1972
It is good that a man should be a thirst and hungered in his youth. It is good that one should search because of the thirst for knowledge and for wisdom. To have to search in one's youth for the river of life.
And so many who feel that they would need this, that they crave for the other, and yet know not in their hearts what exactly they are searching for. And so quench their thirst at the muddy pool, at the side of the main highway. That wide road upon which the majority of people, the masses as it were, walk. They jostle with each other for this useless thing, for this and that bauble, and the sides of the main highway are crowded, as it were, with different peoples, different types, selling their wares. All false, all things of the world, all baubles. And these crowds jostle with each other to get to the front and to purchase this and to purchase that, especially if they feel that this is a bargain, that they are getting this for very little.
And yet, at the next stall, at the next market place, there are more and more differing things to be bought. As soon as they see this or that, they crave to possess it. And so it goes on. And then they stoop and drink from the pools which are already tainted with the dirt and the dust of this roadway.
But there are they, the few, who leave it, and who know that these things cannot possibly satisfy, and to realise this when one is young, is far the better. And yet this hunger and this thirst which from within, can torment, cause anxiety, frustration. And yet it
is better by far to leave, as it were, the madding crowd and to take the lonely path, to seek for the river, that place where hope can be restored, where one can sit and meditate and then drink from the very waters of the river itself.
But all this takes time. To walk to where the river actually flows, to go to that deep, dark, secret place within, where this river runs for ever, Because it is from the very fountain, from the very source of love, of God, and of Spirit, takes time. One may leave the highway and go a little way, but turn back, and then go again and start the path again, and then turn back. But one who really seeks, who is really trying to fulfil the promise he or she made to himself when they entered into the dark sphere of Earth, where so-called birth will go on and on until after a long and dreary, and sometimes almost terrible journey, the river will be seen, will be found, and the waters will be partaken of.
And then it is needful to stay for some time, probably for years, near the river. But always, always one must come back, for the tests to be fully carried out, and for the results to be seen, one must come back from the river and mix again with the world. And see and hear and know what it is all about, without becoming involved. Now this must and will inevitably cause pain. Because the one who has been to the river, one who has tasted the crystal clear living waters, one who has been sustained and upheld through the power of Spirit, cannot help but feel, great pain, pity, and a great, overwhelming sadness for the little ones, who are still, perhaps in very old age, stumbling and struggling along this hot, barren highway. With the stalls, the market places, and these centres of the world beckoning and calling even unto old age. And one who has found and seen, one who has been to this quiet place, the one who has found the river and knows the peace deep within himself, has become, because of this very experience, very very sensitive. But he can only tell this one or that, "You do not need that purchase." And if this one will deliberately use his or her energy, strength, physical well-being, and that which they earn by the sweat of the bro if they will deliberately forego these precious things, of this bauble or that, whatever it may be, whether it is power, material possessions, properties of the world, then this child of peace can do nothing to stop the craving in the heart of another who will not turn, who will not find the quiet path, who will not try to satisfy his Spiritual hunger and his Spiritual thirst. And you find yourselves even now in that position at times. And there is nothing you can do but help through prayer, and through the linking up of Spirit, because there is great comfort in the knowledge, that all and every one of these milling crowds, are precious children of God.
And they will eventually arrive home. It can be aeons of time as you know time, before this happens. They may have to come over and over again from the world of Spirit to the Earth world. But who are you that you can interfere with a plan that is perfect, with a law that is perfect. God will not and cannot alter His law for this individual or that. Because it would cause chaos, even within His very own Kingdom. Love must control, must guide and proto must lead, and it must be sought for. It must be found. It must be used. And if the individual will not learn this, will not know it, then he must go his own way. Albeit with the angels either side to help him if there is a flicker of light in his mind. If there is one whimper, one tiny sound which is a plea for real help, it will be there. And while they must go in and out of the market places of the world, desiring, craving, buying, possessing and storing up, then only faith and hope in the hearts of the few can bring any help in any way.
And so we want you to realise this, although you have been to the river, you know it is there, you can always go back to it, it is yours, you have found it, it is your very own, you cannot ladle it back to the main highway. It would be wasted, it would be spilt, it would have no effect. Each one must find his own way to the river. But because the few have drunk deeply, then, coming back again into the world, seeing and hearing and knowing and feeling and being involved, cannot do any real damage or cause any hurt to this one. But at the same time, he can radiate power through love, through being tolerant, through being patient, because some one person, and if only one on the highway takes notice, and either follows or seeks for himself the true way, that one has done hi work. And it is very true, that all those with whom you come into contact, even though they cannot go themselves, at this same time, because the attraction of the market places of the world still pulls, a seed can be set, a tiny seed which they will remember.
So remember, as you feel the impact of the thoughts and cravings of other men's minds, you will feel the impact whilst you are here remember you have found the river, you have been, you know where it is, and that well, the very fount itself, is within you, because if in created through love. The desire to seek and to search for the living waters is through love. Be at peace and pray for all those who are still trudging and stumbling and making their weary way along the wide highway.
This transcript makes an unusual case for youthful searching specifically — better to feel real spiritual hunger early, and know it for what it is, than to spend a lifetime quenching thirst "at the muddy pool" beside a crowded highway of baubles and bargains that were never going to satisfy. The alternative, the river, requires real time and real detours: "one may leave the highway and go a little way, but turn back, and then go again" — the wandering itself treated as part of the path rather than a failure of it.
Its central instruction is unusually specific: having found the river, one must eventually leave it and return to ordinary life, "come back and mix again with the world... without becoming involved" — not to stay permanently at the source, but to be tested by re-entering the market places while carrying what was found there. The pain that follows is treated as inevitable and proportionate rather than avoidable: greater sensitivity to others' suffering is the direct, unavoidable cost of having tasted real peace.
Its most sobering honesty concerns the limits of influence: someone who has found the river "can do nothing to stop the craving in the heart of another who will not turn." The transcript refuses false comfort here — some will take "aeons of time," passing through many lives, before finding their own way — but insists this isn't cause for despair, since interference with another's free will "would cause chaos" even within a perfect law, and each soul's timing is not something love is meant to override.
What remains within reach is modest but real: not fixing anyone, only "radiating power through love," patience, and tolerance, on the chance that even one person on the crowded highway notices and is changed by it — "if only one... takes notice... that one has done his work." The river itself cannot be carried out and poured onto the road for others; each person must walk to it themselves. What can be given, instead, is a seed — small, easily overlooked, but remembered.