“If we are unwilling to believe in internal mastery over the body, we are perhaps almost equally unaccustomed to the idea of mastery over our own inner thoughts and feelings. That a man should be prey to any thought that chances to take possession of his mind is commonly assumed as unavoidable. …
“This is an absurd position for man, the heir of all the ages: hag-ridden by the flimsy creatures of his own brain. If a pebble in our boot torments us, we expel it. We take off the boot and shake it out. And once the matter is fairly understood, it is just as easy to expel an intruding and obnoxious thought from the mind.” ~William Walker Atkinson
The Need for Mental Mastery
In order to become a real spiritual adept, you must learn spiritual practices and disciplines. But before you even start with that, you can first began to get your mind under control.
This is one case where I, and the other students of Cosolargy, can agree completely with what Mr. Atkinson says on the subject: mental mastery must precede spiritual mastery. He notes that most spiritual schools require one to practice certain physical disciplines (or at least he hints at it) such as fasting, long walks, exposure to weather extremes, and so on. One reason for such physical disciplines is to make one physically stronger and healthier, but the other is to simply develop discipline in people who are often lacking in it. It is also done because it is the first step on the ladder of self-discipline that all students must follow. That first is followed by one of mental discipline, then one of spiritual.
Practicing Mental Mastery
Mental discipline isn’t really difficult. It works must like growing muscles at a fitness center. If you have never set foot into a gym, you don’t start out by doing biceps curls with 200 lbs. You start out with five or ten pounds, then when you can do that easily, increase the weight a little, and repeat that cycle until you reach the desired goal (which is probably not 200 lbs on a biceps curl!). With mental discipline, you don’t start out by trying to control every thought that enters your mind, you would go nuts trying. You start our by paying attention to the thoughts that float through your head, and when you notice particularly negative ones, you change the subject quickly. If you don’t like your boss, for example, it is fine to think about telling that you quit after you find a better job, but it is not fine to nurse thoughts of killing the jerk. When you find such thoughts in your head, change them, don’t nurse them.
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