will only retard the day of your own realization and manifestation. Put it down at once and it will soon cease to trouble you.1

"Sitting in the silence" is not merely a sort of lazy drifting. It is a passive, but a definite, waiting upon God. When you want to do this, take a time when you are not likely to be disturbed, and when you can, for a little while, lay off all care. Begin your silence by lifting up your heart in prayer to the Father of your being. Do not be afraid that, if you begin to pray, you will be too "orthodox." You are not going to supplicate God, who has already given you "whatever you ask for" (Mk. 11:24). You have already learned that before you call He has sent that which you desire; otherwise, you would not desire it.

You know better than to plead with or to beseech God with an unbelieving prayer. But spending the first few moments of your silence in speaking directly to the Father centers your mind on the Eternal. Many who earnestly try to get still and wait upon God have found that the moment they sit down and close their eyes, their thoughts, instead of being concentrated, are filled with every sort of vain imagination. The most trivial things,

I. The preceding two paragraphs had been deleted from recent editions. We have returned them for their superb commentary on the importance of "psychic" phenomena. Beginners on the path should be assured that the experience Cady refers to here is not a common experience and it is not to be feared.