Part Sixteen
The vibratory activities of the planetary Universe are
governed by a law of periodicity. Everything that lives has periods
of birth, growth, fruitage, and decline. These periods are governed
by the Septimal Law.
The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the
moon, the harmonies of sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism,
atomic structure. It governs the life of individuals and of nations,
and it dominates the activities of the commercial world.
Life is growth, and growth is change, each seven years period
takes us into a new cycle. The first seven years is the period of
infancy. The next seven the period of childhood, representing the
beginning of individual responsibility. The next seven represents
the period of adolescence. The fourth period marks the attainment of
full growth. The fifth period is the constructive period, when men
begin to acquire property, possessions, a home and family. The next
from 35 to 42, is a period of reactions and changes, and this in
turn is followed by a period of reconstruction, adjustment and
recuperation, so as to be ready for a new cycle of sevens, beginning
with the fiftieth year.
There are many who think that the world is just bout to pass out
of the sixth period; that it will soon enter into the seventh
period, the period of readjustment, reconstruction and harmony; the
period which is frequently referred to as the Millennium.
Those familiar with these cycles will not be disturbed when
things seem to go wrong, but can apply the principle outlined in
these lessons with the full assurance that a higher law will
invariably control all other laws, and that through an understanding
and conscious operation of spiritual laws, we can convert every
seeming difficulty into a blessing.
PART SIXTEEN
1. Wealth is a product of labor. Capital is an effect, not a
cause; a servant, not a master; a means, not an end.
2. The most commonly accepted definition of wealth is that it
consists of all useful and agreeable things which possess exchange
value. It is this exchange value which is the predominant
characteristic of wealth.
3. When we consider the small addition made by wealth to the
happiness of the possessor, we find that the true value consists not
in its utility but in its exchange.
4. This exchange value makes it a medium for securing the things
of real value whereby our ideals may be realized.
5. Wealth should then never be desired as an end, but simply as a
means of accomplishing an end. Success is contingent upon a higher
ideal than the mere accumulation of riches, and he who aspires to
such success must formulate an ideal for which he is willing to
strive.
6. With such an ideal in mind, the ways and means can and will be
provided, but the mistake must not be made of substituting the means
for the end. There must be a definite fixed purpose, an ideal.
7. Prentice Mulford said: "The man of success is the man
possessed of the greatest spiritual understanding and every great
fortune comes of superior and truly spiritual power." Unfortunately,
there are those who fail to recognize this power; they forget that
Andrew Carnegie's mother had to help support the family when they
came to America, that Harriman's father was a poor clergyman with a
salary of only $200 a year, that Sir Thomas Lipton started with only
25 cents. These men had no other power to depend upon, but it did
not fail them.
8. The power to create depends entirely upon spiritual power;
there are three steps, idealization, visualization and
materialization. Every captain of industry depends upon this power
exclusively. In an article in Everybody's Magazine, Henry M.
Flagler, the Standard Oil multi-millionaire, admitted that the
secret of his success was his power to see a thing in its
completeness. The following conversation with the reporter shows his
power of idealization, concentration and visualization, all
spiritual powers:
9. "Did you actually vision to yourself the whole thing? I mean,
did you, or could you, really close your eyes and see the tracks?
And the trains running? And hear the whistles blowing? Did you go as
far as that?" "Yes." "How clearly?" "Very clearly."
10. Here we have a vision of the law, we see "cause and effect",
we see that thought necessarily precedes and determines action. If
we are wise, we shall come into a realization of the tremendous fact
that no arbitrary condition can exist for a moment, and that human
experience is the result of an orderly and harmonious sequence.
11. The successful businessman is more often than not an idealist
and is every striving for higher and higher standards. The subtle
forces of thought as they crystallize in our daily moods is what
constitutes life.
12. Thought is the plastic material with which we build images of
our growing conception of life. Use determines its existence. As in
all other things our ability to recognize it and use it properly is
the necessary condition for attainment.
13. Premature wealth is but the forerunner of humiliation and
disaster, because we cannot permanently retain anything which we do
not merit or which we have not earned.
14. The conditions with which we meet in the world without,
correspond to the conditions which we find in the world within. This
is brought about by the law of attraction. How then shall we
determine what is to enter into the world within?
15. Whatever enters the mind through the senses or the objective
mind will impress the mind and result in a mental image which will
become a pattern for the creative energies. These experiences are
largely the result of environment, chance, past thinking and other
forms of negative thought, and must be subjected to careful analysis
before being entertained. On the other hand, we can form our own
mental images, through our own interior processes of thought
regardless of the thoughts of others, regardless of exterior
conditions, regardless of environment of every kind, and it is by
the exercise of this power that we can control our own destiny,
body, mind and soul.
16. It is by the exercise of this power that we take our fate out
of the hands of chance, and consciously make for ourselves the
experiences which we desire, because when we consciously realize a
condition, that condition will eventually manifest in our lives; it
is therefore evident that in the last analysis thinking is the one
great cause in life.
17. Therefore, to control thought is to control circumstances,
conditions, environment, and destiny.
18. How then are we to control thought; what is the process? To
think is to create a thought, but the result of the thought will
depend upon its form, its quality and its vitality.
19. The form will depend upon the mental images from which it
emanates; this will depend upon the depth of the impression, the
predominance of the idea, the clarity of the vision, the boldness of
the image.
20. The quality depends upon its substance, and this depends upon
the material of which the mind is composed; if this material has
been woven from thoughts of vigor, strength, courage, determination,
the thought will possess these qualities.
21. And finally, the vitality depends upon the feeling with which
the thought is impregnated. If the thought is constructive, it will
possess vitality; it will have life, it will grow, develop, expand,
it will be creative; it will attract to itself everything necessary
for its complete development.
22. If the thought is destructive, it will have within itself the
germ of its own dissolution; it will die, but in the process of
dying, it will bring sickness, disease, and every other form of
discord.
23. This we call evil, and when we bring it upon ourselves, some
of us are disposed to attribute our difficulties to a Supreme Being,
but this supreme being is simply Mind in equilibrium.
24. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
25. Our ability to differentiate it into form is our ability to
manifest good or evil.
26. Good and evil therefore are not entities, they are simply
words which we use to indicate the result of our actions, and these
actions are in turn predetermined by the character of our thought.
27. If our thought is constructive and harmonious we manifest
good; if it is destructive and discordant we manifest evil.
28. If you desire to visualize a different environment, the
process is simply to hold the ideal in mind, until your vision has
been made real; give no thought to persons, places or things; these
have no place in the absolute; the environment you desire will
contain everything necessary; the right persons, and the right
things will come at the right time and in the right place.
29. It is sometimes not plain how character, ability, attainment,
achievement, environment and destiny can be controlled through the
power of visualization, but this is an exact scientific fact.
30. You will readily see that what we think determines the
quality of mind, and that the quality of mind in turn determines our
ability and mental capacity, and you can readily understand that the
improvement in our ability will naturally be followed by increase in
attainment and a greater control of circumstances.
31. It will thus be seen that Natural laws work in a perfectly
natural and harmonious manner; everything seems to "just happen." If
you want any evidence of this fact simply compare results of your
efforts in your own life, when your actions were prompted by high
ideals and when you had selfish or ulterior motives in mind. You
will need no further evidence.
32. If you wish to bring about the realization of any desire,
form a mental picture of success in your mind, by consciously
visualizing your desire; in this way you will be compelling success,
you will be externalizing it in your life by scientific methods.
33. We can only see what already exists in the objective world,
but what we visualize, already exists in the spiritual world, and
this visualization is a substantial token of what will one day
appear in the objective world, if we are faithful to our ideal. The
reason for this is not difficult; visualization is a form of
imagination; this process of thinking forms impressions on the mind,
and these impressions in turn form concepts and ideals, and they in
turn are the plans from which the Master architect will weave the
future.
34. The psychologists have come to the conclusion that there is
but one sense, the sense of feeling, and that all other senses are
but modifications of this one sense; this being true, we know why
feeling is the very fountain head of power, why the emotions so
easily overcome the intellect, and why we must put feeling into our
thought, if we wish results. Thought and feeling is the irresistible
combination.
35. Visualization must, of course, be directed by the will; we
are to visualize exactly what we want; we must be careful not to let
the imagination run riot. Imagination is a good servant but a poor
master, and unless it is controlled it may easily lead us into all
kinds of speculations and conclusions which have no basis or
foundation of fact whatever. Every kind of plausible opinion is
liable to be accepted without any analytical examination and the
inevitable result is mental chaos.
36. We must therefore construct only such mental images as are
known to be scientifically true. Subject every idea to a searching
analysis and accept nothing which is not scientifically exact. When
you do this you will attempt nothing but what you know you can carry
out and success will crown your efforts; this is what businessmen
call far-sightedness; it is much the same as insight, and is one of
the great secrets of success in all important undertakings.
37. For your exercise this week, try to bring yourself to a
realization of the important fact that harmony and happiness are
states of consciousness and do not depend upon the possession of
things. That things are effects and come as a consequence of correct
mental states. So that if we desire material possession of any kind
our chief concern should be to acquire the mental attitude which
will bring about the result desired. This mental attitude is brought
about by a realization of our spiritual nature and our unity with
the Universal Mind which is the substance of all things. This
realization will bring about everything which is necessary for our
complete enjoyment. This is scientific or correct thinking. When we
succeed in bringing about this mental attitude it is comparatively
easy to realize our desire as an already accomplished fact; when we
can do this we shall have found the "Truth" which makes us "free"
from every lack or limitation of any kind.
A man might frame and let loose a star, to roll in
its orbit, and yet not have done so memorable a thing before God as
he who lets a golden-orbed thought to roll through the generations
of time.
H. W. Beecher |