(THE SELF, THE SOUL, AND THE SPIRIT)[27th March 1987]

[Redbook3:42-43][19870327:2157](THE SELF, THE SOUL, AND THE SPIRIT)[27^th March 1987]

19870327.2157

Thinking about what I wrote yesterday* – I do not wish to imply that my Self is wholly dead**; but I do believe that at present it does not control my life (or attempt to do so) in the way it did – until very recently. I do not presume that this condition is irreversible. I have to keep, as it were, reminding myself. I must remember to remind myself. Catch phrases – such as 'I shall go where I'm told' – assist.

What is this Self? It is (like many other things) easier to recognise than define. 'Selfishness' is a useful recognition-feature: and all the personal qualities and conditions which tend to go with selfishness: ambition, competitiveness, power-seeking, the imposition of the will on other people and on the external world; even too much planning. It is all about attitudes, and little to do with circumstances (although externalities may well evidence internalities). Providence can take care of these things.

Do not force things: listen to the inner promptings. Do what seems right (but avoid the voices of madness). If it is right for you to make a million pounds, Providence will show the way: if you force it, you will pay in other ways. If Providence provides riches, live richly in Spirit. If Providence provides poorly, live poorly and count your blessings: be rich in Spirit.

If danger threatens, listen to the inner voice. Providence will provide the way out – in the end. If the way out is Death, so much the sooner will you return to God. In the end, only one thing matters: the condition of the Soul which the Spirit carries back to God.

I fear Death most when the Self is greatest, least when the Self is least. Still I fear suffering, bereavement and pain – of all of which things I have known little, and expect to know much more before the end. All these are manifestations of the Separation, essential to it and to us, but we suffer them nonetheless. What can we say of them? Providence provides them: sometimes in response to our own actions, or in consequence of the actions of others; sometimes in fulfilment of the purpose through blind Separation.

Our bodies are wracked, our minds wrung dry – but our Souls need not be touched***, unless we allow them, and our Spirits are beyond all earthly things. Our Souls are in our own care and the care of God; our Spirit is the Spirit of God. Only we can stain our Souls; and the Spirit will draw a veil around itself. Our bodies and our minds may be battered with earthly things, or consumed by flames of agony; we may shed bitter tears, or wander in airy vacancy; but the Spirit of God remains within us, however veiled, and however stained the Soul.

Draw back the veil, as you can: let the clear light of the Spirit shine out, and all stains will vanish from the Soul, and the Soul will shine out in the Clear Light of the Spirit of God!

And in the end, Providence will release all from all things of the Separation, through the Agency of Death.****

*[[Redbook3:37-38][19870326:1543r]{Corruption and Aridity: The Dark Night of the Soul}[26^th March 1987]?]

**[Indeed!]

*** impressed, though, maybe? <871006>

**** As I read this, I am trying to persuade – cajole – threaten a small son to go up and tidy his room (putting way the farm he has made) so that I can hoover it, because if I don't, [W] (who is due back from work) will be upset and do it herself, and will then be exhausted, and will then get depressed.... If I can learn to live spiritually with and within this, that will be something worth learning. <930120>

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