Gaining Self-Control
Perhaps the biggest battle in the beginning stages of practicing attention and concentration is the control of breath. The beginner will not want to sit long enough, or not be able to become quiet enough to have a deep, controlled flow of breath. After five minutes, the physical elements of the subconscious mind will become restless. He will want to squirm about. He will sit down to concentrate on the flower and begin thinking of many other things that he should be doing instead: "I should have done my washing first." "I may be staying here for a half an hour. What if I get hungry? Perhaps I should have eaten first." The telephone may ring, and he will wonder who is calling. "Maybe I should get up and answer it," he thinks and then mentally says, "Let it ring. I'm here to concentrate on the flower." If he does not succeed immediately, he will rationalize, "How important can breathing rhythmically be, anyway? I'm breathing all right. This is far too
simple to be very important." He will go through all of this within himself, for this is how he has been accustomed to living in the conscious mind, jumping from one thing to the next.
When you sit at attention, view all of the distractions that come as you endeavor to concentrate on one single object, such as a flower. This will show you exactly how the conscious and subconscious mind operate. All of the same distractions come in everyday life. If you are a disciplined person, you handle them systematically through the day. If you are indisciplined, you are sporadic in your approach and allow your awareness to become distracted by them haphazardly instead of concentrating on one at a time. Such concerns have been there life after life, year after year. The habit of becoming constantly distracted makes it impossible for you to truly concentrate the mind or to realize anything other than distractions and the desires of the conscious mind itself.
Even the poor subconscious has a time keeping up with the new programming flowing into it from the experiences our awareness goes through as it travels quickly through the conscious mind in an undisciplined way. When the subconscious mind becomes overloaded in recording all that goes into it from the conscious mind, we experience frustration, anxiety, nervousness, insecurity and neuroses. These are some of the subconscious ailments that are so widespread in the world today.
There comes a time in man's life when he has to put an end to it all. He sits down. He begins to breathe, to ponder and be aware of only one pleasant thing. As he does this, he becomes dynamic and his will becomes strong. His concentration continues on that flow. As his breath becomes more and more regulated, his body becomes quiet and the one great faculty of the soul becomes predominant--observation--the first faculty of the unfoldment of the soul.
We as the soul see out through the physical eyes. As we look through the physical eyes at the flower and meditate deeply upon the flower, we tune into the soul's vast well of knowing and begin to observe previously unknown facts about the flower. We see where it came from. We see how one little flower has enough memory locked up within its tiny seed to come up again and again in the very same way. A rose does not forget and come up as a tulip. Nor does a tulip forget and come up as a lily. Nor does a lily forget and come up as a peach tree. There is enough memory resident in the genes of the seeds of each that they come up as the same species every season. As we observe this single law and pierce into the inner realms of the mind, we see the flower as large as a house, or as small as the point of a pin, because the eyes of the superconscious mind, the spiritual body, can magnify or diminish any object in order to study it and understand it. To know
this,to experience this, is to develop willpower to transform oneself into the knower of what is to be known. Yes, willpower is the key, the must, the most needed faculty for spiritual unfoldment on this path. Work hard, strive to accomplish, strengthen the will by using the will. But remember, "With love in the will, the spirit is free." This means that willpower can be used wrongly without the binding softening of love, simple love. Say in your mind to everyone you meet, "I like you. You like me, I really do like you. I love you. I truly love you." And always bear in mind..................................................................
"There is nothing you cannot be,
There is nothing you cannot do,
And there is nothing you cannot achieve,
All you have to have is "BELIEVE IN YOU."
No comments:
Post a Comment