These two thrilling stages of awareness are the two major entrances to higher consciousness. You will find it impossible to achieve these two states without being a thoughtful person or a fit companion. These two states have different names in different disciplines but we will call them:
- The Good Will Witness, and
- The Universal Self
Good Will
The thoughtful person does not strive to overpower or manipulate other people. He values others and considers their lives as important as his own. He considers the needs and rights of others, too. He looks for opportunities to be of service. He loves to console and uplift.
In his personal effort to be more conscious he also strives to help others discover the benefits within them and the possibilities of the days ahead. He becomes incapable of thinking only of himself. He always considers the effects of his actions on other people. He goes through life thinking of the welfare and happiness of others as well as his own.
A very important characteristic of the thoughtful person, then, is good will. Good will is delightfully — and frightfully — essential. It’s great fun to have good will but it’s “frightful” not to have good will — because you cannot achieve or maintain higher consciousness without it. The significance of good will cannot be overstressed. Higher consciousness itself is an ongoing state of good will.
Wishing Others the Very Best
The main characteristic of good will is: Wishing others the very best. The thoughtful man or woman of good will bears no ill will toward other people. He hopes for their happiness and would like to be of help if he can. His emotions are expansive and he does not experience jealousy or an inner resistance as others around him find success or favor. He does not, vocally nor in his mind, insult or look down upon other people who happen to be involved with him in the human race.
In becoming a friend to others, he has discovered that his good will must also extend to those who practice different faiths, techniques, and other forms of sincere worship. He wishes them success and fulfillment. He wishes them happiness and dynamic growth. He wishes them whatever they need to be the better.
Do You Have Good Will For Others?
Do you have good will for others? Do you wish them the very best — even though their paths or goals may be different from yours, or even seemingly in conflict with yours? Can you, in the largeness of your heart, put aside jealousy or condemnation? Do you truly have no ill will for them but instead a fraternal good wish for each and every one?
Do you accept people as they are? Do you notice their needs and struggles? Do you actively and constructively help people close to you and the world at large? Do you also perform these services with a happy attitude, with genuine good will? Helping others from a sense of obligation may still be of value but it does not open your life to higher consciousness.
A Steady Flow
Good will is of extraordinary importance! You can only achieve in the realm of consciousness that which you hold in good will. Never forget this. For example, if you are striving to gain higher consciousness, you can only achieve it when you have a very positive and constructive attitude toward it. And higher consciousness can only fill your being when you are a thoughtful person who maintains good will toward others, even when you are in highly exalted awareness. Good will is vital.
If you have ill will, fear, or resentment toward higher consciousness you need not worry about whether you will achieve it. It will never become yours. Higher consciousness will never flow into a vessel which is closed.
Furthermore, in your meditations, as you do various practices and techniques to become more conscious, unless you have good will for the focus or techniques of your meditations, you’ll not be able to succeed. You must persist and allow your ill will, resentment, or pettiness to be worn through until you develop good will. You must develop a steady flow of good will for yourself, your meditation techniques, and the object of your meditation.
Appreciation Is Key
Suppose you’re striving to grow through religious observances. A lackadaisical attitude toward your practices, or toward a mantram, or a painting of Christ or Buddha, for example, will result in continual separation from what another part of your mind and heart say they are seeking. Don’t you agree, from many observations, that people in an atmosphere of good will draw closer together? Similarly, in good will you and your meditation practices must become closer, more comfortable and intimate.
To succeed in meditation and the higher awareness it will give you, you must become conscious, appreciative of what you are doing. To resent your practice as if it is an intruder, to yearn for your time of meditation to be over, or to study your meditation practice with utter boredom is to be in a state of ill will — or certainly an absence of good will. You will not succeed.
Just as ill will makes people separate and grow farther and farther apart, you can become more and more estranged from meditation and the peace of meditation. This division creates a progressively greater distance between yourself and the whole field of higher consciousness and a harmonious life as well.
Are You Ready?
Are you ready to contact your higher consciousness? Are you patient, thoughtful, and full of good will? In the next two Lessons you will learn how to develop The Good Will Witness and The Universal Self.
If you have trouble experiencing either of these two states of superconsciousness within a month of sincere practice, study the previous Lessons found here. Become an expert in the knowledge and application of each major area. In the field of higher consciousness you must develop at your own rate. And, every effort toward your great fulfillment will add subtle but noticeable benefits in the quality of your daily life.
May you find success and greater fulfillment!
