Resolutions and Cycles

2003-1-2 06:30:00

My Friends,

I hope you had a happy new year. I've been a little lazy this holiday season, not working as hard as usual, relaxing a bit. But now I need to get back in my usual routine so I can finish Book III.

As we all know this is a traditional time for us to make New Year's resolutions. I've never made a point to make resolutions at any particular date, but I have had numerous points of tension in my life where I have made resolutions to improve myself or my situation. At present it is all I can handle to follow my past resolutions which I have not yet achieved. New ones at this point may be overkill. It is therefore, probably wise for me to merely recommit to goals I already have.

It is interesting to contemplate the traditions, symbols and trends among humanity. As we do, we will often see a communication from the world soul which is behind them.

What would be then the inner meaning behind the New Year's resolution?

Quite simply this is a manifestation on the part of humanity to the Law of Cycles. The New Year represents the end of a previous cycle, or year, and the beginning of a new one. Likewise, the evolving soul goes through cycles where a goal will be consummated, finishing a cycle, and a new one will begin. At the beginning of a new cycle fresh goals must be set if the life lived is to be productive.

There are numerous cycles that we go through within a period of a life and it is extremely important for the evolving soul to take a short Sabbath of rest after the cycle and then begin afresh with new and higher goals.

One of our most important cycles is called the Saturn cycle or the Saturn return. Saturn circles the Sun every 29.46 years, but because traditional astrology is based on geocentric calculations the exact Saturn return in a chart will vary somewhat. The first Saturn return is thought to have great influence between the ages of 27-30 and the second between about 57-60. My exact second Saturn return is approaching and will be exact on July 8th of this year.

The Saturn cycle is like a life within a life. When you think back to the ages of 28-29 and reflect upon it, you will generally realize that this marked the end of a cycle of learning where you finally reached a state of maturity that allowed you to move on to greater things.

The tragedy is that many people will rest upon their learning acquired to that period and will learn very little for the rest of their lives. For those who do "turn over a new leaf," make new goals and forge ahead with new learning, they will achieve the evolution of two lives within one life by the age of 56-60.

After the first Saturn Cycle, about half of the population fail to make the proper resolutions to insure the proper spiritual evolution. At the second Saturn cycle about 90% fail to make the commitment.

When the commitment to learning and progress is not made after the end of a Saturn cycle, the entity is said by DK to have "crystallized."

To understand crystallization, think of raw honey when no heat is applied to it. Crystals begin to form and it will no longer freely pour and gets too hard and brittle to be usable.

This is what happens to one who finishes a Saturn Cycle and rests upon his past learning and no longer tackles new projects - no longer challenges himself.

So what happens when a person does crystallize? Essentially all he does is take up space. All the good he does do is through automatic pilot which enables him to get some work done through the benefit of past learning, but his progression will be over for his life cycle.

How do you tell if a person has crystallized?

It is not always obvious, for many crystallized people are fairly intelligent and accomplished. The attitude of older people toward computers is a possible sign. The other day I saw an interview of an older, but famous and accomplished writer. In the interview he was almost bragging about the fact that he does not like to use computers, but prefers to write longhand. For an older person to be afraid to learn about computers which are an essential part of this age, is a sign that new learning is shut down and crystallization is set in. He may still accomplish a few things but it will be done on his old paradigm and will contain no new ideas or concepts.

How do we avoid crystallization? It is done through the force of Will. One must make new decisions and follow them through or continue to work toward objectives not yet accomplished. This is not too difficult at the end of the first Saturn Cycle. To accomplish this, one must have some reasonable ambition. It becomes easier at the end of the second cycle as retirement age is approached. Many are tired of struggle and just want to relax for the rest of their lives. To overcome crystallization here takes a greater act of Will. Then to continue to progress in old age after the third cycle take a still greater act of Will.

Having said this, let me leave you with this thought. As we contemplate our next set of resolutions (New Year's or otherwise) let us continually ask ourselves this question.

Am I resting upon my past learning and abilities or am I pushing myself to always learn more and acquire new abilities?

It is a good sign that people in this class have computers, connect to the internet and are seeking to learn new concepts here. But for all of us there will come a time that we will feel like letting our guard down and just relaxing for the rest of our lives. Periods of rest are beneficial, but we must never let ourselves give up on progression, even to the end of our lives.

The final thought of the disciple as he exhales his last breath should be upon his desire to serve rather than to be served.