TURNING EFFORT INTO INSTINCT

We develop our abilities when we make continued efforts to im-prove ourselves and never cease in the continuity of these efforts no matter how little progress we seem to be making. We can never judge our progress anyhow, for the simple reason that all real work is done on subconscious levels and we may be transported from very low to very high in one sudden sublime moment of insight. A young housewife recently told the story of how she came to be an accomplished pianist. “I had been laboring at the piano for four years,” she said. “I had gotten to the point where I was able to play a number of compositions, but they were all wooden, came out with no feeling, seemed to lack rhythm. The few times that I played for my friends, I was actually embarrassed at their having to listen. I practiced every day, though, sometimes as much as three hours. It seemed incredible that I made so little progress. I had al-ways learned other things easily, but playing the piano seemed too much. Eventually, I became convinced I had no musical talent.

“One evening at a party a friend suggested that I play. A refusal rose rapidly to my lips, but suddenly I was overcome with the most wonderful feeling that I would be able to play well. I cannot say just how the feeling came. It certainly did not form itself in so many words. I just knew deep within myself that I would be able to play well, and I had a sudden insight into the relationship between the music and myself. The piano, the keys, the notes, and the sheet music all blended together and merged with me. I knew that when I sat down and began to play, I would play well because I would be performing outside myself and wouldn’t have to think about it.

When I sat down at the piano, I played exactly as I envisioned. The guests applauded and gathered around, and I played the rest of the evening. I have been playing well ever since, and the whole thing taught me a great lesson. We must never quit when we seem to be making no progress. We may go from the most inept novice to the

most accomplished performer in that single moment when the hours of our efforts break through and merge with our instincts.”

A man sets out to do a thing because he is impelled by the images in his mind. He is driven to the performance of the work that needs to be done, and he cannot rest as long as one iota of the task is un-finished. Yet he does not work simply to gain an end. He is en-grossed in his task, just as it is enen-grossed in him, and his actions are performed with an inner joy, for he knows he is doing what he should be doing. He takes complete enjoyment from each day be-cause each day delivers him all he desires—the work he loves, his performance in it, and the growth of his knowledge and capa-bilities.

Look to this day

For it is the very life of life.

In its brief course lie all

The verities and realities of your existence:

The glory of action, The bliss of growth, The splendor of beauty, For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow is only a vision;

But today well lived makes

Every yesterday a dream of happiness, And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

—From the Sanskrit THE ONLY REAL SECURITY

One skill that people seem most desirous of developing is that of making money. But making money is not a skill, it is the result of a skill. Money sought for itself will surely prove to be most elusive.

It is not evil; it is good, good because it is representative of work;

but those who attempt to take it by avoiding work are corrupting its true purpose and shrinking their own natures. Henry Ford made this statement: “If money is your only hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” As a young man, Ford had little money, but he was sustained by the vi-sion of his automobile, and his days and nights were full of work and thought. When that day arrived that every tenth family in America owned an automobile, Ford became a rich man. His for-tune came to him not because it had been sought, but because he had rendered a service to millions of people. In our day and age and society, wealth is a natural result of serving a large number of people. All work is repaid in kind, and when we serve one person he serves us also, and this owing of service usually results in the exchange of money. If we serve one person we are paid so much; if we serve two we are paid more; if we serve ten, even more; if we serve a million, we are bound to become wealthy. We cannot help but create wealth when we find a work that needs to be done, and we cannot help but receive a portion of this wealth ourselves. That money breeds money is axiomatic, but only when such money is put to work creating wealth. When our savings are invested in ac-tivities that promote discovery and creation, they cannot help but make money, for they are being used in accordance with this pri-mary law of life, that every service must be rewarded.

Proper performance is always unthinking performance. Any other kind of action is ego-centered and based upon partial knowledge.

A friend reports he can cut an apple exactly in half when he is not thinking about it, but when he concentrates, the halves no longer match. Innate in each man is an original mind, and knowledge there is not limited to that acquired through the senses. Egoistic conditioning causes mind to acquire a fixed idea of itself as a means of controlling itself, and consequently a man thinks of him-self as “I.” The focus of his consciousness then shifts from original mind to ego-image, and it becomes impossible for him to use

orig-inal mind in any of his mental actions. Everything performed in re-sponse to the ego is intentional, affected, limited, and insincere.

We have to learn to let intention go, to let sense of self go, so that we can perform under the impulsion of a greater mind and will.

We must learn to be spontaneous; we must learn to give up plan and effort, to do the natural thing when the time for performance arises.