Theos-Talk Archives (November 1995 Message tl00414)

Me I think:
>>Go be a good girl scout and help old people cross streets
>>and then in your next life continue this way and seven lifetimes
>>on down the road you will be a Chela and have wisdom and etc.

Eldon:
>Deferred gratification is a sign of emotional maturity. We
>curb our impulse buying in order to achieve more important
>financial goals. The same is true of bigger things in life.

Your first statement is absolutely correct. However
I can't see that it applies to this situation. To say that we will
not TRY in this life but will wait until a later life is the lazy
albeit safe road to take IMHO that has no hope of working.
The spiritual Path is only gained in a measure proportionate to
our effort -- this effort being expended in this or future lives or
both. In other words we each have a choice now in this life to
take the bull by the horns and TRY or to do good deeds and be
a nice person and expend the necessary effort in a future life.
What I have been trying to say for some time is that the goal will
never be attained without the sincere effort being made and if we
truly desire to wait until the next life then this very desire will
carry over to that next life and we will once again wait and
so on forever. If we have the desire to Tread the Path now in this
life then and only then will this desire carry over to our next
life and we can take up where we left off. I am sorry Eldon
but Heaven can only be taken by storm not in bits and pieces
although we can certainly approach it in degrees that way but
any incremental approach to infinity will never actually get us there
will it?.

Jerry S.