Conquering Self: The Compendium

To conquer means “to overcome by force of arms; to gain mastery over or win by overcoming obstacles or opposition; to overcome by mental or moral power; to be victorious.”

The rhinoceros is a perfect symbol of the self, the appetitive soul: It’s big (6+ feet tall by 11+ feet long), heavy (weighs 1000-3500kg), fast (runs 30-40mph), myopic (vision range 9-10 ft) and mean (50% of males and 30% of females die fighting their own kind). Rhinos are masters of the fight-flight instinct.

Soul conquering of the self is becoming all the laws received through initiations under the Seven Sacred Degrees of Neophyte, Disciple, Adept, Mystic, Master, Priest, and Christos. Controlling self is what you do until you conquer. However, control is but the first step in conquering self, and it begins with bridling the tongue. Self, in the context of soul ascension, describes egocentricity, which is an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance.

“You must conquer the self to access and to know
the mind that was in Christ Jesus.” – Edna Lister

Conquering is a law of doing or expression under the principle of desire. Conquering is the keynote of the Sixth Lesser Trinity of Via Christa Degrees, and it includes the Degrees to Defend, to Improve, and to Expand.

Edna Lister quoted two Proverbs frequently in regard to self: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city.” – Proverbs 16:32. “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” – Proverbs 25:28.

In addition to her public lectures, speeches and sermons, Edna Lister corresponded with students regularly, and met with them in personal counseling clinics and private group meetings in cities across the country. We have drawn the following instruction and advice on conquering self from her students’ personal notes and from her letters to them.

To master self, you must conquer self. To master the self of the appetitive soul and subconscious mind is essential to being in charge of your own consciousness, making the self subject to your soul’s command. Unless you conquer self, you will never reach the syzygy of your own living soul — appetitive soul, rational soul and Oversoul perfectly aligned as one in true Christed consciousness.

Mind is the link, the direct connection between the living soul and its Source, God. Individual mind is the soul’s two-way radio, or cell phone for contacting the universal divine Mind of God. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 2:5.

Until you conquer the self, you cannot unify the levels of consciousness you experience and express as subconscious, rational waking consciousness, and the super-conscious mind you experience as intuition and illumination. You must conquer the self to access and to know the mind that was in Christ Jesus.

The entries in Conquering Self are drawn from Edna Lister’s students’ personal notes and letters they received from her. A very few of them took shorthand, but none took down everything she said. Most people write down what strikes them as being important, so these notes may seem choppy, jumping from subject to subject. Despite this, some pioneering mystics consider this collection to be of the greatest help to them. Enjoy!

– Linda Mihalic, Via Christa site editor

Edna Lister on Conquering Self 1930 to 1939
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Edna Lister on Conquering Self 1940 to 1949
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Edna Lister on Conquering Self 1950 to 1959
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Edna Lister on Conquering Self 1960 to 1969
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Edna Lister on Conquering Self 1970 to 1971
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