[Book
One: The Path to Prosperity]
THE
WORLD A REFLEX OF MENTAL STATES
What you are, so is your
world. Everything in the universe is resolved into your own inward
experience. It matters little what is without, for it is all a
reflection of your own state of consciousness.
It
matters everything what you are within, for everything without will
be mirrored and colored accordingly.
All
that you positively know is contained in your own experience; all
that you ever will know must pass through the gateway of experience,
and so become part of yourself.
Your
own thoughts, desires, and aspirations comprise your world, and, to
you, all that there is in the universe of beauty and joy and bliss,
or of ugliness and sorrow and pain, is contained within yourself.
By
your own thoughts you make or mar your life, your world, your
universe, As you build within by the power of thought, so will your
outward life and circumstances shape themselves accordingly.
Whatsoever
you harbor in the inmost chambers of your heart will, sooner or later
by the inevitable law of reaction, shape itself in your outward life.
The
soul that is impure, sordid and selfish, is gravitating with unerring
precision toward misfortune and catastrophe; the soul that is pure,
unselfish, and noble is gravitating with equal precision toward
happiness and prosperity.
Every
soul attracts its own, and nothing can possibly come to it that does
not belong to it. To realize this is to recognize the universality of
Divine Law.
The
incidents of every human life, which both make and mar, are drawn to
it by the quality and power of its own inner thought-life. Every soul
is a complex combination of gathered experiences and thoughts, and
the body is but an improvised vehicle for its manifestation.
What,
therefore, your thoughts are, that is your real self; and the world
around, both animate and inanimate, wears the aspect with which your
thoughts clothe it. "All that we are is the result of what we
have thought.
It
is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts." Thus
said Buddha, and it therefore follows that if a man is happy, it is
because he dwells in happy thoughts; if miserable, because he dwells
in despondent and debilitating thoughts,
Whether
one be fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene,
within that soul lies the cause of its own state or states, and never
without. And now I seem to hear a chorus of voices exclaim, "But
do you really mean to say that outward circumstances do not affect
our minds?" I do not say that, but I say this, and know it to be
an infallible truth, that circumstances can only affect you in so far
as you allow them to do so.
You
are swayed by circumstances because you have not a right
understanding of the nature, use, and power of thought.
You
believe (and upon this little word belief hang all our sorrows and
joys) that outward things have the power to make or mar your life; by
so doing you submit to those outward things, confess that you are
their slave, and they your unconditional master; by so doing, you
invest them with a power which they do not, of themselves, possess,
and you succumb, in reality, not to the mere circumstances, but to
the gloom or gladness, the fear or hope, the strength or weakness,
which your thought-sphere has thrown around them.
I
knew two men who, at an early age, lost the hard-earned savings of
years. One was very deeply troubled, and gave way to chagrin, worry,
and despondency.
The
other, on reading in his morning paper that the bank in which his
money was deposited had hopelessly failed, and that he had lost all,
quietly and firmly remarked, ''Well, it's gone, and trouble and worry
won't bring it back, but hard work will."
He
went to work with renewed vigor, and rapidly became prosperous, while
the former man, continuing to mourn the loss of his money, and to
grumble at his ''bad luck," remained the sport and tool of
adverse circumstances, in reality of his own weak and slavish
thoughts.
The
loss of money was a curse to the one because he clothed the event
with dark and dreary thoughts; it was a blessing to the other,
because he threw around it thoughts of strength, of hope, and renewed
endeavor.
If
circumstances had the power to bless or harm, they would bless and
harm all men alike, but the fact that the same circumstances will be
alike good and bad to different souls proves that the good or bad is
not in the circumstance, but only in the mind of him that encounters
it.
When
you begin to realize this you will begin to control your thoughts, to
regulate and discipline your mind, and to rebuild the inward temple
of your soul, eliminating all useless and superfluous material, and
incorporating into your being thoughts alone of joy and serenity, of
strength and life, of compassion and love, of beauty and immortality;
and as you do this you will become joyful and serene, strong and
healthy, compassionate and loving, and beautiful with the beauty of
immortality.
And
as we clothe events with the drapery of our own thoughts, so likewise
do we clothe the objects of the visible world around us, and where
one sees harmony and beauty, another sees revolting ugliness.
An
enthusiastic naturalist was one day roaming the country lanes in
pursuit of his hobby, and during his rambles came upon a pool of
brackish water near a farmyard.
As
he proceeded to fill a small bottle with the water for the purpose of
examination under the microscope, he dilated, with more enthusiasm
than discretion, to an uncultivated son of the plough who stood close
by, upon the hidden and innumerable wonders contained in the pool,
and concluded by saying, ''Yes, my friend, within this pool is
contained a hundred, nay, a million universes, had we but the sense
or the instrument by which we could apprehend them." And the
unsophisticated one ponderously remarked, '' I know the water be full
o' tadpoles, but they be easy to catch."
Where
the naturalist, his mind stored with the knowledge of natural facts,
saw beauty, harmony, and hidden glory, the mind unenlightened upon
those things saw only an offensive mud-puddle.
The
wild flower which the casual wayfarer thoughtlessly tramples upon is,
to the spiritual eye of the poet, an angelic messenger from the
invisible.
To
the many, the ocean is but a dreary expanse of water on which ships
sail and are sometimes wrecked; to the soul of the musician it is a
living thing, and he hears, in all its changing moods, divine
harmonies.
Where
the ordinary mind sees disaster and confusion, the mind of the
philosopher sees the most perfect sequence of cause and effect, and
where the materialist sees nothing but endless death, the mystic sees
pulsating and eternal life.
And
as we clothe both events and objects with our own thoughts, so
likewise do we clothe the souls of others in the garments of our
thoughts.
The
suspicious believe everybody to be suspicious; the Liar feels secure
in the thought that he is not so foolish as to believe that there is
such a phenomenon as a strictly truthful person; the envious see envy
in every soul; the miser thinks everybody is eager to get his money;
he who has subordinated conscience in the making of his wealth,
sleeps with a revolver under his pillow, wrapped in the delusion that
the world is full of conscienceless people who are eager to rob him,
and the abandoned sensualist looks upon the saint as a hypocrite.
On
the other hand, those who dwell in loving thoughts, see that in all
which calls forth their love and sympathy; the trusting and honest
are not troubled by suspicions; the good-natured and charitable who
rejoice at the good fortune of others, scarcely know what envy means;
and he who has realized the Divine within himself recognizes it in
all beings, even in the beasts.
And
men and women are confirmed in their mental outlook because of the
fact that, by the law of cause and effect, they attract to themselves
that which they send forth, and so come in contact with people
similar to themselves.
The
old adage, "Birds of a feather flock together," has a
deeper significance than is generally attached to it, for in the
thought-world as in the world of matter, each clings to its kind.
Do you wish for kindness? Be kind.
Do you ask for truth?
Be true.
What you give of yourself you find;
Your world is a
reflex of you.
If you are one of those who are praying for,
and looking forward to, a happier world beyond the grave, here is a
message of gladness for you, you may enter into and realize that
happy world now; it fills the whole universe, and it is within you,
waiting for you to find, acknowledge, and possess. Said one who knew
the inner laws of Being,"
When
men shall say Io here, or Io there, go not after them; the kingdom of
God is within you."
What
you have to do is to believe this, simply believe it with a mind
unshadowed by doubt, and then meditate upon it till you understand
it.
You
will then begin to purify and to build your inner world, and as you
proceed, passing from revelation to revelation, from realization to
realization, you will discover the utter powerlessness of outward
things beside the magic potency of a self-governed soul.
