Section 3 : The Powers of Spiritual Entities

　　The above chapters looked at human’s ways of approaching spiritual entities, with the human playing the active role and spirits the passive one. Observations were made from the human point of view. This section will take the standpoint of spiritual entities as its starting point.

　　以上各節，皆為人類對神之接近，以人為主動，神為被動，從吾人本身為出發點而觀察者也。至於本節，則自神之立場為出發點而立論矣。

　　The Lord is ruler over all spiritual entities in the universe, and the highest regulator of harmonizing the laws of nature. Deities and buddhas are Heavenly emissaries who carry out the Lord’s will. Deities and buddhas act according to Heavenly principle and utilize natural conditions to be intermediaries between Heaven and mankind. The methods they use are quite complex. These have a close bearing on us, but we are not aware of it. Otherwise, if Heavenly principle had nothing to do with us, there would be no need for deities and buddhas.

　　上帝者，全宇宙間性靈之主宰，為調和自然律之最高執行者。神佛者，執行上帝旨意之天使也。神佛根據天理，運用自然之條件，而為人類及天地間之媒介。其所運用之方法，實至為複雜，亦與吾人息息相關，惟吾人不自覺之耳。否則，天理若與吾人毫不相關，則亦無須有神佛矣。

　　A. Being impelled by intermediaries: This is a direct controlling force exerted by deities and buddhas on human beings. When deities or buddhas need to impel someone, they exert force on his cerebrum using cosmic yang rays which act in conjunction with their harmonon. They exercise authority, and cause the person’s harmonon to assume a subordinate position. Such impulsion by intermediaries may be brought on by one’s bonding force, or it may press down on its own. And so the power of spirit intermediaries is present in the brains of all the world’s great men. Sometimes power from several spirit-entities converges on one person, of which it is said “blessings arrive and mind is inspired”. The regulation of human life by spirit intermediaries is like electricity directing the movements of a machine. A human being impelled by spirit intermediaries may not be aware of it, but he has lost his power of initiative, since there is yet another prime mover for the thoughts arising in his brain. However, the power of spirit intermediaries cannot fundamentally change human physiological workings. Therefore if a person is emotionally wooden and unfeeling, like a block of wood or a blade of grass, the power of spirit-intercessors will have no way to take effect. Rather, they must wait till his feelings are aroused before they can accentuate their e-tropic effects, using the opportunity to take control. He is being regulated to go in a certain direction, and he will be driven to meet the demands of the Heavenly principle at work. In sum, as soon as a notion occurs to a person, there will be a response from an unseen place, and the manner of being impelled will be different for each individual. If a person has a demonic thought, he will bring on pressure from demons that will not stop till he is forced to degeneration and downfall. Conversely, the moment a person’s thoughts turn toward the good, then demons will leave and deities will come. This is the invisible, mystery-cloaked background of human history. Only because of this do we find among people the perfect types of worthies, heroes and wicked men.

　　甲、媒壓—媒壓為神佛對於人類（生物）直接之控制力。當神佛有對某人施行其制壓之需要時，即以宇宙陽質射線配合其自身之和子壓入此人之大腦中，而行使其威權，並使其人本身之和子屬於隸屬之地位。此種媒壓，亦有因親力引來者，亦有因自行壓入者，是故大凡世間偉人之腦中，皆有神媒之力夾於其間。有時且多至數個之神力均集於一身，所謂「福至心靈」是也。神媒之操縱人生，正如電力之指揮機械。人類若在神媒的壓力之下，則雖不自覺而已失其自主之力，蓋其腦中所生出之思想尚另有原動力在焉。然神媒之力，亦不能根本改變人類生理上之運行，是以人類若屬無情之物，如草木者然，神媒即不能發揮其威力，而必須俟其感情衝動之時，始能加強其電化之作用，乘機而操縱之。至其所操縱之方向，則為驅之以吻合其天理之要求也。總之，人類一經動念，冥冥之中即有感應，其媒壓之性質亦各不同。如人類所動者為魔念，即引來魔之壓力，必使之沉淪墮落而後已；反之，其人若一念轉善，便魔去神來矣。此即人類歷史之極神秘之無形的背景也，職是之故，而人間始有所謂「賢哲」、所謂「英雄」、所謂「極惡」之人。

　　B. Uplift by intermediaries: Aside from impelling by intermediaries that regulate a person’s thoughts directly, spirit-entities have another sort of power. They use “uplift by intermediaries” to carry him along. Uplift by intermediaries means the force of spirit intercessors that lifts a person up. Joseph’s dream that made him take Mary for his wife and Paul hearing Jesus’ voice on the road to Damascus are examples of miraculous uplift by intermediaries. One can also be lifted up by intermediaries in the human realm, as in the case of changes in a person’s environment have a particular effect on his bonding and harmonizing forces. The fact is, there are many ways of being carried along by intermediaries. There is the miraculous sort, the natural, the humanly determined, the environmental. By and large, aside from the miraculous sort, they are deterministic and rigid. This is what is meant by fate. But when deities apply uplifting force on a human, they must first take a mode which is suited to his environment. Only then do they step in, using the person’s strongest and weakest points to lift him up. In this way the person will not be thrown into reverses and frustrations, or entrapped in misfortunes. Like a bamboo staff held out to a blind person who wanders off in the wrong direction, the uplift guides him to step onto the right path. The impelling and uplifting forces described above are usually applied by freed spirits. In the case of humans having great merit and virtue, there are also high-level spirit intermediaries that give them guidance. As for evil people who hurry day by day toward depravity, there is also a spiritual force–from certain evil freed spirits–which pulls them down. But these baneful spirits are not truly evil in their nature: they are only carrying out their duties and assignments, and perhaps deriving amusement from watching someone’s downfall. In Christianity there is Satan; in Buddhism there is Papyam; and Taoism has its Demon King. All these are rulers presiding over freed evil spirits. Since good and evil are relative, without evil there would be no way to see goodness. Thus in the spirit realm there must be deities who discharge the duties of evil, and thereby stimulate men into turning toward the good.

　　乙、媒挾—神之權威，除用媒壓直接操縱人類之思維外，即用「媒挾」以左右之。「媒挾」者，神媒挾制之力也。如耶穌之父之驚夢而納馬利亞，保羅在赴大馬士革的途中似聞基督之面諭，即屬神蹟之「媒挾」。又如某人身傍之人事環境之變遷均與其有特殊之親和關係，此屬人事之「媒挾」。蓋「媒挾」之種類極多，有神蹟的，有自然的，有人使的，有環境的，大抵除神蹟的以外，多屬定命式及刻板式，即命數是也。然神對於人類施行挾力之時，亦必須先觀其環境適用何種方式，方始入手，而利用其最大之優點及劣點以挾制之，方不致使人類顛倒挫折，陷於不幸，正如盲者之徘徊歧途，由人授以竹竿，引之步入正路也。上述之壓力及挾力，通常均由自由神為之。然若有大功大德之人類，則亦有高級之神媒予以指導，至於惡人之日趨於惡亦為神力—某種自由惡神之挾制。惟此種惡神之本質亦非真惡，不過行使其職權及任務，或觀人之墮落而引為笑樂耳。基督教之撒旦，佛教中之波旬，道教中之魔王，即為此種自由惡神之主宰。蓋善惡為相對的，無惡則無以見善，是以靈界中亦必須有行使惡的職權之神祇，用以刺激人類之向善也。