Every
Truth-Seeker Must Face and
Defeat His Own
Accumulated Ignorance
Robert Crosbie
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Editorial Note:
The
following article was taken from the stenographic
report
of a talk by Robert Crosbie. It is reproduced from
the
February 1921 edition of “Theosophy” magazine, Los
Angeles,
pp. 113-116. It is also published at the October
2014
edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pages 07-10.
(Carlos
Cardoso Aveline)
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What may seem a very fanciful phrase to many - “the Dweller on the
Threshold” - was used by Bulwer Lytton in his story of “Zanoni” to illustrate
something which comes about in the life of every student who passes beyond the
merely physical.
The incident pictures an old Sage - not
quite such an one as our Theosophical studies might lead us to imagine - who is
Glyndon’s, the hero’s, teacher. Being about to start on a journey, he points to
two vases which are left in the room and warns Glyndon not to open them, else
certain consequences will be sure to follow. Glyndon, however, on finding
himself alone gives way to his curiosity and opens the two vases. At first, he
was filled with an intoxicating perfume that seemed to exhilarate and give him
the feeling of greatest joyousness. After a while, this passed, and he began to
see various forms, now vaguely and indistinctly, then more and more clearly,
until each form seemed to take on a very threatening appearance, and all finally
coalesced into one form which threatened him with injury and filled him with
horror. This form was called the Dweller on the Threshold.
Now, let us understand each human being to
be in the center of a circle [1], that
circle containing a record of every experience through which we have passed and
all knowledge heretofore gained, - a circle which defines our beginning and our
progress. If we couple with this the idea that each life adds to the store of
knowledge, and that each kind of knowledge, selfish or unselfish, is kept - or
keeps - by itself, we can see that within the circle there are, so to speak,
zones, each one of these zones containing a particular kind of consciousness
and composed of a particular kind of substance. These zones are at least seven
in number.
If, then, we are in the middle of all
these zones, each one that surrounds us keeps us from the highest, the most
perfect, the most spiritual zone of our nature; and, if we are to pass forward,
even one step beyond the mere physical, we must go through that zone which is
just beyond the physical, and in which the more evil, selfish elements of our
nature and experience exist. We have to break into and pass through that zone
in order to get to the higher zones of our being, but the only way we can break
through it is by arousing it to action, by meeting
it and transforming it. No being
whatever, however good his ordinary expression of nature may be, but must pass
through that zone. A good man, going on a journey, has to take the path in the
direction of his goal, no matter what the condition of that path. It may be
muddy, but he must go through it.
So [happens]
with the student, as soon as he forms a great desire to go forward, and to
understand himself - his powerful motive being to obtain all power, all
possessions, that he may be the better able to help his fellow-men. At first,
as he pushes on, he is very joyful in having found a solution to all the
problems of life. Everything seems fair and pleasant, now; difficulties are not
in his way; physical disabilities are patiently borne; he sees that all is not
so bad as he would have thought. Then, he pushes a little farther forward, and
he finds other things; he finds certain forces surrounding him, generated by
himself, and beginning to awaken. For there are with every one of us dormant
senses and dormant experiences which the present conditions of life and
prevailing ideas of the time do not give the chance to operate. The moment our
thoughts and mind are turned in a higher direction, however, the prevailing
ideas begin to lose their force, and, with all our attention centered in
another direction, the dormant senses and powers, as well as experiences, begin
to make themselves felt.
These influences, so strange to us, are
sometimes discouraging; we do not know to what to refer them; but as we push on
and on, they begin to take shape. For every experience has a form, else it
could not remain as such, and we arouse its forces into action and give them
life by directing our attention to them. The shape, into which the various
forms seen by the earnest student finally coalesce, varies with the student, as
it follows the line of his family and of his likes - particularly, that of his
dislikes. It may take the same shape each time with one student, or with
another it may change each time. The form symbolizes whatever there is in our
past Karma which is unbalanced. It has to be met; and, not only that, but as
our own past Karma has to do with the collective Karma of the races through
which we have come - more particularly of the race in which we now are - we not
only arouse the individual, segregated Dwellers of our own zone, but everything
analogous to them in our race or people. We have to meet our own ghosts as well
as the ghosts of our people, and in conquering the denizens of our own outward
zones, we help to raise up the whole Karma of the race to which we belong.
Theosophy teaches that man is a spiritual
being, not physical at all; that the body itself is but a physical instrument drawn from the earth by the
power of the indwelling man; that the mind is merely ideas held in regard to
life, but the Spirit of man, the Knower, the Experiencer, is alone the true
individual. That individual became an individual before this earth, or this
solar system, was, and he has, with the changing in matter, worked through the
various condensations of substance down to the present plane. On each plane of
substance he has acquired a consciousness and a set of senses and a body of
that substance, all these acquired bodies, and all these planes of
consciousness being continually with him, re-acting upon him in the body as he
acts upon them. Each physical life comprises but a very small portion of all
the vast reservoir of experiences of the past, which as we push forward we help
to re-open very hurriedly.
There is an aphorism which says that Karma
may be retarded by certain actions, and that it may also be hastened; that it
is hastened by the power of a vow. So, when the individual pledges himself to
go forward, to reach further and further into his true spiritual nature, he
brings Karma to pass which would not come, perhaps, for many lives in the
ordinary course; he awakens all the
denizens about him - elemental forces, tendencies, germs - which are awaiting
their fruition. By bringing them into operation, by bringing new powers into
action, he meets his Karma more hastily; he sets loose a very real force.
So, the “Dweller on the Threshold” is a
very real thing, and something which we all must meet, whether we begin now or
wait for a thousand incarnations. We cannot do other than pass that way - over
the threshold of the accumulated evil of the past. For it is absolutely
impossible for any man to escape his Karma. Each within his own sphere he
dwells. Around him are all those effects produced by himself in past ages, as
well as in the present, and until he breaks through that evil with which he has
surrounded himself, he can never have that power which belongs to sages and to
saviors; the strength and power of his motives must be tested thoroughly before
he can emerge into the higher zones of his being.
Now, there came into the world in this
very generation the great philosophy of Theosophy, brought and given by those
who knew it. As soon as those to whom
it was given began to study, to try to force themselves along the path trodden
by all sages, the Dweller on the threshold of the time was awakened. Many, many
have been the failures in the name of Theosophy. The great science has been
mutilated in thousands of ways, so that the general public does not know that
there is an exact record left by Those who brought it. That knowledge exists;
the way to obtain the activity of the inner nature is right before us; the
doors are never closed to anyone; but, no one other than ourselves, however
powerful, can ever arouse the necessary action from within to take the step.
Each one must see the necessity for the
step; each step must be seen to be
the step by the one who takes it. The divine spark within the human breast
desires space in which to burn. It can not be cramped, or constrained. But we
do constrain it by thinking we are our physical bodies, by thinking we can be
saved by the efforts of others, by laying our sins on others, by believing
knowledge can be conferred upon us by others. These ideas are our dwellers, for
they stand in the way of our getting a true perception. Enmeshed in action and
reaction, we are unable to turn our minds in the true direction. The mission of
Theosophy was to arouse the real man from this sleep of ages, - a sleep in
which he dreams, acting with the powers of his own nature and creating shape
after shape; some dreams - nightmares, and none leading to the real goal. Not
until the divine spark within us has struck fire from the light of other lights
who have passed beyond our stages will we take the true step out of what is for
so many the valley of misery and death.
Our Dweller is about us all the time.
Everything which conflicts with good is an operation of that dweller.
Everything which prevents us from taking those steps which we can see would be
the better ones for us to take is a dweller. We have about us on every hand
influences from our fellow men which make it most difficult for us to take and
keep that step which in our better moments seems the very best. Their thoughts
and acts tend to reinforce our Dweller.
The greatest Dweller we have is doubt,
suspicion, fear, lack of faith. These are outward exhibitions of the Dweller,
and the first influences which we feel. These dwellers have to be conquered. We
must have absolute faith; absolute faith in our power to learn, and an
unbounded confidence in that which is being taught us. For, if we are told that
there is a science of life, a knowledge of all the laws of life, is there any
pursuit more worthwhile than finding out whether the statement is a truth or
lie? Surely, there is none. In a few years this small physical life will be
gone. What will we have learned from it; how shall we have profited by it?
Shall we overcome enough of the Dweller now to enable us to take the step with
greater force in the future, or shall we drift and accumulate those forces
which forever stand in our way until we take the step? The whole of humanity
will be driven to it someday, if only after aeons and aeons of suffering from
wrong courses taken.
A wide and wonderful field is open to
every human being. All that he would like to know he may know. All that exist
before him as mysteries can be cleared up. All powers that reside in nature, in
every one of its departments, can be his; but, ONLY, when he sees that he is a
part of the great Whole; when he feels that never could he use a power of any
kind for any personal selfish purpose, but would lay all his possessions at the
feet of his fellow men, for their benefit;
ONLY then, can the best and highest in him operate.
Nothing selfish, nothing related to the
mere body, or its preservation, or one’s comfort, or the pursuits of one’s own
desires can ever open the doors; nothing but the determination to go forward,
to become one of Nature’s saviors, to work for the progress of all beings in
the universe will open the doors. No creed will save us. No belief will save
us; no mere being good from our own personal point of view; no reforming from
this, that, or the other thing in order to be “saved”. Nothing but a knowledge
of our own natures and the determining to put that knowledge into active
practical use for the benefit of others, not ourselves; ONLY that will kindle
the flame that now burns so dimly while we are in the body.
The “Dweller on the Threshold” is with us.
Shall we break away, break through that plane where he dwells? [2] Can we be determined enough to go
through all those trials that must be ours by our thought and action of the
past, and all those which our fellow men have placed about us? Are we strong
enough to take the step?
NOTES:
[1] “In
the center of a circle”, id est, in
the center of his own aura. (CCA)
[2] And
since escaping is no solution, will we also look at the Dweller directly from
the firm and fiery territory of sacred wisdom, until the Dweller of Ignorance dissolves
itself and ceases to be - as far we are concerned? (CCA)
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The above text was published at this website on 09 July 2018.
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Read in our associated websites the articles “Resistance to Change in Theosophy” and “Helena Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism”.
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