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THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
337 other, except the lip-respect of a time-server, for the time being.
To the races which aspire to occupy their proper place in the council of nations, we would advise the practising of truthfulness, under all circumstances. They need not do anything else. This one virtue alone would bring about an adjustment of all their relations, of its own inherent force. Shakespeare rightly says:
“To thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man." But it is not the whole truth, for we ought to add to this : 'when thou art true to thine own Self, it must also follow that none can then be false to thee.'
Truthfulness is the power which binds nations together. Not only is its disregard fraught with national calamity and degradation, but individually, also, it can only lead to ruin. We might work out its consequences from the points of view of Spiritualism and materialism both.
Firstly, as regards Spiritualism, falsehood directly produces impurity of heart, perverts and deadens the higher instincts, converts the nobler emotion of love into that of hatred, and renders the ego unfit for higher forms of evolution. It makes the intellect cloudy, and réplaces the serenity of mind with worry and anxiety, thus directly robbing the ego of ananda, or bliss, the acquisition and enjoyment of which is the sole aim and aspiration of the soul. The liar wants to be happy, but does the very thing which directly gives birth to unhappiness! It is like pulling out the foundation to build the superstructure with. Spiritual progress is
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