Tag Archives: virtue

by - 0 comments

~ answering the Call of the Soul ~

The creed of happiness begins with the following statement of wisdom:

“I shall begin each morning, unafraid. I shall see the wonderful gifts that the day will bring. I shall be guided by intelligence rather than belief. I shall see truth and ignore no fact. I shall control my thoughts and guide them into the highest realms, holding my cherished ambition and sacred ideals uppermost in my mind.”

I value my inner development above all else. The first entry in my spiritual journal, which I started writing more than ten years ago, was : The Creed of happiness” This powerful Rosicrucian insight was a true guiding light for me in my life of self discovery. I believe firmly that the true source of my happiness is to cultivate noble thoughts and wilfully manifest them into action, into my reality. It took many years of practice and awareness to slowly make progress on the path of training my thinking patterns to establish more balance, coherence, and integrity in thought and in action.

I hold on to the Stoic maxim that succinctly instructs that our thoughts and actions should be aligned at all time. I found this to be true as well in the Havamal’s Runatal saying: “Word grew word after word, deed shaped deed with deed.” Indeed, the only true satisfaction in life is to have a mind that is at peace with itself. Peace fostered as noble thought is realized through action. Mind and body collaborating to the attainment of a common destiny of being.

I am not talking about positive affirmations, although they might assist. Nor am I talking about the illusion that denies reality with all it’s desires and hazards. I talk about the wisdom to realize what a noble thought is and the intentions to bring those noble thoughts into reality, and deep into our paradigm of reality. Enabling noble thoughts edifies character and brings calmness and strength. A willfull consciousness striving to bring harmony and compassion into a daily practice with consistency.

Virtue is the ultimate source of happiness because virtue has no guilt and virtue has no failure or criticism. One can be poor and without friends and still virtue will bring comfort because we are designed to strive to be the best we can be. This is not the call of flesh and blood but a call from the soul. This is a call deep from being Arman, the inner being awakened to guide our evolution and growth towards our destiny. This is the inspiration of ARHAHARI: Divine intelligence of virtue penetrating all space-time to establish the law of what is right within all forms of consciousness.

© Jurgens Pieterse, 2023, All rights reserved.

by - 0 comments

~ On virtue and the present moment ~

~ On the Present Moment and Virtue ~

I withdraw into the quiet space of being. My body relaxes, my mind clears. I am all present in this moment.

I explore the universe within. Each virtue is a gift, and I have been cultivating them for many years. Yet I have not even scratched the surface of what is possible.

Today, I cast aside all comparisons with others, past or future. This is a moment for appreciating myself and my qualities, as they are. Nothing more, nothing less.

I know that many have advantages and have advanced further than me in life. But I am on my own path, at my own pace. It is time to simply look at where I am, by myself. Where others are is not important today.

The question to ask is, where am I now? What are the qualities in my life that are meaningful and manifesting? I return to relax in the virtues that I have cultivated. It brings me inner peace, calm, and equanimity.

When I am aligned with virtue, nothing can perturb my satisfaction. Life unfolds with effortless ease. There is no luck, only presence and joyful abundance.

Nothing gives clarity of mind like the lattice of virtue woven into my mind. With every thought, every breath, and every emotion, I am becoming more virtuous. When we enter the inner space, it is virtue that decorates the inner walls and simultaneously gives guidance towards becoming the sage I desire to be. Even if it is just for a moment, I live for the glimpse of what it means to fully embrace virtue in every aspect. I become deeper and more complete.

In my exploration of virtue I can conclude my findings:
– Virtues are not something that we achieve once and for all. They are a lifelong journey, and we will always be growing and learning.
– Virtues are not about being perfect. They are about striving to be the best version of ourselves.
– Virtues are not about being better than others. They are about being better than we were yesterday.
– Virtues are not about being happy all the time. They are about finding peace and contentment in the midst of the ups and downs of life.

© Jurgens Pieterse, 2023, All rights reserved.

by - 0 comments

Habits for a new year

The day started of well. I have a new vigour for my spiritual or self development. It will be wrong to call is spiritual development since I have lost the distinction made between body and spirit. It is one self and one continuum of being. When you act on the body the spirit is impacted and when you act within the spirit the body is impacted. They are interlinked, fused together for as long as I live the life of a human being. The seperation will only come after “death” when it is time for the big transition where body and spirit seperate ways. But the spirit will yearn again to merge into the material world in order for it to become perfect as a unity that is part of the Unity. It will be arrogant beyond measure to claim that perfection or to think I can find a highway in this life towards that point of perfection. My life is not a pure ray of white light but through virtue and focus the light has become more focused and it is growing in its brightness.

I had become convinced for some time now that to plan in terms of goals and objectives are a bit of a weak strategy if it is devoid of being supported by habit forming. It is habitual action performed consistently that sets the course for achieving objectives and goals. While being on holiday I had the time to play around with different applications on my cell phone and I discovered an app that tracks habits calle habits. It is a simple app where all the things I do want to do is listed and one can keep track of when you have done each habit. Being able to tick of a habit is a boost of good feeling endorphins. Since a habit is different from a task being completed it is also more predictable that a habitual action can be completed. The discipline developed will result in the stanima needed to address the tasks at hand that must be addressed to achieve our objectives and goals.

So my day began with the feeling of success as I could tick of having done my dose of Tai Chi for the day as well as some mystical experiments. They do not only boost my own inner effectiveness for my work enviroment but they form part of the internal alchemy that changes the way I think and act in the world. Developing healthy habits are a powerful way of changing behaviour and I am looking forward to experiment with techniques and methods to develop the habits that have a positive impact on both body and spirit.

 

by - 1 Comment

The ideal philosopher

I read in the letters of Pliny his respect for the philosopher Euphrates and he describes him in the following manner: “He reasons with much force, acuteness, and elegance; and frequently rises into all the sublime and luxuriant eloquence of Plato. His style is varied and flowing, and at the same time so wonderfully captivating that he forces the reluctant attention of the most unwilling hearer. For the rest, a fine stature, comely aspect, long hair, and a large silver beard; circumstances which, through they may probably be thought trifling and accidental,  contribute however to gain him much reverence. There is no negligence in his dress and appearance; his countenance is grave but not austere; and his approach commands respect without creating awe. Distinguished as he is by the perfect blamelessness of his life, he is no less so by the courtesy and engaging sweetness of his manner. He attacks vices, not persons, and, without severity, reclaims the wanderer from the path of virtue. You follow his exhortations with rapt attention, hanging, as it were, upon his lips; and even after the heart is convinced, the ear still wishes to listen to the harmonious reasoner”  Off course Pliny himself was an eloquent writer but this description does contain much of how I would see the ideal of a philosopher.
Contradictory to many philosopher’s in a modern day that is simply out to show prowess in their thinking the true philosopher for me must still stand on the grounds of distinguishing himself in the expression of virtue. If anything I have received from the moral letters of Seneca then it is to be impressed upon myself that virtue is not jus something to talk about nor even to marvel about but something that must be put into action by word and deed. When I put this measure of excellence up against my own life I have failed in many ways to give expression to a sublime testimony of a true philosopher. Since I have started to craft my own life philosophy this  ideal picture of the true philosopher has become ever more important. Itself has become the philosopher’s stone that motivated me to at least apply effort in my own life to lift my life one step closer to the ideal. Pliny’s description sounds almost like a typical evaluation at a toastmaster’s meaning. There are certainly many styles of philosophers but the one that can reason and give expression to philosophy through distinguished speech with all the right components are closer to my ideal of a philosopher.
A philosopher can not just retain ideas about knowledge, truth and the meaning of life but actually needs to live it as an example that entice people to yearn for a more noble expression of themselves.  There is no pretence of importance in a true philosopher but simply an easy reasoned approach that can be easily understood and that is convincing and impactful to those who hears his words. It is by no means an easy feat to be such a philosopher but it is certainly for me worth trying to emulate the ideal even if I do fail to live up to the standard I set for myself. There is hope in the continuous striving to become a better man who embraces a philosophy that yearns for excellence in human nature. The journey of a philosopher must begin with drawing closer to virtue and an abhorrence of vice.
So the philosopher is a man well looked after, neither espousing lack nor excess. There is no ego that raises him above others nor lower himself below others. He is not acting as superior but also not as inferior. He inspires those who raise him up to raise themselves up and he is a warning to those who see themselves as superior that  their superiority is their own illusion. His life is an expression of virtue in act and word. He might possess much knowledge on other matters but they are all born from a fulcrum of understanding what depicts the best of human nature.
As I read this my heart lament the loss of virtue in modern day society. Where will I go in today’s world to see that true philosopher that lives up to the ideal set by the stoic philosophers. Maybe the Zeal4Living project should not be about esotericism but truly to reignite the flame of virtue in humanity. Virtue is universal, it does not discriminate against race, sex or religion but serves the broader humanity. How do we express virtue in the workplace? In politics and in our homes? These are the questions that will resolve many of the problems we face as humans. When compassion replaces greed, when egoism is replaced by a universal wisdom or when self interest is replaced by industriousness would we not dramatically change the world? Should virtue and vice not be the top priority to teach at schools? These are the questions that ramble through my brain as I confronted myself with the question of what a philosopher truly is. For I believe that when we have an answer for that question then we also have an answer that can make a difference to the world we live in.