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Serial Lesson 151

From Course XIV, Occultism Applied, Chapter 1

Original Copyright 1943, Elbert Benjamine (a.k.a. C. C. Zain)
Copyright 2011, The Church of Light

To purchase the print book Occultism Applied click here

Subheadings:   The Universe Is an Organic Whole Depending for Its Progress Upon the Cooperation of Its Intelligent Parts    Each Soul Has Its Own Important Work in God’s Great Evolutionary Plan    The Vocation May, Or May Not, Be Similar to the Cosmic Work    Living the Completely Constructive Life

Birth Charts:  Noel Coward Chart    Walter Hampden Chart

Chapter 1

Finding One’s Cosmic Work

OCCULTISM, to the majority who come in contact with it, is considered in the light of a pastime rather than as something of the utmost everyday practical value. But whether we will or not, occult forces enter into the details of our lives each day and exercise an influence over all our actions. They are energies that direct our efforts and determine the results of our labors to the extent that we fail to recognize their existence and neglect to utilize them. Yet if we recognize their presence, and understand their operation, instead of being directed by them we are enabled to enlist them as potencies by which the various aims of life may more readily be attained. And it is the purpose of this course so to familiarize the reader with this practical aspect of occultism that he will experience no difficulty in applying occult knowledge advantageously to every problem he meets in his daily life.

Since the Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1882, a vast amount of evidence has been acquired by men of outstanding scientific attainment, all indicating there is an inner world, not apprehended directly by the physical senses, that under certain conditions enables physical phenomena to take place that are quite inexplicable by the laws of the physical world. This evidence was well summed up in the book published in 1940, EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION AFTER SIXTY YEARS, by five members of the faculty of Duke University.

The existence of extrasensory perception has been demonstrated not only by the experiments of four of these and the Duke mathematician who established the statistical and probability values, but by experiments carried out in a dozen other universities. And since the mentioned book appeared, experiments with precognition have shown that extrasensory perception applies to future events, such as being able to call the order in which cards will be found when mechanically shuffled ten days later, and to call the order in which dice will turn face up before the throws begin.

This careful research is in course of progress, the latest report at the time of this writing being, AN EXPERIMENT IN PRECOGNITION USING DICE, by J. L. Woodruff and J. B. Rhine, appearing in the December 1942 issue of The Journal of Parapsychology. In these reported experiments, the predictions of the face to come up when the dice was cast was made before each throw in one series, and in another series predictions for 24 throws were made before the throwing began. In both the results obtained were well above chance.

Chance average is four hits per run of 24 trials. One subject’s average score was above five hits per run. And when the probability was worked out for the combined result of this whole dice throwing precognition research it was found that the odds were about 10,000 to 1 that such a result would not occur by chance alone.

But in addition to faculties of the human soul which are not limited by the restrictions imposed by the outer plane when the soul becomes active in acquiring information on the inner plane and then delivering it, even imperfectly, to objective consciousness, there is another set of phenomena that quite as positively call for an inner plane penetrating the physical to explain them. These phenomena have not as yet received the critical study of academic individuals. But they have been studied even more closely, and on a vastly larger scale, by many who have little academic standing, and have been studied some by a few outstanding scientists of the past.

The influence of astrological energies is here referred to. These await the kind of critical investigation Professor J. B. Rhine brought to extrasensory perception. But the existence and potency of these astrological energies have been demonstrated by thousands of independent investigators. And more thousands each year are proving their existence through the simple expedient of learning how to erect their own birth chart and calculate its progressed aspects, and then going back over their lives to find whether or not each important event actually coincided at the time it happened with the particular progressed aspect that, according to astrology, must release energies during any period in which such an event takes place.

That there is an inner world where the soul resides, both before and after the dissolution of the physical body, as well as an outer world, and that there are energy exchanges between these two worlds through boundary-line electromagnetic energies, are the fundamental facts on which occultism rests.

The Special Theory of Relativity which lies at the foundation of modern physics as now taught in most universities, holds that anything moving with the velocity of light no longer possesses length, has infinite mass and so is impervious to the pull of gravitation, and that for it time has come to a standstill. The inner world, or astral plane, has even higher velocities. Existence there has properties that contradict our experience with physical things. However, it can only affect, or be affected by, the physical world through the intermediary of electromagnetic boundary-line energies having approximately the velocity of light.

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The Universe Is an Organic Whole Depending for Its Progress Upon the Cooperation of Its Intelligent Parts

When consciousness in some degree frees itself from the physical world, it is able to use the soul senses and gain information through what science now calls extrasensory perception. And, at least in rare flashes, a person who has, or develops, his extrasensory perception can extend his consciousness on the inner plane to acquire a convincing realization that the universe is not a machine, but a living organic whole guided by a Supreme Intelligence. When he has thus had even one convincing experience with Cosmic Consciousness he no longer considers entities as existing independent of other entities; for he senses that all in some manner are interdependent. The universe then presents the aspect of a single organism moving persistently toward the development of a structure of greater complexity and perfection. All entities enter into this structure, and play a part in its welfare, even as each cell and organ of the human body contribute to or detract from, the health and ability of man.

In the human body there may be cells, or diseased regions, which work contrary to the interest of other cells and the welfare of the body as a whole. In a nation there are antisocial individuals, and there may be groups that consider their personal gain of more importance than the welfare of the country. But when these become too numerous they defeat their own ends; for the body dies or the nation is destroyed, and thus terminates also the careers of the dissenting individuals. And even when these destructive elements fail to be thus widely disruptive, as a rule they fare badly; for the criminal has neither peace nor security, and the diseased cell knows no comfort.

In any organism or organization—and organization has become the fetish of American business life—the welfare of the individual is dependent upon the welfare of the organism or organization of which it forms a part. Laboring men, for instance, are learning that unless the corporation for which they work prospers, high wages cannot be had, and that the ability of the corporation to pay higher wages depends upon the collective efficiency of those employed by it. And business executives have long since learned that the success of an organization depends upon the specialization of the individual for the work he is to perform, and the cooperation of the various individuals comprising the organization in carrying out wise policies. In a somewhat similar manner a nation, a solar system, or the universe, is dependent for its welfare upon the parts composing it, and these parts are dependent for their welfare upon the welfare of the organization as a whole.

Thus it is that the occultist looks upon the universe. It is a vast organism composed of an infinite number of entities. The welfare of these entities depends upon the welfare of the cosmos, and the welfare of the cosmos depends upon the collective welfare of these entities of which it is composed.

Now in our large industrial corporations the workmen usually know by name the head of the corporation for which they work. Few, however, are acquainted with him personally, and few know the details of other departments than their own. The broad policies of the organization are known to all, but the rank and file of workmen know little and care less about the board of directors and the elaborate studies that lead to the adoption of policies. Just so, we speak of the guiding intelligence of the universe as God, and some there are who have developed a state of consciousness by which they contact Him directly. We also know something of the particular department of the universe, a minute department to be sure this earth—in which we labor. We have not concerned ourselves for the most part with spiritual and celestial realms; for we have been too busy learning the little we know about the earth on which we live. But we are not so dense, if we will but look up from our immediate tasks, that we are unable to discern the broad policies upon which the universe is run. Every crystal, every plant, every man, bears within the stamp of the policy of progress and evolution.

This policy is carried out along those lines that industrial captains have found alone capable of lending greater efficiency to organization. That is, a large merchandising firm, a bank with modern facilities, or a complex manufacturing plant, follows the same plan to get high efficiency that Nature uses wherever complex forms of life may be found. This plan undoubtedly is the best so far devised; for in each of the instances cited it has been tested in active competition against other plans and proved successful. It is the only plan that has stood the test of time.

It is based upon division of labor. When a colony of plant cells for the first time thicken the walls of the cells on the outside of the colony to resist destruction by the elements, and when a colony of animal cells for the first time set aside a group of cells to perform the work of digestion, they are examples of early division of labor. Division of labor, however, also implies specialization of parts. The plant cells with thickened walls specialized in resisting wind and wave, and being thus specialized were less capable of other plant functions. The animal cells specializing in digestive work performed it with greater efficiency than cells not so specialized, but lost the adaptability of cells not so specialized to perform a wide variety of other work. Specialization is procured at the expense of adaptability.

When Henry Ford first inaugurated his moving assembly line, it was an innovation based on the highest degree of specialization; and it has since revolutionized manufacturing methods. The man who all day long did nothing but tighten up a particular nut, learned to tighten this nut with unusual speed, but while doing this he learned nothing else. He was a nut tightener, and knew no more about the engine of an automobile than if he had never entered a factory. His work detracted from his ability as a general mechanic. And something similar is ever the price of specialization. But it gave him higher wages than he had ever known before, and instead of a seven-day week, or a six-day week, it gave him something not before known in industry, a five-day week.

If, from a social standpoint, Henry Ford’s methods were a success, the higher wages, and the opportunities for self-development and self-expression made possible by a five-day week more than compensated for the lack of adaptability caused by concentrating the efforts during working hours on some mere detail. In the world of plants and animals, division of labor accompanied by the specialization of parts, each to perform a given function and thus losing ability to perform other functions, is always compensated for by greater ability to live. When this is not the case the plant or animal dies, the species becomes extinct. Every plant and animal in the world today higher than those simple colonial forms in which there is no division of labor, is a living witness to the soundness of Nature’s universal plan—the plan that progress is to be accomplished by specialization of parts and cooperation, through division of labor, between parts.

Now all this may appear to have little bearing on the daily life of the ordinary individual who desires to make the most of existence through the utilization of occult powers and knowledge. But in reality it is of the utmost importance; for man can neither know what he wants to do nor what is expected of him unless he has some idea of his relation to the rest of life. He cannot hope to succeed by opposing his will and endeavor to the will and endeavors of all other forms of life. And to use occult forces without destroying himself he should know something about how the universe is run. He should know as much in a general way of the policies and methods of the universe in which he labors as he should know about the methods of any large organization for which he goes to work. These he may learn through observation.

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Each Soul Has Its Own Important Work in God’s Great Evolutionary Plan

As previously stated, the major policy of universal activity is progress. This is attained by specialization of parts, division of labor, and cooperation between functions. Each individual is a workman in the cosmic organization, and either helps or hinders the attainment of the universal plan. As in a well managed industrial plant new men are not employed unless some work awaits them, so in the cosmic scheme of things there is some particular work mapped out for each individual to do. The kind of work, in each instance, depends upon the ability of the workman. Furthermore, one of the important efforts of all well managed organizations is to educate individuals, each according to his own qualifications, to hold a more responsible position. That is, the individual is trained, both by Nature and by the industrial or commercial concern, to fill some one position for which he is by temperament best fitted, and as high a position as his qualifications at the time will permit.

Obviously, it is not to the advantage of the organization, nor is it to the advantage of the individual, for him to attempt work for which he is temperamentally unfitted. Some of our largest merchandising firms make it a point, when an employee makes a poor showing in the department where first placed, to move him about for a while from one department to another until it is determined just where he is able to give maximum service. A person who is a rank failure in the selling department is thus often discovered to be a valuable find in the accounting department, and a mediocre floor walker may at times be transformed into an excellent buyer. One who may be able to sell dry goods with utmost difficulty may, through a natural aptitude, become an excellent salesman of mechanical contrivances. It is to the advantage of the organization for the individual to be in the place he is best fitted to fill; for this leads to maximum efficiency. And it is to the advantage of the individual to find the work in the organization for which he is best fitted, because in it, in addition to being happier than elsewhere, he gets the most remuneration and makes the greatest progress.

The practical occultist, therefore, very early in his application of occult laws, makes a study of his own temperament and abilities, with a view to determining just what work he is best fitted to do in the cosmic organization.

In arriving at this decision he proceeds very much as if he were selecting merely his vocation as a citizen of the country to which he belongs. Such vocation, to be sure, is of importance in his cosmic work; for if he follows a vocation for which ill-fitted he lowers his efficiency in the greater work of life, of which his vocation, though important, is but a part. In selecting the cosmic work, however, other factors that influence vocational selection may be neglected and the attention concentrated on developing the natural aptitudes in the direction of maximum efficiency in aiding universal progress.

That is, the selection of a proper vocation is very essential; for through his vocation man should contribute constructively to society. But for reasons to be mentioned shortly it is often impossible for man through his vocation to do his highest constructive work. This work, however, is facilitated by selecting the proper vocation. Such a vocation enables him to contribute through it directly to human welfare, and through yielding him an income sufficient to afford him opportunity for other work, as well as providing him with the necessities and facilities of life, enables him also to contribute to human welfare in other ways than those directly involved in his vocation.

Thus it is that most of the important steps in human progress have been taken by men utilizing time outside of vocational hours. These men, for the most part, have made their living at something else, and have made their great contribution to society by utilizing such leisure and opportunity as the remuneration from their vocations permitted. Only recently, for instance, and these few in number in the research departments of our great industrial and commercial concerns, have men been able to make a living by being scientists. For the most part, outside the occult field, those who have contributed to scientific knowledge have been professors in colleges and technical experts in the employ of industry. Their contributions to science have been made possible because teaching or technical work has provided them with a living; and they could utilize time outside of working hours to devote to their favorite pursuit.

The great philosophies of the world have not been expounded as a means of making a living. Their authors may, or may not, have obtained some material recompense if their works were published, but they were mostly the work of time not employed in making a living. Sometimes inventors make money from their inventions, sometimes not; but in proportion to the number of inventions in the world there are very few professional inventors. Most inventions are the result of spare time work of people otherwise gainfully employed. Even in the arts and in literature, where definite professions exist, it is not infrequent to find contributions of great merit made by those who regularly follow other vocations. Thus it is that while the vocation should be an important accessory to the life work, it need not be identical with it.

Furthermore, in a life economically well adjusted, there should be some leisure and energy available beyond that used in making a living. Even the animals below man make a living. If man does no more than this his life is a failure. Beyond making a living he should contribute, at least in some small way, to the welfare of the human race and the development of the cosmos.

This contribution to racial advancement need be no great undertaking. A smile and a cheerful word are truly constructive factors in the scheme of things. Effort toward the development of character is an endowment in favor of mankind. The helping hand is a boon extended far beyond the one in immediate need of succor. Opposing bigotry and intolerance by word and by influence has its value as a universal factor. None there is, if the desire be strong, but who can help make this world a better place in which to live.

But first of all, before surplus energies can be devoted to the welfare of others, a living must be procured. Nor must we overlook the fact that the work of making a livelihood may be a constructive element in human progress. In order that they may live and thus have opportunity to develop spiritually and intellectually people must have food, shelter and raiment. Providing these, therefore, is constructive work, cosmically considered. Education is an essential to human progress, and is afforded not alone by schools and the printing press, but also by travel and motion pictures. Recreation makes more efficient work possible, art elevates the soul, mechanical devices free man from drudgery to devote his energy to better advantage, and the myriad of articles that contribute to man’s comfort mostly assist him to emotional refinement and intellectual activity through making it unnecessary to direct the energies against the harshness of life. The occupations concerned with supplying these wants, which give man greater leisure and energy for self improvement, are decidedly constructive.

Some occupations there are that supply things men should be better off without. Cosmically viewed they are destructive occupations. But most of the vocations of men have a very real value in contributing something that is beneficial to human welfare. They should be looked upon, therefore, not merely as means of gaining a livelihood, but as an essential part of the work of cooperating consciously in the advancement of the cosmic plan.

The first thing, but not the only thing, in selecting a vocation, is to select an outlet for the energies in which the natural aptitudes have full play. Temperamentally, physically, and mentally, a person is fitted for one vocation and unsuited for another. The impulsive man has no call for an occupation where patience is the prime requisite, and the meek person is miserable in a position that calls for strife and initiative. Some people take readily to speaking and writing, others to mechanics, and others to business or the professions. Each person has some natural qualification which should be utilized through his vocation. There are various ways, such as intelligence and aptitude tests, by which a person’s abilities may be gauged; but I know no other half so accurate as natal astrology. The birth chart shows at a glance, and without fail, in just what things there is a natural aptitude, and in which with proper effort, one can excel.

But ability does not necessarily make for success. In exercising the natural talent the environment may be such as to bring death or disaster. Many who have had pronounced ability as aviators have met untimely deaths. The finest mechanics often lose life or limb. Excellent merchants lose all through fire or flood. Important statesmen at times are shot down by political enemies. Writers are made subjects of libel suits. Fine doctors early contract disease from patients. And whatever the occupation may be, it has the possibility in spite of ability and every care, of attracting misfortune. That is, the exercise of the natural talents may, and often does, lead to an environment that brings ruin.

But natural talents are not so restricted that they must find their maximum expression through one particular avenue. The aviator might have exercised his mechanical talent without taking to the air, and thus prolonged both his life and his usefulness. The mechanic might have worked at the building trades rather than in a machine shop, and avoided serious accident. The merchant might have been a successful banker and have had no loss. The statesman might have exercised his talent as a successful lawyer and still be alive. The writer might have written fiction instead of biography and have avoided trouble. The doctor might have been a druggist and lived long and successfully. Had they but known it, each could have found ample expression for his talent, been of greater use to society, and have avoided overwhelming misfortune.

Such misfortunes are due to the environment with which occupations surround those who follow them. Others, however, follow these vocations and escape difficulty. That is, the influence of a particular environment, or association, on one person may be entirely different than upon another person, irrespective of ability. The soldier who gets no injury in battle is no more skilled than the soldier who is killed; but he has within his astral body thought cells possessing different desires, desires that exercise extra-physical power to attract opposite events in battle. So it is with other environments. Irrespective of ability, a particular environment, or association with a particular thing, attracts to a person events that correspond to the way the thought cells feel relative to it.

Nothing in the realm of practical occultism, it seems to me, is more important than determining the effect various environmental associations will have on the life of the individual. Because thought cells of a certain type are harmoniously organized in one individual and are inharmoniously organized in another individual, the same environment will attract untoward good fortune to one and excessive misfortune to the other. But place the same two persons where the associations are markedly different and the roles are changed, fortune visiting the previously unfortunate, and misfortune dogging the steps of the one previously favored. The effect of environmental influences to attract harmony or discord is exceedingly diverse in its application, and I shall speak more fully of it in connection with a wide variety of things in another place; but here it should be stressed as of equal importance with ability, in the selection of a vocation.

Not only should the vocation be one that will permit the full expression of the temperament and natural abilities, but it should be one in which the environmental associations will tend to attract so-called good luck.

Good luck is as essential as ability in making a success of the vocation, and by no means should be neglected. It is necessary, therefore, to determine in association with what things the most good fortune will be attracted. Various avenues of divination, or the exercise of the extrasensory perception, may be employed in this determination; but by far the most reliable means, and that giving the fullest information, is natal astrology. The birth chart maps each important group of thought cells within the astral body, indicates whether it is organized harmoniously or discordantly, and indicates just what things tend to stimulate it into harmonious activity or into discordant activity. From a scrutiny of such a chart, therefore, can be determined whether a person will be lucky or unlucky due to the environmental associations of any particular occupation. In fact, it is better to select the environmental associations that will prove most fortunate, and then determine in what ways the natural abilities and the temperament can be used in such an environment to the best advantage. Such a combination, selected by the use of common sense, gives the vocation in life in which the individual can be both the greatest personal success and of greatest value to his fellow man.

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The Vocation May, Or May Not, Be Similar to the Cosmic Work

This occupation may, or may not, coincide with the individual’s highest constructive work in the cosmic plan. That is, while it is a vital and essential phase of his activities, the work in the cosmic scheme of things which constitutes his particular function may be of somewhat different character. As previously indicated, each individual is a workman in the cosmic organization, and has mapped out for him some particular work to do. This work is progressive, and may change somewhat from time to time, as in a bank, for instance, one who starts as office boy, may become a filing clerk, later a teller, and finally, through other positions, arrive at the station of president of the bank. The ability at the time, together with the work necessary to be done at that time, determines whether he serves as office boy, teller or president. Just so, in the cosmic organization, the service that at a given period is most needful, together with the natural abilities of the individual as indicated by a chart of birth, determine his proper work at that time.

In selecting the cosmic work, more attention should be given to natural ability and aptitudes and less to the harmonious and discordant factors that determine good luck and bad luck in selecting a vocation. Very frequently the kind of work that most needs doing at a given time is sure to attract opposition and some misfortune to him who does it. Pioneering, overturning outgrown ideas, advancing new and better ways of living and doing things, campaigning against bigotry and intolerance, warring against injustice and tyranny, and numerous other things that are necessary for progress, usually bring much unpleasantness and misfortune to those who do them. Reference to the birth chart indicates that in the environment of such effort inharmony will be engendered leading to trouble. The birth chart also indicates through what channels the desired end may be accomplished with the least difficulty and misfortune. But in the case of cosmic work, in the case of work that is vitally necessary to human progress, it is well worth doing at the cost of discomfort and individual misfortune. As a matter of record, the most important work in the world is done by those who have the ability to do it, but who have no regard for recompense, and no thought of the consequences to themselves.

Viewed from the standpoint of practical occultism each person should take up some endeavor, either in connection with the vocation or aside from it, for which he has natural aptitude, that he feels is useful in the advancement of the cosmic plan. In the exercise of one’s talents there is a certain deep satisfaction. In the conscious cooperation with the Divine Plan comes a peace and happiness not otherwise attained. Life is lived thus at its maximum. And as a workman constructively employed in the universal organization, contacts will be made, invisible forces placed at his command, and he will receive help and cooperation from others on the inner plane as well as the outer plane, that otherwise would have remained foreign to him. To work consistently for the welfare of the whole brings rewards far beyond the grasp of those not so employed.

The earlier in life the vocation and the cosmic work are selected the better; for an early selection permits the energies, instead of being directed into channels unproductive of the end in view, to be directed toward gaining proficiency in the selected line. The education of children, instead of being standardized, should be conducted with the view of fitting each for the vocation and the cosmic work for which the birth chart shows best adaptation. This eliminates the waste of much unproductive effort, and permits the acquirement of maximum efficiency in the chosen field. Musicians do not require the same education as do mathematicians, nor do dentists require the same education as do lawyers. High attainment is the result of specialization. And while it is well at any time of life to discover the proper vocation and the proper cosmic work, if, through a careful scrutiny of the birth chart by the parents, these are ascertained early in childhood, greater success may be attained.

Turning now from the problem of vocation and the problem of the specific cosmic work to be done by each individual, both best ascertained from an analysis of the birth chart, the next most important consideration is that of living the Completely Constructive Life.

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Living the Completely Constructive Life

Throughout nature we find the One Principle manifesting itself under two modes of motion: Construction and Destruction. Practically every emotional state, every thought, and every action lend their energies as adding to or detracting from our success in life. After all, life is not just a few important decisions and actions; it is the sum of countless moods, perceptions, conceptions and movements, only a few of which are noteworthy, but all of which contribute their little or their much to the sum total of attainment. Every minute of our lives we are contributing to or detracting from ultimate success. A neutral ground is difficult to discover. At all times, to a greater or less degree, our energies are flowing in channels that are destructive or in channels that are constructive. Only when the sum total of constructive energies is far in excess of the sum total of destructive energies is there satisfactory accomplishment.

One, therefore, who expects to make the most of life through the application of occult knowledge should early resolve to live in such a manner that all the energies, instead of only a portion of them, are directed constructively. This resolve should apply, not merely to more important matters, but to every detail of thought, speech, feeling and action.

Such a course, at its commencement, requires the analysis of all details of the life, and gradual adjustments in the ways of doing things.

Each thought, each emotion, and the customary actions should come under careful scrutiny with the end in view of discerning in them destructive elements. When such tendencies are discovered a plan should be formulated and followed by which these destructive energies, instead of being repressed, may be diverted into constructive channels. They should be taken under consideration, one by one, and the effort made to trace their true origin and meaning. Not too many at one time should be given whatever attention and effort is necessary to transmute them into constructive potencies; for if too much is attempted at one time the task is apt to prove beyond accomplishment. In attempting only one thing at a time the objective can be kept rather constantly before the attention, and there will be less likelihood of it being neglected through oversight. Thus the energies should be concentrated upon some particular condition to be attained over a long enough period of time that the desired manner of thinking, feeling or doing displaces the old manner, and becomes habitual.

So numerous are the phases of life, each of which may be approached from the destructive attitude or the constructive attitude, that the discussion of them in detail will occupy much of this course. But in general a thought, feeling, or action may be tested as to its constructive or destructive quality by referring to its harmony or discord. Harmony tends to construction through its attractive power, but discord, because it is repellent, tends to destruction.

It is true, of course, that discord has its proper function in life. But enough discord is attracted into the lives of most of us, even when we live to the best of our ability the completely constructive life, that we need not seek misfortune in the belief more is needful. It is true, also, that destructive forces have their part to play in the larger scheme of things. Even as when a malignant growth forms in human tissue it must be removed, so must be extirpated malignant ideas that thrive on the healthy tissue of our social organization. This is the function of the iconoclast. Nor does the completely constructive life compromise with evil. If bitter medicine is needed for the recovery of the patient, there is no shirking in its administration. But such medicine is exceptional treatment and should be administered only after careful analysis and deliberation have convinced that it is required by cosmic welfare.

To get the most out of life, then, we must live the completely constructive life, and this implies that we live as much as practical in a condition of harmony. This applies to our inner life, our private life, and our public life; but inasmuch as we attract from our environment conditions that correspond in nature and in harmony or discord with the thought cells within ourselves, the first consideration should be in reference to the inner life. Steps should be taken to make the inner life harmonious, not merely at times, but twenty-four hours a day.

To begin with, our inner life is not harmonious if in any measure we are dissatisfied with ourselves. There have been, no doubt, errors both of omission and commission in the past. As we view life in retrospect, many things there are that we might wish changed. But this is a common factor of every life. The child in school misspells many words, gets the wrong answers to many problems, incorrectly pronounces many words. If he needed no practice in reading, spelling and mathematics he would not be sent to school. And if we could solve correctly all the problems of life and make no mistakes in our actions there would be no need for us of earthly experience, and it is extremely doubtful if we would be here.

As does the child in school, we advance in knowledge through discovering where in the past we have made mistakes. These mistakes, these errors of judgment, of sentiment, of passion, may have been painful to ourselves or may have been painful to others. They may be mistakes that in this life we can never rectify with those wronged. Nor should we be callous about it. But we may take the view, and rightly, that society is a vast clearing house. We may not be able to pay the debt directly to the one to whom due, but we can pay the debt to society, pay it by constructive work and the assistance of others, and confidently expect, in the long reach of time, and in some manner, our creditor to receive his just due. We should resolve, by constructive effort for the benefit of society, to recompense such, if any, that we have gravely wronged; but for the past we should care only for its lessons. The past is gone, nor can we recall it, and the energy spent mourning over its failures or lost opportunities is energy that could better be used to provide for a satisfactory future. Dissatisfaction, as well as sadness, grief and despondency, is a destructive mood. It is discordant, and as such contributes energy and discordant desires to certain thought cells within the astral body. The activity given these thought cells completes the vicious circle and attracts unfortunate events which make the efforts seem even more futile. We cannot afford to harbor thoughts of dissatisfaction.

It is most difficult to form a just estimate of one’s own true worth. It is easy to believe that one should accomplish that which at the time is impossible, and it is easy to believe that something which could readily be accomplished is quite beyond reach. The temperament, as indicated by the birth chart and as contributed to by childhood impressions, may be such that one believes he should be capable of great deeds, or it may be such that one expects almost nothing of himself. In the one case, no matter how much progress is made there is apt to be self-dissatisfaction; while in the other case there is satisfaction even if nothing has been accomplished. Who shall say, with certainty whether, all things considered, we should have done better?

At least, because it is gone, it is wasteful to spend time or energy in regrets. The present we have with us, and we will never know how far we can yet progress unless we try. And the first step in trying is to become satisfied with oneself. Such self-satisfaction comes to one who each day does the very best he knows how.

Each day is a cycle in itself. It is a complete phase of existence. Yesterday may have been a good day, or it may have been a bad day, but irrespective of it, today may be made successful. Great wars are not won without losing some battles, nor are new habits of life formed without there being days in which they suffer defeat. Each day, also, has its own victories and defeats. We do not accomplish at once the difficult things we set out to do. We accomplish them only by persistent and ardent practice. One does not learn to speak a foreign language in an hour, nor does one become expert at golf in a day. But by our repeated mistakes, by our recurrent failures, we gradually learn. So in learning to live the completely constructive life there will be many failures. Some days will be dark. But if each day is considered a new opportunity to test one’s skill, if it is looked upon as a trial anew of one’s ability, and this great game of life is played with zest and enthusiasm, the progress that after a time will be apparent will be more than gratifying.

In changing the life to conform to completely constructive habits, and thus enter into the consciousness that one is cooperating intelligently with the Divine Plan, one of the greatest obstacles is the tendency to forget, in the absorption of the affairs at hand, the details of what one is trying to do. If one but remembers that anger is to be converted into constructive activity, that irritation is childish, that discouragement is devitalizing, at the moment when these emotions are stimulated, it is not so difficult to transmute their energy into more harmonious channels. But because the event at hand and the stimulus occupy the attention so completely at the time, the emotional reaction is apt to take place before there is serious thought as to its propriety. Consequently, one of the first things to learn is an attitude of constant vigilance toward the character of all thoughts, feelings and actions.

As a help in this direction, which has been followed by many sages in the past, it is well on waking in the morning to formulate as clearly as possible the activities for the day. In this plan of the day’s efforts due importance should be placed on thoughts and emotions as well as on actions. Then at night, just before going to sleep, it is well to review the accomplishments of the day with the purpose of discerning to what extent the morning plans have been carried out, and what factors hindered the carrying out of these plans, and how such factors in future may be eliminated or overcome.

In the ordinary run of life as it is presented to the housewife, the business man, the artisan and the laborer, circumstances repeatedly arise in the course of the day’s activities that bring more or less feelings of irritation. Some people are so situated and so temperamentally inclined that they express this irritation audibly or in other ways. Others, through consideration of the feelings of others, or through desire to hold their position, give little outward sign of irritation, but nevertheless feel it keenly.

All such feeling of annoyance, whether expressed outwardly or not, is discordant and acts as a destructive force. The jangle of the nervous system, through its electrical energies, sets up a jangle of vibrations in the astral body. Through repetition these build up discordant thought cells in the astral form. These thought cells then work from the inner plane to attract inharmonious environmental conditions. They bring into the life events that make success in any line more difficult.

Such feelings of irritation go a long way back in the person’s mental history. In fact, they go back to the time of birth as one of the three unconditioned responses of the newborn child—fear, rage, love—that may be aroused by unconditioned stimuli.

Hampering the movements of a newborn child causes it to express rage. As the child grows older it finds that the expression of rage or irritation or discomfort enables it at times to have its own way with parents or playmates. If crying brings it the things it wants, the crying habit is formed. If violent rages cause it to be noticed—for all children desire notice—the habit of violent rages is apt to be formed. If the child can get what it wants by making a scene, we have the infantile background for the hysterical adult. But after all, these are childish expressions. They should have no part in adult life because they detract from efficiency and success. They are one and all destructive.

They are on a par with the person who kicks a stone because he stumbles over it, or smashes a table because he runs against it in the dark. In the one case he hurts his own toe, and in the other must supply a new table or repair the old one. The child, and the primitive man, have a feeling that inanimate objects are activated by feelings of hostility or kindness. They abuse a stone that has hurt them because they have the feeling that the stone is responsible.

The feelings of irritation at the circumstances of daily life are but infantile hangovers. They are childish emotions that should have been outgrown. By attracting other events that give rise to further irritation they complete a vicious circle. They thus always defeat their own ends. Consequently, they must be transformed into constructive energies by those who would live the completely constructive life.

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Birth Charts

Noel Coward Chart

December 16, 1899, 4:24 a.m. 0W. 51:32N.
Data published in 1938 in Astrologer’s Quarterly
(rectified a few minutes from time given by mother)

1905, calf of leg torn by dog: Mars semisextile Mercury r.

1909, first part in a play: Mars semisextile Uranus r.

1912, played different roles: Venus semisextile Mars r.

1918, in hospital with concussion: Mars conjunction Venus r.

1921, May, came to America, wrote and acted: Sun conjunction Venus r.

1940, criticized in House of Commons for not being in war: Mercury semisquare Uranus r.

1943, January, England’s Man of the Hour for writing, directing, and acting in war movie: In Which We Serve: Mars sextile Mercury r.

Walter Hampden Chart

June 30, 1879, 12:30 a.m. LMT. 74W. 40:43N.
(Data from old astrological file, authority not stated)

1901, September 2, first stage appearance: Venus inconjunct Saturn r.

1904, changed companies for leading role: Sun semisextile Uranus p.

1905, Irving became ill, Hampden took his place for week in Hamlet, demonstrating his talent: Mercury conjunction Uranus r Venus sextile Moon r.

1906, engaged to support Nazimova in New York: Mercury conjunction Uranus r.

1925, after 24 years of successful acting, chiefly Shakespearian, went into theatre business: Sun conjunction Venus r.

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