From our human perspective, it seems like there are many shades of gray regarding “honesty,” not only the value of telling “white lies” at times, but also the difficulty of living in a competitive environment with faultless integrity. Can you describe how we can be expected to follow an absolute expectation like the Fourth Divine Principle: “Be honest in all transactions as a way of honoring the soul of the other party and one’s own soul and its integrity?”

You are asking this question from the human perspective, so this is understandable. You know from experience, the world wants to work this way and often pretends to work this way, but in actuality, frequently falls short. This is due to many, many factors, primarily the corruption with dark forces that have undermined human and introduced much darkness and negativity, as well as the overall uneven life circumstances that are created through oppression and subjugation and used as a flashpoint to be divisive and to stir up conflicts again and again, leading to warring nations. So this becomes quite a huge challenge on a large scale, but once again, starting with one’s own conduct and setting an example for others can go a long way to change the world. When people behave in a scrupulous fashion and refuse to cheat, refuse to take advantage of another, and express an expectation they will be treated in like fashion, this can have an impact through teaching others how to live a principled life and, in essence, acts as a brake on their conduct, knowing they will be made to feel shame if they act in a low fashion around someone who clearly is being divine in their thinking. Many people in today’s world will not understand this and see it for what it represents at first. That is the cynicism coming from those disconnected from Creator’s love, who are on the spectrum of disconnection leading to narcissism and sociopathic conduct with an absence of compassion or a conscience to guide the individual. People exhibiting that extreme negativity will pose a challenge, but they can be dealt with through exclusion and then can learn the requirements of taking part in polite society and can modify their ways in order to get along and share in things. We understand the exercise is one of encountering difficulty for learning and growth, and because we do not judge, there is no penalty from us for taking on this project and failing at times, to be less than perfect. That is, in fact, expected to happen again and again because the demands are so great and the cost so high, and the risks so large, and the consequences so severe. In the environment you are experiencing, there are many, many reasons and temptations to overprotect the self and to not risk compassion or be generous in many circumstances, fearing you will be taken advantage of or even preyed upon from seeming to be weak in some fashion. There is a real risk to this in many settings and is part of the challenge here. So while setting out these Divine Principles as the roadmap to follow in life, we understand things will not always go smoothly because it will take a considerable amount of time for people to grow into this way of thinking and living once again.