The Great Within
	Awaking The Great Within <  Previous Contents

The subconscious mind is not a second mind; to think so is to place an artificial barrier between the outer person and the limitless within. There is but one mind; the outer phase is the conscious or the objective; the inner phase is the subconscious or the subjective.

The subconscious is within the conscious, and, being unlimited, both in power and in possibilities, is appropriately termed the great within.

To awaken the great within is to bring into action the powers and the possibilities that are latent in the subconscious, and since the powers of the within are limitless, and its possibilities numberless, this awakening may be promoted indefinitely, increasing without end the worth and the greatness of man.

The awakening of the great within is promoted directly through a perpetual increase of conscious action upon the subconscious, and the power of the conscious mind to act upon the subconscious will increase in proportion to the practical use that is made of every added expression that appears from the within.

The fact that the within is limitless, and the fact that the greatness of the within can be brought forth into expression in greater and greater measure through the proper action of the conscious mind upon the subconscious proves conclusively that man may become as great as he may desire to be, and that his ability, his talent and his genius may be developed, not only to a most remarkable degree, but to any degree.

Personally, each person is only as much as he has, consciously or unconsciously, directed the subconscious to produce, and he will remain what he is so long as he does not direct the subconscious to produce more; but he may become more, as much more as his highest aspiration can picture, by awakening the great within.

To train the conscious mind to act upon the subconscious with the greatest efficiency, a clear idea of how the two phases of mind are related to each other becomes necessary, and this idea is readily understood when we realize that mind is an immense sea of soul forces, all of which move in circles and spirals.

The circumference of each circle is acted upon by the conscious ego during the waking state, therefore, the sum total of all the circumferences of all the mental circles may be termed the outer mind, the objective mind, the conscious mind, the wide-awake mind.

During sleep the conscious ego withdraws from the circumference of the mental circles and enters the mental field within; that is, the subconscious. While the mind is in a state of deep feeling the conscious ego acts partly upon the conscious side of mind and partly upon the subconscious; it is possible, therefore, while in that state, to impress upon the subconscious what we think or feel in the conscious.

To secure the best and the largest results from every mental action the conscious ego should, during the waking state, act constantly both upon the conscious and the subconscious. To be in constant touch with the limitless powers of the within will add remarkably to the capacity as well as the quality of the faculties that may be in use, and every conscious desire will enter the subconscious at once, so that an immediate response may be secured, if required.

The strong mind is the mind that is in such close touch with the great within that the limitless powers of the within can be felt at any time. The capacity of such a mind will be practically unbounded; weariness will be absent; mental brilliancy will ever be on the increase, and instead of going down with the years, as the average mind does, such a mind will steadily advance in higher attainments and greater achievements the longer the person may live.

The mind that has presence of mind at all times, and under all circumstances, is in perfect touch with the subconscious. In fact, if the subconscious is impressed every day, or better still, several times a day, to guide the outer mind so perfectly that the right step will always be taken at the right time, the conscious mind will intuitively know what to do to secure the best results from every circumstance, action or event.

When the powers of the subconscious are realized one's ideas will become much higher than before, and there will be a tendency to form ideals that cannot be realized with present states of development, but since the proper direction of the subconscious can promote development to any degree desired, it is not justice to self to remain content with the lesser while the greater is in view.

However, no desire should be entertained that cannot be fulfilled through the complete application of present ability, nor should present demands go beyond what present capacity is known to be.

The proper course is to first increase the capacity, then desire what the increased capacity has the power to fulfill.

The small mind must not desire the realization of ideals that the great mind alone can possibly make real; such a course would be a waste of time; it would be schooling oneself to desire only what cannot be secured, while doing nothing to so increase one's power that the object in view could easily be secured.

The subconscious can make the small mind great, as great as may be necessary to realize any ideal, but greatness does not come from dreaming about the ideal, nor from concentrating upon that which is beyond our present capacity awakening produce.

Develop greatness by awakening the great within, and that power that can produce anything and realize anything will be gained.

Development is gradual and does not simply consist in the unfoldment of added power and capacity, but also in the full tangible use of that power and capacity.

To proceed orderly toward greatness direct the subconscious to express what may be necessary to take the next step forward; concentrate all the forces of mind upon that step, and do not scatter mind over realms and spheres that are beyond that step; do now what you are doing now, and be satisfied to realize what can be realized now.

Proceed with the second step in the same way and, likewise, with the innumerable steps that are to follow.

This is true progress; it is concentrating the whole of attention upon the present advancement, and there is no other advancement. To move forward we must advance in the present, and in the present only.

To move forward now is the purpose, and he who continues to move forward now will reach any goal he may have in view.

The subconscious should, therefore, be directed to turn all its superior powers upon the present forward movement and should be daily impressed to desire, not the ideals of the distant future, but the ideals that can be realized today.

This forward movement, however, should not be confined to any one phase of existence; all things in the physical, the metaphysical and the spiritual nature of man should be developed simultaneously and perpetually.

It is the greatness of everything in man that gives man the greatness that is greatness, and the perpetual awakening of the great within will produce this greatness, because to the powers and the possibilities of the great within there is no limit, neither is there any end.