| abstract
| - Growth requires a continuous widening of our mental horizons by expanding our knowledge of the world and of ourselves. Greater knowledge of ourselves is of great value because it helps us believe in our unutilized capacities and makes us aware of the ways in which we can improve ourselves. Greater knowledge of the external world helps us recognize and have faith in the opportunities available to us for higher accomplishment. Most of us have a very narrow and limited conception of what is possible for us to achieve because we rely on the physical aspects of our mind Level 3 which believes in only what has already happened or what we can experience directly with our senses. It takes past experiences and present physical conditions as the sole reality and has difficulty conceiving or believing in anything that has not occured before. In other words, the physical mind lacks vision and imagination. Whenever a new proposal is made, it judges in terms of the past and raises questions or doubts. It has faith only in that which already exists. It also tends to judge everything based on its own limited information and experience. It has no faith in knowledge that comes from any other source. To grow we must give up the limitations of the physical mind and become aware of the infinite opportunities for progress. Every entrepreneur who has started a new enterprise, every inventor who has developed a mechanism or process, every scientist who has discovered a new theory, and every artist who has created a new work of art or literature has done so by overcoming the limits of the physical mind to envision something that does not yet exist. In the course of our progress, we must gradually replace the knowledge of the physical mind with higher ways of thinking and knowing. That takes time and considerable effort. Meanwhile, it is important that we do not permit the physical mind to dominate over our lives and prevent us from responding to opportunities for higher accomplishment and growth. There are basic rules we can follow to overcome this limitation. 1.
* Give up our faith and reliance on the knowledge presented by the physical mind. 2.
* Even if we do not know something higher, at least do not insist on the physical mind's view of things. Know that it is limited and not to be taken as final. Instead go doubting that something is possible, doubt the capacity of your mind to judge what is possible. 3.
* Be open to other possibilities. Trust your feelings and intuition more than the evidence of your senses. 4.
* Become conscious of how fast and how far human life has changed in the recent past. This will help open your mind to the possibility of radical and rapid change. 5.
* Become aware of the unlimited opportunities for higher progress and accomplishment for you individually and for society. 6.
* Stretch yourself. Do not limit yourself to what you or others have achieved up till now. Set higher challenging goals for personal accomplishment. 7.
* Try to imagine the various ways in which you might accomplish those higher goals. 8.
* Try to envision those higher levels of accomplishment as clearly and concretely as possible, as The Secret advocates.
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