Two Fragments
on the Path to Divine Wisdom
Helena P. Blavatsky
Helena P. Blavatsky
1. Will and
Desire
Will
is the exclusive possession of man on this our plane of consciousness. It
divides him from the brute in whom instinctive desire only is active.
Desire,
in its widest application, is the one creative force in the Universe. In this
sense it is indistinguishable from Will; but we men never know desire under
this form while we remain only men. Therefore Will and Desire are here
considered as opposed.
Thus
Will is the offspring of the Divine, the God in man; Desire the motive power of
the animal life.
Most
men live in and by desire, mistaking it for will. But he who would achieve must
separate will from desire, and make his will the ruler; for desire is unstable
and ever changing, while will is steady and constant.
Both
will and desire are absolute creators,
forming the man himself and his surroundings. But will creates intelligently -
desire blindly and unconsciously. The man, therefore, makes himself in the
image of his desires, unless he creates himself in the likeness of the Divine,
through his will, the child of the light.
His
task is twofold: to awaken the will, to strengthen it by use and conquest, to
make it absolute ruler within his body; and, parallel with this, to purify
desire. Knowledge
and will are the tools for the accomplishment of this purification.
2. Desire Made
Pure
When
desire is for the purely abstract - when it has lost all trace or tinge of
“self” - then it has become pure.
The
first step towards this purity is to kill out the desire for the things of
matter, since these can only be
enjoyed by the separated personality.
The
second is to cease from desiring for oneself even such abstractions as power,
knowledge, love, happiness, or fame; for they are but selfishness after all.
Life
itself teaches these lessons; for all such objects of desire are found Dead Sea
fruit in the moment of attainment. This much we learn from experience.
Intuitive perception seizes on the positive
truth that satisfaction is attainable only in the infinite; the will makes that
conviction an actual fact of consciousness, till at last all desire is centred
on the Eternal.
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The two fragments
above were first published at “Lucifer” magazine, London, October, 1887, respectively
at pp. 96 and 133. The word “Lucifer” means “light-bearer” and is the ancient
word for the planet Venus. Misinformed Christians have distorted the meaning of
the word.
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In September 2016, after a careful analysis of the state of the
esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists,
whose priorities include the building of a better future in the different
dimensions of life.
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