THE REVERENTIAL LIFE
The Notebooks of Paul Brunton: Volume 12, Part II
In the last two e-teachings we explored the ways in which we know ourselves as ego, and found that while ego is a natural part of the universal life stream which offers the possibility of ever broadening individual conscious awareness, there comes a point where consciousness functioning through ego begins to question and feel that its ego identity is a limiting and painful blockage to some greater possibility which is awakening within.
In Volume 12, The Reverential Life, PB offers guidance as to the nature of surrender, authentic humility, and the relationship of the individual to Overself. If ego is unable to encompass the fullness of an individual’s authentic being, what is the nature of the path of conscious awakening beyond this limiting self-identity? Is there an essential quality or fundamental factor involved?
The need is for much more bhakti, especially during meditation, for intenser and warmer yearning to feel the sacred presence. It is really a need to descend from merely knowing in the head to knowing and feeling in the heart. [18:1.17] Category 18, Chapter 1, #17
A person will come to perceive that their real strength lies in remembering the higher self, in remembering the quest of it, and, above all, in remembering the two with intense love, devotion, and faith. [18:1.6]
Aspiration which is not just a vague and occasional wish but a steady settled and intense longing for the Overself is a primary requirement. Such aspiration means the hunger for awareness of the Overself, the thirst for experience of the Overself, the call for union to the Overself. It is a veritable power which lifts one upward, which helps one give up the ego more quickly, and which attracts Grace. It will have these desirable effects in proportion to how intensely it is felt and how unmixed it is with other personal desires. [18:1.53]
A person must first recognize their weaknesses, admit their deficiencies, and deplore their shortcomings if Grace is to come to them. By that act and attitude of self-abasement they take the first step to opening the door of their inner being to its presence. This is a necessary procedure, but it is still only a first step. The second is to call out for help–whether to God or a human–and to keep on calling. The third step is to get to work upon themselves unremittingly and amend or elevate their character. [18:5.180]
PB helps us understand the true nature of humility and surrender in the context of the quest of Overself. How does humility develop authentically? What and to whom is one to surrender? Is this even possible? What is Grace?
What the ego’s pride cannot do, the Overself’s humility may. It is always worth trying this better way, even if it be a self-mortifying way. [18:3.6]
People naturally shrink from acknowledging frankly their defects and mistakes, their weaknesses and vanities. Yet such acknowledgment is the beginning of their salvation. [18:3.45]
It seems a tiring and endless task, this, of tracking down the ego and struggling with it in its own lair. No sooner have we given ourselves the satisfaction of believing that we have reached its last lair and fought the last struggle than it reappears once again, and we have to begin once more. Can we never hope to finish this task? Is the satisfaction of victory always to be a premature one? When such a mood of powerlessness overwhelms us utterly, we begin at last to cast all further hope for victory upon Grace alone. We know that we cannot save ourselves and we look to the higher power. We realize that self-effort is absolutely necessary to our salvation, but we discover later that it is not enough for our salvation. We have to be humbled to the ground in humility and helplessness before Grace will appear and itself finish the work which we have started. [8:5.131]
Just as we have to look at the world in the twofold way of its immediate and ultimate understanding, so we have to find enlightenment in a twofold way through our own self-creative efforts and through the reception of Grace. [18:5.129]
Grace is the benign effluence of the Overself, the kindly radiation from it, ever-present in us. The theological use of this term to mean particular help given by God to a person to enable them to endure temptation and act rightly is a serious and arbitrary narrowing down of its original meaning. It may mean this sometimes, but it also means the loving mercy God shows to us, which appears variously as enlightenment of the mind or relief of the heart, as change of outward physical conditions or a dynamic revolution-working energy acting on the aspirant or on their life. [18:5.4]
The indispensable prerequisite to mystical illumination is self-surrender. None can receive it without paying this price. Any person in any degree of development may pay it–they have to turn around, change their attitude, and accept the Christ, the higher self, as their sovereign. But once this happens and the Grace of illumination descends, it can affect the self only as it finds the self. An unbalanced ego will not suddenly become balanced. An unintellectual one will not suddenly become learned. Their imperfections remain though the light shines through them. [18:4.70]
While a person patiently waits with surrendered will for the oncoming of divine Grace, they direct conscious effort to improve themselves, and thus, incidentally, deserve it. [18:5.138]
When a person’s strongest passion is to make real the presence of the Soul and when they demonstrate this by the strivings and sacrifices of their whole life, they are not far from the visitation of Grace. [18:5.172]
Let a person feel even in the very heat of this world’s activity that their Guardian Angel is ever with them, that it is not farther away than their own inmost heart. Let them nurture this unshakeable faith, for it is true. Let them make it the basis of all their conduct, try to ennoble and purify their character incessantly, and turn every failing into a stepping-stone for a further rise. The quest winds through ups and downs, so they must make despair a short-lived thing and hope an unkillable one. Success will not depend on their own personal endeavours alone, although they are indispensable; it is also a matter of Grace and this they can get by unremitting prayer, addressed to whatever higher power they believe in most, and by the compassion of their guide. [18:5.173]
With this serene acceptance of Life, this glad co-operation with it and willing obedience to its laws, we begin to find that henceforth Life is for us. Events begin to happen, circumstances so arrange themselves, and contacts so develop themselves that what we really need for our further development or expression appears of its own accord. 18:4.187]
Compiled by Judy S.