You think of me as learned. You think of me as knowledgeable. And yet I have learned so much from you and so much from your thought power and from your way of life. It is Jung.
But I have drawn near unto you because I have been in your thoughts which have been like unto me as letters, correspondence, that I would answer.
I see more clearly now and I realise that motives must be examined at all times. And when you are feeling disappointed with yourself, which you so often do, I want to comfort you, and to ask you to examine why you did this or that. Why you started upon this venture or that. And if, although things seem to be going wrong at times, as indeed they do seem to be, appear to be going wrong, then be quiet and go back in your mind to the very beginning of this situation or that, and look without fear or favour upon the motive, upon the reason for your s doing in the first place. And if your heart tells you that this was good and right in your mind, that you yourself felt that this was a good thing, a service unto another, then, so be it, and just put it out of your mind altogether and just persevere with the task as it unfolds. Because pure motives are a desire to serve. Perhaps you started this or that without a thought of Spirit or of God, but the very fact that you were overcome with a desire to help, to comfort, to bring a measure of peace, or healing, then this was a message sent forth to help, and there were many ready and willing to be available unto you. And when things appear to go wrong after they have been started with pure motives, then it is simply because the way is not perfectly straight and certain obstacles, perhaps through the fault of the one you are trying to help, must be removed. And to remove obstacles and barriers naturally causes a certain amount of confusion, and work, and an upsetting for a time, in the conditions.
Now, in the past, you have set yourself tasks which almost seemed to those around you impossible to accomplish. But you must be content if your motive in the beginning was pure. And you were not thinking of yourself or of any result or reward. You were willing to serve. And things have appeared many, many times in your life to go wrong. But because your motive, and if your motive is pure and good, then the difficulties which are forthcoming in these situations are simply a cleansing of the aura, and in every way possible the power of love and truth is trying to show you that this person or that needs a certain amount of adjustment before they can receive this inflow of purity and of love.
therefore, if the barriers and obstructions occur and the confusion is around and about those whom you are trying to help, sit quietly, go back in your thought to the beginning, to the motive, and if it was good, if it was pure, and it usually is, you make mistakes but they are mistakes that can be rectified, but you must not kick, as it were, against the pricks of the inevitable. Because I would remind you of the rock and the water that laps at the side of the rock, must work for years, perhaps, but eventually the rock becomes smooth. And these you are trying to help, these who you are giving your all, your all, to help and to bring forth into brighter, clearer ways, Perchance, like the water that laps the rock, it is taking a rather longer timo, as it were, for the living waters of your prayers, to break down and to cleanse and to make smooth.
To me, as I talk to you now, it seems simple. Because I stand at a vantage point and I can see more clearly, thank God. But I have been, when in the body, confused, I could not see where I had gone wrong, because I wanted my will to be done, and not truly Thy will to be done. But all is forgiven and forgotten. It matters not so long as we are teachable and willing to learn.
Strength is forthcoming unto you because you have the magnet which draws strength which is courage, courage. But added to that there must be wisdom and understanding. And because one who you love, who you would build up, who you would set free, perchance may for a time be, as you feel, a little cast down, it is not so. It is not so. But the will of God through love is being done, because your motive, that which you want for this one or that, is good, natural, and is understandable.
But in your deeps, in the depths of your being, you want spiritual help and spiritual progress for those you love and those you serve, and as you have said yourself, nothing belongs to us.
All is lent. We only borrow. God is and all is God. He loves each and every one without favour here or there. Know this, understand this, and if your motive is pure, be still. Be still because you were instrumental, because of this strong desire, because of this strong motive, to set the wheels of love for this one or that, into motion. Let the Father do unto His very own, through love, always be there, always give of your love, but fear not, beloved, fear not.
I hope I have brought you words of comfort, and I will be at the side, working with those that would help you to understand my work and my thoughts, and you shall receive between the letters, you shall understand the spirit, even more than..…
This transcript offers a genuinely useful, concrete test for self-doubt: when things seem to be going wrong, "go back in your mind to the very beginning... and look without fear or favour upon the motive." If the original desire to help was genuine — pure, without thought of self or reward — then the outcome's difficulty needn't be read as evidence of a mistaken start. Jung's own confession sharpens this from experience: in life, he says plainly, "I wanted my will to be done, and not truly Thy will to be done," and could not, at the time, see clearly where he'd gone wrong — the very confusion he now helps Mary examine in herself.
Its central reframing is that resistance encountered while trying to help someone isn't proof the help was misdirected, but often "a cleansing of the aura" — obstacles that must be cleared before another person can actually receive what's being offered, requiring "a certain amount of confusion... for a time" as a natural part of the process rather than a sign of failure. The water-and-rock image, met earlier in this collection, returns here specifically for this kind of patience: slow, gradual smoothing, sometimes taking far longer than hoped, but not therefore proof that nothing is happening.
Its closing turn is a quiet correction of a common form of self-punishment: watching someone loved seem "cast down" and assuming this means help has failed, when in fact "the will of God through love is being done" regardless of how the process currently looks from inside it. And its final reminder — "nothing belongs to us. All is lent. We only borrow" — is offered not as detachment from love, but as its necessary companion: give fully, without needing to control or own the outcome, and fear not.