INTRODUCfION 
21 
is simple enough : you happen to be the kind of being that 
thinks it does matter what course you steer; or, still more 
haughtily, you enjoy the pleasure of sailing. 
No, there is this factor in all success: self-confidence. If we 
analyze this, we find that it means that one is aware that all 
one's 
men tal and physical 
faculties 
are working 
harmoniously. The deadliest and subtlest enemy of that 
feeling is anxiety about the result; the finest gauze of doubt 
is enough to dim one's vision, to throw the entire field out of 
focus. Hence, even to be aware that there is a result in 
prospect must militate against that serenity of spirit which is 
the essence of self-confidence. As you well know, all our 
automatic physiological functions are deranged if one is 
aware of them. This then, is the difficulty, to enjoy 
consciously while not disturbing the process involved. The 
obvious physical case is the sexual act: perhaps its chief 
importance is just that it is a type of this exceptional 
spiritual-mental condition. I hope, however, that you will 
remember what I have said on the subject in paragraphs 
15-17 of my Third Lecture on "Yoga for Yellowbellies" (pp. 
71-72); there is a way of obtaining ecstasy from the most 
insignificant 
physiological 
function. 
Observe that in 
transferring the whole consciousness to (say) one's little 
finger or big toe, one is not trying to interfere with the 
normal exercise of its activities, but only to realize what is 
going on in the organism, the exquisite pleasure of a function 
in its normal activity. With a little imagination one can 
conceive the analogical case of the Universe itself; one can 
understand the phrase "The stars of the morning sang 
together"; 
and, still less fettered by even the mildest 
limitation which material symbols necessarily (however little) 
suggest, "Remember all ye that existence is pure joy." (AL, 
11:9.) 
Is it too bold to suggest that the gradual merging of all 
these Ways into an interwoven unity may be taken as one 
mode of presentation of the Accomplishment of the Great 
Work itself?