Public Meeting
First Quarter 1990
How Do “Miracles” Happen?
Q: Some people who have not been exposed to the Brotherhoods’ philosophy, but rather to beliefs such as put forth in Alcoholics Anonymous, appear to have many experiences that they interpret as God Himself putting them into situations, giving them answers, bringing people into their lives, leading them to the right jobs—that sort of thing. They swear these “miracles” happen, and that they couldn’t have done it on their own.
A: I feel they don’t give sufficient credit to their own minds and their own powers of precipitation. Moreover, they feel that when they get what they hoped for that God must have blessed them with just the right answer. It’s a great source of strength to some people to believe that. They may feel that if they had to try to conduct their life on their own, they just couldn’t handle it. Even so, they really are handling it, because God won’t interfere in the way these people would like to think He is. To believe that God is supporting them and leading them step-by-step bolsters their sense of confidence and makes them more secure in their self-worth. But I certainly wouldn’t try to dissuade anybody from that, because that apparently is a needed crutch.
This reminds me of the tale about a cowardly knight who was given the assignment to rid the land of dragons, and he was shaking in his armor thinking about having to deal with some huge fire-breathing creature. He felt sure he would wind up being a dragon’s dinner the first time he tried to kill one; so Merlin told him, “Don’t worry about it; I have a magic word that I will tell you that will give you total power over the dragons and they will be helpless to do anything to you. Then, when they’re helpless from the magic word you call out, just lop the dragon’s head or heads off, and you will have no problem.” Thus the knight went out encouraged by this; and sure enough, when he encountered the first dragon, the knight shouted the word and managed to slay it. After that, he was much emboldened and became famous, for he had slain twelve dragons in a period of fifteen years. Finally, Merlin told him, “I have to confess. That was really a fake magic word I gave you. But now that you have proven you can easily slay dragons, you don’t need to be propped up any longer by a false belief. You have repeated experiences of knowing just how personally powerful you are on your own.” So the next dragon ate the knight.
You mustn’t take away people’s belief that God continuously guides and protects them and rewards their faith with wealth by your wanting to convince them of their own power and the truth of the matter. All too many people are sure they couldn’t follow God’s Natural Laws successfully on their own. Don’t undermine a man’s faith unless you can give him something better which he can accept and by which he can convincingly experience his own strengths; and usually that takes a long time to accomplish. Since that is so difficult to do, I advise to tread with great care. He might be convinced by you that his present beliefs are invalid but not able to accept your better substitute, thus leaving him bereft of any operative philosophy. Such tragedies occur.
However, people do learn to take self-responsibility for their lives and not bother God any longer. God set up all the universal rules governing cause and effect and gave us all the powers of mind. It’s entirely up to each of us to discover that our life conforms to our thinking. Our intentions are what make things happen in our lives, not God’s personal guidance. It seems proper to me that God set up all the principles and that we use those principles either consciously or unconsciously—preferably consciously—to gain wisdom and make our destiny. Of course, one of the main values of the Brotherhoods is that through Their observation They have garnered knowledge of all these rules, learned what works over the ages, and now pass this information to us so we can consciously test those concepts and see that they always work. Thus we come to understand that we are the masters of our fate rather than puppets of a manipulative God.
How Can People Think god Is
in Control and Still Gain Advancement?
Q: That is an interesting viewpoint about mastery of your conscious control of your destiny and your environment. The initial step is of one’s understanding, I suppose, that a person become aware that he’s responsible for the environment he enjoys or suffers. As long as he thinks God is responsible, how could he possibly make a conscious step toward the correct understanding?
A: It certainly makes it difficult, especially since the concept of a Supreme Being controlling everything and every happening is so persuasive. It relieves a person of responsibility, and that too is attractive. Observed facts and events can be fit into different belief structures to the satisfaction of the believer without in any way seeming delusory. It depends on what your premises are. Finding out what is Truth is very difficult because so many different things seem to be logical and reasonable causes of observed results.
And how do you get your belief structure? Teachers give it to you, or society pounds it into you, or you go out and investigate. A good investigator may hold multiple concepts in abeyance while he probes all the different possibilities before deciding what seems most reasonable. Then he should test his beliefs against observed reality and accept whatever proves out. Then his beliefs are not a matter of faith. But a number of things can seem to be the cause of events in your life—other people are doing it to you; God is making it happen; it’s just pure chance. All of those might seem reasonable and persuasive also.
Why Are People Attracted to the Brotherhoods’
Philosophy?
Q: And equally difficult to determine with certainty.
A: Right! A lot of people are attracted to the Brotherhoods’ philosophy because it is so internally consistent from one end to the other. That’s one of the things that most readers who first encounter it are impressed with. It all hangs together. Of course, you can attack anything through disbelief, but one should try and keep on trying to pursue proofs. Eventually you’ve got to say, “This is true for me. This is what I will operate by.” And the thing that’s interesting (and rather disturbing) is that each piece of truth doesn’t necessarily have to be true for everybody. Your truths are those that work in your life and which you can rely on. Other people’s truths may be quite different yet work effectively for them to their satisfaction and world view. But eventually everyone is expected to rise to the level of advancement where ultimate reality merges into the same unity for all Masters. Meanwhile, knocking what now works for another person within his belief structure is not going to change him. Coming to an understanding of how the universe ticks requires many lifetimes. Finally all of us will always operate on the basis of reality, and our decisions will be based on what truly is. Therefore, we will be essentially sane in our perceptions and in our actions rather than like the multitudes now who operate on the basis of concepts that are not true.
Is Attaining Initiation the Same as Attaining Balance?
Q: Some time ago you mentioned something like—this is the gist of it—“In reaching Initiation, you are essentially going sane.” Could you regard becoming a First Degree Brother as attainment of advanced balance?
RK: We’ve often talked about that there’s a balance required between the rational, the practical, and the emotional/faith sides of a person’s makeup. These are aspects that need to be balanced in order to live life most effectively and happily. That balance has to already be characteristic of an individual who achieves Initiation. I don’t think that because a person achieves First Degree that he has all the answers needed to be considered of advanced balance. The more one knows, the more he can operate sanely—by which I mean, his actions and decisions best conform to higher realities that are closed to the average Joe. As an Ego gains more and more knowledge of the first four planes of existence, his grasp of ultimate verities and his personal wisdom increase way beyond our cultural mythologies and customs. As great saints know all too well, the masses are dangerous to Them because of people’s hot-headed unwillingness to accept ultimate Truths which go counter to cherished and time-honored untruths.