2083 Misuse of the gifts which distinguish the human being from the animal....

September 22, 1941: Book 30

Unadulterated pleasure in life is the goal and endeavour of every person who still lives in darkest spiritual night on earth. And as soon as he achieves it he will enjoy his life to the full and only live for his body while his soul goes without, and if the human being is satisfied with purely physical pleasures his state can be called exceedingly imperfect. It testifies to a purely materialistic attitude, for then the human beings will merely be an empty shell, he cannot be deemed any more, that is, more highly advanced than a creature which lacks intellect and free will, for the latter is not being used or is used in a completely wrong way by the person. The gifts which distinguish the human being from the animal are intended to achieve the soul's higher development; their use shall merely manage to achieve the soul's transformation. The human being, however, only uses these gifts to enhance his body's well-being, and thus he is misusing them. In this case the circumstances of the individual person are not important, for the striving for the pleasures of life in itself is a misuse of his received energy of life and the gifts bestowed upon him by God's love. As to whether he will find fulfilment in his life does not change the fact that his desire worsens the darkness of soul, for his thoughts and intentions impede the soul's actual task. Hence the person's life can remain empty and deprived of earthly pleasure and still not gain him psychological higher development because his desire is orientated towards earthly pleasure. Fulfilment is often denied to them in order to redirect their thoughts and intentions towards spiritual experiences, and yet they fail to find the path into the spiritual kingdom. Their highest goal is and remains earthly happiness.... And such an attitude will not reduce their distance from God, thus it is the cause of a deficiency which will have far-reaching consequences at the end of their earthly life, and this deficiency can no longer be rectified once the soul has left its earthly body.

On the other hand, a short time on earth can suffice to make up for what had been neglected if the human being takes the shaping of his soul seriously. This is why ever more opportunities will approach the human being in his latter years of life which he only needs to make use of and which, if he is willing, can bring him incomparable blessings, for God will not leave misguided souls without help even if the human being does not acknowledge Him, i.e., even if through his attitude towards worldly pleasures and earthly possessions he turns towards God's adversary. He struggles for his soul until his death. Time and again He is willing to help and guides him such that his thoughts will be turned to spiritual spheres. And time and again his will is given an opportunity to make a decision. For divine love is such that it will not let go of whatever wants to withdraw from Him. Even so, God will never decisively intervene in the human being's will but so evidently bring those people together who can complement each other, i.e., He brings badly informed people in contact with those who can serve them in a giving and instructive way. This task is often difficult as long as the world is still alluring, which weakens the will for the acceptance of spiritual truths. Yet occasionally just slight attempts will suffice to make a human being receptive to them.... namely, when the world gives him very little.... Unfulfilled desire can also lead to overcoming the desire, in which case it was richly blessed. Then the person's struggle with himself, against his own craving, was made easy for him by denying him the satisfaction. And this, too, is God's grace, which can lead to the right decision of the free will. One day people will thank God for what they so bitterly and harshly condemn, if it was successful.... or they will suffer bitter regret if their will ignored this grace as well....

Amen

This proclamation is used in the following themebook:

Themebook	Title	Download
31	Self - denial Part 1	ePub   PDF   Kindle

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