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From Nordan Symposia
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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.
The essentials of the temporal life, as I see them, are:
1. Good physical [[health]].
2. Clear and clean [[thinking]].
3. Ability and skill.
4. [[Wealth]]--the goods of life.
5. Ability to withstand defeat.
6. [[Culture]]--[[education]] and [[wisdom]].
Even the [[physical]] problems of bodily [[health]] and efficiency are best solved when they are viewed from the religious standpoint of our Master's teaching: That the [[body]] and [[mind]] of man are the dwelling place of the gift of the Gods, the [[spirit]] of God becoming the spirit of man. The mind of man thus becomes the mediator between material [[things]] and spiritual [[realities]].
It requires [[intelligence]] to secure one's share of the desirable things of life. It is wholly erroneous to suppose that faithfulness in doing one's daily work will insure the rewards of [[wealth]]. Barring the occasional and accidental acquirement of wealth, the material rewards of the temporal life are found to [[flow]] in certain well-organized [[channel]]s, and only those who have access to these channels may expect to be well rewarded for their temporal efforts. Poverty must ever be the lot of all men who seek for wealth in [[isolated]] and individual channels. Wise planning, therefore, becomes the one thing essential to worldly prosperity. Success requires not only [[devotion]] to one's work but also that one should [[function]] as a part of some one of the channels of material wealth. If you are unwise, you can bestow a devoted life upon your generation without material reward; if you are an accidental beneficiary of the flow of wealth, you may roll in luxury even though you have done nothing worth while for your fellow men.
[[Ability]] is that which you inherit, while [[skill]] is what you acquire. Life is not real to one who cannot do some one thing well, expertly. Skill is one of the real sources of the satisfaction of living. Ability implies the gift of [[foresight]], farseeing [[vision]]. Be not deceived by the tempting rewards of dishonest achievement; be willing to toil for the later returns inherent in honest endeavor. The wise man is able to distinguish between means and ends; otherwise, sometimes overplanning for the future defeats its own high [[purpose]]. As a [[pleasure]] seeker you should aim always to be a producer as well as a consumer.
Train your [[memory]] to hold in [[sacred]] [[trust]] the strength-giving and worth-while episodes of life, which you can recall at will for your pleasure and edification. Thus build up for yourself and in yourself reserve galleries of [[beauty]], [[goodness]], and artistic grandeur. But the noblest of all memories are the treasured recollections of the great [[moment]]s of a superb [[friendship]]. And all of these memory treasures radiate their most precious and exalting influences under the releasing [[touch]] of [[spiritual]] [[worship]].
But life will become a burden of [[existence]] unless you learn how to fail [[gracefully]]. There is an art in defeat which noble [[soul]]s always acquire; you must know how to lose cheerfully; you must be fearless of disappointment. Never hesitate to admit failure. Make no attempt to hide failure under deceptive smiles and beaming optimism. It sounds well always to claim success, but the end results are appalling. Such a [[technique]] leads directly to the [[creation]] of a world of unreality and to the inevitable crash of ultimate disillusionment.
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]
[[Category: Philosophy]]
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:
1. Good physical [[health]].
2. Clear and clean [[thinking]].
3. Ability and skill.
4. [[Wealth]]--the goods of life.
5. Ability to withstand defeat.
6. [[Culture]]--[[education]] and [[wisdom]].
Even the [[physical]] problems of bodily [[health]] and efficiency are best solved when they are viewed from the religious standpoint of our Master's teaching: That the [[body]] and [[mind]] of man are the dwelling place of the gift of the Gods, the [[spirit]] of God becoming the spirit of man. The mind of man thus becomes the mediator between material [[things]] and spiritual [[realities]].
It requires [[intelligence]] to secure one's share of the desirable things of life. It is wholly erroneous to suppose that faithfulness in doing one's daily work will insure the rewards of [[wealth]]. Barring the occasional and accidental acquirement of wealth, the material rewards of the temporal life are found to [[flow]] in certain well-organized [[channel]]s, and only those who have access to these channels may expect to be well rewarded for their temporal efforts. Poverty must ever be the lot of all men who seek for wealth in [[isolated]] and individual channels. Wise planning, therefore, becomes the one thing essential to worldly prosperity. Success requires not only [[devotion]] to one's work but also that one should [[function]] as a part of some one of the channels of material wealth. If you are unwise, you can bestow a devoted life upon your generation without material reward; if you are an accidental beneficiary of the flow of wealth, you may roll in luxury even though you have done nothing worth while for your fellow men.
[[Ability]] is that which you inherit, while [[skill]] is what you acquire. Life is not real to one who cannot do some one thing well, expertly. Skill is one of the real sources of the satisfaction of living. Ability implies the gift of [[foresight]], farseeing [[vision]]. Be not deceived by the tempting rewards of dishonest achievement; be willing to toil for the later returns inherent in honest endeavor. The wise man is able to distinguish between means and ends; otherwise, sometimes overplanning for the future defeats its own high [[purpose]]. As a [[pleasure]] seeker you should aim always to be a producer as well as a consumer.
Train your [[memory]] to hold in [[sacred]] [[trust]] the strength-giving and worth-while episodes of life, which you can recall at will for your pleasure and edification. Thus build up for yourself and in yourself reserve galleries of [[beauty]], [[goodness]], and artistic grandeur. But the noblest of all memories are the treasured recollections of the great [[moment]]s of a superb [[friendship]]. And all of these memory treasures radiate their most precious and exalting influences under the releasing [[touch]] of [[spiritual]] [[worship]].
But life will become a burden of [[existence]] unless you learn how to fail [[gracefully]]. There is an art in defeat which noble [[soul]]s always acquire; you must know how to lose cheerfully; you must be fearless of disappointment. Never hesitate to admit failure. Make no attempt to hide failure under deceptive smiles and beaming optimism. It sounds well always to claim success, but the end results are appalling. Such a [[technique]] leads directly to the [[creation]] of a world of unreality and to the inevitable crash of ultimate disillusionment.
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]
[[Category: Philosophy]]
