WHY DOES THE SOUL FALL ILL?

We are almost all of us ignorant of diseases of the soul and their therapy; and this is because we do not concern ourselves much with our soul – many even dispute its existence and others attach very little importance to it, as if it were something secondary, forgetting what is written: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” or “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37), forgetting that the soul is the Immortal part of man, the ‘Breath of God’ which is within us and which gives life to our flesh.

Many patients who are suffering from various illnesses have recourse to doctors, are examined by them, and the doctors, after the examination and the diagnosis of the disease, provide them with various prescriptions for medicines as to which, though often they are unpleasant in smell and taste, almost all the patients nevertheless try with meticulous exactitude to observe the dosage of these medicines and the intervals at which the doctor has recommended they should be taken, so that they will act and help in the cure of the illness from which they are suffering.

But this concerns matter, your tabernacle, the shell of flesh of your inner hypostasis, and often, almost always, the manifestation of an illness in the material tabernacle is the last manifestation of an illness which begins from somewhere else, the result of a situation which began a long time before. It is the result of a discord, a poor functioning, a sickness of the soul, because all illnesses are disharmonies; something is not working properly, undoubtedly, some violation of a Divine Law and departure from the Divine Balance has taken place, and it is for that reason that we have manifestations of illnesses.

It is, therefore, necessary for us to explore this issue and, as we examine carefully the result of a disharmony manifested in our material tabernacle, it is good and sensible and necessary, perhaps more so, to probe more deeply in order to find the cause which has brought about this latter manifestation and to deal with the matter of ‘therapy of the cause’, because then we shall have a positive, certain, and definitive result. Otherwise we shall notice that the medicines which the doctors give us most often bring only a temporary relief and not a final cure.

We must all understand that the soul also falls ill. You must understand this as well as possible, because in this way you will be helped to see your health issues in a deeper and more correct way and to arrive at the causes which have brought about the disturbances and to take the right medicines.

But why does the soul fall ill? The soul falls ill because of its various passions, because of the various defects which it still has, because of the various violations of Divine Laws which it commits, because of its departure from the Source of Light and of True Life, from its God who created it. Furthermore, the soul falls ill because it is not properly nourished, because it is not sufficiently nourished, because it is not supplied by that part by which it should be and in the way in which it should be in order to be maintained and to develop. That is to say, there are sickly, anemic, hungry and thirsty, starving, in other words, souls, without their realising it.

Why does the soul not realise this easily? Because the coverings of matter, the flesh, prevent the soul from seeing the Truth in depth. In any event, we do not always perceive the various illnesses of the flesh which we have in good time so as to take our measures, but sometimes very late, at an advanced stage, that is, and this is not because the symptoms of the illness had not presented themselves to us earlier, but because we did not attach to them the importance which we should earlier.

Thus, while the soul is ill and while it shows us the various symptoms of its illness, we do not attach the importance to this which we should and the state of the soul’s illness always worsens, with serious consequences in our life. We are almost all of us ignorant of diseases of the soul and their therapy; and this is because we do not concern ourselves much with our soul – many even dispute its existence and others attach very little importance to it, as if it were something secondary, forgetting what is written: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” or “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37), forgetting that the soul is the Immortal part of man, the ‘Breath of God’ which is within us and which gives life to our flesh.

And also, because when we notice that something is amiss within us, we fail to seek the appropriate physician in the way in which we seek him for diseases of the body in order to consult him and to take the appropriate medicines, to apply the prescriptions which we will be given, spiritual prescriptions this time, with the same meticulousness. And the appropriate physician in this case is the Spiritual master, the one who has education and knowledge and experience in these matters, who knows and is able to diagnose what the soul is suffering from and to give the corresponding spiritual prescriptions and the corresponding spiritual medicines which will help the inner part of man, his soul, to be healed, with the help of the Great Physician of souls, the Lord.(...)

This is an excerpt from the book MASTER JOHN THE GREEK which was first published in the Greek book THE ROAD (1985) in the chapter titled "REPENTANCE - JOHN"

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