Humanity makes its way through life and time, in a constant flow of change. But man is the only living creature who, in the midst of this constant change, can wonder why! What is the purpose of my existence?
In fact, just asking this question, is already attaining the first step, the first goal – a question which many do not even ask. They are content with pursuing their own well-being as their only goal, or at best, they allow external authorities such as the state, church, or ideology, to provide an answer, and to conform to it.
Is change in itself a goal? If we look closely at life, we will see that everything eventually turns to its opposite – and if we consider this seriously, then we will come to the understanding that this is necessary. It is the only way that man will become aware of the duality of his own being, and that of the world. Good and evil, love and hate, birth and death; man carries both these poles within himself.
This constant movement between these opposite poles can create tension within man, which can build up, and then will have to be released, usually into his environment. In this way, change is a constant. Whatever has been built up, will also literally, be broken down again, and this process is always accompanied with tension and violence. No sooner has the last peace monument been erected, then behold, a new conflict threatens to erupt.
This law of duality, makes the destruction of homes, buildings and infrastructure, and yes, many human lives, inevitable. And the word ‘inevitable’ is very appropriate here, for becoming aware of the nature of duality, is closely tied to the inner experience of the reality of its inevitability. Only from the fullness of that insight can the longing arise to transcend it; to seek true balance, harmony and unity.
Conflict is heightened awareness. Laozi says in his Daodejing:
The All-Manifestation does not love as humans do. [1]
Jan van Rijckenborgh says about this:
So only one conclusion remains, that when the Bible speaks about love and says, `God is love’, it must mean something entirely different from what we think it means.[2]
God’s Love is Light! It is a Love that contributes to the realization of duality, and which gives Light to those who desire to return to unity, to true humanity.
For us however, we will have to live with the idea that love as we know it, breeds its opposite, hatred. Or as Lao Tzu says:
All under heaven know so well that beauty is not ‘beautiful’, that it splits into ugliness. [3]
And hatred is proof that true Love is unknown to man, and is not to be found in this world. He who cultivates love, cultivates hatred – that is an unavoidable law.
The scales that weigh love and hate, are constantly in motion, and can never find true balance. Therefore, Jan van Rijckenborgh says:
Love and hate are alternately aroused in one form or another, and man becomes the “stoker” of his own hell of life.
Now can you imagine Tao standing out there?
And yet there is hope for man to one day return to unity, to know the true Love of the Soul, yes, to be that Love! To this end, awareness of our true nature is firstly necessary, no matter how painful this may be. Even if it comes in the form of violence, which can also bring an intensity, an acuteness, to our awareness.
So, what can we do to bring these scales of duality into balance? We can enter into the silence of our inner being, not allowing ourselves to be swayed into a reaction by our emotions. Only in the purity of an inner silence can we gain an awareness of our purpose as a human being: to relinquish the ego, our ‘I’, and to build the new Soul. And with our inner ear, to listen to the voice of the Soul, to the whispers from the World of Unity. Then from the new Soul, which is Unity itself, the insight awakens on how to propagate that Love, how to ‘be’ that Love, and how to embrace humanity in the Love.
We quote Catharose de Petri from her book, The Living Word:
Doesn’t God make it abundantly clear to his children that He has a grand plan for the world and humanity? And do we not know the truth of the words that ‘God does not forsake the work of his hands? The plan for us, his children, must be carried out. All the tensions and all the woes in this world are the result of the resistance of humanity against the divine plan, the resistance against his acts of love. The protest against the divine love originates in delusion and in the ignorance of the plan that radiates in the power of Christ. [4]
Helping to break through that delusion and ignorance is the task of those who see through the plan, accept the inevitability of conflict, are not distracted, and keep their focus on the Light. In such a way, the human being will give birth to a new Soul, and can touch others with its inner faculties, that inner Light that radiates from the new Soul.
References:
[1] Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri, The Chinese Gnosis, chap. 5 The All-Manifestation does not love as humans do, page 55, Rozekruis Pers, Haarlem 2018
[2] Ibid, pg. 58
[3] Ibid chap. 2
[4] Catharose de Petri, The Living Word, chap. 11 The struggle and purpose and the realisation of life, pg. 64, Rozekruis Pers, Haarlem 2001
