Values for Eternity
By Ernst Laute
How to I
reach the goal? This question asked of oneself or of others involves the
existence of an inner impulse toward a solution. It may be a desire to be
liberated from fear and need, to overcome difficult economic circumstances, the
realization of a planned enterprise, of ideals and principles and
much more. Life touches the individual life in uninterrupted ,constantly
changing and ever recurring patterns.
This
impulse may also be the motivation for persons who yearn to
satisfy their greed for power, their desire for recognition and who are willing
to realize their unbridled ambition at any cost.
In any
case, it is always a search for ways and means to gain ease and – most of
the time - to live for the realization of ambition.
All this,
however, recedes into the background, becomes irrelevant where an individual
asks himself this question , or where people come together who ask it, with “the
purpose of life” in mind.
The
central question being asked at this time is the question of the purpose
of life .
One more
qualification must be added if the intended meaning is to appear unambiguously.
When the
majority of people speak of life’s purpose, they do not have in mind what moves
us when we think about this subject. In most cases they look for
something they want to achieve or obtain, in order to gain advantages in
making life more comfortable in some way, or to make their days on earth
easier, more worry-free, more independent , or filled with pleasures and
distractions, whatever the case may be.
In
all cases, success is sought for the moment or the near future, and in the
final analysis, it is always the same motivation – ambition,
self-gratification.
We,
however, seek values for Eternity!
Gaining
eternal values is the first and foremost purpose of our striving.
It is ourconviction that we must possess
eternal values as the end result of our efforts, probably not only
of our current earth life but a result of serious seeking in previous times.
This
recognition itself, the knowledge of former and future earth
lives and of eternal life, means that we own a treasure of
value which, for the moment may make us seem foolish, unrealistic, naive
in the eyes of our fellowmen although the exact opposite is true.
We know that we find in the present precisely that which we
have at one time made for ourselves, and we know that we must recognize
the path for our future in what we experience in the present. To
us, this is as self-evident and natural a fact as dying is to all
people when their earthly body is worn out, or, as in many cases, ruined by
themselves.
