Renunciation
Articles By Giuseppe Filipponio
The average man is in the habit of identifying himself with his body. He knows the world through his senses and considers that happiness consists of satisfying every wish of his baser instincts. When by chance, he comes into contact with the world of the spirit, a transformation, although slight, takes place; a new horizon arises before his internal vision and as he progresses spiritually step by step his tastes become simpler, although he derives greater pleasure from beautiful things.
If he dares to venture along the arduous Path of the occult, his personality will become more and receptive, and his spirit will be manifest in his consciousness by a greater awareness. There are many aids to climbing the difficult path and one must know how to find and use them profitably. Among these the main ones are: renunciation, harmlessness and service.
Many people are dismayed by the thought that renunciation means giving up what we love most. This is not the case. It is a question of ceasing to identify oneself with the inferior aspects of things, of ourselves and of life, and to identify oneself on the contrary with the spiritual aspects so that we may evaluate the various elements of life. Renunciation is, therefore, a matter of overcoming rather than giving up.
All that we are most attached to which causes an obstacle to our spiritual development must be surrendered at the right moment and with joy. Then the more important things appear to us as love, as the union of souls, and as understanding.
This is a state of freedom at which all who have learned the Truth arrive. It is the latent divinity in us which emerges and urges us irresistibly towards a renunciation which is less painful and more gentle in experience. This happens because we flower a little every day when we abandon ourselves to the beneficent action of our inner selves. But one must let one's soul open and allow the spirit to enter one's consciousness.
What prevents renunciation from working fully in us is self-pity, the short-sightedness of our intellect, not to mention the limitation of our knowledge, which does not permit us to realise that what we are giving up is returned to us mysteriously, but with mathematical certainty, a hundredfold; because in the invisible Plan the accounts to not add up, but are multiplied. Not the sum, therefore, but the elevation to power is the result.
One must integrate one's personality by its identification with the soul which, when it assumes domination of the personality, becomes the silent observer, the guide, the light, the path and the goal of life.
To arrive at this is to acquire the awareness of the soul which, when it assumes domination of the personality, becomes the silent observer, the guide, the light, the path and the goal of life.
To arrive at this is to acquire the awareness of the soul. How can we recognise whether we have acquired this consciousness?
To begin with, we must bear in mind that the nature of the soul is Love-Wisdom, and that it has many sides like harmony, happiness, understanding, rhythm, harmlessness, order and purity, ect whereas the unredeemed nature of one's personality is on the contrary desire, egoism and the wish to be separate, ect. If the sense of separation and other barriers do not exist in our hearts, if we love others spontaneously according to our true character, then we can say that we have to a certain extent contact with our soul.
If the people we associate with feel more love in us, they will want to approach us for comfort. Therefore, if we can identify ourselves with others a certain contact with our souls will very probably be established. Another sign is to know how to act disinterestedly, without attaching any importance to the results, as has been said in the Bhagavad Gita: 'Perform action without attachment to the fruits of action'.
One of the most difficult things is to work in silence, in the dark, without aiming at any material satisfaction for our ambitions or for our pride. To see everyone's point of view without losing sight of the whole, directing ourselves constantly towards the principle and essential goal, the Divine Plan, and to collaborate in its realisation should be our aim.
This is the path we follow. If it is not put to the test there is no transformation, and without transformation there can be no profound and occult transformation: the sublimation of instincts. One must gradually reach the consciousness of the individual soul and from this, the consciousness of the Cosmic Christ. This requires a series of efforts which we must make by accepting, choosing and provoking the opportunity to do so.
Our spiritual evolution must be a series of small self-initiations intended to develop the ever latent power in us, of detaching from us what we have acquired in order that renunciation does not give us a sense of loss. So let us not procrastinate; let us realise our real self. By means of renunciation we can enter the Whole, and by the dedication of our personal lives we shall be able to find eternal Life.
