Part Ten
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 |