Knowledge gives power. Power controls. Man stands for inner perfection. Our character is the sum-total of our inner unfoldment. What is unfoldment? I told you in my paper on Spiritual Unfoldment of the different bodies of Man and how the right control and culture of each body would enable the light of the Spirit to stream forth to the objective plane of existence in all its pure radiance. Here is a beautiful illustration. Take a small but strong, electric light bulb wrapped around which are many pieces of cloth. Suppose further that the electric light in the glass bulb is the Spirit shot into the Spiritual Consciousness in and through which the Spirit can shine out without the least obstruction and with a minimum of resistance. Remember the Light is the spirit and the glass bulb is the thin veil of brilliant mind—substance known as the spiritual mind. The piece of cloth immediately next to the glass bulb is very fine and the light pierces it through. The piece of cloth next to this one is a little less fine and receives a little less of the light. Thus each piece of cloth as you go lower and lower is less fine than the one immediately next above it till at last you come to the Let us in this paper confine ourselves to (a) Habit-control, (b) thought-control and (c) self-control. I have already spoken to you, in full of thought-control in a preceding paper. I advise you strongly to master and apply the principles laid down in that lesson conjointly with what little I succeed in giving you Habit or automatism compels all organized life. Habit is a rhythm established by the Will. Now the former is Static. It works along sub-conscious lines of mentation. If you lift the brain-cap of man, you would see the belt of glowing and phosphorescent brain-substance physiologically known as the Corpus Callosum—this is the organic base of consciousness for the operation of mental energy. The finer the matter, the greater, the more powerful its vibrant force. This matter is constantly in motion, that is it ever vibrates. Habit is a mode of motion. It is the same pitch of vibration repeating itself. The action of the Will is dynamic. When a man thinks concentratedly for some length of time upon some resolve, deep vortices are formed in the brain-substance. To these vortices the Will communicates a certain wave—motion which continues till the force which gave it the initial impulse exhausts itself. The stronger the will, the greater the wave-length and the more lasting its action and the deeper and more intensely active the vortices. You know how tenacious human nature is of habits. It cannot but be so. Your thoughts create these vortices. Your actions deepen them. Repeat the initiatory impulse and the Law of automatism will take it up permanently Professor Elmer Gates of Chevy Chase, the great American Experimenter in the new science of Psycho-Physics, who has been conducting experiments in an elaborate laboratory through complicated apparatus for measuring the sensations and emotions of man is of the opinion—and this opinion is endorsed by D. Carpenter in his grand work on Human Physiology and many other leading investigators on the subject—that every conscious mental activity creates in some part of the brain a definite chemical and anatomical structure; that mind-activity creates organic structure; that one essential condition of remembrance is the refunctioning of the structure which was originally created by the conscious experience which we remember; that organisms are mind-embodiments; that there is an art of brain-building and mind-embodiment whereby individuals can get more mind; that evil emotions create poisonous chemical products in the cells and juices of the body; that there is an art of promoting originative mentation, consciously and subconsciously; that immoral dispositions Remember this: All instinctive action is the continual and automatic swing of motion at first initiated by the Will and later on established on a permanent basis by continued repetition. This rhythm, if improperly and unwisely initiated can be swung on to a new line or can be disturbed. The will which started the motion can assuredly call it back by starting an opposite set of vibrations, which are finer and more powerful and bring about an equilibrium of forces and, by the furtherCHARACTER-BUILDING.
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:
He thinks in secret and it comes to pass;
"Environment is but his looking-glass."
We build our future, thought by thought,
Or good or bad, and know it not
Yet so the universe is wrought,
Thought is another name for Fate
Choose then thy destiny, and wait
For Love brings Love, and Hate brings Hate—
Again: All that we are is the result of thought.
Lord Buddha: "The Dhammapada."
Now if you would control your habits, you must begin by forming Positive Decisions and then act them out. For instance, if you want to correct yourself of Fearfulness and Nervousness, sit quietly and repeat to yourself in all earnestness, "I resolve to drive out of my brain all fear thoughts. I will not permit them to come in. I am master. I am Brave. I am perfectly fearless.
Repeat this to yourself earnestly, concentratedly and positively. Insist upon immediate mastery. Say "I will conquer, this moment, this very moment," and set up the Strong Present tense. This is a most important fact to remember. When you sit down to concentrate, relax all over, breathe deeply and gently, and let your mind dwell exclusively upon these thoughts. Then gradually wind up your brain to a state of inner tension. Do not contract your brows. Do not clench your fists. Do not make any physical movement at all. Let the body rest in quiet repose. Let the mind be alertly poised. Set the teeth together quietly for the lock of the jaws is the seat of the will-force, but do not grind and gnash them. Simply close your eyes and shut out of your mental vision all the external world. Retire into yourself mentally. Draw inwards. As the mind becomes tense, the body naturally follows suit. But this is not right. You should "break off" from time to time and then begin again. Soon the body shall be taught to lie quiescent while the brain is intensely active. Concentrate twice every day at the same hour. Soon the Law of Periodicity will set in and lead you into your room for your concentration exercise although you might have forgotten it. Be rigid in these matters. When you have once begun, do not be overcome by initial failures and your lapses into former states of mind. The new form of vibrations must adjust Hold firmly in your mind the particular thought which you would embody in yourself, during the time you are nourishing your body and at least an hour afterwards. This will liberate certain finer forces from the food and nourish particular brain-centres that you are building up. Do the same when walking in fresh air and when having physical exercise. This will deepen the thought-channels in the brain. Remember, at first there will be resistance from the lower brain-centres, but as the higher centres develop they will take absolute control. Go on. Stop not; you must build up a new brain in which the higher centres will control the lower ones and this process of Brain-transformation has to be done. It is very painful, but now that you know these things, and see the absolute necessity of setting about the task, it is no use getting impatient. The following lines from To effect our purpose we should not hesitate to avail ourselves of the help to be had from any of the facilities at command. In a particular emergency all we lack may be the inspiration which shall drive us to triumph. Our greatest trouble arises from the tendency of the human (lower) mind to dwell upon failure rather than Success. We lose confidence in our ability to accomplish because we ourselves or some one else has met with failure, and it becomes necessary to churn up all our emotional energies to carry us past the sticking point. The best of us are not using a tittle of the powers which we really possess. Compared with what we ought to be,
