No arbitrary condition can, even for one
moment, exist, for such a condition would be a denial and an annihilation of
law.
Every condition of life is, therefore, bound
up in an orderly and harmonious sequence, and the secret and cause of every
condition is contained within itself, The law, “Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap,” is inscribed in
flaming letters upon the portal of Eternity, and none can deny it, none can
cheat it, none can escape it.
He who puts his hand in the fire must suffer
the burning until such time as it has worked itself out, and neither curses nor
prayers can avail to alter it.
And precisely the same law governs the realm
of mind.
Hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, lust,
covetousness, all these are fires which bum, and whoever even so much as
touches them must suffer the torments of burning.
All these conditions of mind are rightly
called “evil,” for they are the efforts of the soul to subvert, in its
ignorance, the law, an they, therefore, lead to chaos and confusion within, and
are sooner or later actualized in the outward circumstances as disease,
failure, and misfortune, coupled with grief, pain, and despair.
Whereas love, gentleness, goodwill, purity,
are cooling airs which breathe peace upon the soul that woes them, and, being
in harmony with the Eternal Law, they become actualized in the form of health,
peaceful surroundings, and undeviating success and good fortune.
A thorough understanding of this Great Law
which permeates the universe leads to the acquirement of that state of mind
known as obedience.
To know that justice, harmony, and love are
supreme in the universe is likewise to know that all adverse and painful
conditions are the result of our own disobedience to that Law.
Such knowledge leads to strength and power,
and it is upon such knowledge alone that a true life and an enduring success
and happiness can be built.
To be patient under all circumstances, and to
accept all conditions as necessary factors in your training, is to rise
superior to all painful conditions, and to overcome them with an overcoming
which is sure, and which leaves no fear of their return, for by the power of
obedience to law they are utterly slain.
Such an obedient one is working in harmony
with the law, has in fact, identified himself with the law, and whatsoever he
conquers he conquers for ever, whatsoever he builds can never be destroyed.
. . .
You say you are chained by circumstances; you
cry out for better opportunities, for a wider scope, for improved physical
conditions, and perhaps you inwardly curse the fate that binds you hand and
foot.
It is for you that I write; it is to you that
I speak. Listen, and let my words burn themselves into your heart, for that
which I say to you is truth: You may bring about that improved condition in
your outward life which you desire, if you will unswervingly resolve to improve
your inner life.
I know this pathway looks barren at its
commencement (truth always does, it is only error and delusion which are at
first inviting and fascinating,) but if you undertake to walk it; if you
perseveringly discipline your mind, eradicating your weaknesses, and allowing
your soul forces
and spiritual powers to unfold themselves,
you will be astonished at the magical changes which will be brought about in
your outward life.
As you proceed, golden opportunities will be
strewn across your path, and the power and judgment to properly utilize them
will spring up within you. Genial friends will come unbidden to you;
sympathetic souls will be drawn to you as the needle is to the magnet; and
books and all outward aids that you require will come to you unsought.
. . .
Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot;
you blame your birth, your parents, your employer, or the unjust Powers who
have bestowed upon you so undeservedly poverty and hardship, and upon another
affluence and ease.
Cease your complaining and fretting; none of
these things which you blame are the cause of your poverty; the cause is within
yourself, and where the cause is, there is the remedy.
The very fact that you are a complainer,
shows that you deserve your lot; shows that you lack that faith which is the
ground of all effort and progress.
. . .
Practice unceasingly patience and self control.
Turn the disadvantage to account by utilizing
it for the gaining of mental and spiritual strength, and by your silent example
and influence you will thus be teaching your employer, will be helping him to
grow ashamed of his conduct, and will, at the same time, be lifting yourself up
to that height of spiritual attainment by which you will be enabled to step
into new and more congenial surroundings at the time when they are presented to
you.
Do not complain that you are a slave, but
lift yourself up, by noble conduct, above the plane of slavery. Before
complaining that you are a slave to another, be sure that you are not a slave
to self.
Look within; look searchingly, and have no
mercy upon yourself. You will find there, perchance, slavish thoughts, slavish
desires, and in your daily life and conduct slavish habits.
Conquer these; cease to be a slave to self,
and no man will have the power to enslave you. As you overcome self, you will
overcome all adverse conditions, and every difficulty will fall before you.
. . .
Practice, therefore, fortitude and faith.
Dwell constantly in mind upon the Eternal
justice, the Eternal Good. Endeavor to lift yourself above the personal and the
transitory into the impersonal and permanent.
Shake off the delusion that you are being
injured or oppressed by another, and try to realize, by a profounder
comprehension of your inner life, and the laws which govern that life, that you
are only really injured by what is within you. There is no practice more
degrading, debasing, and soul destroying than that of self pity.
Cast it out from you. While such a canker is
feeding upon your heart you can never expect to grow into a fuller life. Cease
from the condemnation of others, and begin to condemn yourself. Condone none of
your acts, desires or thoughts that will not bear comparison with spotless
purity, or endure the light of sinless good.
By so doing you will be building your house
upon the rock of the Eternal, and all that is required for your happiness and
wellbeing will come to you in its own time.
. . .
If your real desire is to do good, there is
no need to wait for money before you do it; you can do it now, this very
moment, and just where you are. If you are really so unselfish as you believe
yourself to be, you will show it by sacrificing yourself for others now.
No matter how poor you are, there is room for
self sacrifice, for did not the widow put her all into the treasury?
The heart that truly desires to do good does
not wait for money before doing it, but comes to the altar of sacrifice and,
leaving there the unworthy elements of self, goes out and breathes upon
neighbor and stranger, friend and enemy alike the breath of blessedness.
As the effect is related to the cause, so is
prosperity and power related to the inward good and poverty and weakness to the
inward evil.
Money does not constitute true wealth, nor
position, nor power, and to rely upon it alone is to stand upon a slippery
place.
Your true wealth is your stock of virtue, and
your true power the uses to which you put it. Rectify your heart, and you will
rectify your life. Lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness, self
indulgence, self seeking, obstinacy, all these are poverty and weakness;
whereas love, purity, gentleness, meekness, compassion, generosity, self
forgetfulness, and self renunciation, all these are wealth and power.
As the elements of poverty and weakness are
overcome, an irresistible and all conquering power is evolved from within, and
he who succeeds in establishing himself in the highest virtue, brings the whole
world to his feet.
From poverty to power
or
the realization of prosperity and peace
James Allen
[1906]
Albert Schweitzer said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Being all imagination, you must be wherever you are in imagination. Moving in your imagination, you are preparing a place for your desires to be fulfilled. Then you return, to walk through a series of events which will lead you up to where you have placed yourself. In imagination, I can put myself where I desire to be. I move and view the world from there. Then I return here, confident that - in a way unknown to me - this being who can do all things and knows all things, will lead me physically across a bridge of incident up to where I have placed myself. You can move in imagination to any place and any time. Dwell there as though it were true, and you will have learned the secret of prayer. Neville The art of motion in prayer.
The world is a mirror where-in everyone sees himself reflected. The objective world reflects the beliefs of the subjective mind. ..."Far greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." The subjective mind is the diffused consciousness that animates the world; it is the spirit that giveth life. In all substance is a single soul - subjective mind. Through all creation runs this one unbroken subjective mind...Man and his past are one continuous structure. This structure contains all of the facts which have been conserved and still operate below the threshold of his surface mind. For him, it is merely history. For him, it seems unalterable - a dead and firmly fixed past. But for itself, it is living - it is part of the living age....Changing your life means changing the past. The causes of any present evil are the unrevised scenes of the past. - NEVILLE GODDARD By Imagination We Become
What you are, so is your world. Everything in the universe is resolved into your own inward experience. It matters little what is without, for it is all a reflection of your own state of consciousness. It matters everything what you are within, for everything without will be mirrored and colored accordingly. - James Allen “From poverty to power ; or , the realization of prosperity and peace” [1906]
“When one has grasped the idea that by creative laws mind (thought) is dormant in all things of the body, the minutest changes of which are in reality organic manifestations or showings forth of mental conditions, many things before incomprehensible become clear. From the standpoint of this grand truth we see how emotions (which are produced by thought) determine the most rapid changes in the secretions of the body; how fright turns the hair gray; how terror poisons the mother's milk; how great mental excitements or the slow torture of mental anxiety write their baneful effects upon the tissues of the brain; how the images made upon the mother's brain are transferred and photographed upon the body of the unborn child; how epidemics spread by the contagion of fear and the transference of thought; the thing feared in the mind being reproduced in the physical system.”~The first writer in the mental-science period to employ the term "New Thought," capitalized.
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