====== The Inner Life ======
== THE HERALD OF THE NEW AGE | FEBRUARY 1933 ==
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==== THE ENEMY ====
Man from the earliest day, even during his sojourn in Eden, has been aware of two forces within himself ever opposing each other, one that would inspire and lead him to the highest, and the other to the lowest of thoughts, feelings and actions.
During his racial childhood man named that which called forth the lowest phases of his nature the Devil, and thought of it as a malevolent power ever seeking to frustrate and keep from him the fulfillment of his desires. Later he questioned if it were not God punishing him for sins committed by withholding from him the good things of life. But not until man grew up and his real self began to direct his thoughts was he able to see that what was holding him back and forcing him to be content with present, if inadequate, possessions was but his own weakness of character and intellect; and that not until he had earned them could the powers unfold that came with knowledge and understanding, and could be exercised and controlled by him in the high use for which alone he began to see they were permitted and intended.
And with this knowledge gradually came the realization that these higher powers could not unfold while selfishness ruled him, and that selfishness was in some definite way related to the Devil of earlier days. It was then that man began to respond consciously to the leadings of his Higher Self, and to try to control and overcome selfishness. In so doing he found that whenever he yielded to the voice of self, trouble, failure, inharmony or suffering always resulted; and although he knew this and sought to avoid such, yet there was something within him that
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