,,the ,,victorious ,,attitude ,,by ,,orison ,,swett ,,marden ,,author ,,of ,,pushing ,,to ,,the ,,front1 ,,peace1 ,,power ,,and ,,plenty1 ,,the ,,miracle ,,of ,,right ,,thought1 ,,keeping ,,fit1 ,,woman ,,and ,,home1 ,,etc4 ,to think you can1 creates the force that can4 ,,new ,,york ,,thomas ,y4 ,,crowell ,,company ,,publishers ,,copyright1 #aiaf ,,by ,,thomas ,y4 ,,crowell ,,company ,sixteenth ,thousand ,illustration3 ,orison ,s4 ,marden ,,to ,,my ,,friend ,,charles ,m4 ,,schwab ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i ,,the ,,victorious ,,attitude #a ,,ii ,,according ,,to ,,thy ,,faith #ag ,,iii ,,doubt ,,the ,,traitor #da ,,iv ,,making ,,dreams ,,come ,,true #fb ,v ,a ,,new ,,rosary #hg ,,vi ,,attracting ,,the ,,poorhouse #aag ,,vii ,,making ,,yourself ,a ,,prosperity ,,magnet #adj ,,viii ,,the ,,suggestion ,,of ,,inferiority #afc ,,ix ,,have ,,you ,,tried ,,love',s ,,way8 #ahc ,x ,,where ,,your ,,supply ,,is #bag ,,xi ,,the ,,triumph ,,of ,,health ,,ideals #bci ,,xii ,,you ,,are ,,headed ,,toward ,,your ,,ideal #bfh ,,xiii ,,how ,,to ,,make ,,the ,,brain ,,work ,,for ,,us ,,during ,,sleep #bhf ,,xiv ,,preparing ,,the ,,mind ,,for ,,sleep #cjc ,,xv ,,how ,,to ,,stay ,,young #cah ,,xvi ,,our ,,oneness ,,with ,,infinite ,,life #cdc ,,the ,,victorious ,,attitude ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,victorious ,,attitude ,go boldly2 go serenely1 go augustly2 ,who can withstand thee then6 ,,browning4 ,what a grasp the mind would have if we could always hold the victorious attitude toward everything6 ,sweeping past obstacles and reaching out into the energy of the universe it would gather to itself material for building a life in its own image4 ,to be a conqueror in appearance1 in one's bearing1 is the first step toward success4 ,it inspires confidence in others as well as in oneself4 ,walk1 talk and act as though you were a somebody1 and you are more likely to become such4 ,move about among your fellowmen as though you believe you are a man of importance4 ,let victory speak from your face and express itself in your manner4 ,carry yourself like one who is conscious he has a splendid mission1 a grand aim in life4 ,radiate a hopeful1 expectant1 cheerful atmosphere4 ,in other words1 be a good advertisement of the winner you are trying to be4 ,doubts1 fears1 despondency1 lack of confidence1 will not only give you away in the estimation of others and brand you as a weakling1 a probable failure1 but they will react upon your mentality and destroy your self-confidence1 your initiative1 your efficiency4 ,they are telltales1 proclaiming to every one you meet that you are losing out in the game of life4 ,a triumphant expression inspires trust1 makes a favorable impression4 ,a despondent1 discouraged expression creates distrust1 makes an unfavorable impression4 ,if you don't look cheerful and appear and act like a winner nobody will want you4 ,every man will turn a deaf ear to your plea for work4 ,no matter if you are jobless and have been out of work for a long time you must keep up a winning appearance1 a victorious attitude1 or you will lose the very thing you are after4 ,the world has little use for whiners1 or long-faced failures4 ,it is difficult to get very far away from people's estimate of us4 ,a bad first impression often creates a prejudice that it is impossible afterwards wholly to remove4 ,hence the importance of always radiating a cheerful1 uplifting atmosphere1 an atmosphere that will be a commendation instead of a condemnation4 ,not that we should deceive by trying to appear what we are not1 but we should always keep our best side out1 not our second best or our worst4 ,our personal appearance is our show window where we insert what we have for sale1 and we are judged by what we put there4 ,the victorious idea of life1 not its failure side1 its disappointed side2 the triumphant1 not the thwarted-ambition side1 is the thing to keep ever uppermost in the mind1 for it is this that will lead you to the light4 ,you must give the impression that you are a success1 or that you have qualities that will make you successful1 that you are making good1 or no recommendation or testimonial however strong will counteract the unfavorable impression you make4 ,so much of our progress in life depends upon our reputation1 upon making a favorable impression upon others1 that it is of the utmost importance to cultivate mental forcefulness4 ,it is the mind that colors the personality1 gives it its tone and character4 ,if we cultivate will power1 decision1 positive instead of negative thinking1 we cannot help making an impression of masterfulness1 and everybody knows that this is the qualification that does things4 ,it is masterfulness1 force1 that achieves results1 and if we do not express it in our appearance people will not have confidence in our achieving ability4 ,they may think that we can sell goods behind a counter1 work under orders1 carry out some mechanical routine with faithfulness and precision1 but they will not think we are fitted for leadership1 that we can command resources to meet possible crises or big emergencies4 ,never say or do anything which will show the earmarks of a weakling1 of a nobody1 of a failure4 ,never permit yourself to assume a poverty-stricken attitude4 ,never show the world a gloomy1 pessimistic face1 which is an admission that life has been a disappointment to you instead of a glorious triumph4 ,never admit by your speech1 your appearance1 your gait1 your manner1 that there is anything wrong with you4 ,hold up your head4 ,walk erect4 ,look everybody in the face4 ,no matter how poor you may be1 or how shabby your clothes1 whether you are jobless1 homeless1 friendless even1 show the world that you respect yourself1 that you believe in yourself1 and that1 no matter how hard the way1 you are marching on to victory4 ,show by your expression that you can think and plan for yourself1 that you have a forceful mentality4 ,the victorious1 triumphant attitude will put you in command of resources which a timid1 self-depreciating1 failure attitude will drive from you4 ,this was well illustrated by a visitor to the ,athenum ,library in ,boston4 ,ignorant of the fact that members only were entitled to its special privileges1 this visitor entered the place with a confident bearing1 seated herself in a comfortable window seat1 and spent a delightful morning reading and writing letters4 ,in the evening she called on a friend and in the course of conversation1 referred to her morning at the ,athenum4 ,why1 ,i didn't know you were a member6 exclaimed the friend4 ,a member6 ,no1 said the lady4 ,i am not a member4 ,but what difference does that make8 ,the friend1 who held an ,athenum card of membership1 smiled and replied3 ,only this1 that none but members are supposed to enjoy the privileges of which you availed yourself this morning6 ,our manner and our appearance are determined by our mental outlook4 ,if we see only failure ahead we will act and look like failures4 ,we have already failed4 ,if we expect success1 see it waiting for us a little bit up the road1 we will act and look like successes4 ,we have already succeeded4 ,the failure attitude loses2 the victorious attitude wins4 ,had the lady in ,boston had any doubt of her right to enter the ,athenum and freely to use all its conveniences1 her manner would have betrayed it4 ,the library attendants would have noticed it at once1 and have asked her to show her card of membership4 ,but her assured air gave the impression that she was a member4 ,her victorious attitude dominated the situation1 and put her in command of resources which otherwise she could not have controlled4 ,the spirit in which you face your work1 in which you grapple with a difficulty1 the spirit in which you meet your problem1 whether you approach it like a conqueror1 with courage1 a vigorous resolution1 with firmness1 or with timidity1 doubt1 fear1 will determine whether your career will be one grand victory or a complete failure4 ,it is a great thing so to carry yourself wherever you go that when people see you coming they will say to themselves1 ,here comes a winner6 ,here is a man who dominates everything he touches4 ,thinking of yourself as habitually lucky will tend to make you so1 just as thinking of yourself as habitually unlucky and always talking about your failures and your cruel fate will tend to make you unlucky4 ,the attitude of mind which your thoughts and convictions produce is a real force which builds or tears down4 ,the habit of always seeing yourself as a fortunate individual1 the feeling grateful just for being alive1 for being allowed to live on this beautiful earth and to have a chance to make good will put your mind in a creative1 producing attitude4 ,we should all go through life as though we were sent here with a sublime mission to lift1 to help1 to boost1 and not to depress and discourage1 and so discredit the plan of the ,creator4 ,our conduct should show that we are on this earth to play a magnificent part in life's drama1 to make a splendid contribution to humanity4 ,the majority of people seem to take it for granted that life is a great gambling game in which the odds are heavily against them4 ,this conviction colors their whole attitude1 and is responsible for innumerable failures4 ,in the betting machines used by horse racing gamblers the bettors make the odds4 ,if1 for example1 five hundred persons bet on a certain horse1 and a hundred bet on another1 then the first horse automatically becomes a five to one choice1 and the odds in favor of his winning are five to one4 ,in the game of life most of us start out by putting the odds on our failure4 ,in horse race gambling the judgment that forms the basis of belief as to the winning horse has a comparatively secure foundation in a knowledge of the qualifications of the different racers4 ,in life gambling it is merely the unsupported opinion or viewpoint of the individual that puts the odds against himself4 ,the majority of people look on the probability of their winning out in the life game in any distinctive way as highly improbable4 ,when they look around and see how comparatively few of the multitudes of men and women in the world are winning they say to themselves1 ,why should ,i think that ,i have a greater percentage of chance in my favor than others about me8 ,these people have as much ability as ,i have1 perhaps more1 and if they can do no more than grub along from hand to mouth1 of what use is it for me to struggle against fate8 ,when people believe and figure that they cannot1 and therefore never will1 be successes1 and conduct themselves according to their conviction3 when they take their places in life not as probable winners1 but as probable losers1 is it any wonder that the odds are heavily against them8 ,mad6 ,insane6 ,eccentric6 we say when some miserable recluse dies in squalor and wretchedness1--,starved1 the coroner's inquest finds1 although bank books revealing large deposits1 or else hoards of gold1 are discovered hidden away in nooks and crannies of the wretched miser's quarters4 ,are such persons1 whom we call mad1 insane1 eccentric1 who stint and save1 and hoard in the midst of plenty1 refusing even to buy food to keep them alive1 any worse than those who face life in a poverty-stricken1 failure attitude1 refusing to see and enjoy the riches1 the glories all around them8 ,is it any wonder that life is a disappointment to them8 ,is it any wonder that they see only what they look for1 get only what they expect8 ,what would you think of an actor who was trying to play the part of a great hero1 but who insisted on assuming the attitude of a coward1 and thinking like one2 who wore the expression of a man who did not believe he could do the thing he had undertaken1 who felt that he was out of place1 that he never was made to play the part he was attempting8 ,naturally you would say the man never could succeed on the stage1 and that if he ever hoped to win success1 the first thing he should do would be to try to think himself the character1 as well as to look the part1 he was trying to portray4 ,that is just what the great actor does4 ,he flings himself with all his might into the rle he is playing4 ,he sees himself as1 and feels that he is actually1 the character he is impersonating4 ,he lives the part he is playing on the stage1 whether it be that of a beggar or a hero4 ,if he is playing the part of a hero he acts like a hero1 thinks and talks like a hero4 ,his very manner radiates heroism4 ,and vice versa1 if the part he takes is that of a beggar1 he dresses like one1 thinks like one1 bows1 cringes and whines like a beggar4 ,now1 if you are trying to be successful you must act like a successful person1 carry yourself like one1 talk1 act and think like a winner4 ,you must radiate victory wherever you go4 ,you must maintain your attitude by believing in the thing you are trying to do4 ,if you persist in looking and acting like a failure or a very mediocre or doubtful success1 if you keep telling everybody how unlucky you are1 and that you do not believe you will win out because success is only for a few1 that the great majority of people must be hewers of wood and drawers of water1 you will be about as much of a success as the actor who attempts to personate a certain type of character while looking1 thinking and acting exactly like its opposite4 ,by a psychological law we attract that which corresponds with our mental attitude1 with our faith1 our hopes1 our expectations1 or with our doubts and fears4 ,if this were fully understood1 and used as a working principle in life1 we would have no poverty1 no failures1 no criminals1 no down-and-outs4 ,we would not see people everywhere with expressions which indicate that there is very little enjoyment in living2 that it is a serious question with them whether life is really worth while1 whether it really pays to struggle on in a miserable world where rewards are so few and uncertain and pains and penalties so numerous and so certain4 ,every boy1 every girl should be taught to assume the victorious attitude toward life4 ,all through a youth's education the idea should be drilled into him that he is intended to be a winner in life1 that he is himself a prince1 a god in the making4 ,from his cradle up he should be taught to hold his head high1 and to look on himself as a son of the ,king of kings1 destined for great things4 ,no child is properly reared and educated until he or she knows how to lead a victorious life4 ,this is what true education means--victory over self1 victory over conditions4 ,it always pains me to hear a youth who ought to be full of hope and high promise express a doubt as to his future career4 ,to hear him talk about his possible failure sounds like treason to his ,creator4 ,why1 youth itself is victory4 ,youth is a great prophecy1 the forerunner of a superb fulfillment4 ,a young man or a young woman talking about failure is like beauty talking about ugliness2 like superb health dwelling upon weakness and disease2 like perfection dwelling upon imperfection4 ,youth means victory1 because everything in the life of the healthy boy or girl is looking upward4 ,there is no downgrade in normal youth2 it is its nature to climb1 to look up4 ,its very atmosphere should breathe hope1 superb promise of the future4 ,if all children were reared with such a triumphant conception of life1 with such an unshakable belief in their heritage from ,god1 that nothing could discourage them1 we would hear no talk of failure2 we would soon sight the millenium4 ,if they were made to understand that there is only one failure to be feared1--failure to make good1 the failure of character1 the failure to keep growing1 to ennoble and enrich one's life1--this world would be a paradise4 ,just think what would happen if all of the down-and-outs to-day1 all of the people who look upon themselves as failures or as dwarfs of what they ought to be1 could only get this victorious1 this triumphant1 idea of life1 if they could only once glimpse their own possibilities and assume the triumphant attitude6 ,they would never again be satisfied to grovel4 ,if they once got a glimpse of their divinity1 once saw themselves in the sublime robes of their power1 they never again would be satisfied with the rags of their poverty4 ,but instead of trying to improve their condition1 to get away from their failure1 poverty-stricken atmosphere1 they cling the more closely to it and sink deeper and deeper in the quagmire of their own making4 ,everywhere we find whining1 miserable people grumbling at everything1 complaining that life is not worth living1 that the game is not worth the candle1 that life is a cheat1 a losing game4 ,life is not a losing game4 ,it is always victorious when properly played4 ,it is the players who are at fault4 ,the great trouble with all failures is that they were not started right4 ,it was not drilled into the very texture of their being in youth that what they would get out of life must be created mentally first1 and that inside the man1 inside the woman1 is where the great creative processes of life are carried on4 ,that which man does with his hands is secondary4 ,it is what he does with his brain that counts4 ,that is what starts things going4 ,some of us never learn how to create with our minds4 ,we depend too much upon creating with our hands1 or on other people to help us4 ,we depend too much on the things outside of us when the mainspring of life1 the power that moves the world of men and things1 is inside of us4 ,there are times when we cannot see the way ahead1 when we seem to be completely enveloped in the fogs of discouragement1 disappointment and failure of our plans1 but we can always do the thing that means salvation for us1 that is persistently1 determinedly1 everlastingly to face towards our goal whether we can see it or not4 ,this is our only chance of overcoming our difficulties4 ,if we turn about face1 turn our back on our goal1 we are headed toward disaster4 ,no matter how many obstacles may block your path1 or how dark the way1 if you look up1 think up1 and struggle up1 you can't help succeeding4 ,whatever you do for a living1 whatever fortune or misfortune may come to you1 hold the victorious attitude and push ahead4 ,a captain might as well turn about his ship when he strikes a fog bank1 because he cannot see the way ahead of him1 and still expect to make his distant harbor1 as for you to drop your victorious attitude and face the other way just because you have run into a fog bank of disappointment or failure4 ,the only hope of the captain's reaching his destination is in being true to the compass that guides him in the fog and darkness as well as in the light4 ,he may not see the way1 but he can follow his compass4 ,that we also can do by holding the victorious attitude towards life1 the only attitude that can insure safety and bring us into port4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,according ,,to ,,thy ,,faith ,where there is ,faith there is ,love1 ,where there is ,love there is ,peace1 ,where there is ,peace there is ,god1 ,where there is ,god there is no need4 ,there is a divine voice within us which only speaks when every other voice is hushed1--only gives its message in the silence4 ,i shall study law1 said an ambitious youngster1 and those who are already in the profession must take their chances6 ,the divine self-confidence of youth1 the unshaken faith that believes all things possible1 often makes cynics and world-weary people smile4 ,yet it is the grandest1 most helpful attribute of man1 the finest gift of the ,creator to the race4 ,if we could retain through life the faith of ambitious1 self-confident1 untried youth1 its unquestioning belief in its ability to carve out its ideal in the actual1 what wonders we should all accomplish6 ,such faith would enable us literally to remove mountains4 ,all through the ,scriptures faith is emphasized as a tremendous power4 ,it was by faith that ,moses led the children of ,israel out of ,egypt1 through the waters of the ,red ,sea1 and through the wilderness4 ,it was by faith that ,elijah1 ,isaiah1 ,daniel1 and all of the great prophets performed their miracles4 ,faith was the great characteristic of ,christ ,himself4 ,the word was constantly on ,his lips1 ,according to thy faith be it unto thee4 ,he often referred to it as the measure of what we receive in life1 also as the great healer1 the great restorer4 ,whenever ,he healed ,he laid the entire emphasis upon the faith of the healer and the one healed4 ,thy faith hath made thee whole1 ,believe only and she shall be made whole1 ,thy faith hath saved thee4 ,or ,he reproved ,his disciples for the lack of faith which prevented them from healing1 as when ,he addresses them1 ,o faithless and perverse generation1 how long shall ,i be with you and suffer you4 ,faith believes2 doubt fears4 ,faith creates2 doubt destroys4 ,faith opens the door to all things desirable in life2 doubt closes them4 ,faith is an arouser1 an awakener of our creative forces4 ,it opens the door of ability and arouses creative energies4 ,faith is the link in the ,great ,within which connects man with his ,maker4 ,it is the divine messenger sent to guide men1 blinded by doubt and sin4 ,our faith puts us in touch with ,infinite ,power1 opens the way to unbounded possibilities1 limitless resources4 ,no one can rise higher than his faith4 ,no one can do a greater thing than he believes he can4 ,the fact that a person believes implicitly that he can do what may seem impossible to others1 shows there is something within him that has gotten a glimpse of power sufficient to accomplish his purpose4 ,men who have achieved great things could not account for their faith2 they could not tell why they had an unflinching belief that they could do what they undertook4 ,but the mere fact of such belief was evidence that they had had a glimpse of interior resourcefulness1 reserve power and possibilities which would warrant that faith2 and they have gone ahead with implicit confidence that they would come out all right1 because this faith told them so4 ,it told them so because it had been in communication with something that was divine1 that which had passed the bounds of the limited and had veered into the limitless4 ,men and women who have left their mark on the world have been implicit followers of their faith when they could see no light2 but their unseen guide has led them through the wilderness of doubt and hardship into the promised land4 ,when we begin to exercise self-faith1 self-confidence1 we are stimulating and increasing the strength of the faculties which enable us to do the thing we have set our heart on doing4 ,our faith causes us to concentrate on our object1 and thus develops power to accomplish it4 ,faith tells us that we may proceed safely1 even when our mental faculties see no light or encouragement ahead4 ,it is a divine leader which never misdirects us4 ,but we must always be sure that it is faith1 and not merely egotism or selfish desire that is urging us4 ,there is a great difference between the two1 and no one who is true to himself can possibly be deceived4 ,when we are doing right1 when we are on the right track1 our faith in the divine order of things never wavers4 ,it sustains in situations which drive the self-centered egoist to despair4 ,the man who does not see the ,designer behind the design everywhere1 who does not see the mighty ,intelligence back of every created thing1 cannot have that sublime faith which buoys up the great achievers and civilization-builders4 ,our supreme aim should be to get the best from life1 the best in the highest sense that life has to give1 and this we cannot do without superb faith in the ,infinite4 ,what we accomplish will be large or small according to the measure of this faith4 ,it is the man who believes in the one ,source of ,all who believes most in himself2 it is the man who sees good in everything1 who sees the divine in his fellow-man1 who has faith in everybody1 who is the master man4 ,the skeptic1 the pessimist1 has no bulwark of faith1 none of the divine enthusiasm that faith gives1 none of the zeal that carries the man of faith unscathed through the most terrible trials4 ,without confidence in the beneficence of the great universal plan we can not have much confidence in ourselves4 ,to get the best out of ourselves we must believe that there is a current running heavenward1 however much our surroundings may seem to contradict this4 ,we must believe that the ,creator will not be foiled in ,his plan1 and that everything will work together for good1 however much wars and crime1 poverty1 suffering and wretchedness all about us may seem to deny this4 ,the abiding faith in a ,power which will bring things out right in the end1 which will harmonize discord1 has always been strong in men and women who have done great things in the world1 especially in those who have achieved grand results in spite of the most severe trials and tribulations4 ,it takes sublime faith to enable a man to fight his way through insuperable difficulties1 to bear up under discouragements1 afflictions and seeming failure without losing heart2 and it is just such faith that has characterized every great soul that has ever made good4 ,whatever other qualities they may have lacked1 great characters have always had sublime faith4 ,they have believed in human nature4 ,they have believed in men4 ,they have believed in the beneficent ,intelligence running through the universe4 ,some of the most important reforms in history have been brought about by very fragile1 delicate men and women1 not only without outside encouragement1 but in the teeth of the most determined opposition4 ,they have agitated and agitated1 hoped and hoped1 and struggled and struggled1 until victory came4 ,no one could even attempt the herculean tasks they accomplished without that instinctive1 abiding faith in a ,power superior to their own1--a ,power which would work in harmony with honesty1 with earnestness1 with integrity of purpose1 in a persistent struggle for the right1 but which would never sanction wrong4 ,think of what the faith of ,st4 ,paul enabled him to do for the world6 ,think of what ,christ's little band of chosen disciples succeeded in accomplishing in spite of the might of the ,roman empire pitted against them6 ,the power of the greatest benefactors of the race came largely from the inspiration of faith in their mission1 their belief that they were born to deliver a certain message to the world1 that they were to make an important contribution to civilization4 ,think of what the faith of the inventor has done6 ,it has kept him at his task1 kept him nerved and encouraged in the face of starvation1 kept him at his work when his family had gone back on him1 when his neighbors had denounced him1 and called him insane4 ,think of what the faith of ,columbus1 of ,luther1 of the ,wesleys1 has accomplished for mankind6 ,it has ever been men with indomitable faith that have moved the world4 ,they have been the great pioneers of progress4 ,an instinctive faith in the ,divine ,force which permeates the universe1 which is friendly to the right and antagonistic to the wrong1 has ever been the unseen helper that supported1 encouraged1 and stimulated men and women to accomplish the impossible1 or that which to lower natures seems beyond human capacity4 ,it is this which sustains brave souls in adversity and enables them to bear up1 to believe and hope and struggle on when everything seems to go against them4 ,it is the same principle which supported the martyr at the stake and enabled him to smile when the flames were licking the flesh from his bones4 ,faith has ever been the greatest power in civilization4 ,it has built our railroads1 has revealed the secrets of nature to science1 has led the way to all our inventions and discoveries1 and has brought success out of the most inhospitable conditions and iron environments4 ,in fact1 we owe everything that has been accomplished to faith1 and yet when we come to its practical application in our everyday affairs how few of us avail ourselves of this tremendous force6 ,the vast majority are looking for some power outside to help1 when we ourselves hold the key which has ever unlocked1 and ever will unlock1 all barred doors to aspiring souls4 ,if people could only realize what a potent building1 creative force faith is1 and would exercise it in their daily lives1 we should have very few paupers1 very few failures1 very few sickly1 diseased or criminal among us4 ,if1 by some magic1 a strong1 vigorous faith could be injected into the men and women of the great failure army to-day1 the larger part of them would get out of this army and get into the army of the successful4 ,it is not alone in our life work1 or in great or special undertakings that faith is necessary4 ,we need it every moment of our lives1 in everything1 great and small1 that concerns us4 ,it is just as necessary to your health as it is to your success4 ,to build up the faith habit1 faith in human nature1 the habit of believing in yourself1 in your ability1 of believing that you are sane1 sound1 and level headed1 that you have good judgment and good horse sense1 that you are victory organized and that you are going to attain your ambition1 is to blaze a path to success4 ,a man begins to deteriorate1 to go toward failure1 not when he loses all of his material possessions1 not when he fails in his undertakings1 but when he loses faith in himself1 in his ability to make his dreams come true4 ,when we remember that self-faith characterizes successful people1 and lack of it the mediocres and the failures1 one would think that everybody would cultivate this divine quality which by itself alone has done so much for the individual and for the world4 ,the reason why faith works such marvels is that it is the leader of all the other mental faculties4 ,they will not proceed until faith goes ahead4 ,it is the basis of courage1 of initiative1 of enthusiasm4 ,much of ,napoleon's power and early success came from his tremendous faith in his mission1 the conviction that he was a man of destiny1 that he was born under a lucky star1 born to conquer4 ,shorn of his mighty belief in his star1 stripped of the faith that he was born to rule1 he would have been no more of a power in human affairs than the dullest private in the ranks of his army4 ,when warned by his generals not to expose himself to the enemy1 he would reply that the bullet or the cannon had not been cast which could kill ,napoleon4 ,this invincible belief in his destiny added wonderfully to his natural powers4 ,it was her conviction that she was chosen of ,god to free ,france from its enemies that made ,joan of ,arc1 the simple1 ignorant peasant girl of ,domrmy1 the saviour of her country4 ,her mighty faith in her divine mission gave her a dignity and a miraculous force of character1 a positive genius1 that made all the commanders of the ,french army obey her as private soldiers obey their superior officers4 ,faith in herself and in her mission transformed the peasant maiden into the greatest military leader of her time4 ,there is no doubt that every human being comes to this earth with a mission4 ,we are not accidental puppets thrown off to be buffetted by luck or chance or cruel fate4 ,we are a part of the great universal plan4 ,we were made to fit into this plan1 to play a definite part in it4 ,we come here with a message for humanity which no one else but ourselves can deliver1 and faith in our mission1 the belief that we are important factors in the great creative plan1 that we are1 in fact1 co-creators with ,god1 will add wonderfully to the dignity and effectiveness of our lives1 will enable us to perform the impossible4 ,if every child were brought up in the firm belief that he was made for health1 happiness1 and success2 if it were impressed on him that he should never entertain a doubt of his power to attain them1 as a man he would be infinitely stronger in his powers of self-assertion and in his self-confidence2 and these qualities strengthen the ability1 unify the faculties1 clarify the vision1 and make the attainment of what the heart yearns for a hundred per cent4 more probable than if he had not been thus reared4 ,a child's faith is instinctive1 and if not tampered with1 destroyed by wrong training1 would continue through life4 ,we see this sort of instinctive faith illustrated by the lower animals4 ,take the birds1 or the domestic hen1 for example4 ,see how patiently she sits on the eggs week after week until the chickens are hatched4 ,she cannot see the chickens when she begins to sit1 but her belief that they will come if she does her part induces her to give up her liberty for weeks1 and to go sometimes for days without food1 that she may keep the eggs at the right temperature in order to produce the chickens4 ,the trouble with most of us is that we do not have sufficient faith in the creative power of the vigorous determination to do a thing1 in the persistent endeavor backed by self--faith to accomplish what we desire4 ,we give up too easily under discouragement4 ,we haven't sufficient stamina and grit to push on under disheartening conditions4 ,we want to see clear through from the beginning to the end of whatever we undertake4 ,we refuse to have faith4 ,yet much of the time throughout life we may have to work without any goal in sight1 or at least without any clear light to see it1 but if the mental attitude is right we know that1 somehow1 we shall attain our heart's desire4 ,we have merely been shown a program which we are capable of carrying out1 a table of contents of our capabilities1 the signs of the corresponding realities1 for faith is not an idle dream1 an illusive picture of the imagination4 ,we have not been mocked by ideals and aspirations1 soul-yearnings and heart-longings for the things which have no possible realities4 ,faith is not a cheat4 ,there is ability to match the faith4 ,there is something about devotion to one's inward vision1 the intense desire and concentrated effort to fulfill what we believe to be our mission here1 that has a solidifying influence upon the character1 gives poise and peace of mind and also helps us to realize our vision4 ,the probabilities are that the iceberg which sent the ,titanic1 with sixteen hundred souls1 to the bottom of the ocean did not even feel a tremor at the shock4 ,more than seven-eighths of its huge bulk was below the water1 deep down in the eternal calm of the sea1 beyond the reach of storm or tempest4 ,like the giant iceberg1 faith reaches down into the serene within of us1 into the eternal calm of the soul4 ,it is not disturbed by the surface commotions4 ,a life poised in faith rides steadily1 triumphantly1 through the tempests and the hurricanes of existence4 ,you will constantly be confronted with things which tend to destroy faith in ,god and faith in yourself4 ,there are many times in life when about all we can do is to hold on to the hand of the ,divine ,guide until we have run through the storm zone4 ,we have to learn to turn away from the heart-breaks of life and to face toward the light4 ,we have to disregard the criticisms and the discouragement of others1 as well as the assaults of fear and doubt1 and press on to our goal4 ,if you go in business for yourself1 if you are struggling to get an education1 if you are making desperate efforts to realize your ambition1 whatever it is1 you will find plenty of pessimists who will predict your failure4 ,they will tell you that you never can build up a business without a lot of capital and outside help in these times of terrific competition1 that you cannot work your way through college1 that you can never be whatever you are dreaming of and longing to be4 ,you will meet plenty of obstacles and much opposition1 and it will take a very stiff backbone1 a lot of sand and grit to keep pushing on towards your goal against great odds1 but faith is more than a match for all these4 ,nothing else will enable you to win out4 ,remember it is not other people's faith in you but your faith in yourself that counts most4 ,it is a good thing to have other people's good opinion1 to have their confidence in us1 their faith in the success of our efforts1 but it is not imperative4 ,our own is4 ,no man ever gets anywhere or does anything great in this world without faith in himself1 without a superb belief that he is on the right track1 that he is doing the thing he was made to do1 that he is going to stick to it through thick and thin to the end4 ,it takes faith to look beyond obstacles1 to see the way over difficulties1 to brave opposition and to allow nothing to swerve us from our course4 ,you cannot keep any one from succeeding who has an unshakable faith in his mission4 ,you cannot crush the faith that wrestles with difficulties1 that never weakens under trials or afflictions1 that pushes on when everybody else turns back1 that gets up with greater determination every time it is knocked down4 ,in the sacred ,confucian scriptures we are told that a very devoted disciple of ,confucius1 on a pilgrimage to his master1 was stopped on his journey by a broad river4 ,as he could not swim and could not procure a boat1 the zealous disciple resolved that he would walk on the water4 ,believing that the necessity of seeing his master was most urgent1 and being filled with zeal in the performance of his mission1 he boldly made the attempt--and succeeded4 ,the record of this miracle is supposed by followers of ,confucius to be just as authentic as the ,bible account of the walking of ,christ on the water4 ,if1 like this zealot1 you have faith in your power to overcome difficulties1 nothing can keep you from your goal4 ,if1 like ,joan of ,arc1 you believe you are appointed by ,god to perform a certain work1 it will help you wonderfully to make good4 ,it will dignify your life and your efforts1 and thus save you from a thousand temptations to waste your time in frivolous pursuits4 ,it will put a higher value upon your importance to the world4 ,to feel that you have a divine mission that no one else can perform1 that you came here with a sacred message for mankind1 and that it is up to you to deliver it will add a wonderful motive for effectiveness in your life work4 ,the consciousness that you are keeping faith with your ,creator and with yourself1 that you are keeping faith with your fellowmen and earning their respect and love1 that you are keeping faith with a splendid life purpose1 with your holiest vision1 gives a satisfaction which nothing else can afford4 ,cling to your faith no matter what happens4 ,it is your best friend4 ,like the magnetic needle on the ship's deck1 which will find the north star1 no matter how dense the fog1 how dark the night1 or how threatening the tempest1 your faith1 even though you cannot see1 will find the way4 ,it sees the open road1 beyond the mountain of difficulties which shuts out the vision of the other faculties4 ,some time ago1 during one of our periodical business crises1 some newspapers made merry over a statement of ,president ,wilson that the condition of the ,united ,states1 illustrated by the fact that eighty thousand freight cars were at the time side-tracked along the lines of one of our great railroads alone1 could be changed by psychology4 ,one of these papers sarcastically suggested that if we should take a dose of the psychology remedy and go to sleep somewhere in the misty1 cloudy lands of theory1 and dream that those eighty thousand empty freight cars were moving1 we should see them move4 ,now1 in spite of newspaper skepticism1 ,i believe that the psychology remedy if applied in every financial1 business1 or other crisis would prove absolutely effective4 ,if all the people of this country would persistently hold a mental attitude of faith in our prosperity1 which is the birthright of the inhabitants of this land of plenty2 if they would have faith that our vast resources would enable us to carry on business1 regardless of conditions in ,europe or elsewhere1 and if they would act in accordance with their faith1 there would be no idle freight cars1 no lack of work1 no lack of money at any time4 ,it is the mental attitude of the people of the ,united ,states that causes financial panics and recurrent hard times4 ,and there is something dead wrong in a state of mind which produces periodical crises1 intervals of nationwide stagnation in a land with resources great enough to make every one of its citizens rich1 in a land where the ,state of ,texas alone could give every one of them a better living than the majority get to-day4 ,before we can make business conditions stable we must have faith in the stability of our limitless wealth1 in the opulence of the earth over which the ,creator has given us control4 ,we have got to hold the prosperous vision1 to see better times with the mental eye1 not dimly in the future1 but now1 to have more faith in our ,maker1 in our nation1 in ourselves individually4 ,why1 if we analyze the matter1 we will see that our unparalleled national prosperity has been built up largely by psychology4 ,its foundations had their root in the faith of our forefathers1 in their belief in our country's possibilities4 ,we all know that faith has preceded every achievement in the world's history4 ,the activities of the whole country to-day are based upon psychology1 upon the mental attitude1 the faith1 the hope1 the expectation of its inhabitants4 ,without a vision the people perish1 and when our vision1 our faith1 shrivels1 when it is obscured or displaced by doubt1 fear1 anxiety1 lack of confidence1 all our activities suffer accordingly4 ,with abundant crops1 with a lowering death rate and increasing longevity of our people1 with constantly growing educational facilities1 ,america ought to register every day of every year a high water point of prosperity4 ,but when a large portion of the people lack faith in the future1 when1 from time to time1 uncertainty is in the air1 when everybody is doubting and fearing1 waiting to see what is coming next1 of course business will stagnate4 ,it will follow the prevailing mental attitude1 hesitate1 waver1 doubt1 stand still like the idle freight cars4 ,we are just beginning to see that faith is as much a real force as is electricity4 ,it is faith that removes mountains--mountains of difficulty1 of opposition1 of doubt1 of distrust4 ,it clears the track of all obstructions4 ,it makes stepping stones of stumbling blocks4 ,faith is the most powerful1 the most sublime of human attributes4 ,without it the bottom would drop out of civilization4 ,it is the fundamental principle of life4 ,faith is the basis of health1 of success1 of happiness1 of love itself4 ,it believes in1 hopes1 trusts1 clings to the loved one in spite of all faults and sins4 ,it is faith that heals1 that achieves1 that hopes4 ,the very feeling of harmony between ourselves and our ,god1 that which gives assurance1 a sense of protection and of safety which nothing else can give1 is born of our faith in ,him1 in whom we live and move and have our being4 ,we must realize and appreciate more and more our divinity1 the fact that we are made in the image of our ,creator and that we must partake consciously of ,his qualities4 ,then we will have more faith in our powers4 ,when we are conscious of having qualities like ,his we can rise above apparent limitations1 above hereditary weakness4 ,it is all preminently a question of holding the right thought--the thought that builds1 the thought that creates1 that produces1 the thought that we have within us unlimited possibilities1 which can be realized4 ,a sublime self-faith is absolutely indispensable to all great achievement4 ,let no one shake your faith in yourself4 ,that is what brings you into closest connection with ,god4 ,it is your mainstay4 ,there is no magic like faith2 it elevates1 refines and multiplies the power of every other faculty4 ,whether we are starting out in life1 or going downhill on the other side1 facing the transition we call death1 faith is our bracer1 the trusty leader that will never fail to guide us to the home of our heart's desire4 ,if you are filled with a great faith you will not fear1 though you walk through the valley of the shadow4 ,though the way may be dark faith will lead you into the light4 ,the ,power that has sustained you every moment of your existence1 and without which you could not exist a fraction of a second1 will certainly not leave you in your greatest need4 ,if you bade your child jump into your arms1 he would not hesitate even though it was so dark that he could not see you4 ,he would jump because of his faith in you4 ,he would know that he would be perfectly safe in doing whatever you told him4 ,why should we fear to jump into the arms of the ,infinite when we come to death's door1 which is only the entrance to another life8 ,why should we fear to cross the valley that leads to the new life when we know that our great ,father-,mother-,god is on the other side waiting with outstretched arms to receive us8 ,i will not doubt2 well anchored in the faith1 ,like some stanch ship1 my soul braves every gale1 ,so strong its courage that it will not fail ,to breast the mighty unknown sea of ,death4 ,oh1 may ,i cry when body parts with spirit1 ',i do not doubt1' so listening worlds may hear it1 ,with my last breath4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,doubt ,,the ,,traitor ,faith is the torch that leads the way when the other faculties cannot see4 ,it is doubting and facing the wrong way1 facing toward the black1 depressing1 hopeless outlook that kills effort and paralyzes ambition4 ,there is a divine current within us which would always flow ,godward1 always lead to our ultimate advantage1 did we not obstruct it1 or turn it aside by our doubts and fears4 ,he who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure4 ,,james ,,allen4 ,when ,david ,hume1 the agnostic1 was twitted with his inconsistency in going to hear the orthodox ,scotch minister1 ,john ,brown1 preach1 he replied1 ,i don't believe all that he says1 but he does1 and once a week ,i like to hear a man who believes what he says4 ,if you utter a lie with the conviction that you are speaking the truth people will believe what you say1 whereas if you proclaim a truth in a weak1 hesitating voice1 in a doubting manner1 no one will believe you4 ,if you should take a tray of genuine gold pieces upon the street and try to sell them1 while showing by your very expression that you did not believe in what you had for sale1 you could not dispose of those gold pieces for a tithe of their value4 ,nobody would believe either in their genuineness or in your own4 ,your timid1 doubting1 hesitating manner would queer all your chances of doing what you wanted to do4 ,i used to go trout fishing with two men1 one of whom was always saying that he never had any luck fishing1 that he somehow didn't have the knack1 and never expected to catch many fish4 ,this doubt totally unfitted him for successful trout fishing4 ,he didn't take enough interest in the sport to study the habits and the haunts of the trout4 ,he did not know the likely places in streams and rivers to drop his hook4 ,he did not know the best kinds of bait to use4 ,his doubt of his ability led to indifference1 and this made him a failure as a trout fisher4 ,the other man never had a doubt of success4 ,if there were any trout to be caught he felt sure he would catch them4 ,for years he had made a study of trout habits4 ,he could tell which side of the big rocks to cast his hook1 and he knew how to cast it in a way that would tempt the trout4 ,fishing in the same stream alongside the doubtful1 indifferent fisherman he would catch ten times as many fish4 ,if there is a great big doubt in your self-faith1 if you have left a bridge standing for your retreat in case of defeat1 if you lack clean-cut1 firm decision1 if there is any interrogation point in your confidence in yourself1 there will be a limp in your success gait1 and you will not be able to rise out of mediocrity4 ,our worst enemies are not outside but inside of us4 ,every human being harbors a traitor who is always on the watch to thwart his ambition1 to turn him aside from his aim4 ,that traitor is doubt4 ,you must make up your mind at the very outset of your career that you will always be followed about by certain mental enemies1 mental traitors1 which will try to dissuade you from doing the highest or biggest thing possible to you4 ,doubt is one of the most insistent of these1 and will dog your steps to your grave4 ,the man or woman who is not strong enough to resist its insidious attacks will never do what he or she is capable of doing1 and was sent into the world by the ,creator to do4 ,the person who is always fearful of consequences1 who is in doubt as to the outcome of his acts1 or whether he is really capable of doing what he undertakes1 will always be a weakling4 ,no one who is not bigger than his doubts can ever accomplish anything great or worth while1 because this subtle enemy kills initiative and self-confidence1 and without these dominant qualities no human being can measure up to his possibilities4 ,but for doubt1 which strangles the very beginning of things1 initiative instead of being so rare would be a common virtue among all classes4 ,nine out of ten average individuals are held back from testing their powers by the suggestions of doubt4 ,if it were possible to drive from the human mind this specter which stands at the door of our hopes1 of our resolution1 which throws its baleful shadow across our vision1 civilization would forge ahead by leaps and bounds4 ,this miserable traitor1 under the guise of a friend1 is holding down millions of men and women below the level of their powers1 keeping them from beginning things which they are capable of doing1 but which doubt warns them at their peril not to attempt4 ,doubt is responsible for more suicides1 more misery1 more bankrupt lives1 more failures1 than any other one thing4 ,it makes more people afraid to start out on a course they know they ought to pursue than any other thing4 ,standing right at the gateway of our choice1 at the parting of the ways1 when we have fully resolved to take the path that is best for us1 a hard and forbidding one compared with the easy way along the line of least resistance1 doubt calls a halt4 ,it bids us pause and think once more1 asks us to look again at the rugged path we have chosen and consider whether we really want to pay the price of our choice1 to take that turning when the other looks so much brighter and pleasanter and is so very much easier4 ,this is the point of cleavage which marks the beginning of failure for the timid soul who is not bigger than his doubt4 ,the suggestions pushed into his mind by his enemy make him hesitate4 ,he is moved to stop1 look1 and listen4 ,he begins to reconsider1 to look again at the obstacles ahead1 and the longer he looks the bigger they grow4 ,he becomes frightened1 fears he cannot do the thing that at first seemed possible1 and finally turns aside to the easier path of mediocrity and commonness4 ,doubt has killed more splendid projects1 shattered more ambitious schemes1 strangled more effective genius1 neutralized more superb effort1 blasted more fine intellects1 thwarted more splendid ambitions than any other enemy of the race4 ,talk about drug victims and slaves of drink6 ,doubt has more victims than even these terrible enemies of the race4 ,we see them everywhere in menial and lowly positions1 perpetual clerks1 discontented drudges1 hewers of wood and drawers of water1 paralyzed at the very gateway of their career by that fatal trait which they have never learned how to strangle1 to neutralize with its opposites1 faith1 hope1 confidence1 assurance4 ,how many thousands of employees plodding along in mediocrity to-day could have been in business for themselves but for this great enemy inside of them6 ,how many splendid young men have been kept out of the pulpit1 how many superb lawyers1 in possibility1 have been strangled by this traitor6 ,how many men are to-day clerks1 bookkeepers1 or other subordinates1 who might have been managers1 superintendents or proprietors themselves but for the work of this damnable traitor6 ,when opportunity presented itself these doubters were afraid4 ,they waited for certainty4 ,they dared not take chances4 ,they did not realize that opportunity is a maiden who admires the bold1 courageous1 self-confident suitor4 ,they did not wake up in time to the fact that she will not trust herself to the timid1 the hesitant1 the over-cautious suitor4 ,when too late they realized that while the doubter is wavering and hesitating1 wondering if he dare try to win1 the daring1 intrepid wooer steps in and wins4 ,the great prizes of life are for the courageous1 the dauntless1 the self-confident4 ,the timid1 hesitating1 vacillating man who listens to his doubts and fears stops to make up his mind1 and--the opportunity has passed beyond his reach4 ,doubt1 uncertainty1 or fear as to results1 is the great discourager of the human race4 ,it is the dire enemy of all achievement4 ,it tells the poor boy and girl who long for an education that it is foolish for them to think of going through school and college without money or without somebody to help them4 ,it tells them that there are many more poor boys and girls in every school and college who are trying to pay their way than will ever find opportunities to make their education available4 ,it is always whispering to them that there is a big waiting list of men and women who were graduated years ago everywhere looking and waiting1 trying in vain to get something to do to earn back the amount they spent on their education4 ,no matter what you attempt to do1 what new enterprise you may undertake1 what progressive plans you may make1 the traitor doubt will bob up and call a halt1 will try to dissuade you from your purpose4 ,it will suggest to you how many others have undertaken similar things and have gone to the wall1 have failed to accomplish what they expected4 ,it will tell you that you had better go slow1 that it is foolish to go into business in times like these1 that you should wait until you are better prepared1 until you have more capital2 in short1 that there are stumbling blocks in the way1 and that you must consider the step very carefully before you venture to decide4 ,it does not matter what we plan to do1 doubt is always there ready to knock our resolutions1 and1 if possible1 to discourage us even from attempting to put our plans in execution4 ,who could ever estimate how many superb inventions and discoveries1 which would have helped emancipate the race from drudgery and hard conditions1 have been side-tracked by this traitor6 ,doubt kills activity1 discourages ambition and destroys or neutralizes the biggest brain power4 ,it would make a pigmy of a ,webster4 ,by filling his mind full of doubt of his own creative power1 a hypnotist could make a ,shakespeare believe he was a fool4 ,he could inject a doubt into the mind of a ,napoleon that would cut his genius down to the mediocrity of a common soldier4 ,this arch traitor of mankind is so closely related to fear that it is almost impossible to draw a dividing line between the two4 ,they are twins4 ,wherever doubt can get a foothold it introduces its brother fear1 and fear brings with it all of its relatives1 worry1 anxiety1 discouragement--the whole failure family4 ,a single day of doubts1 of fears1 of unbeliefs1 of the crime of self-depreciation1 will drive away from a man all that he has attracted to himself in many months4 ,there are multitudes of people to-day suffering from the fatal disease of self-depreciation1 the seeds of which were implanted in them by doubt4 ,all the victims of discouragement1 those who are suffering from despondency1 those who are going through life disheartened1 hopeless1 despairing1 are the authors of their own misery4 ,they persist in killing the very thing they are pursuing1 in queering their own quest by the poison of doubt4 ,the doubting ,thomases never get anywhere1 because they have no vision1 and without a vision the people perish4 ,the man who would do anything worth while in this world must have a vision1 and he must have courage to match it4 ,courage is the great leader in the mental realm4 ,whatever paralyzes it strangles the initiative1 kills the ability to do things4 ,doubt is its greatest enemy4 ,it suggests caution at the very moment when everything depends on boldness4 ,if a general were to be over-cautious1 to wait for absolute certainty in regard to results before putting his plan of campaign into action1 he would never win a battle4 ,caution is an admirable trait1 but when carried to excess it ceases to be a virtue and comes perilously near being a vice4 ,it may render ineffective many noble qualities4 ,there are a great many people who seem to be courageous enough1 but an excessive development of caution holds everything in abeyance to wait for certainty4 ,i know men who wait and wait1 never daring to undertake anything where there is risk1 even though their judgment tells them they ought to go ahead4 ,we are creatures of habit1 and the constant raising of doubts in our minds as to our ability to do what we want to do in time becomes a habit of thinking we can't1 and when we think we can't1 we can't4 ,when a man begins to listen to his doubts he is beginning to weaken4 ,why delay beginning the thing that you know perfectly well you ought to do8 ,what are you afraid of8 ,failure1 even1 in an honorable attempt1 is preferable to forever postponing the thing that you ought to do4 ,is it the additional responsibility you shrink from1 the extra work8 ,do you have a horror of possible failure8 ,do you shrink from the possible humiliation of losing out in your venture8 ,what is it that enlarges your doubt and holds you back8 ,some handicap1 some invisible thread8 ,are you carrying a great excess of baggage1 clinging to unnecessary things which handicap you8 ,i have heard of a sailor who lost his life in that way4 ,he was one of the crew of a ship that was carrying a large quantity of gold nuggets to a distant port4 ,the ship ran upon a rock1 and1 when all hope of saving her or her precious cargo was gone1 the captain ordered everybody to leave the sinking ship4 ,the last boat was ready to push off1 but this sailor refused to get into it until he had loaded himself with gold nuggets4 ,he said he had been a poor man all his life1 and now he was going to be rich at last4 ,he would take away with him just as much of the sinking wealth as he could carry4 ,heedless of the warning of the captain and his companions that they would not wait for him1 he loaded himself with gold4 ,then1 the boats having pushed away1 he jumped overboard and tried to save himself by clinging to pieces of the wreck4 ,but1 owing to the weight he carried1 he could neither float nor swim1 and so the wealth he felt he could not leave behind carried him down to death4 ,your doubt of your success is probably your biggest handicap4 ,but it would be a thousand times better to make mistakes by forging ahead too rapidly1 by undertaking more than we can carry out1 than to be forever hovering upon the edge of doubt1 delaying1 postponing1 waiting for certainty1 until we become slaves of a habit which we cannot break4 ,and remember that the habit of putting off1 of waiting to see how things are going to turn out1 to see if something more certain1 something with less of risk1 will not turn up1 is fatal to initiative1 fatal to leadership1 fatal to efficiency4 ,i know a man who has been resolving for a quarter of a century to start something in which he thoroughly believes4 ,every year during that long period he has told me that this was the year for him to start4 ,he was really going to begin his great life work1 but doubt has engendered the putting off habit1 and this has such a grip upon him that he shrinks from undertaking anything new4 ,he seems to have a great fear of getting out of his old rut1 to try something different1 a fear that things may not work out right1 that it is not the psychological moment to strike4 ,he has gray hairs now1 the enthusiasm of youth is gone1 and he never will begin to do the thing which everybody who knows him believes he is perfectly capable of doing4 ,all history shows that while experience increases wisdom1 it does not always increase faith4 ,the inexperienced youth will often undertake things which stagger the older and more experienced4 ,confidence is characteristic of youth2 but after a few setbacks and disappointments1 many begin to wonder whether1 after all1 their first confidence was based upon good judgment1 whether their enthusiasm and faith were not the result of lack of experience1 and then they begin to doubt and to fear that this voice of ambition which is ever beckoning them on and upward is not reliable4 ,they say to themselves3 ,what if this should be merely a mirage to lure me on the rocks1 and before they realize it they are weaving doubts and fears and over-caution into a habit that has ruined multitudes of careers1 a habit that is responsible for a larger percentage of unused ability1 of locked-up powers than any other one thing4 ,have you done the biggest thing you are capable of doing8 ,is it not possible that there is something within you1 some unworked mental territory which1 if cultivated1 would lead you out into that wider field you dreamed of when a youth8 ,why do you go on year after year in the same old rut1 expressing nothing1 doing the same old thing in the same old way because doubt whispers it would be rash to try new ways1 new ideas8 ,how long have you been just an ordinary employee8 ,do you realize that habit is getting a tremendous grip upon you1 and that before you realize it you may be a perpetual clerk8 ,the longer you remain in one position1 doing the same thing without promotion1 the stronger the inertia habit will grip you1 the bigger will grow your doubt as to the wisdom of making a change4 ,it is a dangerous thing to get into a rut4 ,bestir yourself before it is too late and begin to put into operation that plan which has so long haunted you1 but which doubt has been telling you is not feasible1 is not practicable4 ,if every human being to-day were doing what he has at least some time thoroughly believed he could do our whole civilization would be revolutionized4 ,what has been accomplished is but a tithe of what might have been accomplished if every one had been true to his vision1 had not allowed it to be blotted out by doubt4 ,if ,i believed in a real devil ,i think it would be that unseen monitor1 that mysterious something within us which whispers doubt1 which tells us to hold on1 to be careful1 to go slow2 which pulls us back when we are attempting to reach out1 trying to do the thing we long to do4 ,are you not tired of having your plans thwarted1 your efforts blighted by the traitor1 doubt8 ,has it not dwarfed your life long enough1 has it not kept you out of your own long enough by forcing you to live on the husks when you might have had the kernel8 ,are you not about tired of being defrauded by this thief of the blessings and the good things which the ,creator intended we all should have8 ,why not turn it out of your mental house8 ,neutralize it with a great splendid faith in yourself1 in your mission1 faith in your possible contribution to the world4 ,doubt has very little influence with the ,saint ,paul type of man1 with the masterful type4 ,it is only the weakling that doubt strangles1 paralyzes4 ,be a man and not a weakling1 a mere apology of a man4 ,you know that the devil which has followed you through life1 which has blocked your progress1 put out the lights in your path1 tortured you and undermined your confidence in yourself1 has been the devil of doubt4 ,it has been the whispering fiend which told you that you could not do this and you could not do that1 which stepped in and killed your initiative when you were about to begin to do that which your ambition had hoped to accomplish4 ,don't let this enemy thwart and baffle you any longer4 ,have a good heart to heart talk with yourself and break the habit chain of unbelief in self with which it has bound you4 ,say to yourself1 ,i will not listen any longer to the voice of this fiend4 ,i will not allow it to spoil ,god's plan for me4 ,there is something inside of me which insists that ,i was planned for victory1 not for defeat1 for happiness1 not for misery1 for peace of mind1 not for a life of worry1 anxiety1 and fear4 ,i do not believe that ,i was placed here to be a mere puppet of circumstances4 ,faith1 hope and confidence are my helpers4 ,doubt is a child of fear1 and fear has the great majority of human beings hypnotized1 so that they do not dare to forge ahead1 do not dare to undertake the things they are perfectly capable of accomplishing4 ,from henceforth it has no power over me4 ,i will not listen to its treacherous voice4 ,if you would succeed1 you must avoid rashness as well as over-caution4 ,but when you have fully considered in all its bearings whatever project you are about to undertake1 and have decided on your course1 don't let any fears or doubts enter your mind4 ,commit yourself to your undertaking1 and don't look back to see if you could have done something else1 or started in some other way4 ,push on1 and don't be afraid4 ,after we have launched out in an enterprise1 have committed ourselves before the world1 pride steps into the situation and pushes us on through hardships which would have discouraged and turned us aside before we had fully committed ourselves4 ,but when we have taken the plunge1 made the venture1 we have practically said to the world1 ,now1 watch me make good4 ,i have made up my mind to put this thing through1 and ,i am not going to turn back4 ,our confidence grows as we advance and then it is comparatively easy1 even under difficulties1 to keep forging ahead4 ,every child1 every youth should be taught the danger of this fatal human enemy1 doubt4 ,they should be so imbued with the philosophy of expecting success instead of failure that doubt would never get sufficient grip on them to strangle their capabilities and blight the fulfillment of their dreams4 ,if every child were reared with the conviction that he was born for happiness1 that it was intended he should realize his vision1 his mind would be turned towards the light1 his whole mentality would be so firmly set toward success and happiness that doubt could not get hold of him4 ,as it is the lives of multitudes of people are constantly filled with doubts and fears and uncertainty in regard to the future4 ,young impressionable minds are often stamped with the failure suggestion before they are out of their teens4 ,most of us are born with the doubt germ implanted in our brain4 ,there are hundreds of thousands of people in this country to-day who have splendid ambitions1 who have made resolutions to carry out those ambitions1 but who are cowering victims of doubt1 which keeps them from making a start4 ,they are just waiting4 ,they are unable to make a beginning while this monster stands at the door of their resolution4 ,they are afraid to burn their bridges behind them1 to commit themselves to their purpose4 ,at the very outset of your career make up your mind that you are going to be a conqueror in life1 that you are going to be the king of your mental realm1 and not a slave to any treacherous enemy1 that you will choose the wisest course1 no matter how forbidding or formidable the difficulties in the way1 that you will take the turning which points toward the goal of your ambition1 no matter who or what may bar your onward path4 ,don't let doubt balk your efforts4 ,don't let it paralyze your beginning and make you a pigmy so that you will not half try to make good when you have a waiting giant in you4 ,confidence1 self-assurance1 self-faith--these are the great friends which will kill the traitor doubt4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,making ,,dreams ,,come ,,true ,every great soul of man has had its vision and pondered it1 until the passion to make the dream come true has dominated his life4 ,you will be what you will to be2 ,let failure find its false content ,in that poor world 'environment1' ,but spirit scorns it1 and is free4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the human ,will1 that force unseen1 ,the offspring of a deathless ,soul1 ,can hew a way to any goal1 ,though walls of granite intervene4 ,washington1 in a letter written when he was but twelve years old1 said3 ,i shall marry a beautiful woman2 ,i shall be one of the wealthiest men in the land2 ,i shall lead the army of my colony2 ,i shall rule the nation which ,i help to create4 ,general ,grant1 in his ,memoirs1 says that as a boy at ,west ,point1 he saw ,general ,scott seated on his horse1 reviewing the cadets1 and something within him said1 ,ulysses1 some day you will ride in his place and be general of the army4 ,every one knows how those boyish visions were realized by the mature men4 ,the late ,j4 ,pierpont ,morgan's fortune was built largely by the dynamic forcefulness of his thought1 of his mental visualizing1 the nursing of his youthful visions4 ,he was a man of varied and sthetic tastes1 but he concentrated upon finance and he became the world's master in its science4 ,ancient ,greece concentrated on beauty and art1 and she became the great beauty model and art teacher of the world4 ,the ,roman ,empire concentrated upon power--and became mistress of the world4 ,england concentrated on the control of the seas and commerce1 and she has become the ruler of the seas and the greatest commercial nation in the world4 ,we are a nation of money-makers because ,americans have concentrated largely upon the dollar4 ,they think in its terms2 they dream dollars2 they hate poverty and they long for wealth4 ,whatever an individual or a people concentrates upon it tends to get1 because concentration is just as much of a force as is electricity4 ,the youth who concentrates upon law1 thinks law1 dreams law1 reads everything he can get hold of relating to law1 steals into courts1 listens to trials at every chance he gets1 is sure to become a lawyer4 ,it is the same with any other vocation or art1--medicine1 engineering1 literature1 music2 any of the arts or sciences4 ,those who concentrate upon an idea1 who continue to visualize their dreams1 to nurse them1 who never lose sight of their goal1 no matter how dark or forbidding the way1 get what they concentrate on4 ,they make their minds powerful magnets to attract the thing on which they have concentrated4 ,sooner or later they realize their dreams4 ,what could have kept ,ole ,bull from becoming a master musician8 ,who or what could keep back a boy who would brave his father's displeasure1 steal out of his bed at night1 and go into the attic to play his little red violin1 which haunted his dreams and would not let him sleep8 ,what could keep a ,faraday or an ,edison1 whom no hardships frightened1 from realizing the wonderful visions of boyhood8 ,if you can concentrate your thought and hold it persistently1 work with it along the line of your greatest ambition1 nothing can keep you from its realization4 ,but spasmodic concentration1 spasmodic enthusiasm1 however intense1 will peter out4 ,dreaming without effort will only waste your power4 ,it is holding your vision1 together with persistent1 concentrated endeavor on the material plane1 that wins4 ,there are thousands of devices in the patent office in ,washington which have never been of any use to the world1 simply because the inventors did not cling to their vision long enough to materialize it in perfection4 ,they became discouraged4 ,they ceased their efforts4 ,they let their visions fade1 and so became demagnetized and lost the power to realize them4 ,other inventors have taken up many such near successes1 added the missing links in their completion and have made them real successes4 ,get thy spindle and distaff ready1 and ,god will send the flax1 saith the proverb4 ,if we would only take ,god's promises to heart1 and do our necessary part for their fulfillment no one would be unsuccessful or unhappy4 ,if we were to send out our desires intensely2 to visualize them until our very mentalities vibrated with the things we long for1 and to work persistently in their direction1 we would attract them4 ,everywhere there are disappointed men and women who have soured on life because they could not get what they longed for1--a musical or art education1 the necessary training for authorship1 for law or medicine1 for engineering1 or for some other vocation to which they felt they had been called4 ,they are struggling along in an uncongenial environment1 railing at the fate which has robbed them of their own4 ,they feel that life has cheated them1 when the truth is they have cheated themselves4 ,they never got the spindle and distaff ready that would have drawn to them the flax for the spinning of a happy and complete life web4 ,they did not insistently and persistently send out their desires and longings2 they did not nurse them and positively refuse to give them up2 above all1 they did not put forth their best efforts for their realization4 ,three things we must do to make our dreams come true4 ,visualize our desire4 ,concentrate on our vision4 ,work to bring it into the actual4 ,the implements necessary for this are inside of us1 not outside4 ,no matter what the accidents of birth or fortune1 there is only one force by which we can fashion our life material--mind4 ,the bee and the snake draw material from the same plant4 ,the one transmutes it into deadly poison2 the other into delicious honey4 ,the power that changes the stuff into a new substance is within the bee and the snake4 ,of two boys or two girls in the same wretched environment1 one picks up an education1 trains himself or herself for place and power1 while the other grows up a nobody4 ,it is all in the boy or the girl4 ,each has similar material to work in4 ,one transmutes it into gold2 the other into lead4 ,two sailors force the same breeze to send their boats in opposite directions4 ,it is not the wind1 but the set of the sail that determines the port4 ,the power that makes our desire1 our vision1 a reality is not in our environment or in any condition outside of us2 it is within us4 ,there is some unseen1 unknown1 magnetic force developed by a long-continued concentration of the mind upon a cherished desire that draws to itself the reality which matches the desire4 ,we cannot tell just what this force is that brings the thing we long for out of the cosmic ether and objectifies it1 shapes it to correspond with our longing4 ,we only know that it exists4 ,the cosmic ether everywhere surrounding us is full of undreamed of potencies and the strong1 concentrated mind reaches out into this ether1 this sea of intelligence1 attracts to it its own1 and objectifies the desire4 ,all human achievements have been pulled out of the unseen by the brain1 through the mind reaching out and fashioning the wealth of material at its disposal into the shapes which matched the wishes1 the desires1 of the achievers4 ,all the great discoveries1 great inventions1 great deeds that have lifted man up from his animal existence have been wrought out of the actual by the perpetual thinking of and visualizing these things by their authors4 ,these grand characters clung to their vision1 nursed it until they became mighty magnets that attracted out of the universal intelligence the realization of their dreams4 ,most revolutionary inventions have evolved from a flash of thought4 ,the sewing machine1 for example1 started with a simple idea1 which the inventor held persistently in his mind until through his efforts the idea materialized into the concrete reality4 ,elias ,howe used to watch his wife making garments1 sewing1 sewing far into the night1 and it set him thinking1 questioning whether such drudgery was really necessary4 ,as he watched her busy needle fly back and forth1 he began to wonder if this same work which it took his wife so long to do could not be done with less labor and in half the time by some sort of mechanical contrivance4 ,he kept nursing his idea1 thinking what a splendid thing it would be if some one could relieve millions of women from this toil1 which frequently had to be done at night after a day of hard work4 ,he began to experiment with crude devices1 clinging to his vision through poverty and the denunciation of friends1 who thought the man must be crazy to spend his time on such a fool idea4 ,but at last his vision materialized into a marvelous reality1 a perfected machine which has emancipated the women of the world from infinite drudgery4 ,the idea of the telephone was flashed into the mind of ,professor ,alexander ,bell by the drawing of a string through a hole in the bottom of a tin can1 by means of which he found that the voice could be transmitted4 ,the idea took such complete possession of the inventor that it robbed him of sleep and1 for a time1 made him poor4 ,but nothing could rob him of his vision or prevent him from struggling to work it out of the visionary stage into the actual4 ,i lived near ,professor ,bell1 in the next room1 indeed1 while he worked on his invention4 ,i saw much of his struggle with poverty1 heard the criticisms and denunciations of his friends1 as he persisted in his visionary work until the telephone became a reality1--a reality without which modern business could not be conducted4 ,all of ,edison's inventions1 those of every inventor1 have been wrought out on the same principle that gave us the sewing machine and the telephone4 ,they all started in simple ideas1 in dream visions which were nursed and worked into actualities4 ,according to ,darwin1 the desire to ascend into the heavens preceded the appearance and development of the eagle's wings4 ,it is said our different organs and functions have been developed from a sense of need of them1 just as the wings of the eagle developed from a desire to fly4 ,the brain cells grow in response to desire4 ,where there is no desire there is no growth4 ,the brain develops most in the direction of the leading ambition1 where the mental activities are the most pronounced4 ,the desire for a musical career1 for instance1 develops the musical brain cells4 ,business ambition develops that part of the brain which has to do with business1 the cells which are brought into action in executive management1 in administering affairs1 in money making4 ,wherever we make our demand upon the brain by desire that part responds in growth4 ,for years a poor country boy builds air castles of his future4 ,he visualizes the great mercantile establishment over which he is to preside4 ,the ridicule of his family and of young companions cannot daunt him or blur the bright vision he sees away in the distance4 ,he continues to nurse his vision1 and behold1 out of the unknown1 unexpected resources come1 and soon he finds himself an office boy in a great mercantile house in the city of his dreams4 ,he watches everything with an eagle eye2 he absorbs information and ideas2 he is alert1 active1 energetic1 resourceful1 and in a few months he is promoted1 and then again promoted4 ,he attracts the attention of the head of the establishment1 who calls him into his private office1 tells him that he has had his eye on him for many months and that he believes he is the youth he has been looking for to manage the business4 ,he gives him a little stock2 the business prospers still further under his management1 and in a few years the new manager is made a full partner in the house which he entered as an office boy4 ,this is the flowering out of his dream1 the objectifying of his vision1 the matching with reality his youthful longings4 ,his brain has been continually developing along the line of his vision1 drawing to him the material to make it real4 ,a poor girl1 the daughter of humble people in ,maine who thought that to become a public singer was an unforgivable sin1 could not in the beginning see any possible way to realize the dreams she held in secret1 but she kept visualizing her dream1 nursing her desire and doing the only thing for its realization her parents would allow1--singing in a little church choir4 ,gradually the way opened1 and one step led to another until the little ,maine girl became the famous ,madame ,nordica1 one of the world's greatest singers4 ,no matter if you are a poor girl away back in the country1 and see no possible way of leaving your poor old father and mother in order to prepare for your career1 don't let go of your desire4 ,whether it be music1 art1 literature1 business or a profession1 hold to it4 ,no matter how dark the outlook1 keep on visualizing your desire and light and opportunity will come to enable you to make it a reality4 ,whatever the ,creator has fitted you to do ,he will give you a chance to do1 if you cling to your vision and struggle as best you can for its attainment4 ,think of the ,lillian ,nordicas1 the ,lucy ,stones1 the ,louisa ,alcotts1 the ,mary ,lyons1 the ,dr4 ,anna ,howard ,shaws1 the thousands of women who were hedged in just as you are1 by poverty or forbidding circumstances of some sort1 yet succeeded in spite of everything in doing what they desired to do1 in being what they longed to be4 ,take heart and believe that ,god has given you also all implements divine to shape the way to your soul's desire4 ,if you are a boy on a farm and feel that you are a born engineer1 yet see no possible way to get a technical education1 don't lose heart or hope4 ,get what books you can on your specialty4 ,cling to your vision4 ,push out in every direction that is possible to you4 ,it may take years1 but if you are true to yourself your concentration on your desire1 your pushing toward it1 will open a door into the light1 and before you know it you will be on the road to your goal4 ,the ,washingtons1 the ,lincolns1 the ,faradays1 the ,edisons1 the men who have done most for their country and for humanity have had to struggle as hard as you are struggling to attain their heart's desire4 ,the opportunities for boys and girls to bring out whatever the ,creator has implanted in them are ten to one to-day to what they were one hundred1 or fifty1 or even twenty-five years ago4 ,the great danger in our time is not lack of chance or opportunity but of losing our vision1 of letting our ambition die4 ,most of us instead of treating our desires seriously trifle with them as though they were only to be played with1 as though they never could be realities4 ,we do not believe in their divinity4 ,we regard our heart longings1 our soul yearnings as fanciful vagaries1 romances of the imagination4 ,yet we know that every invention1 every discovery or achievement that has blessed the world began in a desire1 in a longing to produce or to do a certain thing1 and that the persistent longing was accompanied by a struggle to make the mental picture a reality4 ,it is difficult for us to grasp the fact that ambition1 accompanied by effort1 is actually a creative power which tends to realize itself4 ,our minds are like that of the doubting disciple1 who would not believe that his ,lord had risen until he had actually thrust his finger into the side which had been pierced by a cruel spear4 ,only the things that we see seem real to us when1 as a matter of fact1 the most real things in the world are the unseen4 ,we never doubt the existence of the force that brings the bud out of the seed1 the foliage and the flower out of the bud1 the fruits1 the vegetables from the flower4 ,it is invisible4 ,we cannot sense it1 but we know that it is mightier than anything we see4 ,no one can see or hear or feel gravitation1 or the forces which balance the earth and whirl it with lightning speed through space1 bringing it round its orbit without a variation of the tenth of a second in a century1 yet who can doubt their reality8 ,does any one question the mighty power of electricity because it cannot be seen or heard or smelled8 ,the potency of our desires1 of our soul longings1 when backed by the effort to make them realities1 is just as real as is that of any of the unseen forces in ,nature's great laboratory4 ,the great cosmic ether is packed with invisible potentialities4 ,whatever comes out of it to you comes in response to your call4 ,everything you have accomplished in life has been a result of a psychic law which1 consciously or unconsciously1 you have obeyed4 ,do not make the mistake of thinking that the way will not open because you cannot now see any possible means of achieving that for which you long4 ,the very intensity of your longing for a certain career1 to do a certain thing1 is the best evidence that you have the ability to match it1 and that this ability was given you for a purpose1 even to play a divine1 a magnificent part in the great universal plan4 ,the longing is merely the forerunner of achievement4 ,it is the seed that will germinate if nurtured by effort4 ,if1 however1 you stop at sowing the seed you will get just about as much harvest as a farmer would get if he should sow his seeds without preparing the soil1 without fertilizing or cultivating it or keeping down the weeds4 ,it is the blending of the practical with the ideal that brings the harvest from the seed thought4 ,you must keep on struggling toward your ideal4 ,no matter how black and forbidding the way ahead of you1 just imagine you are carrying a lantern which will advance with you and give light enough for the next step4 ,it is not necessary to see to the end of the road4 ,all the light you need is for the next step4 ,faith in your vision and persistent endeavor will do the rest4 ,there is no doubt that if we do our part1 the ,divinity that has created us1 given us an appointed place and a work in the plan of the universe1 will bring things out better than we can plan or even imagine4 ,send out your wishes1 cherish your desires1 force out your yearnings1 your heart longings with all the intensity and persistency you can muster1 and you will be surprised to see how soon they will begin to attract their affinities1 how they will grow and take tangible shape1 and ultimately become actual things4 ,fling out your desires into the cosmic ether boldly1 with the utmost confidence4 ,therein you will gather the material which shall build into reality the castle of your dreams4 ,the trouble with us is that we are afraid to do this4 ,we fear that fate will mock us1 cast back to us our mental visions empty of fruition4 ,we do not understand the laws governing our thought forces any more than we understand the laws governing the universe4 ,if we had faith in their power1 our earnest thoughts and efforts would germinate and bud and flower just as does the tiny seed we put into the earth4 ,think how the seed must be tended and nurtured before it will give forth the new life4 ,see how the delicate bud has to be coaxed by the sun and air for many months before it pushes its head up through the tough sod to the light4 ,suppose it were afraid to make the attempt and should say3 ,it is impossible for me to get out of this dark earth4 ,there is no light here4 ,i am so tender the slightest pressure will break me and stop my growth forever4 ,the only way out of my prison is to push up through this tough sod1 and it would take a tremendous force to do that4 ,i would be crushed1 strangled1 before ,i got half way through4 ,but the sun beckons1 coaxes1 encourages4 ,the bud is moved into attempting the impossible1 and behold1 in a few days it rears its tender head above what it considered the great enemy of its progress4 ,the dark sod1 the very thing which it thought was going to make its future impossible1 becomes its support and strength4 ,the very struggle to get up through the soil has strengthened its fiber and fitted it to cope with the elements above1 with the storms it must meet4 ,just like this tender plant1 you may be hemmed in by seemingly insurmountable obstacles2 you may not see a ray of light through the sod of hard1 forbidding circumstances1 but hold your vision and keep pushing4 ,in your struggle you will develop strength1 you will find sunshine and air1 growth and life4 ,you may be shut in by an uncongenial occupation and tempted to lose heart and give up your dreams because you can see no way to better yourself4 ,this is just the time to cling to them1 and to insist that they shall come true4 ,without knowing it you may be just in the middle of the sod1 and if you keep pushing where you are1 in season and out of season1 you will come to the sunlight and the air1 to freedom4 ,there is no human being who doesn't have some sort of a chance4 ,if your present position cramps you2 if it does not give you room to express yourself1 you can make room by filling it to overflowing1 by doing your work as well as it can be done1 by keeping your mind steadfastly fixed on the ladder of your ascent4 ,in your mind you make the stairs by which you ascend or descend4 ,nobody else can do it for you4 ,the master key which will unlock that cruel door that keeps you back is not in the hand of fate4 ,you are fashioning it by your thoughts4 ,your next step is right where you are1 in the thing you are doing to-day4 ,the door to something better is always in the duty of the moment4 ,the spirit in which you do your work1 the energy which you throw into it1 the determination with which you back up your ambition--these1 no matter what opposes1 are the forces that unlock the door to something better4 ,if you hold to your vision and are honest1 earnest and true1 there is nothing that can stand in the way of its realization4 ,i have never known a person who was dead-in-earnest in his efforts to gain his heart's desire who has not finally reached his goal4 ,no great1 insistent1 persistent1 honest longing backed by downright hard1 conscientious work ever comes back empty-handed4 ,desire is at the bottom of every achievement4 ,we are the product of our desires4 ,what we long for1 strive for1 the vision we nurse1 is our great life shaper1 our character molder4 ,very few can realize the close cordination which exists between their visions1 their mind pictures1 and the actual accomplishments of their career4 ,if ,i were asked to name the principal cause of the majority of failures in life ,i should say it was the failure to understand this1 to grasp the relation of thought to accomplishment4 ,the gradual fading out of one's dreams1 the losing of one's vision1 may be traced to this cause4 ,when we first start out in life we are enthusiasts4 ,our vision is bright and alluring1 and we feel confident we are going to win out1 that we shall do something distinctive1 something individual1 unusual4 ,but after a few setbacks and failures we lose heart1 and faith in our vision dies4 ,then we gradually awaken to the fact that our ambition is beginning to deteriorate4 ,it is not quite as sharply defined as formerly4 ,our ideals are a trifle dimmed1 our longings a trifle less insistent4 ,we try to find reasons and excuses for our lagging efforts and waning enthusiasm4 ,we think it may be due to over-work2 because we are tired and need a rest1 or because our health is not quite up to standard1 and that by and by our former intense desire to realize our dreams will return4 ,but the whole process is so insidious that before we realize it our fires1 for lack of fuel1 are quite burned out4 ,our grip on our vision was not strong enough4 ,we did not half understand its mighty power1 when firmly and persistently kept in mind1 to help us to our goal4 ,what we get out of life depends very largely on fidelity to our visions4 ,if we believe in them we will not let them die for lack of nursing4 ,if we really have ability to match them1 and are not self-deceived by egotism1 petty vanity and conceit1 no misfortunes1 no failure of plans1 no discouragements1 no obstacles1 nothing in the world can separate us from them4 ,we will cling to them to our dying day4 ,the man who believes in his life vision1 who is not a mere egotist or idle dreamer1 who sees in his desire a prophecy of something which he is perfectly able to make come true1--he is the man who has ever made the world move4 ,he flings his life into his effort to match his vision with its reality4 ,the world stands aside for such a one1 for one who believes in his vision1 who consecrates himself without reserve to its fulfillment4 ,people know there is something back of the dreamer who has such faith in his life dream that he will sacrifice everything to make it come true4 ,how much of a grip has your vision on you8 ,does it clutch you with a force that nothing but death can relax1 or does it hold you so lightly that you are easily separated from it1 discouraged from trying to make it real8 ,constant discouragements are a great temptation to abandon one's life dreams1 to drop one's standards4 ,one's vision is apt to become blurred in passing through great crises1 in periods of general depression1 in times of financial stress1 but this is really the test of a strong character1--that he does not allow obstacles to divert him from his one aim4 ,the man who is made of the stuff that wins hangs on to his vision1 even to the point of starvation1 for he knows that there is only one way of bringing it down to earth1 and that is by clinging to it through storm and stress1 in spite of every obstacle and discouragement4 ,never mind what discouragements1 misfortunes or failures come to you1 let nobody1 no combination of unfortunate circumstances1 destroy your faith in your dream of what you believe you were made to do4 ,never mind how the actual facts seem to contradict the results you are after4 ,no matter who may oppose you or how much others may abuse and condemn you1 cling to your vision1 because it is sacred4 ,it is the ,god-urge in you4 ,you have no right to allow it to fade or to become dim4 ,your final success will be measured by your ability to cling to your vision through discouragement4 ,it will depend largely upon your stick-to-it-ive-ness1 your bull dog tenacity4 ,if you shrink before criticism and opposition you will demagnetize your mind and lose all the momentum which you have gained in your previous endeavor4 ,no matter how black or threatening the outlook1 keep working1 keep visualizing your life dream1 and some unexpected way will surely open for its fulfillment4 ,put out of your mind forever any thought that you can possibly fail in reaching the goal of your longing4 ,set your face toward it2 keep looking steadfastly in the direction of your ambition1 whatever it may be2 resolve never to recognize defeat1 and you will by your mental attitude1 your resolution1 create a tremendous force for the drawing of your own to you4 ,if you have the grit and stamina to stick1 to persevere to the end1 if you persistently maintain the victorious attitude toward your vision victory will crown your efforts4 ,,chapter ,v ,a ,,new ,,rosary ,there is a great significance in that passage in ,st4 ,mark3 ,all the things whatsoever ye pray and ask for believe ye have received them and ye have4 ,we are bidden to believe that what we wish has already been fulfilled2 that if we take this attitude we shall obtain our desire4 ,the benefit we derive from prayer is the harmonizing poising1 balancing of our own mind1 putting ourselves into closer communion into a more vital connection with the ,divine ,mind1 through which we receive a larger supply of our ,father's blessings4 ,prayer is the opening up of the pinched supply pipes of the mind which shut out the divine inflow2 it is the letting into our lives greater abundance from the unlimited supply which continually flows from the ,source of all sources4 ,mary1 said a young girl to a ,catholic friend1 why do you carry that rosary everywhere1 and what possible good does it do you to count those beads over and over8 ,oh1 answered ,mary1 ,i never could make you understand what a comfort this rosary is to me4 ,when ,i am tired out1 or blue or discouraged about anything2 or when ,i long very much for something that it seems impossible ,i should ever get1 ,i take my rosary and begin to pray4 ,before ,i have gone over half of its beads1 everything is changed4 ,the tired1 discouraged feeling is gone1 or if ,i have been asking for something ,i long to have1 it doesn't seem nearly so far away as before2 and ,i know that if ,i don't get just what ,i ask for1 ,i'll get something better4 ,those who are too narrow-minded or too prejudiced to see anything good in a creed which is not their own1 often sneer at the ,catholic custom of saying the rosary4 ,to them it is only superstition1 nonsense1 to repeat the same prayer over and over4 ,these people do not understand the philosophy as well as the religion underlying this beautiful old custom4 ,they do not know the power that inheres in the repetition of the spoken word1 and in the influence of the thought expressed4 ,any one can prove this for himself or herself4 ,it isn't necessary to get a rosary made of beads4 ,you can make your own1 an intangible but very real rosary1 and if you say it over1 not once1 or twice a day1 but over and over many times1 and especially before retiring at night1 you will be surprised at the wonderful results4 ,is it a fault you wish to correct2 is it a talent or gift you desire to develop and improve2 is it money1 or friends1 an education1 success in any enterprise2 is it contentment1 peace of mind1 happiness1 power to serve1 power in your work1--whatever it is you desire1 make it a bead in your rosary1 pray for its accomplishment1 think of it1 work for its fulfillment and your desire will materialize4 ,there are many ways of praying4 ,all our prayers are not vocalized petitions to the ,almighty4 ,they are also our inspirations1 the aspirations of the soul to be and to do4 ,desire is prayer4 ,the sincerest prayer may be the longing of the heart to cultivate a talent or talents1 or the intense desire to get an education so that one may be of greater service in the world4 ,that which we dream of and struggle to attain1 our efforts to make good2 these are genuine prayers4 ,when ,jane ,addams1 as a little girl1 longed for the power to lift up other little girls and make them happy2 when she dreamed of a time when she should be grown up and doing a great work in the service of humanity1 she was praying4 ,she was even then laying the foundations of ,hull ,house1 and the ,hull ,house of to-day is an answered prayer4 ,her whole life from childhood up was a prayer1 because it was a preparation for a great and noble work4 ,when the child1 ,frances ,willard1 longed and dreamed in her remote ,wisconsin home1 she was praying and building as surely as in her later years when she was the moving power of the great organization she had brought into being4 ,i always wanted to react on the world about me to my utmost ounce of power1 she said in telling of her early life and aspirations4 ,lying on the prairie grass and lifting my hand toward the sky1 ,i used to say in my inmost spirit1 ',what is it8 ,what is the aim to be1 ,o ,god8' ,such noble heart yearnings are1 in the truest sense1 prayers4 ,the uttered prayer clothed in beautiful language1 that which is delivered in the pulpit to be heard of men1 may not be a real prayer at all4 ,the collective prayer of the congregation may be a mockery4 ,i have often been in churches where people were repeating prayers automatically1 while looking all about the auditorium watching other people1 mentally occupied1 while their lips moved in a so-called prayer1 in noticing what they wore and how they looked4 ,there is no real praying in such a performance as this4 ,it is not soul expression1 not heart talking4 ,it is mere parrot talking4 ,all mechanical mumbling of prayers in our church services is an insult to the ,creator1 who does not hear prayers which do not come from the heart4 ,prayer is the heart's sincere desire4 ,what we long for and hope for we pray for by our very longing and hope4 ,the real prayer may be struggling in the heart without words1 it may be a noble desire1 a heart longing which no language can express4 ,it may be voiceless or it may not1 but the true prayer always comes from the heart1 and it is always answered4 ,a remarkable illustration of this is afforded in a story told by ,john ,wesley4 ,he was once riding through a dark wood1 carrying with him a large sum of money intrusted to his safe keeping4 ,all at once a sense of fear came over him1 and dismounting from his horse1 he offered up a prayer for protection4 ,years afterward ,wesley was called to see a dying man4 ,this man told the preacher that at the time he had passed through the wood1 so many years before1 he1 the robber1 had been lying in wait to rob him of the money he carried4 ,he told ,wesley that he had noticed him dismounting and how1 on his remounting and resuming his journey1 the appearance of an armed attendant riding beside him had so filled him with awe and a great fear that he had abandoned his purpose4 ,balzac said truly3 ,when we are enabled to pray without weariness1 with love1 with certainty1 with intelligence1 we will find ourselves in instant accord with power1 and like a mighty roaring wind1 like a thunderbolt1 our will will cut its way through all things and share the power of ,god4 ,everybody prays1 because everybody hopes and desires1 has longings and yearnings which he hopes will be realized4 ,in a sense the atheist1 the agnostic1 the unbeliever1 although they may not know it1 pray just as much as do believers1 for every longing of the heart1 every noble aspiration1 is a prayer4 ,we pray as naturally as we breathe1 for the desire for a better1 nobler life1 for grander and higher attainment1 is an unconscious prayer4 ,prayer is really our heart hunger for oneness with the ,divine1 with the ,eternal4 ,it is the union of the soul with its ,maker4 ,it is literally what ,phillips ,brooks described it to be1 the sluice gate between ,god and the soul4 ,many people mistake the very nature of prayer1 and complain that it is no use to pray1 because their prayers are never answered4 ,the reason is clear1 and is admirably expressed in ,irving ,bacheller's pithy verses on ,faith4 ,now1 don't expect too much o' ,god1 it wouldn't be quite fair ,if fer anything ye wanted ye could only swap a prayer2 ,i'd pray fer yours1 an' you fer mine1 an' ,deacon ,henry ,hospur ,he wouldn't hev a thing t' do but lay abed an' prosper4 ,if all things come so easy1 ,bill1 they'd hev but little worth1 ,an' some one with a gift o' prayer 'u'd mebbe own the earth4 ,it's the toil ye give t' git a thing--the sweat an' blood an' care-- ,that makes the kind o' argument that ought to back yer prayer4 ,if your prayers come back to you unanswered it is because they are not backed by the conditions on which the answer to prayer depends1--faith and work4 ,you don't get the thing you pray for either because you don't really believe you will get it1 or you don't back your prayer with the necessary effort1 or because you fail in both requisites4 ,to pray for a thing and not work for it1 not strive and do our level best to obtain it1 is a mockery4 ,to ask ,god to give us that which we long for1 but are too lazy to help get ourselves1 is begging4 ,in answer to our prayers and longings and efforts we get that which we call out of the universal supply1 which is everywhere4 ,every day some prayer is made visible1 something is wrought out of the invisible1 manifested in the actual by those two mighty instruments--prayer and work4 ,but if you think your stumbling block will be removed1 or your desire realized without raising a finger to help yourself1 you may pray until doomsday without ever getting an answer4 ,prayer without faith is of no avail4 ,and faith without work is a barren virtue4 ,in the second stanza of a little poem entitled ,god's ,answer1 ,ella ,wheeler ,wilcox gives us the answer to the plaint of the discouraged1 unsuccessful soul1 who cries that his prayers are not heard1 and that no hand is stretched out to lead him to the heights he would attain4 ,then answered ,god3 ',three things ,i gave to thee-- ,clear brain1 brave will and strength of mind and heart1 ,all implements divine to shape the way2 ,why shift the burden of the toil on ,me8 ,till to the utmost he has done his part ,with all his might1 let no man dare to pray4' ,the answer to your prayers is right inside of yourself4 ,they are answered by your obeying the natural as well as the spiritual law of all supply4 ,if you don't do your part in the actual working world down to the minutest detail your prayer is bound to come back to you unanswered4 ,everything in the universe has its price1 a perfectly legitimate one4 ,you can realize what you desire if you are willing to pay the price1 and that is honest1 earnest1 persistent effort to make it yours4 ,the ,creator answers your prayer by fitting you to answer it yourself1 by enabling you to put into practice the law of demand and supply1 the fundamental principle on which answer to prayer is based4 ,you must put yourself in absolute harmony with the thing you pray for4 ,it cannot be forced4 ,you must attract it4 ,answer to prayer comes only to a receptive mind in a positive condition1 that is1 in a condition to create1 to achieve4 ,the law of affirmation and the law of prayer are one and the same4 ,affirm that which you wish1 work for it1 and it will be manifest in your life4 ,affirm it confidently1 with the utmost faith1 without any doubt of what you affirm4 ,say to yourself1 ,i am that which ,i think ,i am--and ,i can be nothing else4 ,but if you affirm1 ,i am health2 ,i am prosperity2 ,i am this or that1 and do not believe it1 you will not be helped by affirmation4 ,you must believe what you affirm2 you must constantly strive to be what you assert you are1 or your affirmations are but idle breath4 ,make yourself a ,new ,thought rosary1 not of set formal prayers1 but an original one whose beads shall be your heart's aspirations1 your desires to e-volve the strong1 radiant1 successful happy man or woman the ,creator has in-volved in you4 ,if you are unhappy1 crushed by repeated failures and disappointment1 suffering the pangs of thwarted ambition1 put this bead in your rosary and say it over to yourself frequently3 ,the being ,god made was never intended for this sort of life4 ,mary 7or ,john71 addressing yourself by name1 ,god made you for success1 not failure4 ,he never made any one to be a failure4 ,you are perverting the great object of your existence by giving way to discouragement1 going about among your fellows with a long1 sad1 dejected face1 as though you were a misfit1 as though there were no place for you in this great glad world of abundance4 ,you were made to express gladness1 to go through life with a victorious attitude1 like a conqueror4 ,the image of ,god is in you2 you must bring it out and exhibit it to the world4 ,don't disgrace your ,maker by violating ,his image1 by being anything but the magnificent man or woman ,he intended you to be4 ,back up every bead1 or prayer you put in your rosary by action during the day1 otherwise you might as well save yourself the trouble of stringing your beads1 for ,it's the toil ye give t' get a thing--the sweat an' blood an' care-- ,that makes the kind o' argument that ought to back yer prayer4 ,don't be afraid of thinking too highly of yourself1 not in the egotistical sense1 but because 7the ,creator having made you in ,his image7 you must have inherited divine qualities1 omnipotent possibilities4 ,it is an insult to ,god to depreciate what ,he has made and has pronounced good4 ,if you are a victim of timidity and self-depreciation1 afraid to say your soul is your own2 if you creep about the world as though you thought you were taking up room which belonged to somebody else2 if you shrink from responsibility1 from everything which draws attention to yourself2 if you are bashful1 timid1 confused1 tongue-tied1 when you ought to assert yourself1 turn to your rosary and add another bead4 ,say to yourself1 ,i am a child of the ,king of kings4 ,i will no longer suffer this cowardly timidity to rule me1--a prince of heaven4 ,i am made by the same ,creator who has made all other human beings4 ,they are my brothers and sisters4 ,there is no more reason why ,i should be afraid to express what ,i feel or think before them than if they were in my own family4 ,i have just as much right on this earth as any potentate1 as much right to hold up my head and assert myself as any monarch4 ,i am my ,father's heir1 and have all the rights of a prince4 ,i have inherited the wealth of the universe4 ,the earth and the stars and the sun are mine4 ,i will quit this everlasting self-depreciation1 this self-effacement1 this cringing habit of forever appearing to apologize for being alive4 ,it is a crime against my ,maker and myself4 ,henceforth ,i shall carry myself like a prince4 ,i will act like one1 and will walk the earth as a conqueror4 ,i will let no opportunity pass to-day for assuming any responsibility which will enlarge me1 for expressing my opinion1 for asserting myself whenever and wherever necessary4 ,this specter1 this shadow of self-depreciation which has held me back so long1 which has darkened my path in life must go1 for ,i shall walk henceforth with my face toward the sun so that the shadows of life will fall behind me1 and not across my path as before4 ,i am going to face life with a self-respecting1 victorious attitude1 with a hopeful outlook1 for ,i know that ,i am victory organized4 ,hereafter ,i am going to think more of myself4 ,i am not going to put myself on the bargain counter any longer by going around as though ,i had a skim milk opinion of myself4 ,no more of the poorhouse attitude of inferiority for me4 ,i know that ,i was born for victory1 born to conquer4 ,i am going to win out in this great inspiring game of life4 ,if you feel that you lack initiative1 if you are not a self-starter1 boldly assert the opposite and add the assertion to your rosary4 ,stoutly affirm your ability to begin things1 to do them as well as they can be done1 and to push them through to a complete finish4 ,learn to trust the ,god in you4 ,this trust is a divine force which will carry you through4 ,never again allow yourself to harbor thoughts of your inferiority or deficiency4 ,say to yourself1 ,i am going to assert my manhood or womanhood and stand for something4 ,i am going to be a force in the world and not a weakling4 ,i was made to make my life a masterpiece and not a botch2 ,i was created for a great end1 and ,i am going to realize that end4 ,there are forces inside of me which if aroused and put into action would revolutionize my life1 and ,i am going to get control of them1 to use them4 ,i am going to find myself and use a hundred per cent4 instead of a miserable little fraction of my ability4 ,if you are obsessed with the idea that you are not as bright1 that you have not as much ability as most other people2 if you have been called dull1 dense1 stupid by your parents and teachers1 until you have lost confidence in yourself2 if you have been dwarfed by the suggestion of inferiority1 either through what others have said of you1 or the thought you have held of yourself1 you must change all this4 ,you must assert your ability and hold tenaciously the ideal of the able1 efficient man or woman you long to be and that it is in you to become4 ,you must not only affirm your power to be that which you wish1 but you must replace the picture of your inferiority with the ideal of wholeness1 of completeness1 of the man or woman the ,creator intended you to be4 ,cling to this ideal of yourself1 assert your superiority1 and you will soon drive out the dwarfed1 inferior1 defective image which others1 or your own false thoughts1 have established in your subconsciousness4 ,holding the truth1 the perfect ideal1 in mind will give you confidence1 assurance to do the thing you are capable of doing4 ,thousands of students have failed to pass examinations not because of inability to answer test questions1 but because of fear1 loss of self-confidence engendered by the blighting suggestion of inferiority4 ,this is especially true of highstrung1 sensitive natures4 ,if you brood over the failure suggestion1 if you visualize an inferior picture of yourself1 you will become obsessed with the failure idea1 with the thought of your inefficiency1 and make it wellnigh impossible for you to succeed in any undertaking4 ,if for any reason you have dropped into the failure habit1 you will have to make a very determined effort to break away from it1 or your life will indeed be a failure4 ,i know a young man who is both efficient and ambitious1 but when the opportunity for which1 perhaps1 he has been working a long time comes1 he wilts4 ,his courage fails and he does not feel equal to it4 ,he can see how somebody else can do the thing required1 but he fears it is too much for him4 ,he has never done anything like it before2 and he is afraid to make the attempt because he might fail4 ,now1 if you feel this way about yourself1 just add another bead to your rosary4 ,cut ,i can't out of your vocabulary and substitute ,i can1--for he can who thinks he can4 ,napoleon1 one of the greatest achievers the world has ever seen1 hated the word can't and would never use it if it could be avoided4 ,he did not believe in the impossible4 ,when he was praised for his daring and genius in crossing the ,alps in the dead of winter1 he said1 ,i deserve no credit except for refusing to believe those who said it could not be done4 ,did you ever think that every time you say ,i can't you weaken your confidence in yourself and your power to do things8 ,did you ever know a person who has a great many ,i cant's1 and excuses in his vocabulary to accomplish very much8 ,some people are always using the words1 ,oh1 ,i can't do that2 ,i can't afford this2 ,i can't afford to go there2 ,i can't undertake such a hard task1 let somebody else do that4 ,these negative assertions undermine power4 ,have nothing to do with them4 ,in all questions of achievement1 let your rosary deal in affirmations4 ,instead of ,i can't1 say ,i can1 ,i must1 ,i will4 ,begin what you fear to undertake1 and half its difficulties will vanish4 ,if you are vexed1 worried1 and like ,martha1 troubled about many things2 if you are suffering from all sorts of discord2 if you are not feeling well1 you will get great comfort from turning to your rosary and repeating some of the blessed ,biblical promises4 ,neither shall any plagues 7discord or harm7 come nigh thy dwelling4 ,this is the promise to him that dwelleth in the secret place of the ,most ,high4 ,i will restore health into thinking and ,i will heal thee of thy wounds4 ,he that dwelleth in the secret place of the ,most ,high shall abide under the shadow of the ,almighty1 ,the ,lord is my refuge1 my fortress4 ,in ,him will ,i trust4 ,thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night1 nor for the arrow that flieth by day1 ,surely ,he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler1 from the pestilence that walketh in darkness1 ,he shall cover thee with his feathers1 and under his wings shalt thou trust4 ,the contemplation of ,god and the frequent repetition of these beautiful ,bible passages will increase your faith and your consciousness of oneness with the ,infinite4 ,make it a rule never to affirm of your health1 your success1 or yourself what you do not wish to be true4 ,don't say that you feel rocky1 that you are used up1 played out1 that you feel miserable1 that you don't feel like doing anything4 ,never tell people of your aches and pains1 for every repetition means etching the black pictures of these conditions deeper and deeper into your consciousness4 ,instead of thus intensifying them1 say to yourself1 ,the ,power that created1 and that sustains me every instant of my life1 repairs1 renews1 restores1 cures me4 ,i am health1 ,i am vigor1 ,i am power1 ,i am that which ,i think ,i am4 ,refuse to see or to hold for an instant an imperfect1 discordant sin or disease-marred image of yourself4 ,do not harbor a suggestion of your inferiority1 physically or mentally4 ,always picture yourself as a great1 strong1 splendid man or woman1 clean1 true1 beautiful--a sublime specimen of humanity4 ,do not allow yourself to harbor a thought of physical or mental weakness4 ,think health1 power1 perfection at every breath4 ,persist in holding the thought of yourself as you long to be1 the ideal which your ,creator saw ahead of you when he fashioned you4 ,cling to your vision of health without taint1 weakness or defect4 ,have you a hair-trigger temper1 and do you fly all to pieces over the least provocation1 starting raging fires in your brain that are as destructive to your mental and physical forces as are the great forest fires to the vast tracts of territory over which they sweep8 ,if you have you are minimizing all your powers and seriously endangering your success1 your happiness1 your life itself4 ,ask ,sing ,sing what the hot tempers1 the fires of uncontrolled anger1 of jealous rage1 of revenge1 of hate1 of all the explosive passions have done4 ,ask the poorhouses1 the insane asylums1 the morgues1 ask the records of human wreckage everywhere1 what the fruits of uncontrolled passions of every sort are4 ,anger1 whatever its cause1 is temporary insanity4 ,are you in the habit of losing your temper1 of flying into a rage over trifles8 ,if you could only see what a miserable spectacle1 what a fool exhibition1 you make of yourself on such occasions1 when you go all to pieces and rave like a madman because you miss your train1 or because you think some one insults you1 when you step down from the throne of your reason and let the brute sit there and rule in your place1 you would be so chagrined and mortified that you would leave nothing undone to rid yourself of your fault4 ,why1 nothing could hire you1 when in your right mind1 to make such a ludicrous and contemptible exhibition of yourself4 ,you only do it when under the stress of angry passion1 when shorn of your power by this temporary insanity4 ,to retain self-control1 mental poise1 equanimity1 under all provocations1 great or small1 is an index of a fine strong character4 ,it is a triumph of strength over weakness1 of greatness over littleness4 ,the habit of conquering ourselves is the habit of victory2 it strengthens all the faculties4 ,you can bring this great force of control to your aid1 by calling on the divinity within you1 by asserting your oneness with the ,divine who is eternal calmness4 ,say to yourself1 ,god's image is in me4 ,i am of divine lineage4 ,i was not intended to be passion's slave4 ,it is unworthy of a real man1 of a real woman1 to be the plaything of temper1 or any sort of explosive tearing down passion4 ,there is something divine in me and ,i will not allow my lower nature to get control4 ,the constant affirmation of your oneness with your ,creator1 with the ,one1 will give you a wonderful sense of power1 and will help you to overcome every handicap4 ,but you must be very positive1 very insistent and persistent in your affirmations4 ,no matter what fault you are trying to overcome or what good quality you are anxious to acquire there must be no weakness1 indecision or vacillation in your affirmations or your efforts4 ,if you are cursed with the fatal habit of indecision2 if you are a weak vacillator1 always taking things up for reconsideration because you are not quite sure that you have done the right thing2 if you allow yourself to waver1 to doubt the wisdom of your decision1 you will be incapable of ever under any circumstances arriving at an intelligent conclusion4 ,you can cure the curse of indecision by asserting your power to see clearly1 think quickly and act decisively4 ,if you are in doubt as to what career to choose2 if you hesitate in regard to what course you should take in any difficulty1 which of two or three paths you should follow1 whatever your problem may be1 ask for light and the divine power within will come to your aid and guide you aright4 ,repeat the ,i am in every instance4 ,i am positive4 ,i can decide vigorously1 firmly1 finally4 ,resolve every morning that you will1 during that day1 decide things without possibility of recall or reconsideration4 ,first go over the matter to be decided very thoroughly and carefully4 ,in making your decision use the best judgment at your command and then close the incident4 ,you will secure yourself against vacillation by refusing1 after it is thus closed1 to wonder whether you have done the wisest thing1 by resisting every temptation to open the matter for reconsideration4 ,if you feel that you are a coward somewhere in your nature1 you can strengthen this deficient faculty wonderfully by holding the courageous ideal1 by thinking and reading about heroic people and things1 holding the thought of fearlessness1 that you are ,god's child1 that you are not afraid of anything on the earth4 ,study the stories of heroic lives2 think1 act1 live1 the heroic thought4 ,say1 ,i am a son of ,god1 and ,i was never made to cower1 to slink1 to be afraid4 ,fear is not an attribute of divinity4 ,i am brave1 courageous2 ,i am a conqueror4 ,if you are suffering with the poverty disease1 if your whole life has been stunted by poverty1 saturated with poverty-stricken thoughts and convictions1 if you have been heading towards the poverty goal1 just turn about face1 and put the law of abundance into operation4 ,face towards prosperity and success instead of poverty and failure4 ,all the good things you need are yours by inheritance4 ,claim them1 expect them1 work for them1 pray for them1 and you will realize them in your life4 ,make this last stanza of ,ella ,wheeler ,wilcox's splendid little poem ,assertion a new bead on your rosary4 ,repeat it frequently1 and work cheerfully1 confidently1 courageously toward its fulfillment4 ,i am success4 ,though hungry1 cold1 ill-clad1 ,i wander for a while4 ,i smile and say1 ',it is but for a time--,i shall be glad ,to-morrow1 for good fortune comes my way4 ,god is my father1 ,he has wealth untold1 ,his wealth is mine1 health1 happiness and gold4' ,if you have made fatal mistakes for which you have been ostracized from society2 if you are morbidly worrying over some unfortunate experience1 thus making it bigger1 blacker and more hideous1 just thrust it out of your mind1 bury it1 forget it1 say to it1 ,you have no power over me2 ,i will not allow you to destroy my peace and thwart my career2 you are not the truth of my being2 the reality of me is divine1 and you cannot touch that4 ,i can and ,i will rise above all my troubles1 make good all my mistakes and errors4 ,from now on ,i will work with the ,god in me4 ,i will not be overcome4 ,i will overcome4 ,if you are the slave of a demon habit which has blasted your hopes1 blighted your happiness1 thwarted your ambition1 cast its black shadow across your whole life1 say to yourself3 ,i will break away from this vile habit4 ,i will be free and not a slave4 ,if it is impurity1 say1 ,i was not made to be dominated by such a monstrous vice4 ,god's image in me was not intended to wallow in this filth4 ,i have suffered long enough from this damnable habit1 which is undermining my health1 killing my chances of success in life1 and lowering me below the level of the beast4 ,i am a child of the ,infinite1 sent here to make a worthy contribution to humanity1 to make good4 ,i am going to make good4 ,i am going to free myself from this base habit and recover my self-respect1 my manhood1 at any cost4 ,i am going to be a ,,man1 not a ,,thing1 a son of ,god1 not of the devil4 ,continually flood your mind with purity thoughts and affirmations which will neutralize your sensual desires4 ,repeat again and again your determination not to allow your life to be spoiled by unrestrained passion4 ,make such an emphatic and vigorous call upon your better self1 make the demand so appealing that your higher nature will be aroused and will dominate your acts4 ,say1 ,the ,creator has bidden me look up1 not down4 ,he made me to climb1 not to descend and wallow in the mire of animalism4 ,if it is drink1 opium1 excessive smoking1 or any other vicious habit that is robbing you of manhood and holding you back in life1 string this bead on your rosary1 ,i was not made to be dominated by you1 a mere weed1 an extract of grain1 a habit which ,i forged4 ,i am done with you once and forever4 ,the appetite for you is destroyed4 ,there is something divine within me which makes me perfectly able to overcome you4 ,you are a vile thing1 and have disgraced me for the last time4 ,never again can you humiliate me and make me despise myself4 ,there can be only one ruler in my mental kingdom and ,i propose to be that one4 ,i don't propose to allow you ,whiskey1 ,cigarette1 ,opium1 or other ,drug or ,devil1 to ruin my life1 to force me to carry in my face the signs of my defeat1 the scarlet letter of my degradation1 my failure4 ,you have humiliated1 insulted me1 tyrannized over me long enough1 making me confess that ,i hadn't enough strength of mind to stand up against a single vicious1 degrading habit4 ,now ,i defy you4 ,your power over me is at an end4 ,the spell is broken4 ,hereafter ,i am going to walk the earth as a conqueror1 a victor1 not as a slave4 ,i am going to front the world with my head up and face forward4 ,god and one make a majority4 ,i am in the majority ,,now4 ,there is no inferiority or depravity about the man ,god made4 ,no matter how low you may have fallen1 the ,god image in you never can be smirched or depraved4 ,it is as perfect in the worst criminal in the penitentiary as it is in the greatest saint4 ,there is something in every human being that is incontaminable1 something which is never sick1 never diseased1 and which never sins4 ,this is the ,god in us1 and herein lies the hope of the most brutal human being on the earth4 ,there is something in him that is divine1 sinless1 immortal1 the ,god in him which when called will instantly rush to his aid4 ,if you feel that you have wandered very far from your ,god1 that you had gotten out of the current which runs ,heavenward1 just repeat to yourself such things as this1 ,nearer ,my ,god to ,thee1 ,nearer to ,thee4 ,this will help you to put up your trolley pole1 to make your connection with the ,divine wire which carries omnipotent power4 ,the sense of separateness will disappear and the load under which you staggered before will grow light1 will be lifted from you4 ,the secret of all health1 prosperity1 happiness1 power1 love1 of victorious living1 is a consciousness of union1 of oneness with the ,divine4 ,this is the secret of all human blessedness4 ,when you are in this ,godward current you are nearer to ,god1 and you cannot fear1 for you know that no harm can come to infinite power4 ,the closer we are to divinity1 the greater our strength and efficiency4 ,what makes us weak and inefficient is that we have shut off this power by our wrong thinking1 vicious living4 ,your life will take on a new meaning1 a diviner dignity1 when you consciously realize your at-one-ment with the great creative1 sustaining ,principle of the universe4 ,nothing will be of more help to you in achieving this great result than the constant daily use of your ,new ,thought rosary4 ,it will help you to put further and further away the things that make you weak1 that make you think you are a mere puppet1 at the mercy of a cruel ,fate1 which tosses you about in the world regardless of your own birthright1 desires1 and volition4 ,you can make each bead a prayer1 an affirmation1 to lead you closer and closer to the ,source of all things4 ,whether it be the overcoming of a vicious habit1 the strengthening of some defect or deficiency1 the getting away from poverty and despair1 whatever you desire1 you can repeat your affirmation concerning it1 silently1 if with others1 audibly when you are alone1 until it becomes a part of you4 ,especially repeat the beads of your rosary which fit your greatest needs before retiring to sleep4 ,if you have been demagnetizing yourself1 neutralizing your hopes1 your ambition and your efforts by your black1 vicious outlook upon life1 by your doubts1 and worries1 your fear of poverty1 of sickness1 of misfortune1 of death1 put these things out of your mind1 and say1 ,god is my helper4 ,god is my supply1 ,i cannot want4 ,god is my shepherd1 ,i cannot lack4 ,i must live in full realization of my oneness with ,infinite ,life4 ,each one of us is a part of the living ,god and we are powerful1 victorious and happy just in proportion as we realize our oneness with ,him1 and weak1 abject and miserable just in the degree we separate ourselves from ,him1 the ,all-,source1 the ,all-,supply4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,attracting ,,the ,,poorhouse ,as long as you hold the poorhouse thought you are heading toward the poorhouse4 ,a pinched1 stingy thought means a pinched1 stingy reply4 ,no matter how hard one may work1 if he constantly holds the poverty ideal1 the poorhouse thought in his mind1 he is driving away the very thing he is pursuing4 ,the man who sows failure thoughts1 poverty thoughts1 can no more reap success1 prosperity harvests1 than a farmer can get a wheat crop from sowing thistles4 ,poverty is a mental disease4 ,some one has said that no one ever went to the poorhouse who did not attract the poorhouse by his poorhouse mental attitude4 ,observation and long study of the question have convinced me that1 as a rule1 people who make miserable failures of their lives expected to do so4 ,they had such a horror of the poorhouse1 they lived in such terror of coming to want1 that they shut off the very source of their supply4 ,they had so warped their minds that they could see nothing ahead but poverty4 ,they wasted the precious energy which might have been utilized in happiness and prosperity building1 in expecting1 dreading and preparing for the dire things that might come upon them1 and1 according to the law1 they got what they dreaded and feared4 ,thinking war1 talking war1 anticipating it1 getting ready for it1 in other words1 preparedness for war1 the perpetual war suggestion1 was largely responsible for the outbreak of the greatest war in history4 ,if all the nations involved had talked peace1 thought peace1 expected it1 prepared for it1 there would have been peace1 not war4 ,so long as people talk poverty1 think poverty1 expect it1 get ready for it1 they will have poverty4 ,preparedness for poverty1 expecting it1 attracts it1 confirms poverty conditions4 ,we are constantly drawing to ourselves that which we expect4 ,if you are sending out a perpetual poverty thought current1 a doubt current1 a discouragement current1 no matter how hard you may be working in the opposite direction1 you will never get away from the current you set in motion4 ,the sort of thought current you generate will flow back to you4 ,everywhere we see people trying hard to get on1 struggling early and late to better their condition1 and yet never expecting1 or even hoping to be prosperous4 ,they do not believe they are going to get what they are working for1 and they do not4 ,a typical example of those who keep themselves in the poverty current is a woman ,i know who is constantly affirming her inability to better her condition4 ,she answers her better-off friends who tell her that she ought to have this and that by saying1 ,oh1 it is all very well for you rich folks to talk this way1 but these things are not for me4 ,we have always been poor and ,i suppose we always shall be2 we can only have the bare necessities of life1 and are fortunate if we get these4 ,of course ,i might indulge in a little treat for myself and the children now and then1 but that would be extravagant1 and ,i must save for a rainy day4 ,now1 ,i have no quarrel with people who save for a rainy day4 ,it is the part of prudence to be prepared for all emergencies4 ,it is a splendid thing to save for spending1 for enjoyment in our later years1 but people who begin early to provide for the rainy day1 and who deny themselves every little pleasure and enjoyment for the sake of adding to this provision1 fall into the habit of pinching themselves1 and usually continue to do so through life4 ,this woman limits her supply by her conviction that every cent she can spare must go to the rainy day fund because she is always going to be poor4 ,she assures herself and others that she is never going to have the things she would like to have1 because of her poverty1 and so she starves the lives of herself and her boy and girl in anticipating a day of possible want4 ,she is a type of a multitude of men and women who settle down to their poverty1 become half reconciled to its limitations1 and do not make a strenuous effort to get away from it4 ,that is1 they never dream of exercising their creative1 positive thought1 but continue to live and to realize in their conditions the negative1 destructive1 poverty thought4 ,these are the people who are always saying they cannot afford things4 ,they cannot afford to send the boy or girl to school or college this year4 ,they cannot afford the necessary clothes or the needed vacation because of the rainy day1 which1 like a specter1 rises at every feast1 on every occasion when they try to get some enjoyment or satisfaction out of the present4 ,they are always postponing things till next year4 ,but this next year never comes1 and the children never go to the academy or college1 and they themselves never take the needed vacation1 the travel in one's own country or the long promised trip abroad4 ,they keep forever postponing the enjoyment of the good things of life until they can afford it2 and that time never comes for people of this apprehensive habit of mind1 because they always want to lay up a little more for the future4 ,i know a number of people well along in years who are still pinching themselves not only on the comforts but even on the necessities of life in anticipation of the possible rainy day1 for which they are always planning4 ,they make life one long continuous rainy day1 and little realize that they often tend to create the need for which they are perpetually saving4 ,we sometimes read in newspapers striking illustrations of the results of this starved1 rainy day habit of mind4 ,a ,new ,york daily recently reported a typical instance2 that of an aged woman who had died alone in the slums of the metropolis4 ,she had been dead several days when her body was found1 and so wretched were her surroundings1 it was at first supposed that she was penniless4 ,on investigation1 however1 it was found that the woman had had in ready cash and in bank deposits1 almost ten thousand dollars4 ,pauperized by her diseased mind1 this wretched creature1 like many another poverty-stricken soul1 died of starvation in the midst of plenty4 ,her mind was so obsessed with the poverty thought that she even denied herself the necessities of life4 ,for years she had shut herself away from the great stream of life flowing all around her1 so that she might hoard1 and hoard1 and hoard4 ,she would allow no one to enter her rooms1 and died alone and uncared for1 leaving behind her the money which would have made her comfortable1 happy1 useful1 and would have prolonged her life4 ,she was as truly a victim of the poverty disease as though she didn't have a cent4 ,the children of ,israel while passing through the wilderness were constantly reflecting the poverty thought1--,can ,god furnish for us a table in the wilderness8 ,of course not1 it is not reasonable4 ,we shall starve if we do not get back to ,egypt4 ,but for the faith of their great leader1 ,moses1 in the ,power that led them1 they would have gone back to ,egypt1 back to the slavery and poverty from which they had fled4 ,even after the manna had been given them fresh every day for a long time1 they did not believe the supply would continue4 ,they were still skeptical and tried to store enough manna for a rainy day1 but it would not keep and they were forced to trust to a new supply every day4 ,but where is our supply coming from8 ,how are we going to pay the rent1 the mortgage off the home1 the farm8 ,where is the money coming from8 ,what will happen to us if we cannot get it8 ,where are the children's clothes coming from8 ,how are we going to get the necessaries of life8 ,where is our supply coming from8 ,why can't ,i get a job that will enable us to really live8 ,these are the questions multitudes of people all over the world are asking themselves4 ,they express the acuteness of the suffering from the poverty disease1 so apparent in every civilized country4 ,nothing else gives human beings so much anxiety1 nothing else is such a perpetual irritant as this fear of what is coming in the future1 this dread of poverty1 of not being able to provide for the necessities and the comforts of those dear to us1 the fear of not being able to maintain ourselves and to rear our children in comfort and respectability4 ,it demagnetizes us1 drives away the things we want and draws to us those we dread4 ,job said1 ,the thing ,i greatly feared has come upon me--that which ,i was afraid of has come to me4 ,people who have an abnormal fear of poverty attract the very condition they dread and are trying to get away from1 because the mind relates with whatever it dwells on4 ,our doubts and hatreds and fears2 the thing we relate with1 we attract4 ,whatever you allow your mind to dwell on1 you are unconsciously creating4 ,if you think continually of misfortunes1 of poverty2 if you fear you are going to fail in your work1 that you may come to want2 if you are always thinking about the possibility of your business declining2 if you fear you are losing your grip on your trade or profession1 you are aggravating your trouble and making it worse and worse4 ,there are multitudes of people who never expect even to be comfortable1 to say nothing of having luxuries4 ,they expect poverty1 hard times1 and do not understand that this very expectancy increases their magnetic power to attract what they do not want4 ,not long ago a young man who was greatly depressed because he could not get on in the world1 asked me what ,i thought the trouble was4 ,he said he had always worked hard1 but did not seem to make any headway4 ,about all he could do was to earn a bare living4 ,everything appeared to go against him4 ,fate1 he complained1 seemed determined to keep him down1 no matter how hard he might struggle against it1 and he was doomed to be poor1 to be a nobody4 ,he believed that hard luck1 poverty and failure were family traits2 for his father and grandfather1 he said1 were hard workers too1 but they could never get on1 never get away from poverty1 and he didn't expect he ever would either4 ,another1 an older man1 who sought my advice in a similar difficulty1 lamented the fearful inequality of human conditions1 and railed against his luck and the injustice of fate4 ,i work early and late1 ,sundays and holidays1 he said1 and haven't taken a vacation for years4 ,i have been struggling and striving and pushing to make my way in the world since ,i was a boy1 and here ,i am past fifty and have never succeeded in anything yet4 ,now there is something wrong somewhere in society when such persistence and such constant efforts do not enable one to get anywhere1 or to rise to any position worth while4 ,i asked him about his early training and education4 ,he acknowledged that he had not made much of a preparation for his life work1 because1 he said1 his father also had been a tremendous worker1 had always tried hard to better his condition but like himself had never succeeded1 and so he had come to the conclusion that success was not in the family1 and that it was no use to spend years in preparing for a career1 for there was no chance that very much would come to him anyway4 ,these two are types of people who are constantly heading toward poverty and failure in their minds1 and then complaining when they have got what they invited4 ,by the law of mental attraction they could not get anything but poverty and failure4 ,each had desired success and prosperity but had always expected the opposite4 ,he had slaved and toiled in an aimless sort of way1 belittling himself and his talents1 with the inner belief that it was all he was good for anyway1 and that if success by any chance ever came his way it would be a stroke of luck1 and not because it was his due by inherent right4 ,no man can become prosperous as long as he holds in his mind the picture of limitation1 of lack and want4 ,we do not get things in this world which we do not believe we can get4 ,we do not accomplish what we doubt we can do1 even though we have the ability to do it4 ,i knew a boy in college who always felt certain he was going to fail in his examinations1 and he did fail invariably4 ,yet it was due more to his fear1 his terror1 of failure than to a lack of ability or preparation in his studies4 ,he had formed a habit of expecting failure1 of predicting misfortunes1 of looking and preparing for them1 and so far as ,i know they have followed him through life4 ,in every community1 in every occupation and profession1 there are able1 conscientious men and women who try very hard1 so far as their actual labor is concerned1 to get on in the world1 but who don't expect to get on4 ,it is pitiful to see them toiling day after day1 but always facing in the wrong direction4 ,they are working for success in their vocations1 working for a competence for themselves and their families1 but all the time expecting failure1 anticipating poverty1 living in an atmosphere of mental penury4 ,there is no law of philosophy by which you can possibly produce just the opposite of what you are holding in your mind1 what you are concentrating on4 ,if you are thinking down1 if you are afraid1 are worried1 if you have fears and doubts1 if you keep visualizing1 thinking1 talking hard times1 panics and financial crises1 your business will shrink and shrivel accordingly4 ,if1 on the other hand1 you have confidence1 expectation of better things1 if you are convinced that conditions are going to improve1 you set in motion a thought current that will back your efforts with an irresistible force4 ,but a thought current saturated with the fear of failure1 with doubts and discouragement will neutralize your most strenuous efforts4 ,instead of starting on their active careers with the victorious attitude1 with the idea that their careers are to be a triumphal march1 many1 if not the majority of youths1 begin with the impression that they are not victory organized4 ,this is because they have lived in a failure atmosphere1 and have absorbed the poverty idea4 ,they have been reared with the fear of failure in their minds1 a dread of poverty1 a terror of coming to want4 ,write it in your heart that a beneficent ,creator1 who planned a universe full of good things for our use and enjoyment1 never meant that we should starve or be miserable4 ,if we are unsuccessful1 unhappy1 it is because of our attitude toward ,god and life4 ,most of us assume the position of beggars instead of that of children of an all-powerful ,father1 and we remain beggars to the end4 ,one of the worst things about being very poor is the danger of becoming reconciled to penury1 expecting it1 holding the conviction that we shall always be poor1 that there is no help for it4 ,the habit of thinking we must remain poor because we are so is a paralyzing habit4 ,whatever we have accustomed ourselves to for any length of time tends to become a fixed mode of life4 ,multitudes of people have become so accustomed to their poverty environment1 so used to taking it for granted that they are going to remain poor1 that they do not take the necessary steps to get away from poverty2 and they do not even know that the first step must be a mental one4 ,instead of this they are all the time affirming their poverty1 getting more and more deeply imbedded in the poverty condition by their poverty thoughts and convictions4 ,the early years of multitudes of children are saturated with the poverty suggestion4 ,they breathe a poverty atmosphere4 ,they hear poverty talk perpetually4 ,they acquire a poverty vocabulary4 ,their fathers and mothers are always talking poverty1 bemoaning their hard conditions1 complaining that they were born poor1 and must die poor4 ,children reared in such a mental environment get a sort of poverty habit from which it is very difficult to get away4 ,the facing toward poverty and despair1 heading toward hopelessness and failure1 is the worst thing about poverty4 ,the fixity of their conviction that they cannot get away from poverty1 their resignation to it1 their firm belief that they can never rise into prosperity1--these are the most distressing things about the very poor4 ,there is a tremendous difference between the prospects as well as the mental attitude and the facial expression of a poor boy on a farm who dreams of the day when he can go to college1 who pictures himself there1 who believes with all his heart that his dream will be realized1 and the prospects1 the mental attitude and face of another boy similarly situated1 who also longs for an education1 but has abandoned all hope of ever going to college1 or ever getting away from the grinding drudgery and monotony of the farm which he hates4 ,we must change our thought before we can change our conditions4 ,the thought always leads in any achievement4 ,it would be as impossible for the great mass of poor people to improve their position materially while holding their present mental attitude1 the persistent belief that they are always going to be poor1 and that they never can do what others have done to get out of their rut1 as it would be for the boy who longs to go to college1 but who has made up his mind that it is impossible1 to get a higher education4 ,while they think that all others are lucky and they are unlucky1 while they continue talking about their hard fate and thinking that the rich are getting all the good things of the world and that they are getting only the dregs and never will get anything else1 why1 of course they will never get anything else4 ,most poor people have about the same attitude toward poverty that those who are constantly ailing have toward health4 ,habitual invalids never expect to be really well4 ,they are always anticipating the development of some disease1 looking for the symptoms1 imagining that they are going to have this or that physical disability or disease4 ,the way to have health is to think it1 to expect it1 to visualize it1 to realize that health is a positive everlasting fact1 and disease only negation1 the absence of health1 which is brought about largely by a wrong mental attitude1 by self-thought poisoning1 by disobeying the laws of health4 ,if we are going to be well1 we must think vigorous1 robust1 cheerful1 health thoughts1 and we must observe the laws of health4 ,we shall have the same degree of health that we give to our mental health model4 ,it is our visualizing of health that brings the expected condition4 ,it is the same with poverty4 ,not long ago a poor man told me he would be perfectly satisfied if he could be assured that he would never have to go to the poorhouse1 that he would have enough to provide the bare necessities for his little family4 ,he said he never expected to have anything better4 ,he was satisfied that it was not intended for him to have any luxuries4 ,he had always been a poor man1 and he always expected to be poor4 ,now1 this is just the thing that kept this man poor1 for he was a hard worker4 ,he always expected to be poor4 ,he did not expect anything better4 ,he merely worked for the bare necessities of life1 did not expect anything else1 and of course he only just managed to squeeze along1 making but a bare subsistence4 ,this attitude of the poor toward poverty tends to increase it1 to aggravate their disease4 ,so long as one holds the poverty thought he is making himself a poverty magnet1 and continually drawing to himself unfortunate conditions4 ,we have a good illustration of this1 a real object lesson1 in the grayhaired men everywhere seeking a job4 ,i have watched these desperate men on their rounds looking for work4 ,they are poverty stricken in appearance2 their expression is one of utter hopelessness4 ,they look like men who are going downhill1 men who have reached the period of diminishing returns1 and they feel exactly as they look4 ,their appearance is the reflex of their thought4 ,their dress1 their manner1 their gait1 the look in their eyes1 everything about them corresponds to their mental attitude1 and all point downgrade4 ,if these men would only brace up1 look up1 dress up1 before they seek a job1 there would be some hope for them4 ,if they can't get better clothes they can brush the old ones1 blacken their shoes1 have a bath and shave1 and above all a mental clean-up1 and their chances will be ten to one compared with what they were before their physical and mental clean-up4 ,a man has got to radiate confidence in himself1 the expectation of success1 before he can get a job4 ,he has got to show that he has reserve power1 that there is a lot of good blood in him1 working material1 success possibilities1 or nobody will want him4 ,the man who goes to an employer in a discouraged attitude and begs for work on the ground that he needs it very much2 who whines and complains how hard it is for any one who shows the signs of age to get a job1 is not going to get one4 ,if you are in the clutches of a poverty so dire that it robs you even of the desire to get away from it1 you are cursed with self-thought poisoning4 ,this is what mars and embitters so many lives1 drives away happiness1 health and prosperity4 ,poverty is usually a disease4 ,it is just as much a disease as is smallpox or tuberculosis4 ,it is just as abnormal to the human being as any disease of the flesh4 ,so is failure4 ,fear1 worry1 anxiety1 these are all mental diseases1 from which few human beings seem to escape4 ,but we are gradually finding an antitoxin for the virus of those diseases so fatal to efficiency1 health1 happiness and prosperity4 ,the ,bible tells us ,the destruction of the poor is their poverty4 ,every investigator of slum life in our big cities1 every record of the lives of the unfortunate poor in our midst proves that this is an absolute truth4 ,extreme poverty is a scourge that draws its victims down from depths to lower depths2 that makes life a bitter struggle for the bare crumbs that hold body and soul together4 ,when these are not forthcoming it drives the weak1 despairing struggler to crime in order to keep himself from starving1 or if he is still too proud to steal1 to beg1 or to go to the poorhouse he ends his life1 rather than wait for the slow cruel process of starvation to quench it out4 ,every year poverty claims its tens of thousands of innocent victims among the little children who die of disease and neglect in damp1 foul cellars where the sun never enters4 ,it sweeps them into mills and factories where1 robbed of the rights of childhood1 they become warped and twisted men and women1 full of bitterness1 discontent1 unrest and unsatisfied ambitions and longings4 ,it drives multitudes to crime1 to insanity1 to death4 ,in short1 poverty is responsible for more ignorance and crime1 more discontent and unhappiness1 more suicides and ruined ambitions1 more wrecked hopes and homes than almost anything else4 ,verily the destruction of the poor is their poverty4 ,if we are to progress as a race1 as a civilization1 we must1 emphatically1 drive this crushing poverty disease from our midst4 ,instead of lauding its blessings1 as some do1 it is our duty to get away from it1 and to help others to do so4 ,the poverty disease1 the poverty curse1 is not a decree of ,providence4 ,it is largely the result of ignorance4 ,every human being on this earth could be living in comfort if they knew the powers locked up in themselves and were willing to work and make the best use of them4 ,if the poverty antidotes were as generally known as are the poison antidotes there would be no poor people4 ,human beings in the aggregate are in much the same position regarding the poverty antitoxin as the medical profession in regard to newly discovered antitoxin for some terrible disease4 ,physicians do not know how to apply it safely and effectively1 and until practice has established its great value its use is limited4 ,when the knowledge and the use of the poverty remedy become general the disease will be conquered4 ,as the race becomes more intelligent and better educated we eliminate a multitude of conditions to which people formerly thought they were born1 and that there was no escape from them4 ,many evils which have been conquered by science and education were at one time regarded as scourges sent by ,god to punish us for our sins1 to chasten us4 ,diseases which struck terror to the hearts of human beings a hundred years ago1 and from which they fled in horror1 are not feared at all to-day4 ,intelligence and science have mastered the great plagues which in the ,middle and ,dark ,ages carried off their terrified victims by the million4 ,we have no fear of those plagues to-day1 because we have obliterated their causes4 ,we know now that the prevention of those frightful epidemics is merely a matter of sanitation1 scientific hygiene1 intelligent1 healthful living4 ,we know that they were scourges forged by ignorance and not judgments of ,god4 ,is it not reasonable to believe that1 having conquered so many of the enemies of the race by intelligent thought and scientific methods1 we can conquer them all by similar means8 ,poverty is a plague1 a mental disease which can be conquered by intelligent scientific methods4 ,we know its causes and we can remove them4 ,they are largely mental4 ,it is not necessary to call in a physician to treat the poverty disease4 ,the sufferer can be his own physician4 ,he can heal himself4 ,if you are afflicted with the disease1 and want to know how to get rid of it1 read the next chapter4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,making ,,yourself ,a ,,prosperity ,,magnet ,though culture is the most important business of life4 ,the habit of claiming as our own1 as a vivid1 present reality that which we desire with all our heart1 is a magnetic power which attracts the things we long for4 ,the more persistently we hold the prosperity thought1 the more we strengthen and intensify it1 the more we increase its power to attract prosperity4 ,thinking abundance1 visualizing prosperity1 will open up the mind1 and set the thought currents toward increased supply4 ,we are so made that about all we get in life is the reflex of what first flows out from us4 ,whatever thought you send out will draw to you in the material world a corresponding reality4 ,every human being is a magnet1 the attractive power of which may be developed in any desired direction4 ,each one can so direct this power that he can draw to himself whatever he wills4 ,before your life can be really effective you must make yourself a magnet for the things that will make it so4 ,you must learn how to attract1 how to draw to yourself all that will help you to succeed in your work1 that will enable you to attain your ambitions4 ,if poverty is holding you down1 you can conquer it by making yourself a prosperity magnet4 ,we are living in the midst of a stream of inexhaustible supply4 ,it is one's own fault if he does not take from this stream whatever he needs4 ,what we get in life we get by the law of attraction4 ,like attracts like4 ,whatever you may have managed to get together in this world you have attracted by your mentality4 ,you may say that you have earned these things1 that you have bought them with your salary1 the fruit of your endeavor4 ,true1 but your thought preceded your endeavor4 ,your mental plan went before your achievement4 ,the mere changing of your mental attitude will very soon begin to change conditions4 ,your decision to face toward prosperity hereafter1 to cultivate it1 to make yourself a prosperity magnet will tend to draw to you the things that will satisfy your ambition4 ,the text ,he that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed is the expression of a fundamental truth4 ,the pictures you make in your mind's eye1 the thoughts you harbor are day by day building your outward conditions4 ,they are real forces working ceaselessly in the unseen1 and the more you think and visualize favorable conditions the more you increase your power to realize them4 ,you make yourself a magnet for the thing you desire4 ,this is a psychological law4 ,if you want to become a prosperity magnet you must not only think prosperity but you must also turn your back resolutely on poverty4 ,begin to-day4 ,don't wait for to-morrow or next day4 ,if you don't look prosperous1 assume a prosperous appearance4 ,dress as far as possible like a prosperous man or woman1 walk like one1 act like one1 think in terms of prosperity4 ,a mental healer could not cure a cancer by holding in his mind a picture of the hideous disease1 with all its horrible appearances and symptoms4 ,he must eliminate all this from his mind4 ,he must see his patient whole1 clean1 healthy1 just as ,god intended him to be1 free from all disease4 ,he must picture to himself the ideal man1 and declare his divinity4 ,the same thing is true in curing yourself of poverty4 ,you can not do this as long as you hold poverty-stricken conditions in your mind4 ,if you want to be prosperous you must hold the prosperous thought1 the prosperous picture in your mind4 ,you must refuse to see or recognize poverty4 ,you must not acknowledge it in your manner4 ,you must erase all marks of it1 not only from your mental attitude1 but just as far as possible from your appearance4 ,even if you are not able to wear fine clothes at first1 or to live in a fine house1 you can radiate the hope and expectancy of the glorious inheritance which is your birthright1 and everything about you will reflect this light4 ,prosperity begins in the mind4 ,you must lay its foundations in your thoughts1 surround yourself with a prosperity atmosphere4 ,in other words1 you will build into your environment1 into your life1 whatever dwells in your mind4 ,we hear of some people that they are always lucky2 everything seems to come their way4 ,things come their way because there are invisible thought forces radiating from their minds toward the goal they have set for themselves4 ,things fall in line and come our way just in proportion to the force and velocity of the thought forces we project4 ,thinking better things might be called the first aid to the poor4 ,to picture yourself as prosperous1 living in a comfortable home1 wearing good clothes1 surrounded with the refinements of life1 in a position to do your best work in the service of mankind1 this is to put yourself into the current that runs successward4 ,it is a strange thing that most of us believe the ,creator will help us in everything but our financial troubles4 ,we seem to think that it is in some way almost sacrilegious to call upon ,him for money to meet our needs4 ,we may ask for comfort1 for solace in our afflictions1 for the assuaging of our griefs and the healing of our diseases1 but to implore ,god to help us to pay the rent1 to pay off the mortgage on the home or the farm1 does not seem quite right4 ,yet we know perfectly well that every mouthful of food we eat1 the material for the clothing we wear and for the houses we live in1 every breath we breathe must come from this ,divine ,source1 of infinite supply4 ,if the sun were to be blotted out1 or to cease to send its magic rays to the earth1 in a few days there would not be a single living thing on the globe4 ,not a human being1 not an animal could exist without it4 ,not a tree1 not a plant1 not a flower1 no fruits1 no vegetables1 no grass1 nothing green1 no vegetable life would be possible4 ,without the sun's energizing power all life would cease on this planet4 ,it would be as cold1 barren and lifeless as on the moon4 ,the ,creator is the builder and provider of the universe4 ,everything we have comes from ,him1 and without the supply which flows from ,his abundance we could not live a single instant1 and why should we not look to this great ,source for our money supply8 ,the truth is we were all intended to live the life abundant4 ,the ,creator never meant ,his children to grovel in poverty1 to spend their lives in drudgery and uncertainty4 ,they have a right to their inheritance of all that is good and beautiful1 all that is needful for their welfare4 ,we were not intended to live the pinched1 starved1 stunted lives of paupers4 ,it is our own fault if we do4 ,the door to opulence is open to every human being born into this world1 and no one but himself can close that door4 ,no human being can shut out the lowliest child that is born from his divine inheritance4 ,the only real poverty is in the mind1 and no one can control one's mind but himself4 ,never for a moment harbor the thought that anything can come to you but prosperity1 for this is your birthright2 and because it is1 you should demand it4 ,instead of admitting poverty say to yourself1 ,i am in the midst of abundance4 ,i lack nothing that ,i need because my ,father is the ,infinite ,source4 ,turn your back on poverty4 ,make up your mind that you will never again have anything to do with it1 that you will not encourage it by dwelling on and visualizing poverty suggestions4 ,face toward prosperity4 ,think of1 and plan for prosperous conditions2 struggle toward prosperity with all your might and you will draw it to you4 ,suppose you are poor and live in a humble home1 just have a talk with your wife and children1 and make up your minds that you will all focus on your objective--improved conditions1--that you will face the other way1 toward prosperity instead of poverty4 ,say to yourself1 ,it is a shame for ,god's children to exhibit such a pauperized appearance4 ,it is a reflection on my ,father-,mother-,god to go about among my fellows looking as though everything had gone wrong with me1 as though ,i were disappointed with life4 ,this is ungrateful4 ,i can at least show gratitude for health1 for the privilege of living in ,god's pure air and sunlight by holding up my head and walking erectly1 joyously1 as ,his child should4 ,i am really insulting the ,creator1 to whom ,i pray1 by reflecting such despair and degrading poverty in my mental attitude1 thus erasing the divine image from my face4 ,no matter how little ,i have1 ,i can at least appear respectable4 ,i can show that ,i respect myself by doing away as far as possible with the depressing appearance and influence of poverty4 ,tidy up your little home and make it as neat and cheerful as possible4 ,do the same with your dress and general appearance4 ,keep yourself better groomed2 look up1 brace up1 brush up1 struggle up4 ,surround yourself with an atmosphere of hopefulness and show everybody by the new light in your eyes1 the light of hope and expectancy of better things1 that there is a change in you4 ,your neighbors will notice it4 ,they will see a change in your home1 in your wife1 in your children4 ,the change in the mental attitude of yourself and family1 through facing toward the light instead of darkness1 toward hope instead of despair1 will make a tremendous change in your whole outlook on life4 ,in this way you are making yourself a prosperity magnet2 you are radiating thought waves of hope1 of ambition1 of determination4 ,your new mental attitude is expressed in an erect1 manly carriage1 in squared1 thrown back shoulders1 in a neat1 clean appearance1 even though the clothing be old and threadbare1 in a winning1 forceful1 magnetic countenance4 ,you are thus establishing the conditions of success4 ,the positive prosperity thought flows out like a wireless current and connects itself with similar thought currents4 ,hold the prosperity conviction1 work steadily toward your object2 see opportunity and success in your vista1 determine to be somebody1 hold firmly to the resolve1 and your mentality will direct the invisible magnet of your personality to lift you higher and higher1 to attract toward you others who will help you in the direction in which you are moving4 ,if you want a better position1 more salary1 money to pay off debts1 or to get what you need1 whatever it may be1 cling with all the power of your mind to the thing you are trying to get1 and never for a moment doubt you will get it4 ,you do not inherit poverty1 squalor4 ,lack and want have nothing whatever to do with ,god's children4 ,your inheritance is divine1 grand1 sublime4 ,poverty is a mental disease1 and you carry the antidote to its poison in your mind4 ,you owe it to the ,one who has given you life1 health1 who has given you brains to make something of yourself1 to improve your situation4 ,as long as you keep yourself saturated with the poverty conviction you cannot rise out of poverty4 ,you must think yourself out of it4 ,the ,lord is my ,shepherd1 and ,i cannot want4 ,hold that thought firmly and steadfastly in your mind4 ,believe it4 ,live up to it4 ,abundance will never flow through pinched1 doubting1 poverty thoughts1 any more than clear1 crystal water can flow freely through foul1 grease-clogged pipes4 ,a right viewpoint must be your mental plumber to keep the connection open and free4 ,things of a kind attract one another4 ,the poverty thought attracts more poverty1 the fear thought more fear1 the worry thought more worry1 the anxiety thought more anxiety4 ,on the other hand1 the faith thought1 trust thought1 and the confidence thought attract things like themselves4 ,poverty is a disease that can only be cured by prosperity remedies4 ,the prosperity thought is the natural antidote for the poverty germ4 ,it kills it4 ,the poverty thought cannot exist in the mind at the same moment with the prosperity thought4 ,one will drive out the other4 ,it rests with you which one you will harbor and encourage4 ,cling to the consciousness of your oneness with the ,all-,supply4 ,keep the supply pipes between you and the ,infinite ,source of all good always open4 ,don't pinch them4 ,don't cut off the supply by the limiting poverty thought1 the doubt thought1 the fear thought1 the worry thought4 ,keep your supply pipes open by great faith in your ,father-,mother-,god1 who is more solicitous for your welfare than any human parent could be4 ,hold fast to the anchor of your union with the ,infinite ,life2 keep in the current running ,godward and your life will not dry up or become barren1 will not be blighted and blasted by the poverty drought4 ,the trouble with us is that we have been in the habit of looking for a material supply when our first supply must be mental4 ,we keep the supply avenues open or we close them with our thoughts1 our convictions4 ,we materialize poverty by our doubting thoughts1 by our fears of it4 ,we are just beginning to find that we get out of this world what we think into it and work out of it1 that our thought plan precedes its material realization just as the architect's plan precedes the building4 ,remember that prosperity can not flow into your life while your mind is filled with poverty thoughts and convictions4 ,we go in the direction of our thought and our convictions4 ,by no law can you expect to get that which you do not believe you will get4 ,prosperity can not come to you if you are all the time driving it away from you by your poverty thought4 ,you must think in a positive determined way that you are going to succeed in whatever you desire to do or to be before you can expect success4 ,that is the first condition by which you make yourself a magnet for the thing you are after4 ,it doesn't matter whether it is work or money1 a better position or health1 or whatever else it is1 your thoughts about it must be positive1 clean cut1 decisive1 persistent4 ,no weak1 wobbly ,perhaps ,i may get it1 or ,maybe it will come some time1 or ,i wonder if ,i shall get this1 or if ,i can do that sort of thought will ever help you to get anything in this world or the next4 ,when young ,john ,wanamaker started with a pushcart to deliver his first sale of clothing he turned on a positive current toward a merchant princeship4 ,as he passed big clothing stores he pictured himself as a great merchant1 owner of a much bigger establishment than any of those he saw1 and he did not neutralize or weaken this thought current by all sorts of doubts or fears as to the possibility of reaching the goal of his ambition4 ,most people think too much about blindly forcing themselves ahead4 ,they do not realize that they can1 by the power of thought1 make themselves magnets to draw to them the things that will help them to get on4 ,wanamaker attracted to himself the forces that make a merchant prince4 ,every step he took was forward1 to match the vision of his advance with its reality4 ,marshall ,field projected himself mentally out of a little country store into a clerkship in ,chicago4 ,then he thought and worked himself out of this clerkship into a partnership4 ,still thinking and climbing upward1 he next visualized himself at the head of the greatest merchandizing establishment in ,america1 if not in the world4 ,his mind always ran ahead4 ,he was always picturing himself a little higher up1 a little further on1 always visualizing a larger business1 and so making himself a magnet for the things he sought4 ,if ,john ,wanamaker had been satisfied with himself at the start he would have remained in his first little store in ,philadelphia1 and thus cut off all possibility of becoming what he is--one of the greatest merchants the world has ever seen4 ,if ,marshall ,field had stopped thinking himself higher up when the man he worked for in the little ,pittsfield store predicted that he never would succeed as a merchant1 he never would have been heard from4 ,but ,deacon ,davis's telling ,marshall ,field's father that the boy would not make a salesman in a thousand years did not stop him thinking himself ahead4 ,on to ,chicago1 the ,city of ,opportunity1 he said to himself1 and on and up he went until the little country merchant who predicted his failure was a ,lilliputian in comparison4 ,the story of each of these men is1 so far as the success principle is concerned1 the story of every man who has ever succeeded in his undertakings4 ,they may not have been conscious of the law underlying their methods1 but they worked in unison with it1 and hence succeeded4 ,the same thing is true of ,andrew ,carnegie1 and of all the millionaires and self-made men among us who have raised themselves from poor boys to the ownership of colossal fortunes1 or to commanding positions in some phase of the world's activities4 ,any one who makes the accumulation of a fortune his chief goal1 and who has grit1 determination1 will power and sufficient faith in himself to stick to his purpose will get there4 ,but long before the youth who chooses such a goal has reached it1 he will have dwarfed his manhood1 and shriveled his soul4 ,to get away from poverty is one thing2 to set one's heart on money as the ultimate good is another1 and quite a different1 thing4 ,there is a whole world of difference between so saturating one's mind with the thought of money and its acquisition that there is no room for any other aspiration1 and the constant dwelling on the black and hopeless poverty thought1 the incessant picturing yourself as a pauper until you are so convinced of poverty's hold on you that you destroy the very ability which should help you to get away from it4 ,people who are down and out financially are down and out mentally4 ,they are suffering from a mental disease of discouragement and loss of hope4 ,there ought to be institutions conducted by government experts for the treatment of these poverty sufferers1 for they are just as much in need of it as are the inmates of our hospitals4 ,they need advice from mental experts4 ,they have lost their way on the life path1 and need to be shown the way back4 ,they need to be turned about mentally1 so that they will face the light instead of the darkness4 ,they should be shown that they are stopping up their prosperity pipes1 cutting off their source of supply by their pinching1 poverty-stricken1 limiting thought4 ,their whole mental attitude points toward failure1 toward poverty1 and by a natural law their outward conditions conform with the pictures they hold in mind4 ,this poverty disease could be cured in the case of the majority of down and outs1 the failures1 by proper mental treatments4 ,if the people in the great failure army to-day could be shown that as long as they hold the poverty thought and go about with a sad1 dejected expression on their faces1 as though there were no hope in life for them1 they will continue to be poor2 but that if they will only turn about and face the sun1 so that their shadows will fall behind them1 their conditions will begin to improve1 they would quickly take a new lease of life and courage4 ,these mental prosperity treatments would generate in them a new hope that would cause them to brace up all along the line4 ,what a revelation would come to the poor people of the world if they would only eliminate from their minds for a single year the poverty thought2 if they would erase from their minds poverty pictures and all the suggestions of grinding want that sadden and discourage2 if1 instead of expecting poverty1 and all that the idea implies1 they could go through one year expecting just the opposite1--prosperity1--visualizing1 talking prosperity1 thinking prosperity1 acting as though they expected to be1 as though they were1 prosperous6 ,just this radical change of thought1 this transposition of mental attitude1 the persistent holding of the prosperous viewpoint for a year would not only change their whole outlook on life1 but would revolutionize their material conditions4 ,they would brush up and clean up the things they have2 their ambition would grow2 their new way of looking at life would give an upward tendency to their surroundings4 ,no matter how poor1 their squalid aspect would go4 ,everything would take on a different appearance4 ,there would be a new light in the people's faces4 ,there would be hope there instead of despair1--expectancy of better things would give a glow of cheerfulness to their countenances4 ,there would be a light in their eyes which never was there before4 ,working in the spirit of hope and expectancy of better things instead of that of discouragement and the fears of even greater poverty1 they would forge ahead in a way that would astonish themselves4 ,the time is not far away when we shall have prosperity practitioners who will make a specialty of teaching people how to free their minds from thoughts that produce poverty by replacing them with their opposites1 thus constantly enlarging the mental power of attraction until the mind becomes a powerful magnet1 ever attracting prosperity4 ,these specialists will teach people the creative power of right thinking1 and will show them how to attract their desires instead of killing them1 as so many do1 by wrong thinking4 ,clergymen of the future will do much toward eliminating poverty from among their people by instructing them to turn their backs on it and to face toward prosperity4 ,they will teach them how to draw to themselves the sunlight of prosperity4 ,the cure of physical disease is effected by arousing the curative1 restorative forces within the individual4 ,these are brought into operation largely through faith in the physician1 in the remedy1 in the healer4 ,the healthful mental attitude thus created overcomes the disease4 ,the cure of poverty1--poverty is usually a mental disease1--is effected in a similar way4 ,the sufferer must first of all have faith in the great ,physician of the universe4 ,when that is fully and firmly established there will be no difficulty in flooding his mind with the prosperity thought1 the thought that our ,father-,mother-,god is the ,author of abundance1 the ,author of all the wealth of the earth1 and that ,he is infinitely kinder and more solicitous for our welfare than the fondest mother could be for her child4 ,we have not yet tapped the possibilities of any part of the world's resources4 ,every inhabitant of the earth to-day is treading on secrets which would emancipate man from drudgery and allow him to live happily instead of merely to eke out a wretched subsistence as he has done up to the present4 ,hitherto1 in the great majority of cases1 we have barely been existing on the husks of things4 ,now we are beginning to taste the kernel1 because we are coming into a knowledge of the powers locked up within ourselves1 and also of the illimitable supply of ,god's abundance4 ,here and there1 people are mastering the law of opulence4 ,they are demonstrating that they can conquer poverty by making themselves prosperity magnets2 that is1 by thinking and working in conformity with the law of opulence1 of abundance4 ,it is monstrous that so many of ,god's children are starving right on the shores past which the stream of inexhaustible plenty flows1 a stream laden with all the rich things of the universe4 ,there is no excuse for the horrible misery and suffering that exist in our midst4 ,there is no reason why the children of the ,king of kings should be harassed and tortured1 driven into premature graves by poverty1 for the ,creator has produced enough to make every one of ,his children rich1 to give them an abundance of all they need4 ,there is no necessity for those who have inherited all the good things of the earth to remain poor4 ,the very structure of the human machine indicates that it was intended for the best1 that it was planned for comforts1 for luxuries1 and not for poverty-stricken conditions4 ,if we could only realize the far-reaching influence of always expecting the best to come to us1 always expecting opulence1 success1 we would never allow ourselves to be dominated by the black pictures of poverty and failure4 ,if every one who is suffering from the limitations and humiliations imposed by a grinding poverty would proceed to establish the prosperity habit along the lines suggested2 if they would1 by continually holding the prosperous thought1 convince the sub-conscious self that we were made to be successful1 that prosperity belongs to us we should soon sight the millennium4 ,when we affirm our divinity1 and claim our heritage2 when we realize that our birthright keeps us in touch with the very ,source of all supply1 when we know that it was never intended that ,god's children should be poor or go hungry1 that it was never intended they should live in poverty-stricken conditions1 then we shall have struck the very basic principle of prosperity4 ,hold the victorious attitude toward life and you will overcome all unfavorable conditions4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,suggestion ,,of ,,inferiority ,as the initials which boys cut in the bark of a sapling become great1 ugly scars on the grown tree1 so the suggestions of inferiority etched upon the young mind become great ugly scars in the life of the adult4 ,you may succeed when others do not believe in you1 when everybody else denounces you even1 but never when you do not believe in yourself4 ,in olden times criminals1 fugitives from justice1 and slaves were branded4 ,the words1 ,i am a fugitive1 ,i am a thief1 or others indicating their crime or their inferior status were seared on some part of the body with a red hot iron4 ,in ,rome robbers were branded on the forehead with a degrading letter4 ,laborers in mines1 convicts1 and gladiators were also branded4 ,in ,greece slaves were sometimes branded with a favorite poetical passage of their master4 ,in ,france the branding iron used on slaves and criminals often took the form of the fleur-de-lis4 ,in ,england deserters from the army were marked with the letter ,d1 and vagabonds1 robbers and brawlers were branded in some way to advertise their disgrace4 ,the barbarous custom of branding human beings with the badge of crime or inferiority persisted in ,america even after it had been discontinued in the mother country4 ,hawthorne's ,the ,scarlet ,letter gives us a vivid picture of the suffering inflicted on the moral delinquent by ,puritan moralists in ,colonial days4 ,the tragic heroine1 ,hester ,prynn1 is never allowed to forget her sin4 ,the sinister scarlet letter with which she is branded proclaims her shame to every one she meets4 ,while long after the ,colonial period1 up to the time of their emancipation1 slaves were branded in ,christian ,america with the initials of their owners as they were in ,pagan ,greece and ,rome4 ,the mere idea of this stamping human beings with an indelible badge of disgrace1 of inferiority1 shocks us moderns4 ,yet we do not hesitate to mark people to-day with the scarlet letter of outlawry1 the brand of ostracism4 ,we put the criminal badge on our prisoners by shaving their heads and clothing them in stripes1 thus perpetually keeping before them the suggestion that they are criminals1 outlaws1 apart from their kind4 ,we even carry our branding into our homes4 ,in order to satisfy our cheap vanity1 we force our domestic workers to wear as a mark of inferiority1 a distinctive livery to remind them that they are menials1 a lower grade of being than ourselves4 ,as a matter of fact1 if it were not for these branding distinctions1 the maid would1 in many instances1 be taken for the mistress and the valet for the master whom they far outrank both in appearance and character4 ,there are certain inalienable rights which human beings inherit from their ,maker1 rights which no fellow being1 no human law or authority is justified in taking away4 ,no matter what offense a person may commit against society we have no right to degrade him below the level of a human being2 we have no right so to bombard him with the suggestion of degradation1 of inferiority1 that we are almost certain to make him less a man2 to lower his estimate of himself to such a degree that we rob him of the power even to attempt to regain his self-respect and his position in society4 ,we have no right to insist that those who work for us shall wear a badge of inferiority4 ,we have no right to thrust the suggestion of inferiority perpetually into the mind of any human being4 ,one of the greatest injuries we can inflict on any one is to convince him that he is a nobody1 that he has no possibilities1 and will never amount to anything4 ,the suggestion of inferiority is responsible for more blighted ambitions1 more stunted lives1 more failures1 more misery and unhappiness than almost any other single cause4 ,just as the constant dripping of water will wear away stone1 so the constant iteration of a statement will cause its acceptance by the average person4 ,even though the facts may be opposed to it1 a constant suggestion presented to the mind impresses us in spite of ourselves and tends to a conviction of its truth4 ,when the weight of the ,civil ,war was nearly crushing ,lincoln1 when it was the fashion to denounce and criticise and condemn him1 when he was being caricatured as a hideous monster in the jingo press all over the world1 one day1 walking the floor in the ,white ,house1 he was overheard saying to himself1 ,abe ,lincoln1 are you a dog or are you a man8 ,during these dark days it would appear that ,lincoln sometimes had a doubt as to whether he was really the man his closest friends knew him to be1 or the one an antagonistic press pictured him4 ,the curse of the inferiority suggestion not only tends to destroy our faith in ourselves1 but it often makes even the innocent take on the appearance of guilt4 ,when ,lieutenant ,dreyfus1 through a foul conspiracy1 was convicted of the crime of treason against ,france1 he showed outwardly all the manifestations of guilt4 ,when stripped1 in the presence of a vast multitude1 in a public square in ,paris1 of all his insignia of rank as an officer in the army of ,france1 the epaulettes and buttons being cut from his uniform and his sword broken1 although conscious of his innocence of the crime imputed to him he actually looked like the guilty thing he was accused of being4 ,and all but a very few close friends in the vast concourse that witnessed his public disgrace believed that even his appearance corroborated his guilt4 ,the brain of the unfortunate ,dreyfus was a wireless receiving station for the hatred1 the contempt of millions of people who believed they were looking at a vile traitor who had sold valuable military secrets to ,germany4 ,we are all influenced for good or ill by suggestion1 but children and young people are peculiarly susceptible to it4 ,the constant suggestion of stupidity1 badness1 and dullness by teachers or parents1 filling a child's mind with the idea that he is a blockhead1 always blundering1 making mistakes1 that he is no good1 and never will amount to anything1 makes an indelible impression on his plastic mind4 ,the child naturally looks up to its parents and teachers and accepts what they say as truth4 ,he has implicit faith in their superior knowledge and experience1 which seem wonderful to him1 and when they tell him he is stupid1 dull1 slow1 or bad1 he takes what they say for granted4 ,he makes up his mind that1 since they say so1 he must be a blockhead1 and that they are right in thinking he is no good and will never amount to anything4 ,it is criminal for a parent or teacher to brand a child as dull1 stupid1 bad2 to tell him that there is nothing in him and that he will never be anybody or amount to anything in life4 ,the effect on a sensitive child is disastrous4 ,thousands of boys and girls have been stunted mentally1 their careers handicapped1 and in some instances completely ruined by such cruel suggestions of inferiority4 ,i have known men who kept taunting their sons with what they called their imbecility and stupidity until the lads came to believe that they were partial idiots and could not possibly make anything of themselves4 ,many of them never did1 because they were unable to overcome the conviction of inferiority impressed upon them by their fathers4 ,i remember one quite pathetic instance of a sensitive boy whose slightest mistake evoked a volley of abuse from his father4 ,he would tell him that he was not half baked1 that he was an imbecile1 a blockhead1 a blunderer1 a hopeless good-for-nothing4 ,the little fellow so completely lost faith in himself and became so cowed that he hardly dared look people in the face4 ,he could not be induced to enter his home when there were callers or guests present4 ,he would slink away and hide himself in the shed or barn until they had gone4 ,in fact1 he became so morbid that he shrank from association even with other boys and the neighbors whom he had known from babyhood4 ,the boy really had a fine mind1 and when the death of his father threw him on his own resources1 he managed1 by sheer will force and dogged persistence1 to succeed in making an honorable place in life4 ,but he has never been able to get away from the early conviction of his inferiority1 of his lack of ability compared with others around him4 ,all his later life has been handicapped by those pernicious suggestions4 ,whenever he is asked to assume any responsibility1 to take a place on a committee or a board1 to speak in public or make himself prominent in any way1 these boyhood mental pictures of his good-for-nothingness rise before him like terrifying ghosts and seriously cripple or paralyze his efforts4 ,he has always felt that there is some grave defect in his nature and that1 try as he may1 he can not entirely overcome his handicap4 ,this crippling1 cramping defective image of himself impressed on this man in childhood and youth has robbed him of much of the best of life1 of all the joy and exhilaration that come from spontaneity1 from the free1 unshackled expression of oneself1 of all one's faculties4 ,children are affected by praise or blame just as animals are4 ,it is easy to kill the spirit of a dog by abuse and ill treatment1 so that in a short time he will slink about with his tail between his legs1 look guilty and self-depreciatory4 ,in short1 he will take on all the appearance of a whipped cur4 ,thoroughbred horse trainers say that after a horse has been beaten or abused a few times he loses confidence in himself4 ,his spirit is broken and when he sees the other horses getting neck and neck with him1 or perhaps gaining on him a little1 he is likely to give up the race4 ,the destruction of self-confidence has caused many a youth with the latent qualities of a thoroughbred to fail in life's great race4 ,there are thousands and thousands of boys who do not develop quickly4 ,their brains are strong and capable1 but they work slowly1 and as a consequence the boys are misjudged and misunderstood by parents and teachers alike4 ,in other instances the stupidity and dullness for which children are berated are only apparent4 ,they are often the result of timidity1 shyness1 excessive self-consciousness4 ,the youngsters do not dare to assert themselves4 ,especially is this true in families where the parental rule is stern and repressive4 ,the children are afraid to speak aloud or to express themselves in any way4 ,the suggestion of inferiority deepens this defect till it becomes a mania4 ,many of the tragedies of the pernicious ranking system by examinations in our public schools and colleges are the result of an acute sense of inferiority4 ,every year quite a number of public school pupils and students in academies and colleges suffer nervous breakdown1 become insane or commit suicide because they fail to pass their examinations4 ,chagrin and humiliation at the sense of inferiority suggested by their failure unbalances them4 ,in most of those cases lack of confidence1 not lack of ability1 is the cause of failure4 ,you may say this is foolishness1 but it is true4 ,and if the suggestion of inferiority is powerful enough to drive young people to suicide1 certainly the opposite1 the suggestion of superiority1 would multiply the youth's ability and work a miracle in his career4 ,a child should never hear the slightest hint to the effect that it is in any way inferior4 ,its whole training should tend to develop faith1 confidence in himself1 in his powers1 in his great possibilities4 ,as the twig is bent the tree is inclined4 ,the child who is impressed in its tender formative stage with the idea of its inferiority suffers a wrong for which nothing in the after years can compensate4 ,many young employees1 especially if they are at all sensitive1 are irreparably injured by nagging1 fault-finding employers1 who are constantly reminding them of their shortcomings1 scolding them for every trivial mistake1 and never giving them a word of praise or encouragement1 no matter how creditable their work1 or how well they deserve it4 ,enthusiasm is the very soul of success and one cannot be enthusiastic about his work1 he cannot take continued pride in it1 if he is constantly being told that it is no good1 that it is in fact disgracefully bad1 that he should be ashamed of himself1 and that he ought to quit if he can't do better4 ,this fault-finding and continual suggestion of inferiority has ruined many a life4 ,a young writer1 for instance1 often gets a serious setback in his early efforts because of a severe criticism1 an unqualified condemnation of his first book by a reviewer1 or the return of his initial manuscript1 with an editor's sneering suggestion that he has made a mistake in his calling4 ,harsh critics1 editors and book reviewers have deterred many young writers from developing their talent4 ,the fear of further criticism or humiliation1 of being called foolish1 dull or stupid1 has blighted in the bud the career of many talented young people who under encouragement might have done splendid work4 ,if he is of a sensitive nature even though he really have great ability such rebuffs often so dishearten him that he never has the confidence to try again4 ,in the same way many a possible clergyman or orator has been discouraged by early failure and the humiliation of ridicule4 ,in other words1 unless a youth is made of very strong material and has a lot of pluck and indomitable grit1 the suggestion of inferiority1 perpetual nagging and discouragement may seriously mar his career4 ,if instead of carping and harping on the little faults and mistakes of those under their jurisdiction1 and prophesying their utter failure and ruin1 parents1 teachers1 employers and others in responsible positions would recognize and appreciate laudable qualities1 there would be less misery and crime in the world1 fewer human failures and wrecks4 ,the perpetual suggestion of inferiority holds more people back from doing what they are capable of than almost anything else4 ,in the ,old ,world1--,china1 ,japan1 ,india1 in ,england and other ,european countries1 for example1--who can measure the harm it has done in the form of caste4 ,think what superb men and women have been held down all their lives1 kept in menial positions1 because they were reared in the belief that once a servant always a servant2 that because their parents were menials they must also be menials6 ,what splendid brains and fine personalities we see serving in hotels1 restaurants and private households in ,europe--often much superior to the proprietors themselves4 ,saturated with the idea that the son must follow in the father's footsteps1 though they may be infinitely superior in natural ability to those they serve1 these men remain waiters1 butlers1 coachmen1 gardeners or humble employees of some sort4 ,no matter what talents they possess they are held in leash by the ingrained conviction of generations that the accident of birth has decided their position in life4 ,they are convinced that the barriers established by heredity and by caste1 an outworn feudal system1 are insurmountable4 ,how delightfully the gentle humorist ,barrie satirizes this ,old ,world condition in his play1 ,the ,admirable ,crichton4 ,how skillfully he portrays the clever and resourceful butler1 ,crichton1 who in the crucible of a great emergency proves himself a born leader1 a man head and shoulders above the noble lord1 his master4 ,when the yacht carrying the master and his family1 ,crichton and some other servants1 is wrecked1 they escape with their lives to a desert island4 ,in their desperate plight the barriers of caste are broken down1 and master and man change places4 ,removed from an artificial environment1 where hereditary rank and wealth determine the status of the man1 ,nature unmistakably asserts herself1 and ,crichton1 by the tacit consent of all1 becomes leader4 ,by the force of his inborn ability he controls the situation4 ,he commands1 the others obey4 ,yet when they are rescued by a passing ship and brought back to ,england1 old conditions at once resume their sway4 ,crichton1 without a murmur1 or thought of change1 falls back to his former menial position1 and all goes on as before4 ,while we ,americans laugh at1 or severely criticize and denounce1 the snobbishness of class distinctions in other countries1 we are guilty of similar snobbishness1 especially in regard to one section of our fellow-,americans--the ,negro race4 ,no matter how highly educated1 how able1 how refined or charming a man or a woman1 if he or she has but a drop of ,negro blood1 we brand him or her with the stigma of race inferiority4 ,i always feel sympathy for the colored people1 especially for the better educated and more refined men and women of this class who must suffer keenly from the discrimination against their race4 ,they see white people avoiding them everywhere2 refusing to sit down beside them in public places1 in churches1 on trains and cars1 everywhere they can possibly avoid it4 ,in the ,south they are not permitted to ride in the same cars with whites1 and in other parts of the country1 while they may travel on the ordinary day coaches1 they are not allowed on the ,pullman cars1 except as waiters and porters4 ,our hotels1 private schools1 public places1 and even many of our churches1 practice similar discrimination4 ,the churches pretend to draw no color lines1 but by their attitude most of them practically do so4 ,everywhere they turn in this land of ours1 where we boast that every man is born free and equal1 ,negroes are embarrassed1 placed at a disadvantage4 ,in all sorts of ways white people are constantly humiliating them1 reminding them that they belong to an inferior race1 and they take their places according to the valuation of those born to more favorable conditions4 ,this constant suggestion of inferiority has done much to keep the colored race back1 because it has added tremendously to their sense of real or fancied inferiority and has been a discouragement to their efforts to make themselves the equals of those who look down upon them4 ,we can not help being influenced by other people's opinion of us4 ,it makes us1 according to its nature1 think more or less of ourselves1 of our ability4 ,we are similarly affected by our environment4 ,we unconsciously take on the superiority or inferiority of our surroundings4 ,employees who work in cheap1 shoddy stores or factories soon become tagged all over with the marks of inferiority1 the cheap ,john methods employed in the establishments in which they work and spend their days4 ,if the employees in a store like ,tiffany's or ,altman's1 for example1 were to be mixed up with those of some of the cheap1 shoddy ,new ,york stores1 it would not take much discernment to pick out the worker in the superior environment from the one in the inferior4 ,to spend one's best years selling cheap1 shoddy merchandise will inevitably leave its mark on those who do so4 ,even though we may struggle against it1 we are unconsciously dyed by the quality of our occupation1 the character of the concerns for which we work4 ,in making your life choice1 avoid as you would poison shoddy1 fakey concerns which have no standing in their community4 ,keep away from occupations that have a demoralizing tendency4 ,every suggestion of inferiority is contagious1 and helps to swerve the life from its possibilities4 ,every influence in our environment is a suggestion which becomes a part of us4 ,if we live with people who lack ambition1 who are slovenly1 slipshod1 or with people of loose morals1 of low flying ideals1 we tend to reflect their qualities4 ,if we mingle much with those who use slangy1 vulgar1 incorrect ,english1 people who are not careful about their manners or their expression1 these things will reappear in our own conversation and manners4 ,if we read inferior books1 or associate with perpetual failures1 with people who botch their work and botch their lives our own standards will suffer from the contagion4 ,it does not matter whether inferiority relates to manner1 to work1 to conversation1 to companions1 to thought habits--wherever it occurs1 its tendency is to pull down all standards and to cut down the average of achievement4 ,we are all living sensitive plates on which the example1 the thoughts and suggestions of others1 our own thoughts and habits1 our associations and surroundings indelibly etch themselves4 ,i wish ,i could burn it into the consciousness of every person who wants to make a success of life that he cannot do so while he associates himself with inferiority and harbors a low estimate of himself4 ,get away from both4 ,have nothing to do with them4 ,if you are a victim of the inferiority suggestion1 deny the suggestion1 drive it from your mind as the greatest enemy of your welfare4 ,you can only do what you think you can4 ,if you hold in mind a cheap1 discreditable picture of yourself2 if you doubt your efficiency you are shackled1 you are not free to express yourself4 ,you erect a barrier between yourself and the power that achieves4 ,the mere mental acknowledgment or feeling that you are weak1 inefficient1 is contagious4 ,it is sensed by other people and their thought is added to yours in undermining your self-confidence1 which is the bulwark of achievement4 ,no matter what others say or think of you1 always hold in mind a lofty ideal of yourself1 a picture of your own efficiency4 ,never allow yourself to doubt your ability to do what you undertake4 ,you can not be inferior1 because you are made in ,god's image4 ,you can1 if you will1 make a masterpiece of your life1 because it is part of ,his plan that you should4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,have ,,you ,,tried ,,love',s ,,way8 ,love1 like the sun1 never sees the dark side of anything4 ,you can purchase a man's labor1 you've got to cultivate his good will4 ,sweeter than the perfume of roses is the possession of a kind1 charitable1 unselfish nature1 a ready disposition to do for others any good turn in one's power4 ,a ,new ,york man who saw a little girl carrying a crippled boy across a street1 offered to assist her1 telling her that the boy was too heavy for her to carry4 ,oh1 no1 said the child quickly1 he's not heavy2 he's my brother4 ,oh1 marvelous power of love that lightens all heavy burdens and smooths all rough roads6 ,what would become of humanity were it not for love1 which sweetens the hardest labor and makes self-sacrifice a joy8 ,it is the greatest force in the universe4 ,without its transforming power we should still be primitive barbarians4 ,in spite of the loud cries of pessimists and skeptics to the contrary1 its light is still leading men upward4 ,although the dream of the world's peacemakers has come to naught and ,europe is plunged in a merciless war1 yet there are multitudes of signs of the reign of love4 ,its merciful healing power is at work even on the cruel battlefield4 ,we see it animating the great army of ,red ,cross surgeons and nurses1 who1 regardless of creed or country1 racial or social differences1 are treating all the wounded soldiers as brothers1 binding up their wounds and nursing them back to health and life4 ,love is healing the hurts made by hate and discord4 ,we see its influence in the miracle which the leaven of the ,golden ,rule is performing in the business world1 in the passion for social service in the world at large1 in the gradual obliteration of class distinctions1 in the growing efforts to ameliorate the conditions of the poor1 in the great wave of reform that is beating against the walls of all our institutions1 our jails1 our poorhouses1 our reformatories1 our insane asylums4 ,the abuses with which these places were filled are gradually being cleared up by love4 ,in many of our prisons1 the kindly1 brotherhood system of treatment that has been inaugurated is really helping to reform criminals1 whereas the old system of penology killed men1 broke their spirit1 or made them more hardened in crime4 ,it rarely1 if ever1 reformed4 ,love's way must in time banish altogether the old cruel prison methods1 and ultimately the criminal himself4 ,when the world is run by love1 by the ,golden ,rule plan1 crime will die a natural death4 ,every one who slips from the right path1 no matter what he has done1 should be given another chance1 a fresh opportunity to make good1 to rebuild his character4 ,one who has sinned against society should not be expelled from the sympathies1 the good-will and the kindliness of his fellowmen4 ,criminals should be treated as unfortunate brothers and sisters who have stumbled and lost their way on the life path4 ,love is the only medium that will help them to rise1 to get back into the current that runs ,godward4 ,people who understand them1 who see a ,god in the ruins that evil influences have made1 would make good men and women out of the great majority of our prisoners4 ,many of these poor wretches never had an opportunity4 ,they never felt the magic touch of love1 never knew the influence of a good home1 of honest1 loving parents4 ,most of them did not have a right start in life4 ,they were handicapped at birth by ignorance1 by disease1 by vicious parentage4 ,they never had a fair chance4 ,love's way would give them one4 ,shutting them into cramped1 miserable1 sunless cells1 with none of the comforts or conveniences of life1 where none of the humanities reach them2 meting them out treatment we would not dream of inflicting on our domestic animals1 is like trying to put out fire with kerosene oil4 ,such treatment makes them worse1 arouses their basest passions of revenge1 bitterness and hatred1 fills them with a determination to get even with society4 ,society is beginning to wake up to the futility of such brutal methods4 ,it is beginning to apply love's way to its criminal classes1 to all classes4 ,our free hospitals1 our homes for the aged and poor1 our public asylums1 are all1 like our prisons1 working upward toward the light4 ,the fallen1 the sick1 the poor1 the old1 the maimed1 the bruised and suffering1 everywhere are receiving more consideration1 more humane treatment1 more kindness4 ,and we are finding that greater trust in them1 greater sympathy and greater interest in our unfortunate brothers and sisters1 are working a marvelous change in human conditions4 ,in other words1 in spite of many seeming contradictions1 many glaring evils in our midst1 many setbacks and discouragements1 the spirit of the ,christ1 of the ,golden ,rule1 is acting like a healing leaven and performing miracles in the great human mass4 ,love is the great mind opener1 the great heart opener and life-enricher1 the great developer4 ,it is what holds society together1 and if children were trained to love humanity1 to love all countries and their inhabitants as they are taught to love their own country and countrymen1 there would be no wars4 ,war proceeds largely from what is called patriotism4 ,and patriotism in its narrower sense1 which seeks only its own good1 its own aggrandizement1 at the expense of other countries and peoples1 has ever been the curse of the race4 ,when our love is big enough to say1 ,the world is my country1 wars will cease4 ,a few days ago ,i was attracted by an advertisement in a morning paper which said1 ,when every other physician has given you up2 when you have failed to find relief from all other sources1 then come to me4 ,you are the sort of person ,i cure4 ,the advertiser may have been a quack1 but the advertisement would make its appeal1 perhaps1 to the desperate1 the discouraged1 who had been given up as incurable by the regular profession1 and it set me to thinking4 ,why1 this1 ,i said to myself1 is the language of ,divine ,love's advertisement4 ',come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and ,i will give you rest4' ,when you have failed to find comfort1 satisfaction or joy in anything else1 when your friends have deserted you1 when your business is ruined1 when you have made fatal mistakes and society has closed its doors on you1 when everybody else rejects and denounces you1 when everything else has failed1 then come to me and you shall find peace and rest4 ,love is the sovereign remedy4 ,it is the last resort of those driven to desperation4 ,when nothing else is left1 when life is full of bitterness and anguish1 the thief1 the murderer1 the failure1 the outcast turns to ,love and finds a refuge1 for ,love never faileth4 ,love is to every human being what mother love is to the erring child4 ,no son or daughter has ever fallen so low as to get beyond a mother's love4 ,when society has turned its back on the outcast1 when the prison door closes behind him1 when companions have fled1 when sympathy and mercy have departed1 when the world has forgotten1 the mother remembers and loves her child4 ,she visits her boy in the death house1 her daughter in the dens of vice in the slums4 ,the child can never stray too far for the mother's love to follow4 ,it is the most perfect prototype of our ,father-,mother-,god's love4 ,the ,vedanta scriptures1 which are thousands of years older than the ,old ,testament of our ,bible1 commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves because we are all neighbors1 because of the oneness of all life1 because the same spirit is in all human beings4 ,until we see and live in conscious coperation with this oneness of spirit1 until the world sees it in all human beings1 there will be public strife1 private quarrels1 greed1 selfish ambition1 inhumanity of man to man1 poverty1 crime1 all sorts of wretchedness and misery4 ,love alone can wipe all these out4 ,human laws1 repression1 punishment will never do it4 ,christ's way1 ,love's way1 holds the solution of all life's problems4 ,i was talking recently with a cold-blooded1 overbearing1 brow-beating business man who told me he was going out of business because he was so tired and sick of incompetent1 dishonest help4 ,his employees1 he said1 were always taking advantage of him1 stealing1 spoiling merchandise1 blundering1 shirking1 clipping their hours4 ,they took no interest in his welfare1 their only concern being in what they found in their pay envelope4 ,i have enough to live on1 he concluded1 and ,i don't propose to run a business for their benefit4 ,i have tried every means ,i know of to get good work out of ignorant1 selfish help1 but it is no use1 and now ,i have done with it4 ,my nervous system is worn out and ,i must give up the game4 ,you say you have tried everything you could think of in managing your employees1 but has it ever occurred to you to try ,love's way8 ,i asked4 ,love's way6 he said disgustedly4 ,what do you mean by that8 ,why1 if ,i didn't use a club all the time my help would ride right over me and ruin me4 ,for years ,i have had to employ detectives and spies to protect my interests4 ,what do these people know about love8 ,why ,i would have the red flag out here in no time if ,i should attempt any such fool business as that4 ,a young man who had been successful in ,golden ,rule management hearing of the situation saw in it a possible opening1 and asked this man to give him a trial as manager before giving up his business altogether4 ,the result was1 he was so pleased with him that in less than half an hour he had engaged him as manager1 although he still insisted that it was a very doubtful experiment4 ,the first thing the new man did on taking charge was to call the employees in each department together and have a heart to heart talk with them4 ,he told them that he had come there not only as a friend of the proprietor1 but as their friend also1 and that he would do everything in his power to advance their interests as well as those of the business4 ,the house1 he told them1 had been losing money for years1 and it was up to him and them to change all that and put the balance on the right side of the ledger4 ,he made them see that harmony and coperation are the basis of any real success for a concern and its employees4 ,from the start he was cheerful1 hopeful1 sympathetic1 enthusiastic1 encouraging4 ,he quickly won the confidence and good will of everybody in the establishment1 and had them all working as heartily for the success of the business as if it were their own4 ,the place was like a great beehive1 where all were industrious1 happy1 contented1 working for the hive4 ,so great was the change that customers began to talk about the new spirit in the house4 ,business grew and prospered1 and in an incredibly short time1 the concern was making instead of losing money4 ,yet in many respects the new manager was not nearly as able as his employer1 but he had a different spirit4 ,he was animated by a belief in the brotherhood of man4 ,he had sympathy1 tact1 diplomacy1 and a real personal interest in those who worked under him4 ,he never scolded them when they did not do right2 he simply talked with them like an elder brother and made them ashamed of themselves4 ,he showed them there was a better way1 and they followed it4 ,in short1 he won their love and respect and they would do anything for him4 ,the ,golden ,rule method had driven out hate1 selfishness1 greed and dissension4 ,the interests of all were centered on the general welfare1 and so all prospered4 ,when the proprietor returned from abroad1 whither he had gone for a few months' rest and recuperation1 he could scarcely believe in the reality of the transformation that love's way had effected in his old employees and in the entire establishment4 ,you who have been tortured and torn to pieces for years with hot tempers1 with worry1 with fear1 with hatred and ill will2 you who have already committed suicide on many years of your life1 why not turn your back on all this and try love's way8 ,so far your life has been a disappointment4 ,there must be a better way for all who bear the scars and stains of strife1 who have been battered and buffeted by the old evil way1 in which there has been no rest1 no harmony1 no sweetness4 ,why not try love's way8 ,try it for every trouble1 for every hurt and sorrow4 ,try it you whose home life has been a bitter disappointment2 you husbands and wives who have quarreled1 who have never known what peace and comfort are1 try love's way4 ,it will smooth out all your wrinkles1 it will put a new spirit into your home that was never there before1 it will bring a new light into your eyes1 new hope into your heart1 and new joy into your life4 ,you mothers who have worn yourselves to a frazzle and prematurely aged yourselves in trying to bring up your children by scolding1 nagging1 punishing1 driving1 why not try love's way instead8 ,you can love your boys and girls into obedience and respect much more quickly and with far better results to them and to yourself than by driving them2 appeal to their best and noblest instincts instead of their worst1 and you will be surprised how quickly and readily they will respond to your appeal4 ,there is something in human nature which protests against being driven or forced4 ,if you have been trying to force your boys and girls in the past1 give it up and try the new way1 love's way4 ,see if it does not work wonders in your home4 ,see if it will not make your domestic machinery run much more smoothly4 ,see if it will not wonderfully relieve the strain upon yourself4 ,give love's way a trial4 ,try it1 you fault-finding1 scolding housewife4 ,instead of nagging your family1 fretting and stewing from morning till night1 blaming1 upbraiding1 complaining1 try love's way4 ,instead of berating a maid before your guests when she accidentally breaks a piece of china1 put yourself in her place1 try to realize her embarrassment1 and pass over the mishap cheerfully4 ,then1 in private1 give her a gentle word of caution4 ,she will be more careful in the future4 ,if your laundress returns a piece of smirched linen1 or if her work is not quite so well done as it was the last time1 don't give her a brutal scolding4 ,harsh treatment will only make her sullen and unhappy1 but you will find her susceptible to kindness and gentle words4 ,give sympathy and kindness instead of scolding and nagging and you will work a revolution in your household4 ,you will be delighted to find how quickly love's way will change the atmosphere in your family1 how soon helpful relations will take the place of antagonistic ones4 ,praise1 generous1 whole-hearted1 unstinted praise1 now and then1 will not hurt any one1 but1 on the contrary1 will act like lubricating oil on dry squeaky machinery1 and its reflex action on yourself will be magical4 ,you husbands who have been substituting money and luxury for love1 who have thought that if a woman had a fine house1 beautiful clothes and all her bills paid1 she ought to be satisfied and happy2 you who have so miserably failed of your object in this substitution will be surprised to find how much happier you can make your wife by bestowing on her a generous1 unselfish love4 ,a very little money1 a very humble home with love will make every true woman happier than millions1 a palatial home1 with indifference4 ,try love's way1 you men who have been lording it over your families1 bullying and brow-beating your wives and children1 using slave-driving methods in your home4 ,you know that this old brutal way has not brought you happiness or satisfaction2 you have always been disappointed with it1 then why not try the new philosophy1 try love's way8 ,it is the great cure-all1 it is the ,christ remedy which is leavening the world4 ,try it you who are worn out with the discord and the hagglings1 the trials and tribulations you encounter every day in your business4 ,you men and women who have never been able to get good help1 who are driven to desperation with the wicked breakage and wastage of your employees2 you who have been through purgatory in your struggle with dishonesty and inefficiency1 whose faces are furrowed with cruel wrinkles and prematurely aged in trying to fight evil with evil1 try love's way4 ,it will create a new spirit in your store1 your factory1 your office4 ,whatever your business1 whatever your trials and difficulties1 love will ease the jolts of life and smooth your way miraculously4 ,try love's way all you who have hitherto lived in purgatory because you did not know this better way4 ,you have tried the getting square policy1 the hatred and grudge method2 you have tried the revenge way1 the jealousy way2 you have tried the worry1 the anxiety method1 and these have pained and tortured you all the more4 ,you have tried law and the courts to settle troubles and difficulties with neighbors and business associates1 and perhaps you won lawsuits only to make bitter1 life-long enemies4 ,but perhaps you have never yet tried love's way1 excepting in spots4 ,if you have not yet tried it as a principle1 as a life philosophy1 as a great life lubricant1 begin now4 ,it will smooth out all the rough places and wonderfully ease your journey over the jolts of life4 ,you may be wondering why you have so few friends1 why you do not attract people1 why others are not more interested in you4 ,look into your heart and you will find the reason4 ,if you are sending out a current of selfishness1 of uncharitableness1 unkindness1 indifference1 ingratitude1 you can not get a return current of friendship1 of encouragement and helpfulness4 ,the stream that leads back to you will be just like that which goes out in your thought1 in your habitual mental attitude4 ,to have friends1 to win love you must make yourself a magnet for love4 ,you must send out the friendly thought current1 the helpful current1 the kindly1 loving current of human fellowship4 ,if you give out stinginess1 narrowness1 meanness1 selfishness1 you will not receive love's gifts in return4 ,as you give1 so will you receive1 and the more generously you give of love and kindness and service the more generously will the current that returns bear them back to you4 ,the most beautiful thing on this earth1 that which every human being craves most is love4 ,it is1 as ,henry ,ward ,beecher said1 the river of life in this world4 ,think not that ye know it who stand at the little tinkling rill1 the first small fountain4 ,not until you have gone through the rocky gorges1 and not lost the stream2 not until you have gone through the meadow1 and the stream has widened and deepened until fleets could ride on its bosom2 not until beyond the meadow you have come to the unfathomable ocean1 and poured your treasures into its depths--not until then can you know what love is4 ,all through the ,bible are passages which extol the height and depth1 the breadth and power1 the inexhaustibleness of love4 ,the more of love we give out1 the more we have4 ,love maintains perpetual summer in the soul and shuts out winter's chill4 ,love of man is love of ,god1 and love of ,god prolongs life4 ,with long life will ,i satisfy him1 declares ,jehovah in the words of the ,psalmist1 because he hath set his love upon me4 ,love is harmony1 and harmony prolongs life1 as fear1 jealousy1 envy1 friction1 and discord shorten it4 ,those who are filled with the spirit of love1 whose sympathies are not confined to their own family1 but reach out to every member of the human family1 are more exempt from the ills of mankind than the selfish and pessimistic1 who lose the better part of life1 the joy and the strength that come from giving themselves to others4 ,some natures are so permeated with the spirit of love1 of helpfulness1 of unselfishness1 that their very presence acts like a balm upon the wounded soul4 ,they radiate harmony1 soul sunshine4 ,there is a personal charm about them which strengthens1 reassures1 and uplifts4 ,no more scientific advice was ever uttered on this earth than ,love your enemies4 ,nothing will take the sting out of unkindness like kindness2 nothing will disarm prejudice1 hatred1 and jealousy like love4 ,it is impossible for any one to continue to hate us1 when we send out to him only love thoughts1 love vibrations1 or to be jealous of us when we send out to him only kindly1 generous1 helpful thoughts4 ,hatred or the spirit of revenge cannot live in the presence of love any more than an acid can retain its eating1 biting qualities in the presence of an alkali4 ,one whose heart is filled with love for all cannot possibly have an enemy very long1 because love dissolves all enmity1 all jealousy1 neutralizes1 antidotes all hatred4 ,one-sided hatred cannot exist because there is nothing to keep it alive4 ,it must be fed in some way or the fire will die out for lack of fuel4 ,it is simply impossible to keep on feeling unkindly towards another1 to continue hating him very long when we discover that he feels kindly toward us and is willing to help us4 ,i have never felt so humiliated in my life as when years ago1 in my hot youth1 ,i was rendered a very great service by a man whom ,i disliked intensely1 and against whom ,i had for some time cherished a grudge4 ,his great-hearted1 generous act1 which was a real help to me1 made me feel utterly ashamed of myself4 ,it showed me as nothing else could have done what a mean1 unworthy1 contemptible thing it is to nurse a feeling of hate or revenge toward a fellow-being4 ,we cannot hold the love thought without feeling the uplift1 the glow1 the divine energy which it sends through the whole system4 ,nor1 on the other hand1 can we hold the hate thought1 the revenge1 the jealous1 the envious1 or any other mean1 selfish thought1 without a feeling of depression1 a feeling of smallness1 of contemptibleness1 which robs us of self-respect and of power4 ,when you denounce and condemn others1 when you nurse bitterness and ill will in your heart1 you start boomerang vibrations which impair your cell life and seriously mar your happiness and efficiency4 ,one of the great benefits of devotional exercise1 of prayer1 of contemplation1 of divine thinking1 is that this mental attitude sets in motion vibrations which have a helpful1 uplifting influence on both mind and body4 ,where love and affection are habitually vibrating through the cell life they develop a poise and serenity of character1 a sweetness and strength1 a peace and satisfaction that renforce the whole being4 ,love soothes and strengthens4 ,hate lacerates1 wrinkles1 weakens4 ,the character of people who keep themselves continually stirred up by discordant emotions1 who live in discordant homes where there is perpetual wrangling1 criticism1 denunciation1 scolding1 twitting are cold1 skeptical1 unlovely1 selfish4 ,their affections become marbleized4 ,there is nothing outside of vice which will deform the character so quickly as living in an atmosphere of perpetual hatred1 jealousy1 envy and revenge4 ,the wear and tear of their vicious vibrations is ever getting in its deadly work4 ,love is the great disciplinarian1 the supreme harmonizer1 the true peacemaker4 ,it is the great balm for all that blights happiness or breeds discontent1 a sovereign panacea for malice1 revenge1 and all brutish passions and propensities4 ,as cruelty melts before kindness1 so the evil passions find their antidote in sweet charity and loving sympathy4 ,one reason why a happy home is the sweetest1 most beautiful spot on earth is because the love atmosphere1 the harmony vibrations give a blessed sensation of harmony1 of rest1 of safety1 security and power4 ,the moment we enter such a place we feel its soothing1 reassuring1 uplifting atmosphere4 ,it produces a feeling of mental poise1 of serenity which we do not experience anywhere else4 ,during a recent visit to a large family ,i was much impressed by the power of one person to create this beautiful home spirit4 ,in this family was one sister who1 though the youngest member1 seemed to take the place of the mother1 who was dead4 ,this young girl was the apparent center of the home4 ,nothing of importance was undertaken by any of her brothers without consulting her4 ,not one of them would leave the house without first kissing her good-by1 and she was the first one they sought when they came home4 ,they all seemed anxious to confide to her their little secrets1 to tell her of what had happened to them during the day1 to have her opinion and advice in all difficulties4 ,the secret of this young girl's influence lay in her great interest in the boys1 and her wonderful love for them4 ,in talking with the brothers ,i discovered that each thought that the sister was especially interested in him and his affairs1 and that he would not think of undertaking or deciding anything of importance without first consulting her4 ,each and all of them seemed to prefer her company to that of any other young lady1 and were always proud to escort her when she went anywhere4 ,those boys are all clean-minded1 open1 frank and chivalrous1 and ,i could not help thinking that a great deal of it was due to the sister's influence4 ,to love1 and to be loved1 said ,sydney ,smith1 is the greatest happiness of existence4 ,every one1 rich and poor1 high and low1 is reaching out for love4 ,what will not a man do to win the love of one who embodies his ideal of womanhood2 one in whom he sees all the beautiful qualities that he himself lacks6 ,this love is really a divine hunger1 the longing for possession of what would make him a whole man instead of the half one he feels he is4 ,why is it that when a coarse-grained1 brutal1 dissipated man falls in love with a sweet1 pure girl he immediately changes his ways1 looks up1 thinks up1 braces up1 drops his profanity1 is more refined1 more choice in his language1 more exclusive in his associations1 and is1 to all appearances1 for the time at least1 a changed man8 ,simply because love is a more powerful motive to the man than dissipation4 ,he drops the latter1 and if his love is steady and true he will never again indulge in any degrading practice4 ,who has not seen the magic power of love in transforming rough1 uncouth men into refined and devoted husbands8 ,i have known women who had such great1 loving1 helpful hearts1 and such charm of manner1 that the worst men1 the most hardened characters would do anything in the world for them--would give up their lives even to protect them4 ,but these men could not be reformed by prison methods1 could not be touched by unkindness or compulsion4 ,love is the only power that could reach them4 ,i do not believe there is any human being1 in prison or out1 so depraved1 so low1 so bad but that there is somebody in the world who could control him perfectly by love1 by kindness1 by patience4 ,many a man has been kept from performing a disgraceful1 a criminal act by the thought that somebody loved him1 believed in him1 trusted him4 ,though thy sins be as scarlet they shall be made whiter than snow4 ,love purifies1 lifts up1 regenerates4 ,we are all familiar with its wonderful transforming power2 how it erases the scars of sin1 smooths out the wrinkles which vice has left in the face1 softens the hard features and puts its own divine stamp there4 ,we know how it changes the coarse1 brutal1 sinful man into its own divine likeness1 how it brings the color back to the pale cheek1 the luster to the dull eye1 how it restores courage to the disheartened1 hope to the distressed and the despairing4 ,we know how it calls into the face a light which was never there before1 and which is not of earth4 ,in the remarkable play1 ,the ,passing of the ,third ,floor ,back1 we have a striking illustration of the subtle1 silent force of the love motive4 ,those who have seen or read the play will remember how in response to an advertisement in a ,london paper1 ,room to let1 ,third floor back1 comes a remarkable man1 who is given the title of ,the ,stranger4 ,this man takes the third floor back1 and finds himself in a boarding house filled with questionable characters1 petty thieves1 gamblers1 people who have led fast lives1 all sorts of uncharitable1 envious men and women4 ,they stoop to every kind of meanness4 ,one woman even steals candles4 ,every one tries to cheat every one else and is cheated in return4 ,the landlady is of the same type as her boarders4 ,she preys on them and they prey on her4 ,she waters the milk and adulterates the food4 ,then to keep herself from being robbed she puts everything under lock and key4 ,the mere presence of the ,stranger seems antagonistic to the practices and low-flying ideals of the boarders and the landlady4 ,they begin to make all sorts of fun of him4 ,but he takes no notice4 ,instead he gives them kindness for unkindness1 love for hate1 and a pleasant smile as the only answer to their sarcastic1 cutting remarks and innuendoes4 ,gradually1 as they become better acquainted1 he begins to talk to them of themselves1 to point out their good qualities1 and to show them what great ability they have in certain lines1 what wonderful things are possible to them4 ,he told one of the young men who had made merry at his expense that he had a fine artistic temperament1 and that he had in him the making of a great artist4 ,he showed another his possibilities as a musician1 and so on with every member of the discordant1 jangling group1 until each one finally came under the spell of his love and kindness4 ,the little ,london slavey1 or maid-of-all-work who was abused and constantly reminded that she had been in ,state ,prison and hence was a nobody1 under the ,stranger's uplifting influence became a self-respecting1 noble woman4 ,the landlady1 who had hitherto treated the girl like a slave1 began to favor her and made her go outdoors and get a little change while she did the work4 ,a man and wife who had lived a cat and dog life were brought together in harmony4 ,all of the boarders1 without exception1 even those who had been the most brutal and selfish1 gradually changed and became thoughtful1 helpful and kindly toward one another4 ,they became friends4 ,the whole atmosphere of the house was changed4 ,the ,stranger had shown every man and woman of them his or her better self1 and in so doing had literally made them anew4 ,thus did one who typified the ,christ spirit1 a simple1 quiet man who loved his fellowmen and who found his greatest joy in serving others1 manage to divert all of these people out of the crooked channels in which they had lived and into the right path toward happiness4 ,love1 discovering to them these higher possible selves1 transformed them4 ,,this ,,is ,,love',s ,,way4 ,love tames the fiercest animals4 ,how quickly their wild1 ferocious expression is replaced by a milder1 softer1 more gentle one under the kindly treatment of one who really loves them1 one who looks upon them as did ,st4 ,francis1 as his little dumb brothers and sisters4 ,the brute nature is gradually softened and distrust gives way to confidence4 ,the suspicious look is replaced by a trustful one4 ,affection takes the place of dislike and fear2 love goes out to meet love4 ,is there any more beautiful illustration in ,nature of the influence of love and kindly treatment than the evolution of our pet dogs from the ferocious wolf8 ,note the gentle1 peaceful face of a cow or a horse which has been brought up as a family pet4 ,such animals would not step on or injure a child any more than we would ourselves4 ,we love and trust them and they love and trust us in return4 ,love begets love4 ,some people mistake selfishness or self-love for real love4 ,everywhere we see the sort of base substitute which says1 ,if you do this for me ,i'll do that for you4 ,the woman that says to a man1 in her heart1 if not with her lips1 ,if you'll support me and give me a home1 ,i'll love you1 does not love4 ,this is selfishness4 ,a great many people confuse love of the thing given with love of the giver4 ,they mistake the love of their own comforts1 of a good time1 of dress and luxuries1 for love of the person who supplies them with these things4 ,this is a mere travesty of the genuine thing4 ,love simply loves and asks nothing in return4 ,there is no self in it4 ,abuse1 bitterness1 indifference1 ingratitude do not change or destroy love4 ,it simply loves on4 ,and no love is ever lost1 whether it is returned or not4 ,genuine love is a force that always wins out4 ,even if it is not reciprocated it wins by chastening1 softening1 elevating1 beautifying and enriching the life of the one who loves4 ,,this ,,is ,,love',s ,,way4 ,what mothers endure for many years for their children would kill them or drive them to an insane asylum in half the time but for love4 ,this is the healing balm that cures all hurts1 lightens all burdens1 that takes the drudgery out of service4 ,it is love alone that enables the poor mother to risk her life for her child1 to go through terrible experiences in her struggles with poverty and sickness to rear her children4 ,a burden half as great which had no love in it would crush the life out of her4 ,but love lightens the load1 takes the sting out of poverty1 the pain out of sacrifice4 ,the same thing is true of the loving father1 though his burden in the nature of things is rarely as heavy as the mother's4 ,but he is often virtually a slave for half a lifetime or more for those he loves1 and if he is a real man he does not complain4 ,love lightens the burden and cheers the way4 ,where the heart is1 there the burden is light4 ,a new commandment give ,i unto you1 that ye love one another2 as ,i have loved you love ye also one another4 ,in the literal fulfilling of this commandment lies the salvation of the world4 ,among the many noble souls of our own time who have tried to live in accordance with it1 one of the most conspicuous was ,count ,leo ,tolstoy4 ,in one of his own beautiful stories ,tolstoy shows how every one1 no matter what his station or how poor his circumstances1 may do this1 by following the ,master's example in treating every human being as we would a loved member of our own family4 ,a very devout ,russian peasant1 so runs the story1 had prayed for years that the ,master might sometime come to his humble cabin home4 ,one night he had a vision in which the ,master appeared to him1 and told him ,he would come to his cabin next day4 ,filled with joy1 the peasant awoke4 ,so real seemed his vision that he arose and immediately went to work putting his cabin to rights and preparing for the expected heavenly guest4 ,a terrible storm of sleet and snow raged throughout the day4 ,while performing his simple household duties1 heaping fresh logs in his crude fireplace1 preparing his pot of cabbage soup1 the ,russian peasant's daily dish1 the man would look out into the storm with anxious1 expectant eyes4 ,presently he saw a poor half-frozen peddler with a pack on his back struggling toward the light1 but almost overcome by the fierce blasts of snow and sleet that beat upon him4 ,the peasant rushed out and brought the wayfarer into his cabin4 ,he dried his clothing1 warmed him1 fed him some of the cabbage soup1 and started him on his way again1 comforted and rejoicing4 ,in a little while he saw another traveler1 a poor old woman1 trying feebly to beat her way against the blinding snow4 ,her also the compassionate peasant took into his cabin4 ,he warmed and fed her1 wrapped his own coat about her1 and1 strengthened and encouraged1 sent her too on her way4 ,the day wore slowly away and darkness approached1 but still no sign of the ,master4 ,hoping against hope1 the man went once again to his cabin door1 and looking out into the storm he saw a little child1 who was utterly unable to make its way against the blinding sleet and ice4 ,he took the half-frozen child in his arms1 brought it into the cabin1 warmed and fed it1 and soon the little wanderer fell asleep before the fire4 ,sorely disappointed because the ,master had not appeared1 the peasant sat gazing into the fire1 and as he gazed he fell asleep4 ,suddenly the room was radiant with a light that did not come from the fire1 and there stood the ,master1 white-robed1 and serene1 looking upon him with a smile4 ,ah1 ,master1 ,i have waited and watched all this long day1 but thou didst not come4 ,the ,master replied1 ,three times have ,i visited thy cabin to-day4 ,the poor peddler whom thou rescued1 warmed and fed1 that was ,i2 the poor woman to whom thou gavest thy coat1 that was ,i2 and this little child whom thou hast saved from the tempest1 that is ,i4 ,inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these1 you have done it unto me4 ,the ,christ vision faded4 ,the peasant awoke4 ,he was alone with the child1 who was smiling in its sleep4 ,but he knew that the ,master had visited his cabin4 ,the love of ,god6 ,the love of ,god6 ,i said1-- ,and at the words through all my being went ,a sudden shudder of light2 the firmament ,not otherwise seems riven by the red ,jagg'd lightning-flash that quivers overhead ,when for an instant heaven and earth are blent4 ,so for a dazzling space my heart was rent1 ,and ,i beheld--beheld--but all had fled4 ,had fled6 nor has returned2 yet on my way ,along the pave or through the clanging mart1 ,sometimes a stranger's eye falls full on mine2 ,you too8 ,we have no speech1 we make no sign1 ,but something seems to pass from heart to heart1 ,and ,i am full of gladness all that day4 ,c4 ,a4 ,,price in ,scribner's ,magazine4 ,,chapter ,x ,,where ,,your ,,supply ,,is ,he who dares assert the ,i1 ,may calmly wait ,while hurrying fate ,meets his demand with sure supply4 ,,helen ,,wilmans4 ,never affirm1 or think about yourself1 your prospects1 your career1 or your happiness what you do not wish to come true4 ,every child should be taught to expect success and happiness1 to believe that the good things of the world are intended for him4 ,we never can get more out of ourselves than we expect4 ,if we expect large things1 demand them2 if we hold the large mental attitude toward our work1 toward life1 we shall get much greater results than if we depreciate ourselves1 and look for only little things4 ,that man who dares not assert the ,i with undaunted assurance1 with the conscious vigor and determination of one who believes in his divinity1 will never do great things1 because he will never make the demand that will draw a sure supply4 ,before one can hope to win out in any undertaking he must be able to say ,i positively1 with the force of conviction4 ,he must polarize his mind to the positive attitude4 ,this is the attitude that creates1 that produces results in the world of matter as well as in the realm of spirit4 ,the positive man is forceful because he has faith in himself4 ,he forms his opinions without the aid of others and is not afraid to stand for what he thinks4 ,he does not hesitate to differ with others4 ,he is not a mush of concession1 like the negative weakling who subscribes to what everyone he meets says1 thinks or believes4 ,he makes statements with positiveness1 without hesitation4 ,the ,bible would never have gained such a dominating place in the life of the race had it referred to authorities to substantiate its statements2 had it tried to prove its doctrines4 ,much of its supremacy has come from its tremendous positiveness1 its vigorous affirmation of facts4 ,you will find nothing negative or wishy-washy in the ,great ,book4 ,its assertions are imperious1 positive1 dogmatic4 ,it is one perpetual hammering1 driving home of truths1 of great fundamental facts4 ,the ,biblical writers speak with assurance and authority because of their profound conviction of the truths they utter4 ,they do not argue or plead4 ,they affirm4 ,there is no appeal4 ,as has been well said of the ,bible1 ,it never appeals to readers for confirmation4 ,it states4 ,every line breathes dominance1 superiority and confidence4 ,we find the same imperious dominant qualities1 the same positiveness in great leaders of men4 ,they deal in affirmations4 ,they throw themselves with intense conviction into whatever they attempt4 ,they continually1 both mentally and vocally1 assert their power to do it1 and--the result is a natural corollary2 they succeed in what they attempt4 ,the difference between the positive and the negative mind1 the man who can assert the ,i with vigor and the man who cannot1 is the difference between success and failure4 ,the positive man keys his life to the ,i can note1 the negative man to the ,i can't4 ,the positive man denies the limitations of environment1 of resources1 of opportunities4 ,he not only believes but knows that infinite bounty surrounds him1 and that he can make it his own4 ,the negative man1 on the other hand1 will not fight against environment1 no matter how hard it may be1 but will yield to it without a struggle4 ,he sees limitations and difficulties everywhere4 ,to him obstacles are insurmountable4 ,but for the positive1 dominant qualities in man we would still be living in caves and eating our food raw4 ,it is the positive1 forceful man that overcomes4 ,obstacles do not frighten1 or turn him from his purpose4 ,they are to him but the apparatus in the gymnasium1 which give him additional strength and reinforce his determination to achieve4 ,he knows that he can command infinite supply1 that the great forces of the universe are working for him1 and that he has only to direct them4 ,he knows that it is his birthright to conquer2 that the ,creator put him here for that very purpose--to overcome1 to grow1 to ascend1 to be godlike4 ,every one has sufficient positive power to guide and direct his own life if he will only use and develop that power4 ,if he does not use he will lose4 ,if you do not think and act for yourself1 if you do not assert yourself and push your own way1 the forces about you will take command and push you4 ,and remember this3 ,when you are pushed you go down-hill2 when you push yourself you go up-hill4 ,every one is either pusher or pushed in this world4 ,even the kingdom of heaven is taken by violence4 ,he who would attain it must be aggressive for truth4 ,no namby-pamby weakling who is afraid to stand on his own feet and fight for the right can get there4 ,if you ever expect to do anything to justify your existence1 quit looking for some outside agent which will move your life train4 ,your power is coiled up right inside of you4 ,there is where your engine is4 ,the name of that engine is ,i4 ,use the great force at your command4 ,get up steam and forge ahead4 ,you will never get very far by any other means4 ,you are only losing time in trying to get any power outside of yourself1 in pulls or influence1 to move you forward4 ,when the ,creator made you a co-partner in ,his work1 ,he put inside of you all the machinery necessary for the part you were to play4 ,claim what ,he intended for you4 ,develop and use your machinery1 and no power on earth can hold you back from the goal you set for yourself4 ,say to yourself1 ,it is my duty to make good1 to obey that inner urge1 that ambition prod which ever bids me up and on4 ,i am resolved never again to allow anything to interfere with the free and untrammeled exercise of my physical and mental faculties4 ,i will unfold all the possibilities that the ,creator has infolded in the ego1 the ,i of me4 ,there is no lost day in ,god's calendar1 no allowance for waste1 and ,i am determined henceforth to make the most of the stuff that has been given me1 to play the part of a son of ,omnipotence4 ,as a matter of fact1 every day has a splendid possible prize awaiting every human being1 a prize which no money can buy4 ,it can be obtained only at the price of splendid effort and self-assertion4 ,we are too timid1 too fearful of results even to attempt what we long to do4 ,and we are too easy with ourselves1 too willing to drift with the tide of our moods4 ,every man who has ever achieved grandly has been a stern schoolmaster to himself4 ,he has incessantly affirmed his ideal and held himself unwaveringly to its realization4 ,by cultivating the positive we drive out the negative4 ,this is a psychological law4 ,it is to empty by filling4 ,affirmation is always more potent than negation4 ,prof4 ,halleck says ,by restraining of an emotion1 we can frequently throttle it2 by inducing an expression1 we can often cause its allied emotions4 ,prof4 ,wm4 ,james makes a similar statement4 ,refuse to express a passion1 he says1 and it dies4 ,count ten before venting your anger and its occasion seems ridiculous4 ,whistling to keep up courage is no mere figure of speech4 ,on the other hand1 sit all day in a moping posture1 sigh1 and reply to everything with a dismal voice1 and your melancholy lingers4 ,there is no more valuable precept in moral education than this1 as all of us who have experienced know4 ,if we wish to conquer undesirable emotional tendencies in ourselves we must assiduously1 and in the first instance cold-bloodedly1 go through the outward movements of those contrary dispositions which we wish to cultivate4 ,smooth the brow1 brighten the eye1 contract the dorsal rather than the ventral aspect of the frame1 and speak in a major key1 pass the genial compliment and your heart must indeed be frigid if it does not gradually thaw4 ,few of us realize the tremendous force there is in the vigorous incessant affirmation of conditions which we long to establish4 ,united with the visualizing of the man or woman we yearn to be or the thing we are determined to achieve1 it becomes an irresistible power in shaping events4 ,act the part1 affirm the possession1 the assured realization of the thing desired1 and it will tend to materialize4 ,this is a fundamental law of creation4 ,what is called auto-suggestion1 or self-suggestion1 is one of the most active agencies employed in mind building4 ,we can literally make our minds1 thought by thought1 as we can our bodies1 fiber by fiber1 through vigorous affirmation4 ,there is a mysterious power in the spoken word which gets a greater hold upon us than simply passing the same word through the mind or looking at it on the printed page4 ,the vocal expression of a thought makes a greater impression upon the memory and especially influences the subconscious mind4 ,it works like a leaven in the whole nature1 putting agents in motion that establish a connection between us and our desires1 the objects for which we are working4 ,the persistent affirmation of our ability to do that which we have undertaken in a superb1 kingly fashion1 is a great stimulus1 a positive1 creative force4 ,there is nothing more helpful in building a strong positive character than bracing yourself up by searching1 heart to heart talks with yourself4 ,in this way1 better perhaps than in any other1 you can take stock of your mental assets and improve yourself all along the line4 ,if you are timid1 for instance1 or even feel that you are something of a coward1 stoutly deny it4 ,insist that you are no shirker1 no coward1 that you are brave even to daring4 ,boldly assume the quality of a hero1 vehemently affirm that you actually possess invincible courage1 and you will be surprised at your immediate increase of strength and positiveness4 ,deny that you have any weakness1 defect or deficiency which can handicap your career4 ,insist upon affirming the opposite quality1 the winning quality4 ,if you lack decision1 if you are a waverer1 a vacillator1 if you are a putter-off of things1 if procrastination runs in your blood1 persistently affirm that you possess the opposite qualities4 ,at the same time resolve that you are going not only to play the heroic part in life1 that you are not only going to begin work upon the duty awaiting you1 but that you are going to put it through1 that you are going to do things1 and that you will never again allow yourself to waver1 to procrastinate in the smallest matter1 even if you do make mistakes now and then4 ,better make a mistake and forge ahead than to remain negative and inactive4 ,the habit of vigorous affirmation is the habit of victory4 ,but remember that action must follow on the heels of resolution or you will never go any farther4 ,affirmation and resolution without prompt endeavor for realization are worse than useless4 ,it is the man of action1 of continued and repeated action1 the man who never acknowledges defeat who ultimately wins out4 ,during our ,civil ,war the ,southern generals said it didn't do any good to beat ,grant1 because he never knew when he was beaten and1 consequently1 wouldn't stay beaten4 ,men who leave their mark on the world are men of iron resolution1 of grim determination4 ,if youth were only taught at home and in school the power of an inflexible resolve1 an inexorable affirmation of the thing they are determined to accomplish2 if they were only taught the invincibleness of an unshakable will1 of the positive victorious mental attitude1 of a resolve which knows no defeat1 life would not be half so hard4 ,nerve us with incessant affirmatives4 ,don't bark against the bad1 but chant the beauties of the good4 ,the positive1 creative1 affirmative elements are our friends4 ,they draw us our sure supply4 ,all negatives are our enemies4 ,they drive away supply4 ,affirm the good1 never the bad2 the bright1 never the dark2 the true1 and never the false2 harmony1 never discord4 ,we should never forget that whatever tends to optimism is ready to give us a lift4 ,the first step toward a happy1 successful life is to get control of the supply that is ready to flow in answer to our demand4 ,this you can do by forming the habit of affirming that the best will come to you1 that only the things that are good for you can come into your life4 ,don't let yourself slip into the foolish habit of anticipating trouble1 misfortune1 sickness1 disaster1 accidents4 ,to anticipate or expect such things is to affirm their reality and draw them to you4 ,the habit of anticipating them will get them into the habit of arriving4 ,you will thus be drawn into a current of circumstance corresponding to the character of your negative thought4 ,put yourself into a positive1 success and happiness attitude the first thing every morning by taking time1 even if only a few minutes1 to commune with the ,creator4 ,get into tune with the ,infinite1 the ,source of your strength1 the moment you awake4 ,keep yourself in harmony with the ,principle which underlies your being during the day and your every act will be a step forward on the desired road4 ,say to yourself constantly1 ,happiness is my birthright4 ,i was made to exult in life1 not to go about with a long1 sad1 dejected face as though it had been a bitter disappointment1 as though ,i were a misfit in the world4 ,i was made to radiate joy and gladness and to go through life as a conqueror4 ,if ,i am indeed a child of the ,creator 7and ,i know that ,i am71 it is a positive insult to ,him to go through the world as though ,i were a beggar1 a slave4 ,i bear the image of the ,king of kings1 and it is my business to make all men see the likeness4 ,it is my duty to prove my divine heritage by radiating royal manhood4 ,i know of no practice which will do more for one's growth and life-enlargement than the habit of rising above one's moods and discouragements through perpetual affirmation of one's divinity4 ,if1 for example1 you get up in the morning feeling negative1 blue and discouraged2 if you don't feel like working at anything1 just go off alone and have a good heart to heart talk with yourself something like this3 ,now1 look here1 young man 7or young woman71 none of this3 you are going to do a grand day's work to-day2 you are going to get right out of this condition2 you have had enough of it4 ,if you are a real man 7or woman7 you will rise above your mood and wring victory out of this day1 even though it looks so unpromising4 ,it does not matter what comes or what goes1 what happens or what does not happen1 there is one thing ,i am sure of1 and that is1 ,i am going to be positive1 creative1 to get the most possible out of to-day2 ,i am not going to allow anything to rob me of my happiness1 or of my right to live this day through from beginning to end1 and not merely to exist4 ,i do not care what comes1 ,i shall not allow any annoyance1 any happening1 any circumstance which may cross my path to rob me of my power and peace of mind4 ,i will not be unhappy to-day1 no matter what occurs4 ,i am going to enjoy it to its fullest capacity4 ,this shall be a complete day in my life4 ,i shall not allow the enemies of my happiness to mar it4 ,no misfortune in the past1 nothing which has happened to me in days gone by1 which has been disagreeable or tragic1 no enemies of my efficiency1 shall be guests in my spirit's sacred enclosure to-day4 ,only happy thoughts1 joy thoughts1 friend thoughts shall find entertainment in my soul this day4 ,no negative thoughts1 none of my enemies shall gain admittance to scrawl their hideous autographs on the walls of my mind4 ,there shall be 'no admittance' to-day1 except to the friends of my best moods4 ,i will tear down all black1 sable pictures and hang in their place pictures of joy and gladness1 of things which will encourage1 cheer1 and increase my power4 ,everything which ever handicapped my life1 which has made me uncomfortable and unhappy1 shall be expelled from my mental kingdom this day and every coming day4 ,if you make a resolve like this every morning and live up to it during the day1 you cannot help being positive1 productive1 creative4 ,the positive mind repels all thought enemies that would hinder progress4 ,doubt1 fear1 despair1 worry1 these have no place in the creative brain4 ,they are products of the negative mind4 ,the man who would bend circumstances to his will can not afford to harbor them4 ,hold negative1 despondent1 discouraged thoughts and your surroundings will be negative1 unpropitious4 ,hold positive1 confident1 hopeful1 cheerful thoughts and a congenial environment will manifest itself4 ,it is wonderful what right thinking can accomplish even in a naturally weak1 negative mind4 ,the insistent and persistent holding of the positive thought1 the assurance thought1 the self-confidence1 the self-faith thought2 the determined effort to think and act for oneself1 to direct one's own forces will gradually change a negative non-productive mentality into a positive1 creative one4 ,i have known very timid1 sensitive people who scarcely dared to say their souls were their own before others1 to so cure their habit of self-effacement and so strengthen their weak self-confidence by constant audible affirmation of their own strength1 that in a very few months they had largely overcome this weakness4 ,fear is negative2 courage is positive1 affirmative4 ,if we would make our lives effective1 we must root out all of the things which keep us in discord1 all negative elements1 and give ourselves over to the power of affirmation4 ,many a person has ruined his life effort by depreciating it and sending out to those about him the negative vibration of his inferiority4 ,we radiate our faith1 our confidence in ourselves or our doubts1 and distrust4 ,others catch the contagion of our opinion of ourselves4 ,whatever you do1 don't set up in your own mind and in that of others a picture of yourself as a weak1 ineffective1 negative personality4 ,people do not realize the harm they do by making uncomplimentary and unfavorable remarks about themselves4 ,it does not matter what it may be1 the assertion of anything unfavorable to us or unlike what we wish to be is injurious4 ,how often we hear men and women say3 ,i never can remember anything4 ,i am always forgetting umbrellas and packages4 ,i never can remember names or faces1 and similar negative1 depreciatory remarks4 ,it never occurs to them that by making such statements as these they are strengthening their defects4 ,they are not aware that by impressing these unfortunate images of themselves upon their mental mirror they are seriously injuring their self-confidence1 their ultimate chance of being what they would like to be or of getting what they desire4 ,the character of civilization would be radically changed in a short time if parents were to teach their children the wonderful1 strengthening1 character-building power in the habit of affirmation4 ,if boys and girls were impressed with the truth that the constant affirming of the good1 the beautiful and the true1 the insistent holding of the ideal of themselves as they would like to be1 is a real creative force that tends to actualize what they long for many of the problems of the race would be solved4 ,as a matter of fact the worst enemy1 as well as the best friend1 any human being ever has is inside of him4 ,the very mental attitude of the majority of people is utterly antagonistic to their advancement4 ,a really brainy professional man whom ,i meet quite often is a striking example of the baneful effects of the negative self-depreciatory thought4 ,he wanted to do something big in his line1 but he has had only mediocre success1 and in consequence has so soured on life that he seems to have lost the power to enjoy himself4 ,the truth is1 the early contracted habit of self-castigation and unfavorable comparison with others who were more fortunate at the start has stayed by him through the years and practically disqualified his mind for real enjoyment or for making the most of his talents4 ,another negative character of this type is a man in commercial life who is forever recalling his lack of opportunities4 ,he never tires of referring to the fact that he was handicapped at his very birth by a slovenly slipshod father1 and that all through life he has been placed at a great disadvantage compared with other men4 ,he believes1 and constantly affirms that he is unlucky1 that he has never been at the right spot at the right time1 that no matter how hard he works he feels a mysterious something holding him back4 ,some malignant fate1 or destiny1 he complains1 is always tripping him up1 thwarting his most strenuous efforts1 overturning his best laid plans4 ,through its machinations1 although he has worked harder than anybody else he knows1 he and his family have remained in poverty1 while his associates have become prosperous4 ,the cause of this man's failure is not far to seek4 ,it is plain that he started wrong and has been going wrong ever since4 ,he has been talking failure all his life1 affirming hard times1 poverty1 ill luck1 and disappointment4 ,he has been sowing thistles and all sorts of ill weeds in his garden and yet he wonders why his harvests have been so stingy1 so blighted and over-shadowed by weeds4 ,affirmations1 acts1 motives1 ambitions1 mental attitudes are the seeds sown in human gardens4 ,their character determines what our harvests shall be4 ,our future reaping depends entirely on our past sowing4 ,what we are enjoying or suffering to-day is the result of yesterday's sowing4 ,we are reaping weeds1 thistles1 thorns1 or beautiful flowers and luscious fruit1 according to the seeds we have sown4 ,the only soil in which our good seed thoughts will flourish is that of mental harmony4 ,in this fruitful ground lies the secret of all efficiency and happiness4 ,to come into unity with the ,author of our being is to realize perfect mental harmony4 ,and this is the first requisite of an efficient life1 a goal that can be reached only by the road of constant1 unfailing affirmation4 ,when you long for something that it is perfectly legitimate for you to have1 sow your affirmation seed in perfect confidence that it will bloom in reality4 ,say to yourself1 ,our ,father-,mother-,god is no respecter of persons4 ,he is not partial in his treatment of ,his children4 ,they all have the same rights1 the same privileges4 ,he will give me through my own effort what ,i need1 what ,i ask for4 ,the poorest1 most ragged wretch that crawls has just as many hours in his day as has the ermined king4 ,i can and ,i will do what ,i long to do4 ,i will be what ,i desire to be4 ,affirm this again and again to yourself4 ,do not wait for an opportunity1 make your opportunity4 ,the power of affirmation will work miracles for you4 ,most people seem to think that if they were only in an ideal environment1 without worry or anxiety regarding the living-getting problem1 if they were free from pain and in vigorous health1 they would then be perfectly happy4 ,but1 as a matter of fact1 we are not half so dependent for happiness upon environment1 upon circumstances1 as we imagine we are4 ,false ambition1 envy and jealousy are responsible for much of our uneasiness1 our restlessness and discontent4 ,our minds are so intent upon what other people have and are doing that we do not get a tithe of the enjoyment and satisfaction out of our own work1 out of our own possessions1 that they should afford us4 ,we think so much about what others have and spend so much time wondering why we cannot have similar things that we do not see the beauty1 loveliness and sweetness in our own environment4 ,we question and envy when we should affirm and realize4 ,we neglect the most potent means within our grasp--the miracle-working power of affirmation4 ,the supply will come in answer to our demand4 ,every one of us has an inalienable right to be comfortable1 prosperous1 free from anxiety1--in short to be happy4 ,man was not intended to be a worrying machine4 ,the fundamental principle of the human constitution is based on harmony and1 when we are in harmonious relations with the universe1 we attain the maximum of efficiency1 of power1 of usefulness to the world4 ,it is then we get the maximum of enjoyment and happiness out of life4 ,is it not worth while to get into such relations8 ,is it not foolish to remain in discord when by the simple process of affirmation1 linked with divine faith and effort1 we can transform ourselves and our environment8 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,triumph ,,of ,,health ,,ideals ,what is the body after all but the spirit breaking through the flesh1 or health but beauty in the organism8 ,every good emotion makes a health and life promoting change in the body4 ,every thought is registered in the brain by a physical change more or less permanent in the tissue cells4 ,the coming man will find it as easy to counteract an unfriendly1 vicious thought by turning on the counter thought to neutralize it1 as to rob the hot water of its burning power by turning on the cold water faucet4 ,there is a divine something in man which never was sick and never can be1 that divine self1 the image of the ,creator1 perfect1 unchangeable1 indestructible1 immortal1 and which some time and somewhere must drive out all trace of sin1 disease and death in mankind4 ,,hufeland4 ,even those who do not believe in ,christian ,science as a whole must be impressed with the ,scientists' wonderful religious optimism4 ,their inspiring mental attitude1 the hopeful way in which they face life1 always looking toward the light1 toward health1 toward prosperity1 toward success1 and turning their backs upon the darkness1 upon everything which can mar their health1 their efficiency1 their happiness1 is creating a new world for thousands of discouraged souls4 ,christian ,scientists insist that since ,god has created everything that is1 and since ,he is perfect1 is all-in-all1 ,he could not possibly create anything unlike ,himself1 such as disease1 or anything else which is not good for ,his children4 ,god is harmony1 they reason1 and ,he could not create discord4 ,he is truth and ,he could not create error4 ,god is love and ,he could not create the opposite of love1--hatred1 jealousy1 envy1 selfishness1 any evil emotion or passion4 ,hence all disease1 all discord1 all the enemies of the race1 all ,satanic influences in the world must be accounted for in some other way than as decrees of ,his will1 for ,perfection could not have produced these imperfections4 ,love could not create anything antagonistic to itself4 ,scientists take a positive and vigorous stand against the admission to their mind of any of the enemies of their health1 their prosperity1 their happiness or their destiny4 ,not only is all thought of failure and poverty banished1 but they close the portals of their mind against fear1 worry and anxiety1 against the ravages of jealousy1 the poison of hatred1 envy1 and selfishness4 ,they try to keep their mental realm clear of all black1 forbidding pictures1 of all sorts of distressing emotions and unfriendly thoughts1 while they open it wide to the things which help1 inspire and bring hope1 the friend thoughts and emotions1--joy1 gladness1 love1 truth1 and divine inspiration4 ,they believe that all human beings were not only made to be healthy but also to be happy1 successful1 prosperous4 ,they regard poverty1 no less than illness1 as a mental disease1 to be treated in the same manner as bodily disease2 and this cheerful religious optimism which they try steadily to maintain is not alone a healing force1 but is also a great disease-resisting power4 ,health1 wholeness1 is one of the most important and necessary factors for the attainment of those things which every normal human being desires1--peace1 power1 plenty1 success and happiness4 ,the ,scientists' religious optimism is a potent force for placing the mind in the most favorable condition for the attainment of all these things4 ,it removes all hindrances to full1 complete self-expression4 ,it is just as necessary to hold the victorious attitude toward health as it is to hold the victorious attitude toward our career and everything which affects it4 ,it is just as necessary to get rid of our doubts and fears regarding our physical well-being1 as it is to get rid of our doubts and fears regarding our ability to succeed4 ,if we would be strong and vigorous it is quite as important to visualize health1 to hold the health ideal1 to keep the perfect health picture constantly in the mind1 as it is to keep the prosperity1 the success ideal in the mind when we are striving for an independence4 ,the habit of always holding a high ideal of our health1 of thinking of ourselves as well1 vigorous1 physically and mentally perfect1 will go very far toward building up a strong disease-resisting barrier between ourselves and all our health enemies4 ,on the other hand1 people who never think of themselves as whole1 healthy1 active and robust1 but who constantly hold in mind a picture of themselves as weak1 ailing1 without vim or stamina1 with little or no disease-resisting power1 are liable at any time to become victims of disease4 ,the building up of a strong health thought barrier1 a vigorous health conviction between ourselves and disease is the best sort of health insurance4 ,fearing disease1 thinking ill health1 visualizing physical suffering1 is the surest way of attracting those things4 ,physicians know that the awful incubus of doubt and worry in the minds of patients1 the fear that their disease may be fatal1 is the greatest obstacle to their recovery4 ,we head toward our doubts1 our fears1 our convictions regarding our health1 just as we do toward our doubts1 fears and convictions regarding other things4 ,if we are convinced that we are not going to be strong1 rugged1 virile1 if we fear that we are likely to develop inherited weaknesses and disease tendencies1 we are headed toward these conditions1 and will probably realize them4 ,on the contrary1 if we hold the victorious attitude toward health1 if we visualize the health ideal1 the health conviction1 we head mentally toward health1 and what we head toward mentally is the pattern of that which is continually being built into our life structure4 ,a healthy body is healthy thought externalized4 ,man's normal condition is that of robust health1 vigorous vitality1 tremendous power of endurance4 ,the ,creator evidently intended the human machine to run harmoniously1 without friction1 without weakness or disability of any kind4 ,the created is a part of the ,creator1 an indestructible part of ,him4 ,when we rise to a full consciousness of this we shall be victors over disease instead of victims of it2 we shall be conquerors instead of slaves of conditions4 ,nearly a century ago a celebrated ,german physician said that there is something in man which was never born1 is never sick and never dies1 and that it is this something1 this omnipotent force within which in reality heals our diseases4 ,no matter what we may call it1 this something that repairs and renews is one with the ,force that creates us4 ,we may name it variously the ,god principle1 the ,christ within us1 the divine principle1 the omnipotent force or anything else we please2 the name does not matter4 ,all mean the same thing1 that is1 the creative1 the all-sustaining ,force that holds the universe in harmony4 ,there is something in you that is lord over your physical organs4 ,there is a power in you1 back of the flesh1 but not of it1 which dominates the flesh1 and that is the real you4 ,your partner in that power is the ,intelligence that created you4 ,you are indissolubly interlinked with that ,intelligence4 ,you can no more be wiped out of existence than the ,creator who made you1 because you are an immortal expression of ,himself4 ,you are ,his masterpiece1 and ,his work must partake of ,his qualities1 of ,his perfection1 of ,his omnipotence1 of ,his omniscience4 ,the trouble with us is we do not rise to the power and dignity of our divinity4 ,we do not half believe we are divine4 ,we have a sort of vague theory that we are mere puppets1 thrown off as separate units into space1 without any vital connection with the ,power that gave us life4 ,this false theory is the cause of our sufferings4 ,the reason why we are such shriveled1 scrub oaks of human beings is found in the dried-up1 mean1 stingy ideal of ourselves which we have been taught to hold4 ,we have been reared to think of ourselves as poor miserable worms of the dust1 unworthy to come into the presence of our ,father-,mother-,god1 even though we are fashioned in ,his image4 ,instead of carrying through life an ideal of our mental and physical perfection1 we carry an ideal of a defective1 diseased1 physically and mentally imperfect1 being4 ,the mind being the molder of the body1 the life-giving processes within us build the sort of body that answers to the model in the mind1 the ideal which we hold of ourselves4 ,what we really believe ourselves to be1 we tend to become4 ,we keep our minds filled with all sorts of discordant1 sick pictures1 and of course all of these mental images reappear in the body1 react upon the life4 ,on the other hand1 every time we affirm that we are one with the creative ,force of the universe1 that nothing can separate us from our oneness with the ,one1 we tend to build our bodies into the ideal state of perfect health1--mental1 physical1 and moral wholeness4 ,if we could hold continually the ideal of our wholeness1 and visualize ourselves as perfect beings even as ,he is perfect1 and constantly try to live up to our ideal1 any tendency to imperfection1 to discord1 to disease would be eliminated4 ,we are only just beginning to realize the tremendous import of the idea that we really fashion our bodies to correspond with our thoughts1 that we are co-creators of ourselves with the ,divine ,power which is back of the flesh1 but not of it4 ,a prominent surgeon in speaking of infantile paralysis says that the physician's mental attitude toward it has a great deal to do with its cure1 and that he should hold firmly in mind the idea that the disease is curable4 ,every physician should also be a metaphysician4 ,he should be a profound believer in the principle that the ,power which created the patient can re-create him1 can repair damages1 restore diseased or lost tissues4 ,the most advanced physicians do believe that at best they can but help ,nature in her healing processes4 ,they realize that the same ,power which created the patient is present in the healing of every wound1 every broken bone and every hurt we suffer4 ,the surgeon sets the bone1 dresses the wound1 but the same ,power that first created the flesh and bone must do the healing4 ,the mental healer vigorously denies the reality of disease in the sense that truth is a reality4 ,to him all is ,infinite ,mind1 and its infinite manifestation1 as ,mrs4 ,eddy says1 and therefore all must be good4 ,only the good can be real as ,god made all that is4 ,the persistent denial that anything could exist which the ,creator did not create1 and that ,he could make anything unlike ,himself1 is one of the fundamental principles of the ,christian ,science faith4 ,to the healer health is a vital1 immortal principle1 the everlasting fact1 and disease1 although it seems painfully real to the sufferer1 is but a false belief4 ,the healer holds in mind only what he desires to establish in his patient's mind4 ,he shuts out everything else4 ,health is what he wishes to establish1 and to do this he holds insistently and tenaciously the health ideal4 ,he refuses to see the sick1 diseased man or woman1 and persists in visualizing the ideal one that ,god intended4 ,to him the defective1 deficient1 suffering being which disease and physical discord have made is not the real man or woman4 ,that being is only a travesty of the ideal1 perfect creature the ,creator planned4 ,he does not allow himself to think of1 or to picture disease symptoms4 ,to visualize the physical appearance of disease would be to acknowledge its reality1 and this would be to defeat his healing4 ,he could not1 for example1 cure cancer or tuberculosis while mentally picturing the horrible symptoms of these diseases4 ,he wishes to keep all such things out of his mind because of their baleful suggestiveness4 ,visualizing them would merely etch their reality deeper and deeper in his consciousness1 and the suggestion would be conveyed into the patient's consciousness4 ,the mental healer's aim is to produce in the mind of the person he is treating a consciousness of the scientific reality of health1 and of the unreality of disease4 ,it does not matter how the disease symptoms may contradict this principle1 or how loudly pain may scream for recognition1 he persists in considering disease unreal and in holding the scientific sense of health as the reality4 ,he relies wholly upon ,divine ,mind as the great healing potency1 and steadily affirms his patient's oneness with his ,divine ,source1 and that disease cannot exist in the ,divine ,presence4 ,at the very outset he encourages his patient by affirming that1 however real his physical discord or disease may seem to him1 it cannot affect the ,god image in him1 because that is perfect1 as ,god ,himself is perfect1 and that in reality there can be no disease4 ,truth and harmony1 he asserts1 are the great facts of life4 ,error is not a reality1 but merely the absence of truth2 discord is not a reality1 but merely the absence of harmony4 ,he assures him that ,he is ,god's child1 and that ,god's image cannot be sick1 distressed or diseased4 ,of course1 he says1 this seems very real to you1 painfully real1 but it is not reality in the sense that truth is a reality4 ,this is discord1 the absence of harmony1 and divine harmony will antidote all discord just as truth will neutralize error1 and as love will neutralize all hatred1 jealousy or revenge1 or as confidence1 self-assurance will neutralize fear1 doubt1 or self-depreciation4 ,the healer holds continually the healing suggestions1 and concentrates on arousing in his patient expectancy of relief by bracing his hope1 confidence1 assurance and faith in ,divine ,mind that restores1 renews and heals4 ,he tries to stimulate and to put into active operation the healing potencies latent in him1 to awaken in his mind the lost divine image1 and to impress upon him the idea that this divine image cannot possibly be dominated or in any way affected by disease4 ,i have seen a chemist pour a few drops of liquid from different crucibles into a jar of muddy water and in a few minutes the mud would disappear and the water be as pure as crystal4 ,this is in effect what the mental healer does in treating a patient4 ,no matter what the disease is his great remedy lies in mental chemistry1 in neutralizing1 destroying the error with its natural antidote4 ,the healer's constant affirmation that there can be no sickness1 no disease in ,god's image in man1 is a powerful suggestion which tends to weaken the grip of error in his patient's body4 ,the very shutting out of all fear1 of the terror of disease and death1 is a great step towards a cure1 because these things are depressing to all the bodily functions4 ,everything that discourages1 that makes the patient despondent1 is a great devitalizer1 and constantly lowers his disease-resisting power4 ,the arousing of the belief that the healer is a sort of motorman who puts up the patient's dropped trolley pole1 thus making connection with the wire carrying infinite power2 or that he is a wireless operator who is connecting him with his ,divine ,source1 the source of health and happiness1 and that he is actually receiving the flow of divine force1 of peace1 of immortal life1 is of itself a tremendous healing agency4 ,when he has succeeded in establishing in the mind of his patient the vigorous conviction that health is the everlasting principle1 the great fundamental inviolable fact1 the healer has gone far toward establishing a scientific consciousness of health1 and has laid a most important health foundation4 ,after a little practice a sick person can do wonderful things for himself through the vitalizing force of auto-suggestion4 ,he can be his own physician4 ,he can recover health and keep it by applying to himself the same principles that the healer applies to his patient4 ,in this way he can keep himself in conscious union with the ,divine ,source of all supply1 of all good1 all health4 ,there are sufficient latent potencies in every human being1 if he would only arouse and make them operative1 to keep him in health and harmony4 ,we can all be our own healers if we will4 ,the stream must be as pure as its fountain head unless contaminated later1 and there is where we humans come in4 ,we contaminate the health stream with our thought poisons4 ,our doubts1 our fears1 our unbeliefs1 our brutal passions1 our selfishness1 our greed1 our hatreds1 our jealousies1 our revenge1 our ingratitude for life1 for the blessings we enjoy1--all of these things tend to pollute the stream which we receive pure as it flows from the crystal fountain1 the divine source of the ,all ,good4 ,but the practice of divine chemistry will enable us to clear up our muddy life streams4 ,we have in ourselves the remedies which will neutralize the vicious poisons we have allowed to flow into and befoul our life stream4 ,we can by the right use of our powers purify it as the chemist purified the jar of muddy water4 ,by right thinking we can neutralize the poison sewage of our bodies1 just as chemists can take the foul sewage water which flows out from a city and by the help of chemicals neutralize all the filth1 making it absolutely pure again4 ,by applying their antidotes we can neutralize the poisons of disease1 the results of wrong thinking and living1 which sap and embitter our lives1 which make us suffer from all sorts of ills and leave us unable to accomplish one-tenth of what we might if we had that splendid physical and mental vigor which is normal to humanity4 ,we must offer the same uncompromising opposition to the reality of all kinds of disease1 mental and physical1 that the mental healer does4 ,we must see ourselves as he sees his patient1 in the wholeness1 the completeness1 the ,creator intended4 ,it is the ideal man or woman we must visualize1 never the one weakened1 deformed by horrible diseases or their symptoms4 ,by recognizing only the real man or woman1 unaffected by wrong thinking1 we cut off the vicious effects of the mental enemies which are fighting to perpetuate disease or other unfortunate conditions4 ,the constant holding of the health ideal1 of the truth thought1 the health and prosperity thought1 the optimistic thought1 the kindly1 cheerful1 helpful thought and the shutting out of all their opposites1 not only help to restore health1 but also increase tremendously the disease-resisting power4 ,right thought is a health1 efficiency1 and happiness tonic4 ,the vital thing in establishing health is to adopt the victorious attitude toward it as toward every other good thing we desire4 ,if we wish to have abounding health 7and who does not87 we must cultivate implicit faith in health as our birthright1 in the truth that1 being the children of ,perfection1 we must partake of the qualities of perfection1 and hence be free from the imperfection of disease or sickness4 ,without faith in our wholeness we are not1 and cannot be1 whole4 ,without faith in the healing power of ,divine chemistry no healing is possible either by patient or healer4 ,the patient may not always have a conscious faith1 but the healer has1 and a similar faith is aroused in the patient later1 as he begins to feel the divine healing power operating and working like a leaven in his nature4 ,there is no one thing that is emphasized so much in the ,bible1 and especially in ,christ's teachings as faith4 ,every benefit1 every healing depends for its efficacy on the sufferer's faith4 ,in all of ,his healing this one condition of faith was imperative--,according to thy faith be it unto thee4 ,when the disciples told their ,master that they could not heal certain cases ,he rebuked them1 and told them that they failed because of their lack of faith4 ,according to thy faith be it unto thee1 he reiterated constantly4 ,he recognized the great healing power of faith1 and impressed upon ,his followers the truth1 that without it no healing was possible4 ,every physician knows that his patient's faith in his power to cure him1 in the efficacy of the remedies he applies1 are curative agencies4 ,faith in medicinal remedies is what makes them effective4 ,it is faith that furnishes the potency of thousands of so-called remedies1 which have no intrinsic value whatever4 ,we all know how the visualizing of disease and the fear of it affect the mind in undermining the health ideal4 ,confidence in our health is really its sustaining and buttressing power1 for the moment we destroy this we lessen our resisting power and invite disease4 ,the image perpetually held in the conscious mind becomes indelibly etched in the subconscious mind and the body conforms to the thought4 ,to attain perfect health we must hold the image of physical perfection1 we must constantly keep in mind this ideal state4 ,we must build ourselves thought pictures of a superb body in all its strength and wholeness2 we must relentlessly strangle every image of weakness or disease1 every sick suggestion that would blur the picture of perfect wholeness and harmony into which we wish to grow4 ,what a revolution we would make in our lives if we could only learn to live this health ideal instead of its opposite1 the disease ideal6 ,every child should be reared to think health instead of disease2 should be made to realize that health is the everlasting fact1 that disease is not a necessary evil1 and was not intended for us1 that it was not intended we should suffer4 ,if the young mind were saturated from infancy with health ideas and ideals it would build up a strong disease-resisting power that would make it immune to all health enemies4 ,if every child were trained to believe that he was a god in the making1 that he had within him the embryo of divinity which ought to develop into a ,god-like being1 we should not have so many mental and physical ,lilliputians4 ,one of our great health troubles lies in the fact that we have been accustomed from childhood to lay too much emphasis on matter1 on the support of the body4 ,as a matter of fact1 the mind is everything4 ,but mind is not confined to the head alone4 ,we are all mind4 ,we think all over4 ,we live all over4 ,our sensations are the intelligent expression of all the cells of the body4 ,the body is a great coperative institution composed of billions of cells4 ,some of these cells have a higher functioning quality than others1 but they all have their appointed places4 ,every cell is an important member of the body corporation and has a voice in the government of the whole4 ,when we are wounded or diseased1 for instance1 billions of these tiny cell repairers1 healers1 renewers1 health builders1 rush instantly to the wounded part to repair and restore the injured tissues4 ,we are all conscious that there is continually going on within us these repairing1 renewing1 reinvigorating1 as well as healing1 processes4 ,we feel that there is a marvelous and beneficent intelligence ever working miracles within us1 a power which heals our wounds and cures our hurts4 ,whence comes the intelligence which governs and directs the work of these little builders and repairers8 ,it comes from the ,within of us1 for our objective mind is comparatively passive in the process4 ,but the great ,intelligence back of the flesh1 which keeps the heart beating1 the lungs breathing1 and all of the various bodily functions in activity1 never ceases working1 and never leaves us for an instant4 ,it permeates every atom of the body1 illuminating each separate cell with a reflection of its own light4 ,scientists are making marvelous discoveries regarding the location of the seat of intelligence1--mind4 ,until recently it was supposed to be confined solely to the brain4 ,but now we know the mind1 the brain1 or the thinking part of us1 extends the entire length of the spinal cord1 that there is gray brain matter everywhere in the sympathetic nervous system4 ,in fact recent experiments indicate selective power in the cells all through the body4 ,regular gray matter has been found in the finger tips of deaf1 dumb and blind people1 thus showing that wherever there is a need there is intelligence4 ,we know what marvels blind and deaf mutes perform by their sense of touch1 in distinguishing colors1 even fine variations of shades in delicate fabrics1 in correctly sensing denominations of paper money and coins1 and accurately describing statues and other forms from merely running their fingers over them4 ,this shows that intelligence is everywhere in the body4 ,some of our foremost scientists now believe that the cells composing each organ form a sort of coperative community intelligence which presides over that particular organ4 ,they hold that the bodily organs have what may be termed minds of their own1 and are vitally connected with the so-called spinal column brain and the solar plexus brain1 as well as with the brain proper4 ,this theory is borne out in fact4 ,we know how quickly the stomach sympathizes with the mental attitude1 how it responds to our thoughts1 our emotions2 also how quickly the heart1 the kidneys respond to our mental states--fear1 worry1 joy1 anxiety1 love1 hate1 jealousy1 whatever emotion dominates us4 ,if there were not a very intimate connection between the brain and the stomach 7and the same principle applies to the heart1 the kidneys and other organs7 the digestion would not be affected so seriously by our changing moods and emotions4 ,inasmuch as it is so affected1 is it not reasonable to assume that the stomach cells are influenced by the thought which you project into them8 ,is it not reasonable to assume that by sending into these cells black1 gloomy1 discouraging pictures of indigestion and dyspepsia you injuriously affect them8 ,if these cells have intelligence1 and if they respond instantly to our different mental states1 as we know they do1 isn't it natural that they should be correspondingly affected by our opinion of them1 by our lack of confidence in them1 our suspicion of their ability to digest our food properly1 by our constant complaining of our stomach and our miserable digestive apparatus8 ,give a dog a bad name and you might as well kill him1 is an old saying4 ,in the same way1 impress1 force home on your stomach1 your heart1 your liver1 or any other bodily organ the conviction that it is inefficient1 weak1 good for nothing1 and in addition swallow a mouthful of mental dyspepsia with every mouthful of food1 and1 sooner or later1 it will accept your verdict and be just what you claim it is4 ,in other words1 instead of handicapping them by wrong thought1 we must give our bodily organs a fair chance to do their legitimate work4 ,if we expect them to act perfectly1 as the ,creator intended they should1 we must treat them as we would treat our children4 ,we must by right thinking help them to be normal instead of making them abnormal by doubting1 being suspicious of them4 ,we must visualize them as our co-workers1 our partners1 our friends1 not as our enemies1 our tormentors4 ,just think of the horrible pictures of their various organs people get from medical books1 which describe minutely symptoms of diseases which they imagine they have6 ,many people never visualize a normal picture of themselves4 ,they never think of themselves as the perfect beings ,god intended them to be4 ,what they hold constantly in mind is a picture of an abnormal1 diseased1 weak1 defective creature4 ,they picture their stomach1 their liver1 their kidneys1 their heart in a diseased1 imperfect condition4 ,instead of regarding them as friends1 as members of the same family1 they look on them as malicious enemies who cause them constant suffering4 ,oh1 they cry out1 ,i've got such a miserable stomach6 ,i can't eat anything4 ,everything ,i eat hurts me4 ,my treacherous old heart1 how it pumps4 ,i can't walk or do any of the things ,i like because of it4 ,my liver is all upset4 ,i seem to be out of kilter everywhere4 ,my kidneys are affected1 my back troubles me1 and really ,i might as well be dead6 ,such horrible visualizing and belittling of the hard-working bodily organs would ruin the health of the best trained athlete4 ,if you would be a friend to yourself1 you must be a friend of your organs1 which are so intimately and sympathetically connected with your brain-mind--the central station of your body4 ,you must believe in their perfection1 in their normal functioning4 ,you must picture them trying to help you to carry out your great life purpose instead of working at cross purposes with you4 ,you must have confidence in them1 think of them as your friends instead of enemies handicapping your success and ruining your chances in life4 ,replace the pictures of diseased organs with their opposites1 pictures of their wholeness1 their completeness1 their soundness1 and you will find yourself coming into health and power4 ,assume the victorious attitude1 and think of yourself as an absolutely perfect being1 divine1 immortal1 possessing superb health1 a magnificent physique1 a vigorous constitution1 a sublime mind4 ,every morning when you rise1 before you go to bed at night1 and whenever you think of it during the day1 stoutly affirm the fact of your perfection physically1 mentally and morally4 ,constantly assert mentally1 and1 when alone1 orally1 ,i am health because ,i am of ,god4 ,god is my life1 ,he is the great creative ,power that sustains and upholds me every instant4 ,this ,power is perpetually re-creating me1 and trying to keep me up to the ideal1 the original plan of my being when ,i was created4 ,i shall coperate with it to-day1 and every day4 ,i shall aim to be perfect1 even as my ,father4 ,there is a great restorative power in the mere resolve to be well1 strong and vigorous1 in affirming and tenaciously holding the perfect ideal of ourselves which the ,creator had in ,his plan of us4 ,there is a re-creative force in the realization that any departure from this ideal means departure from ,god1 from perfect health1 from the reality of the perfect physical1 mental and moral being planned by ,him4 ,you will be surprised to see how this mental attitude1 this visualized physical ideal1 will be reproduced in the body4 ,the mind is the body builder1 the great health sculptor1 and we cannot surpass our mental model4 ,if there is a weakness or flaw in the thought model1 there will be corresponding deficiencies in the health statue4 ,as long as we think ill health1 doubt our ability to be strong and vigorous1 as long as we hold the conviction of the presence of inherited weaknesses and disease tendencies1 look upon ourselves as victims instead of conquerors of ill health1 in short1 as long as the mental model is defective perfect health is impossible4 ,joyous1 abounding health can be established just as anything else can be established1 by right thinking and right living1 by thinking health instead of disease1 thinking strength instead of weakness1 harmony instead of discord1 thinking true thoughts instead of error thoughts1 love thoughts instead of hatred thoughts1 health thoughts1 upbuilding thoughts instead of destructive tearing down thoughts4 ,a great many regular physicians now1 and all soon will1 show patients how they can make use of the great healing1 medicinal power of thought1 the miracle of right thinking1 which unites them with the ,force back of the flesh4 ,they will show each patient what attitudes of mind1 what affirmations and what auto-suggestions will tend to keep him in harmony2 they will teach him the healing use of suggestion4 ,the physician of the future will use largely for his remedies1 ideas1 mental attitudes1 and suggestions4 ,the time will come when parents and teachers will realize the tremendous force1 the character-building power in the affirmation of health1 wholeness1 completeness1 harmony4 ,they will teach children to exert this power that will drive out discord and dispel disease4 ,they will impress upon the young that affirmation of perfect ideals1 holding in mind the model of a perfect man1 a perfect woman1 not the one marred1 crippled1 shorn of strength and beauty by violation of mental law1 or by vicious living1 will protect them from all assaults from without and from within4 ,if that mind was always in us which was in ,christ1 the mind that gives health1 peace and happiness1 that perpetuates harmony1 truth and beauty1 we should never know discord of any kind4 ,perfect health would be the rule and not the exception1 because we should never transgress the laws of our being4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,you ,,are ,,headed ,,toward ,,your ,,ideal ,faith and the ideal still remain the most powerful levers of progress and of happiness4 ,,jean ,,finot4 ,if we are content to unfold the life within according to the pattern given us1 we shall reach the highest end of which we are capable4 ,we tend to grow into the likeness of the things we long for most1 think about most4 ,the gods we worship write their names on our faces4 ,,emerson4 ,in ,hawthorne's story1 ,the ,great ,stone ,face1 we have an impressive illustration of the power of an ideal4 ,one's memory holds a vivid picture of its hero1 whose mind had dwelt from childhood on the local tradition that a man-child should be born whose face would resemble that of the mountain profile above the little hamlet of his nativity2 and that this child would eventually become the leader and savior of the people4 ,so whole-heartedly did he believe the legend1 so earnestly did he long for its fulfillment1 and so constantly did his eyes dwell on the prophetic profile1 that unconsciously his own features changed until1 outwardly as well as inwardly1 he completely embodied the ideal which his mind had absorbed4 ,on every hand we see illustrations of the transforming power of the ideal4 ,it is outpictured in the faces we see in the street1 in trains and shops1 in theaters and churches1 wherever people congregate4 ,how quickly we can select from a crowd of strangers the successful business man4 ,his initiative1 leadership1 executive ability1 speak out of his face and manner4 ,the same is true of men in other vocations1--of the scholar1 the clergyman1 the lawyer1 the teacher1 the doctor1 the farmer1 the day laborer4 ,go into any institution1 factory1 store1 or other place of business and you can quickly detect the nature of the ideals outpictured in the faces1 in the expression1 in the manner of the people you see there4 ,visit ,sing ,sing and you will see the power of the ideal which has worked like a leaven in its inmates4 ,the criminal suggestion1 the criminal thought1 the criminal ideal is reflected in the faces of those who visualized crime1 planned and thought out its details long before they committed the criminal act4 ,whatever we hold in our minds1 dwell upon1 contemplate1 whatever is dominant in our motives1 will stand out in our flesh so that the world can read it4 ,many absolutely authentic cases of stigmata are recorded in the lives of medieval saints1 on whose bodies appeared an exact reproduction of all the wounds of the crucified ,christ4 ,some of these cases were in convents and monasteries1 and were the result of long and intense concentration of the mind of the subject upon the physical sufferings of ,christ4 ,frequently the phenomena occurred after the austerities of ,lent1 during which the monks and nuns had focused more intensely and steadily upon the tortures of the ,savior's passion and death4 ,if the contemplation of those tortures1 the constant mental picturing of the sufferings of the ,god-man1 the soul's great sympathy with its ideal could change the very tissues of the body1 could reproduce on it the actual physical marks of the cruel spear in the side1 of the nails in the hands and feet and of the thorns in the head1 think of the wonderful possibilities in the reversal of these thoughts and this picturing4 ,think of what the contemplation of the wonderful work accomplished by the ,savior on earth1 of the constant mental picturing of ,his glorious life1 of ,his tenderness1 and love for humanity1 of ,his power and dignity1 of ,his continual outpouring of ,himself in service2 think of what the constant holding of such an ideal1 such a model1 and the perpetual effort to realize it would do for the race6 ,we tend to become like what we admire1 sympathize with and persistently hold in mind4 ,the hero of ,the ,great ,stone ,face became the counterpart of his ideal4 ,the history of ,christianity is a continuous record of the power of the ideal to raise men and women to their highest power4 ,st4 ,paul1 one of the most conspicuous of these examples1 is so possessed1 so enthused by the inspiration of his great model1 that he cries1 ,i live1 not ,i1 but ,christ in me4 ,the contemplation of perfection is always uplifting4 ,nothing so strengthens the mind1 enlarges manhood1 or womanhood1 widens the thought1 as the constant effort to measure up to high ideals4 ,the struggle to better our best1 to make our highest moments permanent1 the continual reaching of the mind to the things above and beyond1 the steady pursuit of the ideal1 which constantly advances as we pursue1 is what has led the race up from savagery to twentieth century civilization4 ,a great artist was one day found by a friend in tears in his studio4 ,when asked the cause of his distress1 he replied1 ,i have produced a work with which ,i am satisfied1 and ,i shall never produce another4 ,it is said he never did4 ,the inspiration that had urged him on was his ideal4 ,that kept him always striving to improve on what he had previously done4 ,without it there was nothing to strive for4 ,without an ideal there is no growth2 and where there is no growth there is retrogression4 ,without a vision the people perish4 ,nothing in the universe is static4 ,none of us stands still4 ,we are all traveling in some direction1 either forward or backward4 ,everything depends on the ideal4 ,what we admire and aspire to enters into the very texture of our being1 becomes a part of us4 ,if we had the power to analyze any individual1 we could tell what books he had read1 could detect the type of his friends and associates1 and could name his heroes2 that is1 we could tell what ideals had actuated him4 ,parents and teachers should urge upon the young the importance of hero worship1 of choosing the highest human ideals4 ,our lives are molded chiefly after the pattern of the ideals of our youth1 and there is no danger of too much hero worship1 if only the heroes are worthy4 ,history is full of examples of the powerful influence of ideals upon our great men4 ,it is said that ,alexander the ,great always carried a copy of ,homer's ,iliad in his pocket1 and that he never tired of reading about ,achilles1 the great hero1 whom he was ambitious to resemble4 ,many a young man in this country who has been inspired1 encouraged and stimulated by ,lincoln's career1 has not only lived a grander life and made a truer success because he modeled his life after that of his hero1 but he has developed many qualities in common with ,lincoln which otherwise might have lain forever dormant4 ,many a young officer in our army is more efficient because of his imitation of ,grant and ,lee1 the ideals which haunted his dreams and which have ever urged him up and on4 ,it is of the utmost importance to choose our ideal early in life1 a high and beautiful ideal1 that shall be our pole star1 the highest1 brightest light we know4 ,a recent writer says3 ,my advice to all those just starting to travel life's turnpike is3 ',don't start until you have your ideal4 ,then don't stop until you get it4' ,of course we all have ideals of some kind when we are young2 but how many of us keep them even till middle age8 ,what young man has entered into active life without an ideal before him of what he is going to do1 and how the world is going to be bettered by him8 ,what young girl but who1 leaving school1 life smiling before her1 dreams of the ideal love she will find1 the ideal happy home she will make1 and the beautiful work she will do in life with the ideal man of her girlish dreams by her side8 ,but do the youth and the maiden hold these ideals throughout the years1 with the strength of conviction that overcomes all difficulties1 or do they abandon them with the first discouragement and settle down into a commonplace existence with interest in nothing above the material8 ,to youth1 naturally1 come glorious ideals1 not only of what one's own life is to be1 but of what life in general should be1--the ideal man1 the ideal woman1 the ideal social system1--and with all these is a vague desire or intention to help toward their fulfillment4 ,but too often the result of disappointment in the effort to better conditions is1 first1 to give up the hope of realizing the ideal1 and then to abandon the ideal itself4 ,here is where the great danger of retrogression comes in4 ,unless the ideal be held with a tenacity that no failure or disappointment can relax1 it is apt to fade away after the first ardor of youth is past4 ,one of the greatest aids to the preservation of the youthful ideal in all its freshness and beauty is to recall frequently1 daily1 the moral heroes who first gave one a glimpse of one's possibilities and aroused one's ambition4 ,read the special books1 or particular chapters which fired you to emulate some noble character4 ,renew yourself mentally by visualizing the life and work of men and women who have wrought nobly for humanity4 ,think of the ,washingtons1 the ,franklins1 the ,lincolns1 the ,emersons1 the ,ruskins1 the ,florence ,nightingales1 the ,jane ,addams1 the ,susan ,b4 ,anthonys1 the ,frances ,willards1 and you will be strengthened to resist the debasing influence of the fierce competition for wealth and preferment1 even for mere subsistence1 which in so many instances pushes out of sight the aspirations and ideals of youth4 ,keep constantly in mind the grand characters whose achievements aroused you to noble thoughts and endeavor in the springtime of life and your standards will never drop4 ,character always develops according to the pattern within us4 ,no artist could paint the face of ,christ with the model of ,judas before his mental vision4 ,no great character can ever be built with low1 groveling ideals in the mind4 ,the constant struggle to measure up to a high ideal is the only force in heaven or on earth that can make a life great1 beautiful and fruitful4 ,if we would ever accomplish anything of worth1 if we would ever establish our oneness with the ,creator1 and accomplish the work ,he sent us here to do1 we must live up to our ideal4 ,with eyes fixed on this ideal1 we must work with heart and hand and brain2 with a faith that never grows dim1 with a resolution that never wavers1 with a patience that is akin to genius1 we must persevere unto the end2 for1 as we advance1 our ideal as steadily moves upward4 ,the situation that has not its duty1 its ideal1 says ,carlyle1 was never yet occupied by man4 ,yes1 here1 in this poor1 miserable1 hampered1 despicable ,actual1 wherein thou even now standest1 here or nowhere is thy ideal2 work it out therefrom1 and1 working1 believe1 live1 be free4 ,fool6 the ideal is in thyself4 ,never were truer words spoken4 ,wrapped up in every human being there are divine energies which1 if given proper direction1 will develop the ideal from stage to stage4 ,who sees a sculptor at work upon a block of marble sees what appears to be only a mechanical performance4 ,but1 out of sight in the sculptor's brain1 there is a quiet presence we do not perceive2 and every movement of the hand is impelled by that shining thought within the brain4 ,that presence is the ideal4 ,without it he would be a mason2 through it he becomes an artist4 ,the ideal is the real4 ,by it we shape our lives as the sculptor shapes the image from the rough marble4 ,external means alone will not accomplish this4 ,you must lay hold of eternal principles1 of the everlasting verities1 or you never can approach your ideal4 ,your first advance toward it lies in what you are doing now1 in what you are thinking4 ,not on some far-off height1 in some distant scene1 or fabled land1 where longing without endeavor is magically satisfied1 will we carve out the ideal that haunts our souls1 but here and now in this poor1 mean ,actual1 here or nowhere is our ideal6 ,in the humble valley1 on the boundless prairie1 on the farm1 on sea or on land1 in workshop1 store1 or office1 wherever there is honest work for the hand and brain of man to do1--within the circumscribed limits of our daily duties1 is the field wherein the outworking of our ideal must be wrought4 ,your circumstances may be uncongenial1 says ,james ,allen1 but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an ,ideal and strive to reach it4 ,you cannot travel within and stand still without4 ,here is a youth hard pressed by poverty and labor2 confined long hours in an unhealthy workshop2 unschooled1 and lacking all the arts of refinement4 ,but he dreams of better things2 he thinks of intelligence1 of refinement1 of grace and beauty4 ,he conceives of1 mentally builds up1 an ideal condition of life2 the vision of a wider liberty and a larger scope takes possession of him2 unrest urges him to action1 and he utilizes all his spare time and means1 small though they are1 to the development of his latent powers and resources4 ,very soon so altered has his mind become that the workshop can no longer hold him4 ,it has become so out of harmony with his mentality that it falls out of his life as a garment is cast aside1 and1 with the growth of opportunities which fit the scope of his expanding powers1 he passes out of it forever4 ,years later we see this youth as a full-grown man4 ,we find him a master of certain forces of the mind which he wields with world-wide influence and almost unequaled power4 ,in his hands he holds the cords of gigantic responsibilities2 he speaks1 and lo6 lives are changed2 men and women hang upon his words and remold their characters1 and1 sun-like1 he becomes the fixed and luminous center round which innumerable destinies revolve4 ,he has realized the ,vision of his youth4 ,he has become one with his ,ideal4 ,the great curse of the average person is commonness1--the lack of aspiring ideals4 ,there are thousands of farmers who never get above cattle and wheat1 of doctors who never become superior to prescriptions and diseases1 of lawyers who never wholly subordinate their briefs4 ,the ideals of the masses rarely rise out of mediocrity4 ,most of us live in the basement of our lives1 while the upper stories are all unused4 ,millions of human beings never get out of the kitchen of their existence4 ,we need aspiration and great thought-models to lift us4 ,god has whispered into the ear of all existence1 ,look up4 ,there is potential celestial gravitation in every mortal4 ,there is a spiritual hunger in humanity which1 if fed and nourished1 will lead to the upbuilding and developing of great souls4 ,there is a latent divinity in every son of ,adam1 which must be aroused before there can be any great progress in individual uplift4 ,in a factory where mariners' compasses are made before the needles are magnetized1 they will lie in any position1 but when once touched by the mighty magnet1 once electrified by that mysterious power1 they ever afterwards point only in one direction4 ,many a young life lies listless1 purposeless1 until touched by the ,divine magnet1 after which1 if it nourishes its aspirations1 it always points to the north star of its hope and its ideal4 ,every faintest aspiration that springs up in our heart is a heavenly seed within us which will grow and develop into rich beauty if only it be fed1 encouraged4 ,the better things do not grow either in material or mental soil without care and nourishment4 ,only weeds1 briers1 and noxious plants thrive easily4 ,the aspiration that is not translated into active effort will die1 just as any power or function that is not used will atrophy or disappear4 ,the ostrich1 naturalists say1 once had wonderful wings1 but not caring to use them1 preferring to walk on the earth rather than mount in the air1 it practically lost its wings1 their strength passing into its legs4 ,the giraffe probably once had only an ordinary neck1 like other animals1 but being long used to reach up to gather its food from the branches of trees1 it lifted its body in the upward direction until it is now the tallest of all animals1 its elongated neck enabling it to gather the leaves from lofty trees4 ,something like this takes place continually in human lives4 ,we rise or fall by our ideals1 by our pursuit or our disregard of them4 ,the majority of us make bungling work of our living4 ,we spend much precious time and effort catering to the desires of our animal natures and live chiefly along the lines of life's lower aims and opportunities when we might be soaring4 ,everywhere we see men making a splendid living1 but a very poor life2 succeeding in their vocations but failing as men1 swerving from their own highest ideals for the sake of making a little more money4 ,on every hand we see people sacrificing the higher to the lower1 dwarfing the best thing in them for a superficial material advantage1 selling the birthright of the soul's ideal for a mess of pottage4 ,is there any reason or intelligence in a man's continuing to turn his ability1 his energies1 all there is in him1 into dollars after he has many times more of these than he can ever use for living and betterment8 ,is the gift of life so cheap1 so meaningless1 of so little importance1 that we can afford to spend time on things that do not endure1--upon unnecessary material things which so soon pass away1--to the neglect of those that endure8 ,we know that life is our great opportunity to acquit ourselves like men4 ,yet it is too often into these transient things that we pour the full force of our energies1 while we only sigh and wish that we could achieve our ideals4 ,we sacrifice much to gain wealth1 but practically nothing to realize the outreach of our souls4 ,yet the ideal is indeed the pearl of great price1 in the balance with which all that a man hath besides is as nothing4 ,the red letter men of the world have always been men of high ideals1 to which they were ever loyal3 men who have said this one thing ,i do1 and have put the whole strength of their lives into their effort to realize their ideal4 ,if from the start you listen to and obey that something within which urges you to find the road that leads up higher2 if you listen to and obey the voice which bids you look up and not down1 which ever calls you on and up1 no matter what its outward seeming1 your life can not be a failure4 ,the really successful men and women are those who by the nobility of their example contribute to the uplift1 the happiness1 the enlargement of life1 to the wisdom of the world1--not those who have merely piled up selfish dollars4 ,a rich personality enriches everybody who comes in contact with it4 ,everybody who touches a noble life feels ennobled thereby4 ,there is machinery so delicate that it can measure the least expenditure of physical force4 ,if similar machinery could be devised for measuring character many a millionaire would be chagrined at the record of his own just measurement1 while many an humble worker would be amazed at the high mark his earnest unceasing efforts to reach his ideal had achieved4 ,i believe the time will come when not money1 but growth1 not lands and houses1 but mental and moral expansion in larger and nobler living1 will be even the popular measure of true riches1 real success4 ,the measure of a successful man will be that of his soul2 he will be rated in a new sort of ,bradstreet1 a spiritual ,bradstreet1 as a large heart1 a magnanimous mind1 a cultured intellect1 instead of as a great check book4 ,phillips ,brooks said3 ,the ideal life of full completion haunts us all4 ,we feel the thing we ought to be beating beneath the thing we are4 ,god hides some ideal in every human soul4 ,at some time in his life1 each feels a trembling1 fearful longing to do some great good thing4 ,life finds its noblest spring of excellence in its hidden impulse to do one's best4 ,every one who substitutes the finer for the cheaper goal1 each one who to-day and every day holds to his high ideal despite the stress and turmoil of modern daily living1 in such measure hastens the day when such an ideal will be the inspiration of the masses and the power that moves the world4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,how ,,to ,,make ,,the ,,brain ,,work ,,for ,,us ,,during ,,sleep ,would you not think yourself fortunate to have a secretary of great ability and worth absolutely subject1 day and night1 to your will1 and so susceptible to instructions that even your slightest mental suggestion would be faithfully carried out8 ,if you had such a secretary1 and knew that in spite of his great ability he would be able to do what you suggested only in proportion to your belief in his power to do so1 would you not be careful to entertain no doubts of his ability to carry out your wishes or suggestions8 ,now1 just substitute for this personal secretary your subconscious self1 that part of you which is below the threshold of your consciousness1 and try to realize that this self is actually the sort of secretary ,i have endeavored to describe1 capable of carrying out all your desires1 of executing all your purposes1 of realizing your ambitions1 to the exact extent of your belief in its powers1 and you will get some idea of what it can accomplish for you4 ,this secretary is closer to you than your breath1 nearer than your heart beat1 a faithful servant1 walking by your side all through life1 to execute your faintest wish1 to carry out your desires1 to help you to achieve your aims4 ,every bit of help1 of encouragement1 of support you give to this other self will add to the magnificence1 the splendor of your destiny4 ,on the other hand1 all negative1 vicious thoughts1 all selfishness1 greed and envy1 all doubts and fears1 all the discouraging1 destructive thoughts you entertain1 will impair and weaken your secretary or servant in exact proportion to their intensity and persistency4 ,in fact it rests with yourself whether your secretary shall be your greatest help1 a heavenly friend and assistant1 or your greatest hindrance1 your worst enemy4 ,it doesn't matter what we call them1--subconscious and conscious self1 or subjective and objective mind1 we are all conscious that these are two forces constantly at work in us4 ,one commands and the other obeys4 ,we know that one of these1 the subjective mind1 does not originate its acts1 but gets its instructions from the objective mind1 which contains the will power4 ,experience shows us that the subjective or subconscious mind1 which ,i have called a personal secretary1 is a servant which obeys our will1 carries out our wishes1 and registers in the brain a faithful record not only of every thought1 word and act of ours1 but of everything we see1 and everything we hear others say4 ,coleridge tells of a remarkable instance of the truth of this4 ,a young ,german servant girl was taken ill with a fever1 and in her delirium she recited correctly long passages from famous authors in ,latin1 ,greek and ,hebrew4 ,scholars were called in to hear this uneducated girl speaking fluently tongues of which she had no knowledge in her conscious moments1 and to tell if they could what it meant4 ,they were much puzzled and could make nothing of it2 but later the miracle was explained4 ,years before1 it seems1 the girl had lived in a minister's family1 and was accustomed to hear her master recite the classics aloud4 ,she had listened attentively1 and her subconscious mind had faithfully recorded every word in her brain1 and reproduced what it had heard when the objective mind was quiescent4 ,numerous instances might be cited to show that our subconscious mind is the record storehouse of all that has ever happened to us4 ,every thought1 every experience1 whatever passes before the eye1 or that we see or hear or feel is registered accurately in our brain by our subconscious mind4 ,now1 if this other self1 personal secretary1 subconscious mind1 or whatever we choose to call it1 has such enormous power1 why can it not be trained to work for us when we are asleep as well as when we are awake8 ,have you ever thought of the possibilities of spiritual and mental development during sleep8 ,has it ever occurred to you that while the processes of repair and upbuilding are proceeding normally in the body1 the mind also may be expanding1 the soul as well as the body may be growing8 ,when corporal and voluntary things are quiescent1 the ,lord operates1 said ,swedenborg4 ,the great ,swedish philosopher was a firm believer in the activity of the other self during sleep4 ,he claimed that his spiritual vision was opened in the unconscious hours of the night4 ,the ,bible teems with illustrations of the activity of the subconscious mind or self during sleep4 ,warnings are given1 work is commanded to be done1 visions are seen1 plans are outlined1 angels are conversed with1 courses of conduct advised2 and every suggestion made to the soul in the dream state is literally carried out in the waking hours4 ,theosophists believe that during sleep the soul or spirit acts independently of the body2 that it actually leaves the body and goes out into the night to perform tasks appointed it by the ,creator4 ,as a matter of fact1 few people realize what an immense amount of work is carried on automatically in the body under the direction of the subconscious mind4 ,if the entire brain and nervous system were to go to sleep at night all of the bodily functions would stop4 ,the heart would cease to beat1 the stomach1 the liver1 the kidneys and the other glands would no longer act1 the various digestive processes would cease to operate1 all the physical organs would cease working1 and we should stop breathing4 ,one of the deepest mysteries of ,nature's processes is that of putting a part of the brain and nervous system1 and most of the mental faculties which were in use during the day1 under the sweet ether of sleep while she repairs and rejuvenates every cell and every tissue1 but at the same time keeping in the most active condition a great many of the bodily processes and even certain of the mental and creative faculties4 ,these are awake and alert all the time while the sleeper is in a state of unconsciousness4 ,most of us probably have had the experience of dropping to sleep at night discouraged because we could not solve some vexing problem to our satisfaction4 ,it may have been one in mathematics during our school days1 or1 later on1 a weightier one in business or professional life1 and behold1 in the morning1 without any conscious effort on our part1 the problem was solved2 all its intricacies were unraveled1 and what had so puzzled us the night before was perfectly clear when we woke up in the morning4 ,our conscious1 objective self did not enter the mysterious laboratory where the miracle was wrought4 ,we do not know how it was wrought4 ,we only know that it was done somehow1 without our knowledge1 while we slept4 ,some of our greatest inventions and discoveries have been worked out by the subconscious mind during sleep4 ,many an inventor who went to sleep with a puzzled brain1 discouraged and disheartened because he could not make the connecting link between his theory and its practical application1 awoke in the morning with his problem solved4 ,mathematicians and astronomers have had marvelous results worked out while they slept1 answers to questions which had puzzled them beyond measure during their waking hours4 ,writers1 poets1 painters1 musicians1 all have received inspiration for their work while the body slumbered4 ,many people attempt to explain these things on a purely physical basis4 ,they attribute the apparent phenomenon to the mere fact that the brain has been refreshed and renewed during the night1 and that1 consequently1 we can think better and more clearly in the morning4 ,that is true1 so far as it goes1 but there is something more1 something beyond this4 ,we know that ideas are suggested and problems actually worked out along lines which did not occur to the waking mind4 ,most of us have had experiences of some kind or another which show that there is some great principle1 some intelligent power back of the flesh1 but not of it1 which is continually active in our lives1 helping us to solve our problems4 ,one of the most interesting instances of this kind is given in the biography of the great scientist1 ,professor ,louis ,agassiz1 by his widow3 ,he ,professor ,agassiz1 the writer says1 had been for two weeks striving to decipher the somewhat obscure impression of a fossil fish on the stone slab in which it was preserved4 ,weary and perplexed1 he put his work aside at last1 and tried to dismiss it from his mind4 ,shortly after1 he waked one night persuaded that while asleep he had seen his fish with all the missing features perfectly restored4 ,but when he tried to hold and make fast the image it escaped him4 ,nevertheless1 he went early to the ,jardin des ,plantes1 thinking that on looking anew at the impression he should see something which would put him on the track of his vision4 ,in vain--the blurred record was as blank as ever4 ,the next night he saw the fish again1 but with no more satisfactory result4 ,when he awoke it disappeared from his memory as before4 ,hoping that the same experience might be repeated1 on the third night he placed a pencil and paper beside his bed before going to sleep4 ,accordingly1 towards morning the fish re-appeared in his dream1 confusedly at first1 but at last with such distinctness that he had no longer any doubt as to its zological characters4 ,still half dreaming1 in perfect darkness1 he traced these characters on the sheet of paper at the bedside4 ,in the morning he was surprised to see in his nocturnal sketch features which he thought it impossible the fossil itself should reveal4 ,he hastened to the ,jardin des ,plantes1 and1 with his drawing as a guide1 succeeded in chiseling away the surface of the stone under which portions of the fish proved to be hidden4 ,when wholly exposed it corresponded with his dream and his drawing1 and he succeeded in classifying it with ease4 ,we are all familiar with examples of the marvelous feats performed by somnambulists4 ,they will get up and dress while fast asleep1 lock and unlock doors1 go out and walk and ride in the most dangerous places1 where they would not attempt to go when awake4 ,many have been known to walk with sure feet along the extreme edges of roofs of houses1 on the banks of rivers1 or close to the edge of precipices1 where one false step would precipitate them to death4 ,they will speak1 write1 act1 and move as if entirely conscious of what they are doing4 ,a somnambulist will answer questions put to him while asleep and carry on a conversation rationally4 ,in this respect the state of the sleep walker is similar to that of a person in a hypnotic trance4 ,he can be acted on from without and remain wholly unconscious4 ,surgical operations have been performed upon a hypnotized person without the use of anesthetics2 and there is no doubt that this also would be possible during profound sleep4 ,the subjective mind is much more susceptible to suggestion when the objective mind is unconscious4 ,there is no resistance on account of prejudice or external influences4 ,that we are on the eve of marvelous possibilities of treating disease during sleep there is not the slightest doubt4 ,the same is true of habit forming1 mind changing1 of mind improving1 of strengthening deficient faculties1 of eradicating peculiarities and idiosyncrasies1 of neutralizing injurious hereditary tendencies1 of increasing ability4 ,the possibilities of changing the disposition and of mind building during sleep are only beginning to be realized4 ,the power of the subjective mind over the body is well illustrated by the fact that thoughts aroused in a hypnotized person can very materially shift the circulation of the blood4 ,they can send it at will to any part of the body4 ,the hypnotist can make his subject blush or turn pale1 express in his face fierce anger or appealing love4 ,he can at will produce anesthesia in any part of the body so that a needle or knife may be inserted in the flesh without causing the slightest pain4 ,he can so impress the hypnotized person's mind with the belief that the water he drinks is whiskey that he will actually exhibit all the appearance of drunkenness4 ,he can make him believe that the spoonful of water he takes is full of poison so that he will immediately develop the symptoms of poisoning4 ,the subjective mind is not only capable of carrying out orders but1 as has already been shown1 every impression made on it is indelible4 ,how often we say1 when we cannot recall a well-known name1 or the details of some important event or experience1 ,well1 ,i cannot think of that now1 but it will come to me2 ,i shall think of it later4 ,and how often have the forgotten details flashed into our mind when the occasion had passed and we were thinking of something else4 ,again and again have we puzzled our brains at night trying to think of some particular thing which had gone out of our memory1 only to find it waiting for us in the morning4 ,we are beginning to realize that all of our experiences during the day1 all of our thoughts1 emotions and mental attitudes1 the multitude of little things which seem to make but a fleeting impression1 are not in reality lost4 ,every day leaves its phonographic records on the brain1 and these records are never erased or destroyed4 ,they simply drop into the subconscious mind and are ever on call4 ,they may not come at once in response to our summons1 but they are still there and are often1 many years after they have dropped into the subconscious mind1 reproduced with all their original vividness4 ,i heard recently of a prominent banker who lost a very important key1 the only one to the bank treasures4 ,he claimed that it had not been lost in the ordinary way1 but stolen4 ,suspicion at once attached to the employees4 ,a prominent detective was placed in the bank1 and1 after watching and questioning every one on the staff1 he became convinced that none but the banker himself knew anything about the key4 ,every detective is necessarily something of a mind reader1 and this one1 believing firmly in his own theory1 suggested a simple plan for recovering the key4 ,he told the banker to quit suspecting the employees and worrying about burglars getting the bank's treasures1 to relax his overwrought mind and go to sleep with the belief that he himself had put the key away somewhere1 and that it would be found in the morning4 ,if you do this1 he said1 ,i believe the mystery will be solved4 ,the banker1 to the best of his ability1 did as the detective suggested1 and on getting up the following morning he was instinctively led to a certain secret place1 and1 behold1 there was the key4 ,he was not conscious that he had put it there1 but after finding it he had a faint recollection of previously going to this place4 ,the banker's objective or conscious mind was probably busy with something else when he put the key away4 ,only his subconscious self had any knowledge of what he was doing4 ,then when he missed the key his fears1 his worry1 his anxiety1 his suspicions and generally wrought-up mentality made it impossible for his subjective mind to reveal the secret to him4 ,but after his mind had become poised and he was again in tune with his subjective intelligence the information was passed along4 ,dr4 ,hack ,tuke1 a distinguished ,english authority on the subject4 ,the memory1 freed from distraction as it sometimes is1 he says1 is so vivid as to enable the sleeper to recall events which had happened years before and which had been entirely forgotten4 ,now1 if1 as we have seen1 the subconscious mind can perform real work1 real service for us1 why should we not use it especially during sleep8 ,why should we not avail ourselves of this enormous creative force to strengthen all our powers and possibilities1 to piece out1 virtually to lengthen our time1 our lives8 ,think what it would mean to us in a life time if we could keep these sleepless creative functions always in superb condition so that they would go on during the night working out our problems1 unraveling our difficulties1 carrying forward our plans1 while we are asleep6 ,we have sufficient proof already to show that they do actual constructive work1 but the testimony of ,dr4 ,tuke on this point is of interest4 ,that the exercise of thought--and this on a high level--is consistent with sleep can hardly be doubted1 he writes4 ,arguments are employed in debate which are not always illogical4 ,we dreamed one night1 subsequent to a lively conversation with a friend on spiritualism1 that we instituted a number of test experiments in reference to it4 ,the nature of these tests was retained vividly in the memory after waking4 ,they were by no means wanting in ingenuity1 and proved that the mental operations were in good form4 ,it is now established beyond a doubt that certain parts of the brain continue active during the night when the rest of it is under the anesthetic of sleep4 ,but we have hardly begun to realize what a tremendous ally this sleepless creative part of the brain can be made in our mental development4 ,it is well known that most of the growth of the child1 of its skeleton1 muscles1 nerves and all the twelve different kinds of tissues in its body takes place during sleep1 that there is comparatively little during the activities of the day4 ,it is not so well understood that our minds also grow during the night2 that they develop along the lines of the ideals1 thoughts and emotions with which we feed them before retiring4 ,all the analogies go to prove that the mind is always awake1 says ,m4 ,jouffroy4 ,the mind during sleep is not in a special mood or state1 but it goes on and develops itself absolutely as in the waking hours4 ,as a matter of fact we never awake just the same being as when we went to sleep4 ,we are either better or worse4 ,we changed while we slept4 ,while our senses are wrapped in slumber1 the subjective mind is busily at work4 ,it is either building up or tearing down4 ,it is my firm belief that by an intelligent1 systematic direction of this sleepless faculty of the brain we can actually make it create for us along the line of our desires4 ,as it is1 most people by not putting the mind in proper condition before going to sleep not only do not intelligently use this marvelous creative agency but they destroy all possibility of beneficial results from its action4 ,it is as necessary to prepare the mind for sleep as it is to prepare the body4 ,the following chapter offers some suggestions on this point4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,preparing ,,the ,,mind ,,for ,,sleep ,sleep1 gentle sleep1 how have ,i frighted thee8 ,,shakespeare4 ,not long ago ,i heard a young lady say that it was simply impossible for any woman to look charming or to be agreeable right after getting up in the morning4 ,the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,bushnell declared that a man must be next to a devil who wakes angry4 ,the way we feel when we awake in the morning depends on how we were feeling or thinking when we went to sleep4 ,if we retire holding a grudge against a neighbor1 with a resolve to get square with somebody who has injured us2 if we have hatred or jealousy in our heart2 if we are envious of another's success1 and if we go to sleep nursing these feelings1 we awake in a depressed1 exhausted state1 feeling bitter1 pessimistic1 irritable1 unhappy1 about as nearly like a devil as it is possible for a human being to feel4 ,the destroyer was at work all night1 running amuck among the delicate brain and nerve cells1 furiously tearing down what beneficent ,nature had taken such pains to upbuild4 ,but1 when we take pleasant1 kindly1 loving thoughts to bed with us we awake refreshed1 in a happy1 contented frame of mind4 ,our sleepless faculties spent the hours in upbuilding1 performing friendly offices for us during the night4 ,few people ever think of preparing the mind for sleep1 yet it is even more necessary than it is to prepare the body4 ,most of us take great pains to put the latter in order2 we undress1 take a warm bath1 massage the face with some sort of refreshening salve1 cold cream1 or oil2 we make sure that our sleeping room is properly ventilated and that our bed is clean and comfortable1 but to the matter of preparing our minds we don't give a thought4 ,instead of making our subconscious mental processes build for us in the night1 we allow them to tear down much of what we have built during the day4 ,many of us grow old1 haggard and wrinkled in the night1 when just the reverse ought to be the case1 for ,nature herself has ordained that night should be the building1 the renewing1 time of life4 ,if we were only to prepare the mind for sleep with the same intelligence and care that we prepare the body2 if we were to give it a cleansing mental bath1 wiping from memory's slate all black1 discordant pictures1 all the worries and fears which vexed and perplexed us during the day instead of having the nightmare panorama passing and repassing before us during the night1 robbing us of needed rest and neutralizing our upbuilding1 recuperative forces1 what a difference it would make in our achievement1 in our lives6 ,i know men whose lives have been revolutionized by adopting the practice of putting themselves in a harmonious condition1 getting in tune with the ,infinite before going to sleep4 ,formerly they were in the habit of retiring in a bad mood1 tired1 discouraged over anticipated evils1 worrying about all sorts of things4 ,they would discuss their misfortunes at night with their wives and then fall to thinking over the unfortunate conditions in their affairs1 their mistakes1 and the possible evil consequences that might result from them4 ,naturally1 their minds were in an upset condition when they fell asleep1 and1 as might have been expected1 the melancholy1 black1 ugly pictures of the misfortunes they feared1 vividly exaggerated in the stillness of the night1 became etched deeper and deeper on their brains and did their baleful work1 making real rest and reinvigoration absolutely impossible4 ,when they reformed their habits1 changed their thought1 and retired in a peaceful frame of mind with the intention of going to sleep1 instead of tossing about thinking of their troubles1 their business straightway began to improve4 ,they were stronger1 fresher1 more vigorous1 more resourceful1 better able to cope with difficulties1 to make plans and to carry them out than when they were depleting their physical and mental resources by robbing themselves of their best friend1 ,nature's restorative1--sleep4 ,many people tell me they cannot stop thinking after they go to bed4 ,their brains are so active1 doing their next day's work1 that they cannot stop the mental processes for hours4 ,of course you cannot stop all thinking the first night you begin to form the new habit1 when you have practiced the old night-thinking habit for years2 when perhaps as far back as you can remember you have gone to bed every night worrying1 worrying1 thinking1 thinking1 planning1 planning ahead for days1 for weeks1 for months1 planning ahead perhaps for the coming year4 ,but if you persist1 and make it a cast iron rule to allow no anxieties or fears1 no business troubles or discords of any kind to enter your bed chamber1 you will succeed in accomplishing your object4 ,think of your chamber as the one place sacred to rest1 where the things that trouble and harass and vex during the daytime shall find no entrance4 ,put this legend over the door1 or in some conspicuous place where you can see it4 ,this is my holy of holies1 the place of supreme peace and power in my life from which all discord must be shut out4 ,when you undress and lie down1 say to yourself1 ,i have done my best during the day4 ,now ,i am going to drop thinking1 drop worrying and planning1 and get good1 refreshing sleep to prepare me for to-morrow's work4 ,clear your mind not only of all anxious1 worrying business thoughts1 but also of all ill will or hatred toward another4 ,resolve that you will not harbor an unpleasant1 bitter or unkind thought of any human being1 that you will wipe off the slate of your memory everything you have ever had against any one2 that you will forget whatever is unpleasant in the past and start with a clean slate4 ,just imagine that the words ,harmony1 ,peace1 ,love1 ,good ,will to every living creature1 are emblazoned in letters of light all over the walls of your room4 ,repeat them over and over until that other self1 that personal secretary just below the threshold of your consciousness1 becomes saturated with the ideas they convey1 and after a while you will drop into slumber with a serene1 poised mind1 a mind filled with happy1 joyous1 creative thoughts4 ,of course1 until the new habit is fixed1 thoughts will intrude themselves in spite of you1 but you needn't harbor them4 ,you needn't allow yourself1 under any circumstances1 to go on thinking about business or any discordant thing after you retire any more than you would allow a madman to slash you with a knife without making any attempt to defend yourself4 ,you can1 if you only persist in the new and better way1 fall asleep every night like a tired child1 and awake in the morning just as refreshed and happy4 ,your subconscious self will1 after a while1 carry out your behests without any conscious effort on your part4 ,this sleepless subconscious self is1 in fact1 one of the most effective agents man has to help him accomplish whatever he desires4 ,insomnia1 for instance1 which is the curse of so many ,americans1 may be entirely overcome by its aid4 ,if you are a victim of insomnia1 and go to bed every night with the thought firmly fixed in your consciousness that you are not going to sleep1 you are1 to a great extent1 the victim of your belief4 ,the conviction in your subconscious mind that there is something the matter with your sleeping ability is largely responsible for the continuance of your trouble4 ,we know by experience that we can convince ourselves of almost anything by affirming it long enough and often enough4 ,the constant repetition1 after a while1 establishes the belief in our minds that the thing is true4 ,we can establish the sleep habit just as easily as any other habit4 ,it is perfectly possible by means of affirmation1 the constant repetition in heart to heart talks with yourself to regain your power to sleep normally4 ,your subconscious self1 that side of your nature which presides over the involuntary or automatic functions during sleep1 as well as while you are awake1 as1 for instance1 walking1 and other things which do not require volition of the mind or especial will power1 can be made to obey your commands1 or rather suggestions1 to overcome insomnia4 ,say to this inner self3 ,you know there is no reason why you should not sleep4 ,there is no defect in your physical or mental make-up which keeps you awake4 ,you ought to sleep soundly so many hours every night4 ,there is no reason why you should not1 and you are going to do so to-night4 ,repeat similar affirmations during the day4 ,say to yourself1 ,this sleeplessness is only a bad habit4 ,if you were ill physically or mentally1 if you had any serious defect in your nervous system which would give any excuse for insomnia1 it would be a different thing1 but you haven't anything of the sort4 ,you are simply the slave of a senseless obsession and you are going to break it up4 ,you are going to begin right away4 ,you are going to sleep better to-night1 to-morrow night1 and the next night4 ,you are going to get through with this bogie you have built up in your imagination which has no existence in reality4 ,nothing keeps you awake but your conviction1 your fear1 that you are not going to sleep4 ,prepare your mind for sleep in the way already suggested by emptying it of all worry and fear1 all envy and uncharitableness1 everything that disturbs1 irritates1 or excites4 ,crowd these out with thoughts of joy1 of good cheer1 of things which will help and inspire4 ,compose yourself with the belief that you will go to sleep easily and naturally2 relax every muscle and say to yourself in a quiet drowsy voice1 ,i am so sleepy1 so sleepy1 so sleepy4 ,the subconscious self will listen and in a short time will automatically put your suggestion into practice4 ,it is needless to say that if insomnia is a result of bad or irregular habits1 the victim must first of all change his habits before he can expect any relief4 ,man is a bundle of habits4 ,we perform most of our life functions with greater or less regularity1 so that they become practically automatic4 ,regularity1 system1 order are imperative for our health1 our success and our happiness4 ,this is especially true in regard to sleep4 ,we must keep regular hours1 be systematic in our habits1 or our sleep is likely to suffer4 ,if you play as hard as you work1 refresh and rejuvenate yourself by pleasant recreation and a jolly good time when your work is done1 and then at a regular hour every night prepare your mind for sleep1 just as you would prepare your body1 give it a mental bath and clothe it in beautiful thoughts1 you will in a short time establish the habit of sound1 peaceful1 refreshing sleep4 ,whatever else you do1 or do not1 form the habit of making a call on the ,great ,within of yourself before retiring4 ,leave there the message of up-lift1 of self-betterment and self-enlargement1 that which you yearn for and long to realize but do not know just how to attain4 ,registering this call1 this demand for something higher and nobler1 in your subconsciousness1 putting it right up to yourself1 will work like a leaven during the night2 and1 after a while1 all the building forces within you will unite in furthering your aim2 in helping you to realize your vision1 whatever it may be4 ,the period of sleep may be made a wonderful period of growth1 for the mind as well as for the body4 ,it is a time when you can attract your desires2 it is a propitious time to nurse your vision4 ,instead of making an enemy of your subconscious self by giving it destructive thoughts to work with1 explosives that will destroy much of what you have accomplished during the day1 make it your friend by giving it strong1 creative1 helpful thoughts with which to go on creating1 building for you during the night4 ,there are marvelous possibilities for health and character1 success and happiness building1 during sleep4 ,every thought dropped into the subconscious mind before we go to sleep is a seed that will germinate in the night while we are unconscious and ultimately bring forth a harvest of its kind4 ,by impressing upon it our desires1 picturing as vividly as possible our ideals1 what we wish to become1 and what we long to accomplish1 we will be surprised to see how quickly that wonderful force in the subjective self will begin to shape the pattern1 to copy the model which it is given4 ,in this way we can correct habits which are wounding our self-respect1 humiliating us1 marring our usefulness and efficiency1 perhaps sapping our lives4 ,we can get rid of faults and imperfections2 we can strengthen our weak faculties and overcome vicious tendencies which the will power may not be strong enough to correct in the daytime4 ,if1 as now seems clear1 the subconscious mind can build or destroy1 can make us happy or miserable according to the pattern we give it before going to sleep1 if it can solve the problems of the inventor1 of the discoverer1 of the troubled business man1 why do we not use it more8 ,why do we not avail ourselves of this tremendous mysterious force for life building1 character building1 success building1 happiness building1 instead of for life destroying8 ,one reason is that we are only just beginning to discover that we can control this secondary self or intelligence1 which regulates all the functions of the body without the immediate orders of the objective self4 ,we are getting a glimpse of what it is capable of doing by experiments upon hypnotized subjects1 when the objective mind1 the mind which gets most of its material through the five senses is shut off and the other1 the subjective mind1 is in control4 ,we are finding that it is comparatively easy while a person is in a hypnotic state to make wonderful changes in disposition1 and to correct vicious habits1 mental and moral defects1 through suggestion4 ,there is no doubt that so far as the subjective mind is concerned we are in a similar condition when asleep as when in a hypnotic trance1 and experiments have shown that marvelous results are possible1 especially in the case of children1 by talking to them1 during their sleep1 advising them1 counseling them1 suggesting things that are for their good4 ,parents should teach their children how to prepare their minds for sleep so that the subconscious self would create1 produce something beautiful instead of the black1 discordant images of fear which so often terrorize little ones before they fall asleep and when they wake up in the dark hours of the night4 ,how often have we noticed the troubled1 fear-full expression on the face of a sleeping child1 who was sent to bed with anger thoughts1 with fear thoughts in its mind after a severe scolding or perhaps a whipping4 ,a child should never be scolded or frightened1 or teased1 especially just before bedtime4 ,it should be encouraged to fall asleep in its sweetest1 happiest mood1 in the spirit of love4 ,then its sleeping face will reflect the love spirit and the child will awaken in the same spirit1 as though it had been talking with angels while it slept4 ,children are peculiarly susceptible to the influence of our thoughts1 our suggestions to them during sleep4 ,their character can be molded to a great extent1 their ability developed1 their faults eradicated1 and their weak points strengthened during sleep4 ,in some ways the suggestions made to them in that state have more effect than those made to them when awake1 because while the objective mind often scatters and fails to reproduce what is presented to it1 the subjective mind gradually absorbs and reflects every suggestion4 ,many mothers have found this true1 especially in correcting bad habits which seemed almost impossible to reach while the children were awake4 ,if you want to make your child beautiful in character1 in disposition1 in person1 think beautiful thoughts into its mind as it falls asleep2 speak to it of beautiful things while it sleeps4 ,i believe the time will come when much of the child's training will be effected during sleep4 ,its sthetic faculties1 the love of music1 of art1 of all things noble and beautiful1 special talents1 and latent possibilities of all kinds will be developed through suggestion4 ,in the marvelous interior creative forces lies the great secret of life1 and blessed is he who findeth it4 ,doubly blessed is he who findeth it at the start of life4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,how ,,to ,,stay ,,young ,we do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count4 ,r4 ,w4 ,,emerson4 ,the ability to hold mentally the picture of youth in all its glory1 vivacity and splendor has a powerful influence in restraining the old age processes4 ,old age begins in the heart4 ,when the heart grows cold the skin grows old1 and the appearances of age impress themselves on the body4 ,the mind becomes blighted1 the ideals blurred1 and the juices of life congealed4 ,many people look forward to old age as a time when1 as a recent writer puts it1 you have a feeling that no one wants you1 that all those you have borne and brought up have long passed out onto roads where you cannot follow1 that even the thought-life of the world streams by so fast that you lie up in a backwater1 feebly1 blindly groping for the full of the water1 and always pushed gently1 hopelessly back4 ,there is such a thing as an old age of this kind1 but not for those who face life in the right way4 ,such a pathetic1 such a tragic ending is not for those who love and are loved1 because they keep their hearts open to the joys and sorrows of life2 who maintain a sympathetic interest in their fellow-beings and in the progress and uplift of the world2 who keep their faculties sharpened by use1 and whose minds are constantly reaching out1 broadening and growing1 in the love and service of humanity4 ,a dismal1 useless old age is only for those who have not learned how to live4 ,growth in knowledge and wisdom should be the only indication of our added years4 ,professor ,metchnikoff1 the greatest authority on age1 believes that it is possible to prolong life1 with its maximum of vigor and freshness1 until the end of its normal cycle1 when the individual will gratefully welcome what will be a perfectly happy release4 ,at this point he claims that the instinct of death will supplant the instinct of life1 when the bodily mechanism approaches the natural end of normal exhaustion4 ,he believes that men should live and maintain their usefulness for at least one hundred and twenty years4 ,the author of ,philosophy of ,longevity tells us that man can live to be two hundred years old4 ,jean ,finot says3 ,speaking physiologically1 the human body possesses peerless solidity4 ,not one of the machines invented by man could resist for a single year the incessant taxes which we impose upon ours4 ,yet it continues to perform its functions notwithstanding4 ,what we have a horror of is the premature death of the faculties1 the cutting off of power1 opportunity1 the decay of the body many years before the close of the life on earth4 ,we shudder at the giving up of a large part of life that has potency of work1 of action and of happiness4 ,this horror of senility increases1 because life continually grows more interesting4 ,there never was a time when it seemed so precious1 so full of possibilities1 when there was so much to live for1 as in this glorious present4 ,there never was a time when it seemed so hard to be forced out of the life race4 ,we are on the eve of a new and marvelous era1 and the whole race is on the tiptoe of expectancy4 ,never before was the thought of old age as represented by decay and enforced inactivity so repugnant to man4 ,but why should any one look forward to such a period8 ,it is just this looking forward1 the anticipating and dreading the coming of old age1 that makes us old1 senile1 useless4 ,the creative forces inside of us build on our suggestions1 on our thought models1 and if we constantly thrust into our consciousness old age thoughts and pictures of decrepitude1 of declining faculties1 these thoughts and pictures will be reproduced in the body4 ,a few years ago a young man died of old age in a ,new ,york hospital4 ,after an autopsy the surgeons said that while the man was in reality only twenty-three years old he was internally eighty6 ,if you have arrived at an age which you accept as a starting point for physical deterioration1 your body will sympathize with your conviction4 ,your walk1 your gait1 your expression1 your general appearance1 and even your acts will all fall into line with your mental attitude4 ,a short time ago ,i was talking with a remarkable man of sixty about growing old4 ,the thought of the inevitableness of the aging processes appalled him4 ,no matter1 he declared1 what efforts he might make to avert or postpone the decrepitude of age there would come a period of diminishing returns1 and though he might fight against it he would ever after be on the decline of life1 going irrevocably toward the sunset1 ever nearer and nearer to the time when he should be useless4 ,the conviction that every moment1 every hour1 every day takes me so much nearer to that hole in the ground from which no power in ,heaven or earth can help us to escape is ever present in my mind1 he said4 ,this progressive1 ever-active retrogression is monstrous4 ,this inevitably decrepit old age staring me in the face is robbing me of happiness1 paralyzing my efforts and discouraging my ambition4 ,but why do you dwell on those things that terrify you8 ,i asked4 ,why do you harbor such old age thoughts8 ,why are you visualizing decrepitude1 the dulling and weakening of your mental faculties8 ,if you have such a horror of the decrepitude1 the loss of memory1 the failing eyesight1 the hesitating step1 and the general deterioration which you believe accompany old age1 why don't you get away from these terrifying thoughts1 put them out of your mind instead of dwelling on them8 ,don't you know that what you concentrate on1 what you fear1 the pictures that so terrify you1 are creating the very conditions which you would give anything to escape8 ,if you really wish to stay the old age processes you must change your thoughts4 ,erase everything that has to do with age from your mind4 ,visualize youthful conditions4 ,say to yourself1 ,god is my life4 ,i cannot grow old in spirit1 and that is the only old age to fear4 ,as long as my spirit is youthful2 as long as the boy in me lives1 ,i cannot age4 ,the great trouble with those who are getting along in years is that they put themselves outside of the things that would keep them young4 ,most people after fifty begin to shun children and youth generally4 ,they feel that it is not becoming to their years to act as they did when younger1 and day by day they gradually fall more and more into old age ways and habits4 ,we build into our lives the picture patterns which we hold in our minds4 ,this is a mental law4 ,when you have reached the time at which most people show traces of their age you imagine that you must do the same4 ,you begin to think you have probably done your best work1 and that your powers must henceforth decline4 ,you imagine your faculties are deteriorating1 that they are not quite so sharp as they once were2 that you cannot endure quite so much1 and that you ought to begin to let up a little2 to take less exercise1 to do less work1 to take life a little easier4 ,the moment you allow yourself to think your powers are beginning to decline they will do so1 and your appearance and bodily conditions will follow your convictions4 ,if you hold the thought that your ambition is sagging1 that your faculties are deteriorating1 you will be convinced that younger men have the advantage of you1 and1 voluntarily1 at first1 you will begin to take a back seat1 figuratively speaking1 behind the younger men4 ,once you do this you are doomed to be pushed farther and farther to the rear4 ,you will be taken at your own valuation4 ,having made a confession of age1 acknowledged in thought and act that1 in so far as work and productive returns are concerned1 you are no longer the equal of young men1 they will naturally be preferred before you4 ,if people who have aged prematurely could only analyze the influences which have robbed them of their birthright of youth they would find that most of them were a false conviction that they must grow old at about such a time1 needless worry1--all worry is needless1--silly anxiety1 which often comes from vanity1 jealousy and the indulgence of such passions as excessive temper1 revenge1 and all sorts of unhealthy thinking4 ,if they could only eliminate these influences from their lives1 they would take a great leap back toward youthfulness4 ,if it were possible to erase all of the scars and wrinkles1 all the effects of our aging thoughts1 aging emotions1 moods and passions1 many of us would be so transformed1 so rejuvenated that our friends would scarcely know us4 ,the aging thoughts and moods and passions make old men and women of most of us in middle life4 ,the laws of renewal1 of rejuvenation are always operating in us1 and will be effective if we do not neutralize them by wrong thinking4 ,the chemical changes caused in the blood and other secretions by worry1 fear1 the operation of the explosive passions1 or by any depressing mental disturbance1 will put the aging processes in action4 ,whatever we establish as a fixed conviction in our lives we transmit to our children1 and this conviction gathers cumulative force all the way down the centuries4 ,every child in ,christian countries is born with the race belief that three score years or three score years and ten is a sort of measure of the limit to human life4 ,this has crystallized into a race belief1 and we begin to prepare for the end much in advance of the period fixed4 ,as long as we hold this belief we cannot bar out of our minds the consequent suggestion that when we pass the half century limit our powers begin to decline4 ,the very idea that we have reached our limit of growth1 that any hope of further progress must be abandoned1 tends to etch the old age picture and conviction deeper and deeper in our minds1 and of course the creative processes can only reproduce the pattern given them4 ,some men cross the zenith line1 from which they believe they must henceforth go down-hill1 a quarter of a century or more earlier than others1 because we cross this line of demarcation mentally first1 cross it when we are convinced that we have passed the maximum of our producing power and have reached the period of diminishing returns4 ,many people have what they are pleased to call a premonition that they will not live beyond a certain age1 and that becomes a focus toward which the whole life points4 ,they begin to prepare for the end4 ,their conviction that they are to die at a certain time largely determines the limitation of their years4 ,not long since1 at a banquet1 ,i met a very intelligent1 widely read man who told me that he felt perfectly sure he could not possibly live to be an old man4 ,he cited as a reason for his belief the analogy which runs through all nature1 showing that plants1 animals and all forms of life which mature early also die early1 and because he was practically an adult at fifteen he was convinced that he must die comparatively young4 ,he said he was like a poplar tree in comparison with an oak2 the one matured early and died early2 the other matured late and was very long-lived4 ,so thoroughly is this man under the dominion of his belief that he must die early that he is making no fight for longevity4 ,he does not take ordinary care of his health1 or necessary precautions in time of danger4 ,what is the use1 he says1 of trying to fight against ,nature's laws8 ,i might as well live while ,i live1 and enjoy all ,i can1 and try to make up for an early death4 ,multitudes of people start out in youth handicapped by a belief that they have some hereditary taint1 a predisposition to some disease that will probably shorten their lives4 ,they go through life with this restricting1 limiting thought so deeply embedded in the very marrow of their being that they never even try to develop themselves to their utmost capacity4 ,our achievement depends very largely upon the expectancy plan1 the life pattern we make for ourselves4 ,if we make our plan to fit only one-half or one-third of the time we ought to live1 naturally we will accomplish only a fraction of what we are really capable of doing4 ,i have a friend who from boyhood has been convinced that he would not live much1 if any1 beyond forty years1 because both his parents had died before that age4 ,consequently he never planned for a long life of steady growth and increasing power1 and the result is he has not brought anything like all of his latent possibilities into activity1 or accomplished a fourth of what he is really capable4 ,it is infinitely better to believe that we are going to live much longer than there is any probability we shall than to cut off precious years by setting a fixed date for our death simply because one or both of our parents happened to die about such an age1 or because we fear we have inherited some disease1 such as cancer1 which is likely to develop fatally at about a certain time4 ,just think of the pernicious influence upon a child's mind of the constant suggestion that it will probably die very young because its parents or some of its relatives did2 that even if it is fortunate enough to survive the diseases and accidents of youth and early maturity1 it is not possible to extend its limits of life much1 if any1 beyond a certain point6 ,yet we burn this and similar suggestions into the minds of our children until they become a part of their lives4 ,we celebrate birthdays and mark off each recurring anniversary as a red-letter day and fix in our minds the thought that we are a year older4 ,all through our mature life the picture of death is kept in view1 the idea that we must expect it and prepare for it at about such a time4 ,the truth is the death suggestion has wrought more havoc and marred more lives than almost anything else in human history4 ,it is responsible for most of the fear1 which is the greatest curse of the race4 ,a noted physician says that if children1 instead of hearing so much about death1 were trained more in the principles of immortality1 they would retain their youth very much longer1 and would extend their lives to a much greater length than is now general4 ,i believe the time will come when the custom of celebrating birthdays1 of emphasizing the fact that we are a year older1 that we are getting so much nearer the end1 will be done away with4 ,children will not then be reminded so forcibly once in three hundred and sixty-five days that each birthday is a milestone in age4 ,we shall know that the spirit is not affected by years1 that its very essence is youth and immortality4 ,in our inmost souls we shall realize that there is a life principle within us that knows neither age nor death4 ,we shall find that old age is largely a question of mental attitude1 and that we shall become what we are convinced we must become4 ,as a matter of fact the average length of life is steadily increasing1 because science is teaching men how to live so as to conserve health and youth4 ,formerly men and women grew old very much earlier than they do now1 and they died much younger4 ,we do not think so much about dying as they used to in the early days of this country1 when to prepare for the future life seemed to be the chief occupation of our ,puritan ancestors4 ,they had very little use for this world and did not try to enjoy life here very much4 ,they were always talking and praying and singing about the life over there1 while making the life here gloomy and forbidding4 ,they forgot that the religion ,christ taught was one of joy4 ,there is no greater foe to the aging processes than joy1 hope1 good cheer1 gladness4 ,these are the incarnation of the youthful spirit4 ,if you would keep young1 cultivate this spirit2 think youthful thoughts2 live much with youth2 enter into their lives1 into their sports1 their plays1 their ambitions4 ,play the youthful part1 not half heartedly1 but with enthusiasm and zest4 ,you cannot use any ability until you think1 until you believe1 you can4 ,your reserve power will stand in the background until your self-faith calls it into action4 ,if you want to stay young you must act as if you felt young4 ,if you do not wish to grow old1 quit thinking and acting as if you were aging4 ,instead of walking with drooped shoulders and with a slow1 dragging gait1 straighten up and put elasticity into your steps4 ,do not walk like an old man whose energies are waning1 whose youthful fires are spent4 ,step with the springiness of a young man full of life1 spirit and vigor4 ,the body is not old until the mind gives its consent4 ,stop thinking of yourself as an old man or an old woman4 ,cease manifesting symptoms of decrepitude4 ,remember that the impression you make upon others will react on yourself4 ,if other people get the idea that you are going down hill physically and mentally1 you will have all the more to overcome in your effort to change their convictions4 ,when we are ambitious to obtain a certain thing1 and our hearts are set on it1 we strive for it1 we contact with it mentally and through our thoughts we become vitally related to it4 ,we establish a connection with the coveted object4 ,in other words1 we do everything in our power to obtain it2 and the mental effort is a real force which tends to match our dream with its realization4 ,an up-to-date modern woman is a good example of what ,i mean4 ,she does not act like an old lady1 and does not put on an old lady's garb after she has passed the half-century milestone4 ,we do not see the old lady's cap1 the old lady's gown of the past any more4 ,women getting along in years nowadays dress more youthfully and appear younger than their grandmothers did at the same age4 ,they do everything to make themselves appear young4 ,men are much more likely than women to grow careless in regard to personal appearance as they grow older4 ,they wear their hair longer1 they let their beard grow1 they stoop their shoulders1 drag their feet when they walk1 and begin to neglect their dress4 ,they are not as careful in any respect to retain their youthful appearance as women1 who resort to all sorts of expedients to ward off signs of age and to retain their attractiveness4 ,the habit of growing old must be combated as we combat any other vicious habit1 by reversing the processes by which it is formed4 ,instead of surrendering and giving up to old age convictions and fears1 stoutly deny them and affirm the opposite4 ,when the suggestion comes to you that your powers are waning1 that you cannot do what you once did1 prove its falsity by exercising the faculties which you think are weakening4 ,giving up is only to surrender to age4 ,we tend to find what we look for in this world1 and if1 as we advance in years1 we are always looking for signs of old age we will find them4 ,if you are constantly on the alert for symptoms of failing faculties1 you will discover plenty of them2 and the great danger of this is that we are apt to take our unfortunate moods for permanent symptoms4 ,that is1 some day perhaps you cannot think as clearly1 you cannot concentrate your mind as well1 you do not remember as readily as you did the day before1 and you immediately jump to the conclusion that a man of your age must begin to fail1 cannot expect as much of himself as when he was younger4 ,in other words1 a person whose mind is concentrated upon his aging processes is inclined to draw a wrong conclusion from his temporary moods and feelings1 mistaking them for permanent conditions4 ,the majority of people who are showing the signs of premature aging are suffering from chronic thought poison1 that is1 the chronic old age poison4 ,from the cradle they have heard old age talk1 the reiteration of the old age belief that when a person reached about such an age he would then naturally begin to let up1 to prepare for the end4 ,and so instead of fighting off age by holding the eternal youth thought and the vigor thought they have held the thoughts of weakness and declining powers4 ,when they happen to forget something1 they say their memory is beginning to go back on them1 their sight will soon begin to fail1 and they go on anticipating signs of decline and decrepitude until the old age visualization is built into the very structure of their bodies4 ,instead of forming the habit of looking for signs of age form the habit of looking for signs of youth4 ,form the habit of thinking of your body as robust and supple and your brain as strong and active4 ,never allow yourself to think that you are on the decline1 that your faculties are on the wane1 that they are not as sharp as they used to be and that you cannot think as well1 because your cells are becoming old and hard4 ,he ages who thinks he ages4 ,he keeps young who believes he is young4 ,we get a good hint of the power of mental influence in the marvelous way in which many of our actresses and grand-opera singers retain their youthfulness1 because they feel that it is imperative that they should do so4 ,had ,sara ,bernhardt1 ,adelina ,patti1 ,lily ,lehmann1 ,madame ,schumann-,heink1 ,lillian ,russell1 and scores of other actresses and singers pursued any other vocation they would undoubtedly have been at least ten1 perhaps twenty years older in appearance than they are4 ,there are too many exceptions to the race belief that man's powers begin to wane at fifty1 sixty or seventy to allow oneself to be influenced by it4 ,we really ought to do our best work after fifty4 ,if the brain is kept active1 fresh and young1 and the brain cells are not ruined by a vicious life1 worry1 fear1 selfishness1 or by disease induced by wrong living or thinking1 the mind will constantly increase in vigor and power4 ,men and women whose faculties are sharp and whose minds are keen and vigorous at ninety1 and even at a hundred1 prove this4 ,i know a number of men in their seventies and eighties who are as sturdy and vigorous physically and mentally to-day as they were twenty years ago4 ,only recently ,i was talking with a business man who broke down at forty from over strain but who is now1 in his eightieth year1 more buoyant and elastic in mind and body than many men at fifty4 ,this man does not believe in growing old because he knows that ten years ago he did not have a bit of the cell material in his body that he has to-day4 ,why should ,i stamp these new body cells with four score years1 he says1 when not a single one of them may be a quarter of that age8 ,many of us do not realize the biological fact that ,nature herself bestows upon us the power of perpetual renewal4 ,there is not a cell in our bodies that can possibly become very old1 because all of them are frequently renewed4 ,physiologists tell us that the tissue cells of some muscles are renewed every few months4 ,some authorities estimate that eighty or ninety per cent4 of all the cells in the body of a person of ordinary activity are entirely renewed within a couple of years4 ,one's mental attitude1 however1 is the most important of all4 ,there is no possible way of keeping young while convinced that one must inevitably manifest the characteristics of old age4 ,the old age thoughts stamp themselves upon the new body cells1 so that they very soon look forty1 fifty1 sixty1 or seventy years old4 ,we should hold tenaciously the conviction that none of the cells of the body can be old because they are constantly being renewed1 a large part of them every few months4 ,it is impossible for the processes producing senility to get control of the system1 or to make very serious changes in the body1 unless the mind first gives its consent4 ,age is not so much a matter of years as of the limpidity1 the suppleness of the protoplasm of the cells of the body1 and there is nothing which will age the protoplasm like aging thoughts and serenity enemies1 such as worry1 anxiety1 fear1 anger1 hatred1 revenge1 or any discordant emotion4 ,if you keep your protoplasm young by holding youthful ideals1 there is no reason why you should not live well into the teens of your second century4 ,constantly affirm1 ,i am young because ,i am perpetually being renewed2 my life comes new every instant from the ,infinite ,source of life4 ,i am new every morning and fresh every evening1 because ,i live1 move1 and have my being in ,him who is the source of all life4 ,not only affirm this mentally1 but also audibly4 ,make this picture of perpetual rejuvenation and re-creation so vivid that you will feel the thrill of youthful renewal through your entire system4 ,some people try to cure the physical ravages made by wrong living and wrong thinking by patching their bodies from the outside4 ,the beauty parlors in our great cities are besieged by women who are desperately trying to maintain their youthful appearance1 not realizing that the elixir of youth is in one's own mind1 not in bottles or boxes4 ,is there anything quite so ghastly as to see an old lady 7really old because her heart is no longer young71 with a painted or enameled face1 dressed like a young girl8 ,such a woman deceives no one but herself4 ,other people can see the old1 dry skin beneath the rouge4 ,they can see the wrinkles which she tries to disguise4 ,she cannot cover up her age with such frivolous pretenses4 ,the painting of cheeks and wearing of girlish frocks do not make a person young4 ,it is largely a question of the age of the mind4 ,if the mind has become hardened1 dry1 uninteresting1 if there is no charm in the personality one is old1 no matter what his or her years count4 ,idle1 selfish women of wealth who live an animal life1 who are constantly doing things which hasten the appearance of old age1 overeating1 over-drinking1 over-sleeping1 idling life away1 having nothing to do but gratify every luxurious whim1 are the best customers of beauty doctors1 who try to erase the earmarks of old age by treating the skin and the hair4 ,doctoring the effects instead of trying to remove the cause of old age never has been1 and never can be1 really successful4 ,you cannot repair the ravages of age on the outside4 ,you must remove the cause1 which is in the mind1 in the heart4 ,when the affections are marbleized1 when one ceases to be sympathetic and helpful and interested in life1 the ravages of old age will appear in spite of all the beauty doctors in the world4 ,i know indolent wives of rich men1 who cannot understand why they age so rapidly in appearance when living such easy1 care-free1 worry-free lives4 ,they are puzzled to know why it is when they do not have to work1 when they have no cares1 when their wants are all supplied without any effort of theirs1 they do not retain their youthful appearance many years longer than they do4 ,the fact is those women stagnate1 and nothing ages one faster than mental and physical stagnation4 ,work1 useful employment of some sort1 is the price of all real growth1 of all real human expansion4 ,he1 or she1 who indulges in continuous idleness pays the price in constant deterioration1 physical1 mental and moral4 ,a ship lying idle in the wharf will rot and go to destruction much more rapidly than a ship at sea in constant use4 ,every force in nature seems to combine in corroding1 destroying the unused thing1 the idle person4 ,work1 love1 kindness1 sympathy1 helpfulness1 unselfish interest--these are the eternal youth essences4 ,these never age1 and if you make friends with them they will act like a leaven in your life1 enriching your nature1 sweetening and ennobling your character1 and prolonging your youth even to the century mark4 ,we are learning that the fabled fountain of youth lies in ourselves2 is in our own mentality4 ,perpetual rejuvenation and renewal are possible through right thinking4 ,we look as old as we think and feel1 because thought and feeling maintain or change our appearance in exact accordance with their persistence or their variations4 ,it is impossible to appear youthful and remain young unless we feel young4 ,youthful thinking should be a life habit4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,our ,,oneness ,,with ,,infinite ,,life ,he lives best and most who gives ,god his greatest opportunity in him4 ,if we only knew how to live and move and have our being in ,him1 to be conscious of this every instant1 we should then know what true living means4 ,we should be satisfied1 for we should then awake in ,his likeness4 ,deep within every heart that has not dulled the sense of its inner vision is the belief that we are one with some great unknown1 unseen power2 and that we are somehow inseparably connected with the ,infinite ,consciousness4 ,it is a mental law that thoughts and convictions can only attract their kind4 ,a hatred thought is a hatred magnet and the longer we harbor it1 the more steadily we contemplate it1 focus our minds upon it1 the larger and more powerful the hatred magnet becomes4 ,in the early days of the great ,european war a ,jewish soldier1 in the first line of a ,russian battalion1 engaged in a man to man fight with an ,austrian in the opposing battalion4 ,in their desperate encounter the ,russian ,jew drove his bayonet through the breast of his opponent4 ,as the latter1 an ,austrian ,jew1 fell mortally wounded1 with his dying breath he gasped the ,hebrew prayer1 which begins1 ,hear1 ,o ,israel4 ,the ,russian1 realizing that he had killed a brother ,jew1 overcome with horror1 fell fainting on the battlefield4 ,when he regained consciousness he was a raving lunatic4 ,when will men realize that we are all brothers2 that we are all members of the same great human family1 children of the same great ,father-,mother-,god4 ,when will we see that though oceans and continents divide us1 though we may speak different tongues1 may differ in race1 color and creed1 yet we are so closely related in thought and motive that our deepest1 most vital interests are identical4 ,time and again despite all outward differences has that invisible bond of union which binds mankind into one great family manifested itself even on the battlefield4 ,there men who have sabered or shot at and wounded each other have become fast friends and learned to feel their brotherhood4 ,many and many a time has it happened that soldiers who had been bitter enemies in battle and had tried in every way to kill each other1 have found while convalescing side by side that they were really one in sympathy and feeling1 brothers at heart and did not know it4 ,if these men had known and seen into one another's soul before the battle as they had afterwards in the hospital they never could have been induced to fire at or to try to injure one another4 ,in spite of our failures1 our blunders1 our crimes1 the nations are coming closer and closer together4 ,scientific discoveries1 marvelous inventions1 the extended use of steam and electricity1 the conquest of the air1 all these are fast welding the interests of mankind and bringing into close and intimate relation the most distant countries of the globe4 ,the ,occident and the ,orient are no longer at the ends of the earth4 ,they are beginning to know and to respect each other1 and to learn each from the other4 ,they are beginning to realize in its largest sense the truth of ,kipling's utterance3 ,but there is neither ,east nor ,west1 ,border1 nor ,breed1 nor ,birth1 ,when two strong men stand face to face1 tho' they come from the ends of the earth4 ,scientists are piling up proof after proof of the unity1 not only of mankind1 but of everything in the universe1 of the oneness of all life4 ,they are demonstrating that there is but one substance1 one eternal force or essence in the universe1 and that all we see is but a varying expression of it4 ,everything about us is merely a modification1 a change of form of this universal substance1 just as electricity is a manifestation of force in various forms--in its unchained power in rending giant trees and destroying huge buildings1 and as harnessed by man in moving trains1 in lighting our homes1 in furnishing heat for cooking and in many other domestic and industrial devices4 ,the lesson of lessons for us to learn from this is our inseparable union with the ,creator of life1 that everlasting1 eternal unity of spirit1 that oneness with the ,father which ,christ came to teach4 ,i and the ,father are one4 ,i am the vine1 ye are the branches4 ,we are as closely united one to the other1 and all to the ,father as are the branches to the parent stem4 ,when we are conscious of our union1 of our co-partnership with the ,infinite1 we feel an added power1 just as the branch feels the force of the life currents flowing into it from the vine4 ,severed from the parent stem the same branch would not feel so confident4 ,it would soon find that of itself it could do nothing2 and in a short time it would wither and die4 ,the moment we pluck a flower from its stem it begins to wilt and fade because it is separated from the source of its life4 ,cut off from the great chemical laboratory of ,nature1 from the creative1 miracle-working energy of the sun1 the soil1 and the atmosphere1 it dies within a few hours4 ,the moment we are cut off from our ,divine ,source we begin to wither1 shrivel and die4 ,as long as we remain separate nothing can stop this fatal blighting process4 ,when we are not fed from our ,source we are like the branch severed from the parent vine1 like the flower plucked from its mother stem4 ,my experience has shown that people who1 from different causes1 feel cut off from connection with the ,divine ,source of things suffer intensely from fear4 ,they are filled with a vague1 but overmastering terror which presses upon them with greater force because it is unseen1 unknown4 ,they dimly feel that like meteors in the sky which have passed beyond the controlling gravity governing the other heavenly bodies1 they are separate1 unrelated human atoms without assurance that they are under a protective1 guiding1 sustaining power4 ,victims of extreme nervous diseases are often overwhelmed with a sense of utter isolation1 of being cut off from every sustaining force1 and they are terror stricken1 just as a child who has lost its way1 and knows not where to turn4 ,temporarily1 and in a lesser degree1 people who are terrified in a thunder storm and rush to a cellar1 anywhere to hide themselves from threatened danger1 suffer from this feeling of separation1 of aloneness4 ,all who are affected in this way would be greatly benefited by dwelling on such ,biblical passages as1 ,in ,him we live and move and have our being1 ,the ,father in me and ,i in the ,father4 ,these are strictly scientific truths4 ,we could not live or move or have any being apart from the ,power that made us1 that sustains and supports us1 and the consciousness of this gives a steadying1 buttressing sense of security and safety that nothing else can4 ,our individual strength comes from our conscious oneness with ,omnipotence1 just as our national or corporate strength is derived from union with one another4 ,each human being is like a drop of water in the ocean4 ,he is not independent4 ,he cannot work alone4 ,consciously or unconsciously he is a part of the masses all around him4 ,he is touched by other water drops on every side1 and his existence1 his success is largely dependent upon his union with the others4 ,even if a drop of the ocean could separate itself from the mass and should try to live its own life in its own way it would soon cease to exist as a drop4 ,a man cannot accomplish much alone4 ,his success depends on his union with other men4 ,his dignity and strength are renforced by the organization or association of which he is a unit1 as a cable is renforced by the sum of the strength of its separate wires4 ,nature1 says ,humboldt1 is ,unity in diversity of manifestation1 one stupendous whole1 animated by the breath of life4 ,when we come into conscious realization of the truth that we are a part1 the most important part1 of the stupendous whole created by ,god1 and that we are working in coperation with ,him1 we will come into possession of a power and dignity which will make our lives sublime4 ,the greatest minds of all ages have drawn their strength from the invisible ,source1 from their vital connection with the ,power which creates1 and works through every one of us4 ,they have also believed in the great mission of the race2 believed in a divine plan running through the universe which works for righteousness1 and shapes the destiny of the race4 ,this faith in the ,godward movement of the great human current has characterized even those who did not openly profess any religious faith4 ,their belief in the divinity of humanity has been a strong factor in their character1 and the root source of their power4 ,this same faith1 this unquestioned confidence in the divine cosmic ,intelligence1 has given more comfort1 has brought more peace of mind1 and happiness to vast multitudes of human beings than any other thing4 ,indeed it is the only thing that can bring us true peace1 enduring happiness4 ,there is something beside brain force needed to make a man a real constructive power in the world1 and that is his divine connection1 his being in the current which runs ,godward4 ,without this essential1 notwithstanding all that the mind and the body can do for us1 we feel a void in our being1 a great lack1 a longing1 a yearning for something1 we know not what4 ,without this1 even though we have the most complete physical and mental equipment1 we are like a new electric car1 ready for service1 thoroughly equipped in every detail1 except the trolley pole1 which makes the connection with the electric current4 ,completion1 satisfaction1 divine energy can only come from attuning ourselves to something beyond the physical and the mental plane4 ,we must put up our trolley pole and tap the infinite ,source of ,power or else we are1 so far as true progress is concerned1 in the position of the car that is not connected with the motor force that alone gives it power to move forward4 ,we must tap the divine current running ,godward through contemplation1 through prayer1 through noble deeds1 unselfish service1 honest endeavor to live up to our best4 ,we can not make connection with ,divine ,power through any selfish cause1 any greedy deed4 ,it is a strange thing that human beings will take the chances of cutting themselves off from this mighty current which runs truthward1 justiceward1 and ,godward1 and try to make a substitute of their own puny strength4 ,yet every time we consciously do wrong1 every time we depart from the truth1 every time we commit a dishonest1 unworthy act1 do a mean1 contemptible thing1 we separate ourselves from this current and lessen the omnipotent grip upon us4 ,we break our connection and become a prey to all sorts of fears and doubts4 ,some one has truly said that when a man has committed an evil act he has attached himself to sorrow4 ,because of the unity of all life1 he has established relationship between himself and the whole human current of vicious influences2 he has made connection with all the forces in the universe that conspire to drag him down1 to draw him still further away from the ,creator and ,inspirer of all good4 ,the converse is equally true4 ,let a man do a good deed1 commit himself to a noble work1 and all the creative1 uplifting forces will rush to his aid4 ,he will be renforced by the added power of all others working in the same spirit1 on the same plane4 ,all good things vibrate in unison2 they belong to the same family4 ,so all bad things vibrate in unison1 and belong to one family4 ,attract one of them and you attract all the others because they are on the same plane4 ,a discouraged1 despondent mood1 for example1 makes connection with the whole discouraged and despondent family1 the whole failure army1 and when we make this connection our entire being is adjusted to the gloomy1 discouraged vibration4 ,if we harbor the poverty thought1 the fear of coming to want we unite ourselves with all the poverty vibrations in the universe1 and whatever has an affinity with poverty rushes toward us through the current we have established4 ,on the self same principle1 let one think cheerful1 optimistic thoughts1 let him make connections with the current of opulence1 of the generous1 overflowing abundance supply of the ,creator and he allies himself with all the helpful1 productive1 creative forces in existence4 ,at one time it was thought that we could get no knowledge or impressions excepting through the five senses1 but we know now that there are many other avenues by which we communicate with one another4 ,there is a mental1 a spiritual communication which is more intimate1 more real than any we can make by physical contact or expression4 ,we can sit beside those who are in sympathy with us for hours without touching them1 without a word being spoken1 without a look1 and yet enjoy the sweetest and most delightful converse4 ,we are conscious that our minds are intercommunicating in a deeper1 more subtle1 satisfying manner than is possible by means of physical contact or through the senses4 ,in fact1 there are many occasions in life so sacred that we feel mere words would profane1 distress1 disturb rather than help or comfort4 ,we are aware that they are too coarse to convey the finest sentiments1 that they are too bungling1 too awkward to carry the expressions of sympathy1 of love back and forth from soul to soul that are in tune with each other4 ,the message of love teaches that the love of life is a single heart beating through ,god1 and you and me4 ,one life runs through all creation's veins4 ,the mind sees beauties which the physical eye never beholds4 ,the mental ear hears harmonies1 melodies which the auditory nerve is too gross to perceive4 ,the soul through its closer union with ,god receives perceptions which even the mind cannot comprehend4 ,by means of this divine connection through the ,great ,within of ourselves we can accumulate power that will revolutionize our lives4 ,right here in our own being we can loose streams of energy infinitely more potent than any physical power4 ,we know that the great cosmic ether everywhere about us is filled with divine vibrations1 charged with spiritual force1 and omniscient intelligence which are always waiting to flood our minds when we make the right connections and are ready to receive them4 ,this cosmic ether or universal substance is the source of all supply1 as well as of that divine power1 which most people shut out of their lives because they do not know how to unite themselves with it4 ,they resolutely shut their minds to the divine inflow by refusing to believe in anything that is not demonstrable through the senses4 ,most of us are very skeptical of the reality of the unseen4 ,we are doubting ,thomases1 who can be convinced only by the material1 by that which we can see or feel4 ,if children could only be trained in a different atmosphere2 if they could be made at the start to reach out mentally into the unseen realities and utilize them for their own purposes1 just as we mold and fashion material things1 there would be comparatively few failures in life4 ,it was intended that man should live in perpetual contact with the ,power that created him1 that would keep him in tune with all that is healthful and good and pure and true1 but1 unfortunately1 we are constantly losing our connection and thus making ourselves impotent1 weak1 when we might be potent1 strong1 creative4 ,to live in wireless communication with the divine current that runs through all creation is to be in touch with ,divinity indeed1 is to be divinely successful4 ,no power outside of ourselves can cut us off from communication with this current4 ,even the worst criminals1 those who have been cut off from human society may still be one with their ,source if they choose4 ,the ,creator has not cut them off1 has not discarded them4 ,they have broken the connection themselves4 ,the ,creator would not blast with a thunderbolt1 would not crush with his wrath the most profane wretch that ever lived1 even though he should curse ,him for creating him4 ,the great love of the ,father would still sustain him1 keep him alive1 feed him1 permit the same beautiful sun to shine upon him as upon the greatest saint4 ,all the blessings of nature would still be there for his enjoyment1 would be given as freely to him as to the most devoted worshiper4 ,if we could only grasp this superb truth1 our oneness with the great creative principle of the universe it would transform the race4 ,it would banish fear4 ,it would bring peace and harmony into our lives4 ,it would give us a sense of security and satisfaction and happiness such as we never before knew4 ,until we realize our unity with ,god and one another we can never grow to our full stature2 we can never utilize the manifold powers at our command4 ,nor shall we ever reach that glorified manhood which matches the ,creator's pattern of the possible man until it is ingrained into every child's nature that he was not only created by his ,father-,mother-,god1 but that he is forever after vitally connected with ,him1 that ,he is nearer to him than his own hands and feet1 closer than his own heartbeat4 ,this oneness of the child with his ,maker is the principle which must ultimately mold the race into perfect beings4 ,,the ,,end 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,marden ,,inspirational ,,books ,be ,good to ,yourself ,every ,man a ,king ,exceptional ,employee ,getting ,on ,he ,can ,who ,thinks ,he ,can ,how to ,get ,what ,you ,want ,joys of ,living ,keeping ,fit ,love's ,way ,making ,life a ,masterpiece ,miracle of ,right ,thought ,optimistic ,life ,peace1 ,power1 and ,plenty ,progressive ,business ,man ,pushing to the ,front ,rising in the ,world ,secret of ,achievement ,self-,investment ,selling ,things ,training for ,efficiency ,victorious ,attitude ,woman and the ,home ,young ,man ,entering ,business ,,success ,,booklets ,an ,iron ,will ,ambition ,cheerfulness ,good ,manners ,do it to a ,finish ,character ,economy ,opportunity ,thrift ,power of ,personality ,,special ,,books ,,and ,,booklets ,hints for ,young ,writers ,i ,had a ,friend ,success ,nuggets ,why ,grow ,old8 ,not the ,salary but the ,opportunity ,send for ,publishers' ,special ,circular of these ,great ,books ,letters to ,dr4 ,marden concerning ,pushing to the ,front ,what ,president ,mc,kinley ,said ,it cannot but be an inspiration to every boy or girl who reads it1 and who is possessed of an honorable and high ambition4 ,nothing that ,i have seen of late is more worthy to be placed in the hands of the ,american youth4 ,,william ,,mckinley4 ,an ,english ,view ,i have read ',pushing to the ,front' with much interest4 ,it would be a great stimulus to any young man entering life4 ,,sir ,,john ,,lubbock4 ,a ,powerful ,factor ,this book has been a powerful factor in making a great change in my life4 ,i feel that ,i have been born into a new world4 ,,robert ,s4 ,,livingston1 ,deweyville1 ,tex4 ,the ,helpfulest ,book ',pushing to the ,front' is more of a marvel to me every day4 ,i read it almost daily4 ,it is the helpfulest book in the ,english language4 ,,myron ,t4 ,,pritchard1 ,boston1 ,mass4 ,a ,practical ,gift ,it has been widely read by our organization of some fifteen hundred men4 ,i have personally made presents of more than one hundred copies4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,evans1 ,president ,chicago ,portrait ,co4 ,its ,weight in ,gold ,if every young man could read it carefully at the beginning of his career it would be worth more to him than its weight in gold4 ,r4 ,t4 ,,allen1 ,billings1 ,mon4 ,,thomas ,y4 ,,crowell ,,company ,,press ,,reviews ,,of ,the ,optimistic ,life ,holds the ,attention ,the title of this book attracts the attention1 and the contents rivet it4 ,the ,watchman4 ,rich in ,thought and ,suggestion ,a book rich in noble thought4 ,few are those who will not wince under the good-natured thrusts that ,dr4 ,marden gives their foibles and weaknesses1 but few also are they who may not find much helpful suggestion here4 ,san ,francisco ,chronicle4 ,strengthens ,spirit and ,body ,dr4 ,marden has done an immense amount of good by this practical advice and encouraging insistence upon the essentials of happiness4 ,the spirit of the toiler needs strengthening quite as much as his body4 ,christian ,advocate4 ,its ,wholesome ,brain ,fare ,this volume contains quantities of plain1 wholesome brain fare for the misanthrope and the cynic4 ,des ,moines ,register4 ,both ,uplifting and ,necessary ',do not look on life through smoked glasses' is ,dr4 ,marden's motto4 ,he believes so enthusiastically in cheerfulness1 energy1 and kindness that he can almost persuade one to believe there is no necessity for old age1 sorrow1 or discouragement4 ,still there is no doubt but his message is not only uplifting but necessary4 ,indianapolis ,news4 ,,thomas ,y4 ,,crowell ,,company ,,opinions ,,of ,,the ,progressive ,business ,man ,sound1 ,practical ,suggestions ,contains a lot of sound1 practical suggestions worth considering by those responsible for the conduct of business enterprises4 ,new ,york ,times4 ,good ,business ,advice ,one of the best books of business advice ever published4 ,albany ,argus4 ,worthy of ,high ,commendation ,a book that contains such valuable information--and there is no doubt about this being the quality of its contents--ought to be widely read and highly prized4 ,it is worthy of high commendation4 ,religious ,telescope4 ,an ,inspiration and a ,guide ,a work that should be in the hands of every business man who desires to promote the welfare of his business4 ,it will prove both an inspiration and a guide4 ,christian ,work and ,evangelist4 ,valuable ,information ,the information in this book is so valuable that it ought to have the widest possible reading4 ,we unhesitatingly commend it to every business man4 ,trojan ,messenger4 ,sane and ,helpful ,like all the ,marden books1 it contains a sane and helpful philosophy of right conduct4 ,des ,moines ,capital4 ,,thomas ,y4 ,,crowell ,,company