Part 3 of 3: Rays of the Dawn
- Part 1: Vanity, When the Need for Approval Takes Control
- Part 2: Greed, The Cost of Wanting More Than We Need
Each soul has its own mission
In Chapter Twenty-Three of Rays of the Dawn, Dr. Thurman Fleet presents non-interference as one of the essential laws governing the soul. His starting point is that each individual soul is destined to fulfill a mission on the earth plane. Each life is patterned according to its stage of evolution.
The path may be burdensome or comparatively free from pain and worry according to the degree in which a person understands and obeys the laws of his being. The individual is not free from responsibility. He is free to fulfill his own responsibility in harmony with higher law.
Dr. Fleet compares individual souls with the rays of the sun. Each ray functions as an integral unit, contributing to the one great light that illuminates the universe. Yet the rays do not interfere with one another. Each performs its function while remaining part of the whole.
In the same way, each person must perform his or her own part willingly and cheerfully, contributing to the whole while refraining from interference with the mission or function of another soul.
The impulse to instruct and obstruct
Every person has a phase of life to carry out in accordance with higher laws. In order to perform that mission, the individual should not be unduly interfered with.
Dr. Fleet observes that many people, acting from an egotistical impulse, assume the responsibility of instructing or impeding others who have not asked for instruction. They attempt to direct another person’s course, believing that their own judgment gives them authority over a life that does not belong to them.
Dr. Fleet calls this a violation of law. Divine Wisdom has ordained a true course for all, and each person should be allowed to pursue that course without unwarranted interference.
The duty of each individual is to perform his own work, fulfill his own obligations, and develop himself without retarding the progress or disturbing the well-being of another. The familiar phrase “strictly minding his own business” expresses this law in ordinary language, although Dr. Fleet presents it as something much deeper than social courtesy.
It is a law of conduct, thought, and spiritual responsibility.
The first intrusion begins in thought
Non-interference is not limited to physical action. A person must abstain from intrusion in thought, word, and deed.
Dr. Fleet emphasizes that the first intrusion always occurs in thought. Before interference appears through speech or action, the mind has already entered territory that does not belong to it. A person may scan another with interest, speculate about that person’s condition or nature, criticize, attempt to read the other’s mind, or seek to influence the other’s mind and soul.
According to Dr. Fleet, such mental and spiritual intrusion penetrates the sacred chambers of another’s being. He warns that dangerous forces are unlawfully handled whenever one attempts to enter or influence another mind, whether through mental suggestion or by any other method, and whether permission has been given or not.
Both individuals become victims of the intrusion.
The seriousness of this teaching rests on Dr. Fleet’s view that the mind is not harmless simply because its activity remains private. Thought sets vibrations in motion. When the mind is carried away into speculation about another person, or when it is disturbed by the intrusion of another, the soul becomes exposed to agitation. In Dr. Fleet’s language, the soul may be pierced, opened, and scattered according to the violence or duration of those disturbances.
Guarding the territory of the soul
People often protect their earthly possessions carefully while leaving the treasures of the mind and soul open to intrusion. Dr. Fleet says that one must guard personal territory with equal care.
This does not mean withdrawing from every human contact. Life requires duty, association, and participation. Yet crowds, streets, and unnecessary mingling expose the individual to many disturbing influences. When one must enter such conditions through duty, Dr. Fleet advises maintaining the utmost care not to interfere with so much as one thought.
The individual must also maintain an unyielding attitude against intrusion from others. If personal territory is trespassed upon, the intruder should be informed that interference will not be permitted. This must be done without annoyance and in the wisest manner possible, so that the boundary is protected without creating needless offense.
Non-interference therefore works in two directions. Do not enter another person’s sacred territory. Do not permit others to enter yours.
The boundary is firm, but it need not be hostile.
Interference with the subconscious life
Dr. Fleet then turns from interference with others to interference with one’s own being.
Within each person is a spiritual force that directs certain automatic activities of the body, including digestion, breathing, the rate of the heartbeat, and elimination. These functions do not come under the ordinary jurisdiction of the conscious mind and should not be interfered with.
When the conscious mind begins to tamper with the subconscious functioning of the body, the law of non-interference is violated. Dr. Fleet also warns against an inverted thought process in which a person over-indulges in self-analysis and introspection, constantly centering attention upon every thought, word, and action.
The result is self-condemnation and self-consciousness. The conscious mind intrudes upon a phase of being that should be directed by the subconscious mind. Through continued interference, automatic activities may begin to function abnormally or cease to function according to their natural order.
Dr. Fleet’s point is not that a person should abandon responsibility for thought or conduct. Rather, he distinguishes between the conscious duties that belong to the individual and the automatic functions that should be left to the spiritual force governing the body.
The mind has its proper territory. The body has its proper territory. The soul has its proper territory. Disorder follows when one phase is forced into the jurisdiction of another.
When truth is offered before the mind is ready
Dr. Fleet next considers the impulse to teach others. When a person becomes acquainted with what he believes to be truth about life and the laws governing human existence, he naturally wants to teach it to others.
But another person may not be ready to accept that truth. The mind may be closed by opinions, beliefs, prejudices, and superstitions. The individual may not be eager to seek the lighted path and may choose instead to continue in an artificial way of living and thinking.
To attempt to plant truth in such mental soil, Dr. Fleet says, is like “casting pearls before swine.” The expression is severe because the act itself may be wasteful and intrusive. Truth cannot be forced into a mind that has not become receptive to it.
Dr. Fleet explains that some people must first experience a deep upheaval arising from prolonged suffering before their minds and souls awaken to an understanding of the laws of life. The awakening cannot be imposed from outside. It must occur according to the person’s own stage of evolution.
No jurisdiction over another soul
No person should impose his way of living and thinking upon another. Divine authority over oneself does not grant jurisdiction over a neighbor.
A person has the capacity to control his own thinking and determine what is best for himself. He is not always in a position to judge what is best for someone else. Every human being possesses unique individuality and divine freedom.
The other person may be taking a path that seems lower or higher. He may understand life differently. His way may be more suitable for him, even when it is not suitable for another. That is not the concern of the observer.
Before attempting to force another person to follow a particular path, Dr. Fleet says it would be wise to investigate that person’s course. The route that appears less direct may, in fact, be the right route for that individual.
To respect another soul is not to approve of every action. It is to recognize the limits of one’s authority.
Helpfulness without interference
Dr. Fleet does not present non-interference as indifference. An understanding of the unity underlying all life naturally produces helpfulness without intrusion.
When a fellow human being is in distress, one cannot simply stand aside. Physical aid may not always be possible, but sympathy, kindness, patience, and love remain within one’s ability. Forgiveness and love follow understanding.
Every person has an interpretation of life, and the shortest or easiest road for one person is not necessarily the direct road for another. Each individual has the right and privilege to take his own evolution in hand according to his understanding, provided he does not interfere with the well-being of another.
The duty is not to direct another’s life. The duty is to make sure that one is right in one’s own relation with others.
This is the final distinction Dr. Fleet draws. Charity requires readiness to help, but help must not become control. Support must not become intrusion. Concern must not become an excuse to assume authority over another soul.
The chapter closes with a clear statement:
“The Law of Charity dictates that we must be ever ready to help our fellowmen to the fullest extent of our ability, but we ought never to interfere.”
Reader resources
Read more about Rays of the Dawn through the Concept Therapy Institute’s Rays of the Dawn resource.
The book, Rays of the Dawn: Natural Laws of the Body, Mind and Soul by Dr. Thurman Fleet, is also available through Amazon.
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