Lower Soul, Higher Soul (Old Writings) SOUL AT REST

If I'm nothing . . . I'm an inveterate reader, semi-scholar. . . . My personal library is, I dare say, impressive, re its breadth, depth, width, highs, lows, inspired, Word, scriptural, intriguing, historical . . . and I could go on.  Let's just say, I've been reading, and continue to, for a long time now.  I've got, and continue to read "classics" and also, because I'm a collector of sorts of printed knowledge, various surprising rare and hard to find books (nowadays).  I collected them early.  I knew that the printed word would be under attack and subverted and, as digital took over (AI) . . . these would be some precious refuge and interests and possible helps, if not mere sharp entertainment. . . .

I've predicted some (at the time) things that seemed "far-out" and almost impossible to imagine . . . but which are now par for the course.  In that same sense, I am not feeling too far out now to suggest that I wouldn't be surprised . . . if THE WRITTEN WORD . . . at some point in the not too distant future . . . becomes A HATE CRIME . . . A FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE . . . REGARDLESS OF THE CONTENT>!  Because . . . all "approved" will be "virtual". . . .

But I digress. . . . :)

Anyway . . . here is a clip of one of my many treasured books.... 

--OF COURSE not "treasured" because it takes the place of THE WORD! . . . but . . . because . . . well . . . it is old, interesting and rare . . . and I think somewhat inspirational in the context of seeking God. . .

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"It is this lower soul which finds its pleasure and satisfaction in sin, which ceaselessly contends with the higher soul and is full of desire, always awake and attentive to that which means its own destruction in the world to come.  Its chief joy is in what is abhorrent to (the) Lord, while that from which it turns with aversion is what He desires; the lightest of His commands is burdensome to it, and it flees from Him, rebelling against that which would lead it to eternal salvation. 

This rebellious self . . . compares to a beast of burden, and like an animal which is at first wild and untamed, it must be trained by constant discipline, in order to become of use to Him who is its master, so that he, in his turn, may carry out the Will of that greater Master, his Lord, and since this discipline will mean the ultimate salvation of the self as part of the whole man, it is an act of compassion towards it. 

Slowly and reluctantly the self may be brought under obedience, from time to time still struggling against the compulsion brought to bear upon it, and seeking the accomplishment of its own desires and rest from discipline, yet by degrees subdued by the constant pressure brought to bear while the higher soul gradually gains the upper hand, and it becomes the soul reproachful, for therein the higher nature is waging an ever more successful war against the lower, until at last the victory is achieved and the struggle is over.  

Devil and his hosts have been routed and the lusts of the flesh no longer make any appeal; the soul has become captive in complete submission to the Will of THE LORD; it has attained to ... and has become the 'soul at rest'."