When we were children we learnt that Christ said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". Such a symbolic expression as "words that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" can be a bit difficult to understand for people of the present day who are used to taking everything literally. What did Christ mean by it? And does it have any relevance to present day people? To understand the meaning of these words is even more important for the people of today than for the people who lived at the time of Christ, because a great many people today are becoming satiated with what Christ symbolized by the word bread, and they are longing for what he called the words that proceed out of the mouth of God. They just do not know what these words are that proceed out of the mouth of God, neither do they know how they can satisfy their longing or hunger.

The form of hunger that is the oldest, most well-known and important for life is of course the purely bodily desire for food. And when we look at the living being's evolutionary step we see that there is on this step a very long epoch during which the question of nourishment is the all-encompassing issue in the beings' lives. The more difficult it is to obtain food, the more preoccupied the beings are by obtaining it, and they are often forced into risking their lives fighting in order to be able to satisfy their hunger. These are the beings we call animals. Their physical organisms have actually been evolved over long epochs to be special organs in this fight to satisfy the physical hunger. Just look at the supple and muscular bodies of the beasts of prey with their sharp teeth and claws. Over many incarnations their longings and desires have evolved the talent to create a body that is a perfect instrument for killing and thereby the faculty to satisfy their hunger for other beings' flesh and blood. One can also mention the giraffe's long neck, the chameleon's long sticky tongue and countless other examples among all kinds of animals that show how these beings over a long period of time have evolved organisms that are formed and equipped to be the most efficient and perfect instruments for satisfying the desire for physical food in precisely those circumstances that the animal is in.

Further up the evolutionary ladder we find terrestrial human beings. A human being is different from a real animal in that its physical organism is not a special instrument for overcoming the problem of nourishment but has become an instrument for overcoming all material phenomena. Over vast epochs of time the terrestrial human being has evolved a physical organism with which it has gradually subdued the Earth. It has begun to control the elements. It does not need to possess a special organism like birds have in order to fly. It builds aeroplanes. It does not have to have a special organism in order to be able to float on water or to move along under it. Also in these cases it can with the help of its organism build the necessary tools. It can build machines, houses, utensils and articles for general everyday use. It is fantastic what the human being's organism can be used for. And it is not only articles of everyday use that human beings have created, they have also created luxury items. It became important what things look like. There has also arisen an aesthetic sense and a hunger for beauty, and people have created art, literature and music. People did this because of a hunger in the human mind that was not just concentrated on food and power; the human being had begun to realize that it did not live on "bread" alone. Even though its stomach was full of food, and even though it had property, gold and power, there were also other desires that it needed to have fulfilled.

But even though terrestrial human beings have begun to develop new longings and desires, the longing for "bread" has not ceased to be the one that dominates their minds. As already mentioned material hunger in terrestrial human beings has been extended to include the desire to take possession of physical matter, to gain power and honour, fame and admiration, to be superior to other beings and to enjoy being superior even if this occurs at other's expense. In this respect we are faced with that form of hunger that has turned the terrestrial human being's world into an intellectual jungle. This jungle is created out of longings to cause death; the killing is, however, brought about not because people want to indulge in eating another being's flesh and blood but because they are competing with the other being and want to satisfy their hunger for power and honour, property and gold.

Purely theoretically there already exists a sense that aggression and displays of power are negative things. But this is largely only theoretical. This means, however, that people camouflage their warlike actions and their desires. It becomes a question of making it seem on the outside that it is completely different wishes that are the underlying ones, wishes that are unselfish and based on neighbourly love. Through the manifestation of the principle of world redemption over thousands of years, especially through the teachings of the higher, humane religions, large sections of mankind have not failed to be influenced to see humanity and neighbourly love as something desirable and ideal, as a goal for humans to strive towards. It has been a fine theory for people to pay homage to, but quite another matter trying to live up to these ideals in practice. There are not many who have succeeded. But the ideals have nevertheless had such a strong effect on people's minds that the selfish lust for power has only shown itself in a camouflaged form. In many cases people absolutely do not want to ignore public opinion in matters concerning the offensives of war. Using propaganda, warfare becomes defensive warfare, military power becomes military defences and the Ministry of War becomes the Ministry of Defence. Using suggestion, people have to be made to believe that acts of warfare are defending humanity, morality and humaneness. Propaganda is the triumph of the lie, it is the authorized use of camouflage, slander and demoralization. But despite everything propaganda reveals that a new and greater power is breaking out in human beings' minds, otherwise there would be no need to camouflage war and the misuse of power. What people wish to look like or how they camouflage themselves has to be a factor that is not without interest. And it is this side of human beings that the war-hungry beings are afraid of.

But what about those people who are in positions of power and who exploit other people's work and good faith? Many people envy them and regard them as having a happy fate because economically they are very well-off and they have power and fame. But really these people are sitting on a "soap bubble" as long as they maintain their position at the expense of other people's hard work and slavery. Their "happiness" is then only like the "sugar coating" surrounding a poisonous pill. And what is the point of enjoying a moment's pleasure if it leads to this deadly poison? Of course these people are not aware of this, but they will experience it once the poison takes effect and this will be at the point when they have to reap what it is they have sown in order to achieve their position of power at other people's expense. They will be the ones to be exploited, tricked out of their possessions, perhaps forced into exile and set to do laborious work similar to the slavery they subjected other people to in their days of prosperity. This is no punishment, it is a teaching, and teaching is exactly what is needed in order to show the words of the world redeemer to be more than just a neat theory. Human beings do not live on bread alone, they cannot live and in the long run be happy just by satisfying egoistic desires and they cannot achieve final satisfaction just by desiring dead things; they cannot become happy, in other words gain mental equilibrium and freedom from all kinds of fear, as long as they are seeking to satisfy desires that can be satisfied only by involving other people in deprivation, pain, nervous breakdown or other wretchedness.

What is it that people long for when they begin to be satiated with material goods, goods that at the point when there is a superabundance of them appear to be evil? Material things cannot create the necessary security in life, or the happiness that is inner peace and stability. People long to live in peace with their neighbour. People long for harmony and love in the same way that previously they longed for wealth and material goods. This longing is really a spiritual hunger and so the world redeemer is right when he says that human beings - the more they are human beings - shall not live by bread alone. But what is meant by the expression "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"? The words of God are life itself in all its aliveness, they are not just some sentences from the Bible or other holy books. God speaks through the living beings which are his organs, and God's "words" are not just spoken words but also events and occurrences. Everything that a person experiences is actually God talking to him or her. There are a great many people who still do not understand this, but life or God will gradually teach them it. Generally people believe that a fellow human being is an isolated phenomenon, a completely independent individual. But through cosmic teaching people will be able to gain the knowledge that every single human being is at the same time both an individual being and an instrument of the Godhead, through which the Godhead speaks to other beings. Sometimes the Godhead has to use liars to speak to liars and criminals to speak to criminals. He has to use a language that people can understand. But he has also used a Buddha and a Christ and a number of other instruments through which he could speak a completely different language. He has used artists, philosophers, scientists and engineers and spoken to people through them. Those terrestrial human beings that can no longer "live by bread alone", but that long for an alive, loving interaction with their fellow beings affording mutual benefit, joy and inspiration, are beings that have the possibility of being instruments for the "words of God" in a distinctive way. This does not mean that they should go round proselytizing, quoting the Bible and invoking the name of God at all hours of the day and night. But through their behaviour, their faculty for neighbourly love, their good humour and creative abilities in practical, intellectual and artistic areas, they can make life brighter and better for all that surround them.