An inspiration is a ray directly from the one Omnipresent Mind, penetrating the atmosphere, the fog, of human mind, or belief, which seems to environ the earth. Although this Mind, God, pervades all space, it cannot mingle with this mental fog of belief which forms our earthly atmosphere, because Good cannot mix with evil; but it can penetrate the evil, and in proportion as we recognize the allness of Good, the fog will disperse and we shall perceive its nothingness. Even as the stars pierce the darkness of the night, and prove to us that the darkness is unreal, that it has no power to quench the light, and gradually the full-orbed sun appears, and there is no longer even a semblance of darkness; neither does God leave the world in the apparent darkness of belief in evil, but sends rays of Truth, and Love, and Light, which, penetrating the consciousness of some, reveal through them, like the stars of the firmament, the unreality of error, night, and give promise of the perfect day, when all mankind shall recognize the One Mind, the All-Good—the Sun of Righteousness.
As the Roentgen rays reveal the unreality—the unsubstantiality—of matter, so may the rays of spiritual understanding reveal the substance of Spirit.
Let us not forget that every thought tells as directly and as surely on that mysterious something which we call mental atmosphere, which environs each one of us, and really forms our individuality, and from which radiates that personal quality which we call influence, as does every word we speak. We say a man has a right to his thoughts, as though they were wholly in his possession, but the thoughts that come to us when most apart from the world are registering themselves as indelibly on this spiritual atmosphere,—which we discern as character,—as though proclaimed from the house-top. Let us not fondly imagine that our innermost thoughts are hidden, and will never be known. "There is nothing hid that shall not be revealed" and, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." If our secret thoughts were in danger of being read only by those persons who have cultivated the power of reading the minds of mortals, it would not seem a serious matter; but we are much more an open book to those of quickened spiritual perception, and we would not be found lacking in true spirituality. Every thought, then, that is uncharitable, unjust, unkind, dishonest, or impure, in which we indulge secretly, is weakening just so much the power of our personal influence.
