Latest / Logic Library / 01 - Thought and Character - As a Man Thinketh - James Allen

Transcript

01 - Thought and Character - As a Man Thinketh - James Allen · Logic Library

• 0:00
  Chapter one, Thought and Character the aphorism. As a man thinketh in his
• 0:06
  heart, so is he not only embraces the whole of man's being, but
• 0:11
  is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life.
• 0:17
  A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum
• 0:22
  of all his thoughts. As the plant springs from and could not be without
• 0:27
  the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of
• 0:32
  his thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to
• 0:36
  those acts called spontaneous and unpremeditated, as to those which are deliberately executed.
• 0:44
  Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits.
• 0:49
  Thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
• 0:55
  Thought in the mind hath made us what we are by thought, wet
• 1:00
  and built. If a man's mind hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him
• 1:04
  as comes the wheel the ox behind. If one endure in purity of thought,
• 1:10
  joy follows him as his own shadow. Sure man is a growth by
• 1:15
  law and not a creation by artifice, And cause and effect is as absolute
• 1:22
  and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought, as in the world of visible
• 1:26
  and material things. A noble and godlike character is not a thing of favor
• 1:30
  or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking,
• 1:37
  the effect of long cherished association with godlike thoughts. An ignoble, and beastial
• 1:44
  character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of
• 1:49
  groveling thoughts. Man is made or unmade by himself. In the armory of
• 1:56
  thought. He forges the weapons by which he destroys himself. He also fashions
• 2:00
  the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and
• 2:06
  peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to
• 2:12
  the divine perfection. By the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends
• 2:16
  below the level of beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of
• 2:22
  character, and man is their maker and master of all the beautiful truths pertaining
• 2:28
  to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age.
• 2:31
  None is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this, that
• 2:37
  man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker
• 2:40
  and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny. As a being of power,
• 2:46
  intelligence, and love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man
• 2:52
  holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative
• 2:58
  agency by which he may make himself what he wills. Man is always the
• 3:02
  master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state. But in his weakness
• 3:09
  and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his household. When he begins
• 3:15
  to reflect upon his condition and to search diligently for the law upon which his
• 3:21
  being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with
• 3:25
  intelligence and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the conscious master,
• 3:32
  and man can only thus become by discovering within himself the laws of thought,
• 3:38
  which discovery is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience.
• 3:45
  Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained. And man can
• 3:50
  find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mind
• 3:53
  of his soul, and that he is the maker of his character, the
• 3:59
  molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny. He may unerringly
• 4:02
  prove if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their
• 4:08
  effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life in circumstances, if
• 4:14
  he will link cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, utilizing his every
• 4:19
  experience, even to the most trivial, as a means of obtaining that knowledge
• 4:25
  of himself. In this direction, as in no other, is the law
• 4:29
  absolute, that he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
• 4:33
  be opened. For only by patience, practice, and ceaseless imopportunity can a
• 4:40
  man enter the door of the Temple of Knowledge. End of Chapter one,
• 4:45
  Thought and Character