ABOUT URGES, EMOTIONAL RESPONSES, AND MORAL FORTITUDE

“While inherited urges cannot be fundamentally modified, emotional responses to such urges can be changed; therefore the moral nature can be modified, character can be improved.” [UB Paper 140, Section 4]

Thought Adjuster: Let us ponder the above statement. You are the product of many generations. Your personality was a direct gift from your Maker but many of your character attributes are hand-me-downs, so to speak. Indeed, both ancestral strengths and weakness are passed down to their offspring.

“Yet, depending on what each individual does with them, their own legacy may be improved or worsened. Never look at yourself as the scapegoat of your ancestry, even when you feel heavily handicapped by their emotional legacy.

“Rather, look at yourself as a ray of hope, as within you lays the power to considerably upgrade your personal legacy. In a relay race, each participant runs a pre-set distance carrying a baton before passing it onto the next runner. If they run a strong race, the next runner benefits from that advance. If they lag behind, the next runner will have to catch up with the pack and give his utmost to make his way toward the head of the pack.

“From that example, you can see that your life’s legacy is a combination of the past and the present. Indeed, it becomes very valuable when you live it with the heartfelt desire to make it easier for the coming generations. Much can be overcome while in the flesh. Positive character achievements do transform your DNA and your lineage will benefit from them.

“Your life presents you with ample opportunities to uproot the bad weeds from your character. You will have to live it with awareness, as such weeds are both resilient and invasive. Repetition is your ally in that process.

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. -Colossians 3:8, 12-13

“Jesus also said that you should forgive each other “seventy times seven times”, a number that symbolizes boundlessness. Indeed, it is through the repetition of positive behavioral patterns that you come to embody the character traits that you wish to acquire and that will forever override past flawed reactional patterns.”

“Dear ones, at the beginning of this new year, contemplate the chapter of your life that is coming to an end. What have you achieved? How have you changed? What changed you? Go within and examine with Me your personal spiritual balance sheet. Together, we can then ‘budget’ for the new year, by defining what should be your priorities. What part of the ‘oldyou' would you like to remodel? Rather than taking on too many projects, focus on the one that is the most foundational for the emergence of the better you.”