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The Third Lesson: The Expansion of the Self.527
It is of the highest importance to the developing soul to unfold into a
realization of this relationship and unity, for when this conception is once
fully established the soul is enabled to rise above certain of the lower planes,
and is free from the operation of certain laws that bind the undeveloped soul.
Therefore the Yogi teachers are constantly leading the Candidates toward
this goal. First by this path, and then by that one, giving them different
glimpses of the desired point, until finally the student finds a path best
fitted for his feet, and he moves along straight to the mark, and throwing
aside the confining bonds that have proved so irksome, he cries aloud for
joy at his new found Freedom.
The following exercises and Mental Drills are intended to aid the
Candidate in his work of growing into a realization of his relationship with
the Whole of Life and Being.
Mental Drill.
(1) Read over what we have said in the “Advanced Course” regarding the
principle known as Matter. Realize that all Matter is One at the last—that
the real underlying substance of Matter is Akasa or Ether, and that all the
varying forms evident to our senses are but modifications and grosser forms
of that underlying principle. Realize that by known chemical processes all
forms of Matter known to us, or rather all combinations resulting in “forms,”
may be resolved into their original elements, and that these elements are
merely Akasa in different states of vibration. Let the idea of the Oneness
of the visible Universe sink deeply into your mind, until it becomes fixed
there. The erroneous conception of diversity in the material world must be
replaced by the consciousness of Unity—Oneness, at the last, in spite of the
appearance of variety and manifold forms. You must grow to see behind
the world of forms of Matter, and see the great principle of Matter (Akasa
or Ether) back of, within, and under it all. You must grow to feel this, as well
as to intellectually see it.