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Nuggets of the New Thought · Nuggets of the New Thought

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Preface. I do not like writing a preface. It seems too much like
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an apology. I have no special apology to tender for offering this collection of
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New Thought nuggets. They may possess no literary merit, but they have helped
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men and women with the exception of the secret of the I am. These
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essays appeared from month to month in New Thought, of which magazine I am
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associate editor. They were written hastily, principally upon the demand of the printer
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for copy, and for the most part, were printed just as they were
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written, there being no time for revision or polishing up. You may pick
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up any one of them and find many sentences needing straightening out, many thoughts
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which could be better expressed by the change of a few words. Knowing these
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things, I first thought that I would go over each essay and add a
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little here and take away a little there, polishing up and burnishing as I
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went along. But when I looked over them, my heart failed me.
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There they were just as they were written, just as they were dug out
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of my mind, and I hadn't the heart to change them. I remembered
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the circumstances surrounding the writing of every one of them, and I let them
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alone. A nugget polished up would be no longer a nugget. And these
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thoughts are nuggets. I dug them myself. I will not say much regarding
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the quality of the metal. That is for you. But you see them
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just as they came from the mine, rough, unpolished, mixed with the
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rock, queerly shaped. If you think that they contain metal of sufficiently good
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quality, refine them, melt them, and fashion them into something useful or
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ornamental. For myself, I like things with the bark on, with the
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marks of the hammer, with the original quartz adhering to the metal. But
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others are of different taste. They like everything to feel smooth to the touch.
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They will not like these nuggets alas I cannot help it. I cannot
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produce the beautifully finished article. I have nothing to offer other than the crude
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product of the mine. Here they are. Polish them up yourself, if
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you prefer them in that shape. I will not touch them. W.
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W. A. Chicago, October second, nineteen o two. The keynote,
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I can and I will. The recognition equal to any task, a
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feeling of calm, confidence, an abiding sense of power, reserve, force
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and security, that something within the triple key to the door of attainment,
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the vibrations of success, I can and I will. Have you ever said
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these words to yourself with a firm conviction that you were speaking the truth was
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a strong feeling that needed no other proof. If so, you then felt
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within you a thrill which seemed to cause every atom of your being to vibrate
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in harmony. Was some note in the grand scale of life sounded by the
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real self. You caught a momentary glimpse of the inner light, heard a
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stray note of the song of the soul, were conscious for the moment of
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your self, And in that moment of ecstasy, you knew that untold power
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and possibilities were yours. You felt that you were in touch with all strength,
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power, knowledge, happiness and peace. You felt that you were equal
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to any task, capable of executing any undertaking. For the moment, there
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was no fear in the world for you. All the universe seemed to vibrate
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in the same key with your thought. For the moment you recognized the truth,
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But alas the spirit of doubt, distrust, fear, and unfaith called
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you again to earth, and the vision faded, and yet the remembrance of
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the sight, the echo of the sound, the remnant of the new found
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strength, is with you still. You still find that memory to be stimulus
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to great efforts, a comforting thought. In times of weakness and trial.
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You have been able to accomplish much by the aid of the lingering vibrations of
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the mighty thought. In times of great peril, grave perplexities, life and
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death struggles, a feeling of calm, confidence and strength often comes to us,
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and we are borne on by a power of us, and in us,
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and yet in everything else too, that seems to lift us of our
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feet and sweep us on to safety, to peace, to rest. We
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are possessed of an abiding sense of power, reserve force, and security.
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When extraordinary conditions confront us, when our bodies seem paralyzed, our minds stupefied,
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our well powered gun. We are often made conscious of the existence of
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the real self, and it answers our involuntary demand and comes to rescue with
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the shearing pry. I am here. Many of us have made use of
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this inner strength without realizing it. One day we were sorely distressed and made
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the demand, and lo it was answered. We knew not from whence came
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this new found strength, but we were conscious of the uplift and felt more
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confidence in ourselves. The next time we confidently demanded the aid, and again
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we were answered. We acquired that which we call confidence and faith in ourselves,
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and were carried over many a dark place and started on the road to
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success. Our repeated success caused us to think and speak of our luck,
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and we grew to believe that we had a star, and took chances and
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risks that others would not dream of. We dared. We made some apparent
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failures, but we soon came to know them as only lessons leading to ultimate
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success. The eye can and I will feeling carried us over rough places safely,
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and we got to simply know that we would get there in the end.
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And so we went on and on, knowing that if we advanced three
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steps and slipped back too, we were still one step ahead. We had
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confidence because we knew that things would come our way in the end, and
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so long as we held this attitude, we did succeed. And it was
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only when we lost at some unexpected slip. Only when after having attained success,
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we became dazed and frightened, and began to fear that our luck might
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turn and that we would lose all of our accumulations. It was only then
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I say that our star waned. Talk with any successful man, and if
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truthful, he would admit having felt from the time of his first success that
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he had some sort of a pull with faith, some lucky star, some
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special providence operating in his behalf. He grew to expect results, to have
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confidence in things turning out right, to have faith in something of which he
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knew, not the nature, And he was not disappointed. Things seemed to
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work in his favor, not always just in the way he expected, sometimes
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in an entirely different way. Matters seemed somehow to straighten themselves out in the
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end, so long as he kept his nerve. He did not know the
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source of his strength, but he believed in it and trusted it just the
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same. Let us wake up and recognize this something within. Let us begin
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to understand this I can and I will feeling. Let us cherish it if
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we have it, and cultivate it if we have it not. Do you
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know that we are young giants who have not discovered our own strength? Are
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you not aware that There are powers latent within us, pressing forth for development
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and unfoldment. Do you not know that earnest desire, faith, and calm
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demand will will bring to us that which we require, will place at our
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hand the tools with which we we are to work out our destiny, will
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guide us in the proper use of the tools will make us grow. Do
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you not know that desire, faith, and work is the triple key to
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the doors of attainment. There are possibilities before us awaiting our coming, of
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which we have never dreamed. Let us assert ourselves, take up the key,
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unlock the doors, and enter our kingdom. To accomplish, we must
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be possessed of earnest desire, must be as confident of ultimate success as we
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are of the rising of tomorrow's sun. We must have faith, and we
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must work out the end with the tools and instruments that will present themselves.
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Day by day we will find that desire, confidence, faith, and work
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will not only brush aside the obstacles from our path, but will also begin
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to assert that wonderful force, as yet so little understood, the law of
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attraction, which will draw to us that which is conducive to our success.
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Be it ideas people, things, yes, even circumstances. Oh, ye
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of little faith, Why do you not see these things? The world is
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looking for these I can and I will people, It has places ready for
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them. The supply does not begin to equal the demand. Pluck up,
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courage, ye, unfortunate ones, Ye doubters, Ye I can't. People.
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Begin the fight by abolishing fear from your minds. Then start to climb
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the ladder of attainment, shouting I can and I will with all your might,
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drowning out the sound of the but ifs, supposings, you cants,
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and aren't you afraid of your wet blanket. Friends at the foot of the
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ladder, Do not bother about the upper rounds of the ladder. You will
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reach them in time. But give your whole attention to the round just ahead
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of you, And when you have gained a firm footing on that, then
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look at the next one, one round at a time. Remember and give
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your entire attention to each step. Climb with desire, confidence and faith and
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aspiring each step, and the task will become a pleasure. You will be
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conscious of some mighty force attracking you upward and onward as you progress, And
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don't try to pull some other fellow off the ladder. There's room enough for
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both of you. Be kind. Kind if you fail to feel that I
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can and I will vibrations within you. Start in today and say I can
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and I will, think, I can and I will act I can and
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I will, and get the vibrations started in motion. Remember that as the
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one note of the violin, if constantly sounded, will cause the mighty bridge
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to vibrate in unison, so will one positive thought held constantly manifest itself,
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both in yourself, others, and things. So begin sounding the note to
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day, this very moment, sounded constantly, Send forth a clear, glad
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joyous note, a note of faith, a note of coming victory. Sound
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it over and over again, and soon you will become conscious that the vibrations
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have commenced, and that the mighty structure of your being is quivering and vibrating.
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To the keynote, I can and I will. The secret of the
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I Am, the ego, the physical plane, the mental plane, the
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new plane of consciousness, the real self, the eye, the temple of
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the living spirit, development of the I Am, consciousness, the Higher Reason,
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Lord of a thousand worlds, Am I and I reign Since time began,
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and night and day in cyclic sway shall pass while their deeds I scan.
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Yet time shall cease. Here I find release, for I am the
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soul of man. Charles h Or. Many of us are accustomed to thinking
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of ourselves on the physical plane alone. When we think of the ego,
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the eye of ourselves, we picture it as a human body with organs ranging
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from the finest the brain down to those of coarser atomic structure. To one
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living on this plane of consciousness, the body is the real self, and
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the mind but an appendage to the body. Such a man speaks of my
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mind or my soul, as he speaks of my hat, my coat,
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my shoes, as things belonging to him, which he uses, but which
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are not him. To him, the body is the real man, the
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mind something useful to the body, the spirit a nebulous hypothetical, something of
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which he has but a hazy idea, and no consciousness. He lives on
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the physical plane alone. Others picture their eye as intellect or mind, having
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control of the body in its organs, and having its abode in the brain
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or brains of the human being. To these people, the intellect is the
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real self. In fact, to many of this class. The intellect is
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elevated to the position of God, and they bow down to and worship it.
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They realize the subjection of the body to the mind, and are aware
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of the wonderful power of the latter over the particular body under its control,
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the bodies of others, the minds of others. To them, the intellect
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is the highest self, identical with the spirit. They are conscious of the
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wonderful workings of the mind, but are conscious of nothing higher. To some
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of them, death seems to end all their idea of mind, being that
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it is a product of the brain. Others feel that somehow, somewhere their
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intellect will maintain its existence, but it is merely a belief or hope,
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based upon the words of others who have claimed authority to speak. They have
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no consciousness of pre existence or future existence, no perception of that real self
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which knows itself to be eternal. A third class have so far progressed along
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the path of life that they have crossed the borders of a new plane of
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consciousness. They are in a strange land. They see no familiar landmarks.
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They do not recognize the country that lies before them. Their friends, whom
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they have left just a few feet behind across the border, do not seem
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to realize the difference the short distance has made to those who have traveled it,
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and therefore dealt the prospect seen from the new point of view. Those
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who have crossed the border find that they have acquired a consciousness of a real
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existence. The eye. Consciousness has passed beyond the intellectual plane and is able
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to look back to that plane and the one still further back, the physical
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plane. I recognizes the value of both mind and body, but regards them
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both as but instruments, tools, or servants with which to work. I
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feels that it has existed from the beginning, if beginning there was, and
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will exist until the end, if and there be, I feels a keen
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pleasure in mere existence in the now. I knows itself to be a part
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of the whole thing, knows that the universe is its home. I knows
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itself to be a tiny drop of spirit from the great spirit Ocean, a
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ray from the supreme Sun, a particle of the divine being encased in a
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material body, using that body and a force called mind which to manifest itself.
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I does not at present understand all things far from it. It has
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not as yet been able to bring its tools to that degree of perfection.
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It merely knows that it is, and has always been, and always will
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be. I allows intellect to indulge in speculations, but contents itself with the
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knowledge that it is. It frets not itself with the problems of the past
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or future, but lives in the now and knows itself to be a part
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of the whole. I knows that it cannot be destroyed or injured, that
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it exists in accordance with law, and that law is good. And asks
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no further light at this time, knowing that in its progress through matter,
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discarding sheaf after sheaf more knowing will surely come, It says, trustfully and
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confidently, to the absolute, I will be done, knowing itself to be
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immortal. I has no fear of the death of the body. One body
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is as good as another to it. It is willing to lay aside the
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body as it does a coat when it has outworn or outgrown it, knowing
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itself to be impregnable to harm. I has no fear thought. It fears
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nothing, knowing that the law is working for development, always for ultimate good.
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I is not disturbed by the cares, troubles and sorrows of life.
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It knows them for what they are. The body may be in pain,
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the mind may be burdened with sorrow, but I, knowing, smiles.
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I knows itself to be one with the eye of all living creatures, and
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knowing this, cannot manifest hate, fear, envy, jealousy. It cannot
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despise or condemn these and other feelings. The old life drop from the person
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like a discarded mantle. When I mounts its throne, I recognizes that others
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may not have progressed so far on the path as itself, but knows them
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to be but fellow travelers on the same road, who are doing the best
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they know how, considering their stage of the journey, I recognizes ignorance,
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not evil. I has but one feeling toward mankind and the whole living world.
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Love. I love and comradeship for even the last man, For it
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knows that that last man cannot be left out of the great scheme of life.
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I knows that it has traveled a long road leading to its present position,
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and that all life is traveling the same. I looks back and sees
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others covered with the mire and dust of the road. Far back on the
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path, but knowing that it has traveled the same same stage of the journey,
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been covered with the same mire and mud, it cannot condemn. I
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knows that it is but on the threshold of the new consciousness, the borderland
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of the cosmic knowing, and that far beyond lies regions of marvelous beauty,
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which will in turn be traveled, and then on and on, increasing in
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strength and knowing power. Each day I sees endless phases of existence opening up
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in the vision. It cannot at this time understand, but it knows of
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the existence of the law and is content. I has the courage of intelligent
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faith and presses forward cheerfully to the divine adventure. All this and more to
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the man or woman who understands the task of self development becomes a labor of
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love and exalted task, rather than the mere selfish striving after power. As
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the sculptor saw in the block of marble the form of the angel and was
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impelled to cut away the surrounding material in order to liberate the angelic form,
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so may we, seeing the godlike form within us, strive to liberate it
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that inner form is the real self, the eye. If you have never
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realized this truth, relax body and mind, and indulge in a little introspection.
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Turn your gaze inward. Listen to the voice of the spirit. You
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will be conscious of a faint recognition of the something within striving to make itself
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manifest to your understanding, asking for the proper tools with which to work.
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Listen, listen in the silence. Day by day, the voice will grow
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plainer, Day by day, the light will grow brighter. Your own is
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coming to you at last. Oh joy, unspeakable, Oh tears, oh
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laughter, After long ages, you are coming in sight of the promised land.
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Know yourself, o man, Know that you have within you the divine
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spark to which both body and mind are but servants. Know that your body
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is the temple of the living Spirit, and respect it as such. Know
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that your intellect is but the instrument of the manifestation of the Spirit the eye.
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Do not crawl on your belly like a worm. Do not humble yourself
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in the dust and call upon Heaven to witness what a despicable creature you are.
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Do not call yourself a miserable sinner, worthy only of eternal damnation.
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No a thousand times no. Rise to your feet, raise your head,
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face the skies, throw back your shoulders, fill your lungs with nature's ozone.
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Then say to yourself, I am. Man has acquired a wonderful power
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when he can understandingly say I am a part of the eternal life principle.
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I am created in the divine image. I am filled with the divine breath
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of life. Nothing can hurt me, for I am eternal. The first
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requisite for the acquirement of an understanding of the law is the recognition of the
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existence and the power of the real self the eye. The more complete the
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recognition, the greater the power. Special directions for the acquirement of this faculty
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of recognition cannot be given. It must be grown into and felt, rather
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than reasoned out by the intellect. You will not be long in doubt as
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to whether or not you are on the right track. If you are right,
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you will begin to realize it at once. You will have glimpses of
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it, and then it may slip away from you for a while. But
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fear not, you cannot escape it. In the end, you will feel
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that your body is but as a garment which whilst covering you temporarily is not
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you. You will feel that you are separate and apart from your body,
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although for a time living in it, you will feel that you could as
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well live in some other body and still retain your sense of individuality. You
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will realize that even your mind is not you, but is merely the instrument
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through which you manifest yourself, and which, being imperfect, prevents the complete
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expression of the spirit. In short, when you say or think I am,
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you are conscious of the existence of your real self and feel the growth
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of a new sense of power within you. This recognition of the self may
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be faint, but encourage it and it will grow, And, whilst growing,
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will manifest itself to your mind by impressing upon the latter the knowledge of
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the proper plan for further development. It is another example of to him that
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hath shall be given. This mere calling of their attention to the fact will
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awaken the first glimmer of recognition in some. Others will find it necessary to
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reflect upon the idea and awaken to a recognition of the truth. More slowly,
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some will not feel the truth. To such I say, the time
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is not yet ripe for your recognition of this great truth. But the seed
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is planted, and the plant will appear in time. This may seem like
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the veriest nonsense to you now, but the time will come when you will
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admit its literal correctness. You will find that a desire has been created that
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will cause a mental unrest until more light is received. As Walt Whitman says,
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my words will itch in your ears till you understand them. As Emerson
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says, you cannot escape from your good. To those who feel the first
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indications of the awakening of the spirit, I say, carry the thought with
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you, and it will unfold like the lotus, naturally and gradually. The
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truth, once recognized, cannot be lost, and there is no standing still
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in nature. What has been said is but a faint hint of a mighty
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truth, which nestles in the bosom of the esoteric teachings of all religions,
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in the philosophies of the Orient and of ancient Greece. You will find it
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in the songs of the poets, in the writings of the mystics. The
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advanced science of this age touches it without recognizing it fully. It is not
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a thing that can well be conveyed by words. It is not easily comprehended
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by purely intellectual processes. It must be felt and lived out by those who
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are ready for it, those for whom the time has come. It has
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been known to the few throughout all ages, and in all times. All
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races have known it. It has been handed down from teacher to pupil from
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the earliest days. It is that truth which Edward Carpenter refers to when he
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says, Oh, let not the flame die out, cherished age after age,
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in its dark caverns, in its holy temples, cherished fed by pure
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ministers of love. Let not the flame die out? It is. It
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is difficult to convey even a hint of this truth to any but those who
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are prepared to receive it. To others, it will seem to be errant
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folly. As Emerson says, every man's words who speaks from that life must
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sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same thought. On their
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own part, I dare not speak for it. My words do not carry
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its august sense. They fall short and cold. Only itself can inspire whom
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it will. Yet I desire even by profane words, if sacred I may
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not use to indicate the heaven of this deity, and to report what hints
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I have collected of the transcendent simplicity and energy of the highest law. If
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you prefer to try to solve the problem of life, the riddle of the
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universe, by scientific investigation, by exact reasoning, formal thought, mathematical demonstration,
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by all means, follow this method. You will be taught the lesson
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of the power and the limitations of the human intellect. And after you have
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traveled round and round the circle of thought and find that you are but covering
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the same ground over and over again, after you have run into the intellectual
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cul de sac, the blind alley of logic, after you have beaten your
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wings against the cage of the unknowable, and fall exhausted and bruised. After
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you have done all these things and have learned your lesson, then listen to
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the voice within, see the tiny flame which burns steadily and cannot be extinguished,
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Feel the pressure of the something within, and let it unfold. You
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will then begin to understand that as the mind of man developed by slow stages
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from mere sensation to simple consciousness, from simlsimple consciousness, to self consciousness in
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its lower and higher degrees. So is there a consciousness higher than we have
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heretofore imagined in store for man, which is even now beginning to manifest itself.
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You may then understand that there may be an intelligent faith which knows,
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not simply believes. These and other lessons you will learn in time, and
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when you have reached the stage where you feel the promptings of the higher Reason
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and live in accordance therewith, you will say with Carpenter lo the healing power
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descending from within, calming the enfevered mind, spreading peace among the grieving nerves,
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low the eternal Savior, the sought after of all the world, dwelling
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hidden to be disclosed within each, Oh joy insuperabol Let a little sunshine in
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the young people's song, good new thought doctrine. Plenty of sunshine in life
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if you look for it. Don't make a dark dungeon of your mind.
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Throw open the windows of your soul. How to let a little sunshine in
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the other night, Just as I was dropping off to sleep, a crowd
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of young people passed along, returning from some social gathering. They were bubbling
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over with mirth and joy, and every girl seemed to be talking at the
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same time, the voices of the young men serving merely to punctuate the sentences
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of their fair companions. Just after they passed my window, some one started
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up a song, and the rest join in. I do not know the
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song they sang, but the chorus went something like this, let a little
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sunshine in, Let a little sunshine in, Open wide the windows, open
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wide the doors, and let a little sunshine in. I listened with pleasure
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to the words and cheerful air of the song, and said to myself,
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well, that's good enough, new thought doctrine for me. The young people
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went on their way singing. I, now wide awake, listened and thought.
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The song grew fainter and fainter as the distance between us grew greater,
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and at last I could not clearly distinguish the words they sang, But the
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faint vibrations of the tune still reached me, and I imagined that I could
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just hear the last words of the refrain, let a little sunshine in.
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Oh, if only those young people, and all young people, and all
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people young or old, would take to their hearts these words, and let
35:19
a little sunshine in It is not sufficient that you merely agree that the advice
35:25
is good, that you merely repeat the words mechanically. You must make thought
35:32
take form in action. And not only say the words, not only think
35:37
them, but you must act them. Make them a part of your life.
35:44
Incorporate the idea in your being. Train yourself into the habit of opening
35:50
yourself to the sunshine of life. Get into the way of letting it flow
35:54
in. Let a little sunshine in. There is plenty of sunshine in life
36:02
if you only look for it. And there is plenty of shadow in life
36:07
if you only look for it. But in the things that seem all shadow
36:13
to others, you will be able to find the sunshine if you but train
36:17
yourself to always look for it. And in that which may seem bright sunshine
36:24
to some, others will find nothing but shade. They are troubled with a
36:30
mental cataract that shuts out all the rays of the sunshine of life. Let
36:37
a little sunshine in. And when you learn to love the sunshine and look
36:44
forward to seeing it always, you seem to draw it to you. The
36:49
law of attraction brings to you your share of the sunshine with which the world
36:54
is plentifully supplied. And if you fall into the habit of life looking for
37:00
and expecting the shadow, the shadow will always be found. Let a little
37:07
sunshine in. It is astonishing what a change the mental attitude of the person
37:15
will make. Change your mental attitude, and the whole world seems to change.
37:22
It is like taking off the smoked glasses that have caused the world to
37:27
seem dark and gloomy, and seeing the brightness and colors of the world.
37:32
Let a little sunshine in. Many of you have been making dark dungeons of
37:39
your minds. You have steadily shut out the sun, and your minds have
37:45
become musty, damn, and mildude. Across the floor cruel noxious creatures.
37:53
The slimy form of fear drags itself slowly along, leaving its behind. The
38:01
hideous shape of jealousy eyes you from one corner. A creature of darkness,
38:08
The veaumous reptile Hate shows its fangs. The vampire Worry flits across the chamber.
38:16
Fearful shapes are there, glorwering in the darkness. Frightful forms crouch in
38:22
corners and restisses. All is gloom, darkness, horror, a fit breeding
38:30
place for the foul creatures who fear the light, A fit nursery for monsters.
38:37
Look within the dark chambers of your mind, See what it really is,
38:44
See what it generates. Look within, Look within, Ah, you
38:52
see at last. No wonder you shriek with terror, No wonder you turn
38:59
away with horror. No no, do not turn away. Look and see
39:06
yourself as you are. You need the lesson. Now that you see what
39:15
you have been carrying around with you and are sickened at the sight, start
39:20
to work to remedy the evil. Throw wide open the doors, Throw open
39:27
the windows of the saw. Let a little sunshine in Ah. Yes,
39:34
never fear. There is plenty of sunshine in the universe, plenty for all
39:39
of you. There is an infinite supply draw to you. Take it freely.
39:47
It is there for you. It is your own, your very own.
39:54
It is as free as air and the material sunshine. There is no
40:00
tariff on it. It is not controlled by any trust or combine. It
40:07
is not adulterated. It is everywhere everywhere. O ye who are dwelling in
40:17
darkness, Here is life and happiness for you. Here is peace for you.
40:24
Here is joy for you, Joy comrades, joy, open wide your
40:30
windows, Open wide your doors, Let a little sunshine in. Yes,
40:38
yes, I hear you say that you cannot dispel the gloom with which you
40:44
are surrounded. Nonsense. Do you not know that darkness is not a positive
40:51
thing. It is the essence of negation. It is not a real thing
40:57
at all. It is the absence of light. And here you have been
41:04
for all these years believing that the darkness was a real thing that you could
41:09
not get rid of. Just stop for a moment and think. If a
41:16
room in your house is dark and gloomy, do you hire a man to
41:22
shovel out the darkness? Do you attempt to do it yourself in your desire
41:28
for light? No, no, of course you do not. You just
41:34
raise the shades and throw open the shutters, and the sunshine pours in,
41:39
and lo, the darkness has vanished. So it is with the gloom of
41:46
the soul, the darkness of the mind. It is a waste of energy
41:52
to attempt to dig away the darkness, to cast out the shadows. You
41:57
will never get light in that way. All that you need to do is
42:01
to recognize the advantage of light, the fact that light is to be had,
42:08
that there is plenty of it, anxiously waiting to be let in.
42:14
Then all that you need to do is to let a little sunshine in.
42:20
Let a little sunshine in. Open wide the windows, open wide the doors,
42:28
and let a little sunshine in. The hunger of the soul. The
42:37
soul, as well as the body and mind, requires nourishment. The want
42:42
a promise of the fulfillment the law of unfoldment, nourishment provided when it is
42:50
needed, provided for in the divine plan, the feast of good things.
42:59
The soul, as well as the body and the mind, requires nourishment.
43:04
We have felt that hunger for spiritual knowledge, which transcended our hunger for bread,
43:08
exceeded our craving for mental sustenance. We have felt soul hungry, and
43:15
knew not with what to appease it. The soul has cried out for food.
43:21
It has been fed upon the husks of the physical plane for so long
43:25
that it is fairly starving for the proper nourishment. It seeks this way and
43:30
that way for the bread of life, and finds it not. It has
43:36
asked this authority and that authority for information as to where this food may be
43:40
had, Where could be obtained The food that would nourish the soul, but
43:45
it has been given nothing but the stone of dogma and creeds. At last,
43:52
it sank exhausted and felt that perhaps there was no bread to be had.
43:59
It has felt faint and weary, and almost believed that all was a
44:02
delusion and a will of the wisp of the mind, that there was no
44:07
reality to it. It felt the chill of despair creeping over it, and
44:13
all seemed lost. But we must not lose sight of the fact that just
44:20
as the hunger of the body implies that somewhere in the world is to be
44:24
found that which will satisfy it, that just as the hunger of the mind
44:30
implies that somewhere is to be found mental nourishment. So the mere fact that
44:37
this soul hunger exists is a proof that somewhere there is to be found that
44:44
which the absolute has intended to satisfy it. The want is the prophecy of
44:51
the fulfillment. Yes, and the want and its recognition afford the means of
44:55
obtaining that which will satisfy the want. When in the course of unfoldment,
45:01
either on the physical, mental, or spiritual plane, it becomes necessary for
45:07
the well being of the unfolding ego to draw to itself certain things which it
45:12
requires. In the process of evolution. The first step toward the obtaining of
45:16
that necessary thing is the consciousness of a great and pressing want, the birth
45:22
of a strong desire. And then the desire grows stronger and stronger, until
45:29
the ego becomes desperate and determines to obtain the necessary thing at any cost.
45:35
The obtaining of that thing becomes the prime object in life. Students of evolution
45:40
realize this fact, perhaps more than the rest of us. The subconsciousness of
45:45
the plant or animal becomes surcharged with this great desire, and all the conscious
45:52
and subconscious power of the living thing is put forth to obtain that which is
45:57
necessary for its development. And on the mental plain, the same thing is
46:01
true. The hunger for knowledge, when it once possesses a man, will
46:07
cause him to cut loose from old environments, surroundings, and everything else which
46:12
has held him, and he forces himself to the place where that knowledge may
46:15
be obtained, and he obtains it. If he only wants it hard enough,
46:22
he gets it. When we think of Lincoln in his boyhood days,
46:27
painfully and laboriously striving for knowledge, lying on his side before the log fire
46:34
and reading his book by the light of his flames, and this after a
46:38
hard day's work, such as only the boy on the farm knows. When
46:43
we think of this, we may understand the effects of a strong desire possessing
46:49
the mind of man or boy, woman or girl, and this hunger for
46:54
spiritual knowledge and growth from whence comes it. When we understand the laws of
47:01
spiritual unfoldment, we begin to understand that the ego is growing and developing,
47:07
unfolding and casting off old, worn out sheaths. It is calling into operation
47:15
new faculties exploring new regions of the mind. In the super conscious regions of
47:21
the soul are many faculties lying dormant, awaiting the evolutionary hour of manifestation along
47:28
conscious lines. As the faculties approach the hour of birth into the new plane,
47:34
they manifest an uneasiness which is communicated to the subconscious and conscious planes of
47:39
the mind, causing a restlessness and uneasiness which is quite disturbing to the individual
47:46
in whom they are manifesting. There is a straining for expression, a reaching
47:52
forward for development, a desire for growth, which produces something akin to pain.
47:59
All growth and development is accompanied by more or less pain. We speak
48:05
of the beautiful growth of the plant of the lily and wish that we could
48:09
grow as easily and as painlessly as it does, But we forget that all
48:15
growth means a breaking down, a tearing away, as well as a building
48:21
up and adding to. The lily's growth appears painless to us. But if
48:27
we were endowed with keen enough vision, with clear enough sight, with a
48:31
power enabling us to feel that which is going on within its organism, we
48:37
would be made aware that there is a constant change going on, a tearing
48:42
down of tissue, a using up of cells, a pressing upon and breaking
48:46
through of confining sheaths, all meaning growth, development, and unfoldment. We
48:53
see only the birth of the new parts and lose sight of the pain and
48:59
destruction proceed it. All through life is manifested the growing pains of development.
49:06
All birth is attended with pain, and so it is with the birth into
49:12
consciousness of these unfolding spiritual faculties. We feel an uneasiness, dissatisfaction, yea
49:20
even pain, as we strive to call into conscious life these children of the
49:24
soul. We feel that desire for something needed by our inner self, and
49:30
we seek for it in all directions. We exhaust all of the pleasures of
49:36
life so called, and find no satisfaction there. We then endeavor to find
49:42
comfort and solace and intellectual pursuits, but without obtaining that which we seek.
49:47
We pore over the writing of the philosophers and learned writers of the past and
49:52
present, but find them as but husks to the hungering soul. We seek,
49:59
increa and dogmas, that comforting something the need of which we feel,
50:05
but of the nature of which we are ignorant. But we find no satisfaction
50:08
there. We perhaps go from creed to creed, from philosophy to philosophy,
50:16
from one scientific theory to another scientific theory, but still we hunger. At
50:23
last, we get to a position in which we feel that life is not
50:28
worth the living, and that all is a ghastly mockery. And so we
50:32
go on and on, seeking, ever seeking, but the quest is fruitless.
50:40
Man on the physical plane has a comparatively easy time of it. He
50:46
lives as does the animal, He thinks as does the animal. He dies
50:52
as does the animal. The problems of life fret him not. He does
50:57
not even know of the existence of the problems of life. He is happy
51:00
in his way, and it almost seems a pity that he must be disturbed
51:05
from his state of animal content. But he must be disturbed, not by
51:10
you or by me, perhaps, but by the inevitable law which is working
51:16
around and about him and in him. Sooner or later, in the course
51:22
of his development, he must be awakened. And he awakens upon the mental
51:25
plane, and here his troubles begin. On the mental plane, everything seems
51:31
beautiful. For a time man finds himself a new being, and he goes
51:37
on and on, feeling himself a very god, and reveling in his intellectual
51:43
powers. But after a time these things cease to satisfy him. The unfolding
51:49
of the higher faculties begin to annoy him, particularly as he cannot explain them.
51:54
His intellectual training has perhaps taught him to believe that there is nothing higher
52:00
than the mind, that religious feelings were nothing but the result of the emotional
52:05
nature, and that he had outgrown all that. But still he feels that
52:12
something within, never ceasing to annoy him, never ceasing to intrude upon his
52:16
intellectual consciousness, certain feelings entirely contrary to his theories. He has grown to
52:24
doubt the existence of a supreme being, and, having read Heckel's Riddle of
52:30
the Universe, feels that the question has been satisfactorily settled for all time,
52:37
and that the answer to all of life's problems may be found in the tenets
52:40
of his creed materialism. But somehow he is not at ease. He feels
52:49
the pressure of the growing something within and becomes quite restless. This goes on
52:55
from time to time, and he seeks the truth in all directions, rushing
53:00
from one thing to another in his desires to satisfy the cravings of the soul,
53:05
but all the time denying that there is anything to be found. After
53:10
a time, he becomes aware of a new state of consciousness developing within him,
53:15
and in spite of his mental revolts against any good thing coming from within,
53:22
he is forced to accept himself in his growing state, and to realize
53:27
that he may possess a knowing other than that of the intellect. It may
53:31
take him a long time to accept this, but so long as he rebels
53:37
against it and struggles, so long will he feel pain. And only when
53:42
he catches a glimpse of the true state of affairs. Does he open himself
53:46
up to the divine unfoldment going on in his soul and joyfully welcome the tearing
53:52
away of confining mental sheaths, which destruction enables the newly born faculty to force
54:00
its way into the conscious mentality. He learns to even aid in the unfoldment
54:06
by holding the thoughts conducive to spiritual development, and thus assists in the bringing
54:12
forth of the new leaf or flower of the soul. It has always been
54:16
so. Man has gone through stage after stage of unfoldment, suffering pain each
54:22
time, as the old sheaths are burst asunder and discarded. He is prone
54:28
to hold on to the old sheaths and to cherish them long after they have
54:31
served their purpose in his growth. And it is only when he has reached
54:37
the stage that many men are now coming into a knowledge of that he understands
54:43
the process of growth and is willing and glad to aid in the development.
54:47
Instead of attempting to oppose it, he falls in with the workings of the
54:52
law, instead of trying to defeed it. Life is motion. We are
55:00
moving onward and upward throughout the ages. Man has passed over miles of the
55:07
path, but he will have to travel many more before he sees the reason
55:10
of the journey. But he has now reached the stage where he may see
55:15
that it all means something, all is a part of a mighty plan,
55:21
that this is a necessary stage of the journey, and that around the bend
55:24
of the road are to be found shady trees and a brook at which he
55:30
may quench his thirst and wash away the dust of the last few miles.
55:36
The hunger of the soul is a real thing. Do not imagine that it
55:40
is an illusion. Do not endeavor to deny it. If you feel it,
55:46
you may rest assured that your time is coming, and that there will
55:51
be provided that which will satisfy it. Do not waste your energy in running
55:55
hither and thither seeking for bread. The bread will be provided when it is
56:00
most needed. There is no such thing in life as spiritual starvation. But
56:07
instead of seeking without for that which will nourish you, look within. At
56:14
each stage of the journey, the traveler will find enough to nourish him for
56:17
the hour, enough to sustain him until he reaches the next stage. You
56:22
cannot be denied this nourishment. It is part of the divine plan that it
56:28
be provided for you. If you will look for it in the right place,
56:32
you will always find it and will be saved much seeking and worrying.
56:37
Do not be impatient, because the feast is not set before you at this
56:40
stage. Be satisfied with that which is given, for it suffices your needs
56:46
at the present moment. By and by you will reach the stage when the
56:51
feast of good things will have been earned, and you will be invited to
56:54
feast and rest until you are ready for the next stage of the journey.
57:00
The great spiritual wave which is now sweeping over the world brings with it great
57:05
wants, but it also carries with it the means of satisfying those wants.
57:10
Do not despair. Look aloft. The old sailor's advice, the warning cry
57:20
peace and content, mental balance recovered, the glory of the universe all governed
57:29
by law. The law manifests everywhere a reverent feeling of calm, peaceful faith.
57:37
Look aloft. I recently heard a little tale about a boy who went
57:44
to sea in the old days of the sailing vessel. One day he was
57:50
ordered to go aloft, and was urged on until he reached the highest possible
57:55
point on the mosque. When he found that he could go no farther.
58:01
He glanced down. The sight terrified him and almost caused him to loose his
58:08
grip and fall headlong on the deck far blue. He felt dizzy and sick,
58:15
and it seemed almost impossible for him to maintain his hold on the mast.
58:22
Far blow was the deck looking so small as compared to the wide expanse
58:28
of water on all sides of it. The motion made him feel as if
58:34
he was suspended between heaven and Earth. Was nothing substantial to support him.
58:40
He felt his brain reeling and his senses leaving him, and all seemed lost.
58:49
When far away from the deck below, he heard an old sailor cry,
58:54
look aloft, lad, look aloft. Turning his eyes from the scene
59:00
below, the boy gazed upward. He saw the blue sky, the fleecy
59:07
clouds passing peacefully along, looking just the same as they did when he had
59:15
looked at them while lying on his back on the green grass of the meadows
59:20
in his country home. A strange feeling of peace and content came over him,
59:28
and the feeling of dread, terror and despair passed away. His strength
59:35
and presence of mind came back to him, and soon he was able to
59:39
slide down the mast until he grasped a friendly rope, thence to the lower
59:45
ringing, and on until the deck was again reached. He never forgot the
59:52
old sailor's advice given in the hour of need, and when he would feel
59:58
dazed and fearful danger, he would invariably look aloft until he recovered his mental
1:00:06
balance. We may well take a leaf from the old Sailor's note book and
1:00:13
impress his wisdom upon our minds. There is nothing so good in hours of
1:00:20
trial, doubt, sorrow, and pain as to look aloft. When we
1:00:27
feel that we cannot see clearly with our spiritual vision, that our spiritual sight
1:00:34
is blurred and dim, that we lose faith and confidence, hope and courage,
1:00:42
that we feel the deadly sensation of despair and hopelessness creeping over us and
1:00:49
benumbing our senses, stilling our heart. Then is the time for us to
1:00:55
listen to the warning shout look aloft, lad, look aloft. When all
1:01:02
seems lost, when darkness is closing around us, when we seem to have
1:01:09
lost our foothold and have no way of regaining it, When all appears hopeless,
1:01:16
gloomy, and dreadful. When faith seems to have deserted us, and
1:01:23
the chill of unbelief is on us, then is the time for us to
1:01:30
shout to ourselves, look aloft, look aloft. When we try to solve
1:01:37
the riddle of the universe, the problem of existence by the aid of the
1:01:43
intellect, unsupported by faith. When we ask our intellects, whence come I?
1:01:50
Whether go I? What is the object of my existence? What does
1:01:57
life mean? When we travel round and round the weary paths of intellectual reasoning
1:02:05
and find that it has no ending. When we shout aloud the question of
1:02:10
life and hear no answer but the despairing echo of our own sad cry.
1:02:20
When life seems a mockery, when life seems to be without reason, when
1:02:25
life seems a torment devised by a fiend. When we lose the feeling of
1:02:31
nearness to the infinite power that has supported us in the past, when we
1:02:37
lose the touch of the unseen hand, these are the times for us to
1:02:44
look upward to the source of wisdom and light. These are the times for
1:02:50
us to heed the cry of the soul. Look aloft, Look aloft,
1:02:55
Look aloft. Some clearness night, when the moon is not shining. Go
1:03:02
out into the darkness and gaze upward at the stars. You will see countless
1:03:09
bright spots, each of which is the Sun, equalling or exceeding in size
1:03:15
the Sun, which gives light and life to our little earth, each sun
1:03:22
having its circling worlds, many of the worlds having moons revolving around them.
1:03:29
In turn, look all over the heavens as far as the eye can reach,
1:03:36
and endeavor to grasp the idea of the countless suns and worlds. Then
1:03:42
try to imagine that, in space, far beyond the reach of human vision,
1:03:47
even aided by the telescope, are millions upon millions of other worlds and
1:03:53
suns on all sides of us, on and on and on throughout the universe,
1:04:00
reaching into infinity. And then remember that all these worlds hold their places
1:04:09
and revolve according to law. And then remember that the microscope shows that law
1:04:16
manifests itself in the smallest thing that can be seen by its use or around
1:04:24
you, you will see nothing but the manifestations of law. And then remembering
1:04:30
that the infinite, which has us all in charge, takes note of the
1:04:35
foe of the sparrow. What has become of your fears and doubts and worries.
1:04:42
Gone is your despair and unbelief, And in their place is found a
1:04:48
reverent feeling of calm, peaceful faith. Ay, there is much good sense
1:04:57
in the old sailor's maxim When you get rattled look aloft tomorrow. The work
1:05:08
and cares of to day easy if we do not worry about those of tomorrow,
1:05:12
the mysterious tomorrow and its terrors. The way to meet the cares of
1:05:16
tomorrow. Tomorrow's opportunities will come as surely as Tomorrow's cares law supreme. No
1:05:26
need to be afraid the real Tomorrow. The work of each day would be
1:05:32
a pleasure if we would refrain from attempting to perform at the same time the
1:05:38
work of tomorrow. The cares of to day would cease to disturb us.
1:05:44
If we would refuse to anticipate the cares of tomorrow. The work of to
1:05:48
day is easily performed. Notwithstanding the fact that we spoiled the pleasure of yesterday
1:05:56
by fretting about the tasks of the coming day, the cares of today do
1:06:00
not seem half so terrible as they appeared viewed from the distance of yesterday.
1:06:05
Nor do we suffer nearly as much from today's burdens as we did yesterday.
1:06:11
In bearing these burdens in anticipation, today is comparatively easy for us. But
1:06:18
oh tomorrow, I there's the trouble Tomorrow. The past is gone, and
1:06:28
its sorrows, cares, troubles, misfortunes, and work do not seem so
1:06:33
terrible viewed from this distance. The misfortunes of the past are now often known
1:06:39
as blessings in disguise. Today is here, and we seem to be getting
1:06:45
along fairly well, excepting fearing the dawn of tomorrow. But tomorrow, oh
1:06:54
mysterious tomorrow, that delight of the child, that bugaboo of the grown up.
1:07:00
What shall we say of tomorrow? Who knows what terrible monsters are lurking
1:07:06
in its gloomy recesses, What frightful cares are slumbering there, What dreadful shapes
1:07:13
are there crouching with glowering eyes awaiting our coming. No frightful tale of childhood
1:07:18
begins to compare in horror with this fantasy of maturity. Tomorrow. Yesterday,
1:07:27
with all its troubles, to day, with its pressing tasks, affright us
1:07:32
not. But to morrow, Ah, to morrow, tell us of the
1:07:40
morrow, who knows what a day may bring? Forth? Tell us how
1:07:45
to meet the terrors of tomorrow forsooth an easy task, good friends, The
1:07:51
way to meet the terrors of tomorrow is to wait until tomorrow. The cares
1:08:00
of tomorrow indeed twould be laughable if it were not so pitiful. Tomorrow's cares
1:08:08
may come, will come, must come. But what of Tomorrow's opportunities,
1:08:15
Tomorrow's strength, tomorrow's chances, circumstances helpers. Don't you know that the supply
1:08:24
of good things does not cease with the close of to day? Don't you
1:08:29
know that in the womb of the future sleep opportunities intended for your use when
1:08:33
the time comes. Don't you know that an earnest, confident expectation of the
1:08:40
good things to come will cause these good things to grow for your use in
1:08:45
the future. Well, it's so. They'll grow and grow and grow,
1:08:50
and then when you need them, you will find them ripe and ready to
1:08:54
pick. Water them with faith, surround them with the rich soil of hope,
1:09:00
Let them receive the full rays of the sun of love, and the
1:09:04
nourishing fruit of opportunity will be your reward tomorrow. Did you ever shiver with
1:09:14
dread at the thought of what would happen if the sun should not rise tomorrow?
1:09:18
Did you ever doubt that the grass would grow and the trees take on
1:09:21
leaves next spring? Did you ever fear that perhaps the summer would not come?
1:09:29
Oh? No, of course not. These things have always happened,
1:09:34
and you have sufficient faith to know that they will occur again. Yes,
1:09:40
but you have been fearing that opportunities, chances, circumstances may not be present
1:09:45
tomorrow. Oh, ye of little faith? Do you not know that this
1:09:50
is no world of chance? Do you not know that you are working under
1:09:57
the operations of a great law, and that these they are as much amenable
1:10:00
to that law as are the seasons, the crops, the motion of the
1:10:04
Earth, the planets, this and countless other solar systems, The universe,
1:10:13
the law which regulates the motions of the millions of worlds, and whose jurisdiction
1:10:18
extends over space. That space, the abstract idea of which cannot be grasped
1:10:25
by the puny intellect of man of today, also takes cognizance of the tiny
1:10:31
living organism, too small to be seen through our strongest microscope. The sparrow's
1:10:38
fall comes under the law, as well as the building of a magnificent series
1:10:43
of solar systems, And yet man fears tomorrow. Of all living beings,
1:10:51
man alone fears tomorrow. Children, lovers, and philosophers escape the curse,
1:10:58
the first to look forward to it with joy and confidence, having the love
1:11:02
that casteth out fear. The philosopher's reason teaches him that which the intuition of
1:11:10
the other two has grasped. The child intuitively recognizes that the infinite supply is
1:11:15
inexhaustible, and naturally expects tomorrow's supply as he does tomorrow's sun. He has
1:11:24
faith in the law until fear is suggested into his receptive mind by those who
1:11:29
have grown old enough to fear. The child knows that there are just as
1:11:33
good fish in the sea as ever were caught, but the grown up fears
1:11:39
that today's fish is the last in the sea, and fails to appreciate today's
1:11:44
haul by reason of his worry about the possible future failure of the fishing industry.
1:11:51
Oh no, I do not believe in just sitting down and folding my
1:11:56
hands and waiting for mine own to come to me. I know that mine
1:12:01
own will come to me because I am doing well the work that the law
1:12:06
has placed before me, to do that which lies nearest to my hand.
1:12:11
Today, I believe in work, good work, honest work, cheerful work,
1:12:18
hopeful work, confident work. I believe in the joy of work,
1:12:24
the pleasure of creating. And I believe that he who does his best work
1:12:29
one day at a time, working with faith, hope, and confidence in
1:12:32
the morrow, with fear eliminated from his mind and replaced with courage, I
1:12:39
believe, I say, that such a man will never find his cupboard empty,
1:12:44
nor will his children want for bread. And furthermore, I believe that
1:12:49
tomorrow is what we make it by our thoughts today. I believe that we
1:12:55
are sowing thought seeds today which will grow up overnight and bear food tomorrow.
1:13:00
I believe that thought takes form in action, and that we are and will
1:13:06
be just what we think ourselves into being. I believe that our minds and
1:13:14
bodies are constantly being molded by our thoughts, and that the measure of man's
1:13:18
success is determined by the character of his thoughts. And I believe that when
1:13:27
man will throw off the incubus of fear, the frightful vision of the night
1:13:31
will vanish, and opening his eyes in the place of the monster, he
1:13:38
will see the fair form and smiling face of a radiant creature, who,
1:13:44
bending over him with love lit eyes, will softly whisper I am tomorrow.
1:13:54
In the depths of the soul, stores of information which my knowledge, uncut
1:14:01
gems and precious metal awaiting the discoverer, psychic and spiritual faculties, strange attraction
1:14:11
of soul to soul, the rock of ages, the voice of the soul.
1:14:18
Deep down in the soul are stores of information awaiting to be brought to
1:14:25
the surface of consciousness. Which minds of knowledge are there. Uncut gems rest
1:14:31
there, awaiting the day when they will be uncovered and brought into the bright
1:14:39
light of consciousness. Which vines of precious metals are there, awaiting in patience
1:14:45
the day when some divine adventurer will search for them and bring them to light.
1:14:54
The human mind is a wonderful storehouse, concealing all sorts of treasures and
1:14:59
press vicious things, only a fraction of which have been discovered so far.
1:15:05
We have faculties not yet recognized by the science of the day. Psychic and
1:15:12
spiritual faculties just as real as the recognized faculties playing an important part in our
1:15:19
everyday lives, particularly when we have been made aware of their existence. In
1:15:27
many of us, these faculties are scarcely recognized, and many of us doubt
1:15:33
and deny their very existence. Others have a feigned perception of their existence,
1:15:42
but do not know how to use them and get but the slightest benefit from
1:15:46
them. Others have awakened to the wonderful faculties which are developing and unfolding within
1:15:55
them, and a few have gone so far as to aid this development of
1:16:00
these higher faculties of the mind, and have been almost startled as the results
1:16:05
obtained. The Orientals have their ways of development of these faculties, and we
1:16:13
occidentals have ours. Each best serves the purposes of the particular people using it.
1:16:23
As we bring these faculties out of the realm of the super conscious into
1:16:27
the field of consciousness, life takes on an entirely different meaning, and many
1:16:32
things heretofore dark are seen plainly and understood. No one can understand the oneness
1:16:42
of things until his spiritual faculties are sufficiently developed to make him conscious of it.
1:16:49
Blind belief or reliance upon the words of another will never do for the
1:16:56
seeker after truth. That which is accomplis by a single gleam of consciousness resting
1:17:02
upon some of the hidden treasures of the soul. One glimpse into the depths
1:17:09
of the soul will do more than the reading of thousands of books, the
1:17:14
teaching of hundreds of teachers. This glimpse, once hand, will never be
1:17:20
forgotten. Its reality may be questioned at times. At other times the memory
1:17:29
may seem dim and unreliable, but it will return in all its freshness and
1:17:35
brightness, And even in the moment of doubt, we cannot entirely escape it.
1:17:43
Our real knowledge of the existence of God is not obtained from the intellect.
1:17:49
We can take up the subject of God and reason about it all our
1:17:55
life, only to find ourselves in the end in a worse mud than when
1:18:00
we started. And yet one single ray of consciousness, reaching down into the
1:18:08
depths of our inner being, will bring to us such a complete certainty of
1:18:15
God's existence and being that nothing afterward will ever shake our faith in the reality
1:18:23
and existence of the Supreme Power. We will not understand the nature of His
1:18:30
being, his existence his power. But we will know that He exists,
1:18:39
and will feel that peacefulness and infinite trust in Him which always come with a
1:18:45
glimpse of the truth. We will not understand any better the many theories of
1:18:51
man regarding God and his works. In fact, we will be more apt
1:18:58
to turn away from men's discussion of the subject, the attempt of the finite
1:19:04
to describe and limit the infinite. But we will know that at the center
1:19:12
of things is to be found that universal presence, and we feel that we
1:19:17
can safely rest ourselves on his bosom, trust ourselves in his hands. The
1:19:25
cares, sorrows, and trials of life seem very small, indeed, when
1:19:30
viewed from the absolute position, although from the relative position this world often seems
1:19:39
to be a very hell. Another glimpse into the recesses of the soul reveals
1:19:45
to us the oneness of things. We see God as the great center of
1:19:50
things, and all the universe as but one. The oneness of all life
1:19:57
becomes apparent to us, and we feel in touch not only with all mankind,
1:20:03
but with all life. The petty distinctions of class, race, rank,
1:20:11
cost, nationality, language, country fade away, and we see all
1:20:17
men as brothers. And we feel a kindly feeling and love toward the lesser
1:20:25
manifestations of life. Even the rocks and the stones are seen as pars of
1:20:30
the whole, and we no longer feel a sense of separateness from anything.
1:20:38
We realize what the universe is, and in our imagination visit the most distant
1:20:44
stars and extinctively know that we would find nothing foreign to us there, or
1:20:51
would be but bits of the same thing. And we begin to understand those
1:20:58
strange attractions of sort soul, instances of which have come to all of us.
1:21:04
We realize that it is possible to entertain a feeling of love for every
1:21:11
living creature, to every man or woman, the manifestations, of course,
1:21:16
varying in degree and kind according to sex and closeness of soul relation. It
1:21:24
makes us more tolerant, and causes us to see but ignorance in many things
1:21:30
in which we saw but sin before. It makes us feel pity rather than
1:21:35
hate. Ah these little glimpses into the inmost recesses of the soul. They
1:21:43
teach us many new lessons, And one of the greatest lessons that we may
1:21:49
acquire in this way is the recognition of the eternal life of the soul.
1:21:57
We may believe with greater or less earnestness in the doctrine of the immorality of
1:22:03
the soul, our beliefs and conceptions depending more or less upon the teachings which
1:22:11
we have received from early childhood. But until we become conscious of that which
1:22:16
lies within us, we are never really certain. We do not know.
1:22:24
Many good people will deny this statement, and will say that they have never
1:22:30
doubted the life of the soul after death. But see how they act when
1:22:36
death comes into their houses. They mourn and cry aloud in their agony,
1:22:44
and demand of God why he has done this thing. They drape themselves in
1:22:49
mourning and mourn and weave as if the loved one had been destroyed and annihilated.
1:22:58
All of their actions and conduct go to prove that they have no abiding
1:23:03
sense of the reality of the continuous of life beyond the grave. They speak
1:23:10
of the dead as if they were lost forever, as if a sponge had
1:23:15
been passed over the slate of life and note remained. How cold and hollow
1:23:21
sounds that would be comforting words of friends and relatives who assure the mourning ones
1:23:29
that the being who has just laid aside, the body is better off now,
1:23:34
and that all is for the best, and all the rest of conventional
1:23:40
expressions that we make use of. I tell you that one who has had
1:23:45
a glimpse into what lies within him knows so well that he is eternal that
1:23:53
he finds it impossible to look upon death in the ordinary way. And if
1:23:58
he is not very careful, he will be regarded as heartless and unfeeling for
1:24:03
the sorrows of others, and he will be regarded as a fool in his
1:24:09
views of life by those around him who attend church regularly every Sunday, and
1:24:15
who profess a full belief in all its doctrines. If he considers that he
1:24:21
himself is his soul, and that he is as much an immortal being now
1:24:28
as he ever will be, that his body is but as a garment to
1:24:32
cover him, or an instrument through which he manifests himself. If he considers
1:24:39
that he is in eternity now just as much as he ever will be,
1:24:45
that he cannot be destroyed by Mount Pelee eruptions or railroad accidents, If in
1:24:53
short, he feels these things so strongly that they have become a part of
1:25:00
his real everyday life. Why he is looked upon as queer by those who
1:25:06
hear these things taught them every Sunday, and who would feel horrified if they
1:25:13
were accused of harboring a doubt regarding them. This is one of the things
1:25:19
that go to show the difference between believing a thing and being conscious of it.
1:25:28
Now, don't run away and say that I held that the church goers
1:25:33
have no conception of the reality of the immortality of the soul, for I
1:25:39
haven't said any such thing. There are many churchgoers who have experienced a full
1:25:46
realization of the feeling I mentioned, and there are many more churchgoers who have
1:25:54
not. And there are many men and women who scarcely ever and within the
1:26:00
walls of a church, who have had this experience, and it means more
1:26:05
to them than all the preachments they have ever listened to. It is not
1:26:12
a matter of being in church or out of church. It is a matter
1:26:17
of spiritual development, that's all. I attend churches of all denominations, and
1:26:25
I find all of them good. The service of the Catholic Church appeals to
1:26:30
me, and so does the meeting of some old fashioned Methodist congregation. I
1:26:38
do not accept all the doctrines and theories I hear in the various churches,
1:26:44
but I manage to get some good out of all if I have any preference,
1:26:50
whatever it is, for an old fashioned Quaker meeting, where perhaps not
1:26:58
a word is said from begins to close, but where there is undoubtedly a
1:27:03
strong spiritual power manifested. I have even found much good in attending a certain
1:27:13
Orthodox church, where the venerable preacher, who does not believe in the higher
1:27:18
criticism or create revision, often gives us a delightful sermon on the horrors of
1:27:26
hell and the state of the damned, including the unpaptized infants. I can
1:27:32
listen to a sermon like this with a thrill of delight, a feeling of
1:27:39
intense joy which comes to me because I have been given the inward assurance that
1:27:45
there exists a God who is love, and instead of the hating, wrathful,
1:27:50
vengeful creature that the poor preacher tries to make us believe, is the
1:27:56
infinite power, the universal presence, the Loving Father. Oh no, I
1:28:02
am not condemning churches. I like them all and think that each one is
1:28:08
doing the best possible work for the particular people who are attracted to it.
1:28:14
I have listened to the exercises of the Salvation Army and have seen much good
1:28:19
in it. How many of you new thought people, or you high toned
1:28:26
church members, would make half the sacrifices for what you consider truth that the
1:28:32
Salvation Army soldier or the Hallelujah lassie make every day of their lives. Stop
1:28:42
a moment before you laugh at them. Some of these people have more spirituality
1:28:48
in their little finger than many of us have in our whole bodies. There
1:28:55
are times when we feel disturbed and full of unrest. We seek to use
1:29:00
our intellects and solve all the problems of life. We fret and chafe under
1:29:06
the restrictions which have been placed upon us. We wish to know all things.
1:29:14
We reason this way and that way, follow up every lane, alley
1:29:18
and street in the city of thought. But alas we find not that which
1:29:25
we seek, and in our search we are apt to forget that we have
1:29:30
within us an assurance that all is well with the world and with us.
1:29:38
We revel against the leadings of the spirit, against the knowledge that has come
1:29:43
from the inner self, and we want to get our knowledge over the old
1:29:47
channels by means of the intellect. Well. At such times we storm and
1:29:55
fume and fret and complain at our inability to solve the problem. We set
1:30:00
up ideas, only to tear them down again. We assume and then abandon
1:30:06
one position after another, until there is nothing left. And the end of
1:30:14
all the intellectual debanche is to say, finally, I do not know.
1:30:19
And then, after the struggle is over, we see, just as plainly
1:30:26
as ever before, the glimpse of truth that has come to us from within.
1:30:31
We hear the words of the soul. We have the same old consciousness.
1:30:38
We say to ourselves. I may not get this thing intellectually, but
1:30:44
I know it is true. I cannot doubt the voice of the soul.
1:30:48
This knowledge, which comes from within. Is like the rock against which beat
1:30:55
the storms of the sea, against which dash the waves, which completely covered,
1:31:00
and which hide it from sight, until it seems that it has disappeared
1:31:05
forever from view, carried away by the attacking waves. The lightning flashes,
1:31:13
the thunder rolls, The fury of the tempest seems concentrated against this rock,
1:31:19
and the demon of the storm seems intent upon destroying every particle of it,
1:31:27
of tearing it to little bits. With which to strew the shores. All
1:31:32
is darkness, All is blackness, All is fury, raging and terror.
1:31:42
After hours, the storm subsides, and then later morning comes and the first
1:31:48
rays of the rising sun kiss lovingly the rock which has stood the fury of
1:31:55
the storm and has emerged unheard, a witness to its superiority. To the
1:32:01
elements storm away, Ye, who would destroy this rock? Dash your waves
1:32:10
of doubt, logic, criticism, unbelief, dogma, theory against this rock.
1:32:17
With the spirit, exert yourself to the utmost expand all the force that
1:32:24
is within you. Do your best, do your worst. Tear and twist,
1:32:30
pull and wrench, beat and bound, And what have you accomplished?
1:32:36
After the storm has passed away, after the clouds have dispersed, when the
1:32:44
sky again is blue and the sun again is shining, the rock still stands
1:32:49
undisturbed, unchanged, unshaken, and stand it will for ages and ages,
1:32:59
and and man shall begin to know of the stability and firmness of this rock.
1:33:04
He will begin to realize just what it means to him. And he
1:33:10
will know that while the waves that beat upon it are good and needful and
1:33:15
not to be despised, that only upon the rock can he safely build.
1:33:20
Do not despise the intellect and its teachings, but know that ye have within
1:33:28
ye another source of knowledge. That ye have spiritual faculties which are developing,
1:33:34
and which you can use and trust the work of these faculties. Listen to
1:33:41
the voice of the soul. Forget it? Why worry about the past?
1:33:47
Hugging all sorrows to your bosom? What to do with them? Don't poison
1:33:54
your life. Pain brings experience, learning your lessons. How to get rid
1:34:01
of a gloomy thought, throw it away, forget it. One can often
1:34:09
get some useful lesson from the slang and current phrases of the day. There
1:34:14
is something particularly attractive to me about slang and the pat phrases that are passed
1:34:20
along from one to another on the streets. Many of these phrases condensing a
1:34:28
few words certain practical truths that one could use as a basis for a sermon,
1:34:34
anesthy, or even a book. They are the practical experiences of the
1:34:40
people crystallized in a catchy phrase. The phrase which I hear so frequently on
1:34:46
the street, just now, forget it seems to me to contain much practical
1:34:53
common sense, and if people would put it into practice, there would be
1:34:59
many more bright faces, many more lighter hearts. What's the use, anyhow,
1:35:06
of carrying around a long face or a heavy heart just because away back
1:35:13
in the past something went wrong with us, or even if we went wrong
1:35:18
ourselves, and most of us have I have, I know, what's the
1:35:26
use forget it? Of course, you will not forget the experiences of the
1:35:31
past, and you do not want to. That's one of the things we
1:35:36
are living for gaining experience. When we have once really learned a thing through
1:35:44
experience, we never forget it. It is a part of us. But
1:35:49
why bother about the memory of the pain, the mortification, the slip up,
1:35:55
the heart ache, the wounded feelings, the misplaced confidence, the thing
1:36:00
done in the wrong way, the chance you let slip by, the folly,
1:36:04
the sin, the misery that might have bins and all the rest.
1:36:12
Oh, what's the use forget it? I say, forget it? If
1:36:16
one is to worry about all the things that went wrong, all the things
1:36:21
that didn't come right in the past, if he has to take out each
1:36:27
memory every day, and after carefully dozing it off, fondle and caress it
1:36:32
and hug it close to his bosom. If he has to raise up these
1:36:38
ghosts from the past, these phantoms of long ago, these musty, moth
1:36:44
eating things, why he will have no time for the affairs of to day.
1:36:49
He will lose all the joy of the now, or the pleasure of
1:36:54
life, of the moment, or the interest in the things of to day.
1:37:00
Oh, dear, dear, what's the use forget it? Forget it?
1:37:06
Some people are not happy unless they have some old, faded sorrow hunged
1:37:13
up close to their bosoms, and they feel guilty if they happen to smile
1:37:17
and forget the old thing for even a moment. Oh, how they do
1:37:23
gloat over their own revamped unhappiness. How they enjoy the relieving of the pains
1:37:30
and sorrows, mistakes and ignorance of years gone by. How they love to
1:37:36
hold the fox to their sides and let it eat out their heart. These
1:37:43
people are really happy in the unhappiness, and life would not be worth living
1:37:49
if they were deprived of their pet sorrows. Of course, if these people
1:37:56
are really happy because they are unhappy, I have no objection. Every man
1:38:01
or woman has the right to pursue happiness in his or her own way.
1:38:06
And I suppose that that is as good a way as any other, And
1:38:12
I should not find fault if somebody else's way is different from mine. But
1:38:18
doesn't it seem like a pity to see people wasting their time, energy,
1:38:24
thoughts, and life on these old sorrows. If they must think of the
1:38:29
past, why not think of the bright things that came into their lives,
1:38:33
and instead of the dark ones, think of the moments of happiness, not
1:38:40
of the moments of sorrow. Don't make a tomb of your mind. Don't
1:38:45
let that particular painful experience poison your present life. Don't do it. Don't
1:38:54
do it. What's the use forget it? Every bit of pain that has
1:39:01
happened you has brought its experience to you. You are better, wiser,
1:39:09
and broader for it. Look at it in that way, and you will
1:39:14
cease to mourn and wail and wring your hands over the fact that in the
1:39:19
past you have done those things which you ought not to have done, and
1:39:26
have left undone those things which you ought to have done. Nonsense. You
1:39:32
have gained the experience and know better now. If you were placed back in
1:39:40
the same old position, and lacked the experience that you have gained by just
1:39:45
such things. You would do the same old thing over again, and in
1:39:51
the same old way. You couldn't help it, because you would be the
1:39:58
same old place. What you would like to do would be to be placed
1:40:04
back in the same position and face the same al temptation or problem. But
1:40:11
you would want to take with you the experience you have gained by your former
1:40:15
mistake. You want the cake and the penny at the same time. You
1:40:21
want the experience without the pain. Oh, yes you do. Now,
1:40:29
that's just what you want. I have been through it myself and know all
1:40:33
about it. You have gained the experience. Be satisfied. Someday you will
1:40:41
need that experience and will be glad you have it, and will see that
1:40:46
it was worth all you have paid for it. No, you don't see
1:40:51
it that way. Well, maybe you haven't had enough of it, haven't
1:40:58
learned your lesson yet. If that is the case, some of these days
1:41:02
the law will drop you back into the pot until you're well done. The
1:41:09
law is not satisfied with underdone people. Oh, you're making a big mistake.
1:41:16
Forget it. Forget it. The people who carry these old things around
1:41:23
with them, generally get themselves into the mental attitude that draws other things of
1:41:29
the same sort to them. Misery likes company, and a miserable thought also
1:41:36
likes companionship, and almost always manages to attract some other miserable thing to it
1:41:45
to keep it from being lonesome. The only way to get rid of a
1:41:49
thought of this kind is to forget it. Now. If you have some
1:41:57
pet thing that is knowing out your vital is corroding your heart, is poisoning
1:42:02
your mind, take it out and look at it for the lost time.
1:42:09
Give it a lost, long, lingering gaze, kiss it goodbye, weep
1:42:14
over it if you like, for this is the last you will see of
1:42:18
it. Then throw open the window of your mind and pitch it out into
1:42:25
the outer darkness. Forget it. The kinder garden of God life a great
1:42:34
school man, a child learning his lesson, preparing for higher grades, the
1:42:42
game task. What it all means, things as they are, the rules,
1:42:49
wise and good. Each task means something. Greeting the kindergardener. I
1:43:00
see life as a great school man, as a tiny child, learning his
1:43:05
little lessons, performing his little tasks, playing his little games, enjoying his
1:43:14
little pleasures, suffering his little pains, disappointments, trials, and sorrows.
1:43:21
I feel that we are in but the kindergarden stage of existence, learning the
1:43:28
first lessons of life, fitting ourselves for the grander, broader, fuller life
1:43:34
in store for us. And I feel that this little kinder garden experience will
1:43:42
continue until we have learned its lessons well, have firmly grasped the principles designed
1:43:48
for our baby minds. And I feel that when we have proven our ability
1:43:56
to weave our little mats, build our little blocks, draw our little pictures,
1:44:02
mold our little clay forms, sing our little songs, then and not
1:44:10
until then, will we pass into a higher grade, where we will spill
1:44:15
out the lines of the primer of life and acquire the elementary principles of cosmic
1:44:21
mathematics. And I feel that each little lesson must be learned thoroughly before the
1:44:30
next step is taken. And I feel that every one of us must perform
1:44:35
his own task, must memorize his own lesson before he can gain the experience,
1:44:44
can profit by the knowledge acquired in the performance of the task. We
1:44:49
may be inspired by some brighter pupil be encouraged by the loving sympathy of some
1:44:56
fellow scholar. But the task is our to perform, sooner or later,
1:45:02
and ours is the joy of accomplishment. I believe that as some children,
1:45:09
even whilst fascinated by the game task of the kindergarden, know that it is
1:45:15
only a childish task and not the real thing of life, so may we
1:45:20
come to a point where, whilst enjoying the constantly changing play of life,
1:45:27
we will realize that it is but the training for greater things, and important
1:45:31
only in that sense. The perception of this fact by the child need not
1:45:38
interfere with his interest in the game, need not prevent him from feeling the
1:45:43
joy of doing, creating, working, gaining new experiences, nor needed prevent
1:45:49
us from playing the kindergarden games of grown up life with a zest an interest,
1:45:56
not alone because we realize that we are learning value lessons, but yea,
1:46:01
even from the very excitement and joy of the game itself. When we
1:46:08
realize just what this view of life means, we will find new pleasures in
1:46:14
everyday life, will learn to laugh with the childish glee at our little successes
1:46:19
in molding the clay into the desired shape in the clever weaving of the mat,
1:46:26
and we will learn to smile through our tears. If our little mat
1:46:31
happens to tear in two, if our little clay sphere drops to the floor
1:46:38
and it is shattered, if the hour's work is destroyed, and we will
1:46:44
learn our little lesson of love of comradeship. We will learn by experience that
1:46:49
if we lead the nerrow selfish life, we will miss the joy that falls
1:46:55
to the lot of those who have learned to express more fully the love nature
1:47:00
within them. We will find that love begets love, that the love nature
1:47:05
expressed attracts to itself the love in the hearts of our little playmates. We
1:47:12
will find that the child who cares within him the love for others and expresses
1:47:18
that love need never want for friends or companions, need never suffer from loneliness,
1:47:27
need never fear being left out in the cold. The true personal magnetism
1:47:32
of the child and the grown up consists largely of love, which never fails
1:47:39
in its drawing power. And we will learn from bitter experience the folly of
1:47:45
the idea of separateness from our little playmates. Will know that the standing apart
1:47:51
brings nothing but sorrow to us. We will realize that selfishness brings nothing but
1:47:59
pain, that giving has its pleasures as well as receiving, and we will
1:48:05
learn something of brotherhood and its goodness. We will have the true democracy of
1:48:13
the kindergarden impressed upon us. These lessons and others we will learn well before
1:48:19
passing on. We, like the child, often wonder what is the use
1:48:26
of it all, fret over our enforced tasks, chafe at the confinement,
1:48:32
rage at the restrictions, and, failing to comprehend it all, indulge in
1:48:38
complaints, protests, rebellion, And like the child, we cannot expect to
1:48:44
understand the wideness of it all, certainly not until we pass beyond the kindergarden
1:48:50
stage of existence and reach the higher grades. When one begins to realize what
1:48:58
he is, begins to be conscious of the I am, begins to know
1:49:02
things as they are, He gradually learns to appreciate things at their true worth,
1:49:09
and, although not released from the necessity of playing out his kindergarden gain
1:49:15
tasks, is able to practically stand aside and watch himself play them out.
1:49:23
He knows that he is gaining knowledge, is mastering his lessons is living out
1:49:29
and outliving his desires, is acquiring and storing up new experiences. But he
1:49:35
values things only at their final worth, and is not deceived by the apparent
1:49:42
value of the moment he begins to see things in their proper relations. He
1:49:47
does not take himself or things too seriously. He enjoys the pleasure of the
1:49:54
game, but he knows it to be but the play and pleasure of the
1:49:58
child, but is not deceived. He suffers also the sorrow, grief,
1:50:05
disappointment, humiliation, and chagrin of the child nature. But even though the
1:50:13
tears are falling, he knowing smiles, he laughs with joy, with pain.
1:50:18
He cries, but he knows, he knows. He enjoys the playthings
1:50:25
gifts, rewards, but he knows them for what they are. He knows
1:50:30
he plays the games with the children who do not know, and well he
1:50:35
plays, but he knows his disillusionment spoils not the sport. He plays on
1:50:44
for play he must, knowing, but enjoying, yes, enjoying because of
1:50:49
the knowing. He knows that the child things are good, but he sees
1:50:55
them as but shadows of the good to come. He knows that he cannot
1:51:00
escape from his own good, and he knows that the good is also in
1:51:04
store for his playmates, though they know it not, and being full of
1:51:11
love, he rejoices. He feels that the rules of the school are wise
1:51:15
and good, and that though he cannot see it clearly now, infinite justice
1:51:20
rules all and will in the end appear. He knows that promotion will be
1:51:27
gained just as soon as earned. He knows that just as soon as he
1:51:32
is able to master a task, that task will be set before him,
1:51:38
not a moment before, And he knows that no task will be eluded him
1:51:44
even one moment before the possibility of its accomplishment. He knows that he is
1:51:50
being tested, trained, and strengthened day by day, that every unpleasant and
1:51:58
disagreeable task as an important end in view, And he knows that every task
1:52:04
placed before him is in accordance with the law that takes cognizance of his powers,
1:52:11
failings, capabilities, shortcomings, that understands him better than he does himself.
1:52:18
He knows that the very allonement of the task is a guarantee of his
1:52:24
ability to perform it. He knows that within him are latent powers, potential
1:52:30
forces, hidden knowledge which will well forth from his subconscious mentality, when bidden
1:52:36
by the confidence expectation of intelligent faith. And knowing these things, he is
1:52:44
filled with courage and presses forth eagerly to the tasks of the day. And
1:52:49
knowing he casts off all fear, worry, discouragement, and discontent, And
1:52:57
with the smile of love on his face and the joy of faith in his
1:53:00
heart, he greets the kinder gardener with confidence and trust. The human wet
1:53:10
blanket sees no good in anything, expects the bad and gets it, attracts
1:53:16
it to him, depresses everything, and every one carries an aura of negative,
1:53:25
depressing thought. Clammy puts out the fire of energy. Take warning,
1:53:33
did you ever meet the human wet blanket? To start with? He sees
1:53:40
no good in anything? To him, every man is a rogue, every
1:53:45
woman a schemer trying to pull the wool over the eyes of some man.
1:53:49
He looks for the bad, expects to find it, and find that he
1:53:55
does. One generally gets what he looks for. He attracts to him that
1:54:01
for which he looks, and he cannot see any other qualities than those possessed
1:54:06
by himself. Every One is trying to cheat him outwit him, so he
1:54:13
thinks, and I have no doubt that the law brings him a fair share
1:54:17
of people of this kind. In order to prevent other people from taking advantage
1:54:24
of him, he endeavors to take advantage of them in the same small way
1:54:29
that he fears they will use on him. The consequence is the people with
1:54:32
whom he has dealings are apt to give him a dose of his own medicine.
1:54:39
He trusts no man. He is so shrewd that he measures of this
1:54:44
spool of threat in order to be sure that the storekeeper has not robbed him
1:54:49
of a yard or two. And the funny thing is that he sets in
1:54:54
motion the law which causes the one short measure's pool in the case to fall
1:54:59
into to his hands. He just draws these things to him. He thinks
1:55:04
himself a marvel of cunning, and endeavors to manifest it in petsy practices,
1:55:10
the result being that he attracts to himself all the little schemers and some of
1:55:15
the big ones who happen to be within the radius of his attracting power,
1:55:20
while the other type of people are repelled by his mental attitude and thought force.
1:55:29
Funny, isn't it, then he sees nothing but disaster ahead in any
1:55:34
plan, and sure enough, if he gets near enough to the plan to
1:55:40
contaminate it, trouble is sure to happen. As an attractor of negative thought,
1:55:45
he is the glittering success. He seems to have a positive genius for
1:55:50
doing things the wrong way, and yet he doesn't believe in the attractive power
1:55:57
of thought or any such nonsense. He's too shrewd to take any stock in
1:56:01
such ridiculous theories. Although he exhibits in his life a most convincing proof of
1:56:10
the truth of new thought teachings, he never says I can and I will.
1:56:16
And if he hears any one around him indulging in such heretical notions,
1:56:23
he promptly proceeds to squalsh him by a few supposings but what ifs, and
1:56:30
two or three gloomy shakes of the head and a few sighs. His motto
1:56:35
seems to be there's no use trying. You can't do it with him.
1:56:43
The country seems always to be going to the dogs, and the poor house
1:56:47
is constantly looming up before him. I need scarcely add that fear, worry,
1:56:55
jealousy, and suspicion are his bosom friends. Hey holds these thoughts constantly,
1:57:01
and they and the rest of the negative brood are devouring him. They
1:57:08
are making their home in his mentality and are increasing rapidly besides frequently inviting their
1:57:15
friends for a visit. Of course, it's no body's business if he likes
1:57:20
this sort of thing, but it is not pleasant to come in contact with
1:57:26
him. He is surrounded with an aura of a negative, depressing, gloomy
1:57:31
thought forth, which is manifest to all with whom he comes in contact.
1:57:38
Turn him loose in a roomful of cheerful people, and in a few minutes
1:57:44
the conversation has lacked. The warmth of love and friendship has disappeared, and
1:57:49
things begin to feel damn and chilly, and someone will begin to make inquiry
1:57:56
regarding the furnace or the stream radiators, and wondering why the janitor does not
1:58:02
keep up the fire on such a day. Approach him when you feel fired
1:58:08
with energy, ambition, and push, when you feel that you can go
1:58:12
out and conquer any obstacle, and you will feel the clammy wet blanket thrown
1:58:18
over you, putting out your fire of energy, and in a moment or
1:58:23
two he will wonder what's the use that is, unless you understand your business
1:58:30
and know how to throw off the influence of the negative thought waves emanating from
1:58:36
this man. Look out for him from the bottom of my heart. I
1:58:43
pity this man and his kind. He gets none of the sweet things of
1:58:47
life. He doesn't see them lying around. He misses the joy of living.
1:58:54
He sees everything through jaundice's eyes. He knows nothing of the happyness of
1:59:00
the clear head, warm heart, and brotherly hand. He is so occupied
1:59:06
in looking for the spoiled fruit on the ground that he does not see the
1:59:11
perfect foot on the branches above his head, begging to be picked. He
1:59:16
is so much engroast in the mud upon the road that he does not see
1:59:20
the bright blue sky above his head, the beautiful landscape, the children playing
1:59:27
on the grass, the mother nursing her babe, the old couple trudging a
1:59:31
long hand in hand. These things do not exist for him. His mind
1:59:40
is full of fear, suspicion, distrust, in a pity, spite that
1:59:45
love finds no room. But even this is good, for many find their
1:59:51
way to optimism only by first sinking to the depths of extreme pessifism. They
1:59:59
reach the celestial city, by the road that winds through the valley of the
2:00:02
shadow of Death. Even these things shall pass away all's well. Aim straight.
2:00:13
Fear attracts as well as desire. Learn to aim straight and aim at
2:00:19
the right thing. Examples the bowler, the bisclist and the car, the
2:00:27
bicyclist and the post, the boy and the marbles. Wisdom from the Babe.
2:00:33
Look straight, think straight, Shoot straight. A strong desire or a
2:00:42
strong fear thought is an aim at the thing desired or feared. And in
2:00:47
proportion to the degree of desire or fear will we be carried toward the thing
2:00:55
at which we aim. Confident expectation is manifested in a fure thought as well
2:01:01
as in an earnest desire. And when we confidently expect a thing to happen,
2:01:09
we are carried toward it by an irresistible force. It may seem strange
2:01:16
to you to hear that fear is akin to desire, but this is the
2:01:21
truth. It matters not whether we call it desire or fear. The just
2:01:28
of the matter lies in the confident expectation. A feint of hope and a
2:01:33
lurking fear have about the same attractive force. A desire coupled with a firm
2:01:40
belief in its realization attracts strongly, but no more strongly than does a fear
2:01:47
coupled with a feeling of certainty of its realization. The thing upon which your
2:01:55
thought is firmly fixed or drawn toward will be the thing you will really lies.
2:02:00
Therefore, aim straight. We have heard much of the attractive power of
2:02:05
thought as applied to desire. I will now say something to you about the
2:02:12
same force called into operation by fear thought. It is far more pleasant for
2:02:18
me to speak of the bright side of the question, but I would be
2:02:24
neglecting my duty towards you if I fail to direct your attention to the reverse
2:02:30
of the shield. When you thoroughly realize that thought force works both ways,
2:02:38
you will know how to handle it and will understand many things that have heretofore
2:02:45
been dark to you. You will learn to aim straight, but will also
2:02:50
learn to be careful at what you aim. You will learn to avoid the
2:02:56
aim inspired by fear, and will hear after use all your energies to pointing
2:03:02
your mental arrow at the bull's eye of happiness and success. Let us take
2:03:09
a few facts from the physical plane in order to illustrate things as they are
2:03:14
on the mental plane of effort. Life has its correspondence on all its planes,
2:03:20
and by taking examples from one plane, we will be able to more
2:03:27
readily understand the workings of the law on other planes. Some time ago I
2:03:32
was talking to a number of people about this subject, and gleaned from each
2:03:39
an illustration of the workings of the law of attraction on the physical plane,
2:03:45
and each example, although on the physical plane, should the power of mind
2:03:50
behind it. I will tell you what some of these people said, and
2:03:56
you can see for yourself just what I mean. The first man was a
2:04:01
printer who, after hours, spent much time in bowling, and hull was
2:04:06
looked upon as an expert in that game. He said that some time before
2:04:13
he was playing a game, and at a critical point, when he was
2:04:16
taking aim and endeavoring to put the ball in between one and two pins,
2:04:23
especially advantageous shot, his opponent spoke up and said, just watch him hit
2:04:30
the four pin. I do not know anything about bowling, but it seems
2:04:36
that to hit the four pin is about the worst thing that can happen to
2:04:41
a bowler outside of missing the pins altogether. Well, to go on with
2:04:47
the story with the remark of his rival. Fear thought entered the mind of
2:04:53
the printer, and he couldn't get the four pin out of his mind.
2:04:59
He kept on looking at the place he wanted to hit, but his mind
2:05:04
was on the four pin, and he feared that he would hit it.
2:05:10
To use his own words, he got rattled and away went the ball,
2:05:15
striking the four pin fair and square. He concluded the story by saying,
2:05:25
and so in instead of making a ten strike, I got only a split.
2:05:31
Maybe you understand those terms better than do I, but at any rate,
2:05:38
you will see what a fair thought brought to this typographical bowler in his
2:05:45
little game of ten pins. Moral, when you wish to place the ball
2:05:51
energy between the one and two pins of life, don't allow fear thoughts to
2:05:58
switch you off to the four pin, thereby giving you a split instead of
2:06:04
the coveted ten strike. Another friend told me that a few days before,
2:06:12
he had been riding on the front bench of a grip car on a Chicago
2:06:16
cable line. Hearing the gripman break into the vernacular in a vigorous style.
2:06:24
He looked up and saw a colored man on a bicycle trying to cross the
2:06:29
track on the bias, as the girls say, just ahead of the car.
2:06:35
There was plenty of time, plenty of room for the man to get
2:06:40
across, But when he reached the middle of the track, fearthought got hold
2:06:45
of him, and in spite of himself, his wheel turned and he headed
2:06:50
straight for the car. He headed straight for the grip car, just as
2:06:56
if he had aimed at it, and the next moment he went bang right
2:07:01
into it. He escaped injury, but his wheel was wrecked. When asked
2:07:08
about it, he said that from the moment he got afraid of the car,
2:07:12
his wheel ran away with him, right into the thing he feared.
2:07:17
Moral. Keep your mind fixed on the thing you want, not on the
2:07:23
thing you don't want. Another man to whom I related the story of the
2:07:30
man on the wheel, said that he had the same trouble. When he
2:07:33
was learning to ride the wheel. He was getting along pretty well and could
2:07:40
manage to steer half away straight, although in a wobbly manner, until one
2:07:45
day he happened to see a certain telegraph pole in front of the place where
2:07:51
he was learning to ride. The pole seemed to hypnotize him, and from
2:07:57
that day he couldn't keep his front wheel away from it. He couldn't keep
2:08:03
away from that pole. He was afraid of it. The pole seemed to
2:08:07
have magnetic qualities, and the result was pump. He remounted over and over
2:08:15
again, but the result was the same. At last he made up his
2:08:20
mind that he was going to get ahead of that pole somehow, and he
2:08:24
mounted the wheel with his back toward the pole, but his mind was still
2:08:30
on it. And lo the front wheel described a semi circle, and back
2:08:35
to the pole. He went, morol, do not let a pole hypnotize
2:08:41
you with fear thought. Keep your mind on the place to which you wished
2:08:48
to go. But the best example was given by a boy who had kept
2:08:54
his eyes open and his thinker working. Maybe I had better tell you in
2:09:01
his own words. This is what he said, Just as he said it.
2:09:07
Oh, Pshaw said the boy, you're making a big fuss over nothing.
2:09:13
Every feller knows that you've got to think about a thing if you want
2:09:18
to hit it. And if you think about the wrong thing, why you
2:09:24
will hit the wrong thing. If I fire a stone at a tin can,
2:09:30
why I just look square at the can and think about the can For
2:09:35
all I am worth? And the can's a dead one shore. If I
2:09:39
happen to let my mind wonder to the cat what's on the shed over to
2:09:45
the left of the can, well, so much the worse for the cat.
2:09:50
That's all. To shoot straight, you've got to aim straight, and
2:09:56
to am street, you've got to look straight. And to look straight,
2:10:01
you've got to think straight. Every kid knows that, or he couldn't even
2:10:07
play marbles. If I get my heart set on a beauty marble in the
2:10:13
ring, I just want it the worst way, and says I to myself,
2:10:18
you are my marble. Then I look at him, strong and steady
2:10:24
like, and don't think about nothing else in the world but that beauty.
2:10:28
Maybe I'm late for school, but I clean forget it. I don't see
2:10:35
nothing, nor think nothing but that theyre marble what I want as the piece
2:10:43
in my reader says, it's my heart's desire, and I don't care whether
2:10:48
school keeps or not, just so as I get it. Then I shoot,
2:10:54
and the marble's mine. And at school, when our droping teacher tells
2:11:01
us how to draw a straight line, she makes two dots several inches away
2:11:07
from each other. Then she makes us put our pencils on the first dot,
2:11:13
and look steady at the other, and move our pencil towards it.
2:11:18
The more you keep thinking about the far off dot, and the less you
2:11:22
think about the starting dot or your hand, the straighter you're going to get
2:11:26
your line. Once I looked straight at the far off dot with my eyes,
2:11:33
but I kept thinking about a red headed girl on the other side of
2:11:37
the room, And what do you think the line I was drawing slantid away
2:11:43
off in her direction, Although I had kept my eyes glued on the far
2:11:48
away dot and never even peeped in the kid's direction, that she was sure
2:11:54
that it's the thinking as well as the looking. See All of the examples
2:12:03
above given contain within them the principles of a mighty truth, a working illustration
2:12:09
of a great law of life. If we are wise, we will profit
2:12:13
by them. Many things are happening around us every day from which we might
2:12:20
gain lessons if we would only think a little. In astead of playing follow
2:12:26
my leader and accepting other people's thoughts ready made, we have gotten so accustomed
2:12:33
to these hand me down thoughts that we have almost forgotten how to turn out
2:12:39
thoughts for ourselves. The day has come when we are required to do a
2:12:46
little thinking on our own account, and a stead of humbly bowing before moth
2:12:50
eaten authority pershed upon a crumbling base. The time has arrived when we must
2:12:58
strike out for our instead of following a musty precedent which has seen better days.
2:13:07
This is the age of the individual. This is the time for the
2:13:11
eye to assert itself. I wish you would pay attention to what the boy
2:13:16
said. It is not the first time that we have gone to the bay
2:13:22
for wisdom. Although a child has an imagination beyond our comprehension, he at
2:13:28
the same time is painfully and even brutally matter of fact. He is continually
2:13:35
asking why, and when we grown ups are unable to answer him, he
2:13:41
answers the question himself, often better than we could have done. He doesn't
2:13:48
theorize, but gets down to business and works things out for himself. This
2:13:54
boy knew all about the thinking part of the problems, and had put it
2:13:58
into practice application while we were theorizing about it. He had discovered that in
2:14:05
order to get things, we must first earnestly desire them, then confidently expect
2:14:13
that we would get them, then go to work to procure them. That's
2:14:18
the true philosophy of getting things. He tells us about the marble, that
2:14:24
he first wanted it the worst way, and didn't care whether school kept or
2:14:30
not, just so he got the marple. Then he looked strong and steadylike
2:14:35
at the marble, saying you are my marble. Then he shot, and
2:14:41
the marble was his. Can any of you describe the process of getting things
2:14:46
better than this? If we grown ups would only put into our daily tasks
2:14:54
the interest and attention that the boy put into his game of marples, we
2:14:58
would get the marble oftener than we have been doing. Of course, it
2:15:05
may be true that the principal joy is in the getting of things rather than
2:15:11
in the possession of them, that the game of life is like the game
2:15:15
of marbles in that respect, But what of that that needed spoil the game?
2:15:24
The boy knows enough to enjoy playing for a few marbles that may be
2:15:28
obtained for a penny of fistful at the corner store, but that fact doesn't
2:15:35
bother him at all. He knows that when he gets the marble it will
2:15:39
not seem half so beautiful in the hand as it did in the ring,
2:15:45
But he gets ready to shoot for the next one was just as much zest
2:15:50
and enjoyment. He finds a joy in living, acting, doing, expressing,
2:15:58
growing and out growing, gaining experiences. Take a lesson from the boy.
2:16:05
While you are in the great game, take a boy's interest in it.
2:16:09
Play with a zest, play your level best, and get the marple.
2:16:16
The boy instinctively knows that the joy of life consists of living, while
2:16:20
we poor grown ups vainly imagine that our pleasure will come only in the trophies
2:16:26
of the game, the glass marples of life, and look upon the playing
2:16:31
of the game as drudgery and work imposed upon us as a punishment of the
2:16:37
sins of our forefathers. The boy lives in the now and enjoys every moment
2:16:43
of his existence, his winnings, his losings, his victories, his defeats,
2:16:50
while we his elders and superiors in wisdom, grown at the heat of
2:16:56
the day and the rigor of the game, and our only reconciled to our
2:17:01
tasks by the thought of how we will enjoy the possession of the marples when
2:17:07
we get them. At the end of the game. The boy sucks his
2:17:11
orange and extracts every particle of its sweet contents, while we threw away the
2:17:20
juicy meat and aim only to secure the pips. Oh. Yes, the
2:17:26
boy not only knows how to get there, but he has also a sane
2:17:31
philosophy of life. Many of us grown ups are now relearning that which we
2:17:37
lost with our youth. You will notice that the bowler, the bicyclist,
2:17:43
and the others got what they didn't want because they were afraid of it and
2:17:50
allowed it to distract their thoughts from the object of their desire. To fear
2:17:58
a thing is akin to desire it. In either case you are attracted toward
2:18:03
it or it to you. It's a rule that works both ways. You
2:18:09
must think about the thing you want, not about the thing you don't want.
2:18:15
For the thoughts you are thinking are the ones that you are going to
2:18:18
take form in action. As the boy said, you've got to think about
2:18:24
a thing if you want to hit it, and if you think about the
2:18:28
wrong thing, why you're going to hit the wrong thing. Watch your ideal,
2:18:35
not your bugbear. Concentrate on your ideal, fix your thoughts and gaze
2:18:41
upon it like the boy upon his marple, and don't allow fear thought to
2:18:46
sidetrack you. Select the thing you want to be, and then grow steadily
2:18:52
into it. Pick out the thing you want, and then go straight and
2:18:58
steadily to it. Replace your old wine I fear with the new thought.
2:19:05
Shout I can and I will. Then you will experience an illustration of thought
2:19:13
taking form in action. Look straight, think straight, shoot straight. In
2:19:22
these three things lie the secret of success at home. Don't be afraid you
2:19:33
are at home, not here by chance. You belong here. You are
2:19:39
the soul. You cannot be hurt, you cannot be banished. You are
2:19:46
right in the universe, and there is no outside. Great things are before
2:19:50
you. Make yourself at home. Don't be afraid your living in your own
2:19:58
home. This universe was built for you to inhabit, to occupy, to
2:20:03
enjoy. Do not feel strange. Make yourself at home. The wonderful laws
2:20:09
of nature, those which have been discovered and those which remain to be discovered,
2:20:15
are all laws for your use when you grow large enough to understand how
2:20:18
to make use of them. Did you think you were here by chance,
2:20:24
or that you were an alien? If so, learn better. You are
2:20:30
to the manner born, You are the heir. Everything around the place is
2:20:35
for your use when you grow up. No one can dispossess you, no
2:20:39
one can put you out. You are at home. Do you long for
2:20:46
another home? Do you fret and chafe at the trials and troubles of this
2:20:50
world and imagine that somewhere else things will be better. Well, they'll never
2:20:56
be better for you until you have met and conquered the trials and troubles of
2:21:00
this place. You are just where you belong. You are surrounded with just
2:21:05
the things you need. You are getting just what you deserve. And until
2:21:11
you learn the truth of this, you will have the same surroundings, the
2:21:15
same environments. And then when you learn that the things around you are all
2:21:20
right, that you are being treated justly, that you are getting just what
2:21:26
you have attracted and are attracting to yourself, then you will be ready for
2:21:31
the next step in the journey, and you will have new surroundings and new
2:21:35
environments, new tasks, new lessons, new pleasures. I hear some of
2:21:43
you talking about death. You seem to think that you will be another order
2:21:48
of being as soon as you take your last breath upon earth. You talk
2:21:52
about being a spirit by and bye. Do I believe this? Of course
2:21:58
I believe it, I know it, But I also know something else,
2:22:03
and that is that you are a spirit now, just as much as you
2:22:07
will be in another world. Did you think that some wonderful essence was going
2:22:13
to grow from you, and that that essence would be what you call a
2:22:16
spirit? Nonsense. You are the spirit and the not you part which will
2:22:24
be discarded. Never was you? The you which says I am, is
2:22:31
the real thing, the real self, and the rest of you is but
2:22:35
tools and instruments which you are using. Why can't you see this? You
2:22:41
talk about my soul, my spirit, and so on. You make me
2:22:46
tired. Why the thing which is thinking and speaking you is the soul or
2:22:54
spirit of which you are talking. You talk as if the physical part of
2:23:00
you, which is changing continually was you. You are like the boy with
2:23:05
the old knife. He was continually having the knife repaired. He had had
2:23:11
seven new blades and three new handles put on it, and yet it was
2:23:15
the same old knife. Why you could step right out of your body,
2:23:20
and maybe you do more than you have any idea of, and it would
2:23:24
be the same old you. You could discard your body just as you do
2:23:30
your clothes, and yet you would be the same individual. There is a
2:23:35
wonderful difference between individuality and personality. One you cannot get rid of, the
2:23:43
other may be changed. What's the use in being afraid? Nobody can hurt
2:23:50
the real you. You cannot be wiped out of existence. If a single
2:23:56
spirit Adam should be destroyed, the entire struck sure would smash up. You
2:24:01
cannot be banished from the universe, for there's nowhere else to put you.
2:24:07
You cannot get outside of the universe, for there's no outside. There's no
2:24:13
place for you outside of everywhere. And you talk about time and eternity,
2:24:20
Why you're in eternity right now? You are right in it this moment.
2:24:26
It is always today, Tomorrow never comes, and you are right at home
2:24:31
in the universe and always will be. You are always there, for there's
2:24:37
nowhere else to go. So what's the use in being afraid? Who's going
2:24:43
to hurt you? They can't kill you, They can't put you out of
2:24:46
existence. They cannot expel you from the universe. So what are they going
2:24:52
to do about it? Anyhow? And after all, who are they?
2:24:58
You talk as if there were outside forces and influences antagonistic to you, outside
2:25:05
of what, No matter what beings of Earth or air there may be.
2:25:11
They are creatures like yourself. They are all a part of the whole thing,
2:25:16
all made of the same material, all come from the hand of the
2:25:22
same maker. You are all cut from the same piece of goods. The
2:25:26
apparent differences are illusions. The difference and separateness is only relative and not actual.
2:25:35
So make yourself at home, take a look around and see what a
2:25:39
nice bit of the universe you have to live in. Some of your family
2:25:45
have been trying to occupy the whole house instead of only their share of it.
2:25:48
But those things are gradually working out, and all will be better within
2:25:52
a comparatively short time. This is going to be a better world to live
2:25:58
in when men take time to think a little, and you'll be around to
2:26:01
enjoy it when it comes. Never fear you cannot get away even if you
2:26:07
want to. And what's the use of waiting for tomorrow. There's lots of
2:26:13
things in which you can find happiness today if you will only stop worrying about
2:26:18
tomorrow. The little child knows more about enjoying life than you do. The
2:26:24
little child feels at home anywhere and starts in to enjoy it and get the
2:26:28
most out of it. Until he grows old enough to be hypnotized by the
2:26:31
race. Belief. You are at home here, just as much at home
2:26:37
as is the fish in the sea, the bird in the air. Realize
2:26:43
this and make the most of it. Stop being afraid, stop fretting,
2:26:48
stop worrying. Realize that yesterday, today, and tomorrow you are here in
2:26:54
the universe. It's a good universe, and it grows better as man grows
2:27:00
in wisdom to take advantage of its goodness. And it is not yet sun
2:27:05
up here. Great things are before us, and you will see them and
2:27:09
take part in them. Make yourself at home, for your going to be
2:27:15
around here for some time. The Solitude of the Soul Laredo Taft's group description.
2:27:26
Each stands alone, Each is in touch with every other, sole communion
2:27:31
in silence. Silence is the sanctuary of the soul, the oneness of life
2:27:37
and its apparent separateness. The message. In one of the rooms of the
2:27:43
Art Institute in Chicago stands a remarkable group by Laredo Taft, the sculptor entitled
2:27:50
The Solitude of the Soul. The average visitor stops a moment and passes on,
2:27:54
commenting on the beauty of the figures composing this group past afraid to look
2:28:01
at the figures, for they are nude, as naked as the human soul
2:28:05
before the gaze of its creator. Some people are afraid of things not hidden
2:28:09
by draperies. Even the naked truth shocks them. But the man or woman
2:28:16
who thinks and understands stops long before this group, conscious that it tells the
2:28:22
tale of a mighty truth. Around a large rock stand four human figures,
2:28:28
two men and two women. They are so placed that but one figure is
2:28:33
in full sight from any given point of view. Although the connection between any
2:28:37
figure and the two on each side of it may be seen, it is
2:28:41
necessary to walk completely around the group to see the idea of the sculptor to
2:28:46
read the story that he has written into the marble. Each figure has an
2:28:50
individuality. Each stands alone, and yet each is in touch with the one
2:28:56
behind and the one before, each taich one is connected with all, yet
2:29:01
each one stands alone. One figure extends a hand to her brother just ahead
2:29:07
of her, and on her shoulder rests the tired head of the brother.
2:29:11
Following her hand in hand or head on shoulder stand, they each giving to
2:29:18
the other that human touch and contact so dear to the soul, craving that
2:29:22
companionship of one who understands. Each face shows sorrow, pain and longing,
2:29:31
that longing for that complete union of soul with soul, that longing that earth
2:29:37
life cannot satisfy. And each feels and knows that the other has the same
2:29:43
longing, and each gives to the other that comforting touch that says, I
2:29:48
know, I know. Each face shows a great human love mingled with its
2:29:56
pain. Each face shows resignation, mingled with its grief. It is the
2:30:03
old story of human love and human limitations. It is also a story of
2:30:07
deeper import the story of the soul. Every lip is closed, each man
2:30:15
and woman is silent, and yet each understands the other. Soul is communing
2:30:22
with soul in the silence, and in the silence alone can soul converse with
2:30:26
soul. Words cheapen the communication of soul to soul. With those who understand
2:30:33
us well, we can best commune in silence, hand in hand, cheek
2:30:39
to cheek, sit those who love well. The tale of love is told
2:30:46
and retold without a word. Words serve their purpose in conveying the commonplaces of
2:30:50
life, but seem strangely inadequate to express the deeper utterances of the soul.
2:30:58
The tale of love, the story of sorrow, needs no words. The
2:31:03
soul understands the message of the soul. Mind flashes the message to mind,
2:31:11
and all is known. The fondest memory of the one whom you loved and
2:31:15
lost is not of moments in which he spoke, even the most endearing words.
2:31:20
The memory most sacred to you is that of some great silence lived out
2:31:26
with the loved one, some moment in which each soul drew aside its veil
2:31:31
and gazed with awe into the depths of the other soul. Silence is the
2:31:37
sanctuary of the soul. Enter it only with due reverence, uncover the head,
2:31:43
tread softly. Each figure stands alone and yet in touch with all the
2:31:50
rest. Each is apparently separate, and yet each is but a part of
2:31:56
the whole. Each feels the rightful solitude which comes to the soul when first
2:32:01
it recognizes what it is. And yet in that dreadful moment, each knows
2:32:09
itself to be in touch with all of life. Each feels that intense longing
2:32:15
for a closer soul union, a reunion of the separated parts of the whole,
2:32:20
and yet each realizes the impossibility of a consummation of that desire at this
2:32:26
time, and they show their grief. They place the head upon the shoulder
2:32:31
of the other, they clasp the hand of the other, they touch the
2:32:35
flesh of the other, all as a symbol of the desire for the union
2:32:39
of the soul. This group is a symbol of the oneness of life and
2:32:46
its apparent separateness. A picture of the in touchness of each part of the
2:32:50
whole with every other part. A story of the pain of the soul in
2:32:56
its awful solitude, of its impotent striving for at onement. A representation of
2:33:03
the communion of soul with soul in the silence, a tale of the comfort
2:33:09
and joy in the presence of another human form, a message of the brotherhood
2:33:13
of man. All this and more is in this group. I wonder if
2:33:20
the sculptor saw it all, or whether he chiseled better than he knew.
2:33:26
Sometimes the divine in man causes him to write better, paint better, cut
2:33:31
better than he realizes others see much more in his essays, stories, poems,
2:33:39
paintings, statuary than the maker knew was there, And the man himself
2:33:45
after years have passed. Again views his work and wonders at the new story
2:33:50
he reads. There. He feels dazed at having portrayed truths of which he
2:33:56
dreamt not while he worked. There are within us unexplored depths of the existence
2:34:03
of which we do not dream. And from these depths now and then rise
2:34:07
into our consciousness beautiful thoughts, beautiful images, which we reproduce on paper,
2:34:13
canvas, marble. We do not understand these things, and we join with
2:34:20
others in the feeling of wonder, inspired by the sight of the reproduction of
2:34:24
that which came from the depths of our mental being. And some who have
2:34:28
grown closer to the real self within them see beauties in our work to which
2:34:33
we are blind. Not until the scales fall from our eyes do we realize
2:34:39
the full meaning of our work. Some call this inspiration, but those who
2:34:46
have pierced the veil know that it is inspiration from within, not from without.
2:34:52
It is the voice of the divine spark within man, whispering to the
2:34:56
consciousness which is struggling to know better that higher self, a whisper of encouragement
2:35:03
and good cheer, a portent of the future, a glimpse of the distant
2:35:09
light, a bestowal of a few crumbs from the table of the spirit.
2:35:15
I know not I say whether Laredo taft knew what he chiseled. I know
2:35:20
not whether he is a man of deep spiritual insight. But this I do
2:35:26
know that this group, the solitude of the soul, is the work of
2:35:31
the spirit within this man, and his work carries a deep spiritual message to
2:35:37
those who are ready to receive it. And in years to come, this
2:35:41
message will be understood by thousands. For everyone who receives it today, this
2:35:48
work shall live long after its maker has forsaken the earthly body that he now
2:35:54
uses as an instrument. It will live because it carries a message, because
2:36:00
it conveys a mighty truth. Jerry and the Bear The Law's plan of developing
2:36:07
an individual folly of clinging to old, worn out sheaths. The story of
2:36:15
Jerry and the Bear. Who Jerry was? He meets the Bear, the
2:36:20
fight, the result, the consequences, the change in Jerry, the moral
2:36:31
The Law, in its efforts to develop man into a self reliant being,
2:36:35
into an individual, first tries the simpler plan of bringing a steady pressure to
2:36:41
bear in the direction of gradual progress. And growth, impelling the man to
2:36:46
think and act himself into a more positive condition each day. After a while,
2:36:52
the man, feeling behind him the steady push of life, and being
2:36:56
conscious of the attracting power of the absolute drawing him to higher things, leading
2:37:01
him up the mountain path of attainment, learns to trust the propelling and attracting
2:37:07
power, and, ceasing his resistance, moves along in the direction of gradual
2:37:13
unfoldment and growth. He casts off sheath after sheath and grows. He does
2:37:20
not attempt to impede or interfere with his development, but cheerfully and joyfully presses
2:37:24
forward to his unfoldment. He finds pleasure in each stage, and should pain
2:37:31
manifest itself, he knows it as the growing pains of the child, a
2:37:35
promise of greater things. There are some, however, who seem determined to
2:37:41
cling to their old sheaths and resist the pressure of growth to the utmost.
2:37:46
They are unable to withstand the steady pressure and the attracting power carrying them forward,
2:37:52
and their resistance brings them much pain in friction, and they are pushed
2:37:58
this way and that by the pressure of the growing self, resisting and struggling
2:38:03
all the time. The law has several ways of dealing with these people for
2:38:07
their own good, and often with a supreme effort, tears them from the
2:38:13
surrounding sheath to which they are clinging and forces them into a broader and wider
2:38:18
life, against their wishes and in spite of their struggles and cries. Many
2:38:24
of us, looking back over our past lives, smile as we recognize how
2:38:31
we were forced into new fields of work and endeavor, how we were broadened
2:38:35
out in spite of ourselves, how we were torn from our old surroundings and
2:38:39
environments, in spite of our lamentations, reproaches, and cries, and placed
2:38:46
amid new scenes and faces. This thing is repeated over and over again until
2:38:52
we learn the lesson and cease to be unduly attached to persons and things,
2:38:58
and become will to yield ourselves to the onward moving force and cooperate with the
2:39:03
law instead of opposing it. Many men and women who steadily refuse to stand
2:39:11
erect and assert their independence are deliberately worked into a position where they must declare
2:39:16
their freedom from the things upon which they have been leaning, and are forced
2:39:22
to stand up and face conditions from which they have shrunk all their lives.
2:39:26
The law has a way of picking up those shivering mortals who stand around the
2:39:31
river's edge and throwing them into the stream, bidding them to strike out and
2:39:37
swim. It prefers the easier way of teaching you to swim by degrees,
2:39:43
of acquiring knowledge by easy stages. But if you refuse to learn in this
2:39:48
way, it will resort to the vigorous plan just mentioned. But swim you
2:39:54
must, one way or the other. I am going to tell you a
2:39:58
story, not a particularly pretty one, but one that will give you an
2:40:05
idea of what I mean and how the plan works. It's about animals,
2:40:09
but many a truth has been conveyed by fables in which animals were the actors,
2:40:15
and this homely little tale from the wilderness may convey to your minds the
2:40:18
point of this talk better than do my words. Here's the story. Once
2:40:26
upon a time, a man away up in one of the northwestern states owned
2:40:33
a dog named Jerry. He was not very much on looks and less in
2:40:37
good qualities. He was not of any fancy breed, just dog, that's
2:40:43
all. He had drifted on to the farm from somewhere and had been kicked
2:40:48
and cuffed around in his early youth until he was afraid to claim a right
2:40:52
to live at all. He grew up into a worthless animal, snapped at
2:40:58
by smaller dogs, bullied by those of his own size, looked down upon
2:41:03
by all. He expected to be kicked by everybody in sight, and of
2:41:09
course got kicked. Men and dogs who go around expecting to be abused always
2:41:16
draw upon them the thing they fear and expect. His tail seemed a magnet
2:41:20
which attracted all the tin cans around that neighborhood. Pitying did not seem to
2:41:26
do him any good. It only made him more miserable and abject than ever,
2:41:31
just as it acts in the case of some people. The poor Chap
2:41:35
gradually dropped down to the lowest state of dogdom, and his case seemed hopeless.
2:41:41
The farmer would drive to town every once in a while, and Jerry
2:41:46
would sneak along under the wagon in manner seeming to apologize for taking up even
2:41:52
that space. His appearance would be the signal for all the dogs of the
2:41:56
several farms along the road to chase down to the wagon, rout him out,
2:42:01
and roll him over in the dust, the performance being repeated at every
2:42:05
farm to and from the town. The farmer, at last, feeling that
2:42:11
the dog was bringing his establishment into disrepute, and knowing that Hopkins's Jerry was
2:42:18
becoming a township jest determined to put an end to the animal's unhappy career.
2:42:24
But destiny intervened, possibly in order to give me a tale, to point
2:42:30
the moral of this talk, and to give you something to remember in trying
2:42:33
circumstances. Jerry strayed away from the farm one evening, being chased a part
2:42:39
of the distance by some of the smaller dogs who delighted in bullying him.
2:42:45
He traveled some distance from home and entered the woods. Bear tracks had been
2:42:48
discovered in that region, and some of the boys had dug a pit,
2:42:52
baiting it with some choice tidbit, pleasing to his bearship, and covering it
2:42:56
over with a thin roof which would yield to light weight. Jerry started across
2:43:01
the roof and in he went. Some hours after, a young bear came
2:43:07
sniffing around, and he too dropped in the pit. Then the trouble commenced.
2:43:13
The bear, feeling infuriated by his unceremonious drop, reached out for Jerry
2:43:20
and gave him a scratch, which caused him to yell. The bear,
2:43:24
seeing that there was no fight in his opponent, chased him round and round
2:43:28
the pit until it seemed only a matter of a few minutes more until the
2:43:31
dog would be relieved of his misery. Things took an unexpected turn, however.
2:43:37
The bear knocked Jerry over on his back and began giving him the finishing
2:43:43
touches. This seemed to bring to life the last remaining touch of self respect
2:43:48
left in the poor brute, and with a mighty effort, he sprang straight
2:43:54
at the bear's throat and gave him a bite in which was concentrated all the
2:43:58
repressed bites of a lifetime. The bear, with a roar, sprang back
2:44:03
to the other side of the pit. It was hard to tell which was
2:44:07
the most surprised of the two, the bear at the sudden courage of his
2:44:11
opponent, or Jerry at the fact that he could fight bear. The dog's
2:44:18
self respect and confidence went up nearly to par. The bear's caution adjusted itself
2:44:24
accordingly. After a bit, the bear cautiously worked his way over toward Jerry,
2:44:31
but the dog snarled fiercely and showed his teeth. They had several rounds
2:44:35
before things quieted down, and each time Jerry showed his medal, and although
2:44:41
he was badly scratched, he had bestowed upon the bear several tokens of his
2:44:46
valor. His self respect and confidence was now an assured thing, and the
2:44:52
bear treated him with considerable deference and consideration. After matters adjusted themselves, the
2:44:58
bear and the dog each retired to their respective sides of the pit and declared
2:45:03
a truce. In the morning, the boys came to the pit, shot
2:45:09
the bear and lifted Jerry out and carried him home. His tail was several
2:45:13
inches shorter and one ear was missing, and his body was scarred and scratched,
2:45:20
like the face of a Heidelberg student. But away down in his heart
2:45:24
he felt good and he showed it. The farmer, feeling proud of the
2:45:30
animal, carefully nursed him until he was able to move around the house,
2:45:33
and then allowed him to go out of doors. As soon as he appeared,
2:45:39
the other dogs made a rush for him, but something in his look
2:45:43
caused them to keep at a safe distance, and they contented themselves with barking
2:45:48
at him and keeping out of reach. He did not seem anxious to fight
2:45:52
but he had that look of confidence in his eyes that kept them where they
2:45:58
belonged. He had ceased to fear. His tail no longer drooped between his
2:46:05
legs, but was held aloft, as is the tail of every self respecting
2:46:09
dog, And somehow that tail did not have the attracting power for tin cans
2:46:16
that had formerly marked it. The boys recognized that Jerry had advanced in the
2:46:20
scale, and there was something about him that they liked and respected. About
2:46:26
ten days after the dog got well, the farmer took a trip to town,
2:46:31
and Jerry accompanied him, trotting along in an unconcerned manner, alongside,
2:46:37
behind, or any other place that suited him. As the first farmhouse was
2:46:43
reached, the dogs came rushing down to have some fun with our friend.
2:46:48
They pitched in to him as of yore. Something happened. The pack ran
2:46:54
yelping back to the house for surgical attention, and Jerry trotted on just the
2:46:58
same. This scene was repeated at every farm along the road, Jerry repeating
2:47:05
the object lesson each time, finishing up his task by rolling into the dust.
2:47:11
The big bull terrier in front of the post office, who heretofore had
2:47:16
been the terror of the town. The homeward trip was a triumphal progress for
2:47:20
the dog, and all his old foes vied with each other in tail wagging
2:47:26
and other demonstrations designed to let Jerry know that they were proud to be his
2:47:31
friends, but he paid little attention to them. He had developed into a
2:47:37
canine philosopher. After that, he led a happy life. He was not
2:47:41
seeking fight, but no boy or dog seemed to seek fight with him.
2:47:48
He had cast out fear thought. He feared nothing that walked on legs.
2:47:54
He had met bear. Now, some of my critics will call the attention
2:48:01
of their readers to the fact that I am advising fight not so good friends.
2:48:07
I am using this dog story as an illustration, and am trying to
2:48:11
show you how the law will sometimes force a man into tight quarters in order
2:48:16
to bring out his courage and self confidence. It knows the man has it
2:48:22
in him, and it proceeds to use vigorous methods to bring it out into
2:48:26
action, providing always that the man has not developed it before. When a
2:48:33
man has been placed in a position where he faces the worst and is compelled
2:48:37
to grapple with the bear, he finds that he has reserved force within him
2:48:43
of which he never dreamt before, and he puts forth all his energy to
2:48:48
save himself. He finds that when he boldly faces the difficulty, the difficulty
2:48:54
seems as much afraid of him as he had been of it. He gained
2:49:00
more confidence, until at last he beats off the foe and rests secure in
2:49:05
his own strength. He finds that to the man who has abolished fear,
2:49:11
and who can smilingly face any situation, fate is very respectful and obliging,
2:49:18
although to the man who fears it is a tormentor. In proportion to a
2:49:24
man's fear will be his troubles. When he reaches the position when he can
2:49:28
laugh in the face of fortune, he will find her seizing her coquetries and
2:49:35
falling desperately in love with him. And after the man has met the great
2:49:39
difficulty, fought the mighty fight, he finds that he has ceased to fear
2:49:46
the little troubles and trials of life. He feels his strength, he knows
2:49:52
his source of power. He holds his head erect and breathes in the pure
2:49:58
air of heaven, and feels the warm blood tingling through his veins. He
2:50:05
has found himself. He has met bear the unseen hand, the consciousness of
2:50:16
the hand when it first was felt, always there, now as the hand
2:50:22
of a father, now as that of a mother, a lover, a
2:50:26
brother, always guiding, always leading a mystery. Someday we will know the
2:50:35
owner of the hand. I have felt the unseen hand, have been guided
2:50:43
by it, have felt the kind but steady urge in the direction which it
2:50:48
knew to be best. Though my intellect failed to see the beauty of the
2:50:52
road toward which the hand was directing me. For a time I rebelled against
2:50:58
the impertinent interference of that which seemed to be a thing apart from me,
2:51:01
a meddler and unasked for helper. I had emerged from the dependent state,
2:51:09
the state in which I thought it necessary to lean upon others. I gloried
2:51:13
in my independence, my freedom, my ability to stand alone, finding that
2:51:20
it was good to stand alone, reveling in the joy of my new found
2:51:24
freedom, rejoicing in the fact that the I am within me was a reality,
2:51:31
feeling within me the ecstasy that comes from the recognition of the reality of
2:51:37
individuality. I resented any interference from outside, but the pressure of the hand
2:51:43
was still here. It would take my unwilling fingers within its own and lead
2:51:48
me on, and lead me on. Finding that I could not yet rid
2:51:56
of this unseen helper, realizing that it was intent upon God in spite of
2:52:01
my repeated assertions that I was able to take care of myself, that I
2:52:05
was big enough to walk alone, I began to study the something that was
2:52:11
so determined to take an active part in the affairs of my life. I
2:52:15
started in to become acquainted with it. I found that it had always been
2:52:20
with me, more or less, but that I had not before recognized its
2:52:24
presence. So long as I felt that I was not able to stand erect
2:52:28
upon my feet, so long as I feared, so long as I failed
2:52:33
to recognize the I am, I was scarcely aware of this invisible helper.
2:52:39
But when I began to realize what I was, what was my place in
2:52:45
the universal order of things, what were my possibilities my future, the presence
2:52:52
of this unseen hand began to be manifest When I at length threw off the
2:52:58
last fetter that had bound me, When I threw back my shoulders and drew
2:53:03
my first free breath, when I shouted aloud with joy at my freedom,
2:53:07
and strength. When I realized the power that was within me and at my
2:53:13
command, when I started out to accomplish that which my awakened mind told me
2:53:20
was possible of attainment, when I started to do these things all by myself,
2:53:26
Then I felt for the first time the firm clasp of the unseen hand,
2:53:33
now gently guiding, now leading, now kindly restraining, now giving a
2:53:41
gentle urge toward people, things, and conditions, Now drawing me back from
2:53:46
the edge of a precipice, now directing toward a better path, Now giving
2:53:52
me a gentle, firm pressure to reassure me of its presence when I doubted,
2:53:58
now allowing me to rest my weight upon it when I felt tired.
2:54:03
Always there. At times this hand has placed before me conditions that seemed to
2:54:11
me to be anything but good. At times it has brought me pain,
2:54:16
but I have learned to trust it. Have learned to trust it. The
2:54:22
conditions that have seemed to me to be undesirable have brought me to desirable things.
2:54:28
The pain that I have suffered has brought me pleasure. The experiences that
2:54:33
have come to me I would not wish to part with. The more pain,
2:54:37
the more experience, the more experience, the more knowledge I have learned
2:54:46
to love this hand, and the owner of the hand seems to feel and
2:54:50
return this love, and now and then, by a sympathetic little clasp lets
2:54:56
me know that I am understood. This and sometimes seems to be that of
2:55:01
a father, strong and firm, leading on with a confident air. Again,
2:55:07
it seems to be that of a mother, gentle and kind, leading
2:55:13
me as does the mother lead her child. Again, it seems as the
2:55:18
hand of a woman who loves me, clinging and warm, neither leading nor
2:55:24
being led, just moving on, clasped in mine, no words, but
2:55:30
with a perfect understanding. The owner of this hand seems to combine within itself
2:55:37
the qualities of both sexes. Seems to have within itself all the attributes of
2:55:43
father, mother, lover, brother, sister. It seems to respond to
2:55:48
the human need in every direction. It seems always the hand of love,
2:55:54
even while giving me pain. I have never seen the face of the owner
2:56:01
of this hand. I have never looked into its eyes. I have never
2:56:05
seen its form, if form it has, But I have been conscious at
2:56:09
times of being lifted up in its arms and being pressed close to its breast.
2:56:16
I have felt the impulse of the child at such times, and have
2:56:20
felt for the breast of the mother, and have been conscious of the answering
2:56:24
mother pressure as I was drawn up close to the body of the owner of
2:56:28
the hand. And at times have I felt rebellious at the confining clasp,
2:56:33
and have struggled, and have even beat against the breast with my puny fists
2:56:39
as I insisted that I be released from the clasping arms. But Mother,
2:56:45
like the owner of the hand, only drew me closer to the breast until
2:56:50
I could feel the very heart throbs within the mother body, could feel the
2:56:56
vibrations emanating from its life, could feel the warm breath upon my cheek,
2:57:01
as the invisible face bent over me, impelled by the mother love Again,
2:57:09
it takes on the father form, and I place my little hand within it,
2:57:15
and, feeling like the boy whose father is taking him on a journey,
2:57:18
I say, lead thou me on, and go cheerfully and with faith
2:57:24
into new lands, new surroundings, new fields. Why should I fear?
2:57:31
Have I not hold of my father's hand? And the hand at such times
2:57:35
rests upon my shoulder every once in a while, and I realize that the
2:57:41
father feels a pride in his son, and sees him growing in strength,
2:57:45
and knowing that the father looks forward to a time when he will be able
2:57:50
to talk with the boy, who will then have grown in knowledge and will
2:57:54
be able to understand some of the secrets of life that the father will then
2:57:58
unfold to him. And still again, the hand is that of the loving
2:58:05
woman who is walking along the path of life with the man she loves.
2:58:09
It is a tender clasp, the fingers tingle with love. The arm presses
2:58:16
close to mine. I hear no voice, No words are needed. Soul
2:58:22
talks to soul in the silence. We walk on and on and on we
2:58:31
understand. And still again, the hand seems that of a brother, a
2:58:37
twin brother. Neither the protection of the father, the loving tenderness of the
2:58:43
mother, the thrill of the lover's touch is there. I feel not that
2:58:48
the hand is that of a stronger being. I am conscious only of the
2:58:52
brotherly clasp, the touch of comradeship, the presence of an equal. I
2:58:58
feel by my side, a helper, someone who will back me up in
2:59:03
time of need, and I stroll along his side and laugh with joy.
2:59:07
The joy of the boy is again mine the joy of companionship is again mine.
2:59:13
And lo, the hand of the brother seems to grow. He and
2:59:18
I are again men, And something in his hand clasp seems to say to
2:59:24
me, Come, brother, let us go forth into the unknown future.
2:59:28
Let us have faith. There are lands awaiting our coming. Let us enjoy
2:59:33
them, let us explore them. Let us be filled with the spirit of
2:59:37
adventure, and go forth. Let us see, let us feel, let
2:59:41
us know. And I return the clasp and say, ay, brother,
2:59:48
let us go forth. Whither thou goest? There? Will I go?
2:59:52
Thy joys shall be my joy, thy pain, my pain. Let us
2:59:58
go forth, let us go forth to the divine adventure, and so manifesting
3:00:07
the attributes of all human relations in turn and at the proper time. The
3:00:11
owner of this unseen hand is near me. I feel his presence, I
3:00:18
am aware of his nearness. At times faith grows faint, and I think
3:00:24
it all a delusion, a phantasm, a dream. All seems lost,
3:00:31
and I weep. But lo, in the midst of my despair, I
3:00:37
feel the hand upon my head. I know that it is a reality,
3:00:43
and through my tears I smile. Shall I ever know the owner of this
3:00:50
hand? Shall I ever see its face? Shall I ever understand the mystery
3:00:56
of its existence? I know not, but faith whispers in my ear.
3:01:03
Wait all is well. When the pupil is ready, the master appears.
3:01:11
When your eyes have a clear vision and can bear the sight. Then shall
3:01:16
you see the face of the owner of the hand. You have entered the
3:01:20
path, and there is no turning back. Go on, go on in
3:01:24
faith, courage and confidence. Why should you doubt? Have you not felt
3:01:31
the pressure of the hand? I? Why should I doubt or question?
3:01:39
Have I not felt the pressure of the unseen hand? Open your hands,
3:01:43
friends, that the hand may clasp yours as it has mine. While your
3:01:50
hand is clenched in anger and hate, while it clutches tight the gold it
3:01:56
has snatched from the hand of another, while the fingers are drawn together with
3:02:01
fear, it cannot receive the unseen hand. Open it wide, reach it
3:02:09
out, Offer it in friendly clasp, and you will feel within it the
3:02:13
touch of that which you seek. The unseen hand is waiting to clasp yours.
3:02:22
Give it welcome, Give it welcome. How success comes? Seeking success
3:02:31
through mental powers? Holding the thought alone not sufficient. How to get the
3:02:37
real benefit of thought? Force fall in with the workings of the law.
3:02:43
Stand on your own feet, one step at a time. I do as
3:02:50
well as I am. Many of the men and women who have been seeking
3:02:56
prosperity by means of the powers of the mind have done so by holding the
3:03:01
thought and then folding their hands and calmly waiting for some lucky event to happen,
3:03:07
or, in other words, for the long sought for prize to drop
3:03:11
down into the lapse from out of the nowhere. Now I have heard of
3:03:18
a number of cases in which things apparently came about in this way, although
3:03:22
I have always felt that a little investigation would have shown some good and natural
3:03:28
cause behind it all. But as a rule, the law does not work
3:03:31
in this way. It does not leave the old beaten road of cause and
3:03:35
effect. It is no Aladdin's lamp which is merely to be rubbed in order
3:03:41
that glittering gems and showers of gold be poured out into the lap of the
3:03:46
owner as he lies back on his cushions, lazily rubbing the lamp with the
3:03:50
tip of his little finger. The law expects from the man who would invoke
3:03:56
its mighty aid a little honest work on his part. I think that the
3:04:01
majority of those who have met with a greater share of success by means of
3:04:05
the wonderful power of thought, have met with such success not by having it
3:04:11
fall from the skies, but by following out the ideas impulses, yes,
3:04:16
inspiration, if you will, that have come to them. The man who
3:04:20
has turned his back upon the old negative mental attitude, who has turned his
3:04:26
face toward the rising sun, who has allowed the voice of faith again to
3:04:31
be heard, who knows that the law, which rules the motions of the
3:04:35
world's and still takes note of the sparrow's fall, has his interest at heart,
3:04:41
and asks but for faith, that man, I say, finds that
3:04:46
from time to time ideas will come into his mind just when they are needed.
3:04:52
Will find that the Law takes cognizance of all human needs and has prepared
3:04:56
a way to satisfy them. He finds that the new ways are pointed out
3:05:01
to him, avenues of escape from unbearable conditions, signboards pointing out the right
3:05:07
road. But he must have faith in these little hints from the infinite,
3:05:13
and must follow them. The Law will open the door to you, but
3:05:16
will not push you in. And when it finds that you refuse to see
3:05:22
the open door, it softly closes it, and not until many weary years
3:05:26
have passed do you recognize what you have missed. And the law insists upon
3:05:31
doing its work in its own good way, not in your way. You
3:05:37
may know what you want, but you may not know just the right way
3:05:41
to get it, although you think you do. The law will give you
3:05:46
many a hint and many a gentle push in the proper direction, but it
3:05:50
always leaves you the liberty of choice, the right to refuse. It does
3:05:54
not insist upon your love your faith. That is, it does not make
3:06:01
you love and have faith. But until you do love and have faith,
3:06:05
you are not conscious of the promptings of the spirit, or at most dismiss
3:06:09
them as beneath your notice, Oh ye of little faith, when will ye
3:06:16
learn? The man who understands the workings of the law acts upon the tender
3:06:22
impulses imparted to him without resistance. He does not ask to see the end
3:06:26
of the journey, but he sees the step just ahead of him, very
3:06:31
plainly, and he hesitates not about taking it. He does not expect the
3:06:35
law to bring results and place them in his hand. All he asks and
3:06:39
desires is that the way be pointed out to him, and he is willing
3:06:43
and ready to do the rest himself. The true man or woman does not
3:06:48
wish to be fed with a spoon. All they ask is that they may
3:06:52
have a fair chance to reach the source of supply, and they can manage
3:06:56
to handle the spoon themselves. If any man think that the law is an
3:07:01
incubator of parasites, of leeches, of vampires, he is greatly mistaken.
3:07:07
The lesson of the law is to teach every man to stand upon his own
3:07:11
feet, to lean not upon another, but at the same time to feel
3:07:16
that he is guided by the great Law of which he himself is a part,
3:07:20
which manifests within him as well as without him, And that, consequently,
3:07:26
while placing his trust in the Law, he trusts in himself. Not
3:07:31
paradoxical at all when you have the key. Yes, Yes, the Law
3:07:37
expects every man to do well the work that lies to his hand, and
3:07:41
to do it well, whether it is irksome or distasteful or otherwise. And
3:07:48
as soon as he ceases to rebel and beat his wings against the bars of
3:07:52
the cage, the way is opened for the next step. And if he
3:07:56
does not take that step, he must work away until he learns to take
3:08:01
it, and so on and on, the lesson of each task to be
3:08:05
learned before the next is presented. Work, Why, certainly you must work.
3:08:11
Everything in the universe works unceasingly. When you learn to look upon work
3:08:16
as a joy and not a curse, then you are beginning to see your
3:08:20
way out of the grinding process. Then you are getting a glimpse of the
3:08:26
promised land. Why, bless your hearts. Work is the best friend you
3:08:31
have. The only trouble is that you have treated it as an enemy,
3:08:35
and it has paid you back in your own coin. When you learn to
3:08:39
treat it as a friend, it will be only too glad to make up,
3:08:43
and you will get along like two old cronies. Now, you people
3:08:48
who have been sitting with folded hands and calmly waiting and complaining that your own
3:08:54
has not come to you, listen, you are mistaken. Your own has
3:09:00
come to you. That's just the trouble. Your own is the thing you
3:09:05
attract, and you have been attracting. Just what has come to you.
3:09:09
Start in today, determined to fall in with the workings of the law and
3:09:15
pay attention to the I do side of things as well as the I am,
3:09:20
and you will receive new light. Great things are just ahead of you,
3:09:26
but you must reach out for them. They're not going to drop into
3:09:31
folded hands. This is the law the man with the southern exposure. Southern
3:09:39
exposure as good a thing in a man as in a room. The man
3:09:43
who faces the sun lives one day at a time and does the best he
3:09:48
knows how, and is kind, finds joy and carries it to others,
3:09:54
simple, loving kind, Open yourself to the sun. Did you ever go
3:10:03
house hunting? Then you remember how the agent laid much stress on the fact
3:10:07
that certain rooms had a southern exposure. No matter how many other good qualities
3:10:13
the house had, all was subordinated to the fact that the best rooms faced
3:10:18
the south had the longed for southern exposure. The very words conveyed to your
3:10:24
mind the sensation of balmy breezes, the freedom from the rude blasts of the
3:10:30
north, the cheering rays of the sun, plenty of light and healthful vibrations
3:10:35
coming from old soul. Ah, that southern exposure. How much the words
3:10:41
convey. Now, if this southern exposure is such a good thing in a
3:10:46
room, why isn't it a good thing in a man? Did you ever
3:10:52
meet the man with the Southern exposure, the man who faces the sun?
3:10:56
Do you recall how he brought with him the inspiring solar vibrations? Do you
3:11:01
remember how the wrinkles and frowns disappeared from the faces of those in his presence?
3:11:07
Do you remember how, long after he had departed, the memory of
3:11:11
his presence cheered you, the thrill of his thought vibrations remained to stimulate.
3:11:18
We all know this man with the Southern exposure, God bless him. We
3:11:22
couldn't get along without him. There are a number of him, and he
3:11:26
is scattered all over the globe. We call him by different names, but
3:11:31
he is always the same man. After we have felt the cold northern chill
3:11:35
emanating from some of the cold, despondent, negative people with whom we have
3:11:41
come in contact, what a relief it is to meet someone who carries with
3:11:46
him the mellowing, sunny vibrations of the south wind, the man with the
3:11:52
Southern exposure. As the vibrations of the sun bring life, energy and strength
3:11:58
to all things having life, so this sunny man brings positive, bright,
3:12:05
cheerful, and happy thoughts to us and stimulates, encourages, and strengthens us.
3:12:11
He actually radiates sunshine and cheer in all directions, and thaws out the
3:12:15
natures that have become well nigh frozen from contact with people of the other type.
3:12:20
Oh, it's a great thing, this southern exposure in a man or
3:12:24
woman. This man faces the sun. He is an optimist. He looks
3:12:31
on the bright side of things and gets all there is in life. He
3:12:37
lives. He manages to extract fun out of the most unpromising conditions and things,
3:12:43
and goes on his way with a smile and a cheerful song, an
3:12:48
abiding faith in the absolute. He lives his life one day at a time,
3:12:54
loving all of God's creatures and letting the creatures know it, carrying a
3:12:58
message of hope and courage and a helpful suggestion to all mankind. He is
3:13:03
the salt of the earth, and life would lose its flavor if he were
3:13:07
taken from us. And how smooth the pathway of life seems made for him.
3:13:13
It matters not in what station he may be placed, what seemingly small
3:13:18
degree of material prosperity may come to him, what may be his surroundings and
3:13:24
environments. He makes the best of everything. He still catches the rays of
3:13:28
the sun and rejoices he has the southern exposure. He is broad and tolerant,
3:13:37
merciful and forgiving, devoid of hate, envy, and malice, free
3:13:41
from fear and worry. He minds his own business and grants you the same
3:13:46
privilege. He is full of love and radiates it to all the world.
3:13:52
He goes through life in his own sunny way, meeting cheerfully the things that
3:13:56
drive others to despair and misery. Somehow things seem to be smoothed out for
3:14:03
him, and he passes over the stony road unharmed. His peace comes from
3:14:09
within, and all who meet him feel his presence. He does not seek
3:14:13
after friends or love. Friendship and love come to him as a right.
3:14:20
He attracts them. People are glad to see him come and sorry to see
3:14:24
him go. Little children and animals are drawn to him and know him as
3:14:30
their friend and lover. He is as much at home in the tenement of
3:14:33
the laborer as in the palace of the wealthy. Both places seem home to
3:14:39
him and their occupants on a level. Brother to both saint and sinner is
3:14:43
he and he loves one as much as the other, for he somehow feels
3:14:48
that each is doing his best. He looks for the good in the sinner,
3:14:54
not for the sin in the saint, although he knows that both exist.
3:14:58
He is not a fair He recognizes within himself all that is within both
3:15:03
saint and sinner. He knows that he is not without sin, so he
3:15:09
dares not cast the first stone. The outcast recognizes in him a brother.
3:15:15
The woman who has passed through the fiery furnace trusts him and is not afraid,
3:15:20
for she knows that he understands. He, being near the sun,
3:15:24
knows that it shines alike on saint and sinner. He feels that when God
3:15:31
withholds his sunbeams from his most disobedient child, then may he withdraw his love
3:15:37
from his most degraded brother or sister. Until that time comes he sees fit
3:15:43
to love them. He does not condemn. He lets God exercise that prerogative
3:15:48
if he sees fit. He does not feel fit to act as judge.
3:15:54
He believes that the universe is conducted on sound business principles, that God knows
3:15:58
just what he is about and does not require any gratuitous advice from man.
3:16:03
He works and works well. He finds joy in his work, pleasure in
3:16:09
the humblest tasks. He likes to create things, and he is proud of
3:16:15
that desire, for he feels that it is an inheritance from his father.
3:16:20
He does not seem to hurry, nor is he rushed. He has plenty
3:16:24
of time. Eternity lasts a long while, and he is in the now.
3:16:30
He is not afraid of death or even life. He knows them as
3:16:35
one. He goes about his way, doing his best, and letting the
3:16:39
other fellow alone. He has an abiding faith in the absolute. He believes
3:16:46
in infinite justice and ultimate good. He does not fear his father. He
3:16:50
cannot find room for fear where love abides. He does not believe that there
3:16:56
is a bottomless pit into which his loving father intends to lunch him. He
3:17:01
has too much confidence in his father to think that. He believes that there
3:17:05
is enough hell on earth to burn away the mistakes and ignorance of man,
3:17:11
and he believes that all the burning ones will eventually emerge, purged of their
3:17:16
dross. He knows that his father is near him, for he has felt
3:17:20
the pressure of his hand in the darkness of the night. He has felt
3:17:24
the Father's presence by the glare of the lightning flash. He has seen his
3:17:30
form for a moment, and that memory is burned into his brain. He
3:17:35
faces the sun, this man with the southern exposure. He is simple,
3:17:41
loving kind. He is of the elect He is a prophecy of the future,
3:17:50
and he is on the increase. On the tree of life are many
3:17:54
promising buds which the Son of the Spirit is nursing into beautiful blossoms that will
3:17:58
yet fill the world with the delicious fragrance of love. There are certain people
3:18:05
who have come into our midst silently and without announcement. They have found places
3:18:09
waiting for them. They have come to prepare the way for their brothers and
3:18:13
sisters who are in the womb of the future. They are working quietly to
3:18:18
prepare a home for their unborn brothers and sisters when they come. They are
3:18:24
the forerunners of the coming race. Smiled at, sneered at, persecuted,
3:18:31
reviled, pitied. It matters not. God has sent them. They have
3:18:39
his message to deliver. That's why they are here. The world may raise
3:18:43
its eyebrows, shrug its shoulders, tap its forehead significantly. But these new
3:18:50
people smile. They know, they know. They see the misunderstanding multitude as
3:18:58
mere babes in the spirit, knowing many of them babes unborn, and they
3:19:03
heed them. Not take notice of these people. They are making their presence
3:19:09
felt. They are wielding a silent, powerful influence, and are molding public
3:19:15
opinion far more than are the blatant reformers, the boastful leaders, the bespangled
3:19:20
figures strutting at the front of the stage. The people who are thus being
3:19:26
used instruments in God's hands are these quiet men and women who are facing the
3:19:31
sun, these people with the southern exposure. If you feel the call to
3:19:39
join the ranks of these people, do not resist, but answer cheerfully.
3:19:46
I hear, I obey, I come. Allow the seed to grow into
3:19:52
the plant, the plant to put forth leaves, bud and blossom. When
3:19:58
you feel the impulse, do not resist. Open yourself to the sun,
3:20:03
receive its vibrations, and all will be well. Be not afraid. Have
3:20:11
within you that love which casteth out fear. Place your hand in that of
3:20:16
the absolute, and say, lead thou me on. After long ages of
3:20:24
wandering, you are coming home a forward an extract from the article of this
3:20:31
name, in which the author introduced himself to the readers of the magazine New
3:20:35
Thought upon assuming the position of co editor in December nineteen oh one. An
3:20:43
individualist wearing no ticket or label. No one has a corner on truth enough
3:20:50
to go around the infinite power back of all things. The real self is
3:20:58
spirit, the law of attraction, fear, thought, the brotherhood of man.
3:21:05
I generally call myself a mental scientist, and am so known to my
3:21:11
friends. But I merely use the term because it is broad and comprehensive,
3:21:16
not because I bear the ticket of any particular school of the New Thought,
3:21:20
not because I wear the badge of any special leader. I am an individualist.
3:21:26
I believe in the right of every man to think his own thoughts,
3:21:28
to find his way to the truth by whatever road he may see fit,
3:21:33
even if he prefers to cut across fields in getting there. I believe that
3:21:39
whilst all men are brothers and each a part of a mighty whole, still
3:21:43
each one must stand squarely upon his own feet, must work out his own
3:21:48
salvation, must do his own thinking. I believe that truth is everywhere in
3:21:54
everything, and that we may uncover a bit of it, wherever we may
3:21:58
happen to dig. I do do not believe that any person has a corner
3:22:01
on the truth, a monopoly of knowing. I do not believe in popes.
3:22:07
In or out of the New thought. Each of us will uncover his
3:22:11
own little bit of the truth. But we must not imagine that we have
3:22:16
the whole thing. There's enough truth to go around and to spare. I
3:22:22
believe that there is an infinite power in and of all things. I believe
3:22:28
that although today we have but the faintest idea of that power, still we
3:22:33
will steadily grow to comprehend it more fully. We'll get in closer touch with
3:22:37
it. Even now we have momentary glimpses of its existence, a momentary consciousness
3:22:45
of oneness with the absolute. I believe that the greatest happiness consists in maintaining
3:22:52
toward the absolute the attitude of the trusting child, who, feeling no doubt
3:22:58
of the parent's love, no doubt of his wisdom, places his little hand
3:23:03
in that of the parent, and says, lead thou me on. I
3:23:09
believe that he who feels towards the absolute, the trustfulness of the babe,
3:23:13
which places its tired little head close to the breast of the mother will also
3:23:20
be conscious of the tender, answering pressure as the babe is drawn just a
3:23:24
little closer to the mother heart. I believe these things, I have felt
3:23:31
them. I believe that man is immortal, that the real self is spirit,
3:23:39
which uses mind and body as its tools, and manifests itself according to
3:23:43
the fitness of the tools. I believe that man is rapidly growing into a
3:23:48
new plane of consciousness, in which he will know himself as he is,
3:23:54
will recognize thee I am, the something within. Many are having glimpses of
3:24:01
the truth every day. The first glimpses of the light of the Great Dawn
3:24:05
are even now being perceived by those who are awake and watching. I believe
3:24:13
that the mind of man contains the greatest of all forces, that thought is
3:24:18
one of the greatest manifestations of energy. I believe that the man who understands
3:24:24
the use of thought force can make of himself practically what he will. I
3:24:30
believe that not only is one's body subject to the control of the mind,
3:24:33
but that also one may change environment, luck circumstances by positive thought taking the
3:24:41
place of negative I know that the I can, and I will. Attitude
3:24:48
will carry one forward to success that will seem miraculous to the man on the
3:24:54
I can't plane. I believe that thoughts are things, and that the law
3:25:01
of attraction in the thought world will draw to one just what he desires or
3:25:05
fears. I believe that fear thought is the root of more misery, unhappiness,
3:25:13
disease, crime, failure, and other undesirable things than any one thing
3:25:18
in the world. I intend to attack this monster most vigorously through these columns.
3:25:26
I intend going for him with the grace of God in my heart and
3:25:30
a good hickory club in my hand. I will cause many of you to
3:25:35
tear out fear by the roots. You don't need it about you. I
3:25:41
will preach the gospel of fearlessness. There is nothing in the world or out
3:25:46
of it to fear except fear. I will also preach the gospel of backbone
3:25:54
to you, will insist upon your inserting a steel rowed vertebra in the place
3:25:58
of that in a rubber affair that some of you are carrying around with you.
3:26:03
You doubt this, do you? Well? Just you wait and see.
3:26:09
I believe in the brotherhood of man. I believe in being kind.
3:26:13
I believe in everyone minding his own business and allowing everyone else the same privilege.
3:26:20
I believe that we have no right to condemn. Let him who is
3:26:24
without sin cast the first stone. I believe that he who hates is an
3:26:31
assassin, that he who covets is a thief, that he who lusts is
3:26:37
an adulterer. That the gist of a crime is in its desire. Seeing
3:26:43
this, looking into our own hearts, how can we condemn. I believe
3:26:50
that evil is but ignorance. I believe that to know all is to forgive
3:26:56
all. I believe that there is good in every man, let us help
3:27:01
him to manifest it. I believe in the absolute equality of the man and
3:27:07
the woman. Sometimes I think that the odds are slightly in favor of the
3:27:11
woman. I believe in the sacredness of sex, but I also believe that
3:27:18
sex manifests on the spiritual and mental planes as well as on the physical.
3:27:24
And I believe that to the pure, all things are pure. I also
3:27:28
believe in the Gospel of work in hustling. I believe in the ey do
3:27:35
as well as the I am. I know that the man who will take
3:27:41
advantage of the power of the mind, and who will manifest that power in
3:27:46
action will go forward to success as surely and as steadily as the arrow from
3:27:52
the bow of the skilled archer. Partnership, Next to marriage, partnership is
3:28:01
the most important association mental partnerships. Be careful whom you choose as your mental
3:28:09
partners. Get into partnership with the best thoughts. Dissolve partnership with the other
3:28:18
kind. I can, I will, I do, I dare. Next
3:28:26
to marriage, a partnership arrangement is the most important association into which a man
3:28:35
or woman may enter. Its consequences are far reaching and difficult to escape,
3:28:43
and to a very considerable extent, one is bound by the acts of his
3:28:46
partners. This being the case, it is of the utmost importance that one
3:28:54
should exercise the greatest diligence and care in selecting partners. If any of my
3:29:01
readers were to contemplate entering into a partnership agreement with others, he would be
3:29:09
sure to select those who were possessed of the most desirable qualities and those most
3:29:15
conducive to success. He would carefully avoid those possessed of lack of confidence,
3:29:22
fear, worry, discouragement, and others. Of the I can't class.
3:29:30
He would seek out the courageous, confident I can and I will men.
3:29:37
He would keep away from those in whom hate, malice, jealousy, envy,
3:29:45
bigotry, and other traits of ignorance were strongly manifest. He would,
3:29:52
in short, choose those who possessed, to the greatest possible degree the qualities
3:29:56
most conducive to success, and would as carefully avoid those possessed of opposite qualities.
3:30:05
There is no doubt of the truth of what I have just said.
3:30:09
Every one of you will admit it. Now. I do not purpose telling
3:30:16
you about business partnerships of the ordinary kind. You know all about those.
3:30:24
But I will call your attention to the fact that you are every day forming
3:30:30
partnerships of a most important character and far reaching in their effects, but of
3:30:37
which you probably have been unaware. When your attention is once called to the
3:30:43
matter, many things will seem clear to you that have heretofore appeared quite dark,
3:30:52
and you will be able to avoid mistakes in the future that have been
3:30:56
quite common in the past. This is an important lesson, and I trust
3:31:03
that you will give heed to what I say. I have stated in previous
3:31:09
articles that your mind is a mighty magnet attracting to itself. The thoughts emanating
3:31:16
from the minds of others like attracts like in the world of thought, and
3:31:22
the prevailing character of your thoughts will be manifested in the character of thought waves
3:31:28
drawn to you from the great ocean of thought. Your thought mingles and colesses
3:31:35
with thoughts of a corresponding nature send out from the minds of others, and
3:31:41
both you and the other senders are strengthened in the mental attitude. By reason
3:31:46
of the joining of forces. You are entering into a mental partnership with those
3:31:52
unknown thinkers and attracting them to you, and you to them. Why do
3:32:01
birds of a feather flock together in business an every day life, simply because
3:32:07
they are irresistibly drawn to each other by the law of mental attraction. The
3:32:13
people with whom you are brought in contact are those of the same mental key
3:32:18
as yourself. You may not agree with this statement, but a close analysis
3:32:24
will prove it. The pushing, hustling, wide awake man will attract to
3:32:31
himself thought partners of the same stamp, while the man who is afraid is
3:32:37
always sure to find himself surrounded by people having the same defects. And not
3:32:45
only is this true in the sense that the law brings you into actual contact
3:32:50
with people of the same mental key, but you are connecting yourself with hundreds
3:32:56
of others who are thinking along the same lines. Though you may never actually
3:33:01
come in physical contact with these people, you are going into partnership with them
3:33:07
and will share in the firms profits and losses, just as you would in
3:33:13
case of an ordinary business partnership, and it is easy to foretell upon just
3:33:20
what side of the firm, letger, the balance will appear. When you
3:33:26
approach a man on business with your mind ladened with thoughts of fear, lack
3:33:31
of confidence, etc. You strike a similar keynote in that man, and
3:33:37
he instinctively feels that he has no confidence in you or your business. And
3:33:43
if he is a man who is predominant to not discourage, he will feel
3:33:48
the in harmony and get rid of you as soon as he can. If,
3:33:54
on the contrary, he is also an I can't man, he will
3:33:58
feel a fellow feeling for you, but it will do you no good.
3:34:03
It will be a case of misery loves company, and the first thing you
3:34:09
know, you will find yourself and that man in an earnest conversation about dull
3:34:15
times, poor crops. The country is going to the dogs. No chance
3:34:20
for a man nowadays. We are all going to the poorhouse, et cetera,
3:34:26
et cetera. I've seen it happen many a time, haven't you.
3:34:31
But if you are an I can, and I will man and he is
3:34:37
the same. See how different things are. He will warm up to you
3:34:43
and will feel that he understands you, and sooner or later you and he
3:34:48
will do business with each other. In fact, the arrangement is begun with
3:34:54
your first meeting. If you can get yourself in something like the same ment
3:35:00
attitude of a man with whom you wish to do business, you will get
3:35:03
along with him. Never fear. When you have something in mind upon which
3:35:11
you are working, and you are at the same time maintaining the proper mental
3:35:15
attitude, you are placing yourself in psychic touch with every other man in the
3:35:22
same line who is holding the same mental attitude. You drew an inspiration from
3:35:28
them, and both parties to the mental partnership share in the profits. Both
3:35:33
will share to a certain extent in each other's progress, and both will draw
3:35:39
largely from the mental stock of those who are working along the same lines,
3:35:45
but who are holding a negative mental attitude. In fact, the whole store
3:35:50
of knowledge and progress along those lines will be tapped by these partners holding the
3:35:56
positive mental attitude. Plans, ideas, combinations, schemes, devices will spring
3:36:05
into being in their minds, and they will not only help each other,
3:36:09
but will draw upon the less positive people. This seems a hard law,
3:36:16
but it is, like all of nature's laws, so severe that we are
3:36:20
forced sooner or later to learn the lesson we learn by experience. Only.
3:36:28
This operation of law of mental attraction is a good example of one of the
3:36:33
meanings of that saying, so dark to many, to him that hath shall
3:36:39
be given to him, that hath not shall be taken away, even that
3:36:45
which he hath at any rate. That is the way the law works.
3:36:52
And it is not only in the matter of success that this mental partnership works.
3:36:58
Its operations are manifest everywhere. You will notice that the negative emotions drow
3:37:05
to themselves people, thoughts, and things upon which they can feed. Let
3:37:13
a man or woman manifest jealousy, and lo as if from the earth spring
3:37:18
apparent causes for that jealous feeling all sorts of things seem to conspire to feed
3:37:26
the green eyed monster into a state of fatness. And let a man or
3:37:31
woman get a notion that people are trying to slight them, and let them
3:37:37
continue to hold this thought, and it will soon seem to the poor victim
3:37:43
of fear thought as if everybody in the world was determined to snub, slight
3:37:50
and tread upon him and hurt his feelings. If he persists in this attitude,
3:37:58
life will become a burden too heavy to bear, and there will be
3:38:03
no possible relief for him except a change of mental front. Let one imagine
3:38:09
that every one is trying to cheat him, and he will be a lucky
3:38:13
man if he does not find that the things he feared have come upon him.
3:38:20
Let a man cherish thoughts of hate and malice, and sooner or later
3:38:24
he will become involved in all sorts of hateful, malicious schemes and occurrences with
3:38:31
his partners whom he has drawn to him. He who lives by the sword
3:38:37
shall die by the sword. Is proven every day he who thinks every man
3:38:43
is a rogue will see enough rogues to justify him in his belief, and
3:38:48
will probably end up by having people think of him as a rogue. He
3:38:52
will draw all sorts of roguish people, things, and circumstances to him.
3:39:00
Did you ever start in the morning feeling cross and crabbed? Well, if
3:39:05
you did, you probably found that, after the inevitable domestic row over the
3:39:11
buckwheat cakes and coffee, after you had left your wife with tears in her
3:39:18
eyes and the children in good shape to get into trouble in school, that
3:39:24
everyone seems to have it in for you. Some fellow in the train seemed
3:39:28
to deliberately tread on your pet corn, another jostled you, and so on.
3:39:35
When you got down to business, everything went wrong, and unless you
3:39:41
brought yourself up with a short turn, you had a dreadful time of it
3:39:46
all day, and were glad when night came that you might sleep it off.
3:39:52
You will always find that there are plenty of people waiting to go into
3:39:56
mental partnership with you. In such cases, if you are looking for a
3:40:01
fight, you will get it. I tell you, friends, that people
3:40:07
are all more or less in psychic touch with each other, and the sooner
3:40:13
we recognize this fact, the better it will be for us. This law
3:40:18
of mental attraction works either good or bad for us, according to the uses
3:40:24
we make of it. If we run contrary to the law, we will
3:40:28
be taught lesson after lesson until we learn something. But if we fall in
3:40:35
with the workings of the law, we will reap the benefits that come to
3:40:39
man when he masters and controls any of nature's great forces. Now, don't
3:40:48
make partnerships of an undesirable kind. If you do, you will have to
3:40:54
bear the consequences. If you have already formed such a partner ship, dissolve
3:41:01
it at once and go into liquidation. After a while you will have cleared
3:41:07
up the old deaths and straightened matters out, and will begin to do business
3:41:11
on another basis. And I want to tell you right here that you can
3:41:18
get into the best mental firms in the world if you only go about it
3:41:22
right. They will not object to you if you are a fit member,
3:41:28
and in fact, they could not keep you out even if they wished.
3:41:33
The doors will open at the magic touch of the spoken word, packed up
3:41:37
by the proper mental attitude, Cut loose from the old thought associations and form
3:41:45
new connections. Get in touch with the right kind of thought waves, People
3:41:50
and things cultivate the proper mental attitude and demand an entrance to the firm you
3:41:58
wish. Good men are scarce in all branches of business, trades and professions.
3:42:05
There's room for you away up at the top two. Get what belongs
3:42:09
to you. Do not be cheated out of your heritage. Assert yourself.
3:42:16
Join today that good hustling firm whose name on the sign board reads, I
3:42:22
can, I will, I do, I dare The seekers the secret of
3:42:33
life, the riddle of existence. Sought now as ever, the wieness of
3:42:39
things attempts to answer the riddle. The seekers fantastic creeds and queer philosophies,
3:42:48
revamping old ideas, the story of the man and the stars, the answer
3:42:54
to be found within the soul. I laugh at the lore and the pride
3:43:01
of man, at the softest schools and the learned clan, For what are
3:43:05
they all in their high conceit? When man in the bush with God may
3:43:11
meet Emerson. Man is trying to reason out, now, as in the
3:43:18
past, the secret of life, the riddle of existence. He seeks to
3:43:24
know from whence he comes, whither he goes, and what is the object
3:43:28
of his existence. He wants to know the whyness of things, what it
3:43:33
all means. He is like the squirrel in the cage, which exhausts itself
3:43:39
in traveling the long road of the wheel, only to find itself at the
3:43:43
end of its journey just where it started, or worse still, like the
3:43:48
newly caged wild bird. He dashes against the bars of his prison again and
3:43:52
again in his efforts to regain his freedom, until at last he lies weak
3:43:58
and bleeding still. It has ever been so. From the childhood of the
3:44:05
race until the present time. Sages, seers, prophets, and philosophers have
3:44:11
endeavored to reason out the problem, but their labors have availed nothing, and
3:44:16
the riddle remains unanswered. Man has traveled over and over the circular road of
3:44:20
thought, only to discover that it has no beginning, no ending. He
3:44:26
thinks that he has explained things, but he has merely given them names.
3:44:31
All the scientific research, all the theological and metaphysical speculation, has failed even
3:44:39
to explain the sprouting of the mustard seed. Life and death is a mystery
3:44:45
to the most brilliant man of this civilization, as it was to the ignorant
3:44:48
creature of the Stone Age. Races, Nations, civilizations rise and fall.
3:44:58
Creeds are born, grow strong, weaken, and die, but the secret
3:45:03
remains a secret still. The present day seems to have reawakened the latent desire
3:45:09
of man to see behind the veil. The pendulum which carried so many thinkers
3:45:15
to the materialistic extreme, is beginning to swing in the opposite direction, and
3:45:20
is causing a strange and wonderful revival of ancient creeds and philosophies. Those who
3:45:26
have long since turned their backs upon the accepted creeds now find themselves in the
3:45:31
company of those who still claim allegiance to the church, but who feel themselves
3:45:35
cramped by the creeds fashioned for them by their fathers. The leader of the
3:45:41
new thought, reaching the top of the mountain often finds himself face to face
3:45:46
with a scientific savant who has reached the same place by climbing up the other
3:45:50
side of the hill. And the scientist and the new thought man need not
3:45:56
be surprised to find a leader of advanced religious thoughts claiming a foothold on the
3:46:01
top of the same hill. But the trio, after they have congratulated themselves
3:46:07
upon reaching the summit and ending their journey, look around them and low their
3:46:13
mountain is but a foothill, and far above them, towering higher and higher
3:46:18
rise range after range of the real mountains, the highest peaks being hidden among
3:46:24
the clouds. One has but to look around him to see how strenuous has
3:46:30
grown the search for the answer to the riddle. New creeds, philosophies,
3:46:35
cults, and schools confront us at every turn. The past has been ransacked
3:46:39
for its discarded philosophies, which have been renovated and trimmed anew for modern use.
3:46:46
The dust has been brushed off many and old and almost forgotten creed,
3:46:50
which is pushed to the front under a new name and with new trimmings.
3:46:54
Plato is worked over time to furnish the twentieth century creed promoters with material to
3:47:01
be done over. The wildest dreams of the ancients are toned down a little
3:47:05
and boldly offered to the eager multitude as the long sought for solution of it.
3:47:09
All priests and teachers of all the religions of all lands are among us,
3:47:16
vying with the priests and priestesses of the new philosophies and creeds of our
3:47:20
own land, and bidding for public favor. And these new home made philosophies
3:47:26
how frightfully and wonderfully are they made. The old philosophies of Greece and Rome
3:47:33
are skillfully dovetailed with the creeds of the Orient, and the result is a
3:47:37
thing differing from anything ever seen before by gods or men. Brahmins, Buddhists,
3:47:43
Confucians, Mahommedans, and sun worshipers claim thousands of followers in our land,
3:47:50
and Isis and Osiris will before long again be given a place and duly
3:47:56
installed in the new Pantheon. Thor and Odin will doubtless be revamped and the
3:48:03
rights of the Druids revived. We are looking every day for the arrival on
3:48:07
our shores of the advance agent of the Joss propaganda from the celestial Kingdom,
3:48:15
and the home product is, if possible, more fantastic and bizarre than the
3:48:20
imported article. The wildest claims and statements are made with an air of authority,
3:48:24
and are accepted as gospel by the adherents of the several sects. One
3:48:30
does not know whether to sigh or weep as he watches some of the modern
3:48:35
prophets and prophetesses strutting their little stage and cutting fantastic capers before high Heaven,
3:48:41
thus adding to the gaiety of the nations. The demand for these things has
3:48:46
been created, and nothing seems too highly spiced for the devotees of the latter
3:48:52
day creeds and the followers of those strange prophets. What of them? Many
3:48:58
of them are mere excitement, others that class of people possessed of a consuming
3:49:03
thirst for something new. Some are honest seekers for the truth, and others
3:49:09
are those who have cut away from their old moorings and are drifting about rudderless
3:49:15
and without an anchor, at the mercy of any stray current which may sweep
3:49:18
them along. There are thousands of people who never heard of the philosophies and
3:49:24
creeds of the ancients, who are now dazzled by the revamped doctrines expounded by
3:49:30
the modern prophets, and who being impressed with the strangeness and novelty of the
3:49:35
to them new truths. Except them as inspired and emanating from the absolute,
3:49:43
new gods have arisen, and also new devils. The malicious mental magnetism of
3:49:50
the Christian scientists is as much a devil to them as was the Orthodox devil
3:49:56
of one hundred years ago to our forefathers. The new cults usually begin by
3:50:01
performing cures by means of the power of the mind and other natural laws,
3:50:05
which they attribute to the principles and teachings of their particular sex. Many of
3:50:11
them, now, however, frankly admit that they are past the healing stage,
3:50:16
and look down upon the mere healing of disease as a thing too nearly
3:50:20
allied to the detested material plane to be seriously considered. The time of the
3:50:26
leaders is now principally occupied in announcing and elucidating wonderful, high spiritual truths for
3:50:33
the seekers, soaring away up in the clouds of transcendentalism, leaving their followers
3:50:39
behind, gaping upwards like a crowd at a country balloon ascension. Once upon
3:50:46
a time there was a reformer who attended a public meeting and took part in
3:50:52
an exciting debate on an important question of the day. At last, heated,
3:50:56
wearied and disgusted by the fruitless lies struggle, he left the hall and
3:51:01
started for home. It was a beautiful, cold winter's night, and the
3:51:07
heavens were studded with stars shining bright through the clear, frosty atmosphere. Pausing
3:51:13
for a moment in his rapid walk. He glanced upward. The stars were
3:51:18
twinkling away merrily. They did not seem to be at all disturbed by what
3:51:22
had been going on in the meeting. They appeared just the same as when
3:51:26
in years past, as a boy, he had looked at them with wondering
3:51:31
eyes. As he gazed, a peaceful calm came over him, and his
3:51:37
worry, doubts, and fears seemed very petty. At last, one little
3:51:43
star appeared to notice him, and he thought he could see it, cast
3:51:48
a good natured glance downward, saying in a cheerful voice, why so hot,
3:51:54
little man? When we feel cast down with doubt, torn with anxiety,
3:52:01
weak from loss of faith, feinate with fear, let us look aloft
3:52:07
at the stars when we see those distant points of light, knowing them to
3:52:13
be centers of solar systems, knowing that beyond, beyond and beyond are countless
3:52:22
other suns and world. Let us pluck up a little courage and realize that
3:52:28
we are a part of a mighty law, a stupendous plan. Let us
3:52:33
know that the power which called these things into life, and which is able
3:52:37
to manage them and even greater things, has us in charge. And will
3:52:43
not allow us to be destroyed. Let us know that we are but in
3:52:48
the kindergarten stage of existence, and that we shall go on and on and
3:52:52
on, from plane to plane, ever onward and upward in the scale,
3:52:58
until at las last we shall be able to spell out the lines of the
3:53:03
primmer of life and learn the multiplication table of the universe. Let us,
3:53:09
in the meanwhile, live on in trust and hope, one day at a
3:53:15
time, living our own lives, doing our best work, getting the joy
3:53:20
which comes from the simple human life, lending a helping hand. Let us
3:53:26
abolish fear and hate and replace them with courage, confidence, and love.
3:53:33
Let us look for good rather than evil. Let us know failure as merely
3:53:37
a lesson in success. Let us look upon death as birth. Let us
3:53:43
do the best we can with this world, knowing that the next world will
3:53:48
find us prepared for its task. Let us know that we are in eternity
3:53:54
right now. Let us know that God is not so far away as we
3:53:58
have been taught. For is it not true that in Him we live and
3:54:03
move and have our being. Let us preserve our sense of humor, for
3:54:09
it will guard us against many a fear, many a folly many a delusion.
3:54:16
And finally, let us keep out of the throng which is rushing wildly
3:54:20
hither and thither after leaders, prophets, sages, sears. Let us look
3:54:28
within ourselves and see the little flame which burns steadily there. Let us know
3:54:35
that we have within us the light of the spirit, which naught can extinguish.
3:54:41
And let us say, with good old newman, lead kindly, light
3:54:48
amid the encircling gloom. Lead thou me on. The night is dark,
3:54:52
and I am far from home. Lead thou me on, keep thou my
3:54:58
feet h I do not ask to see the distant scene. One step enough
3:55:03
for me. Lead thou me on. Mental pictures. I hang bright pictures
3:55:13
in my mind. Bright pictures encourage one. Gloomy ones depress. Get rid
3:55:20
of your old gloomy mental pictures, make a bonfire of them, get rid
3:55:26
of the particularly miserable one first of all, then put bright ones in their
3:55:33
places. I now hang bright pictures in my mind, said a friend to
3:55:39
me recently. Her remark explained to me, without the necessity of further words,
3:55:46
the cause of her bright, cheerful and happy disposition so greatly in contrast
3:55:52
with that of the despondent, fretful woman I had known a few months ago.
3:56:00
The change seems so remarkable that one would have almost expected her to have
3:56:05
claimed some startling occurrence as the cause of the wondrous transformation, and instead of
3:56:13
giving so commonplace an explanation. But just think how much there is in this
3:56:20
thought I hang bright pictures in my mind. Stop a moment, and let
3:56:28
the thought sink deep into your inner consciousness. Bright pictures in the mind.
3:56:35
Why not? Indeed, if we wish to make a chamber or office bright
3:56:43
and cheery, we see that nothing but pictures representing bright, cheerful subjects are
3:56:50
hung there. They may be the choicest engravings or paintings, or they may
3:56:56
be some little inexpensive thing, But just so they are bright and cheery.
3:57:03
The purpose is accomplished, and the room somehow seems a happier, more joyous
3:57:11
place than before. If we were preparing a new room for the occupancy of
3:57:18
some dear one, would we place there any but the brightest picture? Would
3:57:24
we hang there pictures of pain and misery, hate and murder, jealousy and
3:57:31
revenge, sickness, suffering and death, failure and discouragement? Would we do
3:57:39
this thing, I ask you, would you do it? And if not,
3:57:45
why not pray? Simply because you inextinctively feel that the gloomy, hateful
3:57:52
subjects would react upon the loved one, and you know is the same way
3:57:58
that the bride, cheerful and aspiring subjects are likely to uplift, stimulate,
3:58:05
encourage, and make better the occupant of the chamber. Have you ever noticed
3:58:13
that some rooms always seem to exert a beneficial effect upon you, while others
3:58:18
seem to depress you? Certainly you have. Well the next time you go
3:58:24
into these rooms, look around a little and see if the explanation of your
3:58:31
moods is not to be found in the character of the pictures on the walls.
3:58:35
You may not have specially noticed them before, but your subconscious mental faculties
3:58:43
have taken up the impression and the reflex action has affected you. Who can
3:58:48
resist the fetching qualities of a bright baby face smiling from a little picture on
3:58:54
the mantle or on the wall, Not I, for one? And who
3:59:01
can help feeling the sense of comradeship for the kindly sand Bernard, whose great
3:59:07
affectionate eyes look down upon you from the engraving on the other side of the
3:59:11
room. And on the other hand, who could. But now I'm not
3:59:18
going to describe the other kind of pictures in this article. But now to
3:59:24
get back to the pictures in the mind. If the gloomy pictures on the
3:59:28
wall affect people, what do you suppose will be the effect of carrying around
3:59:35
gloomy, fearful, hateful, jealous, envious, despondent mental pictures? Can
3:59:43
any good come of lugging this trash around with you? Come? Now,
3:59:48
be honest, why don't you bundle up these horrible corimus of the mind and
3:59:54
then make a bonfire of the lot. Now is the time for a mental
3:59:58
house cli get to work and clean out these miserable DoBeS and replace them with
4:00:05
a nice, bright, cheerful, happy, sunny mental works of art.
4:00:11
Do it today. You can't afford to put it off until tomorrow. Indeed
4:00:18
you can't. Oh yes, I know that you have grown attached to some
4:00:26
of these old mental pictures. You've had them round so long that you hate
4:00:31
to part with them. There's that particular miserable one at which you're so fond
4:00:37
of looking. You know which one? I mean, you see, I
4:00:43
know all about it. You've been in the habit of standing before it with
4:00:48
folded hands and gazing and gazing and gazing at it. And the more you
4:00:54
gazed, the more miserable you grew, until at last you felt that you
4:01:01
would like to lie down and die, only that there was some work to
4:01:05
do around the house and you couldn't spare the time. Yes, that's the
4:01:11
picture. I mean. Take it down and put it on top of the
4:01:16
bonfire pile, and touch off the whole lot. Then go back into the
4:01:24
house and hang up all the new ones to be found, And the brightest
4:01:28
one of the lot must hang in the place of that dear, old,
4:01:33
miserable one that you threw out last, that one which was so hard to
4:01:39
part with, the meanest one in the lot. Always, and after you
4:01:46
have done these things, how good you will feel. See how bright and
4:01:52
cheerful the sun is shining, How pure and fresh the air seems. Take
4:01:58
a good look long draft of it. Look out the window and see the
4:02:03
fleecing white clouds floating across the sky, the sky itself, how blue it
4:02:11
is, And just listen to the bluebirds down by the old gate. Spring
4:02:18
must be coming. Ah, how good it is to be alive? Don't
4:02:24
reteal your woes. A miserable habit, it grows as it is fed,
4:02:31
a nuisance to friends and neighbors, it brings to you more of the same
4:02:37
kind. You will get what you look for. Looking for trouble brings it.
4:02:43
Don't imagine that you are being put upon. Don't reteal your woes.
4:02:52
Don't reteal your woes. Do you think that it does you any good to
4:02:58
go around with a long face, telling your tale of woe to everyone whom
4:03:03
you can induce to listen to you? Do you think that it does you
4:03:09
any good? Do you think it helps you to overcome your troubles or makes
4:03:16
your burden any lighter? No, I don't believe that you think any such
4:03:22
things. All your experience teaches you that people don't like to listen to long
4:03:28
drawn out tails of your troubles. They have enough of their own. Even
4:03:35
those who are always ready to lend a helping hand and to give what aid
4:03:39
they can to one who needs it. Resent being made targets for a continuous
4:03:46
fusillade of troubles, woes, griefs, et cetera. And you know very
4:03:52
well that a constant repetition of your own woes will only make them seem greater
4:03:58
and more real to you. And then the chronic retailer of woe grows to
4:04:05
be like the journalist, develops a keen scent for matter to be dished out
4:04:09
to others. She needs it in her business. When one gets into this
4:04:16
habit of carrying about tales to her friends, she runs out of ready material
4:04:22
and eagerly looks around for more with which to supply the demand. She becomes
4:04:28
quite an adapt at discovering insults, sneers, double meaning remarks, et cetera
4:04:35
on the part of her friends and relatives, where nothing of the kind was
4:04:41
intended, And she rules these things over and over in her mind like sweet
4:04:46
morsels, before she serves them up with appropriate trimmings to her listeners. You
4:04:54
will notice that I say her in speaking of the victim of demoralizing habit,
4:05:01
and some of my readers of that sex will undoubtedly take me to task for
4:05:07
blaming it on the woman in instead of the man. Well, you all
4:05:13
know my ideas about the equality of the sexes, about their being different,
4:05:18
but one being as good as the other, with the odds a little in
4:05:22
favor of the woman. But I feel justified in saying that this habit is
4:05:28
one that seems to have a special liking for women, and it generally picks
4:05:33
out a woman for its victim in preference to a man. When a man
4:05:39
acquires this habit, he becomes such a nuisance to his friends and associates that
4:05:46
sooner or later he will notice that they avoid him, and the chances are
4:05:52
that some blunt fellow will tell him that he has no time for listening to
4:05:58
tales of this kind, and that if he, the complainer, would display
4:06:03
the same energy in attending to his business that he does to peddling around tales
4:06:09
about how badly he has been used, he would not need any sympathy.
4:06:15
But woman, God bless her, does not like to hurt the feelings of
4:06:20
others in this way. She suffers the infliction in silence, and then tells
4:06:24
her friends how she has been bored. She will listen to her whoe retailing
4:06:30
friend and seem to sympathize with her and say, oh, isn't it dreadful?
4:06:37
How could she speak so harshly of you, you poor dear, How
4:06:43
you must have suffered? How could he have treated you so unjustly? And
4:06:48
other things of that kind. But when the visitor goes, she yawns and
4:06:54
says, dear me, if missus Groan would own only try to say something
4:07:01
more cheerful. She gives me the horrors with her tales about her husband,
4:07:07
her relatives, her friends, and everybody else. But missus Groan never seems
4:07:15
to see the point, and she adds to her list of people who have
4:07:18
put upon her as she goes along, her tired out friends being added to
4:07:24
the number as their patience wears out. And then the effect upon the woman
4:07:31
herself. You know the effect of holding certain lines of thoughts, of auto
4:07:37
suggestion, of the attractive power of thought. And you can readily see how
4:07:41
this woman makes things worse for herself all the time. She goes around with
4:07:48
her mind fixed upon the idea that everybody's hand is against her, and she
4:07:54
carries about with her an aura that attracts to her all the unpleasant things things
4:08:00
in the neighborhood. She goes around looking for trouble, and of course she
4:08:05
gets it. Did you ever notice a man or a woman looking for trouble?
4:08:11
And how soon they found it? The man looking for a fight,
4:08:16
it generally accommodated the woman looking for slights always gets them, whether the giver
4:08:22
intends them or not. This sort of mental attitude fairly draws out the worse
4:08:30
in those with whom we come in contact, and the predominant thought drows to
4:08:35
itself all the corresponding thought within its radius. One who dwells upon the fancied
4:08:43
fact that everybody is going around trying to injure him, treat him unkindly,
4:08:50
sneer at him, slight him, and generally use him up is pretty sure
4:08:56
to find that he has attracted to him enough people who will humor his fancy
4:09:01
and give him what he expects in thought force. You will remember, I
4:09:07
tell the story of the two dogs. The one dog, dignified and self
4:09:13
respecting, whom no boy ever thinks of bothering. The other dog, who
4:09:20
expects to be kicked by every passing boy, and who draws himself up and
4:09:24
places his tail between his legs and actually suggests the cake to the passing boy.
4:09:31
Of course, he gets kicked. It's wrong for the boy to do
4:09:35
it, I know, But the dog's attitude is too much for the nature
4:09:39
of the average boy, and grown ups are built upon the same plan.
4:09:45
These people who are going around in the mental attitude which invites unkind treatment generally
4:09:52
managed to find someone who will have his natural meanness drawn out to such a
4:09:58
convenient lightning rod. And in fact such people often generate harsh feelings in persons
4:10:05
who scarcely ever manifest them. Like attracts like in the world of thought,
4:10:11
and one draws upon him the things he fears in many cases. But one
4:10:18
of the most regrettable things about this woe retailing woman is the effect the habit
4:10:26
has upon her own mind and character. When we understand how one is constantly
4:10:31
building up character, adding a little every day, and that our thoughts of
4:10:37
the day are the material which are going into our character structure, it will
4:10:43
be seen that it is a matter of the greatest importance what kind of thoughts
4:10:48
we think. Thoughts are not wasted. They not only go out in all
4:10:54
directions, influencing others, attracting persons and things to ourselves, but they have
4:11:01
a creative effect upon our own mind and character. Thought along a certain line
4:11:07
will develop certain brain cells to a great extent, and the cells manifesting the
4:11:13
contrary line of thought are allowed to dwindle away and shrivel up. Now,
4:11:20
when we have our minds fixed upon the thought that we are long suffering mortals,
4:11:26
and that everyone else is trying to do mean things to us, that
4:11:30
we are not appreciated, and that those who should care most for us are
4:11:35
only biding their time until they can hurt us. We are building up our
4:11:41
minds along that line, and we find ourselves in the habit of looking for
4:11:46
the worst in everybody, and we often manage to bring it to the surface,
4:11:50
even if we have to take hard for it. Some of this class
4:11:56
of people seem to take a particular delight in bringing upon their head the harsh
4:12:01
words and slights of others. Now I really mean this. I have seen
4:12:07
people go around with that I'm a warm of the dust, please tread on
4:12:13
me air, and the same expression as that in the eyes of the dog
4:12:18
which expected to be kicked. And when somebody would be nagged into saying or
4:12:24
doing something that they would not otherwise have thought of, the wool seeker's eyes
4:12:30
would assume an expression of I told you so, and it's only poor me,
4:12:37
and it's all I can expect. Everybody wishes to crush me, and
4:12:45
a few other assorted thoughts of that kind, and then she will go to
4:12:50
her room and moan and weep and dwell upon her miseries until they seem to
4:12:56
be as large as a mountain. And then the chance she gets, she
4:13:01
will run around the corner to a friend and will reteal all the new stock
4:13:07
of woes which she has accumulated with fancy trimmings. You may feel sure,
4:13:13
and the friend will try hard to avoid showing that she is bored at the
4:13:18
tale she has so often heard, but will say nice little things until the
4:13:24
mourner is sure that the whole world sympathizes with her, and she feels a
4:13:30
glow of righteous indignation, self pity, and martyrdom. Oh the pity of
4:13:37
it all. These people go through the world making things harder for themselves,
4:13:45
their friends, their relatives, and everyone else with whom they come in contact.
4:13:50
They are constantly seeking to keep their stock fresh and attractive, and display
4:13:56
more energy in their retailing than the average man or woman does in business.
4:14:05
This thing of looking for trouble is a very unfortunate thing in families. As
4:14:09
a rule, I think that woman gets the worse of it in family troubles.
4:14:15
The economic position places her at a disadvantage, and she often suffers all
4:14:20
sorts of horrible things rather than have her troubles made public. But I must
4:14:26
say that some women bring upon themselves all that they get. I have known
4:14:31
them to get in a frame of mind in which they could see nothing but
4:14:37
unkindness, where the utmost kindness was meant. Man is not an angel,
4:14:43
far from it. But the attitude of some women is enough to bring out
4:14:46
all the qualities other than angelic. They assume that they are put upon and
4:14:52
live up to that idea. Every word that the man says is twisted and
4:14:58
disorted into something entirely different from what he intended. The mental attitude produces moral
4:15:07
astigmatism, and things are seen at the wrong angle. All the little things
4:15:13
that happened are promptly retailed to some mischief making neighbor, who is in the
4:15:18
game for the excitement it affords her, and who laughs at the wife behind
4:15:22
her back, and talks about her in turn to some third person. And
4:15:28
the wife fairly draws upon herself all sorts of things that never would have happened
4:15:33
otherwise. She knows that her neighbor is waiting for today's budget of news,
4:15:39
and she almost unconsciously shapes things so that the facts justifying the news are forthcoming.
4:15:48
Did you ever notice that woman who keeps her troubles to herself does not
4:15:54
have nearly as much pickering and strife in her households as the one who has
4:16:00
acquired the retailing habit. Don't retail your woes. Keep them to yourself and
4:16:08
they will die. But spread them and they will grow like weeds. You
4:16:15
are making things worse for yourself, are drawing things to you, and are
4:16:21
spoiling your mind, disposition, and character by dis miserable business of retelling woes.
4:16:30
Life. There is in each of us a potential something for expression,
4:16:37
the something within the plant of life. No use trying to repress it,
4:16:42
for develop it must. Life has a meaning growth, development, and unfoldment,
4:16:51
the lesson of life. There is in each of us a potential something
4:16:57
pressing forth for express and growth in the direction of ultimate good, casting off
4:17:03
sheath after sheath, in its progressive development and unfoldment, impelled by the impulse
4:17:08
imparted by the primal cause, attracted upward by the absolute. Failing to understand
4:17:15
this impulse of the growing something seeking relief from its steady pressure, we look
4:17:22
upon it as an intruder and instead of allowing it to develop and grow naturally,
4:17:26
we endeavor to kill it or to train its growth. After our own
4:17:30
petty notions. We fail to see that this something is like unto the plant,
4:17:37
which grows on steadily and surely from seed to blossom until its potentialities are
4:17:41
fully expressed. We do not realize that this plant of life should be allowed
4:17:48
to grow as does the lily, freely and without restraint, unfolding leaf after
4:17:53
leaf, until the plant stands in its complete beauty, crowned with its divine
4:17:59
flower. We would train the plant into some fantastic shape, dwarf it as
4:18:06
the Chinese do the oak, that it may become the pretty ornament of the
4:18:10
parlor instead of the noble monarch of the forest. We would have it grow
4:18:15
our way, not according to the law of its being. We fancy that
4:18:19
we know what is best for it, losing sight of the fact that,
4:18:22
deep down in the subconscious depths of its being reposes that which directs its every
4:18:29
effort toward the good. Forgetting that its attraction toward the absolute is drawing it
4:18:36
steadily and irresistibly in the right direction, we forget that the plant will fulfill
4:18:41
these impulses, so long as there remains in it one atom of life.
4:18:47
The seed in the ground will express itself in its little shoot, often moving
4:18:52
weights a thousand times heavier than itself, in its efforts to reach the rays
4:18:56
of the sun. The sapling may be bent and confined to the ground,
4:19:02
but its branches, following the laws of its being, will instinctively shoot upward.
4:19:08
Restrict the growth of the plant if you can, but nevertheless it will
4:19:14
move along the lines of least resistance and grow toward the sun in spite of
4:19:18
your efforts. And so it is with the plant of life, the something
4:19:25
within us. We are afraid to allow it to grow according to the laws
4:19:29
of its being, but wish to model it and shape it in accordance with
4:19:32
the theories of ourselves or others. More frequently, the latter, for most
4:19:37
of our ideas on the subject are borrowed. We seem to imagine that the
4:19:41
intelligence that thought the plant into existence did not understand its business, and we
4:19:47
are afraid that without the assistance of our mighty intellect, the poor thing will
4:19:52
grow into a misshapen and unsightly thing. We would alter the shape designed by
4:19:57
its maker, and would twist into the form approved of by the passing fashion
4:20:03
of the hour. We would substitute for the beauty and symmetry of nature our
4:20:07
own fantastic ideas of form. But like the plant, this something of ours
4:20:15
will not submit to the confining bonds, will not conform to the false standards
4:20:21
which we would set up for it, Submitting as long as it must.
4:20:25
It stores up reserve strength day by day and keeps up a continuous, steady
4:20:30
pressure in the direction of its desire, And some day, by a supreme
4:20:36
effort, it throws off the interfering obstacles, and, obeying the laws of
4:20:41
its being, again, grows towards the sun. Life is growth. It
4:20:48
moves along, pressing this way and that way, along the lines of least
4:20:52
resistance, drawing to itself that which it needs for its complete expression and growth.
4:20:59
Use this thing and that thing today, and discarding them tomorrow after they
4:21:04
have served their purpose, after their helpful qualities have been extracted. It assumes
4:21:10
many forms in its growth, discarding sheath after sheath as outgrown. Any attempt
4:21:15
to compel it to retain a sheath which has become outgrown will cause its life
4:21:22
nature to revolt, and in the end with a mighty effort, it will
4:21:26
burst forth, tearing the confining sheath into fragments. This something may be restrained
4:21:33
temporarily, but its growth is as sure as the rising of tomorrow's sun,
4:21:38
and its attempted restraint only results in the end in a violent assertion of its
4:21:44
right to unfold and develop according to law. When we finally come to realize
4:21:49
that life has a meaning, that we are here for a purpose, that
4:21:55
the process of spiritual evolution is being expressed in us and through us, that
4:22:00
our growth is in accordance with law, that the Absolute understands its business,
4:22:06
then will we cease to attempt to meddle with the great plan. We will
4:22:11
then cease our futile efforts to mold to our absurd and arbitrary shapes that which
4:22:17
is intended to grow in the beautiful form of nature's designing. We will realize
4:22:22
that the power which called into being this life of ours knew just what it
4:22:27
was about. That this power placed within that life, the energy which is
4:22:33
expressing itself in changing form and color, but which has but one real object,
4:22:40
growth toward the sun. And when we realize this truth, we will
4:22:45
begin to have faith and will trust the law to do that which is best
4:22:49
to be done, will realize the folly of imagining that the weight of the
4:22:53
universe rests upon our shoulders. Some of these days we will awaken to the
4:23:00
fact that ours is the conceit of the fly resting upon the mighty revolving wheel,
4:23:06
imagining that the fanning of his wings causes the wheel to revolve. Some
4:23:11
of these times, the fly, tired with its exertions, will stop to
4:23:17
rest for a few moments, when it will find that the wheel continues to
4:23:21
revolve quite well. Thank you. Without its active assistance, we have been
4:23:26
taking our little selves quite seriously. Indeed, the something within is moving steadily
4:23:33
and surely towards its goal, and much of the pain of life comes to
4:23:37
us by reason of our efforts to restrict it, our efforts to change its
4:23:41
motion, direction speed. It is a mighty aid to those who understand and
4:23:47
move along with it, but woe unto those who get in its way and
4:23:52
endeavor to obstruct its progress. If unobstructed, there is no friction. If
4:23:59
interfere with it, manifests friction, which means pain. This pain is the
4:24:07
notice given to us by the law, to the effect that we are obstructing
4:24:10
the growth of the life plant, and if we are wise, we will
4:24:15
heed the warning. By conforming to the growth, we will find that there
4:24:19
is little or no friction, and life begins to take on new pleasures.
4:24:25
By cooperating with the law and moving along with it, we will find that
4:24:29
things will come our way in a most unexpected manner. The law is a
4:24:33
good friend and helper, and is of the greatest assistance to us if we
4:24:38
but trust it to do its work well in its own good way. We
4:24:44
can use its growing force to aid us in our daily pursuits if we will
4:24:48
trust it and move along with it. But we must heed the first sign
4:24:52
of friction and understand that we are in some way interfering with its natural growth.
4:24:59
By living in a accordance with the law, instead of attempting to oppose
4:25:03
it, we will find that we are guided in the direction of places,
4:25:07
people, and occupations best suited to develop us and to impart to us the
4:25:12
experience needed to round out our lives. A realization of this fact by those
4:25:18
who've experienced it has given rise to the saying, nothing ever happens. We
4:25:26
find the teachers and helpers that we require, and they find us. If
4:25:30
we need certain information, we will find it in some person or book,
4:25:36
and will thus be placed upon the track of that which we seek. The
4:25:41
law will sometimes accomplish its results in ways far different from that which we would
4:25:47
have supposed to be the best. But after time has passed, we can
4:25:52
look back and will see that the way by which the results were accomplished was
4:25:56
the best possible under all the circumstances. We may meet with some bitter disappointments,
4:26:03
losses, sorrows, but in the end these things will be seen as
4:26:07
good, will be seen as having been necessary to give us the experience needed
4:26:12
to round out our characters, to enable us to understand. There are none
4:26:18
who would be willing to part with the experience gained from even the most painful
4:26:22
events of their lives after say, ten years have elapsed. No man would
4:26:27
be willing to have the memory and recollection of his greatest pain eradicated, if
4:26:33
at the same time he would have to part with the experience and knowledge which
4:26:37
have come to him by reason of that pain. The pain and its resulting
4:26:42
experience have become a part of us, and we are not willing to be
4:26:48
robbed of our own and we will realize in looking backward that if we had
4:26:53
been living in accordance with the law in the past, if we had understood
4:26:59
its working, these very sorrows, disappointments, losses would have been considered only
4:27:07
in view of their ultimate good, and the very sting of the pain would
4:27:11
thus have been removed. When we learn to regard the pain of today as
4:27:15
we do the pain of ten years ago, we may feel that we are
4:27:19
beginning to understand something of the operation of the law of good. And when
4:27:25
we reach this stage, we will find that the pain is no longer pain,
4:27:30
but only a form of good. When we cease to cause friction,
4:27:34
friction no longer exists for us. The lessons of life must be learned sooner
4:27:41
or later. It depends upon us whether they shall be forced upon us in
4:27:47
spite of our resistance, with much pain, or accepted by us understandingly with
4:27:52
knowledge. In one case, we will have the pain which comes from opposing
4:27:57
the law. In the other, we will learn the lesson equally well,
4:28:02
without the pain of the birching. The lesson must be well learned in either
4:28:07
case. Choose your method now. I do not wish to be understood as
4:28:14
meaning that we should simply fold our hands and wait for the Law to bring
4:28:18
all things to us without any labor on our part. Try this way,
4:28:22
though, if you like, and see how quickly the law will wrap you
4:28:26
over the knuckles to remind you that a task is set before you. The
4:28:30
proper way is to take up the task that lies nearest your hand, and
4:28:34
some task is always there, and do it well, with the knowledge that
4:28:40
the task has been placed there in accordance with the law. If the task
4:28:45
is not to your liking, you will know that that is the very reason
4:28:48
that it has been placed before you. You have a lesson to learn from
4:28:52
it. When the time comes for a change, you will find a strong
4:28:56
desire for something else full grown within you. Now is your chance trust to
4:29:03
the law to aid you in working out your desire. The desire is there
4:29:07
in accordance with the law. Its very existence is a promise of its fulfillment.
4:29:15
With the aid of the law, you will work out your desire.
4:29:18
It is true that when you attain the object of your desire, it may
4:29:22
not be just what you had thought. It may not be at all what
4:29:27
you want. Well, what of that you have learned the necessary lesson have
4:29:34
lived out the desire, and will now outlive it. Something else will take
4:29:38
his place, and you will be surprised at the way that the law has
4:29:42
brought about the accomplishment of your desire. You will learn another lesson in this
4:29:49
when you have learned to work on merrily doing your best, living out each
4:29:56
day's life with faith and trust, confidence and fearlessness, accepting the development of
4:30:03
each day as meaning ultimate good, seeing and feeling that the law of good
4:30:08
is in full operation, being willing to accept whatever it may bring you.
4:30:14
Then and not until then, good friend, will you begin to know what
4:30:19
is life. Let us have faith, faith necessary in every human undertaking.
4:30:30
You have faith in man, but are afraid to trust God. The universe
4:30:34
if governed by law. The law is in operation everywhere. Don't be afraid.
4:30:41
You are a part of the plan. Fall in with the law,
4:30:47
Have faith, have faith. When you take a journey by rail, you
4:30:55
step into the car, settle yourself, take out a book and read,
4:31:00
and give little or no thought to the engine or engineer in charge of the
4:31:06
train. You go rushing across the country at the rate of fifty miles an
4:31:11
hour, with no thought of possible disaster or accident, and for the time
4:31:18
forgetting that there is such a person in existence as the engineer. You have
4:31:22
absolute faith in the careful management of the road and in the intelligence of the
4:31:29
man who has been placed in the engine. The lives of yourself and hundreds
4:31:34
of fellow passengers are practically in the hands of one man, and that man
4:31:41
is a stranger to you. You have never seen him, You know nothing
4:31:45
of his qualifications. You only know that the management has picked him out to
4:31:52
safely conduct you across the country. You take a steamship to Europe and place
4:31:59
your in the hands of a few men who are total strangers to you.
4:32:04
You stake your life on their skill, judgment and intelligence. You feel that
4:32:11
they would not be where they are unless the management of the line consider them
4:32:15
competent. It is all a matter of trust of confidence. The same thing
4:32:22
is true when you take your seat on a trolley car, or on the
4:32:26
elevated railroad, or even in a stage coach or a private carriage. In
4:32:33
each case, you place yourself in the charge of another person in whom you
4:32:38
have a certain amount of confidence, although he may be comparatively or wholly unknown
4:32:45
to you. You place your wealth in a bank, having confidence in its
4:32:52
management. You have business dealings with men whom you scarcely know, trusting to
4:32:59
their honesty of purpose. In every transaction in life, you are compelled to
4:33:04
have confidence in people. Your lawyer, your physician, your grocer, your
4:33:11
clerks are all taken on faith. One cannot get away from it. If
4:33:17
confidence were destroyed, the wills of modern life would stop in a minute.
4:33:22
The so called hard headed practical man may is near at faith, but it
4:33:29
underlies every manifestations of the life of his civilization. Man has faith and confidence
4:33:37
in man, but is afraid to trust God. He looks about him and
4:33:42
sees millions of worlds, each in its appointed place, each revolving in its
4:33:48
own orbit. He has faith that at a certain time each world will be
4:33:55
in a certain position, which position may be calculated centuries in advance. But
4:34:02
he lacks faith in the power that created these worlds and keeps them in their
4:34:07
places. He has faith in certain laws, but he doubts the existence of
4:34:14
the law maker. He sees the wondrous manifestation of life in great and small.
4:34:21
He takes advantage of the telescope and the microscope and explores new regions and
4:34:27
finds the law in operation everywhere, But he doubts the existence of the great
4:34:33
law which governs his life, his incomings and his outgoings, his great deeds
4:34:40
and his petty acts. He fails to realize the truth of the saying that
4:34:45
the hairs on his head are numbered, and that not a sparrow may fall
4:34:51
unnoticed. He seems to think that if there is a God, he must
4:34:57
have made the world and then read away and left it to take care of
4:35:02
itself. He fails to see that the law must govern man's life as it
4:35:07
governs the unfolding of belief, the development of the lily. He fails to
4:35:14
see that law is in full operation within him as well as without him.
4:35:19
He fails to see that as he opposes the operation of law, pain comes
4:35:25
by reason of the friction. He fails to see that the only true philosophy
4:35:30
is that which teaches one to fall in with the operations of law and to
4:35:36
let it work in him and through him. Do you think for a moment
4:35:41
that God does not know what he is about? Do doubt the supreme intelligence
4:35:48
which knows all things and is conscious of all things? Do doubt the supreme
4:35:56
power which manifests itself in all forms of power. Do you doubt the universal
4:36:02
presence which is in all places at all times. Do you suppose that the
4:36:07
manifestation is everything and the manifestore nothing, poor man, Either the universe is
4:36:17
without law, without meaning, without reason, or it is the manifestation of
4:36:22
supreme and an infinite reason. Either it is the work of a demon who
4:36:27
sits somewhere and grins and glouts over our misfortunes, our trials, our troubles,
4:36:36
our pain, our follies. Or it is the work of an all
4:36:41
knowing, all powerful, all present intelligence, power presence which has taken into
4:36:48
consideration everything within the universe, down to the tinest thing, down to the
4:36:55
merest detail. And if this last be true, then every that happens must
4:37:00
be in accordance with law. Everything that happens to us must be the very
4:37:07
best thing that could happen to us at that particular time and that particular place.
4:37:15
Things are not run by blind chains. There is law under everything.
4:37:22
Everything has some connection with every other thing. Every person has a relationship with
4:37:29
every other person. All is one. The manifestations are varied, but there
4:37:34
is but one reality. There is a great plan underlying all life, and
4:37:41
life itself is in accordance with that plan. Nothing ever happens. Every occurrence
4:37:48
has a bearing on every other occurrence. Chance has no part in the plan.
4:37:53
Everything is in accord with well ordered laws. There is always an end
4:37:59
in view. In every thought, word, or act. We are constantly
4:38:03
being used for the benefit of the whole. There is no escape, And
4:38:08
when we get to know, we cease to wish to escape. He who
4:38:12
understands not law is constantly struggling, striving, fighting and contending against it,
4:38:21
and producing friction. He feels pain. He who understands something of law cease
4:38:27
to content against it. He lets it work through him, and is carried
4:38:33
along with a mighty force, doing each day the best he knows how,
4:38:37
expressing himself in the best possible manner, sailing to the right and to the
4:38:42
left, with the wind and against the wind, but still being borne on
4:38:48
by the mighty current, and resisting it not. He enjoys every mile of
4:38:53
the journey, seeing new sights and hearing new sounds, moving on a He
4:39:00
who understands not rebels at being swept along. He wishes to stay where he
4:39:07
is. But there is no such thing as staying. Life is motion,
4:39:14
life is growth. If you prefer to pull against the tide, to row
4:39:18
up a stream by all means, do so. After a while you will
4:39:25
grow tired and weary, and will rest on your oars. Then you will
4:39:30
find that you are moving on just the same to where the unknown seas.
4:39:34
And you will find that it is much easier work rowing or sailing with the
4:39:41
current, or from one side of the river to another, than to attempt
4:39:45
to stay in the same place or to pull up the stream. All this
4:39:52
fretting, all this worrying, all this contention and strife, comes from a
4:39:57
lack of faith. We may assert feverently that we know that all is good,
4:40:03
and that all is best for us, et cetera, et cetera,
4:40:07
But have we enough faith to manifest it in our lives? See how we
4:40:12
endeavor to tie onto things, people, and environments. How we resist the
4:40:19
steady pressure that is tearing us loose, often with pain, from the places
4:40:26
to which we have wished to stay fastened. Like a parnicle, the life
4:40:33
horse is back of us, urging us along, pushing us along, and
4:40:37
move we must. The process of growth, development, and unfoldment is going
4:40:44
on steadily. What's the use of attempting to resist it. You are no
4:40:49
more than a water bug on the surface of the river. You may dart
4:40:55
here and there, and apparently are running things to suit yourself without reference to
4:41:00
the current, but all the time you are moving along with it. The
4:41:04
water bug plan is all right, just so long as we do not attempt
4:41:10
to stop the current or to swim right against it. When we try this,
4:41:15
we find out very quickly that the current has something to say about it,
4:41:21
And before long we get so tired that we are willing to fall in
4:41:26
with the law behind the current. And yet even the opposition is good,
4:41:30
for it teaches us that the current is there. We gain by experience.
4:41:37
The new thought does not teach people to stem the current or to swim upstream,
4:41:42
although some teachers and some students seem to be of that opinion. On
4:41:48
the contrary, the real new thought teaches us of the existence of the stream
4:41:55
and that it is moving steadily toward the sea of good. It teaches us
4:42:00
how to fall in with it and be borne further along in instead of attempting
4:42:06
to hold back and become Parnicles, or to try to push back up the
4:42:10
stream. It also teaches us to live in the now, to enjoy the
4:42:15
darting backward and forward over the face of the waters. It also tells us
4:42:22
of the direction in which the current is moving, that we may move along
4:42:26
that way without wasting our energies in trying to go the other. It teaches
4:42:33
us cooperation with law in instead of opposition to it. Why do we not
4:42:40
have faith? Why do we not see the great plan behind it all?
4:42:45
Why do we not recognize law as we have seen? We place our confidence
4:42:52
in the engineer of the train, the pilot, the captain, the coach
4:42:56
driver, and the other guiding hands, and yet we hesitate to trust ourselves
4:43:03
in the hands of the infinite. Of course, it makes no difference to
4:43:08
the infinite whether or not we repose trust in it. It moves along just
4:43:15
the same, guiding and directing, steering and regulating speed. It minds not
4:43:22
our doubts and obstructions, any more than does the great driving wheal mind the
4:43:29
fly who is purshed upon it, and who does not like the movement and
4:43:33
attempts to stop it by spreading out its wings and buzzing. The great will
4:43:38
of the universe is moving around steadily and mightily. Let us go with it.
4:43:45
And while we are going, let us spare ourselves the trouble and fully
4:43:51
of the buzzing wings spreading business. Let us part with fear and worry.
4:43:59
Let us see our imagining that we can run the universe better than the engineer
4:44:04
who has his hand on the throttle. Let us cease imagining that God needs
4:44:11
advice on the subject. Let us stop this folly of saying, poor God
4:44:18
with no one to help him run things. Let us trust the engineer,
4:44:23
Let us have faith, Let us have faith. Do it now. Do
4:44:30
today's tasks now. Don't try to do tomorrow's work today, but be sure
4:44:37
and do the day's work now. The painful effects of procrastination not fair to
4:44:45
yourself. Demoralization attendant upon putting off things. The world looking for people who
4:44:53
can't do things now. If you have anything to do, you do it.
4:45:00
If you have any task to perform today, do it now. If
4:45:07
the matter cannot possibly be performed today, stop bothering about it and get to
4:45:14
work doing the things of today. But don't get into that miserable habit of
4:45:21
pushing off things until later in the day or later in the week. Do
4:45:27
them now. The old proverb procrastination is the thief of time, is true,
4:45:36
but it does not go far enough. Procrastination is not only the thief
4:45:41
of time, but the thief of energy, the thief of efficiency, the
4:45:45
thief of success. We have had much to say about living in the now,
4:45:53
about not dwelling in the past or pretting about the future, and all
4:45:59
this is true, and I will probably say it over and over again during
4:46:04
the year, because I believe in it and wish you to get acquainted with
4:46:10
the idea. But living in the now does not merely mean the thinking of
4:46:15
the thoughts of today, the carrying of the burdens of today, the meeting
4:46:22
of the problems of today. It also means the doing of the work of
4:46:26
today. To attempt to carry last year's burdens or next week's burdens today is
4:46:34
fully of the worst kind, as you well know. But it is equally
4:46:40
foolish to put off today's work until tomorrow. Is not treating tomorrow right,
4:46:47
not giving it a chance. The self of tomorrow is not exactly the self
4:46:53
of today. That is, it has grown a little and is the self
4:46:59
of today plus the added experience of the day, and it is just as
4:47:06
selfish for the self of to day to attempt to throw his burdens upon the
4:47:11
self of tomorrow, as it would be for you to attempt to throw your
4:47:17
burdens upon your brother or sister. It is not only selfish, but it
4:47:22
is hurtful to you. It impedes your growth. To day's work is set
4:47:29
before you because of the lesson it contains, and if you refuse to accept
4:47:33
your lesson, you are the loser. You cannot get away from the task.
4:47:41
It will be placed before you again and again until it is performed,
4:47:45
and you might as well do it at once, and get your lesson at
4:47:51
the proper time, and not be compelled like the schoolboy to catch up in
4:47:56
his work by putting off things until to morrow. Your simply heaping of troubles
4:48:02
for yourself tomorrow, as to morrow's own work will have to be done as
4:48:07
well as your leftover tasks, and the chances are that neither of them will
4:48:12
be done properly. There is no sense whatever in this habit of procrastinating.
4:48:18
It is fully of the worst kind, and not only in the immediate effects.
4:48:26
Is procrastination hurtful to one. One of the worst features of the case
4:48:32
is the demoralizing effect it has upon the whole mental attitude of the man.
4:48:37
It cultivates laziness, indecision, shiftlessness, slackness, and many other undesirable habits
4:48:47
of thought and action. It manifests itself in numberless ways in the character of
4:48:52
the man who has allowed himself to be tangled in it. It impairs his
4:48:57
efficiency, affects his value. Then again, you are really unfair to yourself
4:49:07
if you get in the way of putting off things. You never have any
4:49:11
time to yourself if you have a number of all matters demanding your attention.
4:49:18
The man who procrastinates is never able to spare time for mental improvement, because
4:49:25
he always has some old loose ends to wind up, some old tangle to
4:49:30
straighten out, and he loses all idea of the value of time, of
4:49:37
getting the most out of every hour, every minute. The procrastinator is the
4:49:44
veriest drudge. He has his nose to the grimstone all the time. He
4:49:48
never has any time he can call his own. He is a slave to
4:49:53
his own habit of laying things aside. Poor man, I am satisfied that
4:50:02
half the failures of life, yes, three quarters of them, are due
4:50:07
to the failure of persons to do the thing now not only because of what
4:50:14
they lose directly by this habit, but because of the effect it produces upon
4:50:18
their character. The shiftless habit of thought manifests itself in action. The thought
4:50:26
and action long persist in will lead to a demoralization of the entire character of
4:50:33
the individual. He soon forgets how to do things right, and that is
4:50:38
where so many people fail. The world is looking for people who can do
4:50:44
things, and who can do them now. If you are one of the
4:50:51
procrastinating kind, start in at once and get over it. Put up a
4:50:56
sign before your desk, your sewing machine, in your work bench, or
4:51:02
wherever you spend most of your time, and have these words in big black
4:51:07
letters on the sign. Do it now. By carrying the thought of this
4:51:15
now way of doing things and letting it manifest itself in action as frequently as
4:51:21
possible, you will find that before long your entire mental attitude regarding work has
4:51:27
changed, and you will find yourself doing things when they should be done without
4:51:33
any particular effort on your part. The mind can be trained and taught to
4:51:40
do things right. It needs a little courage, a little perseverance, a
4:51:45
little will power, but the result will pay you for your trouble. Start
4:51:52
in to cure yourself of this bad habit. Start in at once. Do
4:51:59
it now. Get in tune Marconi's wireless messages. Vibrations reach only the instruments
4:52:10
attuned to the sender. The same law in operation on the mental plane.
4:52:15
The correct pitch is the thing. Get in tune with the proper vibrations.
4:52:22
Get the messages from the best senders. I have just finished reading an account
4:52:29
of Marconi's wireless telegraphy. It seems that when a message is sent from the
4:52:34
Marconi transmitter, the vibrations travel in all directions, and not alone in the
4:52:41
direction of the person to whom the message is sent. It would seem to
4:52:45
the reader at first that any instrument in any direction from the sender could and
4:52:51
would be affected by the vibrations, and would take up and record them.
4:52:56
But such is not the case. For Marconi finds the he can attune his
4:53:00
receiving instrument to a certain pitch, and that the instrument will receive and record
4:53:07
only vibrations emanating from a sending instrument attuned to the same pitch. This is
4:53:14
true no matter how near the instruments may be to each other or in what
4:53:18
direction they may be from each other, And all instruments, irrespective of number,
4:53:23
that may be within sending distance, will receive the message, providing they
4:53:29
are attuned to the same pitch. Now, just notice how much this corresponds
4:53:36
to what we know of the working of thought force. People whose minds are
4:53:41
attuned to a certain pitch will receive the vibrations from the minds of others whose
4:53:45
mental keynote is the same, And if one maintains a high positive keynote,
4:53:52
he will not be affected by the vibrations emanating from the mind of another who
4:53:56
may have a low negative pitch nearer to our pitch the mind of another may
4:54:02
be the more we feel the sympathetic vibrations in our own mind, the greater
4:54:07
the difference in the pitch, the less we will feel in sympathy with them.
4:54:11
This will account for the instinctive likes or dislikes that many of us experience
4:54:15
when coming into the presence of other people. And how soon do people of
4:54:21
kindred vibrations seek out and find each other in a mixed assembly. Many likes
4:54:26
unexplainable by any theory of personal appearance et ce arise from this cause. And
4:54:33
as the Marconi instruments may have their pitch changed, so are our mental keynotes
4:54:38
changed from time to time as we adjust ourselves to new conditions as we grow.
4:54:45
This will explain why two people who at one time seemed to be in
4:54:49
perfect attuonement with each other will drift apart until at last they seem to have
4:54:55
scarcely a thought or feeling in common. And yet both of them may be
4:54:59
good people, really anxious to be helpful to the other. But this is
4:55:03
not the only way in which the working of the Marconi system resembles the workings
4:55:07
of the mind. I have often called your attention to the fact that the
4:55:12
holding of certain mental attitudes resulted in the attraction to one's self of thought vibrations
4:55:18
corresponding to the general character or the thought held in the mind of the person.
4:55:25
Let a man be filled with the spirit of jealousy, and everything seems
4:55:29
to feed that feeling. He hears of cases of faithlessness on the part of
4:55:33
other persons. Every circumstance seems to confirm him in his belief. The actions
4:55:40
of the loved one seem doubly suspicious signs of guilt are seen in every expression,
4:55:45
every move, he draws to himself the thought waves of other minds vibrating
4:55:51
on the same pitch, like attracts like. Let a man drop into the
4:55:56
fear thought condition, and immediately he feels the rush of fear to his mind.
4:56:02
Let him cast aside fear and attune himself to the fearless pitch, and
4:56:07
he feels an influx of courage, fearlessness, confidence, energy, and other
4:56:11
positive thoughts. And according to the character of your thoughts, will you draw
4:56:18
to yourself people calculated to cooperate with you and be of assistance to you.
4:56:23
Even things seem to shape themselves to fit in with the keynote you have sounded.
4:56:30
Not only do you attract to yourself people and things corresponding with your mental
4:56:33
pitch, but you send out thought waves affecting others, creating impressions upon them.
4:56:41
Go into the presence of an I can and I will man, and
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if you are of the same kind, he will instantly perceive it and will
4:56:49
be glad to talk to you. On the other hand, approach a man
4:56:53
of this kind with your mind full of I can't, and he will be
4:56:59
conscious of in harmony and will want to be rid of your presence at once.
4:57:04
Be a man with the southern exposure, such as I describe to you
4:57:08
in another article, and you will find that you will extract and draw to
4:57:15
yourself all the sunniness in the nature of people with whom you come in contact.
4:57:21
Be a human wet blanket such as I have described in another article,
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and you will find that you will get the meanest qualities inherent in the nature
4:57:30
of people with whom you come in contact. In fact, you will be
4:57:34
able to attract only that kind of people who are as musty and unwholesome as
4:57:40
yourself. Get rid of the old negative notes, Start in and cultivate the
4:57:45
positive, joyous, active vibrations until you reach the steady mental pitch of the
4:57:52
new thought man. Then will all the negative vibrations pass you by, finding
4:57:59
no encouragement to enter your mentality. Then will you receive the bright, cheerful,
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happy, fearless vibrations coming from others who have reached the same plane of
4:58:10
thought. Get in tune. Get in tune mental toxin and antitoxin and new
4:58:19
toxin. The microbes in the thoughts we think the new antiitoxin thoughts may poison
4:58:29
fear causes paralysis, Hate causes insanity. Fear and hate have killed their thousands
4:58:40
Gates experiments How to overcome the poison of bad thinking in these days of toxin
4:58:49
and antiitoxin, of poison in sausages, oysters, canned beef, ice cream
4:58:57
of antiitoxin serums that often are more deadly than the original toxin. For the
4:59:03
prevention and cure of tuberculosis, leprosy, pneumonia, typhoid fever, tetanus,
4:59:14
bubonic plague, diphtheria, and the rest of the list. It requires courage
4:59:21
to call the attention of the public to a new toxin, even if at
4:59:26
the same time we furnish an antitoxin that antitoxicates. We shudder at the thought
4:59:36
of microbes and basilly, and thereby attract them to us. We filter our
4:59:41
drinking water after boiling all the life out of it, we develop into microbe
4:59:48
hunters and sea poison in everything we wear, eat, drink, or breathe.
4:59:56
But we overlook the microbes in the thoughts we think. We encourage the
5:00:03
enterprising doctor in his giddy chase after the nimble dollar as he produces antitoxin serums
5:00:11
to order. The poor, broken down, carved horse is worked over time
5:00:17
in producing fuelthy puss and serum for the serum miniac to inject into our circulation.
5:00:26
But we overlook the pure, harmless, powerful antitoxin obtained fresh from the
5:00:32
cells of the brain white. Thinking that thoughts may poison is a well proven
5:00:41
fact. Depressing thoughts interfere with the cerebral circulation, impairing the nutrition of the
5:00:48
cells and nerve centers. The result is that the organs and tissues manifests lost
5:00:56
or impaired function. Loss of general nutrition follows, and a breakdown is inevitable.
5:01:04
Fear, worry, anger, envy, jealousy, and other negative thoughts
5:01:11
reflect themselves most disastrously in the human system. Fear has paralyzed nerve centers and
5:01:18
turn the hair white over night. A mother's milk has been poisoned by a
5:01:25
fit of anger, fear and hate. Father and son have produced insanity,
5:01:33
idiocy, paralysis, cholorina, joindice, sudden decay of teeth, fatal anemia,
5:01:41
skin diseases, erycipolis, and exema. Epidemics owe their rapid spread and
5:01:49
heavy death rate to fear and ignorance. Epidemics may kill their dozens. Fear
5:01:57
kills its thousands. All the brood of negative, fearful, selfish, hateful
5:02:04
thoughts manifest themselves in the physical conditions. Stigmata, or marks upon the body
5:02:11
caused by fear or desire, are quite common in the annals of Medical science
5:02:18
and psychology. Professor Gates of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, d C.
5:02:26
In his investigation of the effect of the mental states upon the body, found
5:02:33
that irascible, manivolent, and depressing emotions generated in the system injurious compounds,
5:02:41
some of which were extremely poisonous. He also found that agreeable, happy emotions
5:02:48
generated chemical compounds of nutritious value, which stimulated the cells to manufacture energy.
5:02:56
He says, there and unpleasant feelings create harmful chemical products in the body which
5:03:06
are physically injurious. Good pleasant, benevolent feelings create beneficial chemical products which are
5:03:15
physically healthful. These products may be detected by chemical analysis in the perspiration and
5:03:25
secretions of the individual. More than forty of the good and as many of
5:03:30
the bad, have been detected. Suppose half a dozen men in a room.
5:03:37
One feels depressed, another remorseful, another ill tempered, another jealous,
5:03:45
another cheerful, another benevolent. Samples of their perspiration are placed in the hands
5:03:52
of the psychophysicists. Under his examination, they reveal all that these emotional conditions
5:04:00
distinctly and unmistakably. Remember this is not the airy fancy of some enthusiastic mental
5:04:10
scientists, but is the testimony of a leading scientific investigator in the laboratories of
5:04:18
the Smithsonian Institution, one of the best known scientific institutions of the world.
5:04:26
Chemical analysis. Mind you not transcendental imaginings. Now I have said enough about
5:04:34
the tocsin and some little about the antitoxin of the mind. I might go
5:04:41
on for hours stating example after example, illustration after illustration, but the tale
5:04:48
would be just the same. Now, what are you going to do about
5:04:53
it? Are you going to keep on poisoning yourself and those around you with
5:05:00
vile, malignant thoughts, reeking with masmatic effluvia of hate, emitting the noxious
5:05:08
exhalation of fear and worry, Or will you cease being a psychic pest house
5:05:17
and begin to fumigate and disinfect your mind? And after getting rid of all
5:05:22
the microbes of fear and worry and the policy of hate, jealousy, and
5:05:29
envy, open wide the windows of the mind and admit the bright sunshine of
5:05:36
love and the bracing air of confidence and fearlessness. Come, friends, let
5:05:45
us get out of this habit of poisoning the air with fear, worry,
5:05:49
and hate thought. Let us join the ranks of the don't worry Company,
5:05:56
the fearless Brigade, the invinci conquering army of love. Let us be bright,
5:06:04
cheerful, and happy. The other things are not worth while. Let
5:06:11
us be confident, expectant, hopeful, and fearless. These things are winners.
5:06:18
Let us be filled with love for all men, and we will find
5:06:25
that life is one sweet song. Love, faith, and fearlessness are the
5:06:33
ingredients of life's great antitoxin. Try it and be blessed.