The Doctrine of the Present.
If, by persistent introspection, the subject manages to observe the rise of the negative emotion in himself immediately after its birth, that is, while the limits of the slot in his individual Present have not been crossed in the passing of time, it is possible for him to disassociate the components of this emotion.
Introspective observation brightens our inner being just like a streetlamp, and negative emotions can only be formed and begin to act in the inner darkness which characterizes the state of confluence.
The light projected by constatation within the limits of the Present disassociates the negative emotions, and the passions which gave rise to them then fall back into a latent state.
But constatation has yet another effect that is of primary importance: the immediate disassociation of the components which constitute the negative emotion liberates the energy SI-12 which the passions had drawn into the motor centre; a result of constatation is that this is automatically concentrated in the emotional centre which it then sets in motion.
The more violent the negative emotion, the greater the quantity of energy SI-12 drawn in, which can be transmuted into SOL-12 in case of victory.
By carrying out this work with all the sincerity of which he is capable, the neophyte can reach the "Path of Access" which will lead him towards the Way. In this way he will put off the old man, the slave of his passions, and will put on the new man which is renewed in Knowledge.
The process which leads to fusion must be attentively observed during its development and subjected at every moment to the practice of constatation in a state of lucid presence in oneself.
The whole process may take many years. It includes five successive stages:
FIRST STAGE. - Introspection. Constatation.
This consists of sustained introspective observation having as its object all the little I's forming the Personality.
Once the faithful has become familiar with the spectacle of his Personality during persistent introspection, he must try to discover which little I's or groups of little I's have a tendency to wish to occupy the foreground of the scene. It is important to know them. It is also useful to know that these little I's which always tend to play the main role and which, because of this, serve as guides in the whole of the Personality, are sometimes masked from the observer as a result of lying to oneself and of hypocrisy.
Generally speaking, every Personality is deformed; the sense and the degree of the deformation are individual, but the greater the deformation the more of the little I's are behind the mask. It is important to know this, as they must be unmasked in the first stage of the work. Otherwise the fusion can never take place properly and completely, which is a necessary condition for it to be effective.
SECOND STAGE. - Active inner peace.
Outer or inner circumstances provoke conflicts in us between I's of divergent tendencies - faithfully reflecting the world of W influences. Each conflict produces a disagreeable sensation of inner friction. At this moment it is necessary to be watchful. One must be actively present in oneself and observe the process while, at the same time resolutely detaching oneself from it.
Otherwise, if we take part in the conflict, even momentarily or partially, the friction cannot be turned to our advantage. On the contrary, when we are dissolved in it we lose our energies instead of preserving and accumulating them.
It is necessary to bepresent at the very moment when the friction is born; the result is then positive, and fine energies are produced.
Their quantity depends on the intensity of the friction, that is, on the inward conflict or conflicts, as well as on the degree of one's presence in oneseff. Their quality depends on the centre which is acting.
When properly treated with the aid of constatation whilepresent in oneself, the friction can liberate fine energies
A Practical Pointer.
Thefaithfal who commits himself to esoteric work while continuing to live in the world invariably provokes the animosity of those around him. Several texts in the Gospel refer to this law. It is sufficient to know the verse where it is said that man's greatest foes are those of his own household.
However, an even greater enemy of man is certainly himself, precisely because of his unconditional attachment to those 'of his own household.' This is why Jesus said: if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, also, he cannot be my disciple.
This is the meaning of the other words Jesus pronounced: think not that I came not to send peace, but a sword.
One can feel that here it is a question of the disciple's inner attitude towards the people that surround him, that is, inner nonconsideration. On the other hand, we are generally deficient in outer consideration. Thus, when we manage to transform negative emotions into positive, acquiring inner peace and joy in the process, we must not show this victory over ourselves to the person who provoked the wave of anger in us, as it will only increase the offender's rage.
THIRD STAGE. - Warmth.
We must not take this word as merely symbolic. Real heat is born in us when the inward friction becomes sufficiently intense and is used rationally. It happens in exactly the same way as where heat is produced when two bits of dry wood are rubbed together.
When we feel this heat we can be sure that we are on the right track. The sweetness it brings never satiates us.
We have seen that this heat can come from the proper use of circumstances.
FOURTH STAGE. - Fire.
The first three stages of fusion require sustained effort. The last two are of a spontaneous nature. The heart sets itseff aflame when the friction liberates sufficiently strong heat, as is the case with two pieces of dry wood.
This is the mystical Fire. From there, it spreads through the veins. A traditional maxim refers to this subject in the following words: When thefire burns in the blood, the very composition of the nervous system changes in essence. And the blood becomes 'blue'.
At this stage, the wonder-struck seeker will see in his own depths the image of his real 'I' a brilliant ray - a star.
In the Gospel according to St Thomas, which was discovered recently, the following allusion is made to this:
Let him who seeks, not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he will be troubled, and when he has been troubled, he will marvel and he will reign over All.'
To reign over All. The reader will understand that this means identification with one's real 'I', which is a fragment of the Creator's "I" ' which reigns over the Universe.
FIFTH STAGE. - Fusion.
The fusion takes place in different ways but always begins from the emotional centre, under the influence of an intense emotion cultivated through continuous efforts, or of a sudden powerful emotion as in the case of the good thief on the cross, or following a long accumulation of diverse emotions oriented in the same direction.
The nature of thefusion is, therefore, strictly individual.
It can be the result of a sacridice: that of the someone who sacrifices himself for another. Jesus say that there was no greater love than that of someone who sacrifices his life for his friends. It can also happen in the wake of any other intense manifestation of true Love.
Love, therefore, is the common element in all the processes which lead to 'Positive fusion.
In reality it is Love, and Love alone, which sets the heart aflame while it leaves the head cool.
The fusion effected in this way has a definite nature.
Fusion can also take place under the influence of a strong negative emotion, the fear of sin, for example. But in this case it is not and cannot be total. Its quality is hybrid and its effect is insufficient.
If, later on, the man becomes conscious of this insufficiency, and if he persists in his desire to attain a correct and perfect totalfusion, he is first called upon to destroy his partial fusion and then to start all over again from nothing. But this destruction can only be made at the price of considerable suffering. Once he is conscious of the fact that the fusion is defective, the man must force himself to destroy it as soon as possible. This is all the more difficult because the imperfect fusion is the result of a long accumulation of emotions oriented in a wrong direction.
If the defective fusion is destroyed, at the very moment of its destruction the man can appropriate and turn to his profit all the power of the emotions with the effects of which he had managed to create a partial or negative fusion. In this case, as in the struggle against negative emotions, the positive effect remains when the pernicious effects of the negativefusion have been effaced. However, there is one condition for this: the destruction must be accompanied by the practice of constatation while in an active state of presence in oneself.
We should also note that besides all kinds of partial or negative fusion, there also exist crystallizations. These are always incomplete and localized. But one must not confuse them with what is, in the esoteric sense, human nature. The latter could be compared to a viscous mass in a liquid; it can show one or several points of crystallization which have been obtained mechanically. Often, this comes and grows with age, especially in people who are hardly interested in what oversteps the limits of the immediate in space and time. Then the prudent become avaricious and the dictatorial become intractable. Mental sloth augments with age, so that man becomes incapable of having an original thought; from then on he lives with the thoughts of others which, in their turn, become progressively crystallized in him, losing all their healthy versatility. These phenomena are sometimes also to be found in the young. They are signs of premature aging,
These are the different aspects of the process of fusion that we have briefly studied during the five stages of its realization. Once it is attained, the 'I' of the Personality becomes monolithic and is no longer a conglomeration of little I's, but a stable entity.
At that moment, the seeker finds himself on the fourth step of the Staircase, in front of the second Threshold and ready to cross it.
