Hi DjM,
I just wanted to thank you for your incredible advice. I am currently in a state where I am VERY confused with all the life lessons given in spiritual development books and other sources. But your "Six Essential Exercises" summarized the fundamentals of life's wisdom and love. I believe that one has to "psych" oneself up with this kind of vital information before they can even touch a foot to the simplest of spiritual or psychic work. The exercises and training for esoteric work can all come later, but something like the wisdom you gave can release tonnes of frusteration adn confusion later.
Thanks again! [;)]
makelight3
Wow! very good advice indeed, thankyou! [:D]
Ways to Inner Development – Six Essential Exercises
There is a universal cosmic rule that one must never forget: rhythm restores power. This is a basic esoteric principle. Most people today live lives completely devoid of regular rhythm, especially in terms of thinking and behavior. Those who allow the distractions of the outer world to take hold cannot avoid the dangers that the physical body would be exposed to during esoteric development because the forces of renewal are withdrawn. Consequently, we must work to introduce a rhythmic element into life. Naturally, we cannot arrange our days so that each day is exactly like every other. But at least we can pursue some activities regularly. Indeed, this is necessary for anyone who wants to develop on the esoteric path. For example, we should do certain meditation and concentration exercises at a deliberate time every morning. We can also bring rhythm into our lives if in the evening we review the events in reverse order. The more regularities we can introduce, so much the better. In this way, life exists in harmony with the laws of the world. Everything in the system of nature is rhythmic- the course of the Sun, the passing of the seasons, the cycle of day and night, and so on. Plants, too, grow rhythmically. True, the higher we go in the kingdom of nature, the less rhythm we find, but even in animals we can observe a certain rhythm: for example, they mate at regular times. Only human beings lead a chaotic life without rhythm; nature has deserted it.
Our task, therefore, is to deliberately infuse some rhythm into this chaotic life. And we have certain means available to us through which we can bring harmony and rhythm into our physical and etheric bodies. Both bodies then gradually develop rhythms that will self-regulate when the astral body withdraws. When they are forced out of their proper rhythm during the day, they will, on their own, regain the right kind of movement while at rest.
The means available consist of the following exercises. These practices must be done in addition to meditation:
1. Thought control. This means that, at least for a short time every day, you stop all sorts of thought from drifting through your mind; for a space of time you allow peace and tranquility to enter your thinking. You think a definite idea; place it in the center of your thinking; then you logically arrange your thoughts so that they are closely related to the original idea. Even if you do this for only a minute, it can be very important for the rhythm of the physical and etheric bodies.
2. Initiative in action. You must accomplish some act, however, trivial, that owes its origin to your own initiative; this is some task you have given yourself. Most actions are a response to your family circumstances, your education, your vocation, and so on. Consider how little arises from your own initiative. Consequently, you must spend a little time performing acts that derive only from yourself. They need not be important; very insignificant actions fulfil the same purpose.
3. Detachment, imperturbability. You must learn to regulate your emotions so that you arte not one moment up in the sky and the next down in the dumps. Those who refuse to do this for fear of losing their unconventionality or their artistic sensibility can never develop esoterically. Detachment, or imperturbability, means that you master yourself through the greatest joy and the deepest grief. Indeed, we become truly receptive to the world's joys and sorrows only when we do not enter them egoistically. The great artists owe their great achievements precisely to this detachment, because, through it, they have opened their eyes to subtle and inwardly significant impressions.
4. Impartiality or freedom from prejudice. This quality sees good in everything and looks for the positive element everywhere. For example, the following Persian legend is told of Christ Jesus. One day Christ Jesus saw a dead dog lying by the wayside; he stopped to look at the animal while those around him turned away in disgust. Then Jesus said: "What beautiful teeth the dog has!" In that hideous corpse he saw, not what was ugly or evil, but the beauty of the white teeth. If you can acquire this mood, you will look everywhere for the good and the positive- and you will find it everywhere. This has a powerful effect on the physicals and etheric bodies.
5. Faith. In the esoteric sense, faith implies something rather different than its ordinary meaning. During esoteric development, you must never allow you judgment of the future to be influenced by the past. In esoteric development you must exclude all that you have experienced thus far, so that you can meet each new experience with new faith. The esotericist must do this quite consciously. For instance, if someone where to come up to you and say that the church steeple is leaning at a forty-five degree angle, most people would say that this is impossible. Esotericists must always leave a way open for belief. They must go so far as to have faith in everything that happens in the world; otherwise their way to new experiences is barred. You must always remain open to new experiences. In this way, your physical and etheric bodies will assume a condition that may be likened to the contented mood of a setting hen.
6. Inner balance. Inner balance is a natural result of the other five qualities; it is gradually formed from the other five qualities. You must keep these six qualities in mind, grasp life, and advance gradually- like a proverb about drops of water wearing away a stone.
If one acquires higher powers through the artificial means of magic without applying all this, it will lead to no good. In ordinary life, the spiritual and the physical intermingle, somewhat like a blue and yellow liquid in a glass of water. Esoteric development sets in motion a process something like the work of a chemist who separates the two liquids. Similarly, soul and body are separated, and the benefits of the mingling are lost. Ordinary people are not subjected to the more extreme passions because the soul remains in close relation to the body. But as the result of the separation, the physical body, with all its attributes, may be left to itself, and this can lead to all sorts of excesses. Consequently, those who have embarked on esoteric development, but who have not taken care to cultivate the moral qualities, may manifest certain traits that, as ordinary people, they had long ago ceased to manifest. They may suddenly begin to lie, become vengeful or quick to anger- all sorts of characteristics that had been toned down may appear in a violent form. This can also happen to those who have neglected moral development and become unduly absorbed in the teachings of spiritual science.
Morality comes only at the culmination of a long striving for wisdom.