My other projects (which are still live) are:

The Global Forgiveness Initiative
https://globalforgivenessinitiative.com/

The Global Rewilding Initiative

https://glorew.com/

my Personal Website: http://williamfergusmartin.com/

You can also find me on Youtube and the like as William Fergus Martin.

I will keep sending out the email versions to existing subscribers, but no longer link to the email signup (which means it will fade away).

I now think that is the best way just now to make the material as widely available as possible to those who need it, when they need it. In the beginning I liked the idea of emulating the way Bernard delivered course material on a regular basis only using email instead. However, I now think that is too restrictive and that people are better served by making it wide open and just let people access it whenever they want.

If you want to know when something will be available, just watch the site – especially under the Courses Menu.

Blessings,

William

– William M.

Four Walls and a Roof

A Working-Method for Success – Available to You Now.

This is a method that can be used by anybody.  It is simple and easy to do, but it must be done by you because you want to.  No one else can make this effort for you.  Your power and potential are there, waiting for you to recognise them, but only you can use your own power and potential.  This recognition is called “Belief”.

This simple method described here, provides you with “four walls” that will surround and shelter you every day while you build within yourself an inner mental power that will bring to you the fulfilment of your desires.

Make sure that your desires are beneficial to yourself and to those who share your life, and are harmless to all others.  For “like attracts like” and only beneficial desires attract lasting benefit.

The “four walls” consist of statements that you must make to yourself at least four times a day – but more often when the need arises.  When you make these statements, you may do so in thoughts only, speaking soundlessly within.  Or you may, if you are alone, say them in a low tone.  Which ever you choose, you must make the statements slowly, firmly and with authority.  Stress the words that are underlined in the statements.  Speak the statements as though you were speaking to somebody else – actually you will be speaking to your subconscious mind, giving it knowledge and direction.

Four times a day say the “four walls” in their correct order (for they are progressive and will lead up to the “roof” of your desires).  Bear in mind that you must say them slowly, firmly and with authority.  When you have finished saying the “four walls”, add the “roof” by stating what your desires are.  It will not matter if, having begun, you change these desires after a few days or weeks.  Other ideas may and should unfold – as well as plans and opportunities in connection with your desires.  This will happen – it cannot possibly fail to happen.  Provided you use the “four walls” as described here, ideas, plans and opportunities will come with absolute certainty to you, because your subconscious mind will be using its power as you have directed it to do.

Just now I mentioned that the need may arise for you to use the “four walls” more often than four times a day.  Now this is most important!  You must use one or more of the “four walls” whenever doubt or lack of confidence or any other feeling of inadequacy occurs.  These “four walls” will guard you from weakening by doubt, the inner mental power that you are in the process of building up.  Here are pointers to assist you in choosing the correct “wall” for these extra occasions of use: –

Use your North “wall” for lack of confidence.
Use your South “wall” for a feeling of being alone or inadequate.
Use your East “wall” for doubts.
Use your West “wall” for mind wandering, procrastination and general dithering.

These “four walls” will turn you back to your inner mental power and assist you in bringing into your life that which you desire.  So use them whenever you feel the need, no matter how many times a day this may be.   (You can add the “roof” on these extra occasions too, if you wish.)

In addition to these extra occasions, say the “four walls” four times a day, adding immediately afterwards the “roof” statement of your desire.   Here are the “four walls”:-

The North Wall.   “You are a being whose inner powers are for ever linked with the mighty powers of the universe.”

The South Wall.   “You have within you a firm, close-clinging contact with the resources of all creation.

The East Wall.   “Your mind has definite, ever-active powers of creation because it is an off-shoot of the creative, universal mind.

The West Wall.   “What you think about daily, with close attention and interest, will become a part of you and will, with absolute certainty, visibly manifest itself in your life.

…    …    …

Now, at the end of your “four walls”, make the “roof” statement of your desires.  Continue to use the way you have chosen, either in your thoughts, soundlessly, or in a low tone.  Make your “roof” statement without tension, but clearly, firmly, authoritatively.  Do it seriously, for it is a scientific process that needs your whole, but relaxed attention.  THIS METHOD, IF PROPERLY CARRIED OUT AS DESCRIBED, CANNOT FAIL TO BRING YOU SUCCESS.

You now have the method.  Read all the directions repeatedly until you know them well.  Remember – your power and potential are there, waiting for YOU to recognise them, but only YOU can use YOUR OWN power and potential.  This recognition is called “Belief.”

By pure coincidence this is being sent out on Good Friday, so I hope you have a good Easter weekend.

The Abundant Life News will be a mix of things which Bernard (who was Bernard), the originator of Thought Bricks used to send out in his Bernard’s Weekly News (it later became Bernard’s World News). I have a stack of old BWN’s and I will look for relevant articles to extract and will some add some topical comments too. I am planning to eventually send these out once per week, but it might take me a wee while to get into the rhythm of it.

Enjoying the Success of Others

In the Thought Bricks material Bernard put a lot of emphasis on delighting in the success of other students. There are very important reasons why. Indeed, it is fundamental to our own success in creating the life we want.

I must admit I was not very good at that part in the beginning. I suppose I felt daunted by the successes that people were reporting in the BWN. When I read about some wonderful new job, relationship, or new house, or whatever, that someone gained while doing the course, I took no real pleasure from it. At that time I would feel, “That is all right for them, but what about me?…” I felt that their successes were nothing to do with me.

It eventually dawned on me how wrong my thinking was. By thinking like that I was separating myself from the successful students and separating myself from success. I was seeing them as different from me.  If in my thinking, they are “successful” and I am “different” then what am I? “Not-successful” is the obvious answer. It showed me that I had attitudes and beliefs which were holding me back from success and holding me back from enjoying the success of others. More than this, it showed me that those beliefs which held me back from enjoying the success of others were the same ones which held me back from my own success.

There is a wonderful principle behind being able to be glad about another’s success. It aligns us with the attitude and beliefs which created their success. It puts us in harmony with the level of abundance which they are achieving and makes it more likely similar things will come our way. Anything else means that we believe too much in lack and limitations and that we assume that another’s success is at our expense. That is not the way of the Wonder Workers, that we can become.

I highly recommend looking around you for people who already have something that you want. Get into the habit of being glad for them. Think to yourself “If they can do it, I can do it”. Think about how they felt when the go it, and how you will feel when you get it. Think about how their success is an example of what can be done. Think about how they are helping you by reminding you of what you want and showing you that it is achievable. Put aside any thoughts that they are any better than you.

Also consider the damaging affects of resentment. Resentment is transmitted by our body language, attitude and tone of voice. Resentment stops people from helping us, because they see that we are not open to them. People who might like to help us achieve what we want will stay away, if we are resentful. There are many who are only too delighted to help others gain the abundance which they have achieved. In fact for some this is one of their greatest joys. Yet, resentment will keep them away. Also, of course, resentment is a negation of the Spirit within us. It is a denial of the good which is coming to us.

Resentment is a sign of how little we know. After all if you knew (really knew) that wonderful things were coming into your life, what would you have to be resentful about? If you knew that the source of abundance is within you, you would have no reason to resent anyone. Resentment becomes redundant when we really come to know the source of prosperity which lives within us.

By changing my attitude in this way, I became more and more able to enjoy the successes of others. I came to delight in reading about the prosperity others were achieving in BWN and in seeing it in the lives of those around me. Of course, my own level of abundance came along in leaps and bounds at the same time. When you feel glad for another’s success – then you have that success. It may take another form, more suited to your needs, but you will have the equivalent.

That is why Bernard put so much emphasis on enjoying the success of other student. It is a fast track to our own success.

BTW, you can get the Abundant Life news emailed to you by signing up using the box to the side of this page.

Blessings of an Abundant Life to you,

William M.

P.S. The Internet Marketing things I have been reading say I should have Facebook and Twitter accounts and link to them. Please “Like” the ThoughtBricks Facebook page.

An occasional newsletter, The Abundant Life, is also available. Signup is available on most pages on the site as well as on the course signup page.

I will also now be able to start adding more content to the site as well as adding new features.

Sorry that it took so long, It was a bigger job than I thought!

Enjoy!

William

We sat in silence for a while after Sarah had departed with her angel, thinking that our next visit would soon begin, but presently the Ruby Angel pressed upon our minds that he would give us further teaching before this took place. It had no particular bearing, he explained wordlessly, on the visits; and yet he knew we had reached a plane of consciousness where we could understand.

“When a man reaches a state of understanding,” he ended, now speaking aloud in his firm voice, “then we angels regard it as a command. In the early stages of man’s life in Heaven it seems to him that the angels are the masters, however gentle they may be. In reality, this is not so. We angels live to obey the commands of men although these commands are almost always given unconsciously. As soon as man is ready for knowledge, his inmost soul cries aloud to the angels for this to be given to the conscious mind. Hearing this soundless, though piercing cry we hasten to fulfil the command. Thus, man’s needs governs all our intercourse with men in this realm.”

“Have we, then, cried soundlessly to you? ” I asked.

“Yes.” The Ruby Angel sat down, drew up his knees, put his arms on them and his face within his arms. Then he folded his wings as a shield around him and was very still.

Janet and I sat down beside him, leaned our backs against mossy tree trunks and waited. As we looked idly at the beautiful scene before us it seemed to blur and fade as though we were travelling in a slow vehicle at twilight. Presently, another scene came into view, a vista of water and mountains, of trees and of a narrow path leading over the mountains and out of sight upon the distant horizon.

“That pathway leads to the Place of Great Souls,” said the angel.

Now I say that he said this, although I cannot be sure. If he did, then his voice came to us thinly, muffled by his arms and folded wings. I think, however, that in reality he did not speak, but made his words known to us by means of the inner contact which was growing familiar to us now.

“Do you mean that these are very advanced men?” Janet asked. “Some of the Great Ones of whom you have spoken before?”

“I did not use the term ‘Great Ones,’ but ‘ Great Souls,'” said the angel. “There is a vast difference.” He paused, then added slowly:

The Place of Great Souls is that plane of consciousness wherein each dwells while his bodily life is lived on earth. When I say ‘great’ I do not, necessarily, mean ‘ advanced,’ but merely the greater part of the soul.”

We were so surprised at this that Janet and I exchanged a startled glance, then, speaking for both, I asked:

“But does not the whole soul dwell in the body of man? And how can a soul be divided, the greater part remaining in one place while the lesser part is in another?”

“Of course no soul can be divided.” Our angel’s words came firmly. “I said, if you will remember, that the Place of Great Souls is a plane of consciousness, not a place.”

“Then is that mountain-path connected with earth?” Janet asked in puzzled tone.

“Not physically. But that plane of consciousness wherein dwells the greater part of each man’s soul is closely connected with the soul on earth. As you say, soul being composed of spirit-matter, cannot be divided. There is a constant link between the lesser part of man’s soul, dwelling in his body on earth and the greater part dwelling in Heaven. Along this link flows the power and the wisdom-”

He broke off, leaving us to meditate awhile. We were amazed at his words. It seemed to us, then, that a part of man ever dwelt in Heaven and that only a lesser portion of his soul remained in man’s body during his earthly life. It was a stupendous thought.

“Yet what a comforting thought,” our angel pressed upon our minds. “You see, now, that man is not nearly so small, so helpless a being, and so cut off from Heaven as you once imagined.” (As he spoke, I realised that this knowledge had been growing within us for a long time, coming to us in little touches and glimpses, yet not strongly enough to be recognised fully.)

“Man,” said the Ruby Angel solemnly, “is a soul possessing, as it were, hands. He himself, while dwelling in the plane of consciousness of Heaven’s realm, puts forth a lesser part of himself into an earthbody, as though he put forth a finger and gently touched here and there, investigating, seeking, exploring.”

“If the greater part of himself lives in Heaven, how is it, then, that he does not know this while on earth?” Janet asked.

“The hand of a man has no consciousness of its own,” our teacher said. “If it is hurt, it sends a message along the nerve wires to the brain of a man. It has not, however, a consciousness of itself. It does not think, ‘I am a hand’ nor seek to act independently of the man. Although I have used the hands for a simile, the comparison is not as close as that. The lesser part of the soul in man, certainly, has no consciousness of the greater part, but it has consciousness of itself. It acts independently of its greater part, its ‘elder brother.’ The whole purpose of religion is to bring the lesser part into closer relation with the greater part. Much of Christ’s teaching to men of earth referred, not only to their need to follow Him as their Elder Brother, but their need to seek and follow that narrow path within themselves which leads to the greater soul, their own ‘elder brother.’ “Narrow path,” repeated Janet. “That is familiar.”

“‘Enter ye in at the strait gate and the narrow way.'” quoted the angel. “‘Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you …. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.'” Again he paused and then:

“What did all this mean, except that there is a narrow path within man where, following, he may come into contact with his greater self? That when he has found this self, he is ‘born again’? That contact with this greater self confers on him such great powers that they are looked upon as unearthly, miraculous? Consider the gifts of the disciples of Christ, when they spoke with tongues.”

He paused again and I murmured: “It seems almost too wonderful to believe; almost as though it were irreverent to think this.”

“Sons,” said the angel, “Sons of God and co-heirs with Christ, did not the master Himself speak of this truth? When the disciples marvelled at His wondrous works, did He not say: ‘And greater works than these shall ye do.’ Greater works even than the works of Christ Himself! Why? Because He was to go from them, to His Father. Hitherto they had thought of all their power coming through Him, but he taught them to look within themselves where they would find the path to the Kingdom of Heaven. If He did not leave them, they would not seek within themselves. Know this; all initiation into great powers, all possession of great gifts is merely that the initiate or gifted one has found the pathway to the Place of Great Souls. He may not be conscious of it, he may have but brief glimpses of it – but truly he steps for a moment on that path and receives a little of the power from his own greater self, his ‘elder brother.'”

“It seems a stupendous thought still,” I confessed.

“Sometimes,” the Ruby Angel continued, as though I had not spoken, “the greater soul is referred to as ‘the angel in Heaven.’ This does not mean one of us, the guides and teachers and ministers of Heaven’s realm. It means the greater soul of man. In children this hidden pathway in the soul is more open than in man, because as men grow they block the pathway with many obstacles of unbelief. For this cause it was said of children; ‘Their angels in Heaven constantly behold the face of the Father.’ How could it be otherwise? If the angel of a child constantly beheld the Father’s face, would not the angel of a man do likewise? But this ‘angel’ was the greater soul.”

“It is wonderful,” Janet breathed, seeking to make this truth her own.

“The parable of the Prodigal Son had a higher meaning, you see,” our angel-teacher explained. “The son who went forth from the Father was the lesser part of the soul which left the greater part in Heaven and went down the narrow pathway into an earthly body in the process which men call birth. There he forgot that he was a great being, son of God and co-heir with Christ. He forgot that this was his lesser soul and that his greater soul dwelt in Heaven, heir of Heavenly gifts and Heavenly powers. After much pain and anguish he remembered. He went back through the narrow way and found again his greater soul. (This was symbolised by the raiment his father put upon him. And then he once more came face to face with his father; he embraced him and he was received once more into the Kingdom).
“Oh, sons ” Suddenly the Ruby Angel sprang up, throwing up his arms in a wide gesture. “Never forget the Place of the Great Souls! Help men on earth to remember, show them the way to their secret pathway, the way so narrow that they must drop all their burdens of complete absorption in worldly possessions and greed. In this way they ‘sell all they have,’ in effect, and ‘give to the poor’ (those who are not ready, yet, to seek the pathway). And so they step upon the path, they renew their link with their greater souls, they come into their power! For this, for this, man lives on earth, that his lesser soul may send out probing fingers, may know, and grow by knowing; may return as a son who has earned his sonship. We angels are not asked to make this great journey down the narrow way, into forgetfulness on earth. Therefore, we honour men the more. For men are the warriors who go forth to battle and return victorious. We angels are the ones who remain in the heavenly home and wait and pray. Oh sons! Forget not the narrow way! Forget not your great destiny!

The Ruby Angel ceased. He sat down again, bowed his head on his arms and folded his wings. There followed a great calm.

THE END

“Shall we go on a round of visits now?” suggested our angel. “I would like you to learn more of Heaven-sight.”

“How would a round of visits help us to learn that?” I asked, and Janet said: “We know a little of extended Heaven-sight…”

“Oh, the Ruby Angel intends to take us on the visits with our eyes only ” I cried triumphantly.

“You are quite wrong,” he said, smiling. “I want you to understand how people on different planes see the same scene but, because of their difference in growth, receive an entirely different picture.”

“Are they going to describe to us what they see?” I enquired contentedly, for whatever our angel suggested was always happiness to us.

As we had been speaking, the scene around us had been fading away as though evening had come rapidly upon us. I knew that this was not so, but that we had been winging our way into another hail or plane. Sometimes we moved with such rapidity that it was neither walking nor running – nor was it flying, for then the limbs would be still. In our present progress our feet were moving slightly as though in a slow walk and yet our bodies felt so light that I think they were raised slightly from the ground. With every ‘step,’ however, we were propelled a dozen or more and yet most smoothly and effortlessly. It was a form of travel which we particularly liked for it invigorated us in much the same way as a cyclist is invigorated while coasting down a gentle slope on earth.

Presently, the light began    to increase, our bodies felt heavier and our feet once more touched the ground. We found ourselves walking into a wood. It was a typical Autumn scene of earth and a very beautiful one. A wide path, slightly hollowed out, cut its way between shallow banks where thickets drooped their tangled stems. All around, great trees spread their branches. As we walked our feet sank into leaves which formed a carpet everywhere. Around the trunks of the trees they had drifted high in a recent wind. Here and there were patches of bracken mellowed to many flaxen, gold and copper hues and there were ferns, too. Some still green, others withered to a dark brown. A little to the right of the path, the ground sloped to a river where the boughs of the trees leaned down to touch the water as it washed over boulders about five feet below.

We paused as we entered this peaceful wood for Janet and I have always loved a wood at Autumn-time. We saw that some of the trees were already almost bare of leaves, that others had a few, coloured ones still clinging to them. Some were still quite well clothed and others-the evergreens-stood in all their splendour with here and there a bunch of crimson berries to brighten the whole picture.

How lovely it is, “Janet breathed-and then we saw the woman coming towards us.

She came slowly along the path with bent head; a graceful woman of middle age and middle height with lines of sadness in her face. Her arms hung loosely, her shoulders drooped. She was a picture of weariness and woe.

We advanced to meet her for Janet’s tender heart was touched at once. Then she lifted up her eyes and saw us.

“Are you, too, all alone? ” she asked abruptly. “They told me I should see my friends and that there were angels here to help me. Angels-” she broke off scornfully. “There is not one to be seen.”

“But-” I began, glancing instinctively toward the Ruby Angel beside us. He quickly shook his head and I realised that the woman could not see him. At the same moment I caught sight of another figure-an angel robed in silver-grey, hovering close to the woman and looking at her with sad, yearning eyes. “Are you lonely?” Janet asked gently.

“Lonely!” the woman echoed. “I have not met a soul for ages-” She broke off again, laughing harshly. “Did you hear that? A soul. We are all souls here, all souls. No bodies, no food, no company – it is hateful.”

“How long have you been in Heaven’s realm?” I asked, sitting down on a log and motioning to her to sit beside me. Janet sat on the other side of her and the two angels withdrew together into the wood.

“Long enough,” she began. “Oh, I don’t know – a year, perhaps, a month. It has seemed like a lifetime. I never wanted to die but the fever got me and then my husband died. That made me feel a bit better when I knew I was going too. At least we could be together – if there was any hereafter, which I doubted.”

“How many doubt that!” Janet cried. “How could they imagine they could die and cease to be?” “Life is life. It cannot be death,” I added.

“Oh, I have heard all that,” Sarah said. (Of course she had pressed her name upon our minds but she was not aware of it.) “It was true, of course. Just a brief struggle, like slipping under the surface of water and then a kind of lightness, with angels standing near and smiling-” “Oh, you have seen the angels! “Janet cried happily.

“I did see them at first,” Sarah grudgingly admitted. Of course I asked them to take me to my husband, but not they! All they talked about was looking at my sins and going through a term of reparation. Sins! Fancy being bothered with sins in Heaven! For it must be Heaven or the angels would not be there. And if I were already in Heaven, what was the use of thinking about my sins on earth?”

“Perhaps you needed to make reparation before you passed into a deeper awareness,” I ventured.

“The angels said something like that,” she replied angrily. “What nonsense – awareness. I am aware of everything. I can see this wretched wood with its bedraggled trees and soggy leaves, all those thorny bushes and that muddy water over there. Oh, I can see everything – except my husband.”

As she spoke, a change began to steal over the wood and we started up in amazement. Where were all the mellow autumn tints? The leaves had faded to a dull, buff shade, the trunks of the trees were a sombre brown. All the lightness and brightness had gone. No longer did the evergreens display their glossy leaves and crimson berries. They were just dull patches, like dirty green rags tied to sticks. All the many hues of the fallen leaves had merged into a uniform shade, the water had lost its sparkle so that the earth and the river-bed was all that could be seen. A dirty wash of water splashing over drab stones, the ground like a filthy khaki cloth flung carelessly down, the trees like mud-coloured poles and the whole scene as though it were viewed through a smoke-laden fog.

We were almost gasping with amazement when we realised. This was the wood through Sarah’s eyes! We sat down again and each took one of her hands.

“Sarah,” Janet began softly, “I think perhaps you refused to see what the angels wished to show you. Before you could see your husband they wanted you to look at your sins as he is looking at his. They wanted you to enter upon your Term of Reparation and then, when you were purified, you and your husband would go on together to a life happier than you had ever known.”

“How do you know that about my husband?” she demanded. “What he is doing, I mean?”

“I can see.”

“Oh, you can see everything,” she exclaimed angrily. “I can see nothing.”

“That is very true, Sarah,” I said. “You have refused to see what the angels wanted to show you and now you can see very little. You are closing your eyes to truth. If you continue in this way (for thought is creative, you know) you will gradually lose your sense of sight until you will be in complete darkness.”

“Oh no!” she cried in terror, clutching our hands. “Not blind, not blind!”

“You are making yourself blind,” Janet explained. “Blind to your sins, blind to the presence of your angel-”

“Do you mean I can stop going blind if I wish? ” she demanded. “Tell me!”

You can regain your sight by desiring to see truth,” I told her. “As I have said, thought is creative. Think humbly of your angel guide, desire to see him and to see that which he will show you, however unpleasant it may be. See in desire and you will see in reality.”

“Oh, I do desire it!” she cried piteously. “I do desire to see everything – especially my angel-” She broke off, gazing around her. “Why, this wood is not ugly after all. The sun has come out. Oh, how it shines on the water! And look at all those pretty colours. Why, what are those colours between the trees?”

She stood up, gazing, and then out of the trees came the two angels. The Ruby Angel waited, but the grey-robed one came towards her with opened arms. His wings rose up protectingly, his face was smiling in gentleness. Sarah just gave a sob and rushed forward. She ran right into those outstretched arms.

The angel folded his arms and his wings around her with a gesture of infinite tenderness. His strong, calm face bent over hers while she leant, sobbing, on his breast. With his own hair he presently dried her tears and then they walked on, the angel enfolding her with his strong arm. We just caught a glimpse of her radiant face as they turned more deeply into the wood.

“So be it,” said our Ruby Angel solemnly. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow nor crying.”

“Let us go now to the Place of Trees,” the Ruby Angel suggested. “It is time you attained to the Degree of Dignity.”

“Oh, what is that?” I asked, while Janet turned her face to his. Our angel smiled.

“I cannot help seeing the picture in you minds! You think of gowns and mortar-boards and solemn gatherings and massive books-”

“You are right,” Janet laughed, “and I must say the picture somewhat daunted me. I never was very desirous of such things-”

“Nor ever would sit still long enough to study,” our angel interrupted in his turn.

“Where is the Place of Trees?” I asked as we began to move away. “I thought we had been there already.”

“No, you saw some trees, but this is not the same thing at all. This is a place where newcomers receive a definite power.”

Janet and I could not repress a shared smile. Newcomers! It seemed that we had been here for untold ages. Our angel, however, only walked on, saying composedly:

“Yes, newcomers. For if you could glimpse the great ones who have climbed beyond you and who have travelled this way before you, you would be blinded by their glory! One of the strangest things we angels notice in men, and which always excites our wonder is the way in which, no sooner is a little knowledge or power gained, they instantly think themselves progressed and preen themselves as old hands.”

These last two words the Ruby Angel said with much emphasis, twinkling at us the while. He knew his use of this homely phrase would amuse us and would take away from the sternness of his previous words. True, we had begun to feel somewhat humbled and subdued by the gentle rebuke and so we welcomed his tactful way with us all the more. We had often noticed this. Angels were always so gentle in their dealings with men, so courteous and patient, too.

Very soon we found ourselves in a great square smoothly cloaked with velvet lawns. All over this square, growing in orderly rows, were many trees. Some of the trees in the far distance were immense, as though they had stood there for centuries. Others were smaller and younger. Some, near to where we were standing, were very small indeed, hardly more than saplings.

Moving among these trees were little angels. These were not the babies, but little angels about the size of an earth-child of seven or eight. They had curly, silken hair falling to their shoulders and a single robe of a shade of shimmering grey. They were tending small gardens around the base of each tree and after watching them awhile we looked questioningly at our angel.

“Every one of these trees represents a man or woman,” our angel explained. “Each has reached a certain stage of consciousness, or awareness, and as the angels tend these gardens, so do they plant prayer-power into the soul of each man to whom the tree ‘belongs.’ This prayer-power is necessary for when a man begins to be aware of his real self he must be helped toward the Degree of Dignity.”

“What is this Degree of Dignity?” I asked.

“When men saw the Lord walking upon earth,” the angel said solemnly, “and met the loving or stern look in His eyes, how little they realised the veneration in which He held them.”

“Veneration?” Janet and I queried together.

“Yes. For He saw each one as the tabernacle of the Most High, He saw the spirit of His Father within each, He felt the pulsing of the Divine Life deep down in every human heart…. And so, in worshipping His Father, He could do nought else but venerate the God in man also. This realisation – of the God in himself and the God in all others – is the Degree of Dignity. No man is quite the same after having once glimpsed this reality. At first the realisation is faint and so the trees are small, but as it grows in power, so do the trees grow because the growth in man is the direct result of the prayer power of the angels. These little ones love to tend the flower-gardens and to pray, for to them, praying is as happy an expression as singing, dancing or playing upon a flute.”

“What a lovely service,” Janet breathed.

She and I seemed to have grown in stature since we had come here. We were conscious of strength, of an up-springing from within. Our hearts were singing and within us were sounding solemn, intimate, almost caressing words: “My son, thou art always with Me and all that I have is thine.”

We wanted to kneel down, to speak to this Father within us, to commune, to whisper to His Heart, at last as sons… but we knew we would have all of time in which to do it.

“Father, Father, Father!” sang our hearts, and the words of the apostle came back to us, Glorify and bear God in your body.” There was a long silence and then I asked: “Is our tree here? ”

“You have one each,” said the angel, but I will not ask you to look for them. They are so small that you would pass them by.”

He moved a few paces away. There two little angels knelt low, tending gardens so small that we too had to stoop to see them! They surrounded trees scarcely more than four inches high. The flowers blossoming in the gardens were the tiniest we had ever seen, but in perfect detail, fragrance and colouring. As we watched, the little angels looked up smilingly.

“Thank you, thank you, for your prayer-power,” Janet whispered. We are so grateful.” The little ones gave us a soft kiss on the cheek and then, hand in hand, skipped away.

So these are our trees,” I marvelled. “And those-” I pointed mutely to the huge trees growing in the far distance. “Those are the trees of the Great Ones.”