Listen to Your Nobler Thoughts

You have probably watched this representation countless times. It’s found in numerous cartoons. The old story of each person having two advisors, one at each ear, one whispering to them to follow nobler thoughts and the other tempting them to pursue the lower desires.

During the past, and probably still in some religions, it was taught that we were being tempted by the devil on one side, and helped by a guardian angel on the other. But the truth is that the struggle is between the two elements of our own mind. The instinctive mind and the spiritual mind. They are not exactly fighting each other, they are just following their own nature. One pulling you down, the other pulling you up.

This example is a very accurate representation of the three mental principles. And it will help you form a proper conception of the way the Yogis divide the mind.

The Intellect represents your "I" consciousness. The part of your mind that reasons. On one side, this "I" has your instinctive mind sending desires of your former self, tempting you to follow the impulses of a less developed life, which are unworthy of the growing person you are becoming.

On the other side is your spiritual mind, sending its higher thoughts and impulses into your Intellect, and trying to help you in your unfoldment and development. This next principle will help you master and control your lower nature.

Most of us receive faint rays of the light of the spiritual mind, and we are more or less influenced by it. Some let it in more than others. When we do, our love for fellow human beings increases; our idea of justice enlarges; we have more compassion; our idea of love grows; and we do more of the things we consider to be "good.” We are ever unfolding, discarding layer after layer, and the light will eventually shine fully upon everyone.

This is a series of emails describing the composition of us humans. I will briefly write about the general nature of each of these seven principles. At the end of this email series, I will send a downloadable PDF file so that you can have them handy and continue studying them to gain a complete understanding of yourself.

Previous posts in this series:

1. What Are We as Humans?

2. The Vehicle We Use to Navigate Life

3. A Shell of a Finer Kind of Matter

4. The Energy behind All Things

5. Your Mind Is Divided in Three

6. You Must Control Your Lower Instincts

7. Do You Know That You Know?

8. Keep Your Gaze Upward and Move Forward