ACQUIRINGFIRST-HANDKNOWLEDGE 431
but little spiritual gr owth and the life will b e a barren one, so
far as the spirit is concerned.
We generally estimate a “successful” life by the bank
account, the social position attained, or the happiness
resulting from a carefree existence and a sheltered
environment.
When life is regarded is that way all the principal things
that make for permanency are forgotten; the individual is
blinded by the evanescent and illusionary. A bank account
seems such a very real success, the fact is forgotten that
from the moment the Ego leaves the body, it has no equity in
gold nor any other earthly treasure. It may even have to
answer for the methods employed in amassing that hoard
and suffer great pain in seeing others spend it. It is forgotten
that the important social position also disappears when the
silver cord is loosed. Those who once fawned may then
sneer, and even those who were faithful in life might
shudder at the thought of an hour spent with no company but
that of the dead. All that is of this lifealone is vanity. Only
that is of true value which can be taken with us across the
threshold as the treasure of the spirit.
The hothouse plant may look very beautiful as it blooms
in its sheltered glass house, but should the furnace fire go
out, it would wither and die, while the plant that has grown
in rain and sunshine, through storm and calm, will survive
the winter and bloom afresh each year. From the viewpoint
of the soul, happiness and a sheltered environment are
generally unfortunate circumstances. The petted and fondled
lap dog is subject to diseases of which the homeless cur,
which has to fight for a scrap from a garbage can, knows
nothing. The cur's life is hard, but it gets experience that
makes it alert, alive and resourceful. Its life is rich in events,