5. Reason

5.1: Faith in the Intuition

The man must first identify the voice of the intuition before he can be able to heed its truth. The truth is always originated from the same source, within each individual. It is imperative that the man can build his life upon that foundation, which is already being pure and perfect from the outset. When the intuition speaks to the man then it does not manifest itself in any thoughts, nor does it involve some kind of supernatural voice (as if another person was speaking to one while one is being alone). But the voice of the intuition is manifested in a silent perception, which can be felt deep down in one’s heart or sensed. It is neither seen any image nor heard any sound/voices during the silent perception, but one is still the same able to understand its meaning, somehow in one’s heart. (It can of course be experienced thoughts which do not give any sound, where it is like a soft whisper or a sentence without a voice. But it does still take place in the mind and should be rejected outright, rather than by mistaking it for a silent perception.) It is like the divinity does not express itself in the same way as human beings, which need to speak with their mouth and hear its meaning with their ears. It can rather be said that the divinity is able to speak directly to one’s heart. For that no sounds are to be heard with one’s ears, but it can still be immediately felt or sensed its meaning, while the relations do last. Human beings rely upon speech as the means to make themselves comprehensible to each other, where it is first heard specific words and then it is either immediately understood its plain meaning or sought to understand its ambiguous meaning. But the divinity does not need to rely upon speech as some kind of means or intercessor, for it can promote understanding directly into one’s heart and spirit. It is thereby like it is headed directly to the effects of the speech, without needing any speech. The divinity is invisible to the human eye, and its voice is silent to the human ear. Good sense and sense of decency is something which the man has in himself. It is an in-built understanding and ability. The divinity has put it into the man’s heart. The man finds it in himself what is proper and to act thus, from the store-room of his heart. As the man abides by more moral principles with the time and withstands more temptations with the time; then his inner conviction will grow more. It will both unlock understanding in entirely new things and reinforce the old things. It comes as a free and spontaneous gift when the man is able to improve the approach of the same source material, and make a proper interpretation of things. It has not involved any long contemplation or mental strain in discovering it. All of this has happened in a discreet and quiet way. As the time passes then there will be an invisible and unhearable movement/change within the man, which makes him able to realize something new, to notice things in a different way, to head in a specific direction with that what he is trying to say, and to put things into a new context. It is something which the man has come to know with himself. The man cannot explain ‘where from’ or ‘how’ he knows it. The man just knows it. The man’s heart and spirit can be likened to a lake/pool of a still water. Everything is being still and quiet. When God dips His finger into the lake/pool then there will be little ripples in the water. It might seems like everything is being just as still and quiet as before, and yet there is experienced a tiny change/movement, which one somehow becomes aware of and one is being drawn with it. Something ‘tiny’ happens within which manages to turn one in the right direction, which manages to draw one nearer to the truth and help one further grasp its meaning.
               It can be traced oneself from the cause to the consequence, and from the consequence to the cause. It can also be traced oneself from the intention to the execution, and from the execution to the intention. Good things come from a good source, while bad things come from a bad source. By knowing which source is involved then it can be immediately known which activity to side with or not at the very outset. Where the intuition is there is also truth and goodness, a good sense and a sense of decency. If the man discerns truth and goodness then it must surely belong to the intuition, but lies and selfishness can never belong to it, since it does otherwise not involve the intuition in the first place. This means that the man can never blame the intuition for anything that goes wrong in his life, because the intuition did never encourage the man to become self-delusional and selfish. The man does only have himself to blame, because he presumed that he was following the divinity, when he was really following the impersonation of the mind. Because it was followed something contrary to true premise and moral principle; then it was not of the divinity. We know the divinity through that which the divinity stands for. That to merely mention the word ‘God’ and implicate it to something that we think of, that does not equal that in making that something into the will of God. The inspiration of the intuition must be understood, heeded, and immediately acted upon. It can happen that the man wants to follow the intuition, but he is still being hesitant to do so or he does still not understand its true and lasting value, since it can be a hard thing for him to be selfless and look beyond/outside his self. This is why the man needs to confess the truth about himself, his position and intentions. The man must be sincere and plainspoken, what he does really feel about the matter, so he should only speak as much as what he does really mean in his heart and is willing to do in the situation. The truthful answer is to be found in the man’s heart and in his mouth, namely when the man does express himself in a sincere and plainspoken way, by confessing the humble truth, regardless of that what is now affecting him and how much it can affect him. The man is not only expressing the humble truth to the divinity, but he is also in need of hearing that truthful response/answer for himself, so the man can know himself and his true needs. By knowing the truth for oneself then one can keep siding with that truth throughout the day, where one willingly passes through all distractions and cares which are contradicting the truth. Everything which is hurryingly happening in our mind and body becomes irrelevant to us, where we do not need to hurryingly side with any of this and we do not need to hurryingly do any of this. It is only sufficient to keep to the little humble truth and allow the spirit of that truth to still our heart and soul.
               It is only sufficient that the truth can appear to us in a discreet way, according to the choices which stand before us from time to time, what is needed to know and do about it. The very meaning/essence/spirit of the truth takes precedence over the form it can seem to be wearing. It should not matter what is the outward appearance of the person which speaks the truth, whether that person is being a man or an angel, a man in expensive clothes or a man in poor clothes. And it should not matter how the voice sounds of the person speaking the truth, whether that voice seems powerful or charming to our ears. And it should not matter whether the truthful speech of the person is being accompanied by supernatural signs at the same time, like if it would involve theatrical special effects or fireworks booming in the sky. For such things are indeed superfluous, a mere ornament, where it does not make the truth become more valid in confirming things or more powerful in getting things done. The humble truth remains the same as before, where it is being just as valid in confirming things and just as effective in getting things done. That to allow the truth to be bare and stand firm on its own is actually being more effective than to resort to outside help/support for it. It is not like the man does need to flatter the intuition, or verbally stretch it out how the intuition does function in complicated matters, while the man is neglecting to heed the simple truth and decency which is already functioning within him. It will not bestow any advantage to the man, or make it easier for him to follow the intuition, but every matter is being determined by its relevant principles and their sphere of influence, and what kind of human quality it is calling for. It can apply that the intuition does not seem to answer the man during his prayer, while the man is speaking about the things that are troubling him and invoking the intuition directly for aid, when he is being aware of the things that he is found lacking in and that it needs to be improved in him. And yet because the man is being aware of all these things and confessing all of them before the intuition, that confirms that the intuition is working within him and making him capable of it in the first place. If the intuition was really being absent from the man then the man would be too spiritually dull (apathetic) to be aware of the truth, and he would be too spiritually drunk (unloving) to care about the truth, and he would not even bother to approach the intuition about anything (faithlessness). Hence the intuition is already at work in preparing the man’s heart and soul for that which is being true and right. Even that the man does not seem to notice the immediate results from it then there is a still a greater force working behind the scene and getting things done in the lives of other people. The intuition is capable of giving an answer during a prayer, and it is capable of giving an answer after a prayer, all in its own way, working beyond our human expectations. The intuition can bestow enlightenment some time afterwards, while the man is experiencing circumstances and having relations with other people. Then something will happen which touches the man in his heart, as if he realizes something about himself and his current situation. And the circumstances can suddenly change, and the man can witness some strange turn of event, which convinces him of something, so the man will no longer have doubts or be hesitant about the matters in his life. The man can thereby express himself about specific matters during a prayer, without having any expectations of immediate response from the intuition. Next the man can move on with his life, and he will receive an enlightenment from some unexpected source, caused by the divinity.
               That which is true is being even/balanced between the two extremes. It is neither more nor less than what is precisely needed in the situation. We do not know too much at the expense of our ability, nor do we do too much at the expense of that what is known about it. Sometimes it is only sufficient to know the proper means, concerning ‘how’ it should be approached or executed the matter, and then the rest will take care of itself. It can be superfluous to know every detail about the purpose and what kind of consequences will later follow, because it does not bestow any additional advantage during the execution. The soldier does not need to know the same things as the general, but it is only required that he should trust his leader, that the leader know what he is doing, and faithfully obey his commands. A similar thing applies to the man’s relationship with the divinity, where the question is sometimes not about that ‘what’ should be known but rather ‘when’, if it is somewhat relevant to the man’s current situation. So the man does only know as much as what he is in position to accomplish, in making a good use of that information and what can be good to those involved. It is not the man which controls when the intuition will bestow inspiration to him, but it is completely depended upon the initiative of the intuition, what it does on its own accord. The intuition could be likened to a teacher and a trainer, which explains the lessons in comprehensive speech, and encourages the student to accomplish them by his own effort. It would be a contradictory thing if the student would constantly be asking the teacher for help, while the student would never bother to listen to his replies and act upon it. It would also be a contradictory thing if the student would constantly be heckling the teacher, by immediately trying to fill in and assume the teacher’s reply to be something already expected, instead of waiting long enough in allowing the teacher to finish his speech and understand it on its own terms. A similar thing applies when the man does invoke the divinity for aid. The man should avoid that of talking too much and only listen to himself speak. Just like when it is had conversation with another person then one needs to listen by silently receiving things told by the intuition. Hence after the man has made things known to the intuition he can remain silent and calm, waiting with patience until the intuition will bestow a silent sense to him, a spontaneous inspiration in his heart.
               The intuition does help the man help himself, when it comes to turn in the right direction and do things by right premises. The intuition does understand the man and his position more than the man does so himself, and it continue to tolerate the man and give him further chances to be redeemed. The intuition does give the man a proper space and time in order to find things out with himself, where if the man speaks of something then it is because he does really mean it in his heart, is truly willing to do so, believes in that choice and understand its value. But it is not like the man is constrained into pretending to be perfect as soon as possible, in only saying that what he thinks that the intuition does want to hear, or by forcing everything upon himself, even that the man is not ready to do so and does not really understand it. The intuition does not seek to control the man, as if the man was under much pressure in hurrying himself through everything and that he would be forced to do things prior to its understanding. The intuition does take its time in preparing the man’s heart and soul for the right things, when it comes to help him base his decisions upon love for others than fear for his own life, when it comes to appeal to his reason and willing obedience, when it comes to have things simple in the beginning. There is a perfect harmony between that what within the man is being drawn to that what is without him, and between that what without the man is being drawn to that what is within him. The intuition does evaluate every choice which the man can make, but it does not mean that it is the same thing as obtrusive and meddlesome censorship. For the intuition does lovingly and gently encourage the man to side with the right thing, and it does calmly and patiently rebuke the man for having sided with the wrong thing, even as a caring parent would treat its child. It is not like the man should be afraid of his position, stopping every time he thinks something wrong and have worries over it, as if he had given a wrong impression and needs to explain himself immediately. It would otherwise involve a relationship between a slave and a harsh master, where it is constantly feared to reveal a sign of weakness that could call for punishments. The man should rather continue to be free in spirit and receive the love which is had for him, since that is the intended end of the faith, concerning that what the man experiences from within.
               The relationship between the man and the divinity is meant to be founded upon good faith and mutual trust. The man is allowed to openly speak about the matters which dwell in his heart, without him having to stand in fear of the consequences or that he could accidentally give a wrong impression. It is about the need and the longing in the man’s heart to express himself in such way, when confessing what kind of position he does find himself in and what he feels about it. It can happen that the man experiences wrong thoughts about something, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and he begins to consider selfish possibilities without becoming immediately aware of it. But it is still not the same thing as if the man has already made such choice, or that he will be consistent with it in the long run. For the man can always turn his attention away from it, and he can repent of having considered it, that he might straight away return to the proper path. The man does not only have faith in the divinity, but the divinity does also have faith in the man, that he will do the right thing in the upcoming circumstances when it is truly called for. While the man has faith in the divinity then he can faithfully receive the good things which the divinity has in store for him, and thereby draw from the good power of the goodness for a good use. The divinity can entrust this knowledge and power to the man when he is being deemed ready for it. That the man has become selfless enough in doing selfless things for a selfless end. The faith in the divinity does give the man hope and comfort in his human frailty. The divinity does continue to love us, show us understanding, and tolerate us, even for all our human frailty. First we become aware about the grace of the divinity toward us, and then we will become grateful enough to treat other people in the same way, even for all their faults and mistakes. For that our own weaknesses can serve a higher purpose, in reminding us about the grace of the divinity, because the divinity loves other people just as much as it loves us, and thereby should we love them as well. But our seeming ‘perfection’ can become our own undoing, at least when we presume ourselves to be perfect, free of faults and mistakes, so it is like we are not in need of any forgiveness. For that we can forget all about our previous lot, when we were once being in a vulnerable position and being disrupted/afflicted by various subjective problems, and urgently in need of forgiveness. We tend to forget what other people need to go through in their own life, especially what they can experience from within, since we have already been freed from its influence. This is why we can be in need of experiencing new adversity from time to time, and weaknesses of our own, so it will make us become humble again and tolerant of other people.

Belief and disbelief is not only bound to religions, superstition, supernatural signs, and miracles. For that belief is actually the very basis of the human existence, affecting everything else in the process. The man must first believe in one possibility over another, before he can begin to look for it and to make it happen. It is about choosing between the possibilities of the goodness and the possibilities of the evilness, where it is considered one thing over another, and chosen one thing over another. That which is neither considered nor chosen is thereby prevented from happening at the very outset. The man does first allow himself to be convinced by a specific argument, and next does he believe in its claim, and then he continues to confirm it with his subsequent actions and reactions. That belief can have a rightful claim or a not, be truthful or false, honest or dishonest, practical or impractical, be necessary or superfluous, and so forth, according to the source. Belief in the truth and the goodness does actually deliver constructive results and benefits, while belief in lies and selfishness does only lead to failure and a waste of time. When it is believed something false and sought to make it come true then it can at most be made a false thing to happen, where it becomes a fact that it was committed a misdeed and yet that misdeed was being amiss of truth in the misdoer himself. The goodness is always superior to the evilness, where the man’s belief in the goodness does only confirm its true potential, what the goodness is capable of achieving in his life. It must be believed in the truth in advance, that the truth does reach to everything and will always have a right answer to everything. The truth is able to fix anything (or remedy the situation), solve anything, and achieve anything. (But to make it clear and avoid contradiction: the truth does not fix the evil nature, but the truth can fix or straighten things out in the life of the human being that got affected by the evil nature.) It must be believed that the truth is always being right, and that it is being stronger and wiser and more resolving than anything which sets itself against it. That the truth is able to disprove any lies and selfish arguments, and thereby dispel any doubts and fears which would otherwise have followed the former. Lies can at most cast doubt on the truth in the eyes of people, but lies can still the same never disprove the truth, since the truth continues to be just as valid as before and firm upon its own basis. The truth is in there and out there, and it only needs to be discovered, even that the man does not yet know the right answer, at least in his current position, and even that he might be already troubled by something. A corresponding thing applies to faith in the goodness and the principles it stands for, when it involves the subsequent order of charity, freedom, reason, and altruism. The man does not only believe in the right answer, but he does also believe that he will be able to follow it through and accomplish it, even that he can experience all kinds of uncertainty and adversity. And the man does not only believe in the divinity, but he does also believe in that what he can accomplish through the divinity, from within himself and in the external conduct. The spiritual values are part of the man’s heart and spirit, following him to any place at any time, while the external things are outside him, and only bound to limited factors. The spiritual values apply to all factors in life, and it determines the man’s approach. For example, the man’s legs are greater than some luxurious place to dwell at, because it is through healthy legs that the man can travel to any place in the world. The man’s hands are greater than some luxurious objects that can be touched and used, because it is through skilful hands that the man can handle any objects in the world. Something similar could be said about the man’s eyes, ears, and mouth, versus the external things in this world. Even so applies to the spiritual values, affecting the man’s spiritual health and awareness and capability, what kind of determination and judgment will be shown in every matter undertaken.
               It can happen that the man becomes bitter over unfulfilled desires, that he has not obtained some advantage which has been coveted, competed for and preferred over other things. But spiritual victories have happened at other places, leading to improvement in other factors, so the man has been blessed in another way than he had intended and wished for. The man can live with specific problems while other problems are absent from his life, so that he is not even aware about its existence. And some qualities are beyond the man’s reach, while other qualities are accessible to him, which only wait to be recognized and be put to good use by him. It is not like the man needs to be best in everything or own everything at the same time, even that he can only invest time upon few matters and develop them further. The man will have to prioritize and spend full time upon things which can be successfully finished. The divinity does know the man more than he knows himself, and the divinity is in better position to know his true needs, what kind of things can appeal most to his interest and understanding and ability. Even if the man would have been given different qualities and possessions then he would still the same not have enjoyed them, after having experienced its involvement and practice for some time. The man would have discovered that these were not the things which he was looking for, and that it did not satisfy his needs, in doing something meaningful with his life. The faith in the goodness does help the man to make the best of his situation, in doing better next time, to the best of his conscience and knowledge and ability. The faith makes the man able to be contented with his current lot, by knowing how to live well, by having a decent and acceptable and bearable life, dignified and befitting/becoming him as a human being. The faith does help the man to constantly move on with his life, when it comes to look upon the matter ahead and do things well. Let’s say that the man would be travelling upon a certain path, and stumble upon a specific object in the middle of the journey, which might seem to be valuable in his eyes. The man should still the same not stop and return home with that object, which would thereby make him forgo the latter part of the path. For the man should rather keep moving until it is arrived to the final destination, and then it will reveal the most valuable object of the journey which he can have. And even that the man can lose a specific object then he should still not go back and search for it, as if he were going back and forth at the same spot. For that much more time can be spent upon such needless pursuit in comparison to the remaining path ahead, which would either way have recompensed everything. It would have been prudent if the man had just kept moving forward, until he would obtain new and better things later on the path. Or the journey would either way have made the man more experienced and spiritually mature, so that he would no longer covet the old things nor consider them to be of any value to himself. This is a metaphor for that when the man is meant to keep following the divinity to the very end of his life. Even that the man meets with temptations in the middle of the journey then he should still not exploit a selfish opportunity and revert to his former corruption. And even that the man misses out on selfish opportunities in the middle of the journey then he should still not resent it and dwell upon it. But if the man keeps following the divinity to the very end then he will receive all kinds of free blessings.

One of the main purpose of this work has been to prove that every activity of the mind is delusional, where it involves lies that attempt to arouse wrong assumptions and reactions. By knowing this the man will be able to discern the root of the problem and abstain from it. It can be mentioned ‘soft’ ideas, egoistical tones according to vices (covetous/hungry tone, envious tone, arrogant tone), memories, imaginations, false positivity, religious delusions, and direct voices. It can also be mentioned things which thoughts can accompany, like dreams, visions, impulses, mental symptoms and bodily symptoms or any sign in mind and body affecting the man’s experience. The spiritual struggle against the mind should still not degenerate into some kind of anti-faith, as if the man would overrate the mind in everything and see its evil influence in all things. It is not like the man should have constant attention on the mind, fearing what kind of thoughts could appear with the time, and fearing that he could show a wrong reaction or a sign of weakness. The man would otherwise indirectly believe in the power of the mind over the power of the human spirit, and thereby overlook and neglect the human spirit in the process. If the man believes in the goodness then he will obtain an indirect victory over the evilness, as if such victory comes for free even that it has been unlooked for. The goodness has already overcome the evilness, in the past, present, and future, so it comes down to that whether it will be repeated all over again in the man’s life. It is only sufficient that the man believe in the goodness, that it will be able to overcome the evilness on his behalf, and achieve anything in his heart and soul. This is why the man should allow the human spirit to overcome the mind from within him, so he does not need to struggle directly against the mind or remind himself about it. It is the mind which shows a sign of weakness when it craves for the man’s attention and it tries to get/steal his attention through opposition, while the man is on the other hand not giving the mind further attention and not being afraid what the mind can do to him. When we receive and experience a spiritual victory through the human spirit then it involves a lucky turn of event, where the good things seem to come over to us with the time or that the good things manage to find us with the time. These good things do so on their own initiative, without us needing to think and say and do something to make it become possible. Once God decides to send His angel to visit us in our hour of need; then before we know it we already feel better and forget all about our problems.
               It can happen that we consider selfish possibilities, reveal a sign of weakness, and even yield to temptations (which makes it a corruption), at least in our heart, even that we have not openly spoken or done so among other people. Whether we are guilty of something wrong in our attitude and/or conduct then it does still not change anything in regard to the divine grace. For the divinity will continue to care for us and tolerate us in our human frailty, giving us further chances to improve and in being redeemed. The divinity will continue to teach us what is true and just, and encourage us to follow it through, which has all to do about the goodness abiding by its own goodness than what we have hitherto become and done (deservingly). The divinity alone has the ultimate authority to judge us, both for the right things and for the wrong things. But the mind does not possess any authority to judge us, even for all its interference and provocations. It is like we can experience anything from within, but it does still not change anything in regard to our position with the divinity and what it feels about us. It is like the grace of the divinity is everywhere, covering/pardoning all our frailty in advance, if we do acknowledge its leadership and truly believe that the divinity is able to redeem us. This frees us from all concerns about our own life, and what could happen to us in the end, since that our life is in the hands of the divinity and our end is not of our own making. We do first have faith in the power of the goodness, that it can achieve anything and conquer anything in our life, and next we simply hold our peace. There is first had faith amidst uncertainty and next will we become confident through the uncertainty, showing patience in waiting for the help to arrive, and remaining silent in the meantime. We remain silent because we do not need to ask the divinity again for help in the same matter, where we do not need to reconsider the matter nor dwell further upon the matter that is troubling us. When we choose to side with the divinity then we confirm that choice with inner silence and peace. We have believed in the right possibility, and now we allow it to take its time to grow in us. We are constantly moving on with our life, and allowing all thoughts to chase after us, rather than allowing ourselves to chase after them for whatever reason. We should become indifferent to delusions and shun their existence, through silence when possible or through our own undescribed will/focus. It can happen that noisy thoughts keep reappearing and getting our attention, where we have no control of this noise and we cannot make things become silent within. But at least we can do our best to be silent in our heart, by silently knowing something with ourselves deep down (without mentioning it directly to ourselves), by silently keeping to our invisible resolve underneath, amidst all this noisy activity in our mind. An inner silence is something which should have an independent existence, where we are not only attempting to be silent toward delusions in order to ignore them, but we can also be silent within at all other times, in only heeding the voice/inspiration of the divinity. It is confirmed the faith in the divine voice and waited for it with patience as a preventive measure against all temptations, rather than one being already occupied with that in only listening to oneself speak.

5.2: Answers to Problems

Patience might at first seem to be like any other virtue, but upon closer inspection it is like all other virtues are intertwined with it, depended upon patience before their establishment. For the man must first be patient before he can become courageous, strong, and wise, when it comes to invest time and effort upon the same, and maintain balance between diligent work and rest/relaxation in the meantime. Without patience the man would give up too soon and not bother to overcome his own weaknesses, each time he experiences uncertainty and meets difficulty and there is a temporary setback. This is why patience is one of the most important values, similar to faith and sincerity and charity, since it does drive forth other values and upholds them. A patience does both apply to the attitude during a practice and while it is waited for it in the meantime. The man can practice a specific thing for as long time as needed, whether to increase his skill or to progress/complete the task in question or to end something before something else can be begun. It is not like the man needs to be stationary or idle in the meantime, while it is waited for a chance to resume that practice (which is currently being unavailable or there is a distance between it and the man). The meantime in one thing can be a time actively invested in another thing instead. The man can focus upon practicing different field/task instead, until the next one appears in the line, without troubling himself about the previous field/task still outside his reach. The man can maintain a silent determination, and think no further about the matter, at least while he is unable to participate in it and nothing new is to be discovered. There can be many challenges or problems which call for the man’s attention, but he should still the same not trouble himself about everything at the same time. For the man can put some matters on hold/pause while he focus upon others, those nearest to him or which have the most priority. And after these matters have been concluded then the man can pick up the thread with the remaining ones, going from one circumstance to another. It can happen that the man does change his mind/stance about something and digresses from his original conviction, even that he is experiencing completely different circumstances at that moment. This means that the current material is irrelevant to the case in question, casting no further light upon it, so the man should never have made any further decision/change concerning it. The man should rather have kept to his original experience, conviction, and choices made at that time, until he would experience something fresh concerning the matter, as its relevant expansion.
               Hope is not the same thing as unrealistic expectations, or wishful thinking, as if the man could determine the general course of future events, ‘how’ and ‘when’ and ‘where’ it will happen in every detail. A true and lasting hope does rather consists in the certainty that the divinity does exist, and that the divinity is willing and capable of helping us, and that the divinity will always prove reliable in our times of need. It is the divinity which controls in what way it will help us, according to its own preferred means, which involves ‘how’ and ‘when’ and ‘where’ and ‘by whom’. The only thing under our control is that we keep our spiritual eyes and ears open for the possibility and acknowledge the divinity’s help/relief when it finally happens/arrives. In the meantime we wait with patience until there is a good turn of events and good opportunities will become available to us. The divinity is capable of everything, which includes the divinity being capable of working in us and through us, that the divinity can make us capable of doing the right thing when it is called for. That the good side in us helps us see things in a good way and make good use of the good opportunities that present themselves to us. That our good side appeals to the good side in other people and that the good side of other people does appeal to the good side in us. It should be lived in the certainty that the intuition will bestow us with proper inspiration in due time, whether it can be called enlightenment, moral value/context, or inner resolve. It will then be able to affect our attitude and approach for the better. It is ultimately depended upon the intuition in bestowing inspiration to us, what the intuition decides to do on its own initiative and according to its own premises. Hope is something which we must experience amidst uncertainty and weakness. First it is experienced fear of a specific matter, and next it calls for hope that we will be able to pass through the fear, and then finally will we become courageous enough to confront and overcome the matter which we had been fearful of (or the real challenge which the fear was reflecting). A corresponding thing applies to every virtue being a counterweight/countermeasure to vice. Hope is meant to be the last resort after everything else has failed. It can still be had hope in one’s heart, even that one seems to lack inner strength and does yet not know any definite answers, since that hope can be more about silent determination.
               The man’s concerns for his self-preservation are irrelevant to the challenge ahead, what is required for the man to possess in himself and know and execute in order to obtain victory. It does correspond to a martial fight, where a person can become so afraid of that in receiving harm from the enemy that it neglects to focus upon the actual fight, in overcoming the enemy himself. This means that the person is already being distracted by its own fears, where the person is being so self-absorbed that it neglects to observe the surroundings and adapt to it. The fearful person is too passive and merely on the defensive, reacting to the initiative of the enemy, and that makes the enemy attack from a stronger position. The person merely on the defensive finds itself in a vicious cycle, defending from one attack and encouraging another one in turn. It is thereby always revealed some new weak spot instead, delayed or transferred the same problem, when fleeing from one place to another to the same effect. This is why concern for personal safety can prove counterproductive, causing even more harm in the long run than if the person had been willing to suffer/endure pain while fighting back. Hence the person should be willing to receive any blows while being constantly on the offensive, landing blows upon the enemy at the same time. An enemy is an enemy because he is hostile to us and he possess the will to harm us. But if that same person ceases to possess the will to set itself against our being then it is no longer an enemy. The matter is not about overcoming an enemy by the use of brute force, but rather to deprive the enemy of his ill will toward us. (Or it is about separating the bad things in the person from the person, although that person must allow it to happen and we cannot force it to happen by our one-sided measures.) Different means can lead to the same solution. It can just as well be converted an enemy through the power of the goodness, which manifests itself in virtues like kindness, temperance, longsuffering, generosity, and mercy. By loving the enemy and continuing to do good toward him then it is encouraged him to do the same, where it is made him question his reasons for hostility. It is neither selfishly defended oneself from the enemy nor contemptuously attacked the enemy. One is willing to confront and endure evil by the enemy, while oneself is not acting like an enemy to him, holding nothing against him. Hence it is revealed one’s blameless stance and kept confirming it, that it does not call for any justifiable enmity. That to hold the moral high ground is the best spiritual defence, and that to peacefully disarm the enemy is the best spiritual offence. The best defence is a good offence, and a good offence is through one’s spirit. Good people repay good with good and evil with good. Ordinary people repay good with good and evil with evil. Evil people repay evil with evil and good with evil. A wicked man is never being convinced by the good acts of his benefactor, for even that he is denied justifiable reasons for enmity then he will invent reasons for it as a pretext.
               The value of sincerity does correspond to charity, because it drives forth the man’s attitude and can automatically apply underneath during human relations, even that it is not spoken directly about sincerity during human relations. It can be likened to fighting spirit or morale during warfare, where it determines everything which is done during the war, whether the soldier will continue to move on and fight or fail to do so. But if morale is absent then it does not matter what kind of equipment can be had, because the soldier does either way not dare to use it, or he fights poorly, far below his limits. If morale is already absent then the war is already lost. Sincerity is required, both during solitude (when the man is being alone with the divinity) and human relations (when a man is among man), because if both sides are speaking truthfully to one another then it can be worked together truthfully to a truthful end. But if one is being insincere toward the divinity then the divinity will not be fooled by all this show/pretence and it will not further one’s false and treacherous designs. And if either or both persons are being insincere during human relations then there is no mutual willingness to make the things happen which is being spoken of. All this communication is being a waste of time, where it cannot be relied upon the person which is being driven by ulterior motives, since that person will surely abandon us or betray us later on. If we are being sincere toward the divinity then we will come to know ourselves, what are our real intentions and premises, why we are saying and behaving in such way, for what and/or whom. We confess the truth about ourselves and our position before the divinity. We find it in ourselves to come up with a proper request for the divinity, and we truly believe that the divinity is able to answer it, and we truly believe in the answer when we finally receive it (that is to say, if the divinity is really being involved, rather than us being fooled by our own thoughts). And during human relations sincerity determines whether we do truly care about the person and truly want to share company with it, in having interest in the person and what it is doing. It is not only looked upon the person and listened to that what it has to say, but we are also underneath maintaining true stance toward the person and truly trying to bear with that where the communicating is going, and we openly confess what we really feel about the topic in question. We look upon the person with pure eyes, and we approach it in a pure way, and we keep the communication pure on our behalf, and we mention the (distant) person in a pure way among other people.
               It is only sufficient to open one’s heart as it is and be willing to hear out the truth, in taking one’s time to be fully convinced by the truth, rather than by immediately submitting to doubts and giving up too soon. It is not like a miracle will happen if the man is being patient and decent in one day, but it is rather depended upon firm determination in the long run whether true and lasting benefits can be reaped. Let’s say that the man would need to undergo a trial, where he is asked a simple question, what he is going to do in a certain matter. It is required that the man must tell the truth, if he is ever going to pass that test. The man might try to guess the answer, what he thinks that the other person wants to hear, or he can consider all kinds of possibilities, hoping that one of them will be right. But the trial is not really about one ‘ultimate’ answer above others, but rather whether the man does sincerely mean it, in truly believing in that possibility, and in convincing himself about the same. This is what matters in the man’s relationship with the divinity, where it is only required that he be sincere and humble, rather than by trying to hide behind flatteries and empty promises. The man does not need to promise anything about his deeds in the future. The relationship with the divinity is not demanding that the man must first become perfect and having accomplished many good works, before the man can finally approach the divinity and ask it for something. It is rather about that whether the man will confess the truth about his position at this very moment, that he is being frail and unable to overcome temptations on his own, that he is in need of help from the divinity if he is going to accomplish anything in the first place. For example, the man can know it with himself what is being right and that it should be done, and yet the man finds himself lacking within. Then the man can confess it to the divinity that he feels himself unwilling to do the right thing, that he lacks the will to do it, that he lacks a firm conviction in having faith in its value. The sincere man does not want to pretend to be perfect and come up with beautiful words which he does not mean, so he asks the divinity to help him become sincere in the matter he is being conflicted/divided about and to help him want to do the right thing. That kind of prayer prepares the man’s heart for that in doing good deeds in oncoming circumstances. So that before it can be aspired for good deeds then it must first be fixed the internal condition and activity behind it. Once the man has become internally stable then he gives himself enough space to fully understand the matter and make a sober decision, and in doing good things when he finds himself willing to do it in due time, without being under any constraint, without being hastened by any subjective problems. Sincerity is not about that in cleverly calculating the possible consequences of the choice, what kind of selfish profit or pleasure could be obtained, or what kind of pain and loss could be avoided. For that sincerity is rather about the rightful means, when it comes to approach the matter in a proper way, and make a proper execution, according to the demands of that moment. It is really had interest in the field for its own sake, what kind of competence is required to obtain victory, while greed for personal glory and power and wealth is irrelevant to its completion.
               It can be come up with a following parable. Three men are being rebuked by God for doing the wrong thing, and God encourages them to do the right thing instead. These three men experience the same thing within, where they find it too hard to let go of their selfishness and they find themselves unwilling to make the necessary changes in their lives. The first man responds to this by saying that it is an impossible thing to do that what God asks from him, that he does not believe what God has said to him, that God does not know anything and that He cannot accomplish anything. The second man comes up with a poor excuse to hide the real reason for his denial, and he blames some outside factor for that which is really originated within himself (the unwillingness). But the third man simply confesses it to God that he feels/experiences it too hard to do the things that God asks from him. He confesses that he is in need of help regarding the things which are happening within him, when it comes to possess the will to reject wrong things and pursue right things instead. That man never asserts anything bad about the capability of God. He is being truthful about his own capability being lacking. That man does not mistake his own capability for the capability of God. It can be come up with another parable. Two men profess that they believe in God, and God does test their faith by making them separately come across an adversary which is stronger than them. When the first man meets the adversary then he tells himself that he is fighting for God, so that he makes use of his own human strength and effort when trying to overcome that adversary. But when that man becomes tired and fails to overcome the adversary then he tells himself that God lost the struggle/fight. He tells himself that this must mean that God is being weaker than the adversary involved. That man fails to recognize that all of this struggle only involved his own life. He never waited for God to arrive and do things His own way. That man never remained humble and patient in waiting until God had seen things through to the end. That God might resolve the matter in His own unique way, as something totally unexpected/unforeseen on our behalf. But when the second man meets the adversary then he tells himself that God does fight for him, so that man refuses to give the adversary his attention and he deliberately abstains/ceases from his own human means in trying to force the matter. And when some time has passed then that adversary is gone and no longer a problem. Because God is an all-mighty God then He is capable of answering for Himself and settling things as it pleases Him. It is God who does all the work and we cannot claim the least thing in it (additional, alongside). God does not need any help from us in doing it. We are not helping God by coming up with our own mental effort against His enemies. Our own mental effort only gets in the way and makes us indirectly deny the power of God in our lives. It can be come up with a third parable. God leads two men into the desert and they later become hungry. They both experience the same things within (suffering, lack of energy, uncertainty about their lives). The first man responds by saying that God is to be blamed for having led him into this place, and that he wishes that he had never followed God, and he threatens to return back to the place he had come from. But the second man simply confesses it to God that he is hungry. He simply tells God that he needs food. There are no suggestive questions or foolish assertions involved. Even so we should get straight to the point regarding our internal condition and activity. It can be come up with a fourth parable. Five hungry men are stuck in the desert. The first man asks God to give him candy (unhealthy food). The second man asks God to give him healthy food. The third man asks God to give him nourishment. The fourth man asks God to free him from the hunger. The fifth man asks God to keep him alive and well. These five men are being tested in the same way, while their recognition of the problem and their approach does differ from one another. It is a question of that how it can be rephrased the description of the same problem, as something which is being general and common and underlying. That it might be gotten straight to the point regarding the root of the problem and the root of the solution.
               It can happen that the man is being afraid of his mental problems and superstitious of his mental symptoms, so it is like the man cannot bear to be alone and endure attacks from the mind. The man does not know how to withstand such mental problems and symptoms, and he does thereby seek to flee from it, by occupying himself in something else to forget all about it. So the man responds to such problems by looking for human relations, by travelling to another place, and by practicing new things. But it is not really through any sincerity, when it comes to focus upon and participate in something according to its own merit. For the man makes the external things centred upon his mental problems and symptoms, as if the external matters were supposed to make these things vanish or delay them to another time. It is really a selfish desire, in expecting other people and material things to bestow or remove something from his soul, to arouse inner life or lessen the inner emptiness. The man is not really noticing the actual people during the human relations, when it comes to care about them and in caring about the things they are doing at that time. And the man is not really being involved in the things that he is participating in, when it comes to understand it further and increase his skill in handling things and finishing the challenge. It is only sufficient for the man to have faith in the divinity and allow it to redeem him within, when it comes to have the heart free of selfish influence amidst selfish influence in the mind, and to make morally right choices amidst misleading signs and false alarms in his body. Once being spiritually redeemed the man is already being healthy, happy, at peace, and contented with his life, so he can thereby experience everything in a pure way and receive it as it really is. The man should learn to experience every circumstance for its own sake, and as its own reward, where he is really being interested in other people and the industry which can be participated in, so the man can focus upon and enjoy everything while it is taking place. The man will no longer feel the need to rely upon external matters as some kind of temporary bandages to his soul, since that all such transient things are irrelevant and unable to redeem his soul. It can be come up with a metaphor. The man is being all alone in the desert and the devil comes to tempt/test him. The temptation can seem so difficult to resist that the man starts to believe that it is impossible to overcome it, and he thereby becomes fearful and unstable about it. And during that moment the man is already being fearful and unstable; the devil misleads the man into thinking that he needs to go out into the world and do some good deeds, as if these good deeds were meant to save him from the temptation that the man is now being fearful and unstable about. But the only thing necessary was for the man to withstand this original temptation in the desert, by believing it to be possible and that the divinity could overcome the devil on his behalf. The man never needed to do any good deeds as its reaction or remedy. The man never needed to come up with any promises or presume that he would always need to do one more thing to finish the matter (as if that could go on endlessly, and never be satisfied). The solution is about going straight through the devil and his temptation, instead of going to the sides, instead of resorting to indirect means and being driven by ulterior motives. It is like the devil is lying to the man that the man will be able to overcome the devil by doing this or that in the future, instead of the man being willing to confront and endure the devil at this very moment.

The man should only express himself as much as he does actually mean in his heart, and is willing to do. But it is not like mere words are supposed to be the solution, when the man is idly speaking against something in the mind or speaking about doing something as a countermeasure to something in the mind, and yet after having said all this the man remains idle. The man has spent time and effort upon saying all these things, and yet nothing happens or changes afterwards. What was then the point of it, in having considered himself needing to say all these things? Such speech has nothing to do with any choices in the reality, what can be done to improve things. It does involve a waste of our time and effort, when it is come up with beautiful lies and empty promises to subjective problems, only to make these problems go away. Such speech is being dry, something lifeless and spiritless, something rehearsed in a mechanical way. It is not the mere sound of it which makes words helpful, but it is rather depended upon the spirit of its meaning, what can be understood about it and applied to one’s life. It should be spoken about things which can be abided by and confirmed, since the words are meant to reflect real facts and challenges. It is not like the man should merely try to hide behind the words, their form or quantity, as if the words themselves were a ‘weapon’ or a ‘shield’ that could float in the air and get things done on his behalf. These words do not come to life, as some kind of living being that can fight battles on the man’s behalf, while the man himself, the one speaking these words, is being too cowardly to dare face anything. After having come up with such words nothing has changed in the situation, just like before the man came up with such words. It does not change what dwells in the man’s heart and what he is truly capable of, where that is rather being determined by actual choices in the reality based on an inner conviction. If the man can sense what is the right thing to do then he can head directly to the practice, without any further words, since it is already being transparent in the current situation. The man does not need to consider himself obligated to explain everything in advance, like by inventing these or those reasons which do either seek to justify or condemn the choice, when the choice speaks for itself. It can be a superfluous thing to dwell too much upon the reasons behind a right choice, since the actual choice remains just as valid as before, only promoting benefits. It is not like the man does first need confirmation or approval from his mind, or that from the mind of other people. But it can only be sufficient that the man feels like doing it, and he senses its value to himself.
               The man does not need to remind himself of things which he does already practice, which he does already have the habit of doing on each day and he is automatically being roused for it. And the man does not need an encouragement if he does already possess an inner strength to follow things through. It should be invoked the divinity for help during critical times, if the man does already lack determination and sound judgment, if he does already have trouble withstanding temptations. But the man does otherwise not need to discover new answers and repeat such words to himself, since he does already experience confidence and sobriety and inner stability. The man’s spiritual health has the most priority, and is to be preferred over things which are supposed to be done for the sake of the spiritual health and yet fail to do anything for it. Let’s say that the man would find himself in a sinking ship during a storm. The man should abandon the ship in order to save his own life, but the man should not sacrifice his life in order to save the sinking ship. For the ship did only have value while it was able to carry the man aboard and keep him from falling into the ocean, but if these conditions do no longer apply then the ship becomes expendable. This is why the man does not need to rely upon the mind in order to stay alive and well, because the mind did never fulfil such purpose to begin with, but only got in the way. The man should cease to have struggle in the mind for the sake of his spiritual health, because his spiritual health can be maintained and furthered by abstaining from all struggle in the mind.
               We should not struggle against the mind directly, like when we try to bend thoughts and imaginations to our will, when we resort to arguments and methods and tricks, when we try to misuse the faith to selfishly save ourselves. But we should rather allow the divinity to fight against the mind within ourselves, as something which happens in an invisible and unhearable way behind the scene. The faith in the divinity is capable of silencing the mind, in holding in check all its evil influence. It is something which happens when it happens. The man’s self-will and human effort cannot force it to happen when it suits him. The man can just as well disregard all thoughts while he does constantly move on with his life, having always some useful goals and industry, appealing to his interest and ability. Since the mind does always lie then the man is not obligated to give attention to its words, because he does already know better than that. The man does always have a choice in ignoring everything which the mind can express itself of. The man can continue to practice the things which he intended to do before he experienced temptation. All thoughts are insincere and self-centred in their nature. For it is not evaluated each case by its own merit and in an objective way, but it is instead implicated the matter too personally to oneself and judged everything in a biased way. It is like the mind is stationed behind the man and pointing to things in front of him, while the mind is lying about everything, slandering other people, and trying to create suspicion and paranoia of the unknown. The man does not need to struggle directly against the things which the mind has been lying about, by receiving the lies into himself and restricting his capability, by attempting to discover answers to the imaginary problems or try to disprove them in some way. For it is only sufficient to know that this comes from the mind, that thoughts are involved, so it is definitely a lie and deception, something which is already deemed to be wrong. Therefore should the man not give any attention to such delusions, and react like he had never heard them in the first place, as if the mind was only meant to be silent in all things. It is not everyone and everything which is being bad, but it is rather the thought about everyone and everything which is being bad. The mind does mention everyone and everything in a bad way. The mind makes everything seem to be impossible and problematic and a tangled mess. Such bad experience follows the mind’s bad presence. For example, an evil spirit is being tormented by an overwhelming fear, and when that evil spirit goes near the man then it spreads its own fear to the man. This does not mean that this evil spirit is powerful and to be feared. It is like that evil spirit is a rotting and stinking carcass which can infect other people of disease upon touch. When the man experiences bad thoughts about everyone and everything then he does not need to travel everywhere to everyone and do everything to fix it. The mind is the first/primary bad thing which needs to be withstood.
               If the man is positioned at the side of the truth then he has nothing to fear, no matter what kind of lies the mind can use against him. The man does not need to worry about that when he lacks definite answers for himself, for the truth does already make him free from all lies, whether he does actually know the answer or not. By simply having faith in the truth then it is received things as they are, and there is nothing about it which is meant to make the man become troubled. By choosing to live under the jurisdiction of the truth then it prevents everything from affecting the man’s internal condition for the worse. It should not be feared any unpleasant/disgusting thoughts, because it is through that fear that we give them further attention and our own needless reactions keep the problem alive. We should rather learn to hate the unpleasant/disgusting thoughts by shunning them altogether. It is renounced our own reactions in wanting to dwell upon them, and it is not allowed them to affect our inner stability in any way. The man must never allow his ego to be at the expense of other people, where he should do nothing out of vanity about his own importance, and he should do nothing out of fear that what could happen to his life. For the man will otherwise reveal a sign of weakness, and give the mind a chance to exploit it against him. Every time the man becomes concerned about his self/ego then he is allowing the mind to pick up the thread of that when last time tempting him. The greatest obstacles are those found in our mind, when something can seem so big and difficult in our eyes that we allow it to overshadow everything else in our life, and we are being too fearful to dare confront it. That can be likened to a mountain. It should neither be sought to climb that mountain nor go alongside it. The man should rather head straight through the mountain, as if a mere illusion would be involved which could only be dispelled by faith. A problem in the mind is a problem which only exists in the mind, because even that the problem in the mind is supposed to reflect a real problem (something about us or other people or a situation) then we do not need to struggle against the problem in our mind in order to solve the real problem as well. A solution to the real problem is found elsewhere, from another source than the mind. The problem in our mind is being a distraction and digression, something invented additionally to function alongside the real problem and to split our attention to two different fronts. We would have been better off having single undivided attention on that in solving the real problem, in keeping to the facts and available material in the situation and a principled approach. The man should renounce the temptations that exist in his mind, and he should renounce his own weaknesses as well, in which such temptations have hitherto been appealing to.
               The man is more likely to be affected by the opinions of the mind than the opinions of other people. It can apply that the man does not only experience words in his mind, for it is being accompanied by fears and impulses at the same time, which manage to grab the man’s body and shake his resolve. The man must cease to believe that such temptations are bound to his subconsciousness, reflecting some hidden or deeper attitude that he has but does not want to have. The man is not really struggling against himself, or trying to convince himself of ceasing to produce new wrong thoughts, since such process is originated from the mind and would have happened either way. This is why the man does not need to say or do something to prove something to himself, as if that could/would finally make the delusions be driven away from his life. The man should rather calmly and patiently live with these delusions, for as long time as needed, to outlast them in the long run. The subjective problems tend to involve tangled arguments. It can be experienced a convincing concern in our mind, where it does initially manage to affect us in a personal or emotional way, making us conflicted/divided about someone or something. A suggestive question can involve two equally wrong/improper options in answering (being either too little or too much), where if we choose to agree with either one then we will be found at fault and entangled by our own words. This tangled argument or suggestive question is a half-truth mixed with a lie, thereby making it best left unapproached and non-participated in, as the only way for us to not ‘lose’. If we choose to agree with the truthful part then it is like we are also agreeing with the false part. Or if we choose to deny the false part then it is like we are also denying the truthful part. Just by participating in this then we misspeak and get into a trouble. The questioner is also our intended accuser, and he does immediately ask about or inquire further into that which we had misspoken of. We had sought to end/conclude the first question by answering it, but now we are being trapped/ensnared by that same answer, and we consider ourselves obligated to further explain ourselves or to sort out everything. The end of one thing marks the beginning of another, where our improper reactions to one problem becomes a material for a new problem, as if this could go on endlessly. The best preventive measure is to confess/acknowledge it with ourselves that this being a hard experience for us and that we are unable to think clearly in it, so that we cast all these burdens upon the divinity and allow it to take care of it. And if we have already been entangled by our own words then we should simply confess that we were being wrong, and intervene no further, and willingly let go of it.
               Let’s say that the man would meet an adversary armed with an illusionary sword. This adversary points that illusionary sword at the man and makes it seem like he is going to strike the man with it. If the man fears for his own life and tries to save himself in a selfish way then he will instantly get on the defensive. The man will invent his own illusionary sword (self-centred arguments, methods, tricks), and he will exert himself so much in striking against the adversary’s illusionary sword that he will in end become utterly exhausted. And when the man has become exhausted then he considers himself to have lost the fight and he does subject himself under the adversary’s terms (even that the adversary has not actually hit the man with the illusionary sword). This applies when the man’s lengthy needless struggle against imaginary problems makes him finally lose patience in enduring aggressive and unpleasant thoughts. The man can be so afraid of ‘not’ struggling against wrong thoughts that he considers his own silence and inactivity to be a sign of his defeat, that he is now giving up and giving himself all over to their influence. When the man considers himself already defeated by negative thoughts then he begins to justify their negative influence on his attitude, and he begins to act on them and to let out negative things in his dealings with other people. But originally, the man should have done nothing and simply allowed/let the adversary to sting through him with the illusionary sword, for as long time as needed, while the man is being well rested and full of energy and at the top of his conviction. Once the adversary has stung through the man’s soul then the man realizes that he is not being hurt by it in any way, that he has still not lost self-control and still not done the wrong thing that he feared so much of being capable of, and that he is still able to do the right thing. All these things happening in the mind with their seemingly changing stances and opinions are only bound to the mind, without reaching down to the man’s heart, what the man really feels after all of this and what he is going to do about it. The spiritual struggle is not about brute force and clever words, but it is about having more patience than the adversary and to wear him down.
               Aggressive and unpleasant thoughts are only able to ‘hurt’ the man while he still clings to his ego, while he still considers his ego to be the same thing as his own life. But once the man is free of his ego and the ego has been separated from his decisions then he manages to rise above the mind, as if he were walking on water or being stationed atop a mountain. It can be mentioned Aesop’s fable of the oak and reeds. When a storm/hurricane came then the tall and strong oak would seek to stand upright and resist it (pride), and thereby become torn up by the roots, while the slender and weak reeds would bow low and last through the storm (humility). The mind can be likened to a giant which comes in front of us and blocks our view. Or the giant approaches us from behind and his body manages to overshadow everything in front of us. That giant is far taller and stronger than us. When we seek to overcome that giant then we should not try to grow taller and more muscular, since even that would succeed then we would still be far shorter and weaker than that giant. This applies when we seek to resist difficult thoughts by sheer willpower, when we seek to force ourselves through it in our human might, and when we seek to have the final word after many exchanges of words. But if we are going to overcome that giant the we really need to get/become smaller, namely so little/tiny that the giant is unable to notice where we are and he is unable to catch us with his hands. It is like we were a flying spark or gnat which always manages to slip through the giant’s motions. The lesser we get the lesser target we become. But if we would grow taller and more muscular than we would become even bigger target for the giant’s hits/blows. Hence we should ever be selfless and humble amidst every difficult motion within ourselves, and allow things to pass through which are beyond our control. And we should regard our own life little when it comes to serve the greater good, and leave/expose little to our adversary which he could make use of against us. But if we are being proud and seeking to justify ourselves then we keep answering and reacting in a way that puffs/swells us up, and entangles ourselves, and which we find harder to let go of when we are at fault. And if the man is going to overcome that spiritual giant then it is only sufficient for the man to believe that it is being possible, without him actually making use of anything against the giant (whether for defense or offense). The man keeps having silent determination in enduring anything that the giant can come up with, in refusing to say or do anything for the giant, in refusing to be turned/converted and not to serve the evil purposes of the giant, in refusing to comply with any evil demands and not to do any evil against other human beings. Hence the man keeps refusing to give up and be defeated by the giant, until that giant is the first one to lose patience. In the end the giant decides to give up on this impossible situation, that the man is not being worth all this trouble, so the giant goes somewhere else and thereby leaves the man alone. The evilness should be hated for the sole reason of it being evil, and where the hatred of the evilness is an end in itself. The man should hate the evilness more than he cares about his own life. It should outweigh any selfish concerns and needs. The man must ever be willing to suffer and die for the right cause. It should be obeyed the divinity in an unconditional way, and rejected all temptations in an unconditional way, regardless of that how it could seem to affect our life. That to hate the mind does not consist in that of being angry and hurl insults at it, but it is rather about withstanding as many delusions as possible with full self-control. It is thereby hated the mind through a constant active choice, while all words can be superfluous and needless.
               It should be acknowledged that the mind is the only one tempting and attacking us from within, but it does not concern anybody else, which the mind can attempt to slander in our eyes. The mind is the original tempter, the original liar, and the original enemy to the man. The man should not blame other people for his own faults, when these faults were being caused by his compliance with something that came from the mind and belonged to it. And even that other people are to blame for something then the man should still not go too far in blaming them, as if they were being altogether bad and permanently bad and so bad that they could not be redeemed. Many people tend to be decent and trying to do things in good conscience, where they commit mistakes unintentionally and through ignorance, where they did not know any better. And there are people which had once been bad and deliberately committed bad things, but the good side in them made them able to repent and confess the truth, to assume responsibility and avoid committing further bad things, and to instead do something good with their lives. Why should the man hate the ordinary sinner so much and blame him so much for everything, while the man leaves out the mind/devil itself (stationed behind him and pointing at someone else) which is encouraging him to hate and blame the ordinary sinner so much? It is a great injustice when the very cause/source of all these bad things is not identified responsible of this by the man, where the man allows this bad cause/source to continue unchecked within himself, while the man is gazing upon someone else and blaming someone else, when that someone else was also being deceived by the mind and also being manipulated as a tool by the mind. The mind is a pure evil being which has been tempting everyone in everything from the very beginning, where it makes no difference before or after something has happened, whether the person is already being innocent or whether the person has been found guilty of a fault, since the mind does either way seek to make use of something to undermine the person. If a person is already guilty of a fault then it is being harder to bear than if the person had been innocent of it, and yet it does not mean that this fault has caused the opposition/punishment of the mind/devil, since the mind/devil had already been deliberately seeking to oppose/punish that person from the outset. Let’s say that a man is guilty of a sexual misconduct, for having approached a woman in an improper way. When this becomes openly revealed and everyone know about it then that man becomes openly condemned and persecuted for it. That fault is kept being used against him, and he keeps being ‘punished’ for it by the masses. When other people condemn and persecute that man for it then it might seem to involve a sense of justice or just retribution, and yet the very driving force behind it is through the mind, which is not doing it through any sense of justice. That to encourage the man to commit a fault and then exploit that fault against him; is no different from that when the mind is slandering and accusing an innocent person. The mind might seem more justified in doing it through a fault than through an absence of fault, and yet it is all about the mind making use of any pretext to undermine the person within and on the outside. It should be acknowledged how insane and disgusting the evilness is, what does happen at the final destination, after the man has been corrupted in everything. But it should not be considered the evilness to be harmless and funny at the beginning, while the man is innocent and has still not gone over there, to the spiritual place of contempt and covetousness. The evilness does only end up being self-condemned, when its falsity and hypocrisy has been revealed, since it was in no justifiable position to accuse people or punish them for their faults.
               The man’s struggle against subjective problems can be likened to a quagmire. The man tries to save himself from aggressive and unpleasant thoughts by resisting it in his mind. But all this time the man is gazing upon the mind above everything else. All these needless reactions do only keep the problem alive and encourage it further. The man will sink the more as he struggles more against the selfish problem, by relying upon selfish arguments and methods and tricks, and by trying to hide behind transient and useless things. The man becomes self-absorbed and alienated from the reality. It would have been better if the man had avoided all such needless struggle at the outset, by not choosing to make it into his concern and staying detached from the same. Or it can be said that the real struggle is about the man keep being convinced of that in not struggling, no matter how difficult it can seem to let go of things and cease from his self/ego. That can be a struggle in itself, to resist his initial reactions in wanting to dwell upon things. And the man should have acknowledged the obvious truth in the situation, that the divinity is the only true spiritual refuge and able to deliver the man from any spiritual hindrance. It is an idolatry in itself when we invent something transient within and make it into a spiritual refuge against subjective problems, as if that lifeless and empty-breathing thing could save us. The mind is more of a threat than other people, because the opinions of other people are bound to the specific time and place where they are uttered, while the mind can come up with opinions in us at any time and place (as well as repeat the opinions of other people within us). The mind keeps following the man within, where the man is unable to separate himself from its annoyance, by travelling to a different place. The man should avoid all needless expectations, as if he could have the final word for once and for all, that the mind might henceforth leave him alone and speak no more lies. It is only sufficient to endure one delusion at a time, and the adversity which belongs to each day, until the next one. It should be evaluated the spiritual struggle in the long run, what it is that we keep turning our attention to and keep choosing amidst distractions. Everything will be made possible to the man so long as he continues to believe in the divinity, that it can always be victorious over the mind. It is about confirming it each and every time, on each and every day, no matter what can come up or change in the situation, no matter how one problem can seem different to another. The man’s mind is exposed to the influence of the evil nature. It is not really the man’s mind which is alive. The evil nature is an invisible adversary, capable of sending thoughts and imaginations to the man. The evil nature inserts its own thoughts and imaginations into the man´s mind, while making it look like they are the man’s own thoughts and imaginations. These delusions are automatic. They come over to the man. The man is not having any initiative in thinking in such way (manually).
               The mind is full of weaknesses and it can only rely upon the weaknesses of others. The mind’s success in exploiting human beings has more to do with the ignorance of human beings than any real strength of the mind itself. It can apply that a tyrant is not really powerful on his own and what he is able to achieve by his own effort, but he relies upon other people to do everything for him. The tyrant who has no good qualities of his own; relies upon the good qualities of other people in getting things done. When the mind is involved then it seeks to make human beings deny themselves of good things in their own lives for the sake of the evil things of the mind, until all these good things have been squandered and the mind is not alone in being devoid of them. To the mind, that which is being at the expense of human beings is somehow mean to exalt the mind in comparison. It is like a worthless man would not be able to become victorious in a challenge through fair means or through the things that he possess in himself. But he instead tries to corrupt/undermine all the other competitors through indirect means, until all the other competitors are no longer being fit for the challenge or they withdraw from the challenge. It is not a sign of strength when the mind craves for the attention of human beings, when the mind spies upon and chases human beings in secret, when the mind slanders and attacks human beings from the dark, when the mind resorts to hypocritical and degrading means to manipulate human beings into doing its will. If the mind was really being powerful then the mind would be powerful enough in not needing anyone. By doing all these things mentioned above the mind confirms itself being a parasite, something which has no independent existence. The mind has been doing all of this in an invisible/stealthy way behind people’s back, where human beings are not even aware of this enemy seeking to undermine them in secret, but they believe that themselves are thinking this and they blame themselves. It is not a sign of strength when the mind dares not do things straightforwardly and openly in the light, but resorts to the indirect and evading means of the darkness. When the mind haunts the man with aggressive and unpleasant thoughts then the man should not stop and seek to rationalize it, as if the man was experiencing such adversity all of a sudden because of something that he previously did to call for it (deservingly) and that he would need to appease it somehow. All such temptations are caused by the mind’s own wicked nature. It has nothing to do with the man’s current attitude and what he has been doing up till now, since the mind would either way have persecuted him at random. The mind does totally disregard the truth, even that the man proves to be blameless on his behalf, and even that he can come up with a correct reply. For the mind will then lie about something else, or hammer the same temptations again and again, hoping that the man will lose patience and try to defend himself through frail and transient means. The man should not try to change the mind, but he should rather change his approach of the mind.

5.3: Human Intellects

Realism is about acknowledging that the same natural laws apply to all men, regardless of that what man is involved. The same approach/choice under the same conditions will lead to the same results. If a specific approach had hitherto failed then it will also do so in the future, no matter how often it can be repeated or whether it is gotten someone new/fresh to undertake the same old/dry things. When something fails terribly then it should not be dwelt upon that how the external matters should have been different, or how other people should have acted/reacted differently. It is not like everyone and everything in the reality should have been different that our wrong opinion might become a correct one. We should have let go of this wrong opinion that we might adapt, instead of keep holding on to such wrong opinion while expecting everyone and everything to adapt to it. A ‘hindsight’ can be a pointless thing, when people in our times assert that someone in the past would not have lost a fight if that someone had done things differently. If that someone would have done things differently then the opponent would also have responded differently, and so forth, until that someone would have committed corresponding mistakes and failed in a corresponding way, based on his corresponding presumptions and weaknesses. For example, when there is a soccer match then one person can have the ball and an opponent can be guarding it, where if the person with the ball turns to a specific direction then the opponent responds by moving to that direction. It is not like a spectator can afterwards claim that the person with the ball would have scored a goal, if the person with the ball had turned to the right instead of to the left, or turned to the left instead of to the right. For the opponent guarding the person with the ball would have moved accordingly and there would have been no surprise about it. Hence ‘hindsight’ about the past tends to be pointless, because nothing is being ‘frozen’ in time or like an immobile statue unaffected by changes. Also when a wicked person ultimately loses a fight then it is a foolish thing to assert that the wicked person would have won the fight if it had done things differently. For the very wickedness of that person made God become its enemy and creator of its ruin. Even if something had happened differently in the past then it would still not have made any difference, because God would have made something else to happen to cause ruin to the wicked person. God is the one who can create all kinds of new opportunities/changes for better or worse. Broadmindedness is about observing the same challenge from all possible sides, before it can finally be deemed which approach is the best one or most likely to succeed. When there is fought an opponent in a game then it should not be come up with the same repetitive approach, which can be deemed too straightforward and predictable. When it is not bothered to wait and consider more intelligent means; then it is hurried/hastened to failure. A different approach can lead to exactly the same outcome as what defines the solution, so that a solution can be found from a different source and belong to a different basis. The best approach should require as much time and effort as needed, both when it comes to search diligently for it and when applying it in practice. It should be kept oneself to the main goal, what is wanted to contribute, what kind of outcome is sought for, or what is supposed to happen after the outcome (when affecting something else and allowing it to continue). This does define the essence of the solution, while all problems are called so because they contradict the solution, either preventing it or leading to some kind of digression from it. The hindrance should never have more priority than the path itself or the final destination, nor should a remedy to a problem overshadow the original goal and manage to replace it. If a specific remedy is good for the health of the human body then it should be resorted to that remedy. But if a specific remedy is not good for the health of the human body then it should be dropped, instead of sacrificing the health of the human body for the sake of the remedy.
               Judgment is about a good sense, in discerning what is being morally right or wrong, in noticing the difference between the opposing values or what clearly separates them from each other. It is not like the man does first need to commit a mistake and then only know better afterwards. For that judgment makes him capable of discerning its value at the very outset. The man does not need to trouble himself about clever arguments, which might at first seem to be logical and convincing, but are still the same contradicting humble truth and straight dealings (justice). It is only sufficient to know whether an argument is originated from the human spirit or the mind, whether it appeals to the man’s sense of decency or selfishness, whether it arouses something good or bad in him. A good speech encourages understanding and mercy toward other people, while a bad speed encourages presumptions and prejudices toward other people. By being aware of this then it can be wisely chosen or rejected the matter, regardless of its beginning or the means involved. It is thereby like the wise man approaches the matter in completely the opposite way, unlike most people which tend to trouble themselves about the logical structure of arguments. It is known that the speaker is clever and crafty, so that his arguments do also sound so. But it is also known that the speaker is a false and selfish person, so that kind of purpose dwells behind his arguments, to deceive and manipulate the hearers for his own selfish ends. If the man is able to withstand the mind then he will also be able to withstand selfish people, because these people listen to the mind and rely upon the same means. A judgment is not something which the man obtains through mere words, like if it would only be enough to agree with the right things or disagree with all the wrong things. For the man must make a moral choice, be consistent with his conviction and confirm it in his deeds. It does both involve pursuit of virtue and avoidance of errors, not only in regard to the external behaviour, but it also applies to the attitude or the intentions underneath. If the man does follow the divinity then he will be persecuted by the mind, because it is always pleased one source at the expense of the other.
               Wisdom does deal with the human nature, what does motivate the man from within and how it can be discerned in his bearing, so it can be known why he does speak and behave in a specific way. Intelligence is more bound to the physical world, when it comes to know material things and develop more efficient methods. Wisdom does apply to living beings and their manners, while intelligence applies to material objects and their properties, which the living beings can make use of in this world. Intelligence can help the man obtain success in specific pursuits, but wisdom does determine the premises behind it, whether the man should have pursued for it in the first place, what is the purpose with all of this, what that pursuit is supposed to bestow to the man later on. It is not enough to develop more efficient methods to obtain success, but the man must also make good use of that success afterwards. The man must know how to maintain the success with moderation and expand it further. Warfare can involve sophisticated technology and equipment, and the soldiers can show much bravery and employ intelligent tactics to obtain victory. But the actual war can be completely lacking in wisdom, why it was waged in the first place. People can go to war because of trivial matters and they covet petty gain from it, which thereby makes them neglect important matters at home and they lose their current advantages. And people can go to war because of propaganda which is far amiss of the truth, when the good of their own side is exaggerated and the good of the other side is belittled, and the bad of their own side is belittled while the bad of the other side is exaggerated. And people can behave in a foolish way after it has been obtained a victory, like when it is treated the vanquished with arrogance and made him to take the blame for everything. It is thereby like the warfare is highly advanced, while the actual people remain spiritually primitive. They do not understand why they are actually doing such things nor who behind the scene is manipulating them into doing it. If the people had shown wisdom then there would not have been any unfair demands leading to a war nor any unfair demands after the war has ended, and it would have made all the sophisticated armies needless (along with the arms race or military buildup). Intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom, and education is not the same thing as judgment. The man can educate himself in specific fields, but it is still no excuse for him to become arrogant, as if he had become expert about any matter in the world. For that his education does not reach to spiritual matters, concerning human nature and morality. Let’s say that there is a man who possesses high intelligence but low wisdom. That man has an inborn/natural talent for education and he keeps getting the best grades in school. But when that man witnesses the weaknesses and mistakes of other people then he immediately judges them in a harsh way. When that man finally reveals a tiny weakness or mistake of his own then he receives it too personally, where he treats himself in a harsh way and he feels like everything is about to collapse in his life. He keeps gazing/dwelling upon that tiny weakness/mistake above everything else and he refuses to let go of it. Because that man has been so accustomed to that in having everything perfect and successful in his life then he is being utterly unprepared for temporary exception/setback when it finally happens. Now let’s say that there is a man who possesses low intelligence but high wisdom. That man is being ignorant and incapable in regard to worldly matters, how things work out in the world. That man keeps revealing his ignorance to other people, and he keeps misunderstanding the situation, and he keeps committing mistakes, although he never possessed any deliberate will in doing wrong things and he never wanted anything wrong to happen. That man keeps doing all these wrong things, and yet he is being wise enough to leave the wrong things where it happened and he keeps trying to do things in good conscience. When that man witnesses the weaknesses and mistakes of other people then he is being mindful of his own frailty, where he allows all of this to pass over as soon as possible (without prolonging it), and he keeps wishing all the best to the people involved.
               Logic is not the same thing as truth and wisdom, but rather what appears to be truth and wisdom. There is a need for deeper truth concerning the human causality, or rather the invisible force at work behind it. A person can speak and behave in a specific way, but other people can derive wrong impression from it and misunderstand the reasons behind it. The person can be sincere and innocent in its intentions, and yet the person can speak out of turn and openly give impression of something else. The person did only afterwards realize that its outspoken words could be interpreted in a wrong way by those hearing it. The mind did of course tempt the person, by deliberately coming up with an improper suggestion, but the person did never deliberately want anything bad to happen while speaking its mind. This is a flaw with logic, because the mind can frame an innocent person, so the straightforward choice will seem to have been made by ulterior/dubious reasons. It can be mentioned when a criminal seeks to frame an innocent person for his own crime, by manipulating evidences in the environment in order create a false impression. It is planted evidences which are supposed to happen before and after a crime, as if the framed person would have touched such things and it had led to some reaction. But the framed person was not actually present at the scene, and it did not possess the will to commit a crime, so it does thereby contradict the forged evidences. Therefore must be discerned the difference between that what did really happen and what was made to look like to have happened, and which party was in position to do such things and which one was not. It should be looked upon this in context with the mind and its influence, which does manifest itself in selfish desires, delusions, impulses, mental symptoms, body symptoms or signs. It is not like these temptations happened because of some external incident, even that the timing might seem to give such an impression or a logical context. Let’s say that the devil can touch/grab the man’s body about ten times within a specific time frame. When the devil touches the man’s body then it temporarily disrupts the ordinary activity of the body and there are some kind of bad effects involved. The devil seeks to maximize the effects of these touches/grabbing. The devil does not grab the man’s body at random, or the devil does not grab the man’s body only one time in ten different/separate matters (in no connection with one another). But the devil does rather choose to wait and only grab the man’s body while he is involved in the one same matter (ten times), whether the man is doing something or using something or meeting with something. It might seem like the man has a bad experience every time he comes into contact with this one same external matter, and yet this external matter is irrelevant and not to blame for it. It is rather the devil which tries to make it look so, by making calculated grabbing at the same time. This bad experience is being caused by the devil’s touch/grabbing, and this touch/grabbing could have happened anywhere at anytime, as something totally beyond the man’s control. Such external matter, at such contact at such time, is being framed by the devil. That which is being breathless and lifeless does not possess a will of its own to harm us. It is not like we should fear mere material objects of being capable of causing threat or harm to our spiritual wellbeing. The real force which is capable of threatening or harming our spiritual wellbeing; is the force which is making us fear these material objects in question. Words do not come out from nothing, but it must always have been originally spoken/transmitted by a person. The man does experience selfish arguments in his mind, because the mind does possess the deliberate will to speak to him, and the mind proves to be selfish in its nature. The man does still have a choice what is decided to do after he has been tempted, whether he will show allegiance to the divinity or the mind, to truth or lies, to human decency or selfishness. Craftiness is mostly bound to enmity between selfish people, where it is sought to discover weaknesses in the enemy and exploit it against him, while hiding one’s own weaknesses. The man does first become selfish, and then afterwards does he rely upon craftiness and deception in order to obtain success in his selfish pursuits, at the expense of someone else. Craftiness is always intertwined with false dealings and corruption, so that nothing good will ever come out of it. The virtuous man would never have participated in selfish pursuits, nor relied upon evil means to get ahead in the world. But the virtuous man does rather rely upon wisdom in order to overcome the craftiness of the mind and the craftiness of evil men following the mind.

When the man educates himself then he must carefully consider square one, what kind of fields he does have interest in above others, and what he is capable of enduring in the long run. But the man should never neglect square one and then afterwards change his mind, while he is still in the middle of a specific field which he has lost interest in or is unable to finish. For that such process will otherwise continue to repeat itself, where the man does always begin a new undertaking before he has even completed the previous one. The man must first participate in specific fields and experiment with them, before he can discover which one appeals to him what most, and which is he is really good at. But it is not like the man can decide such matters during idleness, where no enlightenment will appear while the man is doing nothing at all and while no material is being available. All cheating proves to be short-sighted in its nature and counterproductive, because the man will remain just as foolish and incompetent as in the very beginning. The man can perhaps get good grades in school and be graduated from it, but he will still be unfit for the real challenges, the profession which the school had been preparing him for and reflecting. For the assignments and tests were meant to increase the man’s understanding and skill, leading to his personal improvement, but good grades were never meant to be an end in itself. There is nothing shameful about that when the man is stuck upon a specific assignment, when he is unable to understand and solve the lessons, so that he is in need of help. For that kind of ignorance and incompetence was already present in the man, but he is now finally realizing it, like when hidden objects in darkness are being revealed by the light. This makes the man aware about the things which he does still lack and needs to be improved, but he would otherwise never have known about it if he had avoided the challenge. The man must know how to handle defeats, and make a good use of them, because the man can learn something from it and do better next time in corresponding situation. The man must first understand his own weaknesses before he can overcome them, and he must change his manner of approach if he is going to avoid a similar defeat. It can be mentioned when it is fought against an opponent in a tactical game. It is not like the man should constantly repeat the same straightforward approach, by using the same trick again and again, as what has applied to all the easy challenges up till this point. The man does on the contrary need more difficult challenges and more difficult opponents, if the man is ever going to increase his own understanding and skill. The man should never boast about easy victories over easy opponents, which has more to say about their ignorance and and incompetence than the actual merit of the victor. That to only seek easy challenges makes the man stagnant, where he does never reconsider his own tactics in a game, what he needs to change in order to counter the enemy’s moves and adapt.
               It is always best to study with moderation, where it is spent a specific time upon reading the material and undertake assignments until one will become tired and bored. And then it can be spent some time upon a hobby in between, so it can raise/lift up one’s spirit and make one willing to continue with the study. There is a balance between work and fun, where one does have fun in order to refresh oneself and to make the work easier to endure in the long run. Hence many small contributions will lead to one great outcome. It should not be spent too much time upon work alone and overexerted oneself, because one can be present in the body while one’s heart and spirit is being totally absent. For that one will be already tired and bored, distracted or unable to maintain any focus for long, so it is like the reading material does either way make no impression and does not arouse any response in oneself. And it is not like one can go hastily over the reading material, as if it would be spent a shallow time and effort upon each content, so that one will either way not remember anything. The man does not need to trouble himself about many fields at the same time, because he will otherwise neglect each and every matter, when he needs to focus upon the one in front of him. And the man does not need to think about these fields in the meantime, while the reading material and assignments are unavailable to him. For man will otherwise waste his energy upon needless fears and worries, which will make the man already drained and tired even before undertaking the assignment. The man should only give attention to such matters if he is in position to do something about it, whether to read the material or participate in the assignment, by noticing facts and adapting to them. The man can become stuck upon a specific field or assignment, because the material involved can seem too outlandish in his eyes, with its technical words, dry and lifeless formalities, and longwinded descriptions. It should first be concentrated upon other fields and challenges, which the man is able to solve and keep the schedule in. And then finally can be used the remaining time upon the most difficult challenge, which is still beyond the man’s understanding and capability. It can still apply that the man is unable to make any progress in that particular field, like when the man is being good in humanities but altogether bad in natural science. It is like nothing about that field is able to appeal to the man and nothing is being aroused in him, so the man is unable to keep up with it or it is like he is staring at a blank wall. It can thereby be reasonable to sacrifice that field, that the man will be able to keep schedule with all other fields, which are still within his reach in completing. The man would otherwise allow that impossible field to drag down other fields with it, because he has invested too much time and effort upon it, which could have been spent upon the other ones and improved them further. When it comes to read a specific material then the man does not need to focus upon every detail, as if he would be able to remember everything at the same time. It should rather be had a good overview and separated the main issues from the minor ones. The man should only emphasis upon the parts which seem to involve some kind of context and analysis, in getting straight to the point and what is common with the content. It can be deliberately disregarded all the pointless and boring parts, which the man would either way never have remembered. It is instead spent twice as much time upon the important parts, because the man does only emphasis upon half the material and is more likely to remember it. Such gamble can work in humanities, when the exam allows the student to choose from the available questions.

Creativity is about inventing things upon entirely different basis, involving new setting and principles. But when it is imitated the creation of other people then it does defeat the very purpose, why it is created things to begin with, since that one such version is already enough. An original entertainment done well in the past is being preferrable to a new version which only involves better graphics. Many creations turn out to be cliché-like, uninspired, and stagnant, because it is put the same old things into a new costume and merely recycled previous ideas. The outward appearance might be different and involve different names, but everything happens in the same way as before and what the people can do. A good entertainment is supposed to be a replica of the reality, where the creators of the entertainment have their own developed skills and experience of the reality to draw from when making it. But a bad entertainment tends to be replica of a replica, where the creators of that entertainment draw their ideas from the entertainments that others have made. It is like the new generations have become so accustomed to that in being consumers of entertainments that there is no personal experience and developed skills to be drawn from the actual reality. (This does of course also apply to the one writing this.) It is digressed from the creative source that had been at work in those that started with nothing. A fresh thing springs up from a fresh thing, where a new thing should be put into a new vessel/receiver, instead of a fresh thing being instantly implicated to the old things or that it is first being consulted with the old things whether a fresh thing is being allowed. Fiction does to tend combine issues of already existing creatures. For example, the mythical dragon is made of parts belonging to a snake (head), crocodile (torso), and a bat (wings). The man must first experience various creations before he can learn to appreciate the best factors, and which ones most appeal to him. It does reach to that what is considered original, interesting, daring, beautiful, funny, witty, intelligent, deep, and complex, so it is wanted to take such essence to the next level. For example, it is not imitated/repeated the detailed form of dialogue which is considered to be witty and funny, but it is rather kept to the spirit or driving-force behind the dialogue which made it witty and funny. Something previously made is being an inspiration in going in a certain direction, while the rest/crossing of it is being fresh and original. Something previously made by others functions as a springboard to one’s new vision of making. It is held unto the interesting part of the whole, while it is separated the uninteresting parts from it, the ones which is disagreed with or found to be lacking. It is thereby implicated the interesting part to one’s own creation, unless it does apply in a different context and setting.
              If the man is going to become a skillful writer then he must do so from his heart, where silent inspiration emerges spontaneously while the writing does take place. It has nothing to do with any preparation, as if it would first be stopped and then thought about the next move. For it is like the man’s hands are in command, where it is allowed every perception and touch to lead himself forth, by being constantly active and having these things sharpen each other. It can be received an inspiration in few words, which does point to the right direction, what it is approximately meant with such expression. And after it has been begun then the man will somehow know how to write more about it. Each inspiration can become a constant extension, where one thing does lead to another, so it is like everything does come naturally on its own accord. It can always be revised the material afterwards, what kind of words are preferable to others, by adding or removing something that the sentence will be more to the point. It can happen that the man becomes stuck upon a specific topic, and does not know what to say about it. That to be in a better position to express himself about it is not something which can be forced to happen or be obtained directly. But the man must first become more spiritually mature, a better person through better choices, before he can become a better writer. The man should only express himself according to his personal conviction, knowledge, and experience, but he should otherwise put the matter on hold or write about something else. It is about preferring quality over quantity, where the man will obtain few words of wisdom after overcoming many foolish thoughts. The man should keep himself to the original reason why he began to write in the first place, what he is trying to accomplish with it and appeal to in his readers. But he does not need to digress from that purpose, by being too concerned about that in avoiding a possible misunderstanding or by defending himself from possible criticism. If a specific opinion/argument does involve some kind of bad side or hole/weakness which can be exploited against it then it should not be come up with such opinion/argument. It is tried to solve one thing while creating problem in another thing instead, where it might seem to do good in a limited matter and yet it is opens up for bad things to happen in other matters. This short-sighted remedy leads to unforeseeable disruptions in the working of the whole. It should rather be kept to that which involves an universal/general truth, something which can apply in any matter at any time and any place, something which is being even/balanced on the weighing scale of justice.
               It can be discoursed upon that in having good taste regarding entertainments, where it is only chosen entertainments of high quality and fun factor, above the mediocre ones and poor ones. Entertainments are nothing more than entertainments, where they do only have value for as long as it can raise/lift up the man’s spirit and give him respite from his work. It should not be taken fictional entertainments too seriously, in regard to its realism and details. For it is only a replica of the reality, but it can never become greater than the reality itself. Fiction is a fiction because it is meant to offer an entertaining escape from the reality, like if the man’s finds his daily tasks to be boring and he wants to be somewhere else doing something else. That to expect fiction to be as real as possible does defeat the purpose of seeking fiction in the first place, because the fiction would then be reminding the man of the boring things in the reality that he is trying to get respite from. That to be somewhere else is not only bound to the physical body or by travelling to some exotic location, but it is also about being somewhere else in one’s mind or spirit. If the man has a bad taste then it does not matter how rich he can be, and how many things he can buy, since he will either way not derive any enjoyment from his purchases. It is more efficient to have a good taste and only purchase entertainments that are of great quality, although they might be few, since it is at least made good use of the time. It does not matter whether a rich man can own countless possessions, because he can still only make use of one entertainment at a time, and be stationed at one place at a time. This is why every man can just as well buy one thing at a time, and then make a full use of it, before he can begin to buy another product. The man would otherwise be hoarding up possessions which he does not use, where much more time can be spent upon the search for such products than upon its actual use. It is based upon the personal merit of the creators whether an entertainment will prove good or bad, like the person directing a movie or the team developing a video game. It is not the trademark itself which is important (the name of a popular franchise), as if it would make every sequel good at default, because when different people are involved making a sequel then it leads to different results. The franchise did originally become popular because of the involvement of the original creator, but when he is not involved in the sequel then the sequel fails to live up to standard. Hence it should be followed the works of the creative person, instead of following the franchise which that person had started and yet is no longer being involved with. It can be categorized fictional entertainments into four types. The first type is original and of great quality. The second type is fun and bearable, but still more of the same. The third type proves to be overrated because it does lack a soul or fun factor, even that everything else has been well made. The fourth type is of the poorest quality, only a waste of time. And some entertainments are well made in their own way, and many people enjoy them, but it does still not appeal to oneself and it is not appreciated it in the same way. It is thereby acknowledged that one is not in any position to judge that entertainment, because it has more to do with one’s own restrictions than the material in question. If new entertainments are found lacking in quality then it can be searched for older ones, even by going back a couple of decades. For the outward appearance (graphics) does not matter, if the people back then were being creative and had good sense. These good old games have heart and soul, because the people working on them did so with all their heart and soul.
               Entertainments are not being sinful in itself, or it is not being sinful to make use of entertainments between work. It is rather being sinful when one does become so obsessive over entertainments and spends so much time upon them; that one neglects to care about persons when it is called for in circumstances. What is being preferred over the other, or what does come before the other? Is it being preferred a living being over material things, or is it being preferred material things over a living being? Let’s say that a child is watching a movie or playing a video game. There is nothing wrong about that. But let’s say that the parents of that child ask the child to care for its younger sibling (toddler) while the parents are away. Then that child must be willing to put aside this entertainment while caring for its younger sibling. Now it involves a choice between that beloved one and the entertainment in question. If the child keeps having most of the attention on the entertainment and keeps participating in it (while not bothering to check on its younger sibling); then that becomes blameworthy in itself. But if the child manages to restrain itself and be devoted to the task in caring for its younger sibling; then such moderation justifies that the child can continue to make use of such entertainments at other times. That the child is being moderate and responsible enough to be allowed certain perks/privileges. But if the child is being unrestrained and of volatile temper in the use of such entertainments; then it calls for the measure to deny the child further use of the same. Something similar can be said when an adult makes use of entertainments. If there is no pressing need/demand calling for our attention at such time then it is ok to forget ourselves in entertainments. But if it happens that our beloved ones want to meet and spend some time together; then we should be immediately willing to put aside all these entertainments and abandon them for a time, that we might have full attention on our beloved when we finally meet and try to make the most of the time together. That we are not being conflicted/divided within in wanting to do something else at the same time. That we are not being lukewarm and doing things half-heartedly. That we do not come up with excuses and refuse to meet our beloved ones in the first place. If the divinity has given us a calling in life, when it comes to serve the greater good, then we should diligently work toward that in fulfilling it and never forget what has been entrusted to us. We can make use of entertainments in between, that we might avoid the extreme of doing something too much, that we might not become disrupted by obsession and begin to do things badly. These entertainments are merely being means to that end, while not being an end in itself. In our times it is being claimed that video games are to blame for the violent crimes of young people. It can rather be stated that violent crimes are committed because of absence of charity, when a person has from its youth spent so much time upon entertainments that the person has neglected human relations and thereby the charitable experience during it. It is like that person has spent so much time upon entertainments that it does not love anyone, and its lack of experience in human relations has led to nurture of hostile attitude toward other people. But if the person had loved someone and trusted in the good experience among other people then it would have dispelled all these hostile presumptions about other people.