sexta-feira, 6 de abril de 2018

Values for Eternity






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.
  
(To be continued)