THE LIFE POWER AND HOW TO USE IT.
XX. How to Reach Heaven
[Harnessing the Emotions].
The subjective or emotional self is the best of servants but
the worst of masters.
All the evil in the world results from transposing authority from objective to subjective, from letting emotion run away with conscience and reason.
All unpleasant reactions are due to the waste of energy which results from this transposition of authority.
The emotional or subjective self is the storehouse of personal power; the objective self is the director of that power. Happy results come from intelligent use of power.
To give unbridled rein to the emotional self is like turning on the power of an automobile and then lying back and laughing—or weeping—whilst the auto runs its pace and kills or maims what comes in its way. The loud, hysterical giggle betrays that emotion is running away with the directing power, and that personal power is ebbing below the point of safety.
And the waste of power—the letting loose of more emotion than the occasion really calls for—is bound to produce its after effects of depression.
Depression of this sort is due to depletion of emotional energy, and disappears as the system recuperates—as more energy is stored.
Nearly all “blues” are caused by such reaction; energy is wasted in mental or physical agitation due to anger or fretting, or “righteous indignation,” or excess of sympathy, or “having a good time”; and then we wonder why we are so blue. We go off and have a “good cry,” which relaxes us, fall asleep after it, and wake up without the blues—and wonder why. More energy has been generated—that is all.
The secret of real enjoyment, of the kind from which there is no unpleasant reaction, lies in perfect control of the emotional nature; in so conserving your emotional power that it shall never be depleted beyond a certain definite point of poise, the point where there is plenty in well-controlled reserve.
When one first begins to find and maintain this state of poise he feels that he can never “have a good time” again—that he must repress all the fun and be glum and steady. But this is a mistaken idea, which will disappear as he gains control.
There are heights and depths and breadths of fun and joy which can never be touched except by the poised, controlled person. It takes emotional energy to enjoy, and the greater the store of energy the deeper the enjoyment, and the less of it is wasted in boisterous movements and noises.
One does not suppress his enjoyment of an incident; he suppresses unnecessary expressions of his enjoyment; and every such motion inhibited leaves him with that much more energy on hand with which to enjoy. In proportion as he ceases to slop his emotional power in loud laughs and unnecessary movements he deepens his power of enjoyment.
Laughs are on the surface; real enjoyment is in the deeps of being. It is the surface slopping one must suppress, the waste of power, that he may become conscious of the real depths of enjoyment.
Impulsiveness and nervousness are due to depleted emotional energy, and are invariably caused by letting the subjective, emotional self-rule. So much energy is wasted in unnecessary emotionalism that there is not enough left to enjoy with—there are no depths. There comes to be a habitual waste of emotion over the most trivial things, and there is no reserve for the greater things which occasionally come. All due to excessive expression of emotion. People who have not learned to control their expressions of emotion have never even tasted full enjoyment.
The one cure for nervousness, impulsiveness, boisterous emotionalism of all sorts is to be still; cut off all unnecessary waste and let the reservoirs fill.
There are two kinds of “lively dispositions.” One is the result of hysterical slopping over of energy without regard to the fact that the reservoirs of personal power are dangerously near the point of utter depletion. This sort of liveliness often ends in tears, nearly always in depression.
The other sort of “lively disposition" is the surface expression of full reservoirs. One is like the slopping of water from a shallow bowl, by shaking the bowl; the other is like the rippling of a clear lake—the depths are clear, still and happy, whilst the surface answers brightly and without waste, to the passing breezes of fun. The bowl of water is exhausted by its expressions of fun; the clear lake enjoys its ripples of laughter without wasting itself.
The larger the lake the larger the waves. The same breeze which causes a pond to ripple will cause Lake Michigan to toss in white-capped glee. The greater the length, breadth and depth, the greater the waves; the greater the personal reservoir of emotional power; the bigger the laugh of which it is capable.
The loud laugh sometimes betrays the vacant mind and reservoirs; sometimes it betrays wide and deep and full ones; and by its ring the hearer can tell which. Who has not rippled in response to the musical, full, contagious loud laugh? And cringed at the sharp, hysterical loud laugh?
The musical laugh loud or soft, invariably indicates well stored reservoirs of emotional power and rea1 enjoyment. The shrill unmusical laugh, the nervous laugh, loud or soft, invariably means nervous or emotional depletion, shallow reservoirs, and shallow enjoyment or none at all.
Musical and unmusical speaking voices are other indications of these states of personal power. Smooth, graceful, intelligent gesticulations are yet other indications of full reservoirs; rough, jerky unnecessary motions indicating depletion.
The curtailing of wasteful laughs and motions is one of the most important things in life. Emotion is soul force, that which accomplishes all the great things of life as well as all the little things.
Every human being has access to unlimited soul force, which is constantly flowing into him from the Universal Reservoir. But if he uses it as fast as it flows in—uses it in overdoing the small and least necessary things of life,—he has no power for the greater things every soul longs to do.
How much power would the world get from the Niagara River if it were not for the great natural dam and reserve power at the falls? If you would do the great things you must see that your energy is not wasted in a steady stream of little things.
Every movement, every thought, uses a definite amount of emotional energy. Every inhibition of a movement or thought stream permits the higher rising of your reservoir; just as every stone added to a dam increases the reservoir and power behind it.
There are enough good things to do and think in this beautiful world without dissipating our power in thoughtless activities, such as tapping our feet or fingers, rocking to and fro, giggling shrilly, and so on. Yes, we learn to do things by doing them; but do we want to do these useless things? Of course not. They are wasteful, unbeautiful.
And we can learn to stop them by stopping them; and have so much deeper power with which to do the useful, beautiful things. A half hour a day used in simply being still, will add almost incredibly to the depth of our reservoirs. And every time we remember to inhibit an unnecessary rock or tap or fidget we add another depth to our power. This is all easily proved by a little practice.
Our energy is soul power, which is also wisdom. As our energy deepens our wisdom deepens also, and our sense of humor deepens. Soul power is love and wisdom, the One and Only Substance of which the individual is an inlet—a small or large inlet according as he lets the energy run out fast, or conserves it for large uses; according as he lets it run, or dams it for personal use.
There is plenty of soul power for everything—yes. But it takes time to build a dam; and the man who lets loose his whole Niagara Falls of emotion upon trivial occasions will have to spend most of his time in patching his dam. And the man who dribbles all his power in thoughtless and useless acts has no power behind his Niagara.
Do you see that self-control is the key of heaven? And the time to use it is now, the place here.
“Earth’s crammed with heaven” waiting to be conserved to individual uses. Love, power, wisdom is flowing through you into expression—don’t let it flow too fast—don’t waste it in thoughtless, foolish expression.
Cut off the wastes; use the power in wise directions, and let the tide rise within you. Thus shall you come to the great things you would do, and behold within you shall be the power to do them with joy; and there shall be no aftermath of depression.
This is heaven—the highest heaven for the deepest soul. And the door is open for everybody.
* * * * *
Vital energy is soul energy—love-power and wisdom mixed—L2W2.
The body is a generator of vital or soul energy.
Heaven and hell are states of bodily being. The body full of vital or soul energy—L2W2—experiences heaven.
The body depleted of its soul energy lives in hell—-carried there by riotous living, by wasting its vital or soul energy.
