People with poor caliber cannot see through anything that comes their way. Even when reading God’s words or listening to sermons, their comprehension carries some distortion and inevitably includes deviations. They are adhering to a regulation, way of acting, or ritual, which is entirely different from the truth principles, and consequently many distorted things arise. It can be said that the comprehension of people with poor caliber regarding any matter always carries a somewhat distorted nature. Although in simple and easily manageable things they may achieve obedience and submission without showing distortion, when it comes to principle-based matters or relatively complex issues, they cannot grasp the truth principles, and only know to adhere to regulations. Do you understand? (Yes.) People with poor caliber completely lack the ability to comprehend the truth and just know to adhere to regulations. Such people are also quite troublesome. They are very enthusiastic and determined in adhering to regulations. If you fellowship with them and say, “What you are doing is adhering to regulations, not observing the truth principles,” they cannot accept it. They feel: “I am steadfastly adhering to principles and cannot compromise with others! Others do not adhere to principles and are condemned for it, but when I adhere to them, I also get condemned. This is unfair!” See how stubborn they are, you just can’t persuade them. Have you encountered such people? (Yes.) For example, I tell some people, “If you want to learn dance, you can set aside two hours each day to train when work isn’t busy. If you persist for a period, you’ll learn it.” They remember the phrase “persist with training for two hours every day” and believe that doing so is practicing the truth and sticking to principles. Afterward, no matter how busy the duty is that they are doing, they still persist with training in dance for two hours every day. During a period of time when the church work is very busy from morning until evening and they basically don’t have two hours in a day to spare, they still insist on training in dance for two hours. When others remind them that this could delay the church work, they refuse to listen and say, “God instructed me to train in dance for two hours each day. I must do this. If I don’t do this, it means I am disobedient and have no submission.” If you tell them not to do it, they are unwilling. They are unable to handle things flexibly or to apply My words flexibly based on the needs of the work or the needs of the environment. They do not understand why they should train for two hours, what the significance of training for two hours is, or what result it is meant to achieve. They don’t understand and are unclear about these things. For them, practicing the truth simply means adhering to a single statement, a regulation, or a formality—that, in their view, is practicing the truth. Regardless of whether any result is achieved or what the result turns out to be, they stubbornly persist down a single path, refusing to turn back no matter what, not even if ten oxen were to pull them. Even if they deviate in their practice, they will constantly do it that way. When told that they are being absurd, they still insist on doing it. Aren’t such people very troublesome? No matter who fellowships with them, it doesn’t work. After you painstakingly explain things clearly, they might understand this matter today, but tomorrow they will adhere to regulations in another matter, endlessly adhering to regulations, and you constantly have to correct them. They are veering either to the left or to the right, and deviating either in this kind of matter or in that kind of matter—they continuously deviate without end. Watching them makes you anxious, but you cannot correct them however you try. Why? Because their caliber is too poor. They can never distinguish between positive and negative things, right and wrong, correct and incorrect, the truth and regulations. They have no standard for demarcating these matters, no ability to demarcate them, and simply cannot demarcate them. Therefore, people with poor caliber can only do regulation-based work and chores, or single-faceted work that does not involve the truth principles, such as following a routine schedule every day, doing one thing at a certain time and doing another at another set time—that is, they can only handle those simple tasks where adhering to the schedule, to formalities and to a way of doing things is sufficient to perform the work well. But they cannot handle work that is a bit more complex. Once it is required that they act according to the truth principles and achieve certain results, they are unable to accomplish this. If you assign them an item of work requiring them to flexibly apply the truth principles, handle various issues as appropriate, and adapt according to the environment, they become confused and cannot accomplish it. They must have someone to help and instruct them; you cannot expect them to do the work well independently. How should such people be treated? Although they can persist in doing their duty routinely every day, when faced with unexpected situations, they don’t know how to respond and may even stop doing their duty. For such people, it is necessary to frequently inquire about and inspect their work, asking, “During this period, have there been any disruptions or disturbances to the church work? Have there been any complex problems that you didn’t know how to handle?” After thinking it over, they say, “Everything has been fine during this period. Everyone is doing their duty and can normally gather and eat and drink God’s words. No one has disrupted or disturbed, and I haven’t heard of anyone spreading fallacies to mislead others.” They cannot identify any problems and do not know what to report, nor can they even raise questions. Therefore, you cannot expect them to handle or resolve issues that arise in real life or in doing their duty on their own. Neither can you expect them to seek from those above them or ask them questions when they don’t know how to handle something. They cannot achieve any of this because their caliber is insufficient. If such people do not report problems to those above them, others may think they have no problems. However, this is not the case. They cannot identify even ordinary problems, even when problems are piled up before them, they do not perceive them as problems. And so, they do not resolve problems either. They have a head, with two eyes and two ears on it; they can see, hear, and speak, and yet they cannot identify or resolve problems. Because they completely lack caliber and the ability to identify and handle problems, no matter how astute they seem to be from their looks, it is of no use. They cannot take what they see or hear and process it in their mind to think about and discern whether these are problems or how they should be handled. If they cannot handle problems involving the truth principles, they will not report them to those above them either. They are entirely incapable of doing any of this. Doesn’t this show they have poor caliber? Aren’t these the manifestations of people with poor caliber? (Yes.) If you ask someone with poor caliber, “Have there been any problems in the work during this period? Are there any areas where you don’t understand the principles?” they respond, “There aren’t any problems; everyone’s been busy, and things are going quite well!” To them, everything is just fine. As a leader or worker, if you simply believe them when they say everything is fine, then you are too foolish and just as much a person with poor caliber as they are. People with good caliber not only know how to learn about problems but also must be able to identify them on their own. They can engage in conversations targeting problems, and as they talk, the problems naturally come to light. When you discover a problem and ask someone with poor caliber how they handled it, they respond, “What problem? How come I didn’t notice it?” People with poor caliber cannot identify problems, so in doing work, you must be adept at learning about and identifying problems, seize hold of the problems and not let go, and then assist in handling and resolving them. You need to know how to chat with people who have poor caliber, asking them questions and making inquiries in a chatty way, in order to identify problems. As you chat, they will unknowingly bring up the problems themselves. Without chatting like this, it would be impossible to identify these problems. Because you chat with them in this way, they become inspired and suddenly identify these problems. If you don’t use this approach to learn about the situation, they just won’t perceive these matters they see as problems. So, when problems are uncovered during your chats, they must be made clear bit by bit, like squeezing out toothpaste. They will only feel somewhat ashamed when all of the problems are resolved. Doesn’t this show they have poor caliber? (Yes.) These are the manifestations of people with poor caliber: Even when there are problems, they cannot identify them, and because they cannot identify problems, they are never able to bring them up or resolve them. Tell Me, if they cannot identify problems, can they do their work well? Can they do their work well by adhering to regulations? (No.) Absolutely not. This is a manifestation of having poor caliber. If you say their caliber is poor, they even think, “My caliber is excellent! After God speaks about something, I immediately grasp a way of acting or a regulation, and I can adhere to it for a lifetime. See? Isn’t my caliber good? You all fail to grasp the key points, but I can. For example, I was told that in summer the weather is hot and we should eat cold dishes. So, I keep on making cold dishes and serving cold drinks—I can adhere to this instruction. You see, none of you can adhere to it, and you’re always talking about principles. Aren’t principles just regulations? If you adhere to regulations, isn’t that adhering to principles?” They even think their caliber is good, believing that they can grasp the key points of an issue, and that from a lengthy sermon, they can pick out a single statement, way of acting, regulation, or even one phrase or word that they feel they need to follow. Tell Me, isn’t this troublesome? There are quite a lot of such people. When you fellowship about the various details of the truth, they cannot understand and even say, “What a bother! You just won’t stop talking. Isn’t it just about not saying those words or not doing that kind of thing? Just adhere to that one statement and that’s all—it’s just a matter of one statement. Why make it so bothersome? You even distinguish states, environments, and the humanity of various types of people, and distinguish between distorted and pure comprehension. Are there really that many details involved? Why be so particular? You’re so fussy!” They even condemn others. These are the manifestations of people with poor caliber.

What are the characteristics of people with poor caliber? They do not understand the truth principles; whatever aspect of the truth principles it is, they treat it as a kind of regulation or formula, and then they follow it with tireless enthusiasm. They can speak many doctrines and so they think that they understand the truth principles, but in actuality, they do not understand the truth at all. If you explain some of the principles for leaders and workers doing work, asking such people to do work and handle various problems based on an understanding of these principles, these people with poor caliber will absolutely be unable to apply them. They do not understand these truth principles, nor can they apply these truth principles to do work. When they go down to do work, it is entirely adhering to regulations, following protocols, and mechanically applying dogmas. There are some people who want to adhere to the truth principles, but because their caliber is poor and they cannot attain an understanding of the truth, they are unable to adhere to the principles. No matter what work they do, when faced with problems, they are at a loss and even become overwhelmed—they are unable to do any work well. When the higher-ups fellowship about principles, they feel they have understood, comprehended, grasped, and remembered them all. But when they encounter problems in real life, they become confused, as the doctrines and regulations they have understood are of no use, so they think: “What should I do now?” They don’t know where to start the work, they don’t know what methods to use to do the work, they don’t know how to implement the work arrangements, and even less do they know which problems should be resolved right now to guarantee the normal progress of church work—they don’t know any of this. As a result, no matter how long they work, there are no results, and the work arrangements cannot be implemented. They cannot even resolve the issue of how to make church life good. They cannot implement even the most basic work and do not know how to implement it. They can only speak doctrines to people and ask them to adhere to regulations. When it comes to implementing work arrangements and doing concrete church work, they become confused and are unable to do it. They think to themselves, “How should these work arrangements be implemented? Which regulations should be adhered to?” They cannot see these things clearly. But they still have one last resort: They believe that as long as they hold more gatherings, the problems can be resolved. Therefore, their way of doing work is to relentlessly hold gatherings and relentlessly give sermons. When their preaching stirs everyone up and makes them excited, they think the problems are all resolved and that there are no more problems, and that as long as everyone is enthused, the work is all done properly. But it turns out that, after several days of gatherings, not only do the real problems remain unresolved, and the duties that people perform still yield no results, but the church work also makes no progress at all. Yet they still have the mood to give sermons. People with poor caliber achieve no results no matter how long they do work, and cannot implement the work arrangements no matter how much time they are given—they have neither efficiency nor effectiveness. These are the manifestations of people with poor caliber. The manifestations of people with poor caliber are as I just described, to say nothing of those with no caliber. No matter how many sermons they hear or how much truth others fellowship with them, they cannot grasp the truth principles, and cannot even grasp the most basic regulations that ought to be adhered to. When someone’s caliber is poor to this extent, the truth principles are beyond their reach. Even if others fellowship the truth to them, they cannot find a path of practice, and they must have someone give them specific instructions before they know how to practice. Such people are as if reincarnated from beasts; their minds are always foggy and unclear, and they can never distinguish what are principles and what are regulations. In their hearts, they say, “Why does hearing these things always make my head hurt and make me sleepy?” In the end, they come to a conclusion: “Not only are the truth principles beyond my reach, but I cannot even adhere to regulations, so in future, I will shine as brightly as I can with however much heat is within me, exert as much effort as my ability allows, and just do whatever I am capable of doing, and that’s enough.” Some of these people even comfort themselves, saying, “I don’t know how to adhere to regulations, nor do I understand the truth principles, but I have a God-loving heart!” If they truly could love God, that would not be bad, but with such poor caliber, they do not even understand the truth—can their love for God be genuine? People with no caliber lack comprehension ability in all respects and do not even possess the ability to adhere to regulations. Some people with poor caliber, when practicing the truth, can at least grab hold of a partially understood principle, a regulation, or a formula and thereby put a little bit of the truth into practice. However, those with no caliber cannot even grasp or adhere to regulation-based things—this type of person is even more pitiful.

Using Whether or Not People Have Spiritual Understanding to Evaluate Their Caliber

If we evaluate people’s caliber using the truth principles in this way, then the relevant manifestations are the ones we just fellowshipped on. So, if we use whether or not people have spiritual understanding to evaluate their caliber, how should we go about doing this? People with good caliber definitely have spiritual understanding, right? (Yes.) What is meant by having spiritual understanding is that they can understand the truth, grasp the truth principles, and use the truth to resolve various problems that appear in the process of believing in God which relate to the truth principles, as well as handle the various internal issues of God’s house using the truth. Then what about the various issues of the outside world? Because those with good caliber have spiritual understanding and possess the ability to handle various matters, they can also use some relatively humanity-based principles or some principles close to positive things to handle matters of the outside world. Despite superficial differences, the fundamentals of various things are the same, and the principles within various things are basically what people with good caliber can grasp, so it can generally be said that people with good caliber have spiritual understanding. Having spiritual understanding does not mean being able to communicate with the spiritual realm; rather, it means one can grasp the fundamental laws and the principles of various things. This is a straightforward, simple, and plain way of putting it. Being able to understand the fundamental laws of things of the outside world and the principles that involve the truth is a manifestation of people with good caliber. So, how can we gauge the manifestations of people with average caliber based on whether they have spiritual understanding? People with average caliber have spiritual understanding of half of the things but not the other half, understanding some parts while not understanding others. The parts where they have spiritual understanding are the parts that their caliber can reach. Through hearing fellowship about the various truths related to belief in God, they can come to understand them, and even without anyone’s instruction, they can figure out the principles that should be grasped within them. The parts where they have no spiritual understanding are the parts where their caliber falls short. Without guidance and instruction from others, they have no principles of practice, they cannot do their duty normally or resolve problems, and they need watering, guidance, and instruction to know how to do work and handle problems—these are the manifestations of them having no spiritual understanding. People with average caliber can be said to basically have spiritual understanding, but their level of spiritual understanding is lacking compared to that of people with good caliber—they only understand half. Where is it lacking? It is lacking in the degree to which they grasp the truth principles—they cannot independently complete various items of work. So, if we evaluate people with poor caliber using whether or not they have spiritual understanding, how should we go about doing this? Is it easy to evaluate? Do people with poor caliber have spiritual understanding? (No.) You can tell that people with poor caliber have no spiritual understanding just by looking at their manifestations, because they only adhere to regulations. People without caliber actually do not have human spirits, and not having human spirits means that they are as devoid of spiritual understanding as beasts. For such people, it is unnecessary to evaluate whether they have spiritual understanding or not. When a person without a spirit views any matters or deals with various people, they cannot evaluate them, and they have no viewpoints regarding positive or negative things. They only have some calculations for protecting their own interests and avoiding losses. When you express a viewpoint, if they are familiar with you and know that you have good caliber and a pure comprehension, and that you are a positive person, they go along with your viewpoint. But if they aren’t familiar with you, they look down on you. No matter how correct your viewpoint is or how much it aligns with the truth principles, they don’t accept it. They don’t know that it is correct, don’t know that it is something people should accept, and don’t know how beneficial this good viewpoint could be for them or how much help it could provide to them—they are unaware of all this. Whereas, when a negative person puts forward a negative viewpoint, if this negative person is dominating and someone they think highly of and revere, they accept the negative viewpoint even if they know that it will cause them harm after they do so. What kind of person are they? (One who has no caliber.) They are a person who has no caliber, which means they lack the ability to discern things. No matter what situation they encounter, they cannot see through it and do not know any of the principles they should hold to; this kind of person can commit bad deeds when following bad or evil people, and they can do some good things when following good people—they lack the ability to discern things. That’s why I say that they are a dead person with no spirit. People with poor caliber, after living for many years alongside people with good caliber or positive individuals, may be influenced by what they hear and see, and can learn some good things, adhere to some good regulations, and adhere to some positive sayings and ways of acting or positive thoughts and viewpoints. However, dead people with no spirits cannot even learn or adhere to positive thoughts and viewpoints, good ways of acting and regulations, good trains of thought, or some positive lifestyles and positive common knowledge of everyday life. When they start living independently, their living situation—which is that of a muddled person—gets completely exposed. These are the manifestations of dead people with no spirits.

People with spiritual understanding at the very least have average caliber. If the truth is within their reach and they can understand it, then they are people with good caliber. People without spiritual understanding are certainly either those with poor caliber or those without any caliber at all—these two kinds of people definitely lack spiritual understanding. Only people with good caliber can be said to have complete spiritual understanding, while people with average caliber have an average level of spiritual understanding. That is, there are many matters in which their caliber falls short and they are unable to achieve spiritual understanding. It is only in ordinary matters that they can achieve spiritual understanding and handle things independently. When they are faced with complex matters or multifaceted work, they cannot handle these things independently because the truth principles involved are beyond their reach and understanding. Therefore, their level of spiritual understanding is quite average. The characteristic of people with poor caliber is that the truth principles are beyond them, and they only adhere to regulations, because they cannot understand the truth principles, and they don’t even get what the concept of the truth principles is, and they believe that the truth principles are just regulations. Therefore, it is very clear that people of this sort have no spiritual understanding. A major characteristic of their lack of spiritual understanding is that the thoughts and viewpoints they reveal in their understanding of various people, events, and things are all distorted. How should “distorted” be understood here? It means being completely detached from the trajectory of the thinking of normal humanity and completely detached from the trajectory of the needs of normal humanity—this is being distorted. When you listen to the thinking logic of what these people say, you find it bizarre, and every time you hear them express a viewpoint or talk about something, you feel astonished. What does “astonished” mean? It means that when you hear them say something, you feel that it is unbelievable and think to yourself, “How could they have such an idea? Why is it so different from what normal people think? This idea is so strange—why does it feel kind of nonsensical?” In your heart, you find it particularly awkward and absurd. People whose words always make others feel astonished are those who are prone to distortions—especially so. For example, you ask them, “Have you had anything to eat?” They respond, “It’s quite cold today.” Is there any connection between these two things? (No.) You say, “Why are you wearing so little today?” They say, “I drank a cup of ginger tea today.” Does their response have any necessary connection to your question? Does their answer contain normal thinking and logic? (No.) How should someone with normal thinking and logic respond? They could say, “I’m wearing so little because it’s very warm inside, and besides, outside it’s very sunny and the temperature is relatively high.” Or they could say, “I’m wearing so little because I just finished exercising and I’ve gotten hot.” But if someone asks, “Why are you wearing so little?” and they respond, “Because I’m wearing fleece-lined shoes today,” this answer has nothing to do with the question. Their train of thought and the logic they follow when they think do not conform to the thinking and logic of normal humanity. It’s a very strange idea and a very strange train of thought that no person with the thinking of normal humanity would come up with. And so, after listening to their answer, you feel that it is awkward. You want to have a conversation with them, but you can’t connect with them—they always give irrelevant answers, making it impossible to continue the conversation. For example, someone was learning to make clothes, and I asked her, “How is your progress in learning to make clothes? Can you make padded clothing?” What would be a response that aligns with normal thinking and logic? (Either “I can” or “I can’t.”) That would reflect normal thinking and logic. Or she could also say, “Sometimes I do a bit better, and my instructor says it’s okay, just barely acceptable. But when it comes to some of the more complex parts, my work is inadequate and has to be redone.” Are these responses from someone with normal thinking and logic? (Yes.) How did this person without normal thinking and logic respond? I asked, “Can you make this type of padded clothing now?” She responded, “I was learning to make this type of clothing when I first came here.” I asked, “So can you make it now?” She still responded, “I was learning to make this type of clothing when I first came here.” I thought to myself, “I don’t understand. You were learning to make this type of clothing when you first came, so can you make it now? Why can’t I figure this out?” When I heard her response, I felt that it was awkward. I was asking if she could make this type of clothing, and she said that she had been learning to make it when she first arrived. I didn’t get how she had managed to shift to that topic—what did that have to do with whether she could make it or not? I thought to Myself, “I just can’t follow this shift in topic.” Even when I asked two or three times in a row, “So can you make it now?” she kept answering, “When I first came, I was learning to make this, and my instructor was guiding me in making this—I’m mainly working on this.” I still didn’t get the answer I was looking for, and to this day, I still don’t know if she can make it or not. Analyze the logic behind her words and why she spoke this way. (Her response was somewhat irrelevant to the question. People who hear it will try to guess her meaning, but they still won’t know whether she really can make it or not.) Did she want to let Me know or not? Did she want to give Me an accurate answer? Here, she was giving a hint: “I’ve already told You that when I first came, I was mainly learning to make this, and now it’s been a week—so of course I can make it. Shouldn’t You be able to get what I mean? How can You not understand?” Can you get this meaning from her response? (No.) If her response allowed you to get an accurate answer and know whether she could or couldn’t, then her response would be logical. But her response only gives you a vague meaning and doesn’t let you truly know whether she can or can’t. People who always speak like this—aren’t they very muddleheaded? If they are intentionally responding this way, then it’s a matter of character. If they are not doing it intentionally and their response has no necessary connection to the answer you are trying to get, then there is a problem with their thinking and logic. If there is a problem with their thinking and logic, doesn’t this mean they have poor caliber? Aren’t they prone to distortions? (Yes.) This is a manifestation of being prone to distortions. That person thought, “I’m telling You that I was learning to make this when I first came, so the inevitable result is that I can make it.” What she wanted to convey was the answer “I can make it.” However, people with normal thinking do not get an accurate answer after hearing this. Therefore, her response, “I was learning to make this when I first came,” had no logical connection to her wanting to convey that she can make it. So, wasn’t her response muddled words? (Yes.) Speaking muddled words while thinking that they can communicate well and that they have already answered the question—does this not reflect poor caliber? (Yes.) This is one manifestation of poor caliber. That person doesn’t have the thinking and logic of normal humanity. No matter how you ask, she will be unable to realize what the crux of the problem is or why you keep asking the same thing. When you ask for the third time, she will still give the same response and even feel impatient, thinking, “Why do you keep asking? I already told you, and you still don’t get it and keep asking!” Even after being asked three times, she will be unable to realize that her answer is unclear and not what the other person is looking for, that she should change her wording and clearly state whether she can or cannot, and not make the other person guess. She is unable to realize how her words make others feel or how the other person reacts after hearing them—she cannot realize any of this. This shows she has no caliber. No matter how many times you ask, she will give the same response and even feel that what she’s saying is sincere and not false, thinking, “No matter how many times you asked about the same thing, I’ve given the same answer—I’m practicing being an honest person, and I’m saying what’s on my mind.” Isn’t this a reflection of poor caliber? (Yes.) When you ask about Tom, this kind of person always talks about Dick and Harry. When you ask about Dick and Harry, they always talk about Tom. People without normal thinking have muddled thoughts, and their thinking is jumbled. This is a major manifestation of poor caliber. In summary, these are the manifestations of people with different calibers. Whether you evaluate their caliber by their ability or lack of ability to understand and apply the truth principles, or by whether or not they have spiritual understanding, these are the manifestations. Although we’ve spoken in somewhat general terms, can’t you basically match up My words to real life? (Yes.) So, haven’t we more or less summarized the topic of caliber? (Yes.) That concludes our discussion on the topic of caliber.