Do not let the thought of the past thought-foolishness worry you or discourage you. Think of the comparison, made by a well-known writer who compared the mind to a bowl of muddy water, into which a clear stream of fresh water was pouring. Anyone will see that the fresh water will gradually clear the entire body of water, until the muddy substances are not discernible. So pour in the kind of thoughts you desire, and thus render clear the muddiness that has been your bane for so long. Another writer has compared the matter to a dark room— if you wish to drive away the darkness, just open the shutters and admit the light, and lo! the darkness has disappeared. And this last illustration is true according to the old occult teachings which held that a “positive” thought always tended to neutralize and transmute a “negative” one—in fact that a positive thought had sufficient potency and force to neutralize many negative thoughts. This being the case, by will-power, and perseverance, you may change the nature of your mental-materials stored away in the storerooms of the Inner Consciousness, including the inherited ones, and thus render yourself practically a new person in character and nature, within a reasonable time.
The Ego is the real master, and not the slave of environment that so many seem to think it is. It is true that when the Ego lies dormant and passive, the personality is indeed made up of the inherited ideas and feelings; the suggested thoughts and ideas; and the acquired ideas and tendencies picked up during our life. But let the Ego once rouse itself and put into operation its own weapon—the Will—then it is enabled to master environment, and to cast out the rubbish stored away from the past, replacing it with bright, fresh, good strong mental material from which the thoughts and actions of the future will be manufactured. The Ego can remake one’s “character,” for it is the Master of the Mental Warehouse. Dismiss your careless and incompetent mental assistants, which have allowed this accumulation of mental rubbish. Take charge yourself—You, the Ego—and assert your Mastery. Inspect and pick out your own mental material, that nothing but the best quality of thought and action may be produced!
Lesson V.
“Making-Over” Oneself.
ONE OF the most interesting phases of the science of using the Inner Consciousness, is that which may be called “making-over” oneself. That is, the application of psychological laws in the direction of rebuilding certain of the Inner Conscious planes, or rather in replacing the mental material stored there by the more desirable material. This process has been aptly called “Character Building,” which indeed it is, for the character is largely dependent upon what is contained in the Inner Consciousness, and whatever affects the latter affects the Character. The word “Character” itself, is derived from a Greek word meaning “to engrave;” to “cut in”; and some of the authorities state that the Greek word was derived from some older language and was first used by the ancient makers of bricks to indicate the personal trade mark marked by each upon the bricks manufactured by himself, each maker having his own trade mark. And the word has gradually grown in meaning until today we use it in the sense of “the peculiar quality, or sum of qualities, by which a person or thing is distinguished from others.” (Webster.) This latter-day use of the term is interesting when one is able to trace it from its original usage, showing the idea that was in the minds of those who have gone before us, i. e., that this thing that we call “character” was something impressed or engraved upon a man’s mental substance. To the majority of persons character is something that belongs to a person, by some unchangeable natural law, and which cannot be altered or improved. To the experienced psychologist, however, character is a plastic thing, which is modified by the character of one’s thoughts and mental attitude, and which may therefore be improved, changed or altered at will.
Psychology, taking cognizance of the planes of Inner Consciousness, and understanding the truth of the fact that character is the fabric manufactured from the material stored away on those planes, now teaches that by placing the proper materials in the storage rooms we may cause the character to be manufactured in accordance with the quality thereof. In short, that one may practically “make-over” oneself by placing the right kind of “raw material” in the mind. This is true in the case of training children and others, but is equally true in Self Training or Character Building.
To those who may think that in speaking of the planes of the Inner Consciousness, we are postulating a shadowy, intangible, “mind,”independent of the brain, we would say that this is not correct. We regard the brain as the organ of the mind, in its Inner Conscious manifestations as well as in its outer-conscious ones. The brain is composed of an enormous number of cells, composed of “plasm” or elementary living matter, some authorities estimating the number of the brain-cells at about 500,000,000 to 2,000,000,000, the number depending upon the mental activity of the person. Beside the number of brain-cells in active use, there are always great reserve forces of cells awaiting a sudden call. In addition to this, it is believed that the brain will “grow” additional cells in cases of need, so that the mind capacity of the individual is almost limitless. A class of brain-cells actively used will manifest a tendency to spring into activity almost automatically, at the slightest need, while those remaining unused will become almost atrophied, and are called into action slowly and clumsily. It therefore follows that the cells which are constantly used will exert a more marked influence upon the character of the individual than will those become atrophied by disuse. Therefore, if one will but use a set of cells actively, they will manifest strongly in his everyday life and character.
To develop traits of character in oneself, that we consider desirable but lacking, we should endeavor to think and act as often as possible along the lines that we wish to develop. Just as we exercise the muscle that we wish to bring up to a higher degree of efficiency, so should we exercise the faculties of the mind that we wish to increase in power and strength. And at the same time, we should avoid developing the opposite set of faculties. And if we wish to rid ourself of, or restrain an objectionable set of faculties, we should actively use and thus develop the opposite set, so as to counteract the undesirable ones. As Halleck says: “By restraining the expression of an emotion we can frequently throttle it; by inducing an expression we can often cause its allied emotion.” Prof. James says: “Refuse to express a passion, and it dies. Count ten before venting your anger, and its occasion seems ridiculous. Whistling to keep up courage is no mere figure of speech. On the other hand, sit all day in a moping posture, sigh, and reply to everything with a dismal voice, and your melancholy lingers. There is no more valuable precept in moral education than this, as all of us who have experienced it know: If we wish to conquer undesirable emotional tendencies in ourselves we must assiduously, and in the first instance cold-bloodedly, go through the outward movements of those contrary dispositions which we wish to cultivate. Smooth the brow, brighten the eye, contract the dorsal rather than the ventral aspect of the frame, and speak in a major key, pass the genial compliment and your heart must indeed be frigid if it does not gradually thaw.”
To sum up the matter of “Making-over” Oneself, we may say that the whole secret consists in filling up the particular storage-room having to do with the desired faculty, and its opposite, with thoughts, actions, desires, manifestations, etc., of the desired thing. Think of the thing; act it out so far as possible; desire it ardently; picture it out to yourself as much as possible—in short, keep its mental image before you as clearly and as persistently as possible. It is an old occult maxim that “we grow to be like the thing that we keep constantly in our mind”—and if you will but keep that axiom in your mind, you will work out the problem for yourself.
The secret underlying much of the phenomena called “occult” is the creation of what is known as a “Mental Image,” and which is really a mental pattern or mould from which we wish to materialize character in ourself or others. This Mental Pattern or Mould serves as a “model” around which is built the actual mental manifestation. And the clearer and stronger we build this Mental Image, the better and stronger results do we materialize. Keep in mind constantly the idea of the thing you wish to be, and you will unconsciously grow toward being just that thing. This is a well established psychological law, and