Courage Dwells in the Warmth of the Heart

Our world seems to be shapeshifting before our eyes as unexpected and unprecedented events change millions of lives – irrevocably. While Russian troops rolled into Ukraine, rivers on the East coast of Australia broke their banks wreaking havoc on land, life and livelihood. Around the globe destructive forces have been set in motion reminding us – if the pandemic had not already made it clear – that we are not only interconnected but we are one humanity struggling free from the illusions and attachments to a passing world and becoming open to something entirely new though we may not yet be able to fully take in what is happening.

Familiar life patterns are shattering and their sustaining sources ripped away, either directly or through empathy with those affected. In the subsequent confusion our sense of what is “normal” is blurring and in areas of crisis is being completely transformed. While those in positions of worldly power determinedly hold or expand their fiefdoms, evolutionary forces are moving inexorably towards a new and different world as intended by God, the Father, our planetary Logos, and brought into expression through the Mother of the World.

While war and disaster destroy physical structures, human facades are also falling, dissolved by the light of truth shining more clearly as worldly pretensions are torn away in a constant series of crises. The power of real need is overwhelming superficial spin and rationalisation, and is demanding effective response. It is as though Life itself is asserting its dynamic power and stripping away all falsity to reveal the essential truths of its trajectory through time and space. And the human heart is waking up and becoming more fully, radiantly present and aware of that intended direction. As the light of truth awakens the heart, it rises like a new dawn and calls us to serve all that makes that dawn possible.

Being part of the world, we cannot abandon it. Its Life pours through us and is distributed according to how we respond to the call of need. The Tibetan Master explains to a disciple:

Your major need … is freedom, is liberation. I do not mean freedom from incarnation or liberation from the pressures of life, but the freedom which the sannyasin knows as he roams free in the three worlds—unsupervised or unintruded upon by aught but his own soul. It is the freedom which gives mental help, emotional response and physical time as and when the disciple chooses. These are not evoked by habit or by the demand of others, but are the free contribution of the soul to a current need.” Discipleship in the New Age Vol II, page 758

To live in the truth of the heart is to live in freedom, no matter how contained our physical forms may be. Our conscious presence is where we think we are, where our heart directs our attention. It guides us to serve the life we share wherever there is need: physical, emotional, mental or spiritual.

As our awareness expands, we see more clearly where the greatest need is, and we begin to perceive the larger truths behind what unfolds through time and space. Time becomes a fluid experience, and we may find that past events can be called forth to influence the present no matter their chronological sequence. They can bring light to bear on what will next unfold. Current events can seem familiar as almost “deja vu” because they have been clearly foreseen as forward reflections from the past. And so we find karmic reactions accelerating out of the past and into the moment. Space may also be experienced as fluid when events far away are as vividly experienced as though in the local neighbourhood. This indicates that our sense of human identity is shifting. Alice Bailey describes the stages of this great shift:

’I am,’ says the human unit and regards himself as the self, and identifies himself with the changing form. Time and space are for him the true realities. ‘I am That,’ says the aspirant and seeks to know himself as he truly is, a living word, part of a cosmic phrase. For him space no longer exists; he knows himself as omnipresent. ‘I am That I am,’ says the freed soul, the liberated man, the Christ. Neither time nor space exist for him, and omniscience and omnipresence are his distinctive qualities.” The Light of the Soul, page 367

In these times of upheaval and crisis, flaws in current world systems become apparent and, as they fail to cope, the heart of the people rises to respond and fill the gaps more quickly, intentionally, and effectively than ever before. Ordinary people are opening their homes to refugees, helping clean-up and rebuild flooded or fire-effected homes and businesses, and donating to aid agencies.

We cannot underestimate the great strength of the heart even as it is most gentle and tender. In truth it is more powerful than material might because it dissolves fear. While fear may be experienced by the temporal form, the heart is a constant flame that persists beyond form to breathe life and love into the world. It is not limited by time – its power is eternal. Its constant beat reminds us that:

Just as the sun is the heart of the system, the human heart is the sun of the organism. There are many sun-hearts, and the Universe represents a system of hearts; that is why the cult of Light is the cult of the heart. To understand this abstractly means to leave the heart out in the cold; but as soon as the Light of the sun-heart comes alive, the need for the magnet’s warmth will make it shine forth like a true sun. It has been said: “Let your heart lead you in crossing Santana.” That is how you can make the concept of the heart resistant to the cold. You can look upon the rhythm of the heart as the rhythm of life. The Teaching about the Heart is as bright as the sun, and the warmth of the heart speeds as swiftly as a sunbeam. Everyone has felt astonishment at how a ray of the rising sun can instantly insulate everything from the cold. The heart can do the very same thing!
I am speaking of the warmth of the heart now that it is especially necessary. A thought surging forth in aspiration sets space on fire, while the warmth of the heart is a constant hearth. Courage dwells in the warmth of the heart—remember this! The manifestation of the dark forces acts like frost on a sown field. Only the heart’s warmth provides a radiant shield. But just as we conduct tests on light waves with delicate care, we should approach the heart with caution and solicitude.” Heart 62

Love ignites the will to save. It tames the karmic forces and bends all to the glorious purpose for which the worlds were made. Love is the flame that flows through the open heart and brings an expanding new awareness. We see more clearly and completely the whole of time and the presence of the one Life throughput space – and we realise that we are integral parts reflecting that whole. We are “in the likeness of God”. When we can embody this reality there will be nothing alien, foreign or “other” as all will be known as reflections of ourselves within the one Self. Then there is no conflict, only life in a glorious multitude of expressions.

* * * * * *