Book 4 (Part II)

56 there at the time when he would normally do the forbidden thing, to warn him against its repetition. There will thus be a clear connection in his mind of cause and effect, until he will be just as careful in avoiding this particular act which he has consciously determined, as in those other things which in childhood he has been trained to avoid. Just as the eyelid unconsciously closes when the eye is threatened,^ so must he build up in consciousness this power of inhibition until it sinks below consciousness, adding to his store of automatic force, so that he is free to devote his conscious energy to a yet higher task. It is impossible to overrate the value of this inhibition to the man when he comes to meditate. He has guarded his mind against thoughts A, B, and C; he has told the sentries to allow no one to pass who is not in uniform. And it will be very easy for him to extend that power, and to lower the portcullis. Let him remember, too, that there is a difference not only in the frequency of thoughts —but in their intensity. The worst of all is of course the ego, which is almost omnipresent 1 If it were not so there would be very few people in the world who were not blind.