 CHAPTER VII It is granted only to the heart that abounds with integrity, trust, generosity, and love to realize true prosperity. The heart that is not possessed of these qualities cannot know prosperity, for prosperity, like happiness, is not an outward possession, but an inward realization. The greedy man may become a millionaire, but he will always be wretched and mean and poor, and will even consider himself outwardly poor, so long as there is a man in the world who is richer than himself, while as the upright, the open-handed and loving, will realize a full and rich prosperity, even though their outward possessions may be small. He is poor who is dissatisfied, he is rich who is contented with what he has, and he is richer who is generous with what he has. When we contemplate the fact that the universe is abounding in all good things, material as well as spiritual, and compare it with man's blind eagerness to secure a few gold coins or a few acres of dirt, it is then that we realize how dark and ignorant selfishness is. It is then that we know that self-seeking is self-destruction. Nature gives all without reservation and loses nothing. Man grasping all loses everything. If you would realize true prosperity, do not settle down, as many have done, into the belief that if you do right, everything will go wrong. Do not allow the word competition to shake your faith in the supremacy of righteousness. I care not what men may say about the laws of competition, for do I not know the unchangeable law which shall one day put them all to route, and which puts them to route even now, in the heart and life of the righteous man. And knowing this law, I can contemplate all dishonesty with undisturbed repose, for I know where certain destruction awaits it. Under all circumstances, do that which you believe to be right, and trust the law, trust the divine power that is eminent in the universe, and it will never desert you, and you will always be protected. By such a trust all your losses will be converted into gains, and all curses which threaten will be transmuted into blessings. Never let go of integrity, generosity, and love, for these coupled with energy will lift you into the truly prosperous state. Do not believe the world when it tells you that you must attend to Number One first, and to others afterwards. To do this is not to think of others at all, but only of one's own comforts. To those who practice this, the day will come when they will be deserted by all, and when they cry out in their loneliness and anguish, there will be no one to hear and help them. To consider oneself before all others is to cramp and warp and hinder every noble and divine impulse. Let your soul expand. Let your heart reach out to others in loving and generous warmth, and great enlasting will be your joy, and all prosperity will come to you. Those who have wandered from the highway of righteousness guard themselves against competition. Those who always pursue the right need not to trouble about such defense. This is no empty statement. There are men today, who by the power of integrity and faith, have defied all competition, and who, without swerving in the least from their methods, when competed with, have risen steadily into prosperity, while as those who try to undermine them have fallen back defeated. To possess those inward qualities which constitute goodness is to be armored against all the powers of evil, and to be doubly protected in every time of trial, and to build oneself up in those qualities is to build up a success which cannot be shaken, and to enter into a prosperity which will endure forever. The white robe of the heart invisible is stained with sin and sorrow, grief and pain, and all repentant pools and springs of prayer shall not avail to wash it white again. While in the path of ignorance I walk the stains of error will not cease to cling. Defilements mark the crooked path of self where anguish lurks and disappointments sting. Knowledge and wisdom only can avail to purify and make my garment clean, for therein lie love's waters, therein rest peace undisturbed, eternal, and serene. Sin and repentance is the path of pain. Knowledge and wisdom is the path of peace. By the near way of practice I will find where bliss begins, how pains and sorrows cease. Self shall depart, and truth shall take its place. The changeless one, the indivisible shall take up his abode in me, and cleanse the white robe of the heart invisible.