It is not true that when the attention shifts, it means there is a lack of concentration. Consciousness lives, it is not dead. In all life, there is change. Unity is won by moving in a general direction. Concentration or unity of the mind is attained by continually bringing the attention back to the point. Keep bringing your focus back on your desired intent rather than being bothered when your attention shifts to what you do not desire. Fill your mind more actively with the thought you wish to meditate upon continually.

It is the intellect that most directly helps the mind to concentrate. The intellect contributes the form, the method and makes clear the principle or law. The more organized you mind is, the more effectively and efficiently you can focus. It is necessary to develop your intellect in order to use your will powerfully. Intellectual development gives you intuitive aptitude that enables you to understand how things work. When you understand how things work, you can have full control and mastery in using your powers.
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There is an economical, rhythmical way to spend our forces which will prevent us from break down or burning out. You do not need to be a slow coach in order to avoid nervous waste of force. It is possible to move rapidly yet harmoniously, reposefully. When you are calm and still within, you can move as fast as you want on the outside. Be like a whirlwind, hurricane or tornado. Your forces are in extreme motion without but you are perfectly silent within. You remain connected to infinite energy from center.

Learn to live continuously in the superior realm, whatever comes. That which would once have been a temptation will be an opportunity for strength. An annoyance is a source of amusement. A curse is a blessing. Regard everything as an advantage, that is, derive advantage from everything. The secret is, live on the higher plane, push through, out and above, glide over, hold to the ideal, see the end, transcend the means, trust, wait, rest, dare all and be not afraid. All your power is from the higher plane.

Contrast and conflict is essential to evolution, at least up to a certain point. So far as man is conscious of his forces, he may transmute the same energy which would have been spent on the lower plane into the higher life. The key to higher life is in becoming more conscious of your forces. In areas where there is conflict is where you are not conscious of your forces. The experience of inner conflict pushes you in the evolution of your consciousness. At a higher level, you are not in conflict but in peace.

The reason why we transverse between extremes in life is because we are searching for harmony. If we attain harmony, we would scarcely know that there are two forces, because both forces are one. Harmony is the perfect balance of opposites. It cannot exist without the two. We must have inner poise if we want to be outwardly at peace. Poise is balance of opposites. Harmony and poise are one. The more you’re able to transverse life situations while being centered, the more harmony and poise you have.

The whole of life is an adjustment to forces which play upon us from outside and the resistance from within us which they meet. Friction results where we dislike and harmony where we like. We prefer only the pleasant but we will learn that the greatest growth in life sometimes comes from the mastery of friction and dislikes. The more we adjust to external events smoothly, the more we can remain in flow. We master friction or dislikes by accepting them, feeling them, releasing them and going onwards.

Even when we draw closer to those we love, there is friction, till we learn to bear and forbear. If on one side of your social life you are too easily influenced, you may take thought to overcome your weakness and grow strong. If on another side you use pressure, you must substitute love. Perfect love encompasses love for self and love for others. Perfect love is harmony of love for self and others. Weakness on one side is weakness in the whole. Whole and perfect relationships come from attaining harmony.

Our entire knowledge is developed by comparison of relations, by contrast. By contrast everything is distinguished. Time is nothing without eternity and eternity is nothing without time. Judgment is required to define things and judgment is the act of differentiating one thing from another. It is the perspective of the whole that reveals reality. An enlightened consciousness is inclusive, not exclusive. Everything exists in relationship with everything else. Nothing stands alone. We grow in knowledge by comparisons.

Do not study your own or another persons virtues or vices apart from their opposites. Do not see the faults alone but also the ideals which are being realized through them. All truths are half truths. The more you can transcend duality and see both sides without being attached to one or the other, the more enlightened and free you’ll become. If you regard duality as warfare, life is a mystery for you. If you see the dependence of opposites, life is for you a living unity. Everything works together for everything else.

Each inner contrast corresponds to an outer condition. We shall continue to clash in all areas of life until we achieve a state of harmony in each of those areas. The more harmony we have in life, the faster and smoother will be our achievements of greater success and happiness. All friction is worthwhile as it helps to bring us to complete harmony. By experiencing contrast of good and bad aspects in life and attaining inner balance or poise, we shall manifest external harmony and mastery of the contrasts.[/hidepost]