THE GIANT WITHIN

We are one body only, one mind only, one deep and abiding intelligence. We are not tiny infinitesimal parts of an infinite and incomprehensible whole, but we are that very whole, that entire mind, that great and vast intelligence from which the universe has evolved, and everything contained within the universe is contained within us, and if we truly understand ourselves we understand the world and everything in it.

You can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do, tread any path you will to tread, become master of your fate, ordain your future, but you will not do these things by railing against circumstance, by throwing yourself frantically against events and persons simply because they do not seem to be in accord with your plans. Only by perceiving the hidden purpose behind events, the true motivations that actuate people, will you be able to attune yourself to life, to act in accord with the gigantic tides that bring the future. This faculty is yours once you have gleaned the existence of the Secret Self and have set about striving to live in accord with it rather than with the surface self that has moved you heretofore. We all aspire to goals, desire to improve our understanding and our abilities. We would not be alive if growth were not inherent in us. But oftentimes our growth becomes calcified through being ringed around with impermeable layers of selfishness and conceit. This selfishness is not necessarily just acquisitiveness; it may even be exemplified by an overwhelming generosity; it is simply primary concern for the ego, a living by and in accordance with the little “I” that constitutes the average person’s knowledge of himself. Such conceit makes knowledge of self a constant judgment, a comparison with others, favorably or unfavorable. It feeds on flattery and victory, is decimated by criticism defeat. It has, no true existence, but depends entirely upon circumstance and the reactions those circumstances set up within it. As a consequence, it is always exultant or sad, for its impression of itself is that it is either better than or worse than everything that confronts it. It has absolutely no knowledge of equality.