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1935_08_11 The dual nature of man


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Note 1

 

The Dual Nature of Man

 

 

Jeremiah 8; John 17:10-22

 

In this chapter of Jeremiah, things are described according to the prophet's inner conception. The prophet describes things as he sees them from the distance which best enables him to perceive them. He sees what people do, but he cannot find an escape from the condition they are in. In relation to people, the prophet is in the position of a creditor to whom men owe something. He knows only that they must pay him; he is not interested in the way they will pay him. When a debtor does not pay his debt, right relations cannot be restored between him and his creditor. As long as the debtor has not paid his debt, the creditor cannot preach anything to him. Whatever he might preach, the debtor would not listen.

 

Once certain robbers seized an American missionary who began to preach to them. He wanted to acquaint them all with the New Testament. After listening for some time to his sermons, the chief of the robbers said: You speak very well, but we need money. This work can not be done only with beautiful words. We need money!

 

Now you must not live with illusions like this missionary that the people among whom you live will come easily to a mutual understanding and a brotherly love. It is an easy thing to say that things will be set right, that the Kingdom of God will come on earth, and that men will become brothers, but it is difficult to attain all this. Today, while you art still on earth, this is unattainable. This did not happen in the time of Christ, and it will not take place during your lifetime. You want to attain these things today. You cannot aspire for the Kingdom of God on earth either in the present or in the future life. Why? - Because you are not yet ready for the new life -for the immortal life. As long as man loves only in his flesh, he cannot attain immortality.

 

God created man and made him of two substances; of matter (i.e., of flesh) and of spirit. It is said in the Scriptures: "And God made man of earth and inspired him with breath and he became a living soul." The earth will always remain the earth. It cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. That which is of the earth will remain on the earth and will not enter the Kingdom of God. "Flesh and blood will not enter the Kingdom of God." Since you do not know this, you strive for the earth and work only for your physical body. As soon as you become a little weaker, and see that your face has become somewhat pale, your eyes sunken, your heart feebler, you become frightened. There is no cause for fear, since all these are material things. Should you be afraid because one of your windows is broken? Must you be disturbed that someone has said an offensive word to you? These are all material things which man must not stop long to deal with. That does men of today represent? From morning till evening they deal exclusively with material things; who is better clothed, who has a better home, who has a higher social position, etc. When you look at a man, on the outside he looks pious and humble, but on the inside he is restless and disturbed; as a result, he is inwardly divided. Ordinarily, man tries to show himself outwardly such as he is not in reality. No matter what he does, however, if he gives precedence to the flesh, to the animal in himself, he will remain an animal. An animal thinks solely of satisfying its needs and does not prepare itself at all for the Kingdom of God. It wants bread and as soon as its hunger is satiated, it thinks of nothing else.

 

The second nature of man is his spiritual one, i.e., the Divine principle. The Divine in man aspires for the great, the sublime in life. When we say that the spirit never falters, we refer to the Divine and spiritual principle in man. The Divine never fails. All impulses, all aspirations in man are due to the Divine in him.

 

All men are confronted by a problem - to liquidate the material mess of their lives. They are not sent to earth to live in this mess, but rather to utilize it to create better conditions for their lives. They can plaster their houses with this mess, to cleanse them and make them convenient for living. The question is not why man should be mixed up in this mess, but rather how he should put it to work. This will be a test by which you will see what your faith is and how patient you are. The faith of some men is like that of the hare. The hare can depend neither on his faith nor on his strength. The only thing he can depend on is his long legs. As soon as he sees danger, he must run - nothing more. The running of the hare is connected with his thought. When he runs he can also think.

 

When must think right. Correct thinking involves comparison and consistency of the facts. Someone came to the mountain and one of the brothers, out of great zeal, forbade him to smoke tobacco. He complained that they forbade him to smoke. I said: He who forbade you to smoke does not know himself what he must do. See here that they have started small fires in several places and filled the whole place with smoke, but they tell you not to smoke. Their fires make more smoke than your cigarette. Just as they have a right to make these fires, so you have a right to smoke. What evil is there in lighting a cigarette? The man carries the fire in his mouth, while yours is outside. You will say that it is not permissible to smoke tobacco. Smoking tobacco is forbidden, but burning live juniper branches is also forbidden. The question here is not one of justifying the smoking of tobacco, nor is it one of forbidding the making of fires.

 

We are not against fires, but we maintain the idea that fires must be without smoke. How is this possible? If this is not possible today, it will be possible in the future. It is possible when we utilize electric energy. Only electricity can make fires without smoke. Thus when you want to forbid someone to smoke, present him with an idea, which transcends the ordinary. Tell him that he can smoke tobacco which does not create any smoke and which does not contain any narcotic substance. When you speak this way to that man, a new thought will be awakened in him and he will start to think. Freedom must be given to every man, in order that he may reveal himself according to his level of consciousness. Do not exercise any violence upon the consciousness of man. Everyone must act voluntarily.

 

In reality, everyone strives for freedom. When can a man be free? In order for a man to be free at night when he goes to bed, his bed must be twice as large as he is, so that he may turn freely from one side to the other. If his bed is only as broad as his body, he can not be free by any means. If a man is given as much food as a bee is given, can he be free? - No. Man needs as much food as at least 50,000 bees. Only under such conditions can he be free. Since men eat more than bees, they can also do more work. Therefore, the freedom of man depends upon the conditions under which he exists. These conditions may be external or internal.

 

Religious people speak about freedom, love and the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth, but their conception of these questions is physical and material. According to them, the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth is similar to a man leaving his poor cottage and entering a new, large, rich house. What is the difference between the new and the old house? The new house has more rooms, a better arrangement of furniture, larger windows, etc. Must you preach to men that when the Kingdom of God comes on earth, they will have bigger and better houses than the old cottage? If it is a question of a new house, he can have one even today. It is not necessary for the Kingdom of God to come to earth in order for a man to have a new house. Must you preach to someone that in his next incarnation he will have a nice, large house? He can have such a house in his present incarnation; it is not necessary for him to die and be born again for him to obtain a new house. He will be the same in the new house as he has been in the old cottage. It is important that when a man enters the new house, he should change and be inwardly reborn. Then the new house becomes significant. Only then does the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth have meaning. The cat also lives with its master, eats the same bread which the master eats, but it always remains a cat and keeps all of its old habits. When it catches a mouse, it eats it skin and all. While the master is in the room, it does not dare touch anything; it pretends to be well bred. When the master leaves the room, it immediately finds the cheese and takes a bite. As soon as it sees the master entering the room, it leaves, as if it had not touched anything.

 

In the process of development, man must study and observe his states and keep himself from them. Not only ordinary beings, but also evolved beings fall into states which are harmful. One of these states is that of dejected-ness or melancholy. This state is due to the material nature of man. As soon as one falls into such a state, he feels feeble. Whatever he starts to do he cannot carry out to the end. He lifts up a load, but puts it down immediately, finding it too heavy for him. He falls into the state of a child. However, that which is heavy for the child is not heavy for the grown up man. Therefore, sadness, melancholy and low-spiritedness are ordinary states, essential to the material but not to the spiritual nature of man. As long as man is only matter-oriented, he either grieves or rejoices. He is exposed to constant changes. His joy is of the same kind as his grief. In the life of the spirit, however, these sudden changes from grief into joy and vice-versa are excluded. The spiritual life excludes the rash changes. When Christ said that his soul was troubled unto death that was related to the material or human affairs. He prayed and sought a way to leave one state and enter into another. Christ learned many things on the earth. He knew many laws theoretically, but He learned their application on the earth. To experience, to overcome, to reconstruct things is to obtain real knowledge. Christ said: "As the Father hath taught me, so I do." He applied the knowledge which He received from His Father, but He learned many things from other people also. When He came to earth, people began to teach Him; that is why He said: How long shall I tolerate you? Many came to Him to ask: Can a man leave his wife? We caught this woman in adultery. According to the law of Moses, we must stone her. What will you say? Christ had to answer many questions.

 

By touching upon these questions, I do not want in the least to cause you new contradictions. I do not want to call forth your own contradictions either, because the bottom of the river through which your life is flowing is already muddy. He who enters your river will stir up that mud and muddle your water, whether he wants to or not. Whatever house you enter today you will stir up that mud. Imagine a handsome young man visiting a noble family where two beautiful ladies live. If the young man cannot behave well, he will disturb the whole family; i.e., he will stir up the mud at the bottom of their life. If a young, beautiful girl enters a home where several young men live she will upset the life of the family and confuse the minds of the young men by her improper behavior.

 

You will say that the young man and woman have fallen in love. The cat falls in love also. As soon as it sees the cheese, it falls in love and runs away with it. Both the cat and the man can fall in love and disturb a home, upset its water and stir up the mud at the bottom of its life. Everyone can disturb another person without having the least intention of doing so. Why? - Because there are sediments at the bottom of every human life which are easily stirred up. When the bottom of this life is stirred up, man says: Why did this have to happen? Could it not have been avoided in some way? In order to prevent this, one must dispense with the mud of one's desires. To cope wisely with the forces and currents of your desires means to organize them. It is not evil that you have entered a home and looked at the beautiful girls. This can not cause a stirring up of the mud. The mud is stirred up by the fact that after looking at the beautiful girl, you have desired her for yourself and thought that you would be happy with her. Not only will you be unhappy; both of you will find yourselves in a perplexing state, wondering what to do in order to get out of that condition. The girl will say: - You took me away from my mother who loved me. You promised me many things which you did not fulfill. You made me unhappy and spoiled my life. The young man will say the same thing to the girl: While I was with my mother, I was her pet. You promised me your love, but did not give it to me. Now I am unhappy, lonely and suffering in life.

 

By bringing out these examples of life, I want you to be prudent and to understand me correctly. When a house is being built, the builders choose solid beams. If one of the beams proves unstable, it breaks down under the weight placed upon it. Who is to blame in this case; the beam or the builder of the house? Many human desires are weak and unstable like the willow beams. If you place such a desire in the construction of your house, it will bend over soon and not hold out. Who is to blame in that case; the desire, or you who places such a desire as a foundation of your life? What must you do then? Or, what is required of you? Prudence is required of every person. You enter a restaurant and see in your purse that you have money for only one dinner. Prudence forces you to eat only as much as your money allows. But you may think that the restaurant-keeper is a good man and will allow you to eat on credit as much as you want. No. You must rely on that which you have and not on the goodness of the restaurant-keeper. Whether or not he is a good man is a different question. The order of the restaurant-keeper if quite a different matter. He has put up a sign: Today with money, tomorrow on credit. Someone has 50 leva in his pocket. He enters a restaurant and says: Today I shall order myself a rich dinner. I shall eat like an aristocrat. I do not care that tomorrow I shall not have a piece of bread. God has provided for the morrow. Yes, God has provided, but He has set off the morrow as a day of fasting. Then you will begin to grumble why God has ordered things in such a way. God has ordered things well, but why have you not divided your money in a way to suffice for several days? You should have gone to a cheap restaurant where a dinner costs ten leva. Then you could have eaten for five days with the fifty leva.

 

Things are strictly determined in the Divine world. There is a definite time, place and means for each thing. Things do not happen mechanically. In the spiritual world when one person eats, it is as if all were eating. There is no envy. Into whatever home of the spiritual world you might enter, you would not find any left-overs. That which is bought in the morning is all used up by the evening. If anything is left over, they try to distribute it immediately. The next day, everything is bought anew. On the earth, however, it is not this way. Here everybody is trying to insure himself for the next day. There is no insurance necessary in the Divine world. The earthly order differs radically from the Divine order. In order to act according to the laws of the Divine world, all people must be ready to understand the laws of that world and live according to them. For instance, imagine that you have a kilo of olives. A friend of yours, some poor man, visits your home. You want to help him, and, guided by the Divine laws, you give him a whole kilo of olives without thinking of the morrow. He takes the olives and does not think of what remains for you. He tries to leave as soon as possible so that you will not call him back to take part of the olives. Both he who gives and he who receives must act according to the laws of the Divine world. It is not necessary to give the whole kilo of olives to one person. You should give a little to everybody.

 

By this example I am only turning your attention to a knowledge of the will of God. The will of God is that you may understand the order of the Divine world and live according to it. When you live in this way, you will see that you are not far from the Kingdom of God. You expect Christ to come a second time on earth and then to enter the Kingdom of God. Christ can come to earth today and you can enter this very day the Kingdom of God. This is as possible today as it will be after thousands of years. Some people expect everything of Christ, of God, as from their Father, that He will help them. However, when the Father comes to them, he will see that some are still sleeping. Looking at them, He will say: Let these children sleep a little longer. Many people sleep twelve hours a day. If each hour is equal to a hundred years, it means that they sleep all of 1200 years. During this time their Father is waiting for them to awake from this long sleep.

 

Christ said: "I am no longer in the world; I am coming to Thee." That means that Christ was leaving the world and going to His Father. By this He meant that He was leaving the human conception and order of things and going to the Divine world where a different order exists. "Father, keep in my name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one." When we all become one, the present and the future life will represent a great, incessant life. In reality, there is no difference between the present and the future life. The life of the small child and that of the adult is one and the same. The child has certain conceptions of life, while the adult has quite different ones. When I speak about the dual human nature, many think that they can easily liberate themselves from their first nature - the nature of the flesh. Whatever may be said or written in the Sacred books, it is impossible for man to liberate himself from the nature of the flesh. The conflict between the spirit and the flesh has always existed and it will continue to exist. The life of the spirit and the life of the flesh, no matter how opposed they may be to each other, are both necessary for human development. There can be no development or progress without the life of the flesh. Leave aside the flesh, do not be disturbed by it, but try to overcome it and put it under the control of the spirit, so that it may serve you. Educate the flesh in all directions. When you eat, eat with an idea in your mind and never overeat. Always remain slightly hungry. It is not a question of tormenting yourself with hunger, but you should at least remain a little bit hungry. If the bread is dry, put it on the steam to soften it; if it is wet, put it on the fire to bake it; If it is a little dusty or spotted, wash it warm water.

 

If you have nothing else but bread, imagine that you have olives or pears on the table before you and that from time to time you take an olive or a pear. You will call this an illusion. No, this is not an illusion at all. The bread contains all the necessary nourishing elements. You will find in it all that you wish. If you go to a restaurant, you will find a great variety of food, but this variety is related only to the form, not to the substance of the food. The bread contains everything that the different cooked foods contain, only in a different state than in the cooked food. People today use white bread, brown bread, rolls, muffins, cookies and cakes of all kinds, but all of them are made only from dough. For the present time, bread is the best food. Today bread has a "right of citizenship" everywhere. Man can live on bread alone. In spite of this, when one has only bread, he is not contented. Many people eat hens, lambs, etc. They can eat everything they wish, but the important thing is whether or not the hens and lambs agree to being killed. Everything you do must be done consciously.

 

As I say these things many of you are anxious to share these ideas with your friends and neighbors. You do not even suspect what troubles you expose yourself to in doing this. By openly exposing your power, knowledge and wealth before people, you arouse in them the desire to have the same blessings. It is a natural thing for man to desire to be rich, powerful and educated. Everyone can have these blessings, but there is a certain order in which these things are acquired. In order to be rich, powerful or educated, man must possess certain inner possibilities for acquiring this wealth. There must be certain correspondence between him and each one of these blessings. Wealth and knowledge represent burdens which require strength to bear. Only the man who has a strong backbone can carry that burden on his back. He who has not a strong backbone must carry a burden according to his strength. Every idea has a definite weight. In order to avoid feeling its weight for a long time, you must leave it free and not keep it enclosed. The ideas are seeds which must be sown in order to grow up and bear fruit. Why should you nourish ideas which you cannot plant? Or, why should you plant them in a soil which is not conducive to their growth and development? Rationality requires you to plant your ideas in good, favorable soil for growth. The good man represents a fertile field, a plowed soil upon which you can sow the Divine ideas. Do not sow sacred, Divine ideas under unfavorable conditions. If you meet stony, unfertile soil, sow thorns on it. Sow all the thorns you have in such soil. The thorns must also grow.

 

Contemporary Christians preach things that they do not apply. This means that they are sowing good seeds in bad soil under unfavorable conditions. This is not to be condemned. Can you condemn a man for eating? When a man eats, he soils his hands and then seeks a way to clean them. In this state man will inevitably encounter one contradiction or another. The great contradictions in life are due to the fact that people do not understand the will of God. Not knowing what the will of God is, they want to impose their own will and change the order of things in life. They want to submit the Divine to the human order in life. This is impossible! God gives everything voluntarily. He satisfies our needs, but He does not permit us to submit the Divine to the human. We must receive within us the Divine - there is no other way out.

 

Rejoice at the Divine life which permeates you! The problem of every man is this: to see the Divine in himself and to understand it. The day will come when all people will give way to the Divine Principle in themselves and accept the Divine order. When they come to this state, they will attain the inner peace for which they are striving. After all this, will it be necessary to preach to people? What would you say about love to the man who loves? To tell someone that men must love one another is to make him give. There are two moments in love, giving and receiving. When two people love each other, one gives and the other receives. He who loves, gives; he who is loved, receives. There is love both in the giving and in the receiving. If you visit a sick man, you will express your love by taking something from him. What will you take from the sick man? You will take, at least for a short time, his pain, and he will be relieved. If you are a strong man, you will take his pain and put it to work. After that, you will take the whip and start the carriage. In this particular case, the illness plays the part of the horse. Everyone who sees this horse approves of him and finds him good for work. Every man, however, cannot put an illness to work. According to present day medicine, every illness lies in the blood of men. According to our views, however, every illness harnessed in a carriage as a horse, can be passed on to every man. It is sufficient for you to stand behind the horse and receive a kick, and you will experience pain. The illness, therefore, can be compared to a healthy, beautiful and energetic horse, full of life, who cannot control his energy.

 

Contemporary people are afraid not only of illnesses, but of sufferings and obstacles as well. What are some of the sufferings and obstacles due to? They are due to the strong desires which men possess, but have no material means or strength to realize. When it is not possible for you to realize your desires, give them to someone else as a gift, so that he might realize them. Substantial means are required to support a strong desire in yourself. Strong desires cost a great deal. A beautiful thought or some great idea may enter your mind, but you may not be able to realize it all by yourself. Since you cannot realize it alone, tell it to someone else so that he may realize it instead of you. You keep it inside yourself, awaiting favorable conditions for its realization, and when you do not succeed you suffer and torture yourself. It is needless to suffer. Tell it to someone and be happy that he shall realize it.

 

Thus, when you cannot realize the ideas that come into your mind, do as a shepherd does. A shepherd has a hundred sheep. Each year the sheep increase in number. After ten years he has a thousand sheep; then they become two, three thousand, etc. He chooses the best sheep and sells them. You should do the same. What prevents you from taking your desires to the market to sell, thus turning them into money? Many of your desires are destined to be sold in order for you to support your life. Many sheep are destined to become victims of their masters. To be victims means to be sold and consumed. If men do not eat them, they will be eaten by wolves or microbes. Which is better? When a man dies he is also consumed. Who consumes him? - The earth; that is why they say that the earth swallows him. When man is put in the grave, beings of a more inferior order consume him. Which is better for man: to die young or old? To be eaten up young or old?

 

Christ said: "If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you." If Christ had to be eaten up, can you escape such a fate? Everyone will be consumed. It is net important whether or not a man will be eaten up. It is important, however, for those who eat you to become one with you in order to receive your life. "He who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood, has no life in himself," said Christ. This verse is not only mystical. It contains a realistic side which you will understand in the future. Now I shall not consider this aspect of the verse, so that you will not become confused. By "flesh and blood" Christ meant that inner, spiritual power which man emanates and which nourishes other people.

 

No matter what explanation may be given now to this or that verse of the Bible, if you have the conceptions of people of the world, they will be misunderstood. Why? Because worldly people are in contradiction with the Divine order of things. They are right for themselves, but they are not right in relation to the Absolute. No matter how they look upon life, sufferings will come to them. No man can escape sufferings. They are a blessing for the soul, because they are a condition for the awakening of the human consciousness. While the consciousness of man is being awakened, the Divine has superiority over the human. In this respect, sufferings are of great benefit to separate individuals as well as to all of humanity.

 

Man strives for knowledge and better conditions of life. This is natural. Knowledge brings light. It makes it possible for man to serve God consciously. Many think that first they must put their affairs in order and then serve God. No. Serve God every minute, every hour, under whatever circumstances in life you may be. If you wait to put your life in order and then serve God, you will lose the favorable conditions which you now have. I am suggesting this thought to you so that you might always remember that you are like the fine cords of a spider's web. If these cords do not become united, they will not withstand the outside storms and winds, the external forces. Thousands of cords, combined into a whole, form something solid and durable. If you live each one for himself, if you do not become united, your strength will be like that of the web and you will only accomplish as much work as a spider. However, if you become united, you will accomplish the necessary work for God. God's work is being done by many people, not only by a single person. Many people are predestined to accomplish God's work and they will come!

 

When workers come to this earth from the invisible world they seek appropriate conditions and fertile soil. The appropriate conditions are the people who are ready for work. The more people who are ready, the more workers there will be for God's work on earth, and the more will come from the invisible world. When heavenly citizens come to earth, they will put the lives of the earthly citizens in order. Man builds his house and if it proves good, the rational powers come to organize it inside. Construction is required of all. Both the heavenly-ones and the earthly ones will build. Try to become a good worker so that you may be found worthy of the great blessing. What will you do someday when God takes everything He has given you? If you have a wife, she will be taken; if you have a son, he will be taken; if you have a daughter, she will be taken. Finally, He will take your body also. In this state, you will be frightened and confused, not knowing what to do.

 

Now I shall draw a comparison between your state and that of a small child who grows a little bit every day until he comes to the age when physical growth stops. Suppose a father has a small child for whom he is happy. He clothes him, bathes him and is glad about the fact that the child grows and develops well from day to day. At first the clothes of the child fit him well, but when he comes to the fifth year, they all become short and tight, so that the father buys him larger ones. He says to the mother: Undress the child so that we may bathe him well and put new clothes on him. What has the child lost? Nothing. Not only has he lost nothing, he has gained something. He has put on new, larger clothes. After another five years, the child passes through a new process of clothing until a day comes when growth stops and this process also stops. Whatever the clothing and unclothing of the child represents, the same thing is represented by a man's leaving his body and going into the other world.

 

When the physical growth of the man ceases, when the son becomes 21 years of age, the father still brings him new clothes, but this time not every five, but every ten years. The son begins to wonder why his father has become so stingy. He finds that his father was more generous before. No, the father is not stingy, but he does not want his son to spend his means lavishly and thoughtlessly. In certain excavations somewhere in the Alps, remnants were found of gigantic men who lived thousands of years ago on the earth. They were about four meters tall. What would be the condition of a father today, if he had a son or a daughter four meters tall? Knowing the economic conditions of men on earth, God stopped their growth at a reasonable limit. In this way He saved them from an evil. What should be the material condition of a man four meters tall? The economic conditions of life today are suited to a man one and a half to two meters tall at the most. If contemporary men were taller than two meters, they would be exposed to great trials and needs with regard to both food and clothing.

 

Consequently, in order not to draw wrong conclusions about life, you must reject your old philosophy. Your concepts about earth and heaven are wrong. You imagine that the heavenly life will be similar to that on earth. But the strange thing is that you do not have a correct conception of earthly life yet. If you went to heaven and saw the order which exists there, you would laugh at your own conceptions of it. You imagine things which you can find only on the earth, not in heaven. Whatever ideals you may conceive of, you will find them all on the earth. You imagine paradise as something particular. If you would describe to me the most beautiful paradise, I would show you the same one on earth. Your paradise is not the paradise of heaven. Paradise, i.e., the Divine life, is distinguished by unusual beauty and majesty. You cannot imagine that beauty! There is nothing superfluous in the Divine world. Everything is in its place. Whoever would go to heaven would get lost among the beings there, because they all resemble one another. You would not recognize your friend among the beings there. They are all like one man. There is one possibility for you to recognize your friend - if you love him. In this respect the life of heaven is extremely uniform. Exterior uniformity and inner variety exist there. All are alike there in looks, smiles, movement and clothing. Their clothes are of white linen and they wear golden belts and wreaths on their heads. He who goes to heaven cannot become angry or jealous. Why? Because there he will find everything he desires. There is no ownership of property in heaven. Here, a man says: This is my wife. He recognizes her by her eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, voice, etc. Men here differ externally, but inwardly they are alike. Whatever life on earth may be, it is a great school, a practical lesson for men. This life is necessary and in its place. The earthly life is a preface to the Divine life.

 

Now I am speaking to you about heaven, but it will still be incomprehensible to you. Why? Because the contradictions on earth prevent you from seeing things clearly. No matter how you may reconcile them, they will remain. How long? Until you enter the Divine world. As soon as you enter this world, you will understand the relationship that exists between the earthly and the heavenly life. At the present time you do not understand many things, and you will not understand them because you have not tasted them. You know them theoretically, but you must understand them inwardly. To understand them inwardly implies their passing through your consciousness.

 

After speaking so much to you, I see that there is danger of overloading your carriage. Your carriage is heavily loaded, at any rate, but it must not be overloaded. While waiting for the time when you can enter the Kingdom of God, you have loaded yourself with superfluous thoughts and desires which hinder your path. Unload yourself a little in order to reach your destination more easily. If you are too loaded, you will notice that from year to year you lose your power, your memory and your thought, and you become sour and discontented. This is due to your lack of understanding of life. In your life you must realize the law of regeneration - the eternal regeneration - so that when some day you go to the other world, you may be young. If you set off for the other world, set off young, not old. They do not want old people there. Even if you are old, if you think of going to the other world, be regenerated, become young and then go there. If you are old when you go there, they will send you back. They do not admit old people. The old will remain on the earth. When people begin to grow old, they become afraid of death and of going to the other world. No. The old are not admitted in heaven. The earth cannot do without them. When some heavenly citizen comes to earth, he seeks the old to make them young and leaves the young aside. This is what is meant by the words: Christ did not come to earth for the righteous, but for the sinners. He came to help the weak, the poor and the suffering, not the strong and the happy. The weak and the poor are those who are retarded in the way of development, and who are perplexed and discouraged, finding no sense in life. These people need encouragement and light. It says in the Scriptures: 111 shall send my Spirit who will instruct you." When will this Spirit come? The Spirit will come when man makes contact with Him. This contact will open up man's inner understanding.

 

You say that the Spirit will teach you, but at the same time you seek different occult sciences, expecting to receive true knowledge from them. The occult science does not show man the path, nor does it give him the methods of correct living. It is a path toward the Divine life, but it is not a science of life. To practice occultism is to explore the conditions under which life may appear. As you prepare yourselves for these conditions, the Divine Spirit will descend upon you and guide you toward the supreme, conscious life. The word "occultism" means something concealed or secret. Everything which is concealed is not necessarily occult. For instance, suppose someone falls on the earth and breaks his leg or hits himself badly. In order to end his pain, he begins to massage lightly either his spine or some other part of his body. If someone massages your spinal column every day, all the pains that you have will be cured. This shows that certain places in the organism contain concealed vital energy which cures the sick parts. When the activity of this energy is stimulated, it becomes immediately manifested and has a healing effect. This energy is hidden, but it is not occult. People become ill for the sole reason that they break contact with the Divine world; consequently they are deprived of the energies of that world. Since they do not know the cause of their illness, they seek external help, but help does not come from the outside. In order for a man to be healthy, he must have a deep conception of things; he must be calm and fear nothing. You have come to the mountain, and you must be ready for everything until you become acclimated. Many of your former illnesses will appear, but you must not be disturbed. In the organism different reactions take place, which are in their right place under these conditions. Since you have come to the mountain, try to leave here all that is useless, old and feeble, and try to receive from it all that is healthy, pure and regenerating.

 

You can perform the following experiment today: try to spend this day calmly and quietly and keep yourselves from anger and disputing. Spend this day in such a way as not to spill the milk - to use your language. In this way each one will test himself to see how far he has advanced in self-control and self-education. Everyone must be temperate and patient and give no cause for control from the outside. Someone comes to me, takes a chair and begins to speak. Since he feels pleasure in staying with me, he begins to report the same song over again. This is not musical speaking, but rather humming or singing the same refrain. For my part, I must have the patience to listen to him carefully. I often experiment with myself. I sing a song two, three or more times until it has a good effect upon my condition. Every word, pronounced musically has a harmonious effect upon the feelings and different conditions of man. If the song has a good effect on me, it will have the same effect on others also. In this respect, everyone can use himself as a testing stone for his speech. Try all things upon yourself first and when you are certain of their good influence, apply them to other people.

 

So spend this day without any discontentment, without any wrinkling of the forehead. Forget all illnesses, all troubles and sufferings. When some illness visits you, ask it what service you can render it and tell it you are ready to do everything for it. Illnesses are outside of you. Your foot aches, fell it the pain will pass and forget it. You have not slept all night - never mind that. Tomorrow you will sleep well. It is the body, not the man, which has not slept. Your head aches. This is a physical pain and not the pain of a man himself. When an acrobat walks a rope he is calm but you suffer and fear that he may fall. The same thing can be said about your illnesses and sufferings. Your body is ill, but you suffer for it. You see an aviator flying in the sky and you on the earth begin to fear for him. Usually, the aviators are bold and self-reliant men, but they are also vain.

 

Now do you agree to perform this experiment for a whole day? If a whole day is too long, then let it last till twelve o'clock noon - only half a day. A whole day is a very long time for you to refrain from anger and disputing. It is not an easy thing to spend a whole day in harmony; in behavior, in looks, in words, thoughts, feelings and deeds. It is not a question of frightening you, but everyone must live as they live in heaven. In order to endure this test till noon, pronounce the words: "I and the Father are one." God is working for us and we must work for Him!

 

"Let us be perfect even as our Father is perfect."

 

August 11, 5 A.M.

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