There are potencies and faculties hidden in the human being
that, when developed and unfolded, may bring new powers to bear upon this problem. But, in
the meantime, what shall the aspirant do? Certain suggestions may be made:
- Ride, control and master the bull and let the aspirant remember that the bull has
to be ridden across the waters to the mainland; which means that the solution of the whole
sex problem will come when the disciple subordinates his separated personal island self to
group purpose and endeavor, and begins to rule his life by the question, "What is
best for the group with which I am associated?" It is by doing this that the bull is
ridden to the mainland.
- Use common sense. The ancient meaning of the word "common
sense" was that there was a sense which synthesized and unified the five senses and
so constituted a "common sense", literally, the mind. Let the aspirant use his
mind, and through the medium of intelligent perception, guide and control the bull of
desire. If common sense is used, certain dangers will be avoided. There is a danger in the
method of many aspirants in inhibiting or shutting off all sex expression. Physiologically
they may succeed, but the experience of psychologists and teachers is that where
inhibition and a drastic suppression is imposed upon the organism, the result is some form
of nervous or mental complex. Many physically clean people have unclean minds. Many who
would scorn the practise of any of the sex perversions and who hold that marriage is not
for the disciple, have mental apparatuses which will not bear investigation. Their minds
and their interpretations of other people's actions are so salacious and their capacity to
think evil so great, that, dangerous as this may sound, one feels that it would be better
[52] for them to be ridden by the bull of desire than to continue their present practice
of substituting mental indulgence for outer sin. A clean mind and a pure heart, a rightly
organized and rightly used physical body, conformity to the laws of the land in which his
destiny is cast, utter consideration for the welfare of those with whom he is associated,
and a life of loving service: these constitute the ideals of the aspirant.
- A right understanding, of the meaning, of celibacy. The word means
"single" and the meaning usually given to the word is, to refrain from the
marriage relation. Many young men and women, driven by spiritual desire and under the
influence of the thought-form of the church during the Middle Ages, with its many
monasteries and convents, believe that for them the celibate state is essential and right,
and are puzzled when they find that complexes result. But may it not be that the true
celibacy has been expressed for us in the words of Christ, when he said, "If thine
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light"? May it not be that true
celibacy is the refusal of the soul any longer to identify itself with the form? May not
the real marriage relation, of which the physical plane relation is but the symbol, be
that of the union of the soul and the form, the positive spirit aspect and the negative
mother-matter?
Let the
soul be single in its purpose and freed from the thralldom of matter, and then right
action and a right point of view will inevitably be the characteristics of the physical
plane life. Let the soul ride the form, controlling and mastering it, and then it will
surely know its right obligations. It will recognize the relation that it should hold to
other human beings, whether its destiny is to be that of husband or wife, father or
mother, brother or sister, friend or companion. Through right use of the form and right
understanding of purpose, through right orientation to reality and right use of spiritual
energy, the soul will act as the controlling factor and the whole body will be full of
light. Through control, through the use of common sense, by a right understanding of
celibacy, and by [53] identification with group purpose, the disciple will arrive at
liberation from the control of sex. He will succeed in following the example of Hercules
and will ride the bull of desire over to the mainland where, in the Temple of God, he will
hand it over into the care of the Cyclops who were early initiates, having the single eye
about which we have been speaking, the eye of Shiva, the Bull's eye in the constellation
Taurus. For Hercules himself was not only the disciple, but he was, in his lower nature,
the bull, and in his higher nature the Cyclops.
When the bull of desire has been handed over to the Cyclops, to the initiate with the
single eye, which is himself, the soul, the three divine aspects, will begin to manifest:
Brontes, Steropes and Arges will guard the sacred bull, and Hercules, the disciple, will
no longer have any responsibility. Brontes is the symbol of the first aspect of God, the
Father who spoke and is the creative sound. Steropes means lightning, or light, and is the
second aspect, the soul. Arges means whirling activity, the third aspect of divinity,
expressing itself in the intense activity of physical plane life. These divine aspects
constitute the controlling factor and once they have gained possession of the sacred bull,
the problem of Hercules is solved.
The two Keywords of Taurus are (From Esoteric Astrology, p. 403):
- "Let struggle be undismayed". (The Form Aspect.)
- "I see and when the Eye is opened, all is light". (The Soul Aspect.) [54]
|