Foreword to 1953 Edition

tn_walter-russell This story of the life of Walter Russell was first published in 1946 when he lived in Carnegie Hall, in New York City. Many readers who are not now able to find him there are wondering where he is and if his activities have ceased because of his 85 years. The fact is he is more active than ever and still looks to the years ahead as the most important years of his life.

In 1948, Walter Russell and his wife Lao Russell acquired a famous Italian Renaissance marble palace and sculpture gardens on a Virginia mountain top to devote the rest of their lives to the arts, to philosophy and science for the betterment of human relations and for the unfoldment of the inherent genius which lies within every man. Here are published all his books and music and here is to be found the great collection of his masterpieces in all of the arts, which she has gathered together as a memorial to her husband and as an inspiration to others. Here also are the noted works of her own in philosophy and science, together with the books and sculpture which they have created together during the past ten years. Thousands journey every year to this mountain-top shrine where guides conduct them through the rooms filled with the works of both Walter and Lao Russell. Behind this palace are the gardens, adorned with their sculpture -- his four Freedoms and the towering statue of the Christ of the Blue Ridge which Lao Russell conceived and they collaborated to produce. Perhaps the crowning sculptural achievement of their lives will be The Sermon on the Mount, which they are working on together when their busy lives give them time for inspirational creation.

Walter and Lao Russell have written a one-year Home Study Course in Universal Law, Natural Science and Philosophy which has girdled the world and inspired many with new knowledge of man's relation to man, to God, and to the universe. This Home Study Course was written as a means for spreading throughout the world their teachings of the Light within man.

Glenn Clark

Chapter 1

We Go Seeking

All my life I have been looking for a man who has discovered the universal law which lies back of the Sermon on the Mount, and who consciously uses that law with full awareness of its meaning, and full obedience to its principles.

Tens of thousands preach it or write about it, yet have little understanding of its meaning. I doubt if there are many men in the whole world who actually Know that cosmic basis sufficiently to live it knowingly.

If I could find such a man, I thought to myself, he would be so cosmically aware of the Light of God that he would know the spiritual Cause of all Effect. Such a one would be a super-genius, for the hidden secrets of the universe would be his. He would see the universe as a whole and know his relationship to it, and to God. All knowledge of Cause would be his, and also the power to use it.

carrellOne day Dr. Alexis Carrel sent word he wanted to see me. "The world is facing an awful crisis," he said. "The very future of humanity is at stake. Mankind can be saved only by a group of men who are so centered in God at the Source that their wisdom is a part of the all-Wisdom, and therefore so conscious of the cosmos and so integrated at the center that they will be able to think clearly in many fields and not be limited to one field alone. Such a group of men, if they could find each other out, and share their wisdom, might be able to chart a course that could save the world. Can you help me find such men?"

In the field of religion I had found several such men. Rufus Jones I would place at the head of the list, followed by such men as Frank Laubach and E. Stanley Jones and perhaps a score of others. The fact that all these men are so humble that they would shrink from making such claims for themselves is added proof that they deserve this honor that I would here bestow upon them.

However, Dr. Carrel was urging me to find a man outside the field of applied religion but who had achieved success in several fields as business or engineering or the arts.

"If that is what you want," I replied, "I would name Dr. George Washington Carver first of all."

He accepted this suggestion with enthusiasm. I named others but he brought me back to Dr. Carver.

"Help me to contact that man," he said. "Something inside tells me that he rings true."

It was with great joy that I was able to bring Dr. Carrel and Dr. Carver together. Weeks ran into weeks and