Are we at the mercy of the world?

The mind is at the mercy of its environment.

The people you mix with, the books you read, these, and a multitude of other emanations from things, as well as people, these being focused on that which is intensely impressionable build up the thought and the attitude of mind, which you carry on from day to day. But you, and all who follow in His steps, are exhorted to keep close to God, close to the protection, which He provides so lavishly.

Meet these enemies with confidence and perfect self-control, and say—

I am linked to One who is stronger than you all!

You have heard me say before that the only barrier between mankind and the higher knowledge is lack of dedication, lack of simplicity and purity of heart. By laying aside self, by preparing the physical mind, by the discipline of the physical will, man, no longer bound to that which has been proved, to that fickle mistress called science, freed from shackles, born into a new freedom, the valiant soul goes forward to see for himself, not only how God has made this or that, but something of the stupendous purpose, underlying everything, which has been created.

The Zodiac Messages, New Revelation, Volume III, January—June 1925, Plant Life and its Place in God's Purpose, 76