If you get a thorough understanding of the thought contained in Part
Ten, you will have learned that nothing happens without a definite
cause. You will be enabled to formulate your plans in accordance with
exact knowledge. You will know how to control any situation by bringing
adequate causes into play. When you win, as you will, you will know
exactly why.
The ordinary man, who has no definite knowledge of cause and effect,
is governed by his feelings or emotions.
He thinks chiefly to justify his action. If he fails as a businessman,
he says that luck is against him. If he dislikes music, he says that
music is an expensive luxury. If he is a poor office man, he says
that he could succeed better at some outdoor work. If he lacks friends,
he says his individuality is too fine to be appreciated.
He never thinks his problem through to the end. In short, he does
not know that every effect is the result of a certain definite cause,
but he seeks to console himself with explanations and excuses. He
thinks only in self-defence.
On the contrary, the man who understands that there is no effect
without an adequate cause thinks impersonally. He gets down to bedrock
facts regardless of consequences. He is free to follow the trail of
truth wherever it may lead. He sees the issue clear to the end, and
he meets the requirements fully and fairly, and the result is that
the world gives him all that it has to give, in friendship, honor,
love and approval.
PART TEN
1. Abundance is a natural law of the Universe. The evidence of this
law is conclusive; we see it on every hand. Everywhere Nature is lavish,
wasteful, extravagant. Nowhere is economy observed in any created
thing. Profusion is manifested in everything. The millions and millions
of trees and flowers and plants and animals and the vast scheme of
reproduction where the process of creating and recreating is forever
going on, all indicates the lavishness with which Nature has made
provision for man. That there is an abundance for everyone is evident,
but that many fail to participate in this abundance is also evident;
they have not yet come into a realization of the Universality of all
substance, and that mind is the active principle whereby we are related
to the things we desire.
2. All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions are of value
only as they confer power. Events are significant only as they affect
power; all things represent certain forms and degrees of power.
3. Knowledge of cause and effect as shown by the laws governing electricity,
chemical affinity and gravitation, enables man to plan courageously
and execute fearlessly. These laws are called Natural Laws, because
they govern in the physical world, but all power is not physical power;
there is also mental power, and there is moral and spiritual power.
4. Spiritual power is superior because it exists on a higher plane.
It has enabled man to discover the law by which these wonderful forces
of Nature could be harnessed and made to do the work of hundreds and
thousands of men. It has enabled man to discover laws whereby time
and space have been annihilated and the law of gravitation to be overcome.
The operation of this law is dependent upon spiritual contact, as
Henry Drummond well says:
5. "In the physical world as we know it, there exists the organic
and the inorganic. The inorganic of the mineral world is absolutely
cut off from the plant or animal world; the passage is hermetically
sealed. These barriers have never yet been crossed. No change of substance,
no modification of environment, no chemistry, no electricity, no form
of energy, no evolution of any kind can ever endow a single atom of
the mineral world with the attribute of Life."
6. "Only by the bending down into this dead world of some living
form can those dead atoms be gifted with the properties of vitality;
without this contact with life they remain fixed in the inorganic
sphere forever. Huxley says that the doctrine of Biogenesis (or life
only from life) is victorious all along the line, and Tyndall is compelled
to say: 'I affirm that no shred of trustworthy evidence exists to
prove that life in our day has ever appeared independent of antecedent
life.'
7. "Physical laws may explain the inorganic, Biology explains
and accounts for the development of the organic, but of the point
of contact Science is silent. A similar passage exists between the
Natural world and the Spiritual world; this passage is hermetically
sealed on the natural side. The door is closed; no man can open it,
no organic change, no mental energy, no moral effort, no progress
of any kind can enable any human being to enter the spiritual world."
8. But as the plant reaches down into the mineral world and touches
it with the mystery of Life, so the Universal Mind reaches down into
the human mind and endows it with new, strange, wonderful and even
marvelous qualities. All men or women who have every accomplished
anything in the world of industry, commerce or art have accomplished
because of this process.
9. Thought is the connecting link between the Infinite and the finite,
between the Universal and the individual. We have seen that there
is an impassable barrier between the organic and the inorganic, and
that the only way that matter can unfold is to be impregnated with
life; as a seed reaches down into the mineral world and begins to
unfold and reach out, the dead matter begins to live, a thousand invisible
fingers begin to weave a suitable environment for the new arrival,
and as the law of growth begins to take effect, we see the process
continue until the Lily finally appears, and even "Solomon in
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these".
10. Even so, a thought is dropped into the invisible substance of
the Universal Mind, that substance from which all things are created,
and as it takes root, the law of growth begins to take effect and
we find that conditions and environment are but the objective form
of our thought.
11. The law is that Thought is an active vital form of dynamic energy
which has the power to correlate with its object and bring it out
of the invisible substance from which all things are created into
the visible or objective world. This is the law by which, and through
which all things come into manifestation; it is the Master Key by
which you are admitted into the Secret Place of the Most High and
are "given dominion over all things." With an understanding
of this law you may "decree a thing and it shall be established
unto thee."
12. It could not be otherwise; if the soul of the Universe as we
know it is the Universal Spirit, then the Universe is simply the condition
which the Universal Spirit has made for itself. We are simply individualized
spirit and are creating the conditions for our growth in exactly the
same way.
13. This creative power depends upon our recognition of the potential
power of spirit or mind and must not be confused with Evolution. Creation
is the calling into existence of that which does not exist in the
objective world. Evolution is simply the unfolding of potentialities
involved in things which already exist.
14. In taking advantage of the wonderful possibilities opened up
to us through the operation of this law, we must remember that we
ourselves contribute nothing to its efficacy as the Great Teacher
said: "It is not I that doeth the works, but the Father that
dwelleth in me, He doeth the work". We must take exactly the
same position; we can do nothing to assist in the manifestation, we
simply comply with the law, and the All-originating Mind will bring
about the result.
15. The great error of the present day is the idea that Man has to
originate the intelligence whereby the Infinite can proceed to bring
about a specific purpose or result. Nothing of this kind is necessary;
the Universal Mind can be depended upon to find the ways and means
for bringing about any necessary manifestation. We must, however,
create the ideal, and this ideal should be perfect.
16. We know that the laws governing Electricity have been formulated
in such a way that this invisible power can be controlled and used
for our benefit and comfort in thousands of ways. We know that messages
are carried around the world, that ponderous machinery does its bidding,
that it now illuminates practically the whole world, but we know too
that if we consciously or ignorantly violate its law by touching a
live wire, when it is not properly insulated, the result will be unpleasant
and possibly disastrous. A lack of understanding of the laws governing
in the invisible world has the same result, and many are suffering
the consequences all the time.
17. It has been explained that the law of causation depends upon
polarity, a circuit must be formed; this circuit cannot be formed
unless we operate in harmony with the law. How shall we operate in
harmony with the law unless we know what the law is? How shall we
know what the Law is? By study, by observation.
18. We see the law in operation everywhere; all nature testifies
to the operation of the law by silently, constantly expressing itself
in the law of growth. Where there is growth, there must be life; where
there is life there must be harmony, so that everything that has life
is constantly attracting to itself the conditions and the supply which
is necessary for its most complete expression.
19. If your thought is in harmony with the creative Principle of
Nature, it is in tune with the Infinite Mind, and it will form the
circuit, it will not return to you void; but it is possible for you
to think thoughts that are not in tune with the Infinite, and when
there is no polarity, the circuit is not formed. What, then, is the
result? What is the result when a dynamo is generating electricity,
the circuit is cut off and there is no outlet? The dynamo stops.
20. It will be exactly the same with you, if you entertain thoughts
which are not in accordance with the Infinite and cannot therefore
be polarized; there is no circuit, you are isolated, the thoughts
cling to you, harass you, worry you, and finally bring about disease
and possibly death; the physician may not diagnose the case exactly
in this way, he may give it some fancy name which has been manufactured
for the various ills which are the result of wrong thinking, but the
cause is the same nevertheless.
21. Constructive thought must necessarily be creative, but creative
thought must be harmonious, and this eliminates all destructive or
competitive thought.
22. Wisdom, strength, courage and all harmonious conditions are the
result of power and we have seen that all power is from within; likewise,
every lack, limitation or adverse circumstance is the result of weakness,
and weakness is simply absence of power; it comes from nowhere, it
is nothing -- the remedy then is simply to develop power, and this
is accomplished in exactly the same manner that all power is developed,
by exercise.
23. This exercise consists in making an application of your knowledge.
Knowledge will not apply itself. You must make the application. Abundance
will not come to you out of the sky, neither will it drop into your
lap, but a conscious realization of the law of attraction and the
intention to bring it into operation for a certain, definite and specific
purpose, and the will to carry out this purpose will bring about the
materialization of your desire by a natural law of transference. If
you are in business, it will increase and develop along regular channels,
possibly new or unusual channels of distribution will be opened and
when the law becomes fully operative, you will find that the things
you seek are seeking you.
24. This week select a blank space on the wall, or any other convenient
spot, from where you usually sit, mentally draw a black horizontal
line about six inches long, try to see the line as plainly as though
it were painted on the wall; now mentally draw two vertical lines
connecting with this horizontal line at either end; now draw another
horizontal line connecting with the two vertical lines; now you have
a square. Try to see the square perfectly; when you can do so draw
a circle within the square; now place a point in the center of the
circle; now draw the point toward you about 10 inches; now you have
a cone on a square base; you will remember that your work was all
in black; change it to white, to red, to yellow.
25. If you can do this, you are making excellent progress and will
soon be enabled to concentrate on any problem you may have in mind.
When any object or purpose is clearly held in thought, its precipitation,
in tangible and visible form, is merely a question of time. The vision
always precedes and itself determines the realization.
Lillian Whiting
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