Steps to Self Mastery

"To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." - Rev.2:7. "Whosoever keepeth his mouth and tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." - Prov. 21:23 Before we can hope to attain Cosmic Consciousness or Illumination we must learn self-control. SELF-CONTROL DOES NOT MEAN THE REPRESSION OF ALL NATURAL INSTINCTS, BUT RATHER THE ABILITY TO DIVERT DESTRUCTIVE THOUGHT, SPEECH AND ACTION INTO A MORE CONSTRUCTIVE FORM. Self-control means self-government. The word "govern" means to regulate, direct, manage, and to exercise authority over. To govern implies the exercise of judgment and knowledge as well. So in order to be able to control ourselves, we must acquire knowledge concerning ourselves, as well as experience to cultivate judgment. The ability to judge wisely oncerning any course of action means also to have discretion and prudence; it enables a person to discover the truth concerning himself and his problems, and helps him to discern or perceive THE RIGHT COURSE OF ACTION ACCORDING TO INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE, not that based upon INTELLECTUAL knowledge alone.

We should strive to develop ourselves on all three planes of expression: PHYSICAL, MENTAL and SPIRITUAL. To develop one of these at the expense of the other two, is to make us off balance. Witness the man of brute strength whose whole attention is given to develop the size and strength of his muscles, without due interest in brain and soul power.

Then there are those who seek for intellectuality without giving the necessary attention to the growth of the soul. This course leads to egotism and the separation from the Source of his Being. INTUITION IS HIGHER THAN REASON, being an attribute of the soul; while reason is a mental faculty which enables man to deduce inferences from facts. These facts are acquired by his five senses, which at best, are limited in operation, from observations on the objective plane, therefore his deductions concerning life are not conclusive evidence of truth, which is the eternal principle of right.

Those who have over-developed intellects usually have weak bodies, especially if the spiritual side of the nature has been neglected, for the CULTIVATION OF TRUE SPIRITUALITY (not mere religious form) CAUSES AN INFLUX OF VITALITY WHICH RESULTS IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BODY, MIND AND SOUL. On the other hand, there are those who seek only for spiritual progress neglecting their bodies and mental development. You have no doubt read of those in the Far East who go to the extreme of mutilating their bodies and torturing their minds in order to gain spiritual grace, as they believe.

We should avoid extremes and seek only for uniformity of growth on all three planes of expression. Most of us lack soul expression more than the other two mentioned. You must study your own case and by comparison and discrimination learn just where you are lacking and give more attention to strengthening these weak points. Probably the most difficult thing you will have to do in learning self-mastery will be to control your "unruly member", the tongue. To be the one to end an argument by silencing the retort which is on your lips is a difficult task, but it can be done. "Blessed are the peace makers." Self-mastery can only be accomplished by steps and stages. Do the best you can today, tomorrow you will do better. THE NEXT STEP IS THE ONLY ONE THAT NEED CONCERN YOU.

If an engineer, about to build a giant bridge, SHOULD THINK OF THE GREAT TASK AS A WHOLE, he would be very apt to become discouraged, and give up the attempt. But he doesn't. He knows that if each consecutive step is taken correctly, the finished product will be what the blueprint calls for. Just so you. LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE NEXT STEP. PUT ALL YOUR ATTENTION ON PERFORMING THAT STEP AS WELL AS YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO IT. Do not become discouraged at the seeming immensity of the undertaking. GOD HAS YOUR BLUEPRINT, AND IS GUIDING YOU ACCORDING TO IT.

TRANSMUTING THE MORTAL INTO THE DIVINE In going about the business of uncovering our real Selves and learning to express them, it is necessary for us to recognize that we're in the circumstances in life in which we find ourselves as a result of laws set in motion by our own mental operation - eternal laws of cause and effect. We should realize that no other personal set of circumstances are responsible for our troubles, and now with this better understanding we can put into operation higher causes that will result in effects more to our liking. IF WE HAVE NOT USED OUR GOD-GIVEN PREROGATIVE OF RULING OUR OWN LIFE IN THE PAST, WE CAN BEGIN NOW, RIGHT WHERE WE ARE. There is a saying to the effect that until we learn to control our own minds, someone else will do it for us.

In order to become masters of our lives we must make ourselves completely over. We must unify the mortal consciousness with the divine consciousness, or God in us, by giving up the mortal ideas and beliefs where they conflict with Eternal Verities, or Truth. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," as the Master said, which means that the human cannot have a different purpose from God's purpose without creating in harmony and disease in the body and environments. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26) If we work in cooperation with God, we can accomplish things that would be impossible to the mortal man alone.

"Well", someone says, "I am just like my grandfather on my mother's side of the family. He had a terrible temper if things did not go to suit him. I have inherited this temper and so I cannot help myself." This is one of those deceptive mortal beliefs that we must put to rout if we would come into our divine inheritance of oneness with God. It makes no difference if it is a bad temper or some other destructive habit, it can be changed and lifted up if the individual so afflicted (according to human sense) will ask God's help and then keep on making effort to control himself. God will help that one if he is really sincere about overcoming it.

If we had the right understanding of what temper is, the mastery of it would not seem so difficult. Temper is wrongly directed power, or uncontrolled force. We can be likened to an automobile engine; and we should use our power for some constructive purpose, as the engine does when it is pulling the car. If we find ourselves having a tantrum we may know that our power is misdirected, or not under control and is working destructively or wasting. This is equivalent to the back-fire when too much power is released. Stop back-firing and losing your power, find the right or constructive occupation, something you like to do , and put all your power into that. The idea back of a tantrum is that you believe that some circumstance or person's preventing you from having your own way. Realize that with God in you, you have all power to carry out the Divine Plan of your life in God's way (which is the only satisfactory way), and you will soon wake up to the fact that grandfather's temper, or any other habit, does not belong to you, ONLY AS YOU HANG ON TO IT AND CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN.

It may take some time to make yourself over, but it depends entirely upon the amount of determination and stick-to-it-iveness you exert. We can attack undesirable habits, one by one, and they will gradually drop out of experience. When i say ATTACK THEM I do not mean face them and simply use will-power to rout them. NO! WE HAVE TO USE MANEUVERS, LIKE THE GENERAL IN THE ARMY. If we try to rid ourselves of them by will-power alone, they loom up larger in our consciousness and we only defeat our own ends.

TRUTH OVERCOMES ERROR

"Not by might, nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord of Hosts"

These maneuver's which we must use to overcome error of any kind, such as sickness, bad habits, unhappy mind, financial problems, and so forth, must be overcome by the use of Truth. Truth is light and dispels the darkness of evil or error when we turn it on our problem.

We must do as David did when he killed Goliath. If he had tried to attack the giant with his own weapons, he would surely have been killed. IN stead, what did David do? He stooped down and picked up a few pebbles our of the brook and put them into a sling. Those pebbles represent the Truth. We, too, MUST SELECT SOME STATEMENT OF TRUTH, THOSE WHICH MOST NEARLY FIT OUR CASE; and by affirming them often, or by suggesting to ourselves the perfect pattern of what we desire to become a reality in our lives, we can with God's help, overcome any difficulty, or undesirable habit, no matter how big a giant it may seem to us. Will-power, of course, has its place in helping us to keep eternally at our task of overcoming, BUT WILL-POWER SHOULD NEVER BE USED ON ANYONE BUT OURSELVES to control our own thoughts, speech and actions.

The Real Self of us is God in us, and from that premise we can overcome any difficulty. We are like a dual personality; the real Self being like Dr. Jekyll, and the unreal or mortal self is like the Mr. Hyde in Stevenson's story. In order to change ourselves and the conditions around us, we must start with our own consciousness. THE WITHIN BEING THE ROOT OF THE WITHOUT, we must make up our minds whom we will serve, the Dr. Jekyll (the higher self) or the Mr. Hyde (the carnal mind) side of us. If we devote all our efforts to becoming Dr. Jekyll, or the highest ideal of ourselves that we can conceive, the hold that Mr. Hyde has over us will gradually diminish, and pass out of our experience, leaving only the Divine.

We can have our choice, we can be like the man in the story and show to the world, sometimes one side of our character, and sometimes the other, OR WE CAN AIM TO EXPRESS THE HIGHEST OF OURSELVES ALL THE TIME. This is all there is to the so-called good and bad characters that fill this world; simply that all are not living up to the best in themselves. Sometime, sooner or later, we must all express the perfection that God intended we should. WITH GOD'S HELP WE CAN BE WHAT WE DECIDE AND DETERMINE TO BE!

We are here on this earth to get experience and to make the most of ourselves with the material that we have. If we use it to advantage, we will be given more -as much more as we can use. Are you making the best use of the materials and conditions that you have on hand? If so, your health, peace and circumstances will improve accordingly. You are in direct connection with the Source of all supply of life, love, wisdom and power, which is God in you, or your Real Self. You must first recognize this to be so, THEN ACT ON IT! STAND ERECT AND ASPIRE UPWARDS! LIFT YOUR HEART TO YOUR LOVING CREATOR IN JOYFUL THANKSGIVING FOR THE DIVINE SPARK OF HIM THAT IS IN YOU, THAT YOU ARE GOING TO FAN INTO A HOLY FLAME. This flame will consume all traces of Mr. Hyde in time, according to the amount of fanning", or interest and effort you give to the process of developing your greater Self.

Forget your past mistakes. Mistakes are only misunderstandings of what was expected of us - begin anew today. In reality, there are no mistakes, simply the operation of the LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, the reaping of what we have sown. Select your seeds the results will correspond. Do not give too much attention to your faults, or those of others, they are transitory. Give most of your attention to the expression of the good that is partly latent within you. Your faults will be crowded out accordingly as you develop your Dr. Jekyll side, there will be less room for the Mr. Hyde.

Recognize the Divine Spark in others also. Remember the other fellow is probably doing the best he can with the materials HE has, so be lenient in your judgment of him. Perhaps he does not know that with in him are the qualities of a potential God. Let us show him by our example that this is so. EXAMPLE IS SO MUCH MORE POTENT THAN WORDS. "He that findeth his life shall lose it:; and he that loseth his life for my sake , shall find it." (Matt. 10:39)

This passage of Scripture refers to losing the mortal consciousness or consciousness of evil, which is necessary before we can find unity with God-Mind. Those of you who are suffering on account of trying to live the Christ Principles, keep right on overcoming, and you will in time enter into your reward, for:

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him ." (I Cor. :9) Not in the hereafter, but HERE, NOW, as soon as you have learned the last lesson connected with the overcoming of the mortal consciousness. There is joy, happiness, prosperity and peace waiting for you. CLAIM IT NOW, and when you can truly say, "Father, Thy will, not mine, be done", you have come to the turning point of your life. FORGIVENESS A HEALING AGENT

Forgiveness (of ourselves as well as of others) is perhaps one of the greatest factors in effecting our reconciliation of God, and thus establishing a connecting link in our consciousness. This opens the way for healing currents to flow into our bodies and soothe and reconstruct them.

If we cannot forgive, then for every person from whom we hold back our love, there is a place in our hearts and lives where we will not allow God to come. We are shutting Him out, and unless we open these channels for love, peace and harmony to flow through, we need not be surprised if we suffer from lack, or illness, or some other kind of discord. "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the Publicans do the same?" (Matt. 5:46)

An attitude of faith also establishes an open circuit to our loving Father-Mother. Faith inspires hope, and hope brings peace and patience. When a person keeps calm and cool in an emergency, he is inspired with just the right thing to do, because by his attitude of faith, he allows God to express through him.

Contrariwise, the person who gets excited closes the circuit to God, or his good, and so is not the master of the situation. Of ourselves we do nothing. IT IS THE FATHER WITHIN WHO DOETH HIS WORKS. Faith creates optimism. Let us get into the habit of looking on the bright side of things, EXPECTING ONLY THE GOOD. You know these old axioms, "Never trouble trouble 'till trouble troubles you" and "Never cross a bridge until They are both good ideas to follow, because they help us to keep cheerful and happy, which is only another way of letting God shine through us.

MEDITATIVE PRAYER