n e w c h u r c h l i f e : m ay / j u n e 2 0 1 7
Love memorable experiences, there is great ignorance to be dispelled
and fundamental changes are going to be needed, before the good are
going to be able to enter heaven. Internal obstructions to their spiritual
progress are going to have to come out and be dealt with. There can be
no shortcuts in this process.
2A. The possible equivalent of the first state transitioning to second state in
this natural world:
• People begin to move about the earth in an unprecedented fashion,
both within nations and between nations, employing boats, trains,
automobiles, airplanes, etc.
• New nations arise and old nations begin to undergo often radical
changes.
• People experience expanding freedom in scientific and other kinds of
experimentation, with tremendous growth in every field of knowledge
and area of human endeavor.
• There is an explosion in modern means of communication: the
telegraph, the telephone, television, etc., and now the internet.
The result:
• There is a growing personal independence of age-old cultural, national
and religious traditions. People just cannot be controlled (our children
and grandchildren) in the way that was once possible.
• People begin to realize that, in fact, they are now in some sort of new
world. They give it different names: the post-Christian era, the post-
modern era, etc.
• People, perhaps, look for the emergence of some sort of heaven on
earth, in the realization of all kinds of external ideas of what constitutes
happiness. There is a lot of experimentation in all kinds of activities so
as to secure instant happiness. Fantasy heavens are created that do not
endure, and often produce disappointing and painful results.
• People think they can obtain their heaven without any fundamental
changes in their moral and spiritual life – without regeneration. They
think that you can have a stable civil life without a moral life, and stable
moral life without a spiritual life.
3. The Second State – the state of interiors:
• Spirits in a state of new-found freedom, without conscious awareness,
glide into the state of their interiors. However, they are remitted by
degrees into this state with alternations between this state and their first
state.
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