"But what else is there to do?" I asked Onan, 'If both the past and the
future lead to ruin?"

"The answer is in the present, my dear Jehu, for if one focuses on the
spiritual laws that bring good or evil, and acts according to them,
instead of their physical counterparts and manifestations, then things
will thrive and become prosperous. What is evil brings evil
consequences, and what is good brings good consequences, over time. The
ends define the means, just as the fruit shows the tree to be either
good or bad. These spiritual laws become known and remembered, not why
they are so, but simply that they are so. No one can question why, for
morality is observed through its effects, just as science is. When
people observe that one thing brings good and another bad, they remember
to stay away from the bad things and cling to the good. Over time these
evolve into taboos and social restrictions, not meaningless laws
enforced by tyrants for their own reasons, but rules that are observed
by all because the are the laws of the spiritual realm and govern
physical life. But when the people forget what the traditions represent,
then all is lost, and either of the two paths that present themselves
lead to ruin."

"But why do not men see?"

"Because they are rooted too strongly in the physical realm, and cannot,
or will not, see the spiritual. What they see as happiness is not the
spiritual matter that is happiness, but the physical actions the
represent happiness. What they see as love is not love in the spiritual
sense, only its manifestation in the physical realm. When they see the
happiness that comes from a spiritual connection, they seek after it.
But they do not seek after the actual essence of the spiritual