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One of the goals of this book is to provide instruction in learning to live a stress-free and contented life. We will achieve this goal by lifting our awareness away from our perceived individuality, and onto a higher plane where the primordial one-ness of all things is self-evident. Upon reading this book, will the reader have the new-found strength and fortitude to serenely face the greatest of life’s adversities such as the tragic loss of a loved one, an unanticipated job loss, a divorce, or other form of severe personal loss ? There are no “magic mantras or super-man pills” in real life to instantly cope with events of such emotional intensity. But through a little practice of the exercises provided in this book, we can and will, gradually learn to deal with all of life’s minor and major hurdles with a sense of tranquility.
Just as with any form of exercise (such as physical exercise), building such a degree of inner strength and fortitude requires sustained, regular effort, practice and technique. The greater the degree of effort one applies, the more regular the work-outs, and the better the system of training, the farther and faster one will progress along the desired path. This book provides just such a system for inner development. With sustained daily practice, the reader will indeed be able to face the greatest of life’s adversities with a sense of calm and understanding. Key to this process is the intellectual understanding of the “theory” underlying the mechanics of reality, and then applying this theory through the daily use of the “thought exercises” which build the emotional and intuitive fortitude necessary for inner peace and tranquility to take root.
Just like physical exercise, these thought exercises must be performed regularly and systematically. At the end of each chapter, after the theory, the reader will find a thought exercise. It is essential to remain aware of each thought exercise throughout the day, viewing each event, however minor, in the context of the thought exercise which was last read. In this way, the reader will learn to apply the principles of this book to events of gradually increasing levels of adversity. Beginning with the relatively minor stresses of daily life, the unreasonably demanding boss, the challenge of meeting this quarter’s sales targets, a squabble with a spouse, the reader gradually progresses to more emotionally stressing issues.
At the end of the book, after all of the theory and thought exercises have been both read and practiced, the reader will be ready to begin to apply a set of ten “principles of life” which will serve to further internalize both the theory and the thought exercises. Again, a regular and systematic application of these ten principles is essential to success. These ten principles and their method of application are given in Part III of this book.
Although some practical day-to-day examples of how to apply the thought exercises and principles of this book are provided, we will avoid as much as possible dwelling on too many specific examples of the application of these principles to the multitude of life’s major and minor irritants. Instead, we will take a more “open systems” approach so that we can apply the exercises and principles to our own specific life experiences in our own individual way. It is essentially a difference in approach akin to teaching someone to “paint by numbers” compared with teaching him the fundamentals of the art of painting, the latter being of far greater value to an individual in the long run.
Now, we are ready for our first and most simple thought exercise.
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