the soul's great need. I sought the world, but peace was not there. I courted learning,
but truth was not revealed. I so joined with philosophy, but my heart was sore with vanity,
and I cried, where is peace to be found, and where is the hiding place of truth? Filius Lucius.
Every human soul is in need. The expression of that need varies with individuals,
but there is not one soul that does not feel it in some degree. It is a spiritual and casual
need, which takes the form in souls of particular development, of a deep and inexpressible hunger,
which the outward things of life, however abundantly they may be possessed, can never satisfy.
Yet the majority, imperfect in knowledge and misled by appearances, seek to satisfy this hunger
by striving for material possessions, believing that these will satisfy their need and bring them
peace. Every soul, consciously or unconsciously, hungers for righteousness, and every soul seeks to
gratify that hunger in its own particular way, and in accordance with its own particular state of
knowledge. The hunger is one, and the righteousness is one, but the pathways by which righteousness
is sought are many. They who seek consciously are blessed, and shall shortly find that final
and permanent satisfaction of soul, which righteousness alone can give, for they have come into
a knowledge of the true path. They who seek unconsciously, although for a time they may bathe in a
sea of pleasure, are not blessed, for they are carving out for themselves pathways of suffering,
over which they must walk with torn and wounded feet, and their hunger will increase,
and the soul will cry out for its lost heritage, the eternal heritage of righteousness.
Not in any of the three worlds, waking, dream, and sleep, can the soul find lasting
satisfaction, apart from the realization of righteousness. Body to disembodied, it is ceaselessly
driven on by the discipline of suffering, until at last, in its extremity, it flies to its only
refuge, the refuge of righteousness, and finds that joy, satisfaction, and peace, which it had
so long and so vainly sought. The great need of the soul then, is the need of this permanent
principle, called righteousness, on which it may stand securely and restfully amid the tempest
of earthly existence. No more be wildered, and whereon it may build the mansion of a beautiful,
peaceful, and perfect life. It is the realization of this principle where the kingdom of heaven,
the abiding home of the soul resides, and which is the source and storehouse of every permanent
blessing, finding it, all it's found, not finding it, all it's lost. It is an attitude of mind,
a state of consciousness, in an affable knowledge, in which the struggle for existence ceases,
and the soul finds itself at rest in the midst of plenty, where its great need, its every need,
is satisfied, without strife and without fear. Blessed are they who earnestly and intelligently seek,
for it is impossible that such should seek in vain.
