People's spiritual functioning
and
its problems
This chapter
serves to raise our awareness of people's
spiritual problems and moral qualities. For this purpose,
we shall examine and specify the consequences of two basic
qualities: one from the
intellectual domain and the other from the moral
spiritual domain.
1.
People
are wise
creative evolving
beings
Thus they are necessarily imperfect, causing their activities,
responses and standpoints to also be imperfect.
A person develops because his urges lead him to do so, and his
qualities carry out this development. If we assess their future
by their past, people will continue developing at an increased
rate. Therefore we may say that they have a natural and constant
goal,: striding towards progress.
In order for people to realize this purpose, their qualities
must develop too.
A person
develops his qualities
and realizes his
goal through creative action that results in the appearance of suitable
end-products. We may say that a person occupied in such an
activity is functioning optimally.
In order for a person to do so, he requires appropriate
knowledge and goals. Thanks to the drive for progress, people
have both the urge and the ability to obtain this. Apart from
the sources within one's self, people have two additional
sources.
a.
The social
source
provides this content through: copying, faith, and proof.
Society also provides encouragement for its successful
attainment.
b. The
spiritual source
partially or
fully provides this content through creative flashes from the
marvelous spiritual source known as the
"Universal Mind”
Due to
people’s imperfection,
not everyone develops properly, and thus not everyone provides
these creative end-products; that is, not everyone realizes
their purpose. To be precise, few people do.
Socially,
the informational content and goals, which others provide are
often incorrect. This regards to information based on copying,
and even more so in regards to content
based on
belief . The encouragement society provides may be
faulty and the content-processing may be wrong for the same
reason.
Spiritually,
not every person receives assistance from this marvelous
spiritual source.We may say
that an individual who does not realize his purpose has
obstacles in doing so. These impediments cause a person to feel
frustrated and to run around in circles. Generally, these
obstructions also lead to erroneous, primitive functioning.
2. People
are creative positive beings:
Therefore, people can
do Good. Plato and Confucius, the
ancient world's great philosophers, confirmed this, and the
Pentateuch asserts it. Furthermore, people have an urge to
do Good.
A person
acts of his free will, convinced that he is
doing Good.
Thus we may say that people were created to do Good.
Love is the main cause, which leads people to do Good..
Performing Good and loving are the results of proper
spiritual development.
People, as
positive beings, will function optimally when doing Good.
"A person must know Good in order to do it." – Plato
A person who functions with high self-esteem will know it, and
one who expresses love will make proper use of it.
"A person who knows Good will also inform others of it"
–Plato
We may sum
up by saying that people’s purpose is to creatively
doing Good
as they stride towards positive progress.
Thus, the knowledge and goals required for this purpose’s
realization must also be positive.
Due to
people’s imperfection,
not everyone does the true Good, and so not everyone realizes
their purpose. One fails to do Good if something stands in his
way. This obstruction stems from a lack of proper development of
one’s spiritual domain. This obstacle also harms
people’s development and functioning, including their spiritual
welfare.
If the way towards doing Good is
blocked, the urge remains naturally active and manifests itself
in the direction of evil.
Even in this case, a
wrong-doer attempts to carry out what, in his eyes, appears to
be the good, proper thing. We will refer to this as the "false
Good".
Thus we
may say that people, as imperfect creations, naturally do
both Good and evil.
If a person
does evil (the "false good") of his
own free will, most of his spiritual powers will
take part in its execution, and so the resulting destruction
will be maximized. It is not so when he does evil under coercion.
People will also do maximal evil when they use erroneous
knowledge and goals; namely, when they believe or accept as
truth that in realizing it they will
do Good.
This spiritual problem is among peoples' most severe, and the
main reason for the disasters they have caused others, and
sometimes themselves, throughout history.
In conclusion: We
may confidently assert that
people’s spiritual problem is the doing of
evil, stemming mainly from their imperfection and it is
situated in their spiritual realm, a realm that for
various reasons we know little about.
Not only does a person perform evil due to his imperfection, but
these actions lead one to create and develop false 'truths,
which harm him and the other, which he is willing to fight
for and die for in order to perpetuate.
This imperfection gives them life and its beauty, but also the
negative expression of their abilities with all the harm it
causes.
Therefore,
in order to get people solve their acute spiritual
problem, the Creator already furnished us long ago with His
ultimate spiritual improvement and encouraged and even
ordered us countless times to fulfill it.
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