In this Part you will find that you may freely
choose what you think but the result of your thought is governed by an
immutable law! Is not this a wonderful thought? Is it
not wonderful to know that our lives are not subject to caprice or
variability
of any kind? That they are governed by law. This
stability is our opportunity, because by complying with the law we can
secure
the desired effect with invariable precision.
It is the Law which makes the Universe one grand
paean of Harmony. If it were not for law, the Universe would be a Chaos
instead of a Cosmos.
Here, then, is the secret of the origin of both good
and evil, this is all the good and evil there ever was or ever will
be.
Let me illustrate. Thought results in action, if
your thought is constructive and harmonious, the result will be good; if
your thought is destructive or inharmonious, the
result will be evil.
There is therefore but one law, one principle, on
cause, one Source of Power, and good and evil are simply words which
have
been coined to indicate the result of our action, or
our compliance or non-compliance with this law.
The importance of this is well illustrated in the
lives of Emerson and Carlyle. Emerson loved the good and his life was
a symphony of peace and harmony, Carlyle hated the
bad, and his life was a record of perpetual discord and inharmony.
Here we have two grand men, each intent upon
achieving the same ideal, but one makes use of constructive thought and
is
therefore in harmony with Natural Law, the other makes
use of destructive thought and therefore brings upon himself discord
of every kind and character.
It is evident therefore that we are to hate nothing,
not even the "bad," because hatred is destructive, and we shall soon
find that by entertaining destructive thought we are
sowing the "wind" and in turn shall reap the "whirlwind."
PART EIGHT
1. Thought contains a vital principle, because it is the creative principle of the Universe and by its nature will combine
with other similar thoughts.
2. As the one purpose of life is
growth, all principles underlying existence must contribute to give it
effect. Thought, therefore,
takes form and the law of growth eventually brings it
into manifestation.
3. You may freely choose what you
think, but the result of your thought is governed by an immutable law.
Any line of thought
persisted in cannot fail to produce its result in the
character, health and circumstances of the individual. Methods whereby
we can substitute habits of constructive thinking for
those which we have found produce only undesirable effects are therefore
of primary importance.
4. We all know that this is by no
means easy. Mental habits are difficult to control, but it can be done
and the way to do
it is to begin at once to substitute constructive
thought for destructive thought. Form the habit of analyzing every
thought.
If it is necessary, if its manifestation in the
objective will be a benefit, not only to yourself, but to all whom it
may
affect in any way, keep it; treasure it; it is of
value; it is in tune with the Infinite; it will grow and develop and
produce
fruit an hundred fold. On the other hand, it will be
well for you to keep this quotation from George Matthews Adams, in mind,
"Learn to keep the door shut, keep out of your mind,
out of your office, and out of your world, every element that seeks
admittance
with no definite helpful end in view."
5. If your thought has been critical
or destructive, and has resulted in any condition of discord or
inharmony in your environment,
it may be necessary for you to cultivate a mental
attitude which will be conducive to constructive thought.
6. The imagination will be found to be a great assistance in this direction; the cultivation of the imagination leads to the
development of the ideal out of which your future will emerge.
7. The imagination gathers up the material by which the Mind weaves the fabric in which your future is to be clothed.
8. Imagination is the light by which we can penetrate new worlds of thought and experience.
9. Imagination is the mighty instrument by which every discoverer, every inventor, opened the way from precedent to experience.
Precedent said, "It cannot be done;" experience said, "It is done."
10. Imagination is a plastic power, molding the things of sense into new forms and ideals.
11. Imagination is the constructive form of thought which must precede every constructive form of action.
12. A builder cannot build a structure of any kind until he has first received the plans from the architect, and the architect
must get them from his imagination.
13. The Captain of Industry cannot
build a giant corporation which may coordinate hundreds of smaller
corporations and thousands
of employees, and utilize millions of dollars of
capital until he has first created the entire work in his imagination.
Objects
in the material world are as clay in the potter's
hand; it is in the Master Mind that the real things are created, and it
is by the use of the imagination that the work is
done. In order to cultivate the imagination it must be exercised.
Exercise
is necessary to cultivate mental muscle as well as
physical muscle. It must be supplied with nourishment or it cannot grow.
14. Do not confuse Imagination with Fancy, or that form of daydreaming in which some people like to indulge. Daydreaming is
a form of mental dissipation which may lead to mental disaster.
15. Constructive imagination means
mental labor, by some considered to be the hardest kind of labor, but,
if so, it yields
the greatest returns, for all the great things in life
have come to men and women who had the capacity to think, to imagine,
and to make their dreams come true.
16. When you have become thoroughly
conscious of the fact that Mind is the only creative principle, that it
is Omnipotent,
Omniscient and Omnipresent, and that you can
consciously come into harmony with this Omnipotence through your power
of thought,
you will have taken a long step in the right
direction.
17. The next step is to place
yourself in position to receive this power. As it is Omnipresent, it
must be within you. We
know that this is so because we know that all power is
from within, but it must be developed, unfolded, cultivated; in order
to do this we must be receptive, and this receptivity
is acquired just as physical strength is gained, by exercise.
18. The law of attraction will
certainly and unerringly bring to you the conditions, environment, and
experiences in life,
corresponding with your habitual, characteristic,
predominant mental attitude. Not what you think once in a while when you
are in church, or have just read a good book, BUT your
predominant mental attitude is what counts.
19. You can not entertain weak, harmful, negative thoughts ten hours a day and expect to bring about beautiful, strong and
harmonious conditions by ten minutes of strong, positive, creative thought.
20. Real power comes from within. All
power that anybody can possibly use is within man, only waiting to be
brought into visibility
by his first recognizing it, and then affirming it as
his, working it into his consciousness until he becomes one with it.
21. People say that they desire
abundant life, and so they do, but so many interpret this to mean that
if they will exercise
their muscles or breathe scientifically, eat certain
foods in certain ways, drink so many glasses of water every day of just
a certain temperature, keep out of drafts, they will
attain the abundant life they seek. The result of such methods is but
indifferent. However, when man awakens to the truth,
and affirms his oneness with all Life, he finds that he takes on the
clear eye, the elastic step, the vigor of youth; he
finds that he has discovered the source of all power.
22. All mistakes are but the mistakes
of ignorance. Knowledge gaining and consequent power is what determines
growth and evolution.
The recognition and demonstration of knowledge is what
constitutes power, and this power is spiritual power, and this
spiritual
power is the power which lies at the heart of all
things; it is the soul of the universe.
23. This knowledge is the result of
man's ability to think; thought is therefore the germ of man's conscious
evolution. When
man ceases to advance in his thoughts and ideals, his
forces immediately begin to disintegrate and his countenance gradually
registers these changing conditions.
24. Successful men make it their
business to hold ideals of the conditions which they wish to realize.
They constantly hold
in mind the next step necessary to the ideal for which
they are striving. Thoughts are the materials with which they build,
and the imagination is their mental workshop. Mind is
the ever-moving force with which they secure the persons and
circumstance
necessary to build their success structure, and
imagination is the matrix in which all great things are fashioned.
25. If you have been faithful to your
ideal, you will hear the call when circumstances are ready to
materialize your plans
and results will correspond in the exact ratio of your
fidelity to your ideal. The ideal steadily held is what pre-determines
and attracts the necessary conditions for its
fulfillment.
26. It is thus that you may weave a
garment of spirit and power into the web of your entire existence; it is
thus that you
may lead a charmed life and be forever protected from
all harm; it is thus that you may become a positive force whereby
conditions
of opulence and harmony may be attracted to you.
27. This is the leaven which is gradually permeating the general consciousness and is largely responsible for the conditions
of unrest which are everywhere evident.
28. In the last Part you created a
mental image, you brought it from the invisible into the visible; this
week I want you
to take an object and follow it back to its
origination, see of what it really consists. If you do this you will
develop imagination,
insight, perception, and sagacity. These come not by
the superficial observation of the multitude, but by a keen analytical
observation which sees below the surface.
29. It is the few who know that the things which they see are only effects, and understand the causes by which these effects
were brought into existence.
30. Take the same position as
heretofore and visualize a Battleship; see the grim monster floating on
the surface of the water;
there appears to be no life anywhere about; all is
silence; you know that by far the largest part of the vessel is under
water;
out of sight; you know that the ship is as large and
as heavy as a twenty-story skyscraper; you know that there are hundreds
of men ready to spring to their appointed task
instantly; you know that every department is in charge of able, trained,
skilled
officials who have proven themselves competent to take
charge of this marvelous piece of mechanism; you know that although
it lies apparently oblivious to everything else, it
has eyes which see everything for miles around, and nothing is permitted
to escape its watchful vision; you know that while it
appears quiet, submissive and innocent, it is prepared to hurl a steel
projectile weighing thousands of pounds at an enemy
many miles away; this and much more you can bring to mind with
comparatively
no effort whatever. But how did the battleship come to
be where it is; how did it come into existence in the first place?
All of this you want to know if you are a careful
observer.
31. Follow the great steel plates
through the foundries, see the thousands of men employed in their
production; go still further
back, and see the ore as it comes from the mine, see
it loaded on barges or cars, see it melted and properly treated; go back
still further and see the architect and engineers who
planned the vessel; let the thought carry you back still further in
order to determine why they planned the vessel; you
will see that you are now so far back that the vessel is something
intangible,
it no longer exists, it is now only a thought existing
in the brain of the architect; but from where did the order come to
plan the vessel? Probably from the Secretary of
Defense; but probably this vessel was planned long before the war was
thought
of, and that Congress had to pass a bill appropriating
the money; possibly there was opposition, and speeches for or against
the bill. Whom do these Congressmen represent? They
represent you and me, so that our line of thought begins with the
Battleship
and ends with ourselves, and we find in the last
analysis that our own thought is responsible for this and many other
things,
of which we seldom think, and a little further
reflection will develop the most important fact of all and that is, if
someone
had not discovered the law by which this tremendous
mass of steel and iron could be made to float upon the water, instead
of immediately going to the bottom, the battleship
could not have come into existence at all.
32. This law is that, "the specific
gravity of any substance is the weight of any volume of it, compared
with an equal volume
of water." The discovery of this law revolutionized
every kind of ocean travel, commerce and warfare, and made the existence
of the battleship, aircraft carriers, and cruise ships
possible.
33. You will find exercises of this
kind invaluable. When the thought has been trained to look below the
surface everything
takes on a different appearance, the insignificant
becomes significant, the uninteresting interesting; the things which we
supposed to be of no importance are seen to be the
only really vital things in existence.
Look To This Day For
it is Life, the very Life of Life. In Its brief course lie all the
Verities and
Realities of your existence; The Bliss of Growth; The
Glory of Action; The Splendor of Beauty; For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And tomorrow is only a Vision: But Today well lived
makes every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, and Every Tomorrow a Vision
of Hope. Look well, therefore, to This Day!
From the Sanskrit
