One teacher of higher truth was famous for his short and pointed answers to questions from his students.

During one teaching session a student commented,

“We wish to know why our lives unfold the way they do. Why do we experience our happiness’s and sorrows, our successes and failures?”

Replied their teacher, “For the next seven days, observe what happens to you as a result of what you do.”

Seven days later, the students reported what happened to them as a result of their own actions:

-When my mind wandered, I dropped a dish.

-I acted impulsively and two hours later regretted it.

-My thoughts about myself made me nervous.

-I spoke gently to an angry man and he replied gently.

When asked for more of an explanation for the assignment, the teacher supplied one of his short but meaningful answers:

“Don’t you see? Observe how you unknowingly create your present world, for then you will be able to knowingly create a new world.”

Let Understanding Banish Self-Concern

How simple the lesson really is:

1. Each person makes his inner day whatever it is.
2. Each person can create a new inner day for themselves.

When a man looks into a mirror he sees himself.

It would be absurd for him to believe the eyes and ears and hair are part of the mirror.

But, a man looks out at the world and thinks it is different from his own projections about it.

If this is understood at the very start- that we see ourselves in whatever we see- the process of self-healing begins.

—

Eric V. possessed an intense interest which widened his view very swiftly. It all started when he asked his first question in class:

“What am I doing wrong when I feel menaced by people and events?”

Reply: “You still think the enemy is outside. It is not. A tornado tears up a town because it is inside that town, not outside of it.”

It takes a lot of courage to give up having enemies. Does that sound like a strange thing to say? Listen. Unawakened people demand enemies, for enemies provide a fierce agitation, an emotional thrill, which they tragically think is life, but which is misery.

As we dare to give up enemies we enter a void.

Experience it fully and eventually emerge on the other side to true life.

—

Everyone has areas calling for special consideration.

Some must reflect upon their inability to be friends with themselves, while others must consider how often their emotional floods carry away their natural logic. Everyone should concentrate with maximum force upon this area:

think about what it means to be in a state of psychic hypnosis.

The hypnotic belief that man can escape the jungle through mechanical thinking is all a hoax. It is such a gigantic hoax that few see through it. There is a thick wall in mans mind which prevents him for seeing it even when he suffers terribly for his own mechanicalness.

You can see through it.

You can escape the jungle.

You can do it with conscious thought.

—

When a huge and hazardous iceberg is spotted in the Atlantic Ocean, it is carefully charted and followed by patrol boats.

When the iceberg eventually drifts into warm waters, it disappears, leaving the patrol with no more work to do.

This is how our inner work leads to a healthy lack of concern for ourselves.

By carefully following a worry or a disappointment, we see it drift into the warm waters of our expanded understanding, where it disappears.

—

This question was asked by a visitor who accompanied a regular student to the class:

“Instead of self-study, why can’t we just find happiness by losing ourselves in interesting activities?”

Answer: “Because when you lose yourself you do just that- you lose yourself in self division. It is like laughing at a party while knowing you must later walk home alone in the dark. Happiness resides in the here and now, which contains no self-division.”

—

A botanist unexpectedly discovered a rare and beautiful flower growing on the heights of the Alps. But he did not have the equipment needed for carrying the delicate flower down the mountain.

Later, when prepared, he had his flower.

Be ready!

That is the secret of inner achievement. Be ready to place the invisible world before the material world. Be ready with a “Yes” when asked to increase self-study.

From: Secrets for Higher Success by Vernon Howard

AI Art by: @NilTheYogi