#the future in undivined

[cicerobussytransplant]

extremely basic thought abt the master and margarita but i love love love the juxtaposition btw how the devil sort of has this v genteel way of exposing and laying bare the future while jesus, in a similar mien, is always interacting in terms of the present & absolute clarity of character. interesting holy v. undivine moment

[laurette-moi]

The Future is Undivined || de la Spell

[kihaku-gato]

Random Webcomic Reccomendations

This post is dedicated to bringing to the spotlight several webcomics

(some would be considered webmanga but I’m counting them too since they are primarily presented on webcomic websites) which I’ve been enjoying that I hope can get more traction/fandom with this post. Due to my personal tastes I can say many/most have a sci fi or fantasy theming as well as some (definitely not all) have wlw as well.

Since this post will be quite extensive, I’ll first start with a “table of contents” for those who don’t want synopsises or ramblings, but instead just want titles and want to just check them out themselves.

Bybloemen

My Dragon Girlfriend

Sanguine

Straylight Tiger

Cariciphona

Amongst Us

Kiss It Goodbye

Mokepon

Seven Miles Down

UnDivine

Bybloemen

Hosted on its own website under hiveworkscomics

This is a historical semi-fantasy set during the infamous Tulip Mania period of Dutch/European history when people would pay an arm and a leg for even a single potentially valuable tulip bulb.

In this setting we follow two devils Basil and Ludwig and their avian familiars strut into the action, pretending to be foreign investors getting in on the tulip hype, probably to ensnare some desperate souls, all the while keeping man and beast alike from catching sus that they are not as human as they claim to be.

As of writing this the story is just starting up but is already making quite the unique statement. The distinct black and white artstyle is clearly holding homage to the historical “Woodcut” printmaking style in how it’s drawn, lined, and textured, which is a refreshing way to artistically state that the comic is “set in the past” w/o doing just grayscale or sepia tone that one is used to seeing for media set in historical times.

The interactions between the devils as well as the animals they can communicate with so far have been quite amusing.

If you don’t directly use hiveworkscomics for your usual webcomic browsing (so don’t get notified by it) they do have both a tumblr and twitter which frequently announce/link its updates. Bonus following their twitter/tumblr being you get to see occasionally “sketches” (I say that term very loosely) of the characters outside of the webcomic series if you’re into that.

 My Dragon Girlfriend

Available on Webtoons and Twitter

Fantasy alongside modern era setting. It is primarily a wlw webcomic series about a human girl named Christy who is swept off her feet by a dragon girl named Dani, semi-magical/mythical wlw hijinks ensue. It’s hard for me to pin its identity entirely, cause while I wanna say it’s a “Slice of Life” the webcomic is at the point where Dani is fighting a werewolf tooth and nail so it’s hard to pin. It’s clearly romance genre, as even if Dani and Chirsty end up together lickity split (a blink of the eye compared to the slow-burn of most romance stories) there are other wlw subplots going on with secondary primary characters which you’ll be routing for.

It has its steamy moments and implies sex but not so far as to show full-on nudity of the main characters characters. Though there is some nudity of some of the monstergirls such as the fawn girls on the other hand it does not beat around the bush with, but luckily takes the nudity in a natural non-sexual way Correction as of writing this; only the Twitter version shows nudity, they had to censor with bras on Webtoons cause it got flagged.

If you want it hotter/steamier, sign up to the artist’s patreon. It’s definitely a nice softish wlw webomic if you’re craving a lil monstergirl flavour.

 Sanguine

Available on Tapas and Webtoons

Full-on adventure fantasy setting set in a world where magic and mages have been persecuted to the point of going into secrecy.

It stars a cute red-riding-hood-like implied secret-royal (that was too much a mouthful) lady named Red, and a tall gorgeous beefy secretly mage lady named Morgan which Red has dragged into her shenanigans with.

It’s early to call this a wlw gem as of the current updates, but it is tagged as lgbt+ so take that with potential further wisdom.

This webcomic uses colour a fair bit to set its tone/mood, but otherwise has a very comfy/warm feeling about it somehow, like some of those old comics/webcomics/novels you would welcome to read while snuggled under blankets. Also the outfits are REALLY nicely designed, and I could definitely see some peeps having fun cosplaying many of these characters.

As the story slowly progresses I am holding with baited breath to how Red and Morgan’s interactions/relationship may or may not evolve, as I am totally an absolute sucker for “friendly/bubbly naïveish character dragging along the cool/grumpy don’t-get-involved character that has a hidden soft heart” trope.

  Straylight Tiger

Available on Webtoons and Tapas

WARNING- while infrequent this one has some blood/gore that will shake you up, though it puts it where it would be most sensible to. Lucky for you most blood in this series is not the usual human-red blood which tones the edge down.

It may have lots of fantasy elements but this one definitely holds its identity as Sci Fi. Set in a futuristic cyberesque city full of both good and bad superhumans (one group being animal shapeshifters and the other being elemental casters), there is an extremist cult out to wreck havoc in the city, so a company responds by recruiting a handful of individuals from all 3 races to make a secret task force to eliminate the threat.

The main character in this story is a secretly-a-tiger shapeshifter named Angeline.

This is probably the most visually colourful of the webcomics in my list and is really using it to charge up its stylistic sci fi setting. Best way I could compare it to; you know those glow-in-the-dark cyber avatars you occasionally see in VRchat? Straylight Tiger matches that visual energy. Of listed so far this is also the most action-packed webcomic on the list. I could almost call it a Trigger-like comic but luckily unlike Studio Trigger it’s not into going nuts on fanservice.

If you’re craving your superhuman sci fi action, this one should at least be checked out. I want to say there’ll be wlw at some point, but it’s too early to call, and if it does I would not expect it to be a major arc when it has larger fish for plot points to deal with.

If you’re craving wlw of at least mc and her weapons-savvy human friend, I highly recommend you checking out the artist Flying Frappe’s twitter to get some sating for you wlw cravings for the two.

 Caricophona

Available on webtoons as well as its own webcomic site

Tragic fantasy setting starring a supermagical woman named Veloice as she is hunted by an Assassin. I tag it as there is an undertone of death in some of the arcs, which give this colourfully magical world a more sombre tone. Among the webcomics on the list this one may be steepest when it comes to catching to speed of the world’s setting/rules/hierarchies but once you do you’ll hunger for this more.

I can’t entirely make a perfect comparison for it (Full Metal Alchemist is as close as I could compare and they are still as different to each other as apples and oranges) but it really has that rich nostalgic old manga style/world/tone to it, and its most welcome to as well.

The world building is rich, and Veloice is a mental/magical powerhouse even if at times she has a fragility about her. The fact she’s a Caricophona; magical beings which tend to either get persecuted or expire early at age from their own condition, definitely helps with giving her a almost “glass canon” energy about her.

While those points have definitely helped hook me in, the thing that tends to excite me the most in this webcomic is Veloice’s interactions with the assassin who’s been send to kill her, named Blackbird. The tension between them, the fact Blackbird both wants to toy with her, Blackbird’s somewhat flirtatious nature towards Veloice OMFG I EAT IT UP!!!! They have such a enemies to lovers feeling to them (though no, they are not lovers- we can dream though) which just gets you so excited.

I should also mention there are two other “primary characters” in the group. Two rich naïve kids ready to help Veloice however they can. You grow to like them (even if they hit tropes that may strike a nerve if you’re tired to their character type), but the mvp of this webcomic for character and interaction has to be Veloice and Blackbird.

 Amongst Us

Available on webtoons and its own website

Say you like Veloice and Blackbird from the previous webcomic, but find the hefty fantasy setting a bit too much, and you’re more for the romance? What if I told you the artist was galaxy brained enough to make a chiller AU? That is what Amongst Us is; a music college-set slice of life with a slow burn romance between Veloice and Blackbird. They’re dorky, their cute, and seeing some of the characters you’re familiar with in Caricophona in a different setting is nice to see.

In some ways Veloice is less proactive in Amongst Us but still feels very in-character of her. The webcomic would end pretty quick if Veloice were to get-to-the-point with Blackbird after all (granted with how we see them in the future together at the start of the webcomic it’s not like they have to be in a hurry anyways).

Seeing a wlw / slice of life set in a college setting rather than a high school setting is extremely welcome. Please, more of this.

 Kiss it Goodbye

Available on Webtoons

Slice of Life high-school beginnings of wlw romance. The artstyle is good, the characters are lovely. We know canonically that they end up together (as the webcomic starts with them in the future where they are a couple, as they begin to weave the story to their curious friends wanting to know how their romance came to be).

It’s not an unwelcome Slice of Life.

 BONUS / HONORABLE MENTIONS

 Mokepon

Available on h0lyhandgrenade’s website

I have honestly not read this one in a while and dropped it like, several years ago, but it was interesting and is still ongoing, so I had to mention it. Set in the Pokemon universe, it stars the main character who has been thrown into the pokemon trainer career while absolutely wanting nothing to do with it. Ends up becoming a rocket grunt which is an interesting change of perspective from many pokemon fancomics. It has old-nuzelocke energy though it is not a Nuzelocke. Be prepared for the brutality as you cry for the pokemon (especially his pikachu). The undying loyalty of his Charmander as he himself struggles with his position as a trainer/grunt is interesting. He is definitely not the usual pokemon trainer protag you’re used to.

 Seven Miles Down

Available on Webtoons

A completed oneshot psychological horror where a girl takes her submarine to the deepest unventured oceanic trench in the world. Tragic end, but horrors can be like that. The psychological nature of the horror is an interesting angle. The rounded cute style may throw you off but it works.

 UnDivine

Availabe on its own website via hiveworkscomics

This comic has since been cancelled from continuation, but is the webcomic to set me off in making this list, so it will still be mentioned in memory/tribute, and is the grand example of why you should interact with the webcomics you read as well as share them; there is a good chance they will not hold on their own without fan interaction and traction. Excuse me as I just use two full-on pages cause I’m wearing out on this list and browsing through tons and tons of pages for highlights wears a peep out.

Modern-set religious fantasy on an island where local their religion may be more than it seems. Stars a boy named Daniel, and Esther the Demon girl. From what can be gleaned the Demongirl knew the “god” of the island’s religion and was double crossed, so has a bone to pick with them and their “angelic” entourage now that she’s free when she got accidentally summoned by Daniel.

This webcomic loves its use of blood, but your grow used to it after a point. The setting is interesting, and its also cool to see how the “angels” are far from the usual “pretty human-like” in their true form and are instead more monstrous than you could say even the Demon Esther is.

A lot of what makes this comic interesting, outside of the “revenge against a god” main plot going on, is how messy the characters can be.

Daniel, Esther, and the one angel named Manual are all pretty interesting in how they interact with their roles that they’ve been put in and how they react to others, and are all very morally grey complex characters.

Daniel is an angst machine who tends to really wear himself out (though how he’s positioned/pressured by the world doesn’t help) and shoot himself in the foot a lot, and that’s even before Esther “turns” him into her lil monstrous pawn, not something you commonly see in main characters from the get-go.

Esther (the tall blondie) while being a Demon ready to get her vengeance on is in many ways naïve/childlike despite her powerful nature, and despite using Daniel as her pawn is shown to grow to have feelings/care for Daniel which is very interesting for “The Contracted Devil” position.

Manual…. We haven’t gotten to see a lot but it’s clear he’s meant to be the angelic hero position but its clear he does not like the position, and he also has a thing for a human woman named Rosamaria but we have not gotten to see why that’s the case.

This webcomic didn’t get the traction it needed to keep going, so was recently cancelled by the artist.

[historical-babes]

Zygmunt Krasiński (1812-1859).

Polish poet and dramatist.

.

He was a Polish nobleman traditionally ranked with Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki as one of Poland's Three National Bards — the trio of great Romantic poets who influenced national consciousness during the period of Poland's political bondage. His works dealt prophetically with the class conflict that would engender Russia’s October Revolution.

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The conflict of loyalty arising from his father’s support of Russian imperialism and his own desire for Poland’s independence occupies a central position in Krasiński’s thought.

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Krasiński’s reputation rests primarily on two tragic dramas. In Nieboska komedia (1835; The Undivine Comedy) he presents a future struggle between the masses and the privileged that represents the first literary expression of class war. Krasiński denies the validity of hatred as a source of righteous action.

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"Predawn" is his best-known poem, a nationalist poem which sees the Partitions of Poland as retribution for sins committed, and which predicts Poland's reappearance, as a world leader. Chopin set a poem by Krasiński as a song (see "Polish songs by Frédéric Chopin").

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He was married to Eliza Branicka and was the father of six children. He conducted a romance with Delfina Potocka, his muse, from 1836 to 1846.

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Famous works :

The Undivine Comedy

Irydion

Predawn

[Submission]

[spiritualgateway]

Could you speak a little about the significance of dreams?

When we have a dream, we have to know which plane of consciousness the dream comes from. There are seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds. When we have dreams coming from the lower worlds, the subconscious worlds — or you can say, inconscient worlds — we have to feel that these dreams have no value. They cannot change our nature. They cannot inspire us. They cannot give us any hope for our future fulfilment. When we get a dream from the vital plane, we will see that the dream will be constant movement. It is like a battlefield; everything is breaking and smashing, people are being killed. These dreams cannot help us at all in our spiritual life. The best thing we can do is forget them. If the dream comes from the mental plane, there will be some poise — not full poise, but a little poise, a little calm and quiet there. If it comes from the psychic plane, we will feel affection, sweetness, compassion and concern for the things or persons we are seeing. And if it comes from the soul’s plane, it will be all Light and Delight, all Peace.

When we have a dream from the lower worlds, we do not want to identify ourselves with it, for we are badly frightened by it. The dream comes to us as a threat. But a dream that comes from the higher worlds comes as an invitation. We get inner joy and inner satisfaction, and immediately feel our identity there. We enter into it; we grow into it. A dream that comes from the subconscious world, where we are quarrelling and fighting and doing many undivine things, will not necessarily materialise. But a dream that comes from the higher worlds is bound to materialise. Today’s dream is tomorrow’s reality. Why? Because the dream is coming from a world which is living and palpable. With our limited consciousness we do not know this. But when we meditate we consciously enter into many higher worlds, and the reality of these worlds enters into us in our dream.

If you want to have sweet dreams, inspiring dreams, then you should meditate most soulfully early in the morning — say 3:30 or 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. — and then go to sleep for about half an hour or forty minutes. If your meditation is sound and genuine, if it comes from the very depths of your heart, any dreams you have afterwards will be divine, significant dreams. They will be about angels and gods, or about your dear ones; or you will see some encouraging, inspiring things. If you want to have good dreams before 3:00 a.m., please try to meditate on your navel for about ten minutes at night before you go to bed. The navel is where emotion starts. Emotion itself is not bad; it is a question of how we use it. When we have human emotion, we only bind and bind. But when we have divine emotion, we extend; we extend our consciousness. So if you concentrate on your navel centre for ten minutes, you can bring the human emotion under control and allow the divine emotion to go up from the heart, upward to the highest.

If you read books for the interpretation of dreams, each book will give a different answer. Perhaps each book is right in its own way. But you have to get your own interpretation from your dreams. When you have a dream, try to feel your own existence in the dream; try to feel that you are inside the dream itself. Those who meditate daily will not find it difficult to do. But others may find it difficult. An ordinary man sees a dream as something totally separate from the rest of his life. He feels that he is living in the reality and the dream has nothing to do with reality. It is something sweet, something precious, something encouraging, something inspiring, and so forth; but he does not feel that it is more than that. But when a spiritual man has a dream, he immediately feels that this dream is the precursor of reality. Something more, he will see that this dream is tomorrow’s reality. How does he do that? He does it on the strength of his meditation. When he meditates for ten or fifteen minutes in the morning or in the evening, he widens his consciousness. Right now our consciousness is separated into three parts. At this moment we are in the waking consciousness. But when we sleep, we will have another consciousness: sound sleep, deep sleep. Then we have a third, dream consciousness, in the dream state. But one who meditates widens his consciousness into all three planes.

How can we derive benefit from our dreams? We can derive benefit from dreams if we feel that each dream is a step or stepping stone towards our divine Goal. There are some people who say they do not have any dreams at all, but they are mistaken. They do dream, but when they come out of the dreamland, they totally forget. Some people have the capacity to retain their dream consciousness while they are fully awake, early in the morning. If you feel that you had a dream at night but cannot remember it, then early in the morning, try to concentrate on this particular point, at the back of the head, just at the top of the neck. When you have dreams, either they will manifest through your physical mind or, for some time, for a few hours or even for a day or two, they will be registered there. So if you want to recollect any dream, try to concentrate there. If you can concentrate there for ten or fifteen minutes, you will be able to feel that you are knocking at a particular door. And when the door opens, you will be able to remember your dreams completely. Everything will come back to you.

When you have a frightening dream, please pay no attention to it. Suppose you dream that something bad is going to happen in your life. If you are frightened, you are already dead. But if you are not frightened, then during the few hours or the few days that lie between your dream and the actual occurrence you can fight against it. And the divine Grace is bound to come and help you at that time. Suppose you have a dream that a friend or relative of yours will pass away, and your dream is absolutely correct. Tomorrow he will surely die; but if you are frightened now, then today he is already dead for you. If you surrender to the dream, you will suffer unnecessarily before the actual hour. Also, your fear will immediately enter into the future victim and create an additional burden for that particular person. What you should do at that time is try to fight against the possibility of his death through prayer and meditation. Pray to God, “I have seen it. O God, save him, save him.” Instead of being frightened, try to offer your prayer to God. Perhaps you think that prayer is something feminine or delicate. No! Your prayer is your greatest strength. God’s strength is His Compassion and man’s strength is his prayer. Or you can meditate. That will be an even mightier strength. If you fight and God’s Grace descends, I assure you that you can delay the possibility of this person’s death. Many times it has happened that spiritual seekers have dreamt that their relatives are going to die and immediately they have started meditating and praying to God. Then, God’s Grace has descended. But God does not nullify the possibility. No, He may just delay the actual event.

Now, why does God help the aspirant in cases like this? God helps because God is not bound by cosmic law. Cosmic law is created by God, and at any time He can break His own law. That is why He is omnipotent. If He cannot break His own law, then He is not omnipotent. And you can make God break His law through your soulful prayer. God says, “This is to be done.” He has recorded this, but when human prayer enters into His Heart, He may cancel His own decree.

When you have hopeful dreams, illumining dreams, encouraging dreams, when you see that something significant is going to take place in a friend’s life — what you should do is consciously try to identify your soul with his soul. How will you do this? Through your meditation. He will eventually get joy from the event because it belongs to him. But this joy, by God’s Grace, you have received before he actually has. So if you are wise, you will go deep within and assimilate the joy that you have received and then try to offer it to him inwardly before he gets it directly from God. Otherwise, if you tell him, “You know, I had a wonderful dream about you,” he will be happy for a second, and then he will doubt you. He will say, “Oh, it is all mental hallucination.” Despite your best intention, his doubtful mind will throw cold water on your encouraging message. So instead of telling the person verbally, try to offer him the joy of the dream consciously through your meditation. At that time, he will get additional strength. Before he gets the experience of your dream, which will come to him in the form of reality, he will start getting inner peace, inner joy, which he cannot account for, because you have started injecting him, preparing him to receive something very high, very meaningful and fulfilling. And when you have dreams about yourself, go deep within and prepare yourself to be ready, to be a fit instrument for the reality, to receive the reality as it should be received.

One thing more I wish to say. It is not bad for an ordinary seeker to pray to God for dreams. Dreams are necessary, as experiences are necessary. But again, if you do not have dreams, if you do not have experiences, that does not mean that you are not fit for the spiritual life or that you are not fit for God-realisation. There are people who do not have any experiences. They curse themselves and think that God is displeased with them. Far from it! God is most pleased with them. Suppose I want to reach a door. Now there are two ways of going. One way is to go there consciously. My calculating mind says that I have to take four or five steps to get there: one, two, three, four, five. Each step is an experience for me. If my physical mind wants to be convinced at every moment while I am walking towards my goal — towards the door — then I can say that step one is an experience, step two is an experience, and so on. But again, if I know that my destination is there, it may not be necessary for me to have constant experiences each step of the way. What is necessary, in my case, is only my destination. So I just go there and God is ready for me.

If you want to have dreams or experiences, they can serve as preparatory steps — one, two, three — or they may not be necessary at all. The human mind always wants to be convinced and wants to get joy at every step when it does something. But if we live in the soul, in the heart, then we need not give that kind of importance to experiences and dreams. They are not necessary because God is preparing us in His own Way. If He does not want to give us convincing experiences, no harm. But again, if we pray to God for convincing experiences or sweet dreams, there is no harm in our prayer either. Eventually a day will come when we shall offer to God the highest prayer: “O God, if You want, give me dreams. If You want, give me experiences. If You don’t want to give me dreams or experiences, it is all up to You. Only make me worthy of Your Compassion. And if You don’t want to make me worthy of Your Compassion, it is also up to You. Only do with me as You will. Let Thy Will be done in and through me. I care for nothing except Your own fulfilment in and through me.” When we have that kind of prayer within us, then God comes to us and says, “Do not be a beggar. Do not cry for dreams; do not cry for experiences. Take Me, the Reality itself.”

- Sri Chinmoy, Flame-Waves, part 5

[spiritualgateway]

Intellectual versus spiritual

He is intellectual. What does it mean? It means that the weight of his head far surpasses the weight of the rest of his body.

You are spiritual. What does it mean? It means that the weight of your heart far surpasses the weight of the rest of your body.

There is a striking difference between his head and your heart. His head quite often does not love his body. His head belittles the body’s capacity and the needs of the physical. But you have a different story to tell. Your heart loves your body. Your heart inspires your body to love God. From its own personal experiences your heart tells your body that there is only one way to be happy and fulfilled and that is to love God and serve God in every way.

Although his head does not care for God the infinite Light, infinite Energy, infinite Compassion, infinite Delight, still his head wants to capture God, measure God, bind God, scrutinise God. It is impossible, but his head wants to break and cut asunder God, the evolving Cosmic Tree.

But your heart does not want to capture God, bind God and measure God, for your heart knows that God is infinite, God is immortal. Your heart wants only to love God and surrender its very existence to God and God alone. Your heart cries for God and tries to live in God.

Inside his head there is the intellect. This intellect wants the world to kiss the dust of its feet. It wants to prove that its existence on earth is something meaningful and valuable.

Inside your heart is the light that tries to illumine the world within and without. Inside your heart is the love that unifies the inner world with the outer world. Inside your heart is the delight that immortalises your existence here on earth and there in Heaven.

Being an intellectual man, he tries to inform the world at large. Being a spiritual man, you try to transform the world within you and around you. An intellectual man tries to compel the world around him to see what intellect can do. A spiritual man tries to offer to the world around him only what God wants him to offer and reveal.

My intellect-friend and my spirituality-friend play their respective roles. My intellect-friend fascinates me; my spirituality friend illumines me. My intellect-friend has all the time in the world to criticise my shortcomings. My spirituality-friend forgives me day in and day out and accepts my mistakes as his very own. My spirituality-friend accepts me as I am. Slowly, steadily and unerringly my spirituality-friend carries me into the world of self-transcendence, where I eventually become inseparably one with the Beloved Supreme.

The intellect has an intimate friend: the reasoning mind. This reasoning mind is unfortunately quite often assailed by the doubting and suspicious mind. The mind of destruction has a free access to the suspicious mind. In the reasoning mind there is rarely any happiness. In the doubting and suspicious mind happiness is never to be found at all. On the contrary, there we notice the dance of destruction, total destruction.

Spirituality has a true friend: faith. This faith abides in the inmost recesses of our hearts. This faith embodies God, reveals God and manifests God. In the conscious embodiment of God, our faith brings us to our first destination. In the revelation of God our faith carries us to our second destination. In the manifestation of God, our faith carries us to our third and ultimate destination.

In our day-to-day life, in our ordinary multifarious activities, what we need is intelligence. When we go one step forward in our outer life, we see that we need intellect. If we do not have intelligence, we cannot survive. If we do not have intellect, we cannot see the truth in minute detail. Both intelligence and intellect know what ignorance is, but they do not consciously try to come out of ignorance-night.

In our inner life we have a bosom friend: Intuition. Intuition is the life of the soul; intuition is the express train that expedites our Godward journey. Again, intuition’s flame burns the past. It burns our undivine previous life. It illumines our present life. It brings to the fore the remote future within us. With our intuitive power we create a new life within us. With our intuitive power we grow into the very image of our Beloved Supreme.

The so-called intelligence, a seeker of the highest Truth does not need. Nor does he need the so-called intellect. What he needs is an inner cry. On the strength of his inner cry he can easily have a free access to the world of intuition. And inside intuition there looms large salvation, liberation and perfection.

The intelligence which we get from book knowledge cannot help us discover our inmost reality. It cannot help us reach the highest pinnacle. It is our inner cry that helps us dive into the deepest realm of our consciousness, that helps us climb up to the ever-transcending consciousness.

In India Sri Ramakrishna and other spiritual Masters of the highest order did not care for earthly knowledge or intellect. They cried only for God, like children, and intuition became their immediate friend, their constant and eternal friend. Here in the West the Christ also had intuition at his disposal. With his intuitive power he realised his Father and distributed his Father’s Light to the world at large. Intellect is of paramount importance when the physical in us no longer wants to remain submerged in lethargy, in darkest night. Intellect is a beginning rung in the evolving ladder of consciousness. But the intuition-rung is infinitely higher than the intellect-rung.

A seeker of the ultimate Truth may start his journey with knowledge and intellect, or he can start his journey directly from intuition. His inner cry can easily carry him to the intuition plane without entering into the intellectual world.

My intellect-teacher eventually tells me that he does not know the answer. My spirituality-teacher tells me that he knows everything. He tells me something else: he tells me that it is God alone who knows everything in and through him.

My intellect-friend is a mental giant. He wants to devour the world. My spirituality-friend is also a giant, a soulful giant. The soulful giant friend of mine wants to unburden God’s imponderable burden, God’s immeasurable burden. He wants to unburden God according to his capacity, according to the power of his receptivity, which God has granted him out of His infinite Bounty.

One giant frightens the world and wants to devour the world. Another giant wants to put an end to the world’s excruciating pangs, wants to change the face and fate of the world radically so that here on earth the Kingdom of Heaven will become a living reality.

Eventually the intellectual giant will be transformed into a spiritual giant. When we are transformed, we feel that this world of ours need not and cannot remain always in ignorance-dream — that it need not and cannot consciously wallow in the pleasures of ignorance forever. In the transformation of the physical the reality of the Beyond claims us as its very own. In the transformation of the vital our aggressive animal qualities are transformed into the dynamism of the soul’s light. In the transformation of the mind the finite loses its very raison d'ętre in the Light and Delight of Infinity.

- Sri Chinmoy, Earth-bound journey and Heaven-bound journey

[spiritualgateway]

Doubt: the slow poison

All spiritual seekers, even those who have made considerable progress, occasionally become victims to doubt. This doubt is slow poison. It creates nothing but confusion for the spiritual seeker. Today you may doubt yourself, or you may doubt someone else. Tomorrow another wave of doubt will come into you and you will think that today’s assessment was all wrong. The day after tomorrow still more doubt will come, bringing with it even more confusion. Doubt is nothing but a great enemy in the spiritual life.

Has doubt ever helped us in any way? No. Doubt has only made a fool of us inwardly and outwardly. Suppose someone has done something. If I doubt his achievement, I gain nothing and he loses nothing. But although I gain nothing by doubt, I may lose everything. If you have achieved something and I doubt your achievement, then I will not be able to benefit from it at all. My doubt will poison my receptivity. My only satisfaction will be in knowing that I was right, which is a negative way of dealing with the truth. Instead I should try to enter into myself and collect my own inner wealth. By trying to see how much sincerity you have, I will never get abiding satisfaction. I will only waste my time. But if I go deep within, I will go right to the source of my own inner wealth and get real satisfaction.

In this life, everything depends on love. Unfortunately, some people love doubt. Outwardly they say they hate it, but inwardly, unconsciously or consciously, they cherish it. They feel that if they do not doubt, they are not wise. In order to doubt we have to become a judge. When the mind doubts someone, it feels great satisfaction in becoming the judge. The moment we doubt someone, we feel that we are a step higher than they are. This is absolutely wrong. In the spiritual life nobody is superior and nobody is inferior. We are all instruments manifesting different aspects of God’s multiplicity. In the Heart of the Supreme we are all one. Very often a disciple will doubt his spiritual Master. He will doubt whether the Master has actually realised God. When he doubts the Master, who is the loser, the Master or the disciple? The spiritual Master, if he is a real one, has his own realisation. If he has realisation, then he is infinitely far above anyone’s suspicion and doubt. No matter what kind of blighted doubt a disciple cherishes in the inmost recesses of his heart, the spiritual Master will never be affected. The disciple alone will be the loser.

Why do we doubt? Doubt enters into us because we are not certain of our achievements, of our accomplishments, or of what we will do in the near and distant future. If we doubt others, then we are not doing something really harmful. But if we doubt ourselves, then we are doing something most damaging. The moment we doubt ourselves we weaken our possibility and ruin our potentiality. The tree which we can become will die while it is still a plant from lack of nourishment. We have just entered into the inner life, into the world of aspiration. We are now only a tiny plant. Each moment that we doubt we have to feel that we are stepping on this tiny plant with all our weight. When we doubt our inner capacity, we are doubting our very existence, the very life-breath of the seed within us. The Divine says, “I have come to fulfil you, to bring you closer to God, and you are doubting. Since you are so ungrateful when I offer this gift to your soul, your seed will not be able to germinate.”

When we doubt we have to feel that we are harbouring a serious type of disease, a fatal disease. If we don’t conquer doubt, what will happen? We have to feel that we will die. Our aspiration will not only starve, but it will die. There is death in front of us and there is Immortality in front of us. It is we who have to make the choice. If we feel that we want Immortality and not death, then we must give all importance to our spiritual life and conquer doubt with our inner cry and our inner indomitable will.

If we feel that we have a serious disease, what will we do? We will go to a doctor so that we can get an immediate cure. What is the cure for doubt? It is inner cry, aspiration. Only the divine doctor within us, aspiration, can cure us of doubt. We know that there are many things we have done which are absolutely wrong. We try to do the right thing, but we cannot always do it. Why is it not possible for us to do the right thing? It is because we are wanting in determination. We can get this determination only from our inner aspiration. Real determination, the inner, soul’s determination and aspiration are the same thing. If we have determination, automatically aspiration comes forward. And if we have aspiration, determination will be born inside that aspiration.

Doubt will leave us only when we feel that we are destined to do something for God. We get tremendous power from the word ‘destined’. This word brings boundless courage to the fore. Even if somebody is weak by nature, if someone says that he is destined to work for God, then immediately, from the inner world, heroism comes forward. He will fight against doubt and against any obstruction with a strength and inner determination that will surprise him. Obstructions may come to him in the form of impurity, obscurity, jealousy, fear and doubt, but the word ‘destined’ will smash the pride of all the negative forces. Anything that is undivine will have to surrender to this word. So if we have the kind of inner and outer conviction that tells us we are destined to serve God, then the goal can unmistakably be reached.

But when we feel that we are going to do something for God, let us not use the term ‘great’. Sometimes when our human mind hears this term, a feeling of competition enters into us. I feel that I am great; you feel that you are great. Then the question arises of who is the greater of the two. instead, we should simply say that we are both destined to do something for God, and our task will be whatever He assigns to us. There is only one God, but each person thinks of God differently. You are pleasing and fulfilling God in your way and I am pleasing and fulfilling God in my way. If we both feel that we are doing the task that is allotted to us by Him, if we do not enter into each other’s territory with our competitive spirit, then we will both feel joy because we will both feel that we are fulfilling God in God’s own way.

- Sri Chinmoy, Two devouring brothers: doubt and ego