7 ATTAINMENT

The nervous system is matter. Its energy is mind. It is therefore the instrument of the Universal Mind. It is the link between matter and spirit, between our consciousness and the Cosmic-Consciousness. It is the gateway of Infinite Power.

Both the Cerebro-spinal and the Sympathetic nervous systems are controlled by nervous energy that is alike in kind; and the two systems are so interwoven that their impulses can be sent from one to the other. Every activity of the body, every impulse of the nervous system, every thought, uses up nervous energy.

The system of nerves may be compared to a telegraph system; the nerve cells corresponding to the batteries, the fibres to the wires. In the batteries is generated electricity. The cells, however, do not generate nervous energy. They transform it and the fibres convey it. This energy is not a physical wave like electricity, light, or sound. It is MIND.

It hears the same relationship to the mind as a piano does to its player. The Mind can only have perfect expression when the instrument through which it functions is in order.

The organ of the Cerebro-spinal Nervous System is the Brain, the organ of the Sympathetic Nervous System is the Solar Plexus. The first is the voluntary or Conscious, the latter the involuntary or Subconscious.

It is through the Cerebro-spinal Nervous System and the Brain that we become conscious of possessions, hence all possession has its origin in consciousness. The undeveloped consciousness of a babe, or the inhibited consciousness of an idiot, cannot possess.

This mental condition--consciousness--increases in direct proportion to our acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is acquired by observation, experience, and reflection. We become conscious of these possessions by the mind; so that we recognize that possession is based on consciousness; this consciousness we designate the world within. Those possessions of Form that we acquire are of the world without.

That which possesses in the world within is Mind. That which enables us to possess in the world without is also Mind. Mind manifests itself as thoughts, mental pictures, words, and actions. Thought is therefore Creative. Our power to use Thought to create the conditions, surroundings, and other experiences of life, depends upon our habit of thinking. What we do depends upon what we are; what we are is the result of what we habitually think. Before we can Do, we must BE; before we can BE we must control and direct the force of Thought within us.

Thought is Force. There are but two things in the universe; Force and Form. When we realize that we possess this Creative Power, and that we can control and direct it, and by it act on the forces and forms in the objective world, we shall have made our first experiment in Mental Chemistry.

The Universal Mind is the ‘Substance’ of all force and form, the Reality that underlies ALL. In accordance with fixed laws, from Itself, and by Itself, is ALL brought into being and sustained. It is the Creative Power of Thought in its perfect expression. The Universal Mind is All Consciousness, All Power, and is Everywhere Present. It is essentially the same at every point of its presence, all mind is one mind. This explains the order and harmony of the universe. To apprehend this statement is to possess the ability to understand and solve every problem of life.

Mind has a two-fold expression--conscious or objective, and subconscious or subjective. We come into relationship with the world without by the objective mind; and with the world within by the subconscious mind. Though we are making a distinction between the conscious and the subconscious minds, such a distinction does not really exist; but this arrangement will be found convenient. All Mind is One Mind; in all phases of the mental life there is an indivisible unity and oneness.

The sub-conscious mind connects us with the Universal Mind, and thus we are brought into direct relationship with all power. In the sub-consciousness is stored up the observations and experiences of life that have come to it through the conscious mind. It is the storehouse of memory. The sub-conscious mind is a great seed plot in which thoughts have been dropped, or experiences conveyed by observation, or happenings planted, to come up again into consciousness with the fruitage of their growth.

Consciousness is the inner, and Thought is the outward expression of power. The two are inseparable; it is impossible to be conscious of a thing without thinking of it.

We have captured the lightning and changed its name to electricity. We have harnessed the waters and made the remorseless flood our servant. By the miracle of thought we have quickened water into vapor to bear the burdens, and move the commerce of the world. We have called into being floating palaces that plough the highways of the deep. We have triumphed in our conquest of the air. Although we are moored in the silvern archepelago of the Milky Way, we have conquered time and space.

When two electric wires are in close proximity, the first carrying a heavier load of electricity than the second, the second will receive by induction some current from the first. This will illustrate the attitude of mankind to the Universal Mind. They are not consciously connected with the source of power.

If the second wire were attached to the first, it would become charged with as much electricity as it could carry. When we become conscious of Power, we become a ‘life wire,’ because consciousness we are connected with the Power. In proportion to our ability to use power, we are enabled to meet the various situations which arise in life.

The Universal Mind is the source of all power and all form. We are channels through which this power is being manifested; consequently within us is power unlimited, possibilities without end, and all under the control of our own thought. Because we have these powers, because we are in living union with the Universal Mind, we may adjust or control every experience which may come to us.

There are no limitations to the Universal Mind, therefore the better we realize our oneness with this mind, the less conscious will we be of any limitation or lack, and the more conscious of power.

The Universal Mind is the same at every point of its presence, whether in the infinitely large or the infinitely small. The difference in the power relatively manifested lies entirely in the ability of expression. A stick of clay and a stick of dynamite of equal weight contain much the same amount of energy. But in the one it is readily set free, whereas in the other we have not yet learned how to release it.

In order to express we must create the corresponding condition in our consciousness. Either in the Silence or by repetition we impress this condition upon the subconsciousness.

Consciousness apprehends, and Thought manifests the conditions desired. Conditions in our life and in our environment are but the reflection of our predominant thoughts. So the importance of correct thinking cannot be over-estimated. “Having eyes and seeing not, having ears and hearing not, neither do they understand,” is another way of expressing the truth that without consciousness there can be no apprehension.

Thought constructively used creates tendencies in the subconsciousness, these tendencies manifest themselves as character. The primary meaning of the word character is an engraved mark, as on a seal; and means: The peculiar qualities impressed by nature or habit on a person, which separates the person possessing them from all others. Character has an outward and an inward expression; the inward being Purpose, and the outward Ability.

Purpose directs the mind towards the ideal to be realized, the object to be accomplished, or the desire to be materialized. Purpose gives quality to thought. Ability is the capacity to co-operate with Omnipotence--although this may be done unconsciously. Our purpose and our ability determine our experiences in life. It is important that purpose and ability be balanced; when the former is greater than the latter ‘the Dreamer’ is produced; when ability is greater than purpose, impetuosity is the result, producing much useless activity.

By the law of attraction our experiences depend upon our mental attitude. Like is attracted to like. Mental attitude is as much the result of character as character is of mental attitude. Each acts and reacts on the other.

“Chance,” “Fate,” “Luck,” and “Destiny” seem to be blind influences at work behind every experience. This is not so, but every experience is governed by immutable laws, which may be controlled so as to produce the conditions which we desire.

Everything visible and tangible in the universe is composed of matter, which is acted upon by force. As matter is known to us by its external appearances, we shall designate it as form.

Form may be dived into four classes: That possessing Form only or the in-organic, as for example, Iron, Marble, etc. Form that is living or the organic which has sensation and voluntary motion, as in Animals. Form that in addition is Conscious of its own being, and its possessions, as Man.

The fundamental principle underlying every successful business relation or social condition is the recognition of the difference between the world within and the world without, the subjective world and the objective world.

Around you, as the center of it, the world without revolves. Matter, organized life, people, thoughts, sounds, light and other vibrations, the universe itself with its numberless millions of phenomena; sending out vibrations toward you, vibrations of light, of sound, of touch; loudness, softness; of love, hate, of thoughts, good and bad, wise and unwise, true and untrue. These vibrations are directed toward you--your ego--by the smallest, as well as by the greatest, the farthest and the nearest. A few of them reach your world within, but the rest pass by, and as far as you are immediately concerned, are lost.

Some of these vibrations or forces are essential to your health, your power, your success, your happiness. How is it that they have passed you by, and have not been received in your world within?

When making a gramophone record, certain conditions must be observed. Everything coming within range of the transmitter will be recorded, provided that the disc to receive the vibrations has been properly prepared, and the requisite conditions are observed.

Assuming that the transmitter is perfect, any defect in the recording disc, will make a corresponding deficient record. For example: the disc may not be perfectly flat, or may not be moving at the correct speed, or the wax may be too soft, or too hard, or the contact of the needle may be imperfect.

The world within possesses sensibility, a faculty that catches the vibrations from the world without, and conveys them to the world within. It is the link that joins the two worlds. This sensibility is a form of consciousness.

Considering consciousness as a general term, we may say that it is the result of the world without acting on the world within. This takes place continuously whether we are awake or asleep. Consciousness is the result of sensing or feeling.

We easily recognize three phases of consciousness, between each of which there are enormous differences.

Simple consciousness, which all animals posses in common. It is the sense of existence, by which we recognize that “we are,” and “that we are where we are;” and by which we perceive the various objects and varied scenes and conditions.

Self-consciousness, possessed by all mankind, except infants, and the mentally deficient. This gives us the power of self contemplation, i. e., the effect of the world without upon our world within. “Self contemplates self.” Amongst many other results, language has thus come into existence, each word being a symbol for a thought or an idea.

Cosmic-consciousness, this form of consciousness is as much above self-consciousness as self-consciousness is above simple consciousness. It is as different from either as sight is different from hearing or touching. The blind can get no true notion of color, however keen his hearing or sensitive his touch.

Neither by simple consciousness nor by self-consciousness can one get any notion of cosmic-consciousness. it is not like either of them, any more than sight is like hearing. A deaf man can never learn of the value of music by means of his senses of sight or of touch.

Cosmic-consciousness is all forms of consciousness. It overrides time and space, for apart from the body and the world of matter, these do not exist.

The immutable law of consciousness is: that in the degree that the consciousness is developed, so is the development of power in the subjective, and its consequent manifestation in the objective.

Cosmic-consciousness is the result of the creation of the necessary conditions, so that the Universal Mind may function in the direction desired. All vibrations in harmony with the Ego’s well being are caught and used.

When truth is directly apprehended, or becomes a part of consciousness, without the usual process of reasoning or observation, it is intuition. By intuition the mind instantly perceives the agreement or the disagreement between two ideas. The Ego always so recognizes truth.

By intuition the mind transforms knowledge into wisdom, experience into success, and takes into the world within the things that have been waiting for us in the world without. Intuition, then, is another phase of the Universal Mind that presents truth as facts of consciousness.

The Thinker

Back of the beating hammer,

By which the steel is wrought,

Back of the workshop’s clamor,

The seeker may find the Thought;

The thought that is ever master

Of iron and steam and steel,

That rises above disaster

And tramples it under heel!

-Berton Braley

PROMISE YOURSELF

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look on the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and to have a smile ready for every living creature you meet.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticise others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of
trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world--no in loud words, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

-Christen D. Larson.