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.