The Practice of Right
Action While
Facing Challenges
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
“Courage then, you all,
who
would be warriors of the
one divine
Verity; keep on boldly and
confidently;
husband your moral
strength (…).” [1]
Learning esoteric wisdom implies a sort of conflict.
The Bhagavad Gita, the New Testament, the
Dhammapada, the Mahatma Letters and other classical teachings use the metaphor of war and of the warrior against ignorance, and H. P.
Blavatsky wrote about this silent battle:
“We need all our strength to meet the difficulties
and dangers which surround us. We have external enemies to fight in the shape
of materialism, prejudice, and obstinacy; the enemies in the shape of custom
and religious forms; enemies too numerous to mention, but nearly as thick as
the sand-clouds which are raised by the blasting Sirocco of the desert. Do we
not need our strength against these foes?”
HPB goes on:
“Yet, again, there are more insidious foes, who ‘take
our name in vain’, and who make Theosophy a by-word in the mouths of men and
the Theosophical Society a mark at which to throw mud. They slander
Theosophists and Theosophy, and convert the moral Ethics into a cloak to
conceal their own selfish objects. And as if this were not sufficient, there
are the worst foes of all - those of a man’s own household, - Theosophists who
are unfaithful both to the Society and to themselves. Thus indeed we are in the
midst of foes. Before and around us is the ‘Valley of Death’, and we have to
charge upon our enemies - right upon his guns - if we would win the day.”
And HPB concludes with a question:
“Cavalry - men and horses - can be trained to ride
almost as one man in an attack upon the terrestrial plane; shall we not fight and
win the battle of the Soul struggling in the spirit of the Higher Self to win
our divine heritage?” [2]
There
are no friends or enemies in Theosophy: all are our teachers, as “Light on the
Path” clarifies.
The
adversaries of a truth-seeker are fundamentally within, secondarily without,
and express the common accumulated karma of human un-wisdom. The challenges
help the pilgrim obtain an enduring victory. He must keep inner peace as he
fights, for calmness is
inseparable from lucidity. Falsehoods must be dismantled with a serene and
vigilant attitude. The warrior who feels deep anger is defeated. Victory
results from a stable and accurate action. It depends on a confident watchfulness.
Prompt action is necessary when the right time emerges - not before. One must
be able to wait while being ready for action. The warrior’s victory begins within
his consciousness: he knows that he himself is the battlefield.
The Topography of Human Mind
There is a Geography of Spirit, and Psychology
often sees the human soul as a territory.
In Part IV of his essay “The Unconscious”, Sigmund Freud discusses the
Topography of human mind. As we search for self-knowledge, we must examine who
or what controls our mind’s “space” and “soil”. How is that control exerted,
and for what purpose?
How much of one’s mind is dedicated to
topics that get to it and call its attention because someone else wants to make money, or get rich through the use of
electronic media?
Up to what extent our physical brains are
now adapted to, and dependent on, external stimuli which quickly succeed one
another, so as to prevent any deeper insights? In order to take place, true insights and
contemplation need inner silence.
Theosophy attacks the causes of anxiety.
Self-respect, self-knowledge and self-control require calm. Anyone who wants to
live a correct life must make a decision not to be carried away by outside
pressures whose rhythm is dictated according to commercial interests. There is
an undeclared war of commercial interests whose goal is to control the minds of
citizens, transforming them from citizens into mere “consumers”. The
consciousness of one’s higher self is like a warrior, therefore, and a warrior who
challenges soulless forms of commerce and every form of illegitimate mind-control.
Although inner peace is available all the time regardless of circumstances,
one must become a self-trained warrior of the Wisdom in
order to have access to it.
Each day
is the great battle. Although the main enemy is the student’s own ignorance, he
must also challenge organized ignorance around him. He has to fight both, for
they are inseparable.
The allies of the warrior
are his good thoughts, self-discipline, and a decision to learn and to build
peace. The watch-tower from which the warrior looks at life is the highest
point of view available to his consciousness.
His higher self speaks to
him as an elder brother, with no need of words. Its soundless voice comes from warrior’s
conscience and talks about justice, insight - and bliss.
NOTES:
[1] “The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, T.U.P., 493
pp., see Letter LV, p. 322 (Letter 130 in the Chronological Edition). The
facsimile of these words by the Master is reproduced in the opening of Part
One, in the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, Carlos C.
Aveline, The Aquarian Theosophist, 2013.
[2] “Five
Messages”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., 1922, pp. 13-14. The
pamphlet is available at our associated websites.
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The above text
combines and adapts four short notes, previously written by the author and published
in “The Aquarian Theosophist”. They are: “Theosophy
and the Metaphor of War”, December 2013 edition, pp. 3-4; “How to Fight Conscious Falsehood”, March
2015 edition, p. 1; “The Vision of a
Warrior”, August 2013, pp. 1-2; and “Our
Minds as Disputed Territory”, January 2015, p. 4.
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Read also the article “Jesus Christ, the Warrior of Truth”, by
Carlos Cardoso Aveline. It is available in our associated websites.
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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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