115. Character

©2004 Athene Bitting All Rights Reserved

CXV

Character:

The Measure of a Soul

and the Map of Destiny

Lecture Based Questions:

1. Draw or describe a reminder or symbol of one of your helpers.

2. What is Character?

The older the Soul, the deeper the Character.

It is what we call the collection of virtues that a Soul accumulates during many lifetimes. The maturity of a Soul can be seen in a person’s behavior, in his/her influence over the people around her/him, and in the makeup of certain strengths that override the territorial brain. Character is not necessarily valued in society, and many virtues are greeted with hostility in a world populated by humans of mainly instinctive consciousness.

Character should not be confused with morality—a religious term used to incite a standard of exclusive behaviors. Sometimes morality includes conduct of character, and sometimes it sets rules that beget action that would be the antithesis to what we are discussing.

In a nutshell, one could say that character is the ability to deeply consider the personal environmental, karmic, and universal consequences of an action, and then to act in a way that carries benefit throughout all those levels. Such choices range from the minutiae of one’s breakfast beverage to the splashy level of public behavior.

Our character is tested daily on many levels, usually when worldly things are easy. The Guardian Angel and the Kindel Archangel keep tabs on this score. When the traffic light is green, we are being watched to see how grateful we are. When we have wealth, we are observed to see what we do with it, how we treat people who don’t have it, and whether or not we become personally attached to it. When we have good health, we are examined for our gratitude, temperance, caution, and empathy with less fortunate people. As we pass these tests, we are entrusted with more responsibility. When we show weakness of character, we are put through karma school in order to learn the value of what we had.

3. What are the virtues that make up Character?

Again I want to stress that character is mainly the ability to consider the ramifications of action. Therefore, any behavior that exemplifies such an approach will be included in this list. The motive is to heal rather than harm, to comfort rather than hurt, to create rather than to destroy. The connectedness of all things is in the heart of one who displays depth of character in thought, word, and deed.

This said, we have made a list of virtues that could be considered the foundation of a well-developed character. An old Soul would have these virtues deeply embedded in consciousness and in her/his habits. None are more important than others, as they will be equally useful in the future when we will have responsibility over the development of other life forces. In alphabetical order the list follows.

Appropriateness/Adaptability

Caution/Carefulness

Centeredness/Inner Peace

Consciousness of One’s Limitations

Consistency/Steadiness

Courage/Valor

Faith

Focus

Forethought

Forgiveness

Generosity

Gratitude

Honor/Respect

Humility/Universal Perspective

Humor

Inclusiveness

Integrity/Trustworthiness

Karmic understanding

Kindness

Lassitude/Acceptance/Tolerance

Loyalty/Constancy

Patience

Perceptiveness/Awareness

Persistence

Simplicity

Teachable-ness

Temperance/Balance

Thoroughness

Truthfulness with Forethought

4. How do I discern Character in others?

First of all, you want to keep in mind that you are not the Character Police of other people. It is not a virtue to judge others. The karmic consequence of being judgmental is that you will be categorized and dismissed when you most need to be accepted and forgiven. However, when striking business deals and partnerships, it is wise to make our decisions based on the strengths of all the people involved. Remember that you can always depend on someone for something, but you cannot depend on a single person for everything. That expectation would be unfair and unrealistic.

When you have known people for a long time, you already know whether or not they will come through for you. Their integrity and dependability have already endeared them to you. Weakness, on the other had, can be measured in their less lovable aspects. You can see it in the messiness of their lives, their self-inflicted tragedies, and in a long list of their conflicts.

When meeting someone for the first time, we can perceive a person’s character clairvoyantly. Remember to look at the energy field, not at the physical body. Character can be seen in the face. Courage, expertise, and strength can be detected around the eyes or the upper mask of the face. Weakness or willfulness can be noted from the nose down to the chin. When deciding to choose a dependable partner, do not look for strengths, as everyone has some. Instead, look into the countenance for signs of weakness. It will not necessarily come with a label or a strong name. Weakness of character comes out in many forms in many varied circumstances. Just as many religious people and well-educated people have weaknesses, as do worldly people.

5. How can I speed up the development of my own Character?

The deepening of character is the result of maturity in spirit. As we go through our lifetimes, we realize the value of certain virtues and then we set out to cultivate them. These are disciplines of thought and feeling. However, we acquire them through enlightenments of experience and example rather than through straining ourselves in artificial classrooms or abusive cloistered milieux.

Ambition is not a virtue, so wanting to speed up your spiritual progress is not a reflection of soul maturity. However, the urge to improve yourself is a virtue. If your desire is to become a better person, then focus on one virtue at a time and ask your Guardian Angel to help you in contemplating this quality’s expressions. You are probably already going as fast as you can developmentally. Even our spiritually slow moments are vital to the rhythm of assimilation and integration. Do be careful what you ask for, and learn to accept the flow and pace of your unique spiritual imprint in the universe.

The great motivator of character development is love and bonding. When you love someone, you want to be more like him/her. As you strive to emulate this person, you learn about their strengths and virtues. They stick in your psyche and they become gifts in your life. Lifetime after lifetime, we love and we inherit more of these gifts of spirit. Eventually, we master all the virtues in the special individual way that makes each of us one of a kind. In the end, we will all be unique combinations of all the best traits of everyone that we have ever loved.

6. Why is Character called the Map of Destiny?

Your choices in the daily experience of your life determine the direction of your future. When we allow fear or insecurity to make our choices for us, we program a series of events that will educate us into the nature of our fear. When we let rebelliousness affect the quality of our work, we fall into a vortex of disintegrating order. When rage fuels our actions, we wind up battling not only the world, but illness, relationships, and our own unhappy company. You get the idea. No one is immune from the temptation of these feelings. However, the ability to make choices above our instinctive feelings builds a foundation for happiness and peaceful moments. These precious minutes grow and spread until they seem continuous.

7. Meditation Exercise: The Gradual Giant

•Sit comfortably, so that your body does not distract you.

•You are very tiny and looking upward at a giant-sized staircase. Your assignment is to climb these steps.

•With great effort, you jump and reach until you have grasped the ledge of the first step. You huff and puff and finally clamber onto the step.

•You take on the next step and you notice that the climb was a little easier. Was that step smaller than the last one? You are not sure.

•Step by step, you climb the stairs. Each one seems somewhat easier than the last. You are now convinced that the steps are growing smaller as you move upward.

•At the top of the stairs you look down at where you have been. All the steps are the same size. Tiny people are at the bottom and struggling to make the first steps. You realize that the steps did not get smaller as you had thought. You have become large through your efforts to climb the stairs.