“All things, all circumstances that occur outside ourselves, on the stage of this world, are exclusively the reflection of what we carry within us. With good reason then, we can solemnly declare that the “external is the reflection of the internal.” When someone changes internally and the change is radical, then what is external – circumstances, life – also changes.”
–Samael Aun Weor
Everyone has an external life and a spiritual or inner life. These two lives intersect at every moment in a cross formation: the horizontal line of external and temporal life, and the vertical line of internal reality and being.
Horizontal Line
“What is thy life? It is a vapor, which appeareth for a little while.”
-Saint James
The line of life, time, external existence, kronos.
The horizontal line is time and entails all our the external actions in time. What we generally understand to be our life: we are born, have a family, a home life, are educated, go to school, have relationships, a career, all the ups and downs, sicknesses and health, social activities etc are of the horizontal line, which inevitably ends in death.
The horizontal line is not the total truth about reality, because there also exists the vertical line of being which teaches us that life is not an end in itself, the things we are looking for in life can never be found on the horizontal line: True happiness, peace, serenity, freedom.
The Tibetan Buddhist teach that life is a preparation for death. Our lives will end and we do not know when that will happen. What does life teach us about the reason for our existence?
Is the reason for our whole existence material security, pleasure, prestige?
Vertical Line
The line of eternity, the inner world, our inner spiritual life, the line of being, kairos.
The vertical line is happening every moment and can only be found in the present moment.
The present moment is accessible through our consciousness, our Essence. We may have noticed that time moves slow in childhood and faster in adulthood. Time truly is relative, but eternity is constant.
Our inner state may be full of dissatisfaction, conflicts, worries, recurring patterns. We feel that if only the external circumstances would change then we can finally be happy. The truth is that only with an internal change can we be happy. Increasing our level of being is about valuing the content of our character or inner values.
Everyone has a level of being, everyone has a spiritual life. That might mean a materialistic set of inner values, or a more elevated set of values, or some combination, but we all have some inner life. What might the level of being be of someone who no matter what the circumstances of suffering, can find a way to have an inner strength, to have compassion for others, kindness, generosity, patience, humility.
What might it say about the character of someone who regardless of circumstances is always miserable, selfish, putting themselves first and making everyone around them miserable? A certain level of psychological immaturity, lack of inner values, or we could say low level of being.
We all have the most immense capacity for patience, wisdom, generosity, love inside of us, but these qualities are often hidden within our own selfishness and greed. We have the light of the divine hidden within the egoic nature that the Tibetan Buddhists call the “psychic aggregates.”
We use meditation and self-observation to discover our level of Being at every moment.
Gradually we change our level of Being and our life changes.
The Cross
The cross is found in all religions, not just Christianity. Native American uses the medicine wheel with the four directions, the Mayan god Quetzalcoatl is seen carrying the cross, the Aztec, Buddhist and Hindu swastika, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the Nordic cross, the Celtic cross, the medieval and Greek alchemical symbols use the cross, even the the Taoist yin-yang symbol and the Jewish star of David are types of crosses.
The cross is a profound symbol, depicting the universal intersection of all opposing forces which cooperate in creation. The crossing of the negative charged electron with the positive proton is the basis of all matter; the interaction of positive and negative charges is what creates our world.
Time and eternity are within the cross, it encompasses up and down, heaven and hell, male and female, good and evil, active and receptive, and within the center of the cross we reflect, to find our true nature. The cross of the present moment.
The Internal Crossroads
The internal crossroads means our life in this very moment, the intersection of time and eternity. A mathematical point that does not depend on the past or the future
Practicing cultivating Being makes us live our lives very differently. We can raise our level of Being in this very moment by being present, which raises our vibration. Practice global, relaxed awareness. Not getting identified with negative emotions.
Ascending Via Sacrifice, Descending Via Attachment
One person’s transformation and inner peace can change lives all over the world.
Our lives can be guided by higher influences when we make room for them.
Viktor Frankl, a philosopher and concentration camp survivor wrote, “We who lived in the concentration camps can remember those who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread… They may have been few in number but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from us but the last of human freedoms: the freedom to choose our spirit in any circumstance.”
The inner Being is worth our attention and does not depend on the external circumstances of life.