Observing the Sacredness
of Daily Life
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
* The
best victory defeats no one.
* Right now is the time to focus
one’s mind in doing the best one can, in a self-responsible and planned way.
* Concentration of
mind widens one’s horizons. It also purifies and elevates them.
* One-pointedness
allows one’s mind to have wide horizons. A dispersive consciousness is narrow.
Self-respect creates stability: you need a firm basis in order to observe the
sky.
* A heartfelt
courtesy for all beings contains in itself the substance of universal brotherhood.
* The learned ones
say: if our goals are correct, the purpose of obstacles is to strengthen our
will, stimulate our discernment and expand the ability to avoid unnecessary
waste of energy.
* The accumulation of
good karma must be made in no hurry. A feeling of anxiety would contaminate the
substance of the karma accumulated. High goals ought to be distant: short term
relief will come of its own as the right time for it emerges.
* With each new step
ahead, the need for vigilance increases. Progress can make the possibilities of
self-delusion expand, unless it is seen with humbleness and detachment.
* Renunciation is a
source of peace. Self-discipline prepares victory. Responsible
self-forgetfulness produces the blessing of a wider contact with one’s
spiritual soul.
* Ill-informed are
those who deny the past in order to live in the “Now”. There is no separation
between Yesterday and Today. Eternity lives in the present instant. Across the
ages, happiness is always new.
* The most decisive task in the
search for wisdom is to learn how to learn. That begins by observing and
questioning the actual way we learn. Are we believers, or researchers? Churches
and sects want believers. The
theosophical movement needs researchers.
* Some ideas seem to
be obvious but are easy to forget and require an iron will to be put in
practice. One of them is that self-respect is inseparable from a feeling of
good will towards all beings. Such a good will must be accompanied by severe
discernment and realism.
* Our good habits
protect us. On the other hand, repetitive mistakes are threats which often
remain invisible. They must be identified and carefully replaced by correct
actions. For that, detachment will be necessary.
* The Law of the
Universe can be found within oneself. Theosophy is divine wisdom, and the only
way to attain it is by expanding the contact with one’s higher self or
spiritual soul.
* In order to achieve
self-forgetfulness one must understand the movements of the entire world of
selfishness and see their meaninglessness, and get tired of them, and focus
one’s heart and mind in that which is eternal.
* One cannot say
“Yes” to truth, unless one says “No” to falsehood. The voice of conscience
tells the pilgrim which is the correct path, and what path should be abandoned.
* By awakening from
the short-term dreams and narrow horizons of the lower self, we can see reality
from a higher perspective. After doing that, things change. As one looks again
at the agenda of the lower self, one recognizes it as a valuable tool in a vast
mission whose horizons are virtually unlimited.
* Use your
discernment. Observe and learn from the annoying factors of life, but don’t
give them the time and energy they don’t deserve. The doors to a better life
are inner. Focus your mind and heart in that which is good, true and beautiful.
Build whatever you want to see being built: the bliss of life is within you.
* A correct approach
to the many-sided pedagogical processes in theosophy prevents both experienced
and unexperienced students from falling into personal pride. That which one can
learn must be recognized as much more important than that which one may feel he
knows already. Being in direct touch
with Sacredness is inseparable from feeling humble. Students who desire to
Learn about the Universe have no time to pride or envy.
* Inter-religious
conflict and intercultural disharmony are at the very heart of the problems
humanity must solve in the next years and decades. This must be done by looking
at mistakes in a direct way and correcting them. The original teachings of
esoteric philosophy have the key to such a task. Their fake versions are, of
course, worse than useless.
* There is a time to
go ahead and a time to wait. There is a time to obtain things and another one
to practice renunciation. In some occasions, one must remain in motionless
vigilance. The warrior of truth lives in contact with the silence in his heart
and is ready to various situations. He can work in movement and he can rest.
Stability and change are both comfortable to him. He is a brother to lightning
and to bliss. He is an intimate companion to that which is visible, and never
separates from the unfathomable.
* The Book of Life is in fact the
Book of Learning. In the beginning of the day your lower self is being reborn
and stands like a blank page. Don’t
abandon it: give it a direction.
* In the very first lines of every
new page at the Book of Life, firmly write down your decision to keep along the
day a self-responsible attitude; a reasonable degree of self-control, and a
friendship for all beings.
* Noisy outward situations are
paradoxically propitious to retire within oneself. The inner vision of an
awakened human being includes the whole cosmos, and real bliss does not depend
on geographical location.
* Cacophonous surroundings are a
perfect occasion for one to search for the essence of being, by listening to
the music of silence. Such is the right time to meet that inner peace that
contains the mystery of eternal time.
* Each level of knowledge is
inseparable from its corresponding degree of duty and ethics.[1]
* The knowledge that is not used to do good and to
remove the causes of pain is no real knowledge. So to look for truth is to look
for duty. One attains to a real knowledge of truth and fulfils his highest
duties at the same time and little by little, for knowledge and duty ultimately
grow together and never part from each other.
* What I think must be in harmony
with what I say, and with what I feel, and do.
* My thoughts, actions, emotions and
intentions must point to the same direction, although such an alignment will be
certainly human and imperfect. I can always improve.
* I must be tolerant with the others
and have for them the same good will which I would like them to have towards
me.
NOTE:
[1] This sentence is reproduced from the article “Helena
Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline, which is available at
our websites.
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An initial version of
the above fragments was published anonymously in the February 2015 edition of “The Aquarian
Theosophist”.
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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.
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