VERY IMPORTANT INTRODUCTION

Undertaking the task of exploring and writing about fundamentals of human spirituality based solely on oneÊs own speculations, surmises and references to others is a futile, unproductive and, in fact, impossible venture.

There are several reasons why this is so:

1. Spirituality, in general, can be considered an endowment from the Most High. As such it can be interpreted, explained and defined only by One who originated it.

2. Human nature is severely limited in comprehension as far as spirituality is concerned. It is in the natural condition or state. Naturalness of its state has only temporary value. Being that humans are in the natural state, they must define everything from that state. However, spirituality does not originate in the natural state and, therefore, cannot be understood or explained solely on that basis. One must transcend the natural state in order to approximate truth about spirituality.

3. People have the tendency, by their very nature, to accommodate everything to their own level of understanding. Since this understanding is, in most instances, based on everyday survival needs in the natural world, they subsume everything to this purpose. Thus, they are motivated by everyday occurrences in the life of mankind in general and by occurrences in their personal lives in particular. To understand spirituality, one must transcend this kind of understanding and recognize the fact that any occurrence, either in general or in particular, has its true origination in the spiritual state of affairs in the first place, and not in occurrences themselves.

4. Since human beings in their natural state are limited by their temporary values, they tend to base their explanation and comprehension of any phenomena on these temporary values. Therefore, their explanation and comprehension of spirituality is also based on these temporary values. Because spirituality in its essence and substance transcends anything with temporary values, it cannot be fully understood from such values. Thus, any understanding based on such a condition is a distortion.

5. Since the language of human beings derives its categories, concepts and ideas from things and thoughts primarily concerned with the temporality of the natural world, it would be difficult to find expression adequate to bring to the fullest comprehension of the human mind the true reality of spirituality. Therefore, whatever is said in human terms can only approximate what spirituality really is since, regardless of what is said about spirituality, it will always transcend the said words and their contents.

6. Since human beings are, for some reason or another, trapped in the natural world, which proceeds to exist in a spatial, temporal continuum, they are limited in their concepts and understanding by their relativistic condition. Therefore, they are not able in this condition to fully comprehend any Absolute Values. In the natural condition they are only capable of approximating the truth. Because spirituality transcends, in all respects, relativistic concepts of the human natural condition, it can only be approximated by humans. Hence, this is another source of many distortions.

7. Since human beings are aware of their temporal state of existence in the natural world, they tend to cling to this world and preserve, by all means, the status quo of their existence. This, of course, leads them toward building and accumulating all kinds of conventions and traditions, cultures and social modes which will insure their relative immortality through the history of mankind. Since these conventions, traditions and cultures are built on assumptions and foundations of the temporality of human values but, at the same time, paradoxically, they are for the purpose of the preservation of the relative immortality of mankind, they lead to the stagnation of all values. The paradox of this situation is in assuming that it is possible to achieve continuation of existence through reservation of traditions and conventions. Because all mentions and traditions are based on relativistic values of the temporality of human existence in the natural world, they subsequently become a trap for mankind which brings, instead immortality, total doom. The very nature of traditions and conventions blocks any proper comprehension of spirituality, for spirituality transcends them in all respects. Therefore, for proper understanding of the true nature of spirituality, one must completely and totally disregard any traditions and conventions in existence from the past to the present and into the future. Only by transcending traditions can one come closer to approximation of true spirituality.

From these conclusions one would naturally end in a pessimistic stance which would claim that it is utterly impossible for humans to understand their true spirituality. Therefore, one can seriously question the fruitfulness and usefulness of a discourse about human spirituality which would have full validity. This is all very true only when one undertakes such a task on his own, from his own subjective projections, personal predispositions and references to others. It is a different story if there is a direct revelation, inspiration and illumination by the Most High, who approaches the issue from the standpoint of current spiritual needs of all mankind. At the present time there exists a special spiritual condition and state which requires such a revelation in order that mankind maybe given a chance for better approximation of the Absolute Truth about spirituality. The Most High chooses the most opportune time, the most appropriate person or persons, and the most appropriate means, from His standpoint, to assist Him in transmitting such a revelation. In cases like this one does not question the Most High's procedures but accepts them as an assignment and purpose of one's life on earth in order to be a vessel or vehicle through which the transmission of a revelation is actualized and becomes a possibility.

This book may be considered, therefore, a result of such a direct revelation, inspiration and enlightenment by the Most High. The way it was acquired is, of course, untraditional and unconventional and it will be difficult to accept for those who base their judgment on traditional and conventional approach. There is a demand, a command in the traditional and conventional approach that revelation comes only in certain ways, only by certain means, only through certain types of people, and only in a certain specific language. Because people usually do not know how a revelation should be transmitted, they falsely conclude that the only way it can come is in a traditional manner and language such as through prophets in the Bible, or Jesus Christ in the New Testament, using special, very often obscure symbolism and poetic language, archaic forms, etc. Anything written and transmitted differently cannot be accepted because it does not fit the expected standards by which humans tend to project and dictate to the Most High. Fortunately, the Most High does not go by human standards. Every time, every condition, every situation in the history of mankind requires its specific and different approach congruent to the needs, specificity and requirements of that time and situation. One cannot generalize from them and dictate values, laws and conditions under which such revelations may occur. It would be closing the door, projecting one's own limitation onto the Most High.

Throughout the history of mankind there were many claims of direct revelations from the Most High. Some were legitimate; some were not. The true revelation is always timely and adapted to the spiritual needs, conditions and language of that specific time. To expect that the Most High would always use the same mode, the same style and the same language every time He transmits His revelation would be, in fact, to assume that He is not capable of creating anything new or of learning the language of the people to whom He speaks.

For people who wallow in traditions and conventions and who nostalgically project their own subjective desires into the historical, poetic and symbolic style of expression, anything new would be either banal or not worthy of the Most High. People such as this very often become subjects or vessels for transmissions of messages or pseudo-revelations by entities from absolute elsewhere who are in the same nostalgic affection. From these result numerous productions of „revelations" in an ancient style, such as Biblical style, some archaic language or in poetic form to give verity to revealed thought. The problem is that if one limits oneself by one's desire to have a revelation in traditional form and bases the verity of that revelation on the desired form, one will be deceived into believing that such revelation is from the Most High only because it came in that particular form. But people forget one important thing in regard to this kind of revelation: it is only an imitation of the true revelation. They don't want to realize that the Most High always creates new things and doesnÊt repeat Himself in style or method of revelation or anything else. The Most High always takes into consideration what is the best for mankind from the current state of affairs, with current modern means most suitable to the current condition of mankind. Imitation, nostalgia, expectations, and so on stem from the need to preserve traditions and conventions and to maintain status quo. Anything new is threatening because it forces change. And this is one thing mankind does not want - change. Therefore, the demand to the Most High is not to change anything.

There were times in the history of mankind when it was necessary to use the language of symbolism, correspondences, and a style which would be obscure for many. The spiritual condition of mankind in those days was such that people required such style and methodology. Nothing else at that time was feasible. But as time proceeds, different conditions, different states and different situations occur which require different approaches, different styles and different methodologies congruent with the spirituality of each particular condition.

The spiritual history of mankind always proceeds in steps which are like building blocks of spirituality. Each step becomes a base, a foundation on which a next higher step is built. Each step in the history of mankind can be equated to a local (as opposed to the Universal) cycle of time which is needed to build that step and to exhaust its usefulness completely. Each step, due to its own spirituality, requires specific understanding, specific style, specific methodology and its own specific revelation. The Most High obviously accommodates His revelation to each step as necessary. The reason that everything proceeds in steps in the spiritual development of mankind is because people cannot conceive, due to their natural condition, the Absolute Truth. As mentioned above, they can only approximate the Absolute Truth. The true nature of the Absolute Truth is that it is dynamic. It doesnÊt stagnate, it never is, but it is always becoming. Therefore, the truth must be revealed in steps. Once that step and its specific truth fulfills its purpose, once the lesson is learned and the usefulness of its existence is exhausted, it is then discarded to be used as a stepping stone for building a next step and the truth relevant to that new step. It is extremely important to realize this revelation about building steps and the dynamic nature of the truth, or all meaning of the purpose of this book and everything else related to spirituality will be lost entirely. The error of mankind is in perceiving any revelation as having an Absolute Value. Invariably the conclusion is made that if a revelation comes from the Absolute Being it is, consequently, Absolute, forgetting one important fact: the revelation is given to non-absolute beings. Any revelation of Absolute Nature to a non-absolute being would make no sense, could not be comprehended and, therefore, could not be accepted. This would ultimately lead to mankind's extinction. Since people conclude that revelation has Absolute Value, they tend to cling rigidly to the old revelation without perceiving that, since that time, the Most High has created new steps, new conditions and new spiritual realities which transcend all previous ones. Of course, with this kind of attitude people make themselves incapable of receiving anything new and they stagnate, thereby suffocating their own spiritual life.

The true reality, in this respect, is that the Most High accommodates Himself to the non-absolute beings' level of comprehension and abilities of progression and reveals to them the approximation of the truth to the Absolute Truth in steps as they proceed in their spiritual development.

From this important rule one must conclude that whatever has been revealed so far in the history of mankind was relevant only within and for each particular step, and must be considered as a base on which the next step is built. Therefore, the importance of any revelation is valid only within that particular step. As progression proceeds, at one point it becomes obsolete and a new revelation is necessary for the next step. The new revelation retains the basic grains of truth which each revelation has and discards everything else as of no use. For that reason it is not surprising that in many instances, the newly revealed truth seemingly contradicts old truth or the previous step. If one considers each revelation as having an Absolute Value the contradiction is obvious: two contradictory Absolute Truths are impossible. But if one considers them in the light of steps in spiritual progression, then contradiction is only relative or seeming. From this the danger of clinging rigidly to one step and building on old traditions and conventions is very obvious.

For this reason it must be emphasized again and again that in order to understand what follows in this book, one must completely and totally disregard any conventional and traditional thinking.

It is also necessary to continuously warn everyone who reads this book that this is a direct revelation of the Most High for the next step in mankind's spiritual development for which mankind is now ready. Therefore, it has to be considered in the light of that step. It is a very important step, as was each previous step; but, nevertheless, it is only a step. It would be a tragedy if it were perceived, conceived and understood in an absolute sense. It would be a repetition of similar mistakes as in the past: one of the many purposes of this revelation is to warn against such mistakes. For this reason it must be remembered that once this revelation serves its purpose and the new step is completed, another transcending step will come into existence built on the last new step. Therefore, whatever is inappropriate from the standpoint of a transcending step to the present one will be discarded. The importance of this step lies in the fact that the next step cannot be built without this one, as this one could not be built without the previous one. However, the next step will transcend whatever is revealed in this particular step as this step transcends all previous ones. Unless this rule is continuously kept in mind and everything that proceeds is considered in this light, its true meaning, purpose and effect will be completely lost. It would be a waste of one's time. This is the reason why this introduction is so important.

As mentioned above, in the process of the known history of mankind there were several revelations from the Most High: many of them are recorded in books such as the Bible, Bhagavad-Gita, Vedas, Tibetan Book of Dead, Upanishad, Koran and some others. They were revelations congruent to their time, needs, place, differences of spiritual awareness, and their particular steps. They all contained grains of Universal Truths. But those truths are now buried in conventional and traditional interpretations and claims of exclusivity and absoluteness of individual understanding of the nature of that revelation. For example, Christians are reluctant to accept any revelation which comes after the Revelation of St. John because of the completely misunderstood statement of St. John made at the conclusion of his book in chapter 22, verses 18 and 19, „I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." From this statement many Christians wrongly concluded that it was the last revelation after which nothing ever would come; if anyone after that claimed that he received a revelation it would be adding to the prophecy of St. John, thus, it would mean that it could not be a true revelation. This, in turn, leads them to believe that the New Testament revelations are the only ones with validity because they only have eternal and Absolute Validity. This conclusion tragically led Christians and their churches to the Dark Ages, which refuted any attempt to bring anything new to the concept of Christianity and spirituality and thus prevented, for many centuries, any direct revelation of the Universal Nature from the Most High. The situation is, of course, not better in different spiritual systems because they also thwart any further spiritual development by clinging to their own traditional and conventional approach. This completely undermines acceptance of anything new which contradicts their conventional and traditional thinking.

However, in order to preserve some kind of spiritual awareness in mankind, the Most High maintained, through external means of worship and traditions, some concepts of true spirituality among certain individuals so that the life of mankind could be preserved and further steps could be built in Earth's cycle of time. Unfortunately, those individuals were usually condemned, ostracized, persecuted or considered heretics or insane. Despite this, that internal tendency for progression and building of the new steps in human spiritual awareness always flourished and found fruition. After centuries passed following the Revelation of St John, mankind, thanks to the effort of these individuals, became ready for the next important step which was to transcend the Dark Ages of traditions and conventions and prepare mankind for a return to the true, undistorted and, thus, unconventional and untraditional spirituality. This revelation, which can be called a transitional step from the old, dark, traditional and conventional thought to the thought of the new spiritual age which is to come with the following step, was transmitted through Emanuel Swedenborg.

Unfortunately, the value of Swedenborg and the revelation of the Most High which came through Swedenborg is misunderstood and not widely known for certain reasons. The problem was that it is not perceived for what it is; that is, as a vitally important transition from one long, dark, traditional, conventional step, which comprised a whole cycle of time, to the new era of mankind which is about to begin. The very nature of transition requires retention of some traditional and conventional concepts so that the previous step is not completely devastated. Because of the unusual darkness, endurance, degree of spiritual perversions and distortions, and rigidity of the previous step in the history of mankind, it was not possible to build directly on the next step but, instead, a transitional period was initiated by the Most High. This period was to prepare mankind for what was to come without danger of complete spiritual destruction and devastation of mankind. The problem is that if the full extent of the truth of the next step had been available to mankind and to Swedenborg, they would not have been able to receive it. They would have completely rejected it and thus, would have prevented the occurrence of the next step. Since it is vital for mankind that the next step occurs, it was necessary to start with a transitional period which would contain some new truths, and retain some old, conventional and traditional thinking and some distorted views which would be pertinent to the next step. Without this effort mankind would have remained in the Dark Ages of its spirituality which is no spirituality at all. And where there is no spirituality, there is no life. For that reason, if it were not for the transitional period represented by the revelation through Swedenborg, mankind would have perished.

The revelation of the Most High that is congruent with the next step is, therefore, logically built and stems from the transitional period of Swedenborg. Therefore, it is also a reevaluation, correction and rebeautification of His exquisite concepts.

Because of these transitional values, Swedenborg's concepts are not widely accepted for the time being in the natural world. The situation, however, is different in the spiritual world and in the other universes, galaxies and solar systems where his concepts are well-known for what they really are and highly valued for their noble purpose. There are two reasons why they are not accepted and acclaimed more widely on this planet: first, because their transitional nature contains some major distortions which must be corrected before wide acceptance of them is possible. If these major errors were widely acclaimed, they would reinforce some of the old, traditional, conventional approaches and thus would kill the opportunity for building the next step. Once corrected and put in proper perspective they will become an integral part of the new age and thus will be widely acclaimed.

The second reason is that the few thousand followers of Swedenborg's concepts who formed a church bearing his name perceived his teachings traditionally and conventionally, thus killing any opportunity for their widespread acceptance. The problem with Swedenborgians is that they make the very same mistake all traditionalists do: they consider the revelation which came through Swedenborg as an absolute one which is the final and ultimate word in mankind's spiritual development. By claiming that they are no different than people of the previous step, therefore, they are as reactionary as all others. One cannot very well build something new on this kind of approach.

It is not easy to get rid of old, familial, traditional, conventional and seemingly comfortable approaches. But unless this is done, all else is lost and has no true meaning and reality.

Throughout this book there are few specific references to anyone's work or concepts. Since this book is a result of direct revelation, enlightenment and inspiration by the Most High it reflects completely and only His perceptions, interpretations and presentations of the situation which exist in regard to it from the standpoint of the coming of the new step in mankind's spiritual progression. The Most High reveals only what is proper, right and relevant from the standpoint of the next step because it is beneficial for mankind. Because of the stepÊs nature to progress, the transcending understanding, perception, interpretation and presentation exist which are not relevant to know from the standpoint of the step which is being built right now. Mankind is not ready for this transcending understanding until the new step is formed, completed and exhausted fully. When that time comes, a new revelation will appear to someone else and the building of the next step will begin. But that will be another story for another cycle of time in the spiritual progression of mankind. When that time comes, this book will become obsolete and will have only historical value as a foundation for the building of the higher step, transcending its own condition, state and understanding.

This book is meant for the wide variety of readers who are interested in spiritual issues. The language is accommodated to that purpose. However, some issues have a deep, philosophical content and require elaboration and use of appropriate language. For that reason, it is not always possible to maintain the desirable simplicity and clarity congruent with all levels of human understanding. This is especially true with regard to the first chapter, part one, of this book.

Whatever transpires in this book is not meant for arguments, agreements or disagreements. It is not meant as a command, an order, a demand, a contradiction or a belief system which must be accepted. The purpose is to give people an opportunity to reflect, contemplate, meditate and seriously consider what is said for their own spiritual benefit, growth and progress. If it fulfils this purpose, no more is expected.

Source: FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN SPIRITUALITY

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