Go alone

for every word of 'Thinking and Destiny' is to mean 

differently to different person until  one becomes 

conscious of Consciousness

THIS first chapter of Thinking and Destiny is intended

to introduce to you only a few of the subjects that

the book deals with. Many of the subjects will seem

strange. Some of them may be startling. You may find that

they all encourage thoughtful consideration. As you become

familiar with the thought, and think your way through the

book, you will find that it becomes increasingly clear, and

that you are in process of developing an understanding

of certain fundamental but heretofore mysterious facts of

life—and particularly about yourself.

The book explains the purpose of life. That purpose

is not merely to find happiness, either here or hereafter.

Neither is it to “save” one’s soul. The real purpose of life,

the purpose that will satisfy both sense and reason, is this:

that each one of us will be progressively conscious in ever

higher degrees in being conscious; that is, conscious of

nature, and in and through and beyond nature. By nature

is meant all that one can be made conscious of through

the senses.

            The book also introduces you to yourself. It brings you

the message about yourself: your mysterious self that inhabits

your body. Perhaps you have always identified yourself with

and as your body; and when you try to think of yourself you

therefore think of your bodily mechanism. By force of habit

you have spoken of your body as “I,” as “myself.” You are

accustomed to use such expressions as “when I was born,”

and “when I die”; and “I saw myself in the glass,” and “I

rested myself,” “I cut myself,” and so on, when in reality it

is your body that you speak of.

            To understand what you are you must first see clearly

the distinction between yourself and the body you live in.

The fact that you use the term “my body” as readily as you

use any of those just quoted would suggest that you are not

 altogether unprepared to make this important distinction.

            You should know that you are not your body; you

should know that your body is not you. You should know

this because, when you think about it, you realize that your

body is very different today from what it was when, in child-

hood, you first became conscious of it. During the years

that you have lived in your body you have been aware that

it has been changing: in its passing through its childhood

and adolescence and youth, and into its present condition,

it has changed greatly. And you recognize that as your body

has matured there have been gradual changes in your view

of the world and your attitude toward life. But throughout

these changes you have remained you: that is, you have

been conscious of yourself as being the same self, the iden-

tical I, all the while. Your reflection on this simple truth

compels you to realize that you definitely are not and cannot

be your body; rather, that your body is a physical organism

that you live in; a living nature mechanism that you are

operating; an animal that you are trying to understand, to

train and master.

            You know how your body came into this world; but how

you came into your body you do not know. You did not come

into it until some time after it was born; a year, perhaps,

or several years; but of this fact you know little or nothing,

because your memory of your body began only after you had

come into your body. You know something about the material

of which your ever-changing body is composed; but what it is

that you are you do not know; you are not yet conscious as

what you are in your body. You know the name by which your

body is distinguished from the bodies of others; and this you

have learned to think of as your name. What is important

is, that you should know, not who you are as a personality,

but what you are as an individual—conscious of yourself,

but not yet conscious as yourself, an unbroken identity.

Source: THINKING and DESTINY