A
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 the 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 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 practiced 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 harbors; 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.
A man does not come to the almshouse or the jail by the
tyranny of fate of circumstance, but by the pathway of
groveling 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. Man is manacled only by himself. Thought and
action are the jailers 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. He
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 foods 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 labor 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 cause (though nearly always
unconsciously) of his circumstances. That, while aiming
at the 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.
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 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 that supreme perfection, he will have
found working in his mind and life, the Great Law which
is absolutely just, and which cannot 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 cooperate 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 not object in burning
gold after the dross had been removed, and perfectly pure
and enlightened being could not suffer.
The circumstances which a man encounters with suffering
are the result of his own mental inharmony. The circumstances
which a man encounters with 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. He 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 molding
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
toward things and other people, things and other people
will alter toward 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 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 of less distressing.
On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all 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 toward 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 colors which at every succeeding moment it presents
to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your evermoving
thoughts.
Chapter Three
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 vigor
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 corrupt body. Thought is the
fountain 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.
If you would perfect 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, 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 good will and serenity.
On the faces of the aged there are wrinkles made by sympathy,
others by strong and pure thought, 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
good will 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 to day
in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding
peace to their possessor.
Chapter Four
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 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
focused, 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 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 to 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 accomplish
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.
Chapter Five
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 the 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 among 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 cooperators 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 manfully
to 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.
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 an enduring will be
his achievements.
The universe does not favor 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 an 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.
Chapter Six
Visions and Ideals
The
dreamers are the saviors 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 in the realities which
it shall one day see and know.
Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, these
are the makers of the afterworld, the architects of heaven.
The world is beautiful because they have lived; without
them, laboring 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 labor; 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 the 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 world-wide influence and almost unequaled 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 remold their characters, and, sunlike,
he becomes the fixed and luminous center around 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 Dave, "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. See a man grow rich,
they say, "How lucky he is!" Observing another
become intellectual, they exclaim, "How highly favored
he is!" And noting the saintly character and wide influence
of another, the 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. They 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";
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.
Chapter Seven
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. 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 demeanor
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
culture; it is the flowering of life, 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 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!"
The End
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