Bro. Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 29 April 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Magandang hapon! (Good afternoon!)
Let me expound at this juncture on the building of virtues and what tools it may take to achieve the aim. The building of virtues is of sacrosanct value in the Path, and one can best be described as a person of wisdom if one were to fortify the self with virtues.
The building of virtues can be started with deprogramming of vices or ‘bad behavior (attitudes)’, though erasure of vices need not lead to virtuous behavior. The late great American statesan Abe Lincoln correctly observed that the folks are not exactly bad people (not vicious), but neither do they possess virtues that make them stand out as extraordinary and worth the emulation of the flocks. That’s why they retain the nomenclature of ‘folks’.
Two practical tools can be offered to you dear fellows. One is the prayer method, which you all know, and the other one is meditation which few of you do know in practice. The prayer process that you were taught, however, is very elementary and needs a more advanced refinement. My previous article on candles and incense for enhancing divinity can somehow give you tips on the process, while some other tips will given here.
Let’s start with the position that you have certain vicious behavior. A vice is simply the opposite of a virtue, and virtue (or value) is behavior that is socially desirable. The simple process is to make a listing of your bad attitudes, behavior, thoughts, etc. Do set a day for this, any day that can attune with your ritual practices. A Christian can begin with a Holy Monday, and do some deprogramming on a Good Friday. Then, do a succession of short-listing and deprogramming, and the consonant building of virtues in alteration of the vices.
As soon as you have a listing of the vices, which includes cheating, lying, womanizing, gambling, shopaholic, and many other undesirable behavior that can be baggages to soul development, then proceed right away to the deprogramming and virtue-development. Utilize one (1) week or exactly seven (7) days for each vice & virtue. If lying is the vice, the virtue is being truthful. If being weak-willed is the vice, the virtue is strong-willed. Remember that the whole process will take a longer time to build virtues, but register the task right in your Unconscious Mind which is the purpose of the 7-day period.
If you will use the prayer option, better accompany the tool with candles and incense. If you use meditation, using candle and incense are mere options. But for any prayer ritual, this mystic-Teacher counsels you to strongly use incense and candles (see my previous article on candles and incense). Finally, you can opt to use both options, where you pray on it first and then you end up meditating on it.
Let me elaborate more on each option tool below.
Prayer Option
· Set a proper time. Night time would be best for this. The Christian’s Angelus and the Moslem’s sun-down prayer time are examples. You can also opt to use the time before you sleep.
· Prepare a small white sheet of paper. Any white bond paper precut to ¼ sheet size would do. Write your petition on it, eg. “I will erase lying and become more truthful”. End with “Amen.”
· Light the candle and incense. Follow next with your opening prayer, eg. “Our Father.” For us mystics and many seekers, we begin with the Great Invocation (see the Lucis Trust website for a copy of this one if you’re interested to use it).
· Call on the Divine Being whom you want to help you achieve your aim. God Almighty, Allah, Adonai, Quan Yin, Mary, Jesus, Liberty, Amaterasu, Krishna, Rama, Gautama, or maybe your Inner Guide are concrete instances of such beings. E.g. “Mother Mary, please help me achieve my aim to ….turn me from liar to truthful person.” Put the white paper with the petition between your palms and place them on your heart chakra (energy center) area as you say your petition.
· Repeat the petition, in invocation form, 7X. E.g. “I will successfully turn from liar to truthful person.” Invocate slowly. And use as few words as possible so that the petition will register in all of the 7 planes of life. You can opt to chant the invocation, even accompany this with an instrument, or simply to recite the invocation at low key tone. And do pause for 30 seconds after each invocation, so as to provide ample time for the next element (see below).
· Visualize. As you pray, visualize black vibrations or energy (signifying the vice, eg. liar) which then comes out of your mouth or nostrils, and then replaced with white Light within you (signifying the virtue). Be creative in your visualization. You can use a demonic monster, black and dreadful, with the term ‘liar’ written on its body, coming out of you and even being burned. And then use an angel figure that then occupies you, with the term ‘truthful’ written on it, occupying your inner space where the demon was once embedded.
· You can opt to use a final invocation to ensure success, eg. “In the name of Jesus Christ who sacrificed for us all to redeem us from Sin, my petition will be granted.”
· End with Amen 3X. Or Aum 3X. Or Amin 3X (if Moslem). Or “So Be It” if a seeker, e.g. Mason. Then, secure the piece of paper with the petition safely.
· On the 7th Day, while invocating, burn the piece of paper.
Meditation Option
· Establish a proper time. Eg. Before you sleep, at around 9 p.m.
· Burn an incense stick or two just in case you feel uncomfortable about the possible presence of an unwanted unseen entity, even if this were just a subjective fear. Best to accompany with fine music, eg. Nature music.
· As always, I’d counsel the person to begin a meditation with a prayer first, so as to achieve a deeper concentration and focus prior to meditation. The invocation “I Am That I Am, I and My Father are One, I and My Mother are One” said 7X will do, ended with a single Amen or Aum as usual.
· Say your last prayer agenda before meditating. You can thank the Almighty for the day, petition to digest the lessons learned from work for the day, etc. Then, you can also say your aim to deprogram vice and build virtue, though you can just invocate on this once as you’d prefer to meditate on it.
· Whichever is the position you use, eg, squat, lotus, supine position, settle yourself in that posiion clearly before meditating. Begin meditation then after the final petition. Follow the usual meditation pre-focus as prescribed by your guru or seminar consultant.
· Whether you open or close your eyes, and use invocation or not during meditation are some options that depend on the system you use or your consistent practice. I meditate by closing my eyes and by observing silence (zero invocation or mantra).
· Then, after the brief focus, go right away to the meditation theme: the aim of building virtue. Employ visualization to achieve more powerful effect. Same as in the prayer option, be creative. You can visualize dark energy from within you and moving out as representing the vice, and then white energy coming is as signifying the virtue. Or, use a monster/demon figure to signify the vice, and an angelic/divine being to signify the virtue.
· Utilize as brief as five (5) minutes for the theme. Half of the time you focus on taking out the demon of vice. The other half you employ for settling the angel of virtue within. You can extend this for ten (10) minutes if you wish. But five minutes is sufficient. Often than not, five minutes is equivalent to 33 meditation in-breaths and out-breaths. Remember that meditation breathing is longer and smoother than regular breathing.
· Go ahead and finish your total time allotted for the meditation. Beginners in yoga can end after ten minutes. A mystic-yogi like me meditates for one hour straight most often.
· Go back to regular breathing after the meditation. You’re done for the night. Take your sleep.
· On Day 7, do your last meditation on it.
So, fellows, that concludes our practical solution for the problem of vices and building virtues. They are so simple to do. You need not complicate the task with so grandiose a ritual or ceremony done inside a temple or White Magic lodge. You can do it right at home, inside your bedroom or special prayer & meditation room. But do the practice with focus and concentration and deep fidelity in the tool (prayer, meditation). Without that initial fidelity, the self-development tool won’t work. Same thing with medications and medical tools: the absence of fidelity instantaneously induces tool inefficacy and fatal consequences on the patient.
This topic is an adjunct to the ‘Argonza self-development lessons’ comprising of the 7 Rays. Do look for the 2nd ray topic which sets the tone, in case you wish to review the broader perspective behind the aim of building virtues. Meantime, let me declare my sincerest wish that you prosper in your ascent of the Path by making yourself more virtuous with the passing of time.
I will now close with a reflection on the Masonic task where one starts this life phase as a rough ashlar. The Aspirant then works hard to craft the Self into a fine piece of sculpted output. That final jewel of a product is the virtuous Self, the realized Higher Self. The craftsman, such as the mason, teaches us the lessons to become builders in life. Let us do this builder task in practice, by building virtues and climbing the Heights of god-realization. So be it. Amen. Amin. Aum.