Possibilities

Lecture 20 to the Youth Occult Class given by the Master Beinsa Douno on July 26, 1922 – Wednesday, 11.40 local time

Cham-Koria*

Secret prayer

There was a presentation of the disciples' works on the topic: “Tall and short people and their distinctive features."

What is the difference between possibility and necessity? Possibility is related to human processes, to human beings. Necessity is related to Divine processes that are imposed through the power of something higher than the human order. When we speak of possibilities, we consider what one should do in a given situation in order to utilize the favourable conditions provided by necessity.

Now I will give you an example illustrating the relationship between the high and the low in human nature. If a master has a nice horse that he loves, a friendly relationship is established between them. The master rides the horse, the horse carries him on its back, and together they go for threshing. The master dismounts the horse and harnesses it, and they begin to thresh. In the evening the master releases the horse from its work, mounts it and returns home. He goes into his house and the horse enters its stable. I ask, for which of the two does possibility exist – for the master or for the horse? - For the master. Only the master is empowered to change the circumstances of the horse – to improve or lessen its condition. The horse in its turn is able to facilitate the position of its master. Therefore, the lower nature facilitates the higher, while the higher nature improves the position of the lower.

The relationship between the Master and the disciple is the same as the relationship between the master and the horse. The Master improves the situation of the disciple and the disciple facilitates the position of the Master. After the Master has improved the conditions of the disciple, the disciple should abide by them wisely. Therefore, for the human being, possibilities represent nothing other than the rational principles contained within them. Every possibility should be utilized in order to improve the condition of the horse, which in its turn will facilitate its master. How might the position of the horse be improved? Its stables, food and water can be improved. When the horse's situation is improved, it becomes stronger and healthier, it's better able to serve its master. This means that if the master of his body does not improve the rational abilities and skills of his brain, the feelings of his heart, and finally the acts of his will, he cannot expect any opportunities in his lifetime.

As disciples of this School, you are to undertake the task of solving this problem: the transformation of your discontent. This will be an obstacle for you for years to come. With what is a disciple discontented? A disciple may be discontented with himself – with his mind, heart and will. A disciple may also be dissatisfied with the surrounding environment. Whatever form discontentment takes, whatever cause it might have, its energy or force should be used as an incentive for work. Discontentment is due to a lack of something essential for human happiness.

I ask, how can you find what you lack? If you lack Heat, where can you find it? In the Sun. If you lack Light, where can you find it? In the Sun. You will say that any burning or heating body gives light. We also have, for example, heat coming from a lit oil-lamp, from a candle or a burning piece of wood. Right, but this heat is secondary. Solar energy is the energy stored in candles, wood and other combustible bodies and it is turned into light or heat accordingly. Furthermore, solar energy represents the most pleasant warmth and the purest light. Primary Warmth and Light come directly from the Sun.

Therefore, you may look for heat and light in the Sun. From what source will you look for Love, Wisdom and Truth? God. Thus, Wisdom is the external side of God or His disk, Love is the content of the disk, and Truth is its meaning. In other words, Wisdom represents the real, external, visible form of things, Love is the content of these forms and Truth represents their meaning. If you want to search for Love, Wisdom and Truth in a person, these qualities are already there as secondary manifestation. When you search for Love in God, you are in a safe place. Why? Because the Love of God is inexhaustible. It is a source that continuously springs, a fire that unceasingly burns. You should pour your water into this source and add your oil to this fire. If you do not pour your water into the Eternal source, it will cease to spring. If you do not add your oil to the Divine fire, it will cease to burn, just as oil-lamps cannot give light without oil, or electric lamps without electricity. Oil, fuel and electricity are the conditions for burning. People find that many of these conditions bring contradictions to life. When the conditions are finite and limited, they bring contradictions, but when they are infinite and unlimited, they exclude all contradiction.

As disciples of the Great School, try to understand the Boundless and the Infinite that is revealed in limited, finite, but intelligent forms. Through this understanding, you will recognize the origin of discontent. The Infinite makes you discontented. What can you do to relieve this? You can expand yourself. If you become like a big, wide tube, through which the water of the Divine Source can freely flow without tension or pressure, you will expand yourself and your discontentment will vanish. Your discontentment is due to the fact that you have not used the good conditions for your development in a timely or reasonable way.

When do people get discontented? When they get old. (Almost) all old people are dissatisfied with themselves. They realize they should have studied, should have acquired knowledge and experience in their youth, yet they have wasted their time and are unable to go back again. All old people, with a few exceptions only, are extremely dissatisfied with themselves. Young people in their turn are dissatisfied with the limitations that impede them, that impede the implementation of their wishes. Each obstacle or difficulty on their path causes them discontentment.

One should be satisfied with the conditions in which one is placed in life, and should try to use them in the best possible way. If an individual is dissatisfied with his position in life, he will be like the frog in the fable “The Stork and the Frog.” This is a fable with an occult or deep inner meaning.

One day a young stork, representing a beautiful youth, passed by a bog where many frogs lived. The stork looked at the bog and saw the head of a frog popping from the water. The frog represents a young woman. The stork stopped before the frog and began telling her about the world in which he was living. "Do you know what height we reach, what spaces and skies we see? I wonder how you could live in this dirty bog!" – "What can I do, I have no wings to go out of this bog." – “It's very easy, come onto my back and I'll carry you up to the wide spaces - you'll see a new world and new heights." The frog got onto his back and so flew into the skies. But as she could not endure the new conditions, she blew away and fell onto the ground. What lesson can be learned from this fable? – Each being or individual should live in the conditions in which he or she has been placed. If individuals too quickly leave the position in which Providence has placed them, they will fall down and inevitably kill themselves. The stork told the frog about the high, beautiful places too soon, and the frog came out of her bog too soon.

Now, you should know that there are dangerous and tempting places in occultism too, where you could suffer. Do not get on the wings of the stork too soon! What is dangerous for the frog is safe for the stork. And the opposite – what is dangerous for the stork is safe for the frog. If the frog had succeeded in making the stork enter the bog, the stork also would have suffered. The world in which the stork lives does not offer opportunities for the development of the frog; neither does the world of the frog offer the stork opportunities for his development. Possibilities provide conditions for the development of one’s mind, heart and will. Expansion and depth should be introduced into human thoughts and feelings, as well, intensity should be introduced into the human will.

Now, undertake the following experiment in order to visualize the width and depth of your thoughts and feelings, and the intensity of your will. When a friend of yours uses a bad word, observe whether it can be positively transformed and how quickly. The sooner you deal with the bad word, the greater is the width and depth of your mind and your heart. It is an art to turn what is offensive into music. If your aim is to say a bad word to your friend, be careful not to use too heavy and insulting a word, for it will produce a large, deep incision in him. Whoever has such an incision should observe the time required for its recovery. The Hindu heal their wounds in an easy way. They use a method for taking prana from Nature and directing it mentally to the sick area, so the recovery occurs in no more than twenty minutes. Therefore, an offense is nothing more than a small incision made in one’s mind, heart or will. Those who have a sufficient supply of natural prana should just concentrate on the wound and put their hand on it, and it will recover by itself in a few minutes. This means strong and intensive will! Without this experiment you will be like some trader who thinks he is rich, but who has no money in cash.

So perform this experiment consciously! When you see that a friend of yours is in a bad mood, go to her and say something challenging to her. Then she will talk back to you using bad words. Thank her, explaining that you have carried out a little experiment on her, and that is why you have teased her. You are to choose a person for this experiment whose use of bad words you will actually expect. Then, turn to yourself and observe the time you need for polarization. Such experiments could arise in a natural way, with no need to cause them artificially. It would be better for you if the experiments were natural. So, you will arrange your own tests only if they have not been arranged for you through natural means. All experiments and tests you are given in the School represent possibilities for attaining energy. Those who succeed in their efforts and pass their tests will gain energy. Those who do not solve their tasks will lose energy. You should know that contradictions on the path of disciples are necessary for their physical, mental and spiritual development. Contradictions are needed - they represent a law for the development of the disciple.

When we speak about the laws and forces in Nature, we must take into consideration the Primary Law, according to which things are precisely determined. There is only one exception to this law that exists as a possibility, as a door to something new. In accordance with this exception, impossibilities do not exist for God. He can do anything, either instantly or gradually. When it is cold outside, you are discontented; when it gets warm, you are happier. When it is dark outside, you stumble and fall down; when it is dawn and Light comes, you are happier. So you see, cold and warmth, dark and light are forces that either spoil or improve conditions. Human moods are changed in the same way. People believe they cannot attain their wishes when darkness is in their consciousness. When the Sun rises in their consciousness, their wishes become attainable.

Therefore, you are to study the possibilities of your present life so that consequently you'll know the possibilities that will be yours either for improvement or facilitation. The lower should facilitate and the higher should improve the conditions. Sheep, for example, serve people by giving milk and wool; people in their turn improve the living conditions of sheep. Improve the state of your mind so that it can serve you; improve the state of your heart so that it can serve you; improve the state of your will so that, by becoming intensive, strong and powerful, it can serve you.

Today I spoke of the possibilities that exist in Life. Evil and Good are possibilities that exist in the Universe. Discontent and contentment, grief and joy are also possibilities. Each disharmonic thought, feeling or act produces grief in a person; each harmonic state produces joy. Grief represents the ploughing of a field, joy represents its harvest. When people plough, the Earth is joyful; when they reap, the wheat is joyful, because it has gone through many sufferings from which it is now released.

Secret prayer

Editors notes:

I made a small addition to this - the sentence: "All old people are dissatisified with themselves." I added "Almost" at the beginning of the sentence: "Almost all old people are dissatisfied with themselves." He does qualify this later in the same paragraph by saying "...with a few exceptions only," but you might agree to leave it at "Almost all..." because "All old people are dissatisfied with themselves" is the classic error in logic, which you don't want to give the impression that he makes - and he doesn't really.