Your obligation is to give in, always give in to the Desires which are the most perfect creatures of the most perfect gods.

 

15. The evolution to Love, our self-fulfillment, which is equivalent to the conquest of the divine equation "to love our fellow man as our self", passes through the pursuit of happiness.

Desire is the concept that produced man himself and it is desire that he serves. Desire is what organizes the structure of man himself so as he receives its materialization.

The struggle for consolidation of personal bliss is not a selfish effort, but a humanistic offering and service to fellow human beings. Our happiness is not a "provocation" as some people are trying to inculcate into us, but a prerequisite for offering; apart from pleasure, it also constitutes an obligation because it supplies us with the necessary strength to provide support to all those who struggle and suffer.

Your duty is to give in, always give in to the Desires which are the most perfect creatures of the most perfect gods.

Whoever lives happily, is the one who walks the true Way, because the Plan for people is the choice of happiness. The experience of happiness does not lead elsewhere but to earthly Life, and he, who lives this life, will also be worthy of the Next one. All that which we seek, all that which we dream of, do not belong to some other life, they already exist here, and whoever finds them here, to him they also belong for eternity.

Do not shut yourself inside your house and delude yourself with theories on justice, with the superstitions about reward held by an ill-made society. Do not say, my toil is worth So much, and this is how much I'm due to enjoy.  (…)

Man in general has great power. If he desires something strongly and decides its materialization, he can usually achieve it, provided he starts from the activation of the idea on a spiritual level: the creation of a thought-form. Then matter can obey any time, for instance if the electrical installation has been completed, then turning on the light is a matter of one second, by simply pressing the switch.

According to Master Rampa, controlled imagination, the one that knows how to create thought-forms, is the most powerful force on earth and always wins the battle against the will. Anything, which we effortlessly imagine we can do, we can indeed materialize, regardless of how difficult or "improbable" our logic may be telling us it is. On the contrary, anything our imagination is telling us is impossible for us is indeed impossible, regardless of how hard our will is pressing us to do it.

Will by itself is a delusive force and can bind man to earthly things. In fact, the contradiction between imagination and will is the cause of many nervous disorders, because a person's effort to subordinate his imagination to his will causes painful internal conflicts. The man who has on his side imagination which convinces him of his capabilities, proceeds in creating the necessary will, which urges him to materialize his specific desire.

He, who knows how to creatively use and guide this immense force of his internal world, uses, directly and naturally, the tool of visualization in order to connect with his heart. Then, within himself he starts to "hear" the soundless voice of his Self, the Voice of his Master, - in thought the mind hears it – which answers to his every question concerning his course and guides him in his steps.

The use of visualization in earthly practical life, meaning the activation of the internal voice, was used by the Poet as well, in order for him to re-discover the way already engraved by his Self in the specific incarnation, concerning his work.

I had two attributes. To make poems and write history. I didn't write History and it's too late now. Now you may say, how do I know that I could write history? I feel it. I experiment and ask myself. "Cavafy, can you write a novel?" Ten voices shout to me: no. I ask again: "Cavafy, can you write theatre?" Twenty five voices shout again: no. I ask again: "Cavafy, can you write History?" One hundred and twenty five voices tell me: you can.


Besides, work is whatever makes us feel complete. The offer of work is important when it is done in the area which each one particularly loves, on the contrary, work may produce negative energy when it is carried out with internal pressure, for reasons that are not dictated by the Esoteric Teaching.

16. Our desires exist on an energy level. Their materialization is a matter of light and this light exists within ourselves; it is up to us to project it: meaning to decide whatever we wish to happen, whatever we believe will make us happy and move towards it.

Most times, however, man under his current situation, even if it displeases him, feels safe / on board a ship in the port, fearing, deep inside, the consequences of change. So, he himself blocks the materialization of his desire as it is possible that even though he desires something, it may seem to him that its attainment will confront him with bigger problems, so he avoids the materialization of his desire, out of fear of the "unknown" future. And naturally, for as long as he sways between his desire and his decision, refusing to choose, he remains a prisoner of the unhappiness caused to him by indecisiveness or irresponsibility.

At this stage, he knows so much, but he still trusts people's words more, rather than his inner voice and asks for the help of people who cannot see farther than he does. The environment or his thoughts complicate the situation and try to lead him elsewhere, given the fact that they reflect his inner confusion, they rekindle it. The others talk a lot in order to persuade him and they usually do persuade him to change route, with their information mistaken from beginning to end, / and with their promises, and nonsense.

How difficult faith is, especially when people around nourish our fears with their words! At the same time, nevertheless, these very people are excellent co-workers in our endeavour, since they are training us to build our faith strong and impenetrable to doubts and spies of thought. They teach us, in other words, that we will receive the answer only from the Voice that lives within ourselves and assigns us the steps on the way to the responsibility of creation.

Then again at other times, we do not stay firm to our desire because we become discouraged by the ordeals which follow; while, on the contrary, the reason for the existence of difficulties is to lead us to the reality of our wish, since we are not given anything freely but only that which we have acquired through work. The result of our work is not what we think it is, that is why we must work – not as it is conventionally considered – humbly and without expectation, even when the high seas seem disagreeable to us, even when big clouds cover the sun. Through the ordeals, no matter how arduous it may be, we constantly reaffirm our choice and we learn to act with calmness and balance, to keep calm and to wait for the storm to abate in order to take the next step.

Winter, summer the Guard sat on the roof of the Atreides and watched. Now he says pleasant things. In the distance he saw a fire alight. And he rejoices; and his labour also ceases. It is arduous to keep looking out night and day, in the heat and the cold, at the Arachnaion for fire. Now, the desired sign appeared. (…)

Toil is always rewarded and love brings love; provided we believe that the desired sign will appear: that the time will come just as our eyes have seen it, our heart has desired it and our mind has touched it. And we rejoice when the time comes to reap the fruits of our deeds, like the Guard when He saw the Light, and our labour also ceases.

It also happens sometimes that we abandon the direction we already have because we do not realize that all that we desire, already exist in our lives. Instead of occupying ourselves with the responsibility of developing them, we doubt our happiness and our ability to maintain it.

I never found them again – those acquired completely by chance, that I gave up so easily;   and that afterwards I anxiously wanted.

Ιn the case of inertia, that is to say each time man quits his desire, the beams of light he had radiated, instead of resulting in its material shaping, dematerialize and he starts again from scratch, with a new wish. Besides, until the final and definite Desire rises within us, this process of desires, that we give up so easily, by trying and constantly changing intermediary earthly-material targets, repeats itself countless times during our course.

17. Usually, the "waiting" period for the materialization of a desire, does not in reality constitute waiting, but time for inner evolution, since during its duration, man elaborates his desire internally and its final form matures within him. When and for as long as the materialization is delayed, it means that man has not formed his truth within himself, and certainly it does not mean that it is an "idle" time and without any other causality.

It is even possible that man may be experiencing the feeling of impatience, because he has not taken into consideration that it is impossible for the materialization of a desire, which probably concerns an entire life plan, to happen directly and quickly. If we take computers as an example, we will understand the procedure: the older the model is, the slower it is in processing data, or in its memory, or in printing. The more advanced the technology is, the more automatized the work becomes.

No matter how far the mind, the intellect of some people has advanced, the material body ranks us amongst the "old technology". Some great masters had the ability to overcome these boundaries and accelerate the processes: what we then saw, meaning the "miracles" – the loyal gifts of the loyal Art – was an immediate materialization of the desire through the power of thought.

What is difficult for people, in reality is untimely. Exactly the same thing, when the appropriate time comes, becomes easy and simple. Difficulty, therefore, is not an inborn quality, but the way man perceives that the right moment has not come, that time is not enough.

That, which seems far away to us, is simply invisible.

Could failure be a mistake of Love? Perhaps the way was not very difficult, but it was Love that was very weak… It seems that he, the frivolous one, thought his Love had inexhaustible vitality, and just when he brought it round a bit, he abandoned it and he looked another way, while that was exactly the moment when he should support it, hold it tight, warm it, so the poor weak one would not faint again ...

That is why it is important for man to examine whether selfishness is involved in the materialization of his desire, when the desire is compulsory, meaning the consequences which will result from the activation of the whole procedure, are not taken into consideration. Then man does not trust the Universe, its mechanisms and its harmony, but he focuses exclusively on his desire and its satisfaction.

Besides, how many times have we not been deeply saddened for desires which some chance obstacle made futile or for plans which somehow Destiny hastily came and stopped – in any case they would not have lasted long – in order to realize, from then on, that "failures" which seemed inexplicable to us, were necessary for our path to become solid and that they constituted luck and universal favour.

To be separated wasn't their desire. It was the circumstances. – Or perhaps Destiny had appeared as an artist separating them now before their feeling fades, before Time changes them.

Everything, in any case, serves the general Life Plan, the great edifice of Progress, the attainment of God's Plan for humanity, and that is something which the sooner we realize it, the better we will be able to direct our life in the right direction.

The Way, apart from a tendency towards inner analysis, also demands the undertaking of decisions. Decisions must not be based on transient feelings, but on unchangeable principles. We often avoid action because we are afraid of "mistakes" as a waste of time and energy, something that it is not; on the contrary, it is an investment of creation. The course is a causality in Nature, and each time even a small step is of benefit.

The inner attitude of Dimitrios Saviour (160 – 150 BC) is the example:

His every expectation turned out wrong! He dreamed of doing famous deeds, to end the humiliation that had oppressed his country ever since the battle of Magnesia. (…) He suffered, became bitter, (…) laboured alone, and he was indignant, (…) look, he has determination; he will struggle, do this and that, uplift. (…) and all this strength he has in his soul, all this momentum, he will impart to the people. And now what? Now despair and woe. (…) Indifferent: he tried hard, he struggled as much as he could. And in his dark disappointment, one thing alone he considers with pride; that in his failure too, to the world he shows the same indomitable bravery. The rest – were dreams and vain efforts.

Another notion that does not exist in the spiritual vocabulary is that of failure. "Failure" shows that the time of maturation has not yet come. Deeds famous or not, we continue to exist: each time that our expectation turns out wrong, our course becomes independent from the conception but not from the Ideal. We should not abandon the vibration offered to us by the energy of our struggle – all this strength we have in our soul – but to continue our course, which will show us the way.

Our unfulfilled desires will bring us back to earth, asking to receive their materialization. It is them that map out the route for our next incarnations.

Like beautiful bodies of the dead who had never grown old and tearfully shut them in a splendid mausoleum, with roses at the head and jasmines at the feet – that is how desires look, that passed without being fulfilled; with neither of them being worthy of a night of sensual delight or its shining morning.

Nobody fails except if he stops claiming what he desires or if he quits before he finds it. And of course, he should not specify any "ending" for the path he has chosen as the most beloved one, for his work he loves best / that he worked, touched with emotion and with the utmost care.

18. The shrinkage of desires diminishes the powers of man's evolution and pins him down in stagnation. Withdrawal from the desire for happiness – the Satrapy of the soul – is devitalization that leads one day to the final decomposition of the soul.

What a misfortune, though you are made for fine and great works this unjust fate of yours always to deny you encouragement and success; to burden you with cheap habits, and pettiness, and indifference. And how frightful the day you surrender, (the day you let yourself go and surrender) and you leave, a traveller for Sousa, and you go to the monarch Artaxerxes who favourably gives you a place in his court, and offers you satrapies and such. And you accept with despair these things you do not want. Your soul seeks other things, weeps for other things; the praise of the people and the Sophists, the hard-won and invaluable Well-Done; the Agora, the Theatre, and the Laurels. Where will you find these in the satrapy; and without these what life can you live.

The obligation to happiness dictates instead of living the frightful day he let himself go and surrendered to his fear, to surrender to his desires; the love towards our self does not mean acceptance of our fears but acceptance of our desires.

Demaratus, the king of Sparta, also experienced another "Satrapy", when his co-king, Kleomenes the First, conspired with Leotihides, who finally succeeded Demaratus, and he shamelessly bribed the oracle at Delphi in order to achieve his dethronement, with the accusation that he was not the true-born son of king Ariston. Demaratus, to whom great injustice was done, surrendered to his fear. Fear is a cancer of the soul which sometimes multiplies with our tolerance, because we do not confront it directly and as a real rival.

And when he had finally submitted, and decided / to live with resignation as a private citizen, (…) his misery peaked. In that way, Demaratus came to betray his very own self, by betraying what he loved the most. He took refuge in the Persian court, as a counselor to Darius the First, and took part in the expedition of Xerxes the Second against Greece …

Hence he serves Xerxes with great zeal. He too will return to Sparta, with the mighty Persian army; and as a king like before, he will immediately chase away, he will humiliate that schemer Leotychides.

The subject, says the Poet, is the Character of Demaratus, as behind a whole category of similar experiences, which attract characters like Demaratus', the universe has "hidden" the message of independence: man ought to claim whatever they deny him; he ought to protect his self and restore it whenever necessary. It is not asked of him to be cruel and unjust, not even to grant justice, since this is being organized by superior cosmic powers. He ought to be his self and to support what he is with double meaning: by knowing its limits, every time conditions try him, and by supporting this whole. He should not be afraid to confront situations, because no power is stronger than the power of his self.

The man who walks in the eternal Light, becomes strengthened through prayer and uses the mind in order to weaken fear. He always knows what to do: when you reach out your hand, then you are offered the warmth of the soul. When you offer what you would like to take, then your heart is content. Whatever we expect, let it be that which we teach with our lives. And those things which we did not solve, God will send to us again, in order to help us solve them.

And then, let us wait for the day when the struggle has brought results, when the past has been defeated once and for all. Let us believe in that day, and expect it, for it will come.