He must understand the difference
between the two leading attitudes of the mind
the attitude of self-submission and the attitude of self-supremacy;
and must learn how to completely eliminate the former,
and how to establish all life, all thought, and all action
absolutely upon the latter.
Everything that interferes with the attitude of self-supremacy
must be eliminated completely.
The most serious obstacle to this attitude
is the belief that man is, for the greater part,
the product of his environment;
and that man cannot change to any extent
until a change is first produced in his environment.
The result of this belief is the attitude of self-submission;
and the more deeply this belief is felt,
the more completely does man submit himself
to the influence of his surroundings.
To state that you are controlled by environment,
and to permit that belief to possess your mind,
is to submit yourself almost completely to the control of environment.
While in the attitude of self-submission,
your mind is open to all kinds of impressions from without;
and consequently,
your thinking will be suggested to you by your environment.
The result is that you become like your environment,
and will think, act and live as your environment may suggest.
If your environment be inferior,
you will think inferior thoughts, live an inferior life
and commit deeds that are low or perverse,
so long as you are in the attitude of self-submission.
But if you should submit yourself to a better environment,
your life, thoughts and deeds would naturally become better.
In each case you would be a representation of the impressions
that you received through your senses.
When he is in the attitude of self-submission,
he is controlled by environment,
and the belief that he is thus controlled, is true to him.
But when he enters the attitude of self-supremacy,
he is not controlled by environment;
therefore, the belief that he is controlled by environment
is no longer true for him.
To remove the attitude of self-submission,
man must cease to belief that he is controlled by environment,
and must establish all his thinking upon the conviction
that he is inherently master over his entire domain.
To recognize the principle of your being,
and to realize that within that principle
the power of complete supremacy does exist;
to establish yourself absolutely on that principle
and to state that you are not controlled by environment,
is to depart from the control of environment.
When he is in the attitude of self-submission,
he is controlled by environment,
and the belief that he is thus controlled, is true to him.
But when he enters the attitude of self-supremacy,
he is not controlled by environment;
therefore, the belief that he is controlled by environment
is no longer true for him.
When man is convinced that he is, in himself, master over his life,
he can no longer believe that his life is controlled by environment.
He must refuse absolutely to believe
in the control of environment under any condition whatsoever.
To be true to that truth
he must refuse absolutely to believe that he can be controlled
or influenced by anything or anybody.
He must depart completely from the belief in the control of other power,
and must recognize in himself the only power to control -
the power to control completely, everything in his own domain.
When man enters the consciousness of self-supremacy,
he cannot submit his self to any outside influence;
therefore, there are no outside influences in action in his life.
When man is in a state of self-supremacy,
he is in a state where no influence from without exists;
he is in a world where the power of self-mastery
is the only controlling power.
Since the principle of complete control exists in man,
there is a way to apply that principle to everything, and at all times.
But to accomplish this,
the attitude of self-supremacy must prevail
at all times, and under all conditions.
While mind is in the attitude of self-supremacy,
man's contact with the world will not affect him
contrary to the way he desires to be affected;
because he controls the impressions that come from without,
and can completely change their natures
before they are accepted in consciousness.
Or, he may refuse them entirely.
When man enters the consciousness of self-supremacy,
he cannot submit his self to any outside influence;
therefore, there are no outside influences in action in his life.
When man is in a state of self-supremacy,
he is in a state where no influence from without exists;
he is in a world where the power of self-mastery
is the only controlling power.
