Series 1 - Lesson 5 - Annotation 12
What is meant by "race consciousness"?
12. The "race consciousness" is the sum of past and present thoughts, beliefs, concepts, and ideas prevalent among mankind. It has been said that possibly the greater part of our thinking did not begin at our cradle; that it is the sum of the thoughts of those born before us, producing the atmosphere we are born into and causing our thoughts to have the same general character as theirs. Of many persons it might be said that they are living dead men's lives, since they are thinking dead men's thoughts. The thoughts of those who have lived before us may be either helpful and uplifting or depressing and limiting. As generations of self-centered, self-conscious men have succeeded each other it is the limiting thoughts principally that have been accepted and impressed on the succeeding generation. The stream of thought thus established, with its strong currents drawing all thought in their direction, is the race thought, or "race consciousness."
The thoughts and emotions of humanity in general must be dealt with as being below the level of man's divine inheritance and as having no power in and of themselves. Their seeming power is that which the individual gives them through his own process of thinking and feeling. This allows the imagination to form all sorts of "bogeys" and out of the suggestions that have been dropped into the subconsciousness during the history of mankind.
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Preceding Entry: What is meant by "work out your own salvation"?
Following Entry: How do race beliefs become a part of the consciousness of the individual?
