Mental Purification.Unlearning
It is most difficult to forget what one has once learned. Learning is one thing; and unlearning is another. The process of spiritual attainment is through unlearning. People consider their belief to be their religion. In reality belief is a steppingstone to religion. Besides, if I were to picture belief, it is just like a staircase that leads on to a higher realization. But instead of going up the staircase people stand on it. It is just like running water that does not flow anymore. People have made their belief rigid, and therefore instead of being benefited by their belief they are going backwards. If it were not so one would have thought that all the believers in God, in truth, and the hereafter would be better than the unbelievers. But what happens is that they are worse, because they have nailed their own feet to their belief.
... and she was known as “Ameena Begum”, and Lo! A most trustworthy queen of an “inner call” she was. Her light blue eyes opened to twilight in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the 8th of May, 1892, and her name was “Ora-Ray” and Lo! An “aura of rays” she was. Bright sunny days had threaded away alike seventeen beads of fairy-tale years, when suddenly those very same shores of her own motherland had stayed for ever ayond; whilst her golden curls became cradled by the winds, as she sailed over the ocean toward the Goal of her life, her “Daya”, her “All”. Four little Angels, answering the appeal of her fairy-like dream, were henceforth to be treasured as precious jewels in the “Abode of Prayer”, where the King of her heart would sing:
Tactfulness is not learned through worldly cleverness; qualities learned this way do not make one really tactful. One may imitate a tactful person, but polished manners are different from real gentleness. Tact comes from the profound depths of the heart, and it is inspired by sympathy. Therefore, falseness cannot prove to be tactful in the end. Tactfulness comes to life when one is considerate of others, and consideration comes from true inner feelings. A considerate person would not wish to cause anything displeasing or disagreeable to others, and therefore tactfulness awakens wisdom.
Esoteric practices are not done in view of obtaining positive results for personal purposes, but rather with the object of attuning one's consciousness to a chosen Ideal, which can eventually become a source of inspiration, for the benefit of others. In the understanding of this principle one is confronted with an Ideal that one is eventually determined to follow altruistically, resulting thereby in the revelation of Divine energy, hidden behind the human "I" concept. When following a “principle” one develops more and more will power, and when released from that “principle” one finds oneself standing alone with the acquisition of will power.
Moses once passed by a farm and saw a peasant boy talking to himself, saying, “O Lord, Thou art so good and kind that I feel if Thou wert here by me I would take good care of Thee, more than of all my sheep, more than of all my fowls. In the rain I would keep Thee under the roof of my grass shed; when it was cold I would cover Thee with my blanket; and in the heat of the sun I would take Thee to bathe in the brook. I would give Thee bread of manna and would give Thee buttermilk to drink, and to entertain Thee I would sing and dance and play my flute. O Lord my God, if Thou wouldst only listen to this and come and see how I would tend Thee.”