|
New Era Community (1926) - 179:
179. Let us imagine that you see a man doing harm who yet has a spark of psychic energy. You naturally will begin to speak to him about the better qualities of man, who is in the process of evolving. Your interlocutor, as it usually happens, will immediately agree with you without thinking it refers to himself. It would be of no avail to tell him that he is acting wrongly, but it is possible to say that his action does not follow the trend of evolution. It is not a matter of bad or good, it is only that his conduct is not goal-fitting, and therefore not practical. If your companion pretends to be a community member, the conversation becomes simpler. For then, as adherents of the community you may demand the guarding of the foundations of evolution. Even for breeding pigs there are required definite conditions of life. How then can a man who decides on achieving the social life remain in his former vulgar haunts? How can falsehood or cowardice live under the mask of cooperation? Agni Yoga (1929) - 669:
"I do not consider that thou hast acted wrongly in offering thy labor for the use of people unknown to thee." AUM (1936) - 453:
Someone has said, "Do not drive energies to the point of madness." Such a warning is not far from the truth. One can picture to oneself the frenzy of energies, wrongly overstrained, broken and abused. In such chaos is it possible for the heart not to be atremble? Brotherhood (1937) - 456:
456. Not only non-conformity of old and new, of inner and outer but also different understanding of the simplest words is an obstacle to the consolidation of progress. Do not consider it strange when the simplest concepts are wrongly interpreted - there exists no unity of consciousness. In spite of beautiful solitary flights people will bog down in one swamp in the majority of cases. It is impossible to instruct them in the higher energies when their very way of life needs regulation. You have heard about a disastrous termination of an experiment with currents of high tension, and you have rightly understood that the cause lay in carelessness. The first success not only did not inculcate carefulness but, on the contrary, admitted negligence. There are many such examples. Often it is impossible to bestow success, because it proves to be a dangerous plaything in foolish hands. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 90:
We are not fortune tellers, We are not avengers, We are not oppressors; We are the Weavers of Wings, the Forgers of Shields, the Guides of Thought. It must be understood, however, that this complex energy requires careful application, for calamities can be provoked if it is applied wrongly. We have given you an example of how incarnations can be visualized, but at the expense of the eyesight. In working with Us the power of the Heart must be applied, not by forcing, but by the most natural striving, which must underlie the foundations of one's whole life. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 177:
We remind you that when the disciples doubted the power of the Teacher, they immediately received a shock, which they wrongly interpreted as fate. What kind of fate is it when man himself severs the salutary bond! Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 222:
Many examples can also be cited of how people have distorted the essence of the Teaching, because words have different meanings in different languages. There have always been innumerable dialects, with even neighboring clans using their own idioms. In the past there were also so-called sacred languages, which were used by the priests and hierophants. Certain sacred words infiltrated the popular language and were wrongly used. In that way, the breakdown of languages has taken place in all centuries. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 255:
But who is strong enough to bring back the former weak currents when the river is already overflowing its banks? Indeed, the new rhythm is tiring for those who are unable to accept it. An unassimilated rhythm can even become destructive. Uncontrolled gases can be deadly. A technique wrongly applied can cause calamities, and many dangers have arisen because of ignorance. Nevertheless, the new rhythm has already entered life, and people cannot ignore the new conditions that are flooding it. Returning to the past is impossible, and one must harmonize oneself with the new conditions. For that purpose, people should pay attention to the humanities, and the art of thinking must be revived.
|