Friday, October 19, 2007
Developing Intelligence
The things needed for enlightenment namely force of desire, powered and directed by the will, must be supplemented by an alert mind. There is a popular notion that good motives are sufficient in themselves and that when one has the desire, plus the will to achieve, nothing more is needed but purity of purpose, unfortunately this is a misconception.
While it is true that devotion is the vital thing in spiritual growth; there are methods of development in which intellect is not at first made a chief factor and it can not be ignored. A good intellect, therefore, is a necessary part of the equation.
A very useful practice is to exercise the imagination; it is the art of creating mental pictures with no physical object present. The face of an absent friend can be called up in the mind and reproduced in every detail, or your childhood home can be recalled and the imagination made to reconstruct it. The house, the landscape, the hills, trees and roads, reproduced in the finest detail.
Repeated practice at “seeing mentally” is of the greatest value, while good motives play a most important part, indeed, they safeguard you on your upward progress. Without pure motives, without a large measure of unselfishness, the greatest dangers would encompass you. However good motives cannot take the place of good sense and these do not relieve you of the necessity of thinking.
You must develop judgment and discrimination. There are things you must know, and you must use that knowledge, or difficulties will follow no matter how noble your intentions. Good motives are not enough: We must know!
Progress in any field of endeavor is impossible without knowledge. So how is a keen, alert intelligence to be acquired if we do not possess it? Simple; like any other latent faculty or power it may be evolved. As the physical strength may be steadily increased by constant exercise of the muscles, so mind may increase in power by systematic work. It should be exercised in original thinking, for a stated period, if only for a quarter of an hour a day must be set aside for this purpose.
A book on a serious subject will furnish material but the too common method of reading, of following the author lazily and accepting whatever he sets forth as a matter of course, is of little value. One must read with discrimination, receiving the ideas offered as a jury would receive testimony from a witness, considering it from every possible viewpoint, examining it in the light of known facts, turning it over in the mind, weighing it thoughtfully, and accepting or rejecting according to its reasonableness or its lack of reason.
In such mental work for intellectual growth each paragraph can be considered by itself and only a small portion of the time should be given to the reading while the remainder is devoted to pondering over what has been read. Of course the study of a specific subject is an advantage; perhaps nothing is better than to study esoteric occultism, thinking deeply upon the problems of the human race.
Another method that goes admirably with such work is the close observation and study of all the life in manifestation about us. Beside the things of nature, weather, flora and fauna, we should also try to comprehend people, to observe and understand them. Every word, act and facial expression has its meaning to be caught and interpreted. All this will not only sharpen the wits but also strengthen human sympathy for it enables us the better to know the difficulties and sorrows of others.
If you follow these practices faithfully every day, then day by day your growth will be steady, and your power will become self evident.
Be Blessed
While it is true that devotion is the vital thing in spiritual growth; there are methods of development in which intellect is not at first made a chief factor and it can not be ignored. A good intellect, therefore, is a necessary part of the equation.
A very useful practice is to exercise the imagination; it is the art of creating mental pictures with no physical object present. The face of an absent friend can be called up in the mind and reproduced in every detail, or your childhood home can be recalled and the imagination made to reconstruct it. The house, the landscape, the hills, trees and roads, reproduced in the finest detail.
Repeated practice at “seeing mentally” is of the greatest value, while good motives play a most important part, indeed, they safeguard you on your upward progress. Without pure motives, without a large measure of unselfishness, the greatest dangers would encompass you. However good motives cannot take the place of good sense and these do not relieve you of the necessity of thinking.
You must develop judgment and discrimination. There are things you must know, and you must use that knowledge, or difficulties will follow no matter how noble your intentions. Good motives are not enough: We must know!
Progress in any field of endeavor is impossible without knowledge. So how is a keen, alert intelligence to be acquired if we do not possess it? Simple; like any other latent faculty or power it may be evolved. As the physical strength may be steadily increased by constant exercise of the muscles, so mind may increase in power by systematic work. It should be exercised in original thinking, for a stated period, if only for a quarter of an hour a day must be set aside for this purpose.
A book on a serious subject will furnish material but the too common method of reading, of following the author lazily and accepting whatever he sets forth as a matter of course, is of little value. One must read with discrimination, receiving the ideas offered as a jury would receive testimony from a witness, considering it from every possible viewpoint, examining it in the light of known facts, turning it over in the mind, weighing it thoughtfully, and accepting or rejecting according to its reasonableness or its lack of reason.
In such mental work for intellectual growth each paragraph can be considered by itself and only a small portion of the time should be given to the reading while the remainder is devoted to pondering over what has been read. Of course the study of a specific subject is an advantage; perhaps nothing is better than to study esoteric occultism, thinking deeply upon the problems of the human race.
Another method that goes admirably with such work is the close observation and study of all the life in manifestation about us. Beside the things of nature, weather, flora and fauna, we should also try to comprehend people, to observe and understand them. Every word, act and facial expression has its meaning to be caught and interpreted. All this will not only sharpen the wits but also strengthen human sympathy for it enables us the better to know the difficulties and sorrows of others.
If you follow these practices faithfully every day, then day by day your growth will be steady, and your power will become self evident.
Be Blessed
Labels: life, self improvement
http://www.staffofpower.com
