By
Alexandra Porter, Ph. D.
Conference
January
21, 2003
Good
morning everyone! Welcome to the
fourth part of “How To Be Dependent And In Harmony With Christ.”
Before
I begin this conference, let us center ourselves.
Sit comfortably in your chairs, relax for a moment and draw unto yourself
the attitude that you are in the presence of God.
Great!
Please join me, now, in asking for our Lord’s blessings.
Mother
- Father God, may we find comfort and peace of mind in the content of this
lecture. Now, please join me in the
Lord’s Prayer. Our Father, who art
in heaven …
In
this lecture, the topic of misconception along with our physical and mental
desires will be explored. Included,
is a brief explanation of how we can be strong, dependent and in harmony with
Christ, which is the title of this lecture.
This lecture is from some of my research work in the area of Health and Human Services. The content of this lecture will help you answer the question: “Am I enjoying peace of mind?” It is my belief that anyone can find the causes of their mental desires. Once an unsatisfied mental desire is found, it can change many lives. This lecture will present a working model to explore the question: “What unsatisfied desires do I have which if satisfied would bring me that equilibrium, that freedom from conflict which is peace of mind?”
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Many
ancient scriptures depict the needed restraints upon our conduct in the pursuit
of peace of self. These scriptures,
in my humble opinion, presented requirements that are too severe in nature.
Today we can experience the same peace by a moderation of these ancient
stipulations. Physical needs, in
those times, were lacking in many households.
Although some people had a certain degree, they were part of an era where
the middle class did not have the means to satisfy their desires.
When a physical need was not met, the common conception was to condition
the desire in oneself for the particular physical need.
When these ancient scriptures were followed, the results on the part of
the practitioners were right action, right beliefs and right thoughts.
After years of repressing the particular physical need, if successful,
the physical desire was released but, in most cases, the mental desire was
transferred to another physical need.
This
subject is important because certain people assume that physical and mental
desires are only enjoyed by the affluent. Although
it is true that, among the affluent, there is a certain degree of physical and
mental equilibrium, the affluent also experienced unsatisfied mental desires.
The rudiments of personal tranquility revealed by the men of thousands of
years ago are, nevertheless, a belief in the importance of peace of mind.
This tells us that the fundamentals of acquiring peace of mind have been
with us all these years; the cause of which is the same in everyone.
That we do not enjoy it today must be due to certain errors in our
thinking and in our conduct.
Our
quiescence to tradition has been the result of our persistence to follow in the
footsteps of the unknown. We have
failed to question, especially, to question the signs of mental desires that
have plagued our lives for years. Instead,
we have framed them with an air of dignity.
We have not taken the trouble to dispute them and have allowed them to
endure. The problem with this
scenario is that these mental desires are based on a need to control, a need to
restore a normal state of equilibrium and the need to understand the future.
The former method was responsible for the behavioral characteristics that
exist in us today. Here I am
referring to behavioral characteristics such as: intolerant views, bigotry,
biases, prejudices and any other characteristic depriving us from enjoying peace
of mind. In order to gratify our
mental and physical desires it is imperative to eliminate these characteristics
from our behavior, which are not in harmony with cosmic laws.
The normal state of equilibrium can be found in everyone.
It is not reserved for a particular class of people.
Lastly, no desire is mentally created if it is not perceived as lacking
in us.
By
a show of hands, who can tell me when a person has achieved peace of mind?
From
the responses you are giving me, I see that peace of mind has different
connotations. If I hear you
correctly, you are telling me that:
a.
Peace
of mind is dependent and held in high esteem on the basis of the deductive
reasoning of each individual.
b.
You
have personal examples of the behavioral characteristics for your reasoning.
c.
You
would like to be able to foretell the future related to your peace of mind.
Have
I addressed all your responses and concerns on this topic?
Great!
Then, let us explore those three areas of concern:
All
of you are correct when you implied that peace of mind is dependent and held in
high esteem on the basis of the deductive reasoning of each individual.
I believe that on this earth, the greatest cosmic reward a man may
receive is peace of mind. It is the
obstacles created by our mental desires that prevent us from achieving it.
In
the mind of man, also emerges darkness and fears which religion cannot address.
While in this contradiction, we tend to create mental desires that will
allow us to cope with our daily lives. Some
of our fears can be traced back to an individual’s biases.
A case in point is a belief, by certain religious sects, that living
among those who hold different views results in damage to our nature.
That misconception, and the desires that follow from it, is a good reason
for not being able to experience peace of mind.
To be with people of different views will make us strong because, by
necessity, we must constantly be changing our own views.
Every act we commit against our neighbor will bring us into conflict with
our own forbidden desires. Living in
this torment discloses our own psychic myths.
The distress that it causes always lies within us, but at the same time
brings them out in to the open for further exploration and discernment and it is
this knowledge that will bring about a soul to change.
Among
the peasants of
The
personal examples of the behavioral characteristics for your reasoning are
excellent examples of reasons for creating mental desires.
These cases show that when we think we are eliminating our mental desires,
we are only repressing them, which causes frustration or a departure from our
normal state of equilibrium.
Man
has the faculty to create mental desires, namely ideals or ends to be
attained.
We are able to select our mental desires and direct them into
various channels. In this case, the
desire will provide us with a source, or we can choose those dominant in our
lives. Many of these dominant
desires are cravings; they aggravate and dominate our consciousness.
Although the ultimate goal of the concept of an ideal state of normal
equilibrium is peace of mind, we tend to define mental desires by the way we
enjoy peace of mind. It
is very disturbing when we find ourselves not enjoying peace of mind and it
causes us to experience lack of it. The
lack of something, of which we are not conscious, causes agitation and disturbs our normal state of equilibrium.
Then, something within us defines our physical lacks and designates what
is required to supplant them.
Another
example is a desire to close a large business deal because you may want to
purchase a larger home and put your children through college.
You close the business deal, purchase a larger home and begin to climb
the ladder of success. Years later
you realize that this desire has awakened or intensified old sensations from a
past experience so you decide to tour
The
existence of an unsatisfied mental desire will result in conflicts with
our equilibrium. A physical appetite,
for example, that is beyond our province to completely eliminate may be
connected to an unsatisfied mental desire. True,
the mind is not a self-imposed faculty; it is our ignorance of its function that
prevents us from using its capacity to the fullest.
This
brings me to your group’s last concern. You
expressed to me that you would like to be able to foretell the future related to
your peace of mind. In my humble
opinion, our future events must remain a secret in order to learn from the given
experiences. Knowing the details of
our future events is really a curse instead of a blessing because, in many
cases, the critical pieces of the puzzle beyond our human understanding might
not exist.
Concerning
this topic, in The
Rosicrucian Cosmo Conception Max Heindel tells
us the following: “Finally, although most people do not remember their past
lives, there are some who do, and all may know if they will live the life
necessary to attain the knowledge. This
requires great strength of character, because such knowledge will carry with it
a knowledge of impending fate that may be hanging black and sinister over one,
which will manifest in dire disaster. Nature
has graciously hidden the past and the future from us, that we may not be robbed
of peace of mind by suffering in anticipation of the paid in store for us.
As we attain greater development we shall learn to welcome all things
with equanimity...” [p. 172]
In
the face of nature's strength, men shudder and tremble.
When a man
encounters a strange phenomenon, he tends to be helpless and learns to master it
through suffering its effects. Therefore,
it stands to reason that if a man were to encounter multiple visions for the
purpose of discernment at one time, he might be engulfed and paralyzed by fear.
While events of the near future can be easily mastered and will help us
to cope with whatever arises on the horizon of our consciousness, once the
vision has been properly discerned, it gives us a false illusion that the event
is self sufficient and, hence, can be changed.
I must, also, say that there is one gigantic difference between blind
tranquility and ignorance. Although
both can give us a sense of peace, the result of the first one comes from
something impending that may adversely affect us, and the second one comes from
purposely shutting our minds to an impending event without its due exploration.
The former method may provide an endless peace of mind, and the latter a
respite of short intervals.
As stated before, he that is in conflict with the causes of his mental desires has failed to question them. To hear and see nature's ordinary phenomena, it is imperative to be in peace of mind. They arise from that degree of intelligence when the being captures the essence for the need of a mental desire. The causes leading to our mental desires are found in the equilibrium that follows.
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Thus far, in this lecture, my attempt has been to address the concerns of this group. Now I will continue with some of the aspects of physical and mental desires.
On
page 11 of The Web of Destiny, the author gives us an explanation
of our three vehicles. He says,
“As you know, that which is now the physical body was the first vehicle
acquired by man as a thought form; it has undergone an immense period of
evolution and organization until it is now the splendid instrument which serves
him so well here; but it is hard, set, and difficult to act upon.
The next vehicle acquired was the vital body, which has also gone through
a long period of development and has condensed to the consistency of ether.
The third vehicle, the desire body, has been comparatively lately
acquired and is in a state of comparative flux.
Lastly, there is the mind, which is only as an unformed cloud, not worthy
of the name of vehicle, being as yet but a link between the three vehicles of
man and the spirit.”
“These three vehicles, the physical, vital, and desire bodies, together with the link of mind, are the tools of the spirit in its evolution, and, contrary to the common conception, the ability of the spirit to investigate the higher realms does not depend upon the finest of these bodies as must as upon the denser. The proof of this assertion is close at hand, and indeed, anyone who has ever seriously tried has had this proof himself. If not, he may have it, forthwith, simply by following the directions for changing the condition of his mind. Let us say that a person has formed certain habits of thought, which he does not like.”
“Along these lines, Max Heindel further explains this topic by stating, “Because of the possession of these vehicles animal and man are also able to move about and to aim to gratify their desires. To this end man uses mind, a vehicle not possessed by the animal, and in the waking state all his vehicles are concentric, interpenetrating one another, enable him to live, move, and reason.” [The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and Answers Volume II. p. 165]
Physical and mental desires are distinct from one another. The first one requires that it be fed from the other, while the second is a desire that has multiple causes. For example, when we are physically hungry, food can satisfy that physical desire. When the appetite is appeased, our equilibrium is restored and the desire has been fulfilled. Conversely, mental desires are not fulfilled until the cause has been isolated.
Please permit me to explain this further, thusly: we may desire to own a business, believing that it will bring us great joy and peace of mind. Then, upon owning the business we realize that instead of satisfaction our level of stress has increased. Some mental desires are so complex that they may not be fulfilled in a single lifetime. Normally, in these cases, the person can easily identify the mental desire by a common behavior. This person will be found in a perpetual state of human stress or in a perpetual state of hunger. In other words, in this case, the physical desire of hunger is masking the actual mental desires. It appears to be equivalent to being physically hungry; but, no matter how much the person eats, s/he is always hungry.
The
most important thing to remember, at this time, is that the major difference
between the normal state of equilibrium and peace of mind is a mere speculation
on the part of the person experiencing it. When
a man can conceive a state of being, as being superior to mere physical normalcy,
peace of mind can be attained. Whenever
we do not experience what we conceive as necessary, that lack of something will
generate a mental desire. To those
men, nature is not to be understood and directed,
but to be appeased.
Therefore, to
achieve peace of mind it is necessary to examine our mental conflicts.
Every effect has a cause, which will show us a primitive reasoning that
led us to its addiction. The state
we call the unknown does not exist in any of our worlds.
In every case related to a mental desire man either perceives the
contributing cause, or he will attribute the mental desire to forces outside of
himself. Most people feel that not
having a cause is safer or less abnormal than to perceive that there is one.
They believe that having a cause for our mental desires validates them;
making them real means that our being would be less that human.
In
today’s age, there are still Christians and other religious sects that
consider science
and any system of inquiry into nature's laws and manifestations as
evil.
To think of these happenings of nature as the will of God, is preferred;
rather than to inquired into it. When
they feel it is conducive
to man's welfare, it is believed that man
has conformed to
the dogma of the religious sect. Otherwise,
it is believed that man has offended God. It
is no wonder how such persons cannot experience peace of
mind.
In this ignorance, they have created false validations for their mental
desires, which
may never be satisfied.
At
this time, the most logical question to ask is, “What is a normal state of
equilibrium.”
The
normal state or equilibrium appears to be absent in many of us, yet it tends to
be a critical factor in our physical and mental well-being.
For most of us, our physical well being is measured by our subjective
criteria. Along these lines, we must
remember that to prevent disturbing our physical equilibrium or harmony, certain
foods and liquids are needed. When
these prerequisites are not maintained our bodies will experience pain.
To satisfy our appetites is a normal condition, which is a prerequisite
for our physical well being. The
absence of that normal state of equilibrium can be found in those people who are
hungry and craving food, and those who are very fatigued and irritated by lack
of sleep.
Paradigm
X
For the purpose of this conference, I have designed a model, which I call Paradigm X. In the context of this working model, torment means obstruction of our peace of mind, so let us remove its cause. For the normal person, who is mentally alert, it is almost impossible to have every mental desire fulfill. Because the mind is always in motion, what I call the chatter syndrome, as soon as one mental desire is accomplished, the mind creates another.
Our
sense impressions as well as our ideas of reflection are possible of error.
A realization of the basic truth is the true test.
If a thought will not stand the test of truth, it must be rejected.
The study and practice of fundamental truths, then, is of vital
importance. Relative truths are so
called because their nature is dependent upon ideas that arise out of our sense
impressions. Such truths consist of
determining by the rules of the senses whether the idea is real.
If
a phenomenon was beneficial, but it was found to be destructive as well, a
change of mood must be brought about in order to preserve a normal state of
equilibrium. Further, since the
phenomenon is beneficial and consequently desired for our peace of mind, it is
only logical to will our mind to explore all the parameters of that mental
desire; otherwise, we would experience mental inertia.
When a man, for example, is sitting in a chair, it is a mental desire
that allows him to arise again. If
this man were suffering from mental inertia, he would have no desire to do so.
This may be a minor and simplistic desire, but, if it was operating in
you as a major mental desire, it might not appear so minor if you thought it
might not be satisfied.
Prior
to beginning the process of disclosure, ask yourself the following questions:
1.
Is
peace of mind impossible because of my fears?
2.
Are my
desires notions of my mind?
3.
Which
are the persistent desires that interfere with my peace of mind?
4.
Are my
desires dependent upon suppositions?
5.
Have I
any grounds for such fears?
6.
Am
I permitting superstition or ignorance, under any guise, to keep me in a state
of continuous stress?
7.
Can my
desires stand the test of truth?
8.
Do my
desires conform to public standards?
9.
Is there
a main desire that I should first seek to realize?
10.
Are my
desires attainable through any practical ends that I can control?
11.
Are my
desires rational?
From
the response of these questions, the solution to this conflict will be found.
The key is found in the enjoyment of that persistent desire.
Have
you ever eaten a meal after being very hungry?
If
you were to place close attention after eating an appetizing and abundant meal
you will recall the enjoyment you had and the freedom from want.
Relaxing the mind, under such circumstances, freed you from any
particular distress.
Do
you recall the harmony of your whole physical being?
After
you ate the meal every part of your body was like a gentle and soothing
titillation, as though a gentle magnetic force was massaging every fiber of your
body. Along with this was an
equivalent mental state. This
happens when we have: (a) satisfied a mental desire, (b) realized the objectives
in our mind, or (c) succeeded and our desires are no longer paramount in our
lives. This state of normal
equilibrium has a tendency to prevent physical and mental desires from becoming
unbalanced by the lack of something we hold dear to our peace of mind.
The required energy to challenge a cause that produces those effects is mental as well as physical. This knowledge does not affect you adversely and can be converted to practical ends. Furthermore, should you choose to accept it, it has been proven not to be a superstition.
To
summarize this concept, peace of mind, is dependent upon the following factors:
1.
The
mental desires must be disciplined.
a.
Disciplining
the desires consists in having them conform to rational ideals
that are possible of realization and gratification.
b.
A
category of probability must address the need to have the mental desires conform
to rational ideas.
c.
That
means that all of our neighbors do not have to have the same religious belief as
our own.
d.
In
the case of a mental desire, it is wise to explore the possibility of dividing
them into lesser ones, which are more easily and frequently
satisfied.
2.
Free
the mind from fear, superstition and disbeliefs.
a.
Superstition
consists of attributing certain effects to imagined causes.
b.
False
traditions or presumed causes are things
that prevent rightful mental desires from being realized.
c.
Do
not accept causes without proof, whether they are established traditions or not.
d.
Remember
to examine your psychic views for myths.
e.
Just
as our closets and attics may be cluttered with articles that have no value, so
our minds may be cluttered with erroneous notions and false ideas.
f.
Do
not confuse self-deception with fact.
3.
Maintain
and practice normal laws of health.
a.
This
will lessen physical disharmony, which in turn will provide freedom from pain
and physical discomfort.
b.
Please
be aware that any physically or mentally impairing condition that transforms a
person’s health may be a sign of an unsatisfied mental desire.
c.
Remember
the example of those with a continuous physical craving for water or food.
4.
Evaluate
your physical and mental desires.
a.
Any
symptom of thoughts that do not conform to public standards may be a sign of an
unsatisfied mental desire.
b.
Remember
that if you believe there is something you are lacking, that mental desire might
never be fulfilled.
c.
Establish
a series of frequent checkpoints that will progressively realize an ultimate
goal.
d.
Any
self-imposed ignorance is a means to escape rejection, which will lead us to
create other mental desires.
This
concludes my conference. It has been
a joy to delve into this subject with all of you.
Your participation has made it possible for me to respond to the concerns
of this group. I have learned from
your concerns and I hope you will pass my paradigm X model to those people who
were not able to attend this lecture.
Living with Christ
Edited by Alexandra Porter
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