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How to be Mentally Free (excerpt)


From nature we observe the lessons of involution and evolution: how the seed of potential is involved and from that beginning evolves back again to completeness. Mind is seeded in form potentially with the first breath of life and initially with the establishment of the name. Therein lies the reason and the seed for mental unfoldment. In nature, we understand how a power within the seed grows from that earliest point of development and germination through all the successive stages of unfoldment. In mind, the similar successive stages are more difficult to comprehend. We have learned the fundamentals of birthpath, groups, minor lessons, names, destinies, cycles, etc., but the concept of mental growth still remains a challenge for comprehension. We have also learned that disciplining the emotions and controlling the temper, moods, and reactions are essential to mental development, and yet the struggle continues within ourselves to live to the higher side of our natures.

Within each seed is a universal power, the universal quality of Reason that directs the successive stages of unfoldment of any plant. Within mind there is also the power of Reason, the seed of Universal Consciousness, and it is that seed that should and can direct the natural unfoldment of mind. The main obstacle in natural mental growth is the lack of expression of that inner power of Universal Consciousness. Often we have trouble in growing because we do not know where we are growing to and how we must grow to get there. It is this lack of universal concept which limits our growth. We plod along working on the immediate challenges before us-which is correct and essential-but if we can develop a more universal understanding of life, we shall have, like the seed, a greater power of universal perspective directing our unfoldment.

When we become involved in self and the petty things of life, our perspective becomes shallow, limited, and distorted. We lack the universal guiding concept. When we free our minds from these little things, rise above self, and see more clearly our relationship to the universal laws of life, we gain a degree of Consciousness that guides our actions, giving greater reason to our endeavours, preventing mistakes which would take us into self-motivated reactions, guiding us into decisions and efforts that will assist us in unfolding the higher side of our potential, and thus allowing us to express our more universal qualities.

To diet just for the sake of dieting is a constant conflict with desire, causing tension and friction from the conflict, but if we understand the reason for a healthy body, the value of a fit, vital instrument, appreciating the freedom that a healthy body gives us, then it is easier to follow a lifestyle of eating that is not a diet but a way of life that expresses logic and reason and provides physical freedom, good health, and peace of mind from the conflict of desires linked to the appetites. When living in self, reactions, tempers, moods, self-pity, indignation, and other myriad forms of selfish emotion, our thoughts, expressions, and responses are coloured causing us to live in a similar world of friction and tension as compared to the challenge of dieting. If we could free our minds from this selfish perspective and see from the higher plane of universal love and universal brotherhood, expressing the understanding of our fellow man through the knowledge of mathematics and the measurement of human potential as well as the awareness of the unfoldment of the Spiritual Principle even through its distorted expressions, then the result would be greater mental freedom with virtually no issue from the selfish emotions previously mentioned.

Spiritual development is another nebulous matter in most students' lives. How many can see clearly the steps in the unfoldment of spirituality? How many students can see their spiritual destinies? Once again, we are blinded by the vision of self in all its importance, but if we could change our perspective to that of a universal concept, we could see ourselves as a part of the picture of life, unfolding the blueprint of being and we could recognize more readily the role that we can play in the establishment of Reason here in life. It is said that one cannot see the woods for the trees, nor can one see one's spiritual destiny because of the limitation of selfish viewpoints. Mr. Parker said, "The greatest obstacle to man's spiritual progress is self," and it is the overcoming of self that constitutes the development of the mind.

We have studied and attempted to apply the principles of self-discipline, controlling of the emotions, the rising above self, and the development of a more universal perspective; and much progress has been accomplished. An important point to consider is that if we can gain a broader perspective, we can see beyond the limitations of self and, thus being freed from that limitation, grow more quickly into the higher planes of mental understanding. If we could understand the Principle in its breadth and in its depth, we would be like a seed of nature having a natural power from within guiding our stages of growth, for we would naturally understand the relativity of all things and of our particular requirements at any particular time to continue the unfoldment of our potentials. That is why we must study the Principle, understand the Principle, live the Principle, and become the Principle.

 

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