Part 2 (1/2)
Let us begin by considering the thoughts more closely connected with the body, and then work up to the higher mental states.
The sensations of the body, such as hunger; thirst; pain; pleasurable sensations; physical desires, etc., etc., are not apt to be mistaken for essential qualities of the ”I” by many of the Candidates, for they have pa.s.sed beyond this stage, and have learned to set aside these sensations, to a greater or lesser extent, by an effort of the Will, and are no longer slaves to them. Not that they do not experience these sensations, but they have grown to regard them as incidents of the physical life--good in their place--but useful to the advanced man only when he has mastered them to the extent that he no longer regards them as close to the ”I.” And yet, to some people, these sensations are so closely identified with their conception of the ”I” that when they think of themselves they think merely of a bundle of these sensations. They are not able to set them aside and consider them as things apart, to be used when necessary and proper, but as things not fastened to the ”I.” The more advanced a man becomes the farther off seem these sensations. Not that he does not feel hungry, for instance. Not at all, for he recognizes hunger, and satisfies it within reason, knowing that his physical body is making demands for attention, and that these demands should be heeded.
But--mark the difference--instead of feeling that the ”_I_” is hungry the man feels that ”_my body_” is hungry, just as he might become conscious that his horse or dog was crying for food insistently. Do you see what we mean? It is that the man no longer identifies himself--the ”I”--with the body, consequently the thoughts which are most closely allied to the physical life seem comparatively ”separate” from his ”I” conception. Such a man thinks ”my stomach, this,” or ”my leg, that,” or ”my body, thus,”
instead of ”'I,' this,” or ”'I' that.” He is able, almost automatically, to think of the body and its sensations as things _of_ him, and _belonging to_ him, which require attention and care, rather than as real parts of the ”I.” He is able to form a conception of the ”I” as existing without any of these things--without the body and its sensations--and so he has taken the first step in the realization of the ”I.”
Before going on, we ask the students to stop a few moments, and mentally run over these sensations of the body. Form a mental image of them, and realize that they are merely incidents to the present stage of growth and experience of the ”I,” and that they form no real part of it. They may, and will be, left behind in the Ego's higher planes of advancement. You may have attained this mental conception perfectly, long since, but we ask that to give yourself the mental drill at this time, in order to fasten upon your mind this first step.
In realizing that you are able to set aside, mentally, these sensations--that you are able to hold them out at arm's length and ”consider” them as an ”outside” thing, you mentally determine that they are ”not I” things, and you set them down in the ”not I” collection--the first to be placed there. Let us try to make this still plainer, even at the risk of wearying you by repet.i.tions (for you must get this idea firmly fixed in your mind). To be able to say that a thing is ”not I,”
you must realize that there are two things in question (1) the ”not I”
thing, and (2) the ”I” who is regarding the ”not I” thing just as the ”I”
regards a lump of sugar, or a mountain. Do you see what we mean? Keep at it until you do.
Next, consider some of the emotions, such as anger; hate; love, in its ordinary forms; jealousy; ambition; and the hundred and one other emotions that sweep through our brains. You will find that you are able to set each one of these emotions or feelings aside and study it; dissect it; a.n.a.lyze it; consider it. You will be able to understand the rise, progress and end of each of these feelings, as they have come to you, and as you recall them in your memory or imagination, just as readily as you would were you observing their occurrence in the mind of a friend. You will find them all stored away in some parts of your mental make-up, and you may (to use a modern American slang phrase) ”make them trot before you, and show their paces.” Don't you see that they are not ”You”--that they are merely something that you carry around with you in a mental bag.
You can imagine yourself as living without them, and still being ”I,” can you not?
And the very fact that you are able to set them aside and examine and consider them is a proof that they are ”not I” things--for there are two things in the matter (1) _You_ who are examining and considering them, and (2) the thing itself which is the _object_ of the examination and consideration at mental arm's length. So into the ”not I” collection go these emotions, desirable and undesirable. The collection is steadily growing, and will attain quite formidable proportions after a while.
Now, do not imagine that this is a lesson designed to teach you how to discard these emotions, although if it enables you to get rid of the undesirable ones, so much the better. This is not our object, for we bid you place the desirable (at this time) ones in with the opposite kind, the idea being to bring you to a realization that the ”I” is higher, above and independent of these mental somethings, and then when you have realized the nature of the ”I,” you may return and use (as a Master) the things that have been using you as a slave. So do not be afraid to throw these emotions (good and bad) into the ”not I” collection. You may go back to them, and use the good ones, after the Mental Drill is over. No matter how much you may think that you are bound by any of these emotions, you will realize, by careful a.n.a.lysis, that it is of the ”not I” kind, for the ”I” existed before the emotion came into active play, and it will live long after the emotion has faded away. The princ.i.p.al proof is that you are able to hold it out at arm's length and examine it--a proof that it is ”not I.”
Run through the entire list of your feelings; emotions; moods; and what not, just as you would those of a well-known friend or relative, and you will see that each one--every one--is a ”not I” thing, and you will lay it aside for the time, for the purpose of the scientific experiment, at least.
Then pa.s.sing on to the Intellect, you will be able to hold out for examination each mental process and principle. You don't believe it, you may say. Then read and study some good work on Psychology, and you will learn to dissect and a.n.a.lyze every intellectual process--and to cla.s.sify it and place it in the proper pigeon-hole. Study Psychology by means of some good text-book, and you will find that one by one every intellectual process is cla.s.sified, and talked about and labeled, just as you would a collection of flowers. If that does not satisfy you, turn the leaves of some work on Logic, and you will admit that you may hold these intellectual processes at arm's length and examine them, and talk about them to others. So that these wonderful tools of Man--the Intellectual powers may be placed in the ”not I” collection, for the ”I” is capable of standing aside and viewing them--it is able to detach them from itself.
The most remarkable thing about this is that in admitting this fact, you realize that the ”I” is using these very intellectual faculties to pa.s.s upon themselves. Who is the Master that compels these faculties to do this to themselves? The Master of the Mind--The ”I.”
And reaching the higher regions of the mind--even the Spiritual Mind, you will be compelled to admit that the things that have come into consciousness from that region may be considered and studied, just as may be any other mental thing, and so even these high things must be placed in the ”not I” collection. You may object that this does not prove that all the things in the Spiritual Mind may be so treated--that there may be ”I” things there that can not be so treated. We will not discuss this question, for you know nothing about the Spiritual Mind except as it has revealed itself to you, and the higher regions of that mind are like the mind of a G.o.d, when compared to what _you_ call mind. But the evidence of the Illumined--those in whom the Spiritual Mind has wonderfully unfolded tell us that even in the highest forms of development, the Initiates, yea, even the Masters, realize that above even their highest mental states there is always that eternal ”I” brooding over them, as the Sun over the lake; and that the highest conception of the ”I” known even to advanced souls, is but a faint reflection of the ”I” filtering through the Spiritual Mind, although that Spiritual Mind is as clear as the clearest crystal when compared with our comparatively opaque mental states. And the highest mental state is but a tool or instrument of the ”I,” and is not the ”I” itself.
And yet the ”I” is to be found in the faintest forms of consciousness, and animates even the unconscious life. The ”I” is always the same, but its apparent growth is the result of the mental unfoldment of the individual. As we described it in one of the lessons of the ”_Advanced Course_” it is like an electric lamp that is encased in many wrappings of cloth. As cloth after cloth is removed, the light seems to grow brighter and stronger, and yet it has changed not, the change being in the removal of the confining and bedimming coverings. We do not expect to make you realize the ”I” in all its fullness--that is far beyond the highest known to man of to-day--but we do hope to bring you to a realization of the highest conception of the ”I,” possible to each of you in your present stage of unfoldment, and in the process we expect to cause to drop from you some of the confining sheaths that you have about outgrown. The sheaths are ready for dropping, and all that is required is the touch of a friendly hand to cause them to fall fluttering from you. We wish to bring you to the fullest possible (to you) realization of the ”I,” in order to make an Individual of you--in order that you may understand, and have courage to take up the tools and instruments lying at your hand, and do the work before you.
And now, back to the Mental Drill. After you have satisfied yourself that about everything that you are capable of thinking about is a ”not I”
thing--a tool and instrument for your use--you will ask, ”And now, what is there left that should not be thrown in the ”not I” collection.” To this question we answer ”THE 'I' ITSELF.” And when you demand a proof we say, ”Try to set aside the 'I' for consideration!” You may try from now until the pa.s.sing away of infinities of infinities, and you will never be able to set aside the real ”I” for consideration. You may think you can, but a little reflection will show you that you are merely setting aside some of your mental qualities or faculties. And in this process what is the ”I” doing? Simply setting aside and considering things. Can you not see that the ”I” cannot be both the _considerer_ and the thing considered--the _examiner_ and the thing examined? Can the sun s.h.i.+ne upon itself by its own light? You may consider the ”I” of some other person, but it is _your_ ”I” that is considering. But you cannot, as an ”I,” stand aside and see yourself as an ”I.” Then what evidence have we that there is an ”I” to us? This: that you are always conscious of being the considerer and examiner, instead of the considered and examined thing--and then, you have the evidence of your consciousness.
And what report does this consciousness give us? Simply this, and nothing more: ”I AM.” That is all that the ”I” is conscious of, regarding its true self: ”I AM,” but that consciousness is worth all the rest, for the rest is but ”not I” tools that the ”I” may reach out and use.
And so at the final a.n.a.lysis, you will find that there is something that refuses to be set aside and examined by the ”I.” And that something is the ”I” itself--that ”I” eternal, unchangeable--that drop of the Great Spirit Ocean--that spark from the Sacred Flame.
Just as you find it impossible to imagine the ”I” as dead, so will you find it impossible to set aside the ”I” for consideration--all that comes to you is the testimony: ”I AM.”
If you were able to set aside the ”I” for consideration, who would be the one to consider it? Who could consider except the ”I” itself, and if it be _here_, how could it be _there?_ The ”I” cannot be the ”not I” even in the wildest flights of the imagination--the imagination with all its boasted freedom and power, confesses itself vanquished when asked to do this thing.
Oh, students, may you be brought to a realization of what you are. May you soon awaken to the fact that you are sleeping G.o.ds--that you have within you the power of the Universe, awaiting your word to manifest in action. Long ages have you toiled to get this far, and long must you travel before you reach even the first Great Temple, but you are now entering into the conscious stage of Spiritual Evolution. No longer will your eyes be closed as you walk the Path. From now on you will begin to see clearer and clearer each step, in the dawning light of consciousness.
You are in touch with all of life, and the separation of your ”I” from the great Universal ”I” is but apparent and temporary. We will tell you of these things in our Third Lesson, but before you can grasp that you must develop the ”I” consciousness within you. Do not lay aside this matter as one of no importance. Do not dismiss our weak explanation as being ”merely words, words, words,” as so many are inclined to do. We are pointing out a great truth to you. Why not follow the leadings of the Spirit which even now--this moment while you read--is urging you to walk The Path of Attainment? Consider the teachings of this lesson, and practice the Mental Drill until your mind has grasped its significance, then let it sink deep down into your inner consciousness. Then will you be ready for the next lessons, and those to follow.
Practice this Mental Drill until you are fully a.s.sured of the _reality_ of the ”I” and the _relativity_ of the ”not ”I” in the mind. When you once grasp this truth, you will find that you will be able to use the mind with far greater power and effect, for you will recognize that it is your tool and instrument, fitted and intended to do your bidding. You will be able to master your moods, and emotions when necessary, and will rise from the position of a slave to a Master.
Our words seem cheap and poor, when we consider the greatness of the truth that we are endeavoring to convey by means of them. For who can find words to express the inexpressible? All that we may hope to do is to awaken a keen interest and attention on your part, so that you will practice the Mental Drill, and thus obtain the evidence of your own mentality to the truth. Truth is not truth to you until you have proven it in your own experience, and once so proven you cannot be robbed of it, nor can it be argued away from you.
You must realize that in every mental effort You--the ”I”--are behind it.