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Self-Development and the Way to Power-L. W. Rogers · Self-Help Library

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  Speaker 1: Section one of Self Development and the Way to Power.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Helen J. Self Development
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  Speaker 1: and the Way to Power by L. W. Rogers. We
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  Speaker 1: may be either the suffering slaves of nature or the
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  Speaker 1: happy masters of her laws. It is the natural right
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  Speaker 1: of every human being to be happy, to escape all
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  Speaker 1: the miseries of life. Happiness is the normal condition, as
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  Speaker 1: natural as the landscapes and the seasons. It is unnatural
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  Speaker 1: to suffer, and it is only because of our ignorance
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  Speaker 1: that we do suffer. Happiness is the product of wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: To attain perfect wisdom, to comprehend fully the purpose of life,
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  Speaker 1: to realize completely the relationship of human beings to each other.
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  Speaker 1: Is to put an end to all suffering, to escape
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  Speaker 1: every ill and evil that afflicts us. Perfect wisdom is
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  Speaker 1: unshadowed joy. Why do we suffer in life? Because in
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  Speaker 1: the scheme of nature, we are being forced forward in evolution,
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  Speaker 1: and we lack the spiritual illumination that alone can light
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  Speaker 1: the way and enable us to move safely among the obstacles.
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  Speaker 1: That lie before us. Usually we do not even see
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  Speaker 1: or suspect the presence of trouble until it suddenly leaps
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  Speaker 1: upon us like a concealed tiger. One day, our family
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  Speaker 1: circle is complete and happy. A week later, death has
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  Speaker 1: come and gone, and joy is replaced with agony. Today
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  Speaker 1: we have a friend, Tomorrow he will be an enemy,
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  Speaker 1: and we do not know why. A little while ago
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  Speaker 1: we had wealth and all material luxuries. There was a
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  Speaker 1: sudden change, and now we have only poverty and misery.
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  Speaker 1: And yet we seek in vain for a reason why
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  Speaker 1: this should be. There was a time when we had
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  Speaker 1: health and strength, but they have both departed, and no
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  Speaker 1: trace of a reason appears. Aside from these greater tragedies
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  Speaker 1: of life, innumerable things of lesser consequence continually bring to
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  Speaker 1: us little miseries and minor heartaches. We must earnestly desire
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  Speaker 1: to avoid them, but we never see them until they
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  Speaker 1: strike us, until in the darkness of our ignorance, we
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  Speaker 1: blunder upon them. The thing we lack is the spiritual
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  Speaker 1: illumination that will enable us to look far and wide,
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  Speaker 1: finding the hidden causes of human suffering, and revealing the
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  Speaker 1: method by which they may be avoided, and if we
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  Speaker 1: can but reach illumination, the evolutionary journey can be made
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  Speaker 1: both comfortably and swiftly. It is as though we must
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  Speaker 1: pass through a long dark room filled with furniture promiscuously
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  Speaker 1: scattered about in the darkness. Our progress would be slow
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  Speaker 1: and painful, and our bruises many. But if we could
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  Speaker 1: press a button that would turn on the electric light,
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  Speaker 1: we could then make the same journey quickly and with
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  Speaker 1: perfect safety and comfort. The old method of education was
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  Speaker 1: to store the mind with as many facts or supposed
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  Speaker 1: facts as could be accumulated, and to give a certain
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  Speaker 1: exterior polish to the personality. The theory was that when
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  Speaker 1: a man was born, he was a completed human being,
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  Speaker 1: and that all that could be done for him was
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  Speaker 1: to load him up with information that would be used
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  Speaker 1: with more or less skill, according to the native ability
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  Speaker 1: he happened to be born with. The theosophical idea is
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  Speaker 1: that the physical man and all that constitutes his life
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  Speaker 1: in the physical world, is but a very partial expression
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  Speaker 1: of the self. That in the ego of each there
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  Speaker 1: is practically unlimited power and wisdom, that these may be
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  Speaker 1: brought through into expression in the physical world. As the
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  Speaker 1: physical body and its invisible counterparts, which together constitute the
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  Speaker 1: complex vehicle of the ego's manifes gestation, are evolved and
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  Speaker 1: adapted to the purpose, And that in exact proportion that
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  Speaker 1: conscious effort is given to such self development, will spiritual
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  Speaker 1: illumination be achieved and wisdom attained. Thus, the light that
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  Speaker 1: leads to happiness is kindled from within, and the evolutionary
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  Speaker 1: journey that all our making may be robbed of its suffering.
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  Speaker 1: Why does death bring misery? Chiefly because it separates us
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  Speaker 1: from those we love. But when we have evolved the
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  Speaker 1: faculty of clairvoyance in our work of self development, the
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  Speaker 1: separation vanishes, and our dead friends are as much withers
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  Speaker 1: as the living. The only other reason why death brings
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  Speaker 1: grief or fear is because we do not understand it
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  Speaker 1: and comprehend the part that it plays in human evolution.
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  Speaker 1: But the moment our ignorance gives way to comprehension, such
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  Speaker 1: fear vanishes and a serene happiness takes its place. Why
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  Speaker 1: do we have enemies from whose words are acts? We
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  Speaker 1: suffer because in our limited physical consciousness we do not
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  Speaker 1: perceive the unity of all life and realize that our
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  Speaker 1: wrong thinking and doing must react upon us through other people,
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  Speaker 1: a situation from which there is no possible escape except
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  Speaker 1: through ceasing to think evil and then patiently awaiting the
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  Speaker 1: time when the causes we have already generated are fully exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: When spiritual illumination comes and we no longer stumble in
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  Speaker 1: the night of ignorance, the last enemy will disappear, and
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  Speaker 1: we shall make no more forever. Why do people suffer
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  Speaker 1: from poverty and disease only because of our blundering ignorance
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  Speaker 1: that makes their existence possible for us, and because we
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  Speaker 1: do not comprehend their meaning and their lessons, nor know
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  Speaker 1: the attitude to assume toward them. Had we but the
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  Speaker 1: wisdom to understand why they come to people, why they
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  Speaker 1: are necessary factors in their evolution, they would trouble us
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  Speaker 1: no longer. When Nature's lesson is fully learned, these mute
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  Speaker 1: teachers will vanish, And so it is with all forms
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  Speaker 1: of suffering we experience. They are one's reactions from our
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  Speaker 1: ignorant blunderings and instructors that point out the better way.
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  Speaker 1: When we have comprehended the lessons they teach, they are
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  Speaker 1: no longer necessary and disappear. Thus our evolution is going forward,
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  Speaker 1: and has gone forward in the past. We know that
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  Speaker 1: the human race has passed through a long evolution, during
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  Speaker 1: which it has acquired five senses, by which knowledge is gained.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody who has given the thought to the subject will
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  Speaker 1: make the mistake of supposing that this evolution is completed,
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  Speaker 1: and that the five senses are all we shall ever
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  Speaker 1: possess in this long evolutionary journey. The next thing we
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  Speaker 1: shall do is to develop the sixth sense. Some people
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  Speaker 1: have already done so, and all are approaching it. This
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  Speaker 1: dawning sense is called clairvoyance. Fair investigation will show that
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  Speaker 1: the clairvoyant possesses certain powers not common to the majority
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  Speaker 1: of people. This is merely the beginning of the development
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  Speaker 1: of the sixth sense, and probably with the majority of
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  Speaker 1: clairvoyant it goes no further than etheric and lower astral sight.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, they are able to raise the consciousness
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  Speaker 1: only to a grade of matter, a little beyond the
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  Speaker 1: grasp of ordinary vision, while the properly developed trained clairvoyant
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  Speaker 1: raises his consciousness two full planes beyond. The higher the
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  Speaker 1: consciousness is raised, the further the horizon of knowledge extends,
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  Speaker 1: and the clairvoyant is able to hand down information that
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  Speaker 1: appears quite miraculous, But it is perfectly natural. If a
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  Speaker 1: certain person were born blind and had never understood any
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  Speaker 1: more about eyesight than most people understand about clairvoyance. If
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  Speaker 1: this person could know how many doorways were in a
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  Speaker 1: large building only by groping along with his hands, and
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  Speaker 1: thus a varying the knowledge by touch, and another person
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  Speaker 1: who could see should glance along the block and instantly
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  Speaker 1: tell the blind man the correct number. That would be
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  Speaker 1: to the blind man a miracle. Now, when a clairvoyant
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  Speaker 1: sees things at a distance where the physical eye cannot reach,
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  Speaker 1: he really does nothing more remarkable. When we see a thing,
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  Speaker 1: we receive the vibrations caused by light that gives the information.
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  Speaker 1: When the clairvoyant sees at a distance through what we
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  Speaker 1: mistakenly call solid substances, he receives vibrations of matter so
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  Speaker 1: fine that it interpenetrates solids, as the ether does. Every
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  Speaker 1: human being must make and is making, this long evolutionary
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  Speaker 1: journey from spiritual infancy to god like power and perfection.
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  Speaker 1: But there are two ways in which it may be done.
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  Speaker 1: We may, as the vast majority do, accept the process
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  Speaker 1: of unconscious evolution and submit to nature's whip and spur
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  Speaker 1: that continuously urge the thoughtless and indifferent forward until they
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  Speaker 1: reach the goal. Or we may choose conscious evolution and
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  Speaker 1: work intelligently with nature, thus making progress that is comparatively
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  Speaker 1: of enormous rapidity, and at the same time avoid much
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  Speaker 1: of what Hamlet called the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
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  Speaker 1: The degree to which mind can control circumstances and dominate
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  Speaker 1: matter is far greater than is generally believed. Our impressions
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  Speaker 1: about matter are very illusionary. No form of matter is permanent.
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  Speaker 1: Change goes on everywhere, at every instant, by physical laws
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  Speaker 1: in the physical body, and by astral and mental laws
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  Speaker 1: in our invisible bodies. We are not the same being physically, mentally,
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  Speaker 1: or spiritually any two days in succession. The very soul
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  Speaker 1: itself is subject to this law of change. It may
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  Speaker 1: expand and shine out through the physical organism resplendent, or
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  Speaker 1: it may only faintly glimmer through a constantly coarsening body.
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  Speaker 1: What is the law of soul growth? Through adherance to
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  Speaker 1: what principle may we reach spiritual illumination? There are certain
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  Speaker 1: well established facts about the laws of growth that we
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  Speaker 1: should not overlook when seeking the way forward. Nothing whatever
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  Speaker 1: can grow without use, without activity. In action causes atrophy.
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  Speaker 1: Physiologists tell us that if the arm be tied to
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  Speaker 1: the body so that it cannot be used, it will
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  Speaker 1: in time become so enfeebled that it is of no
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  Speaker 1: further service. It will wither away. That is nature's law
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  Speaker 1: of economy. She never gives life where it is useless,
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  Speaker 1: where it cannot or will not be utilized. On the
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  Speaker 1: other hand, exercise increases power. To increase the size and
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  Speaker 1: strength of muscles, we must use them. This is just
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  Speaker 1: as true of mental and moral faculties as it is
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  Speaker 1: of the physical body. The only way to make the
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  Speaker 1: brain keen and powerful is to exercise it by original thinking.
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  Speaker 1: One way to gain sole powers is to give free
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  Speaker 1: play to the loftiest aspiration of which we are capable,
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  Speaker 1: and to do its systematically instead of at random. We
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  Speaker 1: grow to be like the things we think about. Now.
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  Speaker 1: The reverse of all this must be equally true. To
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  Speaker 1: give no thought to higher things, to become completely absorbed
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  Speaker 1: in material affairs is to stifle the soul, to invite
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  Speaker 1: spiritual atrophy. Turning our attention to nature, we shall find
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  Speaker 1: in the parasite convincing proof of all this. The parasite,
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  Speaker 1: whether plant or animal, is living evidence that to refuse
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  Speaker 1: or neglect to use an organ or faculty results in
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  Speaker 1: being deprived of it. The dodder says, Drummond has roots
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  Speaker 1: like other plants. But when it fixes sucker disks onto
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  Speaker 1: the branches of neighboring plants and begins to get its
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  Speaker 1: food through them, its roots perish. When it fails to
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  Speaker 1: use them, it loses them. He also points to the
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  Speaker 1: hermit crab as an illustration of this great fact in
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  Speaker 1: nature that disuse means loss, and that to shirk responsibility
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  Speaker 1: is the road to degeneration. The hermit crab was once
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  Speaker 1: equipped with a hard shell and with as good a
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  Speaker 1: means of locomotion as other crabs, but instead of a
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  Speaker 1: courageously following the hardy life of other crustaceans, it formed
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  Speaker 1: the bad habit of taking up its residence in the
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  Speaker 1: cast off shells of mollusks. This made life easy and indolent,
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  Speaker 1: but it paid the price of all shirking. In time
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  Speaker 1: it lost four legs, while the shell over the vital
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  Speaker 1: portion of its body degenerated to a thin membrane, which
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  Speaker 1: leaves it practically helpless when it is out of its
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  Speaker 1: captured home. And this is a certain result of all
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  Speaker 1: shirking of responsibility. There may be an apparent temporary gain,
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  Speaker 1: but it always means greater loss, either immediate or remote.
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  Speaker 1: So nature punishes in action with atrophy. Whatever is not
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  Speaker 1: used finally ceases to be in plain language, apathy, in action, idleness,
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  Speaker 1: uselessness is the road to degeneration. On the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: aspiration and activity mean growth, development power. So we grow physically,
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  Speaker 1: mentally and morally by activity, by exercise of the organs,
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  Speaker 1: are the faculties we desire to possess. It is only
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  Speaker 1: by the constant exercise of these things that we can
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  Speaker 1: grow at all. When this great law of nature is understood,
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  Speaker 1: we see at once how it is is that life
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  Speaker 1: is full of trouble. Why it is that the whole
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  Speaker 1: visible world seems to be designed to keep us constantly
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  Speaker 1: at work physically and mentally, to challenge our resourcefulness in
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  Speaker 1: improving our physical, social, and political conditions, to continually try
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  Speaker 1: our patients, and to forever test our courage. It is
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  Speaker 1: the way of development. It is the price of progress.
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  Speaker 1: The universe is a training school for evolving intelligence, a
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  Speaker 1: vast gymnasium for the development of moral fiber. We become
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  Speaker 1: mentally clever by playing at the game of life. We
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  Speaker 1: match our courage against its adversities and acquire fearlessness. We
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  Speaker 1: try our optimism against its disappointments and learn cheerfulness. We
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  Speaker 1: pit our patience against its failures and gain persistence. We
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  Speaker 1: are torn from the pinnacle of ambition by opponents and
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  Speaker 1: learn toleration of others. We fall from the heights of
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  Speaker 1: vanity and pride, and we learn to be modest and humble.
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  Speaker 1: We encounter pain and sorrow and learn sympathy with suffering.
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  Speaker 1: It is only by such experiences that we can grow
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  Speaker 1: to rounded measure. It is only in an environment thus
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  Speaker 1: adapted to our spiritual development that we can evolve the
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  Speaker 1: latent powers within us. Such is the universe in which
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  Speaker 1: we find ourselves, and from it there is no escape.
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  Speaker 1: No man can avoid life, not even the foolish one, who,
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  Speaker 1: when the difficulties before him appear for the moment overwhelming,
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  Speaker 1: tries to escape them by suicide. A man cannot die,
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  Speaker 1: He can only choose how he will live. He may
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  Speaker 1: either helplessly drift through the world, suffering from all the
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  Speaker 1: ills and evils that make so many unhappy. Or he
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  Speaker 1: may choose the method of conscious evolution that alone makes
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  Speaker 1: life truly successful. We may be either the suffering slaves
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  Speaker 1: of nature or the happy masters of her laws. Now,
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  Speaker 1: all powers possessed by any human being, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: exalted his position in evolution, or how sublime his spiritual power,
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  Speaker 1: are latent in all human beings, and can in time
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  Speaker 1: be developed and brought into action. Of course, there is
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  Speaker 1: no magic rule by which the ignoramus can instantly become wise,
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  Speaker 1: or by which a brutal man can be at once
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  Speaker 1: transformed into a saint. It may require score of incarnations
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  Speaker 1: to accomplish a work so great. But when a man
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  Speaker 1: reaches the point in his evolution where he begins to
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  Speaker 1: comprehend the purpose of life and to evolve the will
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  Speaker 1: to put forth his energies in cooperation with nature, his
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  Speaker 1: rise to wisdom and power may be swift. Indeed, but
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  Speaker 1: this transformation from the darkness of ignorance to spiritual illumination,
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  Speaker 1: from helplessness in the fell clutch of circumstance to power
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  Speaker 1: over nature must be brought about by his own efforts.
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  Speaker 1: For It is a process of evolution, of forcing the
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  Speaker 1: latent to become the active. Therefore, one must resolve to
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  Speaker 1: take one's self in hand for definite and systematic self development.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody else can do the work for us. Certain moral
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  Speaker 1: qualities must be gained before there can be spiritual illumination
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  Speaker 1: and genuine wisdom, and such qualities or virtues have to
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  Speaker 1: be evolved by the laws under which all growth occurs.
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  Speaker 1: It is just as impossible to acquire a moral quality
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  Speaker 1: by reading about its desirability as to evolve muscular strength
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  Speaker 1: by watching the performance of a group of athletes. To
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  Speaker 1: gain muscular strength, one must take part in the physical
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  Speaker 1: activities that produce it. He must live the athletic life.
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  Speaker 1: To win spiritual strength and supremacy, he must live the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual life. There is no other way. He must first
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  Speaker 1: learn what mental and moral qualities are essential and how
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  Speaker 1: to gain them, and then set earnestly about the work
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  Speaker 1: of acquiring them. The first thing necessary is to get
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  Speaker 1: a clear understanding of the fact that the physical body
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  Speaker 1: is not the self, but only a vehicle or instrument
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  Speaker 1: through which the self is being manifested in the visible world.
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  Speaker 1: The body is as much your instrument, as the hand
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  Speaker 1: is or as your pennies. It is a thing which you,
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  Speaker 1: the self use, And a clear conception of this fact,
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  Speaker 1: a feeling that this is the fact, is the first
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  Speaker 1: step toward that absolute control of the physical body that
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  Speaker 1: lays the foundation for success in conscious evolution. When we
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  Speaker 1: feel that in managing the physical body we are controlling
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  Speaker 1: something that is not our self, we are fairly started
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  Speaker 1: on the right road. Now, there are three things that
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  Speaker 1: a person must possess to be successful in self development.
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  Speaker 1: If he has not these three qualifications, he will make
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  Speaker 1: but little progress. But fortunately, any lacking quality can be evolved.
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  Speaker 1: And if one does not possess these three necessities, his
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  Speaker 1: first work is to create them. These three things are
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  Speaker 1: an ardent desire, an iron will, and an alert intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: Why are these three qualifications essential to success? And what
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  Speaker 1: purpose do they serve? End of Section one Section two
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: of Self Development and The Way to Power. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Read by Helen J. Self Development and the Way to
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  Speaker 1: Power by L. W. Rogers. Desire Desire is Nature's motor power,
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  Speaker 1: the propulsive force that pushes everything forward in its evolution,
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  Speaker 1: it is desire that stimulates to action. Desire drives the
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  Speaker 1: animal into the activities that evolve its physical body and
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  Speaker 1: sharpen its intelligence. If it had no desire, it would
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  Speaker 1: lie inert and perish. But the desire for food, for drink,
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  Speaker 1: for association with its kind impel it to action, and
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  Speaker 1: the result is the evolution of strength, skill, and intelligence
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  Speaker 1: in proportion to the intensity of its desires. To gratify
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  Speaker 1: these desires, it will accept battle, no matter how great
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  Speaker 1: may be the odds against it, and will unhesitatingly risk
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  Speaker 1: life itself in the combat. Desire not only induces the
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  Speaker 1: activity that develops physical strength and beauty, but also has
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  Speaker 1: its finer effects. Hunger compels the animal not only to
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  Speaker 1: seek food, but to pit its cunning against that of
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  Speaker 1: its prey. Driven forward by desire, it develops, among other qualities, strength, courage, patience, endurance, intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: Desire plays the same role with man at his higher
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  Speaker 1: stage of evolution. It stimulates him to action, and always,
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  Speaker 1: as his activity satisfies his original desire, a new one
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  Speaker 1: replaces the old and lures him on to renewed exertion.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: The average young man beginning his business career desires only
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  Speaker 1: a comfortable cottage, but when that is attained, he wants
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  Speaker 1: a mansion. He's soon tires of the mansion and wants
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  Speaker 1: a palace. Then he wants several at the seaside, in
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  Speaker 1: the city and on the mountains. At first he is
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  Speaker 1: satisfied with a horse, then he demands an automobile, and
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  Speaker 1: finally a steam yacht. He sets out as a youth
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  Speaker 1: to earn a livelihood and welcomes a small salary, but
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  Speaker 1: the desire for money pushes him into business for himself,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: and he works tirelessly for a competence. He feels that
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a small fortune should satisfy anybody, but when he gets it,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he wants to be a millionaire. If he succeeds in that,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: then he desires to become a multimillionaire. Whether the desire
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: is for wealth, or for fame, or for power, the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: same result follows. When the desire is satisfied, a greater
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: one takes its place and spurs the ambitious one to
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: still further exertion. He grasps the prize he believes to
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: contain complete satisfaction only to discover that while he was
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: pursuing it, desire had grown beyond it, and so the
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: goal he would attain is always far ahead of him.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Thus are we tricked and apparently mocked by nature, until
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: we finally awake to the fact that all the objects
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: of desire, the fine raiment, the duels, the palaces, the wealth,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: the power, are but vain and empty things, and that
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: the real reward for all our efforts to secure them
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: is not these objects at all, but the new powers
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: we have evolved in getting them, powers that we did
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: not before possess, and which we should not have evolved
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: but for Nature's great propulsive force desire. The man who
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: accumulates a fortune by many years of consistent effort in
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: organizing and developing a business enterprise, by careful planning and
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: deep thinking, may naturally enough look upon the fortune he
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: will possess for the few years before it passes on
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: to others as his reward. But the truth is that
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: it is a very transient and perishable and worthless thing
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: compared to the new powers that were unconsciously evolved in
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: getting it, powers that will be retained by the man
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: and be brought into use in future incarnations. Desire then
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: plays the most important role in human evolution. It awakens, stimulates, propels.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: What wind is to the ship, what steam is to
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the locomotive, desire is to the human being. It has
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: been written in a great book, kill out desire, and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: elsewhere it is written resist not evil. We may find
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: in similar exalted pronouncements truths that are very useful to disciples,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: but which might be confusing and misleading to the man
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: of the world if he attempted to literally apply them.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Perhaps with the average mortal, kill out desire might be
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: interpreted transmute desire. Without desire, man would be in a
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: deathlike and dangerous condition, a condition in which further progress
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: would be impossible. But by transmuting the lower desires into
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: the higher, he moves steadily forward and upward without losing
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the motive power that drives him forever onward. To transmute desire,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to continually replace the lower with the higher, really is
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: killing desire out, but it is doing it by the
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: slow and safe evolutionary process. As to crushing it suddenly,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: that is simply impossible, but substitution may work. Wonders suppose,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: for example, that a young man is a gambler, and
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: his parents are much distressed about it. The common and
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: foolish course is to lecture him on the sin of gambling,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and to tearfully urge him to associate only with very
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: proper young men. But the young gambler is not in
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the least interested in that sort of a life, which
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: appears to him to be a kind of living death.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: And such entreaty does not move him. His parents would
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: do better by looking more closely into the case. Why
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: is he a gambler. He desires money, he seeks excitement,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: He wants to live in an atmosphere of intense life
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: and activity. Very well, desires are quite right in themselves.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: It is useless to try and crush them. It is
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: nonsense to argue that he does not want these things.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Clearly enough, he does want them, and that is precisely
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: why he gambles. And do not attempt the impossibility of
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: killing the desire, but change the objects of his desires.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Say to him, you desire money and a life full
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: of turbulence and excitement. Well, you can get all that
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: in a better and legitimate way and have the respect
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: of your friends. Besides, you can go into politics. That
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: is a field within the pale of the law, and
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: in it you can have scope for all the energy
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and activity and intensity of life you long for, with
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: all the element of chance which you find so attractive.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: And when the young man has had his fling there
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and tires of it, then something else can be attempted.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: But to try to crush desire and curb the outrushing
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: life is both foolish and impossible. We can only direct it.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: There are, of course, certain gross desires that must be
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: gotten rid of by the most direct and least objectionable method.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: And when one really desires to be free from a
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: given vice or moral weakness, and sets earnestly and intelligently
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: about it, his release is not so difficult as the
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: complete tyranny of most vices would lead one to suppose.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: There is a process by which any of us may
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: be free, if we will take the trouble to patiently
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: put it into practice. This method will apply to any
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: desire from which we wish to be released. For example,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: let us take the person who has a settled desire
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: for alcoholic stimulants but really wishes to be rid of
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: it forever. Many people who are thus afflicted to the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: point where they occasionally become intoxicated, feel when they recover
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: their normal condition, that no price would be too great
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: to pay for freedom from this humiliating habit. As a rule,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: such a man tries to close his eyes to his
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: shame and forget it, promising himself that he will be
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: stronger when the temptation again assails him. But it is
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: just this putting it aside, this casting it out of
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: his mind, that perpetuates his weakness. He instinctively shrinks from
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: dwelling upon the thought of whither he is drifting, So
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: he puts the unpleasant subject aside all together, and when
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: the inner desire asserts itself again, he finds himself precisely
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: as helpless as before. Now, his certain method of escape
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: from this tyranny of desire is to turn his mind
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: resolutely to an examination of the whole question. Let him
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: look at the facts in the face, however humiliating they
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: may be. He should call his imagination to his assistance.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: It should be used to picture to himself his future.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: If he does not succeed in breaking up the unfortunate
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: slavery of the desire nature, he should think of the
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: fact that as he grows older the situation grows worse,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: he should picture himself as the helpless, repulsive sot with
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: feeble body and weakening mind, and reflect upon the humiliation
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: he must endure, the poverty he must face, and the
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: physical and mental pain he must bear in the future.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: If he now fails to break the desire ties that
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: bind him, this creates in him a feeling of repulsion
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: towards the cause of it all. And if he continues
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: to think daily upon this hideous picture of what he
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: is slowly drifting toward, if he daily regards it all
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: with a feeling of slight repulsion, then even within a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: month or two, he will find that his desire for
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: drink is slowly fading out. This is as true of
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: all other desires that enslavers. The desire for alcoholic stimulants
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: merely illustrates the principle involved. Any desire from which one
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: wishes to be free may be escaped by the same method.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: But one who would free himself from the desire nature
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: should not make the mistake of creating a feeling of
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: intense hostility toward the thing he is seeks to escape,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: For hatred is also a tie. He should merely reach
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: a position of complete indifference. He should think of it
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: not with settled hostility, but with slight repulsion. And if
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: he does that daily mentally, dwelling upon the pain and
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: humiliation it causes, he will find the ties loosening the
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: desire weakening. Desire is a force that may be beneficial
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: or detrimental according to its use. As we may eradicate
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: a desire, so may we create a desire. How then,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: may one who seeks the highest self development use desire,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: this propulsive force of nature to help himself forward. He
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: should desire spiritual progress most earnestly, for without such desire
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: he cannot succeed. Therefore, if the aspirant does not have
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: the ardent desire for spiritual illumination, he must create it.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: To accomplish this. Let him again call imagination to his assistance.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Let him picture himself of having his power for usefulness
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: many times multiplied by occult development. He should think of
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: himself as possessing the inner sight that enables him to
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: understand the difficulties of others and to comprehend their sorrows.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: He should daily think of the fact that this would
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: so broaden and quicken his sympathies, that he would be
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: enormously more useful in the world than he can now
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: possibly be, and that he could become a source of
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: happiness to thousands. Let him reflect that as he gets
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: farther along in occult development and in unselfishness and spirituality,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: he may have the inestimable privilege of coming into contact
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: with some of the exalted intelligences that watch over and
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: assist the struggling aspirants on their upward way. He should
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: daily recall the fact that he is now moving forward
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: toward a freer, richer, more joyous life than he has
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: yet known, and that every effort brings him nearer to
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: its realization. Thus dwelling on the subject in its various aspects,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: he creates the ardent desire that serves to propel him forward.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: If he feels that these things make an ideal a
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: little too high for him at present, he may reach
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: that point by degrees. He may at first dwell in
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: thought upon the personal satisfaction that would from the possession
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: of astral sight. Let him reflect upon what it would
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: mean to be conscious of the invisible world, to have
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: all its wonders laid open before him, to be able
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: to consciously meet the so called dead, including his own
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: friends and relatives, to be able to have the positive
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: proof that we survive the death of the physical body,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: to be able to become one of the invisible helpers
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: of the world. To have available the priceless advantages of
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: the astral region, and to bring the consciousness of all
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: this into the physical life that is certainly worth all
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: the time and effort required to attain it. Thus, thinking
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: constantly of the widened life and added powers it would confer,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: the desire to move forward in self development will be
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: greatly stimulated. But the student should always keep it in
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: mind that the real purpose of acquiring new powers is
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: to increase his capacity for service to the race, and
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: that he who falls short of that ideal walks upon
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: dangerous ground. End as section two, Section three of Self
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Development and the Way to Power by L. W. Rogers.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Helen j An iron Will. The second requisite is a
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: firm will. It should not be forgotten that an unusual
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and difficult thing is being attempted in which a person
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: of weak will cannot possibly hope to succeed. Even in
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: the ordinary life of the world. Considerable will power is
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: essential to success. To succeed in business, to become expert
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: in a profession, or to completely master and art requires
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: strong will, determination, perseverance. The difficulties in occult development are
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: still greater. And while it is true that any degree
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: of effort is well worth, while the weaklings will not
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: go far, only those with the indomitable will that knows
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: neither surrender nor compromise may hope for a large measure
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: of success. Once the will is thoroughly aroused and brought
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: into action, every hindrance in the way will be swept
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: aside the human will. That force unseen, the offspring of
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: a deathless soul, can hew a way to any goal.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: The walls of granite intervene. Be not impatient of delay,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: but wait as one who understands. When spirit rises and
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: commands the gods are ready to obey. Mighty Indeed is
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: this force when aroused. But a person may be easily
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: deceived about his will. He is likely to think that
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: his will is much stronger than it really is. He
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: may say to himself, Oh, yes, I would go through
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: anything for the sake of the higher life and spiritual illumination.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: But that is no guarantee that after a few months
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: of monotonous work, he may not abandon it unless he
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: adopts the wise plan of strengthening his will as he
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: moves forward. Let him begin this by testing his present
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: strength of will, But let him not be discouraged by
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the result. He should remember that whatever he lacks in
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: will power, he can evolve by proper effort to find
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: out whether he really has much strength of will. A
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: person may begin to observe to what extent he permits
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: his daily plans to be modified or entirely changed by
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: the things that run counter to his will? Does he
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: hold steadfastly to his purpose? Or does he weakly surrender
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: to small obstacles? Has he the will power to even
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: begin the day as he has planned it? The evening
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: before he decides that he will rise at six o'clock
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: the next morning, He knows there are certain excellent reasons
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: why he should do so, and he retires with the
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: matter fully decided. It is positively settled that at exactly
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: six o'clock the day's program shall begin. But when the
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: clock strikes that hour the next morning, he feels strongly
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: disinclined to obey the summons, it involves some bodily discomfort
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: to rise at that moment, and he concludes that, after all,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: perhaps he was a bit hasty the evening before in
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: fixing upon that hour, whereupon he reconsiders the matter and
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: makes it seven, and when that time arrives, he generously
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: extends it to eight o'clock. The hour, of course, is unimportant,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: but whatever may have been the hour that was previously
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: determined upon, the keeping of that determination is of the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: greatest importance, and the failure to put the resolution into
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: effect is evidence of the possession of a weak will.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Now all this proves that such persons have very little
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: real will power, for they permit the desire for trifling
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: bodily comfort to set their plans aside. Such persons are
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: still slaves to the physical body and weakly permit it
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: to upset carefully outlined programs. They are not yet ready
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: for good work in occult development, where real success can
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: come only to those who have steadfast strength of purpose.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: People who fail to assert the will and bring the
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: body into complete subjection probably little realize what a price
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: they pay for a trifling physical pleasure. For until we
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: voluntarily take the right course, we have not escaped the
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: evolutionary necessity of compulsion, and may reasonably expect sooner or
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: later to be thrown into an environment that will apply
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: the stimulus we still need to arouse the will. It
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: may be unpleasant while it is occurring, but what better
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: fortune could befall an indolent man than to find himself
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: in circumstances where his poverty or other necessity compels him
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: to subordinate bodily comfort to the reign of the will.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Nature provides the lessons we require. We may wisely co
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: operate with her and thus escape the sting. But so
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: long as we need the lesson we may be quite
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: sure that it awaits us. All the business activities of
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: the world are developing the will. Through them, will and
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: desire work together in evolving latent powers. Desire arouses will power.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: A man desires wealth, and the desire plunges him into
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: business activities and stimulates the will, by which he overcomes
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: all the difficulties that lie in his way. Ardent desire
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: for an education arouses the will of the student, and
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: the awakened will triumphs over poverty and all other barriers
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: between him and the coveted diploma. If a man stands
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: at a lower point in evolution, where he has not
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: the ambition for intellectual culture, nor for faith, nor for wealth,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: but only the desire for shelter and food, still that
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: primitive desire forces him into action. And while his will
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: power will be evolved only in proportion to the strength
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: of the desire that prompts him, it must nevertheless grow.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Instead of rising at a certain hour because the will
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: decrease it, he may rise only because he knows his
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: livelihood depends upon it. But he is learning the same
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: lesson the overcoming of the inertia of the physical body.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Albeit it is compulsory instead of voluntary. But all this
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: is unconscious evolution. It is the long, slow, painful process.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: It is the only way possible for those who are
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: not wise enough to cooperate with nature in her evolutionary
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: work and thus rise above the necessity of compulsion. How then,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: may we develop the will when it is so weak
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: that we are still the slaves of nature instead of
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: the masters of destiny. Will power, like any other faculty,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: may be cultivated and made strong. To do this. One
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: may plan in advance what he will do under certain circumstances,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: and then carry out the program without evasion or hesitation
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: when the time arrives. His forethought will enable him to
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: do this if he does not undertake things too difficult
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: at first. Let him resolve to do at a certain
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: hour some small thing which in the ordinary course of
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: his duties he sees is necessary but unpleasant, and then
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: firmly resolve in advance that exactly at the appointed time
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: he will do it. Thus, fortified before the trial comes,
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: he will probably go successfully through with it. After once
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: deciding upon the time, there should be no postponement, and
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: at an instant's delay when the moment arrives. One of
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: the things we have to learn is to overcome the
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: inertia of the physical body. And many people are not
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: really awake on the physical plane because they have not
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: done so. To a certain extent, they are dead within
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: the physical body. For it is a condition much nearer
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: death than that supposed death of one who no longer
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: has the physical body. The inert mass of physical matter
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: in which such people are functioning leaves them only half
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: alive until they have aroused themselves from its domination. They
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: remind one of the lines life is a mystery. Death
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: is a doubt, and some folks are dead while they're
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: walking about. This inertia of the physical body that so
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: often renders people nearly useless, is very largely a matter
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: of habit, and can be overcome to a surprising degree
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: by simply using a little will power. Everybody is familiar
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: with the fact that it is sometimes much easier to
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: think and act than at other times, But perhaps it
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: is not so well known that the dull periods can
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: invariably be overcome by an effort of the will, and
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: the physical body be made to do its proper way.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: An actor or lecturer, after months of continuous work may
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: find the brain and body going tired and dull. He
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: may feel, when going before his audience, that he has
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: not an idea nor the wit to express it were
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: someone else to furnish it. Yet by an effort of
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: the will, he can quickly overcome the condition and change
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: from stupidity to mental alertness and intensity of thought. The
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: self is never tired. It is only the physical body
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: that grows weary. It is true that it has its
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: limitations and must not be over taxed and driven beyond endurance.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: With the tired horse is sometimes cruelly urged forward with
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: whip and spur. Judgment must always be used in detail
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: dermining one's capacity for work, But that which is to
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: be done should never be done draggingly, with the inertia
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: of the physical body marring the work. We should be
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: fully awake instead of dead while we are walking about.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: If a person resolves to be the master of the body,
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: he may soon acquire the power to arouse it to
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: activity and alertness during all his waking hours, very much
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: as one may acquire the habit of keen observation and
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: be conscious of what is occurring in his vicinity instead
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: of being carelessly unconscious of the major portion of what
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: is going on immediately about him. This matter of giving
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: attention to the things that may properly engage the mind,
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: and of using the will to arouse and control it
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: is of very great importance. Is it not what we
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: call paying attention that makes the connection between the ego
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: and the objective world. Giving attention is a process of consciousness.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: The person who fails in attention misses the purpose of
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: life and throws away valuable time and opportunity. To give
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: attention is to be alive and awake and in a
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: condition to make the most of limited physical life. Yet
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: many people cannot give sustained attention to an ordinary conversation,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: nor direct the mind with sufficient precision to state a
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: simple fact, without wandering aimlessly about in the effort bringing
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: in various incidental matters, until the original subject, instead of
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: being made clear, is obscured in a maze of unimportant details,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: or lost sight of altogether. Such habits of mind should
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: be put resolutely aside by one who would hasten self development.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: The attention should be fixed deliberately upon the subject in hand,
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: whatever it may be, and nothing should be permitted to
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: break the connection between that and the mind. Whether it
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: is a conversation or a book, or a manual task,
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: or a problem being silently worked out intellectually, it should
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: have undivided attention until the mind is ready for something else.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Perhaps few of us give to any subject the close
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: attention which alone can prove its own effectiveness and demonstrate
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: the fact that there goes with such steadily sustained attention
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: a subtle power of extended or accentuated consciousness. When ten
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: minutes is given to a certain subject and other thoughts
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: are constantly intruding, so that when the ten minutes have passed,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: only five minutes have actually been devoted to the subject.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: The result is, by no means a half of what
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: would have been accomplished had the whole of the ten
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: minutes been given to uninterrupted attention. The time thus spent
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: in wavering attention is practically without effect. The connection between
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: mind and subject has not been complete. Mind and subject were,
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: so to say, out of focus. Attention must be sustained
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: to the point where it becomes concentration. The mind must
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: be used as a sunglass can be used. Hold the
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: glass between sun and paper out of focus for an
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: hour and nothing will happen. A yellow circle of light
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: falls on the paper, and that is all. But bring
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: it into perfect focus. Concentrating the rays to the finest
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: possible point, and the paper turns brown and finally bursts
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: into the fire that will consume it. They are the
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: same rays that were previously ineffective. Concentration produced results. The
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: mind must be brought under such complete control of the
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: will that it can be manipulated like a search light
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: turned in this direction or that, or flow full upon
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: some obscure subject and held steadily there till it illuminates
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: every detail of it, as the searchlight sends a dazzling
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: ray through space and shows every rock and tree on
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: a hillside far away through the darkness of the night.
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: End of section three. Section four of Self Development and
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: the Way to Power by L. W. Rogers. This LibriVox
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Helen J.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: Acute intelligence. The third necessity is keen intelligence. The force
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: of desire directed by the will, must be supplemented by
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: an alert mind. There is a popular notion that good
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: motives are sufficient in themselves, and that when one has
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: the desire to attain spiritual illumination plus the will to achieve,
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: nothing more is needed but purity of purpose. But this
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: is a misconception. It is true that the mistake makes
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: devotion the vital thing in his spiritual growth, and it
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: is also true that the three paths of action, knowledge,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: and devotion blend and become one at a higher stage.
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: But while there are methods of development in which intellect
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: is not at first made a chief factor, it can
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: by no means be ignored in the long run, Nor
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: are we now considering those methods. A good intellect, therefore,
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: is a necessary part of the equipment. Good motifs play
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: a most important part, indeed in occult progress. They safeguard
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: the aspirant on his upward way. Without pure motives, without
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: a large measure of unselfishness, the greatest dangers would encompass him.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: But good motives cannot take the place of good sense
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: and relieve him of the necessity of thinking. He must
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: develop judgment and discrimination. There are things he must know,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: and he must use his knowledge, or difficulties will follow,
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: no matter how noble may be his intentions. Suppose, for illustration,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: that two men set out upon a dark night to
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: cross a wild and rugged piece of ground, one with
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: bad motives and the other with good. One is going
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: out to rob a house, and if need be, to
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: kill anybody who might try to interfere with his plans.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: His motives are very bad, but he has perfect knowledge
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: of the dangerous ground he is to cross, and he
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: will therefore travel over it in safety. The other man
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: has the best of motives. He is going to spend
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: the night with a sick and helpless neighbor, but he
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: has no knowledge of the rough and treacherous ground he
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: must cross in the darkness, and his good motives will
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: not insure him against stumbling over the stones or falling
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: into a ditch and breaking his arm. Good motives are
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: not enough. We must know. Progress in occultism is impossible
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: without knowledge. But how is a keen alert intelligence to
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: be acquired if we do not possess it? Like any
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: other latent faculty or power. It may be evolved as
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: the physical strength may be steadily increased by constant exercise
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: of the muscles. Some mind may increase in power by
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: systematic work. It should be exercised in original thinking a
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: stated period, If only a quarter of an hour daily
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: can be set aside for the purpose, a book on
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: a serious subject will furnish material. But the too common
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: method of reading of following the author lazily and accepting
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: whatever he sets forth as a matter of course, is
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: of little value. One must read with discrimination, receiving the
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: ideas offered as a juryman would receive testimony from a witness,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: considering it from every possible viewpoint, examining it in the
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: light of known facts, turning it over in the mind,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: weighing it thoughtfully, and accepting or rejecting according to its
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: reason or its lack of reason. In such mental work
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: for intellectual growth. Each paragraph can be considered by itself,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: and only a small portion of the time should be
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: given to the reading, while the remainder is devoted to
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: pondering over what has been read. Of course, a specific
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: study is an advantage, and perhaps nothing is better than
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: to study occultism, thinking deeply upon the problems of human evolution.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: Another method that goes admirably with such work is the
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: close observation and study of all the life in manifestation
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: about us. We should try to comprehend people, to observe
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and understand them. Every word, act, and facial expression has
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: its meaning to be caught and interpreted. All this will
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: not only sharpen the wits, but also strength and human sympathy.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: For it enables us the better to know the difficulties
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: and sorrows of others. If such practices are followed faithfully
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: day by day, the growth will be steady. Still another
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: useful practice is to exercise the imagination, the art of
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: creating mental pictures with no physical object present. The face
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: of an absent friend can be called up in the
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: mind and reproduced in every detail, the color of the
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: eyes and hair, the various moods and expressions, or one's
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: childhood home can be recalled and the imagination made to
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: reconstruct it. The house be complete, the landscape can be
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: reproduced with the hills, trees, and roads. Repeated practice at
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: seeing mentally is of the greatest value in a cult development.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: While the aspirant is thus worse looking to improve the
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: three essential qualifications of desire, will, and intelligence, to intensify
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: his desire to possess powers for the helping of others,
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: to strengthen the will to get such powers, and to
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: steadily improve the intellect, he should also be giving most
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: earnest attention to meditation, for it is through this practice
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: that the most remarkable results may be produced in the
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: transformation of his bodies, visible and invisible, through which the
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: ego manifests itself in the physical world. In the degree
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: that these are organized and made sensitive and responsive, they
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: cease to be limitations of consciousness. Such sensitiveness and responsiveness
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: may be brought about by meditation together with proper attention
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: to the purification of the physical and astral bodies, for
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: purity and sensitiveness go together. Meditation is a subject so
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: very important to the aspirant that specific instructions should guide him.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: The average person used to the turbulent life of occidental
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: civilization will find it a sufficiently difficult matter to control
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: the mind and to finally acquire the power to direct
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: it as he desires, even with all the conditions in
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: his favor. The serene hours of mourning are the most
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: favorable of the twenty four for meditation. Regularity has a
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: magic of its own, and the hour should be the
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: same each morning. To be alone its surroundings as quiet
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: as possible is another essential. The most desirable time for
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: meditation is soon after awakening in the morning, before turning
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: the mind to any of the business affairs of the day,
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: Let these aspirants sit calmly down and meditate upon any
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: wholesome thought like patience, courage, or compassion, keeping the mind
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: steadily upon the subject for five minutes. Two very important
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: things are being accomplished by such meditation. First, we are
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: getting control of the mind and learning to direct it
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: where and how we choose. And second, we are attracting
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: and building into the bodies we possess certain grades of
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: imponderable matter that we'll make thinking and acting along these
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: lines easier and easier for us. Until they are established habits,
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: and we actually become in daily life, patient, courageous, and compassionate.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: Whatever qualities or virtues we desire to possess may be
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: gained through the art of meditation and the effort to
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: live up to the ideal dwelt upon daily by the mind.
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: While it is absolutely true that any human being can
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: make of himself that which he desires to be, can
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: literally raise himself to any ideal he is capable of conceiving,
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: it must not be supposed that it can be done
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: in a short time and by intermittent effort. We sometimes
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: hear it said that all we need to do is
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: to realize that all power is within us, when presto
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: we are the thing we would be. Tis quite true
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: that we must realize their existence before we can call
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: the latent powers into expression. But the work of arousing
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: the latent into the active is a process of growth,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: of actual evolutionary change. The physical body as it is
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: now is not sensitive enough to respond to subtle vibrations.
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: Its brain is not capable of receiving and registering the
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: delicate vibrations sent outward by the ego, and the task
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: of changing it so that it can do so. Is
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: not a trifling or easy one. But every effort produces
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: its effect, and to the persistent and patient devotee of
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: self development, the final result is certain. But it is
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: not a matter of miraculous accomplishment. It is a process
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: of inner growth. There are, it is quite true, cases
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: in which people who have entered upon this method of
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: self development have in a short time attained spiritual illumination,
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: becoming fully conscious of the invisible world and its inhabitants
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: while awake in the physical body, extending the horizon of
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: consciousness to include both worlds, and coming into possession of
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: the higher clairvoyance that enables one to trace past causes
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: and modify impending effects. But such people are those who
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: have given so much attention to self development in past
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: lives that they now have but little more to do
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: in order to come into full possession of occult powers.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it requires little more than the turning of their
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: attention to the matter. Becoming a member of the Theosophical
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: Society or seriously taking up theosophical studies is sometimes the
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: final step that leads to the opening of the inner sight.
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: But how can one know to what point he may
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: have advanced in the past, and where he now stands.
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: How may we know whether there is but a little
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: work ahead or a great deal. We cannot know, nor
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: is it in important to know. The person who should
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: take up the task merely because he thinks there is
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: little to do would certainly fail. The very fact that
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: he would not venture upon the undertaking if he thought
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: the task a difficult one is evidence that he is
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: not the qualifications necessary for the success of the occult student.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: Unless he is filled with a longing to possess greater
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: power to be used in the service of humanity, and
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: fired with an enthusiasm that would hesitate at no difficulties,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: he has not yet reached the point in his evolution
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: where he awaits only the final steps that will make
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: him a disciple. But even the absence of the keen
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: desire for spiritual progress, which is the best evidence of
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: the probability of success, should not deter anybody from entering
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: upon the systematic study of theosophy and devoting to it
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: all the time energy he can. Nor should the thought
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: that many years might pass without producing any very remarkable
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: results lead him to conclude that the undertaking would not
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: be a profitable one. The time will come with each
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: human being when he will step out of the great
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: throng that drifts with the tide and enter upon the
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: course of conscious evolution, assisting nature instead of ignoring her
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: beneficent plan. But since it is but a question of time,
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: the sooner a beginning is made, the better, for the
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: sooner will suffering cease, there should be a word of
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: warning about the folly of trying to reach spiritual illumination
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: by artificial methods. Astral Sight is sometimes quickly developed by
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: crystal gazing and also by certain regulation of the breathing.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: For two reasons, such methods should be avoided. One is
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: that any power thus gained cannot be permanent, and the
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: other is that they may be more or less dangerous.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: Many people have made physical wrecks of themselves or have
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: become insane by some of these methods. There are those
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: who advertise to quickly teach clairvoyance for a consideration, as
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: though spiritual powers could really be conferred instead of evolved.
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: It is true that efforts towards the evolution of such
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: powers may be enormously aided by teachers, but such instruction
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: cannot be bought, and the offer to furnish it for
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: money is the best evidence of its worthlessness. Those who
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: teach this ancient wisdom select their own pupils from the
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: morally fit, and tuition can be paid only in devotion
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: to truth and service to humanity. That is the only
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: road that leads to instruction worth having. And until the
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: aspirant is firmly upon that sound moral ground, he is
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: much better off without powers, the selfish use of which
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: would lead to certain disaster. But how shall the pupil
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: find the teacher? He need not find him at first,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: so far as the limited consciousness is concerned, Long before
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: he knows anything of it. In his waking hours, he
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: may be receiving instruction while he is out of the
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: physical body during the hours of sleep. The teacher finds
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: the pupil long before the pupil suspects that the teacher exists.
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: And since it is the pupil who has the limited consciousness,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: it is quite natural that it should be so. Thus
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: it is inevitable that all who enter upon the way
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: that leads to spiritual illumination must long remain ignorant of
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: the fact that any teachers are interested in them, or
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: that anybody is giving the slightest attention to them. Naturally enough,
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: one cannot know until the moment arrives when his brain
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: has become sufficiently sensitive to retain a memory of at
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: least a fragment of his superphysical experiences. But what leads
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: to the selection of the pupil his earnestness, his unselfishness,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: his devotion, his spiritual aspirations. There is an old occult
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: maxim to the effect that when the pupil is ready,
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: the master is waiting. They have need of many more
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: than are ready to be taught. Those who lead and
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: enlighten watch eagerly for all who will qualify themselves to
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: enter upon the upward way. Every human being gets exactly
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: what he fits himself to receive. He cannot possibly be
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: overlooked by his spiritual aspiration. Each lights the lamp in
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: the window of his soul, and to the watchers from
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: the heights, that light, against the background of the overwhelming
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: materiality of our times, must be as the sun in
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: a cloudless sky. Other things come later, but these simpler things.
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: To realize the necessity of conscious evolution, to comprehend the
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: method of soul development, to take full control of the
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: mind and the physical body to resolutely curb the grosser
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: desires and to give free rein to the higher aspirations
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: are the first infant steps in a self development that
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: leads to illumination. Then we begin to discover that this
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: very desire for greater spiritual power is generating a force
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: that carries us forward and upward. We soon begin to
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: observe actual progress. The brain becomes clearer, the intellect keener,
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: our sphere of influence grows wider, our friendships become warmer.
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: Aspiration lifts us into a new and radiant life, and
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: the wondrous powers of the soul begin to become a
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: conscious possession. And to this soul growth there is no limit.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: The aspirant will go on and on in this life
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: and others, with an ever extending horizon of consciousness, until
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: he has the mental grasp of a Plato, the vivid
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: imagination of a Dante, and the intuitive perception of a Shakespeare.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: It is not by the outward acquirement of facts that
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: such men become wise and great. It is by developing
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: the soul from within, until it illuminates the brain with
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: that flood of light called genius. And when through the
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: strife and storm, we finally reach the tranquility of the
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  Speaker 1: inner peace, we shall comprehend the great fact that life
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  Speaker 1: really is joy when lived in the possession of spiritual
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  Speaker 1: power and in perfect harmony with the laws of the universe.
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  Speaker 1: With even these first steps in occult achievement, the aspirant
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  Speaker 1: enters upon a higher and more satisfactory life than he
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  Speaker 1: has ever known. Literally, he becomes a new man. Gradually
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: the old desires and impulses fade away, and new and
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  Speaker 1: nobler aspirations take their place. He has learned obedience to law,
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  Speaker 1: only to find that obedience was the road to conquest.
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  Speaker 1: He has risen above the gross and sensuous by the
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  Speaker 1: power of conscious evolution, and looking back upon what he
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  Speaker 1: has been, with neither regret nor apology, he comprehends that
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  Speaker 1: significant thought of Tennyson, on stepping stones of their dead,
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  Speaker 1: sells men rise to higher things. End of Self Development
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: and the Way to Power by L. W. Rogers