What's your take on this statement?

Question

From a book,
"Humanity has never really lived up to the teaching given to it. Spiritual impression, whether conveyed by the Christ, by Krishna or by Buddha (and passed on to the masses by their disciples) has not yet been expressed as it was hoped. Men do not live up to what they already know; they fail to make practical their information; they short-circuit the light; they do not discipline themselves; greedy desire and unlawful ambition control and not the inner knowledge.

Hi sunman, it's from one of the Alice Bailey books. They're found at:
http://laluni.helloyou.ws/netnews/bk/toc.html
Thanks for all the responses so far :-)

Answer 1

It is quite agreeable that humanity has never lived up to the ideals it present as being the most applicable on any spiritual plane. But the ideals, are still our ultimate goals. This spiritual may or may never reach the highs we wish and dream for, but without the hope that we could become better, not necessarily perfect, than we are in a culture that braces and loves all apects of humanity than the essence of the meaning of humanity is dead. Without hope, there can be no life. This hope is the motivating force that we all wish we could experieicne, the experience of becoming something better than what we have been. We each are evolving whether we know it or not, and when we transcend the state of wishing to be something more, to a state of being something more, we should pressure on, and never settle with the status of where we are. If we fall, we should rise again, and look at the challenge in another way, but we should not let the world of sin defeat us. We must recognise that our greatest spiritual lessons are always learned from within, and never from without. We cannot mask who we truly are from ourselves, eventually we will discover it. If we do not know who we are, it is because we are choosing to ignore the true nature of ourselves. We are not who we were, or who will become. In this moment if we are to move foreward it is necessary to know who we were, and we are at the present moment, and who we aspire to becoming. This is the greatest enlignment, to know what the existence of ourselves and the existence of others truly means. The answer of life lies not beyond the questions asked, but lies within the questions themselves. To get the right answer, you must ask the right question. When it comes to the nature of mankind, it is irrelevant, because we simply exist because it is impossible for us to exist. The universe itself is a miracle. It is both possible and possible. What strives us foreward as a race on this planet. Each of us has at our core a desire to give and be given to, to love and be loved, to hope for and to be hoped for, to appreciate and be appreciated, to admire and be admired. What fails mankind is only when he is lacking in something that everyone hopes and dreams for, in this negative state we can commit horrendous or malicious deeds in our search to fill the void.

Answer 2

The "golden rule" has been taught in most religions and can be found in their holy books, Bible, Quran and others.

There are many verses in the holy Quran and hadith, which emphasise on compassion. For instance, the Prophet said: "O people, be compassionate to others so that you may be granted compassion by God."

Once a person came to the Prophet and asked him, "O Prophet, give me an advice by which I may be able to manage all the affairs of my life." The Prophet replied: "Don't be angry. Even if people provoke you, don't lose temper and forgive those who make you angry. Adopt forgiveness as your behaviour."

Jesus sais: "Love your neighbor" and "love your enemy"!

One of the hardest things to follow for us imperfect humans is to willingly think and act with compassion and forgiveness towards the “other”.

But the concept appears to us as “not logical”, “impractical” or “unrealistic”. So we find excuses or make “interpretations” or pick more “logical” parts from our holy books to “justify” our actions, and forget about the basic truth.

That’s why we have Jihad and why we had “holy wars” and why we are still condemning and fighting “the others” (infidels or whatever!). That’s also why we have various fractions of Muslims or Christians or Jews or Buddhists or Hindus or Sihks though they ALL teach the wisdom of compassion and forgiveness.

Just imagine! If all humans would willingly (not because they have been told) act out of compassion and forgiveness toward the "others" there truly would be peace on Earth! - No, I'm not perfect either!

"If any show patience and forgive, that truly would be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the conduct of affairs." Qur'an: Sura 42:43 (Counsel)

Answer 3

Sounds like someone reads to much of what a man has wrote.I don't like fiction.You cant believe all of what man or woman writes if we do we don't know what to do.I believe this might sound to be true to some races.They don't live up to there teaching and up to what some people have gave there liefs for them and I am not talking about any religion or bible I am talking about man ant the way they do.We as man are not getting better we are going back to the older days but not the same.People are getting worse we are on a road to a civil war and this is not a war between the north and south.If people don't change we are coming to the end.

Answer 4

Mithra, It only seems that way because we are here to learn these things. The person you are quoting is being way too hard on people. These are not simple understanding, and the lessons can be very confusing.

People do the best that they can sometimes against incredible difficulties. Trust that God has a plan for the salvation of each and every one of us that is going to work. Most of all have some patience with them and try to understand the difficulties that they face. They are doing just fine. God is in no hurry, She has all of eternity if need be.

PS. We are going to offer up a fatted calf to you on your up coming feast day.

We hope this will please you.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 5

Truth has been given, but who among us has ever lived up to what we know to be right.
"There is none righteous, no not one." Romans 3:10
We could all stand to improve.

Answer 6

i would say that his book is referring to faith as knowledge, which is a huge mistake. knowledge and faith are completely different.

Obviously this book is taking the words of prophets to be TRUE words, which all human beings can not do

Answer 7

Whoever wrote this didn't know the men I know.

Answer 8

Have you ever noticed that New Age has all the same letters as Sewage except for one?

Answer 9

"Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is." - Albert Camus

Answer 10

It's the turth.