The way ahead⁷

I wish to offer some soulful comments on this divinely illumining and fulfilling utterance made by our dear seeker-friend John from Portugal’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations [Mr Joao Teixeira da Motta, Second Secretary of Embassy, Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations], before the Second Committee of the 31st General Assembly on 14 October 1976.

Our John — I cannot pronounce his Portuguese given name, but I have taken his kind permission to call him John — is young in terms of earthly years, but old in terms of heavenly years — young in body, old in soul, ancient in spirit. He is short; that is his physical height. But he is tall, very tall in his spiritual height.

From the strict spiritual point of view, “the way” signifies aspiration-flame. Aspiration is the inner flame which ever ascends and transcends, and while ascending and transcending, it illumines our earthly life. The aspiration-flame shows us how to see the Truth, how to feel the Truth and how to grow into the Truth. It helps us see, feel and grow into God’s transcendental Vision and God’s universal Reality.

There are two ways: the human way and the divine way. The human approach is the approach of separativity; the divine approach is the approach of unity in multiplicity and multiplicity in unity. There the Eternal can grow in the fleeting reality and the Infinite can grow in the finite.

The human way leads us to our destination. In this case the way and the destination are two separate realities. But in the divine way, the destination and the way are the same. Here there is no sense of separativity. Two thousand years ago the Saviour, Christ, taught us, “I am the Way, I am the Goal.” He also declared, “I and my Father are One.” In these two most significant utterances, we can easily see and feel that the way and the destination are inseparably one.

Again, on the strength of his boundless compassion, when he identified himself totally with earth’s ignorance, it was he who said, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

When we speak about “the way ahead”, we have to know that the starting point and the journey’s goal, or the journey’s close, are two different points. When we say that something is ahead, it means that the starting point is here and the reality that we are seeking, the culmination, is elsewhere. This is what our human eyes and our human mind teach us.

But there is another teacher that we can claim as our own, our very own, and that is our inner eye, the third eye, the eye of God-Light. This eye, which is between our eyebrows and a little above, has a different story to tell us. It tells us that God the cosmic Vision and God the cosmic Reality are one and the same, one and inseparable. When we think of God the Vision, we must realise that we are talking about the cosmic Vision, which embodies Reality itself. And when we think of God the cosmic Reality, we must feel that inside the cosmic Reality is nothing but God the cosmic Vision. The cosmic Vision is the Reality within us in seed form. And cosmic Reality is the Vision in its fruit form, which is for us. The cosmic seed is within us and the cosmic fruit is for us.

“The way ahead may be difficult.” Anything that is as yet unachieved may appear difficult. Difficulty is an experience which we go through before the realisation-sun dawns on our devoted and illumined heads and aspiring and surrendering hearts.

“But the future of mankind is bright.” The future is something that grows in the immediacy of today. The past has given us the capacity to become great. The present is giving us the capacity to become good. The future will give us the capacity to become perfect. Greatness, goodness and perfection. When we are great, consciously or unconsciously we want to rule the world and lord it over the world. When we are good, consciously or unconsciously we love the world according to the power of our willingness and our receptivity. When we are perfect, we try to love and serve God the Creator in His entire creation, in His own Way. Two thousand years ago, the Christ said, “Let Thy Will be done.” This is the supreme prayer; this is the supreme message that humanity has received from above through the Christ consciousness.

“The future of mankind.” — Who is man? Man is God yet unrealised. Who is God? God is man yet unmanifested. When it is a matter of realisation, man has not yet realised who he eternally is. When it is a matter of manifestation, unfortunately God remains unmanifested. Therefore, man and God are two complementary entities. Man manifests God through his self-giving and God helps man realise who he eternally is through His own Self-giving.

“The future of mankind is bright.” What is bright in our outer life? Inspiration is the only thing that is bright in our outer life. There is nothing else in our outer life that can claim to be bright. Inspiration is the only thing that has the light, so he who has inspiration is bright and nobody else. The possessor of inspiration is the only bright person in the outer life.

What is bright in our inner life? Aspiration is the only bright thing in our inner life. As inspiration is bright in our outer life, so aspiration is bright in our inner life. Without inspiration, the outer life is worse than meaningless; without aspiration, the inner life is worse than useless.

When we have inspiration, we feel that there shall come a day when our inspiration will show us God’s Face. And when we have aspiration, we discover that a day shall dawn, at God’s choice Hour, when our aspiration will show us God’s Heart. God’s Face is Infinity’s Beauty and God’s Heart is Eternity’s Duty.