Jacob Boehme, the Mystic, wrote: "God introduces his Will into nature for the purpose of revealing his power in light and majesty to constitute a kingdom of joy."
The Will of man is a lever that may be made to lift in any desired direction. The Will is the great factor in human experiences; it makes or mars character, and defeats or fulfills every promise of nature. Unguided and directed by the caprice of the senses, it is the unworthy helmsman thaqt steers the ship of self directly on the rocks. Exalted, trained and consecrated as a result of mind awakening and Soul development, it leads into the harbor of peace, power and safety.
So subtle and wonderful is this grand faculty of the Will that only by the closest study and most careful analysis is revealed its true nature, its modes of action, or its possibilities. From the standpoint of ordinary human experiences, it is always successful in the accomplishment of its real desires.
There are two aspects to every force and the Will is no exception; one is positive, while the other is negative. Sometimes this quality which is part of all active force is called masculine and feminine. The masculine corresponds to the positive, the feminine to the passive (receptive) or negative. In its mode of operation, it is action and the reaction that follows.
The masculine is always the aggressive; pushing, active, positive force or power. The feminine is the passive; receptive, hidden, unmanifested, yet manifesting, because reproductive potency. Both activities of the Will are requisite to the operation and fulfillment of any project, but either may be in excess, thereby causing a lack of balance between the two, and a consequent defeat of the end sought.
All too often only the masculine phase of the Will is recognized or brought into activity. Will, in the sense-man, is commonly known as brute force. It is the same exhibition of violent energy directed by Will as is manifested among animals; the wild beasts attacking their prey, or defending their young. This is not rally the Will, but defensive animal instinct in action.
Masculine Will force is powerful, but convulsive and short lived, unless properly directed. While it may accomplish wonders with its explosive energy, it is not to be relied upon for the accomplishment of great ends, unless it is especially trained and in wedded harmony with its other half, the feminine.
This perfect duality of force is seen in the male and female parents. The male acts and guides. The female receives; then silently and secretly carries that which she has received to perfect fulfillment. She is the carrying force, the "bringer to pass," and while the first exhibition of energy was active, the final and crowning result is attainable only by the patient, persistent, secretive work of the feminine.
In the dual Will the positive or masculine must act, remove obstacles, build conditions, put forth energy in the initial step of any undertaking, and then subside into the background until necessity again demands active assertion. The masculine sends out, commands and demands; the feminine is receptive, quietly holds, nurtures and brings to fruition.
Analyze the man of the world; one who has made a success of himself and the work in which he is engaged. Do you find him a noisy, boastful, blustering talker? No; he hesitates to say much at any time; he listens but talks little; he is a plodding, tenacious, silent worker. He may be left far in the raer by his more brilliant comrades. He may even appear to sink below mediocrity as compared with many of his associates on the social scale; but there comes the day when his silence is made manifest by his achievements; when his plodding, self-denying toil of the years reaps a rich harvest; and, strange are the ways of the Law; the results of his silence, his suffering because of non-acceptance by the mass, benefit the multitude more than himself.
Mark well: Man first directs the explosive, masculine Will to set his work into motion, and then he passively, calmly holds this Will to the reception of the reaction of that which the masculine Will was sent forth.
The slight agitation in a body of water will cause only a light wave that recedes quickly, causing little notice and no damage, but beware of the wave when a greater force agitates the entire body of water and the retreating waves return. This is an illustration of the dual force and action of the Will, the upper and lower, the inner and outer, when acting in unison.
The first effort in the development of a positive Will should deal with one's self. All mankind has a strong dislike for the performing of some common duty, one perhaps of a menial nature. Where this is so there is procrastination in its performance; many excuses for not fulfilling these duties at the time they actually should be done. Right here is the place for the beginning of training and development of a powerful, directive, constructive will. Two things are necessary: First; direct your Will as would the proverbial slave driver, compelling yourself to do then and there, that which you have disliked or despised. Lest we fail in making the Law fully understood, no person can become an initiate or master unless he or she succeeds in doing this. Why? Because if you have a duty to perform, it should be performed immediately and willingly, proudly, gladly; and, in the consciousness of being sufficiently a real man or woman to do your duty, there should also be a heart-felt pleasure.
In the progress of cultivation and directing the magnificent power of the Will, it is essential that we should choose, or select, one single, all-embracing desire, an ideal, something to be accomplished or attained, and then with single eye, and unswerving purpose, work towards its attainment.
Once you have formed your aim, you must learn to focus the Will on its achievement. To concentrate, focalize, centralize the Will upon a noble purpose or a desired accomplishment is the most holy privilege permitted the Soul. Your purpose being noble, it is essential that you so live in harmony with the spirit of the effort in your mind and hear, and desire to be impregnated by this spirit that it becomes the directive force for the accomplishment of your desire.
To be able to succeed you must be perfectly willing to agree, and feel it in your mind and heart, that: "Whatever be the cost of achieving my purpose, whether in effort, sacrifice or even in denial, that am I perfectly willing to give." If this is the spirit of your desire, then the positive attitude of the Will will be set into motion and if you follow it up with action, it will sweep aside all obstacles and remove every thing standing in the way of fulfillment.
If you are a true seeker, a sincere Acolyte in the Great Work, you will have ling since become aware that the subjugation and dethronement of the senses, hence of the lower self, is not to be accomplished by merely wishing; that extreme effort is at times required, and that above all, a replacement is necessary, i.e., there must be a substitution of something greater and better and better for that eliminated, or subjugated.
So deeply ingrained in the very fibers of your being are the erroneous views, ideas, prejudices and prejudgments inculcated by ages of perverted sense use on the part of your forefathers, fostered by false logic and education as well as by living ages in crude ignorance of the truth that even after you have intellectually and sincerely accepted the spiritual facts of life and action, your old habits and inclinations will force the issue in a battle wherein you will either be the victor or the vanquished. This will be your opportunity to prove the sincerity of y our purpose and the degree to which you have developed the Will.
Will you, or will you not, be true to your highest ideal and stand fast in an emergency? "True as life itself," is the verdict of the Soul. The heart seconds it, and the Will, positive in its assurance, gathering all the forces of mind, heart and Soul, hurls them full into the face of temptation, and lo, the temptation was the darkness of the mortal and is dispelled. Encouraged by the victory, strengthened by the effort, both phases of the Will have gained in power and the accumulation of more powerful forces for other battles to come.
In the meantime and between these crises in your experience, there is a steady, continuous growth in power, a constant increase in the capacity for adjustment to the new and higher standards of your life, until finally, your method of life will appear to you as the only right one and you will no longer be tempted, not misled, by what others inculcate as the right way, not by their opinions on the subject, whatever they may be. You are becoming a man, an individual; you are on your way to Christic realization; the manifestation of Christisis.
Inner or spiritual development is not possible unless you first have a clear understanding of the part that the Will must play during the progress of that development. After you have come into a realization of this, you are ready to proceed in the Great Work and begin the development of the Christos within yourself as a part of yourself; a Christification of your being, inclusive medium for this accomplishment.
The philosophy of Christification is a wedding of true religion and exact science, the harmonizing of the East and the West; the love nature with the creative nature. Heretofore you have thought only of the mastery of self so as to benefit yourself. You are now confronted with a far more difficult problem.
The selfish self must be mastered for the benefit of yourself and others, and in addition, you must gain consciousness of the Soul by a development of the love nature, bringing the masculine and feminine selves into equilibrium, or balance. This is the attainment to Sonship with the Father.
Religion deals with the spiritual nature of man; science with his mental and physical being, and all that concerns it. Christification is the equal, balanced development of both, therefore the true philosophy of religion and science united or unified.
The more you come into the realization of the Will's mighty potency, the greater will be your desire to direct it constructively, and the more sincere will be your efforts to harmonize the Will's action with the Divine Law, while at the same time the selfishness will shrink, and the majesty of omnipotence becomes apparent to you.
To be filled with the consciousness of the highest is to forego and forget the lowest. In your progress toward the ideal, have you not already found the effect upon yourself to be much like the loving faith of a true friend? Is not your heart warmed and your mind exhilarated with an increased desire to become all that you admire and think noble? Is this not the incentive for you to press forward with unflagging zeal to the perfect unfoldment of the divine Spark god has placed within you, and is hidden from you only because you have not yet become worthy, but which it is your glorious privilege to bring forth into the glory of the Divine Light? To accomplish this is your individualization. All men are possessed of a personality; this is the little self; but few men have the strength and the incentive to develop this personality into individualization. They prefer to be of the mass because no effort on their part is necessary. They falsely believe that their faith, little though it be, will do for them as much as would their own efforts towards individualization, the bringing forth, of the sleeping Christos within themselves, into Christisis.
You should realize by now that the method of transmuting the old self into the new individual, is the explosive and compensation power of new interests and affections. If you love the right, then the wrong (evil) will soon die of starvation, and starving, give life to the new. This is the Alchemical secret. By loving the ideal, you will gradually be induced by that love, to develop the ideal within yourself. Think only of the ideal, call it before your mental vision whenever an ignoble thought presents itself before the mind. Pattern your life and actions after the ideal tin action and you will become that ideal. This ideal is within the heart, and will unfold as beautifully as does the rose in the bosom the heart.
The next step is in an alliance between the human and the Divine Will, or the harmonizing of the desires of the heart with the Divine Law. In this accomplishment is the secret of all powers and the development and manifestation of all possibilities. You must frankly meet the question whether you desire to continue as your old self and in the same ruthy; to live as most men have always lived; in misery, sorrow, and darkness, or to face about; accept the truth at whatever cost; suffer if and when necessary; yet safe in the knowledge that in so doing you are developing your individuality; coming into the consciousness of your divine inheritance and ultimately free yourself from all that is evil, degrading and destructive; coming forth a free man; individualized, Soul Conscious, the Christisis.
If this is your choice, then hold this ideal in your mind every conscious moment. Hold your thoughts to the one purpose; form a picture in your mind representative of your desire. It is is not possible to form a picture, then let the idea be to you as would a picture.
As a further means toward the end to be achieved, set aside some part of the day or evening when it will be possible for you to be alone and practice the exercise here taught much as you would some form of physical culture to develop the body. Be conscious of the fact that while it is highly desirable to develop the body to its highest form, it is of greater importance to awaken the Soul and bring it into consciousness.
Sit upright in a straight-back chair, the feet squarely touching the floor, and with deep, slowly indrawn breath, hold the thought: "I seek to find the Soul."While exhaling the breath, hold the thought: "I will make effort to develop the Christos within me into Christisis." Take several such breaths, and hold these thought-desires, then sitting quietly, forget all of the world, its pleasures and sorrows, and feel that you are bringing about this development within yourself. Let your sittings be for a period of from ten to fifteen minutes.
Never permit yourself to be unconscious of the fact that every effort you make to overcome undesirable conditions and the consummation of your new purpose in life is so much gained in the right direction. Every time you do this you are like a builder; in fact, you are a builder. By this means - if your efforts in daily life harmonize with this purpose - you are actually constructing "the temple not made with hands," which will ultimately become the "temple of the living God," and this living God will be the "Son of God," the Soul which has attained to Christification.
Whatever you do, you must not neglect the ordinary routine and duties of life. These duties must be accepted gracefully as an obligation to yourself, your fellow men, and to God. Nevertheless, you will find many opportunities during the day to revert to the though of your ideal purpose in life, and, what is also important, you will be called upon many times during the day to prove your sincerity of purpose. This will be your text of worthiness. These things are tempters. Remember that even the Nazarene, the great Master-Teacher could not escape this.
Some person may willfully misrepresent you; may try to injure you. The human inclination is to punish, retaliate, get even. To you it will be a test of your purpose and your strength. Face the issue squarely, frankly, boldly but without vindictiveness. If the occurrence can be ignored, do so. If it is of a nature that must be brought into the open, then neet it. You have a right to demand a hearing, to vindicate yourself when accused of a wrong. Do not try to convict the guilty but to free yourself; by doing this, the accuser will convict himself; thus is justice wrought.
If the human inclination comes to the fore and urges you to "get even," recall to your mind this simple thought: "If I am to succeed in developing the Christisis within myself, I must not give way to any base feeling; let me accept this as a test of my strength; Lord be with m; may the Law be fulfilled."
If you will do this, and feel it, and truly desire it, then you will quickly come into touch with the divine Will that governs all things wisely and justly. You will establish both a harmony and a strength within yourself theretofore foreign to your nature. This is the beginning of Christic consciousness, a foretaste of Christification.
In your progress toward the higher life and in the training of the Will to conform to this exalted attitude, you will find that the Law of growth in this, as in all else, is that only as the lesser is changed or transmuted , is the greater or higher gained.
In the kingdom of nature we find the tiny bird, helpless and even featherless, breaking and destroying the only protection it has; the shell covering it, and "coming forth," emerges into the great unknown. It has no knowledge, no inkling of what may befall it, but it feels, unconsciously, an urge to exercise what ever force, energy and ability may be at its command. It does not doubt, hesitate, question or even fear; it obeys the laws of its creation.
In like manner must you who have awakened to the possibility of a New Birth, a coming forth, break the "shell" that holds you in its grip and boldly face the issue confronting you; fear nothing, give way to no doubts, question not, but rely on the certainty of having your ideals made manifest, your desires fulfilled by the positive operation of the Divine Law.