Observing the Sources of Confidence in Life
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
In the second paragraph of their 1776 Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and other members of the U.S. Congress mention some “self-evident truths”.
The first one, they
say, is that all men are created equal. And,
from a theosophical point of view, one should add: “Equal before the Law of Karma”.
The second self-evident
truth is that all men have some
inalienable rights, and among them are
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Of these rights, the third
one is essential for the esoteric philosophy, as it refers to the best possible use of the two previous conditions: Life and
Liberty.
It is enough to observe the
daily facts around us to realize that the Pursuit of Happiness is present in
all forms of life.
Such a goal is clearly far
from being limited to the human realm. Plotinus, the neoplatonist, wrote
that plants search for happiness. It is
easy to see that all animals do the
same. Knowing this, Buddhists use to
wish “peace to all beings”. The specific challenge faced by modern
citizens is how to find a lasting
happiness within, and how to individually obtain an unconditional peace which
cannot be disturbed by outer events.
Life shows that the journey
from fear to happiness is not an easy one, and it is not short, either. Courage is necessary. We may have to ask
ourselves:
What are we afraid of, after all? And why is it that fear emerges once
and again in our emotions?
External sources of fear can
only be active when, and if, there is an
internal lack of confidence which
responds to them. Without a subjective counterpart, no outward, objective
threat or difficult situation can easily provoke a “psychological” fear.
Our “lower self” or
personality is never afraid of anything purely external only. It must also be afraid of some internal impulse, some
desire, feeling or situation that threatens it and its sense of continuity - “from
within”.
The existence of fear is
related to one’s personal hopes and desires, and to one’s emotional dependence
on things, places or persons. We are instinctively afraid of anything that threatens our hopes and expectations; and these hopes are often subconscious.
If one takes something for
granted which is not realistic (for
instance, the ideas that “I’m not going
to get old” or “I am not going to die” ), fear will come.
If one supresses any
specific fear on the voluntary layers of one’s mind, that feeling will become
subconscious, without ceasing to exist. It may soon surface later again, under
other forms. Hatred often serves as a disguise for a feeling of uncertainty. One
day, perhaps after some subconscious preparation, one may be able to accept an honest confrontation with one’s root-fear
- always a form of ignorance - and then
get rid of it.
That which is said of fear
can, of course, be said of anger and other
negative feelings as well. There seems to be a “symmetrical axis”, a “balance
line” between our inner and outer sources of anxiety, happiness,
self-confidence, and other psychological
sensations as well.
Individual states of mind
run in parallel with, and are relatively independent from, our surrounding
objective circumstances.
You can have inner happiness
while you face a difficult situation. You can feel sadness and despondency
while everything seems to be objectively OK.
It all depends into a great extent on whether your higher self is, or is
not, intensively present in the situations
you face.
There can be no
psychological fear in the presence of Atma and Buddhi, the higher principles of
consciousness. Everything is good and worthwhile, as long as the Immortal Soul
is directly engaged in one’s activities.
When the focus of our
consciousness is established within the temple of our own spiritual consciousness,
attachments disappear and we can have a complete confidence in Life, which
brings about a blissful self-forgetfulness. The absence of selfishness is the outer garment for a new centre of
consciousness: the inner awareness of our true Self. One forgets
his narrow and small self because he has seen his true being.
A general law in Nature establishes
that all beings leave aside smaller forms of happiness, once they see deeper and
more enduring ways to be happy. Then the lower self may still suffer, but the real focus of consciousness will not
be limited or misled by the personal suffering, any longer.
How We Ascribe Meanings to Life
In our daily lives, the
world within and the world without exchange “messages” and energies all the
time.
It is the way you connect
the inner and the outer worlds in your own consciousness that makes the
difference. The meaning you give to facts and things within the context
of your own view of life makes you a
happier or unhappier person along the process of a lifetime. Antahkarana
is the metaphoric bridge between celestial and terrestrial levels of consciousness.
It constitutes the individualized version of the Jacob’s ladder (Gn. 28: 11-13), which plays the decisive role along
the road to wisdom and contentment.
The wordless voice within is the voice of the silence, and
it speaks in our conscience through Antahkarana.
Listening to this soundless
sound produces a happiness that nothing can destroy. Then an unconditional, long term joy and an
unlimited confidence in life get to be with us for good, even while we may face
apparently great obstacles and difficulties.
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An initial version of the above
text was first published in the December 2006 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 5-7.
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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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