Lectures by
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Lectures byCharlie Lutes
The greatest of all battles is the battle of the mind. This is the battle fought by all humans, that is, humans that have reached the stage of development where they are making a conscious effort to live a good life.
Of all manifestations of the universe the human is the highest expression; he is not a God, but he is developing his God nature. He is the perfect instrument for the revelation of the absolute through his consciousness, and the fulfillment of nature's aspirations through his actions. As long as we are locked into the relative we are by no means absolute.
The human mind is the battlefield where untutored impulsive and conscious forces are warring against altruistic forces. Sometimes good dominates and then vice versa. We go from good to bad and bad to good in a constant and unending struggle. We constantly move from one opposite to the other, from hate to love, from truth to untruth, and so forth. When the lower forces in the mind dominate, the higher or divine forces become subordinate to the lower forces.
Nobody is totally good or totally bad. We are a composite of good and bad; some things good and some things not so good. As we strive to improve ourselves temptations are continually placed before us. Often we fail the tests and we create misery for ourselves, but slowly we learn as we go from test to test and lesson to lesson. Sometimes along the path of life we begin to realize that there must be some way to find true guidance and support in our long and weary battle for happiness and peace of mind. We realize that the flesh is weak and that by ourselves we are not strong enough to overcome. We seem to be constantly pulled down by irresistible forces arrayed against us. It is then that we ask for divine guidance, and if we are sincere it is given to us.
We find that by going within ourselves through our meditation practice there is a well of inner strength we never dreamed we possessed. We begin to turn the tide of the battle and commence at long last to win the age old war that has raged within ourselves. Slowly the darkness of the mind starts to lift and we see the light of peace and happiness beginning to shine forth. The lower forces at this point realize they are faced with total defeat and they fight with renewed vigor to again gain supremacy of the mind and control of the individual. This is where we unveil our greatest weapon, faith; the white light of humanity.
As we continue on the inner path of Transcendental Meditation we more and more become the observer. We observe life dispassionately, as a witness and not as a contestant. This is the secret weapon in the battle of life. Through our continued practice of Transcendental Meditation the Being increasingly pervades the mind and overshadows the desires for worldly or destructive things. No longer are we caught up in emotions and passions beyond our physical control. Now we have developed an inner strength that cannot be overcome by various impulses of the mind. Little by little we lose our personal desires, cravings and passions because we now gain an inner sufficiency.
We continue through life engaged in activity, yet we are no longer swept away by the activity. It is not so much the nature of the activity that counts; it is what we identify with. Our body, mind and senses are now devoted to the service of the Supreme. We exist in time, space, cause and effect, yet we are moving beyond them for we are now becoming more and more absorbed in transcendental consciousness. We work with multiplicity, but we are moving toward unity. Slowly we are destroying the individual ego that has imprisoned us for so many ages. We now are learning that to serve one's own self is selfishness, but to use our individuality to serve others and the Supreme is the unselfish purpose of life.
One who seeks happiness finds it by making others happy and not through selfish motivation. We now like for others what we like for ourselves, and we no longer like anything done to others that we would not like done to ourselves. We are becoming established in the inner and natural perfection of the Self, which is the cosmic unity. The ego, that has kept us an individual of materiality, is now vanishing and we are now realizing ourselves as being universal, or the true Self shining through. When we have conquered the ego we would have also conquered the whole universe, for the universe is also a projection of the mind. Truly blessed are they who have worked for spiritual unity for theirs is the kingdom of eternal life divine.
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