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The Secret of Power

Article/ by Charles Johnston, Theosophical Forum (2nd Series), April, 1899

“He who, dwelling in the earth, is other than the earth. whom the earth knows not, for whom the earth is a body, who rules the earth from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the waters, is other than the waters, whom the waters know not, for whom the waters are a body, who rules the waters from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in fire, is other than fire, whom fire knows not, for whom fire is a body, who rules fire from within.—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the firmament, is other than the firmament, whom the firmament knows not, for whom the firmament is a body, who rules the firmament from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the wind, is other than the wind, whom the wind knows not, for whom the wind is a body, who rules the wind from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the heavens, is other than the heavens, whom the heavens know not, for whom the heavens are a body, who rules the heavens from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the sun, is other than the sun, whom the sun knows not, for whom the sun is a body, who rules the sun from within,—he is thy Soul. the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the spaces, is other than the spaces, whom the spaces know not, for whom the spaces are a body, who rules the spaces from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in moon and star, is other than moon and star, whom moon and star know not, for whom moon and star are a body, who rules moon and star from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the ether, is other than the ether, whom the ether knows not, for whom the ether is a body, who rules the ether from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the darkness, is other than the darkness, whom the darkness knows not, for whom the darkness is a body, who rules the darkness from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in radiance, is other than radiance, whom radiance knows not, for whom radiance is a body, who rules radiance from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in all beings, is other than all beings, whom all beings know not, for whom all beings are a body, who rules all beings from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in life, is other than life, whom life knows not, for whom life is a body, who rules life from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the word, is other than the word, whom the word knows not, whose body is the word, who rules the word from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the eye, is other than the eye, Whom the eye knows not, for whom the eye is a body, who rules the eye from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in hearing, is other than hearing, whom hearing knows not, for whom hearing is a body, who rules hearing from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in the heart, is other than the heart, whom the heart knows not, for whom the heart is a body, who rules the heart from within—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“He who, dwelling in intellect, is other than intellect, whom intellect knows not, from whom intellect is a body, who rules intellect from within,—he is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal.

“The unseen seer, the unheard hearer, the unthought thinker, the unknown knower; no other than he is the seer, no other than he is the hearer, no other than he is the thinker, no other than he is the knower,—this is thy Soul, the inner ruler, immortal; and all that is other than he, is subject to sorrow.”—Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad.

The first secret concerning power is, that it is inherent in everyone, and the birthright of everyone. It is weakness that is the anomaly, a lawless outgrowth from the proper being of man, a thing in itself, and not a mere deficiency of power. Weakness, like fear and sorrow, like desire and gloomy hopelessness, is a positive burden, an added vesture of illusion, and not merely a want or something missing.

The root of weakness is the sense of loneliness, of isolation, of separateness from other lives, through which we believe ourselves arrayed against all men, and all men against us. It is the feeling that we have a separate fate, a destiny for which we are responsible, and which, we modestly conceive, is, under our guidance, likely to go greatly astray; therefore we are pre-occupied with dread, and weakened and unfitted for work by our imaginary burden. For in sober truth, we have no separate fate, no isolated destiny; for our destiny is the destiny of the Eternal, and that is already well provided for. So that he who, in his own person, would bear the burden of the universe, and ever feels that burden crushing him down, is really trying to do badly what the Everlasting has already done, altogether well.

We should feel within ourselves that we have no individual fate; that the great life welling up within us, is all life, the immortal Life itself, which was from the beginning, and when we realize that the buoyant Soul is bearing our burdens, we shall lose something of our brow of care.

There are one or two among the powers of that Soul, which we are so familiar with, that we have never recognized them for what they are; it may bring the presence of the Soul home to us, if we enumerate them, and recognize how intimately we possess them.

First of all, the web of powers which bind us to the natural world, and through which we live and move and have our being in the natural world, held in place as firmly as the stars are upheld in the blue ether; these powers are really the outer vesture of the Soul; they are not us, nor from us, nor did we devise them, nor can we loosen their firm and benevolent hold until our hour is struck, not by us, but by the Soul. The web of powers was there before us: all we did, was, at our coming, to avail ourselves of it, with a deep, instinctive wisdom, wiser than all knowledge, which is also of the Soul.

Then again that more celestial web of powers, which binds us to each other, through love and hate, through desire and anger, through ill-wishing and well-wishing; even the intuition that tells us that other souls are there at all,—that, too, is of the Soul; it is not from ourselves; by taking thought, we could not have created it; not by taking thought, can we take it away. There lies that intuition in our hearts, the root and fountain of every human act, and it is not of us, but of the Soul.

Higher than instinct and intuition, we have inspiration, the hope and longing for our fuller life, the great power brooding above us which tells us that our fuller life is; that there are immortal waters, if we could find them. That most secret and splendid ambition is set in our hearts, not by ourselves, but by the Soul, who rules our lives from within.

There is no past; there is no future. These are but the shadows cast backward and forward, by the everlasting now. It is never yesterday, nor is it ever tomorrow; always today. So that today goes on with us, moving as we move, hastening as we hasten, lagging when we lag; but never separating from us a hair’s-breadth. That everlasting now is the eternalness of the Soul; an august companion, whom we have forgotten from his very familiarity. At this very moment, we are dwelling in the midst of eternity.

As it is never yesterday nor tomorrow, but always today, so it is never elsewhere, but always here. Here, in the heart of us, we dwell perpetually, never crossing the threshold of our enduring dwelling. And that all-present here is the home of the Soul.

We would do well to let the thought of the everlasting now sink into us, and dwell with us; to watch the hours coming forward with us, in the perpetual today; feeling and seeing, vividly and consciously, that it is always now, always the present, always the eternal. And in that ever-present now dwell all the powers of the universe, all that ever were, and all that ever shall be.

In like manner, we would do well to realize the all-present here; to feel that we are never elsewhere, but always at the heart of things, here in the temple of our home. The great horizons and wide, terrifying spaces which loom round us, are but the curtains of our thoughts; we shall never get lost, nor go astray through those desert-places of the ether, for it will always be here with us, as it is ever now.

Here and now, for evermore,—that is the life of the Soul, unshaken, supreme; and these two powers, these two revelations, we have with us always.—gods that we have grown so familiar with, that we no longer discern their divinity.

Neither in the natural world, nor in the hearts of others, nor in the great Heart of all things, do we dwell of ourselves, or from ourselves. It was all provided for, without our interference. So we should take heart for what is to come; we are not answerable for its success, nor have we a separate fate. We should learn to rest in that great peace, which is ever here; in that great power which is in the everlasting now.

And feeling thus our present divinity, we shall put away the burden of panic fear for our fates, which we so painfully, so needlessly bear; and standing upright, rid of our burden, we may begin the real life which shall be the manifestation of our power.

The Soul within is waiting for that, to put us in possession of our inheritance; to bring us into that mastery of the natural world which our instinctive powers already foreshadow and forecast. We are related to all the natural world by a web of instincts; but that is not all; we are destined to turn that simple relation into perfect mastery. Then, for each of us, his body shall be the whole horizon, nothing less than the whole natural World, With all its life.

And the Soul purposes that, instead of the dim intuition of other souls, we shall have perfect knowledge, perfect oneness, the vivid presence of a single life throbbing through us all. When we realize it, each of us shall have the power of all. But to find others, we must lose ourselves. In proportion as we do that, we can already enter into the power of all men, and find a friend within every citadel, who speaks our language, and is ready to carry out our will. And there is no limit to that power, short of the limits of the eternal and infinite.

But the deepest fountain of our power is neither the natural world, with its miracles, nor the human world, with its fair mysteries, but that which dwells within these, whom these know not, whose body these are, the eternal Soul, who is ready to speak with our lips, to work with our hands, to look forth through our eyes, as soon as we are willing to make the sacrifice of our loneliness, the offering of our sorrow; the renunciation of our fear.