We fellowshipped last time about “letting go,” which is one of the principles of practice for how to pursue the truth. The first part of “letting go” means letting go of all negative emotions. We have already fellowshipped on this topic several times. Did we fellowship on the negative emotion of repression last time? (We did.) What did we fellowship on in regard to this? What causes people to feel repressed? (God fellowshipped that people do as they please in their duties, and are unwilling to abide by the church’s rules and regulations or be subject to restrictions. Due to their willfulness and their failure to act according to the principles, they can’t do their duties well, and so they are often pruned. If they do not reflect on their actions and fail to resolve their problems by seeking the truth, they will feel repressed.) Last time, we fellowshipped about one kind of situation in which people feel the negative emotion of being repressed, which is mainly because they are unable to do as they please. That fellowship was primarily concerned with: situations where people are unable to do as they please, what things people wish to do as they please, and what common behaviors are present in people who wallow in the emotion of repression. We then fellowshipped on the path one must take to resolve this emotion. Have you reached any conclusions after hearing these fellowships on letting go of negative emotions, whether they were revealing the manifestations of man’s negative emotions, or telling people the path for letting go of them? What is this practice of letting go of negative emotions directed at? After listening to these fellowships, did you ponder on this? (God, my understanding is that this practice is directed at people’s views on things.) That is right, that is one aspect of it. It is concerned with people’s views on things. These views are primarily concerned with the various ideas and views that one clings to in the face of various people, matters, and things, and primarily directed at the various problems that one encounters in their normal human life and existence. Examples of this include: how to interact with others, how to defuse animosity, the attitude one should have toward marriage, family, work, their prospects, sickness, aging, death, and trivial matters in life. It also touches on how one should face their environment and how they should face the duty they are supposed to perform, among other issues. Does it not touch on these things? (It does.) As for all the major issues and matters of principle that relate to a normal human life and existence—if one has the right ideas, views, and attitude, then their humanity will be relatively normal. What I mean by “normal” is having normal reason and a normal perspective and stance on things. Only those who possess correct ideas and views will have an easy time understanding and entering into the truth when they are pursuing it. This means that only those with normal ideas and normal views, perspectives, and stances on people and things will be able to attain certain results in their pursuit of the truth. If a person’s perspective and stance on people and things, and their ideas, views, and attitude are all negative, do not conform with the conscience and rationality of normal humanity, and are radical, stubborn and impure—in short, if they are all negative, adverse, and depressive—if a person who possesses these kinds of negative ideas and views pursues the truth, will they find it easy to understand and practice it? (No.) It is simple enough for you to say that from a theoretical perspective, but in actuality, you do not really understand it. To put it simply, with regard to the various negative emotions we are fellowshipping on, if a person has a negative and inaccurate perspective and stance on various people, matters, and things they encounter in their life and on their life path, will they be able to achieve an understanding of the truth? (No.) If they are always wallowing in negative emotions, can they achieve a pure comprehension of God’s words? (No.) If they are always dominated, controlled, and influenced by the thoughts and views of negative emotions, will their perspective and stance on all things, and their views of things that happen to them not be negative? (It will.) What is meant by “negative” here? Firstly, can we say that it runs counter to fact and objective laws? Does it violate the laws of nature that man should conform to, as well as the fact of God’s sovereignty? (Yes.) If people carry these negative ideas and views with them while listening to and reading God’s words, can they truly accept and submit to His words? Can they achieve submission to God and compatibility with God? (No.) Provide an example that illustrates this, so that I can see if you have understood. Find an example where one is dealing with major issues of their life and survival, like issues about marriage, family, children, or sickness, about their future, fate, whether their life goes smoothly, their worth, social status, personal interests, and so on. (I remember God fellowshipped last time that when people are faced with illness, they wallow in negative emotions like distress, anxiety, and worry, and are extremely afraid of dying. This affects their ability to perform their duty and live a normal life, and renders them unable to conform to objective laws. In reality, people’s lives and deaths, when they become ill, and how much they suffer are all predestined by God. People should face and experience these situations with a proper, positive attitude. They should seek the treatment they need, and do the duty they are supposed to do—they should maintain a positive state of being and not be trapped in their illness. But when people are wallowing in negative emotions, they do not believe in God’s sovereignty, and they do not believe that God has predestined their life and their death. They just feel worried, frightened, and anxious about their illness. They become increasingly worried and fearful—they are not governed by the truth of God’s sovereignty over man’s fate, and God is absent from their hearts.) That is a great example. Does this relate to the question of what view people ought to have on the significant matter of life and death? (Yes.) Do you all know something about this subject? This is a question of facing one’s own life and death. Does this relate to problems within the scope of normal humanity? (Yes.) This is a major issue that everyone must face. Even if you are young or in good health and have not dealt with or experienced life-and-death issues, inevitably a day will come when you will have to—this is something that everyone must face. As a normal person, no matter if you are personally affected by it, or if you are far removed from it, in any case, it is the most significant issue you will face in life. So, when faced with the significant matter of death, should people not ponder on how they should handle this issue? Will they not adopt some human methods to deal with it? What views should people cling to? Is this not a practical issue? (Yes.) If people are wallowing in negative emotions, what will they think? We fellowshipped on this before—if people live by thoughts and views of negative emotions, are their actions and expressions in keeping with the truth or not? Do they accord with the thinking of normal humanity or not? (No, they do not.) They do not accord with the thinking of normal humanity, and much less do they conform with the truth. They do not accord with objective facts or objective laws, and they certainly do not conform with God’s sovereignty.

What is the ultimate result of our fellowship about letting go of various negative emotions? How can you specifically act out and practice “letting go” in order to possess the thinking and reason of normal humanity, in other words, to possess the thoughts, perspectives, and viewpoints that someone with normal humanity and reason should possess? What are the specific steps or paths of practice involved in this “letting go”? Isn’t the first step to recognize whether your viewpoints on matters you face are correct and if they carry any negative emotions? This is the first step. For example, regarding the example we raised earlier about dealing with illness and death, you should first dissect your viewpoints toward such matters, whether there are any negative emotions in them, such as if you feel any distress, worry, or anxiety regarding these issues and how your distress, worry, and anxiety arise, and you should delve into the root cause of these problems. Next, keep dissecting, and you will discover that you haven’t fully understood these matters. You haven’t clearly recognized that everything of mankind is in God’s hands and under His sovereignty. Even when they fall ill or are faced with death, people should not become ensnared within these things. Instead, they should submit to the arrangements and orchestrations of God, without being intimidated or overwhelmed by illness or death. They should not be afraid of these things, nor let them influence their own normal lives and performance of duties. In one respect, they ought to actively experience and appreciate God’s sovereignty and submit to His orchestrations and arrangements while going through illness, and they can seek treatment when necessary. That is, they should actively face, experience, and appreciate the process. In another respect, they ought to develop a correct understanding in their hearts about these matters and believe that everything is in the hands of God. Human beings can only do their part, and for the rest they should submit to Heaven’s will. Because everything is in the hands of God, and people’s life and death are all predestined by God. Even if people do what they are supposed to do, the ultimate outcome of all this does not shift according to their will, and it is not determined by people, right? (Right.) When faced with illness, you should first examine your own heart and identify any negative emotions. You should assess your understanding of the matter and the viewpoints you hold in your hearts, whether you are under the control or bondage of negative emotions and how these negative emotions have come about. You should dissect the following, such as what it is you are worried about, what it is you fear, where it is you feel insecure, and what you are unable to let go because of your illness, then examine the cause of these things that make you feel worried, frightened, or afraid, and gradually resolve each of them one by one. You should first dissect and explore whether these negative elements exist within yourself, and if they do, dissect and ascertain whether they are correct or if there are elements that do not align with the truth. If you find elements that do not align with the truth, you should seek answers in the words of God and gradually seek the truth to resolve them. You should strive to reach a state where you are not troubled, affected, or bound by these negative elements, making it so they don’t affect your normal life or work or the performance of your duties, or disrupt the order of your life. And, of course, they should certainly not affect your belief in God and following Him. In summary, the goal is for you to eventually be able to face these kinds of problems you encounter or will encounter with reason, correctness, objectivity, and accuracy. Isn’t this the process of letting go? (It is.) This is the specific path of practice. Can you summarize what the specific path of practice is? (First, one needs to understand the matter they are facing, dissect whether they have any negative emotions during this process, then seek answers in the words of God, seek the truth to resolve them, and not let themselves be troubled by these negative emotions, nor their lives and the performance of their duties be affected. Also, they should believe that the matters they encounter arise out of the sovereignty and arrangements of God. With this kind of understanding, people can eventually achieve submission and carry out a positive and proactive practice.) Tell Me, if people live in negative emotions, what is their typical behavior whenever they face illness? How do you realize when you have negative emotions? (First, there is a lot of fear, and we’ll start to have random thoughts like, “What kind of illness is this? Will it bring me a lot of suffering if I cannot cure it? Will it lead to death in the end? Will I still be able to do my duty later on?” We will think about these things, worry about them, and feel afraid. Some people start paying more attention to their health, not willing to pay a price to do their duties, thinking that if they pay less of a price, their illness might be alleviated. These are all negative emotions.) Negative emotions can be probed from two angles. From one angle, you should know what you are thinking in your own mind. When you fall ill, you may think, “Oh no, how did I get this illness? Did someone pass it on to me? Is it because I’m tired? If I continue to tire myself out, will this illness grow worse? Will it become more painful?” This is one angle; you can perceive the things within your thoughts. From a different angle, when you have these thoughts, how are they manifested in your behavior? When people have thoughts, their actions are influenced accordingly. People’s actions, behavior, and methods are all governed by various thoughts. When people have these negative emotions, they give rise to various thoughts, and governed by these thoughts, their attitudes or methods regarding the performance of their duties undergo a transformation. For example, in the past, sometimes they would start doing their duties as soon as they woke up. But now, when it’s time to get out of bed, they start pondering, “Could this illness be due to exhaustion? Maybe I should sleep a little longer. I used to suffer too much and feel exhausted. Now I need to focus on taking care of my body so that the illness doesn’t get worse.” Governed by these active thoughts, they end up getting up later than usual. When it comes to eating, they ponder, “My illness may be related to a lack of nutrition. In the past, I could eat anything, but now I have to be selective. I should eat more eggs and meat so that my nutrition can keep pace and my body can grow strong—this way I won’t have to suffer from my illness anymore.” When it comes to doing their duties, they are also constantly thinking about how to take care of their bodies. In the past, after working continuously for one or two hours they would at most stretch or stand up and move around. But now, they set a rule for themselves to move around every half an hour, so as not to tire themselves out. Whenever fellowshipping at gatherings, they try to speak as little as possible, thinking, “I need to learn to take care of my body.” In the past, no matter what question someone asked, or when, they would answer without hesitation. But now they want to speak less, to conserve their energy, and if someone asks too many questions, they say, “I need to rest.” You see, they have become particularly concerned about their physical body, which is different from before. Oftentimes they also pay constant attention to taking dietary supplements, eating fruit and exercising regularly. They think, “In the past, I was too stupid and ignorant and I didn’t know how to take care of my body. I followed my appetite and indulged in gluttony. Now that my body has problems, if I don’t focus on my health, and if my illness becomes severe and I can’t do my duty, will I still receive blessings? I must pay attention to taking care of my body in the future and not let any ailments emerge.” So they start to pay attention to their health, and they no longer do their duties with full dedication. They even regret and feel discontented about the suffering they endured and the price they paid in the past while doing their duties. Aren’t these thoughts and behaviors influenced by and don’t they emerge from negative emotions? These thoughts and behaviors are indeed caused by these negative emotions. Then can these thoughts and behaviors along with their negative emotions help them have more faith in God and be more devoted in doing their duties? Definitely not. What will the ultimate result be? They will do their duties in a perfunctory manner without devotion. When they do things, can they seek the truth and act according to the truth principles? (No, they cannot.) They will do whatever they want while governed by these negative emotions, setting the truth aside, not treasuring it or putting it into practice. Everything they do, everything they put into practice will revolve around the thoughts generated by their own negative emotions. Can someone like this achieve the pursuit of the truth? (No, they cannot.) Then are these kinds of thoughts the thoughts that people with normal humanity should have? (No, they are not.) Since these kinds of thoughts are not the thoughts that people with normal humanity should have, where do you think they go wrong? (People do not have any understanding of God’s sovereignty and arrangements. In reality, these illnesses are all in God’s hands. The amount of suffering a person should endure is also determined and arranged by God. However, when a person lives in negative emotions, they tend to resort to scheming and are governed by fallacious thoughts and viewpoints. They rely on human methods and cherish their own physical bodies.) Is it right for a person to cherish their physical body like this? When a person is overly concerned about their physical body and keeps it well-fed, healthy, and robust, of what value is this to them? What meaning is there in living like this? What is the value of a person’s life? Is it merely for the sake of indulging in fleshly pleasures such as eating, drinking, and being entertained? (No, it is not.) Then what is it? Please share your thoughts. (To fulfill the duty of a created being, this at least is what a person should achieve in their life.) That is correct. Tell Me, if a person’s daily actions and thoughts throughout their entire life are solely focused on avoiding illness and death, on keeping their body healthy and free from diseases, and striving for longevity, is this the value a person’s life should have? (No, it is not.) That is not the value a person’s life should have. So, what is the value a person’s life should have? Just now, someone mentioned fulfilling the duty of a created being, which is one specific aspect. Is there anything else? Tell Me the aspirations you usually have while praying or establishing resolve. (To submit to God’s arrangements and orchestrations for us.) (To play the role well which God has assigned for us, and to fulfill our mission and responsibility.) Anything else? In one respect, it is about fulfilling the duty of a created being. In another, it is about doing everything within your ability and capacity to the best that you can, at least reaching a point where your conscience does not accuse you, where you can be at peace with your own conscience and be proven acceptable in the eyes of others. Taking it a step further, throughout your life, regardless of the family you were born into, your educational background, or personal qualities, you must have some understanding of the principles that people ought to comprehend in life. For example, what kind of path people should walk, how they should live, and how to live a meaningful life—you should at least explore a bit of the true value of life. This life cannot be lived in vain, and one cannot come to this earth in vain. In another respect, during your lifetime, you must fulfill your mission; this is the most important. We’re not talking about completing a great mission, duty, or responsibility; but at the very least, you should accomplish something. For instance, in the church, some people put all their efforts into the work of spreading the gospel, dedicating the energy of their entire lives, paying a great price, and gaining many people. Because of this, they feel that their lives have not been lived in vain, and that they hold value and comfort. When facing illness or death, when summing up their entire lives and thinking back on everything they ever did, on the path they walked, they find solace in their hearts. They experience no accusations or regrets. Some people spare no effort while leading in the church or being responsible for a certain aspect of work. They unleash their maximum potential, giving all of their strength, expending all their energy and paying the price for the work they do. Through their watering, leadership, help, and support, they help many people in the midst of their own weaknesses and negativity to become strong and stand firm, not to withdraw themselves, but instead to return to the presence of God and even finally bear witness to Him. Furthermore, during the period of their leadership, they accomplish many significant tasks, clearing out more than a few evil people, protecting many of God’s chosen people, and recovering a number of significant losses. All of these achievements take place during their leadership. Looking back at the path they walked, recalling the work they did and the price they paid over the years, they feel no regrets or accusations. They believe that they did nothing to merit remorse, and they live with a sense of value, and steadiness and comfort in their hearts. How wonderful is that! Isn’t this the result? (Yes.) This sense of steadiness and comfort, this lack of regrets, they are the result and the reward of pursuing positive things and the truth. Let’s not set high standards for people. Let’s consider a situation where a person is faced with a task they should do or want to do in their lifetime. After finding their place, they stand firmly in their position, holding their position, taking great pains, paying the price, and devoting all their energy to accomplish and finish what they should work on and complete. When they finally stand before God to give an account, they feel relatively satisfied, without accusations or regrets in their heart. They have a sense of comfort and of reward, that they have lived a valuable life. Isn’t this a significant goal? Regardless of its scale, tell Me, is it practical? (It is practical.) Is it specific? It’s specific enough, practical enough, and realistic enough. So, in order to live a valuable life and ultimately achieve this kind of reward, do you think it’s worth it for a person’s physical body to suffer a bit and pay a bit of a price, even if they experience exhaustion and physical illness? (It is worth it.) When a person comes into this world, it isn’t just for the enjoyment of the flesh, nor is it solely for eating, drinking, and having fun. One shouldn’t live just for those things; that is not the value of human life, nor is it the right path. The value of human life and the right path to follow involve accomplishing something valuable and completing one or multiple jobs of value. This is not called a career; it is called the right path, it is also called the proper task. Tell Me, is it worth it for a person to pay the price in order to complete some work of value, live a meaningful and valuable life, and pursue and attain the truth? If you truly desire to pursue and understand the truth, to embark on the right path in life, to fulfill your duty well, and to live a valuable and meaningful life, then you should not hesitate to give all of your energy, pay the price, and give all of your time and the extent of your days. If you experience a bit of illness during this period it will not matter, it will not crush you. Isn’t this far superior to a lifetime of ease and idleness, nurturing the physical body to the point that it is well-fed and healthy, and ultimately achieving longevity? (Yes.) Which one of these two options is more conducive to a valuable life? Which one can bring comfort and no regrets to people when they face death at the very end? (Living a meaningful life.) Living a meaningful life means to feel results and comfort in your heart. What about those who are well-fed, and maintain a rosy complexion until death? They don’t pursue a meaningful life, so how do they feel when they die? (Like they lived in vain.) These three words are incisive—living in vain. What does “living in vain” mean? (To waste one’s life.) Living in vain, wasting one’s life—what is the basis for these two phrases? (At the end of their lives they find that they have gained nothing.) What should a person gain then? (They should gain the truth or accomplish valuable and meaningful things in this life. They should do well the things that a created being ought to do. If they fail to do all that and only live for their physical bodies, they will feel that their life was lived in vain and wasted.) When facing death, they will ponder what they have done throughout their lives. They will say, “Oh, I only thought about eating, drinking, and having fun every day. My health was good, and I didn’t experience any illnesses. My entire life was peaceful. But now that I’m getting older and about to die, where will I go after death? Will I go to hell or heaven? How will God arrange my end? Where will I go for my destination?” They will feel uneasy. Enjoying physical comfort throughout their lives, they didn’t have any awareness before, but now they feel uneasy as death approaches. Because they feel uneasy, won’t they start thinking about making amends? Is there still time to make amends at that point? (There is no time.) They do not have the strength to run anymore, nor do they have the strength to speak. Even if they want to pay a bit of a price or endure a bit of hardship, their physical strength is inadequate. Even if they want to go out and preach the gospel, they are not in the physical condition for it. Moreover, they don’t understand any of the truth and cannot fellowship about even a bit of it. There isn’t time for them to make amends anymore. Let’s say they want to listen to some hymns. As they listen, they fall asleep. Let’s say they wish to listen to a sermon. As they listen, they become drowsy. They don’t have the energy anymore, and they are unable to focus. They think about what they did all those years, and where they spent their energy. Now they are advanced in years, and they want to attend to their proper work, but their failing bodies will no longer let them. They just don’t have the energy anymore, they can’t learn anything even if they wanted to, and their reactions are slow. They cannot understand many truths, and when they try to fellowship with others, everyone is busy and has no time to fellowship with them. They don’t have principles or a path in anything they do. What happens to them in the end? The more they ponder, the more uneasy they become. The more they ponder, the more they feel remorse. The more they ponder, the more regrets they accumulate. In the end, they have no choice but to wait for death. Their life is over, and there’s no way to make amends. Do they feel remorse? (Yes.) It’s too late! There’s no time left. When facing death, they realize that enjoying a life of physical comfort is entirely empty. They see through everything and want to turn back to pursue the truth and fulfill their duty and do something well, but they can’t achieve anything or strive for anything in any respect. This life is almost over, it ends with regrets, carrying remorse and unease with it. What is the final outcome for people like this when facing death? They can only die with regret, remorse, and unease. This life has been lived in vain! Their physical bodies haven’t endured any hardship. They have enjoyed only comfort, without being exposed to the wind or the sun, or taking any risks. They haven’t paid any price. They have lived in good health, rarely experiencing any illnesses, barely even catching a cold. They have taken care of their physical bodies well, but unfortunately, they haven’t fulfilled any duties or gained any truths. Only at the moment of death do they feel regret. And what if they do feel regret? This is called suffering as a result of their own actions!

If a person wishes to live a valuable and meaningful life, they must pursue the truth. First and foremost, they should have a correct outlook on life, as well as the right thoughts and viewpoints on the various great and small matters that they face in life and on their life path. They should also view all of these matters from the right perspective and stance, rather than approaching the various problems they encounter in the course of their life or in their daily life using extreme or radical thoughts and viewpoints. Of course, they also must not view these things through a secular perspective, and instead they should let go of such negative and incorrect thoughts and viewpoints. If you wish to achieve this, you should first dissect, expose, and recognize the various negative thoughts that people harbor, and then become capable of changing and correcting your various negative emotions, letting go of them, and attaining correct and positive thoughts and viewpoints, as well as the right perspectives and stances from which to view people and things. By doing so, you will possess the conscience and reason necessary to pursue the truth. Of course, it could be said specifically that when a person possesses the correct viewpoints, perspectives, and stances for viewing people and things, that is what it means to possess normal humanity. If people possess this kind of normal humanity and these correct thoughts and viewpoints, it becomes much less challenging and much easier for them to pursue the truth. It is like when a person wishes to reach a destination—if they are on the right path and heading in the right direction, then, regardless of their speed, they will eventually reach that destination. However, if a person is heading in the opposite direction of their intended destination, then, no matter how fast or how slow they go, they will only get farther away from their goal. How does that idiom go? “Trying to go south by driving north.” It is just like how some people believe in God and desire salvation, but pursue fame, profit, and status, which means that they have no way of attaining salvation. What will their ultimate outcome be? It will certainly be punishment. To give an example, say that a person has gotten cancer and they are afraid to die. They refuse to accept death and constantly pray for God to protect them from death and to extend their life for a few more years. They carry the negative emotions of distress, worry, and anxiety with them as they go through day after day, though they manage to survive for a few more years, attaining their goal and experiencing the happiness that comes from avoiding death. They feel fortunate, and believe that God is so good, that He is truly magnificent. Through their own efforts, repeated pleas, self-love, and self-care, they evade death, and, in the end, go on living, just like they wished to. They express gratitude for God’s preservation, grace, love, and mercy. Every day they thank God and come before Him to offer praise for this. They often weep while singing hymns and while pondering on God’s words, and they think about how wonderful God is: “God truly has control over life and death; He has allowed me to live.” While doing their duty each day, they often consider how to put suffering first and pleasure last, and how to do better than others in everything, so that they may preserve their own life and avoid death—they end up living a few more years, and feel quite satisfied and happy. But one day, their illness worsens, and the doctor gives them one final notice, telling them to prepare for the end. They now face death; they are truly on the verge of dying. How will they react? Their greatest fear has come upon them, their greatest worry has finally materialized. The day they were most reluctant to behold and experience has arrived. In an instant their heart sinks and their mood hits rock bottom. They are no longer of a mind to do their duty, and they have no words left to pray to God. They no longer want to praise God or to hear Him speak any words or supply any truths. They no longer believe that God is love, righteousness, mercy, and kindness. At the same time, they feel regret, “All these years, I forgot to eat more good food and to go and have some fun during my free time. Now I don’t have the chance to do those things anymore.” Their mind is filled with grievances and lamentations, and their heart is filled with pain, as well as complaints, resentment, and denial toward God. Then, with regret, they leave this world. Before they departed, was God still in their heart? Did they still believe in the existence of God? (They no longer believed.) How did this outcome come about? Didn’t it begin with the erroneous viewpoints that they held toward life and death from the very beginning? (Yes.) Not only did they hold incorrect thoughts and viewpoints at the outset, but even more seriously, after this they followed and conformed to their own thoughts and viewpoints in their pursuit forward. They never gave up, and they charged ahead and sprinted down the wrong path without looking back. As a result, they lost faith in God in the end—their journey of faith came to an end in this way, and their life was thus concluded. Did they attain the truth? Did God gain them? (No.) When they finally died, did the perspectives and attitudes toward death that they clung to change? (No.) Did they die with comfort, joy, and peace, or with regret, reluctance, and bitterness? (They died with reluctance and bitterness.) They gained nothing at all. They did not attain the truth, and God did not gain them either. So, would you say that this kind of person has attained salvation? (No.) They have not been saved. Before their death, did they not run about a lot and expend a great deal? (Yes, they did.) Just like other people, they believed in God and did their duty, and on the surface, there didn’t appear to be any difference between them and anyone else. When they experienced illness and death, they prayed to God and still did not abandon their duty. They kept working, even to the same level that they did before. However, there is something that people ought to understand and see through to: The thoughts and viewpoints that this person harbored were consistently negative and erroneous. Regardless of the extent of their suffering or the price they paid while doing their duty, they harbored these erroneous thoughts and viewpoints in their pursuit. They were constantly governed by them and bringing their negative emotions into their duty, seeking to offer the performance of their duty to God in exchange for their own survival, to achieve their aim. The goal of their pursuit was not to understand or gain the truth, or to submit to all of God’s orchestrations and arrangements. The goal of their pursuit was the exact opposite of this. They wanted to live according to their own will and requirements, getting that which they wished to pursue. They wanted to arrange and orchestrate their own fate and even their own life and death. And so, at the end of the road, their outcome was that they gained nothing at all. They did not obtain the truth and they ultimately denied God, and lost faith in Him. Even as death approached, they still failed to understand how people should live and how a created being should treat the Creator’s orchestrations and arrangements. That is the most pitiful and tragic thing about them. Even on the verge of death, they failed to understand that throughout a person’s life, everything is under the sovereignty and arrangement of the Creator. If the Creator wants you to live, then even if you are plagued by a deadly illness, you will not die. If the Creator wants you to die, then even if you are young, healthy, and strong, when your time comes, you must die. Everything is under the sovereignty and arrangement of God, this is God’s authority, and no one can rise above it. They failed to comprehend such a simple fact—isn’t that pitiful? (Yes.) Despite their believing in God, attending gatherings, listening to sermons, and doing their duty, despite their belief in the existence of God, they repeatedly refused to acknowledge that human destiny, including life and death, is in the hands of God rather than subject to human will. No one dies simply because they want to, and no one survives solely because they want to live and fear death. They failed to grasp such a simple fact, they failed to see through it even when faced with impending death, and they still did not know that a person’s life and death are not determined by themselves but instead depend on the predestination of the Creator. Isn’t this tragic? (Yes.) Therefore, although various negative emotions may seem insignificant to people, they are all involved in the attitude with which a person views people and things within the scope of normal humanity. If a person can positively approach every kind of thing that occurs in a normal human life and existence, then they will have relatively few negative emotions. It can also be said that their conscience and reason will be relatively normal, making it easier for them to pursue the truth and enter into reality, reducing the difficulties and obstacles they’ll face. If a person’s heart is filled with all kinds of negative emotions, which means that they are brimming with various negative thoughts in their approach to the challenges of life and existence, then they will encounter more obstacles and difficulties in their pursuit of the truth. If their will to pursue the truth is not strong, if they do not have a lot of zeal, or such a tremendous desire for God, then the difficulties and obstacles they face in their pursuit of the truth will be significant. What does this mean? It means that they will struggle to enter into the truth reality. Leaving aside the severity of their corrupt disposition, these negative emotions alone will bind them, making every step difficult. When some people are faced with hatred, anger, various kinds of pain, or other problems, the different thoughts that emerge from them are negative. That is, in almost every matter, their status is basically always dominated by negative emotions. If you lack the necessary determination and perseverance to resolve these negative emotions and to emerge from this status of negative emotions, it will be extremely challenging for you to enter into the truth reality. It will not be easy. This means that before entering into the reality of pursuing the truth, people must first possess the most fundamental correct thoughts, viewpoints, and stances regarding every problem that relates to normal humanity. Only then can they comprehend and accept the truth, and gradually enter into the truth reality. Before formally pursuing the truth, you must first resolve your various negative emotions and pass this stage. Once people have passed this stage, and their thoughts and viewpoints concerning various matters, as well as the perspective and stance from which they view people and things, are all correct, then pursuing the truth and entering into reality will be easier for them.