Light on individual liberty. Within the sphere of his own mind, man has
all power, But in the sphere of other minds and outside things, his
power is limited. He can command his own mind, but he cannot command
the minds of others. He can't choose what he shall think, but he
cannot choose what others shall think. He cannot control the weather as he wills,
but he can control his mind and decide what his mental attitude toward the
weather shall be. A man can reform the dominion of his own mind,
but he cannot reform the outer world, because the outer world is composed of
other minds having the same freedom of choice as himself. A pure being cannot
cleanse the heart of one less pure, But by his life of purity,
and by elucidating his experience in the attainment of purity, he can, as
a teacher, act as a guide to others and so enable them more readily
and rapidly to purify themselves. But even then those others have the power to
decide whether they shall accept or reject such guidance. So complete is man's choice.
It is because of this dual truth that man has no power in the
realm of others minds, and yet has all power over his own mind,
that he cannot avoid the consequences of his own thoughts and acts. Man is
altogether powerless to alter or avert consequences, but he is altogether powerful in his
choice of causative thought. Having chosen his thoughts, he must accept their full
consequences. Having acted, he cannot escape the full results of his act.
Law reigns universally, and there is perfect individual liberty. A man can do
as he likes, but all other men can also do as they like.
A man has power to steal, but others have the power to protect themselves
against the thief. Having sent out his thought, having acted his purpose,
a man's power over that thought and purpose is at an end. The consequences
are certain and cannot be escaped, and they will be of the nature of
the thought an act which produces them painful or blessed. Seeing that a man
can think and do as he chooses, and that all others have the like
liberty, a man has to learn sooner or later to reckon with other minds,
and until he does this he will be ceaselessly involved in suffering to think
an act apart from the consideration of others is both an abuse and an infringement
of liberty. Such thoughts and acts are annulled and brought to nought by the
harmonizing principle of liberty itself, and such annulling in bringing to nought is felt
by the individual as suffering. When the mind, rising above it ignorance,
recognizes the magnitude of its power within its own sphere and ceases to antagonize itself
against others, it harmonizes itself to those other minds. Having acknowledged their freedom
of choice, It has then realized spiritual plenitude and the cessation of suffering.
Selfishness, egotism, and despotism are, from the spiritual standpoint transferable terms.
They are one and the same thing. Every selfish thought or act, as
a manifestation of egotism, is an effort of despotism and is met with suffering
and defeat. It is annulled because the law of liberty cannot, even in
the smallest particular, be annulled. If selfishness could conquer, liberty would be
nonexistent. But selfishness fails of all results but pain, because liberty is supreme.
An act of selfishness contains two elements of ease egotism, namely the denial
of liberty of others and the assertion of one's own liberty beyond its legitimate sphere.
It thereby destroys itself. Despotism is death. Man is not the creature
of selfishness. He is the maker of it. It is an indication of
his power, his power to disobey even the laws of his own being.
Selfishness is power without wisdom. It is energy wrongly directed. A man is
selfish because he is ignorant of his nature and power as a mental being.
Such ignorance and selfishness entails suffering, and by repeated suffering an age long experience,
he at last arrives at knowledge and the legitimate exercise of his power.
The truly enlightened man cannot be selfish. He cannot accuse others of selfishness or
try to coerce them into being unselfish. The selfish mans man is eager to
bend others to his own way and will, believing it to be the only
right way for all. He thereby ignorantly wastes himself in trying to check in
others the power which he freely exercises himself, namely, the power to choose
their own way and exercise their own will. By so doing, he places
himself in direct antagonism with the like tendencies and the freedom of other minds,
and brings into operation the instruments of his own suffering. Hence the ceaseless interplay
of conflicting forces, the unending fires of passion, the turmoil, strife,
and woe. Selfishness is misapplied power. The unselfish man is he who,
ceasing from all personal interference, abandons the eye as the source of judgment.
Having recognized his unlimited freedom through the abandonment of all egotism, even in thought,
he refrains from encroachment upon the boundless freedom of others. He realizes the
legitimacy of their choice and their right to be the free employment of their power.
However others may choose to act towards such a man, it can never
cause him any trouble or suffering, because he is perfectly willing that they should
so choose to act, and he harbors no wish that they should act in
any other way. He realizes that his sole duty, as well as his
entire power, lies in acting rightly toward them, and that he is in
no way concerned with their actions toward him. That is both their choice and
their business to the unselfish man. Therefore malice, envy, backbiting, jealousy,
accusation, condemnation, and persecution have passed away. Having ceased to practice
these things, he is not disturbed when they are hurled at him. Thus,
liberation from sin is liberation from suffering. The selfless man is free.
He has made the servitude of sin impossible. He has broken every bond