partial consciousnesses or rather which is the essential core or reality of
our partial consciousnesses. This essential core of the human being,
which is his true self, is thus, by virtue of its participation in the reality
of the universal consciousness, immortal. We are, then, immortal
souls, and it follows that by virtue of our possession of, or rather, by
virtue of our being immortal souls, we are here and now members of
the real spiritual world, although by virtue of our bodies we are also
and at the same time members of the familiar world of physical things.

If we live aright we can, even while we are in the body upon earth,
partially realize our real nature as participators in the spiritual world
and prepare ourselves to enter upon our full spiritual inheritance when
our souls leave their bodies at death.

The universal consciousness which is the fundamental reality of the
universe can be further defined, and by many, perhaps most, religions
is further defined, as being of the nature of a Person. This Person is
God.

Now we can only conceive of the personality of God in terms of
our own personalities; we can, in other words, only conceive of Him
anthropomorphically. To do so is no doubt to conceive Him falsely,
since God is not after all a man, is not even a perfect man. Neverthe-
less, we are in a position to make certain statements about His at-
tributes, as, for example, that He is all wise, all good, and all powerful;
that He created us, created, that is to say, our souls, and that He cares
for us and wishes us well; also that He created the familiar world of
visible things and, therefore, our bodies which are members of that
world. God, then, is the author of our being and it is to Him that we
owe the gift of eternal life.

It is possible by practising certain disciplines, which are summed
up in the words contemplation, meditation and prayer, and by living
a good life to enter into direct intercourse with God. Such intercourse
has been vouchsafed to the mystics who speak of it in the language of
a revealed vision. The mystics are exceptional men; ordinary men
can, however, communicate with God in prayer and, if they pray
with faith and (what is important) pray for the right things, God will
listen to their prayers and grant their requests.

Apart from the direct vision of the mystics, God has revealed Him-
self in indirect ways to man. There are certain values, the values,

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