TH I N K I N G F O R

R E S U LTS

!!

! H R I S T I AN ! . L AR S O N

EQE S M T

T H E N E W L I TE RATU R E
! U ! L I S H I N G ! O M ! AN !

L os ANG E L E S
 T hi nk i ng fo r R esu lt s

H AT m an ch ange hi m
can
self improve himself t e
, ,

create himself control his

,

en vironment and master h is

own destiny is the c onclu
sion of every mind who is
wide awake t o the power of right th ough t
-

“
in c onstructive a ction In fact it is the
.
,

con v iction of all suc h minds t h at man

can do pra cti c ally anything with in th e
possibilities of the h uman domain wh en
he knows h o w to th ink and that h e c an
‘

secure almost any result desired w h en h e

learns how to think for results .

Man is as he th inks h e is and w hat h e

,

does is t h e result of the sum total of his

thought The a v erage person however
.
, ,

thinks at random and therefore lives at

rand o m and d o es not know fr o m d ay to
 day wh ether good or evil lies in h is path .

What he finds in his path is invariably

a the result of his own thinking but as he ,

does not know what results di fferent

kinds of thought produce he creates both
good and evil daily not knowing that he
necessarily does either of these When .

he knows what each mental state will

produce however and has gained the
, ,

power to think as he likes under all sorts

of circumstances then he will have fate
, ,

destiny environment p hysical condi

, ,

tions mental conditions attainments

, , ,

achievements and in fact e verything in

his own hands .

It is a well known fact that we can

produce any e ffect desired when we
understand causes and can master those
,

causes A nd as the process of thinking

.

is the one underlying cause in the life of

man we naturally become master o v er all
life wh en we can understand and master
the process of thinking Each process of .
‘

thinking produces its own results in mind

and body and acts indirectly upon all the
acti o ns and e fforts of mind and body .

T herefore through adverse thinking a l

,

most any undesirable conditi o n may be

10
produced while almost any condition of
worth and v alue can be produced through
wholesome thinking ! ertain pr ocesses
. .

of thought will lead to sickness oth ers to

,

poverty while processes of thought that

,

are entirely di fferent fro m these will lead

to h e a l t h p o w e r a n d prosperity
, .

Through c h aoti c thinking one can bring

about years of trouble and misfortune ,

while through a properly arranged sys

tem of thinking one can determine his
own future for years and years in a d
vance .

Everyth ing t h at h appens to a man is

the result of something that he has done
or fails to d o But since both actions
.,

and inactions c ome from corresponding

states of mind he can make almost any
thing h appen that h e likes when he learns
to regulate his thinking This may seem
.

to be a v ery strong statement but the ,

more perfectly we understand th e rela

tion o f mental act i on to physical and pe r
sonal action the more co nvinced we
become th at th is statement is abs o lutely
true.

W h en we study th e l aws of nature we

find that certain results in v ariab ly follow
certa in uses of tho se laws ; and that oth er
results follow the misuse of th ose laws .

We find that a misused law can finally

carry you to th e lowest depths and th at a
,

law that is perfectly understood and

p roperly applied can carry you to the
greatest heights In the use of natural
.

law however we are at liberty t o change

, ,

our mind at any time ; that is wh en we ,

find ourselves going down we can turn

about and go the other way ; though the
fact remains that if we continue the
down grade we will finally reach the low
est dep ths The same is true when we
.

find ourselves advancing ; we may b e

come negligent and fall back but the law
,

in question can carry us on higher and

higher with out end if we choose to go .

The laws that govern thinking are just

as absolute as the well known laws of
nature and will serve man just as faith
fully after h e has begun t o ap ply them
with understanding .

W h en we understand th e l aws of
th ough t and think ac c ordingly we have ,

begun wh at may p roperly be termed

scientific thinking ; that is we h ave b e
,

gun desi gned thi nki n g ; thi nki ng with a

1 2
p urpo se in view ; thinking in accordance
wit h exact sci en t ific system ; and think
ing for results When we think in this
.

manner we think according to those laws

of th ought that are required in o rd ei to
'

produce th e results we have in View ;.

therefore all the forces of mind will be

directed to produce those very results I n.

this connection we should remember that

every mental process produces its own
results in th e human system ; therefore
we can secure any result desired when
we place in action th e neces sary mental
process .

You never th ink scientifically unless

you think for a purpose ; it is th erefore
purposeless thinking that you must
avoid. And all purposeless thinking is
wrong E very process of thought that
.

works at random is wrong because it

l e a d S t o waste destru c tion and retarded
’

growth . For t h is reason al l thoughts

that we may c reate at any time that have
no special purpose in view are wrong
thoughts and are detrimental to th e wel
fare o f t h e individual But h ere we must
.

remember that wrong thought i s not

simply tho ught th at h as base moti ves ; it

£3
is also thought th at has no motives A .

right thought always has a definite

motive with some higher goal in view .

In fact to be right a thought must have a

,

motive and that motive must be con

,

structive ; that is it must aim to build

, ,

and to build for s o mething worth while .

Wrong thought however is scattering

, ,

and destructive and retards gro w th fii

T his is the real di ff erence between
thought th at is wrong and thought that
is right The same is true with other
.

things Everything in life th at retards

.

growth is wrong Everything that pro

.

motes growth is right If we are i n .

doubt as to whether any particular thing

is right or wrong we can readily discover
where it belongs if we app l y this princi
ple ; that i s if it promotes growth it is
w
,

right W hile if it retards growth it is

,

wr ong We shall find that all true sys

.

tems of ethics or morals will be found to

harmonize perfectly with this idea .

T h e purpose of life is continuous a d

vancement and all the laws of life are c r e
ated for the promotion of advancement
in all things and at all times T herefore . ,

to retard growth is to v iolate the laws o f

I 4
life wh il e to promote gr owt h is to prop
erly employ those laws of life When we .

go with the laws of life we m ov e forward ,

but when we go against th ose laws we

begin a life of retrogressi o n According .

to this principle nothing is wrong unl ess

it retards growth and noth ing can be
right unless it promotes growth be cause ,

nothing can be wrong unless it is agai nst

the laws of life and n o thing can be right
unless it is in harmony with th e laws of
life And the laws of life demand con
.

t i n u o u s a dvancement .

Since our object is advan c ement and

progress in every way and since thinking
,

is the key to all results it is evident that

,

all thinking must be established upon the

principle of continuous advancement ,

F o r this reaso n all thinkin g that in any

way retards growth in any part of the
human system must be discontinued and ,

al l think ing must be so arranged or t e

arranged that i t wil l tend to promote
growth and advanc ement in e very phase
of human life In other words all think
.
,

ing must be designed and designed a c ,

cording to the laws that underlie the

p urpose we have in v iew T o ap p ly t h
. is

“ a.

1 5
principle we should never think unless
we have a purpose that we wish to pro
mote through that thinking Before we
.

begin any process o f thought we should

determine clearly what we wish to pr o
mote at th e time and we should then em
,

ploy that process o f thinking through

which the purpose in view may be pr o
moted to the best advantage . this
manner every action of mind will become
constructive and will build up something
that we wis h to have c o n s tr u cte d i
Neither time nor mental energy will be
thrown away by aimlessness and no ,

chaotic states of mind will exist for a

moment All our mental processes will
.

be arranged according to such a system

of action as can promote progress and ,

all the various forces of mind will work

together in the creation of that which we
wi sh to realiz e and possess.

. To th ink according to the laws of

growth and to think for a definite pur
pose— this is the foundation of scientific
t h i nk i n gl t This is the principle upon
which to act wh en thinking for results ,

and wh oever resolves to think in this

manner only will soon find remarkable

1 6
changes for the better taking p lace in
every department of his life .

In training the mind to think a cc ord

ing to the exact s c ience of right thought ,

to think according to system t o think ,

for a definite purpose and to think for

results there are four essentials that will
,

be required and we s h all proceed to give

these essentials o ur best attention in
their proper order The first essential is
.

to pro vide wh at may be termed the men

tal attitude of normal states of conscious
ness for al l our thinking ; that is t o pro ,

mote only right states of mind whate v er

the process of though t may be because ,

suc h states are always wholeso me and

are invari ably conducive to menta l de
ve l o pm en t . In addition suc h states tend
,

to hold the various energies of th e mind

in a working at ti tude which is highly i m
portant when our purpose is to work for
results.

To train th e mind to th ink onl y in th e

right states of mind we must learn to dis
t i n gu i sh between righ t and wrong men
tal states though this is a matter that
,

becomes very simple wh en we under

stand that th e di fference between right

1 7
and wrong states of mind is found in
this th at the former tends to relate the
,

mind properly to the laws the principles ,

and the powers of l i fe while the l att er

,

tends to pre vent that relationship When .

we are at variance with our s phere of

existence or out of harmony with the
world in which we think and live we can
accomplish nothing but when we are in
,

harmony with that world we place our

selves in a position where we can a c c o m
p l i s h practically anything if we learn the
full use of all the powers we possess .

Therefore if we wish to accomplish what

,

we have i n View we must work with

those laws and principles of life that go v
e rn the sphere in which our work is to be

done But wrong mental states will pre

.

vent u s from working with the laws of

life while right mental states have a ten
d e n cy to bring us more perfectly into
harmony with those laws Wrong men .

tal states ar e wrong simply because they

prevent this necessary relationship and ,

they are wrong for no other reason The .

first proble mbefore us therefore is to dis

t i n gu i s h between the two states of mind ,

to eliminate the wro ng and t o c ultivate

1 8
 th e righ t But to distinguis h between
'

the two is not di ffi cult wh en we know

that right states of mind always produce
harmony between oursel ves and those
powers in life that we must use i n order
to realize our purpose in life and that,

wrong states of mind always tak e us

away fr om everything that has quality ,

superiority and worth or that can serve

,

us in realizin g the greater and the better.

However that we may all understand

,

what mental states to cultivate in order

to make our thinking more scientific ,

more e x act more e ff ective and more con

,

d u c i ve to the production of the results

'

we desire we shall proceed to give a

,

brief description of the most important

of these states or what may be termed
,

the normal and the true state of con

s c i o u s ness .
 MON G th e right stat es of
mind the attitude of p eace
naturally comes first b e
c ause at the foundation of
all true action we find a
state of deep calm . No
g rowt h is possible in confusion n o r can
w e enjoy t h e steps already take n while
strife and disturbance prevail But if we
.

find th at we are not in a perfectly peace

ful attitude t h e matter cannot be reme
died t hrough a strenuous e ffort t o secure
peace ! eace of mind comes most quickly
.

when we do not try to be peaceful but ,

simply permit oursel ves to be normal .

To rela x mind and body at frequent inter

vals will also aid remarkably but the,

most important of all is the attainment

of the consciousness of peace .

Th ere is a state within us wh ere al l is

still and as nearly all of us h ave been
,

conscious of this state at di fferent times

we know that it actually exists T o cul
.

t i vat e the consciousness of this state is

the real s ecret of attaining a permanent
mental state of p ea c e W h en we become
.

conscious of that state we enter what

may be termed t h e permanent condition
of peace and t h ereby realize the pea c e
that pas s et h u n d er s t a n d i ng ; and wh en we
.

are in t hat state of peace we kn ow why it

does pass understanding .

A further proof of this idea is found 1 n

the fact t h at the center o f all action is
absolutely still and that from th is cente r
,

all action proceeds In like manner there

.

is an absolutely still center in your own

mind and you can become conscious of
,

that center by turning your attention

gently and frequently upon th e serene
within This should be done several
.

times a day and no matter how peacefu l

we may feel we should daily seek a still
finer realizat i on of this consciousness of
peace The result will be more power b e
.

cause peace conserves energy The mind .

will be kept i n the necessary attitude for

growth and you will avoid all such ills
and failures as originate in mental con
fusio n According to the law th at we a l
'
.

ways become in the with out as we feel in

the within you will naturally become
more and more conscious o f peacefu1nes s
,

2 1
in your personality as yo u be co me more
conscious of the calm that is within you .

In other words the same stillness that

,

you feel within yours elf wh en in the con

s c i o us ne s s of peace will unfold itself
,

through your entire system and you will

become p eaceful m every part of mind
and body .

! losely related to the attitude of peace

we have that of poise and this is an atti
,

tude that is simply indispensable The .

attainment of peace tends to conserve and

accumulate energy while the attainment
o f p o i s e tends to hold that energy in such
/

a way that not a particle is lost ! eace .

is a restful attitude while poise is a work

ing attitude In peace you feel absolutely
.

still . In poise you feel and hold the

mighty power within you ready for
action .

T h e well poised mind is not only

charged with enorm ous energies but can ,

also retain those energies in any part of

the system and can direct them towards
any e ffort desired The poised mind com
.

bi nes calmness with power Through

.

the attitude of c almness it retains its

touch with th e dep th s with in and is thus
constantly supplied with added l ife a nd
power Through the attitude of strength
.

it relates itself to the world of action and

thus becomes able to go forth and do
things T h e attitude of poise however
.
, ,

is not w ell de veloped in the average per

son as the art o f being peaceful and
.

powerful at the same time is an art that

h a s rec e i ved but little attention ; but it is
l

something th at is extremely important

and no one who desires to learn to think
and act for results can a fford to neglect
this high a rt for a moment .

To proceed with the de v elopment of

poise we should work act think and
, ,

live in the consciousness of peace and in

the consciousness of power ; that is we ,

should aim to combine peace and power

in everything t hat we feel or do Here .

we s h ould remember two great truths ;

that is that unlimited power is latent
,

within us and that at the depth of our

being e very thi ng i s perfectly still W h en .

you realize th ese great truths you will

feel more and more th at enormous ener
gies are al 1 ve 1 n your being but you will
,

find th at they never force themselves into

any p arti cular li ne of a ction and th at ,
t h ey ne ver run over on th e surface On .

the other hand you will find that you can

,

hold t h ose energies in perfect repose or

turn them into your work just as you
wish When you have poise therefore all
.

those energies will also have poise They .

will be as you are be c ause th ey are your

creations .

The e ff ect of p o ise upon th inking is

very great because the attitude of poise is
the one essential attitude through which
constructive work of mind or thought
can be p romoted T h e object of exact
.

scientific thinking is to bring about the

results we hav e m v1 ew but results fol
,

low only the true application o f power ,

and power cannot be applied constru o

t i vel y unless it acts through the state of
peace . We therefore understand why
poise the action of power in peace is i n
, ,

dispensable to e v ery mode of thinking

that aims to produce results .

Another mental state of extreme value

is that of harmony ; and as there is only
a step from peace and poise to harmony
we may readily acquire the latter when
we have acquired th e former In th e atti
.

tude o f p ea c e th e mind finds its true self

24
an d its own supreme p ower Throu gh
.

the attitude o f po i se th is power is brought

forth into action and is held in its true
spheres of action but it is only through
,

h armony that this power can act properly

upon things or in connection with things .

Nothing comes from the ap plication of

power unless it acts directly upon some
thing but it cannot act upon anything
,

wit h th e assurance of results unless there

is harmony between t h e power th at acts
and th e thing acted upon . No actio n
should be attempted therefore until har
mony is secured between the two factors
involved In this connection we find that
.

thousands of well meant actions lead t o

confusion sickness and failure because no
,

attention was given to the attainment of

harmony ! ut the importance of attain
.

ing harmony before undertaking anyth ing

'

is reali z ed wh en we learn that the real

purpose of harmony is to bring the two
factors concerned into that p erfect rela
t i o n sh i p wh ere t h ey can work togeth er for
the promotion of the object in View .

To secure h armony it may be necessary

for bo th fa ct o rs to c h ange th eir p resent
p ositi o ns T hey may h av e t o m eet ea ch
.
other half way but there can be no o bj ec
,

tio n to this Our obj ect in life is not to

.

stand where we are but to do something ;

,

and if we can do so mething of value by

c h a n gm g our present position that is the ,

very thing we should do In fact we can.

,

even return with advantage t o positions

that we imagine have been outgrown if
something of value can be accompli shed
by such a move The one thing to con
.

sider however is the result Any mo ve

, , .

ment that leads to results is a movement

in the right direction .

Harmony is not cultivated by isolation

nor exclusiveness Th ere are many minds
.

who think they are in perfect harmony

when they are alone but they are not
, .

They are simply at rest and the sensation

is somewhat similar to certain states of
harmony We are in harmony only when
.

we are properly related to some one else

or something else There must be at
.

least two factors before there can be har

mony and those two factors must be
properly related .

The best way to cultivate th e mental

state of harmony is t o adapt yourself
consciously to everything and e v erybody

26
th at yo u m eet Never resist or anta go
.

nize anyth ing nor hold yourself aloof '

from any body Wherever you ar e aim

.

to look for th e agreeable side of th ings

and try t o act wit h everything while m
that attitude After a while you wi l l find
.

it an easy matter to meet all things and

all persons in their world and when you ,

can do this you can u nite with them in se

'
‘

cu ring results that neither side could ha ve

secured alone .

To secure results two or more factors

must work together b ut they cannot
,

work together constructively unless they

are in harmony ; that is unless t h ey are ,

perfectly related to each o ther To be in .

harmony however does not mean simpl y

, ,

to be on good terms You may be on .

good terms with everyb ody and not be in

harmony with anyb ody We are in har .

mony with pers ons and things whe n the

two factors or sides concerned can actu
ally work together for the promotion of
some actual purpose In the mental
.

world this law is very easily discerned

and its operations found to be e xact You .

may h a ve a fine mind but if the di fferent

,

parts o f yo ur mind d o n o t h armo niz e and

work togeth er yo u wi ll a cc omplish but
little and there are th ousands o f brilliant
,

minds in this v ery condition Then w e

.

find minds w ith simply a fair amount of

ability wh o accompli sh a great deal and ,

the reason is that the di fferent parts of

such minds are in harmony working to
gether according to the laws of co ns tru c
ti v e action And h ere we should remem
.

b er that wherever two or more factors

actually work together desirable results
will positively follow To agree with your
.

adversary h as th e same significance .

There is a certain side of every form of

a dversity to which you can adapt your
self L ook for that side and try to relate
.

yourself harmoniously and constructively

to the power of th at side You will avoid
.

much trouble th ereby and bring to pass

scores o f good things that otherwise
would not have been realized .

To h armonize with the adverse does not

mean that you are to follow or imitate
th e adverse At all times we should be
.

ourselves We sh ould ch ange nothing in

.

o u r own individuality but should aim pr i

,

m arily to adapt the actions of our indi

vi d u al i ty w h ether ph ys ical or mental to
, ,

28
th ose thi ngs W1 th w h ic h we may be asso
c i at e d U nder all adverse circumstances
.

w e should remember th at v1 c e 1 s virtue

gone wrong and that the power in the one
is the same as the po w er i n the other ;
‘

the good misdirected that is all But you

, .

are not to harmonize with the m i s d i re c

tion . You are to harmonize with the
power that is back of the action and tr y
‘

to use that power for some valued pur

p ose Here we find a subject upon which
.

v olumes could be written but th e real

,

secret that underlies it all i s simple .

Adapt yourself to everything and every

body wit h a View of securing united
action for greater good You will th us
.

continue in perfect harmony and you will

,

cause every action that may result from

your e fforts to work directly for the pro
-

du ction o f th e results y ou h av e m v1 ew .
 HE three states of mind
mentio ned in the previous
chapter will naturally lead
us to a pl ac e where results
can be secured b ut how
,

great th ese results are to

be wi ll depend upon the loftiness o f our
aim Therefore a mental state wil l be
.

required th at will co nstantly center at

tention upon the high places of attai n
ment and suc h a st ate we find in aspira
,

tion But here we must know th e di ffer

.

ence between aspiration and ambition

especially whe n they act separately .

When ambition acts aside fro m aspiration

the aim of the mind will be to promote
the personal self by calling into action
only those powers that are now acti ve in
the personal self Such an a ction how
.
,

ever tends to separate the personality

,

from the greater powers within which

will finally produce a condition of per
sonal inferiority We have seen this fact
.

illustrated so frequently that it has b e

come proverbial to say that pers o na l am

3 0
b i ti on w h en in full c ontro l of the mind
invariably leads to personal down fall .

It is a well known fact that no mind

t h at is sim ply ambitious can ever beco me
great and the reason is that personal
,

ambition pre v ents mind and c o nsc1 o us

n ess from ascending int o t h os e superior
s tates of t h ought and power which alone
’

c a n make greatness possible . This as

c en s i o n of mind and c onsciousness how ,

ever invari ably takes place through the

,

attitude of aspiration and therefore the

,

force of ambition should always be i n w

spired by the spirit of aspirat i on Both

.

are necessary and they must combine per

fe ct l y in every case if results wort h w h il e
are to be reali z ed .

The attitude of aspiration c auses th e

mind t o think of the marvels that lie b e
yond present attainment and th ereby i n
spir es the creation of great thoughts
which is v astly important There must
.

be great thoughts before the mind can

become great and the mind must become
,

great before great results can be secured .

Aspiration concentrates attention upon

superiority always and therefore elevates
all the qualities of t h e mind int o th at
stat e T h is b eing true ev ery effort in
.

life s hould be directed towards t h ose

possibilities that lie beyond the p resent
attainment if we wish to cultivate and
strengthen th e attitude of asp iration .

When we are simply ambitious we pr o

c e e d as we are and s eek to make a mark

for ourselves with w h at power we already

possess ; but when we are alive with the
spirit of aspiration we seek to make our
selves larger more p owerful and far supe
,

rior to wh at we are now knowing th at a

,

great light cannot be hid and that any

,

one with great power must invariably

reac h the goal he has in ! i ew The ambi .

tious mind seeks to make a small light

shine far beyond its c apacity and through
,

this e ff ort finally wears itself out The .

aspiring mind howe v er seeks to make

, ,

the light larger and larger knowing that

,

the larger the light becomes th e further

it will s h ine and that no strenuous e f
,

forts will be required to push its power

ful rays int o e ff ecti veness But when the
.

attitude of aspiration l ooks beyond the

personal self it does not necessarily l o ok
outside of the self T h e purpose of aspi
.

ration is t o enter int o t h e po s session of

t h e m arvel s o f th e great withi n b e c ause
what i s found in t he w ith in wi ll be e x
pressed i n th e with out T h erefo re wh en
.
,

we co nsta ntly rise abo v e t h e person al self

we p erp etually en l arge th e p ersonal self ,

thus gaining th e c ap a c ity t o a cc omp lish

more and more until we finally acc o m
p l i s h p ra c ti c ally e v eryt h ing we h a v e in
v iew Th e attitude of aspiration there
.

fore s h ould never leave the mind for a

moment ; but we sh ould on th e contrary
keep t h e mental eye single upo n t h e
b o undless po ssibilities th at are with in us
and dee p ly desire with h eart and soul a
greater and a greater realizati o n of those
p ossibilities in practical life .

The attitude of contentment may truth

fully be said t o be th e twin sister of aspi
ration and its important function is to
prevent aspiration from losing sight of
what h as a lready been gain ed When .

contentment is absent the present seems

mo re o r less barren and wh en aspiration
,

is absent th e p resent seems suffi cient .

But th e p resent is ne ver barren nor is it

e v er su ffi cient T h e p resent is ric h with
.

many th ings of extreme val ue if we only

train o urselves to see th em T h ese th ings
. ,

33
howe ver , are n o t sufficient t o th e a d
va n c i n g soul
. G reater things are at h and
and it is our privilege to press on through
the realization of those greater things .

We must therefore c onclude that the true

attitude of mind in this connection is to
be content with things as they now are ,

and at the same time rea ch o ut co nstantly

for greater things .

W h en contentment is ab sent th e pres

ent is not fully utilized and we cannot
attain the greater things until we have
fully employed what has already been t e
c e i ve d
. When aspiration is absent the
present is used ov er and over again lik e
the air in a closed room and the result
,

must be mental stagnation to be followed

by failure and final extinction When we . .

look at th is subject from another point

of view we find that the mind that is not
contented cannot be developed ; no r can
such a mind make the best use of the
powers it may now possess Every mo .

ment th erefore should be filled with con

t e n t m ent and perfect satisfaction but
,

every moment sh ould also b e fille d with

'

a strong desire for still greater attain

ments and a chie v ements In su ch a state
.

34
where contentment and aspiration are
combined we shall find life to be a con
t i nual fea st each c o urse being more deli
,

c i o u s than t h e one preceding We shall

.

also find suc h a life to be the pat h to per

p e t u al growt h and continuous j oy .

T o c ulti vate th e state of contentment

we s hould live in th e conviction that all
things are working together for good and ,

that what is best for us now is coming to

us now The truth is that if we are try
.

ing to make all things work together for

good and live in the fait h t h at we can we
, ,

actually will so order things in our life

that all things will work together for
good And what comes to u s every day
.

will be the very best for us that day .

When we live think and a c t in this man

,

ner we shall soon find th at th e best is

daily coming to us and that the best of
,

each day is better than that of th e day

preceding . T h e result will be perfect
contentment and t h e placing of life in that
,

position where it c an receive in the great

eternal now all th at t h e great eternal now
has to give In brief wh en we so live
.
,

that we permit the present moment to be

filled wi th all the richness that it can
h old th en we s h all h ave th e co ntented
,

mi nd and th e ever growing mind the-

,

mind t h at is proverbially des cribed as a

continuous feast .

The attitude of gratitude is closely re

l ated to that of contentment and is o ne
of th e greatest of all mental states ; and
the reason why is found in the fact th at
no mind can be right nor think co nst ruc
.

t i vel y unless it is filled with the spirit of

gratitude T h e fact 1 s that new life is
.

coming to us every day and with it new

opportunities Every moment therefore
.

is richer than t h e one before ; but if this

coming of ne w life and new opportunities
does not add to the richness and value of
our own personal life there is a lack of
gratitude And the e x
. planation is that
w h ere gratitude is lacking the mind is
m ore o r less closed to t h e many good
things th at are coming our way The .

grateful mind h owever is always an op en

, ,

m ind open to the newer the higher and

, ,

t h e better and th erefore invariably co m

,

ing into possession of more and mo re o f

those things .

The entire ra c e is moving forward wit h

t he s tream o f co ntinu o us advan c e m ent ;

3 6
better things th erefore are daily coming
i nt o t h e life o f each individual If h e does
.

no t receive t h em th e reason is t h at h is
mind is more or less cl osed o n a cco unt o f
th e l ack of gratitude Fo r l et us remem
.

ber in th is c onnection th at th e mind

simpl y must be grateful for everyth i ng in
order t o be O pen to th e reception of new
things and better th ings We simply c an
.

not receive better things unless we are

truly grateful for that wh ic h we already
p ossess This is th e law in this matter
.
,

and it is a law th at will bear th e most .

rigid analysis To give th anks therefore

.

wit h th e wh ole h eart for everyth ing th at

c omes into life and to e x press c onstant
,

\
and wh ole soul ed gratitude to all the
world for everyth ing that is good in th e
—
w orl d thi s i s t h e secret through w h ich
we may o p en th e mind to t h e great c os
mic in fl u x ; t h at influ x tha t is bringing into
th e life of every individual th e rich ness
and the p ower th at compl ete l ife h as in
store for e very individual .

But in order to be gratefu l in th e b est

a n d most perfect manner we must h av e

appreciation We must be able to see the

.

real wort h of th at whic h comes into life

before we can e xpress the fullness and th e
spirit of the grateful heart T he attitude
.

of appreciation is also valuable in another

direction When w e appreciate worth we
.

always gain a h igh er consciousness of

worth and th ereby make o ur own min ds
more worthy .

To cultivate t h e mental state of appre

c i at i o n we should el iminate all tendency

to fault finding criticism and the like and

, ,

we should make a special e ffort to see th e

worthy qualities in everything and every
body with whic h we come in contact .

The result of such a practice will not only

be a better appreciation with a deeper i n
,

sight into the superior qualities of life , .

but also t h e building of a more wh ole

some mind R ealizing the value o f appre
.

c i a t i o n we s h ould whenever we discover a

,

lack of app reciation in ourselves proceed,

at once to remove the cause We shall .

not h esitate in doing this when we find

that a la ck of appreciation also tends to
gi v e th e mind a false Vie w of things
t h ereby preventing the acquisition of the
best th at life has in store .

T h e appreciative mind h as a natural

tenden cy t o look u po n th e better side of
things b ut th is tenden cy b e c omes co m
,

p l e t e only w h en the optimisti c attitud e is

added To be optimistic however does
.
, ,

not mean to think that black is wh ite or

that everything everywh ere is all righ t .

The true optimist can also see the

flaws and the imperfections in l ife ,

b u t h e gi ves dire ct attention t o the

good side th e better side and the
,

strong side And h avin g t h is l arger

.

view h e always knows th at the

strong side is muc h l arger and far supe
rior to the weak side He never be c omes
.

discouraged therefore because h e k nows

that failure and wrong ar e only temp o
rary and th at the right finally wins every
,

time In addition h e k nows th at h e can

.
,

aid th e right to suc h an extent t h at th e

v ictory can be gai n e d now
‘

The pessimist lives in the fal s e and d o es

not s ee things as they are His c onclu
.

sions are therefore worthless F o r th is.

reason we should never pay any attention

to the words of t h e pessimist as we s h all
be m 1 sl e d in every instan c e if we do I n .

s t ead we s h ould listen to t h e prophecy of

the optimist and th en put all our ability

,

and al l o ur faith int o th e po ss ib i lities of

th at p rop h ecy th ereby making it come
true proceeding of course in the co nvi c
,

tion that we can T h e value of the opti

.

mistic attitude in s c 1 ent i fi c thinking

therefore is very great ; because to think
correctly on any subject th e mind must
have the mountain top view and we must ,

think correctly if we wish to think for r e

s ul ts.

T ho ugh th e optimist may l i ve on th e

’
sunny side still the full value o f life s
,

suns h ine cannot be gained until we add

the attitude of constant cheerfulness To .

be c h eerful bright happy and joyous is

, ,

absolutely necessary if we wish to think

scientifically think constructively and
,

think for results When we proceed

.

to th ink for results we think for

a purpose . We employ correctly
the constructive mental processes so
that we may work ourselves up to the
goal in v iew G rowth and development
.

therefore must take place all along the

line of action but no mental growth can
,

take place with out mental sunshine Ac .

co r d i n gl y we s h ould resolve to be h appy

,

no matter what may transpire We can .

n o t a fford to be o th erwise Suns h in e will

.

4 0
me lt th e most massi v e i ceberg if th e rays
are direct and the clouds are kept away ;
and it is the same in daily life No mat .

ter how cold disagreeable and u nc o n

,

genial your present enviro nment may be ,

plenty of mental sunshine can ch ange it

all
.

It pays to be happy ! heerfulness is a

.

most profitable investment a nd there are

no riches that are greater than constant
joy This attitude is not for the few or
.

for occasional moments because all the

sunny states of mind can be made perma
nent in a short time by a very simple
process Make it a practice to go to sleep
.

every night with cheerfulness on your

mind and with a feeling of joy in every
atom of your being Through this prac
.

tice you will c arry the c h eerful idea into

the subconscious and gradually the j oy
,

ous state will become an established state

in the subconsc i ous mind T h e result
.

will be that the subconscious will express

cheerfulness and wholesomeness at all
times and it will become second nature
,

for you to have a sweet disposition a ,

sunny frame of mind and an attitude of

perpetual joy This method may seem to
.

4 1
be too s impl e t o be o f v alu e b ut th e
,

simplest methods are usually the best .

And anyone can pro v e through a few

weeks of trial that this method will pro
du c e the desired results and will through
,

more continuous practice actually trans

form mind and disposition to such an ex
tent that th e mind will henceforth live in
const ant mental sunshine And there are
.

few things that are more 1 m po rtant than

this if we wis h t o train the mind t o act
and work in th ose attitudes that are nec
e ssary in order th at we m ay proceed suc
ce ss fu l l y in t h inking for results .
 HE attitude of k indness is
o ne of the greatest amo ng
the right states of mind .

T h erefore t o be kind to
ev eryb o dy and t o feel
kindly t owards th e wh ole
o f c reation th is must be the attitude if
,

th e righ t use o f mind and tho ught is to

pre vai l. K indness enlarges the inner
co nsciousness th us promoting th e e n
largement and the expressio n o f life .

And it also c reates th e tendency t o give

’
one s best and there is nothing that
brings forth the greater l ife and power
within us s o quickly and s o c ompletely
’
as th e giving of o ne s b est i n all things
and at al l times .

! o t h th e soul and t h e mind w i t h al l

,

their p owers and possibilities tend to

,

unfold th emselv es th rough th e a cti o ns of

th e str o ng whol e souled att itude o f kind
ness In fact no one can begi n to u n
‘

.
,

fold h is l arger l ife and recei v e t h e greater

richness from within until h e begins to
gi v e thr o ugh th e att itud e o f k indn ess all
, ,
that which h e already has in h is person
ality And the more one gives of the
.

’
richness of one s own life ability and,

power the more he will receive from the

,

limitless realms of the within Th1 s 1 s a .

law that no one not even the most mate

,

r i a l i st i c can a fford to ignore

, But giving
.

is not giving unless it comes from the

heart and it must invariably be an act of
,

expression for some great purpose Your .

expressions either of thought or action

, ,

will not open the way for inner unfold

ment unless you give richly through a
fuller and l arger expression and in all ,

such expressions you must feel kindly .

The attitude of kindness is therefore i n

dispensable to growth mental unfold
,

ment and constructive thinking .

The attitude of sympathy always acts

in close connection with kindness and ,

though it is a most important state of

mind it is also a much abused state .

There are few people who sympathize

correctly and there is possibly nothing
that interferes with correct thinking as
does misdirected sympathy When we .

sympathi ze with anyone we enter into a

’
certain unity of th at one s mind and we

44
al most invariab ly imitate to a degree th e
mind th at w e unite wit h in this way .

Two minds with but a singl e th ought

will imitate eac h other in nearly every
thing and will actually grow to look alike .

It is therefore very important to know

wit h what we s h ould sympath i z e When
.

you sympathize with a person in distress

you will think th e t h ought of distress at
the time and will reproduce in a measure
,

the same state in your own mind and ,

possibly in your own life and personality .

Many a person h as failed in life because

he h as sympathized too much with the
weak side and inferior side of those who
have had misfortune When you sympa
.

t h i z e with a person that is sick your mind

will create within itself a similar condi
tion of disea s e and this expression will
,

express itself in your own body a fact ,

to which th ousands c an testify We

.

realize again therefore that it will not do

to sympathize wit h anything and e v ery
thing that may arouse our sympath y .

Why does it hurt to see a friend p un

i s h e d ? Why do we usually feel bad when
those of whom we think a great deal feel
bad ? W hy is there a tendency of most

45
 minds to th ink and feel l ike the pre vail
ing thought in their community ? Why ‘

does a mob lose its head so to speak and, ,

pr o ceed to think feel and act precisely

,

like the leader ? W hy do scores of inci

dents of a similar nature take place in
our midst constantly ? Sympathetic imi
t a t i o n explains such phenomena And the .

law that underlies this phenomena is a

law that we must understan d thoroughly
if we wish to master our own thinking
and our actions wherever those actions
may be expressed When you sympa
.

t h i z e with weak ness you are li able to

become weak . When you sympathize
with disease you are liable to get the
same symptoms and frequently the very
disease itself . When you sympathize
with the wrong you are liable to think
that same wrong and possibly act it out
in your own life Thes e are facts with
.

wh ich we are all familiar It is there .

fore a subject of extreme importance .

T h e l aw that governs sympathy is this ,

that you enter into mental unity m a

measure with everything with which you
s ympathize and that whatever you enter
,

i nto menta l unity w i th y o u tend to imi

4

4 6
tate and p roduce in yourself to a degree .

U nderstanding this law we realize that

we cannot a fford to sympathize with
everyth ing but on the contrary find it
,

absolut ely necessary to m ake a careful

selection of those things with which we
may sympathize .

When you sympathize with a person

wh o is in trouble do not think of the
trouble or the pain or the weakness but ,

think of that something within him that

is superior to all pain and that can a n n i h i
late all the trouble i n existence Then .

remember the great statement that he

that is within you is greater than h e that
”
is in the world Make it a practice never
.

to sympathize with the inferior side but ,

only with the superior side ! ut this will

.

“
not ma ke y o u cold and indi fferent as
many suppose for it is impossible for you
,

to become mentally cold while being in

touch with the very l ife of the soul itself
which must be the very essence of ten
derness kindnes s and love In applying
, .

this principle we find that the more per

fe c t l y you sympathize with the higher ,

the finer and the stronger side of man the

more love you feel the more tenderness
,
you express and the more helpful you b e
come in all of your e ff orts Nothing is .

lost therefore but muc h is gained by

, ,

training the mind to sympathi ze onl y

with the true side of human life .

The man who is sick and in trouble

does not want mor e tears He has had .

enough o f them What he wants and

.

what he needs is that sympathy that can

banish all tears and that can reveal the
way to emancipation power and joy , .

This being tru e we must t ry to banish

completely every form of morbid sym
pathy It hurts everybody It p erp etu
. .

ates weakness and keeps the mind i n

bondage to inferior imitations In apply .

ing this higher form of sympathy do not

tell the unfortunate that you are sorry .

T ell them how to get r i d of their sorrow .

Then do something substantial to speed

them on the way This is sympathy that
.

is worthy of the name .

R ight thinking cannot be promoted so

long as we sympathize in the old fash .

i o n e d way
. We cannot think c o n s tru c
t i ve l y so long as we permit the mind to
imitate the wrong the weak the inferior
, ,

and the destructive Here h owe ver we

.
, ,

4 8
find a p roblem th at we must solve b e
cause i t is natural for the mind to imitate
to a certain degree We s h ould there
.

fore gi ve th e mind something t o 1 m 1 t at e

that h as quality and superiority In
.

brief we s h ould train the mind to imitate

,

the strong the worthy the superior and

, ,

the ideal and thus cause all mental

,

actions to produce th e strong the ,

wo rthy the superior and the ideal in o ur

,

selves For the mind invariably tends to

.

create th at whic h we th ink of th e most .

T h e true attitude of sympathy will be

promoted to a very great exte nt if we
train oursel v es to live in th e upper story
or rath er th e idealistic state of mind .

There are two planes upon which the

mind can dwell and th ey are usually
called th e idealistic and the mate rialistic .

The ideal plane is th e upper plane while

the materialistic is th e lower In the
.

idealisti c all th e tendencies of th e m i nd

move towards th e qualities of superiority
and worth ; all t h e desires are for the
h igh er and th e better ; all th oughts are
created after the likene s s of our higher
concep tions of th e perfect the true and
,

the superior To l i v e in su ch an attitude

.
is t o b e an ideali st and this is the mean
ing of idealism . An idealistic mind
therefore is a mind that is constantly
ascending and thus taking a larger View
,

and a more beautiful view every day of

th e richness and splendor of real exist
en c e
.

In th e materialistic attitude all the ten

d en c i e s of mind move toward the super
fi c i al the inferior and the imperfect
, . In
this attitude we usually think according
to those false conceptions of things that
have been handed down by the race and ,

all our desires are concerned principally

with satisfying t h e needs of the body .

The materialistic mind is the descending

mind the mind that is losing ground
,

gradually and that is daily being over

,

come more and more by its own per

verted and materialistic th ought habits .

But to live in the upper story is to keep

the mind concentrated upon th e great
possibilities that are latent within us and
to desire with the whole h eart the daily
realization of more and more of the won
ders that are in store for those who are
steadily pressing o n towards greater
things In the up per story we live with
.

5 0
greatness In th e lower story we li v e
.

with mistakes and inferiority In the u p .

per story we s ee th at man is daily unfold

ing the greatness of the super man In -
.

the lower story we see only the d e prav

ity or weakness of error and sin In the .

lower story we are in partial o r complete

darkness In the upper story we are in
.

the ful l light It is th e refore easily

.

understood why the mind must dwell in

the upper story before right thinking can
begin .

After beginning to li ve in th e upper

st o ry t h e conscio usness of superiority
and supremacy will naturally appear and ,

these two states should be thoroughly de

ve l o pe d We should all train ourselves
.

to feel th at we are superior beings ; not

superior to o thers because we are all
s uperior but superior to everything t hat
,

p ertains to personal existence ; superior

t o il l s p ains weakn esses mistakes and
, , ,

failures ; and superior to everything th at

is imperfect or undeveloped Here we .

should remember that the consciousness

of superiority does not produce vanity or
egotism When a person has really b e
.

c ome co nsc io us of th e s up eriority of his

5 !
true being h e is above all small and ques
t i o n ab l e states of mind .

When you are superior you do not have

to make any display of the matter to
prove it It will sho w in your life and in
.

your work and actions speak more elo

,

quently than words The principal r e a

. ,

son why the attitude of superiority is so

important is because it unites th e mind
with everything in your life and your
thought th at h as quality and thereby
,

gives everything in your mi nd and per

s o n a l i ty the stamp of greater worth
!
.

And it is a well known fact that When

ever we enrich our thought or any ex ,

pression of thought we tend to enrich

,

everything in o ur life and those things

t h at we produce through our w ork .

T h e attitude of supre macy should refer

to your own bein g only To rule
.

supremely in your own domain and not

interfere with the domain of any one else
— this is t h e true purpose of self suprem -

a c y And th e value of self supremacy is

.
-

realized not only in its power to give the

individual self mastery but also in the
-
,

fact that when the mind feels that it is

superior it can more easily think its own

5 2
thoughts and th ereby prevent the pr ac
tice of imitating false actions or ideas .

It must therefore be quite evident that

this state is absolutely necessary to s e ien
t ifi c thinking and to the art of thinking
for results .

The mind th at recognizes its own s u

p r e m a c y is a strong mind and will there
fore seek to extend its power wherever
the enlargement of life can be promoted ,

but to accomplish this the mind must be

positive ; that is every action of the mind
,

should be filled so to speak with a

, ,

thought current that tends to press on

and on to the goal in view The posi
tive mind however does not force its
, ,

way but wins because it is strong and

, ,

every mind becomes strong when con

s t a n tl y filled wit h thoughts that are posi

tive and determined T o the attitude of

.

positive ness we should add those of push

and perseverance because these two atti
tudes tend to p romote the increase of the
results that ar e already being gained ;
and there is nothing that succeeds like
that whic h is constantly pressing o n t o
greater success .

W hen w e p ro c e ed t o th ink for r esults

53
we are invariably imbued with th e spirit
of advancement Therefore to increase
.

the power of this spirit the mind should

cul tivate the persevering attitude and
should feel a strong desire to push for
ward into the ever enlarging realms of
perpetual growth But in this connec
.

tion we must not forget courage and pa

t i e n c e nor the progressive attitude
, It .

has been well said that we all could a c

complish far more if we would only
attempt more but 1 n the majority cour
,

age generally fails when in the presence

of great undertakings This however
.
, ,

we cannot a ff ord to permit To the atti .

tude of courage we should add the men

tal states of self reliance and self co nfi
- -

dence and still greater gain will be

realized In fact these two states are of
. ,

such value that their importanc e cannot

be described in words They are not
.

su fficiently developed in the average per

son h owever because he depends too
, ,

m uc h upon environments opportunities ,

and associates and not enough upon him

,

self The great soul depends upon noth

.

ing exterior to himself Such a soul .

makes opportunities to order and changes

54
environments to comply with require
ments Such a soul turns adv ersity into
.

a willing servant and makes e v ery obsta

cle a new path to greater ac h ie vement .

But no soul can become a great soul until

faith in its o wn p ower h as be co me u n
.

bounded .

T h e strong p ositi ve m m d may at times

,

go beyond its own domain and may some

times act in realms where it has no l egal
right but th is can be prevented through
,

the attitude of non resistance another

-
,

most important attitude in the art of con

structive thinking The attitude of r e si s
.

tance is always destructive and therefore

in terferes with the real purpose of right
thinking ! ut it is not necessary to resist
.

anything That which is inferior will dis

.

appear when We produce th e superior

and n o t until th en It is therefore a
.

waste of time and energy to t ry to r e

'

move wrong through resistance Th e

.

proper course t o p ursue is to build up the

right and the wrong will disappear of
itself In this connectio n however it
.
, ,

may seem to be di fficult to c ontinue in a

non resisting attitude when we are con
-

s t a n t l y in the presence of ad v erse co ndi

 tions . But h ere we s h ould remember
that the mind that is constantly creating
the larger and the bett er will h ardly be
(
aware of the imperfect in his life be c ause
the imperfect is con stantly passing away
with the ceaseless coming and upbuilding
of the more perfect Our purpose should
.

be never to resist evil ; though we s h ould

not on the other hand fold our arms and
let things be as they are While we are .

turning away from lesser things we

should concentrate our whole attention
upon the building up of the greater This .

is a method that will give perfect free

dom and continuo us advancement to us
all
.

To the practice of non resistan c e we -

should add forgiveness Forgive e very .

body even yourself To condemn any

, .

thing o r anybody is a misuse of the mind .

So long as we condemn the wrong the ,

mind is forcefully directed towards the

wrong The mental picture of wrong b e
.

comes more deeply stamped upon the

subconscious and more th oughts and
,

mental states will be created in the like

ness of those impressions or pictures .

These impressions will reproduce them

o —m

56
se lves in us and th is is h ow we tend to
create in ourselves what we condemn in
others The reverse of this principle is
.

also true ; that is that we tend to create

,

and build up in ourselves th e good that

we commend and appreciate in others .

To promote the cultivation of forgive

ness we should become conscious of real
purity a nd the reason for this is readily
,

understood when we remember the state

ment about the eye that is too pure to
behold iniquity Why the pure eye does
.

not see evil is a subject too large to be

discussed here But we shall find that
.

the more perfectly we develop t h e con

s c i o u s n es s of purity the smaller and more

insignificant evil becomes to us and the

,

easier it becomes to forgive everybody

for everything! In the attitude of men
tal purity we look upon the mistak es of
the wo rld in the same way as we look
upon the false notes that the child makes
while learning to play We want those
.

false notes corrected but we do not call

,

them bad We know that t h e child will

.

le arn to play perfectly later on not by ,

being punished or scolded but by being

,

taught thoroughly and persistently It is .

57
the same with the mistakes of the human
race and t h ose mistakes s ho ul d be dealt
,

with in th e same manner .

One of th e v ery imp o rtant states of the

mind is that of j g gt ig e or the c onscious
,

ness of justice and it is most necessary

,

that we cultivate the habit of being just

even in minute details The just mind
.

can readily direct its processes of thought

and c reation into th ose channels of
action that are in harmony with the laws
of life while the mind that is not just will
,

misdire c t many of th ose processes and

thereby produce all kinds of detrimental
conditions of mind and body In a state .

of justice everybody has his own T h ere .

fore t o be j ust is to so act that you never

deprive anyone of h is own nor fail to
render to anyone that which is h is own .

To know what really belongs to you and

what really belongs to others however , ,

may at first sight seem to be a di ffi cult

p roblem but we cannot solve it by look
,

ing at e xternal possessions We become .

just by developing the cons c iousness of

justice and not by measuring this to one
and that to the other To execute justice
.

in the w orl d o r in co nne c tion with any

,

5 8
of our own actions we must realize jus
,

ti c e in our o wn soul be c ause e ffects do

not pre c ede c auses .And if all moral
teachers in the world w ould cease their
criticisms of powers and systems and
gi ve their entire a t t e nt 1 o n to the develop
ment of the consciousness of justice in
the mind of the race we s h ould soon hav e
,

an o rder of things whi th would be ab s o

l ut el y just to all . In our own thinking ,

howe v er the attainment of this con

,

s c i o u s n e ss of justice is so absolutely nec

essary that it s h ould be gi v en a most

promine nt place in all o ur e fforts b e ,

cause i t is only thr o ugh the conscious

ness of j ustice that all misdirection of
thought and energy c an be pr evented .

There a re three additional S tates of

mind required to make this study com
p l e
, t e and these are refinement
, recep
t i vi ty and faith. But we need not take
the time to give them special attention as
we all understand t h eir nature and i m
portan c e. Fait h and recepti v ity h ave
special functions to perform in al l kinds
of mental actions and development and ,

th e adv anc ing process of the mind must

of nec e ssity be a refining p r oc ess ; oth er

59
wise growt h would be an impossibility .

The purpose of scientific thinking there

fore cannot be promoted unless the entire
system is permeated with the conscious
ness of refinement And to attain this
.

consciousness we should picture before us

the most refined state of the ideal that
we can possibly conceive and keep this
,

picture before us constantly with th e

deep desire to make it real .

The above is a brief analysis of the

most important of the right mental states
— those states that are needed to place

the mind in that state of action that is

absolutely necessary if we wish to think
for results We are now ready therefore
.

to proceed with the real process of think

ing.

60
 !E R Y normal p erson has a
definite goal that he expects
to reach ; some purpose for
which he 1 5 living thinking ,

and working ; one or more

o bje c ts that he is trying to
g a m p ossession of . But h ow to realize
this ambition is the problem and thou gh ,

he h opes to find the solution in some

way that way is not always as clear as
,

he should wish it to be A study of nat

.

ural laws h owever both physical and

, ,

metaphysical will readily re v eal the

secret .

When we study natural laws w e find

that aimless l i ving is wasteful d et e ri o r at
,

ing and detrimental both to the individ

ual and to the race and the same study
,

reveals th e fact that all th e laws of nature

are constructed for the promotion of prog
ress and growth Therefore to be nat
.

ural we must mo v e forward and to move ,

forward we must h ave a definite purpose .

From this we conclude th at the life with

a definite p urp o se is t h e o nly natural life .
And as it is natural nature must be able ,

to provide a way by which such a life can

be perfected fully and completely In .

other words there must be a solution for

,

every problem and this being true he , ,

who seeks the solution will certainly

find it .

Nature is dual physical and meta ,

physical What we fail to find in the

.

one therefore we shall certainly find in

, ,

the other ; and the study of the larger

metaphysics g1 ves us the solution for the
problem under consideration This s o .

l u t i o n is based upon the discovery that

thought is the one power that determines
the life the position the circumstances
, ,

and the destiny of man and that to use ,

that power we must learn to think for re

s ul t s .

‘
Whether the individual is to move for
ward o r not depends upon what he
thinks His actions his intentions his
.
, ,

motives his plans h is tendencies his e f

, , ,

—
forts all of these play their part but ,

they are all the products of thinking and ,

therefo re are invariably like t he process

of thinking from wh ic h they sprang .

Every thought is a p ower in th e life

62
where it is created and will either pro
mote o r retard the purpose of t h at life .

Every thought y o u think is either for

you or against you It will either
.

push you forward or hold you down .

When your own th ought is against you

all your actions e fforts tendencies
, , ,

plans intentions and e verything that is

, ,

produced by thought o r directed by

thought will also be against you ; and
conversely everything that you do with ’

mus c le or brain will be for you when

your thought is for you This is a fact .

the importance of which is certainly

great And since it has been fully dem
.

o n s t r a t e d to be a fact we cannot a fford

to give it less than our most profound a t

tention .

Since it is natural to h ave definite aims

in life in fact absolutely necessary in
,

order to be in harmony with the purpose

of life and since it is natural to mov e
,

forward it must be natura l to have only

,

such thoughts as are for you ; thoughts

that can push you forward and that will
be instrumental in promoting the pur
pose you have in view In other words
.
,

to comply with the laws o f nature physi ,

53
cal and metaphysical it is necessary to
,

think in such a way that all mental action

tends to produce growth advancement ,

and progress In this connection we find

. ,

’
that nature s laws do not conflict One .

law declares that the individual mus t

move forward constantly if he would be
in accord with nature and another law ,

declares that our thoughts will either

promote or retard the forward move
ment T herefore when our thinking r e
.

t ar d s our progress we violate natural law

and will consequently produce conditions
that are detrimental .

To discriminate between right and

wrong think ing between sc i entific and
,

chaotic thinking and all thinking is

,

chaotic that is n o t scientific becomes ,

very simple when we define t h e former

as being in accord with natural laws and ,

the latter as being at variance with nat

ural laws Or to be more explicit s c i en
.
,

t i fi c thinking is the formation of all such

mental actions mental states and m ental
,

forces as have the power to produce in

our e fforts what nature has given all
thi ngs in th e human system the power
to produce It is the intention of nature
.

54
th at all things shall work for perpetual
advancement of all things Therefore a .

though t to be i n accord with nature must

have the inherent impulse as well as the
power to promot e ad vanceme nt in its
sp h ere of action.

To be scientifi c is t o be in a cc ord wit h

nature ; to work physically and mentally
with nature and t o carry out the funda
,

mental intentions o f nature And since .

all th e actions of man are produced and

directed by his thinking he cannot work
,

with natur e unless his thinking is in a c

cord with nature and is designed and a p
,

plied wi th definite results i n v iew In .

brief thinking is scientific and designed

,

when its purpose is to produce advance

ment and when it has at the same time
,

bot h the p o wer and th e k nowledge to

carry out that purpose .

E ve ry intelligent person tries to live

in accord with n atural laws but as a rule ,

comp lies only with those laws that deal

with the physical side of life He th ere .

fore cannot be in perfect a c cord with

nature because to obey one group of
laws and ignore another group will pro
du c e noth ing b ut co nfu sio n and u lt imate

65
failure And wh at is imp ortant i t is not
.
,

possib l e to co mply perfectly with p hysical

laws unl ess we understand metaphysical
laws ! hysi c al a ctions are both produced
.

and d ire cted by mental action Not a .

muscle c an move unless the mind moves .

Therefo re if the mental action is not

,

fully in accord wit h natural laws it will

not be possible for the conse quent physi
cal actions to be in full accord with na
ture. It is no t difficult to understand
therefore why th e maj ority of those who
have tried t o live in accord with nature ,

and tried t o apply fully the powers and

possibilitie s o f nature h av e not suc
,

c e e d ed in as l arge a measure as their

ambitions might desire They h ave tried

.

to bring physical actions into harmony

with nature wh ile their mental actions
have been more or less at v ariance with
n ature . T h ey h ave tried to make their
actions s c ientifi c wh ile th eir th inking re
m ained unscientific . And h ere we have
the cause o f practically al l the trouble ,

confusion and failure in the world .

’
T h e statement that nature s funda
mental intention is the p erpetual ad
vancement o f all things may b e ques
,
t i o ne dwh en we take note of the many
processes o f nature that ap p ear to be de
structive and find t h at those processes
,

invariably work in h armony with natural

law But when we l ook beneath the sur
.

fa c e we find th at th e c onsuming p rocess

is necessary t o th e refining p rocess and ,

that the decomp osing pro c ess is i nd i spe n

sable to growth That wh i c h destroys
.

does not tend directly t o build up but ,

th e inferior must be removed before the

superior can be constructed T h e force .

of destruction h owever c an be us ed in
, ,

many ways It can be turned into the

.

gross actions of t h e sledge th at tears

down th e present structure Or it c an be
.

employed th r o ugh the channel of trans

mutati o n wh ich removes th e present
structure n o t b y tearing it down but
,
\
,

by c hanging it int o something better In .

the grosser forms of action destruction is

usually s eparated from construction and ,

may or may not be followed by the latter ,

but in the high er forms of acti o n d estru c

tion and construction are one T he i n .

feri e r is destroyed by being immediately

transmuted into the superior And here .

we s h ould remember that e v eryth ing in

67
nature regardless of its p resent condition
can be transformed into something
higher finer and better because every
,

process in nature can promote advance

ment being create d for that purpose
, .

Therefore to be in accord with nature

man must have the same purpose He .

must live think and work for perpetual

,

advancement constant gr owth and eter

,

nal progress .

In preceding pages it h as been stated

that the foundation of scientific thinking
consists of thinking only in the attitude
of right mental states and th e principal
,

right mental states were enumerated and

defined ; and in this connection it may be
added that th e reason why such states of
mind constitute the foundation of s c i e n
t i fi c thinking is based upon the fact that
wrong mental states tend to pervert and
misdirect the original intention of every
process of thinking while right mental
,

states tend to hold in position so to speak

, ,

or properly direct the original intention

of every mental process To think s c i e n
.

t i fi c a l l y and to think for results is t o

think with a definite obj ect in view ; that
is to s o think that every thought will aid
,

68
in the realization of that obj ect . There
fore i t cannot be scientific to originate
a mental process with a certain obj ect in
view and then permit that process to be
misdirected but this is what we con
,

tinn e to do so long as wrong mental

states are permitted to act in the mind .

A misdirected mental process always

creates thought s and mental actions that
are foreign or adverse to the original i n
tention of that process and are in c o ns e
q u e n c e detrimental Such
. thinking there
fore does not only waste time and e ffort ,

but places serious obstacles in the way of

our constructive and properly directed ef
forts In the average mind we find men
.

tal states that are right as well as mental

states that are wrong T h e one group.

assists the forward movement of mind

while the other not only retards or mis
’

d i re c t s b ut usually acts as an obstacle as

,

well This however we cannot a fford to

.
, ,

permit T h e proper course to take there

.

fore in the very beginning is to eliminate

absolutely all mental states th at are
wrong and to shun th em completely in
the future Should we be in doubt as to
.

what states are wrong we need only r e

,

69
member that every mental state is wrong
that has no tende ncy to build and that
!

every state is right that does have a di

rect upbuilding tend ency And in el i m i
.

nating the wrong states of mind the

simplest method is to give so much at
tention to the creation and the strength
e n i n g of right mental states that not a

single mental action is ever p ermitted to

create or perpetuate wrong states In .

other words there will be no power with

,

which to produce the wrong when all the

power of the mind is used in building up
the right.

We may pro c eed th erefore up o n th e

, ,

principle that right mental states consti

tute the foundation of scientific thinking ,

and that the very first thing to do in

learning h ow to think for results is to
train the mind to create entertain and
, ,

perpetuate only right mental states .

When we h ave establish ed this fo und a

tion we may proceed with the first story
of the superstructure To this structure
.

t h ere are several stories but the first one

,

is to give every th ough t you th ink the

tendency and the power to promote your
own indi vidua l p urpo se i n life ; that is ,

7 0
every mental action every mental cre
,

ative process and every form of thinking

should be so constituted that e v erything
that transpires in the mind will work
both fully and dire c tly for your welfare
and advancement In other words train
.
,

your mind to think only th oughts that

will push your work and e v ery though t
,

you think can pus h your work if prop

erly constructed . But th e opposite is
also true Every thou ght you think can
.

interfere with your work if not pro p erly

constructed . We realize th erefore the
importance of discriminating between
t h e right and the wrong even in t h e most
insignificant of our mental attitudes b e ,

cause we want everything th at takes

p lace in our system to act to our ad van
tage .

Before you can apply scientific think

ing m your own life it is necessary to
make a definite decision as to wh at pur
pose you wi sh to live think and work
,

for
. And in most minds th is purpose
will assume a three fold aspect . Th e
first will be to succeed in your v ocation ;
the second will be a c ontinuous develop
ment o f th e l eading men tal qualities ;
and th e th ird will be th e attainment of
higher and higher states of ideal exist
ence To these three many may wish to
.

add the development of one or more

special talents or the attainment of cer
,

tain special obj ects and these di fferent

,

things can easily b e added without inter

fe r i n g wit h th e full promotion of the
general purpose The idea is that you
.

must clearly fix in mind what you wish

to think and work for in the great eter
nal now In the future some or all of
.
,

your plans may be changed but you may ,

do that when the future comes While .

the present remains there must be some

thing definite to work for now and that ,

something should receive your undivided

“
attention By doing justice to the pres
.

ent we shall be far better equipped for

the opportunities of the future In fact .

the very best way to prepare for the

future is to be your very best in the
present and if you are your best in the
,

present your future will certainly be !

better .

Whet her you have a few objects or

many that you wi sh to realize place ,

them p roperly in your mind giving each

7 2
a special position b efore your mental
v ision and th en h ol d these obj e cts c o n
,

s t a n t l y before you as t h e great goa l for

which you desire to live think and work , .

! enter all attention upon that goal men ,

tally m o vm g m that direction every

moment and turning on th e full c urrent
, .

No force of thought or action must go

to the left or to the right Every force .

you place in action in your system must

aim upon th at goal and must proceed
,

with the definite purpose of helping you

reac h that goal In brief you must
.
,

actually live in every sense of the word

for the purpose you have m v1 ew T h at .

does not mean however that y o u must

, ,

ignore th e interest of others or become

oblivious to the many phases of life that
exist about you The mind is comple x
!

and consciousness is capable o f many

grades o f action ; t h erefore you c an in
general be interested in everything that
has worth But all th ese other interests
.

mus t be made a channel through which

your fundamental purpose can be pro
moted or rather an aid to the great plan
,

for which you live think and work If

, .

you are a business man y o u need not

73
ignore music art or liter ature
, The
.

more you hav e of these the better for

your business pro vided you employ them
as forces o f inspiration Though it is
.

necessary for you t o co ncentrate your

life upon your business still you must
,

constantly enlarge your mind ch aracter,

and soul in o rder to insure increased

success in yo ur b us 1 ness Your c apacity
.

for work and your power to improve the

quality of your work must devel op And .

everything in life that has worth can be

made to pr o mo te your o wn individual
growth In o th er words be interested
.
,

i n everyth ing t h at h as quality and worth

anywhere in life and use e v erything you
gain through th is interest for the mak
ing of your own life larger rich er and
,

more successful .

It is not the narrow mind th at suc

ce ed s
. The mind that invariably realizes
the g reatest success is th e mind that is
broad and at the same time h as th e
,

power to focus the whole of its larger

capacity upon the one thing that is being
done now When you c onstantly focus
.

your mind upon that wh ich you are liv

ing for and working fo r you are giving
all your c reati v e p o wers to th ose fa cul
ties and talents th at are required in th e
r e ali z ation o f yo ur o bje cts in v iew It
'

is therefore evident th at th e l arger your

mind is both in its c apacity and power
,

the greater wil l be the results . It re

quires ability and power t o d o th ings .

Therefore th e more ability and the more

power you c an apply in any line of
act ion the more you wil l a cc omplish and
the more rapidly you wi ll advance in
that direct i on F o r this reason we do
.

not wis h to t hrow away ability and

power upon those things th at cannot
promote our present progress We do .

not wis h to gi ve thought and attention

to plans that are of no use to us now .

We may need th ose plans some day but ,

the p lans th at we can use now are the

only ones that have a right t o o ur p res
ent attention .

T he idea is to th ink that you can to ,

think for results and to gi v e your life in

the present to th at whic h can use y o ur
life in the present This is not done
.
,

h owe ver when we permit aimless think

,

ing And th e amount of life and ability

.

th at i s thr own away i n th is manner is

75
enormous .Aimless thi nking has the
same e ffect upon your c apacity and abil
ity as pun ch ing h oles in th e b oiler h a s
upon t h e c apacity of th e engin e ! ut .

the giving o f attention t o foreign o r tem

p o r a ry plans is just as wasteful When
.

you decide upon a plan see it th rough .

G ive y our whole life to it .Turn th e full

force of your wh ole mind upon it and
keep at it until you are ready for some
greater plan You will thus build your
.

self up and prepare yourself for a greater

plan and when suc h a plan arrives
, ,

whic h it positively will drop everything

,

else and give this new plan the ful l force

of your undivided attention .

To o many minds are constantly wish

ing th ey were in some other kind of
work t hus diverting their attention
,

every few moments from th e work in

wh ich th ey are engaged now T h e result
.

is not only p oo r work but th ey place

,

themselves in a p osition where they can

never find opportunity for advancement .

If you want something better to do do ,

your present work so well that it b e

comes a stepping stone to something
better It is the man wh o thoroughly
.
fills h is present pl a c e th at i s ask ed to
co me u p and fill a larger p lace but no
,

man c an fill h is present p lace to full

capa c ity unless al l the l ife and all the
power th at is in him is applied dire ctly
in producing results in th at pla c e .

Since th ought is a definite power wit h ,

great c o nstructive possibilities the more

,

thought we give to our work th e more

successful we shall be in th at work pro
vi d e d our thought is scientific designed
,

and constructive This is simple

. On .

the other hand wh enever we encourage

aimless th inking or wishing for some
thing else to d o we are taking power
away from our work thereby decreasing
results. One o f the first principles in
thinki ng for results therefo re is to give
your whole a ttention t o y o ur present
work ; to gi v e all your c reati v e power to
the building up of the purp o se at hand ;
and to cause every mental acti o n to act
in such a way that it will act with the
plans and for the plans you ar e now
seeking t o p ush t hro u gh
.
 HE ne xt question that will
naturally arise is that of
knowing what to think
about our work and the
objects we have in Vi ew .

Every mental state b e

comes th e mother o f ideas ; every idea can
produce a tendency of mind and every ,

tendency tends to draw mental act i ons

in its own direction A false conception
.

will produce false ideas fals e ideas will

,

originate false tendencies and false ten

d en c i es will lead the mi nd into mistakes .

To promote any purpose h owever mis

, ,

takes must be avoided as far as possible .

Everything must be done correctly and ,

whatever is done should be done better

and better every time . The way we
th ink therefore of what we are to do or
the obj ects we have in view will directly
determine th e results that are to be
attained .

When you think about your work as

being di fficult you form a wrong mental
con c ep tio n ; fo r th e fact is that no w o rk

7 8
is m ore diffi c ult th an w e mak e it and we
,

can relate ourse lv es t o o ur work i n suc h

a way that we s h all always be equal to
the o ccasi o n .W h en yo u t h ink about
your work as di fficult you w il l usually
approach it in the attitude of doubt and
fear and no mind can do its best while
,

in suc h states Nor can yo u relate your

.

self to your work under s uc h conditions

because th e false mental tendenc 1 es that
follow suc h false conception s wil l mis
lead many or all o f your faculties To .

think of your work as being completely

under your personal control is correct
because th e possibilities with in us are
unlimited and we can make oursel v es
equal to any o ccasion From th is we are
.

not to infer h owever that we can do

, ,

now w h at ey er our personal opinions

may conclude t h at we c an do now ; for
suc h opinions are n o t always based upon
the whole truth in t h e matter But the .

idea is th at y o u c an succeed in th at
work wh ic h your best judgment h as de
cided upon and that you can increase
,

your success in that line m o r e and more

for an indefinite period .

T o thi nk o f yo ur work as trivial mean ,

or burdensome is wrong be c ause su ch an
attitude of mi n d will tend t o make you
inferior and there is no success for you
,

while yo u are on the downgrade towards

inferiority To think o f your w ork as
.

ordinary or trivial is to think o rdinary

thoughts and as suc h th oughts will de
,

crease the power of y our mind they will

naturally interfere with your work and
therefore be directly against you in their
actions . To think of your work as
drudgery or as something disagreeable
,

that is to be gone through with is in like

manner a mistake ; the reason being that
such thinking prevents th e mind from
being its best and giving e xpression to
its best You cannot give your heart
!

and soul to that which you despise and ,

you cannot do your best in any kind of

work unless you give it yo ur whole heart
and soul .

If you want to th ink and work for r e

s ul t s you must love your w ork and you
,

can though suc h love is not to be senti

,

mental but rather the feeling of intense

,

a d m i r a t 1 o n for those lines of action that

you know will lead to g reater things .

Think therefore of your work as a ch an

ne l thro ug h wh i ch you are to reac h the
higher places of life be c ause that is what
your work really is if you approach it in
the right way and apply its possibilities
on the largest scale To find fault with
.

wh at you h av e a c complish ed is wr o n g
as it tends t o turn attention upon de
fe ct s and inferiority Every mind should
.

constantly expect to do better and

should with e very e ffort try to improve
upon wh at w as done before but no ,

actual o r ch ro ni c fault finding must be

permitted T o find fault with what you
.

have done is to belittle yourself ; in

brief to place a wet bla nket so to s p eak
, , ,

over your h opes and aspirations In .

stead you s h ould th ink o f your work as

,

very good c onsidering your present de

vel o pm ent b ut you should set your
,

whole h eart and soul upon the attain

ment of someth ing far superior Th ink .

constantly of yo ur work as being sus

cept i bl e t o perpetual improvement T h en
.

proceed to make that thought come true ,

and you will p o sitively succeed .

Every mental process that you turn

into your work must be c onstructive .

Your obje ct is pr o gress t owards th e goal

you have in view . Therefore every,

process that you place in action whether

in mind or personality must be a build
ing process But your desire to make
.

those processes con structive will not

alone make them so The idea of con
.

stant enlargement must be the very soul

of every thought and the whole of your
,

mentality must live and act in a state of

expanding consciousness In the grow
.

ing mind there is an interior ever

increasing feeling of the consciousness of
enlargement and expansion which we
should cultivate extensively and in this
,

feeling every p rocess of thinking should

move The thought th at you put into
.

your work will increase or decrease your

capacity and wil l consequently either
,

promote or retard your progress And .

here we sh ould remember that the

thought you p ut into your work is the
thought you think while you work .

While you work you are actually giving

a part of yourself to that which you are
doing but if you are giving your l ife
,

and p ower correctly you will recei v e

more than you give ; that is the reaction
,

wi l l be greater th an th e a ction In order

.
 “
to gi v e correctly of your life and power
in this manner or rather to think cor
,

re c t l y while at work every mental action

,

in expression at the time s hould be per

meated with the S pirit o f expansion ,

improvement and advan c ement In brief

.
,

you s ho uld feel that th e e ffort you put

into your work i s actually developing
yourself And th is is pr ecisely what is
.

taking place in every mind that thinks

scientifically constructively and accord
,

ing to a definite p urpose wh ile at work .

Your th ought about th e progress of

your w o rk is v ery important and such
though t s ho uld always be th at o f suc
c ess If you are determined t o su cc eed
.

your work is already a success and it is

,

strictly sci entific to think o f i t as such.

When th e s eed is good and h as been

placed in go od soil we can truthfully say
”
that a g o od h ar v est will be fo rthcoming
.

In l ike manner you c an truthfully say

,

that yo u are a suc c ess wh en all the el e

ments needed to p rodu c e success h a v e
been p la c ed in action in y o ur ow n mind
a n d p ersonality . T oo many minds h ow
,

ever do not recogni z e success until they

,

see th e physical results and for this v ery

83
reas o n th e p hysica l r esults are fre
quently limited or of inferior worth ; the
reason being that the real spirit of suc
cess was absent during th e actions of
that pr o cess through which th e physical
results were being p roduced But the
.

c ause o f su cc ess has the same righ t t o

recognition as t h e e ffect of succ ess and ,

if the cause is recognized in the begin

ning t h e e ffects will become muc h larger
because t h e pr o cess will contain a much
larger measure o f the spirit of su cc ess .

When we giv e conscious re co gnition to

a cause we increase its power When .

you hav e selected a work and h ave t e

solved to p ut your whole l ife into it you
are already a success in that work and ,

it is perfectly right fo r you to think of

yourself as a success The cause of that
.

success h as been created ; th erefo re that

success already does exist And by giv
.

ing it faith en c ouragement and mental

,

power it wil l continue t o grow and ,

will finally produce all kinds of rich har

vests o r tangible results in th e external
world .

When a powerful cause has been cre

ated the e ffect is inevitable provided it
,

84
is not destroyed during its process of ‘

expression Wron g thought h owever

.
, ,

has a tendency to destroy e v ery con

structive cause that may h ave been
placed in action in th e mind Therefore
.

we must think correctly harmoniously

,

and constructively of every process of

thought or action all along the line ; that
is we should give every good cause
,

definite recognition as an individual

p ower and give it full rig h t of way in our
world To create a good cause and then
.

ignore it is to deprive it of life during its

infancy but this is the very thing we do
,

when we proceed in th e belief th at we

may succeed some day . Say instead ,

and say it with all the power of mind

and soul I AM S U ! ! ESS NOW Every
, .

true e ffort i s s uccessful because it not

only has the power to produce success ,

but is actually working out successful

results ; and if it is encouraged pus h ed ,

and promoted it wil l positively express

the success desired in real life To push .

or promote a true e ffort we should think

of it as being already an individual
power for success because th at is what
,

it i s and by dealing with it a s s u ch we

,
turn our creative powers into its sphere
of acti o n which means that t h e desired
resul ts will invariably follow .

T h e progress of anything will n ec es

s a r i l y depend upo n the methods em ;

ployed Therefore the way we plan for

.
,

greater achievements and the methods we

employ in promoting our advancement ,

are matters of extreme importance .

Every plan should be directly related

to th e purpose which it is intended to
promote and e very method we employ
,

should be based upon the laws required

to carry it out It is also important to
.

increase the capacity of every new plan

as much as possible In formulating the
.

best plans and methods however the

, ,

laws of life should be thoroughly under

stood especially those laws that act in
the metaphysical field because all phys
ical action to be e ffective must be pre
ceded by effective mental actions But.

in addition to having the r ight methods ,

the right plans and the knowledge of

constructive action physical and mental
, ,

we must also have a powerfu l faith if we

wish to work and think for results .

When we plan for greater things and

86
have faith in greater th ings w e s h al l c er
t a i nl y see those greater things realized .

In fact the power of faith in th e promo

,

tion of any plan or purpose is so great

that no one can a fford to give it other
wise than the most thorough attention .

Though faith in one of its phases is what

may be termed a mental attitude an ,

attitude with an upward look still it is ,

in i t s most important phase a positive

mental force T h e mental force or action
.

of faith is always elevating expanding ,

and constructive Therefore to have

.
,

faith in yourself and in your work is to

cause all the powers of your mind to b e
come elevating expanding and c o n s tru c
,

tive in all their actions Faith always

.

tends to build and it builds the loftier ,

the perfect a nd t h e more worthy ! oub t

x
‘

.
,

however retards and retreats ; it is a

,

depress ing mental state th at we canno t

a fford to entertain for a moment ! ut .

such a state can be removed at once b y

cultivating faith ; and as we proceed to
get faith we should by all means get an
abundance of faith for in all e fforts that
aim for great results we c annot have to o
much faith .
 It h as been said that fait h and science
can never harmonize because according
,

to some they are antagonistic and a c ,

cording to others they act in domains

that are wholly dis similar But no m at
.

ter what the views of the past may be on

the subj ect the fact is that there is noth
ing more scientific than faith and also,

that there is nothing that will aid the

mind more in becoming scientific and
constructive than a thorough realiza
tion as well as expression of the spirit
, ,

of faith The more fam iliar we become

.

with real faith the more convinced we

become that faith is indispensable in
every e ffort we make physical or mental
, ,

i f the best results are to be secured In .

fact faith must be made the very soul of

,

every thought and the living spirit of

,

every mental action For this reason we

.

realize that no greater step forward can

be taken than to give faith the first place
in life if our purpose in life is to think
and work for results .

88
 AN i s as h e thi nks and h is
'

t h oughts ar e 1 nvar i abl y

c reated in t h e likeness of
h is mental c onceptions of
t h ose things o f whic h h e
th inks about h abitually .

Th erefore as man impro v es h is mental

conceptions of all things h e will impro v e
himself in the same me asure To i m .

p rove t h ese menta l conceptions attention

should always be c oncentrated upon the
ideal o f everything of whic h we th ink .

That is all thinking s ho uld move toward

,

the greater th e larger and t h e sup erior

, .

Whate v er w e think ab o ut w e s h ould

always th ink a bout its ideal side its ,

larger side and its superior side E very .

thing h as tw o sides t h e limited or ob

,

j e c t i ve side and t h e unlimited or s ub j e c

tive side W h en we c onsider o nly the

.

limited obj e cti v e sid e o f t h ose th ings we

think about o ur mental c onceptions will
be small sup erficial and materialistic
, .

But wh en we c onsider the unlimited sub

j e c t i v e s id e o f t ho s e t h in gs o ur mental
conceptions will be larger finer and o f ,

far superior worth .

The capacity the power and the bril

,

l i an cy of the mind depends entirely upon

its mental concept i ons If the mental
.

conceptions are formed in the likeness of

the external common or the ordinary
, ,

the mind will be inferior in every respect ,

and vice versa It is therefore of the

.

highest i mportance th at every mental

conception be as high as perfect and as
,

ideal as it is possible to make it And to .

bring this about it is necessary to train

the mind to concentrate attention upon
the ideal side of everything and to think
with the larger the greater and the
,

superior always in view .

Wh en thinking about persons n o men

tal conceptions s h ould be formed of the
mere external o r personal si de “ The
superior man alone should receive direct
attention To lo o k through the person
. ,

so to speak and v1 ew the inner po s s i b i l

,

ities and all the worthy qualities that w e

,

know to exist back of the imperfect man

—
i fe s t a t i o n this is the correct and t h e
s cientific way to think about t h e peopl e
we meet When we a nalyz e the inferior
.

9 0
 '

t hmg s w e see about a p erson and permi t

those things to a ffect our minds we form
inferior and detrimental conceptions in
our own minds When we think a great
.

deal about the smallness we imagine we

see in others we tend to breed smallness
in ourselves But when we think only of
.

the larger and t h e better side of others

we cause our minds to rise in the scale
and thus gain power and u nderstanding
we never had before In this connection
.

the law is that when we look with deep

interest for everyth ing that is superior
in others we actually develop t h e supe
rior in ourselves .

When we think of the body we s hould

not think of it as common flesh as the
majority do because the physical form
,

will tend to express the crude and the

common w h eh we think of it in that way .

Wh en your mental actions are low crude ,

and coarse your body will have an ordi

—
nary earth ear thy appearance but when,

those actions are highly refined your

body will express a more refined appear
ance to correspond All suc h actions
.

constitute or are p roduced b y the

, ,

th oughts we th ink T h erefore all our

.

9 1
menta l actions are as c rude or as fi n e as
our th oughts themselves To be s ci en
.

t i fi c in this however we should think of

, ,

the body as a great temple with millions

of apartments each one furnished m ost
, .

’
gorgeously with nature s own wealth and
beauty and this is what the body really
,

is Every cell of the body when viewed

.

under a microscope is like a crystal pal

ace and the body is composed of millions
,

of such We should always think of the

.

body as a divinely formed structure as ,

an ideal creation and we should mentally

,

View its perfect elements its forces and ,

laws in this manner as they perform their

daily miracles We should think of the
.

body as it is in its true inner self as it ,

is in its fine and delicate structures and

we should not think of those i m perfe c
tions in its appearance which our own
crude mental actions have produced ; for
when we form in mind the highest con
ce pt i o n possible of the ideal physical
form we will not only cause the body to
grow more beautiful every year but we ,

will also enrich the mind with th oughts

o f high and superior worth .

When we think of the mind we s ho uld

not th ink of its flaws or undeveloped
states but try to realize how great and
,

wonderful the mind really is and then ,

hold attentio n upon our highest co nc ep

tion of true greatness When all our
.

mental activitie s m ove towards th is lofty

idea of a bril l iant and prodigious mind
w e shall steadily develop our own mind
up to that superior state ; for a c cording
to a well known metaphysical law we
mentally move towards the ideals we
persistently hold in mind T h erefore by
.

directing our attention upon the greater

'

side of the mind we shall actually arise

into mental greatness thus tending
directly to develop superiority in our
own minds T h is is the path to mental
.

'

greatness but it is so simple that few

,

have found i t k

When we thi nk about life we s h ould

always view the sunny side of personal
existence and the real life of interior
existence Instead of v1 ew 1 n g life as a
.

burden or as a misery to be endured now ,

that glory may come in th e future we ,

should think of the unbounded po s s i b i l

ities th at real life has in store h ere and
now . Our m ind sho uld be co n c er ned

93
with the real life itself and should seek
to form the very highest conceptions
pos sible of such a life . There is no
greater subject for thought than life
when we look at life as an eternity of
rich and marvelous possibilities And to .

view life in this way will not only ele

vate and enlarge t he mind but will also,

give us the conscious realization of a

continuous increase in life And as life .

increases everything in mind and per

s o n a l i ty will increase to correspond A .

great life produces a great mind and a

high soul but to attain the greater life
,

we must enlarge our view of l ife And .

this we do by turning all attention upon

'

real life itself and the marvelous possi

,

b i l i t i e s of real life
. R ealizing these facts
we should never think of that which is
small when we have the capacity to think
of that which is great And we all can
.

think of the great T here is a beautiful

.

and a wonderful side to all life and the ,

possibilities of all life are unbounded .

We therefore understand the value of

training ourselves to take the correct
view of life for to think of the larger and
,

the more beautiful side o f all life is to e n

94
large and beautify t h e life th at is in us .

The same principle should be observed

in all our thought about nature and to ,

learn how to enter into that perfect com

munion with nature where we can see
her real beauty and her wonde rful power ,

is to apply a faculty that deserves the

highest state of cultivation in every
mind . Those mental conceptions that
are formed while we are in perfect touch
with the true in nature are of exceptional
worth and will add largely to the power
and superiority of mind . Therefore
w hen we think of nature all attention
should be concentrated upon the ideal ,
‘
the beautiful and true side When we
.

s e e what may seem to be flaws it is wi s

dom to pass them b y and never permit

them to i mpress our minds Even a
.

weed should be though t of wit h respect

because it is also a product of natural
law and it is our privilege to transform
,

the weed into something that has real

beauty and worth But her e it is highly
.

important to remember that our power

to perfect anything in nature can only
increase as we think less of its flaws and
more of its h idden spl end ors .

95
 Wh en we come to th e subj ect of our
own personal life and experiences we
cannot apply too well the p rinciple of
scientific thinking because what we
,

think of the experi ences of to day will -

largely determine what experiences we

are to have to morrow What we receive
-
.

from life passes through the channel of

experience and every channel tends to
modify that which passes through The .

subject therefore is vitally important .

As frequently stated before scientific ,

thinking is thinking that produces the

larger th e better the greater and the
, ,

superior ; thinking that promotes prog

ress ; thinking that produces results And .

suc h thinking is scientific because it is i n

harmony with the purpose of life which
is to advance constantly in the produc
ing of greater and greater results ; co u se
quently to think scientifically about ex
p e ri e n ce every mental conception formed
by experience should be formed in the
likeness of those facts th at will be found
back of the experience Every e x .
p e r i
ence can teach us somethi ng we do no t
know ; therefore instead of d epl o rm g the
exp eri en c e we should receiv e it with joy

9 6
and pro c eed at once to l ook for th e truth
it has come to convey No experience
.

will be unpleasant if we meet it with the

one desire to know what it has to teach ;
and wh at is better still when we think of
e xperience as a messenger of truth we
will form only lofty mental conceptions
of all experience We will thus not only
.

gain much new truth but we will enrich

,

the mind with these many superior con

c ept i o n s
. In the usual way we meet u n
p leasant experiences with a heavy heart ,

and we meet the pleasant ones with the

thought of personal gratification T h ose.

mental conceptions that we form wh ile

thinking of our experiences in the usual
way will th erefore be ordinary and fre
quently detrimental In the meantime
.
,

the new trut h that those experiences

could have conveyed will remain u n
learned and undiscovered .

The reverses and misfortunes of life

are usually looked upon with regret and ,

are deplored as so many obstacles in our

way but suc h though t is not conducive
,

to good results R everses come because

.

we hav e failed to comply wit h the laws

o f l ife t herefore instead of regretting
,

97
th e e xperien c e we sh ou l d use it as a
means of finding wherein we have failed .

And having done this we may proceed

once more with t h e positive assurance of
gaining increased success Misfortunes
.

may also be employed as builders of

character because there 1 5 nothing that
strengthens the mind and the soul so
much as t o pass through reverses with
out b eing mentally or morally disturbed .

The spiritual giant can pass through

anything and gain good from anything .

To h i m misfortunes are not disagree

able ; they ar e S 1 m pl y opportunities to
bring out greater life and power to learn
,

more laws to ga1 n a better understand

,

ing of things and thus achieve still

,

greater t hings when the next attempt is

made But though we may not have a t
.

t a i n e d such a lofty state we can at least

pass through reverses with our minds
fixed c onstantly upon the high goal in
view The result will be greater moral
.

stability greater mental power and the

,

turning of fate in the direction we our

selves desire to move .

T hat knowledge and power is gained

through pam I S a well known belief a nd

9 8
it 1 s one of th ose beliefs th at contains
much truth ; and it is also true that when
we h ave learned the lesson the pain c ame
to teach the pain disappears When the .

pain is felt attention should at once be

directed upon that finer and larger life
that lies back of the personal man We .

feel pain because the outer forces are not

in harmony with the more perfect life
within ; therefore to remove the pain this
harmony must be restored To restore .

this harmony we shou ld proceed to g ain

consciousness of the finer forces of the
inner life because when we become con
scious of the inner life which is always
,

in harmony the disorder of the o u t er l i fe

'

will disappear The more we think of

.

t h e pain the more conscious we become

of the discord in the outer life and the
more di fficult it become s to gain con
s c i o u s n e s s of the harmony of the inner

life
. Therefore to th ink scientifically
about pain is to take the mind beyond
pain into the inner realms of life where
perfect harmony reigns T he r esult will
.

z
be freedom from pai rs and gthe n i s c o very
of a new interior worl d ”W he nw w
.
e take
this high er v iew io f pans rever ses mis
-
,
a
a

3 )

3
fortune tr o ubles and the like we grad
,

u al l y work ourselves out of the lower

and th e confused and will ere long get

,

out of them entirely It is therefore evi

.

dent that when we think scientifically

about the ills of life we proceed directly
to rise above them and will therefore
meet them no more This is perfectly
.

natural because when your thoughts are

high you will rise in the scale ; you will
leave behind the inferior and the wrong
and you will enter into the possession of
the superior and the right .

When we think about ourselves we

s hould always think about the unlimited
possibilities of th e within Attention
.

should be directed upon the larger self ,

and every thought should be formed in

the likeness of the highest mental con
c ep t i o n s that we can form of the supe

rior We may however recognize the

.
, ,

existence of flaws in our nature ; in fact ,

it is necessary to know where the weak

places are in order to remove them ; but
the min d sh ctuld ne ver hold its attention
upon th ose week E p l
(
a c e s The
. mental
eye zs hou l d n ey es look upon the imper
‘

fe ct but S h oul d ge k th no u gh it and direct

,
e
its vision towards th e ideal And h ere .

we find the reason why the average per

son does not improve as he should The .

fact is he thinks of himself as he appears

to be in the limited personal self He .

patterns his thought after the small life

that he can see in the outer self And as .

man is as h e thinks he will therefore not

rise above the quality or the nature of
his own thought No one can rise any
‘

higher t h an his thoughts Therefore so

.
,

long as your thoughts are like your

present limited personal life you will
never become any more than you are
now . The mind h owever th at tran
, ,

scends its present states talents and

,

qualities and tr i es to gain mental con

c ept i o n s of the larger and the superior

will steadily ris e and become as large as

those new conceptions th at have been
formed and may later rise still h igh er
,

thus reach ing greater h eights of con

s c i o u s n es s
, ability and power t h an was
,

dreamed of before .

In the world of feeling th e th orough

application of the law of scientific
thought is extremely important ; the
reason being th at we generally li v e u po n
those planes wh ere our feelings are th e
strongest All our feelings therefore
.

should be transformed to the highest

planes of thought and living that we can
possibly think of But since feeli ngs
.

deal principally with forces whether in ,

mind or personality it is in the world of

,

force that we shall have to direct our

attention if a change of feeling is to be
made And this is done very simply by
.

training the mind to always try to feel

the finer and the more powerful forces
that are back of every state condition or ,

action Whenever anything takes place

.

i n your system try to feel the finer forces

in that part of the system where the
action is taking place This experience
.

may not give you any new sensation at

first but you will gradually become con
,

scious of a whole universe of finer life

and action within yourself Then your .

mind will be living in a much larger

world and in a much richer world T hese .

finer life forces that you feel within your

self are t h e powerful creative energies of
the subconscious and it is these energies
,

that are so valuable in the development

of the m ind and the reconstruction of the

1 02
body Therefore wh enever you exercise
.
,

the sense of feeling try to feel th e higher

and the finer that is in you You will .

soon succeed and the results will not

only add enjoyments bot h to mind and
,

personality but will also give you the

,

mastery of new and powerful forces .

An expanding and ascending desire

should be back of every action of the
mind and all e ff orts to gain th e con
,

scious realization of the new s h ould aim

at the very largest mental scope and
realization possible Every desire should
.

desire the largest th e purest the most

, ,

refined and the most perfect e xpression

that present mental capacity can be con
scious of This will add remarkably to
.

t h e joy of l iving and will h a v e a refining

e ffect upon the entire system T h e most .

refined expressions of desire give the

greatest pleasure wh eth er th e channel of
,

expression be p hy sical mental or spirit

,

ual But no d esire should be destroyed

. .

The proper c ourse is to refine it and turn

it into ch annel s through wh ic h th e forces
back of th at desire can be wisely em
ployed now When we refine o ur desires
.

those desires will ne ver lead us into

1 63
wrongs or temptat i ons because the fa ct
is that a refined desire never desires t o
do wrong On the contrary every desire
.
,

that desires higher and higher expres

sions will through su c h a desire tend t o
,
‘

enter into the right the more perfect and

,

the superior . In this connection we ,

should remember that all ascending

actions are right actions that all descend
,

ing actions are wrong actions and that ,

this is the only di fference between right

and wrong .

Every mental aim should have the

greater in view and every plan that is
,

formed should embody the largest possi

b i l i t i es conceivable Too many minds
.

fail because their plans are so small and

their aims too low ; but the larger and
the higher 1 s 1 nva ri ab l y the purpose of
—
scientific thought thought that thinks
for results Every mental force there
.
,

fore should be a n aspiring force and

,

should have the power to spur us on to

greater e fforts and higher goals This is .

extremely important as we s ha ll kno w

when we learn that all forces are creative .

When all the forces of your system are

trained to aspire everyth i ng that is b e
,

1 04
ing created in your system will b e
created more perfectly and you will
steadily advance In like manner when
.
,

every mental action is constructive ,

everything t h at may be placed in action

in your mind will tend to build you up
and will tend t o work for the purpose
you h ave in view Mental actions that
.

have no particular aim are usually de

structive but every action of the mind
,

can be made constructive if we make it

a point to always think for results The .

first step in this connection and the only ,

really important step is to have a strong

,

desire for mental construction constantly

held in mind and to give this desire i n
,

creased attention when our mental a c

!

tions are especially strong In all our .

e fforts our object should be greater

\

things and to realize this obj ect no

,

building power in mind or personality

must be idle or misdirected On the con .

t r a ry
, everything within us should be
trained to work for all those d efinite t e
s u l t s that we have i n view and all actions
,

of mind and body should be so perfectly

directed upon the production of those
results that everything we do under any

t o;
c irc um stan ce will tend to work con
s t a nt l y and directly for those results. It
is when we proceed in this manner that
our thinking is right d es 1 gn ed and s c i e n
,

t ifi c and it is such thinking alone that

‘

we can employ w he n w e mm to think for

results .

1 06
 0 make the right use of
th ought we m ust make it
a practice t o think that
which is inherently true .

Therefore whatever we
think about we must for
m ul at e our thoughts according to the
truth wh ic h we know to exist within
that of whic h we think When we think
.

about life we must think of life as it is in

itself and not as it appears to be in the
personal exis tence of some one who does
not know how to use life There a r e
.

people wh o make life a burden but life ,

in itself is anything but a burden On .

the contrary it is a rare privilege There .

fore to thi nk of life as a burden is to

,

take the wrong view of life It is to .

think the untruth about life It is to

.

view life from the standpoint of one who

h as misapplied life Accordingly what
.

we judge is not life but a mistaken

,

o p inion about life Our thought in the

.

matter will thus be foreign to life and

will naturally mislead us wh en w e try to
apply it in connection with real livin g .

When we th ink about l ife we must

think ab out real life and not about some
illusio n that we might have of life The.

’
a v erage person s th ought about life ,

however is simply an opinion about his

,

misunderstanding about life and there

fore his thinking is never designed con ,

structive nor scientific L ife itself is a

joy a ric h blessing and it means so
,

much that an eternity of mental gro wth

will be required to comprehend i t s entire
meaning .L ife is not something that
co m es and goes ; it is something that
always is Neither 1 8 life something that
.

can be produced or destroyed L ife is

.

ine x haustible and indestructible and con

tains within itself a definite and eternal
purpose We should therefore view life
.

according to this idea And when we

.

gain this right idea of life we can become

more deeply conscious of real life and
thus gain possession of more life This
.

is extremely important because it is only

as we gain added life that we can gain
added ability and power When we gain
.

a correct conception of life we also enter

into h armo ny with the p urpo se o f life
wh ich means to enter th e path of c on
t i nu o u s advancement along all lines the ,

result of whic h will be perpetually i n

creased i n al l things .

When you th ink about y ourself view

yourself as you are at your best and not
as you appear when in the mi d st of fail
ure You never fail when you are at
.

your best and you are true to yourself

only when you are at your best There
.

fore i f you wis h to think the truth about

yourself think about yourself as you are
when you are true to yourself and not as
you appear to be when you are false to
yourself. Scientific thinking does not
recognize weakness of mind or bo dy b e
cause you yourself are not weak and ,

you would never fee l weak if you were

always true to yourself . Thought s
\
should never be formed in the likeness
of a weak condition because such think
mg will perpetuate the condition of
weakness W h en weakness is felt thi nk
.

the truth ab out yourself ; that is that

,
,

you are i nherently strong and the weak

ness will disappear Form your th ought
.

in the likeness of yourself as you are in

your real and larger self ; that is as you
,

1 09
are wh en you are true to y o ur wh ole
—
self full of life strength and vi gor
, .

And your tho ught will become the

thought of strength conveying strength
to every part of your system .

In the right use of thought we never

permit ourselves to say that we cannot .

“
On the contrary w e continue to believe
and say I can do wh atever I undertake
,

to do and I am equal to every occasion ”

.

This is our fi rm conv iction when we h ave

come to that place where we really know
what 1 s m us and it is a conviction that
,

is based upon actual scientific fact U n .

limited possibilities are latent in every

min d ; therefore man is inhere n tly equal
to every occasion and he should claim
his whole power at all times If he does
.

not make himself equal to every occa

sion the cause is that he fails to e xpress
all that is in him But the greater capac
.

ity th at is within anyone cannot fully

express itself so long as thought is cre
ated in the likeness of weakness doubt
,

and limitations T herefore the right and

.

scientific use of thought becomes the

dire c t channe l t hrough which th e great
ness th at is within man may come forth
and a c t in real life
. .

Man is not naturally in the h ands of

fate for the truth is that fate is in the
hands of man Man may appear to be
.

controlled by a destiny that seems dis

tinct fr o m himself but the real truth i s
,

that h e himself h as created the v ery life

and the v ery tendency of that destiny .

The destiny of every man in h is o w n

creation be it good or otherwise but so
, ,

long as he thinks h e is in t h e hands of

this destiny he will fail to intelligently
employ his own creations and will a c
,

c o r d i n gl y originate adverse circum

stances Many h ave speculat ed as to the
.

real cause of adverse circumstances bad ,

luck and t h e like but the cause is simply

,

this th at wh en man fi nd s himself in

,
1

adversity h e has neglected to direct con

.
,

s ci o usl y and intelligently t h e forces

,

which he himself has placed in action ;

and this neglect can in variably be traced
to th e belief that we are all controlled
more or less by wh at we call fate For .

this reason the sooner we eliminat e t h at

belief abs olut ely the better .

No man will attemp t t o co ntro l the

forces of li fe so l ong as h e thinks h e i s
u na v0 1 d ab l y controlled by those forces ;
b ut if those forc es are not intelligently
co ntrolled their action will be aimless
,

and we shall have th at confusion which

i s otherwise termed adversity Every

.

word every thought and every action

,

gives expression to certain life forces ,

and what those forces will do depends

first upon their original nature and se c
ond upon how they are directed in their
c ourse s The sum total of all the words
.
,

thoughts and actions expressed by man

will constitute the forces of his destiny ,

and the result of t h ose forces will con

s t i t u t e h is fate
. What those forces are
in the beginning depends upon what
man created them to be and what those
,

fo rces will unitedly produce will depe n d

upon whether they are directed by m a n
h imself or left to act aimlessly But .

m a n c an make his words thoughts and

r
,

actions what he wishes them to be H e .

can direct them intelligently into chan

nels of constructive and perpetual
gro wth . It is therefore simply under
s to o d how man is unconsciously the
c ause of his fa te , and how he c an c on

1 1 2
s ci o u sl y and intelligently create hi s o wn
fate T o c reate h is ow n fat e h owever
. , ,

he must mak e th e righ t use of t ho ug ht

th at is h e must think for results
, .

T o th ink sc ientifically ab o ut th e p e opl e

we meet it is necessar y t o ap p ly the sam e
p rinciple w hic h we ap ply t o our true
thought about l ife We m u st th ink o f
.

people as th ey are in t hemsel v es and not

as they app ear t o b e w h ile o ut o f h ar
mony with exi s ten c e W h en we are
.

judging man w e s h ould judge th e real

man and n o t h is mistakes T h e mistakes .

of th e man do n o t constitut e th e man

any m o re th an th e absence o f l ight c on
s t i t ut es ligh t T h e usua l w ay howe v er
.
, ,

of judging man is to loo k at h is we ak

points and then after c omparing th ese
with h is strong p o ints cal l the resul t the
man h imself But this is as uns c ientific
.

as t o c ombin e black with wh ite and

,

sp eak o f th e r esul t as p ure wh ite T h e

. .

weaknesses th at w e find i n man may dis

appear i n a day T h e y frequ ently do
. ,

while h is vi rtue s an d superi o r qualities

may doub l e in p ower at any tim e Then .

we have anoth er man and we say h e has

,

ch anged wh i ch i s n o t stri ctly true The

, .
real man h as not c h anged Th e real man
.

is al ready unbounded in life and p ower

an d does not h ave t o c han ge The .

ch ange that we see 1 3 S 1 m pl y th is t h at ,

more o f th e true w orth o f his real being

has b e en expressed .

O ur t h oughts ab out o th er p eopl e ar e

mor e o r less deeply impressed upon o ur
own minds ; t h erefore we cann o t a fford
to th ink anything wrong about anybody .

The b etter we understand life the more

convinced we become that th e a v erage
pers o n is doing th e best h e knows h ow .

For this reason we shall be training o ur

minds to think t h e whole truth about the
h uman race wh en we tak e this view and ,

wh at is h ighly important suc h a View

,

will tend to keep our own minds whole

some and clean Then when we add to
.

this t h e larger vi ew of man himself in ,

his true glory and power our thought ,

about man will become as we wish it to

be stri ctly scientific
,
.

In thinking fo r re sults al l c irc um

stances sh ould be viewed as opportuni
ties because th at is what they are in
r eality
. And to th ink correctly we must
think of things acc o rding t o what there

1 1 4
 really is in them No circumstance is
.

actually against us though we may go

against a circumstance and thus produce
a clash A c 1r c um s t an ce is usually sim
.

i l ar to an electrical force It may de

.

stroy or it may ser v e depending upon

how it is app roac h ed The power h ow
.
,

ever is th ere and we are th e ones to

,

determine what that power is to do Our .

r e l ation to anyth ing in the external de

p ends upon how we view the circum

stances involved . When we think of
c ircumstances as adverse w e become .

antagonistic to those circumstances and

in consequence produce discord trouble ,

and misfortune ! ut when we think of

.

circumstan ces as op portunities to take

advantage of and contro l we relate our
,

selves h armon iously to th e power that is

contained in those circumstances Thus .

by entering into harm ony with that

power we will p erpetuate more and more
of it unti l w e ha ve made it our own
altogether .

W h en disappo intments app ear it is

not scienti fic to feel depressed nor to
view the experience as a misfortune To .

the ad v ancing mind a disapp ointment is

always an open door to something better .

When you fail to get what you want

there is something better at hand for
you ; that is if you are moving forward
, .

Therefore to e v ery advancing mind so

'

called disappointments may be viewed

as prophecies of better things If you .

are not moving forward a disappoint

ment indicates that you h ave not made
yourself equal to your ideal But the
.

fact that you h ave felt disappointment

proves that you have seen the ideal and ,

to see an ideal indicates th at that ideal

is within your reach ready for you to
possess if you will press forward steadily
and surely unti l the goal is reached .

Therefore no matter what your condi

tion may be in life a disappointment i n
d i c a t e s that there is something better at
hand for you if you will go and work for
it
. For this reason instead of feeling
,

depressed you should rejoice and then

,

p ress on with more faith and enthusiasm

than ever that you may meet your own
at th e earliest possible m o ment
Thes e tho ughts are not p resented
S 1 m pl y to give enc o uragement or cheer .

The fact is they are thoroughly s c i e n

1 1 6
tifi c and based upon two well established
laws in metaphysics The first law is
.

that no person can feel disappointed u h

less he has h ad a perception of some
thing better And t h e sec o nd l aw is that
.

whoever is far enough adv anced to per

c e 1 ve t h e better has t h e capacity t o ac

quire th at something better though he

,

must make full use of the power at hand,

T o o many minds t h at see the ideal s i m
ply dream about i t and feel depressed
because t h e ideal h as not been reached ,

while in the meantime th ey do nothing

to work themselves up to that ideal .

Instead such minds should take a s e ien

t i fi c view of the entire subj ect and the n
press on to wards the goal b efo re them .

They positively will succeed .

When we l oo k up o n a disap p ointment

as a misfortune the depressed thought
that f ollows will t ak e us down and away
from the open door of the better things ,

and will in consequence prevent us from

realizing th e greater good whic h was i n
store We s hall then have to give much
.

time and e ff ort to the bringing of our

selves back again to the gates of the
ideal w e h ad in v i ew ! ut s u ch ta c tics
.

1 1 7
we cannot afford to e m ploy i f our obj ect
is to work and think for results We .

conclude therefore that whatever comes

or does not c ome the best way is alw ays
to smile and pres s on .

It is scientific to recognize only the

sunny side of everything and t o expect
only the best results from every e ffort ,

because the sunny side is the real side

and the substantial side and our think
,

ing sh o uld be concerned only with th e

substantial or with th at which has real
,

or possible worth Failure is an empty

.

place so to speak; or a condition i nvo l v

,

ing a group of misdirected actions To .

think of failure therefore is to produce a

mental tendency towards mi sdirected or
abortive actions and at the same time
,

create thoughts that waste energy To .

dwell mentally on t h e sunny side h ow,

ever is to turn all th e actions of t h e

,

mind towards the construction of

greater worth in the mind ; and accord
i ngl y t h e h abit of dwelling upon the
sunny side will invariably tend to de
ve l o p brilliancy of mind clearness of
,

thought and greater intellectual c apac

ity. The p rin c ip al reaso n for t hi s is
found in t h e fa t that su ch a m ind deals
almos t entirely with t h e l arger the ,

greater and the li m itless of th e p otential .

Mind therefore naturally e xpands and

develops a nd steadily gains i n p ower ,

comprehension and lucidity along all

lines To act in harmony with this prin
.

c i p l e we should exp ect the best results

from every e ffort because the best r e

s u l t s do exist potentially in ever y effor t ;

and t o be scientifi c we must think of

things as they really are in themselves
and n o t as they appear while in the
hands o f the i ncompetent . It is not our
purpose to dwell mentally upon t h e ab
sence o f results but to gi v e all our
,

though t and attention to the righ t use of

t hose p o wers within us t h at a c tuall y can
produce resul ts .

To think s cientifically about t h e h ealth

and the wholeness of mind and body 1 5
’

one of the most important essentials of

all because h ealth is indispensable to the
highest attainments and th e greatest
achie v ements . The pr1 n c1 pl e however
, ,

is th at the real man is we l l and that you

,

yourself are the real m an When you

.

are thi nkin g abo ut yourse lf a s y o u really

are and since you the real ! O U th e
, ,

individuality are always well your

, ,

thought of yourself is not right and con

structive unless you think of yourself as
absolute l y and permanently well E very .

condition in th e personal man is the t e

sult of h abits of thought Therefore
.

when you think of yourself as being abS o

l u t el y and permanently well you will
through that mode of thinking give ah
solute and permanent health to the e n
tire system This is a law that is as
.

strong as life itself And we a r e not

.

making extravagant statements when we

declare that if this law were universally
employed disease would be practically
banished from o ff the face of the earth .

This law is the absolute truth and every

student of modern metaphysics knows
that it is the truth That its power is i n
.

vincible no one can deny Therefore the

.

wise course to pursue is to apply this law

t h o ro i i gh l y under all sorts of circum
stances and never lose faith in its e ffe c
t i ve n e s s for a mo m ent .

In training ourselves to think for t e

s u l t s we must constantly bear in mind

the great fact th at man invariably grows

into th e l ik eness of th at w h ic h h e thinks
of the most Therefore think constantly
.
,

of what you want to become and your

life will daily grow in that direction .

T hink c onstantly of health power abil , ,

ity capacity worth and superiority and

, ,

the powers of your being will gradually

and steadily produce all those qualities in
yo ur own system But all such thinking
.

must be deep persistent and of the heart

,
‘

It is that thinking which is in touch with

the under currents of life that shapes h u
m a n destiny ; therefore all such thinking
should always be as we wish to become .

No thoughts should ever enter the mind

that do not contain in the ideal the very
things that we wish to attain or a c co m
p l i s h in the real But to
. train ourselves
in th is mod e of thinking is not difficult .

It is only a matter of deciding what we

want in life ; then to think the most of
those th ings and make such thinking
dee p p ersiste nt po sitive and strong
, , .
 0 train the mind to think
for results there are f our “
essentials that must be
pro v ided The first is to
.

c arry on all thinking in the

attitude of right mental
states Th e second is to think only such
.

th oughts as will push your work and that

will constantly promote your present
purpose in life T he third is to employ
.

only suc h creative processes in the mind

as will tend directly to produce the
larger th e better and the superior And
, .

the fourth is to think only the real truth

about all things ; that is to fashion all,

thought according to the most perfect

i n e nt al conception that can be formed of
the real in everything of which we may
think The first three essentials have
‘

been fully considered in the p receding

pages We shall th erefore conclude by
.

gi ving o ur attention to the fourth And .

in doing so we must prepare ourselves

for thought th at is somewh at deeper than
the usual .

1 22
 To begin we must realiz e that there is
a v ast di fference between what seems to
be true and wh at really is true and that ,

all thinking to be right w h olesome con

, ,

structive and scientific must deal directly

with that which really is true To illus .

trate we will consider th e being of man .

! iewed externally man se ems t o h ave

many imperfections to be limited in all
,

things and to be more or less in the

hands of fate But when we consider not
.
,

the present conditions of the p ersonal

man but th e possibilities of his marvel
,

ous interior nature we fi nd that imper

,

fe ct i o ns are simply greater thi ngs in the

process of development We find that .

there is no limit to his power and i n

herent capacity and we find th at he is
,

strong enoug \
h ,if h e applies all his
strength t o o verco m e any fate to c h ange
, ,

any circumstance and to positively deter

mine his own destiny .

W h en we examine oth er t hings we find

the same to b e true ; th at is th at there is
,

more in everything than what appears on

the surface And therefore wh at ap pears
.

to be true of things wh en view ed e xter

nally is not t h e whol e truth ; i n fact it ,
may frequently be the v ery O pp osite of
the real truth The right use of thought
.
,

however mus t c oncern itself with the

,

real truth or t h e inside facts in the case ;

,

therefore in thinking for results we must

,

fashion our thoughts according to what

really is in thos e tho ughts o f wh i ch we
may be thinking .

In dealing wit h th e inside fa c ts of any

,

ways is ! “
case condition or obje c t the question al
W h at are th e possibilities ;
what can be do n e wit h wh at is in the
thing ; and what results can be gained
from the full use o f e very th i ng t ha t this
f

circumstance or that obj ect may con

”
tain ? And it is highly important to
answer this question as fully and as cor
r ec t l y as possible because we are as we

think and our thoughts are always like

the things we think about Besides we .

must be conscious of th e real interior

possibility of those th ings with which we
deal in order to secure t h e greatest t e
sul ts . If we think only of the i m perfec
tions and the limitations that appear on
the surface our thinking will be inferior ,

and we will become o rdinary both in

mind and p ersonality ! ut if we th ink
.
of what is really true of th e greater possi
b i l i t i es of all t h ings we will think far
g reater th o ughts, and we will t h ink i n
—
spiring though ts thoughts t h at will stir
the mind t o greate r ambition and greater
achie v ement and th e mind will accord
,

i n gl y enter more and more into a larger ,

g reater and ric h er w o.rld In consequence

our mental p owers along all lines will
steadily increase .

To think what is really true about all

th ings is therefore to think of the greater
powers and po ssibilities th at are in all
things ; and t o think the truth in the
broadest s ense is to direct th e mind upon
the wh ole of life with all its possibilities
, ,

and to d eal m entally with all th e rich

ness all t h e power and all t h e marvelous
,

ness that can be discerned in everything

pertaining to life Or to state it briefly
. ,

you have begun to th ink w h at is really

true wh en your m md has begun t o move
constantly tow ards th e v astness o f the
greater th ings that lie b efore us And .

here we must remember that there is no

end to that v astness ; no limit to the
greatness that is inherent in life T h ere.

fore we may go o u and on ind efinitely

,
t h ink ing more and more truth about
e v erything ; and as we d o w e shal l c o n

t i nu e to enric h and e nl arg e bo th t h e tal

ents and th e powers o f th e mind .

It is th erefor e evident th at wh en We
think th e truth about al l th ings t h at is
, ,

think o f wh at is real ly po ssib le in all

things we w i l l c ause the mind t o en large
,

a n d expand co nstantly , be c ause as we

think of th e l arger we invariab ly enlarge
the mind And th e real truth about all
.

things gro w s l arger and l arger th e fur

ther we advance in the p ursuit o f truth .

And t h e importance o f such a mode of

thinking becomes more and more e vident
as we realize that an e v er enlarging mind

i s an absolute n ec essity if o ur ai m is to
think for results .

W h en we pro c eed t o think the truth

about things we naturally th ink o f the
true state of affairs within tho se th ings .

We think of the power itself and not of

its past use Therefore su ch th inking
.
,

wi l l invariably keep the mind in a whole

some and h armonious conditi o n Th at .

whic h is true of the real nature o f th ings

must be good and who lesome and th ere,

fore t o th i nk o f that which i s true must

1 26
necessarily produce w holesome c ondi
tions in th e mi nd And h ere it is well
.

to emphasize th e fact that th e mind t h at

is wholesome and harmonious is far more
powerful than t h e mind th at is not Such
.

a mind therefore may secure far greater

'

results no matter what its work or pur

,

pose may be .

T o think wh at is really true about

everything will for t h e same reason pre
vent the formation o f detrimental and
'

perverted sta tes o i mind and will also

,

prevent the misdirecti o n of mental

energy This is a fact of great import
.

ance to those wh o aim for results b e ,

c ause m the average mind the majority

of the energies placed in action are either
misdire cted or applied in such a way as
t o be of no permanent v alue Another
.

fact th at needs emph asis in this connec

tion is that the thinking of truth will tend
to bring out all that is in us And the
.

reason is that when we th ink o f what

there really is in everything t h e mind b e
comes more penetrating as wel l as more
comprehensive in its scope of action The .

result therefore wi ll naturally be that o ur

own m ental a ct io ns w i ll p enetr ate more
and m o re every element an d p ower that
is in us and thus arouse more and more
,

of everyth ing th at is in us In o ther.

words the mind will p roceed to a c t p os

,

i t i vel y upon everything t h at exists in the

vast domain of our own mental world ,

conscious and sub conscious and will ,

actually think into activity every power

and faculty we possess .

When we think the real trut h about '

everything in life including our own self

, ,

we invariably focus attention upon the

best the largest and the richest that ex
,

i s t s in e v erything . And this we must

do if our purpose is to secure greater and
better results the further we go in our
progress toward attainment and achieve
ment Your mind your thought your
.
, ,

ability yo ur power in brief everything

, , ,

of worth in your system cannot be fully ,

and e ffectively applied unless your atten

tion is constantly concentrated upon
the greater ; unless you are men
tally moving towards the greater ;
unless you are giving your whole life and
power to the greater ; and to this end
y 0ur attention mu st c o nstantly be fo

1 28
c us ed upon th e best and th e greatest th at
y o u can possibly picture in your mind .

When you think the truth y o u think of

what can be done You do not think o f
.

weakness obstacles or possible failure ;

,

nor do you consider what may be dark ,

adverse o r detrimental in your p resent

circumstances Instead you think of the
.

tremendous power that is within you ,

and you try to turn on the full current

of that power so that what you want to
accomplish positively will be a cco m
p l i s h e
. d But in turning on that full cur
rent you make a special e ffort to make
every act 1 on 1 n your system constructive ,

whether it be physical or mental because ,

in working for results you want all th at

is in you to work thoroughly continu ,

o u s l y and directly for those self same t e

s ul t s
. We realize therefore the import
ance of training t h e mind to think the
truth according to th is larger view of the
truth in order that the best use the full,

est use and the most e ffective use of

every power of mind and thought may
b e applied and we shall find as we pro
o e c d t h at the art of thinking the truth in

th is manner can be readily mastered by

1 29
anyone wh ose desire is to make h i s life
as large a s rich and as perfect as life
,

can be made .

To restate the pri nciples and ideas

upon which the right use of the mind is
b a s e d w e need simply return to the four
.

essentials mentioned in the beginning of

this chapter We proceed by pl a c i n g i h e
‘

mind in certain mental states called right

mental states because the mind has more
power while acting in such states and ,

can act more e ff ectively while acting

through the wholesome constructive atti
tudes of those states We continue by
.

thin king only such thoughts as will tend

to work with us and give their full force
,

to the pr omotion of our purpose We .

avoid thoughts and mental states that are

against us and permit only those that are
positively and absolutely for us . We
place in action only such mental pro c esses
as tend to create the larger the better
,

and the superior in ourselves because our

obj ect is not simply to secure results
now but to secure greater and greater t e
,

s u l t s ; and to promote this object we must

c onstantly develop the larger the better

,

and the superior in ourselv es L astly we

.
make i t a spe c ial point to th ink th e real
truth about all th i ngs ; that is we form
,

our mental con c eptio ns our ideas and our

,

t h oughts in th e exact likeness of the

great th e marvelous and the limitless
,

th at is inh erent in all life .

We aim to fashion o ur th oughts a o

cording to e v erything that is great lofty ,

and of superior worth so th at we may

t h ink great thoughts because we are as
we think When our thoughts are small
.

we will become small weak and i n effi

,

cient ; but when our thoughts are great

we will become great powerful and effi
,

cient This is the law and as we apply

.
,

this law as fully and as e ff ectively as we

possibly can we shall positively become
'

much an d achieve much and the obj ect

,

we have in view -the securing of greater

a

—
and greater results will be realized .

Therefore in all our thinking we focus all

the actions of mind upon the unbounded
possibilities that are inherent in ourselves ,

that are i nh erent in all things that are

,

inh erent in t h e v astness of the c o smos .

We turn all our thoughts upon the rich ,

th e limitless and the sublime so that w e

may l 1 v e constantly m a larger a nd supe
r ior mental worl d a worl d th at we are
-

determined to make larger and larger

every day And as we li ve think and
.
,

work in that ever growing mental world

-

we 1 ns i s t that everything we do shall,

with a certainty build for that greater

,

future we now have in view ; and that

every action of mi nd and body shall be a
positive force moving steadily surely and
,

perpetually towards t h 0 s e sublime

heights of attainment and achievement
that we have longed for so much while
’
inspired by the spirit of ambition s lofty
dream .