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FAITH POWER - YOUR INSPIRATIONAL FORCES: Aligning with the Universe for Law of Attraction - William Walker Atkinson (1922) · THE SECRET LAW OF ATTRACTION: Manifest Wealth, Success & Abundance

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Speaker 1: Faith Power, Your Inspirational Forces by William Walker Atkinson, nineteen
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twenty two, The Power of Faith. In this book, you
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are asked to consider the facts concerning the presence and
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manifestation of a most potent form of personal power, and
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therefore of that universal principle of power of which all
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personal power is the direct or indirect expression and manifestation.
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This form of personal power is one of the five
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great elements or factors involved in the expression and manifestation
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of personal power in general, the other's being, respectively, ideative power,
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desire power, will power, and compensative power. This particular element
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or factor of personal power is equal in importance, efficacy,
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and power to either of the elements or factors which
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we have just mentioned. It is their peer and equal
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in every respect. Its name is faith power. You may
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experience a sense of surprise mingled with incredulity when you
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hear faith power mentioned as an equal of ideative power,
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desire power, will power, and compensative power. Particularly of will power.
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You may indeed approach the consideration of this particular phase
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of personal power with mental reservations and with lurking doubt
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concerning the value and importance the power and efficacy of
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faith power in this special connection. This because to you,
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the idea of faith has heretofore represented certain things and
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involved certain meanings which were not associated in your mind
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with the activities of the practical world of men and action.
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To you, faith has doubtless been a term properly applied
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in sermons and theological books, but which has but little
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or no practical place or meaning is the world of
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action and deeds, in the world in which most of
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us live most of our time and perform most of
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our actions. But we hasten to assure you that the
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faith power which forms the subject matter of this book
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is not at all the kind of faith power which
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you have in mind and of which you are uncertain
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so far as is concerned its efficacy and power in practical,
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everyday life. We assure you that the faith power of
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this book is something having a most intimate and important
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relation to personal power along practical lines, and is something which,
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in the current phrase, you need in your business. Moreover,
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we are certain that you will admit the truth of
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this contention by the time you finish the study of
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this book, or even when much earlier in the study
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you discover just what we mean by faith and faith power.
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The term faith and the concept embodied in the term,
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has undergone a process of evolution in which several distinct
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stages are in evidence, and has finally been subjected to
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a division into several distinct concepts, each of which has
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its own particular meaning, import and significance. Originally, it seems
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to have been employed solely for the purpose of indicating
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fidelity to promise or duty, faithfulness, fealty, honesty, integrity, truth, constancy. Thus,
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one was said to act in good faith, to be
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faithful to his trust, to be faithful and true, in short,
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to manifest the quality of faith in the direction of honesty,
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of purpose, steadfastness, constancy, and loyalty toward that of those
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to whom one was bound by duty, promise, or honor.
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In time, the term took on the additional meaning of
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firm belief and confidence, particularly in regard to moral or
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religious precepts or doctrines. Faith in this usage became the
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term indicating a lively in firm belief in an assurance
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of the truth of presented facts, doctrines, dogmas, and propositions,
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particularly in absence of immediate and personal knowledge of their truth.
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In this sense, the term indicated a certain surrendering of
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the rational demand for immediate and certain intellectual conviction in
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favour of the claims of real or assumed authority. Thus,
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the faithful believer expressed and manifested a faith concerning certain
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dogmas an authoritative teaching of which he had and could
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have no immediate knowledge, and which in many cases seemed
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to be beyond his understanding and even contrary to his
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actual experience. Thus faith became the expression of a belief
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based upon confidence in and reliance upon authority, rather than
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upon logical reasoning or actual knowledge. Later, from the combination
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of the two older concepts, there arose a new concept,
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a new meaning involved in the old term faith. Faith
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in this new meaning consisted of one confidence, two earnest
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belief or conviction of truth, and three hope or expectation
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of the realization of the object of faith. In this meaning,
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faith may be defined as earnest belief in the power
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of certain causes to produce certain effects, an abiding confidence
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that such effects will be so caused, and a confident
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expectation of the happening of such caused effects. Here you
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will see there is a singing of the original concepts
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of faith and hope, respectively. Hope alone indicates a desire
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for some good, accompanied by at least some expectation, confidence,
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or trust that it is obtainable or will be obtained.
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But faith in a later meaning took over this concept
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of hope and added to it the firm and earnest belief, trust, confidence,
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and expectation of the fulfillment of the hope. Moreover, it
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indicated that not only the good which was the object
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of hope, may be confidently expected, but that likewise bad
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thing may be the subject of the confident expectation. In
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this way, the bad thing feared as well as the
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good thing desired, might become the object of the confident
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expectation and belief, the object of faith. In fact, analyzing
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this last conception and meaning of faith, seeking to eliminate
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the non essential factors and elements and to preserve all
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the essential ones, we find that at the last we
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have left merely the concept of confident expectation and expectant belief.
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Think over the above mentioned concept for a few moments,
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and you will see that faith in this usage is
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identical with confident expectation. The term confident means having full confidence,
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belief and expectation, sure certain positive. The term expectation means
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state of expecting or looking forward to something that is
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believed about to happen or occur, or to come about
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the act, or state of awaiting confidently some approaching event.
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Here you see there is the idea of one, a
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firm belief, accompanied by two the firm conviction of the realization.
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It is a combination of faith and hope raised to
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their highest degree of certainty. In the several books of
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this series, the general subject matter of which is the recognition, realization,
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and manifestation of personal power, frequent reference is made to
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the master formula of attainment, which can exists of the
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following elements. One definite ideals, or the mental attitude of
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knowing exactly what you want, of creating and maintaining strong, clear,
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definite ideas, ideals, and purposes. Two insistent desire or the
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mental attitude of wanting it hard enough, the strong authoritative
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element of desire manifesting itself. Three confident expectation, or the
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mental attitude of undoubting faith, unfailing hope in the success
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of your efforts and the realization of your ideals and
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desires for persistent determination, or the mental attitude of indomitable will,
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persisting in its determination that you shall succeed in the
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attainment and realization of your ideals and desires. And five balance, compensation,
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or the mental attitude of willingness to pay the price
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of attainment. In other volumes of this series, we have
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considered in detail the respective elements of ideative power, desire power,
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will power, compensative power. In the present volume, we shall
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direct your attention to that additional element of personal power,
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the power of confident expectation, which is properly termed faith power.
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Though perhaps not so familiar to the general reader as
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are the other four elements mentioned, this element of faith
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plays a part equal to that of any of them
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mighty as their power. Undoubtedly is he who leaves out
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of the calculation this element of faith is discarding or
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neglecting to use one of the five great instruments of
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personal power, each of which is equal in importance to
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the other. Such a one is robbing himself of one
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fifth of his available power, and that missing part may
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bring to him defeat in place of victory. We shall
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not attempt to decide or to explain just why faith
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or confident expectation should play such an important part in
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the activities of personal power. Such an attempt would take
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us to the very heart or center of power, the
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universal principle of power itself, and even there it might
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be difficult to find that which we seek. Enough for
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the present purpose is for us to state that extended
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and careful investigation establishes the truth of this contention concerning
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faith power, and to point out to you the evidences
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of its presence and strength. That just why phase of
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the subject is quite difficult, but that just how phase
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is easily stated and explained. Faith power meets the test
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of pragmatism. It works and produces results when properly applied.
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By reason of your familiarity with the idea, you will
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readily admit that the man in whom has been kindled
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the fierce flame of desire will brush aside obstacles and
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surmount obstructions in his path. And if you have learned
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that inside facts, you will also realize how such a
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man will attract to himself that which fits in with
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his insistent desire. In the same way, you will readily
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admit that the man of the persistent will cut and
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bore through the obstructing rock of circumstances and reach his goal.
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Circumstances themselves seeming to fall in with the purpose of
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such a will. But when it comes to ascribing similar
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virtues and power to faith, to admitting that faith power
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is equal in force and efficacy to either desire power
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or will power, your unfamiliarity with this phase of the
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subject may cause you to withhold your judgment and assent. Yet,
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as you will presently discover, faith power is as strong, efficacious,
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and powerful as is desire power, or as is will power.
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We insist upon this fact not for any academic reasons,
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but simply and solely because we wish you to realize
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this important truth to the end that you may set
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it to work for you in your own manifestations of
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personal power. We have referred above to the several elements
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of the master formula of attainment. Let us now examine
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and further detail these elements, leaving the third element, that
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of confident expectation. For the last one definite ideals. One
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must know as certainly, as positively as dearly, and as
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definitely as powers, exactly what he wants. The man who
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lacks this clearness of direction cannot be expected to walk
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straight toward the object of his desires. Many men otherwise
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well equipped mentally fail to obtain or to attain success,
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simply because they do not know exactly what they want.
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Lacking a specific and definite goal, they wander along bypaths
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and side roads, traveling often in a circle. The definite
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aim is necessary if the straight road to attainment is
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to be traveled. The better one knows exactly what he wants,
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the more clearly he is able to visualize and picture
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it in his mind, the straighter and more direct will
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be his path to it, and the less will be
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his danger of becoming confused and bewildered, and of becoming
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side tracked. This proposition is axiomatic, self evident two insistent desire.
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One must insistently desire that which he wants, must want
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it hard enough in order that his full power of
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application and endeavor may be awakened or roused and called
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into action. The men who, as the Americans say, get there,
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or as the French say, who arrive, are not those
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of faint wishes or wants, of feeble desires and cravings,
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but rather those who are filled with the ardent urge
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of desire and longing, with the fierce lust of wanting
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that which they want when they want it. The world
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is filled with pink tea wishers, and their names comprise
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a large portion of the list of the failures. The
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small list of the really successful individuals is filled with
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the names of those who wanted it hard enough. In
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order to attain a thing, you must want it the
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worst way, as the saying goes, you must want it
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so hard that it hurts. Otherwise your energies and powers
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of will are not called forth. This also is axiomatic,
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self evident. For persistent determination, one must persistently will, determine, resolve,
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and firmly apply one's full powers of will to the
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attainment of that which one knows that he wants, and
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which he wants hard enough to cause him to pay
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the price of attainment. This final stage of mental power
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must be present and applied, else the whole enterprise fails.
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This element, perhaps is the one most strongly emphasized in
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the popular opinion and thought on the subject, So strongly,
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in fact, that the other elements are often under emphasized.
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The need of that this strong will is universally recognized,
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and the handicap of the weak will is universally admitted.
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One must will to will if he would attain success.
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This also is axiomatic self evident. Five. Balanced compensation. One
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must obey the law of compensation, the rule of balance
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manifest in all nature. He must be prepared to pay
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the price of attainment in the form of a diligent work,
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be the service to others, and see relinquishment of desires, aims,
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and performances opposed to the subject or object of his
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definite ideals, insistent desires, and persistent determination. This also is
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axiomatic self evident. Now let us return to the consideration
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of the third element, i e. That of confident expectation. Six.
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Confident expectation, one must confidently expect to realize that which
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he knows definitely that he wants, which he earnestly and
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insistently desires, which he persistently and determinately wills to attain,
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and for which he is willing to pay the price.
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In the measure that he does this, he also opens
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the draft of his mental furnace, in which burns the
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flame of desire, and as a consequence, he generates a
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greater supply of the steam of will. Doubt is the
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shutting off of the drafts of the furnace, which results
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in the deadening of the fire of desire and the
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decreasing of the supply of availables. Esteem of will. Faith
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is the stimulation of desire and will, Doubt their deadener,
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and unfaith the destroyer of both. Let us, however, drop
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all figures of speech and proceed to consider concrete examples
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in your own experience. You have known the power and
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energy of the desire and will which have come to
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you by the introduction of the element of faith into
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the mental equation. When you have become tired and wearied,
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so much so that your desires have burned low and
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your volition has become less intense, you have discovered something
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which re aroused your faith in the outcome, your hope,
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in the attainment, your confident expectation in short and low,
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your desires once more asserted their power, and your will
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again sprang back to the task. On the other hand,
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when you have been going along nicely and have seen
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to be succeeding a series of depressing circumstances, the appearance
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of unfavorable conditions have caused faith to droop in doubt, distrust,
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and even unfaith to manifest itself. When this has occurred,
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you have found that you lost heart. And to lose
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heart means that your desire loses its insistent urge and
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your will loses its persistent application in determination. Again, you
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have been pursuing some plan, have been building upon some
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idea in which you had faith, have been selling goods
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in which you believed, and have been doing well in
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that direction. Then, alas doubt and distrust have crept in,
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you lost your faith in the idea. You lost confidence
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in the goods handled by you, And as a consequence,
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the bottom dropped out of the thing, and you found
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your desire weakening and your will losing its power of
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application and its determination. Most of us do our best
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when we believe in the thing which we are doing,
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and but few of us can do creditable work if
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we don't believe in it. Thus, faith is found to
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exert a tremendous influence over desire and will in either direction.
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Faith can truly say they reckon ill, who leave me out.
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We feel that we are justified in asking you to
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regard as axiomatic self evident these statements concerning faith or
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confident expectation, just as truly as you so regard the
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similar statements made concerning thought, desire, and will respectively. We
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feel that we are warranted in asking you to admit
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to an equal place of importance with thought, desire, and
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will this element or factor of personal power known as
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faith or confident expectation, even though you have not previously
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recognized its importance and power. Moreover, we feel that we
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need not apologize to you when we ask you to
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analyze your own mental and emotional make up for the
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purpose of discovering whether you have not heretofore omitted this
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important element from your characteristic mental attitude, or at least
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whether you will not do well to take it into
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greater account in the future. Before proceeding to the elaboration
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of this idea of faith or confident expectation, however, we
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wish to call your attention to a fact of even
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as great importance as as those just presented to you.
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We allude now to the positive effect of faith or
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confident expectation wrongly applied. You have seen and undoubtedly now
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realize that doubt, distrust, and unfaith exert a strong negative
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influence in the direction of deadening the fire of desire
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and restricting the steam of will. But you have probably
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failed to realize that this doubt, distrust, and unfaith may
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become transmuted into an active faith and confident expectation in
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the wrong direction, and may thus become an active power
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working to produce failure, non success, and defeat. Faith may
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and does cause mine own to come to me, but
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reversed in its direction, it may and does often cause
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the condition of that which I have feared hath come
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upon me. Analyzing faith as you have done, and finding
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that its essence is confident expectation viz. The belief and
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expectation of the happening or coming about of things, you
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will readily perceive that if that confident expectation is directed
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to something bad rather than good, something feared instead of desired,
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it may work with equal effect, though in the wrong direction.
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Confident expectation of evil the fear of dreaded results is
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as truly faith as is the confident expectation and hope
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of good and desired things. Though very few persons even
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begin to realize this fact, this very important fact of
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life and action. This realization brings to mind many corroborative facts,
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facts serving to support it, which go far toward explaining
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many things in your personal experiences which have heretofore perplexed
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you greatly, and which have been laid aside by you
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as beyond explanation. Leaving aside for later consideration in this
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book the psychological or even spiritual causes which operate to
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produce the above state of affairs, We wish here to
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call your attention to certain general facts concerned with the
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operation of this law and mental action. You are more
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or less aware of the law of attraction in the
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mental world, by means means of the operation of which ideas, things, men, conditions,
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and environment are correlated to your habitual thoughts in general
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mental attitude, and by means of which such things are
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attracted to and drawn toward you, or you toward them.
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This is no longer deemed to be moonshine an idle fancy.
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Too many practical men have discovered its truth and applied
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its principles successfully to allow of this old accusation. Despite
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the sometimes fanciful theories employed to interpret and explain this
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class of facts, the facts themselves are most real and
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far from fanciful. Well, then we wish to remind you here,
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or perhaps to inform you for the first time, that
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this is a rule that works two ways in either direction.
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Faith i e. Confident expectation, if directed toward evil and
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feared things, operates with as much force as if directed
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toward good and desired things. It serves to fill the
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mind with visualized pictures of the undesirable things in place
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of the desired. It arouses the negative aspect of desire,
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which is aversion and which has a force of its own,
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sometimes operating in the wrong direction. It arouses the negative
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aspect of hope, which is fear, which has a strong
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attracting power in the wrong direction. In short, it reverses
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the entire mental and spiritual machinery of the individual and
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causes his forces to travel in the wrong direction in
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the same way and with the same power with which
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they travel in the right direction. When energized by faith
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and confident expectation of the right kind. Negative faith i e. Doubt, distrust,
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and unfaith sometimes transmutes itself into positive faith. But faith
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in the wrong set of things in the wrong direction.
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So you see, it is of the utmost importance to
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you that you should learn the laws of faith power
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and to acquire the art of running its machinery properly
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in the right direction, and to avoid the reversed process
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above indicated. There is much more to this subject of
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faith power than you have imagined. Faith Power your inspirational forces.
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By William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two. The Psychology of
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faith the general conception of faith. The idea of faith
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held by most persons is that it is an emotional
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state independent of, if not indeed actually contrary to reason.
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This idea arises by reason of the tendency to view
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faith only from one particular angle. If faith were subjected
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to an all around view, the observer changing his position
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and shifting his viewpoint in his observation, it would be
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seen that while faith often seems to transcend reason and
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to be independent of its reports, yet it is not
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contrary to or opposed to, reason, and in fact depends
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largely upon reason for its direction and application. Faith, in
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its essence and fundamental substance, may be said to be
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beyond reason, to transcend reason. Yet without the employment of
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reason and experience, faith degenerates into mere blind credulity. While
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not dependent upon reason for its basic foundation, and while
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not having reason as its found in spring, yet faith
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must needs employ reason as its useful instrument of manifestation
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and expression, and must use the signposts of reason as
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guides pointing out the road over which it travels. It
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is equally true that reason must be based upon faith,
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for of itself it has no ultimate foundation. Reason and
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faith are not antagonistic when they are rightly understood. Rather
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are they brothers in arms, each helpful and useful to
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the other. The ideal is the well balanced coordination and
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correlation of reason and faith. Intellect, of which reason is
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a manifestation and form of expression, is an instrument evolved
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by life or spirit. Call it what you will for
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special purposes. In its own field, it is supreme, but
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its own field is a limited one. Though this fact
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is not generally recognized, there are other fields of mentation
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in the vast domain of life or spirit. When intellect
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is pushed beyond its limits, it becomes dazed and confused
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and seems to lose its normal powers. As Bergsen has
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strikingly pointed out to us, there are things which reason
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of itself can never know, yet which when discovered by
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intuition require the use of reason to manifest efficiently. Likewise,
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though intuition knows these things by reason of its essential nature,
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very often the knowledge is not raised into consciousness until
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reason demands to be furnished with it. When reason recognizes
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this fact and is willing to call upon intuition for
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these reports and to apply them when thus revealed, then
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and then only does reason rise to its greatest heights
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of attainment. So in the same way, only when intuition
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recognizes reason as its most effective instrument of manifestation does
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intuition proceed properly and efficiently along the road of practical accomplishment.
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The intellectual pride, which seeks to banish intuition from the
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field of thought, and which strives to make reason the
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sole occupant of that realm, is as one sided and
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as illogical as is that anti intellectual tendency which would
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exalt intuition in faith to the position of absolute rulers
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of the domain of thought, denying to reason any right
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of entrance to it. These are twin errors, each one
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insisting upon gazing at but one particular side of the shield,
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while refusing to walk around it, so as to perceive
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its reverse side. The truth of the matter, as indicated
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in the above statements is not generally recognized. There are many,
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of course, who see that faith is more or less inefficient,
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un less reason is called in to aid and direct
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its expression and manifestation. The examples of the effect of
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blind credulity and unreasoning faith are numerous and are readily
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recalled as illustrations of the need for reason in the
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manifestation of faith. The intellectualists seem to have the matter
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all their own way at first sight, but a little
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closer examination will reveal the other side of the question,
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the twin truth. For when we demand to be shown
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the roots, bases and foundations of reason, we are reluctantly
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pointed to what faith. All deductive reasoning is based upon
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a premiss or proposition. The major premiss is the sacred
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truth upon which the deduction is made. There is always
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the tacit assumption that the truth of the major premiss
26:26
is axiomatic i e. Self evident and not requiring proof,
26:31
argument or demonstration. If this be admitted, the subsequent reasoning
26:36
is mechanical and almost mathematical in its certainty. But when
26:40
one claims that the person asserting the premiss or proposition
26:44
is begging the question, i e. Assuming without warrant the
26:47
truth of the premiss or tacitly implying that it is
26:50
accepted or not disputed. When the objecting one states, I
26:54
dispute your major premiss then the trouble begins. The burden
26:58
of proof in law rests upon the person advancing the
27:02
premiss or proposition, and he then may be called upon
27:05
to prove the truth of his premiss or proposition. When
27:09
such person attempts to furnish such proof and to support
27:13
it by logical argument, he simply shifts his position a
27:16
step or two backward. When that step is reached, he
27:20
halts and recommences his argument, how by advancing another premiss
27:25
or proposition, usually another major premiss which he assumes to
27:29
be axiomatic or self evident. If this be objected to,
27:33
he must again retreat and erect another line of entrenchments,
27:37
and so on and so on. If his opponent be
27:40
sufficiently persistent and determined, this retreat is continued indefinitely unless
27:45
the first man, disgustedly discontinues the argument and refuses to play, this,
27:50
of course, being his right and in no way being
27:53
a confession of defeat, or in any way a victory
27:56
for the skeptical opponent, the discussion simply is off. In
28:00
such case, all this brings us to the point where
28:03
we perceive that sooner or later we reach a stage
28:06
in reasoning in which there is something taken for granted,
28:09
something assumed for the purposes of the argument, something which
28:12
has not as yet been proved, but which is to
28:15
be employed as the basis of the proof of something else.
28:18
In short, something which is based on faith expressed or implied.
28:23
That basis of faith, however, need not be blind faith
28:27
or unreasoning credulity. It should, indeed not be. So. It
28:32
may be, and usually is, something which seems reasonable and
28:36
not inconsistent with reason, But nevertheless it is accepted by
28:40
an act of faith, as logic defines that term, For
28:43
it is not positively known, nor has it been proved logically.
28:48
There is no escape from this conclusion. Disagreeable as it
28:51
may be to the extreme intellectualists, the better the logician,
28:55
the more freely will he confess to this fact of logic.
28:58
It is usually only the amateur who seek to dispute it.
29:02
Leaving the field of formal logic, and entering that of
29:05
the practical logic of every day thought and life, we
29:08
find the same state of affairs existing. The most important
29:12
reasoning of practical every day life is based upon faith.
29:16
We do not know positively that the sun will rise
29:18
tomorrow morning. All that we know is that in the
29:21
history of the race, the sun always has risen in
29:23
the morning, and we believe that it will continue the
29:26
practice on the morrow. But we do not know absolutely
29:30
that such will be the case. We cannot prove it
29:32
absolutely by argument, even by mathematics, unless we admit the
29:36
existence of universal law or the law of causation, whereby
29:40
the same causes under the same conditions will produce the
29:44
same effects. You may object to all this as silly,
29:49
but instead it is the strictest application of the rules
29:53
and laws of logical thought. Of course, you say that
29:56
we know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, and
30:00
may even tell to us second the time of its rising.
30:03
Certainly we know this, but we know it only by
30:06
an act of faith. That faith, moreover, is the belief
30:10
that there exists universal law, that natural things act and
30:14
move under law, that the same causes under the same
30:18
conditions produce the same results that law and every other
30:23
natural law is to us merely in hypothesis, well established
30:27
by experience, observation and experiment. It is true, but still
30:31
in hypothesis, a guess, an assumption based upon faith. The
30:36
conviction of knowing is really intuitive. It is an act
30:40
of faith. The faith it is true, is directed by reason,
30:44
but in its essence it still is faith. Science, that
30:48
supposedly cold intellectual school of thought, has its foundations in faith,
30:53
though it is usually thought to turn its back upon
30:55
faith and to stand upon the solid rock of reason
30:58
and intellect. Its laws, at the last are merely the
31:03
way things work, which means the way that observed things
31:06
have been found to work in the past, the habit
31:09
of procedure observed by nature. The law of causation is
31:13
a tremendous statement of faith. The laws of chemistry, the
31:17
laws of physics, These are statements of faith. The molecules
31:22
and atoms of matter have never been perceived by the senses.
31:25
They are unknown so far as sense knowledge is concerned.
31:29
Things act as if molecules and atoms exist, So we
31:33
assume that they do exist. We take them on faith.
31:36
The keenest minds in science admit this. They frankly state
31:40
that of the ultimate nature of things, we know absolutely nothing.
31:45
Science adopts hypotheses by acts of faith. When subsequent investigations
31:50
shake the faith in them, they are discarded in favor
31:52
of others likewise based on faith. Faith blended and harmonized
31:57
with reason, but not blind faith or unre incredulity is
32:01
the faith of science. The combined hypotheses of science, raised
32:06
to the dignity of principles and laws, in many cases
32:10
constitute the creed of science, i e. That which begins
32:13
with the statement I believe in et cetera. This creed,
32:18
like all others, is a confession of faith, faith directed
32:21
and regulated by reason. It is true, but still faith. Philosophy,
32:27
like science, is based on faith. Faith rationally interpreted, but
32:31
still faith. Philosophy holds as axiomatic self evident, the contrary
32:36
of which is unthinkable, the basic proposition that for nothing,
32:40
no thing can arise, flow, or proceed, and its corollary,
32:44
had there ever been a time in which nothing was
32:47
and no thing was in existence, then no thing would
32:50
be in existence now. But it does not positively know
32:54
that such is the fact. It cannot prove that something
32:57
cannot arise from nothingness. That it knows is that it
33:01
cannot think such a thing to be possible, and that
33:03
it has had no experience with anything of that sort.
33:07
You may say that it knows this truth intuitively, and
33:10
so it does as a fact, just as it knows
33:13
many other things intuitively. But that which is the report
33:16
of intuition is a report arising from fields of mentation
33:19
outside those of reason. Though the reports are not necessarily
33:23
conflicting with or opposed to each other. All intuitive knowledge
33:27
is belief based upon faith at the last. Geometry is
33:32
an exact science, yet it is based solely upon certain
33:36
laws and principles which are accepted by faith, for they
33:39
cannot be proved absolutely by reason. The laws of geometry
33:43
are articles of the creed of the confession of faith
33:47
of geometry. Geometry begins with a series of I believes.
33:51
These are called axioms, self evident facts requiring no proof,
33:56
and assume to be truth. Yet these are all I believes,
34:00
not I knows, for they cannot be proved as universal truths.
34:05
They act as if they were universal truths. Everything tested
34:09
by them indicate their correctness. Yet until each and everything
34:12
in the universe is so tested until infinite space is measured,
34:16
there can be no positive proof that they are universal
34:19
laws and truths. In fact, there are certain schools of
34:23
transcendental geometry which have found quite different and often quite
34:27
contradictory laws, which act as if they were true. This
34:32
does not mean that there is no truth in such
34:34
laws and the conceptions based upon them. We would be
34:37
insane to ignore them in our practical life. Moreover, this
34:41
does not mean that men do not know these things
34:44
to be true. They do know them to be true
34:47
so far as they may be conceived, but that knowing
34:50
is intuitive, not purely intellectual. Intellect discovers them through its
34:54
reasoning processes, and intuition reports the conviction of their truth.
34:59
They represent act of faith, faith rationally interpreted. This may
35:03
be a hard saying to many of us, but it
35:06
is one made by the keenest minds of the race.
35:09
The most certain laws of physics, chemistry, and geometry are,
35:13
in the end based upon faith rationally interpreted. Such faith
35:18
is justifiable, that is freely admitted and approved of. But
35:22
we insist that faith must be accorded its proper place
35:25
in the consideration, and not merely bidden to stand in
35:28
the ante room. Of thought, while intellect is made the
35:30
honored guest the lion in the reception room. In the
35:35
ordinary affairs of life and action, you act according to faith.
35:39
You do this so naturally and instinctively, so constantly and habitually,
35:43
that you are not aware of it. You start on
35:46
a railroad journey. You buy your ticket having faith that
35:50
the train will start from the station named on the
35:52
timetable and approximately on the time noted in it. You
35:56
have faith that it will proceed to the destination promised.
36:00
You do not know these things from actual experience, for
36:04
you cannot so know what lies in the future. You
36:06
take them for granted, You assume them to be true.
36:09
You act upon faith. You take your seat. You do
36:13
not know the engineer or the conductor. You have never
36:16
seen them, nor do you even know their names. You
36:20
do not know whether or not they are competent, reliable,
36:23
or experienced. All that you know is that it is
36:27
reasonable to suppose that the railroad company will select the
36:30
right kind of men for the task. You act upon faith.
36:33
Upon faith rationally interpreted, you have faith in the company,
36:37
in the management, in the system of conducting the matter,
36:41
in the equipment, et cetera. And you stake your life
36:44
and wholeness of body upon that faith. You may say
36:47
that you only take a chance in the matter, But
36:50
even so, you manifest faith in that chance, or else
36:54
you wouldn't take it. You wouldn't take a chance of
36:57
standing in the path of a rushing express train, or
37:00
of leaping from the Eiffel Tower. Would you You manifest
37:04
faith in something, even if that something be no more
37:07
than the law of averages. You place your money in
37:10
a bank. Here, again, you manifest faith, faith rationally interpreted.
37:15
You sell goods on credit to your customers. Faith again,
37:19
you have faith in your grosser, your butcher, your lawyer,
37:22
your physician, your clerks, your insurance company. That is to say,
37:27
faith of some kind or of some degree. Else you
37:30
would not trust anything whatsoever to them. If you believe
37:34
that a man is dishonest, incompetent, or insane, you do
37:38
not place confidence in him, nor trust your affairs or
37:41
interests to him. Your faith is in his wrongness and
37:45
not in his rightness. But it is faith. Nevertheless, every
37:49
belief short of actual positive knowledge is a form or
37:53
phase of faith. You may say that these things denote
37:57
not faith, but rather confidence or ex expectation of some degree.
38:02
This is merely changing the terms, but not the meaning.
38:06
In the preceding section of this book, we have shown
38:08
you that the very essence and substance of the present
38:11
usage and meaning of the term and concept faith is
38:14
confident expectation. The expectation may not be very pronounced, that
38:19
confidence may be limited, but nevertheless it is confident expectation
38:23
of some kind form, phase, or degree. Even the belief
38:29
that some undesirable and feared thing may happen is the
38:32
negative phase of faith. Fear is a form or phase
38:35
of faith of faith mingled with the negation of hope.
38:39
Fear and hope are both forms or phases of expectation.
38:43
When raised to the degree of confident expectation, they are
38:46
markedly forms of faith. You have the faith that if
38:49
you step off a high building into space, you will
38:52
fall and be injured, perhaps killed. This is your faith
38:55
in the law of gravitation. You have a similar faith
38:59
in certain other physical laws. You have the confident expectation
39:03
that evil results to you will follow certain courses of
39:05
action concerning these physical laws. You have faith that poisons
39:10
will injure or destroy your physical body, and you avoid
39:13
such You may object that you know these things, not
39:17
merely believe them. But you don't know anything directly and
39:21
immediately until you experience it, And you cannot experience a
39:24
future happening before its time. All that you can do
39:28
concerning each and every future experience is to believe certain
39:32
things concerning it. And that belief is nothing else but faith,
39:36
interpreted more or less rationally incorrectly. You do not know
39:41
certainly and positively, by direct experience, or by pure reason,
39:45
a single thing about the happenings of tomorrow, or of
39:48
some day next week, or of the corresponding day of
39:51
next year. Yet you act as if you did possess
39:54
such knowledge. But why simply because of your faith in
39:58
the law and order of the universe, of the operation
40:00
of the law of causation, whereby effects follow causes, of
40:04
the law of probabilities, or the law of average, or
40:08
of some other natural law. But your knowledge of and
40:11
belief in such laws are but forms of your faith
40:14
i e. Confident expectation that things will work out according
40:18
to the rule observed in past actions. You cannot get
40:21
away from faith in your thoughts and beliefs concerning the
40:24
present and the future any more than you can run
40:27
away from your shadow in the bright daylight. Without faith
40:30
rationally interpreted, without confident expectation, in at least some degree,
40:35
there could be no rational action or procedure. All human
40:39
intercourse and communication, all human coordination and correlation between individuals,
40:44
all dealings between man and man, all enterprises designed and
40:48
carried on by man, and all the plans and purposes
40:51
of the race of men. All these, each and every
40:54
one of them, are based on some form of faith,
40:57
of faith more or less rationally interpreted. We know certainly
41:01
only the events of the present moment, or of the past,
41:04
the events and happenings of the future, even of one moment.
41:07
Hence we know only by and through faith, more or
41:10
less directed and guided by reason. We live by faith,
41:15
we act through faith. From the foregoing and the reflections
41:19
aroused in your mind by the consideration of it, you
41:21
will perceive that faith has as true and as sound
41:24
position and place in the psychology of the human being
41:27
as have reason and intellect. Faith is not an alien intruder.
41:31
It is a native of the mental realm which it inhabits,
41:34
and its claims to citizenship are quite well founded in
41:38
its place and within its normal limits, its work is
41:41
as useful as is that of intellect or reason. Outside
41:44
of that place, and beyond those limits, however, its work
41:48
is as ineffective or even as harmful, as is that
41:51
of intellect, which so transcends its normal field of activity.
41:55
The mind may be debauched by arrogant intellect as well
41:59
as outrage by unreasoning faith. It is only in the
42:03
well balanced, thoroughly harmonized combination of faith and reason, intellect
42:08
and intuition, that the human mind manifests its highest efficiency
42:11
and performs its best work. Intellect and reason are comparatively
42:16
late comers to the mind in the history of mental evolution. Instinct,
42:21
which is a phase of or reflection of intuition, was
42:24
there long before reason. Faith, by reason of its relation
42:28
to intuition, is more deeply rooted in the mental soil
42:31
than is reason. Hence its wonderful power manifested often in
42:35
the very face of reason. By reason of this relation
42:39
to the most elementary and essential, fundamental and basic facts
42:42
of mental substance and process, faith has a motive power
42:46
and an attractive power closely resembling that of desire and will. Indeed,
42:51
there are many thinkers along the lines of esoteric philosophy
42:54
who indicate that the element of faith or confident expectation
42:58
plays a much more important part in the activities and
43:01
accomplishments of desire and will. Then is apparent to those
43:03
who view only the exoteric phase of the subject. As
43:07
we proceed with this consideration of faith power in the
43:10
present instruction, you will perceive many instances of this elemental
43:14
power of faith and of the results arising from it.
43:18
Faith not only blazes the trail which is followed by
43:20
us in subsequent travels of will, it also digs the
43:24
channels through which flow to us the currents of things, events, happenings,
43:28
and persons from the outside world. Well did the ancient
43:31
sages accord to faith and equal position in the mental
43:34
trinity with desire and will, respectively insistent desire, confident expectation
43:40
and persistent determination. Desire, faith and will truly a trinity
43:46
of personal power. Without the confident expectation, there will be
43:50
no kindling of the flame of insistent desire, no application
43:54
of the steal of persistent determination, unless faith expresses itself
43:58
in the confident expectation of the obtaining or attainment of
44:01
the thing desired and willed, then will desire find it
44:04
difficult to want it hard enough, and will will find
44:07
it impossible to persistently determined to obtain it. Desire and
44:12
will depend upon faith for their inspirational forces. By means
44:15
of the latter, the energizing forces of desire and the
44:18
dynamic forces of will are inspired and vitalized and have
44:22
the breath of life breathed into them. Faith Power Your
44:26
inspirational forces. By William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two. Expectant attention.
44:35
Psychologists have noted the effect of and realize the important
44:38
part played by that mental state known as expectant attention.
44:43
Expectant attention is that concentrated direction of attention towards some action, event,
44:48
or happening which the individual expects to occur i e.
44:51
To which he looks forward with more or less confidence
44:54
and belief as likely to occur or to come to pass.
44:58
This mental attitude, you will note, is a form or
45:01
phase of faith or confident expectation, such as we have
45:04
considered in the foregoing sections of this book. It is
45:08
an axiom of psychology that the laws of attention operate
45:11
so as to cause the individual to perceive far more
45:14
clearly the objects or facts towards which his attention is
45:17
specially directed, and to perceive far less clearly those objects
45:21
or facts which are outside of the field of his
45:23
special attention. In fact, attention always proceeds by manifesting a
45:28
selective action. In such selective action, it more or less unconsciously,
45:33
or rather subconsciously, brings and holds in the field of
45:37
consciousness those objects which have attracted its notice, and shuts
45:40
out of that field those objects which have not so
45:43
attracted the same out of the multiplicity of sights and
45:46
sounds which knock at the door of consciousness. At almost
45:49
every moment of your life, you select those which fit
45:52
in with the general subject, idea, or line of thought
45:55
to which your attention is directed, and at the same
45:58
time reject the consideration, in person deception of those not
46:01
so fitting in with such. If you are especially interested
46:04
in violin music, you will hear clearly the notes of
46:07
the violins, while the remainder of the instruments manifesting sound
46:11
in the performance of a large orchestra are relegated to
46:13
the fringe of consciousness and are perceived only as a
46:16
general background. Another person would ignore the violins and would
46:21
hear only the notes of his favorite instruments. In the
46:24
same way, at a theatrical performance, where a number of
46:27
persons are on the stage at the same time, you
46:30
are apt to see the actions and to hear the
46:32
words of your favorite actor, while those of the others
46:35
are far less distinct in your consciousness. Likewise, you read
46:39
from the pages of a book only that which is
46:41
associated with your previous ideas concerning its subject. Hence the
46:45
old saying we get from a book only what we
46:48
give to it. The professional magician understands and employs these
46:52
laws of attention. He manages to direct your attention to
46:56
one of his hands and to hold it there, while
46:58
his other hand performs the baldest and boldest kind of
47:01
deception upon you without detection. Or he manages to direct
47:06
your attention to some other part of the stage, while
47:08
under your very eyes, though unobserved by you, he makes
47:12
certain changes which are necessary for the successful performance of
47:15
his feet. Pickpockets and swindlers take advantage of this same
47:18
state of affairs. They cause us to direct our attention
47:21
to some other thing or place, while we leave unguarded
47:24
the receptacle containing our possessions. We are all keenly awake
47:29
to that to which our interested attention is directed, while
47:32
we are all more or less asleep concerning the things
47:34
from which such attention is diverted. This rule applies not
47:38
only to your perception of objects through the senses, but
47:41
also to your thoughts concerning any subject. You may imagine
47:46
that you are exercising your reasoning powers judiciously, impartially, and
47:50
without bias, But in most cases you are considering only
47:53
the facts, data, and arguments which are in accord with
47:56
your preconceived notions, beliefs, and prejudices in the matter. You
48:01
tend to see only that one particular side of the question,
48:04
that one set of facts, that one line of argument,
48:07
the opposite aspect or phase being practically ignored by you, or,
48:12
even if you are particularly careful not to fall into
48:15
this error, you at least tend to overemphasize the favorite
48:18
set of facts or arguments and to underemphasize the other
48:22
an opposed group. Moreover, once having made up your mind
48:26
concerning a subject, you fall into the habit of unconsciously
48:29
or subconsciously selecting from your world of experience those facts
48:33
and data which serve to corroborate your own belief and
48:36
those which serve to controvert the opposite belief. You find
48:40
on all sides, facts, data, and arguments, sustaining your position
48:44
and overturning the opposite contention. You tend to become blind
48:48
to undesired and unwelcome facts, data, and arguments, though you
48:52
may not realize this unless you are especially watchful over
48:55
your mental processes. From the same experience, however, you would
48:59
gather a similar array of desired evidence on the other
49:02
side where you committed to the views of that side
49:04
of the case. When we say you, we mean all
49:08
of us as well. Our subconscious minds are strong partisans.
49:13
They eagerly search for and select the desired objects of thought,
49:16
and determinately shut the door to the opposite class of objects.
49:21
The axiom of psychology attention follows interest is exemplified by
49:25
common experience. We tend to perceive that in which we
49:29
are especially interested, and to ignore that which is uninteresting.
49:33
The man interested in trees perceives a world of facts
49:36
while walking through a park, which facts are totally unperceived
49:40
by the average man. The man interested in stone arrow
49:44
heads finds them in walking through a field though others
49:47
pass them by unobserved. As John Burroughs has told us,
49:51
the man with the walking fern in mind finds walking
49:53
fern in every bit of woods, while the rest of
49:56
us are not aware of its presence there. In short,
50:00
all of us tend to perceive in the outside world
50:02
that which corresponds with what already exists in our inner
50:05
mental world. You yourself have often experienced the operation of
50:10
this law of the mind, when once you have become
50:12
interested in some new subject, idea, or set of facts.
50:17
While up to that time you have never observed any
50:19
special facts or data connected with that which has become
50:22
your object of interest. Now you will have come to
50:25
the conclusion that the whole world is apparently becoming aroused
50:28
to an interest in that particular subject, just as you
50:31
have been. You will feel this to be so, because
50:34
now every newspaper, magazine, per book which you pick up
50:37
seems to contain special references to that subject and items
50:40
of interest concerning it. Likewise, you will hear the subject
50:44
discussed in the trains and street cars, in the clubs,
50:47
and wherever a number of persons meet and enter into conversation.
50:51
On every hand, you find something which fits into this
50:54
subject of your new interest. But the fact is that
50:58
the change is not in the outside world. It is
51:00
in yourself. That which is within your mind is seeking
51:04
for and finding that in the outside world, which agrees
51:07
and harmonizes with itself. Another person not so interested, or
51:12
even you yourself, were you not so interested, would be almost,
51:16
if not indeed totally, unaware of these same interests on
51:19
the part of others, even in the same places, conditions,
51:23
and surroundings. A new object of interest on your part
51:27
acts like a pair of colored spectacles. You see the
51:29
outside world of things and happenings tinted in harmony with
51:33
your glasses. Technically stated, your attention follows your interest, and
51:38
in so doing it manifests its characteristic selective power. The
51:42
application of the mental laws just called to your attention
51:45
is quite important in view of their practical effects upon
51:48
your everyday life. By reason of these laws, the degree
51:52
of your success in any particular line of work depends
51:55
materially upon the degree of interest which is aroused in
51:58
you concerning such work. If your interest is keen, then
52:02
you will perceive and discover, on all sides, in every
52:05
day of your life, certain facts, data, and other things
52:08
which will serve the purposes of that work. You will
52:11
find yourself dwelling in a world surrounded by such facts. If,
52:15
on the contrary, you manifest little or no interest in
52:18
your work, but perform the same almost mechanically, then this
52:22
world of helpful things, ideas, and facts will not exist
52:25
for you. You will dwell in another world. There will be
52:29
nothing in you to call out of the outer world
52:31
that which is in harmony with itself. The above mentioned
52:35
psychological laws and their effects may be stated briefly as follows. One,
52:40
you perceive only that toward which your attention is attracted
52:43
and directed, and only in the degree to which that
52:45
attention is so called forth. Two, Attention follows interest, and
52:49
is called forth by it only in a direct ratio
52:52
to the degree of that interest. Therefore, you perceive only
52:55
that in which you are to some degree interested, and
52:58
only according to the measure of the degree of interest.
53:01
Manifested free, your world of perceptive experience is created by
53:06
your interested attention, by reason of the fact that such
53:09
interested attention selects from the outside world such facts as
53:12
are in agreement with its inner states, and rejects those
53:15
facts which are opposed to such For the same state
53:18
of affairs is manifested in your mental world of memory,
53:21
recollection and selection of ideas. You select and perceive those
53:25
which accord with your interest, and reject the opposite class.
53:29
Now the above brings us back to our consideration of
53:32
the subject of expectant attention, which, as we have said,
53:36
is a phase of faith or confident expectation. Expectant attention
53:41
is a very potent and active form of interested attention.
53:44
In it, you not only are interested in an object, subject,
53:48
or state of affairs, but in addition, you believe in
53:51
certain conditions or facts and expect that certain results will
53:55
occur by reason of their presence. You not only have
53:59
your attention directed toward the thing by reason of your
54:02
interest in it, and see that which is in accordance
54:04
with this, but you also expect, i e. Confidently believe
54:08
that certain events will happen or come to pass concerning
54:11
those things or proceeding from them. The cat watching at
54:15
a mouse hole or the dog digging out a woodchuck
54:18
manifests the keenest and most active kind of attention imaginable.
54:23
This not only because the animal is intensely interested in
54:26
the object of obtaining his prey, but also because he
54:29
hopes to capture it, expects to secure it because he
54:33
believes that he will get it in the end. If
54:36
the animal did not so keenly believe and expect the
54:39
successful result, his interest and attention would lack that intensity
54:42
which is now present, and his energies would not be
54:45
so actively called forth and manifested. This rule is equally
54:50
true of human endeavor. When you believe in the probability
54:54
of a successful outcome of an undertaking, you experience the
54:57
keenest interest in the work leading to it. Your work
55:00
is in direct relation to that expectation. If, on the contrary,
55:05
you entertain grave doubts of the efficacy of your efforts
55:07
and work, your energies will slacken, your interest will abate,
55:11
and your attention will relax, and as a consequence, your
55:14
work will become less effective. Again, if you not only
55:18
doubt in question the successful outcome, but also goes so
55:22
far as to actually believe that the effort will result
55:25
in failure, then your interest will become dead, your attention weak,
55:28
and your work of the poorest and most ineffective quality.
55:32
More than this, if your belief and expect an attention
55:36
be that of the certainty of failure. Then you will
55:38
actually find yourself unconsciously working with that idea in mind,
55:42
and toward that end you will be deliberately, though subconsciously
55:46
writing to a fall. What has been said above concerning
55:50
the effect of interest, attention, and expectancy upon the conscious
55:53
activities of your mind is trebly true concerning your subconscious activities.
55:59
The subconscious mind is peculiarly liable to be affected by
56:02
beliefs of the kind noted to suggestions in accordance with
56:06
these coming from your conscious mentality. It accepts as true
56:10
your beliefs and convictions, your confident expectations, your earnest hopes
56:15
concerning the probable result of courses of action or existing causes,
56:19
and it proceeds to manifest its powers in the direction
56:22
so pointed out to it. Accordingly, it blinds the attention
56:26
to facts, ideas, and conditions running contrary to your beliefs
56:30
and expectations, and it renders keener powers of perception of
56:34
those facts, ideas, and conditions which agree with your beliefs
56:37
and expectations. The subconscious mentality is very active. It works
56:43
even while you sleep and while you are thinking of
56:45
other things. And though in the first place it is
56:48
influenced greatly by your conscious thoughts and beliefs, it eventually
56:52
acquires control over the latter to a marked degree. Inasmuch
56:56
as over seventy five percent of your mental operations are
56:59
performed on the subconscious planes of mentation, you will see
57:02
that this subconscious mentality is capable of influencing your mental
57:06
attitude and your mental direction of effort to a very
57:09
considerable extent. Accordingly, you will realize how important it is
57:14
to have your beliefs and expect an attention under control,
57:17
and to have them working in the right direction. Let
57:21
us give you a few illustrations of the above stated principle,
57:24
drawn from the experiences of everyday life experiences on the
57:27
physical plane, but in which the subconscious mental influence is manifest.
57:32
These illustrations may be deemed trivial by those who fail
57:36
to perceive that the principle operating in them is also
57:38
involved in far more important happenings and action. We ask
57:43
you to accept these as simple illustrations of afar from
57:46
simple general class of phenomena. Several years ago, one of
57:50
the writers of this book knew a young man who
57:52
was an expert bowler. He was a very careful player,
57:56
with mind and muscles well under control, with great powers
57:59
of concentration on his play, and with nerves not easily rattled.
58:04
When questioned carefully by the writer concerning the mental operations
58:08
leading to his careful play, he gave some very interesting
58:11
and instructive answers. Among other things, he said that he
58:15
attributed his successful play largely to his gradually acquired habit
58:19
of arousing a mental state of certainty, assurance, and confident
58:23
expectation that his aim would be perfect. He said that
58:27
sometimes it was rather difficult to arouse that feeling. As
58:30
he expressed it, it is sometimes slow a coming, but
58:33
that he would wait a few moments until it came.
58:37
This coming, as he called it, was manifested by a
58:40
certain sort of click in my mind, which was the
58:43
signal to send the ball forward. When that click came,
58:47
he just knew for certain that his aim was perfect.
58:51
The confident expectation or expectant attention served so to coordinate
58:55
his mental calculation in his muscular effort that success was assured.
59:00
He told the writer that early in his bowling experience
59:03
he was subject to being rattled by the remarks and
59:06
chaffing of opposing players, and so often failed to make
59:10
a strike, which ordinarily was quite easy. He said that
59:14
he managed to overcome this difficulty by cultivating the power
59:17
of shutting out from his consciousness the remarks of others.
59:21
He added, however, that even quite late in his experience,
59:24
he lost a game by reason of having accepted the
59:27
adverse suggestion of a bystander. As nearly as the writer
59:31
can recollect the conversation, he used the following words in
59:34
describing this occurrence. I was at a close stage of
59:38
the game, and I could win only by putting the
59:40
ball between the one and two pins, which ought to
59:43
have been easy for me to do, judging for my
59:45
past record. Just as I was about to bowl, a
59:48
friend of my opponent said, quietly, as if to his friend,
59:52
just watch him hit the four pin. Somehow or some way,
59:56
there crept into my mind the idea that I was
59:59
going to hit the four pin, which was about the
1:00:01
worst thing I could do. Just then. I can't say
1:00:04
that I was exactly afraid, but I got the notion
1:00:07
that I was going to hit that four pin. In
1:00:09
spite of myself, I actually believed and expected it. I
1:00:13
aimed with my usual care straight between the one and
1:00:16
two pins, and then let the ball go. I never
1:00:20
could tell how it happened, But my ball rolled right
1:00:22
toward that four pin and struck it fair and square.
1:00:26
And so instead of making a ten strike, I got
1:00:29
only a split. That fellow sure who doed me all right.
1:00:34
I never knew how he did it, but do it
1:00:36
he did. Here was evidently a case of misdirected expectant attention,
1:00:41
faith reversed. He believed and expected the bad shot, and
1:00:46
although he used his habitual care, his subconscious mind manifested
1:00:50
his belief and unconsciously to him, influenced his muscular action
1:00:53
at the critical moment. His click of certainty in ordinary
1:00:57
cases was the result of the same psychological principle in
1:01:02
either case. In each case, the subconscious mentality was striving
1:01:06
to make true in outer action the inner belief. It
1:01:09
was a case of thought taking form in action of
1:01:12
the response of the physical muscles to the subconscious mental state.
1:01:17
We understand that baseball players report a similar state of affairs.
1:01:22
They often just know the probable result of their batting
1:01:25
or of their catching of the ball in the field.
1:01:27
They experienced that certain state of expectant attention, which is
1:01:30
a phase of confident expectation, and their muscles become a
1:01:34
perfectly coordinated machine. Again, when a player allows himself to
1:01:38
be rattled by the shouts from the benches, when he
1:01:41
allows the adverse suggestions to obtain lodgment in his subconscious mind,
1:01:46
then the faith is reversed and that which he fears
1:01:49
comes upon him. In either case, there is manifested in action.
1:01:53
The mental picture formed in the mind of the player,
1:01:56
the ideal tends to become real. Expectant attention creates the ideal,
1:02:01
and the subconscious mentality performs the action. The rider was
1:02:05
once told by an ex manager of noted pugilists that
1:02:08
a similar condition is found to exist among prize fighters.
1:02:12
He said, if a boy believes that he is going
1:02:15
to be licked, then licked, he is in advance of
1:02:17
the match. If, on the contrary, he feels in his
1:02:21
heart that he is the better man than his chances
1:02:23
of success are enormously increased. There's a whole lot of
1:02:27
this mind stuff in ring fighting. Believe me. The writer
1:02:31
personally met with a similar case occurring twenty years ago
1:02:35
in the days of bicycles and cable cars. He was
1:02:38
riding on the grip car on the front part of
1:02:41
the bench of the open car. Then used hearing the
1:02:44
gripman using strong language, he looked ahead and there saw
1:02:48
a young colored man riding a bicycle and trying to
1:02:50
cross the street on an angle just in front of
1:02:52
the car. Ordinarily, there would have been no difficulty in
1:02:56
his making the crossing, there was plenty of room and
1:02:59
plenty of time for it. But when the gripman swore
1:03:02
at him and called out, look out there, you're going
1:03:05
to run into the car, the young man's hand seemed
1:03:08
to turn in spite of himself, and he seemingly deliberately
1:03:11
turned his wheel and ran straight into the car. When
1:03:15
picked out of the wreck of his bicycle, badly shaken
1:03:18
up but uninjured, he was asked why he turned his
1:03:21
will toward the car. He answered, I deno, I deno.
1:03:25
I expect that will just got skeered and run away
1:03:28
with me. The real truth was that his expectant attention
1:03:32
was active, and the wheel acted just as he looked
1:03:34
for it to act, his subconscious mentality performing the action.
1:03:39
Many old time bicycle riders will understand and appreciate this illustration.
1:03:43
They have been there themselves. The same principle may be
1:03:48
seen in operation in the actions of children. Children are
1:03:51
very apt to take on the suggestions of their elders
1:03:54
and to act upon them subconsciously, even when they don't
1:03:57
want to. We have witnessed the unfortunate result of the
1:04:00
admonition look out, myrtle, you'll drop that vase. Look out,
1:04:05
it's slipping now. Of course, bang went the vase again.
1:04:11
Look out, Johnny, be careful, you'll slip off the banister.
1:04:15
Johnny accepts the suggestion, his subconscious mentality believes it, and
1:04:20
the action follows. We once saw a little boy walking
1:04:23
along the top of a high brick wall. He made
1:04:26
the trip backward and forward several times without trouble. But
1:04:30
when finally a grown up shouted a warning of danger,
1:04:34
coupled with the assertion that the boy would fall off,
1:04:36
the boy's expectant attention was aroused, and down he came.
1:04:41
A leading tychrope performer has stated in a newspaper interview
1:04:44
that if he entertains the thought that he will fall,
1:04:47
he is almost certain to become wobbly, and then needs
1:04:50
to exert considerable will power to maintain his balance. The
1:04:54
above recited illustrations of the effect of confident expectation in
1:04:58
its phase of expectant att In these little, simple matters
1:05:02
of everyday experience, are likewise illustrations of the operation of
1:05:06
the same psychological principle, the principle of faith, in its
1:05:09
many forms, in many far more important and far more
1:05:13
complex matters of life and action. As we proceed in
1:05:17
our consideration of the subject in this instruction, you will
1:05:20
perceive this same universal principle at work along many different
1:05:23
lines and in many different forms, phases, and aspects of
1:05:27
its power. For the present, we ask you merely to
1:05:31
bear in mind this statement. The entire set of mental processes, conscious,
1:05:35
subconscious and unconscious tend to proceed in the direction of
1:05:39
expectant attention or confident expectation, which is a phase of faith.
1:05:44
The mind consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously strives to build around
1:05:49
itself a world corresponding to its beliefs, and to act
1:05:53
along the lines of its beliefs, even when such a world,
1:05:56
for such actions are not desired. Hope and fear, when
1:05:59
a expressions of confident expectation or expectant attention are potent
1:06:04
motive powers, particularly along subconscious lines of mentation faith power
1:06:10
Your Inspirational Forces by William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two.
1:06:17
The secret of faith cures. Among the many phases and
1:06:21
forms of the application and manifestation of the mental principle
1:06:24
of faith power is that important phase or form known
1:06:27
generally as faith cure. The consideration of the phenomena arising
1:06:32
from the application and manifestation of this phase or form
1:06:35
of faith power is well worthwhile, not alone because of
1:06:38
their importance on their own account, but also because of
1:06:41
the fact that in such consideration there is brought to
1:06:44
light the operation of the potent force inherent in such
1:06:47
general principle itself. By faith cure is meant the cure
1:06:51
of disease by the exercise of faith in some external
1:06:54
force or power, or in the force or power inherent
1:06:57
in the mental or spiritual nature of the mind or
1:07:00
soul of the individual. The following definitions given by authoritative
1:07:05
reference works will perhaps bring out still more clearly the
1:07:08
essential elements and meaning of this concept. In term, faith
1:07:12
cure or faith healing is a form of mind cure
1:07:15
characterized by the idea that while pain and disease really exist,
1:07:19
they may be neutralized and dispelled by faith in divine power.
1:07:22
The doctrine of Christian science holds, however, that pain is
1:07:26
only an illusion, and seeks to cure the patient by
1:07:28
instilling into him this belief. Faith cure is a term
1:07:32
applied to the practice of curing disease by an appeal
1:07:35
to the hope, belief, or expectation of the patient and
1:07:38
without the use of drugs or other material means. Formerly,
1:07:43
faith cure was confined to methods requiring the exercise of
1:07:46
religious faith, such as the pecure and divine healing, but
1:07:51
has now come to be used in the broader sense
1:07:53
and includes the cures of mental science, also a large
1:07:57
part of the cures effected by patent medicines and nostrum,
1:08:00
as well as many folk practices and home remedies. By some,
1:08:04
it is held to include also Christian science, but the
1:08:08
believers in the latter regard it as entirely distinct. Careful
1:08:12
investigators and researchers along these lines are now generally agreed
1:08:16
that the cures undoubtedly made by the various practitioners of
1:08:19
the numerous schools and forms of faith cure under their
1:08:22
different names and theories of cure, have as their underlying
1:08:25
effective principle, the mental condition or state of faith. This
1:08:29
principle operating so as to call forth the innate power
1:08:32
of the mental physical organism to resist and to overcome
1:08:35
the abnormal conditions which manifest as disease. Thus, all cures
1:08:40
wrought by the mental forces of the individual, under whatever
1:08:43
name or method, are at the last faith cures. That
1:08:48
this innate power to resist and overcome disease actually exists
1:08:52
in the human organism is now admitted by the best authorities.
1:08:55
It is known as the protective and recuperative power of
1:08:58
the organism, or else as the this medicatrix nature or
1:09:02
the healing power of nature. The power is known to
1:09:05
dwell in that part of the mental equipment of man
1:09:08
known as the subconscious mentality, which has direct control and
1:09:11
supervision of many of the physical processes, and which is
1:09:15
absolutely in charge of the involuntary processes by means of
1:09:19
which the most important functions of the body are performed.
1:09:23
This innate power of the organism, so lodged in the
1:09:26
subconscious mentality, is found to respond readily to the ideas
1:09:30
accepted as true by the individual to his beliefs. In short,
1:09:35
these beliefs are forms of faith. At the last, the
1:09:39
belief and faith of the individual in the effect and
1:09:41
influence of any energy, force or power is capable not
1:09:45
only of affecting cures of diseased conditions, but also of
1:09:49
inducing and bringing about such conditions in the first place.
1:09:53
That belief, expecting, attention, confident expectation, in short, faith is
1:09:58
capable of causing the mana manifestation of conditions of physical
1:10:01
disease is now too well established to admit of doubt.
1:10:05
Advanced schools of therapeutics recognize this fact, and in part
1:10:09
instruction based upon it, that the same kind of mental
1:10:12
conditions act in the direction of curing disease is now
1:10:16
practically admitted by the same schools. Science, after extended investigations
1:10:21
of the subject, now holds that the truth or lack
1:10:24
of it involved in the respective particular religious, metaphysical, or
1:10:29
philosophical theories advanced by the different faith care schools really
1:10:33
have nothing whatsoever to do with the curative principle really employed,
1:10:37
except that the plausibility of such theories may tend to
1:10:40
arouse and maintain the belief and faith the expectant, attention,
1:10:43
and confident expectation of the patient thereby setting into operation
1:10:49
the innate healing powers of the organism through the activities
1:10:52
of the subconscious mentality. The fact that the various opposing schools,
1:10:57
with their widely differing, often absolutely posing sets of theories,
1:11:01
are found to make cures in about the same proportion
1:11:04
to the cases treated, is held to point conclusively to
1:11:07
the existence of this common and universal element of faith
1:11:10
as the real factor of the cures. It is admitted
1:11:13
by practical psychologists that the expectant attention, the confident expectation,
1:11:18
the faith of the average person is more keenly aroused
1:11:21
and more firmly held by the attractive religious or metaphysical
1:11:25
explanations offered by many of these schools of faith cure
1:11:28
than by the coldly scientific explanation furnished by scientific observers.
1:11:33
Such attractive explanations and theories appeal more strongly to the
1:11:36
imagination and thus more easily set enforce the activities of
1:11:40
them subconscious mentality. But when science administers its masked suggestion
1:11:47
in sufficiently attractive guises, it produces results equally efficient the
1:11:52
glowing verbal pictures painted by the quacks, the Charlatans, and
1:11:56
the patent cure promoters among the material remedy practitioner, as
1:12:00
well as by the exploiters of nostrums and patent medicines, however,
1:12:04
are quite attractive to the average imagination, and as a consequence,
1:12:09
many cures are made in this way. In all of
1:12:13
such cases, be it noted the theory in the method
1:12:16
are merely incidental. The principle of faith cure is the
1:12:19
active factor in the cure. It is not a matter
1:12:22
so much of just what is believed in and is
1:12:25
the object of faith, as it is of just how
1:12:28
much it is believed in and becomes an object of faith.
1:12:31
The theory in method the instrument and vehicle of the treatment,
1:12:35
is merely the capsule in which the active and potent
1:12:38
force of faith is hidden. Faith cure, in its many forms,
1:12:43
is as old as the race. It has been practiced
1:12:45
from time immemorial. Formerly practiced by the medicine men of
1:12:50
the tribes through incantations, magic, ceremonies, charms, et cetera, it
1:12:56
gradually was taken over by the priesthood of the various
1:12:58
early religions, and its instruments were prayers, sacred rights, sacred objects,
1:13:03
et cetera. The history of mental medicine is filled with
1:13:07
innumerable forms of the application of this potent force of
1:13:10
faith and confident expectation of expectant attention, as the scientific
1:13:15
writers call it. The same principle operated through the instrumentality
1:13:19
of various strange drugs and medicines in the history of
1:13:22
material medicine. As reference to the medical textbooks show beyond
1:13:26
a doubt. The Encyclopedia Britannica, in its article on faith
1:13:31
healing says, in the Christian Church, the tradition of faith
1:13:35
healing dates from the earliest days of Christianity. Upon the
1:13:38
miracles of the New Testament follow cases of healing, first
1:13:41
by the Apostles, then by their successors, but faith healing
1:13:45
proper is gradually, from the third century onwards transformed into
1:13:49
trust and relics, though faith cures occur sporadically at times.
1:13:55
Catherine of Siena is said to have saved Father Matthew
1:13:57
from dying of the plague, but in this case it
1:14:00
is rather the healer who was strong in faith. With
1:14:03
the Reformation, faith healing proper reappears among the Monrovians and Waldensis, who,
1:14:09
like the peculiar people of our own day, put their
1:14:11
trust in prayer and anointing with oil. In the sixteenth
1:14:15
century we find faith cures recorded of Luther and other Reformers,
1:14:19
in the next century of the Baptists, Quakers and other
1:14:22
Puritan sects, and in the eighteenth century the faith healing
1:14:26
of the Methodists in this country was paralleled by Pietism
1:14:29
in Germany. In the nineteenth century, Prince hoan loa canon
1:14:33
of Grosswarden, was a famous healer on the continent. The
1:14:37
Mormons and urvingities were prominent among English speaking peoples. In
1:14:40
the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Faith healing became
1:14:43
popular in London and beth Shahn Holmes were opened in
1:14:47
eighteen eighty one, and since then it has found many
1:14:49
adherents in England under faith healing in a wider sense
1:14:53
may be included one the cures in the temples of
1:14:56
Esculapius and other deities in the ancient world to ioi
1:15:00
U the practice of touching for the king's evil in
1:15:02
vogue from the eleventh to the eighteenth century. Three the
1:15:06
cures of Valentine Great Rakes the Stroker sixteen twenty eight
1:15:10
to sixteen eighty three, and four the miracles of lurd
1:15:14
and other resorts of pilgrims, among which may be mentioned
1:15:17
Saint Winfrid's Well in Flintshire, Trees with its holy coat,
1:15:21
the grave of the Jansonist f de Paris in the
1:15:24
eighteenth century, the little town of Keveler from sixteen forty
1:15:28
one onwards, the tombs of Saint Louis Francis of Assasce
1:15:32
Catharine of Siena, and others. From the psychological point of view,
1:15:37
all these different kinds of faith healing, as indeed all
1:15:40
kinds of faith healing, as indeed all kinds of mind cure,
1:15:44
including those of Christian science and hypnotism, depend upon suggestion.
1:15:49
In faith healing proper, not only are powerful direct suggestions used,
1:15:53
but the religious atmosphere and the auto suggestions of the
1:15:56
patient cooperate, especially when the cures take place during a
1:16:00
period of religious revival or at other times when large
1:16:03
assemblies and strong emotions are found. The suggestibility of large
1:16:07
crowds is markedly greater than that of individuals, and to
1:16:11
this greater faith must be attributed the greater success of
1:16:14
the fashionable places of pilgrimage. In general, accounts of the
1:16:18
phenomena of faith healing, such as the one above quoted
1:16:21
you will generally find two points needing more detailed comment, namely,
1:16:25
one the point that cures are made even when the
1:16:28
patients do not believe in the healing power invoked, and
1:16:32
two the easy reference of the basic cause to suggestion,
1:16:36
the statement often being made that it is merely suggestion.
1:16:40
Let us consider these two points in a little further detail.
1:16:44
In the first place, the person subjecting himself to these
1:16:47
healing agencies always has some degree of belief and faith
1:16:50
in the possible efficacy of the agency employed, else he
1:16:53
would not take the trouble and spend the time and
1:16:55
money necessary to take the treatment. This faith may be
1:16:59
merely a sneaking belief, but it is always there. Particularly
1:17:04
where money is involved, this element must be present, for
1:17:07
one does not part with money for treatments which he
1:17:09
feels certain will do no good. There is always some hope, belief,
1:17:13
and faith present. Even the man who sneers at the
1:17:17
idea of his warts being cured by a pow wow
1:17:19
has at least a faint hope of some possible good
1:17:22
accruing to him, else he would not bother with the
1:17:24
matter at all. This faint hope, belief, or faith is
1:17:28
taken up by the subconscious mentality, and is there intensified, magnified,
1:17:33
and concentrated. It may be stated as a positive and
1:17:37
invariable principle that without some degree of faith and hope,
1:17:41
some degree of expectant attention, there can be no faith cure.
1:17:45
This belief, hope, and faith may be hidden and apparently
1:17:49
rejected by the conscious mentality, but its seeds and roots
1:17:52
are present in the subconscious mentality and begin to grow
1:17:56
and send forth shoots and sprouts under the power of
1:17:58
the expectant attention. In the second place, to explain the
1:18:03
phenomena of faith cure by the statement it is merely
1:18:06
suggestion is but to give the phenomena a new name,
1:18:10
of fixing a new term, is not a true explanation.
1:18:14
Of course, faith cure is suggestion, but what is suggestion?
1:18:19
Analyzing the phenomena attributed to suggestion and reducing the idea
1:18:23
of suggestion to its essential elements, we find that suggestion
1:18:27
consists of one placing a strong idea in the mind,
1:18:30
grafting it on the mind as it were, two arousing
1:18:34
the expectant attention of the results implied or indicated in
1:18:37
the suggested idea, and free setting into operation the activities
1:18:42
of the subconscious mentality in the direction of bringing about
1:18:45
the result pictured by the expectant attention, which in turn
1:18:48
has been aroused by the suggested idea. There you have
1:18:53
the whole idea of suggestion in a nutshell. That a
1:18:57
suggested idea may be one of disease as well well
1:19:00
as of healing. It may be deliberately or otherwise grafted
1:19:03
on the mind by another person, or it may arise
1:19:06
through the auto suggestion of the person himself, made up
1:19:09
of the material of ideas or suggestions that he has
1:19:12
picked up in his experience with the world. In each
1:19:15
case and in all cases, that a suggested idea is
1:19:19
an idea which strikes the mind with force, and which
1:19:22
seems quite reasonable i e. Worthy of some belief. The
1:19:26
expectant attention may be that of either fear or of hope.
1:19:30
As we have explained to you before, its characteristic element
1:19:33
is holding in mind with the idea that it will
1:19:35
come to pass, happen, or occur in some way the
1:19:40
action of the subconscious mentality we have previously described to you.
1:19:44
Its action is that of accepting the suggested idea, manifesting
1:19:47
the expectant attention even more powerfully and more consistently than
1:19:51
does the conscious mentality, and setting about to make the
1:19:54
idea come true, to realize the expectation, to make come
1:19:58
about that which is ideated and a expected. You will
1:20:01
find these elements in all cases of suggestion, just as
1:20:05
you will find it in all cases of faith cure.
1:20:08
Suggestion is the underlying element in faith cure, to be sure,
1:20:12
but suggestion itself is merely a name employed to describe
1:20:15
the mental activities to which we have referred to say
1:20:19
that faith healing is merely suggestion does not explain the
1:20:23
matter unless it is stated or admitted that suggestion is
1:20:26
a means of arousing certain mental activities. Suggestion is an
1:20:31
excellent term when rightly understood, but it must not be
1:20:34
employed as a fetish or as an easy manner of
1:20:37
dismissing certain important phenomena. Suggestion is made up of one
1:20:42
strong ideas or mental pictures, and two expectant attention arising
1:20:47
from confident expectation, and the latter is faith. When this
1:20:52
combined idea, faith is planted in the subconscious mentality of
1:20:55
the person, it begins to grow, sprout, and to bring
1:20:59
forth leaves, blossoms, and fruit in action and physical form. Now, then,
1:21:04
all phenomena of faith cure and of suggestion as well
1:21:08
are seen to depend upon the presence in action of
1:21:10
the element or principle of faith power in the mentality
1:21:13
of the individual. This faith power, however, is a much
1:21:17
greater thing than mere healing power. Great as is the
1:21:20
importance of this particular and special phase of its manifestation.
1:21:25
Healing power is merely one of many phases of the
1:21:27
force and power of faith power, merely one of its
1:21:30
many forms of manifestation. The study of this phase of
1:21:34
the whole subject, and the application of the valuable principles
1:21:37
involved in it, is well worth while. But at the
1:21:40
same time, you should not allow yourself to rest content
1:21:43
with this one phase or form of its manifestation. The
1:21:46
whole is always greater than any one of its component parts.
1:21:51
What is the great lesson to be learned from the
1:21:53
consideration of the wonderful phenomena of faith power in its
1:21:56
phase of faith cure or of healing power. The answer
1:22:00
is that there are two elements involved in that lesson, viz.
1:22:03
One that there exists and is active a great natural
1:22:06
principle inherent in your natural, mental, physical organism which tends
1:22:10
to produce decided and marked effect upon your physical body,
1:22:14
either in the direction of disease or that of health
1:22:16
and the cure of disease. And that this power is
1:22:19
at your disposal and command, and to a great extent,
1:22:22
under your own control. Two, That this great principle is
1:22:26
but a phase or form of a still greater universal
1:22:30
principle of your being, which greater principle operates in the
1:22:33
direction of setting to work forces which tend to materialize
1:22:36
in objective form that which exists in your mind in
1:22:39
subjective form i e. As idea and faith combined, correlated
1:22:43
and coordinated. This greater power, like its lesser and specialized form,
1:22:48
is available for your use. It responds to your demands
1:22:51
when properly made, and submits itself to your general direction
1:22:55
of idea and faith. By an application of the first
1:22:58
of the above stated element of this greater principle of
1:23:01
your being and of nature as a whole, you may
1:23:04
keep yourself in health, strength, and general desirable physical well being,
1:23:08
or you may bring about by it a gradual return
1:23:10
to health and physical well being if you have lost
1:23:13
these again. If you allow this principle to be directed
1:23:16
wrongly and abnormally, you may lose your physical well being
1:23:20
in health, and may start on the downward path of disease,
1:23:23
the end of which is an untimely death. Your physical
1:23:28
condition is very largely dependent upon the character and kind
1:23:31
of the ideas and ideals which you permit to be
1:23:34
planted in your mind, and by the degree of expectant
1:23:36
attention or faith which you permit to vitalize these ideas
1:23:40
and ideals. Briefly stated, the course to be followed by
1:23:44
you in this matter is as follows. One, encourage ideas
1:23:48
and ideals of health, strength, and vitality, the ideas of
1:23:52
physical well being to take lodgment in your mind there
1:23:55
to send forth their roots, sprouts, blossoms, and fruit cult
1:24:00
Cutivate these ideas and ideals, and vitalize them with a
1:24:03
goodly amount of expectant attention, confident expectation, and faith. Along
1:24:07
the lines of these conditions which you desire to be
1:24:10
present in yourself, see yourself in your mind's eye as
1:24:14
you wish to be, and confidently expect to have these
1:24:17
conditions manifested in you by your subconscious mentality. Two, never
1:24:22
allow yourself to hold the ideas of disease to abnormal conditions,
1:24:25
and above all, never allow yourself to cultivate the mental
1:24:29
habit of expecting such conditions to manifest in your body.
1:24:33
Cultivate the attitude of faith and hope, and discard that
1:24:36
of fear. Free If your mind has been filled with
1:24:39
these negative, harmful and destructive mental elements of idea and expectancy,
1:24:45
and if your body has manifested disease in response to them,
1:24:48
you should proceed to kill out these noxious mental weeds
1:24:52
by a deliberate, determined, and confident cultivation of the right
1:24:55
kind of ideas and ideals and states of expectancy. It
1:24:59
is an axiom of advanced psychology that the positives tend
1:25:02
to inhibit and to destroy the negatives. The weeds in
1:25:05
the mental garden may be killed out by the careful
1:25:08
and determined cultivation of the positive plants of hope, faith,
1:25:13
and confident expectation of the good and desirable. As to
1:25:17
the application of that greater principle of faith power, of
1:25:20
which faith, cure and healing power is but one phase
1:25:23
of manifestation, we say to you that we are now
1:25:26
leading you, step by step in the direction of a
1:25:29
full understanding of the nature and power of that greater
1:25:32
principle and of its practical and efficient application. The consideration
1:25:37
of its power in the phase of faith cure or
1:25:39
healing power is important for you because it causes your mind,
1:25:43
conscious and subconscious to awaken to a realization of the
1:25:46
presence and power of this principle of faith power as
1:25:49
a whole, and furnishes you with concrete examples of that presence, power,
1:25:53
and of its manifestation in the everyday practical life of
1:25:56
the individual. Faith power is present, in active. It is
1:26:00
potent and powerful, and it is friendly to you. If
1:26:03
you recognize and realize its existence. It is ready to
1:26:06
serve you, and to serve you well, provided that you
1:26:09
call upon it properly and furnish it with the proper
1:26:12
channels through which to flow in its efforts to manifest itself.
1:26:16
This is the great truth. Back of the Special Lesson
1:26:18
of Faith, Cure, Faith Power, Your Inspirational Forces by William
1:26:24
Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two. Faith and the Subconscious. In
1:26:30
the preceding section of this book, we indicated to you
1:26:33
the influence of faith or confident expectation upon those faculties
1:26:37
of the mind, or those great fields or planes of
1:26:40
mental activity which are generally grouped under the classification of
1:26:44
the subconscious. In that presentation, however, we considered only those
1:26:49
subconscious mental activities which are concerned with the preservation or
1:26:53
the restoration of physical well being. Faith, however, influences and
1:26:58
directs the subconscious mentality in many other ways than in
1:27:01
that of faith cure or faith healing along the lines
1:27:04
of mental therapeutics. As you will see as we proceed
1:27:07
with this instruction, the subconscious, that great field or plain
1:27:12
of mental activity, is the seat of far greater power
1:27:15
and the source of far deeper and broader streams of
1:27:18
mental force than the average person even begins to realize.
1:27:22
In that field or on that plain are performed over
1:27:25
seventy five percent of man's mental activities. Our subconscious mentality
1:27:31
has well been compared to the great mountain like elevations
1:27:34
of land under the surface of the ocean, abiding there
1:27:36
in substantial form and serving as a support and base
1:27:39
for that which appears above the surface, though invisible to
1:27:42
the ordinary observer. The islands which appear above the surface
1:27:46
representing the important, though comparatively limited area and extent of
1:27:50
the conscious mentality. Others with equal force have compared the
1:27:55
conscious mentality to the comparatively small area of a mighty
1:27:58
iceberg floating through the sea disease of the Arctic region,
1:28:01
the subconscious mentality being represented by the far greater substance
1:28:05
and body of the iceberg, which is submerged beneath the waters,
1:28:08
and which is invisible. Again, the conscious mentality has been
1:28:13
compared to the comparatively small section of the light spectrum
1:28:16
which is visible to the human eye, which section includes
1:28:19
the various light waves ranging from red to violet, the
1:28:22
subconscious mentality being represented by that enormous field of the
1:28:26
infrared rays on the one side and the ultraviolet rays
1:28:29
on the other. Our mental world is far more extensive
1:28:33
than we usually conceive it to be. It has great,
1:28:36
comparatively unsound depths and equally grand, comparatively unsealed heights. The
1:28:41
explored and charted areas of our conscious mentality are incidental
1:28:45
and subordinate to those broad areas of which even the
1:28:47
brightest minds of our race have merely explored. The borderland,
1:28:51
the expanded, uncharted interior of the strange country still awaiting
1:28:55
the exploring expeditions of the future. Our position in relation
1:28:59
to this great terra incognita of the mind is similar
1:29:02
to that of the ancient civilized world toward the Earth
1:29:05
as a whole. We are as yet awaiting the Columbus
1:29:07
who will explore the western cogninent of the mind, and
1:29:10
the living stones and Stanleys, who will furnish us with
1:29:13
maps of the mental darkest Africa. Yet even the comparatively
1:29:17
small explored areas of the subconscious have revealed to us
1:29:20
a wonderful land, a land filled with the richest raw materials,
1:29:24
precious metals, wonderful species of animal and plant life. And
1:29:28
our daring investigators have discovered means of applying and using
1:29:32
some of the faith and the subconscious wonderful things which
1:29:35
have been discovered in even that borderland of the new
1:29:37
mental world. The past fifty years have been very fruitful
1:29:41
for the race in this direction. We have learned not
1:29:45
only of the existence of this new land filled with
1:29:47
wondrous things, but we have also learned much concerning the
1:29:50
nature of those things. And what is still better, we
1:29:53
have learned much concerning the best methods of converting those
1:29:56
things to our own uses. We have as yet much
1:30:00
more to learn along these lines. But what has been
1:30:02
already learned has revolutionized our conceptions of the mind, and
1:30:06
has opened up to our conscious used great mental powers,
1:30:09
the very existence of which were formerly unsuspected. We shall
1:30:13
not enter here into a detailed consideration of the fields
1:30:16
and planes of the subconscious realm of the mind, nor
1:30:19
into a full description of what has been found to
1:30:21
abide in those regions. We have considered these matters and
1:30:25
subjects fully in that volume of this series, which is
1:30:28
entitled Subconscious Power, to which book we refer you if
1:30:32
you are desirous of studying in further detail, these subconscious
1:30:35
faculties of the mind and the most efficient methods of
1:30:37
applying in using them. In the present volume, we are
1:30:41
concerned almost entirely with the consideration of faith power in
1:30:45
its effect upon the mind as a whole, the conscious
1:30:47
planes as well as the subconscious. But inasmuch as faith
1:30:51
power performs such a large part of its activities on
1:30:54
the plains or in the fields of the subconscious, we
1:30:57
find it necessary to make constant reference to the latter
1:31:00
in our consideration of faith power. While it is true
1:31:03
that desire is the motive power of all human action,
1:31:06
conscious and subconscious, and that without desire, conscious or subconscious
1:31:11
there could and would be no such action. And while
1:31:14
it is true that desire and will go out toward idea,
1:31:17
and that without idea, conscious or subconscious, there would be
1:31:20
no moving of the mind to action, still it is
1:31:23
equally true that the measure of the degree and the
1:31:25
direction of such activity is dependent very largely upon the
1:31:29
degree of faith, confident, expectation, or expectant attention manifesting in
1:31:34
the individual. This is true concerning the activities of the
1:31:38
conscious mentality, it is doubly or trebly true of the
1:31:41
activities of the subconscious mentality. In fact, the subconscious mentality
1:31:47
has been discovered to be vary set in its beliefs
1:31:49
and to hold steadfastly to them when once they have
1:31:52
taken lodgment within it. So much so, in truth, that
1:31:55
it will often balk and rebel when the conscious mentality
1:31:58
strives to set it to work in lines opposition to
1:32:00
its fixed beliefs and habits of action. It is often
1:32:04
found to be necessary to re educate the subconscious when
1:32:07
it has been filled with erroneous beliefs and ideas, before
1:32:10
it can be set to work in a new direction,
1:32:13
a direction opposed to its old beliefs. And ideas. Certain fields,
1:32:17
at least of the subconscious mental activity, certain of the
1:32:21
subconscious mental faculties at least, remind the scientific observer very
1:32:26
much of the mind of the child. That is to say,
1:32:30
like the mind of the child, it is quite open
1:32:31
to original impressions and quite disposed to exercise faith and
1:32:35
belief concerning ideas presented to it, provided that these ideas
1:32:39
do not conflict with those already accepted by it. But also,
1:32:43
like the mind of the child, it will hold fast
1:32:45
to these ideas when they have been accepted as truth
1:32:48
and forcibly impressed upon it, and will find it difficult
1:32:51
to accept or act upon ideas opposed to them. Like
1:32:55
the child mind, also it readily forms habits of belief, thought,
1:33:00
and action, and when these are once set, it requires
1:33:03
much work to change them or to reverse their action.
1:33:06
We have evidences of this fact in our everyday lives. You, yourself,
1:33:11
can testify to its truth. Like nearly every other person,
1:33:15
you have found yourself strongly influenced by silly, irrational, superstitious ideas, notions,
1:33:21
and habits of thought and action, long after you have
1:33:24
thoroughly convinced yourself that such superstitions have no basis in
1:33:28
fact or in truth, your conscious mentality frees itself from
1:33:32
the bonds of the superstition. But when you come to
1:33:34
the test, you find within yourself, deep down in your
1:33:37
mental and emotional being, a distinct, definite, and positive tendency
1:33:41
to act according to the old belief or notion. You
1:33:45
feel the pull of the subconscious upon your will, and
1:33:47
it often requires the greatest exercise of will power to
1:33:51
overcome that subconscious influence. The subconscious mentality must be re
1:33:56
educated before it will cease to protest and pull against
1:33:59
your consciousnes reasoning mind, you, in all probability, have still
1:34:04
some pet superstitions, notions which your reason pronounces to be
1:34:07
absolutely ridiculous in their untruth and lack of reality, which,
1:34:12
when it comes to the pinch, cause you to feel
1:34:14
quite uncomfortable if you attempt to act contrary to them.
1:34:18
It has well been said that while we laugh at
1:34:20
the pet superstitions of others, we hug close to those
1:34:23
of our own, which are equally ridiculous. We pride ourselves
1:34:27
on our rational actions and our intellectual habits of thought
1:34:30
and belief. But when it comes to walking under a ladder,
1:34:34
sitting at a table, with thirteen persons present doing things
1:34:37
on Friday, breaking a mirror, etc. Etc. We show plainly
1:34:41
the force of this old pull and influence of subconscious
1:34:44
belief and faith. And if we act contrary to these
1:34:48
in spite of ourselves, we find expectant attention being directed
1:34:52
toward the result feared by the subconscious elements of our
1:34:54
mental being. It is amusing to those who are free
1:34:58
from those particular superstitions, and quite interesting to the scientific
1:35:02
observer to note that so many intelligent, well informed, rational
1:35:06
persons will hesitate to return for some forgotten thing after
1:35:09
they once have left the house, or that they will
1:35:12
knock wood after having made some statement expressing success, freedom
1:35:16
from trouble, et cetera. Or that they will show visible
1:35:19
concern and distress when they spill salt at the table,
1:35:22
or break a mirror, or do something else which their
1:35:26
subconscious mentality believes to be a hoodoo. As for sitting
1:35:30
at a table of thirteen guests, some of the very
1:35:33
bravest and most intelligent will feel that it is all wrong,
1:35:36
and will sigh with relief when an extra guest is
1:35:39
pressed into service to break the evil spell. Yet in
1:35:43
each of these cases, the person will frankly acknowledge that
1:35:46
he has no rational or intellectual belief in the evil omen.
1:35:49
He knows that there is absolutely nothing to it, but
1:35:52
he feels queer about it, nevertheless, when he comes to
1:35:56
the point of flying in the face of it. These
1:35:59
persons are like the man who said that in the
1:36:01
daytime he absolutely scorned the idea of ghosts, but that
1:36:05
in the middle of the night he believed implicitly in them.
1:36:08
These queer contradictions of human nature are accepted as matters
1:36:12
of fact by most of us, though they are usually
1:36:14
regarded as beyond rational explanation. However, when the action of
1:36:19
the subconscious mentality is recognized, a new light is thrown
1:36:23
upon the subject, and the perplexing mental duality is explained.
1:36:27
The two sides of the mental shield are perceived and
1:36:29
known to be just what they are. But these hidden
1:36:33
beliefs of the subconscious and its direction of action in
1:36:36
accordance with them, are not confined to those superstitions concerning
1:36:40
unlucky things and evil omens. Quite as strong and quite
1:36:44
as active are the subconscious beliefs and notions about lucky
1:36:48
things and good omens. The principle is the same in
1:36:52
each case, though the direction is opposite. Many very intelligent
1:36:57
men secretly feel that certain things are lucky for them,
1:37:00
or that certain things act as charms, bringing them success
1:37:04
and good luck in their undertakings. Many a man has
1:37:07
a sneaking belief in the efficacy of a horseshoe over
1:37:10
the door, though he may pretend that it has been
1:37:12
placed there just for fun. You will discover the strength
1:37:15
of the subconscious belief if you attempt to remove the symbol.
1:37:19
You would be surprised to learn how many otherwise intelligent
1:37:22
persons carry lucky stones, lucky coins, or other charms held
1:37:27
to bring success or to avoid the opposite. Not only this,
1:37:31
but the sub conscious entertains deep rooted convictions and beliefs
1:37:35
concerning the general success or non success of the individual.
1:37:39
The person who has constantly impressed upon his subconscious mentality
1:37:43
that he is unlucky and that fate is against me,
1:37:46
has created a tremendous power within himself which acts as
1:37:50
a break or obstacle to his successful achievement. He has
1:37:54
created an enemy within himself which serves to hold him back,
1:37:57
and which fights against every inner effort in the direction
1:38:00
of success. This hidden enemy hampers his full efforts and
1:38:04
cripples his activities. On the contrary, the person who believes
1:38:08
that luck is running my way and that things are
1:38:11
working in my favor not only releases all of his
1:38:14
latent energies, but also actually stimulates his full powers along
1:38:18
subconscious lines as well as conscious. You have probably had
1:38:22
the experience of feeling that things were going against you,
1:38:25
and as a result, your enthusiasm and interest then burned
1:38:29
very low. Later, you became convinced, by some little circumstances
1:38:32
that my luck has turned, and as a result, your
1:38:35
spirit manifested itself in keener desire and determined will. If
1:38:40
you have not had this experience yourself, you have doubtless
1:38:43
perceived it manifesting in other persons. Under your observation, many
1:38:47
men have become so convinced of their propitious destiny that
1:38:50
they have overcome obstacles which would have blocked the progress
1:38:53
of one holding the opposite conviction. In fact, most of
1:38:57
the men who have used their failures as stepping stones
1:39:00
to subsequent success have felt within themselves the conviction that
1:39:03
they would triumph in the end, and that the disappointments
1:39:06
and temporary failures were but incidents of the game. Men
1:39:10
have believed in their stars, or in the presence and
1:39:13
power of something outside of themselves which was operating in
1:39:16
the direction of their ultimate triumph. This has given to
1:39:20
them an indomitable will and an unconquerable spirit. Had these
1:39:24
same men allowed the conviction of the operation of adverse
1:39:27
and antagonistic influences to take possession of their souls, they
1:39:31
would have gone down in the struggle, and would have
1:39:33
stayed down. In either case. However, the real something which
1:39:38
they have believed to be an outside thing or entity,
1:39:41
has been nothing more nor less than the influence and
1:39:43
power of their own subconscious, in one case pulling with them,
1:39:47
and in the other pulling against them. The man with
1:39:50
his subconscious filled with belief and faith in his non
1:39:53
success and in the inevitable failure of his efforts. The
1:39:56
man whose confident expectation is that of non success, failure,
1:40:00
and inability, and whose expectant attention is directed towards such
1:40:04
an outcome and the incidents and circumstances leading up to it,
1:40:08
is like a man in the water who is swimming
1:40:10
against the stream. He is opposing the strong current, and
1:40:14
his every effort is counteracted and overcome by the adverse
1:40:17
forces of the stream. Likewise, the man whose subconscious is
1:40:21
saturated with the conviction of ultimate victory and final success,
1:40:25
whose confident expectation is directed toward that end, and whose
1:40:29
expectant attention is ever on the lookout for things tending
1:40:32
to realize his inner beliefs, is like the swimmer who
1:40:35
is moving in the direction of the current. Such a
1:40:38
man not only is not really opposed by the forces
1:40:40
of the stream, but instead has these forces at work
1:40:44
aiding him. The importance of having the faith, confident, expectation,
1:40:49
and expectant attention of the subconscious directed towards your success,
1:40:52
achievement and successful ultimate accomplishment, and the importance of not
1:40:56
having these mighty forces operative against yourself, may be realized
1:41:00
when you stop to consider that in the one case,
1:41:02
you have three quarters of your mental equipment and power
1:41:05
operating in your favor, and in the other case you
1:41:08
have that three quarters operating against you, and that three
1:41:11
quarters in either case not only is working actively during
1:41:15
your waking hours, but also works while you sleep. To
1:41:19
lose the assistance of that three quarters would be a
1:41:21
serious matter, would it not. But far more serious is
1:41:25
it to have that three quarters actually working against you,
1:41:28
having it on the side of the enemy. This is
1:41:31
just what happens when the subconscious gets into action under
1:41:34
the influence of wrongly directed faith, expectant attention in confident expectation,
1:41:40
the ideas, plans, inner suggestions, hints, hunches, and other strange
1:41:45
mental states which are constantly rising from the depths of
1:41:48
the subconscious to the surface of conscious thought, are potent
1:41:52
factors in the mental work, achievements, and accomplishments of the individual.
1:41:56
To the man of hopeful confident expectation, these point out
1:41:59
the road to increased efficiency and progress. To the men
1:42:04
of fearful confident expectation, they point out the dangers, obstacles, hindrances,
1:42:09
defeating influences, and the other things which paralyze man's will
1:42:12
and cause his spirit to sink and his heart grow
1:42:15
heavy with discouragement. The spirit, the soul, the heart of
1:42:19
the man are colored by these subconscious influences, and in turn,
1:42:23
they tend to provoke action and movement in the direction
1:42:26
corresponding to the state of belief indicated by that color.
1:42:30
The inner state manifests in the outer action, the ideal
1:42:34
tends to become real, the materialization proceeds in the shape
1:42:37
and form of the visualization. Expectant attention plays an important
1:42:42
part in this manifestation of the faith and confident expectation
1:42:45
of the subconscious. We have pointed out to you that
1:42:49
attention is attracted to and drawn out by those objects
1:42:52
and subjects which are the subject of its interest and belief,
1:42:56
and that it ignores objects and subjects contrary to these
1:43:00
So true is this that if two men of equal
1:43:02
mental powers and intellectual efficiency were subjected to precisely the
1:43:06
same conditions and set of circumstances, were caused to undergo
1:43:10
the same general experiences, in fact, each might obtain entirely
1:43:14
opposite results, where their respective sub conscious mentalities filled with
1:43:18
opposite conditions of faith and confident expectation. The expectant attention
1:43:23
of each man would cause him to perceive things which
1:43:25
were imperceptible to the other man. Of equal mental power
1:43:28
and intelligence. One would see the thorns, the other the roses.
1:43:32
One would see the whole, the other the body of
1:43:35
the doughnut. One would see only the things making for failure,
1:43:38
the other the things conducive to his success. Each would
1:43:42
see that for which he was looking, and would be
1:43:44
looking for that which his confident expectation believed would be found,
1:43:48
and to which accordingly his expectant attention would be directed.
1:43:52
This is why one man would be able to say,
1:43:54
in the end and lo, mine own hath come to me,
1:43:58
and the other that would which I feared, hath verily
1:44:01
now come upon me. But this is not all. In
1:44:05
other books of this series we have called your attention
1:44:08
to the power of the mind to attract to itself
1:44:10
the things of the outside world which are correlated to
1:44:12
its thoughts. In the books Personal Power and Thought Power, respectively,
1:44:18
we have gone into details concerning this subject, which is
1:44:21
merely referred to at this place. That such law of
1:44:25
mental attraction exists is now admitted by many of the
1:44:28
world's most careful thinkers. It is no longer held to
1:44:31
be a vague and fanciful notion held by a few visionaries.
1:44:35
Whatever may be the theory held to be underlying it,
1:44:38
and there are many such, the presence and power of
1:44:40
this law must be admitted by all unprejudiced persons. Its
1:44:44
results and effects form evidence found at every turn, evidence
1:44:48
which is valid and incontrovertible. This law of mental attraction,
1:44:53
being mental in its essence and in its form of action,
1:44:56
must operate on all planes of the mind, and indeed
1:45:00
has been discovered so to act. The mind has many
1:45:03
planes of activity, and as we have said, at least
1:45:06
three quarters of its operations are performed below or above
1:45:09
the plane of ordinary consciousness. The subconscious plays a most
1:45:14
important part in the operations of this mental law of attraction.
1:45:17
The forces under this law are largely set in motion
1:45:20
and activity by impulses coming from the region of the subconscious.
1:45:25
This being the case, you may realize how important it
1:45:28
is for you to so train, educate, re educate, and
1:45:31
direct your subconscious mental faculties, that they may be filled
1:45:34
with the faith of hope and not the faith of fear.
1:45:37
That your confident expectation may be directed forward and not backward.
1:45:41
That your expectant attention may see the helpful things and
1:45:44
not those which hinder and pull back. Get busy with
1:45:48
your subconscious. Train it educated, re educated, direct it, inclineate,
1:45:54
teach it, suggest to it along the lines of the
1:45:57
faith in success and power, and not those of the
1:46:00
faith in failure and weakness. Set it to work swimming
1:46:04
with that current. The subconscious is much given to faith.
1:46:08
It lives on faith, it acts upon faith. Then see
1:46:12
that you supply it with the right kind of faith,
1:46:14
and avoid as a pestilence that faith which is based
1:46:17
on fear and is grounded in failure and despair. Think
1:46:21
carefully and act faith power your inspirational forces. By William
1:46:28
Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two. Faith and enthusiasm. Faith is
1:46:34
the underlying principle of that remarkable quality of the human mind,
1:46:38
which is known as enthusiasm. It is its essence, It
1:46:42
is its substance, It is its actuating principle. Without faith,
1:46:46
there can be no manifestation of enthusiasm. Without faith. There
1:46:51
can be no expression of the activities of enthusiasm. Without faith,
1:46:55
there can be no exhibition of the energies of enthusiasm.
1:46:59
Without faith, the quality of enthusiasm remains dormant, latent and static.
1:47:04
Faith is needed to arouse it, to render it active,
1:47:07
to cause it to become dynamic. Moreover, the faith required
1:47:11
for the manifestation and expression of enthusiasm must be positive faith.
1:47:15
Faith in the successful outcome of the undertaking, faith exhibiting
1:47:19
its positive phases, faith in the attainment of that which
1:47:22
is desirable and which is regarded as good. You can
1:47:26
never manifest enthusiasm toward that which you confidently expect to
1:47:29
be a failure, nor toward that which you feel will
1:47:32
bring undesirable results and effects. Negative faith has no power
1:47:36
to arouse enthusiasm. The presence of positive faith is necessary
1:47:41
to awaken this wonderful latent mental or spiritual force. Enthusiasm
1:47:46
is a mental or spiritual force which has always been
1:47:49
regarded by mankind with respect, often with a respect mingled
1:47:52
with awe. To the ancients, it seemed to be a
1:47:55
special gift of the gods, and by them it was
1:47:58
regarded as animating the individual with almost divine attributes of power,
1:48:02
and as causing him to absorb a portion of the
1:48:04
essence of the divine nature. Recognizing the fact that men
1:48:08
under the influence of enthusiasm often accomplish almost superhuman tasks,
1:48:13
the ancients came to believe that this added power and
1:48:16
capacity arose from the superimposition of power from plains of
1:48:19
being above that of humanity. Hence, they employed terms to
1:48:23
define it which clearly indicated their belief in its transcendent nature.
1:48:28
The term enthusiasm is directly derived from the ancient Greek
1:48:32
term meaning to be inspired by the gods. The two
1:48:36
compositive elements of the original term are, respectively, a term
1:48:40
denoting inspiration and one denoting the gods or divinity, The
1:48:44
two terms in combination meaning literally inspired by the gods.
1:48:49
The present meaning of the term in its English usage
1:48:52
is one inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power,
1:48:56
or two enkindled and kindling fervor of soul, or three
1:49:01
ardent and lively zeal re interest. The term enthusiast formerly
1:49:06
was employed in the strict sense of one moved or
1:49:09
actuated by enthusiasm, but it has gradually acquired the corrupted
1:49:13
meaning of visionary, fanatic zealate, or one carried away by
1:49:17
zeal or fanaticism, this latter meaning having arisen by reason
1:49:21
of the intempered actions and expressions of persons carried away
1:49:24
by zeal or fanaticism, lacking the balance of reason and logic.
1:49:29
The implied discredit arising in this way has in some
1:49:32
degree extended to the term enthusiasm itself. This is much
1:49:36
to be regretted, for the term has an honorable history
1:49:39
and in its true meaning, indicates a most important and
1:49:42
valuable quality of the human mentality. It should be needless
1:49:46
for us to add here that in the present consideration
1:49:48
of the subject, we are employing the term enthusiasm only
1:49:51
in its true sense and with its most approved meaning
1:49:54
and implication. It is interesting to note that in the
1:49:58
history of the term enthusiasm, the word has been almost
1:50:01
invariably associated with the idea of inspiration. The latter term
1:50:06
originally meant breathing in, and in its figurative sense, it
1:50:10
indicated a breathing in of divine or superhuman power. As
1:50:14
we have pointed out to you, enthusiasm originally meant to
1:50:18
be inspired by the gods. Later the definition was extended
1:50:22
to include that inspiration of great writers, poets, artists, and orators.
1:50:27
Thus Socrates speaks of the inspiration of the poets as
1:50:31
a form of enthusiasm. In its present usage, the term
1:50:35
enthusiasm has come to mean a lively, ardent, wholehearted interest
1:50:40
in or devotion to a cause, subject, or object, and
1:50:43
the word inspiration is employed to indicate an elevating, quickening,
1:50:48
enthusiastic interest which stimulates and animates the intellect and the
1:50:52
emotions of the individual. The two expressions enthusiasm and inspiration,
1:50:58
respectively have traveled hand in hand through the centuries even today.
1:51:02
In the more or less figurative and metaphorical employment of
1:51:05
these words, we find that the quality of enthusiasm is
1:51:09
held to manifest and express itself in that quickening stimulation
1:51:12
of intellect and emotions which denotes inspiration. In such modern usage,
1:51:18
here the student of psychology finds another instance and illustration
1:51:21
of the general rule according to which modern psychology employs
1:51:24
the present knowledge of the subconscious to account for much
1:51:27
that was formerly attributed to supernatural or at least superhuman
1:51:31
influences and power. Enthusiasm and inspiration, which the ancients believe
1:51:36
to be the result of the breathing in of divine
1:51:39
or supernatural essence or the superimposition of supernatural or superhuman power,
1:51:44
are now held to be the result of the aroused
1:51:46
and quickened activities of the subconscious, of that wonderful region
1:51:50
of the mentality of man from which emerges so much
1:51:53
of the greatest importance to him. In the subconscious of man,
1:51:57
there abide many wonderful powers of mind and will. It
1:52:00
would seem that man has merely scratched the surface of
1:52:04
his mental capacity and power, and that great stores of
1:52:07
power remain beneath that surface, as yet untouched, awaiting the
1:52:11
tapping of the mental tools of the individual. At times
1:52:15
under great stress and under great necessity, the individual seems
1:52:19
to contact these hidden storehouses of power, and accordingly he
1:52:23
is able to perform work which ordinarily is far beyond
1:52:26
his power of accomplishment. At such times we say of
1:52:30
him that he is veritably inspired, and he seems indeed
1:52:34
to have breathed in some strange potent influence which magnifies
1:52:38
his powers and efficiency. But the necessity over the individual
1:52:42
usually loses his new power and sinks back to his
1:52:45
ordinary condition. He has not as yet learned how to
1:52:48
maintain or retain the contact once accomplished. William James, in
1:52:53
his celebrated essay The Powers of Man, called attention to
1:52:57
this comparatively common occurrence, i e. That of the sudden
1:53:01
inrush of increased power in times of necessity. He compared
1:53:05
it to the second wind which comes to the person
1:53:08
who has over exerted his ordinary physical powers. Such person,
1:53:12
after feeling exhausted and fatigued to such an extent as
1:53:15
almost to be compelled to cease his efforts when he
1:53:18
is all out of breath, suddenly experiences a feeling of
1:53:21
relief and finds that his second wind has come to him,
1:53:25
and that he is thereby enabled to make a fresh start.
1:53:28
Professor James held that man not only possesses the power
1:53:31
of developing a second wind in physical exertion, but that
1:53:35
also he has the power of developing a mental second
1:53:38
wind in much the same manner. He points out to
1:53:42
his readers that often when a man is compelled to
1:53:44
perform mental work under an increased strain by reason of
1:53:47
unusual necessity, and when, as the result of such effort,
1:53:50
he finds himself on the verge of complete exhaustion, then
1:53:54
in many instances he seems to tap a deeper stratum
1:53:57
of mental energy and low his mind takes on a
1:54:01
new freshness and manifests renewed power. The mental second wind
1:54:06
thus attained, he is able to make a fresh start.
1:54:10
James held that not only is the mental second wind
1:54:13
capable of development, but also that there is the possibility
1:54:16
of the development of a third wind, a fourth wind,
1:54:19
and so on, the limit not being as yet known.
1:54:23
Others who have used the James theory of the mental
1:54:26
second wind as a foundation for further speculation and experiment
1:54:30
have sought to locate the storehouse of this latent second
1:54:33
wind of the mind. They have pointed out that it
1:54:36
must be stored away somewhere, for it could not have
1:54:39
proceeded from nothingness. These psychologists and others are practically in
1:54:45
general agreement in the belief that this hidden storehouse is
1:54:48
located in the great regions of the subconscious, and that
1:54:51
its stores are possible of being drawn upon only when
1:54:54
the subconscious is aroused, stimulated, or quickened by great interest,
1:54:58
when it is inspirired by great feeling, in short, when
1:55:02
it is filled with enthusiasm. The above stated conclusion agrees
1:55:07
with our own general experience, with your own personal experience.
1:55:11
In fact, you have found that when you become quite
1:55:14
intensely interested in a subject, object, study, pursuit, or cause,
1:55:19
so that your enthusiasm is thoroughly aroused, then there comes
1:55:22
to you a highly increased and greatly intensified degree in
1:55:25
amount of mental energy and power. At such times, your
1:55:29
mind seems to work with lightning like rapidity, and with
1:55:32
a wonderful sense of ease and efficiency. Your mental powers
1:55:36
seem to be quadrupled. Your mental machinery seems to have
1:55:40
some miraculous oil poured into the proper place, thus removing
1:55:43
all friction and allowing every part of the mechanism to
1:55:46
move smoothly and easily and with wonderful speed. At such
1:55:50
times you feel indeed actually inspired. You feel that a
1:55:55
new world of attainment would be open to you if
1:55:57
you could but make this mental condition a permanent one.
1:56:01
This increased sense of mental power, this increased ease of
1:56:05
mental work, this increased capacity for accomplishment, all these are
1:56:09
manifestations and expressions of that second wind, which is one
1:56:12
of the qualities of the subconscious, and which is called forth.
1:56:15
Whenever and wherever you can manage to arouse your subconscious
1:56:18
faculties to a sufficient extent, you will find, by exercising
1:56:23
your powers of remembrance, that in the cases mentioned, you
1:56:25
have been conscious of a greater or less amount of enthusiasm,
1:56:28
i e. Of a lively quickening of interest in the
1:56:31
matter before you and toward which you have directed your
1:56:34
concentrated attention. This enthusiasm has so stimulated and vitalized your
1:56:39
intellectual and emotional powers that your reserve force of mental
1:56:42
energy has been drawn upon, and you have become conscious
1:56:45
of an inflow of efficiency and capacity in the performance
1:56:48
of the task, duty, or work before you. You may
1:56:52
readily see how and why the ancients believe this to
1:56:55
be the action of a supernatural or superhuman power which
1:56:58
was breathed in by them, and which was in effect inspiration.
1:57:03
Looking around you in your world of practical, everyday work
1:57:05
and effort, you will see why business men other men
1:57:08
of affairs regard as an important factor of successful work
1:57:11
that mental quality known as enthusiastic interest on the part
1:57:15
of the person's performing that work. This enthusiastic interest in
1:57:20
the work or task is found to call forth all
1:57:22
the mental and physical powers of the worker. He not
1:57:26
only puts into his task every ounce of his ordinary capacity,
1:57:29
but he also draws upon that hidden reserved force of
1:57:32
his subconscious mentality and adds that to his ordinary full energy.
1:57:36
When he approaches the fatigue limit, his enthusiastic interest carries
1:57:41
him on, and before long he has caught his second
1:57:44
wind and obtained his fresh start. Ask any successful sales
1:57:48
manager for a list of the essential characteristics of the
1:57:51
successful salesman, and on that list you will find this
1:57:54
capacity for a habit of enthusiastic interest, occupying a prominent
1:57:58
place this not only because of its highly important effect
1:58:03
upon the work of the salesman himself, but also because
1:58:06
enthusiasm is contagious, and the lively quickened interest of the
1:58:10
salesman tends to communicate itself to the subconscious mentality of
1:58:13
his customer. In the same way, the enthusiasm of the
1:58:17
public speaker, orator, advocate, or statesman energizes and quickens his
1:58:22
entire intellectual and emotional nature, thus causing him to do
1:58:25
his best. Likewise, communicating itself to his audience by means
1:58:29
of mental contagion, the man with his soul afire tends
1:58:34
to fire the souls and hearts of those around him.
1:58:37
The spirit of the enthusiastic leader, foreman or boss is
1:58:41
caught by those under him. Enthusiasm is clearly a manifestation
1:58:46
of the emotional phase of man's mentality, and it appeals
1:58:49
directly and immediately to the emotional nature of others. Likewise,
1:58:54
it is clearly a product of the subconscious mentality, and
1:58:58
accordingly it appeals directly and immediately to the subconscious mentality
1:59:02
of others. Its effect is characteristically animating, energizing, inspiring, quickening.
1:59:09
It not only stirs the feelings and sets fire to
1:59:12
the spiritual nature. But it also stimulates and vivifies the
1:59:16
intellectual faculties. The live wires in the world of men
1:59:20
are those individuals who possess the quality of enthusiastic interest,
1:59:24
highly developed and habitually manifested. When the occasion calls for it, overdone,
1:59:30
it defeats its object. The golden mean must be observed,
1:59:34
But lacking it, the man is what is known in
1:59:36
the idiom of practical men as a dead one. As
1:59:39
we have previously pointed out to you, enthusiasm without faith
1:59:43
is a mere term, having no real substance or meaning
1:59:47
or else it is a sham, a counterfeit, a bluff,
1:59:50
or perhaps a hysterical imitation of the real mental quality.
1:59:54
The man of true enthusiasm does not gush, nor is
1:59:57
he a visionary or a fanatic. These are the signs
2:00:00
of the abnormal development or manifestation of this valuable quality.
2:00:05
The man of true enthusiasm is characterized by his abiding
2:00:08
faith in his proposition or subject, by his lively interest
2:00:12
in it, by his earnestness in presenting it and working
2:00:14
toward its accomplishment, by his untiring, indefatigable efforts on its behalf. Faith, however,
2:00:21
is the foundation upon which all the rest is built.
2:00:24
Lacking faith, the structure of enthusiasm falls like a house
2:00:28
of cards. The more faith a man has in that
2:00:31
which he is doing, toward which he is working, or
2:00:34
that which he is presenting to others, the greater will
2:00:36
be the manifestation of his own powers and capacity, The
2:00:39
more efficient will be his performance of the work, And
2:00:42
the greater will be his ability to influence others and
2:00:44
to cause them to see things in the light of
2:00:46
his own earnest belief and interest. Faith arouses and sustains enthusiasm.
2:00:52
Lack of faith deadens and inhibits it. Unfaith and positive
2:00:55
disbelief kill it. It is clear that the first step
2:00:59
toward the culture and development of enthusiasm is that of
2:01:02
the creation of faith in the subject or object toward
2:01:05
which you wish to manifest and express enthusiasm. If you
2:01:09
have no faith in the subject or object of your activities,
2:01:12
then you will never be able to manifest enthusiasm concerning
2:01:15
that subject or object. And if you are unable to
2:01:18
manifest at least a fair degree of such enthusiasm, then
2:01:22
you will never be able to express your full energies
2:01:24
or to manifest your full powers in those activities. Finally,
2:01:29
if you are unable to express your energies to the
2:01:31
full and to manifest your powers adequately in those activities,
2:01:35
then you will never be able to attain the full
2:01:37
measure of success in your work connected with that particular
2:01:40
subject or object. If you cannot arouse faith and enthusiasm
2:01:44
in your work, you would do well to change your
2:01:47
work so as to have it cover that in which
2:01:48
you can arouse faith and manifest enthusiasm. Faith, however, is
2:01:54
not all that is involved in enthusiasm. Added to faith,
2:01:57
there must be a keen interest in the subject or
2:02:00
object toward which you have directed your expectant attention. Interest
2:02:04
adds zes to your activities and renders pleasant the tasks which,
2:02:08
without it would be monotonous, drudgery and slavish toil. Interest
2:02:12
transforms toil and work into a labor of love. When
2:02:16
you are deeply interested in a task, you like to
2:02:19
perform the work connected with it. Interest arouses the creative
2:02:23
instinct in the heart and soul of the worker, and
2:02:26
all true creative expression is pleasant and is capable of
2:02:29
affording satisfaction to the worker. The best work is not
2:02:33
that work performed merely by the hands, nor even that
2:02:36
in which the head adds its work to that of
2:02:38
the hands. It is only when the heart takes its
2:02:41
place in the working partnership and adds its power to
2:02:44
that of head and hands, that the really creditable and
2:02:46
worthy work of the individual is performed. Interest may be
2:02:50
aroused and maintained by an intelligent observation of the subject
2:02:54
or object of the work. Everything is capable of arousing
2:02:58
interest if you will look deep enough and long enough
2:03:00
for its interesting qualities and properties. The discovery of interesting
2:03:05
facts or qualities in anything creates new interest. This new
2:03:08
interest attracts still newer interest, and this still further interest,
2:03:12
until finally you find yourself quite deeply engrossed by the
2:03:15
subject or object. There is an emotional satisfaction in the
2:03:20
discovery of new facts and qualities in anything under your observation,
2:03:24
and there is a similar pleasure in discovering improved ways
2:03:27
of performing a task. Interest developed to a sufficient extent
2:03:31
leads directly toward enthusiasm. Interest, however, is quite difficult to
2:03:37
arouse concerning anything in which you have no faith. Lack
2:03:41
of faith is a negative mental quality and it serves
2:03:44
to deaden all the mental powers which are involved in
2:03:46
the consideration of in thought concerning a subject or object.
2:03:51
Still more harmful is a positive unfaith in a subject
2:03:54
or object, a positive belief that the thing is not worthy,
2:03:58
not good, not worthwhile no, not honest, not destined to succeed,
2:04:02
or rather destined not to succeed. Disbelief or belief directed
2:04:07
toward the undesirable qualities or prospects of a thing quickly
2:04:11
deaden all interest in that thing, and interest absent. The
2:04:15
thing becomes hateful, and all work connected with it grows
2:04:18
Loathsome faith being absent, interest dies, and interest dying or dead,
2:04:24
there can be no enthusiasm felt, expressed, or manifested. Lack
2:04:29
of faith, however, or even positive unfaith, often may be
2:04:33
overcome by a careful and extended examination in consideration of
2:04:37
the subject or object in question. Your lack of faith,
2:04:41
or even your positive unfaith concerning that subject or object,
2:04:45
may arise from an imperfect knowledge concerning it. Before discarding,
2:04:49
a thing is incapable of arousing and maintaining faith in
2:04:52
your mind concerning it, you should examine it from every
2:04:55
angle and from every point of view, so as to
2:04:58
be sure that you really understand it down to the
2:05:00
ground floor. Do not allow your prejudices to exert an
2:05:04
undue influence upon you. This is a most common mistake
2:05:07
and fault. Get your facts right before you act. You
2:05:12
may discover new facts which will change your whole mental
2:05:14
attitude toward the thing in question, and you may thus
2:05:17
find a firm foundation for a new faith in it.
2:05:21
But having observed every precaution, and having tested the thing
2:05:24
from every angle and viewpoint, and having finally come to
2:05:27
the positive and certain conclusion that there is not and
2:05:30
can never be any faith in you concerning that thing,
2:05:33
then there is but one course for you to pursue,
2:05:36
and that course is to get away from that thing
2:05:38
as soon as you can do so, with due regard
2:05:40
for your duties towards yourself and to others who may
2:05:42
be interested with you in the thing. Time and labor
2:05:45
bestowed upon a thing in which you have no faith
2:05:48
and toward which you feel sure that you can never
2:05:50
entertain faith is time and labor wasted. Get out and
2:05:55
take hold of something in which you have or can
2:05:57
have faith, toward which and consum which you feel that
2:06:01
you can manifest and express enthusiasm. Life without faith and
2:06:05
enthusiasm is a living death. Persons living that life are
2:06:09
mere walking corpses. If you would be a live wire
2:06:13
instead of a dead one, you must begin to arouse
2:06:16
and develop enthusiasm in your heart and soul. You must
2:06:20
cultivate that keen and quickened interest, and that lively and
2:06:23
earnest faith in what you are doing and in the
2:06:25
things to which you are giving your time and work.
2:06:29
You must mentally breathe in and inspire that spirit of
2:06:32
life which men for many centuries have called enthusiasm, and
2:06:36
which is the twin sister of inspiration. Then will you
2:06:40
know the exhilaration of that enkindled and kindling fervor of soul,
2:06:44
that ardent and lively zeal, the mark of true enthusiasm.
2:06:48
Faith Power, Your Inspirational Forces. By William Walker Atkinson, nineteen
2:06:54
twenty two. Faith and Mental Power. In the volume of
2:06:59
this series entitled Personal Power, and in several other volumes
2:07:03
of the same series, we have repeatedly called the attention
2:07:06
of our readers to the fact that the powers and
2:07:08
energies of the mind are called forth under the influence
2:07:11
of those mental activities known respectively as one ideation, two desire,
2:07:17
and three will. First, there must be present in the
2:07:21
mind a strong, clear, definite idea and mental picture of
2:07:25
the object toward which the mental energies and powers are
2:07:27
to be directed and applied. Second, there must be present
2:07:32
in the mind a strong, insistent, burning desire, longing and
2:07:36
craving for the attainment of the object toward which the
2:07:38
mental energies and powers are to be directed and applied. Third,
2:07:43
there must be present in the mind as strong, determined
2:07:46
and persistent will that there shall be attained that object
2:07:49
toward which the mental energies and powers are to be directed.
2:07:53
These three mental factors operate in the direction of arousing
2:07:56
maintaining in action the mental powers and energies necessary for
2:07:59
them the accomplishment of the particular work required for the
2:08:02
attainment of the object of attention, desire, and will. If
2:08:06
any of the three be but weakly manifested or faith
2:08:10
power practically absent, then there will be a corresponding weakness
2:08:13
in the action of the mental powers and energies. In
2:08:17
effective mental action, there must always be the clear, definite
2:08:20
idea of that which is sought after, the ardent, insistent
2:08:24
desire for it, and the strong persistent will for its attainment.
2:08:28
Underlying these three there must always be that strong, lively,
2:08:32
unfailing faith which serves as the base and foundation of
2:08:35
the entire structure. Not only does faith serve as the
2:08:39
base and foundation of the mental structure just mentioned, but
2:08:43
its influence must also ascend to and permeate that which
2:08:46
rests upon it. Faith not only supports and sustains, but
2:08:50
it likewise correlates and coordinates the three mental factors, and
2:08:54
also animates, energizes, stimulates, and inspires them. When we examine
2:09:00
in the matter closely, we perceive this action and influence
2:09:02
of faith upon each of the three aforesaid mental factors
2:09:06
involved in all successful activities and performances of the mind
2:09:09
of man. Without the presence and action of faith, there
2:09:13
is a weakening and deadening of ideation, of desire, and
2:09:16
of will. Quickened faith increases the efficiency of each and
2:09:21
every one of these three mental factors in their individual
2:09:24
or their coordinated existence. Let us now consider in a
2:09:28
little closer detail the action and influence of faith upon
2:09:31
these three several mental factors involved in the successful manifestation
2:09:35
of mental power faith in idealization. In this instruction, the
2:09:41
term Idealization is employed in the sense of the act
2:09:44
of creating the ideal mental form, pattern, design, or mold
2:09:49
of that which you desire to materialize in objective reality.
2:09:53
In the volume of this series entitled Personal Power, we
2:09:56
present the idea of idealization as follows. Ideal clearly defined
2:10:01
in outline and sharply defined in configuration, while energized and
2:10:05
vitalized by an inflow of will power, tend to materialize
2:10:08
themselves in objective reality by means of a building up
2:10:12
a corresponding ethereal pattern, outline, design, or mold around which
2:10:17
is deposited the substance of materialization, and be by means
2:10:21
of attracting to itself the person's conditions, things, and environmental
2:10:27
factors which aid in the process of materialization. Materialization is
2:10:32
the act or process of investing with material form or
2:10:35
material properties that which has previously existed in idealized form
2:10:40
or condition. In the same volume are given the following
2:10:43
suggestions concerning the materializing of the ideal form the form
2:10:47
in the seed which you desire to manifest in the
2:10:50
form of plant, flower, and fruit. One idealize the desired things, happenings,
2:10:57
or conditions just exactly as if they were existent in
2:11:00
active at that particular moment, right here and now before you. Two.
2:11:05
Idealize yourself as you wish to be or to do.
2:11:09
Three Idealize others as you wish them to be or
2:11:12
to do. For Idealize happenings as you wish them to occur.
2:11:17
Five Idealize conditions as you wish them to be. Six
2:11:22
Idealize environment as you wish it to be. Seven Idealize
2:11:27
your power, strength, or ability as you wish them to be.
2:11:32
It is of paramount importance in all cases in which
2:11:34
you wish to accomplish something by the power of your mind,
2:11:37
whether along exoteric or esoteric lines of activity, that you
2:11:41
should first create in your mind a clear, strong, definite idea, ideal,
2:11:46
or mental picture of the thing or condition which you
2:11:48
wish to create or bring into material form in the
2:11:51
objective world. The importance of this creation of a clear, strong,
2:11:56
definite idea or ideal of that which you wish to attain, accomplish,
2:12:00
or gain possession of cannot easily be overestimated. From the
2:12:04
simplest task to the greatest achievement. The materialization is rendered
2:12:08
far easier of accomplishment and far more effective in its results.
2:12:12
By reason of the previous existence of a strong, clear,
2:12:16
definite mental idea, ideal or form. The ideal form must
2:12:20
always precede the material form. We shall not extend our
2:12:25
consideration of idealization in this place, for it has been
2:12:28
covered fully in other volumes of this series. Our purpose
2:12:32
here is merely that of pointing out to you the
2:12:34
fact that it is most difficult, if not indeed actually impossible,
2:12:38
to practice idealization effectively unless there first exists in your
2:12:42
mind affirm, earnest, steadfast faith concerning the possibility of the
2:12:46
accomplishment or of the bringing to pass of the desired
2:12:49
thing or condition. Faith so directed clears the path of
2:12:53
the idealizing activities. It removes all obstacles and hindrances to
2:12:57
their action. It enables the mind to form clearly the
2:13:00
idea or mental image, and to endow the same with
2:13:03
the appearance of reality. Doubt, distrust, or feeble faith, on
2:13:08
the contrary, interfere with the process of idealization and renders
2:13:13
the ideal or mental picture hazy, indefinite, and indistinct. Unfaith
2:13:18
or faith extended in the opposite direction tend to distort
2:13:21
the ideal form, if not indeed to cause it to
2:13:25
take on the form of the opposite to that which
2:13:27
is desired. Feeble faith or distrust and doubt, and still
2:13:32
more unfaith or wrongly directed faith cause you to feel
2:13:35
that all effort toward attainment is futile, useless, and not
2:13:39
worth while. They cause the poison of I can't to
2:13:43
enter the mind, and the battle is lost before it
2:13:46
is begun. The creative imagination and the ideative faculties refuse
2:13:51
to create strong, dear, definite ideas or ideals of that
2:13:54
which they feel can never be accomplished or gained. On
2:13:58
the contrary, when you feel that there is as a
2:14:00
strong probability or chance of the successful accomplishment or attainment,
2:14:04
when confident expectation manifests itself, when the I can and
2:14:09
I will spirit asserts itself within you, then your mind
2:14:12
eagerly performs the work of idealization, and your creative imagination
2:14:16
vividly pictures the mental forms which you desire to manifest
2:14:19
in material, objective form and effect. So right here in
2:14:24
the first stage of the manifestation of personal power, in
2:14:27
the stage of idealization, you are confronted with the necessity
2:14:31
of developing and maintaining faith in confident expectation, and with
2:14:34
the necessity of inhibiting doubt, disbelief, distrust, unfaith, or faith
2:14:39
wrongly directed. Before you can materialize that which you wish,
2:14:44
you must first know exactly what you wish. Must know
2:14:47
it in clear ideal form. The more definite and clearer,
2:14:50
the better faith aids in this idealization, while doubt, disbelief, distrust, unfaith,
2:14:57
or faith wrongly directed will tend to paralyze you their
2:15:00
ideative powers by means of the insidious introduction of the
2:15:03
feeling of what's the use It can't be done. I
2:15:07
don't believe it. It is impossible. These in themselves being ideas,
2:15:12
ideals or mental pictures opposed to the accomplishment or attainment
2:15:15
of the desired thing, and which, like all other ideals,
2:15:19
will strive to become real and to take on material
2:15:21
objective form. Here is the principle. In concise form, Faith
2:15:26
encourages and promotes effective idealization. Doubt, un faith, distrust and
2:15:31
disbelief retard and render ineffective the process of idealization. Faith
2:15:37
in desire. Desire is the second factor of mental power.
2:15:42
You must not only know definitely exactly what you want
2:15:45
and manifest it by means of idealization. You must also
2:15:49
want it hard enough and manifest it in insistent desire.
2:15:53
Desire is the flame and fire which create the stem
2:15:56
of will. The will never goes out into effective action
2:16:00
except when drawn forth by active and sufficiently strong desire.
2:16:04
Desire furnishes that motive for will. Will never becomes active
2:16:08
in absence of amotive. When we speak of a man
2:16:12
having a strong will, we often mean really that he
2:16:15
has strong desire desire, strong enough to cause him to
2:16:18
exert every ounce of power and energy in him toward
2:16:21
the attainment or accomplishment of the object of desire. Desire
2:16:25
exerts a tremendous influence upon all of the mental faculties,
2:16:29
causing them to put forth their full energies and powers,
2:16:32
and to perform their work efficiently. It stimulates the intellect,
2:16:36
inspires the emotions, and quickens the imagination. Without the urge
2:16:41
of desire, there would be but little mental work performed.
2:16:45
The keynote of desire is I want, and to gratify
2:16:48
and satisfy that want, the mind puts forth its best energies.
2:16:53
Without desire, you would do but little thinking, for there
2:16:56
would be no motive for such Without desire, you would
2:17:00
perform no actions, for there would be no moving reason
2:17:03
for such. Desire is ever the mover to action to action,
2:17:07
mental as well as physical. Moreover, the degree in the
2:17:11
intensity of your work, mental or physical, is determined by
2:17:15
the degree of desire manifested in you concerning the object
2:17:18
or end of such work. The more you want a thing,
2:17:22
the harder will you work for it, and the easier
2:17:24
will such work seem to you to be. The task
2:17:27
performed under the influence and incentive of strong desire will
2:17:30
seem much easier than would the same task performed without
2:17:33
such influence and incentive, and infinitely easier than would the
2:17:37
same task appear if its end and object were contrary
2:17:40
to your desire. No argument is needed to establish these facts.
2:17:45
They are matters of common knowledge and are proved by
2:17:47
the experience of everyday life. In the volume of this series,
2:17:51
entitled Desire Power, we have given our readers the following
2:17:55
general rule concerning the effects of desire upon actions and
2:17:58
performance of work, and consequently upon the attainment and accomplishment
2:18:02
of one's ideals. The degree of force energy, will, determination, persistence,
2:18:09
and continuous application. Manifested by an individual in his aspirations, ambitions, aims, performances, actions,
2:18:16
and work is determined primarily by the degree of his
2:18:19
desire for the attainment of these objects, his degree of
2:18:22
want and want to concerning that object. So true is
2:18:27
this principle that some who have studied its effects have
2:18:29
announced the aphorism you can have or be anything you
2:18:32
want if you only want it hard enough. We shall
2:18:36
not go into a detailed consideration of the effect and
2:18:39
force of desire at this place. We have considered it
2:18:41
in other volumes of this series. Our purpose here is
2:18:45
merely that of calling to your attention the important fact
2:18:48
that without faith, it is practically impossible for you to
2:18:51
manifest strong, ardent, insistent desire. If you are filled with doubt, distrust, unfaith,
2:18:58
for disbelief in a thing or can discerning the successful
2:19:01
accomplishment or attainment of anything, he will not be able
2:19:04
to arouse the proper degree of desire for that thing
2:19:07
or for its accomplishment and attainment. Lack of faith or
2:19:11
still more positive disbelief tends to paralyze the desire power.
2:19:16
It acts as a break or as a damper upon
2:19:18
its power. Faith, on the contrary, frees the breaks of
2:19:22
desire or turns on the full draft of its fire.
2:19:26
Desire in order to be efficient, must be insistent, urgent, imperative,
2:19:31
refusing to be denied. It must be that eager, longing, craving, seeking, striving,
2:19:37
which will not rest content unless satisfied or gratified. It
2:19:42
must be, as we have repeatedly stated in the various
2:19:45
volumes of this series, the same kind of craving in
2:19:48
fierce demand that is capable of arousing a want or
2:19:51
want it equal to that of the drowning man's desire
2:19:53
for air, the desert lost man's desire for water, the
2:19:57
starving man's desire for food, the mother animal desire for
2:20:00
the welfare of her offspring, and the wild creature's desire
2:20:04
for its mate. Such a degree and intensity of desire
2:20:08
is practically impossible without the existence of a strong, earnest
2:20:11
faith and a high degree of confident expectation. Here is
2:20:16
the principle in concise form. Faith encourages and sustains, promotes
2:20:20
and maintains desire in its highest degree of efficiency. Doubt, disbelief,
2:20:25
distrust and unfaith retard and restrict, inhibit and paralyze this
2:20:29
efficient manifestation of desire faith in will action. Will action
2:20:35
is the third factor of mental power. You must not
2:20:39
only know clearly just what you want and see it
2:20:42
in your mind's eye in ideal form. You must not
2:20:45
only want it hard enough and arouse its power to
2:20:48
a degree of insistence and demand which will not brook
2:20:50
denial or defeat. You must also call into service the persistent, determined,
2:20:55
indomitable application of the will, which will hold your energies
2:20:59
and powers step dadfastly and relentlessly to the task of
2:21:02
accomplishment and attainment. You must will to will, and must
2:21:06
make your will will itself in the act of willing.
2:21:09
Will is perhaps the most mysterious of all of the
2:21:12
mental powers. It seems to dwell on a mental plane
2:21:15
alone by itself. It lies nearer and closer to the
2:21:19
i ami or ego than does any other phase of mentality.
2:21:24
It is the principal instrument of the i ami, the
2:21:27
instrument which the latter employs directly and immediately. Its spirit
2:21:32
is persistent determination, Its essence is action. Whenever you act,
2:21:37
then do you employ your will. Will Power is the
2:21:40
dynamic phase or aspect of mental power. All other mental
2:21:45
force is more or less static. It is only when
2:21:47
the will becomes involved in the process that mental power
2:21:50
manifests its dynamic phase or aspect. Wise, men have held
2:21:55
that all power is will power at the last, and
2:21:58
that all activities are forms or phases of will action
2:22:01
at the last. In the cosmos as well as in
2:22:05
the individual, will power is the essential and basic phase
2:22:08
of power. While it is true that will go out
2:22:12
only in response to desire, consciously or unconsciously present and active,
2:22:16
and while it is likewise true that will always moves
2:22:19
toward an idea previously existent in the mind, it is
2:22:22
also true that will is greatly encouraged in action and
2:22:25
inefficiency by the presence and power of an earnest faith
2:22:28
or confident expectation, and that its action is retarded, restricted, weakened,
2:22:33
or perhaps absolutely inhibited by an absence of faith, or
2:22:36
by the presence of unfaith, doubt, distrust, or disbelief. You
2:22:43
may satisfy yourself concerning the influence of faith upon the
2:22:46
will by means of the consideration of a few simple
2:22:49
hypothetical cases. For instance, you may be admiring a distant
2:22:54
star and speculating concerning its scenes and possible inhabitants. You
2:22:59
feel a strong desire to know something about that distant object.
2:23:03
You feel that you would like to travel through space
2:23:05
until you reach it seanes, or that you would like
2:23:08
to reach out and draw it toward you, that you
2:23:10
might inspect it. Yet you make no move toward flying
2:23:13
through space, nor do you extend your hand like the
2:23:16
infant reaching for the moon, and attempt to grasp it.
2:23:20
Why not, of course, simply because you have no faith
2:23:24
that such attempts would be successful. You manifest positive doubt, distrust,
2:23:28
and disbelief concerning the idea, and your will is not
2:23:31
called into action concerning it. Upon the same principle, though
2:23:36
the case is not such an extreme one, your will
2:23:39
does not move into action concerning many other familiar objects,
2:23:42
being inhibited by your positive disbelief concerning the possibilities of
2:23:46
its accomplishment. Again, if you have only a faint degree
2:23:50
of confident expectation of the possible or probable outcome of
2:23:54
an undertaking, then your will moves but feebly toward action
2:23:57
concerning that undertaking. If you feel that the chances are
2:24:01
all against me, or that I haven't a chance in
2:24:04
the world of doing this, then your will is practically paralyzed,
2:24:07
so far as is concerned any action directed toward the
2:24:10
accomplishment of that thing. In the degree that you doubt
2:24:14
or disbelieve in the efficacy of an action, so will
2:24:17
be the degree of the weakening, restriction, or inhibition of
2:24:20
your will action concerning that thing. The converse of the
2:24:23
above proposition is likewise true. In the degree that you
2:24:27
have faith in an undertaking or course of action, and
2:24:30
in the degree of your confident expectation of the successful
2:24:33
result of action in that direction, so will be the
2:24:36
degree of the ease, efficiency, and force of your will
2:24:39
action in that direction. The greater your faith and your
2:24:42
confident expectation, the greater will be the ease and efficiency
2:24:46
of your manifestation of will action concerning the object of
2:24:49
your faith and expectant attention. Here is the principle and
2:24:53
concise form. Faith encourages and stimulates will action and persistent determination. Doubt, distrust,
2:25:00
disbelief and unfaith restrain, restrict, retard and inhibit will action
2:25:04
and persistent determination. Faith in combined idea, desire will From
2:25:10
the foregoing, you will realize that, in order to manifest
2:25:13
your mental power to its full degree of efficiency or
2:25:17
even to an approximate degree of effectiveness. It is necessary
2:25:20
that you should experience and entertain at least a very
2:25:22
considerable amount of faith and a lively degree of confident
2:25:26
expectation concerning the object subject, achievement, or attainment toward which
2:25:31
your mental power is to be directed. If you have
2:25:34
not this degree of faith and confident expectation, you cannot
2:25:37
expect to be able to manifest an effective degree of
2:25:40
mental power in the case. In the event of finding
2:25:43
yourself in such a position, you must either strive to arouse, develop,
2:25:48
and cultivate a true faith and a rational, confident expectation
2:25:52
concerning the object of your endeavors, or else be to
2:25:56
withdraw from the attempt because you fail to find a
2:25:58
rational and valid basis for such faith and confident expectation.
2:26:03
To continue the attempt without faith and without at least
2:26:06
a very fair degree of confident expectation is to violate
2:26:10
the essential laws of your own mental and spiritual being. However,
2:26:14
as we have pointed out to you before, it is
2:26:16
not proper to withdraw from a task or a pursuit
2:26:19
or undertaking because of lack of faith and confident expectation
2:26:23
until you have thoroughly examined the matter in the light
2:26:25
of reason, free from prejudice, nor until you have satisfied
2:26:29
yourself that there is no valid and true basis for
2:26:31
faith in the thing in question. However, the fact remains
2:26:35
undisputed that without faith and confident expectation, your mental power
2:26:39
will refuse to manifest itself actively and efficiently. Your heart
2:26:44
must be in the undertaking or task, or your head
2:26:47
will not do its best work therein, and your hands
2:26:51
will follow the lead of the head. Efficiency comes from
2:26:54
the exercise of head, heart, and hands. Faith Power your
2:26:59
Inspiration Forces. By William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two, The
2:27:06
Attractive Power of Faith. In addition to the influence exerted
2:27:10
by faith over and upon those phases of mental power
2:27:13
which manifest in the more familiar activities of thought, desire,
2:27:17
and will, which you have considered in the preceding section
2:27:20
of this book, faith also plays an important part in
2:27:22
those less familiar activities of the mind which operate in
2:27:26
the direction of affecting and influencing the things, conditions, and
2:27:29
persons in the outside world. This is particularly true concerning
2:27:34
that phase or form of mental power which manifests along
2:27:37
the lines of the law of mental attraction. While the
2:27:41
orthodox and more formal schools of psychology do not as
2:27:44
yet openly admit the validity of the phenomena of mental
2:27:47
power to which we have just referred, Nevertheless, there exists
2:27:50
a large and rapidly growing body of careful thinkers, experimenters,
2:27:54
and observers who have thoroughly satisfied themselves of the reality
2:27:58
of such phenomena and of thelidity of the teachings concerning
2:28:01
the mental laws governing them. That thought travels in subtle waves, currents,
2:28:07
and streams of vibratory energy which extend far from the
2:28:10
brain of the persons originating them. That these vibratory thought
2:28:13
waves or thought currents affect and influence other persons and things.
2:28:17
That thought is contagious and awakens corresponding mental vibrations in
2:28:21
others at a distance. All this has now come to
2:28:23
be accepted as truth by millions of persons all over
2:28:27
the world, And though not as yet formally accepted and
2:28:29
taught by the orthodox conservative schools of psychology, the general
2:28:34
hypothesis is accepted as true by great numbers of very
2:28:38
careful thinkers, and the body of experimental and practical proof
2:28:42
supporting it. Is increasing rapidly in size and importance. One
2:28:46
of the most interesting and at the same time most
2:28:49
important and practical phases of this general class of mental
2:28:52
phenomena is that which is known as mental attraction or
2:28:55
thought attraction, the attractive power of thought manifesting along the
2:28:58
lines of the law of mental attraction. It is with
2:29:02
this particular phase that we are specially concerned in this consideration,
2:29:06
rather than that of thought power in general. We have
2:29:09
considered the general subject of thought power, thought vibration, et
2:29:13
cetera in that volume of this series entitled thought power.
2:29:17
In the present volume, we are concerned with thought power
2:29:20
only so far as it is associated with faith power,
2:29:23
and the attractive power of thought is closely linked with
2:29:26
that of faith power. As you will see as we
2:29:28
proceed with the present consideration of the subject, the attractive
2:29:32
power of thought manifesting along the lines of the law
2:29:35
of mental attraction may be stated as follows. One thought,
2:29:39
in the form of subtle vibratory force, travels in constantly
2:29:43
widening circles from the center represented by the brain of
2:29:46
the individual. Two, these thought waves, coming in contact with
2:29:49
the minds of other persons, tend to set up corresponding
2:29:52
vibrations there manifesting what has been called the contagion of thought.
2:29:56
Free these thought vibrations of the individual manifest that general
2:30:01
law of thought, by reason of which thought continually strives
2:30:05
a to manifest itself in action, and b to materialize
2:30:09
an objective form that which exists within itself in ideal form.
2:30:13
For these thought vibrations, operating as above stated, tend to
2:30:17
attract and draw to the individual the objects and conditions
2:30:20
of the outside world which are correlated to the thought
2:30:22
of the individual, or else to attract and draw the
2:30:25
individual to such correlated objects or conditions. The attractive power
2:30:31
of thought, sometimes called the drawing power of the mind,
2:30:34
operates along the lines of what is known as the
2:30:37
law of mental attraction. As we have said, this law
2:30:40
of mental attraction operates along certain general lines of manifestation,
2:30:45
though exhibiting numerous special phases or forms of such manifestation,
2:30:50
its general principle of operation is well expressed by the
2:30:53
term correlation. Correlation means reciprocal or mutual relation, and relation
2:30:59
means connection, kinship, alliance, attachment, or affinity. Correlation then means
2:31:07
mutual or reciprocal relation, connection, kinship, alliance, attachment, or affinity.
2:31:14
Things which are correlated are tied for link together by
2:31:17
mutual affinity, kinship, alliance, or similar connection. One of the
2:31:22
cardinal principles of mental science is that thoughts and the
2:31:25
things represented by them are correlated, i e. Linked and
2:31:28
connected by subtle ties or bonds of attachment, affinity, or kinship.
2:31:34
The second principle of mental science is that correlated things
2:31:37
tend to attract each other. Thus, the things of the
2:31:39
outside world tend to attract the thoughts which are correlated
2:31:43
to them, and the thoughts tend to attract the things
2:31:45
to which they are correlated. Thus there is set up
2:31:48
a process of mutual attraction or drawing to things attracting
2:31:52
and drawing to themselves correlated thoughts and thoughts attracting in
2:31:56
drawing to themselves correlated things, conditions, happenings, or persons. The
2:32:02
same mental law also operates so as to draw to
2:32:04
the individual the thought currents of others which are correlated
2:32:07
to his own by reason of similar rate of vibrations
2:32:10
or of common nature of the thought. Thought attraction has
2:32:14
been compared with the action of the magnet, and indeed
2:32:18
the mind is a powerful magnet. Attracting in drawing to
2:32:21
itself those things which are in harmonious vibration with it.
2:32:25
It has also been compared to the action of gravitation,
2:32:28
and the analogy is quite striking. The law of mental
2:32:32
attraction might well be called the law of mental gravitation.
2:32:36
Gravitation is that attraction or force by which all bodies
2:32:39
or particles in the universe tend towards each other. Not
2:32:43
only does the Earth attract the tiny particle of matter,
2:32:46
but the latter also attracts the Earth. Not only does
2:32:49
the Sun attract the Earth, but the latter also attracts
2:32:52
the Sun. Not only does the Earth attract the Moon,
2:32:55
but the latter also attracts the Earth, as is evidenced
2:32:58
by its pulling force upon the Earth's tipe. There is
2:33:01
the mutual and reciprocal pull of gravitation in force between
2:33:05
all material things. The law of mental attraction or mental
2:33:10
gravitation acts along lines very similar to those of the
2:33:13
action of physical gravitation. There is present and active the
2:33:17
mutual and reciprocal pull between thoughts and things, and between
2:33:21
thoughts and thoughts. Thoughts, however, are things. At the last analysis,
2:33:27
this principle extends even to so called inanimate objects. This
2:33:30
mystery is explainable under the now well established law that
2:33:34
there is mind in everything, even in the apparently inanimate
2:33:37
objects of the universe, even in the atoms and particles
2:33:40
of which material substances are composed. We shall not argue
2:33:44
this last point here. It has been considered in detail
2:33:47
in other volumes of this series. We are stating here
2:33:50
merely the general fact. Just as birds of a feather
2:33:54
flock together, so do the thought waves and thought currents
2:33:57
of different individuals draw together, and also are attracted to
2:34:01
the different individuals manifesting the same general character of thoughts.
2:34:05
There are affinities in the world of thought vibrations, just
2:34:09
as there are affinities between chemical substances and between individual
2:34:13
living creatures. We not only draw to us thought vibrations
2:34:17
in harmony with our own, but we also draw to
2:34:20
ourselves other persons whose general thought vibrations are similar to
2:34:23
our own. The negative phase of attraction, that phase known
2:34:27
as repulsion, operates along the same general lines as the
2:34:31
positive phase. The following lines quoted from that volume of
2:34:35
the present series, entitled Thought Power, will give you, in
2:34:39
short form, a general idea of the more complex operations
2:34:43
of the law of mental attraction. Not only do you
2:34:46
attract thought vibrations, thought waves, thought currents, thought atmospheres, et
2:34:51
cetera of a harmonious character, and to which your thoughts
2:34:54
have a natural affinity, you also attract to yourselves, by
2:34:58
the power of thought attraction, other persons whose thoughts have
2:35:01
an affinity and harmony with your own. In the same
2:35:04
way you attract to yourself and are attracted toward other
2:35:08
persons whose interests run along the same general lines as
2:35:11
your own. You draw to yourself the persons who may
2:35:15
be necessary for the successful carrying out of the plans
2:35:17
and purposes, the desires and ambitions which fill your thoughts
2:35:21
most of the time, and in the same way you
2:35:24
are drawn toward those into whose plans and purposes you
2:35:27
are fitted to play an important part. In short, each
2:35:31
person tends to attract toward himself those other persons whom
2:35:34
he needs in order to materialize his ideals and to
2:35:37
express his desires, providing that he wants hard enough, and
2:35:41
providing that the other persons are in harmonious affinity with
2:35:44
his plans and purposes. There are other, and still more
2:35:48
subtle phases of the operation of thought attraction, which must
2:35:51
be noted here. Although they involve the operation of certain
2:35:54
powers of the mind and of nature, which are but
2:35:57
little understood by the great masses of persons. We have
2:36:01
reference here to the fact that by thought attraction, not
2:36:04
only other thoughts, not only other persons, are attracted to oneself,
2:36:08
but also that the conditions, environment, and circumstances necessary for
2:36:13
the effective expression and manifestation of one's thoughts are often
2:36:16
brought into being for him. They can scarcely be said
2:36:19
to have been attracted to him. Rather, does it seem
2:36:21
that he is attracted to and by them. There is
2:36:24
evidently a correlation established between these things and one's thoughts.
2:36:28
Subtle natural forces are called into operation in order that
2:36:32
there may be a coordination of the person, the time,
2:36:35
the place, the conditions, the opportunity required for the expression
2:36:39
materialization of the thought. Persons who have had their attention
2:36:43
directed toward the operations of the law of mental attraction,
2:36:47
and who have learned to apply the principles of its
2:36:49
manifestation in their own affairs in life, observe many wonderful
2:36:53
instances of its power in the happenings of their everyday life.
2:36:57
Books newspaper items, magazine articles bearing on some subject which
2:37:01
is prominent in their thoughts. All these come to hand
2:37:04
in an almost uncanny way. Persons who fit into the
2:37:08
general scheme of the thought plan come into one's life.
2:37:11
Peculiar happenings come to pass in the same way. Things
2:37:15
arise which fit in with the general idea. Unexpected circumstances
2:37:21
arise which, although often at first sight seemingly obstructive and undesirable,
2:37:26
in the end are found to dovetail perfectly into the
2:37:28
whole scheme of things. No wonder that many persons having
2:37:32
these experiences are at first inclined to attribute them to
2:37:35
supernatural or superhuman influence, But they are in full accordance
2:37:39
with natural law, and are a part of the powers
2:37:42
of man when rightly understood. It is undoubtedly true that
2:37:46
clear idealization and insistent desire, combined with the persistent determination
2:37:51
of will, give power, energy, and force to the attractive
2:37:54
power of thought. In the cases just recited, thoughts characterized
2:37:59
by strong, clear cut ideas and ideals inspired by insistent
2:38:03
desire and stiffened by persistent will are far more effective
2:38:07
in thought attraction than are thoughts of the opposite character,
2:38:10
but the factor of faith or confident expectation plays an
2:38:14
equally important part in the process. Here, as in every
2:38:18
other manifestation of mental power or personal power of any kind,
2:38:22
the factor of confident expectation is most important, and one
2:38:26
which must always be pressed into service and never overlooked
2:38:29
or undervalued. As we have repeatedly stated in this book,
2:38:33
faith and confident expectation is the great stimulator and energizer
2:38:37
of mental power, and doubt, disbelief, distrust, and unbelief are
2:38:42
the great weakeners, depressants, and inhibiting forces of the mind.
2:38:46
The attractive power of thought is highly increased by the
2:38:49
presence of a lively, faith and spirited confident expectation. It
2:38:53
is greatly decreased, weakened, hampered, and often almost entirely inhibited
2:38:58
by the presence of marked doubt, disbelief, distrust, and unbelief.
2:39:03
The general law concerning faith and confident expectation is as
2:39:07
fully inactively operative in the phenomena of thought attraction as
2:39:10
in any of the other phases of mental power. When
2:39:13
your thoughts concerning an object, a plan, an undertaking, a
2:39:17
course of action is strongly colored by faith and confident expectation,
2:39:22
they are given an active, forceful, attractive quality. They may
2:39:26
be said to be inspired by that confident, expectant, hopeful
2:39:30
mental attitude, and are accordingly filled with life and spirit.
2:39:34
On the contrary, when your thoughts of this nature are
2:39:37
colored with doubt, distrust, disbelief, and unfaith, they lack life
2:39:42
and spirit and are weak and ineffective. When that unfaith
2:39:46
is of such a pronounced character as to be actually
2:39:48
a faith in the futility of the plan and a
2:39:51
confident expectation of its ultimate failure, then the thoughts strong
2:39:55
enough to produce effects and results tend to attract the
2:39:58
opposite of that desired, In short, to attract the undesirable
2:40:02
results instead of the desirable effects. You may understand this
2:40:06
better by realizing that the effect of transmitted thought vibrations
2:40:10
is almost precisely similar to the effect of one's mental
2:40:13
attitude manifested in a personal interview. You need no argument,
2:40:18
no illustrations to convince you of the different effect produced
2:40:21
upon you and in you, on the one hand, by
2:40:24
the confident, hopeful, expectant, optimistic mental attitude of the person
2:40:28
seeking to interest you in a plan or an undertaking,
2:40:31
and on the other hand, by that of the person
2:40:34
with a similar purpose, whose mind is filled with doubt, distrust, unfaith,
2:40:38
and disbelief in the thing which he is presenting to
2:40:41
your attention and which he is advocating. In such instances,
2:40:45
you fairly catch the mental vibrations of either of these
2:40:48
classes of persons, and you are distinctly aware of the
2:40:52
mental reaction which they induce in you. The first class
2:40:55
produces an effect which may be called inspiring, the second
2:40:59
class an effect which may be called dispiriting. The one
2:41:03
class invites success and co operation. The other class invites
2:41:07
failure and a refusal on your part to fall in
2:41:10
with the idea presented. In either case, the effect produced
2:41:14
upon you is correlated with the character of the thoughts
2:41:16
prominent in the mind of the other person. Some persons
2:41:20
in such an interview are so filled with faith, hope, confidence,
2:41:24
and belief in their plans and propositions and in the
2:41:27
successful outcome of the interview, that it requires an effort
2:41:31
on your part to refuse this to them. Others under
2:41:34
similar conditions manifest merely a lukewarm and colorless mental attitude.
2:41:39
They seem to lack conviction concerning the merits of their proposition,
2:41:43
and to entertain grave doubts of their ability to attract
2:41:45
and hold your attention and interest, let alone to arouse
2:41:49
your desire and to obtain a judgment in their favor.
2:41:51
It is quite easy to say no to such persons,
2:41:55
for you are convinced that they feel in their hearts
2:41:58
that such is just what I am expected. Others have
2:42:02
such a degree of doubt, unfaith, disbelief, and lack of
2:42:05
confidence in the proposition and in the outcome of the interview,
2:42:09
that it amounts to faith and confident expectation of being
2:42:12
turned down cold at once. Their mental ears are pricked,
2:42:15
ready to catch your emphatic no. Here you find refusal
2:42:19
to be the line of the least resistance. You know
2:42:23
this from actual experience. Well, then, this same principle operates
2:42:28
in the case of thought attraction by means of the
2:42:30
transmitted thought vibrations of the individual. There are present. In
2:42:34
such case, the conditions which attract and those which repel
2:42:39
the thought vibrations of the individual are really that individual himself,
2:42:43
so far as is concerned the particular degree of thought attraction.
2:42:47
They produce the same effect at long range that are
2:42:50
produced at short range. In the personal interview. The principle
2:42:54
is the same in either case. Your mental attitude and
2:42:57
the character of your thoughts determine the effect to be produced.
2:43:00
In the long distance mental calls, just as truly as
2:43:03
in the short distance ones. The same causes are present
2:43:07
and active, and of course the same effects and results follow.
2:43:12
Wherever mental power is present and active, it acts according
2:43:16
to the same principles, irrespective of the distance from the
2:43:19
person exercising it. Space does not change its character or
2:43:22
its laws of operation. This being understood, you will see
2:43:26
that it is not sufficient for you to arouse your
2:43:29
faith and confident expectation concerning and undertaking project, plan, idea,
2:43:34
object or subject merely when you are actually in the
2:43:36
presence of persons who are considered likely to serve your purposes.
2:43:40
In the matter, you must also create and maintain an
2:43:43
habitual mental attitude of faith, belief, and confident expectation in
2:43:47
the things in which you are interested and in which
2:43:50
you hope to interest others. You must not allow doubt, distrust, disbelief,
2:43:55
and unfaith to overcome you during the hours in which
2:43:58
you are away from the other persons. In the case,
2:44:01
and above all, you must never allow yourself to fall
2:44:04
into the slough of despond into the mire of positive doubt, distrust,
2:44:08
and disbelief concerning your projects, lest you start into operation
2:44:12
in the wrong direction. The power of faith and confident expectation.
2:44:17
Your mental atmosphere is not confined to your immediate position
2:44:20
in space. It extends in all directions and is filled
2:44:24
with vibrations, waves, currents, whirlpools and swirlpools of thought power,
2:44:29
and these influence and produce effects upon other persons whose
2:44:32
thoughts are turned upon similar objects, or upon yourself and
2:44:35
your undertakings. Remember always that thought is contagious at long
2:44:41
range as well as at short range, over long distances,
2:44:44
as well as in your immediate vicinity. If you have
2:44:48
a lively faith in your undertakings and a firmly established
2:44:51
confident expectation of their success, then others in the general
2:44:55
line of interest will tend to catch this mental attitude.
2:45:00
That's true, is it that if you entertain marked doubt
2:45:02
towards your proposition or undertaking, if you are filled with distrust, disbelief,
2:45:07
and unfaith regarding it, then such other persons will tend
2:45:10
to catch these mental vibrations and will act accordingly. First,
2:45:15
be sure that the undertaking is a proper subject or
2:45:18
object of faith and confident expectation, and then deliberately, indeterminately cultivate, develop,
2:45:23
and maintain such mental attitude concerning it until it becomes
2:45:27
set and habitual. If you cannot do this, you will
2:45:31
do well to drop your connection with the thing, and
2:45:34
to turn your attention to something toward which and concerning
2:45:37
which you truly feel faith in, confident expectation, and are
2:45:40
able to manifest the proper mental attitude toward it. The
2:45:44
more complex phases and forms of the manifestation of thought attraction,
2:45:48
namely those phases and forms which are concerned with the
2:45:51
attraction of circumstances, happenings, conditions, and environments, while more difficult
2:45:56
to explain satisfactorily in simple terms, nevertheless are governed by
2:46:01
the same general underlying principles of the law of mental attraction.
2:46:05
The mental forces are set into activity by desire. They
2:46:09
move out toward the object of clear and strong idealization.
2:46:12
They are held firmly to the task by will, and, last,
2:46:15
but not least, they are largely dependent upon faith and
2:46:19
confident expectation for their color and effectiveness. Your conditions and environment.
2:46:24
The circumstances and happenings which come to you are very
2:46:28
largely the result of the operation of the law of
2:46:30
mental attraction, and they are accordingly, to a great extent,
2:46:34
manifestations in objective material form of your mental ideas, ideals,
2:46:39
and pictures. The force and nature of such manifestation depending
2:46:43
largely upon the degree of faith and confident expectation possessed
2:46:46
and expressed by you and your thought upon these subjects
2:46:49
and events, or upon them degree of doubt, disbelief, distrust,
2:46:54
and unfaith those negative phases of faith which serve to
2:46:57
slow down the action of faith power, or perhaps even
2:47:00
to reverse its machinery. You create environment, conditions, circumstances, events,
2:47:07
assistance means to ends by mental power operating along the
2:47:11
lines of the law of mental attraction. Mental attraction, like
2:47:15
all forms or phases of mental power, is the transformation
2:47:19
of the subjective ideal into objective reality. The thought tends
2:47:22
to take form in action, the mental form tends to
2:47:25
take on objective materiality and substance. The ideal is represented
2:47:30
by the clear, strong, definite mental picture or ideal form
2:47:34
manifested in idealization. Desire furnishes the flame and heat which
2:47:38
generate the steam of will needed in the creative process,
2:47:41
but the idealization is impaired and weakened. The desire dies away,
2:47:45
the will loses its determination unless faith be there to
2:47:49
create the confident expectation. The less the faith in confident expectation,
2:47:54
or the greater the doubt, disbelief, distrust, unfaith, and lack
2:47:58
of confidence. The weaker is the idealization, the weaker the desire,
2:48:02
and the weaker the will power manifested without faith, there
2:48:06
can be no confident expectation without faith. The fires of
2:48:10
desire die away. Without faith, the steam of will ceases
2:48:14
to be generated, and thus attainment becomes impossible. Whenever you
2:48:19
think of the law of mental attraction, think of faith.
2:48:22
For faith is its very soul, its inspiration. Faith power
2:48:27
your inspirational forces. By William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two.
2:48:34
Faith in Yourself. In the foregoing sections of this book,
2:48:37
we have asked you to consider the subject of the
2:48:39
importance of developing maintaining faith in the subjects and objects,
2:48:43
the undertakings and propositions which constitute the basis of your
2:48:47
endeavors in work, and also that of the confident expectation
2:48:51
concerning the successful outcome of your endeavors in their behalf
2:48:54
when these actually have been undertaken. In the present section,
2:48:58
we ask you to develop and manifest faith in yourself
2:49:02
and confident expectation concerning the outcome of your expression of
2:49:05
personal power in thought, will, and work. Important as is
2:49:10
the maintenance of the confident, expectant mental attitude toward the
2:49:13
objects and subjects of your endeavors and toward their successful outcome.
2:49:18
Even still more important is the intelligent, intuitive mental attitude
2:49:22
of faith and confident expectation concerning yourself, your possession of
2:49:26
personal power, and your ability to manifest efficiently your latent,
2:49:30
innate powers and energies in actual objective performance. You the
2:49:34
individual are the base and ground, the coordinator and correlator
2:49:39
of your active forces and energies, and the creator of
2:49:41
the world which constitutes your environment. And you are the
2:49:45
proper subject of the manifestation of your earnest faith and
2:49:48
your most certain confident expectation. Among the many characteristics and
2:49:53
qualities which make for success of the individual, there is
2:49:56
none more fundamental, essential, and basic than that of self
2:49:59
confidence and self reliance, both of these terms being but
2:50:02
expressions of the idea of faith in oneself. The man
2:50:06
who has faith in himself not only brings under his
2:50:09
control and direction those wonderful powers of his subconscious mentality
2:50:13
and the full power of his conscious mental faculties and instruments,
2:50:17
but also tends to inspire a similar feeling in the
2:50:20
minds and hearts of those other individuals with whom he
2:50:22
comes in contact in the course of his pursuit of
2:50:25
the objects of his endeavors. An intuitive perception and realization
2:50:29
of one's own powers and energies, capacity and efficiency, possibilities
2:50:34
and capabilities is an essential attribute of the individual who
2:50:38
is destined to success. A study of the world of
2:50:41
men will disclose the fact that those men who eventually succeed,
2:50:45
who arrive ultimately, who do things, are marked by this deep,
2:50:50
intuitive faith in themselves and by their confident expectation of
2:50:53
ultimate success. These men rise superior to the incidents of
2:50:58
temporary defeat. They use these fis failures as stepping stones
2:51:01
to ultimate victory. They are living expressions of Henley's invictus.
2:51:06
They indeed are the masters of their fate, the captains
2:51:10
of their souls. Such men are never really defeated, like
2:51:14
rubber balls. They have that bounce, which causes them to
2:51:18
rise triumphantly after each fall. The harder they are thrown down,
2:51:22
the higher do they rise on the rebound. Such men
2:51:25
are always possible, nay probable, and certain victors so long
2:51:30
as they maintain this intuitive faith in self or self confidence.
2:51:34
It is only when this is lost that they are
2:51:36
really defeated or destroyed. The failures in life are discovered,
2:51:40
usually to be either one those who have never manifested
2:51:44
this faith in self or self confidence, or else two
2:51:48
those who have permitted themselves to lose the same under
2:51:51
the bludgeonings of chance. Those who have never felt the
2:51:54
thrill of faith in self or of self confidence are
2:51:57
soon labeled by their fellows as lacking the elements of
2:52:00
successful achievement. The world soon gets their numbers and places
2:52:04
them where they belong. Their lack of self faith and
2:52:08
self confidence is felt by those with whom they come
2:52:10
in contact. The world lacks faith in them and has
2:52:13
no confident expectation of their success. Those who once have
2:52:18
had this self faith or self confidence, but who have
2:52:20
lost it by reason of temporary failure or setbacks, are
2:52:24
in even a still worse condition. This because while that
2:52:27
never had it class have merely a lack of the
2:52:29
inspiriting quality. These had it but lost it. Individuals actually
2:52:33
have now a positive unfaith, distrust, and disbelief in themselves
2:52:38
and their abilities. They believe that luck is against me,
2:52:41
and they actually entertain confident expectation that the worst is
2:52:46
yet to come. They have set the law of mental
2:52:49
attraction operating against them instead of for them. Their only
2:52:54
hope is to reverse their backward running mental engine and
2:52:57
once more to get that I can and I will spirit.
2:53:01
The study of the life story of the successful men
2:53:03
in all walks of life will illustrate this principle to
2:53:06
you so forcibly that having perceived it, you will never
2:53:09
again doubt its absolute truth. In practically every case, you
2:53:13
will find that these successful men have been knocked down
2:53:16
and bowled out many times in the early days of
2:53:19
their careers, often even later on in life. But the knockout,
2:53:24
though perhaps dazing them for a short time, never rob
2:53:27
them of their gameness their will to succeed. They always
2:53:31
arose to their feet before they were counted out, and
2:53:33
they always grimly but resolutely faced fate. Though their heads
2:53:38
were bloody, they were unbowed. As Henley triumphantly chants fate
2:53:43
cannot defeat such a spirit. In time, Destiny recognizes the
2:53:47
fact that here is a man, and being feminine, she
2:53:50
falls in love with him and bestows her favors upon him.
2:53:54
If you will examine carefully the variety of confident men
2:53:57
in the world around you, you will find that they
2:53:59
may be grouped into two general classes. The first of
2:54:03
these classes is made up of the vainglorious, egotistical, conceited men,
2:54:08
the braggarts, the boasters, the cheap persons who are enamored
2:54:11
by their own personality, and who delude themselves as they
2:54:15
seek also to delude the world into the belief that
2:54:18
they are really great and wonderful men. They are conceded,
2:54:22
not self believers. They are filled with vanity, not with
2:54:26
true self reliance and self respect. They are the peacocks
2:54:30
and apes of the world of men, not its lions
2:54:33
and eagles. They are base counterfeits of the self reliant,
2:54:37
self confident men of the true type. They are but
2:54:40
lads painted to resemble iron. They are false fronts, possessing
2:54:45
no real stability or power, and having nothing serving to
2:54:48
back them up. The world soon discovers them to be
2:54:52
in the slang phrases so expressive of the spirit of
2:54:55
the idea. Two spots trying to be aces or for fleshers.
2:55:00
Yet at least for a time, they often manage to
2:55:02
fool persons, but sooner or later they crumple, shrivel, and
2:55:06
fade from view. The second class of confident individuals is
2:55:11
made up of men who pay but little attention to
2:55:13
the superficial aspects of personality, except perhaps to employ such
2:55:18
as their tools and instruments in working upon the world
2:55:21
of superficial observers. Instead, they have a deep underlying faith
2:55:26
in that something within which they have discovered to be
2:55:28
the center of their power and being. The I am
2:55:32
I looms large in their mental vision. But that I
2:55:35
is the great I of true individuality, and not the
2:55:38
insignificant I of superficial personality. These men distinguish and differentiate
2:55:44
between the John Smith Grosser age forty six part of
2:55:48
themselves and that mysterious I am I, which recognizes that
2:55:52
the outer mask of personality is merely that of the
2:55:55
part they are now playing in the great game of life.
2:55:58
In the cosmic drama. The truly great and successful men
2:56:02
in all walks of life intuitively recognize that the elements
2:56:05
of personality which the masses of the public seem to
2:56:08
think constitutes the real individuality of the successful man are
2:56:12
at the best but petty and trifling things, things worn
2:56:15
about the individuality as one wears his every day garments,
2:56:18
and that the real individual himself is hidden from the
2:56:22
sight of the lovers of superficiality, though being the most
2:56:25
real thing in the world to the true individual himself.
2:56:30
The true individual has the most intense faith in his individuality,
2:56:34
but regards his personality as merely something necessary for his
2:56:38
personal manifestation and presence, and never as the thing in
2:56:41
itself of his being. This statement will appear meaningless to
2:56:46
those who are unable to distinguish between the inner individuality
2:56:49
and the outer personality, between the eye and the t mee,
2:56:53
as some have expressed it. But all who have caught
2:56:56
even the faintest glimpse of the real self, who have
2:56:59
entered into the dawn of the I am I consciousness,
2:57:02
these will know what we mean, and will strive toward
2:57:04
a fuller realization and manifestation of that something within that
2:57:09
moment in which the soul first experiences this consciousness of
2:57:13
I am I, it is borne into a new world,
2:57:16
a world in which faith in itself becomes an intuitive perception,
2:57:19
and in which the confident expectation of the realization of
2:57:22
that faith becomes an habitual mental attitude. We are not
2:57:26
seeking to lead you into a maze of metaphysical speculation
2:57:30
or mystic contemplation by calling your attention to this great
2:57:33
subject and object of your faith in yourself, this imminent
2:57:36
I am I, this wonder something within yourself which abides
2:57:40
in that secret place of your temple of being. Instead,
2:57:43
we are asking you to lay aside, at least temporarily,
2:57:47
all such mental activities directed toward abstract subjects or objects,
2:57:51
and to turn your gaze inward, until becoming accustomed to
2:57:54
the seeming darkness. You will see, at first faintly, then plainly,
2:57:59
that magnificce being, which is yourself, glowing in a light,
2:58:02
soft but penetrating the inner light. When you have found this,
2:58:07
then verily have you found that true subject and object
2:58:10
of faith, in yourself, the only true subject and object
2:58:13
of self faith, the subject and object of which all
2:58:16
the subjects and objects of mere, temporal, ephemeral personality are
2:58:20
but pitiful imitations or base counterfeits. When you have found
2:58:24
this real self, that something within this I am I,
2:58:28
then have you found that inner and real self which
2:58:30
has constituted the subject and object of that faith and
2:58:33
confident expectation which have inspired, animated, enthused, and sustained the
2:58:38
thousands of men who have reached the heights of attainment
2:58:40
by the path of definite ideals, insistent desire, confident expectation,
2:58:45
persistent determination, and balanced compensation. It is this intuitive perception
2:58:51
and consciousness of the real self which has caused men
2:58:54
to live out the ideal of invictus in the spirit
2:58:57
of that glorious poem of Henley. Nothing but this inner
2:59:01
realization would have been sufficient to fill the soul of
2:59:04
man with this indomitable spirit and unconquerable will. No mere
2:59:08
vanity of personal being, no mere belief therein would have
2:59:12
been sufficient. There is needed the certain positive faith, based
2:59:15
upon the underlying individuality, upon the real self, upon the
2:59:19
I am I, to enable man to utter that tremendous statement,
2:59:23
I am the master of my fate. I am the
2:59:25
captain of my soul. In the spirit of this realization,
2:59:29
in consciousness of your real self, of your I am I.
2:59:32
Read once more that inspired poem of Henley to which
2:59:35
we have so repeatedly alluded in our preceding consideration of
2:59:38
this subject of faith in yourself. It will serve as
2:59:42
a refreshing and stimulating bath in the fountain of inspiration.
2:59:45
For you. It is indeed inspiration, and you feel it
2:59:49
to be such. It is the voice of its authors.
2:59:53
I am I calling to the I am I within yourself,
2:59:56
the roar of the lion of individuality within him, which
2:59:59
awakens course responding vibrations in that lion within yourself, Faith
3:00:04
in yourself. Invictus by W. E. Henley. Out of the
3:00:09
night that covers me black as the pit from pole
3:00:12
to pole, I thank whatever gods there be for my
3:00:15
unconquerable soul in the fell clutch of circumstance. I have
3:00:20
not winced or cried aloud under the bludgeonings of chance.
3:00:23
My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this veil of
3:00:27
doubt and fear looms but the terror of the shade.
3:00:30
And yet the passing of the years finds and shall
3:00:33
find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate,
3:00:38
how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master
3:00:41
of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
3:00:44
It was in this spirit of the consciousness of the
3:00:46
real Self, and of this conviction of its innate power
3:00:49
and its destiny to eventually triumph, that the ancient Stoic
3:00:53
philosophers bade their followers to center their consciousness upon the
3:00:56
indwelling spirit, rather than upon the physical garment called the body,
3:01:00
or even upon those instruments of the self called the mind.
3:01:04
They were wont to remind their followers that a man
3:01:07
may not always master the details of his external circumstances,
3:01:11
but he can be master of himself, and accordingly the
3:01:14
master of his fate. It was in this spirit that
3:01:17
the ancient Hindu sages bade their students to dwell in
3:01:21
the consciousness of the real self, For that cannot be
3:01:24
wounded by the sword, nor killed by the spear. Neither
3:01:27
can it be burned by fire, drowned by water, crushed
3:01:31
by earth, or blown out by the air. The wise
3:01:34
teachers of the race have for centuries taught that this
3:01:37
faith in the real Self, in the I Am I,
3:01:40
will enable the individual to convert into the instruments of
3:01:43
his success even those circumstances which apparently are destined to
3:01:46
defeat his purposes, and to transmute into beneficent agencies, even
3:01:50
those inimical forces which beset him on all sides. They
3:01:54
have discovered and passed on to their followers the knowledge
3:01:58
that such a faith is a spiritual power, a living force, which,
3:02:02
when trusted and rightly employed, will annihilate the opposition of
3:02:05
outward circumstances, or else convert them into workers for good.
3:02:10
They have noted how the casualties of life seem to
3:02:12
bow to a spirit that will not bow to them,
3:02:15
and will yield to subserve a design which they may,
3:02:18
in their first apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate. They have
3:02:22
discovered that when such a spirit is recognized, it is
3:02:25
curious to see how the space clears around a man
3:02:28
and leaves him room and freedom. They have seen and
3:02:31
told us that there is no chance, no destiny, no
3:02:35
fate that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm
3:02:39
resolve of a determined soul, and that there can be
3:02:42
no determined soul in the absence of faith in the
3:02:45
real and indwelling self. We are here not preaching to
3:02:49
you the doctrine of the cultivation of a bumptious, conceited,
3:02:52
forward pushing cocksureness based upon vain conceit and cheap assurance
3:02:57
of personal merit and capacity. There is no mental attitude
3:03:01
further removed from the true conviction of individual innate power
3:03:05
and capacity than is that pitiful imitation of it which
3:03:07
is far too common. The blustering, noisy, boasting egotism, which
3:03:13
seeks to exalt the personal self and to glorify its
3:03:15
achievements or possible attainments, is the very antithesis of that quiet, calm,
3:03:20
restrained sense of innate power and capacity which is experienced
3:03:24
and manifested by the individual who has found within himself
3:03:27
that center of personal power which is his real self,
3:03:30
his I am I. Egotism. That cheap self praise, self exaltation,
3:03:36
and vain conceit is but the tawdry and pinchbeck imitation
3:03:39
of that true egoism, which is based upon the certainty
3:03:42
of the power and possibilities of the individual ego or
3:03:45
the I am I. The former marks the person whose
3:03:49
overweening vanity causes him to exalt and glorify his mean
3:03:53
personal attainments and his pitifully weak personal powers. The latter
3:03:57
distinguishes the individual of true power and real capacity, who
3:04:01
manifests his efficiency in capabilities in deeds, not in words,
3:04:05
in actions, not in braggadocio, in performance, not in swaggering
3:04:10
boasting vaporings. Concerning his fancied ability in his imaginary deeds.
3:04:15
There is a difference as wide as that betwixt the polls,
3:04:18
between true egoism and base egotism. Be sure that you
3:04:21
differentiate between these two opposing mental attitudes. The real self,
3:04:27
the I am I, which is the true and proper
3:04:29
subject and base of your faith in yourself and of
3:04:32
your confident expectation based upon this, is that something real
3:04:36
within yourself, which abides permanent, stable, firm, immutable, amidst the
3:04:40
surrounding temporal, shifting, changing, physical and mental processes which compose
3:04:45
your emotional equipment. It is the true individual, surrounded by
3:04:49
the incidents and instruments of your personality. It is that
3:04:53
center of being around which moves the complex mechanism of
3:04:56
your personal existence. It is that absolutely subjective entity which
3:05:01
acts through the objective instrumentality of your mind and body,
3:05:04
which you have regarded as yourself, but which in reality
3:05:07
are but phases of the mechanism through which the self
3:05:10
acts in order to manifest itself in objective existence. In
3:05:14
that volume of this series entitled Personal Power, we have
3:05:18
instructed you concerning this real self, and therein have pointed
3:05:21
out to you the methods of mental analysis by means
3:05:24
of which this real self may be disentangled from its
3:05:26
machinery of mind and body. In fact, this discovery of
3:05:30
the real self and of its effective manifestation, when once achieved,
3:05:35
forms one of the two great essential principles of this
3:05:38
entire course of instruction embodied in this series of books.
3:05:42
Our concern here is merely that of identifying that discovered
3:05:45
real self with that self which is the true and
3:05:47
only valid basis for your faith in yourself, and of
3:05:50
your confident expectation of its successful manifestation. In thought, word
3:05:55
and deed, your real self is a ray from the
3:05:58
great Sun of Spirit, a spark from the great flame
3:06:01
of Spirit, a focal point of expression of that infinite
3:06:04
self of Spirit. The Orientals strive to indicate this relation
3:06:08
of the self to the self by the illustration of
3:06:10
the reflection of the sun in a million water pots.
3:06:13
There is but one real sun, but in each pot
3:06:16
there is a perfect represented image of that sun, which
3:06:19
serves to illumine the water in the pot, and which
3:06:21
shines with force and power when the waves and ripples
3:06:24
of the water are stilled and calm. Others have compared
3:06:28
the self to the tiny whirlpool in the great ocean
3:06:30
of spirit. Others have sought to illustrate it by the
3:06:34
analogy of the brilliant glow in the electric lamp, the
3:06:37
result of the power of the principle of electricity manifesting
3:06:40
through the resisting carbon in the lamp. But all of
3:06:43
these illustrations and analogous representations are feeble and inadequate, though
3:06:48
they may serve to point out and to indicate the
3:06:50
nature of the relationship between the infinite power and its
3:06:53
individual expressions. Enough for us to state here is the
3:06:57
fact that you, your real self, your I am I,
3:07:01
is real, permanent, firm, stable, true, the only thing that
3:07:05
is so in your entire personal being, just as spirit
3:07:08
is the only thing so in the infinity of being
3:07:10
manifested in and through the Cosmos. Your faith in it
3:07:14
is as fully warranted as is your faith in the
3:07:17
infinite power of the Cosmos. For at the last, the
3:07:19
two are one in essence and fundamental being. Your real
3:07:23
self is the absolute fact of your being, the one
3:07:26
and only such absolute fact. All the rest is relative
3:07:30
and comparative, finite, and conditioned by circumstance. Your real self
3:07:35
is your master self. It is the king on the
3:07:38
throne of your personal being. When you realize this, then
3:07:42
you will assert your kingship and your mastery over all
3:07:45
of your mental powers, conscious, subconscious and unconscious, and of
3:07:49
your physical powers as well. Surely such an entity is
3:07:53
worthy of your faith and of your confident expectation of
3:07:56
the manifestation of its powers. The earnest faith in your
3:08:00
real self and your confident expectation concerning its manifestation and expression.
3:08:05
In your work, your endeavors, your plans, your purposes serve
3:08:09
to bring into action your full mental and spiritual power,
3:08:12
energy and force. It quickens your intellectual powers. It employs
3:08:17
your emotional powers efficiently and under full control. It sets
3:08:21
into effective action your creative imagination. It places the powers
3:08:25
of your will under your mastery in direction. It draws
3:08:28
upon your subconscious faculties for inspiration and for intuitive reports.
3:08:33
It opens up your mind to the inflow of the
3:08:34
illumination of your super conscious spiritual faculties and powers. It
3:08:39
sets into operation the law of mental attraction under your
3:08:42
direct control and direction, whereby you attract to yourself or
3:08:46
you to them the circumstances, events, conditions, things, and persons
3:08:51
needed for the manifestation of your ideals in objective reality.
3:08:55
More than this, it brushes away the obstacles which have
3:08:58
clogged the channels of your cond within communication with Spirit itself,
3:09:02
that great source of infinite power, which in this instruction
3:09:05
is called power. Discover your real self, your I am I.
3:09:10
Then manifest your full faith in and toward it, and
3:09:13
cultivate your full confident expectation concerning the beneficent results of
3:09:17
that faith, faith, power, your inspirational forces. By William Walker Atkinson,
3:09:24
nineteen twenty two. Faith in the infinite, Faith in the
3:09:29
successful outcome of your efforts, your undertakings, your expression of
3:09:33
your innate powers, leads inevitably to your faith in yourself.
3:09:37
Your faith in your real self and in its powers
3:09:39
and capacities for the efficient performance of the work which
3:09:42
constitutes your field of outward expression. In truth, faith in
3:09:47
your real self, in your I am I, inevitably leads
3:09:50
you to that highest and most magnificent manifestation of faith
3:09:54
in confident expectation, namely faith in and the confident expectation
3:09:58
of the manifestation of the beneficence and kindly power of
3:10:01
that infinite presence power from which all things proceed, and
3:10:05
in which all things live and move and have their being.
3:10:08
That there exists an infinite and eternal presence power, an
3:10:12
infinite and absolute principle of life mind will, which is
3:10:16
the source, found and origin of all manifested living existence,
3:10:20
Which is the creative agency by means of which all
3:10:23
creation exists and is performed. Which is the combining, correlating
3:10:27
and coordinating power evident in all the processes of the cosmos.
3:10:31
Such is the inevitable, invariable, and infallible report of human
3:10:35
reason exercise to the full limits of its powers along
3:10:38
the lines of philosophical thought. And such is also the
3:10:42
report of human faith extended to its full capacity. Reason
3:10:46
finds this report inevitably present as the base and ground
3:10:49
of its most profound thought. Intuition corroborates and verifies such conclusion.
3:10:55
The opposite of this ultimate report of combined reason and
3:10:58
intuition is unthinkable to deny. It is equivalent to the
3:11:01
denial of the very base and ground of rational thought itself.
3:11:06
In that volume of the present series entitled Spiritual Power,
3:11:09
we have considered this subject in detail and at length,
3:11:13
and have shown not only that reason is compelled by
3:11:15
its fundamental laws to make a final report of this kind,
3:11:18
but also just why it is compelled to do so.
3:11:21
In addition, we have shown that intuition agrees in this
3:11:25
final report of truth, and just why this is inevitable.
3:11:29
The consideration of the facts so presented brings the conviction
3:11:32
that this fundamental intuition of truth is as firmly established
3:11:36
and as little open to successful denial and refutation as
3:11:39
is the fact of the fundamental intuitive assurance of the
3:11:42
reality of your actual existence as a living entity. Here
3:11:46
faith becomes an actual knowing. It rises to the position
3:11:50
of a faith that knows, not merely believes. Reason and
3:11:54
intuition employed to their full limits of power and capacity
3:11:58
for the discovery in announcing of truth, established the following
3:12:01
basic and fundamental facts of existence viz. One, that there
3:12:06
is present in being in power, in infinite and eternal
3:12:09
creative power, which is the causeless cause of the cosmic
3:12:12
manifestation in whole and in its parts of the world
3:12:16
and its manifold activities which are experienced by us through
3:12:19
our consciousness. Two that there is present and in being
3:12:23
an infinite and eternal coordinative power, which combines, correlates, and
3:12:27
coordinates the activities of the multiplicity of apparently separate objects
3:12:31
and activities of the cosmos into one harmonious whole operating
3:12:34
under universal law and order, in which there is no
3:12:37
room or place for blind chance or accident. Three that
3:12:41
there is present, in being in power an infinite and
3:12:44
eternal life principle, which is the constant, permanent, unchangeable, invariable, identical,
3:12:50
essential essence of livingness, which animates and inspires the countless
3:12:53
manifestations of life and livingness perceived to exist in the cosmos,
3:12:58
and which is the essential base and grond for the
3:13:00
multiplicity of changing, temporal, impermanent living forms and their activities
3:13:05
which arise, abide for a time, and then pass away
3:13:08
in the cosmic process. Four That the infinite and eternal
3:13:13
creative power, the infinite and eternal coordinative power, the infinite
3:13:18
and eternal life principle, are at the last but one
3:13:22
one in essence, substance, and reality. They are but aspects
3:13:26
under which we become aware of the absolute presence power,
3:13:29
which is the source and origin, the base and ground,
3:13:32
the creator and the author, the supporter and the sustainer,
3:13:35
the combiner, correlator and coordinator, the essence and substance of
3:13:39
the entire cosmic manifestation, consisting of an infinity of universes,
3:13:45
with all contained therein this one absolute presence power is
3:13:49
absolute unity, absolute presence, absolute power. It is the ultimate reality,
3:13:55
the final and basic fact, the absolute truth of existence.
3:14:00
There is and can be nothing known to us except
3:14:02
this ultimate reality and its cosmic manifestations. Five this ultimate reality,
3:14:09
this infinite and eternal presence power, is discovered to be
3:14:12
immaterial and not material. It is perceived to be pure
3:14:15
spirit in its ultimate essence, in its real nature, character,
3:14:19
and being. Its fundamental laws are spiritual laws, this being
3:14:24
true even of the physical laws and principles operative in
3:14:27
the world of materiality, which is its cosmic manifestation. The
3:14:31
world of manifestation in its essence, is contained in the
3:14:35
being of this infinite and eternal presence power. And this
3:14:38
infinite and eternal presence power is imminent and present in
3:14:41
each in every part and portion, object or activity of
3:14:45
that world of manifestation. There is nowhere outside of the
3:14:49
infinite presence Power, For in its presence and in its power,
3:14:52
this ultimate reality abides in everything, everywhere, and in all time.
3:14:58
All is in the all, and the all is in
3:15:00
all things. Seven. You, your real self, your I am I,
3:15:05
are a center of power, a focal point of expression
3:15:08
and manifestation in and of that infinite and eternal spiritual power.
3:15:13
In the degree that you realize this, so will be
3:15:16
the degree of your possible manifestation of personal power. In
3:15:20
the degree that you realize this so will be the
3:15:23
degree of your possible individual contact with the infinite presence power,
3:15:26
and of the opening and freeing of your spiritual channels
3:15:29
of communication with and from it. You may become in
3:15:33
tune with the infinite, in unison with infinity in this way.
3:15:38
In this way, you may contact the infinite in consciousness.
3:15:42
In the degree that you recognize and realize your actual
3:15:45
essential identity with the infinite and eternal presence power, so
3:15:49
will be the degree of your possible manifestation, expression, and
3:15:52
actualization of that ultimate reality which is the source, origin,
3:15:56
and fount of infinite power, and which is the infinite
3:15:59
self of which you are. I am I is the
3:16:01
focal point or center of expression manifestation. In the volume
3:16:05
of this series entitled Spiritual Power, to which we have referred,
3:16:09
we have transmitted to you the following message of truth,
3:16:12
as announced in principle by the great illumined spiritual teachers
3:16:15
of the race of all ages, all peoples, all lands,
3:16:19
all creeds, which our students are requested to commit to
3:16:22
memory and to make the essential and basic fact of
3:16:25
their mental and spiritual lives. Hearken to this message of
3:16:29
truth as announced by such high authorities, the message of truth. You, yourself,
3:16:35
in your essential and real being, nature and entity are
3:16:38
spirit and naught, but spirit in and of spirit, spiritual
3:16:43
and not material. Materiality is your instrument of expression, the
3:16:47
stuff created for your use and service in your expression
3:16:50
of life, consciousness, and will. It is your servant, not
3:16:54
your master. You condition, limit and form it, not at you.
3:16:58
When you recognize and realize your real nature and awaken
3:17:01
to a perception of its real relation to you and
3:17:03
you to it. The report of Spirit received by its
3:17:07
accredited individual centers of expression, and by them transmitted to you.
3:17:11
Is this, in the degree that you perceive, recognize, and
3:17:15
realize your essential identity with me the supreme presence, power,
3:17:19
the ultimate reality. In that degree, will you be able
3:17:22
to manifest my spiritual power. I am over and above you,
3:17:26
under and beneath you. I surround you on all sides.
3:17:30
I am also within you, and you are in me.
3:17:33
For me you proceed, and in me you live and
3:17:35
move and have your being. Seek me by looking within
3:17:39
your own being, and likewise by looking for me in infinity,
3:17:43
For I abide both within and without your being. If
3:17:46
and when you will adopt and live according to this truth,
3:17:49
then will you be able to manifest that truth. In
3:17:52
and by it alone are freedom and invincibility and true
3:17:55
in real presence and power to be found, perceived, realized,
3:17:59
and manifested. Dot In the above stated message of truth
3:18:04
will be found the essence of the esoteric teaching and
3:18:06
inner doctrine of all of the world's great religions and
3:18:09
most profound philosophies. In all religions there exist one, the
3:18:14
exoteric or outer teaching and doctrine, intended for the great
3:18:17
masses of persons who are unable to understand or to
3:18:20
grasp the deep truths and doctrines, those who are not
3:18:23
as yet ready for the full truth, and who are
3:18:26
not as yet able to bear the truth. And two,
3:18:29
the esoteric or inner teaching and doctrine intended for those
3:18:33
who have developed spiritual perception to an extent, enabling them
3:18:36
to grasp, understand, and assimilate the full spirit of the truth.
3:18:40
In the sacred writings of all of these great religions
3:18:43
will be found constant, though carefully guarded, references to the
3:18:46
existence of this dual aspect of teaching and doctrine. The
3:18:50
essence and substance of this inner doctrine or esoteric teaching
3:18:54
is found to be practically and essentially the same in
3:18:57
all of the great world religions and philosophies, notwithstanding the
3:19:00
wide difference in the exoteric teaching, in doctrines, and in
3:19:03
its names and forms employed therein, this essence and substance
3:19:08
is found to be capable of expression in three brief
3:19:11
general axioms as follows. One ultimate reality truth being in principle,
3:19:17
is one and one only in its essential and fundamental nature.
3:19:21
It is spiritual and not material. The one ultimate principle
3:19:25
of being is spirit. Two, the soul or spirit of
3:19:29
man is identical in nature and essence with the infinite
3:19:32
spiritual principle or being. It is a spark from the
3:19:35
divine flame, a ray from the divine sun, or a
3:19:38
reflection of the divine presence. This undetached fragment from the
3:19:42
divine life is imminent within the being of every human individual,
3:19:46
though usually undetected by reason of being hidden and covered
3:19:49
with the mass of finite personal characteristics. But no matter
3:19:53
how much hidden or covered over, it is always there,
3:19:56
its light burning brightly, though obscured from ordinary perception. Three.
3:20:00
By faith in the infinite presence power which abides within
3:20:04
and without the individual soul, and by the confident expectation
3:20:07
of its manifestation through the channels of individuality, the individual
3:20:11
soul proceeds to clear away the obstructing debris of finite personality,
3:20:16
with its mass of doubt, distrust, disbelief, and unfaith, and
3:20:20
to afford a clear passage of the spiritual light and
3:20:23
power of the indwelling presence power. By so doing, it
3:20:26
also opens the channels of contact with end inspiration from
3:20:30
the superimposing presence power of Infinity. Pause a moment at
3:20:35
this point and consider carefully the above three axiomatic statements
3:20:39
of the esoteric teaching and doctrine of all the great
3:20:42
religions and philosophies, you will find that you have always
3:20:45
known of these, though you have never clearly recognized them.
3:20:49
If you have studied the great religions other than your own,
3:20:52
you will now see that this teaching and doctrine is
3:20:55
implicit in each and all of them. Piercing the surface
3:20:59
of the exoteric teas, teachings, and doctrines of your own religion,
3:21:02
you will find this teaching and doctrine expressed in them,
3:21:05
veiled in guarded terms. Now that your eyes have been
3:21:07
open to the truth, you will find corroboration of these
3:21:10
teachings in many hitherto perplexing and mystifying passages in your
3:21:14
own scriptures. If, as is probable, you have been reared
3:21:18
in some branch of the Christian Church, you will find
3:21:21
in the words of the Master and of that great teacher,
3:21:24
Saint Paul, numerous corroborations of this truth. If instead, you
3:21:29
are a Jew, you will find in the Hebrew scripture's
3:21:32
abundant testimony along the same lines. The ancient prophets of
3:21:36
Israel knew and taught this truth, as references to their
3:21:39
writings will fully establish. Likewise, if you are a Hindu,
3:21:44
a Buddhist a Mohammedan, you will find in your sacred
3:21:47
books a full corroboration of the above statement, as the
3:21:51
ancient Oriental sages were wont to say. The truth is one,
3:21:54
though men call it by many names and express it
3:21:57
by many different terms. In all of the esoteric teaching
3:22:02
and doctrine so announced by the founders of the great
3:22:05
religions and their successors, you will find that the road
3:22:08
to the recognition, realization, and manifestation of the truth is
3:22:11
always that of the path of faith. Even before works,
3:22:15
there is placed faith. Before the manifestation, there must come
3:22:20
the full realization. And before the full realization must come
3:22:23
the full recognition and the perception accompanied by the deep
3:22:26
feeling of faith. Before the believer may justly expect to reap,
3:22:31
he must sow the seeds of confident expectation. Everywhere we
3:22:35
find the repeated and constantly reiterated note of faith, faith, Faith.
3:22:40
We are constantly admonished to have faith, coupled with the
3:22:43
promise that if faith be had and maintained, all the
3:22:46
rest shall be added. Unto you. In Jewish and Christian theology,
3:22:51
faith is that mental act of man which places him
3:22:54
in an acceptable relation to God. In Mohammedanism, faith in
3:22:58
Allah is a prerequisit to knowledge of the divine and
3:23:01
the bestole of divine aid. In Hinduism, faith in Brahmin
3:23:06
is the master key. In Buddhism, faith in the law
3:23:10
which makes for good is an absolute necessity to the
3:23:13
seeker after nirvana. Everywhere, faith is held to be the first,
3:23:18
an absolutely necessary step toward attainment. If this be true
3:23:22
concerning the exoteric teaching in doctrine, it is thrice true
3:23:26
of the esoteric presentation of the truth, for in the
3:23:29
latter it takes on a mystic and occult significance. As
3:23:33
an ancient mystic once said, there is a white magic
3:23:36
in faith which transcends all other forms or powers of magic.
3:23:40
In the exoteric teachings and doctrine, faith is advocated and
3:23:44
demanded because of its claimed power to place man in
3:23:47
close relationship with the Supreme Being and to render possible
3:23:50
a spiritual rapport or sympathetic accord with divine power. It
3:23:55
is there held that the Supreme Being demands faith as
3:23:58
a prerequisite of the bestole of favor and gifts. In
3:24:02
the esoteric teaching and doctrine, however, while faith is still
3:24:05
more earnestly insisted upon as a prerequisite of attainment. There
3:24:09
is not this rather naive and primitive explanation. Instead, faith
3:24:13
is explained as that act by means of which the
3:24:16
individual's soul enters into a fuller recognition and realization of
3:24:19
its essential identity with and contact with the divine principle,
3:24:23
and thus is enabled to unfold and to manifest those
3:24:26
divine powers which are inherent and latent within its nature.
3:24:32
Faith in the exoteric sense is a rapport i e.
3:24:36
Sympathetic accord relationship. In the esoteric it is rather a
3:24:40
raprochement or act of reapproach or coming together again after
3:24:44
a separation, or act or fact of again coming or
3:24:48
being drawn nearer together. Even those not accepting the doctrine
3:24:52
of the essential identity of the individual soul with the
3:24:55
universal soul, and who occupy the agnostic position regarding this question,
3:24:59
must be forced to admit as logically sound the argument
3:25:02
that if the individual's soul is potentially divine, then the
3:25:06
act of earnest positive faith in its potentially divine nature
3:25:09
and possibilities must serve to unfold into manifestation such powers.
3:25:14
The esoteric Doctrine, however, does not rest merely upon this
3:25:18
undoubtedly logically sound premiss or proposition. It bases its chief
3:25:23
claim upon the fact that the soul, which proceeds as
3:25:26
if this were so soon, begins to manifest its powers
3:25:29
to such an extent that further doubt is impossible. Thus
3:25:33
the proof or the esoteric teaching in doctrine is, at
3:25:36
the last a matter of actual personal experience. Cries the
3:25:40
mystic taste. Only taste taste, and you will know the
3:25:44
virtue of the wine. Faith in the infinite then consists
3:25:49
primarily of the firm, earnest positive belief in the three
3:25:52
axiomatic statements heretofore presented to you, or their equivalents which
3:25:56
are found in the esoteric teachings of any in all
3:25:59
of the various great religions or philosophies of the world.
3:26:03
If this faith be had and maintained, then it inevitably
3:26:06
follows that faith in the beneficent good nature of the
3:26:09
cosmic activities will arise. If the ultimate spiritual principle is
3:26:14
embodied in the individual soul, then it must be inclined
3:26:17
to be good to that soul. Ultimate reality must be
3:26:21
good to itself and if it recognizes the individual soul
3:26:24
as a divine fragment of itself, then it must be
3:26:27
good to that part of itself. The esoteric teaching and doctrine, however,
3:26:32
hold that this recognition of common identity of the universal
3:26:36
soul and the individual soul is more or less a
3:26:38
mutual process. They hold that the individual soul, striving to
3:26:42
enter into this consciousness of identity with the divine, seeking
3:26:46
its greater self, sets into operation certain powers of the
3:26:49
universal soul, which cause the latter to seek rapprochement or
3:26:53
reapproach or coming together of the two apparently separated portions
3:26:57
of the Divine essence, i e. The macrocosm and the microcosm.
3:27:03
This being granted, it is easily seen that the act
3:27:06
or mental attitude of faith in the infinite and in
3:27:09
one's essential relation to it or essential identity with it,
3:27:12
must operate in the direction of the rapprochemann or coming
3:27:16
together again of the universal principle and its particular manifestation.
3:27:21
Like the water spout appearing on the high seas, the
3:27:24
water from the ocean swirls around and rises to meet
3:27:27
and to be united with the descending whirling mass of
3:27:29
heavy vapor from the clouds. Royce says, we long for
3:27:34
the absolute only in so far as in us, the
3:27:36
Absolute also longs and seeks, through our very temporal striving,
3:27:41
the peace that is nowhere in time, but only and
3:27:43
yet absolutely in eternity. Evelyn Underwood says, all mystical thinkers
3:27:49
agree in thinking that there is a mutual attraction between
3:27:52
the spark of the soul, the free divine german Man,
3:27:55
and the fount from which it came forth. The homeward
3:27:58
journey of man's spirit, then, is due to the push
3:28:01
of a divine life within answering to the pull of
3:28:04
a divine life without. It is a going of like
3:28:07
to like, the fulfillment of a cosmic necessity. Resijack says,
3:28:12
according to mysticism, the soul is led to the frontiers
3:28:15
of the absolute, and is even given an impulsion to enter.
3:28:18
But this is not enough. This movement of pure freedom
3:28:22
cannot succeed unless there is an equivalent movement within the
3:28:25
Absolute itself. Francis Thompson, in his mystic poem entitled The
3:28:30
Hound of Heaven, describes with a tremendous power, and often
3:28:33
with an almost terrible intensity, the hunt of reality for
3:28:37
the unwilling individual self. He pictures reality as engaged in
3:28:41
a remorseless, tireless quest, a seeking following tracking down of
3:28:46
the unwilling individual soul. He pictures the separated spirit as
3:28:50
a strange, piteous, futile thing that flees from the pursuing
3:28:54
reality down the nights and down the days. The individual spirit,
3:28:59
not known its relation to an identity with the pursuing absolute,
3:29:03
rushes in a panic of terror away from its own good. But,
3:29:07
as Emerson says, you cannot escape your own good, and
3:29:11
so the fleeing soul is captured at last by faith
3:29:15
in the infinite. However, the individual soul overcomes its terror
3:29:19
of the infinite, and, recognizing it as its supreme good,
3:29:22
it turns and moves toward it. Such is the mystic
3:29:26
conception of the effect and action of faith in the infinite.
3:29:30
Even those philosophers who view the cosmos as an infinite
3:29:33
process operated by an infinite spiritual law rather than by
3:29:37
the will of a divine being, even they unreservedly and
3:29:40
fully likewise teach and preach the paramount value of faith
3:29:44
in the infinite. Heraclitis, the ancient Greek philosopher who taught
3:29:48
the doctrine of the eternal becoming, the Stoics with their
3:29:51
doctrine of cosmic law and order, and the ancient Buddhists
3:29:54
with their doctrine of the law of eternal change. All
3:29:57
these taught as the highest wisdom, the un questioning faith
3:30:01
in the law. Everything they said is under law and
3:30:05
proceeds according to order. Wisdom consists in having absolute faith
3:30:10
in that law, and in falling in with its action, movement,
3:30:14
and processes. Faith in and obedience to the law is
3:30:18
the highest religion, said these thinkers, and they held that
3:30:21
only through such could the individual reach the mount of attainment.
3:30:25
There are many practical philosophers of our own lands and age, who,
3:30:29
while more or less agnostic concerning the existence of a
3:30:32
divine supreme being, at least of such conceived as a person,
3:30:36
nevertheless are in full agreement with the ancient philosophers just
3:30:39
mentioned in the general conception that the cosmos is governed
3:30:42
by infinite law and proceeds according to eternal order, and
3:30:46
this law and order they conceive to be spiritual rather
3:30:49
than material. Like Heraclitis, the Stoics and the original Buddhists,
3:30:54
the modern philosophers conceive it to be the highest wisdom
3:30:57
on the part of man, as well as his manifest
3:31:00
duty toward himself and the universe, as well, to arouse
3:31:03
and to manifest affirm absolute, certain and unquestioning faith in
3:31:07
the existence and operation of the infinite law and the
3:31:10
eternal order, and in the belief that it operates in
3:31:13
the direction of ultimate good, and to endeavor to move
3:31:15
along with the cosmic current, to acquire and to maintain
3:31:20
the cosmic rhythm, to beat time, and to keep step
3:31:23
with the cosmic order. In short, to get and to
3:31:26
keep in tune with the infinite. These thinkers, while very
3:31:30
practical and pragmatic, nevertheless manifest towards this infinite law and
3:31:35
eternal order a mental attitude of faith and confident expectation
3:31:38
which closely resembles the corresponding mental attitude of the devout
3:31:42
religious believer. To them, as to him, faith is the
3:31:46
cardinal principle of their thought and action. They do not
3:31:50
shrink from that extreme test of pragmatism viz. Would you
3:31:53
trust your life to it? Instead, they trust not only
3:31:57
their lives, but their welfare, their happiness, and all that
3:32:01
is worth while in human existence to the operation of
3:32:04
that law. They have found it to be the most
3:32:07
practical form of philosophy, a philosophy that works out in
3:32:10
actual life, and which surely pays in the end. This
3:32:15
pragmatic philosophy, like most of the philosophies worthy of the name,
3:32:19
and like all of the great religions, is based upon
3:32:22
faith and confident expectation. Like all other forms of earnest
3:32:26
thought and belief, it has its roots in intuition, and
3:32:29
intuition breathes the very spirit of faith. It is not
3:32:33
our purpose nor our duty to direct you concerning your
3:32:37
form of religious belief or regarding your school of philosophy.
3:32:40
These are matters entirely for the exercise of your own reason,
3:32:44
with the cooperation of your intuition. But we conceive it
3:32:47
to be our duty, and it is certainly our purpose
3:32:50
here to advise you, with all the earnestness at our command,
3:32:54
to cultivate the mental attitude of faith, absolute and unquestioning
3:32:58
faith in the presence and power of an infinite and
3:33:00
eternal ultimate reality of a spiritual nature, and to cultivate
3:33:04
an equally earnest and fervent faith in the operation of
3:33:07
the law and order manifested by that ultimate reality. Call
3:33:10
the latter what you will God, principle, power, truth, law,
3:33:15
or the unknowable reality. Following this and dependent upon it,
3:33:20
should be the confident expectation that this infinite law and
3:33:23
eternal order will tend to operate in the direction of
3:33:26
your ultimate good in the measure in which you have
3:33:28
faith in it and confident expectation concerning its ultimate beneficent results.
3:33:34
Even if you cannot perceive the merit of the philosophical
3:33:36
reasoning which leads to this conclusion, even if you are
3:33:39
devoid of the religious conviction which brings the similar report,
3:33:43
you are justified in accepting such a conception as warranted
3:33:46
by the rule of pragmatism, which is expressed in the
3:33:48
axiom that which works may be accepted as practical truth.
3:33:53
Lack of faith in the infinite law and eternal order
3:33:56
weakens you and renders you less efficient. Therefore, such as
3:33:59
ans negative quality, actual distrust, disbelief, unfaith, and doubt are
3:34:05
worse than mere negative qualities. They are positive and active
3:34:08
in the wrong direction, and tend to reverse the movement, action,
3:34:12
and direction of the cosmic forces producing that shadow of
3:34:15
good which is called evil before beginning and without an end,
3:34:20
as space eternal, and as shurty sure is fixed a
3:34:23
power divine which moves to good. Only its laws endure
3:34:27
it mocketh and unmacketh, mending all. What it hath wrought
3:34:31
is better than hath been slow grows the splendid pattern
3:34:34
that it plans its wistful hands between It will not
3:34:38
be condemned by any one who thwarts it loses, and
3:34:41
who serves it gains the hidden good. It pays with
3:34:45
peace and bliss, the hidden ill with pains. Such is
3:34:49
the law which moves to righteousness, which none at last
3:34:52
can turn aside or stay. The heart of it is love,
3:34:55
and end of it is peace and consummation. Sweet obey
3:35:00
hull ye who suffer, I know ye suffer from yourselves.
3:35:04
Naught else compels within yourself. Deliverance must be sought. Each
3:35:09
man his prison makes laugh and be glad for there
3:35:13
is liberty. Prentice Molford, that eccentric genius who is really
3:35:18
one of the great pioneers of the practical phase of
3:35:20
the modern New Metaphysical movement, although he is seldom given
3:35:24
the credit to which he is really entitled in this
3:35:26
particular field. Once expressed very forcibly, the spirit of the
3:35:30
true teaching concerning faith in the infinite in the following
3:35:33
remarkable passage culled from one of his early books. A
3:35:37
supreme power and wisdom govern the universe. The Supreme Mind
3:35:41
is measureless and pervades endless space. The supreme wisdom, power,
3:35:46
and intelligence are in everything that exists, from the atom
3:35:50
to the planet. The Supreme Power has us in its charge,
3:35:54
as it has the suns and endless systems of worlds
3:35:56
in space. As we grow more to recognize this sublime
3:36:00
and exhaustless wisdom, we shall learn more and more to
3:36:03
demand that wisdom, draw it to ourselves, and thereby be
3:36:07
ever making ourselves newer and newer. This means ever perfecting health,
3:36:12
greater and greater power to enjoy all that exists, gradual
3:36:15
transition into a higher state of being, and the development
3:36:19
of powers which we do not now realize as belonging
3:36:22
to us. Let us, then, daily demand faith, for faith
3:36:26
is power to believe and power to see that all
3:36:28
things are parts of the infinite Spirit of God, that
3:36:31
all things have good, were God in them, and that
3:36:33
all things, when recognized by us as parts of God,
3:36:37
must work for our good. The following statement of the
3:36:40
General basic principles of the modern New Thought movement was
3:36:43
made several years ago by one of the writers of
3:36:46
the present book. It is reproduced here because we think
3:36:49
that it presents in concise form the essential spirit of
3:36:52
the philosophy of that great modern school of thought, just
3:36:55
named after the non essential and debatable teachings of its
3:36:58
various branches have been high. One, there exists a great
3:37:03
underlying something or somewhat that is beneficent in well disposed
3:37:06
towards you, and which tries to help, aid and assist
3:37:10
you whenever and wherever it can do so. Two. Faith
3:37:14
and confident expectation regarding the beneficent power of that something
3:37:17
or somewhat tends to open the channels of its influence
3:37:20
in your life. While doubt, unbelief, distrust, and fear tend
3:37:24
to damn up the channel of its influence in your
3:37:26
life and to rob it of the power to help you. Three.
3:37:30
To a great extent, at least, you determine your own
3:37:33
life by the character of your thought. By the nature
3:37:36
and character of your thoughts, you furnish the pattern or
3:37:38
mold which determines or modifies the efforts of the something
3:37:41
or somewhat to aid you. Either in the direction of
3:37:44
producing desirable results, or else in bringing about undesirable results
3:37:48
by reason of your damning up the source of your good.
3:37:51
These three fundamental principles of new thought, which is really
3:37:55
the oldest kind of thought expressed in new forms, will
3:37:58
serve you as the strongest kind of basic platform for
3:38:01
practical new thought demonstration. If you will stand firmly on
3:38:05
this platform, make its teachings and principles a part of yourself,
3:38:08
and strive to manifest its truth and facts in your
3:38:11
own life, then you will be the very best kind
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of new thoughtist. Even though you may never have heard
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even a word of new thought teaching, metaphysical speculation, or
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philosophical theorizing. In that volume of this series entitled Spiritual Power,
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especially in its concluding section entitled Unison with Infinity, you
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will find a far more extended reference to this particular
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phase of the general subject of faith and confident expectation
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directed toward the infinite. If you are interested in this
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special teaching, we feel justified in recommending to your attention
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the book just named the advanced students of the esoteric
3:38:47
teaching contained in the scriptures of all the great religions
3:38:50
as well as their inspired teachers are aware that in
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the book of Psalms in our own scriptures are to
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be found several of the great masterpieces of the esotericis
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teachings concerning faith. Power in them is given the essence
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of the secret doctrine concerning faith in the Infinite. Chief
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among these are the twenty third Psalm and the ninety
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first Psalm, respectively. So important are these two great esoteric poems,
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so filled with practical helpful information are they that we
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deem it advisable to reproduce them here that you may
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avail yourself of their virtue and power at this particular
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stage of this instruction. Accordingly, they are given on the
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next following two pages of this book, the Psalm of
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Faith Psalm twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd. I
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shall not want he mocketh me to lie down in
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the green pastures. He letteth me beside the still waters.
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He restoreth my soul. He letteth me in the paths
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of righteousness for his name's sake. YEA, though I walk
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through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
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fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod
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and thy staff they comfort me thou preparest a table
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before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
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my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness
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and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
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And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
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forever the Psalm of Security Psalm ninety one. He that
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dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall
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abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say
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of the Lord. He is my refuge and my fortress,
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my God. In him, will I trust. Surely he shall
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deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from
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the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers,
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and under his wings. Shalt thou trust. His truth shall
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be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid
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for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that
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fleeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
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nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand
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shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy
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right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Only
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with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward
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of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which
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is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation. There
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shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come
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thygh thy dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge
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over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They
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shall bear thee up in their hands. Lest thou dash
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thy foot against a stone, thou shalt tread upon the
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lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon.
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Shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his
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love upon me, and therefore will I deliver him. I
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will set him on high. Because he hath known my name.
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He shall call upon me, and I will answer him.
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I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver
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him and honor him with long life. Will I satisfy
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him and show him my salvation. The teachers and students
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of the Inner Teachings, the Ancient Wisdom the Secret Doctrine
3:41:57
are also aware of the esoteric spiritual significance of the
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lines of the well known Him Lead Kindly Light, written
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by Newman in a period of spiritual stress. Few who
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read or sing this Him realize its esoteric spirit and meaning.
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None but those who know, perceive and recognize that which
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dwells under the surface of those wonderful words and lines.
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But it is a matter of common notice in comment
3:42:20
that even many persons who are outside of the fold
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of the Church find great inspiration, help, courage, and practical
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aid from that wonderful hymn. We feel that we may
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close this part of our instruction no more fitly than
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by quoting the lines of that magnificent verse. We trust
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that you may be able to plunge beneath its surface
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and discover in the deep places the spirit of that
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great chant of faith power, the chant of faith power.
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Lead kindly light, Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom.
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Lead thou me on. The night is dark, and I
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am far from home. Lead thou me on, keep thou
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my feet. I do not ask to see the distant scene.
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One step enough for me. Lead thou me on. Carry
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with you ever, the spirit of the ancient aphorism of
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the wise Sage, which we have already quoted for your
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benefit in the pages of this book, and which adorns
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its title page. Faith is the white magic of power,