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MESSAGE TWENTY-FOUR
ON THE SPIRITUAL REQUIREMENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE AND LIVING
April 24, 1982
The following messages have been received today from the Most High.
The majority of people have a faulty impression and belief that it is
very difficult, or, in fact, impossible, for one to live a truly spiritual life.
Very often they consider such a life to be boring, flat, dull, void of
emotion, feeling and joy, restricted and unfree.
Yet, in reality, just the opposite is true. To live a truly spiritual life is
the easiest, most normal and natural thing to do. Any other style of life
is, in fact, very difficult, strenuous, worrisome, bothersome, pressured
and tense, leading to continuous struggle and preoccupation with
everyday survival and with making ends meet.
Many people forgot entirely a very important principle of life which
was restated and reformulated by Jesus Christ during His physical
presence on Earth. It says that one should seek first the kingdom of God
and that all else will be added to it.
This statement signifies that the most important thing in life is
spirituality and its principles; if one considers them to be truly most
important in one’s life, then the natural, easy and inherent outcome and
consequence of such a consideration and application is that all else in life
will be taken care of, will be provided for in the right and proper time
when and if needed, and will be available to anyone for use in the most
appropriate and comfortable manner.
Now, this is the basic spiritual law of life. Unfortunately the majority
of people still disregard this fact and spend most of their lives wasting
their energies on continuous preoccupation with external conditions of
life, giving little, if any, consideration to internal-spiritual factors. Thus,
they end up never having enough of anything, and never achieving any
sense of stability, certainty, security and safety. This gives them no
choice but to worry constantly about what may happen in the future.
If one disregards and refutes the true source of any certainty, safety
and security — spirituality, they can never be acquired, stabilized, or
experienced in one’s life. Therefore one will spend most of one’s life in a
futile endeavor to find security, safety, certainty and happiness with the
false hope that, perhaps, fortune may soon turn its face on one.
What a difficult life this is to live! The majority of people consider
such a life normal and natural! There is nothing normal and natural in
such a life. This kind of life can be considered artificial, untrue,
abnormal, unnatural and imposed by the negative state prevailing on
Earth which people consider to be a necessary and vital occurrence of life
in general and human life in particular. Nothing is farther from the real
truth.
In order to demonstrate how people trap themselves in the
perpetuation of such a miserable style of life, it would be useful to
consider the following points.
1. There is a certain spiritual requirement of everyday life which can
be called a balancing factor of one’s life. The majority of people are in
continuous violation of this balancing factor. If one were to care enough
to analyze the activities of one’s everyday life, one would realize that
one’s life is one-sided or lop-sided. Most of the time during the day one
thinks, wills, feels, speaks, etc., about things which have little, if any
spiritual value in themselves. People talk about the weather, sports,
jewelry, shopping, houses, cars, television and movie programs,
meetings, work, gossip, etc., without any regard or time for exploration of
spiritual principles or, at least, acknowledgement that such activities are
possible only because spiritual principles are at work. Now, let one
honestly examine oneself and find out how many seconds or minutes a
day one thinks, considers or acknowledges such spiritual facts.
What do people talk about when they get together? How much time
do they usually devote in their conversation and meetings for the
exchange of spiritual thoughts, values, etc., for consideration of the
meaning of life, the purpose of one’s everyday striving, the establishment
of internal spiritual factors of everyday life, etc.? Very little, if any at all.
Because of this, the balancing principle of one’s life is totally
destroyed and one ultimately suffers in various ways and modes.
The problem is that people place all their values and meaning of life
on such external considerations with little, if any, regard for their
spiritual origination or existence.
True spiritual life and living requires that the balancing factor of
everyday living be respected and applied. This means that a certain
amount of time in everyday life be devoted to spiritual considerations, to
acknowledgement of the spiritual origination of everything in externals
and to the improvement of one’s spiritual views and position in regard to
one’s Creator, oneself, others, life and all Creation in general. Then and
only then can one also find the true meaning in all externals of
spirituality such as material, worldly, earthly, corporeal, sensory and
similar matters of everyday life. The balancing factor requires that one
pay equal attention to all aspects of one’s life — spiritual, mental,
physical, material, environmental, social, etc., preferably in that order.
Disregard for spiritual consideration and exaggeration of and
preoccupation with external factors of life lead to pathology, abnormality,
misery, unhappiness, one-sidedness, dullness, stupidity and futility. In
order to justify their exaggerated strivings and endeavors for material,
worldly, earthly, sensorial and similar matters, people consider these the
most important factors for happiness and fulfillment of life, and usually
ascribe the lack of such qualities in one’s life to not having enough time
and means for their acquirement.
If one wants to be a truly spiritual person, one is advised to balance
one’s everyday life by devoting equal time to all factors of life — spiritual,
mental, material, physical, etc. In doing so, one affirms and applies the
true spiritual principles in one’s life.
2. The second spiritual requirement of everyday life is defined by
establishing a hierarchy of priorities of things and concepts in everyday
life. Which are the most important things having top priority; which are
less important; and which are the least important things having the least
priority in one’s life? The majority of people unfortunately give top
priority to things and concepts which are least important from the
standpoint of a truly spiritual life.
People, for example, give top priority to such things as being
materially rich; having a better house or a better car; having a more
prestigious position; being recognized and accepted in the community, at
work, or in school; being famous and powerful, etc. Many people want to
excel in their work or studies or in whatever they do so that other people
will talk about them, admire them and praise them; or they wish to
please others. Little, if any, spiritual consideration is given for such
activities and strivings. Such a perverted and inverted hierarchy of
priorities in life result in numerous problems, miseries, losses, illnesses,
disappointments, incidents, accidents and many other miseries, the list
of which can be endless.
One can state here with certainty that one of the major sources of
human suffering on Earth in general is the perverted and inverted
hierarchy of priorities people have in their everyday lives. Everything is
upside down. Priorities belonging at the top of the list are at or near the
bottom or, at worst, are left out entirely. Priorities which belong at or
near the bottom of the list are placed at the top.
Once again, to be truly spiritual and, thus to be truly happy and
productive, one is advised to reformulate and reconsider one’s hierarchy
of priorities in one’s everyday living and to place spirituality and its
principles at the top of one’s list. By doing so, one aligns all things in a
natural, normal and healthy formation which results in abundance,
success and useful accomplishments in all one’s endeavors.
Unfortunately, the present condition of people on Earth in this
respect is such that only approximately fifteen percent of the entire
population of Earth places spirituality and its principles at the top of
their priorities. Because of this condition, life on Earth is barely
surviving.
3. The third spiritual requirement of everyday living is in
establishing preferences of interests that one has in one’s life. What kind
of interests dominate one’s life? Not many people devote their lives to the
development of interests in spiritual issues, the meaning of life,
improvement of the spiritual condition of life and similar issues. The
majority of people establish, pursue and nurse their interests in
outwardly, worldly, earthly, material, external and sensorial matters.
They are preoccupied with such matters and allow them to saturate,
dominate and penetrate their lives to the point that whatever they do,
feel, think, desire, want, will and intend is only with regard to such
external interests. All else is considered less important or not important
at all. Yet, one is basically what one’s interests are. They make one what
one is.
It is proper and right to have many interests in life, but in proper
proportion and in a hierarchy with one major interest above all which
determines all else in life — an interest in the purpose, meaning and goal
of one’s life and in how to go about fulfilling one’s purpose of life in the
best possible, most useful, productive, creative, constructive and fruitful
manner so that mutual benefit and sharing can result. Whatever other
interests one might have, they must serve this overall interest of
spirituality.
Therefore, in order to be a truly spiritual person, one is advised to
exercise in acquiring, establishing, nursing and developing such an
interest, making it the most preferred interest of all. The result of such
an endeavor is the automatic establishment of many other side interests
which will provide possibilities of the enhancement and enrichment of
one’s spirituality and happiness in life.
4. The fourth spiritual requirement of everyday life is the
establishment of appropriate motivating factors for inclusion of spiritual
types of activities in one’s life. What are the true motivating factors of
such activities and what constitutes true spiritual activities?
The majority of people on Earth have very inappropriate motivation
for establishing and engaging in such activities. First of all they consider,
for example, verbal prayers, going to church, reading the Bible, etc., to be
true spiritual activities in themselves. Secondly, they engage in such
activities in most instances for wrong reasons and with inappropriate
motivation. These activities are established and performed usually
because of feelings of guilt, fear of punishment, fear of illness, fear of
misfortune, fear of death and many other modes of fear, guilt and shame,
or for some other ulterior motivation.
Such activities, engaged in with such motivation, have nothing truly
spiritual in themselves. They are in no way true constituents of
spirituality.
In order to be a truly spiritual person, one is advised to practice
spirituality by one’s inner acceptance of the fact that one’s entire style of
life and all its activities are the result of spiritual principles at work, and
whatever one does is from freedom and independency, by one’s free
choice, with love and wisdom, with intelligence and logic, with feelings
and intuition, because it is a proper and right thing to do for the
principle in itself, without any other consideration or motivation.
5. The fifth, spiritual requirement of everyday life can be found by
establishing proper connections and bridges between externals and
internals of spirituality.
The majority of people of Earth at the present time externalize
spirituality and in so doing, they destroy all bridges and connections to
its internal essence and substance. In this instance, spirituality is
considered to be an external performance of certain established,
unchangeable rituals, rules, ceremonies, outward behaviors, restrictions,
taboos and limitations by which everyone is expected to abide. By
following such external acts, one is led and leads oneself to believe that
one is in true spirituality. One is forced and forces oneself to be
preoccupied with maintaining certain standards and sequences of such
acts and performances without looking inward for their representative
meaning and corresponding spiritual factors.
In reality, however, nothing truly spiritual exists in such activities in
themselves. In fact, in many instances, they keep people away from
discovering true spirituality by turning them away from their internals
or their Inner Mind where the Most High resides. Thus, in fact, they lead
one away from the Most High.
In order to be a truly spiritual person and to live a truly spiritual life,
one is advised to turn inward, to one’s Inner Mind, and to seek there
communication with and advice from the Most High Who is everpresent
in everyone’s Inner Mind. By such an act one establishes a permanent
bridge between spirituality and everyday external life so that all factors
of spirituality are unified, harmonized and function in the oneness of
their totality. One must remember that there are no unimportant things
which one should not bring for consideration to the Lord in one’s Inner
Mind. The external factors of spiritual activities may serve, if one
desires, as a means and reminder to turn to one’s internals or as tools for
contacting one’s Inner Mind and the Lord. No other meaning should ever
be placed in such external performances and acts.
6. The sixth spiritual requirement of everyday life is to carefully avoid
any possible habituation to expected modes and ways of living and
practicing spirituality. There is nothing more damaging to life and
spirituality than such a habituation.
The problem is that the majority of people have a tendency to
establish a certain style of life, a certain way and mode of living and
practicing spirituality, and to cling rigidly to it without a desire or need
to change. This is a dangerous situation because one starts to do things
by habit, as an automaton, without any thinking, feeling, willing or
considering the content of such activities and performances. Such
habituation leads to complete devastation of any spiritual sense in one’s
life and in one’s activities regardless of what they may be.
The true spiritual principle of life states that the essence and
substance of spirituality, its very life, is in continuous flow, change,
progression, growth, betterment and transcendence of previous states,
conditions and processes.
How can one grow or progress if one locks oneself in one’s habit to
think, to will, to feel, to act, to behave, to perform, to relate, etc., in one
certain way and mode, excluding anything different or new?
The tragedy of human systems and present mankind is that such
habituation is perpetuated.
Now, in order to be a truly spiritual person, one is advised to
frequently examine oneself, search oneself out, seek out in one’s Inner
Mind from the Lord the most progressive modes and ways of living,
functioning and performing, with strong self-suggestions of not allowing
oneself to become trapped in the illusive and deceitful comfort of a
habituated life style, avoiding new perspectives for continuous spiritual
progression.
7. The seventh spiritual requirement of everyday life is in careful
avoidance of relying upon views, opinions, expectations and attitudes of
others.
The majority of people have the tendency to build their lives and
establish their style of living in accordance with views, opinions,
expectations and attitudes of others. Spiritually this is a dangerous
attitude and tendency because it habituates one to rely on externals, on
an “outward”, where no reliability exists. Instead of relying on their
internals, their Inner Mind and the Most High Who is always present in
their Inner Mind, ready to answer any question and establish any
reliable style of a truly spiritual and happy life, people tend to shut off
their own source of true life and to seek out rules for the establishment of
a lifestyle in externals where there are no rules discernible or obtainable.
Thus, they live in continuous deception and self-deception. One of the
many sources of chaos and confusion in people’s lives stems from the
violation of this rule of the spiritual requirement of everyday life.
In order to live a truly spiritual life, one is advised to always check,
verify, explore and establish in one’s Inner Mind with the Lord the
validity, reliability, usability, suitability and applicability of any such
views, opinions, expectations and attitudes of others. One always
inquires and searches in one’s Inner Mind with the Lord for the best
possible modes and ways of living in accordance with the unique
spiritual, mental, emotional, volitional, intellectual, physical,
environmental and material structure and the dynamics of one’s entire
mind and personality. In such an endeavor is true wisdom, maturity,
happiness and the presence of the Most High which constitute
spirituality in everyday life.
8. The eighth spiritual requirement of everyday life is careful
avoidance of conformity to established and expected standards and
stereotypes of life. The majority of people have a tendency to conform to
what is expected, dictated, prescribed and demanded by the externals of
everyday life.
The spiritual danger of this situation can be detected in the necessity
to suppress, repress, forget, give up or even eliminate certain vitally
important characteristics of one’s unique needs, tendencies, traits,
patterns and features which constitute the true content of one’s essence
and substance. Denying oneself the opportunity to be oneself in a unique
way and manner, in order to conform to outward standards and
stereotypes of expectations and uniformity, frequently leads to very
serious spiritual, mental, emotional, intellectual, sexual and physical
disorders and all kinds of problems, the list of which can be endless.
This is one of the sources of people’s spiritual impoverishment and
doom which leads one to live a life of dullness, counterproductivity,
superficiality and emptiness. Such a life is no life at all, but spiritual
death.
In order to avoid such a pseudo-life and to establish a true life of
spiritual living one is advised to exercise and practice recognizing the
establishment and actualization of the Lord in one’s Inner Mind, and
living one’s unique and unrepeatable patterns of life, without trying to
please anyone or anything and without feeling a need to conform to
anyone’s expectations and stereotypes. One is advised to realize that one
is not here on Earth to be like someone or something else, but one is here
to be oneself. Only in being oneself can one fulfill properly one’s purpose
on Earth. In trying to be like someone else and in trying to please
someone else by denying one’s own uniqueness, one is violating all
spiritual principles of life and robbing oneself of all opportunities to be
truly happy, joyous, satisfied, delighted, pleased, useful, etc., to oneself,
to the Lord, to others, to life and to all Creation.
In the process of formulating these spiritual requirements of everyday
life, it is not implied that one should stop pursuing any positive external
activities or devoting time to their consideration and actualization.
The spiritual principles of living are violated only if such activities
and considerations become a sole purpose, goal and striving of one’s life.
To be a true spiritual person and to live a truly spiritual life, one is
advised to engage in such external activities and considerations with the
recognition, acceptance and realization of the important spiritual fact
that they are not the most important activities in one’s life; they are not
the only purpose of life, nor are they the only source of one’s happiness,
content and satisfaction. They are merely tools, means, expressions,
representations and correspondences of the spiritual state of affairs in
one’s internals, in the Inner Mind from the everpresence in it of the Most
High. It is one’s duty, right, obligation, responsibility and purpose of
one’s life to establish the spiritual principles which govern, rule and are
manifested in all activities and considerations and to determine how to
utilize them in the most effective, productive, constructive, creative and
useful manner so that mutual benefit, common good, happiness and
satisfaction can ensue from them to the Lord, others, oneself, life and all
Creation. One must ensure that no ulterior motivation and/or negative
intentions are behind such an effort. To establish this is possible only by
turning oneself to the Lord in one’s Inner Mind and consulting one’s
Inner Mind and the Lord about all matters of life. No other way truly
exists. In doing so and in such a manner, one becomes a truly spiritual
person.
This is what true spiritual life is all about.
This is the end of today’s message.
Source: MESSAGE FROM WITHIN
