Sunrise

The Timeless Background

Henk Oosterink, from Spirit in Crisis

Although a hurricane may rage on the ocean, tossing the waves, the deep sea remains unperturbed. Thus it is in human life. In spite of all the tumult which surrounds us, Creation works on in silence. And in this creation Man lives, partly mortal, partly immortal.

We see the existing form, the personality, which has a name in life, but we do not see behind it, the nameless world of Man, from which he rises, from which he originates and derives his essence, a nameless world, the background of which is the whole creation, the Boundless Self. In the spaceless depth of the core of his soul, Man is eternal. Spaceless because it does not occupy space, deep because it embraces everything. He who looks into this nameless, boundless world of himself sees everything clearly and knows — in all peace — that all is well.

This world is unassailable, and it is the foundation of the outward life which changes and passes away. There, where silence reigns, Nature builds a temple of living bricks; all entities that are created are used in it; their consciousness grows and reflects with increasing clearness the light that shines eternally.

This is the essence of life itself. The divine forces inherent in Man and Cosmos drive Man along with irresistible power. The forces of eternal laws, that no man can escape, control Man's growth from inside. The evil that happens to Man is of his own making; it results from the infringement of these laws. So why should we worry? Who is able to come into touch with this deepmost life within ourselves; who can penetrate into the silence and peace that reign there?

When these days or years of trial have gone by, we shall have gained in inward strength. The stream of life will flow with greater force, because it had to flow narrowly between the rocks of our sorrow. But behind the sorrow of this life the compassionate forces of the soul are preparing a new future of spiritual growth that will come when a new feeling will touch the hearts of humanity.

(From Sunrise magazine, October 1951; copyright © 1951 Theosophical University Press)



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