Only with direct and frequent contact with God can we live the good life. When we understand and work with the forces of nature, we become effective, but only if we acknowledge that the true source of all power is nature. As individuals, we will never be so powerful that swimming upstream will be faster — it's always faster to swim downstream. The reality is that we are very small in comparison to the awesome forces of nature, and the only way to be effective is to get the natural forces to do the work for us.

 

As humans, we are driven by desires, but God is not the object of those desires. Rather, He is the teacher who shows us how to be satisfied, and not in gluttony, which only creates more problems, which become new desires. Rather, He teaches us to take only what we need.

 

Yet neither is it natural to deny desires, as this just leads to obsession. Only in satiation are we free. Then we see things as God sees them, as they really are, and we know our place in this world. Hence we are closest to God when we are satisfied but not to excess.

 

If we attempt to leave ourselves, to gain perspective over our personal circumstances, our desires pull us back. Yet if we live only for our desires, we have nothing but senseless pain and suffering, propelling us into a search for a higher purpose. This only makes sense when we understand that we need to leave ourselves in order to find our way in this world, so that we can re-enter our bodies and make some progress.

 

Sometimes it seems that God's realm is above, where we gain perspective over ourselves, while back on Earth, we see only selfish distortions, and these are Satan's toys. Why do we have to live in Satan's world? The answer is that this is where God's work needs to be done, and we live near the work. But after each meal, we rest and think of our place in this world, and God is there with us, as He is when the day's work is done. So God is never far away.

 

In times of need, we search for a higher purpose. But not all of what we might be led to believe is real. Problems, and especially complex combinations of them, beg us to seek perspective over ourselves. Yet it would take persistent problems to maintain that level of consciousness, and that's not the point. Like a good counselor, our God is there when we need Him, but He doesn't get in the way when we are happy. We only need a map when we get lost. Eventually, we learn to check the map regularly, before getting lost, to make sure that we are still on the right road. But the elevated state of consciousness that we experience when we are lost and trying to find our way is not where we want to stay. Rather, we want to get back on the right road and make some progress. So we need to make contact with God frequently, to get His guidance before going down the wrong road, but we do not expect to stay in contact with God as we do His work. He is our mentor, not our boss, and not our servant.

 

God is wise, and He cannot be fooled. Satan, on the other hand, is easy to fool. Satan is stupid, and encourages us to do stupid things. Satan is actually stupid enough to be appeased even if we merely acknowledge stupid thoughts, and have a good laugh over them, invoking a catharsis that precludes actually doing stupid things. So we laugh freely, while we put a good deal more thought into the things that we actually do, with particular attention to those things that will affect a lot of people. And it pleases us to know that we are leaving a trail of lasting accomplishments behind us. As such, we will be remembered fondly when we are gone.

 

This we know best when we teach others how to live this way, for it is only in teaching that we come to truly understand what we have learned. Thus the legacy that we bequeath to future generations is not just the good work that we have done — we should show them how they can preserve and further the work that we have done, thereby multiplying it.

 

Prayers

 

Summary

• We are small in comparison to the awesome forces of nature.
• God teaches us to take just what we need and be satisfied.
• We are closest to God when we are satisfied but not to excess.
• God is wise and cannot be fooled, even when we lie to ourselves.
• We mock Satan and then skillfully move along.
• In teaching, we come to truly understand what we have learned.