"I am the thread that runs through all these pearls," and each pearl is a religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and God is the thread that runs through all of them; most people, however, are entirely unconscious of it. "Comfort" is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being "comfortable." "Face the brutes." That is a lesson for all life—face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them. "I do not want to get material life. I do not want sense-life but something higher." That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and everything else shall be added unto you." This is the one great duty, this is renunciation. Live for an ideal, and leave no place in the mind for a...