“As it is difficult for one to climb high mountain peaks, so it is difficult to climb the highest reaches of spiritual life. Life is climbing a high mountain peak. Someone tells me, ‘I moan. I am tormented.’ Naturally, you go to the heights, and for this reason, you find it difficult.
“One suffers because one has strayed from God and does not know how to return. Moving away from God leads to deprivation, suffering, misfortune, hardship, disease, and death. The greater the suffering, the greater the turning away. Therefore, in order for this deviation to be set right, you need to return to the primordial life.
“The reason for human suffering and hardship lies in the unfulfillment of God’s Will. The trials of life come in order to distinguish that which is pure gold from that which is only gilded. What is gold is put to work, whereas whatever is gold-plated is put aside.
“One should not bring suffering and conflict upon oneself. Sometimes the Spirit comes and tells someone to do something, but that person refuses with the excuses that there are no favorable conditions or proper disposition. Then comes the great difficulties in one’s life. …The suffering and misfortunes in your life are due to a lack of understanding of the great Principles and Laws that Nature is using.” ~Biensa Douno
A Difficult Climb
Climbing a high mountain is always difficult, but it is not the same for everyone. If you are physically weak or handicapped, it is a lot more difficult. If you are very strong and an experienced mountain climber, it will be easier than for others. If you are starting your climb from seas level, or below, it will be more difficult than for the person who is starting out already halfway up the mountain. And if you sit at the bottom of the mountain waiting for someone else to lift you off your butt and carry you up the mountain, you are going nowhere. So as Douno said, it is difficult to climb the peaks of spiritual life, but it is worth the effort—and necessary.
Suffering and Deprivation
To some degree, we all suffer. It may be health problems, financial problems, relationship problems, and so on. One reason even the most spiritual people have such problems is so we can relate to others who have to deal with those problems and see no way out. Another reason is because so few of us have advanced so far on the spiritual path that we can escape the trials and tribulations of material Man.
Don’t get the idea, however, as many do, that the only way to awaken and grow spiritually is to go through great depression and difficulties, the so-called “Dark Night of the Soul”. While there is no doubt that some people have had a spiritual awakening from that path, there are many more who have had a spiritual awakening without it. So it is necessary only for some, certainly not for all.
If you have fallen far from those spiritual mountain peaks, or were never very spiritual or religious before, than your climb will naturally be longer and harder than for someone who has always had some religious and spiritual beliefs that are at least close to the truth. Of course, the people who are in the worse state in this regard, are not the atheists who have no belief in God or religion, but those who follow phony churches of materialism, namely the Evangelical Christians. These people have turned Christianity upside down, so they don’t just have to climb the mountain of spiritual truth from sea level, but from a hole a mile below sea level.
Strayed from God
It is true, as Douno says, that much of our suffering and difficulties happen because we have strayed from God. We insist on doing things our own way, and that leads to undesired results. We need to remember that we are trapped here in the horrid world of matter; the world of death, disease, greed, and so on, because the fallen angels did their own thing instead of following God’s Plan. If we can acknowledge and accept that, we are on our way to healing. We can turn back to the Way of God and start working to help fulfill the Will of God rather than that of fallen Man. This does mean keeping our egos under control, but it doesn’t mean destroying them. People without egos at all become sheep who can’t accomplish anything. The difficult climb will become an impossible climb for them. That is what many governments want, which is why they promote and aid gurus and spiritual teachers who preach ego destruction. You should always be suspicious when a government starts promoting any spiritual practice.
Pure Gold and Fool’s Gold
Douno talks of pure gold and things that are merely gold-plated. I think it would be better to say real gold and fools gold. If you are not familiar with it,
Fool’s Gold (iron pyrite)
fools gold is a mineral with a similar color to yellow gold, but is essentially worthless.
Douno is using gold allegorically here to represent that which is real and that which is spiritual. The gold-plated items, or fool’s gold, represent that which seems real and important, but isn’t, namely, the material world. He advises us to put aside that which is fake gold, and make use of the real gold. We can’t, unfortunately, put aside all things of the material world. We can’t climb to the top of the high mountain and spend the rest of our lives there. In most parts of the world, you can’t get away with that kind of life. You have to have a regular job and pay bills. You have to buy food and clothing. So we can’t put those things aside, but we can place the real gold of spiritual matters ahead of the material ones. It is possible to be spiritual and still function in a world of materialism. It may take a little longer to climb that high mountain with that limitation, but it can still be done. Real gold is found at the top of the high mountain, not at the bottom.
