76. The Battle Of Life In Nature
Fools indeed are you who are always questioning the fitness of the never ceasing warfare that goes on in Creation. You feel it to be cruel. This shows you to be faint-hearted weaklings — a hindrance and detriment to all advancement today. Rouse yourselves from this apathy. This incredible weakness will gradually undermine body and soul
and cause you to sink never to rise again.
If you will but look around and pay attention, you will find sufficient reason to bless this strong fighting instinct: it serves to attack as well as to defend: it induces circumspection and watchfulness; it ensures life itself by effectually protecting the creature from the deadly embrace of sloth.
If an artist is to arrive at the culminating point of success and is to assert his position there, he must certainly continually work, no matter what his profession is and how great his ability. Take for example the case of a singer: his voice would lose in power if he did not force himself to go on learning and keep himself in practice. An arm can only wax stronger if constantly in action, for the muscles would relax in repose. A man must be compelled to exert himself by outward circumstances, for he will not do so voluntarily. The same is the case with the physical body and the soul. If you want to be healthy, you must tend your body and your spirit, that is to say: keep them in constant activity.
But what man usually understands by tending is not the right sort of tending, for he either lets his body indulge in idleness, or he tends it by indulging in some sport in a one- sided, exaggerated, irresponsible way unworthy of a serious man. A right-minded human being should constantly keep the goal he is bound for before his eyes; a goal that cannot be attained by jumping, swimming, riding or furious driving. How often a man devotes all his thoughts, his time, his life itself, to acquire perfection in such feats, from which the rest of mankind and Creation will never derive the slightest benefit.
That such extravagant eccentricities should be popular, shows how erroneous the path is on which man chooses to walk, and shows also how he diverts this magnificent fighting impulse to wrong purposes, wasting it in useless toying, mostly to the detriment of healthy progress, for which Creation provides ample possibilities.
In his presumptuous folly, man turns the course of the strong spiritual current aside by putting impedimenta in its way. Thus instead of impelling upwards as it should, it rebounds and increasing in violence bursts all bounds and carries all to destruction before it.
This is the would-be scientific toying in which the man of today passes his time and sets his ambition. Truly a mischievous activity destructive of the harmony in Creation!
Man would long since have fallen asleep like the sluggard and completely degenerated had it not been for this fighting instinct which forces him to bestir himself, which prevents him to take it for granted that God must care for him. He considers that his God is richly rewarded if he offers up an empty form of thanksgiving. Are there not many who never think of thanking God for His mercy and protection!
This, unfortunately is a true picture of man as he really is!
He talks of cruelty in Creation, but it never occurs to him to investigate the question himself. He only continually wants to find fault. There is no cruelty in the warfare in the animal world, only blessing. You only need carefully to observe the customs in the animal world. Take, for instance, a dog: if a man sees to it that the dog lying in his study is never trodden on or pushed aside, even when it chooses to lie in such places where it is in constant danger of being hurt, as, for instance, in the doorway, this consideration is a great disadvantage to the dog, for in a very short time the animal will cease to be on the lookout, and will lose its sense of watchfulness. Soft-hearted, kind people will be sympathetic and touched; they will praise the wonderful trustfulness the dog shows; but its inertness is not because it knows nobody will hurt it; rather it shows a most regrettable falling off of psychic activity.
If, on the other hand, an animal has constantly to be on the alert, prepared to defend itself, it will gain in every respect; its soul will keep awake; its intelligence grow keener; all its faculties will be alive and that means progress. It is the same with every creature. If it does not fight, it gradually degenerates, and the debilitated body, having lost its power of resistance, becomes more liable to disease.
A keen observer will not be astonished at the utterly wrong position man takes up towards the animal, for he does the same towards everything in Creation, including himself. His spiritual influence is everywhere harmful instead of helpful.
If the warfare going on in Creation that so many call cruel, had ceased, matter would have long since petrified and decomposed. Warfare has the effect of preserving both body and soul, and is certainly never destructive, although it may appear to be so on the surface. There is no other agent that would arouse and keep matter in health and activity, for man, in his foolish misconception, has diverted the current of that quickening spiritual force which was intended for this purpose so that it cannot operate as it should (Compare former Lectures).
If man had not so miserably failed to become what he was destined to be, he and everything else would be quite different from what they are today. Neither would there be warfare in its present form. The fighting impulse would have become spiritual emulation proceeding from man's ennobled will. Its original primitive form, instead of increasing in ferocity, would turn into joyful mutual rivalry in helping one another forward. This would require the same energy as the most violent struggle. The difference between the two systems is that the first exhausts the combatants but the latter refreshes them.
In time heavenly conditions for all creatures, as they exist in Paradise, would at last also be possible in this subsequent or evolved replica of God's Original Creation, where the will of the spirit of man is the great influence. Then no warfare, no apparent cruelty would be necessary.
This heavenly life is not inertia, it is a state of the most active energy imaginable in conscious life! That it has not been established here below is solely due to the perversity of the human spirit, which has so completely missed its purpose. It has abused the spiritual power lent it, in applying its energy in the opposite, i.e. downward, direction, instead of the upward one towards the Light. Man has even forfeited his ability of perceiving his faults. Thus it would only be preaching to deaf ears if I were to say more. He who is willing to listen and is serious in his search, will find all that he needs in my message. Again and again the causes of man's fatal failure, together with the unspeakable ruin resulting in all directions, have been pointed out and explained. He, however, who is spiritually deaf, seeks to disguise his superficiality and shortsightedness with an inane laugh, and a pretence of knowledge, and those on whom this makes an impression are themselves worthless. To such Christ's words are applicable: “Let the dead bury their dead”, for he who is spiritually deaf and blind is spiritually dead!
With the ability he was equipped with, man could have made
this world a Paradise. He failed to do this, and now finds himself in a world distorted in every way by his own actions. Therefore, do not foolishly disparage so great a thing as the Battle of Life in Nature, for it restores the necessary balance in making good what man failed in. Do not dare to call your enervated weakness love — a name with which you like to cover your feebleness. The hypocrisy of doing so will soon avenge itself.
Woe to you, oh man, degenerate product of your imagination, a caricature of what you should be! Look around you and consider seriously what you call Nature: the mountains and lakes, the forests and the meadows. Man is enraptured by the beauty that meets his eyes at all seasons. And now reflect: what gives you so much pleasure and refreshes your souls, is all the work of natural beings which, in the Divine order of Creation, rank below spiritual beings; and it is with the power and abilities of the latter with which you have been endowed!
Then look at what you have accomplished: you who have spiritual ability should produce works far beyond these of natural beings. What do you find? Only lifeless copies of what the natural beings have already produced, nothing living and developing in the direction of celestial Light. Man's degenerate productive instinct is content to copy the lowest forms, whereas if his spirit were unfettered and untrammelled, and his eyes uplifted to the Divine, he would be capable of producing very different and much sublimer things!
Man has sinfully paralyzed genius which can only be born of an untrammelled spirit, what, therefore, has man produced with the exception of a few naïve copies? . . . Machines, technical constructions and such like ... all earthbound, hollow and lifeless like themselves!
These are the achievements that spiritual man has to pit against the works of natural beings. This is how they have done the spiritual work allotted them in the world subsequently created for them!
How will they stand when the Reckoning comes? Is it to be wondered at if the gates of Paradise are closed to mankind of such base tendencies? And can one be surprised if the forces of the natural world finally arise and utterly destroy the works of man? When it comes to pass that, owing to your incapacity, and total failure all totters and falls around you, then cover your faces and acknowledge with shame the terrible guilt you have laid on yourself. Do not try or dare to cast the blame on your Maker or to call Him cruel and unjust.
And you, reader, who would seek for the Light, examine yourself seriously and unsparingly, and then try to reconstruct
your whole being, your thoughts, and your feelings on a new basis — on a spiritual foundation, one that will neither waver nor vacillate, as the narrow- minded intellectuals have done hitherto. He who cannot do this, will be cast out for all eternity.
and cause you to sink never to rise again.
If you will but look around and pay attention, you will find sufficient reason to bless this strong fighting instinct: it serves to attack as well as to defend: it induces circumspection and watchfulness; it ensures life itself by effectually protecting the creature from the deadly embrace of sloth.
If an artist is to arrive at the culminating point of success and is to assert his position there, he must certainly continually work, no matter what his profession is and how great his ability. Take for example the case of a singer: his voice would lose in power if he did not force himself to go on learning and keep himself in practice. An arm can only wax stronger if constantly in action, for the muscles would relax in repose. A man must be compelled to exert himself by outward circumstances, for he will not do so voluntarily. The same is the case with the physical body and the soul. If you want to be healthy, you must tend your body and your spirit, that is to say: keep them in constant activity.
But what man usually understands by tending is not the right sort of tending, for he either lets his body indulge in idleness, or he tends it by indulging in some sport in a one- sided, exaggerated, irresponsible way unworthy of a serious man. A right-minded human being should constantly keep the goal he is bound for before his eyes; a goal that cannot be attained by jumping, swimming, riding or furious driving. How often a man devotes all his thoughts, his time, his life itself, to acquire perfection in such feats, from which the rest of mankind and Creation will never derive the slightest benefit.
That such extravagant eccentricities should be popular, shows how erroneous the path is on which man chooses to walk, and shows also how he diverts this magnificent fighting impulse to wrong purposes, wasting it in useless toying, mostly to the detriment of healthy progress, for which Creation provides ample possibilities.
In his presumptuous folly, man turns the course of the strong spiritual current aside by putting impedimenta in its way. Thus instead of impelling upwards as it should, it rebounds and increasing in violence bursts all bounds and carries all to destruction before it.
This is the would-be scientific toying in which the man of today passes his time and sets his ambition. Truly a mischievous activity destructive of the harmony in Creation!
Man would long since have fallen asleep like the sluggard and completely degenerated had it not been for this fighting instinct which forces him to bestir himself, which prevents him to take it for granted that God must care for him. He considers that his God is richly rewarded if he offers up an empty form of thanksgiving. Are there not many who never think of thanking God for His mercy and protection!
This, unfortunately is a true picture of man as he really is!
He talks of cruelty in Creation, but it never occurs to him to investigate the question himself. He only continually wants to find fault. There is no cruelty in the warfare in the animal world, only blessing. You only need carefully to observe the customs in the animal world. Take, for instance, a dog: if a man sees to it that the dog lying in his study is never trodden on or pushed aside, even when it chooses to lie in such places where it is in constant danger of being hurt, as, for instance, in the doorway, this consideration is a great disadvantage to the dog, for in a very short time the animal will cease to be on the lookout, and will lose its sense of watchfulness. Soft-hearted, kind people will be sympathetic and touched; they will praise the wonderful trustfulness the dog shows; but its inertness is not because it knows nobody will hurt it; rather it shows a most regrettable falling off of psychic activity.
If, on the other hand, an animal has constantly to be on the alert, prepared to defend itself, it will gain in every respect; its soul will keep awake; its intelligence grow keener; all its faculties will be alive and that means progress. It is the same with every creature. If it does not fight, it gradually degenerates, and the debilitated body, having lost its power of resistance, becomes more liable to disease.
A keen observer will not be astonished at the utterly wrong position man takes up towards the animal, for he does the same towards everything in Creation, including himself. His spiritual influence is everywhere harmful instead of helpful.
If the warfare going on in Creation that so many call cruel, had ceased, matter would have long since petrified and decomposed. Warfare has the effect of preserving both body and soul, and is certainly never destructive, although it may appear to be so on the surface. There is no other agent that would arouse and keep matter in health and activity, for man, in his foolish misconception, has diverted the current of that quickening spiritual force which was intended for this purpose so that it cannot operate as it should (Compare former Lectures).
If man had not so miserably failed to become what he was destined to be, he and everything else would be quite different from what they are today. Neither would there be warfare in its present form. The fighting impulse would have become spiritual emulation proceeding from man's ennobled will. Its original primitive form, instead of increasing in ferocity, would turn into joyful mutual rivalry in helping one another forward. This would require the same energy as the most violent struggle. The difference between the two systems is that the first exhausts the combatants but the latter refreshes them.
In time heavenly conditions for all creatures, as they exist in Paradise, would at last also be possible in this subsequent or evolved replica of God's Original Creation, where the will of the spirit of man is the great influence. Then no warfare, no apparent cruelty would be necessary.
This heavenly life is not inertia, it is a state of the most active energy imaginable in conscious life! That it has not been established here below is solely due to the perversity of the human spirit, which has so completely missed its purpose. It has abused the spiritual power lent it, in applying its energy in the opposite, i.e. downward, direction, instead of the upward one towards the Light. Man has even forfeited his ability of perceiving his faults. Thus it would only be preaching to deaf ears if I were to say more. He who is willing to listen and is serious in his search, will find all that he needs in my message. Again and again the causes of man's fatal failure, together with the unspeakable ruin resulting in all directions, have been pointed out and explained. He, however, who is spiritually deaf, seeks to disguise his superficiality and shortsightedness with an inane laugh, and a pretence of knowledge, and those on whom this makes an impression are themselves worthless. To such Christ's words are applicable: “Let the dead bury their dead”, for he who is spiritually deaf and blind is spiritually dead!
With the ability he was equipped with, man could have made
this world a Paradise. He failed to do this, and now finds himself in a world distorted in every way by his own actions. Therefore, do not foolishly disparage so great a thing as the Battle of Life in Nature, for it restores the necessary balance in making good what man failed in. Do not dare to call your enervated weakness love — a name with which you like to cover your feebleness. The hypocrisy of doing so will soon avenge itself.
Woe to you, oh man, degenerate product of your imagination, a caricature of what you should be! Look around you and consider seriously what you call Nature: the mountains and lakes, the forests and the meadows. Man is enraptured by the beauty that meets his eyes at all seasons. And now reflect: what gives you so much pleasure and refreshes your souls, is all the work of natural beings which, in the Divine order of Creation, rank below spiritual beings; and it is with the power and abilities of the latter with which you have been endowed!
Then look at what you have accomplished: you who have spiritual ability should produce works far beyond these of natural beings. What do you find? Only lifeless copies of what the natural beings have already produced, nothing living and developing in the direction of celestial Light. Man's degenerate productive instinct is content to copy the lowest forms, whereas if his spirit were unfettered and untrammelled, and his eyes uplifted to the Divine, he would be capable of producing very different and much sublimer things!
Man has sinfully paralyzed genius which can only be born of an untrammelled spirit, what, therefore, has man produced with the exception of a few naïve copies? . . . Machines, technical constructions and such like ... all earthbound, hollow and lifeless like themselves!
These are the achievements that spiritual man has to pit against the works of natural beings. This is how they have done the spiritual work allotted them in the world subsequently created for them!
How will they stand when the Reckoning comes? Is it to be wondered at if the gates of Paradise are closed to mankind of such base tendencies? And can one be surprised if the forces of the natural world finally arise and utterly destroy the works of man? When it comes to pass that, owing to your incapacity, and total failure all totters and falls around you, then cover your faces and acknowledge with shame the terrible guilt you have laid on yourself. Do not try or dare to cast the blame on your Maker or to call Him cruel and unjust.
And you, reader, who would seek for the Light, examine yourself seriously and unsparingly, and then try to reconstruct
your whole being, your thoughts, and your feelings on a new basis — on a spiritual foundation, one that will neither waver nor vacillate, as the narrow- minded intellectuals have done hitherto. He who cannot do this, will be cast out for all eternity.
