Humanity now has its back most firmly up against the wall – it is now or never.
It is precisely within this grim state of affairs that lies man’s hope for a bright new world – a world in which peace and abundance will once again be the common heritage of all life upon this planet. However, this bright new world is not about to appear out of the mist. Such a world will have to be planned and worked for. Therefore action is the order of the day, and sound sensible thought is called for. Panic or despondency will do nothing to improve the situation, nor will it help to place our hopes in some force outside the scope of humanity, whether extraterrestrial or superhuman.
Man today is the product of his own doing, and so too is the destruction that has crippled the planet. No superhuman power is going to release humanity from its responsibility, nor are any of us going to be rushed off to another planet where we can once again give vent to our uncurbed destructive tendencies. Anyone who believes in such vanity is in for a very rude awakening. Man has come of age, and the day has dawned when he must take full responsibility for his actions in the past and face squarely the future. To take responsibility for the past is the true meaning of «the Day of Reckoning», and to face the future squarely is the challenge posed by «the Dawn of the New Age».
This brings us to a concept which Toltecs refer to as forebearance. The meaning which Toltecs attach to this word is very different to average man’s normal understanding for, by forebearance, Toltecs are not inferring that the warrior should become a doormat. On the contrary, forebearance requires a considerable amount of true patience and strength, and nothing builds intent more quickly or efficiently than exercising forebearance. This reveals the definition Toltecs give to this word, namely, forebearance is an act of strength in which the warrior harnesses patience until it has become like a finely strung bow which is lightness itself, but possessing an inherent tension which is deadly.
What average men and women term patience is not looked upon as patience by the warrior, because the so-called patience of most people is simply a passive acceptance of having to wait, forced upon them either by another person, or by the circumstances in their life. The patience of the warrior, on the other hand, is not a passive acceptance of having to wait, but is instead a conscious and deliberate act of biding his time, and is a decision taken by the warrior himself, rather than having it forced upon him.
Question:
Théun, I would like to ask about forbearance, and how this relates to unconditional love versus conditional love?
Answer:
The greatest gift in FORBEARANCE is learning to LET GO! Once we have learned to let go, INTENT becomes ACTIVE, intent being unconditional love in action! But people are normally so BUSY setting their “intent” on wanting to have life on their own terms that not only do they keep themselves STUCK, but so too does forbearance become a living nightmare! Surprising? Not really when one comes to realize that ANY action, including CONDITIONAL love, MUST be reflected back to us by the world around us!
But the MYSTERY surrounding INTENT is that INTENT is NOT based upon CONDITIONS! Humanity finds this so hard to LEARN! And thus people make statements like, “But I AM setting my intent, so bloody well MAKE it happen! But I AM being a good boy, so REWARD me! But I AM on the Warrior’s Path, so of course I should be treated differently!” etc., etc., etc. In short, “Can’t LIFE see that I AM striving to MEET the CONDITIONS in my life, so what is its problem in meeting MY set of conditions?”
However, true intent becomes active once we have learned that MIRRORS work BOTH ways! Conditional love is reflected. Unconditional love is reflected.
The reason why the warrior will exercise forebearance is always for the purposes of stalking, not only his prey, but also his own perception of the situation. By exercising forebearance the warrior has the opportunity and, above all, the necessary detachment to assess the situation at hand completely and thoroughly even in the midst of action and battle.