Our Inner Life is Unpredictable
When we read about the law of three and the law of seven, it sounds like an exact science, but we are somewhere between theory and practice. We think that the lines of events and actions can actually be known, calculated, planned for in advance. When we observe our inner world and our life in the external world, it is not easy to find this exactness. Nothing seems to follow a straight line. The motives and end results, the endings and beginnings of our actions are unclear.
My inner struggle to be present and to stay out of imagination takes place amid these internal and external octaves and intervals. It has its ‘fits and starts’, and no day, or hour, or minute is predictable.
I stumble and waiver like a drunkard towards my goal. – Montaigne
A Larger Context
If I am clever, I will put this personal struggle in a larger context, working with others who have the same aim–the second line of work. This provides an additional force, a connection to another larger scale to keep the octave of awakening on track. It is bound to have intervals, according to the law of seven, but we can prepare for these by having a multi-faceted way of working on ourselves.
With the third line of work, this same personal struggle can be within an even larger context of esoteric school. That is, a connection to the inner circle of humanity, outside of time and invisibly informing human history. When I feel this connection, not in theory but in actuality, I can be present longer, deeper. I can sooner recognize when imagination has gotten the upper hand. My inner work becomes more reliable. The compass always points North, even when there are other strong magnetic fields nearby.
This very struggle to become present brings out the most noble of the human. It is that desire to overcome the sleepy, inertial state of endlessly turning thoughts. Reaching beyond the hypnotism of identification with internal and external events in my life. It is the head of Sphinx rising above the sandstorms of Egypt. The eternal struggle: the noble “Yes” edging out the tireless “No.”
Awakening Permanently
No more for him life’s stormy conflicts, Nor victory, nor defeat—no more time’s dark events, Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky. – Walt Whitman on the death of Abraham Lincoln
Yes, to raise above time’s events, to see beyond the many ‘I’s, to achieve an immortal vision. So necessary the three lines of work to keep it all going. We find ourselves between theory and practice.
Moving Between Theory and Practice
Success in this personal struggle is also impossible without outside help, without Influence C invisibly lending their hand. Ironically, this hand often takes the form of additional denying force in our life. We must learn to respond to denying force without becoming negative, if we are to accept their help. This very act increases our strength to not believe our lower self, and its tricks.
By actively engaging in these three scales of work, with outside help, it is possible to awaken from sleep, free oneself from imagination, and, according to my teacher, eventually remain awake permanently.
About David Tuttle
David Tuttle, with over forty years in the work, has contributed various articles for the www.FourthWayToday.org, including Developing Higher Consciousness, School Traditions and the Ideal State, Lost to the World, What is it Then Between Us, An Apollo Walk, and The Cascade Fire. He is also a co-founder of a new discussion group for Fourth Way students: A Question of Presence – Discussion: https://www.facebook.com/aquestionofpresence.
For another recent article of David’s see: