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The Mayana, including the privilege of translations into other lanau•••s.

VADE MECUM, VOLVENTIBUS ANNIS

THE MAYANS
8 - 9 SAN ANTONIO, Number 199
TEXAS
Copyright l959 by The Mayans
ofie

Living Series
Mayan Revelation NumGer 199

Some 9ngredients of Sternal .Civing

'3aith Beauty

Hope Honor

.Cove Wisdom

oruth Prayer
Rev. 199: P2: G:H: 7.63

Beloved Centurion:

The following are some of the important qualities which go to make up the
ingredients of Eternal Living. Great men throughout history have used the words
of the quotations below to describe these qualities:

FAITH -Faith is a certain image of eternity. All things are present to

it - things past, and things to come; it converses with angels,
and antedates the hymns of glory. Every man that hath this grace
is certain there are glories for him, if he perseveres in duty.
-- Taylor

HOPE - Hope is the best part of our riches. What difference if we have
all the wealth of the Indies in our pocket, if we have not the
hope of heaven in our souls.
--Bovee

LOVE -Love is the greatest thing God can give us, for Himself is Love;
and it is the greatest thing we can give to God for it will also
give ourselves and carry with it all that is ours. The Apostle
calls it the bond of perfection. It is the Old, the New, and the
Great Commandment, and all the Commandments, for it is the ful-
filling of the law . It does the work of all the other graces,
without any instrument but its own immediate virtue.
-- Jeremy Taylor

TRUTH - Truth lies in character. Christ . did not simply speak the truth;
He was Truth; Truth through and through; for truth is a thing,
not of words, but of life and being.
Robertson

BEAUTY -Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite; like truth and
justice, it lives within us; like virtue and moral law, it is a
companion of the soul.
--Bancroft

HONOR - Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to

others.
-- Pliny

WISDOM - There are but two classes of the wise; The men who serve God be-
cause they have found Him, and the men who seek Him because they
have found Him not.
-- Cecil

The above are the words of wise men describing the qualities which you will
study in this lesson. It is the sincere wish of your Instructor that you will
gain much in wisdom, a s you ponder and meditate over the material which has been
prepared for you . Let us take up the study together now of some ingredients of
Eternal Living:
Rev. 199: PJ: G:H: 7 ~ 63

Some 9ngredients of Sternal [iving

WE have already emphasized the fact that the theme of this
hiTH series of lessons is not merely immortality, but rather the
stuff of which immortality is made, the kind of living without
which there could be no such thing as eternal life . Eternal
life is the fruit, but we are dealing with that without which there could be no
fruit, namely the root . Eternal life is the result, but ~ §l:.§. dealing with the
~ to that result .

We now come to a partial analysis of eternal living, an effort to see

something of what it is made of . That should enable us to begin building it ele-
ment by element, but as you do so remember that this list does not pretend to be
complete. It only attempts to list the major items, and surely as you proceed to
build them into your life you will keep discovering and adding others .

You will discover , unless you already know, that these elements are cumu-
lative . They expand as you work with them . They are like knowledge in that the
more you get, the better you realize how much more there is to get . You can go
on indefinitely, and whatever else you do you may be working on these for a long
time . So let us begin with faith, which certainly is one of the fundamental ones .
To try to liv e in t erms of eternity without it would be like t rying to raise crops
in a deser t without irrigati on . One just couldn' t even begi n .

We will not spend much time trying to define faith . It is a difficult

thing to do , and when we have built a definition we never feel that it is ade -
quate. One has to learn what faith is by experience , by practicing it , working
at it , and living with it . Let us just say that faith is confidence in God . That
will do to start with , and after all our searching and experience we shall prob -
ably not be able to improve on it much . Details might be listed , but the sum of
them would still be confidence in God .

What we want to consider here is how to get this confidence and keep it
growing . we are attempting to compound eternal living , but we have to produce the
ingredients ourselves . This is the first one , and since it cannot be obtained
from anyone else , the problem is how to produce it, or at least to begin .

This too can be reduced to simple terms . Do not think any complex process
on your part is required . Faith is a form of belief, so the way to begin is to
believe . Believe in God, however little you understand His nature . You know at
least, or you can surely assume , that God is infinitely wise, powerful, loving,
and good . Believe that and go on from there . However much or however little
more you learn will not make much difference, but how intensely you believe this
much will make great difference, especially if you realize that the benefit of all
these divine qualities is available to you .

Are you one of those people who think they cannot believe? Well , you
probably could ; but if you think you cannot believe these things , assume them till
you find them to be true . If you cannot even assume them, then act as though you
believed them . If you start anywhere and keep go i ng , the rest will take care of
itself . Begin now , and be on your way .
Rev. 199 : P4: G: H! 7 • 63

YOU now have the first element started, and are ready to begin
mixing the second one with it. Keep in mind that you are start-
ing to produce a life lived in terms of eternity, and you are
assembling a list of ingredients that never perish or change.
Knowing that a life built of them will be as abiding as they are, the next element
we will add is hope.

This is another thing not easily defined, but very real and commonly ex-
perienced. It is the optimism of the heart, that something that is always telling
us not to lose courage, the clouds will pass, and the sun will shine again, that
it is better farther on, and no matter how difficult things are they will turn out
well.

Hope is always singing. Its face is always bright. It is fearless of any

load. It never gives up. In fact, someone has called it the heart's one unbroken
string.

Faith and hope have an affinity for each other. They are usually found
together. If you have acquired either of them the approach to the other is then
easier . Probably one could not have either of them in its highest form without
some measure of the oth~r. Faith is faith partly because it hopes, and hope is
hope partly because it has faith.

The way to mix hope into the vital compound you are making is first to in-
clude it in your way of life, and the way to do that is to have it in your heart.
As i t is with having faith, the way is to begin and keep going.

In learning to have faith your struggle is against doubt . In learning to

have hope your struggle is against the tendency to look on the dark side of things
and give up. We tend to do that because we put the worst construction on things
instead of the best. Some do so because they are not physically well, some be-
cause they lack strength of will, and some because they h~ve fallen into the habit
of surrender. These things MUST BE MASTERED before hope £..@thrive.

The contradiction of hope is despair, and despair is one of the blackest

of the demons. Nowhere and in no case is there any excuse for admitting it into
your life. No matter what happens, and no matter what the situation is, there is
ground for hope. Most of the people who surrender to despair and stop trying do
so just before the skies would have begun to brighten.

The forerunner of despair and one of the destroyers of hope is fear .

Nothing is ever as bad as fear paints it. Most of the things we fear never hap-
pen, and most of those that do happen are not as bad as we thought they would be.
Anyway, fearing anything makes it much more likely to occur .

If you have not learned the habit of hope, begin now. If you have, begin
now to increase your supply. Watch, and when you catch your hope failing, get
back into step with God. Loose the chains you have bound on it and let it bring
you back again to the way of victory. You cannot get through any gate of triumph
with g_ burden of despair upon you. Get rid of it.

-- 0 --
 '
Rev. 199: P5: G:H: 7.63

THE third ingredient of eternal living we will mention is love.

These first three we have considered make up the combination of
eternal values with which St. Paul concludes his great series of
comments on love in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians.
In this last sentence he says that faith, hope, and love abide. That is because
they are supremely eternal things. Whatever may be said of anything else, these
three are everlasting, indestructible, and unchanging. Of that there is no room
for doubt or question.

In any medical formula you will find some ingredients that are helpful in
some way and measure, a few that are basic or active, and perhaps one or two that
are specific or sure. They are the elements that make the prescription what it is
and the compound capable of doing what it does. So in the compounding of eternal
living there are many ingredients that help in one way or another, but these three
are basic, even specific. It is they that activate the compound. It is being
related to them that gives the others whatever value they possess.

St. Paul makes a choice, even among these three. One, he says, is greatest.
That greatest one is love. 1

In the course of the chapter he lists several things that make love great.
It is kind, it is longsuffering, it is forgiving, it rejoices in truth, and so on;
but there is one particular quality that makes it infinite, universal, and eternal,
one thing that makes it a condition of eternal life, one thing that can be said of
nothing else whatsoever - it never fails.

When we have added love to our compound, then, we will have the basic part
of our formu1a already mixed. How do we go about adding love and blending it with
the mixture made thus far? For each person that process will be a little differ-
ent according to our varied personalities and situations; yet however we go about
it there are certain things we all must do. They are general enough to apply to
you, whoever you are, and whoever you are now is the time to begin.

The first thing to do is to stop hating. For some that is not easy, but
it must be done. Till it is done hate will keep on poisoning your soul and un-
fitting it for the higher reaches of living. To accomplish it will require
whatever forgiving is necessary and the righting of any standing wrongs.

But that is only the passive part of the process, and therefore the one
requiring the least effort. It is only clearing the ground and getting ready for
the essential thing - living a life motivated by love.

You must open your heart wide enough to take in and adopt all that Cole-
ridge meant in these lines from The Rime of the Ancient.Mariner:
11 He pr<veth best who loveth best

All things, both great and small;

For the dear Lord who loveth us,

He made and loveth all."

 .
Rev. 199 : P6: G: H: 7 . 63

You must sincerely want every other person to do as well as you want to do
and be as happy as you want to be. You must make it your business to add every-
thing you can to the sum total of welfare and happiness in the world, helping ,
encouraging , rescuing, saving, improving , beautifying, cleansing, and lifting where-
ever you can.

-- 0 --

c-r WE now come to four additional ingredients that relate themselves

~RUTH to the three we have already considered. At this point let us
list truth. It is a passive kind of value, but it is not nega-
tive. Indeed i t is wholly positive. It is a measuring rod for thinking, a
determinent for justice, a mould for action, and a qualification for permanence.
Nothing that does not conform to it can last , so without it there can be none of
the kind of living that builds up into eternal proportions.

The word truth is related in meaning to the old word troth, agreement on
something by two people who feel that they can depend on each other. Truth, then,
is dependability, a quallty which means that whatever is characterized by it will
stand.

Even in the remotest ages and among the most undevelope d peoples we f ind
great emphasis properly placed on ·dependability. Even in days of semi - savagery
one of the first things expected of a man was that he be honest, that he be one
who honored his vows and kept his promises. Broken assurances made more trouble
than anything else did between the white man and the American Indian. The Old
Testament rings and echoes with the word integrity, and the New Testament does the
same with the word truth, the basis of integrity.

Where does truth come from? What creates it? What makes it like it is?
Consider deeply, and see if you do not agree that the source of truth is the
divine mind itself. God sees a thing, and it is so. God thinks a thing, and it
becomes a part of the eternal verity.

You can see, t-hen, how closely truth is related to eternity and how
closely it relates us to the infinite. The person who searches for it is learning
to think and know with God. The person who expresses it is speaking for God. The
person who lives by it is shaping his life to the plan of God, which is the etern-
al plan.

Take your stand on the bedrock of truth, and nothing can overthrow you or
defeat you. It is the one sure position, and from it there is no appeal.

But how is one to know the truth? That is not necessarily a difficult
thing to do, but it is a very easy one with which to make a mistake . A thing is
not necessarily true because we think it, or wish it were true , or know others
who believe it. Confirm your beliefs. Talk with the wise . Read the writings of
master minds . Search the scriptures. Think much and carefully. Ask for light
and guidance . Study the experience of others, past and present. Avoid hasty
conclusions. Put things to the test. Prove all things, and hold fast that which
is good.
Rev. 199: P7: G:H: 7 :63

Enough truth is revealed in the Bible, - experience, investigation,

thought, and your own inner consciousness, to find the way; and enough will be
added day by day to enable you to keep going. Judge and decide things by the
surest principle you know and find more such principles to use as you go along.

Remember that truth and right are inseparable. Truth can never be wrong,
and right can never be untrue. Truth is the pattern of right, and right is truth
carried into action.

-- 0 --

CERTAINLY one of the ingredients in eternal living is beauty,

:BEAUTY for it was in a moment of inspiration that it was said that a
thing of beauty is a joy fo~er. Beauty is harmony, and bar
mony is the health of body, mind, spirit, and condition.

Beauty is an important facet of religion, for religion is nourished by the

practice of beholding the beauty of the Lord.

We tend to become like what we continually see. A truly good life becomes
a beautiful life because the beauty it looks upon is contagious and becomes a part
of itself.

Men like Moses, Isaiah, and Paul became what they were because they caught
glimpses of the glory of God, and it was a transforming power upon them and within
them.

In "East of Eden" John Steinbeck speaks of the way the 11 glories 11 we behold
make the day, and life, and ourselves, different -happier, stronger, better,
truer -and the importance of our lives is determined and.measured by the glories
we see.

But burning bushes by the path, and winging cherubim in the temple, and
mid-day gleams on a road, are not the only kinds of glory. There are glories that
are humbler, yet patterned in the same infinite mind, fashioned by the same
creative power, and bearing the message of the same eternal spirit. These too are
realized thoughts of God, and the thoughts of God are always beautiful. A rose
is a thought of God that no wayward human hand could spoil before it became what
its creator meant it to be. The same power will make an act, a thought, or a life
beautiful too, like a snow crystal, or a sunset, or a starry sky.

It is tragic that there has risen a kind of a cult of ugliness, an appar-

ent revolt against beauty; a tendency to discord in music, sordidness in literature
and grotesqueness in art. Flee from it. It is an unholy thing which will, if you
let it, mar the image of God in your life. The true and good are beautiful, and
the beautiful is true and good.

One morning a teacher in a poverty-ridden section of a large city placed

a single white lily in a bud vase on her desk and went about the work of the
morning. An unkempt little girl who had t aken on the look of the poor home and
the squalid slum in which she lived came in. As she sat down the lily caught her
Rev. 199: P8: G:H: 7.63

eye. She stared at it for quite a while, then rose and quietly left the room. A
while later she was back again with a clean body in a fresh dress and with her
face washed and her hair combed. Ugliness never uplifted anyone, but beauty will
do it; and what it will do for the body it will do for the spirit.

The aged Emerson said at the bier of Longfellow, "I do not remember
that man 1 s name, but I know he had a beautiful soul." That is what 1
people will remember when they have forgotten everything else, be-
cause the beauty of one soul somehow gets into others souls too.

Things of beauty may be marred or destroyed by a rough, irreverent touch;

but the creative hand keeps replacing them because the spirit of beauty is death~
less. It is a never-failing fountain which is accessible to you. God makes only
the beautiful,_££ the beautiful and the immortal is his pattern for your life.

0 --

[J WE now come to blend the ingredient of honor into our living to

rtONOR give it the eternal quality. We are now beginning to have one
of the most wonderful of compounds, if not the most wonderful
one. But what is it that we are now so busily mixing with these
other qualities and values, and how is it made? Honor is not honesty but the
source of it and at the same time one of its results. Honor springs from honesty
and, in turn, begets more honor, to give rise to more honesty. So it goes on in
a ceaseless chain reaction.

Honor must be an inborn quality, for we find the rudiments of it in child-

ren, animals, and savages. In other words, it must be a phase of the divine image
in us, like the sense of immortality; and like the sense of immortality it can be
crushed and weakened by the clash and drive of a materialistic world life as time
passes.

The people who have decided that the day of honor is past, that one can
no longer continue to be honorable and expect to get on well in the world, are
making a tragic mistake. What they really should say is that they no longer have
the courage to try to walk the path of honor because they are afraid the price
would be too high.

Do not share their weakness and error. People of courage need to make
honor again the accepted custom. No ticket for immortality is valid unless it
bears the stamp of honor on its face.

Picture a world ruled by honor. It would be a safe world, a world in

which business could be carried on with confidence, a world in which we vrould all
have good neighbors, in which strangers could be trusted, and in which righteous-
ness and peace would walk side by side. Best of all, it would be a world in tune
with eternity.

How is such a world to be brought about? By constantly increasing the

number of honorable people in it. That is where you come into the picture. Hea-
ven bends very near to such a world and those who make it so.
Rev. 199 : P9 : & : H: ' 7 • 63

Building honor into our living is like doing so with any of the other
immortal qualities we have mentioned. The problem is not how to finish but how
to get started. We know that if we get under way and keep going we will arrive.
That focuses the matter on just one thing - getting going.

We might say the first thing to do is to love honor, but for some that
might not be immediately possible. They think dishonor is more profitable because
they have not yet learned that its rewards pale and disappear, while the day al-
ways comes when even they will desire the fruits of honor more.

The way to begin, then, is to live and act honorably, whether you like it
or not, till it becomes the natural thing. After that you would not be willing to
change it for any other way. It will have begun to be a part of you, an undying
part. In other words, you will have come to love it, and it is never hard to
travel a way one loves. Do not fail to try this formula because it looks too
simple to be successful. The most workable plans are always the simplest. There
need be no period of confusion. All you have to do is to begin.

-- 0 --

WE come now to add the last in our list of most essential ingred-
WrsnoM ients of eternal living, the qualities which lift life over from
a temporal to an eternal basis, somewhat as air compartments
change a ship from a sinkable vessel to one that can safely
brave the deep . You will finally find more, but these are the primary ones. That
final one, which we now come to consider, is wisdom, the quality which the Bible
repeatedl y says begins with the fear or reverent recognition of the Lord.

What is wisdom? A satisfactory definition is a little hard to frame. It

is one of those things one just has to recognize by seeing it, or better yet by
seeking it through practice. It is more than knowledge, more even than under-
standing, for these are passive qualities, and nothing .can be called wisdom that
does not ripen into action. We will, then, undertake a definition which we know
is not complete, but which will perhaps give us enough of an idea to begin with.
Let us say that wisdom is knowing what to do and doing it.

Wisdom, then, is not turning a light on the road but the ability to
see the light that is already there, plus the courage to walk in it.
The root of it is a process of perception and decision in the soul.
The fruit of it is a life made rich and full by acting in accordance
with it.

Most of us are really wiser than our outward lives indicate, wiser even
than we ourselves realize, because we do not use all the powers of wisdom we
possess. If we would always act as wisely as we are capable of doing and as God
would help us to do, there would be no problem. That is why we say a part of
wisdom is having the courage to act.

How is it that so many of us fail to make as much of our lives as we

might? It is not because we lack understanding or the capacity for it, but be-
cause we do not develop and use it. Sometimes the reason is that we let the
Rev. 199:P10: G:H: 7.63

appeals of sense shut out the true light.

Instead of doing our own thinking we let the crowd do it for us. We assume
that the majority is right when that may not be the case. We think we must follow
the crowd and we suppose we are living our own lives when we are really only imi-
tating those of other people, and often the very ones whose lives are least worthy
of imitation.

We assume that we are thinking when we are not. We are only responding to
impulse, or assuming the reality of the visible, or being led about by desire.
Even if we are using our brains we are not always touching the level of wisdom.
Wisdom is using the accumulated power of a mind relaxed, free from prejudice, and
open to the light of the divine; and then acting on the conclusions it reaches.

Do you do that? You can, · and if you will, you will have at least
one of the foundations of eternal living.

-- 0

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, I thank thee that thou hast provided the elements of
eternal life as definitely as thou hast provided the making of all the
physical substances. Guide me in the blending and let the result be
life in its fulness. Amen.

0 --

May this lesson and all lessons to follow be blessed unto you.

YOUR CLASS INSTRUCTOR.