As A Man Thinketh

by
James Allen

(Downloadable at MC2Method.org)

"I have personally read As a Man Thinketh

over 25 times. Timeless material."
-Mark Victor Hansen, co-author, the Chicken Soup books
 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.
CONTENTS

• THOUGHT AND CHARACTER

• EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON
CIRCUMSTANCES

• EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON HEALTH

• THOUGHT AND PURPOSE

• THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN
ACHIEVEMENT

• VISIONS AND IDEALS

• SERENITY
FOREWORD
THIS little volume (the result of meditation
and experience) is not intended as an
exhaustive treatise on the much-written-upon
subject of the power of thought. It is
suggestive rather than explanatory, its object
being to stimulate men and women to the
discovery and perception of the truth that--
"They themselves are makers of themselves."
by virtue of the thoughts, which they choose
and encourage; that mind is the master-
weaver, both of the inner garment of character
and the outer garment of circumstance, and
that, as they may have hitherto woven in
ignorance and pain they may now weave in
enlightenment and happiness.

JAMES ALLEN.
BROAD PARK AVENUE,
ILFRACOMBE,
ENGLAND
THOUGHT AND CHARACTER

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 deliberately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and
suffering are its fruits; thus does a man
garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of
his own husbandry.
"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
continued 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 harbouring of grovelling
thoughts.
Man is made or unmade by himself; in the
armoury of thought he forges the weapons
by which 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 descends
below the level of the beast. Between these
two extremes are all the grades of
character, 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
weaker and most abandoned state; but in
his weakness and degradation he is the
foolish master 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 laws of
thought; which discovery is totally a
matter of application, self analysis, and
experience.
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 unerringly
prove, if he will watch, control, and alter
his thoughts, tracing their effects upon
himself, upon others, and upon his life and
circumstances, linking cause and effect by
patient practice and investigation, and
utilizing his every experience, even to the
most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a
means of obtaining that knowledge of
himself which is Understanding, Wisdom,
Power. In this direction, as in no other, is
the law absolute that "He that seeketh
findeth; 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.
EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON
CIRCUMSTANCES

MAN'S mind may be likened to a garden,

which may be intelligently cultivated or
allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated
or neglected, 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
process, 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-increasing
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
character 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
circumstances 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 arrangement of his life there is no
element of chance, but all is 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.
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 creative power, and that he
may command the hidden soil and seeds of
his being out of which circumstances
grow, he then becomes the rightful 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 circumstances has
been in exact ratio with his altered 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
harbours; that which it loves, and also that
which it fears; it reaches the height of its
cherished aspirations; 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 circumstance. 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 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 obtains.
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 suddenly into
crime by stress of any mere external force;
the criminal thought had long been
secretly fostered in the heart, and the hour
of opportunity revealed its gathered power.
Circumstance 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 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 combinations 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 "divinity that shapes our
ends" is in ourselves; it is our very self.
Only himself manacles man: thought and
action are the gaolers 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 against an effect
without, while all the time he is nourishing
and preserving its cause in his heart. That
cause may take the form of a conscious
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
circumstances, but are unwilling to
improve themselves; 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
object is to acquire wealth must be
prepared to make great personal sacrifices
before he can accomplish 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 justified in trying to
deceive his employer on the ground of the
insufficiency of his wages. Such a man
does not understand the simplest
rudiments 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,
deceptive, 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 workpeople. Such a man is altogether
unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds
himself bankrupt, both as regards
reputation and riches, he blames
circumstances, 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 is
unconsciously) of his circumstances, and
that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is
continually frustrating its accomplishment
by encouraging thoughts and desires
which cannot possibly harmonize with that
end. Such cases could be multiplied and
varied almost 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 cannot
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 directions,
yet suffer privations; a man may be
dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire
wealth; but the conclusion usually formed
that the one man fails because of his
particular honesty, and that the other
prospers because of his particular
dishonesty, is the result of a superficial
judgment, which assumes that the
dishonest man is almost totally corrupt,
and the honest man almost entirely
virtuous. In the light of a deeper
knowledge and wider experience such
judgment is found to be erroneous. The
dishonest man may have some admirable
virtues, which 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
mind, 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
ignorance and blindness, that his life is,
and always was, justly ordered, and that all
his past experiences, good and bad, were
the equitable outworking 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
simple and undeviating), and they,
therefore, do not co-operate 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 himself, 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 in harmony. The
circumstances, which a man encounters
with blessedness, are the result of his own
mental harmony. Blessedness, not material
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 wretchedness
when he regards his lot as a burden
unjustly imposed.
Indigence and indulgence are the two
extremes 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 happiness, 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 regulating 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
principle in the universe; justice, not
injustice, is the soul and substance of life;
and righteousness, not corruption, is the
moulding and moving force in the spiritual
government of 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
people 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 solidify into circumstances of
destitution and disease: impure thoughts of
every kind crystallize into enervating 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
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. 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
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.
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 cannot 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,
opportunities 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
pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.
"So 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.
"It masters time, it conquers space; It
cowes 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 delays But wait as
one who understands; When spirit rises
and commands The gods are ready to
obey."
EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON
HEALTH AND THE BODY

THE body is the servant of the mind. It

obeys the operations of the mind, whether
they be deliberately chosen or
automatically expressed. At the bidding of
unlawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly
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.
Men will continue to have impure and
poisoned 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 manifestation; 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 malevolent microbe.
If you would protect your body, guard
your mind. If you would 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 folly, 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 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 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-hole.
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.
THOUGHT AND PURPOSE

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 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-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 man should conceive of a legitimate
purpose 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 before him. He
should make this purpose his supreme
duty, and should devote himself to its
attainment, not allowing his 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 he fails again and again
to accomplish his purpose (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
apprehension 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
developed, which being done, there is
nothing which may not be accomplished.
The weakest soul, knowing its own
weakness, and believing this truth that
strength can only be developed by effort
and practice, will, thus believing, at once
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 man can make
himself 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
accomplish 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 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 he who
encourages them, who does not slay them.
thwarts himself 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 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: he who knows this
is ready to become something higher and
stronger than a mere bundle of wavering
thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he
who does this has become the conscious
and intelligent wielder of his mental
powers.
THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN
ACHIEVEMENT

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 impurity, 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 himself, 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 and to
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 are slaves; let us
despise the slaves."
The truth is that oppressor and slave are
co-operators in ignorance, 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
misapplied power of the oppressor; a
perfect Love, seeing the suffering, which
both states entail, condemns neither; a
perfect Compassion embraces 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 order to succeed, give up all
animality and selfishness, by any means;
but a portion of it 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 to manfully 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 confused animal thoughts,
and fixes his mind on the development of
his plans, and the strengthening 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 virtuous. All the great
Teachers of the ages have declared this in
varying forms, and to prove and know it a
man has but to persist in making himself
more and more virtuous by lifting up his
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; 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 animality,
indolence, impurity, corruption, and
confusion of thought a man descends.
A man 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 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
sacrifice little; he who would achieve
much must sacrifice much; he who would
attain highly must sacrifice greatly.
VISIONS AND IDEALS

THE dreamers are the saviours of the

world. As the visible world is sustained by
the invisible, 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
they 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.
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a
lofty ideal in his 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, if you but remain
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 aspirations 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
perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it.
You cannot 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 refinement. 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 utilizes all his spare time
and means, small though they are, to the
development of his latent powers 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 expanding 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 worldwide 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 characters, and,
sunlike, he becomes the fixed and
luminous centre round which innumerable
destinies revolve. He has realized the
Vision of 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
become as small as your controlling
desire; as great as your dominant
aspiration: in the beautiful 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
ink stains on your fingers and then and
there shall pour out the torrent of your
inspiration. 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."
The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the
indolent, 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 another 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 encountered 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". They do not see
the long and arduous journey, but only
behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good
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 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.
SERENITY

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 man becomes calm in the measure that
he understands himself as a thought
evolved being, for such knowledge
necessitates the understanding 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
govern 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 influence, his
power for good. Even the ordinary trader
will find his business prosperity increase
as he develops a greater self-control and
equanimity, for people will always prefer
to deal with a man whose demeanour is
strongly equable.
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, the fruitage of the soul. It
is precious as wisdom, 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, beneath 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 character!
Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled
passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned
grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt
only the wise man, only he whose thoughts
are controlled 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 Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny
shore of your ideal awaits your coming.
Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of
thought. In the bark of your soul reclines
the commanding Master; He does but
sleep: wake Him. Self-control is strength;
Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is
power. Say unto your heart, "Peace, be
still!"