From the Center of His Spiritual Soul, the
Pilgrim Sees the Unity of All in the Universe
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
* The law of Karma expresses itself through the law of
cycles.
* While it is always the right time to plant good
seeds, their germination and the harvest of the fruits will have to take place
in the right timing and not when one might wish from a personal viewpoint.
* The decisions as to what exactly we plant, and how
we do that, should take into consideration the cyclic season during which the
planting goes on, and the karmic situation, or soil, where this is done.
* When the time comes for the harvesting work, one
must remember that this task is to be done with great calm and care, for the
harvest usually contains the seeds to be used in the next planting season.
* It is false to think that “everything is
impermanent”. Outward change, for instance, is eternal. The fundamental laws of
Nature are permanent. The succession of cycles is endlessly real, just as the
Ocean of Universal Life itself.
* The phrase “the voice of the silence” means that
whenever there is silence on some level of perception, the subtler sounds and
voices of higher levels can be heard. He who stops making noises to himself
becomes able to listen to the higher realms of Life.
* Everyone wants to have a stable existence, whose
roots are on permanent soil. Few are those who know that such roots and
foundations are only permanent when situated in the celestial consciousness of
one’s own higher self. The real Tree of Life has its soil in the infinite sky.
* Absolute justice is unavoidable: the Law of Karma
takes no bribes. It cannot be propitiated by prayers, or rituals, or verbal
repentance. No personal saviours will protect anyone from the consequences of
his actions. Each one should therefore examine his own degree of loyalty to
ethics and truth. Good deeds have consequences and sooner or later generous
thoughts fructify.
* When we are in the presence of that which is divine,
there is always peace within, even if the outward battle is intense. Whenever a
pilgrim gets emotionally uncomfortable, he must look for and recover the inner
presence of sacredness. The right kind of life can only be lived as a
probationary event which unfolds while one keeps in harmony with one’s
conscience. And that is the same as having peace.
* It is false to think that a theosophist has nothing
to do with political and social issues. Theosophy must enlighten every aspect of daily life,
individual and collective. It has to do that from within, so as to dismantle
illusions, which are predominantly external and short-term. Ethics,
self-restraint and self-responsibility are three major sources of healing in
all human activities.
* As the pilgrim discovers the higher pleasure of
contemplating universal Law and the harmony of the spheres and cycles, personal
questions will get tiresome to him. The contrast between higher, impersonal
states of mind and the lower world of human mediocrity and selfishness is
painful to him and even dangerous at times. Hence he has to develop the
consciousness and vigilance of a warrior, so as to avoid the traps created by
the contrast between different levels of consciousness.
* An impersonal view of life is no artificial
attitude. It has little to do with the world of appearance and social skills,
for it belongs to the higher self. There is an intermediate space in the bridge
between one’s spiritual soul and lower self. At this transitional area one
still has an individual self, and is responsible for it, and yet one is not limited
to this self any longer. One has already
an anonymous or universal self - indescribable, unlimited, eternal - and can
learn from it any time. In this region true impersonality is born.
* Life has its own dynamism, and it is not programmed
to obey to anyone’s expectations.
* It often occurs that individuals who seem to be
clever deceive themselves into thinking they can obtain real personal
advantages through lies and other forms of falsehood. Such an illusion takes
place because they are ethically and spiritually blind. They ignore the law of
karma and, as a result, can only see things in the short term. The first
results of dishonesty may be pleasant. When karma gets ripe enough, liars
finally see that they have no reason to congratulate themselves for their
attempt to be “too clever”.
* Both renunciation and loss make the pilgrim learn detachment.
Detachment leads him to freedom; freedom, to a higher order of acquisitions. However,
one’s duty and responsibility must be taken into account. If one wants to get
more distant from some particular situation and thus reduce one’s short term
active karma with it, one must do so while calculating the effects of the
expanded renunciation. The distancing must be ethically correct. It must respect
others and lead to a growth of the Inner life.
* The wheel of life includes karmic circles of
thoughts, emotions and actions. Higher ideas and feelings, as well as noble
deeds, are near the axis of the wheel, which corresponds to the Monad, the
spiritual soul, the higher self, or Atma. On the other hand, the lower thoughts
and emotions gravitate around the periphery of the Wheel, which is represented
by the physical world.
* As the mind of the pilgrim gets elevated, the Geometry
of his soul undergoes a subtle and fundamental change. The focus of his
consciousness goes away from the outer, noisy levels in the wheel of life. It
gets near the most stable center and axis of the soul, which is made of peace.
From such center, one can easily see the blessed unity of all in the universe.
* Whenever the pilgrim feels that time is not enough
for him to do all things he wants to, he must reexamine the way he has been
using time and his recent decisions regarding goals and planning.
* The search for wisdom is not a form of idle
day-dreaming. There is no use in wishing to do things that are not feasible,
while abandoning realistic projects which point to the right direction. Living
a contemplative life needs common sense: universal wisdom can be experienced
down on earth. Therefore, if someone has less time available than he desires,
he must ask himself how he is wasting time and energy right now. Maybe it is by
desiring too much, in a confused way.
* When time seems to be limited, one must focus one’s
energies instead of wasting them with useless oscillations. The eternal rhythm
exists here and now. If one’s goals are valid for the next 3,000 years, they
are valid in the short term, too.
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The above article was published as an
independent text on 21 October 2018. An initial version of it, with no indication as to the name of the author,
is included in the May 2016 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”.
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