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As
A Man Thinketh, By James Allen
Chapter
2
Effect
Of Thought On Circumstances
A
man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently
cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated
or neglected, it must, and will bring forth. If no useful
seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds
will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.
Just as a gardener cultivates
his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers
and fruits which he requires so may a man tend the garden
of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless and impure
thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers
and fruits of right, useful and pure thoughts. By pursuing
this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is
the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.
He also reveals, within himself, the flaws of thought, and
understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces
and mind elements operate in the shaping of character, circumstances,
and destiny.
Thought and character
are one, and as character can only manifest and discover
itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions
of a person's life will always be found to be harmoniously
related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man's
circumstances at any given time are an indication of his
entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately
connected with some vital thought-element within himself
that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his
development.
Every man is where he
is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built
into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement
of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the
result of a law which cannot err. This is just as true of
those who feel "out of harmony" with their surroundings
as of those who are contented with them.
As a progressive and
evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that
he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which
any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives
place to other circumstances.
Man is buffeted by circumstances
so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside
conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power,
and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his
being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the
rightful master of himself.
That circumstances grow
out of thought every man knows who has for any length of
time practiced self-control and self-purification, for he
will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances
has been in exact ratio with his altered mental condition.
So true is this that when a man earnestly applies himself
to remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift
and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a succession
of vicissitudes.
The soul attracts that
which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also
that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished
aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires
and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives
it own.
Every thought-seed sown
or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there,
produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and
bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance.
Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.
The outer world of circumstances
shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant
and unpleasant external conditions are factors which make
for the ultimate good of the individual. As the reaper of
his own harvest, man learns both of suffering and bliss.
Following the inmost
desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which he allows himself
to be dominated (pursuing the will-o'-the wisps of impure
imaginings or steadfastly walking the highway of strong
and high endeavor), a man at last arrives at their fruition
and fulfillment in the outer conditions of his life. The
laws of growth and adjustment everywhere obtain.
A man does not come
to the alms-house or the jail by the tyranny of fate or
circumstance, but by the pathway of grovelling thoughts
and base desires. Nor does a pure-minded man fall suddenly
into crime by stress of any mere external force; the criminal
thought had long been secretly fostered in the heart, and
the hour of opportunity revealed its gathered power. Circumstance
does not make the man; it reveals him to himself. No such
conditions can exist as descending into vice and its attendant
sufferings apart from vicious inclinations, or ascending
into virtue and its pure happiness without the continued
cultivation of virtuous aspirations; and man, therefore,
as the lord and master of thought, is the maker of himself
and the shaper of and author of environment. Even at birth
the soul comes of its own and through every step of its
earthly pilgrimage it attracts those combinations of conditions
which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own
purity and impurity, its strength and weakness.
Men do not attract that
which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies,
and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost
thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it
foul or clean. Man is manacled only by himself; thought
and action are the jailors of Fate--they imprison, being
base; they are also the angels of Freedom--they liberate,
being noble. Not what he wished and prays for does a man
get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are
only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his
thoughts and actions.
In the light of this
truth what, then, is the meaning of "fighting against
circumstances"? It means that a man is continually
revolting against an effect without, while all the time
he is nourishing and preserving its cause in his heart.
That cause may take the form of a conscious vice or an unconscious
weakness; but whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the
efforts of it possessor, and thus calls aloud for remedy.
Men are anxious to improve
their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves;
they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink
from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object
upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly
as of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is
to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal
sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how
much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised
life?
It is pleasing to human
vanity to believe that one suffers because of one's virtue;
but not until a man has extirpated every sickly, bitter,
and impure thought from his soul, can he be in a position
to know and declare that his sufferings are the result of
his good, and not of his bad qualities; and on the way to,
yet long before he has reached that supreme perfection ,
he will have found, working in his mind and life, the great
law which is absolutely just, and which cannot, therefore,
give good for evil, evil for good. Possessed of such knowledge,
he will then know, looking back upon his past ignorance
and blindness, that his life is, and always was, justly
ordered, and that all his past experiences, good and bad,
were the equitable outworking of his evolving, yet unevolved
self.
Good thoughts and actions
can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions
can never produce good results. This is but saying that
nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles
but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world,
and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and
moral world (though its operation there is just as simple
and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate
with it.
Suffering is always
the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an
indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself,
with the law of his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering
is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.
Suffering ceases for him who is pure. There could be no
object in burning gold after the dross had been removed,
and a perfectly pure and enlightened being could not suffer.
The circumstances which
a man encounters with suffering are the result of his own
mental inharmony. The circumstances which a man encounters
with blessedness are the result of his own mental harmony.
Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of
right thought; wretchedness, not lack of material possessions,
is the measure of wrong thought. A man may be cursed and
rich; he may be blessed and poor. Blessedness and riches
are only joined together when the riches are rightly and
wisely used. And the poor man only descends into wretchedness
when he regards his lot as a burden unjustly imposed.
Indigence and indulgence
are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally
unnatural and the result of mental disorder. A man is not
rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous
being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result
of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of
the man with his surroundings.
A man only begins to
be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences
to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life.
And he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases
to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds
himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick
against circumstances, but beings to use them as aids to
his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the
hidden powers and possibilities within himself.
Law, not confusion,
is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not
injustice, is the soul and substance of life. Righteousness,
not corruption, is the molding and moving force in the spiritual
government of the world. This being so, man has but to right
himself to find that the universe is right. And during the
process of putting himself right, he will find that as he
alters his thoughts towards things and other people, things
and other people will alter towards him.
The proof of this truth
is in every person, and it therefore admits of easy investigation
by systematic introspection and self-analysis. Let a man
radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished
at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material
conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be
kept secret, but it cannot. It rapidly crystallizes into
habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance. Bestial thoughts
crystallize into habits of drunkenness and sensuality, which
solidify into circumstances of destitution and disease.
Impure thoughts of every kind crystallize into enervating
and confusing habits, which solidify into distracting and
adverse circumstances. Thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision
crystallize into weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which
solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence, and slavish
dependence. Lazy thoughts crystallize into weak, habits
of uncleanliness and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances
of foulness and beggary. Hateful and condemnatory thoughts
crystallize into habits of accusation and violence, which
solidify into circumstances of injury and persecution. Selfish
thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of self-seeking,
which solidify into distressful circumstances.
On the other hand, beautiful
thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of grace and
kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances.
Pure thoughts crystallize into habits of temperance and
self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose
and peace. Thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision
crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances
of success, plenty, and freedom. Energetic thoughts crystallize
into habits of cleanliness and industry, which solidify
into circumstances of pleasantness. Gentle and forgiving
thoughts crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify
into protective and preservative circumstances. Loving and
unselfish thoughts which solidify into circumstances of
sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.
A particular train of
thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to
produce its results on the character and circumstances.
A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can
choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape
his circumstances. Nature helps every man to gratification
of the thoughts which he most encourages, and opportunities
are presented which will most speedily bring to the surface
both the good and the evil thoughts.
Let a man cease from
his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften towards
him, and be ready to help him. Let him put away his weakly
and sickly thoughts, and the opportunities will spring up
on every hand to aid his strong resolves. Let him encourage
good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness
and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying
combinations of colors which at every succeeding moment
it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures
of your ever-moving thoughts.
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