The Sea of Consciousness
 
Science has always investigated a world of multiplicity , attempting to
establish physical relationships between one thing and another . The human,
as animal, exists in a world of action and reaction, but the human, as a
mental being, exists in a world that appears to be without division, withoutspace and time, for inherent in the mental makeup is the ability to transcend
these. No enlightened mind can have any quarrel with the investigations of
Dr. J. B. Rhine and the British mathematician Dr . S. G. Soal in the field of
parapsychology , and from their results the only possible conclusion is this:
There are not many individual minds in the world at all, but only one mind,
and this mind is infinite and eternal and is the sustaining source of each of
us, is in its truest essence all of each of us, just as each of us in truest
essence is all of it. Now if each of us exists in a sea of consciousness, and
the consciousness in us is in everything else and in all other people, it then
becomes possible to understand what we are dealing with when we deal
with extrasensory perception. It has been stated that human intelligence is like an iceber g, one-third of it
appearing upon the surface, two-thirds existing below , but parapsychology
reveals the relationship between conscious and subconscious intelligence to
be one part to a million. Moreover , universal subconscious mind exhibits no
necessity for being educated during the lifetime of the individual. It
provides eternal and infinite guidance because it has existed since the
beginning of time; all knowledge is contained within it, and that very small
“taught” intelligence acquired by conscious mind is the tiniest light
compared to the illumination known when the individual life has been
turned over to the guidance of the Secret Self. A thousand times more
awareness is obtainable by the person through enlightened use of universal
mind than through ef forts in the world of material things. Once the Secret
Self has been fully exposed to humankind, education, which today takes
sixteen years of a person’ s life, will be accomplished in weeks, even days. When the powerful and penetrating aspects of universal mind become
common enough knowledge to be taught at our schools, such buildings and
bridges as now are constructed in six months will rise overnight. There is no such thing as a particle of matter that is not possessed of
conscious intelligence, however low , however restricted by the form in
which it finds itself. All things exist by grace of the Secret Self, which is
innate in each, has become each as part of an overall plan. And the ur ge to
self-knowledge that exists within the heart of each creature is that impulsion
to find in partiality that same sense of self-awareness and expressive joy
that it knew in its complete and whole state. T o develop the use of the sixthsense is to learn to use universal mind, to cease living in the separate
egoistic nature, and to turn over the whole life to a wider and more
encompassing awareness than is possible to the surface self. Steps to Spiritual A wakening
 
The consistent use of the sixth sense depends upon spiritual awakening,
depends upon our recognizing the spiritual bond that unites us with all
others, with all things. Dethroning the ego, removing the focus of our
consciousness from the surface self, we thereby attain to a state of widened
awareness that emanates directly from our identification with the one mind
and one life that is the true inhabitant in all bodies. When we reach this
state of illumination, a new world opens up for our exploration. Physical
effects take on secondary significance. W e see that things originate on an
invisible plane, that all causes are mental and proceed out of ideas, out of
visualizations. W e begin to see that material things are not really solid facts
at all, but only partially revealed manifestations of conceptions held in
mind. Now we are able to perceive the secret of acting mentally , of altering
things by altering the idea that exists within them. W e begin to see that this
altering is possible through complete identification of ourselves with the
thing, that once this widened consciousness is achieved, we can change the
thing merely by changing our idea of it, because the same mind is in us as is
in the thing. Nothing is impossible to those of us whose consciousness
breaks out of the bonds of the ego. Once we shake of f surface self, there is
revealed to us a world that is bounded only by eternity and infinity . We can
become anything we desire, can accomplish anything we wish, for in a very
real sense all events and things have their existence in us. T o achieve this
state of spiritual awakening is the goal; to arrive at this state of joy and bliss
and complete ef fectuality is beyond doubt the most worthwhile and
rewarding culmination of life. Steps by which spiritual enlightenment is achieved are the steps by which
the sixth sense is brought under dominion, and they are four . These stepsinfallibly produce spiritual enlightenment, and to those who put them into
practice are brought not only the sixth sense but an expanded consciousness
that allows them to live their lives joyfully and ef fectively . The four steps
are: (1) consecration, (2) surrender , (3) sacrifice, (4) love. Consecration
means the focusing of the total mental and spiritual ef forts of the individual
on discovery of the Secret Self. Surrender means a wholehearted giving
over of all action and goals to the Divine. Sacrifice means continual and
deliberate subjugation of ego to the will and purposes of the Secret Self. Love means yearning for unity , longing to return to a state of wholeness and
oneness. These four sacramental steps, if performed unceasingly , are bound
to develop that wider consciousness in which the sixth sense becomes an
integral part of the life. The first step taken, all others will follow . With the
mind and being dedicated to a search for wider consciousness, the life
inevitably will be transformed, a sense of intimacy will come into the
consciousness, and the person will find resource by which they are able to
give over their goals and aspirations to the Divine. We Are Made of Magic
 
Once this psychological divestment of the ego has taken place, illumination
is near . Now it becomes second nature to practice the sacrifice by which the
ego is kept in subjugation. Little egoistic desires are daily given up in favor
of that one encompassing search for unity that is now the total consecration
of the individual. The ego does not cease to exist, far from it; in some areas
it appears as vigorous as before, but now it recognizes that it is only a tool,
not originator , not captain or master; and it performs its tasks, goes about its
work under the impulsion of and following the guidance of a will and a
power totally beyond and inexpressibly more powerful than itself. There
comes to us an experience of the unity from which we have sprung, an
experiential return to a source of absolute bliss and joy and power . We enter
the Secret Self; the Secret Self enters us. This mutual penetration, this
merging, is the union known as love, and when this takes place in our
consciousness, our emer gence as an enlightened and ef fective personbegins. Now we realize that we are not merely bone and blood and flesh or
even brain but are constructed of invisible essences that can only be called
magic. The philosopher and linguist Jean Gebser wrote:
 
Telepathy , trance, precognition, telekinesis, levitations, dual personality ,
and many other paranormal phenomena are rooted in the magic structure of
man. So-called paranormal phenomena are not at all paranormal but
fundamentally natural. W ithout certain telepathic powers, without traces of
the magic structure, without a minimum of inner prevision (or the power of
precognition), without sleep and light “intuitioning,” not one of us could
live another day . And all of these powers arise in the main from the magic
structure of our consciousness. The ef fective use of the sixth sense is attained by those who come to the
realization of the essential magic of human consciousness. They do not give
their allegiance to the world of material things, but to a world of ideas and
concepts and thoughts, which, they perceive, preexists and preordains the
material world. Perceptions of the sixth sense are never as concrete as those of the five
physical senses. The reason for this is obvious. Our physical senses are used
through all our waking hours; our sixth sense seldom, if at all. The sixth
sense works in us as feeling, not feeling sustained by emotion, but inner
certainty as to a course of action, as to the development of coming events. Reason is not renounced altogether , nor logic, nor knowledge, but all these
are subordinated to intuition, and they are used only to bring into
consciousness all aspects of a problem that needs to be solved. Intuition
develops the solution, which emer ges in the consciousness of the individual
as a deep certainty that may have either visual or auditory manifestations,
perhaps both. Someone might list all elements of a problem confronting
them. They might wrestle with the problem in terms of reason and logic, but
they will draw no conclusion immediately . They will turn over the problemto their subconscious for a period of resolution, confident that the correct
solution will be delivered to them. Frontiers of the Mind
 
When enlightened, we do not shut out one part of our nature in order to use
another but use all we are all the time in all places in each thing we do. Reason and logic and intuition become a unified tool for our coping with
life; the sixth sense mer ges with the five material senses so as to convey to
our consciousness a constant impression of both the inner world and the
outer . Because we exist on all possible levels of consciousness, we are able
to perceive things and events in their true nature and thereby to guide our
own actions accordingly . We do not oppose events because we see their
inevitable direction, and we take up our tasks within the moving stream of
history as if we were directing it, when in point of fact we actually are
playing the part best suited for us in that moving stream. The sixth sense
brings to us impressions and convictions that are impossible to attribute to
memory or experience. W e are moved to conviction from out of the
inexhaustible resource of universal mind, and we eventually become as
positive in the reception of this feeling as we do to our senses of sight or
touch or hearing. The Irish poet Geor ge Russell reports:
 
Once in an idle interval in my work I sat with my face pressed in my hands,
and in that dimness pictures began flickering in my brain. I saw a little dark
shop, the counter before me, and behind it an old man fumbling with some
papers, a man so old that his motions had lost swiftness and precision. Deeper in the store was a girl, red-haired, with gray watchful eyes fixed on
the old man. I saw that to enter the shop one must take two steps downward
from the cobbled pavement without. I questioned a young man, my of fice
companion, who was then writing a letter , and I found that what I had seenwas his father ’s shop. All my imaginations were not imaginations of mine
in any true sense, for while I was in a vacant mood my companion had been
thinking of his home, and his brain was populous with quickened memories,
and they invaded my own mind, and when I made question I found their
origin. But how many thousand times are we invaded by such images and
there is no speculation over them? The frontiers of mind and thought have barely been penetrated. A waiting
the human search for knowledge lies the most exciting, unexplored area of
all — human consciousness, mind, being, mentality . Our lives grow into
images of those things which our minds are preoccupied with, and if we are
concerned with bolts and nuts, we achieve a bolts-and-nuts mentality , and
our very absorption by this infinitesimal slice of existence bars us from
perception of the tremendous possibilities in other spiritual and mental
realms. If we instead take up our tasks as we might approach an altar , we
transform our work, no matter how menial, into a sacrament. When we put
intuition to work for us and closet ourselves with our consciousness in a
searching ef fort to develop our sixth sense, we are bound not only to grow
in effectiveness and power but also as questing human souls in search of the
uttermost. Nothing in life is resolved simply by facts. Facts shriek at us because they
appeal to our conscious minds, but facts that human knowledge has
uncovered up to now are but the tiniest representation of the total sum of
knowledge in universal mind. Rational, logical people who pride
themselves upon acting only on known facts are not nearly so rational as
they would have themselves believe. In point of actual fact they are more
often led to erroneous conclusions than true ones, not because they do not
apply their reason and their logic and their knowledge, but because those
are insuf ficient and deal only with a portion of existence, not its entirety . You Shall Know the Hidden Purpose 
Each of us has a job, each has a “row to hoe,” and within our circumscribed
tasks problems constantly arise which we are called upon to solve, upon the
solution of which our lives often depend. T o apply the use of the sixth sense
to the solution of these problems is possible for all of us, regardless of how
obsessed we are with the material world. Even if we will not strive for
spiritual enlightenment, will not turn over our life to the Divine for
guidance, will not subordinate the ego by sacrifice, will not find within
ourselves a longing for unity with the Secret Self, we still are not beyond
the salvation of fered by intuition. When our time of conscious striving with
a problem is over , when we have considered all elements, pitted them
against each other , weighed them, counted them, tabulated them, we then
may visualize within our own mind a secret computing machine into which
we can feed all elements of the problem and which will deliver us a true and
accurate answer . Each of us, no matter how spiritually enlightened, can
profit by this visualization. When your problem is upon you and you know
as much about it as you ever possibly can, for get it completely . Envisage
your secret computing machine, feed all elements of the problem into it. See them go in one by one until finally the whole problem is out of your
hands. Know in your own heart that the problem will be solved, that you
need do no more about it than act upon the solution when it is presented. Have no fear; the solution will come. It may be the following morning,
perhaps the next afternoon, it may be a whole week, but it will illuminate
your consciousness and you will know with the utmost certainty that the
true answer has arrived. Once this highly significant experience has come to
you, reason and logic and knowledge will have been dethroned as the
principal activators of thought and action in your life, and enshrined in their
stead will be that faculty of intuition that transcends and transfigures all
situations and circumstances because it is infinite and eternal and speaks to
us from out of our sixth sense.OceanofPDF .com 
12
 
The Mental Attitude That Never Fails
 
Over most people hangs the sword of Damocles. They have fallen into
the psychological trap of cr eating their pr oblems by trying to solve
them, worrying because they worry , being afraid of fear . Ther e is a
capricious quality in our psyche that denies us each object we try to
grasp. Our wr ong thinking, wr ong acting, egoistic natur e leads us to
pursue things thr ough vain desir e. Acting and thinking in the small
part of our natur e, it is inevitable that we be frustrated in our
purposes. Ensuring Success
 
The mental attitude that ensures success is one in which we turn our work
and the results of our work over to the Divine without attachment or desire. This psychological absolution from the aims of partial seeing allows us to
follow the behest of a master will with perfect equanimity . We will not be
dismayed by circuitous routes, we will not be bitter about apparent defeats,
we will not rail against obstacles, because we know that the ends of our
actions are in the hands of an omnipotent being which ensures our absolute
development and complete success eventually . An enlightened person sees
that the purposes of the Secret Self are the only true purposes. They adopt
these as their own, don the mantle of the Divine as their true, inmost being. All their actions take on long-range significance. They understand that thereis a secret purpose in the smallest task and that the eventual result of this
purpose lies beyond the perception of the conscious mind. W ithin them
develops a towering trust, a positive certainty as to eventual victory that
makes them irresistible and impregnable in the midst of all action. They
cannot be defeated, for defeat is possible only to a being bounded by space
and time, and they have taken up residence in a self that is eternal and
infinite. They see that all things are brought to them for their own inner
perfection, that victory and defeat are merely opposite ends of a scale of
sensitivity by which their aspiring soul gradually is able to abdicate from
masquerading as a separate, isolated ego and to recognize its absolute unity
with the Divine. To be undiscouraged and undismayed by whatever turn of fortune is
encountered is always a mark of maturity and enlightenment. Such fortitude
is possible only to someone who has forsworn desires to be better , to get
more, to have power , or any other of the egoistic shortcomings that mark
the individual at war with their fellows. The vital and animalistic nature
hungers always for the fruits of its labor , and when these are denied, it
becomes disconsolate, loses faith, may even give up altogether . Whoever is
bound to their animalistic nature is bound also to constant hungering for the
fruits of their labor , and in consequence take up their tasks under a delusion
that blinds them to the possibilities for success. Selfish striving for gain
defeats enterprise at the outset because it is based upon the false belief that
one manifestation of the Divine is innately better than another and therefore
more deserving of reward. Such psychological misapprehension is based on
partiality and sees a world of multitudinous and separate things to be
conquered and achieved dominion over . The separate surface self never
achieves dominion over anything, even over its own nature. It did not
spring itself into being, it cannot stay itself from eventual oblivion, its
growth and development are entirely reactionary , and all things lie outside
the scope of its ef fectuality . Effective Guide to Living
 In almost everyone, however , the surface self achieves the illusion that it is
able ef fectively to influence life. In consequence, through the years that
their physical body flourishes, people are mentally and spiritually bound to
a delusion about who they are and where they came from and what their
relationship to the world is. Their lack of ef fectiveness in life, their failure
to grow mentally and spiritually , their gradual dissolution into cynicism,
into disenchantment with the material world, they seldom attribute to a
psychologically wrong viewpoint but generally feel they haven’ t “beat the
game” because they haven’ t arrived at the pinnacle of material success they
envisaged as youths. Even more revealing are ego-strivers who achieve
their goals. The mountain they climb so laboriously overlooks a barren
landscape. When they stand upon the highest spot and look out over the
bleak vista, their souls are seized in the viselike grip of fear , and they turn
their eyes to the earth and never look skyward again. Our cities and nations are populated with people who cannot stand to look
into their souls because they never have discovered who they truly are. Infinity and eternity appall them by dwarfing the ego. What is needed most
of all is an ef fective guide to living, a humanistic relationship between us
and our creating source, so that each of us is able to see with absolute
clarity and perfect equanimity that our life not only is part of a divine plan
for the development of consciousness in the universe but that we ourself are
both mentally and spiritually unified with that master spirit whose field of
unfoldment the world is. Such spiritual illumination allows us to put our life
and our works in the hands of the Divine, with complete assurance that both
will be used for the best purpose. Once this psychological dispossession of
personal ef fort and personal victory has been accomplished, we never again
suffer defeat. Apparent defeat becomes only a turning place in the road; all
detours mer ge into one triumphal march to victory , become part of that plan
by which eventual success is assured. When the revelation comes to us that the Divine is working through us, all
our labor takes on a highly char ged spiritual significance alongside which
material rewards pale. W e no longer work for money , no longer work for
success, but only for the expression of that mind and consciousness within
us which we now know to be the Supreme manifesting upon the earth. W e
do the work of the Secret Self and never of our surface self. W e subjugatethe surface self to a master spirit that uses it as a tool for the ef fectuation of
the divine purpose in the world. The faith that grows out of this knowledge
sustains us under the most fierce, adverse pressure. Something higher than
heart or intellect upholds us through the longest detours and the blindest
gropings. Our egoistic self has found that supreme master and highest
philosophy by which it not only understands itself and its place and purpose
in the world but also is admitted to a secret place of light and peace and
understanding. In the heart of the enlightened person is the hidden
knowledge that they are never at the mercy of immediate appearances, that
they have within them the power to change all through their identification
with the Divine, through their knowledge that the mind in them is the mind
in all others. Perfect Knowing and Imperfect Seeing
 
This giving over of oneself and assuming another is far more than just a
merely psychological switch of viewpoint. The awakened person dies in
one small part of their nature in order to be reborn in a lar ger and wider
consciousness. T o the onlooker the change may be imperceptible. The
person may do the same work, live in the same manner , forsake neither
friends nor fun, but all actions now will be unified by spiritual awareness,
so that there emanates from them an inner joy , an absolute acceptance of
life. They may rise to a position of prominence in the world or they may
not; it is indif ferent to them. They serve not the causes of humanity , only
the will and purpose of the Divine. “W e are here to see what we can add to,
not to see what we can get from, Life,” wrote W illiam Osler , the Canadian
physician and cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospital. In the enlightened
person the egoistic nature has been so far withdrawn from the frontal part of
personality that their impression upon others is one of constant giving,
never of taking. They become a horn of plenty through which the Divine
pours its infinite resource. T o whomever they contact there comes a sense
of love and understanding and security , descending through them into the
other from the Secret Self.Those whose consciousness is focused in the surface self live within narrow
horizons of awareness and are puppets driven by sensation. The world
makes itself known to them through the tiny windows of their senses, and
they react to it, never exerting a mental or spiritual influence upon it. Their
failures are failures of imperfect seeing. They see neither who they are nor
what the true nature of a situation is; consequently their actions are always
based upon partial knowledge. A suf ficient number of failures stemming
from this imperfect working completely defeats them, and their frustration
is announced through physical ailments of the body . Emotional blockages
and repressions inhibit circulation in certain areas of the body , and disease
and malfunction set in. Repressed hostility , aggression, insecurity , and fear
are root causes of arthritis, heart disease, arterial sclerosis, cancer , ulcer . A
society that demands conformity of its members is bound to frustrate a lar ge
number of them, and this manifests itself as a gradual rise in physical
infirmity . Since it is patently impossible for individuals to alter the social
system under which they live, solution of the dilemma must provide
spiritual freedom while allowing for physical conformity . Arriving at the
realization that the Divine dwells in you just as you dwell in the Divine
dissolves the cares and frustration of the egoistic nature. Once you have
been able to identify yourself with the master spirit of eternity it becomes
possible to view existence on a long-term basis, to detach yourself from
physical goals. Failur e Is a State of Mind
 
Existence is essentially a fight. W e are tested in the crucible of conflict from
cradle to grave, and the time of our most severe testing is the time of our
greatest growth. Nature is not interested in winners. All too often victory is
a signal for cessation of ef fort. Nature is interested in growth, and growth is
possible only to one constantly at work expanding their abilities and talents. In any line of endeavor those who have it made are going downhill. Our
waistlines stay trim and our minds alert when we are kept at our labors
through necessity . Our surface selves often find in victory or gain theopportunity to indulge sensation, and we are caught in a trap from which we
may never emer ge as aspiring individuals again. Havelock Ellis wrote,
“Conquest brings self-conceit and intolerance, the reckless inflation and
dissipation of ener gies. Defeat brings prudence and concentration; it
ennobles and fortifies.” Defeat, of course, is never a fact unless it is
accepted as final. Those who realize that all growth possibilities are within
them never accept defeat. They know that they can do much better than
they thus far have shown, for they have a secret pipeline into the source of
all ener gy and talent. Failure is a state of mind and never a physical fact. W e try to accomplish
something and if results don’ t come our way within a certain period of time
we often throw up our hands and say we can’ t do it. If this psychological
abdication from trying is done without a cessation of physical ef fort, we
may find that suddenly we are getting results, for unconsciously we have
turned our works and actions over to the Secret Self and they have become
effective. But if we cease to make any further physical ef fort, then the work
will never be done for we have turned our back on it. Boldness
 
Each of us best fulfills ourself and the purposes of nature when we perform
the task of torchbearer in some area of our activities. Boldness engenders its
own success through liberating ener gies repressed by inhibition. If we find
within ourself the courage to go out on a limb, it will never break under our
weight, will sustain us no matter how fragile it appears, and we will see
from our new vantage point an entirely dif ferent world. Between the timid
and the brave is but a single step, and that is the first one. W ild animals
attack the prey that runs away but stand stock-still and are intimidated by
any that faces them. If we find within ourself the spiritual resource to make
our first step toward danger instead of away from it, we will find that
danger disappears. But if we give in to the impulse of fear and make our
initial step away from danger , life will chase after us and surely devour us. Let any man show the world that he feels
Afraid of its bark and ’ twill fly at his heels:
Let him fearlessly face it, ’ twill leave him alone:
But ’ twill fawn at his feet if he flings it a bone. — EDW ARD BUL WER-L YTT ON
 
Fear engenders fear . The first step away from danger turns into a trot, then a
shambling run, then a panic-stricken dash, and the innocuous cur that
pursues us is now a fancied monster . Similarly , courage engenders courage. The first step toward danger allows us to see our antagonist clearly . We
examine its face and behold that it is not nearly so threatening as we
imagined. W e begin to see ways and means of coping with it, and just
because we have confronted it head-on, it stops its aggressive action toward
us and considers whether we ourselves might not pose some danger to it. This is true of events as well as living things. A psychological aura
emanates from events as from people. If something seems to threaten us,
then it surely will pursue us if we run away , but if we advance upon it
boldly , it stops its movement toward us. It hangs back to reconsider , and
eventually yields. Nothing stands before continued ef fort, and nothing can
resist the person who persists in the face of all discouragement. The mental
attitude that never fails is one in which we dispossess ourselves of the goal-
seeking ego and lodge our psyche firmly in a consciousness of the Divine,
viewing our own lives as an opportunity for emer gence of the master spirit,
regarding the work that we do as being the work of the Secret Self. Perseverance
 Everything great is accomplished by people whose perseverance transcends
mere human endurance. Galileo at his telescope, Newton beneath his apple
tree, Einstein in his laboratory — all are examples of illumination following
a period of prolonged perseverance. No one performing at the behest of
egoistic desire could possibly have accomplished the feats of these
enlightened pioneers; long before illumination arrived, they would cease
their searching and go on to other fields. The Divine uses the discoverer and
the creator , each for the purpose for which they are best suited. Such people
cannot fail for they are doing the work for which they were intended at
birth. In consequence, their lives are completely absorbed in their tasks, so
that the work is inseparable from the person, and is in some kind of mystic
sense the person spun out in space and time and perpetuated as a creative
fact. When that psychological turnabout is made by which the individual
life is surrendered to the Secret Self, there enters into the person an
unearthly determination that impels them to perform their work in the face
of all odds, in the teeth of the bleakest appearances. They take their cue
from a light within, and they are able to alter the psychological aura of
things by bringing into the midst of events their own positive determination
and absolute dedication to the accomplishment of their tasks. Their impact
upon events is not brought about through vain desires or selfish goals, only
because they are doing those tasks that are natural to them. Fear of failure is a deterrent to action in all those entrapped in ego-
consciousness. The surface self does not possess that sense of equality
necessary to the undertaking of perilous tasks. It is concerned always with
appearances, and it cannot bring itself to undertake an adventuresome
action because if such action comes of f disastrously or comically it is made
to appear incapable or a fool. Millions of people are afraid to try because
they are afraid to fail, and such inhibition keeps them from realizing all but
the tiniest fraction of their capabilities. This shortsighted focusing of
consciousness in the surface self keeps their attention upon transitory goals. They undertake to sing a song, for example, not because a song in them
must be sung but because they want the attention and admiration of others. With this false viewpoint, it is even dif ficult for them to bring themselves to
get up before their audiences, for they carry within a picture of the shame
and defeat they will feel if their attempt to win admiration results instead in
ridicule. The song therefore does not get sung, and if sung, is sung poorly .These individuals have not become the thing they are doing but are only
using it for the satisfaction of their surface nature. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
 
The mental attitude that never fails is one that is not afraid to fail. W e must
be willing to accept the conditions that follow failur e befor e we have any
chance of attempting a new enterprise. If it be such a simple thing as diving
off a boar d into a swimming pool, we must be willing to accept the pain
attendant upon a belly flop befor e we ar e able to muster the determination
to dive. Once fear is gone, we will not belly flop; our dive will be swift and
clean. W e perform it because it is in us, and it performs us as much as we
perform it. T o get the surface self out of the way and allow the psyche to be
possessed by a master spirit allows us to undertake our tasks without the
slightest fear of failur e because we not only have a sense of equality towar d
others but know that a power gr eater than we is guiding our steps in the
best possible manner . We need to r ealize that everything is the r esult of
change, that ther e is nothing permanent in the entir e world except that
Secret Self fr om which we have sprung.OceanofPDF .com 
About the Author
 
U. S. Andersen (1917–1986) was an American football player and self-
help author best known for his books Thr ee Magic W ords and The
Magic in Y our Mind. Born in Portland, Or egon, Andersen attended
Stanford University , captained its 1939 football team, and was also one
of the nation’ s top competitors in shot put. He played in the NFL and
later became a successful businessman. A student of Mary Baker
Eddy’ s Science and Health and Ernest Holmes’ s The Science of Mind,
he became a teacher and writer himself.OceanofPDF .com 
About Eckhart Tolle Editions
 
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_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:

        The Sea of Consciousness
 
Science has always investigated a world of multiplicity, attempting to
establish physical relationships between one thing and another. The human,
as animal, exists in a world of action and reaction, but the human, as a
mental being, exists in a world that appears to be without division, withoutspace and time, for inherent in the mental makeup is the ability to transcend
these. No enlightened mind can have any quarrel with the investigations of
Dr. J. B. Rhine and the British mathematician Dr. S. G. Soal in the field of
parapsychology, and from their results the only possible conclusion is this:
There are not many individual minds in the world at all, but only one mind,
and this mind is infinite and eternal and is the sustaining source of each of
us, is in its truest essence all of each of us, just as each of us in truest
essence is all of it. Now if each of us exists in a sea of consciousness, and
the consciousness in us is in everything else and in all other people, it then
becomes possible to understand what we are dealing with when we deal
with extrasensory perception. It has been stated that human intelligence is like an iceber g, one-third of it
appearing upon the surface, two-thirds existing below, but parapsychology
reveals the relationship between conscious and subconscious intelligence to
be one part to a million. Moreover, universal subconscious mind exhibits no
necessity for being educated during the lifetime of the individual. It
provides eternal and infinite guidance because it has existed since the
beginning of time; all knowledge is contained within it, and that very small
“taught” intelligence acquired by conscious mind is the tiniest light
compared to the illumination known when the individual life has been
turned over to the guidance of the Secret Self. A thousand times more
awareness is obtainable by the person through enlightened use of universal
mind than through ef forts in the world of material things. Once the Secret
Self has been fully exposed to humankind, education, which today takes
sixteen years of a person’ s life, will be accomplished in weeks, even days. When the powerful and penetrating aspects of universal mind become
common enough knowledge to be taught at our schools, such buildings and
bridges as now are constructed in six months will rise overnight. There is no such thing as a particle of matter that is not possessed of
conscious intelligence, however low, however restricted by the form in
which it finds itself. All things exist by grace of the Secret Self, which is
innate in each, has become each as part of an overall plan. And the ur ge to
self-knowledge that exists within the heart of each creature is that impulsion
to find in partiality that same sense of self-awareness and expressive joy
that it knew in its complete and whole state. T o develop the use of the sixthsense is to learn to use universal mind, to cease living in the separate
egoistic nature, and to turn over the whole life to a wider and more
encompassing awareness than is possible to the surface self. Steps to Spiritual A wakening
 
The consistent use of the sixth sense depends upon spiritual awakening,
depends upon our recognizing the spiritual bond that unites us with all
others, with all things. Dethroning the ego, removing the focus of our
consciousness from the surface self, we thereby attain to a state of widened
awareness that emanates directly from our identification with the one mind
and one life that is the true inhabitant in all bodies. When we reach this
state of illumination, a new world opens up for our exploration. Physical
effects take on secondary significance. W e see that things originate on an
invisible plane, that all causes are mental and proceed out of ideas, out of
visualizations. W e begin to see that material things are not really solid facts
at all, but only partially revealed manifestations of conceptions held in
mind. Now we are able to perceive the secret of acting mentally, of altering
things by altering the idea that exists within them. W e begin to see that this
altering is possible through complete identification of ourselves with the
thing, that once this widened consciousness is achieved, we can change the
thing merely by changing our idea of it, because the same mind is in us as is
in the thing. Nothing is impossible to those of us whose consciousness
breaks out of the bonds of the ego. Once we shake of f surface self, there is
revealed to us a world that is bounded only by eternity and infinity. We can
become anything we desire, can accomplish anything we wish, for in a very
real sense all events and things have their existence in us. T o achieve this
state of spiritual awakening is the goal; to arrive at this state of joy and bliss
and complete ef fectuality is beyond doubt the most worthwhile and
rewarding culmination of life. Steps by which spiritual enlightenment is achieved are the steps by which
the sixth sense is brought under dominion, and they are four. These stepsinfallibly produce spiritual enlightenment, and to those who put them into
practice are brought not only the sixth sense but an expanded consciousness
that allows them to live their lives joyfully and ef fectively. The four steps
are: (1) consecration, (2) surrender, (3) sacrifice, (4) love. Consecration
means the focusing of the total mental and spiritual ef forts of the individual
on discovery of the Secret Self. Surrender means a wholehearted giving
over of all action and goals to the Divine. Sacrifice means continual and
deliberate subjugation of ego to the will and purposes of the Secret Self. Love means yearning for unity, longing to return to a state of wholeness and
oneness. These four sacramental steps, if performed unceasingly, are bound
to develop that wider consciousness in which the sixth sense becomes an
integral part of the life. The first step taken, all others will follow. With the
mind and being dedicated to a search for wider consciousness, the life
inevitably will be transformed, a sense of intimacy will come into the
consciousness, and the person will find resource by which they are able to
give over their goals and aspirations to the Divine. We Are Made of Magic
 
Once this psychological divestment of the ego has taken place, illumination
is near. Now it becomes second nature to practice the sacrifice by which the
ego is kept in subjugation. Little egoistic desires are daily given up in favor
of that one encompassing search for unity that is now the total consecration
of the individual. The ego does not cease to exist, far from it; in some areas
it appears as vigorous as before, but now it recognizes that it is only a tool,
not originator, not captain or master; and it performs its tasks, goes about its
work under the impulsion of and following the guidance of a will and a
power totally beyond and inexpressibly more powerful than itself. There
comes to us an experience of the unity from which we have sprung, an
experiential return to a source of absolute bliss and joy and power. We enter
the Secret Self; the Secret Self enters us. This mutual penetration, this
merging, is the union known as love, and when this takes place in our
consciousness, our emer gence as an enlightened and ef fective personbegins. Now we realize that we are not merely bone and blood and flesh or
even brain but are constructed of invisible essences that can only be called
magic. The philosopher and linguist Jean Gebser wrote:
 
Telepathy, trance, precognition, telekinesis, levitations, dual personality,
and many other paranormal phenomena are rooted in the magic structure of
man. So-called paranormal phenomena are not at all paranormal but
fundamentally natural. W ithout certain telepathic powers, without traces of
the magic structure, without a minimum of inner prevision (or the power of
precognition), without sleep and light “intuitioning,” not one of us could
live another day. And all of these powers arise in the main from the magic
structure of our consciousness. The ef fective use of the sixth sense is attained by those who come to the
realization of the essential magic of human consciousness. They do not give
their allegiance to the world of material things, but to a world of ideas and
concepts and thoughts, which, they perceive, preexists and preordains the
material world. Perceptions of the sixth sense are never as concrete as those of the five
physical senses. The reason for this is obvious. Our physical senses are used
through all our waking hours; our sixth sense seldom, if at all. The sixth
sense works in us as feeling, not feeling sustained by emotion, but inner
certainty as to a course of action, as to the development of coming events. Reason is not renounced altogether, nor logic, nor knowledge, but all these
are subordinated to intuition, and they are used only to bring into
consciousness all aspects of a problem that needs to be solved. Intuition
develops the solution, which emer ges in the consciousness of the individual
as a deep certainty that may have either visual or auditory manifestations,
perhaps both. Someone might list all elements of a problem confronting
them. They might wrestle with the problem in terms of reason and logic, but
they will draw no conclusion immediately. They will turn over the problemto their subconscious for a period of resolution, confident that the correct
solution will be delivered to them. Frontiers of the Mind
 
When enlightened, we do not shut out one part of our nature in order to use
another but use all we are all the time in all places in each thing we do. Reason and logic and intuition become a unified tool for our coping with
life; the sixth sense mer ges with the five material senses so as to convey to
our consciousness a constant impression of both the inner world and the
outer. Because we exist on all possible levels of consciousness, we are able
to perceive things and events in their true nature and thereby to guide our
own actions accordingly. We do not oppose events because we see their
inevitable direction, and we take up our tasks within the moving stream of
history as if we were directing it, when in point of fact we actually are
playing the part best suited for us in that moving stream. The sixth sense
brings to us impressions and convictions that are impossible to attribute to
memory or experience. W e are moved to conviction from out of the
inexhaustible resource of universal mind, and we eventually become as
positive in the reception of this feeling as we do to our senses of sight or
touch or hearing. The Irish poet Geor ge Russell reports:
 
Once in an idle interval in my work I sat with my face pressed in my hands,
and in that dimness pictures began flickering in my brain. I saw a little dark
shop, the counter before me, and behind it an old man fumbling with some
papers, a man so old that his motions had lost swiftness and precision. Deeper in the store was a girl, red-haired, with gray watchful eyes fixed on
the old man. I saw that to enter the shop one must take two steps downward
from the cobbled pavement without. I questioned a young man, my of fice
companion, who was then writing a letter, and I found that what I had seenwas his father ’s shop. All my imaginations were not imaginations of mine
in any true sense, for while I was in a vacant mood my companion had been
thinking of his home, and his brain was populous with quickened memories,
and they invaded my own mind, and when I made question I found their
origin. But how many thousand times are we invaded by such images and
there is no speculation over them. The frontiers of mind and thought have barely been penetrated. A waiting
the human search for knowledge lies the most exciting, unexplored area of
all — human consciousness, mind, being, mentality. Our lives grow into
images of those things which our minds are preoccupied with, and if we are
concerned with bolts and nuts, we achieve a bolts-and-nuts mentality, and
our very absorption by this infinitesimal slice of existence bars us from
perception of the tremendous possibilities in other spiritual and mental
realms. If we instead take up our tasks as we might approach an altar, we
transform our work, no matter how menial, into a sacrament. When we put
intuition to work for us and closet ourselves with our consciousness in a
searching ef fort to develop our sixth sense, we are bound not only to grow
in effectiveness and power but also as questing human souls in search of the
uttermost. Nothing in life is resolved simply by facts. Facts shriek at us because they
appeal to our conscious minds, but facts that human knowledge has
uncovered up to now are but the tiniest representation of the total sum of
knowledge in universal mind. Rational, logical people who pride
themselves upon acting only on known facts are not nearly so rational as
they would have themselves believe. In point of actual fact they are more
often led to erroneous conclusions than true ones, not because they do not
apply their reason and their logic and their knowledge, but because those
are insuf ficient and deal only with a portion of existence, not its entirety. You Shall Know the Hidden Purpose 
Each of us has a job, each has a “row to hoe,” and within our circumscribed
tasks problems constantly arise which we are called upon to solve, upon the
solution of which our lives often depend. T o apply the use of the sixth sense
to the solution of these problems is possible for all of us, regardless of how
obsessed we are with the material world. Even if we will not strive for
spiritual enlightenment, will not turn over our life to the Divine for
guidance, will not subordinate the ego by sacrifice, will not find within
ourselves a longing for unity with the Secret Self, we still are not beyond
the salvation of fered by intuition. When our time of conscious striving with
a problem is over, when we have considered all elements, pitted them
against each other, weighed them, counted them, tabulated them, we then
may visualize within our own mind a secret computing machine into which
we can feed all elements of the problem and which will deliver us a true and
accurate answer. Each of us, no matter how spiritually enlightened, can
profit by this visualization. When your problem is upon you and you know
as much about it as you ever possibly can, for get it completely. Envisage
your secret computing machine, feed all elements of the problem into it. See them go in one by one until finally the whole problem is out of your
hands. Know in your own heart that the problem will be solved, that you
need do no more about it than act upon the solution when it is presented. Have no fear; the solution will come. It may be the following morning,
perhaps the next afternoon, it may be a whole week, but it will illuminate
your consciousness and you will know with the utmost certainty that the
true answer has arrived. Once this highly significant experience has come to
you, reason and logic and knowledge will have been dethroned as the
principal activators of thought and action in your life, and enshrined in their
stead will be that faculty of intuition that transcends and transfigures all
situations and circumstances because it is infinite and eternal and speaks to
us from out of our sixth sense. OceanofPDF. com 
12
 
The Mental Attitude That Never Fails
 
Over most people hangs the sword of Damocles. They have fallen into
the psychological trap of cr eating their pr oblems by trying to solve
them, worrying because they worry, being afraid of fear. Ther e is a
capricious quality in our psyche that denies us each object we try to
grasp. Our wr ong thinking, wr ong acting, egoistic natur e leads us to
pursue things thr ough vain desir e. Acting and thinking in the small
part of our natur e, it is inevitable that we be frustrated in our
purposes. Ensuring Success
 
The mental attitude that ensures success is one in which we turn our work
and the results of our work over to the Divine without attachment or desire. This psychological absolution from the aims of partial seeing allows us to
follow the behest of a master will with perfect equanimity. We will not be
dismayed by circuitous routes, we will not be bitter about apparent defeats,
we will not rail against obstacles, because we know that the ends of our
actions are in the hands of an omnipotent being which ensures our absolute
development and complete success eventually. An enlightened person sees
that the purposes of the Secret Self are the only true purposes. They adopt
these as their own, don the mantle of the Divine as their true, inmost being. All their actions take on long-range significance. They understand that thereis a secret purpose in the smallest task and that the eventual result of this
purpose lies beyond the perception of the conscious mind. W ithin them
develops a towering trust, a positive certainty as to eventual victory that
makes them irresistible and impregnable in the midst of all action. They
cannot be defeated, for defeat is possible only to a being bounded by space
and time, and they have taken up residence in a self that is eternal and
infinite. They see that all things are brought to them for their own inner
perfection, that victory and defeat are merely opposite ends of a scale of
sensitivity by which their aspiring soul gradually is able to abdicate from
masquerading as a separate, isolated ego and to recognize its absolute unity
with the Divine. To be undiscouraged and undismayed by whatever turn of fortune is
encountered is always a mark of maturity and enlightenment. Such fortitude
is possible only to someone who has forsworn desires to be better, to get
more, to have power, or any other of the egoistic shortcomings that mark
the individual at war with their fellows. The vital and animalistic nature
hungers always for the fruits of its labor, and when these are denied, it
becomes disconsolate, loses faith, may even give up altogether. Whoever is
bound to their animalistic nature is bound also to constant hungering for the
fruits of their labor, and in consequence take up their tasks under a delusion
that blinds them to the possibilities for success. Selfish striving for gain
defeats enterprise at the outset because it is based upon the false belief that
one manifestation of the Divine is innately better than another and therefore
more deserving of reward. Such psychological misapprehension is based on
partiality and sees a world of multitudinous and separate things to be
conquered and achieved dominion over. The separate surface self never
achieves dominion over anything, even over its own nature. It did not
spring itself into being, it cannot stay itself from eventual oblivion, its
growth and development are entirely reactionary, and all things lie outside
the scope of its ef fectuality. Effective Guide to Living
 In almost everyone, however, the surface self achieves the illusion that it is
able ef fectively to influence life. In consequence, through the years that
their physical body flourishes, people are mentally and spiritually bound to
a delusion about who they are and where they came from and what their
relationship to the world is. Their lack of ef fectiveness in life, their failure
to grow mentally and spiritually, their gradual dissolution into cynicism,
into disenchantment with the material world, they seldom attribute to a
psychologically wrong viewpoint but generally feel they haven’ t “beat the
game” because they haven’ t arrived at the pinnacle of material success they
envisaged as youths. Even more revealing are ego-strivers who achieve
their goals. The mountain they climb so laboriously overlooks a barren
landscape. When they stand upon the highest spot and look out over the
bleak vista, their souls are seized in the viselike grip of fear, and they turn
their eyes to the earth and never look skyward again. Our cities and nations are populated with people who cannot stand to look
into their souls because they never have discovered who they truly are. Infinity and eternity appall them by dwarfing the ego. What is needed most
of all is an ef fective guide to living, a humanistic relationship between us
and our creating source, so that each of us is able to see with absolute
clarity and perfect equanimity that our life not only is part of a divine plan
for the development of consciousness in the universe but that we ourself are
both mentally and spiritually unified with that master spirit whose field of
unfoldment the world is. Such spiritual illumination allows us to put our life
and our works in the hands of the Divine, with complete assurance that both
will be used for the best purpose. Once this psychological dispossession of
personal ef fort and personal victory has been accomplished, we never again
suffer defeat. Apparent defeat becomes only a turning place in the road; all
detours mer ge into one triumphal march to victory, become part of that plan
by which eventual success is assured. When the revelation comes to us that the Divine is working through us, all
our labor takes on a highly char ged spiritual significance alongside which
material rewards pale. W e no longer work for money, no longer work for
success, but only for the expression of that mind and consciousness within
us which we now know to be the Supreme manifesting upon the earth. W e
do the work of the Secret Self and never of our surface self. W e subjugatethe surface self to a master spirit that uses it as a tool for the ef fectuation of
the divine purpose in the world. The faith that grows out of this knowledge
sustains us under the most fierce, adverse pressure. Something higher than
heart or intellect upholds us through the longest detours and the blindest
gropings. Our egoistic self has found that supreme master and highest
philosophy by which it not only understands itself and its place and purpose
in the world but also is admitted to a secret place of light and peace and
understanding. In the heart of the enlightened person is the hidden
knowledge that they are never at the mercy of immediate appearances, that
they have within them the power to change all through their identification
with the Divine, through their knowledge that the mind in them is the mind
in all others. Perfect Knowing and Imperfect Seeing
 
This giving over of oneself and assuming another is far more than just a
merely psychological switch of viewpoint. The awakened person dies in
one small part of their nature in order to be reborn in a lar ger and wider
consciousness. T o the onlooker the change may be imperceptible. The
person may do the same work, live in the same manner, forsake neither
friends nor fun, but all actions now will be unified by spiritual awareness,
so that there emanates from them an inner joy, an absolute acceptance of
life. They may rise to a position of prominence in the world or they may
not; it is indif ferent to them. They serve not the causes of humanity, only
the will and purpose of the Divine. “W e are here to see what we can add to,
not to see what we can get from, Life,” wrote W illiam Osler, the Canadian
physician and cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospital. In the enlightened
person the egoistic nature has been so far withdrawn from the frontal part of
personality that their impression upon others is one of constant giving,
never of taking. They become a horn of plenty through which the Divine
pours its infinite resource. T o whomever they contact there comes a sense
of love and understanding and security, descending through them into the
other from the Secret Self. Those whose consciousness is focused in the surface self live within narrow
horizons of awareness and are puppets driven by sensation. The world
makes itself known to them through the tiny windows of their senses, and
they react to it, never exerting a mental or spiritual influence upon it. Their
failures are failures of imperfect seeing. They see neither who they are nor
what the true nature of a situation is; consequently their actions are always
based upon partial knowledge. A suf ficient number of failures stemming
from this imperfect working completely defeats them, and their frustration
is announced through physical ailments of the body. Emotional blockages
and repressions inhibit circulation in certain areas of the body, and disease
and malfunction set in. Repressed hostility, aggression, insecurity, and fear
are root causes of arthritis, heart disease, arterial sclerosis, cancer, ulcer. A
society that demands conformity of its members is bound to frustrate a lar ge
number of them, and this manifests itself as a gradual rise in physical
infirmity. Since it is patently impossible for individuals to alter the social
system under which they live, solution of the dilemma must provide
spiritual freedom while allowing for physical conformity. Arriving at the
realization that the Divine dwells in you just as you dwell in the Divine
dissolves the cares and frustration of the egoistic nature. Once you have
been able to identify yourself with the master spirit of eternity it becomes
possible to view existence on a long-term basis, to detach yourself from
physical goals. Failur e Is a State of Mind
 
Existence is essentially a fight. W e are tested in the crucible of conflict from
cradle to grave, and the time of our most severe testing is the time of our
greatest growth. Nature is not interested in winners. All too often victory is
a signal for cessation of ef fort. Nature is interested in growth, and growth is
possible only to one constantly at work expanding their abilities and talents. In any line of endeavor those who have it made are going downhill. Our
waistlines stay trim and our minds alert when we are kept at our labors
through necessity. Our surface selves often find in victory or gain theopportunity to indulge sensation, and we are caught in a trap from which we
may never emer ge as aspiring individuals again. Havelock Ellis wrote,
“Conquest brings self-conceit and intolerance, the reckless inflation and
dissipation of ener gies. Defeat brings prudence and concentration; it
ennobles and fortifies. ” Defeat, of course, is never a fact unless it is
accepted as final. Those who realize that all growth possibilities are within
them never accept defeat. They know that they can do much better than
they thus far have shown, for they have a secret pipeline into the source of
all ener gy and talent. Failure is a state of mind and never a physical fact. W e try to accomplish
something and if results don’ t come our way within a certain period of time
we often throw up our hands and say we can’ t do it. If this psychological
abdication from trying is done without a cessation of physical ef fort, we
may find that suddenly we are getting results, for unconsciously we have
turned our works and actions over to the Secret Self and they have become
effective. But if we cease to make any further physical ef fort, then the work
will never be done for we have turned our back on it. Boldness
 
Each of us best fulfills ourself and the purposes of nature when we perform
the task of torchbearer in some area of our activities. Boldness engenders its
own success through liberating ener gies repressed by inhibition. If we find
within ourself the courage to go out on a limb, it will never break under our
weight, will sustain us no matter how fragile it appears, and we will see
from our new vantage point an entirely dif ferent world. Between the timid
and the brave is but a single step, and that is the first one. W ild animals
attack the prey that runs away but stand stock-still and are intimidated by
any that faces them. If we find within ourself the spiritual resource to make
our first step toward danger instead of away from it, we will find that
danger disappears. But if we give in to the impulse of fear and make our
initial step away from danger, life will chase after us and surely devour us. Let any man show the world that he feels
Afraid of its bark and ’ twill fly at his heels:
Let him fearlessly face it, ’ twill leave him alone:
But ’ twill fawn at his feet if he flings it a bone. — EDW ARD BUL WER-L YTT ON
 
Fear engenders fear. The first step away from danger turns into a trot, then a
shambling run, then a panic-stricken dash, and the innocuous cur that
pursues us is now a fancied monster. Similarly, courage engenders courage. The first step toward danger allows us to see our antagonist clearly. We
examine its face and behold that it is not nearly so threatening as we
imagined. W e begin to see ways and means of coping with it, and just
because we have confronted it head-on, it stops its aggressive action toward
us and considers whether we ourselves might not pose some danger to it. This is true of events as well as living things. A psychological aura
emanates from events as from people. If something seems to threaten us,
then it surely will pursue us if we run away, but if we advance upon it
boldly, it stops its movement toward us. It hangs back to reconsider, and
eventually yields. Nothing stands before continued ef fort, and nothing can
resist the person who persists in the face of all discouragement. The mental
attitude that never fails is one in which we dispossess ourselves of the goal-
seeking ego and lodge our psyche firmly in a consciousness of the Divine,
viewing our own lives as an opportunity for emer gence of the master spirit,
regarding the work that we do as being the work of the Secret Self. Perseverance
 Everything great is accomplished by people whose perseverance transcends
mere human endurance. Galileo at his telescope, Newton beneath his apple
tree, Einstein in his laboratory — all are examples of illumination following
a period of prolonged perseverance. No one performing at the behest of
egoistic desire could possibly have accomplished the feats of these
enlightened pioneers; long before illumination arrived, they would cease
their searching and go on to other fields. The Divine uses the discoverer and
the creator, each for the purpose for which they are best suited. Such people
cannot fail for they are doing the work for which they were intended at
birth. In consequence, their lives are completely absorbed in their tasks, so
that the work is inseparable from the person, and is in some kind of mystic
sense the person spun out in space and time and perpetuated as a creative
fact. When that psychological turnabout is made by which the individual
life is surrendered to the Secret Self, there enters into the person an
unearthly determination that impels them to perform their work in the face
of all odds, in the teeth of the bleakest appearances. They take their cue
from a light within, and they are able to alter the psychological aura of
things by bringing into the midst of events their own positive determination
and absolute dedication to the accomplishment of their tasks. Their impact
upon events is not brought about through vain desires or selfish goals, only
because they are doing those tasks that are natural to them. Fear of failure is a deterrent to action in all those entrapped in ego-
consciousness. The surface self does not possess that sense of equality
necessary to the undertaking of perilous tasks. It is concerned always with
appearances, and it cannot bring itself to undertake an adventuresome
action because if such action comes of f disastrously or comically it is made
to appear incapable or a fool. Millions of people are afraid to try because
they are afraid to fail, and such inhibition keeps them from realizing all but
the tiniest fraction of their capabilities. This shortsighted focusing of
consciousness in the surface self keeps their attention upon transitory goals. They undertake to sing a song, for example, not because a song in them
must be sung but because they want the attention and admiration of others. With this false viewpoint, it is even dif ficult for them to bring themselves to
get up before their audiences, for they carry within a picture of the shame
and defeat they will feel if their attempt to win admiration results instead in
ridicule. The song therefore does not get sung, and if sung, is sung poorly. These individuals have not become the thing they are doing but are only
using it for the satisfaction of their surface nature. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
 
The mental attitude that never fails is one that is not afraid to fail. W e must
be willing to accept the conditions that follow failur e befor e we have any
chance of attempting a new enterprise. If it be such a simple thing as diving
off a boar d into a swimming pool, we must be willing to accept the pain
attendant upon a belly flop befor e we ar e able to muster the determination
to dive. Once fear is gone, we will not belly flop; our dive will be swift and
clean. W e perform it because it is in us, and it performs us as much as we
perform it. T o get the surface self out of the way and allow the psyche to be
possessed by a master spirit allows us to undertake our tasks without the
slightest fear of failur e because we not only have a sense of equality towar d
others but know that a power gr eater than we is guiding our steps in the
best possible manner. We need to r ealize that everything is the r esult of
change, that ther e is nothing permanent in the entir e world except that
Secret Self fr om which we have sprung.
That there is only one infinite and eternal mind, and that each of us is a part of it.
According to the text, what is the only possible conclusion that can be drawn from the results of Dr. J.B. Rhine and Dr. S.G. Soal's investigations in parapsychology?
The author believes that human intelligence is not limited to the physical senses, and that there is a vast, infinite, and eternal aspect of consciousness that remains unexplored.
What is the author's perspective on the nature of human intelligence?
The text suggests that spiritual enlightenment can be achieved through the four steps of consecration, surrender, sacrifice, and love, which allow the individual to transcend their ego and align with the divine.
What is the key to achieving spiritual enlightenment, according to the text?
The author believes that the ego is an illusion, and that true fulfillment and success can only be achieved by surrendering to the divine and recognizing one's unity with it.
What is the author's view on the relationship between the ego and the divine?
The author emphasizes the importance of perseverance and the need to accept failure as a natural part of the growth process. He also suggests that true success comes from aligning with one's true nature and the divine, rather than seeking external validation or reward.
What is the author's message on the topic of failure and perseverance?