7rcTIX1xP

The Third Lesson: The Expansion of the Self.525
then using what is given you, allowing the force to pass on to assume some
other form. It is the property of all, and all you can do is to use what you
need, and allow it to pass on. There is but one Force or Energy, and that is to
be found everywhere at all times.
And even the great principle, Mind-substance, is under the same law. It is
hard for us to realize this. We are so apt to think of our mental operations
as distinctively our own—something that belongs to us personally—that
it is difficult for us to realize that Mind-substance is a Universal principle
just as Matter or Energy, and that we are but drawing upon the Universal
supply in our mental operations. And more than this, the particular portion
of Mind-substance that we are using, although separated from the Mindsubstance
used by other individuals by a thin wall of the very finest kind
of Matter, is really in touch with the other apparently separated minds, and
with the Universal Mind of which it forms a part. Just as is the Matter of
which our physical bodies are composed really in touch with all Matter;
and just as is the Vital Force used by us really in touch with all Energy; so
is our Mind-substance really in touch with all Mind-substance. It is as if the
Ego in its progress were moving through great oceans of Matter, Energy,
or Mind-substance, making use of that of each which it needed and which
immediately surrounded it, and leaving each behind as it moved on through
the great volume of the ocean. This Illustration is clumsy, but it may bring
to your consciousness a realization that the Ego is the only thing that is
really Yours, unchangeable and unaltered, and that all the rest is merely
that portion of the Universal supply that you draw to yourself for the wants
of the moment. It may also bring more clearly before your mind the great
Unity of things—may enable you to see things as a Whole, rather than as
separated parts. Remember, You—the “I”—are the only Real thing about
and around you—all that has permanence—and Matter, Force and even
Mind-substance, are but your instruments for use and expression. There are
great oceans of each surrounding the “I” as it moves along.