(Clearwisdom.net) I have recently been interfered with by the demon of fatigue. Every night after dinner when I study the Fa, I quickly become muddleheaded and fall asleep. Sometimes when I send righteous thoughts at 8 p.m., I unintentionally fall asleep. When I open my eyes, two hours have already passed. My husband calls me at midnight to send righteous thoughts, but sometimes I do not wake up, and I feel very regretful afterwards.
Practitioners that are really busy with regular jobs have often said that if you want to do the three things well, you need to find the time by cutting down on your sleep. The old forces have used the demon of fatigue to inhibit practitioners, and cause them to waste a lot of time. This is not ordinary tiredness. I can distinctly feel a kind of matter enveloping my head and causing me to feel confused. It is a viscous type of substance that covers my eyes and makes me feel that I cannot keep them open.
Other forms of interference are directed at the body, causing practitioners to suffer extreme pain, tests of life and death, and other huge tribulations. The demon of fatigue is not quite the same, as it follows a person's notions and attachments in order to interfere with him. Don't people love comfort? It will cause you to feel intoxicated, joyful, and contented. With so little of the old forces left, practitioners sometimes sink into a state of delusion. They are comfortably interfered with and aren't even aware of it. They waste time and energy, and their determination is worn out. While practitioners are enjoying themselves, they lose their righteous thoughts.
This type of trap set up by the old forces manifests differently from the brutality of torture, yet its essence is the same. The nature of the old forces will not change. Master said:
"That's the way things are in the cosmos before the Fa-rectification is done rectifying it. Without going through Fa-rectification it won't become good on its own--how could it turn good without Fa-rectification? Poison is just poisonous, and if you want it to stop being poisonous it can't do that." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
The evil is exhausting all of its tricks to try to persecute practitioners and weed out those that it doesn't like, but it cannot touch a practitioner who is grounded in the Fa.
If we do not recognize the seriousness of this interference, it is easy to slack off and our righteous thoughts will weaken. This vicious cycle often repeats itself and gives the demon of fatigue time and space to thrive. The more this demon is nurtured, the larger it will become and the more unscrupulous its behavior.
Practitioners must fundamentally change their ordinary notions of comfort and enjoyment. If we consider them to be good, we will be unwilling to abandon them and will be easily manipulated. Practitioners are required to conduct themselves according to the principles of the Fa and step beyond the ordinary human state. We need to step out of every aspect of humanness and rise above it. Only then can we walk well the last leg of the journey of Fa-rectification.
