Where Strength is Born

And truly it demands something godlike in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster. High be his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in good earnest be doctrine, society, law, to himself, that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others!

If any man considers the present aspects of what is called by distinction society, he will see the need of these ethics. The sinew and heart of man seem to be drawn out, and we become timorous, desponding whimperers. We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other.

Our age yields no great and perfect persons. We want men and women who shall renovate life and our social state, but we see that most natures are insolvent, cannot satisfy their own wants, have an ambition out of all proportions to their practical force, and do lean and beg day and night continually.

Our housekeeping is mendicant, our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlor soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born.

Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1841 essay, Self-Reliance speaks about responsibility in terms of recognizing the self and its connection with the god stuff we worship in others. The 20th century Indian philosopher and teacher Krishnamurti had the same thoughts:

This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth. I am not concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain thing in the world and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies.

Truth as we see it is only a fragment from a dangling perception of self. We fear this fragment along with all the other fragments that we create from the separation of self within the stream of consciousness. Our universe is a mass shared dream; a dream that presents reality in a certain light. This dream is meaningful as well as creative, but in order to understand it we must go to another level of consciousness where separation blends into the oneness of no space time. It is there within the clear channels of consciousness that we stand outside of this dream and experience the self as god.

Science and society does not comprehend this inner reality until the individual chooses unconsciously to open the gates and allow inner commerce and communication to manifest. This inner meeting place offers answers, solutions, and complete blueprints of every experience of consciousness. It is where strength is born and where we become whole in the ever-flowing stream of god stuff.

Krishnamurti explained that place this way:

And to take such a journey we must travel light; we cannot be burdened with opinions, prejudices and conclusions - all that old furniture ... forget all you know about yourself; forget all you have ever thought about yourself; we are going to start as if we knew nothing.