September Thoughts: James Allen.

To make a useful and happy life dependent upon health is to put matter before mind, is to subordinate spirit to body.

Moral principles are the soundest foundations for health, as well as for happiness.

Men are not made unhappy by poverty, but by the thirst for riches.

A miser may be a millionaire, but he is as poor as when he was penniless.

A man is great in knowledge, great in himself, and great in his influence in the world, in the measure that he is great in self-control.

WONDERFUL as are the forces in nature, are vastly inferior to that combination of intelligent forces which comprise the mind of man, and which dominate and direct the blind mechanical forces of nature. Therefore, it follows that to understand, control, and direct the inner forces of passion, desire, will, and intellect, is to be in possession of the destinies of men and nations.

He who understands and dominates the forces of external nature is the natural scientist; but he who understands and dominates the internal forces of the mind is the divine scientist; and the laws which operate in gaining a knowledge of external appearances operate also in gaining a knowledge of internal verities.

The end of knowledge is use, service, the increase of the comfort and happiness of the world.

All things, whether visible or invisible, are subservient to, and fall within the scope of, the infinite and eternal law and causation.

Evil thoughts and deeds produce conditions of suffering; good thoughts and deeds determine conditions of blessedness.

Having clothed himself with humility, the first questions a man asks himself are:—

“How am I acting towards others?”
“What am I doing to others?”
“How am I thinking of others?”
“Are my thoughts of, and acts towards others prompted by unselfish love?”

As a man, in the silence of his soul, asks himself these searching questions, he will unerringly see where he has hitherto failed.

Man’s power is limited to, and his blessedness or misery is determined by, his own conduct.

LIFE may be likened to a sum in arithmetic. It is bewilderingly difficult and complex to the pupil who has not yet grasped the key to its correct solution, but once this is perceived and laid hold of it becomes as astonishingly simple as it was formerly profoundly perplexing. Some idea of this relative simplicity and complexity of life may be grasped by fully recognizing and realizing the fact that, while there are scores, and perhaps hundreds, of ways in which a sum may be done wrong, there is only one way by which it can be done right, and that when the right way is found the pupil knows it to be right; his perplexity vanishes, and he knows that he has mastered the problem.

In life there can be no falsifying of results; the eye of the Great Law reveals and exposes.

Selfish thoughts and bad deeds will not produce a useful and beautiful life.

Each man makes or mars his own life.

Man is responsible only for his own deeds; he is the custodian of his own actions.

THE “problem of evil” subsists in a man’s own evil deeds, and it is solved when those deeds are purified. Says Rousseau:

“Man, seek no longer the origin of evil; thou thyself art its origin.”

Effect can never be divorced from cause; it can never be of a different nature from cause. Emerson says:

“Justice is not postponed; a perfect equity adjusts the balance in all parts of life.”

And there is a profound sense in which cause and effect are simultaneous, and form one perfect whole. Thus, upon the instant that a man thinks, say, a cruel deed, that same instant he has injured his own mind; he is not the same man he was the previous instant; he is a little viler and a little more unhappy; and a number of successive thoughts and deeds would produce a cruel and wretched man.

An immediate nobility and happiness attend the thinking of a kind thought, or doing a kind deed.

Without strength of mind, nothing worthy of accomplishment can be done.

The direct and only way to greater strength is to assail and conquer weaknesses.

In the training of the will the first step is the breaking away from bad habits.

HE who has succeeded in grasping this simple, preliminary truth will perceive that the whole science of will-cultivation is embodied in the following seven rules:

1. Break off bad habits.

2. Form good habits.

3. Give scrupulous attention to the duty of the present moment.

4. Do vigorously, and at once, whatever has to be done.

5. Live by rule.

6. Control the tongue.

7. Control the mind.

Anyone who earnestly meditates upon, and diligently practises, the above rules will not fail to develop that purity of purpose and power of will which will enable him to successfully cope with every difficulty, and pass triumphantly through every emergency.

By submitting to a bad habit one forfeits the right to rule over himself.

Slipshod work is an indication of weakness.

Perfection should be aimed at, even in the smallest task.

Live according to principle, and not according to passion.

Thoroughness consists in doing little things as though they were the greatest things in the world.

He who acquires the quality of thoroughness becomes a man of usefulness and influence.

The cause of the common lack of thoroughness lies in the thirst for pleasure.

The mind that is occupied with pleasure cannot also be concentrated upon the perfect performance of duty.

He who lacks thoroughness in his worldly duties will also lack the same in spiritual things.

It is better to be a whole-souled worldling than a halfhearted religionist.

If men only understood that their hatred and resentment slays their peace and sweet contentment, hurts themselves, helps not another, does not cheer one lonely brother, they would seek the better doing of good deeds which leaves no ruing:—

If they only understood.

If men only understood how Love conquers; how prevailing is its might, grim hate assailing; how compassion endeth sorrow, maketh wise, and doth not borrow pain of passion, they would ever live in Love, in hatred never:—

If they only understood.

He who has not learned how to be gentle, loving, and happy has learned very little.

DESPONDENCY, irritability, anxiety, complaining, condemning, and grumbling all these are thought-cankers, mind-diseases; they are the indications of a wrong mental condition, and those who suffer therefrom would do well to remedy their thinking and conduct. It is true there is much sin and misery in the world, so that all our love and compassion are needed, but our misery is not needed—there is already too much of that. No, it is our cheerfulness and our happiness that are needed, for there is too little of that. We can give nothing better to the world than beauty of life and character; without this, all other things are vain; this is pre-eminently excellent; it is enduring, real, and not to be overthrown, and it includes all joy and blessedness.

A man’s surroundings are never against him; they are there to aid him.

You can transform everything around you if you will transform yourself.

Commence to live free from all wrong and evil. Peace of mind and true reform lie this way.

Immortality is here and now, and is not a speculative something beyond the grave.

Persistence is the antithesis of immortality.

The death of the body can never bestow upon a man immortality.

The immortal man is in full possession of himself.

The mortal man lives in the time or world state of consciousness which begins and ends.

The immortal man lives in the cosmic or heaven state of consciousness, in which there is neither beginning nor end, but an eternal now.

The overcoming of self is the annihilation of all the sorrow-producing elements.

The overcoming of self is the cultivation of all the divine qualities.

He who would overcome his enemy the tempter must discover his stronghold and place of concealment, and must also find out the unguarded gates in his own fortress where the enemy effects so easy an entrance.

This is the holy warfare of the saints.

All temptation comes from within.

A man is tempted because there are certain desires or states of mind which he has come to regard as unholy.

The good in a man is never tempted. Goodness destroys temptation.

Temptation shows a man just where he is.

The Great Law is good the man of integrity is superior to fear and failure, and poverty, and shame, and disgrace.

Slander, accusation, and malice cannot affect the righteous man, nor call from him any bitter response, nor does he need to go about to defend himself and prove his innocence. Innocence and integrity alone are a sufficient answer to all that hatred may attempt.

The man of integrity turns all evil things to good account.

The man of integrity can never be subdued by the forces of darkness, having subdued all those forces within himself.

Without discrimination a man is mentally blind.

Mind, like muscle, is developed by use.

Confusion, suffering, and spiritual darkness follow the thoughtless.

Harmony, blessedness, and the Light of Truth attend upon the thoughtful.

Belief is an attitude of mind determining the whole course of one’s life.

Belief and conduct are inseparable, for the one determines the other.

Justice reigns, and all that is called injustice is fleeting and illusory.

The man who believes in justice remains calm through all trials and difficulties.

Every thought, every act, every habit, is the direct outcome of belief.

When our belief in a thing ceases, we can no longer cling to or practice it.

Book of Meditations

&

Thoughts for the Day

For Every Day in the Year

A combination of two books: 'Morning and Evening Thoughts' by James Allen, published 1909 and 'James Allen's Book of Meditations' published 1913.