*I'm an impulsive, compulsive and chronic individual that studies, "Everything"! And this is how I channel what society has labeled "destructive" into constructive.
This is the most important piece of the puzzle for my entire life!
*I can walk through anything the people of this world throw at me.
As a Man Thinketh
THOUQHT
THE APHORISM, "As a man thinketh in his
heart so is he," not only embraces the whole of
a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to
reach out to every condition and circumstance
of his life. A man is literally what he thinks,
his character being the complete sum of all his
thoughts.
As the plant springs from, and could not be
without, the seed, so every act of a man springs
from the hidden seeds of thought, and could
not have appeared without them. This applies
equally to those acts called "spontaneous" and
"unpremeditated" as to those which are delib-
erately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and
suffering are its fruits; thus does a man gar-
ner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own
husbandry.
[7]
"Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are
By thought was wrought and built. If a man's
mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind. . . .
. . If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow sure."
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by
artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and
undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as
in the world of visible and material things. A
noble and Godlike character is not a thing of
favour or chance, but is the natural result of con-
tinued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-
cherished association with Godlike thoughts.
An ignoble and bestial character, by the same
process, is the result of the continued harbour-
ing of grovelling thoughts.
Man is made or unmade by himself; in the
armoury of thought he forges the weapons by
wbich he destroys himself; he also fashions the
tools with which he builds for himself heavenly
mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the
right choice and true application of thought,
man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the
abuse and wrong application of thought, he de-
[*]
scends below the level of the beast. Between
these two extremes are all the grades of char-
acter, and man is their maker and master.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the
soul which have been restored and brought to
light in this age, none is more gladdening or
fruitful of divine promise and confidence than
this that man is the master of thought, the
moulder of character, and the maker and shaper
of condition, environment, and destiny.
As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love,
and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds
the key to every situation, and contains within
himself that transforming and regenerative
agency by which he may make himself what
he wills.
Man is always the master, even in his weak-
est and most abandoned state; but in his
weakness and degradation he is the foolish mas-
ter who misgoverns his "household." When
he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to
search diligently for the Law upon which his
being is established, he then becomes the wise
master, directing his energies with intelligence,
and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues.
Such is the conscious master, and man can only
thus become by discovering within himself the
[9]
JMAK
laws of thought; which discovery is totally a
matter of application, self-analysis, and expe-
rience.
Only by much searching and mining are gold
and diamonds obtained, and man can find every
truth connected with his being if he will dig deep
into the mine of his soul; and that he is the
maker of his character, the moulder of his life,
and the builder of his destiny, he may unerr-
ingly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter
his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself,
upon others, and upon his life and circum-
stances, linking cause and effect by patient prac-
tice and investigation, and utilizing his every
experience, even to the most trivial, every-day
occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowl-
edge of himself which is Understanding, Wis-
dom, Power. In this direction, as in no other,
is the law absolute that "He that seeketh find-
est; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened"; for only by patience, practice, and
ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door
of the Temple of Knowledge.
FFCT OF THOUGHT
A MAN'S MIND may be likened to a garden,
which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed
to run wild; but whether cultivated or ne-
glected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no
useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance
of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will
continue to produce their kind.
Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping
it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and
fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the
garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong,
useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating
toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right,
useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this proc-
ess, a man sooner or later discovers that he is
the master-gardener of his soul, the director of
his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws
of thought, and understands, with ever-increas-
ing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind-
elements operate in the shaping of his character,
circumstances, and destiny.
Thought and character are one, and as char-
acter can only manifest and discover itself
through environment and circumstance, the
outer conditions of a person's life will always be
found to be harmoniously related to his inner
state. This does not mean that a man's circum-
stances at any given time are an indication of his
entire character, but that those circumstances are
so intimately connected with some vital thought-
element within himself that, for the time being,
they are indispensable to his development.
Every man is where he is by the law of his
being; the thoughts which he has built into his
character have brought him there, and in the ar-
rangement of his life there is no element of
chance, but all is the result of a law which can-
not err. This is just as true of those who feel
"out of harmony" with their surroundings as
of those who are contented with them.
As a progressive and evolving being, man is
where he is that he may learn that he may grow;
and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any
circumstance contains for him, it passes away
and gives place to other circumstances.
Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as
he believes himself to be the creature of outside
conditions, but when he realizes that he is a
JMAH
creative power, and that he may command the
hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which
circumstances grow, he then becomes the right-
ful master of himself.
That circumstances grow out of thought every
man knows who has for any length of time
practised self-control and self-purification, for he
will have noticed that the alteration in his cir-
cumstances has been in exact ratio with his al-
tered mental condition. So true is this that
when a man earnestly applies himself to remedy
the defects in his character, and makes swift
and marked progress, he passes rapidly through
a succession of vicissitudes.
The soul attracts that which it secretly har-
bours; that which it loves, and also that which
it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished as-
pirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened
desires, and circumstances are the means by
which the soul receives its own.
Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall
into the mind, and to take root there, produces
its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and
bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and cir-
cumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad
thoughts bad fruit.
The outer world of circumstance shapes itself
1*3]
to the inner world of thought, and both pleas-
ant and unpleasant external conditions are fac-
tors which make for the ultimate good of the
individual. As the reaper of his own harvest,
man learns both by suffering and bliss.
Following the inmost desires, aspirations,
thoughts, by which he allows himself to be
dominated (pursuing the will-o'-the-wisps of
impure imaginings or steadfastly walking the
highway of strong and high endeavour) , a man
at last arrives at their fruition and fulfilment in
the outer conditions of his life. The laws of
growth and adjustment everywhere obtain.
A man does not come to the almshouse or the
jail by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but
by the pathway of grovelling thoughts and base
desires. Nor does a pure-minded man fall sud-
denly into crime by stress of any mere external
force; the criminal thought had long been se-
cretly fostered in the heart, and the hour of
opportunity revealed its gathered power. Cir-
cumstance does not make the man; it reveals
him to himself. No such conditions can exist as
descending into vice and its attendant sufferings
apart from vicious inclinations, or ascending
into virtue and its pure happiness without the
[*]
.A JMAH
continued cultivation of virtuous aspirations;
and man, therefore, as the lord and master of
thought, is the maker of himself, the shaper
and author of environment. Even at birth the
soul comes to its own, and through every step
of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those com-
binations of conditions which reveal itself,
which are the reflections of its own purity and
impurity, its strength and weakness.
Men do not attract that which they want,
but that which they are. Their whims, fancies,
and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but
their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with
their own food, be it foul or clean. The "divin-
ity that shapes our ends" is in ourselves; it is
our very self. Man is manacled only by him-
self: thought and action are the jailers of Fate
they imprison, being base; they are also the
angels of Freedom they liberate, being noble.
Not what he wishes and prays for does a man
get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and
prayers are only gratified and answered when
they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.
In the light of this truth, what, then, is the
meaning of "fighting against circumstances"?
It means that a man is continually revolting
[-5]
<A JMAK
against an effect without, while all the time he
is nourishing and preserving its cause in his
heart. That cause may take the form o a con-
scious vice or an unconscious weakness; but
whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the efforts of
its possessor, and thus calls aloud for remedy.
Men are anxious to improve their circum-
stances, but are unwilling to improve them-
selves; they therefore remain bound. The man
who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can
never fail to accomplish the object upon which
his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of
heavenly things. Even the man whose sole ob-
ject is to acquire wealth must be prepared to
make great personal sacrifices before he can ac-
complish his object; and how much more so he
who would realize a strong and well-poised life?
Here is a man who is wretchedly poor. He is
extremely anxious that his surroundings and
home comforts should be improved, yet all the
time he shirks his work, and considers he is jus-
tified in trying to deceive his employer on the
ground of the insufficiency of his wages. Such
a man does not understand the simplest rudi-
ments of those principles which are the basis of
true prosperity, and is not only totally unfitted
to rise out of his wretchedness, but is actually
attracting to himself a still deeper wretchedness
by dwelling in, and acting out, indolent, de-
ceptive, and unmanly thoughts.
Here is a rich man who is the victim of a
painful and persistent disease as the result of
gluttony. He is willing to give large sums of
money to get rid of it, but he will not sacrifice
his gluttonous desires. He wants to gratify his
taste for rich and unnatural viands and have his
health as well. Such a man is totally unfit to
have health, because he has not yet learned the
first principles of a healthy life.
Here is an employer of labour who adopts
crooked measures to avoid paying the regulation
wage, and, in the hope of making larger profits,
reduces the wages of his work-people. Such a
man is altogether unfitted for prosperity, and
when he finds himself bankrupt, both as re-
gards reputation and riches, he blames circum-
stances, not knowing that he is the sole author
of his condition.
I have introduced these three cases merely as
illustrative of the truth that man is the causer
(though nearly always unconsciously) of his cir-
cumstances, and that, whilst aiming at a good
end, he is continually frustrating its accomplish-
ment by encouraging thoughts and desires
which cannot possibly harmonize with that end.
Such cases could be multiplied and varied al-
most indefinitely, but this is not necessary, as
the reader can, if he so resolves, trace the action
of the laws of thought in his own mind and life,
and until this is done, mere external facts can-
not serve as a ground of reasoning.
Circumstances, however, are so complicated,
thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions
of happiness vary so vastly with individuals,
that a man's entire soul-condition (although it
may be known to himself) cannot be judged by
another from the external aspect of his life
alone. A man may be honest in certain direc-
tions, yet suffer privations; a man may be dis-
honest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth;
but the conclusion usually formed that the one
man fails because of bis particular honesty, and
that the other prospers because of bis particular
dishonesty, is the result of a superficial judg-
ment, which assumes that the dishonest man is
almost totally corrupt, and the honest man al-
most entirely virtuous. In the light of a deeper
knowledge and wider experience, such judg-
ment is found to be erroneous. The dishonest
man may have some admirable virtues which
I'll
<AS .A JdAH.
the other does not possess; and the honest man
obnoxious vices which are absent in the other.
The honest man reaps the good results of his
honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon
himself the sufferings which his vices produce.
The dishonest man likewise garners his own
suffering and happiness.
It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that
one suffers because of one's virtue; but not until
a man has extirpated every sickly, bitter, and
impure thought from his mJnd, and washed
every sinful stain from his soul, can he be in a
position to know and declare that his sufferings
are the result of his good, and not of his bad
qualities; and on the way to, yet long before he
has reached, that supreme perfection, he will
have found, working in his mind and life, the
Great Law which is absolutely just, and which
cannot, therefore, give good for evil, evil for
good. Possessed of such knowledge, he will
then know, looking back upon his past ignor-
ance and blindness, that his life is, and always
was, justly ordered, and that all his past expe-
riences, good and bad, were the equitable out-
working of his evolving, yet unevolved self.
Good thoughts and actions can never produce
bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never
produce good results. This is but saying that
nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing
from nettles but nettles. Men understand this
law in the natural world, and work with it; but
few understand it in the mental and moral
world (though its operation there is just as sim-
ple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do
not cooperate with it.
Suffering is always the effect of wrong
thought in some direction. It is an indication
that the individual is out of harmony with him-
self, with the Law of his being. The sole and
supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn
out all that is useless and impure. Suffering
ceases for him who is pure. There could be no
object in burning gold after the dross had been
removed, and a perfectly pure and enlightened
being could not suffer.
The circumstances which a man encounters
with suffering are the result of his own mental
inharmony. The circumstances which a man
encounters with blessedness are the result of his
own mental harmony. Blessedness, not mate-
rial possessions, is the measure of right thought;
wretchedness, not lack of material possessions,
is the measure of wrong thought. A man may
be cursed and rich; he may be blessed and poor.
Blessedness and riches are only joined together
when the riches are rightly and wisely used;
and the poor man only descends into wretched-
ness when he regards his lot as a burden
unjustly imposed.
Indigence and indulgence are the two ex-
tremes of wretchedness. They are both equally
unnatural and the result of mental disorder. A
man is not rightly conditioned until he is a
happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and hap-
piness, health, and prosperity are the result of a
harmonious adjustment of the inner with the
outer, of the man with his surroundings.
A man only begins to be a man when he
ceases to whine and revile, and commences to
search for the hidden justice which regulates his
life. And as he adapts his mind to that regu-
lating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the
cause of his condition, and builds himself up in
strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick
against circumstances, but begins to use them
as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a
means of discovering the hidden powers and
possibilities within himself.
Law, not confusion, is the dominating prin-
ciple in the universe; justice, not injustice, is
the soul and substance of life; and righteous-
ness, not corruption, is the moulding and mov-
ing force in the spiritual government o the
world. This being so, man has but to right
himself to find that the universe is right; and
during the process of putting himself right, he
will find that as he alters his thoughts towards
things and other people, things and other peo-
ple will alter towards him.
The proof of this truth is in every person,
and it therefore admits of easy investigation by
systematic introspection and self-analysis. Let a
man radically alter his thoughts, and he will
be astonished at the rapid transformation it will
effect in the material conditions of his life.
Men imagine that thought can be kept secret,
but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit,
and habit solidifies into circumstance. Bestial
thoughts crystallize into habits of drunkenness
and sensuality, which solidity into circum-
stances of destitution and disease: impure
thoughts of every kind crystallize into enervat-
ing and confusing habits, which solidify into
distracting and adverse circumstances : thoughts
of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallize into
weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which
solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence,
and slavish dependence: lazy thoughts crystal-
lize into habits of uncleanliness and dishon-
esty, which solidify into circumstances of
foulness and beggary: hateful and condemna-
tory thoughts crystallize into habits of accusa-
tion and violence, which solidify into cir-
cumstances of injury and persecution: selfish
thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of
self-seeking, which solidify into circumstances
more or less distressing. On the other hand,
beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize into
habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify
into genial and sunny circumstances: pure
thoughts crystallize into habits of temperance
and self-control, which solidify into circum-
stances of repose and peace: thoughts of cour-
age, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into
manly habits, which solidify into circumstances
of success, plenty, and freedom: energetic
thoughts crystallize into habits of cleanliness
and industry, which solidify into circumstances
of pleasantness: gentle and forgiving thoughts
crystallize into habits of gentleness, which
solidify into protective and preservative circum-
stances: loving and unselfish thoughts crystal-
lize into habits of self-forgetfulness for others,
which solidify into circumstances of sure and
abiding prosperity and true riches.
A particular train of thought persisted in, be
it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results
on the character and circumstances. A man can-
not directly choose his circumstances, but he
can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet
surely, shape his circumstances.
Nature helps every man to the gratification
of the thoughts which he most encourages, and
opportunities are presented which will most
speedily bring to the surface both the good and
evil thoughts.
Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts,
and all the world will soften towards him, and
be ready to help him; let him put away his
weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo! opportuni-
ties will spring up on every hand to aid
his strong resolves; let him encourage good
thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down
to wretchedness and shame. The world is your
kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of
colours which at every succeeding moment it
presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pic-
tures of your ever-moving thoughts.
"You will be what you will to be;
Let failure find its false content
In that poor word, 'environment,'
But spirit scorns it, and is free.
<A JMAH
It masters time, it conquers space;
It cows that boastful trickster, Chance,
And bids the tyrant Circumstance
Uncrown, and fill a servant's place.
The human Will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless Soul,
Can hew a way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.
Be not impatient in delay,
But wait as one who understands;
When spirit rises and commands,
The gods are ready to obey."
FFCT OF THOUGH? OH HEALTH
THE BODY is the servant of the mind. It obeys
the operations of the mind, whether they be de-
liberately chosen or automatically expressed.
At the bidding of unlawful thoughts the body
sinks rapidly into disease and decay; at the com-
mand of glad and beautiful thoughts it becomes
clothed with youthfulness and beauty.
Disease and health, like circumstances, are
rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express
themselves through a sickly body. Thoughts
of fear have been known to kill a man as speed-
ily as a bullet, and they are continually killing
thousands of people just as surely though less
rapidly. The people who live in fear of disease
are the people who get it. Anxiety quickly de-
moralizes the whole body, and lays it open to
the entrance of disease; while impure thoughts,
even if not physically indulged, will soon shat-
ter the nervous system.
Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up
the body in vigour and grace. The body is a
JMAH
delicate and plastic instrument, which responds
readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed,
and habits of thought will produce their own
effects, good or bad, upon it.
Men will continue to have impure and poi-
soned blood so long as they propagate unclean
thoughts. Out of a clean heart comes a clean
life and a clean body. Out of a defiled mind
proceeds a defiled life and a corrupt body.
Thought is the fount of action, life, and mani-
festation; make the fountain pure, and all will
be pure.
Change of diet will not help a man who will
not change his thoughts. When a man makes
his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure
food.
Clean thoughts make clean habits. The so-
called saint who does not wash his body is not a
saint. He who has strengthened and purified
his thoughts does not need to consider the ma-
levolent microbe.
If you would perfect your body, guard your
mind. If you would renew your body, beautify
your mind. Thoughts of malice, envy, disap-
pointment, despondency, rob the body of its
health and grace. A sour face does not come by
chance; it is made by sour thoughts. Wrinkles
that mar are drawn by folly, passion, pride.
I know a woman of ninety-six who has the
bright, innocent face of a girl. I know a man
well under middle age whose face is drawn into
inharmonious contours. The one is the result
of a sweet and sunny disposition; the other is
the outcome of passion and discontent.
As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome
abode unless you admit the air and sunshine
freely into your rooms, so a strong body and a
bright, happy, or serene countenance can only
result from the free admittance into the mind
of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity.
On the faces of the aged there are wrinkles
made by sympathy; others by strong and pure
thought, and others are carved by passion: who
cannot distinguish them? With those who
have lived righteously, age is calm, peaceful,
and softly mellowed, like the setting sun. I
have recently seen a philosopher on his death-
bed. He was not old except in years. He died
as sweetly and peacefully as he had lived.
There is no physician like cheerful thought
for dissipating the ills of the body; there is no
comforter to compare with goodwill for dispers-
ing the shadows of grief and sorrow. To live
continually in thoughts of ill-will, cynicism,
suspicion, and envy, is to be confined in a self-
made prisonhole. But to think well of all, to be
cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the
good in all such unselfish thoughts are the
very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day
in thoughts of peace toward every creature will
bring abounding peace to their possessor.
THOUGH? tAHV
UNTIL THOUGHT is linked with purpose there
is no intelligent accomplishment. With the
majority the barque of thought is allowed to
"drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a
vice, and such drifting must not continue for
him who would steer clear of catastrophe and
destruction.
They who have no central purpose in their
life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears,
troubles, and self-pity ings, all of which are indi-
cations of weakness, which lead, just as surely
as deliberately planned sins (though by a dif-
ferent route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss,
for weakness cannot persist in a power-evolving
universe.
A man should conceive of a legitimate pur-
pose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it.
He should make this purpose the centralizing
point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a
spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object,
according to his nature at the time being; but
whichever it is, he should steadily focus his
thought-forces upon the object which he has set
[30]
before him. He should make this purpose his
supreme duty, and should devote himself to its
attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wan-
der away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and
imaginings. This is the royal road to self-con-
trol and true concentration of thought. Even if
he fails again and again to accomplish his pur-
pose (as he necessarily must until weakness is
overcome) , the strength of character gained will
be the measure of his true success, and. this will
form a new starting-point for future power and
triumph.
Those who are not prepared for the apprehen-
sion of a great purpose, should fix the thoughts
upon the faultless performance of their duty, no
matter how insignificant their task may appear.
Only in this way can the thoughts be gathered
and focussed, and resolution and energy be de-
veloped, which being done, there is nothing
which may not be accomplished.
The weakest soul, knowing its own weak-
ness, and believing this truth that strength
can only be developed by effort and practice,
will, thus believing, at once begin to exert it-
self, and, adding effort to effort, patience to
patience, and strength to strength, will never
[3']
cease to (develop, and will at last grow divinely
strong.
As the physically weak man can make him-
self strong by careful and patient training, so
the man of weak thoughts can make them
strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
To put away aimlessness and weakness, and
to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the
ranks of those strong ones who only recognize
failure as one of the pathways to attainment;
who make all conditions serve them, and who
think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accom-
plish masterfully.
Having conceived of his purpose, a man
should mentally mark out a straight pathway to
its achievement, looking neither to the right
nor the left. Doubts and fears should be rigor-
ously excluded; they are disintegrating ele-
ments which break up the straight line of ef-
fort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual, useless.
Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplish
anything, and never can. They always lead to
failure. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all
strong thoughts cease when doubt and fear
creep in.
The will to do springs from the knowledge
that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great
enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages
them, who does not slay them, thwarts him-
self at every step.
He who has conquered doubt and fear has
conquered failure. His every thought is allied
with power, and all difficulties are bravely met
and wisely overcome. His purposes are season-
ably planted, and they bloom and bring forth
fruit which does not fall prematurely to the
ground.
Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes
creative force: he who knows this is ready to
become something higher and stronger than a
mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuat-
ing sensations; he who does this has become the
conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental
powers.
[33
IK
ALL THAT a man achieves and all that he fails
to achieve is the direct result of his own
thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where
loss of equipoise would mean total destruction,
individual responsibility must be absolute. A
man's weakness and strength, purity and im-
purity, are his own, and not another man's;
they are brought about by himself, and not by
another; and they can only be altered by him-
self, never by another. His condition is also his
own, and not another man's. His suffering and
his happiness are evolved from within. As he
thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he
remains.
A strong man cannot help a weaker unless
that weaker is willing to be helped, and even
then the weak man must become strong of
himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop
the strength which he admires in another.
None but himself can alter his condition.
It has been usual for men to think anH to
1 34]
<A JMAK
say, "Many men are slaves because one is an
oppressor; let us hate the oppressor." Now,
however, there is amongst an increasing few a
tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say,
"One man is an oppressor because many arc
slaves; let us despise the slaves." The truth is
that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ig-
norance, and, while seeming to afflict each
other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A
perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law
in the weakness of the oppressed and the mis-
applied power of the oppressor; a perfect Love,
seeing the suffering which both states entail,
condemns neither; a perfect Compassion em-
braces both oppressor and oppressed.
He who has conquered weakness, and has
put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither
to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.
A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve
by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain
weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to
lift up his thoughts.
Before a man can achieve anything, even in
worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above
slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in or-
der to succeed, give up all animality and sel-
fishness, by any means; but a portion of it
[35]
must, at least, be sacrificed. A man whose first
thought is bestial indulgence could neither
think clearly nor plan methodically; he could
not find and develop his latent resources, and
would fail in any undertaking. Not having
commenced manfully to control his thoughts,
he is not in a position to control affairs and to
adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to
act independently and stand alone. But he is
limited only by the thoughts which he chooses.
There can be no progress, no achievement
without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success
will be in the measure that he sacrifices his con-
fused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on
the development of his plans, and the strength-
ening of his resolution and self-reliance. And
the higher he lifts his thoughts, the more
manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the
greater will be his success, the more blessed and
enduring will be his achievements.
The universe does not favour the greedy, the
dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere
surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it
helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtu-
ous. All the great Teachers of the ages have de-
clared this in varying forms, and to prove and
know it a man has but to persist in making him-
[36]
.A
self more and more virtuous by lifting up his
thoughts.
Intellectual achievements are the result of
thought consecrated to the search for knowl-
edge, or for the beautiful and true in life and
nature. Such achievements may be sometimes
connected with vanity and ambition, but they
are not the outcome of those characteristics;
they are the natural outgrowth of long and
arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish
thoughts.
Spiritual achievements are the consummation
of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in
the conception of noble and lofty thoughts,
who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish,
will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and
the moon its full, become wise and noble in
character, and rise into a position of influence
and blessedness.
Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown
of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of
self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness,
and well-directed thought a man ascends; by
the aid of animahty, indolence, impurity, cor-
ruption, and confusion of thought a man de-
scends.
A man may rise to high success in the world,
[37]
and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm,
and again descend into weakness and wretched-
ness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt
thoughts to take possession of him.
Victories attained by right thought can only
be maintained by watchfulness. Many give
way when success is assured, and rapidly fall
back into failure.
All achievements, whether in the business,
intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of
definitely directed thought, are governed by the
same law and are of the same method ; the only
difference lies in the object of attainment.
He who would accomplish little must sacri-
fice little; he who would achieve much must
sacrifice much; he who would attain highly
must sacrifice greatly.
VISIOHS ^HT) 1T>ALS
THE DREAMERS are the saviours of tKe world.
As the visible world is sustained by the invisi-
ble, so men, through all their trials and sins and
sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful
visions of their solitary dreamers. Humanity
cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let their
ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows
them as the realities which it shall one day see
and know.
Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet,
sage, these are the makers of the after-world,
the architects of heaven. The world is beautiful
because they have lived ; without them, labour-
ing humanity would perish.
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty
ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Co-
lumbus cherished a vision of another world, and
he discovered it; Copernicus fostered the vision
of a multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe,
and he revealed it; Buddha beheld the vision of
a spiritual world of stainless beauty and perfect
peace, and he entered into it.
[39]
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals;
cherish the music that stirs in your heart, die
beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness
that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of
them will grow all delightful conditions, all
heavenly environment; of these, if you but re-
main true to them, your world will at last be
built.
To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve.
Shall man's basest desires receive the fullest
measure of gratification, and his purest aspira-
tions starve for lack of sustenance? Such is not
the Law: such a condition of things can never
obtain: "Ask and receive."
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so
shall you become. Your Vision is the promise
of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the
prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
The greatest achievement was at first and for
a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn;
the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest
vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams
are the seedlings of realities.
Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but
they shall not long remain so if you but per-
ceive an Ideal and strive to reach it. You can-
not travel within and stand still without. Here
is a youth hard pressed by poverty and labour;
confined long hours in an unhealthy workshop;
unschooled, and lacking all the arts of refine-
ment. But he dreams of better things; he
thinks of intelligence, of refinement, of grace
and beauty. He conceives of, mentally builds
up, an ideal condition of life; the vision of a
wider liberty and a larger scope takes possession
of him; unrest urges him to action, and he uti-
lizes all his spare time and means, small though
they are, to the development of his latent pow-
ers and resources. Very soon so altered has his
mind become that the workshop can no longer
hold him. It has become so out of harmony
with his mentality that it falls out of his life as
a garment is cast aside, and, with the growth of
opportunities which fit the scope of his expand-
ing powers, he passes out of it forever. Years later
we see this youth as a full-grown man. We
find him a master of certain forces of the mind
which he wields with world-wide influence and
almost unequalled power. In his hands he holds
the cords of gigantic responsibilities; he speaks,
and lo! lives are changed; men and women
hang upon his words and remould their char-
acters, and, sunlike, he becomes the fixed and
luminous centre round which innumerable des-
<AS <
times revolve. He has realized the Vision o his
youth. He has become one with his Ideal.
And you, too, youthful reader, will realize
the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be
it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both, for
you will always gravitate toward that which
you, secretly, most love. Into your hands will
be placed the exact results of your own thoughts;
you will receive that which you earn; no more,
no less. Whatever your present environment
may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your
thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal. You will be-
come as small as your controlling desire; as
great as your dominant aspiration: in the beau-
tiful words of Stanton Kirkham Davis, "You
may be keeping accounts, and presently you
shall walk out of the door that for so long has
seemed to you the barrier of your ideals, and
shall find yourself before an audience the pen
still behind your ear, the inkstains on your fin-
gers and then and there shall pour out the
torrent of your inspiration. You may be driv-
ing sheep, and you shall wander to the city
bucolic and open-mouthed; shall wander under
the intrepid guidance of the spirit into the stu-
dio of the master, and after a rime he shall say,
'I have nothing more to teach you/ And now
JMAH
you have become the master, who did so re-
cently dream of great things while driving
sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the
plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of
the world."
The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indo-
lent, seeing only the apparent effects of things
and not the things themselves, talk of luck, of
fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich,
they say, "How lucky he is!" Observing an-
other become intellectual, they exclaim, "How
highly favoured he is!" And noting the saintly
character and wide influence of another, they
remark, "How chance aids him at every turn!"
They do not see the trials and failures and
struggles which these men have voluntarily en-
countered in order to gain their experience; have
no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made,
of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of
the faith they have exercised, that they might
overcome the apparently insurmountable, and
realize the Vision of their heart. They do not
know the darkness and the heartaches; they
only see the light and joy, and call it "luck";
do not see the long and arduous journey, but
only behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good
4 JMAK
fortune"; do not understand the process, but
only perceive the result, and call it "chance."
In all human affairs there are efforts, and
there are results, and the strength of the effort
is the measure of the result. Chance is not.
"Gifts," powers, material, intellectual, and spir-
itual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are
thoughts completed, objects accomplished, vi-
sions realized.
The Vision that you glorify in your mind,
the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart this
you will build your life by, this you will be-
CALMNESS OF MIND is one of the beautiful
jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and
patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an
indication of ripened experience, and of a more
than ordinary knowledge of the laws and opera-
tions of thought.
A man becomes calm in the measure that he
understands himself as a thought-evolved be-
ing, for such knowledge necessitates the under-
standing of others as the result of thought, and
as he develops a right understanding, and sees
more and more clearly the internal relations of
things by the action of cause and effect, he
ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve,
and remains poised, steadfast, serene.
The calm man, having learned how to gov-
ern himself, knows how to adapt himself to
others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual
strength, and feel that they can learn of him
and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man
becomes, the greater is his success, his influ-
ence, his power for good. Even the ordinary
trader will find his business prosperity increase
as he develops a greater self-control and equa-
nimity, for people will always prefer to deal
with a man whose demeanour is strongly equa-
ble.
The strong, calm man is always loved and
revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a
thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm.
"Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-
tempered, balanced life? It does not matter
whether it rains or shines, or what changes come
to those possessing these blessings, for they are
always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite
poise of character which we call serenity is the
last lesson of culture; it is the flowering of life,
the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wis-
dom, more to be desired than gold yea, than
even fine gold. How insignificant mere money-
seeking looks in comparison with a serene life
a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, be-
neath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests,
in the Eternal Calm!
"How many people we know who sour their
lives, who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by
explosive tempers, who destroy their poise of
character, and make bad blood! It is a question
whether the great majority of people do not
ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack
of self-control. How few people we meet in life
who are well-balanced, who have that exquisite
poise which is characteristic of the finished char-
acter!"
Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled pas-
sion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is
blown about by anxiety and doubt. Only the
wise man, only he whose thoughts are con-
trolled and purified, makes the winds and the
storms of the soul obey him.
Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be,
under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know
this in the ocean of life the isles of Blessed-
ness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your
ideal awaits your coming. Keep your hand
firmly upon the helm of thought. In the
barque of your soul reclines the commanding
Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. Self-
control is strength; Right Thought is mas-
tery; Calmness is power. Say unto your heart,
"Peace, be still!"
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