This work of pushing attention inwards, back to its very source, and the sense of "I-ness" back with it, is to be accompanied by thinking only until the latter can be stopped or itself stops. This work is then continued by a stilled and steady search. When the need of search comes to an end, the searcher vanishes, the "I" becomes pure "Being," has found its source. In these daily or nightly sessions, it is his work to turn away from the diffused attention which is his normal condition to the concentrated attention which is indispensable for progress, and to sustain it.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#5943 – 4.4.3.102

BN – X – K1

The state of concentration acquired during a worldly pursuit differs from that acquired during mystical meditation in that the first is usually directed toward outward things and the experience of sense-pleasures, whereas the second is directed toward inward being and rejects sense-pleasures. Thus the two states are at opposite poles—one belonging to the ego-seeking man, and the other to the Overself-seeking man.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#5959 – 4.4.3.118

BN – X – K1

This power to sustain concentrated attention upon a single line or objective for a long time—a power so greatly admired by Napoleon—comes in the end to those who persevere in these practices.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#5967 – 4.4.3.126

BN – X – D

How can a man unify his consciousness with the Overself without first putting his mind under some sort of a training to strengthen it, so that he will not let go but will be able to hold on when a Glimpse comes?

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#5989 – 4.4.3.148

BN – X – D

The secret of concentration is … practise concentration! Only by arduous effort and persistent, diligent endeavours to master his attention will he finally succeed in doing so. No effort in this direction is wasted and it may be done at any time of the day.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6001 – 4.4.3.160

BN – X – D

The aim is to sit there totally absorbed in his thought or, at a more advanced level, rigidly concentrated in his lack of it.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6009 – 4.4.3.168

BN – X – D

Attention must not waver, thought must not wander. This is the Ideal, of course, and is not approached, let alone reached, until after long practice.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6019 – 4.4.3.178

UR_2.3 – ZZ – K

To achieve this kind of concentration where attention is withdrawn from the outer world and held tightly in itself, a determined attitude is needed of not stopping until this sharply pointed state is reached. All other thoughts are rejected in the very moment that they arise. If at the start there is aspiration and devotion toward the Overself, and in the course of the effort too, then eventually the stress falls away and the Stillness replaces it.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6029 – 4.4.3.188

BN – X – D

When concentration attains its effective state, the ever-tossing mental waves subside and the emotional perturbations become still. This is the psychological moment when the mystic naturally feels exaltation, peace, and super-earthliness. But it is also the psychological moment when, if he is wise, he should turn away from revelling in personal satisfaction at this achievement and, penetrating yet deeper, strive to understand the inner character of the source whence these feelings arise, strive to understand pure Mind.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6032 – 4.4.3.191

BN – X – K1

It would be a serious error to believe that he is to continue with any particular exercise or chosen theme, with any special declaration or analysis or question, no matter what happens in the course of a session. On the contrary; if at any moment he feels the onset of deeper feelings, or stronger aspirations, or notable peace, he ought to stop the exercise or abandon the method and give himself up entirely to the interior visitant. He ought to have no hesitation and no fear in considering himself free to do so.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6036 – 4.4.3.195

BN – X – K1

The more he internalizes his attention, and the less he responds to the sense-impressions, the nearer he draws to the spiritual presence in his heart.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Practise concentrated attention

#6048 – 4.4.3.207

BN – X – D

None of the elementary methods of yoga such as breath control and mantram lead to a permanent control of the mind, but they prepare the way and make it easier to take up those practices which do lead to such a result.

Elementary Meditation > Fundamentals > Varieties of practice

#6062 – 4.4.3.221

BN – X – DK1

It is not merely an intellectual exercise. All the piety and reverence and worship gained from religion are needed here too. We must pray constantly to the Soul to reveal itself.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6106 – 4.4.4.5

BN – X – D

When thinking has done its best work, reached its loftiest point, it should relax and cease its activity. If all else has prepared the way, the mind will be ready to enter the silence, to accept a take-over by the Overself.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6107 – 4.4.4.6

BN – X – DK

This habit of persistent daily reflection on the great verities, of thinking about the nature or attributes of the Overself, is a very rewarding one. From being mere intellectual ideas, they begin to take on warmth, life, and power.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6118 – 4.4.4.17

BN – X – DK1

The Overself takes his thoughts about it, limited and remote though they are, and guides them closer and closer to its own high level. Such illumined thinking is not the same as ordinary thinking. Its qualitative height and mystical depth are immensely superior. But when his thoughts can go no farther, the Overself's Grace touches and silences them. In that moment he knows.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6119 – 4.4.4.18

BN – X – DK1

The books which live are those written out of this deep union with the true self by men who had overcome the false self. One such book is worth a thousand written out of the intellect alone or the false ego alone. It will do more good to more people for more years. The student may use such a work, therefore, as a basis for a meditation exercise. Its statements, its ideas, should be taken one by one, put into focus for his mind to work on.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6120 – 4.4.4.19

BN – Z – D

The thought of the Overself may easily open the gate which enters into its awareness.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6129 – 4.4.4.28

BN – X – D

Thoughts may be a hindrance to meditation merely by their presence or, if of the proper kind, a help to it. And the only proper kind is that which leads them to look toward the consciousness which transcends them.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6132 – 4.4.4.31

BN – X – D

You will begin by asking yourself "Who am I?" and, when you comprehend that the lower nature cannot be the real you, go on to asking the further question: "What am I?" By such frequent self-studies and self-discriminations, you will come closer and closer to the truth.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6137E – 4.4.4.36

BA12 – ZZ – DEK

In one sense all attempts to meditate on spiritual themes are attempts to awaken intuition. For they achieve success only when the activity of the thinking intellect is stilled and the consciousness enters into that deep silence wherefrom the voice of intuition itself issues forth.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6139 – 4.4.4.38

BN – X – D

Every time a thought rears its head, evaluate it for what it is and then push it aside. Every time an emotion rushes up, recognize it, too, for what it is and detach yourself from it. This is the path of Self-Enquiry, for as you do these things hold the will directed towards finding the centre of your being. Do them with dogged persistence. Do them in your consciousness and in your feeling.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6151 – 4.4.4.50

BN – ZZ – DEK

Some imaginative minds can make profitable use of the vastness of the ocean or the immensity of space as topics on which to meditate in the advanced stages.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6152 – 4.4.4.51

BN – X – D

The kind of meditation in which the meditator ponders persistently what his source is, what the I really is, has the eventual effect of de-hypnotizing him from these false and limiting identifications with the body, the desires, and the intellect.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6157 – 4.4.4.56

BN – X – D

The more he practises at such times a thinking that is sense-free and beyond the physical — that is, metaphysical in the truest sense — the better will he be prepared to receive the intuitive influx from the Overself.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6159 – 4.4.4.58

BN – X – D

Concentration keeps the mind implanted on a particular thought, or line of thought, by keeping off the other ones. Meditation removes the single thought and keeps the mind quiet. This is an excellent state, but not enough for those who seek the Real. It must be complemented by knowledge of what is and is not the Real.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6163 – 4.4.4.62

BN – X – D

After he has entered on the Short Path, fit themes for his meditation will be those which turn him away from the personal ego. He can meditate on the glorious attributes of God, or on the essential perfection of the cosmos, or on the utter serenity of his Overself, for instance.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6166 – 4.4.4.65

BN – X – D

The more we use our thoughts to get the deep understanding of ourselves, of God, and the world, and the more we still the thoughts to get them out of the way when the divine is ready to speak to us, the more successful will our search become, and the more will we awaken from the dream of an unreal materiality.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6168 – 4.4.4.67

BN – X – D

The names of God traditionally used in the Orient, such as the Compassionate, the Guide, the Answerer of Prayer, the Pardoner, the Patient, are helpful as objects of prayer or subjects of meditation.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6171 – 4.4.4.70

BSG_4 – X – DK

Another excellent and always useful theme for meditation is to read a few sentences from an inspired book and then let your thought dwell upon what you have read.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6178 – 4.4.4.77

BN – ZZZ – DK

When he is so sunk in abstraction that he does not notice even the presence of another person, his meditation has gone as deep as it ought to.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6186 – 4.4.4.85

BN – X – D

We need to meditate more often on these reminding statements of the sages, to become more concerned with our higher interests.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6200 – 4.4.4.99

BN – ZZZ – D

Meditation is not achieved if the concentrated mind is directed toward a subject of personal and worldly nature. Reflecting on the subject will give a deeper knowledge of it and a fuller perception of its meaning, but it will not give anything more. However concentrated the mind may become, it will not escape from the ego, nor does it seek to do so. Meditation is achieved if the concentrated mind is used to reflect on the Overself or the way to it.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > The path of inspired intellect

#6203 – 4.4.4.102

BA11 – P – D

He should from time to time pass in analytic review the important events, the experiences, and the attitudes of his past. It is not the good but the evil emotions and deeds, their origins and consequences, that he should particularly attend to, mentally picture, and examine from the perspective of his higher self. But unless this is done with perfect honesty in an impersonal unconcerned detached and self-critical spirit, unless it is approached with a self-imposed austerity of emotion, it will not yield the desired results. It is not enough to mourn over his errors. He should carefully learn whatever lessons they teach.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6210 – 4.4.4.109

BN – X – D

He should develop the sense of self-criticism to a high and even painful degree. He cannot any longer afford to protect his ego, as he did in the past, or to seek excuses for its sorry frailties and foolishnesses.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6222 – 4.4.4.121

BA12 – P – D

He will need to develop the ability to stand back periodically from the personal self and survey its life, fortunes, character, and doings quite impartially. During this exercise, he should adopt the attitude of a disinterested spectator seeking to know the truth about it. Hence, he should study it calmly and not take sides with it emotionally.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6224 – 4.4.4.123

UR_2.4 – ZZ – DK

It may be easy to get the worldly, the practical message of particular experiences, but it is not so easy to get the higher, the spiritual message they contain. This is because we habitually look at them from the ego's standpoint, especially when personal feelings are strongly involved. Truth calls for a transfer of the inner centre of gravity.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6232 – 4.4.4.131

B_08 – P – DEK1

For some it is a useful practice to write out a self-arraignment, listing the most glaring faults first and the most hidden ones later. This helps them to keep constantly aware of what they have to avoid. It calls to them quietly but insistently.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6235 – 4.4.4.134

BN – Z – DK

To observe himself correctly, a man must do so impartially, coolly, dispassionately, and not leniently, conceitedly, excitedly. He must also do it justly, with the whole of his being and not psychopathically, with only a single part of it.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6236 – 4.4.4.135

BN – X – DEK

He must constantly examine his actions and observe his feelings. But he is to do so impartially, critically, and by the standards of the ideal for which he is striving.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6241 – 4.4.4.140

BN – Z – D

To unwrap his inner self of thoughts, emotions, desires, motives, and passions; to decide what is worth keeping and what needs cutting out in it, this is his first task.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6243 – 4.4.4.142

BN – X – D

He should keep on probing into his weaknesses and thinking about them constructively, their causes and consequences. The improvement of character and the elevation of moral condition are the foundation of all spiritual work.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6244 – 4.4.4.143

BN – Z – DEK

He notes his characteristics as if they were outside him, belonging to another man and not inside him. He studies his weaknesses to understand them thoroughly. They do not dismay him for he also recognizes his strengths.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6247 – 4.4.4.146

BN – X – D

The hour for retirement at night should also be the hour for recalling the day's happenings, deeds, and talks in memory, at the same time making an appraisal of their character from the higher point of view. But when the exercise has come to an end, the aspirant should deliberately turn his mind utterly away from all worldly experience, all personal matters, and let the hushed silence of pure devotional worship fall upon him.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6251 – 4.4.4.150

BN – X – D

He should try to put himself into the future and look back on this present period.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6259 – 4.4.4.158

BN – X – D

He must search himself for the real motives behind his conduct, which are not always the same as those he announces to other persons or even to himself.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6267 – 4.4.4.166

BA12 – P – D

Philosophy does not encourage a morbid dwelling over past sins, lost opportunities, or errors committed. That merely wastes time and saps power. The analysis finished, the lesson learned, the amendment made, what is left over must be left behind. Why burden memory and darken conscience with the irreparable if no good can be done by it?

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6277 – 4.4.4.176

BN – X – D

He has to stand aside from himself and observe the chief events of his life with philosophic detachment. Some of them may fill him with emotions of regret or shame, others with pride and satisfaction, but all should be considered with the least possible egoism and the greatest possible impartiality. In this way experience is converted into wisdom and faults are extracted from character.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Self-examination exercises

#6290 – 4.4.4.189

BN – X – D

The labour on himself does not mean a moral labour only: although that will be included, it is only preparatory. It means also, and much more, giving attention to his attention, noting where his thoughts are going, training them to come back into himself and thus, at the end, to come to rest at their source—undisturbed Consciousness.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Moral self-betterment exercises

#6307 – 4.4.4.206

BN – X – D

He who develops along these lines through the creative power of meditation, will eventually find that his instinct will spontaneously reject the promptings of his lower self and immediately accept the intuitions of his higher self.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Moral self-betterment exercises

#6311 – 4.4.4.210

BN – X – D

Meditation should be begun with a short, silent prayer to the Overself, humbly beseeching guidance and Grace. This may be done either by kneeling in the Western fashion or by sitting in the Oriental fashion. After offering his prayer, the aspirant should sit down in the position he customarily uses in meditation, close his eyes, and try to forget everything else. He may then form a mental picture of his own face and shoulders, as though he were looking at himself from an impersonal point of view. He should think of the person in the picture as a stranger. Let him first consider the other's faults and weaknesses, but, later, as a changed person, endowed with ideal qualities, such as calmness, aspiration, self-mastery, spirituality, and wisdom. In this way, he will open a door for the Higher Self to make its messages known to him in the form of intuitions. He should be prepared to devote years to intense efforts in self-examination and self-improvement. This is the foundation for the later work. Once the character has been ennobled, the way to receiving guidance and Grace will be unobstructed.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Moral self-betterment exercises

#6320 – 4.4.4.219

BN – X – DEK

Creative Meditation Exercise: He may think of probable meetings during the next day, if he is practising at night, or of the coming day if at morn, of events that are likely to happen then, and of places where he may have to go. Alongside of that he may imagine how he ought to conduct himself, how to think and talk under those circumstances. And always, if the exercise is to prove its worth, he should take the standpoint of his better, nobler, wiser self, of the Overself.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Moral self-betterment exercises

#6330 – 4.4.4.229

BN – X – D

Right reflection about past experiences, together with determination to take himself in hand, will lead the student to a more worthwhile future and smooth the path ahead.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Moral self-betterment exercises

#6342 – 4.4.4.241

BN – X – D

The value of taking this kind of a backward look at the day just finished is far more than it seems. For everything in him will benefit—his character, his destiny, and even his after-death experience.

Elementary Meditation > Meditative Thinking > Moral self-betterment exercises

#6344 – 4.4.4.243

BN – X – D

As a support for the beginning period of practice itself, as a means to fix attention, a particular physical object or sound may be chosen. He may gaze at a chink of light shining in a dark room or listen to the pendulum-swing of a metronome. Whatever is thus isolated from the outer world for concentration, is used merely as a jumping off platform from which to enter the inner world.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6353 – 4.4.5.6

BN – X – DK*

Imagine and believe that the Master is here in your room, sitting in his accustomed chair or position. Then behave and meditate as you would do if in his presence.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6364 – 4.4.5.17

BN – X – D

Imagine a brilliant white light shining forth in the heart and spreading into the entire body.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6366 – 4.4.5.19

BN – X – D

Exercises: Visualize a lovely quiet landscape scene, either from memory or pictures, and think of yourself being there. Feel its peacefulness. Visualize the face of some inspiring person; feel you're in his presence.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6370 – 4.4.5.23

BN – X – D

When the mental form on which he is meditating vanishes of its own accord and the mind suddenly becomes completely still, vacant, and perfectly poised, the soul is about to reveal itself. For the psychological conditions requisite to such a revelation have then been provided.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6372 – 4.4.5.25

BN – X – D

It is easier for almost all people to think pictorially rather than abstractly, to form mental images rather than mental conceptions. Although the more difficult feat is also the superior one, this fact can be utilized to promote meditational progress. The mental picture of a dead saint whom the aspirant feels particularly drawn to or of a living guide whom he particularly reveres, makes an excellent object upon which to focus his concentration.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6373 – 4.4.5.26

BN – X – D

Withdraw attention from everything outside and imagine a radiant, shining Presence within the heart. Visualize it as a pure golden sunny light. Think of it as being pure Spirit.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Visualizations

#6376 – 4.4.5.29

BN – X – D

The Spiritual Symbols are given to pupils who are highly intellectual, professional, or active-minded as a means of (1) allaying mental restlessness; and (2) constructively working on the inner bodies, since these forms are in correspondence with the actual construction of (a) an atom, and (b) the universe.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Symbols

#6397 – 4.4.5.50

BN – X – K1

The spiritual emblem combining a circle and some other form stands for reconciliation of the Overself and the ego, for integration of man’s higher and lower nature.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Symbols

#6403 – 4.4.5.56

BN – X – D

The Rising Sun was originally a symbol of the Overself in relation to man's conscious development.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Symbols

#6416 – 4.4.5.69

BN – X – DK

The thought-form whose reverence helps him to keep concentrated, the mental image whose worship holds his attention quite absorbed, justifies a place for itself in the meditator's method. Only at an advanced hour may he rightly put them aside. But when that hour arrives, he should not hesitate to do so. The devotional type of meditation, if unaccompanied by higher metaphysical reflection, will not yield results of a lasting character although it will yield emotional gratification of an intense character. Overself is only an object of meditation so long as he knows it only as something apart from himself. That is good but not good enough. For he is worshipping a graven image, not the sublime reality. He has to rise still higher and reach it, not as a separate "other," but as his very self.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Symbols

#6420 – 4.4.5.73

BN – Z – DEK

The portrayal of Gautama as a seated meditating figure symbolizes his basic message. This was really, and quite simply, “Be still—empty yourself—let out the thoughts, the desires, and the ego which prevent this inner stillness.”

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Symbols

#6424 – 4.4.5.77

BN – X – D

The yoga of self-identification with an adept is the most effective method and brings the quickest results because it quickly elicits his grace. After all, it is the result that counts. The fact is that inspiration does come with the mere thought of him. This yoga-path involves two techniques; first, formal meditation at fixed periods, focused on the master's mental picture and presence and, second, informal remembrance of the master as frequently as possible at any and all times of the day. In both techniques, you are to offer your body to him just as a spiritist medium offers his own to a disincarnate spirit. You are to invite and let him take possession of your mind and body. First, you feel his presence. Then you feel that he takes possession of your body and mind. Next, you feel that you are he (no duality). Finally, he vanishes from consciousness and another being announces itself as your divine soul. This is the goal. You have found your higher self.

Elementary Meditation > Visualizations, Symbols > Guru Yoga

#6459 – 4.4.5.112

BN – X – DEM

The practice of mantram yoga is well known throughout India as a method of suppressing the wandering tendencies of the mind. A mantram, usually given by a guru or adapted by oneself from a book, is a word or a phrase or even a whole sentence which the practitioner chants to himself or whispers or even mentally utters again and again. Some Sanskrit mantrams are quite meaningless sounds, whereas others are full of metaphysical or religious meaning. Which one is used does not matter from the point of view of acquiring concentration, but it does matter from the point of view of developing any particular quality of character or devotional homage which the mantram symbolizes. This mental or vocal repetition is to be done periodically and faithfully.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6472 – 4.4.6.1

BN – X – DEK1

Practising mantram consists of repeating a selected word over and over, soaking oneself in it. There are three stages: (a) chanting the word out loud; (b) whispering it; (c) repeating it mentally. Then, when repetition ceases, all thoughts cease. Through this constant concentration, the mantram becomes a backdrop to one's daily life. Just as one can hum a tune while attending to other affairs, so the mantram becomes an ever present accompaniment. When one turns full attention onto it and concentrates fully upon it and then stops—all thoughts stop. This is the purpose of the mantram. This result may take weeks or months.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6476 – 4.4.6.5

BN – X – DM1

The repeated invocation of a sacred name, with trust in its saving power, eventually keeps away all other thoughts and thus focuses the mind in a kind of constant meditation. In the earlier stages it is the man himself who labours at this repetition, but in the advanced stages it is the Overself's grace which actuates it—his own part being quite passive and mechanical.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6480 – 4.4.6.9

BN – X – D

A further value of mantram yoga is that it keeps the practiser from thinking about himself. The two things—a specific mantram and a personal matter—cannot coexist in his consciousness.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6488 – 4.4.6.17

BN – X – D

The first revelation of the divine world is sound. Before beholding it, one hears it with an inner ear. The name of God has not only the power of easily washing away all sin, but can even untie the knot of the heart and waken love of God. To be severed from God is the only real sin.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6492 – 4.4.6.21

BN – X – DEK1

A mantram becomes most worthwhile when it is heard deep deep down in the practiser's being. It will then produce the effect of profound inner absorption.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6493 – 4.4.6.22

BN – X – K1

OM means "I am part of (or one with) the World-Soul".

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6495 – 4.4.6.24

BA11 – P – D

The continual practice of the mantram leads in time to the awakening of his spiritual forces. They rise up spontaneously from their deeply hidden source within him and begin to saturate his mind and overwhelm his ego.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6504 – 4.4.6.33

BN – X – D

When the incantatory words of a mantra by constant practice become fully activated, the mantra becomes fully automatic and circles round and round inside the head or the heart just like a revolving wheel. At this deep stage, he is not concerned with its translated or verbal meaning but only with the kind of consciousness it produces. For now it is not a matter of what he is doing but of what is being done to him. The mantra has brought him into a region of released forces which are very active in him.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6514 – 4.4.6.43

BN – X – D

The Arabic word for God—Allah—or the Aramaic (Jesus' spoken language) word—Alaha—form excellent mantric material.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6530 – 4.4.6.59

BN – X – D

A time comes when there is no need to try to practise the exercise, for the mantram wells up of its own accord. It then repeats itself automatically and silently in his mind alone. Over and over again, like the chorus of a song, it comes to the front or remains at the back of attention.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6535 – 4.4.6.64

BN – X – DEK

It is useful to follow out the mantram system of meditation when the ordinary systems, involving set exercises and formal periods, have been tried and found profitless.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Mantrams

#6557 – 4.4.6.86

BN – X – D

These divide themselves naturally into two main groups: those belonging to the Long Path and those to the Short Path. Of the first kind, there is Cove's famous suggestion: "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better." Of the second kind there is Jesus' figurative statement: "I and my Father are one."

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6572 – 4.4.6.101

BSG_4 – P – D

There is one human activity which is continuous, rhythmic, natural, easy, and pleasant. It is breathing. We may take advantage of its existence by combining it with a simple exercise to bring about a kind of meditation which will possess all these four mentioned attributes. The exercise is merely to repeat one word silently on the inhalation and another word on the exhalation. The two words must be such that they join together to make a suitable spiritual phrase or name. Here is one useful example: “God Is.”

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6576 – 4.4.6.105

BN – X – D

The Buddha taught his monks to enter daily into the following meditation: “As a mother even at the risk of her own life protects her only son, so let a man cultivate goodwill without measure among all beings. Let him suffuse the whole world with thoughts of love, unmixed with any sense of difference or opposed interests.”

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6578 – 4.4.6.107

BN – X – D

The effectiveness of a Declaration depends also upon its being repeated with a whole mind and an undivided heart, with confidence in its power and sincere desire to rise up.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6582D – 4.4.6.111

BN – X – K

What is newer than a new dawning day? What a chance it offers for the renewing of life too! And how better to do this than to take a positive affirmative Declaration like, I Am Infinite Peace! as the first morning thought, and to hold it, and hold on to it, for those first few minutes which set the day's keynote? Then, whatever matters there will be to attend, or pressing weighty duties to be fulfilled, we shall carry our peace into the midst of them.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6584 – 4.4.6.113

BA12 – ZZ – DK1

The use of short statements, often strangely worded, made by a master to a disciple as a means of getting the flash of enlightenment flourished in China during the Tang dynasty. It was taken up later by the Japanese, among whom the method's original name "kong-an" changed slightly to "ko-an." Despite extravagant claims made for it, the successful practiser got a glimpse only, not a permanent and full result. It is not the same as, and not to be confused with, the method of meditating upon affirmations, pithy condensed truth-statements (called Mahavakyas in India) since these openly possess a meaning whereas koans are often illogical and always puzzling.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6586 – 4.4.6.115

BN – ZZZ – K1

He is to remind himself constantly of the greater truths, whether he is at home in his room or abroad in the public places. Be still and know that I am infinite power is one such truth. Be still and know that I am infinite joy is another.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6621 – 4.4.6.150

BN – X – D

"I will try to show forth in my personal life, thought, and feeling the perfect harmony which already belongs to the impersonal Overself within me."

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6625 – 4.4.6.154

UR_3.2 – ZZ – K

To the degree that a man practises constructive thinking and harmonious feeling, to that degree will he help to draw progressive events and helpful chances to himself.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6646 – 4.4.6.175

BN – X – D

When his last thought at night and first thought in the morning refers to the Overself, he may appraise his progress as excellent.

Elementary Meditation > Mantrams, Affirmations > Affirmations

#6702 – 4.4.6.231

BN – ZZ – DK1

Keep on remembering to observe yourself, to watch yourself, to become aware of what you are thinking, feeling, saying, or doing. This is one of the most valuable exercises of the Quest.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6704 – 4.4.7.2

BN – X – DK*

In the end, he will make no separation between everyday ordinary routine and the period of meditation—for the whole of his life will become one continuous meditation. His actions will then take place within its atmosphere. But in the beginning he must make this separation.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6708 – 4.4.7.6

BN – ZZZ – DK

As you go about your daily work in your ordinary life and in relations with other people, in hours of toil or pleasure, or indeed at any period of your life, remember the Overself.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6709 – 4.4.7.7

BN – X – D

He can use books as a preliminary guide to working on himself. The study and observation of his conduct, the analysis of his past and present experiences in the light of his highest aspirations, the attempt to be impartially aware of himself in various situations, will open the way to more direct guidance through intuitions from his higher self.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6717 – 4.4.7.15

BN – Z – D

Even while he is acting in a situation, he trains himself to observe it.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6719 – 4.4.7.17

BN – Z – DK

The intenser the longing for enlightenment, the easier it is to practise recollection.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6722 – 4.4.7.20

BN – X – D

The higher purpose of meditation is missed if it does not end in the peace, the stillness, that emanates from the real self. However slightly it may be felt, this is the essential work which meditation must do for us.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6724 – 4.4.7.22

BN – X – D

The cultivation of a tranquil temperament promotes the practice of mental quiet. The cultivation of mental quiet promotes the attainment of the Overself’s peace.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6725 – 4.4.7.23

BN – X – D

It is partly because the Overself waits for us in silence that we have to approach it in silence too.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6728 – 4.4.7.26

BN – X – D

God will not enter into your heart until it is empty and still.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6738 – 4.4.7.36

BN – X – D

It is not easy for a man to believe that a greater wisdom may be received by his mind if he keeps it still than if he stirs it into activity.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6740 – 4.4.7.38

BA11 – P – D

When the brain is too active, its energies obstruct the gentle influx of intuitive feeling. When they are extroverted, they obstruct that listening attitude which is needed to hear the Overself's gentle voice speak to the inner silence. Mental quiet must be the goal. We must develop a new kind of hearing.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6742 – 4.4.7.40

BN – X – D

Meditation may begin as a dialogue between the meditator and his imagined higher self; it may pass beyond that into a real dialogue with his Overself. But if he is to go farther all dialogue must cease, all attempt to communicate must end in the Stillness.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6745 – 4.4.7.43

BN – X – D

Because thinking is an activity within time, it cannot lead to the Timeless. For this attainment, mental quiet is necessary.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6754 – 4.4.7.52

BN – X – D

As the mind's movement ebbs away and its turnings slow down, the ego's desires for, and attempt to hold on to, its world drop away. What ensues is a real mental quiet. The man discovers himself, his Overself.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6760 – 4.4.7.58

BN – X – D

A mind filled with thoughts about things, persons, and events, with desires, passions, and moods, with worries, fears, and disturbances, is in no fit condition to make contact with that which transcends them all. It must first be quietened and emptied.

Elementary Meditation > Mindfulness, Mental Quiet > Mindfulness

#6766 – 4.4.7.64

BN – X – D

In the human body there is at one and the same time a projection of the Overself and a channel for it. The wisdom and intelligence which have gone into and are hidden behind the whole universe have gone into the human body too. To ignore it, as some mystics try to do—and vainly—or to deny its existence, as others even more foolishly do, is to ignore God and deny the soul. The student of philosophy cannot do that. His outlook must be an integral one, must take in what is the very basis of his earthly existence, must be a balanced one.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6772 – 4.5.0.1

BN – Z – DEK

The physical body is neither an enemy to be harshly treated nor an encumbrance to be sadly denounced. When through the Quest's disciplines man establishes proper control of it, he will no longer regard it as an enemy of his spiritual aspirations, the paralysing weight on his spiritual being.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

B_08 – P – DE

On this plane, the body is indeed the only medium of our existence and is not to be disconnected from our higher aspirations. A complete and competent spiritual instruction ought not to be so foolish as to neglect or overlook the physical frame of the disciple being instructed but should see it with its several organs and higher senses as it truly is; that is, as an expression of Infinite Intelligence through which one can gather the experience needed to become fully aware of his relation to that Intelligence.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

B_08 – P – DE

On this plane, the body is indeed the only medium of our existence and is not to be disconnected from our higher aspirations. A complete and competent spiritual instruction ought not to be so foolish as to neglect or overlook the physical frame of the disciple being instructed but should see it with its several organs and higher senses as it truly is; that is, as an expression of Infinite Intelligence through which one can gather the experience needed to become fully aware of his relation to that Intelligence. There is another and usually much less considered point of view to this matter: the body contains countless little lives which look to us as their protector and leader and guide, which need and should get from us kindly attention.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

ME_01 – P – DE

At the present stage of human existence, there is no other way to durable spiritual development than through physical embodiments. The total sum of its varied experiences offer us the chance at first to learn and thus to progress, and later to overcome ourselves and thus to attain spiritual awareness.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

BA11 – P – DE

It is a curious paradox which few of his commentators seem to have noted that although Jesus declared his Kingdom was not of this world he put so much time and effort into healing sickness and disease which are very much of this world. It is difficult to resolve this contradiction. If Jesus despised the body as he is often supposed to have done, why then did he trouble to heal it?

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

B_12 – P – DE

This cleansing of the body, the emotions, and the mind is an indispensable preparatory stage of the Quest. For the advanced techniques, it is a necessary means of clearing the way for the influx of spiritual forces during meditation. Meditation which is not accompanied by purification leads easily to pseudo-intuitions. The aspirant may follow at one and the same time the paths of purification and meditation, or he may place them in their logical order and attend to them consecutively. There is much to be said for both choices, although tradition has usually said that purification should precede meditation.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

ME_01 – P – DE

Jesus's statement, "I and My Father are one", meaning that there is only One Infinite and Eternal Reality, Life, Power, and Mind, that This alone is all there really is, and that there are not even two Powers—Reality and illusion—for Reality exists alone as unsullied, undivided, and unpersonalized Consciousness. From that exalted height, all these physical regimes and purificatory austerities assume an insignificant importance and the intuitive feeling and rational understanding of Consciousness, Reality, and Self an immense one.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

B_11 – P – DE

Jesus' statement, "I and My Father are One," meaning that there is only One Infinite and Eternal Reality, Life, Power, and Mind, that This alone is all there really, and that there are not even two Powers―Reality and illusion―for Reality exists alone as unsullied, undivided, and unpersonalized Consciousness.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

BSG_4 – P – DE

A course of spiritual development which corrects the bad habits of the mind and purifies the feelings of the heart but shows no interest in the habits and conditions of the physical body is based on a one-sided concept of humanity. It is unbalanced. How can it yield any other than an unbalanced and incomplete result? Whether the body is ignored or considered, life must still be lived in its entirety by all human beings. This includes spiritually seeking human beings, and their bodies are still with them whatever they do or fail to do.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

ME_01 – P – DE

At the present stage of human existence, there is no other way to durable spiritual development than through physical embodiments. The total sum of its varied experiences offer us the chance at first to learn and thus to progress, and later to overcome ourselves and thus to attain spiritual awareness.

The Body > Prefatory > Prefatory

#6773E – 4.5.1.1

B_01 – ZZZ – DEK3

The body is not to be despised with the ascetic nor neglected with the mystic. It is to be understood and rightly used. It is to be cared for as one of the instruments whose total contribution will enable us to fulfil the spiritual purpose of life on earth.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6775 – 4.5.2.2

BA11 – P – D

We need the body—all of us, not materialists nor ordinary persons only—therefore we must respect it. It is with the ears that we listen to Beethoven: that is, with the body. It is with the eyes that we read beautiful poetry: again with the body. Let us not decry the body.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6780 – 4.5.2.7

BSG_4 – P – D

If enlightenment is to be full, and completely balanced, it must not only occur in the thinking intellect and emotional feeling; it must also occur in the acting physical body.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6781 – 4.5.2.8

BN – X – D

Most students know that the preparatory work includes purifying the heart of base feelings and clearing the mind of negative thoughts—arduous but necessary work. Few students know that it also includes cleansing the body of toxic matter.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6792 – 4.5.2.19

BN – X – D

This thing, this fleshly body, which ascetics have hated and saints have despised, is a holy temple. The divine Life-force is always latently present in it and, aroused, can sweep through every cell making it sacred.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6801 – 4.5.2.28

BN – X – D

The mystic who recognizes the never-ceasing wonder and divine worth of his body, who accepts it as the stage on and through which he has to fulfill himself and realize his ideal, is not degrading that ideal or falling back into bondage but is actually carrying out the high purpose which is held before man in the cosmic scheme.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6804 – 4.5.2.31

ME_01 – P – K

Philosophic asceticism practices disciplines because it properly values the body, not because it hates the body. Incarnation is an opportunity for salvation. The body is a holy temple. The flesh is a revelation of the World-Mind’s working.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6807 – 4.5.2.34

ME_01 – P – K

The body is our physical home. Through its five senses we may suffer pain and misery or enjoy satisfaction and pleasure. Therefore it should be well treated and well cared for, kept healthy as far as we can. This is not only a personal need but also a spiritual duty for its condition may obstruct or assist the inner work.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6812 – 4.5.2.39

BA11 – Z – DK

The earth is the scene where man is placed to achieve his spiritual development. The body is the only direct contact he has with it: How foolish is it to mistreat the body through ignorance, abuse it through carelessness, or neglect it through laziness?

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6813 – 4.5.2.40

BA11 – P – D

The body (like the soul) gives messages of counsel, warning, or approval to him but too often he does not listen to them, does not understand them, or does not want his complacency (formed by tendencies, habits, and surroundings) disturbed.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6818 – 4.5.2.45

ME_01 – P – K

The kind of asceticism which considers the body as an enemy to the spirit, is a kind of sickness. The two dwell together, belong to one another, and in a proper life co-operate together. To consider them otherwise, to torment the body in order to gain the spirit's favour, is to twist the very meaning of its existence.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6853 – 4.5.2.80

B_01 – ZZ – K

Chemical changes in every cell of his body are the outer physical result of this inner second birth.

The Body > The Body > The Body

#6872 – 4.5.2.99

BN – X – D

The greatest of all diet reforms is the change from meat-eating to a meatless diet. This is also the first step on the spiritual path, the first gesture that rightness, justice, compassion, purity are being set up as necessary to human and humane living, in contrast to animal living.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6886 – 4.5.3.5

BSG_5 – P – DEK

If there is any single cause for which I would go up and down the land on a twentieth-century crusade, it is that of the meatless diet. It may be a forlorn crusade, but all the same, it would be a heart-warming one.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6887 – 4.5.3.6

ME_01 – P – K

A meatless diet has practical advantages to offer nearly everyone. But to idealists who are concerned with higher purposes it has even more to offer. On the moral issue alone it tends to lessen callousness to the sufferings of others, men or animals, and to increase what Schweitzer called “reverence for life.”

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6889 – 4.5.3.8

BSG_5 – P – DK

A meatless diet is advisable for aspirants, where circumstances permit, as the brain fed on it is less resistant to meditation.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6890 – 4.5.3.9

BN – X – D

The delusion that flesh food is essential to maintain strength dies hard. I do not know a stronger animal than an elephant. I have seen it in the East doing all the work that a powerful steam-crane will do in the West. Yet the elephant is a vegetarian. Moreover it outlives most other animals.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6891 – 4.5.3.10

BN – X – D

Why should we abstain from meat-eating? (a) Cultivated land if planted with vegetables, fruits, and nuts will yield much more food for an overpopulated world than it could yield if left under pasture for cattle and sheep. (b) The ghastly work of slaughtering these harmless innocent creatures can be done only by hardened men, whose qualities of compassion and sympathy must inevitably get feebler and and feebler. How many housewives could do their own butchering? (c) In terms of equal food value, the meatless diet costs less. (d) Animals which suffer from contagious diseases pass on the germs of these diseases to those who eat their flesh or parasites. (e) Meat contains excretory substances, purins, which may cause other, non-communicable diseases.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6892 – 4.5.3.11

ME_01 – P – K

Those who would like to be vegetarians for compassionate reasons but feel the need of meat for maintaining strength can find proper substitutes in milk and cheese. These dairy products contain the same animal proteins as meat, and will serve as well to sustain vitality, while being free from the stain of slaughter.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6893 – 4.5.3.12

BN – X – D

We are called to give others–animals as well as humans–the same treatment that we call on God to give us.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6899 – 4.5.3.18

BN – X – D

The psychic effects of meat-eating are undesirable. If those who believe that they cannot sustain life without it could see these effects, and if they had to be their own butchers, how many would continue this habit?

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6913 – 4.5.3.32

BN – X – DK

If he cares enough for the Quest and understands enough about the relation between it and diet, he will come sooner or later to choose his food with more resistance to habit.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6916 – 4.5.3.35

BN – X – D

Pythagoras pointed out that the way a nation treated its animals, so far as they are at its mercy, is an indirect judgement of its character.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6921 – 4.5.3.40

BN – X – D

The intolerance of some aggressive and fanatical opponents of meat-eating, smoking, and alcohol-drinking is itself a vicious attitude which harms them in a different way as much as those bad habits harm their addicts.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6924 – 4.5.3.43

BN – X – K1

It is not only the unnecessary killing of tamed animals for food that shows man's thoughtless lack of mercy, but also the unnecessary hunting and killing of wild animals. They are entitled to their mountain or forest home.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6932 – 4.5.3.51

BN – X – D

Only good positive thoughts were allowed to enter his head and good meatless food his stomach.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6943 – 4.5.3.62

BN – Z – DK

It is necessary to eat living things as food in order to keep living ourselves. That is not a matter of our choosing but a necessity forced upon us by Nature or God. We have no freedom in the choice. But we are free to reduce the area of our destructiveness and to lessen the amount of pain we inflict. It is less destructive to uproot a vegetable or pluck a fruit than to slay an animal—and there is less suffering too. This is the answer to the argument that we still destroy life when we become vegetarians.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6945 – 4.5.3.64

BSG_5 – P – DE

If we could examine the prehistoric period of man, and not merely his latest century, we would find that the duration of his life has since been shortened, while the condition of his body has deteriorated through new diseases. The cause in both cases lies in his changed feeding habits to some extent, and in his unrestricted sexual habits to a much larger extent.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6946 – 4.5.3.65

BN – X – D

Our definition of sin needs widening. It is also sinful to break the laws of hygiene, to indulge in habits that are either poisonous or devitalizing, to eat foods obtained by slaughter.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6951 – 4.5.3.70

BN – X – D

Wherever and whenever meatless diet becomes the rule, and not the rarity that it is today, we may expect violence and crime to abate markedly.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6953 – 4.5.3.72

BN – X – D

The changeover from a meat diet to a vegetarian one creates in some cases a feeling of bodily weakness. This will be limited to the transition period only, which may be a matter of days or months, depending on the individual. Such persons should make the changeover gradually. Many others have made the change quite abruptly without any fatigue or any harm.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6954 – 4.5.3.73

BN – X – D

The person who is afraid to alter his living habits, and especially his eating and drinking habits, because he is afraid that other persons may regard him as queer, eccentric, or fanatic forgets that the ownership of his body, the responsibility for its well-being, belongs to him, not them.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6955 – 4.5.3.74

BN – X – D

Nobility of character will not save a man who eats meat from the dark karma which he thereby makes, although it may modify it. This bad habit puts his good health into peril.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6959 – 4.5.3.78

BN – X – D

The follower of a fleshless diet who throws his principles to the four winds in a trying situation lest he be thought peculiar, eccentric, different is more eager to please other men than the Overself, more interested in what their opinion is of him than in the success of his quest. How easy it is to make concessions, to give in to the herd expectations! How hard to go all the way with one's convictions, to keep one's link with integrity unbroken. Yet faithfulness is the only attitude for the man who has felt this practical pity for dumb animals.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6964 – 4.5.3.83

BN – X – DEK

If he really believes in this teaching, he will seek to bring it into every area of his life. There is no area from which it can rightly be left out, not even from that of the kind of food he eats.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6965 – 4.5.3.84

ME_01 – P – DK

It is proper to defend one’s life when it is menaced by aggressive men or by wild beasts, but it is against philosophic ethics to take life without a just cause, as when one kills animals for food—still more when one kills them wantonly for sport. Every higher instinct urges us to substitute compassion for cruelty in our dealings with the lower kingdom.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6971 – 4.5.3.90

BN – X – DK*

The aspirant who fails to practice non-injury sets up an evil relationship which will have to be worked out later, a relationship which will block his entry into the state of lasting enlightenment until it is so worked out. The unnecessary taking of animal life for his food is one form, although a common one, of violation of this ethic.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6972 – 4.5.3.91

ME_01 – P – DK

The beautiful coloured fruits which the trees and bushes offer him have been saturated with beneficent solar rays, not with innocent blood.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6977 – 4.5.3.96

BN – X – D

Food does not directly supply energy but its presence in the body during the process of metabolism acts as a channel for energy to be set free in the body. This is why those who fully undergo the purificatory processes of the Quest and thus regenerate their body, not only need less food than others do, but subsist on finer forms of food.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6985 – 4.5.3.104

ME_01 – P – K

He alone is entitled to ask for help or mercy—which is a form of help—who himself shows pity, spares life, eschews cruelty, and grants mercy to the helpless and oppressed, who does not, in Plutarch’s phrase, “allow his lips to touch the flesh of a murdered being.”

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6987 – 4.5.3.106

ME_01 – P – K

He does not eat meat, not so much because he thinks it poisons the body, but more because he feels pity for slaughtered animals. He does not drink alcohol because he believes it would interfere with the efficiency of his work, and much more because of his spiritual effort at self-conquest. He does not smoke, first because he regards smoking as physically unhealthy, and second because his body becomes so refined as to feel a physiological reaction of strong nausea to it. Thus, these three renunciations are both preoccupations with bodily welfare and with ethical ideals; indeed, they are actually tokens of his balanced ideals.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#6995 – 4.5.3.114

BN – X – DEK

Saint Paul on vegetarianism: ”I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I make not my brother to stumble.” (1 Cor. 8:13)

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7004 – 4.5.3.123

BN – X – D

They will one day feel mercy for the animals and desist from the custom of slaughtering, cooking, and eating them. Of course, the slaughter is done indirectly, by others acting on their behalf. But some of the guilt remains.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7009 – 4.5.3.128

BN – X – D

The vegetarian who refuses to turn his body into a graveyard for slaughtered animals is obeying not only a moral law but also a hygienic and an aesthetic one.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7011 – 4.5.3.130

BSG_5 – P – DK

As his mind becomes purer and his emotions come under control, his thoughts become clearer and his instincts truer. As he learns to live more and more in harmony with his higher Self, his body's natural intuition becomes active of itself. The result is that false desires and unnatural instincts which have been imposed upon it by others or by himself will become weaker and weaker and fall away entirely in time. This may happen without any attempt to undergo an elaborate system of self-discipline on his part: yet it will affect his way of living, his diet, his habits. False cravings like the craving for smoking tobacco will vanish of their own accord; false appetites like the appetite for alcoholic liquor or flesh food will likewise vanish; but the more deep-seated the desire, the longer it will take to uproot it—except in the case of some who will hear and answer a heroic call for an abrupt change.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7024 – 4.5.3.143

BN – X – DEK

How can the human race avoid the fate of being slaughtered in war when it itself slaughters so many innocent creatures in peace?

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7038 – 4.5.3.157

BN – X – D

Those animals which have lived in the society of man can sense his intent enough to fear death when he takes them to the slaughterhouse.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7040 – 4.5.3.159

BN – X – D

It would be desirable, although admittedly difficult, gradually to adopt a meatless diet as a help to secure both the individual's development and the world's peace.

The Body > Diet > Diet

#7041E – 4.5.3.160

BSG_5 – P – DE

I have no desire to intrude my writing upon so specialized a field as the cure of disease and healing of sickness. But it is worth incidental noting that there have been many cases where, after undergoing the purificatory regime solely for spiritual reasons, people have been pleasantly surprised to find that it also freed them from bodily ailments.

The Body > Fasting > Fasting

#7076 – 4.5.4.12

BN – ZZ – DEK

It is inadvisable to fast in winter as the cold weather is easily felt. The best times are spring, summer, and early autumn. Especially suitable times are: (a) at the two equinoxes, March 21 when the sun crosses the equator on its northward journey and thus inaugurates the spring season, and about September 23 when it again crosses the equator on its southward journey and inaugurates the autumn season and (b) at the summer solstice, when the sun changes its course and reverses its direction. This happens about June 21. At these three dates, Nature is preparing her great cyclic changes throughout the world and in Man. It is then that the cleansing of man’s body prepares him for these changes.

The Body > Fasting > Fasting

#7127 – 4.5.4.63

BN – X – D

There is no better way to bring the body under control than the way used to bring the mind under control—to put it under a daily routine of exercises and to have a fixed time for their repeated practice.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7131 – 4.5.5.4

BN – X – D

Care of the physical organism will require attention to physical exercise as well as physical relaxation and to deep and abdominal breathing.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7139 – 4.5.5.12

BN – X – D

It is not necessary to practise vigorous exercises that quickly tire one, nor to put forth strenuous exertions that make one perspire. There are mild, simple, and slow movements which can bring about the desired results without them.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7142 – 4.5.5.15

BN – X – D

Even his bodily movements must be brought into conformity with his mental attitude. His very gait in walking must be brought frequently to conscious attention and harmonized with the deliberations, the patience, the equilibrium, and the uprightness which, ideally, exist there.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7182 – 4.5.5.55

ME_01 – P – K

All physical techniques have an indirect helpfulness but their value should not be overrated, as the advocates and teachers of these techniques almost always do. They misplace their emphasis on the body and on the tricks it is able to perform. Only one detail of the human organism deserves their greater emphasis and that is intuition.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7188 – 4.5.5.61

BA11 – P – D

It is as necessary to make a daily ritual of these cleansing habits and physical exercises as it is of religious or mystical ones. They should be combined, the physical being practised before the spiritual ritual as a preparation for it and for the day’s activity.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7192 – 4.5.5.65

ME_01 – P – K

Body purification and strengthening are prerequisites and preparations for spiritual awakening and development. They allow the passage of kundalini and also awaken it. Hence, hatha yoga is prescribed to start with.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7201 – 4.5.5.74

BN – X – DEK

The artist, the thinker, or the mystic must not neglect the muscular vigour and health of body that can be obtained through physical yoga. This would include deep breathing, stretching exercises, and a diet of light and easily digested foods which will not dull inspiration.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7206 – 4.5.5.79

BN – X – D

Eugene Sandow, once the strongest man in Europe, confirms the point. He said, “It is a matter of the mind. If you concentrate your mind upon a set of muscles for three minutes a day, and say ‘Do thus and so,’ they respond.”

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7244 – 4.5.5.117

BN – X – D

He may practise meditation until Doomsday, mutter the hundred and eight different mystic spells, sit in all the sixty-four postures of the yoga of body control, hold his breath for a whole hour or vary its rhythms in every conceivable manner, but the Overself will remain stubbornly remote unless he frankly faces and successfully fights out his struggle against his own ego in his own heart. No physical contortion, exercise, or manipulation can ever take its place. Such yoga exercises can discipline his body, give him control over it, but they cannot provide a passport into the higher region. This and this alone is the only yoga that really counts in the end on this strange quest, because demanding all it gives all.

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7265 – 4.5.5.138

BN – ZZ – K

All these yoga exercises and physical practices are praiseworthy. They are recommended to aspirants—but only as accessories. They are not, and never can be, substitutes for that moment-to-moment struggle with the ego in daily living which is fundamental and inescapable…

The Body > Exercise > Exercise

#7275E – 4.5.5.148

BA11 – P – DE

It will help to empty the mind of its tumult and the nerves of their agitation if he will breathe out as fully as possible, inhaling only when the first feeling of discomfort starts. He should then rest and breathe normally for several seconds. Next, he should breathe in as deeply as possible. The air is to be kept in the lungs until it is uncomfortable to do so. This alternation completes one cycle of breathing. It may be repeated a number of times, if necessary, but never for a longer period than ten minutes.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7278 – 4.5.6.3

BN – X – K1

The other breathing exercise which is dangerous—not physically so much as mentally—is that which prescribes breathing through alternate nostrils so that one nostril is closed by a finger and only the other used until the changeover is made to the other nostril. This exercise is the one that threatens sanity. I would enforce as a rule that everyone who sets up to teach hatha yoga to others should be compelled to go through a course of at least one year in the anatomy of the body and then in the physiology of the body. The work must have a scientific basis because it encroaches on the medical domain.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7279 – 4.5.6.4

BN – X – K1

Revitalizing Breath Exercise: (1)  Stand at an open window, spine erect, body straight, hands tightly holding hips. (2)  Expel all stale air through the mouth. (3)  Take three short, sharp sniffs of air and expel the total quantity in one long-drawn exhalation. Pause and breathe normally. Repeat three times. (4)  Breathe in deeply through the nose, starting as low in the abdomen as possible, rising upward in the lungs until the upper part is filled. (5)  The mind should concentrate on the solar plexus behind the navel. Imagine a stream of golden-white energy being drawn from there and radiated throughout the body. (6)  Pucker up the lips and let all the air out as vigorously as possible. Tighten the diaphragm muscle while doing so, and move it upwards. Pause and breathe normally. Repeat three times.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7280 – 4.5.6.5

ME_01 – X – K1

Breathing Exercise: A useful exercise which I have mentioned in one of the earlier books is to breathe out slowly and then let the inbreath come of itself, naturally. While breathing out, hold the thought of throwing out all negative thoughts and undesirable emotions. I ought to add now to the description of that exercise that this exhalation should last as long as possible without undue discomfort and that it should be originated in the region of the diaphragm—the abdomen or behind the navel. Keep the spine upright, with the head and neck in line with it. This enables you to better receive cosmic currents of life-force. It also strengthens the power of self-control, of disciplining the body.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7281 – 4.5.6.6

ME_01 – P – K

The importance of diaphragmatic breathing is not only a physical one, because full breathing enables us to get the full manifestation of the life-force in the body, but also because it allows for a fuller and freer manifestation of the mind.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7292 – 4.5.6.17

ME_01 – P – K

By watching the incoming and outgoing breath, its rhythm naturally slows down, thus calming the violent action of heart, lungs, and diaphragm. The heart pumps about seventeen tons of blood a day, and gets no rest at night, hence is the most overworked organ in the body. The ancients knew this method of resting the heart, thus increasing the span of life and also liberating a tremendous amount of life power, which revitalizes the cells of the body.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7303 – 4.5.6.28

ME_01 – P – K

When the breath is deliberately inhaled or exhaled gently and evenly as an initial period of the meditation practice, the mind is slowly forced into a calm and concentrated mood.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7316 – 4.5.6.41

BN – X – D

Breathing exercises should never be pushed to excess, for then they may become very dangerous. It is safer to underpractise them than to overdo them.

The Body > Breathing Exercises > Breathing Exercises

#7322 – 4.5.6.47

BN – X – D

These animal desires belong to the body. What are we? Are we that or a mind using a body? Or Mind using a mind and a body? This last is indeed the truth. When we find it out for ourselves, and hold to it through the years, how long can these desires keep their strength? We may be assured that they dwindle and go.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7344 – 4.5.7.4

BN – X – D

At the time when a child is conceived, two factors contribute powerfully towards its physical nature and physical history. They are the state of the father's thinking and the mother's breathing.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7349 – 4.5.7.9

BN – X – K1

There is a hidden teaching on sex in the Orient. This is known as tantrik yoga. The full teaching has usually been unavailable to the general public because of the dangers of misunderstanding and misuse should it fall into the hands of the unready or unworthy. The other systems of yoga generally favour an ascetic and stoical attitude toward sex whereas the tantrik system does not. In this modern age when so much of the hidden teaching has been revealed so widely, there is no reason why the tantrik teaching should remain completely hidden. If properly placed in the setting of a system of self-discipline and self-development, and if properly expounded with reasons, causes, and effects made quite clear, if kept free from all the entangling symbolism which has grown around the teaching during the centuries, it may have something useful to contribute to modern knowledge and modern living.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7403 – 4.5.7.63

BN – X – K

The force which men spend in ungoverned sexual desire keeps them imprisoned in their lower nature. This same force can be sublimated by will, imagination, aspiration, prayer, and meditation. When this is done, the Overself can then instruct them for they will be able to hear its voice.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7429 – 4.5.7.89

BN – X – D

In that moment of supreme sexual ecstasy, the most spiritually impoverished man gets a faded and fleeting glimpse of the love which inheres in the very nature of his higher Self. But whereas this glimpse merely torments him by its brevity and tantalizes him by its limited, faulty character, that higher impersonal love is eternal, unlimited, and supremely satisfying: it is indeed perfect love.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7449 – 4.5.7.109

BN – X – D

He who conserves his creative energy for the purpose of realizing his higher identity, will not at any time feel that he is suffering loss, privation, or torment. On the contrary, he will feel the gain of freedom, strength, and mastery.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7468 – 4.5.7.128

BSG_5 – P – D

He need not make the reform in his habits of living until he is not only intellectually convinced of its need but also inwardly feels that the right time, the psychological moment, for it has arrived. In that way it will be unforced and natural, while its course and results will be lasting.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7477 – 4.5.7.137

BA12 – P – D

All the forces of a man have to be mobilized in the search for higher consciousness. He cannot leave sex-force out, for example.

The Body > Sex > Sex

#7493 – 4.5.7.153

BN – X – D

At opposing ends of the spine, the human and the animal oppose each other.

The Body > Kundalini > Kundalini

#7525 – 4.5.8.1

BN – X – K1

Is there no basis of morality and taste, no standard of judgement and ethics, except that which the individual brings with himself or creates for himself? The situation is not so anarchic as it seems, for there is a progressive evolutionary character running through all these different points of view.

Emotions and Ethics > Emotions and Ethics > Emotions and Ethics

#7572 – 5.6.0.1

BN – Z

The human journey from mere animal existence to real spiritual essence is reflected in human ethics, where rules imposed from without are gradually supplanted by principles intuited from within.

Emotions and Ethics > Emotions and Ethics > Emotions and Ethics

#7573 – 5.6.0.2

BN – Z

If we will bring more sincerity and more integrity into our lives, more truth and more wisdom into our minds, more goodwill and more self-discipline into our hearts, not only will we be more blessed but also all others with whom we are in touch.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7574 – 5.6.1.1

BN – X – D

The moral precepts which it offers for use in living and for guidance in wise action are not offered to all alike, but only to those engaged on the quest. They are not likely to appeal to anyone who is virtuous merely because he fears the punishment of sin rather than because he loves virtue itself. Nor are they likely to appeal to anyone who does not know where his true self-interest lies. There would be nothing wrong in being utterly selfish if only we fully understood the self whose interest we desire to preserve or promote. For then we would not mistake pleasure for happiness nor confuse evil with good. Then we would see that earthly self-restraint in some directions is in reality holy self-affirmation in others, and that the hidden part of self is the best part.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7577 – 5.6.1.4

BN – X – K1

This grand section of the quest deals with the right conduct of life. It seeks both the moral re-education of the individual's character for his own benefit and the altruistic transformation of it for society's benefit.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7579 – 5.6.1.6

BN – X – DM1

We begin and end the study of philosophy by a consideration of the subject of ethics. Without a certain ethical discipline to start with, the mind will distort truth to suit its own fancies. Without a mastery of the whole course of philosophy to its very end, the problem of the significance of good and evil cannot be solved.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7581 – 5.6.1.8

BN – ZZ – K1

The aspirant must remember always that his immediate duty lies in self-preparation, self-discipline, and self-improvement. The building of fine character on the Quest is quite as important as the efforts of aspiration and meditation, even more so, for the former will lead to the dissolving of egoism, and without this the latter are of little avail.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7584 – 5.6.1.11

BSG_4 – P – D

The reformation and even transformation of character is as much a sector of philosophy as the practice of concentration and the study of mind. The virtue which develops from disciplining thoughts and controlling self removes obstacles and gives power to truth’s pursuit.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7588 – 5.6.1.15

BN – X – D

Is it entirely useless to point out an ethical height to which very few can soar? No—the usefulness lies in the sense of right direction which it gives, in the inspiring love of truth and hope of self-betterment which it arouses.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7590 – 5.6.1.17

BN – Z

To the extent that he purifies and ennobles himself, he qualifies himself for the reception of superior insight.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7593 – 5.6.1.20

BN – X – D

His spiritual progress will be measured not so much by his meditational progress as by his moral awakening.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7601 – 5.6.1.28

BN – X – D

He must look within himself for the impurities and falsities, the malice and envy, the prejudice and bitterness which belong to his lower nature. And he must work with all his willpower and thinking power to cast them out.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7603 – 5.6.1.30

BN – X – D

It is when men come face-to-face with a real crisis, a real temptation, or a real hardship that they show their real character, not only their self-imagined or publicly reputed one.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7605 – 5.6.1.32

BN – ZZ – DEK

It must be remembered always that mere intellectual study is not so essential as the building of worthwhile character, which is far more important in preparing for the great battle with the ego.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7606 – 5.6.1.33

BN – X – D

We will have to grow into this higher consciousness. No other way exists for us.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7615 – 5.6.1.42

B_01 – ZZZ – DK

Character can be changed. He who habitually contemplates such exalted themes finds in time that his whole outlook is altered and expanded, as if by magic. The new outlook will gradually strongly establish itself within him. Says the Christian Bible: “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” which may be matched with what was written in Sanskrit long before this was uttered: “As is one’s thought, so one becomes; this is the eternal secret.”—Maitri Upanishad.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7621 – 5.6.1.48

BN – X – D

The key to right conduct is to refuse to identify himself with the lower nature. The hypnotic illusion that it is really himself must be broken: the way to break it is to deny every suggestion that comes from it, to use the will in resisting it, to use the imagination in projecting it as something alien and outside, to use the feelings in aspiration towards the true self, and the mind in learning to understand what it is.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7623 – 5.6.1.50

BN – X – DK1

The disciple who wishes to make real progress must attack, weaken, and ultimately destroy certain bad traits of character. Among them is the trait of jealousy of his fellow disciples. It is not only an unpleasant thought but may also end in disastrous consequences. It often leads to wrathful moods and raging spells. It not only harms the other disciple but always does harm to the sinner himself. It is caused by an unreasonable sense of possessiveness directed towards the teacher which does not understand that love should give freedom to him, not deny it to him.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7624 – 5.6.1.51

BN – X – K1

The pursuit of moral excellence is immeasurably better than the pursuit of mystical sensations. Its gains are more durable, more indispensable, and more valuable.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7625 – 5.6.1.52

BN – X – DK1

There are five ways in which the human being progressively views his own self and consequently five graduated ethical stages on his quest. First, as an ignorant materialist he lives entirely within his personality and hence for personal benefit regardless of much hurt caused to others in order to secure this benefit. Second, as an enlightened materialist he is wrapped in his own fortunes but does not seek them at the expense of others. Third, as a religionist he perceives the impermanence of the ego and, with a sense of sacrifice, he denies his self-will. Fourth, as a mystic he acknowledges the existence of a higher power, God, but finds it only within himself. Fifth, as a philosopher he recognizes the universality and the oneness of being in others and practises altruism with joy.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7626 – 5.6.1.53

BN – Z – K1

But, after all, these qualities are only the negative prerequisites of spiritual realization. They are not realization itself. Their attainment is to free oneself from defects that hinder the attainment of higher consciousness, not to possess oneself of true consciousness.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7627 – 5.6.1.54

BN – X – K1

The act must illustrate the man, the deed must picture the attitude. It is thus only that thought becomes alive.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7628 – 5.6.1.55

BN – X – K1

The more I travel and observe the more I come to believe that the only men who will make something worthwhile of philosophy are the men who have already made something worthwhile of their personal lives. The dreamers and cranks will only fool themselves, the failures and alibi-chasers will only become confirmed in their fantasies.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7629 – 5.6.1.56

BN – ZZ – K1

Many people talk mysticism or play with psychism so long as either promises them wonderful powers which most other people haven't got or wonderful experiences which most other people do not have. But when they come to philosophy and find that it demands from them a renovation of their entire character, they are seized with fear and retreat. Philosophy is not for such people, for it does not conform to their wishes. It tells them what they do not like to hear. It disturbs their egoistic vanity and troubles their superficial serenity when it throws a glaring spotlight on their lower nature, their baser motives, and their ugly weaknesses.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7630 – 5.6.1.57

BA11 – Z – K1

While the aspirant fails to take an inventory of his weaknesses and consequently fails to build into his character the attributes needed, much of his meditation will be either fruitless or a failure or even harmful.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7631 – 5.6.1.58

BN – X – K1

That it is not enough for men to think truth, that they must also feel it, is a statement with which most scientists, being intellect-bound, would disagree. But artists, mystics, true philosophers, and religious devotees would accept it.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7632 – 5.6.1.59

BN – Z – K1

If each attack of adverse force, each temptation that tries a weakness, is instantly met with the Short Path attitude, he will have an infinitely better chance of overcoming it. The secret is to remember the Overself, to turn the battle over to IT. Then, what he is unable to conquer by himself, will be easily conquered for him by the higher power.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7641 – 5.6.1.68

BN – X – D

He should begin with the belief that his own character can be markedly improved and with the attitude that his own efforts can lessen the distance between its present condition and the ideal before him.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7647 – 5.6.1.74

BN – X – D

The more the character is purified, the easier it is to practise meditation. The more the lower nature holds a man, the shorter will be the period of time in which he will be able to hold attention on the Overself.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7661 – 5.6.1.88

BN – X – D

Freedom is a tremendous word whose meaning goes much beyond the average human being's idea of it. He is not free who is in bondage to narrow prejudice, strong attachment, unruled desire, and spiritual ignorance.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7667 – 5.6.1.94

BSG_5 – P – D

Where the Overself lives fully in a man, he will not need to consider whether an act is righteous or not. Righteous acts will flow spontaneously from him and no other kind will be possible.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7681E – 5.6.1.108

BA11 – ZZZ – DEK

Only as men become convinced that their further fortune and happiness or distress and trouble are closely connected with their obedience to these higher laws—and particularly the law of karma—will they discover that not only is virtue its own reward but also adds to peace of mind.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7706 – 5.6.1.133

BN – ZZ – K

Temperament and circumstance, happening and karma will combine to decide whether he lets go the bad tendency or habit suddenly or whether he will need a period to adjust and settle down anew.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7709 – 5.6.1.136

BN – Z – K

We must put out of our minds every weakening impulse by instant reference to the strength of the Overself, every evil thought by a call to the infinite good of the Overself. In this way character is uplifted and made noble.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7719 – 5.6.1.146

BN – X – D

There is a perfect relation between the impression we make upon others and the mastery we have achieved over ourselves. The strength of the impression depends on the degree of the mastery. Furthermore, our power over the world outside us will be proportionate to our power over the nature within us.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7721 – 5.6.1.148

BN – X – D

There are three activities which he needs to keep under frequent examination and constant discipline—his thoughts, his speech, and his actions.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7744 – 5.6.1.171

BN – X – D

He who puts his lower nature under control puts himself in possession of forces, gifts, possibilities, and satisfactions that most other men lack.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7759 – 5.6.1.186

BN – X – D

When all malice and all envy are resolutely cast out of his nature, not only will he be the gainer by it in improved character and pleasanter karma, but also those others who would have suffered as victims of his barbed words or ugly thoughts.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7791 – 5.6.1.218

BN – Z – K

An experience which is a blow to his ego ought to be received with humility and analysed with impartiality. But too often the man receives it with resentment and analyses it with distortion. In the result he is doubly harmed: there is the suffering itself and there is the deterioration of character.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7811 – 5.6.1.238

BA12 – ZZ

All that is best in the Christian virtues, the Buddhist virtues, the Stoic virtues, among several others, you will find in the philosophic ones.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7819 – 5.6.1.246

BN – X – K

The habit of always remembering that he is committed to the Quest and to the alteration of character which this involves, should help him to refuse assent in temptation and reject despondency in tribulation.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Uplift Character

#7851 – 5.6.1.278

BA12 – P – D

Each person who enters our life for a time, or becomes involved with it at some point, is an unwitting channel bringing good or evil, wisdom or foolishness, fortune or calamity to us. This happens because it was preordained to happen—under the law of recompense. But the extent to which he affects our outer affairs is partly determined by the extent to which we let him do so, by the acceptance or rejection of suggestions made by his conduct, speech, or presence. It is we who are finally responsible.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Environmental influence

#7863 – 5.6.1.290

BA11 – ZZZ – DK1

It is quite true that moral codes have historically been merely relative to time, place, and so on. But if we try to make such relativity a basis of non-moral action, if we act on the principle that wrong is not worse than right and evil not different from good, then social life would soon show a disastrous deterioration, the ethics of the jungle would become its governing law, and catastrophe would overtake it in the end.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Moral relativity

#7876 – 5.6.1.303

BN – X – K1

Because there are levels of moral growth, character, and self-control, it became necessary to lay down laws, codes, and rules for mankind in the mass. These may be of sacred origin, as with a Moses, or of secular authority, as with a ruler. Where the name of God is invoked to give them weight, this is usually a human device. But the come-back of karma is very real, and not a fancy.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Moral relativity

#7883 – 5.6.1.310

BN – Z – K

The discovery of moral relativity gives no encouragement however to moral laxity. If we are freed from human convention, it is only because we are to submit ourselves sacrificially to the Overself's dictate. The unfoldment of progressive states of conscious being is not possible without giving up the lower for the higher.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Moral relativity

#7884 – 5.6.1.311

BN – X – K1

Such was the wisdom of Muhammed and Buddha. But for us in the twentieth century to take the path of either would be foolishness, because it was not given to us but to a people of other times. The Sages do not give a doctrine which is once and for all delivered to all mankind. They give a teaching suited to a particular section of mankind and for a particular period.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Moral relativity

#7889E – 5.6.1.316

BN – Z

If it is not possible for the generality of mankind to practise ethical indolence permanently and to avoid the moral struggles which the situations of life lead to intermittently, it is much less possible for the minority of mankind who have begun this quest to do so. Life becomes graver for them. If they do not obey the call of conscience the first time, it may become more painful to obey it the second time. If they persist in following an ignoble and contemptible course after they have already seen that it is ignoble and contemptible, the karma becomes proportionately heavier. It has been said that knowledge is power, but it needs equally to be said that knowledge is also responsibility.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Conscience

#7908 – 5.6.1.335

BN – Z – K

There is a guiding conscience in a man which develops or weakens as he responds to the forces and influences playing on and in him from both bygone lives and the current incarnation. It is this preoccupation with choosing good and avoiding evil, with religious feelings and moral virtues, that lift man above the animal.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Conscience

#7910 – 5.6.1.337

BN – X – D

We must interpret the word duty in a larger sense, not merely as some social task imposed on us from without, but as a spiritual decision imposed on us from within.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Conscience

#7911 – 5.6.1.338

BN – Z

It is not only a question of what course of action will be most effective, but of what will be most ethical. Neither of these two factors can be ignored with impunity; both must be brought into a balanced relation.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Conscience

#7921 – 5.6.1.348

BN – X – D

The mark of true goodness is, first, that it never by thought, word, or deed injures any other living creature; second, that it has brought the lower nature under the bidding of the higher; and third, that it considers its own welfare not in isolation but always against the background of the common welfare.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Goodness

#7934 – 5.6.1.361

BA11 – P – D

The goodness which one man may express in his relation to another is derived ultimately from his own divine soul and is an unconscious recognition of, as well as gesture to, the same divine presence in that other. Moreover, the degree to which anyone becomes conscious of his true self is the degree to which he becomes conscious of it in others. Consequently, the goodness of the fully illumined man is immeasurably beyond that of the conventionally moral man.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Goodness

#7940 – 5.6.1.367

BN – ZZ – K1

What is sin? It may be defined, first, as any act which harms others; second, as any act which harms oneself; third, as any thought or emotion which has these consequences.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Goodness

#7944 – 5.6.1.371

BN – X – DK

The selfish person thinks only of satisfying his own wants first of all, not caring if he harms others. The next higher type thinks also of his immediate circle of family and friends. But the highest type of all gives equal regard to himself, to his family, to whoever crosses his path, and to all others. He feels for everyone, never satisfying his desires by wrongfully taking away from, or harming, another.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Altruism

#7959 – 5.6.1.386

BN – X – D

There is Infinite Intelligence always at work on this planet; … the real Giver of all things; … that God is the very Provider of all.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Altruism

#7960EM – 5.6.1.387

BSG_4 – P – DX

If it be asked, How can anyone who is attuned to such impersonality be also benevolent? the answer is that because he is also attuned to the real Giver of all things, he need not struggle against anyone nor possess anything. Hence he can afford to be generous as the selfish cannot. And because the Overself's very nature is harmony and love, he seeks the welfare of others alongside of his own.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Altruism

#7960E – 5.6.1.387

BA11 – ZZ – DE

The best charity in the end is to show a man the higher life that is possible for him.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Altruism

#7965 – 5.6.1.392

BA11 – P – D

He needs to protect himself by the truth which, applied here, means he must strengthen himself against their negative, slushy emotion. A misconceived and muddled pity brought in where toughness and reason are needed, would only harm them and him, both.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Altruism

#7976 – 5.6.1.403

BN – Z

The continued study of this philosophy will inevitably lead the student to accept its practical consequences and thus make the universal welfare of mankind his dominant ethical motive.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Altruism

#7977 – 5.6.1.404

BA11 – ZZ – D

It is the work of a lifetime to venture on such a great improvement of character as will place the lower self under our control, instead of our being controlled by it. We are likely to get disheartened at times by the seeming slowness of progress. This is partly because we are too apt to think in terms of this single incarnation only, whereas those who understand life's actual range think of it in terms of dozens and scores. Hence we have to learn a certain tolerant patience with ourselves, while at the same time maintaining an ardent aspiration for self-improvement and a critical attitude towards our weaknesses. This sounds contradictory but it is not really so. It is rather a matter of getting a proper balance between the two attitudes.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#7988 – 5.6.1.415

BN – ZZ – DEK

However disheartening the slowness of his growth may be to his emotions, the remembrance that he is a sage in embryo should always be encouraging to his reason.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#7990 – 5.6.1.417

BT1008 – P – D

We are in our hidden selves already divine; … the wisdom is latent; … we are a Sage in embryo.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#7990EM – 5.6.1.417

BSG_4 – P – DX

A man will do the best he can in his personal situation, not the best that someone else could do in the same situation. His action is relevant to his strength and understanding. All this is true. But it is equally true that he has untapped inner resources. Why not try to better his best?

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#7996 – 5.6.1.423

BN – Z – K

When we enlarge our love of the Divine by making it a matter of the will as well as feeling, we ennoble it.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#8001 – 5.6.1.428

BN – Z – DK

His quest of the Overself must be an untiring one. It is to be his way of looking at the world, his attitude toward life.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#8007 – 5.6.1.434

BN – X – D

Each difficulty surmounted, each weakness resisted will fortify his will and increase his perseverance. It will evoke the better part of his nature and discipline the baser, and thus fit him more adequately to cope with the next ones.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#8009 – 5.6.1.436

BN – X – D

He must be equally steadfast in adhering to this attitude whether other people utter complaints against him or make compliments to him.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#8010 – 5.6.1.437

BN – ZZ – D

Tenacity of purpose is a characteristic of all who accomplish great things. Drawbacks cannot disgust him, labour cannot weary him, hardships cannot discourage him in whom the quality of persistence is always present. But to the man without persistence every defeat is a Waterloo.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Patience, perseverance

#8013 – 5.6.1.440

BN – Z – D

Everything that belongs to the ego and its desires or fears has to go. For some men it is hard to put aside pride, for others it is harder to put aside shame, but both feelings have to go.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8028 – 5.6.1.455

BN – X – D

His thoughts, his feelings, and his actions must work in combination to effect this great self-purification which must precede the dawn of illumination. And this means that they must work upon themselves and divert their attention from other persons whom they may have criticized or interfered with in the past. The aspirant must reserve his condemnation for himself and leave others alone to their karma.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8029 – 5.6.1.456

B_13 – ZZ – K

His attitude towards those situations in life which are difficult or trying will show how far he has really gone in the Quest. If he has not undergone the philosophic discipline, he will either analyse these situations in a wrong egoistic way or else avoid analysing them altogether.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8036 – 5.6.1.463

BN – X – D

So long as a man carries a flattering picture of himself, deterioration of character waits in ambush for him.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8039 – 5.6.1.466

BN – Z

You are to be penitent not only because your wrong acts may bring you to suffering but also, and much more, because they may bring you farther away from the discovery of the Overself.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8045 – 5.6.1.472

BA12 – P – D

He may be ashamed of what he did in the past but then he was that sort of man in the past. If he persists in identifying himself with the "I," in time such feelings will come to him and cause this kind of suffering. But if he changes over to identifying himself with the timeless being behind the "I" there can be no such suffering.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8048 – 5.6.1.475

BA12 – P – D

The constant nagging of those with whom he is compelled to live, work, or associate, so far as there is any truth in their exaggerations or misunderstandings, can be made to serve a most useful purpose by arousing in him the necessity of change and self-improvement. However much his self-love is wounded and however long it may take to achieve this and to correct his faults, he will only profit by it. With his success a separation may occur, and they may be set free to go their own way. It may be brought about by their own voluntary decisions or by the compulsion of destiny. When a relationship is no longer useful to evolution or karmically justified, an end will come to it. This acceptance of other people's criticisms, humbly and without resentment, may be compared to swimming against the current of a stream. Here the stream will be that of his own nature. In this matter he should look upon the others as his teachers—taking care however to separate the emotional misunderstandings and egoistic exaggerations from the actual truth.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8054E – 5.6.1.481

BN – ZEL1/2

The constant nagging of those with whom he is compelled to live, work, or associate, so far as there is any truth in their exaggerations or misunderstandings, can be made to serve a most useful purpose by arousing in him the necessity of change and self-improvement. However much his self-love is wounded and however long it may take to achieve this and to correct his faults, he will only profit by it. When a relationship is no longer useful to evolution or karmically justified, an end will come to it. In this matter he should look upon the others as his teachers—taking care however to separate the emotional misunderstandings and egoistic exaggerations from the actual truth. He is to regard the others as sent by the Overself to provoke him into drawing upon or deliberately developing the better qualities needed to deal with such provocations, and not only to show him his own bad qualities.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8054E – 5.6.1.481

BN – ZEL2/2

When he can bring himself to look upon his own actions from the outside just as he does those of other men, he will have satisfied the philosophic ideal.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8061 – 5.6.1.488

BN – X – D

If the aspirant has any grievance against another person or if he be conscious of feelings of anger, resentment, or hatred against another person, he should follow Jesus' advice and let not the sun go down on his wrath. This means that he must see him as expressing the result of all his own long experience and personal thinking about life and therefore the victim of his own past, not acting better only because he does not know any better. The aspirant should then comprehend that whatever wrongs have been done will automatically be brought under the penalty of karmic retribution. Consequently, it is not his affair to condemn or to punish the other person, but to stand aloof and let the law of karma take care of him. It is his affair to understand and not to blame.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8076E – 5.6.1.503

B_13 – ZEL1/2 – K

He must learn to accept a person just as he is, uncondemned. He certainly should try not to feel any emotional resentment or express any personal ill-will against that person. He must keep his own consciousness above the evil, the wrong-doing, the weaknesses, or the faults of the other man and not let them enter his own consciousness—which is what happens if he allows them to provoke negative reactions in his lower self. He should make immediate and constant effort to root such weeds out of his emotional life. But the way to do this is not by blinding himself to the faults, the defects, and the wrongdoings of the other.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Value of confession, repentance

#8076E – 5.6.1.503

B_13 – ZEL2/2

We have begun to question Nature and we must abide the consequences. But we need not fear the advancing tide of knowledge. Its effects on morals will be only to discipline human character all the more. For it is not knowledge that makes men immoral, it is the lack of it. False foundations make uncertain supports for morality.

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Truthfulness

#8085 – 5.6.1.512

BN – X – K1

Men ask, "What is truth?" But in reply truth itself questions them, "Who are you to ask that? Have you the competence, the faculty, the character, the judgement, the education, and the preparation to recognize truth? If not, first go and acquire them, not forgetting the uplift of character."

Emotions and Ethics > Uplift Character > Truthfulness

#8086 – 5.6.1.513

BN – X – K1

Those are much mistaken who think the philosophic life is one of dark negation and dull privation, of sour life-denial and emotional refrigeration. Rather is it the happy cultivation of Life’s finest feelings.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8102 – 5.6.2.7

BSG_1 – ZZZ – DMK

It is possible to attain a stoic impassivity where the man dies to disturbing or disquieting emotions and lives only in his finer ones, where the approbation of others will no longer excite him or the criticism by others hurt him, where the cravings and fears, the passions and griefs or ordinary and everyday human reactions are lacking. But in their place he will be sensible to the noblest, the most refined feelings.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8108 – 5.6.2.13

BN – Z – K

There is one relationship which takes precedence over all others. It is the relationship with the Overself.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8110 – 5.6.2.15

BN – X – D

Only after long experience and severe reflection will a man awaken to the truth that the beauty which attracts him and the ecstasy which he seeks can be found free of defects and transiency only in the Soul within.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8116 – 5.6.2.21

BN – X – D

Philosophy will create within him a disgust for evil, a disdain for what is ignoble, a taste for what is refined and beautiful, a yearning for what is true and real.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8117 – 5.6.2.22

BN – X – D

The real philosopher ‘feels’ what he knows: it is not a dry intellectual experience alone but a living one.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8125 – 5.6.2.30

BN – ZZZ – D

The higher human feelings such as kindness and sympathy, patience and tolerance have to be nurtured.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8127 – 5.6.2.32

BN – X – D

He who enters upon this Quest will have to revise his scale of values. Experiences which he formerly thought bad, because they were unpleasant, may now be thought good, because they are educative or because they reveal hitherto obscured weaknesses.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8130 – 5.6.2.35

B_04 – P – D

The Roman Stoics, who sought to control their emotions and master their passions, placed character above knowledge. We pursue a similar albeit less rigorous discipline in controlling feelings by reason because we place knowledge above character. The latter is made a preliminary to attainment of the former.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8147 – 5.6.2.52

BN – X – K

It is well to remember not to let oneself become the victim of negative feelings or harsh thoughts. They do not mend matters but only make you suffer more, and also suffer needlessly.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8152 – 5.6.2.57

B_01 – ZZZ – DK

It is one of the side effects of philosophy that it purifies human affection, takes the littleness out of it, and lifts it to a higher and wider plane. This may bring some pain or it may bring a shared pleasure, depending on those involved in the experience.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8153 – 5.6.2.58

BN – X – D

In most human relations, egoism in one person is replied by egoism in the other.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8157 – 5.6.2.62

BN – X – D

Muhammed knew the power of tears. He bade his followers to weep whenever they recited the Koran.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Re-Educate Feelings

#8172 – 5.6.2.77

BN – X – D

Few people know what love really means because with nearly all it is filtered through the screens of bodily and selfish considerations. In its pure native state it is the first attribute of the divine soul and consequently it is one of the most important qualities which the seeker has to cultivate.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8178 – 5.6.2.83

B_10 – P – D

The love for which man is searching exists; it is as perfect, as beautiful, as perpetual, and as healing as he can imagine it to be. But it does not exist where he wants to find it. Only the inner kingdom holds and gives it at the end of his search. No other human being can do so unless he or she has previously entered the kingdom, and then only through all the limitations and colourings of the earthly consciousness.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8179 – 5.6.2.84

B_10 – P – D

Although we have stated in 'The Wisdom of the Overself' that a love restricted to the limited circle of wife, family, or friends is unphilosophic and should be extended in universal compassion to all mankind, this should not be mistaken to mean that such a restricted love ought to be abandoned. On the contrary, it should have its fullest place within the larger one.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8180E – 5.6.2.85

B_10 – EL1/2

"Love" is one of the most misused words in English. We may now add that it is also one of the most debased words. Why? Because, very often, it is based on sheer self-interest and not on the beloved's interest and gives only so long as it gets; because, not seldom, the greater the ardour with which it begins, the greater the antipathy with which it ends; and because it frequently mistakes the goading of animal glands for the awakening of human affection. True love does not change or falter because the beloved has changed and faltered or because the physical circumstances wherein it was born have become different. It cannot be blown hither and thither by the accidents of destiny.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8180E – 5.6.2.85

B_10 – EL2/2

It expresses itself outwardly in an exceptionally kindly behaviour. He will not hurt others unnecessarily. He feels that one of the best pieces of advice he can give others is: "Be kind." In this way you abrase your own egoism and show forth something—just an echo—of this love which emanates from the indwelling spiritual self. The cost in thus weakly and briefly identifying yourself with others is little: the gain in moral growth is large. When your duties, activities, or responsibilities in life call for critical judgement of any person, that is allowable. But when you fall into it for the sake of idle gossip or, what is worse, when you are nastily censorious, slanderously back-biting, for the sake of malice, that is unkind and unpardonable. Above his own deliberate willing or wishing, quite spontaneously and impulsively, a feeling of pure love begins to well up within him. It is unconnected with physical or egoistic causes, for all those who touch his orbit benefit by it. It does not stop flowing if they are foolish or ugly, sinful or deformed, unclean or disagreeable.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8181 – 5.6.2.86

BN – Z – DEK

The capacity to give and receive love is not to be destroyed, nor can it be. Nature has planted its roots too deeply for that destruction to be attempted with success or desired with wisdom. But the man or woman who aspires to the highest cannot let it stay ungrown and benefit from its finest fruits. He should nurture it, purify it, exalt it, and spiritualize it. He should direct it toward his best self, his Overself, aspiring and yearning. And when it comes back to him in the blessed form of Grace, he should be ready and fit to receive it.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8189 – 5.6.2.94

BN – X – D

We have been told by well-meaning ministers of religion and counsellors in psychology to practise Jesus's words, "Love thy neighbour." Now there are two different ways in which we can do so, because there are two different interpretations of these words—the religious and the philosophic. According to the first, we have at least to be amiable toward our next-door neighbour, or at most to throw our arms around him and express our warm feeling for him in a gushy, sentimental, hyper-emotional manner. According to the second and philosophic interpretation, we have to understand that every person who crosses our path is our neighbour, everyone with whom we are thrown into momentary or continuous contact is our neighbour, whether at home or at work. It is in these immediate contacts that irritations are bred, differences are noted, and dislikes appear.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8196E – 5.6.2.101

B_10 – EL1/2

It is much easier to love humanity as a whole or in the abstract than it is to love humanity in the individual and in the concrete. In spite of the instinctive urge to manifest irritability, dislike, anger, resentment, or even hatred against those with whom you are thrown in contact, you can steel your will and resist the negative feeling. If you can take all these negative feelings and sublimate them into understanding, tolerance, and goodwill based on the teachings of philosophy, you are actually loving your neighbour in the sense that Jesus meant it. You will then see that such philosophic love is far removed from and far superior to the hyper-emotionalism which blows hot and cold.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8196E – 5.6.2.101

B_10 – EL2/2

When one's love for another is of the highest type and leads to an expansion of understanding, compassion, and tolerance of others, he has glimpsed the greater purpose of personal love: how the surrender of his heart may lead to its opening to, and becoming united with, Universal Love.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8206 – 5.6.2.111

BA11 – Z – D

Being aware of the weaknesses or faults of another does not necessarily mean we love him less. It is an essential part of the message of love that we learn how to forgive surface characteristics by contemplating the essence of the beloved, to see what "is," while also seeing deeper to what truly IS—the Divine evidenced in a particular form.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8207 – 5.6.2.112

B_14 – ZZ – D

Real love is not something to be withdrawn abruptly when the person who is its object annoys or offends you.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8209 – 5.6.2.114

BA11 – ZZ – DMK

Fear weakens a man, hate destroys him in the end, but love brings him his best.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8213 – 5.6.2.118

BN – Z – D

There is a common notion that love, to be worth its name, must be highly emotional and dramatically intense. That, of course, is one kind but it is not the best kind which is calm, unchanging, and unexcited.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8216 – 5.6.2.121

BN – X – D

When a man discovers that the same Overself dwells in his enemy as in his own heart, how can he ever again bring himself to hate or injure another?

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8221 – 5.6.2.126

BN – X – D

Whoever imagines that it means the development of a highly sentimental, highly emotional condition is mistaken; for emotions of that kind can just as easily swing into their opposites of hate as remain what they are. This is not love, but the masquerade of it. Sentimentality is the mere pretense of compassion. It breaks down when it is put under strains, whereas genuine compassion will always continue and never be cancelled by them. True love towards one's neighbour must come from a level higher than the emotional and such a level is the intuitive one. What Jesus meant was, "Come into such an intuitive realization of the one Infinite Power from which you and your neighbour draw your lives that you realize the harmony of interests, the interdependence of existence which result from this fact."

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

B_10 – ZEL2/5

What Jesus meant, and what alone he could have meant, was indicated by the last few words of his injunction, [Love thy neighbor] "as thyself." The self which they recognized to be the true one was the spiritual self, which they were to seek and love with all their might—and it was this, not the frail ego, which they were also to love in others. The quality of compassion may easily be misunderstood as being mere sentimentality or mere emotionality. It is not these things at all. They can be foolish and weak when they hide the truth about themselves from people, whereas a truly spiritual compassion is not afraid to speak the truth, not afraid to criticize as rigorously as necessary, to have the courage to point out faults even at the cost of offending those who prefer to live in self-deception. Compassion will show the shortcoming within themselves which is in turn reflected outside themselves as maleficent destiny.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

B_10 – ZEL3/5

When he views those who are suffering from the effects of their own ungoverned emotion, passion and desire, he does not sink with those who are victims of this lack of control, even though he feels self-identity with them. He cannot permit such feelings to enter his consciousness. If he does not shrink from his own suffering, it is hardly likely that he will shrink from the sufferings of others. He does not really regard himself as apart from them. In some curious way, both they and he are part of one and the same life. If he does not pity himself for his own sufferings in the usual egoistic and emotional way, how can he bring himself to pity the sufferings of others in the same kind of way? This does not mean that he will become coldly indifferent towards them. On the contrary, the feeling of identification with their inmost being would alone prevent that utterly; but it means that the pity which arises within him takes a different form, which is far nobler and truer because emotional agitation and egotistic reaction are absent from it.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

B_10 – ZEL4/5 – K

He feels with and for the sufferings of others, but he never allows himself to be lost in them; and just as he is never lost in fear or anxiety about his own sufferings, so he cannot become lost in those emotions or the sufferings of others. The calmness with which he approaches his own sufferings cannot be given up because he is approaching other people's sufferings. He has bought that calmness at a heavy price—it is too precious to be thrown away for anything. And because the pity which he feels in his heart is not mixed up with emotional excitement or personal fear, his mind is not obscured by these excrescences, and is able to see what needs to be done to relieve the suffering ones far better than an obscured mind could see. He does not make a show of his pity, but his help is far more effectual than the help of those who do.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

B_10 – ZEL5/5 – K

Just as the word compassion is so often mistaken for a foolish and weak sentimentality, so the words egolessness, unselfishness, and unself-centeredness are equally mistaken for what they are not. They are so often thought to mean nonseparateness from other individuals or the surrender of personal rights to other individuals or the setting aside of duty to ourself for the sake of serving other individuals. The philosophical meaning of egoism is that attitude of separateness not from another individual on the same imperfect level as ourself but from the one universal life-power which is behind all individuals on a deeper level than them all. We are "separated" from that Infinite Mind when we allow the personal ego to rule us, when we allow the personal self to prevent the one universal self from entering our field of awareness.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

BN – ZZ

The altruistic ideal is set up for aspirants as a practical means of using the will to curb egoism and crush its pettiness. But these things are to be done to train the aspirants in surrendering their personal self to their higher self, not in making them subservient to other human wills.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

BSG_4 – ZZ

The altruistic ideal is set up for aspirants as a practical means of using the will to curb egoism and crush its pettiness. But these things are to be done to train the aspirant in surrendering his personal self to his higher self, not in making him subservient to other human wills. The primacy of purpose is to be given to spiritual self-realization, not to social service. This above all others is the goal to be kept close to his heart, not meddling in the affairs of others. Only after he has attended adequately—and to some extent successfully—to the problem of himself can he have the right to look out for or intrude into other people's problems.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8223E – 5.6.2.128

BN – ZZ

Jesus' preachment of love of one's neighbour as oneself is impossible to follow in all fullness until one has attained the height whereon his own true self dwells. Obedience to it would mean identifying oneself with the neighbour's physical pain and emotional suffering so that they were felt not less keenly than one's own. One could not bear that when brought into contact with all kinds of human sorrow that shadow life. It could be borne only when one had crushed its power to affect one's own feelings and disturb one's own equilibrium. Therefore, such love would bring unbearable suffering. By actively identifying oneself with those who are sorrowing, by pushing one's sympathy with them to its extreme point, one gets disturbed and weakened. This does not improve one's capacity to help the sufferer, but only lessens it. To love others is praiseworthy, but it must be coupled with balance and with reason or it will lose itself ineffectually in the air.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8224ED – 5.6.2.129

B_10 – ZEL1/2 – K

By actively identifying oneself with those who are sorrowing, by pushing one's sympathy with them to its extreme point, one gets disturbed and weakened. This does not improve one's capacity to help the sufferer, but only lessens it. To love others is praiseworthy, but it must be coupled with balance and with reason or it will lose itself ineffectually in the air. Not to let his interest in other matters or his sympathy with other persons carry him away from his equilibrium, his inner peace, but to stop either when it threatens to agitate his mind or disturb his feelings, is wisdom.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8224ED – 5.6.2.129

B_10 – ZEL2/2 – K

Love of the divine is our primary duty. Love of our neighbour is only a secondary one.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8225 – 5.6.2.130

BN – X – D

Compassion is the highest moral value, the noblest human feeling, the purest creature-love. It is the final social expression of man's divine soul. For he is able to feel with and for another man only because both are in reality related in harmony by the presence of that soul in each one.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8226D – 5.6.2.131

BA11 – ZZ – DEK

PB: "In the divine self-giving of this wonderful quality [compassion] and in its expansion until all mankind is touched, love finally fulfils itself". This last sentence may lead to misunderstanding. The paragraph in which it appears is, I now see, incomplete. For compassion is an emotion felt by one ego when considering the suffering condition of another ego. But spiritual development eventually lifts itself above all emotions, by which I do not of course mean above all feeling. The wish to help another person should not spring out of compassion alone, nor out of the aspiration to do what is right alone, nor out of the satisfaction derived from practising virtue for its own sake alone. It should certainly come out of all these, but it should also come even more out of the breaking down of the ego itself. With that gone, there will be a feeling of oneness with all living creatures. This practice of self-identification with them is the highest form of love.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8228E – 5.6.2.133

B_10 – EL1/1

Some students have expressed disagreement with my use of the term "compassion" when describing the enlightened man's loftiest social quality. They believe the common term "love" would be more correct. Now one of the fundamental terms of the New Testament is, in the original Greek, "agape"—which is always translated as "love." But this is unsatisfactory because man's love may be selfishly motivated whereas "agape" has the definite implication of unselfish, or better, selfless love. And the only English word which I can find to express this idea is the one which I have used, that is, "compassion." If we cast out its selfish, sentimental, or sensual associations, the word "love" would be enough to express this attitude, but because these associations thickly encrust its meaning, the word "compassion" is better used. The kind of compassion here meant is not condescending toward others. Rather does it stretch out its hands through innate fellow-feeling for them. It puts itself in the shoes of others and intellectually experiences life from their standpoint.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8230E – 5.6.2.135

B_10 – EL1/1

"Hatred ceaseth not by hatred," declared the Buddha, "It ceaseth only by compassionate love." This counsel is much the same as Jesus' injunction to love our enemies. Many people, who wish to do what is ethically right and feel that their best course is to follow the ethics prescribed by such great souls as Jesus or Buddha, get confused here and wallow in sentimentality under the mistaken impression that they are following these counsels.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8231E – 5.6.2.136

B_14 – EL1/4

The sentimentalists misunderstand Jesus if they believe that he taught us to practise outwardly and practically unconditional and universal forgiveness. On the contrary, he made repentance the prerequisite of such visible forgiveness. Those who refuse to repent and persist in wrongdoing must be inwardly and silently forgiven, but otherwise left to suffer the karma of their actions. What is really meant is that we should be big-hearted enough not to exclude our enemies from our goodwill to all mankind and that we should be big-minded enough to comprehend that they are only acting according to their own experience and knowledge of life. This is to "forgive them for they know not what they do." When we hold them in thought and when we image them with feeling we must do so without anger, without hatred, without bitterness.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8231E – 5.6.2.136

B_14 – EL2/4

All doctrines which are based on hatred emanate from the blackest of evil forces. Hatred is always their indicator just as compassion is always an indicator of the good forces. By practising great-hearted compassion, we help to counteract whatever ill-feelings have been generated. Therefore let us not at any time or under any provocation lose ourselves in emotions of resentment, bitterness, and hatred. We must not hate the most misguided of our enemies. We may oppose their false ideas resolutely, we may hate their sins, but not the sinners. We must pity even the most violent of them and not spoil our own characters by accepting their example. We must not sink to the low level of seeking revenge. The desire for revenge is a primitive one. It is apposite to the tiger and reptile kingdom, but in the human kingdom it should be replaced by the desire for justice.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8231E – 5.6.2.136

B_14 – EL3/4

These two attributes—hatred and pity—stand at opposite poles to each other: the one as being the worst of all human vices and the other as being the best of all human virtues. This, then, is a further reason why we must take care not to fall into the all-too-easy habit of hating enemies. For they are still members of this great human family of ours, still creatures planted like us on this woeful planet both to learn its immediate lessons and to share its ultimate redemption.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8231E – 5.6.2.136

B_14 – EL4/4

"Hatred ceaseth not by hatred," declared the Buddha, "It ceaseth only by compassionate love." This counsel is much the same as Jesus' injunction to love our enemies. Many people, who wish to do what is ethically right and feel that their best course is to follow the ethics prescribed by such great souls as Jesus or Buddha, get confused here and wallow in sentimentality under the mistaken impression that they are following these counsels.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8231E – 5.6.2.136

B_10 – ZZZ – K

He must give out that love of which Jesus spoke. But it is not to be an unbalanced sentimentality; rather it is a serene self-identification with others without being thrown off one's own centre. That is why reason is a helpful check here. Above all, he must love the Real, the Overself.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Love, compassion

#8233 – 5.6.2.138

B_10 – Z

Disinterested action does not mean renouncing all work that brings financial reward. How then could one earn a livelihood? It does not mean ascetic renunciation and monastic flight from personal responsibilities. The philosophic attitude is that a man shall perform his full duty to the world, but this will be done in such a way that it brings injury to none. Truth, honesty, and honour will not be sacrificed for money. Time, energy, capacity, and money will be used wisely in the best interests of mankind, and above all the philosopher will pray constantly that the Overself will accept him as a dedicated instrument of service. And it surely will.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Detachment

#8246D – 5.6.2.151

BN – ZZZ – DEK

The degree of attachment is measurable by the degree of emotional involvement. Therefore, to become detached is to become emotionally detached.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Detachment

#8264 – 5.6.2.169

BSG_4 – Z – K

He must fully understand his situation, both with regard to business responsibilities and the duties towards his family—perhaps a wife and mother. It is part of this belief that such responsibilities have to be honourably and effectively discharged and truth should be able to help him to do so rather than relieve him from them.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Detachment

#8280 – 5.6.2.185

BN – Z

Ambition wears thin with time or even wears out altogether. The hour may come when it means nothing and when a man feels nothing of it. Only the young are so eager to risk the perils of upward flight to fame. The reflective man is indifferent to worldly ambitions as the aged man is tired of them. Philosophy leads its votaries to a somewhat similar detachment, but, by supplying new incentives, does not lead to negative results.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Detachment

#8293 – 5.6.2.198

BN – X – D

It was Jesus’ closest relative, his own mother, who sought to sidetrack him from his mission, compelling him to exclaim, “Woman! What have I to do with thee?” It was Ramana Maharshi’s own mother who sought to drag him back from his meditation-cave to a worldly life, compelling him to tell her, in effect, not to alter a course already preordained for him. The duties towards one’s family are limited ones, whereas the duty towards one’s soul is an unlimited one.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Family

#8309 – 5.6.2.214

B_11 – ZZ – DK

Once he has found out his true relationship to the higher power, the problem of settling his relationship to other human beings becomes easy.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Friendship

#8312 – 5.6.2.217

BN – X – D

There is a silence between two persons which is full of nervous tension, but there is another which is full of healing peace. This is rare, uncommon, but it is found through real harmony, full trust, surrendered ego.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Friendship

#8316 – 5.6.2.221

BN – Z

Sometimes a quick friendship means that he is reviving an old spiritual relationship out of the hidden past, out of the numerous incarnations which have been lost in time. Therefore understanding and recognition come quickly, explanations and introductions are not waited for and are not necessary in the real soul-realm.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Friendship

#8319 – 5.6.2.224

BN – Z – DEK

There is the common friendship in which the emotional attitude may one day pass from affection to animosity, and there is this rare friendship which, because it is based on something deeper, diviner, and more enduring than mere emotion, witnesses only the ripening of affection into real love.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Friendship

#8320 – 5.6.2.225

BN – Z

We each possess our own heavenly latitude and must seek out our true compatriots on that line.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Friendship

#8321 – 5.6.2.226

BN – Z

Only those who hold the same spiritual conception of life can be true affinities in friendship.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Friendship

#8324 – 5.6.2.229

BN – Z

Much harm has been done by the pseudo-romantic nonsense and false suggestions put out by cinema, magazines, and novels. [Translator’s note: And in the 21st century, we might well add “social media”]

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Marriage

#8340E – 5.19.15.245

B_10 – Z – K

We shall secure personal happiness only to the extent that we unfold ourselves to the light of the impersonal Overself.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8349 – 5.6.2.254

BN – X – D

The happiness which everyone wants can be found only in the eternal, not in the temporal. But everyone continues to try this or that, with the same endlessly repeated result. Nobody listens to the prophets who tell this, or listens with more than his ears, until time teaches him its truth. Then only do his heart and will begin to apply it.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8350 – 5.6.2.255

UR_1 – ZZZ – K

Happiness cannot be found by those who seek it as a goal in itself. It can be found only by those who know it is a result and not a goal.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8353 – 5.6.2.258

UR_1 – ZZZ – K

Every day is a new day, with new possibilities of a fresh, determined, and more courageous approach to all daily difficulties…

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8356E – 5.6.2.261

BSG_4 – P – DE

It is an heroic and stoic goal to set before a man, that he shall not be dependent upon others for his happiness and that he shall be emotionally self-sufficient. But it is a goal reachable by and, in the present kind of faulty human society, useful to, only the few.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8357 – 5.6.2.262

BN – X – K

It is as erroneous to expect perfect happiness through another person as it is to expect perfect salvation. Each must find the one or the other for himself in himself. No one else can bear such a great and grave responsibility, or ought to bear it. No human relationship can adequately or properly be substituted for what everyone must in the end do for himself.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8364 – 5.6.2.269

BN – Z

He who asks for happiness asks for something he cannot and shall not get while his body breathes. The wise man does not ask more from life than it can yield. If it cannot give happiness, it can give peace.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8365 – 5.6.2.270

BN – Z

“Are you happy?” is a question people often ask him. But he has not sought happiness. He has sought to find out why he is here and to fulfil that purpose.

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8366 – 5.6.2.271

BN – X – D

If a man has inner peace he does not have emotional disturbances or mental agitations. Who then, really enjoys living—the disciplined philosopher who has the peace, or the undisciplined sufferer from the agitations?

Emotions and Ethics > Re-Educate Feelings > Happiness

#8370 – 5.6.2.275

BN – Z

We must keep the emotional issues separate from the intellectual ones. But this is not to say that the intellect is to live an emotion-proof existence. Such separation always needs to be kept up only so long as the lack of it is likely to impair the quest of truth. This danger arises only during the earlier stages of man's seeking. When he has attained a balanced personality, cultivated a serene disposition, and mastered the egotistic urges within himself, then emotion and reason join forces with intuition in producing the quality of intelligence. Henceforth he feels what he thinks and thinks what he feels, his emotions are rightly directed and his thoughts are truthfully formed. They work together harmoniously, satisfactorily, and unitedly.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8373 – 5.6.3.3

BN – ZZ

Anger and hatred are dangerous emotions to carry about with you. Whether or not they lead to actions harmful to the person they are directed against, they are certainly harmful to you. Conquer them quickly, get these psychological poisons out of your system.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8381 – 5.6.3.11

BA12 – ZZZ – DK

The longer he lives the more he discovers that real peace depends on the strength with which he rules his own heart, and real security depends on the truth with which he rules his own mind. When he leaves his emotions in disorder they bring agony—as the accompaniment or the follower of the happiness they claimed at first to be able to give. When he lets his thoughts serve the blindnesses of his ego, they deceive, mislead, or trouble him.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8391 – 5.6.3.21

BN – Z – K1

Emotion is an unreliable adviser but refined, purified, and liberated from egotism, it becomes transformed into intuition.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8398 – 5.6.3.28

BN – X – D

There are two kinds of inner peace. The first is somewhat like that which the ancient Stoics cultivated: the result of controlling emotions and disciplining thoughts, the result of will and effort applied to the mastery of self. It brings with it, at best, a contentment with what one has, at least, a resignation to one's lot. The second is much deeper, for it comes out of the Overself. It is the blessed result of Divine Grace liberating one from the craving for existence.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8400 – 5.6.3.30

BN – X – K

He should calmly recognize that suffering has its allotted function to perform in the divine plan, that other people have their lessons to learn through it when they will learn in no other way, and that the spectacle of its operation should, in such cases, be met with intelligent understanding rather than with neurotic sentimentality. He should face the fact that many people will not learn from reason, intuition, or teaching and that no one can really liberate them from their sufferings except themselves. Every other kind of liberation is a false one. Others may effect it today only to see the same condition return tomorrow. He should not, in certain situations calling for hard decision, for instance, show unjustifiable weakness under the belief that he is showing forbearance, nor submit to antisocial egotism under the thought that he is practising love, nor abandon his highest duties for the sake of making a false and superficial peace with interfering ignorance, nor passibly accept a flagrant wrong because God's will must always be borne.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8404E – 5.6.3.34

B_10 – EL1/1

Whether or not it is possible to attain a perfection of calmness that is secure against all assaults, it is surely possible to attain sufficient calmness to keep off many or most of the emotional disturbances and mental turmoils which derive from the petty incidents of everyday life.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8415 – 5.6.3.45

BN – ZZ – DK

Look through the miserable emotions of the ego and go beyond them to the smiling serenity of the Overself.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8421 – 5.6.3.51

BN – X – DK

The more he practises keeping calm in the confrontations of worldly stress, the less difficult will it be to practise meditation. The practice not only makes it easier for intelligence to operate but also for thoughts to come under control.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8431 – 5.6.3.61

BN – X – D

The Stoics in old Europe tried to put the emotions under the absolute control of reason. The Buddhist yogis in old India tried to do exactly the same. But whereas the Stoics did this in order to meet the everyday alternations of fate, health, and fortune with great courage, the yogis did it in order to escape from those alternations. The Stoics were practical men who accepted the world but sought to conquer it through the power gained by conquering themselves. The yogis rejected the world and, like the desert monks of early Christianity, wanted to be done with its struggles and afflictions.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8438 – 5.6.3.68

BN – X – K

This inner quiescence, this emotional calm, this being at peace with oneself, this refusal to be upset or feel hurt, is one of those conditions which make possible the discovery of the true being.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8442 – 5.6.3.72

BSG_4 – P – D

To eradicate anger he should cultivate its opposite—forgiveness.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8445 – 5.6.3.75

BA12 – P – D

It is prudent to keep away from temptation—at least until enough positive strength has been developed to risk the test. But if development is not sought and obtained, then untempted and unproven virtue may be merely negative.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8452 – 5.6.3.82

BN – X – DEK

There is nothing wrong with the human desire for affection, companionship, and marriage. But he who has embarked on the spiritual path should remember that more is expected from him than from ordinary people. He is expected to have a definite measure of control over his emotions and impulses and must not be carried off his feet into extremes where he loses balance. It is not possible to make good progress on the spiritual path unless some triumph over the impulsive nature is secured.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8455 – 5.6.3.85

BN – X – DEK

When critical moments arrive in a man's life his best recourse is first to calm not to panic, second to remember and turn towards the Overself. In that way he does not depend on his own small resources alone, but opens himself to the larger ones hidden in his subconscious.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8458 – 5.6.3.88

BN – X – D

The emotional agitations will certainly come to an end when he finds his real inner peace, for he cannot have the two together. To have the peace he has to give up the agitations.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8461 – 5.6.3.91

BN – X – D

The practice of calmness frees a man from the fretful, nervous tension so many carry around with them; he brings a pleasant air of repose with him.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Higher and lower emotions

#8468 – 5.6.3.98

BN – X – D

The same human characteristic of emotion which enslaves and even harms him when it is attached to earthly things alone, exalts and liberates him when it is disciplined and purified by philosophy.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Self-restraint

#8520 – 5.6.3.150

BN – Z – K1

The emotional hurts which meant so much and felt so deep when he was spiritually juvenile, will come to signify less and less as he becomes spiritually adult. For he sees increasingly that they made him unhappy only because he himself allowed them to do so, only because, from two possible attitudes, he himself chose the little ego's with its negative and petty emotionalism as against the higher mind's positive and universal rationality.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Self-restraint

#8534 – 5.6.3.164

BA12 – P – D

With regard to the emotions, the path is a crucifixion of the personal ego. It is impossible to pass through such a process without undergoing the terrible ordeal of crushing some feelings and surrendering others. The adept is indeed the man who has triumphed over his emotions, but it would be an indefensible and inexcusable error to think he lives in a complete emotional vacuum, that he is a man without feeling or sensibilities of any kind. Let us not make the mistake of believing that the adept does not know the meaning of the words affection, sympathy, compassion, joy, enthusiasm, and even ecstasy. He does, but he knows them all within the higher self, which rules them. The only emotions he does not know are those lower ones, such as anger, resentment, hatred, prejudice, bitterness, lust, pride, and intolerance. Yes!—the philosophical life does not lack emotional content but it is not the kind of narrow, selfish, vacillating emotion so many human beings are accustomed to.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Matured emotion

#8543E – 5.6.3.173

B_17 – ZEL1/1

If a man is to attain a durable peace, he must commit emotional suicide. But does this mean he is to become utterly devoid of all feeling? Not at all. It is only the lower emotions that have to be liquidated. Yet it is these which play so large a role in human life today, whether in their grossest form of hatred or their most refined form of romantic nonsense miscalled love.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Matured emotion

#8544 – 5.6.3.174

BN – Z

It might be thought that the philosophic discipline seeks to eliminate emotion. The truth is that it seeks to maturate emotion. The disciple’s feelings—no less than his thoughts—must grow up and assume their philosophic responsibilities.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Matured emotion

#8546 – 5.6.3.176

BN – Z – DK

It is an error to regard him as inhuman, as lacking in feeling. What he rejects is negative feeling: what he seeks to overcome is animal wrath, lust, hatred; what he affirms is positive feeling of the best kind—delicate, sensitive, aesthetic, compassionate, and refined. Thus his stoic imperturbability is not 'rigor mortis'.

Emotions and Ethics > Discipline Emotions > Matured emotion

#8551 – 5.6.3.181

BN – X – K

The same power which, when misgoverned, drags men down into materialism, also lifts them into spiritual awareness when directed upward.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8557 – 5.6.4.1

BN – X – D

The more he trains himself to recognize and reject the impulses that come from his lower nature, the more will clarity of comprehension become his.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8584 – 5.6.4.28

BA12 – P – D

Only when the lessons of birth after birth etch themselves deeply and unmistakably into his conscious mind through dreadful repetition can he accept them co-operatively, resignedly, and thus put a stop to the needless sufferings of desire, passion, and attachment. 

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8586E – 5.6.4.30

UR_5 – ZZZ – DEK

When a man's desires and yearnings, thirsts and longings are so strong as to upset his reasoning power and block his intuitive capacity, he is stopped from finding truth. In this condition he shuts his eyes to those facts which are displeasing or which are contrary to his desires and opens them only to those which are pleasing or agreeable to his wishes. Thinking bends easily to desires, so that the satisfaction of personal interest rather than the quest of universal truth becomes its real object.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8587 – 5.6.4.31

BN – Z – K1

The faculty of will is immeasurably more important to the progress of the inner life than that of intellect. For the passions and appetites of the body are controlled by will; the strength of the lower nature is at the service of the ego's will rather than of its intellect.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8591 – 5.6.4.35

BN – X – DEK

When control is so perfect that he can never again raise his voice in anger, he need turn attention to only one other passion—the sexual.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8594 – 5.6.4.38

BN – X – D

It is not possible for these finer elements to become, little by little, paramount in his outlook, consciousness, and conduct without a corresponding decline in the coarser ones. He will gradually become the ruler of his physical appetites and then master of his bodily desires. Indeed, as all his longings for the Overself slowly gather themselves together into a great dedicated life, there is an equally great shift-over from the animal part of his being to the truly human, allied with an opening-up of the angelic or divine part.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8603 – 5.6.4.47

BN – X – DK

So long as a man identifies himself with the physical body, so long will he perforce have to identify himself with its desires and passions. Only when he transfers this self-identification to the infinite mental being can he completely detach himself from them.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8605 – 5.6.4.49

BN – X – D

Both desires and fears bind a man to his ego and thus bar the way to spiritual fulfilment. They could not exist except in relation to a second thing. But when he turns his mind away from all things and directs it toward its own still centre, it is the beginning of the end for all desires and all fears.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8616 – 5.6.4.60

BN – X – D

What is it worth to a man to be free from the passions, and free from the inner divisive conflicts which their activity must necessarily produce in him? Are they not the chief obstacles which prevent him from attaining that inner calm wherein alone the ego can be faced, caught, and conquered? And this done, what is there to keep the Overself from taking possession of him?

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8619 – 5.6.4.63

BN – Z

It is true that we all share an animal body with the lower creatures. But that does not force us to stay on their level emotionally.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8628 – 5.6.4.72

BN – X – D

Whoever puts a moral purpose into life automatically lifts himself above the physical level of mere animality. For him begins a struggle between the slavery of sense and the freedom of enlightenment, between blind emotion and deliberate will, between inward weakness and inward strength. Henceforth, he seeks happiness rather than pleasure, the calm of a satisfied mind rather than the excitement of satisfied senses. If this is a stoic ideal, it is a necessary one, for he must conquer himself. He hates himself, and no man can live in peace with what he hates.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8638 – 5.6.4.82

BN – X – K

Make sure what you really want before you go after it. The bitter experience in life is to find after years of effort that the thing you have gained is not the thing you want.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8639 – 5.6.4.83

BN – X – D

If a man is not free from lust, fear, and anger, be sure he is not united with the Overself, whatever other qualities, powers, or virtues he shows.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8642 – 5.6.4.86

BN – X – D

What really happens is a reunion with the true "Beloved," who is none other than the Soul of the individual, his higher Self. This is a real living entity, whose presence is felt, whose words are heard, and whose beauty arouses all one's love.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8648E – 5.6.4.92

B_10 – P – DE

If your passion is transferred from a passing object or human body to the more durable and beautiful soul, you will be progressing from a lower to a higher plane.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8681 – 5.6.4.125

BN – X – D

To what better use can a man put his will than the eradication of hatreds and the subduing of passions? For out of these two sources alone come so many wrong deeds and so much consequent suffering.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8699 – 5.6.4.143

B_17 – Z – D

He who submits his emotions and passions to reason, and his reason to intuition, will save himself many regrets.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8705 – 5.6.4.149

BN – X – D

When passion, uncontrollable and blind, irrational and violent, is behind action, the consequences may be harmful to its owner but they may also be instructive—if he is willing to be instructed. For life is an educational process, which everyone has to undergo whether the pupils like it or not.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8708 – 5.6.4.152

BN – Z – DEK

The desires of human beings are never satiated, nor can they ever be since human beings must go on searching for final satisfaction. It is in their nature to do so. But what cannot be satiated by outer things can turn in on itself and find rest at last within.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8720 – 5.6.4.164

BN – X – D

It is the strength or feebleness of his attachments and desires which largely govern his first and earlier paces in the relinquishment of ego.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8722 – 5.6.4.166

BN – X – D

When insight arises, the passions become subdued and the problems which beset man become solved of their own accord. We may quarrel and kill whilst we remain in ignorance, but we must needs feel for and with each other when we comprehend at long last that in the Overself we are one.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8723 – 5.6.4.167

BN – X – D

Whereas the conventional good man seeks to leave behind only the gross and flagrant forms of sin, the philosophic disciple is much more scrupulous. Whereas the one is content to moderate the strength of his lower nature, the other tries to subjugate it altogether.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8725 – 5.6.4.169

BN – X – D

We are to discipline, and when necessary abstain from satisfying, the lower impulses of our nature because we are to cultivate its higher intuitions. The clamant voice of the one drowns the soft whisper of the other.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8726 – 5.6.4.170

BN – X – D

The rising generations have legitimate complaints against their ancestors. But in the matter of winning full freedom to follow their desires and upset the old Christian moral codes, the Mosaic decalogues, Confucian precepts, and the Indian taboos, they need to pause. Puritanic ideals are denounced but are not entirely inhuman: they have to be sifted and the good in them taken out. Stoic, simple living and self-discipline can be softened, its harshness also taken out, and the residue will be what the moderns need if they are to travel up higher and not sink lower.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8735 – 5.6.4.179

BN – X – K

If before performing an impulsive, undisciplined, and irresponsible deed he would remember what the consequences are and that he will have to bear them, then he will have taken the first step towards self-mastery.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8737 – 5.6.4.181

BN – Z – DK

The animal gives way to its desires and feelings more quickly than the human because it acts by instinct. The human, so far as he is an animal, also acts by instinct. But to the extent that he has developed reason and will he has developed a counter to that instinct which moderates or controls his desires and his feelings. Those humans who are nearer on the scale of evolution to the animal kingdom give way to passion and anger more readily because they have less self-control.

Emotions and Ethics > Purify Passions > Purify Passions

#8743 – 5.6.4.187

BN – X – DEK

That alone is true culture which refines taste, improves character, lifts standards, corrects behaviour, and teaches self-control.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8748 – 5.6.5.2

BN – X – D

His general attitude in discussion or study should be unbiased and unprejudiced, his observation of men and their situations impersonal and serene. He must realize that small men cannot entertain large views, that he is called upon to be big enough to put aside his personal sympathies and antipathies at certain times. He must realize too that whilst a man's mind moves at the low level of harsh prejudice or hot passion, it cannot possibly arrive at just conclusions. Before he can arrive at the truth of a highly controversial matter, he must detach himself from partisan feeling about it. Only in such inner silence can he think clearly and correctly about it. Where his criticism is directed against others, it should be the result of calm, impersonal reflection, not of emotional chagrin. This poised spirit will help him to avoid foolish extremes and dangerous rashness.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8750E – 5.6.5.4

BN – ZEL1/3 – K

He should not adopt a violent partisan spirit towards a problem or a principle for he knows that such a spirit always obscures the truth. Instead, he should always calmly view all sides in a balanced way. It is because he himself holds no rigidly partisan view that the earnest philosophic student can see better than other people what is true and what is false in every partisan view. It is not often that all the truth lies on one side and all the falsehood on the other. His ethical attitude should be more tolerant and less unfriendly than the average, as his intellectual attitude should be more inclusive and less dogmatic. He should refuse to imitate the irresponsible multitudes, with their surface judgement and facile condemnation. He should seek to understand and to respect the views of others; he should take the trouble to put himself in their place, to give an imaginative sympathy to their standpoint. He need not fall into the error of necessarily sharing them and may still stand on the intellectual foothold which he has secured.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8750E – 5.6.5.4

BN – ZEL2/3 – K

Although this attitude will more and more show itself in personal and social situations and in practical and general affairs as a matter of course according to his growth, it will also show itself in his spiritual life. The unprejudiced study and unbiased comparison of various systems of religions, metaphysics, mysticism, and ethics will be for him valuable parts of philosophic culture. He should be both willing and desirous to understand all of the chief points of view, all the leading variants of doctrine in these systems, but at the same time he will know his own mind and views. Even while he is seeking to know the minds and views of others, he should estimate how limited, how distorted, how falsified, or how large an aspect of truth each represents. He can do this with the help of the philosophic conception of truth, which lights up all these others, because it stands at the peak toward which they have climbed only a part of the way.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8750E – 5.6.5.4

BN – ZEL3/3 – K

To become a fuller human being a man must acquire education and culture. Both he and his life will be enriched. But unless he keeps humility, his egoism may grow too.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8757 – 5.6.5.11

BN – X – D

Suppose you knew that this was to be your last day on earth. How would you behave towards others? Would you not sink all short-range attitudes and rise above the petty selfishness, the pitiful enmities, and the harsh discords which may have marred your past? Would you not try at least to feel goodwill toward all men? This is how philosophy bids you behave at all times and not merely on your deathbed.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8775 – 5.6.5.29

B_02 – P – D

He is open-eyed enough to see men as they are, but also generous enough to see them as they must one day become.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8777 – 5.6.5.31

BA11 – ZZ – DK

As the full meaning of reincarnation and of karma sinks deeper and deeper into his mind, a generous tolerance will rise higher and higher in his feelings. He will begin to see that every wrong-doer is what he is because of his past experience and present mentality and has to act in the way he does and cannot act in any other way. The life of such a man develops inevitably and naturally out of his character, out of his mode of thought, and out of his experience on this earth in the present and in former lives.

Emotions and Ethics > Spiritual Refinement > Courtesy, tolerance, considerateness

#8778 – 5.6.5.32

BA11 – ZZ – DEK