Fantasy is always intuitive in nature, but its promptings need not be taken for holy writ. Pure intuition, too, is always fantastic in nature, and we do better to take its promptings for holy writ. How hard it is for these two, fantasy and intuition, to understand each other! At least as hard as for two people who at times talk past each other, at times understand each other, and at times are in full agreement, depending on how far the message conveyed and the message received coincide. If we regard conveying and receiving each as a field, and the two fields do not overlap at all, then no communication takes place, and those involved talk past each other. Where the overlap is slight, we can speak of incomplete understanding, and the larger the common surface of the two fields, the more thorough and deeper the understanding between the two sides. We can speak of full agreement when not only do the fields of information largely coincide – perhaps they never overlap perfectly, precisely because of the uniqueness of the individual – but a community of intention also becomes manifest. That is precisely why this is no longer understanding each other, but understanding as one. Labouring together for common goals allows an altogether exceptional kind of communication, in which the parties, though they see the facts from their own points of view, still judge them in harmony, and so arrive at views that complement and amplify one another.
For much can be conveyed, and a lesser or greater part of it understood, depending on the capacities of the receiver, but the possibility of personal insights must always be left open. According to Pascal, people believe far more readily in truths they have recognised for themselves than when someone tells them the same thing.
Immeasurable as the thirst for knowledge may be in young people, they must not only be taught but also left to ripen. Instead of the principle of authority, first-hand experience – this is the watchword of synergistic cooperation! Mutual sacrifice, undertaken for one another and for the common goal, brings results multiplied many times over, and through the miracle of shared commitment a greater result emerges than anything one could ever achieve alone. And this results in immeasurable enthusiasm.
Protect us both! Be pleased with us both! Let us labour together with zeal! Let our studies enlighten us! May lovelessness never stand between us! Om, peace, peace, peace! (Katha Upanishad, Invocation)
In the affairs of life there is always two fingers' breadth missing, our rope always that much shorter than we need. If we lengthen it, it is still exactly two fingers short. And even if we gather up every rope in the neighbourhood, it will still be two fingers shorter than it should be. But when we reach the limit of our personal efforts and surrender, we come one finger closer to the solution, and if we also receive the divine blessing, the other finger's shortfall vanishes too. Personal self-surrender and divine blessing are a triumphant pair.
Walking the spiritual path successfully brings its tangible results. In religious language, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and temperance (Gal. 5.22), while the gifts are wisdom, understanding, good counsel, knowledge, spiritual fortitude, piety and fear of God. Put another way, we can say that the enlightenment reached when spiritual development has authentically run its course brings a clear and composed reason and intellect; the capacity for intuitive perception and pure telepathy; and an inspired life realised on the physical plane of existence. And it is this last that provides the authentic measure, which makes grand words verifiable, makes spiritual striving measurable, and, alongside the theoretical results, gives practical feedback to ourselves and to the outside world. The great question, then, is how far we manage to become good people?