[The experience must be gained, and the Soul must rise
superior to
them, by acquiring a love for higher things.]
“Experience must be gained” of every evil as good passion mentally, and
overcome in thought, by reflection. Love and longing for higher things
on
a Spiritual plane will thus leave no room for the lower animal longings.
Good people come to worship me for different
reasons. Some come to the
spiritual life because of suffering, some in order to understand life;
some come through a desire to achieve life's purpose, and some come who
are men and women of wisdom. Unwavering in devotion, always united with
me, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others. To them I am
the dearest beloved, and they are very dear to me. All those who follow
the spiritual path are blessed. But the wise who are always established
in union, for whom there is no higher goal than me, may be regarded as
my very Self.
To find reality, that is, to find Truth, you will have to find
it
not
only inside yourself, by unification with the inner Light, which is the
first
half of the battle, but also in the universe around you.
First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring
peace
to others.
To my theosophical readers it's probably a comfort to note that my most popular 'strictly' theosophical page was no. 11: Pick a Blavatsky Quote.
What is the origin of our thinking? Seeing, contacting, sensing, reflecting. Like and dislike, pleasure and pain, the many pairs of opposites are the outcome of reflection; the desire for the continuance of the one and the denial of the other is part of reflection. Sensation, craving, dominates most of our thinking. Our thought is influenced and limited by the past generations of people who in their suffering, in their joys, in their aspirations, in their escapes, in their fear of death, in their longing for continuity, created ideas, images, symbols, which gave them hope, assurance. These they have passed on to us. When we use the word soul, it is their word to convey that intense longing for continuity, for something permanent, enduring beyond the transiency of the physical, of the material. Because we also crave for certainty, security, continuity, we cling to that word and all that it represents. So our consciousness - both the conscious and the subconscious - is the repository of ideas, values, images, symbols of the race, of the past generations. Our daily thought and action are controlled by the past, by the concealed motives, memories, and hidden cravings. In all this there is no freedom but only continued imitation caused by fear.
Within consciousness, there are two opposing forces at work which create duality - want and non-want, pain and pleasure, outgoing desires and refraining desires. Instincts, motives, values, prejudices, passions, control and direct the conscious.
Is there, in consciousness, any part that is not contaminated by the past? Is there anything original, uncorrupted, in our consciousness? Have we not to free thought from the past, from instincts, from symbols, images, in order to understand that which is incorruptible, untramelled?
The known cannot understand the unknown; death cannot understand life. Light and darkness cannot exist together. God, reality, is not to be realized through the known. What we are is of the past in combination with the present action and reaction according to various forms of influence, which narrows down thought, and through this limitation we try to understand that which is beyond all transiency. Can thought free itself from the personal, from the I? Can thought make itself anew, original, capable of direct experience? If it can, then there is the realization of the eternal.
I - Temperance in all things, whether physical, mental, affectional or religious.
II - Justice to all creatures that be - justice being the exercise of precisely the same rules of life, conduct, thought or speech that we would desire to receive from others.
III - Gentleness in speech and act - never needlessly wounding the feelings of others by harsh words or deeds; never hurting or destroying aught that breathes, save for the purposes of sustenance or self-defence.
IV - Truth in every word or thought, spoken or acted, but reservation of harsh or unpleasing truths where they would needlessly wound the feelings of others.
V - Charity - Charity in thought, striving to excuse the failings of others; charity in speech, veiling the failings of others; charity in deeds, wherever, whenever, and to whomsoever the opportunity offers.
VI - Alms-giving - visiting the sick and comforting the afflicted in every shape that our means admit of, and the necessities of our fellow-creatures demand.
VII - Self-sacrifice, wherever the interests of others are to be benefited by our endurance.
VIII - Temperate yet firm defence of our views of the right, and protest against wrong, whether in ourselves or others.
IX - Industry in following our calling we may be engaged in, or in devoting some portion of our time, when otherwise not obliged to do so, to the service and benefit of others.
X - Love - above and beyond all, seeking to cultivate in our own families, kindred, friends, and amongst all mankind generally the spirit of that true and tender love which can think, speak or act no wrong to any creature living; remembering always, that where love is, all the other principles of right are fulfilled beneath its influence and embodied in its monitions.
Previous issues of Lucifer7 can be found at the online index of Lucifer7
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