Do we never perceive our own foibles? It is happy we can find consolation in the follies of our neighbors. The simple mechanism of reward and punishment employed by the limbic system seems to be expressed as feelings of expansion and contraction. In all our experiences of well-being, euphoria, ecstasy, and meaningfulness, the overwhelming sense is that of an expansion of consciousness, of feeling boundless and free. In a greatly extended form this pleasurable experience is present in every religious and mystical tradition. People may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves. Expansion of consciousness is a term used by most religions and is particularly popular today. Its polar opposite is the limited and contracted consciousness that is the lot of most of us. When is a mental argument conducted without some reference to selfish considerations? The pain, anguish, depression and sense of being imprisoned is only too common in modern psychological dysfunctions. Selfish are the hearts of poor mortals, they are ready to change as favor goes. Yet we strive to embrace the limitless. Some do it through mind- or mood-altering drugs or alcohol, others through the temporary sense of freedom that romance, the acquisition of money or power seems to provide. Some even do it through their body, in risky sports like skiing or mountain climbing. There is a temper of mind which borrows a degree of virtue even from self-love.  

Happiness and misery are increasingly found to be due to the effect of our own under- or over-privileged chemical plants. While much of our physical functioning is out of our immediate control, changes in conscious attention have been known to alter the chemistry of the emotional system. An increase in awareness creates a greater chance to change the nature of our unconscious patterns of behavior. Happy and happy, there are so many hundred ways. A person may be happy in revolt; one may be happy in sleep; wine, change, and travel make some happy; virtue will do the like—and in old quiet, and habitual marriages there is yet another happiness. Make two lists, each on a separate sheet of paper. On one sheet list those experiences that create feelings of expansion n you, those that you find delight in. They could include the pleasure of a warm cup of coffee in the morning, how you feel when you see the love of your life, or buying your dream house. On the other, lists those experiences that make you feel contracted, like an acutely embarrassing situation or anxiety about your bank balance. Take at least ten minutes to compile them and see how many experiences you can come up with in that time. Then check the list. The person who can join ideas with the most propriety will separate them with the greatest nicety.

 Whichever is the longer or was most easily constructed—expansive or contractive—will give you a clear indication of the present state of your emotional brain and of your likely corresponding behavior. The very act of making such a list will actually begin to change it. You will have brought it to consciousness. My feelings cannot be hurt. No one wishes to harm me, and there is nothing in me that can believe in any separation from the all good. I perceive that I am free from all people, and I cannot be harmed nor mistreated. Love and labor, two beautiful old fashions that began long ago, with the first pair in Eden. I have such a sense of unity with all that is in the universe and am complete and perfect. I love my friends, and they love me, and that love is in, and of, God, and cannot be marred nor hindered. I am filled with joy and love, forever. Love, in general, arises from the pleasure which all people naturally take in whatever they judge or perceive to be good and perfect. Charity and religion can be made to fit every shape. Love levels all distinction. Love is the soul of harmony, the connecting chain that links the whole frame of being; it is the glory of nature, and the very perfection of humankind.