The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-10-18

in which men have given license
to the one or the other of these
two elements. For of course the
lower one demands other pleasures
beside eating. And the higher one
is by no means concerned with
music only.
| As watched the drama going
on in me l understood it better and
better. That lower thing in the
body was real being that knew
| we'll what it wanted. And it could
push its wants into my mind every
minute or so and divert roy atten-
tiOn from the music and from
| thinking. And the higher element
WAS also a being. for it gave me q
! prick of the conscience every time
was going to get up and go out
to supper. 1t seemed to say into
my mind: ''Shams on you that you
! that you will let that thing drag
you out to EAT when you might be
setting the inspiration of this
Dusic!'
! So / sat. And then I remem-
hered a picture I had once seen in
Europe. It was of a man praying
at an altar. On his right stood an
angel, shining white, one hand on
bis shoulder, the other pointing
upward to a great light above; on
his left, but crouching down out of
| sight, an evil squirming thing.
pulling at the mans robe.
! The picture was just my situa-
tion. except that / was listening to
music instead of kneeling at an al.
tar.
! Somehow, all in a moment,
knew that the picture represented
a FACT. We DO have an angel with
us, drawing us to all that's high
and right. And we do have the
other thing, always drawing us
4 down into evil, into MATTER. And
we can let the mind 90 with either
lend act according to either.
i But l am not saying that the
lower thing is IN ITSELF evil. or
rather. was evil to start with. It's
COME to be evil because of our
yielding to it's demands after the
point at which they are proper.
| We let our minds 90 with it and
reinforce it, so that in some of US
it has got to be real vampire, ab.
sorbing will and manhood. forcing
our thought and imagination to
serve it more and more,
/ And here's the moral of the sit
uatiOn. If we want to live sane.
fine lives, get sight Of our divinity
and immortality, get permanent
peace and joy, get to our hidden
powers, get FREE, = we must begin
learning to think and imagine on a
new line. That means, get the
mind in key with the Angel
which is our real self, instead Of
with the other thing. the reptile,
the cause of all our selfshness and
disease and suffering.
| Nor is the job hard one, though
it takes time, and perseverance.
But the reward is past all telling.
The first thing is, to let our
thought get tangled up in anything
low. Keep the mind on to other
matters altogether. Keep it friend
Iy. Keep it from troublesome and
disturbing memories, memories Of
wrong things done, memories of
pains and pleasures past, memories
Of quarrels and wrongs. Keep its
imaginings clean. Get it out of
the hands of the reptile Get it
out of the way of thinking of the
body as itself. 1t is IN the body
and the USER of the body.
The mind needs employn ent, of
course. Give it all the study and
good reading you can.
4 But also make it more and more
aware of the Angel, the inspiring
Presence of Light I saw painted in
the picture and felt as it urged me
to hear out the music. We all feel
it as conscience. But we need to
feel it as ACTUAL LIVING PRESENCE