Day by day
We found it necessary, in the interests of greater precision and better exposition, to restrict the term "Overself" to represent the ultimate reality of man, and to introduce the term "World-Mind" to represent the ultimate reality of the universe.
14.22.3.3041 Nov 2010The Overself is neither a cold metaphysical concept nor a passing wave of emotion. It is a Presence--sublime, sacred, and beneficent--which grips your heart, thought, and body by its own mysterious power, making you regard life from a nobler standpoint.
14.22.3.952 Nov 2010Everywhere we see people in bondage to their egos. Everywhere, too, the sage sees the Overself waiting, always present, for them to turn from themselves to It.
14.22.3.393 Nov 2010The spiritual self, the Overself, has never been lost. What has happened is that its being has not been recognized, covered over as it is with a multitude of thoughts, desires, and egocentricities.
14.22.3.14 Nov 2010Make it a matter of habit, until it becomes a matter of inclination, to be kind, gentle, forgiving, and compassionate. What can you lose? A few things now and then, a little money here and there, an occasional hour or an argument? But see what you can gain! More release from the personal ego, more right to the Overself's grace, more loveliness in the world inside us, and more friends in the world outside us.
3.2.5.125 Nov 2010Our bodies are born at some point of time and somewhere in space but their essence, the Overself, is birthless, timeless, and placeless.
14.22.3.3586 Nov 2010So many human sufferings are the consequences of human errors, and so many of these errors arise from human ignorance. The supreme ignorance of all which leads to the greatest sins and sufferings is that he does not know he is an individualized part of a greater consciousness. Although this consciousness shines through his ego it is apart from the ego, for it stands in its own right and exists as an entity by itself. It is this consciousness which enables a man to act and think in the physical body and it is his diviner part. Blinded by the error of materialism, he identifies it with the body itself.
16.25.1.167 Nov 2010Man is like an actor who has become so involved in the interpretation of his role that he has forgotten his original identity. It effectively prevents him from remembering who and what he is.
6.8.1.468 Nov 2010The Overself does not evolve and does not progress. These are activities which belong to time and space. It is nowhere in time and nowhere in space. It is Here, in this deep beautiful and all-pervading calm, that a man finds his real identity.
14.22.3.2459 Nov 2010Until it is brought to his attention, he may not know that the idol at whose feet he is continually worshipping is the ego. If he could give to God the same amount of remembrance that he gives to his ego, he could quite soon attain, and become established in, that enlightenment to which other men devote lifetimes of arduous effort.
6.8.4.15310 Nov 2010This is the paradox, that the Overself is at once universal and individual. It is the first because it overshadows all men as a single power. It is the second because it is found by each man within himself. It is both space and the point in space. It is infinite Spirit and yet it is also the holy presence in everyone's heart.
14.22.3.38411 Nov 2010The Overself is the highest point in the human being; it is there where he can find himself made in the image of God.
14.22.3.31012 Nov 2010The best way to honour this immense truth of the ever-present reality of the Overself is to remember it--as often, as continuously, and as determinedly as possible. It is not only the best way but also the most rewarding one. For then its saving grace may bestow great blessing.
15.23.6.17213 Nov 2010There is no other way to settle doubts concerning the soul with incontestable certainty than the way of getting personal knowledge of it by a mystical glimpse.
14.22.3.40414 Nov 2010Keep 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.
4.4.7.215 Nov 2010This is the truth that must be proclaimed to our generation, that the Soul is with us here and now--not in some remote world or distant time, not when the body expires--and that it is our joy and strength to find it.
14.22.3.5116 Nov 2010The Overself's power to alter circumstances, create opportunities, and uphold persons is available to anyone who fulfils the requisite conditions. These include some amount of mental preparation and moral purification, some clear perception of the fact that the Overself is present here and now, an instant and constant remembrance of this fact, and finally a willingness to trust completely to its providential help, supply, and support no matter how undesirable or intolerable a situation seems to be.
14.22.3.6117 Nov 2010It is not good to live in unwholesome memories of what we ought not to have done but did do, and never put a period to them. Such repeated self-flagellation keeps the ego immersed in its own little circle. It is better to turn away from them and live in the sunshine of the Overself.
15.23.1.5518 Nov 2010It is a matter of complete assurance and scientific observation for the sage that God exists, that man has a soul, that he is here on earth to become united with this soul, and that he can attain true happiness only by following good and avoiding evil.
16.25.3.15519 Nov 2010If we want to hear the voice of the Overself, we have to create a quiet all around us and all within us and we have to listen and go on listening with patience.
14.22.5.5420 Nov 2010That which appears as the spiritual seeker engaged on a Quest is itself the spiritual self that is being sought.
2.1.5.1621 Nov 2010With every year of growing experience and continued application, he will find more and more the truth of these teachings. He will in consequence be unable not to love them more and more.
2.1.5.35922 Nov 2010Intuitive guidance comes not necessarily when we seek it, but when the occasion calls for it. It does not usually come until it is actually needed. The intellect, as part of the ego, will often seek it in advance of the occasion because it may be driven by anxiety, fear, desire, or anticipation. Such premature seeking is fruitless.
14.22.1.7123 Nov 2010He who has discovered how to live with his higher self has discovered a serenity which defies circumstance and environment, a goodness which is too deep for the world's understanding, a wisdom which transcends thought.
14.22.3.11524 Nov 2010The Glimpse provides overwhelming confirmation of the belief in a divine principle, positive certainty that it rules the world, and renewed assurance that one day all men will obey its benign prompting towards goodness and wisdom.
14.22.6.33425 Nov 2010The aspirant whose efforts to attain inner freedom and union with the Overself while living seem to have been thwarted by fate or circumstances, may yet find them rewarded with success while dying. Then, at the very moment when consciousness is passing from the body, it will pass into the Overself.
6.9.1.8626 Nov 2010The Overself is truly our guardian angel, ever with us and never deserting us. It is our invisible saviour. But we must realize that it seeks primarily to save us not from suffering but from the ignorance which is the cause of our suffering.
14.22.3.30127 Nov 2010In the early stages of enlightenment, the aspirant is overwhelmed by his discovery that God is within himself. It stirs his intensest feelings and excites his deepest thoughts. But, though he does not know it, those very feelings and thoughts still form part of his ego, albeit the highest part. So he still separates his being into two--self and Overself. Only in the later stages does he find that God not only is within himself but is himself.
15.23.7.30028 Nov 2010This notion that we must wait and wait while we slowly progress out of enslavement into liberation, out of ignorance into knowledge, out of the present limitations into a future union with the Divine, is only true if we let it be so. But we need not. We can shift our identification from the ego to the Overself in our habitual thinking, in our daily reactions and attitudes, in our response to events and the world. We have thought our way into this unsatisfactory state; we can unthink our way out of it. By incessantly remembering what we really are, here and now at this very moment, we set ourselves free. Why wait for what already is?
15.23.1.129 Nov 2010This identification with the Overself is the real work set us, the real purpose for which human life in the world serves us. All else is merely a comfortable way of escape, a means of keeping us busy so that conscience need not be troubled by the central duty to which we are summoned.
15.23.1.3630 Nov 2010
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