For a while now we have been fellowshipping on the topic of “letting go” in “How to Pursue the Truth.” Have you given any thought to the various aspects involved in this topic? Regarding the things we fellowshipped on that people need to let go of, is it easy for people to let go of them? After listening to the fellowships, did you contemplate and reflect on yourselves based on their content? Did you draw any comparisons between this content and your outpourings and manifestations in daily life? (I usually give it some thought. The last time God fellowshipped about letting go of the conditioning effects that family exerts on us, I realized that in my life I usually adhere to these satanic philosophies for worldly dealings, such as the saying “People need their pride just as a tree needs its bark,” which my family instilled into me. After accepting these ideas, I attached importance to dignity and status in everything I did, afraid of losing face, and was unable to be an honest person.) All this content that we fellowshipped on regarding letting go of various things mainly addresses people’s thoughts and views on various matters. By exposing their incorrect thoughts and views on such matters, it enables people to discern them and have a clear knowledge of them, and then be able to let go of them in a positive way and not be constricted by them. The most important thing is not to be bound by these thoughts and views, but to be able to live and exist by correctly adopting God’s words and the truth as one’s criteria. If people want to enter into the reality of the various truths, they must have knowledge and experience from all perspectives. In particular, they must have a clear understanding of passive and negative ideas and views about various things. Only if they have discernment of them can they proactively let go of them and no longer be misled and bound by them. Therefore, in order to enter into the reality of the various truths and achieve the result of pursuing the truth, people should often reflect on themselves and think about how they are bound and controlled in everyday life by various ideas and views, or often try to figure out what thoughts and views they hold about various things in everyday life, and discern whether or not these thoughts and views are correct and consistent with the truth, whether they are positive and come from God, or whether they come from human intentions or Satan. This is a very important lesson, and it is an aspect of reality that people must enter into every day in their daily lives. That is, in everyday life, no matter whether or not you encounter various people, matters and things you must always examine what thoughts and views you hold, and whether these thoughts and views are correct and consistent with the truth—this is a very important lesson. In your daily life, outside of the normal time you spend performing your duties, your entry in this aspect should occupy 80 to 90 percent of your life. Only in this way can you hope to get rid of all kinds of thoughts and views about negative things, and enter into the truth reality. It may also be said that you can only have hope when you view people and things, comport yourself, and act based on God’s words, and taking the truth as your criterion; only then can you hope to attain salvation in the end. If in your daily life, outside of the normal time spent performing your duties, your mind is blank for the remaining 80 to 90 percent of the time, or you just think and ponder about your physical life, status and reputation, then it will not be easy for you to enter into the truth reality, nor to achieve the result of pursuing the truth. If neither of these things is easy for you to achieve, the chances of you attaining salvation will be very slim. What, therefore, does attaining salvation depend on? In one sense, it depends on how God works and whether the Holy Spirit works in you; in another sense, it depends on your subjective diligence, how much of a price you pay, and how much energy and time you spend on pursuing the truth and achieving salvation. If what you think and do most of the time has nothing to do with pursuing the truth, then what you do has nothing to do with being saved—this is an inevitable fact and an inevitable result. So what should you do, going forward? One aspect is that you should closely follow every topic that is being fellowshipped on, and then afterward proactively try to contemplate and understand the topic, that is, once we have finished a topic, you should strike while the iron is hot by reflecting on yourself, in order to achieve a true and accurate knowledge and true repentance. The purpose of being able to know this aspect of the truth as soon as possible after we have finished fellowshipping on it, or after you have come to understand some part of what we fellowshipped on, is to allow you to have the most basic awareness in your own thoughts and views, so that later when you encounter related matters in daily life, your previous knowledge and understanding of the truth principles will become the basic ideas and views that guide your experience of this matter. At the very least, once you gain awareness and have an accurate and correct knowledge, your attitude and understanding with respect to this matter will be positive and proactive. That is to say, before this event happens, you will have already been vaccinated and have a certain degree of immunity, so that when it actually happens, your chances of failure will be reduced, as will the likelihood of you betraying God, and the probability of you entering into the truth reality will be greatly increased. It’s just like when a pandemic occurs: If you don’t get vaccinated, all you can do is stay shut indoors and not go out, which reduces the risk of infection to zero. But if you go out and circulate, and come into contact with the outside world, you must get vaccinated. Does this vaccine eliminate the possibility of infection? No, it doesn’t, but it does reduce the probability of infection. Suffice it to say that you will have antibodies. The process of pursuing truth begins with knowledge of the various truths. If you know correct and positive statements and principles from within the various truths, and at the same time, you also have a certain knowledge of the various negative and bad thoughts and views revealed by each truth, then whenever a similar event happens again, your choices will no longer be based on the criteria of the negative and bad ideas and opinions that Satan has inculcated in you, and you will no longer have an attitude that clings to such ideas and views. Although at this stage you have not yet entered into this aspect of the truth reality and your views may be neutral, nevertheless, after accepting these positive ideas and views, you will have a certain knowledge of negative ideas and views, so that when you face a similar matter in future, at the very least you will be able to distinguish between the positive and negative ideas and views that relate to this type of matter, and have certain criteria for dealing with it. On the basis of these criteria, people who love the truth and have humanity tend to be more inclined to practice the truth and to view people and things, and to comport themselves and act in accordance with the criterion of the truth. To a certain extent, this will greatly help you to enter into the truth reality and to practice according to the truth principles, submit to God according to His requirements, and accept the people, matters, and things that God arranges for you. From this point of view, can it be said that the more truths a person understands, the greater the likelihood that they will enter into the truth reality, and that the more thoroughly they understand negative things, the greater the probability that they will rebel against these negative things? (Yes, it can.) Therefore, no matter whether or not you are willing to pursue the truth, or whether or not you have made up your mind to pursue the truth, or whether or not you are on the path of pursuing the truth, and no matter your caliber or how you comprehend the truth, in short, if people want to pursue the truth, if they want to understand the criteria of the truth, and practice and enter into the truth, it is necessary to discern and understand all kinds of negative things. These are the prerequisites for pursuing the truth and entering into the truth reality.

Some people do not understand the truth, and when it comes to the various topics that we are fellowshipping on now, they always feel: “I have never thought about these topics, nor have I experienced them. I cannot see the correlation between what You are saying about these topics and my own various problems, corrupt dispositions, and outpourings of corruption, so what does Your talking about these topics have to do with my pursuit of the truth? It doesn’t seem to have much at all to do with me entering into the truth reality, does it? Why don’t You talk about some lofty and profound topics that concern people’s positive entry? Why always expose these negative trivial matters of everyday life?” Is this opinion right or wrong? (Wrong.) Whenever people who have these ideas hear about such trivial matters of everyday life, especially when some examples of these matters are given, they feel disgusted and don’t want to listen. They think, “This content is too commonplace and shallow. There’s nothing grand about this, it’s too simple. As soon as I’ve listened to it, I understand it immediately. It’s all too easy. The truth shouldn’t be like this, it should be more profound than this, and people need to listen to it several times before they are able to understand it and remember one or two sentences. What You are talking about now are trivial matters of everyday life, as well as some manifestations of normal humanity in everyday life. Is this not just a bit too shallow for us?” Do you think that people who hold these views are correct in their thinking? (No, they are wrong.) Why are they wrong? What’s wrong with them? First and foremost, are people’s thoughts and views disconnected from their everyday lives? (No, they are not.) Are their various manifestations and attitudes disconnected from their everyday lives? (No, they are not.) No, none of these things are disconnected. People’s corrupt dispositions, thoughts, and views, their ideas and intentions with respect to various matters, their specific ways of doing things, as well as the thoughts and ideas that emerge from their minds, are all inseparable from their various manifestations and outpourings in everyday life. Furthermore, these various manifestations and outpourings in everyday life, as well as people’s thoughts, views, and attitudes toward the various matters that befall them, are more specific things that concern people’s corrupt dispositions. The purpose of pursuing the truth is to change people’s erroneous thoughts and views and, by changing people’s thoughts and views, and by changing their attitudes toward all kinds of people, matters, and things, to cast off people’s corrupt dispositions, and cast off their rebelliousness and betrayal with respect to the truth and God, as well as their nature essence that is opposed to God. Thus, if you want to pursue the truth, isn’t it absolutely necessary to cast off and change your various erroneous thoughts and views in everyday life? Isn’t it the most important thing? (Yes, it is.) Therefore, no matter how shallow or quotidian the things I talk about may seem to be, don’t have a rebellious mentality about them. These things are definitely not of petty importance. They occupy your heart and mind, and they control your thoughts and views about every person, matter, and thing that you face. If you don’t change or cast off these erroneous thoughts and views in everyday life, then your claim that you accept the truth and have the truth reality will just be empty words. It’s like when you have cancer—it must be treated proactively. No matter which organ the cancer cells are present in, whether they are in your blood or on your skin, or whether they are on the surface or hidden deep down, suffice it to say that the first thing that must be dealt with is the cancer cells in your body. Only after the cancer cells are eliminated, can the various nutrients you take in be absorbed and work inside you. In this way, all the organs in your body can then function normally. Once the disease is eliminated, your body will become healthier and more normal. And people like this are completely cured of the disease. People’s pursuit of the truth is the process of casting off corrupt dispositions, and it is also the process of entering into the truth reality. The process of casting off corrupt dispositions is the process of people changing and ridding themselves of various erroneous and negative thoughts and views. It is also the process of people equipping themselves with various correct and positive ideas and views. What are positive ideas and views? They are things that involve the reality, principles, and criteria of the truth. In order to enter the truth reality, people must dissect and understand their various erroneous ideas and views about life, survival, and dealing with others one by one by seeking the truth, and then resolve them and cast them off one by one. In short, pursuing the truth is about making people cast off all their erroneous and incorrect thoughts and views, and having correct thoughts and views regarding all sorts of things, thoughts and views that are in line with the truth principles. Only in this way can people achieve the goal of viewing people and things, comporting themselves, and acting wholly based on God’s words and with the truth as their criterion. This is the final result that people achieve by pursuing the truth, and it is also the truth reality that people can finally live out after attaining salvation. Do you understand this? (Yes.)

At the last gathering, we fellowshipped on the topic of “letting go” with regard to family. What did we fellowship about last time on the topic of family? (We fellowshipped about the inconveniences and obstructions that family puts in the way of our pursuit of the truth, as well as what pursuits, ideals, and desires we should let go of when it comes to the issue of family. God mentioned two things, one being to let go of the identity that we inherit from our family, and the other being to let go of the conditioning effects that family has on us.) It was indeed those two things. The first is to let go of the identity that you inherit from your family. Do you know what the truth principles are that people should understand in this respect? After listening to My fellowships, if I don’t provide a specific summary, do you know how to summarize things yourselves? After I fellowshipped about these things and the specific details concerning them, did you summarize the principles involved that people should abide by when it comes to this aspect of the truth? If you know how to summarize them, then you will be able to put them into practice; if you don’t know how to summarize them, and linger on some scattered areas of light, and you do not know what the truth principles involved are, then you won’t be able to put them into practice. If you don’t know how to put them into practice, then you will never enter into this aspect of the truth reality. Even if you discover what your own problems are, you still won’t be able to correlate them to My words, and you won’t be able to find corresponding principles to put into practice. The main purpose of fellowshipping on the issue about letting go of the identity that you inherit from your family is so that you can view people and things, and comport yourself and act without being affected by the various influences associated with that identity. If the identity you inherit from your family is distinguished, then you should approach this identity correctly. You should not feel that you are distinguished, or that you are more worthy than others, or that your identity is special. When amongst others, you should be able to interact correctly with them according to the principles by which God admonishes people, and treat everyone correctly, rather than using your distinguished family background as capital to show off in all circumstances, and make others think highly of you in every situation. Supposing that you cannot let go of the identity that you inherit from your family, and always use your family background as capital, and comport yourself as someone who is extremely conceited, willful, and high-sounding. And supposing you always show off and exhibit yourself around others, and constantly flaunt your family background and the special identity that you inherit from your family. And in addition, supposing that deep down you are also particularly haughty and overbearing, and especially domineering and insolent when talking to others, and you often use your identity as capital to chide people and suppress them—in other words, people think that you are devoid of normal reason—and you regard everyone as commoners, and especially when you come into contact and deal with people, you think nothing of people who are more humble or lowly than you, and when speaking with them you are particularly aggressive, high-handed, and really bare your fangs. And supposing you constantly want to chide others, and always treat others like slaves to be ordered around and shouted at, and always believe that your identity is distinguished, and you are unable to get along harmoniously with others, and unable to treat people of lower status than you in a correct manner—these are all corrupt dispositions, and they are all things that people should cast off. Such corrupt dispositions occur and are caused when a person has a distinguished family background and social status. Therefore, this type of person should reflect on their words and deeds, and reflect on their own thoughts and views, especially those regarding family identity. They should let go of such thoughts and views and backtrack on the various humanities they are living out as a result of their special social status. In other words, this type of person should let go of the identity they have inherited from their family. Most people think that their own social status is inferior. In particular, the type of people who are looked down upon, discriminated against, and bullied in society often feel that their identity is lowly, and the shame caused by their special family environment makes them feel particularly humble. This feeling makes them often feel inferior and unable to get along with others in a harmonious and equitable way. Of course, people of this type also manifest themselves in various ways. Some people particularly look up to those with distinguished status and identity, fawning over them, flattering them, sweet-talking them and licking their boots. They always blindly echo those people and have no principles or dignity, and are willing to be those people’s hangers-on and be ordered about and manipulated by them like slaves. Such people’s principles for doing things also do not accord with the truth, because deep down in their minds, they believe that their identity is lowly and that they were born to be wretches, and they are not worthy of standing on an equal footing with those who are rich or who have a noble social identity, and that instead they were born to be treated as those people’s slaves, and they must take their cue from those people and be ordered around by them. They do not feel servile. Rather, they think that this is normal, and that this is how things should be done. Just what kind of ideas and views are these? Are these thoughts and views not a kind of self-degradation? (Yes.) There is also a type of people who see rich people living in their conceited, willful, impudent, and domineering ways, and who even greatly envy and chase after such people, and who hope that if they had the chance to turn things around, they could live as willfully and conceitedly as these rich people. They think that there is nothing wrong with being willful and conceited; on the contrary, they regard these as charming and romantic traits. The thoughts and views of such people are also incorrect and should be let go of. No matter what your identity or status, it is all preordained by God. No matter what kind of family or family background God has preordained for you, the identity you inherit from it is neither shameful nor honorable. The principle for how you treat your identity should not be based on the principle of honor and shame. No matter what kind of family God puts you in, no matter what kind of family He allows you to come from, you have only one identity before God, and that is the identity of a created being. Before God, you are a created being, so in the eyes of God, you are equal to anyone in society who has a different identity and social status. You are all members of corrupt mankind, and you are all people whom God wants to save. And of course, before God, you all have the same opportunity to perform your duties as created beings, and you all have the same opportunity to pursue the truth and attain salvation. On this level, based on the identity of a created being as given to you by God, you should not think highly of your own identity, nor should you look down on it. Instead, you should treat your identity that comes from God—which is that of a created being—correctly, and be able to get along harmoniously with anyone on an equal footing, and according to the principles that God teaches to people and admonishes them with. No matter what other people’s social status or social identity is, and no matter what your own social status or social identity is, whoever comes into God’s house and comes before God has only one identity, which is that of a created being. Therefore, those with a lowly social status and identity should not feel inferior. No matter whether or not you have talent, no matter how high your caliber is, and no matter whether or not you have ability, you should let go of your social status. You should also let go of ideas or views about ranking and grading people or classifying them as distinguished or humble based on their family background and family history. You should not feel inferior because of your own lowly social identity and status. You should be glad that although your family background is not so powerful and spectacular, and the status you have inherited is lowly, God has not abandoned you. God raises humble people up from the dunghill and the dust, and gives you the same identity, that of a created being, as other people. In God’s house and before God, your identity and status are equal to those of all the other people who have been chosen by God. Once you realize this, you should let go of your inferiority complex and stop clinging to it. When faced with those who have a distinguished and great social status, or those who have a higher social status than you, you do not need to bow down to them or be all smiles around them, let alone have any admiration for them. Instead, you should regard them as equals, look them right in the eye, and treat them correctly. Even if they are often domineering or inflated with pride, and regard themselves as having a high social status, you must treat them correctly and refuse to be coerced by them or intimidated by any of their grandeur. No matter what their behavior or how they treat you, you should know that before God, you and they are the same, insofar as you are all created beings, you are all human beings chosen by God to be saved. There is nothing special about them compared with you. Their so-called special identity and status do not exist in God’s eyes, and are not recognized by Him. Therefore, there is no need for you to be constricted by the matter of the identity you inherit from your family, nor is there any need to feel inferior because of it. There is even less need to give up any opportunity to interact with other people on an equal footing just because of your lowly social status, or to give up any of the rights, responsibilities, and obligations that God has bestowed on you in God’s house and before God. And of course, you certainly should not give up your right to be saved or the hope of attaining salvation. In God’s house, before God, there is no distinction between rich and poor, no distinction between high and low social status, and no one with a special family background deserves special treatment or particular privileges. Before God, all people have only one identity, which is that of a created being. Also, before God, the nature essences of all people are the same. There is only one kind of human being that God wants to save, and that is corrupt human beings. Therefore, no matter whether your identity or social status is noble or humble, you are all human beings that God wants to save.

Imagine that someone said to you, “Look at your family, they are so poor that you don’t even have decent clothes; your family is so poor that you only went to elementary school and never went to high school; your family is so poor that you only ever get to eat soup and vegetables, and haven’t even tried chocolate, pizza, or cola.” How should you handle this situation? Would you feel inferior or despondent? Would you inwardly complain about God? Would you be intimidated by what the person said? (I wouldn’t now.) You wouldn’t now, but you would before, right? In the past, whenever you noticed whose family was rich, or who was wealthy and distinguished, you would say, “Ah! They live in a villa and own a car. They’ve been abroad countless times. I’ve never even been out of my village, and I’ve never even seen a train before. They take high-speed rail journeys, travel in first-class, go on luxury cruises, and wear French designer brands and Italian jewelry. How come I haven’t heard of any of these things?” Whenever you’re around such people, you feel smaller than them. You’re somewhat confident when you’re fellowshipping on the truth and believing in God. But when you talk to those people about your family and family life, you want to run away and escape, you feel like you’re not as good as them, and that it would be better to die than to live. You think, “Why do I live in such a family? I haven’t seen anything of the world. Others use hand cream on their hands, whereas I still use Vaseline on mine; others don’t even apply any cream on their faces, but instead go straight to the beauty salon, whereas I don’t even know where the beauty salon is; others ride around in sedans, but that’s too good for me, I’m lucky if I get to ride a bicycle, and sometimes I have to ride on a cart driven by an ox or donkey.” So every time you talk with such people, you feel unsure of yourself and ashamed to bring up your identity and daren’t mention it. In your heart, you feel somewhat resentful and a little angry toward God, “They are all created beings like me,” you think. “So why does God allow them to enjoy life so much? Why has He preordained them to have that kind of family and social status? Why is my family so abjectly poor? Why are my parents at the bottom of society, with no abilities or skills? Just thinking about it makes me angry. Whenever I talk about this matter, I don’t want to mention my parents, they’re so incapable and incompetent! Never mind riding around in a sedan and living in a villa, I’d be content with being taken to the city to ride on the buses and high-speed trains, or to play in the city parks, but they haven’t taken me there, not even once! I have no life experience whatsoever. I haven’t eaten nice food, or ridden in nice cars, and I can only dream of flying.” Thinking about all this makes you feel inferior, and you are often constricted by this matter, so you regularly hang out with brothers and sisters whose identity and status are not significantly different from your own, thinking to yourself: “It’s true what they say, birds of a feather flock together. Look at that bunch of people, they are all rich folk, including senior government officials, millionaires, people with super-rich parents, business tycoons, and returnees from study abroad and postgraduates, as well as corporate executives and hotel managers. Compare them with us, this rabble. We are all either peasants or unemployed. Our families live in rural backwaters, we only have an elementary school education, and we’ve seen nothing of the world. We’ve herded cattle, set up street stalls, and repaired shoes. What kind of people are we? Are we not just a ragtag mob? Look at that band of people, they’re all classy and stylish. When I think about the rabble that we are, it makes me feel useless and aggrieved.” Even after believing in God for so many years, you have never let go of this matter, and often feel particularly inferior and depressed. These people’s ideas and views on things are obviously wrong, and seriously affect the correctness of their views regarding people and things, and the ways in which they comport themselves and act. These ideas and views are influenced by social trends and social mores. Of course, to be more exact, they are ideas and views that result from the conditioning effects of evil humans and traditional culture. Since they are corrupt and belong to evil trends, you should let go of them and not be troubled or constricted by such ideas and views. Some people say: “I was born into such a family, and this fact cannot be changed. These kinds of ideas and views constantly weigh on my mind, and are difficult to let go of.” It is indeed a fact that they are difficult to let go of, but if you constantly dwell on a mistaken idea and view, you will never let go of it. If you accept correct ideas and views, you will gradually let go of mistaken ones. What do I mean by this? I mean that it’s not possible for you to let go of them all at once, so that you can interact with rich people or those with high status and worth on an equal and normal basis. It’s impossible to do this in one go, but at the very least you can be liberated from this matter. Even if you still have an inferiority complex, even if you are still vaguely disturbed by it deep down in your heart, you have already gained some freedom from it to a certain extent. Of course, in your subsequent pursuit of the truth, you will gradually gain even more freedom and liberation. When all the various facts are exposed, you will see more and more clearly the essence of various people, matters, and things, and your understanding of the truth will become more and more profound. When you have more penetrating insight into such matters, your life experience and knowledge of such matters will increase. At the same time, your attitude toward the truth will become more proactive and positive, and you will be less and less constricted by negative things. Will you not then have changed? When you next meet someone with a vastly different identity and status from yours and talk to and associate with them, at the very least you will no longer be inwardly fearful, nor run away, but instead you will be able to treat them correctly, and you will no longer be subject to their restrictions, or think about how great and distinguished they are. Once you understand people’s corrupt essences, you will be able to handle all kinds of people precisely, and get along, interact and associate with all manner of people according to principles, without looking up to them or belittling them, and without discriminating against them or thinking highly of them. In this way, will you gradually achieve the result that comes from pursuing the truth? (Yes.) Achieving this result will make you love the truth more, more inclined toward positive things, more inclined toward the truth, and more inclined to admire God and the truth, instead of admiring anyone in society or in the world for their distinguished identity and status. The objects you admire and look up to, as well as the objects you follow and worship will be different, and will gradually change from negative things into positive things, and into the truth or—to be more precise—into God, God’s words, and God’s identity and status. In this way, you will gradually enter into the truth reality in this respect. That is to say, you will gradually cast off your corrupt disposition and the bonds of Satan in this regard, and gradually attain salvation—this is what the process involves. It’s not difficult; the road is laid out before you. As long as you pursue the truth, you can enter into the truth reality. And what reality will you ultimately enter into? No matter what kind of status you inherit from your family, you will no longer be preoccupied or troubled by whether it is noble or lowly. Instead, you will be able to perform your duty well as a created being, view people and things, and comport yourself and act as a created being, live before God as a created being, and live every day in the present, all with the identity of a created being—this is the result you will be pursuing. Is this a good result? (Yes, it is.) When people enter this aspect of reality, their hearts are liberated and freed. At the very least, you will no longer be troubled by the matter of the identity you inherit from your family, and you won’t care whether your status is high or low. If your identity is distinguished and some people look up to you, you will feel disgusted; if your identity is lowly and some people discriminate against you, you will not be constricted or troubled by it, nor will you be sad or negative about it. You will no longer have to feel worried, anguished, or inferior based on whether or not you have ever ridden in a high-speed train, been to a beauty salon, traveled abroad, eaten Western food, or enjoyed exclusive material comforts like rich people do. You will no longer be constricted and troubled by such matters, and you will be able to treat all kinds of people, things, and matters correctly and fulfill your duties normally. Will you not then be free and liberated? (Yes.) This way your heart will be liberated. When you have entered into the reality of this aspect of truth, and broken free from Satan’s bonds, you will truly have become a created being living before God, and a created being that God wants. By now, you should be clearer as regards the path of letting go of the identity and status that you inherit from family.