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Belief - unbelief.... intellectual thinking - knowledge....

The independence of human thinking is to be appreciated where earthly questions and their answers are concerned, but the greatest danger is where spiritual problems are to be solved. Man endeavours to prove the correctness of his thinking and he will also succeed in doing so in purely earthly results of his thinking. However, spiritual matters cannot be proven with evidence, consequently nothing can ever be intellectually declared right or wrong as far as spiritual questions are concerned. The many-sidedness of earthly understanding requires proof of what is put forward as doctrine. Spiritual knowledge, however, cannot be forced into a fixed doctrine because proof cannot be provided. But just as one cannot prove the truth of what has been gained as spiritual thought, so one cannot prove that it is untrue, for even the highly developed intellect cannot penetrate an area that remains closed to it as long as it does not utilize spiritual strength to do so. One will only ever be able to speak of 'faith'; faith, however, is a matter of the heart, not of the intellect. Through faith, man arrives at a knowledge that he can never acquire intellectually. But it is not possible to prove this knowledge, nor can he be proven wrong about what he believes he knows. And since no proof can be provided, it must also be left to the fellow human being to appropriate the knowledge of the believer. The acceptance of this wisdom is a completely free matter of will. On the other hand, however, his fellow human being does not have the right to make him out to be a fantasist or a liar, for he cannot provide any proof of this either, and his intellectual thinking, no matter how sharp and clear, is inadequate in the face of spiritual truths. The believer accepts these, the unbeliever refuses.... The believer has travelled a path that the unbeliever can also travel if he wants to.... But then he must gather the same knowledge, and only then can he convince himself of the truth of what he previously rejected. Belief or disbelief determines the degree of knowledge or complete ignorance.... But where faith is lacking, even the sharpest reasoning is of no use; it leads astray. Human wisdom investigates earthly problems and yet does not penetrate into areas that lie beyond the earthly. Deep faith, however, lifts the veil of what is hidden and the deepest secrets are revealed to man. And even if nothing can be proven.... the likewise believer will unconditionally recognize as truth that which is imparted to him by a believer. The same knowledge will be made accessible to him, he will defend with blissful certainty what he recognizes as truth, and intellectual wisdom will not be able to convince him of the opposite because his heart will confirm that he is thinking correctly. Thus the truth can only be conveyed to his fellow human being, yet in order to be able to accept it as truth he must likewise shape himself into a believing person who desires truth, only then will he recognize the value of what is offered to him and then he will not allow himself to be put off if the truth is intellectually refuted and presented to him as untruth or doubted. Impressions presented purely intellectually should therefore not be evaluated, but the feelings of the heart should be heeded, for this is more credible than wisdom acquired on earth....

Amen

VJERA - NEVJERA.... RAZUMSKO RAZMIŠLJANJE - ZNANJE....

Samostalnost ljudskog razmišljanja itekako je vrijedna, tamo gdje se radi o zemaljskim pitanjima i njihovim odgovorima, no postoji najveća opasnost (od toga) tamo gdje se trebaju rješavati duhovna pitanja. Čovjek teži tomu da dokaže ispravnost svoga razmišljanja, a to će mu i poći za rukom u čisto zemaljskim rezultatima njegovog razmišljanja.

No duhovne stvari ne mogu se potkrijepiti dokazima, iz čega slijedi da nešto što se odnosi na duhovna pitanja razumski nikada ne može biti objašnjeno kao ispravno ili pogrešno. Mnogostranost zemaljskih poimanja uvjetuje dokazivanje onoga što se postavlja kao učenje. No duhovno znanje ne može se stjerati u čvrsto učenje, pošto dokazi ne mogu biti pruženi.

A kako čovjek ne može dokazati istinitost toga što je zadobiveno kao duhovno znanje, isto tako se ne može dokazati ni neistinitost istoga, jer čak i visoko razvijeni razum ne može prodrijeti u područje koje mu je nedostupno, sve dok se za to ne posluži duhovnom snagom. Čovjek će uvijek jedino morati govoriti o “vjerovanju”; a vjera je stvar srca, ne razuma.

Putem vjere čovjek dolazi do znanja koje razumski nikada ne može priskrbiti. Ali to znanje nemoguće je dokazati, a isto tako ne može se dokazati neistinitost toga što on vjeruje da zna. I pošto ne mogu biti pruženi dokazi, čovjeku se mora prepustiti izbor za prihvaćanje znanja vjernika. Prihvaćanje tih mudrosti potpuno je slobodna stvar volje.

A s druge strane, bližnji nema pravo nazivati ga sanjarom ili lašcem, pošto ni on za to ne može dati dokaze, i njegov, koliko god oštar i jasan razum, u odnosu na duhovne istine nedostatan je. Čovjek vjernik njih prihvaća, nevjernik ih odbija....

Čovjek vjernik išao je putem kojim može ići i nevjernik, ako to želi.... a tada mora sakupljati ista znanja, i tek tada može se uvjeriti u istinitost onoga što je prije odbijao. Vjera ili nevjera određuju stupanj znanja ili potpuno neznanje....

Gdje nedostaje vjera, tamo nije dovoljno ni najoštrije razumsko razmišljanje, ono vodi u krivom pravcu. Ljudska mudrost istražuje zemaljske probleme i ne prodire u područja koja se nalaze s onu stranu zemaljskoga. A duboka vjera podiže veo skrivenoga, i čovjeku se otkrivaju najdublje tajne.

Pa i ako ništa ne može biti dokazano.... čovjek koji je i pored toga vjernik, bezuvjetno će kao Istinu priznati ono što mu je predstavljeno od strane vjernika. Njemu će biti dostupno isto znanje, on će sa zadivljujućom sigurnošću zastupati ono što prepoznaje kao Istinu, i razumsko razmišljanje neće ga moći uvjeriti u suprotno, pošto mu njegovo srce daje potvrdu toga da je u ispravnom razmišljanju.

Dakle Istina bližnjemu samo može biti predana, no da bi ju mogao prihvatiti kao Istinu, on se isto tako mora oblikovati u čovjeka vjere i čovjeka koji žudi za Istinom, tek tada spoznaje vrijednost onoga što mu se nudi, i tad se neće dati zbuniti ako mu razumski Istina bude nijekana i bude predstavljana kao neistina ili ako se u nju sumnja. Čisto razumske tvrdnje stoga ne trebaju biti prihvaćane, i percepcija srca treba biti uzeta u obzir, jer to je vjerodostojnije od zemaljski zadobivene mudrosti....

AMEN