In the Light of Truth

29. The worship of God

It can safely be stated that man has never yet understood, much less practiced, the worship of God, which should be absolutely natural to him. Just consider for a moment how the worship of God has been practiced so far! Man only knows how to plead, or more precisely, how to beg! Only now and then prayers of thanksgiving ascend which really come from the heart. However, that is a great exception and occurs only when a person unexpectedly receives a very special gift or when he is suddenly rescued from a great danger. Unexpectedness and suddenness are necessary before he will arouse himself to utter a prayer of thanks. The most tremendous things may fall into his lap undeservedly, but so long as this happens in a quiet, normal way, it never, or only very seldom, occurs to him to think of offering thanks. If he and all his loved ones are always blessed with good health, and if he has no material cares, he will hardly bring himself to utter an earnest prayer of thanksgiving. In order to arouse a stronger emotion within himself man unfortunately always needs a very special incentive. When all is well with him he will never bestir himself of his own free will. He may perhaps talk about it now and then or go to church in order to murmur a prayer of thanks, but it will never occur to him to put his whole soul into it, not even for a single minute. Only if some real misfortune befalls him will he then very quickly remember that there is One Who is able to help him. Fear finally drives him to stammer a prayer for once! However, this is always merely begging, not worshipping.

Such is the man who thinks he is good and calls himself a believer! And there are few of them on earth! Laudable exceptions!

Just picture this deplorable state of affairs! You humans, how does it strike you when you look at it closely! How much more despicable must such a person appear in the eyes of his God! Yet, unfortunately this is the reality! Turn and twist as you will, these facts remain when you trouble yourself to investigate closely and without embellishment. It must leave you somewhat uneasy, for neither begging nor thanksgiving belongs to worship.

Worship means reverence! But this is really not to be found anywhere on earth! Just look at the festivals or celebrations which are intended to honor God and where in exceptional cases, begging and pleading are abstained from. There are oratorios!*(pieces of spiritual music) Look for the singers who worship God with their singing! Observe them as they prepare themselves in the concert hall or church. They all want to achieve something in order to be admired by people, while being rather indifferent to God for Whom it is intended, after all! Look at the conductor! He demands applause. He wants to show the people what he can do.

Then go further. Look at the proud buildings, the churches and cathedrals, which are... supposed to have been raised in honor of God. The artist, the architect and the builder only strive for earthly recognition. Every city shows off these buildings... for its own glory. They must even serve to attract tourists, however not for the purpose of worshipping God, but to raise money through increased traffic! Wherever you look, there is nothing but craving for earthly superficialities! And all this under the pretext of worshipping God!

Although here and there one may still find a person whose soul will expand in the forest or the mountains, and who may even give a fleeting thought to the greatness of the Creator, albeit only in the far distant background. His soul does expand, but not to take jubilant flight upwards... instead it literally melts in a pleasurable feeling of enjoyment. This may not be mistaken for an upward-soaring. It really has no value other than the pleasure a glutton derives from a richly-laden table. Such an expansion of the soul is erroneously taken for worship; but it remains ecstasy lacking in substance, a personal feeling of well-being, which is mistaken as gratitude to the Creator. But it is merely an earthly happening. There are also many nature enthusiasts who take their enthusiasm to be genuine worship of God. They also imagine that they are far superior to those who have no possibility of enjoying the scenic beauties of the earth. It is a crass, pharisaical attitude, which manifests only in a personal feeling of well-being. It is fool’s gold, utterly worthless. When the time comes for such people to seek the treasures of their souls in order to use them for their ascent, they will find their inner shrine completely empty; for what they imagined to be a treasure was only intoxication at the sight of beauty, nothing else. Genuine veneration for their Creator was lacking. —

The real worship of God does not show itself in ecstasy, in murmured prayers, in begging, kneeling, and wringing of one’s hands, nor in blissful thrills, but in joyful activity! In the jubilant affirmation of this life on earth! In the full enjoyment of every moment! And full enjoyment means to make full use. Making full use in turn means... to experience! Not however, in dance and play or in time wasting activities, which are harmful to body and soul, and which the intellect seeks and needs as a balance and as a stimulant to its activity, but in looking upwards to the Light and Its Will, which only furthers, uplifts, and ennobles all that exists in Creation!

The fundamental condition for this, however, is the exact knowledge of the Divine Laws in Creation. These show him how he must live if he wishes to be healthy in body and in soul, point with precision to the path leading upwards to the Spiritual Realm, while also enabling him to recognize clearly the horrors he will have to face if he opposes these laws!

As the inexorable iron-clad Laws in Creation are alive and operate automatically, with a power against which human spirits are entirely helpless, it stands to reason that the most urgent need of every human being must be the thorough recognition of these laws, to the effects of which he remains absolutely defenseless in every respect!

And yet men are so ignorant that they heedlessly overlook this clear and simple necessity, although there is nothing which could be more obvious! It is well known that the simplest ideas never occur to man. In this, strangely enough, every animal is wiser than man. It adapts itself to Creation and is nurtured by it as long as man does not seek to hinder it. Man, however, wants to be master over something the automatic activities of which he is and will always remain subject to. No sooner has he learned to turn to his profit minute fractions of certain radiations, or learned to apply in some small way the effects of air, water, and fire, than he thinks in his conceit that he is already master over these forces! But he does not consider that before he can make his relatively minor applications he first has to learn and observe how to make use of the already existing conditions or forces, completely in accordance to their specific nature. To be successful he must try to adapt himself! He alone must do so! This is not ruling or conquering, but it is submission and adaptation of himself to the existing laws.

Through this man should have finally realized that only by adapting himself can he learn and receive any benefit! With this in mind he should gratefully go forward. But no! Instead he is boastful and acts even more arrogantly than ever. Especially in those instances where for once he bows to and serves the Divine Will in Creation, thereby immediately receiving visible benefits, he childishly tries to pose as victor! Victor over nature! This senseless attitude is the height of stupidity, as a result of which he blindly overlooks that which is really great; for with the right attitude he would indeed be a victor... over himself and his vanity, because on logical examination he would see that in all his notable achievements he had first learned from and submitted to what already existed. This alone will bring him success. Every inventor and everyone achieving something really great adapted their thinking and volition to the existing Laws of Nature. Whatever wishes to resist or even oppose these laws will be smothered, crushed and shattered. It is impossible for it to ever really come to life.

As it is with minor experiences, so it is also with man’s whole existence, and with man himself!

Man, who must wander not only through the short span here on earth but also through the whole of Creation, must of necessity possess the knowledge of the laws to which the whole Creation remains subject, not merely the nearest environment visible to every man! If he does not possess this knowledge he will be delayed, hampered, hurt, thrown back or even crushed, because in his ignorance he could not go along with the power-currents of the laws, but placed himself into them so wrongly that they had to force him downward instead of upward.

A human spirit who stubbornly and blindly tries to reject facts, the effects of which he must recognize every day everywhere, does not appear great or admirable, but rather ridiculous when he makes use of them for his work and in technology, yet does not make fundamental use of them for himself and his soul! In his earthly life and activity the spirit always has the opportunity to observe the absolute completeness and uniformity of all the basic effects of the laws, providing he does not thoughtlessly or even hostilely close himself to them and remain asleep.

In this respect there is no exception in all Creation, not even for one human soul! It must submit to the Laws of Creation if their activity is to further its progress! In the most superficial way men have up till now completely overlooked this simple self-evident fact.

So simple did it appear that by virtue of its very simplicity it was bound to become the most difficult thing for him to recognize. And in time it proved impossible for him to fulfill this. So today man faces ruin, psychological breakdown, which must demolish everything he has built up!

Only one thing can save him: complete knowledge of the Divine Laws in Creation. This alone will help him onward and upward again, and with him all that he will attempt to build up in the future.

Do not argue that, being human spirits, you cannot so easily recognize the Laws in Creation, and that it is difficult to distinguish between the truth and fallacy. That is not so! Whoever says this is either once more trying to conceal his indolence and to hide the indifference of his soul, or he is making excuses to reassure himself.

But it is of no use; for all those who are indifferent or indolent will now be rejected! Only he who musters all his strength and devotes it completely to achieve what is most indispensable for his soul has any prospect of being saved. All half measures count for nothing. Every hesitation, every postponement, is the same as complete neglect. Man has no more time left because he has already waited until the limit of his allotted period.

This time, naturally, it will not be made so easy for man, and it will not be easy for him, since through the most careless negligence in these matters he robbed himself of any capacity to even believe in the profound seriousness of a necessary final decision! And it is exactly this point which is his greatest weakness, which will inevitably cause the downfall of many!

For thousands of years much has been done to enlighten you about God's Will or the working of the Laws in Creation, at least to the extent of what you need to know in order to ascend and find your way back to the Original Creation whence you came! This was not achieved through the so-called earthly sciences, nor through the churches, but through the servants of God, the prophets of old, and later through the Message brought by the Son of God Himself. Although this Message was given to you quite simply, so far you have only talked about it, but never seriously troubled yourselves to understand it aright, still less to live in accordance with it! In your indolent opinion this was asking far too much of you, even though it is your only salvation! You wish to be saved without exerting yourselves in any way! If you reflect upon this you must surely come to this sad recognition.

You turned every Divine Message into a religion! For your own convenience! And that was wrong! For you placed religion upon a special pedestal, removed from everyday life! That was the greatest mistake you could have made; for in so doing you also removed God’s Will from your daily life or, what amounts to the same thing, you removed yourself from God’s Will, instead of uniting with It and making It the center of your daily life and activity! And becoming one with It! You must absorb every message from God quite naturally and incorporate It in a practical manner into your work, your thoughts and your whole life! You must not set it apart by itself, as you have done; only paying it a visit in your leisure hours! In order to indulge for a short time in contrition, gratitude or for relaxation. As a result it never became something natural, a part of you, like hunger or sleep.

Understand this aright at last: You are to live within this Will of God so that you may find your way on all the paths which bring you benefit! God’s Messages are but precious hints which you need, and without that knowledge and obediance to it you are lost! Therefore you must not place them in a glass shrine, to gaze upon them as something sacred, with blissful thrill only on Sundays, or to retreat there in times of distress and fear in order to receive strength! You wretched ones, you are not to venerate the Message, but to make use of It! You must grasp It wholeheartedly, not only when you are in Sunday attire, but with fists hardened by daily toil, which never disgraces or debases, but only honors anyone! A precious gem shines with greater purity and brilliance in a calloused hand soiled with sweat and dirt, than in the manicured hands of a lazy idler who spends his time on earth only in contemplations!

Every Divine Message was to be imparted to you, i.e. become a part of you! You must try to grasp its meaning aright!

You should not have looked upon it as something separate, something remaining outside yourselves, which you made it a habit to approach with timid reserve. Absorb the Word of God so that each one of you may know how he must live and proceed in order to attain to the Kingdom of God!

Therefore, awake at last! Become acquainted with the Laws in Creation. Worldly cleverness will not help you in this matter, nor will the little knowledge you have gained from technical observation, something so meager will not suffice for the path your soul must take! You must lift your gaze far beyond this earth and recognize where your path leads after this earthly life, so that at the same time you may become aware of why and for what purpose you are here on earth. And whatever your circumstances are in this life, whether rich or poor, healthy or ill, at peace or in conflict, in joy or in sorrow, you will learn to recognize their cause and purpose. You will become joyful and light, grateful for the experiences which have come your way. You will learn to value every second as precious and, above all, learn to use it! Use it for your ascent to joyful existence, to great pure happiness!

Because you so badly entangled and confused yourselves, and after the warnings of the prophets had remained unheeded, the Divine Message was brought to you by the Son of God as a means of salvation. The Divine Message showed the way, the only way, to save you from the swamp which already threatened to smother you! The Son of God sought to lead you on this path by way of parables! Although those who wanted to believe and who were seekers listened with their ears, they penetrated no further. They never tried to live in accordance with them.

For you too religion and daily life have always remained two separate things. You always stood beside it, instead of in it! The workings of the Laws of Creation explained in the parables remained not understood by you at all because you did not seek them there!

And now, through the Grail Message, the same explanation of the laws comes to you once again in a form more easily understandable to you at the present time! In reality they are precisely the same as those Christ already brought in the form suitable for that time. He showed men how they should think, speak and act so that they could mature spiritually and advance upwards in Creation! Humanity needed no more than that. There is not a single gap in the Message given at that time. The Grail Message now brings the same thing, only in present-day form.

He who at last adapts himself to It in his thoughts, words, and deeds thus practices the purest worship of God; which lies in deeds alone!

He who willingly submits himself to these laws will always do the right thing! In so doing he proves his veneration for the wisdom of God and joyfully submits to His Will expressed in His Laws. Its effects will then further and protect him, and he will be freed from all sorrow and will be uplifted into the realm of the Luminous Spirit. There, in jubilant experiencing, the Omniscience of God will become visible, undimmed, to everyone and life itself is worship of God! There, every breath, every intuitive perception, every action is borne of joyous gratitude and thus becomes permanent delight, delight born of happiness; it sows happiness, and therefore reaps happiness! The worship of God in your life and in your experiences consists solely of obeying the Divine Laws. This alone ensures happiness. So shall it be in the coming Kingdom, in the Kingdom of the Millennium, which will be called the Kingdom of God on earth! Thus all adherents to the Grail Message are to become as beacons and guideposts among mankind.

He, who cannot or will not do so, has not grasped the Message once again. Service to the Grail is to be genuine, living worship of God. Worship is the first service to God which does not consist of outward things, does not only show outwardly, but lives in every human being even in his most private hours and is evidenced in his thinking and in his actions as a matter of course.

He who does not profess to this voluntarily will not experience the approaching time of the Kingdom of God, but he will be destroyed or forced to unconditional submission by Divine power and with earthly force! For the benefit of all of mankind which is blessed by Grace to finally find peace and happiness in that Kingdom!

[Grail Message by Abdrushin]  [Resonances to the Grail Message]