Day by day
The day will inexorably come when this pen shall move no more and I wish therefore to leave on record, for the benefit of those who shall come after, a sacred and solemn testimony that I know - as surely as I know that I am not this pen which scribes these lines - that a being, benign, wise, protective, and divine, whom men call the Soul, whom I call the Overself, truly exists in the hearts of all; therefore all may discover it... For the presence of man«s own innermost divinity is the guarantee that he must inescapably seek and find it.
14.22.3.2, Excerpt10 Oct 2010There is some life-power from which we derive our capacities and our intelligence. It is hidden and intangible. No one has seen it but everyone who thinks deeply enough can sense that it is there, always present and always supporting us. It is the Overself.
14.22.3.17511 Oct 2010Is this benign state a past from which we have lapsed or a future to which we are coming? The true answer is that it is neither. This state has always been existent within us, is so now, and always will be. It is forever with us simply because it is what we really are.
14.22.3.2312 Oct 2010Out of this deep mysterious centre within himself, he will draw the strength to endure distresses with fortitude, the wisdom to manage situations without after-regrets, the insight to keep the great and little values of everyday living in proper perspective.
14.22.3.12513 Oct 2010The Overself is not a goal to be attained but a realization of what already is. It is the inalienable possession of all conscious beings and not of a mere few. No effort is needed to get hold of the Overself, but every effort is needed to get rid of the many impediments to its recognition. We cannot take hold of it; it takes hold of us. Therefore the last stage of this quest is an effortless one. We are led, as children by the hand, into the resplendent presence. Our weary strivings come to an abrupt end. Our lips are made shut and wordless.
14.22.3.914 Oct 2010The truth is this second self - or rather the feeling of its presence - has been shut up so long, that we have come to look upon it as non-existent and to regard the rumours of its actual experience as hallucinations. This is why religion, mysticism, and philosophy have so hard a battle to fight in these times, a battle against man«s inevitable incredulity.
14.22.3.3715 Oct 2010...The Overself is always here as man's innermost truest self. It is beginningless and endless in time. Its consciousness does not have to be developed as something new. But the person«s awareness of it begins in time and has to be developed as a new attainment. The ever-presence of Overself means that anyone may attain it here and now. There is no inner necessity to travel anywhere or to anyone in space or to wait years in time for this to happen. Anyone, for instance, who attends carefully and earnestly to the present exposition may perhaps suddenly and easily get the first stage of insight, the lightning-flash which affords a glimpse of reality, at any moment. By that glimpse he will have been uplifted to a new dimension of being. The difficulty will consist in retaining the new perception. For ancient habits of erroneous thinking will quickly reassert themselves and overwhelm him enough to push it into the background. This is why repeated introspection, reflective study, and mystical meditation are needed to weaken those habits and generate the inner strength which can firmly hold the higher outlook against these aggressive intruders from his own past.
14.22.3.4, Excerpt16 Oct 2010In these moments of a glimpse, he discovers the very real presence of the Overself. They provide him with a joy, an amiability, which disarms the negative side of his character and brings forward the positive side. These are precious moments; they cannot be too highly valued. And though they must pass, some communication with them is always possible through memory.
14.22.4.9317 Oct 2010What are the signs whereby he shall know that this is an authentic glimpse of reality? First, it is and shall remain ever present. There is no future in it and no past. Second, the pure spiritual experience comes without excitement, is reported without exaggeration, and needs no external authority to authenticate it.
14.22.7.19918 Oct 2010Even those men who assert or lament that they have never had a single glimpse during their whole lifetime will get it at the end. For it is a divinely ordained part of the process of dying.
14.22.4.5019 Oct 2010We blunder in life and make endless mistakes because we have no time to listen for the Overself«s voice - Intuition.
14.22.1.12520 Oct 2010When intuition points to something unwelcome to the ego, the intellect looks for and usually finds an excuse to reject it. A man who really and sincerely wants to find the Truth should be on the lookout for hints, clues, and signs which would be useful to his Quest, for they constitute the response from the Overself to his aspiration. The Overself can furnish him with the Truth and puts these signals in his way.
14.22.1.18921 Oct 2010The ego self is the creature born out of man's own doing and thinking, slowly changing and growing. The Overself is the image of God, perfect, finished, and changeless. What he has to do, if he is to fulfil himself, is to let the one shine through the other.
6.8.1.722 Oct 2010The thoughts and feelings which flow like a river through our consciousness make up the surface self. But underneath them there is a deeper self which, being an emanation from divine reality, constitutes our true self.
14.22.3.32923 Oct 2010You have a body but the real you is not physical. You have an intellect but the real you is not intellectual. You have emotions but the real you is not emotional. What then are you? You are the infinite consciousness of the Overself.
6.8.1.6124 Oct 2010There is no real ego but only a quick succession of thoughts which constitutes the ÓIÓ process. There is no separate entity forming the personal consciousess but only a series of impressions, ideas, images revolving round a common centre. The latter is completely empty; the feeling of something being there derives from a totally different plane - that of the Overself.
6.8.2.3125 Oct 2010The ego borrows its reality, its power of perception, its very capacity to be aware, from its association with the Overself.
6.8.1.2826 Oct 2010It is both true and untrue that we cannot take up the ego with us into the life of mystical illumination. The ego is after all only a reflection, extremely limited and often distorted, of the Higher Self... But still it is a reflection. If we could bring it into correct alignment with, and submission to, the Higher Self, it would then be no hindrance to the illumined life. The ego cannot, indeed, be destroyed so long as we need its services while in the flesh; but it can be subjugated and turned into a servant instead of permitting it to remain a master. When this is understood, the philosophical ideal of a fully developed, mastered, and richly rounded ego acting as a channel for the inspiration and guidance of the Higher Self will be better appreciated. A poverty-stricken ego will naturally form a more limited channel for the expression of the Higher Self than would a more evolved one. The real enemy to be overcome is not the entity ego, but the function of egoism.
6.8.1.20627 Oct 2010Keep on thinking about the difference between the personal ego and the impersonal Overself until you become thoroughly familiar with them.
6.8.1.3128 Oct 2010When this contact with the Overself is established, its power will work for you: you will no longer go through the struggles of life alone.
14.22.3.9829 Oct 2010As he becomes more sensitive to the Overself's presence, he knows that he has only to turn to it to receive divine strength and nourishment.
14.22.3.10230 Oct 2010Because he has access to this inward source, he may live the loneliest of lives but it will not be loveless. The joy and warmth of its ever-presence will abide with him.
14.22.3.12931 Oct 2010
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