Theosophy Downunder Library Home

Without the aid of a ‘life flight simulator’ to see how things will turn out, life is at times very tough! What we propose to discuss here today, are some theosophical perspectives on how to cope with life. Implicit in the topic title is the idea that life is, or was not meant to be, easy. I’ll add to that famous quotation and say it was not meant to be impossible either! And there are some who echo a common feeling, that life is just one damned thing after another! 

But let’s not frustrate our thinking by concentrating on only the more difficult times we all at some stage encounter. Coping with life is not a new subject. If we reflect for a moment, we can see that suffering in its many forms has been here as long as we have. At the same time there have always been those few individuals, (without trying to pass themselves off as gurus) who could offer advice, practical advice, and usually similar solutions to life’s great dilemmas.

These dilemmas range as far as: “Why am I here?” “Who am I?” “Is there a God watching over me?” “Why did this or that happen to me, when I don’t deserve it?” “Why is there so much to do and not enough time to do it in!” “Should I be a hedonist or an altruist?” “Is there life after death?” “If there is life after death, how will that affect my thinking?” “What if we reincarnate, how might that change my behaviour?” “What is the difference between conscience and intuition, and how can I make wise and correct decisions?” “What is my duty as an individual; as a member of a family and as a member of society?” “What really is important in life and what are we looking for and hoping to find?” 

Let’s look at conscience and intuition to begin with. This is a quote taken from the February Sunrise Magazine of 1981, by G. de Purucker: 

“What is conscience and where is it located in the human constitution, and how do you make it function? As I understand the matter, our conscience is that friendly warm-hearted whispering from above which we feel as showing us the right and the wrong, and it comes from the stored-up ethical wisdom in our being. It is not in the disputatious brain-mind; it is in the heart. It is the highest part of the human ego, the treasury of ethical experience, the accumulated wisdom of past lives, garnered and treasured in our higher parts. As far as it goes its voice is infallible and powerful, but it does not go far enough to make its voice in our soul an infallible guide, because we have not had past human lives throughout eternity, and we are not infinite beings, humanly speaking. One man’s conscience is strong; another man’s conscience is weaker. The one may be more evolved and may have learned to hearken more attentively to the inner monitor; therefore its voice is familiar, strong and steady.  We love that, and one reason why we love it is because it is so personal to ourselves. It is the highest part of each one of us as a human being, whispering to us admonitions of right, and denying to us the ways of wrong doing. It is the buddhi-manas (spiritual-mental) part of the human being, the garnered experience of past ages of births and rebirths, the echo of past sufferings and heartaches from which we have gleaned wisdom and treasured it on the tablets of the Self. That is the conscience. But higher than conscience is intuition. Intuition is infallible: its voice is immeasurably infallible, because it is the whispering within us of the truths of the cosmic spirit. It is a ray direct from the divine spirit in our hearts. Our conscience won’t tell us the truth about a fact of nature, nor whisper into our minds guidance along the paths of scientific or religious or philosophical discovery, because it is the garnered ethical wisdom familiar to the soul of each one of us. But the intuition will tell us instantly, it has instant vision of truth. Its voice is neither familiar nor unfamiliar. It is utterly impersonal: it is the voice of the atma-buddhi manas (divine-spiritual mind) within us. 

The conscience is our own treasury of spiritual-ethical wisdom. It is infallible as far as it goes, as far as we can hear its voice; and we can hear it ever more by practice, by training, by hearkening to it, by just recognizing it and following it. But because it is our only gathered treasury, it is not infinite, and therefore in the true sense always infallible. But so far as it concerns each one of you as individuals, when your conscience whispers to you, follow it, because it will whisper only when you are in danger, or when you are seeking to do aright.” 

From my own limited understanding of life and how to deal with it several things are clear: 

1. Our duty: Our ability to accept that with freedom of choice comes responsibility. And I quote from Hermes, of July 1977, p.330. “There is never any need to worry. The good Law looks out for all things, and all we have to do is our duty as it comes along from day to day. Nothing is gained by worrying about matters and about the way people do not respond. In the first place, you do not alter people, and in the second, by being anxious as to things, you put an occult obstacle in the way of what you want done. It is better to acquire a lot of what is called carelessness by the world, but is in reality a calm reliance on the Law, and a doing of one’s own duty, satisfied that the results must be right, no matter what they might be. Think that over, and try to make it a part of your inner mind that it is no use to worry; that things will be all right, no matter what comes, and that you are resolved to do what you see before you, and trust to Karma for all the rest. 

2. Non-separateness: All we do affects the rest of our surroundings and will return to us eventually. 

3. Transcend ‘Brain-Mind’ thinking: There is more than meets the eye in this physical world, and the hunger within is for more than chocolate biscuits and coffee! There is an inner-life or vision waiting patiently to unfold. Katherine Tingley, a past leader of the T.S. wrote in the Path Magazine of 1925, in a chapter headed: “Rise Above the Brain Mind”, page 608. And I quote:  “Man must rise above the merely brain-mind efforts to struggle with life’s difficulties: for where one depends upon the mental part of his nature alone, he only half lives. Of course the mind must be cultivated; scholarship is necessary. But the mind must be so trained that it is open to the higher influences of the immortal man, the soul. It must be ready to permit the light from the soul to enter in and be reflected through the mind. It is the spirit of man, his immortal self, the part of him that never dies, that he must invoke daily as energetically and as faithfully as he cultivates the mortal brain-mind, which dies when the body dies. 

To advance along the path of spiritual evolution, a man must not only have a high standard of living, but he must ever aim to adapt the principles of that standard to superb daily efforts towards purity of life. He cannot live half-heartedly; he cannot play hide-and-go-seek with his principles; he cannot deceive himself; he may even deceive his fellows; but he cannot deceive his higher nature.” 

4. Self unfoldment:  It seems to occur when we most forget about ourselves. In the service of others, our own inner-light seems to shine most brightly. Perhaps, in recognition that selfless action is an understanding and concrete statement that all is one. 

I hope that these few powerful ideas from the theosophical literature will assist in facing some of the most difficult aspects of life. Amongst these, I would include: dealing with, guilt, depression, stress, anger, and fear. These are but a few. But what good is our wonderful philosophy of Theosophy if we don’t attempt to live it, and by living it help ourselves and others to cope with many of the challenges that face us every moment in the spiritual testing ground of daily life?

The above is the text of a lecture presented to the Theosophical Society Pasadena in