| Punishes....................5 | |
| some people. Life corners them, not because God punishes them, but because they have set certain forms | 47 THE WALL WITHIN |
| monstrous god-of-your-image who arbitrarily favors a few and punishes some less fortunate creatures. The other imagined god | 60 THE ABYSS OF ILLUSION -- FREEDOM AND SELF-RESPONSIBILITY |
| he lets go of this imaginary God who punishes, rewards, and leads life for him, when he | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| He hates his parents so much that he punishes them by destroying himself. However, he does not | 179 CHAIN REACTIONS IN THE DYNAMICS OF CREATIVE LIFE SUBSTANCE |
| he transfers onto his helper, whom he also punishes by his miserable state and from whom he | 179 CHAIN REACTIONS IN THE DYNAMICS OF CREATIVE LIFE SUBSTANCE |
| Punishing...................27 | |
| toward God. God is then believed to be punishing and severe, often even an unfair and unjust | 52 THE GOD-IMAGE |
| self-punishment or a form of aggressiveness toward others, punishing them by one's own unhappiness -- and many | 52 THE GOD-IMAGE |
| see it objectively. There are many ways of punishing those you love, for instance, sickness. How many | 53 SELF-LOVE |
| been interpreted to mean that God is a punishing, cruel God of retribution. Of course, it is | 78 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| as a vague authority or an imaginary, severe, punishing God. The decrees of this powerful authority make | 87 THE NEXT PHASE ON THE PATH; QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| fear his imperfection and does not fear God's punishing him for it. He can see it without | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| this in the sense of a rewarding or punishing God. The cosmic forces with which you come | 117 SHAME: A LEGACY OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, EVEN FAVORABLE ONES |
| lead away from the false concept of a punishing or rewarding deity up in the sky, and | 125 TRANSITION FROM THE NO-CURRENT TO THE YES-CURRENT |
| yourself of the guilt. Therefore you go on punishing yourself, believing that this makes up for the | 132 THE FUNCTION OF THE EGO IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE REAL SELF |
| way of embracing pain, or a masochistic, self- punishing element that in itself harbors and perpetuates a | 140 CONFLICT OF POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE ORIENTED PLEASURE AS THE ORIGIN OF PAIN |
| form of deliberate self-destruction as a way of punishing them. This is a prevalent pattern that, to | 160 CONCILIATION OF THE INNER SPLIT |
| others, or perhaps wanting to be vindictive, and punishing others with one's own suffering. These are subtle | 161 UNCONSCIOUS NEGATIVITY ENDANGERS SURRENDER OF EGO TO INVOLUNTARY PROCESSES |
| and again your will to be hating, unforgiving, punishing, resentful, and hurt. You will become aware of | 176 OVERCOMING NEGATIVITY |
| price he pays for the doubtful satisfaction of punishing his parents is so horrendous that it cannot | 179 CHAIN REACTIONS IN THE DYNAMICS OF CREATIVE LIFE SUBSTANCE |
| as the strange, removed authority figure of a punishing god. Your path from that stage on must | 181 THE MEANING OF THE HUMAN STRUGGLE |
| heart of hearts you are really angry, blaming, punishing, and self-victimizing because your imagined real need for | 192 REAL AND FALSE NEEDS |
| from doing this with ease. The destructive, demanding, punishing, and spiteful child usually manifests in a very | 192 REAL AND FALSE NEEDS |
| The suffering itself is a frequent weapon for punishing parents, projected parents, and life. It says, in | 192 REAL AND FALSE NEEDS |
| pain, because you are unwittingly and quite unconsciously punishing others with this pain. The work should rather | 192 REAL AND FALSE NEEDS |
| debilitating guilt feeling: false guilts, fear of a punishing God, a guilt that did not make it | 201 DEMAGNETIZING NEGATIVE FORCE FIELDS -- PAIN OF GUILT |
| field that perpetuates itself in the following way: punishing yourself for your unfaced guilt, you must stay | 201 DEMAGNETIZING NEGATIVE FORCE FIELDS -- PAIN OF GUILT |
| you feel undeserving and unfulfilled you go on punishing the world for this painful frustration. You dare | 201 DEMAGNETIZING NEGATIVE FORCE FIELDS -- PAIN OF GUILT |
| well. One of the most popular ways for punishing others for not responding with love to your | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| your love, and the compounded guilt caused by punishing others for your misery, must erode your strength | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| as a justification to become more bitter, resentful, punishing, and withholding of the best of your being | 211 OUTER EVENTS REFLECT SELF-CREATION -- THREE STAGES |
| negativity that creates illness and neurosis. Rejecting the punishing deity concept, humanity had to tend toward the | 221 FAITH AND DOUBT IN TRUTH OR DISTORTION |
| they think of it in terms of a punishing deity, a cruel, unmerciful ruler who would impose | 249 THE PAIN OF INJUSTICE -- COSMIC RECORDS OF ALL EVENTS, DEEDS, EXPRESSIONS |
| Punishment..................58 | |
| death, which must certainly not be considered as punishment. Spiritual death is the worst, and it stands | 2 DECISIONS AND TESTS |
| its ramifications if the connection between crime and punishment were always so evident. The imperfection which human | 5 HAPPINESS FOR YOURSELF OR HAPPINESS AS A LINK IN THE CHAIN OF LIFE |
| perhaps also clarify for you the idea of punishment, against which so many of you revolt. There | 18 FREE WILL |
| There is no god who dishes out arbitrary punishment. God has created perfect laws and perfect conditions | 18 FREE WILL |
| freely or not. If you choose the word punishment for that, it is your affair, but you | 18 FREE WILL |
| ANSWER: From the spiritual point of view, capital punishment is wrong. That may sound like a contradiction | 29 THE FORCES OF ACTIVITY AND PASSIVITY -- FINDING GOD'S WILL |
| In general, this does not hold true. Capital punishment is not a necessity. However, war often is | 29 THE FORCES OF ACTIVITY AND PASSIVITY -- FINDING GOD'S WILL |
| is the only basis for peace. But capital punishment is not necessary. QUESTION: You said in my | 29 THE FORCES OF ACTIVITY AND PASSIVITY -- FINDING GOD'S WILL |
| that every crime that is committed and every punishment for it is due to an image. The | 41 IMAGES: THE DAMAGE THEY DO |
| desire to be punished. Thus a fear of punishment arises in the soul, which again is almost | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| I will describe next. With the fear of punishment a further reaction sets in. Whenever you are | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| if it were ever to become happy, the punishment, which seems inevitable, would be that much greater | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| this way and thus to avoid even greater punishment. The avoidance creates situations and patterns that always | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| love and hatred, of guilt and fear of punishment exist in every human personality, only the degree | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| being to some degree. Thus the personality inflicts punishment on itself. This may happen in various ways | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| be fortified by the inherent desire for self- punishment; difficulties in this respect will constantly arise in | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| that by being so perfect you can avoid punishment. In this way a second conscience is being | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| you feel more strongly that you cannot avoid punishment. You feel the need for punishment even more | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| cannot avoid punishment. You feel the need for punishment even more than before you invented this second | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| it depends how you look at so- called punishment. It is too proud to realize that you | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| your life. Situations will occur that seem like punishment, while they are actually the remedy to set | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| pleasurable in the world one is subject to punishment from God -- the highest and sternest authority | 52 THE GOD-IMAGE |
| would also like to discuss the role of punishment in the human personality. I discussed your need | 53 SELF-LOVE |
| the immature adult, there exists another form of punishment, the wish to punish another. If the other | 53 SELF-LOVE |
| check your innermost reactions where the element of punishment may come in. When you have found it | 53 SELF-LOVE |
| some spiritual law and in that sense is punishment. Shouldn't we say to ourselves, it is right | 63 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| way out, thinking thus to ward off greater punishment, to be inflicted upon you by others and | 63 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| there is an arbitrary god who metes out punishment and reward according to his whim. And even | 74 CONFUSIONS AND HAZY MOTIVATIONS |
| and of divine justice, without any thought of punishment and retribution. You begin to understand that whatever | 78 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| throne above you, arbitrarily handing out reward and punishment, fortune and misfortune. But in your health, in | 78 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| to be like a person, arbitrarily meting out punishment and reward. That is the result of making | 78 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| in one way or another. Perhaps the worst punishment was that your parents withdrew their affection from | 83 THE IDEALIZED SELF-IMAGE |
| longer loved. No wonder badness associated itself with punishment and unhappiness, goodness with reward and happiness. Hence | 83 THE IDEALIZED SELF-IMAGE |
| that recognition the weight will be shifted from punishment to healing. But the possibility of perpetrating further | 83 THE IDEALIZED SELF-IMAGE |
| inner freedom through treatment. This would feel like punishment anyway for the criminal, for the infringement of | 83 THE IDEALIZED SELF-IMAGE |
| a very misleading conclusion. Immature emotions earned you punishment as a child; either they caused you actual | 89 EMOTIONAL GROWTH AND ITS FUNCTION |
| that you do not deserve happiness but rather punishment because you are imperfect -- and the urge | 91 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| not mean, my friends, that this is a punishment by an arbitrary God. It is inherent in | 98 WISHFUL DAYDREAMS |
| yourself produces what unconsciously you may consider as punishment. (3) If your will is so strong that | 103 HARM OF TOO MUCH LOVE GIVING -- CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE WILL FORCES |
| being. God is not perceived as acting -- punishment or reward, or guidance along certain ways in | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| an effect and manifest as though it were punishment from the outside. When someone's motives are already | 111 SOUL-SUBSTANCE -- COPING WITH DEMANDS |
| is self-punishment, at the same time fear of punishment, and also fear of and resistance to giving | 132 THE FUNCTION OF THE EGO IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE REAL SELF |
| glance, appear like the concept of reward and punishment. I might say that this concept is a | 145 RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF LIFE |
| of the process I have explained. Reward and punishment suppose an outer authority who hands out the | 145 RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF LIFE |
| of the individual's actions and attitudes. Reward or punishment are often supposed to take place only in | 145 RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF LIFE |
| disadvantage. The very existence of a belief in punishment and reward covers up the deep despair that | 145 RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF LIFE |
| magical intercessions from heaven, reward for faith and punishment for doubt. It simply describes the dynamics I | 191 INNER AND OUTER EXPERIENCE |
| of seeing how you want to deal out punishment to those you blame can you truly understand | 192 REAL AND FALSE NEEDS |
| Your not complying with my demands deserves the punishment of my annihilation. And the blind person who | 192 REAL AND FALSE NEEDS |
| your demands, your own ungiving intentions and the punishment you mete out when your demands are not | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| inferior and unlovable. Your misery seems a just punishment rather than a choice you are free to | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| whenever it encounters such a negative intentionality. This punishment often takes the form of severe accusations that | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| predestines it for you in a spirit of punishment or reward. That kind of thinking totally misses | 218 THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS |
| repercussions become more unpleasant? This is not a punishment, my friends. It is the grace of God | 218 THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS |
| is a direct connection between self-hate, fear of punishment, fear of death and the disintegration of the | 226 APPROACH TO SELF -- SELF-FORGIVENESS WITHOUT CONDONING THE LOWER SELF |
| destroy, but it will not be fear of punishment that would hold them back. No rigid rule | 231 NEW AGE EDUCATION |
| of your worthiness, receiving love threatens a worse punishment and exposes you to the pain of your | 233 THE POWER OF THE WORD |
| a tooth makes admitting a sin impossible. The punishment is too terrible. Therefore the truth, or even | 247 THE MASS IMAGES OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY |