Speaker 1: The eleventh lesson subconscious character building. In our last lesson,
the tenth lesson, we called your attention to the wonderful
work of the subconscious regions of mentation in the direction
of the performance of intellectual work. Great as are the
possibilities of this field of mentation in the direction named,
they are equaled by the possibility of building up character
by similar methods. Every one realizes that one may change
his character by a strenuous course of repression and training,
and nearly all who read these lines have modified their
characteristics somewhat by similar methods. But it is only of
late years that the general public have become aware that
character might be modified, changed, and sometimes completely altered by
means of an intelligent use of the subconscious faculties of
the mind. The word character is derived from ancient terms
meaning to mark, to engrave, et cetera, and some authorities
inform us that the term originally arose from the word
used by the Babylonian brickmakers to designate the trademark impressed
by them upon their bricks, each maker having his own mark.
This is interesting in view of the recent theories regarding
the cultivation of characteristics, which may be found in the
current Western works on psychology, but these theories are not
new to the Yogi teachers of the East, who have
employed similar methods for centuries past in training their students
and pupils. The Yogis have long taught that a man's
character was practically the crude character stuff possessed by him
at his birth, modified and shaped by outside influences in
the case of the ordinary man, and by deliberate self
training and shaping by the wise man. Their pupils are
examined regarding their characteristics and then directed to repress the
undesirable traits and to cultivate the desirable ones. The Yogi
practice of character building is based upon the knowledge of
the wonderful powers of the subconscious planes of the mind.
The pupil is not required to pursue strenuous methods of
repression or cultivation, but on the contrary, is taught that
such methods are opposed to nature's plans, and that the
best way is to imitate nature and to gradually unfold
the desired characteristics by means of focussing the will, power
and attention upon them. The weeding out of undesirable characteristics
is accomplished by the pupil cultivating the characteristics directly opposed
to the undesirable ones. For instance, if the pupil desires
to overcome fear, he is not instructed to concentrate on
fear with the idea of killing it out, but instead
is taught to mentally deny that he has fear, and
then to concentrate his attention upon the ideal of courage.
When courage is developed, fear is found to have faded away.
The positive always overpowers the negative. In the word ideal
is found the secret of the Yogi method of subconscious
character building. The teachings are to the effect that ideals
may be built up by the bestole of attention upon them.
The student is given the example of a rose bush.
He is taught that the plant will grow and flourish
in the measure that care and attention is bestowed upon it,
and vice versa. He is taught that the ideal of
some desired characteristic is a mental rose bush, and that
by careful attention it will grow and put forth leaves
and flowers. He is then given some minor mental trait
to develop, and is taught to dwell upon it in
thought to exercise his imagination, and to mentally see himself
attaining the desired quality he has given mantrums or affirmation
to repeat for the purpose of giving him a mental
center around which to build an ideal. There is a
mighty power in words used in this way, providing that
the user always thinks of the meaning of the words
and makes a mental picture of the quality expressed by them,
instead of merely repeating them parrot fashion. The yogi student
is trained gradually until he acquires the power of conscious
direction of the subconscious mind in the building up process,
which power comes to anyone oriental or occidental who will
take the trouble to practice. In fact, nearly every one
possesses and actively uses this power, although he may not
be aware of it. One's character is largely the result
of the quality of thoughts held in the mind and
of the mental pictures or ideas entertained by the person.
The man who constantly sees and thinks of himself as
unsuccessful and downtrodden is very apt to grow ideals of
fought forms of these things, until his whole nature is
dominated by them, and his every act works towards the
objectification of the thoughts. On the contrary, the man who
makes an ideal of success and accomplishments find that his
whole mental nature seems to work toward that result the
objectification of the ideal, And so it is with every
other ideal. The person who builds up a mental ideal
of jealousy will be very apt to objectify the same
and to unconsciously create condition that will give his jealousy
food upon which to feed. But this particular phase of
the subject properly belongs to our next lesson. This eleventh
lesson is designed to point out the way by which
people may mold their characters in any way they desire,
supplanting undesirable characteristics by desirable ones, and developing desirable ideals
into active characteristics. The mind is plastic to him who
knows the secrets of its manipulation. The average person recognizes
his strong and weak points of character, but is very
apt to regard them as fixed and unalterable orally so
he thinks that he is just as the Lord made him,
and that is the end of it. He fails to
recognize that his character is being unconsciously modified every day
by association with others whose suggestions are being absorbed and
acted upon, and he fails to see that he is
molding his own character by taking interest in certain things
and allowing his mind to dwell upon them. He does
not realize that he himself is really the maker of
himself from the raw and crude material given him at
his birth. He makes himself negatively or positively. Negatively if
he allows himself to be molded by the thoughts and
ideals of others, and positively if he molds himself. Everyone
is doing one or the other, perhaps both. The weak
man is the one who allows himself to be made
by others, and the strong man is the one who
takes the building process in his own hands. The process
of character building is so delightfully simple that its importance
is apt to be overlooked by the majority of persons
who are made acquainted with it. It is only by
actual practice and the experiencing of results that its wonderful
possibilities are born home to one. The Yogi student is
early taught the lesson of the power and importance of
character building by some strong practical example. For instance, the
student is found to have certain taste of appetite, such
as alike for certain things, and a corresponding dislike for others.
The yogi teacher instructs its student in the direction of
cultivating a desire and taste for the dislike thing and
a dislike for the like thing. He teaches the student
to fix his mind on the two things, but in
the direction of imagining that he likes the one thing
and dislikes the other. The student is taught to make
a mental picture of the desired conditions, and to say,
for instance, I loathe candy, I dislike even the sight
of it, and on the other hand, I crave tart things,
I revel in the taste of them, et cetera, et cetera,
at the same time trying to reproduce the taste of
sweet things accompanied with the loathing, and a taste of
tart things accompanied with a feeling of delight. After a bit,
the student finds that his taste are actually changing in
accordance with his thoughts, and in the end they have
completely changed places. The truth of the theory is then
borne home to the student, and he never forgets the lesson.
In order to reassure readers who might object to having
the student left in this condition of reverse taste, we
may add that The Yogi teachers then teach him to
get rid of the idea of the dislike thing and
teach him to cultivate a liking for all wholesome things,
their theory being that the dislike of certain wholesome eatables
has been caused by some suggestion in childhood or by
some prenatal impression, as wholesome eatables are made attractive to
the taste by nature. The idea of all this training, however,
is not the cultivation of taste, but practice in mental
training and the bringing home of the student the truth
of the fact that his nature is plastic to his ego,
and that it may be molded at will by concentration
and intelligent practice. The reader of this lesson may experiment
upon himself along the lines of the elementary Yogi practice
as above mentioned. If he so desires, he will find
it possible to entirely change his dislike for certain food,
et cetera. By the methods mentioned above. He may likewise
acquire a liking for heretofore distasteful task and duties which
he finds it necessary to perform. The principle underlying the
whole Yogi theory of character building by the subconscious intellect
is that the ego is master of the mind, and
that the mind is plastic to the commands of the ego.
The ego or I of the individual is the one real, permanent,
changeless principle of the individual, and the mind, like the body,
is constantly changing, moving, growing, and dying. Just as the
body may be developed and molded by intelligent exercises, so
may the mind be developed and shaped by the ego
if intelligent methods are followed. The majority of people consider
that character is affixed something belonging to a man that
cannot be altered or changed, And yet they show by
their everyday actions that at heart they do not believe
this to be a fact, for they endeavor to change
and mold the characters of those around them by word
of advice, counsel, praising or condemnation, et cetera. It is
not necessary to go into the matter of the consideration
of the causes of character in this lesson, we will
content ourselves by saying that these causes may be summed
up roughly as follows. One result of experiences in past lives,
two heredity, three environment, four suggestions from others, and five
auto suggestion. But no matter how one's character has been formed,
it may be modified, molded, changed, and improved by the
methods set forth in this lesson, which methods are similar
to what is called by Western writers auto suggestion. The
underlying idea of autosuggestion is the willing of the individual
that changes take place in his mind, the willing being
aided by intelligent and tried methods of creating the new
ideal or thought form. The first requisite for the change
condition must be desire for the change. Unless one really
desires that the change take place, he is un able
to bring his will to bear on the task. There
is a very close connection between desire and will. Will
is not usually brought to bear upon anything unless it
is inspired by desire. Some people connect the word desire
with the lower inclinations, but it is equally applicable to
the higher. If one fights off a low inclination or desire,
it is because he is possessed of a higher inclination
or desire. Many desires are really compromises between two or
more conflicting desires, a sort of average desire, as it were.
Unless one desires to change his character, he will not
make any move toward it. And in proportion to the
strength of the desire, so will be the amount of
will power that is put in the task. The first
thing for one to do in character building is to
want to do it, And if he finds that the
want is not sufficiently strong to enable him to manifest
the perseverance and effort necessary to bring it to a
successful conclusion, then he should deliberately proceed to build up
the desire. Desire may be built up by allowing the
mind to dwell upon the subject until a desire is created.
This rule works both ways, as many people have found
out to their sorrow and misery. Not only may one
build up a commendable desire in this way, but he
may also build up a reprehensible one. A little thought
will show you the truth of this statement. A young
man has no desire to indulge in the excesses of
a fast life, But after a while he hears or
reads something about others leading that sort of life, and
he begins to allow his mind to dwell upon the subject,
turning it around and examining it mentally, and going over
it in his imagination. After a time, he begins to
find a desire, gradually sending forth roots and branches, and
if he continues to water the thing in his imagination,
before long he will find within himself a blossoming inclination
which will try to insist upon expression and action. There
is a great truth behind the words of the poet.
Vice is a monster of so frightful man, that to
be hated needs but to be seen, Yet seen too
oft familiar with her face. We first endure, then pity,
and then embrace. And the follies and crimes of many
a man have been due to the growing of desire
within his mind through this plan of planting the seed
and then carefully watering and tending to it, this cultivation
of the growing desire. We have thought it well to
give this word of warning, because it will throw light
upon many things that may have perplexed you, and because
it may serve to call your attention to certain growing
weeds of the mind that you have been nourishing. But
remember always that the force that leads downward may may
be transmuted and made to lead upward. It is just
as easy to plant and grow wholesome desires as the
other kind. If you are conscious of certain defects and
deficiencies in your character and who is not, and yet
find yourself not possessed of a strong enough desire to
make the changes necessary. Then you should commence by planning
the desire seed and allowing it to grow by giving
it constant care and attention. You should picture to yourself
the advantages of acquiring the desirable traits of character of
which you have thought. You should frequently go over and
over them in your mind, imaging yourself in imagination as
possessing them. You will then find that the growing desire
will make headway, and that you will gradually begin to
want to possess that trait of character more and more.
And when you begin to want to hard enough, you
will find a rising in your consciousness, a feeling of
the possession of sufficient will power to carry it through.
Will follows the desire. Cultivate a desire, and you will
find back of it the will to carry it through.
Under the pressure of a very strong desire, men have
accomplished feats akin to miracles. If you find yourself in
possession of desires that you feel a hurtful to you,
you may rid yourself of them by deliberately starving them
to death, and at the same time growing opposite desires.
By refusing to think of the objectionable desires, you refuse
them the mental food upon which alone they can thrive.
Just as you starve a plant by refusing it nourishing
soil and water, so may you starve out an objectionable
desire by refusing to give it mental food. Remember this,
for it is most important. Refuse to allow the mind
to dwell upon such desires, and resolutely turn aside the attention,
and particularly the imagination, from the subject. This may call
for the manifestation of a little will power in the beginning,
but it will become easier as you progress, and each
victory will give you renewed strength for the next fight.
But do not temporize with the desire. Do not compromise
with it, refuse to entertain the idea. In a fight
of this kind, each victory gives one at its strength,
and each defeat weakens one. And while you are refusing
to entertain the objectionable guests, you must be sure to
grow a desire of an entirely opposite nature, a desire
directly opposed to the one you are starving to death.
Picture the opposite desire and think of it often. Let
your mind. Dwell upon it lovingly, and let the imagination
help to build it up into form. Think of the
advantages that will arise to you when you fully possess it,
and let the imagination picture you as in full possession
of it and acting out your new part in life,
strong and vigorous in your new found power. All this
will gradually lead you to the point where you will
want to possess this power. Then you must be ready
for the next step, which is faith or confident expectation. Now,
faith or confident expectation is not made to order in
most persons, and in such cases one must acquire it gradually.
Many of you who read these lines will have an
understanding of the subject that will give you this faith.
But to those who lack it, we suggest that they
practice on some trivial phases of the mental make up
some petty trait of character in which the victory will
be easy and simple. From this stage they should work
up to more difficult tasks until at last they gain
that faith or confident expectation that comes from persevering practice
Part two. The greater the degree of faith or confident
expectation that one carries with him in this task of
character building, the greater will be his success, and this
because of well established psychological laws. Faith or confident expectation
clears away the mental path and renders the work easier,
while doubt or lack of faith retards the work and
acts as obstacles and stumbling blocks. Strong desire and faith
or confident expectation are the first two steps. The third
is will power. By will power, we do not mean
that strenuous clinching of the fist and frowning brow thing
that many think of when they say will. Will is
not manifested in this way. The true will is called
into play by one realizing the eye part of himself
and speaking the word of command from that center of
power and strength. It is the voice of the eye,
and it is needed in this work of character building.
So now you are ready for work, being possessed of
one strong desire, two faith or confident expectation, and three
will power. With such a triple weapon, nothing but success
is possible. Then comes the actual work. The first thing
to do is to lay the track for a new
character habit. Habit you may ask in surprise, yes, habit,
for that word gives a secret of the whole thing.
Our characters are made up of inherited or acquired habits.
Think over this a little, and you will see the
truth of it. You do certain things without a thought
because you have gotten into the habit of doing them.
You act in certain ways because you have established a habit.
You are in the habit of being truthful, honest, virtuous,
because you have established the habit of being So do
you doubt this, then look around, or look within your
own heart, and you will see that you have lost
some of your old habits of action and acquired new ones.
The building up of character is the building up of habits,
and the changing of character is the changing of habits.
It will be well for you to settle this fact
in your own mind, for it will give you the
secret of many things connected with the subject. And remember
this that habit is almost entirely a matter of the
subconscious mentality. It is true that habits originate in the
conscious mind, but as they are established, they sink down
into the depths of the subconscious mentality, and thereafter become
second nature, which, by the way, is often more powerful
than the original nature of the person. The Duke of
Wellington said that habit was as strong as ten natures,
and he proceeded to drill habits into his army until
they found it natural to act in accordance with the
habits pounded into them during the drills. Darwin relates an
interesting instance of the force of habit over reasons. He
found that his habit of starting back at the sudden
approach of danger was so firmly established that no will
power could enable him to keep his face pressed up
against the cage of the cobra in the zoological gardens
when the snake struck at him, although he knew the
glass was so thick that there could be no danger,
and although he exerted the full force of his will.
But we venture to say that one could overcome even
this strongly ingrained habit by gradually training the subconscious mentality
in establishing a new habit of thought and action. It
is not only during the actual process of willing the
new habit that the work of making the new mental
path goes on. In fact, the Yogis believe that the
principal part of the work goes on subconsciously between the
intervals of command, and that the real process is made
in that way, just as the real work of solving
the problem is performed subconsciously, as related in our last lesson.
As an example, we may recall your attention to some
instances of the cultivation of physical habits. A physical task
learned in the evening is much easier to perform the
following morning than it was the night before, and still
easier the following Monday morning than it was on the
Saturday afternoon previous. The Germans have a saying that we
learned to skate in summer and swim in winter, meaning
that the impression passed on to the subconscious mentality deepens
and broadens during the interval of rest. The best plan
is to make frequent, sharp impressions and then to allow
reasonable periods of rest in order to give the subconscious
mentality the opportunity to do its work. By sharp impressions,
we mean impressions given under strong attention. As we have
mentioned in some of the earlier lessons of this series,
a writer has well said, so an act reap a habit.
So a habit reap a character, So a character reap
a destiny. Thus recognizing habit as a source of character,
he recognizes truth in our training of children forming good
habits of character by constant repetition, by watchfulness, et cetera.
Habit acts as a motive when established, so that while
we think we are acting without motive, we may be
acting under the strong motive power of some well established habit.
Herbert Spencer has well said, the habitually honest man does
what is right, not consciously because he ought, but with
simple satisfaction, and is ill at ease till it is done.
Some may object that this idea of habit as a
basis of character may do away with the idea of
a developed moral conscientiousness, as for instance Josiah Royce, who
says the establishment of organized habit is never in itself
enough to ensure the growth of an enlightened moral conscientiousness.
But to such we would say that one must want
to cultivate a high character before he will create the
habits usual to the same, and the wont to is
a sign of the moral conscientiousness rather than the habit.
And the same is true of the ought to side
of the subject. The ought to arises in the conscious
mind in the beginning and inspires the cultivation of the habit,
although the latter after a while becomes automatic. A matter
of the subconscious mentality, without any ought to attachment. It
then becomes a matter of like to Thus we see
that the molding, modifying, changing, and building of character is
largely a matter of the establishing of habits. And what
is the best way to establish habits becomes our next question.
The answer of the Yogi is establish a mental image,
and then build your habit around it. And in that
sentence he has condensed a whole system. Everything we see
having a form is built around a mental image, either
the mental image of some man, some animal, or of
the absolute. This is the rule of the universe. And
in the matter of character building we but follow a
well established rule. When we wish to build a house,
we first think of house in a general way. Then
we begin to think of what kind of a house.
Then we go into details. Then we consult an architect
and he makes us a planned which plan is his
mental image suggested by our mental image. Then the plan,
once decided upon, we consult the builder, and at last
the house stands complete. It an objectified mental image. And
so it is with every created thing, all manifestation of
a mental image. And so when we wish to establish
a trait of character, we must form a clear, distinct
mental image of what we wish to be. This is
an important step. Make your picture clear and distinct and
fasten it in your mind. Then begin to build around it.
Let your thoughts dwell upon the mental picture, Let your
imagination see yourself as possessed of the desired trait and
acting it out. Act it out in your imagination, over
and over again, as often as possible, persevering and continuously
seeing yourself manifesting the trait under a variety of circumstances
and conditions. As you continue to do this, you will
find that you will gradually begin to express the thought
in action to objectify the subjective mental image. It will
become natural for you to act more and more in
accordance with your mental image, until at last the new
habit will become firmly fixed in your mind and will
become your natural mode of action and expression. This is
no vague visionary theory. It is a well known and
proven psychological fact, and thousands have worked marvelous changes in
their character by its means. Not only may one elevate
his moral character in this way, but he may mold
his work a day's self to better conform to the
needs of his environment and occupation. If one lacks persevere reants,
he must attain it. If one is filled with fear,
he may supplant it with fearlessness. If one lacks self confidence,
he may gain it. In fact, there is no trait
that may not be developed in this way. People have
literally made themselves over by following this method of character building.
The great trouble with the race has been that persons
have not realized that they could do these things. They
have thought that they were doomed to remain just the
creatures that they found themselves to be. They did not
realize that the work of creation was not ended, and
that they had within themselves a creative power adapted to
the needs of their case. When man first realizes this
truth and proves it by practice, he becomes another being.
He finds himself superior to environment and training. He finds
that he may ride over these things. He makes his
own environment, and he trains himself. In some of the
larger schools in England and the United States, certain scholars
who have developed and manifested the ability to control themselves
in their actions are placed on the role of a
grade called the self governed grade. Those in this grade
act as if they had memorized the following words of
Herbert Spencer in the supremacy of self control consists one
of the perfections of the ideal man. Not to be impulsive,
not to be spurred hither and thither by each desire,
but to be self restrained, self balanced, governed by the
just decision of the fillings and council assembled. That it
is which moral education strives to produce. And this is
the desire of the writer of this lesson to place
each student in the self governed class. We cannot attempt,
in this short space of a single lesson to map
out a course of instruction and character building adapted to
the special needs of each individual. But we think that
what we have said on the subject should be sufficient
to point out the method for each student to map
out a course for himself, following the general rules given above.
As a help to the student, however, we will give
a brief course of instruction for the cultivation of one
desirable trait of character. The general plan of this course
may be adapted to fit the requirements of any other
case if intelligence is used by the student. The case
we have selected is that of a student who has
been suffering from a lack of moral courage, a lack
of self confidence and illability to maintain my poise in
the presence of other people, an inability to say no,
a feeling of inferiority to those with whom I come
in contact. The brief outline of the course of practice
given in this case is Herewith given preliminary thought, you
should fix firmly in your mind the fact that you
are the equal of any and every man. You come
from the same source. You are an expression of the
same one life. In the eyes of the Absolute, you
are the equal of any man, even the highest in
the land. Truth is things as God sees them, and
in truth you and the man are equal. And at
the last one, all feelings of inferiority are illusions, errors
and lies, and have no existence in truth. When in
the company of others, remember this fact and realize that
the life principle in you is talking to the life
principle in them. Let the life principle flow through you,
and endeavor to forget your personal self. At the same time,
endeavor to see that same life principle behind and beyond
the personality of the person in whose presence you are,
He is by a personality hiding the life principle, just
as you are nothing more, nothing less. You are both
one in truth. Let the consciouness of the eye beam forth,
and you will experience an uplift and sense of courage,
and the other will likewise feel it. You have within
you the source of courage, moral and physical, and you
have naught to fear fearlessness your divine heritage. Avail yourself
of it. You have self conscience, and for the self
is the eye within you, not the petty personality, and
you must have confidence in that eye. Retreat within yourself
until you feel the presence of the eye, and then
will you have a self confidence that nothing can shake
or disturb. Once having attained the permanent consciousness of the eye,
you will have poise. Once having realized that you are
a center of power, you will have no difficulty in
saying no when it is right to do so. Once
having realized your true nature, your real self, you will
lose all sense of inferiority, and you will know that
you are a manifestation of the one life, and have
behind you the strength, power, and grandeur of the cosmos.
Begin by realizing yourself, and then proceed with the following
methods of training the mind word images. It is difficult
for the mind to build itself around an idea unless
that idea be expressed in words. A word is the
center of an idea, just as the idea is the
center of the mental image, and the mental image the
center of the growing mental habit. Therefore, the yogis always
lay great stress upon the use of words in this way.
In the particular case before us, we should suggest the
holding before you of a few words crystallizing the main thought.
We suggest the words I am, courage, confidence, poise, firmness, equality.
Commit these words to memory, and then endeavor to fix
in your mind a clear conception of the meaning of
each word, so that each may stand for a live
idea when you say it. Beware of parrot like or
phonographic repetition. Let each word's meaning stand out clearly before you,
so that when you repeat eat it, you may feel
its meaning. Repeat the words over frequently when opportunity presents itself,
and you will soon begin to notice that they act
as a strong mental tonic upon you, producing a bracing,
energizing effect. And each time you repeat the words. Understandingly,
you have done something to clear away the mental path
over which you wish to travel. Practice. When you are
at leisure and are able to indulge in day dreams
without injury to your affairs of life, call your imagination
into play, and endeavor to picture yourself as being possessed
of the qualities indicated by the words named. Picture yourself
under the most trying circumstances, making use of the desired
qualities and manifesting them fully. Endeavor to picture yourself as
acting out your part well and exhibiting the desired qualities.
Do not be ashamed to indulge in these day dreams,
for they are the prophecies of the things to follow,
and you are but rehearsing your part before the day
of the performance. Practice makes perfect, and if you accustom
yourself to acting in a certain way and imagination, you
will find it much easier to play your part when
the real performance occurs. This may seem childish to many
of you, but if you have an actor among your acquaintances,
consult him about it, and you will find that he
will heartily recommend it. He will tell you what practice
does for one in this direction, and how repeated practice
and rehearsals may fix a character so firmly in a
man's mind that he may find it difficult to divest
himself of it after a time. Choose well the part
you wish to play, the character you wish to be yours,
And then, after fixing it well in your mind, practice practice, practice,
Keep your ideal constantly before you, and endeavor to grow
into it, and you will succeed if you exercise patience
and perseverance. But more than this, do not confine your
practice to mere private rehearsal. You need some dress rehearsals
as well rehearsals in public. Therefore, after you get well
started in your work, manage to exercise your growing character
habits in your everyday life. Pick out the little cases
first and try it on them. You will find that
you will be able to overcome conditions that formerly bothered
you much. You will become conscious of a growing strength
and power coming from within, and you will recognize that
you are indeed a changed person. Let your thought express
itself in action whenever you get a good chance, but
do not try to force chances just to try your strength.
Do not, for instance, try to force people to ask
for favors that you may say no, you will find
plenty of genuine test without forcing any Accustom yourself to
looking people in the eye and feeling the power that
is back of you and within you. You will soon
be able to see through their personality and realize that
it is just one portion of this little life gazing
at another portion, and that therefore there is nothing to
be afraid of. A realization of your real self will
enable you to maintain your poise under trying circumstances, if
you will but throw aside your false idea about your personality,
forget yourself, your little personal self for a while, and
fix your mind on the universal self of which you
are a part. All these things that have worried you
are but incidents of the personal life, and are seen
to be illusions when viewed from the standpoint of the
universal life. Carry the universal life with you as much
as possible into your everyday life. It belongs there as
much as anywhere, and will prove to be a tower
of strength and refuge to you in the perplexing situations
of your busy life. Remember always that the ego is
master of the mental states and habits, and that the
will is the direct instrument of the ego and is
always ready for its use. Let your soul be filled
with the strong desire to cultivate those mental habits that
will make you strong. Nature's plan is to produce strong
individual expressions of herself, and she will be glad to
give you her aid in becoming strong. The man who
wishes to strengthen himself will always find great forces back
of him to aid him in the work. For is
he not carrying out one of Nature's pet plans and
one which she has been striving for throughout the ages.
Anything that tends to make you realize and express your
mastery tends to strengthen you and places at your disposal
nature's aid. You may witness this in everyday life. Nature
seems to like strong individuals and delights in pushing them ahead.
By mastery, we mean mastery over your own lower nature,
as well as over outside nature. Of course, the eye
is master. Forget it not, o student, and assert it constantly.
Peace be with youantrum or affirmation. I am the master
of my mental habits. I control my character. I will
to be strong and summon the forces of my nature
to my aid. End of the eleventh lesson