Greetings, all my friends. Divine blessings and divine force
pour forth from the world of spirit toward you and into you, and from the
deepest well within you to infuse your personality. However, this force should
not and must not be used to get away from that which you do not want to see
and know. It should be used to increase your sense of honesty with yourself.
For only then can love grow genuinely. And only then can you have a sure footing
within yourself and the world.
This lecture is, once again, a continuation and a direct sequence
of previous ones, particularly of the last two. As you know from the past,
lectures come in sequences; there are particular sequences which then apparently
stop, switching over to a new pattern, a new emphasis. And yet all these topics
and different sequences form one whole, as an ongoing chain, or spiral --
as all universal movements are spiral movements if they are in harmony with
creation.
In this lecture I would like to deal, again from a different
angle, with the concept of evil. Of course, we have talked about this before.
There are many approaches, many angles, many levels, and many vantage points
from which every part of creation can be discussed. Tonight's approach to
this topic is particularly geared to the sequence of these last two lectures.
Some philosophies claim that there is no evil, that evil is
an illusion. Other philosophies claim that it is a fact, observable for anyone
who faces reality. Some religious philosophies contend that evil stems from
one principal source, a specific entity called the devil -- just as good stems
from a personalized God. Good and evil stem from two figures, according to
these precepts. Others, again, say that the forces of good and the forces
of evil exist as principles, as energy, as attitudes.
As I do so often, I wish to discuss, once again, first the
cosmic, spiritual, philosophical and general approach, and then bring it to
you, so as to use it personally in your own path of development. For any philosophy
that is not put into practical use remains a shallow abstraction of the mind,
not permeating the other levels of personality.
The various concepts of what evil is and where it comes from
are all true, provided they are not perceived as exclusive from the apparently
opposite approach. If you say that evil does not exist at all on any level
of being, this would be wrong. But if you state that in ultimate reality there
is no evil, then it is true. Any of these postulates is incorrect when it
is seen as the only truth. This may appear as paradoxical, as is so often
the case. But when we go deeper and consider the question from a more profound
and broader vantage point, what appear as opposites suddenly conciliate and
complement each other.
I shall explain presently how these apparent opposites are
all true. Let me say first, once again, that the universe consists of consciousness
and energy. In the unified state consciousness and energy are one. In the
disunified state they are not necessarily one. Energy can be an impersonal
force that does not seem to be, or contain, or be an expression of consciousness.
It seems a mechanical force that consciousness can direct, but the energy
itself seems totally alien to consciousness, to determination, to self-knowledge
-- in short, to everything that distinguishes consciousness. Think, for example,
of electricity or atomic energy. Even the energy of mind seems often quite
disconnected from the source of its consciousness. Perhaps you can feel into
what I mean, at least to a certain extent. For instance, many of you have
experienced that the power of your thought, the power of your attitude, the
power of your feelings does not have an immediate effect. It has an indirect
effect, which at first seems so disconnected that it requires specific attention
and awareness until you truly comprehend what I discussed in the last lecture,
the link between cause and effect. Only when your consciousness expands can
you sense the oneness of this tremendous mind power, and the energy it sets
in motion. This works both in a constructive and a destructive way. The principle
is the same.
The separated, dualistic human state creates the illusion that
energy and consciousness are two different manifestations. The same split
in perception exists about life and death, God and man, cause and effect,
and many other concepts or phenomena of life. There are people on this earth
plane who experience the universe, the cosmos, creation as a purely energetic
phenomenon. There are others who experience the universe, the cosmos, creation
primarily as Supreme Consciousness. They are both right, of course. And they
are both wrong when they claim that only their vision and perception is the
truth, while the other is not. Both are one. Since thought is movement and
energy, it is impossible to separate consciousness from energy in their essence,
although in their manifestation there might be an apparent disconnection.
How can all the different philosophies and perceptions of life
be true when they seem opposites? Let us look into this more closely. It is
quite true that in reality -- ultimate reality, in its oneness, its unified
state -- there is no evil. Thought is pure and in truth; feelings are love,
joy, and bliss; will direction, or intentionality, is utterly positive and
constructive. Therefore there is no evil. But the same consciousness can "change
its mind," as it were. It can turn into an untruthful, limited thought process;
into feelings of hate, fear, and cruelty; and into negative will direction
and intent. In that moment the same consciousness -- or aspect or part of
this consciousness -- turns into its own distorted version. Consequently,
the energy also alters its manifestation.
Thus the manifestation of evil is not something intrinsically
different from pure consciousness and energy. It has only changed its characteristics.
Hence it is just as accurate to state that in reality, in essence, there is
no evil, as it is to state that on the level of human manifestation there
is.
The reality of evil, as manifest on this plane of development,
must be accepted by each individual in order to learn to cope with it and
thus to truly overcome it. Evil must be faced and overcome primarily within
the self. Only then can evil be dealt with outside the self. The attempt to
reverse this process must lead to dismal failure, for everything must always
start from the center out -- and the center is the self.
Now, how about the question of whether good and evil are personified,
actual entities, or whether they are just principles. Again, the answer must
be both. Every man and every woman is a manifestation of God, but the distorted
state implies that every man and every woman must also express the devil.
A being who is completely unified and pure would express God in a total way.
God can thus manifest as an individualized form. Conversely, an entity who
has distorted his consciousness and energy movement to the extreme degree
could be called a devil.
Neither of these two extremes in the spectrum exists in the
human consciousness. The human consciousness finds itself in a state of development
where both the pure and the distorted, the good and evil, God and the devil
exist. It is the task of every human being in the long road of evolution,
lifetime upon lifetime -- and indeed it does take thousands of lifetimes,
not hundreds -- to purify the soul and to overcome evil.
Let us look for a moment at what evil means both from the point
of view of energy and from the point of view of consciousness. When energy
is turned into a destructive manifestation, its frequency slows down, commensurate
with the choice and will direction of the consciousness which determines this
state by the choice and will direction of the thought process and attitude
pattern instituted. The slower the frequency of movement, the more the distortion
of consciousness has advanced, and the more we can speak of a manifestation
of evil. Another alteration of the energy flow in its distortion, or in its
evil aberration, is the way it condenses. The higher developed the entity,
the purer the energy, the faster the frequency, and the more radiant its matter.
The more distorted -- the more destructive, the more evil -- the slower the
frequency and the more condensed is the form in which the consciousness manifests.
Matter, as you know it, is therefore a rather advanced state
of condensation. Condensation of energy means the dualistic, disconnected,
disunified state and the consciousness involved in this state has to find
its way back to increase the frequency of the energy movement and to alter
the thought and attitude pattern, so as to purify consciousness and energy.
What does evil mean in terms of consciousness? Religion has,
of course, talked amply about this -- in terms of hate, fear, selfishness,
deception, duplicity, spite, and cheating life by not paying the price, by
wanting more than one is willing to give -- and many other destructive, hurtful
attitudes. This is so obvious that it hardly needs further elaboration. But
let us look closer at the phenomenon of evil on a more subtle level so as
to help you further on your inner road.
Jesus Christ has spoken the words, "Do not resist evil."
This saying has been misunderstood in many ways. It has been interpreted in
a too literal and therefore erroneous way. It has been taken to mean that
you should allow others to exploit you, to step over you, not to assert your
human rights and your human dignity. It has preached a meekness and masochism
that are not in keeping with Divine Truth. On the contrary, they help to perpetuate
evil and allow the perpetrator to act it out upon his environment.
Any truth can be interpreted in different yet correct ways,
according to the level on which this is done and from which vantage point
it is approached. Since we are now discussing evil as a manifestation of consciousness
and energy, I shall interpret "do not resist evil" from this angle. "Do not
resist evil" points very clearly to the fact that resistance itself is and
breeds evil. From the energy phenomenon this is as obvious as from the phenomenon
of consciousness.
Unobstructed, unresisted energy flows smoothly and harmoniously,
like a gentle river. When resistance stops the movement of the energy current,
the movement slows down, the form condenses, the energy flow congests and
clogs up the channels. Resistance tightens and thus coarsens the manifestation
of energy.
The consciousness responsible, so to speak, for the thickening
must exist accordingly. This is not quite correct, but human language is incapable
of expressing the essential oneness of consciousness and energy, so that we
must compromise and regard it as though consciousness were "responsible" for
the energy flow. Anyhow, from your vantage point this expression will be quite
adequate. The thoughts, intentionality, feelings, and attitudes embrace a
resistive attitude to what is; to the truth; to life; to God; to any aspect
of the goodness of the universe. This consciousness resists trusting the life
process; it issues forth ill will -- negative intentionality. There is no
evil attitude conceivable unless resistance to Good is involved. Conversely,
wherever life manifests unobstructedly -- without resistance -- it must be
good and blissful, harmonious and creative.
The very manifestation of matter as you know it, which is a
highly disunified state, is a result of resistance. Matter is thickened, coarsened,
slowed down energy. The state of existence in matter is "blinding" -- matter
blinds true vision -- and is therefore unavoidably painful. Resistance equates
matter, equates blindness, equates dualism and separation, equates evil, equates
suffering. Resistance is a stemming against the flow, closing up, tightening
up -- it prevents the movement of the universal energy, the movement of love,
the movement of truth; the ever ongoing movement of life, where divine manifestation
unfolds unobstructedly.
Resistance is always obstructing some valuable, beautiful aspect
of creation. Obstruction evidently blurs out truth, vision, love, and life.
Resistance is therefore a manifestation of evil.
When you look into yourself, feel into yourself, and go deeply
enough into yourself, you will -- relatively easily -- perceive your own resistance.
Others always can, unless they are extremely dim, undeveloped, or dependent
on not seeing it. They may have a stake in agreeing with you, in keeping an
idealized version of you. But if this is not the case, then they are aware
of it. You, too, can be aware of it if you wish to be. You will then see what
this resistance means.
The word resistance is used again and again in psychological
terminology. Usually people even forget the real meaning. The word is thrown
around, and people usually lose contact with its dynamic reality. Words become
meaningless so often when they are used blindly and unfeelingly. This is why
I deliberately and quite often change terminology and words, so as to give
new impact to your understanding and prevent blind usage. But I use this word
in this context because this is precisely the word used by Jesus.
The word evil suffers a similar fate. Religion has thrown it
at mankind in such a mechanical, often meaningless and distorted way that
many individuals have become practically allergic to hearing this expression.
This is why I have shied away from using this word for quite a time and mentioned
it only occasionally. But once in a while it is good to return to very basic
concepts and expressions, so as to lend more impact and new energy to your
understanding.
When you face and accept your deeply ingrained negative intentionality,
you can link this up with resistance. Negative intentionality is, perforce,
a resistive attitude and it is obviously an evil one. Resistance always says,
in one way or another,"I do not want to know the truth about this or
that." Needless to say that this is a destructive attitude. It must
create an evil force. It obstructs the ongoing movement of truth.
In our approach to self-development we find, again and again,
that the basic evil triad is pride, selfwill, and fear. We see how all else
falls into this triad. Every one of these three attitudes (which are always
interconnected) is a result of resistance and breeds further resistance --
or evil. Selfwill says,"I resist any other way but my way,"
and "my way" is so often anti-life, anti-God. Selfwill resists truth, love,
union -- even if it appears to want it. But the moment the tightness of resistance,
of selfwill, exists, divine aspects are hindered from manifestation.
Pride is resistance to the oneness between entities. It separates
itself from others, elevates itself -- and thus resists the truth and love
that are creative manifestations of life. Pride is the opposite of humility,
not of humiliation. He who resists humility must be humiliated because the
resistance must always finally come to a breaking point. The refusal to expose
the truth and to admit what exists is due to pride, and this pride causes
resistance as much as it is the result of resistance.
Resistance breeds fear and fear breeds resistance. The tightened
state of resistance and the slowing of the energy movement darken the vision
and the scope of experience. Life is perceived in a frightening way. The more
resistance, the more fear -- and vice versa. Resistance to truth occurs out
of fear that truth can ever be harmful (if you think you distrust the universe),
and resistance to truth must compound this fear. The hiding becomes forever
more difficult and exposure forever more threatening.
Fear of truth -- hence resistance -- negates the benign quality
of the universe; it negates the truth of the self, with all its thoughts,
feelings, and intents. This self-negation -- a result of resistance -- is
and creates evil.
When you want to avoid your feelings and your hidden thoughts
and intentions, you create resistance. Resistance is, in one way or the other,
always connected with "I do not want to be hurt" -- whether
this hurt is an actual one, or an imagined one; whether this hurt is due to
selfwill that says, "I must not be hurt"; or to the pride that
says,"I will never admit that I can be hurt"; or to the fear
that says,"If I am hurt I must perish." It is, again, an expression
of distrusting the universe. In reality hurt must pass, for it is no more
an ultimate state than evil is. The more pain is experienced in its full intensity,
the faster it must dissolve itself into its original components -- flowing,
moving energy which creates joy and bliss.
Whether resistance comes from selfwill, pride, or fear, whether
it be ignorance and negation of what is, does not matter. Resistance obstructs
God, good, the flow of life. It creates walls and the walls create separation
from truth and from love -- from your inner unity.
A person who finds himself on the road of evolutionary growth,
who searches and gropes -- incarnation after incarnation -- for fulfilling
himself, for fulfilling his task, is, of course, in a mixed inner state, as
you know. There is a great deal in human beings such as you that is already
free and developed. But there is also, of course, as you equally know and
experience on your path, distortion, blindness, ill will, resistance, evil.
The human being who is in a partial state of inner freedom
-- movement of truth, love, and light on the one hand, and distortion, negative
intentionality, revenge, greed, hate, spite, selfwill, pride, and fear on
the other -- must find his way out of this conflict. One part resists the
truth that these feelings and attitudes are there and resists giving them
up, while the other part is seriously striving for development and purification.
This dual state must cause crisis. I have spoken about this before and devoted
an entire lecture to this topic. In the context of the present lecture, let
me repeat that such crisis is unavoidable. When two completely opposite movements,
directions, and strivings exist, a breaking point must be reached. Such a
breaking point manifests as a crisis in an individual's life. One movement
says, "Yes, I want to admit what is evil. I want to confront myself
and dispense with the pretenses which are, after all, nothing but lies. I
want to expand myself and bring forth the best in me, so that I can contribute
and give to life, as I wish to receive from it. I want to give up the childish,
cheating position with which I want to grab at life angrily and resentfully,
while I refuse to give anything to it -- except my demands and my resentments.
I want to stop all that and ride trustfully with life. I want to honor God
by accepting life on its own terms."
The other side persists in saying,"No, I want it my way.
I may even want to develop and become decent and honest, but not at the price
of looking at this, of exposing that, of admitting anything that is too self-incriminatory."
The thus resulting crisis must break down the faulty structure.
In cases where the destructive orientation and aim is considerably
weaker than the constructive one, the crisis is relatively minor, for the
faulty aspects can possibly be extricated without tearing down the entire
edifice. By the same token, if the movement toward growth and truth is considerably
less than the stagnant, resistive, evil one, again no major crisis may occur
for a while. The personality may stagnate for long periods. But when the movement
toward good is sufficiently strong and yet the resistive quality holds back
the total movement -- which makes the conscious personality confused, blind,
and destructively acting out -- something must give.
Suppose you build a house. Some of the building material is
solid, pure, beautiful, and of excellent quality. Some is defective, cheap
imitation, rotten. When these two totally incompatible types of material become
inextricably mixed, the erected structure cannot stand. If the rotten material
can be extricated without tearing down the entire building, then profound
crisis and shake-up of the present life manifestation can be avoided. This
depends entirely on the conscious determination of the person in question
. But if it is too meshed in, because there has been resistance for too long
and because sufficient impetus of good will is still lacking, there is only
one way out. The structure must be destroyed, so that it can be re-erected
in a pure form.
Such a process calls forth an energy movement that is almost
impossible to describe. Resisting evil means not to face and accept the evil
in you. This resistance creates a tremendous accumulation of energy, which
finally comes to a sort of explosion. The deeper meaning of the ensuing destruction
is truly marvelous. It destroys the very evil that has created it. Unfortunately
it is impossible to convey the configuration that takes place. In the person's
manifest life much may go to pieces. The energy movement of the soul substance
tears down the rotten structure, even if this means that temporarily all seems
to go to pieces. What is of true value will automatically and organically
rebuild itself.
Perhaps you can vaguely imagine a form of very intense different
movements. These movements swirl and rush, explode and implode, and destroy
themselves, as it were. It is like a giant quake where some of the material
continues to stand, others break down slowly, still others fast. Movement
occurs in different directions. Soul substance is torn apart and rebuilds
itself simultaneously in the process. Creation is taking place. Every crisis
is an integral part of creation. Therefore crisis should be embraced and accepted
by the wise ones. It should serve to remove more and more resistance. Do not
resist evil in you. That means, give up the appearance, the pretense. Give
in, go with the movement of life.
The process of destruction /creation is a magnificent sight
for spirit eyes. The blind entity may suffer temporarily, but how good it
is. The process is awesome in its benign violence. New movement comes forth,
old movements change direction, color, hue, sound. For in spirit sight, sound,
scent -- and many other perceptions -- are one.
If you go deeply into yourself and intuitively feel into the
meaning of your crisis, you may gain a glimmer. You will perhaps sense the
creative process involved. The creative process must be simultaneously an
apparently destructive process -- destructive, as I just said, as far as defective
soul material is concerned.
The eternal, ultimate, essentially benign nature of creation
is most eloquently demonstrated in the fact that evil must finally destroy
itself. It can build up only for so long, but eventually the breakdown must
occur. You will all agree that the destruction of destructiveness is a constructive,
creative phenomenon.
Thus, in the long run, every destruction is constructive and
serves creation. Always. But in the manifestation of an individual's life
this is not always perceived. The further you are on the path, the more you
will see this. It will be helpful if you can meditate so as to truly experience
this phenomenon, because then you will aid the process by your conscious determination
to relinquish resisting evil -- the evil in you, which you project outwardly.
That is, you believe it comes to you from outside, while it can, of course,
never, never do that. It is possible to influence and to diminish the violence
of the constructive destruction if your commitment to truth takes on a new
impetus and if you unearth your negative intentionality and change it into
a positive intentionality. When negative intentionality is expressed in concise
words, you can create a new movement. It is up to you. But even before you
can do so, by your very admission of your deliberate ill will, you will automatically
be more in truth and less inclined to act out the evil, and even feeling self-righteous
about it. You will know who you are. And, strangely enough, the more you own
up to the evil, the more honorable you become, and the more you will know
it and appreciate yourself.
It is the same with pain: the more you accept it, the less
you will feel it. Resistance to pain will make the pain often unbearably painful.
The more you accept your hate, the less you hate. The more you accept your
ugliness, the more beautiful you become. The more you accept your weakness,
the stronger you are. The more you admit your hurt, the more dignity you will
have -- regardless of the distorted views of others. These are inexorable
laws. This is the path we tread.
A lot of wonderful things are happening in this work. But there
also must be a lot of cleaning up, so a great deal of vigilance must exist.
I want to say that your venture is very blessed.
Now, my friends, continue in your wonderful endeavor to be
in truth. If you are being doubted in your sincerity, you, in your heart,
must know where you are -- and that is all that matters. That is all that
matters.
Be blessed. Be who you truly are -- God.
The Guide
by Eva Pierrakos
January 14, 1972
Copyright 1972, the Center for the Living Force, Inc.