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James Allen
(1864–1912) |
We cannot alter external things, nor shape other people to our liking,
nor mould the world to our wishes but we can alter internal things,-our desires,
passions, thoughts,-we can shape our liking to other people, and we can mould
the inner world of our own mind in accordance with wisdom, and so reconcile it
to the outer world if men and things. The turmoil of the world we cannot avoid,
but the disturbances of mind we can overcome. The duties and difficulties of
life claim our attention, but we can rise above all anxiety concerning them.
Surrounded by noise, we can yet have a quiet mind; involved in
responsibilities, the heart can be at rest; in the midst of strife, we can know
the abiding peace. Above Life’s Turmoil by James Allen (1910)
"The fact that consciousness can
interrupt and replace mechanical
thought will be one of your greatest and most beneficial discoveries."
Vernon Howard
thought will be one of your greatest and most beneficial discoveries."
Vernon Howard
Who, then, in the midst of the ceaseless pandemonium of schools and creeds and parties, has the Truth? He who lives it. He who practices it. He who, having risen above that pandemonium by overcoming himself, no longer engages in it, but sits apart, quiet, subdued, calm, and self possessed, freed from all strife, all bias, all condemnation, and bestows upon all the glad and unselfish love of the divinity within him. From Poverty to Power by James Allen (1906)
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. From Poverty to Power by James Allen (1906)
Have you lost someone or something valuable? This prayer will help you turn your grief and sadness over to God which will allow you to move forward in peace. Remember that your future is safe and secure as you receive His love in the place of your grief. By Robin Duncan. Click here-> Prayer 88 – Extraordinary Loss
Perhaps the chains of poverty hang heavily upon you, and you are friendless and alone, and you long with an intense longing that your load may be lightened; but the load continues, and you seem to be enveloped in an ever-increasing darkness.
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.
There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide. By your very attitude of mind you are strengthening the chains which bind you, and are drawing about you the darkness by which you are enveloped, Alter your outlook upon life, and your outward life will alter.
Build yourself up in the faith and knowledge, and make yourself worthy of better surroundings and wider opportunities. Be sure, first of all, that you are making the best of what you have.
Do not delude yourself into supposing that you can step into greater advantages whilst overlooking smaller ones, for if you could, the advantage would be impermanent and you would quickly fall back again in order to learn the lesson which you had neglected.
As the child at school must master one standard before passing onto the next, so, before you can have that greater good which you so desire, must you faithfully employ that which you already possess.
The parable of the talents is a beautiful story illustrative of this truth, for does it not plainly show that if we misuse, neglect, or degrade that which we possess, be it ever so mean and insignificant, even that little will be taken from us, for, by our conduct we show that we are unworthy of it. The Path of Prosperity by James Allen (1922)
LibriVox recordings of James Allen
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