Flesh and Spirit

Love, meekness, gentleness, self-accusation, forgiveness, patience, compassion, reproof-these are the works of the Spirit.

THE flesh flatters; the Spirit reproves. The flesh blindly gratifies; the Spirit wisely disciplines. 

The flesh remembers the injury of a friend; the Spirit forgives the bitterest enemy.

The flesh is noisy and rude; the Spirit is silent and gracious.

The flesh is subject to moods; the Spirit is always calm.

The flesh incites to impatience and anger; the Spirit controls with patience and serenity.

The flesh is thoughtless; the Spirit is thoughtful.

Hatred, pride, harshness, accusing others, revenge, anger, cruelty and flattery – these are the works of the flesh.

Our sufferings

If we could suffer, even partly, through others, our sufferings would be unjust.

ARE our sufferings and troubles entirely the result of our own ignorance and wrong-doing or are they partly or wholly brought about by others, and by outward conditions?

Our sufferings are just, and are entirely the result of our own ignorance, error and wrongdoing.

“Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels”. If this were not so, if a man could commit an evil deed and escape, the consequences of that deed being visited upon and innocent person, then there would be no Law of Justice, and without such a Law the universe could not, even for a single moment, exist. All would be chaos. Upon the surface, men appear to suffer through others, but it is only an appearance - an appearance which a deeper knowledge dispels.

Man is not the result of outward conditions; outward conditions are the result of man.