by Walter Winston Kenilworth

The most potent conjurers of the occult are those whose hearts throb with deepest sympathy for the lowly, the downtrodden and the sinful. They know the feelings and thoughts that cloud the lives of the unfortunate. They have climbed the great ladder of psychic progression through births and experiences innumerable. With the vision of Gods they foresee the rise of the lowly by the law of their unconquerable souls even to their own position, finally to merge with them into that Ocean of Endless Being where the manifold finds its Oneness in the Silence and Peace of Nirvana.

Criminals are gods in embryo. They are criminals only as a child is a child. As the latter has the possibilities of manhood or womanhood beneath the covering of a small form with infant expression, thus the imperfect being is imperfect because the powers and perfection of the soul still remain dormant. They exist however.

The Great Ones understand that realization must come to all—to the greatest sinner—yea, even to the lowliest insect. The Vedanta with its “Thou art That,” with its Oneness, sees the God in man and knows that, one by one, the veils which darken or lighten the soul will realize its own true power and glory and splendor—infinite and eternal.

A Logical Inference

Our surroundings are in accordance with the laws of Karma, the spiritual aspect of the law of Cause and Effect, which obtains in the material expression. We have transgressed it or we have obeyed it. Its transgression invariably welcomes physical and psychic disorder; its obedience, spiritual bliss and physical harmony. In this universe everything takes place within the law of attraction. That is Science. What comes to us is ours because of the personal center of attraction in us. If a criminal is a criminal, he is so because there is in his soul those karmic tendencies, generated by himself, which compel him into surroundings conducive for the expression of his criminal soul. Any other theory abolishes freedom of the human will, asserts the operation of haphazard Fate or the whims of a merciless power creating criminals here and saints there. Of course, such theories, that evil is in the soul or mind, and materialized in physical surroundings, in contradistinction to the opposite, if logically followed out, will lead us into voicing Reincarnation, but we cannot escape logic. We are metaphysicians.

The Removal Of Crime

In assisting the criminal we must change the attitude of disgust, fear or loathsomeness, and with spiritual sympathy follow the footsteps of Nazareth’s Sage. When the woman, who had sinned, was brought by the mad mob to be stoned, and the Ancients of the Jews asked Him if, in accordance with the law, she should die, he said: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

To come to more practical forms: mental and moral education are the great factors in the enlightenment of the soul. All our sins and criminals are the product of ignorance. Awaken, as you may, the world to higher aspects of philosophy and religion. Let us be done with superstitions. Broaden the field of psychology, of suggestive therapeutics, of faith in the Divine. Spread the doctrine of physical and moral well-being and physical laws in the face of conventionalism. The well-doer cannot be hindered by the tyranny of custom. Like Socrates or the Christ, like the great martyrs of religious and social advancement, suffer all, renounce all, welcome death even, if needs be. Work with the best of life’s energy for the bringing into being of such forms of social and moral economy as will make the world better in every sense for our having lived. Crime will so much more be reduced and its continued expression rendered less potent.

Lives countless are behind us; incarnations ahead. “Let the dead Past bury its dead.” With the espousal of the humanitarian as our life’s vow, and our motto, “Our’s not to question why, our’s but to do and die,” let us “heart within and God o’erhead” labor for the social and moral progress of the masses. In His gracious wisdom the time must come when crime lessens, when disease and poverty—the two great sources of crime—shall be wiped out with the aid of Science.

Honor be to those legislators, and scientists, and religious teachers whose life-ties bind them in a brotherly spirit to those great souls who watch with care divine over humanities and civilization.

Finding Self-Reliance

Weakness is the most miserable thing that can befall the soul of man. It renders the soul appallingly little; it clouds it like a great night; it enfeebles every noble effort; it dwarfs every latent possibility. Weakness is the cry of the uninstructed. It is the excuse of all the dark shadows which hound the footsteps; it steals every bit of strength; it robs you of your Self. Weakness is born through a lack of Self-reliance, or rather through a lack of understanding of what Self really is.

Know that Self is inherent in all things. It breathes in all beings; it is one with Omnipotence; it vitalizes nature; it is all natural beauty. It is all-knowing, infinite and divine. It is the essence of this passing self which weakness enshrouds in a veil of ignorance of Birthright.

Pass into the great silence of your nature. Learn of the great and silent subtle forces which are at the disposal of the soul, forces which are slow in their processes but unfailing in their fruitage. Stand up; cast aside all weakness. Let the light and the glory of the Self radiate its beauty, its power and its bliss about you. Avoid weakness as you would the most vicious of things. Stamp out of your mind any suggestion which would speak a word of weakness to you. No matter what tribulation comes, no matter what sorrow, rest within the great Self and you will not be disturbed. Nothing can harm You, You who are one with the Immensities, You whose birthright is divinity, You of the Great Spaces and the Great Stars, You whose nature is the All-Powerful and the All-Glorious, You the Ever Perfect, You the Ever Free.