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While you have an [[eye]] single to the attainment of [[eternal]] [[realities]], you must also make provision for the necessities of [[temporal]] living. While the [[spirit]] is our goal, the [[flesh]] is a [[fact]]. Occasionally the necessities of living may fall into our hands by [[accident]], but in general, we must intelligently work for them. The two major problems of life are: making a temporal living and the achievement of [[eternal]] [salvation|survival]]. And even the problem of making a living requires [[religion]] for its [[ideal]] solution. These are both highly [[personal]] problems. True religion, in fact, does not function apart from the individual.

While you have an [[eye]] single to the attainment of [[eternal]] [[realities]], you must also make provision for the necessities of [[temporal]] living. While the [[spirit]] is our goal, the [[flesh]] is a [[fact]]. Occasionally the necessities of living may fall into our hands by [[accident]], but in general, we must intelligently work for them. The two major problems of life are: making a temporal living and the achievement of [[eternal]] [[salvation|survival]]. And even the problem of making a living requires [[religion]] for its [[ideal]] solution. These are both highly [[personal]] problems. True religion, in fact, does not function apart from the individual.

The essentials of the temporal life, as I see them, are:

The essentials of the temporal life, as I see them, are:

Success may generate courage and promote confidence, but [[wisdom]] comes only from the [[experience]]s of adjustment to the results of one's failures. Men who prefer optimistic illusions to [[reality]] can never become wise. Only those who face facts and adjust them to ideals can achieve [[wisdom]]. Wisdom embraces both the [[fact]] and the [[ideal]] and therefore saves its devotees from both of those barren extremes of [[philosophy]]--the man whose idealism excludes facts and the materialist who is devoid of spiritual outlook. Those timid souls who can only keep up the struggle of life by the aid of continuous false [[illusions]] of success are doomed to suffer failure and experience defeat as they ultimately awaken from the [[dream]] world of their own [[imagination]]s. And it is in this business of facing failure and adjusting to defeat that the far-reaching [[vision]] of [[religion]] exerts its supreme influence. Failure is simply an [[educational]] episode--a cultural [[experiment]] in the acquirement of wisdom--in the experience of the God-seeking man who has embarked on the eternal adventure of the exploration of a universe. To such men defeat is but a new tool for the achievement of higher [[dimension|levels]] of [[universe]] [[reality]].

Success may generate courage and promote confidence, but [[wisdom]] comes only from the [[experience]]s of adjustment to the results of one's failures. Men who prefer optimistic illusions to [[reality]] can never become wise. Only those who face facts and adjust them to ideals can achieve [[wisdom]]. Wisdom embraces both the [[fact]] and the [[ideal]] and therefore saves its devotees from both of those barren extremes of [[philosophy]]--the man whose idealism excludes facts and the materialist who is devoid of spiritual outlook. Those timid souls who can only keep up the struggle of life by the aid of continuous false [[illusions]] of success are doomed to suffer failure and experience defeat as they ultimately awaken from the [[dream]] world of their own [[imagination]]s. And it is in this business of facing failure and adjusting to defeat that the far-reaching [[vision]] of [[religion]] exerts its supreme influence. Failure is simply an [[educational]] episode--a cultural [[experiment]] in the acquirement of wisdom--in the experience of the God-seeking man who has embarked on the eternal adventure of the exploration of a universe. To such men defeat is but a new tool for the achievement of higher [[dimension|levels]] of [[universe]] [[reality]].

The career of a God-seeking man may prove to be a great success in the [[light]] of eternity, even though the whole temporal-life enterprise may appear as an overwhelming failure, provided each life failure yielded the [[culture]] of [[wisdom]] and [[spirit]] achievement. Do not make the mistake of confusing [[knowledge]], [[culture]], and [[wisdom]]. They are related in life, but they represent vastly differing spirit values; [[wisdom]] ever dominates [[knowledge]] and always [[glorifies]] [[culture]].[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_160#160:4._THE_BALANCE_OF_MATURITY]

The career of a God-seeking man may prove to be a great success in the [[light]] of eternity, even though the whole temporal-life enterprise may appear as an overwhelming failure, provided each life failure yielded the [[culture]] of [[wisdom]] and [[spirit]] achievement. Do not make the mistake of confusing [[knowledge]], [[culture]], and [[wisdom]]. They are related in life, but they represent vastly differing spirit values; [[wisdom]] ever dominates [[knowledge]] and always [[glorifies]] [[culture]].[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_160#160:4._THE_BALANCE_OF_MATURITY]

[[Category: Philosophy]]

[[Category: Philosophy]]