Watching Point 432

432 — WATCH that you perceive that animal magnetism cannot claim to prey on a student, unless he is harboring a sense of self — self-satisfaction; self-praise; self-condemnation; self-love; self-will; self-justification; self-pity; self-righteousness; self-aggrandizement. The selfless thought alone is immune.

If animal magnetism claims to creep in through the door of self-esteem, for instance, it would be foolish to strive to cast out the animal magnetism, while at the same time retaining the self-esteem. Self seems to be a cat with nine lives as outlined above; but when we see this animal nature as never man — never us — since God created us perfect, then the cat and all its nine phases is disposed of.