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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Within Our Reach; Habeas Mentem II

Within our reach lies a greater world. When we seek the soul, reach for the miracle that is personality, the reality that is being, we reach
for a world that is beyond mere freedom; it is more than merely the right to occupy one's own space in time, to be in the mind; we begin
to reach for the right to be ourselves as we are in the soul. It is to have the soul. A greater world lies within our reach when we choose to
seek this soul in who we are, a world of the supreme individual. It is a world where the value of the individual is validated by his or her
having a soul. It is a greater order than that man-made. This is the world of Habeas Mentem II.

There is a vortex which of necessity brings us to this threshold. We are obviously more than merely "I am." We are free to choose only
in relationship to how others are free to choose, through agreement; we are not free to trespass or coerce, to destroy another's being. For
then it is to be without the mind, to be devoid of the universal order. Thus, we are constrained to seek agreement where such exists and
thus to seek our individual space in time in the order of our universe, to be within one's identity. We must be in, to have, the mind. We
are free to seek oneself, to know oneself, to be as we are in our greater being. Then in this being, when free, we are who we are in terms
of how we are in this reality. It is existence, mind, order, and identity all equalled as one. This is made possible by the mechanism of an
infinite interrelationship.

Now we are faced with a greater reality, the reality of the soul. This reality is manifest in not only how we are, but also in how we
believe. The energy created by this belief, it being related to who we are in this existence as well as who we had been in past
incarnations, is the energy that creates for us the settings and circumstances of our current, everyday being. We are in the mind as we
believe; thus we are in reality as we believe. Through the energy of belief, through the power of an infinite interrelationship, the All that
Is, we create our own reality, how we are, in terms of how we believe. This is the main theme of the second book of Habeas Mentem:
"To Have The Soul." What follows is a social reality coordinated by, and whose social institutions of necessity must reflect, the nature of
this belief.

Even if the precepts of Book One of Habeas Mentem were socially totally negated, that no human being had the right to seek to be in the
mind, the second precept of Book Two would still hold. Albeit, it would hold poorly, miserably, painfully, but each person would still be,
both in the self and in the greater society, as he or she believes. Of course, if we were free to seek ourselves and to occupy our own
identity, if we were free, then it would be easier to seek out and to live according to our belief. But, though this is the desirable and
ultimately inevitable state of affairs, it is not mandatory. Should we fall into an unconscious state of society, belief can still carry us
through until such time that the oppression is lifted. The soul survives. If it believes, no matter how arduous reality, its energy will form
its individual reality. This is what characterizes a human from the animal. We can believe, be conscious, be conscious of this belief and
persevere with our will. We can have the will to have the soul.

A free world is infinitely more desirable than an oppressive one, for it allows the universe's order into our lives. But even in a servile
world there exists the conditions of survival of the soul. It shows up when a person refuses to partake in this servility, refuses to harm
another, refuses to steal or to lie or to cheat one's fellow man; most importantly, he or she refuses to pass on injustice and pain. These
are the heroic marks of a conscious being, which in an oppressive world will be sought out and made to suffer and sacrifice. A conscious
being can never have the satisfaction of the release afforded to the person who succumbs to that servility, for that is the path of a lesser
person. There is no need for martyrdom, but a judicious understanding of where lies the cause of oppression with a quiet resistance to it
can lift much of the burden. A being capable of greater reality chooses only conditions that will help others rather than damage them. At
times these may be heroic deeds, but even retreat is acceptable. In seeking like minds, there thrives the soul.

When a society is free and the ideas of Habeas Mentem are free to be observed, then there is a natural tolerance towards each other's
existence. To seek one's mind, to be oneself, and to seek one's beliefs in such a world is an achievement unencumbered by a systematic
destruction of one's being. But in a servile society, the personality that seeks to be one with his or her identity must turn more severely to
the soul. If the color of life is dulled, the personality forced to cower and bow, if individuals are made to spy on one another; then the
resulting fear and mistrust of necessity forces us from the mind. We become disassociated from our being and our souls suffer. Our
being suffers. And our society reflects a drab existence. But there the soul, like a plant that has scant chance of survival on a barren rock
deep in a cave, nevertheless finds root and becomes alive. It has the ability to choose, to seek oneself no matter how handicapped it is in
this seeking. It is a form of resistance, not social and political, not violent, but of the most positive sort: To refuse to pass on hurt. It is a
meek resistance but in the manner of the universe, it is immensely powerful. It is the power of being still. Yet, when we choose the soul,
"Who am I?", when we are in our identity, we can move the world.

The mind creates deep within itself. In its strange and mysterious, irrational self, there is the power to become one with our identity in
the universe, to merge with the power of the stars. And thus to move reality without apparent, outward motion becomes real. This is the
power that gives us life, that allows us to think, that forms for us our limbs, that gives us hope and love and dreams. We are scarcely
conscious of this; mostly we are unconscious of it. But it is the power of the mind that dominates existence. We are, we are our being,
our being is in its identity. These are the conditions that are brought about when we believe and thus seek the soul. To have the soul is
then to become centrally positioned in this matrix of existence, to become one with the vortex of being. It is the power of a reality
powered by the energy of our personality to manifest our greater being in this existence. What form of oppression, of unconsciousness,
can long stand against the force of such belief, such faith?

There is a greater world that answers to the calls of a greater force of mind. It is the world that answers to our belief, to our power to do
goodness in the face of pain, to heal in the face of evil and fear. It is a strength that appears to come from nowhere but within, yet it
moves the world without. It is almost as if there are spirits and gods who can guide us and help us in times of need. Perhaps in a simpler
time we could have believed in these. In a universe that has the power to create living beings, why not beings spiritual? Yet, it would be
questionable whether they would be better suited to direct events in this existence than through our being. Even nature makes mistakes;
why not souls? It is in the nature of a growing universe that there must exist risk and potentiality for failure. The burden falls on us.
There is a greater power that holds reality together for us, that shapes it and moves it to meet our sometimes desperate needs. It is the
reality of our own making, perhaps looked on by the gods, but an extension of our individual being nevertheless. Through belief, faith,
will, and an intense concentration of love, we create our reality from deep within the soul. There, meekness and serenity immensely
overpower violence and conquest. There an oppressive world is forced to retreat before a new consciousness.

We are, we are human, we are the soul; these are the mechanisms that are manifest by a universe defining itself through interrelationship.
In a conscious mind, we have the soul; we believe. We are a personality. We are our existence. We are the person we love and produce
to the world. These are all values we affect in how we believe and how we choose to be conscious as human beings. Whether our
personal reality is terribly poor or affluent, peaceful or violent, we are bound within the mechanism of a universe that allows us to be at
the center of our identity, to move reality with our soul. If we do not coerce others, and if we are not guilty of being selfishly
self-centered at the exclusion of all others, then this soul flows naturally through our being and we materialize in it our everyday
existence. We can then change what is wrong in us and work to bring about our desired reality. We work with ourselves through the
greater self, and thus have assistance in real terms in how we will achieve what is desired. We are then conduits of the power of the soul
and as such energize all we touch with our existence. The terrible poverty of society is lifted; the oppression of a servile world is
dissolved. But first we must believe in the value of the individual as a soul.

There is a simplicity to a universe that expresses the most complex in terms of the simplest. This is the miracle of the mystery that is our
universal order. It is a miracle that had been praised in countless parables, raised to holiness by religions, interpreted by countless
generations of priests. The miracle is that when we believe in the soul, when we believe in an order higher than the self, we are seeking
the assistance and power of our greater being. When we believe, we are as one not only with a simple faith but become as one with a
greater metaphysical reason. When we have the soul, we bring the mind of the universe into our individual existence and thus we glow
with the power of a being made real. We become in the mind, have the soul, and radiate an energy of life that illuminates reality with the
heightened energy of our personality. When we choose the soul, we become the future human being.

When we choose to build rather than to destroy, to help rather than to hurt, to give rather than to take away; we are choosing to have the
soul. When we seek to forgive where there lacks understanding, to praise where there is failure, and to give hope where there is despair;
then we are transcending our everyday common existence and step forth into our greater being. We begin to work with our being,
moving reality in a mysterious way from the far reaches of infinity rather than from the immediate reaches of our physical world. It is the
infinite strength of silence, the bountifulness of serenity, and the immense energy of standing still. What power is this miracle that moves
reality from one's gentleness of being? It is the power of choosing the soul. It is irrational, mysterious, metaphysical; yet, it is individual,
indestructible, and the greatness of an infinite simplicity. It is the power of being human in All that Is.

This is the indestructibility of the soul. The order of the universe transcends any man-made order, though this order becomes one with
the social order when we live through agreement and goodwill. To love one another is a far greater force than to challenge one another in
competition. To encourage, to help, to be patient, to await result with courage; these are conditions that could make our man-made social
order even more empowered by the order of the universe. The infinite interrelationships that are reality are also the reality of our social
order. If they appear man-made, man's mind lending them a rational being, then it is only because we were not conscious of it. Now we
must also think and believe in a man-made order irrational, the spiritual basis of human life. Social spiritual power is in that other order,
the order of a living universe focused in an individual existence that is called upon when we seek out the soul. It is the beautiful energy of
a mysterious existence called upon to guide us in our daily existence, the complexity of an infinity brought down to its simplest: We are,
individually, an image of our greater being. What man made order can be greater than this?

This is the greater world that lies within our reach. To reach it, we need but to choose consciously, to be conscious of how we choose.
So chosen, we must choose in a way that gives us the soul and thus positions us within the reality that is our identity. When so chosen,
we have positioned ourselves within the space-time interrelationships that define our identity at infinity: "Who am I?"... "I am the infinite
definition that is my soul." From this definition flows culture, civilization, religion, and the beliefs that propel for us our individual reality.
We are born into this world on the edge of these beliefs, activate them at the level of everyday existence with our consciousness, and
then release them at death into an existence of their own. This is how we reflect our soul. In a roundabout way, we have completed the
full circle of Habeas Mentem: We can transcend the power of the mind, of reason, and enter the power of the mysterious and irrational,
through the energy of the soul. We are; we believe; and in how we choose to believe is who we are. Thus, we are in the mind how we
choose to believe. This is the "who" of our identity. Our reality materializes there.

When we transcend the space-time interrelationship of how we are with who we are, our will becomes the power of our identity. When
we are positioned within our identity in terms of who we are as a personality, we have a universe working with us. It would be, perhaps,
natural for us to expect this force to be perfect; it being the force of an infinity. But same as nature has room in itself for error and flaw,
so must we assume that the force of infinity likewise has room for flaw. It is not a perfect universe, for it needs to grow. The soul is not
all prescient, for there is risk in existence. But there is a natural force that aids us in our existence and guides us with the order and
wisdom of a living reality. We then materialize our personality in our everyday existence. Then, in how we will our existence, though it
may be flawed and full of error, is how we express our identity here.

This happens naturally, all the time and, when free from coercion, it is free from external error. Our soul is free to be itself, even if
imperfectly so. Its "who" becomes evident in all we do: In how we live, how we work, how we treat each other, how we raise our
young, how we build; how we pray. All of these are how we pressure existence with how we will. They are the manifestations of the
reality we live in. Our existence in it, our work, our world, our art, are all signatures of how we are in the soul. When we become
conscious of this, we materialize for ourselves a higher order. We become a greater being in a greater world. This is done simply,
individually, humbly, and it is all done in relation to how we chose to believe in the soul.

So we are brought once again back to the individual. Once again the universe's immense complexity is placed squarely on the frail
shoulders of an individual being. We are, through our being, the miracle of a universe focused in upon itself. Through us is the mystery
of the energy of life made flesh in this reality. We occupy it, we work it, we lend it the energy of our soul. How great is the world in our
new, greater existence!

And our social reality also starts there. The new individual, manifesting his or her greater being, seeks the soul. The hardness of our cold
world is softened by the gentleness of the new personality. Our fellow creatures become less afraid of us as we accept reality on its own
terms but grace it with the wisdom of our new being. We do not trespass, do not destroy, do not hurt or damage. The natural gentleness
of having a soul is transplanted to the rest of existence, to both the plant and animal kingdoms, thus making our world human in ways we
still can but dimly perceive. We are the new man, new woman. Our new society is made of institutions that serve this new being. It is a
more joyous world, more playful and humorous, more fun loving; but it is also a more just, less competitive and more caring world. It is
the reflection of the joy of a universe that can see itself in the material existence of our new being.

In our new, greater world, our social institutions become more a fellowship of souls than a hierarchy of power. The power is one of
agreement, of consensus, of exchange, rather than of oppression and servility. It is a new world, courageous in that it trusts itself to a
belief in a universe that is great in the body of an individual human being. It is elevated enough to believe in the greatness of a human
soul. In this fellowship is a world that becomes free of violence, of mistrust, of suspicion, of fear and theft. To trust our fellow human
being, our fellow soul, is a power that our reality has scarcely experienced. Yet, it is the power of a universe guiding its own souls. When
two hands clasp in greeting, when we look into another's eyes, when we trust another; we are looking into a fellow soul that has chosen
to travel this world with us. How great it is to say: "Namaste. I worship the soul in you!" It is a force that ties identities from opposite
ends of a universe into one. To be tolerant, to be fragile, to be strong, to be willful and yet to be affectionate. It is to be human. When
we are conscious of this, when we wish each other well, we are invoking the subtle and yet great power of the soul. It is the power of an
identity, a being, an energy of belief, a personality, a fragment of All that Is. It is who we are. In the definitions of a natural order that
has defined itself as our physical universe is a value of reality that has defined itself as a soul. When we believe in this, when we believe
in the power of the soul in each individual, we can then believe in the natural order that has given us its greater identity. We are made in
a greater image. There is a greater order in the world because we have a soul.

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