An Inner Equilibrium
Which
Cannot Be Shaken
by Personal Emotion
John Garrigues
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The following
article was first published
anonymously at “Theosophy” magazine,
pp.362-363. An analysis of its style and
contents shows
it was written by Mr. Garrigues.
(C. C. A.)
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There seems to
be no end to the reiteration by the Wise of the fact that the quiet spot must
be found and at last held under all circumstances. One must attain an
equilibrium that cannot be shaken by personal emotion; one must be ready to say
under whatever circumstances, whether expected or unexpected, “This
is just in fact what I desired”; one must accept Law in full and not in partial
or divided application.
In the very
nature of growth, a long time is required, even after the earnest student is
familiar with the written text, for the veils to lift on its true meanings. The
still lingering virus of the vicarious atonement idea deludes him into thinking
that in some mysterious way the knowing mentally of the text will save him. He
does not grasp that it is only in hourly application to daily living, the true
meaning will become revealed.
He has studied the devotional books from cover to
cover, knows them in fact “by heart” - yet to him they are hidden in their
essential meaning; their secret intention escapes him. Only by the gradual
strengthening of the will through repeated and persistent attempts at partial
application, does he come at last to realize that the application must
be in full. Else, he but the more solidly buttresses that part of his nature
which he does not subject to the Great Law.
The one thing to be striven for is calm or steadiness
if ever we are to be factors for good - agents
for righteousness. We know that. And we begin the seemingly endless and
hopeless quest for that quiet spot where unity is. Through thousands of
failures we continue the search. That unshakable place of peace - does it exist
for every Pilgrim? We become so blinded by our failures that, unconsciously, we
come to believe it to be but for the few, or if for ourselves, only in the far
vistas of the future. Not now is it for us. Greater shocks come to awaken us
from the sleep of this error. We are forced to find that imperishable place or
be cast away to another, a lesser opportunity.
Yet we are aware that there are Those who have
attained; Those who can stand through any shock, and have so stood though nations
fell; Those who have not left us when their attainment was complete. Bearing
the Message of their Journey They come, presenting it not as their own but as
the work of the Great Ones to whom They eternally point. The while They stand
as examples of what They bring, the mongering world accepts the Message
and rejects the Messenger. The student still expects by some miracle not to
comply with all the conditions. He wishes to select his own.
It is only when driven to the confines of despair that
he finds he must turn, for he cannot escape Life. He has to face Life itself.
If then, it must be faced, it were better to face it squarely. So resolved,
half the burden falls from him, and he has found the strength to face his lower
self. Confronting it now, it does not terrorize him, for he knows it to be his
own. He faces it under the aspect of Law - the Sweet Law of Alaya’s
Self-returning Harmony. In the midst of the clangor and the din, he knows that
immediately beyond lies the sweet peace of life and a purified understanding.
If the struggle seems almost unendurable, he may know that the same Good Law
that brought the struggle will equally bring the compensation for effort made.
In the stead of constant poniard thrusts of
resentment into the deep heart of his new life; in the stead of tidal
rebellions that sweep and waste and pillage the garnered high moments of the
soul, he holds the resolution to suffer or enjoy whatever is the Will of the
One Life - in reality his own and only
true will. Making this will his will, he has the force of every Master of
Beneficence abiding unseparate and unapart in him. He no longer struggles
against any conditions; he works with them. With this resolution reaffirmed
from moment to moment until it becomes continuous, he comes to feel gratitude -
in which there is no gratulation - that after resignation is contentment,
satisfaction, knowledge; that back of all lies the Ocean of Self; that behind
all the emotions and sensations of what we call life, there is that still deep
current of Real Life or Love, of which they are but obscurations.
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