Theos-Talk Archives (April 2001 Message tt00157)

Saturday, April 28, 2001

Extracts from LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED ME -- Letter: 8 --


By William Q. Judge

Volume 1 compiled by Jasper Niemand; Letter 8,

The Letters in Volume 1 originally appeared in The Path, December
1888 to March 1890. W. Q. Judge first published them in book form
in 1891,
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SOME EXTRACTS

>From Volume 1

"Seeking for freedom I go to that God who is the light of his own
thoughts. A man who knows him truly passes over death; there is
no other path to go." -- Upanishads

"We need a literature, not solely for highly intellectual
persons, but of a more simple character, which attempts to appeal
to ordinary common-sense minds who are really fainting for such
moral and mental assistance as is not reached by the more
pretentious works."

The experience of one student is, on the whole, the experience of
all. Details differ, however. Some are made more instantly rich
than others: they are those who
put forth more vigorous and generous effort; or they have a
Karmic store which brings aid.

Karma, or the law of spiritual action and reaction, decided this,
as it works on all the planes, physical, moral, mental,
psychical, and spiritual alike. Our Karma may be worked out on
any one of these planes when our life is chiefly concentrated
upon it.

The letters, in the hope that they may assist others, are here
published. They are hints given by one who knew that the first
need of a student is to learn how to think.

The true direction is pointed out, and the student is left to
clarify his own perceptions, to draw upon and enlarge his own
intuitions, and to develop, by his own inward exertions.
Such students have passed the point where their external
environment can affect their growth favorably. They may learn
from it, but the time has also come to resist it and turn to the
internal adjustment to higher relations only.

The brevity of these letters should not mislead. Every statement
in them is a statement of law. They point to causes of which life
is an effect. That life, arising from the action of Spirit in
Nature, is that which we must understand. It is to be manifested
within us before we can advance on the Path.


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Letter 8

Re: Meditation, Karma, Regret,

Dear Jasper:

I seize a few moments to acknowledge your letter.
This is a period of waiting, of silence. Nothing seems alive. All
oracles are silent. But the great clock of the Universe still
goes on, unheeding.

... I engaged in Meditation and received some benefit. I wished I
could see you to speak of it. Yet these things are too high for
words, and when we approach the subjects we are not able to give
expression to our thoughts.
We do not live up to our highest soul possibilities. All that
prevents our reaching up to the high thoughts of the far past is
our own weakness, and not the work of any other. How petty seem
the cares of this earth when we indulge in deep reflection; they
are then seen for what they are, and later on they are
obliterated.

It is true that the road to the "gods" is dark and difficult,
and, as you say, we get nothing from them at first call: we have
to call often. But we can on the way stop to look ahead, for no
matter how sombre or howsoever weak ourselves, the Spectator sees
it all and beckons to us, and whispers, "Be of good courage, for
I have prepared a place for you where you will be with me
forever." He is the Great Self; He is ourselves.
The Leaders of the world are always trying to aid us. May we pass
the clouds and see them ever. All our obstructions are of our own
making.
All our power is the storage of the past. That store we all must
have; who in this life feels it near is he who has in this life
directed his thoughts to the proper channel. That others do not
feel it is because they have lived but blindly. That you do not
feel it and see it more is because you have not yet directed all
your mental energies to it. This great root of Karmic energy can
be drawn upon by directing the fire of our minds in that
direction.

Towards Love of course is the right way; the Love of the Divine
and of all beings. If we feel that after all we are not yet
"Great Souls" who participate in the totality of those "Souls who
wait upon the gods," it need not cast us down: we arc waiting our
hour in hope. Let us wait patiently, in the silence which follows
all effort, knowing that thus Nature works, for in her periods of
obscuration she does naught where that obscuration lies, while
doubtless she and we too are then at work on other spheres.
That described by you is not the soul; it is only a partial
experience.

Did you know the Soul, then could you yourself reply to all those
questions, for all knowledge is there. In the soul is every
creature and every thought alike. That sinking down of your
thoughts to the center is practice. It can be done and we cannot
explain it; we can only say "do it." Still do not hunger to do
these things.
The first step in becoming is resignation.
RESIGNATION IS THE SURE, TRUE, AND ROYAL ROAD. Our subtle
motives, ever changing, elude us when we seek it. You are near to
it; it needs a great care. But while the body may be requiring
time to feel its full results, we can instantly change the
attitude of the mind.
After Resignation, follow (in their own order) Satisfaction,
Contentment, Knowledge. Anxiety to do these things is an
obscurant and deterrent. So try to acquire patient Resignation.

The lesson intended by the Karma of your present life is the
HIGHER PATIENCE. I can tell you nothing on this head; it is a
matter for self and practice. Throw away every wish to get the
power, and seek only for understanding of thyself. Insist on
carelessness. Assert to yourself that it is not of the slightest
consequence what you were yesterday, but in every moment strive
for that moment; the results will follow of themselves.

The Past! What is it? Nothing. Gone! Dismiss it.
You are the past of yourself. Therefore it concerns you not as
such. It only concerns you as you now are. In you, as now you
exist, lies all the past. So follow the Hindu maxim: "Regret
nothing; never be sorry; and cut all doubts with the sword of
spiritual knowledge."
Regret is productive only of error. I care not what I was, or
what any one was. I only look for what I am each moment. For as
each moment is and at once is not, it must follow that if we
think of the past we forget the present, and while we forget, the
moments fly by us, making more past. Then regret nothing, not
even the greatest follies of your life, for they are gone, and
you are to work in the present which is both past and future at
once.

So then, with that absolute knowledge that all your limitations
are due to Karma, past or in this life, and with a firm reliance
ever now upon Karma as the only judge, who will be good or bad as
you make it yourself, you can stand anything that may happen and
feel serene despite the occasional despondencies which all feel,
but which the light of Truth always dispels.
This verse always settles everything: -- "In him who knows that
all spiritual beings are the same in kind with the Supreme Being,
what room can there be for delusion and what room for sorrow when
he reflects upon THE UNITY OF SPIRIT?"
In all these inner experiences there are tides as well as in the
ocean. We rise and fall. Anon the gods descend, and then they
return to heaven. Do not think of getting them to descend, but
strive to raise yourself higher on the road down which they
periodically return, and thus get nearer to them, so that you
shall in fact receive their influences sooner than before.

Adios. May you ever feel the surge of the vast deeps that lie
beyond the heart's small ebb. Perhaps our comrades are coming
nearer. Who knows? But even if not, then we will wait; the sun
must burst some day from the clouds. This will keep us strong
while, in the company of the Dweller of the Threshold, we have
perforce to stare and sham awhile.
-- W.Q.J.


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Comments by J.N.

The "higher patience" alluded to also requires a care. It is the
fine line between pride and humility. Both are extremes and
mistakes; oscillations from one to the other are only a trifle
better.
How shall we be proud when we are so small? How dare we be humble
when we are so great? In both we blaspheme. But there is that
firm spot between the two which is the place "neither too high
nor too low" on which Krishna told Arjuna to sit; a spot of his
own.
It is the firm place which our faith has won from the world. On
it we are always to stand calmly, not overshadowed by any man
however great, because each of us contains the potentialities of
every other. "Not overshadowed" does not mean that we are not to
show reverence to those through whom the soul speaks.

It is the GREAT SOUL we reverence, and not the mortal clay. We
are to examine thoughtfully all that comes to us from such
persons, and all that comes to us from any source wearing the
aspect of truth, and try faithfully to see wherein it may be
true, laying it aside, if we fall, as fruit not ripe for us yet.
We are not to yield up our intuitions to any being, while we may
largely doubt our judgment at all times. We are not to act
without the inner asseveration, but we must not remain ignorant
of the serious difficulty of separating this intuitive voice from
the babble and prattle of fancy, desire, or pride.

If we are JUST TO OURSELVES we shall hold the balance evenly. How
can we be just to any other who are not just to ourselves? In the
Law a man suffers as much from injustice to himself as to
another; it matters not in whose interests he has opposed the
universal currents -- the Law only knows that he has tried to
deflect them by an injustice. It takes no account of persons nor
even of ignorance of the Law. It is an impartial, impersonal
force, only to be understood by the aid of the higher patience,
which at once dares all and endures all.


"NEVER REGRET ANYTHING." Regret is a thought, hence an energy.
If we turn its tide upon the past, it plays upon the seeds of
that past and vivifies them; it causes them to sprout and grow in
the ground of the mind: from thence to expression in action is
but a step. A child once said to me when I used the word
"Ghosts," "Hush! Don't think of them. What we think of always
happens." There are no impartial observers like children when
they think away from themselves.

-- J. N.

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