Paper 100
Religion in Human Experience 인간 체험의 종교
1. Religious Growth 종교적 성장
2. Spiritual Growth 영적 성장
3. Concepts of Supreme Value 최고 가치의 개념
4. Problems of Growth 성장의 문제
5. Conversion and Mysticism
6. Marks of Religious Living
7. The Acme of Religious Living
100:0.1 (1094.1) THE experience of dynamic religious living transforms the mediocre individual into a personality of idealistic power. Religion ministers to the progress of all through fostering the progress of each individual, and the progress of each is augmented through the achievement of all. 활동적 종교 생활의 체험은 평범한 개인을 이상주의적 능력을 지닌 인격(고유성)으로 바꿉니다. 종교는 각 개인의 진보를 촉진하여 전체의 진보에 도움이 되게 하며, 각자의 진보는 전체의 성취를 통해 늘어납니다.
100:0.2 (1094.2) Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists. Love supplies the soil for religious growth — an objective lure in the place of subjective gratification — yet it yields the supreme subjective satisfaction. And religion ennobles the commonplace drudgery of daily living. 영적 성장은 다른 종교인들과 친밀한 교제로 서로 격려를 받습니다. 사랑은 종교적 성장을 위한 토양을 제공하여, 주관적 만족 대신에 객관적 매력으로 채우지만, 조만간 그것은 최고의 주관적 만족을 가져옵니다. 종교는 일상생활의 평범한 고된 일을 고귀하게 만듭니다.
1. Religious Growth 종교적 성장
100:1.1 (1094.3) While religion produces growth of meanings and enhancement of values, evil always results when purely personal evaluations are elevated to the levels of absolutes. A child evaluates experience in accordance with the content of pleasure; maturity is proportional to the substitution of higher meanings for personal pleasure, even loyalties to the highest concepts of diversified life situations and cosmic relations. 종교는 의미의 성장과 가치의 증진을 일으키는 데 반하여 순전히 개인적 평가가 절대적 수준으로 높아지는 결과로 언제나 악이 일어납니다. 어린이는 즐거운 내용에 따라서 경험을 평가합니다; 성숙은 개인적 즐거움을 더 높은 의미로 대체하여, 심지어 다양한 생활 형편과 질서 우주 관계의 최고 개념에 대한 충성에 비례합니다.
100:1.2 (1094.4) Some persons are too busy to grow and are therefore in grave danger of spiritual fixation. Provision must be made for growth of meanings at differing ages, in successive cultures, and in the passing stages of advancing civilization. The chief inhibitors of growth are prejudice and ignorance. 어떤 사람들은 너무 바빠서 성장하지 못한 결과로 영적 고착(固着)의 심각한 위험에 직면해 있습니다. 다양한 시대에, 잇따른 문화와 진보적 문명의 경과 단계에서, 의미의 성장에 대비되어 있어야 합니다. 성장의 주된 억제자는 편견과 무지입니다.
100:1.3 (1094.5) Give every developing child a chance to grow his own religious experience; do not force a ready-made adult experience upon him. Remember, year-by-year progress through an established educational regime does not necessarily mean intellectual progress, much less spiritual growth. Enlargement of vocabulary does not signify development of character. Growth is not truly indicated by mere products but rather by progress. Real educational growth is indicated by enhancement of ideals, increased appreciation of values, new meanings of values, and augmented loyalty to supreme values. 발달 아동마다 그 자신의 종교적 경험이 성장할 기회를 주십시오; 제 것이 아닌 어른의 경험을 그에게 강요하지 마십시오. 기존 교육 제도를 통한 연간 진보는 필연적으로 지적 진보를 뜻하지 않으며, 하물며 영적 성장도 아니라는 것을 기억하십시오. 어휘의 확대가 성격의 발달을 뜻하지 않습니다. 성장은 단순한 결과들이 아니라 오히려 진보로 올바르게 나타납니다. 참된 교육적 성장은 이상(理想)의 증진, 가치에 대해 증가한 식별, 가치의 새로운 의미, 최고 가치에 대해 강화된 충성으로 나타납니다.
100:1.4 (1094.6) Children are permanently impressed only by the loyalties of their adult associates; precept or even example is not lastingly influential. Loyal persons are growing persons, and growth is an impressive and inspiring reality. Live loyally today — grow — and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole. 아이들은 자기 어른 동료들의 충성으로만 불변하게 감명을 받습니다; 교훈이나 본보기조차 오래도록 영향을 미치지 않습니다. 충성스러운 사람들은 성장하는 사람들이며, 성장은 감동을 주어 분발케 하는 실체입니다. 오늘 충성스럽게 살라 – 성장하라 – 그러면 내일은 저절로 따라올 것입니다. 올챙이가 개구리가 되는 가장 빠른 길은 매 순간 올챙이로 충성스럽게 사는 것입니다.
100:1.5 (1094.7) The soil essential for religious growth presupposes a progressive life of self-realization, the co-ordination of natural propensities, the exercise of curiosity and the enjoyment of reasonable adventure, the experiencing of feelings of satisfaction, the functioning of the fear stimulus of attention and awareness, the wonder-lure, and a normal consciousness of smallness, humility. Growth is also predicated on the discovery of selfhood accompanied by self-criticism — conscience, for conscience is really the criticism of oneself by one’s own value-habits, personal ideals. 종교적 성장의 필수적 토양은 자아-실현의 진보적 생활, 타고난 성질의 조정, 호기심의 발휘와 적당한 모험의 즐거움, 만족감의 경험, 주의와 경계의 공포 자극 기능, 감탄의 매력 및 빈약의 정상적 의식, 즉 겸손을 전제로 합니다. 성장은 또한 자기비판 – 양심(良心)에 따르는 자기 발견에 기초를 두는데, 양심(良心)은 실제로 자신의 가치-습관, 개인적 이상(理想)으로 자신을 비평하는 능력이기 때문입니다.
100:1.6 (1095.1) Religious experience is markedly influenced by physical health, inherited temperament, and social environment. But these temporal conditions do not inhibit inner spiritual progress by a soul dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven. There are present in all normal mortals certain innate drives toward growth and self-realization which function if they are not specifically inhibited. The certain technique of fostering this constitutive endowment of the potential of spiritual growth is to maintain an attitude of wholehearted devotion to supreme values. 종교적 체험은 신체적 건강, 유전적 기질 및 사회적 환경에 뚜렷하게 영향을 받습니다. 그러나 이런 현세적 조건들은 하늘에 계신 아버지의 뜻을 행하는데 헌신한 혼(魂)의 내적인 영적 진보를 방해하지 못합니다. 모든 보통 필사자에게는 성장과 자아-실현을 향해 일정하게 타고난 본능적 욕구가 있는데, 그것들은 분명히 방해받지 않으면 기능합니다. 영적 성장의 잠재력을 구성하는 이런 재질을 촉진하는 확실한 기법은 최고의 가치들에 전심으로 헌신하는 태도를 유지하는 것입니다.
100:1.7 (1095.2) Religion cannot be bestowed, received, loaned, learned, or lost. It is a personal experience which grows proportionally to the growing quest for final values. Cosmic growth thus attends on the accumulation of meanings and the ever-expanding elevation of values. But nobility itself is always an unconscious growth. 종교는 주고, 받으며, 빌려주고, 배우며, 잃을 수 없습니다. 그것은 최종 가치의 성장 추구에 비례하여 성장하는 개인적 경험입니다. 질서 우주적 성장은 이렇게 의미의 축적과 늘 확장하는 가치 향상의 결과로 일어납니다. 그러나 고결(高潔) 그 자체는 언제나 무의식적 성장입니다.
100:1.8 (1095.3) Religious habits of thinking and acting are contributory to the economy of spiritual growth. One can develop religious predispositions toward favorable reaction to spiritual stimuli, a sort of conditioned spiritual reflex. Habits which favor religious growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful problem solving, sharing one’s spiritual life with one’s fellows, avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of God. The factors of religious growth may be intentional, but the growth itself is unvaryingly unconscious. 생각하고 행동하는 종교적 습관은 영적 성장의 이치에 이바지합니다. 사람은 영적 자극, 즉 일종의 습관화된 영적 행동양식에 알맞게 반응하는 쪽으로 종교적 경향을 개발할 수 있습니다. 종교적 성장을 촉진하는 습관들은 신적 가치에 대한 세련된 민감도, 타인의 종교 생활에 대한 인지, 질서 우주 의미에 대해 숙고하는 고찰(考察), 경건한 문제 해결, 자기 동료들과 영적 생활을 공유함, 이기심을 피함, 신적 자비에 대해 생각 없이 믿기를 거절함, 하느님의 면전에서 사는 것들을 받아들입니다. 종교적 성장의 요인들은 의도적일 수 있지만, 성장 자체는 한결같이 무의식적입니다.
100:1.9 (1095.4) The unconscious nature of religious growth does not, however, signify that it is an activity functioning in the supposed subconscious realms of human intellect; rather does it signify creative activities in the superconscious levels of mortal mind. The experience of the realization of the reality of unconscious religious growth is the one positive proof of the functional existence of the superconsciousness. 그렇지만, 종교적 성장의 무의식적 본성은 그것이 인간 지성의 가상적 잠재 영역에서 기능하는 활동을 나타내지 않습니다; 오히려 그것은 필사자 마음의 초(超) 의식적 수준에 있는 창조적 활동을 의미합니다. 무의식적인 종교적 성장의 실체를 실감하는 체험은 초(超) 의식이 기능적으로 존재한다는 하나의 명확한 증거입니다.
2. Spiritual Growth 영적 성장
100:2.1 (1095.5) Spiritual development depends, first, on the maintenance of a living spiritual connection with true spiritual forces and, second, on the continuous bearing of spiritual fruit: yielding the ministry to one’s fellows of that which has been received from one’s spiritual benefactors. Spiritual progress is predicated on intellectual recognition of spiritual poverty coupled with the self-consciousness of perfection-hunger, the desire to know God and be like him, the wholehearted purpose to do the will of the Father in heaven. 영적 발전은 첫째, 참된 영적 기세와 살아있는 영적 관계를 유지하고, 둘째, 영적 열매를 끊임없이 맺는 것, 즉 자신의 영적 은인(恩人)으로부터 받은 것을 자기 동료들에게 사역(봉사)하여 갚는 것에 달려 있습니다. 영적 진보는 하느님을 알고 그와 같이 되려는 열망, 하늘에 계신 아버지의 뜻을 행하려는 전심의 결단, 온전을 향한 갈망에 대한 자의식(自意識)과 결부된, 영적 결핍에 대한 지적(知的) 인정에 기초를 둡니다.
100:2.2 (1095.6) Spiritual growth is first an awakening to needs, next a discernment of meanings, and then a discovery of values. The evidence of true spiritual development consists in the exhibition of a human personality motivated by love, activated by unselfish ministry, and dominated by the wholehearted worship of the perfection ideals of divinity. And this entire experience constitutes the reality of religion as contrasted with mere theological beliefs. 영적 성장은 먼저 필요에 대한 각성이고, 다음에 의미에 대한 식별이며, 그런 후 가치에 대한 발견입니다. 참된 영적 발전의 증거는 사랑으로 동기를 받고, 이타적 사역(봉사)으로 활성화되며, 신성(神性)의 완전한 이상(理想)에 대한 진심의 경배가 가장 두드러진 인간적 인격(고유성)의 발휘에 있습니다. 그리고 이런 전체의 체험은 단순한 신학적 믿음들과 대조적으로 종교의 실체를 구성합니다.
100:2.3 (1095.7) Religion can progress to that level of experience whereon it becomes an enlightened and wise technique of spiritual reaction to the universe. Such a glorified religion can function on three levels of human personality: the intellectual, the morontial, and the spiritual; upon the mind, in the evolving soul, and with the indwelling spirit. 종교는 우주에 대한 영적 반응으로 계발(啓發)되어 현명한 기법이 되는, 그런 체험의 수준까지 발달할 수 있습니다. 영화롭게 된 그런 종교는 인간 인격(고유성)의 세 가지, 마음의 지적 수준, 진화하는 혼(魂)의 모론시아 수준, 내주하는 영(靈)과 함께하는 영적 수준에서 역할을 다할 수 있습니다.
100:2.4 (1096.1) Spirituality becomes at once the indicator of one’s nearness to God and the measure of one’s usefulness to fellow beings. Spirituality enhances the ability to discover beauty in things, recognize truth in meanings, and discover goodness in values. Spiritual development is determined by capacity therefor and is directly proportional to the elimination of the selfish qualities of love. 영성(靈性)은 사람이 하느님께 접근하면서 동시에 동료들에 대한 유용성의 정도를 나타내는 표시가 됩니다. 영성은 사물에서 아름다움을 발견하고, 의미에서 진리를 알아보며, 가치에서 선함을 발견하는 능력을 향상합니다. 영적 발전은 그런 수용력으로 결정되며 이기적 사랑의 특성을 제거하는 것에 정비례합니다.
100:2.5 (1096.2) Actual spiritual status is the measure of Deity attainment, Adjuster attunement. The achievement of finality of spirituality is equivalent to the attainment of the maximum of reality, the maximum of Godlikeness. Eternal life is the endless quest for infinite values. 실제의 영적 상태는 조율자와 조율하여 신(神)에 도달한 정도입니다. 최종적 영성(靈性)의 성취는 실체의 최대치, 하느님과 같은 최대치 도달에 해당합니다. 영원한 삶은 무한한 가치를 끝없이 추구하는 것입니다.
100:2.6 (1096.3) The goal of human self-realization should be spiritual, not material. The only realities worth striving for are divine, spiritual, and eternal. Mortal man is entitled to the enjoyment of physical pleasures and to the satisfaction of human affections; he is benefited by loyalty to human associations and temporal institutions; but these are not the eternal foundations upon which to build the immortal personality which must transcend space, vanquish time, and achieve the eternal destiny of divine perfection and finaliter service. 인간 자아-실현의 목표는 물질적이지 않고 영적이어야 합니다. 얻으려고 노력할 가치가 있는 유일한 실체들은 신적이고, 영적이며, 영원합니다. 필사 사람은 육체적 즐거움을 누리고 인간적 애정을 만족시킬 권리가 있습니다; 그는 인간적 교제와 현세적 제도에 충성하여 이익을 얻지만, 이런 것들은 공간을 초월하고, 시간을 정복하며, 신적 완전과 최종자로 봉사하는 영원한 운명을 성취해야 하는 불멸의 인격(고유성)을 세우는 영원한 토대가 아닙니다.
100:2.7 (1096.4) Jesus portrayed the profound surety of the God-knowing mortal when he said: “To a God-knowing kingdom believer, what does it matter if all things earthly crash?” Temporal securities are vulnerable, but spiritual sureties are impregnable. When the flood tides of human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable; at least this is true of every human being who has dedicated the keeping of his soul to the indwelling spirit of the eternal God. 예수께서 “지상이 전부 다 무너져도, 하느님을 아는 하느님 나라 신자에게 무슨 상관이 있느냐?”라고 말하면서 그는 하느님을 아는 필사자의 뿌리 깊은 안전성을 표현했습니다. 현세의 안전은 쉽게 공격당하지만, 영적 안전성은 난공불락(難攻不落)입니다. 인간의 역경, 이기심, 잔인함, 증오, 악의(惡意)와 질투의 밀물이 필사자 혼(魂)을 몰아칠 때, 너희는 하나의 내적 요새 – 영(靈)의 성채가 절대적으로 공격받을 수 없다는 확신으로 마음을 놓을 수도 있습니다; 적어도 이것은 자신의 혼(魂)을 영원한 하느님의 내주하는 영(靈)에게 맡기는데 헌신한 모든 인간에게 해당합니다.
100:2.8 (1096.5) After such spiritual attainment, whether secured by gradual growth or specific crisis, there occurs a new orientation of personality as well as the development of a new standard of values. Such spirit-born individuals are so remotivated in life that they can calmly stand by while their fondest ambitions perish and their keenest hopes crash; they positively know that such catastrophes are but the redirecting cataclysms which wreck one’s temporal creations preliminary to the rearing of the more noble and enduring realities of a new and more sublime level of universe attainment. 점진적 성장으로 확보되든지, 특정한 위기로 확보되든지, 그렇게 영적으로 달성되면, 새로운 가치 기준의 발전뿐만 아니라 인격(고유성)의 새로운 적응도 일어납니다. 그렇게 영(靈)으로 태어난 개인들은 인생의 동기가 다시 부여되어서 자신들이 가장 좋아하는 포부(抱負)가 사라지고 자신들의 가장 원하는 희망이 무너져도 그들은 침착하게 대기할 수 있습니다; 그들은 그런 격변들이, 우주 성취의 새롭고 더 숭고한 수준의 더 고귀하고 오래 지속되는 실체들을 육성하기에 앞서서 현세의 창조계를 파괴하는 대변동의 방향을 바꾼 것에 불과하다는 것을 확실히 알고 있습니다.
3. Concepts of Supreme Value 최고 가치의 개념
100:3.1 (1096.6) Religion is not a technique for attaining a static and blissful peace of mind; it is an impulse for organizing the soul for dynamic service. It is the enlistment of the totality of selfhood in the loyal service of loving God and serving man. Religion pays any price essential to the attainment of the supreme goal, the eternal prize. There is a consecrated completeness in religious loyalty which is superbly sublime. And these loyalties are socially effective and spiritually progressive. 종교는 정적(靜的)인, 더없이 행복한 마음의 평안에 도달하는 기법이 아닙니다; 종교는 활동적인 봉사를 위해 혼(魂)이 준비하는 추진력입니다. 종교는 하느님을 사랑하고 사람을 섬기는 충성스러운 봉사에 자신 전체를 적극적으로 바치는 것입니다. 종교는 최고의 목표, 영원한 상을 얻기 위해 필수적인 어떤 값이라도 치릅니다. 지극히 고상한 종교적 충성에 신성한 완전성(完全)이 있습니다. 그리고 이런 충성은 사회적으로 효과가 있고 영적으로 진보적입니다.
100:3.2 (1096.7) To the religionist the word God becomes a symbol signifying the approach to supreme reality and the recognition of divine value. Human likes and dislikes do not determine good and evil; moral values do not grow out of wish fulfillment or emotional frustration. 종교인에게 하느님이라는 단어는 최고의 실체를 향한 접근과 신적 가치의 인지(認知)를 의미하는 상징이 됩니다. 인간이 호불호(好不好)가 선악을 결정하지 않습니다; 도덕적 가치는 소원성취나 감정적 좌절감에서 생기지 않습니다.
100:3.3 (1096.8) In the contemplation of values you must distinguish between that which is value and that which has value. You must recognize the relation between pleasurable activities and their meaningful integration and enhanced realization on ever progressively higher and higher levels of human experience. 가치(價値)를 충분히 생각하여, 너희는 가치 자체와 가치 있는 것을 구별해야 합니다. 너희는 즐거운 활동들과 그것들의 의미 있는 통합 및 언제나 점진적으로 더 높아지는 인간 체험의 수준들에 대해 강화된 인식(認識) 사이의 관계를 알아봐야 합니다.
100:3.4 (1097.1) Meaning is something which experience adds to value; it is the appreciative consciousness of values. An isolated and purely selfish pleasure may connote a virtual devaluation of meanings, a meaningless enjoyment bordering on relative evil. Values are experiential when realities are meaningful and mentally associated, when such relationships are recognized and appreciated by mind. 의미는 경험에 가치를 더하는 것입니다; 의미는 가치를 식별(識別)할 수 있는 의식입니다. 고립된, 아주 이기적인 즐거움은 실제 의미의 평가절하, 즉 상대적 악(惡)이라고 말할 수 있는 의미 없는 즐거움을 뜻합니다. 가치는 실체들이 의미가 있고 정신적으로 관련될 때, 그런 관계들을 알아보고 마음으로 그 진가를 알 때, 경험적입니다.
100:3.5 (1097.2) Values can never be static; reality signifies change, growth. Change without growth, expansion of meaning and exaltation of value, is valueless — is potential evil. The greater the quality of cosmic adaptation, the more of meaning any experience possesses. Values are not conceptual illusions; they are real, but always they depend on the fact of relationships. Values are always both actual and potential — not what was, but what is and is to be. 가치(價値)는 절대로 정적(靜的)일 수 없습니다; 실체는 변화, 성장을 의미합니다. 성장, 의미의 확장과 가치의 높임이 없는 변화는 가치가 없는, 잠재적 악입니다. 질서 우주적 적응의 특질이 클수록, 어떤 체험이라도 더 많은 의미가 있습니다. 가치는 개념상의 환상이 아닙니다; 그것들은 실체이지만 그것들은 언제나 관계의 사실에 달려 있습니다. 가치는 언제나 실제로 존재하면서 동시에 잠재적입니다 – 과거가 아니라. 현재와 미래가 될 것입니다.
100:3.6 (1097.3) The association of actuals and potentials equals growth, the experiential realization of values. But growth is not mere progress. Progress is always meaningful, but it is relatively valueless without growth. The supreme value of human life consists in growth of values, progress in meanings, and realization of the cosmic interrelatedness of both of these experiences. And such an experience is the equivalent of God-consciousness. Such a mortal, while not supernatural, is truly becoming superhuman; an immortal soul is evolving. 실제로 존재하는 것들과 잠재성의 결합은 성장, 가치들의 체험적 실현과 같습니다. 그러나 성장은 단순한 진보가 아닙니다. 진보는 언제나 의미가 있지만, 성장이 없으면 진보는 상대적으로 가치가 없습니다. 인간 생활의 최고 가치는 가치의 성장, 의미의 진보 및 질서 우주에서 이런 두 가지 체험의 밀접한 관계의 실현에 있습니다. 그리고 그런 체험은 하느님-의식에 해당합니다. 그런 필사자는, 초(超)자연적이지 않지만, 정말로 인간의 영역을 넘어서고 있습니다; 불멸의 혼(魂)은 진화하고 있습니다.
100:3.7 (1097.4) Man cannot cause growth, but he can supply favorable conditions. Growth is always unconscious, be it physical, intellectual, or spiritual. Love thus grows; it cannot be created, manufactured, or purchased; it must grow. Evolution is a cosmic technique of growth. Social growth cannot be secured by legislation, and moral growth is not had by improved administration. Man may manufacture a machine, but its real value must be derived from human culture and personal appreciation. Man’s sole contribution to growth is the mobilization of the total powers of his personality — living faith. 사람은 성장을 일으킬 수 없지만, 유리한 조건을 준비해서 갖출 수 있습니다. 성장이 신체적, 지적 또는 영적이든지, 그것은 언제나 무의식적입니다. 사랑은 그렇게 성장합니다; 그것은 창조되거나, 제조되거나, 손에 넣을 수 없습니다; 그것은 성장해야 합니다. 진화는 성장의 질서 우주적 기법입니다. 사회적 성장은 입법으로 확보될 수 없으며, 도덕적 성장은 개선된 행정으로 얻을 수 없습니다. 사람은 기계를 제조할 수도 있지만, 그것의 참된 가치는 인간 문화와 개인적인 진가의 인정에서 유래되어야 합니다. 성장에 대한 사람의 유일한 기여는 자기 인격(고유성)의 총체적 힘, 즉 살아 있는 신앙을 동원하는 것입니다.
4. Problems of Growth 성장의 문제
100:4.1 (1097.5) Religious living is devoted living, and devoted living is creative living, original and spontaneous. New religious insights arise out of conflicts which initiate the choosing of new and better reaction habits in the place of older and inferior reaction patterns. New meanings only emerge amid conflict; and conflict persists only in the face of refusal to espouse the higher values connoted in superior meanings. 종교적 삶은 헌신적 삶이며, 헌신적 삶은 독창적이며 자발적인 창조적 삶입니다. 새로운 종교적 통찰력은 오래되어 열등한 방식 대신에 새롭고 더 나은 반응 습관을 선정(選定)하기 시작하는 갈등에서 발생합니다. 새로운 의미는 갈등의 한복판에서 발생할 뿐이며; 갈등은 우월한 의미를 지닌 고등 가치의 채택을 거절하는 앞에서만 지속합니다.
100:4.2 (1097.6) Religious perplexities are inevitable; there can be no growth without psychic conflict and spiritual agitation. The organization of a philosophic standard of living entails considerable commotion in the philosophic realms of the mind. Loyalties are not exercised in behalf of the great, the good, the true, and the noble without a struggle. Effort is attendant upon clarification of spiritual vision and enhancement of cosmic insight. And the human intellect protests against being weaned from subsisting upon the nonspiritual energies of temporal existence. The slothful animal mind rebels at the effort required to wrestle with cosmic problem solving. 종교적 혼란은 피할 수 없습니다; 정신적 갈등과 영적 동요가 없이 성장은 있을 수 없습니다. 삶에 대한 철학적 기준의 편성(編成)에는 마음의 철학적 영역에 상당한 동요를 일으킵니다. 충성은 위대하고 선하며 진실하고 고상한 것을 위하여 투쟁 없이 발휘되지 않습니다. 영적 선견(先見)의 정화(淨化)와 우주적 통찰력의 증진에는 노력이 따라붙습니다. 그리고 인간 지성은 현세적 존재의 비영적 에너지로 생존하지 않는 것에 반대합니다. 나태한 동물적 마음은 우주 문제 해결과 씨름하는 데 필요한 노력을 몹시 싫어합니다.
100:4.3 (1097.7) But the great problem of religious living consists in the task of unifying the soul powers of the personality by the dominance of love. Health, mental efficiency, and happiness arise from the unification of physical systems, mind systems, and spirit systems. Of health and sanity man understands much, but of happiness he has truly realized very little. The highest happiness is indissolubly linked with spiritual progress. Spiritual growth yields lasting joy, peace which passes all understanding. 그러나 종교적 생활의 가장 큰 문제는 사랑의 지배로 인격(고유성)의 혼(魂) 권세를 통합하는 과업에 있습니다. 건강, 정신적 효율과 행복은 육체적 체계, 정신적 체계와 영적 체계의 통합에서 생깁니다. 사람은 건강과 온전한 정신에 대해 많이 이해하지만, 행복에 대해 그는 진정으로 거의 깨닫지 못했습니다. 최고의 행복은 영적 진보와 확고하게 이어져 있습니다. 영적 성장은 영속적 기쁨, 모든 이해를 뛰어넘는 평안을 가져옵니다.
100:4.4 (1098.1) In physical life the senses tell of the existence of things; mind discovers the reality of meanings; but the spiritual experience reveals to the individual the true values of life. These high levels of human living are attained in the supreme love of God and in the unselfish love of man. If you love your fellow men, you must have discovered their values. Jesus loved men so much because he placed such a high value upon them. You can best discover values in your associates by discovering their motivation. If someone irritates you, causes feelings of resentment, you should sympathetically seek to discern his viewpoint, his reasons for such objectionable conduct. If once you understand your neighbor, you will become tolerant, and this tolerance will grow into friendship and ripen into love. 육체적 삶에서 감각은 사물의 존재를 알려줍니다; 마음은 의미의 실체를 발견합니다; 그러나 영적 경험은 개인에게 생활의 참된 가치를 드러냅니다. 이렇게 높은 수준의 인간 생활은 하느님의 최고 사랑과 사람의 애타적 사랑으로 달성됩니다. 너희가 너희 동료 사람들을 사랑한다면, 너희는 그들의 가치를 분명히 발견했을 것입니다. 예수는 사람들에게 그토록 높은 가치를 두었기 때문에 사람들을 그토록 많이 사랑했습니다. 너희가 동료들의 동기를 발견하면 너희 동료들의 가치를 가장 잘 발견할 수 있습니다. 어떤 사람이 너희를 짜증 나게 하고, 원한의 감정을 일으킨다면, 너희는 그의 관점, 그렇게 괘씸한 행위의 이유를 공감하는 마음으로 이해하려고 애써야 합니다. 일단 너희가 너희 이웃을 이해하면 너희는 관대해질 것이며, 이런 관대함이 우정으로 자라고 원숙해져 사랑으로 발전할 것입니다.
100:4.5 (1098.2) In the mind’s eye conjure up a picture of one of your primitive ancestors of cave-dwelling times — a short, misshapen, filthy, snarling hulk of a man standing, legs spread, club upraised, breathing hate and animosity as he looks fiercely just ahead. Such a picture hardly depicts the divine dignity of man. But allow us to enlarge the picture. In front of this animated human crouches a saber-toothed tiger. Behind him, a woman and two children. Immediately you recognize that such a picture stands for the beginnings of much that is fine and noble in the human race, but the man is the same in both pictures. Only, in the second sketch you are favored with a widened horizon. You therein discern the motivation of this evolving mortal. His attitude becomes praiseworthy because you understand him. If you could only fathom the motives of your associates, how much better you would understand them. If you could only know your fellows, you would eventually fall in love with them. 동굴에 살던 시대의 너희 원시 조상 중 한 명, 키가 작고, 꼴이 사나우며, 더럽고, 으르렁거리는 덩치 큰 남자가 서서, 다리를 벌리고, 몽둥이를 들어 올려, 증오와 원한을 토하며 맹렬히 눈앞을 바라보는 모습을 마음의 눈으로 그려보라. 그런 모습은 아무리 해도 인간의 신적 존엄성을 묘사하지 못합니다. 그러나 그 모습을 확대해 보겠습니다. 이렇게 기운찬 인간 앞에 검치(칼이빨) 호랑이가 웅크리고 있습니다. 그 사람 뒤에는 한 여성과 두 자녀가 있습니다. 그런 모습은 종족의 훌륭하고 고상한, 많은 것의 시작을 대표한다고 너희는 즉시 인정하지만, 그 사람은 두 모습에서 동일인입니다. 너희는, 두 번째 스케치에서만 확대된 시야로 보입니다. 너희는 그 점에서 이렇게 진화하는 필사자의 동기를 알아봅니다. 너희가 그를 이해하기 때문에, 그의 태도는 칭찬받을 만합니다. 너희가 너희 동료들의 동기를 헤아릴 수만 있어도, 너희가 그들을 얼마나 더 이해할 수 있겠는가! 너희가 너희 동료를 알 수만 있어도, 너희는 결국 그들과 사랑에 빠지게 될 것입니다.
100:4.6 (1098.3) You cannot truly love your fellows by a mere act of the will. Love is only born of thoroughgoing understanding of your neighbor’s motives and sentiments. It is not so important to love all men today as it is that each day you learn to love one more human being. If each day or each week you achieve an understanding of one more of your fellows, and if this is the limit of your ability, then you are certainly socializing and truly spiritualizing your personality. Love is infectious, and when human devotion is intelligent and wise, love is more catching than hate. But only genuine and unselfish love is truly contagious. If each mortal could only become a focus of dynamic affection, this benign virus of love would soon pervade the sentimental emotion-stream of humanity to such an extent that all civilization would be encompassed by love, and that would be the realization of the brotherhood of man. 너희는 의지의 행동만으로 너희 동료들을 진정으로 사랑할 수 없습니다. 사랑은 너희 이웃의 동기(動機)와 정서(情緖)에 대한 철저한 이해에서 비롯될 뿐입니다. 오늘 모든 사람을 사랑하는 것이 그토록 중요한 것이 아니라, 너희가 매일 한 사람을 더 사랑하기를 익히는 것이 그토록 중요합니다. 매일 또는 매주 너희가 너희 동료 한 명 이상을 이해하기에 이르고, 이것이 너희 능력의 한계라면, 너희는 분명히 사회화(社會化)하고 너희 인격(고유성)은 진실로 영화(靈化)하고 있는 것입니다. 사랑은 전염성이 있으며, 인간의 헌신이 지능적이고 현명할 때, 사랑은 미움보다 더 전염성이 있습니다. 그러나 진심에서 우러난 애타적인 사랑만이 진실로 전염성이 있습니다. 각 필사자가 활동적인 애정의 초점이 될 수만 있다면, 이렇게 자상한 사랑의 바이러스는 이윽고 모든 문명을 사랑으로 아우를 수 있을 정도로 인류애의 정서적인 감정-흐름에 가득 찰 것이며, 그것이 사람 형제공동체의 실현이 될 것입니다.
5. Conversion and Mysticism
100:5.1 (1098.4) The world is filled with lost souls, not lost in the theologic sense but lost in the directional meaning, wandering about in confusion among the isms and cults of a frustrated philosophic era. Too few have learned how to install a philosophy of living in the place of religious authority. (The symbols of socialized religion are not to be despised as channels of growth, albeit the river bed is not the river.)
100:5.2 (1098.5) The progression of religious growth leads from stagnation through conflict to co-ordination, from insecurity to undoubting faith, from confusion of cosmic consciousness to unification of personality, from the temporal objective to the eternal, from the bondage of fear to the liberty of divine sonship.
100:5.3 (1099.1) It should be made clear that professions of loyalty to the supreme ideals — the psychic, emotional, and spiritual awareness of God-consciousness — may be a natural and gradual growth or may sometimes be experienced at certain junctures, as in a crisis. The Apostle Paul experienced just such a sudden and spectacular conversion that eventful day on the Damascus road. Gautama Siddhartha had a similar experience the night he sat alone and sought to penetrate the mystery of final truth. Many others have had like experiences, and many true believers have progressed in the spirit without sudden conversion.
100:5.4 (1099.2) Most of the spectacular phenomena associated with so-called religious conversions are entirely psychologic in nature, but now and then there do occur experiences which are also spiritual in origin. When the mental mobilization is absolutely total on any level of the psychic upreach toward spirit attainment, when there exists perfection of the human motivation of loyalties to the divine idea, then there very often occurs a sudden down-grasp of the indwelling spirit to synchronize with the concentrated and consecrated purpose of the superconscious mind of the believing mortal. And it is such experiences of unified intellectual and spiritual phenomena that constitute the conversion which consists in factors over and above purely psychologic involvement.
100:5.5 (1099.3) But emotion alone is a false conversion; one must have faith as well as feeling. To the extent that such psychic mobilization is partial, and in so far as such human-loyalty motivation is incomplete, to that extent will the experience of conversion be a blended intellectual, emotional, and spiritual reality.
100:5.6 (1099.4) If one is disposed to recognize a theoretical subconscious mind as a practical working hypothesis in the otherwise unified intellectual life, then, to be consistent, one should postulate a similar and corresponding realm of ascending intellectual activity as the superconscious level, the zone of immediate contact with the indwelling spirit entity, the Thought Adjuster. The great danger in all these psychic speculations is that visions and other so-called mystic experiences, along with extraordinary dreams, may be regarded as divine communications to the human mind. In times past, divine beings have revealed themselves to certain God-knowing persons, not because of their mystic trances or morbid visions, but in spite of all these phenomena.
100:5.7 (1099.5) In contrast with conversion-seeking, the better approach to the morontia zones of possible contact with the Thought Adjuster would be through living faith and sincere worship, wholehearted and unselfish prayer. Altogether too much of the uprush of the memories of the unconscious levels of the human mind has been mistaken for divine revelations and spirit leadings.
100:5.8 (1099.6) There is great danger associated with the habitual practice of religious daydreaming; mysticism may become a technique of reality avoidance, albeit it has sometimes been a means of genuine spiritual communion. Short seasons of retreat from the busy scenes of life may not be seriously dangerous, but prolonged isolation of personality is most undesirable. Under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience.
100:5.9 (1099.7) The characteristics of the mystical state are diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect. All of this gravitates consciousness toward the subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact, the superconscious. Many mystics have carried their mental dissociation to the level of abnormal mental manifestations.
100:5.10 (1100.1) The more healthful attitude of spiritual meditation is to be found in reflective worship and in the prayer of thanksgiving. The direct communion with one’s Thought Adjuster, such as occurred in the later years of Jesus’ life in the flesh, should not be confused with these so-called mystical experiences. The factors which contribute to the initiation of mystic communion are indicative of the danger of such psychic states. The mystic status is favored by such things as: physical fatigue, fasting, psychic dissociation, profound aesthetic experiences, vivid sex impulses, fear, anxiety, rage, and wild dancing. Much of the material arising as a result of such preliminary preparation has its origin in the subconscious mind.
100:5.11 (1100.2) However favorable may have been the conditions for mystic phenomena, it should be clearly understood that Jesus of Nazareth never resorted to such methods for communion with the Paradise Father. Jesus had no subconscious delusions or superconscious illusions.
6. Marks of Religious Living
100:6.1 (1100.3) Evolutionary religions and revelatory religions may differ markedly in method, but in motive there is great similarity. Religion is not a specific function of life; rather is it a mode of living. True religion is a wholehearted devotion to some reality which the religionist deems to be of supreme value to himself and for all mankind. And the outstanding characteristics of all religions are: unquestioning loyalty and wholehearted devotion to supreme values. This religious devotion to supreme values is shown in the relation of the supposedly irreligious mother to her child and in the fervent loyalty of nonreligionists to an espoused cause.
100:6.2 (1100.4) The accepted supreme value of the religionist may be base or even false, but it is nevertheless religious. A religion is genuine to just the extent that the value which is held to be supreme is truly a cosmic reality of genuine spiritual worth.
100:6.3 (1100.5) The marks of human response to the religious impulse embrace the qualities of nobility and grandeur. The sincere religionist is conscious of universe citizenship and is aware of making contact with sources of superhuman power. He is thrilled and energized with the assurance of belonging to a superior and ennobled fellowship of the sons of God. The consciousness of self-worth has become augmented by the stimulus of the quest for the highest universe objectives — supreme goals.
100:6.4 (1100.6) The self has surrendered to the intriguing drive of an all-encompassing motivation which imposes heightened self-discipline, lessens emotional conflict, and makes mortal life truly worth living. The morbid recognition of human limitations is changed to the natural consciousness of mortal shortcomings, associated with moral determination and spiritual aspiration to attain the highest universe and superuniverse goals. And this intense striving for the attainment of supermortal ideals is always characterized by increasing patience, forbearance, fortitude, and tolerance.
100:6.5 (1100.7) But true religion is a living love, a life of service. The religionist’s detachment from much that is purely temporal and trivial never leads to social isolation, and it should not destroy the sense of humor. Genuine religion takes nothing away from human existence, but it does add new meanings to all of life; it generates new types of enthusiasm, zeal, and courage. It may even engender the spirit of the crusader, which is more than dangerous if not controlled by spiritual insight and loyal devotion to the commonplace social obligations of human loyalties.
100:6.6 (1101.1) One of the most amazing earmarks of religious living is that dynamic and sublime peace, that peace which passes all human understanding, that cosmic poise which betokens the absence of all doubt and turmoil. Such levels of spiritual stability are immune to disappointment. Such religionists are like the Apostle Paul, who said: “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else shall be able to separate us from the love of God.”
100:6.7 (1101.2) There is a sense of security, associated with the realization of triumphing glory, resident in the consciousness of the religionist who has grasped the reality of the Supreme, and who pursues the goal of the Ultimate.
100:6.8 (1101.3) Even evolutionary religion is all of this in loyalty and grandeur because it is a genuine experience. But revelatory religion is excellent as well as genuine. The new loyalties of enlarged spiritual vision create new levels of love and devotion, of service and fellowship; and all this enhanced social outlook produces an enlarged consciousness of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
100:6.9 (1101.4) The characteristic difference between evolved and revealed religion is a new quality of divine wisdom which is added to purely experiential human wisdom. But it is experience in and with the human religions that develops the capacity for subsequent reception of increased bestowals of divine wisdom and cosmic insight.
7. The Acme of Religious Living
100:7.1 (1101.5) Although the average mortal of Urantia cannot hope to attain the high perfection of character which Jesus of Nazareth acquired while sojourning in the flesh, it is altogether possible for every mortal believer to develop a strong and unified personality along the perfected lines of the Jesus personality. The unique feature of the Master’s personality was not so much its perfection as its symmetry, its exquisite and balanced unification. The most effective presentation of Jesus consists in following the example of the one who said, as he gestured toward the Master standing before his accusers, “Behold the man!”
100:7.2 (1101.6) The unfailing kindness of Jesus touched the hearts of men, but his stalwart strength of character amazed his followers. He was truly sincere; there was nothing of the hypocrite in him. He was free from affectation; he was always so refreshingly genuine. He never stooped to pretense, and he never resorted to shamming. He lived the truth, even as he taught it. He was the truth. He was constrained to proclaim saving truth to his generation, even though such sincerity sometimes caused pain. He was unquestioningly loyal to all truth.
100:7.3 (1101.7) But the Master was so reasonable, so approachable. He was so practical in all his ministry, while all his plans were characterized by such sanctified common sense. He was so free from all freakish, erratic, and eccentric tendencies. He was never capricious, whimsical, or hysterical. In all his teaching and in everything he did there was always an exquisite discrimination associated with an extraordinary sense of propriety.
100:7.4 (1102.1) The Son of Man was always a well-poised personality. Even his enemies maintained a wholesome respect for him; they even feared his presence. Jesus was unafraid. He was surcharged with divine enthusiasm, but he never became fanatical. He was emotionally active but never flighty. He was imaginative but always practical. He frankly faced the realities of life, but he was never dull or prosaic. He was courageous but never reckless; prudent but never cowardly. He was sympathetic but not sentimental; unique but not eccentric. He was pious but not sanctimonious. And he was so well-poised because he was so perfectly unified.
100:7.5 (1102.2) Jesus’ originality was unstifled. He was not bound by tradition or handicapped by enslavement to narrow conventionality. He spoke with undoubted confidence and taught with absolute authority. But his superb originality did not cause him to overlook the gems of truth in the teachings of his predecessors and contemporaries. And the most original of his teachings was the emphasis of love and mercy in the place of fear and sacrifice.
100:7.6 (1102.3) Jesus was very broad in his outlook. He exhorted his followers to preach the gospel to all peoples. He was free from all narrow-mindedness. His sympathetic heart embraced all mankind, even a universe. Always his invitation was, “Whosoever will, let him come.”
100:7.7 (1102.4) Of Jesus it was truly said, “He trusted God.” As a man among men he most sublimely trusted the Father in heaven. He trusted his Father as a little child trusts his earthly parent. His faith was perfect but never presumptuous. No matter how cruel nature might appear to be or how indifferent to man’s welfare on earth, Jesus never faltered in his faith. He was immune to disappointment and impervious to persecution. He was untouched by apparent failure.
100:7.8 (1102.5) He loved men as brothers, at the same time recognizing how they differed in innate endowments and acquired qualities. “He went about doing good.”
100:7.9 (1102.6) Jesus was an unusually cheerful person, but he was not a blind and unreasoning optimist. His constant word of exhortation was, “Be of good cheer.” He could maintain this confident attitude because of his unswerving trust in God and his unshakable confidence in man. He was always touchingly considerate of all men because he loved them and believed in them. Still he was always true to his convictions and magnificently firm in his devotion to the doing of his Father’s will.
100:7.10 (1102.7) The Master was always generous. He never grew weary of saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Said he, “Freely you have received, freely give.” And yet, with all of his unbounded generosity, he was never wasteful or extravagant. He taught that you must believe to receive salvation. “For every one who seeks shall receive.”
100:7.11 (1102.8) He was candid, but always kind. Said he, “If it were not so, I would have told you.” He was frank, but always friendly. He was outspoken in his love for the sinner and in his hatred for sin. But throughout all this amazing frankness he was unerringly fair.
100:7.12 (1102.9) Jesus was consistently cheerful, notwithstanding he sometimes drank deeply of the cup of human sorrow. He fearlessly faced the realities of existence, yet was he filled with enthusiasm for the gospel of the kingdom. But he controlled his enthusiasm; it never controlled him. He was unreservedly dedicated to “the Father’s business.” This divine enthusiasm led his unspiritual brethren to think he was beside himself, but the onlooking universe appraised him as the model of sanity and the pattern of supreme mortal devotion to the high standards of spiritual living. And his controlled enthusiasm was contagious; his associates were constrained to share his divine optimism.
100:7.13 (1103.1) This man of Galilee was not a man of sorrows; he was a soul of gladness. Always was he saying, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.” But when duty required, he was willing to walk courageously through the “valley of the shadow of death.” He was gladsome but at the same time humble.
100:7.14 (1103.2) His courage was equaled only by his patience. When pressed to act prematurely, he would only reply, “My hour has not yet come.” He was never in a hurry; his composure was sublime. But he was often indignant at evil, intolerant of sin. He was often mightily moved to resist that which was inimical to the welfare of his children on earth. But his indignation against sin never led to anger at the sinner.
100:7.15 (1103.3) His courage was magnificent, but he was never foolhardy. His watchword was, “Fear not.” His bravery was lofty and his courage often heroic. But his courage was linked with discretion and controlled by reason. It was courage born of faith, not the recklessness of blind presumption. He was truly brave but never audacious.
100:7.16 (1103.4) The Master was a pattern of reverence. The prayer of even his youth began, “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.” He was even respectful of the faulty worship of his fellows. But this did not deter him from making attacks on religious traditions or assaulting errors of human belief. He was reverential of true holiness, and yet he could justly appeal to his fellows, saying, “Who among you convicts me of sin?”
100:7.17 (1103.5) Jesus was great because he was good, and yet he fraternized with the little children. He was gentle and unassuming in his personal life, and yet he was the perfected man of a universe. His associates called him Master unbidden.
100:7.18 (1103.6) Jesus was the perfectly unified human personality. And today, as in Galilee, he continues to unify mortal experience and to co-ordinate human endeavors. He unifies life, ennobles character, and simplifies experience. He enters the human mind to elevate, transform, and transfigure it. It is literally true: “If any man has Christ Jesus within him, he is a new creature; old things are passing away; behold, all things are becoming new.”
100:7.19 (1103.7) [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]