We hear it said very often that the spiritual life consists of paradoxes. For instance, on the one hand we are taught to "grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air," and, on the other hand, that the kingdom of heaven is to be taken by violence. Most of us fail to comprehend that only by an understanding of what constitutes the spiritual life can we put into practical use the conception of growth along the two lines of evolution—of personality and of individuality.

One fact becomes obvious to us when we think about these things, and that is that within the mind and heart of all is a constant, or a periodic, urge to do better, to be better, to know better the difference between right and wrong.

Another fact is that our present knowledge of right and wrong, or our conscience, militates against our will to do as we wish. Fate, or circumstances, also prevent us at times from doing what we like. And yet the urge for self-determination is there. Youth today fights for the right of self-determination, and gets into trouble; but there is a good side to this demand for freedom. The difficulty lies in determining what is right and what is wrong, and it arises because we do not understand or take into account the dual aspect of ourselves as personalities and as individualities. The need to understand this is all the greater today when, with the decay of religion and philosophy, youth is left without a rudder, and uses its freedom wrongly, for self-indulgence and anti-social acts.

H.P.B. wrote:

...the divine aspirations of mystic Humanity toward deliverance from the webs of Maya, and final bliss in consequence...are no more general but have become abnormal through a general spread of Ahamkara (the feeling of Egotism, Self, or I-AM-NESS) and ignorance. (The Secret Doctrine, II, 614)

Part of our work on ourselves and for humanity is to bring back this aspiration by dispelling ignorance by the light of knowledge.

In thinking about this subject we should remember that Theosophy tells us to go to the core of any problem and not to confine ourselves to its outer manifestations. Therefore, in dealing with this study we must start with the fundamental principle involved. This fundamental has been given to us, for we are taught that the man who wishes to fulfil the urge to reach the condition of bliss must start with the idea that "to live to benefit mankind is the first step." This has to become the firm basis for all action, thought, feeling and desire, from the day we start on the path of self-growth till the final goal is reached. It is the only basis which is broad enough and deep enough not to let us down when we are tired of the struggle. Without this basic desire why should we bother to improve? Is it all worth the effort?

If we have but a vague idea of what perfection or the bliss of Nirvana means, we shall find, when despondency overtakes us, as sooner or later it will, that even bliss seems no better than oblivion, and therefore not worth the effort to attain to. But if, on the other hand, we forget our own bliss and in its place hold before us the idea of the benefit or help we can render others, then perfection means to us an infinitude of helpfulness—not cessation, but continuity. This is real immortality.

To wish to help is one thing; to know how to help is quite another thing. Therefore, after forming the desire to help, the next task is to set about learning how to do so, and here we have the advantage of being shown the way which has proved to be the right one through the ages. It is the Paramita Path which we have to learn to walk. Here again we have to learn to go to the core of the Paramitas. We have learnt, for instance, that to control anger is good. Hundreds of people can control their anger, either through force of circumstances, or because they just do not care enough about anything to be angry over it! Control in both these ways is no good for the spiritual life. We have to learn why we should control anger, what anger does to our inner nature, to others around us, and so on. Only when we have sought and thought over the deeper, positive reasons why it must be controlled, will our efforts bear fruit for lives. Otherwise, we shall have to leave behind the results of our efforts at death.

We need, therefore, to analyse ourselves thoroughly in order to find flowing in us the two great currents—the personal indentity, coloured by thoughts, feelings, desires, and shown outwardly by actions; and the inner urge or will to avoid the wrong and do the right, or the voice of conscience. The inner urge for improvement, or for a better instrument through which the Ego may work, will show us that we have to change the colour of our thoughts, feelings, desires. To know what these are we need to watch our actions, including speech, for the latter are the outward manifestations of the former. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," we read in the Bible. Our actions mirror our character and affect others. Hence the first step for us, and the last, is to learn how to act so as to benefit mankind.

What is to benefit mankind? Here we need to look deep into our conscience, and, by the development of the power of reason, learn to discriminate and discern, and separate our own and others' actions into two compartments—those that are universally helpful, and those that help only ourselves, or a group of people. Going still deeper, there are those acts that help on the evolution of Nature, and those that use Nature and destroy her, through not understanding her. In this way we can apply the knowledge that has come down the ages as to the laws which operate in and through all manifestation. We must learn, gradually, through expanding knowledge, not to be affected by illusions which are only of a day, and to look at life itself, never-ending, progressively purposeful.

As we go on struggling, we find ourselves often in the slough of despondency, and we seem to be losing our Virya-energy, or the urge to go forward. The fog of despair, because of our feeling of the worthlessness of everything we have striven for, envelops us. We need to remember the fact that despondency is a good sign of growth, if taken rightly. We have to see how Krishna dealt with Arjuna. He showed him that his despondency arose from wrong thinking and wrong feeling. It was not that Arjuna was too weak to fight; the trouble with thim was his wrong visualization of the results that would ensue if he won the war. It is good to note that he never really thought he would lose the battle! Therefore Krishna first pointed out to him where his ideas were wrong; then he pointed out the effects on others of his refusal to fight, that it would be detrimental and not helpful to mankind. Lastly, he drew Arjuna's attention to his duty, his dharma, something much more abstract than his love or reasoned illusions.

To take this advice to heart we need constantly to analyse ourselves, not our successes or failures, but the workings of law in us—the kind of thoughts, feelings, desires, actions which produce certain effects on us and on others.

We must not think that all this will not bring us sorrow and suffering, because it will. In spring, the trees and flowers grow and bloom in all their majesty, and our hearts are filled with joy and uplifted by the sight. We forget that this beauty has been brought about by the sowing of a seed and by the hard process of growth and flowering—and then there is death in order to produce the seeds for future plants. Because we see before and after, this seems hard and cruel, but not so to the plant or tree. It acts in the present and does not "pine for what is not." Hence we shoulde grow as the flower grows, with the same eagerness to open the soul to the sun and the air.

When our despondency has gone, how shall we begin to train ourselves to keep constantly in mind, in all that we do, the motive of benefiting mankind—of making our thoughts, feelings, desires and actions of benefit to all?

Instead of sowing the seeds of future despondency by visualizing rapid progress in special ways, we should start with our ideas of truthfulness, purity, self-denial, charity, etc. These "virtues" are simple, we think, but on analysis we find that they are difficult to practise. What is truthfulness, for instance? Does it mean we should always say what we ourselves know, or have seen, or have heard, or have been told? If so, are we sure that we have developed the "correct cognition" of which Patanjali speaks? Does truthfulness mean that we should "speak the truth at all costs"? This is simple, but if it is not necessary to speak, why speak at all? If it is not our duty to speak, we err if we do speak. What about our habit of being inaccurate, or untrue with ourselves? Indeed, there are many problems connected with even apparently simple virtues. Therefore it is true that there are as many ways to reach the goal as there are individuals on earth. And progress is by self-induced and self-devised ways and means. "The Path is one for all, the means to reach the goal must vary with the Pilgrims."

We have learnt about self-dependence, self-growth, self-analysis, self-examination. If we examine ourselves to find out how much we have learnt, we shall be helped. There are no degrees given in this examination, but we do learn what we know and are in fact. We are our own monitors. But before we examine ourselves we need to learn to discriminate between our selves, the personal and the impersonal, or the individual. When the latter functions in the former, we are on the way to becoming a Buddha of Perfection. The way is slow but sure. Conquering ignorance by knowledge, applying that knowledge bit by bit, seing our wrong ideas and delusions behind our despondency, we free the spiritual power of energy or Virya in us, and that conquers all, because it is the energy of the ALL.

Charity is in the heart of man, and righteousness is the path for men. Pity the man who has lost his path and does not follow it and who has lost his heart and does not know how to recover it. When people's dogs and chicks are lost, they go out and look for them, and yet the people who have lost their hearts (or original nature) do not go out and look for them. The principle of self-cultivation consists in trying to look for the lost heart....

—Mencius