July 6th 1966
We greet thee in the name of the master whom we humbly serve.
Fall not by the wayside. We will continue to talk about the things which depress and cause disharmony in your daily life. You have understood the meaning of the talk concerning the tunnel. And you can see that the various lights within attract various types of people at all times. But we would like to remind you of the words Jesus spoke when He said, "I bring not peace but a sword."
And He knew that whilst He was abroad in the world, He must needs meet ordinary folk at all different levels of consciousness, with all different, varying, natures and temperaments. And He knew that He could not please all of the people all of the time.
And some to whom He talked realised the deeper meaning of the words He spoke. But others, and these were many in number, understood them not. And there were many times when those that were uplifted through His teaching, those who came face to face with Him and felt the terrific and wonderful power emanating through and from Him, felt so uplifted that they thought the only thing they wanted to do was to follow Him.
And you remember the one who said, "Master, I would follow thee, What must I do to become thy disciple?"
And He said, "Thou art a rich man. Give all thou hast to the poor and follow me."
You see, in this instance, Jesus used the sword. He could not possibly bring peace to that one in his state of development. The truth had to hurt. It was like being smitten with a sword. Because this man took what Jesus said literally. He could only think of wealth and power in the material sense. He could not give all he had away. And he thought, in his ignorance, that all he had was material possessions.
Surely, surely there are greater things than these. It matters not if a man possesses all the world, as we have told you before, if he is poor in spirit. And this one could not follow Jesus, could not obey the Master, simply because he could not understand the deeper meaning of His words.
And so, dear children, concerning the things which depress you. We want you to understand that there are they whose whole life is centred upon material things. But those who make the search for truth, are seeking and searching for reality. They no longer worship false gods. But as they travel along the path, their inner vision is opened and they see more clearly. And because they are beginning to understand them-selves, because they are beginning to explore the deep subconscious, they begin to understand the minds and the hearts of others, even as Christ did. And when a materialist who worships the false gods of the world, begins to crave for this and that, begins to want more and to covet that which belongs to his neighbour, if he cannot obtain these things, he suffers from acute depression. He is not at ease. The mind is disturbed. And these cravings become obsessions. And he may, through treatment, through the medical profession, have the symptoms of his trouble eased. And he feels for a time better, and in tune with the material world. He feels that he can cope. But, he uses this so-called recovery, to seek and search once again for things which are not real. Which will decay and vanish, and once again, the depression will take hold of his being. And this one will be worse than the last.
But the man who is seeking for truth, because of the development of his inner vision, his sensitivity, and his inner hearing, will realise more keenly the wrong-thinking of others, and those things going on around him all the time, which are alien to love, alien to God. But, his so-called depression is different. He is beginning to take unto himself the sorrows of the world. And it is simply a feeling, a very keen feeling, of sorrow, of compassion. And he will turn into himself and feel again and again the utter loneliness because there are so few who could understand the reason for his sadness. But this one is seeking for truth and for reality, therefore if he is seeking in the right way, he will come forth from these bouts of so-called depression, stronger, wiser, and with a little more knowledge. Because he will cry for help in the darkness and a little more will be shown him, and a still, small voice will be heard again
And so these things to the true seeker are really helpful. Because he is storing up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust can corrupt. And when a man is engaged in storing up it is a time of work,getting, storing, cleaning, replacing, putting away.
But the materialist is storing up those things which are not real and which must fade away, and where his treasure is, there is his heart also. Amongst the rubbish of the world. And these depressions of the die-hard materialist will lead him into the hell of his own making. He thinks of nothing and no-one, but himself. And your so-called asylums are full of these sad and sorry and unfortunate little men.
But we promise you this. That the man who seeks truly will never become insane*. Because his treasures are real, everlasting, and immortal. The suffering that this one feels through his search, are the same sufferings that even the great ones of old felt and knew and talked about. Jesus wept. Buddha was so full of compassion, so sorrowful at the sight of death and decay, that he left absolutely everything that he possessed behind to find out the reason why.
And so beloved, remember when you feel that things are too much for you, that you cannot stand any more, examine the things that are worrying you, and causing this anxiety, and you will find that your depression is caused most times because of your feeling of helplessness. And you are in these instances helpless. But remember God is all powerful and at your elbow. Relax. Let go. And leave Him to do His own work. Wait awhile, and you will see and hear those things which will lift you up to the highest. And you too, will be able to stand back and watch without pain, for you will see not only the so-called tragedies, not only the so-called chaos, but the pure light of love all around. This is very difficult for you to see at this time with your limited vision, but we speak the truth.
Be at peace.
* A note about this claim.
In the era this transcript comes from, asylums were still a common feature of British life, and a "nervous breakdown" brought on by financial ruin or business failure was a well-recognised cause of admission — the shame and strain around failure could genuinely overwhelm someone already vulnerable. Read in that light, this passage reflects real hardships of its time.
"Insanity" here seems to carry a double meaning: alongside literal mental illness, it points to a deeper delusion — mistaking what is transient for what is real, building a life around things that "decay and vanish." Earnest seeking, in that sense, protects against losing touch with reality itself. But the transcript does not keep these two senses separate, and its claim that spiritual seeking prevents literal insanity is the transcript's own theology rather than something this book asserts — mental illness has causes, biological, circumstantial, hereditary, quite apart from a person's spiritual state or sincerity of seeking.
This transcript distinguishes two things that can look alike from the outside but are entirely different underneath. The materialist's depression comes from unmet craving — wanting what a neighbour has, obtaining it, feeling temporary relief, then wanting the next thing, in a cycle that deepens each time it repeats, since "where his treasure is, there is his heart also" (Matthew 6:21), and that treasure decays. The seeker's low mood is not craving but compassion — "taking unto himself the sorrows of the world," feeling keenly the suffering and wrong-thinking around him, and feeling isolated because so few understand why. The transcript's claim is that this second kind, however painful, is not the same affliction as the first: it comes from opening rather than craving, and it deepens a person rather than merely repeating.
Jesus's "I bring not peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34) is used here to explain why truth sometimes has to hurt rather than comfort — the rich young man told to give away his wealth (Matthew 19:16–22) could only hear the instruction literally, and the truth, aimed at his actual attachment, cut rather than soothed. The transcript's counsel for genuine distress, when it comes from real helplessness, is not to fight it alone but to relax into it — "God is all powerful and at your elbow... let go, and leave Him to do His own work" — trusting that what looks now like chaos will, in time, be seen differently.