Family

"You may say, 'What about other people? What about my spouse? What about my children? What about my dear friend?' But God has found the speck on the ocean, and that speck is you."

Marriage and family

"Often people say, 'All I want is a true partner in life, a true relationship. I want to be married. I want to have a family. That is all I want.' And We say, 'Well, that is very good. Go spend time with people who have that and ask yourself if you want to have their level of satisfaction.' We do not want to deprive people of what they want. After all, relationship is very important. But having a marriage or family does not guarantee success."

"From a wholesome loving family to the work of people united in supporting the world's evolution and development, meaningful relationships are the very essence of humanity’s success."

"If marriage is based merely on personal attraction, it will run dry. It must yield something greater and produce community—either children or a circle of people, a family. That is what marriage is for; it is for community."

"People believe ... that the only opportunity to experience profound relationship is in romance or in family. We wish to broaden the context of relationship because many of you will not have partnership in this life in that way. Your partnership will be in a different form. Unless you can entertain this possibility, you will strive for the impossible and spend your life attempting to accomplish something that is not intended for you."

"Your first challenge in change will be with yourself. That is the most important. It will be with yourself and in your primary relationships: your partner, your loved ones, your family and so forth. If you feel a spiritual emergence arising that you must respond to, you will have to change your relationship with your family. You cannot change and have relationships around you not adjust according to that change. You must do it, not wait for someone to do it for you."

Spiritual Family

"Each of you has come from your Spiritual Family into this world to play your part in this era of human evolution."

"We use the word “family” because family is the closest approximation that you have in this life to intrinsic relationship."

"You have a human family that raises you in the world, but you have a Spiritual Family that raises you in life. This Family is not all humankind. You are not entirely human. You belong to a Greater Reality. Being a human isn’t enough. You are not entirely a human being. When you have this perspective, you will know how to serve people because you will not be trapped in their identity dilemma."

"In life thus far you have had a physical family, a family of the world that has made it possible for you to be born, to be raised and to be educated in the ways of the world. Likewise, you have a Spiritual Family that is waiting to prepare you, to activate your spiritual life and your Knowledge while you are here in the world… Therefore, you have a physical family, a worldly family, that has raised you from birth and has educated you to prepare you to be in life. Maybe they did not do such a good job, but that is beside the point. Then you have a Spiritual Family into which you are born in a new world, and you develop and you become educated so that you are a spiritual presence in life."

"You prepare for your Spiritual Family through genuine marriage in the world.... [marriage to] another to create a family, to serve a community or both."

The Human Family

"Human beings must learn to live for the welfare of their human family, not simply their blood family, but for their society and world."

"If the mind of the world, the collective mind of the people, misuses the body of the world, the world’s ability to support the human family will be eroded, spoiled and eventually destroyed. If you look upon people's activity in the environment, you will see this being demonstrated in many ways."

Further study

• Relationships & Higher Purpose, Chapter 5:Your Relationship with Your Spiritual Family

See also

Raising Children

Relationships

Marriage

Love

Spiritual Family