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INTRODUCTION

 

The Rosicrucian Order A. M. 0. R. C. is a fraternity of men and women the world over who are in search of inner wisdom and mastery of self. They seek the meaning of life through an ancient time tested system of study and experimentation which reveals the underlying principles of the universe.

Thus the Rosicrucian teachings allow individuals to direct their own lives, experience inner peace, and to leave their mark on humanity.

To do this then one must first KNOW ONESELF, to know who and what we are and what are our capabilities, how then can we do this, how can we find the answers to these questions and by what process. The answer is through thought, through meditation, contemplation, and application.

Therefore the following lessons are directed to give an introduction to the study of thought as it has developed itself within the confines of the practical psychology. The object of the work is to provide an introduction to the study of Thought, Concentration, mind, and Mental Discipline. We will cover over the period of lessons such things as;

 

Logical Thinking - Doubt - Mind Power

Unconscious Concentration

Metaphysical Alchemy-          

Mental Discipline – Habits, Will – Memory

Voluntary and Non Voluntary Attention

Thought Control - Faith and Doubt

Personal magnetism

 


Page 1

 

 

LESSON 1

 

Thought, our manner of thinking and self-control, or mental discipline are important factors in life's achievements. On these depend our power of concentration, and the mental equilibrium that must be maintained by those who wish to advance.

It lies within the earnest student to create a world of thought, wherein one may weather the calm fortitude of the storms of mental life, for disappointment and sorrow pass no one by, and suffering is the loom in which character is made.

Mind can be so powerful a defensive arm in the battle of Earthly existence, that in behalf of his interests and welfare, the student should learn to measure its force, understand its almost limitless power, and educate oneself to employ it judiciously.

The student must learn to appreciate at its true value this force, given to him that he may be able to meet and conquer, not only exterior difficulties, but even grater and more stubble enemies from within.

Thought is a product of the mind, a mental vibration, and therefore, a force which penetrates even into the physical body and worldly affairs of mankind.

It is thought that slowly and unerringly builds up or tears down the whole moral fabric of our being. Consciously or unconsciously it acts upon every one with whom you have near or remote contact.

If your thinking is inspired by high ideals, nourished by the practice of virtue and honesty, and is submissive to a will that sincerely directs it to its highest end, it will achieve moral, intellectual, and even material results of a positive character, as surely as sound seed, planted in good soil, will blossom and bear fruit following the natural lines of its growth.

Through the same certain process, do evil results follow upon evil and sordid lines of thought, and hence the employment of this faculty for unworthy ends in any circumstances is a disintegrating action, morally disastrous to the individual, even though the material or intellectual aim has been accomplished.

Thought is a creative force - a fact that every student must bear in mind. Every thought, be it good or evil, creates corresponding conditions.

There is, however, a species of mental activity, which is akin to the flapping of canvas in the ill trimmed sails of a vessel. It occupies some to the extent that they fancy that they are thinking, but in reality they are floating aimlessly on the tide. Unless thought be employed for specific accomplishment, and guided and controlled by the will, it follows the line of least resistance and spends itself in idle dreaming.


Page 2

 

 

This dissipation of a great force weakens our mental and moral, and even our physical, faculties. it is in no wises different from the atrophy that follows upon non~use of our muscles in the work for which they were designed.

If we can say that any faculty of the human compound is more important than the faculty of thought - that one must be the will. It is the Divine part of man. Our most elementary concept of a successful man or woman, is the concept of a compelling force - a great urging towards a result - and this is will, and which everyone of us possesses in a grater or less degree, this faculty is as an essential constituent of our individuality.

many believe because their thoughts are their own and unknown to others, they imagine they can harbour all sorts of unworthy sentiments and feelings so long as they do not actually allow these feelings to betray themselves in corresponding actions. They do not realise that every bad mental habit indulged in against precept of perfection, not only inclines them to the act, but it lowers the ideal, and weakens their moral nature and power of resistance.

 

Thoughts are as important, and even more so, than words. many are careful what they say, being fully alive to the disastrous or beneficent consequences of speech. It is equally important, therefore, to realise that, although stubble and invisible in their efforts, thoughts are more potent than words. Words can be empty, so feeble, while thought is always vital. We can say things we neither think or mean, and such words carry no weight, but we must think things to feel them.

 

Therefore, the results of wrong thinking are much more harmful to the individual than anything he can say. They also pass on to others, in that subtle emanation which we call moral atmosphere, as a strengthening or disturbing influence, sometimes vaguely felt, sometimes imperceptible, but at all times positively active.

 

The discipline of the mind is hard and painful work, but its conquest more than compensates for the mental stress and earnestness of its costs. Until mental control has restored order in the mind, the thoughts that one would deny entrance to, struggle, clamour, and batter on the door of the mind, while the thoughts of right reason urges one to entertain strain at the leash, seeking freedom to run where they will and give place to the discordant, idle brood, that claim their habitual abiding place.

 

The peculiar feature of this chaotic mental condition is that thought only becomes refractory when commanded. When free to sweep across the mind at will, and according to mood, its strength is not perceived. If your thoughts be gloomy, unkind or bitter, the natural result is depression and bad temper. Should this mood persist, these discordant thoughts dwell peacefully and unmolested in the mind. Here you have a vicious circle - indulgence in discordant thoughts producing the mood: indulgence in the mood keeping the mind filled with these weakening and depressing thoughts.

 


Page 3

 

 

Never loose sight of the fact that what you fear you attract. What you hope for and believe in you create; for mind is magnetic and attracts to itself whatever it frequently thinks about. It is fatal ever to parley with a thought one does not wish to entertain. Instantly it must be replaced by a concept, good and encouraging. Should the mind be filled with fear and dread -usually unfounded - of some impending danger, the picture should be reversed instantly, the mind forming an image of a happy successful issue to the situation. Even should the trend of your thinking be strongly and persistently in an evil vein, its seeming strength is fictitious, and yields before a resolute act of the will.

 

It is often necessary to entertain worrying, depressing and sad thoughts. Every situation must be looked at bravely and squarely if you are to know what strength and resource you must bring to bear upon it. You entertain such thought deliberately with the object of solving the problem, and such thinking is a deliberate act of the will. The introspection is normal and wholesome, and is accompanied by exterior activities directed to restoring happiness and peace of mind.

 

When sorrow comes, and death robs us of our loved ones, it is human and natural to grieve. Nature demands - within measure -the outward expression of grief which relives the burdened hart, else sorrow eats within, and undermines the whole being. But it is legitimate indulgence in grief, if instead of turning over in the minds the why and wherefore of our bereavement, or of dwelling upon the void in our lives, we strive manfully to fulfil the simple duties of our station in life, fixing the mind on the task at hand, the mental and moral strength acquired through keeping the thoughts where the mind and hands are working, would give courage to bravely bear afflictions until time lays its healing hand upon our wounds.

 

Each student can prove to his own satisfaction, that once having accomplished thought control, intellectual and moral qualities, and even material conditions, can be created by persistently holding the thought of that which one wishers to achieve.

 

By your manner of thinking you can entirely change your feelings in regard to others, and even help others to correct the faults that created your resentful attitude towards them.

 

As a student of Concentration and Mental Discipline, you must not forget that good is positive and evil is negative, and evil, being negative in its nature, should not be dwelt upon.

 


Page 4

 

 

 

TO correct grave faults of character or disposition, the mind must fix itself, not conspicuously uprooting these faults, but upon acquiring the opposite virtues. Should the thoughts of bitterness and resentment for an injury done occupy the mind, it is not always possible to forgive the person, simply because you believe it is Christian to do so. The mind inclines naturally to dwell upon the wrong done and the detestable character of the person who has done it. Each time these thoughts are indulged in, even though seemingly justifiable, in the eyes of the injured party, hatred of the guilty person increases, and you see him only in his relation to yourself; all else in his life is ignored, however praiseworthy it may be. Nothing can bring about a change of hart, save to resolutely dwell upon the one or more good qualities of that person, or the good actions he has done in his life.

 

At first the evil inherent in many people rebels at this lenient attitude of mind, for their own evil tendencies grow and strengthen in thoughts of ill will. A hard battle must now be fought, for your wrongs seem to fill up the whole horizon, and the poor sinner's one redeeming quality appears to be a trivial thing to consider. if these bitter and disturbing thoughts are instantly replaced by good thoughts each time they occur, be it one hundred times a day, one hundred times the moral nature has been strengthened, the mind disciplined: and when the battle seems to last beyond your strength to endure, suddenly all resentment disappears, giving place to feelings of pity and compassion towards your enemy.

 

 The mollification of your resentment at once relives the tension in your moral nature, peace abides within, and you are once more free: for in yielding to evil sentiments you become their slaves. Students of Psychology, can make it a habit to see only the good in people, by refusing to dwell upon their faults, however glaring they may be. If you are to accomplish this, it can be only by instantly turning the mind from the faults of your neighbour to the good qualities or virtues they may possess.

 

The man who labours to see only what is good in others, who remembers only the kind actions done to him, even though these kind actions may have been followed by much selfishness, neglect and ingratitude, is a man who eliminates from his life all mental friction. This must be so because good-will and indulgence towards the weaknesses of others, fill his hart to the exclusion of unkind feelings, and a consciousness of his own feelings, and a determination to correct them, arrests the tendency to criticise and condemn the faults of his neighbour.

 


Page 5

 

 

 

Our moral, intellectual, or material ideal must be chosen according to reason: that is, not attempting, save in the moral order, to accomplish results beyond our individual talents and capacities. we must nourish and strengthen the ideal by persistent thought of it, and persistent thought requires an act of the will, a combination which finds us in the harmonious employment of all our facilities towards a desired end. When this end or object is worthy and righteous, the powers of right are with the one who strives, and the efforts of men are fruitless to frustrate his work.

 

In whatever line, creation is sought along -- circumstances, health, mental virility, efficiency, or what not. Concentration, Faith, Belief, Realisation and Mental Discipline will be the factors that are indispensable. Everywhere in nature, Concentration and Crystallisation are necessary to the formation of matter in its various forms. It would be almost impossible for water to become ice, if it were kept in constant motion. If one could see the activities of the mind rushing and whirling about first in one direction and then another, they would gain some idea of the steadying affect of mental Discipline. Concentration is like the provision of a channel to a quantity of water which is running over here and there, in twenty different directions, wasting, having no effect, but the placing of a deep channel would attract all the water, and its force would be sufficient to drive a mill.

 

Personal power is the desire of most people, for without it little headway in any direction can be made. He who would possess it must concentrate on it, though to possess it, means that preparation for it should be made. No force is worth anything unless it is understood.

 

Let character come first in all self-development, and there is no better way of employing Concentration than by applying it to this end: by building day by day, a strong, evenly balanced character, all development afterwards will be sane. Whatever virtue a man would poses let him dwell on it in thought, meditating so to speak - not in the morbid seance, but - seeing and realising himself as already the possessor of it, as he indeed is in his innermost centre, and the longer he keeps this thought and belief before him the more indissolubly will it weave itself into his being until he is that virtue personified.

 


Page 6

 

 

 

Of the many facilities with which the human mind is possessed, not one has been less utilised and brought intelligently under mental discipline, and used to further and better one, s physical, mental and moral well being, than that of Concentration. Scarcely a thought is given to it by many, as it does not seem to merit any particular attention. People have got on very well without it, some say, so why bother about it? The question is on par with "What's the good of anything?" and would be put by the same kind of an individual.

 

There was not the same need for it in the past that exists today. Not that our ancestors were altogether idle, or had no brains, but that pressure was not so grate, that their avocation's were largely pastoral, and did not demand the focusing, and intelligent concentrating of the powers of the mind for long together.

 

warring with each other certainly demanded watchfulness, and resourcefulness, but impulse and a ready wit supplied it to a grate extent.

 

Times have changed since then, and man has become a much more mental creature, though from one standpoint, he has never been anything else, but the life he has led has been more bosomed in mentality. By the very character of his make up he has become more diverse in his talents; he has branched out in a thousand directions, as the unfolding life within, sought expression.

 

A knowledge of Scientific concentration, is the gateway to other powers of the mind, and should come almost first in the training of the mind, in the growth of the mentality, in brain getting or growing. It is inseparably connected with success, of whatever that success may consist.

Its need, in fact, is much greater today than ever before, not only on account of the grater complexity to which reference is made, but because evolution as a factor in life has modified and changed our nature and powers to some extent.

 

It is because man is a mental creature that he so widely diverge's from the animals. unlike them, he has a part of his nature which merely physical wants will not satisfy.

 

Man does not yet see in himself the highest expression of the Law, nor does he understand what the Law is. He obeys the law of his being, however, little dreaming the real causes and effects expressing themselves through him. It is clear to him that mind holds a dominating place in the world. He knows that it is the thinkers, the scientists, the philosophers, who stand at the head of the race, because they have developed the highest part of their nature. He recalls what a vast space separates the

a-moe-ba from him.

 


Page 7

 

 

 

That tiny creature, the first form of sentient life, minus the five senses, no limbs, no ears, no head, no eyes, no stomach even. No wonder it is a popular starting point, when comparing man from what he sprang from, to what he is today.

 

The animals do not know why they are here, what the object of evolution is, the purpose of life; many men are in the same position, but here and there, men have penetrated into the mysterious chasms and awe-inspiring laboratories of nature, which yields her secrets reluctantly to the seeker after knowledge.

 

Right along the ages, growth has been insistent, but unconscious, and man has reached a point now, where it should cease to be unconscious any longer. Why? Because the physical growth has now reached its climax. There is no particular in which the human form could be improved. All that is necessary for its perfect functioning has been provided. Some think that mans desire to fly will result in his obtaining wings, but man can swim and yet has not been given fins, and yes, levitation has been known for thousands of years, and can be accomplished by concentrating on the laws of gravity.

 

The human body is scarcely likely to change its shape. or that other physical organs will be graf ted on to it, but it is extremely probable that man will enlarge his conceptions of the kosmos, will demand to know why he is here, what his destiny is, how he may control it, how to enjoy a wider use of power. All this is natural, because, it is the nature of the mind to be unsatisfied with theories and explanations which are obviously not founded on truth. Truth, is really what man seeks,though he may not always be aware of it. The desire to know, is to know what is, and what is, can only be truth.

 

The desire for knowledge of "self", is apparent on every side, and it will no longer be satisfied with the old time answers to its questioning1S. He must know; authority no longer carries any force or weight, for it has often been found lacking in truth, and each man can only assimilate that portion of truth which he is able to make his own. To gain the knowledge, or even the lower knowledge, man must process the tool by means of which he can delve within himself for it, and what facility of the mind can so materially assist him, in either this work or the exploration of that vast territory of man's being - the Subconscious - than CONCENTRATION.

 


Page 8

 

 

 

Before the student can practice concentration, he must make up his mind that he is going to overhaul his manual stock in trade, gather the material together, before he sets it to work on some task.

 

Many may regard their brains as being overtaxed; however a very small portion of the brain is ever used. There is a greater fear of overtaxing the brain, and suffering a nervous breakdown, but none need overwork, provided he obtain ample sleep. A break in work is decidedly desirable, and those who work is purely sedentary, may obtain relaxation, even by taking up the study of another subject, because another portion of the brain will be employed thereby.

 

Mental discipline must be begun now, and to this, light, sensational reading, should be lessoned, almost to the point of extinction, because reading three lines on one subject is to commence a definite train of thought, which is broken the next minute, or often less than half a minute, by the intrusion of another subject. This diffuses or scatters the thought, and if those who are guilty of the habit only knew the amount of harm done their mental mechanism I am sure they would abandon it at once. The custom of seeking to extract the pith from everting, may be commendable in itself, but it works out with disasters effects to the average mind, just as efforts to subsist on essences and concentrated foods in tabloid form do with regard to the body.

 

By Mental Discipline, is meant the assertion of the "I" over the mind, which may strike some as odd, because they have generally associated themselves with their mind. They unthinkingly say 'my mind". showing that the mind is not themselves, but something possessed, by the real man, and that is really the fact.

 

 

Some people know from experience - often painful - that they do things at times that they really do not wish to do, possibly partaking of something which has up to now acted injuriously to them, or followed some course that they do not approve, yet felt, through their lack of mental discipline that they had to follow. Begin to regard this mind, then, as something amenable to the will, to the true self, and being amenable, it must of necessity be lower. Being lower it is the servant, and not the master as it really seems to be, to most people. There is in reality not the slightest excuse for your shortcomings, your little weaknesses, though you like to think there is, because it seems to exculpate you, and make you grater than you are. In truth, it only lowers you, weakens you, makes you less capable of bringing out the powers and principles within you, and the object here is to strengthen and to evolve.

 


Page 9

 

 

 

It will be well to remind yourself daily that you are not your mind, that you are something infinitely far higher, and that in proportion, as you recognise this truth, you shall be able to subjugate the mind, and learn to concentrate, because if you are obsessed with the idea that you are at the mercy of your own mind, you will accomplish nothing.

 

Anyone can control his mind it he wished, but, because one man has not contacted his higher self, he denies the existence of it, and refutes it.

 

I grant the idea may seem strange; there may be more evidence to support the popular theory that a man is his mind, or that he is 11 mind, body, and spirit", which is a half truth. The fact is, many are all so strongly under the domination of the everyday mind, that the illusion seems quite natural, and mankind is all pretty much alike. It has taken some people twenty years to realise it, but they would have done so eventually, and possibly some people have been even longer than this.

 

POINTS TO PONDER

 

 

WE MUST LEARN THE FORCE OF CONCENTRATION

 

AT ALL TIMES THINK OF GOOD THINGS NOT NEGATIVE

 

THOUGHTS ARE MORE POTENT THAN WORDS

 

LOOK FOR THE GOOD IN OTHERS NOT THE BAD

 

MENTAL DISCIPLINE MUST BE ADHERED TO DAILY

 

YOU MUST CONTROL YOUR THINKING AT ALL TIMES

 

 


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