Chapter XXIII
LOST IN TRANSIT
W. John Murray
The
Realm of Reality
Divine Science Publishing Assoc.
New York, 1922.
“Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy
might.”
--Eccles. 9:10
[276] I have
been thinking of the many things that are
lost in transit, and wondering if, in the
mental world, there is not some
correspondence for it all. Of recent
years there has been a great deal of mail
and expressage failing to reach its
destination. It was not difficult for us
to understand this during the Great War,
when we considered the heavy inroads made
in the mail and express service by the
drafts of men for military service; nor
were we surprised when we learned that
whole shiploads of grain and other
supplies intended for the Allies failed
to reach those to whom they were
dispatched.
These
illustrations give us an idea of what is
taking place with most of the people in
the world. There are a thousand good
starters for one good finisher, and
perhaps this accounts for the fact that
there is just about one success for every
thousand failures. We have so many irons
in the fire that we become confused.
“Jacks-of-all-trades,” [277]
we are really master of none. The
evidence of all this was shown by the
great uncertainty which was abroad in the
land concerning what we should do
personally to be of real assistance at
the time of the world’s great need.
So many branches of service were open to
us, and there were so many worthy causes
to which to contribute, that we were
bewildered.
The relief
society with a high-sounding title all
too frequently exists for the purpose of
enriching a few at the expense of the
many. Much money is sent in , but only a
small percentage reaches those whose
distress is so eloquently pictured on the
society’s stationery. The donor is
out of pocket, and the supposed
beneficiary continues to suffer. The love
offering has been lost in transit. Such
facts should point to a lesson in
concentration, and teach us the wisdom of
selecting one worthy cause and
giving to it our time and money in such
ways as to make that cause a most
efficient means to an end.
Have you
ever thought of all the time and thought,
as well as energy and money, that is lost
in transit by those who start things and
never see them through? A man quits a
good position in order to go into
business for himself. His hopes are high
and he can imagine how fine it is to be
one’s own employer. He starts
beautifully and the feeling of
proprietorship is exhilarating, but there
comes a day when business slows down and
expenses speed up. He can then realize
what caused his former employer to be
irritable at [278] times, but the
recognition of this is no balm for his
own distressed mentality. As he lies
awake at night, he indulges in
comparisons. A position with a good
salary and no personal financial
responsibility is a much more comfortable
berth than to own one’s own store,
and yet know not whence the rent is
coming. Fear and self-pity seize him, and
as these are not good aids to success, it
is only a question of time until he
closes shop and looks for another
position.
This is
another instance of where time and money
are lost in transit. Such a man is a good
starter but a poor finisher. He prefers
to let his employer worry while he draws
his salary. Mediocrity is his doom, and
this by his own consent and cowardice.
Jesus said, “No man, having put his
hand to the plough and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of God.”
Every day,
in connection with various shirt-waist
factories, you will see an advertisement
in the papers for “Good
Finishers.” Is it treading the
verge of modern slang too closely to say
that this is what God is advertising for?
That which is true of a foot-race, or a
boat race, is equally true of the contest
of life.
Hast thou attempted greatness?
Then go on;
Back-turning slackens resolution.
Without
resolution there is no achievement. We
must, like Mr. Britling, “see it
through,” whether it is war, in
business or in religion. [279] To make
good resolutions, as we do at New Year,
only to yield to discouragement at the
very first temptation, is a sign of
weakness, and weakness is not the magnet
by which we attract success. Every man
realizes that his condition or station in
life might be improved upon and,
accordingly, most men have an idea of
what would bring about this improvement.
A new spirit in an old business has often
revived it and converted approaching
failure into success. Sometimes this
fresh impulse has to come from the
outside in the form of what is called a
new management. The old management has
conceived many plans, but has lacked the
initiative and the courage to put these
into execution. They have had visions,
but their visions have been lost in
transit. They have had hopes, but their
hopes have been frittered away through
fear. What we need most is not to go
outside to get other men to infuse a
vigorous activity into our enterprises,
but to cultivate this new spirit in
ourselves. Once resolve to do this, and
the next step will be to clear away from
our thinking processes everything which
prevents this attitude from expressing
itself in results.
If we would
not have our ambitions lost in transit,
we must learn to concentrate; or perhaps
it would be better to say, we must learn
to eliminate. Whenever a thing or a
thought is lost in transit it is due to
an interference somewhere along the line
of travel. To discover these
interferences and remove them, is to
insure safe passage and satisfying
consequences. Just as a submarine [280]
might have interfered with mail and food
in transit to the Allies, or just as
inefficiency or insufficiency might have
prevented their speedy delivery had they
escaped the submarines, so outside
pressure may interfere with the safe
arrival of our ambitions at their
intended destination of achievement.
A young
widow came to New York from a western
city with a few hundred dollars left from
her husband’s insurance. She
brought with her an only child. Her hope
was to get something to do that would
make her economically independent. She
had friends in New York to whom she
applied for advice, but the consensus of
opinion seemed to be that she should go
back to the small town from which she
came, and where she was best known, and
do the best she could there, instead of
struggling against insurmountable
obstacles in New York. She took the
advice of her friends, but it resulted in
a small position at small wages and with
small opportunities.
Another
woman came to New York with two young
children after the death of her husband
in Europe. She had less than a hundred
dollars, and spoke little if any English.
To go back was impossible, and so,
despite all the terrifying aspects of the
situation, she placed her children in a
nursery and took a menial position by the
day. At present she is the proprietor of
a prosperous business. This has nothing
to do with small towns or large cities,
but with small and large [281] personal
expectations. To him that hath a large
vision and a strong determination shall
be given; to him that hath small vision
and small expectation shall be taken away
even that which he hath.
There are
few men who, at some time or other, have
not had moments of great enthusiasm, when
the future was as plain before them as
the sun at noonday. They could see the
glorious end from the small beginning,
and at once they set out on the path to
power. Seeing the end from the beginning,
they had not counted on the things
between, and when these began to present
themselves, courage commenced to wane,
and that fine enthusiasm with which they
had started out was lost in transit.
Do you
suppose it is all because man himself
seems to have become lost in transit?
Launched forth into a world of
experiences and opportunities, only to
return when he came, richly laden with
the fruits of spiritual conquest, may it
not be that he has become, for a time,
lost in a fog of materialism, that he is
wandering around in a maze of
uncertainty? If the journey of the soul
is from God back to God again, then
man’s difficulties and
discouragements would indicate that he
has become side-tracked in some
mysterious manner.
Just as the
Post Office authorities send out tracers
after letters and packages which have
been lost in transit, so does that loving
Intelligence which rules the universe
send out tracers in the form of prophets
and apostles, and, greatest of [282] all,
in the form of Jesus, to find that which
is lost in transit and restore it to its
rightful owner, God. How else shall we
account for the Way-showers of the
centuries? In every human soul there is
the God-implanted impulse to attain the
Perfect. Like the prodigal son, we have
to attain away from the Father’s
house, which symbolizes Peace, and Health
and Happiness, and since life is
unbearable without these, we strive in
every way to achieve them.
When the way
seems long and painful we yield to
discouragement, and often consult with
those whom we consider capable of
advising, only to be told that we must
not be surprised at our illnesses and
poverties, since these are the conditions
peculiar to the world. Such conditions as
we are seeking do not obtain on this
planet, we are informed; therefore, we
must not seek as present possessions what
can be only post-mortem experiences. The
attempt to realize heavenly conditions on
earth has always seemed impossible, and
yet we go on trying. This is because we
are meant to enjoy the goodness of God in
the land of the living; therefore,
nothing can destroy the instinct,
notwithstanding our efforts and ambitions
may become lost in transit.
Of all the
things which make for side-tracked
resolutions, I know of nothing equal to
self-depreciation. We cannot understand
how other men can succeed because we
convince ourselves that they are not
handicapped as we are. They [283] were
born under a lucky star, while we were
ushered into the world under most
unfavorable conditions. They have had
friends and influence, while we have had
to face life’s battle without
either. It is asking too much, that we,
alone and unaided, should achieve the
success we desire. We forget that the
works of a watch are inside. When a man
hopes to be moved in the direction of
success by outside pull and other people,
he is expecting the impossible. The vast
majority of failures in the world are due
to the fact that the average man works
with everything but the right thing. We
lay more stress on human pull than on
Divine Principle, and when this fails, as
it always does, we become disconsolate.
Unless the average man has influence, he
feels impotent.
When a man
attaches too much importance to what
other people can do, for or against him,
he is like a watch without works,--he
won’t go far. The strength of man
is like one of those army
“tanks” which forces its way
through brick walls, across trenches,
tears up trees and scatters death and
destruction. The tanks needs no outside
pull or push. Its stored-up energy is
within itself. Sniper’s bullets
make little impression upon it. Solomon
says to the lazy man, “Go to the
ant, thou sluggard.” I say to the
fearful man, “Go to the
tank.” See in it an object lesson.
Drawing upon its own stored-up energy, it
pursues its mission, heedless of the
sharp stings of scattered shrapnel. Its
energy is not lost in transit, for it
almost invariably reaches its
objective.
[284] When a
man’s mental dynamo is working in
harmony with God’s law, he is
drawing upon an inexhaustible store of
strength. Working from within as a
co-partner with the Infinite, no obstacle
is insurmountable, no task too difficult.
Nothing can offer successful resistance
to him who knows that he can do
all things through Christ which
strengthens him. He does not lose in
transit either his peace or his power,
because of the sniper’s bullets of
envy, prejudice, or misrepresentation. He
does not give up a good work because
others ascribe ulterior motives to him.
If man would do the work that God intends
him to do, and for the accomplishment of
which he has supplied all the necessary
machinery, he must become a spiritual
tank. He must move forward by the
spiritual energy stored up in his own
soul, and he must maintain the attitude
toward criticism and condemnation which
Paul maintained when he said, “None
of these things move me.”
Many a noble
purpose and many a good deed have been
lost in transit because of fear of what
other people might say or do. A man in
conquered, not so much by what other
people say about him, as by the power of
his own fears and sensitiveness. When he
learns that he is environed by himself,
and that this Self is Divine, he will not
quake and tremble. A man may not fear
imprisonment or execution for his
peculiar views, but if he fears public
opinion, what is the difference? A
healthy mind is related to all the laws
which make for power, just as a feeble
mind [285] is related to all the forces
that make for weakness. A spent bullet is
not the consequence of a too great
distance, but the result of a lack of
power in the projector. A spent thought,
which does not reach its destination, is
not lost in transit because the thing
desired is unattainable, but because the
thinker is using only half his
energy.
When a man
tells me that I cannot help myself, he
plunges me into despair, if I believe
him; but if I do not believe him, he
prods me to productiveness. Believe no
man when he tells you that the thing that
ought to be done cannot be done. Let not
your lofty desires be lost in transit
because of the wear of fools, for then
you will be the prince of fools. God has
endowed you with power to transcend all
your difficulties; therefore, let nothing
affright you. Use your difficulties as
you use the apparatus in a gymnasium,--to
give you strength. It is your duty to
obey your divine impulses. The call of
the spirit is the call of the soul for a
fuller expression of joy and gladness,
health and wholeness. Do not allow
yourself to be hypnotised into the belief
that you cannot enter into the enjoyment
of the things which God has prepared for
you.
If you are
sick, do not delude yourself into the
belief that you are ill beyond recovery.
If you are poor, do not conclude that you
will always remain so. Is it not written
that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him”? These
things, which have been lost in transit,
are here [286] now awaiting your claim.
When the temptation comes and you think
your situation is hopeless, just remember
that your strength, which is God, is
equal to every demand which you may make
upon it. “To them that believe, all
things are possible.” Believe,
then, that you shall have your
heart’s desire. God is no respecter
of persons, giving health and wealth to
some, and withholding them from others.
Say, then, in your moments of temptation,
“No good thing will He withhold
from them that walk uprightly.” Say
often, “MY strength cometh from the
Lord which made heaven and earth.”
“I shall not be afraid, and so come
short of the things I want. I will rise
to the power and dignity of my Sonship
with God. Health is my birthright. I
claim it in the name of Him who created
me. I have it now.”
Chapter
24
* * * * *
The Realm of Reality
Table of
Contents
(Formerly at
Northwoods Divine Science Resource
Center)
