The Concept of a Pan-World

Concept of a Pan-World II

The people you meet in life are like shops. You visit them in the expectation of finding a little hope or consolation, a little love or faith. Sometimes you are disappointed because you are greeted with a metaphorical kick on the shins, and this means that the 'shop' in question does not have what you were looking for.

This is why our work here in the Brotherhood is to encourage human beings to become 'shops' that are so civilized and spiritually cultured that whenever you visit one of them you can be sure of finding the Godhead. This is the kind of humanity that we are working to create, and once we succeed, no one will want to hide away in his own little corner, because everyone will know that if they visit others they will be able to find what they need and go home happy, their problems solved.

Yes, this is the new humanity that we are preparing here in the Brotherhood. The brothers and sisters who are here are all 'shops', and each one offers his or her own particular brand of energies, fluids and qualities. One is working to cultivate purity, and when you are with him you feel yourself becoming pure. Another is full of love, and with her you are influenced by love. With yet another you find yourself becoming wiser or stronger. In this way you are nourished by all the qualities and virtues you need and can continue to grow towards perfection. Nature has designed us in such a way that if we lack something we need we can look for it in others. Why do men look for wives?

Because a man lacks certain elements that he can find only in a woman. And the same is true of women: they look for husbands in order to find something that they lack. But marriage is an inadequate solution - very inadequate. The only way to find everything you need is to maintain fraternal relations with a whole collectivity.

To be sure, you cannot cease to exist as an individual in order to melt into the collectivity. You will always be an individual, but that individual must learn to vibrate in unison with others and share fully in the life of the collectivity. It is possible to become a collective being while remaining an individual. A man and his wife, for instance, will always be seperate individuals; in spite of the love that unites them they will always be two separate, different beings. When they get on a bus, go to the theatre, or eat in a restaurant, they will always have to pay for two tickets, two seats, two meals. In fact if they tried to object, claiming that they were one, not two, they would never convince anyone else of that unity; they would be more likely to end up in a lunatic asylum. when I talk about being part of a collectivity, therefore, you must understand what I am saying. It is not a question of cutting yourself up in little bits and scattering yourself throughout the collectivity. No, you must always be an individual, with your own name and your own body, but inwardly you can live a collective, cosmic, universal life. It is only in your thoughts that you can become one.

I have studied many spiritual movements, and I have seen that they all stick to their antiquated ideas. They do not seem to realize that we need something new today, because life is new, life has changed. The forms and rhythms of life today are so different that the methods of the past can no longer help people to become better. It is because human beings themselves are not the same that the old forms and old explanations offered by the Church no longer satisfy them. Young people especially need something new, something that the Church is incapable of giving them, because it has not real will to change. All the established Churches and doctrines try to nourish people with 'tinned food', spiritual nourishment that was dried or salted or bottled thousands of years ago.

But there are no tinned foods on the menu in the Universal White Brotherhood; on the contrary, in this restaurant all the fruit and vegetables are freshly harvested and the bread is just out of the oven.
Archaeology is very fashionable today. In fact it sets the tone in every area, and people are being fed on archaeological remains - tinned foods. If someone tells me that he is a painter, a musician, or a philosopher, I know that this means that he is an archaeologist; he is only interested in old ideas. But here in the Brotherhood we breathe and eat the sun; we contemplate living nature; we are in communion with the divine forces of today. What is the point of cutting oneself off from the living reality of today in order to go and look for what has been extinct for ten thousand years? All that is dead and gone. What is it that makes people want to poke about among the rotting remains of the past? Of course, you must not misunderstand me. Archaeology is a legitimate science, and there have been archaeologists who have made some extraordinary discoveries. What I have said about archaeology must be understood symbolically.

I can see that this point of view is new and rather surprising to you. Yes, because we are talking about what is new. Everything I tell you is new and will always be new - one day you will find this out for yourselves. Do you know why it is all new? Because I am not an archaeologist; because the water I give you to drink is always fresh, newly drawn from the source. Everybody chases off nowadays to study the ancient Egyptians and Persians, the Druids, Bogomils, or Cathars, and never thinks of studying the realities of today. They are proud to be seen as people of the past. They have no interest inlearning about what is new, about the new life springing from the fountainhead about the new message that God is sending humanity today. They cannot see that God is still with us, that the same truths are still with us today; and the reason why they cannot see this is that they are archaeologists. In fact, if an initiate came with even more to offer than the Bogomils, Cathars, and Albigensians, they still would not recognize him, simply because he was alive.

Everybody is eager to seek out the dead; the living are of no interest to anyone. People glorify those who are dead and gone and despise the living. They wait until they are dead before building temples in their honour. Yes, this mentality is truly amazing. Of course, when I was young I was an archaelogist like everybody else, but the truths taught by the initiates of the past are accessible to me today because I am open to what is new. And this can be true for all those who open themselves to what is new.

The truths that I see all around me will become visible to them too. Why have they never been able to see them before?
You will say, 'But this new life that you are talking about, the collective, fraternal life, is still a long way off. It is still too difficult to understand.' Difficult to understand? How can it be difficult to understand? A hundred people all looking at you with such love that you feel so happy you would like to die - is that so difficult to understand? To die and be buried... Yes, but you will have died of love and that is far better than dying of anger or hatred. We still do not know all the divine treasures human beings contain and that they will one day be capable of producing.

Do you not think that every pretty girl you see in the street is burning to let others see all the charming and adorable treasures of her heart? She is, but the trouble is that she is not allowed to; she is obliged to hide all these treasures and keep them locked up inside, because she has to obey those idiotic archaeologists, whose narrow archaeological wisdom teaches that she must always distrust everybody and never smile at a stranger. This is why I say that mankind in its true form still does not exist. An evil mankind exists, yes, and that is why, in spite of all his culture and civilization, man is still a troglodyte, a caveman.

When the new era comes, human beings will allow all that is good in them to manifest itself without fear of danger or harm, and it will be the kingdom of heaven on earth. The world will be filled with love, joy and song. You will say, 'But that is bound to degenerate into debauchery.' No, just the opposite; debauchery exists today because people do not know the true meaning of love. In a world in which all human beings love each other, men and women will no longer feel the need to pounce on each other simply to gratify their lust. A true understanding of love prevents man from behaving like an animal. Look for true love and you will no longer feel the need for such things. You will feel fulfilled, you will be bathed in splendour.
You will never achieve very much all by yourself; you can accomplish much more when you are part of a collectivity. Have you not already experienced this for yourselves? You are feeling dicouraged, tired, or let down, and then you come to the Brotherhood and the sight of all those friendly smiles, all those faces shining with ardour and enthusiasm, soon restores your courage. Whereas you can curl up and bemoan your fate all alone in a corner for years, and nothing will ever change; no one will come and console you. Why are people so stupid that they fail to understand this? They say, 'I do not want anything to do with a collectivity, thank you. I'm perfectly happy by myself.' All right, if you insist, but you will see what is in store for you. So many men and women, even when they are still very young, have their own ideas and plans and systems, and they are absolutely convinced that everything will work out exactly as they planned. But later in life they see things differently. Even distinguished philosophers are forced to change their philosophy and admit that they were mistaken.

Of course, some people are quite happy to be alone. But suppose a young man who was once content with his solitude meets a ravishingly beautiful young girl. As soon as he compares this new sensation of well-being to the satisfaction that he experienced in his solitude, he will find that he much prefers his present state. Ah yes, he is much better off with his beloved in his arms than when he was all alone. And to have his beloved in his arms is already the beginning of the collectivity, for it is not long before a whole brood of little ones arrives. Of course there are people who do not want to get married because they are too selfish and do not want to work to support a family; but they do not know that selfishness does not give them the right to remain single and that they will be punished for it. It is sometimes legitimate to remain single, but only if your motivation is divine. Otherwise it is much better to marry and have children, for then you are obliged to do something for others instead of shutting yourself away in selfish isolation.
We must make it quite clear to human beings that the collectivity is in their best interest, for the only thing they understand is what concerns their interest. You can reveal all kinds of truths to them, but you can never be sure that they will allow themselves to be convinced. Except in a few rare instances, the fact that something is true does not carry much weight. If you can show people where their interest lies, then the battle is won, they will be convinced for ever after; whereas if you only show them that something is true...

Years ago I used to meet people at receptions, and many of them were magnificent, highly educated, cultured people. But let me give you an example of the kind of conversation I would sometimes have with them. I am talking to an elderly man who tells me that he is seeking truth. I immediately look suitably impressed, ecstatic even, for as you well understand, it is a very honourable occupation to seek truth; it is greatly to his credit. Then I ask him, 'And have you not found it yet?' No, alas.' 'But you are still seeking?' 'Yes.' 'Ah, that is wonderful. But is it so difficult to find truth? How old are you, sir?' 'Seventy-five.' 'Seventy-five, and you still have not found truth?' 'No.

Well, at this point my expression begins to change and I say, 'My dear sir, let me tell you that you have found truth several times in the course of your life but you have never accepted it. I can also tell you why you have never accepted it.' At that he looks at me with astonishment. 'Yes,' I go on, 'it is very easy to find truth, for it is everywhere. You have certainly met it and seen and heard it, but you have never accepted it because you have had too many others things in mind. You have been looking for your own brand of truth, and when you met the truth and it failed to match what you had in mind, you said, ''No, no I am looking for a different truth, one that will be my servant and allow me to be the master.'' But truth, my dear sir, is not a servant; it is a princess, and it is we who must be at her service. The trouble is that you do not want to serve; you want to be served. I can only conclude, therefore, that you have never really sought truth; you have only sought a servant to gratify would have found it a long time ago, for it is always there. Even now, today, it is there if you want it, but you do not really want it.' Well, I will not tell you how such a conversation ended.

So, as I was saying, we have to show human beings where their interest lies. We have to show them that a collective way of life is wealth, that it is a blessing.

The face, the eyes, the voice, the thoughts of each individual emanate something and contribute something to the whole.

For my part, I have been nourished by this life for years and years; my brothers and sisters give me so much love. You will say, 'Yes, but for you it is different. What about us?' You too. If you know how to behave, you too will receive so much love from all the others that by the time you leave you will be filled to overflowing.

What is stopping you? Your wife? Do you think she would not let you love or be loved by someone else? Do you think she would be jealous? No, you do not understand. It is not a question of being loved by another woman but by all the brothers and sisters of Brotherhood. Your wife cannot possibly hold that against you. She could not be jealous, because she too would receive the same love.
The trouble is that people just do not know how to live. They think that if they had just a little nich of their own, all their problems would be solved. No, they do not know how to love, you could move freely about the world and be welcomed with open arms in every country as members of the same family; whereas, as things are today, you are a stranger in every country but your own. Foreigners find all doors closed to them.

Let me give you the example of an experience I had one winter night during the war. One evening I took a late train from St Lazare statino in Paris, intending to go back to Sèvres. I do not quite know what happened, because I took the train from the same platform as usual, but I soon realized that it was not going the right way. I got out at the first stop only to find that there were no more trains to Sèvres that night. I thought that if I told the man who was selling tickets what had happened, ho would tell me if there was a nearby hotel where I could spend the night, but he refused to listen to me or answer my questions and shut the window in my face. He must have been frightened because of my foreign accent (after all it was wartime, the country was occupied, and nobody felt safe). I went out to the street hoping to find somebody who could tell me where to go, but everything was closed, people had barricaded themselves indoors. What could I do? I walked about for a while wondering where to go. It was no great hardship to spend a night out of doors - I could always meditate. The only trouble was that this particular night was very cold and my overcoat was not very warm.

Finally I sat down on a bench and began to pray, asking the invisible world to come to the rescue. Within a few minutes I heard footsteps coming closer, and I could tell from the way they rang out on the cobbles that it was a German patrol. I thought to myself, 'If I start to walk away they will see me and it will look suspicious,' so I got up and walked briskly towards them. When I found that they understood French, I explained what had happened to me, and they must have sensed that I was telling the truth, because they took me to a house that they seemed to know and knocked on the door. When an upstairs window was opened, they explained my problem to whoever was inside, but without a word the person slammed it shut again at once. 'It doesn't matter,' the Germans said; 'Come with us.'

They then took me to a mansion where there were a lot of people, mostly German officers, I believe, and gave me a bed. On another bed in the same room was a German, who woke up from time to time in the night and spoke to me, but not knowing German I did not understand a word he said. As for me, I lay there unable to sleep very much, thinking how strange it was for me to be there in the middle of the war, benefiting from the hospitality of the Germans. The next morning I was invited to join them for breakfast, and once again I was astonished to find that nobody questioned me. I had expected at the very least to be asked why I was there having breakfast with them, but not a word; and after breakfast one of them walked to the station with me. Why had they treated me so kindly when not a single Frenchman had even listened to me?

If human beings persist in their refusal to understand that their best interest lies in brotherly relations between all peoples, life itself will intervene toteach them a lesson. And life is relentless. Why do people still cling to notions that date back to the Stone Age when their only concern was to survive, when their only task was to find food and protect themselves against the wheather, wild animals and their own kind? Today, civilization, things must change. All the elements necessary for a world-order of universal brotherhood are now in place. The only obstacle is the ill-will of human beings who refuse to let go of their atavistic tendencies. Universal brotherhood is just around the corner, but they will not consent to it. They refuse to participate in this work, because they are always busy with other things. Each individual is absorbed in his own affairs, and the rest does not interest him. How can universal brotherhood ever be achieved in such conditions? And yet, if all human beings gave their consent, it would happen very quickly.

Yes, the key to the whole thing is consent. Take the example of what happened with Hitler: do you think Hitler had any really outstanding qualities? No, and not only was he quite unexceptional, but he was sick and deranged into the bargain. The one thing he had in his favour, the things that made him so powerful, was the consent of millions of Germans. He himself was not a powerful man, but for a few years the consent of others made him almost the ruler of the world. If this could be repeated, if this massive consent could be given not to a Hitler but to an initiate, in order to put the idea of a Pan-World into effect, you would soon see the results. Unfortunetly, when it comes to plundering, sacking and burning, there are always plenty of volunteers willing to participate; but for an idea, especially for a divine idea, no one is willing to lift a finger. If you stop on a street corner and start to make a speech against thegovernment of against the rich, you will soon have a crowd round you ready to lend a hand and demolish everything. But try talking about Christ or the Kingdom of God and no one will bother to stop and listen, except perhaps two or three old ladies who have nothing else to do. And if I started a club for all those who had lost their teeth or their hair or their waistline, I would have millions of members; but for this idea of the kingdom of God I have had nosuccess at all.

You must not think that I am so naive that I do not know how difficult it is to convince and stimulate people to work for good. I do know it, but should I stop trying just because it is difficult? The greatest difficulty lies in getting human beings to give up certain pastimes, certain pleasures that are a waste of time, and persuade them to commit themselves to this gigantic, useful work. Yes, but the fact that it is difficult is no reason why I should stop trying, stop talking about it. No, I am not so naive - a little, no doubt, but not so much as all that. I know that what I am calling for is almost impossible to achieve, but we must achieve it. When will it be achieved? Before very long: when life's difficulties are even greater; when people see that it has become truly impossible to live together and start seriously looking for solutions. When this day comes they will find the solution in the teaching of the Universal White Brotherhood. There is no other way. And when they find this, the only solution, they will have all the methods they need to start making things better.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

The Concept of a Pan-World III

Mankind is like a body in which each country is an organ made up of living, working cells. But the organs of mankind are not animated by the same intelligence, the same disinterestedness (disinterestedness meaning altruism, the absence of bias motivated by personal interest or advantage, is a key word in OMA philosophy) as the organs of our physical bodies, because each country works for its own interests to the detriment of its neighbour. The way in which the human body functions was decreed by a sublime intelligence, whereas the functioning of human society is the work of human intelligence, and this is why things do not work; the body of mankind is ill and in danger of death. This is why we should study the structure of human beings and take it as a model. We must know how nature designed them, how they function, what is good for their health and what makes them ill; and then we must understand that all the same rules apply to mankind as a whole.

When your brain and your heart are in good condition, even your feet feel well; you can feel that your feet, and even your toes, rejoice. And then if your feet are cold, your nose starts sneezing; it is your feet that are cold but the nose that sneezes. Do I need to give you any more examples? When one organ is well, all the other organs feel it and rejoice; and when one organ is in distress, all the other organs fell the same distress. Only human beings rejoice when another country is in distress, because human beings are bad cells, bad organs.

Why have politicians, economists, and philosophers never taken the human organism as a basis for their studies? The human organism embraces everything: you can study it for thousands of years without coming to the end of the immensity it contains. As I have told you time and again, our physical body is a summary of the entire universe.

One of the first things one sees when studying the human body is that when the organs fail to work together disinterestedly for the good of the whole, all kinds of deficiencies and diseases appear. Just as human beings try to grab everything for themselves and give nothing to others, there are cells in our bodies that are unwilling to collaborate and work for others. These are the anarchic, egoistical cells that keep all the food and energy for themselves and produce tumours and cancerous growths. And who teaches a man's cells to behave like that? He does. His cells are simply following the example of their master; it is he who introduces the disorder in his cells by setting them a bad example.

Cosmic Intelligence has decreed that all our organs - the stomach, heart, lungs, and so on - must work unselfishly together for the good of the whole being. How can men fail to see that it is thanks to this unselfish attitude, this selfabnegation and spirit of sacrifice, that they are alive and healthy? It is because disinterestedness is thousands of times more beneficial to us than egoism that the initiates attach so much importance to these qualities. We may think that we are gaining something by being selfish, but in fact we are sowing the seeds of disease in ourselves. Human beings are always looking for a chance to take advantage of their neighbour - in fact they pride themselves on this attitude. For my part, I read what the human organism tells me and I foresee that those who behave like this will perish, for they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. You will say, 'That is all very well, but you cannot survive in this world with a spirit of selfabnegation and sacrifice. You will die.' On the contrary, it is this selfless attitude that plants within you the seed of health, harmony, resurrection and eternal life.

The trouble is that human beings have sunk so low that they can no longer see what is staring them in the face. If they were willing to study the laws of nature they would reach the same conclusions. Believe me, these laws exist, and it is high time you knew and respected them. It is also because of these laws that we work without payment. I have been working for an idea for years without payment. Occasionally, if some money falls into my lap I will accept it (usually, but not always), but I have never asked or demanded to be paid. Human beings do not know how to work for nothing; they always want to be paid. This is why they are ill and unhappy, because they have swallowed the germ that disrupts and destroys their cells. You will object, 'But it is not possible to work for nothing; we have our families and our children to look after.' Of course, I understand, but I have solved the problem for myself. Just think of how much a doctor asks for a consultation that takes five minutes. My advice is far more useful than that of any doctor, and yet I never take any money. I would be a multimillionaire by now if I did.

You too must learn to work without payment. When all those for whom you have worked so generously see how radiant and luminous you have become because of your idealism and your disinterestedness, they will not leave you in poverty; they will give you more than you would ever have asked for. Not all at once, perhaps, but in time they will come to recognize your good qualities, and even those who begin by exploiting and taking advantage of you will end by regretting it and paying you a dept of gratitude.

Knowing how greedy and unjust human beings are, disciples are aware in advance that, however hard they work and however devoted and unselfish they are, none of it will ever be properly appreciated. And this means that they expect no reward from their own kind. They know that their only reward will come from heaven - and the rewards we receive from heaven are far more precious than money. What is money, after all? It cannot give you happiness, peace, or light. But if you work for a divine idea, your name will be recorded in heaven; and unlike human beings, heaven will never let you down. It will send you all its most precious gifts of joy, inspiration, and bliss. Are these not worth a thousand times more than a few coins?

People pay others for their services, and then they do not have to love them. They say, 'I have paid them, haven't I? Why should I love them as well?' Sometimes, in fact, they dislike those they pay and want nothing to do with them any more. And those who are paid often sense this. They receive money but they are unhappy, for they receive no love, and nothing is worse than to be deprived of love. If you want to be loved you must learn to do something for nothing; then you will be paid with love. In the future the currency of love will be valued more highly than any other.

As you see, human beings never really think; they never learn what they must do to be happy, how to bask continuously in the light of heaven. They say, 'I really could not care less about loving other people. What I am interested in is having enough money to eat and drink as I please, to go wherever I like, and to make love with any woman that takes my fancy.' Well, that is another matter. Those who want a lot of money are neither sensitive nor spiritual. They have many crude needs, and it costs money to provide for them. If they were interested in serving heaven they would have fewer claims on them from all sides and would not need so much money.

I am not against money. It is perfectly legitimate for people to be paid for the work they do, I have no objection. But for my part, I work without payment because I know the immense happiness that comes from working day and night without expecting anything in return from human beings. And you can have no notion of what I receive. It is nothing material or visible, but is is worth far more than money, and it can only be bought with disinterestedness. Yes, with disinterestedness you can buy both heaven and earth. All you have to do is give your heart and soul, your thaughts, your will, your health, and your whole life to the heavenly spirits, saying, 'All I have is at your service; my life is yours.' And since nothing is more precious than life, your sacrifice surpasses everything else, and the heavenly spirits are obliged by the law of divine justice to give you a particle of their celestial bliss. But if you are not ready to give anything, you cannot hope to receive anything; they will give you nothing. Here on earth it is possible to cheat and swindle others, but you cannot do that with the sublime entities; if you give nothing, you will receive nothing. If you want to hoard your wheat and refuse to sow it, it will either go mouldly or be eaten by rats.

A disciple must learn to give his life to heaven. He must say, 'Here is my life; it is yours for the service of the Kingdom of God, for the light of the world, for the happiness of all humanity.' The sublime spirits on high are so astonished when they hear a human being - one among the four billions that inhabit the earth - saying such a thing, that they come from all directions to look and listen. The event is so rare that they gather together to marvel and rejoice to see an earthling offer them his heart and soul, and promise to serve them with his whole life.

Yes, this is all too rare. Everybody keeps everything for themselves. A young girl says, 'I intend to live my own life.' Yes, she will live her own life, but how? With great 'weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Why does she not decide to give her life to the Lord? He would send her intelligent beings to teach her what she should do to gain eternal life; whereas, by wanting to live her life in her own way, she will not have the guidance and enlightenment she needs and will live a life of sensuality and stupidity. By wanting to live her life in her own way she is preparing to do herself an injury that she will never be able to repair. So many young boys and girls talk about living their own lives, and those who hear them expressing this wish think that it is perfectly legitimate. But when an initiate hears these words he knows that those who say them belong to the category of ignorant and unhappy human beings who have no idea of what is in store for them.

Dear Lord. How are my brothers and sisters ever going to understand me? Give me the most overwhelming arguments and the most striking images so that at last, for the first time in their lives, they may be convinced. Yes, I pray to heaven to help me make you understand where your happiness and your interest lie. Your interest lies in disinterestedness.

Of course, there are always some who give a few minutes of their time without payment, but they keep all the rest for themselves; they still cling to their personal joys and pleasures. Those who have really solved the problem are not very numerous. Many people are ready to make an occasional effort, to sacrifice and renounce something every now and then, but I am obliged to say that there are not many who dedicate themselves totally to the service of light. Human consciousness is still too limited to grasp the splendour of this work. Most people are still trapped in their ancient conceptions, still ruled by the traditional fears and stratagems of the family and of society.

However, although I talk like this, I fully realize how difficult it is to dedicate oneself to the Lord. For a disciple to dedicate himself to God from an early age he must have already done a great deal of work in this direction in previous incarnations; otherwise it is impossible. With the best will in the world he could not do it; his whole being vibrates on a different frequency. He would find no joy, no inspiration, nothing that appeals to him in the idea of dedication; on the contrary, it would terrify him. It is not possible for everybody to understand this idea. Some may understand it theoretically, philosophically, but they still cannot put it into practice, because all the tendencies of their being lead them in another direction; they have other needs, other desires, other pleasures.

It is extremely difficult for most human beings to achieve this kind of spiritual dedication, therefore; but there are some, a few rare beings, who come into the world with this idea. From a very early age they feel that they are already dedicated. Nobody forces them, it is just that it gives them great joy to dedicate themeselves. And as soon as they do so, they are under the protection of heaven. They receive all the light and guidance they need to see where they are going, and whatever their circumstances, however great their trials and tribulations, they are always protected, always safe. The sufferings they endure are not sent in order to destroy or annihilate them but to strengthen them, to incite them to conquer and prevail, to lead them to the highest peaks.

This does not mean that those who dedicate themselves to the Lord from an early age can expect to live in comfort without many hard lessons and trials in life. Far from it. Heaven takes care of them, but it does not let them stagnate in an effortless, uneventful, insignificant life. He who dedicates himself must realize that he will be tested. Not because he has to be punished or destroyed, but because he has to move on and reach other levels where he can develop and blossom, where he can awaken other possibilities within himself that could never be awakened if he were left to a life of tranquility and ease. If you read the biographies of great initiates who dedicated themselves to heaven, you will see what they went throught. Some of them knew that their trials were for their own good and neither kicked against the traces nor allowed themeselves to be defeated. They knew that those trials could transform them into divinities. But there were others who were not so enlightened: their suffering was too much for them, and sometimes they rebelled. They could not understand why heaven continued to treat them so cruelly, even though their whole life was dedicated to God and they were filled with love and selflessness.

The one thing that spiritualists (The word 'spiritualist' in the language of OMA means one who looks at things from a spiritual point of view, whose philosophy of life is based on belief in a spiritual reality) stand most in need of, therefore, is knowledge, true knowledge. They think that once they dedicate themselves to God, milk and honey will flow for them; they will walk on rose petals and be welcomed with garlands. Of course it is true that we find promises of this kind in the Bible, and it is also true that they will one day be fulfilled, but only when we have come through all our trials with success. Many spiritualists have no idea why God seems to ill-treat them although they do nothing wrong, and they rebel against this seeming injustice that they cannot understand. Here you are being given the light you need to understand that if these things happen to you it is for your own good. Even the purest, most upright, noble and luminous of beings, even those who are overflowing with love must endure certain trials, and this does not mean that God has abandoned them.

Apparently even Jesus experienced this terrible sense of solitude, for when he was on the cross he cried out, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' How could he, who was so exalted, so luminous, utter such words? God never really abandoned him; he was always with him. Yes, but in spite of what Christians believe, Jesus was not God, and in the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed, 'Father, if it be your will, remove this cup from me, 'because although he knew that his death was decreed, he still wanted to avoid it. And when the Gospel tells us that while he was praying his sweat became 'like great drops of blood,'it reveals the almost unimaginable state of tension he must have been in at the thought of the death that awaited him.

I am not saying this in order to belittle Jesus in any way; on the contrary, no one is more aware of his greatness. But Jesus was a man, and at the bottom of every man's heart lurks a trace of fear and anguish in the face of suffering and death. But a heavenly messenger was sent to comfort him and tell him, 'Your prayer has been heard. The Lord knows how great your suffering is, but it has been decreed. There is a reason for your torment. You know this reason, and you know that it will reverberate through the centuries so that all mankind may benefit from your sacrifice.' Then Jesus accepted what was asked of him, saying, 'Lord, not my will but yours be done.' It is not easy, when our trials are upon us, to say, 'Lord, may your will be done. I know that it is for my own good and for the good of humanity.' You have to be very highly evolved to be able to say such a thing.

You must make sure that what I am revealing to you today is indelibly imprinted in your minds. If you are not working for good, if you have not dedicated yourself to the Lord, the trials you have to endure will be of a different kind. They will be a punishment for the faults you have committed, and if you do not know how to overcome them, you will descend into hell; you will become a demon. Yes, there are different kinds of trials. When someone works for the glory of God, the purpose of his trials is his ultimate transformation into a divinity. But if he works against the light, against good, the trials he experiences are stumbling blocks and punishments. True, they are also designed to help him and to prevent him from sinking even lower, but they are still a punishment. It is important to understand, therefore, that these two kinds of trial are quite distinct. Many people - even many spiritualists - get them mixed up. They are incapable of seeing the difference because they do not possess the criteria they need.

This you must know, therefore: if you persist in an attitude of cupidity, egoism, and animosity, you will be introducing the seeds of disintegration into yourself.

This is an absolute law. Analyse yourselves, and if it gives you pleasure to imitate the lowest beings because they seem at first sight to enjoy some success, then by all means do so. But I warn you, you will never know peace.

Why not? Because this truth that I have explained to you will never leave you in peace. Never. You will never feel safe, you will always be saying to yourself, 'What is in store for me?' Even if you do not believe what I have been saying, some of it will have filtered in and registered within you. Without your realizing it, all my words are etched into your being. One day in fact, when they rise to the surface and manifest themselves, you will be astonished to see how much of what I have said has been recorded within you. So much the better. Believe me, when I say something, it is never in vain. From now on you will not know have a day of peace. You will say, 'But that is terrible; you are our sworn enemy.' No, I am not your enemy, but I still say that you will never know peace again because of this truth. It will continue to tighten its grip on you, and sooner or later you will be obliged to restore order to your lives and get back on to the right path. Only then will you know peace and tranquility. 'An in the meantime,' you say, 'it is your fault if we know no peace,' No, do not blame me, blame heaven, I am only the servant of heaven.

The human organism is a book, and in this book I find all the essential truths. But most educated people never attach any importance to what God has placed in man. All their research is limited to what so-and-so said or wrote, and they take pride in quoting their favourite author, however nonsensical. They never have any opinions of their own. For my part, I never quote anyone.

Human beings have never observed what goes on in their own bodies. They have no idea that when they are well it means that their organs are functioning harmonisously. They do not know that the foundation of their health is the law of sacrifice and self-abnegation. Mankind as a whole is also a body, and the different countries are its organs, but instead of working harmoniously together, these organs are devoured by cancer, and the world is doomed to perish because egoism and self-interest are the order of the day.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov