The Blessings
Hidden Behind an Effort
Joana Maria Ferreira de Pinho
As we study
esoteric philosophy we come to understand that Ethics is at the essence of
theosophy.
Knowledge, wisdom and service to mankind spring from
an ethical life and are developed at the same time as we connect with the
higher self and make a stronger effort to express it in the different dimensions
of our life.
Being an ethical person demands sincerity in every aspect
of life. Trying to act in a correct way is above all fighting personal desires
and illusions. In order to win the inner battle we need courage, discernment
and humility to see our mistakes and correct them. The correction of faults
strengthens our connection to the higher self.
In order to express ethics we need to be the ethics
ourselves, and this occurs when we put aside selfish views of life. Helena
Blavatsky wrote:
“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 (…). 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.” [1]
“Society” here means “theosophical movement”.
Danger and opportunity go together. A Master of the
Wisdom wrote to some theosophists:
“… Look to the
future (…). If your eyes were opened, you might see such a vista of
potential blessings to yourselves and
mankind (…) as would fire with joy and zeal your souls!” [2]
The bright future is near. At each new effort to live
ethics, it becomes in part the present, and sorrow gives space to bliss.
NOTES:
[1] “Five Messages”, a pamphlet with texts by Helena P.
Blavatsky, edited by the Theosophy Co. and available in PDF in our associated websites.
See the Second Message, pp. 13-14.
[2] “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom”, edited by
C. Jinarajadasa, TPH, India, 1973, First Series, Letter 20, pp. 51-52.
Reproduced from the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by
Carlos Cardoso Aveline, The Aquarian Theosophist, 2013, 255 pp., p. 228.
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The above text
is reproduced from the July 2015 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 3-4.
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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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