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The Eleventh Lesson: Subconscious Character Building.663
dislike of certain wholesome eatables has been caused by some suggestion
in childhood, or by some prenatal impression, as wholesome eatables are
made attractive to the taste by Nature. The idea of all this training, however,
is not the cultivation of taste, but practice in mental training, and the bringing
home to the student the truth of the fact that his nature is plastic to his Ego,
and that it may be moulded at will, by concentration and intelligent practice.
The reader of this lesson may experiment upon himself along the lines of
the elementary Yogi practice as above mentioned, if he so desires. He will
find it possible to entirely change his dislike for certain food, etc., by the
methods mentioned above. He may likewise acquire a liking for heretofore
distasteful tasks and duties, which he finds it necessary to perform.
The principle underlying the whole Yogi theory of Character Building by
the sub-conscious Intellect, is that the Ego is Master of the mind, and that the
mind is plastic to the commands of the Ego. The Ego or “I” of the individual
is the one real, permanent, changeless principle of the individual, and the
mind, like the body, is constantly changing, moving, growing, and dying. Just
as the body may be developed and moulded by intelligent exercises, so
may the mind be developed and shaped by the Ego if intelligent methods
are followed.
The majority of people consider that Character is a fixed something,
belonging to a man, that cannot be altered or changed. And yet they show
by their everyday actions that at heart they do not believe this to be a fact,
for they endeavor to change and mould the characters of those around
them, by word of advice, counsel, praise or condemnation, etc.
It is not necessary to go into the matter of the consideration of the causes
of character in this lesson. We will content ourselves by saying that these
causes may be summed up, roughly, as follows: (1) Result of experiences in
past lives; (2) Heredity; (3) Environment; (4) Suggestion from others, and (5)
Auto-suggestion. But no matter how one’s character has been formed, it may
be modified, moulded, changed, and improved by the methods set forth in