Latest / Educational Library / As A Man Thinketh - James Allen

Transcript

As A Man Thinketh - James Allen · Educational Library

0:00
Speaker 1: Forward. This little volume, the result of meditation and experience,
0:06
Speaker 1: is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much
0:09
Speaker 1: written upon subject of the power of thought. It is
0:12
Speaker 1: suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to stimulate men
0:16
Speaker 1: and women to the discovery and perception of the truth
0:19
Speaker 1: that they themselves are makers of themselves by virtue of
0:24
Speaker 1: the thoughts which they choose and encourage, that mind is
0:28
Speaker 1: the master and weaver both of the inner garment of
0:30
Speaker 1: character and the outer garment of circumstance, And that as
0:35
Speaker 1: they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain, they
0:38
Speaker 1: may now weave in enlightenment and happiness. Chapter one, Thought
0:43
Speaker 1: and Character the aphorism. As a man thinketh in his heart,
0:48
Speaker 1: so is he not only embraces the whole of man's being,
0:52
Speaker 1: but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every
0:55
Speaker 1: condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally
1:00
Speaker 1: what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of
1:03
Speaker 1: all his thoughts. As the plant springs from and could
1:08
Speaker 1: not be without the seed, so every act of a
1:11
Speaker 1: man springs from the hidden seeds of his thought, and
1:14
Speaker 1: could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to
1:18
Speaker 1: those acts called spontaneous and unpremeditated, as to those which
1:22
Speaker 1: are deliberately executed. Act is the blossom of thought, and
1:28
Speaker 1: joy and suffering are its fruits. Thus does a man
1:32
Speaker 1: garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
1:36
Speaker 1: Thought in the mind hath made us what we are.
1:40
Speaker 1: By thought we wrought and built. If a man's mind
1:44
Speaker 1: hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes the
1:47
Speaker 1: wheel the ox behind. If one endure in purity of thought,
1:52
Speaker 1: joy follows him as his own shadow. Sure man is
1:57
Speaker 1: a growth by law, and not a creation by our artifice,
2:00
Speaker 1: and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in
2:04
Speaker 1: the hidden realm of thought as in the world of
2:07
Speaker 1: visible and material things. A noble and godlike character is
2:11
Speaker 1: not a thing of favor or chance, but is the
2:14
Speaker 1: natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect
2:19
Speaker 1: of long cherished association with godlike thoughts. An ignoble and
2:24
Speaker 1: beastial character, by the same process, is the result of
2:28
Speaker 1: the continued harboring of groveling thoughts. Man is made or
2:34
Speaker 1: unmade by himself. In the armory of thought. He forges
2:38
Speaker 1: the weapons by which he destroys himself. He also fashions
2:42
Speaker 1: the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions
2:46
Speaker 1: of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice
2:50
Speaker 1: and true application of thought, man ascends to the divine perfection.
2:55
Speaker 1: By the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends
2:58
Speaker 1: below the level of beasts. Between these two extremes are
3:02
Speaker 1: all the grades of character, and man is their maker
3:05
Speaker 1: and master of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul,
3:10
Speaker 1: which have been restored and brought to light in this age.
3:13
Speaker 1: None is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and
3:16
Speaker 1: confidence than this. That man is the master of thought,
3:20
Speaker 1: the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment,
3:25
Speaker 1: and destiny. As a being of power, intelligence, and love,
3:31
Speaker 1: and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the
3:33
Speaker 1: key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming
3:38
Speaker 1: and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what
3:41
Speaker 1: he wills. Man is always the master, even in his
3:46
Speaker 1: weakest and most abandoned state. But in his weakness and
3:51
Speaker 1: degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his household.
3:56
Speaker 1: When he begins to reflect upon his condition and to
3:59
Speaker 1: serve diligently for the law upon which his being is established.
4:04
Speaker 1: He then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with
4:07
Speaker 1: intelligence and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is
4:13
Speaker 1: the conscious master. And man can only thus become by
4:16
Speaker 1: discovering within himself the laws of thought, which discovery is
4:21
Speaker 1: totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience. Only
4:27
Speaker 1: by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained.
4:31
Speaker 1: And man can find every truth connected with his being
4:34
Speaker 1: if he will dig deep into the mind of his soul,
4:37
Speaker 1: and that he is the maker of his character, the
4:40
Speaker 1: molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny.
4:43
Speaker 1: He may unerringly prove if he will watch, control and
4:48
Speaker 1: alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others,
4:52
Speaker 1: and upon his life in circumstances, if he will link
4:56
Speaker 1: cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, utilizing his
5:01
Speaker 1: every experience, even to the most trivial, as a means
5:04
Speaker 1: of obtaining that knowledge of himself. In this direction, as
5:09
Speaker 1: in no other, is the law absolute that he that
5:12
Speaker 1: seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
5:17
Speaker 1: For only by patience, practice, and ceaseless imopportunity can a
5:21
Speaker 1: man enter the door of the Temple of Knowledge. End
5:25
Speaker 1: of Chapter one. Thought and Character, Chapter two, Effect of
5:30
Speaker 1: thought on circumstances. A man's mind may be likened to
5:35
Speaker 1: a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to
5:39
Speaker 1: run wild. But whether cultivated or neglected, it must and
5:43
Speaker 1: will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it,
5:48
Speaker 1: then an abundance of useless seeds will fall therein and
5:52
Speaker 1: will continue to produce their kind. Just as a gardener
5:56
Speaker 1: cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds and growing
6:00
Speaker 1: the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a
6:03
Speaker 1: man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all
6:06
Speaker 1: the wrong, useless and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection
6:11
Speaker 1: the flowers and fruits of right, useful and pure thoughts.
6:15
Speaker 1: By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers
6:19
Speaker 1: that he is the master gardener of his soul, the
6:22
Speaker 1: director of his life. He also reveals within himself the
6:26
Speaker 1: laws of thought, and understands with ever increasing accuracy, how
6:30
Speaker 1: the thought forces and mind elements operate in the shaping
6:33
Speaker 1: of his character. Circumstances and destiny. Thought and character are one,
6:39
Speaker 1: and as character can only manifest and discover itself through
6:43
Speaker 1: environment and circumstance. The outer conditions of a person's life
6:48
Speaker 1: will always be found to be harmoniously related to his
6:51
Speaker 1: inner state. This does not mean that a man's circumstances
6:55
Speaker 1: at any given time are an indication of his entire character,
6:59
Speaker 1: but the those circumstances are so intimately connected with some
7:03
Speaker 1: vital thought element within himself that for the time being
7:07
Speaker 1: they are indispensable to his development. Every man is where
7:11
Speaker 1: he is by the law of his being. The thoughts
7:14
Speaker 1: which he has built into his character have brought him there,
7:17
Speaker 1: And in the arrangement of his life. There is no
7:20
Speaker 1: element of chance, but all is the result of a
7:23
Speaker 1: law which cannot err. This is just as true of
7:26
Speaker 1: those who feel out of harmony with their surroundings as
7:29
Speaker 1: of those who are contented with them. As a progressive
7:32
Speaker 1: and evolving being, man is where he is that he
7:36
Speaker 1: may learn, that he may grow. And as he learns
7:38
Speaker 1: the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it
7:43
Speaker 1: passes away and gives place to other circumstances. Man is
7:47
Speaker 1: buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to
7:51
Speaker 1: be the creature of outside conditions. But when he realizes
7:55
Speaker 1: that he is a creative power, and that he may
7:57
Speaker 1: command the hidden soil and seeds of his being, out
8:00
Speaker 1: of which his circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful
8:03
Speaker 1: master of himself. That circumstances grow out of thought. Every
8:08
Speaker 1: man knows who has for any length of time practiced
8:11
Speaker 1: self control and self purification, for he will have noticed
8:15
Speaker 1: that the alteration in his circumstances has been in exact
8:18
Speaker 1: ratio with his altered mental condition. So true is this
8:22
Speaker 1: that when a man earnestly applies himself to remedy the
8:25
Speaker 1: defects in his character and makes swift and marked progress,
8:29
Speaker 1: he passes rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes. The soul
8:34
Speaker 1: attracts that which it secretly harbours, that which it loves,
8:39
Speaker 1: and also that which it fears. It reaches the height
8:42
Speaker 1: of its cherished aspirations, it falls to the level of
8:46
Speaker 1: its unchastened desires. And circumstances are the means by which
8:51
Speaker 1: the soul receives its own. Every thought seed sown or
8:56
Speaker 1: allowed to fall into the mind and to take root
8:59
Speaker 1: there deduces its own blossoming sooner or later into act
9:04
Speaker 1: and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good
9:08
Speaker 1: thoughts bear good fruit, Bad thoughts bad fruit. The outer
9:12
Speaker 1: world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought,
9:16
Speaker 1: and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors which
9:20
Speaker 1: make for the ultimate good of the individual. As the
9:24
Speaker 1: reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering
9:27
Speaker 1: and bliss. A man does not come to the almshouse
9:32
Speaker 1: or the jail by the tyranny of fate of circumstance,
9:35
Speaker 1: but by the pathway of groveling thoughts and base desires.
9:40
Speaker 1: Nor does a pure minded man fall suddenly into crime
9:43
Speaker 1: by stress of any mere external force. The criminal thought
9:47
Speaker 1: had long been secretly fostered in his heart, and the
9:50
Speaker 1: hour of opportunity revealed its gathered power. Circumstance does not
9:56
Speaker 1: make the man, it reveals him to himself. No such
10:00
Speaker 1: conditions can exist as descending into vice and its attendant
10:04
Speaker 1: sufferings apart from vicious inclinations, or ascending into virtue and
10:08
Speaker 1: its pure happiness, without the continued cultivation of virtuous aspirations.
10:14
Speaker 1: And man, therefore, as the lord and master of thought,
10:18
Speaker 1: is the maker of himself, the shaper and author of environment.
10:23
Speaker 1: Even at birth, the soul comes to its own, and
10:25
Speaker 1: through every step of its earthly pilgrimage, it attracts those
10:28
Speaker 1: combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections
10:32
Speaker 1: of its own purity and impurity, its strength and weakness.
10:38
Speaker 1: Men do not attract that which they want, but that
10:41
Speaker 1: which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted
10:46
Speaker 1: at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are
10:50
Speaker 1: fed with their own food, be it foul or clean.
10:53
Speaker 1: The divinity that shapes our ends is in ourselves. It
10:58
Speaker 1: is our very self. Man is manacled only by himself.
11:03
Speaker 1: Thought and action are the jailers of fate. They imprison,
11:07
Speaker 1: being base, They are also the angels of freedom they liberate,
11:12
Speaker 1: being noble. Not what he wishes and praise for does
11:15
Speaker 1: man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and
11:19
Speaker 1: prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with
11:23
Speaker 1: his thoughts and actions. In the light of this truth,
11:28
Speaker 1: what then, is the meaning of fighting against circumstances? It
11:32
Speaker 1: means that a man is continually revolting against an effect
11:36
Speaker 1: without while all the time he is nourishing and preserving
11:39
Speaker 1: its cause in his heart. That cause may take the
11:43
Speaker 1: form of a conscious vice or an unconscious weakness, but
11:47
Speaker 1: whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the efforts of its possessor,
11:52
Speaker 1: and thus calls aloud for remedy. Men are anxious to
11:56
Speaker 1: improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves. They
12:02
Speaker 1: therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from
12:06
Speaker 1: self crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon
12:10
Speaker 1: which his heart is set. This is as true of
12:13
Speaker 1: earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole
12:17
Speaker 1: object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make
12:20
Speaker 1: great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object, and
12:25
Speaker 1: how much more so he who would realize a strong
12:28
Speaker 1: and well poised life. Here is a man who is
12:32
Speaker 1: wretchedly poor. He is extremely anxious that his surroundings and
12:36
Speaker 1: home comforts should be improved, yet all the time he
12:39
Speaker 1: shirks his work and considers he is justified in trying
12:43
Speaker 1: to deceive his employer on the ground of the insufficiency
12:46
Speaker 1: of his wages. Such a man does not understand the
12:50
Speaker 1: simplest rudiments of those principles which are the basis of
12:53
Speaker 1: true prosperity. He is not only totally unfitted to rise
12:59
Speaker 1: out of his wretchedness, but is actually attracting to himself
13:03
Speaker 1: a still deeper wretchedness by dwelling in and acting out indolent, deceptive,
13:09
Speaker 1: and unmanly thoughts. Here is a rich man who is
13:13
Speaker 1: the victim of a painful and persistent disease as the
13:16
Speaker 1: result of gluttony. He is willing to give large sums
13:20
Speaker 1: of money to get rid of it, but he will
13:22
Speaker 1: not sacrifice his gluttonous desires. He wants to gratify his
13:26
Speaker 1: taste for rich and unnatural foods and have his health
13:29
Speaker 1: as well. Such a man is totally unfit to have
13:32
Speaker 1: health because he has not yet learned the first principles
13:36
Speaker 1: of a healthy life. Here is an employer of labor
13:41
Speaker 1: who adopts crooked measures to avoid paying the regulation wage,
13:45
Speaker 1: and in the hope of making larger profits, reduces the
13:49
Speaker 1: wages of his workpeople. Such a man is altogether unfitted
13:53
Speaker 1: for prosperity. When he finds himself bankrupt, both as regards
13:58
Speaker 1: reputation and riches, he blames circumstances, not knowing that he
14:03
Speaker 1: is the sole author of his condition. I have introduced
14:08
Speaker 1: these three cases merely as illustrative of the truth that
14:11
Speaker 1: man is the causer, though nearly always unconsciously, of his circumstances,
14:16
Speaker 1: that while aiming at a good end, he is continually
14:19
Speaker 1: frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts and desires which it
14:23
Speaker 1: cannot possibly harmonize with that end. Such cases could be
14:27
Speaker 1: multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this is not necessary.
14:32
Speaker 1: The reader can, if he so resolves, trace the actions
14:35
Speaker 1: of the laws of thought in his own mind and life,
14:38
Speaker 1: and until this is done, mere external facts cannot serve
14:42
Speaker 1: as a ground of reasoning. Circumstances, however, are so complicated.
14:47
Speaker 1: Thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of happiness
14:50
Speaker 1: vary so vastly with individuals, that a man's entire sole condition,
14:56
Speaker 1: although it may be known to himself, cannot be judged
14:59
Speaker 1: by another from the ex external aspect of his life alone.
15:03
Speaker 1: A man may be honest in certain directions yet suffer privations.
15:07
Speaker 1: A man may be dishonest in certain directions yet acquire wealth.
15:12
Speaker 1: But the conclusion usually formed that the one man fails
15:15
Speaker 1: because of his particular honesty and that the other prospers
15:19
Speaker 1: because of his particular dishonesty is the result of a
15:22
Speaker 1: superficial judgment which assumes that the dishonest man is almost
15:27
Speaker 1: totally corrupt and the honest man almost entirely virtuous. In
15:31
Speaker 1: the light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience, such
15:34
Speaker 1: judgment is found to be erroneous. The dishonest man may
15:39
Speaker 1: have some admirable virtues which the other does not possess,
15:43
Speaker 1: the honest man obnoxious vices which are absent in the other.
15:47
Speaker 1: The honest man reaps the good result of his honest
15:49
Speaker 1: thoughts and acts, he also brings upon himself the sufferings
15:53
Speaker 1: which his vices produce. The dishonest man, likewise garners his
15:58
Speaker 1: own suffering and happiness. It is pleasing to human vanity
16:03
Speaker 1: to believe that one suffers because of one's virtue. But
16:07
Speaker 1: not until a man has extirpated every sickly, bitter and
16:10
Speaker 1: impure thought from his mind, and washed every sinful stain
16:14
Speaker 1: from his soul, can he be in a position to
16:17
Speaker 1: know and declare that his sufferings are the result of
16:19
Speaker 1: his good and not of his bad qualities. And on
16:23
Speaker 1: the way to that supreme perfection. He will have found
16:27
Speaker 1: working in his mind and life, the great law, which
16:30
Speaker 1: is absolutely just, and which cannot give good for evil
16:34
Speaker 1: evil for good. Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know,
16:39
Speaker 1: looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that his
16:42
Speaker 1: life is and always was justly ordered, and that all
16:46
Speaker 1: his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable outworking
16:50
Speaker 1: of his evolving, yet unevolved self. Good thoughts and actions
16:55
Speaker 1: can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can
16:59
Speaker 1: never produce good good results. This is but saying that
17:02
Speaker 1: nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles
17:06
Speaker 1: but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world
17:10
Speaker 1: and work with it, but few understand it in the
17:12
Speaker 1: mental and moral world, though its operation there is just
17:16
Speaker 1: as simple and undeviating, and they therefore do not cooperate
17:20
Speaker 1: with it. Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought
17:24
Speaker 1: in some direction. It is an indication that the individual
17:28
Speaker 1: is out of harmony with himself with the law of
17:31
Speaker 1: his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is
17:35
Speaker 1: to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.
17:40
Speaker 1: Suffering ceases for him who is pure. There could be
17:43
Speaker 1: no object in burning gold. After the dross has been removed,
17:47
Speaker 1: and a perfectly pure and enlightened being could not suffer.
17:52
Speaker 1: The circumstances which a man encounters with suffering are the
17:55
Speaker 1: result of his own mental in harmony. The circumstances which
17:59
Speaker 1: a man in caen counters with blessedness are the result
18:02
Speaker 1: of his own mental harmony. Blessedness, not material possessions, is
18:07
Speaker 1: the measure of right thought. Wretchedness, not lack of material possessions,
18:13
Speaker 1: is the measure of wrong thought. A man may be
18:17
Speaker 1: cursed and rich, he may be blessed and poor. Blessedness
18:21
Speaker 1: and riches are only joined together when the riches are
18:25
Speaker 1: rightly and wisely used, and the poor man only descends
18:28
Speaker 1: into wretchedness when he regards his lot as a burden
18:32
Speaker 1: unjustly imposed. Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness.
18:39
Speaker 1: They are both equally unnatural and the result of mental disorder.
18:44
Speaker 1: A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy,
18:48
Speaker 1: and prosperous being, and happiness, health, and prosperity are the
18:53
Speaker 1: result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer.
18:57
Speaker 1: A man only begins to be a man when he
18:59
Speaker 1: ceases to wine and revile, and commences to search for
19:02
Speaker 1: the hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he
19:06
Speaker 1: adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to
19:10
Speaker 1: accuse others as the cause of his condition and builds
19:13
Speaker 1: himself up in strong and noble thoughts. He ceases to
19:17
Speaker 1: kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids
19:21
Speaker 1: to his more rapid progress and as a means of
19:24
Speaker 1: discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself. Law, not confusion,
19:30
Speaker 1: is the dominating principle in the universe. Justice, not injustice,
19:35
Speaker 1: is the soul and substance of life, and righteousness not corruption,
19:40
Speaker 1: is the molding and moving force in the spiritual government
19:43
Speaker 1: of the world. This being so, man has but to
19:47
Speaker 1: right himself to find that the universe is right. And
19:50
Speaker 1: during the process of putting himself right, he will find
19:54
Speaker 1: that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people,
19:57
Speaker 1: things and other people will alter toward toward him. The
20:02
Speaker 1: proof of this truth is in every person, and it
20:04
Speaker 1: therefore admits of easy investigation by systematic introspection and self analysis.
20:11
Speaker 1: Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will
20:14
Speaker 1: be astonished at the rapid transformation it will affect in
20:17
Speaker 1: the material condition of his life. Men imagine that thought
20:21
Speaker 1: can be kept secret, but it cannot. It rapidly crystallizes
20:25
Speaker 1: into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance. Be steal thoughts
20:31
Speaker 1: crystallize into habits of drunkenness and sensuality, which solidify into
20:36
Speaker 1: circumstances of destitution and disease. Impure thoughts of every kind
20:41
Speaker 1: crystallize into enervating and confusing habits, which solidify into distracting
20:46
Speaker 1: and adverse circumstances. Thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallize
20:52
Speaker 1: into weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which solidify into circumstances
20:58
Speaker 1: of failure in dijaction and slavish dependence. Lazy thoughts crystallize
21:05
Speaker 1: into habits of uncleanliness and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances
21:10
Speaker 1: of foulness and beggary. Hateful and condemnatory thoughts crystallize into
21:15
Speaker 1: habits of accusation and violence, which solidify into circumstances of
21:20
Speaker 1: injury and persecution. Selfish thoughts of all kinds crystallize into
21:25
Speaker 1: habits of self seeking, which solidify into circumstances more or
21:30
Speaker 1: less distressing. On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all
21:34
Speaker 1: kinds crystallize into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify
21:39
Speaker 1: into genial and sunny circumstances. Pure thoughts crystallize into habits
21:44
Speaker 1: of temperance and self control, which solidify into circumstances of
21:48
Speaker 1: repose and peace. Thoughts of courage, self reliance, and decision
21:54
Speaker 1: crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of success, plenty,
21:59
Speaker 1: and freedom. Energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of cleanliness and industry,
22:06
Speaker 1: which solidify into circumstances of pleasantness. Gentle and forgiving thoughts
22:11
Speaker 1: crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and
22:15
Speaker 1: preservative circumstances. Loving and unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits of
22:21
Speaker 1: self forgetfulness for others, which solidify into circumstances of sure
22:26
Speaker 1: and abiding prosperity and true riches. A particular train of
22:31
Speaker 1: thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail
22:35
Speaker 1: to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A
22:39
Speaker 1: man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose
22:42
Speaker 1: his thoughts and so indirectly yet surely shape his circumstances.
22:49
Speaker 1: Nature helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts
22:52
Speaker 1: which he most encourages, and opportunities are presented which will
22:56
Speaker 1: most speedily bring to the surface both the good and
22:59
Speaker 1: evil thoughts. Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts,
23:03
Speaker 1: and all the world will soften toward him and be
23:06
Speaker 1: ready to help him. Let him put away his weakly
23:09
Speaker 1: and sickly thoughts, and lo opportunities will spring up on
23:13
Speaker 1: every hand to aid his strong resolves. Let him encourage
23:16
Speaker 1: good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down
23:20
Speaker 1: to wretchedness and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, and
23:24
Speaker 1: the varying combinations of colors which at every succeeding moment
23:28
Speaker 1: it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of
23:32
Speaker 1: your ever moving thoughts. You will be what you will
23:35
Speaker 1: to be. Let failure find its false content in that
23:39
Speaker 1: poor word environment, but spirit scorns it and is free.
23:44
Speaker 1: It masters time, it conquers space, It cows that boastful
23:48
Speaker 1: trickster chance, and bids the tyrant circumstance uncrown and fill
23:53
Speaker 1: a servant's place. The human will that force unseen, the
23:57
Speaker 1: offspring of a deathless soul can hew away to any goal.
24:02
Speaker 1: Though walls of granite intervene. Be not impatient in delay,
24:07
Speaker 1: but wait as one who understands. When spirit rises and
24:11
Speaker 1: commands the gods are ready to obey. End of Chapter two,
24:16
Speaker 1: Thought on Circumstances. Chapter three. Effect of thought on health
24:21
Speaker 1: and the body. The body is the servant of the mind.
24:25
Speaker 1: It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be
24:28
Speaker 1: deliberately chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of unlawful thoughts,
24:33
Speaker 1: the body sinks rapidly into disease and decay. At the
24:37
Speaker 1: command of glad and beautiful thoughts, it becomes clothed with
24:41
Speaker 1: youthfulness and beauty. Disease and health like circumstances, are rooted
24:48
Speaker 1: in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body.
24:53
Speaker 1: Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man
24:56
Speaker 1: as speedily as a bullet, and they are continually killing
25:00
Speaker 1: thousands of people just as surely, though less rapidly. The
25:04
Speaker 1: people who live in fear of disease are the people
25:06
Speaker 1: who get it. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body and
25:11
Speaker 1: lays it open to the entrance of disease. While impure thoughts,
25:15
Speaker 1: even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the nervous system. Strong,
25:22
Speaker 1: pure and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor
25:25
Speaker 1: and grace. The body is a delicate and plastic instrument
25:29
Speaker 1: which responds readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed,
25:32
Speaker 1: and habits of thought will produce their own effects, good
25:35
Speaker 1: or bad, upon it. Men will continue to have impure
25:40
Speaker 1: and poisoned blood so long as they propagate unclean thoughts.
25:45
Speaker 1: Out of a clean heart comes a clean life, and
25:47
Speaker 1: a clean body. Out of a defiled mind precedes a
25:51
Speaker 1: defiled life and a corrupt body. Thought is the fount
25:55
Speaker 1: of action, life and manifestation. Make the fountain pure in
25:59
Speaker 1: all way will be pure. Change of diet will not
26:03
Speaker 1: help a man who will not change his thoughts. When
26:06
Speaker 1: a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires
26:09
Speaker 1: impure food. If you would perfect your body, guard your mind,
26:15
Speaker 1: if you would renew your body, beautify your mind. Thoughts
26:19
Speaker 1: of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency rob the body of its
26:24
Speaker 1: health and grace. A sour face does not come by chance.
26:28
Speaker 1: It is made by sour thoughts. Wrinkles that mar are
26:32
Speaker 1: drawn by folly, passion, and pride. I know a woman
26:36
Speaker 1: of ninety six who has the bright, innocent face of
26:39
Speaker 1: a girl. I know a man well under middle age
26:43
Speaker 1: whose face is drawn into inharmonious contours. The one is
26:47
Speaker 1: the result of a sweet and sunny disposition. The other
26:51
Speaker 1: is the outcome of passion and discontent. As you cannot
26:56
Speaker 1: have a sweet and wholesome abode unless you admit the
26:58
Speaker 1: air and sunshine free into your rooms. So a strong
27:03
Speaker 1: body and a bright, happy, or serene countenance can only
27:07
Speaker 1: result from the free admittance into the mind of thoughts
27:10
Speaker 1: of joy and good will and serenity. On the faces
27:16
Speaker 1: of the age, there are wrinkles made by sympathy, others
27:19
Speaker 1: by strong and pure thoughts. Others are carved by passion.
27:23
Speaker 1: Who cannot distinguish them with those who have lived righteously.
27:27
Speaker 1: Age is calm, peaceful, and softly mellowed, like the setting sun.
27:33
Speaker 1: I have recently seen a philosopher on his deathbed. He
27:37
Speaker 1: was not old except in years. He died as sweetly
27:41
Speaker 1: and peacefully as he had lived. There is no physician
27:46
Speaker 1: like cheerful thought, for dissipating the ills of the body.
27:49
Speaker 1: There is no comforter to compare with good will for
27:52
Speaker 1: dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow. To live continually
27:57
Speaker 1: in thoughts of ill will, cynicism, suspense, and envy is
28:01
Speaker 1: to be confined in a self made prison whole. But
28:04
Speaker 1: to think well of all, to be cheerful with all,
28:08
Speaker 1: to patiently learn to find the good in all. Such
28:11
Speaker 1: unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven. And to
28:15
Speaker 1: dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every
28:17
Speaker 1: creature will bring a bounding peace to their possessor. End
28:22
Speaker 1: of Chapter three, Health and the Body. Chapter four, Thought
28:27
Speaker 1: and Purpose. Until thought is linked with purpose, there is
28:31
Speaker 1: no intelligent accomplishment With the majority. The bark of thought
28:36
Speaker 1: is allowed to drift upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness
28:40
Speaker 1: is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for
28:43
Speaker 1: him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction. They
28:48
Speaker 1: who have no central purpose in their life fall in
28:51
Speaker 1: easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self pityings,
28:56
Speaker 1: all of which are indications of weakness, which lead just
29:00
Speaker 1: as surely as deliberately planned sins. Though by a different
29:04
Speaker 1: route to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist
29:10
Speaker 1: in a power evolving universe. A man should conceive of
29:15
Speaker 1: a legitimate purpose in his heart and set out to
29:18
Speaker 1: accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point
29:22
Speaker 1: of his thoughts. It may take the form of a
29:25
Speaker 1: spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according
29:29
Speaker 1: to his nature at the time being. But whichever it is,
29:33
Speaker 1: he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object
29:37
Speaker 1: which he has set before him. He should make his
29:40
Speaker 1: purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment,
29:45
Speaker 1: not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings,
29:49
Speaker 1: and imaginings. This is the royal road to self control
29:54
Speaker 1: and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again
29:57
Speaker 1: and again to accomplish his purpose, as he necessarily must,
30:02
Speaker 1: until weakness is overcome, the strength of character gained will
30:06
Speaker 1: be the measure of his true success, and this will
30:10
Speaker 1: form a new starting point for future power and triumph.
30:14
Speaker 1: Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of great
30:17
Speaker 1: purpose should fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of
30:21
Speaker 1: their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear.
30:26
Speaker 1: Only in this way can the thoughts be gathered and focused,
30:29
Speaker 1: and resolution and energy be developed. Which being done, there
30:34
Speaker 1: is nothing which may not be accomplished. The weakest soul,
30:38
Speaker 1: knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth that strength
30:42
Speaker 1: can only be developed by effort and practice, will at
30:45
Speaker 1: once begin to exert itself, and adding effort to effort,
30:50
Speaker 1: patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease
30:54
Speaker 1: to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong. As
30:59
Speaker 1: the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful
31:02
Speaker 1: and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can
31:05
Speaker 1: make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking. To
31:10
Speaker 1: put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think
31:14
Speaker 1: with purpose is to enter the ranks of those strong
31:16
Speaker 1: ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways
31:20
Speaker 1: to attainment, who make all conditions serve them, and who
31:24
Speaker 1: think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully. Having conceived of
31:31
Speaker 1: his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight
31:34
Speaker 1: pathway to his achievement, looking neither to the right nor
31:38
Speaker 1: the left. Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded. They
31:43
Speaker 1: are disintegrating elements. Which break up the straight line of effort,
31:48
Speaker 1: rendering it crooked, ineffectual. Useless thoughts of doubt and fear
31:53
Speaker 1: never accomplish anything, and never can. They always lead to failure, Purpose, energy,
32:01
Speaker 1: power to do, and all strong thoughts cease when doubt
32:04
Speaker 1: and fear creep in. The will to do springs from
32:08
Speaker 1: the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are
32:11
Speaker 1: the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them,
32:15
Speaker 1: who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.
32:20
Speaker 1: He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.
32:24
Speaker 1: His every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties
32:28
Speaker 1: are bravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted,
32:33
Speaker 1: and they bloom and bring forth fruit which does not
32:36
Speaker 1: fall prematurely to the ground. Thought, allied fearlessly to purpose
32:41
Speaker 1: becomes creative force. He who knows this is ready to
32:46
Speaker 1: become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of
32:50
Speaker 1: wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations. He who does this has
32:55
Speaker 1: become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.
33:00
Speaker 1: End of Chapter four, Thought and Purpose. Chapter five, The
33:05
Speaker 1: thought factor and Achievement. All that a man achieves and
33:09
Speaker 1: all that he fails to achieve, is the direct result
33:12
Speaker 1: of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where
33:16
Speaker 1: loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must
33:22
Speaker 1: be absolute. A man's weakness and strength, purity and impurity,
33:28
Speaker 1: are his own and not another man's. They are brought
33:31
Speaker 1: about by himself and not by another, and they can
33:35
Speaker 1: only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition
33:40
Speaker 1: is also his own, and not another man's. His suffering
33:44
Speaker 1: and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks,
33:48
Speaker 1: so he is as he continues to think, so he remains.
33:54
Speaker 1: A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker
33:57
Speaker 1: is willing to be helped. And even then, the weak
34:00
Speaker 1: man must become strong of himself. He must, by his
34:05
Speaker 1: own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another.
34:09
Speaker 1: None but himself can alter his condition. It has been
34:14
Speaker 1: usual for men to think and to say, many men
34:17
Speaker 1: are slaves because one is an oppressor, Let us hate
34:20
Speaker 1: the oppressor. Now, however, there is, among an increasing few
34:25
Speaker 1: a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say one
34:29
Speaker 1: man is an oppressor because many are slaves. Let us
34:33
Speaker 1: despise the slaves. The truth is that oppressor and slave
34:37
Speaker 1: are co operators in ignorance, and while seeming to afflict
34:42
Speaker 1: each other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A perfect knowledge
34:47
Speaker 1: perceives the action of law in the weakness of the
34:49
Speaker 1: oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor. A perfect love,
34:56
Speaker 1: seeing the suffering which both states entail, condemns neither. A
35:01
Speaker 1: perfect compassion embraces both oppressor and oppressed. He has conquered
35:07
Speaker 1: weakness and has put away all selfish thoughts. Belongs neither
35:12
Speaker 1: to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free. A man can
35:17
Speaker 1: only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts.
35:22
Speaker 1: He can only remain weak and object and miserable by
35:26
Speaker 1: refusing to lift up his thoughts. Before a man can
35:29
Speaker 1: achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his
35:33
Speaker 1: thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in order
35:38
Speaker 1: to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness by any means,
35:43
Speaker 1: but a portion of it must at least be sacrificed.
35:47
Speaker 1: A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither
35:50
Speaker 1: think clearly nor plan methodically. He could not find and
35:54
Speaker 1: develop his Latin resources, and would fail in any undertaking.
36:00
Speaker 1: Not having commenced manfully to control his thoughts, he is
36:04
Speaker 1: not in a position to control affairs and to adopt
36:07
Speaker 1: serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently and
36:12
Speaker 1: stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts
36:16
Speaker 1: which he chooses. There can be no progress, no achievement
36:21
Speaker 1: without sacrifice. A man's worldly success will be in the
36:25
Speaker 1: measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts and fixes
36:29
Speaker 1: his mind on the development of his plans and the
36:32
Speaker 1: strengthening of his resolution and self reliance. And the higher
36:37
Speaker 1: he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and righteous
36:41
Speaker 1: he becomes, the greater will be his success, the more
36:44
Speaker 1: blessed and enduring will be his achievements. The universe does
36:48
Speaker 1: not favor the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on
36:52
Speaker 1: the mere surface it may appear sometimes to do so.
36:56
Speaker 1: It helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the
37:01
Speaker 1: great teachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms,
37:05
Speaker 1: and to prove and know it, a man has but
37:08
Speaker 1: to persist in making himself more and more virtuous by
37:12
Speaker 1: lifting up his thoughts. Intellectual achievements are the result of
37:16
Speaker 1: thought consecrated to the search for knowledge or for the
37:20
Speaker 1: beautiful and true in life and nature. Such achievements may
37:25
Speaker 1: be sometimes connected with vanity and ambition, but they are
37:29
Speaker 1: not the outcome of those characteristics. They are the natural
37:33
Speaker 1: outgrowth of long and arduous effort and of pure and
37:37
Speaker 1: unselfish thoughts. Spiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations.
37:44
Speaker 1: He who lives constantly in the conception of noble and
37:47
Speaker 1: lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will,
37:52
Speaker 1: as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the
37:55
Speaker 1: moon is full, become wise and noble in character, and
37:59
Speaker 1: rise into a position of influence and blessedness. Achievement of
38:04
Speaker 1: whatever kind is the crown effort, the diadem of thought.
38:09
Speaker 1: By the aid of self control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and
38:14
Speaker 1: well directed thought, a man ascends. By the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption,
38:21
Speaker 1: and confusion of thought, a man descends. A man may
38:26
Speaker 1: rise to high success in the world, and even to
38:29
Speaker 1: lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into
38:34
Speaker 1: weakness and wretchedness. By allowing arrogant, selfish and corrupt thoughts
38:39
Speaker 1: to take possession of him. Victories attained by right thought
38:43
Speaker 1: can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when
38:47
Speaker 1: success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure. All achievements,
38:53
Speaker 1: whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the
38:57
Speaker 1: result of definitely directed thought, are governed by the same law,
39:02
Speaker 1: and are of the same method. The only difference lies
39:06
Speaker 1: in the object of attainment. He who would accomplish little
39:10
Speaker 1: must sacrifice little. He who would achieve much must sacrifice much.
39:16
Speaker 1: He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly. End of
39:22
Speaker 1: Chapter five Thought, Factor and Achievement. Chapter six Visions and Ideals.
39:30
Speaker 1: The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the
39:33
Speaker 1: visible world is sustained by the invisible. So men, through
39:38
Speaker 1: all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished
39:41
Speaker 1: by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot
39:47
Speaker 1: forget its dreamers, It cannot let their ideals fade and die.
39:52
Speaker 1: It lives in them. It knows them in the realities
39:55
Speaker 1: which it shall one day see and know. Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage.
40:04
Speaker 1: These are the makers of the afterworld, the architects of heaven.
40:09
Speaker 1: The world is beautiful because they have lived without them.
40:13
Speaker 1: Laboring humanity would perish. He who cherishes a beautiful vision,
40:19
Speaker 1: a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.
40:24
Speaker 1: Columbus cherished a vision of another world, and he discovered it.
40:28
Speaker 1: Copernicus fostered the vision of multiplicity of worlds in a
40:32
Speaker 1: wider universe, and he revealed it. Buddha beheld the vision
40:37
Speaker 1: of a spiritual world, of stainless beauty and perfect peace,
40:41
Speaker 1: and he entered into it. Cherish your visions, Cherish your ideals.
40:48
Speaker 1: Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty
40:51
Speaker 1: that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your
40:54
Speaker 1: purest thoughts, For out of them will grow all delightful conditions,
40:59
Speaker 1: all heavenly environment. Of these, If you but remain true
41:04
Speaker 1: to them, your world will at last be built. To
41:10
Speaker 1: desire is to obtain. To aspire is to achieve. Shall
41:16
Speaker 1: man's basest desires receive the fullest measure of gratification, and
41:20
Speaker 1: his purest abspirations starve for lack of sustenance. Such is
41:26
Speaker 1: not the law. Such a condition of things can never
41:29
Speaker 1: obtain ask and receive, dream lofty dreams, and as you dream,
41:35
Speaker 1: so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of
41:38
Speaker 1: what you shall one day be. Your ideal is the
41:41
Speaker 1: prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. The greatest
41:45
Speaker 1: achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
41:49
Speaker 1: The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in
41:52
Speaker 1: the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul,
41:55
Speaker 1: awaking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of your realities.
42:02
Speaker 1: Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long
42:06
Speaker 1: remain so. If you but perceive an ideal and strive
42:09
Speaker 1: to reach it, you cannot travel within and stand still without.
42:15
Speaker 1: Here is a youth hard pressed by poverty and labor,
42:19
Speaker 1: confined long hours in an unhealthy workshop, unschooled and lacking
42:24
Speaker 1: all the arts of refinement. But he dreams of better things.
42:29
Speaker 1: He thinks of intelligence, of a refinement of grace and beauty.
42:34
Speaker 1: He conceives of mentally builds up an ideal condition of life.
42:41
Speaker 1: The vision of a wider liberty and a larger scope
42:43
Speaker 1: takes possession of him, unrest urges him to take action,
42:49
Speaker 1: and he utilizes all his spare time and means, small
42:52
Speaker 1: though they are, to the development of his latent powers
42:56
Speaker 1: and resources. Very soon, so altered has his mind become
43:00
Speaker 1: that the workshop can no longer hold him. It has
43:03
Speaker 1: become so out of harmony with his mentality that it
43:07
Speaker 1: falls out of his life as a garment is cast aside,
43:10
Speaker 1: and with the growth of opportunities which fit the scope
43:14
Speaker 1: of his expanding powers, he passes out of it. Forever.
43:19
Speaker 1: Years later, we see this youth as a full grown man.
43:23
Speaker 1: We find him a master of certain forces of the mind,
43:25
Speaker 1: which he wields with world wide influence and almost unequaled power.
43:31
Speaker 1: In his hands, he holds the cords of gigantic responsibilities.
43:34
Speaker 1: He speaks and lo lives are changed. Men and women
43:38
Speaker 1: hang upon his words and remold their characters and sunlike
43:44
Speaker 1: he becomes the fixed and luminous center around which innumerable
43:48
Speaker 1: destinies revolve. He has realized the vision of his youth.
43:52
Speaker 1: He has become one with his ideal, And you, too,
43:57
Speaker 1: youthful reader, will realize the vision, not the idle wish
44:01
Speaker 1: of your heart, be it base or beautiful, or a
44:04
Speaker 1: mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that
44:08
Speaker 1: which you secretly most love. Into your hands will be
44:12
Speaker 1: placed the exact results of your own thoughts. You will
44:15
Speaker 1: receive that which you earn, no more, no less. Whatever
44:19
Speaker 1: your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or
44:23
Speaker 1: rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will
44:28
Speaker 1: become as small as your controlling desire, as great as
44:31
Speaker 1: your dominant aspiration. In the beautiful words of Stanton Kirkham Davis,
44:37
Speaker 1: you may be keeping accounts, and presently you shall walk
44:40
Speaker 1: out of the door that for so long has seemed
44:43
Speaker 1: to you the barrier of your ideals, and shall find
44:46
Speaker 1: yourself before an audience, the pen still behind your ear,
44:50
Speaker 1: the ink stains on your fingers, and then and there
44:53
Speaker 1: shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration. You may
44:57
Speaker 1: be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city,
45:00
Speaker 1: bucolic and open mouthed, shall wander under the intrepid guidance
45:05
Speaker 1: of the spirit, into the studio of the Master. And
45:08
Speaker 1: after a time he shall say, I have nothing more
45:12
Speaker 1: to teach you, And now you have become the master
45:15
Speaker 1: who did so recently dream of great things while driving sheep.
45:20
Speaker 1: You shall lay down the saw and the plain to
45:22
Speaker 1: take upon yourself the regeneration of the world. The thoughtless,
45:27
Speaker 1: the ignorant, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects
45:31
Speaker 1: of things, and not the things themselves, talk of luck,
45:34
Speaker 1: of fortune and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they
45:38
Speaker 1: say how lucky he is. Observing another become intellectual, they
45:43
Speaker 1: exclaim how highly favored he is. And noting the saintly
45:48
Speaker 1: character and wide influence of another, they remark how chance
45:53
Speaker 1: aids him at every turn. They do not see the
45:56
Speaker 1: trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily
46:00
Speaker 1: encountered in order to gain their experience. They have no
46:05
Speaker 1: knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted
46:08
Speaker 1: efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have
46:11
Speaker 1: exercised that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable and realize
46:16
Speaker 1: the vision of their heart. They do not know the
46:19
Speaker 1: darkness and the heartaches. They only see the light and
46:22
Speaker 1: joy and call it luck. Do not see the long
46:26
Speaker 1: and arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal and
46:29
Speaker 1: call it good fortune. Do not understand the process, but
46:33
Speaker 1: only perceive the result and call it chance. In all
46:38
Speaker 1: human affairs, there are efforts and there are results, and
46:42
Speaker 1: the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.
46:46
Speaker 1: Chance is not gifts, powers, materials. Intellectual and spiritual possessions
46:53
Speaker 1: are the fruits of effort. They are thoughts completed, objects accomplished,
46:59
Speaker 1: visions realized, the vision that you glorify in your mind,
47:04
Speaker 1: the ideal that you enthrone in your heart. This you
47:07
Speaker 1: will build your life. By this you will become. End
47:13
Speaker 1: of Chapter six, Visions and Ideals. Chapter seven. Serenity calmness
47:20
Speaker 1: of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
47:24
Speaker 1: It is the result of long and patient effort and
47:26
Speaker 1: self control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience
47:31
Speaker 1: and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws
47:34
Speaker 1: and operations of thought. A man becomes calm in the
47:38
Speaker 1: measure that he understands himself as a thought evolved being,
47:42
Speaker 1: for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the
47:46
Speaker 1: result of thought. As he develops a right understanding and
47:50
Speaker 1: sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things
47:54
Speaker 1: by the action of cause and effect, he ceases to
47:57
Speaker 1: fluss and fume, and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.
48:03
Speaker 1: The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows
48:06
Speaker 1: how to adapt himself to others, and they, in turn reverence,
48:11
Speaker 1: his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of
48:14
Speaker 1: him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes,
48:18
Speaker 1: the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.
48:23
Speaker 1: Even the ordinary traitor will find his business prosperity increase
48:26
Speaker 1: as he develops a greater self control and equanimity. For
48:30
Speaker 1: people always prefer to deal with a man whose demeanor
48:33
Speaker 1: is strongly equable. The strong, calm man is always loved
48:38
Speaker 1: and revered. He is like a shade giving tree in
48:41
Speaker 1: a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm.
48:44
Speaker 1: Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet, tempered,
48:47
Speaker 1: balanced life. It does not matter whether it rains or shines,
48:51
Speaker 1: or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for
48:55
Speaker 1: they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise
48:59
Speaker 1: of character, which we call serenity, is the last lesson
49:02
Speaker 1: of culture. It is the flowering of life, the fruitage
49:06
Speaker 1: of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to
49:10
Speaker 1: be desired than gold, yea than even fine gold. How
49:15
Speaker 1: insignificant mere money seeking looks in comparison with a serene life,
49:20
Speaker 1: a life that dwells in the ocean of truth. Beneath
49:23
Speaker 1: the waves, beyond the reach of tempests in the eternal calm.
49:27
Speaker 1: How many people we know who sour their lives, who
49:30
Speaker 1: ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by explosive tempers,
49:34
Speaker 1: who destroy their poise of character and make bad blood.
49:38
Speaker 1: It is a question whether the great majority of people
49:40
Speaker 1: do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by
49:43
Speaker 1: lack of self control. How few people we meet in
49:48
Speaker 1: life who are well balanced, who have their exquisite poise,
49:51
Speaker 1: which is characteristic of the finished character. Yes, humanity surges
49:57
Speaker 1: with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous, with ungoverned grief, is blown
50:02
Speaker 1: away by anxiety and doubt. Only the wise man, only
50:06
Speaker 1: he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds
50:10
Speaker 1: and the storms of the soul obey him. Tempest tossed souls.
50:15
Speaker 1: Wherever ye may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live,
50:20
Speaker 1: know this. In the ocean of life, the isles of
50:23
Speaker 1: blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your ideal
50:26
Speaker 1: awaits your coming. Keep your hand firmly upon the helm
50:30
Speaker 1: of thought. In the bark of your soul reclines the
50:32
Speaker 1: commanding master. He does but sleep, Wake him self control
50:37
Speaker 1: is strength. Right thought is mastery, Calmness is power. Say
50:42
Speaker 1: unto your heart, peace be still. End of Chapter seven Serenity.
50:49
Speaker 1: End of As a Man Thinketh by James Allen