Course I - Teaching 13: Perseverance

All virtues so far enumerated become indispensable, but in order to be vitally efficient, they should be founded upon the solid pillars of Perseverance.
According to a legend God sent an Angel to the Earth in order to give a name to every one of the species of flowers. He did not forget anyone; and adorned the most beautiful with pompous names, and the most humble with sweet names. In his view, he did not forget anyone, because even gave a name to the violet which remained hidden under its thick foliage; but there was a little, almost invisible tender flower that has been forgotten and patiently expected its turn. When the Angel of the Lord was about to raise himself toward heaven and all the rest believed that this little flower would be left with no name, this flower, which has persevered and waited, claimed: “Forget me not”, the flower said. The Angel heard the voice of this persevering flower, and turning round replied: “You have selected the name by yourself; your name shall be: “Forget-me-not”.
Likewise, Perseverance is different from all virtues by its own characteristic, by its own expression: it never denies its sayings, never comes back on the way traveled, never repents and always ardently expects.
Human virtues are like the Bible’s statue: Head of gold, chest of bronze and feet of mud. But real virtue, which is founded upon Perseverance, although sometimes is not so apparent, has the head of mud and feet of gold.
When the foundation of a spiritual building is established, so that it is like a castle upon a rock neither moved by winds nor damaged by waters nor destroyed by time, the spiritual building must be founded upon five cornerstones of Perseverance.
First Cornerstone: Patience.
By patience a man becomes constant, by patience the golden gate to higher worlds opens, and by patience the bitter enemy is overcome. Every morning, an old woman went to the Royal Palace to beg clemency for her child who was in prison. The king passed by and looked at her with disdain, not heeding to his entreaties; doormen and servants would disillusioned this old woman and said: “It’s useless for you to come; you will get nothing”. But one day the king was less severe and in a good mood, so he listened to the old woman and set her son free. Patience won.
Begging the conversion of her son Augustine to Catholicism, Monica wept so much for twenty years that two deep grooves were stamped in her cheeks; but at the end she won. A Bishop heard about Augustine’s conversion and exclaimed, “A son of so many tears and so much patience was worth being saved”.
Patience is indispensable in spiritual life and psychical development. How many start enthusiastically and, because they do not see an immediate result of their efforts, abandon the Path.
Human nature, so hardened by habit, needs long years to be adjusted and to activate those necessary centers for psychic life and just with a patient Perseverance it achieves success.
Some people asked a sage of India how he had completely immobilized his right arm, and he replied: “With continuous efforts for twenty five years.
Second Cornerstone: Faith.
Faith is security in invisible things, which are not seen but certainly are anticipated at any moment. And faith is indispensable to achieve perseverance.
Here we do not speak of that instinctive faith that frightfully ties to adored or believed things, but of that understanding given by certain things that one does not see.
Who can assert that the flesh that has been brought to us in the morning is healthy and harmless? None can ascertain it, except a social and collective faith.
Who can prove that invisible things are however worth believing in them without this rational faith?
But continuously poor men –who blindly believe in the baker that brings their bread, in running water provided by Water Supply, and in currency printed by the Nation– are uncertain about the word of the Masters and of those who already have practically traveled through the path that they are theoretically going through.
When a Sannyasi wants to be admitted in the company of a Guru, first he is demanded absolute obedience; and this absolute obedience is indispensable to achieve Faith in things that are real but unseen.
If a student of any University practically had in his hands, since the first moment, all the science he wants to learn, he would be unable to comprise intelligently and suddenly all that that he could have before his eyes. He needs to study and know through faith what tomorrow he well be able to achieve practically.
A disciple not founded upon this persevering faith is like a glutton willing to eat in one-day edibles of one month, and eventually dies of indigestion.
Third Cornerstone: Hope.
Hope is not a quality of surrendering oneself to misery, despair or moral sadness, telling oneself: this will change some day. On the contrary, Hope is the virtue of a person who expects at certain moment, on proper time, the achievement of the Divine Plan in himself; and Hope is the strongest support of Perseverance.
People who expect with perseverance are those who immutably and without haste reached the goal because they know that everybody will arrive some day.
Disciples wait patiently for trial years to pass and liberation years to come. They wait for years to pass, and time to fly, so that Divine Promises of Unification of souls may become true.
Fourth Cornerstone: Discernment.
To persevere is to have time for all things.
A person that changes many ideals and follows many paths wastes his time and energy, never can stop, and has no time for anything.
But a man who perseveres in his own faith, a man who constantly follows the path traced by himself, has time to analyze and discern things because discernment –ecstasy derived from Perseverance– makes taste things in their three aspects: Physical, mental and spiritual.
Fifth Cornerstone: Resignation.
A perfect, complete perseverance is resignedly manly.
It takes everything according to the Divine Will, and adjusts itself to any form and aspect; in short, as it were, it is the crown of this virtue.
When a man patiently lives, sincerely believes, serenely expects, clearly discerns, and resignedly takes his own destiny from God’s hands, he has achieved the virtue of Perseverance.