1020 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY
works of other authors whom you most admire. You should fill your
bookshelves with books related to your own field of work. You should
surround yourself with every possible means of conveying to your ego
the exact picture of yourself that you expect to express, because that
picture is the pattern that the law of Cosmic Habitforce will pick
up-the picture that it translates into its physical equivalent.
The properly developed ego is at all times under the control of
the individual. There must be no overinflation of the ego tending
toward "egomania;' by which some people destroy themselves. Ego-
mania reveals itself by a mad desire to control others by force.
In the development of the ego, one's motto might well be "Not
too much, not too little, of anything:' When people begin to thirst
for control over others, or begin to accumulate large sums of money
that they cannot or do not use constructively, they are treading on
dangerous ground. Power of this nature grows of its own accord and
it soon gets out of control. Nature has provided us all with a safety
valve through which she deflates the ego and relieves the pressure of
its influence when an individual goes beyond certain limits in the
development of the ego.
Napoleon Bonaparte began to die, because of his crushed ego,
the day he landed on St. Helena Island.
People who quit work and retire from all forms of activity, after
having led active lives, generally atrophy and die soon thereafter. If
they live they are usually miserable and unhappy. A healthy ego is one
that is always in use and under complete control.
The ego is constantly undergoing changes, for better or for
worse, because of the nature of one's thought habits. The two fac-
tors that force these changes upon one are time-and the law of
Cosmic Habitforce.
Just as seeds planted in the soil require definite periods of time to
germinate, develop, and grow, so do the ideas, thought impulses,