From practically the time we were born, we have been creating our own impressions about this thing we call life… Something unfortunate happens—one of the many unavoidable hardships of life—and we make a generalization based on it. Roll things forward a while, and now we have a rock-solid, preconceived idea about the way things are. The only problem is, most of the time our conclusions are wrong…
They are really just our emotional reactions to life’s events. They are based on a certain limited child logic, but they are nonetheless in error. As we grow up, these wrong conclusions, along with the attitudes they sprout, sink out of our awareness. There, in our unconscious, they settle in and start molding how our life will look… The word the Guide uses to refer to these wrong conclusions is “images”… When we form conclusions about life that are free from error, our positive, healthy beliefs are flexible and relaxed. They flow harmoniously and adapt spontaneously to life’s changes. Images, on the other hand, are forms that are stuck in the mind and congested…
Since images don’t entirely make sense, they can’t stay in our conscious mind. But the more hidden they are, the more potent they become, because then there’s absolutely nothing pushing back on them. They have free reign… The list of damages caused by images is practically endless… Here’s another way to know an image is at work. There’s a repetition of incidents we didn’t ask for and don’t want. Images always form patterns… We draw people and events to us like bees to honey on account of our images…
It’s entirely possible to have a legitimate desire that we speak out into the world. But we have a polar-opposite image that blocks it… The spiritual aim of all personal self-development is purification. But we can’t become purified if we don’t understand our own unconscious and gain some control over it… We won’t find our way through the maze of this inner landscape if we “just try harder.”
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