The Science of self-dignification and
Personal Energetism
The Royal Road of self-superation in mind and body, through character and health building and the development of higher qualities and powers.
A practical Course of Study on the Conquest of Self and the acquisition of what all people yearn and crave for, such as magnetic personality, power, intelligence, success, prosperity, vigorous health, leadership, and greater capacity in mental faculties in general
By the author of The Science of Spiritual Consciousness and the Philosophy of Spiritual Dynamics
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Introductory Letter
Since time immemorial, people have sought truth, and lived as well as died for what they deemed sacred or of supreme idealistic significance. People of all sorts and up-bringing, wealthy or poor, mighty and miserable outcasts, artists and thinkers, educators and professionals, traders and soldiers of fortune have swollen the legion of history-makers. Sometimes some extraordinary men stood out above the rest of the social magma, leading mankind toward new accomplishments and better forms of destiny, and their names were King Sargon, Praxiteles, Fo-Hi, Lord Gautama Budha, Mencius, Asokha, Confucius, Gengis Khan, Quetzalcoatl, Inca TuppakYupangi, Hermes, Zoroaster, Solomon, Inca MancoKapac, Amenhotep IV, Jesus Christ, Apolonius of Tyana, Boddhidharma, Hypatia, Saul or Paul of Tarsus, St. Francis of Assis, Guru Nanak, Valmiki, Beethoven, Koot Houmi Lal Singh, Roger Bacon, James de Molay, Raymond of Toulouse, Dr. Alexis Carrell, H. P. Blavatsky, José Marti, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Epictetus, Queen Nefertiti, Paderewski, Shri Rama, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante, Averroes, Akbar, Caupolican, Mohammed the Prophet, Inca Atahualpa, Shri Krishna, Pythagoras, Lao Tseu, Shri Mahavira, Moses, Galileo, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, Steinmetz, among so many others. Those people have actually created new inroad for civilization and expanded man’s out-look on life as well as his self-respect and mastery over self. They did not need the support of tyranny, or the magic help of all-out propaganda to reach their goal or to aggrandize their personality.
Of course, great men are what they are, and simplicity is always their chief characteristic. Or, should we say, that they succeeded because they are men of character and highly energized by means of self-discipline.
People are, in fact, dignified, or they are not. They are, mostly, what they themselves have wanted to be. They are not simple tools of blind forces, or like dry leaves driven higher and thither by fancy winds. It is only the people who really know what they want, and that struggle for it until they succeed that have written the better pages of human history.
Needless to say, very many people integrate this world, and it takes a good many of them to build cultures and civilizations, and to develop religions or great and mighty empires and wealthy nations. The people mentioned above were only the main masterminds, the greatest genii who outshine the rest of mankind. Many other great souls also deserve our respect and admiration for their wonderful achievements, and if we do not refer to them in person here, it is because we are not interested in writing world history in detail, or in preparing an encyclopedia of human achievements.
Our task here consists chiefly in preparing a Course of Study, which will enable sincere and earnest people to understand better the great men of history, and also to follow their footsteps triumphantly, where they were Spiritual Instructors, religious saints, philosophers, artists, or scientific genii. These great men were no doubt highly gifted, and possibly providentially mandated. In any event, they constitute even today vital patterns of creative living and Divine accomplishments, and they deserve to be loved, admired and followed.
We do not propose that everybody imitate the great men of the past. To imitate is to put an act, seek to duplicate, or present an artificial form of reality. More than IMITATION, we need to endeavor or to BECOME REALITIES. Imitators have never done anything worth mentioning as their own, so they were – or are – simple shadow forms, of puppets of their own fancy.
Most people who do not meet their own needs, or fail to succeed in their most cherished endeavors in life despair and sink into the treacherous swamps of anxiety, or finally cease to believe in anything, even in themselves.
Yet, life is a permanent struggle. We must either fight or hurdle along, or be vanquished and perish. Only great forces remain astride powerful will and rightly cultivated intelligence. When people lack in inner strength or character they are bound to be routed, because they cannot sustain long enough the efforts, which lead to victory or success.
It is rather difficult to tell people what to do when they do not request immediate help. In our case, Students do request immediate assistance, and we rush to their rescue. Still, it is not always that requested guidance and help are duly appreciated. Many people receive counsel with one ear then let it go with the other. Of time, also, we see people despair when a magic solution does not arise to mitigate their suffering, to solve their problems, to destroy their enemies, or to rush them to the pinnacle of success and glory.
Among primitive people, superstition is powerful precisely because they believe hard enough. Yet superstition is merely what it stands for, that is super-belief. It is far from being a super-science, or a supranormal power. Some people resort to Talismans, Pentacles, Lucky Rabbit-foot, blessed medals, etc., not realizing that these even at best can only be psychological supports, but not effective or creative forces. To believe simply is not enough; in order to create we must Be and Live at the same time, and this is something very different to mere admission of submission of faith.
Faith is always quite mighty, as a psychological force. It is limited, however, in all its implications by the degree of culture, mental control, and Spiritual expansiveness of the individual. Some people merely believe because they are told to, because it is stylish, or because they desperately need to rely on something or someone outside themselves. This sort of faith is, needless to say, inoperative and inconsequential. Great fanatics and sectarian bigots also claim to have a mammoth faith, yet they only succeed in destroying other peoples’ lives and in ending themselves in utter despair and spiritual void.
Great men and women only have the size of their own accomplishments. It is what we actually do that really counts in life, not what other people believe of us, or what we claim to be. What is more, the more dignified we are, the greater are our accomplishments.
Of course, we cannot consider as accomplishments the butcheries of great conquerors like Napoleon, Alexander, Caesar, Constantin the Great, kind Philip le Bel of France, king Peter I of Spain, Mussolini and Stalin, or the empires created by these roguish megalomaniacs and the sadistic tyrants who obeyed their orders or followed their footsteps. Great, indeed, were – or are - only those who build with love, righteousness and sagacity, inspired by the principles of humanitarianism and Spiritual dignity, or Divine Law.
As we see the world today, we cannot be very proud of mankind, as it is not quite as planned by illustrious forebears who created great Religions and claimed that the Kingdom of God is one of GOLDEN RULE and not of right or might, perishable material wealth and possession, and/or vain worldly splendor.
Present-day conditions are really a far cry from what Holy Scriptures proclaim and enjoin. It would seem, in fact, that today very few people actually understand or care to abide by the afore-said Holy Scriptures.
Now, we are not concerned with any religious tenets or Holy Scripture. We respect all Religions, Faiths and Churches, but we deem that we can accomplish a wonderful task as educators, without owing obeisance to any orthodoxy or serving any mystical organization.
We realize, in fact, that most people need, above all, self-induced dignification or respectability, and also, that they need personal energization by means of Mind and Body rehabilitation as well as character and health building and the development of higher qualities and powers.
No amount of religious coaching and political ward ship will improve human nature or change the destiny of the world for the better. They have not until this very day, and they shall not in the future, because what is required to guaranty man’s better destiny it is not the use of force and orthodoxy, but, rather, to change human nature for the better. It is the individual man that must be better prepared, if we are to have a better human society in the morrow.
We mean, by changing human nature, to avoid people from being criminal and admirers of infamy, or caterers to vice and villainy. Human nature can be changed, certainly, in the sense that it can be either sublimated or idealized, by means of proper disciplines and adequate or practical enticement.
We have been told that God created man to His likeness. Were it so, human beings would certainly be less ruthless and monstrous, or devilish. Yet, if Saints and angels of all categories and denominations were once simple human mortals, it is obvious that people in general can suffer substantial and effective transformation. In fact, even we do not believe in religious claims or heavenly character we can still admit that people can be changed, as when we place young people in certain Schools, they all develop along the same line of thought and ideal, whether they belong to a same family, race or nation, or not. It is the upbringing and education that makes people. We see Hindus, Greeks, Egyptians, Nigerians, Frenchmen, Spaniards and Chinese people attend Schools in Germany who become perfectly German in their thinking habits and customs. In America and England, the very same phenomenon happens daily. Besides, people can themselves improve their own personality and destiny, and this we have demonstrated it in practical ways for many decades, through the present Course of Study.
We do not aim to question religious orthodoxies. We are not engaged in historical criticism or cosmological ontology. Our only concern is centered on the integral rehabilitation of man, and particularly on the task of leading people toward a higher destiny of accomplished ideals and Spiritual realization.
What do we mean and imply exactly by PERSONALENERGETISM? - Simply enough this stands for the vitalization of human personality and the better use of practical daily life of human energy. To some people it will prove quite a task to think of vitalization and energetism. We grant that not all people are mentally balanced and sane enough to understand the real dimensions and characteristics, or potentialities of reality. This we admit, only few people really know more or less that they are alive, and the life is in general energy in action.
In this Course of Study, our task consists above all in demonstrating to all Students that they can fulfill their own better ideals and accomplish wonders, if only they will do what is necessary to such effects. They must be prepared to meet circumstances and triumph over problems and difficulties. It matters little, of course, that we cannot change the whole world. No, it is not the world that needs changing, or overhauling, but the human individual. What really counts in man’s life is the results, which come, sooner or later, according to one’s own personal merits and efforts.
We have mentioned all this as The Royal Science of Self Superation in Mind and Body. Is not this quite a sizeable order for simple human folks? It is, however, absolutely feasible without the least exaggeration, since it has been known throughout history, and considering our own results.
This Course of Study is kept up-to-day by means of regular revisions as years go by. We want to prove the world that only with the goodwill and sane dedication of stalwart spirits, mankind can be ensured of a better destiny, and all people can enjoy true peace, freedom, righteousness and happiness. The Brotherhood-Commonwealth of Man under the Fatherhood of God-Truth is not pure chimera or simple figment of uncouth and moronish daydreamers.
This Introductory Letter is intended to convince YOU, dear Student of Life, about your own needs. Still, we are neither proselytical nor sectarian, and if we have not succeeded in our endeavors, may you find complete satisfaction to your better expectations and yearnings elsewhere. Perhaps someday you will return to us, and then we shall welcome you, as we will know for sure that you really need us.
If you do not need us now, we can only wish you Good luck. Whether our good seed germinates or not in you, is something, which depends entirely of you, but we have accomplished our mission in showing you wherein lies your task.
Sincerely yours,
Pr. OM Lind-Schernrezig
Geneva, August 1928
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From: The Science of self-dignification and Personal Energetism. Practical Course of Study of the Spiritual University. Introductory Letter.
