Imagine them, then, as particles of consciousness, light when their mass is widely dispersed, but heavy when they are compacted into a single lump of ego-consciousness. Expan siveness comes with sympathetic acceptance of the realities of others. With expansiveness, the particles of consciousness rise, even as a balloon rises upward, lifting one into an ever-lighter, more joyful outlook. The more a person s sympathies expand to embrace family and friends, neighbors, country, mankind, all creatures, the more the particles, so-called, of his consciousness become light in their expansiveness. The result is an ever-freer state of awareness.
Selfish people are heavy because of their self-involvement.
Selfish people, moreover, in their heaviness of temperament, are habitually unhappy, negative, and morose. By contrast, unselfish people are habitually cheerful and positive. The cure for unhappiness and negativity, then, is not, as selfish people imagine, to increase their concern for their own welfare. It is to forget themselves in concentration on the welfare of others. Since not all children are easily motivated toward self-improvement, the solution is to surround them, as much as possible, with others of lighter consciousness than their own.