Subsidiary Exercise #1

Control of Thought

Purpose
This exercise helps with the cultivation of absolutely clear thinking.
Duration
A very short time during the day – about five minutes.
(The longer, the better.)

Steps
  1. Place one single thought at the center of your soul.
  2. Say to yourself:
    Now I start from this thought, and through my own inner initiative I associate with it everything that is pertinent to it.
  3. At the end of the exercise, make an endeavor to become fully conscious of that inner feeling of firmness and security which will soon be noticed by paying subtler attention to one’s own soul.
  4. Bring the exercise to a conclusion by focusing the thinking upon the head and the middle of the spine (brain and spinal cord), as if the feeling of security were being poured into this part of the body.
  • Chose a thoroughly uninteresting and insignificant thought; better think about a pin rather than about Napoleon.
  • At the end of the period the thought should be just as colorful and living as it was at the beginning.
  • A new thought may be taken every day, or the same thought may be adhered to for several days.