I refer now to the increase of or as it is variously called, by which terms is meant meditating on behalf of someone who is ill or distressed or in some difficulty demanding courage and wisdom. Perhaps I should repeat here that the practice of so meditating is based on the belief that we are not separate from one another, like chunks of concrete, but that an intermingling of self with self goes on incessantly, whether we like it or not, through the interplay of feeling and thought, and further, that below all this movement of the human mind, there is what the mystics term the Boundless Sea of Divine Activity in which we are all immersed and from which we draw our life, little as we may be aware of the fact.

Because of our one-ness in the Spirit, meditation for , when it reaches a certain intensity of realisation of the Divine Life in which we essentially are and which is likewise in us both, will enable me to some extent to respond to and become consciously aware of this Life. My feeling of perturbation, for instance, will give way to one of calm as you dwell on Christ with us and we shall both receive the Peace that He alone can give; or my feeling of resentment will be dissolved as realisation enables to open to His Love. And this will be accompanied by changes in my bodily condition as the Divine Feeling permeates my subconsciousness. You and I become together partakers of the Divine Life, self-consciously and subconsciously. What you have done for me is to lessen the grip of the transient on my mind (pain, illness, anger or some other negative emotion) by your realisation of what is eternal in me as a child of God - Peace, Goodness, and abounding Life - and so have made it more possible for me to let what is eternal fill my consciousness. Surely this is the greatest service one human being can render another, a service moreover the rendering of which is a most precious privilege. But admitting this must not keep us from looking with sturdy common sense at the other side. Obviously it would be far from right to encourage anyone to go their way saying airily Nor would it be fitting that those whom we seek to help in the Fellowship should feel any weight of obligation to us. But they undoubtedly should do they can to take their part in the great work of transmutation of consciousness.

As I expect most of you know, in every group in the Fellowship time is set apart for intercessory meditation, and there are members not by any means the most leisured who are willing to spend an extra quarter of an hour a day in meditation for the urgent cases about whom I write to them. In every instance those who ask for our help are advised, if not too ill, to keep quiet and relax during the time of a meeting or at some other time, possibly more convenient to the invalid, when I have agreed to be ready to meditate with him or her. Now there are of course no limitations of time and space in the realm of the Spirit, and I am quite sure that in that realm these are meaningless. But they have a definite meaning and are very necessary in the realm in which the subconscious functions, here and now. Making an effort to get the body quiet in a certain place at a certain time impresses the Old Adam in us with the value of meditation and with the importance of the transmutation of consciousness (the re-making of habits of thought and feeling). Thus impressed, the subconscious is readier to receive the Truth that is held before it by the self-conscious mind and, as I keep on reiterating, subconscious acceptance of Truth is essential for our transmutation.

I believe indeed that, at some point or another, if we would grow spiritually through meditation, it becomes essential to make some effort which involves a real sacrifice, possibly in money, possibly in the relinquishment of some long-cherished plan, possibly in some redistribution of time and duties which may arouse criticism in certain quarters. However that may be, I think there can be no doubt that if people do not do their very best to secure quiet and freedom from interruption at the pre-arranged time (often time they themselves have chosen) it is equivalent to saying, ; and the subconscious, being the seat of all that is unregenerate in our nature, is only too ready to acquiesce in this opinion! Progress is bound to be retarded if we are lax in securing favourable conditions for meditation or in keeping to the time fixed. On the human plane, if we make an appointment with a doctor we find time to keep it; if unforeseen circumstances force us to break our engagement, we think it only reasonable to inform him and so give him a chance of putting his time to some other use. But it does not occur to all of us that the human being who has undertaken to meditate for us is a human being and may conceivably like to go for a walk or read a book or even go to bed if we are to keep our appointment in the silence.

I stress the need for the co-operation that it is possible for most people to give (by adhering to the time fixed and by sending a periodic report of themselves) because I am sure that for their own good such co-operation is necessary; and I think (though this I cannot prove) that when it is withheld, some mental law of reciprocity is broken which precludes us from receiving help through the particular human agent whose aid we have invoked. We may of course receive it elsewhere, for the Lovingkindness of God is never withheld, but not to any marked extent through that particular channel. In any case, we need to be very careful not to fall into indifference or negligence with regard to meditation once we have undertaken to practise it; for I am almost certain that so doing is bound sooner or later to work out in suffering.

I hope it is clear that what I have said applies only to those people who are well enough (unfortunately?) to be casual. In the seriously ill there may be, and often is, a deeply felt desire for increase of Life, which desire is the channel through which our help may reach them.

In using meditation for someone else, do not bring the name into the silence until you are sure that your attention is steadily centred on the Most High and that you are drawing your feeling from communion with Him. Otherwise your mind will stray to the unhappy conditions of the other and you will accept your feeling from them.

As to how long to meditate for someone else, it is impossible to give a general answer that will cover every case. My two teachers, who were both great healers, used to spend fifteen minutes on each person who appealed to them for help. In group meditation the time spent was generally less than that. Sometimes when one is in contact with someone who is desperately ill one feels impelled to continue for very much longer. But I am sure it is the depth and not the length of the meditation that is of first importance.

Finally, a word of encouragement to those of you who are just beginning to use meditation: even though you cannot at first control your mind enough to use it in an intercessory way, each time you meditate you are doing something to break up old negative habits of thought and to make it easier for the sick and the sorrowful to realise the Power that brings healing and comfort.