토론:이상주의
"The Greater Community Way of Knowledge takes you beyond idealism and speculation into real engagement and greater certainty."[1]
정의
"Do not then pretend that you are God by attempting to re-arrange the world toward your idea of perfection or wholeness or unity. To do so will merely deceive you once again and force you to use relationships to satisfy your idealism, which will in time require that you become an oppressor and a victim of error."[2]
이상주의의 무례함
"True spiritual training is very disappointing. Why? Because you find that your philosophy, your idealism and your hopes must be left at the entrance to the temple. Only those who argue philosophy remain outside on the steps. In the sanctuary this has no meaning."[3]
관계에서의 이상주의
"Relationships which are used to fulfill fantasy and idealism must always go astray and end in anger and disappointment."[4]
"If your experience of God is concealed by idealism or wishful thinking, so will be your relationships with others and with the world."[4]
"Some people wish to return to God and commit themselves to God, but they cannot be with anybody. And so they are trying to be with everything, but they do not know how to be with any one thing. This leads to idealism of a very unfortunate kind, for people are committed to an idea of God and not to God at all. People are committed to an idea of relationship but cannot participate in relationship."[5]
완벽 찾기
"People are very adamant that God should come and make the world exactly the way they want it, but God has other plans. God’s intention is to free everyone here so that they may return to their natural Home. So, instead of making the world a perfect place for your separation to exist, God has set in motion the forces to break your separation down.Very loving this is."[6]
"Advancing students of Knowledge" ... "thought they were here to make the world a perfect place or at least a better place, but now they are not so sure. If you follow Knowledge, it does not always seem to lead in this direction. It does not always meet your criteria for improvement for yourself or for others.You find out that much of your desire for self-improvement is simply to have a better appearance, to look better to yourself and to others. 'Look at me. I am doing well."[7]
"Why doesn’t the world become a perfect place when people are so intelligent and so loving in their true nature? Why isn’t the world the way it is supposed to be? Because it is an environment where people who have not accepted the responsibility for service can have an opportunity to do so. If there were no improvements to be made here, you would be quite lost because your stage in life is to contribute."[7]
이상주의의 한계와 비용
"Why would anyone become violent in life save that their idealism has been dashed by something?"[8]
"Idealism of any kind stands in the way of the reclamation of Knowledge. It is a choice for belief over experience, for ideas over relationships, for self-importance over truth. Even for those who have very lofty ideas about themselves and the universe, their ideas, which may seem harmless within themselves, become a great restraint in The Way of Knowledge."[1]