1 result for (book:ecs2 AND heading:"esp class session octob 27 1970" AND stemmed:degrad)
[... 1 paragraph ...]
We do not have too many comments but one I am bound to make. You are here to develop abilities. You did not lose any status by adapting physical existence. There is an interpretation to the meaning of the fall, in Biblical terms, and on another occasion I will tell you what it is but do not expect the philosophy that tells you automatically that by becoming human you have degraded yourselves. This is another story fully as destructive as that of original sin, simply put in different terms.
Existence within this system involves creation indeed and creation involves development and new dimensions. Consciousness opened up new dimensions of activity, development and awareness. Physical existence became fact. There is no degradation involved. Anyone who tells you this is telling you that automatically by being human you are to some extent damned, even though the terms of salvation are open and available and such is not the case. The excerpts from the book that Ruburt read from in class earlier this evening were highly distorted but they were less damaging, the excerpts read in particular, than the excerpts you just described.
Human existence, again, represents growth and development and the birth of consciousness into a different and new dimension of activity. You did not fall down a tunnel of degradation from which you must then rise. This is unfortunately one of the main distortions that have come down through the centuries and that is the only point I felt strongly enough that I should interfere with your fine rendition.
[... 23 paragraphs ...]