THE ARCANE FORMULAS /PART 6
LESSON
6.
THE
EXCLUDED MIDDLE
the
preceding lesson, we referred
to the Secret of the
Excluded Middle. This is
one of the
most ancient and fundamental formulas
of the Secret Doctrine or
Arcane Teaching of the
ancient occult fraternities.
It was regarded as the Keystone of the Mystic
Arch. Those who grasp
the inner spirit of this Secret
are, as the
Aphorism informs us, "well
on the road to Mastery." Let
us refer you to
Aphorism XX, at
this place.
The Aphorism
informs us that:
"When a man attains Individuality-Ego-hood he enters upon
the plane of Will, and
rises above the plane of Desire.
Desire and Will are
the opposite poles
of the same
principle—the Centre of
Balance being Reason. On the
plane of Will, though
one remains under
Law, yet he may learn
to use Law instead
of remaining passive
to it. He may
learn to oppose Law to laws.
He may learn to
create Desire by Will.
Furthermore— and this is the
greatest of all—he
may learn to Will
to Will. He may learn to complete the
Circle of Will.
He may learn
the Secret of
the Excluded Middle. When this last
Secret is learned,
man is well on the
road to Mastery."
We have
seen, in the Arcane
Teaching, that from
the Cosmic Will, which is the
Principle of Will,
the Cosmos has been evolved.
We have seen how this evolution
has progressed under the
Law of Orderly
Trend and Logical Sequence,
the active principle
of which has been Desire,
which is but the negative
pole of Will.
We have seen
that there is an
unbroken chain of Sequence
extending from the
Cosmic Will to the
"I" which latter
is but a focalized Centre
of Will in the
great Cosmic Will.
At
the personal or
individual end of this
unbroken chain, we
find the "I" or
Individual Will. But we
find that this Individual
Will is conditioned,
restricted, bound and hampered by the
accumulated sheath of
evolutionary growth, to the extent
of even doubting
its own identity or nature.
The idea of separateness has
crept in, and the
"I" fails to
realize that it is identical
in nature and substance with the great
Cosmic Will, in
which it is a
Centre or Focal Point. So entangled is it in
the bonds of
Personality—so deluded by
the illusions of
the 'John Smith" nature and characteristics; that
it imagines itself to be
a thing
apart. It feels
the personal conscious
on all sides, and actually
imagines that it,
the "I," is
really this bundle of mental
states, impressions and ideas that
belong to "John Smith."
It has
exchanged its Cosmic Birthright
for the humble Mess of Pottage of
Personality.
The Hindus
tell a tale
of one of
the great gods—Indra—who, following
a caprice, incarcerated
himself in the body
of a pig.
He took unto himself
a pig mate, and
raised a brood of little
pigs. He lost
all sense of
his own identity, and was thoroughly
hypnotized with the idea
that he was
a pig. The
fellow gods, grieved at his
illusion and his pitiful state,
called upon him to come out of
the pig-state, telling
him that he
was a great
god and not a swinish creature wallowing
in the mud. He
grunted out a denial,
saying: "I am a pig,
not a god—let
me alone!" They persisted,
and he continued to repel
them. They killed his
pig-mate, and his little pigs, but he
squealed out his sorrow
and rage, and tried to destroy
the gods in
his wrath. Finally
they killed his pig-body, as a last
resort, and lo! Indra,
the god, stepped forth in all his glorious
power, and laughed in
astonishment when he realized the extent and degree
of his late
illusion." By this parable,
the Hindu teachers impress upon their
chelas the fact
of their Real
Self.
A
well-known occult writer in her
little compilation of the
ancient teachings, entitled
"Light on the Path," says: "Seek
in the heart the
source of evil
(the illusion of Personality) and
expunge it. It
lives fruitfully in the
heart of the devoted disciple, as
well as in the
heart of the
man of desire. Only
the strong can kill
it out. The weak
must wait for its growth,
its fruition, its death.
And it is a
plant that lives
and increases throughout the
ages. It flowers
when man has accumulated unto
himself innumerable existences. He
who will enter upon this path of
power must tear this
thing out of his
heart. And then
his heart will bleed,
and the whole life
of the man seem
to be utterly dissolved. This ordeal must be endured;
it may come at
the first step of
the perilous ladder which leads
to the path of
life; it may
not come until
the last. But, O
disciple! remember that it
has to be endured, and
fasten the energies of your soul
upon the task. Live
neither in the present nor
the future, but
in the eternal. This
giant weed cannot flourish there; this
blot upon existence is wiped out
by the very
atmosphere of eternal
thought.... Each man is to himself
absolutely the way, the
truth, and life. But
he is only
so when he grasps his whole
individuality (personality)
firmly, and, by
the force of his
awakened spiritual Will,
recognizes this individuality (personality) as not himself,
but that thing
which he has with pain created for his
own use, and by means
of which he purposes,
as his growth slowly develops his intelligence, to
reach to that life beyond
individuality (personality).... Seek it by
making the profound obeisance of
the soul to the
dim star that
burns within. Steadily, as
you watch and worship,
its light will
grow stronger. Then you
may know you
have found the beginning
of the way.
And when you have found the end,
its light will
suddenly become the
infinite light."
The Paraphernalia, of
Personality is the
"Middle"—the
connecting links between the Cosmic Will
and the Individual Will—the One
Being and the "I." By excluding
it, the "I" is merged in consciousness with
the Cosmos—he attains Cosmic Consciousness. But
this exclusion is
only relative—it is
merely an exclusion in consciousness,
but a realization that this
middle is fictitious and illusory in
reality. When it is
so regarded, then
the "I" while
remaining an individual, yet
realizes its real
nature and identity with the
Cosmic Will, and is able to act
according to the degree
and strength of
the recognition. This process
of exclusion is
slow and gradual—it begins
with an intellectual conception of
the Truth, which then gradually evolves
into a greater and broader experience and realization
as the Neophyte progresses
along The Path of Attainment.
By excluding
the Middle or
Personality, it is
not meant that
the Individual should cease using
his personal instruments
of expression and life. On the contrary, he
only then begins to
use them. For,
previous to this
realization, the things of
Personality have used
him, instead of he
using them. As the old occult
Aphorism informs us:
"All things are
good for the Individual
to use— but none of
them are good enough to use
the Individual. The
advanced occultist first learns
to set aside the
things of Personality—learns to do without them—learns that he
does not need them
to remain "I". Then, having
freed himself, mentally, from
them, he returns
and uses them, intelligently and
properly, and positively.
This the difference between Mastery and
Slavery. As Carpenter,
the English poet,
sings:
"To
die—for this into the
world you came.
Yes, to abandon more than you
ever conceived as possible: All
ideals, plans—even the very
best and most
unselfish—all hopes and desires... Modes of life, habits, predelictions, preferences,
superiorities, weaknesses,
indulgences... in one word:
To
die- For this into the
world you came.
All to be
abandoned, and when they have
been finally abandoned, then to
return to be
used—and then only to be rightly
used, to be free and open for ever.
§
Be
not torn
by desire: ... Slowly
and resolutely—as a
fly cleans its legs of
the honey in which it has been caught- So remove thou, if it only be
for a time,
every particle which sullies
the brightness of thy
mind…
Return
into thyself -content to give,
but asking no one,
asking nothing; In the calm light of
His splendor who fills
all the universe,
the imperishable indestructible
of ages, Dwell thou—as
thou canst dwell—contented... In place all
are to be used. Yet
in using be not
entangled in them; for then already
are they bad,
and will cause thee suffering.
When thy body—as needs must happen
at times—is carried along on the wind of passion, say not thou, 'I
desire this or
that'; For the 'I' neither
desires nor fears anything, but is free
and in everlasting glory, dwelling in heaven and pouring out joy
like the sun on all
sides.
Let not
that precious thing
by any confusion be drawn down and entangled in the
world of opposites, and of Death and
suffering. For as a light-house beam sweeps with incredible
speed over sea and
land, yet the lamp itself moves not at all, So while thy
body of desire
is (and must be
by the law
of its nature) incessantly in motion in the world of
suffering, the 'I' high up above
is fixed in heaven.
Therefore I say let no confusion cloud
thy mind about this
matter; But ever when desire
knocks at thy
door, Though thou grant it
admission and entreat it hospitably,
as in duty bound, Fence it yet gently
off from thy
true self, Lest it tear and
rend thee.”
The Formulas
already given the Neophyte,
in connection with the intellectual
perception of the Truth of
the "I” and
the Secret of
the Excluded Middle, as
well as the
Formulas to follow, will
bring about a
gradual unfoldment of the
realization of Cosmic Consciousness, and Recognition of the Identity of the
"I” with the Cosmic Will. The
following exercise, and others
akin to it, will aid the
Neophyte in unfolding into this
consciousness.
EXERCISE.
The Neophyte, placing himself
in a restful, calm,
peaceful position and
condition, should then meditate
upon the great Cosmic Will,
Essence, or Spirit. He
should picture it as
a great Ocean of
Spirit, upon which and in which
he rests as an Established
Focal Point or Centre.
He should picture the resistless force and
power of this great Ocean
of Spirit, and
feel its waves and
movements. He should
realize that its thrill is
perceptible in his inner being,
and that in every way
he is of
it, and in
it. Realize that you
are Spirit (Will) and
nothing but Spirit
(Will). Realize that
there is no real
separation between you and the
great Ocean of Spirit—and that there
can be no such separation. In your
meditation, mentally wipe out the paraphernalia
of Personality—Exclude the Middle
of Personality and let
Spirit join Spirit—Will
join Will. Realize
that you are
a Centre of
Force in the great
Ocean of Will—a channel for
the expression of as
much Cosmic Will as your growth and capacity will
allow. Realize that
as you grow
and unfold, you will become a
greater and still greater
and grander channel for
the inflow and outpouring of the Cosmic Energy
and Life. Complete the
Circle of Will.
Bring about the Union of
Spirit. Learn to Will to Will,
by realizing that
you are Will.
NEXT CHAPTER
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