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Hierarchy (1931) - 260:
260. How often must the gardener water the garden entrusted to him? Certainly every day, except during a beneficent shower. When people close their shutters, the gardener weaves baskets for the ripening fruit. Verily, the shower frees the gardener from the labor of carrying water. Is it not the same with the Teaching? Certainly the foundations of the Teaching should be reiterated each day. Every hour, the Teaching should be protected from the leprosy of habit. But in the time of the whirlwind the Teaching is not in need of protection, because in it alone will the sole hope of men be found. Then they will turn their heads from Earth and perhaps for the first time perceive the far-off worlds and the heavenly Fire. The gardener calls the shower a blessing. Shall we not say the same of the whirlwind, which will force us to think of the Fire of Space and of future existence? Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 177:
177. Does an Arhat rest? You already know that a change of labor is rest, but the true repose of an Arhat is his thought about the Beautiful. Amidst various labors, thought about the Beautiful is the bridge and power and stream of benevolence. Let us weigh a thought of evil and a thought of good, and we shall prove to ourselves that the beautiful thought is more powerful. Let us organically analyze different thoughts, and we shall see that a beautiful thought is a treasury of health. In beautiful thinking an Arhat beholds the ladder of ascent. In this active thinking is the Arhat's repose. In what else can we find another source of benevolence? Thus can we remember when we are especially oppressed. When the shutters of selfhood are being fastened everywhere, when fires are extinguished in the darkness, is it not the time to reflect about the Beautiful? We anticipate a miracle, we strive to break the lock, but the ladder of the Arhat is only in the Beautiful. Let us not sully, let us not belittle this path! Only thereby will we attract that which seems so miraculous. And the miracle, is it not the indissoluble bond with Hierarchy? In this bond lies all of physics, and mechanics, and chemistry, and the panacea for all things. It seems possible with a little striving to move all obstacles, but the fulfillment of this condition is immeasurably difficult for people! Why have they clipped the wings of beauty?
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