Theos-Talk Archives (May 2003 Message tt00252)

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

RE Will

Dear Friends:

I notice the question:

"To develop spiritually, many sources say you must strengthen
your will, but many also say that you have to surrender your will
to a higher power. Which of these is correct? " ...


Let us look at this carefully.

Man's 7-fold constitution enters here as a matter of useful fact.
If we don't use it then we are very much "at sea." -- floating
and with no idea where land and safety are. It like being
up-stream in a canoe and having no paddle.

Spiritual knowledge gives us a sound basis of security because it
has been tested for ages. Can we acquire it? It comes from the
universal WISDOM of Atma-Buddhi. Atma-Buddhi in turn makes it
available to MANAS (our Higher Mind).

Manas in us is of two levels: the SPIRITUAL (Higher Manas - or
BUDDHI-MANAS), and the ephemeral, temporary, rather vague,
embodied brain-mind (Lower Manas - or KAMA-MANAS) which we use
when we are "awake."

Why is this second Manas (the Lower) so unreliable? Because it
is besieged by thousands of desires and hopes -- a few rational,
but most irrational. When we detect the hollowness and short
sightedness of the 2nd variety we discard them. But there are
some "Minds" who are caught by the glamour they project and then
they may adopt them, being unable to see that ultimately they
lead to frustration, selfishness and incompletion. Only those
that are spiritually based survive from life to life. We have to
learn to discriminate between the two.

Wishes, desires, passions, yens and hopes are based on the
psychic nature and they are unsteady and on the whole impotent
because of the ignorance that keeps them there.

Every human being has a built-in compass. He knows he exists.
He knows he has a Mind and he knows he can direct it. His
success at keeping it under control is variable. He knows there
are rules and laws of "right livelihood" -- called, generally:
'The Virtues." They are virtuous because they are spiritual and
have a deathless quality. They are the Powers and attributes of
our SPIRITUAL NATURE.

There are two levels of will. The one which is called the
"Spiritual Will" employs virtue always. The one which is called
stubbornness and uses the will to place the "personality" before
everything else is the "Lower Will." It is "low" because the
selfishness of its objectives abase and deform it.

Reviewing the question asked above. What is a trustworthy "higher
power?" How does one find and recognize it? Can this not be
done if we study and seek to understand what its nature might be?

There are lakes and springs in desert areas that are poisonous,
and which are shunned by animal and plant life. The thirsty
traveller heeds only his raging thirst, drinks and dies.

As for myself I am cautious and only offer my trust to those who
have proven their wisdom and their disinterested honesty and
fairness. Advice can be asked for. One of the criteria for
Spiritual advice is that it is free, universal and always offers
to be tested before being used. It does no violence nor does it
threaten with mystery or unproven warnings.

The phrase "surrender your will" is one that this often
misunderstood. As described above it is impossible to "surrender"
one's own spiritual will. It is an attribute of the immortal
SELF that makes us an individual.

The only "will" we could make inoperative is the lower will we
employ all the time in doing our daily work and duties when
"awake." If there is any damage as a result of such a "surrender"
it is to our "Personality." The personality is the temporary
body we now live in and act through. For example if we drink
alcohol or use drugs, we impair the ability of the Inner, higher
Self to control the outer man -- the personality. Free of
supervision our Personality becomes the playground of desire,
uncontrolled. In such a state horrors may be performed and words
spoken which we would never say otherwise.

Theosophy says: We have to decide if such a state is one we
would encourage.

----------------------

A Note on the quoted passage from CAN THE DOUBLE MURDER ? is at
the bottom of this note.
Best wishes,

Dallas

==========================


-----Original Message-----
From: Nisk
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 5:24 AM
To:
Subject: [bn-study] RE: REINCARNATION SUPPORTED -- Ocean Ch. .10

--------------------------------------


Subject: RE: REINCARNATION SUPPORTED -- Ocean Ch. .10
From: "Bet J.
Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 13:32:02 -0400


I have been reading the articles recommended by the Compiler at
Wisdom World, a
jewel encrusted oeuvre. It is my first thorough orientation to
the subject
matter. Relevant to this discussion, the following passage
ignited a chain
reaction within me:

THEOSOPHY, Vol. 88, Issue 3, March/April 2000
(Pages 119-125; Size: 14K)
FACETS OF INQUIRY
[Article number (8) in this Department]

"To develop spiritually, many sources say you must strengthen
your will, but many also say that you have to surrender your will
to a higher power. Which of these is correct? " ...


=========================================


They both are, correct that is, it is the order in which the
process is done. There is a logic to all this that seems to be
instinctive. Duality in our minds makes the question you ask.


Nonetheless, the teachings say, Thy Will be done, or to re-phrase
it into a question, my will or Thy Will be done? It is , by that
statement, a matter of choosing and , also, of discrimination. If
it is Thy Will, then it seems to be a matter of surrender. If it
is my will then it seems to be a matter of that which is
surrendered if we have chosen the first one.


0000000000000000000000000000===========00000000000000000000000


Excerpt taken from: Nightmare Tales by H. P. Blavatsky, "Can the
Double Murder?"

But the Frenchman had unwittingly raised subtle potencies of
Nature over
which he had no control. Furiously turning round, the girl struck
at him a blow
which would have killed him had he not avoided it by jumping
aside, receiving
but a severe scratch on the right arm. The poor man was
panic-stricken; climbing
with an extraordinary agility, for a man of his bulky form, on
the wall over
her, he fixed himself on it astride, and gathering the remnants
of his will
power, sent in her direction a series of passes. At the second,
the girl dropped
the weapon and remained motionless.

-------------------------------


DTB	As I understand it, we are dealing here with the power of
mesmerism debased and used by the manipulator -- through the
"professor" -- to direct the "sensitive" to commit a murder of
revenge.

The will employed was that of the "Gospoja."

It shows that the powers employed are colorless.

The Motive of the manipulator makes them "black," or "white."
She (the Gospoja) took advantage of the "professor's" power to
mesmerize, and of the "sensitive girl's" congenital weakness and
lack of self-control.

It is a wonderful description of powers and their use on the
invisible psychic plane. These two (psychic and spiritual) are
as different as 'day and night,' and the Spiritual is at the
antipodes of the "psychic" in terms of motive. Psychic powers,
when used are Black Magic.

DTB