November 12th 1967
We greet you with love and with sympathetic understanding. And we come this night to remind you of your most treasured possession, the symbol, though it is but a symbol, of the stone.
And we want you to realise in your heart and in your mind, of the tremendous importance and value that this so-called symbol has, and will have, not only in your Earth life, but in the life to come. Because you have made this your own, means that you have developed certain very important virtues, and that these have come together bringing into one being, wisdom.
And wisdom is formed through many, many, things. Through understanding, compassion, and, yes, humour, this also is a very important virtue, and humility, simplicity, and, oh so important, a right sense of values. There are so few people, even so-called spiritual greats on your Earth who have an absolute, right sense of values.
And when one loses all craving and desires for all superficial, artificial, luxuries, this is a sign that this one has developed a right sense of values. Albeit, you have never really craved for the so-called things of the Earth, so that perhaps this has not been so very difficult in your case. But you will find these kind, loving, helpful, people, that are coming into your life at this same time have developed many of the other virtues, but we know that you have noticed, when they are talking to you, that there is not that absolute, real sense of real values.
But this will come with time, everyone who seeks, and the longer one seeks, will begin to realise their own short-comings, and this new friend that has entered into your life, with her work, very good work, in the medical profession for the sick and the suffering, has many of the important and essential virtues. And we want you to comfort her with these thoughts, that all things come together, as we have told you before, for good. And to come face to face with what we have called, and others have called before us, the stinking mass, that lump of something which the seeker will come face to face with, and will recognise as his grosser, carnal, human, physical, self, but when once this has been encountered and met with face to face, then it will gradually diminish and fade away, and go back as it were, to the Earth, to the world, from whence it cometh.
And then in lighter vein, with a lighter heart, and with clearer vision, one will look inward and see, the true, the Spirit self. And with this load abandoned, with this burden cast on one side, even if this happens to one who is old in years, one who is coming, as it were, into the evening of human life, even then, if the legs, the limbs, the arms, the body, even if these parts of the body are troublesome, simply because the law of matter is coming into its own, is working in its own natural way, so obeying the law of change and decay, even though the body is obeying this law, the mind will be free, the vision, the inner vision will be clear, and the inner ear will hear those things that are holy and which are divine. Bringing to the fore the young, indestructible, ever youthful, absolutely peaceful, spirit. The real self. And knowing these things, the other physical burdens will be easier to bear.
Because when one arrives into this so-called state, when one possesses the so-called stone, then that one is very easily able to remove the spirit, or to put it more precisely, the Spirit is able to leave the body much more easily, then as soon as sleep holds the body the Spirit is free. Free to go into far greater distances than the undeveloped soul whose Spirit can only emerge murkily and slowly from the body and hover near the gross bulk. Because it has not been allowed to free itself. The training has not been given and it must hover near to that which claims it is its own. And because one who has developed and come into this holy state, the Spirit is free to wander, free to go where it will, free to talk and discuss and to learn at any given time. Any time even in the day when the body is resting and the so-called sleep takes over.
Therefore, because of this wonderful freedom, it is able, when it comes back to the body, to bring with it a light and an easement, and a peace and enlightenment, all those wonderful things and experiences which it has taken to itself when free from the body. And because of this you will find the pain and the cumbersome tribulations of the body much easier to bear. And we feel that you are noticing this in your own life. Although the heaviness, and the weariness, and the struggle, is there, there is something which sort of bears you up, and makes you able to go on.
And then when a soul comes into your presence, who is ready for what which is almost at the surface, even of your everyday life, you feel that a great blessing has been bestowed upon you, and you can talk, and feel at one, and know that you will meet this soul in the sleep state, and together you will discern and learn many things.
It is a great thing for the union of the Spirit while upon the Earth plane. And so, we would have you tell your younger friend about these things, and try to explain to her the meaning of the symbol and the stone. Because, as yet, she is in the state of the rose who, although going about in this dark and dreary world, like the rose gives off a beautiful aroma, through her kindness, and her tenderness, and her love of other human beings.
But as yet she is able to feel the cruelty, the hate, the spite, and the effects of suffering. She absorbs, and finds her so-called petals crushed, crushed. But she must take heart because, even as the soft petals are crushed, so they give out a greater and stronger scent. And eventually she will realise that she must not absorb, and you know all these things, and you can tell her, because you understand although at times you, yourself and the friend that is with you at the moment, allow the effects, and the dullness, and the cruelty, and the unhappiness, and the fear, and the ignorance, and the pain, to creep in through your own aura, but not so much, not so much. The state of the stone shows itself more and more, and although giving out the bright light, the fragrance, and the colour, the pain in your own heart is not so great.
This does not mean a lack of pity or a lack of understanding, but a greater faith, and a knowledge, and you must remember this, a knowledge that each soul must live its own life, take unto itself with courage and with forbearance, and with patience, its own experiences, because it is but for a twinkling of an eye, as we see and know time.
It is a pity, and we are sad, that such things have to be, but man has created all these alien things, and must live and learn through experience. But the everlasting Father, God, the Creator of all love, and all good is at the helm, and if, through the example of Jesus Christ, we live and learn and hope and do our very best, then it will not be very long before we see and know His purpose and His plan. And it is all good. It is all good. Tell your young friend that all the sick and suffering people, all around her, who she sees every day, will one day be with her in a painless world, the average, ordinary person will find everlasting youth, perfect health, all light, and all love, according to that which they themselves want and need.
Those that went to learn and want to work will go on, and those, and those who feel that here at last is a time for absolute relaxation, a long and glorious holiday, so be it, it matters not, they will probably have earned it. But they will want to work eventually. They will do what their hearts bid them to do, and we, even God Himself, cannot interfere with this wonderful law.
And so we leave you on a note of happiness, on a note of peace. We want you to remember at all times, all is well. And we say, God bless you both and all those with whom you come into contact. Your sufferings are not over, but you have that precious gift which you have earned yourself, the gift is the symbol, of the stone.
This transcript maps a progression already implicit across this collection: the state of the rose — giving off beauty and fragrance while still absorbing the cruelty and pain around it, petals crushed by contact with suffering, though even crushed, giving a stronger scent — and beyond it, the state of the stone, where compassion remains but absorption lessens. The younger friend here is placed explicitly in the rose's stage, not as a lesser state to be corrected quickly, but as real and valuable in its own right, one stop along the same road already walked.
Its most demanding image, familiar from earlier in this collection, returns here in starker language: the "stinking mass," the grosser, carnal self that must be met face to face before it can fade and be shed. What follows that encounter is described physically, almost mechanically — a spirit no longer merely hovering murkily near the sleeping body, as an undeveloped soul's does, but genuinely free to travel and learn during sleep, bringing back, on waking, "a light and an easement" that makes the body's real and ongoing pain more bearable, without ever pretending the pain isn't there. Age and physical decline are treated candidly, not spiritualised away: "the law of matter is coming into its own... obeying the law of change and decay" — the mind and inner vision growing freer even as the body continues to fail, the two running on separate tracks rather than one compensating for the other.
Its closing promise is unusually specific and generous: that the sick and suffering, seen daily with real pity, will one day be met again "in a painless world," each receiving "according to that which they themselves want and need" — some choosing continued work, others "a long and glorious holiday" — with the striking assurance that "even God Himself cannot interfere with this wonderful law" of each soul's own free choosing.