Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 147 -
THE FAIR SUN-MAIDENS' DEROGATORY CRITICISM OF THE HARDSHIPS FACING THE CHILDREN OF GOD ON EARTH.
1
(At this description, the three sun-maidens rise to their feet again and say): "Most sublime friend and master of great wisdom, if the Great God treats His prospective children like that, we do not think much at all of such a state of filial relationship to God. If finally, perhaps, one in a thousand - after a hard life of self-denial - should attain to this filial relationship and with it the powers of the Most High, it would be nothing compared with all the suffering, especially since he can only become a son of God when he has suffered the greatest hardships patiently all his life.
2
What good is to such a son the greatest possible bliss an almighty God can bestow on him? He would always remember all the suffering he had to go through to attain it, and this would embitter him, surely, forever and spoil his beatitude - all the more so when he finds that thousands of his brothers must languish in some place of punishment whilst he, one out of the countless numbers, has been lucky enough to attain to the goal of his miserable life.
3
However, if he does not remember his former wretchedness and does not bother about his unfortunate brothers, having himself attained to the almost impossible and become a son of God, then he has been cheated out of his life; for, without remembering the past, he cannot possibly claim to have achieved such bliss for himself. And if he does not even know those any longer who failed at his side and became wretched, then we must say that in our world, even a child in its mother's womb is already wiser and more enlightened than such a wretched child of God, to whom this state of filial relationship, except for a dull beatitude, offers nothing but a meaningless name.
4
Under those circumstances, we would not care to become children of God, not even on an equal footing with you, a supreme son of God, assuming that you, too, had to pay for your position with considerable suffering. What we cannot understand is how the wisdom of God could have pleasure in such tortured beings! Truly, such a God and our God have nothing in common.
5
We pity you with all our hearts. Come and stay with us, and you will be much better off than with your God, Who only takes pleasure in the wretched!
6
Your love is sweet, indeed, and is part of the foundation of life. But what good is all this sweetness of life if the spirit is a prisoner forever and has practically no freedom of movement, since he has to stay within the narrow limits of a certain order?
7
We humans in this vast world of ours are truly free. It is wisdom alone that makes us free, and all things are subject only to the wisdom of our guiding spirits. And, since we are free through wisdom and look upon love as nothing but a vegetative force, there are no maladies in our world, neither physical nor moral.
8
We are perfect in shape and perfect in thought, desire, and action. You will not be able to find anything here, neither in the valleys nor on the mountains, that will show the slightest sign of imperfection.
9
finvy, anger, ambition, avarice, lewdness, lust for power, are strange to this world - as far as we know. For true wisdom teaches us equal rights for all. All of us are perfect likenesses of the Most High Spirit, and we honor Him in each other through the proper wisdom He has bestowed on us, which is the only veneration worthy of this Spirit.
10
And you imagine that you will win Him and become His almighty children through love alone! Oh, you wretched and weak beings, do you, as supposed children, seriously believe that you can win the Supreme Spirit by approaching Him with a somewhat itching heart, offering Him, like a newborn babe, a sweetish teat?
11
Unfortunately, you are mistaken, all of you, and you only show that the concept 'spirit' is quite unknown to you who claim to be, or should be, perfected spirits. You do not know, nor have you ever known yourselves; how, then, can you know the infinite primordial Spirit of spirits, and even be His distinguished children? Come and learn from us, and you will get to know first yourselves and - eventually - the Supreme Spirit!"