Lessons from a Walk With the “Old Man”
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Not to complain about life, not to complain about circumstances, and not to complain about oneself: these are three rules along the way to self-knowledge.
Not to get euphoric about life, not to get euphoric about circumstances, and not to be euphoric about oneself; these are other basic rules.
One seventh idea is:
“To adopt clear and noble goals and to calmly work for them, expecting no short term results and looking at a wide horizon.”
These seven procedures yield good results in both short and long term.
They make us look at the world through the lens of moderation, of open-mindedness, discernment and objectivity.
One day in my childhood, as I walked with my father he noticed that I had my eyes focused a couple of meters ahead of me on the sidewalk. I was looking down, and he said:
“Look further ahead. Look upwards and into the horizon. Keep the nearest meters of sidewalk within your field of view, but look in the distance.”
I saw the advice was not limited to the physical world.
But it took me years to fully realize that as one has a clear and elevated goal which is not narrow or immediate, we don’t get too shaken by small and short term facts, however pleasant or unpleasant they may seem to be.
000
On the role of the esoteric movement in the ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in 2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist, the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
000