The Bible tells us, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." This short, simple statement contains the crux of most of human challenge. The world does harbor evil people and probably will do so until there is no longer a need for their services (see Chapter Fourteen, "Agents of the Law").

However, the majority of humans do not fall into this category. Most us us want to do what is right and good, but somehow we never seem to quite succeed. We want to do the ethical, moral, and kind thing, but all to frequently it comes out wrong. It almost seems as if we do not have control of our own being. We echo the words of the comedian, Flip Wilson, when he says, "The devil made me do it."

Surprisingly, there is some validity to this claim if we equate the inborn desires of our body with the lord of darkness. And why not draw such conclusions? Is it not reasonable to suspect that the Satan which the Nazarene confronted on the mountaintop was neither more nor less than these self-same desires of the flesh which He put in their proper place? Are any of us fit to fight the devils of the world until we have first overcome those of our own being?

The Scripture also says, "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Is it not possible that this statement of the Nazarene, once again, refers not so much to our close relatives but rather to the feelings and desires within our personal household, ourselves?

Our Internal Forces

If our greatest foes are within us, it is certainly reasonable to ask where these "little devils" came from and what we can do either to control them or to eliminate them. The existence of these aspects of human nature was poignantly described by Maurice Maeterlinck in the drama, The Betrothal, when a character encountered them inadvertently and was instructed how to overcome them.

To understand the internal demons of man we must first understand the structure of man himself. He is a most unique and diverse being. The physical body is made up of the elements of the Earth, and the more godly portion - what the Bible calls spirit and we call the Divine Spark - is from the sphere of the Godhead Himself. Our physical body is an evolved structure that has within it inheritances from the many animal forms which made up its beginning forms. This not only is well documented in the world of science but also is repeated with the birth of each new physical human body. As the child develops within the womb, it begins as the simplest form of primordial protoplasm, as did all life long ago in the Sargasso Sea, and then bit by bit retraces each step of evolution until by the time of delivery it reaches human form. This process is so well accepted that all first-year biology students learn of it by memorizing the rather catchy tongue-twisting phrase, "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny."

We, therefore, find that we have within us many of the traits common to the animals who have partaken of this physical form we call home while on the Earth. Beyond that, we soon realize that we have accepted the past inheritance of the family into which we have been born. No one comes into this world fresh and new. At least not at this time in the history of the world of various problems.

Our body could be from a family with alcoholic tendencies, various disease weaknesses, criminal tendencies, or worse. These and many other tendencies can be a part of the physical form that we inhabit during this live. All these various influences work together to make up the "devils" within us. It is certainly easy to see why the "flesh is weak" and why the "Voice of the Spirit" so often goes unheeded.

Upon considering this concept many readers may ask, "Is it not unfair for us to be born with such defective bodies?" If we had but one life, or if this were our first incarnation to Earth, the answer to that question would be yes. But in the vast majority of instances neither of these is true. We all have had many opportunities to live according to the Divine Law. Also, the body we have this time is the body we deserve as the result of thoughts and actions of our past lives. The physical body with which we are supplied on this earthly visit is derived from two major efforts: First, the efforts of the Law to find parents with the proper inheritance, both good and bad, to construct a body that approximates what we deserve, and, second, the efforts of the AEtheric Body to modify and refine this general form to meet our exact requirements. (See Chapter Thirteen, "The AEtheric Body Revisited," for a detailed description of this process.)

Transmutation: Our Salvation

Now that we have an idea of the source of our internal devils, we can direct our attention to the much more difficult question of what we can do to rid ourselves of their harmful influence.

The first thing to remember is that these devils are not really all that bad. Most of them are but the uncontrolled reactions of normal and good protective responses. Because they come from the animals in the wild, we can see the similarities if we look.

Does not the cornered human react much the same way as a cornered animal? The wild animal will stake out his territory and kill to defend it. Does not organized crime do the same? Many animals herd together for protection. Is this greatly different from the social groups of men?

It is not so much that these traits are evil in themselves. They are not; they are, indeed, often necessary for the preservation of life. It is the misuse of these tendencies that creates such a large part of the evil in the world today. It is not so much the elimination of these qualities that we should work toward, but their civilization. We need to decrease their more unsociable traits and build upon their more constructive aspects.

For instance, the very human desire for security - a character trait that has a good side as well as a less good one - can lead a person to be selfish and possessive. Yet, in and of itself the trait is good; it is the quality that makes individuals put forth the necessary effort to pull their own weight in the world. Thus, because of the two-sided nature of most character traits, individuals who desire to improve themselves are obliged to never work to destroy the inborn traits of the human body and its animal background, but to change them into all that is good. This process, the changing of evil into good, was known to the ancient sages as the process of transmutation.

The Process of Transmutation

The big question, of course, is: How do we go about changing our thoughts and feelings? There is no easy way. Or as one great teacher said, "The way is simple, but not easy." There are, however, some rules and laws that, if applied, can help.

One of the most important of these guidelines was enunciated by the Nazarene when in the sermon on the Mount He stated, "Resist not evil."___Matthew 5:39. This phrase has caused a great deal of conjecture since its proclamation - but most of it is because it has been misinterpreted. If it is taken to refer to the inner world of man rather than to the outer world, it is much easier to understand. When we attempt to overcome our own weaknesses by confronting them directly, we usually permit them to grow and we weaken. What one resists, persists.

The laws in effect here are not difficult to comprehend. The more we think of a thing, the more energy we give it. Our thought gives life to the very thing we are attempting to change, even if that thought is for its change. By our very thought processes we attempt to resist evil.

If, on the other hand, we fill our mind with good and constructive thoughts, not allowing the concern for the more adverse traits of our nature to dwell with us, we will soon find that many of the adverse traits have departed from us for lack of nourishment. This is the mechanism of transmutation.

The thoughts we constantly hold in our mind shape our destiny. It can be no other way. No one has control of our mind except ourselves, so that once we make up our mind to control the thoughts our mind has allowed to remain for long, we have learned much about the process of transmutation. We are not affected by the thoughts of others unless we allow their thoughts and actions to influence what goes on within our minds and hearts.

It will, however, be much harder to keep our mind on useful thoughts than we may at first have thought. We as humans have let our minds wander far and wide for so long that it requires a real effort of will to learn to control our thoughts.

The Concept of Useful Thought

One concept that might be of service is called Useful Thought. It is possible to hold the mind on useful thoughts simply by keeping yourself active at useful tasks and devoting your thoughts to doing the task at hand the best way you can. At first, these tasks do not have to be particularly noble or uplifting - as long as they are useful. Cleaning garbage cans, for instance, may not be the most elevation of occupations, but if the duty is done the best we know how and in the proper spirit of love for the task, much good transmutation can take place because of the love generated for the productive task. Also, when the mind is busy with such constructive tasks, it does not have the ability to dwell on the less useful. The reason for this is that the mind functions as a one-task computer. It can input stimuli from only one source at a time. If we keep it busy with a constructive image, the adverse images are effectively closed out.

In First Thessalonians 5:17, Scripture implores us to "Pray without ceasing." On the face of it, this is a rather large request, but if we assume that Saint Paul by the word pray meant to keep the mind filled with useful and constructive thoughts, we see that this admonition is not hard to follow. It is possible to keep the mind constantly filled with all that is to the benefit of God and our fellowman. As we can do this, we have learned not only much of the Law of Transmutation, but also how to produce, within ourselves, a Heaven on Earth.
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