As
One Sees the Dynamic Unity
of
All Things, Selfishness Disappears
Carlos
Cardoso Aveline
* Real life unfolds outside and beneath all noise. In
order to better understand the world, one must set apart a time every day to be
in silence, to directly experience quietness and dwell in its substance, to say
nothing and think not. By being no-body, we live.
* As you learn more, you possess less. The more your
consciousness widens its horizon, the more you have your feet firmly put on the
ground. As the meaning of wise words becomes clear, your love of silence
expands.
* Being eternal and universal, Theosophy encompasses
all situations and has something to say about every aspect of life. What it
says leads one’s mind to a wider perception of things; to a sense of
self-responsibility before the world; and to an unconditional respect for
truth, whether it is comfortable or uncomfortable.
* A truth-seeker must learn to deal with falsity. He
will have to struggle with his own illusions and with false collective notions.
He will perhaps meet more individuals who are weak in loyalty than sincere
persons. Hypocrites will seek for him with a friendly attitude and, since they
lie to themselves, they will lie to him. There is nothing personal in that. He will have to expand his ability to identify loyal
people, and this will be done by being loyal himself, and by being truthful. An
ever finer discernment will come to him as he tries his best decade after
decade.
* In esoteric circles, it is rather easy to see people
trying to harvest something before sowing it, or instead of sowing it. Even those who try to sow often reject the idea of waiting for the germination of
the seeds or the development of the plant. For this reason the secret to
happiness is known by a Few: it consists in sowing before desiring to harvest,
and being in no hurry about the results. The key to life is in doing one’s best
and having respect for the rhythms of Karma.
* Everything in life consists of patterns of
vibration: and they are changeable. One may think he knows this or that person.
In fact, every individual has such a large number of potentialities in terms of
vibrational patterns, that it is wise not to presume one can entirely predict
the possibilities, the limitations, victories or decisions to be made by
others. One can try to control his own attitudes before life and circumstances,
and this is his duty before the Law.
* It is precisely the process of self-knowledge and
self-control that enables the pilgrim to know a little bit about life, and not
to presume to know too much about other persons.
* Those who work for the good of mankind can see that
human evolution is making good progress, and that the cycles of decay, moral
and social, and even cataclysms and catastrophes, are part of the long-term
learning process.
* Those who do not work for the good of mankind suffer
from a sort of myopia. They are short-sighted. They can only see selfish, small
things and issues. The classical philosophies of altruism offer a cure for that
disease, and no money is involved in the healing. The price to pay for the
healing is high, but it is not monetary. It consists of being profoundly
sincere with oneself, and with the others.
* Where is theosophy or divine wisdom to be found? It
cannot be found solely in words, in associations, in books or in the lives of
other human beings, although they all contain parts of it. Theosophy has to be
found mainly in one’s own heart, in the contemplation of the cosmos, and the
feeling of respect for each form of life.
* It is self-evident that every aspect of our
interaction with reality, including its physical dimensions, results from thought.
Thoughts and feelings enlighten action and give it direction. Our mental
attitude makes us have this or that interpretation of facts, physical or not.
Therefore the first and most practical, down-to-earth task for anyone who wants
to be happy is to think and feel in right and wise ways.
* In order to attain a higher level of communion with
other beings, one must face solitude. By giving up desires, we can better work
to deserve that which is desirable. When we abandon the illusion of being
“someone”, we start to live in the realm of transcendence. By being silent, we
are able to listen. The deeper the silence, the higher the level of the music
of life we can hear.
* One needs to be nothing, outwardly, in order to be
able to exist in the realm of enduring reality. It is necessary to cease to
listen to noise before being able to hear the music of inner life.
Powerlessness in the world gives us the ability to change life in meaningful
ways.
* The higher self gives us an essential point of view
from which to look at reality. A transcending peace presides over all beings.
* Injustice is rather short-lived, while blessing is
the substance of the future. Selfish people are drunk with illusion: the law of
life teaches altruism.
* Space envelops objects, just as silence surrounds
sounds, and eternity contains all kinds of chronological or successive time.
* Purpose gives things their meaning, making one learn
and evolve. The more experience one’s soul has, the higher the purpose adopted
by it. And as the purpose gets higher, the soul becomes humbler.
* All events are cyclic and nothing can be taken for
granted. Democracy, collective respect for Life and the truthfulness of
Journalists are three examples of that. The most obvious facts will sometimes
be seen with great surprise. All that people learn is forgotten and has to be
learned once more, hopefully with more effectiveness. Everything that is
conquered is lost, and must be attained again. One must be born every day.
* Hypocrisy tries to build artificial consensus. It manages
appearance, having no respect for real facts in themselves. Truthfulness
challenges politically organized consensus. It disrupts collective delusion.
The search for truth can only occur where there is utter sincerity, which is often
politically incorrect and “unpopular”. In the 21st century, humans are more and
more perceptive. No propaganda technique, however sophisticated, is able to
deceive them all the time. In the long term, honesty is popular, and falsehood
gets unmasked.
* Look beneath the surface of the “obstacles” and
“hardships” which you may have to face by now, and you will see the bliss of
life and of self-forgetfulness.
* There is no need to act like a spoiled child and
complain about your “destiny” and “karma”, as if karma were a bad thing. Karma
is more than mere justice. It is the way Life teaches you the law of harmony.
Your “karma” is the karma of mankind. It is the lesson you need to liberate
yourself from that part of your ignorance that is unnecessary already.
* Obstacles teach us discernment regarding right and
wrong. They help us get in unison with a transcending harmony. Sometimes the
difficulties of the path show us that the intended road is wrong and should be
abandoned. Other obstacles, even if they are hard to overcome, show us that the
road we chose is correct.
* Many a form of suffering loses its importance when
we get in harmony with the essential totality of life. Creativity, firmness,
perseverance, flexibility, self-purification and other assets result from
having to make an intense effort.
* The truth-seeker
who goes from one place to another and backwards according to the tide of the
moment does not even know where he is. The pilgrim must have a firm center if
he wants to see the circumference. By having a focus, one attains to a viewpoint
from which to examine Life.
* Each pilgrim must determine what is for him the
right Way to attain Wisdom. Before achieving his goal, he will have to clearly
define it, and establish a stable method to get there.
* The illusion of personal separateness is dissipated
by true self-knowledge. He who knows himself is aware of the fact that there is
nothing separate in our solar system.
* As one sees the dynamic unity of all things, selfishness
disappears and altruism is recognized as the way to happiness.
* While doing good to others we receive good. However,
in the present phase of human history, altruism brings mainly internal, not
external forms of happiness to the pilgrim. The path to a lasting happiness is a
path of external sacrifice and inner bliss.
* A wolf disguised as lamb is sweet and meek as long
as his interests prevail. For deceit and camouflage are part of war.
* Collective selfishness is shy. It uses to disguise
itself under the dress of kindness and love. When an individual seriously
questions organized hypocrisy, he is accused of being rude and inelegant. If
the defenders of political correctness see their false consensus being unmasked,
they leave elegance aside and get increasingly aggressive. They now call their
opponent “preposterous” and “unacceptable”, and demonize him in decreasingly
subtle ways. Their true nature, once hidden beneath social courtesy, becomes
visible.
* Hundreds of forms of emotional falsehood and tricks are
used in ways that involve the subconscious levels of mind. Citizens of good
will must observe them all in their full cycle. It typically starts with a
superficial kindness. That leads to a feeling of frustration, until aggression finally
emerges. However, hostility can remain disguised for quite some time.
* The ways of falsehood ought to be unmasked, discussed
and transcended during the study of philosophy, and hopefully also in family
life, among friends, in Politics and Sociology.
* That which flows outside, flows inside. The law of
analogy shows that illusion is both individual and collective. It is
simultaneously inner and external.
* One must get rid of illusion step by step, at all
levels at the same time. By knowing the workings of the lower self, the pilgrim
goes beyond it and learns how to live on the higher planes of peace and consciousness.
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The above article was published as an
independent text on 21 March 2019. An initial version of it, with no indication as to the name of the author,
is included in “The Aquarian Theosophist”, November 2016 edition, pp. 9-11.
A few short notes written by the same author and anonymously published in that
edition of “The Aquarian” were added to form “Thoughts Along the Road - 28”.
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