The Good Life

OCT. 15, 1980, 9:03 AM
WILLIAMSBURG, VA, SHERATON PATRIOT

You have some sense, o son, of what this teaching shall include, but, rightfully, you also expect some surprises. All life is good, for it is My supreme gift. Still some examples of life are much more likely to be labeled “good”. Yours is one, certainly. In part it is something you “deserve”, and, in part, it is a gift of Mine… with strings attached. I expect you to use the time and energies not necessary for combatting problems in service to others and to Me. You realize this… and I do not pose it as a threat… just a loving obligation.

The good life involves all of the dimensions of well-being. So, let’s start with the most important one, the unifying one – the spiritual. The good life’s foundation is spiritual awareness and appreciation. There is a certain quest quality to it, but there is more certainty than uncertainty. There is an appreciation of the spiritual in the many experiences of life. And, mightily, there is some relationship with Me, without any form specified. Now, you could look around and observe people who seem to be enjoying the good life who also seem to have no relationship with Me. You shall have to accept this on faith, but I attest that it is true: if they have no relationship with me it is just the outward appearance of the good life; if it is the good life it is just the appearance that they have no dealings with Me.

The good life requires a physical body that functions pretty well. Super physical health is a plus, but not a necessity. Know, of course, that the spirit has a great deal to do with the body’s functioning. It cannot transform a thoroughly sick or deformed body into the ideal, but it can help mobilize defenses and monitor the mixtures necessary for full functioning. Finally, I wouldn’t deny that, in the earth plane, a good body is a factor in the good life.

The intellect, the mind, is also a necessity. The good life requires understanding of others, of the world around, and of some abstract concepts. Mental capacity makes this possible. Of course it also makes possible perceptions of danger and undesirable change that bring worry and anxiety. Of course this implies a mixture with the emotional “self”, but it is hard to separate these, really.

I’ll make a flat-out statement: you can never know too much… excess knowledge in itself will not diminish the good life. Then I’ll qualify it by saying, again, that too much of certain kinds of knowledge may induce anxiety and tension. And I’ll also admit that knowing too much may reduce effective relations with other people… some other people.