Latest / Classic Non-Fiction Book Collection / Morning and Evening Thoughts - James Allen
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Morning and Evening Thoughts by James Allen, Section one preface.
- 0:06Speaker 1: In going through the books written by James Allen to
- 0:09Speaker 1: cull from them these morning and evening thoughts, I have
- 0:12Speaker 1: felt over and over again the force of the truth
- 0:16Speaker 1: contained in every page, And knowing as I do the
- 0:19Speaker 1: writer as no one else knows him, seeing him as
- 0:22Speaker 1: I have for many years, under all circumstances, in the
- 0:26Speaker 1: hours of work and leisure, in the days of joy
- 0:28Speaker 1: and sorrow, in the sunshine and in the cloud, I
- 0:31Speaker 1: know that these writings are not the words of an
- 0:33Speaker 1: idle brain, nor are they gathered from other writings, nor
- 0:38Speaker 1: picked up here and there. But they are the deep
- 0:40Speaker 1: experiences of his own heart, and we have first lived
- 0:44Speaker 1: and then written. Therefore I send forth this little book,
- 0:48Speaker 1: knowing it cannot fail on its mission, knowing it is
- 0:51Speaker 1: alive because it has been lived, and am confident that
- 0:54Speaker 1: those who use it for daily meditation must feel its
- 0:58Speaker 1: power and realize it's blessed because it is the actual
- 1:01Speaker 1: experience of an individual life. Lily l Allan, conquer thyself,
- 1:09Speaker 1: then thou shalt know climb to the high, leave thou
- 1:13Speaker 1: the low deliverance shall him entrance who strives with sins
- 1:17Speaker 1: and sorrows, tears and pains till he attains James Allen
- 1:23Speaker 1: Morning and Evening Thoughts by James Allen, Section two Days
- 1:28Speaker 1: one through ten. First Morning, in aiming at the life
- 1:34Speaker 1: of blessedness. One of the simplest beginnings to be considered
- 1:39Speaker 1: and rightly made is that which we all make every day,
- 1:43Speaker 1: namely the beginning of each day's life. There is a
- 1:47Speaker 1: sense in which every day may be regarded as the
- 1:50Speaker 1: beginning of a new life, in which one can think,
- 1:54Speaker 1: act and live newly and in a wiser and better spirit.
- 1:58Speaker 1: The right beginning of the day will be followed by cheerfulness,
- 2:02Speaker 1: permeating the household with a sunny influence, and the tasks
- 2:06Speaker 1: and duties of the day will be undertaken in a
- 2:09Speaker 1: strong and confident spirit, and the whole day will be
- 2:12Speaker 1: well lived. First Evening. There can be no progress, no
- 2:18Speaker 1: achievement without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be
- 2:23Speaker 1: in the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts
- 2:27Speaker 1: and fixes his mind on the development of his plans
- 2:31Speaker 1: and on the strengthening of his resolution and self reliance,
- 2:35Speaker 1: and the higher he lives his thoughts. The more manly, upright,
- 2:39Speaker 1: and righteous he becomes, the greater will be his success,
- 2:42Speaker 1: The more blessed and enduring will be his achievements. Second Morning.
- 2:49Speaker 1: None but right acts can follow right thoughts. None but
- 2:53Speaker 1: a right life can follow right acts, And by living
- 2:56Speaker 1: a right life, all blessedness is achieved. Mind is a
- 3:01Speaker 1: master power that molds and makes, and man is mind,
- 3:05Speaker 1: and evermore he takes the tool of thought and shaping
- 3:09Speaker 1: what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills.
- 3:14Speaker 1: He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass. Environment
- 3:18Speaker 1: is but his looking glass. Second evening. Calmness of mind
- 3:26Speaker 1: is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. A man
- 3:30Speaker 1: becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as
- 3:34Speaker 1: a thought evolved being. And as he develops a right
- 3:37Speaker 1: understanding and sees more and more clearly the internal relations
- 3:41Speaker 1: of things by the action of cause and effect, he
- 3:44Speaker 1: ceases to fret in fume and worry in grief, and
- 3:47Speaker 1: remains poised, steadfast, serene. Third Morning. To follow, under all
- 3:55Speaker 1: circumstances the highest promptings within you, to be always true
- 4:00Speaker 1: to the divine self, To rely upon the inward voice,
- 4:03Speaker 1: the inward light, and to pursue your purpose with a
- 4:07Speaker 1: fearless and RESTful heart, believing that the future will yield
- 4:11Speaker 1: unto you the need of every thought and effort, knowing
- 4:14Speaker 1: that the laws of the universe can never fail, and
- 4:17Speaker 1: that your own will come back to you with mathematical exactitude.
- 4:21Speaker 1: This is faith and the living of faith. Third evening,
- 4:30Speaker 1: Have a thorough understanding of your work, and let it
- 4:33Speaker 1: be your own. And as you proceed, ever following the
- 4:36Speaker 1: inward guide, the infallible voice, you will pass on from
- 4:40Speaker 1: victory to victory, and will rise step by step to
- 4:44Speaker 1: higher resting places. And your ever broadening outlook will gradually
- 4:48Speaker 1: reveal to you the essential beauty and purpose of life.
- 4:53Speaker 1: Self purified health will be yours, self governed power will
- 4:57Speaker 1: be yours, and all that you do will prosper. And
- 5:01Speaker 1: I may stand where health's success in power await my coming.
- 5:05Speaker 1: If each fleeting are I cling to love in patience
- 5:09Speaker 1: and abide with stainlessness, and never step aside from high integrity,
- 5:14Speaker 1: so shall I see at last the land of immortality.
- 5:20Speaker 1: Fourth morning, When the tongue is well controlled and wisely subdued,
- 5:26Speaker 1: When selfish impulses and unworthy thoughts no longer rush to
- 5:30Speaker 1: the tongue demanding utterance. When the speech has become harmless, pure, gracious, gentle,
- 5:36Speaker 1: and purposeful, and no word is uttered but insincerity and truth,
- 5:41Speaker 1: then are the five steps in virtuous speech accomplished. Then
- 5:45Speaker 1: is a second great lesson in truth learned and mastered.
- 5:49Speaker 1: Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make thy life rich,
- 5:53Speaker 1: sweet and beautiful. Fourth evening, Having clothed himself with humility,
- 6:01Speaker 1: the first questions a man asks himself are how am
- 6:05Speaker 1: I acting towards others? What am I doing to others?
- 6:09Speaker 1: How am I thinking of others? Are my thoughts off
- 6:13Speaker 1: and acts towards others? Prompted by unselfish love, as a
- 6:18Speaker 1: man in the silence of his soul, asks himself these
- 6:21Speaker 1: searching questions, he will unerringly see where he has hitherto failed.
- 6:29Speaker 1: Fifth Morning. To dwell in love always and towards all
- 6:34Speaker 1: is to live the true life, is to have life itself.
- 6:38Speaker 1: Knowing this, the good man gives up himself unreservedly to
- 6:42Speaker 1: the spirit of love and dwells in love towards all,
- 6:45Speaker 1: contending with none, condemning none, but loving all. The christ
- 6:50Speaker 1: spirit of love puts an end not only to all sin,
- 6:54Speaker 1: but to all division and contention. Fifth Evening, When sin
- 7:01Speaker 1: and self are abandoned, the heart is restored to its
- 7:05Speaker 1: imperishable joy. Joy comes and fills the self emptied heart.
- 7:10Speaker 1: It abides with the peaceful, Its rain is with the pure.
- 7:15Speaker 1: Joy flees from the selfish. It deserts the quarrelsom it
- 7:19Speaker 1: is hidden from the impure. Joy cannot remain with the selfish.
- 7:24Speaker 1: It is wedded to love. Sixth morning. In the pure heart,
- 7:30Speaker 1: there is no room left where personal judgments and hatreds
- 7:33Speaker 1: can find lodgment, for it is filled to overflowing with
- 7:37Speaker 1: tenderness and love. It sees no evil, and only has
- 7:41Speaker 1: men succeed in seeing no evil in others will they
- 7:44Speaker 1: become free from sin and sorrow and suffering. If men
- 7:48Speaker 1: only understood that the heart that sins must sorrow, that
- 7:52Speaker 1: the hateful mind tomorrow reaps its barren harvest. Weeping, starving, resting,
- 7:58Speaker 1: not nor sleeping tender would fill their being. They would
- 8:02Speaker 1: see with pity's seeing if they only understood. Sixth Evening,
- 8:11Speaker 1: to stand face to face with truth, to arrive after
- 8:14Speaker 1: innumerable wanderings and pains at wisdom and bliss, not to
- 8:19Speaker 1: be finally defeated and cast out, but to ultimately triumph
- 8:23Speaker 1: over every invert foe. Such is man's divine destiny, such
- 8:28Speaker 1: his glorious goal. And this every Saint Sage in Savior
- 8:32Speaker 1: has declared. A man only begins to be a man
- 8:36Speaker 1: when he ceases to whine and revile and commences to
- 8:40Speaker 1: search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And
- 8:44Speaker 1: as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he
- 8:48Speaker 1: ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition,
- 8:51Speaker 1: and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts, sees
- 8:55Speaker 1: to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as
- 8:59Speaker 1: aids to his more rapid progress and as a means
- 9:02Speaker 1: of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself. Seventh Morning.
- 9:11Speaker 1: The will to evil and the will to good are
- 9:13Speaker 1: both within thee, which will thou employ. Thou knowest what
- 9:18Speaker 1: is right and what is wrong, which wilt thou love,
- 9:21Speaker 1: and faster which destroy Thou art the chooser of thy
- 9:26Speaker 1: thoughts and deeds. Thou art the maker of thine inward state.
- 9:32Speaker 1: The power is thine to be what thou wilt be.
- 9:35Speaker 1: Thou bildest truth and love or lies in hate. Seventh Evening,
- 9:43Speaker 1: The teachings of Jesus brings men back to the simple
- 9:46Speaker 1: truth that righteousness, a right doing, is entirely a matter
- 9:50Speaker 1: of individual conduct, and not a mystical something apart from
- 9:55Speaker 1: a man's thoughts and deeds. Calmness in patience and become
- 10:00Speaker 1: habitual by first grasping through effort a calm and patient thought,
- 10:05Speaker 1: and then continuously thinking it and living in it, until
- 10:10Speaker 1: use becomes second nature, and anger and impatience pass away forever.
- 10:17Speaker 1: Eighth Morning. Man is made run, made by himself. In
- 10:22Speaker 1: the armory of thought, he forges the weapons by which
- 10:25Speaker 1: he destroys himself. He also fashions the tools with which
- 10:29Speaker 1: he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength
- 10:33Speaker 1: and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought,
- 10:38Speaker 1: man essence to the divine perfection. By the abuse and
- 10:41Speaker 1: wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of
- 10:45Speaker 1: the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades
- 10:49Speaker 1: of character, and man is their maker and master. As
- 10:53Speaker 1: a being of power, intelligence, and love, and the lord
- 10:57Speaker 1: of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation.
- 11:03Speaker 1: Eighth Evening, whatsoever you harbor in the inmost chambers of
- 11:08Speaker 1: your heart, will sooner or later, by the inevitable law
- 11:12Speaker 1: of reaction, shape itself in your outward life. Every soul
- 11:16Speaker 1: attracts its own, and nothing can possibly come to it
- 11:19Speaker 1: that does not belong to it. To realize this is
- 11:23Speaker 1: to recognize the universality of divine law. If thou wouldstrit
- 11:28Speaker 1: the world and banish all its evils and its woes,
- 11:32Speaker 1: make its wild places bloom and its drear deserts blossom
- 11:37Speaker 1: as arose, then right thyself ninth morning. What O were
- 11:44Speaker 1: conditions are rendering your life burdensome, You may pass out
- 11:48Speaker 1: of and beyond them by developing and utilizing within you
- 11:52Speaker 1: the transforming power of self purification and self conquest. Before
- 11:57Speaker 1: the divine radiance of a pure heart, all darkness vanishes
- 12:01Speaker 1: and all clouds melt away. And he who has conquered
- 12:05Speaker 1: self has conquered the universe. He who sets his foot
- 12:10Speaker 1: firmly upon the path of self conquest, who walks, aided
- 12:13Speaker 1: by the staff of faith, the high way of self sacrifice,
- 12:17Speaker 1: will assuredly achieve the highest prosperity, and will reap abounding
- 12:21Speaker 1: and enduring joy and bliss ninth evening. It is the
- 12:29Speaker 1: silent and conquer in thought forces which bring all things
- 12:32Speaker 1: into manifestation. The universe grew out of thought. To adjust
- 12:38Speaker 1: all your thoughts to a perfect and unswerving faith in
- 12:40Speaker 1: the omnipotence and supremacy of good is to cooperate with
- 12:44Speaker 1: that good and to realize within yourself the solution and
- 12:48Speaker 1: destruction of all evil. To mentally deny evil is not sufficient.
- 12:53Speaker 1: It must, by daily practice be risen above and understood
- 12:58Speaker 1: to affirm the good. Mental is inadequate. It must, by
- 13:02Speaker 1: unswerving endeavor, be entered into and comprehended. Tenth morning. Every
- 13:09Speaker 1: thought you think is a force sent out, whatever your
- 13:13Speaker 1: possession in life may be. Before you can hope to
- 13:16Speaker 1: enter into any matter of success, usefulness, and power, you
- 13:20Speaker 1: must learn how to focus your thought forces by cultivating
- 13:23Speaker 1: calmness and repose. There is no difficulty, however great but
- 13:28Speaker 1: will yield before a calm and purposeful concentration of thought
- 13:32Speaker 1: and no legitimate object, but may be speedily actualized by
- 13:36Speaker 1: the intelligent use and direction of one's sole forces. Think
- 13:42Speaker 1: good thoughts, and they will quickly become actualized in your
- 13:45Speaker 1: outward life. In the form of good conditions. Tenth Evening,
- 13:52Speaker 1: that which you would be and hope to be, you
- 13:55Speaker 1: may be nave. Non accomplishment resides in your perpetual pesson,
- 14:01Speaker 1: and having the power to postpone, you also have the
- 14:04Speaker 1: power to accomplish. To perpetually accomplish. Realize this truth, and
- 14:09Speaker 1: you shall be, to day and every day the ideal
- 14:12Speaker 1: being of whom you dreamed. Say to yourself, I will
- 14:17Speaker 1: live in my ideal nove. I will manifest my ideal nove.
- 14:21Speaker 1: I will be my ideal nove. And all that tempts
- 14:25Speaker 1: me away from my ideal I will not listen to.
- 14:28Speaker 1: I will listen only to the voice of my ideal
- 14:32Speaker 1: Morning and Evening Thoughts by James Allen, Section three days,
- 14:37Speaker 1: eleventh through twenty eleventh Morning, be as a flower, content
- 14:43Speaker 1: to be, to grow in sweetness day by day. If
- 14:47Speaker 1: thou wouldst perfect thyself in knowledge, perfect thyself in love,
- 14:52Speaker 1: if thou wouldst reach the highest ceaselessly cultivate a loving
- 14:56Speaker 1: and compassionate heart to him who chooses gooddness, sacrificing all
- 15:02Speaker 1: is given, that which is more than and includes all.
- 15:07Speaker 1: Eleventh Evening. The Great Law never cheats any man of
- 15:11Speaker 1: his just due Human life, when rightly lived, is simple,
- 15:16Speaker 1: with a beautiful simplicity. He who comprehends the utter simplicity
- 15:21Speaker 1: of life, who obeys its laws and does not step
- 15:24Speaker 1: aside into the dark paths and complex mazes of selfish desire,
- 15:29Speaker 1: stands where no harm can reach him. Then there is
- 15:33Speaker 1: fullness of joy, abounding, plenty and rich in complete blessedness.
- 15:41Speaker 1: Twelfth morning. Every man reads the results of his own
- 15:45Speaker 1: thoughts and deeds, and suffers for his own wrong. He
- 15:49Speaker 1: who begins right and continues right does not need to
- 15:52Speaker 1: desire and search for felicitous results. They are already at hand.
- 15:57Speaker 1: They follow as consequences. They are the certainties, the realities
- 16:02Speaker 1: of life. Sweet is arrest and deep, the bliss of
- 16:05Speaker 1: him who has freed his heart from its lusts and
- 16:09Speaker 1: hatreds in dark desires. Twelfth evening. You are the creator
- 16:17Speaker 1: of your own shadows. You desire, and then you grieve, renounce,
- 16:21Speaker 1: and then you shall rejoice of all the beautiful truths
- 16:24Speaker 1: pertaining to the soul. None is more gladdening or fruitful
- 16:28Speaker 1: of divine promise and confidence than this. That man is
- 16:33Speaker 1: a master of thought, the molder of character, and the
- 16:36Speaker 1: maker in shaper of character, environment and destiny thirteenth morning.
- 16:43Speaker 1: As darkness is a passing shadow and light is substance
- 16:47Speaker 1: that remains, so sorrow is fleeting, but joy abides forever.
- 16:52Speaker 1: No true thing can pass away and become lost. No
- 16:55Speaker 1: false thing can remain and be preserved. Sorrow is false
- 16:59Speaker 1: than it can and not live. Joy is true and
- 17:02Speaker 1: it cannot die. Joy may become hidden for a time,
- 17:05Speaker 1: but it can always be recovered. Sorrow may remain for
- 17:09Speaker 1: a period, but it can be transcended and dispersed. Do
- 17:13Speaker 1: not think your sorrow will remain. It will pass away
- 17:16Speaker 1: like a cloud. Do not believe that the torments of
- 17:19Speaker 1: sin are ever your potion. They will vanish like a
- 17:23Speaker 1: hideous nightmare. Awake, arise, be holy and joyful. Thirteenth evening.
- 17:31Speaker 1: Tribulation lasts only so long as there remains some chaff
- 17:35Speaker 1: of self which needs to be removed. The tribulum or
- 17:39Speaker 1: threshing machine ceases to work. When all the grain is
- 17:42Speaker 1: separated from the chaff, and when the last impurity is
- 17:46Speaker 1: are blown away from the soul, tribulation is completed its
- 17:49Speaker 1: work and there is no more need for it. Then
- 17:52Speaker 1: abiding joy is realized. The soul. In supreme use of
- 17:55Speaker 1: suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is
- 17:59Speaker 1: useless and impure. Suffering ceases for him who is pure.
- 18:03Speaker 1: There can be no object in burning gold after the
- 18:05Speaker 1: drawers had been removed fourteenth Morning. In speaking of self control,
- 18:14Speaker 1: one is easily misunderstood. It should not be associated with
- 18:19Speaker 1: destructive repression, but with a constructive expression. A man is happy, wise,
- 18:24Speaker 1: and great in the measure that he controls himself. He
- 18:28Speaker 1: is wretched, foolish, and mean in the measure that he
- 18:31Speaker 1: allows his animal nature to dominate his thoughts and actions.
- 18:36Speaker 1: He who controls himself controls his life. His circumstances is destiny,
- 18:41Speaker 1: and wherever he goes, he carries his happiness with him
- 18:44Speaker 1: as an abiding possession. Renunciation precedes regeneration. The permanent happiness
- 18:51Speaker 1: which men seek in dissipation, excitement, and abandonment to unworthy
- 18:55Speaker 1: pleasures is found only in the life which reverses all this,
- 19:00Speaker 1: the life of self control. Fourteenth Evening. Law, not confusion,
- 19:09Speaker 1: is a dominating principle in the universe. Justice, not in justice,
- 19:14Speaker 1: is the soul and substance of life, and righteousness, not corruption,
- 19:19Speaker 1: is the molding and moving foes. In the spiritual government
- 19:22Speaker 1: of the world. This being so, man has but to
- 19:25Speaker 1: right himself to find that the universe is right. When
- 19:29Speaker 1: I am pure, I shall have solved the mystery of life.
- 19:33Speaker 1: I shall be sure when I am free from hatred,
- 19:35Speaker 1: lust in strife, I am in truth, and truth abides
- 19:39Speaker 1: in me. I shall be safe and sane and wholly
- 19:43Speaker 1: free when I am pure. Fifteenth morning. If men only
- 19:50Speaker 1: understood that their hatred and resentment slays their peas in
- 19:54Speaker 1: sweet contentment hurts themselves, helps not another, does not one
- 20:00Speaker 1: lonely brother, they would seek the better doing of good deeds,
- 20:04Speaker 1: which leaves no ruling. If they only understood. If men
- 20:09Speaker 1: only understood how love conquers, how prevailing as its might,
- 20:14Speaker 1: grim hate assailing, how compassion endeth sorrow maketh wise, and
- 20:19Speaker 1: doth not borrow pain of passion, they would ever live
- 20:23Speaker 1: in love in hatred, never if they only understood fifteenth evening,
- 20:31Speaker 1: the grace and duty that wherein Jesus can be of
- 20:34Speaker 1: no value to you, cannot be understood by you unless
- 20:38Speaker 1: they are also in you, And they can never be
- 20:41Speaker 1: in you until you practice them. For apart from doing
- 20:46Speaker 1: the qualities which constitute goodness do not, as far as
- 20:49Speaker 1: you are concerned, exist. To adore Jesus for his good
- 20:53Speaker 1: qualities is a long step towards truth, But to practice
- 20:57Speaker 1: those qualities is true itself. And he who truly adores
- 21:01Speaker 1: the perfection of another will not rest content in his
- 21:05Speaker 1: own imperfection, but will fashion his soul after the likeness
- 21:09Speaker 1: of that other. Therefore, thou who adorest Jesus for his
- 21:15Speaker 1: divine qualities, practice those qualities thyself, and thou shalt be divine.
- 21:22Speaker 1: Sixteenth morning, Let a man realize that life, in its totality,
- 21:27Speaker 1: proceeds from the mind, and lo the way of pleasantness
- 21:30Speaker 1: is opened up to him. For he will then discover
- 21:33Speaker 1: that he possesses the power to rule his mind and
- 21:37Speaker 1: to fashion it in accordance with his ideal. So will
- 21:41Speaker 1: he elect to strongly and steadfastly walk those pathways of
- 21:45Speaker 1: thought and action which are altogether excellent to him, life
- 21:49Speaker 1: will become beautiful and sacred, and sooner or later he
- 21:53Speaker 1: will put to flight all evil, confusion, and suffering. For
- 21:58Speaker 1: it is impossible for a man to fall short of liberation, enlightenment,
- 22:02Speaker 1: and peace. Who guards with unvarying diligence on the gateway
- 22:06Speaker 1: of his heart sixteenth evening. By constantly overcoming self, a
- 22:14Speaker 1: man gains the knowledge of the subtle intricacies of his mind,
- 22:18Speaker 1: and it is this divine knowledge which enables him to
- 22:21Speaker 1: become established in calmness. Without self knowledge, there can be
- 22:26Speaker 1: no abiding peace of mind, and those who are carried
- 22:29Speaker 1: away by tempestuous passions cannot approach the holy place where
- 22:33Speaker 1: calmness reigns. The weak man is like one who, having
- 22:37Speaker 1: mounted a fiery steed, allows it to run away with
- 22:41Speaker 1: him and carry him whithersoever it wills. The strong man
- 22:45Speaker 1: is like one who, having mounted the steed, governs it
- 22:48Speaker 1: with a masterly hand, and makes it go in what
- 22:51Speaker 1: O we direction, and at what over speed he commands.
- 22:56Speaker 1: Seventeenth morning. There is no no selfishness in the Kingdom.
- 23:03Speaker 1: There is perfect harmony, equipies, and rest. Those who live
- 23:07Speaker 1: in the Kingdom of Love have all they needs supplied
- 23:10Speaker 1: by the law of love. As self is the root
- 23:13Speaker 1: cause of all strife and suffering, so love is the
- 23:16Speaker 1: root cause of all peace and bliss. Those who are
- 23:19Speaker 1: at rest in the Kingdom do not look for happiness
- 23:22Speaker 1: in any outward possessions. They are freed from all anxiety
- 23:27Speaker 1: in trouble and resting in love. They are the embodiment
- 23:30Speaker 1: of happiness. Seventeenth Evening. Let it not be supposed that
- 23:37Speaker 1: the children of the Kingdom live in ease and indolence.
- 23:41Speaker 1: These two sins are the first that have to be
- 23:44Speaker 1: eradicated when the search for the Kingdom is entered upon.
- 23:48Speaker 1: They live in a peaceful activity. In fact, they only
- 23:52Speaker 1: truly live, for the life of self, with its strain
- 23:56Speaker 1: of worries, grieves, and fears, is not real life. The
- 24:00Speaker 1: children of the Kingdom are known by their life. They
- 24:04Speaker 1: manifest the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance,
- 24:14Speaker 1: self control under all circumstances and all vicissitudes. Eighteenth Morning.
- 24:23Speaker 1: The Gospel of Jesus is a gospel of living and doing.
- 24:27Speaker 1: If it were not this, it would not voice the
- 24:29Speaker 1: eternal truth. Its temple is purified conduct, the entrance door
- 24:34Speaker 1: to which is self surrender. It invites men to shake
- 24:38Speaker 1: off sin and tromises. As a result, joy and blessedness
- 24:42Speaker 1: and perfect peace. The Kingdom of Heaven is perfect trust,
- 24:47Speaker 1: perfect knowledge, perfect peace. No sin can enter therein, no
- 24:52Speaker 1: self bornd thought or deed can pass its golden gates,
- 24:56Speaker 1: no impure desire can defile its radiant robes. All may
- 25:01Speaker 1: enter it who will, but all must pay the price,
- 25:04Speaker 1: the unconditional abandonment of self. Eighteenth evening. I say this,
- 25:13Speaker 1: and know it to be truth, that circumstances can only
- 25:16Speaker 1: affect you in so far as you allow them to
- 25:19Speaker 1: do so. You are swayed by circumstances because you have
- 25:23Speaker 1: not a right understanding of the nature, use, and power
- 25:27Speaker 1: of thought. You believe, and upon this little word belief,
- 25:31Speaker 1: hang all our joys and sorrows, that outward things have
- 25:35Speaker 1: the power to make or mar your life. By so doing,
- 25:39Speaker 1: you submit to those outward things, confess that you are
- 25:44Speaker 1: their slave, and they your unconditional master. By so doing
- 25:49Speaker 1: you invest them with the power which they do not
- 25:51Speaker 1: of themselves possess. And you succumb in reality not to
- 25:56Speaker 1: the circumstances, but to the gloom or gladness, the fear
- 26:00Speaker 1: of hope, the strength of weakness, which your thoughts fear
- 26:04Speaker 1: has thrown around them. Nineteenth morning. If you are one
- 26:10Speaker 1: of those who are praying for and looking forward to
- 26:13Speaker 1: a happier world beyond the grave, here is a message
- 26:17Speaker 1: of gladness for you may enter into and realize that
- 26:20Speaker 1: happy world. Now it fills the whole universe, that it
- 26:24Speaker 1: is within you waiting for you to find acknowledge and process,
- 26:29Speaker 1: said one who understood the inner laws of being. When
- 26:32Speaker 1: men shall say lo here or low there, go not
- 26:36Speaker 1: after them. The Kingdom of God is within you. Nineteenth Evening.
- 26:43Speaker 1: Heaven and Hell are inward states. Sink into self and
- 26:47Speaker 1: all its gratifications, and you sink into Hell, rise above self,
- 26:52Speaker 1: into that state of consciousness which is the utter denial
- 26:56Speaker 1: and forgetfulness of self, and you enter heaven. So long
- 27:00Speaker 1: as you persist in selfishly seeking for your own personal happiness,
- 27:04Speaker 1: so long will happiness elude you, and you will be
- 27:07Speaker 1: sowing the seeds of wretchedness. In so far as you
- 27:11Speaker 1: succeed in losing yourself in the service of others. In
- 27:14Speaker 1: that measure, will happiness come to you, and you will
- 27:17Speaker 1: dreap a harvest of bliss. Twentieth Morning. Sympathy given can
- 27:24Speaker 1: never be wasted. One aspect of sympathy is that of pity,
- 27:29Speaker 1: pity for the distress or pain stricken, with a desire
- 27:32Speaker 1: to alleviate or help them in their sufferings. The world
- 27:36Speaker 1: needs more of this divine quality, for pity makes the
- 27:40Speaker 1: world soft to the weak and noble for the strong.
- 27:44Speaker 1: Another form of sympathy is that of rejoicing with others
- 27:48Speaker 1: who are more successful than ourselves, as though their success
- 27:52Speaker 1: were our own. Twentieth Evening. Sweet are companionships, pleasures, and
- 28:01Speaker 1: material comforts, but they change in fadeaway. Sweeter still are purity, wisdom,
- 28:07Speaker 1: and the knowledge of truth, and these never change nor
- 28:10Speaker 1: fade away. He who is attained to the possession of
- 28:13Speaker 1: spiritual things can never be deprived of his souls of happiness.
- 28:18Speaker 1: He will never have to part company with it, And
- 28:21Speaker 1: wherever he goes in the whole universe, he will carry
- 28:24Speaker 1: his possessions with him. His spiritual end will be the
- 28:27Speaker 1: fullness of joy. Morning and Evening Thoughts by James Allen,
- 28:33Speaker 1: Section four Daze twenty one through thirty one twenty first morning,
- 28:41Speaker 1: Let your heart grow and expand with ever broadening love,
- 28:44Speaker 1: until freed from all hatred and passion and condemnation. It
- 28:49Speaker 1: embraces the whole universe with thoughtful tenderness. As the flower
- 28:53Speaker 1: opens its speedals to receive the morning light, so open
- 28:57Speaker 1: your soul more and more to the glorious life, height
- 29:00Speaker 1: of truth. Soar upward on the wings of aspiration, Be
- 29:04Speaker 1: fearless and believe in the loftiest possibilities. Twenty first Evening.
- 29:12Speaker 1: Mind clothes itself in garments of its own making. Mind
- 29:16Speaker 1: is the arbiter of life. It is the creator and
- 29:19Speaker 1: shaper of conditions and the recipient of its own results.
- 29:23Speaker 1: It contains within itself both the power to create illusion
- 29:27Speaker 1: and to perceive reality. Mind is an infallible weaver of destiny.
- 29:33Speaker 1: Thought is the thread good and evil deeds are the
- 29:36Speaker 1: warp and the wolf, and the web woven upon the
- 29:40Speaker 1: loom of life is character. Make pure thy heart, and
- 29:44Speaker 1: thou wilt make thy life rich, sweet and beautiful, unmarred
- 29:49Speaker 1: by strife. Twenty second morning. Cherish your visions, Cherish your ideals.
- 29:57Speaker 1: Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty
- 29:59Speaker 1: that fall your mind, the loveliness that rapes your purest thoughts.
- 30:04Speaker 1: For out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all
- 30:08Speaker 1: heavenly environment. Of these, if you will remain true to them,
- 30:12Speaker 1: your world will at last be built god well, thy
- 30:16Speaker 1: mind and noble, strong and free. Nothing shall harm, disturb,
- 30:21Speaker 1: or conquer thee For all thy foes are in thy
- 30:24Speaker 1: heart and mind. They are also thy salvation. Thou shalt
- 30:28Speaker 1: find twenty second evening dream lofty dreams, And as you dream,
- 30:36Speaker 1: so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of
- 30:39Speaker 1: what you shall one day be. Your ideal is the
- 30:43Speaker 1: prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. The greatest
- 30:47Speaker 1: achievement was it first, and for a time a dream.
- 30:51Speaker 1: The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in
- 30:54Speaker 1: the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul,
- 30:58Speaker 1: a waking angel stirs. Your circumstances may be congenial, but
- 31:03Speaker 1: they shall not long remain so when you perceive an
- 31:06Speaker 1: ideal and strive to reach it. Twenty third morning, he
- 31:13Speaker 1: who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His
- 31:17Speaker 1: every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are
- 31:21Speaker 1: bravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted,
- 31:26Speaker 1: and they bloom and bring forth fruit which does not
- 31:29Speaker 1: fall prematurely to the ground. Thought, allied fearlessly to purpose
- 31:34Speaker 1: becomes creative force. He who knows this is ready to
- 31:37Speaker 1: become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of
- 31:40Speaker 1: wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations. He who does this has
- 31:45Speaker 1: become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.
- 31:51Speaker 1: Twenty third Evening. Man's true plagues in the cosmos is
- 31:56Speaker 1: that of a king, not a slave, a commander under
- 31:59Speaker 1: the law of good, and not a helpless tool in
- 32:02Speaker 1: the reign of evil. I write for men, not for bits,
- 32:06Speaker 1: for those were eager to learn and earnest to achieve,
- 32:10Speaker 1: For those who will put away for the world's good
- 32:13Speaker 1: a petty personal indulgence, a selfish desire, a mean thought,
- 32:17Speaker 1: and live on as though it were not sands craving
- 32:21Speaker 1: in regret. Man is a master. If he were not,
- 32:26Speaker 1: he could not act contrary to law. Evil and weakness
- 32:29Speaker 1: are self destructive. The universe is girt with goodness and strength,
- 32:34Speaker 1: and it protects the good and the strong. The angry
- 32:38Speaker 1: man is a weak man. Twenty fourth morning. Not by
- 32:45Speaker 1: learning will a man triumph over evil. Not by much
- 32:48Speaker 1: study will he overcome sin and sorrow. Only by conquering
- 32:53Speaker 1: himself will he conquer evil. Only by practicing righteousness will
- 32:57Speaker 1: he put an end to sorrow. Not for the clever,
- 33:01Speaker 1: nor the learned, nor the self confident is the life
- 33:04Speaker 1: triumphant but for the pure, the virtuous, and wise. The
- 33:09Speaker 1: former achieved their particular success in life, but the latter
- 33:12Speaker 1: alone achieved the great success, so invincible and complete that
- 33:16Speaker 1: even an apparent defeat he shines with added victory. Twenty
- 33:22Speaker 1: fourth evening. The true silence is not merely a silent tongue.
- 33:28Speaker 1: It is a silent mind. To merely hold one's tongue,
- 33:31Speaker 1: and yet to carry about a disturbed and rankling mind
- 33:34Speaker 1: is no remedy for weakness, and no souls of power. Silentness.
- 33:39Speaker 1: To be powerful must envelop the whole mind, must permeate
- 33:43Speaker 1: every chamber of the heart. It must be the silence
- 33:46Speaker 1: of peace. To this broad, deep, abiding silentness, a man
- 33:51Speaker 1: a tains only in the matter that he conquers himself.
- 33:56Speaker 1: Twenty fifth morning. By curbing his tongue, a man gains
- 34:01Speaker 1: possession of his mind. The fool babbles, gossips, argues in
- 34:06Speaker 1: Bandy's words. He glories in the fact that he has
- 34:09Speaker 1: had the last word and has silenced his opponent. He
- 34:13Speaker 1: exults in his own folly, is ever on the defensive,
- 34:16Speaker 1: and wastes his energies in unprofitable channels. He is like
- 34:21Speaker 1: a gardener who continues to dig and plant in unproductive style.
- 34:25Speaker 1: The wise man avoids idle words, gossip, vain, argument, and
- 34:30Speaker 1: self defense. He is content to appear defeated, rejoices when
- 34:35Speaker 1: he is defeated, knowing that having found and removed another
- 34:38Speaker 1: error in himself, he has thereby the conviiser. Blessed is
- 34:43Speaker 1: he who does not strive for the last word twenty
- 34:48Speaker 1: fifth evening. Desire is the craving for possession. Aspiration is
- 34:55Speaker 1: the hunger of the heart for peace. The craving for
- 34:58Speaker 1: things leads ever father and father from peace, and not
- 35:02Speaker 1: only ends in deprivation, but is in itself a state
- 35:05Speaker 1: of perpetual want. Until it comes to an end, Rest
- 35:09Speaker 1: and satisfaction are impossible. The hunger for things can never
- 35:13Speaker 1: be satisfied, but the hunger for peace can, and the
- 35:17Speaker 1: satisfaction of peace is found is fully possessed. When all
- 35:21Speaker 1: selfish desire is abandoned, then there is fullness of joy, abounding,
- 35:26Speaker 1: plenty and rich in complete blessedness twenty sixth morning. A
- 35:33Speaker 1: man will reach the kingdom by purifying himself, and he
- 35:37Speaker 1: can only do this by pursuing a process of self
- 35:40Speaker 1: examination and self analysis. The selfishness must be discovered and
- 35:45Speaker 1: understood before it can be removed. It is powerless to
- 35:49Speaker 1: remove itself, neither will it pass away of itself. Darkness
- 35:54Speaker 1: ceases only when light is introduced. So ignorance can only
- 35:57Speaker 1: be dispersed by knowledge, selfishness by love. A man must
- 36:02Speaker 1: first of all be willing to lose himself his self
- 36:06Speaker 1: seeking before he can find himself his divine self. He
- 36:11Speaker 1: must realize that selfishness is not worth clinging to, that
- 36:14Speaker 1: it is a master altogether unworthy of his service, and
- 36:18Speaker 1: that divine goodness alone is worthy to be enthroned in
- 36:22Speaker 1: his heart as a supreme master of his life. Twenty
- 36:27Speaker 1: sixth evening, Be still, my soul, and know that peace
- 36:32Speaker 1: is thine. Be steadfast heart, and know that strength divine
- 36:37Speaker 1: belongs to thee sees from thy turmoil mind, and thou
- 36:41Speaker 1: the everlasting rest shalt find. If a man would have peace,
- 36:46Speaker 1: let him exercise a spirit of peace. If he would
- 36:49Speaker 1: find love, let him dwell in the spirit of love.
- 36:53Speaker 1: If he would escape suffering, let him cease to inflict it.
- 36:57Speaker 1: If he would do noble things for humanity, let him
- 37:00Speaker 1: cease to do ignoble things for himself. If he will
- 37:04Speaker 1: but quarry the mine of his own soul. He shall
- 37:06Speaker 1: find there all the material for building whatsoever he will,
- 37:10Speaker 1: and he shall find there also the central rock on
- 37:13Speaker 1: which to build in safety. Twenty seventh morning men go
- 37:19Speaker 1: after much company and seek of new excitements, but they
- 37:23Speaker 1: are not acquainted with peace. In divors paths of pleasure,
- 37:27Speaker 1: they search for happiness, but they do not come to rest.
- 37:31Speaker 1: Through divers ways of laughter and feverish delirium, they wander
- 37:34Speaker 1: after gladness and life, but their tears are many and graevous,
- 37:38Speaker 1: and they do not escape death. Drifting upon the ocean
- 37:41Speaker 1: of life in search of selfish indulgences, men are caught
- 37:45Speaker 1: in at storms, and only after many tempests, in much privation,
- 37:49Speaker 1: do they fly to the rock of refuge, which rests
- 37:52Speaker 1: in the deep silence of their own being. Twenty seventh Evening.
- 38:00Speaker 1: Meditation centered upon divine realities is the veriest sense and
- 38:04Speaker 1: soul of prayer. It is the silent reaching upward of
- 38:08Speaker 1: the soul towards the eternal. Meditation is the intense dwelling
- 38:14Speaker 1: in thought upon an idea, a theme, with the object
- 38:17Speaker 1: of thoroughly comprehending it. And whatsoever. You constantly meditate upon,
- 38:22Speaker 1: you will not only come to understand, but will grow
- 38:25Speaker 1: more and more into its likeness, for it will become
- 38:28Speaker 1: incorporated with your very being, will become, in fact your
- 38:32Speaker 1: very self. If therefore, you constantly dwell upon that which
- 38:37Speaker 1: is selfish and debasing, you will ultimately become selfish and debased.
- 38:42Speaker 1: If you ceaselessly think upon that which is pure and unselfish,
- 38:46Speaker 1: you will surely become pure and unselfish. Twenty eighth morning.
- 38:53Speaker 1: There is no difficulty, however great, but will yield before
- 38:57Speaker 1: a calm and powerful concentration of thought and no legitimate object,
- 39:01Speaker 1: but may be speedily actualized by the intelligent use and
- 39:05Speaker 1: direction of one's sole forces. Whatever your task may be,
- 39:10Speaker 1: concentrate your whole mind upon it, throw into it all
- 39:13Speaker 1: the energy of which you are capable. The faultless completion
- 39:17Speaker 1: of small tasks lead inevitably to larger tasks. See to
- 39:22Speaker 1: it that you rise by steady climbing, and you will
- 39:25Speaker 1: never fall. Twenty eighth evening. He who knows that love
- 39:32Speaker 1: is the heart of all things, and has realized the
- 39:35Speaker 1: all sufficing power of that love, has no room in
- 39:39Speaker 1: this heart for condemnation. If you love people and speak
- 39:43Speaker 1: to them with praise until they in some way thwart
- 39:46Speaker 1: you or do something of which you disapprove, and then
- 39:49Speaker 1: you dislike them and speak of them with dispraise. You
- 39:53Speaker 1: are not governed by the love which is of God.
- 39:56Speaker 1: If in your heart your continually arraigning and condemn others,
- 40:01Speaker 1: selfless love is hidden from you. Train your mind in strong,
- 40:05Speaker 1: impartial and gentle thought. Train your heart in purity and compassion.
- 40:11Speaker 1: Train your tongue to silence and to true and stainless speech.
- 40:16Speaker 1: So shall you enter the way of holiness and peace,
- 40:19Speaker 1: and shall ultimately realize the immortal love twenty ninth morning.
- 40:26Speaker 1: If you would realize true prosperity, Do not settle down,
- 40:30Speaker 1: as many have done, into the belief that if you
- 40:33Speaker 1: do right, everything will go wrong. Do not allow the
- 40:36Speaker 1: word competition to shake your faith in the supremacy of righteousness.
- 40:41Speaker 1: I care not what men may say about the laws
- 40:44Speaker 1: of competition, for do not I know the unchangeable law
- 40:48Speaker 1: which shall one day put them all to rout, and
- 40:51Speaker 1: which puts them to rout even now in the heart
- 40:54Speaker 1: and life of the righteous man. And knowing this law,
- 40:57Speaker 1: I can contemplate all dishonesty with undisturbed repose, for I
- 41:02Speaker 1: know where certain destruction awaits it. Under all circumstances, do
- 41:07Speaker 1: that which you believe to be right, and trust the law,
- 41:10Speaker 1: Trust the divine power which is imminent in the universe,
- 41:14Speaker 1: and it will never desert you, and you will always
- 41:16Speaker 1: be protected. Twenty ninth evening. Forget yourself entirely in the
- 41:23Speaker 1: sorrows of others and in ministering to others, and divine
- 41:27Speaker 1: happiness will emancipate you from all sorrow and suffering. Taking
- 41:32Speaker 1: the first step with a good thought, the second with
- 41:35Speaker 1: a good word, and the third with a good deed,
- 41:38Speaker 1: I enter at paradise, and you also enter paradise by
- 41:43Speaker 1: pursuing the same course. Lose yourself in the welfare of others.
- 41:48Speaker 1: Forget yourself in all that you do. This is a
- 41:50Speaker 1: secret of abounding happiness. Ever, be on the watch to
- 41:54Speaker 1: guard against selfishness, and learn faithfully the divine lessons of
- 41:59Speaker 1: inward sacrific So shall you climb the highest heights of happiness,
- 42:04Speaker 1: and shall remain in the never clouded sunshine of universal joy,
- 42:08Speaker 1: clothed in the shining garment of immortality. Thirtieth morning, when
- 42:15Speaker 1: the farmer has stilled and dressed his land and put
- 42:18Speaker 1: on the seed. He knows that he has done all
- 42:20Speaker 1: that he can possibly do, and that now he must
- 42:23Speaker 1: trust to the elements and wait patiently for the cause
- 42:26Speaker 1: of time to bring about the harvest, and that no
- 42:29Speaker 1: amount of expectancy on his part will affect the result.
- 42:34Speaker 1: Even so, he who has realized truth goes forth as
- 42:37Speaker 1: the sower of the seeds of goodness, purity, love, and peace,
- 42:41Speaker 1: without expectancy, and never looking for results, knowing that there
- 42:45Speaker 1: is the great over ruling law, which brings about its
- 42:48Speaker 1: own harvest in due time, and which is alike the
- 42:52Speaker 1: souls of preservation and destruction. Thirtieth evening, the virtuous put
- 42:59Speaker 1: a check upon themselves and set a watch upon their
- 43:03Speaker 1: passions and emotions. In this way they gain possession of
- 43:06Speaker 1: the mind and gradually acquire calmness. And as they acquire influence, power, greatness, abiding, joy,
- 43:15Speaker 1: and fullness and completeness of life. He only finds peace
- 43:20Speaker 1: who conquers himself, who strives day by day after greater
- 43:25Speaker 1: self possession, greater self control, greater calmness of mind. Where
- 43:30Speaker 1: the calm mind is there is strength and rest, there
- 43:33Speaker 1: is love and wisdom. There is one who has fought
- 43:36Speaker 1: successfully innumerable battles against self, who, after long toil and
- 43:42Speaker 1: secret against his own failings, has triumphed at last thirty
- 43:49Speaker 1: first morning. Sympathy bestowed increases its store in our own hearts,
- 43:55Speaker 1: and enriches and fructifies our own life. They given is
- 44:00Speaker 1: blessedness received. Sympathy withheld is blessedness forfeited. In the measure
- 44:07Speaker 1: that a man increases and enlarges his sympathy so much
- 44:10Speaker 1: nearer does he approach the ideal life, the perfect blessedness.
- 44:14Speaker 1: And when his heart has become so mellowed that no hard,
- 44:18Speaker 1: bitter or cruel thought can enter and detract from its
- 44:21Speaker 1: permanent sweetness, then indeed is richly and divinely blessed. Thirty
- 44:29Speaker 1: first evening sweet is a rest and deep the bliss
- 44:34Speaker 1: of him who has freed his heart from its lusts
- 44:37Speaker 1: and hatreds and dark desires. And he who, without any
- 44:41Speaker 1: shadow of bitterness, resting upon him and looking out upon
- 44:45Speaker 1: the world with boundless compassion and love, can breathe in
- 44:49Speaker 1: his inmost heart the blessing peace unto all living things,
- 44:54Speaker 1: making no exceptions or distinctions. Such a man has reached
- 44:59Speaker 1: that happy ending which can never be taken away, for
- 45:03Speaker 1: this is the perfection of life, the fullness of peace,
- 45:07Speaker 1: the consummation of perfect blessedness,