The Law of Equilibrium Guides the
Boundless Movement of the Universe
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
The perfect balance of Justice includes movement
* Justice is an eternally creative force, not a mechanistic condition.
* As soon as we published a photo with scales protecting our blue planet – a symbol of the law of universal justice that guides all life – a friendly reader commented with a single question: “Are the scales in your photo balanced?”. To this we answered: “Yes, they are. However, one should not forget that Justice is always dynamic, being a regenerative action, not a static condition.”
* The Law of Equilibrium presides over an eternal movement across the Cosmos, a constant work of balancing life, like in the act of riding a bicycle. The perfect equity of right proportion flows in life in unison with the boundless movement of the universe.
The Use of Formal Regulations
* No amount of laws and regulations can replace the tacit and unwritten levels of mutual good will. Ultimately no social contract can be put into words. It must be a common feeling, a shared moral value.
* “When laws are intricate and punishments severe”, says Laotse in the “Wen-tzu”, chapter 87, “then the people become devious”. And the sage adds: “When prohibitions are many, little gets done.” While laws are important, good-will and the common decision to have respect for the Spirit of the laws are central and decisive factors. When people wish to take advantage of subtleties to act with dishonesty without formally breaking the law, regulations have to become exhaustive, detailed and too complex.
* Obeying the law and sharing its spirit regardless of its imperfections is the first step out of painful complications, for chaos is no good. The second step is to produce a stronger “legal consciousness” in the whole community, as Ivan A. Il’in writes: an inner sense of duty regarding basic laws and common good. It then becomes easier to take the third step, which is making sure that the laws are simple, just, intelligible and strong.
* Victory depends on acknowledging one simple fact: that effective laws need morality and “legal consciousness”. In other words, ethics sustains society, and ethics must be taught by example.
The Day the Axe Came Into the Forest
* An ancient Turkish proverb says that when the Axe came into the Forest, the trees commented: “The handle is one of us.” The adage has a profound meaning. The wooden handle of the axe seems to say something to the woodcutter who fells trees. The apparent message is that he must act with moderation, for self-restraint leads to bliss. The forest supports everyone, if it is preserved – but there is no civilization without forests. [1]
Preserving the Origin and the Future
* The view we have of our origins is one of the main factors in the formation of our attitude regarding the future. A narrow or shallow view of the past causes a precarious understanding of that which is yet to come. A bright view of one’s origin inspires a luminous future.
* The balance between the view of the past and the nature of future is an aspect of the Law of Karma. Such an equilibrium is present on all levels of life, both individually and collectively. The view that a country has of its past secretly determines the future of the nation, because it defines the nature of the actions in the present.
* Love and respect for our past enables us to work for a better future. When someone sees his origin as a process involving more than one incarnation of his spiritual soul and including therefore higher levels of consciousness, then the future of the individual becomes much wider and deeper.
* The view that a theosophical lodge has of its origins and of the lineage to which it belongs is a decisive factor in the source of legitimacy and higher magnetism of the association. Founded in 2016, the Independent Lodge of Theosophists, for instance, has adopted as an important part of its origin and patrimony the life-example and the writings of the Viscount de Figanière (1827-1908). [2]
* In one’s family and any other aspect of life, a spiritual view of the past is inseparable from a spiritual understanding of the present, and establishes the spiritual substance and structure of the future.
NOTES:
[1] See “The Prayer of the Woods”.
[2] Largely forgotten since the beginning of the 20th century, Figanière was a personal friend and disciple of Helena Blavatsky. He is the author of various classical books and of articles published by Blavatsky in the magazines she edited. Figanière also happened to live for years in Russia in a house belonging to Blavatsky’s family. As to the origins of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists, read also “Studies in the Pre-History of the ILT” (The Aquarian Theosophist, July 2021 edition.)
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The above article was published as an independent item in the associated websites on 26 July 2022. An initial version of it – with no indication as to the name of the author – is part of the August 2020 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 04-06.
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See the text “Profile of the Independent Lodge”.
Read other writings of Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.
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