Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00417)

Using Habit Force, New Record
  
   Below is a short article on Habit, as 
its got some relationship to Ritual (mostly 
on the dark side of things.)  In the MLs 
somewhere is said that (dogmatic?) religions 
develop from the left-hand side of things 
or "the dark side of the force," and ritual 
and religion are hand-in-glove.  I had a 
guy tell me that really there is no such 
thing as "will-power," that it is all 
really just habit.  He had a point, but 
I think takes the point too far.
  
    After bitching about the unnecessary 
long multiple reposts, I see that carlos's 
response to "rrdon," Nov. 6, "Masters, HPB 
and Children" has approximately 1458 lines 
of repost on my screen.  Nothing like 
tidy minds! har har
  
    I see among the little corn-towns 
in this area, of population of a couple 
hundred, as per a recent article in a local 
paper, there has been a women's "Secret 
Society" called the "Mental Progress Society," 
for the past 80 years.  Limited to 25 members, 
and no men.  Nothing religious mentioned 
in the description.  Maybe there are more 
underground thinkers around than one thinks.
   
  USING HABIT FORCE
        The initial reaction to mention 
of the word "habit" is usually negative. 
Actually, habit is a neutral phenomenon 
inherent in the nature of the world. The 
habit of everyday life blends imperceptibly 
into the habits of natural law and the 
movements of electrons and planets.* [*In 
an aspect Karma is also habit. - ed.] Indeed, 
if we were not surrounded with predictable 
processes, the world could not exist as we 
know it and our universe could be nothing 
other than uncreate chaos.
  
      Man is a creature of habit in 
innumerable ways, from the manner in which 
he ties his shoes to the more subtle 
psychological habits of attitude and 
interpersonal reaction. Habit is paradoxical; 
it both aids us and hinders us. In many 
ways it saves us much energy and attention, 
and can be consciously used an indefinite 
amount in this direction. Can you imagine 
learning anew each time to drive a car or 
to use a typewriter? On the other hand, 
becoming entrenched in habits and not being 
consciously aware and discriminating 
towards them can tend to put one to sleep 
and make a person mechanical and unconscious.
  
        You can use the tendency toward 
habit to your own advantage by consciously 
discriminating what habits you wish to 
establish in your daily life and applying 
energy to do so. This can be a way to vastly 
improve efficiency in daily life, as well as 
being a means to spiritual becoming.
  
 Whatever your occupation may be, you 
become more efficient at it when you continually 
refine and develop habits that apply. If 
you wish to become ingenious and efficient, 
then apply energy in numerous tasks during 
the day to find a better way of performing 
them. In time, this approach or attitude will 
become habitual and you will become ingenious 
and efficient. If you wish to become a 
discriminating thinker, then search out 
habitually the different sides and angles 
of the issues and questions you encounter. 
By constant attempt at this, in time there 
will be a change in your character and you 
will have become a discriminating thinker, 
to the degree of energy applied and strength 
of habit established.
  
      This is one of the secret of ascetics 
and yogis. It might seem harshly painful to 
wear a hair shirt and live in a cave,* [*such 
body-punishing asceticism is actually just 
another type of sensualism - ed.] but once 
the ascetic has become used to or accustomed 
to his situation, it requires very little 
pain and energy to maintain himself there. 
Admittedly, it would require a great deal of 
pain and effort to accustom himself initially. 
The yogi who can meditate for four or 
five hours at a sitting could not do so 
when he first attempted it. By a great 
deal of effort he formulated a habit, or 
trained himself, so that he is able to 
perform the feat now with little effort. 
The energy and determination are required 
primarily in forming the habit, not in 
maintaining it. Of course, there is 
always the possibility of continually 
applying energy to increase capacity and 
quality in whatever area the habit process 
is applied.
  
         Although most of our apparent 
and superficial life can be claimed to 
be composed of various habit processes, 
there seems to be a separate and observing 
part of the psyche that can view, discriminate 
and give direction to this superficial 
aspect of our make-up. The observing part 
of the psyche can be trained to objectively 
view and discriminate what changes need 
to be made in one's life and to provide 
the motivation to make those changes. The 
real "Us" is not the habit-machine.
         
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