The purpose of this talk is to touch the paradox of earthly life in order to gain new understanding, with the goal of inspiring us to redefine and fine-tune our daily actions. The paradox of virtuous living can become a key to our expansion into universal love. The tension created paradoxically is often uncomfortable, but eternally fruitful. Just as the Yin/Yang symbol portrays perfect balance, all which comes to us and all which flows from us, within universal law, must express that same balance. If it does not, the Lords of Karma necessarily come into play.
      Much of the human experience has remained the same throughout the ages, and still our efforts at conscious evolution are called for in these powerful times. How is this time and this place in the universe different from many other ages before now?
      At this time and in this nation, we are experiencing more wealth in a greater population of people than ever before in recorded history. We have no idea how to survive it emotionally and spiritually intact. We are a relatively new nation drunk with our riches and our freedom, just beginning to learn to circulate our wealth or drown in it. We hoard our stuff impulsively, in a reaction we have inherited from our forefathers who survived the great depression.
      We are trying to live by ideals which were only fantasy in humanity’s past, and we cling to the realities we know, such as food, sex and material gain, as children cling to favorite toys for security. Historically, the masses were ruled by the few; and our freedom does not automatically transform the masses into well-informed voters. The ideals of freedom require us to work at being truly free. Many are overwhelmed and disillusioned.
      In a world where fear is prevalent, we use the media as a means to bolster our belief that others have it worse than we do. Suffering is portrayed in various forms as we struggle with our fright and convince ourselves that it cannot touch us through the television screen. Through our unconscious gluttony of the world’s resources, we have created enemies who are now showing their rage. The prevalence of frightening programming may be a sign of an adrenalin addiction in our culture which mirrors the crisis situation in our world.
      We are conscious of many planes of life which, before now, man could not so well perceive. We experience fear as these planes become more apparent. An invisible world is singing into our lives. Our response is evident in common conversation regarding the mystery of living — a topic reserved for philosophers and theosophists in the past. At the same time, fundamentalist movements radically attempt to control what they cannot comprehend.
      Meanwhile, we are slowly moving from a punitive system of thought and social recourse to a restorative system of each. Through necessity, the mother of all great invention, our judiciary and social structures are undergoing a metamorphosis. We find ourselves caught within two distinctly different systems of solving our difficulties as this change occurs. The usual ways of doing things don’t work anymore; thus, we are forced to try new methods of living together. Things are not so simple as right and wrong or black and white. Perhaps they never were.
      A page is turning everywhere I look. It is a great big, giant page of universal proportions, and it is turning in every human face before me. Each of us is a part of this wave of change, as if we were dominoes falling neatly in a row. “Falling” seems to be an insufficient word here, though at times that’s just how I feel. I prefer to see the image of butterflies unfolding their wings, fresh from their cocoons, emerging to live in a different form. Does the butterfly resist change, as we do?
      The evolution of humanity encompasses many such emerging things. Each one signifies a new dawn in our understanding and in the depth of our awareness — a surge of life giving circulation to the arteries of our souls. These steps toward our evolutionary goals encompass loss as well as gain. This is apparent in the sloughing off of old ways, giving us yet another look into the void between the steps of evolution. There lies the dark night of the soul — and it is seldom comfortable. Fortunately, comfort is not the goal — or is it? Kahill Gabran writes of comfort as a “smothering thing” in The Prophet.
      With this brief look at our world today, perhaps we can agree that this is a time to think outside the box. Our efforts are of great importance right now. I believe that we need “virtue strength” in order to survive and contribute positively to our evolution as well as that of our fellows on this earth. Virtue is not just a pretty concept for aspiring angels. Virtue is power and our salvation.
      There are many guidelines along our path. Signposts urge us towards virtuous living. Sounds good, doesn’t it? — kind of rolls off of the tongue. “Virtuous living” has a nice ring to it, but I’m not sure it is taken seriously. While struggling to stay true to the virtuous path, I realize that an excess of any one virtue can upset the balance. The pathway, like a tightrope across an abyss, is the balance of all the virtues in equal strength. Perhaps mathematics can help us to understand this concept — in particular, the study of exponential power.
      From the book Virtues, Laws and Powers by Anonymous, “Two interlocking powers are stronger when united than the sum total of their powers when separate. For instance, the power strength of 10 plus the power strength of ten (not united but summed) would equal twenty. However, spiritual powers of 10, if combined, produce an exponential power of 100. “Separate, two tens produce the power level of twenty. Together” — united — “they produce an exponential power of 100.” This is synergy potential and is possible “for groups or within an individual in relationship to Virtue powers.”
      If the virtue powers are balanced with each other, they form a synergy power greater than virtues which are out of balance with each other. “A person with ten virtues of moderate strength but equal force is stronger than a person with twelve very strong virtues of varying force, even if those twelve virtues are blazing with various strengths,” due to the fact that exponential power is available only between virtues of the same base strength.
      Simply put, all of this means that balance of all the virtues is the key to Virtue-power for the warrior of the soul.
      With this concept in mind, let’s take a new look at daily virtuous living. We will begin with Acceptance, Beauty and Purity. Acceptance seems a good path in itself, but it can become apathy when out of alignment with other virtues. Beauty without Humility becomes vanity.
      The intention to express Purity, when out of balance, can lead to an attitude of superiority and separate us from earthly life. From this place, one judges the actions and intentions of others. This leads to criticism of others and a lack of self-responsibility. Purity, misused, becomes vice, just as surely as any virtue strengthened to the exclusion of the others.
      Let me ask you now: Is holiness more than Love and Service? Are we responsible for more that that? Any codependent will confess that love and service without wisdom, stability and truth, over time, can create a strong sense of dissatisfaction. Even rage can surge forth, threatening destruction from seemingly the sweetest people. I now wish to explore how to strengthen and ensure the sanctity of Love and Service.
      What are the Virtues? How many virtues are there? These are good questions. Most of us think we know the virtues but, in a pinch, we may fall short, unable to think of just the right one. There are, of course, the Divine traits of Love, Will and Wisdom. These are the three legs of the table which holds all virtues. Let’s take a look at the Tree Of Life.
      Here we find Will and Power, Love and Wisdom, Divine Intelligence, Mercy and Harmony, Severity and Science, Intuition, Holy Desire, Reason, Creativity and Propagation, and Stability. On this earth we are living in a system based upon ten virtue-powers. That is not to say that there are no others. Indeed, there are thirty-one in all which are available for our development. Some of these other virtues are Divine Strength, Divine Patience and Indifference and Impersonal Action. You may prefer to discourse regarding the individual names of the virtues. No matter — the Forces are the same throughout name variations.
      The student must first develop a firm foundation in the ten primary virtues before he can hope to achieve the others. Also, if any of the first ten virtue powers are missing, no exponential power is possible. One must climb octaves of maturity on at least four levels of the ten primary virtues, before he is able to have synergy power. Those four levels could be said to represent initiations of air, fire, water and crystallized form. Air often refers to speech, fire to emotion, water to devotion and love, and crystallized form to manifestation of Law in physical expression. There are nuances of these initiations specific to each of the ten primary virtues — but that’s another talk!
      Once those first ten are balanced, a disciple who wishes to become an intercessor for humanity may wish to explore, develop and balance the rest of the thirty-one. Over many years I have been gathering information for the creation of a poster outlining elements aligned with certain virtues on the tree of life. Allow me to share with you some of the fruit of my efforts.
      Each virtue corresponds to a symbol, color, sound, body part, planet, etc. There are many correspondences not mentioned here, as this is a work in progress.

The whole chart


Click here to read the top half of the chart.


Click here to read the bottom half of the chart.

— A. R. Dunbar, 2004