[The
Secret of the Ages]
VOLUME One
The World's Greatest Discovery
"You
can do as much as you think you can, But you'll never accomplish more;
If you're afraid of yourself, young man, There's little for you in
store. For failure comes from the inside first, It's there if we only
knew it, And you can win, though you face the worst, If you feel that
you're going to do it." -EDGAR A. GUEST.
What,
in your opinion, is the most significant discovery of this modern
age? The finding of dinosaur eggs on the plains of Mongolia, laid so
scientists assert some 10,000,000 years ago? The unearthing of the
Tomb of Tutankhamen-Amen, with its matchless specimens of a bygone
civilization? The radioactive time clock by which Professor Lane of
Tufts College estimates the age of the earth at 1,250,000,000 years?
Wireless? The Aeroplane? Manmade thunderbolts? No not any of these.
The really significant thing about them is that from all this vast
research, from the study of all these bygone ages, men are for the
first time beginning to get an understanding of that "Life
Principle" which-somehow, some way-was brought to this earth
thousands or millions of years ago. They are beginning to get an
inkling of the infinite power it puts in their hands to glimpse the
untold possibilities it opens up.
This
is the greatest discovery of modern times-that every man can call
upon this "Life Principle" at will, that it is as much the
servant of his mind as was ever Aladdin's fabled "genie-of-the-lamp"
of old; that he has but to understand it and work in harmony with it
to get from it anything he may need health or happiness, riches or
success. To realize the truth of this, you have but to go back for a
moment to the beginning of things.
In
the Beginning
It
matters not whether you believe that mankind dates back to the
primitive ape-man of 500,000 years ago, or sprang full grown from the
mind of the creator. In either event, there had to be a first cause-a
creator. Some power had to bring to this earth the first germ of
life, and the creation is no less wonderful if it started with the
lowliest form of plant life and worked up through countless ages into
the highest product of today's civilization, than if the whole were
created in six days.
In
the beginning, this earth was just a fire mist six thousand or a
billion years ago what does it matter which? The one thing that does
matter is that some time, some way, there came to this planet the
germ of life the life principle that animates all nature plant,
animal, and man. If we accept the scientists' version of it, the
first form in which life appeared upon earth was the humble algae a
jelly like mass that floated upon the waters. This, according to the
scientists, was the beginning, the dawn of life upon the earth. Next
came the first bit of animal life- the lowly amoeba, a sort of jelly
fish, consisting of a single cell, without vertebrae, and with very
little else to distinguish it from the water round about. But it had
life-the first bit of animal life-and from that life, according to
the scientists, we could trace everything we have and are today.
All
the millions of forms and shapes and varieties of plants and animals
that have since appeared are but different manifestations of life
--formed to meet differing conditions. For millions of years this
"Life Germ" was threatened by every kind of danger-from
floods, from earthquakes, from droughts, from desert heat, from
glacial cold, from volcanic eruptions but to it each new danger was
merely an incentive to finding a new resource, to putting forth Life
in some new shape.
To
meet one set of needs, it formed the dinosaur to meet another, the
butterfly. Long before it worked up to man, we see its unlimited
resourcefulness shown in a thousand ways. To escape danger in the
water, it sought land. Pursued on land, it took to the air. To
breathe in the sea, it developed gills. Stranded on land, it
perfected lungs. To meet one kind of danger it grew a shell. For
another, a sting. To protect itself from glacial cold, it grew fur,
in temperate climates, hair. Subject to alternate heat and cold, it
produced feathers. But ever, from the beginning, it showed its power
to meet every changing condition, to answer every creature need.
Had
it been possible to kill this "Life Idea," it would have
perished ages ago, when fire and flood, drought and famine followed
each other in quick succession. But obstacles, misfortunes,
cataclysms, were to it merely new opportunities to assert its power.
In fact, it required obstacles to awaken it, to show its energy and
resource.
The
great reptiles, the monster beasts of antiquity passed on. But the
"Life Principle" stayed, changing as each age changed,
always developing, and always improving. Whatever power it was that
brought this "Life Idea" to the earth, it came endowed with
unlimited resource, unlimited energy, unlimited LIFE! No other force
can defeat it. No obstacle can hold it back. All through the history
of life and mankind you can see its directing intelligence-call it
nature, call it providence, call it what you will-rising to meet
every need of life.
The
Purpose of Existence
No
one can follow it down through the ages without realizing that the
whole purpose of existence is GROWTH. Life is dynamic-not static. It
is ever moving forward-not standing still. The one unpardonable sin
of nature is to stand still, to stagnate. The Giganotosaurus, that
was over a hundred feet long and as big as a house; the
Tyrannosaurus, that had the strength of a locomotive and was the last
word in frightfulness; the Pterodactyl or Flying Dragon-all the giant
monsters of Prehistoric Ages-are gone. They ceased to serve a useful
purpose. They did not know how to meet the changing conditions. They
stood still-stagnated-while the life around them passed them by.
Egypt
and Persia, Greece and Rome, all the great Empires of antiquity,
perished when they ceased to grow. China built a wall about her and
stood still for a thousand years. Today she is the football of the
powers. In all nature, to cease to grow is to perish. It is for men
and women who are not ready to stand still, who refuse to cease to
grow, that this book is written. It will give you a clearer
understanding of your own potentialities, show you how to work with
and take advantage of the infinite energy all about you.
The
terror of the man at the crossways, not knowing which road to take,
will be no terror to you. Your future is of your own making. For the
only law of infinite energy is the law of supply. The "Life
Principle" is your principle. To survive, to win through, and to
triumphantly surmount all obstacles has been its everyday practice
since the beginning of time. It is no less resourceful now than ever
it was. You have but to supply the urge, to work in harmony with it,
to get from it anything you may need.
For
if this "Life Principle" is so strong in the lowest forms
of animal life that it can develop a shell or a poison to meet a
need; if it can teach the bird to circle and dart, to balance and
fly; if it can grow a new limb on a spider to replace a lost one, how
much more can it do for you- a reasoning, rational being, with a mind
able to work with this "Life Principle," with an energy and
an initiative to urge it on!
The
evidence of this is all about you. Take up some violent form of
exercise- rowing, tennis, and swimming, riding. In the beginning your
muscles are weak, easily tired. But keep on for a few days. The "Life
Principle" promptly strengthens them, toughens them, to meet
their new need. Do rough manual labor and what happens? The skin of
your hands becomes tender, blisters, and hurts. Keep it up, and does
the skin all wear off? On the contrary, the "Life Principle"
provides extra thicknesses, extra toughness-calluses, we call them-to
meet your need.
All
through your daily life you will find this "Life Principle"
steadily at work. Embrace it, work with it, take it to yourself, and
there is nothing you cannot do. The mere fact that you have obstacles
to overcome is in your favor, for when there is nothing to be done,
when things run along too smoothly; this "Life Principle"
seems to sleep. It is when you need it, when you call upon it
urgently, that it is most on the job.
It
differs from "Luck" in this, that fortune is a fickle jade
that smiles most often on those who need her least. Stake your last
penny on the turn of a card have nothing between you and ruin but
the spin of a wheel or the speed of a horse and its a thousand to one
"Luck" will desert you! But it is just the opposite with
the "Life Principle." As long as things run smoothly, as
long as life flows along like a song, this "Life Principle"
seems to slumber, secure in the knowledge that your affairs can take
care of themselves.
But
let things start going wrong, let ruin and disgrace stare you in the
face then is the time this "Life Principle" will assert
itself if you but give it a chance.
The
"Open,
Sesame!" of Life
There
is a Napoleonic feeling of power that insures success in the
knowledge that this invincible "Life Principle" is behind
your every act. Knowing that you have working with you a force, which
never yet has failed in anything it has undertaken, you can go ahead
in the confident knowledge that it will not fail in your case,
either. The ingenuity, which overcame every obstacle in making you
what you are, is not likely to fall short when you have immediate
need for it. It is the reserve strength of the athlete, the "second
wind" of the runner, the power that, in moments of great stress
or excitement, you unconsciously call upon to do the deeds which you
ever after look upon as superhuman. But they are in no wise
superhuman. They are merely beyond the capacity of your conscious
self. Ally your conscious self with that sleeping giant within you,
rouse him daily to the task, and those "superhuman" deeds
will become your ordinary, everyday accomplishments.
W.
L. Cain, of Oakland, Oregon, writes: "I know that there is such
a power, for I once saw two boys, 16 and 18 years of age, lift a
great log off their brother, who had been caught under it. The next
day, the same two boys, with another man and me, tried to lift the
end of the log, but could not even budge it." How was it that
the two boys could do at need what the four were unable to do later
on, when the need had passed? Because they never stopped to question
whether or not it could be done. They saw only the urgent need. They
concentrated all their thought, all their energy on that one
thing-never doubting, never fearing and the genie which is in all of
us waiting only for such a call, answered their summons and gave them
the strength-not of two men, but of ten!
It
matters not whether you are banker or lawyer, businessman or clerk.
Whether you are the custodian of millions, or have to struggle for
your daily bread. This "Life Principle" makes no
distinction between rich and poor, high and low. The greater your
need, the more readily will it respond to your call. Wherever there
is an unusual task, wherever there is poverty or hardship or sickness
or despair, there is this servant of your mind, ready and willing to
help, asking only that you call upon him.
And
not only is it ready and willing, but it is always ABLE to help. Its
ingenuity and resource are without limit. It is Mind. It is thought.
It is the Telepathy that carries messages without the spoken or
written word. It is the Sixth Sense that warns you of unseen dangers.
No matter how stupendous and complicated, nor how simple your problem
may be the solution of it is somewhere in Mind, in Thought. And since
the solution does exist, this Mental Giant can find it for you. It
can KNOW, and it can DO, every right thing. Whatever it is necessary
for you to know, whatever it is necessary for you to do, you can know
and you can do if you will but seek the help of this genie-of-your-mind
and work with it in the right way.
