Strength and Weakness

Brendan Heard

Ultimate weakness is self pity, it is surrendering to an outside view of yourself that is negative. Strength is standing outside yourself, not necessarily with a positive view – as there can be false arrogance in that – but with something else. Strength lies with standing outside your ego with a truly impartial view, which is goal-oriented; letting the superior and eternal part of yourself rule: your God-gifted reason.

Everyone has weaknesses. Everyone has weak points, and strong points, both physically and mentally. Everyone must learn their strengths, and use them. That is what nature wishes, that is the desired variation. Strength, Over Strength, lies in standing above yourself in judgement, not in chastisement, but in order to judge your lesser weakness (limits) and lesser strength (advantage), and determine how best to use them. Detached from any emotional doubt of the ego, or clouding of rational assessment with false hope, no matter how dark. This is reason, the upper-strength, which rules both lesser strength and lesser weakness. Where you lose this ability, in the quagmire of emotion, and self-doubt, and the manufactured inward drama of self-pity, you succumb to the greater-weakness, and are lost without entering the fight.

As Plotinus teaches us, reason is the divine-soul within. It is the forever-thing, that which is truly strong stands above and apart from all lower considerations. Examples of ultimate strength are seen in obeying of chivalrous combat law, to the point of death. Here the virtuous must obey the ordinance of the duel, and stand still awaiting his opponents shot, and not take advantage of any material cowardice, but arm himself solely in his honour, and eternal soul-conduct. That is the highest man of reason, where an invisible code binds him beyond defence of mortal flesh.

Suppose the Soul (in body) to be present like axe-form on iron: here, no doubt, the form is all important but it is still the axe, the complement of iron and form, that effects whatever is effected by the iron thus modified: their natural seat is the material member, the instrument, the potential recipient of life.

Plotinus

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