From the heart

If you have to go, then go: what kind of hesitation can there be? The path is the path. Necessity is necessity. There is no life without purpose. If you are afraid to take a step, then you are dying; if you reconsider your choice of path out of fear for yourself, it means that you have already died. If, for the sake of achieving the goal, you decided on meanness or atrocity, then your path died. This is how it should be: do not desecrate your path and do not desecrate yourself. It's difficult. But if you strive for easiness, then sit and scratch yourself; although it may be also too difficult for you. The more noble the aim is, the more difficult the path is – this is the truth. Very rarely, it is quick and easy to achieve something meaningful. This is more unusual than usual. Therefore, be prepared for a difficult road.

A worthy person is one who has chosen a worthy path, or at least the one who, having chosen a mediocre path, does not defile him with unworthy actions. The one who wallowed himself and his path in mud is an unworthy person. Do not despise him, but do not trust him, and above that - do not trust him with an important matter. He is an amazing being: he seems to be, and at the same time, he ceases to be. This is because a person is not born to wallow in mud. If he does not have a worthy aim and a worthy path, then it is as if he himself does not exist, - after all, the place assigned to him in the world remained unoccupied. We live among such empty people: this is why sometimes it seems that everything around is empty and echoing, and that the world is like a cold night.

Life is a path, a path is overcoming, overcoming is a struggle. There should not be any hatred to what you are fighting with. Hatred destroys. By hating, you destroy yourself, because everything that surrounds you is yourself. Whatever you direct your hatred to, it will fall upon you. It's unavoidable. You will be hurt by it from the outside and from the inside. Hatred is evil; and a man is not meant to do evil. Therefore, it will be extraneous to you, like a stone in a living heart; and in the end the heart will die. Learn to fight without hatred. It is possible.

You can fight without anger and hatred. You can lose without despair. You can die without fear. You can live without shame. All this depends only on the person himself. A man has power over himself; therefore, he can always restrain himself from unworthy actions. And if he had no control over himself, he would be ridiculous. A being with a high mind, a deep soul and a bright heart, and at the same time unable to control himself - what a pitiful creature! The world does not need such a thing. A man is not like that. This means that you should not give yourself humiliating indulgences.

A man is like a well from which one can endlessly draw strength. But few people want to understand this. Strength is duty and responsibility. Hence, strength is action, struggle. And struggle is a hard work, pain and danger. Many are afraid of this, and therefore prefer to be fainthearted and not to notice their strength. They think it's calmer this way. But this is a mistake. No one has peace, because a person is not intended for it, as well as for hatred. If you want peace, you want the impossible. And this does not bring one closer to peace, but takes him away from it. We should be happy with a brief rest that we can get from time to time amid the eternal struggle. While resting, one must be ready to give up rest at any time. We must be ready for this because rest is not a temporary break from the struggle: it exists within it. Only those who understand this will be able to appreciate the minutes of rest at their true worth. And the one who understands will not be upset and broken if the rest is suddenly interrupted.

Will is the best weapon. It is like a sword that will never turn its edge, break, or be lost unless the owner wants it. Anyone who fights is a warrior. And he must not put away his sword. Even when the warrior is resting, the sword must be with him. When he sleeps, his hand should be on the hilt of the sword.

The path of life is the path of a warrior. This is a struggle. If you live, then you are a warrior. If you are not a warrior, then think: do you live? The will of a man is the sword of a warrior. A man and his will are one; hence a warrior and his sword are one. To give up the sword is to give up oneself; to let the sword turn its edge is to mutilate your soul. Not worrying about strengthening your will means neglecting yourself, throwing yourself out as an unnecessary thing. A thoughtful person will not do that.

We are all in the middle of a battle every minute of our lives. The air we breathe is filled with battle. This battle is dangerous. Therefore, the feelings and thoughts of many people are sick with fear. It is as if mud is thrown into a vessel of clean water and stirred. Fear is one of the worst human diseases. It can be found in everyone. Fear kills mind, and can kill conscience if they are not protected with the sword of will. Fear can turn a person into a vile creature, in comparison with whom even the most senseless and coward animal looks like a person. It's like death. Thus the faint-hearted die trying to escape death.

Many people think that our goal in this world is to survive. This is not true. Our goal is to make the world and people better. You need to value and cherish your life, because it is a valuable tool with which a person fulfills his destiny. But one should not value a tool above its purpose. Life will end one day anyway; therefore, one should rejoice when the opportunity to die in the name of good is given, and not just for nothing.

Human existence is based on oughtness. This is what humans were born for. To separate this term from the other, I will call it "The Great Oughtness." Its essence is that a person exists in order for the world to exist. All other obligations are secondary. Life is also secondary. It is a tool. Can it be considered unacceptable for the tool to break during work? If you fear too much for the tool, the task will remain unfulfilled. This is ridiculous. You should not break the tool for nothing: you need to take care of it. But one should not take care of it at the expense of work. Every person's work is the well-being of the world. One can spare his life for these reasons.

Do not think that a person is nothing, an expendable material. A human is a great being. Therefore, The Great Oughtness is the foundation of his life. Cattle does not care about the world because it is just cattle. It has no great oughtness. A man is born to be a man not to live like cattle. He must live like a man and die like a man. Much has been given to him - and much is required of him. Those who do not understand this are close to the cattle.

The one who pours precious medicine into a pit is foolish. Likewise, the one who wastes himself for nothing is foolish too. He throws away life itself, as if it was unnecessary junk. This is unforgivable. It would be better for such a person not to be born, so as not to give his mother unnecessary pain. A mouse that gives birth to its own little mice has more meaning. They at least do what they were born to do. It is shameful for a man to be less significant than a mouse. But there are many who disgraced themselves by this. There are many people with mousy souls. This is because they do not respect themselves. Respecting yourself means appreciating your human essence, understanding your great destiny. However, self-esteem and pride should not be confused. This mistake must be avoided with the utmost care. Self-respect is as different from pride as pure water is different from wine. A person with taste will appreciate the difference.

Don't think that one person can outshine another. He can be smarter, stronger, more beautiful, more honest, richer, he can surpass him in something else, but he cannot outshine him. A man is a man. All people are equal because their essence is equal. The one who understands that he is not inferior to others and does not humiliate himself before them, as if they are higher beings, is moderately proud. It's good. The one who looks at another with disdain, as if he is a lower being, is arrogant. This is unworthy. And whoever puts a person above Nature, his pride has already taken a step towards madness.

Pride is the rot of a soul from which most vices arise. The source of cowardice also lies in pride. Not giving your life for others is to value yourself above them. Often a coward person does not understand this himself. He behaves like an animal. But a man must be a man. You need to be able to look at yourself through the eyes of reason, and not just feelings. You need to be able to evaluate yourself. A man with conscience will not value himself above others. A man of willpower will not allow fear to abscure his mind. A person with a heart will have no doubt whether to die for others.

Not recognizing the real superiority of another person over oneself is one of the types of arrogance. The consequence of this is injustice. Forget your arrogance and be fair. If someone else's superiority really exists, admit it. Accept it. If necessary, follow the one who is more knowledgeable and skilled than you. This is not humiliation, but the natural order of things. Someone is always ahead of the other in something; and it is not humiliating to follow someone who can show the way. It is humiliating to do unworthy deeds at the same time.

All people have the same Great Oughtness. So many people, so many paths; but all these paths merge into one path, just as streams merge into a river. It must be remembered that all paths converge. This should be one of the foundations of life. The separation of people is temporary. They originated from one and will return to one. The current separation is not as deep as it seems. This must not be forgotten. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of your soul in the eyes of any person. Don't be blind.

There are no truly evil people. The world is real and reality is life. Escape from reality brings us to death. Evil is illusory. Going into this illusion is killing us. He who has gone into it sows death around him. First of all, he kills himself. He takes the illusion of evil into himself and becomes different from what he really is. So, he dies. His life becomes unreal: it is like a nightmare that other people see together with him. The reality of evil is a nightmare. Don't sleep in the world of nightmares. Wake up, because the one who is sleeping is not fulfilling his duty. Remember that evil in people is illusory; only the grievous consequences of actions of those who have exchanged life for illusion are real. The evil one sleeps, the one who hates sleeps, the one who despises sleeps. In their nightmares, they do not see themselves and are not aware of themselves, and therefore anything can be expected from them. It is unworthy to be like that.

The one who is not sleeping is able to control himself. Whoever is able to control himself will be able to fight without hatred. Don't look for an enemy. You don't need him. The world is not based on the idea of enmity. Just fight. You will have enough difficulties even without an enemy. If someone tells you that you are enemies with him, do not believe. He is delusional. Don't let his illusion rule your life. He must not sow the seeds of hatred in you. Be the wall they bounce off. Believe not in illusion, but in reality. The reality is like this: evil does not exist in people, hatred does not exist, enmity does not exist. Write it on your heart. Write and let others read.

The world is suppressed by illusions. People are to blame for this. They recognize the non-existent as existing, prefer the illusory life to the genuine one. This needs to be fixed. This is a work worthy of a warrior and a man. One person won't change the world if he doesn’t try. If you are told that nothing can be done, it is not true. People made the world worse; people will make it better. If you don't believe in this, life will have no meaning.

The mountain will not be moved by the one who is too lazy to push it well. This means that you can change the world if you are diligent and consistent in your intentions. Always keep this thought in your head. Remember this better than your name. Then you will be like a fist breaking through the earth. Then nothing will stop you - nor difficulties, nor obstacles. And remember that the same power lurks in every person. But it is one of those forces that needs a certain direction to flow. It does not flow backwards. If you do not care about the good of the world, you will not gain this strength. A coward cannot find it either. Therefore, cast out fear from yourself. Fear is a deception: there is no support for it in reality. It is dust that can be brushed off with one movement of your hand if you are realizing the need.

Who wants a lot for himself, would deal only with himself. He has no time nor energy left for others. You can't become a warrior like that. A warrior chasing comfort and carrying excess weight on his shoulders is not a warrior. This must be realized. In fact, a person needs just a little. Therefore, you need to be able to give up what you don’t really need. The inability to do this makes a person weak. In battle, he has too many extra thoughts. The path is beyond him; The Great Oughtness frightens him. He stands still. He is dead. It is stupid to try living better, ignoring the very meaning of life. This is truly ridiculous. It should be like this: first - meaning, and after that, if you have time and effort - everything else. Then in battle you will look and think properly.

Always be ready to lose what you have. You will not lose the Truth, you will not lose the Great Oughtness, you will not lose reason, you will not lose conscience, you will not lose willpower, you will not lose true freedom, you will not lose love. This means that you will not lose yourself. Everything else is temporary. You can do without it. Remember: the less you need, the fewer weak points you have. This is important for a warrior.

Be modest in your needs. So, you don’t have to carry an extra bag of delicacies on your shoulders. It is enough to have three pieces of bread: one - to eat yourself, another - in reserve, the third - in order to give it to someone who has nothing to eat. Save your strength: do not waste it on the pursuit of the unnecessary. Save time: do not spend more time resting than necessary. Excessive rest is already idleness. The idler does not live. Better to be wrong than lounge away one's life. Better to go in the wrong direction than to stand still. Better to get hit than to watch a fair battle on the outside. It is better to lose what is needed than to chase the unnecessary. Life is a battle; and in battle one must know the measure of each movement. Those who cannot do this have already lost.

The warrior must be ready to die. He should not be afraid of death. It must be remembered, but without fear. Moreover, in the final analysis it cannot be avoided. Therefore, accustom yourself to the thought of death. Live on the edge of your open grave. Maybe you will lie in it in many years, or maybe today. Therefore, be ready for this at any hour. Try not to leave dirt behind. Be human. The world after you should remain cleaner, not dirtier. Otherwise you have lived in vain.

No one can avoid mistakes. There are no perfect people. Therefore, everyone inevitably leaves dirty footprints behind. But try to leave as few as possible. It is possible. Don't leave them on purpose; do not allow yourself to leave them. There will be enough without that. But this is not the same thing - leaving behind a few random footprints or a sea of mud in which you deliberately splashed. Try not to make mistakes. It is impossible to live without them; but if you do not try to live without them, then they will not decrease. If you allow yourself to make mistakes, even occasionally, indulging yourself, then you do not recognize yourself as a warrior. This cannot be called an effort to live with dignity. There can be no indulgences here. A sword with a flaw in forging is a bad sword, a vessel with a hole is a bad vessel, food with added dirt is bad food. It's not about the deeds, it's about you. I'm talking about conscience. It is not stained by an unintentional error; but it does not know indulgences. It rots from them. Remember this.

It is impossible to correct the mistake you made. What's done is done. You can't go back to yesterday and make your torn clothes whole. It can be repaired, but the trace will remain anyway. You cannot erase from reality and from memory what happened. But you can do it differently next time. It is a waste of energy trying to fix what you can't fix. And don't run from what you did. Realize it, comprehend, feel, eat this bitterness. If you are to blame for something, then you are to blame. So now it will remain forever. It's you; but you cannot run away from yourself. Do not run away from bitterness - but also do not let yourself be choked by it. Remember your mistakes - but don't live within them. Live with the good that you can do.

Fear mistakes as much as you would injure your face while making your way through thickets. You can get hurt and even cripple - but this does not mean that you should not go forward. Life is dangerous, the path is dangerous. These thickets cannot be bypassed or cut down. But if you stop you will stop living. So, take courage and go. And it is better to get hurt walking towards a worthy goal than wandering without meaning.

You walk and you will not walk your path without pain. Only unreasonable people hope so. And trying to avoid pain, they will receive many painful wounds from life. Do not be like that. Don't look for pain: why do you need it? But if it exists, endure it with dignity. Do not run from one sharp stone over another sharp stone. This is stupid. Grit your teeth and go where you went. If you run away from pain, you will not be able to follow the chosen path. There is no path without pain. Mistakes are also painful. And if not, then you have no conscience. Work is also painful. But nothing can be done without working. The battle is also painful. But there are no battles without wounds. And someone else's pain is also your pain. And if not, then you have no heart.

If you feel bad, accept it. For some reason, a person always feels bad. Only a corpse does not feel bad. When you can fix something in a worthy way - do it; if you can't, be patient. There are situations when nothing can be done. But make no mistakes. Do not take your fear, your laziness or your folly for despair. If fixing a situation is dangerous or difficult, this does not mean that it cannot be fixed or that it should not be done. If there is anything you can do, don’t humble yourself. Once you get used to humility, you become weak. Once you become weak, you cannot be a warrior. Without learning to endure what cannot be fixed, you also cannot be a warrior. Be able to distinguish between one and the other.

A warrior sometimes loses battles - but he does not refuse to fight. He is a warrior. Life is a struggle. He who refuses to struggle does not live. So, struggle. The principle is: to be a warrior or not to be at all. Such is a man, and no one will change that. If the world did not need this, then instead of people it would be inhabited by some other creatures.

One must be able to accept the reality. He who does not know how to do this is weak. Finding himself in the middle of a waterless desert, he will get angry and say to himself: "Why am I not on the river bank?" When he is in trouble, he will lose his peace of mind and will shout: "Why me and not someone else?" This is unworthy behavior. It is ugly and meaningless. If you feel bad, do not allow such cowardice. Realize the given and do your job. Even if you cannot remain calm inside, still restrain yourself. Nonsense has never rescued anyone from trouble. When you need to be strong, you should not waste yourself on fainthearted lamentation. Pull yourself together and fight.

The pain that comes from within is immeasurably stronger than the pain that torments the body. The pain of the soul is the main torment of every person. It most likely breaks people, most likely drives them crazy. Learn to fight it. If there is a reason for it, it cannot be overcome. But often nothing can be done about the cause. Therefore, to fight the pain of the soul means to be able to endure it. We must not allow it to overwhelm your mind and paralyze your will. It is not simple. But we need to learn this. Your pain is part of you; but this part should not prevail over the whole. Remember that you belong to the world and to people. Don't let your pain take over what is bigger than you. This means, do not let it control your will, the work of which goes beyond the boundaries of you. Pain shouldn't stop you from fulfilling your duty.

Duty is duty. It's beyond doubt. You can doubt it before you took it upon yourself. Then there should be no doubt. Give all of yourself to your obligation. You also need to think about whether you can fulfil it. When you accepted it, then there is no turning back or to the side. The difficulty and danger of fulfilling duty do not cancel it. If in order to fulfill it you must go into the fire, go. This is the principle. You cannot change it. By refusing to fulfill your duty, you will give up yourself. So, you will kill yourself more surely than fire would kill you. A man will be left with an empty shell. What good is he who is unable to fulfill his duty? Who is he? He is nobody. He can't do anything. There are no such warriors.

All have The Great Oughtness. This is the duty for the fulfillment of which all humans live. For its sake, we are all warriors. In addition to it, each person can also have personal obligations. The Great Oughtness is given at birth. The person chooses his personal duty himself. It embodies the mind, soul and will of the individual. It is impossible that two duties contradict each other. An sentient person will not undertake a duty contrary to the Great Oughtness. But if this happens to someone, then he should fulfill his personal duty. This is necessary in order to remain yourself. From the smallest to the largest. He who is not able to fulfill his personal duty will not be able to follow the Great Oughtness. One must be able to live in such a way that the two duties do not contradict. It should be like this: first – the main one, and the other must be verified according to it. It may seem that this is not particularly difficult. In reality, living like this is not an easy art.

You have everything you need. It's in you. Nature has given you everything so that you can be who you should be. Never forget about it. You have will in abundance, and strength, and courage, and everything else that is necessary for a man and a warrior. You were made that way. Therefore, do not justify your weakness by the lack of one or the other. It will be a lie. If you are weak, then you do not want to be strong. Admit it to yourself. Such weakness is shameful. But this is not the end. The path is the path. You should go ahead. You must learn to be what a warrior needs to be. Self-deception is one of the sides of weakness of spirit; and this weakness is also imaginary. It can be overcome.

A person learns while living. He cognizes the world and himself. He learns to deal with the problems of the world and learns to deal with problems in himself. We don't become real warriors right away. You should learn to be a warrior. We must forge ourselves like a sword. Therefore, do not give up when you realize that you are not as good as you could be. It takes time to forge, harden, grind and sharpen a blade well. Everything is done gradually. This is the natural order of things. But there is no time to waste. If you are too lazy to forge a sword today you will never forge it.

37
The school of life is harsh. The school of a warrior is even more severe. If it's hard for you, then it should be so. Take it calmly. Body and soul get painful blows - be patient. It doesn't happen otherwise. There are many who, whining, rush back and forth, trying to avoid blows. But they will not succeed. And in addition to the pain of blows, they receive the torment of fear and torment of vexation. They are to blame for this themselves. This is from a lack of courage.

If nothing hurts you, it won't last long. When you go into battle, you will be hurt again. And if you don't fight, you will be hurt by something else. A living person is always in pain, because he is a living person. This must be understood, and one must get used to it. Understand that it hurts you because you are a living person. Here's an important lesson. Whoever has mastered it has learned a lot.

It hurts if you are alive. This means that the cause of your pain is your very existence. The reason is that you are alive. But man is more than a body. Therefore, you cannot get rid of the pain by killing yourself. If you do that, you will the corpse, which does not feel pain, and separately - you, who still feels pain. You cannot hide from suffering in death.

Only those people do this who believe everything is too simple. In fact, your suffering is mostly a reflection of sufferings of people and the world. And this is true for everyone. The sufferings of people are endlessly reflected in each other - as if mirrors are reflecting them, turning each of them into a thousand new ones. Therefore, it is useless to try to save yourself from sufferings alone. It won't work. It is impossible for a human to achieve this. It is arranged differently and is intended for something else.

If a baby, barely born, falls to the ground strewn with sharp stones, it hurts. We are all like that. It is impossible not to suffer, having been born in the world of pain. That is why the reason for our suffering is in our life. That is why one cannot escape suffering. This means that we must help the world to get rid of suffering. And it won't work if people don't get better. So, we need to help them to become better. Then there will be less evil and pain in the world; and over time, both people and the world will become more perfect. This is what you need to strive for. This is the Great Oughtness.

Remember, the only possible way to get rid of pain is to get rid of the pain of others. Whoever says that this is not true is blind. Pain blinded him. He thinks that man is born in order to grow a thick skin for himself. Thus, he expects not to be burned by the fires of suffering burning everywhere. And I say that it is better to extinguish these fires. It is very difficult - but possible. The path of personal deliverance seems easier - but it is impossible. He only multiplies suffering. He nurtures pride in himself, and after it - hatred. This path leads nowhere. He only increases the evil in the world. You cannot extinguish one fire of suffering by kindling others.

If you know the aim, then it will be much easier for you. Take it easy; be aware of yourself in relation to the aim. Then act. Throw unnecessary; keep only the essentials with you. Put away the hope that you can rest. Realize that you are in the middle of a battle. Realize that you were born to fight. Cast out your hatred and pride. There are the same people as you are in front of you. You should understand that you are not fighting with them. Your opponent is what oppresses and devours them. Your opponent is what kills them: their sleep and illusion of evil. You should understand that. Then you can fight properly.

Be patient. The impatient person is his own enemy. He erodes himself like a tree beetle. The impatient has all his soul in bites. And when he takes the sword, his hands are shaking. He's a bad warrior. You should be patient in order to achieve victory through a hail of painful blows. And in order to do a difficult task properly, you also need to have patience - so as not to abandon it or not to take the wrong step. Patience will temper the sword of your will. And for the fulfillment of the Great Oughtness, great patience is needed. Anyone who believes that the world cannot be improved is blind. Anyone who believes that the world can be improved quickly is hardly smart. The world can be improved, and this is a great work, many years and more than one generation of soldiers. This is so, and we must come to terms with it. You will not see the result of your struggle in your present life. It is like death to those who are impatient. So, learn to be patient.

Others follow you. If you manage to do even the smallest bit of good, it will be a little easier for them, and they will be able to do more. It will be even easier for those who follow them. This is how the world changes. You need a miracle to change it differently. But a warrior does not expect miracles. He creates a new world by himself. Working, struggling, dying in order to give others the opportunity to do more, he does something more than a miracle. This is because he is human.

Always act like a warrior. Remember that everything that happens to you is a step along the path of a warrior. Don't do unnecessary things. Don't strive for what you don't need. Understand the warrior's needs. Do not be afraid of anything. However, don't take risks when the risk is not justified. Do not seek peace - but be calm. A warrior needs calmness. It enlightens the mind and prevents mistakes. Win peacefully and die peacefully if you should. In any situation, keep yourself in control. Even if tears flow from pain, don't let your mind drown in them. Go where you go. Do your duty. If there is a mountain on the way, and you cannot get around it, do not be afraid to rest your shoulder against it. Just a little, but you can move it. Never mind the mockery. Do not believe if someone says that the way you live is wrong. A warrior will not say like this, and the warrior's path could not be judged by those who are not warriors. Remember who you are and why you exist - after all, everything else flows from this.

Your victory is the victory of all people. Many warriors are fighting for it - and one day it will be achieved. So, remember, you cannot lose. Even if today you are defeated, it means nothing. Learn from this situation and continue to fight. Anyway, you will win. This means that you have already won. If you die, then you die victorious.

You are not alone. You are not on your own. You and other warriors, all together, are the one Great Warrior, fulfilling the Great Oughtness. Therefore, you are stronger than you might think. Therefore, the struggle will not end with your death. Therefore, your right cause will win anyway. Never forget about it.

The strength of other warriors belongs to you. You are united by a common cause. You are like flowers on different branches of the same tree. Only juices feed you. Power flows through special currents from one to another. Know how to use it. It is possible. And you yourself have more strength than you think. Nature gave it to you. Nature has equipped you enough to be a warrior. This means that weakness does not exist. It is as much an absurd illusion as evil and fear. But many give this illusion an opportunity to build a nest in their souls. This should not be allowed. Whoever wants to be strong will be strong. The power will come to him. Don't give yourself time to get strong. This is a sign of weakness. You should be strong here and now. A warrior is a warrior.

A warrior lives like a warrior. This means that someone else's rules are not for you. Live the way you need to, not the way non-warriors demand of you. Don't let their desires and their doubts guide you. Don't do extra. If you find yourself in the circle of idlers, continue your work. In the circle of liars, don't lie. If everyone condemns something that seems right to you, stand up for him. If everyone is backing away, you keep going forward. If you should do something stupid or unworthy in order to honor someone, refuse to do it. Do not be afraid of judgment. Be a warrior, not a fool for the fools. Do not follow customs that are contrary to your path. Never be afraid to join the fight: that is why you are a warrior. If a mountain is approaching the city - stand in its path. This is an act worthy of a warrior, and it will not be in vain.

You are an ordinary person. A warrior is not something extraordinary, not a rare beast. This is the natural state of man. Therefore, do not think that a warrior should look somehow special. A warrior is a state of mind and soul. You can be a man or a woman, have the most ordinary appearance, and still be a warrior. But you need to educate yourself. The appearance of a warrior can be different - but his actions must be the actions of a warrior.

You have to be humble about your needs. Nothing extra. You need to be attentive, reasonable and firm. Decisions must be carefully thought over, words must be meaningful. Promises must be kept. Give them carefully, being sure that they will not push you into unworthy actions. But if you promised something, do it anyway. Take responsibility for your words. Never lie. Even animals don't lie. Don't be worse than an animal. To save oneself in every possible way means to act in accordance with the instinct of self-preservation. This is characteristic of animals. And this means that to act according to conscience, even contrary to this instinct, is a higher stage of development. It is cowardly to run, to deceive and betray for the sake of self-preservation - this is just the highest stage of manifestation of the animal instinct in man. To overcome this, to always act according to one's obligation, is the next step, the transition from animal to human. You need to consciously choose a goal. Then you need to follow the chosen one, not giving control over yourself to animal habits. This is what man does.

Life is needed in order to strive for a worthy goal. Saving one's life cannot be such a goal, because life is not given for its own sake. It would be pointless. You should see the aim. We must strive for it. Then life will make sense. You cannot turn from the path out of fear. You cannot save life at the cost of giving up your aim. Then death will make sense.

It's simple. You see the aim and go for it. Everything is very simple. Understand that. Choose a worthy aim and do not be tarnished by unworthy methods of achieving it. They will kill it. You will not achieve what you were striving for. Therefore, only go on a worthy path. When you have a choice, don't hesitate. If you should take a bad path to achieve your aim in one day, and a worthy one to achieve it in a thousand years, do not hesitate to choose a worthy path. At the end of another path there is no aim at all. There is an illusion similar to it. In fact, a warrior has no choice. His choice has already been made. He always knows where to go and how to act. He has one way. A good warrior does not notice the forked roads.

The higher the aim, the more justified the life and death of the one walking. The highest aim is the Great Oughtness. This is what people live for. Everything else good and worthy is accomplished on the way to this goal. Other good goals are lesser streams in the stream of the Great Oughtness. Moving in any of them, you move towards their common goal. This must always be remembered and realized. Otherwise, it is easy to go astray and from the stream of clean water, imperceptibly for yourself, move into the stream of mud. You should live in such a way that your smallest deed contains the meaning of the great aim. Then there will be no trifles in your life. Then suffering for one word or one movement will not be in vain. Then every breath you take will be meaningful.

Be like an arrow flying towards a target through fire. If it achieves its aim – it’s good; if it burns along the way, it will not burn in vain. This is how one should live. The arrow does not turn out of the way and does not stop in front of a wall of fire, and does not stop in front of a rock, although it knows that hitting it will break it to pieces. Don't be worse than a thing. You are human. To be stronger than an animal and a thing is the least that you have to do and what you can do in order to remain human.

Taking care of yourself the most is the source of selfishness. Such a person has little chance of remaining a worthy person. Plus, it makes him weak. He starts to be afraid. He lives in constant fear. And as the result the soul rots and the mind becomes one-eyed. Fear for others - only it does not disgrace the warrior. But fears for others should not push him into unworthy deeds. You cannot do good through evil. A good result will be imaginary. In fact, nothing good will come of it. But when it becomes obvious, nothing can be fixed. The worthy cannot grow out of the unworthy. Only those who do not want to think will not understand this.

Giving up on an erroneous or bad intention is not a sign of weakness. Man is imperfect. He does not know everything thoroughly and may be wrong. Giving up what you think is right because of fear - that is weakness. To stick to the wrong out of stubbornness is foolish, irresponsible and unworthy. Only the word given can justify such an act. Then it is not stubbornness, but duty. It must be fulfilled. If the one to whom you gave your word did not set you free, do it. It cannot be otherwise. So be careful about your promises. Don't trap yourself. The best thing is to do what you think is right without any promises. You don't need to drag yourself along your path by force. Just go.

Learn all your life. The more you learn and understand, the better your path becomes. Those who are prideful, lazy, indifferent and foolish do not want to learn. They won't become warriors. To know what's best, you need to know more. To be able, you need to know. Always learn. Learn even a minute before death. There is no good warrior without learning. Getting ready to die, learn life. Seeing the blade piercing your body, learn to feel. When dying, learn the right attitude towards death. Don't miss the opportunity to learn something worthwhile.

If you know little, you will not understand the Great Oughtness. You can't make a blind choice. You need to understand what you choose. You can't go blind: you will fall to pieces. We must distinguish between good and evil. They are often mixed: therefore, it is necessary to be able to distinguish their shades. This must be learned. We must learn to see people. We must learn to see ourselves.

There is no need for a warrior to be cruel. You need to be firm in your path. The cliff is not cruel - but the waves of the sea break on its firmament. You should be like him. If someone breaks against your determination and your will, it is because he himself wanted it. A warrior must be able to resist the pressure of the entire ocean. And he doesn't have to hate the ocean. He should just do his job. This is the basis of the struggle. This is the first skill of a warrior: to resist. If you know how to resist, then you will overcome the path, and you will die with dignity. If you survive, you will win. There is no need for hatred or cruelty to resist. However, firmness is sometimes needed. The soft-bodied and weak-willed will certainly be pushed out of the way. But firmness should come not from hatred and enmity, but from understanding of necessity. Firmness is sometimes like cruelty. Be careful. Don't cross the line.

He who is driven by hatred is not a warrior. A true warrior is driven by love. He is not fighting against something, but for something. He does not conquer but protects. You can't fight for the world and people if you don't love them. The basis of the Great Oughtness is love. Remember this, otherwise you will turn into an enraged beast. Hate is destruction. Don't let it into your heart. It will destroy your heart. And love will give strength to resist anything. The ability to love is more important than the art of fighting. If there is no love, the art of fighting has nothing to rely on. Then it is like a fortress built on quicksand. You live for what you love. This is what you fight for. And if not, then nothing makes sense. Love is the food of life. No food - no strength. No strength - no struggle. There is no struggle - there is no point in existing. Therefore, everything is based on love. For its sake man was created.

A warrior should not be like a leaf blown by the wind. He has a law of honor by which he lives. This law consists of knowledge, conscience and love. This is where strength, courage, perseverance, firmness, patience, attentiveness, kindness, solicitude, honesty, loyalty, hard work, modesty and other good qualities flow. The meaning of life flows from this natural law. This law is the source and the basis for motivation and action. Everything else is false. Hatred, cruelty, selfishness, pride, greed, intemperance, cowardice, weakness, laziness, cynicism and other ailments of the soul stem from the false. The natural law embodies the mind, soul and heart of a warrior. This is a human being. This is the true foundation of our life.

Man is united with the world in which he lives. This means that the whole world is you. The world belongs to you. There is nothing to conquer. Therefore, a warrior does not conquer, but protects and improves. This is precisely his business. The one who seeks to conquer gradually ceases to be human. He turns into a monster that devours people. Do not seek to be a conqueror. A warrior will have something to fight and die for without it.

Nothing can be done well without discipline. Every single person cannot be the most intelligent and knowledgeable: therefore, one must be able to obey those who know and can do more. Unity is a tremendous power. But it cannot be where everyone wants to play only their own melody. If you are not acting alone, be disciplined. It's necessary. He who does not know how to learn this is internally weak in front of his weaknesses. He's unreliable. He is a worthless warrior. He is a source of concern and danger for others. You can't rely on such a person.

Self-discipline is the foundation of discipline in the community. It is the cornerstone of warrior's actions. Whether he is not alone or alone, without self-discipline he can do little or nothing. It fosters courage, patience, caution, moderation, perseverance, calmness. Raise it in yourself. Practice self-discipline. It's hard. It might feel bad and painful, - endure and exercise. A person who has mastered self-discipline and self-control is already half a warrior. Swords blunt at him. A bad but disciplined person is nicer than a good but undisciplined person. A warrior cannot be without self-discipline. He is pathetic without it. Without it, he looks like a bag of holes with straw. Without it, he is of no use even to support a fence, far from being useful in a battle. Remember this.

The essence of the warrior's path is to live and die for a worthy aim. This is the very essence. It must be realized. And we must realize that a person is born in order to be a warrior. To live differently is to live wrong. Taking care of yourself the most is trading the whole world for a piece of slowly rotting meat. A worthy aim is to strive to protect, help, fix, make people and the world better. It makes sense to exist for such an aim.

Translated by Amradkhari

60 questions about the Teaching of the United Temple

1. Is the Teaching of the United Temple a religion?

It is not a religion. Religious teaching implies worship of some supernatural powers. There is a cult; (most commonly) priests, who are acting as mediators between believers and the mentioned powers and are running a cult; believers who worship supernatural powers in one form or another; there are various objects of worship, sacred places and sacred objects. There is nothing like this is in the Teaching. It fundamentally rejects belief in supernatural and miracles, in other words, in interference of supernatural forces, in everything that happens against the laws of Nature. The Teaching shares materialistic views, while expanding the meaning of the concept of “materialism”. The Teaching recognizes the existence of two other worlds (levels or plans of the Universe) in addition to the material world: the world of energy and the world of Spirit. However, these worlds have nothing supernatural within. They are closely connected to the material world and are subject to the laws of Nature - laws of cause to effect, evolution, etc. These two worlds are more difficult for scientists to research than the physical world - but it is possible. The time will come when science will prove their existence, develop methods for research and create necessary tools for this. Having a source of information in the world of energy, the Teaching has information that modern science is not yet able to verify. Therefore, after casual reading (and largely due to terminological difficulties), it may seem that it is religious or occult. In reality, this is not true. According to the Teaching, everything in the Universe obeys natural laws and is available for scientific research. The presence of elements found in various religions (reincarnation, etc.) in the Teaching is explained by the fact that a religious worldview often gives mystical features to real facts and explains them with supernatural causes. In other words, these are real elements of the world, which were included in various religious teachings one way or another, were rethought and interpreted accordingly. They have a different explanation in the Teaching - as natural phenomena and patterns that obey the laws of Nature and have nothing to do with mysticism.

2. What is the source of information that makes up the Teaching?

The Teaching was given to people by the God of Wisdom through his prophet. I the Teaching the God of Wisdom is called Emere, but he is also known in world spiritual traditions under many other names - Thoth, Odin, Hermes, Quetzalcoatl, etc.

In the Teaching the gods are not supernatural beings. The God of Wisdom is an energetic being who has information about everything that was, is and will possibly be in the Universe. When an urgent need arises he helps sentient races who have difficulty in learning the Truth and transfers a sufficient amount of knowledge enough to overcome the crisis to them. Mankind has also received his revelations, and more than once. However, this fact does not mean that other prophets of various religions and teachings also received revelations from him. All the prophets of Emere belonged to one spiritual tradition, one teaching; presently it is called the Teaching of the United Temple.

3. How is the Teaching of the United Temple related to traditional hermetism?

What is called "traditional Hermetism", in fact, is an echo of the Teaching itself, which appeared from the depths of centuries from the previous revelation of Emere (Hermes). The prophet who accepted that revelation eventually turned into a mythical figure, was identified with the source of the revelation, and called Hermes Trismegistus. His teachings themselves have undergone such significant distortions over time that they have changed almost beyond recognition. The present revelation not only restores the teaching of Hermes in its true form, but also significantly expands it - that is, it contains much more information than any of the previous revelations.

The Teaching does not use the hermetic texts included in the Hermetic collection of writings as its sources. It does not recognize them as authoritative, since their content is a mixture of more or less distorted fragments of the Teaching and completely extraneous elements, combined with speculation and incorrect interpretations. They have little to do with the real Teachings of Hermes. Instead, the Teaching is based on its own collection of texts - the Pandect “Erma”.

4. Is it true that the appearance of the Teaching was predicted?

If there is a desire, then in the numerous predictions of soothsayers and clairvoyants of all kinds, you can see some kinds of signs. Usually this is based on various speculations. As for the Teaching, no purposeful search has ever been conducted. There is only one that is well-known:

“Long awaited he will never return
In Europe, he will appear in Asia:
One of the league issued from the great Hermes,
And he will grow over all the Kings of the East”.
Michelle Nostradamus. Centuries, X, LXXV

5. Why is it called the “Teaching of the United Temple”?

This name was given to it by Emere. The concept of “temple” in this case does not have any religious content. It means the entire Universe, the whole world, in which all particles are united, like organs and cells of one organism. This word emphasizes a special relationship to this great unity, the living organism of our Creator. The Temple of the Teaching is Nature, and it does not require any worshiping. Understanding, love and work are required instead for the benefit of the world and people.

6. What is the history of the Teaching?

Throughout the existence of mankind, the Teaching has been given to people 27 times (counting the last modern revelation to us). Each time, its task was to help mankind overcome a deep spiritual crisis. It always remained the property of a limited circle of initiates, but at the same time it had a significant impact on society in indirect ways - through philosophical, ethical, scientific concepts, art, etc. Over time knowledge was distorted, lost, or the circle of initiates was destroyed, or continuity was interrupted for some other reason, and the Teaching disappeared in order to be reborn again when required.

The first revelation took place more than 250,000 years ago, the next-to-last revelation took place several thousand years ago. Due to such a long time, the history of the Teaching can hardly be restored and studied according to archaeological data or other methods available to modern science.

However, the Teaching has its own sources of information and individual fragments of its history are described in the texts of the pandect.

The history of the last revelation of Teaching began in 1994. It differs from the previous ones as it contains a larger amount of information, is not addressed to a narrow circle of initiates, but to all humanity, and is the final in a series of revelations. There will be no more revelations.

7. When and by whom was it founded?

It was founded by the prophet Atarchat, on the 1st of March, 1996, - almost two years after the beginning of the revelation.

The Prophet was familiar with the Teaching in his past life. Between the past and present physical lives, during his life in the world of energy, he was offered to transfer the last revelation to people in the upcoming life. It was about time and it was inevitable. He agreed and for many hundreds of years he was preparing for this and waiting for the time of revelation to come and, thus, for his birth. He was born in 1972, and began to receive the revelation shortly after he turned 21.

8. What is the role of the prophet in the Teaching?

First of all, it should be noted that the term “prophet” in the sense of “the one who receives revelation from higher powers” and “prophet” in the sense of “soothsayer, foreteller of the future” should not be confused. According to religious and mythological views, both of these terms often coincide; but in this case the first of them is meant. The founder of the teaching is a prophet, as he receives the revelation from the God of Wisdom. The role of the prophet is fundamental. He receives and transmits revelation to people, that is, information of the Teaching, knowledge about people, the world and the Universe. He is the highest authority in all matters related to the Teaching; in these matters his opinion cannot be challenged. He manages the affairs of the Teaching, establishes the rules for the followers, he personally teaches, and also writes the pandekt. The Prophet is a key figure for the present and future Teachings, his support and the highest authority is above the authority of other Teachers.

9. What is the pandect and what is its significance?

The pandect “Erma” (which means “foundation”, “foundation”, “source”) is a collection of texts telling about the doctrine of the Teaching, its philosophical, moral, ethical and practical aspects, containing stories about its history, biography of some of his followers who lived in past times, as well as the speeches of the gods, the instructions of the prophet and other materials. It only includes what is written by the prophet. The Pandect, along with the living word of the prophet, is the information base of the Teaching. After the death of the prophet, he will remain the most authoritative source, the highest authority, a model according to which certain concepts of the Teaching, establishments, statements and actions will be verified.

Reading the pandect is highly recommended for each follower. The pandect is the most valuable source of knowledge about the Teaching; therefore, regular reading and study of these texts is recommended to all followers. The pandect is still being written. At present there are three books, one of them, Epistole, is being expanded with new messages. Over time, the pandect will include several more books.

10. Why are the names of the books included in the pandect, terminology associated with the pandect, its name and names of the mitevmas taken from the Greek language?

The Mitevmas dictated by people bear the names given to them by those people. The Mithevmas, dictated by the gods, initially had no names, except one: Emere himself gave a name to the Mithevma "Eosfor." This is an ancient Greek word; therefore, it was decided to give the rest of the Mithevmas of the Gods and the Mithevmas of Atarchat names taken from the same language. And the terminology for the pandect in general was developed on the same basis to make it unified.

11. What does the emblem of the Teaching symbolize?

It consists of two elements. In the center of it is a symbol called the “sign of the white fire”. The White Fire is a good power emanating from the world of Spirit; light that illuminates the path and helps him to overcome difficulties and struggle. The sign of the white fire is surrounded by a chain of twenty-seven links, according to the number of revelations given by the God of Wisdom to humanity. Each link in the chain is connected to the previous and next, which means continuity in the Truth.

The first and last links are also connected; this symbolizes the fact that the last revelation was given in the same place where the first was (at the same geographical point). Thus the past came into contact with the future, as a closing of the circle - there will be no new revelations.

The color of the logo itself and its background is of no fundamental importance.

In addition to the one described above, there is another emblem - less official, so to speak. It is an image of a fiery flower breaking through a stone cracked under its pressure. This emblem is based on the words from the Mitevma “The Way”, where the Teaching is described as the flower of Amra, an ocean of white fire that unfolds when it is extracted from the depths of oblivion.

12. How is the Teaching passed to people?

In a usual way. Through media (in particular, the Internet), through literature, communication etc.
According to the teaching, you cannot impose your views on anyone, even if you consider them to be true. Therefore, an aggressive or intrusive form of propaganda is unacceptable. Anyone can freely read published materials; as for personal communication, the followers of the Teaching speak about it only with those who want it themselves.

13. What are the aims of the Teaching?

Its natural and fundamental aim is to give people the Truth. However, of course, this is a general answer. To specify, then we can the following

The Teaching is not just a set of postulates, not just information. It is also a morality based on its philosophy. Teaching condemns violence, lies, immorality. It says that man is good by nature, that he is an important part of the Universe, and is born in order to learn, improve, create and love.

Therefore, the purpose of the Teaching is not only the enlightenment of people, but also a practical change of the world for the better. It is necessary to fight evil, to overcome hostility, racial, national, political and spiritual discord, immorality, crime and other negative phenomena that are destructive to society. We need to protect our planet, its nature, its wealth, life itself. One must be prepared that humanity, having gone beyond its planet, will once meet other intelligent races in the Universe; and it should be clear that relations between them, as well as relations between the peoples of the Earth, should not be based on xenophobia and hostility, but on mutual understanding, respect and cooperation. All of the above are the practical aims of the Teaching.

What is more, the purpose of the Teaching is to facilitate the evolution of the Creator, that is, our Universe. Through intelligent races as particles of the Creator, through their knowledge of reality and their moral choice, the Creator is perfected. This is precisely the meaning of humanity's search for the Truth; the Teaching exists for this reason, and it is known not only by humanity, but also many other rational races. The main and final aim of the Teaching - to promote the evolution of the Creator. It is normal for all intelligent races to follow it, no matter who and where in the Universe they are.

14. Does the Teaching have an esoteric level of initiation?

No. At the time of previous revelations, the Teaching was almost completely esoteric; only a limited circle of initiates had this knowledge, from a few people to several thousand people. Now the situation has changed exactly in the opposite direction: the Teaching is intended for all people, it spreads completely openly, and there is no esoteric level in it.

15. Why do the followers of the Teaching call themselves the “Eternal Nation”?

The reason is that the Teaching is not limited in time and space. That is, it exists not only now, and not only for humanity . The truth is known to all the intelligent races of the Universe; they have known it and will know it in future. And since there is only one Truth, the knowledge of it leads all intelligent races to a single worldview. Some races come to it exclusively by their own efforts, while others - as, for example, humanity - receives revelation from the God of Wisdom. But in any case, it is always the same philosophy-teaching. Its followers have existed since the first intelligent races arose and began their path of knowledge in the Universe, and will exist until the time for transformation of the Creator comes.

Thus, not only people who have accepted the Teaching, but also representatives of other intelligent races throughout the Universe, in the past, present and future belong to the Eternal Nation. And not only those of them who live in physical bodies, but also those who are in the world of energy between incarnations or have already completely left the physical body also belong to the Eternal Nation. All of them are one nation, the people of Truth. The Eternal Nation is a community not only supranational, but also supraspecific, united in spaces, times and worlds.

16. Can any person become a member of the Teaching? Are there any restrictions?

Any sane person who has chosen this path can join the Teaching, regardless of skin color, nation, or gender. There is only one restriction - age: a person can join when he is 21 years old. This age is considered the age of majority in the Teaching, when a person is already fully responsible for his decisions and actions.

17. What is necessary in order to join the Teaching?

First of all, you need to familiarize yourself with it to understand what it is about and what it teaches. If, having understood this, a person recognizes that the Teaching is true and accepts it as his path, then we can talk about joining it. Such a decision should be free, deliberate and conscious, made on the basis of knowledge about the Teaching. Joining the Teaching blindly or by force without a clear idea of what you accept, is unacceptable.

Then, a firm intention is necessary to follow the Teaching, to realize its principles in life. Otherwise, accepting it does not make sense. No one requires to become an ideal follower immediately upon joining it in every single detail. It always takes time to change yourself and your life. However, you need to desire it, you need to try, make efforts in this direction.

In the Teaching, theory is inextricably linked with practice, that is, you cannot accept it as a system of views, but refuse to put it into practice. You need to be aware of this in your decision when deciding to join the Teaching.

And, of course, full trust in the Teacher who teaches you and full trust in the prophet and pandect is necessary. This is the basis of following the Teaching: you cannot learn from someone you do not trust, and you cannot confidently follow the path if you doubt that this is the right path.

18. How does the process of joining the Teaching look like? How does a person quit it?

A person joins the Teaching through a very simple procedure: the acceptor (Teacher) asks the applicant a series of questions, and he gives answers to them, thereby confirming that he is aware of his actions and that his decision is firm. Leaving the Teaching is even simpler: it is enough to simply declare your departure. No obstacles are created.

19. Is it possible to be excluded from the Teaching and why?

You can be excluded for not following it. If a person joins the Teaching, but does not try to change, does not intend to deepen his understanding of the Teaching, does not want to follow its rules and does not strive for his goals, this means that he does not really need the Teaching, and then he can be excluded.

The Teaching is not only a worldview, but also practical action in life; it cannot be followed purely nominally. He who does not seek to follow the Teaching has nothing to do in the Teaching. In addition, you can be excluded for the deliberate and demonstrative commission of acts condemned by the Teaching, the deliberate and demonstrative manifestation of disrespect for the Teacher, and so on.

20. What signs of membership in the Teaching should its followers have?

There are currently no such signs. In the future they will appear, but wearing them will not be mandatory.

21. Why do people accept new names when joining the Teaching? Is it obligatory?

Not necessary; and not everyone accepts a new name. Those who accept them do this if they want to emphasize that a new important stage of life begins when they join the Teaching, like new birth.

22. What is asked from a person who has joined the Teaching?

It is required to implicitly follow the Teaching. You need to trust the Teacher, learn the Teaching, learn to live by its principles, try to benefit people and the world. It sounds concise and simple; however, these brief formulations mean affords of a whole human life, because it is far from simple to put them into practice.

23. Should the followers believe blindly in the Teaching?

They should trust their Teacher. An apprentice comes to a Master for knowledge, thereby recognizing that the Master is more knowledgeable in the Truth than he is. Learning requires trust - otherwise it becomes impossible; so in an ordinary school a student trusts a teacher. However - again, like an ordinary school - the Teaching does not prohibit thinking. An apprentice should think the materials over, reflect on them, try to understand them better. The most important element of learning are the questions that an apprentice asks the Teacher. It is necessary to ask, to clarify, to seek clarification of incomprehensible moments. In addition, an apprentice should not consider himself satisfied only with what he learns from the Teacher. He should also study himself the world and people, observe, compare the results of his observations with what the Teaching says, comprehend, draw conclusions. Cognition is also one's own work and not just an acquisition of ready-made knowledge. The Teaching provides the basis and indicates the most important landmarks; this knowledge must be combined with personal active learning which is the main part - a person learns and deepens his understanding all his life. The teacher, when necessary, helps in personal development. From the point of view of the Teaching, he can explain what needs to be clarified, suggest, point out mistakes and help to avoid misconceptions. Cognition is a collaborative work of an apprentice and the Teacher, an active work of thought, the assimilation of knowledge received from the Teaching and constant learning due to personal observations and personal experience.

24. Does the Teaching require regular donations from its followers?

It does not require. Voluntary contributions to the Teaching are allowed, but they may not be accepted from everyone, and not always. Here a number of factors are important: the degree of commitment to the Teaching, the sincere desire to help, the financial situation of the follower, the likelihood that due to the contribution he will have friction with his family, and other possible problems. The purpose of the Teaching, is not an enrichment at the expense of the followers. From the moment of the beginning of the revelation to the present moment (i.e. for 20 years) not a single contribution or donation has been accepted.

25. How are the most faithful and active followers of the Teaching rewarded?

There are no rewards. Loyalty to the Teaching and the desire to be useful to it do not need to be encouraged, because this is the norm. Followers should be what they are because they understand how necessary and important it is and not because they expect rewards. The reward for loyalty to the chosen path, for work for the good of the world and people and for the struggle against the negative phenomena of life -is own spiritual improvement and good future of the world. Anyone who does not understand this and is waiting for some special reward is self-serving and his following the Teaching is not sincere. It should be noted that the Teaching does not seek to exploit its followers at all. Help in any of the Teachings' affairs, like a cash contribution, may not be accepted from every follower, and not always.

26. Are there any regular ritual actions performed by the followers of the Teaching?

There are no such actions. Religious rituals are absent in the Teaching as a concept, since it is not a religion.

27. What practices does the Teaching use?

Practices in the usual sense of the word - prayer, meditation, energy, etc. - are not used in the Teaching. According to the Teaching, the best and, at the same time, the most difficult practice is the right life. This means - life according to the principles of the Teaching, life in accordance with its ideas about the morality and purpose of man. You need to try to live like this, you need to learn this. A simple example. Teaching rejects lies. So, you need to try to live so that every word you say is true. However, this is not easy. Refusal of lies creates a lot of problems in life - and to overcome them you need to develop yourself and show patience, perseverance, willpower and other positive qualities. The same is true of other moral principles. This is precisely what the Teaching calls practice. Cognition, rejection of the wrong and following the right, developing the necessary qualities in oneself, the fulfillment of what is good for the world and people. This changes a person for the better and gives him opportunities and strength to change for the better of the world. More effective practices aimed at self-improvement do not exist.

28. What is the "purity of the path"?

To keep the path clean is to strictly follow that religion or teaching that you have accepted without introducing any elements from other worldviews into it.

Nowadays, many do not want to choose a specific path for themselves, preferring to borrow and mix elements of different religions and teachings, often incompatible. And even to those who choose one specific path, i.e. a particular religion or teaching, it can be difficult to part with some elements of one’s previous views or resist the temptation to borrow a favorite or convenient moment from another worldview. But introducing elements from other teachings into any doctrine introduces chaos into the interdependence of its own elements and violates its internal logic, thereby reducing its value as a spiritual path to zero. Therefore, in the Teaching this is not allowed. Anyone who has chosen the Teaching as its path should follow only it, without mixing in anything borrowed from other teachings. Keeping the path pure is very important. Only in this way can one be firm in following it and achieve success in one's spiritual fulfillment.

29. What seems to be the most difficult in following the Teaching?

Actually, it is the same as in following other serious teachings and religions. There are several key points that are difficult for followers.

Firstly, trust in authorities - the prophet, the Teacher. In the modern world, independence and independence in judgments is highly valued. Once this was an undeniably beneficial phenomenon that contributed to the liberation of thinking and the way out of the influence of religious prejudice.

However, if it exceeds all limits it eventually turns into something harmful. This happened in this case. The freedom of thinking grew into pride and self-centeredness; a person wants to acknowledge only his personal opinion- including spiritual matters - and considers it humiliating to recognize anyone’s authority. This negative trend is expanding and intensifying. Therefore, for many people it turns out psychologically very difficult to trust their Teacher. Meanwhile, such trust is an essential element of following the Teaching.

Secondly, the purity of the path, that is, non-mixing of extraneous elements borrowed from other teachings into the Teaching is hard for many people.

This problem is similar to the previous one. Used to rely only on his own judgment, modern man seeks to form the Truth that suits him. Therefore, for this purpose many people mix elements taken out of the context of various teachings. For them it is very difficult to accept the whole doctrine set forth by someone else and to follow it strictly without introducing anything of their own.

Thirdly, following moral standards is complicated. It is not easy to change oneself for the better, to struggle with one’s own shortcomings, to abandon selfishness, lies, theft, debauchery etc. The Teaching does not require instant change from its followers. It takes time. You cannot fundamentally change overnight; and becoming a saint is completely impossible. But you need to try to overcome evil in yourself, you need to strive to change for the better. This is difficult in itself and, moreover, can greatly complicate life; however, the basic meaning of following the Teaching lies in moral perfection. Everything else can be considered as derivatives of this framework.

Fourth, overcoming what can be called the dominance of everyday life. In an endless series of daily routines, worries about home, family, work, health, etc., it’s easy to get bogged down. It takes all the attention, time, strength, deprives a person of the opportunity to devote himself to other aspects of his life, in particular, the spiritual side.

Anyone who is mired in everyday problems and chokes in them finds it hard to gain knowledge of the Truth and promote self-improvement. Life is a very serious obstacle on a spiritual path. It can be extremely difficult to find an opportunity to pay attention to both everyday life and spirituality, avoiding bias in one direction or another.

After all, if it is not good to give up spiritual life, completely replacing it with everyday life, then the reverse option is not the best. It is necessary to be able to combine them, while being guided in everyday life by spiritual principles, on which not only morality is based, and therefore practical actions, but also t understanding of one’s place in the world and the meaning of one’s existence.

These, in general terms, are the main difficult points in following the Teaching. Although these problems are actually universal in nature, and therefore, as mentioned above, they are relevant not only for the followers of the Teaching.

30. According to the Teaching, what is man's place in the world? What is his purpose?

Evolution is aimed at creating new races of intelligent beings in the Universe. The mind of the Creator is awakened in them, which through itself cognizes itself and is perfected in order to experience the further transformation and ascend to a new stage of development. The intelligent races of the Universe play a key role in the internal evolution of the Creator; without them, it would have been simply impossible. Each intelligent race is precious to the Creator, for it is its flesh, mind and soul, and it is the guarantee of its further life and development.
Humanity is one of these races. Its purpose is to learn, and on the basis of acquired knowledge to improve intellectually and morally. This is exactly what the Creator needs, and we are his particles. Thus, this is precisely the purpose of both humanity as a whole and each individual person. We live and improve so that the Creator can live and improve.

31. According to the Teaching, what is the purpose of man?

In a fundamental and final meaning, his purpose is to contribute to the perfection of the Creator. You must always remember this. This mission is a connecting thread through all human lives, no matter how many there are. If we talk about a separate earthly life, then it is perceiving the world around us, people, ourselves, and the desire to become better, overcome our vices and develop good qualities in ourselves. To do so, you do not need to move away from the world and completely immerse yourself in thoughts and spiritual exercises. While living in the world you can have more opportunities to know it and do better. You can always perceive, at any time, under any circumstances. Improving oneself morally means learning and understanding the principles of a moral life and learning to follow them, overcoming one’s shortcomings and vices. And when you perceive the world and make moral choices you benefit the world and people. In other words, you need to live so that your aspirations and actions make the world and people better not worse. In a broad sense, this is the aim of a separate earthly life. If we talk about the purpose of life in a narrower sense, then it will concern specific methods of achieving what was mentioned above. You can make a better world and people in different ways. At a minimum - to live a decent life, without lies, meanness and crime, work honestly, raise children as good people, and if possible protect the world around you. There are more targeted options, for example, devoting oneself to a particular important and necessary profession, creativity, science, environmental protection, charity, spiritual activity, even business and politics, abandoning them from dirty methods. That is, you need to find your place in life, trying to do your chosen favorite job and benefit the world and people.

In such an aspect, even a goal such as a career or making a fortune can be worthy, provided that they do not mean satisfaction of ambitions, lust for power or craving for luxury, but gaining the opportunity to bring more benefits to the world and people. That is, the main thing is good intentions, a worthy occupation and pure methods. This is what makes aims that people set for themselves in a separate life compatible with the fundamental aim of all lives - to help the Creator in its perfection.

32. According to the Teaching, each person is a warrior. What does it mean?

Life is always a struggle. According to the Teaching, it is necessary to fight with everything negative in oneself and in society, to fight for the better future for the world, people and the Creator. Therefore, each person is a warrior who goes out into the battle every day - to the battle not for his ambitions or success in some reprehensible business, but for the common good. But the good should not be accomplished through evil: this depreciates it and often turns it into the same evil. Therefore, in the Teaching, the concept of “warrior” does not mean enmity, hatred, unlawful violence, destruction, and bloodshed as a method. According to the Teaching, this means being persistent in difficulties, persistent in achieving good goals, defending justice and fighting evil (including, above all, in oneself). To be a warrior does not mean to be aggressive, cruel, does not mean to choose violence and murder as a kind of activity. A warrior is a state of mind; it is an internal force aimed at overcoming all that is evil and serving the good. For example, a doctor who saves people's lives in difficult conditions, a teacher who teaches children and overcomes the problems that arise during this, a lifeguard who helps people in distress, a law enforcement officer who fights crime, a public figure who tries to make society better, - they are all warriors. According to the Teaching, a warrior is any person who does a good deed and overcomes difficulties and obstacles. Being such a warrior is a natural condition for a person.

33. Who are the Teachers and what is their role?

These are people who know and deeply understand the Teaching, live by its principles and teach theoretical and practical aspects of the Teaching to others. Being a Teacher is a huge responsibility. He conveys the Truth to his apprentices, helps to understand the Teaching better, is a role model for them and a support in the spiritual path, helps with advice in difficult life situations, etc. The Teacher has no right to deceive the trust of apprentices, he should provide feasible moral or other possible support. Being a Teacher means devoting life to apprentices. Apprentices should trust their Teacher and deeply honor him. The relationship “Teacher- apprentice” is the basis of the inner life of the Teaching. Each follower must have a Teacher.

34. Can anyone become a Teacher?

Any follower of the Teaching who will develop necessary qualities and reach the necessary level in understanding and has a sense of responsibility can become a Teacher. To become a Teacher, you need to be a profound connoisseur of the Teaching (in fact, an expert), exemplary adhere to its principles and rules, be absolutely devoted to your work, have great strength of mind, willpower and a steady intention to devote yourself to your students.

You cannot become a teacher on your own. This status can only be obtained from another Teacher, more experienced, who knows this particular person well and sees that he is capable and ready to become a Teacher.

35. What are the foundations of the morality of the Teaching?

The morality of the Teaching is almost completely consistent with the moral standards worked out by mankind throughout its history. The texts “On Morality” says: “Murder and all violence, anger and cruelty, oppression and indifference, injustice and connivance to evil, lies and meanness, hypocrisy and vindictiveness, theft and fraud, treachery and slander, greed and extortion, cowardice and envy, laziness and parasite, rudeness and sloppiness, debauchery and unnatural fornication, pride and vanity, unbridledness and weak-heartedness, groveling and disrespect, intemperance and conceit have always been considered evil; Love and kindness, philanthropy and responsiveness, honesty and fidelity, courage and diligence, diligence and diligence, moderation and generosity, compassion and the ability to stand up for the offended one, justice and resistance to evil, the pursuit of knowledge and respect for the world, patience, attentiveness and accuracy, self-sacrifice and friendship, modesty and respectfulness, prudence and self-discipline, firmness in the face of difficulties and straightforwardness, responsibility and reliability have always considered to be good.

All these things are condemned and approved by the Teaching as well. This is its morality ”(On Morality, 5). This correspondence is explained by the fact that moral concepts flow from the Spirit, which is contained in every person and is the best part of it. No matter in what time a person lives, no matter what culture he belongs to, his Spirit is connected with the Spirit of all other people and carries moral principles common to all eras, peoples and cultures.

Together, these manifestations of the Spirit constitute the general morality of mankind. Of course, for different times and cultures there are variations and nuances that stand out from the general picture or directly contradict it; but on the whole, the moral principles by which humanity lives remain unchanged from ancient times. They flow from the Spirit, and therefore correspond to the natural norms inherent in human nature. They remain so, even if erroneous justifications arising from misconceptions about the world and man are brought under them. The Teaching gives them the right justification, based on the true picture of the world.

36. What are the prohibitions in the Teaching?

The Teaching does not prohibit anything and does not force anything, but explains what is right and what is not. It indicates what should not be done, and explains why. Whoever really wants to follow the Teaching, will create prohibitions on what the Teaching considers unacceptable or undesirable for himself. For example, it does not accept lies; and a sincere follower will forbid himself to lie. At the same time, no one demands an instant change from the followers. It takes time. If you can’t immediately change your attitude to something or your behavior, then you need to change it gradually, with due diligence and effort.

Although in some cases there are rules that every follower must follow, regardless of whether he is ready for this internally or not. For example, manifestations of disrespectful attitude towards the Teacher, manifestations of racism, hostility on national, cultural, religious, class grounds, and the like are unacceptable.

37. Does the Teaching allow the use of violence, and if so, in what cases?

The reality of life is that it is not always possible to avoid violence. It often happens that refusal to use violence against one person means to destroy another or to allow him to suffer undeservedly. Sometimes a situation arises when non-use of violence turns out to be more evil than using it. Therefore, the Teaching allows the use of violence in such cases as a defensive war, fight against crime and terrorism, self-defense, protection of a right and innocent person, etc. But even in these cases, violence cannot be fully considered good; in any case, it is evil — albeit the smallest of the two possible, but still evil — and the one who applies it assumes moral responsibility for it.

38. Are there such concepts as “sin” and “holiness” in the Teaching?

In principle, any immoral act harmful to a person or the world can be called a sin. Another thing is that, according to the Teaching, sin cannot be atoned for, i.e. it's impossible to annul it and remove the severity of its consequences. What is done is done; a perfect act cannot be erased from life, consequences cannot be undone and responsibility for it - in any case, moral - cannot be avoided. As for holiness, it is impossible to be holy - that is, perfect in your desires, thoughts and actions. All people, to one degree or another, are imperfect; everyone makes mistakes and evil deeds, intentionally or involuntarily. However, it is possible to achieve a state as close as possible to holiness, and this will mean the end of the path in the world of people and the cessation of rebirth, as it will become the limit of possible improvement in human form.

39. What is the attitude to death in the Teaching?

Man lives more than one life; therefore death is not the end of everything. It is a transition to a different level of existence, to the world of energy. Then, after some time, follows a return to the physical world and life in a new body. Therefore, death is not so terrible for the followers of the Teaching, as for those who do not believe in post-mortem or who are afraid of being doomed to eternal posthumous torment. However, this does not mean that life is of little value and that you should not value it. Life is a valuable tool for cognition and completion; it is given so that one can know and do which cannot be known and done in the world of energy. Therefore, you need to value life and, if possible, protect it. But it should be remembered that it is not a value in itself, but in the application to what it is intended for: to learn and fulfill the good. A tool is never more important than the work for which it is created. If you protect it to the detriment of work, then its existence does not make sense, and it is useless. Therefore, one should not neglect one’s life and risk it for nothing, but one should not turn its preservation into the main task. To sacrifice life for the sake of a big and good deed, for the sake of another person or people, is a worthy, morally justified act and a great merit. This moral principle applies not only to the Teaching; it is common (with possible differences in motivation) for almost all cultures throughout the history of mankind.

40. Does a person expect reward or punishment after death?

There are no higher powers that rule the afterlife and give everyone their due, just as the notorious law of karma does not exist. But there are certain laws of Nature, the action of which causes a phenomenon in the Teaching called "personal hell."

Its essence is as follows. Being a particle of Nature, man exists according to its natural laws. However, he is endowed with free will, and therefore has the ability to act against them (within certain limits). However, his Spirit and natural energy remain focused on compliance with these laws. That is, committing an unnatural act (doing evil), a person comes into conflict with his own deep essence and his own natural energy.

This produces energy of negative quality, a kind of energy poison that accumulates over the years and poisons the energy of the body. The more evil a person does, the more he comes into conflict with the laws of Nature, the more he poisons himself. During life, the action of "energy poison" can be hidden and invisible.

After death, when the energy essence (what can be called the soul) is separated from the physical body, the negative energy accumulated over the whole life is released, and the person - that is, his energy body - begins to experience sensations that are perceived as excruciating pain (its analogue for energy body). In addition, at this time, a person is attacked by energy parasites (larvae), which during life he created around him. Using his helplessness, they begin to "tear out" the energy from his energy body, devouring it - and this adds to his torment.

This is a condition when a person suffers from the “energy poison” and the larvae devouring his energy body at the same time is called “personal hell”. This is not a punishment in the usual sense of the word, but the energy reaction of an organism to evil committed during life. We can say that a person punishes himself; so, putting our hand in the fire, we then suffer from the pain of a burn. The state of “personal hell” lasts until the “energy poison” has exhausted its negative charge and the larvae are exhausted and decay.

The time of "personal hell" depends on the amount of accumulated negative energy and the quantity and strength of the larvae; it can be hours, or it can be decades. Then the person leaves the described state and continues life in the world of energy until his next incarnation. It was “personal hell” that served as a prototype of the ideas about the afterlife and punishment that entered into various religions. As for the reward, its role is played by knowledge, positive qualities and abilities, accumulated and developed by man in life. They are not lost, but pass into the next lifes in the form of a hidden potential that can be realized and, thanks to them, a new even greater potential can be achieved. Thus, a person himself prepares what can be called an afterlife punishment or a reward throughout his life by accumulating negative and positive potential.

41. Who is the Creator?

The Creator is not a God in the religious sense of the word. This is a colossal living creature whose body is our Universe. The Creator turned himself into it in order to go through a special stage of development: he learns himself from the inside through the minds of people and other intelligent creatures that live in the Universe - after all, their minds are nothing more than particles of his mind, and he is perfected through their moral improvement. When this process is completed, the Creator will experience a transformation, leaving his current state as a more perfect being.

Our Universe is a single living organism, and everything that exists in it are living and interconnected particles of this organism. The principle of unity of all things, proclaimed by the Teaching of the United Temple, is based on this.

42. Why is “unity” one of the most important concepts for the Teaching?

Everything that exists in the Universe (and even wider - in the Universe as a system of three interconnected worlds: the world of matter, the world of energy and the world of Spirit) is a unity of particles. This unity is not just a speculative philosophical concept, but reality: it is a living organism, the Creator’s organism, its flesh, energy and Spirit. Everything that exists is nothing but particles of a living body, like molecules and cells. Everything has its place in this system and performs its function, everything is necessary for the Creator’s organism, and, therefore, for each other.

Everything is somehow interconnected, everything needs each other. Any particle of the Creator is the Creator; Thus, we can say that any particle of the Creator is another particle, and all of them together at the same time. They have common flesh, energy and Spirit.

Awareness of this great unity is very important for the followers of the Teaching. This is the basis for relationships with other people, with surrounding world, with the Universe and the Creator. The awareness that you are a particle of a single organism and that you are inextricably interconnected with its other particles radically changes the perception of yourself, the world and life in general.

43. What is the significance of love in the Teaching?

Its value is enormous. In the Teaching, the need for love is not based on fear (love your neighbor, or you will be punished) or profit (love others to love you), but on the fact of universal unity. If unity is deeply conscious, if you understand that everything needs you, and everything is necessary for you, if you see and feel it in any person, and you see and feel it in yourself, and if you not only perceive people, but everything in general, from a stone by the side of the road to distant galaxies and their inhabitants, then there is no reason for anger, hatred, contempt, envy and other similar feelings and impulses. On the contrary: you feel closeness, warmth, and goodwill towards everything. The feeling and awareness of one's unity with all that exists is the most solid foundation for love. If you understand and feel that way, is it possible not to love everyone and everything? And the achievement of awareness and a sense of unity is one of the most important tasks of man in the Teaching. Achieving this leads to true love. That is, love for all things, according to the Teaching, is the natural state of man. The spiritual development of the follower is directed towards her; it is a natural feeling and motivation for actions, and that is the environment in which it is most natural for them to develop.

44. Who are called "gods" in the Teaching?

Everything that exists has an energetic component — what can be called an “energetic body”. It is in physical objects, living beings, phenomena and laws of Nature. The Teaching calls these energy bodies "elementals." Each elemental has a certain degree of rationality. The Teaching conditionally divides them into higher and lower. The lower elementals are actually the energy bodies of physical objects, communities and phenomena of local action. The higher ones include the elementals of the phenomena, principles and laws of Nature on a large scale, from planetary to universal. They are called gods in the Teaching.

Thus, gods are energy creatures that embody the laws of Nature, the principles by which various processes proceed in it, and control these processes themselves. There is nothing supernatural in gods: they are particles of Nature that exist in the energy level and obey natural laws themselves. This is a form of energy organization that is still inaccessible to scientific research. They are reasonable, although somewhat differently than humans. Each of the gods only performs its function; they act like perfectly tailored and interdependent details of the gigantic mechanism — our Universe. The mind and energy impact of the most significant gods encompass the entire Universe. In some cases, direct contact with one or another god is possible. An example is the revelations of the God of Wisdom, due to which the Teaching exists in the world of people.

45. What is the Truth?

Truth is reliable knowledge, reliable information about reality. We can say that Truth is reality itself. For example, the earth revolves around the sun. This is a reality, a true fact. Thus, the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun is true. It is the same with everything else. Some argue that Truth is relative. This is not true. It is one, and it is absolute - that is, what it is. Only person’s ideas about it can be relative, as human mind tends to make mistakes, fall into confusion, take the wish for the reality and evade the perception of what seems unpleasant, uncomfortable or unprofitable. However, the Truth does not change from this. The Earth revolved around the Sun even when the opposite was considered true. It is the biggest misconception, anthropocentrism in its most pathological manifestation to consider a man to be the measure of the Truth and claim that there are as many variations of the Truth as there are ideas about it. There is only one Truth and it is quite precise. A man can only come more or less closer to see and understand it.

46. Are all religions and teachings equal paths leading to the Truth?

No, they are not. There is only one Truth, and its correct presentation can also be one only. That is, only one teaching can be true (or as close as possible to the Truth). The statement of the equal truth of all religions and teachings is fashionable speculation. It is based on, on the one hand, the desire to show tolerance in its flawed, contrary to common sense form and, on the other hand, ambitious jealousy of other people's views - it’s easier for some to admit that other people's views are no less true than their own, rather than admit that their own views may be wrong. When you reduce all to the same level, nobody turns out to be better than others, but nobody turns out worse. This position is convenient for painfully proud, not ready to lose and disappoint people, as well as for demagogues. A simple common sense is enough to see the absurdity of such speculation. Can the teachings be equally true, one of which claims that there is only one God, and the other that there are many gods, one - that man lives only one life, and the other -many lives, one that he expects eternal paradise or eternal hell after death, and another - that everyone can achieve nirvana or the transition into the world of Spirit? And so on and so forth. There are many mutually exclusive options. Obviously, all of them cannot be equally true.

Moreover, all these are not just statements. These are representations of reality, from which moral principles, practice, actions and goals arise - both intermediate practical life goals and the ultimate goal of the spiritual path, stemming from its meaning. But the meaning, in turn, follows from the same ideas about reality. For teachings that have different ideas about it, the meaning of the spiritual path and its ultimate goal also turn out to be different. That is, all these paths lead in different directions, to different goals. And since there is only one Truth there can be only one spiritual path and one aim based on it. In almost all religions and teachings there are elements of Truth - in some more, in others less. These elements often coincide - that is, they are common to different worldviews. But this does not mean at all these worldviews are equally true. Alas, the differences here are more important than coincidences. So in ten statements, where separate words coincide, the general meaning is still different, and from it follow dissimilar, conflicting conclusions. And even the difference in just one word can make the meaning of the statement and the conclusions drawn from it different to the opposite. The same is true of spiritual paths.

47. What is “spiritual whoredom”?

In our time, mixing of elements of various religions and teachings has become popular. People choose the most attractive moments for themselves, take these moments out of context and mix with others, thereby creating a convenient “patchwork” worldview for themselves. Contradictions arising between its incompatible elements are usually not taken into account. Not wanting to truly learn the Truth, such people create pocket-friendly, easy-to-use option for themselves that does not require anything and which can always be corrected, changed in accordance with their immediate needs.

This is arrogant unwillingness to reckon with authorities and reality itself and a selfish desire to create the Truth beneficial to themselves, together with cynical tearing out of the context and blindly mixing elements of different worldviews. It is called spiritual whoredom in the Teaching. Spiritual whoredom, like physical whoredom, corrupts a person, cultivating self-conceit, egocentrism, unprincipled, speculative thinking in him. Now this phenomenon is spreading more and more widely, having a negative impact on society.

48. What is evil, according to the Teaching? Who is the Dragon?

Evil is what prevents the proper fulfillment of the laws of Nature and the normal course of things. That is, evil is everything unnatural. When the natural and normal processes occurring in the human body are disrupted, the body begins to collapse - it is sick and can die. The Universe - that is, the Creator's organism - also represents an ordered system, failures in which lead to disastrous consequences.What leads to these failures is called evil.

In Nature itself, evil as such is not committed. The laws of Nature work clearly and correctly; and even destruction in it is a necessary part of natural processes, occurs only when necessary and is beneficial to the Universe - therefore, such destruction is not evil. The real evil can only be done by sentient beings. Possessing an ability to learn and have free will, they can be mistaken, and consciously commit acts contrary to nature and good. The possibility of this is the essence of the moral perfection of the conscious, which is the most important factor in the internal perfection of the Creator. When perceiving, sentient beings are able to distinguish between good and evil and have an ability to make an well-informed choice between them. The choice in favor of good moves forward the moral evolution of the sentient beings and, through them, moves forward the perfection of the Creator. The choice in favor of evil leads to unnatural acts, conflicts with the laws of Nature, various phenomena harmful to the sentient beings and the Universe, unnecessary and destructive. All evil that occurs in the Universe is accomplished or initiated by the sentient beings, intentionally or unintentionally. The Dragon is one of the highest elementals, the God of Resistance to Good. His business is to influence sentient beings, showing them the possibility and attractiveness of evil. In religions, this is called "temptation", and the Dragon himself appears in many of them as the main force opposing good in general or any particular deity personifying good. However, in reality, the Dragon, like other gods, exists for the good. He (through the sentient beings who are tempted by him) creates obstacles to natural processes, that is, provides resistance, without which development, the movement of evolution forward, cannot take place. By tempting sentient beings, he makes their moral choice more difficult, and therefore better, - which is necessary for the internal perfection of the Creator. It is very important to understand the functions of the Dragon correctly and to relate to it correctly. Unlike the characters who personify him in various religions, he is not a force that does evil for evil. He does what is necessary for the evolution of sentient beings and the Universe - that is, taking his natural place in the general system, among other gods, he works for the good, like them. This means that you should not hate him and be hostile to him. But one should not give in to his temptations, and even more so, try to serve him, as some do. The meaning of its existence is that, making it difficult for those who are aware of moral choice, to make their moral improvement more qualitative. Beckoning them with the possibility of evil, the Dragon wants them to reject his skills and choose the good, because otherwise the purpose of the Dragon would be unfulfilled, and its very existence would become meaningless. Thus, those who obey the Dragon and try to serve him, thereby demonstrate a complete misunderstanding of his mission and act contrary to his own desires. The right attitude towards him is correct understanding of his functions and struggle with him, - with his temptations and with all that is harmful and destructive, that people and other sentient beings commit under his influence. And this struggle should not carry hatred, because the Dragon, in fact, does not exist for evil, but for good. Hatred itself is evil, and by hating we do not overcome evil, but multiply it.

49. Is human destiny predetermined?

In Teaching, “fate” refers to what has already happened in human life. That is, fate is a life course traveled, and not what is predetermined to happen in the future. A man has free will, otherwise he could not make a free choice between good and evil, and could not improve himself morally. And since he has free will, he can change his beliefs and intentions, can commit illogical, inconsistent, erroneous and purely emotional, contrary to common sense actions. And he lives among the same people whose opinions and actions influence his opinions and actions. A person, often unpredictable, lives among equally unpredictable people. Under such conditions, his future cannot be predetermined. His future is a set of constantly changing (sometimes very quickly changing, literally flickering) probabilities.

There are times when something is strictly predetermined — for example, a certain event or turn in life. But they are quite rare, and the appearance of such a predestination requires a special combination of circumstances and factors. Basically, it turns out to be more or less predetermined that depends on the person himself - on the characteristics of his character, willpower, adherence to principles and firmness of decisions. Everyone is the creator of his own destiny.

50. What is a soul, according to the Teaching?

In the Teaching, this word is usually used in two meanings - in fact, the same in which it is widely used outside of the Teaching. Firstly, it says so about a human personality contained in the energetic body, which at the time of death of a person is separated from the physical body and goes into the world of energy. Secondly, it says so about a combination of thoughts, beliefs, feelings, emotions, character traits, strengths and weaknesses, abilities, etc., that is, about what, in fact, constitutes human. In this second meaning, the word “soul” is used more often in the Teaching.
Sometimes the Spirit is called the “soul of the Creator" in the Teaching, as the most perfect of the substances of the Universe, bearing in itself the mind and moral qualities of the Creator. In the same sense, this definition is sometimes applied to the world of Spirit.

51. What does the Teaching say about the “end of the world”?

There is no such concept in the Teaching. Of course, humanity has the opportunity to destroy itself; any global natural disaster is also possible. But the end of the world, with supernatural causes, will not happen. All predictions of such an end of the world are fictions of a different nature - sometimes it is the fruit of delusions, sometimes it is intentional speculation. The excitement that periodically arises in society on this basis has no real basis.

52. Why, without being religious or occult, the Teaching uses religious and occult terminology?

The reason for this inconvenience is that for the time being the Teaching simply does not have enough terms to denote the specific concepts that it has. Therefore, some more or less close in meaning religious (for example, “god”) and occult (for example, “elemental”, “larva”) terms are used. It should be remembered that in the Teaching these words are used to denote not those concepts that are habitually associated with them among people familiar with religious and occult terminology. The problem of the terminology of the Teaching will be solved in the future.

53. What is the attitude of the Teaching to magic, occultism and things like that?

According to the Teaching, magic is a reprehensible occupation. Attempts to influence the world around us and people using magical tricks run counter to the natural course of things, which is why they are harmful and immoral.

Occultism is a rather vague concept. It can include a wide range of interests, concepts and practices, from the same magic to sorcerers, from philosophical and mystical concepts to superstitions, plus all kinds of quackery. It is impossible to give all this a single unambiguous assessment. But we can say that, on the whole, occultism is undesirable, since it is more speculative, superstitious and harmful in it than what really helps cognition and brings real benefits.

54. What is the attitude of the Teaching to other teachings, religions, etc.?

Respectful, although the Teaching does not consider them true. But a respectful and friendly attitude does not at all preclude the possibility of a critical approach to other teachings and religions, polemics with them, and healthy rivalry.

55. Does the Teaching consider that any other teachings or religions should be prohibited?

Any views have a right to exist. However, the practical implementation of certain concepts is sometimes associated with the commission of immoral and even criminal acts (for example, the persecution of other believers, ritual murder, etc.). Such actions should be suppressed in accordance with the law, as unlawful and criminal activity, equivalent to the activities of extremist organizations and criminal groups. And if it is impossible to suppress them otherwise than once having recognized their teaching as dangerous for society, then in this case it is necessary to recognize the need for a ban.

56. Can followers of the Teaching read books related to other teachings or religions?

It is possible, and even desirable. It is not only interesting, but also useful. Studying other people's views helps to get to know people better and gain a more complete picture of the spiritual history and culture of mankind. In addition, comparing the views of the Teaching with other views often helps to get to know and understand it better. Finally, no one cancels the right to revise their views and a new choice for a person who has entered the Teaching. This means that he always has an alternative for the spiritual path in the form of other teachings, about which it is better to have a clear idea.

57. How does the Teaching and science relate?

The Teaching rejects belief in supernatural and considers science to be the best way to learn. In other words, it adheres to a scientific view of the world. However, at the same time, it possesses (thanks to revelation) knowledge that is not yet available to science. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, it can resemble a religion operating with supernatural, scientifically improvable concepts. This is actually not the case. What the Teaching speaks of can be open and will be open and proved by science when it reaches an appropriate level of development. Although now, the Teaching could help science by expanding its understanding of the world and indicating some guidelines for search and research. So, for example, with his assistance - i.e. thanks to the information that it has, a new word could be spoken in astrophysics, history, psychology, the theory of evolution, bioenergy, and a number of other disciplines and directions.

58. What is the attitude of the Teaching to business? Is this considered an unworthy occupation?

No, it does not. Unworthy may not be business as such, but the use of immoral and criminal methods in it, or the use of money earned for immoral and criminal purposes. Although there are types of businesses that can be considered legal, they are immoral from the point of view of the Teaching, for example, those associated with the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, pornography, etc., generally causing physical or moral harm to people and society, as well as those that cause serious harm to the environment.

59. Should the followers of the Teaching obey the laws of those states of which they are citizens?

Laws should be obeyed. However, they are not always humane and helpful. There are known examples of immoral laws - affirming slavery, various forms of social oppression, racist, Nazi and the like. Of course, no one is obliged to obey such laws, as well as support criminal regimes. If you do not keep in mind such cases, then law-abiding is important and necessary.

60. Does the Teaching allow its followers to do army service?

Yes. But there is one difficulty. An oath is taken in military service; it is an oath to be observed. The Teaching does not accept lies; and if his follower takes the oath, then, according to the Teaching, he will be obliged to fulfill it, for example, to obey the orders of his commanders, even if they contradict his principles or are generally immoral. The oath is a serious obligation that gives a person under the authority of other people. Therefore, everyone must decide for himself whether he can go to such a restriction of freedom of conscience as a military oath.

Translated by Amradkhari

THE DIARY OF AMRADKHARI

How it all began

Acquaintance

About disciples and Teachers

About friendship

First challenging moment

Second challenging moment

Third challenging moment

On the importance of reading books of the Teaching

Lie

On the issue of trees

There is life around me

On good deeds

On the issue of the joys of paradise

Hell

Life is everywhere

On eternal life

On spiritual nihilism

I am a warrior

Between science and religion

The place I was born…

From dreams to awakening

“Lost in a sandbox”

“That same Munchausen” movie

From dreams to awakening (part two)

From human to god (published in issue no. 3 of “OUR SPACE” magazine)

Integrity as a pattern of thoughts (published in issue no. 4 of “OUR SPACE” magazine)

***

How it all began

It turned out to be not such an easy task for me to start writing this diary. The thing is that the events I would like to describe in this diary took place a few years ago. And looking back it is hard to remember the former version of myself because now I am a different person. It is hard for me to remember my former thought patterns and views because now I think differently and the world became different to me. But it is impossible to turn back time; that`s why the only thing that`s left for me is to remember.

My correspondence with the Teacher started in August 2008. I am still actively corresponding with the Teacher that I will try to reproduce our correspondence in this diary up to some extent. It all started because I had a lot of questions about the meaning of life, the place of humanity in this world, the source of creation and the reasons of existence… I was born in an orthodox country that`s why I was referring myself to Orthodoxy. However, as the majority of people I could be referred to Orthodoxy only conventionally. Now I realize this – but back then I used to consider myself to be truly orthodox. I believed in heart; in other words, I was accepting basic articles of faith, trying to be good and following some rituals, necessary to my point of view, sometimes I was visiting church, sometimes I prayed, sometimes I read something on this subject… In a word, I used to be an unchurched orthodox as the majority of people living in the world, as the saying goes.

And such moment came when I realized that I had too many questions which I couldn`t answer within Orthodoxy. There were too many things in reality that didn`t fit into these boundaries. For instance, questions about the invisible world, the purpose of all things and the descent of men. Among other things I have been always confused by hell. I treat people too well to destine the lowest scoundrel to eternal punishment. Because if you think about it, realize what this means, this is simply unmerciful. And there is no such crime that will be commeasurable to such punishment. I have never been such a person who could be told: “Just believe”, while turning a blind eye to paradoxes and blind spots. To be exact, I used to be such a person up to a certain point until too many questions and paradoxes collected in my mind. And I would hardly be satisfied with the answers regarding hell like: “Don`t haste with judgment of Christ” because this is not an answer but avoiding it. I have never been a supporter of inventing different representations of scriptures – in the way when everything is set on its ear and made to look so everyone would like it. Hell topic is unpopular and many people are trying to keep silent about it in Christian teaching. I didn’t want to escape from it. I have never wanted to escape from reality but I always wanted to know. And if reality is what it looks like, then how can it be a part of some good plan? There is no clergyman who could answer this question because evil cannot be made a part of universal virtue because it creates paradox.

But I will no longer be writing about it here. I have started to write my diary not with a purpose of criticizing Christianity at all. One who has been thinking over these issues which I was thinking over, can see all the paradoxes that I am talking about; and the one who is ready to unconditionally believe in all articles of orthodox faith, won`t be convinced with my words as well as any reasonable words and arguments.

In fact, I am writing this diary simply for the sake of telling you about my way and its challenges but I don`t have a goal of proving or disproving anything. Any serious way brings its challenges, changes man`s mind and his place in this world. Choosing your way is very important because only when it comes to an end, one becomes that kind of person the way he has chosen will make of him.

Thus, I initiated my quest in search for answers. It was obvious to me where I should be looking for them but I didn`t know the direction of my quest. Because I was searching for Truth – and people were searching for it at all times. More than that, I wanted to find a Teacher because it was out of question to be so self-assured to be sure to find truth on my own. Only a person with outsized ego can be so self-assured because even greatest Teachers used to learn from someone. Here I want to quote a saying from the book of Teaching: “A child needs someone who would guide him. But a grown-up also needs a guide because a child is a child hereto that should be ignorant but a grown-up should be knowledgeable. A child won`t commit greater evil because of his ignorance but a grown-up is able to ruin empires. If a grown-up is saying: “Don`t teach me: I can tell right from wrong myself”, it is a drop of madness then. But if he is saying: “Teach me something good”, it is a drop of Wisdom then” (“The Precious Belt” LXXVII).

First I tried to read some books of different concepts but every book I was reading represented one or another theory and again couldn`t give answers to my questions. Every theory gives answers to certain questions in its own way and there has been no one that could define a complete picture of the world. And therefore, this was giving birth to more and more questions.

I needed a Teacher; but where should I search for him? Should I search for Eastern wisdom? Maybe, I should go somewhere? My head was inhabited with thoughts about people making trips to Tibet but in reality it was impossible for me to go there. I wanted the impossible: I wanted to find a Teacher without leaving my house. But how can I do it? And will a real Teacher let me be his disciple? What makes me such a remarkable person that would make a Teacher get around to talking to me?

The Internet remained my window to the world. An absurd hope of finding a real Teacher in the Internet… In the Internet that is swarmed with pseudo-teachers and those who wish to get rich by means of such a popular nowadays topic of occultism and esoterics. In the Internet that is flooded with different kinds and different sources of information… How not to deceive myself? How can a man who is not very sophisticated in such matters avoid falling into hands of an amateur? It is unthinkable… This is a reckless attempt with no hope for success… But I decided to try.

I signed up at one of the biggest forums related to philosophy where one could find a big amount of different schools of thought and systems of philosophy and started a topic where I was saying that I was searching for a Teacher. As I didn`t know, what kind of Teacher I was looking for and my knowledge of occultism and other similar things was superficial, my ad combined the uncombinable and was written with a type of message like: “looking for something I myself don`t know…” Frankly speaking, it didn’t seem to me to be so that time because that incomplete and paradoxical world view that I had in my head and which was a collection of different pieces from here and there, seemed to be quite well-knit to me. I was like many other people who consider that they have an understanding of a subject after having picked up scraps of knowledge.

I got quite different kinds of response to my topic – from jokes to invitations to different ecclesiastical schools. There was nothing from what had been offered to me that would impress me or would even look like something I was searching for. Time passed and I got a letter from one person.

That man wrote to me that he could teach me those things that I wrote about in my post including meditations and other similar practices, however, he wanted to get an idea about my concepts of creation in case I don`t mind devoting my time to him. That man seemed to be quite smart and educated judging by his style of writing and he was writing in an excellent way, that`s why, I couldn`t give a negative answer to such kind of request and gladly described my paradoxical concept of the world that was partially represented by Christian views and partially by what I had read in different books. My world view couldn’t be different because I still considered myself to be an Orthodox; but I tried to explain those issues that Orthodox Church kept quiet about by referring to other worldview systems.

Apparently my letter left that kind of impression on my interlocutor what it should have left on him and he probably thought that I am another representative of modern time, in other words, a person whose head is already full of ideas and who wouldn`t listen to any reasonable arguments because he considers himself to be too smart to listen to anybody.

It was not worthwhile for my interlocutor to disprove of all that I was talking about, leaving me in a complete logical quandary and pointing to my absolute incompetence. That was insulting. Such things are always insulting for a person who has always had a high opinion of himself. But actually it is all right to make mistakes if you are ready to admit your mistakes. And this is not the ability of a man to make mistakes that makes him silly but his unwillingness to get rid of his silliness. But it is not that easy to do that in real life because false beliefs grow not only through one`s mind but through one`s soul as well and a man grows together with them as with something close and dear to him. And because of that pointing to falseness of one`s beliefs gives trouble not only to one`s mind that starts awakening from them but also to one`s soul that starts feeling uncomfortable. It is the same when a man is pulled out of his life environment; and even if that environment was not worth living in it, he adapted to it and got used to living in it and perceives better life environment as something hostile. It is natural for human to perceive everything new as something hostile – even if this new is what is best for him.

So, when my interlocutor showed me the incompetence of my views, I had two options. First option was to duck and cover, answering to all of his arguments with something like: “Well, I don`t know…” and stick to my own habitual, though absurd, beliefs. The second option was to admit my mistakes. And I chose the second one.

This is what our conversation would probably end up with as it is not enough just to point to the incompetence of you interlocutor - you should also offer him some true views instead of false ones. Seeing how persuasively my interlocutor is disproving of opinions of others, I assumed that in that case he could present his opinion that he considers to be true. I started asking him questions and then he said to me that he is a Teacher. He was not the type of a teacher that I had described in my post. However after he had started telling me about his teaching I realized that he was that very kind of teacher that I wanted to find for myself.

However when I realized that I found a real Teacher, it seemed to me that the Teacher wouldn`t want to deal with me after my incompetent statements. Later it became clear to me that he, as a true Teacher, cared for every man and came here exactly for the sake of telling people about truth. Should he push off the one who wants to know truth?..

It was in that instant when the Teacher asked me if I wanted to continue corresponding with him. That wasn`t caused by his unwillingness to talk to me. On the contrary – he didn`t want to force me into further correspondence with him in case of my unwillingness to do that.

But I wanted to write to him. In the end, was it smart to get offended with truth? It was much smarter to admit my mistakes and continue the conversation. But how could we continue it? The most logical way was to continue it with our acquaintance and the story about myself.

Acquaintance

The Teacher told me that he received a revelation from the God of Wisdom – Hermes, and he is a prophet that should bring people the true teaching. He provided me with links to some texts and the web-site of his school of thought. How was that information perceived by me? It was perceived with deep distrust. And this is true that such words as “prophet” and “God of Wisdom” sound simply folkloric for a modern man who`s got used to thinking that truth should come from someone who died – and preferably – a few thousand years ago.

When people hear the name of Hermes for the first time, various associations come to their minds. And it is not surprising. Originally Hermes used to be a God who was carrying knowledge and wisdom in Greece. This elemental is known by many nations from ancient times – and he is featured as a wise god or so-called “cultural hero” giving people different kinds of knowledge and skills like the use of fire, domesticating plants, writing, geometry, etc., nearly in every kind of mythology. He is known under different names: Thoth (in Egypt), Odin (in Scandinavia), Quetzalcoatl (of Aztecs), Oannes (in Babylonia), etc. In other words, he is famous in his true way – as a god that stores knowledge and teaches people in a great number of cultures and religions.

I would like to make a short digression here and tell you something about the God of Wisdom as a part of the Teaching. Here is what my Teacher is saying about him in his article “What does the Teaching of the United Church means”: “Mankind is not the only intelligent breed that is experiencing such kind of issues. There are races with more issues in the universe. But all of them are necessary elements of evolutionary process, Nature has been working hard to create them, they are parts of it and issues of their development become its issues and death of any of them becomes grievous and huge loss for evolution. That`s why, Nature provides helping mechanisms for races that have issues – means of assisting them in their learning the world and their moral evolution. If the above-mentioned issues appear to be so critical for any of the intelligent races that it is eventually threatened to degenerate or directly die because of those issues then it is assisted with some kind of informational help: knowledge is passed on to it that should serve as an impulse for overcoming a challenging stage in its intellectual and moral development. This knowledge is passed in the form that can be defined as a revelation: the God of Wisdom addresses to one of the representatives of that race and passes on some amount of information through him – the amount of that information can be different in different cases – it can be bigger or can be smaller. It is necessary to make a point here that term “god” in the Teaching of the United Church doesn`t imply anything mystical and doesn`t mean anything supernatural: “gods” mentioned in the teaching are energy creatures that are neither more nor less than an intelligent part of laws of Nature. Gods are its particles, alive and intelligent, and provide normal flow of natural processes and implementation of principles due to which Nature exists as a living system. Each god has its own specialty, its scope of activity. The God of Wisdom is a knowledge keeper; he has got information about everything that was, is or will be existing in the Universe. And being a universe-scale creature, he comes to rescue of this or that intelligent race that needs the “informational impulse” for its development when it is necessary.

As for the title of the Teaching, this is what is said about it in the same article: “The Teaching of the United Church could have different names during previous stages of its existence – though it didn`t change its essence: the teaching remained the same. It got its current name from the God of Wisdom. He himself is called Amere within the Teaching. Though he has a lot of different names that he was known by different nations in different times; Hermes is probably the most famous one. That`s why, the Teaching of the United Church is also called the true teaching of Hermes. The word “church” in “the Teaching of the United Church” means Creation, Nature, general set of all existing things in their inseparable unity. It is not necessary to worship something in this church: it is necessary to work for the benefit of the existence.”

After Teacher had told me about the God of Wisdom, I wanted to know more about his views and we continued our conversation.

However as I`ve already mentioned above, it is often simpler for a man to live with what is wrong but habitual, whether than with something that is true but new to him; it used to be the same for me. The amount of information was too big for me in psychological sense and it even made me uncomfortable and it was hard for me to continue our conversation about the Teaching. Then I suggested the Teacher that we should save our conversation about the Teaching and talk about other topics. The Teacher said that it didn`t matter what we would be talking about, searching for the primal cause of this or that phenomenon, we would be still coming back to the Teaching as the Teaching was life itself. That time I didn`t understand what he was talking about and was insistent, suggested the Teacher to tell me about his life. The Teacher replied to me that his life was directly connected with the teaching as the Teaching was his life. We continued our conversation.

We were talking about different topics, discussing a lot of different things – but every time we were coming back to the Teaching, willing that or not. It was happening absolutely naturally and it doesn`t surprise me at all now; as saying that the Teaching is the life itself, the Teacher meant that it reflects the reality itself. Here is how it is described in one of the texts of the Teaching: “Then he asked Elan: “What are you teaching?” He replied: “I am teaching truth”. The ruler asked him: “What is truth?” Elan answered: “Day and night follow each other: this is truth; it is raining: this is truth; a pomegranate tree will grow from a pomegranate seed: this is truth”. The ruler said mockingly: “Your science is so ignoble”. Elan answered: “There is no science that is nobler that this one. Rule day follow another day instead of night; rule raining start or stop; rule a cypress grow from a pomegranate seed but not a pomegranate tree. I am teaching people something that is stronger that power of all the lords of all lands put together; if you know this, you`ll become as strong as it can make you. How can you say that this science is ignoble?” (Fathers II, 27-35).

The Teaching centers around the way the Creation is set up, what it exists for and how all things are connected with each other. Is it possible to talk about life without talking about reality then? It is possible but only to some extent if conversations are superficial and related to someone`s opinion or subjective view on something. For instance, it is possible to discuss favorite movies or music. But if we talk on serious topics then we have to come back to life and reality again. But I still didn`t understand that at that time. I was still living with my former world view though its absurdity had already been proved to me.

Then I told the Teacher: “Teach me wisdom but I will stick to my former views so far”. The Teacher repeated a well-known truth to me: “It is impossible to pour something into a full vessel”. And I didn`t understand what he meant again. Truth for me was something universal and I couldn`t understand why he couldn`t teach me wisdom in something, putting the rest aside.

Only now I realize that truth is actually universal though as the world itself and our reality for us, our knowledge about it is different. I can give you one simple example. Let`s say that my beliefs are telling me that the Earth is flat and the Sun is not circling it. My Teacher knows that the Earth is round and everything is set up in a different way. And here I am asking him to explain to me what the horizon is and why the Sun is rising on the East earlier than on the West. My teacher won`t be able to explain this to me without explaining the very basics and without telling me that the Earth is round. This principle is true for every matter. It is impossible to explain any specific matter without explaining the way the Universe is set up and what its basics are. The entire determines the individual and explains it and the individual helps to see the entire. And if a disciple refuses to perceive fundamentals for whatever reason then all subsequent explanations will be useless for him.

The Teacher had never intruded his views upon me – on the contrary, he insisted that I had to familiarize myself with information well enough, get a good understanding of it before making any conclusions. He considered careful study of information to be very important especially that which is related to spiritual matters or issues of choosing the Way. We came to an agreement that the Teacher would be answering my questions, explain, tell me what I am interested to hear and I would make my own conclusions. I was not ready to give up on my views though they had been disproved but I had a big desire to know what I didn`t know at that moment. I was also ready to start admitting my mistakes though gradually and struggle my way to do that but start doing that which was very important. It is necessary to do that if you want to learn something because if you don`t want to hear any arguments, it will be impossible to teach you anything then.

Our conversations resembled seminars with an element of dispute; our disputes always ended up in favor of my Teacher. A different outcome would be strange; as a dispute is won by one who knows more information. These disputes could even be called discussions. Sometimes words of the Teacher seemed to be sharp which is not a surprise as truth is very often like nails on a chalkboard. Initially I was familiarizing myself with the Teaching more from words of the Teacher, though I had to read some additional sources of information on some matters.

About disciples and Teachers

I think that it is worth talking about piety in relationship between Teachers and their disciples. The thing is that though I am using the word “teacher” in my diary, it took some time before the Master (I hope that this word would be appropriate here) became such person to me. Moreover: it took two years and a half. He was an interesting interlocutor and acquaintance for me at the stage of our acquaintance and nothing more. He used to be a man possessing information that was interesting to me but not a Teacher. Discipleship became quite complicated topic for me because initially disciple-teacher relationship hadn`t been set up. We were communicating on equal grounds with each other though Master`s authority in matters relating to the Teaching wasn`t disputed by anyone (it would be absurd if someone did). You can imagine this situation on using any other example – as we all learned something from someone at some point. We meet our teachers through the whole life – at school, at the University, at work. But at the same time we talk with on equal grounds with our teachers, especially after leaving school. Teacher has his status only in class but when lessons are over we and our Teachers are on the same grounds. And if teacher`s authority is undisputable in class, opinions can be different out of it.

Another thing is that while talking about the teaching we are talking about such a broad field that is incomparable with the scope of knowledge of one or a few subjects as it is includes information not only about the way the Universe is organized and principles of its functioning but about morals, purpose of human life and other global issues. Teacher`s authority expands much further in this way. However, you need some time to start appreciating it. This is why it took me nearly three years to see how the Master would turn into the Teacher in my eyes. This aim hasn`t been specially organized by anyone; you simply start realizing certain things as time passes.

One of the biggest troubles of modern man is that seeking equality of men they are turning it into backslapping which is a breeding ground for pride. So, respect for an elderly one or a Teacher may seem to be humiliating for someone in the light of his pride. In this way a person makes himself to be the standard of truth, doesn’t acknowledge the authority of other people and unwillingly starts putting himself above others thinking that he is promoting equality of men and personal freedom. No, I won`t bring this complicated topic up and elaborate upon it here and now. I just say that this phenomenon is very common everywhere.

And though I don`t affiliate myself with such kind of people, it was still a little bit difficult for me to acknowledge the authority of my Teacher. Certainly, I have always thought something of myself because I was born in a good, cultured family where everyone loved me and did everything for me. Everything in my life has been coming easy to me because I was always fairly gifted. I studied well, got three higher education degrees including master degree that I got in Great Britain which I have always been proud of – I visited different countries, had a good job. In a word, everything in my life shaped well and I had a corresponding self-opinion. But I have been fortunate enough never to be pushed forward by my self-conceit to put myself above others; I have never humiliated or looked down my nose at anyone in my life; but it turned to be not so easy to acknowledge the authority of the Teacher in my heart. I don`t know whether it can be fully chalked up to my self-conceit or it simply took me more time to realize some things.

Anyways, the main outcome of it all became my right attitude towards the Teacher. So, no matter what stages I had gone through to reach this, they brought their benefits.

About friendship

I consider friendship to be an especially important issue in the topic of relationship between disciples and teachers. Teacher surely becomes a friend for his disciple; it cannot be otherwise. Trusting and cordial relationship are formed between a Teacher and a disciple. If this doesn`t happen, then it means that something is going wrong. I am certainly speaking about the situation when a Teacher has a possibility to devote much time to his disciple – as if there is one Teacher but there are many disciples, the Teacher won`t simply have a chance to become close friends with everyone. In our case friendship set in first – a very close one – and only after that the teacher became the Teacher for me. Our relationship is primarily based on our friendship because the Master is my best friend. And only afterwards our relationship of a disciple and a teacher were formed. Friendship has surely left its substantial mark on this relationship.

The friendship between me and the Master also set in not at once but step by step as true friendship should. We gradually turned from interlocutors into acquaintances, from acquaintances into buddies and from buddies into close friends. These stages can be called in a different way but the outcome is only one – the Master is my close friend and I am his friend. Certainly we can argue about the possibility of friendship between man and woman for a long time; but we will always be a proof of the fact that this is possible in one of the best possible forms. If truth be told, another opinion for me is simple a sign of moral immaturity of a person and animal instincts` domination under him. I won`t elaborate upon this topic further on; I`ve simply wanted to express my opinion. Here I want to say that I am very grateful to this friendship and happy about it as there is nothing better when your friend is more than a brother to you, when you rejoice for him more than for yourself, when you value your friendship as something precious.

Certainly our friendship makes our relationship full and allows us reaching more understanding in matters of discipleship.

First challenging moment

Change of views is a complicated issue predominately in psychological sense. It is very difficult to admit that you have been mistaken; and the longer you`ve been mistaken, the more difficult it is to admit it. And it is not a matter of pride in this case – though you cannot avoid it – but it is a matter of views of a man being the foundation for the perception of the world and man`s behavior. Misconception about the world leads to the wrong justification of actions, in other words, a man can do bad deeds not knowing that he is behaving badly. It is hard to do the right thing, having wrong knowledge about reality. I think, it is necessary to note that terms “good” and “bad” are based on the concepts of what is natural for a human and what is not. “There are things that make a man look like an animal and there are other things that make him different from an animal. The ability to differentiate things that are good to be like an animal and things that are not is a sign of true Wisdom” (“The Precious Belt” LXVII).

The Teaching exists not only with the aim of describing the real state of things in the Universe and tell about a place of a human in the Creation but also to tell people what is natural for them and what is not, what actions are bad for a human and the Creation and what are good. The Teaching is a way to the Wisdom.

You can imagine this using human body as an example. Let`s assume that every cell of human body was self-conscious and could decide how to act by itself. At the same time cells of human body didn`t know exactly what they had to do to provide the right functioning of human body and even didn`t know that they were its part. It`s obvious that it would be very important to inform every cell about the way a human body was organized, what place in a human body every cell occupied and the way every cell should behave to let a human body live and grow in the appropriate way and, thus, every cell together with it. And how important it would be for cells to understand that they all were linked together, that each cell was responsible for the functioning of the whole body and only mutual efforts of all cells could provide its right functioning as well as to tell cells that if some of them refused to work in the appropriate way, this might lead to the death of the whole body, thus, to the death of all cells. In case when all cells didn`t know how to behave and would behave themselves in the way they wanted, it wouldn`t be difficult to imagine how damaged the body would be… Probably it wouldn`t be able to exist at all.

It is easier to understand the picture of human life using this simplified example. People are responsible for the prosperity of the whole Universe in the same way and, thus, for their own. The Teaching exists with the aim of telling mankind about the way the Universe is organized, their place in it, so that they would be able to choose the appropriate Way of their development, good for themselves and the Universe.

By using such example I wanted to explain why it is difficult to act in the right way not knowing how the world is organized and for the sake of what a person lives. When you start realizing that you`ve had erroneous views and, thus, was doing bad deeds, then you begin to feel very uncomfortable. It is the first challenging moment that you have to come across. However, you need to try to look at it from another angle. Even if your past deeds have been erroneous, new understanding of things will let you take a new look at some moments and act in the right way further on. I think, it is necessary to concentrate exactly on this.

Second challenging moment

The second challenging moment is that a new perception of the world makes it different in the eye of a man – and it doesn`t mean that it will be comfortable for him to live in this new world right from the start. Any change of world perception makes a man temporarily vulnerable. When you abandon your former views, then you have a feeling that the ground is dropping out from under you for a moment. It is related with one` attachment to some moments or rituals. For example, loss of a feeling that there is always a kind God whom you can talk with and snivel can be taken very hard. It makes you feel very comfortable from a psychological point of view when you know that there is someone who hears you, loves you and cares for you even when you experience complicated emotions in your life. You can relax and fully rely on “the will of a higher being”. The fact that the world is organized in an absolutely different way and that full responsibility lies with the man himself can be compared with the loss of engaged parents. All that you have been holding on to, that dark corner where you could cry quietly for a while and get a relief, disappears forever but instead a new world reveals itself in front of you where you can rely on yourself only. Fear is the first feeling that you have when it happens. And this is quite natural. Psychologically you feel like you are trapped in a quicksand before you`ve got some new support that you can hold on to and feel in balance. Your old views are turning you back under the ground where you can`t breathe anymore but yet you don`t have any new views that you can hold on to. So you are helplessly struggling on border between new and old for a while. It takes time to break through “the quicksand”. Old ties that connect you with your past will weaken and you will break free. The amount of time it will take depends on how hard you are attached to your former views. Strangely enough but it can be harder to give up some habitual rituals other than abandon some older views. If you`ve got used to wearing a cross, then it will be very hard to take it off. And even when you don`t belong to this given world view, you still feel more comfortable with the old symbol. It is also hard to realize that it is no longer necessary to pray or go to church after you begin to understand another state of things in the Creation. I have to use examples from Christianity because this is my past; but I am doing this rather stroppy as I can imagine how my words sound for a Christian if he reads these lines. However I am not writing this diary with the aim of discrediting Christianity or arguing with its foundations. I am simply describing my Way and those difficulties that I had. So, I really hope that I won`t offend beliefs of other people with my words.

Third challenging moment

Third challenging moment is related to the fact that a new world view that is not shared by your circle makes you an enemy within. The difficulty of your new state will depend on how critical the issue of faith is in your circle and how tolerant to other views your family members are. I can say that I`ve come off cheap in this respect. My family members are not passionate believers and do not dwell upon the issues of faith as meticulously as I do. And nevertheless, there have been challenging moments and there are still some.

Such moment first occurred at the very beginning when I just started getting interested in the Teaching. Considering the fact that a modern man living in our country is partially brought up by television that tells people about such things as religious sects with a certain frequency, any mentioning about any kind of teaching apart from well-known ones and, thus, “tested” and “safe” makes people very alert. As soon as you start getting interested in a teaching that is new for people that surround you, they start fearing that you are brainwashed and got under the influence of a destructive religious sect. And for some reason nobody is wondering how adequate the information on religious sects really is. Different religious teachings have existed long since; but they were given a sinister décor not only on church, but on secular and even on state level not long time ago. Generally the term “sect” (secta – school, teaching in Latin, derived from Latin word “sequor” – follow) is used to denote a religious group that separated from the main religious trend, in other words, it doesn`t mean anything bad. However in our time this word is perceived as a synonym for a definitely fraudulent organization that is brainwashing and robbing people. Certainly there are such organizations. But it is absolutely unwise to use such labels for other teachings. It is much of a situation when a man has been told that there is a mad dog wandering somewhere and now he is afraid of all dogs considering them all to be mad. You must admit that it is hard to call this a prudent approach. Particular attention should be given to the issue of “brainwashing”. If it was so easy to do that, state and special services would be the first who would do this – as it is so convenient to “zombify” people, so that authorities would have fewer problems and there would be the absolute loyalty on the part of citizens. Thus, talks about “sinister sects” as well as about “brainwashing” are grossly exaggerated (though, they are reasonable, in my opinion). I`ve managed to dispel doubts of the members of my family quite easily. When they began asking me whether the teaching I got interested in was a sect, I asked them a counterquestion: “Is there anything that has changed in me, did I become insane or started doing any bad things?” Of course, the answer to my question was negative and soon my family members eased their minds.

Other challenging moments arise – for instance, the question of my daughter’s baptism. Members of my family wanted to baptize her and I was trying to explain that it was not necessary. The biggest challenge is that my family members want to practice this ritual because it is “right” to do that or it should be done “just in case”, though, they are not passionate believers. In general, the habit of following all those things which are right or common to be done can be very harmful as it substitutes the necessity of thinking and justifying one`s actions. Many things are taken by people at face value, not throwing them into question meanwhile there are certain things that are basically essential requiring deep analysis. Needless to say that baptism is just one of these things as all rituals and ceremonies in Christianity as well as any other religion are for a good reason: all they have a deep meaning and reasoning. I won`t be telling you why baptism is so important in Christianity as I am not talking about that here and I will draw your attention to the fact that it is very important in this religion. That`s why one shouldn`t treat it as something that is simply “common” or “right” to do or should be done “just in case”. Such kind of approach turns any ritual into an absurd routine making it lose its sacral meaning and shows disrespect to this religion. Any ritual has a certain meaning only for such person who really belongs to that teaching and who is on the same page with it. An adept of this or that teaching should fully accept a chosen way and not draw separate parts of it that he likes. “Selective” following a certain way is not following at all but just an attempt of “fitting” truth to one`s own liking and hypocrisy. Unfortunately, there are many people that are Christians by name only – they believe only “in their hearts”, so to say. This is the case when people treat the majority of rituals as the ones that are “right” to be done. And in this case people cannot give a reasonable explanation of reasons why a certain ritual is needed and what its consequences are. It is very irresponsible to practice rituals not fully understanding what is behind them. I want to say that practicing any ritual by a person who is not really a believer doesn`t mean anything. As our family has never been deeply religionized, then the baptism of my child will be just a formality. And as I am not affiliating myself to Christianity, then basically it won`t make any sense to me.

On the importance of reading books of the Teaching

Sometimes you simply don`t have time just to open books of the Teaching and read them with the daily routine that you have. Unfortunately, it`s a rule of everyday life that necessary labors very often become a higher priority than things spiritual, though, they are not less important. Having read the first book, I couldn`t start reading the second one for a long time.

There were three reasons for that. At first I didn`t have chance to get down to reading Pandect at first. The first reason for that was that I had my daily routine. The start of the main stage of learning truth synchronized with the moment when my daughter was born, that`s why, I had a lot of labors to be done and all these labors were quite important as there are not so many things that are more important than devoting your life to the life of a newborn human. The second reason was the fact that all books of the Teaching are not fiction ones and it takes time for one`s consciousness to digest their contents. It is not easy to perceive texts that are deep in their meaning in psychological sense, especially when you are trying to read them all one after another not giving yourself time to rest. The third reason is the fact that constant communication with the Teacher can replace reading of the Pandect. In other words, we discuss a number of topics when we meet in person and later when I am reading a book, I am familiar with some things and they are clear to me.

Nevertheless, I consider reading the Pandect to be very important. It is not necessary to read big parts of it at once; but it is very important to read it regularly, even one page per day. It is necessary to do that not only because it always gives you some food for thoughts and you can learn something new, come to grips with state of things but also because of the fact that reading the Pandect allows you to preserve some kind of mental tone. I want to say that in our everyday life we are surrounded by routine all the time and we are bound up in a great number of rueful feelings, starting from consumer approach that is spread by modern society through mass media and ending up with the simplest interpersonal conflicts. Mass media is constantly showing us the “glamorous” side of our life on which a person is rated only by the way he looks, how much money he earns and what position he occupies on social ladder that doesn`t lead up to heaven… We are surrounded by conversations about sex, power, money and what can be bought with this money. And even if a person realizes how trivial all these things are in the light of true values and the meaning of human life, he still lives under the influence of all these “glamorous” values, anyway. Every day we also face routine, personal negativity, fatigue, irritation and other things like that. And no matter how passionately our heart is trying to “come to heaven”, routine has a great influence on our lives, it drags us down. And that`s the reason why it is so important to keep yourself “mentally toned” to have some way of escaping from all this negativity, some counterforce to constantly remind yourself that your life is given to you for something greater than that. And reading books of the Teaching allows you to reach that. Every day there will be at least a little piece of something different within messiness of life and this will be enough for you to remember what you have actually come to this world for.

Besides that, as I`ve already mentioned, reading the Pandect allows you to see truth much clearer day by day. It is like painting a new picture of the world. First reading provides only a sketch drawn in pencil; second one allows you to make the ground layer; third one- allows you to draw the outlines. And thus, step by step we are painting more detailed and magnificent picture of truth and world with a brush of our mind`s eye. This is a step-by-step learning. Every next reading allows you to see, understand and feel more. Moreover, these texts themselves have inner strength interacting with which you are getting a spirit and energy boost.

Lie

Man has got a lot of vices but there is one that can be met at every turn and it is one of the deadliest human vices at the same time. I am talking about lie. Many people think that only big lie is dreadful but little lie is not a lie at all but just a common thing. However lie cannot be divided into a big and a small one. Each lie is equally harmful, though, its scale can be different. Lying is one of the deadliest vices because there is no lie in nature and lie is the most unnatural thing of all that can be. There is a place even for murder in nature but there is no place for lie. And this is why, when a man is lying, he is infringing upon truth itself.

That`s why, lie is bad in any of its forms and scale. Little white lie is a big infringement on truth. Much less, if a person allows himself to trick in trivia, then lies under more serious circumstances is even more justified from his point of view. That`s why you can`t consider yourself to be an honest person if you deceive in some trivia. The main reason for lying is taking advantage of something – starting from the desire to get out of class earlier to go to the cinema under the pretence of feeling sick, ending up with machinations on a nationwide scale. Such lies may have different consequences; but both kinds of lies equally conflict with truth and are harmful for people.

As lying in trivia is common in our society (because such kind of lying in not considered to be lying for some reason), then it may be hard to live without it. People are expecting you to tell lies under various pretences. The simplest situation is: when your friend is asking you to lie in order to cover him when he is doing some bad deed. For instance, he wants to skip school or work and is asking you to say that he has fallen ill in case his teacher or boss suddenly asks you about him. How many times during a day secretaries tell their clients that their bosses are on a business trip when they are sitting in their office. And such lie is considered to be a standard in business etiquette. It will be hard to count the number of situations like that if we think about how many times we covered our friends using lies or when we were lying when people around us wanted that from us. And if you refuse to lie in such situation, your friend will treat that as a personal affront and betrayal and your boss will most likely fire you.

So, if you just want to be an honest person and don`t want to defile yourself with lies, then, you will have a hard time with that. Is it possible to live without lies among those who`s got used to lying? It is. But be ready that people will be looking awry at you a lot of times and calling you a fool that could have used lies for his own benefit easily but for some reasons unknown to them didn`t do that. People consider honesty to be a good trait only up to a certain point, set by themselves, and consider everything above that point to be a silly thing.

If a person is honest, then he will be honest all the time and in everything. He won`t decide to lie for his own benefit or the benefit of people around him. And that friend of yours is bad who is asking you to lie – as he is asking you to do an evil deed for his own benefit.

Temptation to lie in this or that life situation is very strong but it is possible to control yourself. Yes, you will lose this or that lucre; but you`ll save yourself from doing bad deed. A person can call himself a human only when he is able to get over the difficulties.

Something that is called “pious fraud” is worth a separate mention. There is no pious fraud as any kind of lie is evil. And even when a person is lying for the sake of a good aim, his lie is harmful and it turns any good deal into a bad one. One can`t use evil ways to reach a good aim as these ways defile the aim itself and good won`t be good anymore. Though, it can be very difficult to do that in some situations from the moral side.

I stopped lying since I`d started to follow the Teaching. And every time when I am choosing from truth and my benefit, I feel happy because I`ve chosen truth as there is nothing that is more precious that truth.

On the issue of trees

One the very first topics that have been discussed by me and the Teacher, was the topic of trees. The thing is that since my childhood I`ve had a certain type of “contact” with plants, especially with trees. When I was child, we used to stay in our summer country house from early spring until late autumn. We had a small country house and our garden-plot was bordering on a forest. I liked our forest and was spending a lot of time there. I talked to the forest, loved to pick up mushrooms and berries, build huts from old branches and sit by the fire. I loved to swing in the hammock and look up at crowns of mighty birch trees. I knew every bush in that part of the forest that was near our house. My parents used to call me a “forest girl” for my love to forest.

Later we sold our old summer country house and moved close to city. Parting with my former house and the forest was hard for me. However everything changes; and soon I came to love our new house.

Our garden-plot is divided into two parts, we`ve laid out a garden in the first one and left a part of a virgin forest in another one. Initially our village used to be surrounded by woods but within some time active construction works started everywhere and now forest in the neighborhood is just separate lines of trees between houses and highways. I am very glad that we`ve saved, at least, a small but still a part of a forest straight on out garden-plot. I grew older and I had no more opportunities to stay out of town for the most part of the year. When I used to go to school and study at the University, I was able to live at our summer country house during my holidays; but when I started working, I had very little time for that and we started visiting our summer country house only at weekends. My communication with forest was limited to a few hours per week, but my attitude towards trees didn`t change: they continued to be my living friends – the same ones that they used to be in my childhood.

When I grew up, I started to notice that I felt something like a weak electric current in case when I was bringing my hand to a tree. And if I stood near a tree for a while, I could feel such kind of current running through my whole body as if I was covered with the energy of that tree. I always felt trees` energy as a warm one that could warm my hands even when it was cold. I became really fond of such kind of contact with trees because it allowed me to have some rest and made me feel better. And the more time I was spending with trees, the clearer it was becoming to me that they had their own entity, their own character, even their own preferences on the time of contact. In a word, they had something that could be called “soul”.

It was hard for me to explain that to myself within the bounds of Christianity – however when I started to get acquainted with the Teaching, everything fell into place. According to the Teaching, everything has a soul or an elemental as it can be called as well. Of course, the elemental of a tree cannot be compared with the elementals controlling major processes in the Universe (such as the God of Wisdom) on the same scale and they cannot be compared with a human being for the level of consciousness as well; but however trees also have their own personality and the ability to communicate. Trees don`t have an active mind like human one but they are able to interact with human beings. But the question is not in the ability of trees to communicate with human beings in the appropriate way but in the ability of human beings to communicate with trees in the appropriate way.

Until men continue perceiving themselves as the top of evolution and king of the world but don`t remember that they are also a part of it at the same time, it will be difficult for them to realize their responsibility for this world and the necessity of taking care about Nature. Trees are not worse than humans, they are even better in a certain way as they already live in harmony with the rest of the world and we`ll have to learn how to do this. Thus, communication with trees can teach a person much more than one can imagine.

I never miss a chance of talking with trees and basically with all plants. I like working in the garden, taking care of flowers, bushes, trees, like to work the land. When I work in the garden then I feel not only physical fatigue but also such fit of inner energy that cannot be compared with any kind of rest. Plants always give you a complete reward for your love and care.

The Teaching has given me an opportunity to have a deeper understanding of the meaning of life and, thus, allowed me to become closer to all living things. And I feel a great joy and satisfaction because of that.

There is life around me

Discussing my communication with trees with the Teacher, we came to grips with another, more extensive topic. As I`ve already said, according to the Teaching, all things have their own elemental. Consequently it can be said that not only plants but everything that`s around us is alive, animate and intelligent to some extent: animals, plants, rocks, artificial things, different natural objects, the Earth itself. Hardly one would be surprised with perception of animals as animate creatures and many would consider plants to be the same; but as far as other things are concerned, especially, artificial objects, then, it may seem unusual. But it is so. A speck of the Spirit lives in everything and everything has its own purpose.

Being able to feel plants, gradually I started perceiving energy of inanimate objects. However such kind of energy perception is much harder for me. I am far from being able to feel every object and I am not able to communicate with every object on more or less perceptible level. It has to be said that level of elementals` development can be very much different. More than that elemental can evolve and develop itself to some extent with the help of people, gaining great power. For instance, it happens with those things that have become objects of people`s worship.

Travelling has always been one of the biggest hobbies in my life. That`s why, I`ve managed to see a great number of interesting natural objects as well as those objects that have been created by people – starting from the all-known Stonehenge monument and ending with natural monuments in the valleys of Cappadocia. I`ve gone to the ocean as well as to the mountains, deserts, tops of volcanoes, reserved forests and purest mountain lakes… I`ve been lucky to see many beautiful spots of the world and it gave me the feeling of unmatched beauty and uniqueness of all the living. There is no place on earth that is more or less beautiful that all other places and there is not more or less mystery in distant stars than in sand beneath our feet. Travelling has given me feelings of whole world`s integrity as well as careful attitude to every part of it at the same time. I could easily start a separate diary dedicated to my trips; but I`ve mentioned them here to show examples of those things that I managed to communicate with in this or that way. Unfortunately the majority of my trips have occurred before I got acquainted with the Teaching. I`ve used the word “unfortunately” because knowledge of the world gives us an opportunity to understand and feel it better.

First of all I want to tell you about Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”). This extraordinary kind of stone can be found in the environs of an ancient Russian town called Pereslavl. There is a place called Alexandrov Mountain located near Pleshcheyev Lake on the fringe of the forest. However it was called Jarillo Mountain in the time of our ancestors because there used to be a pagan temple on top of this hill found in the honor of Jarillo – the god of the Sun. There was a wonderful Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”) on top of this hill that can heal from different diseases and carry out wishes as people say. When Orthodox religion started flourishing in the town of Pereslavl, it was decided to move Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”) from the mountain. A deep well was dug at the foot of the mountain, Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”) was knocked off the mountain and put down to the bottom of that well. The stone was forgotten. But as it turned out it was just the beginning of its wonderful story. The stone came above the ground within some time and faith in its miraculous features became even stronger. Then there was another attempt to defame the stone. One winter the large-tonnage wonderful stone was somehow put on a sledge and brought to the very middle of Pleshcheyev Lake where it was dropped under ice. But then the stone drew attention to himself again: some time passed again and Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”) crawled back to the shore of the lake where he`s been lying to this day in a picturesque spot on the shore, not far from an old forest. A lot of people have been reaching for Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”) till now, hoping to get help. Thus, there is a place in Pereslavl that preserves ancient pagan traditions despite of the fact that this town is a true center of Orthodox religion. This should come as no surprise as such traditions have existed in Russia all times. I have seen Sin-Kamen (“Blue Stone”) twice and would like to see it again. I can neither prove nor deny its ability to cure people as well as its other features attributed to it; but I can tell you for sure that I`ve been glad to see it as much as it was glad to see me. After my communication with the stone I had the same pleasant and easy feeling that I usually have after a conversation with an old friend.

Pyatnitskiye Vorota (“Pyatnitskiye Gates”) have become another interesting object that I remember because of their lively hospitality. I want to give you a short historical note. Pyatnitskiye Vorota (“Pyatnitskiye Gates”) is an old tower in Kolomna town in Russia. It is a mighty stone building that served to protect the town initial height of which was 35 meters, its length was 23 meters and width was 13 meters. The gates are also called Porokhovaya Bashnya (“Gunpowder Tower”) because it used to be a place where gunpowder was kept. There is a small tower rising on top of it that was a machicolation that used to have a bell under its stone arch that was rung by a scout when the town was in danger. There used to be an arched narrow passage under the tower that connected it with the town. Massive folding gates that were lowered by using grill block. A passage through the gates of the tower has a form that resembles a horseshoe which is a symbol of good luck, welfare and happiness in Russia. One can read a prayer on the gates from the side of a trading quarter: “God, save this town and your people and bless the entrance to this gates”. There is an icon on the inner side of the gate tower which contains images of the sanctified and patron saints of Kolomna town. Porokhovaya Bashnya (“Gunpowder Tower”) will certainly stick in memory of antiquarians and travelers. And I still remember not only its mighty look but its desire to communicate as well. We were near the tower when it was bitter cold; but touching its walls with my hands, I felt like they started to get warm. Unfortunately, my consciousness was still unable to absorb the information that things were ready to share with me otherwise the tower would tell me a lot of interesting things, I am sure about it.

There have been a lot of other objects communication with which is still remembered by me. It is of interest to know that their amiability didn`t depend on the fact whether this or that thing was artificially created or naturally occurring, what epoch, country or religion it belonged to and what its story was.

Everything around us is alive and sensitive, everything needs love and respect. There is nothing that is small, insignificant or worth contempt. Each thing is a part of Genesis that is worth of being respected. Artificial objects are also parts of Genesis and they are able to feel and strive to complete their mission. The necessity of showing love and respect to all things that are around us is the main conclusion from the notion of animativeness of all.

On good deeds

I would like to make a quotation from the book of the Teaching at the beginning of my short story: “Here is the first thing that man should know: he is small but the world is great. He didn`t exist but the world did; man will disappear and the world will remain. Only a fool won`t understand that this is not the world that exists for the sake of man but this is a man who exists for the sake of the world. Men should do good so that the world would be good. Animal doesn`t have power to make the world better but man does. This is what makes him different from animal; this is his mission” (Fathers IV, 34-39). One day you come to a realization that it is necessary to do good; and then comes a question of how exactly you can make the world better. We have discussed this with my Teacher a number of times.

My Teacher says that one can do good in different ways and it all depends on opportunities and endeavors of a person. There is the simplest, mundane level of doing good. One can help an old woman to cross the street, support someone at a hard time of his life, feed birds in winter, plant a tree, etc. Everyone can do this and this is good enough: if everyone starts to do so, our society will become better and kinder. There is another kind of goodness which is on more serious level that nearly everyone can do – it is a good upbringing of your child. Raising your kid to be kind, you are giving goodness to his kids as well and to all those whom he will be dealing with during his life. And then this goodness will be spread further. It is very important, though, it takes some time to notice how it works for the benefit of the future.

You can do something that is substantially good from time to time if to have a look beyond family ties – for instance, you can work for charitable causes, participate in environmental protection activities, create something valuable in terms of art. You can do such kind of good things apart from family or main job matters.

As far as different jobs are concerned, professions are not created equal. There are professions that are not really useful or relatively useful in this or that area – for instance, someone like a stock broker. There are professions that can be both useful and harmful. For instance, an engineer can create some kind of useful and necessary mechanism but can create a new weapon at the same time; a politician can do a lot of good for the society but can also do a lot of harm to it; a businessman can do the same; a military man can protect people but also can attack them. There are a lot of occupations like that. And a chance for this occupation to do good for people will depend on what kind of person has that occupation, whether he is a good or a nasty one. There are professions necessary for people and this makes them be very good – but at the same time these are such kind of professions which you don`t have to devote yourself, all your intentions and thoughts to them completely. You can simply finish your daily work, do as much good as you can for people and then you are free until another working day starts and you can stop thinking about it all. These are professions related to those things that people cannot live without: it is everything that concerns food, clothing, furniture, medicinal products production, housing construction, transportation and other things like that. And there are professions that people are given to that are their life and often become more important than their private life or their family. That`s certainly the case when one takes it seriously. For instance, medicine, pedagogy, social work, scientific research, environmental protection, art, spiritual activity. It is what is of great use for people and the world and is good for them too but it also requires total dedication. And it is such kind of dedication that can leave nothing to other things in your life. As a matter of fact, it is the most of what can be done by a person for the world and other people.

And if we start talking about doing something more than that, it becomes really hard to do that. If you set giving yourself to doing good as a goal, in other words, you want to dedicate your life completely to that, then you`ll have to give up on all your personal things and become some kind of a monk. But it is something that is accessible only for some prominent individuals.

Man lives for the world and is created for its benefit, that`s why “…that man is unjust who prefers his own power to the power of the world, his own benefit to the benefit of the world, his own joy to the joy of the world. The one is just who cares not for himself but for the world” (Fathers, XIV, 47-48). However it doesn’t mean that a person has to sacrifice his life for the benefit of the world right now. My Teacher says that in reality everything is much more sensible and practical. One also needs to live for one`s own benefit but with a view to something greater. In other words, if you care for yourself, it should be not a goal in itself but just a means. It should be like taking care of a valuable tool that can help you with doing some important work. And if you need to learn how to do this, you need to learn this. You need to start from yourself if you want to make this world better. Here is what is written about that in the book of the Teaching: “I will tell you one more thing: respect yourself. And the meaning of respecting yourself is in the following: don`t surrender yourself to evil, don`t mess yourself up with filth. Remember that virtue lives in you and don`t let evil tear it apart. Take care of your virtue and raise it and don`t bow to evil: this is what dignified self-respect is. Respecting yourself is the same thing as following virtue. If you can`t respect yourself in an appropriate way, how will you be able to respect something else then?”(Fathers, XVI, 57-62). But it doesn’t mean that you need to wait until you are able to reach the highest possible point of perfection and only then start doing something good for the world. It is just the other way round: you need to do everything simultaneously, believing in yourself.

First of all, it is worth asking yourself three questions, to begin with: “Do I want to do anything for the world?” If your answer is affirmative, then next question comes: “What could I do?” In other words, what kind of abilities and talents can you use for the benefit of the world? The third question is: “How can it be done?” This is a search of ways for practical realization of your opportunities. My Teacher says that the best way of accomplishing something is doing something.

When I was considering different opportunities of doing good things, then I found a few suitable options for myself. Now I will be considering the situation as of 2011. As time goes by it will certainly change but here it will be used just as an illustrative example. My profession is specifically related to the area of economy – I deal with the valuation of business, shares, assets, real estate, etc.; thus, my profession is not directly pointed at helping people, though, it is useful and needed as market couldn`t function without this profession. At this stage it doesn’t seem possible to change my profession to any other one that would probably provide more direct benefit to the people and reflect my intentions and talents at their most. And I don`t see such kind of opportunity in the future yet. In addition to that, taking into account the level of my education and working experience, this profession can bring greater income that, in its turn, could be used for charitable uses. However it should also be taken into account that now I am on a maternity leave, this is why I am limited not only to the amount of money I have for charity but to the amount of time as well.

I had more time and money that could be used for good things when I was working. I came to an idea of carrying out one charity project at the time. The essence of the project was that I was writing fairy tales, making colorful cards and sending them together with some gifts to orphaned children and kids living in large families living in the upcountry of Russia on behalf of a Magic Fairy. I was also working together with a charity fund that was publishing my fairy tales and sending royalty in aid of the children. Simultaneously I was collecting children`s stuff for the charity fund, mounting campaigns in my riser block of flats and my residential area. Later the project of congratulations from the Magic Fairy transformed into a charity fundraising web-site which activity is presently supported by volunteers.

After I had gone to a maternity leave, I had less time for all these good things and less money as well. Now I can only sometimes transfer money for some good things and even not in those amounts that I would like to. Then I started searching for new opportunities and after a while I came to know about an orphaned children patron campaign. The program doesn’t include any official registration of trusteeship of a child but supposes the participation in child`s life by means of letters, phone calls, personal visits and gifts if possible. This is how I`ve got a girl that I am in charge for. It takes a few hours to get to this orphan asylum by plane from Moscow, this is why I cannot visit my charge but I call her nearly every day, write letters and send gifts to her. I`ve also started to privately manage the orphan asylum as a volunteer and arrange collecting money and children`s stuff for this orphan asylum. Currently I`ve focused my efforts on doing these good things.

Patronage has a great meaning for the formation of child`s personality in case a patron is ready to take his role seriously. Very often there is no man in the life of an orphan who would take real interest in him as parents or relatives of other children would, there is no person who he can rely on and who would be some kind of a “constant” in the life of the child. The presence of such person increases the level of “tolerance for life”, so to say, in other words, lets a child be more morally stable and feel some support, not to feel lonely. The lack of tolerance prevents orphaned kids from realizing their potential and achieving success to a large extent.

Thus, currently I am responsible for doing two good things that will certainly affect my future: it is raising my daughter and patronage. Probably, it all will go through some changes in future again and new opportunities that will let me help the world to a greater extent will arise. It should be added that I lean toward helping kids more when other people can realize their potential in protecting animal welfare, environment and other areas.

On the issue of the joys of paradise

Many religions prophesy the joys of paradise for a person as a reward for living a decent life. One can meet a lot of different varieties of heaven, yet, hell as well. Personally the issue of hell seems to be more interesting to me; but here I would like to discuss heaven specifically. I think that it is worth saying at once that the Teaching is telling us that there is no heaven. What is heaven, after all? As a matter of fact, it is a state or a place (I think, it is hard to find a suitable word from our material world here) where a person gets to after his death and where he`s got a feeling of joy as in Christianity and Islam, for example, or, at least, doesn`t suffer as in Buddhism. A person deserves being in heaven for his good deeds that he`s done during his only life or a number of incarnations. But let`s look at this issue a bit deeper. Does a moral life really deserve any special reward? Maybe, this question will seem strange at first glance because most of us has got used to getting a reward for doing good things in their life in this or that form. In our childhood when we are doing something well or right, we are praised by our parents, we get excellent marks for good studies at school, we get bonuses for doing a decent job at work, etc. We come across the variations of the “stick and carrot” concept everywhere. This is why, it seems logical to shift the same principle on to afterlife. And it is very unusual to realize that the “stick” in the form of hell exists but “carrot” in the form of heaven doesn`t.

But in really this “paradox” can be explained quite easily: goodness doesn`t deserve any special rewards or honors because goodness is a norm. And one shouldn’t be rewarded for something normal as in this case it stops being normal and becomes something special – something that is so special that it is marked with some kind of honor or reward. In this case it is a reward in the form of eternal paradise. You should agree that it would have been the greatest reward. My Teacher says that such attitude inevitably leads to two catastrophic consequences. Firstly, doing something good is inseparably linked with profit and ambitiousness in human mind. Secondly, if goodness stops being a norm and becomes something special, then its place is occupied by something else right at that moment – as there is no place for vacuum in such things.

However it is impossible to say that man gets absolutely nothing from natural goodness creation except psychic income. First of all he becomes spiritually sound as there is no inner conflict between Nature and its goodness in him and light and power that it gives freely flow into him. Then the world that he lives, is getting better from those good things that he is doing – and it is good for him. Well, and there are different kinds of so-called “bonuses” – for instance, if you`ve done something good and someone did something good for you in return.

In a word, there is no absolute unambiguity here. On one side, man doesn`t get a special reward like going to paradise or something like that; but on the other hand, generally he won`t be left without any reward as naturally goodness creates goodness and it comes back to him in this or that way again. Though, such concept is deeper than some conventional images, dividing all things into “black and white” but, in fact, it is not something that is too difficult as it is much more natural and adequate if applied to the world that we live. If to think about this idea, then its essence becomes absolutely comprehensible in our life`s equation.

And the Teaching offers not going to paradise with its eternal bliss but an opportunity to work hard passing from one life to another, making the world better as a future prospective. In this way everyone can see long way fruits of one`s labor and live in a world which is better that the previous one.

Hell

The issue of hell has been one of the first ones that I was discussing with the Teacher. I have always been interested in the subject of hell – even in times when I belonged to Christianity. I had no luck with accepting the concept of everlasting torment for sinners. First of all, I would like to say that hell as it is doesn`t exist in all world`s religions and there is only some concept about the underworld. Hell as a place for punishing sinners has become a popular topic in connection with the spread of Christianity, though, a place of sinners` suffering exists, for instance, in Buddhism (Naraka), in beliefs of Maya (Shibalba), in Scandinavia (Helheim). However, it should be mentioned that the Bible doesn`t elaborate on the issue of the underworld for man and only mentions heaven and hell as places where the righteous rejoice and the wicked suffer. All full descriptions of Christian hell appeared only in Middle Ages; that`s why, a conclusion can be made that the notion of hell known to a modern man is more of a child of church as an institution but not of religion itself. Up to date the most famous image of Christian hell can be considered to be what has been depicted by Dante in the “Divine Comedy”. Dante has fully and colorfully described all circles of hell. It can also be added that Catholicism has been accepting the existence of purgatory since 1439 – an “intermediate territory” between heaven and hell that gives a man one more chance for redemption.

I don`t see any reason to write about variations of hell in different religions here but I only want to place the emphasis on the fact that generally there are quite a lot of such variations of it as well as variations on the subject of afterlife and they are quite different from each other. Nevertheless, as I have been affiliating myself with Christianity for all my walking life before I got acquainted with the Teaching, my perceptions about hell`s torment were quite concise and were similar to those that were depicted by Dante. And honestly saying, the prospective of being tormented after death through the whole eternity seemed to be very mean and scary. And this emotional reaction to what will happen after death (and thus, to death itself) has remained for a long time even after I started to belong to the Teaching.

What does the Teaching say about hell? First of all, to make it clear: the Teaching is saying about man`s reincarnation, about the fact that each of us lives not only one life and that man is spending a long time between his lives in the world of energy where he continues his development. Such element as private hell isn`t generally emphasized in the Teaching because it is of little significance. Hell is only a “technical component” of transition from one world to another. My Teacher says that generally speaking the whole picture is as follows.

Nature lives under natural laws that are present in every part of it and in human too. However, he`s got free will – in other words, he can choose both right and wrong behavior. Or he can be mistaken because of his ignorance. And when he is doing something wrong, something unnatural, then, inner conflict between what he is doing and his deep understanding fidelity and virtue that is laid inside him by Nature, arises. Outwardly this conflict can manifest itself in pangs of conscience. But it manifests itself as the accumulation of, so to say, negative charge in a person on a deeper level. Until a person is alive, this conflict sphere is hidden and isn`t practically felt. When human body dies and person`s energy is released completely, then reaction starts: energy conflict of initial positive and accumulated negative charge leads to sensation of pain. It is not physical distress but energy sensation which is the same for energy body as pain for physical one.

There are no perfect people; everyone does something bad in his life – whether intentionally or by mistake. That`s why each of us is experiencing such period of misery after death. It is called “private hell” in the Teaching. This is not a punishment from some kind of higher forces but the act of natural laws. Doing evil things, man is “poisoning” his emanation of biological energy, so to say, that feels like pain after death. Moreover, free will is of great importance. If a person is doing evil things consciously and intentionally, his emanation of biological energy is getting more “poisoned” and pain will be more intense then; if person is doing evil things out of ignorance, in other words, unintentionally, pain will be not so severe then;

Except the pain from inner conflict, man is suffering from his larvae in his private hell. These are energy parasites that appear beside a man if he gives in to vices. They are feeding upon the energy that is released when a person is doing vicious things and they are moving him forward in such actions (they are tempting him). When a person dies and finds himself in his private hell, his larvae appear beside him there. They suck his energy out of him, feeding upon it - this can also cause pain.

Private hell is not forever. Duration of staying there depends on how severely a person has “poisoned” himself with negative energy and how strong and resistant his larvae are. Private hell can last for hours and, maybe, for years – it depends on a person. But sooner or later larvae disappear and inner conflict appears to be over. Then the person is released from his private hell and starts his way to his next birth.

Presumably the knowledge about torments of private hell coming down to people in this or that way and a very distorted one, became the foundation of teachings about hell in different religions. The image of larvae transformed into the image of demons-inquisitors tormenting sinners.

According to the Teaching, the information of hell is not intended to carry any special meaning – for instance, to serve as a deterrent that keeps people from doing bad deeds. We don`t say: “Don`t do evil because you will have to account for it after your death”. We say: “Don`t do evil because kindness and love to everything is a norm”. And private hell is not so important. It is not a thing which everything is hinged on. It is just enough to be simply aware of its existence.

Despite the fact that the Teacher showed me the existing image of hell, this matter continued to be quite scary for me. It must be acknowledged that death is probably the most frightening matter in human psychology as well as for me. Me and my Teacher have been coming back to it a number of times. And the Teacher was explaining the reason for my anxiety. He used to say that even if you know that it is not the end and even if you have a general idea about what is awaiting for you in this case it is a kind of knowledge which is not supported by your experience and it is hard for it to root in your mind, become a part of it. He was explaining to me that my reaction was purely emotional because it was based on “half-trust”. Evidently I was impressed by the concept of private hell – in a similar way to Christianity – and it eclipsed of all the rest with itself in my eyes. But I haven`t seen it and I know about it from my Teacher. I had enough trust for persuading myself in the existence of private hell but there was not enough trust to completely believe that it is not as scary as it seems to be. It takes time to realize world views completely and work with your consciousness. Continuous conversations with my Teachers have helped me to find a foothold that I needed in my self-improvement and struggle with my own fears.

Life is everywhere

Having read one more part of the book of the Teaching, I thought about one interesting thing about the perception of life. This part of the book tells about the life of a Teacher and his disciple. One day the Teacher brought his disciple to the sea shore and showed him a destroyed and partially engulfed city. The Teacher said: “This used to be a great city – but it`s gone; only ruins are left from it like bones from a man. And there used to be a lot of people – but ones died as they couldn`t escape and others left the city. You see that everything dies: both stone buildings and people; and even the ground went under water and suffocated in it. Everything dies – but Life remains; it is the most solid of all and everything comes out of it. You have a lot of knowledge about Life and what comes out of it and how. You have something more than a city made of stone and more than the earth and the sky inside yourself. You should live with Life itself: then you won`t lose what you have, no matter what is destroyed. The one who drinks from one stream only, will die from thirst if that stream dries out; the one who drinks not from a stream but water, will find it everywhere and won`t die from thirst. Beware of setting certain limits for what you have. If you build a house and say: “Life is inside it” and when it crashes down, then you`ll die too. Remember that Life doesn`t know any limits: it is everywhere – wherever you are, it is inside everything – whatever you have (Life, VIII, 23-33).

Having read this extract, I thought about the way many of us perceive life. Financial and routine sides of life are historically in the first place in western society meanwhile spiritual component of life and spiritual Path are often put on the back burner. Thus, the level of success of a person is estimated only by his position in the society and the amount of money he has been able to make. Such one-sidedness of perception leads to the situation when people start perceiving the material side of life as the main wealth and welfare that they have in life. It can be said that people become obsessed with only financial and material things in life; and that`s why people bind their life with only one thing, as if putting bars in front of themselves from other things in Life. Let`s say that one cannot make a desired career or a person has gone through the process of divorce or lost his saving – and he is already giving up, he feels depressed, drinks himself to death or even dies by his own hand because it seems to him that he simply cannot live without these things. Such narrow life perception gives pain to a great number of people and can cause envy and bad deeds as well. I`ve heard from people a number of times that they feel depressed because they haven`t been able to find work in time, didn`t achieve desired results of a diet, became disappointed in their significant other, etc. Sometimes some insignificant event in the life of a person can seem to him to be the fundamental factor for his living standards.

Very narrow perception of life is what serves as a reason for all this disappointment. But in fact, Life is in everything and one shouldn`t simply separate one`s life from universal one. On the contrary, one should try to combine them into one. Then one will be able to see and understand more. And there always be goals, life strength and joy of life. Life stretches eternally from the past into the future but not only for a few decades from the cradle to the grave. Life is not only the ability of an organism to see, move, breathe, digest food but also the ability to realize and comprehend the essence of Life. One can absorb Life like sponge takes up water. A person can feel like a part of Life as every drop feels like the ocean. Life is everywhere and there is nothing except Life.

Every man is born, having the store of accumulated experience and consciousness. He is increasing it and going further, not taking anything more with him. All trivial and material things serve just as a tool for reaching spiritual goals and, that`s why, they take a back seat, though, they are of no small importance. This is why one should treat them as not unimportant but secondary. It is important to have a good tool to do a good job; but the tool is important only for this work – and it is necessary to remember about this.

Perception of Life as a continuous and beautiful process has let me stop experiencing such feelings as boredom, bad mood, hopelessness, despair, etc. from life misfortunes anymore because I realize the secondariness of material values. I realize the necessity and joy of working for the benefit of life and the world and, that`s why, the whole joy of the world belongs to me.

On eternal life

The Teaching tells us that every man lives a few terrestrial lives. When you come across such concept of your own life for the first time, you perceive it with a little detachment. When a person wants to say that, for instance, he will never be able to achieve something, he can use an expression: “not in this life…” and there is a reason for that. This phrase very clearly shows the attitude of a person to his own life as a period from birth to death. And it greatly affects the world view. Then what does living many lives mean? At first the thought about past and future lives is perceived as something that has nothing to do with your present life as if it wasn`t you but someone else in your past lives and there will be someone else in your future lives. But after time has passed and you are getting used to the thought that your existence goes beyond the bounds of your present life, your attitude towards your life changes drastically then. First of all, you begin to understand that it was not anyone else, not another person, another man but you in your past lives and it will be you in your future lives. And you realize that rejecting your past and future lives, you probably reject the most important part of yourself. It is like you suddenly coming to a decision that you are you only on a given day and it has been someone else a thousand days before and will be someone else a thousand days after it. It is like you suddenly coming to a decision that your childhood, your youth and your upcoming aging have nothing to do with you. What decisions and world views would such man have? He wouldn`t work, acquire a family, plan anything, would do absolutely nothing except satisfying his daily needs. This would be a man with no past and future. A man, who sets aside his past and future lives, appears to be the same kind of person. Only the scale is much greater in this case. Life is continuous; each of us has been living before and will live further, so, it`s the same as trying to fit Eternity into one day when you are trying to throw it all away. People are splitting up their lives into pieces and pretend that there is nothing that has to do with them except a small period of time that they have chosen, thus, locking themselves into a tight vault that has the size of a few decades. We are stealing our immortality from ourselves this way. Then, what does it mean to live forever, what does it mean to know that you have the past and the future? It means that you have a feeling of your tight connection with the Creation. It means that you understand that the world that you leave after your death is the world that your children and grandchildren will come to and you will come back to as well. It means that you shouldn`t feel hate to other nations or people that have a different skin color because you realize that you could have belonged to this race or will probably belong to it in future. It means that if you are rich, you will sympathize with the poor – as you can be born into poverty in your next life. It means that if you are a disabled person, you can be sure that this won`t last forever and that there were lives and there will be ones when you are completely sound. It means that if you have been trying very hard but still didn`t have enough time to accomplish something, you will have a chance to do that next time. It lets you stay above all negative sides of our present reality in a way – bear up under affliction, stay patient, not to give in to pettiness, not to put timeless values above the material ones, spare no effort for the sake of the future. It allows you overcoming your own vices easier and prevents you from giving in. It changes everything. It gives your own personality an opportunity to be worthy of a real human that is going to Eternity and lives for the sake of a better future.

On spiritual nihilism

I have come across a problem on my spiritual Path that probably every disciple comes across. This is a problem that actually doesn`t exist but it seems to be one at a certain stage. The problem is in the fact that acknowledging the authority of the Teacher and the fact that he is more knowledgeable in the issues of truth than you, it seems to you that it puts you on a lower level in your dignity and, thus, infringes upon your rights. And at this moment your ego starts telling you: “If I call him my Teacher, then, it will mean that I am displaying my ignorance and helplessness. But am I really so ignorant and helpless? Do I really have so little knowledge, can`t I really make my own decisions?” And at this moment your ego starts protesting against authority and psychological rebellion against the necessity of acknowledging the authority of the Teacher starts.

It can be compared with nihilism at a time of one`s youth; but it is a spiritual kind of nihilism in this case. But when you pass through the time of spiritual nihilism, then you realize that there is no any infringement of human dignity: this is only an illusion that your ego mispresents as a problem. It is not so evident in other spheres of human life. Actually each of us used to go to school and study a number of school subjects and had a great number of teachers – but none of us had a feeling of infringed dignity at the same time. And no first-grade pupil would think of fancying himself a specialist, for instance, in mathematics and blame his teacher for infringing his dignity because of teaching him his subject. And he takes the fact that the teacher of mathematics is teaching him in good sense. But when it comes to the matter of truth, everything changes for some reason. It is really strange but it is a fact – because everyone has an opinion that another person doesn`t have the right to tell him “how he should live his life”. And it is in vain because a Teacher has such right for a reason. He is aware of truth; he has devoted his whole life to it and is doing this for the public good. All facts in life are parts of truth. Teacher of mathematics also teaches his pupils truth but in his own narrow field. In this way spiritual Teacher and teacher of mathematics are doing the same job but in different spheres and on a different scale and it doesn`t harm human dignity to learn from them but just the other way round.

It is impossible to learn something if you don`t recognize that you don`t know something. The main problem lies in your own pride. And when you manage to overcome it, then you begin to understand clearly that both your Teacher and you are walking the same Path and you are equal on this Path; but at the same time he is still your Teacher and you are his disciple. And the fact that you are his disciple, doesn`t infringe your dignity in any way but, on the contrary, points it out because this is an evolution from ignorance to knowledge and from illusion to truth. And you need to have courage and dignity to admit your weaknesses and overcome them. And ego is a weakness. And when you overcome your weaknesses and really start walking the same Path with your Teacher, then you get more dignity that you`ve had before. Illusions bring man to his knees in front of truth and himself. You can walk on all fours for your whole life and be proud that you are doing that by yourself, without anyone`s help and you don`t need any teachers; but you can take Teacher`s hand and get to your feet and learn how to walk on your feet with his help. And only when you learn how to walk, you can learn how to run. Then what is better – to accept one`s help and become a human or always walk on all your fours, being proud that you could avoid addressing any authority and using a helping hand? It`s surprising but not always evident because you always evaluate your dignity from a customary position when you are standing on all your fours – from the position of a misconception and you simply can`t look at things from the height of an erect-walking human. The true Path reveals human potential and a thing that they say the following about in the Teaching, happens: “Power has got a direction to flow.” In other words, a person has got a chance to do something that he was already capable of: people overcome all illusions and they start learning truth, their place in life, they get true strength of mind. Human dignity is measured with his desire to achieve more, desire to overcome his faults, make the world better. And his Teacher is not his rival at all but his team-mate and helper. And there is no need in opposing him with your dignity as it is silly. And if you truly want to achieve more, then you should learn from your Teacher and become better day after day. As there is nothing better for a Teacher than a disciple with whom they do one job together – the job for the benefit of the world.

I am a warrior

I have heard from my Teacher a number of times that every man is a warrior and it`s his obligation that life`s path is warrior`s path, it is a fight; and if you live, this means that you are a warrior. He is saying the following in his guidance: “Many people think that the goal of man in this world is to survive. It is not so. His goal is to make the world and people better. One has to cherish and take care of his life because it is a valuable tool with the help of which man is carrying out his mission. But one shouldn`t value this tool more than what it is designated for. Life will come to an end, anyway; this is why, one has to rejoice when there is an opportunity to give it for the sake of good deeds but not for anything.” (From one`s Heart, 9). And the Teacher is also saying that feelings and thoughts of many people are infected with fear and that fear is one the worst human diseases because it kills the mind and can kill conscience.

It was difficult for me to accept his words because it is difficult to take the responsibility of being a warrior and it is difficult, very difficult to overcome your fear. There is always fear of death because each of us has got natural self-preservation instinct. But in fact, there is nothing wrong with this; the wrong thing is to betray all humanity that we have inside. It was difficult for me to recognize myself as a warrior; I can say that it took me some time to take the responsibility for my Path and more time later to realize that obligation and true human values are more valuable than life. But things fall into place if you stop considering your life as a short period of time from birth till death and take into account the fact that each of us lives not only one life and that death is natural. You can live up to old age in one life; maybe, you`ll die young in another one. It is alright because different things happen in life. Everybody dies. But what is the point of being born as a human if you are not able to die as a human? Thus, you live your life in vain. It seems to be a simple truth; but it is not so easy to realize it – and it is more difficult to live in concord with this.

But it is not the only thing that has caused internal conflict in me. The second thing that I had to understand was that being a warrior is normal, we are born to be warriors, each of us. There is nothing supernatural in it and it doesn`t require superhuman capabilities. Every man can do it – without any exceptions. If an eagle nestling has hatched in the wild, it is natural for him to grow into a grown-up bird and fly in the sky and it will be unnatural in case he is crawling on the ground dragging his wings for all his life. And it will be as unnatural as that to be born as a human and not to be a warrior. The third thing that I had to understand was that the image of struggle that we are talking about is not the image of the armed confrontation of people killing each other and not the attempt to overthrow evil incarnate. It is something different. Struggle in minds of people is often associated with something negative – with war, death and pain, losses and rueful feelings, hate… But the struggle that we are talking about is life, it is a natural state of man and it has nothing in common with what I have described above. Yes, there is a place for pain and rueful feelings but only due to the fact that we are alive. Dead men don`t feel pain and sorrow. My Teacher says that: “The world is real and reality is life. Escaping from reality means coming to death. Evil is illusive. Coming into this illusion kills. A person coming into it is breeding death around. But he kills himself first. He is letting the illusion of evil inside himself and becoming a different person to whom he really is. This way he dies. His life becomes unreal: it is like a wild dream that is seen by him and other people. Reality of evil is a nightmare. Don`t be a sleeper in the world of sleepers. Wake up as a sleeper is not discharging his duty. Remember that evil in people is illusive; only grievous consequences of those who changed their life for illusion are real. Evil men are sleeping, hating ones are sleeping, despising ones are sleeping. They don`t see themselves in their sleep and are not conscious of themselves and this is why you can expect anything from them. It is not worth of being like that for a human” (From heart, 17). Struggle that we are talking about is a Path of kindness, the Path of a true human; and this Path leads from you in the past to a better version of you. This is what this struggle means: it is an endeavor to live a decent life, it is a Path that leads mankind to the best. It is a Path of each of us. It is a Path into the future. The one who understands this kind of struggle differently doesn`t see life, he is dead. And being a warrior at this war means being a worthy person, a true Human. This is great and this is what life is. The one who lives this way is alive. There is no hate in life. There is no hate in this fight. My Teacher said the following: “Life is a way, way is an overcoming, overcoming is a fight. Struggle shouldn`t contain hate to what you are struggling. Hate is destructive. Feeling hate you are destroying yourself as everything that surrounds you is you. Hate will hit you no matter what you point it at. It is inevitable. You will be damaged both from outside and inside. Hate is evil; and human is not designated for doing evil. This is why it will stay inside you like a foreign body, like a stone in a living heart; and finally your heart will die. Learn to fight without hate. It is possible.” (From heart, 3). This is what this struggle means. This is a Path of kindness that man is following. It is a true Path.

It took me quite a lot of time to join all three dimensions of a warrior together: responsibility for the world and understanding that truth is a primary thing and that life exists for the sake of it and is useless without it; understanding that being a warrior is a natural state of a human that doesn`t require anything beyond my abilities and that it is just recognizing oneself as a human; understanding that the struggle that we are talking about is life and the Path of kindness in this life, the struggle that doesn`t have a place for enemy and hate and it is just following what should be done and that the only thing that can make you lose a battle and the whole war is yourself. These are three cornerstones that have suddenly let me break free. I`ve suddenly realized what it means to be a human; and now I am not afraid of the fact of what I am. I am a warrior.

Between science and religion

I`ve named this chapter of my diary as “Between science and religion” for a reason because I and I am sure that the majority of modern men as well have always viewed science as a bastion of rigorous facts, scientific approach, cause-and-effect relations and rigorous proofs while religion, on the contrary, was saying about something supernatural, irrational, illogical, calling people to believe but not to base on proofs and facts. Thus, a man finds himself between two totally different positions which cancel each other to a great extent.

It is not difficult to understand the grounds of people appealing to science: as they don`t want to believe and guess but to know something for sure, they are talking about something that is proved and evident. And it is hard to argue with that as fact is a fact. But I can understand votarists as well: as science can hardly proof and explain all things at this stage of its development. And it hasn`t given unambiguous answers to such important questions like, for instance, the descent of man and creation of the world so far; it cannot prove or disprove the possibility of life after death, the existence of soul and answer many other questions when religion gives answers to them.

Simply saying, the main difference and contradiction between science and religion is in the fact that religion claims the existence of supernatural, in other words, something that doesn`t obey the laws of Nature and generally cannot be learnt scientifically and science admits the existence of what can be seen, touched and proved by means of scientific experiments and facts. My consciousness has always been torn between the desire to believe in supernatural and the desire to logically explain everything. Imagine my surprise when the Teaching gave me an opportunity to resolve this paradox that had seemed to me to be insoluble before.

The Teaching is saying about the existence of a lot of such things that still cannot be proved scientifically but which are not supernatural at the same time and fully refer to Nature. This is the existence of two other “dimensions of the Universe” (energy realm and the realm of Spirit), gods (that are not supernatural beings but highly organized life forms in the energy realm engaging in an action the laws of Nature in terms of the Teaching), reincarnations and a lot of other things. My Teacher has the written the following: “When I heard all that from my Teacher, I had a feeling of little embarrassment caused by an evident contradiction. On one side – there was what I had never believed in: some kind of Creator, the act of creation and other things like that. On the other side – there was what I admitted and had believed in ever since I was at school: evolution, rigorous cause-and-effect relations, etc. I could hardly wrap my head around all that – because personally it was hard for me to link such realties within one uncontroversial system.” I had the same feeling as well when I started getting acquainted with the Teaching. Further the Teacher writes: “The problem was in a stereotype saying that the concept of the Creator who had created the world, referred to the area of supernatural, irrational and was typical for a religious mind – and that was the reason why it didn`t match with a rational scientific approach and the concept of evolution. Moreover, evolution which was obligatory for the Creator himself. It took me a while to clear the barrier in my own mind as the problem was not in the difficulty of comprehending that information but in the fact that the seeming contradiction was, so to say, not letting see it. I had some kind of abruption that could be described as something like this: if I don`t believe in supernatural, considering it absolutely impossible, then how can I take the concept of the Creator seriously at all, how can I use this information in the process of my intellectual and spiritual work? But when I managed to realize that the creation of the world by the Creator didn`t have to be a supernatural act, things fell into place and further knowledge perfectly fit itself in the scheme given to me.

Here is the way it goes: typical stereotypes, deeply rooted in our minds, don`t let us see the reality as it is. This is certainly a well-known thing; and I am not trying to present it as my own discovery. This situation when I came across this problem not in theory but in practice and could resolve it in practice as well, taught me a lot. I think that was one of key moments of my way. Then I didn`t simply got to know something new but I broke a very important stereotype of my perception – it was something without what I wouldn`t be able to understand the Teaching.

What is the reason for me drawing special attention to this point – in such a way that I`ve even strayed from the main subject for the sake of it? As the issue of this kind of stereotype is relevant to me as well. This is exactly it that can prevent one from understanding the Teaching most of all as I`ve already said simply because it doesn`t let one even start seriously studying it. People with scientific mindset can be rejected by the fact that the Teaching accepts the existence of the Creator who has created the Universe; but the statement of the fact that the Creator of all is not almighty and that he obeys the laws of Nature as well and that the creation of the Universe was caused by evolutionary necessity is not acceptable for people who tend to prioritize supernatural over rational. In other words, here we see the collision of two types of word view: scientific and religious one. Their opposition as a conflict between rational and mystical perception in their different variations is one of the keynotes of the whole history of mankind. However, the Teaching reconciles them showing that the concept of evolution goes quite well with the concept of Creator`s existence. More than that: these concepts complement, explain and prove each other. And certainly this integration is not limited to only two above-mentioned concepts. The Teaching contains a great number of such moments and aspects. It all can be generally perceived right only in this way – through understanding the fact that those things and phenomena that seem to be supernatural can be explained from the rational point of view and that the latter one, in its turn, shouldn`t make one reject something that is perceived as manifestations of supernatural powers due to deeply rooted stereotypes upfront.

While studying the Teaching, you occasionally catch yourself thinking that it resembles religion in this or that aspect of itself as it is saying about things that are not accepted by science but which have an undoubted resemblance with religious doctrines. In fact, this is a kind of resemblance which is the same as, say, religious view of lightning. Different religions have been considering it to be a supernatural phenomenon, the attribute of God or gods, used for deterrence or punishment of unwanted ones. However, such perception of lightning doesn`t take its corporeality out, doesn`t turn it into a phantom of the imagination, a brainchild of mystified fantasy. It really exists, it is real. And the day came when science rationalized this natural phenomenon. We see that there is such kind of phenomenon but there is nothing supernatural in it. Thus, the Teaching is telling us about many things that go beyond rational at first sight: about the Creator and the creation of the Universe, about the realm of energy and the realm of Spirit, about gods-elementals, about afterlife and reincarnations, etc. However, it emphasizes the fact that all that refers to the area of natural, rational and thus, accessible for scientific cognition. This is why, a person studying the Teaching should be able to approach the material from this prospective – in other words, he should understand that things that seem to belong to religion which it is telling us about are not what they seem, though, they really exist at the same time. It can turn out not to be easy to develop such kind of perception and one can get there not at once but it is necessary to do that. Otherwise a shift in one or another direction is inevitable: whether it will be the denial of the existence of such things or their mystical interpretation. Both things destroy the integrity of Teaching perception.

Yes: it says about a lot of things that science doesn`t know about yet. But this is a common thing when science doesn`t know about the existence of something or it knows about it but cannot explain. The time will come and it will find out and explain. The Teaching, in its turn, can considerably help it with that, showing landmarks to it, prompting it cause-and-effect relations, giving logical explanations to incomprehensible phenomena. It doesn`t set itself in opposition to science. On the contrary: methods of obtaining knowledge existing in the Teaching and scientific method are two manifestations of the same thing. They complement each other and often merge into one. In future when the Teaching becomes the world view of the whole mankind, boundaries between it (the Teaching) and strictly scientific approach to the cognition of the world will completely disappear and they will aggregate. As a matter of fact, they form a single unit now as well – but it is less evident for science than for the Teaching and one will have to wait for the admission of that fact by it.”

The Teaching could prompt science explanations of many riddles and provide it with a number of landmarks for different kinds of research. For instance, in astrophysics – it refers to the picture of genesis and development of the Universe, issues of its infinity, entropy, space vacuum being filled with some kind of substance, etc. It refers to the influence of previous lives on person`s psychology and character in psychology. In biology - as the Teaching is saying about favorable mutations, evolutionary link of mankind as a species with preceding intelligent race, etc. In history – as the Teaching has got some information about very early periods in the history of mankind. In physics – as some unexplained phenomena and effects can be explained according to the interaction of the realm of matter with the realm of energy. And these are just a few examples.

I want to say that the Teaching has revealed the whole new dimension of perception to me and the world stopped being split into two incompatible dimensions for me after that. It has acquired its natural integrity. Many things in my mind have got the right place as well as me myself got the right place in the world, in my own life, in Eternity. Now I understand many phenomena and interrelations which I simply haven`t seen before. I don`t have to make up ridiculous supernatural explanations for those things which nature hasn`t been logically cognized by us yet. Now I can quietly wait for the time when all mankind gets this balance and there will be no term like “between science and religion” anymore because it will be replaced with the knowledge of real state of things.

The place I was born…

Many people wonder why they were born at a certain time and in a certain place and why someone finds himself in knowingly better conditions and someone finds himself in worse ones? Why has Nature arranged everything exactly this way and is there some kind of “justice”?

The Teaching answers this complicated question as well and understanding this mechanism helps to get the most out of existing situation and realize good necessity of what is going on.

Nature determines the best possible conditions for the birth of each human. In other words, such conditions are chosen which give him most chances to develop necessary personal qualities and get better. Everything is taken into account: time, place of birth, parents` characters, household welfare, environment, etc. The best of all possible options is always chosen. There are no perfect conditions; but there can be ones that are the closest to what is necessary.

Not only upsides of child`s environment matter but downsides as well – for instance, parents` drawbacks are educationally important and should assist in the development of certain qualities in their child. Of course, it is relevant for the moment of child`s birth and then people can change. They are humans in the end. In other words, if we talk about an unfavorable situation with parents that a person can complain about, then you need to understand that no matter who your parents are, no one else but them can give you those things that you need. But what exactly they can give you is another question which is more complicated. But you have exactly what you need to get better. Thus, plants are set into soil that suits them most – ones need soft black soil, others need hard clay with dry sand. Everyone gets what he needs most of all and it is what he has been waiting for a long, long time in the realm of energy probably without realizing that.

On the other hand parents should know that they are the most suitable ground for upbringing their own children with their good and bad sides, their internal struggle and spiritual labor, with their abilities and talents and there is a task for every parent to pass on all the best that he`s got in himself to his child. And exactly this “soil” will let their “flowers” grow out to be the most beautiful.

Of course, one wonders how this mechanism of preliminary benefit correlates with situations when a child is physically abused or simply dies from his parents` fault. The answer is the following: even very bad people are able to give birth to children. And when they conceive a child, then someone has to be born in their family. This is a kind of mechanism that cannot be turned off. Those people who need very extreme environment to be able to develop certain traits of character are usually born in such families. At the same time two assumptions or admissions are knowingly made by Nature: that a child will survive and he will change for the better but not for the worse. And the moment comes when he is born – and then all within people`s hands. There are two main ways for the child: to become the same bad person or, on the contrary, seeing enough of filth and suffering enough, get stronger and better. He can die as well: but this is not predetermined. This is a kind of situation when free will of man turns to be stronger than natural necessity. In other words, child`s death or survival do not depend from Nature. Some people can (or cannot) kill him; others can save him if they arrive in time. Human will acts as the continuation of natural mechanism in this case. It doesn`t work the other way with creatures that have free will. They are those who are responsible for each other. This is the way birth choice mechanism operates in general. Tasks that should be solved by a certain person are defined and conditions for solving them are given to him. This is when the opportunities of Nature come to an end and human sphere of influence begins. The fruits they will get depend on the way they turn it all.

A person, realizing the way this mechanism works, stops complaining that he was allegedly born not where he should and that he had bad luck with his parents and there is no opportunity to fulfill himself in such conditions. You come to the understanding that you are in the right place and time and more than that, they are best of what is possible for you. In other words, you can make as much profit of positive sides as of negative ones. That is to say that you need to know that you have all the tools to refine yourself under any conditions of your existence, the set of all tools that you`ve got when you were born. You only need to learn how to use them.

And there is the second moment that comes out of it all that refers to parents – you shouldn`t think that you cannot become a good parent for your child for whatever reason. You are already the best parent because of the fact that it was you who gave birth to this child and the main thing is to try to give him as much of those best things that you have as possible.

And there is one more thing that must be stressed that everything is based not on desire or retribution. In other words, man is born not in the place where he wants (this is one extreme) and not where he should suffer for his past sins (this is another extreme) but where there are best conditions for his development. So, the principle of natural pragmatism also works in this case. And this is what turns out to be a fine line between two extremes – when everything adjusts to man`s whims and when everything is specially aimed against him. In other words, the scheme is optimal. Another thing is that people often manage to turn it to evil with their actions and turn it inside out; but these are only “by-products” of our movement to perfection.

From dreams to awakening

Imagine such kind of situation: you have been sleeping and you saw a dream in which you were running through the forest and you were chased by wolves. When a wolf practically ran you down and got you by your heels, you woke up in terror. You are lying in your bed in a cold sweat and rejoicing that it has been just a dream. Then you get up, go to the bathroom, wash your hands and face, clean your teeth. Suddenly you hear growling behind you. You turn around and see that there is a grinning wolf standing in the corridor that will attack you in a moment. Then you scream in terror – and wake up for the second time. Such experience can be called as a dream inside another dream: a person is thinking that he has already woken up but is actually sleeping.

Presence of a person in such dreams can be partially compared with his presence in a matrix, in some kind of relatively artificial world that is just a small and limited part of bigger reality. If you come to think of the way the world around you is set, then you can come to the understanding that we are actually living in such matrix for a time. The Universe has a three-layer shape: the Spirit forms the main and most important part of it, energy is more “solid” layer and matter forms the last and most “dense and inflexible” one. Thus, dying in the outworld a human doesn`t actually die but, on the contrary, awakens in the realm of energy. But the realm of energy also takes a back seat to the realm of Spirit. So, living in the physical world, we live as if we were in a dream inside another dream. We are constantly present in some kind of artificial reality created for us so that we could gain valuable experience staying inside it. Just as there is something that is possible in dreams but what is impossible in waking, so there is something that is possible in the material world but what is impossible on other levels as well, for instance, the birth of children. Our physical body is just a projection of our real selves, a tool created for our mind to control it, to act under the conditions of the material world. It can be said that this is our Avatar if you like to use a modern language.

Such attitude to life makes very big difference because you begin to understand that this reality itself shouldn`t be perceived as something finite: it is only a field for improving certain qualities. So, in fact, those people who consider that they are living in a matrix, controlled dream or something like that are not totally wrong. At least they are more right than materialists that are obsessed with this world as the essence of all. We all are inside this matrix with a special mission and we won`t get out of it until we complete our mission – in other words, we'll be endlessly coming back inside it. And when we come to the end of our way in material reality, we`ll stay in another matrix until we finally reach the necessary level and join our other “selves” to find a complete yourself in the end.

The perfection of Spirit is not only man`s main goal but Universe`s as well. And we are passing through this evolution together. When you understand that you live not only one life but many, your perception changes a lot in another kind of sense: you begin to cherish your life because you feel keenly its transience. It` like a beautiful flower that bursts only once for the whole eternity. And there will never be the same flower anymore. It is unique.

Life transience and understanding that there is still a long way ahead allow you not to get too much frustrated because of different misfortunes. In the end if many things have gone wrong in this life, they will go right in another one: the one who has been blind, will have sight, the one who hasn`t been able to walk, will be able to run, the one who hasn`t been able to afford himself a hunk of bread, will be crammed up. It doesn`t mean that you need to give up. On the contrary: you need to fight, changing what can be changed for the better. As the future is a fruit of human`s labor.

Being a part of the Universe, a person is responsible not only for himself but for the whole world, for other people. And this should be taken literally: making a small part of Spirit better, we let everyone breathe freely. And looking at all this, you understand that true values are far from being material benefits as you can only take a true benefit which is your spirituality to your grave. We are certainly striving for material benefits as well. And there is nothing wrong with it if you remember the main thing: you need all this just to make the world better. For those who are thinking just in economical terms, living only for their own pleasure and other material benefits, I can give an answer using their own language: “All your investments in real estate, gold, currency are short-term investments with very low return rate. That`s why, it is far more rational to make investments into something truly valuable. Real long-term investments with maximum return are investments in Spirit, in your own moral development and realization, and these exact investments will serve you for more than one life. All material will stay here and you won`t even remember it; and those things that are truly yours will stay with you forever.”

One more principle comes out of realization of human lives` scale. When you realize what direction the development of the Universe and human as a part of it is moving in, you begin to understand that no good cause can be reached by using bad means as the aim is the perfection of Spirit. In other words, there is nothing that is worth acting in a bad way because any bad deed is pulling you back; and the merit of a person doing good through bad is false. One can reach goodness by using only good ways because all other ways are only turning back the clock.

Thus, understanding the true state of things lets one realize the following. Life is a kind of matrix that is given to us for our own perfection; the only truly valuable thing that a person has is the purity of his Spirit because it`s the only thing that he can take with him to the future; good things can only be done by using good means, all other means are only putting obstacles on one`s way. There is a grain ripening inside every man that will let you wake up and continue your way on much higher level of quality after reaching its spiritual maturity as we all are heading towards Reality.

“Lost in a sandbox”

“I`ve understood what your trouble is: you are too serious! Smart face is not a sign of man`s intelligence, sirs. All silly things on earth are done with this facial expression. Smile, sirs! Smile!”

“That same Munchausen” movie

The more I am reflecting on this life, the more I realize that all troubles of mankind come from people being carried away with their games. They forget that they came to earth temporarily, only for a short time, and that the main aim of every person in this life is to become a Human. People come to this life like kids to a sandbox, only for an hour, but they forget about anything and everything in their games. They seriously think that sand in their sand molds is gold and fight for it. They build their sandcastles and believe that they will stand for ages. They are ready to offend and torture each other for a convenient trowel or a beautiful pail. They are so enwrapped in their game that they are fighting for their part of the sandbox as if it was the last thing that they had in their life and are irreconcilable to each other`s customs because ones want to decorate their sandcastles with flowers and others – with rocks. It looks so absurd from the outside.

How the world would change if, at least, sometimes people stopped and remembered why they were here. Parents bring their kids to a sandbox so that they would learn how to communicate, understand and help each other; they give their kids trowels and sand molds so that they would try to find a common language with other kids and build something together. Grown-ups are wondering why their little Vasya hasn`t shared his small rakes with Masha – but they behave in the same way only in their own “sandbox”. People are so absorbed in life, pettiness and short-sightedness that they do not see anything further than their sand. And how hard it can be to say “stop” to yourself when you are carried away with playing with another trifle. How hard it is to rise above your emotions and look at everything from above. How important it is to ask yourself every day: “Why am I here and what will happen when my hour in the sandbox is over? – My castle will fall to pieces and gold will turn into a plain sand again and I won`t take anything from it with me. Then what will I take with me? – Tears and resentments, a fight for a small spade, and sorrow from realizing the fact that I couldn`t make friends with anyone.” But he should take something really different because the most important will happen there after you leave a sandbox. And that person who has learnt to love, share, help, respect – only he will be coming back home with the feeling of joy that the hour that he has spent in the sandbox was not spent in vain.

I`ve told that myself and will be telling this to my children: “There is nothing in this world that is worth mean acting, lying behaving yourself as a coward and scoundrel – absolutely nothing. Everything around us is sand and it is silly to set it as the aim of your life. And even life is not the end in itself. We are here to obtain those good qualities that make us humans. We are here to give the world the goodness that it hasn`t got before we came to this world – and it has nearly everything that you can imagine. It doesn`t have one thing which is the ability to choose good from evil and good and bring it up increasing it hundredfold. But man is so beautiful and great that can do even this. And it can be done by anyone who will distract his attention from his own sandbox, wipe a mournful grimace from his face and finally start smiling to himself and the whole world.”

From dreams to awakening (part two)

Continuing to reflect on my life in matrix, I would like to draw your attention to another important aspect. Saying that we actually control our body as our avatar for the sake of perfecting our spiritual qualities, one cannot but ask yourself a question: and what am I? What is this exact selfhood that controls its avatar if body is just a tool? The answer to this question is easy and difficult at the same time. Selfhood is a small part of Spirit that is responsible for a certain avatar, the small part on which level all spiritual work is being done. It can be said that it is a body cell. However, it is true to some degree – as Spirit is one and this means that it is divided into small parts only formally and temporarily. The division of Spirit is provided by evolution for higher quality of development. But, in fact, there is no division at all. Spirit is one; only avatars that it is present in are divided. Imagine a soap bubble flying through the “air of the Universe.” We can say that the bubble is filled with air and consider it as a separate object. However, at the same time we understand perfectly well that the air inside the bubble is actually inseparable from the air that is around it. There is a thin soap film – but it is fragile and will disappear in some moments. One can also imagine that for those few seconds while the bubble is flying, very important changes are taking place inside it and the air inside the bubble is getting better. At the same time improved air properties are being immediately passed through bubble`s walls into external space, perfecting it. In other words, the air comes through the bubble. This is very rough example but by using it I wanted to show you that our bodies-avatars are just soap bubbles that are very important but still so insignificant in contrast to the “infinite air of the Universe”. You will ask me: “But where is our selfhood? And is it here at all if the air is constantly coming through the bubble? Or there is only a single selfhood that we`ll get lost in right after soap film bursts?” I will reply to this saying that our selfhood exists but it is not limited with the air inside the soap bubble. It equals the Universe. You won`t lose your selfhood but will get all missing parts of yours that are inside other bubbles. You are the whole air. And you are inside every bubble. Every avatar is yours but you are, so to say, concentrated on one bubble only at a given moment of time. If you imagine a computer game where you have one hundred characters right from the start, it will be easy to guess then that while you are using one of them, others will be acting, so to say, on their own, according to a scenario attached to them by you. They all are your characters; each of them has a separate task of his own but your personality is behind each of them. Looking at other avatars, you look at yourself. There are no other people at all: they are all you. We are united, we are the one and we are the Universe. Talking to you, I am talking to myself. Just realize these scale and diversity and you will fall in love with the whole Universe and every part of it. You are grass beneath your feet and infinite number of stars above you. And all bad and good things are you as well together with all the laws of Nature, past and future. And you are also all that you are able to think of and all that you are not. Your limits are the limits of the Universe. Soap film will burst and then a new one will form and you will be inside each one. Hear me because I am saying this with your lips. There is nothing for you in the diversity of our Universe except of yourselves. Enjoy, love, cherish this.

From human to god (published in issue no. 3 of “OUR SPACE” magazine)

Is there a man that has never dreamt of becoming a god? Different heroes having powers of gods or gods themselves that have been cooperating with humans and influenced their fate are mentioned in the folklore of different countries. No doubt that the concept of some kind of power that will make humans get closer to gods fascinates people till the present day. What prospective does this seemingly mythological concept has?

If we say about the Teaching, it explains that all things have their energy component that is called “elemental”. Elementals are like “programs”, intelligent according to their functionality and tasks. The laws of Nature also have their own elementals from local up to planetary or even universal scale and they are called “gods” in the Teaching. Every “god” like that performs his own function that has been incumbent on him by the Universe; and the more “authority” he has, the more powerful and intelligent he is. It is easy to guess that scale and authority of some gods are colossal and their level of intelligence in some sense greatly exceeds a human one.

If one carefully reads texts of the Teaching, then one will be able to see that the deeper the level of man`s consciousness is, the more abilities he can have. And it concerns something much more serious than the ability to talk with animals, start a fire with a glance or neutralize a strong poison by force of will. If one takes into consideration the principle of Integrity and keeps in mind that not only a drop is a part of the ocean but every drop contains the whole ocean as well, then it becomes clear that being a part of a whole a human is a whole as well – in other words he is the Universe at the same time. Being a part of Universal Spirit and its active mind, every human simultaneously contains both particulars and universals. It`s the same as a human body cell would imagine itself to be both cell and the whole human at the same time or, on the contrary – a human would change his focus of perception and would be able to look at himself through the eyes of every human body cell; it`s all the same. Integrity constantly exists, division is formal to some extent and depends only from one`s view and perception. Thus, human has the potential and contents of the whole Universe right at the moment. Human and the Universe can be literally equated with each other.

Actually human is able to have the power of the Universe and its basic principles, in other words, he can surpass even the most powerful gods in his abilities – as they are only the embodiment of individual laws of Nature. Many people will find such prospect to be very tempting and their next question will be: “How can one do it?” There may be two answers to this question: “If you want to have the power of the river – become the river itself” or “If you want to learn how to become a human, you will learn how to become a god.”

Both answers touch upon such important principle as Great Obligation. It includes global aims of the Universe and aims of man as one of the most important parts of it. If we keep in mind that Spirit development and evolution of the Universe go exactly through intelligent and conscious creatures, then we`ll come to the understanding of the fact that the aims of man and the Universe are identical. They are in evolution, development and perfection. There should be a constant motion to let evolution continue and all events happen in time. River should flow otherwise it will stop being a river, it will turn into a swamp and definitely dry up. The motion of a river is what Great Obligation is. No matter what a person is doing, he should remember what he is doing that for and where he is going to. He should be within a flow. Otherwise he will be setting evolution and his own development back. Reality is of such nature that if one wants to get the power of the flow and the ability to control it, he needs to develop his consciousness. However, the deeper man`s consciousness is, the deeper he dips into the flow. And if a person has been dreaming of getting power and turning the river back, developing his consciousness and reaching the desired level, he will finally become the flow and get all its power, then – but he won`t have a desire to resist what is due. Become the river and you will get all its power.

Talking about gods, we should keep in mind that as opposed to human, they cannot resist what is due as they live within the world. And this is exactly what makes them gods and endows them with corresponding “powers.” Man has got more opportunities in his turn as he will increase his power many times if he consciously chooses Great Obligation. He exceeds gods in this. Fundamental philosophy of evolution is exactly in the fact that everyone who is conscious will come back to what is due consciously after making a certain way. The whole world around us is following a certain priori, it is driven by a life-giving instinct – the whole world, except those who are conscious. They should accept their way consciously in their turn, thus, letting the Universe to go to absolutely new level. When we say that one needs to learn how to become Human, we mean that one needs to realize his way and become worthy of what the Universe has given to us. It has allocated responsibility to humans for its future, its selfhood, for everything that is around. Human is a great, mighty and powerful creature that is carrying the whole world on his shoulders. And this is what every human is. However, one needs to learn this – one needs to learn to be Human who is worthy of this world. The one who gets the power that equals the world is who wishes goodness that equals the world – and there is no other way.

So, the answer to the question “Can a human get the power of gods?” is affirmative. However, he won`t leave a place for pride, vanity, arrogance and won`t let himself use his power harmfully – as great power comes only together with great wisdom and realization of what is due.

Integrity as a pattern of thoughts (published in issue no. 4 of “OUR SPACE” magazine)

Integrity is one of the key terms in the Teaching. It is a cornerstone which practically all the rest is based on because the world in its entirety is unthinkable without this term. The concept of integrity itself is familiar to any person in this or that aspect, regardless of the level of his knowledge and consciousness. Understanding the fact that human and nature are united is available even to kids – as we are absolutely dependant from the environment in which we exist. Our physical body is an organism that needs certain conditions for sustaining its life; and slight deviations lead to its death. And if one thinks how many conditions should have coincided with each other to let intelligent life exist on the Earth, it may seem to be a miracle, then. Thus, practically everyone knows about integrity on this level – human and the world are united like human body cells and human body. Understanding only this aspect makes a person more cautious; he begins to cherish the world that he lives in and take good care of it: «Live like you are holding the whole world in your hands as a handful of water; do not splatter it” (Walking man, VI, 53).

I`ll take a step forward and move from our planet to the scale of the Universe because integrity spans much farther and living conditions on the Earth obey far more global laws. In the Teaching we are talking about the integrity of human and the Universe. And first thing that comes to mind again is integrity based on the principle “cell-body.” This principle is absolutely true; but it is only one side of it. We remember that the Teaching considers the Universe as a living being that is moving through its evolutionary path. Reaching a certain level, the Creator has transformed into a substance that is called Spirit by the Teaching. Then a part of Spirit transformed into energy – a substance that is denser than the first one. And finally another part of energy transformed into much denser substance – matter. That has been the birth of our Universe in the form that we know it. There are three sides of the Universe that exist simultaneously and are tightly bound with each other and the last of them which is matter is exactly this physical world which yields to investigations by means available for science most of all. The division into three sides was necessary to perfect Spirit inside these three sides by means of evolution and make the Universe take a quantum leap. Evolution follows one general principle – it moves from less organized life forms to highly organized ones, and among the latter ones – to those life forms that are able to think and realize. At this stage matter becomes a tool and a shell for its main contents which is a knowing, thinking and realizing substance. The development of the latter leads to the evolution of Spirit. Talking about this, we are coming to one more aspect of integrity which is the understanding of the fact that three sides are united and inseparable from each other and everything that happens instantly impacts all the rest.

One can imagine this in the form of some Matrix which has been beautifully depicted in a movie with the same title. Let`s imagine some kind of virtual reality where a man controls his avatar who is perceiving that virtual world as the only existing one. Than that virtual world will be like matter to him where the avatar is his “first body”; his physical body will be like energy – his “second body”; and finally his personality itself will be Spirit. Any changes in his first, virtual body will immediately impact his second one and it is natural that all occurring events will lead to this or that type of personality (Spirit) formation. Thus, we can look at our life on earth, in physical world as our existence inside the Matrix that has been created with only one aim: using the language of computer games, to level up your character` personality for the formation of necessary qualities for spiritual evolution. When certain qualities are obtained, then a person won`t need his avatar anymore; he “awakens” from virtual reality and starts acting in his “second body” in the realm of energy and after that he awakens in the realm of Spirit on the last side. Moreover: before a person gets the right of permanent acting in his “second body”, he is changing the required amount of avatars, in other words, he is being reborn, until necessary qualities are developed. All this is a united well-coordinated and uninterrupted process: “Spirit doesn`t have any limits: it is everything, merging with everything in everything. Remember that you are the Spirit; flesh has come from it and will come back to it” (Walking man, VI, 55-56). It teaches us not to be too fanatical in our attitude to the life of our physical body. Body is only a tool, though, very important one but still a tool for something more. That`s why, it is pointless to prefer material benefits to spiritual ones. Understanding this, people wouldn`t be acting low and doing other nasty things for the sake of indulging their bodies. As “avatar” is only a temporary tool but one can take only one thing with him moving from “virtual reality” to other ones: one`s personality and nothing else. More than that, the period of one`s presence inside the “avatar” is quite limited and it is measured in decades while the time that a person spends in the realm of energy between his reincarnations is much longer. It can be compared with a situation when a person was spending a few days in virtual reality and a year out of it and was counting on his “game” but not on real life at the same time. He would be indulging his virtual body to the detriment of his real one, resorting to different virtual shifts for the sake of his own pleasure, not knowing that his real body is suffering at the same time. After a few days of “gaming” he would be waking up being sick and mutilated, suffering and going through treatment for a long time and would even die in a long-term prospective. Such behavior would make one stumble at his adequacy. But in the meantime people act exactly this way. They count on their “game” and are doing different nasty things which are mutilating their energy bodies and are infringing their spirit which is the worst part, exposing themselves and the future of the whole mankind to risk. It would be nice to shake such person and tell him: “Realize what you are doing now and clean up your act!” This is the second aspect of Integrity to which I would like to draw your attention. And it gives absolutely another scale to thought.

Its third aspect is even much more global. Spirit evolution will finally lead to the formation of integral substance which the whole Spirit will turn into. There won`t be a division into conscious parts at this stage and all of them will transform into one integral personality in the grand scheme of things. When I was talking with one man about this, he asked me a question: “What then, will my personality be lost, then?” – I replied to it as follows: “Your personality won`t be lost but other ones will become a part of yourself like recollections of millions of lives lived by you. You won`t lose what you have but get enormously more.” And it made him happy and he left feeling joy, understanding how many things are waiting for him in the future. The essence of this process is fundamental and it is not only what is waiting for us in the future but what we already have today as well. Integrity implies that division into small parts is, so to say, formal and temporary: “Raindrops join – and the ocean is born” (Evagelone, 66). Being raindrops, we are the ocean right now: each of us is both part of the Universe and the Universe itself at the same time. Each person is an active mind and spirit of the Universe in its entirety already. Only focus has changed. It`s like we would be able to perceive ourselves not as a human but look at ourselves through the eyes of a human body cell for a second as if from the inside. That`s the way it goes – we look at the world and ourselves through the eyes of a human body cell. But one can change the focus and perceive himself completely. I am the whole Universe, the whole Creator. And not only a drop is a part of the ocean but that drop contains the ocean. Not only me is a part of everything but everything that`s around me and the whole Universe is only a part of my personality. All people around are parts of my personality as well and I will absorb them into myself when it is necessary. I am acting everywhere, being present inside myself and being present in everything at the same time. And laws existing inside the Universe are set by me and I am responsible for everything that is happening too.

It may sound a little pompous for the one who applies the personality of the Universe (the Creator) to himself and tries to change focus for the first time. But in fact, it doesn`t raise a human but puts him back to his place – the one which he has always been staying. And when a person belonging to the Teaching is saying that he treats people and the world as himself, he is saying that literally, then. It`s him in a strict sense. Narrower principles like “treat others in the way you want them to treat you”, in other words, mercy, the desire to help other people are only a separate narrow aspect of this realization. Perception of the world as a part of oneself, one`s personality is a desire to care for the world in a broad sense and even not like caring for one`s house but like caring for one`s body that requires care, nurture and treatment to a large extent. Such realization allows eliminating many problems – as no one will wish himself ill, envy to himself, lie to himself, hurt himself, consider that one of his small parts is worse than another one. It would be absurd. Absorbing the world into ourselves, we are cultivating best things in it and trying to conquer the worst ones; we are getting more tolerant to those flaws of other people that we have in ourselves as well but at the same time we are getting concerned and strict to our flaws, wanting to eliminate them; we can exult at our success achieved by other parts of ourselves and will be helping them in that. Such perception allows a dramatic reconsideration and making one`s attitude to everything that`s around better. People belonging to the Teaching are living not only for the world but with it. This is where the fourth aspect of Integrity, more applied one, comes from: people are constantly staying within, so to say, a nutrition medium – as the world is feeding and sustaining itself. Human already has all the power that is necessary for the most difficult and seemingly unachievable things a priori. Everything that`s around human is trying to help him to achieve his main goal which is transformation of the Universe. That`s why, there is absolutely nothing that can interfere with him except himself.

Resistance is only inside human himself both on the level of a cell and on the level of the Universe. But the power of resistance is of such nature that one can overcome it. The power of resistance is called Dragon in the Teaching and it is necessary for evolution as a driving force; Spirit is developing while overcoming it. And there is goodness in this principle: “Resistance to Dragon gives power as resistance is goodness and it contains the whole gamut of power” (Eosphor VII, 14). It is like a shot of vaccine which is used not to spread a disease but develop immunity to it. And there is another aspect of Integrity in this - evil exists for the sake of goodness as well so that it would be eliminated. The necessity to split the world into “black” and “white” as two opposing sides becomes irrelevant. They fight with each other but only on a certain level and certain scale. There is as much evil in evil as in a dumbbell that is lifted by a sportsman to get stronger. If he drops it on his foot than it is not dumbbell`s fault at all.

I cannot but rejoice myself, seeing these aspects of Integrity. As they are changing the world for me, for all my small parts as well as for me in other small parts. I`ll be waiting for the moment when everything that is mine comes back to me in a new quality. If we are talking about the way to ourselves which all people are trying to find so hard, there is a phrase in the Teaching that sounds as complete and demonstrative as possible: everything is united and there is simply no other way than the way to oneself.

Declaration of The Teaching of The United Temple

Foreword

This Declaration is intended for general knowledge. Its aim is to notify everyone, both interested and disinterested, about its philosophy, principles and purposes, its views on society and some important aspects of human life. Hereafter are the main points. They are based on the philosophy of The Teaching of The United Temple. They do not depend on the current situation and are permanent. They are fundamental for today and also for the future. They are recognized by the followers and reflect their views, principles, goals and guidelines for action.

Part 1

Our philosophy

1.1 The Truth - is everything that objectively exists. It is reality itself. There is only one reality and it is what it is. There are no different options of the Truth. It does not depend on the opinions of people. Their delusions distort their ideas about it, but do not change it. The Truth is perceptible, and can be described to the extent that it is comprehensible to human mind. A reliable description of reality is also called the Truth.

1.2 There is a great infinity called The Being. It is a boundless space that does not have the beginning or the end in time, in which everything exists as its particles, including our Universe. The Four Great Principles act in it: Vital, Progressive, Good and Reasonable. These are the basic laws of The Being, from which all other laws originate, laws of The Being and its particles. There is also an impulse of destruction in The Being. By overcoming it, The Being evolves, thus supporting its existence and life of all its particles.

1.3 Our Universe is a living and sentient being called the Creator. In order to perceive himself and reach a new level of evolution, he transformed his body into the Universe. The Creator is not a supernatural being: he is the fruit of evolution of his world. His transformation into the Universe was not a supernatural act either: he changed himself with the abilities acquired during the evolution. The Universe has three levels, which consist of different substances and are called the world of Spirit, the world of energy and the world of matter. The first corresponds to the soul of the Creator, the second - to its energy, and the third - to its physical body.

1.4 Evolution is the main law both in The Being and in our Universe. There are no supernatural powers nor miracles that violate natural laws. Those who are called gods, or higher elementals, in the Teaching, are the personified laws of Nature, that is, the functions of the Creator's body. These laws come from the world of Spirit and manage the lives of two other worlds.

In the world of energy, their carriers are a kind of living matrices - energy beings with a special form of consciousness. Their purpose is to implement these laws properly, and they cannot act against their purpose. We call them gods.

1.5 Good and evil are objective concepts and do not depend on people's opinions. Good is what benefits The Being and the Universe, contributes to their evolution and continuation of their lives, and evil is what prevents it and leads to destruction. In our Universe the manifestation of the destruction impulse is the highest elemental called the Dragon. He creates resistance, by overcoming it the Creator is internally perfected.

1.6 There are two forms of mind: passive, or preserving, and active, or cognizing. A passive mind is inherent in everything in the universe; it manifests itself in the form of instincts. Active mind is also present in everything, but in the form of a latent potential. It manifests itself only in creatures that have reached a certain evolutionary level. Such creatures are called sentient beings, since they are able to actively perceive the world and themselves, to be aware of what is known, to analyze and comprehend information, and to creatively apply gained knowledge. Only sentient beings have free will and can make a conscious choice.

1.7 There are many types of sentient beings in the Universe, that is, intelligent races that have appeared on different planets during evolution. The mind of the Creator is manifested through them, thus he perceives himself and improves himself. Humans are one of these intelligent races. All intelligent races of the universe are united by a common purpose and a single meaning of existence.

1.8 The essence of the Creator’s internal evolution is to perfect the Spirit, that is, his soul, which contains his mind and personal qualities. In every conscious person there is a particle of the Spirit, which he must perfect through cognition and moral choice. A particle comes out of the world of Spirit and becomes a soul of a sentient being and the basis of his personality. By reaching the highest possible level of development it returns to the world of Spirit and merges with other particles within. When the whole soul of the Creator passes through the sentient beings and becomes more perfect, the Creator will experience a qualitative change and will be at a new stage of his evolution. However, if this process is excessively delayed and does not end in time, the Creator will perish. Thus, his further fate - that is, the fate of the Universe - depends on the sentient beings.

1.9 The meaning of life of a person as a sentient being is in perfection of the Creator. Each of us is responsible for a part of his soul that he carries within. For this we get the right to life. We must work to perfect the Creator; this is called The Great Duty. The two components of this work are cognition and morality. We know reality, we know good and evil and we make a series of moral choices between them. When a person makes a choice in favor of good, he thereby improves his particle of the Spirit, increases its quality. If he chooses in favor of evil, his improvement slows down.

1.10 Perfection of a particle of the Spirit is not an easy task, which is almost impossible to accomplish in one life. Therefore, a person lives through a number of lives. When his physical body dies, his soul (that is, the energy body and the Spirit) remains in the world of energy for awhile, and then is born in a new body. The time and place of a new birth does not depend on a person’s desire, but is determined by the laws of Nature, which direct him to the place with the best conditions for his development. There is no spiritual degradation; the achievements of each life are added to the achievements of the previous lives. Rebirths continue until a person gains enough experience and improves his Spirit as far as possible. Then the particle of the Spirit, now of a higher level, returns to the world of Spirit.

1.11 A man is a particle of the Creator, and by perfecting himself, he perfects the Creator. This occurs through moral choice, which is made possible through perception and free will. Therefore, a person should percieve and try to lead a moral life. You need to fight with your vices, defeat them and develop positive qualities in yourself. That is how the Spirit is perfected. Therefore, morality comes before anything else. We need to learn to love people and everything that exists, we need to benefit society and try to make the world a better place. It is necessary to fulfill the Great Duty: this is the meaning of life. We must not forget that each of us has a personal responsibility for the future of the Creator.

1.12 Humanity exists to fulfill the Great Duty. To do this, it perceives the world and improves intellectually, morally and socially. There is a natural process of fusion of nations. Over time, they will become a single nation, with a single culture, a single worldview and a single United philosophy. Humanity is a cosmic race in its potential. People will go into deep space, will explore and inhabit other planets. Humanity will come into contact with other intelligent races, will have a common philosophy with many of them. They will cooperate on the basis of the common fulfillment of the Great Duty. When humanity reaches the maximum level of development, it will cease to exist, as its task will be completed, and people will move into the world of Spirit.

Part 2

Our teaching

2.1 The Teaching of The United Temple is not a religion. It does not recognize the existence of any supernatural powers, does not teach to worship anything, does not have a cult, shrines and saints, prayers, mystical sacraments and other attributes of religion. It is a spiritual path based on knowledge and moral principles. By the "temple" we mean the world in which we live, Nature, the Universe. You are to perceive them in such a way and try to behave accordingly.

2.2 Mankind is experiencing serious difficulties with cognition and moral development. Therefore, Nature helps us through one of the highest elementals, whom we call the God of Wisdom. This is the one who stores all information about the Universe. It transfers some knowledge to intelligent races that have similar difficulties, and thereby stimulates their development, helping them not to fade away. During the human history, which is actually much longer than is commonly believed, people received help from him twenty-six times. We call these informational messages -revelations, and people who received them directly from the God of Wisdom - prophets. Thus, the Teaching has come into our world more than once during the periods of deep crisis. Moreover, it always remained a property of a narrow circle of initiates, spreading indirectly. Its mission was not to proclaim the Truth openly, but only to direct people to it. Having completed the task, it disappeared every time.

2.3. The current, twenty-seventh revelation is special - because the situation is especially difficult. Humanity is in a spiritual and moral crisis again, and at the same time, for the first time in its history, it can completely destroy itself. Therefore, now the Teaching is intended for all people. It is transmitted openly and contains more information than previous revelations. This revelation is final one: there will be no more.

2.4 The Teaching was founded by the prophet Atarchat on the 1st of March 1996. The Prophet is the head of the teaching and is the highest authority in all matters related to it. In these matters, his judgment and his establishment cannot be challenged, since he is connected with the source of revelation. The collection of the fundamental texts of the Teaching is called the pandect “Erma”. It cannot be written by anyone except the prophet, and the texts included in it must not be changed. The Pandect is the main source of the Teaching, along with the living word of the prophet.

2.5 In the heart of the Teaching are its principles. Each follower is an apprentice receiving knowledge from the Teacher. He should honor his Teacher and trust him fully. The Teacher should transfer knowledge to the apprentices, teach them to follow these principles in life, explain obscure moments of the Teaching and, if necessary, help with advice in difficult life situations. The teacher should also be a role model in following the Teaching. He is obliged to do everything possible so that his apprentices can study the Teaching and develop spiritually, and cannot demand or expect any reward from them.

2.6 Any sane person who has reached the age of 21 years can join the Teaching. His decision to join should be deliberate and voluntary. The entrant must have an idea of the philosophy of the teaching, understand its goals and principles and accept them as his own. Upon entry, no oaths and obligations are made, only a firm intention to follow the chosen path is confirmed. Resignation from the Teaching is free, without any conditions and obstacles.

2.7 The follower must uphold the principle of paths' purity. It is impossible to follow the Teaching and other spiritual paths at the same time and bring their elements into it. This will violate the integrity of the path and make it unsuitable for spiritual development. However, acquaintance with other spiritual paths is not prohibited for the followers of the Teaching, what is more, it is recommended.

2.8 There are no obligatory monetary contributions in the Teaching. Followers are not obliged to make donations, they are not obliged to buy something related to the Teaching. They are also not obliged to participate in the Teaching related matters, such as promotion, attracting new followers. They should only understand the Teaching, and it is expected that they will do their best to follow its principles.

2.9 There are no specially developed practices for spiritual development in the Teaching. The best and the most effective practice in this sense is a righteous life. You need to know the Truth and learn how to live in accordance with it, you need to lead a moral life and try to be useful to people and the world. The Teaching does not command or forbid; it tells what is right and what is not, and explains why. If a follower really seeks the Truth and tries to follow it, he will motivate himself to follow the right path and avoid the wrong ones.

2.10 The Teaching is a supranational community uniting people from different nations. Not only those followers who live in the world of matter, but also those who are in the world of energy between rebirths belong to it. It is also the philosophy of many intelligent races in the Universe. Thus, it is not only a supranational community, but also a supraspecific one. All its followers - people and others sentient beings, who are in the world of matter and in the world of energy - consider themselves to be one nation, called the Eternal Nation.

2.11 The Teaching does not contradict science. Everything that it talks about is real, and does not contain mysticism. Science does not have the means and capabilities to discover and study what it describes yet. However, over time, such tools and opportunities will appear. Science will make discoveries confirming that the philosophy of the Teaching corresponds to reality. In future, science and Teaching will unite in a single path of cognition.

Part 3

Our principles

3.1 There is a natural morality common to all people. It has its source in the Spirit and is, in fact, the morality of the Creator himself. It was originally put into every person, since at the core of human soul is a particle of the Creator’s soul.

3.2 Since the perfection of the Spirit goes through moral life, it is especially important to follow moral standards. It makes a person and our world better. It is necessary to overcome your vices, to refrain from immoral acts. It is necessary to help other people in this, at least by example. It is necessary to fight immorality in society, because it destroys it, destroys people's lives, hinders their spiritual development, generates unbridledness and crime, makes our world a dangerous place.

3.3 Struggling - is not something undesirable and extraordinary, but a person’s natural state. We are constantly struggling with something or for something. Each person is inherently a warrior. However, this does not mean aggressiveness. The struggle can be peaceful and without hatred. At a minimum, we struggle with our vices and worse qualities, and fight against what is bad for us. Therefore, it is impossible to avoid the struggle. This inevitability must be taken for granted. The main thing is to try struggling for what is right and fair. Such a struggle improves a person, so he becomes stronger and better.

3.4 A person is free in his decisions and actions. No one can force him into anything unless he himself allows it. If it was different, there would be no sense in the existence of man, because free moral choice is the most important tool for spiritual development. Without it, it would be impossible to perfect the Creator. There is no fate, no future determination. We decide our own destiny.

3.5 A person lives and develops, he feels discomfort, faces obstacles, experiences failures and losses and suffers from this. Suffering is natural. It is an integral part of life and development, it cannot be avoided completely, and there is no sense in striving for this. Problems and difficulties are a natural part of life. By overcoming problems, difficulties and suffering, we are improving. They are an important evolutionary factor, and we need to treat them that way.

3.6 Death is not the end of human life. Only the physical body dies, and the person some time remains in the world of energy, after that he is born again. Therefore, one should not be afraid of death as something most terrible and irreparable. You should remembered that your current life is only an episode, a link in a long chain of rebirths. If it is overshadowed by great misfortunes, losses and suffering, then all of them are temporary and in the next life everything will be different. You should not despair and assume that everything is lost. It is necessary to use problems as an opportunity for development in this life.

3.7 A body does not have its own value. It is only a material shell of the soul, the tool used for its improvement. Therefore, it is wrong to put the interests and well-being of a body above moral principles and perfecting the soul. The internal is more important than the external. A body should be treated as a valuable tool that is cared for and looked after, but not to the detriment of the tasks for which it was created.

3.8 Spirituality is not necessarily the same as religion. Spiritual values are created through art, philosophy, ethics, scientific knowledge, and so on. Spirituality is what relates to perfection of the Spirit, contributes to this process. It is associated with the Great Duty. In order to successfully fulfill it, religion is not needed.

3.9 Every teaching or religion has the right to consider itself true. This is natural, as each teaching is trying to find the Truth. If a person is convinced that the spiritual path he has chosen is the true one, that does not mean he disrespects other people's paths. However, criticism of other spiritual paths is possible and normal. This is spiritual pluralism, which should be based on the principles of mutual respect and healthy rivalry and should not turn into enmity. Time and scientific knowledge will show which of the spiritual paths is true and reflects the reality more accurately.

3.10 All races and peoples are equal. No nation is superior to others or worse than others in its essence. Such phenomena as racism, national chauvinism and Nazism are unacceptable. All nations are moving towards a gradual merger into a single nation - and there should be no artificial support of their separation nor interethnic hostility. Men and women are equal. Sexual chauvinism is unacceptable. All people are equal in their fundamental rights.

3.11 Violence is evil. However, it is permissible to protect the right and the innocence in case of a defensive war, in a fight against crime and terrorism and in other similar cases, when inaction leads to even greater evil and is a tantamount to crime itself. At the same time, justified violence, even being a lesser evil, still remains evil. It cannot be set equal to good. Anyone who commits it, in any case, has guilt and moral responsibility for the deed.

3.12 The Universe is the Creator, a living being, and therefore everything in it is alive and sentient. It is necessary to remember this and relate appropriately to everything that surrounds us. You need to be careful and respectful to Nature, people, things. This natural attitude makes us better ourselves, helps to overcome the barriers separating man from Nature, helps to find strengths that it can give us.

3.13 The Universe is a single organism, each particle of which needs other particles and can live in harmony with them. We must strive to realize this unity, we must learn to see ourselves in everything and everything in ourselves. This is the ground on which love for people, the world and the Universe grows.

3.14 One should not hate as nothing deserves to be hated. All is good in its essence. Even evil, creating obstacles to the development of the Being, the Creator and man, promotes their development. All people are essentially good. They can do evil - but it is external; inside, without exception, everyone is good, for they contain particles of the Creator’s soul. If a person commits evil, then it is rather his misfortune than guilt, and he deserves not hatred, but sympathy and help in overcoming his worst qualities.

3.15 Humans are the top species of evolution on our planet - however, this does not mean that they should rule over Nature. The world does not exist to serve them and satisfy their whims. On the contrary: people exists to work for the good of the world, to make it better, to perfect the Universe. They can use benefits that they receives from Nature, but not predatory. They must fulfill their destiny to have a moral right to these benefits.

3.16 Selfishness should not have place. People are not the center of the Universe; everything does not revolve around them. We exist to serve the world. The interests of people, the world, the Universe should be more important for a person than his personal interests. When the opposite happens, then selfishness arises - one of the most unnatural and worst phenomena. It is egoism that often leads to indifference, greed, enmity, violence and other similar phenomena that make the world a place of sufferings. This happens because a person who acts contrary to his essence ceases to be human.

Part 4

Our aims

4.1 The primary and main aim of the Teaching is to help people find the Truth. It provides knowledge that science is not yet able to give. We will try to spread this knowledge and explain the principles arising from it. Moreover, we believe that the obtrusion of opinions on others is unacceptable - even if it is a question of the Truth and even if the future of mankind depends on it. We offer the Truth, but we do not force it to accept.

4.2 We are convinced that the end does not justify the means. A good deed should be done by good methods. Criminal and immoral methods distort the best intentions and cross out the most noble goals. Coercion, lies, all kinds of deceit, bribery, manipulation, violation of obligations and other similar tricks, we consider unacceptable and do not apply.

4.3 Enlightenment and change for the better of the whole world is a very complex matter. It takes a long time to achieve. Therefore, we are not in a hurry, we are not setting tight deadlines, we are not forcing events through adoption of dubious decisions. We will patiently and thoroughly do our job, assuming that it will take tens or even hundreds of years.

4.4 The Teaching does not consider anyone to be its enemy and does not consider itself to be anyone's enemy in principle. Hatred and enmity are unacceptable to us, even in the case of rivalry or any other kind of confrontation. Even if someone is hostile to us, we will not consider him our enemy.

4.5 The aim of the Teaching is to fight immorality, selfishness, aggressiveness, interethnic hostility and other negative phenomena that destroy society and threaten the existence of human civilization. Society should be based on the principles of natural morality, free will and justice.

4.6 The Teaching aims at enlightenment, activities in the field of education, science, culture and art, in other areas of public life, as well as in the field of nature conservation. The actions of the Teaching in all these areas will unfold gradually, as opportunities and means appear.

4.7 The Teaching will contribute to the natural fusion of all races and nations and unification of mankind into a single nation. This should lead to the emergence of a new, United human culture, which absorbs the best features of previous cultures. This merger will serve as the basis for ending wars, various interethnic and intercultural conflicts and will help people unite their efforts in understanding the world and developing human civilization.

4.8 We have no doubt that the Teaching will become the philosophy of the whole humanity in the future. This will happen peacefully, without aggressive imposition and coercion and will be achieved largely due to the fact that the truth of the Teaching will be conclusively proved by science. When humanity is ready, a global state will emerge, built on the principles of the Teaching.

4.9 The Teaching will contribute to the development of outer space, the resettlement of mankind in outer space, the establishment of relations and cooperation with other sentient beings. It will become a unifying factor not only for humanity itself, which will be spread over many star systems, but also for other intelligent races.

4.10 The ultimate goal of the Teaching is to contribute to the perfection of the Creator and the strengthening of the life of the Being. Everything we strive for and everything that we do is ultimately aimed at this. All great things are made of small. The implementation of such ambitious tasks consists of thoughts, feelings, actions, aspirations and work of each person. Therefore, each person matters, he is important and necessary to the Universe. If people understand their purpose they will be able to fulfill it.

Conclusion

The Teaching is an extensive and deep philosophy that applies to all spheres of life, and this Declaration is not a complete statement. It summarizes only the main points as briefly as possible, which helps to make an overview of its general terms. This should be taken into account by those who know about the existence of the Teaching and will learn about it in the future, will shape their attitude towards it, wish to cooperate with it or will come into contact with it in some way.

The Teaching of The United Temple
IX.IX.VII.VIII
(10.06.2020)

Translated by Amradkhari

Mytheyma of Iany

STORIES ABOUT DARETHKHAT

Enon I

Iany collected the true stories about the deeds of Darethkhat and wrote them down. Let them be edification for those who follow the same path. The life of the wise keeps the lives of the others. Darethkhat was faithful and did nothing vicious and that is why not only his acts are edification for good but he himself as well. He was born in the realm of Param, in a village. He had led a common life until he met the Teacher. And that day his life became like a tree that grew to a half as usual but then continued growing gold. He was such a disciple as one ought to be.

Enon II

The Teacher had died and his disciples were to bury him. There were three of them — Darethkhat and the other two. The two said: “We must pay the last respect to the Teacher. We should find a good place, dig a grave, face it inside with smooth stones, place the Teacher into it, make a man's height grave-mound, and mourn for him for three days at the foot of this mound.” Darethkhat said: “Listen to me. Do not render the Teacher any homage. Let us bury him in any place we shall find, put a plain tombstone above and do not stay beside him for three days.” They said: “You are not a disciple, but a jackal. Get away right now or else we shall kick you away.” He said: “The corpse of the Teacher is not the Teacher. His tombstone, his homage and he himself are his disciples. You are going to bury his teaching with him, but I shall take it with me. I shall be gone and you will stay, but in fact I shall stay and you will be gone.” He left and they did what they wanted. And it happened as he foretold – he remained faithful, and they preferred later to the teaching the former life.

Enon III

Once Darethkhat saw how a man was beating the other with a stick. He snatched the stick out of the offender and drove him away. Then he asked the beaten one, “Why has he beaten you?” The man answered: “We have been at enmity with each other for a long time. And today he was in wait for me and caught me all of a sudden.” Darethkhat asked: “If you catch him tomorrow, will you beat him the way he did?” The man answered, “Yes, I shall.” Then Darethkhat brought the offender back and returned him the stick. “Go on with your doing as if I were not here”, he said to him and left them.

Enon IV

One day some man abused Darethkhat calling him a fool. Darethkhat said: “If I am a fool, then you must be a wise man. So be my Teacher and teach me wisdom.” And he began to follow his offender everywhere bowing him and admiring his every word. If he heard a man asking something, he always said, “Ask so-and-so.” He exalted him in every way to everyone and sang songs of praise in front of his house. And he brought him the gifts openly – now a dead dog, now rotten fruit, now stinking rags, now slops in a pot. And he kept saying: “No offence, Teacher – I present according to my stupid understanding.” He asked him in public the questions, which that could not answer. So the rumour of the great sage reached the neighbouring villages. People would come to look at him. Then they would say: “He considers himself a wise man, but he is not better than others.” And they began to laugh at him and bring to his house any rubbish and carrion and pour out the slops coping Darethkhat. And they jeered at him deriding his every word, even a clever one, and did not give him any trust. And his life became insufferable. Then he began to plead with Darethkhat for forgiveness. Darethkhat forgave him and said: “Henceforth do not abuse others if you are not better than they are.”

Enon V

Darethkhat found out that his wife was fornicating with his friend. He came to his friend and thanked him for his helping to know his wife better. As gratitude he gave his friend a goat. Then he thanked his wife for her helping to know his friend better. As gratitude he gave her another goat. Then he sent away his wife and renounced his friend.

Enon VI

Once Darethkhat said, “I shall leave the village.” His relatives persuaded him to stay. He asked them: “Why do you need me and why do I need you? I love you and you love me, but neither you do me any use and joy nor I do any to you.” They said: “Just stay with us and be a good relative, and that would do use and joy.” He answered: “A good relative is the one that does a good to his relatives. I could teach you good things, but you don’t want to. A smith cannot make pottery and a weaver cannot forge. Everyone has his own business, so have I – but my business is none of yours. What I can do – you do not want, and what you want – I do not care for. Hence, you do not need me. And I need nothing from you for I am a hundred times richer than you are. So why do we need each other? And good relationship is not a thread – if I leave, it will not tear.” And he left.

Enon VII

Once Darethkhat felt thirst on his way. He was looking for water and found out a lakelet two steps wide. Near that lakelet there was a man who had slaked his thirst before Darethkhat. When he saw Darethkhat, he urinated into the lakelet, laughed and said, “Drink.” Then Darethkhat threw into the water the silver he had on him. And the man got into the lakelet and began taking out the silver. And Darethkhat said: “Here I have known the baseness of a man for a little pay.”

Enon VIII

One day Darethkhat happened to meet a man who said that he was seeking happiness. Darethkhat said to him, “I shall show you happiness.” They came to the river, and Darethkhat washed himself, had some food and water, looked around and stretched his legs. Then he tied the man, blindfolded and gagged him and left that way for three days. Then he untied him. The man looked around, had some food and water, stretched his legs and washed himself. Then he said: “Now I know something I never did before.” Darethkhat said: “When you have happiness, you cannot see it. The one found happiness that got it back.” And the man returned his home.

Enon IX

One day a man asked Darethkhat to be his Teacher. He said, “I want to have wisdom.” “Why do you need wisdom?” asked Darethkhat. The man answered: “Wisdom is a great treasure; what man will not want to be wise?” “Why do I have to teach you?” asked Darethkhat. The man answered, “I shall give you a part of my property, which is not a small one.” Darethkhat said: “As I see you are going to trade wisdom. I do not need that kind of pay. Here is a riddle for you: if I give wisdom to you, others will receive it; if you give pay to me, others will receive it. If you solve it, I shall be your Teacher.” The man had been thinking for a long time and then said: “I cannot solve it for I am not wise yet and my mind is poor.” Darethkhat said: “It is not the mind of yours that is poor, but your conscience.” And he sent him away. Then he said: “What is the use of telling a deaf man about music?” And the point of Darethkhat's riddle is that a giver gives for the good of others, and a taker takes for the good of others.

Enon X

One day a man asked Darethkhat to be his Teacher. Darethkhat said: “I shall have to teach you for ten years or probably for twenty.” The man answered, “I agree – teach me.” Then Darethkhat said: “Carry me on your back up to the place where we shall spend the night.” The man put Darethkhat on his back and carried him. In the morning Darethkhat said, “Carry me farther.” Next morning he said the same. At noon the man said: “I shall not carry you any farther – you can walk yourself.” Then Darethkhat said: “You have not carried the Teacher on your back even for three days, but you want the Teacher to burden himself with you for twenty years. Your body has not ached for your Teacher even for three days, but you want his heart to bleed for you for twenty years.” And he sent him away.

Enon XI

One day Darethkhat happened to meet a man with a spear. The man said threatening him: “Give me everything you have; and take off your clothes.” Darethkhat answered: “Take everything; and take myself as well for I can be of use to you. I shall go with you and carry all I have with me and my clothes on me.” The man was astonished and asked, “Who are you?” Darethkhat answered, “I am Darethkhat from Sourm.” Then the man bowed to him and said: “I did not know you were Darethkhat. How can I redeem my fault?” Darethkhat answered, “Give up robbing.” The man said, “That is the thing I shall not do.” Then Darethkhat took his clothes and everything he had, put it to the man's feet and went farther.

Enon XII

One day Darethkhat came to a village. The people recognized him and showed him proper respect. In that village two old men were dying, one of them was rich and the other was poor. The rich one sent his servant to Darethkhat, and the servant said: “My master is calling you to his house. He wishes to leave you all that he has, for he knows that nobody will dispose his property better than you.” At the same time the poor one sent his neighbour to Darethkhat, and that man said: “My neighbour is asking you to come to him. He wants to taste the Truth before he dies." Darethkhat went to the poor man. The servant of the rich man said: “Leave him. He is not long for this world; why do you need such a disciple? Hurry up until my master is alive.” Darethkhat answered: “I do not go without the Truth and the Truth does not go for profits.” He came to the poor man and began talking to him. The rich man died two days later, and the poor man died eight days later. Darethkhat stayed with him until his very death and then went farther.

Enon XIII

Once Darethkhat came to the capital, sat down on the street and began eating a flat cake. A noble man seeing him on his way shouted, “Get away!” Darethkhat answered, “Don’t you dare to turn out the king.” The man got surprised and asked, “Are you calling yourself a king?” Darethkhat answered, “Yes, I am.” Then that man ordered his servants to seize Darethkhat, and they took him to amuse the king. The king said to Darethkhat: “There cannot be two kings in the realm.” Darethkhat answered: “There are not two kings; I am the only one.” The king asked, “How can that be?” Darethkhat answered: “You have power over everybody, but you have no power over yourself. You are a prisoner of your high position; but I am free and have power over myself. Therefore, I am more a king than you; and if there cannot be two kings, then I am the real one.” The king burst out laughing and said, “Let me have your realm.” Darethkhat said: “I cannot let you have the realm but the reign — I could.” Here realized the king that there was a sage before him and asked him to be his adviser; and Darethkhat agreed. And since then people had been talking about the king that even his realm he received as a gift.

Enon XIV

Darethkhat used to give a lot of good advice to the king, but the king refused listening. One of the grandees sneered at Darethkhat saying, “What a nice adviser!” Then Darethkhat began to sneer at him saying, “What a paunch you have developed!” The grandee took offence and shouted: “So this is what you are reproaching me with; you just envy my wealth!” Darethkhat said: “So this is the measure of notability. The one who is more notable is richer; the one who is richer gets more food; the one who gets more food defecates more. So it turns out that the one who defecates more is more notable.” Then he said: “I cannot reproach you with gluttony, but you are reproaching me with my failing in doing something good. You are the one who will never deserve such reproaches.”

Enon XV

One day the king asked Darethkhat, “Whether wealth is good or evil?” Darethkhat answered: “Neither one thing, nor the other. It will not corrupt a good man and will not reform a bad one.”

Enon XVI

Once the king asked Darethkhat, “Who is happier — a stupid one or a wise one?” Darethkhat answered: “A stupid one doesn’t know what the real happiness is and that is why he is happy the way he is; a wise one knows what the real happiness is and that is why he is happy the way he is as well.” Then he said: “That man is happy who has a sage as a friend, and that man is unhappy who has a stupid man as a ruler.” The king asked frowning, “So I prove to be a stupid man, don't I?” Darethkhat answered, “You are close to happiness.”

Enon XVII

Once a grandee, who was not in favour with the king, rendered him an important service. But the king did not reward him. Then Darethkhat put on some rags and began to walk about town begging. The people were surprised, but he was saying: “I am doing this not only for myself but for the king as well. He is even poorer than me: he has no even the rags. He is staying indoors naked being ashamed to show himself so I am begging for us both.” The king learnt about it and fearing disgrace rewarded that man and gave out a lot of gifts to the people.

Enon XVIII

One day Darethkhat happened to hear too much flattery addressed to the king. He walked off to the corner of the hall and defecated there in the view of everybody. Then he bent over his excrements and began to inhale the stench. The king got angry and shouted at him. But he pointed to the flatterers and answered: “Now I am more modest than they and happier than you.”

Enon XIX

Darethkhat decided to leave the king and go away. The king said to him, “Don’t leave - I need you.” He answered, “Come with me then.” The king said, “How can I come with you?” Darethkhat said: “If you need something of what I have — follow me; as for me - I need nothing of what you have.” He said so and went away.

Enon XX

A stupid man forced his apprenticeship upon Darethkhat. Darethkhat said to him: “So be it, sit down - I shall teach you.” The man did as was told, and Darethkhat sat down opposite and spent all day silently and motionlessly. In the evening the man asked, “Where are your edifications?” Darethkhat answered: “The best I can teach you — is keeping silence and doing nothing so that you may do no harm to anybody.”

Enon XXI

One day Darethkhat came to a large village. Some poor people let him in to spend the night. In the morning there came a servant of a rich man and said to Darethkhat: “My master wants you to be his teacher and invites you to his house. You will be well off while teaching him. Here, he sent you a roll of expansive cloth so that you may have new clothes for you done and dress yourself more decent before you come to his house.” Darethkhat took a dog and wrapped it up in that cloth. Then he gave the dog to the servant and said: “Take it to your master. He would not notice that it is not me.”

Enon XXII

One day Darethkhat stayed at the house of some man. That man said to him, “I want to be your disciple.” Then he said: “Take my house, my cattle and all I have.” Darethkhat said: “Wisdom can be neither bought nor exchanged.” The man said: “I am not buying you. I have no wisdom; I do not know what true good is. Therefore I have no use of what I have. If you do not want to take my gifts, I shall leave everything here and go with you. When I learn how a fortune can be of benefit, I shall begin to make it anew." Darethkhat said, “Wisdom — to wisdom.” That man became his devoted disciple.

Enon XXIII

One of the disciples asked Darethkhat, “What is a good disciple like?” Darethkhat answered: “His eyes are the eyes of a Teacher, and the eyes of a Teacher are his eyes. It is the one that would not waste a single breath of a Teacher. It is the one that a Teacher would be glad to live for. It is the one that does not tell the difference between the notions “Teacher”, “life” and “world”. It is the one that follows a Teacher even after his own death.”

Enon XXIV

By the end of his life Darethkhat had nine disciples. When dying he called the best three and talked to them. Having given them some edification he said: “Whose unfaithfulness was not exposed by my life will be exposed by my death.” And he told them to act in a certain way. When he died, people began talking to his disciples: “Have you no shame? Doesn't your Teacher deserve a funeral feast and mourning?” Then the six disciples gathered round his body and began to mourn over him crying and tearing their clothes. The other three seeing that, brought the dogs, which had been trained in secret, put them round and commanded them to howl. Then they threw them raw meat, and the dogs began devouring it. Seeing it two of the six took offence and went away, and the four were ashamed of their acts. This way there were seven faithful disciples left. Darethkhat said once: “The life of a Teacher and his death teach the same thing.”

The translator wished to remain anonymous

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