“Gnothi se auton”—know thyself—was the first of the three inscriptions chiseled in stone, at the temple of Apollo, at the Delphic Oracle. To candidates,
the “self” was the threefold spirit, the spiritual Self, into which consciousness
the candidate was initiated. Though not as lofty, the inscription applies also
to the personal self. As we struggle in the inner war, we come to know our
personality pretty well. We must in order to succeed, to win.
In the inner war, this writer has come to know, that in some respects, his
personality is fixed and rigid. This is an impediment for someone seeking to
respond to the infinitely subtle and supple Spirit. Knowing something is the
first step. One must take action, to follow through on what one knows, as a
second step. In an attempt to break up rigidity, he has taken to reading poetry. Poets see things differently from, so called, normal people with accepted
standards. Poets’ insights are surprising, just the thing to break up rigidity.
So, he reads all sorts of poetry, regularly. He is far from a connoisseur, or a
master interpreter, but he goes ahead anyway. There is much in poetry that
doesn’t speak to him, but sometimes one line is life changing. One example
for this writer is a couplet from Sonnet 119 by Shakespeare:
What Wretched errors hat my heart committed,
Whilst it has though itself so blessed never.
The couplet speaks for itself, with an insight into which, any of us can testify.
Too often, has this writer been certain, when in error, (Whilst it has though
itself so blessed never) and he has acted in his surety, to his eventual grief.
One peculiarity about surety, is that someone else is just as sure of something, which differs from one’s own surety. When one encounters someone of counter certainties, firm opinions clash in arguments.
Some arguments are never won. If sustained, they evolve, and other things
evolve from them. In the history of the United States politics, the pendulum
of of public opinion swings back and forth between the political left and the
political right. Some swings span several generations. Whenever a swing occurs, it is fascinating how advocates of the new direction often believe they
are offering new ideas, when they are actually offering old ideas in new dressings. The dressings evolve, and society evolves, but the evolutionary changes
are not, necessarily, to the liking of either extreme. Winning isn’t necessary
for progress.
There are arguments about progress itself, though the participants in these
arguments are not aware of it. This writer has participated in one of these
arguments for years, off and on, without realizing the argument was about
progress. The subject of this argument was winning. The premise can be stated in a simple question, “When is a game won?” At first glance, the answer
seems obvious. It would seem to be won when the time period has expired,
the decisive tally is scored, one player is check-mated, or whatever the rules
state. In this view, the outcome is determined in the activity, in the moment,
in the game itself. Thus, players never give up. This is in the spirit of Yogi
Berra who said “it isn’t over, until it’s over.” One person who participated in
this argument, and who was not someone who entered into competitions,
did not see it this way. The view of this person was that the outcome was a
matter of destiny. In other words, the World Series was determined before it
began.
The argument from destiny before the fact of activity, seems absurd, especially to participating competitors. Why play the game if the outcome is predetermined? To a competitor there would be no pride in accomplishment,
if the winner was foreshown. For Rosicrucian aspirants this argument cannot be easily disregarded. In The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, and other Rosicrucian literature, we learn that, working together with the Recording Angels, we design a life in which certain events are mandatory. Winning
the World Series could be one of them. We even learn that individuals, who
balk upon seeing the images of predetermined events at the quickening, only
make matter worse.
Evidence of this view is not only found in the Rosicrucian philosophy. It exists
in pop culture. A few years ago, the U.S. Army experimented with clairvoyance, and other forms of ESP. They came up with something called “remote
viewing,” because clairvoyance didn’t fit well in military vocabulary, even
though clairvoyance was what it actually was. Though there was some success with some things, the program was abandoned because it didn’t produce
the intelligence the Army wanted. Some of the trainers retired from the Army
and commercialized the training. Often, the training was offered in Law Vegas. In advertisements for the program, prospective participants were told
they could win back their entrance fee, with successful sports betting. There
are even schools that give advanced training in Remote Viewing for sports
betting. Some of them make astounding claims of accuracy. To this writer’s
knowledge, none of this has been proven, or disproven. If there is an advantage with Remote Viewing, it is meager. Besides, if it is unsuccessful, some
might be too ashamed to admit their losses. Remote Viewing sports betting,
is an uncertain activity. Could it be that this is so because some games are
predestined and some are not?
The issue of predestination applies to all of life, and the astrological environment in which it is lived out. How much of life is predestined? or, in inverse,
in how much of life do we have freedom to create? Clearly, not all of life is
predestined. If it were, we would be automatons going through the motions
of life, like preprogrammed machines. If it were, freedom and self-determination would be illusions, and life, in this respect, would be a cruel hoax,
and not a divine blessing. Since hard data about freedom and destiny is unavailable to him, the writer must rely on personal experience to try to answer these questions.
This writer does have a modicum of usable personal experience, from which
to have come to partial answers to these questions. It is gleaned from about
fifty-seven years of astrological study. At first, he had a vainglorious, self-conceit in picturing himself becoming a wizard of prediction. With youthful folly, he accepted a challenge from skeptics to predict some world events. When
he did so, his success shocked even himself. The skeptics were impressed,
but not for long. They wanted more data points. It was then that this writer
realized that there would always be demands for more, …, and more. With
some misgivings, he plowed forward. Soon he was spending an enormous
amount of time in this activity. Then there was a truth session. In it the “still
small voice” within came forth with searing words. It went something like:
“Why are you spending all of this time and effort trying to predict events
about which you can do nothing?” It went on: “Why don’t you give yourself
to doing things to serve others, in matters where something can be done?”
The admonishment was taken to heart and that was the end of a cometary
career in one form of vanity, not to say that there haven’t been others. After
the truth session, his efforts were redirected into spiritual and astrological
counseling on real life issues—less glory, more work and more responsibility,
but also more quiet joy.
In counseling there has been some predictive work also, but it is of a different
kind, and it is much less. Taking this direction has been intentional, because
this writer has come to see, that understanding why events come about, is
more important when they come about; except when knowing “when” helps
to understand “why”. In horoscopy there are questions similar to those in
predicting world events, but most of them are not germane to this essay, the
purpose of which, is to explore the relationship of freedom and predictability
in human destiny.
In the middle ages astrologers were fatalistic, especially Arabian astrologers,
because of their belief that the will of Allah, as it is manifest in destiny, is absolute. Since the Renaissance, astrology has become less fatalistic. Christian
astrologers, believing “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free,” separated themselves from fatalism. This is why William Lilly titled
his masterpiece Christian Astrology Modestly Treated of in Three Books.
Despite a growing belief in freedom, the progression away from fatalism and
prediction, toward freedom in creative and spontaneous living, using astrology, has been slow. Even today there is an unspoken fatalism among astrologers, that lies slightly beneath the gloss of positivity. Considering there are so
many talented and studious practitioners of astrology, one wonders why this
is so. This writer cannot speak for other astrologers, or astrology as a whole,
but he can speak for himself.
After many years of practice, with many horoscopes, this writer can see that,
for most people, most seeming freedom, is mostly a delusion. This is an outrageous statement, which demands elucidation and substantiation, in large
and small.
In large, looking at a lifetime as a whole, one’s life partner is one of the most
important people in one’s life. Many people seek an ideal partner, and will
go to extremes, to find and meet that person. Often the ideal partner is a
fantasy, but even when it isn’t, the search is. Our lives are not exclusively our
own, nor are they formed in isolation. Between lives we build the world, and
our lives in it, working together with other beings, some of whom are divine.
Our lives are renewals, in a great, ongoing, creative work. Rebirths are fresh
restarts but not everything is completely new. Much of life is a carrying out
of things initiated in the near or distant past. A completely fresh restart does
not happen, any more than a new soul is brought into the creation in the
middle of the creation. In this ongoing work, we build working relationships
with others. The work isn’t only with things outside of ourselves. We actually
build within each other’s lives. It is mostly done by influence but the effect is
not minimal. Often, spouses seem to look like each other, as their life together progresses. In meeting potential spouses, it is a pickup line to say “it’s destiny” when one meets someone attractive. Little do most people know, that
there is more truth than fiction in that line. It is nearly impossible to avoid
someone, with whom one will share one’s most intimate and important destiny, especially if that person is a life partner. Marriages are, indeed, “made
in heaven,” before we come to rebirth. One’s time and energy would be better
spent in learning about sharing and partnership, than in seeking a mate.
In small, we are wont to believe we are in control of ourselves, which allows
us to live life spontaneously in freedom. The reality is that we are mostly creatures of habit, which is neither control nor spontaneity. Even a beginning astrologer can see when one will be jocular, or angry, or whatever. Self-Control,
which is a means to freedom, is expressed in self-consciousness. In some
spiritual schools, candidates trying to develop clairvoyance are urged to do
everything with deliberate self-application. Everything. Even such a trivial
thing as tying ones shoelaces is to be done deliberately and not automatically. This practice leaves no gap in attention, for there to be a lapse from
spiritual awareness and self-control. In some Christian schools, everything is
done for the Christ’s sake as in “this do in remembrance of me.” Everything.
The most important people, and many important events, in our lives are predetermined by us, before we come to rebirth. Most of what is determined
during life, is how and why we come to these predetermined people and
events. Do we pass through a temptation presented to us in an event ?, or do
we lapse into a vice learned in a previous rebirth?. Ironically, it is in some of
the non essential things of life, that we have the most freedom of self-determination. The children born to us may be destined, but the things we do with
them, do not have to be. They can be free and spontaneous. Ironically, it is in
some of the non essential things, that we have the most freedom of self-determination. Things like games. Some of this writer’s fondest memories from
childhood were formed when we played games with our mother on Sunday
afternoons. Being a Mars ruled family, even simple games were competitive,
but they were also intimate. Winning did not seem to have been predetermined, but striving to win was intense. If winning had been predetermined, the games would have been insipid and pointless. The same can be said to be
true of life itself. We live life to succeed. We play games to win. If we don’t,
it isn’t fair to our opponents, or ourselves. Nonetheless, they are still only
games, and if we forget that, we lose the perspective necessary to win. The
value of this impersonal attitude, carries into life success, which brings us
back to our original question of when games are won, and who wins them.
When a game is over, we know who has won, but we cannot be certain when
it was won without a comprehensive vision of destiny, but it had to have
been won at some time, either in the moment or between rebirths. Anyone
who has participated in an intensely competitive activity, knows it is live,
spontaneous, and seemingly indeterminate. However, almost every player,
and many spectators, have sensed, that victory in some games was not really
determined in the moment. Sometimes it seems like a fluke occurrence, an
accident, brings an unexpected victory. Sometimes there is an unexplained
lapse in concentration or control, a distraction, or a reversion to a line-ofplay known to be unsuccessful . It was destiny. When the game is over, it is
over. We may not know when the game was won, but we know it was won,
and it is over and done for all time. Or is it?
The sensing that a victory was a matter of destiny doesn’t make things easier. It is humiliating to lose, and it is humiliating to win as a matter of destiny, rather than by mastery. In either case, there is always a demand for a
rematch. Max Heindel tells us the Trojans were reborn as Romans to defeat
the Greeks, who were reborn as Carthaginians to both defeat and lose to the
Romans, who were later reborn as British to fight the Germans, who were
previously Greeks. Some wars, like some arguments, are never won. Fortunately, the Lords of Destiny use both sides to promote spiritual evolution.
We live in both uncertainty and certainty, with regard to destiny. We know
with certainty, that we will get exactly what we need, because of the infallibility of the twin laws of cause and consequence, and rebirth. We live with
uncertainty because we cannot yet determine all of the events of our lives.
The House does not lose overall to Revote Viewing sports bettors in Las Vegas. The reason for that may be, that the winners of all games are not predetermined, only some of them, while the knowledge of permutations and
probabilities of the House, spans both. We do not see pictures of all of the
events of our coming life at the quickening, only some of them. In deliberate,
self-conscious actions, we can prove to ourselves that we are not automatons passing through a completely predetermined life. In winning games, we
know that we have determined some events in our lives because, in victory,
we have proved it to ourselves. In this milieu of certainty and uncertainty,
questions arise, the answers to which, would be advantageous to evolutionary progress.
How many events in life are predetermined? Without well trained clairvoyance, one cannot give an accurate answer. We know it varies from individual
to individual, and from rebirth to rebirth. From the astrological writings of
Max Heindel, we have rough guidelines to answer this question. He averred
that many, or strong, astrological significators in fixed signs indicate a more
predetermined life. Similarly, a strong Saturn, in pleasant or unpleasant aspects, indicates a more destined life. Other astrologers seem to have found
validity that close aspects with fixed stars mean an eventful life. Many astrological statements, concerning this matter, could provide a more clear determination of the matter, but we would likely remain uneasy with any answer
to this question, that is not based on definite foreknowledge. Even the Teacher is not certain of the outcome of the final trial of a candidate for initiation.
One wonders if this kind of information is valuable at all. It might be helpful
if one feels a need to brace one’s self to meet destiny, but such knowledge has
also been known to also paralyze individuals in fear and a feeling of doom.
It is wiser to develop faith sufficient to meet whatever destiny presents us.
Besides, we already have events which we know are coming, for which we do
not prepare ourselves well, to meet them.
Any event, predetermined or not, is important. An event is an objectification.
An event, such as a victory, is when something potential becomes something
actual, something factual. It is a moment of truth. In a game it usually determines who is a better player. Because an event is a materialization, it is
subject to all of the illusions to which materializations are prone. One of the
illusions is that events tend to become ends in themselves. The game becomes the all, or winning becomes the all. Predetermined events in destiny
aren’t important for themselves. They are important for what we put into
them and, especially, what we get out of them. Destiny is not important as an
end, it is important for facilitating ongoing evolutionary progress. It provides
creative feedback, and prevents fallback.
Since predetermined events are important, it would be helpful to distinguish
them from other events, preferably before they occur. With foreknowledge,
we can plan to get the most out of events. This seems to be the reason why we
see them at the quickening. However, once we enter the dense physical body
to stay, they are lost to our waking consciousness—a good reason to expand
our waking consciousness. Trained clairvoyance into the memory of nature
in the world of thought, is the most sure way to see predetermination, but
that is not possible for most people who could benefit from this knowledge.
No astrological method, known to this writer, can disclose predestined events
without error, either before, or even after, the fact. Intuition is the only tool
available to most people, but because of our materialistic preoccupation, we
often do not recognize it. Some sports gamblers have hunches. They flatter
themselves, by thinking they are intuitions. If they are really intuitions, they
are distorted, because selfishness shuts intuition down, or distorts its interpretation.
When are events determined? When are predetermined events known? These
questions still confound us. In answer to both questions, players in a game
would say in the game itself. That might be true of most games but, according to the Rosicrucian philosophy, it is not true to life. The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, which is the product of many clairvoyant investigations and
corroborations, tells us predetermined events are built into the archetype of
the coming life, as much as hundreds of years before birth. Foreknowledge
of them is possible at any time until they occur. Recognition of them can be
gained at various times before actual occurrence. For example, things are
manifest in the ethers, before they are finalized in the chemicals. Even unconscious Invisible Helpers pass through the ethers, when returning to their
dense physical bodies. If they pay attention, when returning to the body, they
sometimes see events materializing through the ethers days, or even weeks,
before those events are completed in the chemicals. It pays to be aware upon
awakening. From this example, we can see that practices like remote viewing
in sports betting, are possible in some cases, but not likely in most.
Events are finalizations of actions. Events are objectifying. Events are the
fruits of our labors. Not all events are what we intended when we began our
endeavor—nobody wins every game. Whether successful, relative to our intentions, or not; events are successful in disclosing the quality of efforts, and
help us to understand what we have put into them. “By their fruits ye shall
know them.” Our deeds stand for themselves. There is no evolutionary progress without the stepping and marking stones, that events are. In the retrospection after the events of the day, we find errors, flaws and weaknesses, as
well as confirmations and recognitions of strengths and principles successfully applied. The post game analysis of a master chess game may last for
decades, and influence generations of players. Understanding life events is
much more difficult than understanding a chess game. There are a multitude
of factors in life events, and there are more than two players. Maneuvering
life events is more like sailing on an ocean, then keeping one’s feet on a path.
Determination is common to both activities. Events are determinations.
In games, winning means that one player (or team) determines more, or the
most, crucial factors of the game. One chess savant once said, it is the person who makes the second last mistake, that wins the game. Determination
means control. The main factors of control in a game are will and ability.
Both are the consequence of evolutionary application. The relationship of
control and success raises an unexpected paradox. It is a paradox of freedom
and control We do not usually associate freedom with control. For example,
if our lives are controlled, we feel we lack freedom. Ironically, if our lives are
out of control, we forfeit freedom. To the degree that we exercise self-control,
do we have success in life, and gain more freedom. A jazz musician cannot
freely improvise and create, unless he can control himself and his instrument. Self-control for life success is far more difficult than determining a
game, or improvising a solo.
There is one crucial factor in the relationship of freedom and control, the
individual.To the degree that one exercises control, is that one free. It is the
individual, not the opponent or the world, that determines success.
From every pow’r that holds the world in chains
Man frees himself when self-control he gains.
Freedom is skill in self-controlled living.
It is clear that some people are more free than others. Some people win more
often than others. One wonders “What is the limit?” Goethe’s quote would
imply there is no limit. There must be a limit, but a limit with a condition not
given by Goethe. If each individual evolved to be perfect, as our Lord asked
us to, who would win games? Everyone would be in control and free to
determine every game, but not all can win. Would every game end in a draw? It
seems likely that, if each individual evolved to be perfect, there would be no
predetermined events in life. For us, life would be completely free and spontaneous. Life would also seem to our present consciousness to be chaotic
except for one factor, evolution. To reach the standard given to us by Christ,
we must evolve a new kind of consciousness with new values.
In the Darwinian conception of evolution, competition is the chief driving
factor. The Darwinian view ignores the preponderate factors of cooperation
and symbiosis in nature. Even parasites promote progress. Some Rosicrucian aspirants would suggest, that even the competition between cheetahs,
and antelopes is really a cooperation between their respective Group Spirits
to help their charges to improve. Perhaps nature and evolution are not as
savage as we make them out to be. It is only in humans that competition
has become predominant and destructive, even cooperation among humans
is used as a means to dominate. Humans try function outside of, or above
nature, but our behavior isn’t the thing of beauty that we see in nature. It is
destructive and self-destructive. It seems to be a matter of winning at any
cost, and losing everything. We need to shift from perpetual competition to
unending cooperation.
To approach free and spontaneous living, we must evolve toward creative
cooperation. Because we have individuated, we cannot readopt a Group Spirit to do that for us. Even the thought of it is offensive to a free being. We
must move forward to cooperation, and it must be voluntary. We must find a
higher, common purpose. In behavior, for Christian Mystical aspirants, this
means aspiring and awakening to altruism. This means we must go deeper
into the heart of our being. We must transcend the Human Spirit to the Life
Spirit. This is done by finding the essence of our selfhood in that from which
all selves are derived. This Self of Selves, that is this essence, is the love-wisdom principle of the Godhead. It is the essence of life. To know this, is to chose purpose, over the goal of winning. Purpose is open-ended, and spiritually boundless.
Progress to altruism, and thinking in terms of the other, and the all, is slow.
All evolutionary progress is slow. There will be intermediary steps along the
way. As we approach the Aquarian Age, the time for altruism is ripening.
Aquarius is the sign that rules freedom and altruism. It is also the sign of
impersonal attitudes, which means we can give our all to something for its
own sake, without personal attachment, without personal strain. Acting impersonally, one can give more of one’s self, without the onus of ego. Games
are included. Some New-Age aspirants have already developed games where
cooperation replaces competition, and everyone wins.
We say we are approaching the Aquarian Age, because the vernal, equinoctial
point is approaching the constellation of Aquarius. The Aquarian Age is for
the world at large. The opposite point is for the few, the esoteric aspirants.
The point opposite to vernal equinox is approaching the constellation of Leo.
As aspirants to the Mysteries, we respond to Leo, the opposite of Aquarius,
Leo rules the heart. Under Leo we can live and act whole heartedly. We can
give our all. Leo holds the esoteric key to Aquarian altruism, and to Christ in
the Life Spirit. It is when we do things from the goodness of the heart, and
for the Christ’s sake, instead of our own, that we become more free within
ourselves. We also gain the corresponding, physical control, by being able to
use the heart as a voluntary muscle, to direct the circulation to the areas of
the brain that rule altruism. These are deeds we can do in the little things of
daily life, that have big consequences. Perhaps for us, the watchwords “know
thyself” should become “know thyself in Christ.”
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