The study and practice of the virtues is a vast science, containing many things of beauty and wonder for the seeker of the Way. If we approach it in the right manner the subject can open up to reveal the pivotal part they play ‘in the mingled yarn’ of material life, as well as on the spiritual path that leads us home. And though he may appear knowledgeable, the seeker of Truth who doesn’t appreciate the importance of the virtues will fail in his search. Continue reading
Tag Archives: seeking the light
Big Daddy and Number One Son
Each fully developed virtue is like a beautiful jewel. Many of our brightest may still lie hidden, still to be mined; or perhaps mined, but still to be cut, or polished and set. These are the latent powers of our inner light, of which most of us are as yet only partly conscious, if at all. They are the unique qualities inherent in our true and higher Self. They develop within, and shine out from, the central awareness of the master within.
However, introspection also reveals a lower side to human nature: a self of unruly lower desires, compulsions, restrictions and a whole host of unhealthy and potentially destructive states of mind. This lower self is the counterpart of the higher, and presents us with the hard lessons we have to learn in order for us to progress along our path of return. Continue reading
Trust in God
We commonly define articles of faith as the set of doctrines a person or a group holds to be true. In a religious context we sometimes refer to believers as members of the Anglican faith or the Hindu faith, for example. Faith in this sense expresses our deeply held belief in the teachings of our religion accepted by us as true despite the impossibility of ‘proving’ them to the satisfaction of the unbeliever or the purely material thinker. We take on trust that they are true because our intuition tells us that they are. At its best our faith constitutes the substance and the evidence of those truths which our material reason cannot fully know, but we believe because they have been revealed to a higher part of our nature. St Paul’s definition is as good as any:
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. (Hebrews)
The subject is an important one. Reflecting sincerely on our own faith helps us to a better understanding of who we really are and where we truly belong. However, important as it is, this aspect of faith is not the main subject of this article. For the ancient mystical traditions recognise a hidden power in faith which no seeker of truth can afford to ignore; for those who do not gain a measure of it will never travel far along the mystic path. Although it has been alluded to in many different ways in the past, we refer to it here as ‘Trust in God’. Continue reading
The Master Within
In the ultra-materialistic West many of us have the sense that our normal everyday lives seem disconnected from anything we might consider spiritual. However even here and now there are those who feel an ‘inner something’ drawing them to look further and deeper into the spiritual side of things. There has never been a time when men and women have not been aware of this ‘something within’. Though the terminology varies, all the leading religions, spiritual philosophies and traditions have something to say about it.
The mystical traditions in particular speak of those who have experienced contact or even union with the spirit of God within themselves. Some traditions identify this inner spirit with the higher self, the real individual ego. We can read of the great mystics who’ve been ‘gathered up to God in a cloud of light’, or of those inspired seers, illuminated by the light within, who henceforth know wisdom and love beyond the measure of normal men. The ‘something within’ is often represented by the mystic traditions as a kind of junction with the divine, a mysterious spark from the fire of God. It is characterised here as the master within. Continue reading
Reincarnation and the Wheel of Rebirth
Abrahamic religions apart, beliefs about reincarnation are ancient and widespread across much of the world. However, even among those who believe in it there are also important disagreements. Not least of these concern the conditions the self may find itself in following the death of the physical body. It’s clear that the original teachings on this and related subjects have been variously distorted during their transmission from generation to generation and from culture to culture; and anyway, even if this was not the case, the truth of these things cannot be proved or disproved to the satisfaction of all. No complete agreement, even between believers, is possible.
In spite of this the best of the ancient teachings are clear. And while these brief notes can only provide a starting point for further study and reflection, the sincere seeker of the ancient way will find in them some of the important principles originally established for our benefit by great men many centuries beyond the reach of our historians. Continue reading
Inner Peace
There can be no more significant achievement than to gain a measure of inner peace. It is the foundation upon which is built all progress for all men and women. It’s almost impossible to exaggerate its importance for seekers. It is the master-key, the first, middle and final step. At all stages of the path to light, inner peace is both the way and the destination. Continue reading
The Steeply Slanting Ray
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A Ray penetrates the forest
Lead Kindly Light
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light on the path
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!