Wednesday, August 22, 2018

HOW SHOULD WE LIVE IN THESE CHALLENGING TIMES? (PART V)


We continue our discourse by examining the fall of man and its consequences.

The human spirit has its origin in the part of the Spiritual Sphere known as Paradise. It starts out as a spiritual seed, which has the prospect of developing into a fully matured human spirit. And it is for this purpose that the human spirit seed had to be expelled from Paradise onto the earth which serves as a school. It arrives on earth as unconscious human spirit germ in the hope that eventually during its sojourn at the lower parts of Creation it will learn about the Will of God, follow God’s Commandments thereby attaining the maturity that will lead it upwards to Paradise. And that is the purpose of life on earth which on thinking about it is indeed a Grace and Gift from the Almighty!

In the early days of mankind on earth, man was close to Nature. They were able to sense the helpers from the beyond who taught them and guided them. In time the earth became like a fertile and flowering garden like an image of the Eternal Gardens above.

But alas, something happened! The human spirits still undergoing their tutelage on earth needed to have enlightenment about the use of their intellect.

The intellect is required for the following:
  1. As a counterpoise pulling downwards to balance the upward striving spirituality. It is given to prevent man from floating in spiritual heights only and thereby forgetting his earthly task.
  2. To facilitate life on earth.
  3. To transmit spiritual decisions or urges for the noble, pure and perfect to the small earthly so it can be visible on earth.
  4. To serve as the spirit’s handy man.
  5. To be the steering component, while the spirit remains the driving power.

To help in this regard, Lucifer was sent. However instead of lovingly supporting the developing ones, he introduced the merciless principle of temptation which is lacking in the Love of God. He induced man to over depend on his intellect instead of teaching them that the intellect was meant to be used as a tool under the supervision of the spirit. Man fell for this temptation. It need not be so because man possessed free will to resist the tempter with the Power of God. Despite all the help at his side, man fell and the effect was that man became estranged from his Creator. Lucifer too was cut off from his origin as a consequence of his loveless action.

{The illustration of the giving and taking of the fruit in the Bible is apt. Giving: woman exploits her charms on man. She can influence her environment to attain ennoblement but instead she directs man’s gaze to herself instead of directing it to Heaven. Taking: response by man to draw woman’s attention to himself by accumulating earthly treasures (using the intellect solely) and this comes with greed, falsehood, oppression etc. until man found himself in bondage under the domination of the intellect which should have been his  servant. Serpent: intellectual cleverness.}

In Part VI we will talk about the effect of placing the intellect above the spirit.


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