Theosophical Independence Vol. 7 - 2  April 2008           

 Transformation

  At this time of year we bear witness to the remarkable regenerative and transforming powers of nature. The human being is a microcosm of the macrocosm and possesses all the powers of nature potential in germ or in varying degrees of potency. Nature is revealing to us a great mystery of our being. We have the power to take the adverse conditions and experiences of our lives and transform them into knowledge that will lead us further on the path of enlightenment.  The negative experiences are viewed as obstacles by those unfamiliar with the doctrines of karma and reincarnation. However, since whatever difficulty faces us is the fruit of our own past negative action, all such experiences may be viewed as our teachers and are instructive if we know how to transform them into knowledge.

     “Great Sifter” is the name of the “Heart Doctrine,” O Disciple. The wheel of the Good Law moves swiftly on. It grinds by night and day. The worthless husks it drives from out the golden grain, the refuse from the flour. The hand of Karma guides the wheel; the revolutions mark the beating of the karmic heart. True knowledge is the flour, false learning is the husk. -The Voice of the Silence

  How can we prepare our minds to take adverse conditions with us onto the path of enlightenment? A first step would be to place the blame for our present conditions on the single source to which they belong. We are our own worst enemy. It is “I” who has failed to distinguish between friend and foe, between what is to be abandoned and what is to be embraced. It is “I” who makes the distinction between “self” and “others.” From this action all notions of separateness, all selfish motives, all angry feelings, and calamities arise. It is “I” who has rejected or accepted others depending on whether “I” considered them desirable or undesirable to my “self.” It is “I” who committed deception and deviousness towards others based on this judgment, thereby accumulating for myself negative karma.  It is “I” who has identified my “self” with this body and personality, who has become attached to this body and personality, and has used and abused others for its sake. It is this affliction of my heart, this disease of grasping for this “self” that is the enemy; that bears the blame and needs to be defeated by letting go of all self-centered thought, feeling and action.

  If we fail to see our selfishness as the enemy, no one, not even the Teachers, can help us. If we see our “self” as the enemy, when harms reach us, whether through nature or any being, they can be viewed as aides in our own battle with the lower self and its selfishness. They become powerful allies on our side and should be greeted with compassion rather than anger. However, this can only be done by regarding all beings as our teachers and friends, whether they realize it or not. How can we prepare the mind to cherish all beings?

  From the perspective of reincarnation and karma, we can consider that we have been in contact with other beings in the past. Those who bring us harm now may have been related to us or have known us in the past. They may have been parents, siblings, friends, companions, or co-workers. As such they may even have been kind and helpful to us in the past.  The harm they bring now is done out of ignorance and delusion, just as we have harmed others.

They are their own worst enemies and deserve our compassion for the kindness they have done us in the past and the suffering they will have to face in the future.  They are the unknowing agents of our own accumulated negative karma caused by our own selfishness in the past.  Ignorant of their own true natures, “they know not what they do,” and our past errors are the cause of their future suffering. For this they also deserve our compassion.  They are the unknowing teachers who bring us the opportunity to learn from our past mistakes. They are the unknowing friends in our search for enlightenment and in return our past mistakes will become obstacles for their future happiness. For this they deserve our compassion. This line of meditation should lead to an attitude of loving kindness and compassion for all beings. True knowledge is of loving deeds the child.

  The key to bring our adversities onto the path and transforming them into knowledge is recognition that the “self” - the lower personal grasping self – is the enemy, and “others” are our friends who bring us countless opportunities to transform adversity into wisdom.

from the writings of William Q. Judge

Contrasted with charity, which is love of our fellows, are all the possible virtues and acquirements. These are all nothing if charity be absent. Why? Because they die with the death of the uncharitable person; their value is naught, and that being is reborn without friend and without capacity.

  Shall those whom we now know or whom we are destined to know before this life ends be our friends or enemies, our aiders or obstructors in that coming life? And what will make them hostile or friendly to us then? Not what we shall say or do to and for them in the future life. For no man becomes your friend in a present life by reason of present acts alone. He was your friend, or you his, before in a previous life. Your present acts but revive the old friendship, renew the ancient obligation.

  Our future friends or enemies, then, are those who are with us and to be with us in the present. If they are those who now seem inimical, we make a grave mistake and only put off the day of reconciliation three more lives if we allow ourselves today to be deficient in charity for them. We are annoyed and hindered by those who actively oppose as well as others whose mere looks, temperament, and unconscious action fret and disturb us. Our code of justice to ourselves, often but petty personality, incites us to rebuke them, to criticise, to attack. It is a mistake for us to so act. Could we but glance ahead to next life, we would see these for whom we now have but scant charity crossing the plain of that life with ourselves and ever in our way, always hiding the light from us. But change our present attitude, and that new life to come would show these bores and partial enemies and obstructors helping us, aiding our every effort. For Karma may give them then greater opportunities than ourselves and better capacity.

  Is any Theosophist, who reflects on this, so foolish as to continue now, if he has the power to alter himself, a course that will breed a crop of thorns for his next life's reaping? We should continue our charity and kindness to our friends whom it is easy to wish to help, but for those whom we naturally dislike, who are our bores now, we ought to take especial pains to aid and carefully toward them cultivate a feeling of love and charity.

  What will you have? In the future life, enemies or friends?

     “Theosophical Independence”  is produced monthly by Associates of The United Lodge of Theosophists in Philadelphia.  Comments, questions and contributions for publication may be sent to The United Lodge of Theosophists, 1917 Walnut Street,   Philadelphia, PA  19103.

The contents of this newsletter are provided freely and anonymously.  It may be reproduced without permission.