradise.
Can you not see," she went on, that
the passing through purgatory means
only the being purged and purif1ed or
all that prevents our entering upon
casting off of the nom essential and
burdensome in order to recognize and
retain the essential. In a word, 1T Is
the learning our relation to law.
Il see" was my reply. You are
telling me of purgatory that may
escape hell of my own creating.
"What is heII,v she asked, but
human ignorance of good, and trans
gression against the law Of righteous
ness? And what is Righteousness but
right thinking and right doing? We
cannot begin to think right until we
law. And we shall never do right,
despite our best efforts, until we have
learned to think right about our rela-
ton to God and to our fellow men,"
mo" she assented. But right
thinking makes it less difficult 1t
leads US to live higher and deeper and
nobler. Stiller too" she added.
pie. little, easy rule to begin on"
She did not at once respond, but lay
very still in her mound of hay, gazing
with large eyes up and up into the
long that 1 almost forgot my ques-
tioning and was content to breathe
in the fragrance of the summer night
in the sweet do-nothing of semi-clum-
Der.
1.-The world is craving happiness. yet
fearing trouble and sorrow" she said
at last. I'VE never get what We de-
sire as long as we crave ii, while, on
the other hand much that we do great
ly fear does often come upon u.s. Now,
way down under these effects must
exist a cause or causes, which, If we
could find, we might be able to an
initiate. There can be no effect with
out a cause But If we could destroy
the cause, we should not suffer from
the effect. We suffer because of our
Ignorance of eternal law. Our condi-
lions never charge for the better until
we have become deconcfled to them as
they are, until we stop chatting under
them, stop kicking against the pricks,
and have learned to bring a willing
mind to the acceptance of them.
Somewhere, Browning tells us to look
our conditions fearlessiy in the face.
to accept them as ours then to work
in and through them to the best OF
our endaavor, thus working out of
them, If we can. These are not his
words, but my rough Interpretation of
his meaning. You have asked me for
a simple rule by which to overcome
discomfort. Here it is: Resist not
evil"
"The doctrine of non resistance"
said /. rs it possible to live by IT.?
1t is practicable in our daily lives?"
Saints and heroes have found it
so,' she answered. TRUE non-resist-
ance is possibly only to one who vol
unfairly trusts himself to the wisdom
of the Highest. True non-resistance
never means mere idle drifting, nor
ignominiouS giving up. In this, a in
all things else, there is the bedrock
principle and it's shadow, its opposite,
which masquerades as truth but sooner
or later is discovered to be counterfeit
To the unthoughtful, non-resistance
may appear like laziness, or vacillation,
or pusillanimity. In reality Ii is the
be poised, like a bird on the wing 1t
is the thinking no evil, the being de-
livered from evil, the resting in God.
1t is the not battling against I'M
towardness of any sort, the not taking
arms against a sea of troubles. It is
the not striving and struggling, ii is
the not trying to have our own way,
it is the not pushing to the front re-
CARELESS of who may thereby be
trampIed under foot. 1t is not the
strenuous life, nor is ii the simple life
in any feeble sense. 1t is the serene
life, lived as in the world but not of
it. the retreating into that inner
refuge where the eternal essence IL
ever a peace"
Springing to her feet and bending
her radiant smile on me, Dearest"
she said, tenderly. 1T is to live in the
land of the real.
THE RECLUsE.