| Pain........................1129 | |
| the lower spheres are supposed to suffer much pain. How is it then that Lucifer, who is | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| always think that there is nothing worse than pain. Yet there is something worse, namely the stage | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| stage before a soul is able to feel pain. When you feel pain, you are already a | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| is able to feel pain. When you feel pain, you are already a step closer to God | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| spirits. And he who finds himself in extreme pain must come closer to God, since it is | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| actually rises. The farther removed he is from pain, the greater the inner disharmony; and Lucifer is | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| they can increase their inner harmony even without pain. Later, the overcoming of various resistances will replace | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| the overcoming of various resistances will replace the pain, until eventually not even the struggle against resistance | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| inner harmony you are when you experience clean pain than when you are not really in pain | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| pain than when you are not really in pain but feel upset, rebellious, and torn in many | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| cling to the false belief that death and pain are the worst things that can happen to | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| the state of freedom from matter that the pain to be suffered is little and of short | 3 CHOOSING YOUR DESTINY -- THE WILL TO CHANGE |
| might be injured, the other could cause me pain. Fear of disappointment is a sign of oversensitivity | 4 WORLD WEARINESS |
| insist on attributing so much importance to your pain, to your vanity, and to your fears. Only | 4 WORLD WEARINESS |
| to you, and you convince yourself that the pain you experience must be borne because it is | 4 WORLD WEARINESS |
| on the other you find in such pleasant pain a compensation for the privations of your life | 4 WORLD WEARINESS |
| are unconsciously remembering an earlier reaction, when your pain was commensurate with the gravity of the situation | 4 WORLD WEARINESS |
| Now you can change your attitude toward your pain. Because of this difference, the same feeling can | 4 WORLD WEARINESS |
| this band of love will feel the other's pain with the same intensity as their own; the | 6 THE HUMAN ROLE IN THE SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL UNIVERSES |
| so. Even though you do not see the pain or the problem in it, believe me, this | 10 MALE AND FEMALE INCARNATIONS: THEIR RHYTHMS AND CAUSES |
| the beyond, is this entry always accompanied by pain? ANSWER: No. QUESTION: You mean not necessarily? ANSWER | 10 MALE AND FEMALE INCARNATIONS: THEIR RHYTHMS AND CAUSES |
| not always to focus on yourself and your pain. Try to see the other. Forget yourself for | 12 THE ORDER AND DIVERSITY OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS-THE PROCESS OF REINCARNATION |
| sense I explained before. See his or her pain, not yours, see his or her insecurity, not | 12 THE ORDER AND DIVERSITY OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS-THE PROCESS OF REINCARNATION |
| you love yourself so dearly that a little pain becomes too terrible for you to bear. Only | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| for you to bear. Only by accepting this pain can you become detached enough from your ego | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| you become detached enough from your ego until pain will no longer be necessary for your development | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| yourself so much that you shirk a little pain, but shoulder it courageously and humbly, not making | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| you how short the span of your little pain is when viewed from the spiritual and only | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| you are constantly so afraid of a little pain, if you hold on so tightly to your | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| sense, which entails also being able to accept pain. The misunderstood application of positive thinking leaves out | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| it is important to be able to accept pain in a healthy way, as I have explained | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| explained before. If you are so set against pain, if everything cringes in you at the thought | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| it, you very much desire not to have pain -- and therefore you are not detached. You | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| detached. You have to train yourself that your pain, your vanity, and your comfort do not matter | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| willpower, effort, patience -- and, perhaps, suffer some pain? Self-recognition and the tearing off of masks is | 17 THE CALL -- DAILY REVIEW |
| When you have a disease, when you feel pain, when you have a problem or some sort | 17 THE CALL -- DAILY REVIEW |
| very painful to them; it causes an extreme pain they cannot stand. Therefore, a human being who | 19 JESUS CHRIST |
| been crucified. This cannot happen otherwise than through pain. But even this part of his task is | 19 JESUS CHRIST |
| actually wince and shrink away and feel physical pain when they come into contact with the light | 23 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| to those spirits in darkness, it creates a pain or discomfort of some kind, again according to | 23 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| beauty and harmony or worlds of ugliness and pain. You create worlds all the time, every day | 23 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| wanting to be honest with yourself, which causes pain at first, are other positive, constructive desires. Therefore | 29 THE FORCES OF ACTIVITY AND PASSIVITY -- FINDING GOD'S WILL |
| self-love is practiced by self-indulgently shirking the necessary pain of life. This is the small self that | 33 OCCUPATION WITH SELF -- RIGHT AND WRONG FAITH |
| as it actually presents itself, your fears of pain and disappointment. To master your life you have | 36 PRAYER |
| spiritual growth. Pray for the ability to embrace pain as well as happiness. Pray that you do | 36 PRAYER |
| that you shirk the healing agent of occasional pain. Pray for the courage to take pain in | 36 PRAYER |
| occasional pain. Pray for the courage to take pain in the right manner. Then, in the ultimate | 36 PRAYER |
| the right manner. Then, in the ultimate sense, pain must be one with happiness. When you reach | 36 PRAYER |
| God, you will not know the difference between pain and pleasure. Pain will be happiness and happiness | 36 PRAYER |
| not know the difference between pain and pleasure. Pain will be happiness and happiness will be pain | 36 PRAYER |
| Pain will be happiness and happiness will be pain in a blissful sense. All is one in | 36 PRAYER |
| factors can no longer be blamed for the pain inflicted by the wrong conclusions and misconceptions of | 38 IMAGES |
| risk of life; I do not want the pain of life; therefore, I draw this conclusion which | 38 IMAGES |
| they will avoid what they fear in life: pain, suffering, disappointment. The error, the wrong conclusion lies | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| angle. Not only were you unable to avoid pain, but in the long run it brought you | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| the long run it brought you infinitely greater pain than you would have had if you had | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| There is no iron-clad insurance for warding off pain. You cannot go through life without it. You | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| this. Since no ordinary human being is pure, pain is, to some degree, unavoidable. But if you | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| unavoidable. But if you accept life with its pain, always trying to understand what in you called | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| voluntarily, you will not only encounter much less pain, but the pain that is unavoidable will not | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| not only encounter much less pain, but the pain that is unavoidable will not hurt half as | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| How well did I succeed? Then think about pain a little differently. Try to think about it | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| fresh new outlook. You will all realize that pain is also relative. Fear of pain is always | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| realize that pain is also relative. Fear of pain is always infinitely worse than the pain itself | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| of pain is always infinitely worse than the pain itself. It is the same with physical pain | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| pain itself. It is the same with physical pain. If you push against it, if your muscles | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| they can endure dreadful injuries without feeling any pain. They have learned to accept the oncoming pain | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| pain. They have learned to accept the oncoming pain without any revolt, giving themselves up to it | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| hurt anymore. It is exactly the same with pain in the soul. Apart from this, many of | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| Understand that you learn also by meeting the pain, by accepting it as long as you are | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| then you will have the proper attitude toward pain. Only by accepting pain -- and this is | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| the proper attitude toward pain. Only by accepting pain -- and this is the only healthy way | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| avoiding both masochism and cringing revolt -- will pain finally cease. When you completely accept pain, you | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| will pain finally cease. When you completely accept pain, you go through it; and only by going | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| great philosophers of this world teach you that pain and pleasure become one in the absolute; I | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| that state. You cannot attain pleasure by avoiding pain, but you certainly can by going through it | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| misunderstanding, I emphasize once more that acceptance of pain does not deny your power to avoid it | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| this path of purification. Quite the contrary. But pain cannot be dealt with superficially; it calls for | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| and just suffers vaguely in a continuous, gnawing pain. How sad it is to observe this, particularly | 41 IMAGES: THE DAMAGE THEY DO |
| will is done. It knows hatred, resentment, and pain when its will is not done. It is | 41 IMAGES: THE DAMAGE THEY DO |
| more objectively and not according to one's own pain or pleasure. While your image lives, you continue | 41 IMAGES: THE DAMAGE THEY DO |
| that the very event that causes you temporary pain is an answer to your own prayer -- | 43 THREE BASIC PERSONALITY TYPES: REASON, WILL, EMOTION |
| to leave the poisonous plant in your garden. Pain has to be endured one way or another | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| in you which causes and has constantly caused pain. You must learn to distinguish between two basic | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| learn to distinguish between two basic kinds of pain, my friends, the degenerating and the regenerating. You | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| realm as well. There is the kind of pain of becoming sick, feeling the symptoms of an | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| And then there is a different kind of pain, often even more acute, which goes with the | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| which goes with the healing process: the regenerating pain. This is often -- indeed always -- necessary | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| complete cure or healing can take place. Such pain is on the upward curve. Before undergoing an | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| for instance, first you feel the kind of pain of becoming sick, often long before you know | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| process you endure a completely different kind of pain. You all know the wound cannot heal before | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| can grow together again. That is the regenerating pain. The same holds true for the soul. You | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| to endure for a while the kind of pain that is regenerating. The operation itself would be | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| because of their unconscious fear of the sharper pain of the operation. Under stand that once you | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| to go through the operation, the time of pain is very short. If, however, you stay on | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| origin within yourself, the suffering will last. The pain will endure as long as you do not | 48 THE LIFE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE |
| is a satisfaction in it, added to the pain -- and exchange it for the attitude described | 51 IMPORTANCE OF FORMING INDEPENDENT OPINIONS |
| more durable satisfaction will be yours without the pain and disharmony. You will free yourself from the | 51 IMPORTANCE OF FORMING INDEPENDENT OPINIONS |
| understanding for others -- which must eliminate your pain! Such words have been spoken many times but | 51 IMPORTANCE OF FORMING INDEPENDENT OPINIONS |
| it is the very medicine to cure the pain caused by the deviation and, therefore, brings you | 52 THE GOD-IMAGE |
| disloyal or dishonest act of some sort. The pain of the accusation is the more gnawing of | 57 THE MASS IMAGE OF SELF-IMPORTANCE |
| it seems to happen for the emotionally immature. Pain is not something to be shunned at such | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| be shunned at such high cost that the pain resulting from the avoidance becomes worse than the | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| from the avoidance becomes worse than the original pain would have been. Nor does the mature person | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| Nor does the mature person seek and invite pain and unhappiness just to avoid the helpless feeling | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| did not bargain for it and when the pain arises, you fail to see its connection with | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| Some of you have heard that pleasure and pain are one above a certain level. A vague | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| the realm of the possible, and ask for pain and suffering instead. Once you find out all | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| QUESTION: Would you elaborate on the statement that pain and pleasure are the same in the healthy | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| by negative events and is therefore truly independent. Pain, or what would cause pain to someone who | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| therefore truly independent. Pain, or what would cause pain to someone who has not reached this state | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| inner growth and additional strength and freedom. While pain is known to be inevitable, it is not | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| this purpose is fulfilled, it ceases to be pain. With a human being who is truly advancing | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| darkness. The moment this recognition is reached the pain ceases, even though the outer condition that caused | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| even though the outer condition that caused the pain still prevails. Thus the very incident that has | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| the very incident that has caused you acute pain before the recognition now becomes a source of | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| experience takes place. When this state is reached, pain and pleasure become truly one. Then one has | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| in this life to reach the point where pain instantly turns into pleasure. In fact, this would | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| very much the unhealthy attitude of looking for pain that is in you anyway. Moreover, it would | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| in your reality, namely a mixture of both pain and pleasure. Only by fully accepting both can | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| accepting both can you come out of inviting pain in an unhealthy way, and thus steadily, though | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| though slowly, you will approach the point where pain will no longer be. So do not even | 58 THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS AND THE DESIRE FOR UNHAPPINESS |
| shortcut to save you from the labor and pain of self-development. QUESTION: Bearing in mind that Adam | 59 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| way. QUESTION: I have been wondering if physical pain has spiritual value and what kind of value | 63 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| It happens constantly in every respect. As to pain in particular, it depends on the attitude. Pain | 63 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| pain in particular, it depends on the attitude. Pain in itself is not necessarily beneficial if the | 63 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| person has a healthy and constructive approach to pain -- or any other unpleasant experience -- the | 63 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |