THE PATH OF PROSPERITY
by James Allen
Part I: The path of prosperity
1.
The lesson of evil
Unrest and pain and sorrow are the shadows
of life.
There is no heart in all the world that has
not felt the sting of pain, no mind has not
been tossed upon the dark waters of trouble,
no eye that has not wept the hot blinding
tears of unspeakable anguish.
There is no household where the Great Destroyers,
disease and death, have not entered, severing
heart from heart, and casting over all the
dark pall of sorrow.
In the strong, and apparently indestructible
meshes of evil all are more or less fast caught,
and pain, unhappiness, and misfortune wait
upon mankind.
With the object of escaping, or in some way
mitigating this overshadowing gloom, men and
women rush blindly into innumerable devices,
pathways by which they fondly hope to enter
into a happiness which will not pass away.
Such are the drunkard and the harlot, who
revel in sensual excitements; such is the
exclusive aesthete, who shuts himself out
from the sorrows of the world, and surrounds
himself with enervating luxuries; such is
he who thirsts for wealth or fame, and subordinates
all things to the achievement of that object;
and such are they who seek consolation in
the performance of religious rites.
And to all the happiness sought seems to come,
and the soul, for a time, is lulled into a
sweet security, and an intoxicating forgetfulness
of the existence of evil; but the day of disease
comes at last, or some great sorrow, temptation,
or misfortune breaks suddenly in on the unfortified
soul, and the fabric of its fancied happiness
is torn to shreds.
So over the head of every personal joy hangs
the Damocletian sword of pain, ready, at any
moment, to fall and crush the soul of him
who is unprotected by knowledge.
The child cries to be a man or woman; the
man and woman sigh for the lost felicity of
childhood.
The poor man chafes under the chains of poverty
by which he is bound, and the rich man often
lives in fear of poverty, or scours the world
in search of an elusive shadow he calls happiness.
Sometimes the soul feels that it has found
a secure peace and happiness in adopting a
certain religion, in embracing an intellectual
philosophy, or in building up an intellectual
or artistic ideal; but some overpowering temptation
proves the religion to be inadequate or insufficient;
the theoretical philosophy is found to be
a useless prop; or in a moment, the idealistic
statue upon which the devotee has for years
been laboring, is shattered into fragments
at his feet.
Is there, then, no way of escape from pain
and sorrow?
Are there no means by which bonds of evil
may be broken?
Is permanent happiness, secure prosperity,
and abiding peace a foolish dream?
No, there is a way, and I speak it with gladness,
by which evil can be slain for ever; there
is a process by which disease, poverty, or
any adverse condition or circumstance can
be put on one side never to return; there
is a method by which a permanent prosperity
can be secured, free from all fear of the
return of adversity, and there is a practice
by which unbroken and unending peace and bliss
can be partaken of and realized.
And the beginning of the way which leads to
this glorious realization is the acquirement
of a right understanding of the nature of
evil.
It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil;
it must be understood.
It is not enough to pray to God to remove
the evil; you must find out why it is there,
and what lesson it has for you.
It is of no avail to fret and fume and chafe
at the chains which bind you; you must know
why and how you are bound.
Therefore, reader, you must get outside yourself,
and must begin to examine and understand yourself.
You must cease to be a disobedient child in
the school of experience and must begin to
learn, with humility and patience, the lessons
that are set for your edification and ultimate
perfection; for evil, when rightly understood,
is found to be, not an unlimited power or
principle in the universe, but a passing phase
of human experience, and it therefore becomes
a teacher to those who are willing to learn.
Evil is not an abstract some thing outside
yourself; it is an experience in your own
heart, and by patiently examining and rectifying
your heart you will be gradually led into
the discovery of the origin and nature of
evil, which will necessarily be followed by
its complete eradication.
All evil is corrective and remedial, and is
therefore not permanent.
It is rooted in ignorance, ignorance of the
true nature and relation of things, and so
long as we remain in that state of ignorance,
we remain subject to evil.
There is no evil in the universe which is
not the result of ignorance, and which would
not, if we were ready and willing to learn
its lesson, lead us to higher wisdom, and
then vanish away.
But men remain in evil, and it does not pass
away because men are not willing or prepared
to learn the lesson which it came to teach
them.
I knew a child who, every night when its mother
took it to bed, cried to be allowed to play
with the candle; and one night, when the mother
was off guard for a moment, the child took
hold of the candle; the inevitable result
followed, and the child never wished to play
with the candle again.
By its one foolish act it learned, and learned
perfectly the lesson of obedience, and entered
into the knowledge that fire burns.
And, this incident is a complete illustration
of the nature, meaning, and ultimate result
of all sin and evil.
As the child suffered through its own ignorance
of the real nature of fire, so older children
suffer through their ignorance of the real
nature of the things which they weep for and
strive after, and which harm them when they
are secured; the only difference being that
in the latter case the ignorance and evil
are more deeply rooted and obscure.
Evil has always been symbolized by darkness,
and Good by light, and hidden within the symbol
is contained the perfect interpretation, the
reality; for, just as light always floods
the universe, and darkness is only a mere
speck or shadow cast by a small body intercepting
a few rays of the illimitable light, so the
Light of the Supreme Good is the positive
and life-giving power which floods the universe,
and evil the insignificant shadow cast by
the self that intercepts and shuts off the
illuminating rays which strive for entrance.
When night folds the world in its black impenetrable
mantle, no matter how dense the darkness,
it covers but the small space of half our
little planet, while the whole universe is
ablaze with living light, and every soul knows
that it will awake in the light in the morning.
Know, then, that when the dark night of sorrow,
pain, or misfortune settles down upon your
soul, and you stumble along with weary and
uncertain steps, that you are merely intercepting
your own personal desires between yourself
and the boundless light of joy and bliss,
and the dark shadow that covers you is cast
by none and nothing but yourself.
And just as the darkness without is but a
negative shadow, an unreality which comes
from nowhere, goes to nowhere, and has no
abiding dwelling place, so the darkness within
is equally a negative shadow passing over
the evolving and Lightborn soul.
"But," I fancy I hear someone say, "why pass
through the darkness of evil at all?"
Because, by ignorance, you have chosen to
do so, and because, by doing so, you may understand
both good and evil, and may the more appreciate
the light by having passed through the darkness.
As evil is the direct outcome of ignorance,
so, when the lessons of evil are fully learned,
ignorance passes away, and wisdom takes its
place.
But as a disobedient child refuses to learn
its lessons at school, so it is possible to
refuse to learn the lessons of experience,
and thus to remain in continual darkness,
and to suffer continually recurring punishments
in the form of disease, disappointment, and
sorrow.
He, therefore, who would shake himself free
of the evil which encompasses him, must be
willing and ready to learn, and must be prepared
to undergo that disciplinary process without
which no grain of wisdom or abiding happiness
and peace can be secured.
A man may shut himself up in a dark room,
and deny that the light exists, but it is
everywhere without, and darkness exists only
in his own little room.
So you may shut out the light of Truth, or
you may begin to pull down the walls of prejudice,
self-seeking and error which you have built
around yourself, and so let in the glorious
and omnipresent Light.
By earnest self-examination strive to realize,
and not merely hold as a theory, that evil
is a passing phase, a self-created shadow;
that all your pains, sorrows and misfortunes
have come to you by a process of undeviating
and absolutely perfect law; have come to you
because you deserve and require them, and
that by first enduring, and then understanding
them, you may be made stronger, wiser, nobler.
When you have fully entered into this realization,
you will be in a position to mould your own
circumstances, to transmute all evil into
good and to weave, with a master hand, the
fabric of your destiny.
What of the night, O Watchman! see'st thou
yet
The glimmering dawn upon the mountain heights,
The golden Herald of the Light of lights,
Are his fair feet upon the hilltops set?
Cometh he yet to chase away the gloom,
And with it all the demons of the Night?
Strike yet his darting rays upon thy sight?
Hear'st thou his voice, the sound of error's
doom?
The Morning cometh, lover of the Light;
Even now He gilds with gold the mountain's
brow,
Dimly I see the path whereon even now
His shining feet are set toward the Night.
Darkness shall pass away, and all the things
That love the darkness, and that hate the
Light
Shall disappear for ever with the Night:
Rejoice! for thus the speeding Herald sings.
2.
The world a reflex of mental states
What you are, so is your world.
Everything in the universe is resolved into
your own inward experience.
It matters little what is without, for it
is all a reflection of your own state of consciousness.
It matters everything what you are within,
for everything without will be mirrored and
colored accordingly.
All that you positively know is contained
in your own experience; all that you ever
will know must pass through the gateway of
experience, and so become part of yourself.
Your own thoughts, desires, and aspirations
comprise your world, and, to you, all that
there is in the universe of beauty and joy
and bliss, or of ugliness and sorrow and pain,
is contained within yourself.
By your own thoughts you make or mar your
life, your world, your universe, As you build
within by the power of thought, so will your
outward life and circumstances shape themselves
accordingly.
Whatsoever you harbor in the inmost chambers
of your heart will, sooner or later by the
inevitable law of reaction, shape itself in
your outward life.
The soul that is impure, sordid and selfish,
is gravitating with unerring precision toward
misfortune and catastrophe; the soul that
is pure, unselfish, and noble is gravitating
with equal precision toward happiness and
prosperity.
Every soul attracts its own, and nothing can
possibly come to it that does not belong to
it.
To realize this is to recognize the universality
of Divine Law.
The incidents of every human life, which both
make and mar, are drawn to it by the quality
and power of its own inner thought-life.
Every soul is a complex combination of gathered
experiences and thoughts, and the body is
but an improvised vehicle for its manifestation.
What, therefore, your thoughts are, that is
your real self; and the world around, both
animate and inanimate, wears the aspect with
which your thoughts clothe it.
"All that we are is the result of what we
have thought.
It is founded on our thoughts; it is made
up of our thoughts."
Thus said Buddha, and it therefore follows
that if a man is happy, it is because he dwells
in happy thoughts; if miserable, because he
dwells in despondent and debilitating thoughts,
Whether one be fearful or fearless, foolish
or wise, troubled or serene, within that soul
lies the cause of its own state or states,
and never without.
And now I seem to hear a chorus of voices
exclaim, "But do you really mean to say that
outward circumstances do not affect our minds?"
I do not say that, but I say this, and know
it to be an infallible truth, that circumstances
can only affect you in so far as you allow
them to do so.
You are swayed by circumstances because you
have not a right understanding of the nature,
use, and power of thought.
You believe (and upon this little word belief
hang all our sorrows and joys) that outward
things have the power to make or mar your
life; by so doing you submit to those outward
things, confess that you are their slave,
and they your unconditional master; by so
doing, you invest them with a power which
they do not, of themselves, possess, and you
succumb, in reality, not to the mere circumstances,
but to the gloom or gladness, the fear or
hope, the strength or weakness, which your
thought-sphere has thrown around them.
I knew two men who, at an early age, lost
the hard-earned savings of years.
One was very deeply troubled, and gave way
to chagrin, worry, and despondency.
The other, on reading in his morning paper
that the bank in which his money was deposited
had hopelessly failed, and that he had lost
all, quietly and firmly remarked, ''Well,
it's gone, and trouble and worry won't bring
it back, but hard work will."
He went to work with renewed vigor, and rapidly
became prosperous, while the former man, continuing
to mourn the loss of his money, and to grumble
at his ''bad luck," remained the sport and
tool of adverse circumstances, in reality
of his own weak and slavish thoughts.
The loss of money was a curse to the one because
he clothed the event with dark and dreary
thoughts; it was a blessing to the other,
because he threw around it thoughts of strength,
of hope, and renewed endeavor.
If circumstances had the power to bless or
harm, they would bless and harm all men alike,
but the fact that the same circumstances will
be alike good and bad to different souls proves
that the good or bad is not in the circumstance,
but only in the mind of him that encounters
it.
When you begin to realize this you will begin
to control your thoughts, to regulate and
discipline your mind, and to rebuild the inward
temple of your soul, eliminating all useless
and superfluous material, and incorporating
into your being thoughts alone of joy and
serenity, of strength and life, of compassion
and love, of beauty and immortality; and as
you do this you will become joyful and serene,
strong and healthy, compassionate and loving,
and beautiful with the beauty of immortality.
And as we clothe events with the drapery of
our own thoughts, so likewise do we clothe
the objects of the visible world around us,
and where one sees harmony and beauty, another
sees revolting ugliness.
An enthusiastic naturalist was one day roaming
the country lanes in pursuit of his hobby,
and during his rambles came upon a pool of
brackish water near a farmyard.
As he proceeded to fill a small bottle with
the water for the purpose of examination under
the microscope, he dilated, with more enthusiasm
than discretion, to an uncultivated son of
the plough who stood close by, upon the hidden
and innumerable wonders contained in the pool,
and concluded by saying, ''Yes, my friend,
within this pool is contained a hundred, nay,
a million universes, had we but the sense
or the instrument by which we could apprehend
them."
And the unsophisticated one ponderously remarked,
"I know the water be full o' tadpoles, but
they be easy to catch."
Where the naturalist, his mind stored with
the knowledge of natural facts, saw beauty,
harmony, and hidden glory, the mind unenlightened
upon those things saw only an offensive mud-puddle.
The wild flower which the casual wayfarer
thoughtlessly tramples upon is, to the spiritual
eye of the poet, an angelic messenger from
the invisible.
To the many, the ocean is but a dreary expanse
of water on which ships sail and are sometimes
wrecked; to the soul of the musician it is
a living thing, and he hears, in all its changing
moods, divine harmonies.
Where the ordinary mind sees disaster and
confusion, the mind of the philosopher sees
the most perfect sequence of cause and effect,
and where the materialist sees nothing but
endless death, the mystic sees pulsating and
eternal life.
And as we clothe both events and objects with
our own thoughts, so likewise do we clothe
the souls of others in the garments of our
thoughts.
The suspicious believe everybody to be suspicious;
the Liar feels secure in the thought that
he is not so foolish as to believe that there
is such a phenomenon as a strictly truthful
person; the envious see envy in every soul;
the miser thinks everybody is eager to get
his money; he who has subordinated conscience
in the making of his wealth, sleeps with a
revolver under his pillow, wrapped in the
delusion that the world is full of conscienceless
people who are eager to rob him, and the abandoned
sensualist looks upon the saint as a hypocrite.
On the other hand, those who dwell in loving
thoughts, see that in all which calls forth
their love and sympathy; the trusting and
honest are not troubled by suspicions; the
good-natured and charitable who rejoice at
the good fortune of others, scarcely know
what envy means; and he who has realized the
Divine within himself recognizes it in all
beings, even in the beasts.
And men and women are confirmed in their mental
outlook because of the fact that, by the law
of cause and effect, they attract to themselves
that which they send forth, and so come in
contact with people similar to themselves.
The old adage, "Birds of a feather flock together,"
has a deeper significance than is generally
attached to it, for in the thought-world as
in the world of matter, each clings to its
kind.
Do you wish for kindness?
Be kind.
Do you ask for truth?
Be true.
What you give of yourself you find;
Your world is a reflex of you.
If you are one of those who are praying for,
and looking forward to, a happier world beyond
the grave, here is a message of gladness for
you, you may enter into and realize that happy
world now; it fills the whole universe, and
it is within you, waiting for you to find,
acknowledge, and possess.
Said one who knew the inner laws of Being,"
When men shall say Io here, or Io there, go
not after them; the kingdom of God is within
you."
What you have to do is to believe this, simply
believe it with a mind unshadowed by doubt,
and then meditate upon it till you understand
it.
You will then begin to purify and to build
your inner world, and as you proceed, passing
from revelation to revelation, from realization
to realization, you will discover the utter
powerlessness of outward things beside the
magic potency of a self-governed soul.
If thou would'st right the world,
And banish all its evils and its woes,
Make its wild places bloom,
And its drear deserts blossom as the rose,-
Then right thyself.
If thou would'st turn the world
From its long, lone captivity in sin,
Restore all broken hearts,
Slay grief, and let sweet consolation in,-
Turn thou thyself.
If thou would'st cure the world
Of its long sickness, end its grief and pain;
Bring in all-healing joy,
And give to the afflicted rest again,-
Then cure thyself.
If thou would'st wake the world
Out of its dream of death and dark'ning strife,
Bring it to Love and Peace,
And Light and brightness of immortal Life,-
Wake thou thyself.
3.
The way out of undesirable conditions
Having seen and realized that evil is but
a passing shadow thrown, by the intercepting
self, across the transcendent Form of the
Eternal Good, and that the world is a mirror
in which each sees a reflection of himself,
we now ascend, by firm and easy steps, to
that plane of perception whereon is seen and
realized the Vision of the Law.
With this realization comes the knowledge
that everything is included in a ceaseless
interaction of cause and effect, and that
nothing can possibly be divorced from law.
From the most trivial thought, word, or act
of man, up to the groupings of the celestial
bodies, law reigns supreme.
No arbitrary condition can, even for one moment,
exist, for such a condition would be a denial
and an annihilation of law.
Every condition of life is, therefore, bound
up in an orderly and harmonious sequence,
and the secret and cause of every condition
is contained within itself, The law, "Whatsoever
a man sows that shall he also reap," is inscribed
in flaming letters upon the portal of Eternity,
and none can deny it, none can cheat it, none
can escape it.
He who puts his hand in the fire must suffer
the burning until such time as it has worked
itself out, and neither curses nor prayers
can avail to alter it.
And precisely the same law governs the realm
of mind.
Hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, lust, covetousness,
all these are fires which bum, and whoever
even so much as touches them must suffer the
torments of burning.
All these conditions of mind are rightly called
"evil," for they are the efforts of the soul
to subvert, in its ignorance, the law, an
they, therefore, lead to chaos and confusion
within, and are sooner or later actualized
in the outward circumstances as disease, failure,
and misfortune, coupled with grief, pain,
and despair.
Whereas love, gentleness, good-will, purity,
are cooling airs which breathe peace upon
the soul that woes them, and, being in harmony
with the Eternal Law, they become actualized
in the form of health, peaceful surroundings,
and undeviating success and good fortune.
A thorough understanding of this Great Law
which permeates the universe leads to the
acquirement of that state of mind known as
obedience.
To know that justice, harmony, and love are
supreme in the universe is likewise to know
that all adverse and painful conditions are
the result of our own disobedience to that
Law.
Such knowledge leads to strength and power,
and it is upon such knowledge alone that a
true life and an enduring success and happiness
can be built.
To be patient under all circumstances, and
to accept all conditions as necessary factors
in your training, is to rise superior to all
painful conditions, and to overcome them with
an overcoming which is sure, and which leaves
no fear of their return, for by the power
of obedience to law they are utterly slain.
Such an obedient one is working in harmony
with the law, has in fact, identified himself
with the law, and whatsoever he conquers he
conquers for ever, whatsoever he builds can
never be destroyed.
The cause of all power, as of all weakness,
is within; the secret of all happiness as
of all misery is likewise within.
There is no progress apart from unfoldment
within, and no sure foothold of prosperity
or peace except by orderly advancement in
knowledge.
You say you are chained by circumstances;
you cry out for better opportunities, for
a wider scope, for improved physical conditions,
and perhaps you inwardly curse the fate that
binds you hand and foot.
It is for you that I write; it is to you that
I speak.
Listen, and let my words burn themselves into
your heart, for that which I say to you is
truth:
You may bring about that improved condition
in your outward life which you desire, if
you will unswervingly resolve to improve your
inner life.
I know this pathway looks barren at its commencement
(truth always does, it is only error and delusion
which are at first inviting and fascinating,)
but if you undertake to walk it; if you perseveringly
discipline your mind, eradicating your weaknesses,
and allowing your soul-forces and spiritual
powers to unfold themselves, you will be astonished
at the magical changes which will be brought
about in your outward life.
As you proceed, golden opportunities will
be strewn across your path, and the power
and judgment to properly utilize them will
spring up within you.
Genial friends will come unbidden to you;
sympathetic souls will be drawn to you as
the needle is to the magnet; and books and
all outward aids that you require will come
to you unsought.
Perhaps the chains of poverty hang heavily
upon you, and you are friendless and alone,
and you long with an intense longing that
your load may be lightened; but the load continues,
and you seem to be enveloped in an ever-increasing
darkness.
Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot;
you blame your birth, your parents, your employer,
or the unjust Powers who have bestowed upon
you so undeservedly poverty and hardship,
and upon another affluence and ease.
Cease your complaining and fretting; none
of these things which you blame are the cause
of your poverty; the cause is within yourself,
and where the cause is, there is the remedy.
The very fact that you are a complainer, shows
that you deserve your lot; shows that you
lack that faith which is the ground of all
effort and progress.
There is no room for a complainer in a universe
of law, and worry is soul-suicide.
By your very attitude of mind you are strengthening
the chains which bind you, and are drawing
about you the darkness by which you are enveloped,
Alter your outlook upon life, and your outward
life will alter.
Build yourself up in the faith and knowledge,
and make yourself worthy of better surroundings
and wider opportunities.
Be sure, first of all, that you are making
the best of what you have.
Do not delude yourself into supposing that
you can step into greater advantages whilst
overlooking smaller ones, for if you could,
the advantage would be impermanent and you
would quickly fall back again in order to
learn the lesson which you had neglected.
As the child at school must master one standard
before passing onto the next, so, before you
can have that greater good which you so desire,
must you faithfully employ that which you
already possess.
The parable of the talents is a beautiful
story illustrative of this truth, for does
it not plainly show that if we misuse, neglect,
or degrade that which we possess, be it ever
so mean and insignificant, even that little
will be taken from us, for, by our conduct
we show that we are unworthy of it.
Perhaps you are living in a small cottage,
and are surrounded by unhealthy and vicious
influences.
You desire a larger and more sanitary residence.
Then you must fit yourself for such a residence
by first of all making your cottage as far
as possible a little paradise.
Keep it spotlessly clean.
Make it look as pretty and sweet as your limited
means will allow.
Cook your plain food with all care, and arrange
your humble table as tastefully as you possibly
can.
If you cannot afford a carpet, let your rooms
be carpeted with smiles and welcomes, fastened
down with the nails of kind words driven in
with the hammer of
patience.
Such a carpet will not fade in the sun, and
constant use will never wear it away.
By so ennobling your present surroundings
you will rise above them, and above the need
of them, and at the right time you will pass
on into the better house and surroundings
which have all along been waiting for you,
and which you have fitted yourself to occupy.
Perhaps you desire more time for thought and
effort, and feel that your hours of labor
are too hard and long.
Then see to it that you are utilizing to the
fullest possible extent what little spare
time you have.
It is useless to desire more time, if you
are already wasting what little you have;
for you would only grow more indolent and
indifferent.
Even poverty and lack of time and leisure
are not the evils that you imagine they are,
and if they hinder you in your progress, it
is because you have clothed them in your own
weaknesses, and the evil that you see in them
is really in yourself.
Endeavor to fully and completely realize that
in so far as you shape and mould your mind,
you are the maker of your destiny, and as,
by the transmuting power of self-discipline
you realize this more and more, you will come
to see that these so-called evils may be converted
into blessings.
You will then utilize your poverty for the
cultivation of patience, hope and courage;
and your lack of time in the gaining of promptness
of action and decision of mind, by seizing
the precious moments as they present themselves
for your acceptance.
As in the rankest soil the most beautiful
flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of
poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have
developed and bloomed.
Where there are difficulties to cope with,
and unsatisfactory conditions to overcome,
there virtue most flourishes and manifests
its glory.
It may be that you are in the employ of a
tyrannous master or mistress, and you feel
that you are harshly treated.
Look upon this also as necessary to your training.
Return your employer's unkindness with gentleness
and forgiveness.
Practice unceasingly patience and self-control.
Turn the disadvantage to account by utilizing
it for the gaining of mental and spiritual
strength, and by your silent example and influence
you will thus be teaching your employer, will
be helping him to grow ashamed of his conduct,
and will, at the same time, be lifting yourself
up to that height of spiritual attainment
by which you will be enabled to step into
new and more congenial surroundings at the
time when they are presented to you.
Do not complain that you are a slave, but
lift yourself up, by noble conduct, above
the plane of slavery.
Before complaining that you are a slave to
another, be sure that you are not a slave
to self.
Look within; look searchingly, and have no
mercy upon yourself.
You will find there, perchance, slavish thoughts,
slavish desires, and in your daily life and
conduct slavish habits.
Conquer these; cease to be a slave to self,
and no man will have the power to enslave
you.
As you overcome self, you will overcome all
adverse conditions, and every difficulty will
fall before you.
Do not complain that you are oppressed by
the rich.
Are you sure that if you gained riches you
would not be an oppressor yourself?
Remember that there is the Eternal Law which
is absolutely just, and that he who oppresses
today must himself be oppressed tomorrow;
and from this there is no way of escape.
And perhaps you, yesterday (in some former
existence) were rich and an oppressor, and
that you are now merely paying off the debt
which you owe to the Great Law.
Practice, therefore, fortitude and faith.
Dwell constantly in mind upon the Eternal
justice, the Eternal Good.
Endeavor to lift yourself above the personal
and the transitory into the impersonal and
permanent.
Shake off the delusion that you are being
injured or oppressed by another, and try to
realize, by a profounder comprehension of
your inner life, and the laws which govern
that life, that you are only really injured
by what is within you.
There is no practice more degrading, debasing,
and soul-destroying than that of self-pity.
Cast it out from you.
While such a canker is feeding upon your heart
you can never expect to grow into a fuller
life.
Cease from the condemnation of others, and
begin to condemn yourself.
Condone none of your acts, desires or thoughts
that will not bear comparison with spotless
purity, or endure the light of sinless good.
By so doing you will be building your house
upon the rock of the Eternal, and all that
is required for your happiness and well-being
will come to you in its own time.
There is positively no way of permanently
rising above poverty, or any undesirable condition,
except by eradicating those selfish and negative
conditions within, of which these are the
reflection, and by virtue of which they continue.
The way to true riches is to enrich the soul
by the acquisition of virtue.
Outside of real heart-virtue there is neither
prosperity nor power, but only the appearances
of these.
I am aware that men make money who have acquired
no measure of virtue, and have little desire
to do so; but such money does not constitute
true riches, and its possession is transitory
and feverish.
Here is David's testimony:- For I was envious
at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked......
Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have
more than heart could wish.
-Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain,
and washed my hands in innocence...
When I thought to know this it was too painful
for me; until I went into the sanctuary of
God, then understood I their end."
The prosperity of the wicked was a great trial
to David until he went into the sanctuary
of God, and then he knew their end.
You likewise may go into that sanctuary.
It is within you.
It is that state of consciousness which remains
when all that is sordid, and personal, and
impermanent is risen above, and universal
and eternal principles are realized.
That is the God state of consciousness; it
is the sanctuary of the Most High.
When by long strife and self-discipline, you
have succeeded in entering the door of that
holy Temple, you will perceive, with unobstructed
vision, the end and fruit of all human thought
and endeavor, both good and evil.
You will then no longer relax your faith when
you see the immoral man accumulating outward
riches, for you will know, that he must come
again to poverty and degradation.
The rich man who is barren of virtue is, in
reality, poor, and as surely, as the waters
of the river are drifting to the ocean, so
surely is he, in the midst of all his riches,
drifting towards poverty and misfortune; and
though he die rich, yet must he return to
reap the bitter fruit of all of his immorality.
And though he become rich many times, yet
as many times must he be thrown back into
poverty, until, by long experience and suffering
he conquers the poverty within.
But the man who is outwardly poor, yet rich
in virtue, is truly rich, and, in the midst
of all his poverty he is surely traveling
towards prosperity; and abounding joy and
bliss await his coming.
If you would become truly and permanently
prosperous, you must first become virtuous.
It is therefore unwise to aim directly at
prosperity, to make it the one object of life,
to reach out greedily for it, To do this is
to ultimately defeat yourself.
But rather aim at self-perfection, make useful
and unselfish service the object of your life,
and ever reach out hands of faith towards
the supreme and unalterable Good.
You say you desire wealth, not for your own
sake, but in order to do good with it, and
to bless others.
If this is your real motive in desiring wealth,
then wealth will come to you; for you are
strong and unselfish indeed if, in the midst
of riches, you are willing to look upon yourself
as steward and not as owner.
But examine well your motive, for in the majority
of instances where money is desired for the
admitted object of blessing others, the real
underlying motive is a love of popularity,
and a desire to pose as a philanthropist or
reformer.
If you are not doing good with what little
you have, depend upon it the more money you
got the more selfish you would become, and
all the good you appeared to do with your
money, if you attempted to do any, would be
so much insinuating self-laudation.
If your real desire is to do good, there is
no need to wait for money before you do it;
you can do it now, this very moment, and just
where you are.
If you are really so unselfish as you believe
yourself to be, you will show it by sacrificing
yourself for others now.
No matter how poor you are, there is room
for self-sacrifice, for did not the widow
put her all into the treasury?
The heart that truly desires to do good does
not wait for money before doing it, but comes
to the altar of sacrifice and, leaving there
the unworthy elements of self, goes out and
breathes upon neighbor and stranger, friend
and enemy alike the breath of blessedness.
As the effect is related to the cause, so
is prosperity and power related to the inward
good and poverty and weakness to the inward
evil.
Money does not constitute true wealth, nor
position, nor power, and to rely upon it alone
is to stand upon a slippery place.
Your true wealth is your stock of virtue,
and your true power the uses to which you
put it.
Rectify your heart, and you will rectify your
life.
Lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness,
self-indulgence, self-seeking, obstinacy,-
all these are poverty and weakness; whereas
love, purity, gentleness, meekness, compassion,
generosity, self-forgetfulness, and self-renunciation,-
all these are wealth and power.
As the elements of poverty and weakness are
overcome, an irresistible and allconquering
power is evolved from within, and he who succeeds
in establishing himself in the highest virtue,
brings the whole world to his feet.
But the rich, as well as the poor, have their
undesirable conditions, and are frequently
farther removed from happiness than the poor.
And here we see how happiness depends, not
upon outward aids or possessions, but upon
the inward life.
Perhaps you are an employer, and you have
endless trouble with those whom you employ,
and when you do get good and faithful servants
they quickly leave you.
As a result you are beginning to lose, or
have completely lost, your faith in human
nature.
You try to remedy matters by giving better
wages, and by allowing certain liberties,
yet matters remain unaltered.
Let me advise you.
The secret of all your trouble is not in your
servants, it is in yourself; and if you look
within, with a humble and sincere desire to
discover and eradicate your error, you will,
sooner or later, find the origin of all your
unhappiness.
It may be some selfish desire, or lurking
suspicion, or unkind attitude of mind which
sends out its poison upon those about you,
and reacts upon yourself, even though you
may not show it in your manner or speech.
Think of your servants with kindness, consider
of them that extremity of service which you
yourself would not care to perform were you
in their place.
Rare and beautiful is that humility of soul
by which a servant entirely forgets himself
in his master's good; but far rarer, and beautiful
with a divine beauty, is that nobility of
soul by which a man, forgetting his own happiness,
seeks the happiness of those who are under
his authority, and who depend upon him for
their bodily sustenance.
And such a man's happiness is increased tenfold,
nor does he need to complain of those whom
he employs.
Said a well known and extensive employer of
labor, who never needs to dismiss an employee:
"I have always had the happiest relations
with my workpeople.
If you ask me how it is to be accounted for,
I can only say that it has been my aim from
the first to do to them as I would wish to
be done by."
Herein lies the secret by which all desirable
conditions are secured, and all that are undesirable
are overcome.
Do you say that you are lonely and unloved,
and have "not a friend in the world"?
Then, I pray you, for the sake of your own
happiness, blame nobody but yourself.
Be friendly towards others, and friends will
soon flock round you.
Make yourself pure and lovable, and you will
be loved by all.
Whatever conditions are rendering your life
burdensome, you may pass out of and beyond
them by developing and utilizing within you
the transforming power of self-purification
and self-conquest.
Be it the poverty which galls (and remember
that the poverty upon which I have been dilating
is that poverty which is a source of misery,
and not that voluntary poverty which is the
glory of emancipated souls), or the riches
which burden, or the many misfortunes, griefs,
and annoyances which form the dark background
in the web of life, you may overcome them
by overcoming the selfish elements within
which give them life.
It matters not that by the unfailing Law,
there are past thoughts and acts to work out
and to atone for, as, by the same law, we
are setting in motion, during every moment
of our life, fresh thoughts and acts, and
we have the power to make them good or ill.
Nor does it follow that if a man (reaping
what he has sown) must lose money or forfeit
position, that he must also lose his fortitude
or forfeit his uprightness, and it is in these
that his wealth and power and happiness are
to be found.
He who clings to self is his own enemy and
is surrounded by enemies.
He who relinquishes self is his own savior,
and is surrounded by friends like a protecting
belt.
Before the divine radiance of a pure heart
all darkness vanishes and all clouds melt
away, and he who has conquered self has conquered
the universe.
Come, then, out of your poverty; come out
of your pain; come out of your troubles, and
sighings, and complainings, and heartaches,
and loneliness by coming out of yourself.
Let the old tattered garment of your petty
selfishness fall from you, and put on the
new garment of universal Love.
You will then realize the inward heaven, and
it will be reflected in all your outward life.
He who sets his foot firmly upon the path
of self-conquest, who walks, aided by the
staff of Faith, the highway of self-sacrifice,
will assuredly achieve the highest prosperity,
and will reap abounding and enduring joy and
bliss.
To them that seek the highest good
All things subserve the wisest ends;
Nought comes as ill, and wisdom lends
Wings to all shapes of evil brood.
The dark'ning sorrow veils a Star
That waits to shine with gladsome light;
Hell waits on heaven; and after night
Comes golden glory from afar.
Defeats are steps by which we climb
With purer aim to nobler ends;
Loss leads to gain, and joy attends
True footsteps up the hills of time.
Pain leads to paths of holy bliss,
To thoughts and words and deeds divine-,
And clouds that gloom and rays that shine,
Along life's upward highway kiss.
Misfortune does but cloud the way
Whose end and summit in the sky
Of bright success, sunkiss'd and high,
Awaits our seeking and our stay.
The heavy pall of doubts and fears
That clouds the Valley of our hopes,
The shades with which the spirit copes,
The bitter harvesting of tears,
The heartaches, miseries, and griefs,
The bruisings born of broken ties,
All these are steps by which we rise
To living ways of sound beliefs.
Love, pitying, watchful, runs to meet
The Pilgrim from the Land of Fate;
All glory and all good await
The coming of obedient feet.
4.
The 
silent power of thought: controlling and directing
one's forces
The most powerful forces in the universe are
the silent forces; and in accordance with
the intensity of its power does a force become
beneficent when rightly directed, and destructive
when wrongly employed.
This is a common knowledge in regard to the
mechanical forces, such as steam, electricity,
etc., but few have yet learned to apply this
knowledge to the realm of mind, where the
thought-forces (most powerful of all) are
continually being generated and sent forth
as currents of salvation or destruction.
At this stage of his evolution, man has entered
into the possession of these forces, and the
whole trend of his present advancement is
their complete subjugation.
All the wisdom possible to man on this material
earth is to be found only in complete self-mastery,
and the command, "Love your enemies," resolves
itself into an exhortation to enter here and
now, into the possession of that sublime wisdom
by taking hold of, mastering and transmuting,
those mind forces to which man is now slavishly
subject, and by which he is helplessly borne,
like a straw on the stream, upon the currents
of selfishness.
The Hebrew prophets, with their perfect knowledge
of the Supreme Law, always related outward
events to inward thought, and associated national
disaster or success with the thoughts and
desires that dominated the nation at the time.
The knowledge of the causal power of thought
is the basis of all their prophecies, as it
is the basis of all real wisdom and power.
National events are simply the working out
of the psychic forces of the nation.
Wars, plagues, and famines are the meeting
and clashing of wrongly-directed thought-forces,
the culminating points at which destruction
steps in as the agent of the Law.
It is foolish to ascribe war to the influence
of one man, or to one body of men.
It is the crowning horror of national selfishness.
It is the silent and conquering thought-forces
which bring all things into manifestation.
The universe grew out of thought.
Matter in its last analysis is found to be
merely objectivized thought.
All men's accomplishments were first wrought
out in thought, and then objectivized.
The author, the inventor, the architect, first
builds up his work in thought, and having
perfected it in all its parts as a complete
and harmonious whole upon the thought-plane.
he then commences to materialize it, to bring
it down to the material or sense-plane.
When the thought-forces are directed in harmony
with the over-ruling Law, they are up-building
and preservative, but when subverted they
become disintegrating and self-destructive.
To adjust all your thoughts to a perfect and
unswerving faith in the omnipotence and supremacy
of Good, is to co-operate with that Good,
and to realize within yourself the solution
and destruction of all evil.
Believe and ye shall live.
And here we have the true meaning of salvation;
salvation from the darkness and negation of
evil, by entering into, and realizing the
living light of the Eternal Good.
Where there is fear, worry, anxiety, doubt,
trouble, chagrin, or disappointment, there
is ignorance and lack of faith.
All these conditions of mind are the direct
outcome of selfishness, and are based upon
an inherent belief in the power and supremacy
of evil; they therefore constitute practical
atheism; and to live in, and become subject
to, these negative and soul-destroying conditions
of mind is the only real atheism.
It is salvation from such conditions that
the race needs, and let no man boast of salvation
whilst he is their helpless and obedient slave.
To fear or to worry is as sinful as to curse,
for how can one fear or worry if he intrinsically
believes in the Eternal justice, the Omnipotent
Good, the Boundless Love?
To fear, to worry, to doubt, is to deny, to
dis-believe.
It is from such states of mind that all weakness
and failure proceed, for they represent the
annulling and disintegrating of the positive
thought-forces which would otherwise speed
to their object with power, and bring about
their own beneficent results.
To overcome these negative conditions is to
enter into a life of power, is to cease to
be a slave, and to become a master, and there
is only one way by which they can be overcome,
and that is by steady and persistent growth
in inward knowledge.
To mentally deny evil is not sufficient; it
must, by daily practice, be risen above and
understood.
To mentally affirm the good is inadequate;
it must, by unswerving endeavor, be entered
into and comprehended.
The intelligent practice of self-control,
quickly leads to a knowledge of one's interior
thought-forces, and, later on, to the acquisition
of that power by which they are rightly employed
and directed.
In the measure that you master self, that
you control your mental forces instead of
being controlled by them, in just such measure
will you master affairs and outward circumstances.
Show me a man under whose touch everything
crumbles away, and who cannot retain success
even when it is placed in his hands, and I
will show you a man who dwells continually
in those conditions of mind which are the
very negation of power.
To be for ever wallowing in the bogs of doubt,
to be drawn continually into the quicksands
of fear, or blown ceaselessly about by the
winds of anxiety, is to be a slave, and to
live the life of a slave, even though success
and influence be for ever knocking at your
door seeking for admittance.
Such a man, being without faith and without
self-government, is incapable of the right
government of his affairs, and is a slave
to circumstances; in reality a slave to himself.
Such are taught by affliction, and ultimately
pass from weakness to strength by the stress
of bitter experience.
Faith and purpose constitute the motive- power
of life.
There is nothing that a strong faith and an
unflinching purpose may not accomplish.
By the daily exercise of silent faith, the
thought-forces are gathered together, and
by the daily strengthening of silent purpose,
those forces are directed toward the object
of accomplishment.
Whatever your position in life may be, before
you can hope to enter into any measure of
success, usefulness, and power, you must learn
how to focus your thought-forces by cultivating
calmness and repose.
It may be that you are a business man, and
you are suddenly confronted with some overwhelming
difficulty or probable disaster.
You grow fearful and anxious, and are at your
wit's end.
To persist in such a state of mind would be
fatal, for when anxiety steps in, correct
judgment passes out.
Now if you will take advantage of a quiet
hour or two in the early morning or at night,
and go away to some solitary spot, or to some
room in your house where you know you will
be absolutely free from intrusion, and, having
seated yourself in an easy attitude, you forcibly
direct your mind right away from the object
of anxiety by dwelling upon something in your
life that is pleasing and blissgiving, a calm,
reposeful strength will gradually steal into
your mind, and your anxiety will pass away.
Upon the instant that you find your mind reverting
to the lower plane of worry bring it back
again, and re-establish it on the plane of
peace and strength.
When this is fully accomplished, you may then
concentrate your whole mind upon the solution
of your difficulty, and what was intricate
and insurmountable to you in your hour of
anxiety will be made plain and easy, and you
will see, with that clear vision and perfect
judgment which belong only to a calm and untroubled
mind, the right course to pursue and the proper
end to be brought about.
It may be that you will have to try day after
day before you will be able to perfectly calm
your mind, but if you persevere you will certainly
accomplish it.
And the course which is presented to you in
that hour of calmness must be carried out.
Doubtless when you are again involved in the
business of the day, and worries again creep
in and begin to dominate you, you will begin
to think that the course is a wrong or foolish
one, but do not heed such suggestions.
Be guided absolutely and entirely by the vision
of calmness, and not by the shadows of anxiety.
The hour of calmness is the hour of illumination
and correct judgment.
By such a course of mental discipline the
scattered thought-forces are re-united, and
directed, like the rays of the search-light,
upon the problem at issue, with the result
that it gives way before them.
There is no difficulty, however great, but
will yield before a calm and powerful concentration
of thought, and no legitimate object but may
be speedily actualized by the intelligent
use and direction of one's soul-forces.
Not until you have gone deeply and searchingly
into your inner nature, and have overcome
many enemies that lurk there, can you have
any approximate conception of the subtle power
of thought, of its inseparable relation to
outward and material things, or of its magical
potency, when rightly poised and directed,
in readjusting and transforming the life-conditions.
Every thought you think is a force sent out,
and in accordance with its nature and intensity
will it go out to seek a lodgment in minds
receptive to it, and will react upon yourself
for good or evil.
There is ceaseless reciprocity between mind
and mind, and a continual interchange of thought-forces.
Selfish and disturbing thoughts are so many
malignant and destructive forces, messengers
of evil, sent out to stimulate and augment
the evil in other minds, which in turn send
them back upon you with added power.
While thoughts that are calm, pure, and unselfish
are so many angelic messengers sent out into
the world with health, healing, and blessedness
upon their wings, counteracting the evil forces;
pouring the oil of joy upon the troubled waters
of anxiety and sorrow, and restoring to broken
hearts their heritage of immortality.
Think good thoughts, and they will quickly
become actualized in your outward life in
the form of good conditions.
Control your soul-forces, and you will be
able to shape your outward life as you will.
The difference between a savior and a sinner
is this, that the one has a perfect control
of all the forces within him; the other is
dominated and controlled by them.
There is absolutely no other way to true power
and abiding peace, but by self-control, self-government,
self-purification.
To be at the mercy of your disposition is
to be impotent, unhappy, and of little real
use in the world.
The conquest of your petty likes and dislikes,
your capricious loves and hates, your fits
of anger, suspicion, jealousy, and all the
changing moods to which you are more or less
helplessly subject, this is the task you have
before you if you would weave into the web
of life the golden threads of happiness and
prosperity.
In so far as you are enslaved by the changing
moods within you, will you need to depend
upon others and upon outward aids as you walk
through life.
If you would walk firmly and securely, and
would accomplish any achievement, you must
learn to rise above and control all such disturbing
and retarding vibrations.
You must daily practice the habit of putting
your mind at rest, "going into the silence,"
as it is commonly called.
This is a method of replacing a troubled thought
with one of peace, a thought of weakness with
one of strength.
Until you succeed in doing this you cannot
hope to direct your mental forces upon the
problems and pursuits of life with any appreciable
measure of success.
It is a process of diverting one's scattered
forces into one powerful channel.
Just as a useless marsh may be converted into
a field of golden corn or a fruitful garden
by draining and directing the scattered and
harmful streams into one wellcut channel,
so, he who acquires calmness, and subdues
and directs the thoughtcurrents within himself,
saves his soul, and fructifies his heart and
life.
As you succeed in gaining mastery over your
impulses and thoughts you will begin to feel,
growing up within you, a new and silent power,
and a settled feeling of composure and strength
will remain with you.
Your latent powers will begin to unfold themselves,
and whereas formerly your efforts were weak
and ineffectual, you will now be able to work
with that calm confidence which commands success.
And along with this new power and strength,
there will be awakened within you that interior
Illumination known as "intuition," and you
will walk no longer in darkness and speculation,
but in light and certainty.
With the development of this soul-vision,
judgment and mental penetration will be incalculably
increased, and there will evolve within you
that prophetic vision by the aid of which
you will be able to sense coming events, and
to forecast, with remarkable accuracy, the
result of your efforts.
And in just the measure that you alter from
within will your outlook upon life alter;
and as you alter your mental attitude towards
others they will alter in their attitude and
conduct toward you.
As you rise above the lower, debilitating,
and destructive thought-forces, you will come
in contact with the positive, strengthening,
and up-building currents generated by strong,
pure, and noble minds, your happiness will
be immeasurably intensified, and you will
begin to realize the joy, strength, and power,
which are born only of self-mastery.
And this joy, strength, and power will be
continually radiating from you, and without
any effort on your part, nay, though you are
utterly unconscious of it, strong people will
be drawn toward you, influence will be put
into your hands, and in accordance with your
altered thought-world will outward events
shape themselves.
"A man's foes are they of his own household,"
and he who would be useful, strong, and happy,
must cease to be a passive receptacle for
the negative, beggardly, and impure streams
of thought; and as a wise householder commands
his servants and invites his guests, so must
he learn to command his desires, and to say,
with authority, what thoughts he shall admit
into the mansion of his soul.
Even a very partial success in self-mastery
adds greatly to one's power, and he who succeeds
in perfecting this divine accomplishment,
enters into possession of undreamed-of wisdom
and inward strength and peace, and realizes
that all the forces of the universe aid and
protect his footsteps who is master of his
soul.
Would you scale the highest heaven,
Would you pierce the lowest hell,
Live in dreams of constant beauty,
Or in basest thinkings dwell.
For your thoughts are heaven above you,
And your thoughts are hell below,
Bliss is not, except in thinking,
Torment nought but thought can know.
Worlds would vanish but for thinking;
Glory is not but in dreams;
And the Drama of the ages
From the Thought Eternal streams.
Dignity and shame and sorrow,
Pain and anguish, love and hate
Are but maskings of the mighty
Pulsing Thought that governs Fate.
As the colors of the rainbow
Makes the one uncolored beam,
So the universal changes
Make the One Eternal Dream.
And the Dream is all within you,
And the Dreamer waiteth long
For the Morning to awake him
To the living thought and strong.
That shall make the ideal real,
Make to vanish dreams of hell
In the highest, holiest heaven
Where the pure and perfect dwell.
Evil is the thought that thinks it;
Good, the thought that makes it so
Light and darkness, sin and pureness
Likewise out of thinking grow.
Dwell in thought upon the Grandest,
And the Grandest you shall see ;
Fix your mind upon the Highest,
And the Highest you shall be.
5.
The secret of health, success and power
We all remember with what intense delight,
as children, we listened to the nevertiring
fairy-tale.
How eagerly we followed the fluctuating fortunes
of the good boy or girl, ever protected, in
the hour of crisis, from the evil machinations
of the scheming witch, the cruel giant, or
the wicked king.
And our little hearts never faltered for the
fate of the hero or heroine, nor did we doubt
their ultimate triumph over all their enemies,
for we knew that the fairies were infallible,
and that they would never desert those who
had consecrated themselves to the good and
the true.
And what unspeakable joy pulsated within us
when the Fairy-Queen, bringing all her magic
to bear at the critical moment, scattered
all the darkness and trouble, and granted
them the complete satisfaction of all their
hopes, and they were "happy ever after."
With the accumulating years, and an ever-increasing
intimacy with the so-called "realities" of
life, our beautiful fairy-world became obliterated,
and its wonderful inhabitants were relegated,
in the archives of memory, to the shadowy
and unreal.
And we thought we were wise and strong in
thus leaving for ever the land of childish
dreams, but as we re-become little children
in the wondrous world of wisdom, we shall
return again to the inspiring dreams of childhood
and find that they are, after all, realities.
The fairy-folk, so small and nearly always
invisible, yet possessed of an all-conquering
and magical power, who bestow upon the good,
health, wealth, and happiness, along with
all the gifts of nature in lavish profusion,
start again into reality and become immortalized
in the soul-realm of him who, by growth in
wisdom, has entered into a knowledge of the
power of thought, and the laws which govern
the inner world of being.
To him the fairies live again as thought-people,
thought-messengers, thoughtpowers working
in harmony with the over-ruling Good.
And they who, day by day, endeavor to harmonize
their hearts with the heart of the Supreme
Good, do in reality acquire true health, wealth,
and happiness.
There is no protection to compare with goodness,
and by "goodness" I do not mean a mere outward
conformity to the rules of morality; I mean
pure thought, noble aspiration, unselfish
love, and freedom from vainglory.
To dwell continually in good thoughts, is
to throw around oneself a psychic atmosphere
of sweetness and power which leaves its impress
upon all who come in contact with it.
As the rising sun puts to rout the helpless
shadows, so are all the impotent forces of
evil put to flight by the searching rays of
positive thought which shine forth from a
heart made strong in purity and faith.
Where there is sterling faith and uncompromising
purity there is health, there is success,
there is power.
In such a one, disease, failure, and disaster
can find no lodgment, for there is nothing
on which they can feed.
Even physical conditions are largely determined
by mental states, and to this truth the scientific
world is rapidly being drawn.
The old, materialistic belief that a man is
what his body makes him, is rapidly passing
away, and is being replaced by the inspiring
belief that man is superior to his body, and
that his body is what he makes it by the power
of thought.
Men everywhere are ceasing to believe that
a man is despairing because he is dyspeptic,
and are coming to understand that he is dyspeptic
because he is despairing, and in the near
future, the fact that all disease has its
origin in the mind will become common knowledge.
There is no evil in the universe but has its
root and origin in the mind, and sin, sickness,
sorrow, and affliction do not, in reality,
belong to the universal order, are not inherent
in the nature of things, but are the direct
outcome of our ignorance of the right relations
of things.
According to tradition, there once lived,
in India, a school of philosophers who led
a life of such absolute purity and simplicity
that they commonly reached the age of one
hundred and fifty years, and to fall sick
was looked upon by them as an unpardonable
disgrace, for it was considered to indicate
a violation of law.
The sooner we realize and acknowledge that
sickness, far from being the arbitrary visitation
of an offended God, or the test of an unwise
Providence, is the result of our own error
or sin, the sooner shall we enter upon the
highway of health.
Disease comes to those who attract it, to
those whose minds and bodies are receptive
to it, and flees from those whose strong,
pure, and positive thought-sphere generates
healing and life-giving currents.
If you are given to anger, worry, jealousy,
greed, or any other inharmonious state of
mind, and expect perfect physical health,
you are expecting the impossible, for you
are continually sowing the seeds of disease
in your mind.
Such conditions of mind are carefully shunned
by the wise man, for he knows them to be far
more dangerous than a bad drain or an infected
house.
If you would be free from all physical aches
and pains, and would enjoy perfect physical
harmony, then put your mind in order, and
harmonize your thoughts.
Think joyful thoughts; think loving thoughts;
let the elixir of goodwill course through
your veins, and you will need no other medicine.
Put away your jealousies, your suspicions,
your worries, your hatreds, your selfish indulgences,
and you will put away your dyspepsia, your
biliousness, your nervousness and aching joints.
If you will persist in clinging to these debilitating
and demoralizing habits of mind, then do not
complain when your body is laid low with sickness.
The following story illustrates the close
relation that exists between habits of mind
and bodily conditions.
A certain man was afflicted with a painful
disease, and he tried one physician after
another, but all to no purpose.
He then visited towns which were famous for
their curative waters, and after having bathed
in them all, his disease was more painful
than ever.
One night he dreamed that a Presence came
to him and said, "Brother, hast thou tried
all the means of cure?" and he replied, "I
have tried all."
"Nay," said the Presence, "Come with me, and
I will show thee a healing bath which has
escaped thy notice."
The afflicted man followed, and the Presence
led him to a clear pool of water, and said,
"Plunge thyself in this water and thou shalt
surely recover," and thereupon vanished.
The man plunged into the water, and on coming
out, Io! his disease had left him, and at
the same moment he saw written above the pool
the word "Renounce."
Upon waking, the fall meaning of his dream
flashed across his mind, and looking within
he discovered that he had, all along, been
a victim to a sinful indulgence, and he vowed
that he would renounce it for ever.
He carried out his vow, and from that day
his affliction began to leave him, and in
a short time he was completely restored to
health.
Many people complain that they have broken
down through over-work.
In the majority of such cases the breakdown
is more frequently the result of foolishly
wasted energy.
If you would secure health you must learn
to work without friction.
To become anxious or excited, or to worry
over needless details is to invite a breakdown.
Work, whether of brain or body, is beneficial
and health-giving, and the man who can work
with a steady and calm persistency, freed
from all anxiety and worry, and with his mind
utterly oblivious to all but the work he has
in hand, will not only accomplish far more
than the man who is always hurried and anxious,
but he will retain his health, a boon which
the other quickly forfeits.
True health and true success go together,
for they are inseparably intertwined in the
thought-realm.
As mental harmony produces bodily health,
so it also leads to a harmonious sequence
in the actual working out of one's plans.
Order your thoughts and you will order your
life.
Pour the oil of tranquility upon the turbulent
waters of the passions and prejudices, and
the tempests of misfortune, howsoever they
may threaten, will be powerless to wreck the
barque of your soul, as it threads its way
across the ocean of life.
And if that barque be piloted by a cheerful
and never-failing faith its course will be
doubly sure, and many perils will pass it
by which would other-wise attack it.
By the power of faith every enduring work
is accomplished.
Faith in the Supreme; faith in the over-ruling
Law; faith in your work, and in your power
to accomplish that work, -here is the rock
upon which you must build if you would achieve,
if you would stand and not fall.
To follow, under all circumstances, the highest
promptings within you; to be always true to
the divine self; to rely upon the inward Light,
the inward Voice, and to pursue your purpose
with a fearless and restful heart, believing
that the future will yield unto you the meed
of every thought and effort; knowing that
the laws of the universe can never fail, and
that your own will come back to you with mathematical
exactitude, this is faith and the living of
faith.
By the power of such a faith the dark waters
of uncertainty are divided, every mountain
of difficulty crumbles away, and the believing
soul passes on unharmed.
Strive, O reader! to acquire, above everything,
the priceless possession of this dauntless
faith, for it is the talisman of happiness,
of success, of peace, of power, of all that
makes life great and superior to suffering.
Build upon such a faith, and you build upon
the Rock of the Eternal, and with the materials
of the Eternal, and the structure that you
erect will never be dissolved, for it will
transcend all the accumulations of material
luxuries and riches, the end of which is dust.
Whether you are hurled into the depths of
sorrow or lifted upon the heights of joy,
ever retain your hold upon this faith, ever
return to it as your rock of refuge, and keep
your feet firmly planted upon its immortal
and immovable base.
Centered in such a faith, you will become
possessed of such a spiritual strength as
will shatter, like so many toys of glass,
all the forces of evil that are hurled against
you, and you will achieve a success such as
the mere striver after worldly gain can never
know or even dream of.
"If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall
not only do this, ... but if ye shall say
unto this mountain, be thou removed and be
thou cast into the sea, it shall be done."
There are those today, men and women tabernacled
in flesh and blood, who have realized this
faith, who live in it and by it day by day,
and who, having put it to the uttermost test,
have entered into the possession of its glory
and peace.
Such have sent out the word of command, and
the mountains of sorrow and disappointment,
of mental weariness and physical pain have
passed from them, and have been cast into
the sea of oblivion.
If you will become possessed of this faith
you will not need to trouble about your success
or failure, and success will come.
You will not need to become anxious about
results, but will work joyfully and peacefully,
knowing that right thoughts and right efforts
will inevitably bring about right results.
I know a lady who has entered into many blissful
satisfactions, and recently a friend remarked
to her, "Oh, how fortunate you are!
You only have to wish for a thing, and it
comes to you."
And it did, indeed, appear so on the surface;
but in reality all the blessedness that has
entered into this woman's life is the direct
outcome of the inward state of blessedness
which she has, throughout life, been cultivating
and training toward perfection.
Mere wishing brings nothing but disappointment;
it is living that tells.
The foolish wish and grumble; the wise, work
and wait.
And this woman had worked; worked without
and within, but especially within upon heart
and soul; and with the invisible hands of
the spirit she had built up, with the precious
stones of faith, hope, joy, devotion, and
love, a fair temple of light, whose glorifying
radiance was ever round about her.
It beamed in her eye; it shone through her
countenance; it vibrated in her voice; and
all who came into her presence felt its captivating
spell.
And as with her, so with you.
Your success, your failure, your influence,
your whole life you carry about with you,
for your dominant trends of thought are the
determining factors in your destiny.
Send forth loving, stainless, and happy thoughts,
and blessings will fall into your hands, and
your table will be spread with the cloth of
peace.
Send forth hateful, impure, and unhappy thoughts,
and curses will rain down upon you, and fear
and unrest will wait upon your pillow.
You are the unconditional maker of your fate,
be that fate what it may.
Every moment you are sending forth from you
the influences which will make or mar your
life.
Let your heart grow large and loving and unselfish,
and great and lasting will be your influence
and success, even though you make little money.
Confine it within the narrow limits of self-interest,
and even though you become a millionaire your
influence and success, at the final reckoning
will be found to be utterly insignificant.
Cultivate, then, this pure and unselfish spirit,
and combine with purity and faith, singleness
of purpose, and you are evolving from within
the elements, not only of abounding health
and enduring success, but of greatness and
power.
If your present position is distasteful to
you, and your heart is not in your work, nevertheless
perform your duties with scrupulous diligence,
and whilst resting your mind in the idea that
the better position and greater opportunities
are waiting for you, ever keep an active mental
outlook for budding possibilities, so that
when the critical moment arrives, and the
new channel presents itself, you will step
into it with your mind fully prepared for
the undertaking, and with that intelligence
and foresight which is born of mental discipline.
Whatever your task may be, concentrate your
whole mind upon it, throw into it all the
energy of which you are capable.
The faultless completion of small tasks leads
inevitably to larger tasks.
See to it that you rise by steady climbing,
and you will never fall.
And herein lies the secret of true power.
Learn, by constant practice, how to husband
your resources, and to concentrate them, at
any moment, upon a given point.
The foolish waste all their mental and spiritual
energy in frivolity, foolish chatter, or selfish
argument, not to mention wasteful physical
excesses.
If you would acquire overcoming power you
must cultivate poise and passivity.
You must be able to stand alone.
All power is associated with immovability.
The mountain, the massive rock, the storm-tried
oak, all speak to us of power, because of
their combined solitary grandeur and defiant
fixity; while the shifting sand, the yielding
twig, and the waving reed speak to us of weakness,
because they are movable and non-resistant,
and are utterly useless when detached from
their fellows.
He is the man of power who, when all his fellows
are swayed by some emotion or passion, remains
calm and unmoved.
He only is fitted to command and control who
has succeeded in commanding and controlling
himself.
The hysterical, the fearful, the thoughtless
and frivolous, let such seek company, or they
will fall for lack of support; but the calm,
the fearless, the thoughtful, and let such
seek the solitude of the forest, the desert,
and the mountain-top, and to their power more
power will be added, and they will more and
more successfully stem the psychic currents
and whirlpools which engulf mankind.
Passion is not power; it is the abuse of power,
the dispersion of power.
Passion is like a furious storm which beats
fiercely and wildly upon the embattled rock
whilst power is like the rock itself, which
remains silent and unmoved through it all.
That was a manifestation of true power when
Martin Luther, wearied with the persuasions
of his fearful friends, who were doubtful
as to his safety should he go to Worms, replied,
"If there were as many devils in Worms as
there are tiles on the housetops I would go."
And when Benjamin Disraeli broke down in his
first Parliamentary speech, and brought upon
himself the derision of the House, that was
an exhibition of germinal power when he exclaimed,
"The day will come when you will consider
it an honor to listen to me."
When that young man, whom I knew, passing
through continual reverses and misfortunes,
was mocked by his friends and told to desist
from further effort, and he replied, "The
time is not far distant when you will marvel
at my good fortune and success," he showed
that he was possessed of that silent and irresistible
power which has taken him over innumerable
difficulties, and crowned his life with success.
If you have not this power, you may acquire
it by practice, and the beginning of power
is likewise the beginning of wisdom.
You must commence by overcoming those purposeless
trivialities to which you have hitherto been
a willing victim.
Boisterous and uncontrolled laughter, slander
and idle talk, and joking merely to raise
a laugh, all these things must be put on one
side as so much waste of valuable energy.
St. Paul never showed his wonderful insight
into the hidden laws of human progress to
greater advantage than when he warned the
Ephesians against "Foolish talking and jesting
which is not convenient," for to dwell habitually
in such practices is to destroy all spiritual
power and life.
As you succeed in rendering yourself impervious
to such mental dissipations you will begin
to understand what true power is, and you
will then commence to grapple with the more
powerful desires and appetites which hold
your soul in bondage, and bar the way to power,
and your further progress will then be made
clear.
Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate
and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly
to it.
Let nothing draw you aside ; remember that
the doubleminded man is unstable in all his
ways.
Be eager to learn, but slow to beg.
Have a thorough understanding of your work,
and let it be your own; and as you proceed,
ever following the inward Guide, the infallible
Voice, you will pass on from victory to victory,
and will rise step by step to higher resting-places,
and your ever-broadening outlook will gradually
reveal to you the essential beauty and purpose
of life.
Self-purified, health will be yours; faith-protected,
success will be yours; self-governed, power
will be yours, and all that you do will prosper,
for, ceasing to be a disjointed unit, self-enslaved,
you will be in harmony with the Great Law,
working no longer against, but with, the Universal
Life, the Eternal Good.
And what health you gain it will remain with
you; what success you achieve will be beyond
all human computation, and will never pass
away; and what influence and power you wield
will continue to increase throughout the ages,
for it will be a part of that unchangeable
Principle which supports the universe.
This, then, is the secret of health, -a pure
heart and a well-ordered mind ; this is the
secret of success, -an unfaltering faith,
and a wisely-directed purpose; and to rein
in, with unfaltering will, the dark steed
of desire, this is the secret of power.
All ways are waiting for my feet to tread,
The light and dark, the living and the dead,
The broad and narrow way, the high and low,
The good and bad, and with quick step or slow,
I now may enter any way I will,
And find, by walking, which is good, which
ill.
And all good things my wandering feet await,
If I but come, with vow inviolate,
Unto the narrow, high and holy way
Of heart-born purity, and therein stay;
Walking, secure from him who taunts and scorns,
To flowery meads, across the path of thorns.
And I may stand where health, success, and
power
Await my coming, if, each fleeting hour,
I cling to love and patience; and abide
With stainlessness; and never step aside
From high integrity ; so shall I see
At last the land of immortality.
And I may seek and find; I may achieve,
I may not claim, but, losing, may retrieve.
The law bends not for me, but I must bend
Unto the law, if I would reach the end
Of my afflictions, if I would restore
My soul to Light and Life, and weep no more.
Not mine the arrogant and selfish claim
To all good things; be mine the lowly aim
To seek and find, to know and comprehend,
And wisdom-ward all holy footsteps wend,
Nothing is mine to claim or to command,
But all is mine to know 
and understand.
6.
The secret of abounding happiness
Great is the thirst for happiness, and equally
great is the lack of happiness.
The majority of the poor long for riches,
believing that their possession would bring
them supreme and lasting happiness.
Many who are rich, having gratified every
desire and whim, suffer from ennui and repletion,
and are farther from the possession of happiness
even than the very poor.
If we reflect upon this state of things it
will ultimately lead us to a knowledge of
the all important truth that happiness is
not derived from mere outward possessions,
nor misery from the lack of them; for if this
were so, we should find the poor always miserable,
and the rich always happy, whereas the reverse
is frequently the case.
Some of the most wretched people whom I have
known were those who were surrounded with
riches and luxury, whilst some of the brightest
and happiest people I have met were possessed
of only the barest necessities of life.
Many men who have accumulated riches have
confessed that the selfish gratification which
followed the acquisition of riches has robbed
life of its sweetness, and that they were
never so happy as when they were poor.
What, then, is happiness, and how is it to
be secured?
Is it a figment, a delusion, and is suffering
alone perennial?
We shall find, after earnest observation and
reflection, that all, except those who have
entered the way of wisdom, believe that happiness
is only to be obtained by the gratification
of desire.
It is this belief, rooted in the soil of ignorance,
and continually watered by selfish cravings,
that is the cause of all the misery in the
world.
And I do not limit the word desire to the
grosser animal cravings; it extends to the
higher psychic realm, where far more powerful,
subtle, and insidious cravings hold in bondage
the intellectual and refined, depriving them
of all that beauty, harmony, and purity of
soul whose expression is happiness.
Most people will admit that selfishness is
the cause of all the unhappiness in the world,
but they fall under the soul-destroying delusion
that it is somebody else's selfishness, and
not their own.
When you are willing to admit that all your
unhappiness is the result of your own selfishness
you will not be far from the gates of Paradise;
but so long as you are convinced that it is
the selfishness of others that is robbing
you of joy, so long will you remain a prisoner
in your self-created purgatory.
Happiness is that inward state of perfect
satisfaction which is joy and peace, and from
which all desire is eliminated.
The satisfaction which results from gratified
desire is brief and illusionary, and is always
followed by an increased demand for gratification.
Desire is as insatiable as the ocean, and
clamors louder and louder as its demands are
attended to.
It claims ever-increasing service from its
deluded devotees, until at last they are struck
down with physical or mental anguish, and
are hurled into the purifying fires of suffering.
Desire is the region of hell, and all torments
are centered there.
The giving up of desire is the realization
of heaven, and all delights await the pilgrim
there,
I sent my soul through the invisible,
Some letter of that after life to spell,
And by-and-by my soul returned to me,
And whispered, I myself am heaven and hell,"
Heaven and hell are inward states.
Sink into self and all its gratifications,
and you sink into hell; rise above self into
that state of consciousness which is the utter
denial and forgetfulness of self, and you
enter heaven.
Self is blind, without judgment, not possessed
of true knowledge, and always leads to suffering.
Correct perception, unbiased judgment, and
true knowledge belong only to the divine state,
and only in so far as you realize this divine
consciousness can you know what real happiness
is.
So long as you persist in selfishly seeking
for your own personal happiness, so long will
happiness elude you, and you will be sowing
the seeds of wretchedness.
In so far as you succeed in losing yourself
in the service of others, in that measure
will happiness come to you, and you will reap
a harvest of bliss.
It is in loving, not in being loved,
The heart is blessed;
It is in giving, not in seeking gifts,
We find our quest.
Whatever be thy longing or thy need,
That do thou give;
So shall thy soul be fed, and thou indeed
Shalt truly live.
Cling to self, and you cling to sorrow, relinquish
self, and you enter into peace.
To seek selfishly is not only to lose happiness,
but even that which we believe to be the source
of happiness.
See how the glutton is continually looking
about for a new delicacy wherewith to stimulate
his deadened appetite; and how, bloated, burdened,
and diseased, scarcely any food at last is
eaten with pleasure.
Whereas, he who has mastered his appetite,
and not only does not seek, but never thinks
of gustatory pleasure, finds delight in the
most frugal meal.
The angel-form of happiness, which men, looking
through the eyes of self, imagine they see
in gratified desire, when clasped is always
found to be the skeleton of misery.
Truly, "He that seeketh his life shall lose
it, and he that loseth his life shall find
it."
Abiding happiness will come to you when, ceasing
to selfishly cling, you are willing to give
up.
When you are willing to lose, unreservedly,
that impermanent thing which is so dear to
you, and which, whether you cling to it or
not, will one day be snatched from you, then
you will find that that which seemed to you
like a painful loss, turns out to be a supreme
gain.
To give up in order to gain, than this there
is no greater delusion, nor no more prolific
source of misery; but to be willing to yield
up and to suffer loss, this is indeed the
Way of Life.
How is it possible to find real happiness
by centering ourselves in those things which,
by their very nature, must pass away?
Abiding and real happiness can only be found
by centering ourselves in that which is permanent.
Rise, therefore, above the clinging to and
the craving for impermanent things, and you
will then enter into a consciousness of the
Eternal, and as, rising above self, and by
growing more and more into the spirit of purity,
self-sacrifice and universal Love, you become
centered in that consciousness, you will realize
that happiness which has no reaction, and
which can never be taken from you.
The heart that has reached utter self-forgetfulness
in its love for others has not only become
possessed of the highest happiness but has
entered into immortality, for it has realized
the Divine.
Look back upon your life, and you will find
that the moments of supremest happiness were
those in which you uttered some word, or performed
some act, of compassion or self-denying love.
Spiritually, happiness and harmony are, synonymous.
Harmony is one phase of the Great Law whose
spiritual expression is love.
All selfishness is discord, and to be selfish
is to be out of harmony with the Divine order.
As we realize that all-embracing love which
is the negation of self, we put ourselves
in harmony with the divine music, the universal
song, and that ineffable melody which is true
happiness becomes our own.
Men and women are rushing hither and thither
in the blind search for happiness, and cannot
find it; nor ever will until they recognize
that happiness is already within them and
round about them, filling the universe, and
that they, in their selfish searching are
shutting themselves out from it.
I followed happiness to make her mine,
Past towering oak and swinging ivy vine.
She fled, I chased, o'er slanting hill and
dale,
O'er fields and meadows, in the purpling vale;
Pursuing rapidly o'er dashing stream.
I scaled the dizzy cliffs where eagles scream;
I traversed swiftly every land and M.
But always happiness eluded me.
Exhausted, fainting, I pursued no more,
But sank to rest upon a barren shore.
One came and asked for food, and one for alms
I placed the bread and gold in bony palms.
One came for sympathy, and one for rest;
I shared with every needy one my best;
When, Io! sweet Happiness, with form divine,
Stood by me, whispering softly, 'I am thine'.
These beautiful lines of Burleigh's express
the secret of all abounding happiness.
Sacrifice the personal and transient, and
you rise at once into the impersonal and permanent.
Give up that narrow cramped self that seeks
to render all things subservient to its own
petty interests, and you will enter into the
company of the angels, into the very heart
and essence of universal Love.
Forget yourself entirely in the sorrows of
others and in ministering to others, and divine
happiness will emancipate you from all sorrow
and suffering.
"Taking the first step with a good thought,
the second with a good word, and the third
with a good deed, I entered Paradise."
And you also may enter into Paradise by pursuing
the same course.
It is not beyond, it is here.
It is realized only by the unselfish.
It is known in its fullness only to the pure
in heart.
If you have not realized this unbounded happiness
you may begin to actualize it by ever holding
before you the lofty ideal of unselfish love,
and aspiring towards it.
Aspiration or prayer is desire turned upward.
It is the soul turning toward its Divine source,
where alone permanent satisfaction can be
found.
By aspiration the destructive forces of desire
are transmuted into divine and all-preserving
energy.
To aspire is to make an effort to shake off
the trammels of desire; it is the prodigal
made wise by loneliness and suffering, returning
to his Father's Mansion.
As you rise above the sordid self; as you
break, one after another, the chains that
bind you, will you realize the joy of giving,
as distinguished from the misery of grasping
- giving of your substance; giving of your
intellect; giving of the love and light that
is growing within you.
You will then understand that it is indeed
"more blessed to give than to receive."
But the giving must be of the heart without
any taint of self, without desire for reward.
The gift of pure love is always attended with
bliss.
If, after you have given, you are wounded
because you are not thanked or flattered,
or your name put in the paper, know then that
your gift was prompted by vanity and not by
love, and you were merely giving in order
to get; were not really giving, but grasping.
Lose yourself in the welfare of others; forget
yourself in all that you do; this is the secret
of abounding happiness.
Ever be on the watch to guard against selfishness,
and learn faithfully the divine lessons of
inward sacrifice; so shall you climb the highest
heights of happiness, and shall remain in
the neverclouded sunshine of universal joy,
clothed in the shining garment of immortality.
Are you searching for the happiness that does
not fade away?
Are you looking for the joy that lives, and
leaves no grievous day?
Are you panting for the waterbrooks of Love,
and Life, and Peace?
Then let all dark desires depart, and selfish
seeking cease.
Are you ling'ring in the paths of pain, grief-haunted,
stricken sore?
Are you wand'ring in the ways that wound your
weary feet the more?
Are you sighing for the Resting-Place where
tears and sorrows cease?
Then sacrifice your selfish heart and find
the Heart 
of Peace.
7.
The 
realization of prosperity
It is granted only to the heart that abounds
with integrity, trust, generosity and love
to realize true prosperity.
The heart that is not possessed of these qualities
cannot know prosperity, for prosperity, like
happiness, is not an outward possession, but
an inward realization.
The greedy man may become a millionaire, but
he will always be wretched, and mean, and
poor, and will even consider himself outwardly
poor so long as there is a man in the world
who is richer than himself, whilst the upright,
the open-handed and loving will realize a
full and rich prosperity, even though their
outward possessions may be small.
He is poor who is dissatisfied; he is rich
who is contented with what he has, and he
is richer who is generous with what he has.
When we contemplate the fact that the universe
is abounding in all good things, material
as well as spiritual, and compare it with
man's blind eagerness to secure a few gold
coins, or a few acres of dirt, it is then
that we realize how dark and ignorant selfishness
is; it is then that we know that self-seeking
is self-destruction.
Nature gives all, without reservation, and
loses nothing; man, grasping all, loses everything.
If you would realize true prosperity do not
settle down, as many have done, into the belief
that if you do right everything will go wrong.
Do not allow the word "competition" to shake
your faith in the supremacy of righteousness.
I care not what men may say about the "laws
of competition," for do I not know the unchangeable
Law, which shall one day put them all to rout,
and which puts them to rout even now in the
heart and life of the righteous man?
And knowing this Law I can contemplate all
dishonesty with undisturbed repose, for I
know where certain destruction awaits it.
Under all circumstances do that which you
believe to be right, and trust the Law; trust
the Divine Power that is imminent in the universe,
and it will never desert you, and you will
always be protected.
By such a trust all your losses will be converted
into gains, and all curses which threaten
will be transmuted into blessings.
Never let go of integrity, generosity, and
love, for these, coupled with energy, will
lift you into the truly prosperous state.
Do not believe the world when it tells you
that you must always attend to "number one"
first, and to others afterwards.
To do this is not to think of others at all,
but only of one's own comforts.
To those who practice this the day will come
when they will be deserted by all, and when
they cry out in their loneliness and anguish
there will be no one to hear and help them.
To consider one's self before all others is
to cramp and warp and hinder every noble and
divine impulse.
Let your soul expand, let your heart reach
out to others in loving and generous warmth,
and great and lasting will be your joy, and
all prosperity will come to you.
Those who have wandered from the highway of
righteousness guard themselves against competition;
those who always pursue the right need not
to trouble about such defense.
This is no empty statement, There are men
today who, by the power of integrity and faith,
have defied all competition, and who, without
swerving in the least from their methods,
when competed with, have risen steadily into
prosperity, whilst those who tried to undermine
them have fallen back defeated.
To possess those inward qualities which constitute
goodness is to be armored against all the
powers of evil, and to be doubly protected
in every time of trial; and to build' oneself
up in those qualities is to build up a success
which cannot be shaken, and to enter into
a prosperity which will endure forever.
The White Robe of the Heart Invisible
Is stained with sin and sorrow, grief and
pain,
And all repentant pools and springs of prayer
Shall not avail to wash it white again.
While in the path of ignorance I walk,
The stains of error will not cease to cling
Defilements mark the crooked path of self,
Where anguish lurks and disappointments sting.
Knowledge and wisdom only can avail
To purify and make my garment clean,
For therein lie love's waters ; therein rests
Peace undisturbed, eternal, and serene.
Sin and repentance is the path of pain,
Knowledge and wisdom is the path of Peace
By the near way of practice I will find
Where bliss begins, how pains and sorrows
cease.
Self shall depart, and Truth shall take its
place
The Changeless One, the Indivisible
Shall take up His abode in me, and cleanse
The White Robe of the Heart Invisible.
