Another Choice

When one elects to cultivate corporeal, technical, artistic, intellectual, scientific or even occult and spiritual aptitudes, whatever may have been our initial motivations, we soon realize that the only way to actually make progress is to choose and accept an exacting and rigorous discipline. The commitment which we make to ourselves insensibly becomes an opening to the very spirit of the art, the science or the technique one has chosen, but also and at the same time to another state of consciousness, a state one may qualify as the attitude of service.

Through the sheer intensity of the daily renewed discipline, clarity of intent and honesty become more and more indispensable, freeing us from our lesser motivations.

***

It is at this frontier that the great discoveries and accomplishments see the light of the earthly day and leave in it their imprints.

And it is at this frontier that the inner being and the outer nature join in the experience.

The mastery of the perfect work – by goldsmith or lute-maker, blacksmith or embroiderer, printer or weaver -, of the accomplished creation – by landscaper or architect, horticulturist or engineer -, of excellence in interpretation – by guitarist or pianist, flutist or dancer, tenor or story-teller or tabla player -, of the expression of sacred beauty – by sculptor or builder or calligraphist -, of the scientific method – by mathematician or occultist, botanist or geneticist, psychologist or philosopher -, in each domain offered by the encounter with the world, there comes a moment when one may choose to give oneself. And it is thus through this self-giving, at the service of knowledge, of the nation, of art, of the others, that one surpasses the boundaries of one’s ego: there, one no longer obeys it exclusively – one rises or emerges to the dimension wherein death commands no more.

***

And this is what remains.

This is what one carries forward.

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