‘The Third World’

WED., OCT. 13, 1982, 12:28 PM
S.I.U. CAMPUS, BY-THE-LAKE

Yes, o son, put this title in quotes, for it is a silly one, as far as I am concerned. I just do not divide the earth plane and the people inhabiting it up into capitalist, communist, and poor nations. So I use the title, not for its reality but only as a symbol with reference to the presentation you experienced this morning. I do have something to say about relations between rich and poor, and you should know what it is, even though some of it may be “hard to swallow”.

It is quite obvious that individual humans are a diverse lot, and if they are diverse they are unequal in many ways. If they are unequal, then some have what others do not… and may have that which others wished they had. Though suffering is difficult for Me to encounter, I am not bothered greatly by inequality… and the law of karma holds that some must suffer in order that spiritual growth might occur. Furthermore, some of this suffering is the result of choices made, in this life or in others.

You have suffered (minimally) recently, the direct result of your continuation in the volleyball game, a current choice. You suffer periodically in relation to the finances of your family, and this is in order to right some imbalances in previous lives. You suffered in your leg and back merely from accident, but it became a definite means toward spiritual growth. These, and many more variations, represent the reality of this created world.

But since ultimate reality is of the spirit, it is not always clear who the “unfortunates” are. Poor, starving, “have-not” people in “third world” countries seem to be sadly unequal, but in spiritual terms they may have more ultimate rewards than many affluent Americans… even American Christians. All right, this is one of the statements that brings much rejection of Me. “A good God would never make such a statement. A good God wants the best for his people.” True, but frankly I care little about the amenities of life in the earth… even, sometimes, of the necessities.

As Jesus I said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and this can have both meanings… each is true. First, those who experience a poverty in spirit, ones who are unwilling or unable to reach for Me, or respond to My reaching for them, are still blessed. (Don’t try to figure out who I do not bless, for as soon as you have logically decided, you shall probably be wrong. My blessings are Mine to give, and I am not limited by rationality, tradition, or Scripture.) The other means is that those who are poor, who hunger, are cold and sick, have their spirits blessed. And many of them know it very clearly.

I also told a story of a man who built many barns to store his accumulating goods in order that he might have security… and then “his name was called”, and what he had done for earthly prosperity profited him not as he reentered spiritual realms. Lazarus received more blessings than the rich man, though his life had been one of poverty and misery.