God Is Love
Jesus Christ gave us this highest formula, the key to cognition of God.
But why are there so few people who, considering themselves Christians, make use of this Truth for their spiritual advancement? Why didn�t this formula inspire masses of materialists to accept faith?
One of the reasons for this is that the distortion of the Teachings of Jesus Christ began as early as when the New Testament was compiled, which took place just several centuries after Jesus� Incarnation on the Earth ended [9].
His Teachings were deprived of the part where Jesus talked of man as of an evolving consciousness, whose goal of development is attaining a Godlike state and then Merging with God-the-Father. The description of God-the-Father was also taken out of His sermons. But they included irritated demands of Paul regarding what one should and should not wear, as well as which hairstyle is appropriate. Also the Apocalypse, devoid of love and common sense, overflowing with threats of seas of blood and bowls of pus. (This is not only an opinion of the author of this book; the attitude of Jesus is the same [25]).
The result of this distortion of the Teachings of Jesus Christ was that the mass movement called �Christianity� almost from its very beginning ceased to be a religion of love � the love that God sent Jesus Christ to establish. We can recall the Inquisition, wars between the Orthodox and Catholics and crusades. In Russia we saw mass persecution of Old Believers, pogroms of Jews�
Outstanding Russian people � Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vladimir Vysotsky, and many others � although they acknowledged the existence of God, did not accept Christianity in this form.
Questions got raised also by �simple� people to which the Church could not give clear and perspicuous answers: how can one assert that God is Love if He promised these things in the Apocalypse, if what we see around us are wars, violence, cruelty, diseases, and suffering? No, if He is omnipotent and these things happen, if everything that surrounds us is evil, if I do not see any love anywhere, however I ask Him for it � then there is something wrong about this kind of faith, and I do not need a God like this!
It is important for us to realize that the fathomless abyss that appeared between the masses of �Christians� and God and that isolated people from Him and that opposed God to them, making them beg various mercies from Him � instead of inspiring them to change themselves in accordance with His Will and merge with Him in Love � this abyss has not been created by Him but by people who warped His Teachings.
In reality God is not somewhere far and high in the sky but, as Jesus said, the distance between the Abode of the Creator and everyone of us is not greater than the thickness of finest paper [25]�
But in order to travel such a small distance to His Embrace of Love we have to become pure Love � like Him, rather than anger, fear, or selfish desire�
Emotions are states of the consciousness. This is a fundamentally important thing to realize.
We are consciousnesses, the energy of consciousnesses, not bodies and not minds.
God is also a Consciousness, although infinitely greater than ours.
And in order to fulfill what He wants from us, we just need to learn to live always in the state of subtle and pure love and to never exit from it.
God is Love. He has compassion for us. He is willing to help us, guiding us all the time on the Path to Him, to His Abode, to our ultimate happiness�
But we do not go to Him! Instead we squabble for the material welfare of this world, exhaust ourselves by hating others because they get dressed, have haircuts, etc. in a different way, or because they perform prayer bodily movements �different� from ours, or because their skin is of a different color or their nationality differs from ours�
� But God wants us to establish ourselves in the emotional state of love. And then � we can get in!
