Let's all agree that self-will fails. Arranging material circumstances or manufacturing an array of ideal relationships will never bring peace or maximise our utility. That leaves us with serving God in the world, as intelligent agents of God's ever-advancing creation. That works well in good times. Bad times (either personally or in the world) seem to present a problem in this regard: what if our own lives or the world generally seems too troubled for anything we do ever to make a sustained and meaningful difference? What if we or global circumstances are going to hell in a handbasket? Well, the same principle nonetheless applies: we are there to serve God.
How can we do this when the purpose is opaque and the air is thick with doom?
First of all: sorrow at our own or more general circumstances is fatal to the spirit and futile to our purpose and must be excised: it blocks the channel of God's love to us and makes us part of the problem rather than part of the solution. We are spirit. We were never born and will never die and our material existence is a mirage. Having said that, we have a purpose here to communicate God's love to our fellows as fully and universally as possible, and to that end we must forgive, forgiveness being the removal of our illusions about the world. This is the only purpose and this is sufficient. That we cannot see how our forgiveness of the world is the salvation of the world is irrelevant, and it is the height of arrogance to demand an understanding of God's purpose before we enact His revealed will.
Forward, step by step; with courage; with cheerfulness; with kindness; and above all with forgiveness. That is all.
How can we do this when the purpose is opaque and the air is thick with doom?
First of all: sorrow at our own or more general circumstances is fatal to the spirit and futile to our purpose and must be excised: it blocks the channel of God's love to us and makes us part of the problem rather than part of the solution. We are spirit. We were never born and will never die and our material existence is a mirage. Having said that, we have a purpose here to communicate God's love to our fellows as fully and universally as possible, and to that end we must forgive, forgiveness being the removal of our illusions about the world. This is the only purpose and this is sufficient. That we cannot see how our forgiveness of the world is the salvation of the world is irrelevant, and it is the height of arrogance to demand an understanding of God's purpose before we enact His revealed will.
Forward, step by step; with courage; with cheerfulness; with kindness; and above all with forgiveness. That is all.
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