HEAD OR TAIL?

Thought Adjuster: “You were just reading about the conflicting dual nature of human beings. Indeed, a constant tug-of-war is being waged between the lower animal instincts and propensities, and the higher spiritual tendencies that differentiate men from animals.

“You are born as children of the Earth and your bodies contain many of Her stardust composites. Yet, you are much more than microcosmoses. You are ‘mini-infinities’, as you have mind-boggling high spiritual callings.

“What does it take to successfully transcend your finite self? It requires the full activation of your spiritual side, the ‘transcendental’ part of you. Like a coin, you are two-sided. You are born with its ‘tail’—your material side—facing up and your assignment is to find creative ways to flip it around so that your spiritual side takes the upper hand, its ‘face’ no longer buried in the dust but gazing at the infinite starry canopy of its eternal destiny.

“In order to transcend your animalistic nature, you have to become keenly aware of your spiritual essence and constantly challenge your earthbound lower propensities. This is not a small task but a long-term assignment of great magnitude. How could it be otherwise since the Father is promising you so much more than the world you live on?

“This inner tug-of-war plays out between two fierce opposite teams whose members have been assigned key positions on the turf: Indolence strives to stop ambition in its tracks; baser animalistic instincts are standing in the way of high spiritual ideals; narrow-mindedness does its best to block the view of the long-distance goal revealed to you by your Inner Coach; material desires slow down the implementation of your progressive ascending plan; electro-chemical reactions put a damper on flashes of universal intelligence; animalistic emotions counter the angelic cheerleaders; the tendencies of the instinct cancel the intellectual training; the racial propensities impact the individual experience; “the aims of the best (are) overshadowed by the drift of the worst; the flight of genius (is) neutralized by the gravity of mediocrity; the progress of the good retarded by the inertia of the bad; the art of the beautiful besmirched the presence of evil; the buoyancy of health neutralized by the debility of disease: the fountain of faith polluted by the poisons of fear; the spring of joy embittered by the waters of sorrow; the gladness of anticipation disillusioned by the bitterness of realization; the joys of living ever threatened by the sorrows of the death.” [UB, end of Paper 111]

“Dear ones, do not let this extensive list of spiritual chores dishearten you. Rather, let it encourage you to win that tug-of-war and claim its precious prize: the cornucopia of the fruits of Spirit. How brave you are!”