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