sion,
which is counterfeit and for the sake of appearances alone. We must see
these motives, recognize and turn away from them, in order to control
ourselves interiorly into line with law. We cannot possibly see them
unless we look for them. If we look into ourselves for the sake of
freedom, for the sake of our greater power for use, for the sake of our
true self-control, what can be more wholesome or what can lead us to a
more healthy habit of looking out from ourselves into the lives and
interests of others? The farther we get established in motives that are
truly unselfish, the sooner we shall get out of our own light, and the
wider our horizon will be; and the wider our horizon, the greater our
power for use.

There must, of course, be a certain period of self-consciousness in the
process of finding our true self-control, but it is for the sake of an
end which brings us more and more fully into a state of happy, quiet
spontaneity. If we are working carefully for true self-control we shall
welcome an unexpected searchlight from another mind. If the searchlight
brings into prominence a bit of irritation that we did not know was
there, so much the better. How could we free ourselves from it without
knowing that it was there? But as soon as we discover it we can control
and cast it off. A healthy introspection is merely the use of a
searchlight which every one who loves the truth has the privilege of
using for the sake of his own growth and wilfulness, and circumstances
often turn it full upon us, greatly to our advantage, if we do not
wince but act upon the knowledge that it brings. It is possible to
acquire an introspective habit which is wholesome and true, and brings
us every day a better sense of proportion and a clearer outlook.

With regard to the true control of the Pleasurable emotions, the same
principle applies.

People often grow intensely excited in listening to music,--letting
their emotions run rampant and suffering in consequence a painful
reaction of fatigue. If they would learn to yield so that the music
could pass over their nerves as it passes over the strings of a musical
instrument, and then, with the new life and vigor derived from the
enjoyment, would turn to some useful work, they would find a great
expansion in the enjoyment of the music as well as a new pleasure in
their work.

Real self-control is the subjugation of selfishness in whatever form it
may exist, and its entire subordination