sensations. They are
not able to set them aside and consider them as things apart, to be used
when necessary and proper, but as things not fastened to the "I." The
more advanced a man becomes the farther off seem these sensations. Not
that he does not feel hungry, for instance. Not at all, for he recognizes
hunger, and satisfies it within reason, knowing that his physical body is
making demands for attention, and that these demands should be heeded.
But--mark the difference--instead of feeling that the "_I_" is hungry the
man feels that "_my body_" is hungry, just as he might become conscious
that his horse or dog was crying for food insistently. Do you see what
we mean? It is that the man no longer identifies himself--the "I"--with
the body, consequently the thoughts which are most closely allied to the
physical life seem comparatively "separate" from his "I" conception. Such
a man thinks "my stomach, this," or "my leg, that," or "my body, thus,"
instead of "'I,' this," or "'I' that." He is able, almost automatically,
to think of the body and its sensations as things _of_ him, and
_belonging to_ him, which require attention and care, rather than as real
parts of the "I." He is able to form a conception of the "I" as existing
without any of these things--without the body and its sensations--and so
he has taken the first step in the realization of the "I."

Before going on, we ask the students to stop a few moments, and mentally
run over these sensations of the body. Form a mental image of them, and
realize that they are merely incidents to the present stage of growth and
experience of the "I," and that they form no real part of it. They may,
and will be, left behind in the Ego's higher planes of advancement. You
may have attained this mental conception perfectly, long since, but we
ask that to give yourself the mental drill at this time, in order to
fasten upon your mind this first step.

In realizing that you are able to set aside, mentally, these
sensations--that you are able to hold them out at arm's length and
"consider" them as an "outside" thing, you mentally determine that they
are "not I" things, and you set them down in the "not I" collection--the
first to be placed there. Let us try to make this still plainer, even at
the risk of wearying you by repetitions (for you must get this idea
firmly fixed in your mind). To be able to say that a thing is "not I,"
you must realize that there are two things in question (