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A chapter from Henry Thomas
Hamblin's wonderful
book "The Life of the Spirit”: "There is a deep inner truth
which is
sometimes hinted at, but is never clearly and plainly expressed in
words.
It is a truth that is too deep for words or finite definitions.
It has
sometimes been spoken of as "achievement without effort." The
secret was known to Lao Tsze, and today it is engaging some of our
greatest
minds. But they will never solve it through the intellect, but
they may
do so through intuition. Intuition belongs to the same order as
this
so-called "achievement without effort". It no doubt belongs to
the world of four dimensions, or rather the consciousness of four or
many
dimensions. It belongs to the same order as those "happenings"
that we call miracles. What it really is is so far beyond us as
to make
our brain reel if we attempt to understand it intellectually. Although we cannot understand
it, we can, however,
know it, inwardly. By intuition, or an inward spiritual
revelation, we
can know and make contact with that which is entirely beyond the
greatest human
intellect. For instance, a simple unlearned person can know God
and
commune with Him inwardly through prayer, but what human intellect, no
matter
how profound, can understand Him? It is the same with the secret
of
effortless achievement, we may know how to use it and enjoy it, but we
can
never understand it intellectually. There is an inner Divine Order
which is the Reality
and is always present. Everything that is not Reality has to
disappear in
the face of Reality. As soon as we leave off striving and
resisting,
becoming sufficiently quiet and receptive, the Divine Order
appears. It
is the Reality and must appear as soon as we become quiet enough.
"In quietness ...shall be your strength." "Be still and
know that I am God." There is an inner realm of
quietness to which, when
we are sufficiently advanced, we may penetrate. The one who wrote
or
dictated the 91st Psalm knew all about it. But this inner secret
place of
calm is not only a place of safety, it also causes things to come to
pass, in
what we may truthfully call a miraculous manner. By miraculous we
mean
transcending ordinary physical and natural law. In order to make use of this
unknown law or power,
we have first to give up all effort, especially mental effort.
When we
are surrounded by every possible difficulty, trouble, complication and
confusion, if we give up our hopeless, fatiguing, wearying efforts, and
sit
down quietly and be still, thinking and knowing only God, letting
everything
else go, utterly and completely, then absolute stillness comes to the
soul, and
the peace which passeth all understanding possesses our minds. All that we have to do is just
to become quite
still and know God. We have not to do anything else. All
that is
necessary is to let go so completely that our mind becomes as placid as
a
motionless lake. Just as when a lake is quite still it reflects
perfectly
the surrounding beauty of hill and sky, so also does our mind, when
perfectly
calm, reflect the beauty, harmony, perfection and order of the
Divine.
When we become completely still, our mind becomes attuned to the
Infinite Mind,
after which nothing else matters. It does not matter how
complicated our troubles may
be, nor how many or difficult our tasks, if we become quiet, as already
described, the whole of our life and work becomes perfectly
adjusted.
Whatever is discordant "passes in music out of sight". Whatever
is complicated becomes simple. Whatever is obscure becomes
plain.
Whatever seems impossible becomes easy of achievement. No matter
how
great one's responsibilities, life becomes almost as easy as "falling
off
a log." How demoralizing! the
uninitiated may
say. It would be, no doubt, if the uninitiated could get within a
hundred
miles of it. But there is no fear of such a thing coming to
pass.
What we are speaking about has only, apparently, been known, in
the past,
to the most advanced souls of the race and there is even now no danger
of
beginners ever being able to use it. It is probably the most
difficult
thing in the spiritual life to enter the inner stillness in which we
make
actual contact with God. By the time that we can practice this
most
difficult art we are incapable of being demoralized by it. The
scepter of
power is not given to the uninitiated, neither are the mysteries of the
Kingdom
of God revealed unto the neophyte. Apart from this it is so
difficult, in
one sense, to find this inner place of calm, and become sufficiently
quiet to
be attuned to it, that all who are not sufficiently advanced would far
rather
go on toiling and struggling, even though hopelessly, rather than
attempt it. We said just now that to be
quiet and still, simply
sitting and resting passively in the Divine Light and Presence, letting
everything go, is Probably the most difficult thing in the spiritual
life. It is difficult because we feel that something must be
done.
We feel that if we do not pray or strive for this, that or the
other, or
for this loved one or that person, and so on, they will suffer, or
something
will go wrong. We have to give up this finite idea
entirely.
Nothing of the kind is necessary. All that we have to do is to
let go
completely and know God. All sorts of cares and anxieties may
claw at us,
attempting to gain our attention, and numberless fears assail us, but
they must
all be brushed aside, everything must be let go, until at last we are
perfectly
quiet and still in the Divine Presence. When once we are able to
relax in
this way and be quite still and free, and severed from everything,
then
the miraculous can happen, and the apparently impossible be brought to
pass. The spiritual life is one long
series of paradoxes,
and this is one of them. The most difficult thing in the world is
to be
still, yet it makes life simple and easy. It removes all its
care, solves
all its problems, takes away all its fears, relaxes all its
strain. BE
STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. APPENDIX It should be pointed out to beginners
that the
"quietness" which is spoken of in the forgoing chapter is not a
negative passivity, but is the result of a reaching up to God. To
sink
down into a negative, passive state is to descend to the astral plane,
and this
is accompanied by certain dangers. This wrong "Quietness" must
be avoided at all costs. In prayer and meditation the heart and
mind must
be lifted up until a point of contact with the Divine is reached, and
then the
"quietness" should be practiced. This is being still and
knowing God. The negative form, on the other hand, is being still
and
contacting Hades. The stillness of the Inner Presence is not
stagnation,
but is the stillness of unimpeded activity. Example, a wheel,
when
revolved rapidly, appears to be motionless." |
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