AS A MAN THINKETH
BY
JAMES ALLEN
Author of "From Passion to Peace"
_Mind is the 
Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he
wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:--
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass._
Authorized Edition
New York
CONTENTS
THOUGHT AND CHARACTER
EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON CIRCUMSTANCES
EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON HEALTH AND THE BODY
THOUGHT AND PURPOSE
THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN ACHIEVEMENT
VISIONS AND IDEALS
SERENITY
FOREWORD
THIS little volume (the result of meditation
and experience) is not
intended as an exhaustive treatise on the
much-written-upon subject
of the power of thought.
It is suggestive rather than explanatory,
its object being to stimulate men and women
to the discovery and
perception of the truth that--
"They themselves are makers of themselves."
by virtue of the thoughts, which they choose
and encourage; that
mind is the master-weaver, both of the inner
garment of character
and the outer garment of circumstance, and
that, as they may have
hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they
may now weave in
enlightenment and happiness.
JAMES ALLEN.
BROAD PARK AVENUE,
ILFRACOMBE,
ENGLAND
AS A MAN THINKETH
THOUGHT AND CHARACTER
THE aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart
so is he," not only
embraces the whole of a man's being, but is
so comprehensive as to
reach out to every condition and circumstance
of his life.
A man is
literally _what he thinks,_ his character
being the complete sum of
all his thoughts.
As the plant springs from, and could not be
without, the seed, so
every act of a man springs from the hidden
seeds of thought, and
could not have appeared without them.
This applies equally to those
acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated"
as to those, which
are deliberately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and
suffering are its fruits;
thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter
fruitage of his own
husbandry.
"Thought in the mind hath made us, What we
are
By thought was wrought and built.
If a man's mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind....
..If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow--sure."
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation
by artifice, and cause
and effect is as absolute and undeviating
in the hidden realm of
thought as in the world of visible and material
things.
A noble and
Godlike character is not a thing of favour
or chance, but is the
natural result of continued effort in right
thinking, the effect of
long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts.
An ignoble and
bestial character, by the same process, is
the result of the
continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.
Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury
of thought he
forges the weapons by which he destroys himself;
he also fashions
the tools with which he builds for himself
heavenly mansions of joy
and strength and peace.
By the right choice and true application of
thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection;
by the abuse and
wrong application of thought, he descends
below the level of the
beast.
Between these two extremes are all the grades
of character,
and man is their maker and master.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to
the soul which have been
restored and brought to light in this age,
none is more gladdening
or fruitful of divine promise and confidence
than this--that man is
the master of thought, the moulder of character,
and the maker and
shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.
As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love,
and the lord of his own
thoughts, man holds the key to every situation,
and contains within
himself that transforming and regenerative
agency by which he may
make himself what he wills.
Man is always the master, even in his weaker
and most abandoned
state; but in his weakness and degradation
he is the foolish master
who misgoverns his "household."
When he begins to reflect upon his
condition, and to search diligently for the
Law upon which his being
is established, he then becomes the wise master,
directing his
energies with intelligence, and fashioning
his thoughts to fruitful
issues.
Such is the _conscious_ master, and man can
only thus become
by discovering _within himself_ the laws of
thought; which discovery
is totally a matter of application, self analysis,
and experience.
Only by much searching and mining, are gold
and diamonds obtained,
and man can find every truth connected with
his being, if he will
dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that
he is the maker of his
character, the moulder of his life, and the
builder of his destiny,
he may unerringly prove, if he will watch,
control, and alter his
thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself,
upon others, and upon
his life and circumstances, linking cause
and effect by patient
practice and investigation, and utilizing
his every experience, even
to the most trivial, everyday occurrence,
as a means of obtaining
that knowledge of himself which is Understanding,
Wisdom, Power.
In
this direction, as in no other, is the law
absolute that "He that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh
it shall be opened;" for
only by patience, practice, and ceaseless
importunity can a man
enter the Door of the Temple 
of Knowledge.
EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON CIRCUMSTANCES
MAN'S mind may be likened to a garden, which
may be intelligently
cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether
cultivated or
neglected, it must, and will, _bring forth._
If no useful seeds are
_put_ into it, then an abundance of useless
weed-seeds will _fall_
therein, and will continue to produce their
kind.
Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping
it free from weeds,
and growing the flowers and fruits which he
requires, so may a man
tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all
the wrong, useless, and
impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection
the flowers and
fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts.
By pursuing this
process, a man sooner or later discovers that
he is the
master-gardener of his soul, the director
of his life.
He also
reveals, within himself, the laws of thought,
and understands, with
ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces
and mind elements
operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances,
and destiny.
Thought and character are one, and as character
can only manifest
and discover itself through environment and
circumstance, the outer
conditions of a person's life will always
be found to be
harmoniously related to his inner state.
This does not mean that a
man's circumstances at any given time are
an indication of his
_entire_ character, but that those circumstances
are so intimately
connected with some vital thought-element
within himself that, for
the time being, they are indispensable to
his development.
Every man is where he is by the law of his
being; the thoughts which
he has built into his character have brought
him there, and in the
arrangement of his life there is no element
of chance, but all is
the result of a law which cannot err.
This is just as true of those
who feel "out of harmony" with their surroundings
as of those who
are contented with them.
As a progressive and evolving being, man is
where he is that he may
learn that he may grow; and as he learns the
spiritual lesson which
any circumstance contains for him, it passes
away and gives place to
other circumstances.
Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as
he believes himself to
be the creature of outside conditions, but
when he realizes that he
is a creative power, and that he may command
the hidden soil and
seeds of his being out of which circumstances
grow, he then becomes
the rightful master of himself.
That circumstances grow out of thought every
man knows who has for
any length of time practised self-control
and self-purification, for
he will have noticed that the alteration in
his circumstances has
been in exact ratio with his altered mental
condition.
So true is
this that when a man earnestly applies himself
to remedy the defects
in his character, and makes swift and marked
progress, he passes
rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes.
The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours;
that which it
loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches
the height of its
cherished aspirations; it falls to the level
of its unchastened
desires,--and circumstances are the means
by which the soul receives
its own.
Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall
into the mind, and to
take root there, produces its own, blossoming
sooner or later into
act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity
and circumstance.
Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts
bad fruit.
The outer world of circumstance shapes itself
to the inner world of
thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant
external conditions are
factors, which make for the ultimate good
of the individual.
As the
reaper of his own harvest, man learns both
by suffering and bliss.
Following the inmost desires, aspirations,
thoughts, by which he
allows himself to be dominated, (pursuing
the will-o'-the-wisps of
impure imaginings or steadfastly walking the
highway of strong and
high endeavour), a man at last arrives at
their fruition and
fulfilment in the outer conditions of his
life.
The laws of growth
and adjustment everywhere obtains.
A man does not come to the almshouse or the
jail by the tyranny of
fate or circumstance, but by the pathway of
grovelling thoughts and
base desires.
Nor does a pure-minded man fall suddenly into
crime by
stress of any mere external force; the criminal
thought had long
been secretly fostered in the heart, and the
hour of opportunity
revealed its gathered power.
Circumstance does not make the man; it
reveals him to himself No such conditions
can exist as descending
into vice and its attendant sufferings apart
from vicious
inclinations, or ascending into virtue and
its pure happiness
without the continued cultivation of virtuous
aspirations; and man,
therefore, as the lord and master of thought,
is the maker of
himself the shaper and author of environment.
Even at birth the soul
comes to its own and through every step of
its earthly pilgrimage it
attracts those combinations of conditions
which reveal itself, which
are the reflections of its own purity and,
impurity, its strength
and weakness.
Men do not attract that which they _want,_
but that which they _are._
Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted
at every step, but
their inmost thoughts and desires are fed
with their own food, be it
foul or clean.
The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in
ourselves;
it is our very self.
Only himself manacles man: thought and action
are the gaolers of Fate--they imprison, being
base; they are also
the angels of Freedom--they liberate, being
noble.
Not what he
wishes and prays for does a man get, but what
he justly earns.
His
wishes and prayers are only gratified and
answered when they
harmonize with his thoughts and actions.
In the light of this truth, what, then, is
the meaning of "fighting
against circumstances?"
It means that a man is continually revolting
against an _effect_ without, while all the
time he is nourishing and
preserving its _cause_ in his heart.
That cause may take the form of
a conscious vice or an unconscious weakness;
but whatever it is, it
stubbornly retards the efforts of its possessor,
and thus calls
aloud for remedy.
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances,
but are unwilling to
improve themselves; they therefore remain
bound.
The man who does
not shrink from self-crucifixion can never
fail to accomplish the
object upon which his heart is set.
This is as true of earthly as of
heavenly things.
Even the man whose sole object is to acquire
wealth
must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices
before he can
accomplish his object; and how much more so
he who would realize a
strong and well-poised life?
Here is a man who is wretchedly poor.
He is extremely anxious that
his surroundings and home comforts should
be improved, yet all the
time he shirks his work, and considers he
is justified in trying to
deceive his employer on the ground of the
insufficiency of his
wages.
Such a man does not understand the simplest
rudiments of
those principles which are the basis of true
prosperity, and is not
only totally unfitted to rise out of his wretchedness,
but is
actually attracting to himself a still deeper
wretchedness by
dwelling in, and acting out, indolent, deceptive,
and unmanly
thoughts.
Here is a rich man who is the victim of a
painful and persistent
disease as the result of gluttony.
He is willing to give large sums
of money to get rid of it, but he will not
sacrifice his gluttonous
desires.
He wants to gratify his taste for rich and
unnatural viands
and have his health as well.
Such a man is totally unfit to have
health, because he has not yet learned the
first principles of a
healthy life.
Here is an employer of labour who adopts crooked
measures to avoid
paying the regulation wage, and, in the hope
of making larger
profits, reduces the wages of his workpeople.
Such a man is
altogether unfitted for prosperity, and when
he finds himself
bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches,
he blames
circumstances, not knowing that he is the
sole author of his
condition.
I have introduced these three cases merely
as illustrative of the
truth that man is the causer (though nearly
always is unconsciously)
of his circumstances, and that, whilst aiming
at a good end, he is
continually frustrating its accomplishment
by encouraging thoughts
and desires which cannot possibly harmonize
with that end.
Such
cases could be multiplied and varied almost
indefinitely, but this
is not necessary, as the reader can, if he
so resolves, trace the
action of the laws of thought in his own mind
and life, and until
this is done, mere external facts cannot serve
as a ground of
reasoning.
Circumstances, however, are so complicated,
thought is so deeply
rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary
so, vastly with
individuals, that a man's entire soul-condition
(although it may be
known to himself) cannot be judged by another
from the external
aspect of his life alone.
A man may be honest in certain directions,
yet suffer privations; a man may be dishonest
in certain directions,
yet acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually
formed that the one
man fails _because of his particular honesty,_
and that the other
_prospers because of his particular dishonesty,_
is the result of a
superficial judgment, which assumes that the
dishonest man is almost
totally corrupt, and the honest man almost
entirely virtuous.
In the
light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience
such judgment is
found to be erroneous.
The dishonest man may have some admirable
virtues, which the other does, not possess;
and the honest man
obnoxious vices which are absent in the other.
The honest man reaps
the good results of his honest thoughts and
acts; he also brings
upon himself the sufferings, which his vices
produce.
The dishonest
man likewise garners his own suffering and
happiness.
It is pleasing to human vanity to believe
that one suffers because
of one's virtue; but not until a man has extirpated
every sickly,
bitter, and impure thought from his mind,
and washed every sinful
stain from his soul, can he be in a position
to know and declare
that his sufferings are the result of his
good, and not of his bad
qualities; and on the way to, yet long before
he has reached, that
supreme perfection, he will have found, working
in his mind and
life, the Great Law which is absolutely just,
and which cannot,
therefore, give good for evil, evil for good.
Possessed of such
knowledge, he will then know, looking back
upon his past ignorance
and blindness, that his life is, and always
was, justly ordered, and
that all his past experiences, good and bad,
were the equitable
outworking of his evolving, yet unevolved
self.
Good thoughts and actions can never produce
bad results; bad
thoughts and actions can never produce good
results.
This is but
saying that nothing can come from corn but
corn, nothing from
nettles but nettles.
Men understand this law in the natural world,
and work with it; but few understand it in
the mental and moral
world (though its operation there is just
as simple and
undeviating), and they, therefore, do not
co-operate with it.
Suffering is _always_ the effect of wrong
thought in some direction.
It is an indication that the individual is
out of harmony with
himself, with the Law of his being.
The sole and supreme use of
suffering is to purify, to burn out all that
is useless and impure.
Suffering ceases for him who is pure.
There could be no object in
burning gold after the dross had been removed,
and a perfectly pure
and enlightened being could not suffer.
The circumstances, which a man encounters
with suffering, are the
result of his own mental in harmony.
The circumstances, which a man
encounters with blessedness, are the result
of his own mental
harmony.
Blessedness, not material possessions, is
the measure of
right thought; wretchedness, not lack of material
possessions, is
the measure of wrong thought.
A man may be cursed and rich; he may
be blessed and poor.
Blessedness and riches are only joined together
when the riches are rightly and wisely used;
and the poor man only
descends into wretchedness when he regards
his lot as a burden
unjustly imposed.
Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes
of wretchedness.
They
are both equally unnatural and the result
of mental disorder.
A man
is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy,
healthy, and
prosperous being; and happiness, health, and
prosperity are the
result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner
with the outer, of
the man with his surroundings.
A man only begins to be a man when he ceases
to whine and revile,
and commences to search for the hidden justice
which regulates his
life.
And as he adapts his mind to that regulating
factor, he ceases
to accuse others as the cause of his condition,
and builds himself
up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to
kick against
circumstances, but begins to _use_ them as
aids to his more rapid
progress, and as a means of discovering the
hidden powers and
possibilities within himself.
Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle
in the universe;
justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance
of life; and
righteousness, not corruption, is the moulding
and moving force in
the spiritual government of the world.
This being so, man has but to
right himself to find that the universe is
right; and during the
process of putting himself right he will find
that as he alters his
thoughts towards things and other people,
things and other people
will alter towards him.
The proof of this truth is in every person,
and it therefore admits
of easy investigation by systematic introspection
and self-analysis.
Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and
he will be astonished at
the rapid transformation it will effect in
the material conditions
of his life.
Men imagine that thought can be kept secret,
but it
cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit,
and habit solidifies
into circumstance.
Bestial thoughts crystallize into habits of
drunkenness and sensuality, which solidify
into circumstances of
destitution and disease: impure thoughts of
every kind crystallize
into enervating and confusing habits, which
solidify into
distracting and adverse circumstances: thoughts
of fear, doubt, and
indecision crystallize into weak, unmanly,
and irresolute habits,
which solidify into circumstances of failure,
indigence, and slavish
dependence: lazy thoughts crystallize into
habits of uncleanliness
and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances
of foulness and
beggary: hateful and condemnatory thoughts
crystallize into habits
of accusation and violence, which solidify
into circumstances of
injury and persecution: selfish thoughts of
all kinds crystallize
into habits of self-seeking, which solidify
into circumstances more
or less distressing.
On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all
kinds crystallize into habits of grace and
kindliness, which
solidify into genial and sunny circumstances:
pure thoughts
crystallize into habits of temperance and
self-control, which
solidify into circumstances of repose and
peace: thoughts of
courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize
into manly habits,
which solidify into circumstances of success,
plenty, and freedom:
energetic thoughts crystallize into habits
of cleanliness and
industry, which solidify into circumstances
of pleasantness: gentle
and forgiving thoughts crystallize into habits
of gentleness, which
solidify into protective and preservative
circumstances: loving and
unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits
of self-forgetfulness for
others, which solidify into circumstances
of sure and abiding
prosperity and true riches.
A particular train of thought persisted in,
be it good or bad,
cannot fail to produce its results on the
character and
circumstances.
A man cannot _directly_ choose his circumstances,
but
he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly,
yet surely, shape his
circumstances.
Nature helps every man to the gratification
of the thoughts, which
he most encourages, and opportunities are
presented which will most
speedily bring to the surface both the good
and evil thoughts.
Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts,
and all the world will
soften towards him, and be ready to help him;
let him put away his
weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo, opportunities
will spring up on
every hand to aid his strong resolves; let
him encourage good
thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him
down to wretchedness and
shame.
The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying
combinations
of colours, which at every succeeding moment
it presents to you are
the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your
ever-moving thoughts.
"So You will be what you will to be;
Let failure find its false content
In that poor word, 'environment,'
But spirit scorns it, and is free.
"It masters time, it conquers space;
It cowes that boastful trickster, Chance,
And bids the tyrant Circumstance
Uncrown, and fill a servant's place.
"The human Will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless Soul,
Can hew a way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.
"Be not impatient in delays
But wait as one who understands;
When spirit rises and commands
The gods are ready to obey."
EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON HEALTH AND THE BODY
THE body is the servant of the mind.
It obeys the operations of the
mind, whether they be deliberately chosen
or automatically
expressed.
At the bidding of unlawful thoughts the body
sinks
rapidly into disease and decay; at the command
of glad and beautiful
thoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness
and beauty.
Disease and health, like circumstances, are
rooted in thought.
Sickly thoughts will express themselves through
a sickly body.
Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a
man as speedily as a
bullet, and they are continually killing thousands
of people just as
surely though less rapidly.
The people who live in fear of disease
are the people who get it.
Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole
body, and lays it open to the entrance of
disease; while impure
thoughts, even if not physically indulged,
will soon shatter the
nervous system.
Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up
the body in vigour and
grace.
The body is a delicate and plastic instrument,
which responds
readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed,
and habits of
thought will produce their own effects, good
or bad, upon it.
Men will continue to have impure and poisoned
blood, so long as they
propagate unclean thoughts.
Out of a clean heart comes a clean life
and a clean body.
Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life
and
a corrupt body.
Thought is the fount of action, life, and
manifestation; make the fountain pure, and
all will be pure.
Change of diet will not help a man who will
not change his thoughts.
When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no
longer desires impure
food.
Clean thoughts make clean habits.
The so-called saint who does not
wash his body is not a saint.
He who has strengthened and purified
his thoughts does not need to consider the
malevolent microbe.
If you would protect your body, guard your
mind.
If you would renew
your body, beautify your mind.
Thoughts of malice, envy,
disappointment, despondency, rob the body
of its health and grace.
A
sour face does not come by chance; it is made
by sour thoughts.
Wrinkles that mar are drawn by folly, passion,
and pride.
I know a woman of ninety-six who has the bright,
innocent face of a
girl.
I know a man well under middle age whose face
is drawn into
inharmonious contours.
The one is the result of a sweet and sunny
disposition; the other is the outcome of passion
and discontent.
As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode
unless you admit the
air and sunshine freely into your rooms, so
a strong body and a
bright, happy, or serene countenance can only
result from the free
admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy
and goodwill and
serenity.
On the faces of the aged there are wrinkles
made by sympathy, others
by strong and pure thought, and others are
carved by passion: who
cannot distinguish them?
With those who have lived righteously, age
is calm, peaceful, and softly mellowed, like
the setting sun.
I have
recently seen a philosopher on his deathbed.
He was not old except
in years.
He died as sweetly and peacefully as he had
lived.
There is no physician like cheerful thought
for dissipating the ills
of the body; there is no comforter to compare
with goodwill for
dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow.
To live continually in
thoughts of ill will, cynicism, suspicion,
and envy, is to be
confined in a self made prison-hole.
But to think well of all, to be
cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find
the good in all--such
unselfish thoughts are the very portals of
heaven; and to dwell day
by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature
will bring
abounding peace to their possessor.
THOUGHT AND PURPOSE
UNTIL thought is linked with purpose there
is no intelligent
accomplishment.
With the majority the bark of thought is allowed
to
"drift" upon the ocean of life.
Aimlessness is a vice, and such
drifting must not continue for him who would
steer clear of
catastrophe and destruction.
They who have no central purpose in their
life fall an easy prey to
petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings,
all of which are
indications of weakness, which lead, just
as surely as deliberately
planned sins (though by a different route),
to failure, unhappiness,
and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a
power evolving universe.
A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose
in his heart, and set
out to accomplish it.
He should make this purpose the centralizing
point of his thoughts.
It may take the form of a spiritual ideal,
or
it may be a worldly object, according to his
nature at the time
being; but whichever it is, he should steadily
focus his
thought-forces upon the object, which he has
set before him.
He
should make this purpose his supreme duty,
and should devote himself
to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts
to wander away into
ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings.
This is the royal road
to self-control and true concentration of
thought.
Even if he fails
again and again to accomplish his purpose
(as he necessarily must
until weakness is overcome), the _strength
of character gained_ will
be the measure of _his true_ success, and
this will form a new
starting-point for future power and triumph.
Those who are not prepared for the apprehension
of a _great_ purpose
should fix the thoughts upon the faultless
performance of their
duty, no matter how insignificant their task
may appear.
Only in
this way can the thoughts be gathered and
focussed, and resolution
and energy be developed, which being done,
there is nothing which
may not be accomplished.
The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness,
and believing this truth
_that strength can only be developed by effort
and practice,_ will,
thus believing, at once begin to exert itself,
and, adding effort to
effort, patience to patience, and strength
to strength, will never
cease to develop, and will at last grow divinely
strong.
As the physically weak man can make himself
strong by careful and
patient training, so the man of weak thoughts
can make them strong
by exercising himself in right thinking.
To put away aimlessness and weakness, and
to begin to think with
purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong
ones who only
recognize failure as one of the pathways to
attainment; who make all
conditions serve them, and who think strongly,
attempt fearlessly,
and accomplish masterfully.
Having conceived of his purpose, a man should
mentally mark out a
_straight_ pathway to its achievement, looking
neither to the right
nor the left.
Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded;
they
are disintegrating elements, which break up
the straight line of
effort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual,
useless.
Thoughts of
doubt and fear never accomplished anything,
and never can.
They
always lead to failure.
Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong
thoughts cease when doubt and fear creep in.
The will to do springs from the knowledge
that we _can_ do.
Doubt
and fear are the great enemies of knowledge,
and he who encourages
them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself
at every step.
He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered
failure.
His
every thought is allied with power, and all
difficulties are
bravely met and wisely overcome.
His purposes are seasonably
planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit,
which does not fall
prematurely to the ground.
Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes
creative force: he who
_knows_ this is ready to become something
higher and stronger than a
mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating
sensations; he who
_does_ this has become the conscious and intelligent
wielder 
of his
mental powers.
THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN ACHIEVEMENT
ALL that a man achieves and all that he fails
to achieve is the
direct result of his own thoughts.
In a justly ordered universe,
where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction,
individual
responsibility must be absolute.
A man's weakness and strength,
purity and impurity, are his own, and not
another man's; they are
brought about by himself, and not by another;
and they can only be
altered by himself, never by another.
His condition is also his own,
and not another man's.
His suffering and his happiness are evolved
from within.
As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to
think, so he
remains.
A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that
weaker is _willing_ to
be helped, and even then the weak man must
become strong of himself;
he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength
which he admires
in another.
None but himself can alter his condition.
It has been usual for men to think and to
say, "Many men are slaves
because one is an oppressor; let us hate the
oppressor."
Now,
however, there is amongst an increasing few
a tendency to reverse
this judgment, and to say, "One man is an
oppressor because many are
slaves; let us despise the slaves."
The truth is that oppressor and slave are
co-operators in ignorance,
and, while seeming to afflict each other,
are in reality afflicting
themselves.
A perfect Knowledge perceives the action of
law in the
weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied
power of the oppressor;
a perfect Love, seeing the suffering, which
both states entail,
condemns neither; a perfect Compassion embraces
both oppressor and
oppressed.
He who has conquered weakness, and has put
away all selfish
thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor
oppressed.
He is free.
A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve
by lifting up his
thoughts.
He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable
by
refusing to lift up his thoughts.
Before a man can achieve anything, even in
worldly things, he must
lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence.
He may not, in
order to succeed, give up all animality and
selfishness, by any
means; but a portion of it must, at least,
be sacrificed.
A man
whose first thought is bestial indulgence
could neither think
clearly nor plan methodically; he could not
find and develop his
latent resources, and would fail in any undertaking.
Not having
commenced to manfully control his thoughts,
he is not in a position
to control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities.
He is not
fit to act independently and stand alone.
But he is limited only by
the thoughts, which he chooses.
There can be no progress, no achievement without
sacrifice, and a
man's worldly success will be in the measure
that he sacrifices his
confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind
on the development of
his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution
and self-reliance.
And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the
more manly, upright, and
righteous he becomes, the greater will be
his success, the more
blessed and enduring will be his achievements.
The universe does not favour the greedy, the
dishonest, the vicious,
although on the mere surface it may sometimes
appear to do so; it
helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous.
All the great
Teachers of the ages have declared this in
varying forms, and to
prove and know it a man has but to persist
in making himself more
and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts.
Intellectual achievements are the result of
thought consecrated to
the search for knowledge, or for the beautiful
and true in life and
nature.
Such achievements may be sometimes connected
with vanity and
ambition, but they are not the outcome of
those characteristics;
they are the natural outgrowth of long and
arduous effort, and of
pure and unselfish thoughts.
Spiritual achievements are the consummation
of holy aspirations.
He
who lives constantly in the conception of
noble and lofty thoughts,
who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish,
will, as surely as
the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its
full, become wise and
noble in character, and rise into a position
of influence and
blessedness.
Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown
of effort, the diadem of
thought.
By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity,
righteousness, and well-directed thought a
man ascends; by the aid
of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption,
and confusion of
thought a man descends.
A man may rise to high success in the world,
and even to lofty
altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again
descend into weakness
and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish,
and corrupt thoughts
to take possession of him.
Victories attained by right thought can only
be maintained by
watchfulness.
Many give way when success is assured, and
rapidly
fall back into failure.
All achievements, whether in the business,
intellectual, or
spiritual world, are the result of definitely
directed thought, are
governed by the same law and are of the same
method; the only
difference lies in _the object of attainment._
He who would accomplish little must sacrifice
little; he who would
achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would
attain highly must
sacrifice greatly.
VISIONS AND IDEALS
THE dreamers are the saviours of the world.
As the visible world is
sustained by the invisible, so men, through
all their trials and
sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by
the beautiful visions of
their solitary dreamers.
Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it
cannot let their ideals fade and die; it lives
in them; it knows
them as they _realities_ which it shall one
day see and know.
Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet,
sage, these are the
makers of the after-world, the architects
of heaven.
The world is
beautiful because they have lived; without
them, labouring humanity
would perish.
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty
ideal in his heart,
will one day realize it.
Columbus cherished a vision of another
world, and he discovered it; Copernicus fostered
the vision of a
multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe,
and he revealed it;
Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world
of stainless beauty
and perfect peace, and he entered into it.
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals;
cherish the music that
stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms
in your mind, the
loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts,
for out of them will
grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly
environment; of these,
if you but remain true to them, your world
will at last be built.
To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve.
Shall man's basest
desires receive the fullest measure of gratification,
and his purest
aspirations starve for lack of sustenance?
Such is not the Law: such
a condition of things can never obtain: "ask
and receive."
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall
you become.
Your
Vision is the promise of what you shall one
day be; your Ideal is
the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
The greatest achievement was at first and
for a time a dream.
The
oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in
the egg; and in the
highest vision of the soul a waking angel
stirs.
Dreams are the
seedlings of realities.
Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but
they shall not long
remain so if you but perceive an Ideal and
strive to reach it.
You
cannot travel _within_ and stand still _without._
Here is a youth
hard pressed by poverty and labour; confined
long hours in an
unhealthy workshop; unschooled, and lacking
all the arts of
refinement.
But he dreams of better things; he thinks
of
intelligence, of refinement, of grace and
beauty.
He conceives of,
mentally builds up, an ideal condition of
life; the vision of a
wider liberty and a larger scope takes possession
of him; unrest
urges him to action, and he utilizes all his
spare time and means,
small though they are, to the development
of his latent powers and
resources.
Very soon so altered has his mind become that
the
workshop can no longer hold him.
It has become so out of harmony
with his mentality that it falls out of his
life as a garment is
cast aside, and, with the growth of opportunities,
which fit the
scope of his expanding powers, he passes out
of it forever.
Years
later we see this youth as a full-grown man.
We find him a master of
certain forces of the mind, which he wields
with worldwide influence
and almost unequalled power.
In his hands he holds the cords of
gigantic responsibilities; he speaks, and
lo, lives are changed; men
and women hang upon his words and remould
their characters, and,
sunlike, he becomes the fixed and luminous
centre round which
innumerable destinies revolve.
He has realized the Vision of his
youth.
He has become one with his Ideal.
And you, too, youthful reader, will realize
the Vision (not the idle
wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful,
or a mixture of both,
for you will always gravitate toward that
which you, secretly, most
love.
Into your hands will be placed the exact results
of your own
thoughts; you will receive that which you
earn; no more, no less.
Whatever your present environment may be,
you will fall, remain, or
rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your
Ideal.
You will become as
small as your controlling desire; as great
as your dominant
aspiration: in the beautiful words of Stanton
Kirkham Davis, "You
may be keeping accounts, and presently you
shall walk out of the
door that for so long has seemed to you the
barrier of your ideals,
and shall find yourself before an audience--the
pen still behind
your ear, the ink stains on your fingers and
then and there shall
pour out the torrent of your inspiration.
You may be driving sheep,
and you shall wander to the city-bucolic and
open-mouthed; shall
wander under the intrepid guidance of the
spirit into the studio of
the master, and after a time he shall say,
'I have nothing more to
teach you.'
And now you have become the master, who did
so recently
dream of great things while driving sheep.
You shall lay down the
saw and the plane to take upon yourself the
regeneration of the
world."
The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent,
seeing only the
apparent effects of things and not the things
themselves, talk of
luck, of fortune, and chance.
Seeing a man grow rich, they say, "How
lucky he is!"
Observing another become intellectual, they
exclaim,
"How highly favoured he is!"
And noting the saintly character and
wide influence of another, they remark, "How
chance aids him at
every turn!"
They do not see the trials and failures and
struggles
which these men have voluntarily encountered
in order to gain their
experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices
they have made, of
the undaunted efforts they have put forth,
of the faith they have
exercised, that they might overcome the apparently
insurmountable,
and realize the Vision of their heart.
They do not know the darkness
and the heartaches; they only see the light
and joy, and call it
"luck".
They do not see the long and arduous journey,
but only
behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good
fortune," do not
understand the process, but only perceive
the result, and call it
chance.
In all human affairs there are _efforts,_
and there are _results,_
and the strength of the effort is the measure
of the result.
Chance
is not.
Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and
spiritual
possessions are the fruits of effort; they
are thoughts completed,
objects accomplished, visions realized.
The Vision that you glorify in your mind,
the Ideal that you
enthrone in your heart--this you will build
your life by, this you
will become.
SERENITY
CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels
of wisdom.
It is the
result of long and patient effort in self-control.
Its presence is
an indication of ripened experience, and of
a more than ordinary
knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.
A man becomes calm in the measure that he
understands himself as a
thought evolved being, for such knowledge
necessitates the
understanding of others as the result of thought,
and as he develops
a right understanding, and sees more and more
clearly the internal
relations of things by the action of cause
and effect he ceases to
fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains
poised, steadfast,
serene.
The calm man, having learned how to govern
himself, knows how to
adapt himself to others; and they, in turn,
reverence his spiritual
strength, and feel that they can learn of
him and rely upon him.
The
more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is
his success, his
influence, his power for good.
Even the ordinary trader will find
his business prosperity increase as he develops
a greater
self-control and equanimity, for people will
always prefer to deal
with a man whose demeanour is strongly equable.
The strong, calm man is always loved and revered.
He is like a
shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a
sheltering rock in a
storm.
"Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered,
balanced life?
It does not matter whether it rains or shines,
or
what changes come to those possessing these
blessings, for they are
always sweet, serene, and calm.
That exquisite poise of character,
which we call serenity is the last lesson
of culture, the fruitage
of the soul.
It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired
than gold--yea, than even fine gold.
How insignificant mere money
seeking looks in comparison with a serene
life--a life that dwells
in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves,
beyond the reach of
tempests, in the Eternal Calm!
"How many people we know who sour their lives,
who ruin all that is
sweet and beautiful by explosive tempers,
who destroy their poise of
character, and make bad blood!
It is a question whether the great
majority of people do not ruin their lives
and mar their happiness
by lack of self-control.
How few people we meet in life who are well
balanced, who have that exquisite poise which
is characteristic of
the finished character!
Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion,
is tumultuous with
ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety
and doubt only the wise
man, only he whose thoughts are controlled
and purified, makes the
winds and the storms of the soul obey him.
Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be,
under whatsoever
conditions ye may live, know this in the ocean
of life the isles of
Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore
of your ideal awaits
your coming.
Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought.
In the
bark of your soul reclines the commanding
Master; He does but sleep:
wake Him.
Self-control is strength; Right Thought is
mastery;
Calmness is power.
Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still!"
