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CHAPTER EIGHT
LEISURE AND SLEEP LIFE
In the previous chapter it was pointed out that life in general and
human life in particular has many levels of manifestation and
fulfillment. It was also pointed out how important it is that each level of
life has its proper and equal opportunity for actualization and
realization. For that reason, as it was pointed out there, no substitution
of one level of life by any other level of life could be, effective or
meaningful. It is vitally important that each level of life is fully
manifested in itself, by itself, and in conjunction with all others.
Each level of life has a specific and unique ability, unavailable to any
other level, to trigger and to fulfill a different content, meaning, quality,
impression and expression of the aspect of life from the Most High which
everyone represents. These different qualities are equally important,
unique, special and as needed as any others and, therefore, without
fulfillment of some of them or one of them, life becomes one-sided,
lacking something and not completely fulfilled. In this case no one is able
to properly manifest, actualize and realize what one really is and what
one really has. Such limitations are intolerable in the Most High’s
Creation. For this reason, constant opportunities are provided for
everyone for fulfillment, manifestation, actualization and realization of
all levels of one’s life.
Up to this point, we have briefly described the following levels of life
— spiritual life, mental life, physical or bodily life, sexual life,
professional or work life, family life and social life.
Another vital and important level of human life, as well as the life of
all intelligent beings and entities, is leisure life and sleep life.
In actuality, leisure life and sleep life are two different categories of
life which are included in this book under the same chapter because of
their closely related purpose — to give an opportunity to everyone to rest
from all other activities represented by the remaining levels of our life.
In this connotation rest life can be divided into two parts — leisure
life which is an active rest; and sleep life which is a passive rest. Both
are equally needed for our survival.
What is the meaning, purpose and function of leisure and sleep life?
From the content of previous chapters it becomes very obvious that
any level or aspect of human life has a spiritual origin. No matter how
any human activity appears to be unrelated to anything spiritual, it
derives from and corresponds to some kind of spiritual state or condition.
It is a spiritual fact that whatever we do, think, feel, will, need,
desire, wish, etc., is made possible only because there is within us the
presence of the Absolute Source of Life — the Most High. The Most High
is a purely and absolutely Spiritual Being. Because the Most High’s
presence in us makes it possible for us to be and to exist, to think and to
feel, to will and to desire, to act and to behave, etc., no matter what we do
we are able to do it only because of that spiritual presence.
Hence, everything in us and in our life has a spiritual connotation
and correspondence.
It is a spiritual fact that we all are created and not absolute. To be
created and to be relative (that is, not absolute) means that we don’t
contain the fullness and completeness of all available experiences, states,
conditions, processes, changes, varieties, meanings, etc.
It is a spiritual fact that we did not give ourselves life but that we are
forms, containers, and receptacles of life which is given to us by Life
itself — the Most High.
It is a spiritual fact that the Life in the Most High is in its Absolute
state, while the life in us is in the relative state since we are not capable
of carrying the fullness of the Absolute Life.
It is a spiritual fact that, not being absolute, we run out of energy for
continuous involvement in one or another activity. The depleted energy
must be replaced if we are to continue in our daily life and its various
activities.
Only the Most High, being Absolute and being Absolute Energy in
Himself/Herself, can never run out of energy. Thus, only the Most High
can always be absolutely alert and active. Anyone less than absolute, no
matter how close that one is to the Most High, cannot be unceasingly,
uninterruptedly alert and active. He or she at one time or another, will
deplete his/her energies and will need a recharge.
Now, the closer one is to the Absolute Source, the less frequently that
recharge is needed and the shorter time for inactive state and inattention
is required.
On the other hand, the more remote one is from that Absolute Source,
and thus, the less spiritual his/her state is, the more frequent recharging
is needed and a longer period of inactivity is required. In other words,
the higher the level of spiritual awareness and identification with the
Most High one attains, the higher the level of energy and alertness
available to that one and the less he/she needs for leisure types of
activities. In the spiritual world, or, to be precise, in the positive state of
the spiritual world, this is also true about sleep. The greater the spiritual
awareness and the quality of the spiritual state, the less formal sleep one
needs.
However, the situation is entirely different on planet Earth where the
negative state is active and dominates. The leisure and sleep
requirements are more vital and crucial than in the positive state for the
reasons which will become apparent throughout this chapter.
Thus, we can say in general, that the spiritual origin of the needs for
leisure and sleep will be found in our relative state that runs out of
energies which are needed to fuel our daily activities on a productive
level. Whenever we run out of these energies, we feel tired, exhausted
and sleepy. In order to eliminate these undesirable states we have to
engage ourselves in different types of activities. These activities enable
repletion of our energies to a desirable level so that we can continue to
function in our productive life.
As mentioned above, the two such activities able to accomplish this
repletion, are leisure activities and sleep activities. One is always
conscious, while the other is mostly unconscious, except when we
consciously go to sleep.
In this spiritual connotation the purpose of leisure and sleep
activities is to maintain our spiritual, mental, physical, sexual,
professional or work, family and social life at the level which can be most
productive, constructive and creative and which enables us to properly
manifest, actualize and realize what we are and what we have.
Thus, in the higher sense, leisure life and sleep life serve as a means
to a better and more effective understanding and fulfillment of our life
and all our creative efforts. In another sense, the leisure and sleep life
ultimately serve the major purpose of any life — better, more effective,
more pronounced, more active, more alert and more conscious giving,
receiving, sharing, and reciprocating. And even in the higher spiritual
sense, the leisure and sleep life serve for manifestation purposes,
actualization and realization, with a greater clarity, sharpness, focusing
and explicity of the aspects of the Most High which everyone of us
contains, carries and represents.
Such is the spiritual connotation of leisure and sleep life.
If we carefully analyze the structure of our leisure and sleep life we
can detect in them the following aspects: there is a spiritual leisure life, a
mental leisure life and a physical or bodily leisure life.
The spiritual leisure life consists of the activities that produce ideas
of fun, humor, laughter, smile, play, relaxation, sport and rest. Constant
preoccupation of the spirit with the production of the ideas of only
spiritual significance and meaning of life and its proper maintenance,
manifestation, function and fulfillment, leads to the depletion of the
spiritual energies that weaken the ability of proper transmission of those
ideas, of any ideas, from their Absolute Source — the Most High. In this
weakened state there is a danger of misunderstanding, misperceiving or
mistransmitting of those ideas. In the moment the perceptible weakening
occurs the spirit switches to the production of ideas related to leisure and
rest. During this period of time, the higher faculties of spirit are
recharged with the energies that come from the Absolute Energy, the
Most High. Once this process is completed, the spirit resumes its original
major function and related to it production and transmission of necessary
ideas for life.
From the above statements, it is obvious that all kinds of leisure
activities, without any exception or exclusion, originate from their ideas
in our spirit. Hence, the spiritual source of leisure life and sleep life.
The mental leisure life derives, of course, from the spiritual leisure
life. The soul, not being absolute, has only limited capacity, at any given
time, to transform ideas of the spirit into its own mental images and life.
When the process of this transformation is weakened, because of
depletion of life energies, the mental activities, in synchronicity with the
spirit, are switched to the reception and transformation of ideas related
to fun, humor, play, laughter, sport, relaxation, rest, or sleep or whatever
one has. In this case the soul induces into us the states and needs to feel,
to experience, and to express fun, humor, laughter, play, entertainment,
recreation, etc.
A physical or bodily leisure life derives from the spiritual and mental
leisure life. It is entirely dependent on the state and support of its spirit
and soul. The weakening of transmitted energies from the spirit and the
weakening of their transformation in the soul, produces the weakening of
all bodily functions. The body begins to feel tired, exhausted or sleepy
and requires either totally different leisure types of activities or physical
sleep.
The ideas and mentation of fun, play, laughter, humor, recreation,
entertainment, etc., motivate us to seek out concrete activities,
conditions or places which induce into us the real or imaginary fun, play,
laughter, humor, smile, being entertained and sense of letting everything
go.
Such is the interconnection and interdependency of spiritual, mental
and physical leisure and sleep life.
However, why is it that we need to sleep and to dream and why is it
that conscious leisure activities in themselves and by themselves are not
sufficient to replenish our life energy level to its necessary state?
There are several reasons for this need.
1. The external form of manifested spirit and soul, that is their body,
is from the elements of their respective environment. Because of this
structure, the body doesn’t have eternal continuation as spirit and soul
do. By virtue of this fact, the body lacks any life in itself and by itself.
Whatever life is in the body, it is not its own but the spirit’s. Because the
body does not consist of life elements, but only of the perishable
environment, it cannot sustain that life within itself in its fullness on a
continuous basis. In order to make that body liveable and effectively
functional, the spirit and soul need occasionally to withdraw from their
body to the extent that only a minimal amount of their presence remains
in it for the purpose of life support.
Because of the fact that the external body is perishable, it has a
tendency to wear off and to stop its functions. If it were to be forced into
continuous activities to the fullest potentials of its spirit and soul, it
would soon fall apart. Therefore, the spirit and soul, after withdrawing
most of their presence from the body, heal and repair that body so that
they can return into it and continue to function to their fullest possible
capacity. The state of the body during that period of time is the state of
physical sleep. During sleep most of the bodily functions are minimized
and slowed down considerably and the healing and repair work can take
place. From this the need for sleep is obvious.
The need for sleep and its length is determined by the kinds of
elements that the body is built from. The more fluid, the more spiritual
the environment is, a shorter time of sleep is needed and the less bodily
rest is required. On the very pure or high spiritual level, where our body
is completely spiritual, very short periods of irregular and sporadic sleep
are needed. The more material the body is, the more vulnerable it is to
the life forces and, therefore, it needs regular and longer periods of sleep.
2. Only the Absolute State of the Most High’s Nature, that
incorporates all environments and everything else in being and
existence, as well as being and existence themselves, doesn’t require rest
and sleep. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be absolute. The constant,
uninterrupted and conscious flow of ideas from the Absolute State into
the relative state would result in a total breakdown. This relative state
cannot be built in such a manner as to accommodate continuous
conscious awareness at all levels, simultaneously and synchronously, of
that flow. If it were able to do that, it would be absolute and uncreated.
Therefore, in order for the relative state to continue in its effective and
proper function, it is necessary to make arrangements by which a respite
can be given to it in a manner in which respite is given to one level at a
time. Because the most vulnerable to this flow is the external form, it is
this form that needs such a respite more frequently and regularly.
However, this is also true of our spirit and soul. The spirit and soul, not
being absolute, require an occasional respite from conscious perception of
this flow. During such respite, they are in the state of sleep-rest. When
they sleep, the Most High does the repair and healing work on them in
order to make them function always better and more effectively. Again,
the frequency and length of such sleep-rest depends on the quality and
content of everyone’s spiritual awareness, state and condition.
3. By virtue of this fact, that is, that all of us are relative, we can
never be perfect. Only the Absolute State, that is, the Most High is
perfect. The state of imperfection, once it is fully realized, may bring
about a feeling of incompetence and inferiority and may result in the
activation of the negative state even in people who are in the positive
state. Everyone is given a certain assignment. When the assignment is
coming to its end, and is about to be fulfilled, everyone suddenly realizes
that it could be fulfilled in a more perfect manner and way. When this
realization comes about, everyone momentarily feels impotent and
unworthy to do anything else. This is a predusk period of everyone’s day.
Before the consequences of this realization can bring about the negative
state and do the damage to one’s spirit and soul and their body, everyone
is put in a deep sleep by the Most High. During that sleep all results of
the above awareness are removed and, instead, one is given a new
assignment with the feeling that one has done an excellent job and that
all which is required from anyone is to do one’s best and not to strive to
be perfect. The point is to strive to do one’s best and not to strive to be
perfect.
The deep sleep is necessary while this work is going on, because,
otherwise the consciousness of our imperfect state would be interfering
with the activities of the Most High in this respect. Thus, the need for
deep sleep is for our own protection.
4. The quality and content of sleep life is totally different and unique
from any other life activity. It functions as an integrative tool of all
activities in the sense that it helps them to be organized, classified,
synthesized and stored in a cohesive, logical, meaningful, and rational
sequence. No one can do this ultimate synthesis but the Most High.
Without this synthesis no one could retain any life experiences and
connect them meaningfully to the next step of their spiritual progression.
The activities of the Most High during this synthesis are of such a
magnitude that they cannot be comprehensible to any relative or
non-absolute mind. If we were to become aware of them, their
complexity, immensity and intensity and their unusual magnitude would
annihilate us. Therefore, it is necessary to have periods of deep sleep in
which this, one of the most fundamental and crucial acts of the Most
High, could be accomplished within us without annihilating us in the
process. Thus, the need for sleep can also be conceived as one of the most
important tools through and by which the synthesis of all our activities is
accomplished. This enables our development, growth, betterment and
spiritual progression.
It is obvious that sleep has its own very specific, unique and
important life which is an integral part of overall life. It is a level of life
which must be fulfilled with the equal consideration and importance of
any other level.
As far as dreaming is concerned, it has basically two functions:
1. Dreaming, through its pictures and symbols, discharges all
imperfect, impure and inadequate ideas that any relative being contains.
The major idea that is being discharged, and from which one is being
constantly purified and cleansed by dreams, is the idea that everyone in
the Most High’s Creation has freedom of choice to reject the reciprocation
and sharing of the Most High’s Divine Love and Divine Wisdom and
His/Her spiritual principles and to turn one’s back on the positive state.
The dreaming is a conscious part of sleep through which one voluntarily,
by one’s free choice, refuses to actualize and realize that idea of the need
for becoming negative and through which one expels that idea and need
from one’s self.
For that reason, in the spiritual world everyone remembers their
dreams. The reason why it is done in sleep is because only the Most High
can do this by means which cannot be understood by any relative mind.
Once we show our free desire to get rid of that idea and need and
everything related to it, as well as all other imperfections and impurities
(after all, only the Most High is absolutely perfect and pure), the Most
High enters that area and does certain work which enables that idea and
that need and everything else of that nature to fall out into the Zone of
Displacement.
2. The absolute or total unconscious state of any being would result in
eternal death. Therefore, some degree of consciousness (not necessarily
on the level of the external human mind) must be present in order to
save everyone’s life. During sleep-rest the dreams are induced which
maintain certain limited awareness of one’s being and existence and
preserve cohesiveness and continuation of one’s life.
That people on earth do not remember their dreams very often
doesn’t mean that they didn’t have them or are not aware of them. They
are not aware of the dreams only in their external conscious mind. But if
we put them in trance, for example, they are able to recall very vividly all
their dreams.
Thus, the continuous conscious life flow through dreaming is
preserved, and everyone remains alive. It is impossible for one’s spirit
and one’s soul to be totally unconscious. Otherwise, they would cease to
be and to exist. However, it is very vital and crucial that certain
activities of the Most High in us during our deep sleep remain
unavailable to our lower conscious awareness. The dreams are induced
which keep all our attention from those activities so that the work of
synthesis and anything else which needs to be done, can be done.
Thus, once again, the dreams serve the preservation of our life. The
other functions of dreams, which are more related to communication with
the spiritual world or with the Most High are for people who are trapped
in various regions of the Zone of Displacement. They are reminders of a
different level of reality than just that level at which everyone is trapped.
Sometimes they are also used for warning or as a prophesy or
premonition of something which is about to come. Because sleep and
dreaming is not time-space bound, as far as its content is concerned,
certain events that are manifested in linear time flow can leak into the
consciousness from the so-called future and present themselves as if they
are occurring right now.
On the other hand, the Most High sometimes utilizes the dream work
to reveal to people certain concepts, ideas and aspects of truth which are
impossible to arrive at by the limited conscious human mind that is
trapped in the pseudo-logic and rationality of the external, natural world.
In this connotation, dreams serve as a tool to remind people of their
spiritual origin and spiritual reality.
The above described situation with leisure life and sleep life is the
arrangement in the positive state. On this planet, because of the
activated negative state, the situation with sleep and dreaming is
somewhat different. However, it does preserve its basic function and
connotation but its role may be somewhat altered and distorted.
First of all, the intervals between sleep times are much shorter, in
fact only a few hours. We sleep much longer than people in the positive
state. The reason for this is in the fact of our genetic endowment as we
were fabricated by the pseudo-creators. Basically, we have an animalistic
body which is able to contain only five percent of the capacity of our true
spirit and soul. The presently existing human physical bodies are not
suitable for spirit and soul to live in. For that reason, by most of that
content, the spirit and soul are not contained in our bodies completely.
Our bodies were structured in such a manner as to contain as little of our
spirit and soul as possible; meaning as little of the true and genuine life
as possible. Otherwise, no negative state could be experienced or
actualized. This was done purposefully. In actuality, being unsuitable for
any proper spiritual and mental life, our physical bodies can take only a
very minimal amount of life and only for a very brief period of time. After
a few hours of conscious life activities our physical body wears down, is
tired and needs to rest. That is how fragile the inventions of the negative
state are.
With such a weakness, all kinds of consequences and outcomes of the
negative state (illnesses, diseases, miserable states, sufferings, etc.) can
be manifested much easier.
On the other hand, this situation requires people to have much more
time for leisure than otherwise would be the case. This keeps them away
from the possibility of fully actualizing and realizing themselves and,
thus, becoming more spiritually aware.
As far as dreaming is concerned, besides what was said above, we
dream for the purpose of the maintenance of our link with all other
dimensions from which our conscious awareness was disconnected by
that genetic alteration. That link is a necessary requirement for the
continuation of any life in our body. Those dreams also link us to the rest
of our spirit and soul which, although attached to our body, are never
capable of fully residing in that body. Otherwise, with this kind of body,
they would kill that body. The killing would be by the sole presence of
fullness of life for which that body is not built.
Through the symbolic and correspondential meaning of our dreams
we are connected to the rest of Creation and to the rest of the Zone of
Displacement (in the case of bad dreams and nightmares).
In order to elaborate more on our leisure life and our sleep life, let us
consider briefly the following points:
1. The major purpose of leisure life and sleep life in a general sense is
to serve as a balancing factor for all other life activities. Another word
that can be used in this connotation is “catalyst.” The leisure and sleep
life can be considered a specific catalyst which enables proper function of
all other life activities. Its purpose is to prepare a favorable condition for
all other levels of life, in which condition they can and may effectively
and successfully actualize, realize and manifest themselves.
Thus, without leisure life and sleep life, all other life activities would
come to a halt because their source, meaning and instrument would
break down or would become exhausted and unable to transmit life. To
avoid this situation, different types of activities have to be available
which would take care of the source, means and instrument of those
activities themselves (the source is the spirit, the means is the soul, and
the instrument is the body).
In this respect, therefore, we can recognize two general major types of
activities that are inherent in our life: the activities that are a direct
manifestation of our spirit, soul and body and the activities that take
care of spirit, soul, and body and their conditions themselves in order to
make it possible for them to be properly manifested. The latter activities
are what constitute the content of leisure life and sleep life.
In order for our spirit, soul and body to be properly and productively
functional, certain activities are necessary in which our spirit, soul and
body can find a total relaxation or diversion from their genuine activities.
This can be found only in the type of activities that are in no way related
to their genuine function and purpose. It is found in what is called fun,
humor, play, entertainment, relaxation, sport, laughter, walks, sleep and
similar activities.
In the positive state, they all serve this purpose. The leisure and
sleep life and their activities enable our genuine activities to be more
effective, more creative, more productive and more fulfilling.
2. Leisure and sleep life can be considered as equipment for our
survival needs. Because of this connotation, they are part of our
motivation to be and to exist. Since being and existence is the result of
the creative effort, the leisure and sleep life contribute to our being more
creative and fruitful. In this connotation, they can be considered the
guardians of a properly functional life. They guard us from exhaustion
and overdoing anything beyond our capacity. Not being absolute, we are
limited in the capacity of our function at any given time or moment. To
avoid going over or beyond our specific capacity, the leisure and sleep life
intervene whenever such danger occurs and set in their own activities
allowing all else in us to rest and to revitalize.
3. Fun, play, laughter, humor, entertainment, sport, recreation, sleep
and similar activities can serve their purpose only if their contents are
relevant to the needs of our spirit, soul and body. Therefore, unless they
are derived from proper spiritual ideas of what their content should be,
no leisure activities or sleep can be considered what they seem to be. In
other words, unless leisure life and sleep life are a means to the spiritual,
mental and physical well-being they have no sense and meaning. Thus,
they can never become the purpose and goal of all life in themselves. We
are not creative in order to have fun or to sleep or whatever, but we have
fun, and we sleep or whatever, in order to be more creative. This is a very
crucial spiritual rule to remember. Any deviation from this rule,
invalidates the proper function of leisure and sleep life and they turn
into destructiveness of life instead of preservation of life. This is the
spiritual way. This is the positive way. This is how leisure life and sleep
life is looked upon by everyone in the positive state.
4. The unique and unrepeatable aspect of the Most High’s life in us
requires its own unique mode of rest and leisure. Everyone has a
different need for the different ways in which one can accomplish what
one needs to accomplish during the leisure and sleep life. Thus, it is not
advisable to generalize in this, as well as any other matters. Uniformity
and conformity to some certain standards are signs of the negative state.
What is truly refreshing and restful for one person is not necessarily so
for another person. Forceful adherence to one or a few modes of leisure
life or the same length of sleep time, brings about more damage than
rest.
Therefore, in the positive state, everyone determines from within
oneself, from the presence of the Most High, what the most appropriate
and right way for that one is to fulfill the needs for leisure and sleep.
Since there is no night in the heavens, for example, the need for sleep is
not determined by such external factors as night, but by the inner needs
for refreshment and rest. The same things are true about leisure
activities. No one feels regimented to stop doing what one does only
because someone else feels a need to take a break and rest. Thus, the
time is individualized and each person has his/her own independent
breaks.
In our world this is usually determined by the external time flow.
Most people feel compelled to have a lunch break around noontime. The
noontime is determined by the position of the sun above the horizon.
People are conditioned to follow such external arrangements. Because of
that, they really feel a need for a break around noontime. However, in
the positive state, no such considerations are possible. Everyone has
his/her own individual time. My noontime can be for someone his/her
morning time, or afternoon time, or dusk (no night exists there). On the
other hand, it is possible to have the same time for several people. But,
this is not because it is imposed on them, but because they happen to be
in the same type of cycle.
The same is true regarding all leisure activities and the time and type
of play, fun, humor, laughter, entertainment and recreation that
everyone needs at one time or another.
5. Leisure activities and sleep life can be considered another form
through which individuality and the unique creative effort of everyone
can be manifested and shared with everyone. The inventiveness and
innovation of all types of new and different activities related to leisure
life is a rehearsal and preparation for all other activities.
After all, once unique individuality appears, it is shared differently
from the position of different activities. The way I am active in my
leisure time or during sleep is not the same as in any other time. In this
respect, therefore, leisure life and sleep life can be considered a means by
which some entirely different aspects of my unique individuality are
triggered, manifested and shared. No other activity, from any other level
of my life, can or may trigger that element or aspect to be exhibited,
displaced and shared with others. Thus, if we were to be deprived of
leisure and sleep life, we would be deprived of the ability to manifest our
individuality and its unique aspect which can only be triggered through
such specific activities.
This is the higher, spiritual purpose for which leisure life and sleep
life were established by the Most High.
6. An even higher spiritual purpose of leisure and sleep life than the
above is in the opportunity which they provide for acquirement of better
knowledge and understanding of the true nature of the Most High,
others, and ourselves.
As mentioned many times before, the Most High is present in all
activities. After all, all activities derive from the Most High. Therefore,
the more types of activities we are able to be engaged in, the more
aspects of the true Most High’s nature, others and ourselves there are
available to us for experience and sharing. Each activity manifests a
different aspect of the Most High’s nature. The nature of the Most High
during our leisure and sleep life is manifested in an entirely different
manner than during any other activity. This different manner is not
available in any other activity. For that reason, as well as for many
others, the Most High initiated leisure life and sleep life and by that act
constantly enhances and enriches our life forevermore. If we are enabled
to know the Most High better, it gives us a better knowledge about
ourselves and others where the Most High is ever present. Such is the
deep, mystical and spiritual meaning of any kind of activity.
7. The spirit, soul and body of people were originally created by the
Most High from the elements of the Most High’s Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom. The Divine Love shares all it has with others. In such a sharing
is great delight and pleasure. The Divine Wisdom balances and
moderates that sharing in such a manner as to avoid overflooding or
undersupplying people with the delights and pleasures of God’s Infinite
Love. The true source of leisure life and sleep life, as well as all else, can
be found in this principle of moderation. Too much of anything at the
expense of something less than its share leads to undesirable satiation
and subsequent unhappiness. Such an outcome is contrary to the nature
of Divine Love. It desires and gives only delights and pleasures. After all,
life would be undesirable and burdensom if it were not a delight and
pleasure. But to have only one and the same kind of pleasure and delight
would end up in just the opposite — ultimately, no delight and no
pleasure. Such is the nature of relative beings.
Therefore, the Most High provides people with various levels, forms,
contents and means of activities which are capable of sustaining the
pleasure and delight of life in the positive state. By this means, life in
people could be maintained without any danger of deadly satiation.
One of the means to sustain a variety of pleasures and delights of life
is leisure life and sleep life. In them a new form of experience, impression
and expression of delights and pleasures of life is found which could be
subsequently shared with everyone. After all, we have to remember that
life was created by the Most High for delights and pleasures because
such is the nature of His/Her Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. This
nature cannot create anything or anyone else but recipients, sensors,
impressors and expressors of delights and pleasures.
Being unique, intelligent beings, we incorporate different elements of
these pleasures and delights. By constant provision of sharing, through
the numerous activities, we can participate in infinite pleasures and
delights experienced by and manifested in others.
From this consideration, it is obvious that sharing in itself is the
greatest delight and pleasure of Creation. To share the quality and the
content of our leisure and sleep time contributes to the delight and
pleasure of everyone.
8. Our sleep life is a different form of activity during which the most
intimate sharing occurs between us and the Most High. Much happens
during our sleep and dreaming, of which we are not consciously aware.
The intensity of that sharing has absolute proportions. Because of these
absolute proportions it doesn’t come through into our limited external
conscious mind. Only the result of it becomes obvious during our next
day activities. We become more productive, more effective, more creative,
more loving, more wise, more inventive, more knowledgeable; we make
better love and we feel and function better in all respects.
This function of sleep is the most mysterious and mystical spiritual
function. It gives us access to the Most High in a degree and depth which
cannot be available to any other source. What the Most High does during
our sleep no one can know for sure because it is related to His/Her
Absolute State. By actualizing, realizing, and manifesting the results
and consequences of that intimate relationship, we may come closer and
closer toward grasping the Absolute Nature of the Most High and to
what it is that the Most High does during our sleep life.
9. Of course, the situation on this planet and in all regions of the Zone
of Displacement is entirely different. The original meaning and purpose
of leisure life and sleep life was distorted. The major step which was
accomplished by the negative state was to eliminate any, or make it very
insignificant, connectedness of our leisure life and sleep life to the
spiritual source, to our true spirit and our true mentality. The
externalization, materialization, uniformity and conformity of leisure
and sleep life occurred. All true pleasures and delights were eliminated
and replaced with pseudo-pleasures and pseudo-delights that lead us
into all kinds of problems and troubles. Gluttony, over-eating,
over-drinking, desires for sensual pleasures, drug usage, alcohol
consumption, perverted sexual pleasures, one-sided sport activities,
sensual entertainment and similar activities came to their fruition. The
practice of this kind of one-sided pleasures and delight, totally
disconnected from anything spiritual and truly living, causes a gradual
wearing down and destruction of all our faculties. We work not for the
purpose of being useful, beneficial, productive, creative, inventive and for
the benefit of all, but for the purpose of having proper means to have
more delights and more pleasures and to have more availability of
leisure activities. Or we avoid all miseries of life taking sleep drugs or
alcohol and spend our time in restless, counterproductive and
debilitating sleep.
Thus, leisure life and sleep life became the purpose and goal of our
life to which all else serves and not a means which serves everything
else. This is the upside-down position. This is one of the major signs of
the negative state. This is what happens when all or most true spiritual
considerations are taken from our earthly life. We end up with nothing
but problems, troubles, hassles, crises, breakdowns, shortcomings,
accidents, illnesses, depressions, loathsomeness, anxieties, fears, chronic
tiredness, neuroses, psychoses, insomnia and all other similar atrocities
and abominations of the negative state.
In order to rectify this situation and find a proper understanding of
our leisure and sleep life, as a part of our overall earthly life, we are
advised to practice the following exercises.
EXERCISES REGARDING OUR LEISURE LIFE AND SLEEP LIFE
1. Go through all steps and everything that was prescribed in the
previous chapters. When you are finished, carefully analyze the mode,
the quality and content of your leisure life and sleep life. What does your
leisure life consist of? How is your sleep life?
2. Ask the Most High to help you discover all problems, shortcomings
and inadequacies of your leisure life and sleep life. Request Him/Her to
show you if you have enough or too much sleep; if you spend too little or
too much time on your leisure activities (whatever they might be).
Explore whether such things as your food and drink have become
destructive substitutes for love and wisdom and thus for real pleasures
and delights and for real utilization and actualization of your leisure life
and sleep life.
3. Once all problems, shortcomings and inadequacies of your leisure
life and sleep life are revealed to you and they became very clear, request
the Most High to help you to get rid of them. Utilize the brilliantly white
light for purification and cleansing of your spirit, soul, mind, body and
everything from all of them.
4. Meditate on the content of this chapter and its nine points and ask
the Most High to help you to understand them and, if they are correct, to
apply them in your own life.
5. Request the Most High to introduce you to your new Spiritual
Advisor who will represent and who will be in charge of your leisure and
sleep life. Discuss with your new leisure-and-sleep-life Spiritual Advisor
the true meaning of your leisure life and sleep life and what it means for
you.
6. Ask the Most High to reconnect your leisure life and sleep life to its
true and genuine spiritual and mental source and particularly to
Himself/Herself, and to enable you to derive everything in your life from
this new position, that is, from the Most High.
7. Ask the Most High and your new leisure-and-sleep-life Spiritual
Advisor to help you to establish the type of leisure and sleep life which
truly adheres to all spiritual principles and which will be harmonious
with the true life and its understanding, meaning and fulfillment. Ask
them to help you to get rid of all and any bad habits, wrong cravings and
inappropriate desires for the wrong type of pleasures and delights.
8. Ask them to vividly illustrate to you on your spiritual mountaintop
what proper, godly, spiritual, mental, emotional, intellectual, sexual and
all other leisure life and sleep life activities should be like. Let them be
incorporated properly into your every day earthly life. Ask them to show
you what the proper meaning, understanding and fulfillment of leisure
life and sleeping life on this Earth is.
9. When you are finished, ask if there is anything else. Thank them
all for everything that you learned, accomplished, and experienced.
Commit yourself to start to live your leisure life and sleep life in
accordance with the principles you learned during these exercises. Follow
all proper and good advice if corroborated by your inner intuition.
Commit yourself to this or similar types of exercises on an everyday
basis. Then finish your exercises and return to your regular activities
feeling refreshed, alert, clear-headed and happy.
Make sure to always bring in many varieties, innovations, and
novelties into your exercises. Never allow them to become routinized,
habituated, externalized, automated or ritualized.
Now, if we do these or similar types of exercises faithfully, on a daily
basis, we shall be able to acquire a proper understanding and meaning of
our earthly life and how it should be fulfilled in all its aspects.
Source: UNDERSTANDING AND FULFILLMENT OF OUR EARTHLY LIFE
