All These Things Added/Part 2/The Might of Meekness
THE MIGHT OF MEEKNESS
The mountain bends not to the fiercest storm, but it shields the fledgeling and the lamb; and though all men tread upon it, yet it protects them, and bears them up upon its deathless bosom. Even so is it with the meek man who still, though shaken and disturbed by none, compassionately bends to shield the lowliest creature, and, though he may be despised, lifts all men up and lovingly protects them.
As glorious as the mountain in its silent might is the divine man in his silent Meekness; like its form, his loving compassion is expansive and sublime. Truly his body, like the mountain’s base, is fixed in the valleys and the mists; but the summit of his being is eternally bathed in cloudless glory, and lives with the Silences.
He that has found Meekness has found divinity; he has realized the divine consciousness, and knows himself as divine. He also knows all others as divine, though they know it not themselves, being asleep and dreaming. Meekness is a divine quality, and as such is all-powerful. The meek man overcomes by not resisting, and by allowing himself to be defeated he attains to the Supreme Conquest.
The man that conquers another by force is strong; the man that conquers himself by Meekness is mighty. He that conquers another by force will himself likewise be conquered; he that conquers himself by Meekness shall never be overthrown, the human cannot overcome the divine. The meek man is triumphant in defeat. Socrates lives the more by being put to death; in the crucified Jesus the risen Christ is revealed, and Stephen in receiving his stoning defies the hurting power of stones. What is real cannot be destroyed. When a man finds that within him which is real, which is constant, abiding, changeless, and eternal, he enters into that reality, and becomes meek. All the powers of darkness will come against him, but they will do him no hurt, and shall at last depart from him.
The meek man is found in the time of trial; when other men fall he stands. His patience is not destroyed by the foolish passions of others, and when they come against him he does not strive nor cry. He knows the utter powerlessness of all evil, having overcome it in himself; and lives in the changeless strength and power of divine Good.
Meekness is one aspect of the operation of the changeless Love that is at the Heart of all things, and is therefore an imperishable quality. He who lives in it is without fear, knowing the Highest and having the lowest under his feet.
The meek man shines in darkness, and flourishes in obscurity. Meekness cannot boast, nor advertise itself, nor thrive on popularity. It is practised, and being a spiritual quality it is perceived only by the eye of the spirit. Those who are not spiritually awakened see it not, nor do they love it, being enamored of and blinded by worldly shows and appearances. Nor does history take note of the meek man. Its glory is that of strife and self-aggrandisement; his is the glory of peace and gentleness. History chronicles the earthly, not the heavenly acts. Yet though he lives in obscurity he cannot be hidden—for how can light be hid?; he continues to shine after he has withdrawn himself from the world, and is worshipped by the world that knew him not.
That the meek man should be neglected, abused, or misunderstood is reckoned by him as of no account, and therefore not to be considered, much less resisted. He knows that all such weapons are the flimsiest and most ineffectual of shadows. To them, therefore, who give him evil he gives good. He resists none, and thereby conquers all.
He who imagines he can be injured by others, who seeks to justify and defend himself against them, does not understand Meekness, does not comprehend the essence and meaning of life. “He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me. In those who harbor such thoughts hatred will never cease, . . . for hatred ceases not by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love.” What sayest thou, thy neighbor has spoken thee falsely? Well, what of that? Can a falsity hurt thee? What is false is false, and there is an end of it. It is without life, and without power to hurt any but him who seeks to hurt by it. It is nothing to thee that thy neighbor should speak falsely of thee, but it is much to thee that thou shouldst resist him, and seek to justify thyself, for, by so doing, thou givest life and vitality to thy neighbor’s falseness, so that thou art injured and distressed. Take all evil out of thine own heart, then shalt thou see the folly of resisting it in another. Thou wilt be trodden on? Thou art trodden on already if thou thinkest thus. The injury that thou seest as coming from another comes only from thyself. The wrong thought, or word, or act of another has no power to hurt thee unless thou vivify it by thy passionate resistance, and so receivest it into thyself. If a man slander me, that is his concern, not mine. I have to do with my own soul, not with my neighbor’s. Though all the world misjudge me, it is no business of mine; but that I should possess my soul in Purity and Love, that is all my business. There shall be no end to strife until men cease to justify themselves. He who would have wars cease let him cease to defend any party; let him cease to defend himself. Not by strife can peace come, but by ceasing from strife. The glory of Cæsar resides in the resistance of his enemies. They resist and fall. Give to Cæsar what Cæsar demands, and Cæsar’s glory and power are gone. Thus by submission does the meek man conquer the strong man; but it is not the outward show of submission that is slavery, it is the inward and spiritual submission that is freedom.
Claiming no rights, the meek man is not troubled with self-defence and self-justification; he lives in love, and therefore comes under the immediate and vital protection of the Great Love that is the Eternal Law of the universe. He neither claims nor seeks his own; thus do all things come to him, and all the universe shields and protects him.
He who says, “I have tried Meekness, and it has failed,” has not tried Meekness. It cannot be tried as an experiment. It is only arrived at by unreserved self-sacrifice. Meekness does not consist merely in non-resistance in action; it consists pre-eminently in non-resistance in thought, in ceasing to hold or to have any selfish, condemnatory, or retaliatory thoughts. The meek man therefore cannot take offence or have his feelings hurt, living as he does above hatred, folly, and vanity. Meekness can never fail.
O thou who searchest for the Heavenly Life! strive after Meekness; increase thy patience and forbearance day by day; bid thy tongue cease from all harsh words; withdraw thy mind from selfish arguments; and refuse to brood upon thy wrong: so living, thou shalt carefully tend and cultivate the pure and delicate flower of Meekness in thy heart, until at last its divine sweetness and purity and beauteous perfection shall be revealed to thee, and thou shalt become gentle, joyful, and strong. Repine not that thou art surrounded by irritable and selfish people; but rather rejoice that thou art so favored as to have thine own imperfections revealed to thee, and that thou art so placed as to necessitate within thee a constant struggle for self-mastery and the attainment of perfection. The more there is of harshness and selfishness around thee the greater is the need of thy Meekness and love. If others seek to wrong thee, all the more is it needful that thou shouldst cease from all wrong, and live in love; if others preach Meekness, humility, and love, and do not practise these, trouble not, nor be annoyed; but do thou in the silence of thy heart and in thy contact with others practise these things, and they shall preach themselves. Though thou utter no declamatory word, and stand before no gathered audience, thou shalt teach the whole world. As thou becomest meek, thou shalt learn the deeper secrets of the universe. Nothing is hidden from him who overcometh himself. Into the cause of causes shalt thou penetrate, and lifting, one after another, every veil of illusion, shalt reach at last the inmost Heart of Being. Thus becoming one with Life, thou shalt know all life, and, seeing into causes, and knowing realities, thou shalt be no more anxious about thyself and others and the world, but shalt see that all things that are are engines of the Great Law. Canopied with gentleness, thou shalt bless and never curse, love and never hate, forgive and never condemn, yield where others strive, give up where others grasp, lose where others gain. And in their strength they shall be weak; and in thy weakness thou shalt be strong; yea, thou shalt mightily prevail. He that hath not unbroken gentleness hath not Truth:
“Therefore when Heaven would save a man, it enfolds him with gentleness.”