Now whenever you feel that cloud of melancholy, stop and ascertain the cause. You have observed the workings of suggestion. If you find nothing in your environment or circumstances to fill you with hopelessness, would it not be safe to assume--unless you are bilious--that the cloud gathered elsewhere and merely descended upon you? The student who hopes some day--though maybe many lives in the future--to achieve adeptship, may as well begin now to control and direct his thoughts and feelings. You need not be melancholy unless you want to be. There are texts, mantras, adages, even copy-book maxims you can recall and meditate upon, that will drive away the worst fit of the blues. Here are a few: Pleasure and pain are opposite expressions of one force. I am a part of God, and no harm can overtake God. What is the truth hidden in this well of discontent? If I go deep enough into this midnight earth, I shall come out on the other side where the sun shines. I was happy yesterday, and I am still I. A frightened dog will never scare away a robber. If all these ills befall me, it will be an exercise of power to conquer them. --Not very profound, perhaps; but you can write better ones if you wish. I am merely illustrating one process of shaking off the burden of dread. Why should you men dread anything? Even death is only dreadful when you are afraid of it. The Masters enjoy difficulties. They are the acid that tests the gold of their mastership. And speaking from a lower plane, there is pleasure in doing any difficult thing. Why, in the writing of a big novel there is more actual work, mental and physical, than in overcoming some great misfortune. It is less work to go out and overcome a threatened misfortune than it is to write a short story. How anybody in good health and with even ordinary ability can yield to melancholy is a question for a philosopher. I am not talking now of grief for dead friends, or for false friends, which grief is far worse; but of the fear of some imaginary disaster which in all probability will never happen. The surest way to attract disasters is to imagine them. You can create almost anything if you imagine it strongly enough--even joy and courage. A Master once told me that the control and exorcism of melancholy was a greater test of power than the control of desire. Both often come from outside, are suggested to the receptive, passive mind. Now the Master entertains only those suggestions that can strengthen his purposes. If you have a friend who makes you courageous by his very presence, cultivate his society. If you have a friend who makes you melancholy, either teach him better or get rid of him; send him to a doctor.