Maturity Brings Tolerance

Maturity brings tolerance

160:1.6 (1773.3)When people dare to forsake a life of natural desire for a life of adventurous art and uncertain logic, they must be mindful that they will have to endure the ensuing dangers of emotional calamity - conflicts, sorrows and uncertainties - at least until they have attained a certain degree of intellectual and emotional maturity. Discouragement, drudgery and inertia are positive evidence of moral immaturity. Human society faces two tasks: individual humans must reach maturity and the human species must reach maturity. Man who has reached maturity soon begins to regard all other mortals with feelings of tenderness and tolerance. Mature humans view immature humans with the love and consideration that parents have for their children.

160:1.7 (1773.4)Prosperous living is nothing more or less than the art of acquiring reliable methods for solving ordinary problems. The first step in solving any problem is localizing the difficulty, isolating it, and honestly recognizing its nature and severity. Our great mistake is that when life's problems arouse our deep-seated fears, we refuse to face them. It is also the case that if recognizing our difficulties means that our long-held self-importance suffers, that we must admit to being jealous, or that we must abandon deep-seated prejudices, the average person prefers to cling to his old illusions of safety and his long-held false feelings of security. Only a brave man is willing to honestly accept and fearlessly face what his sincere, logical thinking discovers.

160:1.8 (1773.5)In order to solve a problem wisely and effectively, it is necessary for the mind to be free from bias, passion and all other purely personal prejudices that might hinder a disinterested examination of all the actual factors that make up the problem that presents itself to be solved. The solution of life's problems requires courage and sincerity. Only honest and courageous individuals can bravely follow the entire confusing, bewildering path through the maze of life, to where the logic of a fearless mind may lead them. And this emancipation of thought and soul can never be accomplished without the thrust of an intelligent enthusiasm bordering on zeal for faith. The charm of a great ideal is necessary to propel man forward in his pursuit of a goal surrounded by difficult material problems and manifold intellectual dangers.

160:1.9 (1774.1)Even if you are adequately equipped to cope with the difficult situations of life, you can hardly expect to succeed unless you are also equipped with that mental wisdom and personal charm by which you can win the heartfelt support and cooperation of your fellow men. You cannot expect a great measure of success in worldly or religious work unless you can learn how to persuade your fellow men, how to prevail over people. You simply have to have tact and tolerance.

160:1.10 (1774.2)But the very best method of solving problems I have learned from Jesus, your Master. I refer here to the method he so consistently applied and which he taught you so faithfully, seclusion in reverent meditation. Jesus' habit of going out so often alone and maintaining himself with the Father in heaven involves the method of not only gathering strength and wisdom for the ordinary conflicts of life, but also of appropriating the energy to be able to solve the higher problems of a moral and spiritual nature. But even the right methods of solving problems will not compensate for inherent defects of personality, nor make up for the absence of hunger and thirst for true righteousness.

160:1.11 (1774. 3)I am deeply impressed by Jesus' habit of going away alone and isolating himself for these hours in which he examines the problems of life; to gather new wisdom and energy in order to meet the manifold demands of social service; to enliven and deepen the supreme purpose in life through the actual submission of his total personality to the conscious touch of the divine; to master new, better methods of orienting himself to the ever-changing situations of a living existence; to bring about those vital reconstructions and readjustments of personal disposition which are so essential to deeper understanding of all that is worthwhile and real; and to do all this with the eye focused exclusively on the glory of God - to whisper in sincerity your Master's most beloved prayer, 'not my will, but thine, be done. '

160:1.12 (1774.4)This reverent habit of your Master gives the relaxation that renews the mind; the enlightenment that inspires the soul; the courage that enables us to face our problems boldly; the self-understanding that eradicates undermining fears, and that awareness of oneness with the divine, which gives man the certainty by which he can dare to be God-like. The relaxation of God-worship, or spiritual communion as practiced by the Master, relieves tensions, clears away conflicts, and means an enormous expansion of the sum of the riches of the personality. And this whole philosophy of life, plus the gospel of the kingdom, constitutes the new religion as I understand it.

160:1.13 (1774.5)Bias blinds the soul and prevents it from recognizing truth, and bias can be overcome only when the soul sincerely surrenders itself to the love of a cause that is all-encompassing and includes all fellow men. Bias is inseparable from selfishness. Bias can be eliminated only by abandoning selfishness and replacing it with the search for the satisfaction of service to a cause that is not only greater than the self, but even greater than all humanity - the search for God, the attainment of divinity. The proof that the personality is mature consists in the transformation of human desire, so that it persistently strives for the realization of the values that are highest and most divinely real.

160:1.14 (1774.6)In a constantly changing world, in the midst of an evolving social order, it is impossible to hold on to rigid, fixed destinations. Stability of personality can only be experienced by those who have discovered and embraced the living God as the eternal goal to be reached in infinity. And shifting his goal from time to eternity, from earth to Paradise, from the human to the divine, requires man to come to new life, to repent, to be born again; to become the re-created child of the divine spirit; to find access to the brotherhood of the kingdom of heaven. All philosophy and religion that cannot live up to these ideals is immature. The philosophy I teach, coupled with the gospel you preach, constitutes the new religion of maturity, the ideal for all future generations. And this is so because our ideal is final, infallible, eternal, universal, absolute and infinite.

160:1.15 (1775.1)My philosophy bestowed upon me the impulse to search for those realities which can be truly attained, the goal of maturity. But my impulse was impotent; my search lacked thrust; my quest suffered from a lack of certainty as to the right direction. And these deficiencies are amply met by this new gospel of Jesus, which deepens insight, elevates ideals and gives firmness to the goal set. Without doubt and without fearful suspicion, I can now sincerely begin the eternal venture.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book