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Foundation to Happiness and Success · Foundation to Happiness and Success

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Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success by James Allen Forward. How does a man
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begin the building of a house? He first secures a plan of the proposed
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edifice, and then proceeds to build according to the plan, scrupulously following it
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in every detail, beginning with the foundation. Should he neglect the beginning,
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the beginning on a mathematical plan, his labor would be wasted, and his
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building, should it reach completion without tumbling to pieces, would be insecure and
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worthless. The same law holds good in any important work. The right beginning
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and first essential is a definite mental plan on which to build. Nature will
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have no slipshod work, no slovenliness, and she annihilates confusion, or rather
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confusion is in itself annihilated. Order, definiteness, purpose eternally prevail. And
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he who, in his operations ignores these mathematical elements at once deprives himself of
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sustainability, completeness, happiness and success. End of Forward Right Principles. It
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is wise to know what comes first and what to do first. To begin
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anything in the middle or at the end is to make a muddle of it.
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The athlete who began by breaking the tape would not receive the prize.
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He must begin by facing the starter and towing the mark, and even then
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a good start is important if he is to win. The pupil does not
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begin with algebra and literature, but with counting in abc. So in life,
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the business men who begin at the bottom achieve the more enduring success,
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and the religious men who reach the highest heights of spiritual knowledge and wisdom.
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Are they who have stooped to serve a patient apprenticeship to the humbler tasks,
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and if not scorned the common experiences of humanity, or overlook the lesson to
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be learned from them. The first things in a sound life, and therefore
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in a truly happy and successful life, are right principles. Without right principles
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to begin with, there will be wrong practices to follow with, and a
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bungled and wretched life to end with. All the infinite variety of calculations which
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tabulate the commerce and science of the world come out of ten figures. All
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the hundreds of thousands of books which constitute the literature of the world and perpetuate
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its thought in genius, are built up from the twenty six letters. The
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greatest astronomer cannot ignore the ten simple figures. The profoundest man of genius cannot
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dispense with the twenty six simple characters. The fundamentals of all things are few
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and simple, yet without them there is no knowledge and no achievement. The
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fundamentals the basic principles in life or true living, are also few and simple.
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And to learn them thoroughly and study how to apply them to all the
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details of life is to avoid confusion and to secure a substantial foundation for the
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orderly building up of an invincible character and a permanent success. And to succeed
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in comprehending those principles in their innumerable ramifications in the labyrinth of conduct, is
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to become a master of life. The first principles in life are principles of
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conduct. To name them is easy as mere words. They are on all
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men's lips, but as fixed sources of action, admitting of no compromise,
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few have learned them. In this short talk, I will deal with five
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only of these principles. These five are amongst the simplest of the root principles
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of life. But they are also those that come nearest to the everyday life,
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for they touch the artisan, the business man, the householder, the
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citizen. At every point, no one of them can be dispensed with,
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but at severe cost. And he who perfects himself in their application will rise
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superior to many of the troubles and failures of life, and will come into
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these springs and currents of thought which flow harmoniously towards the regions of enduring success.
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The first of these principles is duty, a much hackneyed word, I
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know, but it contains a rare jewel for him who will seek it by
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assiduous application. The principle of duty means strict adherence to one's own business and
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justice, strict non interference in the business of others. The man who is
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continually instructing others gradis how to manage their affairs is the one who most mismanage
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his own. Duty also means undivided attention to the matter in hand, intelligent
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concentration of the mind on the work to be done. It includes all that
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is meant by thoroughness, exactness, and efficiency. The details of duties differ
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with individuals, and each man should know his own duty better than he knows
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his neighbors, and better than his neighbor knows his. But Although the working
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details differ, the principle is always the same. Who has mastered the demands
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of duty. Honesty is the next principle. It means not cheating or overcharging
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another. It involves the absence of all trickery, lying, and deception by
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word, look, or gesture. It includes sincerity, the saying what you
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mean and the meaning what you say. It scorns cringing policy and shining compliment.
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It builds up good reputations and good reputations build up good businesses and bright
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joy accompanies well earned success. Who has scaled the heights of honesty. Economy
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is the third principle. The conservation of one's financial resources is merely the vestibule
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leading towards the more spacious chambers of true economy. It means, as well,
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the husband of one's physical, vitality and mental resources. It demands the
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conservation of energy by the avoidance of enervating self indulgences and sensual habits. It
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holds for its follower's strength, endurance, vigilance, and the capacity to achieve.
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It bestows great power on him who learns it well, who has realized
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the supreme strength of economy. Liberality follows economy. It is not opposed to
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it. Only the man of economy can afford to be generous. The spendthrift,
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whether in money, vitality, or mental energy, wasted so much on
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his own miserable pleasures as to have none left to bestow upon others. The
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giving of money is the smallest part of liberality. There is the giving of
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thoughts and deeds, and sympathy, the bestowing of good will, the being
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generous towards calumniators and opponents. It is a principle that begets a noble,
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reaching influence. It brings loving friends and staunch comrades, and is the foe
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of loneliness and despair who has measured the breadth of liberality. Self control is
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the last of these five principles, yet the most important. Its neglect is
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the cause of vast misery, innumerable failures, and tens of thousands of financial,
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physical, and mental wrecks. Show me the business man who loses his
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temper with a customer over some trivial matter, and I will show you a
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man who, by that condition of mind, is doomed to failure. If
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all men practiced even the initial stages of self control, anger, with its
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consuming and destroying fire would be unknown. The lessons of patience, purity,
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gentleness, kindness, and steadfastness, which are contained in the principle of self
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control, are slowly learned by men. Yet until they are truly learned,
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a man's care and success are uncertain and insecure. Where is the man who
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has perfected himself in self control? Where he may be he is a master.
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Indeed, the five principles are five practices, five avenues to achievement,
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and five sources of knowledge. It is an old saying and a good rule
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that practice makes perfect. And he who would make his own wisdom, which
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is inherent in those principles, must not merely have them on his lips.
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They must be established in his heart. To know them and receive what they
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alone can bring. He must do them and give them out in his actions.
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Sound methods from the five foregoing right principles, when they are truly apprehended
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and practiced, will issue sound methods. Right principles are manifested in harmonious action,
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and method is to life what law is to the universe. Everywhere in
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the universe there is the harmonious adjustment of parts. And it is this symmetry
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and harmony that reveals a cosmos as distinguished from chaos. So in human life,
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the difference between a true life and a false life, between one purposeful
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and effective and one purposeless and weak, is one of method. The false
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life is an incoherent jumble of thoughts, passions, and actions. The true
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life is an orderly adjustment of all its parts. It is all the difference
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between a mass of lumber and a smoothly working, efficient machine. A piece
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of machinery in perfect working order is not only useful but an admirable and attractive
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thing. But when its parts are all out of gear and refuse to be
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readjusted, its usefulness and attractiveness are gone, and it is thrown on the
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scrap heap. Likewise, a life perfectly adjusted in all its parts so as
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to achieve the highest point of efficiency is not only a powerful life, but
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an excellent and beautiful thing, whereas a life confused, inconsistent, discordant is
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a deplorable exhibition of wasted energy. If a life is to be truly lived,
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method must enter into and regulate every detail of it, as it enters
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and regulates every detail of the wondrous universe of which we form a part.
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One of the most distinguishing differences between a wise man and a foolish man is
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that the wise man pays careful attention to the smallest things, while the foolish
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man slurs over them or neglects them altogether. Wisdom consists in maintaining things on
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their right relations, in keeping all things, the smallest as well as the
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greatest, in their proper places and times. To violate order is to produce
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confusion and discord, and unhappiness is but another name for discord. The good
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business man knows that system is three parts of success, and that disorder means
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failure. The wise man knows that disciplined, methodical living is three parts of
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happiness, and that looseness means misery. What is a fool but one who
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thinks carelessly, acts rashly, and lives loosely. What is a wise man
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but one who thinks carefully, acts calmly, and lives consistently. The true
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method does not end with the orderly arrangement of the material things and external relations
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of life. This is but its beginning. It enters into the adjustment of
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the mind, the discipline of the passions, the elimination and choice of words
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and speech, the logical arrangement of the thoughts, and the selection of right
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actions. To achieve a life rendered sound, successful, and sweet by the
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pursuance of sound methods, one must begin not by neglect of the little everyday
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things, but by assiduous attention to them. Thus the hour of rising is
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important, and it's regularly significant, as are also the timing of retiring to
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rest and the number of hours given to sleep. Between the regularity and irregularity
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of meals and the care and carelessness in which they are eaten is all the
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difference between good and bad digestion with all that this applies, and an irritable
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or comfortable frame of mind with its train of good or bad consequences. For
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attaching to these meal times and meal ways are matters of both physiological and psychological
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significance. The due division of hours for business and for play, not confusing
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the two. The orderly fitting in of all the details of one's business.
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Times for solitude, for silent thought and for affective action, for eating and
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for abstinence. All these things must have their lawful place in the life of
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whom whose daily round is to proceed with the minimum degree of friction, who
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is to get the most usefulness, influence, and joy out of life.
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But all this is but the beginning of that comprehensive method which embraces the whole
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life and being. When this smooth order in logical consistency is extended to the
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words and actions, to the thoughts and desires, then wisdom emerges from folly,
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and out of weakness comes power sublime. When a man so orders his
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mind as to produce a beautiful, working harmony between all its parts, then
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he reaches the highest wisdom, the highest efficiency, the highest happiness. But
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this is the end, and he who would reach the end must begin at
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the beginning. He must systematize and render logical and smooth the smallest details of
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his life, proceeding step by step toward the finished accomplishment. But each step
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will yield its own particular measure of strength and gladness. To sum it up,
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method produces that smoothness which goes with strength and efficiency. Discipline is method
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applied to the mind. It produces that calmness which goes with power and happiness.
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Method is working by rule. Discipline is living by rule. But working
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and living are not separate. They are but two aspects of character of life.
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Therefore, be orderly in work, be accurate in speech, be logical
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in thought. Between these and slovenliness in accuracy and confusion is the difference between
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success and failure, music and discord, happiness and misery. The adoption of
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sound methods of working, acting, thinking in a word of living is the
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sh surest and safest foundation for sound health, sound success, sound peace of
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mind. The foundation of unsound methods will be found to be unstable and to
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yield fear and unrest even when it appears to succeed, and when its time
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of failure comes, it is grievous. Indeed, true actions following on right
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principles and methods come true actions. One who is striving to grasp true principles
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and work with sound methods will soon come to perceive that details of conduct cannot
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be overlooked, that indeed, those details are fundamentally distinctive or creative according to
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their nature, and are of deep significance and comprehensive importance. And this perception
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and knowledge of the nature and power of passing actions will gradually open and grow
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within him as an added vision, a new revelation as he acquires this in
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sight, his progress will be more rapid, his pathway in life, more
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sure, his days, more serene and peaceful. In all things, he
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will go the true and direct way, unswayed and untroubled by the external forces
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that play around and about him. Not that he will be indifferent to the
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welfare and happiness of those about him, that is quite another thing. But
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he will be indifferent to their opinions, to their ignorance, to their ungoverned
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passions. By true actions, indeed, is men acting rightly towards others.
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And the right doer knows that his actions, in accordance with truth, are
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but for the happiness of those about him, and he will do them even
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though an occasion may arise when someone near to him may advise or implore him
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to do Otherwise, true actions may easily be distinguished from falts by all who
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wish so to distinguish in order that they may avoid false action and a true
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As in the material world, we distinguish things by their form, color,
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size, et cetera, choosing those things which we require, and putting by
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those things which are not useful to us. So in the spiritual world of
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deeds, we can distinguish between those that are bad and those that are good
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by their nature, their aim, and their effect, and can choose and
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adopt those that are good and ignore those that are bad. In all forms
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of progress, avoidance of the bad always precedes acceptance and knowledge of the good,
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just as a child at school learns to do its lessons right by having
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repeatedly pointed out to it how it has done them wrong. If one does
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not know what is wrong and how to avoid it, how can he know
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what is right and how to practice it. Bad or untrue actions are those
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that spring from a consideration of one's own happiness only and ignore nor the happiness
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of others, that arise in violent disturbances of the mind and unlawful desires,
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or that call for concealment in order to avoid undesirable complications. Good or true
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actions are those that spring from a consideration for others, that may arise in
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calm reason and harmonious thought framed on moral principles, or that will not involve
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the doer in shameful consequences if brought into the full light of day. The
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right doer will avoid those acts of personal pleasure and gratification, which, by
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their nature bring annoyance, pain, or suffering to others. No matter how
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insignificant those actions may appear to be, he will begin by putting away these.
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He will gain a knowledge of the unselfish and true by first sacrificing the
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selfish and untrue. He will learn not to speak or act in anger or
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envy or resentment, but will study how to control his mind, and will
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restore it to calmness before acting. And most important of all, he will
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avoid, as he would the drinking of deadly poison, those acts of trickery,
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deceit, double dealing in order to gain some personal profit of advantage,
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and which lead sooner or later to exposure and shame for the doer of them.
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If a man is prompted to do a thing which he needs to conceal,
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and which he would not lawfully and frankly defend if it were examined of
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witness, he should know by that that it is a wrong act, and
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therefore to be abandoned without a further moment's consideration. The carrying out of this
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principle of honesty and sincerity of action, too, will further lead him into
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such a path of thoughtfulness in right doing as will enable him to avoid doing
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those things which would involve him in the deceptive practices of other people. Before
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signing papers, or entering into verbal or written agreements, or engaging himself to
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others in any way at their request, particularly if they be strangers, he
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will first inquire into the nature of the work or undertaking, and so enlightened
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he will know exactly what to do, and will be fully aware of the
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import of his action to the right doer. Thoughtlessness is a crime. Thousands
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of actions done with good intent lead to disastrous consequences because they are acts of
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thoughtlessness. And it is well said that the way to hell is paved with
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good intentions. The man of true action is above all things thoughtful. Be
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ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. The term thoughtlessness covers a
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wide field in the realm of deeds. It is only by increasing in thoughtfulness
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that a man can come to understand the nature of actions, and can thereby
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acquire the power of always doing that which is right. It is impossible for
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a man to be thoughtful and act foolishly. Thoughtfulness embraces wisdom. It is
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not enough that an action is prompted by a good impulse or intention. It
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must arise in thoughtful consideration if it is to be a true action, And
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the man who wishes to be permanently happy in himself and a power for good
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to others must concern himself only with true actions. I did it with the
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best of intentions is a poor excuse from one who has thoughtlessly involved himself in
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the wrongdoing of others. His bitter experience should teach him to act more thoughtfully
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in the future. True actions can only spring from a true mind, and
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therefore, while a man is learning to distinguish and choose between the faults and
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the true, he is correcting and perfecting his mind, and is thereby rendering
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it more harmonious and felicitous, more efficient and power. As he acquires the
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inner eye to clearly distinguish the right in all the details of life, and
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the faith and knowledge to do it, he will realize that he is building
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the house of his character and life upon a rock which the winds of failure
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and the storms of persecution can never undermine. True speech truth is known by
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practice. Only Without sincerity, there can be no knowledge of truth, and
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true speech is the beginning of all sincerity. Truth in all its native beauty
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and original simplicity, consists in abandoning and not doing all those things which are
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untrue, and embracing and doing all those things which are true. True speech
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is therefore one of the elementary beginnings in the life of truth. Falsehood and
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all forms of deception, slander, and all forms of evil speaking, these
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must be totally abandoned and abolished before the mind can receive even a small degree
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of spiritual enlightenment. The lyre in slanderer is lost in darkness. So deep
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is his darkness that he cannot distinguish between good and evil, and he persuades
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himself that his lying and evil speaking are necessary and good, that he is
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thereby protecting himself and other people. Let the would be student of higher things
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look to himself and beware of self delusion. If he is given to uttering
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words that deceive, or to speaking evil of others, If he speaks in
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insincerity, envy, or malice, then he has not yet begun to study
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higher things. He may be studying metaphysics or miracles, or psychic phenomena or
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astral wonders. He may be studying how to commune with invisible beings to travel
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invisibly during sleep or to produce curious phenomena. He may even study spirituality theoretically
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and as a mere book study. But if he is a deceiver and a
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backbiter, the higher life is hidden from him. For the higher things are
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these uprightness, sincerity, innocence, purity, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness,
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humility, patience, pity, sympathy, self sacrifice, joy, good will,
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love. And he who would study them, know them, and make
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them his own, must practice them. There is no other way. Lying
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and evil speaking belong to the lowest forms of spiritual ignorance, and there can
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be no such thing as spiritual enlightenment while they are practiced. Their parents are
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selfishness and hatred. Slander is akin to lying, but it is even more
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subtle, as it is frequently associated with indignation, and by assuming more successfully
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the appear yearance of truth, it ensnares many who would not tell a deliberate
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falsehood. For there are two sides to slander. There is the making of
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repeating of it, and there is the listening to it and acting upon it.
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The slanderer would be powerless without a listener. Evil words require an ear,
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that is receptive to evil in which they may fall before they can flourish.
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Therefore, he who listens to a slanderer, who believes it and allows
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himself to be influenced against the person whose character and reputation are defamed, is
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in the same position as the one who framed or repeated the evil report.
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The evil speaker is a positive slanderer, the evil listener is a passive slanderer.
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The two are co operators in the propagation of evil. Slander is a
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common vice and a dark and deadly one. An evil report begins in ignorance
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and pursues its blind way in darkness. It generally takes its rise in a
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misunderstanding. Someone feels that he or she has been badly treated, and filled
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with indignation and resentment, unburdens himself to his friends and others in vehement language,
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exaggerating the enormity of the supposed offense, on account of the feeling of
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injury by which he is possessed. He has listened to and sympathized with the
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listeners without hearing the other person's version of what has taken place, and on
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no other proof than the violent words of an angry man or woman become cold
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in their attitude towards the one spoken against, and repeat to others what they
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have been told, And as such repetition is always more or less inaccurate.
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A distorted and altogether untrue report is soon passing from mouth to mouth. It
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is because slander is such a common vice that it can work the suffering and
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injury that it does. It is because so many not deliberate wrongdoers, and
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unconscious of the nature of the evil into which they so easily fall, are
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ready to allow themselves to be influenced against one whom they have hitherto regarded as
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honorable, that an evil report can do its deadly work. Yet its work
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is only amongst those who have not altogether acquired the virtue of true speech,
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the cause of which is a truth loving mind. When one who has not
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entirely freed himself from repeating or believing an evil report about another hears of an
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evil report about himself, his mind becomes a flame and burning resentment. His
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sleep is broken, and his peace of mind is destroyed. He thinks the
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cause of all his suffering is the other man, and what the other man
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has said about him, and is ignorant of the truth that the root and
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cause of his suffering lies in his own readiness to believe in evil report about
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another. The virtuous man, he who has attained to true speech, and
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whose mind is sealed against even the appearance of evil speaking, cannot be injured
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and disturbed by any evil reports concerning himself. And although his reputation may for
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a time be stained in the minds of those who are prone to suggestions of
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evil, his integrity remains untouched and his character unsoiled. For no one can
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be stained by the evil deeds of another, but only by his own wrongdoing.
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And so through all misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and contumely he is untroubled and
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unrevengeful. His sleep is undisturbed, and his mind remains in peace. True
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speech is the beginning of a pure, wise, and well ordered life.
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If one would attain to purity of life, if he would lessen the evil
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and suffering of the world, let him abandon falsehood and slander and thought and
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word. Let him avoid even the appearance of these things, for there are
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no lies in slanders so deadly as those which are half truths. And let
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him not be a participant in evil speaking. By listening to it, let
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him also have compassion on the evil speaker, knowing how such a one is
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binding himself to suffering and unrest. For no liar can know the bliss of
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truth. No slander can enter into the Kingdom of peace by the words which
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he utters. Is a man's spiritual condition declared by these? Also is he
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finally and infallibly adjudged. For as the divine Master of the Christian world has
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declared, by thy words, shalt thou be justified, and by thy words,
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shalt thou be condemned. Equal mindedness. To be equally minded is to
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be peacefully minded. For a man cannot be said to have arrived at peace
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who allows his mind to be disturbed and thrown off the balance by occurrences.
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The man of wisdom is dispassionate, and means all things with the calmness of
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a mind in repose and free from prejudice. He is not a partisan,
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but having put away passion, and is always at peace with himself in the
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world, not taking sides nor defending himself, but sympathizing withal. The partisan
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is so convinced that his own opinion and his own side is right and that
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all goes contrary to them is wrong. That he cannot think there is any
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good in the other opinion and the other side. He lives in a continual
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fever of attack and defense, and has no knowledge of the quiet peace of
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an equal mind. The equal minded man watches himself in order to check and
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overcome even the appearance of passion and prejudice in his mind, And by so
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doing he develops sympathy for others and comes to understand their position and particular state
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of mind. And as he comes to understand others, he perceives the folly
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of condemning them and a posing himself to them. Thus there grows up in
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his heart a divine charity which cannot be limited, but which is extended to
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all things that live and strive and suffer. When a man is under the
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sway of passion and prejudice, he is spiritually blind, seeing nothing but good
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in his own side and nothing but evil in another. He cannot see anything
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as it really is, not even his own side. And not understanding himself,
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he cannot understand the hearts of others, and thinks it is right that
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he should condemn them. Thus there grows up in his heart a dark hatred
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for those who refuse to see him and who condemn him. In return,
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he becomes separated from his fellow man and confines himself to a narrow, torture
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chamber of his own making. Sweet and peaceful are the days of the equal
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minded man, fruitful and good and rich in manifold blessings. Guide by wisdom,
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he avoids those pathways which lead down to hatred and sorrow and pain,
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and takes those which lead up to love and peace and bliss. The occurrences
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of life do not trouble him, nor does he grieve over those things which
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are regarded by mankind as grievous, but which must befall all men in the
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ordinary course of nature. He is neither elated by success nor cast down by
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failure. He sees the events of his life arranged in their proper proportions,
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and can find no room for selfish wishes or vain regrets, for vain anticipations
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and childish disappointments. And how is this equal mindedness, this blessed state of
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mind and life, acquired only by overcoming one's self, only by purifying one's
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own heart. For the purification of the heart leads to unbiased comprehension. Unbiased
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comprehension leads to equal mindedness. An equal mindedness leads to peace. The impure
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man is swept helplessly away on the waves of passion. The pure man guides
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himself into the harbor of rest. The fool says, I have an opinion.
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The wise man goes about his business good results. A considerable portion of
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the happenings of life comes to us without any direct choosing on our part,
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and such happenings are generally regarded as having no relation to our will or character,
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but as appearing fortuitously, as occurring without a cause. Thus one is
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spoken of as being lucky and another unlucky, the inference being that each has
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received something which he never earned, never caused. Deeper thought and a clearer
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insight into life convinces us, however, that nothing appears without a cause,
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that cause and effect are always related in perfect adjustment and harmony. That being
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so, every happening directly affecting us is intimately related to our own will and
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character. Is indeed an effect justly related to a cause, having its seat
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in our consciousness. In a word, involuntary happenings of life are the results
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of our own thoughts and deeds. This, I admit is not apparent on
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the surface. But what fundamental law, even in the physical universe, is
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so apparent. If thought, investigation, and experiment are necessary to the discovery
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of the principles which relate one material atom to another, even so are they
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imperative to the perception and understanding of the mode of action which relate one mental
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condition to another. And such modes such laws are known by the right doer,
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by him who has acquired an understanding mind. By the practice of true
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actions. We reap as we sow. Those things which come to us,
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though not by our own choosing, are by our own causing. The drunkard
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did not choose the delirium tremens or insanity which overtook him, but he caused
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it by his own deeds. In this case, the law is plain to
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all minds. But where it is not so plain, it is nonetheless true
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within ourselves. Is the deep seated cause of all our sufferings, the spring
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of all our joys. Alter the inner world of thoughts and the other world
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of events will cease to bring you sorrow, make the heart pure, and
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to you all things will be pure, All occurrence is happy and in true
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order. Within yourselves, deliverance must be sought. Each man his prison makes
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each hath such lordship as the loftiest one's nay, For with powers above around
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below, as with all flesh, and whatsoever lives, maketh joy or woe.
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Our life is good or bad, enslaved or free, according to its
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causation in our thoughts. For out of these thoughts spring all our deeds,
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and from these deeds come equitable results. We cannot seize good results violently like
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a thief, and claim and enjoy them, but we can bring them to
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pass by setting in motion the cause within ourselves. Men strive for money,
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sigh for happiness, and we gladly possess wisdom, yet fail to secure these
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things. While they see others to whom these blessings appear to come unbidden.
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The reason is that they have generated causes which prevent the fulfillment of their wishes
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and efforts. Each life is a perfectly woven network of causes and effects of
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efforts or lack of efforts and results, and good results can only be reached
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by initiating good efforts good causes. The doer of true actions, who pursue
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sound methods grounded on right principles, will not need to strive and struggle for
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good results. They will be there as the effects of his righteous rule of
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life. He will reap the fruit of his own actions, and the reaping
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will be in gladness and peace. This truth of sowing and reaping in the
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moral sphere is a simple one, yet men are slow to understand and accept
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it. We have been told by a wise one that the children of darkness
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are wiser in their day than the children of light. And who would expect
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in the material world to reap and eat where he had not sown and planted,
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Or who would expect to reap wheat in the field where he had sown
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tears, and would fall to weeping and complaining if he did not. Yet,
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this is just what men do in the spiritual field of mind. Indeed,
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they do evil and expect to get from it good. And when the
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bitter heart harvesting comes in all its ripe and fullness, they fall into despair
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and bemoan the hardness and injustice of their lot, usually attributing it to the
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evil deeds of others, refusing even to admit the possibility of its cause being
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hidden in themselves, in their own thoughts and deeds. The children of light,
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those who are searching for the fundamental principles of right living with a view
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to making themselves into wise and happy beings, must train themselves to observe this
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law of cause and effect in thought word. Indeed, as implicitly and obediently
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as the gardener obeys the law of sowing and reaping, he does not even
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question the law. He recognizes and obeys it when the wisdom which he instinctively
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practices in his garden is practiced by men in the garden of their minds.
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When the law of the sowing of deeds is so fully recognized that it can
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no longer be doubted or questioned, then it will be just as faith fully
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followed by the sowing of those actions which will bring about a reaping of happiness
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and well being for all. As the children of matter obey the laws of
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matter, so let the children of spirit obey the laws of spirit. For
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the law of matter and the law of spirit are one, but they are
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two aspects of one thing, the outworking of one principle in opposite directions.
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If we observe right principles or causes. Wrong effects cannot possibly accrue if we
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pursue sound methods. No shoddy thread can find its way into our web of
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life, no rotten brick enter into the building of our character to render it
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insecure. And if we do true actions, what but good results can come
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to pass. For to say that good causes can produce bad effects is to
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say that nettles can be reaped from a sowing of corn. He who orders
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his life along the moral lines thus read enunciated will attain to such a state
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of insight and equilibrium as to render him permanently happy and perennially glad. All
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his efforts will be seasonally planted, All the issues of his life will be
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good. And though he may not become a millionaire, as indeed he will
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have no desire to become such, he will acquire the gift of peace,
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and true success will wait upon him as its commanding master.