June 1, 2023 • 15 mins
https://www.solgood.org - Check out our Streaming Service for our full collection of audiobooks, podcasts, short stories, & 10 hour sounds for sleep and relaxation at our website
psychic abilities, paranormal phenomena, metaphysics, spirituality, intuition, extrasensory perception, divination, spiritualism, self-help, personal growth, meditation, clairvoyance, telepathy, astral projection, dream interpretation, chakras, energy healing, esotericism, cultural influence, human nature, self-awareness, spiritual practices, consciousness, psychic development, holistic living
psychic abilities, paranormal phenomena, metaphysics, spirituality, intuition, extrasensory perception, divination, spiritualism, self-help, personal growth, meditation, clairvoyance, telepathy, astral projection, dream interpretation, chakras, energy healing, esotericism, cultural influence, human nature, self-awareness, spiritual practices, consciousness, psychic development, holistic living
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Chapter seven, Know thyself was themandate of the Delphic Oracle. Before man
can undertake to govern and control externalforces, he must learn to control those
within himself. For only by doingthis can success be attained. Man utilizes
(00:26):
his mind as he would a tool, every day of his life. The
better we understand our tools, thebetter workmen we are. Hence, he
who would succeed must understand the workingsof his own nature. The cosmic currents.
(00:50):
First of all, we are toldthat there are cosmic currents playing to
and fro in the world, contradictorycurrens, or streams of thoughts, into
which we are liable to enter unconsciously, even against our will. Some of
these currents are beneficial, others areharmful. Some natures are strong to stem
(01:17):
the tide and achieve success against thegreatest obstacles. Others can extricate themselves,
but partially others do not do soat all. For this reason, we
have the successes and the failures inlife. It depends partly upon outside influences,
(01:46):
partly upon ourselves. The first wecannot control except indirectly through ourselves.
How to make a success of yourlife? Here is the explanation of a
great fallacy which many people make.They imagine that they can be their own
(02:12):
well mold circumstance to soothe themselves.This is only partly true. Let me
explain. We must not turn ourpower of mind upon others. We must
turn it upon ourselves in such away that it will make its stronger,
(02:35):
more positive, more capable, andmore efficient. And as we develop in
this manner, success will come ofitself. The way to control circumstances is
to control the forces within yourself,to make a greater man of yourself,
and as you become greater and morecompetent, you will naturally gravitate into better
(03:01):
circumstances. We should remember that likeattracts like. For as doctor Larson says,
those people who fail and who continueto fail all along the line,
fail because the power of their mindsis either in a habitual negative side or
(03:24):
is always misdirected. If the powerof mind is not working positively and constructively
for a certain goal, you arenot going to succeed. If your mind
is not positive, it is negative, and negative minds float. With this
(03:46):
dream, we must remember that weare in the midst of all kinds of
circumstances, some of which are forus and some of which are against us,
and we will either have to makeour own way or drift. And
if we drift, we go whereverthe stream goes. But most of the
(04:11):
streams of human life are found toflow into the world of the ordinary and
the inferior. Therefore, if youdrift, you will drift with the inferior,
and your goal will be failure.The Three Laws of success. In
order to achieve mental and spiritual success, three rules must be observed, which
(04:38):
are of prime importance. The firstis that you must have in your mind
a clear conception of what you want. If you have not any definite goal
in view, you cannot expect toachieve any great success because you will be
constantly wasting your energy in by wayswithout directing it all towards one certain point.
(05:05):
The second is you must make yourthinking positive and not negative. This
does not mean that you must grindyour teeth, frown and try to dominate
everyone you meet. It means thatyou possess a calm self assurance and the
inner conviction and the certainty that youwill succeed physically. This state of things
(05:32):
may be felt in a full firmsensation throughout the nervous system. The third
rule is all you're thinking must beconstructive, that is, built about the
goal or object you have in mind. If you spend only a fraction of
(05:53):
your energy of thought in any onedirection, you cannot expect to progress very
far in that line. The runnerwho tries at the same time to work
out a mathematical problem in his headwill not be first in the race.
Constructive thinking means that you must consistentlyand continually think off and about what you
(06:18):
wish to accomplish. The sooner youlearn to do this, the sooner will
success be yours. Obstacles in lifepresent great difficulties. Up to a certain
point. They may be looked uponas helps to character and progress, and
(06:41):
the more these are overcome, thestronger will your character ultimately be. At
the same time, this may beoverdone, and there is such a thing
as kicking against the pricks flowing withthe tide if you're striving your best,
(07:03):
and every man knows in his heartwhen he is doing his best to accomplish
a certain thing, and more andmore difficulties seem to multiply. The further
you progress. You may under certainconditions, assume that it is not meant
for you at this particular time todo this particular thing, and you may
(07:30):
shortly look back and see how youwere prevented from undertaking something that might have
proven disastrous. In this way,it is possible to float with these currents
instead of stemming them to advantage.Missus Towne tells us that she, at
(07:51):
one period of her life, coulddo nothing on account of her desire to
rest and sleep. She determined andthat she would give this full play.
She went to bed and stayed therefor fourteen days and nights. At the
end of that time, she feltthat at last she had had enough rest,
(08:16):
and thence forward work became a joyinstead of a burden. It proved
to be the turning point in herlife, acting for our ultimate good.
There are therefore cosmic currents swaying toand fro, flowing back and forth throughout
(08:41):
the psychic universe, and the morewe can sense or become receptive to these
currents, the more will our lifebe guided and directed for us by an
intelligent control greater than our own.We all think that we know exactly what
(09:01):
we want to do and what isbest for us. Yet this is not
always the case. To a mindwast and more inclusive than ours, the
more opposite of this may seem betterfor our ultimate good. For example,
a dog has to have a toothextracted. The painful operation of removing the
(09:28):
tooth is all that the dog cansee. To him, it is all
painful, nothing beneficial. To us. On the contrary, who see not
only what a dog sees, butmore, it is clear that the dog
will eventually be better for the removalof his tooth. Though it is a
(09:50):
painful experience applied to ourselves, itis most probably true that our painful experiences
in life can be interpreted in asimilar manner, and that many of them
could we see them in that lightfor our ultimate good. How these laws
(10:13):
apply to psychic development? Now,let us apply what we have learned to
psychic development and the cultivation of mediumisticgifts. We have found that there are
magnetic and spiritual forces playing upon usfrom different directions here, and they're all
over the world. Some of theseare for our own good, others are
(10:39):
not. We must learn to becomesensitive to these currents which are beneficial to
us, and shut out those whichare not. How are we two do
this. In the first place,it is necessary for this student who really
desires to obtain this guidance to makecertain renunciations or sacrifices. He cannot be
(11:05):
in the world and at the sametime receive the spiritual perfection. One cannot
both eat one's cake and have it. So you must make up your mind
just what you wish to do.Many mediums, unfortunately, do not develop
(11:26):
along these lines. The cultivation ofthe spiritual self is not altogether the same
thing as a cultivation of the psychicself obtaining psychic phenomena. The one great
reproach which has been made against manymediums and spiritualists is that spiritualists are everything
(11:48):
but spiritual. Doubtless, this isnot true of spiritualists anymore than the followers
of any other religious faith. Humannature is weak, and we all fall
from grace. But we are nowonly talking of those who sincerely desire personal
(12:15):
spiritual enlightenment and who are willing tomake some sacrifices in order to obtain it.
To those who are anxious to followthis path, we would say that
it is unwise to give two fulldirections thus early in your development. This
(12:35):
is a question which will be discussedmore fully in chapter forty two. For
the present, a few practical pointsmay be helpful both in your daily life
and your psychic unfoldment. Rules tofollow, as is so often insisted upon,
(12:56):
the health must be maintained. Ifthis is not done, you render
yourself liable to nervous exhaustion and throughthis to obsession. Your clear common sense
and interest in the things of theworld must to a certain extent be kept,
(13:18):
otherwise the judgment will become unbalanced.Cultivate sympathy, harmony, interest in
your fellow beings. Cultivate your ownsensitiveness along ordinary psychic lines by various special
exercises. When you obtain a certainnumber of psychic phenomena in this way,
(13:46):
you will be far more receptive thanyou wear before. Cultivate at all times
what may be called a listening attitudeof the soul. This is particularly important
and practically valuable. When you arein doubt upon any question. Retire to
a quiet room and ask your ownhigher self what is the best thing for
(14:13):
you to do. At first,these replies will be very vague and indistinct,
but as you progress in your developmentyou will find that they will become
clearer and clearer, and you willsoon get definite and clearly formed replies in
answer to this mental questioning. Assoon as you have progressed thus far,
(14:41):
you may be sure that you havebegun to sense the cosmic currents which flow
about you. And when once youhave done this, it is thenceforward only
a matter of personal developments. Thiswill be dealt with more fully in several
(15:05):
of the chapters which follow end ofChapter seven,
Chapter seven, Know thyself was themandate of the Delphic Oracle. Before man
can undertake to govern and control externalforces, he must learn to control those
within himself. For only by doingthis can success be attained. Man utilizes
(00:26):
his mind as he would a tool, every day of his life. The
better we understand our tools, thebetter workmen we are. Hence, he
who would succeed must understand the workingsof his own nature. The cosmic currents.
(00:50):
First of all, we are toldthat there are cosmic currents playing to
and fro in the world, contradictorycurrens, or streams of thoughts, into
which we are liable to enter unconsciously, even against our will. Some of
these currents are beneficial, others areharmful. Some natures are strong to stem
(01:17):
the tide and achieve success against thegreatest obstacles. Others can extricate themselves,
but partially others do not do soat all. For this reason, we
have the successes and the failures inlife. It depends partly upon outside influences,
(01:46):
partly upon ourselves. The first wecannot control except indirectly through ourselves.
How to make a success of yourlife? Here is the explanation of a
great fallacy which many people make.They imagine that they can be their own
(02:12):
well mold circumstance to soothe themselves.This is only partly true. Let me
explain. We must not turn ourpower of mind upon others. We must
turn it upon ourselves in such away that it will make its stronger,
(02:35):
more positive, more capable, andmore efficient. And as we develop in
this manner, success will come ofitself. The way to control circumstances is
to control the forces within yourself,to make a greater man of yourself,
and as you become greater and morecompetent, you will naturally gravitate into better
(03:01):
circumstances. We should remember that likeattracts like. For as doctor Larson says,
those people who fail and who continueto fail all along the line,
fail because the power of their mindsis either in a habitual negative side or
(03:24):
is always misdirected. If the powerof mind is not working positively and constructively
for a certain goal, you arenot going to succeed. If your mind
is not positive, it is negative, and negative minds float. With this
(03:46):
dream, we must remember that weare in the midst of all kinds of
circumstances, some of which are forus and some of which are against us,
and we will either have to makeour own way or drift. And
if we drift, we go whereverthe stream goes. But most of the
(04:11):
streams of human life are found toflow into the world of the ordinary and
the inferior. Therefore, if youdrift, you will drift with the inferior,
and your goal will be failure.The Three Laws of success. In
order to achieve mental and spiritual success, three rules must be observed, which
(04:38):
are of prime importance. The firstis that you must have in your mind
a clear conception of what you want. If you have not any definite goal
in view, you cannot expect toachieve any great success because you will be
constantly wasting your energy in by wayswithout directing it all towards one certain point.
(05:05):
The second is you must make yourthinking positive and not negative. This
does not mean that you must grindyour teeth, frown and try to dominate
everyone you meet. It means thatyou possess a calm self assurance and the
inner conviction and the certainty that youwill succeed physically. This state of things
(05:32):
may be felt in a full firmsensation throughout the nervous system. The third
rule is all you're thinking must beconstructive, that is, built about the
goal or object you have in mind. If you spend only a fraction of
(05:53):
your energy of thought in any onedirection, you cannot expect to progress very
far in that line. The runnerwho tries at the same time to work
out a mathematical problem in his headwill not be first in the race.
Constructive thinking means that you must consistentlyand continually think off and about what you
(06:18):
wish to accomplish. The sooner youlearn to do this, the sooner will
success be yours. Obstacles in lifepresent great difficulties. Up to a certain
point. They may be looked uponas helps to character and progress, and
(06:41):
the more these are overcome, thestronger will your character ultimately be. At
the same time, this may beoverdone, and there is such a thing
as kicking against the pricks flowing withthe tide if you're striving your best,
(07:03):
and every man knows in his heartwhen he is doing his best to accomplish
a certain thing, and more andmore difficulties seem to multiply. The further
you progress. You may under certainconditions, assume that it is not meant
for you at this particular time todo this particular thing, and you may
(07:30):
shortly look back and see how youwere prevented from undertaking something that might have
proven disastrous. In this way,it is possible to float with these currents
instead of stemming them to advantage.Missus Towne tells us that she, at
(07:51):
one period of her life, coulddo nothing on account of her desire to
rest and sleep. She determined andthat she would give this full play.
She went to bed and stayed therefor fourteen days and nights. At the
end of that time, she feltthat at last she had had enough rest,
(08:16):
and thence forward work became a joyinstead of a burden. It proved
to be the turning point in herlife, acting for our ultimate good.
There are therefore cosmic currents swaying toand fro, flowing back and forth throughout
(08:41):
the psychic universe, and the morewe can sense or become receptive to these
currents, the more will our lifebe guided and directed for us by an
intelligent control greater than our own.We all think that we know exactly what
(09:01):
we want to do and what isbest for us. Yet this is not
always the case. To a mindwast and more inclusive than ours, the
more opposite of this may seem betterfor our ultimate good. For example,
a dog has to have a toothextracted. The painful operation of removing the
(09:28):
tooth is all that the dog cansee. To him, it is all
painful, nothing beneficial. To us. On the contrary, who see not
only what a dog sees, butmore, it is clear that the dog
will eventually be better for the removalof his tooth. Though it is a
(09:50):
painful experience applied to ourselves, itis most probably true that our painful experiences
in life can be interpreted in asimilar manner, and that many of them
could we see them in that lightfor our ultimate good. How these laws
(10:13):
apply to psychic development? Now,let us apply what we have learned to
psychic development and the cultivation of mediumisticgifts. We have found that there are
magnetic and spiritual forces playing upon usfrom different directions here, and they're all
over the world. Some of theseare for our own good, others are
(10:39):
not. We must learn to becomesensitive to these currents which are beneficial to
us, and shut out those whichare not. How are we two do
this. In the first place,it is necessary for this student who really
desires to obtain this guidance to makecertain renunciations or sacrifices. He cannot be
(11:05):
in the world and at the sametime receive the spiritual perfection. One cannot
both eat one's cake and have it. So you must make up your mind
just what you wish to do.Many mediums, unfortunately, do not develop
(11:26):
along these lines. The cultivation ofthe spiritual self is not altogether the same
thing as a cultivation of the psychicself obtaining psychic phenomena. The one great
reproach which has been made against manymediums and spiritualists is that spiritualists are everything
(11:48):
but spiritual. Doubtless, this isnot true of spiritualists anymore than the followers
of any other religious faith. Humannature is weak, and we all fall
from grace. But we are nowonly talking of those who sincerely desire personal
(12:15):
spiritual enlightenment and who are willing tomake some sacrifices in order to obtain it.
To those who are anxious to followthis path, we would say that
it is unwise to give two fulldirections thus early in your development. This
(12:35):
is a question which will be discussedmore fully in chapter forty two. For
the present, a few practical pointsmay be helpful both in your daily life
and your psychic unfoldment. Rules tofollow, as is so often insisted upon,
(12:56):
the health must be maintained. Ifthis is not done, you render
yourself liable to nervous exhaustion and throughthis to obsession. Your clear common sense
and interest in the things of theworld must to a certain extent be kept,
(13:18):
otherwise the judgment will become unbalanced.Cultivate sympathy, harmony, interest in
your fellow beings. Cultivate your ownsensitiveness along ordinary psychic lines by various special
exercises. When you obtain a certainnumber of psychic phenomena in this way,
(13:46):
you will be far more receptive thanyou wear before. Cultivate at all times
what may be called a listening attitudeof the soul. This is particularly important
and practically valuable. When you arein doubt upon any question. Retire to
a quiet room and ask your ownhigher self what is the best thing for
(14:13):
you to do. At first,these replies will be very vague and indistinct,
but as you progress in your developmentyou will find that they will become
clearer and clearer, and you willsoon get definite and clearly formed replies in
answer to this mental questioning. Assoon as you have progressed thus far,
(14:41):
you may be sure that you havebegun to sense the cosmic currents which flow
about you. And when once youhave done this, it is thenceforward only
a matter of personal developments. Thiswill be dealt with more fully in several
(15:05):
of the chapters which follow end ofChapter seven,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.