Self Compulsion

Someone may argue that this cooperation with the Lord, which is necessary for our spiritual rebirth, can hardly be possible with people who have been influenced toward bad ways of living from the time they were born. But it is a fact known from experience that we can use self compulsion. Anybody can make himself do what he does not want to do.

Some people think of this power of self-compulsion as residing in a higher self which can take control of a lower self. Actually it comes from the Lord and is evidence of the activity of His Spirit in our inner being. In our determination to avoid wrongs we should recognize a Divine motivation.

Rebirth is the great purpose of our existence, since we can only start a life which is really alive by being reborn. The Lord has an overarching purpose for creation which is no less than the building of a heavenly human society in this world as far as possible, and in its full expression in the eternal world.

This heavenly society has to be made of heavenly beings. And for human beings to become heavenly they have to be reborn. We are born into this world as the children of our natural parents. By rebirth we become children of God, members of His Family.

It is this great goal that gives meaning to human existence. God has a purpose for us, and all the discipline of life is related to it. Our experiences are watched over so that our heart of stone may become a heart of flesh, and we may freely direct ourselves into the order of heaven.