A SERIES OF LESSONS IN RAJA YOGA #10

THE TENTH LESSON.

SUB-CONSCIOUSING.


In the Ninth Lesson we called your attention to the fact that Reasoning
was not necessarily conscious in its operations, and that, in fact, a
large part of the rational processes of the mind are performed below or
above the field of consciousness. And in the Eighth Lesson we gave you a
number of examples illustrating this fact. We also gave you a number of
cases in which the sub-conscious field of the Intellect worked out
problems, and then after a time passed on to the conscious field of the
Intellect the solution of the matter. In this lesson we purpose
instructing you in the methods by which this part of the Intellect may be
set to work for you. Many have stumbled upon bits of this truth for
themselves, and, in fact, the majority of successful men and men who have
attained eminence in any walk of life have made more or less use of this
truth, although they seldom understand the reason of it.

Very few Western writers have recognized the work of this plane of the
mind. They have given us full and ingenious theories and examples of the
workings of the Instinctive Mind, and in some cases they have touched
upon the workings and operations of the Intuitional planes, but in nearly
every case they have treated the Intellect as something entirely confined
to the Conscious plane of mentation. In this they have missed some of the
most interesting and valuable manifestations of sub-conscious mentation.

In this lesson we will take up this particular phase of mentation, and
trust to be able to point out the way to use it to the best advantage,
giving some simple instructions that have been given by the Hindu
teachers to their students for centuries past, such instructions of
course, being modified by us to conform to the requirements and
necessities of the Western student of today.

We have taken the liberty of bestowing a new title upon this phase of
mentation--we have thought it well to call it "Sub-consciousing." The
word "Sub," of course means "under; below;" and the word "Consciousing"
is a favorite term employed by Prof. Elmer Gates, and means receiving
impressions from the mind. In a general way, "Sub-consciousing," as used
in this lesson, may be understood to mean "using the subconscious mind,
under orders of the conscious mind."

By referring to our Eighth Lesson, we see mention made of the case of the
man who indulged in "unconscious rumination," which happened to him when
he read books presenting new points of view essentially opposed to his
previous opinion. You will note that after days, weeks, or months, he
found that to his great astonishment the old opinions were entirely
rearranged, and new ones lodged there.

On the same page you will see mentioned the case of Sir William Hamilton,
who discovered an important law of mathematics while walking with his
wife. In this case he had been previously thinking of the missing link in
his chain of reasoning, and the problem was worked out for him by the
sub-conscious plane of his Intellect.

On the same page, and the one following, is found the case of Dr.
Thompson, who gives an interesting account of the workings of this part
of his mind, which caused him at times to experience a feeling of the
uselessness of all voluntary effort, coupled with a feeling that the
matter was working itself clear in his mind. He tells us that at times he
seemed to be merely a passive instrument in the hands of some person
other than himself, who compelled him to wait until the work was
performed for him by some hidden region of the mind. When the
subconscious part of the mind had completed its work, it would flash the
message to his conscious mind, and he would begin to write.

On page 178 mention is also made of the great French chemist Berthelot,
who relates that some of his best conceptions have flashed upon him as
from the clear sky. In fact, the Eighth Lesson is largely made up of
examples of this kind, and we ask the student to re-read the same, in
order to refresh his mind with the truth of the workings of the
sub-conscious mentality.

But you will notice in nearly all the cases mentioned, that those who
related instances of the help of the sub-conscious mind had merely
stumbled upon the fact that there was a part of the mind below
consciousness that could and would work out problems for one, if it could
somehow be set in operation. And these people trusted to luck to start
that part of the mind in operation. Or rather, they would saturate
their conscious mind with a mass of material, like stuffing the stomach
with food, and then bid the subconscious mind assort, separate, arrange
and digest the mental food, just as does the stomach and digestive
apparatus digest the natural food--outside of the realm of consciousness
or volition. In none of the cases mentioned was the subconscious
mind _directed_ specially to perform its wonderful work. It was simply
hoped that it might digest the mental material with which it had been
stuffed--in pure self defense. But there is a much better way, and we
intend to tell you about it. The Hindu Yogis, or rather those who
instruct their pupils in _"Raja Yoga,"_ give their students directions
whereby they may _direct_ their sub-conscious minds to perform mental
tasks for them, just as one may direct another to perform a task. They
teach them the methods whereby, after having accumulated the necessary
materials, they may bid the sub-conscious mentality to sort it out,
rearrange, analyze, and build up from it some bit of desired knowledge.
More than this, they instruct their pupils to direct and order the
sub-conscious mentality to search out and report to them certain
information to be found only within the mind itself--some question of
philosophy or metaphysics. And when such art has been acquired, the
student or Yogi rests assured that the desired result will be forthcoming
in due time, and consequently dismisses the matter from his conscious
mind, and busies himself with other matters, knowing that day and night,
incessantly, the sub-consciousing process is going on, and that the
sub-conscious mind is actively at work collecting the information, or
working out the problem.

You will see at once the great superiority of this method over the old
"hit-or-miss," "hope-it-will-work" plan pursued by those who have
stumbled upon bits of the truth.

The Yogi teacher begins by impressing upon his students the fact that the
mind is capable of extending outward toward an object, material or
mental, and by examining it by methods inherent in itself, extracting
knowledge regarding the object named. This is not a startling truth,
because it is so common, everyone employing it more or less every day.
But the process by which the knowledge is extracted is most wonderful,
and really is performed below the plane of consciousness, the work of the
conscious mind being chiefly concerned in _holding the Attention_ upon
the object. We have spoken of the importance of Attention in previous
lessons, which it will be well for you to re-read, at this time.

When the student is fully impressed with the details of the process of
Attention, and the subsequent unfoldment of knowledge, the Yogi proceeds
to inform him that there are other means of obtaining knowledge about an
object, by the employment of which the Attention may be firmly directed
toward the object and then afterwards held there _unconsciously_--that
is, a portion of the Attention, or a sub-conscious phase of mentation,
which will hold the sub-conscious mind firmly upon the work until
accomplished, leaving the conscious Attention and mentality free to
employ itself with other things.

The Yogis teach the students that this new form of Attention is far more
intense and powerful than is the conscious Attention, for it cannot be
disturbed or shaken, or distracted from its object, and that it will work
away at its task for days, months, years, or a lifetime if necessary,
according to the difficulty of the task, and in fact carries its work
over from one life to another, unless recalled by the Will. They teach
the student that in everyone's life there is going on a greater or less
degree of this sub-conscious work, carried on in obedience to a strong
desire for knowledge manifested in some former life, and bearing fruit
only in the present existence. Many important discoveries have been made
in obedience to this law. But it is not of this phase of the matter that
we wish to speak in this lesson.

The Yogi theory is that the sub-conscious intellectual faculty may be set
to work under the direction of orders given by the Will. All of you know
how the sub-conscious mentality will take up an order of the Will, or a
strong wish, that the person be awakened at a certain hour in order to
catch a train. Or, in the same way how the remembrance of a certain
engagement at, say, four o'clock, will flash into the mind when the hands
of the clock approach the stated hour. Nearly every one can recall
instances of this sort in his own experience.

But the Yogis go much further than this. They claim that any and all
faculties of the mind may be "set going," or working on any problem, if
ordered thereto by the Will. In fact, the Yogis, and their advanced
students have mastered this art to such a surprising extent that they
find it unnecessary to do the drudgery of thinking in the conscious
field, and prefer to relegate such mental work to the sub-conscious,
reserving their conscious work for the consideration of digested
information and thought presented to them by the sub-conscious mind.

Their directions to their students cover a great deal of ground, and
extend over a long period of time, and many of the directions are quite
complicated and full of detail. But we think that we can give our
students an abbreviated and condensed idea in a few pages of the lesson.
And the remaining lessons of the course will also throw additional light
on the subject of sub-conscious mental action, in connection with
other subjects.

The Yogi takes the student when the latter is much bothered by a
consideration of some knotty and perplexing philosophical subject. He
bids the student relax every muscle,--take the tension from every
nerve--throw aside all mental strain, and then wait a few moments. Then
the student is instructed to grasp the subject which he has had before
his mind firmly and fixedly before his mental vision, by means of
concentration. Then he is instructed to pass it on to the sub-conscious
mentality by an effort of the Will, which effort is aided by forming a
mental picture of the subject as a material substance, _or bundle of
thought,_ which is being bodily lifted up and dropped down a mental
hatch-way, or trap-door, in which it sinks from sight. The student is
then instructed to say to the sub-conscious mentality: "I wish this
subject thoroughly analyzed, arranged, classified (and whatever else is
desired) and then the results handed back to me. Attend to this."

The student is taught to speak to the sub-conscious mentality just as if
it were a separate entity of being, which had been employed to do the
work. He is also taught that _confident expectation_ is an important part
of the process, and that the degree of success depends upon the degree of
this confident expectation.

In obstinate cases, the student is taught to use the Imagination freely,
until he is able to make a mental image or picture of the sub-conscious
mind doing what is required of it. This process clears away a mental
path for the feet of the sub-conscious mind, which it will choose
thereafter, as it prefers to follow the line of least resistance.

Of course much depends upon practice--practice makes perfect, you know,
in everything else, and sub-consciousing is no exception to the rule.

The student gradually acquires a proficiency in the art of
sub-consciousing, and thereafter devotes his time to acquiring new facts
for mental digestion, rather than bestowing it upon the mechanical act of
thinking.

But a very important point to be remembered is that the Will-power back
of the transferred thought-material, which Will-power is the cause of the
subconscious action, depends very greatly upon the attention and interest
given to the acquired material. This mass of thought-material which is to
be digested, and threshed out by the sub-conscious mind, must be well
saturated with interest and attention, in order to obtain the best
results. In fact interest and attention are such important aids to the
Will, that any consideration of the development and acquirement of
Will-power is practically a development and acquirement of attention and
interest. The student is referred to previous lessons in this course in
which the importance of interest and attention is explained and
described.

In acquiring the mass of thought-material which is to be passed on to the
sub-conscious digestion, one must concentrate a great degree of interest
and attention upon each item of thought-material gathered up. The
gathering of this thought-material is a matter of the greatest
importance, and must not be lightly passed by. One cannot hastily gather
together all sorts of thought-material, and then expect the subconscious
mind to do its work properly--it will not, in fact, and the student
proceeding upon any such erroneous supposition is doomed to
disappointment.

The proper way to proceed, is to take up each bit of thought-material in
turn, and examine it with the greatest possible interest, and
consequently the greatest attention, and then after having fairly
saturated it with this interested attention, place it with the pile of
material which, after a while, is to be passed on to the sub-conscious
mentality. Then take up the next bit of material, and after giving it
similar treatment, pass it along to the pile also. Then after a while
when you have gathered up the main facts of the case, proceed to consider
the mass as a whole, with interest and attention, giving it as it were a
"general treatment." Then drop it down the trap-door into the
sub-conscious mind, with a strong command, "Attend to this
thought-material," coupled with a strong expectant belief that your
order will be obeyed.

The idea underlying this treatment of the thought-material with interest
and attention is that by so doing a strong "Mental Image" is created,
which may be easily handled by the sub-conscious mind. Remember that you
are passing on "thoughts" for the sub-consciousness to act upon, and that
the more tangible and real these thoughts are, the better can they be
handled. Therefore any plan that will build these thoughts up into "real"
things is the plan to pursue. And attention and interest produce just
this result.

If we may be pardoned for using a homely and commonplace illustration we
would say that the idea may be grasped by the illustration of boiling an
egg, whereby the fluid "white" and "yolk" becomes solid and real. Also
the use of a shaving brush by a man, by which the thin lather is
gradually worked up into a rich, thick, creamy mass, is an illustration.
Again, the churning of butter is a favorite illustration of the Hindus,
who thus call the attention of their students to the fact that
thought-material if worked upon with attention and interest become
"thought-forms" that may be handled by the mind just as the hands handle
a material object. We ask you to think of these illustrations, for when
you once grasp the idea that we wish to convey to you, you will have the
secret of great thinking powers within your grasp.

And this power of sub-consciousing is not confined alone to the
consideration of philosophical questions. On the contrary it is
applicable to every field of human thought, and may be properly employed
in any and all of them. It is useful in solving the problems of every-day
life and work, as well as to the higher flights of the human mind. And we
wish every one of our students to realize that in this simple lesson we
are giving them the key to a great mental power.

To realize just what we are offering to you, we would remind you of the
old fairy tales of all races, in which there is to be found one or more
tales telling of some poor cobbler, or tailor, or carpenter, as the case
may be, who had by his good deeds, gained favor with the "brownies" or
good fairies, who would come each night when the man and his family were
asleep, and proceed to complete the work that the artisan had laid out
for the morrow. The pieces of leather would be made into shoes; the cloth
would be sewed into garments; the wood would be joined, and nailed
together into boxes, chairs, benches and what not. But in each case the
rough materials were prepared by the artisan himself during the day.

Well, that is just what we are trying to introduce to you. A clan of
mental brownies, loving and kindly disposed toward you, who are anxious
and willing to help you in your work. All you have to do is to give
them the proper materials, and tell then what you want done, and they
will do the rest. But these mental brownies are a part of your own
mentality, remember, and no alien and foreign entities, as some have
imagined.

A number of people who have accidentally discovered this power of the
sub-conscious mind to work out problems, and to render other valuable
service to its owner, have been led to suppose that the aid really came
from some other entity or intelligence. Some have thought that the
messages came from friends in the spirit land, and others have believed
that some high intelligence--God or his angels--was working in their
behalf. Without discussing spirit communication, or Divine messages, in
both of which we believe (with certain provisional reservations) we feel
justified in saying that the majority of cases of this kind may be
referred to the sub-conscious workings of one's own mentality.

Each of us has "a friend" in our own mind--a score of them in fact, who
delight in performing services for us, if we will but allow them to do
so. Not only have we a Higher Self to whom we may turn for comfort and
aid in times of deep distress and necessity, but we have these invisible
mental workers on the sub-conscious plane, who are very willing and glad
to perform much of our mental work for us, if we will but give them the
material in proper shape.

It is very difficult to impart specific directions for obtaining
these results, as each case must depend to a great extent upon the
peculiar circumstances surrounding it. But we may say that the main thing
needed is to "lick into shape" the material, and then pass it on to the
sub-conscious mind in the manner spoken of a few moments ago. Let us run
over a few cases wherein this principle may be applied.

Let us suppose that you are confronted with a problem consisting of an
uncertainty as to which of two or more courses to adopt in some affair of
life. Each course seems to have advantages and disadvantages, and you
seem unable to pass upon the matter clearly and intelligently. The more
you try the more perplexed and worried do you become. Your mind seems to
tire of the matter, and manifests a state which may be called "mental
nausea." This state will be apparent to any one who has had much
"thinking" to do. The average person, however, persists in going over
the matter, notwithstanding the tired condition of the mind, and its
evident distaste for a further consideration of the subject. They will
keep on forcing it back to the mind for consideration, and even at night
time will keep thrashing away at the subject. Now this course is absurd.
The mind recognizes that the work should be done by another part of
itself--its digestive region, in fact--and naturally rebels at the
finishing-up machinery being employed in work unsuited for it.

According to the Sub-consciousing plan, the best thing for the man to do
would be for him first to calm and quiet his mind. Then he should arrange
the main features of the problem, together with the minor details in
their proper places. Then he should pass them slowly before him in
review, giving a strong interest and attention to each fact and detail,
as it passes before him, _but without the slightest attempt to form a
decision, or come to a conclusion_. Then, having given the matter an
interested and attentive review, let him _Will_ that it pass on to his
sub-conscious mind, forming the mental image of dropping it through the
trap-door, and at the same time giving the command of the Will, "Attend
to this for me!"

Then dismiss the matter from your conscious mind, by an effort of command
of the Will. If you find it difficult to do this, you may soon acquire
the mastery by a frequent assertion, "I have dismissed this matter from
my conscious mind, and my sub-conscious mind will attend to it for me."
Then, endeavor to create a mental feeling of perfect trust and confidence
in the matter, and avoid all worry or anxiety about it. This may be
somewhat difficult at the first trial, but will become a natural feeling
after you have gained the confidence arising from successful results in
several cases. The matter is one of practice, and, like anything else
that is new, must be acquired by perseverance and patience. It is well
worth the time and trouble, and once acquired will be regarded as
something in the nature of a treasure discovered in an unexpected place.
The sense of tranquillity and content--of calm and confidence--that comes
to one who has practiced this plan, will of itself be worth all the
trouble, not to speak of the main result. To one who has acquired this
method, the old worries, frettings, and general "stewed up" feeling, will
seem like a relic of barbarism. The new way opens up a world of new
feelings and content.

In some cases the matter will be worked out by the sub-conscious
mind in a very short time, and in fact we have known cases in which
the answer would be flashed back almost instantly, almost like an
inspiration. But in the majority of cases more or less time is required.
The sub-conscious mind works very rapidly, but it takes time to arrange
the thought-material properly, and to shape it into the desired forms. In
the majority of cases it is well to let the matter rest until the next
day--a fact that gives us a clue to the old advice to "sleep over" an
important proposition, before passing a final decision.

If the matter does not present itself the following day, bring it up
again before the conscious mind for review. You will find that it has
shaped itself up considerably, and is assuming definite form and
clearness. But right here--and this is important--do not make the mistake
of again dissecting it, and meddling with it, and trying to arrange it
with your conscious mind. But, instead, give it attention and interest
in its new form, and then pass it back again to the sub-conscious mind
for further work. You will find an improvement each time you examine it.
But, right here another word of caution. Do not make the mistake of
yielding to the impatience of the beginner, and keep on repeatedly
bringing up the matter to see what is being done. Give it time to have
the work done on it. Do not be like the boy who planted seeds, and who
each day would pull them up to see whether they had sprouted, and how
much.

Sooner or later, the sub-conscious mind will, of its own choice, lift up
the matter and present it to you in its finished shape for the
consideration of the conscious mind. The sub-conscious mind does not
insist that you shall adopt its views, or accept its work, but merely
hands out to you the result of its sorting, classifying and arranging.
The choice and will still remains yours, but you will often find that
there is seen to be one plan or path that stands out clearly from the
others, and you will very likely adopt that one. The secret is that the
sub-conscious mind with its wonderful patience and care has analyzed the
matter, and has separated things before apparently connected. It has also
found resemblances and has combined things heretofore considered opposed
to each other. In short it has done for you all that you could have done
with the expenditure of great work and time, and done it well. And then
it lays the matter before you for your consideration and verdict.

Its whole work seems to have been in the nature of assorting, dissecting,
analyzing, and arranging the evidence, and then presenting it before you
in a clear, systematic shape. It does not attempt to exercise the
judicial prerogative or function, but seems to recognize that its work
ceases with the presentation of the edited evidence, and that of the
conscious mind begins at the same point.

Now, do not confuse this work with that of the Intuition, which is a very
different mental phase or plane. This sub-conscious working, just
mentioned, plays an entirely different part. It is a good servant, and
does not try to be more. The Intuition, on the contrary, is more like a
higher friend--a friend at court, as it were, who gives us warnings and
advice.

In our directions we have told you how to make use of this part of the
mind, consciously and knowingly, so as to obtain the best results, and to
get rid of worry and anxiety attendant upon unsettled questions. But,
in fact, every one of us makes more or less use of this part of the mind
unconsciously, and not realizing the important part it plays in our
mental life. We are perplexed about a matter and keep it "on our minds"
until we are forced to lay it aside by reason of some other demand, or
when we sink to sleep. Often to our surprise we will find that when we
next think of it the matter has somehow cleared up and straightened
itself out, and we seem to have learned something about it that we did
not know before. We do not understand it, and are apt to dismiss it as
"just one of those things." In these lessons we are attempting to explain
some of "those things," and to enable you to use them consciously and
understandingly, instead of by chance, instinctively, and clumsily. We
are teaching you Mastery of the Mind.

Now to apply the rule to another case. Suppose you wish to gather
together all the information that you possess relating to a certain
subject. In the first place it is certain that you know a very great deal
more about any subject than you think you do. Stored away in the various
recesses of the mind, or memory if you prefer that term, are stray bits
of information and knowledge concerning almost any subject. But these
bits of information are not associated with each other. You have never
attempted to think attentively upon the particular question before you,
and the facts are not correlated in the mind. It is just as if you had
so many hundred pounds of anything scattered throughout the space of a
large warehouse, a tiny bit here, and a tiny bit there, mixed up with
thousands of other things.

You may prove this by sitting down some time and letting your thoughts
run along the line of some particular subject, and you will find emerging
into the field of consciousness all sorts of information that you had
apparently forgotten, and each fitting itself into its proper place.
Every person has had experiences of this kind. But the work of gathering
together the scattered scraps of knowledge is more or less tedious for
the conscious mind, and the sub-conscious mind will do the work equally
well with the wear and tear on the attention. In fact, it is the
sub-conscious mind that _always_ does the work, even when you think it is
the conscious mind. All the conscious mind does is to hold the attention
firmly upon the object before it, and then let the sub-consciousness pass
the material before it. But this holding the attention is tiresome work,
and it is not necessary for it to expend its energies upon the details of
the task, for the work may be done in an easier and simpler way.

The best way is to follow a plan similar to the one mentioned a few pages
back. That is, to fix the interested attention firmly upon the question
before you, until you manage to get a clear, vivid impression of _just
what you want answered_. Then pass the whole matter into the
sub-conscious mind with the command "Attend to this," and then leave it.
Throw the whole matter off of your mind, and let the sub-conscious
work go on. If possible let the matter run along until the next morning
and then take it up for consideration, when, if you have proceeded
properly you will find the matter worked out, arranged in logical
sequence, so that your conscious attention will be able to clearly
review the string of facts, examples, illustrations, experiences, etc.,
relating to the matter in question.

Now, many of you will say that you would like this plan to work in cases
in which you have not the time to sleep over it. In such cases we will
say that it is possible to cultivate a rapid method of sub-consciousing,
and in fact many business men and men of affairs have stumbled upon a
similar plan, driven to the discovery by necessity. They will give a
quick, comprehensive, strong flash of attention upon the subject,
getting right to the heart of it, and then will let it rest in the
sub-conscious mind for a moment or two, killing a minute or two of time n
"preliminary conversation," until the first flash of answer comes to
them. After the first flash, and taking hold of the first loose end of
the subject that presents itself to them, they will unwind a string of
information and "talk" about the subject that will surprise even
themselves. Many lawyers have acquired this knowledge, and are what is
known as "resourceful." Such men are often confronted with questions of
conditions utterly unsuspected by them a moment before. Practice has
taught them the folly of fear and loss of confidence at such moments, and
has also impressed upon them the truth that something within them will
come to the rescue. So, presenting a confident air, they will manage to
say a few platitudes or commonplaces, while the sub-conscious mind is
most rapidly gathering its materials for the answer. In a moment an
opening thought "flashes upon" the man, and as he continues idea after
idea passes before his conscious and eager attention, sometimes so
rapidly that it is almost impossible to utter them and lo! the danger is
over, and a brilliant success is often snatched from the jaws of an
apparent failure and defeat. In such cases the mental demand upon the
sub-conscious mind is not voiced in words, but is the result of a strong
mental need. However, if one gives a quick verbal command "_Attend to
this_," the result will be heightened.

We have known of cases of men prominent in the world's affairs who made a
practice of smoking a cigar during important business interviews, not
because they particularly cared for tobacco, but because they had learned
to appreciate the value of a moment's time for the mind to "gather itself
together," as one man expressed it. A question would be asked, or a
proposition advanced suddenly, demanding an immediate answer. Under the
watchful eyes of the other party the questioned party tried not to show
by his expression any indication of searching for an answer, for obvious
reasons. So, instead, he would take a long puff at the cigar, then a slow
attentive look at the ashes on its tip, and then another moment consumed
in flicking the ash into the receptacle, and then came the answer,
slowly, "Well, as to that--" or some other words of that kind, prefacing
the real answer which had been rapidly framed by the sub-conscious mind
in time to be uttered in its proper place. The few moments of time gained
had been sufficient for the sub-conscious mind to gather up its
materials, and the matter to be shaped properly, without any appearance
of hesitation on the part of the answerer. All of this required practice,
of course, but the principle may be seen through it all and in every
similar case. The point is that the man, in such cases, sets some hidden
part of his mind to work for him, and when he begins to speak the matter
is at least roughly "licked into shape for him."

Our students will understand, of course, that this is not advice to smoke
cigars during interviews of importance, but is merely given to illustrate
the principle. We have known other men to twirl a lead pencil in their
fingers in a lazy sort of fashion, and then drop it at the important
moment. But we must cease giving examples of this kind, lest we be
accused of giving instructions in worldly wisdom, instead of teaching the
use of the mind. The impressive pause of the teacher, before answering
his pupil's question, is also an example of the workings of this law. One
often says "stop, let me think a moment," and during his pause he does
not really consciously think at all, but stares ahead in a dreamy
fashion, while his sub-conscious mind does the work for him, although he
little suspects the nature of the operation. One has but to look around
him to realize the importance and frequent application of this truth.

And not only may the sub-conscious mind be used in the directions
indicated on preceding pages, but in nearly every perplexity and problem
of life may it be called upon for help. These little sub-conscious
brownies are ever at our disposal, and seem to be happy to be of service
to us.

And so far from being apt to get us in a position of false dependence, it
is calculated to make us self-confident--for we are calling upon a part
of _ourselves_, not upon some outside intelligence. If those people who
never feel satisfied unless they are getting "advice" from others would
only cultivate the acquaintance of this little "home adviser" within
them, they would lose that dependent attitude and frame of mind, and
would grow self-confident and fearless. Just imagine the confidence of
one who feels that he has within him a source of knowledge equal to that
of the majority of those with whom he is likely to come in contact, and
he feels less afraid to face them, and look them fearlessly in the eyes.
He feels that his "mind" is not confined to the little field of
consciousness, but is an area infinitely greater, containing a mass of
information undreamed of. Everything that the man has inherited, or
brought with him from past lives--everything that he has read, heard or
seen, or experienced in this life, is hidden away there in some quarter
of that great sub-conscious mind, and, if he will but give the command,
the "essence" of all that knowledge is his. The details may not be
presented to his consciousness (often it is not, for very good occult
reasons) by the result, or essence of the knowledge will pass before his
attention, with sufficient examples and illustrations, or arguments to
enable him to make out "a good case" for himself.

In the next lesson we will call your attention to other features and
qualities of this great field of mind, showing you how you can put it to
work, and Master it. Remember, always, the "I" is the Master. And its
Mastery must always be remembered and asserted over all phases and planes
of the mind. Do not be a slave to the sub-conscious, but be its MASTER.


MANTRAM (OR AFFIRMATION).

I have within me a great area of Mind that is under my command, and
subject to my Mastery. This Mind is friendly to me, and is glad to do
my bidding, and obey my orders. It will work for me when I ask it, and
is constant, untiring, and faithful. Knowing this I am no longer
afraid, ignorant or uninformed. The "I" is master of it all, and is
asserting its authority. "I" am master over Body, Mind, Consciousness,
and Sub-consciousness. I am "I"--a Centre of Power, Strength, and
Knowledge. I am "I"--and "I" am Spirit, a fragment from the Divine Flame.