This exposition is edited and adapted from William Arkle's A Geography of Consciousness pages 213-4:
We sometimes consider the human will to be something like a show of psychological strength and virility. And providence or fate, therefore, may seem to be a product of mastery by some individual's will. But the true will works in a manner that is almost completely contrary to this idea.
The true will achieves its purpose in harmony with every other will. This happens by the true will working behind the scenes, along with all other wills, at a level far behind the surface of things.
The true will recognizes the value of all things, and aims to be harmless towards every form of life, by working quietly and patiently, and eventually bringing-together and arranging all the correct factors in the correct place and at the correct time.
So, by the time we observe the will at work in some way which seems providential, this is merely the endpoint of a vast and complex and extremely subtle arrangement of factors which have been coming-together over a long period of time.
So subtle; that the appearance is one of a staggering multiplicity of coincidences, or a providential event of extraordinary improbability.
When we notice that a strong and able individual (a 'great man') appears in political life at a very critical time, we may say that 'the time produces the man'. This may partly be true; but in reality the necessary individual may be present at the critical time because the crisis and that individual's being were inseparably connected by that individual's true will from a long time previously. That individual's true will was able to foresee the confrontation of the forces which created the crisis.
In effect, the true will of the great man designed-itself to be present as an individual person, exactly in order to be able to take part in the crisis which required it.
Winston Churchill is a case which comes to mind.
**
Friday, 23 October 2015
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Twelve steps on the path to escape alienation and evolve towards higher consciousness
Derived from A Geography of Consciousness by William Arkle (1974) - Chapter Six "Problems" pages 108-114
1. The difficulties of improving and increasing our level of consciousness are so many and so great that we cannot achieve this alone.
2. Therefore help and guidance are necessary; and will always be made available.
3. But we must use our own initiative if evolution of consciousness is to occur - because the process depends upon building our true-self (our soul) through experience.
4. When we express the strong resolution and desire to understand and enter-into the deeper meanings of life - then some agency will put us into touch with a suitable group to assist the process.
(By agency is meant a supernatural personal purposive entity - such as an angelic being or the Holy Ghost.)
5. Making contact with a suitable group may be regarded as destiny, or just random luck - but that doesn't matter either way.
6. Then we come to see the beginnings of the next step.
7. We must take the next step ourselves from our innermost and most-fundamental being; because what we are building is our own directive ability.
8. When we have taken that step, help will be given as needed - this may appear as serendipity, personal miracles, lucky breaks...
9. As a rule, active external help is restricted to situations for which we are not fully responsible, where we cannot cope or understand, or are unprepared or incapable.
10. External help therefore reinforces the primary goal - reinforces our will - it does not take over from it.
11. When we are on the path towards self-knowledge and higher consciousness, we will never be truly alone nor without supervision.
But supervision may allow us to 'burn our fingers', if this is a lesson we need to learn and this is the only or best way of learning it. For example, pride often needs painful experiences to expose and tame it.
12. As progress is made, our true-self and our short-comings, errors, and lapses become more obvious to us. Our self-evaluations become more accurate. For instance, the personality - often, mistakenly, prized and developed - is shown to be merely a means to an end.
1. The difficulties of improving and increasing our level of consciousness are so many and so great that we cannot achieve this alone.
2. Therefore help and guidance are necessary; and will always be made available.
3. But we must use our own initiative if evolution of consciousness is to occur - because the process depends upon building our true-self (our soul) through experience.
4. When we express the strong resolution and desire to understand and enter-into the deeper meanings of life - then some agency will put us into touch with a suitable group to assist the process.
(By agency is meant a supernatural personal purposive entity - such as an angelic being or the Holy Ghost.)
5. Making contact with a suitable group may be regarded as destiny, or just random luck - but that doesn't matter either way.
6. Then we come to see the beginnings of the next step.
7. We must take the next step ourselves from our innermost and most-fundamental being; because what we are building is our own directive ability.
8. When we have taken that step, help will be given as needed - this may appear as serendipity, personal miracles, lucky breaks...
9. As a rule, active external help is restricted to situations for which we are not fully responsible, where we cannot cope or understand, or are unprepared or incapable.
10. External help therefore reinforces the primary goal - reinforces our will - it does not take over from it.
11. When we are on the path towards self-knowledge and higher consciousness, we will never be truly alone nor without supervision.
But supervision may allow us to 'burn our fingers', if this is a lesson we need to learn and this is the only or best way of learning it. For example, pride often needs painful experiences to expose and tame it.
12. As progress is made, our true-self and our short-comings, errors, and lapses become more obvious to us. Our self-evaluations become more accurate. For instance, the personality - often, mistakenly, prized and developed - is shown to be merely a means to an end.
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