Civilization of Self: From Inner Chaos to Divine Order
By Mike Rashid King
Confronting the Inner Chaos and Illusions
Before we can build any civilization – before we can even dream of uplifting others – we must
wage war within. We must confront the chaos lurking in our own minds: the fears, doubts,
insecurities, and illusions that keep us chained. The world has layered us with falsehoods and
comforting lies, all to keep us from our power. Social media feeds our envy and insecurity;
consumer culture tempts us with fleeting pleasures; politicians peddle fear and division – all of it
designed to keep us distracted and spiritually asleep . These external forces play on our lower
nature, encouraging ignorance and indulgence. As the Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned, a
person without knowledge of self is like a victim of amnesia – not fully conscious, and certainly
not competent to direct their life . In this state, we remain uncivilized within, no matter our
outward achievements.
Look inside at the turmoil: the anger that flares without warning, the appetites that sabotage
your higher goals, the doubts that whisper “I am not enough.” That is the inner enemy we each
must face. In the sacred text The Divine Quintessence, it is written: “The greatest lie is your
lesser self; the greatest truth is your divine origin.” All the chaos, vice, and confusion within us
stem from that lie of the lesser self – the false belief that we are mere animals or sinners,
unworthy and limited. We have worn these lies like shackles. It is time to strip them off. The
Divine Quintessence declares, “We’re here to shake you awake, to strip away the comforting
illusions and show you the powerful truth of your own nature.” Waking up is not gentle or pretty
– it is a rebellion of the soul against the bondage of ignorance.
So we begin by naming and challenging the illusions. We challenge the illusion that salvation
lies outside us. We confront the chaos in our habits and thoughts instead of blaming the world.
This is a battle, and every battle begins within. “Conquer yourself, and you’ll have no enemy, for
all battles begin within.” These words ring with ancient truth. The only devil we ever truly need to
vanquish is the one in the mirror – our unruly lower nature. When you can face your own
weaknesses and conquer them, no external enemy can truly harm you, for you have dismantled
the sources of defeat that live inside. This self-conquest is the first victory on the road to
personal civilization.
Yet, my brothers and sisters, how do we arm ourselves for this inner war? We arm ourselves
with the knowledge of self and the love of self. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught
that “knowledge of self produces love for self, and love for self allows you to do for yourself.” In
other words, when you learn who you truly are, you cannot help but fall in love with the divinity
within you, and out of that self-love comes the strength to better yourself. Instead of
self-sabotage, you begin to act in your own best interest. Loving oneself deeply is not vanity or
selfishness – it is spiritual armor. It protects you from abuse, from despair, from accepting less
than you are worth. Self-love gives you the courage to confront pain and heal it rather than hide
from it. It is, as Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches, the basis of discovering God and purpose:
“Love is the basis of the discovery of God and self...without acknowledgment of your Creator,
you’re limiting your ability to grow.” When you love the God who created you, you inevitably
learn to love the piece of God within you. Armed with that knowledge and love, we are ready to
tame the chaos inside.
Transition – We have now looked into the mirror of truth and felt the sting of what must change.
The illusions are exposed; the inner enemy identified. The battle plan is clear: we must
discipline and elevate ourselves. The journey now moves from confrontation to transformation –
from chaos to order, from slave to master of self.
The Alchemy of Self-Discipline and Awakening
Discipline is the forge of transformation. It is through consistent, daily self-mastery that we
transmute base impulses into noble character – this is the alchemy of the soul. Every choice
you make, from the moment you wake at dawn, is a brick in the foundation of your reality. Will
you hit the snooze button or rise with purpose? Will you feed your body junk or nourishment?
Will you spend hours drowning in mindless media, or invest time in learning and prayer? These
small choices, repeated, seem trivial, but they accumulate into destiny. As The Divine
Quintessence advises, “Every decision, every habit, every thought you repeat... those are the
bricks and mortar of your reality.” The civilized self is built brick by brick, habit by habit, in the
mundane crucible of each day.
Understand this: mastering yourself is the key to mastering your life. A proverb from The Divine
Quintessence teaches, “He who controls his mind controls his destiny. He who frees his mind
controls the universe.” What a profound truth – that by disciplining our own mind, we set the
course of our future; and by liberating our mind from false limitations, we align with the creative
force of the cosmos. When your mind is scattered, your world is scattered. When your mind is
focused and still, your world comes into order. As another teaching states: “A scattered mind
creates a scattered reality. Only in stillness can you gather the pieces.” Through practices like
meditation, prayer, and steadfast habits, we still the mind and gather our power. In that stillness,
clarity emerges. We begin to hear the whisper of the Inner Self guiding us.
Self-discipline, then, is not about punishing yourself or adhering to arbitrary rules – it is about
remembering who you are. Each act of discipline is an act of self-love. You deny the lower urges
not because some outside authority demands it, but because you deserve to rule your impulses
rather than be ruled by them. Think of the example of the Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.), the men trained
by Elijah Muhammad: they rose early for prayer, drilled like soldiers, abstained from toxic habits.
Why? Not to impress others, but to sharpen themselves into righteous instruments. They
learned that obedience to the highest principles grants mastery over the self. In the words of
Minister Farrakhan, “The road to self-mastery is obedience to a master” – and ultimately, that
master is God within and the divine law. By obeying the divine aspect of your own nature, you
gain command over the beast within. Step by step, habit by habit, you starve the fear, the
laziness, the greed, and you feed the courage, the discipline, the love.
As you discipline yourself, something miraculous begins to happen: an awakening. The fog
starts to lift from your consciousness. You glimpse a new truth shimmering behind ordinary
reality – the realization that your inner world is projecting outward, creating the life you live. This
is the quantum logic of consciousness: as within, so without. “The world doesn’t test you, it
responds to your vibration. Your life echoes your mind.” In ancient wisdom this was stated as
“As above, so below; as within, so without.” Now, modern science even nods to this truth.
Physicists discovered in the quantum realm that the observer affects the observed – the very act
of focusing consciousness on subatomic particles changes their behavior. In the language of
The Divine Quintessence, “Quantum physics is finally catching up to what mystics and sages
have known for millennia – consciousness creates reality.” We are not merely observers of our
life; we are participants and co-creators. Your mind is like a projector, casting the film of your
thoughts onto the screen of the world.
The Infinite God Body philosophy teaches this in vivid terms: “They say the world is your oyster,
but that’s a lie. The world is your clay, your canvas, your blueprint waiting to spring into shape...
the architect of it all is you.” In other words, you are the designer of your destiny, not a victim of
fate. What you envision and believe, you can create. The power behind creation is not some
distant, capricious fate or a mystery locked away in the heavens – “It’s the fire inside your own
skull, the thoughts you build into cathedrals, the whispers that become storms.” Feel the weight
of those words. Your thoughts are the architects of reality, capable of stirring up storms or
calming them. When you realize this, truly realize it, you awaken to your responsibility for your
life. Complaining and blaming lose their flavor. You stop seeing yourself as a spectator at the
mercy of events and start seeing yourself as an active force. Even in hardship, you find the
opportunity: as the teaching says, one person in traffic curses their luck, while another turns the
delay into time to learn or reflect – the difference is a mindset of choice .
With awakening comes a profound memory – the memory of who you really are. The layers of
illusion fall away, the false identities and imposed labels burn off like morning mist, and your
divine self stands revealed. “With every page you turn, you’ll feel the amnesia of mortality lifting.
You’ll remember what it means to be infinite, unbounded and divine.” This is the promise when
you commit to the path of self-mastery. You start to recall that your spirit is not a small, weak
thing but a vast, powerful presence. What was once theory – “you are a god in human form” –
becomes an experienced reality stirring inside you. The lower self falls to its knees as the
Higher Self rises in glory. This is the civilization of self taking root: order conquering chaos, truth
replacing falsehood, light dispelling darkness within you.
Transition – Now the journey reaches a critical turning point. The inner eyes are opening. The
student becomes aware of their true identity. But with this great awakening comes great
responsibility. What will you do with the realization of your divinity? How will you live, knowing
that the kingdom of God is within you? The final leg of our journey is claiming your crown –
embracing the divine identity and the sacred duty that comes with it.
Claiming the Divine Identity and Extending the Light Outward
Awakened and disciplined, you stand at the threshold of a new reality. You gaze in the mirror
and for the first time recognize the being looking back: not a victim, not a beggar pleading for
rescue, but a sovereign soul – a microcosm of the Most High. You realize now what the sages
meant when they said “Know thyself”. It was a directive to know that the spark of the Creator
lives in you. The Infinite God Body framework puts it plainly: we call ourselves “gods” not out of
arrogance, but out of recognition of our highest potential and divine essence . “The god you
seek is not above, it is the breath in your lungs, the life in your hands.” The Source of all, the
Almighty, has imprinted Himself within your very being. Minister Farrakhan echoes this truth,
reminding us that if we are made in God’s image, “He gave each one of us a part of Himself that
allows us to reflect Him... He did not miss one of you. He is present in all of you.” Understand:
you carry the breath of God, the light of God, as your life.
To accept this divine identity is a revolutionary act. It upends the false hierarchy where we saw
ourselves as lowly. No – you are not meant to bow forever, scraping for worthiness. You are
meant to stand upright as a vessel of the divine. This is what Elijah Muhammad strove to instill
in the downtrodden: accept your own and be yourself. Accept that you are a child of God, with
God’s power and intelligence alive in you, and be that self unapologetically. When you accept
that you are crafted from the same Quintessence that forms stars and galaxies, a holy pride
awakens – not ego, but the dignity of knowing I am made of Godstuff.
But make no mistake: claiming your divine self is not the end of the journey; it is the beginning
of real work. If up until now we have been fighting an inner jihad, now comes the jihad al-akbar
– the greater holy war of living divinity responsibly in the world. With kingship comes duty. “With
great power comes great responsibility.” This timeless principle means that as we realize our
godly power, we must wield it with righteousness and love. Spiritual sovereignty does not mean
tyranny or egoism; it means you govern yourself by the highest law and therefore have no need
to dominate others. In fact, you see others as reflections of the same divine light. The Honorable
Elijah Muhammad taught that once you love yourself, you see your people as yourself, and you
cannot exploit or harm them . True gods do not enslave; true gods liberate. True gods do not
sow chaos; they bring order and harmony. The divine within us calls us to be servant-leaders of
humanity, compassionate and just, as all prophets and enlightened ones were.
So what does this responsibility look like in action? It means that now, having civilized yourself,
you are charged to help civilize others – not by force or self-righteous preaching, but by the
power of your example and the guidance of your wisdom. Minister Farrakhan teaches that
“self-improvement is the basis for community development.” You have improved yourself; now
you can improve your community. You become a shining example of what is possible when a
person awakens to God within. Your very presence becomes a light that casts out darkness
around you. When others see how you conquered habits that once enslaved you, how you
replaced hatred with love, fear with faith, ignorance with knowledge – they will be inspired to
follow. This is how you extend your light outward.
Each of us has a sphere of influence – be it our family, our neighborhood, our nation. The
civilized self takes responsibility for that sphere. You become a steward of the earth around you
because you recognize it as an extension of yourself. Just as your inner world echoes outward,
now your healed inner state begins to heal the outer world. If enough of us do this, society itself
transforms. Remember the vision from The Divine Quintessence: “Imagine a world where every
individual walks in their divine power, where poverty, disease, and conflict are relics of a less
enlightened past... it starts with you.” This is not utopian fantasy but the logical outcome of
many individuals reclaiming their true nature. As within, so without – a world of
gods-in-consciousness would naturally produce a civilization of peace and justice.
We draw also from the ancestral wisdom that community is an organism. There is an African
proverb: “I am because we are.” When you know that you are divine, you also know that your
brother and sister carry that same divinity. You cannot claim your crown and then ignore the
plight of others – because in the quantum weave of being, what hurts them, hurts you. And what
uplifts them, uplifts you. So the civilized, enlightened self becomes a humble servant to the
greater good. This is the balance of being both king and servant – a true sovereign sees his
people’s welfare as his own.
Now our journey nears its end, and we arrive at a moment of powerful clarity, the kind of clarity
that can only come after walking through darkness with faith. In this climax, a revelation dawns:
the treasure we have been seeking, the salvation and kingdom we yearned for, were inside us
all along. The great mystics have all proclaimed it in one form or another, and now we add our
voices. Look within – the throne of the Most High was planted in your heart from the beginning.
The light of truth that guided you was your own soul’s radiance. The Savior you hoped would
come to save you... is already alive within you. In the final analysis, you are both the kingdom
and the king, both the student and the teacher. You are both the savior and the saved. This
realization is the sacred treasure unearthed at the end of our quest. It was hidden under the
layers of ego and illusion, but through confrontation, discipline, and awakening, you have
cleared the dirt and uncovered the gold: your divine self.
Stand in that truth now. Feel its weight and its glory. The journey of the Civilization of Self has
brought you home to yourself. You have remembered that which was never truly lost – your
identity as an aspect of Almighty God, responsible and free. The lower nature within bows now
to the higher nature. Love reigns over hate. Order reigns over chaos. The prophecy is fulfilled:
the slave has become the sovereign. The lost has been found. The self has been mastered and
made whole.
And now, enlightened one, go forth and shine. Love yourself deeply, for you have seen the face
of God within you. Conquer your lower nature each day, for that is the eternal jihad of a
conscious being. Walk with the rhythm of spirit, science, and street wisdom in your step –
balanced between heaven and earth, armed with knowledge and moving with purpose. Let your
life be a sermon and a blueprint for others. Build the outer world as a reflection of the heaven
you have cultivated inside. Carry yourself with the quiet power of one who knows the truth.
When doubt whispers, remember the words: “Divinity is not given, it is remembered and
reclaimed.” You have remembered; you have reclaimed.
In closing, I say to you what was said to the seeker in The Divine Quintessence: Welcome
home, god in human form . The journey does not end here – in fact, it truly begins. But you step
onto the next path fully awake. You leave this course with a light in your eyes that wasn’t there
before. You carry a torch within that can ignite countless others. This is how we civilize the
world: one enlightened self at a time, spreading like candles lighting candles, until the darkness
is utterly vanquished by collective dawn.
Go forward knowing that the Creator dwells in you, that your life is a sacred expression of the
Most High. Go forward to conquer new fronts – not with brute force, but with truth and love as
your weapons. Remember always the quantum principle that guided us: as within, so without.
Keep your inner kingdom in righteousness, and you will manifest heaven on earth around you.
You are the living bridge between above and below.
Rise up now in sovereignty and compassion. Claim your crown. Embrace your purpose. See
God when you look in the mirror, and see God in every face you meet. This is the civilization of
self: the realization of the divine within, and the responsibility to reflect that divinity in the world
without. We end this journey where it all began – within you. You are the kingdom and the king,
the savior and the saved. Now and forever.
