The Power to Persist - June 2022

There are many virtues which those on the spiritual path are encouraged to cultivate. We can think of love, truthfulness, compassion, to mention but a few. But there is one without which none of the others can be properly anchored and sustained in consciousness, and this is perseverance.

Virtues are often seen as gifts from above, which all the ardent aspirant needs to do is to simply accept them as a grace. But this is actually wishful thinking. It is much more realistic and nearer to the truth to regard virtues as disciplines that need to be worked out in the crucible of daily life. This requires an unremitting perseverance in dealing with the constant tests of our values and resolve, which both probe our weaknesses and – for our encouragement – highlight our strengths too. The reason for all this is the presence in us of so many ingrained habits of thought, emotional response and physical life patterns. These have been built up in the personality and established over many lifetimes of self-centredness, and they require much effort not only to recognise them for what they are, but then to offset and eventually redeem them.

This is exactly where perseverance comes into the equation. Perseverance doesn’t just mean identifying the goal occasionally; it means holding it as a constant attitude of heart and mind throughout the day, as a state of vigilant expectancy, knowing that as soon as one has let down one’s guard then the danger arises of relapsing into those former patterns of thought and behaviour that we now recognise as no longer appropriate – indeed, if they ever were. It is good to hold in mind the saying that to those who persevere comes the victory.

But with persistence in spiritual striving, the results of our labours will start to bear fruit. Probably others will notice the change before we do. But it will definitely be there, perhaps in a sweeter disposition, in a growing self-forgetfulness that puts others first, in a helpfulness that sees real need and does whatever it can to help meet that need. When one becomes aware of these character changes oneself, it is important that one resists the temptation to relax spiritually. Indeed, now is the time of greatest challenge, and is perhaps when one’s perseverance in treading the path to the Soul is most needed. But it is also the time when such perseverance pays the greatest dividends. For now, with continued striving and vigilance, the grace of all the virtues will start to flow into one’s whole being with the profligate abundance that characterises spiritual Love. This is the love that holds nothing back, but gives all, sacrificially and gladly.