|
Self-Development and the Way To Power
L. W. Rogers
Written in 1922. The
electronic version is courtesy of
Project Gutenberg
Page 1
Previous
Next
The universe is a training school for evolving
intelligence – a vast gymnasium for the development of
moral fibre. We become mentally clever by playing at
the game of life. We match our
courage against its adversities and acquire
fearlessness. We try our
optimism against its disappointments and learn
cheerfulness. We pit our
patience against its
failures and gain
persistence. We are torn from the pinnacle of
ambition by opponents and learn toleration of others. We
fall from the heights of vanity and pride, and learn to
be modest and humble. We encounter pain and sorrow and
learn sympathy with suffering. It is only by such
experiences that we can grow to rounded measure. It is
only in an environment thus adapted to our spiritual
development that we can evolve the latent powers within
us.
Such is the universe
in which we find ourselves and from it there is no
escape. No man can avoid life
– not
even the foolish one who, when the difficulties before
him appear for the moment overwhelming, tries to escape
them by suicide. A man cannot die. He can only choose
how he will live. He may either helplessly drift through
the world suffering from all the ills and evils that
make so many unhappy or he may choose the method of
conscious evolution that alone makes life
truly successful. We may be either the suffering
slaves of nature or the
happy masters of her laws.
Now, all powers
possessed by any human being, no matter how exalted his
position in evolution, or how sublime his spiritual
power, are latent in all human beings and can, in time,
be developed and brought into action. Of course there is
no magic rule by which the ignoramus can instantly
become wise or by which a brutal man can be at once
transformed into a saint. It may require scores of
incarnations to accomplish a work so great, but when a
man reaches the point in his evolution where he begins
to comprehend the purpose of life, and to evolve the
will to put forth his energies in co-operation with
nature, his rise to wisdom and power may be swift
indeed. But this transformation from the darkness of
ignorance to spiritual illumination, from helplessness
"in the fell clutch of circumstance" to power over
nature, must be brought about by his own efforts, for it
is a process of evolution--of forcing the latent to
become the active. Therefore one must resolve to take
oneself in hand for definite and systematic
self-development. Nobody else can do the work for us.
Certain moral
qualities must be gained before there can be spiritual
illumination and genuine wisdom and such qualities, or
virtues, have to be evolved by the laws under which all
growth occurs. It is just as impossible to acquire a
moral quality by reading about its desirability as to
evolve muscular strength by watching the performance of
a group of athletes. To gain muscular strength one must
take part in the physical activities that produce it. He
must live the athletic life. To win spiritual strength
and supremacy he must live the spiritual life. There is
no other way. He must first learn what mental and moral
qualities are essential, and how to gain them, and then
set earnestly about the work of acquiring them.
The first thing necessary is to get a clear
understanding of the fact that the physical body is not
the self but only a vehicle or instrument through which
the self is being manifested in the visible
world. The body is as much your instrument as the hand
is, or as your pen is. It is a thing which you, the
self, use and a clear conception of this fact--a feeling
that this is the fact--is the first step toward that
absolute control of the physical body that lays the
foundation for success in conscious evolution. When we
feel that in managing the physical body we are
controlling something that is not ourself we are fairly
started on the right road.
Page 1
Previous
Next
|
