Observing the Sacredness of Daily Life
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
* Along the path to divine wisdom, one must identify, observe and eliminate subconscious forms of selfishness.
* By getting rid of pseudo-religious falsehoods and other forms of mental rubbish, we expand the feeling of respect for truth.
* An outward solitude comes together with the inner sense of togetherness regarding all beings and universal life.
* Appearances are deceitful. In fact, happiness results from altruism, and the opposite of altruism culminates in suffering.
* In the secret compass of one’s soul, the needle pointing to the North is a sense of impartial Justice for all.
* In theosophy as in life, one often speaks better with actions than with words. The enlightened word is modest, it is in harmony with actions, and it does not try to replace them.
* Don’t be naive. Remember that the more you walk along the path to wisdom, the more you are able to see illusion around you, and within yourself.
* Adopt as your own the highest ideal you know of, and then examine your daily life from its point of view. Have patience. Improvement cannot be sudden. Little by little one approaches the sacred goal.
* An occult osmosis inevitably takes place across the 24 hours of the day. Through it, everything we do, think and feel causes a direct and silent impact on the people and the situations that are important to us.[1]
* Quietism is no theosophy. Action and contemplation must go together. Karma Yoga, the practice of selfless action, protects the right practice of Jnana Yoga, the conscious perception of universal truths.
* Simplicity, detachment, vigilance and self-organization regarding the external aspects of life: these are four decisive factors. They enable us to transcend externalities in a responsible way and to develop a lasting contemplative practice.
* The wider one’s horizon, the more accurate one’s action. A long-term view allows us to be more effective here and now. Thus, while ill-informed people waste time, those who study Eternal Duration know that each minute counts.
* Before you say something of importance, you must decide in your heart to act accordingly, for part of your very soul accompanies your breath as you speak. Make sure, then, that when your words are tested by karma you will be ready to act as one who lives up to them.
* Patience and audacity, just as prudence and courage, are equally necessary along the path; and discernment, in order to know when to use one or the other, and how, and how much. By trying one’s best one learns many a lesson.
* In order to obtain serenity, it is necessary to develop a certain indifference regarding the superficial ups and downs of life around us. This is a natural process. It results from having a wide view of space and time.
* The key to mutual understanding is in self-knowledge. The primordial “other” in one’s psychological world is his higher self. Let him build a strong, truthful relation with his soul, and he will naturally have respect for himself, and for the others. By remembering it, we become more responsible regarding our feelings, thoughts and actions.
* Different moments bring us special opportunities to this or that form of right action. On the other hand, each and every instant is always the correct occasion for the practice of full attention, and for the calm listening of the wordless voice speaking from our conscience.
* Wisdom is about self-sacrifice. The search for personal “political” power is a symptom. It indicates that one’s relations to his immortal soul need improvement. The problem is only aggravated by trying to hide the love for power. Vanity, pride and illusion must be seen and confessed along the way to truth.
* Use your brain and think in advance. Build your whole life as a work of art, rather than as an endless succession of separated short time cycles, which will be then suddenly interrupted sometime, as if it were a surprise. The wise thing to do is to work on that which does not die, is not born, and crosses the ocean of time undisturbed.
* Detachment protects the pilgrim. Each stumble, however painful, brings us useful lessons along the path, and every moment of victory creates the possibility of some illusion. Wisdom comes from looking at victory with humbleness and facing defeat with a calm courage. It will be necessary to constantly renew your love for truth as you realize that the way to happiness is indeed steep and narrow, and surrounded by various kinds of make-believe.
* Each aspect of our view of things interacts with every other. Wishful thinking produces bad results. The comfortable acceptance of a falsehood in any department of life will distort one’s ability to see with clarity in all the other dimensions of reality. If one wants to attain wisdom and happiness, the courage to accept uncomfortable facts and learn from them is therefore essential.
* The uncertainties of outer life suggest that the individual must find stability in himself in the first place. This in time will enable him to see a sort of stability in the external world as well. The laws of nature operate at every level of consciousness. They are constant, and they preside over all levels and aspects of life.
* There is a sort of water that purifies physical objects, and another one that purifies the soul. Each step in the direction of sacred knowledge places severe tests before the student. As a result, the pilgrim is forced to regularly identify and fight new forms of ignorance in his consciousness, for life renews itself every minute, and wisdom includes detachment.
* Due to the law of symmetry every acquisition implies some sort of loss or renunciation. For every lesson one learns along the path to wisdom, there is an anti-lesson which one has to un-learn. Each new element of wisdom must eliminate, as it is adopted, at least one corresponding element of ignorance. [2]
* Better than using time in a casual way is to have clear priorities and to organize one’s agenda for the year, the day and the month. Our planning must be flexible enough so that we can deal with the unknown and the unexpected, and develop creative answers to new facts. An effective agenda is a living, on-going process.
* Mental and emotional purity as taught in Theosophy has nothing to do with the superstitious attitude of religious dogmatism, whose actual results are generally the opposite of what one desires. Purity of thoughts and feelings is a practical necessity for those who want to look at reality in a lucid way. Impure emotions distort mental perception. Purification is alchemical and profound. It is a synonym to concentration. It results from the impersonal, unselfish adoption of a clear-cut goal in life: the search for eternal wisdom.
* See your mortal soul or lower self as an occult book on which every action of yours is recorded for your spiritual soul to read about it. How worth reading is the book? How best to edit and proofread it, so that the higher self, your real Master, finds it more useful? Be vigilant: there can be no difference, or separation, between living and writing down your actions in the astral pages of the Book of Life.
NOTES:
[1] See in our websites the texts “The Process of Occult Osmosis” and “Telepathy, the Silent Conversation”.
[2] Read the article “The Law of Symmetry”, in our websites.
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An initial version of the above text was published in the June 2015 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”. It had no indication as to the name of the author.
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In September 2016, after a careful analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists, whose priorities include the building of a better future in the different dimensions of life.
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