The Theosophical Forum – January 1943

THE BATTLEFIELD OF MIND — Lydia Ross

At present, man is the human battlefield of his own dual mind which is fighting for selfish, personal ambitions and desires on the one hand, and for spiritual thought and impersonal feeling on the other. . . . Our dual impulses both use the brain-mind to "make out a case" for right and wrong in the inner struggles between conscience and desire. When we decide aright, our lower nature loses the strength that is gained by our better side. In recognising this power of creating a noble character, step by step, we find opportunities of winning point by point in meeting the routine affairs of daily life. These seemingly small victories unite their force and make us equal to the larger issues which try our souls severely. Even the failure to win. at times may count as success, for the man who keeps on trying builds up his moral strength, and diffuses something helpful into the very air around him.

Every day is a new beginning for all, no matter what the past has been. To unfold, to advance, to "become" is the natural and vital impulse of every thing and every being. The most dreary and difficult life outwardly, may be a cycle of opportunity for the inner man to show his heroic courage and impersonal power. — The Doctrine of Cycles, pp. 149-50



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