Compendium: "There will be more joy in heaven...."
Richard C. Cook comments: With all the trouble in the world, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that each and every human individual is a soul worth honoring and protecting, including, of course, ourselves.
It may also be difficult to realize and accept that there is also a divine force in the world committed to our spiritual evolution and salvation. For many who affirm the existence of the God-given religions of our planet, the figure who may stand out as being the most accessible is Jesus.
Jesus gave special grace to the “one sinner who repents,” as opposed to the ones so satisfied with themselves that no repentance is seen to be needed. These may be satisfied simply with following the everyday norms of their culture or social caste rather than bothering their heads with deeper issues of individual morality and mortality.
Jesus speaks as follows:
Luke 15:3-7
Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes:
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance."
Meister Eckhart
Jesus’s inspiring words that defined two different types of people became one of the fundamental building blocks of Christianity. More than a millennium later, the same dichotomy became a topic of discussion among the medieval mystics. Among the foremost of these was a German Dominican, Meister Eckhart (c.1260-c.1328), whose writings and sermons enjoyed a revival during the mid-20th century. This was because Meister Eckhart, often teaching in vernacular German, seemed so modern in his insights and approach that he brought new inspiration for seekers who had outgrown the platitudes of everyday churchgoing and were seeking an approach more inward and existential.
The following quote from Meister Eckhart may be found in “Meister Eckhart: A Modern Translation” by Raymond Bernard Blakeney (Harpter & Row, 1941), p.12.
How the Inclination to Sin is Always Beneficial
Know that the impulse to wrong is never without use and benefit to the just person. Let us notice that there are two sorts of people involved. One is so constituted that he has little or no impulse to do wrong, whereas the other is strongly tempted. His outward self is easily swayed by whatever is at hand—swayed to anger, pride, sensuality, or whatever, but his better nature, his higher self, remains unmoved and will not do wrong, or be angry, or sin in any way. He therefore fights hard against whichever vice is most natural to him, as people must who are by nature choleric, proud, or otherwise weak and who will not commit the sin to which they are liable. These people are more to be praised than the first kind. Their reward is also greater and their virtue of much higher rank. For the perfection of virtue comes of struggle, or, as St. Paul says, “Virtue is made perfect in weakness.”
The impulse to sin is not sin, but to consent to sin, to give way to anger, is indeed sin. Surely, if a just person could wish such a thing, he would not wish to be rid of the impulse to sin, for without it, he would be uncertain of everything he did, doubtful about what to do, and he would miss the honor and reward of struggle and victory. Because of the impulse to evil and the excitement of it, both virtue and its rewards are in travail born. The impulse to wrong makes us the more diligent in the exercise of virtue., driving us with a strong hand, like a hard taskmaster, forcing us to take shelter in doing well. The weaker one is, the more he is warned to strength and self-conquest, for virtue, like vice, is a matter of the will.
The Prodigal Son
One of Jesus’s most recognizable parables is that of the Prodigal Son. Following is the translation from the King James Bible.
Luke 15:11-32
11 And [Jesus] said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son”
Confronting Sin: Two German Protestants
Martin Luther (1483-1546): “For the evil spirit attacks nothing so severely as our faith….” “Lucifer, of whom Solomon speaks: ‘A righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity…’”
Jakob Böhme (1575-1624): “If once each hour, you can sweep up, out of all creatures, over all sensual thought, into the purest mercy of God, into the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, and give yourself into it, you will receive power to rule over sin, death, the devil, hell and the world. Then you can be strong in all temptation.”
Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
The following prayer may be found in “Angel Power” by Janice T. Connell (Ballantine Books, 1995).p.85.
Saint Michael the Archangel, Powerful Spirit of Truth. Take our hands and lead us to Divine Truth. Protect us from all the evil in the world. Guard us and compensate for all our weaknesses. Change, bless, and restore the consequences of all our mistakes. Carry us on the wings of your love and might to the Throne of God and pray to Him with us forever.
Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1943)
Bô Yin Râ was a German spiritual master who was born in Aschaffenburg, Franconia, became a professional painter, wrote a 32-volume series of spiritual teachings entitled Hortus Conclusus (Gated Garden), and gained over a million readers in the German language during his lifetime. During his later years, he resided in Lugano, Switzerland.
His works began to be translated into English during the 1970s and are available today from Kober Press and Books to Light. His writings utilizing the Books to Light translations have started to become available on the Three Sages Substack. See here. And here.
At Three Sages, we consider Bô Yin Râ to be the foremost spiritual teacher and guide of our time and strongly recommend his works to those seeking to find a way to develop spiritually in today’s world.
Thus we venture to offer the following brief summary of Bô Yin Râ’s worldview, one that is remarkable in its clarity and simplicity:
Human beings originated as manifestations of individuated essence within the world of Spirit that embodies objective reality. We each have a divine “scintilla.”
Spirit from which we originate is born from Divine Love.
Many human essences remain within the spiritual world of origin to self-evolve toward their spiritual perfection.
Other human essences choose to separate themselves from their divine origin so suffer a “fall” into physical bodies in the material world.
Everyone reading these words has experienced such a “fall.”
The material world has only derivative or reflected reality with respect to the domain of Spirit. Thus our physical bodies are reflections of our spiritual bodies.
The “fall” takes place on many different planets where essences find themselves in better or worse conditions than on earth according to their karma.
One having “fallen,” humans have the opportunity to gain experience within the physical realm and to work their way back toward the Spirit of their origin. This evolution takes place through soul forces activated by will. The divinely-inspired religions were given to provide guidance.
In order to evolve, the help of “Luminaries” is available; these are humans living on earth who also fell into materiality but then devoted themselves to helping others after preparing to do so for millennia.
Humans thus have the ability to devote themselves to their spiritual quest whereby, aided by religion and the Luminaries, their individual “Living God”may be born within.
Humans may also be helped by “Angels” who have never experienced life in the physical or who have attained their highest spiritual potential while on earth but chose to stay close to earth for altruistic purposes.
Ongoing prayer and deeds motivated by conscience and expressive of love are effective means of spiritual development during life on earth.
Male and female are cosmic forces reflected on earth that reunite permanently within individuals in the afterlife.
Human spiritual evolution is opposed by the “earth demon” who uses fallen human agents to keep individuals chained to materiality.
“Fallen” humans are the only earthly creatures to manifest hatred which binds them to war and destruction.
When the physical body dies, humans awaken once again within the spiritual afterlife to continue their spiritual evolution.
The progress of their spiritual evolution after death is vastly deepened if they have devoted their lives in the physical to preparation.
Spiritual “death” may befall some who fail to become truly human while on earth, while others have accumulated so much bad karma that life after death may be an agonizing experience.
Reincarnation applies only to children who have not gained sufficient physical experience, to suicides, and to individuals totally identified with life in the physical.
All human beings will eventually reunite with Spirit in eternity.
The forgoing merely touches the surface of Bô Yin Râ’s teachings and are not a substitute for reading the texts of Hortus Conclusus. Three Sages will continue to publish serializations of Bô Yin Râ’s books. The next book to be serialized will be “Resurrection,” a book which provides insights into the earthly process of spiritual growth, culminating in a new order of life on earth which helps us prepare for eternal life in the spiritual world beyond.
Portrait of Jesus Christ by Bô Yin Râ
According to Bô Yin Râ, Jesus’s life of love released humanity from the chains of death and opened to all the path to Spirit.
Concluding Prayer
The following prayer comes from the National Shrine of St. Jude, Chicago IL.
Prayer for Awareness
Light above all other light and within my soul, Dear God, your grace is my gift. In the dawn and dusk of each day, in all the big and small moments of my life, I pray I will recognize the unconditional love that is the gift of your grace. When I see you in all that I do, my spirit is fortified, my soul is blessed, and I am grateful. Amen.
Books Available from Three Sages:
Richard C. Cook, Our Country, Then and Now. ORDER HERE
Fadi Lama, Why the West Can’t Win: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World. ORDER HERE
Dr. Lewis Coleman: 50 Years Lost in Medical Advance: The discovery of Hans Selye's stress mechanism. ORDER HERE