The Daily Discipline of
Those Who Seek Wisdom
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
“Everyone who does
anything is criticized.”
(Donald J. Trump)
* Keeping your feet on the ground is as important as lifting your thoughts to the most abstract heaven. Expanding horizons is essential, but a practical view of things and a humble attitude before life are equally decisive.
* How does the expansion of consciousness take place in the daily life of a theosophical student? The conceptual perceptions which work through lineal reasoning can help us prepare the focus of attention for the spontaneous leap, or transmutation, towards the highest.
* On the upper levels of understanding, inductive and deductive reasoning may become like a pair of crutches which were useful during one’s convalescence, but are now unnecessary.
* Yet better than a symbolic idea of crutches is the image of an airplane’s wheels. The wheels make it possible for the airplane to connect to the soil. They seem useless as long as the aircraft is in the air. They become extraordinarily important as soon as the plane needs to touch the ground again.
* Sky and land complement each other, and every efficient aircraft is able to correctly move both in the air and on the ground.
* Likewise, the mind of the pilgrim whose Pedagogy is correct can do more than move on high levels and with high speed, without reasoning in a lineal way. It can also adequately move in some operations on the level of the material world, by using basic mental operations, moving slowly and sensibly observing the physical and emotional levels of life. The pilgrim’s task includes keeping a calm alertness while operating at different speeds and levels of consciousness. An experienced pilgrim intelligently combines silence and sound, movement and stillness, understanding and action.
Big Thinker and Small Thinker
* Frankness is of the essence. You must be truthful yourself, if you want to seek for truth. Sincere people have an affinity with Truth, and insincere persons do not. Such a basic principle applies to all aspects of life, and Donald Trump wrote:
* “Speak like a big thinker. Fear often closes people’s mouths when they want to speak. Get in the habit of speaking out in business meetings and social gatherings. Make sure you know what you want to say. Then speak loudly and clearly with the attitude that you have something important to say. Do not be afraid of what other people think. Remember, people are not as smart as you think they are or they think they are.” [1]
* According to the Mahatma Letters, nearly every truth-seeker is attacked from all sides. He will be ridiculed and despised by many. The “warrior of truth” has to confront and defeat the feelings of Doubt, Skepticism, Scorn, Ridicule, Envy and finally Temptation. [2] Honesty and discernment are among his main weapons.
* While Donald Trump usually does not adopt the outward style of a theosophist, he writes in this regard along the same lines as pointed out by the Master, and uses a metaphor of duels:
* “Everyone who does anything is criticized. Expect it. Listen to it. Then dismiss it. I’ve been criticized for everything I’ve ever done. I do not let it get to me. Like I said before, everyone goes after the fastest gun in the west. If you are on top you are naturally the target for all those small thinkers who love to criticize the big thinkers who make things happen. Do not let it stop you. Speak up and stand out.” [3]
Victory Along the Path
* The daily discipline of those who seek wisdom needs to be flexible and constantly adapt itself to the changing circumstances of outward life, so as to overcome the obstacles.
* The rhythm of one’s actions must be internally firm while keeping free from external rigidity.
* As long as there is a creative perseverance in his daily discipline, the pilgrim aims at goals which have four characteristics. 1) They are valuable. 2) They are durable. 3) They are stimulating. 4) They are challenging enough.
NOTES:
[1] “Think Big”, by Donald J. Trump and Bill Zanker, Harper Collins Publishers, 2007, 368 pp., see pp. 281-282.
[2] See Letter LXII, in The Mahatma Letters, pp. 351-352.
[3] “Think Big”, by Donald J. Trump and Bill Zanker, 2007, see same p. 282 as indicated in Note 1.
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The article “Thoughts Along the Road – 77” was published as an independent item on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists on 19 August 2024. An initial and smaller version of it is part of the December 2021 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 15-16.
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Read more:
* Other articles by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
* Some writings by Jean des Vignes Rouges.
* How to Build a Theosophical Lodge (by a Master of the Wisdom).
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Print the texts you study from the websites of the Independent Lodge. Reading on paper helps us attain a deeper view of philosophical texts. When studying a printed text, the reader can underline sentences and make handwritten comments in the margins that link the ideas to his personal reality.
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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.
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