Abilities For Life

THE WAY OF THE GRAIL – SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS – February 24, 2020

Czech original: Schopnosti Pro Život · cesta-gralu.cz

## (the address of one of the spirits who ages of thousands of years ago fulfilled their task upon Earth and who now work helpingly from the heights of the luminous planes of Paradise)

Within the inner being of man there dwells that ability to recognise and to fulfil the true meaning of life

Truly to experience life does not lie merely in the acquiring of earthly skills, in the gaining of a certain equipment of knowledge and dexterity and, through these, in attaining the fulfilment of one's wishes of the earthly kind

For a life which is to have a true significance and is thus bestowing upon man in the sense of a higher degree of joy and of happiness, it is needful to let the intuitive perception, the voice of our noble spirit, press through to the surface

From the heights there rings the call of the many who have already walked this path and have recognised wherein lies the preciousness of the pure treasure of the spirit

It is the ascent of the personality of man in his inward acquiring of wisdom and of maturity and in the living of this wisdom and this maturity in the moment of the present

Wisdom cannot be read out of books, it cannot be studied with the intellect, but can be gained into one's own possession only through experiencing, through the highest inward movement, through the living vibration of the intuitive perception

That is the stumbling-block which holds back many men, for the spirit is assuredly more noble than the intellect, which upon Earth guides itself ponderously by maxims and by rigid ways

Men study and brood over maxims and instructions on how to live, in the supposition that this is the way, when narrowly and lifelessly they follow that which for a time they have acknowledged as right

Every day, however, brings moments in which it is not possible to act after a pattern, according to this or that maxim, but in which the spirit is to manifest in simple action its alertness, its nobility and its joy

Of what use then is the knowledge of connections, which may even come from the precious source of the Divine Truth, when the intuitive perception is paralysed and has not the strength to determine the direction, so that the nobility and the wisdom of action may flow outwards in manifestation naturally and everywhere

Yes, it is so, for the spirit would often step forward in the offering of its hand, yet the intellect holds man back with reasons which spring from habits, from learning gathered out of books, from the fear of losing social importance and from much else that only human intellectual cramp is able to create

Yet often it is also only helplessness, the inability to express, through the instrument of the body, the intuitive perceiving of one's inner being

Immobility in these things appears, seen from above, as the stiffness of earthly men, who outwardly often strive to gain the attention of others, yet are not able to lay anything living, friendly, childlike-joyous into the experiencing shared with others

The result then is only that they act without independence, that they yield easily to influence from without, or else they do indeed seek to hold to their own direction, but then think and act all the more convulsively and doggedly, clinging almost morbidly to particulars which they hold to be of fundamental importance for themselves and for others

Hand in hand with this there often goes anger towards all who will not subordinate themselves to their view of the world

Men who are inwardly more free are then for them done with, as wholly fallen into that which deserves condemnation, and at once there comes condemnation and at the least a stoning with words, which is to make such unfortunate ones branded before the eyes of as great a number of people as possible, and their freedom is set up as a warning example of dangerousness, whereby woe is pronounced upon everyone who will follow them

How foolish and how needless such acting is, for such doggedness of action always lacks greatness of spirit and joyfulness

There is lacking in it the most important thing that can truly be of help in this or that matter, the ability of living intuitive perception and wisdom

Thus many hold themselves to be true believers in this or that direction, while in reality they are only near to an unhappiness within themselves which drives them into the attitudes of the Pharisees

Through Pharisaism, however, nothing good was ever brought to life

The outer world of the earthly manifesting of men has grown all too rigid, and in the holding of masks which outwardly look convincing and sure there hides precisely the helplessness of how to experience something unexpected, something that is new, something that steps out of the appointed course of the flowing of everyday days

Helplessness arises from the coming of something new which is not known and accustomed

The new, bringing changes for which man is not prepared in his intellect, is something at which he takes fright

Helplessness dwells also there where fear, bitterness and pain reside, thus the brakes which spring from something that is past

Many a one is afraid to open himself and to manifest his intuitive perceiving, in the fear that he will suffer wounds from others, just as he perhaps already bears within him many wounds from earlier times

There are whole hosts of otherwise pure and luminous spirits in bodies upon Earth who, in the experiencing of painful wounds inflicted upon their inner being by other men, have grown bitter, have withdrawn into themselves and bear within them pain and the sense of wrong

These hosts are for the greater part formed of women, who are more receptive and more sensitive in their inner disposition

They truly bear upon themselves the burden of the world of today, which lies in baseness and in the wounding through mockery and through assault upon many a manifestation of purer and more fervent intuitive perception

Yet many men also who bear purity within them have had to endure many spiritual pains from others

From the past, however, one cannot free oneself otherwise than again only through a movement forward, through a movement which demands the courage to grant more room for the manifesting of the inner being, which often calls for another kind of action than that which the brakes of hesitation and brooding of thought determine

Thus many a man despairs over his condition, yet the cause thereof is, in more than nine parts out of ten, he himself

Not he himself, but his outward manner of life, in which the inner being, the intuitive perception, the spirit have but little room to manifest themselves, although he himself often proudly calls himself a man who walks a spiritual path

Yet where is his spirit, which always manifests itself with decision and with certainty in virtuous, noble action

The result visible outwardly speaks of the opposite, it speaks of unhappiness, of tension and of a struggle which does not lead forward, but only turns round and round

This turning in a wheel needs to be cut through

It needs to be replaced by a free stepping forward with a heart filled with courage and with joy

Within his inner being almost everyone longs to be great, free, clear, wise and above all happy

That is the call of the spirit for the work which it wills to do in the time of its life upon Earth

For this man came, that he might move forward, in the experiencing of situations in the moment of the present with his inner being

Therefore away at last with all the walls which in their long duration oppress the inner being that calls for the outward experiencing of the nobility and the freedom of the spirit

Man is spirit, not the body, which has not yet become for him the right support towards ascent, but is to him a closed shell through which the spirit cannot press outwards in order to manifest itself in the joyfulness and the enthusiasm which it bears within itself

Man upon Earth is very like a nut whose germ has not broken through to the outside

And yet he needs most urgently to accomplish this breaking through, that he may unite himself with the soil of life and in the experiencing of life may grow into a great tree bearing healthy fruits

But he only lies upon the surface of the soil, surrounded by the hard wall of the intellect, and in his long-enduring inward lukewarmness the danger threatens him more and more that rot will enter into him and that he will not rise up towards the Light

The bodily brain, the intellect, will never be a source of joy, for it did not arise for this purpose, but is here only for the storing of earthly knowledge and experience, which are to become for the spirit the starting foundation for the understanding of the gross materiality out of which the body comes

It is as though a motor car, used today by many upon Earth for travelling from place to place, were to shut in firmly with its doors the one who drives it and not permit him to go there where he longs to set out

The driver wills to go straight on, but the car, against his wish, turns aside of itself, because perhaps it has already once travelled this way and holds it to be the more right direction

Nay, more than that, not the driver himself but his vehicle finally determines what is better for the driver held captive within it, even the very goal of the journey

Would a truly free driver ever let such a vehicle rule over him, so as to submit his own goal to that goal which the steering of the vehicle has forced upon him

And yet the car itself is lifeless without the driver, just as the body without the spirit is not able to move, to breathe, to experience joy

Many more examples could be shown, yet all would lead to the same, to the confirmation that man is upon Earth in order that his spirit may rule the body and not the reverse, as it is with the greatest part of earthly men

Many a one suffers under these walls without being aware of it and experiences the reality of this condition only when he departs from this Earth

Yet the time upon Earth is precious, far more precious from the view of spiritual development than men are aware

Every moment in which that which is spiritual in man is oppressed and the way to its manifesting is not set free for it, we may call a lost moment

Men will object that it is not so and that the time spent upon Earth has meaning, because it seems to them that in the fulfilling of their earthly wishes they are already living

Yet that is not the true life, for this is bound solely and alone with the participation of the spiritual inner being in what is experienced

In that alone lie the ascent and the drawing near to wisdom and to maturity, in whose vibrations there lies hidden the treasure of spiritual preciousness

How small, however, is this treasure with many a one, when it is oppressed by the wishes of the intellect

And yet it is that treasure which for man in his existence is the most precious of all

This because in it lies the promise of lasting life in the heights of Creation

It is hard to describe something that cannot be directly experienced, when the listening man in the earthly body is surrounded by an outer space which he often holds to be the only dimension of his existence

If, however, it were granted to the spirit for but one moment to attune itself to the picture that stands behind the words “the treasure that lies in the blissful joyfulness of spiritual being in the spheres of Paradise”, then for many a one there could come no more peace until with all his volition and enthusiasm he had set out towards this goal

Words in themselves are too weak to call forth a picture in the intellect, for it will seek the earthly as the equal of it, but leave it to the spirit to draw strength therefrom in freedom and in jubilant, childlike joy

The spirit will seize the picture of the distant home in the Light, for the tones of its home, out of which it went forth to the recognising of the Laws of Creation in the materialities, still dwell within it as distant tones of glory and of happiness

The spirit bears this echo within itself even though, in the time of the wandering of its lives in the materialities, it has been pressed within it into but a tiny spark of blazing hope

The spark of rebirth remains within it and is always ready to blaze up anew into a bright flame which takes part in all that is experienced here upon Earth

Laid aside may be all that hinders and obstructs the spirit in its outward manifesting

The inner being is to live fully and to draw the quickening influxes of the Light in full draughts, so that man may become spiritually free, joyful, and in this joy helpful to others

Thus do they experience it who have already been permitted to ascend higher in the planes of the Light

Their foundation was the turning already upon Earth, and the awakening to life came about through the comprehending of the Holy Truth of God within

The Light came alive in their spirit and strengthened them in the intuitive perceiving which led them along all paths upwards to true service in the work of Creation

They heard the tones of home, and luminous helpers were permitted to lead them into ever higher recognitions of how in reality all is simple and plain

For this, to walk these paths upwards, every man has the abilities laid within him

Let noble joy come alive within you and with confidence walk in this direction through all the experiences that lie before you

Spiritual helpers are ever near to you and guide you so that you may learn in each single moment to gather the treasures of your spirit

If you accomplish it, and it is certain that you will accomplish it, then one day we shall meet in places where bliss and happiness will permeate you and you will recognise that you have just entered your true home in the Luminous planes of the Creation of God

The inner ascent of man unfolds from the ability to experience through intuitive perception, which is always able to find the ways to an advance forward towards a pure walking upwards to the Light

Freedom is to be left to the spirit therein, that it may manifest itself in joyful enthusiasm, as is nearest to it in the planes which are the planes of its home

Only let the nobility and the greatness of your spirit press outwards, it will then through the intuitive perception bring about that which is right and harmonious, that which truly belongs to the whole of the work of Creation

May the blessing of the Light be ever near to you upon your paths