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Discipleship in the New Age I - Talks to Disciples - Part V
I have earlier pointed out to you that the basic qualities for which we look are sensitivity, impersonality, psychic capacity and mental polarization. Upon these I would like very briefly to enlarge and then I will lay before you (for your understanding interest and possible collaboration) the plans for future group activity. These plans can materialize if you can make the necessary adjustments and submit yourselves to the discipline and the training which will make greatly increased usefulness possible. I have stated that the first requirement is sensitivity. What exactly is this? It does not mean primarily that you are a "sensitive soul" - the connotation of which usually means that you are thin-skinned, self-centered and always on the defensive! Rather do I refer to the capacity whereby you are enabled to expand your consciousness so that you become aware of ever-widening ranges of contact. I refer to the ability to be alive, alert, keen to recognize relationships, quick to react to need, mentally, emotionally and physically attentive to life and rapidly developing the power to observe upon all three planes in the three worlds simultaneously. I am not interested in your personal relations where they concern your wrong personality sensitivity to depression, to self-pity, your defenses, your so-called sensitivity to slights, to misunderstandings, your dislike of your environing conditions, your hurt pride and qualities of this kind. These all cause you bewilderment and let loose in you the floodgates of compassion for yourself. But you do not need me to deal with them; of them you are well aware and can handle them if you choose. These faults are interesting only in so far as they affect the life of your group; they must be handled by you with care and with the open eye that senses danger from afar and seeks to avoid it. The sensitivity which I want to see developed is alertness to soul contact, impressionability to the "voice of the Teacher," an aliveness to the impact of new ideas and to the delicacy of intuitional responsiveness. These are ever the hallmark of the true disciple. It is spiritual sensitivity which must be cultivated; this is only truly possible when you learn to work through the centers above the diaphragm and to transmute solar plexus activity (which is so [48] dominant in the average person) , turning it into heart activity and the service of your fellow men. Impersonality, particularly for high grade integrated people, is peculiarly difficult to achieve. There is a close relation between impersonality and detachment. Study this. Many cherished ideas, many hard won qualities, many carefully nurtured righteousness and many powerfully formulated beliefs militate against impersonality. It is hard for the disciple - during the process of his early training - to hold earnestly to his own ideals and to pursue forcefully his own spiritual integration, and yet remain impersonally oriented towards other people. He seeks recognition of his struggle and achievement; he longs to have the light which he has kindled draw forth a reaction from others; he wants to be known as a disciple; he aches to show his power and his highly developed love nature so that he may evoke admiration or, at least, challenge. But nothing happens. He is looked upon as no better than all the rest of his brothers. Life, therefore, proves dissatisfying. These truths of self-analysis are seldom definitely faced or formulated by any of you and, therefore (because I seek to help you) I formulate them for you and face you with them. It is hard for intelligent men and women to see others closely associated with them dealing with life and problems from a totally different angle to their own - handling them in a weak or stupid way (from the angle of the disciple) and making apparently serious errors in judgment or technique. Yet, brother of old, why are you so sure that you are right and that your point of view is necessarily correct? It may be that your slant on life and your interpretation of a situation needs readjustment and that your motives and attitudes could be more elevated or purer. And even if they are - for you - the highest and the best that you can achieve at any given time, then pursue your way and leave your brother to pursue his. "Better a man's own dharma, than the dharma of another." Thus does the Bhagavad Gita express this truth, telling the disciple to mind his own business.
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