REFLECTIONS ON SUBUD part 2 by Husein Rofé

COMMENTARY on SUSILA BUDHI DHARMA The Way of Submission to the Will of God by R.M. Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo

Chapter 1

What follows might well have been published in a separate book, but it is designed for the public rather than for Subud members. I have thought it might be more helpful to issue this commentary together with a discussion of Pak Subuh's views in general. His book has been read by many people without understanding, since they lacked the background necessary to follow the argument in true perspective.

Pak Subuh began to write the work "Susila Budhi Dharma" at the end of 1952. He was still living in Djogjakarta, where I had met him, and I had in fact left that town a few weeks before, to introduce Subud to Sumatra for the first time. Perhaps it was his awareness of an impending need that inspired him to write it, as Subud was becoming available beyond Java, and would thenceforth be at the disposal of people who might not find it easy to travel the distance necessary to meet the founder in person.

The first branch of Subud outside the island of Java was being created at Palembang, capital of South Sumatra, where, unlike the branches in Javanese towns, I had to seek the members and even the committee entirely among persons who had never heard of Pak Subuh. In time, other branches would be founded by colleagues in many parts of the world, with increasing rapidity, and at greater distances from Java.

The spiritual contact would be identical, but would there be consistency of commentary? Pak Subuh's book was to provide a basis for such unity. Its title is the same as that of his movement, and Subud is an abbreviation of this name. In its original form, the book is designed for members, since it constantly suggests that they should eventually be enabled to check the arguments from their own experience.

It has been indicated how man's psychic' nature is a compound of four factors. After discussing right and wrong approaches to the spiritual Path, and considering the reasons why so many people are handicapped by the lack of factors which should be present in every man, the book proceeds to describe in turn the progressive influences exerted on man by the essences present in inanimate objects, plants, animals and other human beings, which we may also call influences of types no. 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. For those who are disturbed by the idea that a pair of shoes or a mowing-machine may exert an influence over us, it can be helpful to consider rather that our consciousness is limited insofar as we identify ourselves with such commodities. Yet Pak Subuh claims that it is precisely because within us there is an element in harmony with such implements that we are able to understand and utilize them at all. He claims therefore that the life-essence within such 'dead' objects (and physics recognizes the presence of such an elementary form of energy) inter-acts with the corresponding centre in ourselves.

I have called this part of the book a 'commentary', but it does not attempt to follow stanza by stanza the Javanese verse of the original. Rather does it summarize the main points of the argument behind the lines, and then develop these ideas in a manner which may, I hope, render them more accessible to the general Western public. These five chapters deal therefore successively with the approach to the path and the four types of influence already mentioned. Reiteration of certain themes, for purposes of emphasis, is characteristic of the original.

When man endeavours to become conscious of his true nature, he soon realizes that the first step on his path must be the subjection of those instincts which are incompatible with his ideal. In mystic schools of East and West, the disciplining of the thoughts and desires has always been considered the essential prerequisite for all spiritual development. Many different systems strive to attain this goal.

To calm the thoughts, people retire to lonely seashores, to monasteries, jungles or mountain peaks. In the hermit's cell external stimuli are reduced to a minimum: and yet even so, the anchorite often fails to attain his aim, for the problem to be solved lies within him. External conditions may help or hinder, but they alone will not condition the desired result. When seeking to control his desires, man often exerts a maximum of will-power to suppress certain instincts which are an integral part of himself. Here also failure is common, for, just as thought cannot eliminate thought, neither can desire be eradicated by the affirmation of desire.

Results are doubtless obtained by such systems. Those who spend years in meditation, sitting practising one-pointed concentration, forcing the mind to hold to a single idea, acquire some evidence. Yet when such disciplines do not surpass the attempt of mind to subject mind, results are also limited to the subtlest aspects of the mind. The practice of a hard and unusual discipline will produce unusual mental phenomena.

Where strong and constant desire strives to suppress all other natural appetites, there may be remarkable consequences: they belong to the field of animal desire, and even when astonishing psychic phenomena are obtained, these too do not penetrate beyond the psychic and subtle aspects of the realm of desires. To persons devoid of esoteric knowledge, results may be startling, even terrifying; they confound the psychic with the spiritual, and attribute sainthood to the wonder-workers. The true state of the latter may be very far removed from that of a saint: instead of permitting a normal and natural expression of their animal instincts they have repressed them deeper within themselves, buried them in the subconscious.

Such persons are thus more obsessed by their passions than those who make scant attempt to check them; and when man does violence to his nature, his organism suffers. We find therefore that many Yogis, Sufis and other mystics who follow paths of protracted ascetism, eventually develop heart disease or other ailments.

Before one sets his foot on the spiritual path, he should have a clear idea of what he is seeking. He will look for guidance from individuals or books, yet if he has no clear aim, he may well embark on a course which will afford quite different results from those anticipated.

It is especially important to distinguish between the spiritual and the psychic. The latter is the way of the magician, the man who desires to obtain greater power than others, power over others, for his personal advantage, irrespective of the consequences to his fellowmen in the process. Such a one has worldly aims, and little sincere concern for the eternal fate of his soul, whatever his pose in public. Since he has no serious interest in ascertaining the Divine Will and endeavouring to carry it out, methods such as those of concentrating thoughts or desires, alluded to above, should prove quite adequate.

This man will devote years of his life to ruthless effort, will forfeit the greater portion of his birthright in this world, and will probably attain his desire. Thousands, if not millions, who are ignorant of the laws of Spirit, may be impressed by his powers, and will fear him. A worldly kingdom will have been bought for a great price, that of harm to his own soul, which will be under the domination of the animal instincts, unless still greater damage has been done.
The truly spiritual path is a very different one. It is that of a humble man, profoundly conscious of his own inadequacy and helplessness, aware of sins and shortcomings.

This is the way of a seeker fully convinced of his dependence on an omnipotent Creator. Sensitive to the pattern of cosmic harmony, he knows that he has his own particular ideal function to perform as a part of the great Whole. He feels the weight of his misdeeds, his subjection (partial or total) to baser instincts, and he realizes that he cannot fulfil his mission or discharge the obligations for which man was created; for he is a conscious if involuntary slave to his thoughts, habits and appetites.
This awareness of conditioning is already a great blessing, for it portends the possibility of change. It is characteristic of the intermediate one of the three following stages into which the Quran has related the inner man:

Nafs ammârah Nafs lawwâmah Nafs mutma'innah

Rebellious soul Remorseful soul Soul at peace

The man who is dissatisfied with himself will not seek a psychic path, or increased power, since he knows to what extent he is liable to misuse that which he already has, and realizes that added potentialities could be the source of greater sins, worsening his state rather than correcting it. He is no stiffnecked voluntary rebel against Divine ordinances; he aspires to correct faults rather than to strengthen questionable desires. He prays to God for the Grace without which he knows himself to be lost, so as to become a more efficient servant in the service of his Lord.

Many such people seek their solution within the framework of orthodox religion, in temples and churches, scriptures and saints; yet deep down in themselves something tells them that these can be no more than signposts. Every religion has taught that the Way is to be found within. The most noble struggle, said the Prophet Muhammad, was that against one's own appetites, and Jesus and Buddha made almost identical remarks.

Once man is convinced that the only true Way is to be found within, he may seek unaided a direct inner contact with God, and if Grace is vouchsafed and his nature is exceptionally pure, he is likely to succeed. Otherwise, his own inadequacy will occasion his failure. God is ever-present, yet man may be so identified with the consequences of sin and error that he cannot receive those indications which are always present within the Self.

True communion with immanent Divinity may be totally impossible; in other cases there will be brilliant and occasional flashes which make way for lengthy intervals of darkness and despair. A clearly transmitted radio message may be distorted beyond recognition due to a faulty receiving apparatus or other interference. It is even so with the Voice of the silence.

This is why esoteric schools are to be found in many parts of the world; they represent a focus where the spiritually weak may come for strength and guidance. The Masters of true schools are sincere servants of God who make no claims on their own behalf (unless so commanded from Above), and who do not seek personal gain. By this criterion, the inexperienced may discriminate between true and false, as has been indicated in the Quran. Genuine Teachers piously reject any attribution to themselves of that Power and Glory which belong to God alone. They will claim no ability to aid others, beyond a capacity to indicate the path to the inner Truth; and they should emphasize that such help as they can offer is only effective through Divine Grace.

The sincere seeker after spiritual Truth may be recommended to examine the claims of such persons. They have some experience of the unknown Way ahead of him, and can act as his guides and companions to assist him in finding ultimately his own individual road, along which he will then walk without dependence on further human aid.

It has been mentioned that various obstacles and impediments make it hard for man to realize the inner Truth. The first steps of the path will therefore involve the correction of defects and the removal of barriers. Divine Grace is again an all-important factor, without the presence of which no true conscious contact can be made with the Life-force within the human breast. Only what is more than human can lead man to perfection; only the Divine Spirit can guide him to the state of everlasting peace and freedom from error. Man has a right to hope to enter such a state even in this life, but he must obtain that Divine aid which will show him how to help himself and eliminate the consequences of present sin. These originate in his past and his heredity. The Teacher's function is like that of a midwife. All birth depends on God, but the midwife facilitates it, and even that assistance is part of the Divine Ordinance.

To those accustomed to believe in the need to pay a great price, to sacrifice friends, family and fortune, it must seem strange to learn that there can be a way to Self-realization which does not demand ceaseless hardship, and years of self-inflicted torture. Yet, if such is the Divine Will, there can be a route to God which does not oblige man to give up enjoyment of the blessings with which his Creator has surrounded him in this world.

What is impossible by human methods is a very easy matter for God. This world has not been created in idle jest, nor need man necessarily turn his back on it to find what can exist independently of it. Why are we here, if this all has no meaning and is intended to be rejected?

Precisely the qualities present in the world are those needed by man for integration which may enable him to rise beyond the human. Man may be lower than the angels, but he has within him the possibility of ascending higher. This can occur when he subjects his environment, not by flight, but through mastery. His possessions do not disturb him when there is no longer a danger that they can possess him. The highest worship in this world is that of the rich man who can perform his spiritual obligations correctly without being affected by surrounding treasures. This demands constant vigilance and purification. The greatest souls have ever been conscious of the danger that they might forget their Creator in the midst of His blessings.

After the candidate has learnt to isolate the Self from perpetual identification with the thoughts, appetites and imagination, (which occurs briefly at the moment of true initiation), he may become aware of the Divine Presence. This awareness is not a mental concept, since mental activity has become quiescent, while consciousness remains. (Note: It will only be truly conscious in such souls as are already capable of Self-consciousness.)

It is not an emotional attitude, but something which can be felt at any moment of calm: an everpresent factor pervading the entire body and penetrating to the innermost being. Once strong awareness of this inner Power has been acquired, one may turn to it for guidance at all times.

Neglect may blunt awareness, but cannot eradicate the Presence. This Force, which should be known to all men, appears to many as strange, owing to their previous insensitivity. It is felt as a constant pulsation of the Life-force, in which we have our being. We are even as babes rocked in cradles. There must be something incomplete in those who claim to know God and who cannot understand what is meant by this Awareness.

Once the Power can be contacted at will and has become operative in man to the extent that it perpetually pervades his whole being, it controls him in a manner that facilitates the rapid correction of errors. In fact, it may make possible in months what required years by former techniques. This is in harmony with the increasing tempo of life on earth, since spiritual methods should always accord with the nature of the times.

Man must have some true idea of his nature, and the composition of his spiritual framework, in order to understand the character of the work to be done. Eventually he will have to learn to distinguish between the four bodies which correspond to the essences in minerals, plants, animals and men, and yet which are all a part of the complete Man. He must know how influences reach him from without, and through which centre they are contacted.

Sin and error are the product of disharmony. No influences are harmful if correctly canalized. Such ability is dependent on prior knowledge of one's instruments, and they must first be cleansed and distinguished one from another.

The following chapters will discuss how external influences affect these four centres in turn. When we understand the nature of the stimulus and can recognize it at its point of entry, we have the possibility of mastering it. We shall learn how the various forces impel us towards wrong actions. Only when we are truly aware of the origins of disharmony can we hope to achieve a state of integration and liberation.

We shall now discuss the stimuli and the four centres briefly, before proceeding to treat of each type in detail.

The four factors in man's being are related to the ancient 'elements' of earth, water, fire and air. These material elements are however symbols of realities in the ideal world.

Many teachings have described the true man as an integrated synthesis of the four cosmic principles, a reality which is implicit in the sign of the Cross, and also related to the process of conception, hence to the very foundation of Creation, the origin of all life. Man becomes aware on the spiritual path that he has emanated from God and that his destiny is to return to Him. When the four aspects of the Self have been truly cognized, there will be understanding of one's origins, the manner of one's own creation.

Science recognizes that physical man has gradually evolved through successive stages from lower forms of life. The soul is not material, but a distinct entity, hence its evolution has not been subjected to physical laws. Nevertheless, there is an analogical process for the individual soul, with the important difference that it may, in any given case, be at any one of the successive stages of development, quite irrespective of the fact that the physical body is that of a human being.

When man is born, the soul becomes temporarily associated with other elements: the material essence, since the physical body is principally created from matter (especially the skeleton) ; the plant and animal essences, because man derives strength and nourishment through digesting these; and the specifically human forces originating in the parents. These qualities are contacted first in the womb; they accompany man from conception to death.

In reality these factors should be accessories to assist one in his task while on this earth, organs of apprehension to facilitate understanding of the nature of the world and its contents, and necessary relations with these. The accessories should be as servants ministering to the needs of the individual, each performing its own role, even as the physical organs also have their own peculiar functions. Each centre in man is aligned with similar forces in the outside world, and all four of them should ideally be unified and controlled by the superior eternal factor, the Divine soul.

Man was intended to live in this manner. Sin and error have lost him his birthright, though he may regain it provided he can be purified of the consequences of his misdeeds and hereditary disadvantages. This is possible because he possesses a human body, and therefore, whatever the grade of the soul, all human potentialities must be present, whether developed or dormant.

Awareness of true nature is lost as consciousness becomes progressively fused with qualities of the lower centres. Identification results from undue absorption, heedless indulgence and neglect of the need for cleansing. When, for example, a man becomes too devoted to worldly goods, and directs all his energies towards amassing them beyond his real requirements, then his material or physical centre is unduly stimulated, unless he also practises some purification.

Through interaction with inanimate forces, the material centre extends its sphere of influence and develops out of all reasonable proportion. In time, it comes to invade and atrophy the higher centre, which lacks adequate nourishment from the inner source, and eventually becomes so feeble that it has to abdicate its position of authority: the servant then sits in the seat of the master. The essential Divine quality is in eclipse and material forces sway the destiny, which becomes a pawn of the environment with which it is now identified.

Having lost the power to assert himself in the face of his surroundings, man sinks to a state which represents little more than a reaction to the blind forces around him, and his potentialities are neutralized. If the soul remains identified throughout life with the essences of the material plane, it will not discard them at death. Instead of progressing towards a nobler fate, it will remain earthbound.

Many examples will follow of how forces of human and subhuman origin can atrophy higher potentialities, and control the individual consciousness. This sad state does not merely bring suffering upon ourselves, but is also the lamentable legacy which we hand on to our children, who are also subject to the limitations in ourselves. Their chances of self-awareness and evolution are dependent to a large extent on the true inner state of their parents. The deepest potentialities in man are often affected by hereditary laws, as are the physical characteristics recognized by science.

The condition of the parents at the time of intercourse will have a profound effect on children about to be conceived. Any extra-marital relations of the father during the period of pregnancy can also affect the complex of the unborn child, since there is a psychic link prior to birth, even when no further physical contact with the mother is involved. Children created of parents whose union is dictated by passion will also tend to exhibit a lack of self-control in their lives, and will have little resistance against undesirable temptations.

One should begin to direct attention towards spiritual purification in youth rather than old age. Since the imperfections of the parents are reflected in the children, a process of catharsis before these are born will radically modify the quality of the posterity. Those who begin to acquire a more acute perception of their true inner state become most deeply aware of their hereditary handicaps and are true candidates for the spiritual path.

Parents should seek to act in such a way that they may be blessed rather than blamed by their descendants. By self-purification before having children, they will afford their offspring increased possibilities of subsequent success, and careers which will benefit both themselves and the society in which they move. Naturally those whose children behave in such a model fashion and obtain such recognition will be much happier than the parents of those suffering from defects that only Divine intervention can heal.

We see therefore that self-purification means not only emancipation from the consequences of one's own errors, but also the correction of undesirable hereditary attributes. Physical, emotional, mental or other factors may be involved, but true individuality will not manifest until the work of catharsis has taken place at all levels of being. Thereafter, thoughts, imagination and desires will not easily lead one in a direction opposed to his own best interests.

Although progress on the spiritual path should occur simultaneously on all the various places of being, the average man spends his lifetime concentrating almost exclusively on sensory perception. He is therefore chiefly identified with his body and with his lowest, instinctive centre. When subjected to initiation, he is unable to cognize the changes occurring on the various levels, and is principally aware of unaccustomed bodily sensations, and changes taking place on the physical plane. He will not be able to perceive subtler phenomena until the consciousness has become detached from the physical qualities, and the coarser elements have been cleansed. Once the physical body has been thus made whole, both in its subtle aspects and in forms evident in medical examination, it will not easily be assailed by disease.

The next stage will be a purification of the feelings, following which sudden emotional shock will no longer have power to deflect man from his purpose and he will not easily be overcome by despair when his personal feelings are outraged. Then will come the purification of the understanding which opens up the way for one to tap the vast resources of knowledge within the Self, and it will no longer be necessary to depend on external sources of information or to rely on faith.

If progress continues even beyond this, to the dawn of Self-consciousness, as the fourth successive stage, then there is awareness of the true eternal nature of the Self and its relations with the forces above and below. The Divine obligations of the individual are then clear to him, and the limits of his own capacity are also realized, while he simultaneously acquires the capacity to express the highest within him, for the benefit of his fellow-men and himself.

Once the Self is known then there is clear recognition of the sources of the stimuli which tend to condition the behaviour. It is at this point that there is discrimination between those which originate respectively from above and below. Then it is no longer easy to be led astray by misconceptions and errors of judgement.
(Note: 'Intuition runs equally unto truth and error, and can settle nothing if not controlled by experience.' (Santayana: The Sense of Beauty))

The ordinary man has little understanding of the sources of the various ideas which daily "occur" to him, and rarely suspects the very possibility that they may be of alien origin. Thus he cannot easily know whether their pursuit will lead to joy or sorrow. For such persons, many decisions in life are a gamble: one hopes for the best and fears the worst. Wrong paths are often stubbornly assumed to be productive of great benefit; the error is discovered too late. Often years have been wasted, and health or money has been sacrificed pointlessly in the pursuit of vanities.

Correct inner guidance implies the acquisition of the ability to discriminate between the various types of impulses and ideas which emerge in the consciousness; mastery must be acquired over those which prompt us to paths of misery and destruction. A true spiritual course must guide towards separation between Self and not-Self: there must be understanding of what is wrong or right for a particular circumstance or individual.

Progress confers healthier and loftier thoughts and ideals. Heightened awareness reveals intuitively the keys to symbols and mysteries. This potentiality is merely part of man's true birthright, but to seek to penetrate cosmic secrets without having developed inner discrimination leads to fantasy or lunacy.

These are not subjects for theoretical speculation, but are apprehended intuitively when reason is silent. The spiritual field is not to be approached by taking thought, and it cannot be explained by words, written or spoken.
Scriptures offer advice, but stress the need for striving towards certainty based on inner experience. Speculation will cause one to mistake the shadow for the reality, and beliefs will rest on no sound basis of experience. Christianity teaches that it is by knowing the Truth that we are made free. To know Truth, one must be Truth. It is not a subject for examination by an observer.

Divine guidance is at the innermost core of man's being. A mental approach is invalid to understand what does not belong to the sensory world. Illumination develops naturally as veils and obstacles are removed. It is not something to be sought. What does revelation mean, but the disclosing of what is already present ?

Development must take place according to capacity, which varies in individuals. The growth of the inner seed merely requires irrigation with feeling. Do we try to force rose-buds to appear more rapidly? Patient and sustained effort, slow and regular growth, will give healthier results than striving for rapid progress.
The very element in man which demands quick results is one of the factors which represent obstacles! By giving it increased scope for operation, we postpone what we hope to hasten. Impatience is unwillingness to surrender the individual will to the Wisdom of God, and implies lack of trust in His guidance. New barriers should not be erected while we seek to demolish the old ones.

Students often ask whether any additional activity may be helpful to supplement the training in groups and at home. In reality no modification of the existing mode of existence is counselled unless it proceeds spontaneously from within; when such changes are required they will be brought about, or indicated clearly.
We do not need to assert our enthusiasm to reform ourselves while confiding our inner lives to God's care.'
(Note: Some Subud colleagues emphatically disagree. I would remind them that Pak Subuh endorses al-Jailani, who says: "Be even as the corpse in the hands of the washers")

One should therefore follow a normal life, accepting such development as comes. In the daily life, excesses are to be avoided, and a breath of spirit is no excuse for throwing former caution to the winds. Will-power is not necessarily the best means of eradicating undesirable characteristics, for defects are rather to be eliminated by raising the consciousness to a condition beyond them, and not by concentrating on such qualities and attempting to defeat them on their own level.

Man does not turn from sinner to saint in five minutes, and meanwhile we have to recognize ourselves as we are, to take a good look inside. We shall find much that is disturbing, and note the presence of those very unpleasant features that we have always fondly imagined to exist in everyone but ourselves. For the present, these qualities also have to be lived with. Intelligent study and appraisal, watching how and when and why they manifest, will do more towards their dissipation than indignant attempts to eradicate them. We must learn to accept ourselves, with candour and without horror, before we can become something more.

Worldly gifts and talents should not be rejected by the candidate on the path. Women and wealth are not inherently inimical. Rejection of the environment, flight from the world, conduce to weakness. The world must be known, the nature of the forces operating therein has to be experienced. Conquest is for the strong: the weak must turn and face the adversary, and the ostrich policies of hermits solve nothing, since they merely tacitly admit the superiority of the world to that of the man.

One is therefore to make good use (but not abuse) of such forms of creation as may be conducive to his welfare, temporal and eternal; he should mould these constructively for the better expression of his own talents. The Self can be known only through the opposition of the not-Self. Contrast provokes reaction. Where is the sculptor without clay? Can the wrestler develop his strength or even know his capacity without seeking a rival? The more varied the types of external stimuli, the richer the reactions.

Thus the wider the experience of the world, the greater the possibility of Self-knowledge. The environment helps man towards God, once he has a constructive attitude towards it; its renunciation weakens him, since opportunities for understanding are fewer.

The power of God can operate through the man who withdraws from the world, but he will never fully understand the relations between that Power and himself. It may act through the celibate, but here again there will be an incomplete appraisal: the positive which does not confront the negative lacks the possibility of self-understanding. Woman is a mirror in which man sees himself, and God created man so as to know Himself. Without man, God is; through man, He knows that He is. Where is light without a screen on to which to be projected?

It is thus clear that throughout the universe, awareness is achieved by complementary polarities, or by extension of the Self. The father is revealed to himself by the child when he has exteriorized and projected aspects of his own nature into it. How many parents who blame the children fail to realize that they are raging against the very qualities they have themselves exteriorized?

The Divine soul is required to incarnate in the physical man so that it can attain to Self-knowledge through contrast; to do this, it must retain Self-awareness in the midst of apparently antagonistic surroundings. Contact with the world enables the purified soul to see its own true nature as in a mirror; but for this to occur, it is necessary for the soul's relations with the world to be like those of oil and water.

The more successful the material existence, the greater the field for deployment of spiritual capacity. The more extensive, the more abundant the inner energy called forth. When a correct path is followed, there is always sufficient spiritual guidance available for any necessary material enterprise. While the world helps man towards Self-realization, his spiritual activity therein enables lower forms of life to realize more completely their own destinies, since every form can be assisted by association with those above it. By such co-operation in the evolution of humbler creatures, man fulfils an aspect of his own destiny, and through this he can evolve further himself. The world has been designed for the interaction of all its forms of life for mutual benefit: we are participants in a commonwealth.

By separating himself from the remainder of creation, and trying to find his path in isolation, man denies and negates the cosmic order, and deprives himself of accessories indispensable for the attainment of his aim. Here we have an illustration of how thought can lead man to follow a wrong path, under the impression that his behaviour is highly commendable. He pointlessly and voluntarily deprives himself of most of the pleasures and blessings at his disposal in this life, and by such denial defeats his objective. How many aspirants go astray through following the theories and opinions of themselves and others! One may repeat that it is the Truth which sets us free, and Truth and theory cannot co-exist.

In conclusion, it may be summarized that Self-realization involves a union of opposites for the generation of a new potentiality: the thesis must confront the antithesis through the union of Spirit and matter. This law is analogical to that of human marriage. It is in the creative self-projection of parenthood that man cognizes the principles of the cosmic Creation, for both involve a manifestation of Divine activity, and Creation is not a matter of the past, but an ever-present fact, since it is beyond the boundaries of our time.

Marriage, parenthood, social relations, the possession and utilization of worldly goods are all part of a normal life; and since worship of God should be the normal act of the normal man, Self-realization is not to be sought along abnormal routes.

© Michael Rogge, 1959
Animated gif image: Michael Wannet

Brought on Internet on 23rd February 2001. Revised 25 July 2001