Qualities and Manifestations of the Will

Silent Prayer

Works on the subject: "The Place of the Will" were read.

For the next time, make (resume?) from this theme. On my side I will speak scientifically regarding what the will represents from the viewpoint of phrenology. (The study of?) In the theme you dealt with the question about the will from a psychological point of view.

For next time, let three people among you write something about the origin of the color white. Examine this question from the natural side as it is in nature. I will suggest to you the idea of what the color white represents. Imagine that on a white canvas you make a hole. What do you see from a distance? From a distance, the hole looks like a black spot. This would say that everything that is not illuminated looks black, dark. And vice versa - if on a black canvas one makes a hole and illuminated it, it will look like a white, bright spot. With what can a white surface be compared? The old scholars compared the human brain to white paper on which one can write.

Now we will examine the qualities and manifestations of the will. The will manifests itself in three worlds: the mental; the world of the heart, (i.e. the world of feelings and desires, or the astral world) and in the physical world. Will implies a process of limitation. Imagine a wealthy, prodigal man, who spends yearly hundreds of thousands leva and has never enough. He turns to friends here and there asking for money, but they all refuse to lend him any. Finally he decides somehow to reduce his budget (spending?) How is he to achieve this? He will turn to himself and there he will find means and methods to influence and help himself. He will start to have simpler meals, modest clothing, etc. This he can achieve only by applying his will. This indicates that with the help of his will he can diminish and enlarge, i.e., contract and expand. The first process with which will begins is restriction. Without restriction, the will cannot manifest. First of all the will understands strictly defined movement in the consciousness, i.e. inclination in the consciousness. Therefore, as long as things are not restricted, there would exist no incline (slope), no movement. As soon as restricted in narrow surface, movement itself will follow. Yet from purely phrenological point of view, not all people have an equally well-developed will. Therefore, one needs to be familiar with the qualities of the will, to know which will is strong and which one is weak. Besides he has to know which will is cultivated, i.e. educated, elaborate, and which is simple, i.e. natural.

Now, as students of the school of the occult, you have to be acquainted with the A qualities of the will. As everything else, so too the will has its symptoms. For example, can you expect any philosophical thought of a man whose forehead is only two centimeters wide? A man's forehead needs to be at least four centimeters wide in order for him to be able to think. Knowing this, many of your illusions in life will disappear. If you live with illusions, with misconceptions and yet occupy yourselves with the occult sciences, you will run into a number jeopardies. Why? If someone thinks of himself as a man of genius, the occult will let him understand that he is not one and he will become discouraged. The disciple has to know that the genius is in him in the state of an embryo, like in a grain seed, and that time has to pass until it germinates, develops, and manifests itself. Therefore, there exist men of genius who are in the process of growth, and there are also those who are already developed. And so, if you say about a man that demonstrate genius, that mean he has completed his growth and manifests already. In the simple, uneducated people, the genius is in a state of an embryo. A long time is needed until the genius in them will manifest. In general, in every one hundred years, a man of genius is born in the world. In every one thousand years a saint is born. In every two thousand years a great master is born. Every year a talented man is born. Every day a common man is born. Every hour a foolish man is born.

Therefore, he who hurries, who wishes to attain things with the speed of the hours, falls in the category of the foolish people. He who counts the hours when he studies about God, is a foolish one. He who counts the days falls in the category of the common people. This will say the common people are born under common conditions. In general, people need to work, to develop their will. For this purpose they have to have certain methods, certain norms. According to people's concepts of the world, only he who has a strong will is physically strong and can cope with the difficulties of life. Upon meeting such a man, he immediately draws his sword. With this he wants to show that he is a man with strong will and copes easily with life's difficulties. When the writer takes the pen in his hand he manifest his will. This indicates that he can work. Unlocking his cash register, the shopkeeper displays his will. Money represents a stimul(??) in people's life. Reaching for bread in his sack, the poor man also displays his will. When opening the book and starting to read the learned man manifests his will. Upon entering the laboratory the chemist manifests his will. That means the incentives to manifest will in life are many fold. Therefore, when looking at his head, man has to be filled with faith, not to become discouraged, to know that he has something on which he can rely. He has to feel himself being brave, resolute like the soldier, who upon touching his sword relies on its soundness, knowing that he can work with it.

First of all, you ought to have faith in yourselves, in your mind, to know that you can work with it. Secondly, you have to have faith in your heart as an emblem of your feelings, to believe that it can withstand all difficulties and sufferings. Lastly, you have to have faith in your stomach, to know that it can process the food which it has been given, and impart the necessary nutrients for the whole organism. You have to have faith also in your hands and your feet, to know that with them you will be able to work and go wherever you desire. The head, the heart, the stomach, the hands and feet represent talismans in a man's life, upon which he can rely. The head can solve all questions. For this reason, man has to protect his brain so that it would not become demagnetized. In time of great disturbances, the brain can lose its power. The causes of such shock to the brain can be of emotional, intellectual, or physical origin. Such an example we have with a Russian violinist, who upon hearing a famous violinist play, instead of becoming inspired, he became discouraged. That means the high mountain peaks need to stand at a distance away from big cities and not cast shadows on them. In other words, the big authorities, the great men have to stay away from the common people, in order not to cast shade upon them, not to trip them. A man can rely upon a man with authority, to become inspired by him, to awaken his mind but without setting limits on him. If in the presence of a learned man, you cannot think freely, this learned man cannot be an authority for you. God only can be the true authority for the people. In spite of that, He has hidden Himself that He cannot be found — from time immemorial people are searching for Him and still cannot find Him.

When I ask you now where in the body is the will located, what would you (?word unclear) answer? As you know that the brain is in the head, is the place of thought, the lungs and the heart - the place of the feelings, so too you have to know the place of the will in the body. The more a person is filling the more he broadens. It has been noticed that when a man is sad, he deeply sighs. This means that in the lungs dwells man's sensitivity. Therefore, in order for sorrow to be balanced, one has to breathe deeply. Reactions and obstacles happen in the stomach, and will is expressed in the hands, in the feet, the tongue, the eyes, the ears. All together the senses are places of the will. It acts and manifests through them. In a painter (artist), the will is expressed through the brush. In an orator (speaker), the will is expressed first through thought and after that through the tongue. It indicates that the will can enter in any part of a man and from there direct/guide him. In this respect, the will is the external, i.e. manifested, objective aspect of Creation. And so, every external body part in the human organism is related to the services or to the functions which are executed internally. For example the forehead is the expression of thought, the nose - of the feelings, the chin - of the will. The same distribution of the functions is marked also on the fingers of the human hand: the first phalange of the thumb is the expression of the will, the second — of the human mind, while the third — of the feelings. It has been noticed that when the will starts to be weaker, man folds his hand in a fist, i.e. he hides his thumb with the other fingers. When someone starts to lose weight, he clenches his fist, i.e. hides the thumb between the other fingers. When one goes insane, he hold the fingers of his hand open. He who keeps his thumb always on top, over his fist, he is a man with a will. Man's fist is like a hammer with which he can work. For this reason one has to observe himself not to hide his thumb between his other fingers. Once he starts to hide his thumb, a man becomes demagnetized. Therefore, keep your thumb always over the fist, over the other fingers. Only then in the head awaken the centers which are connected to the thumb. The thumb is the most important finger in the human hand. It stands out everywhere. Without the thumb, the other fingers also have no meaning? With the thumb, all fingers gain meaning (Use?) You need to work on the form of your thumb. When the form of the thumb is beautiful, you will be able to stimulate also your will. When you study the pathological actions of the human will, you will notice that the first phalange of the thumb of criminals is small and rounded. Such people may not be criminals today, but carry the traces of their crimes from previous lives. When one's will develops properly, the first phalange of the thumb grows; when the mind develops well, the second phalange grows. In this respect, a man's thumb is a barometer by which one can judge the development of his will. You say: Is it possible for a man's thumb to grow in one lifespan? It is possible, naturally. If in one life the thumb has grown by one half millimeter, a man has a great achievement. If you work consciously, only within a few years you can notice that the nose or the thumb has become prolonged. If the first phalange of the thumb is very long, such a man is self-willed. Usually, the second phalange has to be longer than the first. This indicates that the mind has predominance over the will. The same with the third phalange, the field of feelings has to be broad. The will represents the physical aspect in man. If the will predominates, such a man is considered stubborn, self-willed. Once he decides upon something, right or wrong, he does not give in, by all means he will do it. In such a man pride predominates. He thinks that he cannot make mistakes. Once he says something, it is right. Usually the intelligent and educated people are flexible while the ordinary, uneducated ones are self-willed. One can try and train one's will in small things. For example, say to yourself that you wish to rise in the morning exactly at four o'clock and see if you will succeed. If you say that you will rise at four in the morning, temptation immediately will come and you will say to yourself: "Who will rise so early when it is so cold? It is very cold outside and I may get sick." No, once you say that you will rise at four o'clock in the morning, you will rise, get dressed fast and walk around in the room. In such a case, there exists no danger that you may catch a cold.

Many students of the occult do not succeed because they cannot concentrate. When concentrating, the thought of the student must pass unobstructedly from one state to another. He who cannot concentrate falls asleep and his consciousness descends into a low region. In this descending the pictures which one could see are interrupted. This kind of falling asleep is due to beings whose purpose it is to induce a state of sleep in people in order to deprive them of the possibility of seeing more things. Knowing this, people should not fight to fall asleep. As soon as they start to concentrate most people fall asleep because they have many enemies who consciously impede, causing their consciousness to descend lower than they have been. Suggesting these thoughts to them, they start falling asleep and fall in their adversaries' hands. Therefore, no falling asleep is permitted for him who wishes to concentrate. He has to be silent and calm, not to think about the results. Nature Loves perserverence, constancy, and not willfulness. Do not think that you can subordinate Nature to yourselves. This is impossible. If people harmonize with Nature and approach her with sincerity and steadfastness, she gives that which they need. Be like the student who insists before his teacher, who studies and is always prepared for all sacrifices. When the student is persistent, the teacher is also ready to give. Nature acts in the same way. Seeing that the people are prepared for all sacrifices, she too is well disposed to give. If people are self-willed, she deprives them of everything they want from her. (Sentence fragment follows: Therefore, only he has will whose good desire was rejected, ninety nine times he still perseveres. And finally, on the hundredth time, he will get the upper hand.

Now, in this life, you have a number of karmic obstacles which you have to overcome. Some of you have greater obstacles, others, smaller - but with the power of the will, they will be able more easily or with greater difficulty to overcome them. Arriving at certain situations, some get discouraged and give up working further. They excuse themselves that they are still young and that they need to live it up. One day when they are old, they will think about this matter. If they still do not succeed, they postpone for another life. No, start, working now without any postponement. If you put off for the future, you will run into the same law. Start working consciously with restraint and not with tormenting yourselves. Free yourselves of all that is hindering you in life. Work for the attainment of that which you are lacking.

And so, while you are working on your will, you will overcome first with the physical (aspect of being) man, with the body, after that with your feelings, and in third place with your thoughts. You have to direct your will specifically in this direction. Only in this way are you going to be able to recreate your body, to implant in it those elements which will give a greater endurance to the feelings and greater power to the thoughts.

All of you who enroll in this class have to set aside within the twenty four hour period, two positive hours for work. The one hour can be in the morning, and the other, in the evening. During these two hours, send yourselves a good wish for the reinforcement of the will. For the time being, it will be sufficient to choose these two hours only for one day of the week; whichever you like. And then, when you rise in the morning, and before you go to bed, stand silently and calmly within yourselves, with a good disposition of the spirit and everyone wish something good to himself. After that, send to everyone of the class one good thought. The success in this work will depend upon the good disposition of your heart and of your mind. Without a good frame of mind, nothing can be achieved. So that during these two hours you will be sending good thoughts to everyone in your class, to make a small experiment. You will start with small experiments and gradually will proceed to the greater one. If one student cannot write the first letter of the alphabet, after that the second, third, which after that have to combine in syllables and words, he will not be capable of composing a sentence. You will imagine everyone personally, will pass his image in your conscious mind this way with your good thought, you will come in touch with him. You will stop your attention on everyone with your thought in the morning and in the evening the same way that you water your plants. When you water your garden, you take a watering can and consecutively walk from one plant to the next and water them. In the science of the occult, however, it is not permitted to water plants with - hose. It is easier to water the flowers with the hose but the results are not good. But in this way to walk with the watering from one flower to the next is slow, and takes a longer time, but the results are excellent. For this reason you will use 10 seconds for each student, at the most half a minute. Should you use for every student one minute, you will get tired. The experiment has to be done with good disposition without any fatigue. The good which you wish yourselves you will send also to the others. In this way, you will polarize your will. Having exercised in concentration of your thought you can make this experiment also for a longer period of time, giving for everyone, two, three, even five minutes according to everyone's ability. It is important that there would not arise in you impatience, the desire to finish with the experiment sooner, for this reason be occupied with every one not more than ten seconds.

Now, which day would you choose for the exercise? (-Thursday). This will say that tomorrow morning, from five to six o'clock, and in the evening, from eleven to twelve o'clock, you will practice the exercise. You will not go to bed before you have finished with the exercise. You need to be alert in order to perform it well. For now, you will promise that you will do this exercise only for this given week. After that, you will do it for four weeks in a row, and after that even for a whole year. It is proper to begin with the small and then go to the big. Someone may gives the promise to do something for the duration of his whole life but then does nothing. Q:(What thought should we send?) That which you wish also for yourselves. During the time while you are concentrating, you will be still and calm, and the thought will come by itself. Whatever thought comes to your mind, you will write it down. The thought will be short and clear. You may not voice your thought well, but this means nothing. It is of importance that your desire is proper. When a child has the desire to draw, his desire is proper but the form is not yet correct. One day, the form will also be correct.

When you project your thought, say the following sentence: "Without fear in boundless Love." This sentence will serve you as a method for enclosing yourselves, (fencing yourselves off.)

Silent prayer.

Fourth Lecture of the Class of the Occult for Youth, held by the Master on March 15, 1922, in Sofia.

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