The desire to Live Life to the Full– ‘And what is the need that young people express so insistently today? Their desire to ‘live.’ Yes, but as their elders propose an ideal of life that has no appeal for them, and as they have no one to teach them what true life is, they look for it in all kinds of dangerous ways; in violent sensations, passion, pleasure, alcohol, drugs, and so on.

So on the one hand there is too much intellect, and on the other, too much passion; in either case there is a lack of balance. You have to realize that human beings are designed to live concurrently on different planes, on the physical, astral and mental planes, but also on the causal, buddhic and atmic planes.  As long as they confine their activity to the three lower planes—physical, astral and mental—he will never know what true life is.

Intensity will not be found on the lower planes
It is important to eat and drink, sleep, work and have sexual relations, to experience certain feelings, acquire a certain amount of knowledge and exchange ideas with others. Yes, these things are important, but they are incapable of satisfying all our needs. To confine yourselves to such things is to live a mundane life; there is no intensity in such a life.

You will say, ‘How can you say that? People live very intense lives today. Look at them. They are always rushing about in all directions; always arguing, changing their husbands or wives, mistresses or lovers.’ Yes, but you are letting yourselves be misled. The intensity of life has nothing to do with hurry and bustle or with the number of your amorous adventures or your intellectual activities.

Exercises and attitudes to awaken your subtle organs
To live life with intensity requires, first of all, some understanding of the true structure of human beings. You have to know their different bodies and the subtle centres that enable them to communicate with the different regions of space and with the inhabitants of those regions.

I have already talked to you about this and given you some indication as to the methods you can use, the exercises you can practise and the attitudes you should adopt in order to awaken your subtle organs.  Only those who are familiar with these things can claim to live the true life, the intense life. And in this intense life they are happy, because they sense that they are a living source, a fountain, an orchard of trees laden with fruit, a garden full of flowers… They are a benediction for all who come near them.’

To be continued

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Izvor Book 231 The Seeds of Happiness
Chapter 8. If you want to be happy, be alive