The consciousness of the hand--When it first was felt--Always there--Now as the hand of a father--Now as that of a mother--A lover--A brother--Always guiding--Always leading--A mystery--Some day we will know the owner of the hand. I have felt the Unseen Hand--have been guided by it--have felt the kind but steady urge in the direction which it knew to be best, though my Intellect failed to see the beauty of the road toward which the Hand was directing me. For a time I rebelled against the impertinent interference of that which seemed to be a thing apart from me--a meddler--an unasked for helper. I had emerged from the dependent state--the state in which I thought it necessary to lean upon others. I gloried in my independence--my freedom--my ability to stand alone. Finding that it was good to stand alone--reveling in the joy of my new found freedom--rejoicing in the fact that the I AM within me was a reality--feeling within me the ecstasy that comes from the recognition of the reality of Individuality--I resented any interference from outside. But the pressure of the hand was still here--it would take my unwilling fingers within its own and lead me on--and lead me on. Finding that I could not get rid of this unseen helper--realizing that it was intent upon guiding me in spite of my repeated assertions that I was able to take care of myself--that I was big enough to walk alone--I began to study the Something that was so determined to take an active part in the affairs of my life--I started in to become acquainted with it. I found that it had always been with me more or less, but that I had not before recognized its presence. So long as I felt that I was not able to stand erect upon my feet--so long as I feared--so long as I failed to recognize the I AM--I was scarcely aware of this invisible helper. But when I began to realize what I was--what was my place in the Universal order of things--what were my possibilities--my future--the presence of this unseen hand began to be manifest. When I at length threw off the last fetter that had bound me--when I threw back my shoulders and drew my first free breath--when I shouted aloud with joy at my freedom and strength--when I realized the power that was within me and at my command--when I started out to accomplish that which my awakened mind told me was possible of attainment--when I started to do these things _all by myself_--then I felt for the first time the firm clasp of the unseen hand. Now gently guiding--now leading--now kindly restraining--now giving a gentle urge toward people, things and conditions--now drawing me back from the edge of a precipice--now directing toward a better path--now giving me a gentle, firm pressure to reassure me of its presence when I doubted--now allowing me to rest my weight upon it when I felt tired--always there.