From the Unreal to the Real

It seems that humanity has reached a maximum point of identification with its vehicles of expression and many lives are focused on the things that surround them. For a great many, reality is what is perceived through the senses, that which can be seen, measured and touched. In this state of consciousness, we first notice and then react to these experiences that give us pleasure or displeasure. These, in their turn, generate forms of attachment through their attraction or repulsion; the Buddha taught that both these cravings and aversions are obstacles to achieving freedom from suffering. Due to such insatiable pursuits of individualistic pleasure and the forgetfulness of the common good, lives based on material satisfactions have led to the acute crises experienced today.

In this materialistic civilization, many are driven by a deep emptiness and feel that life is meaninglessness. There is immense suffering in this vacuum-like state, but in contrast to this negativity, a very positive change may arise. For it is here that the soul can make itself felt and thus begins a path of reflection which intensifies the search for the world of meaning. As a result, external events are no longer an exclusive focus of consciousness and that which lies behind these sensory experiences is deliberately sought. This leads us to find a greater depth and spiritual value in experiences, to gain greater knowledge and to achieve a greater focus in the world of meaning. It also allows entrance to the soul’s love-wisdom, linking the material and the spiritual realms. This powerfully relates the individual to increasingly elevated aspects of spiritual life. Perhaps it is for this reason we have been told that meaning is the "antechamber of liberation" – by its discovery, we recognize the unity of life and realise that the path we now travel leads us from the individual to the universal.

One of the stated goals of spiritual teachings is “to make the world of phenomena recede into the background of consciousness whilst the world of meaning becomes more vital and real.”1 This search impels us to question ourselves about the purpose of all our experiences and to query the meaning behind the events surrounding us. This practice leads to the recognition of the significant influences that condition our environment and to the perception of them, not as facts and circumstances, but as the manifestations of subtle energies.

Learning to penetrate external events to discover their meanings sheds light on a hidden world in order to assist in the redemptive process. The physical world is a symbol of what happens in the internal worlds, which we must observe as precisely as possible. Studying the world of meaning eventually opens the portal that leads to Life as energy itself. The group service of Triangles contributes to the redemptive process with the Light and Goodwill that it evokes and assists those who seek the world of meaning and work within it.

1.Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, p. 141