INNER CONSCIOUSNESS/PART 4
LESSON 4.
THE MENTAL STOREHOUSE
In the previous lessons we have stated that there are
planes of the Inner Consciousness which resemble vast mental storehouses in
which are placed the materials from which much of our thinking is composed.
These thought-materials are brought by the porters and Carriers of our mental
warehouse into the field of consciousness, or thought-factory, where they are
manufactured into the fabric of conscious thought and action. In those vast
mental warehouses are much that we never placed there ourselves—the remnants of
mental goods stored by countless ancestors, which are constantly being brought
forward to be woven into the fabric of our thoughts. But, there are also vast
quantities of material, good, bad and indifferent, placed there by ourselves,
and it is these personal contributions to the storehouse which largely
determine that thoughts and acts which result from what we call "our
character” or our "nature.” And this being the fact, is it not of the
greatest importance that we should be careful just what kind of material we
place in these great mental warehouses and storage chambers? Our present
thoughts and actions—our characters, in fact, are largely the result of our
past thoughts and mental attitude. And the thoughts, actions and character of
each of you, in the future, will be largely the result of the mental material
which you are now placing in these storage rooms of your mind. This is not
"preaching” or "moralizing,” but is merely the calling of your
attention to facts and truths known to, and admitted by, all students of
psychology.
We are today largely the
result of what we have thought, or what we have allowed to impress us in the
past. Our Mental Attitude, together with the kind of suggestions that we have allowed
to impress us in the past, determines to a great extent our "character”
and "self” of today. When we think, we do not manufacture the
thought-fabric out of the thin air, or sunlight, or out of "nothing” as
many seem to suppose. Each bit of wonderful fabric of thought and action is the
result of the weaving of the mental material that we have accumulated in the
past and stored away in some of the storage rooms of the Inner Consciousness.
This surely is plain enough to everyone who will give the matter a moment's
thought, and yet how few really have realized the truth and still fewer are
those who have learned to act upon this principle. If we were building a house,
store or any other building, how careful we would be to see that none but the
best materials were delivered to the builders in whose hands the erection of
the property was placed. How carefully each item of material would be
inspected. If we were in the manufacturing business, and wished to turn out
goods of fine quality, how careful we would be regarding the grade of the
material to be used. Our buyer would exercise his skill, and the inspector
would look over each consignment as it arrived, rejecting all imperfect and
unsatisfactory material. And yet, how careless we are regarding our thoughts,
moods, mental attitudes, and auto-suggestions that we place among the material
to be used in our mental building and manufacturing in the days to come. Is it
not time to call a halt on these careless and almost criminal methods, and
adopt a sane, scientific plane of thought-life?
The Mental Attitude of a
man is represented by the character of thoughts which he allows to "take a
hold on him.” If he allows every despondent, negative, hurtful thought to
obtain lodgment in his mind, his mental attitude will gradually become in
harmony with such thoughts, and he will be laying away a fresh stock of
negative thoughts each day, which will surely be woven into the mental-fabric
he turns out on some future day. Can you doubt this, when you know of the
effects of certain mental "habits” of manifestation? And what are these
habits, but the using of the thought-material of the past? How much harder is
it for a man whose mind is full of these negative thought-materials to present
a bold, confident, courageous front in the battles of life? His every instinct
and habit of thought is against it. It is so much easier to droop the
shoulders, and fold the hands, and say "what's the use?” in such a case—
because all the mental material is of that dark grey, negative hue—all the
material is of that rotten, worthless quality. But if, in the past you have
cultivated the habit of refusing to admit the negative thoughts and
suggestions—have thrown them out on the scrap-pile, and have stored away
nothing but the bright, cheerful, courageous and positive thoughts and
suggestions— then when you begin to build or weave you will surely produce the
best kind of thought and action. You cannot help it, for you are working
with the best materials, and with your mental machine adjusted to the proper
gauge.
All this is far more than "jollying” or
"cheering-up talk”—it is a statement of psychological fact which if once
thoroughly understood by the masses of people, would make this old world of
ours over into a much brighter and cheerful place. An understanding of these
principles will make you over mentally, if you will but act upon your new
knowledge. There is no "secret process” connected with this work—all that
is necessary for you to do, is to Will that henceforth you will allow no
negative, depressing or undesirable thought take lodgment in your mind, but
will on the contrary keep steadily at work replacing the undesirable things in
your mind with desirable material. When a negative thought comes into your
field of consciousness, dismiss it with the thought "there is another bit
of that mental truck that l stored away—away with it to the scrap-pile.” And
lose no opportunity of thinking the bright, optimistic, positive, desirable
thoughts, and storing them away. And when you can put one of these thoughts
into action, by all means do so, for by so doing you have added a large share
to the right kind of material in your mental storehouse.
Do not let the thought of the past
thought-foolishness worry you or discourage you. Think of the comparison, made
by a well-known writer who compared the mind to a bowl of muddy water, into
which a clear stream of fresh water was pouring. Anyone will see that the fresh
water will gradually clear the entire body of water, until the muddy substances
are not discernible. So pour in the kind of thoughts you desire, and thus
render clear the muddiness that has been your bane for so long. Another writer
has compared the matter to a dark room— if you wish to drive away the darkness,
just open the shutters and admit the light, and lo! the darkness has
disappeared. And this last illustration is true according to the old occult
teachings which held that a "positive” thought always tended to neutralize
and transmute a "negative” one—in fact that a positive thought had
sufficient potency and force to neutralize many negative thoughts. This being
the case, by will-power, and perseverance, you may change the nature of your
mental-materials stored away in the storerooms of the Inner Consciousness, including the inherited ones, and thus
render yourself practically a new person in character and nature, within a
reasonable time.
The Ego is the real master, and not the slave of
environment that so many seem to think it is. It is true that when the Ego lies
dormant and passive, the personality is indeed made up of the inherited ideas
and feelings; the suggested thoughts and ideas; and the acquired ideas and
tendencies picked up during our life. But let the Ego once rouse itself and put
into operation its own weapon—the Will—then it is enabled to master
environment, and to cast out the rubbish stored away from the past, replacing
it with bright, fresh, good strong mental material from which the thoughts and
actions of the future will be manufactured. The Ego can remake one's "character,”
for it is the Master of the Mental Warehouse. Dismiss your careless and
incompetent mental assistants, which have allowed this accumulation of mental
rubbish. Take charge yourself—You, the Ego—and assert your Mastery. Inspect and
pick out your own mental material, that nothing but the best quality of thought
and action may be produced!
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