In reality, some things that come to a person may be more accurately understood by saying that a person arrives at them. By this I do not mean to say that a person does not make it, create it, earn it, deserve it, or that it does not happen by chance. All that comes may come to a person in the above five ways, but at the same time, in reality, a person arrives at these things.
What a person makes, creates, earns, deserves, or gets by chance are the realms through which a certain thing comes. But what brings something about is the person themself. This subtle idea remains hidden until a person has an insight into the law of life and notices clearly its inner working. For instance, if a person said that someone came to a certain position, rank, or into possession of wealth or fame by working for it, you could say, yes, outwardly it is true. But many people work and do not arrive at such fortune. Besides a person might say that all blessings of Providence come to someone if they deserve them, yet you can see that so much in life is contrary to that principle. For there are many in the world who do not deserve and yet they attain. With every appearance of free will there seems to be helplessness in every direction of life. As for chance, there is so much against it too. For a deep insight into life will prove that what seems to be chance is not in reality chance. It seems to be chance, as illusion is the nature of life.
Now I will more fully explain what I mean by arriving at a certain thing. Every soul is, so to speak, continually making its way toward something, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously. What a person does outwardly appears as an action, an action that may have no connection with their inner working, which is like a journey. Not everyone knows what they are making their way toward, and yet everyone is making their way. Whether a person is making their way toward the goal they have desired, or whether they are making their way toward quite the contrary—the goal that they have never desired—that person does not know.
When the goal is realized on the physical plane then a person becomes conscious, “I have not worked for it, I have not created it, I have not deserved it, I have not earned it; how is it possible that it has come?” If it is an object that they desired, perhaps a person gives themself credit. The person tries to believe, “I have in some way made it.” If it is not desirable then a person wants to attribute it to someone else, or to suppose that for some reason or other it has happened because of the other’s doing. But in reality, it is a destination where the person has arrived, at the end of their journey. You cannot definitely say that a person has created it, made it, deserved it, or come by it accidentally. What you can say is that they have journeyed toward it, either consciously or unconsciously, and have arrived at it. Therefore, in fact, no one through their desirable or undesirable experiences has departed from the destination they were meant to arrive at.
Nevertheless, it is most necessary to connect the outward action with the inward journey, the harmony of which will certainly prove to be a cause of ease and comfort. It is this connection that is meant by saying that a person must have harmony within themself. Once this harmony is established, a person begins to see the cause of all things more than they see its absence. They might then ask in what way harmony could be established between the inner journey and outward action.
What generally happens is this: a person is so much absorbed in their outward action that their inner attitude becomes obscured from view. The first necessary thing to do is to remove the screen that hides the inner attitude from sight. Everyone is conscious of what they do, but not conscious of their inner attitude. In other words, everyone knows what they are doing, but everyone does not necessarily know what they are going toward.
No doubt the more a person is conscious of their inner attitude, the less significant their outer action becomes. For thought controls action, but it only gives a rhythm, a balance to life. A person who walks slowly and knows what they are going toward is better off than a person who is capable of running while not knowing where they are going.
There are two distinct parts of one action: there is an action of our inner life and there is an action of our outer life, the inner being and the outer being. The outer being is physical action, while the inner action is our attitude. Both may be actions of freewill, but in a certain way they both prove to be mechanical or automatic actions. No doubt the inner action has a great power and influence upon the outer action. A person may be busy all day doing things, but if their attitude is working against them at the same time, they can never have success in their work.
A person by their outward action may deserve a great prize, but because of their inner action they may not be deserving of it. Therefore, if these two parts of an action are contrary to one another there is no construction and there is no attainment of the desired results. The true result, the result that is desirable, comes from the harmony of these two activities.
Undated
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