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Dear Friends,
Revelation is such a constant process that often we don't realise
its unfoldment and we think, through habit, that "nothing
really changes" or "human nature will never change".
It is easy to become so trapped in the sameness and coherence
of an idea, thoughtform or moment in time that we momentarily
lose touch with the dynamic, relentless and inexorable emergence
of reality. Human nature - it is true - may not change but
our realisation of the full potential of that nature is continuously
expanding and is changing both our expression of it in the world
and our sense of who we are, our identity.
The following words spoken over the opening scenes of the
movie, "Love Actually", speak simply but with revelatory
power if we are sensitive to their significance: "When I
get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals
gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion is starting to make
out that we live in a world of hatred and greed. But I don't
see that. It seems to me love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly
dignified or newsworthy - but it's always there. Father and son;
mother and daughter; husbands and wives; boyfriends and girlfriends;
old friends. When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I
know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages
of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look
for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually
is all around."
In dealing with the day to day events of our lives, habit
can leave us imprisoned and powerless in the grip of limiting
thoughtforms. We can become locked behind old goals and objectives
that have long been surpassed by a greater human understanding
- if we could but realise it. The Tibetan Master addresses this
issue with a disciple in this extract from some personal instructions:
"Your understanding is not deep enough. That which is
academic and the result of reading, listening … is apt to
take the place of true understanding.
Your theories, your ideals, your fixed beliefs come between
you and humanity as a whole, and the good of the form side of
life looms unduly large in your attitude to service. You are
under the glamour of idealism, apt to sacrifice the spirit of
love in order to preserve the form of your ideal. … Ideals
must go as they are now formulated because we are entering into
a new age wherein all things will become new. They can safely
be relinquished when their place is taken by a real soul love
for humanity - inclusive, sane and practical. Ideals are formulations
by the human mind. The (Spiritual) Hierarchy has no ideals. The
Hierarchy is simply a channel for pure love and where love exists
there is no danger of harshness, of cruelty, of misunderstanding,
of evasion of facts or of harmfulness. Much also that many regard
as harmless is definitely harmful in its general effects. Ideals,
as usually held, feed pride, lead to stubbornness, and engender
a separative superiority; they produce impractical attitudes
and negative activities. The one who thus holds them frequently
serves only in the limited field, conditioned by his chosen work
and coloured by his idealism. He excludes the Whole and
thinks in terms of the past and as he wants to think. There is
no real understanding of an opposing idealism and often no real
attempt to comprehend its basis. His emphasis upon his own ideals
(in his own consciousness even when not imposed on others) prevents
understanding, and he is so busy upholding and defending them
(oft again to himself) and being conditioned by them that the
larger human issues escape his attention. He settles down within
the limits of his own beliefs. This makes him immediately a theologian
and his usefulness then rapidly evaporates, except in the intimate
circle of his fellow idealists. As time goes on crystallisation
takes place. A "crystal barrier" is set up between
the personality and the soul. The soul is seen but its influence
is insulated. But - because there is a vision of the soul persisting
- the disciple is deeply dissatisfied. The crystallisation eventually
affects all aspects of the nature. Emotions settle into "grooves
of crystal"; the mind becomes set and brittle. The physical
body crystallises also and gets old rapidly because there is
no free flow of life.
Can you grasp this vision and let everything go? … Be not
satisfied with your mental activity and your dedicated idealism.
Reach beyond them to the soul whose nature is love and whose
identification is with humanity and not with a school of thought
or a group of ideals.
You stand at the parting of the ways, my brother. Will you come
on to renewed service, to new ideals, and to a fresh cycle of
creative living? Or will you settle down into a crystallised
condition and to an ardent struggle to become creative and to
express ideals which are perhaps already superseded in order
to make room for better and higher ones. Thus you might stand
still within the aura of that which is old and make no further
progress, waking up later to the realisation that creative living
is a spontaneous happening and that your ideals have been superseded
by greater and more spiritual ones."
In a court of law part of the preparation for witnesses is
the swearing of an oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth". We have often seen how the "truth"
can vary from one witness to another even though the same event
is in focus. Truth may be absolute but our interpretation of
it changes according to the breadth of our vision and the depth
of our understanding. At any single moment in time there is always
a larger whole, always more to understand. And this is a promise
of destiny to be fulfilled not a failure of achievement to date.
The "goal posts" are always moving but only
as we transition from an individual identity to an identification
with the whole of life and so dedicate our life energy to the
purpose for which we came into being.
The consequent sense of divine proportion then places every
act and every form in relation to the whole so that Life expresses.
Limitation does not exist in consciousness and is only temporary
in form. There are no limits in reality - only an immense freedom
we have only just begun to explore. The Tibetan points the way
to a future, assured and boundless:
"The instruction is intended for a group which will come
later and will prepare the way, and of which some of the more
advanced aspirants can form part if they "walk humbly with
their God". This is one of the most advanced injunctions
in any of the world Scriptures and is found in The Bible.
It has no reference to humility as usually interpreted and understood.
It signifies the ability to view all life with a sense of divine
proportion and from the angle of spiritual mathematics, and …
with no sense of dualism. … It involves acceptance and comprehension
of purpose, and this in such a manner that the consecrated personality
- under control of (Spirit) … and in cooperation with the
one known God - walks the ways of Earth as a channel for the
three divine qualities (love, will and intelligence), but also
as a channel for that which these three qualities will enable
him later to sense, know and reveal.
These are solemn and important statements. They have within
them the element of prophecy … It is related to an active
Appearance which will, under the law of Synthesis, indicate That
which the three great planetary centres of divine life are unitedly
intended to reveal. Something lies behind the three divine aspects
of so great an importance, beauty and revelatory strength that
all the happenings of all time, up to the present emerging Aquarian
Age, have been only the initial and initiatory preparation."
This puts the full potential of human nature into its true
significance. When humanity (as a centre for intelligent activity)
identifies with its soul (which is love) and then becomes immersed
in divine purpose (which is will) then these three qualities
become the qualities of the one Life in expression. In
time and space there is always an initiation into a newer, greater
sense of life. As with the pivotal opening statement from "Love
Actually", it is simple but stupendous in impact.
"(He) has become soul conscious, and is therefore an
initiate … Initiation is, in the last analysis, the realisation,
the recognition in the brain consciousness of various spheres
and states of divine awareness, with a consequent life demonstration
of this fact, this eternal fact. Because of this the man thinks
only in group terms and does this automatically and without any
consciousness that he is so doing; he expresses this group integrity
simply as part of his nature, just as in the personality stage
and during the elapsing eons since individualisation, he has
thought only and naturally in terms of the separated self.
As long as a person makes a conscious effort to be group-conscious
and has to train and discipline himself to work in group formation
and as part of a group, he is still centred in the personality.
This personality expression may be of an exceedingly high order
and the aspirant or disciple may be the highest kind of selfless
person, but true group living is as yet not present. The transition
stage is most difficult and oft bewildering; … The disciple
reacts to group conditions and group problems; he tunes in with
facility on the consciousness of those in the group; he is aware
of group reactions and aspirations, but he is still himself;
he is still passing through a stage of inner adjustment to a
state of being and of awareness for which all past relationships
have provided no guiding precedent. The group and the group personnel
which are capable of adjustment … have become so merged
with the soul (within themselves and within all other selves)
that the situation is reversed. It would now be an effort for
such people to think and act as personalities … When this
stage of centralisation is achieved, then the group can begin
to reveal the hidden mystery."
Such is the destiny with which we are engaged through time,
through dimension and throughout our Earth. |
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