{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13142/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13142","id":"gutenberg_13142","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13142","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Theosophy"],"text":"SELF-DEVELOPMENT AND THE WAY TO POWER\n\nby\n\nL. W. ROGERS\n\nPrice 25 Cents\n\n1922\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\"We may be either the suffering slaves of nature or the happy masters\nof her laws.\"\n\n\n\n\nSELF DEVELOPMENT AND THE WAY TO POWER\n\n\nIt is the natural right of every human being to be happy--to escape\nall the miseries of life. Happiness is the normal condition, as\nnatural as the landscapes and the seasons. It is unnatural to suffer\nand it is only because of our ignorance that we do suffer. Happiness\nis the product of wisdom. To attain perfect wisdom, to comprehend\nfully the purpose of life, to realize completely the relationship of\nhuman beings to each other, is to put an end to all suffering, to\nescape every ill and evil that afflicts us. Perfect wisdom is\nunshadowed joy.\n\nWhy do we suffer in life? Because in the scheme of nature we are being\nforced forward in evolution and we lack the spiritual illumination\nthat alone can light the way and enable us to move safely among the\nobstacles that lie before us. Usually we do not even see or suspect\nthe presence of trouble until it suddenly leaps upon us like a\nconcealed tiger. One day our family circle is complete and happy. A\nweek later death has come and gone and joy is replaced with agony.\nToday we have a friend. Tomorrow he will be an enemy and we do not\nknow why. A little while ago we had wealth and all material luxuries.\nThere was a sudden change and now we have only poverty and misery and\nyet we seek in vain for a reason why this should be. There was a time\nwhen we had health and strength; but they have both departed and no\ntrace of a reason appears. Aside from these greater tragedies of life\ninnumerable things of lesser consequence continually bring to us\nlittle miseries and minor heartaches. We most earnestly desire to\navoid them but we never see them until they strike us, until in the\ndarkness of our ignorance we blunder upon them. The thing we lack is\nthe spiritual illumination that will enable us to look far and wide,\nfinding the hidden causes of human suffering and revealing the method\nby which they may be avoided; and if we can but reach illumination the\nevolutionary journey can be made both comfortably and swiftly. It is\nas though we must pass through a long, dark room filled with furniture\npromiscuously scattered about. In the darkness our progress would be\nslow and painful and our bruises many. But if we could press a button\nthat would turn on the electric light we could then make the same\njourney quickly and with perfect safety and comfort.\n\nThe old method of education was to store the mind with as many facts,\nor supposed facts, as could be accumulated and to give a certain\nexterior polish to the personality. The theory was that when a man was\nborn he was a completed human being and that all that could be done\nfor him was to load him up with information that would be used with\nmore or less skill, according to the native ability he happened to be\nborn with. The theosophical idea is that the physical man, and all\nthat constitutes his life in the physical world, is but a very partial\nexpression of the self; that in the ego of each there is practically\nunlimited power and wisdom; that these may be brought through into\nexpression in the physical world as the physical body and its\ninvisible counterparts, which together constitute the complex vehicle\nof the ego's manifestation, are evolved and adapted to the purpose;\nand that in exact proportion that conscious effort is given to such\nself-development will spiritual illumination be achieved and wisdom\nattained. Thus the light that leads to happiness is kindled from\nwithin and the evolutionary journey that all are making may be robbed\nof its suffering.\n\nWhy does death bring misery? Chiefly because it separates us from\nthose we love. But when we have evolved the faculty of clairvoyance,\nin our work of self-development, the separation vanishes and our\n\"dead\" friends are as much with us as the living. The only other\nreason why death brings grief or fear is because we do not understand\nit and comprehend the part it plays in human evolution. But the moment\nour ignorance gives way to comprehension such fear vanishes and a\nserene happiness takes its place.\n\nWhy do we have enemies from whose words or acts we suffer? Because in\nour limited physical consciousness we do not perceive the unity of all\nlife and realize that our wrong thinking and doing must react upon us\nthrough other people--a situation from which there is no possible\nescape except through ceasing to think evil and then patiently\nawaiting the time when the causes we have already generated are fully\nexhausted. When spiritual illumination comes, and we no longer stumble\nin the night of ignorance, the last enemy will disappear and we shall\nmake no more forever.\n\nWhy do people suffer from poverty and disease? Only because of our\nblundering ignorance that makes their existence possible for us, and\nbecause we do not comprehend their meaning and their lessons, nor know\nthe attitude to assume toward them. Had we but the wisdom to\nunderstand why they come to people, why they are necessary factors in\ntheir evolution, they would trouble us no longer. When nature's lesson\nis fully learned these mute teachers will vanish.\n\nAnd so it is with all forms of suffering we experience. They are at\nonce reactions from our ignorant blunderings and instructors that\npoint out the better way. When we have comprehended the lessons they\nteach they are no longer necessary and disappear.\n\nThus our evolution is going forward and has gone forward in the past.\nWe know that the human race has passed through a long evolution during\nwhich it has acquired five senses by which knowledge is gained. Nobody\nwho has given thought to the subject will make the mistake of\nsupposing that this evolution is completed and that the five senses\nare all we shall ever possess.\n\nIn this long evolutionary journey the next thing we shall do is to\ndevelop the sixth sense. Some people have already done so and all are\napproaching it. This dawning sense is called clairvoyance. Fair\ninvestigation will show that the clairvoyant possesses certain powers\nnot common to the majority of people. This is merely the beginning of\nthe development of the sixth sense, and probably with the majority of\nclairvoyants it goes no further than etheric and lower astral sight.\nIn other words, they are able to raise the consciousness only to a\ngrade of matter a little beyond the grasp of ordinary vision, while\nthe properly developed, trained clairvoyant raises his consciousness\ntwo full planes beyond.\n\nThe higher the consciousness is raised the further the horizon of\nknowledge extends and the clairvoyant is able to hand down information\nthat appears quite miraculous; but it is perfectly natural. If a\ncertain person were born blind and had never understood any more about\neyesight than most people understand about clairvoyance; if this\nperson could know how many doorways were in a large building only by\ngroping along with his hands and thus acquiring the knowledge by\ntouch, and another person who could see should glance along the block\nand instantly tell the blind man the correct number, that would be to\nthe blind man a miracle. Now, when a clairvoyant sees things at a\ndistance where the physical eye cannot reach he really does nothing\nmore remarkable. When we see a thing we receive the vibrations caused\nby light. That gives the information. When the clairvoyant \"sees\" at a\ndistance through what we mistakenly call solid substances he receives\nvibrations of matter so fine that it interpenetrates solids as the\nether does.\n\nEvery human being must make, and is making, this long evolutionary\njourney from spiritual infancy to godlike power and perfection, but\nthere are two ways in which it may be done. We may, as the vast\nmajority do, accept the process of unconscious evolution and submit to\nnature's whip and spur that continuously urge the thoughtless and\nindifferent forward until they finally reach the goal. Or, we may\nchoose conscious evolution and work intelligently with nature, thus\nmaking progress that is comparatively of enormous rapidity and at the\nsame time avoid much of what Hamlet called the \"slings and arrows of\noutrageous fortune.\"\n\nThe degree to which mind can control circumstances and dominate matter\nis far greater than is generally believed. Our impressions about\nmatter are very illusory. No form of matter is permanent. Change goes\non everywhere at every instant, by physical laws in the physical body\nand by astral and mental laws in our invisible bodies. We are not the\nsame being, physically, mentally or spiritually, any two days in\nsuccession. The very soul itself is subject to this law of change. It\nmay expand and shine out through the physical organism resplendent, or\nit may only faintly glimmer through a constantly coarsening body.\n\nWhat is the law of soul growth? Through adherence to what principle\nmay we reach spiritual illumination? There are certain well\nestablished facts about the laws of growth that we should not overlook\nwhen seeking the way forward. Nothing whatever can grow without use,\nwithout activity. Inaction causes atrophy. Physiologists tell us that\nif the arm be tied to the body so that it cannot be used it will in\ntime become so enfeebled, that it is of no further service. It will\nwither away. That is nature's law of economy. She never gives life\nwhere it is useless, where it can not, or will not, be utilized. On\nthe other hand, exercise increases power. To increase the size and\nstrength of muscles we must use them. This is just as true of mental\nand moral faculties as it is of the physical body. The only way to\nmake the brain keen and powerful is to exercise it by original\nthinking. One way to gain soul powers is to give free play to the\nloftiest aspirations of which we are capable, and to do it\nsystematically instead of at random. We grow to be like the things we\nthink about. Now, the reverse of all this must be equally true. To\ngive no thought to higher things, to become completely absorbed in\nmaterial affairs, is to stifle the soul, to invite spiritual atrophy.\n\nTurning our attention to nature we shall find in the parasite\nconvincing proof of all this. The parasite, whether plant or animal,\nis living evidence that to refuse or neglect to use an organ or\nfaculty results in being deprived of it. The dodder, says Drummond,\nhas roots like other plants, but when it fixes sucker discs on the\nbranches of neighboring plants and begins to get its food through\nthem, its roots perish. When it fails to use them it loses them. He\nalso points to the hermit-crab as an illustration of this great fact\nin nature, that disuse means loss, and that to shirk responsibility is\nthe road to degeneration. The hermit-crab was once equipped with a\nhard shell and with as good means of locomotion as other crabs. But\ninstead of courageously following the hardy life of other crustaceans\nit formed the bad habit of taking up its residence in the cast-off\nshells of mollusks. This made life easy and indolent. But it paid the\nprice of all shirking. In time it lost four legs, while the shell over\nthe vital portion of its body degenerated to a thin membrane which\nleaves it practically helpless when it is out of its captured home.\nAnd this is the certain result of all shirking of responsibility.\nThere may be an apparent temporary gain, but it always means greater\nloss, either immediate or remote. So nature punishes inaction with\natrophy. Whatever is not used finally ceases to be. In plain language,\napathy, inaction, idleness, uselessness, is the road to degeneration.\nOn the other hand, aspiration and activity mean growth, development,\npower.\n\nSo we grow, physically, mentally and morally, by activity, by exercise\nof the organs or the faculties we desire to possess. It is only by the\nconstant exercise of these things that we can grow at all. When this\ngreat law of nature is understood we see at once how it is that life\nis full of trouble; why it is that the whole visible world seems to be\ndesigned to keep us constantly at work physically and mentally, to\nchallenge our resourcefulness in improving our physical, social and\npolitical conditions, to continually try our patience and to forever\ntest our courage. It is the way of development. It is the price of\nprogress.\n\nThe universe is a training school for evolving intelligence--a vast\ngymnasium for the development of moral fibre. We become mentally\nclever by playing at the game of life. We match our courage against\nits adversities and acquire fearlessness. We try our optimism against\nits disappointments and learn cheerfulness. We pit our patience\nagainst its failures and gain persistence. We are torn from the\npinnacle of ambition by opponents and learn toleration of others. We\nfall from the heights of vanity and pride, and learn to be modest and\nhumble. We encounter pain and sorrow and learn sympathy with\nsuffering. It is only by such experiences that we can grow to rounded\nmeasure. It is only in an environment thus adapted to our spiritual\ndevelopment that we can evolve the latent powers within us.\n\nSuch is the universe in which we find ourselves and from it there is\nno escape. No man can avoid life--not even the foolish one who, when\nthe difficulties before him appear for the moment overwhelming, tries\nto escape them by suicide. A man cannot die. He can only choose how he\nwill live. He may either helplessly drift through the world suffering\nfrom all the ills and evils that make so many unhappy or he may choose\nthe method of conscious evolution that alone makes life truly\nsuccessful. We may be either the suffering slaves of nature or the\nhappy masters of her laws.\n\nNow, all powers possessed by any human being, no matter how exalted\nhis position in evolution, or how sublime his spiritual power, are\nlatent in all human beings and can, in time, be developed and brought\ninto action. Of course there is no magic rule by which the ignoramus\ncan instantly become wise or by which a brutal man can be at once\ntransformed into a saint. It may require scores of incarnations to\naccomplish a work so great, but when a man reaches the point in his\nevolution where he begins to comprehend the purpose of life, and to\nevolve the will to put forth his energies in co-operation with nature,\nhis rise to wisdom and power may be swift indeed. But this\ntransformation from the darkness of ignorance to spiritual\nillumination, from helplessness \"in the fell clutch of circumstance\"\nto power over nature, must be brought about by his own efforts, for it\nis a process of evolution--of forcing the latent to become the active.\nTherefore one must resolve to take oneself in hand for definite and\nsystematic self-development. Nobody else can do the work for us.\nCertain moral qualities must be gained before there can be spiritual\nillumination and genuine wisdom and such qualities, or virtues, have\nto be evolved by the laws under which all growth occurs. It is just as\nimpossible to acquire a moral quality by reading about its\ndesirability as to evolve muscular strength by watching the\nperformance of a group of athletes. To gain muscular strength one must\ntake part in the physical activities that produce it. He must live the\nathletic life. To win spiritual strength and supremacy he must live\nthe spiritual life. There is no other way. He must first learn what\nmental and moral qualities are essential, and how to gain them, and\nthen set earnestly about the work of acquiring them.\n\nThe first thing necessary is to get a clear understanding of the fact\nthat the physical body is not the self but only a vehicle or\ninstrument through which the self is being manifested in the visible\nworld. The body is as much your instrument as the hand is, or as your\npen is. It is a thing which you, the self, use and a clear conception\nof this fact--a feeling that this is the fact--is the first step\ntoward that absolute control of the physical body that lays the\nfoundation for success in conscious evolution. When we feel that in\nmanaging the physical body we are controlling something that is not\nourself we are fairly started on the right road.\n\nNow, there are three things that a person must possess to be\nsuccessful in self-development. If he has not these three\nqualifications he will make but little progress; but, fortunately, any\nlacking quality can be evolved and if one does not possess these three\nnecessities his first work is to create them. These three things are\nan ardent desire, an iron will and an alert intelligence. Why are\nthese three qualifications essential to success and what purpose do\nthey serve?\n\nDesire is nature's motor power--the propulsive force that pushes\neverything forward in its evolution. It is desire that stimulates to\naction. Desire drives the animal into the activities that evolve its\nphysical body and sharpen its intelligence. If it had no desire it\nwould lie inert and perish. But the desire for food, for drink, for\nassociation with its kind, impel it to action, and the result is the\nevolution of strength, skill and intelligence in proportion to the\nintensity of its desires. To gratify these desires it will accept\nbattle no matter how great may be the odds against it and will\nunhesitatingly risk life itself in the combat. Desire not only induces\nthe activity that develops physical strength and beauty, but also has\nits finer effects. Hunger compels the animal not only to seek food,\nbut to pit its cunning against that of its prey. Driven forward by\ndesire it develops, among other qualities, strength, courage,\npatience, endurance, intelligence.\n\nDesire plays the same role with man at his higher stage of evolution.\nIt stimulates him to action; and always as his activity satisfies his\noriginal desire a new one replaces the old and lures him on to renewed\nexertion. The average young man beginning his business career, desires\nonly a comfortable cottage. But when that is attained he wants a\nmansion. He soon tires of the mansion and wants a palace. Then he\nwants several--at the seaside, in the city, and on the mountains. At\nfirst he is satisfied with a horse; then he demands an automobile, and\nfinally a steam yacht. He sets out as a youth to earn a livelihood and\nwelcomes a small salary. But the desire for money pushes him into\nbusiness for himself and he works tirelessly for a competence. He\nfeels that a small fortune should satisfy anybody but when he gets it\nhe wants to be a millionaire. If he succeeds in that he then desires\nto become a multi-millionaire.\n\nWhether the desire is for wealth, or for fame, or for power, the same\nresult follows--when the desire is satisfied a greater one takes its\nplace and spurs the ambitious one to still further exertion. He grasps\nthe prize he believes to contain complete satisfaction only to\ndiscover that while he was pursuing it desire had grown beyond it, and\nso the goal he would attain is always far ahead of him. Thus are we\ntricked and apparently mocked by nature until we finally awake to the\nfact that all the objects of desire--the fine raiment, the jewels, the\npalaces, the wealth, the power, are but vain and empty things; and\nthat the real reward for all our efforts to secure them is not these\nobjects at all _but the new powers we have evolved in getting them;_\npowers that we did not before possess and which we should not have\nevolved but for nature's great propulsive force--desire. The man who\naccumulates a fortune by many years of persistent effort in organizing\nand developing a business enterprise, by careful planning and deep\nthinking, may naturally enough look upon the fortune he will possess\nfor a few years before it passes on to others, as his reward. But the\ntruth is that it is a very transient and perishable and worthless\nthing compared to the new powers that were unconsciously evolved in\ngetting it--powers that will be retained by the man and be brought\ninto use in future incarnations.\n\nDesire, then, plays a most important role in human evolution. It\nawakens, stimulates, propels. What wind is to the ship, what steam is\nto the locomotive, desire is to the human being.\n\nIt has been written in a great book, \"Kill out desire,\" and elsewhere\nit is written, \"Resist not evil.\" We may find, in similar exalted\npronouncements, truths that are very useful to disciples but which\nmight be confusing and misleading to the man of the world if he\nattempted to literally apply them. Perhaps for the average mortal\n\"kill out desire\" might be interpreted \"transmute desire.\" Without\ndesire man would be in a deathlike and dangerous condition--a\ncondition in which further progress would be impossible. But by\ntransmuting the lower desires into the higher he moves steadily\nforward and upward without losing the motive power that urges him\nforever onward.\n\nTo transmute desire, to continually replace the lower with the higher,\nreally is killing desire out but it is doing it by the slow and safe\nevolutionary process. As to crushing it suddenly, that is simply\nimpossible; but substitution may work wonders. Suppose, for example,\nthat a young man is a gambler and his parents are much distressed\nabout it. The common and foolish course is to lecture him on the sin\nof gambling and to tearfully urge him to associate only with very\nproper young men. But the young gambler is not in the least interested\nin that sort of a life, which appears to him to be a kind of living\ndeath, and such entreaty does not move him. His parents would do\nbetter by looking more closely into the case. Why is he a gambler? He\ndesires money. He seeks excitement. He wants to live in an atmosphere\nof intense life and activity. Very well. These desires are quite right\nin themselves. It is useless to try to crush them. It is nonsense to\nargue that he does not want these things. Clearly enough he does want\nthem and that is precisely why he gambles. Then do not attempt the\nimpossibility of killing the desire but change the objects of his\ndesires. Say to him: \"You desire money and a life full of turbulence\nand excitement. Well, you can get all that in a better and a\nlegitimate way and have the respect of your friends besides. You can\ngo into politics. That is a field within the pale of the law and in it\nyou can have scope for all the energy and activity and intensity of\nlife you long for, with all the element of chance which you find so\nattractive.\" And when the young man has had his fling there and tires\nof it then something else can be attempted. But to try to crush desire\nand curb the outrushing life is both foolish and impossible. We can\nonly direct it.\n\nThere are, of course, certain gross desires that must be gotten rid of\nby the most direct and least objectionable method, and when one really\ndesires to be free from a given vice or moral weakness and sets\nearnestly and intelligently about it his release is not so difficult\nas the complete tyranny of most vices would lead one to suppose. There\nis a process by which any of us may be free if we will take the\ntrouble to patiently put it into practice. This method will apply to\nany desire from which we wish to be released. For example, let us take\nthe person who has a settled desire for alcoholic stimulants but\nreally wishes to be rid of it forever. Many people who are thus\nafflicted to the point where they occasionally become intoxicated\nfeel, when they recover their normal condition, that no price would be\ntoo great to pay for freedom from this humiliating habit. As a rule\nsuch a man tries to close his eyes to his shame and forget it,\npromising himself that he will be stronger when the temptation again\nassails him. But it is just this putting it aside, this casting it out\nof his mind, that perpetuates his weakness. He instinctively shrinks\nfrom dwelling upon the thought of whither he is drifting. So he puts\nthe unpleasant subject aside altogether and when the inner desire\nasserts itself again he finds himself precisely as helpless as before.\n\nNow, his certain method of escape from this tyranny of desire is to\nturn his mind resolutely to an examination of the whole question. Let\nhim look the facts in the face, however humiliating they may be. He\nshould call his imagination to his assistance. It should be used to\npicture to himself his future if he does not succeed in breaking up\nthe unfortunate slavery of the desire nature. He should think of the\nfact that as he grows older the situation grows worse. He should\npicture himself as the helpless, repulsive sot, with feeble body and\nweakening mind, and reflect upon the humiliation he must endure, the\npoverty he must face, and the physical and mental pain he must bear in\nthe future if he now fails to break the desire ties that bind him.\nThis creates in him a feeling of repulsion toward the cause of it all;\nand if he continues to think daily upon this hideous picture of what\nhe is slowly drifting toward--if he daily regards it all with a\nfeeling of slight repulsion--then even within a month or two he will\nfind that his desire for drink is slowly fading out.\n\nThis is as true of all other desires that enslave us. The desire for\nalcoholic stimulants merely illustrates the principle involved. Any\ndesire from which one wishes to be free may be escaped by the same\nmethod. But one who would free himself from the desire-nature should\nnot make the mistake of creating a feeling of intense hostility toward\nthe thing he seeks to escape; for hatred is also a tie. He should\nmerely reach a position of complete indifference. He should think of\nit not with settled hostility, but with slight repulsion; and if he\ndoes that daily, mentally dwelling upon the pain and humiliation it\ncauses, he will find the ties loosening, the desire weakening.\n\nDesire is a force that may be beneficial or detrimental, according to\nits use. As we may eradicate a desire so may we create a desire. How,\nthen, may one who seeks the highest self-development use desire, this\npropulsive force of nature, to help himself forward? He should desire\nspiritual progress most earnestly, for without such desire he cannot\nsucceed. Therefore if the aspirant does not have the ardent desire for\nspiritual illumination he must create it. To accomplish this let him\nagain call imagination to his assistance. Let him picture himself as\nhaving his power for usefulness many times multiplied by occult\ndevelopment. He should think of himself as possessing the inner sight\nthat enables him to understand the difficulties of others and to\ncomprehend their sorrows. He should daily think of the fact that this\nwould so broaden and quicken his sympathies that he would be\nenormously more useful in the world than he can now possibly be and\nthat he could become a source of happiness to thousands. Let him\nreflect that as he gets farther along in occult development and in\nunselfishness and spirituality he may have the inestimable privilege\nof coming into contact with some of the exalted intelligences that\nwatch over and assist the struggling aspirants on their upward way. He\nshould daily recall the fact that he is now moving forward toward a\nfreer, richer, more joyous life than he has yet known and that every\neffort brings him nearer to its realization. Thus dwelling on the\nsubject in its various aspects he creates the ardent desire that\nserves to propel him forward.\n\nIf he feels that these things make an ideal a little too high for him\nat present he may reach that point by degrees. He may at first dwell\nin thought upon the personal satisfaction that would come from the\npossession of astral sight. Let him reflect upon what it would mean to\nbe conscious of the invisible world; to have all its wonders laid open\nbefore him; to be able to consciously meet the so-called dead,\nincluding his own friends and relatives; to be able to have the\npositive personal proof that we survive the death of the physical\nbody; to be able to become one of the \"invisible helpers\" of the\nworld; to have available the priceless advantages of the astral region\nand to bring the consciousness of all this into the physical life.\nThat is certainly something worth all the time and effort required to\nattain it. Thus thinking constantly of the widened life and added\npowers it would confer, the desire to move forward in self-development\nwill be greatly stimulated. But the student should always keep it in\nmind that the real purpose of acquiring new powers is to increase his\ncapacity for service to the race, and that he who falls short of that\nideal walks upon dangerous ground.\n\nThe second requisite is a firm will. It should not be forgotten that\nan unusual and difficult thing is being attempted in which a person of\nweak will cannot possibly hope to succeed. Even in the ordinary life\nof the world considerable will power is essential to success. To\nsucceed in business, to become expert in a profession, or to\ncompletely master an art, requires strong will, determination,\nperseverance. The difficulties in occult development are still greater\nand, while it is true that any degree of effort is well worth while,\nthe weaklings will not go far. Only those with the indomitable will\nthat knows neither surrender nor compromise may hope for a large\nmeasure of success. Once the will is thoroughly aroused and brought\ninto action every hindrance in the way will be swept aside.\n\n     \"The human will, that force unseen,\n        The offspring of a deathless soul,\n        Can hew a way to any goal\n      Tho' walls of granite intervene.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n      \"Be not impatient of delay,\n        But wait as one who understands.\n        When spirit rises and commands\n      The gods are ready to obey.\"\n\nMighty, indeed, is this force when aroused. But a person may be easily\ndeceived about his will. He is likely to think that his will is much\nstronger than it really is. He may say to himself, \"Oh, yes, I would\ngo through anything for the sake of the higher life and spiritual\nillumination.\" But that is no guarantee that after a few months of\nmonotonous work he may not abandon it unless he adopts the wise plan\nof strengthening his will as he moves forward. Let him begin this by\ntesting his present strength of will, but let him not be discouraged\nby the result. He should remember that whatever he lacks in will power\nhe can evolve by proper effort.\n\nTo find out whether he really has much strength of will a person may\nbegin to observe to what extent he permits his daily plans to be\nmodified, or entirely changed, by the things that run counter to his\nwill. Does he hold steadfastly to his purpose or does he weakly\nsurrender to small obstacles? Has he the will power to even begin the\nday as he has planned it? The evening before he decides that he will\nrise at six o'clock the next morning. He knows there are certain\nexcellent reasons why he should do so and he retires with the matter\nfully decided. It is positively settled that at exactly six o'clock\nthe day's program shall begin. But when the clock strikes that hour\nthe next morning he feels strongly disinclined to obey the summons. It\ninvolves some bodily discomfort to rise at that moment and he\nconcludes that, after all, perhaps he was a bit hasty the evening\nbefore in fixing upon that hour! Whereupon he reconsiders the matter\nand makes it seven; and when that time arrives he generously extends\nit to eight o'clock. The hour, of course, is unimportant. But whatever\nmay have been the hour that was previously determined upon the keeping\nof that determination is of the greatest importance and the failure to\nput the resolution into effect is evidence of the possession of a weak\nwill.\n\nNow all this proves that such persons have very little real will\npower, for they permit the desire for trifling bodily comfort to set\ntheir plans aside. Such persons are still slaves to the physical body\nand weakly permit it to upset carefully outlined programs. They are\nnot yet ready for good work in occult development, where real success\ncan come only to those who have steadfast strength of purpose.\n\nPeople who fail to assert the will and bring the body into complete\nsubjection probably little realize what a price they pay for a\ntrifling physical pleasure; for until we voluntarily take the right\ncourse we have not escaped the evolutionary necessity of compulsion\nand may reasonably expect sooner or later to be thrown into an\nenvironment that will apply the stimulus we still need to arouse the\nwill. It may be unpleasant while it is occurring, but what better\nfortune could befall an indolent man than to find himself in\ncircumstances where his poverty or other necessity compels him to\nsubordinate bodily comfort to the reign of the will? Nature provides\nthe lessons we require. We may wisely co-operate with her and thus\nescape the sting. But so long as we need the lesson we may be quite\nsure that it awaits us.\n\nAll the business activities of the world are developing the will.\nThrough them will and desire work together in evolving latent powers.\nDesire arouses will power. A man desires wealth and the desire plunges\nhim into business activities and stimulates the will by which he\novercomes all the difficulties that lie in his way. Ardent desire for\nan education arouses the will of the student and the awakened will\ntriumphs over poverty and all other barriers between him and the\ncoveted diploma. If a man stands at a lower point in evolution where\nhe has not the ambition for intellectual culture nor for fame nor for\nwealth, but only the desire for shelter and food, still that primitive\ndesire forces him into action; and while his will power will be\nevolved only in proportion to the strength of the desire that prompts\nhim, it must nevertheless grow. Instead of rising at a certain hour\nbecause the will decrees it he may rise only because he knows his\nlivelihood depends upon it. But he is learning the same lesson--the\novercoming of the inertia of the physical body--albeit it is\ncompulsory instead of voluntary. But all this is unconscious\nevolution. It is the long, slow, painful process. It is the only way\npossible for those who are not wise enough to co-operate with nature\nin her evolutionary work and thus rise above the necessity of\ncompulsion.\n\nHow, then, may we develop the will when it is so weak that we are\nstill the slaves of nature instead of the masters of destiny? Will\npower, like any other faculty, may be cultivated and made strong. To\ndo this one may plan in advance what he will do under certain\ncircumstances and then carry out the program without evasion or\nhesitation when the time arrives. His forethought will enable him to\ndo this if he does not undertake things too difficult at first. Let\nhim resolve to do at a certain hour some small thing which, in the\nordinary course of his duties, he sees is necessary but unpleasant;\nand then firmly resolve in advance that exactly at the appointed time\nhe will do it. Thus fortified before the trial comes he will probably\ngo successfully through with it. After once deciding upon the time\nthere should be no postponement and not an instant's delay when the\nmoment arrives.\n\nOne of the things we have to learn is to overcome the inertia of the\nphysical body and many people are not really awake on the physical\nplane because they have not done so. To a certain extent they are\n\"dead\" within the physical body for it is a condition much nearer\ndeath than that supposed death of one who no longer has the physical\nbody. The inert mass of physical matter in which such people are\nfunctioning leaves them only half alive until they have aroused\nthemselves from its domination. They remind one of the lines:\n\n     \"Life is a mystery, death is a doubt,\n      And some folks are dead\n      While they're walking about!\"\n\nThis inertia of the physical body that so often renders people nearly\nuseless is very largely a matter of habit and can be overcome to a\nsurprising degree by simply using a little will-power. Everybody is\nfamiliar with the fact that it is sometimes much easier to think and\nact than at other times. But perhaps it is not so well known that the\ndull periods can invariably be overcome by an effort of the will and\nthe physical body be made to do its proper work. An actor or lecturer\nafter months of continuous work may find the brain and body growing\ntired and dull. He may feel when going before his audience that he has\nnot an idea nor the wit to express it were someone else to furnish it.\nYet by an effort of the will he can quickly overcome the condition and\nchange from stupidity to mental alertness and intensity of thought.\nThe self is never tired. It is only the physical body that grows\nweary. It is true that it has its limitations and must not be\novertaxed and driven beyond endurance as a tired horse is sometimes\ncruelly urged forward with whip and spur. Judgment must always be used\nin determining one's capacity for work. But that which is to be done\nshould never be done draggingly, with the inertia of the physical body\nmarring the work. We should be fully awake instead of \"dead\" while we\n\"are walking about.\" If a person resolves to be the master of the body\nhe may soon acquire the power to arouse it to activity and alertness\nduring all his waking hours, very much as one may acquire the habit of\nkeen observation and be conscious of what is occurring in his vicinity\ninstead of being carelessly unconscious of the major portion of what\nis going on immediately about him.\n\nThis matter of giving attention to the things that may properly engage\nthe mind, and of using the will to arouse and control it, is of very\ngreat importance. Is it not what we call \"paying attention\" that makes\nthe connection between the ego and the objective world? Giving\nattention is a process of consciousness. The person who fails in\nattention misses the purpose of life and throws away valuable time and\nopportunity. To give attention is to be alive and awake and in a\ncondition to make the most of limited physical life. Yet many people\ncannot give sustained attention to an ordinary conversation nor direct\nthe mind with sufficient precision to state a simple fact without\nwandering aimlessly about in the effort, bringing in various\nincidental matters until the original subject, instead of being made\nclear, is obscured in a maze of unimportant details or lost sight of\naltogether.\n\nSuch habits of mind should be put resolutely aside by one who would\nhasten self-development. The attention should be fixed deliberately\nupon the subject in hand, whatever it may be, and nothing should be\npermitted to break the connection between that and the mind. Whether\nit is a conversation or a book, or a manual task, or a problem being\nsilently worked out intellectually, it should have undivided attention\nuntil the mind is ready for something else.\n\nPerhaps few of us give to any subject the close attention which alone\ncan prove its own effectiveness and demonstrate the fact that there\ngoes with such steadily sustained attention a subtle power of\nextended, or accentuated, consciousness. When ten minutes is given to\na certain subject and other thoughts are constantly intruding, so that\nwhen the ten minutes have passed only five minutes have actually been\ndevoted to the subject, the result is by no means a half of what would\nhave been accomplished had the whole of the ten minutes been given to\nuninterrupted attention. The time thus spent in wavering attention is\npractically without effect. The connection between mind and subject\nhas not been complete. Mind and subject were, so to say, out of focus.\nAttention must be sustained to the point where it becomes\nconcentration. The mind must be used as a sun-glass can be used. Hold\nthe glass between sun and paper, out of focus, for an hour and nothing\nwill happen. A yellow circle of light falls on the paper and that is\nall. But bring it into perfect focus, concentrating the rays to the\nfinest possible point, and the paper turns brown and finally bursts\ninto the fire that will consume it. They are the same rays that were\npreviously ineffective. Concentration produced results.\n\nThe mind must be brought under such complete control of the will that\nit can be manipulated like a search-light, turned in this direction or\nthat, or flung full upon some obscure subject and held steadily there\ntill it illuminates every detail of it, as the search-light sends a\ndazzling ray through space and shows every rock and tree on a hillside\nfar away through the darkness of the night.\n\nThe third necessity is keen intelligence. The force of desire,\ndirected by the will, must be supplemented by an alert mind. There is\na popular notion that good motives are sufficient in themselves and\nthat when one has the desire to attain spiritual illumination, plus\nthe will to achieve, nothing more is needed but purity of purpose. But\nthis is a misconception. It is true that the mystic makes devotion the\nvital thing in his spiritual growth; and it is also true that the\nthree paths of action, knowledge and devotion blend and become one at\na higher stage. But while there are methods of development in which\nintellect is not at first made a chief factor it can by no means be\nignored in the long-run; nor are we now considering those methods. A\ngood intellect, therefore, is a necessary part of the equipment.\n\nGood motives play a most important part, indeed, in occult progress.\nThey safeguard the aspirant on his upward way. Without pure motives,\nwithout a large measure of unselfishness, the greatest dangers would\nencompass him. But good motives cannot take the place of good sense\nand relieve him of the necessity of thinking. He must develop judgment\nand discrimination. There are things he must know, and he must use his\nknowledge, or difficulties will follow no matter how noble may be his\nintentions. Suppose, for illustration, that two men set out upon a\ndark might to cross a wild and rugged piece of ground--one with bad\nmotives and the other with good. One is going out to rob a house and\nif need be, to kill anybody who might try to interfere with his plans.\nHis motives are very bad but he has perfect knowledge of the dangerous\nground he is to cross and he will therefore travel over it in safety.\nThe other man has the best of motives. He is going to spend the night\nwith a sick and helpless neighbor. But he has no knowledge of the\nrough and treacherous ground he must cross in the darkness and his\ngood motives will not insure him against stumbling over the stones or\nfalling into a ditch and breaking his arm. Good motives are not\nenough. We must know! Progress in occultism is impossible without\nknowledge.\n\nBut how is a keen, alert intelligence to be acquired if we do not\npossess it? Like any other latent faculty or power it may be evolved.\nAs the physical strength may be steadily increased by constant\nexercise of the muscles, so mind may increase in power by systematic\nwork. It should be exercised in original thinking. A stated period, if\nonly a quarter of an hour daily, can be set aside for the purpose. A\nbook on a serious subject will furnish material but the too common\nmethod of reading, of following the author lazily and accepting\nwhatever he sets forth as a matter of course, is of little value. One\nmust read with discrimination, receiving the ideas offered as a\njuryman would receive testimony from a witness, considering it from\nevery possible viewpoint, examining it in the light of known facts,\nturning it over in the mind, weighing it thoughtfully, and accepting\nor rejecting according to its reasonableness or its lack of reason. In\nsuch mental work for intellectual growth each paragraph can be\nconsidered by itself and only a small portion of the time should be\ngiven to the reading while the remainder is devoted to pondering over\nwhat has been read. Of course a specific study is an advantage and\nperhaps nothing is better than to study occultism, thinking deeply\nupon the problems of human evolution.\n\nAnother method that goes admirably with such work is the close\nobservation and study of all the life in manifestation about us. We\nshould try to comprehend people, to observe and understand them. Every\nword, act and facial expression has its meaning to be caught and\ninterpreted. All this will not only sharpen the wits but also\nstrengthen human sympathy for it enables us the better to know the\ndifficulties and sorrows of others. If such practices are followed\nfaithfully day by day the growth will be steady.\n\nStill another useful practice is to exercise the imagination, the art\nof creating mental pictures with no physical object present. The face\nof an absent friend can be called up in the mind and reproduced in\nevery detail--the color of the eyes and hair, the various moods and\nexpressions. Or one's childhood home can be recalled and the\nimagination made to reconstruct it. The house being complete the\nlandscape can be reproduced, with the hills, trees and roads. Repeated\npractice at \"seeing mentally\" is of the greatest value in occult\ndevelopment.\n\nWhile the aspirant is thus working to improve the three essential\nqualifications of desire, will and intelligence--to intensify his\ndesire to possess powers for the helping of others, to strengthen the\nwill to get such powers, and to steadily improve the intellect--he\nshould also be giving most earnest attention to meditation, for it is\nthrough this practice that the most remarkable results may be produced\nin the transformation of his bodies, visible and invisible, through\nwhich the ego manifests itself in the physical world. In the degree\nthat these are organized and made sensitive and responsive they cease\nto be limitations of consciousness. Such sensitiveness and\nresponsiveness may be brought about by meditation, together with\nproper attention to the purification of the physical and astral\nbodies; for purity and sensitiveness go together.\n\nMeditation is a subject so very important to the aspirant that\nspecific instructions should guide him. The average person, used to\nthe turbulent life of occidental civilization, will find it a\nsufficiently difficult matter to control the mind, and to finally\nacquire the power to direct it as he desires, even with all the\nconditions in his favor. The serene hours of morning are the most\nfavorable of the twenty-four for meditation. Regularity has a magic of\nits own and the hour should be the same each morning. To be alone in\nsurroundings as quiet as possible is another essential. The most\ndesirable time for meditation is soon after awakening in the morning.\nBefore turning the mind to any of the business affairs of the day let\nthe aspirant sit calmly down and mediate upon any wholesome thought,\nlike patience, courage or compassion, keeping the mind steadily upon\nthe subject for five minutes.\n\nTwo very important things are being accomplished by such meditation.\nFirst, we are getting control of the mind and learning to direct it\nwhere and how we choose; and, second, we are attracting and building\ninto the bodies we possess certain grades of imponderable matter that\nwill make thinking and acting along these lines easier and easier for\nus until they are established habits and we actually become in daily\nlife patient, courageous and compassionate. Whatever qualities or\nvirtues we desire to possess may be gained through the art of\nmeditation and the effort to live up to the ideal dwelt upon daily by\nthe mind.\n\nWhile it is absolutely true that any human being can make of himself\nthat which he desires to be--can literally raise himself to any ideal\nhe is capable of conceiving--it must not be supposed that it can be\ndone in a short time and by intermittent effort. We sometimes hear it\nsaid that all we need do is to realize that all power is within us,\nwhen, presto! we are the thing we would be! It is quite true that we\nmust realize their existence before we can call the latent powers into\nexpression; but the work of arousing the latent into the active is a\nprocess of growth, of actual evolutionary change. The physical body as\nit is now is not sensitive enough to respond to subtle vibrations. Its\nbrain is not capable of receiving and registering the delicate\nvibrations sent outward by the ego, and the task of changing it so\nthat it can do so is not a trifling or easy one. But every effort\nproduces its effect and to the persistent and patient devotee of\nself-development the final result is certain. But it is not a matter\nof miraculous accomplishment. It is a process of inner growth. There\nare, it is quite true, cases in which people who have entered upon\nthis method of self-development have, in a short time, attained\nspiritual illumination, becoming fully conscious of the invisible\nworld and its inhabitants while awake in the physical body; extending\nthe horizon of consciousness to include both worlds, and coming into\npossession of the higher clairvoyance that enables one to trace past\ncauses and modify impending effects. But such people are those who\nhave given so much attention to self-development in past lives that\nthey have now but little more to do in order to come into full\npossession of occult powers. Sometimes it requires little more than\nthe turning of their attention to the matter. Becoming a member of the\nTheosophical Society or seriously taking up theosophical studies is\nsometimes the final step that leads to the opening of the inner sight.\n\nBut how can one know to what point he may have advanced in the past\nand where he now stands? How may we know whether there is but a little\nwork ahead or a great deal? We cannot know; nor is it important to\nknow. The person who should take up the task merely because he thinks\nthere is little to do would certainly fail. The very fact that he\nwould not venture upon the undertaking if he thought the task a\ndifficult one is evidence that he has not the qualifications necessary\nfor the success of the occult student. Unless he is filled with a\nlonging to possess greater power to be used in the service of\nhumanity, and fired with an enthusiasm that would hesitate at no\ndifficulties, he has not yet reached the point in his evolution where\nhe awaits only the final steps that will make him a disciple. But even\nthe absence of the keen desire for spiritual progress, which is the\nbest evidence of the probability of success, should not deter anybody\nfrom entering upon the systematic study of theosophy and devoting to\nit all the time and energy he can; nor should the thought that many\nyears might pass without producing any very remarkable results lead\nhim to conclude that the undertaking would not be a profitable one.\nThe time will come with each human being when he will step out of the\ngreat throng that drifts with the tide and enter upon the course of\nconscious evolution, assisting nature instead of ignoring her\nbeneficent plan; and since it is but a question of time the sooner a\nbeginning is made the better, for the sooner will suffering cease.\n\nThere should be a word of warning about the folly of trying to reach\nspiritual illumination by artificial methods. Astral sight is\nsometimes quickly developed by crystal gazing and also by a certain\nregulation of the breathing. For two reasons such methods should be\navoided. One is that any powers thus gained can not be permanent, and\nthe other is that they may be more or less dangerous. Many people have\nmade physical wrecks of themselves or have become insane by some of\nthese methods.\n\nThere are those who advertise to quickly teach clairvoyance, for a\nconsideration, as though spiritual powers could really be conferred\ninstead of evolved! It is true that efforts toward the evolution of\nsuch powers may be enormously aided by teachers, but such instruction\ncan not be bought, and the offer to furnish it for money is the best\nevidence of its worthlessness. Those who teach this ancient wisdom\nselect their own pupils from the morally fit, and tuition can be paid\nonly in devotion to truth and service to humanity. That is the only\nroad that leads to instruction worth having, and until the aspirant is\nfirmly upon that sound moral ground he is much better off without\npowers, the selfish use of which would lead to certain disaster.\n\nBut how shall the pupil find the teacher? He need not find him, at\nfirst, so far as the limited consciousness is concerned. Long before\nhe knows anything of it in his waking hours he may be receiving\ninstruction while he is out of the physical body during the hours of\nsleep. The teacher finds the pupil long before the pupil suspects that\nthe teacher exists; and since it is the pupil who has the limited\nconsciousness it is quite natural that it should be so. Thus it is\ninevitable that all who enter upon the way that leads to spiritual\nillumination must long remain ignorant of the fact that any teachers\nare interested in them or that anybody is giving the slightest\nattention to them. Naturally enough one cannot know until the moment\narrives when his brain has become sufficiently sensitive to retain a\nmemory of at least a fragment of his superphysical experiences.\n\nBut what leads to the selection of the pupil? His earnestness, his\nunselfishness, his devotion, his spiritual aspirations. There is an\nold occult maxim to the effect that when the pupil is ready the Master\nis waiting. They have need of many more than are ready to be taught.\nThose who lead and enlighten watch eagerly for all who will qualify\nthemselves to enter upon the upward way. Every human being gets\nexactly what he fits himself to receive. He cannot possibly be\noverlooked. By his spiritual aspiration each lights the lamp in the\nwindow of his soul and to the watchers from the heights that light\nagainst the background of the overwhelming materiality of our times\nmust be as the sun in a cloudless sky. Other things come later but\nthese simpler things, to realize the necessity for conscious\nevolution, to comprehend the method of soul development, to take full\ncontrol of the mind and the physical body, to resolutely curb the\ngrosser desires and to give free rein to the higher aspirations are\nthe first infant steps in the self-development that leads to\nillumination. Then we begin to discover that this very desire for\ngreater spiritual power is generating a force that carries us forward\nand upward. We soon begin to observe actual progress. The brain\nbecomes clearer, the intellect keener. Our sphere of influence grows\nwider, our friendships become warmer. Aspiration lifts us into a new\nand radiant life, and the wondrous powers of the soul begin to become\na conscious possession. And to this soul growth there is no limit. The\naspirant will go on and on in this life and others with an\never-extending horizon of consciousness until he has the mental grasp\nof a Plato, the vivid imagination of a Dante, the intuitive perception\nof a Shakespeare. It is not by the outward acquirement of facts that\nsuch men become wise and great. It is by developing the soul from\nwithin until it illuminates the brain with that flood of light called\ngenius.\n\nAnd when, through the strife and storm, we finally reach the\ntranquility of the inner peace we shall comprehend the great fact that\nlife really is joy when lived in the possession of spiritual power and\nin perfect harmony with the laws of the universe. With even these\nfirst steps in occult achievement the aspirant enters upon a higher\nand more satisfactory life than he has ever known. Literally he\nbecomes a new man. Gradually the old desires and impulses fade away\nand new and nobler aspirations take their place. He has learned\nobedience to law only to find that obedience was the road to conquest.\nHe has risen above the gross and sensuous by the power of conscious\nevolution; and, looking back upon what he has been with neither regret\nnor apology, he comprehends that significant thought of Tennyson: On\nstepping stones of their dead selves men rise to higher things.","title":"Self-Development and the Way to Power","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":9777}