Through Christ people have been told that they should forgive their neighbour not only seven times a day, but seventy times seven times. In reality, this means that one has to forgive in all circumstances. But is it right to follow this doctrine? The modern intellectual is not satisfied just to accept what Christ or any other authority has said; he wants to understand logically -and apparently this doctrine is against all common sense. If this doctrine is to be acceptable to people today, it must appear as a scientific conclusion which is logical; that is, in accordance with the laws of life. But then people must learn to know not only the laws acting within physical matter, but also the spiritual laws existing behind the physical structure of the whole universe. If terrestrial mankind is ever to be able to manifest a higher or more humane culture than that which dominates the earth at present, it can be only on the basis of an intimate knowledge of the cosmic laws, and the revelation of the fact that life is in harmony with these laws. Each individual must learn to see through all the so-called logic which is in fact only "local" and without any connection with the real conditions and phenomena of life. On account of such "local" logic, many people believe that Christ's doctrine about forgiving and forgiving again is foolish and naive. "When someone has done wrong to another," they say, "then one cannot without further ceremony forgive them; he must be punished so that he becomes afraid of repeating his wrong action, or how else would it be possible to suppress evil?" During a certain epoch of evolution it is natural that this perception should be the highest expression of common sense, and this epoch is not yet over; it is the basis of society's judicial and police system. Everyone who commits injustice in such a way that he violates the judicial laws has to be punished according to the letter of the law; in some countries on earth the most severe punishment is actually murder, although it is called "execution" or "liquidation". The moral institution which is known as the legal and judicial system is therefore, in certain cases, an institution of murder, and even in so-called Christian countries, murder and lesser sentences of punishment are authorised by the highest authorities. But a society whose judicial laws are based on such a moral conception is not really a true Christian community. Within this sphere its culture is heathen; it is "cosmically underdeveloped", even though it may in other spheres show great technical ingenuity and scientific skill.

When something is underdeveloped it simply means that its development is not complete. It is developing towards a higher stage, and no one can be blamed for not having reached a higher step in evolution. One cannot blame a monkey for not being a human being, nor can one blame the authorities in the countries just mentioned for not manifesting the principle of love in their laws and behaviour. They will come to this later on when they are more advanced in evolution, and they will regard their present state as inhuman barbarity and incredible ignorance. But now they are still of the opinion that murder must be fought with murder, anger with anger, and unpleasantness with unpleasantness, which is the principle "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". Do they really think that it is possible to abolish war with war, murder with murder, and generally be freed from the unpleasantness which the so-called criminals bring upon society by inflicting unpleasantness upon the criminals? These methods have been used for thousands of years; and still war, murder and other crimes are no less widespread today than they were thousands of years ago. Therefore it does not seem to be a particularly effective method of eradicating these phenomena; and this is quite natural. We all know that you cannot put out fire with more fire; it has to be extinguished with water, that is with a substance whose character is contrary to that of fire.

What holds good regarding the physical laws of nature is just as valid regarding spiritual laws. Quite a different kind of mental substance from that of war, hatred, revenge and punishment has to be used: love. Retaliation based on revenge or punishment cannot change a person's character and behaviour. By using force, punishment and execution one can at best give certain people such a fear of punishment that on account of this fear they to some extent refrain from manifesting their innate "criminal" behaviour. But it certainly does not change their character. If punishment suddenly did not exist, they would at once manifest their destructive way of acting towards other people. They are to be looked upon only as being like performers who, just like animals, can be forced to carry out things which are completely against their nature. A society whose citizens refrain from harming each other only on account of fear of execution, confinement or other punishment is not a cultured society in the humane sense of the word.

If a really humane culture is to be created, it is necessary to break away from the illusion that execution and punishment are the means upon which such culture can be based. Of course, society has to protect itself against dangerous and anti-social individuals, but the protection should not be by killing and punishment. In some of our more human societies on earth, experiments have been made with methods which in the future will completely replace the old legal methods. It is necessary to deprive the anti-social person of the right to move freely among other citizens; but this loss of liberty should not be a degrading imprisonment. Such people should be placed in special communities designed for people of that type. Here they can experience the advantages of culture, regarded not as criminals, but as students of culture and self-control. They will come into contact with teachers who treat them as fellow-beings and not as "criminals" and prisoners. Many of these teachers have themselves once been "on the criminal path", but through their fate they have met with that experience and love in life which makes them perfect teachers in this particular field. Through this teaching the pupils will be able to adapt themselves little by little to society outside, and will perhaps - just because of the experiences they have now had - become useful co-workers in the creation of a human culture.

It is of course not only in the relationship between society and its "enemies" that vengeance, hatred and punishment make the situation worse than it was before - the same is also true of the individual's relationship with possible opponents or enemies. From a local point of view it is apparently in accordance with reason and logic that one becomes angry and people who are unjust, intolerant or unpleasant towards oneself. But, from a cosmic perspective, this is absolutely illogical and only characterises the "offended" party as being just as primitive and ignorant as the one who "offended" him. Everyone is surrounded by people who are on widely differing steps in evolution. They are at a temporary stage in their development, and are all on their way towards a more humane and highly intellectual state. Some are loving and understanding and are only seldom brought out of balance; others easily alternate between good and bad moods and are consequently more or less amenable; yet others have a temperament which make them very difficult to associate with. None of these people can at the moment be otherwise than they are; their behaviour is an expression of the step in moral evolution on which they stand. They are at a temporary high point in their development towards a more humane, highly intellectual stage. Some represent what one might call a cosmic "child-stage" or "baby-stage"; others are "more grown-up children" and some few are in a cosmic adolescence, where they are on the way towards greater humane maturity. Every single individual can learn something from all others, and it is not accidental with whom he comes into contact. His surroundings are the tools the Godhead uses to form him in His own image, which means developing him into a loving human being who makes life easier and better for others, and thereby also for himself.

But how does one find the strength to forgive one's neighbour when he annoys one in different ways, and fills one's life with difficulties and problems? By trying with one's intelligence to understand that at the moment the person cannot be any different from what he is, just as thistles and stinging nettles cannot be different from what they are, and by realizing that, from a cosmic point of view, when this "enemy" is brought into our surroundings he is not an enemy who wants to destroy us but only a tool through which the Godhead allows us to harvest what we at one time ourselves have sown; and through one's feelings simply trying to have sympathy towards that person who does not know what he does and who later must harvest what we ourselves have now finished with. So, as the "enemy" in reality is not the reason for the difficulty and cannot be otherwise than he is at any given moment, on account of his past and in relation to his future, then there is every possible reason to follow Christ's command to forgive and forgive again. If one feels that one now and then lacks the necessary tolerance and love, one only needs to concentrate oneself on the source from which all the love in the universe flows; then all anger and bitterness disappear, and one feels that the only "enemy" one has is that which lies in one's own mind, opposing the growth and the activity of the human faculty.