The All-embracing Volition Towards Good
THE WAY OF THE GRAIL – SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS – March 13, 2023
Czech original: Všeobsáhlé Chtění K Dobru · cesta-gralu.cz
However simple a thing it is, and however much it ought therefore also to be, for the spiritual essence of man, the most natural manner of manifesting the power of life, in the present age it is nevertheless a cause of great inner struggle for the individual and for mankind as a whole, whenever anyone concerns himself with it in earnest
The all-embracing volition towards good
Many people rack their brains over it, for at the utterance of these words thousands of examples are at once offered where a pure will to good did not pay off for someone here on earth, and where the good-natured person concerned reaped from other people only something unpleasant for his manifesting of good, or even suffered great harm
There will always appear many examples of this or that conduct which, through its striving for kindliness, in the end brought people here on earth the personal lesson that good does not pay, and therefore they gave up the volition to be good under all circumstances
Many people have whole stories of this kind at hand about their relatives, their friends, or from their own lives, so as to warn others who out of their inner enthusiasm may speak to them of perceiving the need to be good always and under all circumstances, indeed to persuade them urgently that it is a folly and a naivety which pays off for no one here in this hostilely attuned world
At the same time, however, these people are aware that this attitude of theirs may appear as a confirmation that they themselves are actually not striving for a volition to good, and that they are thereby showing their inner emptiness as regards trust in the victory of good
Therefore most of them quickly add that they are of course open to something of the kind, but that it is the outer world which is evil, and that the individual must adapt himself to the fact that here on earth wolves after all live among the sheep
In their opinion, at all events, a good person in this world will most probably meet with nothing but bad from others, and therefore it is fitting to be sufficiently clever and not to govern one's life solely by an ideal, pure will to good
By this, however, everything is directed only towards a further attentiveness to the cunning intellect
It is therefore, in the full laying bare of the truth, so that a great part of mankind strives for intellectual cunning in their thinking and conduct many times more strongly than they at the same time devote their attention to intuitive perception and to conscience
There is therefore a lastingly cultivated endeavour towards the preponderance of the intellect over intuitive perception
The sharpness of the intellect, and the cunning developed out of it in a higher degree, is prized far more than the pure volition to good
That thereby a working is set directly against the essence of the human spiritual inner being is more than evident
Whenever cunning people then hear of someone else's good conduct, this already awakens distrust in them beforehand, because they cannot imagine that any person could really live like that throughout his whole life
That which was meant to be the starting point for every person the intellect has banished into the realm of fairy tales
The very need of the spiritual kind, from which alone a person can draw the power for the growth of his personality, has become a conduct not to be trusted
Mankind is poisoned in this to such a depth that it does not even suspect how very far it has thereby departed from the value of pure humanity, in which after all so very much of worth lies
Therefore there can also come no rousing to anything greater which would bring the awakening and the ascent of mankind, for trust in good, and above all its lasting application in all the dealings of life, has become a lost treasure
People have become closed to the awareness that from a certain moment onward they ought perhaps to live solely in a sincere state of all-embracing volition to good
The all-embracing volition to good has become a stranger on this earth
People have driven it out of their real world of cleverness and cunning
They themselves after all know only the opposite, that is, distrust that here on earth there could be anyone who lives wholly in the volition to good
It is regarded as a sign of stupidity and naivety from which it is needful to free oneself with all speed
It is needful to sober up from all the simple notions that it is possible to live in this way here on earth
Such too are the counsels generally given by many people who suppose that they are thus helping young people in the time of the blossoming of their ideal notions about the world, when at the very outset they tear down all their hopes of a pure life into the dust of their own experience
It is almost certain that every person has already met with something of the kind
That the baby is thereby thrown out with the bathwater is generally not reflected upon, for that would require going far deeper in reflection upon one's own life, and this really does not suit a great part of mankind, because it would mean a shaking of their hitherto held attitudes, which would discredit them in the eyes of those close to them, or else they simply do not wish to do anything of the kind in their accustomed and inert comfort
By this approach the very reason for the meaning of why people came to this earth is in reality erased
It is a making impossible of the direct development of the human inner being in experiencing, and above all of the possibility of weaving for oneself threads made luminous for one's future being
There then remains only a certain sense of the unrolling of days, months and years out of the material manner of life, which, however, is never upbuilding in the spiritual sense
By denying that human volition is to seek ways of applying an overall attunement of kindly joy in one's inner being, the spirit is refused the possibility of unfolding and growing beautiful
The spirit becomes stunted and languishes if it is prevented by intellectual cunning from soaring freely and unhindered to the Light in the doing of good for others and for the whole world
The assertion that distrust in the power of kindliness is the right way of living life, that a person is always to be soberly and intellectually clever so as not to let himself be harmed by others, is in reality only a deceiving of oneself
Whoever, however, concerns himself with it in earnest will quickly find that whenever there is talk of the need for good and pure intentions in the dealings of people, the talk is always of how other people will misuse this
It is used as the strongest ground for distrust towards the application of good in one's approach to everything a person meets in life
But is it a question of others here
Is it to be waited for until other people first change for the better and thereby create the soil for a better social situation
Why do people not wish to concern themselves with this so precious attitude of the human inner being, precisely on account of the urgent voice within them
It is after all a question of their own spiritual being
It is because their inner voice is only very weak and grows weaker with every further earthly year
The weakening of the voice then leads to distrust towards everything purer and more kindly
Therefore cases are always brought up where the kindliness of some person in some matter finally caused harm to himself
But that the harm which arose has often more than one cause, or why bad things also happen to people at all in answer to their endeavours, no one investigates further
There is no will to a right recognition, because if there were, it would necessarily be found that for good volition to reach a good result it also necessarily needs maturity and nobility of character in a person's bearing
Of that there is no more talk, for it conceals within it the demand for one's own work upon oneself
Yet the all-embracing volition towards good needs precisely to press forward in such a way that there awakens in a person the capacity for ripening in his own manifestations, which always help to shape every moment of the present in the working of the human spirit in the earthly body
The pure volition of an all-embracing striving towards good needs to have with it, as a battering ram opening the way, a mature nobility of character as well
The all-embracing striving for good can have no success without spiritual maturity
Many truly valuable books tell their readers in stories of this bond between good and human maturity in the conduct of many heroes
The chief characters can have fortune and success on their side only on condition that the living of all-embracing good is joined with maturity in bearing
The recorded pictures of the lives of most of the Heralds of the Light in their working throughout the whole history of mankind also confirm how needful maturity and a noble bearing of the spirit are, if that working in an all-embracing volition to good on earth is to be able to bring success in good fruit
All this is precisely that great confirmation that the way through life in the volition and the doing of good is the only right way to the Light
Therefore let there now ring out towards all those who in a belittling tone shake the trust that the all-embracing volition towards good is the most precious thing the human spirit can do, the cry: “You know not what you do!”
It is an age-old law of all the arrangements by which the luminous helps are made accessible, that a person's good volition is the most precious manner of life by which he may shape for himself the ways of his near and distant future
And it also holds unshakeably that everywhere there is an all-embracing volition towards good and at the same time a manner of mature, noble conduct is present, there all his helpers, spiritual and animistic protectors, can then stand ready on guard beside such a person
But because such an answer alone certainly does not suffice, and also because many people of course count themselves not only as inwardly good but also as sufficiently mature, it is fitting here to speak of the real content of the words – the all-embracing volition towards good
The all-embracing volition towards good is the fundamental radiation of the humanly spiritual spark at the beginning of its being
From the beginning there burned in it a strong longing for a conscious being in Creation, so that it might take part in the whole harmony which vibrates through all the planes of the Light in Creation
The young spiritual spark therefore cannot do otherwise than be drawn magnetically at the beginning of its way to all radiation in which there is a joyful building up
It is surrounded by this radiation and longs to experience it continually, so that it may become one that helps to create good and happiness for everything around it
That this here on earth became the subject of an inner struggle for many people has its beginning precisely here in the density of the gross matter of this place
The spiritual inner being by its very nature needs again and again to radiate into space its enthusiasm for life and its mutual will to vibrate together with other people in accord with the Will of God, that is, purely, genuinely, in one word harmoniously
And here on earth that means the overcoming of many other kinds of vibrations which attach themselves along the way of the spirit's volition as accompanying it and influencing much in it
There are after all so many material needs of a person here
There is hunger, the need for sleep and for a certain comfort, the need for bodily nearness with other people, and here of course there also presses the need for security in the prospect of earthly life, the provision for children and for all beloved people, and much else besides which necessarily is added in the conscious application of general good, so that it may be satisfied, if people wish to speak of a well-lived manner of earthly life
The very number of these needs, and also the possible ways of satisfying them, gives the answer that a certain inner maturity is also urgently needed by a person if he is to pass rightly through earthly life with the constant enlightened awareness of holding fast to the all-embracing volition towards good, and thereby of holding fast to accord with the great harmony of Creation, if in all this he wishes to stand the test as a human spirit striving towards the Light
It may be said that the degree of spiritual maturity is therefore a necessary precondition for the all-embracing volition to good to be able to find the best ways for its application
This maturity lies in the right intuitive perceiving of everything that comes to a person in life, and therefore so much experiencing enters upon the ways of people
Maturity is the result of the inner effort of the spirit in movement, and thereby in the unfolding of the breadth of the receptivity of the intuitive perception
It necessarily also brings the need to stand independently for oneself, that is, to free oneself from the fetters of grey superficiality in which the greater part of today's society finds itself
Courageous therefore are all those who set out upon this way even at the price of their faults and errors, so as in an independent inner intuitive perceiving to seek the right way through life
However much this brings difficulties, and thereby is often for them a cause of grumbling and of complaints about the discomfort of the material world, it all comes to them so that they may ripen upon it and recognise the true values of life
And also so that in them, under the experiencing of many varied moments, the longing for the all-embracing volition to good may flare up all the more as the best way through being, not only here on earth but in all the parts of the Subsequent Creation, which in an upward direction lead the human spirit ever more strongly to the recognition of the true meaning of his dwelling in God's Work
It is the most direct way to maturity, and thereby a way rising ever higher upward to the Light
On this way a person can gradually ripen to the understanding that the all-embracing volition to good is the foundation which brings his spirit the possibility of further development
Yet in order that an earthly person may go through life under the protection of the Light while applying that foundation of the all-embracing volition to good, he needs at the same time, in his own maturity, to gain in the nobility of character of all his manifestations in life
That is the already mentioned inseparable part of enabling that all-embracing nature of the volition to good to vibrate in the protection and help of all the beings and exalted spiritual leaders working around a person
It is thus that only in connection with an ennobling in the smallest things of a person's dealings and manifestations can the surrounding conditions, invisible to the earthly eye, be so arranged that he is then protected and supported ever more in his working on earth
If he does not waver and does not let himself be drawn down to baseness, then he may always rely upon the protective circles of his helpers standing near him at every hour
The condition for the all-embracing volition to good to be able to show itself as truly the only right way through life is therefore also the acquiring of a certain degree of nobility of character in dealings and bearing under the earthly conditions of life
And that is for many the hardest obstacle of all
Nine out of ten human spirits who come to this earth depart again onward into the finer worlds without having advanced higher in their ennoblement
Indeed it may be counted a good result if they do not even sink lower, because many people in the lukewarmness of their inner intuitive perceiving let themselves all too easily be drawn down to base things which from the standpoint of the earthly world they regard as normal
To this belong after all speech and the ways of dealing with others which are generally called social relations, and all of it in reality always shapes the conditions for the way through life
If a person does not strive, in accord with his volition to good, at the same time continually to ennoble his ways of conduct, then he can never expect for himself full help and protection out of the Light
Besides this there is here also the danger of a complete surrender of all the pure ideals which a person perhaps perceived within himself in the time of his better days and reflected upon, or which he perhaps at times even strove for
If he leaves these ideals to run their own course under earthly conditions, then in today's world they quickly begin to waver and start to head downward
A gradual fall downward is unavoidable
The enemy of a person is then none other than he himself, weaving for himself ever denser and heavier ways of his development in the Subsequent Creation
Therefore it is needful to reflect with grave consistency upon how nobility of character in dealings is an important part of the becoming luminous of the inner being and of the whole personality of a person
In all this a person can unfold entirely independently and without reliance on others, for he needs nothing else for it than inner will, patience and … a lasting vibrating in the all-embracing nature of the volition to good
All this effort, laid into movement on the way upward, is never lost for him, but on the contrary always bears its fruits
Not, however, at first sight in a visible manifestation, but because all honest, fervent striving for ascent is imprinted at once into a person's threads of fate, the beginning of a true ascent is here assuredly present under all circumstances
However easily the eyes of earthly people may overlook something of the kind in their fellow man and leave it without response, the weavers of the threads of fate draw from it the material for weaving new ways for the person, which will surely one day reach him, if he perseveres and does not give up his endeavour to be good
Already in this too he advances of himself forward in his maturity
Thus what perhaps formerly did not succeed for him in dealing with people, because he struck upon one of his shortcomings or weaknesses, he can gradually rise above, until one after another they fall away from him entirely and he stands with his spirit wholly free, surrounded only by all the ways of noble conduct
People call it decent conduct, tact, and many other names besides, but in reality, in connection with the all-embracing volition to good, it is a true ascent of a person, if he becomes receptive and intuitively perceiving at every moment of all that is needful for maintaining the attunement of harmony with other people
The nobility of character glowed through by his own spirit will call this harmony forth, so that with the help of the spiritual and animistic servants it may glow through into every situation between people
If only people could behold all this even for a single moment, they would grasp what a precious counsel the call to everyone is, that he should become a bearer of the all-embracing volition towards good in his whole life
Against seemingly unfavourable earthly experiences there would stand before a person at that moment, as a counterweight, the great weaving of all the threads of fate, which catches that very inner all-embracing volition towards good in bright threads of a golden shade, in which lies the future blessing for the human spirit
That blessing which holds good not only for the short earthly life, but which is being gathered and strengthened precisely for the time to come in the spirit's further progress on its way of development through the Subsequent Creation
How happy then are all those who, after laying aside their earthly body which has served its time, may observe all that then comes upon their way as a celebration of the blessing woven out of their pure and guilelessly performed manifestations of good for other people in the earthly time on earth
And precisely then, at that same time, those who considered themselves clever enough on earth to be sparing of good conduct towards their fellow men, indeed to withhold it from others entirely, discover how they thereby missed the most precious thing that the time of earthly life could have granted them
An enormous difference prevails between the conditions of the arrangement of the world of men here on earth and what is really prized in human life by the Laws of Creation
This difference is so abysmal that the awakening of those people who will still be able to open their eyes in it will bring them in the first moment the greatest bitterness against themselves
They will upbraid themselves as fools who let themselves be duped by others into accepting the lie that good does not pay
But the course of the Laws in its inexorability will drive them onward, so that they may make it all good, and if it is still possible for them in their true humbling before God and His great Love, they will again be brought to earth so that in a new life they may again wage within themselves the struggle for good volition in their inner being
Of such, however, there will not be many, for with a certain part of mankind the threads are, in their neglect and in their complete turning away from the essence of good, so withered that they no longer permit any further spiritual development
Everything that they could have done, these people have missed
What then will they still want from the Light in their entreaties and in their wailing for mercy, when hitherto they rejected all the helps offered, if indeed they did not set themselves directly against them with contempt and in the utmost malice, since in the pursuit of their own goals they regarded the voice of their inner conscience and intuitive perception as a nuisance
Baneful prospects are contained in this for a great part of the souls that have lost themselves on their way of development
But on the contrary all those who with the powers of their spirit strive to be good, however much this brings temporary difficulties on earth, will recognise in it that immeasurable worth which this right way bears
It will be reflected in their spiritual maturity, with which they will attain the fulfilment of all the beatitudes of Jesus already here on earth
Again and again they will be permitted to experience with inner happiness the recognition of how glorious a state that all-embracing volition to good is, with which they approach all other people
Again and again there will resound in their inner being the song of praise for the wise guidance of their ways appointed by God, those ways which are, however, always solely and only the result of a person's own striving
Only a striving filled with the all-embracing volition towards good is transformed in the threads of the weavers into events which come to the spirit on its way of development as approaching helps, protection and also an uplifting nearer to the Light
Unhappy are the people who shake their heads over this in distrust of the Laws of God
They themselves thereby place themselves in the throng which is driven towards experiencing its desperate error about life
Therefore the way is to be shown in this only to those who are ready in the courageous volition of their inner being to go forward
For them there is to be made still clearer all that takes place as a wondrous happening in the threads woven by the Alphar and the Vaenen, who are the appointed weavers of every single human fate
It is indeed something remote for this earth, and yet it is a great and living streaming which now flows into these threads, which can be spun by the weavers for a person inwardly longing to live in an all-embracing attunement towards good
Therein lies the liberation of the spirit, and therein too is contained much help which in this time of intensified luminous happening comes through the Ray of Parzival to this earth
No one who now fully lays into his volition the will only to good, and at the same time strives to ennoble himself in his manifestations, is for a single moment forsaken by the protective radiation which can be formed for him in it
Only more trust in it all, and a joyful recognition will soon come into the nearness of such a spirit, who stands in it all purely and genuinely
The Laws working in Creation will bring it right up to him, so that he may recognise that out of everything in which he now finds himself there leads a way upward
It is therefore in reality a truly plain and simple happening
In the all-embracing nature and in the whole attunement of a person's inner being towards good lies that lever which leads everything in the right direction
Let no one therefore wait for other people until they change for the better
It is after all not a question of others, since the spirit of each is independently, for himself, exposed to the effects of the Laws of Creation
Here it is after all a question of all further being
It is a question of the prospect of further being in Creation with the promise of an ascent to places of joy and of pure consciousness
The way then leads with certainty to the heights of the spiritual home
The Grail therefore calls to those who hesitate
Awaken within yourselves the inner courage to enter upon the way of all-embracing good
You will thereby change your own life, and thereafter also, gradually, through your living conviction, this whole earthly world of men which until now develops so uncertainly