Lifeforce, Soulspirit, Duty and Purpose

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When the child grows up, becoming a youth or maiden, it enters into a struggle with existence, with worldliness. It becomes like a swimmer setting out to cross a turbulent river. Individuals try to mold the world to their own way of thinking, but the world fights back and in so doing shapes each one into an image differing from his own conception. To each person Earth takes on a different aspect, according to individual thoughts and inclinations.

The lifeforce centered in man is not something unique in nature, and the vast Ocean of Life seeks to draw it back into Itself. Therefore, if the lifeforce is to remain separate within the individual, the individual must be prepared to face conflict and opposition. The struggle to retain life cannot be renounced, no one can cut himself off from the difficulties of worldly existence, or discard the burden of manhood or womanhood.

While strength and vitality throb within the mortal container, worldly problems and difficulties must be steadfastly faced and overcome. But at the onset of middle age each one should prepare for the downhill run, and by this time the soulspirit should be aroused to consciousness and be well and harmoniously formed. Each person should, by this time, be strong enough to face the inevitability of old age, decay and death, with equanimity. At this, the turning point of life, there should be an inward turning, a greater effort expended in seeking to understand the purpose and meaning of life. There should be a seeking after spirituality, after fulfillment.

The sole purpose of earthly existence is to realize and develop the latent powers in man. All the problems and struggles, all the spiritual difficulties and obscurities, all the paradoxes, the experiences of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, simply serve to awaken the soulspirit. Life is all-embracing, it includes both birth and death, growth and decline, the contrasts, the opposites, the active and the passive, the male and female.

It is the knowledge of his individuality, his separateness, his consciousness of self that raises man above the level of the dumb creatures, but this position cannot be maintained without effort; it will always be easier to fall than to rise, to go back instead of forward. The child knows little of the burdens imposed by life, but as it grows older, its light-heartedness becomes over-shadowed by the knowledge of duties and obligations which must be assumed. The hearts of our weaker brethren are so often filled with a longing to return to the state of protected childhood, that they are easily beguiled by parental faiths which treat them as children. They find it easy to cast their spiritual burdens at the feet of comforting priests, but such action is not only childishly irresponsible, it is also morally cowardly.

The spiritually irresponsible, who seek a comforting creed, are generally apathetic or selfish persons careless of their spiritual life and needs. My friends, the ultimate, the final thing we must depend upon is the soulspirit. Only that accompanies the individual into life eternal, but it is too late to come to this realization upon the deathbed. Those who have confidence in their future existence are the only true contented ones on Earth.

Man should never forget that his most important aspect is the soulspirit and he should not be neglectful of its needs and demands. He should not confuse it with the frail mortal body whose needs and demands, if given full rein, will override those of his greater self. Man must understand Life, he must understand its forces, which play about him. To understand it fully is to know one's own destiny, one's own heritage of struggle and one's own trials. Man must resolve on the inner search and follow its trail diligently.

When a man's life becomes a pattern of perfection reflecting the Perfection above, he is a container for the lifeforce and a channel for the down pouring Power which serves to uplift the whole of mankind. Becoming this is in fact the only real service man can render The Supreme Spirit.

Man's prime duty is to himself and even when he serves others he is serving his own ends, therefore he should not be hypocritical about his goodness. The good deeds of men are the molders of the soulspirit, as are also spirituality, freedom from agnosia, forbearance, love of Truth and justice, tranquility of the heart, simplicity, austerity, generosity and integrity.

Only in a well-balanced being can the lifeforce manifest harmoniously. Therefore, all excesses of joy and sadness, pleasure and melancholy, despair and exhilaration, are to be avoided. The rule must be oft-repeated: Moderation in all things and complete control over the self.

My friends, I have revealed to you the nature of the Inner Being who controls all things from within. Now it is up to you to use this knowledge to good effect. I have shown you the chords by which the spheres are held together and the same chords bind all things.

You ask me, "What is a good man?". He is one in whom goodness triumphs over evil, whose good qualities grow stronger daily, while his evil qualities weaken. In him, conceit, avarice, selfishness, anger, rashness and agnosia are diminishing each day, and he governs his life in accordance with the Good Books.

From The Kolbrin - Book of Lucious - Chapter 13

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