Good post MoonShine (I like a little moonshine on weekends myself).
I suppose I should offer a response.
My view, in accordance with the commonly accepted energetic division of three parts to our being, is that Malkuth (what some refer to as the First Attention), is a world of rises and fallings - endlessly. Cycling up and down, on small scales like within a relationship, and on large scales like the forces of the universe where suns and planets grow and explode over vast time scales.
Malkuth is the
Field of Action. It is the gym for spirit. Where we are set upon the treadmills of exercise to transmute effort into spirit through the second energetic division of emotion. The third energetic division is of pure spirit, beyond images, beyond emotion. It is the part of our being which could be called (in moonshine terminology) triple-distilled.
Enough of the colourful language.
Those of us who seek the Way, are '
passing through'. We cannot afford the luxury of aligning ourselves with either the upward or downward trajectories of the world. Any attempt to draw us into spiritual allegiance with this roller-coaster ride of material life is a fraud. But that does not mean we don't play our part.
We work for the betterment of life - that is only a natural outcome of having assimilated ourselves with the Way. It is a kind of foolish sentimentality, that nonetheless provides us with a side to play for in this game. Yet behind the facade, our trajectory is beyond this world. That is the message we bring to all we encounter within hopeless situations: there is a purpose beyond the unfairness of life.
In accordance with the three energetic divisions, our primary focus is upon existence beyond divisions and distinctions, and our rudder is intent. That intent can only be for one thing: awareness of what is real, what is true. Such awareness excludes neither the fear nor the hope, the suffering nor the joy, the danger nor the aspiration.
We work through the division of imagination and emotion, by constantly
choosing. Astral awareness means we know we are dealing with flux, and that we can select outcomes, instead of accepting them. That is where we participate, as foreigners in a war, by selecting the best outcomes. Unfortunately, we always face the criticism of whether we are selecting the easy outcome, or the one which will produce the best for our soul. Never forget that happiness is a poor motivator for growth!
We work in the division of material being. In that division, it is absolutely criminal to our spirit, that we should pretend all is well. It is precisely our spirit's alignment with truth and reality, that we open ourselves to the full array of impressions. Of course, we must be selective here also, and peek into yet close windows on energies that are destructive to the soul. Know of them, yet walk around. Indulgence is the enemy here - dwelling on energies that are addictive or obsessive.
In the Second Attention, there is a trick we learn, to shift from darkness to light with the flick of attention. In the First Attention, in which we live the major part of life, the rule is very different. Here, we succeed through clarity. We have to find solutions constantly, by knowing exactly the problems facing us. We utilise a very particular technique of troubleshooting: seeking the
third way. This is the subject of another discussion, but for here, suffice to say that we defeat our difficulties by knowing them intimately. The third way breaks into consciousness only after fully appraising ourselves of the obstacles that confront irreconcilably.
The quote you have sourced fails to distinguish between the practices of each energetic division of our being, thinking you can apply one to another.
Using the Second Attention device of shifting attention only works on the emotional level, not on the practical level - the field of effort.
The task for Those of the Way, is not to live outside the world, denying awareness of darkness. Our task is to
navigate! We assess clearly the energies behind, present and coming to us from the future. We do this without emotional attachment because we are aligned with the Third Attention, where none of this matters, and all that concerns us is
how we act. If you cannot read the newspapers or watch the TV without becoming emotionally depressed, then you do not have sufficient control of your astral being.
In a state of self-assured detachment from fear and hope, the warriors of the Way pay extremely close attention to every piece of information which could affect the outcome of the task they have intended for their path. If they find they are becoming obsessed with negative or positive information, they break that connection, and revert to inner silence. Without a practice of profound inner silence, there is no way to navigate this world, and we will become what we despise. That is the rule.
"From these reflections on the awareness of time and place was repeated the most valuable lesson of all: the trekker is solely responsible for his destiny. You had to develop a nose for disaster and be alerted far before the danger was upon you. This meant every part of your being had to be alive to the passing scene. You had to see what was underfoot as well as gauge what the heavens had in store for you. You had to assess your body's store of energy and estimate it's rate of burn. Survival depends on how much reserve of energy you have after beating the odds."
[
Footloose in the Himalaya by Bill Aitken]
