Robert Crosbie – USA
There is only one Perceiver; the sights are modified by the channels through which the Perceiver looks. It is the same Soul in any and all modifications. The power of seeing is the Soul; the power of the Soul goes into the seeing, hence what It “sees” is to It real because seen; as sights each is a reality; but the nature of Soul is different from any and all “sights.”
The nature of Soul as unmodifiable must be grasped; then, each sight is perceived as a relativity and there is no more identification than we assume when we see the many thousands of things that are about us every day, unaffected, unless we concentrate upon them. We concentrate upon some things, automatically, through habitude; this automatic habit has to be gradually changed, and control substituted. It is to be effected by trying to do it, by keeping at it. The Mind as at present constituted is attracted or repelled by externalities, and the power of the Soul flows in the direction of concentration, be that long or short. Through the Mind, the Soul determines bad, good, better, best, on this or any plane. Mind has to be adjusted by knowledge of essential nature, of causes, and by analogies and correspondence. The views held in regard to existence constitute the Mind and direct the Soul’s energy in that relation.
There is just “Consciousness” and its “states,” which are conditioned consciousness. We speculate on conditions; we cannot on Consciousness itself, for we are that. We cannot find Ourselves in any kind or number of conditions, which are but pictures in the mind. “It is of this stairway that thou art the mirror and faithful climber” might mean climbing beyond conditions; is not that the “awakening of the Self” which the Upanishads speak of? A man in a dark room is conditioned by the darkness; in the open he is conditioned in other ways; but he is the same man. We must have knowledge in order to use power rightly, but we must know that we are neither knowledge nor power; they are ours; to imagine that we are any given knowledge or power is illusion. It might be said that there are two kinds of knowledge—knowledge of any and all conditions, and knowledge of the Self. Knowledge of the Self is beyond relativity; relativity cannot be known by relativity, but only by that which is beyond all relativity. “To blend thy Mind and Soul” is to make the Mind subservient to the purposes and Soul” is to make the Mind subservient to the purposes of Soul, an instrument for use, not a cage of relativities in which to imprison ourselves.
“No action from a true basis could proceed far in an erroneous direction” is right. Right basis is the compass; should wind or tide deflect the course, the compass is there to tell the story. We have many correct ideas in particulars, but forget the universal application of them. The fact that the Perceiver is One and Impartite, and that the “seeing” is looking directly on Ideas, is the basis of consideration. No idea is real, for on “looking” at it, motion is caused which spells “change.” The change is not so much in the object of vision, as in the mode of seeing. We are so liable to imagine that the change is external, and endeavor to adjust externalities to internal change—an eternal and ineffectual struggle. We seek one of the pair of opposites, instead of finding the basis of their unity, because of our desires.
Kama-loka means the plane or place of Desire. Doubt and Desire seem to go together; for wanting a thing implies the doubt of getting it, and intensity of doubt is expressed in fear. So Desire, Doubt, and Fear are the characteristics of the Kama-lokic state. I think we may have these about anything in life, and in accordance with our intensity attract similar energies from the Kama-lokic state, whether emanating from living or dead personalities. Lengthy periods of doubt and fear are more intensive than shorter ones in their drawing power and subsequent effects. We enter that current and receive from that plane so long as we hold on to it. But there is the other side—we can desire nothing for ourselves and determine to accept what comes. Events and conditions come and go, and no amount of desiring will prevent their coming or hinder their going. Taking this attitude, we live in the Eternal and watch the wheel of Progress called change with neither desire, fear nor doubt to assail us.
When we desire anything, the thing itself is not what we want, but the feeling that the thing gives us; if the thing gave us no “feeling,” we would not desire it. To do service is also “feeling,” but how different in its effects—beneficial instead of harmful reactions.
What will we do when we hear and see what is in Kama-loka? I think that when we arrive at that stage, we shall know we are looking at a condition, and will not be identified with it, unless we should choose to plunge into it in order to “feel” the state. Those in it know nothing but the desires and passions which animate them, think of nothing else; to them there is no other state....
“To abstain from condemning others” is a course to be continually striven for; it is vital. No two really act from the same basis of perception; how then can anyone judge? It should be granted that each one is trying to do his best—the best that he knows. His knowledge may be small, but if he strives to do the best he knows, his knowledge increases. For myself, I have an end in view in what I do; not my end, but something which includes many others—all if possible. Whether a temple is intended or a building for a saloon, similar work has to be performed; so actions are no safe basis to judge from. As students get to understand this in regard to each other, each in his degree, better results may be confidently expected. We credit each other with the best of motives and let it go at that; any other way leads to confusion and misunderstanding, hence to separative thought and action.
“What do people get ‘mad’ about?” I think, generally, at something another has done, or failed to do; or at some fancied slight. We feel annoyed at the circumstances, really, not the person; although we foolishly confuse the two. Now a thing done, is done; no amount of irritation can change it. What is needed is a consideration of what led up to the doing; this should be taken up as calmly as any other proposition. If someone annoys you or irritates you by manner or action, it is to be assumed that he is not doing it on purpose to annoy. Try to understand his viewpoint; examine the man’s machinery, just as you would a machine. Some people have been known to get mad at a machine, and feel destruction in regard to it; but where is the fault? The machine cannot learn anything; the man can, and needs to. The main trouble, I think, is that most people consider it perfectly proper to make their likes and dislikes a basis for action, everything being judged from that basis. This, of course, is altogether wrong, although very common. We are not called upon for judgment, but for right action; to act rightly ourselves, and by precept and example induce it in others. If we essay this task, it will at once appear that we cannot act rightly unless calmly. We have to cultivate Calmness under all circumstances. Calmness is like a rock; waves of irritation may dash at it, but cannot affect it; it can be attained by seeing the necessity for it, and by endeavor which is constant. It comes from “resting in the Real,” which is never moved, but moves all things, sees all, without being involved.
So if we take all these things as just our “tryouts,” we shall be able to get the right view of them, and the right attitude. These things in themselves do not matter; it does matter that we are unshaken. Of course, I am saying these things to myself, for you know them right well; only sometimes we forget and revert to habitude. But there is always that place which is never moved, to rest on and in. So with confidence in Them we go forward, and may Peace be ever ours.
From The Spirit in the Body”, Letter 17