Three Central Factors Along the Path to
Wisdom
William Q. Judge
These three,
meditation, concentration, will, have engaged the attention of Theosophists
perhaps more than any other three subjects. A canvass of
opinions would probably show that the majority of our reading and thinking
members would rather hear these subjects discussed and read definite directions
about them than any others in the entire field.
They say they must meditate, they declare a wish for
concentration, they would like a powerful will, and they sigh for strict
directions, readable by the most foolish theosophist. It is a western cry for a
curriculum, a course, a staked path, a line and rule by inches and links. Yet
the path has long been outlined and described, so that anyone could read the
directions whose mind had not been half-ruined by modern false education, and
memory rotted by the superficial methods of a superficial literature and a
wholly vain modern life.
Let us divide Meditation into two sorts. First is the
meditation practiced at a set time, or an occasional one, whether by design or
from physiological idiosyncrasy. Second is the meditation of an entire
lifetime, that single thread of intention, intentness, and desire running
through the years stretching between the cradle and the grave. For the first,
in Patanjali’s Aphorisms will be found all needful rules and particularity. If
these are studied and not forgotten, then practice must give results. How many
of those who reiterate the call for instruction on this head have read that
book, only to turn it down and never again consider it? Far too many.
The mysterious subtle thread of a life meditation is
that which is practiced every hour by philosopher, mystic, saint, criminal,
artist, artisan, and merchant. It is pursued in respect to that on which the
heart is set; it rarely languishes; at times the meditating one greedily
running after money, fame, and power looks up briefly and sighs for a better
life during a brief interval, but the passing flash of a dollar or a sovereign
recalls him to his modern senses, and the old meditation begins again.
Since all theosophists are here in the social whirl I
refer to, they can every one take these words to themselves as they please.
Very certainly, if their life meditation is fixed low down near the ground, the
results flowing to them from it will be strong, very lasting, and related to
the low level on which they work. Their semi-occasional meditations will give
precisely semi-occasional results in the long string of recurring births.
“But then”, says another, “what of concentration? We
must have it. We wish it; we lack it”. Is it a piece of goods that you can buy
it, do you think, or something that will come to you just for the wishing?
Hardly. In the way we divided meditation into two great sorts, so we can divide
concentration. One is the use of an already acquired power on a fixed occasion,
the other the deep and constant practice of a power that has been made a
possession.
Concentration is not memory, since the latter is known
to act without our concentrating on anything, and we know that centuries ago
the old thinkers very justly called memory a phantasy. But by reason of a
peculiarity of the human mind the associative part of memory is waked up the
very instant concentration is attempted. It is this that makes students weary
and at last drives them away from the pursuit of concentration. A man sits down
to concentrate on the highest idea he can formulate, and like a flash troops of
recollections of all sorts of affairs, old thoughts and impressions come before
his mind, driving away the great object he first selected, and concentration is
at an end.
This trouble is only to be corrected by practice, by
assiduity, by continuance. No strange and complicated directions are needed.
All we have to do is to try and to keep on trying.
The subject of the Will has not been treated of much
in theosophical works, old or new. Patanjali does not go into it at all. It
seems to be inferred by him through his aphorisms. Will is universal, and
belongs to not only man and animals, but also to every other natural kingdom.
The good and bad man alike have will, the child and the aged, the wise and the
lunatic. It is therefore a power devoid in itself of moral quality. That
quality must be added by man.
So the truth must be that will acts according to
desire, or, as the older thinkers used to put it, “behind will stands desire”.
This is why the child, the savage, the lunatic, and the wicked man so often
exhibit a stronger will than others. The wicked man has intensified his
desires, and with that his will. The lunatic has but few desires, and draws all
his will force into these; the savage is free from convention, from the various
ideas, laws, rules, and suppositions to which the civilized person is subject [1], and has nothing to distract his
will. So to make our will strong we must have fewer desires. Let those be high,
pure, and altruistic; they will give us strong will.
No mere practice will develop will per se, for it exists forever, fully
developed in itself. But practice will develop in us the power to call on that
will which is ours. Will and Desire lie at the doors of Meditation and
Concentration. If we desire truth with the same intensity that we had formerly
wished for success, money, or gratification, we will speedily acquire
meditation and possess concentration. If we do all our acts, small and great,
every moment, for the sake of the whole human race, as representing the Supreme
Self, then every cell and fibre of the body and inner man will be turned in one
direction, resulting in perfect concentration. This is expressed in the New
Testament in the statement that if the eye is single the whole body will be
full of light, and in the Bhagavad Gita
it is still more clearly and comprehensively given through the different
chapters. In one it is beautifully put as the lighting up in us of the Supreme
One, who then becomes visible. Let us meditate on that which is in us as the
Highest Self, concentrate upon it, and will to work for it as dwelling in every
human heart.
[“Irish Theosophist”, July 15, 1893]
A 2014 NOTE BY THE EDITOR:
[1] The statement can only be correct if applied to the urban savages of modern times. As
to the indigenous nations around the world, they had strict ethical and social
regulations, before being contacted by colonial powers and their salaried priests.
There are notable examples of indigenous people’s wisdom and ethics throughout South
America, Central America and North America, in Africa and Oceania - not to
mention Asia. (C.C. Aveline)
000
The above article
is reproduced from “Theosophical Articles”, William Q. Judge, Theosophy Co.,
Los Angeles, 1980, volume I, pp. 316-318.
000
On the role of the esoteric movement in the ethical awakening of mankind
during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical
Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in
2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist,
the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
000
