Through all the ages man has believed in an
invisible power, through which and by which all things have been created
and are continually being re-created. We may
personalize this power and call it God, or we may think of it as the
essence
or spirit, which permeates all things, but in either
case the effect is the same.
So far as the individual is concerned, the
objective, the physical, the visible, is the personal, that which can be
cognized
by the senses. It consists of body, brain and nerves.
The subjective is the spiritual, the invisible, the impersonal.
The personal is conscious because it is a personal
entity. The impersonal, being the same in kind and quality as all other
Being, is not conscious of itself and has therefore
been termed the subconscious.
The personal, or conscious, has the power of will
and choice, and can therefore exercise discrimination in the selection
of methods whereby to bring about the solution of
difficulties.
The impersonal, or spiritual, being a part or one
with the source, and origin of all power, can necessarily exercise no
such choice, but, on the contrary, it has Infinite
resources at its command. It can and does bring about results by methods
concerning which the human or individual mind can have
no possible conception.
You will therefore see that it is your privilege to
depend upon the human will with all its limitations and misconceptions,
or you may utilize the potentialities of Infinity by
making use of the subconscious mind. Here, then, is the scientific
explanation
of the wonderful power which has been put within your
control, if you but understand, appreciate and recognize it.
One method of consciously utilizing this omnipotent power is outlined in Part Seven.
PART SEVEN
1. Visualization is the process of making mental images, and the image is the mold or model which will serve as a pattern
from which your future will emerge.
2. Make the pattern clear and make it
beautiful; do not be afraid; make it grand; remember that no limitation
can be placed
upon you by any one but yourself; you are not limited
as to cost or material; draw on the Infinite for your supply, construct
it in your imagination; it will have to be there
before it will ever appear anywhere else.
3. Make the image clear and clean-cut, hold it firmly in the mind and you will gradually and constantly bring the thing nearer
to you. You can be what "you will to be."
4. This is another psychological fact
which is well known, but unfortunately, reading about it will not bring
about any result
which you may have in mind; it will not even help you
to form the mental image, much less bring it into manifestation. Work
is necessary - labor, hard mental labor, the kind of
effort which so few are willing to put forth.
5. The first step is idealization. It
is likewise the most important step, because it is the plan on which
you are going to
build. It must be solid; it must be permanent. The
architect, when he plans a 30-storey building, has every line and detail
pictured in advance. The engineer, when he spans a
chasm, first ascertains the strength requirements of a million separate
parts.
6. They see the end before a single
step is taken; so you are to picture in your mind what you want; you are
sowing the seed,
but before sowing any seed you want to know what the
harvest is to be. This is Idealization. If you are not sure, return to
the chair daily until the picture becomes plain; it
will gradually unfold; first the general plan will be dim, but it will
take shape, the outline will take form, then the
details, and you will gradually develop the power by which you will be
enabled
to formulate plans which will eventually materialize
in the objective world. You will come to know what the future holds for
you.
7. Then comes the process of
visualization. You must see the picture more and more complete, see the
detail, and, as the details
begin to unfold the ways and means for bringing it
into manifestation will develop. One thing will lead to another. Thought
will lead to action, action will develop methods,
methods will develop friends, and friends will bring about
circumstances,
and, finally, the third step, or Materialization, will
have been accomplished.
8. We all recognize the Universe must
have been thought into shape before it ever could have become a
material fact. And if
we are willing to follow along the lines of the Great
Architect of the Universe, we shall find our thoughts taking form, just
as the universe took concrete form. It is the same
mind operating through the individual. There is no difference in kind or
quality, the only difference is one of degree.
9. The architect visualizes his
building, he sees it as he wishes it to be. His thought becomes a
plastic mold from which
the building will eventually emerge, a high one or a
low one, a beautiful one or a plain one, his vision takes form on paper
and eventually the necessary material is utilized and
the building stands complete.
10. The inventor visualizes his idea
in exactly the same manner, for instance, Nikola Tesla, he with the
giant intellect,
one of the greatest inventors of all ages, the man who
has brought forth the most amazing realities, always visualizes his
inventions before attempting to work them out. He did
not rush to embody them in form and then spend his time in correcting
defects. Having first built up the idea in his
imagination, he held it there as a mental picture, to be reconstructed
and
improved by his thought. "In this way," he writes in
the Electrical Experimenter. "I am enabled to rapidly develop and
perfect
a conception without touching anything. When I have
gone so far as to embody in the invention every possible improvement I
can think of, and see no fault anywhere, I put into
concrete, the product of my brain. Invariably my devise works as I
conceived
it should; in twenty years there has not been a single
exception."
11. If you can conscientiously follow
these directions, you will develop Faith, the kind of Faith that is the
"Substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen";
you will develop confidence, the kind of confidence that leads to
endurance
and courage; you will develop the power of
concentration which will enable you to exclude all thoughts except the
ones which
are associated with your purpose.
12. The law is that thought will manifest in form, and only one who knows how to be the divine thinker of his own thoughts
can ever take a Master's place and speak with authority.
13. Clearness and accuracy are
obtained only by repeatedly having the image in mind. Each repeated
action renders the image
more clear and accurate than the preceding, and in
proportion to the clearness and accuracy of the image will the outward
manifestation be. You must build it firmly and
securely in your mental world, the world within, before it can take form
in
the world without, and you can build nothing of value,
even in the mental world unless you have the proper material. When
you have the material you can build anything you wish,
but make sure of your material. You cannot make broadcloth from shoddy.
14. This material will be brought out by millions of silent mental workers and fashioned into the form of the image which
you have in mind.
15. Think of it! You have over five
million of these mental workers, ready and in active use; brain cells
they are called.
Besides this, there is another reserve force of at
least an equal number, ready to be called into action at the slightest
need. Your power to think, then, is almost unlimited,
and this means that your power to create the kind of material which
is necessary to build for yourself any kind of
environment which you desire is practically unlimited.
16. In addition to these millions of
mental workers, you have billions of mental workers in the body, every
one of which is
endowed with sufficient intelligence to understand and
act upon any message or suggestion given. These cells are all busy
creating and recreating the body, but, in addition to
this, they are endowed with psychic activity whereby they can attract
to themselves the substance necessary for perfect
development.
17. They do this by the same law and
in the same manner that every form of life attracts to itself the
necessary material
for growth. The oak, the rose, the lily, all require
certain material for their most perfect expression and they secure it
by silent demand, the Law of Attraction, the most
certain way for you to secure what you require for your most complete
development.
18. Make the Mental Image; make it
clear, distinct, perfect; hold it firmly; the ways and means will
develop; supply will
follow the demand; you will be led to do the right
thing at the right time and in the right way. Earnest Desire will bring
about Confident Expectation, and this in turn must be
reinforced by Firm Demand. These three cannot fail to bring about
Attainment,
because the Earnest Desire is the feeling, the
Confident Expectation is the thought, and the Firm Demand is the will,
and,
as we have seen, feeling gives vitality to thought and
the will holds it steadily until the law of Growth brings it into
manifestation.
19. Is it not wonderful that man has
such tremendous power within himself, such transcendental faculties
concerning which
he had no conception? Is it not strange that we have
always been taught to look for strength and power "without?" We have
been taught to look everywhere but "within" and
whenever this power manifested in our lives we were told that it was
something
supernatural.
20. There are many who have come to
an understanding of this wonderful power, and who make serious and
conscientious efforts
to realize health, power and other conditions, and
seem to fail. They do not seem able to bring the Law into operation. The
difficulty in nearly every case is that they are
dealing with externals. They want money, power, health and abundance,
but
they fail to realize that these are effects and can
come only when the cause is found.
21. Those who will give no attention
to the world without will seek only to ascertain the truth, will look
only for wisdom,
will find that this wisdom will unfold and disclose
the source of all power, that it will manifest in thought and purpose
which will create the external conditions desired.
This truth will find expression in noble purpose and courageous action.
22. Create ideals only, give no
thought to external conditions, make the world within beautiful and
opulent and the world
without will express and manifest the condition which
you have within. You will come into a realization of your power to
create
ideals and these ideals will be projected into the
world of effect.
23. For instance, a man is in debt.
He will be continually thinking about the debt, concentrating on it, and
as thoughts are
causes the result is that he not only fastens the debt
closer to him, but actually creates more debt. He is putting the great
law of Attraction into operation with the usual and
inevitable result -- Loss leads to greater "Loss."
24. What, then, is the correct
principle? Concentrate on the things you want, not on the things you do
not want. Think of
abundance; idealize the methods and plans for putting
the Law of Abundance into operation. Visualize the condition which the
Law of Abundance creates; this will result in
manifestation.
25. If the law operates perfectly to
bring about poverty, lack and every form of limitation for those who are
continually
entertaining thoughts of lack and fear, it will
operate with the same certainty to bring about conditions of abundance
and
opulence for those who entertain thoughts of courage
and power.
26. This is a difficult problem for
many; we are too anxious; we manifest anxiety, fear, distress; we want
to do something;
we want to help; we are like a child who has just
planted a seed and every fifteen minutes goes and stirs up the earth to
see if it is growing. Of course, under such
circumstances, the seed will never germinate, and yet this is exactly
what many
of us do in the mental world.
27. We must plant the seed and leave
it undisturbed. This does not mean that we are to sit down and do
nothing, by no means;
we will do more and better work then we have ever done
before, new channels will constantly be provided, new doors will open;
all that is necessary is to have an open mind, be
ready to act when the time comes.
28. Thought force is the most
powerful means of obtaining knowledge, and if concentrated on any
subject will solve the problem.
Nothing is beyond the power of human comprehension,
but in order to harness thought force and make it do your bidding, work
is required.
29. Remember that thought is the fire that creates the steam that turns the wheel of fortune, upon which your experiences
depend.
30. Ask yourself a few questions and
then reverently await the response; do you not now and then feel the
self with you? Do
you assert this self or do you follow the majority?
Remember that majorities are always led, they never lead. It was the
majority
that fought, tooth and nail, against the steam engine,
the power loom and every other advance or improvement ever suggested.
31. For your exercise this week,
visualize your friend, see him exactly as you last saw him, see the
room, the furniture,
recall the conversation, now see his face, see it
distinctly, now talk to him about some subject of mutual interest; see
his
expression change, watch him smile. Can you do this?
All right, you can; then arouse his interest, tell him a story of
adventure,
see his eyes light up with the spirit of fun or
excitement. Can you do all of this? If so, your imagination is good, you
are
making excellent progress.
