“Disciple: O Master, the Creatures which live in me do withhold me, that I cannot so wholly yield and give up myself as I willingly would. What am I to do in this case?
“Master: Let not this trouble thee. Doth thy Will go forth from the creatures? Then the creatures are forsaken in thee. They are in the world, and thy body, which is in the world, is with the creatures. But spiritually thou walkest with God, and converse in Heaven, being in thy mind redeemed from Earth, and separated from creatures, to live the Life of God. And if thy will thus leaves the creatures, and goes forth from them, even as the spirit goes forth from the body at death; then are the creatures dead in it, and do live only in the body and the world. Since if thy Will does not bring itself into them, they cannot bring themselves into it, neither can they by any means touch the Soul.” ~Jacob Boehme
The Creatures Within Us
When the disciple asks the Master about the creatures living in him, he isn’t talking about bacteria or even a case of parasitic worms. What he is calling creatures are the demons who try to control us when we are in the physical world. These demons don’t literally live inside us, but it may have been believed that they did at one time. It is an allegorical view of them, much like the popular image of a tiny devil on one shoulder and a tiny angel on the other whispering in our ears.
What this student is asking the Master is how can he fully engage in spiritual development methods when this cleaver demons are whispering to him and trying to get him to listen to more material needs and desires. The master advises him to stop worrying about it because his will is strong enough to ignore the creatures within us. He says the creatures within cannot control us unless we allow them too. Sadly, the vast majority of humanity does allow it. Only a few really fight against them and truly develop their spiritual faculties.
Walking With God
The Master also tells the disciple that while his body and mind are trapped in the physical realm, where they are subject to the attempts of the dark demons and dark forces to control them, their spirit and soul go forth to “Walk with God”. That is allegory, of course. Spirits don’t walk with God because spirits don’t walk, and neither does God. And if it were possible for our spirits to literally walk with God, it would serve no purpose to do so. What it really means is that we expand and raise our consciousness continuously until we reach the highest levels. At those levels of consciousness, we can communicate directly with God and his angels. So the “walking” is really communicating.
When we first develop this ability, it will only last a few seconds, but after time, it will get longer and longer until we are taking long hikes through Heaven with God (sticking with the walking allegory). And when we are visiting those higher levels of consciousness, the creatures within us have no control at all. They can only affect our lower, material self, not the higher, spiritual Self.
The Will Brings The Creatures
The final warning from the Master is that the creatures within us cannot control us unless our will allows it, or we weaken our will to the point where they can easily push it aside. It is like the Native American tale of the two wolf spirits within us, one good and one evil. The one that wins is the one “you feed”. In other words, the one that wins is the one your will wants to win.
Have you ever known someone who says, “I would like to quit smoking, but I just don’t have the will to do it,” or “I want to lose weight, but I don’t have the will-power to avoid eating fatty junk food.” Very often, those same people use their will-power quite effectively on some other goal. So in many cases, it isn’t that they lack will power, but they simply are not using the will power they have to stop eating or smoking. Even those with very strong will-power can’t avoid the creatures within us if they don’t decide they want to. And even those who truly have weak wills can make them stronger with development just as you can make your muscles bigger and stronger with regular workouts. So don’t let the creature within you control you.