The Higher Powers of Mind and SpiritTrine, Ralph Waldo
Religion
The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit
Trine, Ralph Waldo
Mind and body; New Thought
How thoroughly this is in keeping with the thought of the highly
illumined seer, Swedenborg, is indicated when he says: "The Lord's
Kingdom is a Kingdom of ends and uses." And again: "Forsaking the world
means loving God and the neighbour; and God is loved when a man lives
according to His commandments, and the neighbour is loved when a man
performs uses." And still again: "To be of use means to desire the
welfare of others for the sake of the common good; and not to be of use
means to desire the welfare of others not for the sake of the common
good but for one's own sake.... In order that man may receive heavenly
life he must live in the world and engage in its business and
occupations, and thus by a moral and civil life acquire spiritual life.
In no other way can spiritual life be generated in man, or his spirit be
prepared for heaven."
We hear much today both in various writings and in public utterances of
"the spiritual" and "the spiritual life." I am sure that to the great
majority of men and women the term spiritual, or better, the spiritual
life, means something, but something by no means fully tangible or
clear-cut. I shall be glad indeed if I am able to suggest a more
comprehensible concept of it, or putting it in another form and better
perhaps, to present a more clear-cut portraiture of the spiritual life
in expression--in action.
And first let us note that in the mind and in the teachings of Jesus
there is no such thing as the secular life and the religious life. His
ministry pertained to every phase of life. The truth that he taught was
a truth that was to permeate every thought and every act of life.
We make our arbitrary divisions. We are too apt to deny the fact that
the Lord is the Lord of the week-day, the same as He is the Lord of the
Sabbath. Jesus refused to be bound by any such consideration. He taught
that every act that is a good act, every act that is of service to
mankind is not only a legitimate act to be done on the Sabbath day, but
an act that _should_ be performed on the Sabbath day. And any act that
is not right and legitimate for the Sabbath day is neither right nor
legitimate for the week-day. In other words, it is the spirit of
righteousness that must permeate and must govern every act of life and
every moment of life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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