Or The Correct Use of One’s Time and Energy
John Garrigues
00000000000000000000000000000000000
Editorial Note:
The following text
was first published by
“Theosophy”
magazine, at Los Angeles, in
the edition of January
1928, pp. 106-108,
with no indication
as to the name of the author.
(CCA)
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
“…. Let us hurry
nothing.
Eternity is here
all the time.”
(William Q. Judge in “Letters That Have Helped Me”)
Probably no one else sees so many things that need
doing as the Theosophist, but when their vast number is reduced to include only
the duties which devolve specifically upon him he should be able to hold the
even tenor of his way without being stampeded.
The earnest Theosophist who is deliberately taking his own evolution in
hand with the object of fitting himself for the most effective service of the human
race is embarked on an undertaking whose consummation in most cases lies
several lives hence, at best, and for the attaining of which the spirit of rush
is not only futile but a positive handicap.
Haste is for the sudden spurt. The long-distance runner strikes his
stride and holds evenly, doggedly, to it. A boy, racing beside him a brief
fraction of his journey, can pass him and drop back well-pleased with his
achievement, while the runner proceeds steadily, unperturbed by what would
appear defeat to one viewing but that portion of the course and recking not of
the distant goal.
To urge the substitution of deliberate action for the spirit of rush,
however, is not to sanction idleness.
There is no cure for petty anxiety or the sensation of working under
pressure like reflection upon the cosmic ultimates, but our contemplation of
Infinite Duration ought not to lead to the dwarfing in our minds of the
importance of present action.
Past and future alike are part of the Eternal Now, but, though the
springs of action may reach back into the past as its results may stretch far
into the future, the action itself can take place only at the juncture of past
and future which we call the present.
Each moment, as it passes from the future to the past, should carry its
due freight of purposeful activity.
Action is indispensable, but unless it is rhythmic and harmonious it
falls short of its highest possibilities for lasting benefit. These
characteristics presuppose the exercise of deliberate judgment and
discrimination as to the object of activity as well as its mode.
There is conflict of duties in seeming only.
Our duty under any circumstances can not be greater than the limit of
our possible performance. Similarly the duty of any given moment can not
include more than we can accomplish in that moment. The weighing of the
relative claims of apparently conflicting duties and their adjustment can be
properly accomplished only in the light of the higher discrimination which is
an attribute of the real man.
The Theosophist’s progress depends in large measure on the extent to
which he recognizes and heeds the voice of his Higher Self, for the hearing of
which calmness is the one thing necessary.
Until we are much farther along than the present stage of most of us,
communion with our real nature is spasmodic and halting. We, as personalities,
do not receive the uninterrupted flow of inspiration we aspire to ultimately,
but must endeavor to refer, with ever greater frequency and regularity, the
situations in which we find ourselves to that higher nature for solution and
for the sanction of our proposed reactions. That reference precludes the random
short and the snap judgment, and imposes a salutary check, however irksome to
the impulsive temperament.
One whose mind works quickly often fells himself somewhat superior to
the deliberate thinker, but mental celerity has its own disadvantages, as was
brought out in one of the Master’s letters:
“All quick thinkers are hard to impress - in a flash they are out and
away in ‘full cry’ before half understanding what one wants to have them
think.” [1]
Many people mistake sheer restlessness of temperament for laudable
industry and fritter away their strength in constant feverish motion,
complacent in the sensation of being busy, though their efforts have no worthy
or lasting purpose. They are as much slaves of the Rajasic quality as confirmed idlers are of the Tamasic. He whose action is harmonious, Sattwic, does not indulge in unconsidered action, but conserves his
surplus energy.
He does not wear himself out in fear or anticipation, but concentrates
attention and effort on the duty of each moment as it presents itself. A common
tendency is to dwell in anticipation on some specific future event and,
focusing attention on the next “high spot” in the journey of life, to slight
the present and its lessons. But if eternity is here all the time, it can mean
no less than that every moment is intrinsically and potentially as important as
any other. We can enter upon our heritage at any moment we will claim it. And
the more closely we can hold our attention to what we are about, the better
account shall we be able to give of our stewardship of time.
Another count against haste is that it prevents taking advantage of the
hints and suggestions furnished by the unfolding of karma. We are told that the
Occultist should not be committed in advance to any fixed plan of action but be
ready to shape his conduct in harmony with developments.
But a man driving at top speed is only too likely to miss detour
warnings, to his subsequent sorrow. Nature has her own laws and policemen, and
the “speed trap” which is the bane of the modern motorist has its prototype in
the Karmic reaction from all ill-considered haste.
A point to bear in mind in connection with all our activities is that
the Theosophist is not on piece-work but has full-time employment, where
quality counts for more than mere quantity of output.
Every true Theosophist labors at the erection of the outer defenses of
the Fane of Truth which has been reared by the efforts of untold generations of
Adepts. It is a high task, calling for care and skill in setting each brick
firmly in its due place.
The work of scurrying incompetents, no less than that of enemies within the Movement, has to be taken out and done
again.
The number of bricks each worker is able to set depends on his
qualifications under Karma, but it is within the power of all of us, if we free
ourselves of the anxiety and irritation arising from haste, to do well whatever
we are able to do, be it little or much, and so to build for the centuries.
NOTE:
[1] “The Mahatma
Letters”, TUP, Pasadena, California, 1992, Letter VIII, p. 36.
000
Date of publication
online, June 2012.
000
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.
000
