LINCOLN LESSON 3
HOW TO WIN YOURSELF TO YOUR CAUSE
Abraham Lincoln said, "If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend." Whereas we may be quick to think that this applies to others and our communication with them, it rather applies to us.
Consciousness is the one and only reality, and the only man who must be won to our cause is the inner man. The inner man, Christ in you the hope of glory, is the power and wisdom of God. You do not think it is possible to achieve your aim if you win every single human being that can help you externally to your cause, without winning this inner man, do you? Meanwhile, you cannot fail. No power on earth can stop you from accomplishing your goal if you win this inner man to your cause. For the will of God is always being done on earth as it is done in heaven, and the kingdom of heaven is within you.
You must win your Self, your own consciousness, to your cause by persuading yourself that you truly are your friend. There are two important steps to this.
First, you must have a desire that is personal and that benefits you personally. Do not be ashamed to be selfish. There is no special reward for selflessness except a constant nudge in a man for having deceived the world. When you are selfish, when you seek out the most benefits for yourself, you are always truthfully adding to everyone else around you. Any successful man knows that it is better to work with someone who has enough high regard for themselves as to always be committed to their personal benefits first. Such a person can always be relied on for the instinct of self-preservation.
Be aware that your desire could really offer more benefits for others than it does for you. Because it has as many personal benefits for you as possible does not mean it is not even more beneficial to others. For example, you may want to work as a doctor just so that you fulfil your childhood dream and promise to yourself and your personal benefits include the salary, the prestige and most of all your self-actualization. However, the external benefit to others such as their healing, or saving them from untimely death is an even greater benefit that affects hundreds or thousands more. Still, your concern must be your personal gains.
When you focus your imagination on conceiving the personal glory and gain from an event, you are winning the inner man to your cause. You convince yourself that you have your best interest in mind. To attempt otherwise is self-deception which is not rewarding.
The second step is to let the inner man perform the action which you will perform when this desire is already realised. Having convinced the inner man that you are friends in the same interests, let him do what you will do when the goal is accomplished.
As Neville put it in Awakened Imagination, "Whenever the actions of the inner body match the actions which the outer must take to appease desire, that desire will be realized."
When you act in your mind as you would act in flesh with the assumption that you already are the person you wish to be or have the thing you desire to possess, do it repeatedly. The moment you have done it to the point of conviction that it is true you are successful in your mind, you have convinced the inner man of your friendship.
You will be rewarded with the results of your wish fulfilled. With the inner man, all things are possible.
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