During this period we fellowshipped on the first aspect of how to pursue the truth, which is about letting go. We mainly spoke about the first part of this topic—letting go of various negative emotions. How many times have we discussed the subject of letting go of various negative emotions? (Four times.) Do you have any paths for how to let go of negative emotions? The various negative emotions that we fellowshipped on and dissected superficially appear to be kinds of emotions or thoughts, but actually, at their root, they stem from people’s erroneous outlooks on life and value systems, and people’s flawed thoughts and viewpoints. Of course, people’s various corrupt dispositions lead to the emergence of different fallacious thoughts and viewpoints, which in turn give rise to various negative emotions. Therefore, the emergence of various negative emotions has its origin and its causes. The negative emotions that we have discussed are not momentary or impulsive thoughts, nor are they thoughts and viewpoints in the simple sense of these words, or fleeting moods. These emotions have the ability to influence people’s way of life, what they practice, and their thoughts and viewpoints, as well as the perspectives and attitudes with which they view people and things. These negative emotions are concealed deep within people’s hearts and in their minds, they constantly accompany them in their daily lives and impact the perspectives and stances they take when looking at various people, events, and things. These negative emotions have a significant negative effect on people’s daily lives, comportment, and the paths that they choose in life. They invisibly result in various adverse consequences for people. Hence, people must slowly understand and resolve these negative emotions through the pursuit of the truth, and gradually let go of them. Letting go of these negative emotions is not like discarding a physical object, which you no longer think of, and which no longer dominates you afterward; it is not a matter of picking something up and letting it go in the simple sense of these words. So, what does it mean to “let go” in this context? Primarily, it means that you must expose and dissect your incorrect thoughts and viewpoints and the incorrect perspectives and attitudes with which you view people and things, until you understand the truth. Then you will be able to truly abandon your negative emotions. Regardless of what negative emotions arise in you, you must resolve them by seeking the relevant truths, until you possess the principles and paths for practicing the truth. Only then can you completely break free from the torment, bondage, and influence of negative emotions, ultimately attaining the ability to submit to the truth and to the environments that God has arranged, thus standing firm in your witness. You must view people and things, comport yourself and act according to God’s words, with the truth as your criterion. Only by doing so can you completely let go of your negative emotions and incorrect thoughts and viewpoints. Why is such a complex process needed to completely let go of them? The reason is that these negative emotions are not tangible things. They are not emotions that temporarily possess or afflict one’s mind. They are established, pre-existing, or even deeply ingrained thoughts and viewpoints that form within people, and their influence on people is particularly severe. Therefore, various methods and steps are necessary to let go of these negative emotions. This process of letting go is also the process of pursuing the truth, is it not? (It is.) The process of letting go of these negative emotions is indeed the process of pursuing the truth. So, the only way to face negative emotions is by seeking the truth and resolving them based on God’s words. Do you understand the meaning of this statement? (Yes.)

When we first began fellowshipping on negative emotions, the various truths that we had previously fellowshipped on generally had not touched on this topic, so it was a very unfamiliar subject for all of you. People think that it is normal to have negative emotions, and they think of them as separate from corrupt dispositions; they believe that negative emotions are not corrupt dispositions, and that they have nothing to do with one another. This is incorrect. Some people believe that negative emotions are merely temporary thoughts or ideas that have no impact on people, and therefore, they believe that it does not matter if they let go of them or not. Now, through multiple sessions of fellowship and dissection, it has been proved that negative emotions do indeed have a real impact on people. In the past, we always fellowshipped on understanding and dissecting corrupt dispositions, and we only touched upon negative emotions a bit while exposing corrupt dispositions, but we did not fellowship on them in much detail. Now, after several concrete discussions, I hope that you can focus on this topic and start learning to dissect and understand these negative emotions in your daily life. When you understand their essence, you can reject and rebel against them, and gradually let them go. Only after letting go of these negative emotions can you get on the right track in pursuing the truth and embark on the path of pursuing the truth. These are the steps that you must take, is that clear? (Yes.) Although negative emotions may not possess and control people to the same extent as corrupt dispositions when it comes to people’s lives, existence, and the paths that they take, these negative emotions are also unavoidable. In certain situations and to a certain degree, the negative effects that they have when it comes to binding people’s thoughts and influencing their acceptance of the truth and whether they walk the correct path or not, are no less significant than those of their corrupt dispositions. You will gradually begin to appreciate this in your future pursuits, experience, and praxis. Right now, as you have only just encountered this topic, some of you will not have any awareness or knowledge of it, and even less appreciation of it. When you experience this subject matter in the future, you will feel that negative emotions are not as simple as they seem. They occupy a significant place and space within people’s thoughts, the depths of their hearts, and even in their subconscious. It can be said that these negative emotions fuel and drive individuals to act based on their corrupt dispositions to a great extent, and that they fuel and drive the control and bondage that corrupt dispositions have over people. They cause people to live stubbornly by their corrupt dispositions when it comes to how they view people and things, and comport themselves and act, so you should not underestimate these negative emotions. In fact, in one respect, there are many negative thoughts and viewpoints hidden within negative emotions, and in another respect, different negative emotions are concealed within people’s corrupt dispositions, to varying degrees. In short, these negative emotions occupy people’s hearts, and they are of the same essence as people’s corrupt dispositions. They are both facets of negativity, and they are negative things. What does “negative things” mean here? What does it refer to? One aspect is that these negative emotions do not play a positive role in people’s life entry. They cannot guide you or help you to come before God, to actively seek His will, and to then achieve submission to Him. When these negative emotions are hidden within people, their hearts are distant from God, they guard against Him and avoid Him, and they may even secretly, subtly, and involuntarily suspect, deny, and judge God. From this perspective, are these negative emotions positive things? (No, they are not.) That is one aspect. In another, these negative emotions do not lead people before God to submit to the truth. They lead people on paths and toward goals and directions that contradict and oppose the truth. This is without doubt. The function that these negative emotions serve within a person is to make them protect themselves, safeguard the interests of their flesh, and maintain their vanity, pride, and status. They constantly control you and bind you, preventing you from listening to God’s words, from being an honest person, and from practicing the truth. They make you believe that you will lose out if you practice the truth, that you will lose face and status, that you will be ridiculed by others, and that your true self will be exposed to the world. These negative emotions control people, dominating their thoughts and making them only think about these negative things. Now, is the essence of these negative things contrary to the truth? (Yes.) So, while negative emotions are constantly reminding you of these things, at the same time they are also constantly hindering you from practicing and pursuing the truth. They act as walls to your pursuit of the truth and as stumbling blocks on your path toward entering into the truth reality. Whenever you wish to practice the truth, to speak honestly, to submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, to act according to the principles, or to sincerely expend yourself for God, pay a price, and show your loyalty to God, these negative emotions immediately burst forth and prevent you from practicing the truth. They constantly emerge in your thoughts and flash across your mind, telling you what you will lose by acting in that way, what your ending will be, what the consequences will be, and what you will be able to gain. They repeatedly remind you and warn you, preventing you from accepting and practicing the truth, and from submitting to God. Instead, they make you think about yourself, consider your own interests, and as a result, you are unable to practice the truth or simply submit to God. In an instant, your thoughts become bound and controlled by these negative emotions. Although you want to practice the truth at first, and you are willing to submit to God, and want to satisfy Him, when negative emotions arise within you, you involuntarily follow them and become controlled by them. They seal your mouth, bind your hands and feet, and prevent you from doing what you should do and from speaking the words that you ought to. Instead, you end up uttering false, deceptive, and judgmental words, and engaging in actions that contravene the truth. Your heart immediately grows dark and becomes trapped in torment. Your original ideas and plans are good—you want to practice the truth, and to offer up your loyalty in order to do your duty well, and you have the drive, the desire, and the will to practice the truth. But at critical moments, these negative emotions take control of you. You do not have the ability to rebel against or reject them, and in the end, you can only surrender to these negative emotions. When negative emotions haunt and disturb people, when they control people’s thoughts and prevent them from practicing the truth, people appear so powerless, helpless, and pitiful. When there are no major issues occurring and when there are no principles involved, people think that they have limitless strength, that they are strong in resolve and faith, and they feel that they are full of motivation. They believe that they cannot love God enough, they think that they have a God-fearing heart, and that they can do no wrong, that they are incapable of creating disruptions or disturbances, and that they are certainly incapable of intentionally doing evil. But when something happens, why can they not help how they react? These involuntary actions of theirs are not planned or desired, but they still happen and become a reality, and they are far from how those people wished to act. It must be said that the occurrence of these things and the repeated appearance of such phenomena is caused by negative emotions. It is clear that the impact of negative emotions on people, and their control over people, is not as simple as people imagine, nor is it as easily resolved, and it is certainly not as easy to let go of or rebel against. No matter how loudly people usually shout their slogans, no matter how strong their resolve usually is, or how high their aspirations are, or how great their God-loving hearts and faith in God are, when faced with reality, why does that resolve and faith, and those aspirations and ideals fail to have any effect? How are they influenced and stifled by transient negative emotions? It is clear from this that negative emotions have taken root in people’s lives; they coexist with people’s corrupt dispositions and they have the ability to influence and control people’s thoughts and viewpoints, just like corrupt dispositions do. At the same time, and more seriously, they control people’s words and actions, and more than this, they control their every thought and idea, and their every action and behavior in the face of all kinds of situations. So, is it not very important to resolve these negative emotions? (Yes.) Negative emotions are not positive things, this can be illustrated in two ways: Firstly, negative emotions cannot lead a person to actively come before God; secondly, they cannot enable a person to successfully practice the truth in the face of reality, and enter into the truth, as they would like to. They are stumbling blocks to people’s pursuit of the truth, they hinder people from seeking and practicing the truth. Therefore, negative emotions must be resolved. By looking at the effect and essence of negative emotions, one can see that they are not positive things. Moreover, it can be said that in their essence they have a greater ability to constrain and control people, to a certain extent, than corrupt dispositions. So, would you say that the existence of these negative emotions is a serious problem? (Yes.) If these negative emotions are not resolved, what consequences can be expected? You can be certain that these emotions will make a person live in negativity for a long time, and they have an even stronger ability to constrain and bind people, hindering them from pursuing the truth. Should such a serious problem be resolved? It should be resolved. At the same time as addressing their corrupt dispositions, people should also resolve their negative emotions. If people resolve their negative emotions and corrupt dispositions, their pursuit of the truth will go much more smoothly, and there will not be any significant obstacles to it.

Corrupt dispositions are hidden in some of people’s surface-level outpourings and approaches, as well as in certain states, so how do you discern negative emotions? How do you differentiate between negative emotions and corrupt dispositions? Have you pondered on this before? (No.) Dispositions and emotions are two different kinds of things. If we just speak about dispositions and emotions, is it easy to distinguish between their literal meanings? Dispositions refer to the things that pour forth from a person’s nature essence, while emotions are basically a kind of psychological state that people have while doing something. Regardless of how we interpret these terms literally, in any case, people’s emotions—especially their negative emotions—contain many negative thoughts. When a person harbors these negative emotions, this can lead them to live in a negative state and under the domination of various incorrect thoughts and viewpoints, right? (Right.) These negative emotions can remain hidden in people’s hearts for a long time, and if people do not understand the truth, they will never be aware of these emotions or feel their presence; they accompany people at all times, just like their corrupt dispositions. Many times, these negative emotions are hidden within people’s various incorrect thoughts and viewpoints, and these incorrect thoughts and viewpoints cause people to doubt God, to lose their genuine faith, and to even make all kinds of unreasonable demands of God, and lose their normal reason. Under the packaging of different reasons, thoughts, and viewpoints, these negative emotions hide within a person’s corrupt dispositions and within their various incorrect thoughts and viewpoints, fully representing that person’s nature essence. Corrupt dispositions manifest themselves in the various states that are revealed through people’s comportment and actions—these different states carry within them people’s corrupt dispositions. Although negative emotions and corrupt dispositions are distinct from each other, there is a necessary link between them in some regards, and they can even become intertwined and inseparable from one another. In certain respects, they can support each other, fuel one another, and they can depend on each other and coexist. For example, the distress, worry, and anxiety that we fellowshipped about last time are one kind of negative emotion. It is this kind of negative emotion that causes people to live in distress, worry, and anxiety. When people are trapped in these emotions, they will naturally form certain thoughts and viewpoints, leading them to doubt, speculate, guard against, misunderstand, and even judge and attack God, and they may also make unreasonable and transactional demands of God. At this point, these negative emotions have already escalated into a corrupt disposition. So, what have you understood from this example? Can you distinguish between negative emotions and corrupt dispositions? Tell Me. (Negative emotions give rise to certain incorrect thoughts and viewpoints, while corrupt dispositions are more deep-seated, and cause people to misunderstand and guard themselves against God.) I’ll give an example. Take the negative emotions of distress, worry, and anxiety. Say that a person falls ill, and they think about their ailment and experience distress, worry, and anxiety as a result. These things control their heart, making them afraid of their illness becoming serious and of the various consequences that come with death. They then begin to fear death, to reject death, and wish to escape it. This series of thoughts and ideas arises due to their ailment. In the context of this ailment, this person produces many active thoughts. The source of these active thoughts is based on the interests of their flesh and is clearly not based on the fact that God governs all things, or on the truth. That is why we categorize these as negative emotions. That person feels bad because of their illness, but the illness is already upon them, and they have to face it—they cannot escape it, so they think, “Oh no, how should I face this illness? Should I treat it or not? What will happen if I don’t? What will happen if I do?” As they continue thinking, they become distressed. The various thoughts and viewpoints they have about their ailment trap them in distress, worry, and anxiety. Has this negative emotion not then already begun to take effect? (Yes.) When they first start experiencing their ailment, they intend to try treating it, but then they feel that doing so is not appropriate, and plan to live by their faith instead, doing their duty normally, while still worrying that the ailment will become serious. What is the appropriate way to handle this? They lack a path. Under the domination of their negative emotions, they always feel distressed, worried, and anxious about this matter, and once distress, worry, and anxiety arise within them, they cannot let go of them. They feel plagued by their ailment—what should they do about it? They start to think, “It’s okay, I believe in God. God will heal me. I have faith.” However, after a period of time, the ailment does not improve, and God does not heal them. The person continues to feel distressed, worried, and anxious about the matter, saying, “Is God going to heal me or not? I just have to wait, God will heal me. I have faith.” They say that they have faith, but deep down, they are actually living amid their negative emotions, thinking, “What if God doesn’t heal me, and I become seriously ill and die? Will I have performed my duty in vain? Will I not be able to receive any blessings? I should ask God to heal me.” So they pray to God, saying, “God, based on the many years that I’ve been performing my duty, can You take away my illness?” Pondering further, they realize, “It is not right for me to ask God that. I shouldn’t place such extravagant demands on God. I should have faith.” When they have faith, they feel like their ailment has improved a bit, but after a while, they think, “I don’t feel like my illness has really gotten better. In fact, it seems to have gotten worse. What should I do? I’ll try harder and exert more effort in my duty, I’ll endure more suffering, pay a greater price, and strive to make God heal me. I’ll show God my loyalty and my faith, and show Him that I can accept this trial.” After some time, not only does their illness not improve, but it worsens, and they feel sadder and sadder, and think: “God hasn’t healed me. What should I do? Is God going to heal me or not?” Their distress, worry, and anxiety intensify. In this context, they live continuously in the midst of negative emotions like distress, worry, and anxiety due to their ailment. From time to time, they develop some “faith” in God and they offer a bit of their loyalty and determination on occasion. Regardless of what they do or which approach they take, in any case, they are constantly trapped by emotions of distress, worry, and anxiety. They are deeply bound by their ailment, and everything they do is to improve and cure their illness, and to find liberation from it. When a person lives in the midst of such negative emotions, they do not just think about their illness briefly; rather, under the domination of those negative emotions, their thinking is often very active. When these active thoughts cannot be brought to pass or when reality does not align with what they want, from time to time, numerous ideas or even approaches emerge from their mind against their will. They say, “If God doesn’t heal me, I’ll still do my duty, but if God truly won’t heal me, then my faith in Him is useless, and I’ll have to treat the illness myself.” You see, they think to themselves, “If God doesn’t heal me, I’ll still do my duty well—this is God testing me,” but at the same time, they are also thinking, “If God truly won’t heal me, then I’ll have to treat the illness myself. If I have to treat it myself, then I won’t do my duty. If my faith in God can’t even cure my illness, why should I believe in God? Why does God heal others but not me?” They are continuously entangled by their negative emotions, and not only are they unable to reverse or transform their incorrect thoughts and viewpoints, but these negative emotions lead them to gradually misunderstand God, to complain about God, and to doubt God during the process of experiencing their ailment. This process is that of the gradual transformation of their negative emotions, and of them entering into acting by their corrupt disposition. Once a corrupt disposition takes charge of a person’s actions, that person will no longer just possess negative emotions—certain thoughts and viewpoints, or judgments and resolutions will arise within them, and they will produce certain actions. When a kind of emotion transforms into a kind of state, it is no longer simply a matter of negative emotions, of thinking about something or living in a certain status, it is about this status producing thoughts, viewpoints, and resolutions, producing movement and actions. So, what dominates these thoughts, viewpoints, movements, and actions? It is a corrupt disposition that dominates them. Is this process of transformation not all smoothed out now? (Yes.) At first, people produce negative emotions within a certain context, and these negative emotions are just a few simple thoughts, viewpoints, and ideas, but these ideas are all negative. These negative ideas stagnate within people’s emotions and go on to cause them to produce various incorrect states. When people are living in incorrect states, and deciding what to do, how to do it, and what approaches to adopt, erroneous viewpoints and theories form within them, and this, then, involves their corrupt disposition. It is as simple as that. Is this clear now? (Yes, it is clear.) So, tell Me about it. (In certain contexts, people produce some negative emotions. At first these negative emotions do not go any further than a few negative ideas. When these negative ideas go on to give rise to various incorrect states and people start deciding what to do and adopting certain approaches, they become dominated by certain thoughts and theories. This, then, involves their corrupt disposition.) Ponder on this and see if you understand it. Is it not simple? (It is.) It sounds simple, but can you distinguish between negative emotions and corrupt dispositions? Regardless of whether they are easy to distinguish in theory or not, in any case, have you understood the distinction between negative emotions and corrupt dispositions? (Yes.)

If the various negative emotions that we have fellowshipped exist in your own hearts, can you discern and dissect them? (We can somewhat discern them.) If you possess them, you ought to be able to discern them. The purpose of discerning negative emotions is not to merely have a general theoretical understanding of them or to grasp their meaning and that’s all. It is to break free from the torment of negative emotions after gaining practical discernment of them, and to let go of these various negative emotions that should not exist within people, like the negative emotions we fellowshipped about earlier. Now, based on the distinction between negative emotions and corrupt dispositions that we just fellowshipped about, can we say that negative emotions are a root cause or a context that leads people to reveal their corrupt dispositions? For example, in the case of illness, if you do not develop negative emotions such as distress, worry, and anxiety due to the illness, it proves that you have knowledge and experience of the matter, that you possess correct thoughts and viewpoints, and genuine submission. Consequently, your thoughts and actions in that regard ought to align with the truth. Conversely, if you constantly experience negative emotions about a certain matter, and remain trapped in negative emotions constantly because of it, it is natural that various negative states will arise in you because of these negative emotions. These negative states will cause you to naturally reveal your corrupt disposition while you are in those incorrect states. Then, you will act based on satanic philosophies, violate the truth in all respects, and live by your corrupt disposition. Therefore, regardless of how we differentiate between negative emotions and corrupt dispositions, in sum, these two things are connected, and they are inseparable. In particular, they share a common essence in that both negative emotions and corrupt dispositions are negative things—they share the same essence and underlying thoughts and viewpoints. The thoughts and viewpoints that lead to the emergence of negative emotions are all negative, they are all satanic philosophies, and these negative things lead people to reveal their corrupt dispositions and to comport themselves and act based on their corrupt dispositions. Is this not so? (It is.)

Last time, we fellowshipped about negative emotions such as distress, worry, and anxiety. Now, we are going to fellowship about another aspect of negative emotions, which is almost the same in essence as distress, worry, and anxiety but is even more negative in nature. What is this emotion? It is the state of mind that people encounter the most often in their daily lives—repression. Have you all heard of the term “repression”? (Yes, we have.) Then please make a sentence or give an example using the word “repression.” I’ll start with one. Some people say, “Oh, I often feel repressed while doing my duty, and I can’t free myself from it.” Is this sentence constructed correctly? (Yes.) Now, it is your turn. (I always reveal corruption when things befall me, and I constantly have to reflect and try to know myself, so I feel repressed.) You feel repressed because you are trying to know yourself too much. What is the context for this repression? What is causing it? It is that you know that you are nothing at all, and it seems that you have no prospects or destination waiting for you, and that you have no hope of ever being saved, so you feel repressed. Who else wants to share? (In the country of the great red dragon, believing in God makes people feel repressed.) This is feeling repressed due to one’s environment. (Being constantly supervised by my leader while I’m doing my duty makes me feel repressed.) Well put, that expresses the emotion of repression very concretely. (I always encounter failures and setbacks while doing my duty, this makes me feel repressed.) Setbacks and failures make you feel repressed, as if there is no way forward. When your work progresses slowly, do you feel repressed? (Yes.) That has a somewhat positive connotation. Tell Me more. (I feel repressed when I am always being pruned while doing my duty.) That is the reality, is it not? (I feel repressed when I don’t get good results in my duty.) What is the cause of this repression? Is it really because you didn’t get good results? Are you not afraid that your duty will be adjusted or that you will be cast out? (Yes.) These are the concrete reasons for your repression. Any other feelings of repression? Tell Me about them. (All of my partners are better than me, so I feel repressed.) That is the trouble caused by jealousy—repression. Are there any other issues of repression? (I feel repressed due to a long-standing lack of progress in my field of work.) Is this pressure or repression? It’s a bit of pressure. Having this pressure is a good thing, then. Don’t you just need to turn this pressure into motivation? When the duties of the members of each team are always being adjusted, do you not feel repressed? (Yes.) You feel repressed then too. From the sentences you have provided, it seems that all of you experience the emotion of repression. It appears that people’s inner selves are very unsettled, constantly restless, and under a kind of invisible pressure, which is why the emotion of repression arises within them, and they then live amid this negative emotion of repression. Is this a good thing? (No, it is not.) It is not a good thing. Should it not be resolved, then? Since it is not a good thing, it should be resolved. When people constantly live amid a negative emotion, regardless of which emotion it is, on a smaller level it can have adverse effects on their bodies and minds, preventing them from living healthily and from growing up strong. On a greater level, the impact of different negative emotions on people is not limited to the basic needs they have in their daily lives, like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. More importantly, it affects how they view people and things, as well as their comportment and actions. More specifically, it influences their efficiency, progress, and effectiveness in their duties. Of course, more importantly it affects what they obtain from performing their duties and the gains that people should reap from their faith in God. People’s minds are constantly plagued and bound by these negative emotions, their hearts are often disturbed, and they frequently reside in feelings such as restlessness, unease, and impulsiveness. When people are trapped in these feelings, their normal conscience and reason, as well as their normal lives and their normal performance of their duties are disrupted, affected, and destroyed. Therefore, you should promptly resolve these negative emotions and prevent them from further affecting your normal life and work. The concept of repression that we have discussed today is the same in essence as the various negative emotions we talked about earlier. People often worry and have misgivings about a great many things, or harbor a lot of unease in the depths of their hearts, so they feel repressed. If this emotion of repression remains unresolved for a long time, people will become even more uneasy and agitated deep within their hearts. In certain specific environments and contexts, people may even break free from the control of the conscience and reason of humanity, producing some extreme approaches in order to overcome their situations. This is because there is a limit to the human body’s instinctive ability to withstand certain negative emotions. When that limit and peak is reached, people will break free from the constraints of the reason of humanity and adopt some extreme approaches in order to vent their emotions, and to vent all kinds of irrational ideas that lie deep within their hearts.

You just expressed some of the different reasons that people feel repressed through the sentences you provided. Today we will be fellowshipping primarily on three of the causes and reasons why this negative emotion of repression emerges in people. The first is that many people, whether in their daily lives or in the process of performing their duties, feel that they cannot do as they please. This is the first reason: the inability to do as one pleases. What does it mean to be unable to do as one pleases? It means not being able to act upon every desire that passes through one’s mind. Being able to do what they want, when they want, and how they want is a requirement that these people have in both their work and lives. However, due to various reasons, including laws, living environments, or the rules, systems, stipulations, and disciplinary measures of a group, and so on, people are unable to act according to their own wishes and imaginings. Consequently, they feel repressed in the depths of their hearts. To put it bluntly, this repression happens because people feel aggrieved—some people even feel wronged. Being unable to do as one pleases, to put it in frank terms, means not being able to act upon one’s own will—it means that one cannot be willful or freely indulgent due to various reasons and the restrictions of various objective environments and conditions. For example, some people are always perfunctory and find ways to slack off while performing their duties. Sometimes, the work of the church requires haste, but they just want to do as they please. If they don’t feel very well physically, or are in a bad mood and in low spirits for a couple of days, they will be unwilling to endure hardship and pay a price to do the church work. They are particularly lazy and covetous of comfort. When they lack motivation, their bodies will become sluggish, and they will be unwilling to move, but they fear being pruned by leaders and being called lazy by their brothers and sisters, so there’s nothing they can do except reluctantly perform the work along with everyone else. They will, however, feel very unwilling, unhappy, and reluctant about this. They will feel wronged, aggrieved, annoyed, and exhausted. They want to act based on their own will, but they dare not break away from or go against the requirements and stipulations of God’s house. As a result, an emotion begins to emerge within them over time—repression. Once this repressive emotion takes root in them, they will begin to gradually appear listless and weak. Like a machine, they will no longer have a clear understanding of what they are doing, but they will still do whatever they’re told to do every day, in the way that they’re told to do it. Although they will continue to carry out their tasks on the surface without stopping, without pausing, without stepping away from the environment of performing their duties, yet in their hearts they will feel repressed, and think that their lives are exhausting and full of grievances. Their current greatest desire is to one day no longer be controlled by others, to no longer be restricted by the stipulations of God’s house, and to be released from the arrangements of God’s house. They want to do whatever they want, whenever they want, doing a little work if they feel good, and not doing it if they don’t. They yearn to be free from any blame, from ever being pruned, and from anyone supervising, monitoring, or being in charge of them. They think that when that day comes, it will be a great day, and that they will feel so free and liberated. However, they are still unwilling to leave or give up; they are afraid that if they do not perform their duties, if they truly do whatever they please and are free and liberated one day, then they will naturally stray from God, and they are afraid that if God no longer wants them, they will not be able to gain any blessings. Some people find themselves in a dilemma: If they try to grumble to their brothers and sisters, they will find it hard to speak up. If they turn to God in prayer, they will feel unable to open their mouths. If they complain, they will feel that they themselves are at fault. If they do not complain, they will feel ill at ease. They wonder why their lives feel so full of grievances, so contrary to their own will, and so exhausting. They do not want to live that way, they do not want to be in unison with everyone else, they want to do whatever they want, however they want, and they wonder why they are unable to accomplish this. They used to feel they were only physically exhausted, but now their hearts feel tired too. They do not understand what is happening to them. Tell Me, is this not caused by repressive emotions? (It is.)

Some people say, “Everyone says that believers are free and liberated, that believers live particularly happy, peaceful, and joyous lives. Why can’t I live as happily and peacefully as others? Why don’t I feel any joy? Why do I feel so repressed and exhausted? How come other people live such happy lives? Why is my life so miserable?” Tell Me, what is the cause of this? What brought about their repression? (Their physical bodies were not satisfied and their flesh suffered.) When a person’s physical body suffers and they feel that a wrong has been done to it, if they can accept it in their heart and mind, won’t they feel that their physical suffering is no longer so great? If they find comfort, peace, and joy in their heart and mind, will they still feel repressed? (No.) Therefore, saying that repression is caused by physical suffering is invalid. If repression arises due to excessive physical suffering, then are you not suffering? Do you feel repressed because you cannot do as you please? Do you get trapped in repressive emotions because you cannot do as you please? (No.) Are you busy in your daily work? (Somewhat busy.) You are all rather busy, working from dawn to dusk. Besides sleeping and eating, you spend almost your entire day in front of a computer, tiring your eyes and brain, and exhausting your body, but do you feel repressed? Will this tiredness bring about repression in you? (No.) What causes people’s repression? It is certainly not due to physical fatigue, so what causes it? If people constantly seek physical comfort and happiness, if they constantly pursue physical happiness and comfort, and don’t wish to suffer, then even a little bit of physical suffering, suffering a bit more than others, or feeling a bit more overworked than usual, would make them feel repressed. This is one of the causes of repression. If people do not consider a small amount of physical suffering a big deal, and they do not pursue physical comfort, but instead pursue the truth and seek to fulfill their duties in order to satisfy God, then they often will not feel physical suffering. Even if they occasionally feel a bit busy, tired, or worn out, after they go to sleep they will wake up feeling better, and then they will continue with their work. Their focus will be on their duties and their work; they won’t consider a bit of physical fatigue a significant issue. However, when a problem arises in people’s thinking and they constantly pursue physical comfort, any time that their physical bodies are slightly wronged or cannot find satisfaction, certain negative emotions will arise within them. So, why will this kind of person, who always wants to do as they please and to indulge their flesh and enjoy life, often find themselves trapped in this negative emotion of repression whenever they are unsatisfied? (It is because they pursue comfort and physical enjoyment.) That is true for some people. There is another group of people who do not pursue physical comfort. They seek to do things according to their own whims and to follow their own moods. When they are happy, they are able to endure more suffering, they can work continuously throughout the day, and if you ask them if they feel tired, they will say, “I’m not tired, how could doing my duty make me tired!” But if they are unhappy one day, they will be disgruntled even if you just ask them to spend an extra minute on something, and if you reprimand them a little, they will say, “Stop talking! I feel repressed. If you keep talking, I won’t do my duty, and that’ll be your fault. If I don’t receive blessings in the future it will be on your head, and you will bear all the responsibility for it!” People are volatile when they are in an abnormal state. Sometimes they will be capable of suffering and paying a price, but other times they will complain about just a little suffering, and even a minor issue will upset them. When they are in a bad mood, they will no longer want to do their duties, read God’s words, sing hymns, or attend gatherings and listen to sermons. They will just want to be alone for a while, and it will be impossible for anyone to help or support them. After a few days, they might get over it and feel better. Anything that fails to satisfy them makes them feel repressed. Is this kind of person not particularly willful? (Yes.) They are particularly willful. For example, if they want to go to sleep right away, they will insist on doing so. They will say, “I’m tired, and I want to go to sleep right now. When I don’t have any energy I have to sleep!” If someone says, “Can’t you hold on for ten more minutes? This task will be finished really soon, and then we can all rest, how about that?” they will reply, “No, I have to go to sleep right now!” If someone persuades them, they will reluctantly hold on for a while, but they will feel repressed and annoyed. They often feel repressed about these matters and are unwilling to accept help from their brothers and sisters or to be supervised by leaders. If they make a mistake, they will not allow others to prune them. They do not wish to be restrained in any way. They think, “I believe in God so that I can find happiness, so why should I make things difficult for myself? Why should my life be so exhausting? People ought to live happily. They shouldn’t pay so much attention to these regulations and those systems. What’s the use of always abiding by them? Right now, in this moment, I am going to do whatever I want. None of you should have anything to say about that.” This kind of person is particularly willful and dissolute: They do not allow themselves to suffer any constraint, nor do they wish to feel constrained in any work environment. They do not wish to adhere to the regulations and principles of God’s house, they are unwilling to accept the principles that people should hold to in their comportment, and they do not even wish to abide by what conscience and reason say that they should do. They want to do as they please, do whatever makes them happy, whatever will benefit them and make them comfortable. They believe that to live under these constraints would violate their will, that it would be a kind of self-abuse, that it would be too hard on themselves, and that people should not live like that. They think that people should live free and liberated, indulging their flesh and desires with abandon, as well as their ideals and wishes. They think that they should indulge all of their ideas, say whatever they want, do whatever they want, and go wherever they want, without having to consider the consequences or other people’s feelings, and especially without having to consider their own responsibilities and obligations, or the duties that believers ought to perform, or the truth realities that they ought to uphold and live out, or the life path they should follow. This group of people always wants to do as they please in society and among other people, but no matter where they go, they can never obtain that. They believe that God’s house emphasizes human rights, grants people complete freedom, and that it cares about humanity, and about tolerating and forbearing with people. They think that after they come to God’s house they should be able to freely indulge in their flesh and desires, but because God’s house has administrative decrees and regulations, they still cannot do as they please. Therefore, this negative repressive emotion of theirs cannot be resolved even after they join God’s house. They do not live to fulfill any kind of responsibilities or to complete any missions, or to become a true person. Their belief in God is not to fulfill the duty of a created being, complete their mission, and attain salvation. Regardless of the people they are among, the environments they are in, or the profession they engage in, their ultimate goal is to find and gratify themselves. The aim of everything they do revolves around this, and self-gratification is their lifelong desire and the goal of their pursuit.

Some of you are responsible for hosting brothers and sisters and cooking meals for them, and in that case you need to ask the brothers and sisters what they like to eat, ask yourself what the principles and requirements of God’s house are, and then host them based on these two types of principles. If you are hosting people from Northern China, make more wheat-based dishes such as steamed buns, Mandarin rolls, and stuffed buns. Occasionally, you can also make rice or the rice noodles that people from Southern China eat. All of this is acceptable. Suppose the majority of the people that you are hosting are from Southern China. They do not like wheat-based dishes, they prefer rice, and they feel like they have not eaten a meal if they do not have any rice. So, if you are hosting them, you have to make rice more often and ensure that your dishes suit the tastes of people from Southern China. If you are hosting people from both Southern and Northern China, then you can make two types of meals and let people choose what they prefer, giving them freedom of choice. Hosting brothers and sisters in this way is in line with the principles—it is a very straightforward matter. As long as the majority of people are satisfied, that is enough. You do not have to worry about a few odd individuals who are unsatisfied. However, if the person responsible for hosting does not understand the truth and does not know how to handle matters according to the principles, and always acts based on their own preferences, making whatever food they want without considering whether people will be happy to eat it—what kind of problem is that? It is one of excessive willfulness and selfishness. Some people are from the South of China, and the majority of the people they host are from the North. They make rice every day without considering whether the brothers and sisters are accustomed to it, and when you try to prune them and give them some advice, a certain kind of emotion emerges within them, and their heart becomes resistant, disobedient, and full of resentment, and they say, “Cooking in God’s house is not easy. Serving these people is so difficult. I work hard from dawn to dusk to cook for you, but you are still so picky. What’s wrong with eating rice? Don’t we Southerners eat rice three meals a day? Isn’t that a pretty nice way to live? We are stronger than you and we have more energy. What’s so good about always eating noodles and steamed buns? Can you get full from that? Why don’t noodles taste good to me? Why don’t I feel full from eating them? Well, there’s nothing I can do. I suppose that to do my duty in God’s house I will have to bear it and restrain myself. If I don’t restrain myself, I might be replaced or cast out. I’ll just have to make noodles and steamed buns, then!” They resentfully follow through on this every day, thinking, “I can’t even eat rice for a meal. I just want to have rice for every meal. Without rice, I can’t survive. I want to eat rice!” Although they reluctantly make noodles and steamed buns every day, their mood is extremely low. Why do they feel extremely low? It is because they feel repressed. They think, “I have to serve you people and cook the food that you like to eat, and not what I want to eat. Why do I always have to satisfy you and not myself?” They feel aggrieved, repressed, and that their life is exhausting. They refuse to do any extra work, and when they do a bit of work, they do so in a perfunctory manner; they fear being replaced or cleared out if they don’t do any work. Consequently, the only thing they can do is reluctantly and unwillingly act and do their duty in this way, without experiencing any moments of happiness, freedom, or liberation. People ask them, “How do you feel about hosting the brothers and sisters and cooking meals?” They respond, “It’s not actually that tiring, but I feel repressed.” People say, “Why do you feel repressed? You have rice, flour, and vegetables—you have everything. You don’t even have to spend your own money to buy these things. You just have to tire yourself out and do a little more work than other people every now and then. Isn’t that what you ought to do? Believing in God and doing one’s duty are joyful things. They’re voluntary. So why do you feel repressed?” They reply, “Although I do these things voluntarily, I can’t eat rice very often and I can’t do as I please, eating what I like and what I find delicious. I’m afraid of being criticized if I’m seen trying to cook something delicious for myself, so I feel repressed, and I’m never happy.” People like this live amid repressive emotions because they cannot satisfy their desire for food.

Some people grow vegetables on the church’s farms. How should they go about doing this? They should plant a suitable crop of vegetables based on the seasons, climate, temperature, and the number of people they need to feed. There are regulations in God’s house regarding the cultivation of various vegetables, which can be challenging for many people. There are some vegetables which people like to eat on a daily basis, and there are some that people do not enjoy eating. Some have their quantities regulated, and others are consumed seasonally. In this way, the amount that people can eat is limited. Some people thought, “Oh, we can never fully enjoy eating these vegetables. We eat a little bit, and they’re gone. There isn’t much to go around! Like cherry tomatoes, we only get a small handful each time, and they’re finished before we can savor their flavor. It would be great if we could eat them by the bowlful!” So, in a place where ten or so people lived, they planted two hundred cherry tomato plants. They started eating them by the bowlful as soon as they woke up in the morning and continued eating them until they went to sleep at night. Eating cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes by the bowlful, and eating cucumbers by the basket was so exciting for them. They felt that those were heavenly days, that they were blissful. People like this cannot follow the stipulations of God’s house in their actions, and they cannot adhere to the principles of science. They refuse to listen to anyone, prioritizing their own interests, considering only themselves in everything, and doing as they please. As a result, under the control, supervision, and management of God’s house, these people who wanted to eat fruit by the mouthful were put under restriction, and some were pruned. Tell Me, how do you think they feel now? Don’t they feel incredibly disappointed? Don’t they feel that the world is bleak, and that there is no love or warmth in God’s house? Don’t they feel incredibly repressed? (Yes.) They constantly think, “What’s wrong with doing as I please? Can’t I just enjoy eating some vegetables? They won’t even let me eat cherry tomatoes by the bowlful. How stingy! God’s house does not grant people freedom. If we want to eat cherry tomatoes, they make us plant them based on the number of people that need feeding. What’s the problem with me planting two or three hundred plants? If we can’t eat them all, we’ll just feed them to the animals.” Is it appropriate for you to eat by the bowlful? Shouldn’t there be moderation and a limit to what you consume? The proportion that people eat of the various foods created by God should be based on their yield and seasonal availability. Staple foods should be those with a high yield, while those with a low yield, short seasons, short growth periods, or restricted yields should be consumed in smaller quantities—in some specific places, people do not even eat them at all, and they aren’t missing out on anything. This is reasonable. People always harbor desires, and constantly wish to indulge their appetites. Is this appropriate? It is not appropriate to always harbor desires and appetites. God’s house has its own rules. There are regulations, management, and appropriate systems in all aspects of work in God’s house. If you want to become a member of God’s house, you ought to strictly adhere to its regulations. You should not be brash, but learn to submit and to act in a way that everyone finds satisfactory. This aligns with the standards of conscience and reason. None of the regulations of God’s house are established for the benefit of a single person, they are established for the sake of everyone in God’s house. They are meant to safeguard the work and interests of God’s house. These regulations and systems are reasonable and if people possess conscience and reason they ought to follow them. Therefore, no matter what you are doing, in one respect, you must do it according to the regulations and systems of God’s house, and in another respect, you also have a responsibility and an obligation to uphold all of this, rather than constantly acting based on your personal interests and perspective. Isn’t that so? (Yes.) If you feel particularly repressed living and working in God’s house, it is not due to any problem with the regulations, systems, or managerial methods of God’s house, but rather a personal issue of yours. Suppose that you always want to seek self-gratification and to satisfy your own desires in God’s house, and always feel incredibly repressed, unfree, and unliberated, without any peace or joy. Say that you constantly feel uncomfortable and wronged, that you cannot do as you please in any matter, that you cannot eat or dress as you please, that you are not allowed to dress fashionably or in an alluring way, and you feel miserable and ill at ease every day because of these things. Suppose that you always find interacting with your brothers and sisters uncomfortable, and think, “These people always fellowship about the truth with me, it’s too troublesome! I don’t want to comport myself in this way. I just want to live happily, contentedly, and freely. I feel that I am not as happy and free as I imagined I would be believing in God. I don’t want to be constrained by anyone. There are always people managing and constraining me, and I feel repressed.” People like this dislike this kind of living environment and feel aversion toward it. However, for the sake of receiving blessings, they have no choice but to commit to it. They have nowhere to vent their frustrations, they dare not cry out, and they often feel repressed. The only solution, the best method for dealing with such people, is to tell them: “You can leave. Go and eat what you want, wear the clothes you desire, live the life you want, do the things you wish, have the career you want, and pursue the goals and direction you wish to pursue. God’s house is not holding you back. Your hands and feet are liberated and free, as is your heart. You are bound by no one. Except for you committing yourself to God’s house in order to attain a certain goal, no one has imposed these regulations on you, saying that you have to, need to, and must stay in God’s house, or else God’s house will do something to you.” I’m telling you the truth, God’s house will not do anything to you. If you want to leave, you can leave at any time. Just return the books of God’s words to the church and hand over whatever work you have on hand. You can leave whenever you want. God’s house does not restrict you, it is not your prison, or a jail. God’s house is a free place, and its doors are wide open. If you feel repressed, it is because you cannot do as you please, and that means this place is not suitable for you. It is not the happy home you want to find, nor the place where you should stay. If you are living in a way that goes so much against your will, you should leave. Do you understand? God’s house never forces nonbelievers or those who do not pursue the truth. If you wish to do business, become wealthy, have a career, or venture out into the world and make a name for yourself, then that is your personal pursuit, and you should return to the secular world. God’s house never limits people’s freedom. The doors of God’s house are open wide. Nonbelievers and those who do not pursue the truth can walk out and leave God’s house at any time.

Some people are simply unwilling to do their duties and to fellowship about the truth. They have not adapted to church life, they are unable to adapt to it, and they always feel particularly miserable and helpless. Well, I would say to those people: You should hurry up and leave. Go into the secular world to look for your own goals and direction, and live the life you ought to live. God’s house never forces anyone. None of the church’s regulations, systems, or administrative decrees are targeted at you as an individual. If you find them difficult, cannot abide by them, and feel particularly miserable and repressed, then you can choose to leave. Those who are able to accept the truth and uphold the principles are the ones suited to remain in the church. Of course, if you feel that you are not suited to remain in God’s house, will there be another suitable place for you? Yes, the world is vast, and there will be a suitable place for you. In short, if you feel repressed here, if you cannot find release, if you often want to vent and there is always a possibility of your nature bursting forth, then you are in danger and not suited to stay in God’s house. The world is vast, and there will always be a suitable place for you. Take your time to find it on your own. Is this not an appropriate way to handle this matter? Is it not rational? (Yes.) If these people feel so uncomfortable, and you still want to keep them here, aren’t you being foolish? Let’s allow them to leave and wish them success in realizing their dreams, alright? What are their dreams? (To eat cherry tomatoes by the bowlful.) They also want to eat rice and fish at every meal, all year round. What other dreams do they have? To wake up naturally every day, to work whenever they want, and for no one to manage or supervise them when they do not want to work. Isn’t this their dream? (Yes.) What a grand dream! How lofty it is! Tell Me, do people like this have good prospects? Do they attend to their proper work? (No.) To sum it up, people like this always feel repressed. To put it plainly, their wish is to indulge their flesh and to satisfy their desires. They are too selfish, they want to do everything according to their own whims and as they please, disregarding rules and not handling matters according to the principles, just doing things based on their own feelings, preferences and desires, and acting based on their own interests. They lack normal humanity and people like this do not attend to their proper work. People who do not attend to their proper work feel repressed in everything they do, everywhere they go. Even if they were living alone, they would feel repressed. To put it nicely, these people are not promising individuals and they do not attend to their proper work. To be more precise, their humanity is abnormal, and they are a bit simple-minded. What are people who attend to their proper work like? They are people who regard their basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation in a simple way. As long as these things are up to a normal standard, that’s enough for them. They care more about their path in life, their mission as human beings, their life outlook and values. What do unpromising people ponder about all day? They are always pondering about how to slack off, how to play tricks so that they can shirk responsibility, how to eat well and have fun, how to live in physical ease and comfort, without considering proper matters. Therefore, they feel repressed in the setting and environment of doing their duties in God’s house. God’s house requires people to learn certain common and professional knowledge that relates to their duties, so that they can perform them better. God’s house requires people to frequently eat and drink God’s words so that they may gain a better understanding of the truth, enter into the truth reality, and know what the principles for every action are. All of these things that God’s house fellowships about and mentions relate to topics, practical matters, and so on, that fall within the scope of people’s lives and the performance of their duties, and are meant to help people to attend to their proper work and to walk the right path. These individuals who do not attend to their proper work and who do as they please do not wish to do these proper things. The ultimate goal that they wish to achieve by doing whatever they want is physical comfort, pleasure, and ease, and to not be restricted or wronged in any way. It is to be able to eat enough of whatever they want, and to do as they please. It is because of the quality of their humanity and their inner pursuits that they often feel repressed. No matter how you fellowship about the truth with them, they will not change, and their repression will not be resolved. That’s just the kind of people they are; they are just things that do not attend to their proper work. Although on the surface they do not seem to have committed any great evil or to be bad people, and though they appear to have only failed to uphold the principles and regulations, in reality, their nature essence is that they do not attend to their proper work or follow the right path. People like this lack the conscience and reason of normal humanity, and they cannot achieve the intelligence of normal humanity. They do not think about, ponder, or pursue the goals that people with normal humanity ought to pursue, or the life attitudes and methods of existence that people with normal humanity should adopt. Their minds are filled every day with thoughts of how to find physical ease and pleasure. However, in the living environment of the church, they cannot satisfy their physical preferences and so they feel uncomfortable and repressed. That is how these emotions of theirs come about. Tell Me, do people like this not have exhausting lives? (They do.) Are their lives pitiable? (No, they are not pitiable.) That is right, they are not pitiable. To put it lightly, these are the kind of people who do not attend to their proper work. In society, who are the people who do not attend to their proper work? They are idlers, fools, slackers, hooligans, ruffians, and loafers—people like that. They do not wish to learn any new skills or abilities, and they do not want to pursue serious careers or to find a job so that they can get by. They are the idlers and loafers of society. They infiltrate the church, and then they want to get something for nothing, and to obtain their share of blessings. They are opportunists. These opportunists are never willing to do their duties. If things do not go their way, even slightly, they feel repressed. They always wish to live freely, they do not want to perform any kind of work, and yet they still want to eat good food and wear nice clothing, and eat whatever they wish and sleep whenever they want. They think that when a day like this comes, it will surely be wonderful. They do not want to endure even a little bit of hardship and they wish for a life of indulgence. These people even find living exhausting; they are bound by negative emotions. They often feel tired and confused because they cannot do as they please. They do not want to attend to their proper work or to handle their proper affairs. They do not want to stick to a job and do it constantly from start to finish, treating it as their own profession and duty, as their obligation and responsibility; they do not want to finish it and achieve results, or do it to the best standard possible. They have never thought in that way. They just want to act in a perfunctory manner and to use their duty as a means to make a living. When they face a little pressure or some form of control, or when they are held to a slightly higher standard, or made to shoulder a bit of responsibility, they feel uncomfortable and repressed. These negative emotions arise within them, living feels exhausting to them, and they are miserable. One fundamental reason why living feels exhausting to them is that people like this lack reason. Their reason is impaired, they spend all day indulging in fantasies, living in a dream, in the clouds, always imagining the wildest things. That is why their repression is very difficult to resolve. They are not interested in the truth, they are nonbelievers. The only thing we can do is ask them to leave God’s house, to return to the world and find their own place of ease and comfort.

Those who truly believe in God are all individuals who attend to their proper work, they are all willing to perform their duties, capable of shouldering a piece of work and doing it well according to their caliber and the regulations of God’s house. Of course, it may be challenging to adapt to this life at first. You may feel physically and mentally exhausted. However, if you truly have the resolve to cooperate and the willingness to become a normal and good person, and to achieve salvation, then you must pay a bit of a price and allow God to discipline you. When you have the urge to be willful, you must rebel against it and let go of it, gradually reducing your willfulness and selfish desires. You must seek God’s help in crucial matters, at crucial times, and in crucial tasks. If you do have resolve, then you should ask God to chasten and discipline you, and to enlighten you so that you may understand the truth, that way you will get better results. If you genuinely have resolve, and you pray to God in His presence and supplicate to Him, God will act. He will change your state and your thoughts. If the Holy Spirit does a little work, moving you a little, and enlightening you a little, your heart will change, and your state will be transformed. When this transformation occurs, you will feel that living this way is not repressive. Your repressed state and emotions will be transformed and alleviated, and they will be different from before. You will feel that living like this is not tiring. You will find enjoyment performing your duty in the house of God. You will feel that it is good living, comporting yourself, and performing your duty in this way, enduring hardships and paying a price, following the rules, and doing things based on the principles. You will feel that this is the kind of life that normal people should have. When you live by the truth and perform your duty well, you will feel that your heart is steady and at peace, and that your life is meaningful. You will think: “Why didn’t I know this before? Why was I so willful? Before, I lived according to Satan’s philosophies and disposition, living as neither human nor ghost, and the more I lived, the more painful it felt. Now that I understand the truth, I can shed a bit of my corrupt disposition, and I can feel the true peace and joy of a life spent fulfilling my duty and practicing the truth!” Will your mood not then have changed? (Yes.) Once you realize why your life felt repressive and miserable before, once you find the root cause of your suffering, and resolve the problem, you will have hope of changing. As long as you strive toward the truth, put more effort into God’s words, fellowship more about the truth, and also listen to the experiential testimonies of your brothers and sisters, you will have a clearer path, and won’t your state then improve? If your state improves, your repressive emotions will gradually ease, and no longer entangle you. Of course, in special circumstances or contexts, occasional feelings of repression and pain may arise, but as long as you seek the truth to resolve them, these repressive emotions will disappear. You will be able to offer your sincerity, full strength, and loyalty while performing your duty, and you will have hope of salvation. If you are able to undergo such a transformation, then you do not need to leave the house of God. Your ability to undergo this transformation will prove that there is still hope for you—hope for change, hope for salvation. It will prove that you are still a member of God’s house, but you were influenced for too long and too deeply by various selfish motives and personal considerations, or by various bad habits and ideas, which caused your conscience to go numb and lose feeling, impaired your reasoning, and eroded your sense of shame. If you can undergo such a transformation, God’s house will welcome you to stay, to fulfill your duty, to accomplish your mission, and to thoroughly finish the work you have at hand. Of course, people who have these negative emotions can only be helped with a loving heart. If a person consistently refuses to accept the truth and remains unrepentant despite repeated admonitions, we should bid farewell to them. But if someone is really willing to change, to turn themselves around, to reverse their course, we warmly welcome them to stay. As long as they are genuinely willing to stay and to change their previous approaches and ways of living, and they are able to gradually undergo a transformation while performing their duty, and they become better at their duty the longer they perform it, then we welcome such people to stay and hope that they will continue to improve. We also express a great wish for them: We wish that they may emerge from their negative emotions, that they may no longer be entangled by them or enveloped by their shadow, and that they may instead attend to their proper work and walk the right path, acting and living out what normal people ought to according to God’s requirements, and steadily fulfilling their duties in God’s house according to His requirements, no longer drifting through life. We wish them promising futures, and that they will no longer do whatever they please, or solely concern themselves with pleasure-seeking and physical enjoyment, but instead think more about matters related to performing their duties, to the path they walk in life, and to living out normal humanity. We wholeheartedly wish that they may live happily, freely, and liberated in the house of God, experiencing daily peace and joy, and feeling warmth and enjoyment in their lives here. Is this not the greatest wish? (Yes.) I have finished My wish, and I invite all of you to extend your heartfelt wishes to them. (Our heartfelt wish is that they may live happily, freely, and liberated in the house of God, experiencing daily peace and joy, and feeling warmth and enjoyment in their lives here.) What else? How about wholeheartedly wishing that they no longer live in the grip of repressive emotions? (Yes.) That is My wish. Do you have any other wishes for them? (My heartfelt wish is that they may be able to attend to their proper work, continuously improving in the fulfillment of their duties.) Is this a good wish? (Yes.) Any other wishes? (My heartfelt wish is that they can begin soon to live out normal humanity.) This wish may not be very lofty, but I think that it is practical. Human beings should live out normal humanity and not feel repressed. Why are we unable to endure the hardships that others can endure? If a person possesses the conscience, reason, and sense of shame of normal humanity, as well as the pursuits, methods for existing, and proper goals in their pursuit that normal people ought to have, they will not feel repressed. Is this not a pretty good wish? (Yes.) Anything else? (My heartfelt wish is for them to cooperate harmoniously with their brothers and sisters, to feel God’s love in His house, and to act according to the principles of God’s house.) Is this requirement lofty? (No.) As it is not lofty, is it easy to achieve? Feeling the love of God’s house is rather in line with reality—it is what these people need, is it not? (Yes.) The requirements for people like this are not high. First and foremost, they need to possess the conscience and reason of normal humanity. They should not be idle or drift through life; they should learn to live, to attend to their proper work, to shoulder their responsibilities and their duties. Then they need to learn how to live, to live out normal humanity, and to fulfill their responsibilities and duties well. In doing so, they will be able to feel comfort, peace, and joy in the house of God, and they will be willing to live and perform their duties here. After breaking free from their repressive, negative emotions, little by little they will be able to pursue the truth and cooperate harmoniously with others. These are the requirements for people like this. Regardless of their age, we do not have grand wishes or lofty requirements for them, just these ones that we have spoken of. First of all, they need to learn to attend to their proper work, to shoulder the responsibilities and obligations of an adult and a normal person, and then learn to abide by the rules, and accept the management, supervision, and pruning of the house of God, and perform their duties well. This is the correct attitude that a person with a conscience and reason should adopt. Secondly, they should have a correct understanding and knowledge of the responsibilities, obligations, and thoughts and viewpoints that involve the conscience and reason of normal humanity. You should get rid of your negative emotions and repression, and face the various difficulties that arise in your life correctly. To you, these are not extra things, or burdens, or bonds, but rather what you, as a normal adult, should bear. This means that every adult, regardless of your gender, regardless of your caliber, how competent you are, or what talents you possess, must bear all of the things that adults ought to bear, including: the living environments which adults must adapt to, the responsibilities, obligations, and missions that you should undertake, and the work that you should shoulder. First, you should positively accept these things instead of expecting others to clothe and feed you, or relying on the fruits of others’ labor to scrape by. In addition, you should learn to adapt to and accept various kinds of rules, regulations, and management, you should accept the administrative decrees of God’s house, and learn to adapt to an existence and a life among other people. You should possess the conscience and reason of normal humanity, approach the people, events, and things around you correctly, and handle and resolve the various problems that you meet with correctly. These are all things that a person with normal humanity should deal with, it can also be said that this is the life and the living environment that an adult ought to face. For example, as an adult, you should rely on your own abilities to support and feed your family, regardless of how difficult your life may be. This is the hardship you should endure, the responsibility you should fulfill, and the obligation you should complete. You should shoulder the responsibilities that an adult ought to take on. No matter how much suffering you endure or how great of a price you pay, no matter how sad you feel, you should swallow your grievances and you should not develop any negative emotions or complain about anyone, because this is what adults are supposed to bear. As an adult, you must shoulder these things—without complaining or resisting, and especially without evading or rejecting them. Drifting through life, being idle, doing things as you please, being willful or capricious, doing what you want to do and not doing what you don’t want to do—this is not the attitude in life that an adult should have. Every adult must shoulder an adult’s responsibilities, regardless of how much pressure they face, such as hardships, illnesses, and even various difficulties—these are things that everyone should experience and bear. They are a part of a normal person’s life. If you cannot bear pressure or endure suffering, it means that you are too fragile and useless. Whoever lives must bear this suffering, and no one can avoid it. Whether in society or in God’s house, it is the same for everyone. This is the responsibility you should bear, the heavy burden that an adult should carry, the thing that they should shoulder, and you should not evade it. If you always try to escape or cast off all of this, then your repressive emotions will come out, and you will always be entangled by them. However, if you can properly comprehend and accept all of this, and view it as a necessary part of your life and existence, then these issues should not be a reason for you to develop negative emotions. In one respect, you must learn to shoulder the responsibilities and obligations that adults ought to have and undertake. In another respect, you should learn to coexist harmoniously with others in your living and working environment with normal humanity. Do not simply do what you please. What is the purpose of harmonious coexistence? It is to better complete the work and to better fulfill the obligations and responsibilities that you, as an adult, ought to complete and fulfill, to minimize the losses caused by the problems you face in your work, and to maximize the results and efficiency of your work. This is what you ought to achieve. If you possess normal humanity, you should accomplish this when working among people. As for work pressure, whether it comes from the Above or from God’s house, or if it is pressure put upon you by your brothers and sisters, it is something that you should bear. You cannot say, “This is too much pressure, so I won’t do it. I am just seeking leisure, ease, happiness, and comfort in doing my duty and working in God’s house.” This will not work; it is not a thought that a normal adult should possess, and God’s house is not a place for you to indulge in comfort. Every person takes on a certain amount of pressure and risk in their life and work. In any job, especially performing your duty in God’s house, you should strive for optimal results. On a greater level, this is the teaching and demand of God. On a smaller level, it is the attitude, viewpoint, standard, and principle that every person should adopt in their comportment and actions. When you perform a duty in God’s house, you must learn to abide by the regulations and systems of God’s house, you must learn to comply, learn the rules, and comport yourself in a well-behaved manner. This is an essential part of one’s comportment. You should not be spending all of your time indulging yourself instead of working, not giving serious thought to anything, and idling away your days, or engaging in wrongful acts, and pursuing your own way of living, like unbelievers do. Do not make others despise you, do not become a nail in their eye or a thorn in their side, do not make everybody shun or reject you, and do not become an obstacle or a stumbling block to any piece of work. This is the conscience and reason that a normal adult should possess, and it is also the responsibility that any normal adult should bear. These are a part of the things that you must do in order to bear this responsibility. Do you understand? (Yes.)

If you are a person with resolve, if you can treat the responsibilities and obligations that people should bear, the things that people with normal humanity must achieve, and those things that adults must accomplish as the aims and goals of your pursuit, and if you can shoulder your responsibilities, then no matter what price you pay and what pain you endure, you will not complain, and as long as you recognize it as God’s requirements and will, you will be able to endure any suffering and fulfill your duty well. At that time, what would your state of mind be like? It would be different; you would feel peace and stability in your heart, and you would experience enjoyment. You see, just by seeking to live out normal humanity, and pursuing the responsibilities, obligations, and mission that people with normal humanity ought to bear and undertake, people feel peace and joy in their hearts, and they experience enjoyment. They have not even reached the point where they are conducting affairs according to the principles and obtaining the truth, and they have already undergone some change. Such people are those who possess conscience and reason; they are upright people who can overcome any difficulty and undertake any task. They are the good soldiers of Christ, they have gone through training, and no difficulty can defeat them. Tell Me, what do you think of such comportment? Do these people not have fortitude? (They do.) They do have fortitude, and people admire them. Would such people still feel repressed? (No.) Then how did they change these repressive emotions? For what reason will these emotions of repression neither trouble them nor find them? (It is because they love positive things and bear a burden in their duties.) That’s right, it is about attending to one’s proper work. When people keep their minds on proper matters, and when the conscience and reason of normal humanity, and the sense of responsibility and sense of mission that they possess all come into play, they do well no matter where they are placed. They can succeed in any task, without any repression, distress, or depression. Do you think God blesses such people? Would people who possess such a conscience, reason, and normal humanity face difficulties in pursuing the truth? (No.) Based on the pursuits, viewpoints, and methods of existence of normal humanity, pursuing the truth will not be very difficult for them. When people reach this point, they are not far from understanding the truth, practicing the truth, acting according to the truth principles, and entering into the truth reality. What does “not far” mean here? It means that their perspective on their comportment, and the method of existence that they have chosen are completely positive and proactive, essentially aligning with the normal humanity that God demands. It means that they have reached the standards set by God. Once they meet these standards, such individuals can understand the truth when they hear it, and it will be much less difficult for them to practice the truth. It will be easy for them to enter into the truth reality and to act according to the truth principles. In total, how many aspects are there to what people with normal humanity ought to do? There are roughly three. What are they? Tell Me. (The first is about learning to bear the responsibilities and obligations that an adult should have and bear. The second is about learning to harmoniously coexist with others in one’s living and working environment with normal humanity, and not doing whatever one pleases. And the third is about learning to abide by God’s teachings within the scope of the reason of normal humanity, and adhering to the attitudes, viewpoints, standards, and principles that one ought to have in their comportment, which means following the rules.) These three aspects are what people with normal humanity ought to possess. If people start thinking and focusing on these aspects, and working hard toward them, they will begin to attend to their proper work—will they still experience negative emotions then? Will they still feel repressed? When you are attending to your proper work and handling your proper affairs, and shouldering the responsibilities and obligations that adults ought to bear, you will have so much to do and think about that you will be overwhelmingly busy. Especially for those who are currently performing their duties in God’s house, is there any time for them to feel repressed? There is no time. So, what is the matter with those who feel repressed, get into bad moods, and feel low-spirited or depressed whenever they encounter something a little unpleasant? It is that they are not occupying themselves with the right things and they are idle. It is that they do not attend to their proper work, and they cannot see the things that they ought to do, so their minds become idle and their thoughts run wild. They think and they think, without any path to take, so they feel repressed. The more they think the more they feel aggrieved and helpless, and the less of a path they have; the more they think the more they feel as though their lives are not worth it, that they are miserable, and the sadder they feel. They are powerless to break free, and eventually, they become trapped in these emotions of repression. Isn’t that right? (Yes.) In fact, this problem is easy to resolve because there are so many things you should do, so many proper matters that you should think about and consider that you will not have the time to think about those useless things, those pleasure-seeking activities. People whose minds are idle enough to think about such things prefer to relax rather than work, they are gluttonous loafers, and they do not attend to their proper work. Those who do not attend to their proper work often find themselves trapped by repressive emotions. These people do not occupy themselves with the right things while there is a mound of important matters that need attending to, and they do not think about or act upon them. Instead, they find time to let their minds wander, to complain and moan about their physical bodies, to worry about their futures, and to fret over the pain they have endured and the prices they have paid. When they cannot resolve all this, cannot bear it, or find an outlet for these frustrations, they feel repressed. They fear losing out on blessings when they think about leaving God’s house, they fear going to hell if they do evil, and they are also unwilling to pursue the truth or to fulfill their duties properly. As a result, they feel repressed. Is this not the case? (It is.) That’s right. If a person attends to their proper work and follows the right path, these emotions will not arise. Even if they experience repressive emotions occasionally due to temporary special circumstances, they will only be passing moods, because people with the correct way of life and the right perspective on existence will quickly override these negative emotions. As a result, you will not frequently find yourself trapped in emotions of repression. This means that such emotions of repression will not bother you. You may experience temporary bad moods, but you will not be trapped in them. This highlights the importance of pursuing the truth. If you seek to attend to your proper work, if you bear the responsibilities that adults should bear, and seek to have a normal, good, positive, and proactive mode of existence, then you will not develop these negative emotions. These repressive emotions will not find you or cling to you.

So, we have finished fellowshipping about the issue and difficulty of resolving repression, which includes the three aspects mentioned earlier. We wholeheartedly wish that those who have been entangled by emotions of repression, and those who have been trapped in emotions of repression but desire to break free from them, will no longer be controlled by these emotions. We hope that they can soon emerge from the negative emotions of repression and live out the likeness of a normal person, adopting a normal and proper way of existence. Is this a good wish? (Yes.) Then, you should wish it too. (We wish that those who have been entangled by emotions of repression, and those who have been trapped in emotions of repression but desire to break free from them, will no longer be controlled by these emotions. We hope that they can soon emerge from the negative emotions of repression and live out the likeness of a normal person, adopting a normal and proper way of existence.) This wish is realistic. Now that we have expressed our wishes, whether these people can break free from emotions of repression ultimately depends on their personal choices—this ought to be a simple matter. In fact, it is something that people with normal humanity should possess. If a person has a strong enough resolve and willingness to pursue the truth and positive things, then it will be easy for them to break free from emotions of repression. It will not be a difficult task. If someone does not enjoy pursuing the truth and positive things, and does not like positive things, then let them remain trapped in emotions of repression. Let them be. We no longer need to express wishes for them, alright? (Alright.) This is another way of handling the situation. There is a resolution to every problem, and everything can be addressed and resolved based on the truth principles and people’s actual circumstances. We have finished our wishes for today, and we have fellowshipped thoroughly on several different situations. We have said everything that needs to be said about this kind of person, so let’s conclude this discussion here.

November 12, 2022