On stepping forth into Material Creation for our development every human being was graciously endowed with the ability to recognize the Creator just from interacting with creation in our day-to-day experiences. The many servants and Messengers of God have also, over millennia, sought to guide us into this recognition of the Creator in His Creation and to reawaken the word of God carried deep within us. Above all this however, as a special act of Love and Grace, at mankind’s extreme need, when the darkness was at its most intense, the word of God took on form in our physical world and was made flesh in the Son of God, Jesus.
Mankind however still rejected Him, as was already foreseen by many prophets, and thereby chose a path that must lead to destruction. This was not a failure of the Jews alone as humanity has unconsciously expressed in their irrational and unjust hatred of the Jews, but a failure of humanity as a whole. Yet the Love of God did not abandon us. The Son of God asked His Father that another help, the comforter, be sent to humanity just before the end and admonished that we listen to him. This promise has been fulfilled in the work “In the Light of Truth, the Grail Message”. It is not surprising but rather to be expected that like the work of the Son of God Jesus, the work of the comforter has been met with resistance, antagonism and malicious attempts to distort or misrepresent it. However, the Truth does not solicit but offers loving help, which we are free to accept or reject, for salvation cannot be forced on anyone. The Love of the Father and the suffering of His Envoys is vindicated in the few that find salvation through such help.
Thus, in spite of all the guidance, majority of humanity remain separated from the Grace of God because they stubbornly refuse to accept the hand extended to them. If with our volition and activities, we firmly chain ourselves with fetters to this earth and to the World of Matter, these will hold us in their grip until we liberate ourselves from them. These fetters include among other things our preoccupation with wealth and power and the pressure to succeed and gain recognition or acceptance. The difficulties arising from our activities apart, these fetters form part of the indefinable pressure that weighs upon us.
Some individuals, after entangling themselves irretrievably, place their hope on death as a final solution. They convince themselves that physical death results in complete dissolution and thereby freedom. Liberation unfortunately cannot come through earthly death since the spirit as such cannot die. It can only be achieved through spiritual awakening and the greatest obstacle to spiritual re-awaking is indolence which itself is a result of our propensity for earthly things. If the human spirit inclines more towards material goals, it becomes more dependent on the material tools necessary to achieve the desired goal, primarily the intellect. Spiritual goals become more obtunded and spiritual recognition and insight less accessible. Ultimately such indolent spirit becomes sequestered from the daily decisions and activities of the individual. The spirit nevertheless remains the animating and responsible motivating personality. It is as if the spirit is asleep in its house of clay and to make any progress must once again awaken from its death-like sleep i.e. be born again.
Many of us are not prepared to make the effort necessary for spiritual development and maturity. In most cases, we are satisfied to leave our spiritual development in the hands of a few individuals such as priests, ‘spiritual leaders’, Imams and so on who are supposed to possess the necessary knowledge for this. Even when we hear or are confronted with spiritual Truths, we sometimes feel ashamed to listen to the word or to reflect on it, afraid of being considered part of something so unfashionable; something current public opinion has overtly marked as non-progressive. But indeed, such shame turns inward and if we reflect quietly it becomes apparent that the sense of shame is that of a personal failure.
Spiritual Indolence dictates that we are only prepared to involve ourselves in spiritual things if and when it becomes acceptable to the majority. This indeed is the real nature of indolence at its most unacceptable - sitting on the fence waiting for opinion to sway one way or another without any personal conviction in whatever final course we follow. Thus, many regularly attend church or fellowships, join religious groups and sects without any real understanding and naturally will also not reap any spiritual rewards. Indeed, as stated in the book of Revelation, such indolent people have no place in Creation: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”3 Thus the indolent human being is spiritually lost and worthless although he/she still retains a potential to awaken and be saved.
Indolence also implies being too lazy or too hesitant to take a step we know is right. If because of fear of men, laziness, and shyness or indeed for any reason, we fail to stand for the Truth, for what is right and for the service of God, then we are definitely spiritually indolent or lukewarm. In our world today, we are faced with many circumstances that challenge our faith and our commitment to the Truth, and sadly very few human spirits show the necessary uncompromising commitment that the Truth demands - a commitment that demands that we stand up for our conviction and that we condemn evil in all its forms.
This commitment to the Light, which must be personal, requires that we give up our comfort, our pride in self, our ambitions and indeed our very life in service to the Light and the Truth. This does not mean that we have no ambition and no pride or that we live in abject poverty. On the contrary! An adherent of the Light who remains faithful lives a very fulfilling life but understands that life revolves around God and not self. Material circumstances are seen as tools for the service of God. He neither neglects material things and wealth nor pursues them without check. His excursions in matter are under strict control of spiritual aspirations. The things that are of value to him are focused on and his joy revolves around a future that does not disappoint. Clearly this excludes all fanatics and zealots who only work for their organizations and are detrimental to the Truth.
Indolence is a terrible state for the human spirit. It may be likened to a man with a grave illness whose cure rests with himself, but who refuses to make the necessary effort. The indolent state ultimately leads to spiritual somnolence and may even result in spiritual death. It is true that having issued as a direct work of God’s Holy Spirit, the human spirit cannot die in the sense of ceasing to exist. For the spirit death is defined differently and represents eternal separation from God. This is the threat that looms over the indolent for although physically awake and intellectually alert, such a person may actually have progressed far on the path to spiritual death and only continues a semblance of existence while awaiting the judgement.
While it is still possible for the indolent and somnolent individual to awaken, the spiritually dead can no longer be helped. This is the vaguely perceived pressure that urges indolent humanity to spiritual awakening. This is why the last Message from the Light is so vital for, as Christ who promised this Message and the Message itself confirms, the period of grace is now exhausted. It is now either a choice for Life or for Death.
Another great tragedy of this deadly circumstance is that the indolent human spirit is often unaware of his state. He/she often lives a morally worthy life as defined by societal laws and frequently is also zealous in religious externals. He believes he is doing well and this wrong perception is often reinforced by the general public opinion. Yet unless the spirit, the living core, becomes active the inevitable path is towards death.
It should be obvious that since failure to find fulfilment and to achieve the purpose of our existence is personal and indeed spiritual, what is needed is a personal spiritual quickening. Since almost all human beings, except a few who have allowed the Light of God into their lives, are spiritually indolent if not asleep, spiritual awakening, which has been likened to a new birth3