The year 2011 was coming to an end. Judging by my diagnosis, changes in the world should intensify from the next year onwards. Humanity needs to change, there's no doubt about it. In order for a young shoot to be born, the seed must die, as Christ said. For a new humanity to emerge, the old worldview and old relationships must die. Worship of animal instincts, greed, cowardice, arrogance, condemnation, and despondency - all of this pushes humanity to the brink of survival. Either transformation will occur, and new relationships will be born, or the old relationships must disappear along with their carriers.

Before a birthday, before meeting a loved one, in other words, before the beginning of any new stage, there is usually an intense purification process. A loving, kind-hearted person may simply not notice this purification. However, an internally attached, dependent, and aggressive person will involuntarily react to this purification with aggression, which will later manifest as failures, troubles, and illnesses.

Before the New Year, I received several desperate letters on my website - people were clearly lost and could not understand on their own what was happening to them. I was interested in what problems lay at the heart of these seemingly hopeless situations.

If we think logically, on the eve of 2012, a purification process should begin in the form of humiliation and destabilization of basic instincts - in other words, a cleansing associated with jealousy and pride. Those who have not internally overcome dangerous dependence may experience precisely the problems that arise when jealousy and pride exceed acceptable levels.

The theme of the first letter looked like this: «Neither prayer, nor fasting, nor detachment from everything - nothing helps»!

For many years, I have been guided by your research, and everything was going well. At this moment, everything is falling apart: family, business. My husband filed for divorce and wants to take the children, all three of them. The youngest is a year old. It's become a legal battle. The judges are shocked because the family seemed to be a good one. My business has collapsed, and there are numerous debts. Everything is against me. Neither prayer, nor fasting, nor detachment from everything seem to help. Cleaning someone else's territory didn't lead to anything. I had a breakdown and yelled at my husband for the first time in 10 years. Aggression in my soul has turned into despair.

I'm trying my best to distance myself from the situation, understanding that this is a divine punishment. I was extremely attached to my husband, trusted him in everything, practically gave my life to him, and in a hopeless situation, I organized my own business, draining all the energy from the family. I thought that if I succeed, he will respect me as before. But he betrayed me in everything. In court, I realized that if I stay silent, he will take the children, so I had to defend myself.

I pray, «Lord, I love You more than my husband, and I love my husband as given by You». But lust, jealousy, and pride have sunk so deep into my subconscious that they overshadow everything else. I'm losing money at an incredible rate, debts are increasing, and in my husband's eyes, there is anger and obsession: «I am right in everything, I won't change. It will be as I want».

In October, my great-grandmother, 97 years old, passed away. In November, my middle daughter had surgery. In early December, the youngest and I were hospitalized in critical condition due to rotavirus infection. My son has headaches. My husband was in the hospital with vascular dystonia.

I don't even want to talk about myself because I know I am to blame for everything, but attempts to reassess my life turn into self-flagellation, which only worsens the situation.

Every day feels like a whole lifetime. Sedatives have the opposite effect, intensifying my despair and depression. I ask myself, what will the people of the future be like, how do I transform into that future?

A sense of complete helplessness, as if God has turned away from me. But love is still in my soul, and faith has not extinguished. Every night, I listen to your lectures.

It appears that the subconscious focus on a prosperous fate and the instinct for self-preservation in the woman who wrote the letter are above normal. Pride manifests not only as superiority over others but also as self-deprecation and self-contempt. One should serve God, not another human being.

Many have believed that the best way to counter pride is through self-deprecation. However, this method is effective only as long as it restrains superiority over others. When the desire to elevate oneself above all is balanced by self-deprecation, a dialectical equilibrium is established, helping to maintain love. But if the feeling of superiority has already been overcome, self-deprecation turns into self-destruction, gradually draining a person of vitality. Therefore, it is better to combat pride by focusing on love, on the feeling of increasing unity with God, on the understanding that we are children of the Creator. Asceticism and self-deprecation are not the best means.

I used to advise praying like this: «Lord, I love You more than my husband, my children, etc». But I later realized that one should simply see God in every person and love the true «self» of a person. This way, you won't worship their external shell.

Most likely, the woman has a strong inclination toward idealizing, which means either contempt for her husband or deifying him. It seems that she did not undergo the necessary purification, the collapse of ideals, in her youth.

Additionally, the children are a burden. During the period of sexual maturation, if young people do not pass certain tests on the subtle plane, their lives and the possibility of having a family can be ruined.

The fact that self-reflection turns into self-flagellation is a typical problem for proud individuals.

There remains a very serious question: why, after reading my books, could the woman not overcome her idolization of ideals? Ultimately, this idolization is a form of worshiping the instinct for self-preservation.

From the perspective of Judaism, there is a clear division: here is God, somewhere above and beyond everything, and here is the sinful human being with their will and ambitions. To prevent animal desires and instincts from corrupting a person, they must behave morally and restrict their base inclinations. The commandments helped restrain these instincts and overcome dependence on them. However, fully conquering pride within the framework of Judaism was impossible.

People misunderstood Christ, and his followers even more so. Old wineskins were filled with old wine. They decided that Christ was the Son of God but denied their own divine origin. As a result, the most sincere prayer began to strengthen not Divine love but concentration on higher levels of self-preservation. If a person does not feel internal unity with God, then a prayer directed toward their own salvation will save not love but instincts. Subsequently, pride will start growing imperceptibly.

Without an understanding of what Christ was saying, it is impossible to overcome this pride. It can only be restrained through self-restraint and the humiliation of the instinct for self-preservation. Perhaps this is why the idea of asceticism began to gain strength in Christian communities, leading to the creation of monasteries in the 3rd century, where asceticism and self-deprecation became the primary methods of knowing God. However, for Europe with its climate, the path of asceticism and complete detachment proved unsuitable, so the commandment «Love God above all else» took a back seat, and the thesis «Love your neighbor as yourself» came to the forefront. But when you forget about God, love for your neighbor inevitably turns into worship of your neighbor. Thus, Christianity transforms into ordinary paganism.

Love for one's neighbor, when a person forgets about God, turns into passion. To feel love for God, one must experience complete unity with Him, even in the face of one's external imperfections. This means that one should focus on their divine origin rather than the subsequent sinfulness of Adam and Eve. The assertion that Jesus Christ is the Son of God while we are all sinners automatically closed off real love for the Creator. Moreover, this love, filtered through the prism of instincts, turned into passion. As a result, centuries later, many women, subsequently canonized as saints, felt a physical attraction to the image of Jesus Christ and considered this state as love for God.

Orthodoxy moved in the opposite direction. It was not passionate love for God that led to unnoticed worship of instincts but self-deprecation, asceticism, and detachment that took precedence. It was self-deprecation that became the main factor in knowing God.

Hence, the different paths of Catholic and Orthodox civilizations originated. In Catholic society, there was a growing tendency to worship instincts, material culture, work, money, and power. In Orthodox society, the tendency was to suppress instincts, to disdain material culture, work, and money. However, this self-deprecation always gravitated toward its opposite and often gave way to greed, theft, and unrestrained indulgence in the pleasures of life.

If there is no love, then neither the humiliation of instincts nor the worship of them will truly bring one closer to God. The only difference is that asceticism, by preserving spiritual culture, can delay the soul's decay, while the worship of instincts, providing external well-being, comfort, and the benefits of civilization, quickly leads the soul to decay.

I interrupt my thoughts and head to the phone; I need to check my assumptions. After a few seconds, I hear a female voice on the other end; it's the author of the letter. Automatically, I conduct a diagnosis. In the field - the potential death of three children. The cause - a 13-fold worship of the highest levels of spirituality. Everything seems correct: a huge concentration on ideals, the superiority of consciousness over love, and consequently, a complete intolerance of the collapse of her righteousness, justice, and ideals. In her youth, the woman burdened herself with children, and now the scattered stones need to be collected.

I begin the conversation with a question:

— «What do you think is the cause of your current situation?» I asked.

The woman pondered for a moment and then replied

—«I think it's because of my excessive pride».

«That's getting warmer» — I thought to myself. It aligns with my diagnosis.

— «What problems did you have in your youth?» — I asked the next question.

— The woman recalled, «I faced a lot of humiliations and difficulties» — At first, I couldn't conceive a child; there were miscarriages. Doctors warned me against childbirth. But then I started reading your early books. After that, my son was born, and later, my other children. Now, I try not to react to problems, that is, to accept everything that happens.

— «Actually, you should react», I objected. «What you consider a lack of reaction is, in fact, hidden depression. When you stop reacting aggressively to external events, you start reacting aggressively towards yourself. It's better to shout and create a scene than to quietly and humbly hate yourself. Therefore, you should react to the situation, but this reaction should occur on two levels. On the external, human level, you can resist, defend yourself, but on the internal, deep within the soul, there should only be love. In the place where we commune with God, there can be no aggression or complaints».

Everything that happens around you is the will of the Creator. It's the cure for your pride, the humiliation of your instincts, your human «self». It's the healing of your children through you, through your problems. Any situation works towards love. So, in difficult situations, you not only need to maintain love but also intensify it within your soul. At the same time, see the Divine will in what is happening and strive towards God as the primary educator and savior, demanding an increase in love from us. But it seems like you are externally defending yourself while feeling despondent inside. When there is no love in the soul, it is impossible to change. Therefore, you won't be able to overcome your dependence on instincts either. And thus, this painful purification will continue.

By the way, regarding the people of the future. They will be like Jesus Christ, primarily loving. They will feel that their true «self» is Divine. They will feel love in everything they see around them. They will sense the Divine will in every fraction of a second. That's why they won't judge, feel contempt, or hatred towards others because God is in every person. They won't experience despondency and self-hatred because, by our nature, we are Divine.

Those who maintain hatred for God will quickly perish. Only the loving people will remain. Since the Kingdom of God is approaching, and Divine energy is coming to the external plane, internally dependent and aggressive individuals will soon feel a change in the situation. And if they can, they will change themselves.

I explained to the woman the reasons behind her problems, and I could hear her voice change. What seemed like an unsolvable issue had turned into a challenging yet manageable task. Everything quickly fell into place. It was time to say goodbye. The woman thanked me, the conversation ended, and I hung up the phone.