When life imposes difficult conditions on you, do your best to endure them until the bitter end

Awesome, I was thinking similar thoughts over the last 2 days.

I ran into that truth in the Urantia Book last evening.

I have thought about this op..I have seen lots of suffering..as I guess most of us have..but from a very early age..

And I think that as you say..during hardship and suffering one may lear spiritual truths etc..

But I also think that when one is happy etc..that is the great test..because when one is happy and blissful one may tend to forget precisely to whom one owes so much ..which is God..as one is happy and has no need to turn to Him unless that way inclined..

I think it is natural in many people to turn to God when one is sad or going through difficulties

but maybe not so natural when one is happy and blissful

Spiritual lessons in my opinion are to be learned in every circumstance

And just as one offers suffering to God

Surely one must also offer happiness

We remember to ask God

but maybe too often we forget to Thank Him

There is a tendency to associate spirituality with a melancholic disposition and or suffering..I disagree

I think we should view it in a more positive light

spirituality is the key to true inner peace and happiness in my opinion

in the Paradise on earth to come there will be no suffering..because God is JOY..God is LOVE..God is HAPPINESS..God is BLISS..God is LAUGHTER..God is HARMONY..God is PEACE

the difficult situations are not from Him

and through Him we can and will overcome untill that sun shines through the clouds once again

old wise saying -

"before enlightenment, chopping wood and fetching water -
after enlightnment, chopping wood and fetching water"

I totally disagree with this subtle programming to accept and even encourage suffering as a means of showing love to God

why if God is Love and Life


why not offer Him our happiness and joy..our laughter and bliss

He is the God of Love

He didnt put Christ on the cross

people did

He didnt request the price of blood from Christ

it was a price to be paid to this world. because of this world

God does not drink blood

God gives life

Yep.

The days of darkness, the horsemen of the apocalypse, the plagues, and all the other end of days prophecies are just metaphors to be applied to one's own tribulations in life at this time.

My four horsemen are quite likely to be embodied differently than yours are.

Paradise on Earth is a metaphor for the complete fulfillment of one's spiritual journey through the end of days.

They left out a few words, though. It's the end of days without magic that is coming.

I find it wonderful and Saintly when people experience personal suffering and it is offered to God..It is spiritually beautiful and overwhelming

BUT lets also offer God all the wonderful moments in our lives

Lets GIVE THANKS..lets PRAISE THE LORD through our pure and honest happiness

To thank Him for each and every little wonderful thing He gives us

TO BE GRATEFUL for everything..because nothing is due to us..nothing

I am not sure..
I personally believe we are in the end times

but I view it from a positive angle

To me it is the end of the old..and the beginning of the new

The inability to be happy is in my opinion one of the greatest curses of society..this inbred notion that we arent really supposed to be happy

this subtle intent at distroying our happiness

this constant searching for something or someone different..this reaching out looking searching..always expecting happiness to be round the corner while deep inside we know or believe we dont deserve it..so we dig a hole for ourselves where we are confortably miserable

to not appreciate all that is given to us..from a tasty orange..to a tree in blossom..to the birds that fly and sing for us..every little thing..to not have the inner peace to just BE and appreciate it and be grateful for everything

and give praise to God because of it

sorry for the rant op..
but this always wanting more and more..of whatever..nothing is ever good enough..no one is ever good enough..we are never good enough..this world is never good enough..probably God really isnt good enough either..

Greed..Lust..Vanity..Pride..Arrogance..Envy..Jealousy..Ego

we all have some of the above or maybe all..but happiness comes in my mind from letting go of all this and appreciating the moment..to find happiness within..to make the best to enjoy the little things..to run away from evil and sin and vice..to be as pure as possible..to recognize what is sin..and what isnt..to understand that words will not save us..but love will because God is Love

"The reason humans commit so many errors of judgement, make so many mistakes and experience so much suffering is that they don’t know what they have come to earth to do. They come, and then they go. Where do they come from, and where do they go back to? They don’t know. But there is only one answer to both these questions: God.

We have left God, and one day we will return to God. Which paths will we take, during the course of our many incarnations, before we return to the Source? That depends on us. God has planned an extraordinary destiny for humans. We occasionally receive a fleeting glimpse of it, and we must cling to these visions with all our might. Everything that happens to us on our return path represents stages of the journey. These stages must never erase from our memory the vision of what we will finally become when we return to the bosom of the Eternal, with all our experiences and all the qualities and virtues acquired and developed along the way. "

"No human being on earth is free from suffering. You need to know, however, that there is suffering that is useful, beneficial, and other suffering that is needless and even harmful. Needless suffering is the kind we bring upon ourselves by transgressing the laws of honesty, justice, kindness, wisdom and love, and it does not deserve compassion.

Useful suffering is experienced by those who love others and sincerely wish to help them: each day they have to wring something from their heart, to strip away their selfishness, their personal point of view. For in order to help others, it is not enough to come forward with good intentions and good feelings; a whole work of inner adjustment is needed. This requires making sacrifices; it is difficult and painful but so very beneficial!"

"People who are used to praying are better armed to deal with problems and suffering. This ability to tear themselves away from darkness and from terrestrial burdens in order to address heaven makes the inner sense of discouragement, bitterness, and distress easier to cope with. A great number of trials we encounter can be linked to the collectivity and we are powerless to prevent them. Take a war for instance: in one way or another no-one is spared during a war, but those who pray, who act through their spirit, transform their difficulties inwardly. Even if the events are the same for everyone on the outside, there where others give up, become discouraged, sometimes even commit suicide, those who pray find all the positive elements, and thanks to the inner help they receive from heaven they are also able to help others."

"Sages and initiates tell us that we are merely travelling through a world of appearances, that life is a dream from which we will one day awaken. This is yet another idea you must try to work with. When you are going through a difficult time, for example, say to yourself: ‘I’m suffering, I’m ill, I feel persecuted. Yes, but this is an illusion. I’m dreaming, and when I wake up, there will be no trace of it.’ Or: ‘These tests have nothing to do with me. I don’t know who they’re happening to… perhaps to someone who looks like me, but in any case not to me. I am outside all of this, I am spirit, I am invulnerable, and I can watch what is happening merely as a spectator.’ Yes, you will only truly progress in the spiritual life when you know how to recognize what is real."

"The problem of social inequality will never be understood correctly or resolved until humans accept that their conditions in this incarnation depend on the way they lived in their past incarnations. Workers who are exploited by unscrupulous bosses protest indignantly. ‘Why this injustice?’ they ask. And the bosses themselves, who consider it normal to live a life of ease, of luxury even, do everything they can to preserve their privileges. But what neither the bosses nor the workers know is that a worker who suffers and protests has, in many cases, been a cruel, unjust boss in the past, which is why in this incarnation they have been placed in conditions where they must understand how they made their former subordinates suffer.

So now, every boss and company director must say to themselves: ‘I am fortunate enough to be rich and powerful in this life, but if I treat my workers and employees unjustly I will suffer the consequences in a future life. Lord, help me to make them happier.’ And there’s nothing to prevent employees from praying for their boss to become more enlightened: perhaps they would derive some benefit from doing so."

"How many mystics have suffered from feeling abandoned by God! In reality, God didn’t abandon them; it was they who failed to remain conscious of his presence. God never abandons us; it is within our own consciousness that these changes take place. Of course, it is difficult to remain permanently convinced and to sense constantly that we are inhabited by the divine presence, but this is what we must work towards; we must make our entire being a temple to the supreme Being. Yes, not even a palace, but a temple. Of course, if you manage to make a palace of your inner being, it’s a start, but a palace lacks that element of consecration found in a temple.

God will enter those who have succeeded in making themselves a temple, and he will never leave them again: the supreme Being does not leave a sanctuary that has been dedicated to himself, where he continues to be worshipped in purity and light. "

"Even when all the problems and suffering of others are before their very eyes, most people are only aware of what affects their own lives: their health, wellbeing, interests, and success. This is why they are so blind to the realities of life: they do not wish to leave the limited circle of their personal preoccupations. They measure and weigh everything. They base all their opinions on their tastes and prejudices, that is to say, according to the criteria of their lower nature, which is egocentric and petty. They believe their pronouncements to be sound, but they are so far from the truth! As long as they do not leave this dark prison in which they have enclosed themselves, they cannot see things as they are. This attitude is not only harmful to others but blocks their way on the path of evolution."

"The Master Peter Deunov used to say, ‘Should you cry when it’s time to wash your shirt?… Should you cry when it’s time to plant seeds in the soil?… Should you cry when it’s time to grind the wheat?’

Washing your shirt, planting seeds in the soil and grinding wheat correspond to activities in the spiritual life. Which ones? Washing your shirt means to purify yourself. Planting seeds in the ground means to place good thoughts and feelings both in your own mind and heart and in the mind and heart of others. Grinding wheat means to prepare the bread of life. These three activities are accompanied by a certain amount of suffering – but suffering that’s really beneficial! This divine suffering, when consciously borne, imbues everything we live, from then on, with beauty, perfume and flavour."

"The most useful thing a master does for his disciples is to draw their attention to their imperfections, for it is these imperfections that are the cause of their difficulties and suffering. All the while you do not know your weak points, you will be under attack and at the mercy of your enemies. To be able to defend yourself you must learn to recognize the enemy that’s hidden there behind a fault, a bad habit or a wrong idea about things.

There is nothing worse than not knowing where your difficulties, suffering and misfortune come from, for you’ll exhaust yourself firing cartridges into thin air. One day, you’ll have no ammunition left, but your enemy will still be undefeated. So, at least try to understand that your Master is your best ally: not only does he teach you where your enemy is and how it manifests but he also gives you the means to react, and these means will enable you, sooner or later, to triumph."

"The law of reincarnation is an aspect of the law of cause and effect which carries over from one lifetime to the next. As long as people do not accept this, you can lecture and preach to them all you like, but it will do no good. How many people still believe they are going to suffer in purgatory or hell to atone for their sins? Very few, and many do not even believe in the immortality of the soul.

Of course, we meet people who have neither a belief in reincarnation nor any religious faith at all, and yet they are naturally honest and kind. But how can we be absolutely sure these qualities will last? In certain circumstances, fear, greed or a desire for revenge, for example, will gain the upper hand, and at that point, without anything to hold them in check, they will be neither kind nor honest. This is not surprising, since their morality was not based on solid foundations, on knowledge of the law of cause and effect which continues to act from one lifetime to another."

"It is normal to want to avoid sadness, disappointment and suffering, but certain ways of going about it are ill-advised. Since it is not easy to resolve the problems that cause suffering, many people seek to anaesthetize themselves with tobacco, alcohol, drugs and medications. But this is no solution. We must be willing to experience suffering, for if we know how to understand and work with it, it enables us to evolve.

I am not suggesting that in certain circumstances it isn’t useful or even necessary to take medication, but those who systematically run from suffering dull their sensitivity. In doing so, they regress to the vegetable kingdom, or lower still to the mineral kingdom, and this is not what God expects of man. True evolution is not accomplished through a loss of sensitivity. On the contrary, we must develop greater and greater sensitivity until we are able to perceive the slightest vibrations emitted by objects, beings, entities, and entire worlds. And to do this, we must learn to surmount suffering using the methods of spiritual Science."

"Once you begin to study a spiritual teaching seriously, to pray and to meditate, you see reality in a totally different light, for you gain a sense of perspective. Not only are you less obsessed with the weaknesses and limitations of others but you also begin to discover qualities in them you had never noticed before.

Paradise doesn’t exist on earth; you will find imperfect humans and reasons to complain wherever you go, even in the best of places. Of course, if that is all you want to see, there will always be something to annoy you and make you suffer. Yes, but what makes human beings human is their capacity not to be dependent on conditions. Their inner life is a space they can constantly develop."

"Suffering gives man an opportunity to enter into himself to think, meditate and attract superior beings who will guide and help him. If you suffer, knowing that by this suffering heaven wants to transform you, you will emerge as an exceptional person. There is no greater science than to know how to suffer. The suffering of flowers is their scent; because of the difficulties they have to overcome in order to withstand bad weather and survive in spite of all the dangers that threaten them, flowers give off an exquisite scent, and we love them for it.

Not all sufferings give off such scent, because most people do not know how to suffer: they scream at the slightest pain. Only he who has learned to accept his suffering can give off this scent. When an initiate suffers because he has taken the burdens and sins of men upon himself, as Jesus did, this suffering that has been consented to with love exhales the most delicious scent; then angels come to delight in his presence, just as we too rejoice over a blossoming tree in some garden."

"When most people think of sacrifice they think of deprivation and suffering. For spiritual people, however, the word sacrifice is associated with love, joy, and beauty because they know that by giving up a pleasure, by denying themselves satisfaction, they will taste greater satisfaction and pleasure on a higher plane. Sacrifice is the transformation of one type of matter into another, one energy into another. To sacrifice yourself is like being a lump of coal that is put on a fire. Before going on the fire this lump of coal is black and useless. But as soon as it makes the sacrifice of entering the fire to feed the flames, that lump of coal itself becomes fire, heat, light, and beauty. Rid yourself of this notion that sacrifice implies suffering and deprivation, because it is through sacrifice that you will escape darkness and transform yourself."

"Human beings have emerged from the bosom of the eternal where they lived in bliss and plenitude. They wanted independence in order to act and create, but, because they have not yet found the best form to give their actions and creations, they suffer. Does this mean they shouldn’t do anything? No, they must act. ‘But they will suffer!’ you say. Of course they will suffer, but they will learn, they will perfect themselves, and when they have learned how to work they will no longer suffer.

The suffering we have to endure in this life is the consequence of mistakes we have made in past lives. What the Hindus call karma is merely the law of cause and effect as it applies to human destiny. Those who are neither very enlightened nor very selfless are incapable of actions that are truly harmonious. They grope in the dark. And they meet with shocks and collisions, but they learn."

"Every thought, every feeling touches the beings and regions in space that correspond to it. This explains our joy and our suffering. People who give in to a crude, animal life unintentionally make contact with the entities of the lower, dark and unhealthy regions, which begin to torment them. To escape these regions they must bring in other vibrations. Through prayer, meditation and other spiritual activities like singing, playing music and so on they are able to connect with luminous entities, which will bring them only blessings.
This connection with the divine world must become your prime concern. This is why, during the course of the day, remember to repeat this formula many times: 'Lord, blessed be Thy name for ever and ever,' and your anxieties and torment will disappear."

"Along the road of life's journey we constantly come up against obstacles and one-way systems, which obviously make us feel restricted. But there is no point in shouting and rebelling. These restrictions are there to make us want to overcome them and free ourselves. If you look at the way gunpowder has to be compressed, restricted, before it is lit and subsequently explodes, you will understand the need for such restriction. If the gunpowder were lit in its uncompressed state, it would simply fizzle and go out. And in the same way, if human beings were given all the space they wanted and were allowed to live an easy life, all they would ever do in their lives is fizzle. Nothing more. Of course we suffer when we feel restricted, but there is something within us that is rejoicing. Our spirit rejoices, because it knows that it will need to develop its strength to overcome these restrictions. Understand and remember this well; whilst you suffer and groan, your spirit rejoices."

"When you see someone suffering, you do not know if his suffering was inflicted by divine justice, or if he freely consented to it. How do we know if someone is being punished or if he chose to sacrifice himself? Many say, 'This man is good and honest but if he is suffering, it must be because, in past incarnations, he made mistakes that he now has to repair,' and so they do nothing to help him. But perhaps they are wrong... Human beings are fantastic! When they suffer, they think they do not deserve it, and obviously this suffering is unfair, whereas when other people suffer, they always think that it is justified. Well, from now on, you have to do just the opposite: when you are suffering, tell yourself this suffering is most probably justified; but when others are suffering, tell yourself they are not guilty and deserve your understanding and help. This way of doing things will help your evolution very much."

"Having been a child and treated as a child for a certain period in your life, one day you are told you have come of age. This is not only true of life in society but also of the spiritual life, the difference being that for the spiritual life we do not reach majority at an age set down by law. Even at 99, many men and women have not truly come of age and become adults, because they have not yet acquired any spiritual maturity.

Only those who have received the Holy Spirit can be considered true adults; the others are still only children. Yes, those who have not reached this spiritual maturity are considered minors by heaven, and whatever their age they must maintain the attitude of a child; that is to say, they must remain obedient, humble and willing to submit to the divine world. All those humans we see wrestling with inextricable inner difficulties are still only recalcitrant children. True adults no longer suffer, for they are always in the light."

"The more sensitive you become, the more likely you are to suffer over all that you see and hear around you. But should we become insensitive in order to avoid suffering? No, with such reasoning, we would quickly become as hard as rock. You must not be afraid to suffer, and in this regard, suffering must not even be given much consideration. It is preferable to enhance one's sensitivity, even if we have to suffer, because it is the degree of sensitivity which determines the grandeur, the nobility of the human being. You must not, however, confuse sensitivity with sentimentality.

According to initiatic science, to be sensitive is to be able to open oneself more and more to the splendour and wealth of heaven, to capture the marvels of the divine world to the point of barely sensing the stupidity, the vulgarity, and the meanness of human beings. The great masters, and above them the angels and archangels, do not suffer over ugliness; they no longer notice it. They see only beauty, and they live in unceasing joy."

Trial Suffering

Jeremiah, Chapter 9
John, Chapter 18

In the two chapters we read - Jeremiah, Chapter 9 and John, Chapter 18 we see persons having gone through great disappointment. Jeremiah is a person from the Old Testament, a great patriot. He weeps for his people while conveying the Word of God at the same time. He says what will befall his people, what awaits the people. What the prophet was talking about in his time is valid in respect of the present epoch as well.

Jesus is the second man going through great disappointment. John says about him, ‘He came to the world; brought the Truth to humankind, but apart from not being accepted, He was exposed to the attacks of the Roman soldiers. They were telling Him, We don’t need such a person.’ So, what Jeremiah predicted to the Israeli people came true. Also, what Christ prophesied to the Jews, was realised. He told them, ‘Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.’ For two thousand years now the Jews have been suffering the consequences of their mistake.

You will say perhaps that the Jews were great sinners because they did not know [recognise] Christ and crucified Him. Which person does not crucify Christ even today? People often act like Peter: they see a knife and they defend the truth. Not by knives is the truth defended. At that Peter did not point his knife against any of the chiefs, of the leaders, but struck one of the soldiers with his knife and cut his ear off. What a war is the war where people cut off their ears, their heads, their arms and legs? Christ told Peter, ‘Put up thy sword into its sheathe! He, who pulls out a knife, from a knife shall he die’. Indeed, one knife or many knives do not make a war. Crippling a person is not a war. At that when Peter sheathed his knife, he denied Jesus three times.

Today all the people can go to war with weapons, but they cannot go to war with love. With the old weapon – the language – everybody can go to war. With the new weapon – love – nobody can go to war as yet. You all poke to the right or to the left by your language, the ear of somebody will be cut off, the nose, the arm, the leg of somebody else will be cut off. If you are told to shut up, you sheath your knife and take to your heels. You are wondering what you will be doing when you shut up, when you stop poking with your language [tongue]. This is what good people say, not evil people. As far as the evil are concerned, we shall not dwell on them. Good people are very self-willed. There are no more self-willed people than them. Even the righteous people are also self-willed.

What is to be understood by being self-willed. Which person is self-willed? You meet a person dressed in clean white silky clothes. Inadvertently you spill ink on his clothes. When he sees his clothes stained, he looks at you and his heart immediately changes. He is discontented that his clothes are stained. Externally it may appear that he is calm, composed, that he does not upset, but his heart has already changed. The change of heart speaks [volumes] about human self-will. What was this person supposed to do or how did he have to behave? On looking at his stained clothes, he should have remembered how many times he had stained the clothes of the righteous, of the saint. As long as this is so, on the basis of the same law his clothes would also be stained. Why is he upset then? He is upset because he is uncomfortable with the opinion of the others, not to be exposed before them, so that they do not label him unclean, careless to himself. This is what self-will is. Therefore keep away from evil people, from criminals. Keep away also from the self-willed, whose heart is in a position to change for one only stain on their clothes.

When I talk like this, many will feel hurt, offended. No, I do not condemn anybody, I do not offend anybody; I speak on principle. When Christ turned to the people with the words ‘scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites’, He did not mean prominent people. He was talking on principle. We are not interested in people’s mistakes. Taking out in public people’s mistakes does not benefit us at all. We gain nothing from their mistakes. To take people’s mistakes out in public is just like performing an operation on them as a surgeon doctor. During the operation the doctor will anyhow stain his hands. If you are a surgeon in the world, you will get at least four to five thousand leva per operation and you will be thanked for helping the sick person. If you, as a saint, make an operation of some sinner, not only that you won’t be thanked, not only that you won’t be paid a penny, but on top of all this, you will be reprimanded [shouted at] that you cannot make operations. To me these are the self-willed saints in the world. The present saints that people serve are the self-willed people in the world.

There two types of saints: the ones are self-willed, the others are not self-willed. The former have a very high self-esteem, they want to pass for saints, for pure people, before the others. They keep talking all the time about their hardships and suffering. The second type of saints are those of love. In appearance they are simply dressed, they pass for ordinary people; nobody suspects what wealth [riches] they hide [have] in themselves. Wherever they pass by, they help everybody. These saints can be mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, servants, masters, teachers or students. You can meet these saints everywhere. They are ideal workers in the Divine field. They are a [praise]worthy example to follow: they persevere in their work not commenting on what they are doing.

Contemporary people experience great disappointments; they consider themselves unhappy for not having achieved what they strived after. Trace the stories of the great people and see which one of them achieved what he had expected. In his life-time he was pursued, chased, slandered, but when he dies, a monument is placed on his grave bearing an inscription, ‘Here rests what’s-his-name – a great person!’ When people find his works, they start publishing them and making profit in his name. When Botev was on the earth, he was pursued, chased and in the end he was killed in his early age. After his death books were written about his merits to Bulgaria; and his memory is celebrated even today. How will Botev’s heroism help the Bulgarian people? Or, how did prophet Jeremiah help the Israeli people with his prophecies? They did not. The prophet addressed the Israeli people with the words, ‘The Path you are walking along is not right, no good is in store for you. If you want to save yourselves from the evil that is following you, you have to forsake your sins; you have to lead a good life. And Christ was telling the Jews, ‘You have to leave your father and mother, to renounce your life and only then to follow me.’ This means: you have to abandon your old life and to start living in a new, Divine way. In order to come to this situation, the old way of understanding should change; the entire philosophical thought of humankind should change drastically.

Christ says that a man must abandon his wife; a woman must abandon her husband; a son must abandon his mother; a daughter must abandon her father; a servant must abandon his master; the rich must abandon his property; a judge must abandon his profession, and a professor – his department. What greater contradiction than abandoning everything, renouncing yourself and following Christ? Imagine that some [people] understand these truths literally. What will they do? Everybody will place a big cross on their back and will set out [start] for somewhere. Where to – even one oneself wouldn’t know where to. Many heroes from the war wear one or two crosses for bravery. Many Christians wear crosses on their necks. What will these crosses bring [contribute] to the contemporary people? They will pick up their crosses and will start looking like workers carrying crosses on their back, but not knowing what direction to take. Christ said, ‘Pick up your cross and come follow me!’ However, by these words He meant a completely different truth. Under the word cross Christ meant something else. A cross is a symbol of patience. Those who carry their crosses consciously, they look calmly, patiently upon all that is going on in the world.

Do you have to cry that the egg broke and the chicken got out of its shell? Do you have to cry that the precious stone sacrificed for the human beings? Why will you cry for the daughter saving her father? Why will you cry for the son saving his mother? Why will you cry for the servant scarifying himself for his master? Or why will you cry for the professor scarifying himself for the sake of science? Everything that people cry for is transient. Nothing will remain out of the order and organization that we are living in now. The current life is an introduction to the new life, which is approaching. Contemporary life is similar to the life of the egg. People shall not stay forever in the bags. Some day they will be taken out of the bag and will be placed under the brooding hen. After sitting for some time the brooding hen will hatch them and chickens will come out of the eggs and will enter the new conditions of life. If the brooding hen does not hatch the eggs, the Prince of this world will come, will knock them, will place them in the frying pan and will fry them with a little bit of butter. Serious and beautiful life is. Do not look upon it superficially. All the people before you have passed through hardships/ ordeals, you, too, will. There is no man on the earth who has not passed and who won’t pass through suffering. Everybody will pass through a specific suffering at their right time.
People are afraid to leave the earth because they do not know what will happen to them. What will happen to a brute if it leaves its environment and goes among people? Will the brute lose anything? A brute will lose its horns and hooves, but it will obtain something else in return, better and more valuable. What will man lose if man leaves one’s environment and goes among the angels? Man will lose one’s foul language, but will gain something fine, valuable. About this language Christ says, ‘Put up thy sword into its sheathe!’ You can do nothing with this language. With this language you will rather embitter people than rectify them. Christ also had a knife, but He did not take it out against the Roman soldiers, as Peter did. He asked them, ‘Who are you looking for? If you are looking for me, here I am! I will give you what you want, but let the others free.’

When I talk about Christ, the best of His features stands out in my mind – His patience. People talk about the great sufferings of Christ, but I shall not dwell upon these. To me Christ’s suffering comes second. At the first place, however, I rank the patience with which He withstood [endured] the abuse, profanation, insults that an entire Roman squad delivered to Him. Above all Christ stands quiet, calm, imperturbable as if nothing is going on. Not a single tear dropped from His eyes. Those who saw this were astonished at the great patience and love. This means a rock that cannot be broken. On entering Jerusalem, Christ shed some tears, but when the Roman soldiers tortured Him, He did not shed a single tear, He remained quiet and calm. However, these soldiers became afterwards the best workers for the teaching of Christ.

Now, let’s leave aside the issue about Christ’s sufferings. The important point is what patience is. If in the greatest hardships and suffering, man cannot show total equanimity and self-control and [cannot] endure everything patiently, such a person has no character. Christ carried His cross on His own to a certain place and then He was nailed to the same cross. He had the strength to address His mother and tell her that there was somebody to look after her. Then He turned to one of His disciples whom He told to look after His mother, to take care of her the way He would have taken care [of her]. What greater person will you find than the one crucified to the cross two thousand years ago, Who was watching quietly and calmly everything that was being done to Him? During the whole time He kept silent, but when He had to do good, although crucified, He asked to have His hands un-nailed, to do the good and to have them tied again afterwards. Finally Christ turned to God with the words, ‘God, why have you forsaken me?’ He found himself in contradiction: He came among the people, sent by God to preach the great teaching of life to them, but they did not accept Him. Not only that they did not accept Him, but they subjected Him to the worst profanations and insults and crucified Him afterwards. Then He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.’ Christ understood that only Love is strong enough to rectify the world. Having understood this, He sighed and commended His spirit into the hands of His Father.

If Christ was slandered, derided, pursued and crucified, do contemporary Christians think that they will go along another path? They think that they will prosper, will live a good life, because Christ came to save the people and sacrificed for them. People can live well, provided they perform God’s Will. And Christ said, ‘I came not to seek my own will, but the will of the One, Who sent me.’ We say that Love will rectify the world. However, before Love comes, Moses’ law will come. People will first pass through great ordeals and suffering; such tortures that they have never thought about will befall them. There will be no suffering that they won’t experience. Afterwards God’s blessing will come. The law of love will come together with it. The ploughman with his plough will come first to plough the land. All useless plants, weeds will be eradicated, the non-noble ones will be ennobled – the old culture will be transformed. When everything is ready, the sowing man will come, will scatter the new seeds over the ploughed, purified land and will smooth it all over and shall wait for the seeds sown to shoot, to grow, to blossom and to yield abundant fruit.

Contemporary people are scared when they hear that the old will be destroyed. The old must be destroyed! If the old is not destroyed, the new cannot come. Life cannot shoot before you pull out the couch-grass [weed] from the field. The couch-grass [weed] must be pulled out. Otherwise, it won’t let the wheat grow. As soon as the couch-grass [weed] is pulled out, the new wheat will grow and some of it will produce a yield of 30, some other – of 60, yet some other – of 100. Apply the same law to yourself. Harness three pairs of oxen in your plough to plough your virgin [new] soil. After you plough the land properly and pull out all the couch-grass, sow then the new seed. This demands patience. You expect the world to improve, but you do not know how and where from this improvement will come about. The world will improve by silence. You will be silent; will endure like Christ on the cross. You will be beaten, you will be slandered, but you will endure. When you pass your exam, love will come and will show to you that it is the only path for the world to improve.

Therefore those who want to acquire love, they have to pass through the greatest hardships and suffering. If they cannot pass through great suffering, they cannot pass through love, either. Nobody can try love unless they try suffering. Suffering precedes love. When a son tells his father that he loves his father, he is beguiling himself. A son truly loves his father only after the father departs for the other world. A woman says she loves her husband. This woman will get to know how much she loves her husband only after he departs for the other world. She will then remember his kindness, will point out at his good qualities [sides], [she] will be thinking of him. The same can be said about a man. As long as his wife is alive, he does not value her, he does not want to know her. As soon as she departs for the other world, he then starts valuing her, starts understanding what he has lost. As long as people are together in a family or in a society, people do not love one another. As soon as one of them departs, everybody starts loving the departed one. When Christ was on the earth, people did not love Him, people wanted to get rid of Him. As soon as He left the earth, they started loving Him, started following His path.

When I talk about a man and a woman, I take them as principles, not as external forms. If you take them as external forms, you will be off on the wrong track [go astray]. Many say that one should not marry. The point is not in the marriage. If one says that one should not marry, then one should not be born either. No, man has to be born in order to try suffering. Being born is a limitation to the human soul. When man dies, he will savour joy. Each soul is an angel leaving Heaven and descending onto the earth to be incarnated, to start living a limited human life. During this limitation man passes through suffering. As long as man passes through suffering, man will pass through love too. Then only the soul will return to heaven to savour absolute joy. You cannot taste [savour] love, unless you taste [savour] suffering.

When people come across great suffering, they find themselves in contradiction and ask why the world is created like this. Isn’t it possible to live without suffering? I never put this question to myself, because I know that suffering precedes love. Love is behind any suffering, standing as a rear. The opposite, however, cannot be said. There is no way we say the suffering is behind love. There is love behind suffering, but there is no suffering behind love. When you first feel love and then suffering, this is no love. The one, experiencing love first and suffering afterwards, is on the wrong path. He has made some mistake when assessing the situation, and subsequently has mistaken suffering for love. When one first experiences suffering and love comes afterwards as a result of the suffering, such a person is on the right pass. The one, who has not experienced any suffering, cannot find love. The one, who has been through suffering, will find love – the greatest wealth in the world. It is worth for a man to pass through sufferings in order to find the greatest wealth in the world. In this wealth does the power of man reside [rest]. On attaining love, man becomes so strong and powerful that he is in a position to withstand any storm, and ordeal and obstacles. If such a person takes out one’s knife, he does not sheathe it back like Peter.

When Peter pulled out his knife, Christ told him, ‘Put up thy sword into its sheathe!’ Peter has not been yet through suffering, has not as yet attained love, but was quick to pull out a knife against his enemy. Only those having attained love may pull out their knives. When such a person pulls out one’s knife, all of his enemies scatter away. Today Christ has pulled out his biggest knife and keeps prodding [poking] to the left and to the right everyone who is not listening to Him. Do not think that Christ is weak and feeble. He stops everybody He meets and asks them, ‘Will you follow God’s path?’ – No, I shall not. – If you won’t, you will see what will happen to you – He prods him with His knife and continues along His way. He meets a second one and asks him as well, ‘Will you follow God’s path?’ – I will. – pull out your knife and follow me. You too, pull out your knives and prod whoever you meet. Do prod, but don’t prod with your language, but with love. When you prod somebody with your new knife – the knife of love, make sure to topple him on the ground without crippling him. This is how you should fight with the knife of love. This means passing from death to life.

What do contemporary people do? When they want to avenge themselves or one another, they cripple, kill one another, they commit suicides etc. We accept only one type of suicide – with the knife of love. After committing a suicide with this knife, one falls onto the ground and passes from death to life. When love prods man, he falls onto the ground like the wheat grain in the field and enters the new life. Christ told Peter, ‘Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’ It was with this cup that Christ found love. Therefore, all the people have to find this cup and to enter the law of love. As soon as they find love, each one of them will win a victory over one’s world. When everyone wins a victory over one’s world, a victory will also be won over the external world, i.e. the world will be rectified.

When listening to talks about suffering being a predecessor of love, some say, ‘This is an old philosophy, we have tried it. – No, you don’t know this philosophy yet. Why? – Because you have tasted suffering to a certain extent only, but none of you has tasted love. You know not what love is. When you go through suffering, you will then hear the first word of love. As soon as you hear the voice of love, you will stand up, you will come back to life and will be resurrected. Therefore you all have to go through suffering in order to enter joy, to enter the life of love. You say, ‘Isn’t there any round-about way? Isn’t there any mercy for us? Now that Christ suffered for the salvation of humankind, isn’t it possible for us not to suffer? Can’t the law be a little bit mitigated? No, no mitigation whatsoever, no leniency can be granted. All people, without any exception will go through suffering. We are glad that contemporary people were already given the cup of suffering. They have to drink it up, because love is behind it. If they do not drink up the cup, love shall not come. When the stream of suffering flows out, love will come and open the door of the new life.

How you will understand the new, is your business. When the Spirit of the Truth comes, It will teach you everything. You say, in which direction shall we pray – facing East or facing West? Man can pray in every direction. If somebody comes to beat you and turns your head to the East, in which direction will you pray? You will pray to the East. If he turns your head to the West, to the North or to the South, you will pray in the direction you are facing. You will pray in the direction from which the suffering comes. Be grateful that suffering has come. This is the first token that the blessed hand works upon man to rectify him. For those who understand the laws, suffering is a great blessing. In comparison with what love brings, suffering is short-lived. You say that Apostle Paul penetrated to the seventh sky and on seeing what was there, he said, ‘No eye has seen, and no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ This means: No eye has seen, and no ear has heard what is prepared for those who have been through suffering and enter love.

Many complain from suffering, get discouraged, lose heart. Why? – Because they haven’t expected anything else. Christ’s disciples also expected Christ to become King and they to be appointed at prominent public offices, but it did not turn out so. On seeing that suffering will come first and blessing afterwards, many of them fled. Today the world needs strong people. Two thousand years ago Christ’s disciples scattered away, but if they flee away today too, shame on them. It is dangerous to run away. Those, who run away, will be wounded at the back. Those, who walk ahead, will be wounded at the breast. If you are wounded at the breasts, you are a hero. If you are wounded at the back, you are a coward. Where was Christ wounded – at the back or at the breasts? Christ was wounded at the breasts, because he walked ahead. A hero was Christ! The Roman soldiers prodded Him with a spear in the ribs in front, and blood and water ran from there. Many of the contemporary Christians are wounded at the back and nevertheless they were awarded [decorated with] St. George’s cross for bravery. No hero is a person wounded at the back. The true hero must be wounded with a spear in front, in the pit of the stomach. I do not wish to meet heroes wounded at the back. These are no heroes. Praise should go to those who are wounded at the breasts. If I see that you are wounded at the back, I will say to you, ‘There is no grief behind love, however, there is no love either. Therefore, if you want to be heroes, you have to be wounded at the breasts, not at the back. Your hearts have to be wounded, not your bodies. Those, exposing their bodies to suffering while sparing [guarding] their hearts, do not understand life. Those, exposing their hearts to suffering while sparing [guarding their bodies, have understood life, they have understood God’s path. This is heroism – to expose your heart and to spare [guard] your body.

So, the hearts of all the people should be wounded. Why? – Because sin is in the heart. If nobody comes to prod a person at the heart, the evil shall not come out. The evil will come out through the wound at the heart and one will free oneself from it. Preachers, scientists, writers, everybody says that the evil rests [exudes] in the human heart. Today man fights for one’s heart, to free it from the evil that has settled in it. In order to free it, one has to go through great ordeals and suffering. Suffering is a path of liberation. Every man should inevitably pass over the borderline of suffering in order to enter love, to understand the Great life. Now that you know this, don’t be afraid of suffering. Suffering is the hand of the Great, Which guides man. This is articulated in the line, ‘Look for me in a grievous day’. To look for God in your grief, this does not mean that you are weak. Strong or weak, man should suffer. The one who suffers is man; the one, who does not, is not. The distinguishing feature of man is suffering. Only man is capable of suffering. Animals are in torments, man suffers. The opposite pole of suffering is joy. When one suffers, another rejoices; when one rejoices, another suffers. Somebody’s suffering is somebody else’s joy; somebody’s joy is somebody else’s suffering.

How long will man suffer? Until man arrives at the true joy that stems [results] from love. No matter how you present joy, no matter how you expect it, you will know that in order to attain it, you have to go through sufferings first. There is no other path. Suffering is a path to joy. Christ was the first to go along the path of suffering and we shall follow Him. He is the first pioneer Who has passed along the path of suffering. Many good people have passed and are passing along the same path. You will say that this path is awful. – No, this path is difficult only in the beginning. The further you go, the more beautiful and easy it becomes.

‘Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’ Put in other words, put the fear of suffering aside! Let this fear not stumble you; because through suffering you will find the true path of life, you will understand what it is to serve the Great Love that rectifies everything in the world. This is equally valid for individual persons and for the entire humanity alike.

Great and powerful is the man of love, both in heaven and on the earth. With God’s Love Christ performed miracles on the earth too. When Christ found Himself before the greatest suffering, He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit!’ This shows that in the most fearful moment of his life, He did not lose faith in Love. Afterwards God resurrected Him. Christ attained love, which He said in the line, ‘[He has] Given me all the power both in heaven and on the earth’. He attained this power after drinking the bitter cup.
Everybody can say, ‘[He has] Given me all the power’. When can one say so? Only after one has drunk up the bitter cup that the Father gave him. When this power is given to you, what will you be scared of? Therefore, in order not to be scared, you have to go through great difficulties and ordeals. Only then will salvation come. Then will the resurrection of human soul come.
Now, let each one of you ask yourself what you were during the time of Christ: a disciple or a spectator [onlooker]? Only one of the disciples is said to have pulled out a knife. What were the others doing during this time? All the Disciples of Christ, however, were told, ‘Go and preach the Great teaching of love in the world!’ Love will show to the people the new path along which good people have passed and are passing in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Then the words, ‘First look for the Kingdom of God and His Justice, and everything else will be given to you’ – make sense.

I shall give you the following three sentences:
The only path leading to life is love.
The only path leading to knowledge is wisdom.
The only path leading to freedom is the Truth.

In the path of life will you attain love! In the path of knowledge will you attain wisdom! In the path of freedom will you attain the truth!
These are three paths that you have to follow in order to attain love, wisdom and the truth.

I am telling you now: pull out your knives! Whatever knife you may have, pull it out, get armed! How many knives did Christ’s disciples take with themselves? They took two knives, but they used only one of them. Everybody should take their swords and [should] start prodding, fighting. Through love! Whom [should one fight]? Not oneself, of course, but one’s enemy. Everybody has enemies that one should fight. Be heroes, do not be pusillanimous. Many wish others to fight for them and St. George’s cross for bravery to be awarded to themselves. No, everyone shall fight on one’s own.

Apply what you heard and understood today, each according to one’s strength and abilities.

Let the words I will be with you till the end of the century do not remain hollow [empty]. Have faith in the Great, in His Love. Know that it’s not you who are fighting, but God, Who is within you.

18th August, 5 o’clock in the morning

Peter Deunov (Beinsa Douno)

[link to powerandlife.com]

Most of the suffering we cause to eachother op..in my opinion..and to ourselves

the list is long..

This planet was made beautiful..if this was to be a scenario for suffering it would not have been made so beautiful in my opinion..something went wrong..and a dark veil of suffering..mostly mutually inflicted in my view ..decended on this beautiful creation

instead of praying fervently..and I stress fervently..for the Kingdom

Instead of making this our obsession..our spiritual goal here on earth

we have been taught too often to accept suffering as a way of life..to embrace it and make it ours

therefore..wars..famine..killings..injustices etc..have become a way and fact of the global existence

but again..in my opinion..this planet was NOT created for this

It simply speaks for itself..when you look at the beauty and bounty of nature..Its obvious ..to me at least..that this was created for something quite different..

As to returning to God..as your post says..i think God never left us..He is within us..around us..in others..in Creation..in everything that He made

it is us..we are the ones that must change

instead of accepting suffering ..though noble in many instances..surely we would benefit far more if we followed Christs instructions in the Our Father

..where the FIRST request was

THY KINGDOM COME

When exactly did Christ say take your cross and follow me *q.m*

because to me Christs message is positive to the extreme

He gives hope..and places in view an end to suffering

the Our Father

is an example

They KIngdom Come
Thy Will Be Done
Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our sins

Protect us from being led into temptation
Deliver us from evil

these are all positive requests

he didnt say

Father help us to endure the absence of your kingdom and to suffer this fallen reality

He didnt say Father help us to understand that we must submit to the will of others who impose suffering on this

He didnt say..Father give us strength to endure hunger..and to have to stress and toil ..and work ceaselessly ..for a bit of bread

he didnt say..father dont forgive us..turn away from us..so that we can be punished by your absence

he didnt say..Father let us fall head first into temptation..and be slaves of sin and vice..so we may understand how weak and worthless we are

he didnt say Father do no forgive us ever

he didnt say do not protect us..as this is a fallen world and we must accept this fact

To those that came to Him for healing..He didnt turn them away saying..this is a fallen world..suffer and accept this fact..

NO

He healed them

and toldthem not to sin anymore



He did not turn themaway telling them to embrace their suffering and illness..He healed them

To the ones that were tired..lost..hopeless..and empty..He gave hope and promise of a better tomorrow

He was positive in the extreme..

he was Hope

he was Love

And now the opinion in many is because of all this and the way we treat eachother and treat ourselves..the way we abuse nature and use God in my opinion for our selfish selcentrede aims..God is going to permit..not Himself..but people to destroy HIS creation through an atomic war

oh really BIG QUESTION MARK

so God is going to allow the final slap in the face against Him to happen QUESTION MARK the destruction of His creation because we cant get it right QUESTION MARK

Oh I do not think so

It is time in my opinion that man steps down from the pedestal he has been clinging on to for far too long and allows God to re take charge of affairs

and accept and achnowledge a miserable and shameful defeat

Sorry for the rant op..I am just tired of all the suffering happening on this planet..

Yeah, like our true Creator want's to see his creations suffer in torment till the bitter end. (end sarcasm). Where do you people come from?

Insane, brainwashed by TPTB. Taught to accept anything they want to do to you. Fight back, don't just accept "their" abominations.

A Zen path toward enlightenment. I fully subscribe to such a belief.

Have you ever bothered to even read the bible? You remind me of my mom with this sentiment. She is not a professing catholic anymore as you, but do you only read the verses that the Church tells you to read aloud for 10 cumulative minutes minutes each Sunday? At which point they tell you what it means..... Christ did not preach and easy life at any time and neither did the apostles. Faith without works is dead BTW... Jesus did say Take Up Your Cross and follow me. Get a concordance and start reading.

This attitude will help you to overcome "TPTB" & Co. ...

"Good always prevails over evil, just as life always prevails over death. Death only appears to exist. Look around you: everywhere you see life, and death is nowhere. It is only a change of scenery…or of costume! You say: ‘But if you murder someone, the evil you commit is permanent.’ Not so. In the first place, only the physical body has been affected. The spirit, which is immortal, continues to live, and sooner or later the person will return to earth in a new body. As for the murderer, even if he escapes human justice, he will not escape divine justice. One way or another he will have to make amends for his crime.

Evil, like death, may appear victorious at first, but this victory does not last. Whereas the good, although under siege in the beginning, will, like life, triumph in the end."

"Good and evil can be compared to two forces that are harnessed together on a job so as to make the wheel of life turn. If only good existed, the wheel would not turn. Yes, good cannot do the work if evil does not give it a hand. You might say that evil is the opposite force... Yes, it must be contrary! Consider this simple gesture: if you want to cork or uncork a bottle, you must use both hands working in opposite directions; one pushes in one direction, the other pulls away from it. And this is how the two together succeed in pushing in or removing the cork. Instead of complaining about the presence of evil, therefore, you must stop and meditate on this work of the opposite forces that takes place every day before your very eyes."

"It is a mistake to consider good and evil as two independent forces forever in conflict. The reality is that good and evil are two currents connected to a higher authority – God. The problem of good and evil will never be solved on the physical plane, for what brings these contrary forces together originates from above. At our own level, all we see is the clash between them. Our work, therefore, is to reach this higher authority, which knows how to make use of good and evil for a purpose even they have not been given to know.

Yes, good does not know everything, and neither does evil, of course. The One who does know everything is above good and evil. That One is the Lord. So, speak to him, and say, ‘Lord, you who have created so many things of beauty, vastness and profundity, you see me lost in their midst… With my limited intelligence, I am not able to see clearly. Send me your angels to tell me how to understand and how to act.’"

"We tend to equate good with God himself. But no! Good, like evil, is only a servant of God. God is much more than good. So you must stop asking yourself why He tolerates the existence of evil. Tell yourself quite clearly that He allows everything, and He does so because He makes use of everything. And you too should know how to use both good and evil in the work you undertake, exactly like the chemist who rejects nothing because he knows how to use all the substances in his laboratory, even poisons. Everything is necessary in a laboratory. We must thus use the chemist as our model: since in our inner laboratory we possess the pure and the impure, the luminous and the obscure, that which draws us upward and that which pulls us down, we must learn to use everything in order to realize God's plans. Thank heaven for having created you as you are, and go to work."

"Those who have chosen darkness always fear light. That is why the élite, such as great spiritual masters, initiates - who work for the evolution of humanity - are always persecuted. Since the two principles of good and evil constantly battle in the world, one who works for the light inevitably provokes forces of darkness. By their word, even by their sole presence, initiates inevitably touch the personal, self-centered and dark interests of people who then counter-attack with all the means at their disposal.

When a great spiritual master comes down to earth to help human beings, he knows beforehand he will be exposed to all kinds of hostile demonstrations from humans - hatred, slander and persecutions - which are intended to prevent the work that it is the master's mission to accomplish. But he never lets himself be discouraged. He continues to work and to shed his love on human beings, even if they are wicked, unconscious, and ungrateful."

"Many people seek the good, just as others seek the truth… and never find it. They are looking for a servant who will facilitate their lives, whereas truth is a demanding mistress, a princess, and the good is a demanding master as well. Well then, if you say you are looking for good but find evil instead, you have only yourself to blame: it proves that you lack a high ideal. When the choices you make lead to disappointment, conflict and failure, ask yourself why you have had so little intuition. Each of you carries a kind of magnet within yourself which is the synthesis of your thoughts, feelings and desires, and this magnet attracts people and situations which correspond to all the elements of your psychic life. "

"Many people spend their time emitting feelings and thoughts of anger, hatred and revenge, and they do not even think that these thoughts might cause damage in the world! It is not even as though it would benefit their affairs! Exactly the opposite, in fact: they poison themselves. So what should they do? They should forget all their sorrows, torments and irritations, and just remember that they are in the light, and propagate that light.

All human beings have the same powers to create with their mind; the difference is that some use these powers for evil, others for good. Yes, do not think some are gifted or privileged whereas others are deprived: the same seeds, the same materials were deposited in everyone. So, why give in to negative impulses? Everyone should try to put order in their thoughts and feelings twenty times a day, thirty times, fifty times... and everyone should try to react only by radiating light."

"Let us suppose that you have been unfortunate enough to swallow some poison. The poison has devastating effects on your body, but as soon as the doctor gives you a powerful antidote you are saved. Because the antidote restores you to your normal state, its effects seem less dramatic to you than those of the poison, which had struck you down. But the antidote is just as powerful; more powerful even because it overcame the poison. And in the same way counterpoison annihilates poison, love eradicates hatred, light eradicates darkness, and good eradicates evil.

Good is as powerful and formidable as evil, but because we find good agreeable, we find its presence normal and devote all our attention to evil. But if you go and ask evil what it thinks of good, it will say: 'Oh, good is terrible! The beatings I've had!' Ask the dark spirits what happens when a spirit of light comes by: they scream and take fright. And because you have not seen this you do not give it another thought. To understand the power of good you need to ask evil."

"We tend to equate good with God himself. But no! Good, like evil, is only a servant of God. God is much more than good. So you must stop asking yourself why He tolerates the existence of evil. Tell yourself quite clearly that He allows everything, and He does so because He makes use of everything. And you too should know how to use both good and evil in the work you undertake, exactly like the chemist who rejects nothing because he knows how to use all the substances in his laboratory, even poisons. Everything is necessary in a laboratory. We must thus use the chemist as our model: since in our inner laboratory we possess the pure and the impure, the luminous and the obscure, that which draws us upward and that which pulls us down, we must learn to use everything in order to realize God's plans. Thank heaven for having created you as you are, and go to work."

"Much of the suffering you have to endure comes, of course, from outside yourself. And yet, the suffering inflicted on you for which you are not directly responsible is, all the same, partly your responsibility. Why? Because you have not learned how to make yourself immune to it.

If you are so vulnerable, it is because the negative elements sent you by the outside world strike a chord in you. And it may even be that the harm is magnified because of the impurities and darkness you harbour. If you tried to foster purity and light within yourself, not only would the evil be neutralized but the good you receive would become greater, too. Why, yes, if you are unable to really feel the good that comes to you every day from the visible and invisible worlds, it means that all sorts of opaque matter in you are blocking it. You see, then, how repelling evil, as well as attracting and preserving the good, all depend on you."

"Initiates teach their disciples that the number 2 is the result of the polarisation of the number 1, just as an electric socket or a magnet is made up of two poles, positive and negative. Which means that these two poles, which we think of as opposites, are in reality contained in the number 1. We call them positive and negative, or masculine and feminine, but we can also call them good and evil, provided we bear in mind that they are an expression of the 1, which is God, because they have the same origin.

There is a tradition which names Lucifer, the archangel who revolted against God, the brother of Christ. It says that when Lucifer was thrown from heaven, during the fall he lost the emerald which adorned his forehead. And from this emerald which fell to earth was fashioned the cup in which Joseph of Arimathea collected Jesus' blood at the crucifixion. It is this cup that became the Holy Grail, a symbol that has played a great role in the history of Christianity. The initiates who established this relationship between Lucifer and Christ wanted to teach us that good and evil are two poles of one and the same reality: of God Himself."

"Human beings are used to responding to evil with evil, hatred with hatred and violence with violence, but nothing good can come of this old philosophy. It is good that counters evil, love that banishes hatred and kindness that combats violence.

If evil is eventually defeated, it is because God has denied it immortality. Any hateful word or action is like a stone thrown into the air: in time it loses momentum, whereas a gentle word or an act of kindness is like a stone thrown from the top of a tower: it gradually gathers speed and power. That is the secret of good: it starts off weak but, in the end, is all-powerful. Whereas, evil starts off all-powerful but gradually loses its strength."

Dealing with Suffering and Seeing It As Grace

Ram Dass

You do what you can to relieve somebody's suffering with food, or shelter, or whatever you can do. But there is another level in which you know suffering is Grace. They are not asking for Grace that way. And you can't lay a trip. You can't say it's good for you, suffer. That's the beginning of dealing with the issues.

Continue to read:
[link to www.realitysandwich.com]

I'd rather see grace as mushroom clouds rising from the surface of the enemy's abodes. That how I deal with the suffering they inflict on me.

"Human beings are part of the large body of God, of which they each represent a cell. So when they behave badly towards their neighbour, believing he is a stranger, an outsider, and that they can manhandle him with impunity, they are mistaken, because there is a connection between all living creatures, just as there is a connection between all the cells of the physical body. When we harm others, we are also harming ourselves, even though we may not feel this immediately. And in the same way, if we are good to them, we are also being good to ourselves. You have no doubt found this out for yourself, when someone you love is suffering or is being subjected to shocks, it feels as if you are at the receiving end, and if good fortune happens upon them, then you are as happy as if the good fortune were yours. This is because instinctively, intuitively, you have entered the consciousness of unity, and this consciousness of unity lies at the basis of true morality."

"Who can deny that among the greatest ordeals suffered by human beings, the worst are those they endlessly inflict on each other… and on themselves at the same time? Yes, just because someone has expressed thoughts and feelings you do not share, you begin to think of him as your enemy and decide to oppose him. From then on you interpret all of his behaviour in a negative way when, in fact, he is not your enemy. He bears you no malice and what is more has no idea why you reproach him. It is you who create an enemy by the way in which you think of him and, in doing so, you also destroy something inside yourself. You, then, are your own worst enemy; it is you who take up arms against yourself. Tell me, is this intelligent?"

You don't know me at all. I am happy when others have good fortune. I compliment their achievements because it gives me hope that If I work hard enough, I may be able to achieve my goals also. That said, there are people that are like a cancer in the "large body of God" that need to be removed. They are the ones who torture, steal, rape and murder the poor, the ones who cause unneeded suffering in the world. They are the ones, the parasites, the cancer who need to be removed. So you can consider me a part of the God body's immune system that fights that cancer off and "nukes" them with spiritual chemo therapy. :)

Oh you're so smart!

It's like you know exactly what to say!