Works Without God Himself

 

There are many who would have all the works of God without having God. These are the men and the women of the earth and of things, who make the world of themselves and of things and nothing else.

This is foolishness, because God cannot be removed from what is already God’s; to do so is to empty it of all goodness, to pour it onto the ground as though the blood of life itself was swallowed into the earth and disappeared. 

Yet in the act of not having God, already, these folk have no god except themselves. In a world of creatures that have no God except themselves, there are many Gods, as many as there are creatures; each of them a lowly God that will — sometimes secretly, sometimes openly — wish to kill all the other Gods and those that worship them. 

This is the world we live in. It could be a paradise filled with goodness; but of our own wills and egos we make it into a hellfire filled with many great demons. We fashion them ourselves, out of our own desire.

Many of the things that Gurdjieff said were and continue to be terribly misunderstood not by the general public, but by those who purport to follow them. When he spoke, for example, of conscious egoism, he meant that we need to have an ego that is conscious not of itself, but of God. An ego that does recognize its place in service to the higher will of God is a damaged thing; yet — and this is the great danger — it is the very thing we tend to worship first, because we can't imagine anything else. We worship the idol, the symbol we have created of ourselves and for ourselves, rather than worshiping God. This is the same exact thing as being of the earth and of things. 

Few are able to see, even unto the end of life, how this ends in nothing. It is catastrophe; but we human beings secretly love catastrophe. No surprises here.

To wish for something real is to wish for God. I note with puzzlement that so many reject God and think God is the one thing that is not real, whereas the exact opposite is definitely and absolutely true. There is a knowing of God that is different than the thinking of God; and there is an understanding of God that is not a believing in God. This knowing and this understanding are not just in the flesh and blood of Christ, they are in the marrow of the bones. All truth proceeds from this. 

If we come into contact with this truth, all goodness and all truth will be given to us; without that contact, we are given the whole world, which is nothing. It is the dish with great taste that has no salt.

I know already from many years of experience that it is impossible to convince the heathen. Those who don't want to know God will not know God. You have to begin with this wish; and what is absolutely clear about so many is that they believe they understand what a real wish is, when in fact they have absolutely no idea. The only real wish is the wish to know God; and unless one begins with that wish, all other wishes are ultimately useless. 

Yet no one can make a self that is selfish have a wish that is not its own; and the wish to know God from within, to know what it is to live in the kingdom of heaven, is not a wish of the self and for the self, but a wish of God and for God. One can know those who worship themselves by this very fact.

Self-worship is of the devil; and we all have the devil in us. Everything in us that wishes for ourselves and not God must be carefully examined, question, challenged. We are permitted to have the earth and things; but only to the extent that we put God before them, and temptations make this a difficult task. The phrase "lead us not into temptation" is about this very matter: we must put God before the earth and things, receive His goodness first. This goodness will sweeten the earth and things in the same way that milk nourishes and honey sweetens everything it is put in. One does not know how much the earth and things are missing until ones puts the milk and honey of God’s goodness in them. 

I say these things only as a witness, because I understand already that those without God and who are not for God cannot be convinced. They are lost not to God but to themselves; and there is a point late in life where this cannot be turned around any more. As Christ said, “Let the dead bury their dead.” 

But for those who have doubt and uncertainty in the midst of a secret faith that is yet willing, I do testify this: to persevere is possible. 

To wish with all the fiber of ones being for the understanding of God's goodness is an act that will be heard amongst the angels; and help will be sent.

Hoping that you find yourself in good relationship today,

warmly,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.