Whenever an Old Worldview Ceases to
Work, a New One is Being Built Already
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
As our awareness expands, we see more things and see them better
* Selflessness makes it possible to look at facts in honest ways. Altruism allows one to have a bird’s view, transcending the little corridors of narrow interests and aims. A broad horizon occurs as we soar in the sky of universal thought and endless time.
* If you seek for pleasant things in the short term and try to hide from difficulties, you must know that unpleasant facts will seek for you, and they will find you in due time.
* When someone seeks for the Causes of true happiness, an unconditional contentment finds the individual sooner or later; right discernment liberates him from many an illusion, and the light of eternal bliss starts to be known by him.
* Yoga is present in various forms in the threefold theosophical process of self-knowledge, self-control, and altruistic living. Experiencing Yoga in Theosophy is not merely a question of technique: it depends mainly on keeping an Ideal in mind. Progress will take place in natural ways as long as the practitioner studies the philosophy of universal wisdom and keeps before himself, night and day, the inner essence of what he learns.
* Whatever the amount of unethical deeds we may see in daily life, there is no need to believe they have real importance – as long as we remain away from their fetid influence.
* The choice for honesty is available to every citizen, any time. There is nothing mightier or higher than truth: acts of selfishness destroy themselves in due time, while pure life gets born again and again according to the Law.
* Leadership follows the law of cycles. Different countries lead our civilization for some time, before being replaced by other nations. Those who lose their ability to lead must develop a humble attitude before life.
* It is wise to pay attention to the process of the older nations existing on Earth. Their accumulated experience helps stabilize human evolution. Asia certainly has longer cycles of time than Western nations.
* When the responsible citizen decides to concentrate his mind upon a worthwhile spiritual object, he must know what to do regarding renewed distractions of any kind. To become insensitive is unfeasible, since true concentration needs an open mind. Detachment is the key: he must develop a quick way to examine new facts and leave aside anything meaningless. Factors of small importance may be accepted as minor elements in the mental landscape, as long as they do not question the central focus.
* As acts of violence and nuclear proliferation spread while the media chooses to ignore examples of kindness and optimism, a few things are worth remembering. When those who follow ethical principles become too few in a community or civilization, collective structures cease to work. If the number of sincere citizens expands, collective structures flourish and there is greater well-being. The end and the beginning can coexist: whenever an old worldview ceases to work, a new one is being built already.
* Worn-out unsustainable structures often disguise themselves in different appearances and try to be seen as “new”, while the healthy structures of the future may emerge under traditional forms and teach us lessons coming from antiquity. The building process of the next civilization is totally invisible to those who prefer being blind. However, it can be seen by the builders, and by those who have enough affinity with the Law of Life.
* As our awareness regarding facts expands, we see more things and see them better. And this will be challenging. Our consciousness must be organized so that it stands the pressure coming from the increased sensibility to external events.
* In the absence of self-control and self-discipline, an expanded consciousness inevitably implodes, loses discernment and becomes good for nothing.
* In theosophy, the inner firmness that sustains the perception of a wide horizon is tantamount to the process of Yoga. It means having basic principles that are permanent and stable, and which provide a correct structure, context and interpretation to the flow of incoming information.
* Higher knowledge occurs when one becomes a pupil of Silence. It results from a calm and constant self-discipline. Peace emerges under the sacred light of universal law.
* Our ability to see truth is a reflection of the spiritual substance in our soul. The greatest moments in human history are experienced as trivial facts by trivial minds. At the same time the smallest event can often be transformed in a great opportunity to do good, by an awakened individual.
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“Thoughts Along the Road – 38” was published as an independent text on 16 November 2019. An initial version of it, with no indication as to the name of the author, is included in “The Aquarian Theosophist”, September 2017 edition, pp. 5-6. A few short notes written by the same author and anonymously published in that edition of “The Aquarian” were added to form the article.
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