Seven Keys to Overcoming the Crisis - Key 6, Seek Immortal Values

Key 6: Seek Immortal Values

“The path of virtue is very narrow, and the path of vice is wide and spacious; [...] their ends and destinations are different, because the path of vice, broad and spacious, ends in death, and the path of virtue, narrow and arduous, ends in life, and not in a life that ends, but in one that will have no end.”

Miguel de Cervantes

First, where should I seek these values? In the world around me, in a book, in a museum—or within myself?

A brief ecological digression: If an alien were to observe our world, they would see that, in nature on Earth, all animals fulfill a specific function, maintaining a delicate balance among them. Yet they would also notice a strange being whose ecological purpose is not immediately apparent. At first glance, it does not seem that humans are necessary for anything particular within the ecosystem; in fact, they often appear to be destructive to it. So what, then, is the true function of humans within this terrestrial ecological system? It is to be bearers of values and ideals.

Humans serve as the link to the higher, archetypal world. That is why, as Plato said, human beings are “made of both one and the other”—a fusion of the material and the divine.

As bearers of values—apparent or real, human or spiritual—humans will discover them only within themselves. Their task is to discern and then hold fast to the Immortal and Timeless Values, for these are the most precious treasures their consciousness contains. It is their duty to preserve and transmit them.

However, to do so requires effort. One must work diligently on oneself, entering the dark forest of the psyche to uncover the hidden treasure. Let us heed the words of H. P. Blavatsky, the Great Teacher:

“The first thing needed to obtain self-knowledge is to be deeply aware of one's own ignorance and to feel in every fiber of one's heart that one is constantly deceiving oneself.

The second requirement is an even deeper conviction that such knowledge—intuitive and certain knowledge—can be obtained through effort.

The third and most important is an indomitable determination to obtain and face that knowledge.

This kind of self-knowledge cannot be attained by what men ordinarily call ‘self-analysis.’ It is not achieved by reasoning or any cerebral process, for it consists in the conscious awakening of the Divine nature of man. Obtaining this knowledge is a greater achievement than ruling the elements or knowing the future.”

And I add, Amen.