5742 Earth life end in itself or means to an end.... nature of God....

August 8, 1953: Book 62

Learn to look at the world not as an end in itself but as a means to an end.... Then you will also value your earthly life differently, you will not make it the aim of all your wishes and desires but seek your aim elsewhere. Anyone who only values earthly life, who only strives for things which are earthly and make physical life pleasant, who only strives to create a carefree earthly life which brings him fulfilment, also sees this earthly life as an end in itself, and his thinking is wrong. For it is only a means to an end.... Earthly life is given to the human being in order to acquire another life, a life which lasts forever but is not lived by the body but only by the soul. Anyone who thinks about the fact that he only inhabits the earth for a short time, that he himself cannot determine the time of his life on earth, that another being above him determines the duration of his earthly life, anyone who thinks about the fact that he himself also does not determine the course of his earthly life, but that it has to be covered by him according to destiny, as the being above him wants it, he should already see from this that a purpose is connected with his earthly life, that some success is to be achieved in the time of change on this earth. But this is not what people think about who are solely turned towards the material world and want to live it up to a certain extent. Rather, the fact that their life is a limited one is a reason for them to take from it what they can, for they do not think of the hereafter but only of the present, which they try to shape according to their wishes and desires. They demand proof that there is a continuation of life; they only evaluate what they see and reject all thoughts that remind them of an afterlife. They value earthly life too highly.... and yet would not be able to value it highly enough if they looked at it with spiritual eyes.... And the world truly offers them enough pleasures which they don't want to give up for the sake of an unprovable life after death.... And yet they could create evidence for themselves if they earnestly wished it.... For nothing on earth is permanent, everything passes away, just as man himself passes away according to the body. But one thing remains undeniable even for the most unbelieving person: the all-sustaining and ever-new creating power.... For it is demonstrable that creation remains in existence, or rather that it constantly renews itself, and thus bears witness to a power that cannot perish eternally and will therefore also work eternally.... And every human being should strive to relate this strength to himself, then the human being himself would also be convinced that it is also active in him and cannot pass away even after death. Since man is a living, power-proving work of creation, this power must therefore also be in him and only leave the shell at death, but still be able to continue to work as power in the universe. It therefore only changes its abode but cannot eternally pass away.... For this strength is an emanation of the being Who created everything. And anyone who has once gained this realization also only regards earthly life as a transitional stage where the strength manifested itself in a person for the purpose of specific activity.... to overcome everything material in order to be able to be active as completely free after the death of the body, but this is only possible by overcoming matter, not by striving for it and increasing it, and thus chains of strength to things which do not last. These things then burden the human being's immortal, the soul, which is now powerless, although it is God's emanation of strength in itself, yet it is still surrounded by dense shells which deprive it of all freedom, but which it could certainly have gained in earthly life if it had recognized and striven for the purpose of it....

Amen

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