Speaker 1: The second lesson, the Ego's mental tools, Part one. The
first lesson, we gave instruction and exercises designed to awaken
the consciousness of the candidate to a realization of the
real eye. We confined our instructions to the preliminary teachings
of the reality of the eye and the means whereby
the candidate might be brought to a realization of his
real self and its independence from the body and the
things of the flesh. We try to show you how
you might awaken to a consciousness of the reality of
the eye, its real nature, its independence of the body,
its immortality, its invincibility and invulnerability. How well we have
succeeded may be determined only by the experience of each candidate,
for we can but put out the way, and the
candidate must do the real work himself. But there is
more to be said and done in this matter of
awakening to a realization of the eye. So far we
have but told you how to distinguish between the material
coverings of the ego and the eye itself. We have
tried to show you that you had a real eye,
and then to show you what it was and how
it was independent of the material coverings, et cetera. But
there is still another step in this self analysis, a
more difficult step. Even when the candidate has awakened to
a realization of his independence of the body and material coverings,
he often confounds the eye with the lower principles of
the mind. This is a mistake. The mind, in its
various phases and planes, is but a tool and instrument
of the eye, and is far from being the eye itself.
We shall try to bring out this fact in this
lesson and its accompanying exercises. We shall avoid and pass
by the metaphysical features of the case, and shall confine
ourselves to the yogi psychology. We shall not touch upon theories,
nor attempt to explain the cause, nature, and purpose of
the mind, the working tool of the ego, but instead
shall attempt to point out a way whereby you may
analyze the mind and then determine which is the not
i and which is the real eye. It is useless
to burden you with theories or metaphysical talk when the
way to prove the thing is right within your own grasp.
By using the mind, you will be able to separate
it into its parts and force it to give you
its own answer to the questions touching itself. In the
second and third lessons of our fourteen Lessons, we pointed
out to you the fact that man had three mental
principles or subdivisions of mind, all of which were below
the plane of spirit. The eye is spirit, but its
mental principles are of a lower order. Without wishing to
unduly repeat ourselves, we think it better to run hastily
over these three principles. In the mind of man, first,
there is what is known as the instinctive mind, which
man shares in common with the lower animals. It is
the first principle of mind that appears in the scale
of evolution. In its lowest phases, consciousness is but barely perceptible,
and merely sensation is apparent. In its higher stages, it
almost reaches the plane of reason or intellect. In fact,
they overlap each other, or rather blend into each other.
The instinctive mind does valuable work in the direction of
maintaining animal life in our bodies. It having charge of
this part of our being, it attends to the constant
work of repair, replacement, change, digestion, assimilation, elimination, et cetera,
all of which work is performed below the plane of consciousness.
But this is but a small part of the work
of the instinctive mind. For this part of the mind
has stored up all the experiences of ourselves and ancestors
in our evolution from the lower forms of animal life
into the present stage of evolution. All of the old
animal instincts, which were all right in their place and
quite necessary for the well being of the law forms
of life, have left traces in this part of the mind,
which traces are apt to come to the front under
pressure of unusual circumstances, even long after we think we
have outgrown them. In this part of the mind are
to be found traces of the old fighting instinct of
the animal, all the animal passions, all the hate, envy, jealousy,
and the rest of it, which are our inheritances from
the past. The instinctive mind is also the habit mind,
in which is stored up all the little and great
habits of many lives, or rather such as have not
been entirely effaced by subsequent habits of a stronger nature.
The instinctive mind is a queer storehouse, containing quite a
variety of objects, many of them very good in their way,
but others of which are the worst kind of old
junk and rubbish. This part of the mind also is
the seat of the appetites, passions, desires, instincts, sensations, feelings
and emotions of the lower order man manifested in the
lower animals, primitive man, the barbarian and the man of today,
the difference being only in the degree of control over
them that has been gained by the higher parts of
the mind. There are higher desires, aspirations, et cetera, belonging
to a higher part of the mind, which we will
describe in a few minutes. But the animal nature belongs
to the instinctive mind. To it also belong the feelings
belonging to our emotional and passional nature. All animal desires
such as hunger and thirst, sexual desires on the physical plane,
All passions such as physical love, hatred, envy, malice, jealousy, revenge,
et cetera, are part of this part of the mind.
The desire for the physical unless means of reaching higher
things and belonging for the material, belong to this region
of the mind. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, the pride of life belong to the
instinctive mind. Note, however, that we are not condemning the
things belonging to this plane of the mind. All of
them have their place. Many were necessary in the past,
and many are still necessary for the continuance of physical life.
All are right in their place and to those in
the particular plane of development to which they belong, and
are wrong only when one is mastered by them, or
when he returns to pick up an unworthy thing that
has been cast off in the unfoldment of the individual.
This lesson has nothing to do with the right and
wrong of these things. We have treated of that elsewhere,
and we mention this part of the mind that you
may understand that you have such a thing in your
mental make up, and that you may understand the thought,
et cetera coming from it when we start in to
analyze the mind in the latter part of this lesson.
All we will ask you to do at this stage
of the lesson is to realize that this part of
the mind, while belonging to you, is not you yourself.
It is not the part of you. Next in order
above the instinctive mind is what we have called the intellect,
that part of the mind that does our reasoning, analyzing, thinking,
et cetera. You are using it in the consideration of
this lesson. But note this, you are using it, but
it is not you any more than was the instinctive
mind that you considered a moment ago. You will begin
to make the separation. If you will think but a
moment we will not take up your time with a
consideration of intellect or reason. You will find a good
description of this part of the mind, and any good
elementary work on psychology. Our only idea in mentioning it
is that you may make the classification, and that we
may afterwards show you that the intellect is but a
tool of the ego, instead of being the real eye itself,
as so many seem to imagine. The third and highest
mental principle is what is called the spiritual mind, that
part of the mind which is almost unknown to many
of the race, but which has developed into consciousness with
nearly all who read this lesson. For the fact that
the subject of this lesson attracts you is a proof
that this part of your mental nature is unfolding into consciousness.
This region of the mind is the source of that
which we call genius, inspiration, spirituality, and all that we
consider the highest in our mental make up. All the
great thoughts and ideas float into the field of consciousness
from this part of the mind. All the great unfoldment
of the race comes from there. All the higher mental
ideas that have come to man in his upward evolutionary journey,
that tend in the direction of nobility, true religious feeling, kindness, humanity, justice,
unselfish love, mercy, sympathy, et cetera, have come to him
through his slowly unfolding spiritual mind. His love of God
and of his fellow man have come in this way.
His knowledge of the great occult truths reach him through
this channel. The mental realization of the eye, which we
are endeavoring to teach in these lessons, must come to
him by way of the spiritual mind unfolding its ideas
into his field of consciousness. But even this great and
wonderful part of the mind is but a tool, a
highly finished one, it is true, but still a tool
to the ego or eye. We propose to give you
a little mental drill work toward the end that you
may be able more readily to distinguish the eye from
the mind or mental states. In this connection, we would
say that every part, plain and function of the mind
is good and necessary, and the student must not fall
into the error of supposing that because we tell him
to set aside first this part of the mind and
then that part, that we are undervaluing the mind, or
that we regard it as an encumbrance or hindrance. Far
from this, we realize that it is by the use
of the mind that man is enabled to arrive at
an knowledge of his true nature and self, and that
his progress through many stages yet will depend upon the
unfolding of his mental faculties. Man is now using but
the lower and inferior parts of his mind, and he
has within his mental world great unexplored regions that far
surpass anything of which the human mind has dreamed. In fact,
it is part of the business of Raja yoga to
aid in unfolding these higher faculties in mental regions. And
so far from decrying the mind, the Raja yoga teachers
are chiefly concerned in recognizing the mind's power and possibilities,
and directing the student to avail himself of the latent
powers that are inherent in his soul. It is only
by the mind that the teachings we are now giving
you may be grasped and understood and used to your
advantage and benefit. We are talking direct to your mind
now and are making appeals to it that it may
be interested and may open itself to what is ready
to come into it from its own higher regions. We
are appealing to the intellect to direct its attention to
this great matter, that it may interpose less resistance to
the truths that are waiting to be projected from the
spiritual mind which knows the truth. Part two Mental Drill.
Place yourself in a calm, RESTful condition that you may
be able to meditate upon the matters that we shall
place before you for consideration. Allow the matters presented to
meet with a hospitable reception from you, and hold a
mental attitude of willingness to receive what may be waiting
for you in the higher regions of your mind. We
wish to call your attention to several mental impressions or conditions,
one after another, in order that you may realize that
they are merely something incident to you and not you yourself,
that you may set them aside and consider them just
as you might anything that you have been using you
cannot set the eye aside, and so can considerate. But
the various forms of the not eye may be so
set aside and considered. In the first lesson, you gained
the perception of the eye as independent from the body,
the latter merely being an instrument for use. You have
now arrived at the stage when the eye appears to
you to be a mental creature, a bundle of thoughts, feelings, moods,
et cetera. But you must go farther. You must be
able to distinguish the eye from these mental conditions, which
are as much tools as is the body and its parts.
Let us begin by considering the thoughts more closely connected
with the body, and then move up to the higher
mental states. The sensations of the body, such as hunger, thirst, pain,
pleasurable sensations, physical desires, et cetera, et cetera, are not
apt to be mistaken for essential qualities of the eye
by many of the candidates, for they have passed beyond
this stage and have learned to set aside these sensations
to a greater or lesser extent by an effort of
the will, and are no longer slaves to them. Not
that they do not experience these sensations, but they have
grown to regard them as incidents of the physical life.
Good in their place, but useful to the advanced man
only when he has mastered them to the extent that
he no longer regards them as close to the eye.
And yet to some people these sensations are so closely
identified with their conception of the eye that when they
think of themselves, they think merely of a bundle of
these sensations. They are not able to set them aside
and consider them as things apart, to be used when
necessary and proper, but as things not fastened to the eye.
The more advanced demand becomes, the farther off seem these sensations.
Not that he does not feel hungry, for instance, not
at all, for he recognizes hunger and satisfies it within reason,
knowing that his physical body is making demands for attention,
and that these demands should be heated. But mark the difference.
Instead of feeling that the eye is hungry, the man
feels that my body is hungry, just as he might
become conscious that his horse or dog was crying for food. Insistently,
Do you see what we mean? It is that the
man no longer identifies himself the eye with the body. Consequently,
the thoughts which are most closely allied to the physical
life seem comparatively separate from his eye conception. Such a
man thinks my stomach this, or my leg that, or
my body. Thus, instead of eye this or eye that,
he is able almost automatically to think of the body
and its sensations as things of him and belonging to him,
which require attention and care, rather than as real parts
of the eye. He is able to form a conception
of the eye as existing without any of these things,
without the body and its sensations, and so he has
taken the first step in the realization of the eye.
Before going on, we ask the students to stop a
few moments and mentally run over these sensations of the body,
form a mental image of them, and realize that they
are merely incidents to the present stage of growth and
experience of the eye, and that they form no real
part of it. They may and will be left behind
in the ego's higher planes of advancement. You may have
attained this mental conception perfectly long since, but we ask
that to give yourself the mental drill at this time
in order to fasten upon your mind this first step
in realizing that you are able to set aside mentally
these sensations, that you are able to hold them out
at arm's length and consider them as an outside thing.
You mentally determine that they are not I things, and
you set them down in the not I collection, the
first to be placed there. Let us try to make
this still plainer, even at the risk of wearying you
by repetitions, for you must get this idea firmly fixed
in your mind. To be able to say that a
thing is not I. You must realize that there are
two things in question, one the not I thing, and
two the eye, who is regarding the not I thing,
just as the eye regards a lump of sugar or
a mountain. Do you see what we mean? Keep at
it until you do. Next, consider some of the emotions
such as anger, hate, love in its ordinary forms, jealousy, ambition,
and the hundred and other emotions that sweep through our brains.
You will find that you are able to set each
one of these emotions or feelings aside and study it,
dissect it, analyze it, consider it. You will be able
to understand the rise, progress, and end of each of
these feelings as they have come to you, and as
you recall them in your memory or imagination, just as
readily as you would were you observing their recurrence in
the mind of a friend. You will find them all
stored away in some parts of your mental makeup. And
you may, to use a modern American slang phrase, make
them trot before you and show their paces. Don't you
see that they are not you, that they are merely
something that you carry around with you in a mental bag.
You can imagine yourself as living without them and still
being I. Can you not? And the very fact that
you are able to set them aside and examine and
consider them is a proof that they are not I things.
For there are two things in the matter, one you,
who are examining and considering them, and two the thing itself,
which is the object of the examination and consideration at
mental arm's length. So into the not I collection go
these emotions, desirable and undesirable. The collection is steadily growing
and will attain quite formidable proportions after a while. Now,
do not imagine that this is a lesson designed to
teach you how to discard these emotions. Although if it
enables you to get rid of the undesirable ones, so
much the better. This is not our object, for we
bid you place the desirable at this time ones in
with the opposite kind, the idea being to bring you
to a realization that I is higher above and independent
of these mental somethings. And then when you have realized
the nature of the eye, you may return and use
as a master the things that have been using you
as a slave. So do not be afraid to throw
these emotions, good and bad, into the not eye collection.
You may go back to them and use the good
ones after the mental drill is over. No matter how
much you may think that you are bound by any
of these emotions, you will realize by careful analysis that
it is of the not I kind. For the I
existed before the emotion came into active play, and it
will live long after the emotion has faded away. The
principal proof is that you are able to hold it
out at arm's length and examine it a proof that
it is not I. Run through the entire list of
your feelings, emotions, moods, and what not, just as you
would those of a well known friend. Or relative, and
you will see that each one, every one is a
not i thing, and you will lay it aside for
the time for the purpose of the scientific experiment. At least,
then passing on to the intellect, you will be able
to hold out for examination each mental process and principle.
You don't believe it, you may say, then read and
study some good work on psychology, and you will learn
to dissect and analyze every intellectual process, and to classify
it and place it in the proper pigeonhole. Study psychology
by means of some good text book, and you will
find that, one by one, every intellectual process is classified
and talked about and labeled, just as you would a
collection of flowers. If that does not satisfy, you turn
the leaves of work on logic, and you will admit
that you may hold these intellectual processes at arm's length
and examine them and talk about them to others, so
that these wonderful tools of man, the intellectual powers, may
be placed in the not eye collection. For the eye
is capable of standing aside and viewing them, it is
able to detach them from itself. The most remarkable thing
about this is that in admitting this fact, you realize
that the Eye is using these very intellectual faculties to
pass upon themselves. Who is the master that compels these
faculties to do this to themselves, the master of the mind,
the Eye, And reaching the higher regions of the mind,
even the spiritual mind, you will be compelled to admit
that the things that have come into consciousness from that
region may be considered and studied, just as may be
any other mental thing, And so even these high things
must be placed in the not eye collection. You may
object that this does not prove that all the things
in the spiritual mind may be so treated, that there
may be Eye things there that cannot be so treated.
We will not discuss this question, for you know nothing
about the spiritual mind except as it has revealed itself
to you. And the higher regions of that mind are
like the mind of a god when compared to what
you call mind. But the evidence of the illumined those
in whom the spiritual mind has wonderfully unfolded, tell us
that even in the highest forms of development, the initiates yea,
even the masters realize that above even their highest mental states,
there is always that eternal eye brooding over them as
the sun over the lake, and that the highest conception
of the eye, known even to advanced souls, is but
a faint reflection of the eye filtering through the spiritual mind,
although that spiritual mind is as clear as the clearest
crystal when compared with our comparatively opaque mental states. And
the highest mental state is but a tool or instrument
of the eye, and is not the eye itself. And
yet the eye is to be found in the faintest
forms of consciousness and animates even the unconscious life. The
eye is always the same, but its apparent growth is
the result of the mental unfoldment of the individual. As
we described it in one of the lessons of the
Advanced Course, it is like an electric lamp that is
encased in many wrappings of cloth. As cloth, after cloth
is removed, the light seems to grow brighter and stronger,
and yet it has changed, not the change being in
the removal of the confining and bedimming coverings. We do
not expect to make you realize the eye in all
its fullness that is far beyond the highest known to
man of today. But we do hope to bring you
to a realization of the highest conception of the eye
possible to each of you in your present stage of unfoldment,
and in the process we expect to cause to drop
from you some of the confining sheaths that you have
about ears. The sheaths are ready for dropping, and all
that is required is the touch of a friendly hand
to cause them to fall fluttering from you. We wish
to bring you to the fullest possible to you realization
of the eye in order to make an individual of you,
in order that you may understand and have courage to
take up the tools and instruments lying at your hand
and do the work before you the Ego's mental Tools,
Part three, And now back to the mental drill. After
you have satisfied yourself that about everything that you are
capable of thinking about is a not I thing, a
tool and instrument for your use, you will ask, and
now what is there left that should not be thrown
in the not eye collection? To this question we answer
the eye itself. And when you demand a proof, we say,
try to set aside the eye for consideration. You may
try from now until the passing away of infinities of infinities,
and you will never be able to set aside the
real eye for consideration. You may think you can, but
a little reflection will show you that you are merely
setting aside some of your mental qualities or faculties. And
in this process what is the eye doing, simply setting
aside and considering things? Can you not see that the
eye cannot be both the considerer and the thing considered,
the examiner and the thing examined. Can the sun shine
upon itself by its own light? You may consider the
eye of some other person, but it is your eye
that is considering. But you cannot, as an eye, stand
aside and see yourself as an eye. Then what evidence
have we that there is an eye? To us? This,
that you are always conscious of being the considerer and
the examiner instead of the considered and the examined thing.
And then you have the evidence of your consciousness. And
what report does this consciousness give us? Simply this and
nothing more. I am. That is all that the eye
is conscious of regarding its true self. I am, but
that consciousness is worth all the rest, for the rest
is but not i tools that the eye may reach
out and use. And so at the final analysis you
will find that there is something that refuses to be
set aside and examined by the eye. And that something
is the eye itself, that I eternal, unchangeable, that drop
of the great spirit ocean, that spark from the sacred flame.
Just as you find it impossible to imagine the eye
as dead, so will you find it impossible to set
aside the eye for consideration. All that comes to you
is the testimony I am. If you were able to
set aside the eye for consideration, who would be the
one to consider it? Who could consider except the eye itself?
And if it be here, how could it be there?
The eye cannot be the not iye. Even in the
wildest flights of the imagination, the imagination, with all its
boasted freedom and power, confesses itself vanquished when asked to
do this thing. Oh students, may you be brought to
a realization of what you are. May you soon awaken
to the fact that you are sleeping gods, that you
have within you the power of the universe, awaiting your
word to manifest in action. Long ages have you toiled
to get this far, and long must you travel before
you reach even the first great temple. But you are
now entering into the conscious stage of spiritual evolution. No
longer will your eyes be closed. As you walk the
path from now on, you will begin to see clearer
and clearer each step. In the dawning light of consciousness.
You are in touch with all of life, and the
separation of your eye from the great universal eye is
but apparent and temporary. We will tell you of these
things in our third lesson. But before or you can
grasp that, you must develop the eye consciousness within you.
Do not lay aside this matter as one of no importance.
Do not dismiss our weak explanation as being merely words words, words,
as so many are inclined to do. We are pointing
out a great truth to you. Why not follow the
leadings of the spirit, which, even now this moment while
you read, is urging you to walk the path of attainment.
Consider the teachings of this lesson and practice the mental
drill until your mind has grasped its significance, and then
let it sink deep down into your inner consciousness. Then
will you be ready for the next lessons and those
to follow. Practice this mental drill until you are fully
assured of the reality of the eye and the relativity
of the not i in the mind. When you once
grasp this truth, you will find that you will be
able to use the mind with far greater power and effect,
for you will recognize that it is your tool and instrument,
fitted and intended to do your bidding. You will be
able to master your moods and emotions when necessary, and
will rise from the position of a slave to a master.
Our words seem cheap and poor when we consider the
greatness of the truth that we are endeavoring to convey
by means of them, For who can find words to
express the inexpressible. All that we may hope to do
is to awaken a keen interest and attention on your part,
so that you will practice the mental drill and thus
obtain the evidence of your own mentality to the truth.
Truth is not truth to you until you have proven
it in your own experience, and once so proven, you
cannot be robbed of it, nor can it be argued
away from you. You must realize that in every mental effort,
you the eye, are behind it. You bid the mind
to work. It obeys your will. You are the master
and not the slave of your mind. You are the driver,
not the driven. Shake yourself loose from the tyranny of
the mind that has oppressed you for so long, yourself
and be free. We will help you in this direction
during the course of these lessons, but you must first
assert yourself as a master of your mind. Sign the
mental declaration of independence from your moods, emotions, and uncontrolled thoughts,
and assert your dominion over them. Enter into your kingdom,
thou manifestation of the spirit. While this lesson is intended
primarily to bring clearly into your consciousness the fact that
the eye is a reality separate and distinct from its
mental tools, and while the control of the mental faculties
by the will forms a part of some of the
future lessons, still we think that this is a good
place to point out to you the advantages arising from
a realization of the true nature of the eye and
the relative aspect of the mind. Many of us have
supposed that our minds were the masters of ourselves, and
we have allowed ourselves to be tormented and worried by
thoughts running away with us and presenting themselves at inopportune moments.
The initiate is relieved from this annoyance, for he learns
to assert his mastery over the different parts of the
mind and controls and regulates his mental processes just as
one would a fine piece of machinery. He is able
to control his conscious thinking faculties and direct their work
to the best advantage. And he also learns how to
pass on orders to the subconscious mental region and bid
it work for him while he sleeps, or even when
he is using his conscious mind in other matters. These
subjects will be considered by us in due time during
the course of lessons. In this connection, it may be
interesting to read what Edward Carpenter says of the power
of the individual to control his thought processes in his
book From Adam's Peak to Eleplumta. In describing his experience
while visiting a Hindu Gnani yoga, he says, and if
we are unwilling to believe in this internal mastery over
the body, we are perhaps almost equally unaccustomed to the
idea of mastery over our own inner thoughts and feelings.
That a man should be a prey to any thought
that chances to take possession of his mind is commonly
among us assumed as unavoidable. It may be a matter
of regret that he should be kept awake all night
from anxiety as to the issue of a lawsuit on
the morrow, But that he should have the power of
determining whether to be kept awake or not seems an
extravagant demand. The image of an impending calamity is no
doubt odious, But its very odiousness, we say, makes it
haunt the mind all the more pertinaciously, and it is
useless to try to expel it. Yet this is an
absurd position for man, the heir of all the ages,
hag ridden by the flimsy creatures of his own brain.
If a pebble in our boot torments us, we expel it.
We take off the boot and shake it out. And
once the matter is fairly understood, it is just as
easy to expel in intruding an obnoxious thoughts from the mind.
About this, there ought to be no mistake, no two opinions.
The thing is obvious, clear and unmistakable. It should be
as easy to expel an obnoxious thought from your mind
as it is to shake a stone out of your shoe.
And till a man can do that, it is just
nonsense to talk about his ascendancy over nature and all
the rest of it. He is a mere slave, and
pray to the bat winged phantoms that flit through the
corridors of his own brain. Yet the weary and careworn
faces that we meet by thousands, even among the affluent
classes of civilization, testify only too clearly how seldom this
mastery is obtained, how rare indeed, to meet a man,
how common, rather to discover a creature hounded on by
tyrant thoughts or cares or desires, cowering, wincing under the lash,
or perchance priding himself to run merrily in obedience to
a driver that rattles the reins and persuades him that
he is free, whom we cannot converse with in careless
tete a tete, because that alien presence is always there
on the watch. It is one of the most prominent
doctrines of Raja yoga that the power of expelling thoughts, or,
if need be, killing them dead on the spot, must
be obtained naturally. The art requires practice, but like other arts,
when once acquired, there is no mystery or difficulty about it,
and it is worth practice. It may, indeed fairly be
said that life only begins when this art has been acquired.
For obviously, when instead of being ruled by individual thoughts,
the whole flock of them, in their immense multitude and
variety and capacity, is ours to direct and dispatch and
employ where we list. For he maketh the winds, his messengers,
and the flaming fire his minister. Life becomes a thing
so vast and grand compared with what it was before,
that its former condition may well appear almost antinnatal. If
you can kill a thought dead for the time being,
you can do anything else with it that you please.
And therefore it is that this power is so valuable,
and it not only frees a man from mental torment,
which is nine tenths at least of the torment of life,
but it gives him a concentrated power of handling mental
work absolutely unknown to him before. The two things are
correlative to each other. As already said, this is one
of the principles of Raja Yoga. While at work, your
thought is to be absolutely concentrated in it, undistracted by
anything whatever irrelevant to the matter in hand, pounding away
like a great engine with giant power and perfect economy,
no wear and tear of friction or dislocation of parts
owing to the working of different forces at the same time.
Then when the work is finished, if there is no
more occasion for the use of the machine, it must stop, equally, absolutely, stop, entirely,
no worrying, as if a parcel of boys were allowed
to play their devilments with the all locomotive as soon
as it was in the shed, and the man must
retire into that region of his consciousness where his true
self dwells. I say, the power of the thought machine
itself is enormously increased by this faculty of letting it
alone on the one hand, and of using it singly
and with concentration on the other. It becomes a true
tool which a master workman lays down when done with,
but which only a bungler carries about with him all
the time to show that he is the possessor of it.
We ask the students to read carefully the above quotations
from mister Carpenter's book, for they are full of suggestions
that may be taken up to advantage by those who
are emancipating themselves from the slavery of the unmastered mind,
and who are now bringing the mind under control of
the ego by means of the will. Our next lesson
will take up the subject of the relationship of the
eye to the universal eye, and will be called the
expansion of the self. It will deal with the subject
not from a theoretical standpoint, but from the position of
the teacher, who is endeavoring to make his students actually
aware in their consciousness of the truth of the proposition.
In this course, we are not trying to make our
students past masters of theory, but are endeavoring to place
them in a position whereby they may know for themselves
and actually experience the things of which we teach. Therefore,
we urge upon you not to merely rest content with
reading this lesson, but instead to study and meditate upon
the teachings mentioned under the head of mental drill until
the distinctions stand out clearly in your mind, and until
you not only believe them to be true, but actually
are conscious of the eye and its mental tools. Have
patience and perseverance. The task may be difficult, but the
reward is great. To become conscious of the greatness, majesty,
strength and power of your real being is worth years
of hard study, do you not think so? The study
and practice, hopefully diligently and earnestly. Peace be with you
mantrums affirmations. For the second lesson, I am an entity.
My mind is my instrument of expression. I exist independent
of my mind, and am not dependent upon it for
existence or being. I am master of my mind, not
its slave. I can set aside my sensations, emotions, passions, desires,
intellectual faculties, and all the rest of my mental collection
of tools has not I things. And still there remains something.
And that something is I, which cannot be set aside
by me, for it is my very self, my own self,
my real self. I that which remains, after all that
may be set aside, is set aside as the eye, myself, eternal, constant, unchangeable,