by Dr. & Mrs. F. Homer Curtiss

IN every heart there is a well so deep and still that it can reflect only one star at a time, and this star, whatever it be, is, for the time it is reflected there, the guiding star of your destiny.
Isis, 36-3.

To think much about your shortcomings and limitations is but to give them life and force, for thoughts are things and create after their kind. Determine to think strength, love and confidence until you draw them to you and build them into your life.
Letters, 19-2.

Every positive stand you take builds character, increases your strength, lifts you out of your negative state, gives you power to conquer your weaknesses and tends to make promptness, courage, resolution and trust habits which will replace the negative habit of making excuses.
Mental Foundation, 2-2.

Know well that no matter how lofty a philosophy may be, or how good a lesson, unless it brings to your individual Soul some practical application, something that you can work into your daily life, that philosophy is of no account to you.
Letters, 59-3.

He who feels another’s sorrow, who forgets self for others, has realized, in measure at least, the Divine.
Isis, 73-3.

If you cannot find time to enter the Silence, still no power in heaven or earth can keep the Silence from entering into you if you will let it.
Isis, 33-1.

You will never find Truth in any teachings if Truth, to you, depends upon the perfection of the instrument through which that Truth is expressed.

You must cultivate the power of spiritual discernment and not allow anything to tum you aside from Truth.

Learn to seek Truth for Truth’s sake.

Look for it among the stubble and muck of life, and in the dark places where humanity crawls in filth; look for it hidden under the mountains of selfishness and self-sufficiency of teachers; seek for it as a Jewel of Great Price that has been lost; for you may find the Jewel where you least expect it. But first rise up and sweep your own house diligently.
Letters, 211-12.

Every fault is a virtue perverted and every hard circumstance of life is a stimulus to learn a needed lesson.
The Lord Jesus Christ, ii. 3-3.

As to failings, we all have them.

The greatest example the world can have is to see a brave Soul struggling to do right.

It is those who are honest with themselves; who know their own weaknesses, yet are striving to conquer; who recognize that they are not above their fellow men; who are capable of feeling a sympathetic thrill with every failing and can grasp a brother’s hand and from the heart encourage him to struggle onward – because they themselves are still struggling – they are the ones who are the real examples.
Letters, 40-41.

If you have a fault you wish to correct, create its opposite.

Think no more about the fault, but put all your thought on its opposite.

Put your failures behind you. Give them no more force by thinking of them or worrying about them.

Live each day for itself, for if you can conquer one day at a time you conquer all.
Letters, 203-205.

If the world’s sorrow oppresses you, remember that the very best you can do toward lifting that heavy load is to make a center of joy and gladness in your own heart. . . .

The only way really to help humanity is to take hold of that morsel of humanity over which you have been given command (your various bodies and all pertaining to them, the portion of goods belonging to you – given to you by your Father before you took your journey into this far country of earth-life) and begin by redeeming it. . . . This is the sure, in fact, the only true way to become an agent of the Masters.
Letters, 167-2; 39-1.

If you study Hamlet, you will find that in his attempt to set the world aright he only brought sorrow and suffering to himself and those he loved, and sacrificed not only his own personality but also the personalities of others in his misguided attempt.

No person has ever been born to set the world aright except so much of it as he finds expressed in his own personality.

If you mind your own business and let the faults of others go, trusting to the Law to straighten them out, and confine yourself to straightening out your own faults, you will realize the joy that comes from such conquering.

When you cease to worry over the faults of others, it will be like a physical burden rolling from your shoulders.

If you have never done this, try it merely as a physical experiment for your own happiness, and the results will prove its truth.
Isis, 95-3.

If you were in a congregation which was singing out of tune, the best way to bring about harmony would be, not to stop the singing and talk about it, but to sing steadily and firmly in perfect tune yourself. Those next to you would catch and spread the harmony until all were singing in tune.

It will be only the working out of this law of harmony that will ultimately redeem “the round world and all that dwell thereon.”
Isis, 97-1.

Every Soul has implanted within it, as an integral principle, the power of intuition, just as every mineral, vegetable and animal has the power of selection or instinct, which leads it to follow the lines of evolution best fitted for its growth and perfection in accordance with its environment.
Letters, 94-2.

During the darkness, while we sleep, all the stored up energies of the invisible rays begin their cycle of activity and our bodies grow and put forth anew, according to the pattern we have set for our physical lives.
The Iron Age, 3-4.

Poise is the result of self-knowledge. . . . It is not stoical indifference to pain and pleasure, but rather rising above it.

Poise is the ability to remain calm at the center, and while recognizing and understanding both the greatest joy and the greatest sorrow, not be carried to either extreme.

To enjoy intensely carries with it, as the opposite swing of the pendulum, the power to suffer to a corresponding degree.

We never reach a point where the waves of force generated by the opposite poles, pain and pleasure, cannot reach us, but we can rise above them so they cannot sweep us from one extreme to another.
Letters, 41-2.

Colored blocks are necessary in the kindergarten, primers for children, textbooks for the training of the mind in school and college; but when the mind has been trained it must then put that training to use in a practical way: in business, under the head of the firm or manager; in art, under a great teacher; in spiritual things, under a Master of Wisdom.

But, remember that, because you are no longer interested in the colored blocks or primers you once thought so beautiful; you are not to despise the children who still cling to them, or find fault with the teachers of the a-b-c’s.

All have their place, and the children will grow away from the blocks when they have learned their lessons, just as you have grown.

The proof that you have outgrown earthly organizations will be the love and tolerance with which you treat all your brothers and sisters who still feel the need of such methods.

To rail at organizations, especially one which has helped you to reach your present state, and those who work in them, is proof that you still need their discipline.

Every uplifting movement or teaching has its place and has for followers those who need its lessons.
Isis, 426-421.

A thing that costs you nothing is valued at nothing.

Just in proportion to the real love and sacrifice will be the value to your own Soul.

In other words, what we love we work for, sacrifice our time and money for. And out of those things, or their inner force, is our character built up.
Letters, 99-2.

Under no circumstances can an evil or impure thing upon the earth-plane become anything but evil and impure on the higher planes, for all planes are one, and what is impure on one is impure on all.

Under no circumstances can evil or impure acts on the physical-plane cause spiritual growth, for the acts themselves are creating exactly the opposite conditions.

Those who are teaching such abominable doctrines under the name of Esoteric Theosophy or under the guise of obtaining some sort of spiritual development, will have a terrible Karma to answer for in the future.

We cannot emphasize too strongly the fact that there can be no spiritual teachings, either esoteric or exoteric, that are not spotless in their purity on all planes, for The Christ can dwell only with the pure in heart.
Letters, 190-2.

There is not a single man or woman who cannot be an active factor in bringing the Golden Age of Love, Peace, Harmony and Brotherhood into manifestation the sooner, through the controlling of thoughts, words, emotions, and by overcoming his or her resistance, and responding more and more understandingly and gladly, to the upward urge of the Divine.
War, 25.

That which we fail to appreciate the Great Law removes from us.
Letters, 162-1.

There is no such thing as death, merely various changes in form in the manifestation of the One Life. . . .
Isis, 400-3.

As long as there is motion, which is vibration or life, we cannot get away from God, for it is in this God that “we live and move and have our being.”

All that exists is substance, but in different rates of vibration.
Aquaria, 60-1.

Nothing in the nature of man is inherently evil; it is only evil through its misuse and the evils that are attached to it.

Determine to deliver it from evil and to find The Christ-force within every temptation and everything that assails you, knowing full well that these things are the portion of goods that have been given you by your Father at your request – your just belongings that you have deserved and out of which you must create your immortal habitation.

Not one thing must be lost or wasted or destroyed, but each must be transmuted and its golden potency indrawn and built into the immortal Temple of the Living Christ. This is the meaning of the sentence in the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil.”
Letters, 26-2.

No matter what the apparent source of any teaching and no matter how beautiful the language used, do not accept it unless it meets the test of purity and commonsense, does not violate the moral code, and is confirmed by the intuition of your own Soul.
Isis, 265-2.

The greater the work laid out for a neophyte, the greater the necessity for thorough testing. This is a merciful law, for the suffering and the evil Karma would be much worse to bear if you were given a great opportunity and failed for lack of proper training; for, of necessity, you would draw others down with you.

Until you have been tried and have proven your strength you cannot bring forth the harvest. . . .

The greater the struggle, if persisted in to victory, the stronger and more self-reliant will be the new-born Soul.
Letters, 33-2:35-1.

The true teacher must have evolved beyond the little personal self and to some extent merged his consciousness into the Divine, hence neither seeks nor permits adulation or worship for himself, but lets the Divine in him speak through his teachings.
Isis, 133-1.

Cultivate love and tolerance for all your brethren and avoid the thought that your way or your view is superior, or in any way better, than another’s, except for yourself.
Isis, 406-2.

A hasty temper is like a fire; put it in a furnace and it will generate steam or force that will run machinery and accomplish a great work for the world.

A sharp tongue, controlled, will be a weapon that can fearlessly cut the evil from the good; its ruler is love.

Intellectual pride is a dangerous master, but a wonderfully efficient servant. Wed it to humility and let love bless the union.
Letters, 131-2.

Every person belonging to a spiritual movement (as well as its leaders) is absolutely responsible for the force that enters the body of humanity through them, as well as for the force they bring into the movement.
Isis, 113-2.

There is no surcease for sorrow except when the heart rests in Divine Love, in the assurance that all is well; that there is no failure; that underneath the stormy waves of life there is a firm foundation; that the deep waters shall not overcome you, for your Loving Father has hold of your hand, and your understanding (feet) finds a sure resting-place on the rock of the Law beneath the waters.
The Fire of Law, 4-2

Nothing will so retard our own evolution as to steal from another that which has been given to him and not to us, be it a thing, a thought, an opportunity, or a life. . . .

Evolution is retarded until humanity as a whole awakens to the importance of the fact that every Soul must have freedom of opportunity to find its own place, perfect itself in its work and follow out the inner guidance of its Father-in-heaven.
Key, 303, 305.

It is a mistake that is often made, and one that is fostered by the teachings of all the orthodox churches, as well as by many other organizations, that sorrow is the only road to purification; that to be miserable is meritorious and that only through scourging and suffering can we hope for salvation.

The truth is that, when we realize how much sorrow there is in the world and know of a certainty that thoughts are things and that either joy or sadness has the power to spread over a large area, it becomes our duty to be joyful and happy.
Letters, 167-1.

All is Law, and all Law is Love.

Love in its highest expression is the one power which you possess in common with the gods.

It is a divine force of attraction which seeks equilibrium in the union of the masculine and feminine expressions of the Divine.
Isis, 214-2:216-3.

Until you recognize Divinity speaking to you from every other atom of humanity; until you have ceased to seek out your brother’s mistakes; until you have ceased to look for his shortcomings and failings; ceased to measure his corn by your bushel of human frailty and have found how to use God’s measure instead; until you have ceased to listen to the many voices of the world and begun to listen to the one Divine Voice manifesting through all humanity as through Nature, you will never hear the Silent Voice within.
Soundless Sound, 24-25.

Even though we may be but the humblest of human creatures, still we have our lives to live, our place to fill, our record to make, and our grain of truth to leave behind.
Aquaria, 261-4.

Excerpt from Gems Of Mysticism