The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in the region of Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 154 -
The spiritual search of the Greeks.
I said: "Listen, My dear friends, although your wish is very praiseworthy, it is still somewhat selfish. For when you were still young, healthy and strong men, and were not thinking of a bitter death like now at your age, the world with all its treasures meant everything to you. And at that time you were only striving for the perishable earthly goods that you have gathered in great quantities by your way of living. Besides, you also did not despise all kinds of worldly amusement, and you participated and enjoyed in whatever the world could offer you and which was pleasing and desiring. At that time you thought only little about one or the other God or one or the other philosopher, neither about a word that could strengthen and enlighten your heart.
2
But when you were close to 50 years, and the life's powers of your body became weaker, and you saw many good friends and acquaintances depart from this life, and some of them under much bitter pain and torment, you became more serious and asked yourselves: 'How long will we still last? Is there really another life after this life, according to the doctrine of our priests, better or still worse, or is there none? Who in the world can give us a conclusive and certain proof on this?'
3
Other people, who did not look upon life so seriously, and who were also less worried about the misery of dying than you, told you: 'Read Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras. Then it will be clear to you what the life is like on the other side.'
4
That is what you did with great zeal, but it still was not clear to you. You turned to the oracles, which could satisfy you even less. Besides that, you came to know that the true wisdom could in that respect be found with the Essenes and in the Scriptures and books of the old Jews. That is why you traveled to Essaea. There you also did not really find what you had hoped for. After that, you acquired the Scriptures of the Jews, read those throughout, but this could also not make you wiser because you could not understand them. The only thing you gained by it, is that it made you give up your belief in many gods and made you believe in the possibility of the existence of only 1 God.
5
During your search, which lasts now almost 20 years, since you are almost 70, you became weak and tired and you caught all kinds of sicknesses of the soul and the body. You went to all kinds of health resorts, and also this one here, about which you heard many commendable things, to obtain there your physical health back again, so that you could search again with a clear mind for the nature of life.
6
On My advice you have now climbed this mountain with us, and as you admitted yourself, you feel much better now than before, down below. And because you are better, you want to hear from My mouth, that which you, in your ever increasing affliction, did not succeed to know in full clarity for 20 full years, and this despite all your efforts.
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Yes, he who is old and seeks very seriously what he easily could have found with much less effort when he was young if the world with all its sensual pleasure and frivolity would not have hindered him, will still find it, but only after he has cleansed his soul of all material dross and spots.
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Suppose man - also when he is very old - would always feel as youthful and in perfect health, being joyful and cheerful, then, what you began to search already 20 years ago, would be, and stay, as indifferent to him as it was to you when you were young. But the age that becomes more and more difficult, and the end of life that comes ever closer, forces the soul, who loves life, to worry about the further nature of life, and will ask now and then about the things concerning the blind faith of the people.
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The dark and doubtful answers that he receives during his seeking purify him by the fear for the death of the body that has awakened in him, which is caused by the love for the world that keeps him imprisoned and that makes him blind and deaf. He starts to despise and to escape the goods of this world, which were once so tasteful to him, and purifies himself by that of what imprisoned him in the judgment and the death of matter.
10
But if the soul, also when he is old, would be able to make the perishable matter of his body young again by one or the other secret healing medicine, then he once more would very pleasantly continue to rest in his walking grave and would not be concerned about his own life. But God, out of His eternal love, has arranged this earthly life - which serves for the trial of the free will - exactly in such a way that man has to become older, weaker and more tired, and especially him who in his youth was too much attached to the matter of this timely world, so that finally also his soul, who was kept imprisoned by death, can lift himself up to the sure, eternal life.
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Once the soul, with the help of his hidden Creator and Lord, has detached himself from the judgment of matter and has found himself in his inner light of life through his active striving, then he also has become lord over his matter and its death, which he does not fear as much as before, and he is not that much concerned anymore about the age and weakness of his body, for he himself has become healthy, strong, and full of comfort in himself.
12
This is what you have sought, and what you have also found here. For he who will seriously seek, will also find that which was sought. To him who knocks at the door, will be opened at the right time, and to him who asks, will also be given that which was asked.
13
But to know how you have now finally found here what you scarily have sought for so long, will only later become clear and understandable to you. Now it is again your turn to say openly to us how you have understood what I have told you. Because a house that has to be reconstructed cannot be finished before the ground, which must support the house, has received its full strength. If you want, you can speak now."
14
Here, the 2 old Greeks were so much surprised about this, that they really did not know how they should begin to speak.