Let us continue a series of 12 articles devoted to the 12 “essential qualities” related to the 12 Signs of Zodiac, the living symbol, key and reality for the development of consciousness. The main purpose here is to marry the established understanding of the Signs in the Astrology of esoteric Teachings with Laurency’s work on the corresponding 12 Essential Qualities.
5th – Festival of Leo – “I am that and that I am“
Leo is the fifth sign in the procession of the zodiac that has bearing on the development of the self as per the geocentric tropical perspective. The landing vibrations of Leo magnified through the Sun correspond to the 5th of the 12 Essential Qualities. It is an opportunity to align our service and learning in harmony with those energies so that acquisition of Leo’s fiery qualities can be facilitated for humankind.
Laurency’s take on the matter is expressed as “Impersonality”. May the following of his work be of use in our approach to the full moon of Leo, the most propitious time to realise the 5th essential quality:
5 Impersonality
unconcern, invulnerability, “indifference”
self-forgetfulness, directness, simplicity, spontaneity
independence of the opinions of others
harmlessness
“not being the centre of one’s circle”
“to be naked is to be innocent”
artless, natural, unselfish
impartiality, emancipation
tolerance
freedom from: self-importance, self-centredness, conceit,
delusion, self-glory, boasting, fanaticism, vanity,
desire for recognition, self-assertion
Below is a basic consideration of concepts listed above as a starting point for deeper personal and collective consideration for world-activity:
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Unconcern – Without wisdom and careful discernment the heart can be led astray. People can have a superficial concern for others when really a veiled self-interest is seeking to be met in the exchange. At worst this is outright selfish manipulation of others dressed ‘helping’ and ‘work for the common good’. The development of consciousness allows for a caring approach to leadership that has no veiled desires to serve self-interest or co-conspiring separative plots. Unconcern has no meddlesome ego to get in the road of pure service – it leads and solves as it is with the conditions as they are.
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Invulnerability – Invulnerability is not material invincibility, although a bodily health and stability can aid leadership during a lifetime. Longing for material invincibility does not accord with Law as it broadly implies stagnation and selfish dominance. Matter is in a constant process of transformation. Relative invulnerability assists in greater proportion in the higher the planes of existence. Emotional invulnerability is not being cold, but a state of big heartedness that can pass over the small personal transitory negatives, holding to the light and not be mired in emotional illusions. Mental invulnerability is a sure clarity that ideas and thinking are in systematic accordance with reality and cannot be swayed with fictions. Spiritual invulnerability is ceaseless responding to the call of all that is higher – inspiration, intuition and our cosmic responsibility. A powerful serving consciousness helps to seal the door where evil dwells and stands true forever against it.
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“Indifference” – It is easy to take issue with activity in society that does not agree with our own personal tastes or scheming. We can then block and hinder things in many ways, some noisy and some secretive, to ensure self-interest is protected. What is less easy to see is that this reaction can lead to slowing of consciousness development due to entanglement with the self-indulgence at hand. This behaviour lacks a broader perspective, where an indifferent approach would allow the ego to be put aside so that careful analysis and action could address any given collective issue. Indifference in this approach is not carelessness but the clearing of the personal noise so that a better vibration can be heard.
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Self-forgetfulness – When we have ample reflection time on our hands it can be a liability to over-focus upon the self until a state like inactive narcissistic stupor is achieved. In action the flow of energy can overcome the navel-gazing. In action we are given opportunities to see how pushing our personality into the mix can cause an unbalanced result. When we take conscious focus away from our own agenda and instead take leadership in service then we see that not only does the collective benefit, but we benefit as a side effect as well. Individual qualities and specialisations will find places to be cultivated in work for the common wealth. In forgetting ourselves and working in a sustainable and balanced way then we lead the community to a greater place so that all thrive.
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Directness – A great leader does not dither or fluff about missing the mark. A great leader pounces with power at the right place at the right time in the right way to produce the best result. There is no pussyfooting. Directness relates to courage of heart but also to mental and spiritual pointedness to go to the very core of an issue and unlock it with non-physical might.
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Simplicity – Much global culture currently encourages a convoluted and over-saturated mentality. It is a state of supreme mental confusion with an over-abundance of facts. Facts lie like a myriad of stones alongside a river – any old crafty person can pick up a stone, skim it across the river and dazzle us with the distraction. Clarity is not a manifold of facts, nor the crafty deployment of those facts. Simplicity is required for true leadership that has strong well formed thinking crystallised into the potent pure arguments. The heart and core of each matter need to be realised and then applied to problems at hand. The actions and results are then elegantly simple.
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Spontaneity – We must not be afraid to break the order, structure and patterns in society simply because the inertia of those situations is compelling. Universal Law that constitutes evolution is not to be confused with human-made structure. Structure is not inherently good, but only good or bad depending on the point of that structure and the context. Spontaneity is required of brave leaders to question human-made structure – to rock the boat; get out of line; break the pattern; get lateral and creative; and not be a ‘team player’. Anti-systematic action in material society helps the reassessment of collective work so that things may be better aligned with the one-true-cosmic-system. Fresh impulse allows for creativity to ignite.
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Independence of the Opinions of Others – We will be unable to rightly apply our knowledge gained from others if it is not independently verified by ourselves. Blind faith in others subordinates our will to them and leaves us open to corruption and manipulation. It takes practice to fortify our heart so that it is not tricked by the unity-energy presented when other’s opinions are presented, for if we accept things mindlessly with heart wide open then we will be filled with all sorts of fictions and illusions. This is not to say other opinions are not workable – but to not self-verify them is risky. Once mental independence is gained then useful interaction and contribution can occur. The worth of ideas can be milled from the emotional content of opinions.
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Harmlessness – Harmlessness is at the heart of the quality impersonality. Very few adults would ever identify as being harmful, or ever want to be. However, less ‘direct’ harmfulness occurs broadly in two ways: one is unconscious action due to lack of consciousness development; the other is structural operations attempting to uphold a system that isn’t in accordance with Law. When these are acknowledged then harmfulness is seen to be still widespread. It is physically impossible to be completely harmless as our very physical functioning at the least constantly destroys all sorts of micro-life. However, this is no excuse for not cultivating harmlessness in whatever way is best applicable in the given conditions. A spirit and attitude of care and consideration combined with uprightness and discernment can venture forth on the journey of uncovering what harm is unnecessary and avoidable. In the case of societal structure, it is possible to withdraw our support in interesting ways to bring questioning to that structure. And creativity can best build new structures to supersede the old ones with a view to harmlessness.
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“Not Being The Centre of One’s Circle” – True leadership can come in strange unrecognised ways. Modern culture tells us that to be a leader is to be showered in constant adoring public attention and that the measure of the leader is their likeability and the agreeableness of their personal psychology. Such a measure is deception and designed to make us feel good while our world is being ruined. True leaders are revolutionaries that do not require social sanction to forge ahead on necessary work. Egoless collaboration or individual innovation toward the common good breaks the boundaries of humanity’s development. Great work is often unrewarded or acknowledged. Our greatest contributions are made when they are done in passion for the sake of the work and that work confers with rightness. It is never for the purpose of making our chests or heads swell because we are superficially loved for the wrong reasons.
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“To Be Naked Is To Be Innocent” – In the symbolic sense, clothing can conceal and distract other people to believe we have some sort of importance when we really don’t. In all matters of self on the emotional, mental and spiritual levels, no distracting veil must conceal us. We must be truly what we are. Honesty and transparency allow for genuine interactions. Openness reveals genuine innocence if that is what we have cultivated. Any mistakes made in dealings can be seen as a matter of lack of consciousness, and given grace and opportunity to be refined.
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Artless – Artfulness implies a clever manipulation, weaving webs of deceit and corruption to serve private interests. These skills are rewarded in managerialism and our corporate career structures. Our culture sees this as a measure of success. Cleverness does not equate to healthy goodness. The best approach to helping the planet and humankind is to lose the ‘art’ and embrace artlessness. Then, once honest dealings are underway, space will be made free for true art and creativity in the practice of service.
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Natural – The power of some cultural vibrations are so strong that people can take on a role of egotistical pompous self-importance and think that they are being entirely serious, professional, authoritative, enlightened, and so on. This acting takes on particular zeal when the self engages with something that is not systematic. Nature, on the other hand, just is. There’s no game, no screw. We are born of cosmic naturalness – all of us are the stuff of stars and mother nature. If we remember this, and be as an integral part of it, then any role-playing in serious matters will be recognised as absurd and discarded. Emotions can then be moved through with efficiency, and then the ideas can be worked at with clear dedication.
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Unselfish – If the lion is the king of the jungle, he cannot preside over his job if he is spending his time admiring himself in the mirror. His pride would be caught out by hyenas or trampled by rhinos. He must take responsibility for his kin and keep the jungle just. If he set out on his own, feeding only himself, then he would drift off cold and irrelevant. He must use his strength and might to put himself aside and truly lead.
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Impartiality – When one carefully considers their activity in life, it can be found that it is exceptionally difficult to untangle our presumption from our actions, feelings and thinking. The broader and more switched on our analysis the more presumption we will find. We are not to be daunted into foregoing responsibility though – we have opportunities to disassociate from ignorance and private interests. We will be at our best when we are freed from the ‘party line’. All ‘votes’ are conscious and independent.
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Emancipation – We are an inseparable part of the cosmos and can use the acknowledgement of that unity to apply our activity in human society. We are all in this together. Everything is connected. Our behaviours have repercussions everywhere. Higher heart hugs hugely. Magnificent mind measures meticulously. Together with spirit can the heart and mind work to take leadership for the purpose of humankind-service. We are stewards for all below us. We are co-workers for each other. We are functions within what is greater than us. Arrogance has no merit.
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Tolerance – It is in our lower nature to fear what is different. In our fear, what we do not understand we want to keep separate. If whatever it is remains separate we have no chance of understanding it. So then we remain fearful of it. Fear is the mind-killer. The only way to overcome our fear is to face what we fear. To do that we must attempt to understand what is different to us. A block to understanding is how much our own self-importance and self-focus occludes everything else. Putting ourselves aside we can explore with curious joy what is different to us. We can then become tolerant of agitation from these differences and work together to come up with an even better common arrangement.
