RESTLESSNESS OF SOUL -- DIRECTING OUR FINAL
INTENTION TOWARD GOD
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, do not trust in your present feeling, for it will
soon give way to another. As long as you live you will be subject to
changeableness in spite of yourself. You will become merry at one time
and sad at another, now peaceful but again disturbed, at one moment
devout and the next indevout, sometimes diligent while at other times
lazy, now grave and again flippant.
But the man who is wise and whose spirit is well instructed
stands superior to these changes. He pays no attention to what he
feels in himself or from what quarter the wind of fickleness blows, so
long as the whole intention of his mind is conducive to his proper and
desired end. For thus he can stand undivided, unchanged, and unshaken,
with the singleness of his intention directed unwaveringly toward Me,
even in the midst of so many changing events. And the purer this
singleness of intention is, with so much the more constancy does he
pass through many storms.
But in many ways the eye of pure intention grows dim, because
it is attracted to any delightful thing that it meets. Indeed, it is
rare to find one who is entirely free from all taint of self-seeking.
The Jews of old, for example, came to Bethany to Martha and Mary, not
for Jesus' sake alone, but in order to see Lazarus.
The eye of your intention, therefore, must be cleansed so that
it is single and right. It must be directed toward Me, despite all the
objects which may interfere. |
Of instability of the heart, and of directing the
aim towards God
"My Son, trust not thy feeling, for that which is
now will be quickly changed into somewhat else. As long as thou
livest thou art subject to change, howsoever unwilling; so that thou
art found now joyful, now sad; now at peace, now disquieted; now
devout, now indevout; now studious, now careless; now sad, now
cheerful. But the wise man, and he who is truly learned in spirit,
standeth above these changeable things, attentive not to what he may
feel in himself, or from what quarter the wind may blow, but that the
whole intent of his mind may carry him on to the due and much-desired
end. For thus will he be able to remain one and the same and
unshaken, the single eye of his desire being steadfastly fixed,
through the manifold changes of the world, upon Me.
2. "But according as the eye of intention be the
more pure, even so will a man make his way steadfastly through the
manifold storms. But in many the eye of pure intention waxeth dim;
for it quickly resteth itself upon anything pleasant which occurreth,
and rarely is any man found altogether free from the blemish of
self-seeking. So the Jews of old came to Bethany, to the house of
Martha and Mary, that they might see not Jesus, but Lazarus, whom he
had raised from the dead.(1) Therefore must the eye of the intention
be cleansed, that it may be single and right, and above all things
which come in its way, may be directed unto Me." |