Tabla de contenidos para November 2018 en PEARL

It is man’s duty on earth to set himself the highest attainable goal, and to strive for this goal with all the powers at his disposal. But as a human being! This excludes from the beginning that, like an animal, he should merely trouble himself about food and drink as, unfortunately, many men do; or let himself be goaded by the intellect into striving only for worldly greatness or fame without keeping in view as the main purpose the general welfare and advancement of mankind. Know Thyself ! This was an inscription at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece.These three words contain a basic wisdom and at the same time a serious reminder for the person who seeks to develop spiritually. In ancient times the great importance of…

Trust in God, if considered aright, implies obedience to God. This affirmation sounds so simple and convincing that many a person would like to believe that he or she has understood what this means. Because true knowledge can only come from experience, how can we be really sure that our trust in God and our obedience to Him is genuine, born of experience rather than mere habit brought about by our religious upbringing? To obey God means to obey His Will. The human spirit can only attain the recognition of God through a recognition of His Will, which is expressed in the Primordial Laws woven into Creation from the very beginning and manifest in the world around us in the Laws of Nature. In order to obey God we have…

Young, adult or elderly, female or male, rich or poor, learned or otherwise, the goals we set ourselves structure the trajectory of our own choosing to experience the world. Life for us is an odyssey between the poles of birth and death in a bewildering experience of the emerging self that is intertwined with our relationship to the Cosmos, which anchors and affirms our being. How we live is determined by our choices, which rest on the nature of our values. Unless, of course, as some people do, we believe that we are at the mercy of chance so that all planning is pointless or, as fatalists believe, that our life has been predetermined for us and that there is nothing we can do to change it. If neither is…

In writing a letter to the magazine, please include the writer’s name, address, and daytime telephone number, and bear in mind that letters to the editor always reflect the writer’s personal opinion, which is not necessarily that of the editors. We may edit letters for length and clarity, and we ask for your understanding that only part of the texts submitted can be published. Send letters via e-mail to mail@pearl-magazine.com , or by post to: Correspondence, Pearl Magazine, PO Box 73999, London E5 5EH, United Kingdom. Make everything you think and do into a service to God! Then it will bring you that peace which you long for. And even if people harass you severely, be it through envy, malice or base habits,…

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?'Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops.Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard'Cause I laugh like I've got gold minesDiggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you?Does…

There is a Law which is decisive for the continuance of the entire Creation: The Law of the Necessary Balance between Giving and Taking. Every happening in Creation is subject to this Law, whether it be the interaction between the forces of the cosmic bodies or the sense of balance of the physical body. We follow it daily, though mostly unconsciously, when breathing in and breathing out. Or we endeavour to ‘get things to balance’. On the other hand we come to grief when something ‘upsets our balance’ in things big as well as small, for non-observance of this Law causes obstruction and disturbance, and if it is persistently disregarded, even downfall and ruin. Let us think for a moment of the relation between work and rest. Unnecessary exaggeration in…

Uncertainty and unrest have come over many people, but rather than abating, uncertainty has continued to increase. If one follows current events attentively, one cannot help but perceive this clearly. This development is not restricted to the people of a single nation or to a particular group of nations, but is found with people of all nations. And not just with a particular class but all classes are subject to and suffer from these twin plagues of our time. Of course, there have always been individual human beings in all nations and at all times who have suffered from unrest and insecurity. This might have had something to do with their personal fate or destiny, which only returned to them what they once intended for and inflicted upon others. Today…

I had hitherto seen only one side of the academy, the other being appropriated to the advancers of speculative learning, of whom I shall say something, when I have mentioned one illustrious person more, who is called among them ‘the universal artist.’ He told us ‘he had been thirty years employing his thoughts for the improvement of human life’. He had two large rooms full of wonderful curiosities, and fifty men at work. Some were condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles percolate; others softening marble, for pillows and pin-cushions; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from foundering. The artist himself was at that time busy upon two great designs; the first, to sow…