PATIENCE
People of the new culture will be distinguished by their patience. One important thing that is missing in many of the contemporary people is patience. Today, you may meet a few patient people. Most of the people bear only the shadow of patience – that is, they bear misery, torment, suffering, but not patience itself. They stand the torment and the suffering of necessity, yet they think that they are patient. On the face of it, it really looks like they are patient, but internally they constantly murmur and they are constantly displeased.
Many of the contemporary people are displeased with the world and wonder why it has been created so incompatibly. If they were given the opportunity to create a new world, though, how would have they created it? If someone undertakes to create a new world, he would put his own person in the first place. Where would he put the rest of the people? Speaking about such a world, though, we must say, that everybody has already created such a world for himself – everybody has already put his own self in the first place. What can be attained in a world, in which all the people are leaders, though? The world suffers from leaders. Two people argue for first place. Each one views things from his point of view – as they are reflected in him. You say that no one proceeds well, because he did not treat you properly. This person might not have treated you properly, but do you know under what conditions he was?
You leave a man at night in a dark room and make him move around it without causing any damage. This is not possible. This man does not see and does not know the environment. As soon as he enters a dark room, he will immediately overturn a chair, or a table, push a book, or break a bottle. It is not possible for a man to walk on the mountain on a dark night without stumbling anywhere. What should a man do in order not to cause damage, though? While the night is dark, he should sit in one place and not move. Consequently, as you see, that two people are quarrelling, know that they are in a dark room full of furniture. They will inevitably crush and cause damage. If you say that someone is a good person, you will know that he lives within a settled world, where any clashes are excluded. Consequently, your goodness is not due to yourselves. If you see a beautiful statue, to whom will you credit the beauty: the sculptor, or the statue itself? The statue is publicity for the sculptor himself.
The Americans are very inventive in their advertisements. In the big cities, you often meet someone dressed in a king’s mantle, with a crown on his head, walking with an air of importance and moving slowly like a tsar. From the outside he looks like a tsar indeed, yet no one pays any attention to him. Why? No one pays any attention to him because his back is plastered all over with various advertisements. American people are used to such kings, with backs plastered with advertisements for the other people’s inventions and gains. They are of no importance and do not deserve human interest.
What is essential in man? The essential thing in man is his life. Life should flow within man. The statue he made is a nice thing, but it is not alive. A man is more valuable than all the statues in the world, no matter how small and insignificant he is, because he has a soul, Spirit, mind, and heart. For this, man should be loved and honoured.
So, the first thing man needs, is patience. He should have such a consciousness, that with the gifts and talents given to him he should be able to overcome even the greatest difficulties without causing any damage. He should put each thing in its proper place. What will the people say about him if he appears in front of them dressed in a coat with the wrong side out? Within the realm of the mental world, the coat turned with the wrong side out symbolizes a twisted Virtue. Impatience is a twisted Virtue. The impatient person has turned patience with its wrong side out and appears with it before the people. In order to be patient, a person should stay at one and the same place. While he is in a dungeon, man should be patient. As soon as the darkness vanishes, his patience is no longer necessary. So, while there are hindrances in his way, man should be patient. As soon as the hindrances are removed, patience yields by itself. A man is already able to move. An impatient person moves in darkness, among hindrances, as a result he begins to feel discontent. Patience is for the reasonable people. A reasonable man first tests things, and then speaks about them. As he sees a fruit, he does not say if this fruit is good or bad, but eats it, digests it and observes what effect it has on him. If it makes his stomach and his brain feel good, then the fruit is good. If it introduces even the slightest disposition, then it is not good. Good fruit finds a place even within the human brain, within the great world of thought.
People that live in the world are extremely impatient. While in the invisible world, these people have caused great disturbances. In order that others can be free from them, they have sent them to the Earth, so that they might study and acquire patience. So, a man has descended to Earth to learn the law of patience. All the hardships and discomforts, which a person comes across, are an “object teaching”. Through them, he studies patience. In this sense these hardships and discomforts are in their proper places. For instance, a person suffers and is in torment, but someone else is delighted. Suffering for one is delight for another. Man eats an apple and he is delighted and feels good. If the apple had the consciousness of the human, it would have indispensably suffered. Human teeth are virtues for the apple, through which the human accepts this apple within himself as a guest. By eating the apple, man has to learn from it to be patient. He presses it, chews it, but it remains silent and does not say anything.
Patience is something great. Epictetus – a famous Greek philosopher was a slave at a Roman patrician. The master used to treat his slaves in a rough and rude manner and punished them often. While he beat and tortured them, they shouted and grumbled. Epictetus was the only one to remain silent. Whatever his master did, however he treated him – Epictetus remained silent and smiled. His behaviour irritated his master. He wondered at his character. Epictetus wanted to tell him, that he should not lose his self-control, because - though a notable patrician, - some day he might find himself in his place. One day the master got angry and began to press the leg of Epictetus. The latter looked at him mildly and said: master, the way you press my leg you might break it. If you do this, you will be the first to lose, because I will not be able to work for you. But the master kept on pressing his leg until he broke it. From this moment on the Roman patrician released Epictetus from his slavery, gave him a large amount of money and sent him to Greece, where Epictetus became famous as a notable philosopher. This is what we call patience.
What do contemporary people do if someone dares to press their leg? It is not necessary to press the leg of some contemporary person in order to test his patience. It is enough to just touch his coat and he will immediately turn towards you rudely and ask you why you are pushing and disturbing him. As regards patience - follow the philosophy of Epictetus. As regards patience – follow the philosophy of the stones. You walk and sit on them, but they do not murmur. They have waited for thousands and millions of years and they will wait as much again until the day for their release comes.
What is the reason for human impatience? Some people are very impatient, because they lack stability of character. Without patience the human character is deprived of foundation. We consider such a man as a person lacking moral foundations. Human tenacity is a moral characteristic. In the Divine World, tenacity is a back guard of the person. They say that God is long-suffering. He bears a man with all his weaknesses and insufficiencies and looks for a way to turn them into something valuable.
The difference between the words “patience” and “impatience” lies in the particle “не” . Thus the greatness of God might be seen – that He makes the little go a long way. The negation particle “не” consists of two letters, that is – of two elements: “н” and “e”. The letter “н” is a component part of the female impatience. It is a bridge. This shows that irrespective of where she is, the woman starts to make bridges. The man, though, likes to order. This can be seen from the letter “e”. The man gives orders to his wife, too. He demands submission from her. As she sees that a war is about to break out, the woman starts to make peace. Building bridges, she brings armistice. What is the armistice? When does it take place among nations engaged in war? When Love, Wisdom, and Truth settles among them. So, the bridge that the woman builds is her Love, Wisdom, and Truth. Where Love, Wisdom, and Truth exist, the controversies are easily settled. The controversies spread widely where there is lack of Love, Wisdom, and Truth.
Consequently, a woman has come to the world in order to introduce the Love, Wisdom, and Truth among the people and to teach them patience. This is what the patient woman do. There exists an impatient woman as well, though. The same holds true for a man: there is a man of patience and a man of impatience. When an impatient woman meets an impatient man - they start to fight. The woman wants to build a bridge, but she has nothing to build it from. The man wants to spread, to give orders to his wife, but she does not bear somebody else’s orders. The people are hard to reconcile. Why? They are hard to reconcile because they want to join the banks of the river. They have never been together and cannot join. If you want to go from the one bank to the other, though, you should build a bridge. Only a bridge, that is – Love, Wisdom, and Truth – is capable of reconciling two heterogeneous elements. They say, for instance, that two brothers have quarrelled and parted. They have never been together, then. They have been like the banks of a river, between which the water flows. The water has always separated them. In order to bring them peace, build a bridge over them. The water that flows between the banks of the rivers symbolizes human life, through which the people are being tested.
Two ascetics – philosophers – worked upon patience. They competed among themselves who will develop greater patience. A beggar served as an object to test their patience. Each day, he went to the first of them and each time he was well accepted. The ascetic used to give him money and food and kindly see him off. The beggar visited the ascetic 19 times in succession. After that, the beggar decided to visit the second ascetic. He went to him two or three times in succession and the ascetic met him kindly, each time giving him something. But on the fifth day the ascetic got angry and told him: Stop bothering me! Stop wasting my time – I cannot occupy myself with you only. There exist many other beggars to whom I have not yet given anything! The beggar bowed kindly to him and told him: My brother, you should work on your patience much more. I visited your neighbour 19 times in succession, but he never got angry. Every time he accepted me kindly as if he was seeing me for the first time. You sent me away on the fifth day, though.
Contemporary people, like these two ascetics, compete for patience, but fail at the exam. They have lost the prototype of patience. To the woman the image of patience is one, - to the man it is another. All the rest of the images of patience are copies of these two prototypes. What existed earlier – patience or the being that is patient? First was the being that was patient and patience originated from him – as his property. Consequently, in order to be able to talk about patience, there should be a being that is patient. Any man should strive towards this image of patience. As long as children exist, mothers and fathers will also exist; as long as statues exist –sculptors will also exist; as long as fields exist, agrarians will also exist; as long as writers, scientists, and philosophers exist - books will also exist.
Patience is one of the features of Love. As long as you love, you can have patience. If you do not love, you cannot be patient. If a rich and a poor man gather at one place, they cannot stand one another. If two poor men gather at one place, they cannot stand one another. Consequently, when people cannot stand one another, you should know that they are poor. What should they do in order to start getting along? They should have several rich men among themselves. In order to be patient, patient people should surround man. The people are patient when they do not miss anything. So, in order to be patient, man should have a mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, master, and a servant. He can find all this within himself. These are his fellow men. If the man finds his fellow men within himself, he becomes patient. He constantly consults them – they help him, but he helps them also.
Christ says: “I will send my Spirit.” The Spirit is the powerful and great thing in man, which makes him patient. The Spirit widens the human will and brings into it Love and Light, like the Sun sends its light and heat to all living beings. What we call Sun beams, is nothing but reasonable beings dressed in Light mantles, who run in the whole Universe and spread the Light and heat to all living beings. As they finish their work, they go back in the Sun again. According to one of the theories, the Sun-spots are holes in the Sun, through which the Angels pass after they finish their work on Earth. Whether it so or not, it is not known. This is not a scientific theory that can be proved.
Whatever you tell people, they finally ask: Why does suffering exist in the world? Isn’t it possible to live without suffering? Suffering and delights in life are homework for man. Suffering is an internal Divine work - the joy is external. Until he understands the Divine ways, man cannot get the meaning of suffering and joy. So, sometimes the disciple does not understand why this homework is being given to him. The master of mathematics gives some homework to his disciples. A good student always solves his tasks. Unless he solves some of his tasks, he does not calm down. He applies one, then the second, then the third method, but the task is not being solved. He goes to bed, but he cannot sleep. He gets up, lies down again and is constantly thinking about the task. As soon as he solves it, he calms down and goes to bed again. If someone watches what he does, he might think that this man is suffering. He is not suffering, though – he is just solving his homework.
So, suffering is nothing but homework. The success of the disciple depends on the proper solution of these tasks. The one, who does not understand the meaning of suffering, wants to get free of it. He does not know that if he goes without suffering, he will also go without joy. As long as there is joy, there will be suffering as well; as long as there is suffering, there will be joy as well. For contemporary people, suffering is necessary as a great good in their life. In what way did the people meet Christ? Did Christ become a king? Did He wear a king’s mantle and was He with a crown on His head? Was He dressed in a gown of a patrician? No, as He descended on Earth, Christ sold everything He had, so that He could help people. Finally, He gave his last mantle and in this way He went to heaven. In fact, Christ was dressed in a gown more beautiful than the king’s mantle. He was dressed in the mantle of Love and on His head He was wearing the king’s crown of Love.
In a legend about Christ it was said, that when He was crucified, a woman came near to the cross and asked Him to heal her child, which she held firmly to her breasts. Christ asked them to take the nail out of His hand, so that He could help the suffering mother. He put his hand on the suffering child and it was immediately healed. Then they nailed his hand again. How many people are ready to make a small good from Love in the last moment of their life?
Contemporary people get disturbed easily. Someone complains that they did not look at him properly. How did they look at him? They looked at him askance. But how did he find an instrument, with which to define the angle of their look? Another one complains that they did not look at him warmly. How did he measure the temperature of their look? In one word, people complain about one another when they do not love each other. You should love in order to be loved. Love manifests itself in taking and giving. The one who loves – he gives, the one who is loved – he takes. One cannot simultaneously take and give. If in the first moment he gives, in the second moment he will take. One and the same person cannot only give or take.
So, real Love manifests itself only when the exchange of giving or taking between beings is proper. We say that a man symbolizes the mind, while a woman symbolizes the heart. We view the man and the woman as principles – not as forms. We can say that the man is mind and thought, while the woman is a heart and feeling. When the man and the woman understand this problem properly, they live well. If they do not understand it properly, they constantly quarrel which one of them is to take first place. Should the legs argue about which one of them of them should be first? At one moment the right leg is first; at another - the left leg is first. As they move, at one moment the right leg is ahead and the left leg is behind and at another moment - the left leg is ahead and the right leg is behind. The important thing is that motion should exist. As the right leg is ahead, man thinks; as soon as the left leg gets ahead – man feels. As the right leg is ahead, man speaks reasonably; as the left leg is ahead – man helps the poor, suffering, and ill people. The right hand gathers the capital, while the left hand distributes it. The distribution of the capital is as important as its gathering.
People cannot stand each other because they do not understand the Divine ways. Someone says: “I cannot stand this man.” Why can’t he stand him? Because he had some defect. The fault is not with the man whom you cannot stand, but in your own views. If you enter the studio of an artist who is painting a picture, you will come out of it disappointed. You say that the painting of the artist is very ugly. The mistake is not in the artist, neither it is in the painting – it is in you. The painting was just begun. One day, when it is finished, you may express your opinion of it. You have entered the studio of the artist without his permission. Consequently, each man that you cannot stand is like an unfinished painting. You have entered the studio of God without his permission. God is working on this man – he is not a finished painting yet. In order to be able to stand each other like you are, let each of you imagine that he is at the studio of God, who corrects the curved lines of your image with Love and patience. Say to yourself: As God tolerates me, in the same way I should tolerate my fellow man. God will continue to work on man for thousands of years until he makes him perfect.
A preacher was narrating to his black fellowmen how God created a man. He told them that God took slush, squeezed it for a long time and made the first man from it. In order to dry him, He put him on a wattle-fence, where he dried for three days. One of the people in the audience asked the preacher: Who made the wattle-fence? – This is none of your business.
It is not important who made the wattle-fence. The important thing is that the wattle-fence exists. And also, that the wattle-fence makes people impatient. As between two neighbours a barrier, a wattle-fence is erected, immediately arguments start. The neighbours become impatient and begin to quarrel. They become familiarized through the wattle-fence. The door is also a barrier between people. In order to get into somebody’s home, you should open at least one door. If you enter with Love, no one asks you why you have come. If you enter without Love – everyone asks you. For the man, who has Love, all the doors are opened. For the man who lacks Love - all the doors are closed. The one, who enters a home, should carry the presents of Love. If you want to be well accepted, bring them the precious stones of your Love. Let the first stone of the Divine Love be the stone of patience.
Have the patience of the great mother of Love, who is constantly ready to help her screaming child. As she looks at it, she says: This child will become a good man.
Listen to the voice of the great mother, who is talking to you, and thank God, that through her you learn how to be patient.
Lecture held by Peter Deunov (Beinsa Douno) on August 4, 5 a.m.
http://www.beinsadouno.org/bwork.htm
