Course III - Teaching 14: Asceticism in Life

Certain souls particularly strive for practicing their spiritual exercises but do not get obvious results of this effort. The point is that they know how to meditate, but they know this alone. They reduce their spiritual life to a practice of certain exercises but do not do anything more.
Certainly a correct, methodical exercise gives obvious results, but you need more than an exercise to get spiritual results; over all you should use your entire being on a continuous, uninterrupted ascetic Renunciation. Otherwise, although you get surprising mystical experiences, it never shall be a pure mystical Renunciation, mystical Substantial Union, but false mystique with materialistic results.
You need a vital, clear and simple situation for efficient results not only in ascetic-mystical exercises but also in any activity of the soul.
In life it is important clearly to know what you seek and what the fundamental aspiration is. This is the most important thing. Later, you should subordinate efforts and objects to attain this end. By doing so, quickly you attain the goal.
Few are sufficiently honest and brave to confess what they really want, and even lesser is the number of those who act according to this feeling and risk their lives to do it.
The Son can get anything he intends, but not all his conquests shall give him what he expects from them.
First you should know how to discriminate among your wishes and which is the genuine vocation that shall give the plenitude at which you aim.
Among all roads, among all achievements, only one is for the Son, only one is his vocation.
Every soul has his way to reach the Union with the Divine Mother: here is his vocation; and he shall have no peace until he discovers and achieves it.
The Son must quickly reach this fundamental situation, which is his individual way to achieve Renunciation because Renunciation is the only fundamental way toward the inner soul liberation.
The exercise of meditation, made with absolute soul honesty to seek the vocation, quickly defines this vocation and not only produces efficient results but also its fruits are of spiritual liberation. But the exercise made only as a compulsory routine, without sincere intention of giving anything of oneself but with selfish eagerness for wrapping oneself with the silk of sentimental consolation and the sweet weeping of one’s pains becomes a burden that is difficult to carry, does not give spiritual results and stops being true ascetic mystique.
The obvious results of asceticism depend directly upon the situation of the soul in regard to its spiritual vocation.