People’s Basic Spiritual Qualities and Weaknesses

nPeople’s basic spiritual qualities and weaknessesnnThis chapter serves to raise our awareness of people's qualities and problems. For this purpose, we shall examine and specify the consequences of two basic qualities: one in the mental-creative (intellectual) domain and the other in the moral (spiritual) domain. 1. People are intelligent evolving beingsnThus they are necessarily imperfect, causing their activities, responses and standpoints to also be imperfect.nA person develops because his urges lead him to do so, and his abilities carry out this development. If we assess their future by their past, people will continue developing at an increased rate. Therefore we may say that they have a natural and constant goal,: striding towards progress.nIn order for people to realize this purpose, their abilities must develop too. A person develops his abilities and realizes his purpose through creative endeavor that results in the appearance of suitable end-products. We may say that a person occupied in such an activity is functioning optimally.nIn order for a person to do so, he requires appropriate knowledge and goals. Thanks to the drive for progress, people have both the urge and the ability to obtain this. Apart from the sources within one's self, people have two additional sources. nna. The social source provides this content through: copying, faith, and proof. Society also provides encouragement for its successful attainment. nnb. The spiritual source partially or fully provides this content through creative flashes from the marvelous spiritual source known as the "Universal Mind” Due to people’s imperfection, not everyone develops properly, and thus not everyone provides these creative end-products; that is, not everyone realizes their purpose. To be precise, few people do. Socially, the informational content and goals, which others provide are often incorrect. This regards to information based on copying, and even more so in regards to content based on belief . The encouragement society provides may be faulty and the content-processing may be wrong for the same reason. Spiritually, not every person receives assistance from this marvelous spiritual source. We may say that an individual who does not realize his purpose has obstacles in doing so. These impediments cause a person to feel frustrated and to run around in circles. Generally, these obstructions also lead to erroneous, primitive functioning. The book proves this basic phenomenon. 2. People are positive beings: Therefore, they can perform true Good. Plato and Confucius, the ancient world's great philosophers, confirmed this, and the Pentateuch asserts it. Furthermore, people have an urge to perform Good. A person acts of his free will, convinced that he is performing Good. Thus we may say that people were created to do Good.nLove is the main cause, which leads people in this direction. Performing Good and loving are the results of proper ethical-spiritual development. People, as positive creations, will function optimally when doing Good.n"A person must know Good in order to do it." – PlatonA person who functions with high self-esteem will know it, and one who expresses love will make proper use of it.n"A person who knows Good will also inform others of it" –PlatonnWe may sum up by saying that people’s purpose is to creatively perform Good as they stride towards positive progress.nThus, the knowledge and goals required for this purpose’s realization must also be positive. Due to people’s imperfection, not everyone does the true Good, and so not everyone realizes their purpose. One fails to do Good if something stands in his way. This obstruction stems from a lack of proper development of one’s spiritual-ethical domain. This obstacle also harms people’s development and functioning, including their spiritual welfare.nn If the way towards expressing Good is blocked, the urge remains naturally active and manifests itself in the direction of evil. Thus we may say that people, as imperfect creations, naturally do both Good and evil. If a person does evil of his free will, most of his spiritual powers will take part in its execution, and so the resulting destruction will be maximal. It is not so when he does evil under coercion.nPeople will also do maximal evil when they use erroneous knowledge and goals; namely, when they believe or accept as truth that in realizing it they will perform Good. This moral problem is among peoples' most severe, and the main reason for the disasters they have caused others, and sometimes themselves, throughout history. n In conclusion: We may confidently assert that people’s basic moral problem is the doing of evil, stemming mainly from their imperfection and it is situated in their spiritual realm, a realm that for various reasons we know little about. Not only does a person perform evil due to his imperfection, but these actions lead one to create and develop false 'truths', which harm him and the other he is willing to fight for in order to perpetuate.nThis imperfection gives them life and its beauty, but also the negative expression of their abilities with all the harm it causes. nAbraham Adarnhttp://www.adar-publishing.com/