Christmas Blessing -- Objectivity And Subjectivity

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings in the Name of God and Jesus Christ. I bring you very special blessings, my dear ones. At this time of the year the stronge forces of love, coming from the King of the Universe, touch all the spheres. Whoever is open and in quiet harmony can receive this force, that is a blessing for your body, for your soul, and for your spirit. However, in many instances it is difficult for this force to penetrate into your soul. This golden ray must rebound if your emanation is not harmonious. You close yourself against it when you have resentment, anger, and hurt which, in most instances, are so superfluous, so very much without issue. You know that the remedy is not to push these feelings aside as though they did not exist, but rather to take them out into the open and ask God, ask Christ, to show you where a root in yourself builds up a wall that stands between you and these blessing forces. These forces are waiting to regenerate you with a very lasting effect. Let them flow into you, my dear ones. And if you are angry at your brother or your sister, then try to understand both yourself and the other. Do not be more severe with the other than you are with yourself. And that, alas, happens with the best of you. Try to build up your love, your understanding, and your forgiveness so as to be able to partake of this wonderful spiritual nourishment that could fill your heart and every particle of your soul, to cleanse it forever of all impurities.

We in the spirit world are particularly happy about this group, for most of you have made serious efforts. These efforts have borne fruit, although in some instances you still cannot fully realize the value of your work. But some of you do understand, or begin to understand. You begin to observe in yourself a greater harmony at moments where only a little while ago you felt angry and resentful. Now these negative feelings occur to a lesser degree with many of you, as well as less often. This progress happens only indirectly. You could not accomplish this by forcing yourself not to feel disharmony, but by going to the roots of your conflicts within yourself. And that is the way you will reach this healthy detachment. And it will increase, until the time when you can be touched only by love and by brotherly understanding. Then you will not be blind to your shortcomings, but you will face them. Hence they will no longer affect you.

My message now is to tell each and every one of you who has worked in this direction to continue. Go ahead, even if the beginning is difficult. The forces of Good, the strong, golden rays of the Christ, will fill you more and more, not only at particualr times when these forces are stronger in the whole universe, but at all times. Until you have reached the goal, keep on trying to penetrate your own disharmony, so as to be able to take in what is waiting to bless you. If you sincerely try, then you will receive a great deal of help.

Many of your dear ones in the spirit world have found their way here tonight. Most of your dear ones in the Beyond, with few exceptions, have been led here. They listen and they see. You, too, can listen, my dear ones, but you cannot see what these spirits are allowed to see at this opportunity. During such a lecture, a part of the sphere is building itself up by the forces working to establish such a communication. Thus, these spirits see a golden light and beauty, a harmony of splendor such as they have never seen before. This represents the Christmas gift to them by the world of God. The way that spirits see, and the significance of their sight, is different from human sight. When you see a beautiful landscape, or another beautiful sight, then it may be wonderful to behold, but it has nothing to do with you, with your own state of mind, with your own peace and inner harmony. But when they see beauty, then they realize that this is a world -- a state of being -- that can be theirs if they live according to these teachings. Try to visualize and to imagine that such a world is here, both around you and in you. In the spirit world you see what you hear and you hear what you see.

My dear friends, Jesus Christ died on the cross in full knowledge of His freely chosen fate. His life and His death occurred according to His will and to His desire. In other words, it was not a fate that overtook Him, such as happens to other human beings where it is a question of karma, of cause and effect, but it was a freely chosen deed. He chose this life and this death because He realized that it was a necessity. This is the greatest act of love. You all know the story of the Salvation. I have already explained it at length. My dear friends, have you ever thought about this deed, that is the greatest deed that has ever been committed? It already is an act of courage when a human being goes through a fate that is inevitable in a spirit of positive and constructive self-search, in an attitude of humble acceptance. But how much more courageous it is to choose such a fate out of love hardly needs to be explained. This should make you think that true love, true kindness, and true unselfishness is unthinkable without courage. Meditate of what courage means. If you lack courage, then you do so because you love yourself too much in a sickly way. For there is the right and proper kind of self-love. Cowardice can exist only because of this self-pampering, self-pitying self-concern. Courage ascribes as much importance to a cause, to an issue, or to another person as to the self. Therefore, courage and love, in the last analysis, are inseparable. Think about that, my dear ones. You will not only understand better Christ's life and death, but you will also be able to evaluate, and thererfore to understand yourself better. Thus, you will be more successful in your process of purification.

By the work you have done so far, it should not be difficult for you to see where you are courageous and where you lack courage. And where you do lack courage, there you will always find that you must lack love as well.

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And now I should like to discuss the subject of objectivity, which I touched upon occasionally in the past, but about which I shall say more this time. Objectivity is another essential requisite for the free and harmonious human being. The more unpurified and disharmonious you are, the more you will be lacking in objectivity. Objectivity means truth. Subjectivity means colored truth, half-truth at best, complete untruth in many cases. Subjectivity means unconscious or undeliberate untruth, contrary to a conscious lie. All of this emanates from the emotional level of one's being. By purifying the depths of your soul, you will at first find where untruth exists within. Then, after the untruth has been ousted, you will be able to plant the truth within yourself. It is needless to say that only this Path of stringent self-search will make this discovery, and the ensuing change, possible. This is merely an additional angle for viewing the process as a whole, and yourself in particular, which cannot fail to help you to advance a step further.

Let us first take the common phenomenon that what you see in others as a grave fault you often do not se in yourself. It makes no difference whether you have the same faults in the same way and with the same strength, or in a slightly different and modified form. What you observe in others, and what you so strenuously object to, may even be right in itself. Yet it is a half-truth because you judge others and you do not see where in yourself you also deviate from what is right and good in a similar way. Furthermore, the fault of the other may co-exist with qualities which you yourself do not possess. Thus your judgment is colored, for your objection concentrates on the one sore point you focus on, while you leave out many other facets which would be necessary in order to complete a comprehensive, overall picture. So when you judge others in your mind, when you resent their faults, please ask yourself: "Don't I, perhaps in a different way, have a similar fault? And doesn't the other person, whom I judge so harshly, have qualities that I lack?" And then start to think of such qualities which the other person has but which you do not possess. Also think whether you do not have faults different from those of the person whom you judge and resent. All this will help you to view your anger at other people's faults more objectively. And if by chance the outcome of such deliberations should really be that your faults are so much less and your qualities so much superior to the other, then all the more reason for you to cultivate your tolerance and your understanding. For then you would indeed be in a higher state of development. This gives you, above all, the obligation to be understanding and forgiving. If you lack that ability, then all your superior qualities, all your "lesser" faults mean nothing. If you make serious endeavors in that direction, then God will help you to be more objective. Thus you will have more peace, and that which now bothers you so much will cease to upset you. And, incidentally, when you are upset about another person's faults, then there must be something in you that is not right either. You know that, my friends, but when such opportunities come up again, then you forget it. If you truly wish to find what is in you, then God will help you. And here you should not be concerned with the fact that the other person may be obviously in the wrong -- so much more wrong than you are. Try to find the little grain in yourself, instead of concentrating on the mountain in the other. For your own unhealthy speck robs you of your peace, and never the mountain of wrong in the other person.

Then there is the other extreme of subjectivity. This comes from the same root, although it manifests in a different way. Many human beings are very severe with those by whom they feel unloved and criticized, or at least insecure. Then their defenses lie in being severe toward the other. If you rest secure in your own value, then you will not feel insecure, and therefore you will develop a natural tolerance. But most of you are still so insecure that you resort to such defective defense measures. It falls into the same category of blindly idealizing the person of whose love you feel secure. In such cases you do not see the very trends that you most strenously object to in other people. That is dangerous, too, my dear ones. It is all the more dangerous because this tendency lends itself extremely well to the self-deception of regarding it as love and tolerance. When you close your eyes to the faults of those you love because they love you, then you try to tell yourself that you are tolerant and good. No, my friends, that is not true. True love can see reality. And if you are ready to love in the most vital and mature way, then you will not try to close your eyes to the faults of the loved one. If, however, you do so persistently, then it is for two reasons. One is pride. For the one you have chosen as your loved one and the one who has chosen you as the loved one must not have faults that you do not consider right. Oh, you may admit to some faults of the other, as you admit to some faults in yourself, knowing that no human being exists who is without weaknesses. But you continue to ignore many trends, half consciously thinking that this attitude proves your love and your tolerance. But it is really done out of pride. The second reason is that deep down in your heart you are so insecure about your own ability to love that you need an idealized version of the loved person. But it is not true love when you have an idealized picture. It is a weakness, and often even a bondage. Real love is freedom It can stand the test of the truth as it prevails at this moment of development in the other person. When you reach that stage, then you will be able to see the other who is dear to your heart as he really is, and not the way you want to see him. As long as you close your eyes to the real picture of the other, then you are as yet not capable of love. Indeed, on a rather superficial layer of your subconscious you are aware of this incapacity -- that you go on busily closing your eyes out of the fear that if you saw the truth, then you could not go on loving. This pride and your present inability for true love make you go from one extreme to the other. Either you close your eyes to the true person who is close to you and dear to you, or else you judge him too harshly, even though the criticism may be justified in itself. The isolated fact that you object to may be valid, but not your evaluation of the whole person, with so many other facets that you have no way of knowing contributing to the complex.

In the case of a person who persists in blindness regarding the loved ones, it is often unavoidable that a crisis, a shake-up, and a painful awakening takes place which will hurt deeply. Actually it is not the other person who has disappointed you and hurt you, but your own past deliberate blindness. In such a crisis, deep down this is what you resent most of all. Avoid such a crisis, my dear ones. You can do so if you learn to see and to love other people as they really are. I would like to give you the following advice, my friends: think of the people you love most in this world and then make a list of their qualities and of their faults, as you are doing for yourself. And then ask other friends, mutual friends: "Please, tell me, what do you really think, am I right? I would appreciate your telling me your opinion about his qualities and faults and whether you see the other as I see him. I will not be insulted, I will not take it as nasty criticism. I ask this for the purpose of development." If it can be done together, if both are on the Path, then all the better. But then compare the faults as seen by you and as seen by others who are more detached and objective than you are. And then observe your reaction when you hear faults that you either could not or would not conceive of in the other. When you become angry and hurt inside, then this should be a sign that you are not objective, that you fear the truth -- and probably because of the two stated reasons: pride and your inability to love the other as he really is. For otherwise you would remain calm, even if your beloved is accused of a fault he does not possess.

This may be very healthy for some of my friends. In this way you will learn to evaluate the people you love, whereupon your love will mature and grow in stature. Thus you will grow out of your immature state wherein you love like a frightened child that cannot see the truth. In the last lecture I spoke about the child's mentality that continues to exist in your images. The child knows only good or bad, only perfection or imperfection, only omnipotence where he can feel secure or utter weakness that he must shy away from. The child can love only the first alternative. When he discovers that a heretofore adored parent has faults and is not omnipotent, then he either turns away from the parent and begins to hate him and resent him -- in other words, feels let down and disappointed -- or he hides his discovery in his own subconscious, feeling guilty about having discovered something derogatory in the parent. These reactions continue to live in a human being's soul. As a result, they color both his reactions and his behavior patterns throughout life, until they have been reviewed and newly evaluated in the light of mature judgment and of reality. When you approach your present relationships from this point of view, then at first the process will be painful. But it is not half as bad as your resisting subconscious will make you believe. Do not heed it. Go on in your search for truth. I can promise that you will evolve a much happier, freer, and more secure person. This is the only cure for many of you. And I beg of you, do not say that you do see the faults of your loved ones. Yes, you may see some of their faults, but perhaps only those that you can tolerate; other faults you may not allow yourself to see. Thus you have no conception of the entire personality of the loved one. You see a distorted picture, just as distorted as many of you are who are too severe and intolerant with others. The picture is out of focus in both instances: both are mirrors that do not reflect reality. Each mirror distorts in a different way. You are so scared to approach the sight of reality, because the childish emotions still live within you, that seeing an unpleasant truth in the beloved person forces you to withdraw your love. But that is not truth at all. If you approach this particular search with the knowledge that your love is still imperfect, then you must grow and mature, instead of becoming weaker. Thus, you can better counteract your resistance to the finding of reality.

Each one of you must know which one of the two extremes of subjectivity mentioned is more important to tackle first. Both alternatives will apply to all of you, but one always stands in the foreground and therefore needs to be worked on and concentrated on to begin with. Many of my friends have recently experienced incidents which necessitate such an approach.

Objectivity needs courage. Many of my friends are as yet too weak and too cowardly to see the truth in others, as well as in themselves. This is equally unhealthy. Mature love means to love others in spite of their faults, knowing them, seeing them, not closing one's eyes to them; and then to build on the good. Immature love means an absolute either/or, which you have moderated in the course of your intellectual maturity process by admitting to certain faults that do not violate your own standards and concepts. It is equally immature to judge tooo harshly, as though all human beings were on the same level of development. But it may not even be the case that the other person is less developed than you are; he may simply be developed in another respect. Therefore you cannot compare, or judge; you should simply see. If you cannot see without anger, then you should realize that this reaction comes from the same origin as the other extreme indicated here, namely that you cannot accept imperfection and thus, emotionally, are still a child.

So follow in the footsteps of Christ in this respect, too. Crucify your illusions, which you build up for your ego, for your vanity, for your pride, and for your still existing inability to love. Out of this truth, you can then erect true love.

And now, my dear ones, let us turn to your questions.

QUESTION: Is silent prayer, without the uttering of words, sufficient or does the formulation and verbalization of loud words in prayer prove more effective?

ANSWER: If the words are concisely thought out, then a silent prayer is just as effective. There is no doubt about it. In fact, if a spoken word is expressed lightly, without the impact of emotion and of meaning, then it has much less power and less of an effect, and therefore is a much weaker form than the word that is thought out and deeply felt. However, if -- for instance in a group gathering -- a person finds it difficult to pray in front of others, then that is something to look into, for that means a block. What does this block mean? It often means pride. Yes, my friends, this might seem strange to some of you, for you may have so beautifully explained away the fact that your inability to pray in front of others is "modesty." Still, when you analyze your feelings about why it is so embarassing for some of you to make a prayer in front of your friends, then you will discover that your embarrassment comes from a feeling of humiliation. That is, when you pray to God, then you naturally feel humble. And to appear humble in front of others makes you feel as though you were humiliated. To be humble is the opposite of what a part of your emotions wants to avoid. You want to appear certain, secure, on top of the world in the presence of other people. You do not want to show yourself to others as you really are, just as you must show yourself to God: groping, insecure, uncertain. In other words, to show your true face, as you show it to God, gives you the impression of humiliating yourself, and that is pride. For the truly humble person does not fear to show himself as he really is. He has the courage to be himself. Therefore, in this one small symptom of having difficulty praying in front of others, lies a significant factor of your emotional state that needs looking into on your part. So if you cannot pray with your heart in front of others, then it is the very thing that should be overcome. Perhaps not necessarily by forcing yourself to do so (although this may be an additional help), but by looking into your psychological reactions and evaluating them in the light of your present truth. It is always good to reach the goal from two sides, the outside and the inside.

QUESTION: Couldn't it be shyness, too?

ANSWER: Of course, you can rationalize it and cover it up with many explanations. What is shyness anyway? What is an inferiority complex, for that matter? It is nothing else but a form of pride. For he who is afraid of how he will appear to others, he who is overly concerned with the impression he makes, is proud; or, if you prefer, call it vain. Brashness is another. That is a question of temperament and character in the individual. All inferiority complexes have one common denominator of pride and of selfwill. Selfwill because you want the gratification of your pride so badly that you either act more secure than you feel -- thus being untrue to yourself -- or the strength of your selfwill paralyzes you, and that makes you shy. And where pride and selfwill exist, then fear too must exist. If you would be entirely unconcerned with what other people think and rest secure in yourself, being true to yourself as you are now -- in other words, if you had the courage to be what you are -- then no fear could exist. You are unconsciouly afraid that others will see that you are not what your outward actions make a pretense of your being. You fear that your pride and your selfwill will not be gratified. If this were not the case, then no inferiority complex would exist, and therefore you could not be shy. An inferiority complex is not determined by one's actual worth and value. It exists solely because one wants to be more than one is. So, if you examine your inferiority feelings from that point of view, then you will get much further along toward liberation from your fears and from your anxieties.

QUESTION: Do animals killed for the purpose of being eaten get into the same sphere as a deceased pet?

ANSWER: It does not make any difference for what reason an animal dies. It would be the same with a human being. The sphere of a human being coming into the spirit world is not determined by the kind of death the soul has gone through. The sphere is determined by the development and by the fulfillment in each existence.

QUESTION: Could you please tell me what it is like for an animal to wake up after it has died? How do they wake up? I don't understand this "group soul" that you mentioned. How is this with the group souls?

ANSWER: The group soul is to be understood in the sense that an animal is the particle of a whole soul, just as a human being is one half of a complete spirit. The other half may or may not be incarnated. That is what is called "a double." With animals the split goes further. One entire being consists of many particles which are incarnated in different forms of existence. The lower the development, the further the split. The more the development goes on, the more do these separated particles unite and form one whole. The waking up process of an animal reoccurs in a way similar to that of the human being. According to the severity of a disease, or of a sudden accident where a shock occurs, there may be a longer or shorter period of rest, or unconsciousness, for the animal. In other cases, the moment the animal slips out of its physical body, then it is awake and free. It is happy. It feels light. And it may live for a while in a special sphere before it is reincarnated. It may visit its former masters. At any rate, it is much happier in the Beyond, as a rule, than on the earth. We cannot generalize with animals either. Each case may be a little different. But all animals are taken care of. There are spirits whose task it is to help animals.

QUESTION: In connection with what you just said about the inferiority complex, on another occasion you gave a different explanation. I wondered what the connection is. I am sure there must be one. That was, that an inferiority complex is really a guilt complex, which is the wrong reaction to one's faults.

ANSWER: You are quite right. The connection is this: Isn't it natural that when you are proud -- which is, after all, a fault -- you feel guilty? The personality will say in the subconscious: "I am proud, I know that it is not good to be proud. I do not want to have this pride, therefore I will hide it from myself." Your concern about other people's opinions makes you violate your own personality. You are not true to yourself, and that is perhaps one of the greatest of sins, out of which many other sins come. And that makes you feel guilty.

QUESTION: What is the connection and the difference between fearing disapproval and wanting approval; as against fearing public opinion?

ANSWER: There is not necessarily any difference, but there might be one. If a person is very much concerned with public opinion, then it is because he wants approval from public opinion. He feels safe in that way, where he cannot be criticized. One does not want to be separate in this sense. A child, for instance, suffers when it feels different from other children. For the child being different means being inferior. With a grow-up this trend sometimes remains, and then it manifests in an over-adherence to the standards of the masses, to the opinion of the majority, whether right or wrong. Public opinion may be right in many instances. But if a person adheres to it without first examining his own opinion, then it becomes a bondage. The free person -- who is unconcerned with the opinion of others, who rests secure in the self, accounting to his own conscience and to his God -- will examine each issue separately and then freely choose his conduct. Thus he may adhere to public opinion in some instances, but this adherence is entirely different from that of the person who is in bondage to it. In other instances he will forsake public opinion because thus he would not be true to himself. He would be willing to pay this price. That is the healthy attitude. Is that clear? (Yes, it is clear in one half, but in what way is it different from wanting approval?) It is not different; I would say that it is a part of it, a facet of it. In some types of personality the strong desire to be approved of by others will manifest in a dependence on public opinion. In other types, approval by others is gained by the exact opposite behavior. Such a person may always act against public opinion for the same motive as the one who is bound to it. Either way may be unhealthy. Either way may also be mature and harmonious. Only, with the mature and harmonious person there is no pattern. In one instance he will act with public opinion, in another instance against it. But the one who acts preponderantly either with or against it can safely be suspected of having sick motives. Why one person chooses one way to manifest his insecurity and his dependence on the approval of others and another person chooses the opposite way depends on many factors. It is a question of development, of environment, of influence, and, most of all, of personality traits and of the individual character. Often no two people will react the same way to the same occurrence under the same conditions.

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My dear, dear friends, angels of God are here in this room to bless you. This blessing also extends to all the friends who are absent, to all those who follow these teachings. Continue on this Path, my dear ones. So much has been accomplished in so short a time due to your very real efforts. Do not let up. Continue and you will gain the strength of love and the understanding that can be yours only when you go into the depths of your being so as to face yourself in truth. For the sake of God and for the sake of Jesus Christ -- Who has committed the greatest act of love and courage for you personally -- trust that success cannot help but come if you overcome the initial difficulties. Indeed, it is the only endeavor on your part that can truly be successful, lastingly so. Receive these special forces, all of you. Let the golden rays penetrate your heart, your soul, and your spirit so as to sustain you. The Light of Christ is shining upon you. Be in peace, be in God.

December 19, 1958