The Great Gospel of John
Volume 2
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the Vicinity of Caesara Philippi (Matthew 16)
- Chapter 229 -
About Satan's nature.
1
(The Lord:) "From this fairly explicit scenario, we should have a clear concept of why a being without an opposing one would be just as good as no being at all, just as the power of our giant in free space would be as good as none, in relation to any effect; hence every existence needs a counter-existence in order to be effective.
2
This relationship therefore, in its proper measure has to be present in everything there is, or there would be no existence anywhere at all.
3
And as such must also the most perfect existence of God in itself contain in every regard the most well-formed opposites, without them there would be as good as no being at all. These opposites are therefore always involved in an uninterrupted fight with each other, but always in such a way that the steady victory of the one force serves as the support for the so to speak vanquished force, as we have seen with the continual victory of the firm ground over the moving gravitational force of our giant.
4
If God wanted to create out of Himself free beings resembling Him, He also had to provide them with the same fighting opposites which of course He Himself had to possess in the best and most balanced relationships, otherwise He never could have been existed actively.
5
Well, the beings were formed fully to His image and as such were finally necessarily imbued with the capacity to consolidate out of the fighting opposites put in them out of God.
6
Every being was imbued with rest and movement, indolence and sense of activity, darkness and light, love and rage, violence and gentleness and a thousandfold others, as fully their own; only the proportions varied.
7
In God all the opposites were already from eternity in the best order. In the created beings however, they had to attain the right order through the free fight like out of themselves, thus through the well-known self-activity.
8
Now, different victories emerged. In one part the hard rest was the prevailing winner, and thereby activity became quite subordinated, thus constantly giving it the biggest and fiery effort to soften the stone and to make it more resembling and more corresponding to itself. On the other hand, movement in all its parts won decisively and is therefore being constantly fought by the feebler rest within it, in order to enter into a more corresponding relationship with it.
9
But with many beings, the opposites have achieved a proper, proportional balance according to God's order, making their being therefore perfect, because the homogeneous and opposing intelligence capabilities constantly mutually supporting each other in the most optimal manner.
10
Hence you see that where some force within a self-consolidating being, through some excessively stubborn drive attempts to silence and subjugate all other forces to its sphere, and succeeds on the whole, such force kills itself as-it-were, by clearing all opportunities for manifesting its power out of the way. But as said, a force without a corresponding countervailing force is as good as none, as we already have seen from the example with the giant.
11
However, such in all parts self captivating force must therefore have the continuing aspiration to captivate even more forces in itself, to rid itself from the painful captivity. And behold, this is what one calls 'Satan' or 'devil'!
12
Satan is a great personality, and corresponds too much with rigid rest and inertia. Because this first-created, great personality wanted to absorb all other forces into its own and has for this reason become dead and incapable of action on its own. But the defeated powers within it nevertheless are not fully at rest but in constant activity, personifying themselves as independent. With such activity however they vitalize the basic life as if with an apparent life, obviously making it a make-believe life contrary to a true, free life.
13
Such vanquished forces, however denying defeat notwithstanding, are then what are called, with regard to Satan devils, or evil spirits. - And so you see, My dear Cyrenius, how I have now also given you a small hint about Satan and devils, since you only asked for a small one! But speak if you desire more, and I shall be more explicit."