Follow these "Secrets" paraphrased from the book "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen and you too will have an Enchanted Life!
Secret #1 ... A Person Is What They Think They Are.
We are what we think, the sum of all our thoughts.Just as a plant springs from a seed, so every act 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 deliberate.
"Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits."
Thought in the mind makes us what we are. We build with thought.
If a person has evil thoughts, pain comes to them just as a wheel follows behind an ox....
If a person has good thoughts, joy follows them like their own shadow."
Secret #2 ... The Relationship Between Cause and Effect is Absolute!
The relationship between cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the visible and material world.A noble character is not a thing of chance, but is the natural result of a persons continued effort to think correctly, the effect of positive and noble thoughts.
Likewise, an ignoble character is the result of the continued harbouring of negative thoughts.
A person is made or unmade by themselves; in the armoury of thought we forge the weapons by which we destroy ourselves.
We also fashion the tools with which we build for ourselves joy, strength and peace.
By making the right choices and having correct thoughts, we ascend to Divine Perfection.
Likewise by the abuse and wrong application of thought, our thoughts can bring us to a living hell.
Between these two extremes are all the degrees of character, and a person is their maker and master.
A person is the master of their thought and therefore the moulder of their own character, and the maker and shaper of their own condition, environment, and destiny.
Secret #3 ... If you seek you shall find.
As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the master of our own thoughts, we hold the key to every situation, and contain within ourselves the transforming and regenerative ability by which we may make of ourselves whatever we want.We are always the master, even in our weakest state; but in our weakness we are a foolish master.
When we begin to reflect upon our situation and search carefully for the Law by which our very being is governed, we become the wise master, pursueing our goals with intelligence, and turning our thoughts to a positive outcome.
By becoming the conscious master of our thoughts we discover in ourselves the laws of thought; whose discovery is the result of application, self analysis, and experience.
Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained.
We can find every truth connected with our being, if we will dig deep into the mine of our soul.
We are the maker of our own character, the moulder of our own life, and the builder of our destiny.
We must examine our life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and examine our every experience, even the most trivial everyday occurrence.
If we watch, control, and alter our thoughts, tracing the effect they have upon ourselves and others, we will develop Understanding, Wisdom and Power.
Secret #4.... Your Mind Is Like A Garden
Our mind is like a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth fruits.If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will grow.
Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so we may tend the garden of our mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts.
In doing so we will discover sooner or later that we are the master-gardener of our soul, the director of our life.
We come to understand the laws of thought and understand with ever-increasing accuracy how the thought-forces and mind elements operate in the shaping of our character, circumstances, and destiny.
Secret #5 ... Your Thoughts And Your Character Are The Same.
Thought and character are one and the outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to be related to his inner state of mind because our character can only manifest and discover itself through our environment and circumstance.This does not mean that our circumstances at any given time are an indication of our entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected with some vital thought-element within ourselves that, for the time being, they are indispensable to our development.
Each of us is where we are by the law of our being; the thoughts which we have built into our character have brought us here, and in the arrangement of our life there is no element of chance, but is instead the result of a law which cannot err.
This is just as true of those who feel "out of harmony" with their surroundings as of those who are contented with them.
Secret #6 ... We Are The Creative Power In Our Lives.
As progressive and evolving beings, we are here so that we may learn and grow; and as we learn the spiritual lessons which any circumstance contains for us, that circumstance passes away and is replaced by other circumstances.We are buffeted by circumstances so long as we believe ourselves to be under the control of outside conditions, but when we realize that we are the creative power, and that we may command the hidden soil and seeds of our being out of which our circumstances grow, we then become in control of our lives.
Everyone who has for any length of time practised self-control and self-purification knows that circumstances grow out of thought, for they will have noticed that changes in their circumstances has been in exact ratio with their altered thoughts.
So true is this that when a person earnestly decides to remedy the defects in their character, and makes swift and marked progress, they pass rapidly through a succession of change in circcumstances.
Secret #7 ... The Soul Attracts What It Secretly Desires.
The soul attracts what it secretly desires; what it loves, and also what it fears.It reaches the height of its aspirations and it falls to the level of its depraved desires, and our circumstances are just the means by which the desires of the soul are expressed.
Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own fruit of opportunity and circumstance sooner or later.
Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.
The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors, which are intended to bring about the ultimate good of the individual.
As the reaper of our own harvest, we learn by both suffering and bliss.
Following the innermost desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which we allow ourselves to be dominated, a person will finally arrive at their fruition and fulfilment in the outer conditions of their life.
Secret #8 ...Circumstance Does Not Make The Person
A person does not experience financial ruin or end up in jail because of fate, but because of negative thoughts and desires.Neither does an honest person suddenly become a criminal because of the stress of any mere external force. The criminal thought had been secretly fostered in their heart for a long time, and the opportunity revealed its gathered power.
Circumstance does not make the person; it merely reveals their character to themselves.
There are no external conditions that cause us to become corrupt (with it's resulting sufferings) except evil tendencies, or that cause us to ascend into integrity and its pure happiness without the continued cultivation of ethical desires; and a person, therefore, as master of their own thought, is the maker of themselves and the shaper of their environment.
Every step of the soul's earthly pilgrimage attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own purity and, impurity, its strength and weakness.
Secret #9 ... We Attract What We Are.
People do not attract what they want, but what they are.Their whims, fancies, and ambitions may be thwarted at every step, but their innermost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it dirty or clean.
The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in ourselves; it is our very self.
Only we can handcuff ourselves: thought and action are the jailers of Fate--they can imprison, being corrupt; or they can also liberate, being virtuous.
A person does not get what he wishes and prays for, but what he justly earns.
Their wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with their thoughts and actions.
So what does it reveal when we seem to be fighting against our circumstances? It shows that a person is continually revolting against an outward effect, while at the same time he is nourishing and preserving it in his heart. That cause may take the form of a conscious vice or an unconscious weakness; but whatever it is, it stubbornly retards their efforts and needs to be stopped.
We are anxious to improve our circumstances, but are unwilling to improve ourselves; therefore we remain bound. The person who is willing to examine themselves critically can never fail to accomplish their objectives. This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the person whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices in order to do so; and how much more sacrifice must be made by a person who's desire is to lead a strong and well-lived life?
Here are 3 examples:
- One person is extremely anxious that their situation should be improved, yet they evade their work, and feel justified in trying to deceive their employer because they feel they are not being adaquately paid. This person does not understand the simplest principles of true prosperity, and is not only totally unfit to rise out of poverty, but is actually attracting to themselves a still deeper poverty by dwelling in and acting out, lazy, deceptive, and unscrupulous thoughts.
- Another person is the victim of a painful and persistent disease. They are willing to spend lots money to cure it, but will not change their habits that are exasperating the disease. Such a person is totally unfit to have health, because they have not yet learned the first principles of a healthy life.
- An employer adopts dishonest measures to avoid paying decent wages, and, in the hope of making larger profits reduces the wages of his workforce. This employer is altogether unfit for prosperity, and when they find themselves bankrupt (in reputation as well as financially), they blame circumstances, not understanding that they are they have caused their own bankruptsy.
However circumstances are so complicated, thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary so much with individuals, that a persons entire soul-condition (although it may be known to themselves) cannot be judged by others from the external trappings of their life alone.
A person may be honest in certain things, yet suffer hardship; another person may be dishonest in certain things, yet acquire wealth.
The conclusion usually made is that one person fails because of their honesty, and the other prospers because of their dishonesty.
This is the result of superficial judgment, which assumes that the dishonest person is almost totally corrupt, and the honest person is almost entirely virtuous.
With deeper knowledge and wider experience such judgment is found to be incorrect.
The dishonest person may have some admirable virtues which the other does not possess; and the honest person may have obnoxious faults which are absent in the other.
The honest person reaps the good results of their honest thoughts and acts, and also brings upon themselves the sufferings which their faults & shortcomings produce.
Similarly the dishonest person creates their own suffering and happiness.
Secret #10 ... Good Thoughts Produce Good Results.
Some people believe that a person suffers because of their virtue.However not until they have eliminated every sickly, bitter, and impure thought from their mind and washed every sinful stain from their soul, will they be in a position to know and declare that their sufferings are the result of their good and not of their bad qualities.
And upon careful examination they will find working in their mind and life, the Great Law which is absolutely just, and which cannot, therefore, give good for evil or evil for good.
When a person understands this and looks back upon their past ignorance and blindness, they see that their life is, and always was, justly ordered, and that all their past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable result of their evolving, yet unevolved self.
Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.
This is just saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from weeds but weeds. People 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 simple and undeviating), and they therefore do not co-operate with it.
Secret #11 ... Suffering Is The Result Of Incorrect Thinking.
Suffering is always the result of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with themselves, with the Law of their being.The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.
Suffering ceases for a person who is pure. There could be no reason to purify gold after the impurities have been removed, and a perfectly pure and enlightened being could not suffer.
The circumstances which a person encounters with suffering are the result of their own mental disharmony. The circumstances which a person encounters with happiness are the result of their own mental harmony.
Happiness, not material possessions, is the measure of right thought; unhappiness, not lack of material possessions, is the measure of wrong thought. A person may be unhappy and rich or happy and poor. Happiness and wealth are only joined together when the wealth is correctly and wisely used; and the poor person only becomes unhappy unhappy when they view their circumstances as an unjustly imposed burden.
Destitution and excess are the two extremes of misery. They are both equally unnatural and the result of incorrect thinking. A person is not correctly conditioned until they are a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer, of the person with their surroundings.
Secret #12 ... Law, not confusion is the dominating principle of the universe.
A person only begins to be a person when they cease to whine and complain, and begins to search for the hidden justice which regulates their life. As they adapt their mind to that regulating factor, they cease to accuse others as the cause of their condition. They build themselves up in strong and noble thoughts; cease to complain about circumstances, and begin to use them as aids to more rapid progress, as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within themselves.Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe. Justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life. Righteousness, not corruption, is the moulding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world.
This being so a person needs to right himself to discover that the universe is right; and during the process of putting themselves right they will find that as they alter their thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people will alter towards them.
The proof of this truth is in every person and is discovered by systematic introspection and self-analysis. When a person radically alters their thoughts they will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will cause in the material conditions of their life.
People imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.
- Depraved thoughts crystallize into habits of drunkenness and sensuality, which solidify into circumstances of destitution and disease.
- Impure thoughts of every kind crystallize into debilitating and confusing habits, which solidify into distracting and adverse circumstances.
- Thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallize into weak, abject, and unsteady habits, which solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence, and slavish dependence.
- Lazy thoughts crystallize into habits of uncleanliness and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances of foulness and beggary.
- Hateful and condemnatory thoughts crystallize into habits of accusation and violence, which solidify into circumstances of injury and persecution.
- Selfish thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of self-seeking, which solidify into circumstances more or less distressing.
- 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 circumstances of repose and peace.
- Thoughts of courage, 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 circumstances.
- Loving and unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits of self-forgetfulness for others, which solidify into circumstances of sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.
Secret #13 ... The World Is Your Kaleidoscope.
Perpetuating a particular train of thought, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on a persons character and circumstances.A person cannot directly choose their circumstances, but they can choose their thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape their circumstances.
Nature helps fulfill the thoughts that a person encourages, and opportunities will present themselves which will most speedily bring to the surface both the good and evil thoughts.
- If a person stops thinking negative thoughts the world will soften towards them and be ready to help them.
- If a person discontinues weak and sickly thoughts, opportunities will spring up to encourage them.
- If a person encourages good thoughts, no downturn will enslave them to misery and shame.
Secret #14 ... Thoughts Effect Your Body As Well As Your Mind.
The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they are deliberately chosen or unconsciously expressed.Harmful thoughts rapidly sink the body into disease and decay; at the command 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 speedily 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 demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open to the entrance of disease; while impure thoughts, even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the nervous system.
Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigour and grace.
The body is a 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.
People will continue to have impure and poisoned bodies, 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 manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all will be pure.
Change of diet will not help a person who will not change their thoughts.
When a person makes their thoughts pure, they no longer desire impure food.
Clean thoughts make clean habits. The so-called saint who does not wash their body is not a saint.
If you want to protect your body, guard your mind.
If you want to renew your body, beautify your mind.
Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, 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 foolishness, passion, and 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 home unless you allow fresh air and sunshine freely into your rooms, so a strong body and a bright, happy, or serene countenance can only result from the admitting into the mind thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity.
On the faces of the aged there are some wrinkles made by sympathy, others by strong and pure thought, and others are carved by passion.
With those who have lived honourably, age is calm, peaceful, and softly mellowed, like the setting sun.
I have recently seen a philosopher on his deathbed. 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 dispersing 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 prison..
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.
Secret #15 ... Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force.
Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to drift upon the ocean of life.
Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for a person 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-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe.
- A person should conceive of a legitimate purpose in their heart, and set out to accomplish it.
- They should make this purpose the centralizing point of their thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to their inclination at the time; but whichever it is, they should steadily focus their thought-forces upon the object which they have set before them.
- They should make this purpose their supreme duty, and should devote themselves to its attainment, not allowing their thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought.
- Even if a person fails again and again to accomplish their purpose (as they necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of their true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.
- Those who are not prepared to focus on a great purpose should fix their thoughts upon the faultless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear. Only in this way can their thoughts be gathered and focussed, and resolution and energy be developed, and once this is done there is nothing which can not be accomplished.
The weakest soul, aware of its own weakness, and believing that strength can only be developed by effort and practice, will begin to exert itself and adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong.
As the physically weak person can make themselves strong by careful and patient training, so the person with weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising right thinking.
To discontinue 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 accomplish masterfully.
Having conceived of their purpose, a person should mentally mark out a clear pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left.
Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded; they are disintegrating elements, which break up the straight line of effort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual, useless.
Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished 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 the person who encourages them, who does not annihilate them, hinders themselves at every step.
A person who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.
Their every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome. Their purposes are seasonably planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall prematurely to the ground.
Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force.
A person who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations.
A person who does this has become the conscious and intelligent commander of their mental powers.
Secret #16 ... As We Think, So We Are; As We Continue To Think, So We Remain.
ALL that a person achieves and all that they fail to achieve is the direct result of their own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of balance would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute.A persons weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are their own, and not another persons.
They are brought about by themselves, and not by another; and they can only be altered by themselves, never by someone else.
Their condition is also their own, and not another persons.
Their suffering and their happiness are evolved from within.
As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.
A strong person cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak person must become strong themselves. They must, by their own efforts, develop the strength which they admire in another. No one but they can alter their own condition.
It is commonly thought that "People are slaves because there is an oppressor so let's hate the oppressor." Now, however, there is amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, "One person is an oppressor because people are slaves; let us hate the slaves." The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict oneanother, are in reality afflicting themselves.
- Perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor.
- Perfect Love, seeing the suffering, which both states entail and condemns neither.
- Perfect Compassion embraces both oppressor and oppressed.
Secret #17 ... Lift Up Your Thoughts.
A person can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up their thoughts.They can only remain weak, abject and miserable by refusing to lift up their thoughts.
Before a person can achieve anything, even in worldly things, they must lift their thoughts above slavish animal indulgence.
They might not, in order to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness; but a portion of it must be sacrificed.
A person whose first thought is indulgence can neither think clearly nor plan methodically.
They can not find and develop their latent resources and will fail in any undertaking.
Unless they have resolved to control their thoughts, they are not in a position to control their circumstances or to adopt serious responsibilities.
They are not fit to act independently and stand alone.
They are limited only by their thoughts, which they themselves choose.
There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice, and a persons worldly success will be directly related to their discontinuing their confused animal thoughts, fixing their mind on the development of their plans, and strengthening their resolution and self-reliance.
The higher a person lifts their thoughts, the more fearless, upright, and righteous they become, the greater will be their success, the more fortunate and enduring will be their achievements.
Secret #18 ... The Universe Favours The Virtuous.
The universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so.Rather it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous.
All the great Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to prove and know it a person has but to persist in making themselves more and more virtuous by lifting up their thoughts.
Intellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge, 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, rather they are the natural outgrowth of long and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish thoughts.
Spiritual achievements are the consummation of sacred aspirations.
A person who constantly conceives of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as the sun rises and the moon becomes full, become wise and noble in character, and rise into a position of influence and contentment.
Secret #19 ... Achievement Is The Direct Result Of Effort And Sacrifice.
Achievement, of whatever kind, is the result of effort and thought.- By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a person ascends
- By the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a person descends.
A person may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of them.
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.
A person who seeks to accomplish little must sacrifice little.
They who would achieve much must sacrifice much.
They who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.
Secret #20 ... You Become What You Dream.
The Dreamers are the saviours of the world.As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so people, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of the 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, labouring humanity would perish.
A person who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in their heart, will one day realize it. Columbus 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.
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the 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, of you but remain true to them, your world will eventally be built.
- To desire is to obtain.
- To aspire is to, achieve.
Dream lofty dreams, and what you dream you will become.
- Your Vision is the promise of what you will one day be.
- Your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
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.
Secret #21 ... You Receive What You Earn.
Your circumstances may be unpleasant, but they will not remain so very long if you just find an Ideal and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and stand still without.A person may be depressed due to poverty and labour; work long hours in an unhealthy environment; be uneducated, and lack all opportunity.
But they can dream of better things.
They can think of intelligence, of opportunity, of grace and beauty.
They can conceive of and mentally imagine an ideal life.
They can envision more freedom and scope.
Unrest urges them to action, and they spend all their spare time and means (however small) developing their latent powers and abilities.
Very soon their mind has become so altered that their workplace can no longer hold them.
Their workplace has become so out of harmony with their new state of mind that it falls out of their life like a garment is cast aside.
With the growth of opportunities, which reflect their expanding powers, they pass out of it forever.
Years later we see this person. We find them a master of the forces of their mind, which they wield with worldwide influence and almost unequalled power. In their hands they hold the cords of gigantic responsibilities; they speak and lives are changed; men and women hang upon their words and like the sun, they become the fixed and luminous centre around which innumerable destinies revolve. They have realized the Vision of their youth. They have become one with their Ideal.
And you too will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it ugly 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 situation may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal.
You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.
Secret #22 ... You Become Your Own Vision.
The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the idle, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and chance.Seeing a person grow rich, they say, "How lucky they are!"
Observing another become intellectual, they exclaim, "How smart he is!"
And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, "How chance aids them at every turn!"
They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these people have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience.
They 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 hearts.
They do not know the darkness and the heartaches.
They only see the light and joy, and call it "luck".
They do not see the long and arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good fortune".
They 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. It is not chance!
So-called "Gifts", powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions 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 become.
Secret #23 ... Nurture Calmness Of Mind.
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 operations of thought.
A person becomes calm when they recognize and see themselves as a thought evolved being and that thought makes them understand others, and as they develop a correct understanding, and see more and more clearly the internal relationship of things due to the action of cause and effect, they cease to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remain poised, steadfast and serene.
The calm person has learned how to govern themselves and knows how to adapt to others.
Others will revere their spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn from and rely upon them.
The more tranquil a person becomes, the greater is their success, their influence, their power for good.
Even the ordinary person will find their prosperity increase as they develop greater self-control and composure, because people will always prefer to deal with a person whose behavior is calm and assured.
The strong, calm person is always loved and revered.
They are 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, the fruit of the soul.
It is as precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold.
How insignificant mere money-seeking looks in comparison with a serene life, a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests, in the Eternal Calm!
Secret #24 ... Say To Your Heart: "Peace, Be Still!"
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 are well balanced and have that exquisite poise which is characteristic of the finished character!
Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt.
Only the wise person, only they whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey them.
Tempest-tossed souls, wherever you may be, under whatsoever conditions you may live, know this:
- That in the ocean of life the isles of Happiness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming.
- Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought.
- The voice of your soul is the commanding Master; It does but sleep: wake It.
- Self-control is strength.
- Right Thought is mastery.
- Calmness is power.
- Say unto your heart, "Peace! Be still!"
Secret #25 ... Mind Is The Master Power.
Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes,
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.
All secrets above are paraphrased from the book: "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen
Thoughts by Stanton Kirkham Davis:
You may be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city, bucolic and open-mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance of the spirit into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, 'I have nothing more to teach you.'
And now you have become the master, who did so recently 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."
There
is a mark made on the soul in its first wrong-doing. And that is a taint. And the mark of that taint either widens or wanes as the soul decrees in its inclination so will it be.
For this world is the place wherein the pureborn soul creates its destiny.
It becomes, at body’s death, all it has tended to make of itself: that which it wishes to be.
So
will it be seen, that there is no necessity of this life,
No hurt nor harshness, that may, in the consideration of the soul, assume precedence over the decisiveness of that final end.
For its hurts and harshness’s are not permanent things. They are as tests.
Their use is a way of working on that soul so it may truly determine its preferment – What it intends to do.
No hurt nor harshness, that may, in the consideration of the soul, assume precedence over the decisiveness of that final end.
For its hurts and harshness’s are not permanent things. They are as tests.
Their use is a way of working on that soul so it may truly determine its preferment – What it intends to do.
Whereas
the ending is absolute, an absolute as dense as the immutable past, as
irrevocable as the moment just gone, and now forever assumed into the majestic
finality of the past of time.
For the ending act is the souls last choice, in which it declares itself, which is for the most, the totality of its choices in the determination of its end.
Save this: that even upon finality, if it has done ill in the choices of this life, it is not yet too late –
For the ending act is the souls last choice, in which it declares itself, which is for the most, the totality of its choices in the determination of its end.
Save this: that even upon finality, if it has done ill in the choices of this life, it is not yet too late –
Not
until death drives it over the edge is it ever too late.
But still it may, by a great thrust of the will, a wrench so fraught with contrition, the split pain of a guilt self-owned, acknowledged and deplored;
And in the blaze of that knowledge see to itself, a thing so frightful to its sudden sight, fungoid, so spongy with sloth and the foulness of its use, that in dread it recoils, and from the grasp if fiends, screeching, hurls itself out –
But still it may, by a great thrust of the will, a wrench so fraught with contrition, the split pain of a guilt self-owned, acknowledged and deplored;
And in the blaze of that knowledge see to itself, a thing so frightful to its sudden sight, fungoid, so spongy with sloth and the foulness of its use, that in dread it recoils, and from the grasp if fiends, screeching, hurls itself out –
Only,
at that hour, into such a stabbing of the heart, may The Word move and redeem.
From Prologue: At The Edge by William Everson
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