When we
realize that opposition is important to growth, then we learn to seek it
constantly , not in the sense of falsifying it, but rather in looking about to
find out where it already exists, and then, by the development of insight and
awareness, to overcome it. Nobody ever broke down a wall by running headlong into it. When we are
opposed it is always by inscrutable and implacable forces. All opposition is
blind because our own eyes are blinded. Once we have seen the truth about
opposition, that opposition no longer will be there. Our ef forts should not be
bent upon breaking down a wall but upon raising our consciousness so that
we are able to perceive methods of egress and ingress. Some people meet
opposition enthusiastically and without hostility; those who do not are
either broken by it or eventually turn and run. Hate, hostility , and
resentment blind our eyes to the sort of thing that opposes us. In such a
psychological state we never can see the truth about an obstacle, and its
inscrutability eventually will defeat us. Y ou cannot throw yourself against
the world and expect anything but defeat and despair . Emotional Blind Spots
 
All obstacles are not in their truest sense obstacles at all but merely mental
blocks in the minds of the people who perceive them. They overcome the
obstacles not by opposing them but by attempting to understand them. In
the end all obstacles are reduced to one — a false sense of self. T o
overcome opposition we must seek first for self-control and enlightenment
as to the thing that opposes us. If it is a friend who competes for a job, wewill neither gain the job nor keep the friend if we allow feelings of hostility
to develop within us. Such emotional blocks blind us to the true nature of
the job and the best way to go about getting it; they close our eyes to the
qualities in our friend which might enable him to hold and perform the job
as well as or better than ourselves. Recognizing that opposition is really a block in our understanding is the
biggest step in overcoming obstacles. Once we know what we have to do, it
is fairly easy to take the necessary action. Doubt and confusion produce no
work. The made-up mind, even if made up erroneously , at least gets the job
done; it is dynamic and creative and at work in the world. Opposition
surrounds those who cannot make up their minds, but doors appear in blank
walls for those who come to a decision. Willingness to Enter Conflict
 
There is a right and wrong way to do all things, but we do not necessarily
choose the right way the first time we set about doing something. Immersing ourselves in events enables us to come to an understanding of
those events, but if we do not enter into them, if we stand aside and attempt
to view them from a distance, it is extremely unlikely that we ever will
come to understand them at all. W e will arrive at only an academic grasp of
what is happening. W e will have to measure the thing we are thinking about
by some past experience, and since that past experience can have only the
remotest bearing on the thing we now attempt to analyze, it will be most
difficult for us to see its real relationship and potentiality . We get to know
the things we are attempting to master only by doing them. No amount of
teaching or studying ever made an artisan. Whatever you wish to do, do it,
and you will find your skill increase. The steps to mastery lead up a long
hill replete with obstacles, and each when met and overcome increases your
understanding. The job to be done has a right way to do it, and the right
way to do it is made apparent by performance, and performance involves awillingness to enter into conflict, to meet opposition without fear , hostility ,
or resentment. The quality most necessary in the conquest of life is courage. It is very
difficult to undertake any dynamic action unless there is resident in the
person a boldness that refuses to be intimidated by obstacles. There are
three principal reactions possible to the human or ganism when faced by
danger . It can run; it can fight; or it can freeze. W e see evidence of all three
in the animal kingdom. The lion faced by danger fights; the antelope faced
by danger runs; the possum faced by danger freezes. Such reactions are
usually all present in the same person. Those who are triggered when faced
by danger depend upon their emotional conditioning and perception of
truth. If we run from danger it is obvious we have given in to fear . But the
person who is frozen has given in to fear just as much as the person who
runs away . However , few people run away today . We have been taught that
fear is bad and must be overcome. Society admires people of courage, and
our fear of others considering us cowards usually is greater than our fear of
dangerous circumstances. In the face of danger , the average person is rooted
to the spot, mesmerized by the fear that permeates them. They could not
possibly react in a worse manner . At least the person who runs away lives to
fight another day , but the one who cannot either fight or run can only be
destroyed. Facing Fear
 
In our modern society each of us is engaged in a constant bout with fear . We
must work to provide a living, and the fear is always with us that we will
not earn enough for ourselves and our families. Many people are employed
by an industrial colossus in which they are a mere cipher on the payroll, and
since they cannot help but perceive their dispensability , insecurity
constantly haunts them. They see that they neither called themselves into
existence nor can stay their eventual death, and because they cannot see
beyond these ends of existence, they turn their psychological face from anyconsideration of their spiritual side. They usually live out their lives with
their awareness fronted in the ego, and as a consequence they forever are
comparing themselves with others. They are either better or worse but never
equal, and so they are either patting themselves on the back or berating
themselves for being inferior . Though fear is their constant companion, they
often fancy they have overcome it because they do not run away; but the
fear remains and announces its presence by ulcers, high blood pressure,
heart trouble, arthritis, cancer . If we do not want to run away from danger and if we do not want to be
frozen by it, then our only alternative is to fight it, to face it and allow our
own particular dynamic to work out the overcoming of it. This involves
above all things conquering fear , for when emotion permeates our body and
brain, we are unable to think; we encase ourselves in a shell through which
the true essence of the dangerous situation cannot possibly penetrate. W e
isolate ourselves from our own subconscious and freeze or run away . Conquering fear means to subordinate fear , to force it out of the level of
awareness so that the psyche is free to appraise the situation, so that the
individual consciousness may penetrate the essence of the situation
confronting it and perceive its meaning independent of the ego. When we
do this, we are able to take action against our dangerous situation in such a
manner as to reduce its threat to nothing. T ake the lion tamer . As a novice
she steps into the cage and experiences the frozenness that comes with fear . She would not be in the cage in the first place if she had not already
overcome the running-away reaction, but now she must overcome her
frozenness. She looks into the great beast’ s eyes and is mesmerized. She
can barely bring her limbs to move in response to the dictates of her mind. But as the weeks and months go by and she is constantly in the cage with
the lion, she begins to understand and the barriers between the animal’ s
subconscious and her own are lowered. Then she comes to an instinctive
understanding of the lion, and the lion becomes aware of this and follows
her orders docilely . There comes a day when stepping into the cage and
putting the lion through its tricks no longer involves any danger at all. She
has become so skilled in perception of the true relationship between herself
and the lion and has so disciplined fear that she performs the task of
running the lion as easily as she drives her automobile. No matter thesituations that seem to imperil you, you can overcome all; you can act in the
midst of them with great bravery , with an otherworldly boldness if only you
will squeeze fear out of your consciousness, recognizing that it proceeds out
of the ego and must be surmounted before any obstacle can be overcome. Increasing Understanding
 
Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Do not think that what is hard for thee to master is
impossible for man; but if a thing is possible and proper to man, deem it
attainable by thee.” In order to reduce each obstacle to its proper size we
have to grow . We only meet an obstacle in the first place because of some
smallness in our nature, and when we have gotten rid of that smallness we
will have gotten rid of the obstacle too. All obstacles are in actual truth
illusions, and the extent to which we are deluded by them indicates a side of
our nature that needs more maturity and understanding. Generally we only
recognize opposition when we fail to pass beyond a certain point with our
methods of action. If a bridge lies before us and we seek to cross it, we
recognize opposition when a barrier is put in our path and a person asks us
for a toll. Then we see very clearly that we must pay a price for our desire. Each of us, as we move along without opposition, consider that we have
evolved a formula that will make our path serene. There is no such formula,
and no path will be serene for long. W e are all sailors on a stormy sea that
appears to be uncharted, but to some higher knowing mind the depths and
the deeps are specifically known. Each of us sails this gigantic ocean
according to our understanding. All people are created equal in potential, but at any particular stage of their
development the primary thing observable about them is their absolute
inequality . Each is shorter or taller or fatter or leaner or smarter or bolder or
more vigorous and seems to have no counterpart. Though we all set forth on
life’s journey with the same potential, present development of that potential
is an individual matter; and the opposition that confronts us as we move
from hour to hour of our temporal span is directly indicative of ourunderstanding. It is what we cannot do or be or see that comes into our life
as a problem. If our problems revolve around love, it is because we cannot
love. If our problems revolve around success, it is because we are insecure. If our problems revolve around health, it is because we are spiritually and
emotionally repressed. Always we seek to surmount the problems in our
subconscious, and we generally do this by any means possible, sometimes
creating the most fantastic illusions in order to substantiate our position. If
we are unsuccessful, for example, we create a world of mean and capricious
people whose sole purpose is to defeat our particular aims. If we are
unloved, we relate by the hour the number of times we have done things for
people and they have repaid us by ignoring us. If we are unhealthy , we
recount at great length the tremendous drama of our struggle against the
countless bugs that attack our weak and inef fectual or gans. If we are
overweight, we think everybody else eats more and stays thin. If we are
poor, we think everybody else works less and makes more money . If we are
weak, we envy the strong, but seldom have the courage to strengthen our
minds and our bodies by exposing them to tension and pain. Decision Determines Gr owth
 
In every obstacle lies the key to another level of awareness. Until we find
the key , we cannot grow and our perception is ringed around with barriers. We look at a hurdle and decide whether or not we can leap over it. In that
decision we determine our fate. W e may look at the hurdle and decide that
we cannot leap over it no matter how high it is. W e may look at the hurdle
and decide that we cannot leap over it at that particular height but could if it
were lower . We may look at the hurdle and think that we could leap over it
if it were twice as high. And our trial will be according to our mental
conception. W e are all on trial in life. Problems are posed to each of us, and
we either face them or we don’ t, but if we face them our growth is assured. Some people appear to conquer their problems easier than others, but this
appearance sometimes is misleading. Enlightened people do not spread
their troubles about. They keep them to themselves, preferring to createimpressions of control and serenity . They have the inward realization that
all people are equally troubled, that each has the same number of problems,
perhaps on dif ferent levels, but equally important, nonetheless. The most psychologically sound philosophy is a religious philosophy
because it recognizes that life is aspiration, seeking to grow beyond its
present understanding toward a goal that is as limitless as space. No one
stands alone on the top of their mountain, no matter how small that
mountain be. W e are sustained and ener gized by a power beyond us, which
in the end we must surrender to, which we must seek to express and
effectuate upon the earth. What is going on in the universe stretches far
beyond the imagination of the individual. W e are in the grip of a power that
knows exactly where it is going, that uses us as instruments to execute its
will in the world. But the ennobling and heartening fact is this, that each
individual may become anything they desire, may fit into any conception
they are capable of conceiving, for no one is limited to what they appear to
be but they have innate within them a quality that enables them to become
anything they are capable of envisaging. They may reach out and touch the
stars, for their creator can, and they are their own creator , part and parcel,
lacking only in understanding. Destiny and Understanding
 
If we oppose our will to events, we are opposing only our mental blocks. That which seems to be opposition, when truly perceived, is not opposition
after all. Life is proceeding toward some great end. Nothing is small or
unimportant in the achievement of that end. The pinpoint of a diamond may
support a thousand revolving tons, and the individual is just such a support
for their creator . The will of the Supreme prevails, and we serve it, but we
are manifestations of the Supreme, and therefore can it alter our destiny . We
can change what we are by taking thought. W e can change what we will be
by determining the direction of our growth. The will of universal mind is a
will toward enlightenment. The Secret Self has incarnated in each being andseeks through that particular manifestation to add to its self-knowledge. Each of us does not exist to satisfy our senses or our ego but has been
created and put upon the earth to find ourselves, to grow into awareness and
self-knowledge. All the obstacles and events of life are for this purpose
alone. It is not money we serve or pleasure or vanity but an ur ge within us
to grow , to become more than we are, to find our true selves and to achieve
dominion over the circumstances around us. Fate assigns to each person a personal destiny based upon their
understanding. They may alter that destiny by altering their understanding,
but they cannot change it by fighting it with the vain weapons of ego-will. Oedipus, in Sophocles’ s tragedy , strives with all the ef fort of his ego-will to
escape his doom, and in so doing takes the very steps that eventually bring
it about. W e serve false gods when we serve the senses and ego-desires. Following these false masters eventually leads us into a blind alley , where
we either destroy ourselves or in some other manner court tragedy . The
Secret Self has placed the delusion of individual ego in us, but not so we
will tilt at windmills, like Don Quixote. The delusion of ego-self has been given us in order that we might grow
from the knowledge of a part to the knowledge of the whole and in so doing
aid the Secret Self in its ultimate ascension out of matter . Providence
combines predestination and human freedom for the reason that all things
are the Divine and the will of the Divine is free. Lost in ego-sense, however ,
we are bound by the terms of a personal destiny based on sensual reaction. We can alter our lives only by altering ourselves, and as long as we cling to
the ego as knowledge of self, we serve the will of the Supreme as we serve
a master . We do not know this, of course. W e fight and rail against the
blows of fate. W e peer out from under suspicious brows at a world that
seems to be our enemy . We seek to conquer , to control, and failing to do so
are convinced that a conspiracy is afoot to thwart our desires. The T empering Pr ocess
 Even as Oedipus brings about his doom by struggling against it with his
ego-will, so Aeneas in V irgil’s Aeneid fulfills his destiny with honor and
rewar d by submitting to the will of God. Aeneas was divinely appointed to
bring the T rojan race to Italy and found the Roman Empir e, and in this
appointment was to be an instrument of the gods. He was tempted to evade
his mission, but finally accepted it, and with divine will as his guide br ought
a golden age of Roman law and peace to the world. These two classical
characters, Oedipus and Aeneas, illustrate the age-old dilemma of
humanity: whether to serve oneself and one’ s sensual natur e in the world or
to seek beyond oneself for a guiding principle that is infinite and eternal. The path of Oedipus is the path of pain and frustration. The path of Aeneas
is the path of enlightenment and ser enity . Yet the ego is so str ong in us that
nearly everyone chooses the path of pain and frustration. W e identify
ourselves falsely with a vanity that demands r ecognition. W e want applause,
fame, money , and we make gods of these instead of the Secr et Self in whose
purposeful hands all things lie. Still, no one escapes the tempering influence
of conflict and pain. No matter how far along the path of enlightenment we
have traveled, we still pursue occasional blind alleys at the behest of the
ego, still carry in the subterranean r ecesses of our psyches many delusions
and blind spots that pr ompt us to move in wr ong dir ections, to adopt
attitudes that ar e opposed to truth. Inevitably , we meet pain and frustration,
but if we have come far enough on the path of enlightenment to r ecognize
these symptoms for what they ar e, then we do not endlessly beat our fists
against walls that will not yield, and r ecognize as soon as we meet the pain
that a block has been encounter ed in our understanding. It is not learning, grace nor gear ,
Nor easy meat and drink,
But bitter pinch of pain and fear
That makes creation think. — RUDY ARD KIPLING 
The Psychological or Spiritual W orld
 
There is a power of extrasensory perception inherent in each of us which we
can call upon for enlightenment when opposition appears to have brought
us to a dead end. The enormous psychic self which our surface minds are
tied to permeates all things and all situations, so that we can penetrate the
true nature of our opposition by a kind of mystic and occult process. Dr . Rhine’ s parapsychology laboratory at Duke University has proved the
existence of the mind’ s extrasensory powers. Many thousands of
documented cases of Edgar Cayce’ s psychic ability also have proved that a
door occasionally opens in the opaque barrier between the individual and
universal mind and allows an inner perception of things beyond space and
time and limitation. Such a man was Peter Hurkos. Hurkos was a modest Hollander who
successfully predicted in 1959 that the Los Angeles Dodgers would win the
National League pennant, when all authoritative preseason predictions had
them destined for the second division after they had wound up next to last
the year before. Hurkos claimed to be 87 percent accurate in his predictions
and had the proof to substantiate his claims. “I have a gift of God,” he said. He was hired by police departments all over the world to track down
escaped criminals, and his record was astounding. He was employed by
business firms as a sort of security of ficer, checking the books simply by
handling them, able to pinpoint any discrepancy through his feelings. The
psychic ability of this amazing man opened a door into the unknown and
made more apparent than ever the coming ascendancy of mind over matter ,
revealing that the most fascinating conquests ahead for humanity will be in
mental realms and the study of consciousness. The Scottish physician Dr . J. S. Haldane wr ote in The Sciences and
Philosophy:
 Natur e just mocks at us when we attempt to divor ce her fr om conscious
perception. Ther e is no such thing as a physical world existing apart fr om
consciousness. It is true that Berkeley and Hume showed by r easoning
which has never been shaken that if the physical world wer e real in the
sense assumed by Newton, we could never come to know of its existence. What we interpr et as physically determined is only what is imperfectly seen. It is thus only an imperfectly r evealed spiritual world that we had taken for
a material world. Ther e is no escape fr om the conclusion that behind the
appearances of a physical or biological world we ar e in pr esence of a
psychological or spiritual world. When we give first credence to the physical world, we give substantiality to
an illusion. When we sweat and fume at obstacles, it is because we are
unable to recognize that they are mental concepts and that they can only be
altered in our own minds. All the great mystics have realized this mistaken
focus of humanity’ s consciousness. Swedenbor g stated that there are two
beings within us, an inner being of true perception and action and an
external being of reaction. If, for lack of a lucid apprehension of their inner
being, someone allows bodily reaction to dominate their life, all their
powers become absorbed in the use of external senses; and the inner being,
the being of true perception and true action, gradually perishes. By
subordinating the external being of reaction to an inner quality of light and
serenity and divine purpose, our false duality is solidified into unity with
our creator and we arrive at the pinnacle of our ef fectiveness as an
individual. The secret of the philosopher ’s stone is that unity is the mark of
the Absolute. When we fully realize this, we come to an understanding of
the mystic bond that exists between ourselves and each obstacle we meet. That thing separate from ourselves which appears to oppose us is not
separate from ourselves at all, but is permeated by the same spirit, is
energized by the same principle that ener gizes us, and if we only are able to
look within the depths of our own nature, we eventually are bound to see
the truth of each obstacle, and when we do, it will disappear . To Know Is to See
 
Henry Miller wrote:
 
The majority of men ar e prisoners of instinct. A small number attain to the
level of abstraction, with the emer gence of which society may be said to
begin. It is fr om this level that the laws, the arts, and all social cr eations
emer ge. Specialism is the gift of intuition, which permits man to see the
inner as well as the outer in all its ramifications. Intuition, consequently , is
the most satisfactory and adequate, the highest form of knowing. T o know is
to see. It is amazing how much we can accomplish when we allow our
subconscious minds to perform the work. It is equally amazing how
difficult it is to do the simplest task when we go about it with our conscious
minds. There is an elusive quality about life that makes it gossamer to the
conscious mind. The microscope reveals another world but yields no secrets
of that world. W e hold an object in our hands and peer at it with all our
attention focused upon it, but what is revealed to us about it is but the
merest suggestion of its totality , barely indicative of the infinite qualities
hidden from us by the very nature of our conscious examination. W e have
no trouble walking along a two-foot path when we do not think about it, but
put that two-foot path across a hundred-foot gor ge and we begin to think
about each step. Chances then are very good that in crossing we will tumble
off the bridge and fall into the ravine below . We have to learn to trust our subconscious to do things naturally at the
behest of a principle that is greater than our surface mind. Reason is not to
be trusted because it does not know enough about what it is dealing with. The complete knowledge about all things rests in universal mind, and this
knowledge is within us. If we learn to call upon this intelligence to deal
with each of our problems, we soon find that there is no such thing as aninsurmountable obstacle. W e have within us a resource that enables us to
penetrate the block in our understanding that caused the obstacle in the first
place. Have you examined your own life lately for the place where your
understanding is blocked? It is easy to recognize. Do you find the same
situation repeating itself with monotonous regularity? Do you sometimes
feel that you are traveling around the perimeter of a circle, over and over? Like someone lost in a snowstorm, each of us eventually comes across our
own tracks in life, for the law of living is that we must cover the same
ground until our understanding concerning it is complete. Psychic A wareness
 
People object to pain and suf fering being instituted in a world that was
made by a loving God, but the master intelligence that has created all
permeates all and seeks through countless dif ferentiations of its own being
for manifold expression of its infinite and eternal nature. Pain is the path by
which it grows, and has no other significance. Pain is related to pleasure
only as pleasure represents the absence of pain. Things that feel good make
us static. Pleasure is the earmark of self-satisfaction. Those whose aim in
life is the seeking of pleasure have by that very attitude stunted their
spiritual growth. The Supreme sees the goal along the path of the infinite
and uses each of us to attain it. Our brains and bodies and hearts and minds
and egos are instruments of a greater intelligence and will; and in that
greater intelligence and will we have our true identity , not in the surface
mind and ego at all. Basic in the spiritual realization that comes to us when we have achieved
the proper psychic balance between ego and Secret Self is the knowledge
that we and God are one. This claiming to be God is mystical and should
not be confused with factual language. W e do not suddenly come to the
realization that we are God with any kind of implication that we personally
are in char ge of the universe. The God that we speak of is defined by the
limited semantics of language. The God that we know ourselves to be is amystical life force that we allow to use us. Any attempt by us to act upon
the world from the position of God immediately defeats itself, for we
cannot coerce things to a personal end without separating ourselves from
the Supreme and acting in the ego, thereby losing the psychic position from
which our knowledge first sprang. The world is not here to be used by people who attain psychic illumination;
it is here as a field of action for the working out of the expression of the
Secret Self. Those who are able to achieve illumination simply come into
position as knower . By subordinating their egos and surface selves to the
workings of a greater mind and being, they achieve ef fectiveness and
serenity , but they do not change the world. The world is what it is because
of what it must become, and it was what it once was because of what it had
to be now . The egotistic and vain actions of people carry with them a sense
of personal responsibility and impending disaster . There are wars and
rumors of wars, there are economic crises and political crises. There are
plagues and diseases and crimes. People run about, hurry with this and that,
convinced that disaster can be staved of f only by their individual and heroic
efforts. If there is any sense or meaning to life at all, no philosophy could be
farther from the truth. The intelligence that reveals itself in the design of a
snowflake, in the photosynthesis of green and growing things, in the
complex biochemistry of living protoplasm, is in char ge of the world and of
life, and destiny and purpose can be left in its sure hands. It is not our
position to rant and rail against fate and circumstance, and to save the world
from disaster . It is ours to understand, to attempt to penetrate the meanings
of existence so that we can grow into higher levels of consciousness and
thereby become better instruments for the manifestation of the Secret Self. If we take this very great and exciting step, we fulfill the primary
commandment of life. Creativeness becomes the guiding principle of the enlightened life. If we
place ourselves in the hands of the Supreme, we soon realize that the work
to be done through us will be unique because each of us is a unique
instrument. W e will not attack our tasks; we will listen and allow the work
to be done. If we let the ego control or originate, we defeat our purpose, for
we cannot serve two masters. The creative ur ge prods so deeply at some
people that they must abandon all to serve it, and in the serving of it theyfind spiritual enlightenment. They go each day to the fount of selfhood,
rededicate themselves as instruments, and let universal mind work through
them. Creative W ork Is a Prayer
 
Harry worked as a bank clerk, and in his late twenties was aware of a
gnawing dissatisfaction with life. He thought it was because he wasn’ t
getting ahead, and he certainly felt that he had little talent for his job. Day
after day he arose at the same hour , fixed his breakfast in his small
apartment, took the bus to work, sat at a small desk behind a low iron
railing, ate his lunch at the same restaurant, returned home at night to an
evening of reading before going to bed. The monotony of this existence, its
lack of creativity , palled on him. He became antisocial and was irritable and
resentful to those about him. Returning home from work one day , he
sprinted after a departing bus, slipped, fell under the wheels. Both legs were
crushed, had to be amputated. When Harry returned to full consciousness
after weeks of hovering near death and learned how the world had tumbled
about his shoulders, he exhibited a strange reaction. Instead of being
overcome by despair , he actually seemed happy . When asked about it, he
replied, “I don’ t really know why , but for some reason I feel that now I can
really be myself. I’ve lost part of my physical body , but gained something
else, I think.”
After Harry was dischar ged from the hospital, he took a cottage at the
beach, where he lived on a small income derived from insurance. He began
to write. He sat all day in a chair , propped up before a typewriter , and
turned out reams of copy . After a while, some of it was published. W ithin
three years, he was comfortably augmenting his income. Even more marked
than his success as a writer was his transformation as an individual. He was
radiant. His clear eyes focused far away as he spoke of what his
creativeness meant to him.“It’s religious,” he said. “Like praying, I think. It’ s like being visited each
day by a supreme mind that works through you because it needs you to do a
particular work. I sit here all day in my little house, apparently all alone, but
I must tell you that I feel more needed now than I ever have felt before in
my life.”
He gestured toward the manuscript scattered around the room. “All this has
been done through me. It doesn’ t matter whether people think it’ s great or
mediocre or even poor . It has been done by a power greater than I am, and
this power works through me.” The joy on Harry’ s face was testimony to
the tremendous spiritual transformation that had taken place within him. “I
lost everything,” he continued, “my job, my health, my legs, but in losing
them I found something of far greater importance. I learned that material
things, even limbs of the body , are unimportant. The main thing in life is
that a man should awaken to his true self and serve that self all his hours. This I have been privileged to do.” He laughed then and showed his humor
was still with him. “But I don’ t recommend that you cut of f your legs to do
it.”
 
Indomitableness
 
In every conflict there are a few people who exhibit staying power , and this
staying power nearly always represents the dif ference between the
champion and the also-ran. Boldness of spirit and tenacity of purpose attend
those who act in accord with their own nature. Confusion destroys purpose. Those who take a stand clear away doubt and are able to act on their
problem in harmony with all sides of their nature. They get things done. Their optimistic good nature survives in the face of all odds. Despair and
gloom find no handholds on their soul; they cast them out of their nature by
the simple psychological decision to perform at the behest of the will of the
Secret Self.Everyone cheers the under dog. A person who r efuses to quit, who keeps on
trying in the face of defeat, who does their best against superior for ces,
strikes within us a sympathetic chor d that is tied deep to subconscious
collective memories. W e all ar e awar e that life is not easy , that the lessons it
teaches ar e learned thr ough pain and tension, and we r ecognize that the
temper ed stuff of which the enlightened person is made has been subjected
to fir e, that they have survived at all only thr ough courage and
perseverance. Gr eater than courage is tenacity , the willingness to stick in
there and keep trying. By this patient and determined positioning of
ourselves in life, barr ed doors eventually open and stone walls dissolve. A
drop of water persistently applied wears away granite. T ender flowers lift
their petals to the sun thr ough solid concr ete. Nothing r esists persistent
effort, and tenacity is the sine qua non of achievement. We must not let circumstances influence our thinking. The appearance of
obstacles must not cause us to lose heart. W e must have faith in our basic
position and know that we are capable of doing anything and being
anything we can visualize. The same animating presence is within us as is
within every obstacle, and we need only understand our true relationship
with each in order to perform ef fectively . An inner knowing is necessary to
effective action. W e cannot even reach down and pick up a piece of paper
unless we first visualize the action in our mind, with complete surety that
we can perform it. This inner knowing is compounded of equal parts of
faith and intuition. The image is born of intuition, and faith holds it in the
mind. Our development as individuals only comes when we encounter
opposition. Recognizing this, we will find ourselves thankful for our times
of pressure and pain, for then we are being ur ged to higher consciousness. No Endeavor Is in V ain
 
Opposition comes to everyone who aspires. By the mark of the encountered
obstacle we realize a time for growing is at hand. W e do not turn away from
the obstacle; we do not assault it or treat it as if it is not there. The ostrichhides its head from impending danger; the possum topples over and plays
dead; but the enlightened person neither turns away from the fact nor ceases
in their ef fort. Patiently , with a persistence that never tires, they examine
their own mind and consciousness to determine where it is that their
understanding is blocked away from true perception of the encountered
obstacle. They will grow because they must, and when the period of growth
is over , they will find themself beyond the obstacle; looking back along the
path they have traveled, they will not even find it there, for what we know
seems simple when understanding has been achieved. There are a thousand reasons for not doing things, and each one is valid if
accepted. When we undertake a new venture or attempt a new course of
action, we find obstacles to success at every hand if we choose to look for
them. Getting the job done is not life’ s primary aim. Each task is only a test
of human aspiration and self-knowledge. Raising human consciousness to
constantly higher levels is the primary purpose of nature. Material ends are
secondary , side ef fects rather than goals. It is not so important to succeed in
the eyes of the world as it is to attempt something bigger and greater than
we have ever done. From this test, expanded consciousness comes, no
matter the physical fate of the venture. No one ventures without reward. No endeavor is in vain;
Its reward is in the doing,
And the rapture of pursuing
Is the prize the vanquished gain. — HENR Y WADSWOR TH LONGFELLOW
 
The Conquest of Self
 Opposition is the testing ground where life evolves constantly higher levels
of awareness. In this arena the master spirit holds court, bound on a meeting
with the completely evolved person. Evolution bends us and kneads us, tries
us and sometimes breaks us. W e serve a greater intelligence than we are
consciously aware of; we are growing toward an eventual oneness with that
intelligence; and if the path be marked by pain and trial, these are only
urgings toward greater understanding and awareness. The conquest of each obstacle is a conquest of self. Those of us who
discipline ourselves and search for increased awareness find no such thing
as a permanent obstacle; our psychic position surmounts all. Nothing can
stand in our path as long as we realize that each obstacle exists within. Progress always depends upon discipline. When we make ourselves do the
thing that has to be done, we hold our sensual self under short rein, guiding
and forming our destiny . Distasteful tasks serve a great purpose in the
maturation of the soul. When we accept uncomplainingly the burdens
placed upon us, we are given increased strength to handle them. A puerile
philosophy bent on making money and living a life of ease eventually must
wither the soul because it is a product of the ego. There is no easy path to
goodness and greatness, which are always arrived at through hardship. Awareness and fortitude and tenacity and loyalty cannot be gleaned by easy
mental exercise. Neither are they medals to be worn as marks of combat but
are automatically conferred upon those who throw their heart into life’ s
tests without reservation or timidity or doubt. They gain all because they
give all. Guiding Principle
 
The fleshpots of self-indulgence are to be avoided at all costs. Those who
seek primarily to avoid pain and hardship and to satisfy their senses
eventually must dull those senses and corrupt the flesh. The discipline of
Abraham Lincoln as against the indulgence of the Roman Emperor Nero
gives us a clear mental picture of the way our nature is honed according tothe paths we follow . The ideal within the person determines the person, and
when we set forth on life’ s journey , each of us carries within us an image of
the person we aspire to be. Our whole lives are determined by this image. If
the image is Lincoln-like, we discipline our ego-nature and seek within
ourselves for a guiding principle; gradually the demands of our ego-self
lessen, we are able to control our sensual nature, and the Secret Self
illuminates our lives with love, understanding, and courage. W e move
calmly in the midst of the most crucial events, sustained and soothed
through faith in our actuation by the Divine for a purpose that is good and
great. Let no obstacle dismay you. It has been put in your path for the purpose of
your growth. Do not attack it headlong, but do not turn away from it. It is
but a reflection of your lack of understanding. Do not cease in your calm
and steady ef fort, and do not despair . Keep firm your resolve, keep clear the
image in your mind, keep faith in the power that sustains you. Eventually ,
you will find yourself carried to a higher level of understanding, and the
obstacle will disappear . Above all things, remember that opposition is a
time of growth, that our ef fectiveness as individuals is in direct relation to
the number of obstacles we have faced and surmounted in life.OceanofPDF .com 
9
 
Developing Skills
 
Each person contains all possibilities within them because they ar e a
manifestation of an eternal and infinite being. The Russian philosopher
P. D. Ouspensky states:
 
Everything exists always. There is only one eternal present, the Eternal
Now , which the weak and limited human mind can never grasp and
conceive. Our mind follows the development of possibilities always in one
direction only , but in fact, every moment contains a very lar ge number of
possibilities, and all of them are actualized, only we do not see it and do not
know it. W e always see only one of the actualizations and in this lies the
poverty and limitation of the human mind. But if we try to imagine the
actualization of all the possibilities of the present moment, and then of the
next moment, and so on, we shall feel the world growing infinitely ,
incessantly multiplying itself and becoming immeasurably rich and utterly
unlike the flat and limited world we have hitherto pictured to ourselves. Clear Channel to Universal Mind
 
We may develop any skill we desire. The essence of our nature is to grow in
the direction indicated by the images that form in this consciousness. Some
people are born with a clear channel from one facet of their consciousnessinto universal mind, and they are gifted. They are our Balzacs, our Mozarts,
our Einsteins, our Galileos, our Michelangelos, and though they are
superhuman in one corner of their natures, in all else they are normal and
subject to the same weak and inef fectual vision as everyone. Such unearned
perception of universal mind is sometimes more a curse than a blessing,
because the person possessing it expects illumination in other areas also and
is frustrated at being unable to find it. Rage and self-hate may grow out of
such an unbalanced nature. V an Gogh cutting of f his ear is an excellent
illustration, and the artistic temperament, when gifted with genius, is often
manic-depressive, alternating between periods of elation and self-
abasement. Skills that we earn are the skills that delight us. Nothing in life is so
exquisitely satisfying as the mastery of a skill. Whatever we do well adds to
our stature as persons, increases our scope and ef fectiveness. From birth to
death we acquire countless skills, use them daily , perform them
unthinkingly , because they have become part of our nature. W e learn to
walk, we learn to run, we learn to talk, we learn to read, we learn to figure,
we learn to cook, we learn to sew , we learn to drive, we learn to run a
business; and the kinds of persons we become and our ef fectiveness as
human beings have a direct bearing on the number of skills we have
mastered. People say , “Oh, I could never develop any skills. I don’ t have any talent.”
Well, lack of natural ability is no reason for curling up your toes and
playing dead. The most important thing in life is growth, and it makes no
difference where you start on the scale of capability; what is important is
that you do not stay there but progress. There is a quality in our psychic
makeup that when impressed with desire and a picturization of that desire,
immediately we set about opening our eyes to the possibilities for achieving
it in the material world. Knowing this, we eventually come to have deep
faith that the thing which we think about will become part of our lives. Modern Pied Piper 
The man with the voice of a bullfrog probably will never give a concert at
Carnegie Hall, but if he spends the major portion of his life learning to be a
singer , he will be able to perform quite creditably someday . None of us lives
long enough to develop completely in all directions. For this reason the
Secret Self created multitudes of individuals, and through this multiplicity
seeks expansion in all areas. The individual functions best when they are
able to determine those abilities most natural to them and then set about
developing them to their highest possible level. T o do this they need insight,
and they most certainly need to be free of mental blockages. Sometimes people seek to develop their business ability because they desire
to have money , when in truth they might find more fulfillment in other
fields. The end-gaining philosophy that has become predominant in our
civilization is a pied piper leading us down streets of frustration. Those who
work only to gain a result are seldom happy and almost never work well. They find no pleasure in their tasks and no satisfaction in their growth
possibilities. They can hardly wait to get on from one moment to the next
because the only time that has any meaning for them is the time when their
goal is reached. Should they never reach it, their lives are hemmed in with
bitterness through having sacrificed all for something that never
materialized. It is better to lie on your back and look at the stars than to
chase shadows, if the chasing is not fun. A little child can run after illusions
and take delight in every moment, but the adult who pursues a wraith and is
bound to it begrudges every ounce of ener gy expended in attempting to
bring their illusory tar get to earth. Three laborers were asked what they were doing. The first said, “I am
working.” The second said, “I am digging a ditch.” The third said, “I’m
helping build a canal.” Obviously the third worker took the most
satisfaction from their labor because they saw that their work would create,
and they were glad to be part of it. Those who labor only to make a living
put in time that they wish were gone, begrudging the hours they must spend
at their tasks. They look at the clock at ten and wish it were noon, and they
look at the clock at three and wish it were five. They actually wish away a
large part of their lives. Longing for Mastery
 
It is not nearly as important that we possess a skill as it is that we desire to
possess one. The longing for mastery is the key to the motivation of the
Secret Self, the very basis of evolution, of each form’ s tendency toward
unity with its creator . Life is fluctuation and change, a constant cycle of
growth and decay , and we have to aspire to be better than we are even to
stay where we are, and the moment self-satisfaction comes to us our
dissolution begins. Constant excitement and challenge come to those who
seek mastery . Every situation confronts them with opportunity , for they see
in each an opportunity to develop a part of their nature. Whenever they
meet an obstacle they know their knowledge is inadequate, and they set
about at once to rectify this deficiency . They learn everything they can
because they see the bond common to all knowledge. Eventually they learn
easily and well, for they remove all limitation from their minds and, like a
sponge, draw the knowledge needed for ef fective works and actions. We have to love the things we do in order to do them well. W e have to like
to perform the work regardless of the result. W e have to not even care about
the result and take our entire satisfaction from the action. When people have
under gone great shocks, such as prolonged exposure to death and danger or
the loss of a limb or the death of a loved one, they often turn to work for
work’ s sake as a preoccupation for their minds, and thus they discover one
of life’ s deepest joys. A child finger -painting in a kinder garten class puts
colors on paper with no idea of a result, and this engrossing of their whole
nature makes them part of the work they do and makes the work part of
them. Mental hospitals have discovered the therapeutic value of putting
patients to work at easels or with needle and thread or even in the garden,
for surrender of self-concern to the task at hand rids the patients of their
tormenting ego and they are able to get completely outside themselves
through becoming part of the work they are doing. W e develop our skills
through an inner love for the action involved. W e will become musicians if
we love music. W e will become writers if we love writing. W e will becomebuilders if we love construction. W e will become businesspeople if we love
commerce. But we become nothing simply through a desire to be famous
and rich. Such false desires are products of the ego. Even the slightest look
at them gives us evidence of their insubstantiality . If we undertake to be a businessperson, for instance, and we run into
difficulties and our reaction is one of depression and failure, we can be sure
that we were led into our business endeavors in the first place through an
egoistic desire to be better or more powerful than others. The
businessperson who loves business glories in their moments of trial, for it is
then that they develop more understanding, more mastery . Since they love
business, they love it when its nature is most acute, and therefore their times
of trial are a joy . Such people inevitably are successful because they cannot
be discouraged, because they love the thing that they are doing whether it is
going badly or well. They are unaf fected by apparent turns of defeat and
fortune, and assure their own growth through having taken their eyes from
the goal and becoming engrossed in the doing of their work. We Learn by Doing
 
Learning to do a thing well is primarily a matter of performing it endlessly
until all the ramifications of its action seep down into subconscious levels
and allow one to perform unthinkingly . It is dif ficult to fly an airplane when
one does not know how . To the earthbound person, flight in a plane
operated by their own hand seems almost unthinkable. When they take their
initial ride, they at first are frightened, then exhilarated, sensing their
transcendence of nature’ s law of gravity . Soaring high above the landscape,
they feel like a bird, arriving at a sensation of flying far removed from any
previous experience on passenger planes. Then they may bridge the gulf
between their earthbound limitation and their aspiration toward the sky , and
they may decide to become a pilot.The first time up they are clumsy and awkward, tense and inef fectual,
seeing all too clearly that if their instructor were not present, the plane
would fall and crash into the ground. This sense of being poised between
life and death with no one to look to but themself may prove to be one of
the most significant experiences of their life. If so, their eventual mastery of
the airplane is assured. Seeking understanding in an area hitherto hidden
from them, their growth in that direction is inevitable. Soon they will find
themself alone in the airplane, flying it freely and confidently , transcending
the limitations of their own thinking. Their exhilaration then will know no
bounds. Always we learn by doing. No amount of information injected into us by
books and lectures will make us the master of a skill. A skill is its own
teacher , and each of us who aspires to mastery must become an apprentice. Ideas, facts, and abilities all come to those who seek to make themselves
more proficient, whether their field is creative, administrative, executive, or
simply the performing of labor . If we dedicate ourselves to a task for the
love of doing it, eventually we will find ourselves highly capable. When we
attempt to learn a new skill, our initial ef forts are always inept, and the ego-
conscious person often is stricken with discouragement and sometimes
gives up further ef fort altogether . The enlightened person will not be
dismayed by their initial ineptitude. They will know they are coming to
grips with a new knowledge that will take time to seep down into
subconscious levels. Educating the Subconscious
 
The person who buckles on a pair of ice skates and ventures out onto a
frozen pond for the first time is a sight to behold. Their arms flail, and their
ankles bend. They fight desperately for balance, swooping forward and
backward in a hair -raising battle to stay upright. They can neither start
themself when they are stopped nor stop themself when they are moving,
and the only certain thing about their performance is that they are bound towind up on the seat of their pants. Compare this novice skater with an
Olympic champion. It seems incredible there could be any comparison, but
there is. Not too many years ago, the Olympic champion was just such a
novice, and their proficiency today is only testimony to the power of the
subconscious to direct the actions of body and mind with the utmost
symmetry and perfection. When we try to do something dif ficult or something beyond our ordinary
grasp, we must first come to grips with it consciously , by focusing our
attention upon it. This period of conscious striving produces a tension
within the psyche that stimulates subconscious activity , directing relief of
the tension, producing resolution, giving dimension and control to the
organism. The more conscious the striving, the more tension produced in
the subconscious, and the more the subconscious works to ef fect answers to
the problems that confront the individual. Someone who is handicapped by
poor speech and uncertain delivery might desire to become a platform
speaker and set their conscious striving toward that end. Their initial period
of effort will produce little noticeable result because their inef fectuality
cannot be solved by their conscious mind. They cannot be given a
confident, dynamic delivery simply by thinking about it. Reason will not
provide the ef fects they seek, and no amount of study will provide a happy
solution to their problems. But as they deliver speech after speech, as they
continually work themself through the same blunders and errors, their
suffering and consequent need produce such tension in the subconscious
that one day , of a sudden, they will find themself delivering a direct and
dynamic speech with the power and clarity that heretofore have eluded
them. Turning Effort into Instinct
 
We develop our abilities when we make continued ef forts to improve
ourselves and never cease in the continuity of these ef forts no matter how
little progress we seem to be making. W e can never judge our progressanyhow , for the simple reason that all real work is done on subconscious
levels and we may be transported from very low to very high in one sudden
sublime moment of insight. A young housewife recently told the story of
how she came to be an accomplished pianist:
 
I had been laboring at the piano for four years. I had gotten to the point
where I was able to play a number of compositions, but they were all
wooden, came out with no feeling, seemed to lack rhythm. The few times
that I played for my friends, I was actually embarrassed at their having to
listen. I practiced every day , though, sometimes as much as three hours. It
seemed incredible that I made so little progress. I had always learned other
things easily , but playing the piano seemed too much. Eventually , I became
convinced I had no musical talent. One evening at a party a friend suggested that I play . A refusal rose rapidly
to my lips, but suddenly I was overcome with the most wonderful feeling
that I would be able to play well. I cannot say just how the feeling came. It
certainly did not form itself in so many words. I just knew deep within
myself that I would be able to play well, and I had a sudden insight into the
relationship between the music and myself. The piano, the keys, the notes,
and the sheet music all blended together and mer ged with me. I knew that
when I sat down and began to play , I would play well because I would be
performing outside myself and wouldn’ t have to think about it. When I sat
down at the piano, I played exactly as I envisioned. The guests applauded
and gathered around, and I played the rest of the evening. I have been
playing well ever since, and the whole thing taught me a great lesson. W e
must never quit when we seem to be making no progress. W e may go from
the most inept novice to the most accomplished performer in that single
moment when the hours of our ef forts break through and mer ge with our
instincts. A person sets out to do a thing because they are impelled by the images in
their mind. They are driven to the performance of the work that needs to be
done, and they cannot rest as long as one iota of the task is unfinished. Y etthey do not work simply to gain an end. They are engrossed in their task,
just as it is engrossed in them, and their actions are performed with an inner
joy, for they know they are doing what they should be doing. They take
complete enjoyment from each day because each day delivers them all they
desire — the work they love, their performance in it, and the growth of their
knowledge and capabilities. Look to this day! For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty . For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness. And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day! — KALIDASA (from the Sanskrit)
 The Only Real Security
 
One skill that people seem most desirous of developing is that of making
money . But making money is not a skill; it is the result of a skill. Money
sought for itself will surely prove to be most elusive. It is not evil; it is
good, good because it is representative of work; but those who attempt to
take it by avoiding work are corrupting its true purpose and shrinking their
own natures. Henry Ford made this statement: “If money is your only hope
for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man
can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability .”
As a young man, Ford had little money , but he was sustained by the vision
of his automobile, and his days and nights were full of work and thought. When that day arrived that every tenth family in America owned an
automobile, Ford became a rich man. His fortune came to him not because
it had been sought, but because he had rendered a service to millions of
people. In our day and age and society , wealth is a natural result of serving
a large number of people. All work is repaid in kind, and when we serve
one person he serves us also, and this owing of service usually results in the
exchange of money . If we serve one person we are paid so much; if we
serve two we are paid more; if we serve ten, even more; if we serve a
million, we are bound to become wealthy . We cannot help but create wealth
when we find a work that needs to be done, and we cannot help but receive
a portion of this wealth ourselves. That money breeds money is axiomatic,
but only when such money is put to work creating wealth. When our
savings are invested in activities that promote discovery and creation, they
cannot help but make money , for they are being used in accordance with
this primary law of life, that every service must be rewarded. Proper performance is always unthinking performance. Any other kind of
action is ego-centered and based upon partial knowledge. A friend reports
he can cut an apple exactly in half when he is not thinking about it, but
when he concentrates, the halves no longer match. Innate in each of us is an
original mind, and knowledge there is not limited to that acquired through
the senses. Egoistic conditioning causes the mind to acquire a fixed idea of
itself as a means of controlling itself, and consequently we think ofourselves as “I.” The focus of our consciousness then shifts from original
mind to ego-image, and it becomes impossible for us to use original mind in
any of our mental actions. Everything performed in response to the ego is
intentional, af fected, limited, and insincere. W e have to learn to let intention
go, to let sense of self go, so that we can perform under the impulsion of a
greater mind and will. W e must learn to be spontaneous; we must learn to
give up plan and ef fort, to do the natural thing when the time for
performance arises. Spontaneous Action
 
Basic in Zen Buddhism is the doctrine of unintentioned action. A Zen
Buddhist disciple, an archer , is reported to have practiced for three years to
let his arrows shoot themselves. When at last he was able to release the bow
string unconsciously , in response to an intuitive action that had more to do
with the tar get and arrow than his purpose, the ef fectiveness of his archery
increased amazingly; but the moment he began to think of results he no
longer was able to let the arrow shoot itself, and his scores fell of f at once. Spontaneity is the mark of the Absolute. Universal mind does not need to
think out things. It holds within itself at every moment the proper answer to
each particular problem. It acts quickly and without thought. That which we
do well we do without ef fort because we have given over the doing of it to a
will and power that lie outside our conscious intentioned ego. Developing a skill is lar gely a matter of abdicating from performance. W e
must learn to let go of personal responsibility and conscious control. Henry
Miller wrote:
 
When you dwell on the prophetic, you come to realize that there is an
invisible pattern to the events which mold our destiny , and that history ,
philosophy , science, art, religion, yield but a distorted, meaningless, even
ridiculous image of this divine web. But the most interesting aspect of thisexperience, this lifting of the veil, is that all desire to modify , hasten, or
retard events is nullified. What is, is, what will be, will be, and that suf fices. Merely to recognize, if only for a moment, that there is a greater plan,
enables one to abdicate. In abdicating one is not removed from the stream
of life even mentally; one plunges in more deeply , more wholeheartedly ,
that is the curious thing. All that is sacrificed is one’ s limited, egocentric
view of life, a view which caused one to swim against the current instead of
with it. A juggler keeps eight balls in the air , and people exclaim, “Isn’ t that
incredible!” And it certainly is if we assume that the conscious mind is
contr olling the action. The conscious mind can har dly follow the action, let
alone perform it. Juggling eight balls is done by the subconscious, which
directs all activity that takes on the coloration of skill or talent. This mind is
not a multitude of minds but only one; ther efore all skill and all talent
reflect the activity of a single person. All books ar e written by the same
author , all pictur es painted by the same artist, all music composed by the
same composer; in every cr eative activity or accomplished performance the
same mind is r esponsible. A thing done well r eflects the dir ection of the
Divine, and thus spiritual awakening is necessary to effective living. The Secr et Door
 
As long as we live and act in the ego, we cannot hope to develop our talents
and capabilities except in the most limited manner . When you set out to
learn something, you must first get yourself out of the way . This “I” that
you constantly refer to, this sense of self that sits directly behind your eyes,
is egoistic in the sense that it is separate and will prevent your learning
anything well as long as it controls your consciousness. There is a great
deal of dif ference between egoistic trying and letting action develop
through spontaneous impulsion from the Secret Self. Ef fort made throughthe ego develops because the ego has some result in mind. It wants to feel
better than others, wants to control them, or it is afraid or hostile or
insecure, and this end-gaining action, so limited in viewpoint and
knowledge, has only the barest chance of succeeding, and then only by
coincidence with the purposes of the Secret Self. People try and try to master some skill and make only the barest progress. They finally despair and give up altogether , and this giving up, this release
of the end-gaining aims of the ego, is exactly the time that skill may
develop in them because the Secret Self takes over . Examples of this
psychological phenomenon are so profuse as to be irrefutable. Pasteur ,
laboring over test tubes and microscopes, received his greatest illumination
in the period of his greatest hopelessness. Galileo was inspired with the idea
of a revolving solar system at the nadir of his despair over the inef fectuality
of his telescopes. Every researcher knows that a secret door is often found
on a dead-end street. Every creative artist knows that their greatest work
comes after periods of intense frustration. That it is always darkest before
the dawn is a well-known saying. W e have to have our egos reduced to
nothingness before the Secret Self takes over . We have to get ourselves out
of the way so that skills can develop in us, so that work can be done through
us by a greater mind and being. How often have you wadded up a piece of paper and unthinkingly tossed it
across the room and been amazed when it landed directly in the center of
the wastebasket?
_OceanofPDF.com_The_Magic_in_Your_Mind_-_Eckhart_TolleForeword_U_S_Andersen.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        When we
realize that opposition is important to growth, then we learn to seek it
constantly, not in the sense of falsifying it, but rather in looking about to
find out where it already exists, and then, by the development of insight and
awareness, to overcome it. Nobody ever broke down a wall by running headlong into it. When we are
opposed it is always by inscrutable and implacable forces. All opposition is
blind because our own eyes are blinded. Once we have seen the truth about
opposition, that opposition no longer will be there. Our ef forts should not be
bent upon breaking down a wall but upon raising our consciousness so that
we are able to perceive methods of egress and ingress. Some people meet
opposition enthusiastically and without hostility; those who do not are
either broken by it or eventually turn and run. Hate, hostility, and
resentment blind our eyes to the sort of thing that opposes us. In such a
psychological state we never can see the truth about an obstacle, and its
inscrutability eventually will defeat us. Y ou cannot throw yourself against
the world and expect anything but defeat and despair. Emotional Blind Spots
 
All obstacles are not in their truest sense obstacles at all but merely mental
blocks in the minds of the people who perceive them. They overcome the
obstacles not by opposing them but by attempting to understand them. In
the end all obstacles are reduced to one — a false sense of self. T o
overcome opposition we must seek first for self-control and enlightenment
as to the thing that opposes us. If it is a friend who competes for a job, wewill neither gain the job nor keep the friend if we allow feelings of hostility
to develop within us. Such emotional blocks blind us to the true nature of
the job and the best way to go about getting it; they close our eyes to the
qualities in our friend which might enable him to hold and perform the job
as well as or better than ourselves. Recognizing that opposition is really a block in our understanding is the
biggest step in overcoming obstacles. Once we know what we have to do, it
is fairly easy to take the necessary action. Doubt and confusion produce no
work. The made-up mind, even if made up erroneously, at least gets the job
done; it is dynamic and creative and at work in the world. Opposition
surrounds those who cannot make up their minds, but doors appear in blank
walls for those who come to a decision. Willingness to Enter Conflict
 
There is a right and wrong way to do all things, but we do not necessarily
choose the right way the first time we set about doing something. Immersing ourselves in events enables us to come to an understanding of
those events, but if we do not enter into them, if we stand aside and attempt
to view them from a distance, it is extremely unlikely that we ever will
come to understand them at all. W e will arrive at only an academic grasp of
what is happening. W e will have to measure the thing we are thinking about
by some past experience, and since that past experience can have only the
remotest bearing on the thing we now attempt to analyze, it will be most
difficult for us to see its real relationship and potentiality. We get to know
the things we are attempting to master only by doing them. No amount of
teaching or studying ever made an artisan. Whatever you wish to do, do it,
and you will find your skill increase. The steps to mastery lead up a long
hill replete with obstacles, and each when met and overcome increases your
understanding. The job to be done has a right way to do it, and the right
way to do it is made apparent by performance, and performance involves awillingness to enter into conflict, to meet opposition without fear, hostility,
or resentment. The quality most necessary in the conquest of life is courage. It is very
difficult to undertake any dynamic action unless there is resident in the
person a boldness that refuses to be intimidated by obstacles. There are
three principal reactions possible to the human or ganism when faced by
danger. It can run; it can fight; or it can freeze. W e see evidence of all three
in the animal kingdom. The lion faced by danger fights; the antelope faced
by danger runs; the possum faced by danger freezes. Such reactions are
usually all present in the same person. Those who are triggered when faced
by danger depend upon their emotional conditioning and perception of
truth. If we run from danger it is obvious we have given in to fear. But the
person who is frozen has given in to fear just as much as the person who
runs away. However, few people run away today. We have been taught that
fear is bad and must be overcome. Society admires people of courage, and
our fear of others considering us cowards usually is greater than our fear of
dangerous circumstances. In the face of danger, the average person is rooted
to the spot, mesmerized by the fear that permeates them. They could not
possibly react in a worse manner. At least the person who runs away lives to
fight another day, but the one who cannot either fight or run can only be
destroyed. Facing Fear
 
In our modern society each of us is engaged in a constant bout with fear. We
must work to provide a living, and the fear is always with us that we will
not earn enough for ourselves and our families. Many people are employed
by an industrial colossus in which they are a mere cipher on the payroll, and
since they cannot help but perceive their dispensability, insecurity
constantly haunts them. They see that they neither called themselves into
existence nor can stay their eventual death, and because they cannot see
beyond these ends of existence, they turn their psychological face from anyconsideration of their spiritual side. They usually live out their lives with
their awareness fronted in the ego, and as a consequence they forever are
comparing themselves with others. They are either better or worse but never
equal, and so they are either patting themselves on the back or berating
themselves for being inferior. Though fear is their constant companion, they
often fancy they have overcome it because they do not run away; but the
fear remains and announces its presence by ulcers, high blood pressure,
heart trouble, arthritis, cancer. If we do not want to run away from danger and if we do not want to be
frozen by it, then our only alternative is to fight it, to face it and allow our
own particular dynamic to work out the overcoming of it. This involves
above all things conquering fear, for when emotion permeates our body and
brain, we are unable to think; we encase ourselves in a shell through which
the true essence of the dangerous situation cannot possibly penetrate. W e
isolate ourselves from our own subconscious and freeze or run away. Conquering fear means to subordinate fear, to force it out of the level of
awareness so that the psyche is free to appraise the situation, so that the
individual consciousness may penetrate the essence of the situation
confronting it and perceive its meaning independent of the ego. When we
do this, we are able to take action against our dangerous situation in such a
manner as to reduce its threat to nothing. T ake the lion tamer. As a novice
she steps into the cage and experiences the frozenness that comes with fear. She would not be in the cage in the first place if she had not already
overcome the running-away reaction, but now she must overcome her
frozenness. She looks into the great beast’ s eyes and is mesmerized. She
can barely bring her limbs to move in response to the dictates of her mind. But as the weeks and months go by and she is constantly in the cage with
the lion, she begins to understand and the barriers between the animal’ s
subconscious and her own are lowered. Then she comes to an instinctive
understanding of the lion, and the lion becomes aware of this and follows
her orders docilely. There comes a day when stepping into the cage and
putting the lion through its tricks no longer involves any danger at all. She
has become so skilled in perception of the true relationship between herself
and the lion and has so disciplined fear that she performs the task of
running the lion as easily as she drives her automobile. No matter thesituations that seem to imperil you, you can overcome all; you can act in the
midst of them with great bravery, with an otherworldly boldness if only you
will squeeze fear out of your consciousness, recognizing that it proceeds out
of the ego and must be surmounted before any obstacle can be overcome. Increasing Understanding
 
Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Do not think that what is hard for thee to master is
impossible for man; but if a thing is possible and proper to man, deem it
attainable by thee. ” In order to reduce each obstacle to its proper size we
have to grow. We only meet an obstacle in the first place because of some
smallness in our nature, and when we have gotten rid of that smallness we
will have gotten rid of the obstacle too. All obstacles are in actual truth
illusions, and the extent to which we are deluded by them indicates a side of
our nature that needs more maturity and understanding. Generally we only
recognize opposition when we fail to pass beyond a certain point with our
methods of action. If a bridge lies before us and we seek to cross it, we
recognize opposition when a barrier is put in our path and a person asks us
for a toll. Then we see very clearly that we must pay a price for our desire. Each of us, as we move along without opposition, consider that we have
evolved a formula that will make our path serene. There is no such formula,
and no path will be serene for long. W e are all sailors on a stormy sea that
appears to be uncharted, but to some higher knowing mind the depths and
the deeps are specifically known. Each of us sails this gigantic ocean
according to our understanding. All people are created equal in potential, but at any particular stage of their
development the primary thing observable about them is their absolute
inequality. Each is shorter or taller or fatter or leaner or smarter or bolder or
more vigorous and seems to have no counterpart. Though we all set forth on
life’s journey with the same potential, present development of that potential
is an individual matter; and the opposition that confronts us as we move
from hour to hour of our temporal span is directly indicative of ourunderstanding. It is what we cannot do or be or see that comes into our life
as a problem. If our problems revolve around love, it is because we cannot
love. If our problems revolve around success, it is because we are insecure. If our problems revolve around health, it is because we are spiritually and
emotionally repressed. Always we seek to surmount the problems in our
subconscious, and we generally do this by any means possible, sometimes
creating the most fantastic illusions in order to substantiate our position. If
we are unsuccessful, for example, we create a world of mean and capricious
people whose sole purpose is to defeat our particular aims. If we are
unloved, we relate by the hour the number of times we have done things for
people and they have repaid us by ignoring us. If we are unhealthy, we
recount at great length the tremendous drama of our struggle against the
countless bugs that attack our weak and inef fectual or gans. If we are
overweight, we think everybody else eats more and stays thin. If we are
poor, we think everybody else works less and makes more money. If we are
weak, we envy the strong, but seldom have the courage to strengthen our
minds and our bodies by exposing them to tension and pain. Decision Determines Gr owth
 
In every obstacle lies the key to another level of awareness. Until we find
the key, we cannot grow and our perception is ringed around with barriers. We look at a hurdle and decide whether or not we can leap over it. In that
decision we determine our fate. W e may look at the hurdle and decide that
we cannot leap over it no matter how high it is. W e may look at the hurdle
and decide that we cannot leap over it at that particular height but could if it
were lower. We may look at the hurdle and think that we could leap over it
if it were twice as high. And our trial will be according to our mental
conception. W e are all on trial in life. Problems are posed to each of us, and
we either face them or we don’ t, but if we face them our growth is assured. Some people appear to conquer their problems easier than others, but this
appearance sometimes is misleading. Enlightened people do not spread
their troubles about. They keep them to themselves, preferring to createimpressions of control and serenity. They have the inward realization that
all people are equally troubled, that each has the same number of problems,
perhaps on dif ferent levels, but equally important, nonetheless. The most psychologically sound philosophy is a religious philosophy
because it recognizes that life is aspiration, seeking to grow beyond its
present understanding toward a goal that is as limitless as space. No one
stands alone on the top of their mountain, no matter how small that
mountain be. W e are sustained and ener gized by a power beyond us, which
in the end we must surrender to, which we must seek to express and
effectuate upon the earth. What is going on in the universe stretches far
beyond the imagination of the individual. W e are in the grip of a power that
knows exactly where it is going, that uses us as instruments to execute its
will in the world. But the ennobling and heartening fact is this, that each
individual may become anything they desire, may fit into any conception
they are capable of conceiving, for no one is limited to what they appear to
be but they have innate within them a quality that enables them to become
anything they are capable of envisaging. They may reach out and touch the
stars, for their creator can, and they are their own creator, part and parcel,
lacking only in understanding. Destiny and Understanding
 
If we oppose our will to events, we are opposing only our mental blocks. That which seems to be opposition, when truly perceived, is not opposition
after all. Life is proceeding toward some great end. Nothing is small or
unimportant in the achievement of that end. The pinpoint of a diamond may
support a thousand revolving tons, and the individual is just such a support
for their creator. The will of the Supreme prevails, and we serve it, but we
are manifestations of the Supreme, and therefore can it alter our destiny. We
can change what we are by taking thought. W e can change what we will be
by determining the direction of our growth. The will of universal mind is a
will toward enlightenment. The Secret Self has incarnated in each being andseeks through that particular manifestation to add to its self-knowledge. Each of us does not exist to satisfy our senses or our ego but has been
created and put upon the earth to find ourselves, to grow into awareness and
self-knowledge. All the obstacles and events of life are for this purpose
alone. It is not money we serve or pleasure or vanity but an ur ge within us
to grow, to become more than we are, to find our true selves and to achieve
dominion over the circumstances around us. Fate assigns to each person a personal destiny based upon their
understanding. They may alter that destiny by altering their understanding,
but they cannot change it by fighting it with the vain weapons of ego-will. Oedipus, in Sophocles’ s tragedy, strives with all the ef fort of his ego-will to
escape his doom, and in so doing takes the very steps that eventually bring
it about. W e serve false gods when we serve the senses and ego-desires. Following these false masters eventually leads us into a blind alley, where
we either destroy ourselves or in some other manner court tragedy. The
Secret Self has placed the delusion of individual ego in us, but not so we
will tilt at windmills, like Don Quixote. The delusion of ego-self has been given us in order that we might grow
from the knowledge of a part to the knowledge of the whole and in so doing
aid the Secret Self in its ultimate ascension out of matter. Providence
combines predestination and human freedom for the reason that all things
are the Divine and the will of the Divine is free. Lost in ego-sense, however,
we are bound by the terms of a personal destiny based on sensual reaction. We can alter our lives only by altering ourselves, and as long as we cling to
the ego as knowledge of self, we serve the will of the Supreme as we serve
a master. We do not know this, of course. W e fight and rail against the
blows of fate. W e peer out from under suspicious brows at a world that
seems to be our enemy. We seek to conquer, to control, and failing to do so
are convinced that a conspiracy is afoot to thwart our desires. The T empering Pr ocess
 Even as Oedipus brings about his doom by struggling against it with his
ego-will, so Aeneas in V irgil’s Aeneid fulfills his destiny with honor and
rewar d by submitting to the will of God. Aeneas was divinely appointed to
bring the T rojan race to Italy and found the Roman Empir e, and in this
appointment was to be an instrument of the gods. He was tempted to evade
his mission, but finally accepted it, and with divine will as his guide br ought
a golden age of Roman law and peace to the world. These two classical
characters, Oedipus and Aeneas, illustrate the age-old dilemma of
humanity: whether to serve oneself and one’ s sensual natur e in the world or
to seek beyond oneself for a guiding principle that is infinite and eternal. The path of Oedipus is the path of pain and frustration. The path of Aeneas
is the path of enlightenment and ser enity. Yet the ego is so str ong in us that
nearly everyone chooses the path of pain and frustration. W e identify
ourselves falsely with a vanity that demands r ecognition. W e want applause,
fame, money, and we make gods of these instead of the Secr et Self in whose
purposeful hands all things lie. Still, no one escapes the tempering influence
of conflict and pain. No matter how far along the path of enlightenment we
have traveled, we still pursue occasional blind alleys at the behest of the
ego, still carry in the subterranean r ecesses of our psyches many delusions
and blind spots that pr ompt us to move in wr ong dir ections, to adopt
attitudes that ar e opposed to truth. Inevitably, we meet pain and frustration,
but if we have come far enough on the path of enlightenment to r ecognize
these symptoms for what they ar e, then we do not endlessly beat our fists
against walls that will not yield, and r ecognize as soon as we meet the pain
that a block has been encounter ed in our understanding. It is not learning, grace nor gear,
Nor easy meat and drink,
But bitter pinch of pain and fear
That makes creation think. — RUDY ARD KIPLING 
The Psychological or Spiritual W orld
 
There is a power of extrasensory perception inherent in each of us which we
can call upon for enlightenment when opposition appears to have brought
us to a dead end. The enormous psychic self which our surface minds are
tied to permeates all things and all situations, so that we can penetrate the
true nature of our opposition by a kind of mystic and occult process. Dr. Rhine’ s parapsychology laboratory at Duke University has proved the
existence of the mind’ s extrasensory powers. Many thousands of
documented cases of Edgar Cayce’ s psychic ability also have proved that a
door occasionally opens in the opaque barrier between the individual and
universal mind and allows an inner perception of things beyond space and
time and limitation. Such a man was Peter Hurkos. Hurkos was a modest Hollander who
successfully predicted in 1959 that the Los Angeles Dodgers would win the
National League pennant, when all authoritative preseason predictions had
them destined for the second division after they had wound up next to last
the year before. Hurkos claimed to be 87 percent accurate in his predictions
and had the proof to substantiate his claims. “I have a gift of God,” he said. He was hired by police departments all over the world to track down
escaped criminals, and his record was astounding. He was employed by
business firms as a sort of security of ficer, checking the books simply by
handling them, able to pinpoint any discrepancy through his feelings. The
psychic ability of this amazing man opened a door into the unknown and
made more apparent than ever the coming ascendancy of mind over matter,
revealing that the most fascinating conquests ahead for humanity will be in
mental realms and the study of consciousness. The Scottish physician Dr. J. S. Haldane wr ote in The Sciences and
Philosophy:
 Natur e just mocks at us when we attempt to divor ce her fr om conscious
perception. Ther e is no such thing as a physical world existing apart fr om
consciousness. It is true that Berkeley and Hume showed by r easoning
which has never been shaken that if the physical world wer e real in the
sense assumed by Newton, we could never come to know of its existence. What we interpr et as physically determined is only what is imperfectly seen. It is thus only an imperfectly r evealed spiritual world that we had taken for
a material world. Ther e is no escape fr om the conclusion that behind the
appearances of a physical or biological world we ar e in pr esence of a
psychological or spiritual world. When we give first credence to the physical world, we give substantiality to
an illusion. When we sweat and fume at obstacles, it is because we are
unable to recognize that they are mental concepts and that they can only be
altered in our own minds. All the great mystics have realized this mistaken
focus of humanity’ s consciousness. Swedenbor g stated that there are two
beings within us, an inner being of true perception and action and an
external being of reaction. If, for lack of a lucid apprehension of their inner
being, someone allows bodily reaction to dominate their life, all their
powers become absorbed in the use of external senses; and the inner being,
the being of true perception and true action, gradually perishes. By
subordinating the external being of reaction to an inner quality of light and
serenity and divine purpose, our false duality is solidified into unity with
our creator and we arrive at the pinnacle of our ef fectiveness as an
individual. The secret of the philosopher ’s stone is that unity is the mark of
the Absolute. When we fully realize this, we come to an understanding of
the mystic bond that exists between ourselves and each obstacle we meet. That thing separate from ourselves which appears to oppose us is not
separate from ourselves at all, but is permeated by the same spirit, is
energized by the same principle that ener gizes us, and if we only are able to
look within the depths of our own nature, we eventually are bound to see
the truth of each obstacle, and when we do, it will disappear. To Know Is to See
 
Henry Miller wrote:
 
The majority of men ar e prisoners of instinct. A small number attain to the
level of abstraction, with the emer gence of which society may be said to
begin. It is fr om this level that the laws, the arts, and all social cr eations
emer ge. Specialism is the gift of intuition, which permits man to see the
inner as well as the outer in all its ramifications. Intuition, consequently, is
the most satisfactory and adequate, the highest form of knowing. T o know is
to see. It is amazing how much we can accomplish when we allow our
subconscious minds to perform the work. It is equally amazing how
difficult it is to do the simplest task when we go about it with our conscious
minds. There is an elusive quality about life that makes it gossamer to the
conscious mind. The microscope reveals another world but yields no secrets
of that world. W e hold an object in our hands and peer at it with all our
attention focused upon it, but what is revealed to us about it is but the
merest suggestion of its totality, barely indicative of the infinite qualities
hidden from us by the very nature of our conscious examination. W e have
no trouble walking along a two-foot path when we do not think about it, but
put that two-foot path across a hundred-foot gor ge and we begin to think
about each step. Chances then are very good that in crossing we will tumble
off the bridge and fall into the ravine below. We have to learn to trust our subconscious to do things naturally at the
behest of a principle that is greater than our surface mind. Reason is not to
be trusted because it does not know enough about what it is dealing with. The complete knowledge about all things rests in universal mind, and this
knowledge is within us. If we learn to call upon this intelligence to deal
with each of our problems, we soon find that there is no such thing as aninsurmountable obstacle. W e have within us a resource that enables us to
penetrate the block in our understanding that caused the obstacle in the first
place. Have you examined your own life lately for the place where your
understanding is blocked. It is easy to recognize. Do you find the same
situation repeating itself with monotonous regularity. Do you sometimes
feel that you are traveling around the perimeter of a circle, over and over. Like someone lost in a snowstorm, each of us eventually comes across our
own tracks in life, for the law of living is that we must cover the same
ground until our understanding concerning it is complete. Psychic A wareness
 
People object to pain and suf fering being instituted in a world that was
made by a loving God, but the master intelligence that has created all
permeates all and seeks through countless dif ferentiations of its own being
for manifold expression of its infinite and eternal nature. Pain is the path by
which it grows, and has no other significance. Pain is related to pleasure
only as pleasure represents the absence of pain. Things that feel good make
us static. Pleasure is the earmark of self-satisfaction. Those whose aim in
life is the seeking of pleasure have by that very attitude stunted their
spiritual growth. The Supreme sees the goal along the path of the infinite
and uses each of us to attain it. Our brains and bodies and hearts and minds
and egos are instruments of a greater intelligence and will; and in that
greater intelligence and will we have our true identity, not in the surface
mind and ego at all. Basic in the spiritual realization that comes to us when we have achieved
the proper psychic balance between ego and Secret Self is the knowledge
that we and God are one. This claiming to be God is mystical and should
not be confused with factual language. W e do not suddenly come to the
realization that we are God with any kind of implication that we personally
are in char ge of the universe. The God that we speak of is defined by the
limited semantics of language. The God that we know ourselves to be is amystical life force that we allow to use us. Any attempt by us to act upon
the world from the position of God immediately defeats itself, for we
cannot coerce things to a personal end without separating ourselves from
the Supreme and acting in the ego, thereby losing the psychic position from
which our knowledge first sprang. The world is not here to be used by people who attain psychic illumination;
it is here as a field of action for the working out of the expression of the
Secret Self. Those who are able to achieve illumination simply come into
position as knower. By subordinating their egos and surface selves to the
workings of a greater mind and being, they achieve ef fectiveness and
serenity, but they do not change the world. The world is what it is because
of what it must become, and it was what it once was because of what it had
to be now. The egotistic and vain actions of people carry with them a sense
of personal responsibility and impending disaster. There are wars and
rumors of wars, there are economic crises and political crises. There are
plagues and diseases and crimes. People run about, hurry with this and that,
convinced that disaster can be staved of f only by their individual and heroic
efforts. If there is any sense or meaning to life at all, no philosophy could be
farther from the truth. The intelligence that reveals itself in the design of a
snowflake, in the photosynthesis of green and growing things, in the
complex biochemistry of living protoplasm, is in char ge of the world and of
life, and destiny and purpose can be left in its sure hands. It is not our
position to rant and rail against fate and circumstance, and to save the world
from disaster. It is ours to understand, to attempt to penetrate the meanings
of existence so that we can grow into higher levels of consciousness and
thereby become better instruments for the manifestation of the Secret Self. If we take this very great and exciting step, we fulfill the primary
commandment of life. Creativeness becomes the guiding principle of the enlightened life. If we
place ourselves in the hands of the Supreme, we soon realize that the work
to be done through us will be unique because each of us is a unique
instrument. W e will not attack our tasks; we will listen and allow the work
to be done. If we let the ego control or originate, we defeat our purpose, for
we cannot serve two masters. The creative ur ge prods so deeply at some
people that they must abandon all to serve it, and in the serving of it theyfind spiritual enlightenment. They go each day to the fount of selfhood,
rededicate themselves as instruments, and let universal mind work through
them. Creative W ork Is a Prayer
 
Harry worked as a bank clerk, and in his late twenties was aware of a
gnawing dissatisfaction with life. He thought it was because he wasn’ t
getting ahead, and he certainly felt that he had little talent for his job. Day
after day he arose at the same hour, fixed his breakfast in his small
apartment, took the bus to work, sat at a small desk behind a low iron
railing, ate his lunch at the same restaurant, returned home at night to an
evening of reading before going to bed. The monotony of this existence, its
lack of creativity, palled on him. He became antisocial and was irritable and
resentful to those about him. Returning home from work one day, he
sprinted after a departing bus, slipped, fell under the wheels. Both legs were
crushed, had to be amputated. When Harry returned to full consciousness
after weeks of hovering near death and learned how the world had tumbled
about his shoulders, he exhibited a strange reaction. Instead of being
overcome by despair, he actually seemed happy. When asked about it, he
replied, “I don’ t really know why, but for some reason I feel that now I can
really be myself. I’ve lost part of my physical body, but gained something
else, I think. ”
After Harry was dischar ged from the hospital, he took a cottage at the
beach, where he lived on a small income derived from insurance. He began
to write. He sat all day in a chair, propped up before a typewriter, and
turned out reams of copy. After a while, some of it was published. W ithin
three years, he was comfortably augmenting his income. Even more marked
than his success as a writer was his transformation as an individual. He was
radiant. His clear eyes focused far away as he spoke of what his
creativeness meant to him. “It’s religious,” he said. “Like praying, I think. It’ s like being visited each
day by a supreme mind that works through you because it needs you to do a
particular work. I sit here all day in my little house, apparently all alone, but
I must tell you that I feel more needed now than I ever have felt before in
my life. ”
He gestured toward the manuscript scattered around the room. “All this has
been done through me. It doesn’ t matter whether people think it’ s great or
mediocre or even poor. It has been done by a power greater than I am, and
this power works through me. ” The joy on Harry’ s face was testimony to
the tremendous spiritual transformation that had taken place within him. “I
lost everything,” he continued, “my job, my health, my legs, but in losing
them I found something of far greater importance. I learned that material
things, even limbs of the body, are unimportant. The main thing in life is
that a man should awaken to his true self and serve that self all his hours. This I have been privileged to do. ” He laughed then and showed his humor
was still with him. “But I don’ t recommend that you cut of f your legs to do
it. ”
 
Indomitableness
 
In every conflict there are a few people who exhibit staying power, and this
staying power nearly always represents the dif ference between the
champion and the also-ran. Boldness of spirit and tenacity of purpose attend
those who act in accord with their own nature. Confusion destroys purpose. Those who take a stand clear away doubt and are able to act on their
problem in harmony with all sides of their nature. They get things done. Their optimistic good nature survives in the face of all odds. Despair and
gloom find no handholds on their soul; they cast them out of their nature by
the simple psychological decision to perform at the behest of the will of the
Secret Self. Everyone cheers the under dog. A person who r efuses to quit, who keeps on
trying in the face of defeat, who does their best against superior for ces,
strikes within us a sympathetic chor d that is tied deep to subconscious
collective memories. W e all ar e awar e that life is not easy, that the lessons it
teaches ar e learned thr ough pain and tension, and we r ecognize that the
temper ed stuff of which the enlightened person is made has been subjected
to fir e, that they have survived at all only thr ough courage and
perseverance. Gr eater than courage is tenacity, the willingness to stick in
there and keep trying. By this patient and determined positioning of
ourselves in life, barr ed doors eventually open and stone walls dissolve. A
drop of water persistently applied wears away granite. T ender flowers lift
their petals to the sun thr ough solid concr ete. Nothing r esists persistent
effort, and tenacity is the sine qua non of achievement. We must not let circumstances influence our thinking. The appearance of
obstacles must not cause us to lose heart. W e must have faith in our basic
position and know that we are capable of doing anything and being
anything we can visualize. The same animating presence is within us as is
within every obstacle, and we need only understand our true relationship
with each in order to perform ef fectively. An inner knowing is necessary to
effective action. W e cannot even reach down and pick up a piece of paper
unless we first visualize the action in our mind, with complete surety that
we can perform it. This inner knowing is compounded of equal parts of
faith and intuition. The image is born of intuition, and faith holds it in the
mind. Our development as individuals only comes when we encounter
opposition. Recognizing this, we will find ourselves thankful for our times
of pressure and pain, for then we are being ur ged to higher consciousness. No Endeavor Is in V ain
 
Opposition comes to everyone who aspires. By the mark of the encountered
obstacle we realize a time for growing is at hand. W e do not turn away from
the obstacle; we do not assault it or treat it as if it is not there. The ostrichhides its head from impending danger; the possum topples over and plays
dead; but the enlightened person neither turns away from the fact nor ceases
in their ef fort. Patiently, with a persistence that never tires, they examine
their own mind and consciousness to determine where it is that their
understanding is blocked away from true perception of the encountered
obstacle. They will grow because they must, and when the period of growth
is over, they will find themself beyond the obstacle; looking back along the
path they have traveled, they will not even find it there, for what we know
seems simple when understanding has been achieved. There are a thousand reasons for not doing things, and each one is valid if
accepted. When we undertake a new venture or attempt a new course of
action, we find obstacles to success at every hand if we choose to look for
them. Getting the job done is not life’ s primary aim. Each task is only a test
of human aspiration and self-knowledge. Raising human consciousness to
constantly higher levels is the primary purpose of nature. Material ends are
secondary, side ef fects rather than goals. It is not so important to succeed in
the eyes of the world as it is to attempt something bigger and greater than
we have ever done. From this test, expanded consciousness comes, no
matter the physical fate of the venture. No one ventures without reward. No endeavor is in vain;
Its reward is in the doing,
And the rapture of pursuing
Is the prize the vanquished gain. — HENR Y WADSWOR TH LONGFELLOW
 
The Conquest of Self
 Opposition is the testing ground where life evolves constantly higher levels
of awareness. In this arena the master spirit holds court, bound on a meeting
with the completely evolved person. Evolution bends us and kneads us, tries
us and sometimes breaks us. W e serve a greater intelligence than we are
consciously aware of; we are growing toward an eventual oneness with that
intelligence; and if the path be marked by pain and trial, these are only
urgings toward greater understanding and awareness. The conquest of each obstacle is a conquest of self. Those of us who
discipline ourselves and search for increased awareness find no such thing
as a permanent obstacle; our psychic position surmounts all. Nothing can
stand in our path as long as we realize that each obstacle exists within. Progress always depends upon discipline. When we make ourselves do the
thing that has to be done, we hold our sensual self under short rein, guiding
and forming our destiny. Distasteful tasks serve a great purpose in the
maturation of the soul. When we accept uncomplainingly the burdens
placed upon us, we are given increased strength to handle them. A puerile
philosophy bent on making money and living a life of ease eventually must
wither the soul because it is a product of the ego. There is no easy path to
goodness and greatness, which are always arrived at through hardship. Awareness and fortitude and tenacity and loyalty cannot be gleaned by easy
mental exercise. Neither are they medals to be worn as marks of combat but
are automatically conferred upon those who throw their heart into life’ s
tests without reservation or timidity or doubt. They gain all because they
give all. Guiding Principle
 
The fleshpots of self-indulgence are to be avoided at all costs. Those who
seek primarily to avoid pain and hardship and to satisfy their senses
eventually must dull those senses and corrupt the flesh. The discipline of
Abraham Lincoln as against the indulgence of the Roman Emperor Nero
gives us a clear mental picture of the way our nature is honed according tothe paths we follow. The ideal within the person determines the person, and
when we set forth on life’ s journey, each of us carries within us an image of
the person we aspire to be. Our whole lives are determined by this image. If
the image is Lincoln-like, we discipline our ego-nature and seek within
ourselves for a guiding principle; gradually the demands of our ego-self
lessen, we are able to control our sensual nature, and the Secret Self
illuminates our lives with love, understanding, and courage. W e move
calmly in the midst of the most crucial events, sustained and soothed
through faith in our actuation by the Divine for a purpose that is good and
great. Let no obstacle dismay you. It has been put in your path for the purpose of
your growth. Do not attack it headlong, but do not turn away from it. It is
but a reflection of your lack of understanding. Do not cease in your calm
and steady ef fort, and do not despair. Keep firm your resolve, keep clear the
image in your mind, keep faith in the power that sustains you. Eventually,
you will find yourself carried to a higher level of understanding, and the
obstacle will disappear. Above all things, remember that opposition is a
time of growth, that our ef fectiveness as individuals is in direct relation to
the number of obstacles we have faced and surmounted in life. OceanofPDF. com 
9
 
Developing Skills
 
Each person contains all possibilities within them because they ar e a
manifestation of an eternal and infinite being. The Russian philosopher
P. D. Ouspensky states:
 
Everything exists always. There is only one eternal present, the Eternal
Now, which the weak and limited human mind can never grasp and
conceive. Our mind follows the development of possibilities always in one
direction only, but in fact, every moment contains a very lar ge number of
possibilities, and all of them are actualized, only we do not see it and do not
know it. W e always see only one of the actualizations and in this lies the
poverty and limitation of the human mind. But if we try to imagine the
actualization of all the possibilities of the present moment, and then of the
next moment, and so on, we shall feel the world growing infinitely,
incessantly multiplying itself and becoming immeasurably rich and utterly
unlike the flat and limited world we have hitherto pictured to ourselves. Clear Channel to Universal Mind
 
We may develop any skill we desire. The essence of our nature is to grow in
the direction indicated by the images that form in this consciousness. Some
people are born with a clear channel from one facet of their consciousnessinto universal mind, and they are gifted. They are our Balzacs, our Mozarts,
our Einsteins, our Galileos, our Michelangelos, and though they are
superhuman in one corner of their natures, in all else they are normal and
subject to the same weak and inef fectual vision as everyone. Such unearned
perception of universal mind is sometimes more a curse than a blessing,
because the person possessing it expects illumination in other areas also and
is frustrated at being unable to find it. Rage and self-hate may grow out of
such an unbalanced nature. V an Gogh cutting of f his ear is an excellent
illustration, and the artistic temperament, when gifted with genius, is often
manic-depressive, alternating between periods of elation and self-
abasement. Skills that we earn are the skills that delight us. Nothing in life is so
exquisitely satisfying as the mastery of a skill. Whatever we do well adds to
our stature as persons, increases our scope and ef fectiveness. From birth to
death we acquire countless skills, use them daily, perform them
unthinkingly, because they have become part of our nature. W e learn to
walk, we learn to run, we learn to talk, we learn to read, we learn to figure,
we learn to cook, we learn to sew, we learn to drive, we learn to run a
business; and the kinds of persons we become and our ef fectiveness as
human beings have a direct bearing on the number of skills we have
mastered. People say, “Oh, I could never develop any skills. I don’ t have any talent. ”
Well, lack of natural ability is no reason for curling up your toes and
playing dead. The most important thing in life is growth, and it makes no
difference where you start on the scale of capability; what is important is
that you do not stay there but progress. There is a quality in our psychic
makeup that when impressed with desire and a picturization of that desire,
immediately we set about opening our eyes to the possibilities for achieving
it in the material world. Knowing this, we eventually come to have deep
faith that the thing which we think about will become part of our lives. Modern Pied Piper 
The man with the voice of a bullfrog probably will never give a concert at
Carnegie Hall, but if he spends the major portion of his life learning to be a
singer, he will be able to perform quite creditably someday. None of us lives
long enough to develop completely in all directions. For this reason the
Secret Self created multitudes of individuals, and through this multiplicity
seeks expansion in all areas. The individual functions best when they are
able to determine those abilities most natural to them and then set about
developing them to their highest possible level. T o do this they need insight,
and they most certainly need to be free of mental blockages. Sometimes people seek to develop their business ability because they desire
to have money, when in truth they might find more fulfillment in other
fields. The end-gaining philosophy that has become predominant in our
civilization is a pied piper leading us down streets of frustration. Those who
work only to gain a result are seldom happy and almost never work well. They find no pleasure in their tasks and no satisfaction in their growth
possibilities. They can hardly wait to get on from one moment to the next
because the only time that has any meaning for them is the time when their
goal is reached. Should they never reach it, their lives are hemmed in with
bitterness through having sacrificed all for something that never
materialized. It is better to lie on your back and look at the stars than to
chase shadows, if the chasing is not fun. A little child can run after illusions
and take delight in every moment, but the adult who pursues a wraith and is
bound to it begrudges every ounce of ener gy expended in attempting to
bring their illusory tar get to earth. Three laborers were asked what they were doing. The first said, “I am
working. ” The second said, “I am digging a ditch. ” The third said, “I’m
helping build a canal. ” Obviously the third worker took the most
satisfaction from their labor because they saw that their work would create,
and they were glad to be part of it. Those who labor only to make a living
put in time that they wish were gone, begrudging the hours they must spend
at their tasks. They look at the clock at ten and wish it were noon, and they
look at the clock at three and wish it were five. They actually wish away a
large part of their lives. Longing for Mastery
 
It is not nearly as important that we possess a skill as it is that we desire to
possess one. The longing for mastery is the key to the motivation of the
Secret Self, the very basis of evolution, of each form’ s tendency toward
unity with its creator. Life is fluctuation and change, a constant cycle of
growth and decay, and we have to aspire to be better than we are even to
stay where we are, and the moment self-satisfaction comes to us our
dissolution begins. Constant excitement and challenge come to those who
seek mastery. Every situation confronts them with opportunity, for they see
in each an opportunity to develop a part of their nature. Whenever they
meet an obstacle they know their knowledge is inadequate, and they set
about at once to rectify this deficiency. They learn everything they can
because they see the bond common to all knowledge. Eventually they learn
easily and well, for they remove all limitation from their minds and, like a
sponge, draw the knowledge needed for ef fective works and actions. We have to love the things we do in order to do them well. W e have to like
to perform the work regardless of the result. W e have to not even care about
the result and take our entire satisfaction from the action. When people have
under gone great shocks, such as prolonged exposure to death and danger or
the loss of a limb or the death of a loved one, they often turn to work for
work’ s sake as a preoccupation for their minds, and thus they discover one
of life’ s deepest joys. A child finger -painting in a kinder garten class puts
colors on paper with no idea of a result, and this engrossing of their whole
nature makes them part of the work they do and makes the work part of
them. Mental hospitals have discovered the therapeutic value of putting
patients to work at easels or with needle and thread or even in the garden,
for surrender of self-concern to the task at hand rids the patients of their
tormenting ego and they are able to get completely outside themselves
through becoming part of the work they are doing. W e develop our skills
through an inner love for the action involved. W e will become musicians if
we love music. W e will become writers if we love writing. W e will becomebuilders if we love construction. W e will become businesspeople if we love
commerce. But we become nothing simply through a desire to be famous
and rich. Such false desires are products of the ego. Even the slightest look
at them gives us evidence of their insubstantiality. If we undertake to be a businessperson, for instance, and we run into
difficulties and our reaction is one of depression and failure, we can be sure
that we were led into our business endeavors in the first place through an
egoistic desire to be better or more powerful than others. The
businessperson who loves business glories in their moments of trial, for it is
then that they develop more understanding, more mastery. Since they love
business, they love it when its nature is most acute, and therefore their times
of trial are a joy. Such people inevitably are successful because they cannot
be discouraged, because they love the thing that they are doing whether it is
going badly or well. They are unaf fected by apparent turns of defeat and
fortune, and assure their own growth through having taken their eyes from
the goal and becoming engrossed in the doing of their work. We Learn by Doing
 
Learning to do a thing well is primarily a matter of performing it endlessly
until all the ramifications of its action seep down into subconscious levels
and allow one to perform unthinkingly. It is dif ficult to fly an airplane when
one does not know how. To the earthbound person, flight in a plane
operated by their own hand seems almost unthinkable. When they take their
initial ride, they at first are frightened, then exhilarated, sensing their
transcendence of nature’ s law of gravity. Soaring high above the landscape,
they feel like a bird, arriving at a sensation of flying far removed from any
previous experience on passenger planes. Then they may bridge the gulf
between their earthbound limitation and their aspiration toward the sky, and
they may decide to become a pilot. The first time up they are clumsy and awkward, tense and inef fectual,
seeing all too clearly that if their instructor were not present, the plane
would fall and crash into the ground. This sense of being poised between
life and death with no one to look to but themself may prove to be one of
the most significant experiences of their life. If so, their eventual mastery of
the airplane is assured. Seeking understanding in an area hitherto hidden
from them, their growth in that direction is inevitable. Soon they will find
themself alone in the airplane, flying it freely and confidently, transcending
the limitations of their own thinking. Their exhilaration then will know no
bounds. Always we learn by doing. No amount of information injected into us by
books and lectures will make us the master of a skill. A skill is its own
teacher, and each of us who aspires to mastery must become an apprentice. Ideas, facts, and abilities all come to those who seek to make themselves
more proficient, whether their field is creative, administrative, executive, or
simply the performing of labor. If we dedicate ourselves to a task for the
love of doing it, eventually we will find ourselves highly capable. When we
attempt to learn a new skill, our initial ef forts are always inept, and the ego-
conscious person often is stricken with discouragement and sometimes
gives up further ef fort altogether. The enlightened person will not be
dismayed by their initial ineptitude. They will know they are coming to
grips with a new knowledge that will take time to seep down into
subconscious levels. Educating the Subconscious
 
The person who buckles on a pair of ice skates and ventures out onto a
frozen pond for the first time is a sight to behold. Their arms flail, and their
ankles bend. They fight desperately for balance, swooping forward and
backward in a hair -raising battle to stay upright. They can neither start
themself when they are stopped nor stop themself when they are moving,
and the only certain thing about their performance is that they are bound towind up on the seat of their pants. Compare this novice skater with an
Olympic champion. It seems incredible there could be any comparison, but
there is. Not too many years ago, the Olympic champion was just such a
novice, and their proficiency today is only testimony to the power of the
subconscious to direct the actions of body and mind with the utmost
symmetry and perfection. When we try to do something dif ficult or something beyond our ordinary
grasp, we must first come to grips with it consciously, by focusing our
attention upon it. This period of conscious striving produces a tension
within the psyche that stimulates subconscious activity, directing relief of
the tension, producing resolution, giving dimension and control to the
organism. The more conscious the striving, the more tension produced in
the subconscious, and the more the subconscious works to ef fect answers to
the problems that confront the individual. Someone who is handicapped by
poor speech and uncertain delivery might desire to become a platform
speaker and set their conscious striving toward that end. Their initial period
of effort will produce little noticeable result because their inef fectuality
cannot be solved by their conscious mind. They cannot be given a
confident, dynamic delivery simply by thinking about it. Reason will not
provide the ef fects they seek, and no amount of study will provide a happy
solution to their problems. But as they deliver speech after speech, as they
continually work themself through the same blunders and errors, their
suffering and consequent need produce such tension in the subconscious
that one day, of a sudden, they will find themself delivering a direct and
dynamic speech with the power and clarity that heretofore have eluded
them. Turning Effort into Instinct
 
We develop our abilities when we make continued ef forts to improve
ourselves and never cease in the continuity of these ef forts no matter how
little progress we seem to be making. W e can never judge our progressanyhow, for the simple reason that all real work is done on subconscious
levels and we may be transported from very low to very high in one sudden
sublime moment of insight. A young housewife recently told the story of
how she came to be an accomplished pianist:
 
I had been laboring at the piano for four years. I had gotten to the point
where I was able to play a number of compositions, but they were all
wooden, came out with no feeling, seemed to lack rhythm. The few times
that I played for my friends, I was actually embarrassed at their having to
listen. I practiced every day, though, sometimes as much as three hours. It
seemed incredible that I made so little progress. I had always learned other
things easily, but playing the piano seemed too much. Eventually, I became
convinced I had no musical talent. One evening at a party a friend suggested that I play. A refusal rose rapidly
to my lips, but suddenly I was overcome with the most wonderful feeling
that I would be able to play well. I cannot say just how the feeling came. It
certainly did not form itself in so many words. I just knew deep within
myself that I would be able to play well, and I had a sudden insight into the
relationship between the music and myself. The piano, the keys, the notes,
and the sheet music all blended together and mer ged with me. I knew that
when I sat down and began to play, I would play well because I would be
performing outside myself and wouldn’ t have to think about it. When I sat
down at the piano, I played exactly as I envisioned. The guests applauded
and gathered around, and I played the rest of the evening. I have been
playing well ever since, and the whole thing taught me a great lesson. W e
must never quit when we seem to be making no progress. W e may go from
the most inept novice to the most accomplished performer in that single
moment when the hours of our ef forts break through and mer ge with our
instincts. A person sets out to do a thing because they are impelled by the images in
their mind. They are driven to the performance of the work that needs to be
done, and they cannot rest as long as one iota of the task is unfinished. Y etthey do not work simply to gain an end. They are engrossed in their task,
just as it is engrossed in them, and their actions are performed with an inner
joy, for they know they are doing what they should be doing. They take
complete enjoyment from each day because each day delivers them all they
desire — the work they love, their performance in it, and the growth of their
knowledge and capabilities. Look to this day. For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty. For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness. And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day. — KALIDASA (from the Sanskrit)
 The Only Real Security
 
One skill that people seem most desirous of developing is that of making
money. But making money is not a skill; it is the result of a skill. Money
sought for itself will surely prove to be most elusive. It is not evil; it is
good, good because it is representative of work; but those who attempt to
take it by avoiding work are corrupting its true purpose and shrinking their
own natures. Henry Ford made this statement: “If money is your only hope
for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man
can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. ”
As a young man, Ford had little money, but he was sustained by the vision
of his automobile, and his days and nights were full of work and thought. When that day arrived that every tenth family in America owned an
automobile, Ford became a rich man. His fortune came to him not because
it had been sought, but because he had rendered a service to millions of
people. In our day and age and society, wealth is a natural result of serving
a large number of people. All work is repaid in kind, and when we serve
one person he serves us also, and this owing of service usually results in the
exchange of money. If we serve one person we are paid so much; if we
serve two we are paid more; if we serve ten, even more; if we serve a
million, we are bound to become wealthy. We cannot help but create wealth
when we find a work that needs to be done, and we cannot help but receive
a portion of this wealth ourselves. That money breeds money is axiomatic,
but only when such money is put to work creating wealth. When our
savings are invested in activities that promote discovery and creation, they
cannot help but make money, for they are being used in accordance with
this primary law of life, that every service must be rewarded. Proper performance is always unthinking performance. Any other kind of
action is ego-centered and based upon partial knowledge. A friend reports
he can cut an apple exactly in half when he is not thinking about it, but
when he concentrates, the halves no longer match. Innate in each of us is an
original mind, and knowledge there is not limited to that acquired through
the senses. Egoistic conditioning causes the mind to acquire a fixed idea of
itself as a means of controlling itself, and consequently we think ofourselves as “I. ” The focus of our consciousness then shifts from original
mind to ego-image, and it becomes impossible for us to use original mind in
any of our mental actions. Everything performed in response to the ego is
intentional, af fected, limited, and insincere. W e have to learn to let intention
go, to let sense of self go, so that we can perform under the impulsion of a
greater mind and will. W e must learn to be spontaneous; we must learn to
give up plan and ef fort, to do the natural thing when the time for
performance arises. Spontaneous Action
 
Basic in Zen Buddhism is the doctrine of unintentioned action. A Zen
Buddhist disciple, an archer, is reported to have practiced for three years to
let his arrows shoot themselves. When at last he was able to release the bow
string unconsciously, in response to an intuitive action that had more to do
with the tar get and arrow than his purpose, the ef fectiveness of his archery
increased amazingly; but the moment he began to think of results he no
longer was able to let the arrow shoot itself, and his scores fell of f at once. Spontaneity is the mark of the Absolute. Universal mind does not need to
think out things. It holds within itself at every moment the proper answer to
each particular problem. It acts quickly and without thought. That which we
do well we do without ef fort because we have given over the doing of it to a
will and power that lie outside our conscious intentioned ego. Developing a skill is lar gely a matter of abdicating from performance. W e
must learn to let go of personal responsibility and conscious control. Henry
Miller wrote:
 
When you dwell on the prophetic, you come to realize that there is an
invisible pattern to the events which mold our destiny, and that history,
philosophy, science, art, religion, yield but a distorted, meaningless, even
ridiculous image of this divine web. But the most interesting aspect of thisexperience, this lifting of the veil, is that all desire to modify, hasten, or
retard events is nullified. What is, is, what will be, will be, and that suf fices. Merely to recognize, if only for a moment, that there is a greater plan,
enables one to abdicate. In abdicating one is not removed from the stream
of life even mentally; one plunges in more deeply, more wholeheartedly,
that is the curious thing. All that is sacrificed is one’ s limited, egocentric
view of life, a view which caused one to swim against the current instead of
with it. A juggler keeps eight balls in the air, and people exclaim, “Isn’ t that
incredible. ” And it certainly is if we assume that the conscious mind is
contr olling the action. The conscious mind can har dly follow the action, let
alone perform it. Juggling eight balls is done by the subconscious, which
directs all activity that takes on the coloration of skill or talent. This mind is
not a multitude of minds but only one; ther efore all skill and all talent
reflect the activity of a single person. All books ar e written by the same
author, all pictur es painted by the same artist, all music composed by the
same composer; in every cr eative activity or accomplished performance the
same mind is r esponsible. A thing done well r eflects the dir ection of the
Divine, and thus spiritual awakening is necessary to effective living. The Secr et Door
 
As long as we live and act in the ego, we cannot hope to develop our talents
and capabilities except in the most limited manner. When you set out to
learn something, you must first get yourself out of the way. This “I” that
you constantly refer to, this sense of self that sits directly behind your eyes,
is egoistic in the sense that it is separate and will prevent your learning
anything well as long as it controls your consciousness. There is a great
deal of dif ference between egoistic trying and letting action develop
through spontaneous impulsion from the Secret Self. Ef fort made throughthe ego develops because the ego has some result in mind. It wants to feel
better than others, wants to control them, or it is afraid or hostile or
insecure, and this end-gaining action, so limited in viewpoint and
knowledge, has only the barest chance of succeeding, and then only by
coincidence with the purposes of the Secret Self. People try and try to master some skill and make only the barest progress. They finally despair and give up altogether, and this giving up, this release
of the end-gaining aims of the ego, is exactly the time that skill may
develop in them because the Secret Self takes over. Examples of this
psychological phenomenon are so profuse as to be irrefutable. Pasteur,
laboring over test tubes and microscopes, received his greatest illumination
in the period of his greatest hopelessness. Galileo was inspired with the idea
of a revolving solar system at the nadir of his despair over the inef fectuality
of his telescopes. Every researcher knows that a secret door is often found
on a dead-end street. Every creative artist knows that their greatest work
comes after periods of intense frustration. That it is always darkest before
the dawn is a well-known saying. W e have to have our egos reduced to
nothingness before the Secret Self takes over. We have to get ourselves out
of the way so that skills can develop in us, so that work can be done through
us by a greater mind and being. How often have you wadded up a piece of paper and unthinkingly tossed it
across the room and been amazed when it landed directly in the center of
the wastebasket. Section summary: 

This passage discusses various aspects regarding facing challenges/opportunities presented by "unknown" / unseen/unseen enemies/forces/personifications/concepts etc. -. continued

Please summarize approximately **500** characters (**< =800**, please). Here's additional context. 1) Provide precise summaries (<1000 chars), ensuring consistency throughout). 2) Highlight essential points (~20% reduction)

3) Utilise formatting & indentation consistently. Here's the provided content divided roughly evenly among several sections:


A. ) Introduction


### B) Opposite Forces



* [Section] C ) F ace. (No title specified)


#### Summary:



To rise effectively towards solutions requires embracing resistance/difficulty/enemy/fiction/etc. , acknowledging reality/thinking/certainty/. Therefore,

• Identify/maintain different perspectives/views/. • Seek comprehension/recollection/introspection/perfection/. Remember, summarizers strive for accuracy/breviry/worthiness/informativity. Additional Context :

Some phrases repeated include 'Overcoming', 'Conscious'/'Subconciously'. You'll notice numerous quotes from literature/textures. Feel Free. Let me assist you. Would you prefer highlighting-specific portions. Perhaps adding examples/anecdotes/examples. Kind regards. ---

[Edit]

Hi again. You're welcome. Before providing assistance/I'd appreciate clarification/comprehensively covering : *Specific Summaries*: Would you require concise versions (>~80%). Or perhaps maintaining readability/tight-fisted descriptions ~30%, respectively. Just clarify/do-it-right, okay. – Thank-you beforehand. Best Regards–

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(Please specify requirements. ).
Recognizing that opposition is a mental block, not an external force, and then overcoming it through self-control and enlightenment.
What is the key to overcoming obstacles?
The ego and its accompanying emotions, such as fear, hostility, and resentment, which blind us to the truth and prevent us from seeing the real nature of the obstacle.
What is the main obstacle to personal growth and success?
The subconscious mind is the primary source of creativity, intuition, and innovation, and it is only accessible when we let go of our ego and allow it to take over.
What is the role of the subconscious mind in achieving mastery?
By recognizing that fear is a product of the ego and surrendering to the will of the Supreme, allowing the subconscious to guide our actions and decisions.
How do we overcome fear and anxiety?
Growth, self-discovery, and the development of our true potential, as opposed to seeking material wealth and success.
What is the primary purpose of life, according to the text?