{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45113/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45113","id":"gutenberg_45113","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45113","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","New Thought"],"text":"Note: Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/nuggetsofnewthou00atki\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\n      Text enclosed by tilde characters is in bold face (~bold~).\n\n\n\n\n\nNUGGETS OF THE NEW THOUGHT\n\nSeveral Things That Have Helped People\n\nby\n\nWILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON\n\nAssociate Editor of \"New Thought,\" Chicago; Author of \"Thought Force,\"\n\"The Law of the New Thought,\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPublished by\nThe Psychic Research Company,\n3835 Vincennes Ave.\nChicago, Ill., U. S. A.\n1902\n\nCopyright, 1902,\nBy the Psychic Research Company,\nChicago, Ill.\n\nAll Rights Reserved.\n\n_Notice.--This work is protected by Copyright, and simultaneous\ninitial publication in United States of America, Great Britain,\nFrance, Germany, Russia and other countries. All rights reserved._\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nI do not like writing a preface--it seems too much like an apology. I\nhave no special apology to tender for offering this collection of New\nThought nuggets. They may possess no literary merit, but they have\n_helped_ men and women. With the exception of \"The Secret of the\nI Am,\" these essays appeared from month to month in \"New Thought,\" of\nwhich magazine I am associate editor. They were written hastily,\nprincipally upon the demand of the printer for \"copy,\" and, for the\nmost part, were printed just as they were written, there being no time\nfor revision or polishing up. You may pick up any one of them and find\nmany sentences needing straightening out--many thoughts which could be\nbetter expressed by the change of a few words. Knowing these things, I\nfirst thought that I would go over each essay and add a little here,\nand take away a little there, polishing up and burnishing as I went\nalong. But when I looked over them, my heart failed me. There they\nwere just as they were written--just as they were dug out of my\nmind--and I hadn't the heart to change them. I remembered the\ncircumstances surrounding the writing of every one of them, and I let\nthem alone. A \"nugget\" polished up would be no longer a nugget. And\nthese thoughts are nuggets--I dug them myself. I will not say much\nregarding the quality of the metal--that is for you--but you see them\njust as they came from the mine--rough, unpolished, mixed with the\nrock, queerly shaped. If you think that they contain metal of\nsufficiently good quality, refine them, melt them and fashion them\ninto something useful or ornamental. For myself, I like things with\nthe bark on--with the marks of the hammer--with the original quartz\nadhering to the metal. But others are of different taste--they like\neverything to feel smooth to the touch. They will not like these\nnuggets. Alas, I cannot help it--I cannot produce the beautifully\nfinished article--I have nothing to offer other than the crude product\nof the mine. Here they are, polish them up yourself if you prefer them\nin that shape--I will not touch them.\n\nW. W. A.\nChicago, October 2, 1902.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nTHE KEYNOTE.\n\n\"I Can and I Will\"--The recognition--Equal to any task--A feeling\nof calm confidence--An abiding sense of power, reserve force and\nsecurity--The Something within--The triple key to the door of\nattainment--The vibrations of Success                               9\n\n\nTHE SECRET OF THE I AM.\n\nThe Ego--The physical plane--the mental plane--the new plane\nof consciousness--The Real Self--The \"I\"--The Temple of the\nLiving Spirit--Development of the \"I Am\" consciousness.--The\nHigher Reason                                                      12\n\n\n\"LET A LITTLE SUNSHINE IN.\"\n\nThe young people's song--Good \"New Thought\" doctrine--Plenty\nof sunshine in life, if you look for it--Don't make a dark\ndungeon of your mind--Throw open the windows of your soul--How\nto let a little sunshine in                                        17\n\n\nTHE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\n\nThe soul, as well as the body and mind, requires nourishment\n--The want, a promise of the fulfillment--The law of unfoldment\n--Nourishment provided when it is needed--Provided for in the\nDivine Plan--The feast of good things                              19\n\n\nLOOK ALOFT.\n\nThe old sailor's advice--The warning cry--Peace and content--\nMental balance recovered--The glory of the Universe--All governed\nby Law--The Law manifests everywhere--A reverent feeling of calm,\npeaceful faith--Look aloft                                         24\n\n\nTO-MORROW.\n\nThe work and cares of to-day easy if we do not worry about those\nof To-morrow--The mysterious To-morrow and its terrors--The way to\nmeet the cares of To-morrow--To-morrow's opportunities will come as\nsurely as To-morrow's cares--Law supreme--No need to be afraid--The\nreal To-morrow                                                     26\n\n\nIN THE DEPTHS OF THE SOUL.\n\nStores of information; rich mines of knowledge; uncut gems and\nprecious metal awaiting the discoverer--Psychic and spiritual\nfaculties--Strange attraction of soul to soul--The Rock of\nAges--The Voice of the Soul                                        29\n\n\nFORGET IT.\n\nWhy worry about the past--Hugging old sorrows to your Bosom--\nWhat to do with them--Don't Poison your life--Pain brings\nexperience--Learning your lesson--How to get rid of a gloomy\nthought--Throw it away--Forget it                                  34\n\n\nTHE KINDERGARTEN OF GOD.\n\nLife a great school--Man a child learning his lesson--Preparing\nfor higher grades--The game-task--What it all means--Things as\nthey are--The rules wise and good--Each task means something--\nGreeting the Kindergartner                                         36\n\n\nTHE HUMAN WET BLANKET.\n\nSees no good in anything--Expects the bad and gets it--Attracts\nit to him--Depresses everything and everyone--Carries an aura of\nnegative depressing thought--Clammy--Puts out the fire of energy\n--Take Warning                                                     39\n\n\nAIM STRAIGHT.\n\nFear attracts as well as Desire--Learn to aim straight and aim\nat the right thing--Examples--The bowler--The bicyclist and the\ncar--The bicyclist and the post--The boy and the marbles--Wisdom\nfrom the babe--Look straight; Think straight; Shoot Straight       41\n\n\nAT HOME.\n\nDon't be afraid--You are at home--Not here by chance--You belong\nhere--YOU are the soul--YOU cannot be hurt--YOU cannot be\nbanished--YOU are right in the universe, and there is no\noutside--Great things are before you--Make yourself at home        46\n\n\nTHE SOLITUDE OF THE SOUL.\n\nLorado Taft's group--Description--Each stands alone--Each is\nin touch with every other--Soul communion in silence--Silence is\nthe sanctuary of the soul--The oneness of life and its apparent\nseparateness--The message                                          48\n\n\nJERRY AND THE BEAR.\n\nThe Law's plan of developing an individual--Folly of clinging to\nold worn out sheaths--The story of Jerry and the Bear--Who Jerry\nwas--He meets the Bear--The fight--The result--The consequences\n--The change in Jerry--The moral                                   51\n\n\nTHE UNSEEN HAND.\n\nThe consciousness of the hand--When it first was felt--Always\nthere--Now as the hand of a father--Now as that of a mother--A\nlover--A brother--Always guiding--Always leading--A mystery--\nSome day we will know the owner of the hand                        55\n\n\nHOW SUCCESS COMES.\n\nSeeking success through mental powers--Holding the thought alone\nnot sufficient--How to get the real benefit of thought-force--\nFall in with the workings of the Law--Stand on your own feet--\nOne step at a time--\"I Do\" as well as \"I Am\"                       58\n\n\nTHE MAN WITH THE SOUTHERN EXPOSURE.\n\nSouthern exposure as good a thing in a man as in a room--The\nman who faces the sun--Lives one day at a time and does the best\nhe knows how, and is kind--Finds Joy and carries it to others--\nSimple, loving, kind--Open yourself to the sun                     60\n\n\nA FOREWORD.\n\nAn individualist--Wearing no ticket or label--No one has a\ncorner on Truth--Enough to go around--The Infinite Power back\nof all things--The Real Self is Spirit--The Law of Attraction\n--Fearthought--The Brotherhood of Man                              63\n\n\nPARTNERSHIP.\n\nNext to marriage, partnership is the most important association\n--Mental partnerships--Be careful whom you choose as your mental\npartners--Get into partnership with the best thoughts--Dissolve\npartnership with the other kind--\"I Can, I Will; I Do, I Dare.\"    65\n\n\nTHE SEEKERS.\n\nThe secret of life--the riddle of existence--Sought now as ever\n--The whyness of things--Attempts to answer the riddle--The\nSeekers--Fantastic creeds and queer philosophies--Revamping\nold ideas--The story of the man and the stars--The answer to\nbe found within the soul                                           69\n\n\nMENTAL PICTURES.\n\n\"I hang bright pictures in my mind\"--Bright pictures\nencourage one; gloomy ones depress--Get rid of your old,\ngloomy mental pictures--Make a bonfire of them--Get rid\nof the particularly miserable one, first of all--Then put\nbright ones in their places                                        73\n\n\nDON'T RETAIL YOUR WOES.\n\nA miserable habit--It grows as it is fed--A nuisance to\nfriends and neighbors--It brings to you more of the same\nkind--You will get what you look for--Looking for trouble\nbrings it--Don't imagine that you are being \"put upon\"--\nDon't retail your woes                                             75\n\n\nLIFE.\n\nThere is in each of us a potential Something seeking for\nexpression--The Something Within--The plant of life--No use\ntrying to repress it, for develop it must--Life has a meaning\n--Growth, development and unfoldment--The lesson of life           79\n\n\nLET US HAVE FAITH.\n\nFaith necessary in every human undertaking--You have faith in\nman, but are afraid to trust GOD--The Universe if governed by\nLaw--The Law is in operation everywhere--Don't be afraid--You\nare a part of the plan--Fall in with the Law--Have faith, have\nfaith                                                              83\n\n\nDO IT NOW.\n\nDo to-day's tasks now--Don't try to do to-morrow's work to-day,\nbut be sure and do the day's work Now--The baneful effects of\nprocrastination--Not fair to yourself--Demoralization attendant\nupon putting off things--The world looking for people who can\ndo things Now                                                      87\n\n\nGET IN TUNE.\n\nMarconi's wireless messages--Vibrations reach only the\ninstruments attuned to the sender--The same law in operation\non the mental plane--The correct pitch is the thing--Get in\ntune with the proper vibrations--Get the messages from the\nbest senders                                                       89\n\n\nMENTAL TOXIN AND ANTI-TOXIN.\n\nA new toxin--The microbes in the thoughts we think--The new\nanti-toxin--Thoughts may poison--Fear causes paralysis--Hate\ncauses insanity--Fear and Hate have killed their thousands--\nGates' experiments--How to overcome the poison of bad-thinking     91\n\n\n\n\nTHE KEYNOTE.\n\n\"I Can and I Will\"--The recognition--Equal to any task--A feeling of\ncalm confidence--An abiding sense of power, reserve force and security\n--The Something within--The triple key to the door of attainment--The\nvibrations of Success.\n\n\n\"I Can and I Will!!!\" Have you ever said these words to yourself with\na firm conviction that you were speaking the truth--with the strong\nfeeling that needed no other proof. If so, you then felt within you a\nthrill which seemed to cause every atom of your being to vibrate in\nharmony with some note in the grand scale of Life, sounded by the Real\nSelf. You caught a momentary glimpse of the Inner Light--heard a stray\nnote of the Song of the Soul--were conscious for the moment of\nYOURSELF. And in that moment of ecstasy you knew that untold power and\npossibilities were yours. You felt that you were in touch with all\nStrength, Power, Knowledge, Happiness and Peace. You felt that you\nwere equal to any task--capable of executing any undertaking. For the\nmoment there was no Fear in the world for you. All the Universe seemed\nto vibrate in the same key with your thought. For the moment you\nRECOGNIZED THE TRUTH.\n\nBut alas, the spirit of doubt, distrust, fear and unfaith called\nyou again to Earth--and the vision faded. And yet, the remembrance\nof the sight--the echo of the sound--the remnant of the new-found\nstrength--is with you still. You still find that memory to be a\nstimulus to great efforts--a comforting thought in times of weakness\nand trial. You have been able to accomplish much by the aid of the\nlingering vibrations of the mighty thought.\n\nIn times of great peril--grave perplexities--life and death struggles,\na feeling of calm confidence and strength often comes to us, and we\nare borne on by a power _of_ us and _in_ us (and yet in everything\nelse, too) that seems to lift us off our feet and sweep us on to\nsafety--to peace--to rest. We are possessed of an abiding sense of\npower, reserve force and security. When extraordinary conditions\nconfront us--when our bodies seem paralyzed--our minds stupefied--our\nwill power gone, we are often made conscious of the existence of the\nReal Self, and it answers our involuntary demand, and comes to rescue\nwith the cheering cry: \"I AM HERE\"!\n\nMany of us have made use of this inner strength without realizing it.\nOne day we were sorely distressed and made the demand, and lo! it was\nanswered. We knew not from whence came this new-found strength, but we\nwere conscious of the uplift, and felt more confidence in ourselves.\nThe next time we _confidently_ demanded the aid, and again we were\nanswered. We acquired that which we call confidence and faith in\nourselves, and were carried over many a dark place and started on the\nroad to Success. Our repeated success caused us to think and speak of\nour \"luck,\" and we grew to believe that we had a \"star,\" and took\nchances and risks that others would not dream of. We dared. We made\nsome apparent failures, but we soon came to know them as only lessons\nleading to _ultimate_ success. The \"I Can and I Will\" feeling carried\nus over rough places safely, and we got to simply _know_ that we would\n\"get there\" in the end.\n\nAnd so we went on and on, knowing that if we advanced three steps and\nslipped back two, we were still one step ahead. We had confidence,\nbecause we _knew_ that \"things would come our way\" in the end. And\nso long as we held this attitude, we _did_ succeed, and it was only\nwhen we lost heart at some unexpected slip--only when, after having\nattained success, we became dazed and frightened, and began to fear\nthat our \"luck might turn\" and that we would lose all of our\naccumulations--it was only _then_, I say--that our star waned.\n\nTalk with any successful man, and, if truthful, he will admit having\nfelt, from the time of his first success, that he had some sort of\n\"pull\" with Fate--some \"lucky star\"--some special Providence operating\nin his behalf. He grew to _expect_ results--to have confidence in\nthings turning out right--to have faith in _something_ of which he\nknew not the nature--and he was not disappointed. Things seemed to\nwork in his favor--not always just in the way he expected, sometimes\nin an entirely different way--matters seemed somehow to straighten\nthemselves out in the end--so long as he kept his \"nerve.\" He did not\nknow the source of his strength, but he believed in it and trusted it\njust the same.\n\nLet us wake up and recognize this Something Within--let us begin to\nunderstand this \"I Can and I Will\" feeling--let us cherish it if we\nhave it, and cultivate it if we have it not. Do you know that we are\nyoung giants who have not discovered our own strength? Are you not\naware that there are powers latent within us, pressing forth for\ndevelopment and unfoldment? Do you not know that earnest desire, faith\nand calm demand will bring to us that which we require--will place at\nour hand the tools with which we are to work out our destiny--will\nguide us in the proper use of the tools--will make us grow? Do you not\nknow that Desire, Faith and Work is the triple key to the doors of\nAttainment? There are possibilities before us, awaiting our coming, of\nwhich we have never dreamed. Let us assert ourselves--take up the\nkey--unlock the doors--and enter our kingdom.\n\nTo accomplish, we must be possessed of earnest desire--must be as\nconfident of ultimate success as we are of the rising of to-morrow's\nsun--we must have Faith. And we must work out the end with the tools\nand instruments that will present themselves day by day. We will find\nthat Desire, Confidence, Faith and Work will not only brush aside the\nobstacles from our path, but will also begin to assert that wonderful\nforce, as yet so little understood--the Law of Attraction--which will\ndraw to us that which is conducive to our success, be it ideas,\npeople, things, yes, even _circumstances_. Oh, ye of little Faith,\nwhy do you not see these things?\n\nThe world is looking for these \"I Can and I Will\" people--it has\nplaces ready for them--the supply does not begin to equal the demand.\nPluck up courage ye unfortunate ones--ye doubters--ye \"I Can't\"\npeople! Begin the fight by abolishing Fear from your minds. Then start\nto climb the ladder of Attainment, shouting \"I CAN AND I WILL\" with\nall your might, drowning out the sound of the \"buts,\" \"ifs,\"\n\"supposings,\" \"you can'ts\" and \"aren't you afraids\" of your\nwet-blanket friends at the foot of the ladder. Do not bother about the\nupper rounds of the ladder--you will reach them in time--but give your\nwhole attention to the round just ahead of you, and when you have\ngained a firm footing on that, then look at the next one. One round at\na time, remember, and _give your entire attention to each step_.\nClimb with Desire, Confidence and Faith inspiring each step, and the\ntask will become a pleasure. You will be conscious of some mighty\nforce attracting you upward and onward as you progress. And don't try\nto pull some other fellow off the ladder--there's room enough for both\nof you--be kind, be kind.\n\nIf you fail to feel the \"I Can and I Will\" vibrations within you,\nstart in to-day, and _say_ \"I Can and I Will\"--THINK \"I Can and I\nWill\"--ACT \"I Can and I Will,\" and get the vibrations started in\nmotion. Remember that as the one note of the violin, if constantly\nsounded, will cause the mighty bridge to vibrate in unison so will\none positive thought, held constantly, manifest itself both in\nyourself, others and things. So begin sounding the note to-day--this\nvery moment. Sound it constantly. Send forth a clear, glad, joyous\nnote--a note of Faith--a note of coming Victory. Sound it over and\nover again, and soon you will become conscious that the vibrations\nhave commenced, and that the mighty structure of your being is\nquivering and vibrating to the keynote:--\"I CAN AND I WILL.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECRET OF THE \"I AM.\"\n\nThe Ego--The physical plane--The mental plane--The new plane of\nconsciousness--The Real Self--The \"I\"--The Temple of the Living\nSpirit--Development of the \"I Am\" consciousness--The Higher Reason.\n\n    \"Lord of a thousand worlds am I,\n      And I reign since time began;\n    And Night and Day in cyclic sway,\n      Shall pass while their deeds I scan.\n    Yet time shall cease, ere I find release,\n      FOR I AM THE SOUL OF MAN.\"\n\n    --Charles H. Orr.\n\n\nMany of us are accustomed to thinking of ourselves on the physical\nplane alone. When we think of the Ego--the \"I\" of ourselves, we\npicture it as a human body with organs ranging from the finest--the\nbrain, down to those of coarser atomic structure. To one living on\nthis plane of consciousness the body is the _real_ self, and the\nMind but an appendage to the body. Such a man speaks of \"my mind\" or\n\"my soul,\" as he speaks of \"my hat,\" \"my coat,\" \"my shoes\"--as things\nbelonging to him, which he uses, but which are not _him_. To him\nthe Body is the real man--the Mind something useful to the body--the\nSpirit a nebulous hypothetical something of which he has but a hazy\nidea and no consciousness. He lives on the physical plane alone.\n\nOthers picture their \"I\" as Intellect or Mind, having control of the\nbody and its organs, and having its abode in the brain, or brains, of\nthe human being. To these people the Intellect is the Real Self, in\nfact to many of this class the Intellect is elevated to the position\nof God, and they bow down to and worship it. They realize the\nsubjection of the body to the Mind, and are aware of the wonderful\npower of the latter over the particular body under its control; the\nbodies of others; the minds of others. To them the Intellect is the\nhighest self, identical with the Spirit. They are conscious of the\nwonderful workings of the mind, but are conscious of nothing higher.\nTo some of them death seems to end all, their idea of mind being that\nit is a product of the brain. Others feel that somehow, somewhere,\ntheir Intellect will maintain its existence, but it is merely a\n_belief_ or hope, based upon the words of others who have claimed\nauthority to speak. They have no consciousness of pre-existence or\nfuture existence--no perception of that REAL SELF which _knows_\nitself to be Eternal.\n\nA third class have so far progressed along the Path of Life that they\nhave crossed the borders of a new plane of consciousness. They are in\na strange land--they see no familiar landmarks--they do not recognize\nthe country that lies before them. Their friends, whom they have left\njust a few feet behind across the border, do not seem to realize the\ndifference the short distance has made to those who have traveled it,\nand therefore doubt the prospect seen from the new point of view.\nThose who have crossed the border find that they have acquired a\n_consciousness_ of a real Existence. The \"I\" consciousness has\npassed beyond the Intellectual plane and is able to look back to\nthat plane and the one still further back, the Physical plane. \"I\"\nrecognizes the value of both Mind and Body, but regards them both as\nbut instruments, tools or servants, with which to work. \"I\" feels that\nit has existed from the beginning (if beginning there was) and will\nexist until the end (if end there be). \"I\" feels a keen pleasure in\nmere existence--in the NOW. \"I\" knows itself to be a part of the WHOLE\nTHING--knows that the UNIVERSE is its home. \"I\" knows itself to be a\ntiny drop of Spirit from the Great Spirit Ocean; a ray from the\nSupreme Sun; a particle of the Divine Being, encased in a material\nbody, using that body and a force called Mind, with which to manifest\nitself. \"I\" does not at present _understand_ all things--far from\nit. It has not as yet been able to bring its tools to that degree of\nperfection. It merely _knows_ that it IS, and has ALWAYS BEEN, and\nALWAYS WILL BE. \"I\" allows Intellect to indulge in speculations, but\ncontents itself with the knowledge that it IS--it frets not itself\nwith the problems of the past or future, but lives in the NOW, and\nknows itself to be a part of the WHOLE. \"I\" knows that it cannot be\ndestroyed or injured--that it exists in accordance with Law (and that\nLaw is Good) and asks no further light at this time, knowing that in\nits progress through matter, discarding sheath after sheath, more\n_knowing_ will surely come. It says trustfully and confidently, to\nthe Absolute: \"Thy Will be Done.\"\n\nKnowing itself to be immortal, \"I\" has no fear of the death of the\nbody--one body is as good as another to it--it is willing to lay aside\nthe body as it does a coat, when it has outworn or outgrown it.\nKnowing itself to be impregnable to harm, \"I\" has no Fearthought--it\nfears nothing. Knowing that the Law is working for development (always\nfor ultimate good) \"I\" is not disturbed by the cares, troubles and\nsorrows of Life--it knows them for what they are. The body may be\nin pain, the mind may be burdened with sorrow, but \"I,\" _knowing_,\nsmiles.\n\n\"I\" knows itself to be One with the \"I\" of all living creatures, and\nknowing this cannot manifest Hate, Fear, Envy, Jealousy--it cannot\nDespise or Condemn. These and other feelings of the old life drop from\nthe person like a discarded mantle when \"I\" mounts its throne. \"I\"\nrecognizes that others may not have progressed so far on the path as\nitself, but knows them to be but fellow travelers on the same road,\nwho are doing the best they know how, considering their stage of the\njourney. \"I\" recognizes Ignorance--not Evil. \"I\" has but one feeling\ntoward Mankind and the whole living world--LOVE. Aye, Love and\nComradeship for even the _last man_, for it knows that that last\nman cannot be left out of the great scheme of Life.\n\n\"I\" knows that it has traveled a long road leading to its present\nposition, and that all Life is traveling the same. \"I\" looks back and\nsees others covered with the mire and dust of the road, far back\non the Path, but knowing that it has traveled the same stage of\nthe journey--been covered with the same mire and mud--it cannot\ncondemn. \"I\" knows that it is but on the threshold of the new\nconsciousness--the borderland of the Cosmic Knowing--and that far\nbeyond lie regions of marvelous beauty which will in turn be traveled,\nand then on and on, increasing in strength and knowing-power each day.\n\"I\" sees endless phases of existence opening up to the vision--it\ncannot at this time _understand_, but it knows of the existence\nof the Law, and is content. \"I\" has the courage of Intelligent Faith,\nand presses forward cheerfully to the Divine Adventure. All this--and\nmore.\n\nTo the man or woman who understands, the task of self-development\nbecomes a labor of love--an exalted task rather than the mere selfish\nstriving after power. As the sculptor saw in the block of marble the\nform of the angel, and was impelled to cut away the surrounding\nmaterial in order to liberate the angelic form--so may we, seeing the\nGod-like form within us, strive to liberate it. That inner form is the\nreal self--the \"I.\" If you have never realized this truth, relax body\nand mind and indulge in a little introspection; turn your gaze inward;\nlisten to the voice of the Spirit. You will be conscious of a faint\nrecognition of the Something Within striving to make itself manifest\nto your understanding--asking for the proper tools with which to work.\nListen, listen in The Silence! Day by day the Voice will grow\nplainer--day by day the Light will grow brighter--your own is coming\nto you, at last. O, joy unspeakable! O tears! O laughter! After long\nages you are coming in sight of the Promised Land.\n\nKnow yourself O Man! Know that you have within you the Divine Spark,\nto which both body and mind are but servants. Know that your body is\nthe Temple of the Living Spirit and respect it as such. Know that your\nIntellect is but the instrument of the manifestation of the\nSpirit--the \"I.\"\n\nDo not crawl on your belly like a worm; do not humble yourself in the\ndust and call upon heaven to witness what a despicable creature you\nare; do not call yourself a miserable sinner worthy only of eternal\ndamnation. No! a thousand times No! Rise to your feet; raise your\nhead; face the skies; throw back your shoulders; fill your lungs with\nNature's ozone. Then say to yourself: \"I AM.\"\n\nMan has acquired a wonderful power when he can _understandingly_\nsay: \"I AM a part of the Eternal Life Principle; I AM created in the\nDivine Image; I AM filled with the Divine Breath of Life; Nothing can\nhurt ME, for I AM ETERNAL.\"\n\nThe first requisite for the acquirement of an understanding of the Law\nis the recognition of the existence and the power of the Real\nSelf--the \"I.\" The more complete the recognition the greater the\npower. Special directions for the acquirement of this faculty of\nrecognition cannot be given. It must be grown into and felt, rather\nthan reasoned out by the Intellect. You will not be long in doubt as\nto whether or not you are on the right track; if you are right you\nwill begin to realize it at once. You will have glimpses of it, and\nthen it may slip away from you for a while, but fear not, you cannot\nescape it in the end.\n\nYou will feel that your body is but as a garment which whilst covering\nyou temporarily is not YOU. You will feel that you are separate and\napart from your body, although for a time living in it. You will feel\nthat you could as well live in some other body, and still retain your\nsense of individuality. You will realize then even your mind is not\nYou, but is merely the instrument through which You manifest yourself,\nand which being imperfect prevents the complete expression of the\nSpirit. In short, when you say, or think, \"I AM,\" you are conscious\nof the existence of your _real_ self, and feel the growth of a new\nsense of power within you. This recognition of the self may be faint,\nbut encourage it and it will grow, and whilst growing will manifest\nitself to your mind by impressing upon the latter the knowledge of the\nproper plan for further development. It is another example of \"to him\nthat hath shall be given.\"\n\nThis mere calling of their attention to the fact will awaken the first\nglimmer of recognition in some; others will find it necessary to\nreflect upon the idea and awaken to a recognition of the Truth more\nslowly. Some will not _feel_ the Truth. To such I say: The time is\nnot yet ripe for your recognition of this great Truth, but the seed\nis planted and the plant will appear in time. This may seem like the\nveriest nonsense to you now, but the time will come when you will\nadmit its literal correctness. You will find that a desire has been\ncreated that will cause a mental unrest until more light is received.\nAs Walt Whitman says: \"My words will itch in your ears till you\nunderstand them.\" As Emerson says: \"You cannot escape from your good.\"\nTo those who feel the first indications of the awakening of the\nSpirit, I say: Carry the thought with you and it will unfold like the\nlotus, naturally and gradually; the truth once recognized cannot be\nlost, and there is no standing still in nature.\n\nWhat has been said is but a faint hint of a mighty Truth, which\nnestles in the bosom of the esoteric teachings of all religions--in\nthe philosophies of the Orient and of ancient Greece. You will find it\nin the songs of the poets--in the writings of the mystics. The\nadvanced science of this age touches it without recognizing it fully.\nIt is not a thing that can well be conveyed by words--it is not easily\ncomprehended by purely intellectual processes--it must be _felt_\nand lived out by those who are ready for it--those for whom the time\nhas come. It has been known to the Few throughout all ages and in all\ntimes. All races have known it. It has been handed down from teacher\nto pupil from the earliest days. It is that Truth which Edward\nCarpenter refers to when he says:\n\n\"O, let not the flame die out! Cherished age after age in its dark\ncaverns, in its holy temples cherished. Fed by pure ministers of\nlove--let not the flame die out.\"\n\nIt is difficult to convey even a hint of this Truth to any but those\nwho are prepared to receive it. To others it will seem to be arrant\nfolly. As Emerson says: \"Every man's words, who speaks from that life,\nmust sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same thought on their\nown part. I dare not speak for it. My words do not carry its august\nsense; they fall short and cold. Only itself can inspire whom it will\n* * * * Yet I desire even by profane words, if sacred I may not use,\nto indicate the heaven of this deity, and to report what hints I have\ncollected of the transcendent simplicity and energy of the Highest\nLaw.\"\n\nIf you prefer to try to solve the Problem of Life--the Riddle of the\nUniverse--by scientific investigation, by exact reasoning, formal\nthought, mathematical demonstration--by all means follow this method.\nYou will be taught the lesson of the power and the limitations of\nthe human intellect. And after you have traveled round and round\nthe circle of thought and find that you are but covering the same\nground over and over again--after you have run into the intellectual\n_cul de sac_, the blind alley of Logic--after you have beaten your\nwings against the cage of the Unknowable and fall exhausted and\nbruised--after you have done all these things and have learned your\nlesson--then listen to the voice within, see the tiny flame which\nburns steadily and cannot be extinguished, feel the pressure of\nthe Something Within _and let it unfold_. You will then begin to\nunderstand that as the mind of Man developed by slow stages from mere\nsensation to simple consciousness; from simple consciousness to\nself-consciousness (in its lower and higher degrees) so is there a\nconsciousness, higher than we have heretofore imagined, in store for\nMan, which is even now beginning to manifest itself. You may then\nunderstand that there may be an Intelligent Faith which _knows_, not\nsimply believes. These and other lessons you will learn in time. And\nwhen you have reached the stage where you _feel_ the promptings of\nthe Higher Reason, and live in accordance therewith, you will say\nwith Carpenter:\n\n\"Lo! the healing power descending from within, calming the enfevered\nmind, spreading peace among the grieving nerves. Lo! the eternal\nsaviour, the sought after of all the world, dwelling hidden (to be\ndisclosed) within each * * * * O joy insuperable.\"\n\n\n\n\n\"LET A LITTLE SUNSHINE IN.\"\n\nThe young people's song--Good \"New Thought\" doctrine--Plenty of\nsunshine in life, if you look for it--Don't make a dark dungeon of\nyour mind--Throw open the windows of your soul--How to let a little\nsunshine in.\n\n\nThe other night, just as I was dropping off to sleep, a crowd of young\npeople passed along, returning from some social gathering. They were\nbubbling over with mirth and joy, and every girl seemed to be talking\nat the same time, the voices of the young men serving merely to\npunctuate the sentences of their fair companions. Just after they\npassed my window, some one started up a song, and the rest joined in.\nI do not know the song they sang, but the chorus went something like\nthis:\n\n    \"Let a little sunshine in;\n      Let a little sunshine in;\n    Open wide the windows,\n      Open wide the doors,\n    And let a little sunshine in.\"\n\nI listened with pleasure to the words and cheerful air of the song and\nsaid to myself: \"Well, that's good enough 'New Thought' doctrine for\nme.\"\n\nThe young people went on their way singing. I, now wide awake,\nlistened and thought. The song grew fainter and fainter as the\ndistance between us grew greater, and at last I could not clearly\ndistinguish the words they sang, but the faint vibrations of the tune\nstill reached me, and I imagined that I could just hear the last words\nof the refrain:\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nOh, if only those young people--and all young people--and all people\nyoung or old--would take to their hearts these words, and \"let a\nlittle sunshine in.\" It is not sufficient that you merely agree that\nthe advice is good--that you merely repeat the words mechanically--you\nmust make thought take form in action, and not only say the words--not\nonly think them--but you must ACT them. Make them a part of your\nlife--incorporate the idea in your being--train yourself into the\nhabit of opening yourself to the sunshine of Life--get into the way of\nletting it flow in.\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nThere is plenty of sunshine in life, if you only look for it. And\nthere is plenty of shadow in life, if you only look for it. But in the\nthings that seem all shadow to others, you will be able to find the\nsunshine if you but train yourself to always look for it. And in that\nwhich may seem bright sunshine to some, others will find nothing but\nshade--they are troubled with a mental cataract that shuts out all the\nrays of the sunshine of life.\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nAnd when you learn to love the sunshine and look forward to seeing it\nalways, you seem to draw it to you. The Law of Attraction brings to\nyou your share of the sunshine with which the world is plentifully\nsupplied. And, if you fall into the habit of looking for and expecting\nthe shadow, the shadow will always be found.\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nIt is astonishing what a change the Mental Attitude of the person will\nmake. Change your Mental Attitude, and the whole world seems to\nchange. It is like taking off the smoked glasses that have caused the\nworld to seem dark and gloomy, and seeing the brightness and colors of\nthe world.\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nMany of you have been making dark dungeons of your minds. You have\nsteadily shut out the sun, and your minds have become musty, damp and\nmildewed. Across the floor crawl noxious creatures. The slimy form of\nFear drags itself slowly along, leaving its track behind; the hideous\nshape of Jealousy eyes you from one corner--a creature of darkness;\nthe venomous reptile Hate shows its fangs; the vampire Worry flits\nacross the chamber. Fearful shapes are there glowering in the\ndarkness--frightful forms crouch in corners and recesses. All is\ngloom, darkness, horror. A fit breeding place for the foul creatures\nwho fear the light--a fit nursery for monsters. Look within the dark\nchambers of your mind--see what it really is--see what it generates.\nLook within--look within. Ah, you see at last. No wonder you shriek\nwith terror--no wonder you turn away with horror. No, no, do not turn\naway--look and see yourself as you are. You need the lesson. Now that\nyou see what you have been carrying around with you, and are sickened\nat the sight, start to work to remedy the evil. Throw wide open the\ndoors; throw open the windows of the soul.\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nAh, yes, never fear, there is plenty of sunshine in the Universe.\nPlenty for all of you. There is an infinite supply. Draw it to you.\nTake it freely. It is there for _you_. It is your own--your very\nown. It is as free as air and the material sunshine. There is no\ntariff on it. It is not controlled by any trust or combine. It is not\nadulterated. It is everywhere, everywhere. Ho! ye who are dwelling in\ndarkness! Here is Life and Happiness for you! Here is Peace for you!\nHere is Joy for you! Joy, comrades, Joy! Open wide your windows; open\nwide your doors.\n\n    \"Let a little Sunshine in.\"\n\nYes, yes! I hear you say that you cannot dispel the gloom with which\nyou are surrounded. Nonsense. Do you not know that darkness is not a\npositive thing--it is the essence of negation. It is not a real thing\nat all--it is merely the absence of light. And here you have been for\nall these years, believing that the darkness was a real thing that you\ncould not get rid of. Just stop for a moment and think. If a room in\nyour house is dark and gloomy, do you hire a man to shovel out the\ndarkness--do you attempt to do it yourself in your desire for light?\nNo, no, of course you do not. You just raise the shades, and throw\nopen the shutters and the sunshine pours in and lo! the darkness has\nvanished. So it is with the gloom of the soul, the darkness of the\nmind. It is a waste of energy to attempt to dig away the darkness--to\ncast out the shadows. You'll never get light in that way. All that you\nneed to do is to recognize the advantage of light--the fact that light\nis to be had--that there is plenty of it anxiously waiting to be let\nin. Then all that you need to do is to\n\n    \"Let a little sunshine in;\n      Let a little sunshine in;\n    Open wide the windows,\n      Open wide the doors,\n    And let a little sunshine in.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\n\nThe soul, as well as the body and mind, requires nourishment--The\nwant, a promise of the fulfillment--The law of unfoldment--Nourishment\nprovided when it is needed--Provided for in the Divine Plan--The feast\nof good things.\n\n\nThe Soul, as well as the body and the mind, requires nourishment. We\nhave felt that hunger for spiritual knowledge which transcended our\nhunger for bread--exceeded our craving for mental sustenance. We have\nfelt soul-hungry and knew not with what to appease it. The Soul has\ncried out for food. It has been fed upon the husks of the physical\nplane for so long that it is fairly starving for the proper\nnourishment. It seeks this way and that way for the Bread of Life and\nfinds it not. It has asked this authority and that authority for\ninformation as to where this food may be had--where could be obtained\nthe food that would nourish the Soul--but it has been given nothing\nbut the stone of Dogma and Creeds. At last it sank exhausted and felt\nthat perhaps there was no bread to be had. It has felt faint and weary\nand almost believed that all was a delusion and a will-o'-the-wisp of\nthe mind--that there was no reality to it. It felt the chill of\ndespair creeping over it and all seemed lost.\n\nBut we must not lose sight of the fact that just as the hunger of the\nbody implies that somewhere in the world is to be found that which\nwill satisfy it--that just as the hunger of the mind implies that\nsomewhere is to be found mental nourishment--so the mere fact that\nthis soul-hunger _exists_ is a proof that somewhere there is to\nbe found that which the Absolute has intended to satisfy it. The\n_want_ is the prophecy of the fulfillment. Yes, and the want and\nits recognition afford the means of obtaining that which will satisfy\nthe want. When, in the course of unfoldment either on the physical,\nmental or spiritual plane, it becomes necessary for the well-being of\nthe unfolding Ego to draw to itself certain things which it requires\nin the process of evolution, the first step toward the obtaining of\nthat necessary thing is the consciousness of a great and pressing\nwant--the birth of a strong desire. And then the desire grows stronger\nand stronger, until the Ego becomes desperate and determines to obtain\nthe necessary thing at any cost. The obtaining of that thing becomes\nthe prime object in life. Students of evolution realize this fact\nperhaps more than the rest of us. The subconsciousness of the plant or\nanimal becomes surcharged with this great desire, and all the\nconscious and subconscious power of the living thing is put forth to\nobtain that which is necessary for its development.\n\nAnd on the mental plane the same thing is true. The hunger for\nknowledge, when it once possesses a man, will cause him to cut loose\nfrom old environments, surroundings and everything else which has held\nhim, and he forces himself to the place where that knowledge may be\nobtained--and he obtains it. If he only wants it hard enough he gets\nit. When we think of Lincoln in his boyhood days, painfully and\nlaboriously striving for knowledge, lying on his side before the log\nfire and reading his book by the light of its flames--and this after a\nhard day's work such as only the boy on the farm knows--when we think\nof this we may understand the effects of a strong desire possessing\nthe mind of man or boy, woman or girl.\n\nAnd this hunger for spiritual knowledge and growth, from whence comes\nit? When we understand the laws of spiritual unfoldment we begin to\nunderstand that the Ego is growing and developing--unfolding and\ncasting off old worn-out sheaths. It is calling into operation new\nfaculties--exploring new regions of the mind. In the super-conscious\nregions of the Soul are many faculties lying dormant, awaiting the\nevolutionary hour of manifestation along conscious lines. As the\nfaculties approach the hour of birth into the new plane they manifest\nan uneasiness which is communicated to the subconscious and conscious\nplanes of the mind, causing a restlessness and uneasiness which is\nquite disturbing to the individual in whom they are manifesting. There\nis a straining for expression--a reaching forward for development--a\ndesire for growth which produces something akin to pain. All growth\nand development is accompanied by more or less pain. We speak of the\nbeautiful growth of the plant--of the lily--and wish that we could\ngrow as easily and as painlessly as it does. But we forget that\n_all_ growth means a breaking down--a tearing away--as well as a\nbuilding up and adding to. The lily's growth appears painless to us,\nbut if we were endowed with keen enough vision--with clear enough\nsight--with a power enabling us to feel that which is going on within\nits organism, we would be made aware that there is a constant change\ngoing on--a tearing down of tissue, a using up of cells, a pressing\nupon and breaking through of confining sheaths--all meaning growth,\ndevelopment and unfoldment. We see only the birth of the new parts and\nlose sight of the pain and destruction preceding it. All through life\nis manifested the \"growing pains\" of development. All birth is\nattended with pain.\n\nAnd so it is with the birth into consciousness of these unfolding\nspiritual faculties. We feel an uneasiness, dissatisfaction, yea, even\npain, as we strive to call into conscious life these children of the\nSoul. We feel that desire for something needed by our inner self and\nwe seek for it in all directions. We exhaust all of the pleasures of\nlife, so-called, and find no satisfaction there. We then endeavor to\nfind comfort and solace in intellectual pursuits, but without\nobtaining that which we seek. We pore over the writing of the\nphilosophers and learned writers of the past and present, but find\nthem as but husks to the hungering soul. We seek in creeds and dogmas\nthat comforting something, the need of which we feel, but of the\nnature of which we are ignorant--but we find no satisfaction there.\nWe, perhaps, go from creed to creed, from philosophy to philosophy,\nfrom one scientific theory to another scientific theory, but still we\nhunger. At last we get to a position in which we feel that life is not\nworth the living and that all is a ghastly mockery. And so we go on\nand on, seeking--ever seeking--but the quest is fruitless.\n\nMan on the physical plane has a comparatively easy time of it. He\nlives as does the animal--he thinks as does the animal--he dies as\ndoes the animal. The problems of life fret him not. He does not even\nknow of the existence of the problems of life. He is happy in his way,\nand it almost seems a pity that he must be disturbed from his state\nof animal content. But he _must_ be disturbed, not by you or by me\nperhaps, but by the inevitable Law, which is working around and about\nhim, and in him. Sooner or later in the course of his development he\nmust be awakened. And he awakens upon the mental plane, and here his\ntroubles begin. On the mental plane everything seems beautiful for a\ntime. Man finds himself a new being and he goes on and on, feeling\nhimself a very god and reveling in his intellectual powers. But after\na time these things cease to satisfy him. The unfolding of the higher\nfaculties begin to annoy him, particularly as he cannot explain\nthem. His intellectual training has perhaps taught him to believe that\nthere was nothing higher than the mind--that religious feelings were\nnothing but the result of the emotional nature and that he had\noutgrown all that. But still he feels that Something Within, never\nceasing to annoy him--never ceasing to intrude upon his intellectual\nconsciousness certain _feelings_ entirely contrary to his theories. He\nhas grown to doubt the existence of a Supreme Being, and having read\nHaekel's \"Riddle of the Universe\" feels that the question has been\nsatisfactorily settled for all time, and that the answer to all of\nlife's problems may be found in the tenets of his creed--Materialism.\n\nBut, somehow, he is not at ease. He feels the pressure of the growing\nSomething Within and becomes quite restless. This goes on from time to\ntime and he seeks the Truth in all directions, rushing from one thing\nto another in his desire to satisfy the cravings of the Soul, but all\nthe time denying that there is anything to be found. After a time he\nbecomes aware of a new state of consciousness developing within him,\nand in spite of his mental revolts against any good thing coming from\nwithin, he is forced to accept himself in his growing state, and to\nrealize that he may possess a Knowing other than that of the\nintellect. It may take him a long time to accept this, but so long as\nhe rebels against it and struggles, so long will he feel pain. And\nonly when he catches a glimpse of the true state of affairs does he\nopen himself up to the Divine Unfoldment going on in his Soul, and\njoyfully welcome the tearing away of confining mental sheaths, which\ndestruction enables the newly born faculty to force its way into the\nconscious mentality. He learns to even aid in the unfoldment by\nholding the thoughts conducive to spiritual development, and thus\nassists in the bringing forth of the new leaf or flower of the Soul.\nIt has always been so. Man has gone through stage after stage of\nunfoldment, suffering pain each time as the old sheaths are burst\nasunder and discarded. He is prone to hold on to the old sheaths and\nto cherish them long after they have served their purpose in his\ngrowth. And it is only when he has reached the stage that many men are\nnow coming into a knowledge of that he understands the process of\ngrowth and is willing and glad to aid in the development instead of\nattempting to oppose it. He falls in with the workings of the Law\ninstead of trying to defeat it.\n\nLife is motion. We are moving onward and upward throughout the ages.\nMan has passed over miles of The Path, but he will have to travel many\nmore before he sees the reason of the journey. But he has now reached\nthe stage where he may see that it all means something--all is a part\nof a mighty plan--that this is a necessary stage of the journey, and\nthat around the bend of the road are to be found shady trees, and a\nbrook at which he may quench his thirst and wash away the dust of the\nlast few miles.\n\nThis hunger of the Soul is a real thing. Do not imagine that it is an\nillusion--do not endeavor to deny it. If you feel it you may rest\nassured that your time is coming, and that there will be provided that\nwhich will satisfy it. Do not waste your energy in running hither and\nthither seeking for bread. The bread will be provided when it is most\nneeded. There is no such thing in Life as spiritual starvation. But\ninstead of seeking without for that which will nourish you, look\nwithin. At each stage of the journey the traveler will find enough to\nnourish him for the hour--enough to sustain him until he reaches the\nnext stage. You cannot be denied this nourishment. It is part of the\nDivine Plan that it be provided for you. If you will look for it in\nthe right place you will always find it, and will be saved much\nseeking and worrying. Do not be impatient because the feast is not set\nbefore you at this stage. Be satisfied with that which is given, for\nit suffices your needs at the present moment. By and by you will reach\nthe stage when the feast of good things will have been earned, and you\nwill be invited to feast and rest until you are ready for the next\nstage of the journey.\n\nThe great spiritual wave which is now sweeping over the world brings\nwith it great wants, but it also carries with it the means of\nsatisfying those wants. Do not despair.\n\n\n\n\nLOOK ALOFT!\n\nThe old sailor's advice--The warning cry--Peace and content--Mental\nbalance recovered--The glory of the Universe--All governed by Law--The\nLaw manifests everywhere--A reverent feeling of calm, peaceful\nfaith--Look aloft.\n\n\nI recently heard a little tale about a boy who went to sea, in the old\ndays of the sailing vessel. One day he was ordered to go aloft, and\nwas urged on until he reached the highest possible point on the mast.\nWhen he found that he could go no farther, he glanced down. The sight\nterrified him and almost caused him to lose his grip and fall headlong\non the deck, far below. He felt dizzy and sick, and it seemed almost\nimpossible for him to maintain his hold on the mast. Far below was the\ndeck, looking so small as compared to the wide expanse of water on all\nsides of it. The motion made him feel as if he was suspended between\nheaven and earth, with nothing substantial to support him. He felt his\nbrain reeling and his senses leaving him, and all seemed lost, when\nfar away from the deck below, he heard an old sailor cry, \"Look aloft,\nlad! Look aloft!\" Turning his eyes from the scene below the boy gazed\nupward. He saw the blue sky, the fleecy clouds passing peacefully\nalong, looking just the same as they did when he had looked at them\nwhile lying on his back on the green grass of the meadows in his\ncountry home. A strange feeling of peace and content came over him,\nand the feeling of dread, terror and despair passed away. His strength\nand presence of mind came back to him, and soon he was able to slide\ndown the mast until he grasped a friendly rope, thence to the lower\nrigging, and on until the deck was again reached.\n\nHe never forgot the old sailor's advice given in the hour of need, and\nwhen he would feel dazed and fearful of danger, he would invariably\nlook aloft until he recovered his mental balance.\n\nWe may well take a leaf from the old sailor's note-book, and impress\nhis wisdom upon our minds. There's nothing so good in hours of trial,\ndoubt, sorrow and pain, as to \"look aloft.\" When we feel that we\ncannot see clearly with our spiritual vision--that our spiritual sight\nis blurred and dim--that we lose faith and confidence, hope and\ncourage--that we feel the deadly sensation of despair and hopelessness\ncreeping over us and benumbing our senses, stilling our heart--then is\nthe time for us to listen to the warning shout: \"Look aloft, lad; look\naloft!\"\n\nWhen all seems lost--when darkness is closing around us--when we seem\nto have lost our foothold and have no way of regaining it--when all\nappears hopeless, gloomy and dreadful--when faith seems to have\ndeserted us, and the chill of unbelief is on us--then is the time for\nus to shout to ourselves, \"Look aloft--look aloft!\"\n\nWhen we try to solve the riddle of the universe--the problem of\nexistence--by the aid of the intellect, unsupported by faith. When we\nask our intellects, \"Whence come I? Whither go I? What is the object\nof my existence? What does Life mean?\" When we travel round and round\nthe weary path of intellectual reasoning, and find that it has no\nending. When we shout aloud the question of Life, and hear no answer\nbut the despairing echo of our own sad cry. When Life seems a\nmockery--when Life seems to be without reason--when Life seems a\ntorment devised by a fiend--when we lose the feeling of nearness to\nthe Infinite Power that has supported us in the past--when we lose the\ntouch of the Unseen Hand. These are the times for us to look upward to\nthe source of Wisdom and Light. These are the times for us to heed the\ncry of the Soul: \"Look aloft; look aloft; look aloft!\"\n\nSome clear night, when the moon is not shining, go out into the\ndarkness, and gaze upward at the stars. You will see countless bright\nspots, each of which is a sun equaling or exceeding in size the sun\nwhich gives light and life to our little earth--each sun having its\ncircling worlds, many of the worlds having moons revolving around\nthem, in turn. Look all over the heavens, as far as the eye can reach,\nand endeavor to grasp the idea of the countless suns and worlds. Then\ntry to imagine that in space, far beyond the reach of human vision,\neven aided by the telescope, are millions upon millions of other\nworlds and suns--on all sides of us, on and on and on throughout the\nUniverse, reaching into Infinity. And then remember that all these\nworlds hold their places and revolve according to Law. And then\nremember that the microscope shows that Law manifests itself in the\nsmallest thing that can be seen by its use. All around you you will\nsee nothing but the manifestations of Law. And then, remembering that\nthe Infinite, which has us all in charge, takes note of the fall of\nthe sparrow, what has become of your fears and doubts and worries?\nGone is your despair and unbelief, and in their place is found a\nreverent feeling of calm, peaceful Faith.\n\nAye, there is much good sense in the old sailor's maxim. \"When you get\nrattled, LOOK ALOFT!\"\n\n\n\n\nTO-MORROW.\n\nThe work and cares of to-day easy if we do not worry about those of\nTo-morrow--The mysterious To-morrow and its terrors--The way to meet\nthe cares of To-morrow--To-morrow's opportunities will come as surely\nas To-morrow's cares--Law supreme--No need to be afraid--The real\nTo-morrow.\n\n\nThe work of each day would be a pleasure if we would refrain from\nattempting to perform at the same time the work of to-morrow. The\ncares of to-day would cease to disturb us, if we would refuse to\nanticipate the cares of to-morrow. The work of to-day is easily\nperformed, notwithstanding the fact that we spoiled the pleasure of\nyesterday by fretting about the tasks of the coming day. The cares of\nto-day do not seem half so terrible as they appeared viewed from the\ndistance of yesterday, nor do we suffer nearly as much from to-day's\nburdens as we did yesterday in bearing these burdens in anticipation.\n\nTo-day is comparatively easy for us, but Oh, to-morrow. Aye, there's\nthe trouble--to-morrow. The past is gone, and its sorrows, cares,\ntroubles, misfortunes and work do not seem so terrible viewed from\nthis distance--the misfortunes of the past are now often known as\nblessings in disguise. To-day is here, and we seem to be getting along\nfairly well--excepting fearing the dawn of to-morrow. But\nto-morrow--Oh! mysterious to-morrow--that delight of the child--that\nbugaboo of the \"grown up\"--what shall we say of to-morrow? Who knows\nwhat terrible monsters are lurking in its gloomy recesses--what\nfrightful cares are slumbering there--what dreadful shapes are there\ncrouching, with glowering eyes, awaiting our coming? No frightful tale\nof childhood begins to compare in horror with this fantasy of\nmaturity--to-morrow.\n\nYesterday, with all its troubles--to-day, with its pressing\ntasks--affright us not, but to-morrow, ah! to-morrow. Tell us of the\nmorrow! Who knows what a day may bring forth? Tell us how to meet the\nterrors of to-morrow! Forsooth, an easy task, good friends. The way to\nmeet the terrors of to-morrow is to--wait until to-morrow.\n\nThe cares of to-morrow indeed! 'Twould be laughable if it were not so\npitiful. To-morrow's cares may come, will come, must come, but what of\nto-morrow's opportunities, to-morrow's strength, to-morrow's chances,\ncircumstances, helpers? Don't you know that the supply of good things\ndoes not cease with the close of to-day? Don't you know that in the\nwomb of the future sleep opportunities intended for your use when the\ntime comes? Don't you know that an earnest, confident expectation of\nthe good things to come will cause these good things to grow for your\nuse in the future? Well, it's so; they'll grow and grow and grow, and\nthen when you need them you will find them ripe and ready to pick.\nWater them with Faith; surround them with the rich soil of Hope; let\nthem receive the full rays of the sun of Love, and the nourishing\nfruit of Opportunity will be your reward--to-morrow.\n\nDid you ever shiver with dread at the thought of what would happen if\nthe sun should not rise to-morrow? Did you ever doubt that the grass\nwould grow and the trees take on leaves next Spring? Did you ever fear\nthat perhaps the Summer would not come? Oh, no, of course not! These\nthings have always happened and you have sufficient faith to know that\nthey will occur again. Yes, but you have been fearing that\nopportunities, chances, circumstances, may not be present to-morrow.\nOh, ye of little faith do you not know that this is no world of\nchance? Do you not know that you are working under the operations of a\ngreat Law, and that these things are as much amenable to that Law as\nare the seasons, the crops, the motion of the earth, the planets, this\nand countless other solar systems, the UNIVERSE!\n\nThe Law which regulates the motions of the millions of worlds, and\nwhose jurisdiction extends over Space--that Space the abstract idea of\nwhich cannot be grasped by the puny intellect of man of to-day--also\ntakes cognizance of the tiny living organism too small to be seen\nthrough our strongest microscope. The sparrow's fall comes under the\nLaw as well as the building of a magnificent series of solar systems.\nAnd yet, man fears to-morrow.\n\nOf all living beings, man alone fears to-morrow. Children, lovers and\nphilosophers escape the curse. The first two look forward to it with\njoy and confidence, having the love that casteth out fear; the\nphilosopher's reason teaches him that which the intuition of the other\ntwo has grasped. The child intuitively recognizes that the infinite\nsupply is inexhaustible and naturally expects to-morrow's supply as he\ndoes to-morrow's sun. He has faith in the Law, until Fear is suggested\ninto his receptive mind by those who have grown old enough to fear.\nThe child knows that \"there are just as good fish in the sea as ever\nwere caught,\" but the \"grown-up\" fears that to-day's fish is the last\nin the sea, and fails to appreciate to-day's haul by reason of his\nworry about the possible future failure of the fishing industry.\n\nOh No! I do not believe in just sitting down and folding my hands and\nwaiting for \"mine own to come to me.\" I know that \"mine own will come\nto me,\" because I am doing well the work that the Law has placed\nbefore me to do--that which lies nearest to my hand to-day. I believe\nin work, good work, honest work, cheerful work, hopeful work,\nconfident work. I believe in the joy of work--the pleasure of\ncreating. And I believe that he who does his best work one day at a\ntime working with faith, hope and confidence in the morrow, with Fear\neliminated from his mind and replaced with Courage--I believe, I say,\nthat such a man will never find his cupboard empty, nor will his\nchildren want for bread.\n\nAnd furthermore, I believe that to-morrow is what we make it by our\nthoughts to-day. I believe that we are sowing thought-seeds to-day,\nwhich will grow up over night and bear fruit to-morrow. I believe that\n\"Thought takes form in Action,\" and that we are, and will be, just\nwhat we think ourselves into being. I believe that our minds and\nbodies are constantly being molded by our thoughts, and that the\nmeasure of man's success is determined by the character of his\nthoughts. And I believe that when man will throw off the incubus of\nFear, the frightful vision of the night will vanish, and, opening his\neyes, in the place of the monster he will see the fair form and\nsmiling face of a radiant creature, who, bending over him with\nlove-lit eyes, will softly whisper, \"I am TO-MORROW.\"\n\n\n\n\nIN THE DEPTHS OF THE SOUL.\n\nStores of information; rich mines of knowledge; uncut gems and\nprecious metal awaiting the discoverer--Psychic and spiritual\nfaculties--Strange attraction of soul to soul--The Rock of Ages--The\nVoice of the Soul.\n\n\nDeep down in the soul are stores of information awaiting to be brought\nto the surface of consciousness. Rich mines of knowledge are\nthere--uncut gems rest there awaiting the day when they will be\nuncovered and brought into the bright light of consciousness--rich\nveins of precious metals are there awaiting in patience the day when\nsome Divine Adventurer will search for them and bring them to light.\nThe human mind is a wonderful storehouse, concealing all sorts of\ntreasures and precious things, only a fraction of which have been\ndiscovered so far.\n\nWe have faculties not yet recognized by the science of the\nday--psychic and spiritual faculties--just as real as the recognized\nfaculties, playing an important part in our everyday lives,\nparticularly when we have been made aware of their existence. In many\nof us these faculties are scarcely recognized, and many of us doubt\nand deny their very existence. Others have a faint perception of their\nexistence, but do not know how to use them, and get but the slightest\nbenefit from them. Others have awakened to the wonderful faculties\nwhich are developing and unfolding within them, and a few have gone so\nfar as to aid in this development of these higher faculties of the\nmind, and have been almost startled at the results obtained. The\nOrientals have their ways of development of these faculties, and we\nOccidentals have ours. Each best serves the purposes of the particular\npeople using it.\n\nAs we bring these faculties out of the realm of the super-conscious\ninto the field of consciousness, life takes on an entirely different\nmeaning, and many things heretofore dark are seen plainly and\nunderstood. No one can understand the Oneness of things until his\nspiritual faculties are sufficiently developed to make him _conscious_\nof it. Blind belief or reliance upon the words of another will never\ndo for the seeker after Truth that which is accomplished by a single\ngleam of consciousness resting upon some of the hidden treasures of\nthe soul. One glimpse into the depths of the soul will do more than\nthe reading of thousands of books, the teaching of hundreds of\nteachers. This glimpse, once had, will never be forgotten. Its reality\nmay be questioned at times--at other times the memory may seem dim and\nunreliable--but it will return in all its freshness and brightness,\nand even in the moment of doubt we cannot entirely escape it.\n\nOur real knowledge of the existence of GOD is not obtained from the\nintellect. We can take up the subject of GOD and reason about it all\nour life, only to find ourselves, in the end, in a worse muddle than\nwhen we started. And yet one single ray of consciousness reaching down\ninto the depths of our inner being will bring to us such a complete\ncertainty of GOD'S existence and being, that nothing afterward will\never shake our faith in the reality and existence of the Supreme\nPower. We will not understand the nature of his being--his\nexistence--his power--but we will _know_ that he exists, and will\nfeel that peacefulness and infinite trust in him which always come\nwith the glimpse of the Truth. We will not understand any better the\nmany theories of Man regarding GOD and his works; in fact, we will\nbe more apt to turn away, wearied, from Man's discussion of the\nsubject--the attempt of the finite to describe and limit the infinite.\nBut we will _know_ that at the Center of things is to be found that\nUniversal Presence, and we feel that we can safely rest ourselves on\nhis bosom--trust ourselves in his hands. The cares, sorrows and trials\nof Life seem very small indeed when viewed from the absolute position,\nalthough from the relative position this world often seems to be a\nvery hell.\n\nAnother glimpse into the recesses of the soul reveals to us the\nOneness of things. We see GOD as the great Center of things, and all\nthe Universe as but One. The Oneness of all Life becomes apparent to\nus and we feel in touch not only with all mankind, but with all life.\nThe petty distinctions of class, race, rank, caste, nationality,\nlanguage, country fade away and we see all men as brothers. And we\nfeel a kindly feeling and love toward the lesser manifestations of\nlife. Even the rocks and the stones are seen as parts of the Whole and\nwe no longer feel a sense of separateness from any thing. We realize\nwhat the Universe is, and in our imagination visit the most distant\nstars and instinctively know that we would find nothing foreign to us\nthere--all would be but bits of the same thing.\n\nAnd we begin to understand those strange attractions of soul to soul,\ninstances of which have come to all of us. We realize that it is\npossible to entertain a feeling of love for every living creature--to\nevery man or woman, the manifestations, of course, varying in degree\nand kind, according to sex and closeness of soul relation. It makes us\nmore tolerant and causes us to see but ignorance in many things in\nwhich we saw but sin before. It makes us feel pity rather than hate.\nAh, these little glimpses into the inmost recesses of the soul they\nteach us many new lessons.\n\nAnd one of the greatest lessons that we may acquire in this way is the\nrecognition of the eternal life of the soul. We may believe, with\ngreater or less earnestness, in the doctrine of the immortality of the\nsoul, our beliefs and conceptions depending more or less upon the\nteachings which we have received from early childhood, but until we\nbecome conscious of that which lies within us, we are never really\ncertain--we do not know. Many good people will deny this statement,\nand will say that they have never doubted the life of the soul after\ndeath, but see how they act. When death comes into their houses they\nmourn and cry aloud in their agony, and demand of GOD why he has done\nthis thing. They drape themselves in mourning and mourn and weep as if\nthe loved one had been destroyed and annihilated. All of their actions\nand conduct go to prove that they have no abiding sense of the reality\nof the continuance of life beyond the grave. They speak of the dead as\nif they were lost forever--as if a sponge had been passed over the\nslate of life and naught remained. How cold and hollow sounds the\nwould-be comforting words of friends and relatives, who assure the\nmourning ones that the being who has just laid aside the body is\n\"better off now,\" and that all is \"for the best,\" and all the rest of\nconventional expressions that we make use of. I tell you that one who\nhas had a glimpse into what lies within him knows so well that he is\neternal that he finds it impossible to look upon death in the ordinary\nway, and if he is not very careful he will be regarded as heartless\nand unfeeling for the sorrows of others. And he will be regarded as a\nfool in his views of life by those around him who attend church\nregularly every Sunday, and who profess a full belief in all its\ndoctrines. If he considers that he himself is his soul, and that he is\nas much an immortal being now as he ever will be--that his body is but\nas a garment to cover him, or an instrument through which he manifests\nhimself--if he considers that he is in eternity now just as much as he\never will be; that he cannot be destroyed by Mt. Pelee eruptions or\nrailroad accidents--if, in short, he feels these things so strongly\nthat they have become a part of his real everyday life--why, he is\nlooked upon as \"queer\" by those who hear these things taught them\nevery Sunday, and who would feel horrified if they were accused of\nharboring a doubt regarding them. This is one of the things that go to\nshow the difference between \"believing\" a thing and \"being conscious\"\nof it.\n\nNow, don't run away and say that I held that the church-goers have no\nconception of the reality of the immortality of the soul, for I\nhaven't said any such thing. There are many church-goers who have\nexperienced a full realization of the feeling I mention, and there are\nmany more church-goers who have not. And there are many men and women\nwho scarcely ever enter within the walls of a church who have had this\nexperience, and it means more to them than all the preachments they\nhave ever listened to. It is not a matter of being \"in-church\" or\n\"out-of-church,\" it is a matter of spiritual development, that's all.\nI attend churches of all denominations, and I find all of them good.\nThe service of the Catholic Church appeals to me, and so does the\nmeeting of some old-fashioned Methodist congregation. I do not accept\nall the doctrines and theories I hear in the various churches, but I\nmanage to get some good out of all. If I have any preference whatever,\nit is for an old-fashioned Quaker meeting, where, perhaps, not a word\nis said from beginning to close, but where there is undoubtedly a\nstrong spiritual power manifested. I have even found much good in\nattending a certain orthodox church, where the venerable preacher, who\ndoes not believe in the \"higher criticism\" or creed revision, often\ngives us a delightful sermon on the horrors of hell and the state of\nthe damned, including the unbaptized infants. I can listen to a sermon\nlike this with a thrill of delight--a feeling of intense joy which\ncomes to me because I have been given the inward assurance that there\nexists a GOD who is Love, instead of the hating, wrathful, vengeful\ncreature that the poor preacher tries to make us believe is the\nInfinite Power--the Universal Presence--the Loving Father. Oh, no, I\nam not condemning churches--I like them all, and think that each one\nis doing the best possible work for the particular people who are\nattracted to it. I have listened to the exercises of the Salvation\nArmy, and have seen much good in it. How many of you New Thought\npeople, or you high-toned church members, would make half the\nsacrifices for what you consider Truth that the Salvation Army soldier\nor the Hallelujah lassie make every day of their lives? Stop a moment\nbefore you laugh at them. Some of these people have more spirituality\nin their little finger than many of us have in our whole bodies.\n\nThere are times when we feel disturbed and full of unrest. We seek to\nuse our intellects and solve all the problems of life. We fret and\nchafe under the restrictions which have been placed upon us. We wish\nto KNOW all things. We reason this way and that way, follow up every\nlane, alley and street in the city of Thought, but, alas, we find not\nthat which we seek. And in our search we are apt to forget that we\nhave within us an assurance that all is well with the world, and with\nus. We rebel against the leadings of the Spirit--against the knowledge\nthat has come from the inner self--and we want to get our knowledge\nover the old channels--by means of the Intellect. Well, at such times\nwe storm and fume and fret, and complain at our inability to solve the\nproblem. We set up ideas only to tear them down again. We assume and\nthen abandon one position after another, until there is nothing left.\nAnd the end of all the intellectual debauch is to say finally, \"I do\nnot know.\" And then, after the struggle is over, we see, just as\nplainly as ever before, the glimpse of Truth that has come to us from\nwithin--we hear the words of the soul--we have the same old\nconsciousness. We say to ourselves, \"I may not get this thing\nintellectually, but I KNOW it is true. I cannot doubt the voice of the\nSoul.\"\n\nThis knowledge which comes from within is like the rock against which\nbeat the storms of the sea--against which dash the waves which\ncompletely cover it and which hide it from sight, until it seems that\nit has disappeared forever from view, carried away by the attacking\nwaves. The lightning flashes, the thunder rolls, the fury of the\ntempest seems concentrated against this rock, and the demon of the\nstorm seems intent upon destroying every particle of it--of tearing it\nto little bits with which to strew the shores. All is darkness--all is\nblackness--all is fury, raging and terror. After hours, the storm\nsubsides, and then later morning comes, and the first rays of the\nrising sun kiss lovingly the rock which has stood the fury of the\nstorm, and has emerged unhurt, a witness to its superiority to the\nelements.\n\nStorm away, ye who would destroy this rock--dash your waves of Doubt,\nLogic, Criticism, Unbelief, Dogma, Theory, against this rock of the\nSpirit. Exert yourself to the utmost--expend all the force that is\nwithin you--do your best--do your worst. Tear and twist, pull and\nwrench, beat and pound, and what have you accomplished? After the\nstorm has passed away--after the clouds have dispersed--when the sky\nagain is blue and the sun again is shining--the rock still stands,\nundisturbed, unchanged, unshaken. And stand it will for ages and ages.\nAnd Man shall begin to know of the stability and firmness of this\nrock. He will begin to realize just what it means to him, and he will\nknow that while the waves that beat upon it are good and needful, and\nnot to be despised, that only upon the rock can he safely build.\n\nDo not despise the intellect and its teachings, but know that ye have\nwithin ye another source of knowledge--that ye have spiritual\nfaculties which are developing and which you can use. And trust the\nwork of these faculties--listen to the voice of the Soul.\n\n\n\n\n\"FORGET IT.\"\n\nWhy worry about the past?--Hugging old sorrows to your bosom--What to\ndo with them--Don't poison your life--Pain brings experience--Learning\nyour lesson--How to get rid of a gloomy thought--Throw it away--Forget\nit.\n\n\nOne can often get some useful lesson from the slang and current\nphrases of the day. There is something particularly attractive to me\nabout slang, and the pat phrases that are passed along from one to\nanother on the streets. Many of these phrases condense in a few words\ncertain practical truths that one could use as a basis for a sermon,\nan essay, or even a book. They are the practical experiences of the\npeople crystallized in a catchy phrase. The phrase which I hear so\nfrequently on the street just now, \"Forget it,\" seems to me to contain\nmuch practical common sense, and if people would put it into practice\nthere would be many more brighter faces--many more lighter hearts.\nWhat's the use, anyhow, of carrying around a long face or a heavy\nheart, just because away back in the past something \"went wrong\" with\nus, or even if we \"went wrong\" ourselves (and most of us have--I have,\nI know)? What's the use? Forget it!\n\nOf course you will not forget the experiences of the past, and you do\nnot want to. That's one of the things we are living for--gaining\nexperience. When we have once really learned a thing through\nexperience, we never forget it--it is a part of us. But why bother\nabout the memory of the pain, the mortification, the \"slip-up,\" the\nheartache, the wounded feelings, the misplaced confidence, the thing\ndone in the wrong way, the chance you let slip by, the folly, the sin,\nthe misery, the \"might-have-beens,\" and all the rest. Oh what's the\nuse? Forget it I say, forget it.\n\nIf one is to worry about all the things that went wrong--all the\nthings that didn't come right--in the past; if he has to take out each\nmemory every day, and after carefully dusting it off, fondle and\ncaress it, and hug it close to his bosom; if he has to raise up these\nghosts from the past--these phantoms of long ago--these musty,\nmoth-eaten things--why he will have no time for the affairs of to-day.\nHe will lose all the joy of the now--all the pleasure of life of the\nmoment--all the interest in the things of to-day. Oh, dear, dear,\nwhat's the use? Forget it--forget it.\n\nSome people are not happy unless they have some old faded sorrow\nhugged up close to their bosoms, and they feel guilty if they happen\nto smile and forget the old thing for even a moment. Oh, how they do\ngloat over their own revamped unhappiness--how they enjoy the\nrelieving of the pains and sorrows, mistakes and ignorance of years\ngone by. How they love to hold the fox to their sides and let it eat\nout their heart. These people are really happy in the unhappiness, and\nlife would not be worth living if they were deprived of their pet\nsorrows. Of course, if these people are really happy because they are\nunhappy, I have no objection. Every man or woman has the right to\npursue happiness in his or her own way, and I suppose that that is as\ngood a way as any other, and I should not find fault if somebody\nelse's way is different from mine. But doesn't it seem like a pity to\nsee people wasting their time, energy, thoughts and life on these old\nsorrows? If they must think of the past, why not think of the bright\nthings that came into their lives, instead of the dark ones? Think of\nthe moments of happiness, not of the moments of sorrow. Don't make a\ntomb of your mind. Don't let that particular painful experience poison\nyour present life. Don't do it--don't do it. What's the use? Forget\nit.\n\nEvery bit of pain that has happened you has brought its experience to\nyou--you are better, wiser and broader for it. Look at it in that way,\nand you will cease to mourn and wail and wring your hands over the\nfact that in the past you \"have done those things which you ought not\nto have done, and have left undone those things which you ought to\nhave done.\" Nonsense! You have gained the experience and know better\nnow. If you were placed back in the same old position, and lacked the\nexperience that you have gained by just such things, you would do the\nsame old thing over again, and in the same old way. You couldn't help\nit, because you would be the same old person. What you would like to\ndo would be to be placed back in the same position, and face the same\nold temptation or problem, but you would want to take with you the\nexperience you have gained by your former mistake. You want the cake\nand the penny at the same time. You want the experience without the\npain. Oh, yes, you do, now, that's just what you want--I've been\nthrough it myself, and know all about it. You've gained the\nexperience, be satisfied. Some day you'll need that experience, and\nwill be glad you have it, and will see that it was worth all you've\npaid for it. No, you don't see it that way? Well, maybe you haven't\nhad enough of it--haven't learned your lesson yet. If that is the\ncase, some of these days the law will drop you back into the pot,\nuntil you're well done. The law is not satisfied with underdone\npeople. Oh, you're making a big mistake. Forget it--forget it.\n\nThe people who carry these old things around with them generally get\nthemselves into the mental attitude that draws other things of the\nsame sort to them. Misery likes company, and a miserable thought also\nlikes companionship, and almost always manages to attract some other\nmiserable thing to it, to keep it from being lonesome. The only way to\nget rid of a thought of this kind is to--forget it.\n\nNow if you have some pet thing that is gnawing out your vitals--is\ncorroding your heart--is poisoning your mind--take it out and look at\nit for the last time. Give it a last long lingering gaze. Kiss it\ngood-bye. Weep over it if you like, for this is the last you will see\nof it. Then throw open the window of your mind and pitch it out into\nthe outer darkness.\n\nFORGET IT!\n\n\n\n\n\"THE KINDERGARTEN OF GOD.\"\n\nLife a great school--Man a child learning his lesson--Preparing for\nhigher grades--The game-task--What it all means--Things as they\nare--The rules wise and good--Each task means something--Greeting the\nKindergartner.\n\n\nI see Life as a great school--Man as a tiny child, learning his little\nlessons, performing his little tasks, playing his little games,\nenjoying his little pleasures, suffering his little pains,\ndisappointments, trials and sorrows.\n\nI feel that we are in but the kindergarten stage of existence,\nlearning the first lessons of Life--fitting ourselves for the grander,\nbroader, fuller life in store for us. And I feel that this little\nkindergarten experience will continue until we have learned its\nlessons well--have firmly grasped the principles designed for our baby\nminds. And I feel that when we have proven our ability to weave our\nlittle mats--build our little blocks--draw our little pictures--mold\nour little clay forms--sing our little songs--then, and not until\nthen, will we pass into a higher grade, where we will spell out the\nlines of the Primer of Life, and acquire the elementary principles of\nCosmic Mathematics. And I feel that each little lesson must be\nlearned, thoroughly, before the next step is taken. And I feel that\nevery one of us must perform his own task--must memorize his own\nlesson--before he can gain the experience--can profit by the knowledge\nacquired in the performance of the task. We may be inspired by some\nbrighter pupil--be encouraged by the loving sympathy of some\nfellow-scholar, but the task is _ours_ to perform, sooner or\nlater--and ours is the joy of accomplishment.\n\nI believe that as some children, even whilst fascinated by the\ngame-task of the kindergarten, know that it is only a childish task\nand not the _real thing_ of life, so may we come to a point, where,\nwhilst enjoying the constantly changing play of life, we will realize\nthat it is but the training for greater things, and important only\nin that sense. The perception of this fact by the child need not\ninterfere with his interest in the game--need not prevent him from\nfeeling the joy of _doing_, creating, working, gaining new experiences;\nnor need it prevent _us_ from playing the kindergarten games of\ngrown-up life with a zest and interest, not alone because we\nrealize that we are learning valuable lessons, but, yea, even from\nthe very excitement and joy of the game itself.\n\nWhen we realize just what this view of Life means, we will find new\npleasures in everyday life--will learn to laugh with childish glee at\nour little successes in molding the clay into the desired shape--in\nthe clever weaving of the mat. And we will learn to smile, through our\ntears, if our little mat happens to tear in two--if our little clay\nsphere drops to the floor and is shattered--if the hour's work is\ndestroyed.\n\nAnd we will learn our little lesson of Love--of Comradeship. We will\nlearn by experience that if we lead the narrow, selfish life we will\nmiss the joy that falls to the lot of those who have learned to\nexpress more fully the love-nature within them--we will find that Love\nbegets Love--that the love-nature, expressed, attracts to itself the\nlove in the hearts of our little playmates. We will find that the\nchild who carries within him the love for others, and expresses that\nlove, need never want for friends or companions, need never suffer\nfrom loneliness, need never fear being left out in the cold. The true\nPersonal Magnetism of the child (and the grown-up) consists largely\nof--Love, which never fails in its drawing power. And we will learn,\nfrom bitter experience, the folly of the idea of separateness from our\nlittle playmates--will know that the standing apart brings nothing but\nsorrow to us. We will realize that selfishness brings nothing but\npain--that giving has its pleasures as well as receiving. And we will\nlearn something of Brotherhood, and its goodness--we will have the\nTrue Democracy of the kindergarten impressed upon us. These lessons\n(and others) we will learn well, before passing on.\n\nWe, like the child, often wonder what is the use of it all--fret over\nour enforced tasks--chafe at the confinement--rage at the\nrestrictions, and, failing to comprehend it all, indulge in\ncomplaints, protests, rebellion. And, like the child, we cannot expect\nto understand the whyness of it all, certainly not until we pass\nbeyond the kindergarten stage of existence and reach the higher\ngrades.\n\nWhen one begins to realize _what he is_--begins to be conscious\nof the I AM--begins to know things as they are--he gradually learns to\nappreciate things at their true worth, and, although not released from\nthe necessity of playing out his kindergarten game tasks, is able to,\npractically, _stand aside and watch himself play them out_. He\nknows that he is gaining knowledge--is mastering his lessons--is\nliving-out, and out-living, his desires--is acquiring and storing up\nnew experiences--but he values things only at their final worth, and\nis not deceived by the apparent value of the moment. He begins to see\nthings in their proper relations. He does not take himself (or things)\ntoo seriously. He enjoys the pleasure of the game--but he knows it to\nbe but the play and pleasure of the child--he laughs, but is not\ndeceived. He suffers, also, the sorrow, grief, disappointment,\nhumiliation and chagrin of the child-nature--but even though the tears\nare falling he, _knowing_, smiles. He laughs with joy--with pain\nhe cries, but he knows--he _knows_. He enjoys the playthings,\ngifts, rewards, but he knows them for what they are--he knows. He\nplays the games with the children who do not know--and well he\nplays--but he knows. His disillusionment spoils not the sport--he\nplays on (for play he _must_), knowing, but enjoying. Yes, enjoying\n_because_ of the knowing. He knows that the child-things are good--but\nhe sees them as but shadows of the Good to come. He knows that he\n\"cannot escape from his own good.\" And he knows that the Good is also\nin store for his playmates (though they know it not) and, being full\nof love, he rejoices.\n\nHe feels that the rules of the School are wise and good, and that,\nthough he cannot see it clearly now, INFINITE JUSTICE rules all,\nas will in the end appear. He knows that promotion will be gained,\njust as soon as earned. He knows that just as soon as he is able\nto master a task, that task will be set before him--not a moment\nbefore. And he knows that no task will be allotted him even one\nmoment before the possibility of its accomplishment.\n\nHe knows that he is being tested, trained and strengthened, day by\nday--that every unpleasant and disagreeable task has an important end\nin view. And he knows that every task placed before him is in\naccordance with a Law that takes cognizance of his powers, failings,\ncapabilities, short-comings--that understands him better than he does\nhimself. He knows that the very allotment of the task is a guarantee\nof his ability to perform it. He knows that within him are latent\npowers, potential forces, hidden knowledge, which will well forth from\nhis sub-conscious mentality when bidden by the Confident Expectation\nof Intelligent Faith.\n\nAnd, knowing these things, he is filled with Courage--and presses\nforth eagerly to the tasks of the day. And, knowing, he casts off all\nFear, Worry, Discouragement and Discontent, and, with the smile of\nLove on his face and the joy of Faith in his heart, he greets THE\nKINDERGARTNER with Confidence and Trust.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUMAN WET BLANKET.\n\nSees no good in anything--Expects the bad and gets it--Attracts it to\nhim--Depresses everything and everyone--Carries an aura of negative\ndepressing thought--Clammy--Puts out the fire of energy--Take warning.\n\n\nDid you ever meet the Human Wet Blanket?\n\nTo start with, he sees no good in anything. To him every man is a\nrogue--every woman a schemer trying to pull the wool over the eyes of\nsome man. He looks for the Bad--expects to find it--and find it he\ndoes. One generally gets what he looks for. He attracts to him that\nfor which he looks, and he cannot see any other qualities than those\npossessed by himself. Everyone is trying to cheat him, and out-wit\nhim, so he thinks, and I have no doubt that the Law brings him a fair\nshare of people of this kind. In order to prevent other people from\ntaking advantage of him, he endeavors to take advantage of them in the\nsame small way that he fears they will use on him. The consequence is\nthe people with whom he has dealings are apt to give him a dose of his\nown medicine. He trusts no man. He's so shrewd that he measures off a\nspool of thread in order to be sure that the storekeeper has not\nrobbed him of a yard or two. And the funny thing is, that he sets in\nmotion the Law which causes the one short-measure spool in the case to\nfall into his hands. He just _draws_ these things to him. He thinks\nhimself a marvel of cunning, and endeavors to manifest it in petty\npractices, the result being that he attracts to himself all the little\nschemers, and some of the big ones, who happen to be within the radius\nof his attracting power, while the other type of people are repelled\nby his mental attitude and thought-force. Funny, isn't it?\n\nThen he sees nothing but disaster ahead in any plan, and, sure,\nenough, if he gets near enough to the plan to contaminate it, trouble\nis sure to happen. As an attractor of Negative Thought he is a\nglittering success. He seems to have a positive genius for doing\nthings the wrong way. And yet, he doesn't believe in the Attractive\nPower of Thought or \"any such nonsense.\" He's too shrewd to take any\nstock in such ridiculous theories, although he exhibits in his life a\nmost convincing proof of the truth of New Thought teachings.\n\nHe never says \"I Can and I Will,\" and if he hears anyone around him\nindulging in such heretical notions, he promptly proceeds to squelch\nhim by a few \"Supposings,\" \"Buts,\" \"What ifs,\" and two or three gloomy\nshakes of the head, and a few sighs. His motto seems to be \"There's no\nuse trying, you can't do it.\" With him the country seems always to be\ngoing to the dogs, and the poorhouse is constantly looming up before\nhim.\n\nI need scarcely add that Fear, Worry, Jealousy, and Suspicion are his\nbosom friends. He holds these thoughts constantly, and they and the\nrest of the negative brood are devouring him. They are making their\nhome in his mentality and are increasing rapidly, besides frequently\ninviting their friends for a visit.\n\nOf course, it's nobody's business if he likes this sort of thing, but\nit is not pleasant to come in contact with him. He is surrounded with\nan aura of negative, depressing, gloomy, thought-force, which is\nmanifest to all with whom he comes in contact. Turn him loose in a\nroomful of cheerful people, and in a few minutes the conversation has\nlagged, the warmth of love and friendship has disappeared and things\nbegin to feel damp and chilly, and someone will begin to make inquiry\nregarding the furnace or the steam radiators, and wondering why the\njanitor does not keep up the fire on such a day. Approach him when you\nfeel fired with energy, ambition and push--when you feel that you can\ngo out and conquer any obstacle--and you will feel the clammy wet\nblanket thrown over you, putting out your fire of energy, and in a\nmoment or two you will wonder \"What's the use.\" That is, unless you\nunderstand your business, and know how to throw off the influence of\nthe negative thought-waves emanating from this man. Look out for him.\n\nFrom the bottom of my heart, I pity this man and his kind. He gets\nnone of the sweet things of Life--he doesn't see them lying around. He\nmisses the joy of living. He sees everything through jaundiced eyes.\nHe knows nothing of the happiness of the clear head, warm heart, and\nbrotherly hand. He is so occupied in looking for the spoiled fruit on\nthe ground that he does not see the perfect fruit on the branches\nabove his head, begging to be picked. He is so much engrossed in the\nmud upon the road, that he does not see the bright blue sky above his\nhead; the beautiful landscape; the children playing on the grass; the\nmother nursing her babe; the old couple trudging along hand in hand.\nThese things do not exist for him. His mind is so full of Fear,\nSuspicion, Distrust, and Petty Spite, that Love finds no room. But\neven this is Good--for many find their way to Optimism only by first\nsinking to the depths of extreme Pessimism. They reach the Celestial\nCity by the road that winds through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.\nEven these things shall pass away.\n\nAll's well.\n\n\n\n\nAIM STRAIGHT.\n\nFear attracts, as well as Desire--Learn to aim straight and aim at the\nright thing--Examples--The bowler--The bicyclist and the car--The\nbicyclist and the post--The boy and the marbles--Wisdom from the\nbabe--Look straight; Think straight; Shoot straight.\n\n\nA strong Desire or a strong Fearthought is an aim at the thing desired\nor feared. And in proportion to the degree of Desire or Fear, will we\nbe carried toward the thing at which we aim. Confident Expectation is\nmanifested in a Fearthought as well as in an earnest Desire, and when\nwe confidently expect a thing to happen we are carried toward it by an\nirresistible force. It may seem strange to you to hear that Fear is\nakin to Desire, but this is the truth. It matters not whether we call\nit Desire or Fear, the gist of the matter lies in the Confident\nExpectation. A faint Hope and a lurking Fear have about the same\nattractive force--a Desire coupled with a firm belief in its\nrealization attracts strongly, but no more strongly than does a Fear\ncoupled with a feeling of certainty of its realization. The thing upon\nwhich your Thought is firmly fixed or drawn toward, will be the thing\nyou will realize. Therefore Aim Straight.\n\nWe have heard much of the Attractive Power of Thought as applied to\nDesire. I will now say something to you about the same force called\ninto operation by Fearthought. It is far more pleasant for me to speak\nof the bright side of the question, but I would be neglecting my duty\ntoward you if I failed to direct your attention to the reverse of the\nshield. When you thoroughly realize that Thought-force works both\nways, you will know how to handle it, and will understand many things\nthat have heretofore been dark to you. You will learn to AIM STRAIGHT,\nbut will also learn to be careful at what you aim. You will learn to\navoid the aim inspired by Fear, and will hereafter use all your\nenergies to pointing your mental arrow at the bull's-eye of Happiness\nand Success.\n\nLet us take a few facts from the physical plane in order to illustrate\nthings as they are on the mental plane of effort. Life has its\ncorrespondences on all its planes, and by taking examples from one\nplane, we will be able to more readily understand the workings of the\nLaw on other planes.\n\nSome time ago, I was talking to a number of people about this subject,\nand gleaned from each an illustration of the workings of the Law of\nAttraction on the physical plane. And each example although on the\nphysical plane, showed the power of Mind behind it. I will tell you\nwhat some of these people said, and you can see for yourself just what\nI mean.\n\nThe first man was a printer, who after hours spent much time in\nbowling, and who was looked upon as an expert in that game. He said\nthat some time before he was playing a game, and at a critical point\nwhen he was taking aim and endeavoring to put the ball in between the\n1 and 2 pins (a specially advantageous shot), his opponent spoke up\nand said \"Just watch him hit the 4 pin.\" I do not know anything about\nbowling, but it seems that to hit the 4 pin is about the worst thing\nthat can happen to a bowler, outside of missing the pins altogether.\nWell, to go on with the story, with the remark of his rival,\nFearthought entered the mind of the printer, and he couldn't get the 4\npin out of his mind. He kept on looking at the place he wanted to hit,\nbut his mind was on the 4 pin, and he feared that he would hit it. To\nuse his own words, he \"got rattled,\" and away went the ball striking\nthe 4 pin fair and square. He concluded the story by saying: \"And so\ninstead of making a 'ten strike' I got only a 'split.'\" Maybe you\nunderstand those terms better than do I, but at any rate you will see\nwhat a Fearthought brought to this typographical bowler in his little\ngame of ten-pins. Moral: When you wish to place the ball Energy\nbetween the 1 and 2 pins of Life, don't allow Fearthoughts to switch\nyou off to the 4 pin, thereby giving you a \"split\" instead of the\ncoveted \"ten-strike.\"\n\nAnother friend told me that, a few days before, he had been riding on\nthe front bench of a grip-car on a Chicago cable-line. Hearing the\ngripman break into the vernacular in a vigorous style, he looked up,\nand saw a colored man on a bicycle trying to cross the track \"on the\nbias,\" as the girls say, just ahead of the car. There was plenty of\ntime--plenty of room--for the man to get across, but when he reached\nthe middle of the track Fearthought got hold of him, and in spite of\nhimself his wheel turned and he headed straight for the car. He headed\nstraight for the gripcar, just as if he had aimed at it, and the next\nmoment he went \"bang\" right into it. He escaped injury, but his wheel\nwas wrecked. When asked about it, he said that from the moment he got\nafraid of the car his wheel \"ran away with him,\" right into the thing\nhe Feared. Moral: Keep your mind fixed on the thing you want--not on\nthe thing you don't want.\n\nAnother man, to whom I related the story of the man on the wheel, said\nthat he had the same trouble when he was learning to ride the wheel.\nHe was getting along pretty well and could manage to steer half-way\nstraight, although in a wobbly manner, until one day he happened to\nsee a certain telegraph pole in front of the place where he was\nlearning to ride. The pole seemed to hypnotize him, and from that day\nhe couldn't keep his front wheel away from it. He couldn't keep away\nfrom that pole--he was afraid of it. The pole seemed to have magnetic\nqualities and the result was \"Bump.\" He remounted, over and over\nagain, but the result was the same. At last he made up his mind that\nhe was going to get ahead of that pole somehow, and he mounted the\nwheel with his back toward the pole (but his Mind was still on it) and\nlo! the front wheel described a semi-circle, and back to the pole he\nwent. Moral: Don't let a pole hypnotize you with Fearthought--keep\nyour Mind on the place to which you wish to go.\n\nBut the best example was given by a boy who had kept his eyes open and\nhis thinker working. Maybe I had better tell you in his own words.\nThis is what he said, just as he said it:\n\n\"Oh, pshaw!\" said the Boy, \"you're making a big fuss over nothing.\nEvery feller knows that you've got to _think_ about a thing if you\nwant to hit it, and if you think about the wrong thing, why, you'll\nhit the wrong thing. If I fire a stone at a tin can, why, I just look\nsquare at the can and think about the can for all I'm worth, and the\ncan's a dead one, sure. If I happen to let my mind wander to the cat\nwhat's on the shed over to the left of the can--well, so much the\nworse for the cat, that's all. _To shoot straight, you've got to aim\nstraight; and to aim straight you've got to look straight; and to look\nstraight you've got to think straight._ Every kid knows that, or he\ncouldn't even play marbles. If I get my heart set on a beauty marble\nin the ring, I just want it the worst way and says I to myself,\n'You're my marble.' Then I look at him strong and steady-like and\ndon't think about nothing else in the world but that beauty. Maybe I'm\nlate for school, but I clean forget it. I don't see nothing--nor think\nnothing--but that there marble what I want. As the piece in my reader\nsays, it's my 'Heart's Desire,' and I don't care whether school keeps\nor not, just so as I get it. Then I shoot, and the marble's mine. And,\nat school, when our drawing teacher tells us how to draw a straight\nline, she makes two dots, several inches away from each other. Then\nshe makes us put our pencils on the first dot and look steady at the\nother and move our pencil towards it. The more you keep thinking about\nthe far off dot, and the less you think about the starting dot or your\nhand, the straighter you're going to get your line. Wonst I looked\nstraight at the far-off dot with my eyes, but I kept thinking about a\nred-headed girl on the other side of the room, and what do you think,\nthe line I was drawing slanted away off in her direction, although I\nhad kept my eyes glued on the far-away dot and never even peeped in\nthe kid's direction. That shows, sure, that it's the thinking as well\nas the looking. See?\"\n\nAll of the examples above given contain within them the principles of\na mighty truth--a working illustration of a great law of Life. If we\nare wise we will profit by them. Many things are happening around us\nevery day, from which we might gain lessons if we would only think a\nlittle, instead of playing \"follow my leader\" and accepting other\npeople's thought, ready made. We have gotten so accustomed to these\n\"hand-me-down\" thoughts, that we have almost forgotten how to turn out\nthoughts for ourselves. The day has come when we are required to do a\nlittle thinking on our own account, instead of humbly bowing before\nmoth-eaten Authority perched upon a crumbling base. The time has\narrived when we must strike out for ourselves, instead of following a\nmusty Precedent which has \"seen better days.\" This is the age of the\nIndividual. This the time for the \"I\" to assert itself.\n\nI wish you would pay attention to what the Boy said. It is not the\nfirst time that we have gone to the babe for wisdom. Although a child\nhas an imagination beyond our comprehension, he, at the same time, is\npainfully and even brutally, matter of fact. He is continually asking:\n\"Why,\" and when we grown-ups are unable to answer him he answers the\nquestion himself, often better than we could have done. He doesn't\ntheorize, but gets down to business, and works things out for himself.\nThis boy knew all about the Thinking part of the problems, and had put\nit into practical application, while we were theorizing about it. He\nhad discovered that in order to get things we must first earnestly\nDesire them; then Confidently Expect that we would get them; then go\nto work to procure them. That's the true philosophy of getting things.\nHe tells us, about the marble, that he first \"wanted it the worst way\"\nand \"didn't care whether school kept or not\" just so he got the\nmarble. Then he \"looked strong and steady-like\" at the marble, saying:\n\"You're my marble.\" Then he shot, and the marble was his. Can any of\nyou describe the process of getting things better than this? If we\ngrown-ups would only put into our daily tasks the interest and\nattention that the boy put into his game of marbles, we would \"get the\nmarble\" oftener than we have been doing.\n\nOf course, it may be true, that the principal joy is in the getting of\nthings rather than in the possession of them--that the Game of Life is\nlike the game of marbles in that respect, but what of that? That\nneedn't spoil the game. The boy knows enough to enjoy playing for a\nfew marbles that may be obtained for a penny-a-fistful at the corner\nstore--but that fact doesn't bother him at all. He knows that when he\ngets the marble it will not seem half so beautiful in the hand as it\ndid in the ring--but he gets ready to shoot for the next one with just\nas much zest and enjoyment. He finds a joy in Living; Acting; Doing;\nExpressing; Growing and Outgrowing, Gaining Experiences. Take a lesson\nfrom the Boy--while you are in the Great Game, take a boy's interest\nin it; play with a zest; play your level best, and _get the marble_.\nThe Boy instinctively knows that the joy of life consists of Living,\nwhile we poor grown-ups vainly imagine that our pleasure will come\nonly in the trophies of the game--the glass-marbles of Life--and look\nupon the playing of the game as drudgery and work imposed upon us as a\npunishment of the sins of our forefathers. The boy lives in the Now,\nand enjoys every moment of his existence--his winnings, his losings,\nhis victories, his defeats, while we, his elders and superiors in\nwisdom groan at the heat of the day and the rigor of the game and are\nonly reconciled to our tasks by the thought of how we will enjoy the\npossession of the marbles, when we get them at the end of the game.\nThe Boy sucks his orange and extracts every particle of its sweet\ncontents, while we throw away the juicy meat and aim only to secure\nthe pips. Oh, yes! the boy not only knows how to \"get there,\" but he\nhas also a sane philosophy of Life. Many of us grown-ups are now\nre-learning that which we lost with our youth.\n\nYou will notice that the bowler, the bicyclists and the others, got\nwhat they didn't want, because they were afraid of it, and allowed it\nto distract their thoughts from the object of their Desire. To Fear a\nthing is akin to Desiring it--in either case you are attracted toward\nit, or it to you. It's a rule that works both ways. You must think\nabout the Thing you Want--not about the Thing you Don't Want, for the\nthoughts you are thinking are the ones that are going to take form in\naction, as the Boy said: \"_You've got to think about a thing if you\nwant to hit it, and if you think about the wrong thing, why, you're\ngoing to hit the wrong thing_.\" Watch your Ideal, not your Bugbear.\nConcentrate on your Ideal--fix your thought and gaze upon it, like the\nboy upon his marble--and don't allow Fearthought to sidetrack you.\nSelect the thing you want to be, and then grow steadily into it. Pick\nout the thing you want, and then go straight and steadily to it.\nReplace your old whine: \"I Fear,\" with the New Thought shout: \"I Can,\nand I Will.\" Then you will experience an illustration of \"Thought\ntaking form in Action.\"\n\nLook Straight; Think Straight; Shoot Straight; in these three things\nlie the secret of Success.\n\n\n\n\nAT HOME.\n\nDon't be afraid--You are at home--Not here by chance--You belong\nhere--YOU are the soul--YOU cannot be hurt--YOU cannot be\nbanished--YOU are right in the universe, and there is no\noutside--Great things are before you--Make yourself at home.\n\n\nDon't be afraid. You're living in your own home. This Universe was\nbuilt for you to inhabit--to occupy--to enjoy. Do not feel\nstrange--make yourself at home. The wonderful laws of nature--those\nwhich have been discovered, and those which remain to be\ndiscovered--are all laws for your use, when you grow large enough to\nunderstand how to make use of them.\n\nDid you think you were here by chance, or that you were an alien? If\nso, learn better. You are to the manor born--you are the heir.\nEverything around the place is for your use, when you grow up. No one\ncan dispossess you--no one can put you out. You are at home.\n\nDo you long for another home? Do you fret and chafe at the trials and\ntroubles of this world, and imagine that somewhere else things will be\nbetter? Well, they'll never be better for you until you have met and\nconquered the trials and troubles of this place. You are just where\nyou belong. You are surrounded with just the things you need. You are\ngetting just what you deserve. And until you learn the truth of this,\nyou will have the same surroundings--the same environments. And then\nwhen you learn that the things around you are all right--that you are\nbeing treated justly--that you are getting just what you have\nattracted, and are attracting, to yourself--then you will be ready for\nthe next step in the journey, and you will have new surroundings and\nnew environments--new tasks--new lessons--new pleasures.\n\nI hear some of you talking about Death. You seem to think that you\nwill be another order of being as soon as you take your last breath\nupon earth. You talk about being a \"spirit,\" bye-and-bye. Do I believe\nthis? Of course, I believe it. I _know_ it. But I also know something\nelse, and that is that you are a spirit now, just as much as you will\nbe in another world. Did you think that some wonderful essence was\ngoing to grow from you, and that that essence would be what you call a\nspirit? Nonsense! YOU are the spirit, and the not-you part which will\nbe discarded never was you. The You which says I AM is the real\nthing--the real self--and the rest of you is but tools and instruments\nwhich YOU are using. Why can't you see this? You talk about \"my soul,\"\n\"my spirit,\" and so on. You make me tired. Why, the thing which is\nthinking and speaking--YOU--is the \"soul\" or \"spirit\" of which you are\ntalking. You talk as if the physical part of you, which is changing\ncontinually, was you. You are like the boy with the old knife. He was\ncontinually having the knife repaired. He had had seven new blades and\nthree new handles put on it, and yet it was the same old knife. Why,\nyou could step right out of your body (and maybe you do, more than you\nhave any idea of) and it would be the same old YOU. You could discard\nyour body just as you do your clothes, and yet YOU would be the same\nindividual. There is a wonderful difference between individuality and\npersonality. One you cannot get rid of; the other may be changed.\n\nWhat's the use in being afraid? Nobody can hurt the real YOU. You\ncannot be wiped out of existence. If a single spirit atom should be\ndestroyed, the entire structure would smash up. You cannot be banished\nfrom the Universe, for there's nowhere else to put you. You cannot get\noutside of the Universe, for _there's no outside_. There's no place\nfor you outside of everywhere.\n\nAnd you talk about time and eternity. Why, you're in eternity right\nnow. You are right in it this moment. It is always to-day--to-morrow\nnever comes. And you are right at home in the Universe, and always\nwill be. You are always there, for there's nowhere else to go.\n\nSo what's the use in being afraid? Who's going to hurt you? They\ncan't kill YOU. They can't put you out of existence. They cannot\nexpel you from the Universe. So what are they going to do about it\nanyhow? And, after all, who are \"They?\" You talk as if there were\noutside forces and influences antagonistic to you. Outside of\nwhat? No matter what beings of earth or air there may be, they\nare creatures like yourself. They are all a part of the Whole\nThing--all made of the same material--all come from the hand of\nthe same maker--you are all cut from the same piece of goods. The\napparent differences are illusions--the difference and separateness\nis only relative, and not actual.\n\nSo, make yourself at home. Take a look around and see what a nice bit\nof the Universe you have to live in. Some of your family have been\ntrying to occupy the whole house instead of only their share of it,\nbut those things are gradually working out, and all will be better\nwithin a comparatively short time. This is going to be a better world\nto live in when men take time to think a little. And you'll be around\nto enjoy it when it comes--never fear. You cannot get away, even if\nyou want to.\n\nAnd, what's the use of waiting for to-morrow. There's lots of things\nin which you can find happiness to-day, if you will only stop worrying\nabout to-morrow. The little child knows more about enjoying life than\nyou do. The little child feels at home anywhere and starts in to enjoy\nit, and get the most out of it, until he grows old enough to be\nhypnotized by the race belief.\n\nYou are at home here. Just as much at home as is the fish in the\nsea--the bird in the air. Realize this, and make the most of it. Stop\nbeing afraid. Stop fretting. Stop worrying. Realize that yesterday,\nto-day, and to-morrow, you are here in the Universe. It's a good\nUniverse, and it grows better as man grows in wisdom to take advantage\nof its goodness. And it is not yet \"sun-up\" here. Great things are\nbefore us. And you will see them and take part in them. Make yourself\nat home, for you're going to be around here for some time.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOLITUDE OF THE SOUL.\n\nLorado Taft's group--Description--Each stands alone--Each is in touch\nwith every other--Soul communion in silence--Silence is the sanctuary\nof the soul--The oneness of life and its apparent separateness--The\nmessage.\n\n\nIn one of the rooms of the Art Institute, in Chicago, stands a\nremarkable group, by Lorado Taft, the sculptor, entitled \"The Solitude\nof the Soul.\" The average visitor stops a moment and passes on,\ncommenting on the beauty of the figures composing this group. A few\nhurry past, afraid to look at the figures, for they are nude--as naked\nas the human soul before the gaze of its Creator. (Some people are\nafraid of things not hidden by draperies--even the naked Truth shocks\nthem.) But the man or woman who thinks and understands--stops long\nbefore this group, conscious that it tells the tale of a mighty truth.\n\nAround a large rock, stand four human figures--two men and two women.\nThey are so placed that but one figure is in full sight from any given\npoint of view, although the connection between any figure and the two\non each side of it may be seen. It is necessary to walk completely\naround the group to see the idea of the sculptor--to read the story\nthat he has written into the marble.\n\nEach figure has an individuality. Each stands alone. And yet each\nis in touch with the one behind, and the one before. Each one is\nconnected with all, yet each one stands alone. One figure extends a\nhand to her brother just ahead of her, and on her shoulder rests the\ntired head of the brother following her. Hand in hand, or head on\nshoulder stand they, each giving to the other that human touch and\ncontact so dear to the soul craving that companionship of one who\nunderstands.\n\nEach face shows sorrow, pain, and longing--that longing for that\ncomplete union of soul with soul--that longing that earth-life cannot\nsatisfy. And each feels and knows that the other has the same longing.\nAnd each gives to the other that comforting touch that says \"I know--I\nknow.\" Each face shows a great human love mingled with its pain. Each\nface shows resignation mingled with its grief. It is the old story of\nhuman love and human limitations. It is also a story of deeper\nimport--the story of the soul.\n\nEvery lip is closed. Each man and woman is silent. And yet each\nunderstands the other. Soul is communing with soul, in the Silence.\nAnd in the Silence alone can soul converse with soul. Words cheapen\nthe communication of soul to soul. With those who understand us well,\nwe can best commune in Silence. Hand in hand--cheek to cheek--sit\nthose who love well. The tale of love is told and re-told without a\nword. Words serve their purpose in conveying the commonplaces of life,\nbut seem strangely inadequate to express the deeper utterances of the\nsoul. The tale of love--the story of sorrow--needs no words. The soul\nunderstands the message of the soul--mind flashes the message to\nmind--and all is known. The fondest memory of the one whom you loved\nand lost, is not of moments in which he spoke even the most endearing\nwords. The memory most sacred to you is that of some great Silence\nlived out with the loved one--some moment in which each soul drew\naside its veil and gazed with awe into the depths of the other soul.\nSilence is the sanctuary of the soul. Enter it only with due\nreverence. Uncover the head--tread softly.\n\nEach figure stands alone, and yet in touch with all the rest. Each is\napparently separate and yet each is but a part of the whole. Each\nfeels the frightful solitude which comes to the soul when first it\nrecognizes what it is. And yet, in that dreadful moment each knows\nitself to be in touch with all of life. Each feels that intense\nlonging for a closer soul union--a reunion of the separated parts of\nthe whole. And yet each realizes the impossibility of the consummation\nof that desire at this time--and they show their grief--they place the\nhead upon the shoulder of the other--they clasp the hand of the\nother--they touch the flesh of the other--all as a symbol of the\ndesire for the union of the soul.\n\nThis group is a symbol of the oneness of life and its apparent\nseparateness. A picture of the in-touchness of each part of the whole,\nwith every other part. A story of the pain of the soul in its awful\nsolitude--of its impotent striving for at-one-ment. A representation\nof the communion of soul with soul, in the Silence. A tale of the\ncomfort and joy in the presence of another human form. A message of\nThe Brotherhood of Man. All this--and more--is in this group.\n\nI wonder if the sculptor saw it all, or whether he chiseled better\nthan he knew. Sometimes the Divine in man causes him to write\nbetter--paint better--cut better--than he realizes. Others see much\nmore in his essays, stories, poems, paintings, statuary, than the\nmaker knew was there. And the man himself, after years have past again\nviews his work, and wonders at the new story he reads there. He feels\ndazed at having portrayed truths of which he dreamt not while he\nworked. There are within us unexplored depths, of the existence of\nwhich we do not dream. And from these depths, now and then, rise into\nour consciousness beautiful thoughts--beautiful images--which we\nreproduce on paper--canvas--marble. We do not understand these things,\nand we join with others in the feeling of wonder inspired by the sight\nof the reproduction of that which came from the depths of our mental\nbeing. And some, who have grown closer to the Real Self within them,\nsee beauties in our work to which we are blind. Not until the scales\nfall from our eyes, do we realize the full meaning of our work.\n\nSome call this Inspiration. But those who have pierced the veil\nknow that it is inspiration from within, not from without. It is the\nvoice of the Divine spark within man, whispering to the consciousness\nwhich is struggling to know better that Higher Self--a whisper of\nencouragement and good cheer--a portent of the future--a glimpse of\nthe distant light--a bestowal of a few crumbs from the table of the\nSpirit.\n\nI know not, I say, whether Lorado Taft knew what he chiseled. I know\nnot whether he is a man of deep spiritual insight. But this I do know,\nthat this group, \"The Solitude of the Soul\" is the work of the Spirit\nwithin this man. And his work carries a deep spiritual message to\nthose who are ready to receive it. And in years to come this message\nwill be understood by thousands, for everyone who receives it to-day.\nThis work shall live long after its maker has forsaken the earthly\nbody that he now uses as an instrument. It will live because it\ncarries a message--because it conveys a mighty truth.\n\n\n\n\nJERRY AND THE BEAR.\n\nThe Law's plan of developing an individual--Folly of clinging to old\nworn out sheaths--The story of Jerry and the Bear--Who Jerry was--He\nmeets the Bear--The fight--The result--The consequences--The change in\nJerry--The moral.\n\n\nThe Law, in its efforts to develop Man into a self-reliant being--into\nan individual--first tries the simpler plan of bringing a steady\npressure to bear in the direction of gradual progress and growth,\nimpelling the man to think and act himself into a more positive\ncondition each day. After a while the man, feeling behind him the\nsteady push of Life, and being conscious of the attracting power of\nthe Absolute drawing him to higher things--leading him up the mountain\npath of Attainment--learns to trust the propelling and attracting\npower, and, ceasing his resistance, moves along in the direction of\ngradual unfoldment and growth. He casts off sheath after sheath--and\ngrows. He does not attempt to impede or interfere with his\ndevelopment, but cheerfully and joyfully presses forward to his\nunfoldment. He finds pleasure in each stage, and should pain manifest\nitself he knows it as the growing pains of the child--a promise of\ngreater things.\n\nThere are some, however, who seem determined to cling to their old\nsheaths, and resist the pressure of growth to the utmost. They are\nunable to withstand the steady pressure, and the attracting power,\ncarrying them forward, and their resistance brings them much pain and\nfriction, and they are pushed this way and that by the pressure of the\ngrowing Self, resisting and struggling all the time. The Law has\nseveral ways of dealing with these people, for their own good, and\noften, with a supreme effort, tears them from the surrounding sheath\nto which they are clinging and forces them into a broader and wider\nlife, against their wishes and in spite of their struggles and cries.\n\nMany of us, looking back over our past lives, smile as we recognize\nhow we were forced into new fields of work and endeavor--how we were\nbroadened out in spite of ourselves--how we were torn from our old\nsurroundings and environments, in spite of our lamentations,\nreproaches, and cries, and placed amid new scenes and faces. This\nthing is repeated over and over again, until we learn the lesson and\ncease to be unduly attached to persons and things, and become willing\nto yield ourselves to the onward moving force and co-operate with the\nLaw instead of opposing it.\n\nMany men and women who steadily refuse to stand erect and assert their\nindependence, are deliberately worked into a position where they\n_must_ declare their freedom from the things upon which they have\nbeen leaning, and are forced to stand up and face conditions from\nwhich they have shrunk all their lives. The Law has a way of picking\nup those shivering mortals who stand around the river's edge, and\nthrowing them into the stream, bidding them to strike out and SWIM.\nIt prefers the easier way of teaching you to swim by degrees--of\nacquiring knowledge by easy stages--but if you refuse to learn in this\nway, it will resort to the vigorous plan just mentioned--but swim you\n_must_, one way or the other.\n\nI am going to tell you a story--not a particularly pretty one, but one\nthat will give you an idea of what I mean, and how the plan works.\nIt's about animals--but many a truth has been conveyed by fables in\nwhich animals were the actors, and this homely little tale from the\nwilderness may convey to your minds the point of this talk better than\ndo my words. Here's the story:\n\nOnce upon a time a man, away up in one of the Northwestern States,\nowned a dog named \"Jerry.\" He was not very much on looks--and less in\ngood qualities. He was not of any fancy breed--just Dog, that's all.\nHe had drifted on to the farm from Somewhere and had been kicked and\ncuffed around in his early youth, until he was afraid to claim a right\nto live at all. He grew up into a worthless animal--snapped at by\nsmaller dogs--bullied by those of his own size--looked down upon by\nall. He expected to be kicked by everybody in sight--and, of course,\ngot kicked. (Men and dogs who go around expecting to be abused, always\ndraw upon them the thing they fear and expect.) His tail seemed a\nmagnet which attracted all the tin cans around that neighborhood.\nPitying did not seem to do him any good--it only made him more\nmiserable and abject than ever, just as it acts in the case of some\npeople. The poor chap gradually dropped down to the lowest state of\ndogdom, and his case seemed hopeless. The farmer would drive to town\nevery once in a while, and Jerry would sneak along under the wagon, in\nmanner seeming to apologize for taking up even that space. His\nappearance would be the signal for all the dogs of the several farms\nalong the road to chase down to the wagon, rout him out, and roll him\nover in the dust, the performance being repeated at every farm to and\nfrom the town. The farmer, at last, feeling that the dog was bringing\nhis establishment into disrepute, and knowing that \"Hopkins' Jerry\"\nwas becoming a township jest, determined to put an end to the animal's\nunhappy career. But Destiny intervened--possibly in order to give me a\ntale to point the moral of this talk--and to give you something to\nremember in trying circumstances.\n\nJerry strayed away from the farm one evening, being chased a part of\nthe distance by some of the smaller dogs who delighted in bullying\nhim. He traveled some distance from home and entered the woods. Bear\ntracks had been discovered in that region, and some of the boys had\ndug a pit, baiting it with some choice tid-bit pleasing to his\nbearship, and covering it over with a thin roof which would yield to\na light weight. Jerry started across the roof, and in he went. Some\nhours after a young bear came sniffing around, and he, too, dropped\nin the pit. Then the trouble commenced.\n\nThe bear feeling infuriated by his unceremonious drop, reached out for\nJerry and gave him a scratch which caused him to yell. The bear,\nseeing that there was no fight in his opponent, chased him round and\nround the pit, until it seemed only a matter of a few minutes more\nuntil the dog would be relieved of his misery. Things took an\nunexpected turn, however. The bear knocked Jerry over on his back, and\nbegan giving him the finishing touches. This seemed to bring to life\nthe last remaining touch of self-respect left in the poor brute, and\nwith a mighty effort he sprang straight at the bear's throat and gave\nhim a bite in which was concentrated all the repressed bites of a\nlifetime. The bear, with a roar, sprang back to the other side of the\npit. It was hard to tell which was the most surprised of the two, the\nbear at the sudden courage of his opponent, or Jerry at the fact that\nhe could fight bear. The dog's self-respect and confidence went up\nnearly to par. The bear's caution adjusted itself accordingly. After a\nbit the bear cautiously worked his way over toward Jerry, but the dog\nsnarled fiercely and showed his teeth. They had several rounds before\nthings quieted down, and each time Jerry showed his mettle, and\nalthough he was badly scratched he had bestowed upon the bear several\ntokens of his valor. His self-respect and confidence was now an\nassured thing, and the bear treated him with considerable deference\nand consideration. After matters adjusted themselves, the bear and the\ndog each retired to their respective sides of the pit, and declared a\ntruce.\n\nIn the morning the boys came to the pit, shot the bear and lifted\nJerry out and carried him home. His tail was several inches shorter,\nand one ear was missing, and his body was scarred and scratched like\nthe face of a Heidelberg student, but away down in his heart he felt\ngood--and he showed it. The farmer, feeling proud of the animal,\ncarefully nursed him until he was able to move around the house, and\nthen allowed him to go out of doors. As soon as he appeared the other\ndogs made a rush for him, but something in his look caused them to\nkeep at a safe distance, and they contented themselves with barking at\nhim and keeping out of reach. He did not seem anxious to fight, but he\nhad that look of confidence in his eyes that kept them where they\nbelonged. He had ceased to fear. His tail no longer drooped between\nhis legs, but was held aloft as is the tail of every self-respecting\ndog. And somehow, that tail did not have the attracting power for tin\ncans that had formerly marked it. The boys recognized that Jerry had\nadvanced in the scale, and there was something about him that they\nliked and respected.\n\nAbout ten days after the dog got well, the farmer took a trip to town,\nand Jerry accompanied him, trotting along in an unconcerned manner,\nalongside, behind, or any other place that suited him. As the first\nfarmhouse was reached the dogs came rushing down to have some fun with\nour friend. They pitched into him as of yore. Something happened. The\npack ran yelping back to the house for surgical attention--and Jerry\ntrotted on just the same. This scene was repeated at every farm along\nthe road, Jerry repeating the object lesson each time, finishing up\nhis task by rolling into the dust the big bull terrier in front of the\npostoffice, who, heretofore, had been the terror of the town. The\nhomeward trip was a triumphal progress for the dog, and all his old\nfoes vied with each other in tail-wagging and other demonstrations\ndesigned to let Jerry know that they were proud to be his friends. But\nhe paid little attention to them--he had developed into a canine\nphilosopher. After that he led a happy life. He was not seeking fight,\nbut no boy or dog seemed to seek fight with him. He had cast out\nFearthought. He feared nothing that walked on legs. HE HAD MET BEAR.\n\nNow, some of my critics will call the attention of their readers to\nthe fact that I am advising fight. Not so, good friends. I am using\nthis dog story as an illustration, and am trying to show you how the\nLaw will sometimes force a man into tight quarters in order to bring\nout his courage and self-confidence. It knows the man \"has it in him,\"\nand it proceeds to use vigorous methods to bring it out into action\nproviding, always, that the man has not developed it before. When a\nman has been placed in a position where he faces the worst, and is\ncompelled to grapple with the bear, he finds that he has reserve force\nwithin him of which he never dreamt before, and he puts forth all his\nenergy to save himself. He finds that when he boldly faces the\ndifficulty the difficulty seems as much afraid of him as he had been\nof it. He gains more confidence, until at last he beats off the foe,\nand rests secure in his own strength. He finds that to the man who has\nabolished Fear and who can smilingly face any situation, Fate is very\nrespectful and obliging, although to the man who fears it is a\ntormentor. In proportion to a man's fear will be his troubles. When he\nreaches the position when he can laugh in the face of Fortune, he will\nfind her ceasing her coquetries and falling desperately in love with\nhim.\n\nAnd after the man has met the great difficulty--fought the mighty\nfight--he finds that he has ceased to fear the little troubles and\ntrials of life--he feels his strength--he knows his source of power.\nHe holds his head erect and breathes in the pure air of heaven, and\nfeels the warm blood tingling through his veins. He has found himself.\nHE HAS MET BEAR.\n\n\n\n\nTHE UNSEEN HAND.\n\nThe consciousness of the hand--When it first was felt--Always\nthere--Now as the hand of a father--Now as that of a mother--A\nlover--A brother--Always guiding--Always leading--A mystery--Some day\nwe will know the owner of the hand.\n\n\nI have felt the Unseen Hand--have been guided by it--have felt the\nkind but steady urge in the direction which it knew to be best, though\nmy Intellect failed to see the beauty of the road toward which the\nHand was directing me. For a time I rebelled against the impertinent\ninterference of that which seemed to be a thing apart from me--a\nmeddler--an unasked for helper. I had emerged from the dependent\nstate--the state in which I thought it necessary to lean upon others.\nI gloried in my independence--my freedom--my ability to stand alone.\nFinding that it was good to stand alone--reveling in the joy of my new\nfound freedom--rejoicing in the fact that the I AM within me was a\nreality--feeling within me the ecstasy that comes from the recognition\nof the reality of Individuality--I resented any interference from\noutside. But the pressure of the hand was still here--it would take my\nunwilling fingers within its own and lead me on--and lead me on.\n\nFinding that I could not get rid of this unseen helper--realizing that\nit was intent upon guiding me in spite of my repeated assertions that\nI was able to take care of myself--that I was big enough to walk\nalone--I began to study the Something that was so determined to take\nan active part in the affairs of my life--I started in to become\nacquainted with it.\n\nI found that it had always been with me more or less, but that I had\nnot before recognized its presence. So long as I felt that I was not\nable to stand erect upon my feet--so long as I feared--so long as I\nfailed to recognize the I AM--I was scarcely aware of this invisible\nhelper. But when I began to realize what I was--what was my place in\nthe Universal order of things--what were my possibilities--my\nfuture--the presence of this unseen hand began to be manifest. When I\nat length threw off the last fetter that had bound me--when I threw\nback my shoulders and drew my first free breath--when I shouted aloud\nwith joy at my freedom and strength--when I realized the power that\nwas within me and at my command--when I started out to accomplish that\nwhich my awakened mind told me was possible of attainment--when I\nstarted to do these things _all by myself_--then I felt for the\nfirst time the firm clasp of the unseen hand.\n\nNow gently guiding--now leading--now kindly restraining--now giving a\ngentle urge toward people, things and conditions--now drawing me back\nfrom the edge of a precipice--now directing toward a better path--now\ngiving me a gentle, firm pressure to reassure me of its presence when\nI doubted--now allowing me to rest my weight upon it when I felt\ntired--always there.\n\nAt times this hand has placed before me conditions that seemed to me\nto be anything but good. At times it has brought me pain. But I have\nlearned to trust it--have learned to trust it. The conditions that\nhave seemed to me to be undesirable have brought me to desirable\nthings. The pain that I have suffered has brought me pleasure. The\nexperiences that have come to me I would not wish to part with--the\nmore pain, the more experience; the more experience, the more\nknowledge.\n\nI have learned to love this hand. And the owner of the hand seems to\nfeel and return this love, and now and then, by a sympathetic little\nclasp, lets me know that I am understood. This hand sometimes seems to\nbe that of a Father--strong and firm--leading on with a confident air.\nAgain it seems to be that of a Mother--gentle and kind--leading me as\ndoes the mother lead her child. Again it seems as the hand of a woman\nwho loves me--clinging and warm--neither leading nor being led--just\nmoving on clasped in mine--no words--but with a perfect understanding.\nThe owner of this hand seems to combine within itself the qualities of\nboth sexes--seems to have within itself all the attributes of Father,\nMother, Lover, Brother, Sister. It seems to respond to the human need,\nin every direction. It seems always the hand of Love--even while\ngiving me pain.\n\nI have never seen the face of the owner of this hand. I have never\nlooked into its eyes. I have never seen its form, if form it has. But\nI have been conscious, at times, of being lifted up in its arms and\nbeing pressed close to its breast. I have felt the impulse of the\nchild, at such times, and have felt for the breast of the mother, and\nhave been conscious of the answering mother pressure as I was drawn up\nclose to the body of the owner of the hand. And, at times, have I felt\nrebellious at the confining clasp, and have struggled and have even\nbeat against the breast with my puny fists as I insisted that I be\nreleased from the clasping arms. But, mother-like, the owner of the\nhand only drew me closer to the breast until I could feel the very\nheart-throbs within the mother-body--could feel the vibrations\nemanating from its life--could feel the warm breath upon my cheek as\nthe invisible face bent over me impelled by the mother love.\n\nAgain, it takes on the father-form, and I place my little hand within\nit, and feeling like the boy whose father is taking him on a journey,\nI say \"Lead Thou me on,\" and go cheerfully and with faith into new\nlands--new surroundings--new fields. Why should I fear, have I not\nhold of my father's hand? And the hand at such times rests upon my\nshoulder, every once in a while, and I realize that the father feels a\npride in his son, and sees him growing in strength and knowing--that\nthe father looks forward to a time when he will be able to talk with\nthe boy who will then have grown in knowledge, and will be able to\nunderstand some of the secrets of Life that the father will then\nunfold to him.\n\nAnd, still again, the hand is that of the loving woman who is walking\nalong the path of Life with the man she loves. It is a tender\nclasp--the fingers tingle with love--the arm presses close to mine. I\nhear no voice--no words are needed--soul talks to soul in the silence.\nWe walk on and on and on. We understand.\n\nAnd, still again, the hand seems that of a brother--a twin brother.\nNeither the protection of the father--the loving tenderness of the\nmother--the thrill of the lover's touch--is there. I feel not that the\nhand is that of a stronger being--I am conscious only of the brotherly\nclasp--the touch of comradeship--the presence of an equal. I feel by\nmy side a helper--someone who will back me up in time of need. And I\nstroll along by his side and laugh with joy. The joy of the boy is\nagain mine. The joy of companionship is again mine. And, lo the hand\nof the brother seems to grow--he and I are again men. And something in\nhis hand-clasp seems to say to me, \"Come, brother, let us go forth\ninto the unknown future. Let us have Faith. There are lands awaiting\nour coming. Let us enjoy them. Let us explore them. Let us be filled\nwith the spirit of adventure, and go forth. Let us see--let us\nfeel--let us know.\" And I return the clasp, and say, \"Aye, brother,\nlet us go forth. Whither thou goest there will I go. Thy joys shall be\nmy joy--thy pain my pain. Let us go forth--let us go forth to the\nDivine Adventure.\"\n\nAnd, so, manifesting the attributes of all human relations, in turn,\nand at the proper time, the owner of this unseen hand is near me. I\nfeel his presence--I am aware of his nearness. At times faith grows\nfaint, and I think it all a delusion--a phantasm--a dream. All seems\nlost, and I weep. But, lo! in the midst of my despair, I feel the hand\nupon my head--I know that it is a reality and, through my tears, I\nsmile.\n\nShall I ever know the owner of this hand? Shall I ever see its face?\nShall I ever understand the mystery of its existence? I know not. But\nfaith whispers in my ear, \"Wait! All is well! When the pupil is ready\nthe Master appears. When your eyes have a clear vision and can bear\nthe sight, then shall you see the Face of the owner of the hand. You\nhave entered the Path and there is no turning back. Go on--go on in\nFaith, Courage and Confidence. Why should you doubt--have you not felt\nthe pressure of The Hand?\"\n\nAye, why should I doubt or question? Have I not felt the pressure of\nthe Unseen Hand? Open your hands, friends, that the Hand may clasp\nyours as it has mine. While your hand is clenched in Anger and\nHate--while it clutches tight the gold it has snatched from the hand\nof another--while the fingers are drawn together with Fear--it cannot\nreceive the Unseen Hand. Open it wide--reach it out--offer it in\nfriendly clasp--and you will feel within it the touch of that which\nyou seek.\n\nThe Unseen Hand is waiting to clasp yours. Give it welcome--give it\nwelcome.\n\n\n\n\nHOW SUCCESS COMES.\n\nSeeking success through mental powers--Holding the thought alone not\nsufficient--How to get the real benefit of thought-force--Fall in with\nthe workings of the Law--Stand on your own feet--One step at a\ntime--\"I Do\" as well as \"I Am.\"\n\n\nMany of the men and women who have been seeking Prosperity by means of\nthe powers of the mind, have done so by \"holding the thought,\" and\nthen folding their hands and calmly waiting for some \"lucky\" event to\nhappen, or in other words, for the long sought for prize to drop down\ninto the laps, from out of the Nowhere. Now, I have heard of a number\nof cases in which things apparently came about in this way, although I\nhave always felt that a little investigation would have shown some\ngood and natural cause behind it all, but as a rule the law does not\nwork in this way--it does not leave the old beaten road of cause and\neffect. It is no Aladdin's lamp which has merely to be rubbed in order\nthat glittering gems, and showers of gold, be poured out into the lap\nof the owner, as he lies back on his cushions, lazily rubbing the lamp\nwith the tip of his little finger. The law expects from the man who\nwould invoke its mighty aid, a little honest work on his part.\n\nI think that the majority of those who have met with a greater share\nof Success by means of the wonderful power of Thought, have met with\nsuch Success not by having it fall from the skies, but by following\nout the ideas, impulses, yes, inspiration, if you will, that have come\nto them. The man who has turned his back upon the old negative Mental\nAttitude--who has turned his face toward the rising sun--who has\nallowed the voice of Faith again to be heard--who knows that the Law\nwhich rules the motions of the worlds and still takes note of the\nsparrow's fall, has his interest at heart and asks but for Faith--that\nman, I say, finds that from time to time ideas will come into his mind\njust when they are needed; will find that the Law takes cognizance of\nall human needs and has prepared a way to satisfy them. He finds that\nnew ways are pointed out to him--avenues of escape from unbearable\nconditions--signboards pointing out the right road, but he must have\nFAITH in these little hints from the Infinite, and must follow them.\nThe Law will open the door to you, but will not push you in. And when\nit finds that you refuse to see the open door, it softly closes it,\nand not until many weary years have passed do you recognize what you\nhave missed. And the Law insists upon doing its work in its own good\nway--not in _your_ way. You may know what you want, but you may not\nknow just the right way to get it, although you think you do. The\nLaw will give you many a hint, and many a gentle push in the proper\ndirection, but it always leaves you the liberty of choice--the right\nto refuse. It does not insist upon your love, your Faith; that is, it\ndoes not _make_ you love and have Faith, but until you _do_ love and\nhave Faith you are not conscious of the promptings of the Spirit, or,\nat most, dismiss them as beneath your notice. Oh, ye of little Faith,\nwhen will ye learn.\n\nThe man who understands the workings of the Law, acts upon the tender\nimpulses imparted to him, without resistance. He does not ask to see\nthe end of the journey, but he sees the step just ahead of him very\nplainly, and he hesitates not about taking it. He does not expect the\nLaw to bring RESULTS and place them in his hand. All he asks and\ndesires is that the way be pointed out to him, and he is willing and\nready to do the rest himself. The true man or woman does not wish to\nbe fed with a spoon. All they ask is that they may have a fair chance\nto reach the source of supply, and they can manage to handle the spoon\nthemselves. If any man think that the Law is an incubator of\nparasites--of leeches--of vampires--he is greatly mistaken. The lesson\nof the Law is to teach every man to stand upon his own feet--to lean\nnot upon another--but at the same time to feel that he is guided by\nthe great Law of which he himself is a part, which manifests within\nhim as well as without him, and that, consequently, while placing his\ntrust in the Law, he trusts in himself. Not paradoxical at all, when\nyou have the key.\n\nYes, yes, the Law expects every man to do well the work that lies to\nhis hand--and to do it well, whether it is irksome or distasteful or\notherwise; and as soon as he ceases to rebel and beat his wings\nagainst the bars of the cage, the way is opened for the next step; and\nif he does not take that step, he must work away until he learns to\ntake it. And so on, and on, the lesson of each task to be learned\nbefore the next is presented. Work? why certainly you must work.\nEverything in the Universe works unceasingly. When you learn to look\nupon work as a joy and not a curse, then you are beginning to see your\nway out of the grinding process. Then you are getting a glimpse of the\nPromised Land. Why bless your hearts, Work is the best friend you\nhave, the only trouble is that you have treated it as an enemy and it\nhas paid you back in your own coin. When you learn to treat it as a\nfriend, it will be only too glad to make up, and you will get along\nlike two old cronies.\n\nNow, you people who have been sitting with folded hands and \"calmly\nwaiting,\" and complaining that your own has not come to you, listen:\nYou are mistaken. Your own has come to you--that's just the trouble.\nYour own is the thing you attract, and you have been attracting just\nwhat has come to you. Start in to-day, determined to fall in with the\nworkings of the Law, and pay attention to the \"I DO\" side of things as\nwell as the \"I AM,\" and you will receive new light. Great things are\njust ahead of you, but you must reach out for them--they're not going\nto drop into folded hands. This is the Law.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAN WITH THE SOUTHERN EXPOSURE.\n\nSouthern exposure as good a thing in a man as in a room--The man who\nfaces the sun--Lives one day at a time and does the best he knows how,\nand is kind--Finds Joy and carries it to others--Simple, loving,\nkind--Open yourself to the sun.\n\n\nDid you ever go house hunting? Then you remember how the agent laid\nmuch stress on the fact that certain rooms had a \"Southern Exposure.\"\nNo matter how many other good qualities the house had, all was\nsubordinated to the fact that the best rooms faced the South--had the\nlonged for \"Southern Exposure.\" The very words conveyed to your mind\nthe sensation of balmy breezes--the freedom from the rude blasts of\nthe North--the cheering rays of the Sun--plenty of light and healthful\nvibrations coming from old Sol. Ah, that \"Southern Exposure\"--how much\nthe words convey.\n\nNow, if this \"Southern Exposure\" is such a good thing in a room, why\nisn't it a good thing in a man? Did you ever meet the man with the\n\"Southern Exposure\"--the man who faces the Sun? Do you recall how he\nbrought with him the inspiring Solar vibrations? Do you remember how\nthe wrinkles and frowns disappeared from the faces of those in his\npresence? Do you remember how, long after he had departed, the memory\nof his presence cheered you--the thrill of his thought vibrations\nremained to stimulate? We all know this man with the \"Southern\nExposure,\" God bless him. We couldn't get along without him. There are\na number of him, and he is scattered all over the globe. We call him\nby different names, but he is always the same man. After we have felt\nthe cold Northern chill emanating from some of the cold, despondent,\nnegative people with whom we have come in contact, what a relief it is\nto meet some one who carries with him the mellowing sunny, vibrations\nof the South wind--the man with the \"Southern Exposure.\" As the\nvibrations of the Sun bring life, energy, and strength to all things\nhaving life, so this sunny man brings positive, bright, cheerful and\nhappy thoughts to us, and stimulates, encourages and strengthens us.\nHe actually radiates sunshine and cheer in all directions, and thaws\nout the natures that have become well nigh frozen from contact with\npeople of the other type. Oh, it's a great thing, this \"Southern\nExposure\" in a man or woman.\n\nThis man faces the Sun. He is an optimist. He looks on the bright side\nof things, and gets all there is in Life--he LIVES. He manages to\nextract \"fun\" out of the most unpromising conditions and things, and\ngoes on his way with a smile, and a cheerful song, an abiding faith in\nthe Absolute. He lives his life, one day at a time, loving all of\nGod's creatures and letting the creatures know it--carrying a message\nof hope, and courage, and a helpful suggestion to all mankind. He is\nthe salt of the earth, and Life would lose its flavor if he were taken\nfrom us. And how smooth the pathway of Life seems made for him. It\nmatters not in what station he may be placed--what seemingly small\ndegree of material prosperity may come to him--what may be his\nsurroundings and environments--he makes the best of everything--he\nstill catches the rays of the Sun, and rejoices--he has the \"Southern\nExposure.\"\n\nHe is broad and tolerant--merciful and forgiving--devoid of Hate, Envy\nand Malice--free from Fear and Worry. He minds his own business, and\ngrants you the same privilege. He is full of Love, and radiates it to\nall the world. He goes through Life in his own sunny way, meeting\ncheerfully the things that drive others to Despair and Misery--somehow\nthings seem to be smoothed out for him, and he passes over the stony\nroad, unharmed. His Peace comes from within--and all who meet him feel\nhis presence. He does not _seek_ after friends or love--Friendship and\nLove come to him as a right--he attracts them. People are glad to see\nhim come, and sorry to see him go. Little children and animals are\ndrawn to him, and know him as their friend and lover. He is as much\nat home in the tenement of the laborer as in the palace of the\nwealthy--both places seem home to him, and their occupants on a level.\nBrother to both Saint and Sinner is he, and he loves one as much as\nthe other, for he somehow feels that each is doing his best. He looks\nfor the good in the Sinner--not for the sin in the Saint--although he\nknows that both exist. He is not a Pharisee--he recognizes within\nhimself all that is within both Saint and Sinner--he knows that he is\nnot without sin, so he dares not cast the first stone. The outcast\nrecognizes in him a brother--the woman who has passed through the\nfiery furnace trusts him and is not afraid, for she knows that he\nunderstands. He, being near the Sun, knows that it shines alike on\nSaint and Sinner--he feels that when God withholds his Sunbeams from\nhis most disobedient child, then may he withhold his love from his\nmost degraded brother or sister. Until that time comes he sees fit to\nlove them. He does not Condemn--he lets God exercise that prerogative,\nif he sees fit--he does not feel fit to act as Judge. He believes that\nthe Universe is conducted on sound business principles--that God knows\njust what he is about and does not require any gratuitous advice from\nMan.\n\nHe works, and works well. He finds Joy in his work--pleasure in the\nhumblest tasks. He likes to Create things--and he is proud of that\ndesire, for he feels that it is an inheritance from his Father. He\ndoes not seem to hurry--nor is he rushed. He has plenty of\ntime--Eternity lasts a long while, and he is in it NOW. He is not\nafraid of Death--or even Life--he knows them as one.\n\nHe goes about his way--doing his best--and letting the other fellow\nalone.\n\nHe has an abiding Faith in the Absolute--he believes in Infinite\nJustice and Ultimate Good. He does not fear his Father--he cannot find\nroom for Fear where Love abides. He does not believe that there is a\nbottomless pit into which his loving Father intends to plunge him--he\nhas too much confidence in his Father to think that. He believes that\nthere is enough Hell on earth to burn away the mistakes and ignorance\nof Man. And he believes that all the burning ones will eventually\nemerge purged of their dross. He knows that his Father is near him,\nfor he has felt the pressure of his hand. In the darkness of the night\nhe has felt the Father's presence--by the glare of the lightning flash\nhe has seen His form, for a moment, and that memory is burned into his\nbrain. He faces the Sun--this man with the \"Southern Exposure.\"\n\nHe is Simple, Loving, Kind. He is of the Elect. He is a prophecy of\nthe Future. And he is on the increase. On the Tree of Life are many\npromising buds, which the Sun of the Spirit is nursing into beautiful\nblossoms that will yet fill the world with the delicious fragrance of\nLove.\n\nThere are certain people who have come into our midst silently and\nwithout announcement. They have found places waiting for them. They\nhave come to prepare the way for their brothers and sisters who\nare in the womb of the future--they are working quietly to prepare\na home for their unborn brothers and sisters when they come. They\nare the forerunners of the Coming Race. Smiled at--sneered\nat--persecuted--reviled--pitied--it matters not. God has sent\nthem--they have his message to deliver--that's why they are here.\nThe world may raise its eyebrows--shrug its shoulders--tap its\nforehead significantly--but these new people smile, they know, they\nknow. They see the misunderstanding multitude as mere babes in the\nSpiritual knowing--many of them babes unborn--and they heed them\nnot.\n\nTake notice of these people--they are making their presence felt. They\nare wielding a silent powerful influence, and are molding public\nopinion far more than are the blatant reformers, the boastful leaders,\nthe bespangled figures strutting at the front of the stage. The people\nwho are thus being used--instruments in God's hands--are these quiet\nmen and women who are facing the Sun--these people with the \"Southern\nExposure.\"\n\nIf you feel the call to join the ranks of these people--do not resist,\nbut answer cheerfully \"I hear; I obey; I come.\" Allow the seed to grow\ninto the plant, the plant to put forth leaves--bud and blossom. When\nyou feel the impulse, do not resist--open yourself to the Sun--receive\nits vibrations--and all will be well. Be not afraid--have within you\nthat Love which casteth out Fear--place your hand in that of the\nAbsolute and say \"Lead Thou me on.\" After long ages of wandering, you\nare coming Home.\n\n\n\n\nA FOREWORD.[1]\n\nAn individualist--Wearing no ticket or label--No one has a corner on\nTruth--Enough to go around--The Infinite Power back of all things--The\nReal Self is Spirit--The Law of Attraction--Fearthought--The\nBrotherhood of Man.\n\n\n* * * * I generally call myself a Mental Scientist, and am so known\nto my friends, but I merely use the term because it is broad and\ncomprehensive, not because I bear the ticket of any particular school\nof the New Thought--not because I wear the badge of any special\nleader. I am an Individualist. I believe in the right of every man to\nthink his own thoughts--to find his way to the Truth by whatever road\nhe may see fit, even if he prefers to cut across fields in getting\nthere. I believe that whilst all men are brothers, and each a part of\na mighty Whole, still each one must stand squarely upon his own\nfeet--must work out his own salvation--must do his own thinking. I\nbelieve that Truth is everywhere--in everything, and that we may\nuncover a bit of it wherever we may happen to dig. I do not believe\nthat any person has a corner on the Truth--a monopoly of Knowing. I do\nnot believe in Popes, in or out of the New Thought. Each of us will\nuncover his own little bit of the Truth, but we must not imagine that\nwe have the Whole Thing. There's enough Truth to go around--and to\nspare.\n\n          [1] An extract from the article of this name in which the\n          author introduced himself to the readers of the magazine\n          \"New Thought,\" upon assuming the position of co-editor, in\n          December, 1901.\n\nI believe that there is an Infinite Power in, and of, all things. I\nbelieve that, although to-day we have but the faintest idea of that\nPower, still we will steadily grow to comprehend it more fully--will\nget in closer touch with it. Even now, we have momentary glimpses of\nits existence--a momentary consciousness of Oneness with the Absolute.\nI believe that the greatest happiness consists in maintaining toward\nthe Absolute the attitude of the trusting child, who, feeling no doubt\nof the parent's love--no doubt of his wisdom--places his little hand\nin that of the parent, and says: \"Lead Thou me on.\" I believe that he\nwho feels towards the Absolute, the trustfulness of the babe which\nplaces its little tired head close to the breast of the mother, will\nalso be conscious of the tender answering pressure, as the babe is\ndrawn just a little closer to the mother heart. I believe these\nthings--I have felt them.\n\nI believe that Man is immortal--that the Real Self is Spirit, which\nuses mind and body as its tools, and manifests itself according to the\nfitness of the tools. I believe that Man is rapidly growing into a\nnew plane of consciousness, in which he will _know_ himself as he\nis--will recognize the I AM--the Something Within. Many are having\nglimpses of the Truth every day--the first glimpses of the light of\nthe great Dawn are even now being perceived by those who are awake and\nwatching.\n\nI believe that the mind of Man contains the greatest of all\nforces--that Thought is one of the greatest manifestations of energy.\nI believe that the man who understands the use of Thought-force can\nmake of himself practically what he will. I believe that not only is\none's body subject to the control of the mind, but that, also, one may\nchange environment, \"luck,\" circumstances, by positive thought taking\nthe place of negative. I know that the \"I Can and I Will\" attitude\nwill carry one forward to Success that will seem miraculous to the man\non the \"I Can't\" plane. I believe that \"thoughts are things,\" and that\nthe Law of Attraction in the thought world will draw to one just what\nhe desires or fears.\n\nI believe that Fearthought is the root of more misery, unhappiness,\ndisease, crime, failure and other undesirable things than any one\nthing in the world. I intend to attack this monster most vigorously,\nthrough these columns. I intend going for him with the grace of God in\nmy heart, and a good hickory club in my hand. I will cause many of you\nto tear out Fear by the roots--you don't need it about you. I will\npreach the gospel of Fearlessness. There is nothing in the world (or\nout of it) to fear except--Fear.\n\nI will also preach the gospel of Backbone to you--will insist upon\nyour inserting a steel-rod vertebra in the place of that india-rubber\naffair that some of you are carrying around with you. You doubt this,\ndo you?--well, just you wait and see.\n\nI believe in the Brotherhood of Man. I believe in being Kind. I\nbelieve in everyone minding his own business--and allowing everyone\nelse the same privilege. I believe that we have no right to\ncondemn--\"let him who is without sin cast the first stone.\" I believe\nthat he who Hates, is an assassin; that he who Covets, is a thief;\nthat he who Lusts, is an adulterer; that the gist of a crime is in its\ndesire. Seeing this--looking into our own hearts--how can we Condemn?\nI believe that Evil is but Ignorance. I believe that \"to know all is\nto forgive all.\" I believe that there is good in every man; let us\nhelp him to manifest it. I believe in the absolute equality of the Man\nand the Woman--sometimes I think that the odds are slightly in favor\nof the Woman. I believe in the Sacredness of Sex--but I also believe\nthat Sex manifests on the Spiritual and Mental planes, as well as on\nthe Physical. And I believe that to the pure all things are pure.\n\nI also believe in the gospel of work--in \"hustling.\" I believe in the\nI DO, as well as the I AM. I know that the man who will take advantage\nof the Power of the Mind, and who will manifest that power in action,\nwill go forward to Success as surely and as steadily as the arrow from\nthe bow of the skilled archer.\n\n\n\n\nPARTNERSHIP.\n\nNext to marriage, partnership is the most important\nassociation--Mental partnerships--Be careful whom you choose as your\nmental partners--Get into partnership with the best thoughts--Dissolve\npartnership with the other kind--\"I Can, I Will; I Do, I Dare.\"\n\n\nNext to marriage, a partnership arrangement is the most important\nassociation into which a man or woman may enter. Its consequences are\nfar-reaching and difficult to escape, and to a very considerable\nextent one is bound by the acts of his partners. This being the case,\nit is of the utmost importance that one should exercise the greatest\ndiligence and care in selecting partners. If any of my readers were to\ncontemplate entering into a partnership agreement with others, he\nwould be sure to select those who were possessed of the most desirable\nqualities, and those most conducive to success. He would carefully\navoid those possessed of Lack of Confidence, Fear, Worry,\nDiscouragement and others of the \"I Can't\" class. He would seek out\nthe Courageous, Confident, \"I Can and I Will\" men. He would keep away\nfrom those in whom Hate, Malice, Jealousy, Envy, Bigotry and other\ntraits of Ignorance were strongly manifest. He would, in short, choose\nthose who possessed to the greatest possible degree the qualities most\nconducive to Success and would as carefully avoid those possessed of\nopposite qualities. There is no doubt of the truth of what I have just\nsaid--every one of you will admit it.\n\nNow, I do not purpose telling you about business partnerships of the\nordinary kind--you know all about those--but I will call your\nattention to the fact that you are every day forming partnerships of a\nmost important character and far-reaching in their effects, but of\nwhich you probably have been unaware. When your attention is once\ncalled to the matter, many things will seem clear to you that have\nheretofore appeared quite dark, and you will be able to avoid\nmistakes, in the future, that have been quite common in the past. This\nis an important lesson, and I trust that you will give heed to what I\nsay.\n\nI have stated, in previous articles, that your mind is a mighty\nmagnet, attracting to itself the thoughts emanating from the minds of\nothers. Like attracts like in the world of Thought, and the prevailing\ncharacter of your thoughts will be manifested in the character of\nthought waves drawn to you from the great ocean of thought. Your\nthought mingles and coalesces with thoughts of a corresponding nature\nsent out from the minds of others, and both you and the other senders\nare strengthened in the mental attitude by reason of the joining of\nforces. _You are entering into a mental partnership_ with those\nunknown thinkers, and attracting them to you, and you to them. Why do\n\"birds of a feather flock together,\" in business and everyday life?\nSimply because they are irresistibly drawn to each other by the Law\nof Mental Attraction. The people with whom you are brought in contact\nare those of the same mental key as yourself. You may not agree with\nthis statement, but a close analysis will prove it. The pushing,\n\"hustling,\" wide-awake man will attract to himself thought-partners\nof the same stamp, while the man who is afraid is always sure to\nfind himself surrounded by people having the same defects. And not\nonly is this true in the sense that the Law brings you into actual\ncontact with people of the same mental key, but you are connecting\nyourself with hundreds of others who are thinking along the same\nlines, although you may never actually come in physical contact with\nthese people. You are going into partnership with them, and will\nshare in the firm's profits and losses, just as you would in case of\nan ordinary business partnership. And it is easy to foretell upon\njust what side of the firm ledger the balance will appear.\n\nWhen you approach a man on business, with your mind laden with\nthoughts of Fear, Lack of Confidence, etc., you strike a similar\nkeynote in that man, and he instinctively feels that he has no\nconfidence in you or your business, and if he is a man whose\npredominant note is Courage, he will feel the inharmony and get rid of\nyou as soon as he can. If, on the contrary, he is also a \"I Can't\" man\nhe will feel a fellow feeling for you, but it will do you no good; it\nwill be a case of \"misery loves company,\" and the first thing you know\nyou will find yourself and that man in an earnest conversation about\n\"dull times,\" \"poor crops,\" \"the country is going to the dogs,\" \"no\nchance for a man nowadays,\" \"we're all going to the poorhouse,\" etc.,\netc. I've seen it happen many a time, haven't you?\n\nBut if you are an \"I Can and I Will\" man, and he is the same, see how\ndifferent things are. He will warm up to you and will feel that he\nunderstands you, and sooner or later you and he will do business with\neach other, in fact, the arrangement is begun with your first meeting.\nIf you can get yourself in something like the same mental attitude of\na man with whom you wish to do business, you will get along with him,\nnever fear.\n\nWhen you have something in mind upon which you are working, and you\nare at the same time maintaining the proper mental attitude, you are\nplacing yourself in psychic touch with every other man in the same\nline who is holding the same mental attitude. You draw inspiration\nfrom them, and both parties to the mental partnership share in the\nprofits. Both will share, to a certain extent, in each other's\nprogress and both will draw largely from the mental stock of those who\nare working along the same lines, but who are holding a negative\nmental attitude. In fact, the whole store of knowledge and progress\nalong those lines will be tapped by these partners holding the\npositive mental attitude. New plans, ideas, combinations, schemes,\ndevices will spring into being in their minds, and they will not only\nhelp each other, but will draw upon the less positive people. This\nseems a hard law, but it is like all of Nature's laws, so severe that\nwe are forced sooner or later to learn the lesson. We learn by\nexperience only. This operation of the Law of Mental Attraction is a\ngood example of one of the meanings of that saying, so dark to many:\n\"To him that hath shall be given; to him that hath not shall be taken\naway, even that which he hath.\" At any rate, that is the way the law\nworks.\n\nAnd it is not only in the matter of Success that this mental\npartnership works. Its operations are manifest everywhere. You will\nnotice that the negative emotions draw to themselves people, thoughts\nand things upon which they can feed. Let a man or woman manifest\nJealousy, and, lo! as if from the earth spring apparent causes for\nthat jealous feeling. All sorts of things seem to conspire to feed\n\"the green-eyed monster\" into a state of fatness. And let a man or\nwoman get a notion that people are trying to \"slight\" them, and let\nthem continue to hold this thought, and it will soon seem to the poor\nvictim of Fearthought as if everybody in the world was determined to\nsnub, slight and tread upon him and hurt his feelings. If he persists\nin this attitude, life will become a burden too heavy to bear, and\nthere will be no possible relief for him except a change of mental\nfront. Let one imagine that everyone is trying to cheat him, and he\nwill be a lucky man if he does not find that the things he feared have\ncome upon him. Let a man cherish thoughts of Hate and Malice, and\nsooner or later he will become involved in all sorts of hateful,\nmalicious schemes and occurrences, with his partners whom he has drawn\nto him. \"He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword,\" is proven\nevery day. He who thinks every man is a rogue will see enough rogues\nto justify him in his belief, and will probably end up by having\npeople think of him as a rogue--he will draw all sorts of roguish\npeople, things and circumstances to him.\n\nDid you ever start in the morning feeling cross and crabbed? Well, if\nyou did you probably found that after the inevitable domestic row over\nthe buckwheat cakes and coffee--after you had left your wife with\ntears in her eyes, and the children in good shape to get into trouble\nin school--that everyone seemed to \"have it in for you.\" Some fellow\nin the train seemed to deliberately tread on your pet corn, another\njostled you, and so on. When you got down to business, everything went\nwrong, and unless you brought yourself up with a short turn you had a\ndreadful time of it all day, and were glad when night came that you\nmight sleep it off. You will always find that there are plenty of\npeople waiting to go into mental partnership with you in such cases.\nIf you are looking for fight, you will get it.\n\nI tell you, friends, that people are all more or less in psychic touch\nwith each other, and the sooner we recognize this fact the better it\nwill be for us. This Law of Mental Attraction works either good or bad\nfor us, according to the uses we make of it. If we run contrary to the\nlaw we will be taught lesson after lesson, until we learn something.\nBut if we fall in with the workings of the law we will reap the\nbenefits that come to Man when he masters and controls any of Nature's\ngreat forces.\n\nNow, don't make partnerships of an undesirable kind. If you do you\nwill have to bear the consequences. If you have already formed such a\npartnership, dissolve it at once and go into liquidation. After a\nwhile you will have cleared up the old debts and straightened matters\nout and will begin to do business on another basis. And I want to tell\nyou right here that you can get into the best mental firms in the\nworld if you only go about it right. They will not object to you if\nyou are a fit member, and, in fact, they could not keep you out even\nif they wished. The doors will open at the magic touch of the spoken\nword backed up by the proper mental attitude. Cut loose from the old\nthought associations and form new connections. Get in touch with the\nright kind of thought-waves, people and things. Cultivate the proper\nmental attitude and demand an entrance to the firm you wish. Good men\nare scarce in all branches of business, trades and professions.\nThere's room for you--away up at the top, too. Get what belongs to\nyou; do not be cheated out of your heritage. Assert yourself. Join\nto-day that good, hustling firm, whose name on the signboard reads: \"I\nCAN, I WILL, I DO, I DARE.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEEKERS.\n\nThe secret of life--The riddle of existence--Sought now as\never--The whyness of things--Attempts to answer the riddle--The\nSeekers--Fantastic creeds and queer philosophies--Revamping old\nideas--The story of the man and the stars--The answer to be found\nwithin the soul.\n\n    \"I laugh at the lore and the pride of man,\n    At the sophist schools and the learned clan,\n    For what are they all, in their high conceit,\n    When man in the bush with God may meet?\"\n\n    --Emerson.\n\n\nMan is trying to reason out now as in the past, the secret of\nLife--the riddle of Existence. He seeks to know from whence he comes,\nwhither he goes, and what is the object of his existence. He wants to\nknow the _whyness_ of things--what it all means. He is like the\nsquirrel in the cage, which exhausts itself in traveling the long road\nof the wheel, only to find itself at the end of its journey just where\nit started. Or worse still, like the newly-caged wild bird, he dashes\nagainst the bars of his prison, again and again, in his efforts to\nregain his freedom, until at last he lies weak and bleeding, a captive\nstill.\n\nIt has ever been so, from the childhood of the race until the present\ntime. Sages, seers, prophets and philosophers have endeavored to\nreason out the problem, but their labors have availed nothing, and the\nriddle remains unanswered. Man has traveled over and over the circular\nroad of thought, only to discover that it has no beginning--no ending.\nHe thinks that he has explained things, but he has merely given them\nnames. All the scientific research, all the theological and\nmetaphysical speculation, has failed even to explain the sprouting of\nthe mustard seed. Life and Death is a mystery to the most brilliant\nman of this civilization, as it was to the ignorant creature of the\nstone age. Races, nations, civilizations rise and fall; creeds are\nborn, grow strong, weaken and die, but the secret remains a secret\nstill.\n\nThe present day seems to have reawakened the latent desire of man to\nsee behind the veil. The pendulum which carried so many thinkers to\nthe materialistic extreme is beginning to swing in the opposite\ndirection, and is causing a strange and wonderful revival of ancient\ncreeds and philosophies. Those who have long since turned their backs\nupon the accepted creeds now find themselves in the company of those\nwho still claim allegiance to the church, but who feel themselves\ncramped by the creeds fashioned for them by their fathers.\n\nThe leader of the New Thought, reaching the top of the mountain, often\nfinds himself face-to-face with a scientific _savant_ who has reached\nthe same place by climbing up the other side of the hill. And the\nscientist and the New Thought man need not be surprised to find a\nleader of advanced religious thought claiming a foothold on the top of\nthe same hill. But the trio, after they have congratulated themselves\nupon reaching the summit and ending their journey look around them,\nand lo! their mountain is but a foothill, and far above them, towering\nhigher and higher, rise range after range of the real mountains, the\nhighest peaks being hidden among the clouds!\n\nOne has but to look around him to see how strenuous has grown the\nsearch for the answer to the riddle. New creeds, philosophies, cults\nand schools confront us at every turn. The past has been ransacked for\nits discarded philosophies, which have been renovated and trimmed anew\nfor modern use. The dust has been brushed off many an old and almost\nforgotten creed, which is pushed to the front under a new name and\nwith new trimmings. Plato is worked overtime to furnish the twentieth\ncentury creed promoters with material to be done over. The wildest\ndreams of the ancients are toned down a little, and boldly offered to\nthe eager multitude as the long sought for solution of it all. Priests\nand teachers of all the religions of all lands are among us vying with\nthe priests and priestesses of the new philosophies and creeds of our\nown land, and bidding for public favor. And these new home-made\nphilosophies, how frightfully and wonderfully are they made! The old\nphilosophies of Greece and Rome are skilfully dovetailed with the\ncreeds of the Orient, and the result is a thing differing from\nanything ever seen before by gods or men.\n\nBrahmins, Buddhists, Confucians, Mahommedans and Sun Worshippers claim\nthousands of followers in our land, and Isis and Osiris will before\nlong again be given a place and duly installed in the new Pantheon.\nThor and Odin will doubtless be revamped, and the rites of the Druids\nrevived. We are looking every day for the arrival on our shores of the\nadvance agent of the Joss propaganda from the Celestial kingdom.\n\nAnd the home product is, if possible, more fantastic and _bizarre_\nthan the imported article. The wildest claims and statements are made\nwith an air of authority, and are accepted as \"gospel\" by the\nadherents of the several sects. One does not know whether to sigh or\nweep as he watches some of the modern prophets and prophetesses\nstrutting their little stage and cutting fantastic capers before high\nheaven, thus adding to the gayety of the nations. The demand for these\nthings has been created, and nothing seems too highly spiced for the\ndevotees of the latter day creeds.\n\nAnd the followers of those strange prophets, what of them? Many of\nthem are mere excitement hunters; others that class of people\npossessed of a consuming thirst for something new; some are honest\nseekers for the Truth; and others are those who have cut away from\ntheir old moorings and are drifting about, rudderless and without an\nanchor, at the mercy of any stray current which may sweep them along.\nThere are thousands of people who never heard of the philosophies and\ncreeds of the ancients, who are now dazzled by the revamped doctrines\nexpounded by the modern prophets, and who, being impressed with the\nstrangeness and novelty of the (to them) new truths, accept them as\ninspired and emanating from the ABSOLUTE. New gods have\narisen and also new devils. The \"Malicious Mental Magnetism\" of the\nChristian Scientists is as much a devil to them as was the orthodox\ndevil of one hundred years ago to our forefathers.\n\nThe new cults usually begin by performing cures by means of the power\nof the mind and other natural laws, which they attribute to the\nprinciples and teachings of their particular sects. Many of them now,\nhowever, frankly admit that they are past the healing stage, and look\ndown upon the mere healing of disease as a thing too nearly allied to\nthe detested \"material\" plane to be seriously considered. The time of\nthe leaders is now principally occupied in announcing and elucidating\nwonderful, high, spiritual truths for the seekers, soaring away up in\nthe clouds of transcendentalism, leaving their followers behind,\ngaping upwards like a crowd at a country balloon ascension.\n\nOnce upon a time there was a reformer who attended a public meeting,\nand took part in an exciting debate on an important question of the\nday. At last, heated, wearied and disgusted by the fruitless struggle,\nhe left the hall and started for home. It was a beautiful, cold\nwinter's night, and the heavens were studded with stars shining bright\nthrough the clear frosty atmosphere. Pausing for a moment in his rapid\nwalk, he glanced upward. The stars were twinkling away merrily. They\ndid not seem to be at all disturbed by what had been going on in the\nmeeting. They appeared just the same as when, in years past, as a boy\nhe had looked at them with wondering eyes. As he gazed, a peaceful\ncalm came over him, and his worry, doubts and fears seemed very petty.\nAt last one little star appeared to notice him, and he thought he\ncould see it cast a good-natured glance downward, saying, in a\ncheerful voice, \"Why so _hot_, little man?\"\n\nWhen we feel cast down with doubt, torn with anxiety, weak from loss\nof faith, faint with fear, let us look aloft at the stars. When we see\nthose distant points of light, knowing them to be centers of solar\nsystems, knowing that beyond, beyond and beyond are countless other\nsuns and world, let us pluck up a little courage and realize that we\nare a part of a mighty Law, a stupendous plan. Let us know that the\nPower which called these things into life, and which is able to manage\nthem, and even greater things, has us in charge and will not allow us\nto be destroyed. Let us know that we are but in the kindergarten stage\nof existence and that we shall go on and on and on, from plane to\nplane, ever onward and upward in the scale, until at last we shall be\nable to spell out the lines of the primer of Life, and learn the\nmultiplication table of the Universe.\n\nLet us in the meanwhile live on in trust and hope; one day at a time;\nliving our own lives; doing our best work; getting the joy which comes\nfrom the simple, human life; lending a helping hand. Let us abolish\nFear and Hate, and replace them with Courage, Confidence and Love. Let\nus look for Good rather than Evil. Let us know failure as merely a\nlesson in Success. Let us look upon Death as Birth. Let us do the best\nwe can with this world, knowing that the next world will find us\nprepared for its task. Let us know that we are in Eternity right NOW.\nLet us know that God is not so far away as we have been taught, for is\nit not true that in Him \"we live and move and have our being!\"\n\nLet us preserve our sense of humor--for it will guard us against many\na fear, many a folly, many a delusion.\n\nAnd, finally, let us keep out of the throng which is rushing wildly\nhither and thither, after leaders, prophets, sages, seers. Let us look\nwithin ourselves and see the little flame which burns steadily there.\nLet us know that we have within us the Light of the Spirit which\nnaught can extinguish. And let us say with good old Newman:\n\n    \"Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom\n      Lead thou me on.\n    The night is dark, and I am far from home;\n      Lead thou me on.\n    Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see\n    The distant scene; one step enough for me.\n      Lead thou me on.\"\n\n\n\n\nMENTAL PICTURES.\n\n\"I hang bright pictures in my mind\"--Bright pictures encourage one;\ngloomy ones depress--Get rid of your old gloomy mental pictures--Make\na bonfire of them--Get rid of the particularly miserable one, first of\nall--Then put bright ones in their places.\n\n\n\"I now hang bright pictures in my mind,\" said a friend to me,\nrecently. Her remark explained to me without the necessity of further\nwords, the cause of her bright, cheerful and happy disposition, so\ngreatly in contrast with that of the despondent, fretful woman I had\nknown a few months ago. The change seemed so remarkable that one would\nhave almost expected her to have claimed some startling occurrence as\nthe cause of the wondrous transformation, instead of giving so\ncommonplace an explanation.\n\nBut just think how much there is in this thought: \"I hang bright\npictures in my mind.\" Stop a moment, and let the thought sink deep\ninto your inner consciousness. \"Bright pictures in the mind,\" why not,\nindeed? If we wish to make a chamber, or office, bright and cheery, we\nsee that nothing but pictures representing bright, cheerful subjects\nare hung there. They may be the choicest engravings or paintings, or\nthey may be some little inexpensive things, but just so they are\nbright and cheery the purpose is accomplished, and the room somehow\nseems a happier, more joyous place than before.\n\nIf we were preparing a new room for the occupancy of some dear one,\nwould we place there any but the brightest picture? Would we hang\nthere pictures of pain and misery, hate and murder, jealousy and\nrevenge, sickness, suffering and death, failure and discouragement?\nWould we do this thing I ask you? Would _you_ do it? And if not,\nwhy not, pray? Simply because you instinctively feel that the gloomy,\nhateful subjects would react upon the loved one. And you know, is the\nsame way that the bright, cheerful, inspiring subjects are likely to\nuplift, stimulate, encourage and make better the occupant of the\nchamber.\n\nHave you ever noticed that some rooms always seem to exert a\nbeneficial effect upon you, while others seem to depress you?\nCertainly you have. Well, the next time you go into these rooms, look\naround a little and see if the explanation of your moods is not to be\nfound in the character of the pictures on the walls. You may not have\nspecially noticed them before, but your sub-conscious mental faculties\nhave taken up the impression, and the reflex action has affected you.\nWho can resist the \"fetching\" qualities of a bright, baby face,\nsmiling from a little picture on the mantel, or on the wall? Not I,\nfor one. And who can help feeling the sense of comradeship for the\nkindly St. Bernard whose great, affectionate eyes look down upon you\nfrom the engraving on the other side of the room. And on the other\nhand, who could--but, now I'm not going to describe the other kind of\npictures in this article.\n\nBut now to get back to the \"pictures in the mind.\" If the gloomy\npictures on the wall affect people, what do you suppose will be the\neffect of carrying around gloomy, fearful, hateful, jealous, envious,\ndespondent mental pictures? Can any good come of lugging this trash\naround with you? Come, now, be honest. Why don't you bundle up these\nhorrible chromos of the mind, and then make a bonfire of the lot. Now\nis the time for a mental house-cleaning--get to work and clean out\nthese miserable daubs, and replace them with nice bright, cheerful,\nhappy, sunny, mental works of art. Do it to-day. You can't afford to\nput it off until to-morrow--indeed you can't.\n\nOh, yes, I know that you have grown attached to some of these old\nmental pictures--you've had 'em around so long that you hate to part\nwith them. There's that particular miserable one at which you're so\nfond of looking--you know which one I mean. You see, I know all about\nit. You've been in the habit of standing before it with folded hands,\nand gazing, and gazing, and gazing at it. And the more you gazed, the\nmore miserable you grew, until at last you felt that you would like to\nlie down and die, only that there was some work to do around the\nhouse, and you couldn't spare the time. Yes, _that's_ the picture\nI mean. Take it down and put it on top of the bonfire pile, and touch\noff the whole lot. Then go back into the house and hang up all the new\nones to be found, and the brightest one of the lot must hang in the\nplace of that dear old miserable one that you threw out last--that one\nwhich was so hard to part with (the meanest one in the lot, always).\n\nAnd after you have done these things, how good you will feel. See how\nbright and cheerful the sun is shining; how pure and fresh the air\nseems--take a good long draught of it; look out the window and see the\nfleecy white clouds floating across the sky; the sky itself--how blue\nit is; and just listen to the bluebirds down by the old gate--Spring\nmust be coming. Ah, how good it is to be alive!\n\n\n\n\nDON'T RETAIL YOUR WOES.\n\nA miserable habit--It grows as it is fed--A nuisance to friends and\nneighbors--It brings to you more of the same kind--You will get what\nyou look for--Looking for trouble brings it--Don't imagine that you\nare being \"put upon\"--Don't retail your woes.\n\n\nDon't retail your woes. Do you think that it does you any good to go\naround with a long face, telling your tale of woe to everyone whom you\ncan induce to listen to you? Do you think that it does you any good?\nDo you think it helps you to overcome your troubles, or makes your\nburden any lighter? No, I don't believe that you think any such\nthings. All your experience teaches you that people do not like to\nlisten to long-drawn-out tales of your troubles--they have enough of\ntheir own. Even those who are always ready to lend a helping hand and\nto give what aid they can to one who needs it resent being made\ntargets for a continuous fusillade of troubles, woes, griefs, etc. And\nyou know very well that a constant repetition of your own woes will\nonly make them seem greater and more real to you. And then the chronic\nretailer of woe grows to be like the journalist--develops a keen scent\nfor matter to be dished out to others--she needs it in her business.\nWhen one gets into this habit of carrying about tales to her friends,\nshe runs out of ready material, and eagerly looks around for more with\nwhich to supply the demand. She becomes quite an adept at discovering\ninsults, sneers, double-meaning remarks, etc., on the part of her\nfriends and relatives, where nothing of the kind was intended, and she\nrolls these things over and over in her mind like sweet morsels before\nshe serves them up with appropriate trimmings, to her listeners.\n\nYou will notice that I say \"her,\" in speaking of the victim of this\ndemoralizing habit, and some of my readers of that sex will\nundoubtedly take me to task for blaming it on the woman instead of the\nman. Well, you all know my ideas about the equality of the\nsexes--about their being different, but one being as good as the\nother, with the odds a little in favor of the woman. But I feel\njustified in saying that this habit is one that seems to have a\nspecial liking for women, and it generally picks out a woman for its\nvictim in preference to a man. When a man acquires this habit, he\nbecomes such a nuisance to his friends and associates that sooner or\nlater he will notice that they avoid him, and the chances are that\nsome blunt fellow will tell him that he has no time for listening to\ntales of this kind, and that if he, the complainer, would display the\nsame energy in attending to his business that he does to peddling\naround tales about how badly he has been used, he would not need any\nsympathy. But woman, God bless her, does not like to hurt the feelings\nof others in this way--she suffers the infliction in silence, and then\ntells her friends how she has been bored. She will listen to her\nwoe-retailing friend, and seem to sympathize with her, and say, \"Oh,\nisn't it dreadful;\" \"how could she speak so harshly of you;\" \"you poor\ndear, how you must have suffered;\" \"how could he have treated you so\nunjustly,\" and other things of that kind. But when the visitor goes,\nshe yawns and says, \"Dear me, if Mrs. Groan would only try to say\nsomething more cheerful; she gives me the horrors with her tales about\nher husband, her relatives, her friends, and everybody else.\" But Mrs.\nGroan never seems to see the point, and she adds to her list of people\nwho have \"put upon her,\" as she goes along, her tired-out friends\nbeing added to the number, as their patience wears out.\n\nAnd then the effect upon the woman herself. You know the effect of\nholding certain lines of thoughts; of auto-suggestion; of the\nattractive power of thought, and you can readily see how this woman\nmakes things worse for herself all the time. She goes around with her\nmind fixed upon the idea that everybody's hand is against her, and she\ncarries about with her an aura that attracts to her all the unpleasant\nthings in the neighborhood. She goes around looking for trouble, and,\nof course, she gets it. Did you ever notice a man or a woman looking\nfor trouble, and how soon they found it? The man looking for fight is\ngenerally accommodated. The woman looking for \"slights\" always gets\nthem, whether the giver intends them or not. This sort of mental\nattitude fairly draws out the worst in those with whom we come in\ncontact. And the predominant thought draws to itself all the\ncorresponding thought within its radius. One who dwells upon the\nfancied fact that everybody is going around trying to injure him,\ntreat him unkindly, sneer at him, \"slight\" him, and generally use him\nup, is pretty sure to find that he has attracted to him enough people\nwho will humor his fancy, and give him what he expects.\n\nIn \"Thought Force\" you will remember, I tell the story of the two\ndogs. The one dog, dignified and self-respecting, whom no boy ever\nthinks of bothering. The other dog, who expects to be kicked by every\npassing boy, and who draws himself up, and places his tail between his\nlegs, and actually suggests the kick to the passing boy. Of course he\ngets kicked. It's wrong for the boy to do it, I know, but the dog's\nattitude is too much for the nature of the average boy. And\n\"grown-ups\" are built upon the same plan. These people who are going\naround in the mental attitude which invites unkind treatment,\ngenerally manage to find someone who will have his natural meanness\ndrawn out to such a convenient lightning rod. And, in fact, such\npeople often generate harsh feelings in persons who scarcely ever\nmanifest them. Like attracts like in the world of thought, and one\ndraws upon him the things he fears, in many cases.\n\nBut one of the most regrettable things about this woe-retailing woman,\nis the effect the habit has upon her own mind and character. When we\nunderstand how one is constantly building up character, adding a\nlittle every day, and that our thoughts of the day are the material\nwhich are going into our character-structure, it will be seen that it\nis a matter of the greatest importance what kind of thoughts we think.\nThoughts are not wasted. They not only go out in all directions,\ninfluencing others--attracting persons and things to ourselves--but\nthey have a creative effect upon our own mind and character. Thought\nalong a certain line will develop certain brain-cells to a great\nextent, and the cells manifesting the contrary line of thought are\nallowed to dwindle away and shrivel up. Now, when we have our minds\nfixed upon the thought that we are long-suffering mortals, and that\neveryone else is trying to do mean things to us; that we are not\nappreciated, and that those who should care most for us are only\nbiding their time until they can hurt us; we are building up our minds\nalong that line, and we find ourselves in the habit of looking for the\nworst in everybody, and we often manage to bring it to the surface,\neven if we have to dig hard for it.\n\nSome of this class of people seem to take a particular delight in\nbringing upon their head the harsh words and \"slights\" of others. Now,\nI really mean this. I have seen people go around with that \"I'm a worm\nof the dust, please tread on me\" air, and the same expression as that\nin the eyes of the dog which expected to be kicked. And when somebody\nwould be nagged into saying or doing something that they would not\notherwise have thought of, the woe-seeker's eyes would assume an\nexpression of \"I told you so,\" and \"It's only poor me,\" and \"It's all\nI can expect, everybody wishes to crush me,\" and a few other assorted\nthoughts of that kind. And then she will go to her room and moan and\nweep, and dwell upon her miseries until they seem to be as large as a\nmountain. And then the first chance she gets she will run around the\ncorner to a friend, and will retail all the new stock of woes which\nshe has accumulated, with fancy trimmings, you may feel sure, and the\nfriend will try hard to avoid showing that she is bored at the tale\nshe has so often heard, but will say nice little things, until the\nmourner is sure that the whole world sympathizes with her, and she\nfeels a glow of righteous indignation, self-pity and martyrdom. Oh,\nthe pity of it all! These people go through the world, making things\nharder for themselves, their friends, their relatives, and everyone\nelse with whom they come in contact. They are constantly seeking to\nkeep their stock fresh and attractive, and display more energy in\ntheir retailing than the average man or woman does in business.\n\nThis thing of looking for trouble is a very unfortunate thing in\nfamilies. As a rule, I think that woman gets the worst of it in family\ntroubles. The economic position places her at a disadvantage, and she\noften suffers all sorts of horrible things, rather than have her\ntroubles made public. But I must say that _some_ women bring upon\nthemselves all that they get. I have known them to get in a frame of\nmind in which they could see nothing but unkindness, where the utmost\nkindness was meant. Man is not an angel--far from it--but the attitude\nof some women is enough to bring out all the qualities other than\nangelic. They assume that they are \"put upon\" and live up to that\nidea. Every word that the man says is twisted and distorted into\nsomething entirely different from what he intended. The mental\nattitude produces moral astigmatism, and things are seen at the wrong\nangle. All the little things that happen are promptly retailed to some\nmischief-making neighbor, who is in the game for the excitement it\naffords her, and who laughs at the wife behind her back, and talks\nabout her in turn to some third person. And the wife fairly draws upon\nherself all sort of things that never would have happened otherwise.\nShe knows that her neighbor is waiting for to-day's budget of news,\nand she, almost unconsciously, shapes things so that the facts\njustifying the news are forthcoming. Did you ever notice that woman\nwho keeps her troubles to herself does not have nearly as much\nbickering and strife in her household as the one who has acquired the\nretailing habit?\n\nDon't retail your woes. Keep them to yourself, and they will die, but\nspread them, and they will grow like weeds. You are making things\nworse for yourself--are drawing things to you--and are spoiling your\nmind, disposition and character by this miserable business of\nretailing woes.\n\n\n\n\nLIFE.\n\nThere is in each of us a potential Something for expression--The\nSomething Within--The plant of life--No use trying to repress it, for\ndevelop it must--Life has a meaning--Growth, development and\nunfoldment--The lesson of life.\n\n\nThere is in each of us a potential Something, pressing forth for\nexpression and growth in the direction of ultimate Good--casting\noff sheath after sheath in its progressive development and\nunfoldment--impelled by the impulse imparted by the Primal\nCause--attracted upward by the Absolute.\n\nFailing to understand this impulse of the growing Something--seeking\nrelief from its steady pressure--we look upon it as an intruder, and\ninstead of allowing it to develop and grow naturally, we endeavor to\nkill it, or to train its growth after our own petty notions. We fail\nto see that this Something is like unto the plant which grows on\nsteadily and surely, from seed to blossom, until its potentialities\nare fully expressed. We do not realize that this Plant of Life should\nbe allowed to grow as does the lily, freely and without restraint,\nunfolding leaf after leaf, until the plant stands in its complete\nbeauty, crowned with its divine flower.\n\nWe would train the plant into some fantastic shape--dwarf it as the\nChinese do the oak, that it may become the pretty ornament of the\nparlor instead of the noble monarch of the forest. We would have it\ngrow _our way_, not according to the law of its being. We fancy\nthat we know what is best for it, losing sight of the fact that deep\ndown in the subconscious depths of its being reposes that which\ndirects its every effort toward the Good--forgetting that its\nattraction toward the Absolute is drawing it steadily and irresistibly\nin the right direction. We forget that the plant will fulfill these\nimpulses so long as there remains in it one atom of life. The seed in\nthe ground will express itself in its little shoot, often moving\nweights a thousand times heavier than itself in its efforts to reach\nthe rays of the sun. The sapling may be bent and confined to the\nground, but its branches, following the laws of its being will\ninstinctively shoot upward. Restrict the growth of the plant, if you\ncan, but, nevertheless, it will move along the lines of least\nresistance and grow toward the sun, in spite of your efforts.\n\nAnd so it is with the Plant of Life--the Something within us. We are\nafraid to allow it to grow according to the laws of its being, but\nwish to model it and shape it in accordance with the theories of\nourselves or others (more frequently the latter, for most of our ideas\non the subject are borrowed). We seem to imagine that the Intelligence\nthat thought the plant into existence did not understand its business,\nand we are afraid that without the assistance of our mighty intellect\nthe poor thing will grow into a misshapen and unsightly thing. We\nwould alter the shape designed by its Maker, and would twist it into\nthe form approved of by the passing fashion of the hour. We would\nsubstitute for the beauty and symmetry of Nature, our own fantastic\nideas of form.\n\nBut, like the plant, this Something of ours will not submit to the\nconfining bonds--will not conform to the false standards which we\nwould set up for it. Submitting as long as it must, it stores up\nreserve strength day by day and keeps up a continuous steady pressure\nin the direction of its desire, and some day, by a supreme effort, it\nthrows off the interfering obstacles, and, obeying the laws of its\nbeing, again grows toward the Sun.\n\nLife is growth. It moves along, pressing this way and that way, along\nthe lines of least resistance, drawing to itself that which it needs\nfor its complete expression and growth, using this thing and that\nthing to-day, and discarding them to-morrow, after they have served\ntheir purpose--after their helpful qualities have been extracted. It\nassumes many forms in its growth, discarding sheath after sheath as\noutgrown. Any attempt to compel it to retain a sheath, which has\nbecome outgrown, will cause its life nature to revolt, and, in the\nend, with a mighty effort, it will burst forth, tearing the confining\nsheath into fragments. This Something may be restrained temporarily,\nbut its growth is as sure as the rising of to-morrow's sun, and its\nattempted restraint only results, in the end, in a violent assertion\nof its right to unfold and develop according to Law.\n\nWhen we finally come to realize that Life has a meaning--that we are\nhere for a purpose--that the process of spiritual evolution is being\nexpressed in us and through us--that our growth is in accordance with\nLaw--that the Absolute understands its business--then will we cease to\nattempt to meddle with the Great Plan. We will then cease our futile\nefforts to mold to our absurd and arbitrary shapes that which is\nintended to grow in the beautiful form of Nature's designing. We will\nrealize that the power which called into being this Life of ours, knew\njust what it was about--that this Power placed within that Life the\nenergy which is expressing itself in changing form and color, but\nwhich has but one real object--growth toward the sun, and when we\nrealize this truth we will begin to have Faith, and will trust the Law\nto do that which is best to be done--will realize the folly of\nimagining that the weight of the Universe rests upon our shoulders.\nSome of these days we will awaken to the fact that ours is the conceit\nof the fly resting upon the mighty revolving wheel, imagining that the\nfanning of his wings causes the wheel to revolve. Some of these times\nthe fly, tired with its exertions, will stop to rest for a few\nmoments, when it will find that the wheel continues to revolve quite\nwell, thank you, without its active assistance. We have been taking\nour little selves quite seriously, indeed. The Something within is\nmoving steadily and surely toward its goal, and much of the pain of\nlife comes to us by reason of our efforts to restrict it--our efforts\nto change its motion, direction, speed. It is a mighty aid to those\nwho understand and move along with it--but woe unto those who get in\nits way and endeavor to obstruct its progress. If unobstructed, there\nis no friction--if interfered with it manifests friction, which means\npain.\n\nThis pain is the notice given us by the Law to the effect that we are\nobstructing the growth of the Life Plant, and, if we are wise, we will\nheed the warning. By conforming to the growth we will find that there\nis little or no friction, and life begins to take on new pleasures. By\nco-operating with the Law, and moving along with it, we will find that\nthings will \"come our way\" in a most unexpected manner. The Law is a\ngood friend and helper, and is of the greatest assistance to us, if we\nbut trust it to do its work well, in its own good way. We can use its\ngrowing force to aid us in our daily pursuits, if we will trust it and\nmove along with it, but we must heed the first sign of friction and\nunderstand that we are in some way interfering with its natural\ngrowth. By living in accordance with the Law, instead of attempting to\noppose it, we will find that we are guided in the direction of places,\npeople and occupations best suited to develop us and to impart to us\nthe experience needed to round out our lives. A realization of this\nfact by those who have experienced it, has given rise to the saying\n\"nothing ever _happens_.\" We find the teachers and helpers that we\nrequire, and they find us. If we need certain information, we will\nfind it in some person or book, and will thus be placed upon the track\nof that which we seek.\n\nThe Law will sometimes accomplish its results in ways far different\nfrom that which we would have supposed to be the best, but after time\nhas passed we can look back and will see that the way by which the\nresults were accomplished was the best possible under all the\ncircumstances. We may meet with some bitter disappointments, losses,\nsorrows, but in the end these things will be seen as good--will be\nseen as having been necessary to give us the experience needed--to\nround out our characters--to enable us to understand.\n\nThere are none who would be willing to part with the experience gained\nfrom even the most painful events of their lives. After, say, ten\nyears have elapsed no man would be willing to have the memory and\nrecollection of his greatest pain eradicated; if at the same time he\nwould have to part with the experience and knowledge which have come\nto him by reason of that pain. The pain and its resulting experience\nhave become a part of us, and we are not willing to be robbed of our\nown.\n\nAnd we will realize, in looking backward, that if we had been living\nin accordance with the Law in the past--if we had understood its\nworkings--these very sorrows, disappointments, losses, would have been\nconsidered only in view of their ultimate good, and the very sting of\nthe pain would thus have been removed. When we learn to regard the\npain of to-day as we now do the pain of ten years ago, we may feel\nthat we are beginning to understand something of the operation of the\nLaw of Good. And when we reach this stage, we will find that the pain\nis no longer _pain_, but only a form of Good. When we cease to cause\nfriction, friction no longer exists for us.\n\nThe lessons of life _must_ be learned, sooner or later. It depends\nupon us whether they shall be forced upon us, in spite of our\nresistance, with much pain, or accepted by us, understandingly, with\nknowledge. In one case we will have the pain which comes from opposing\nthe Law; in the other, we will learn the lesson equally well, without\nthe pain of the birching. The _lesson must be well learned in either\ncase_. Choose your method.\n\nNow, I do not wish to be understood as meaning that we should simply\nfold our hands and wait for the Law to bring all things to us without\nany labor on our part. Try this way, though, if you like, and see how\nquickly the Law will rap you over the knuckles to remind you that a\ntask is set before you. The proper way is to take up the task that\nlies nearest your hand (and some task is _always_ there) and do\nit well, with the knowledge that the task has been placed there in\naccordance with the Law. If the task is not to your liking, you will\nknow that that is the very reason that it has been placed before\nyou--you have a lesson to learn from it. When the time comes for a\nchange you will find a strong desire for a something else full-grown\nwithin you. Now is your chance. Trust to the Law to aid you in working\nout your desire. The desire is there in accordance with the Law--its\nvery existence is a promise of its fulfillment. With the aid of the\nLaw you will work out your desire. It is true that when you attain the\nobject of your desire, it may not be just what you had thought it--may\nnot be at all what you want. Well, what of that? You have learned the\nnecessary lesson--have lived out the desire and will now outlive it.\nSomething else will take its place. And you will be surprised at the\n_way_ that Law has brought about the accomplishment of your desire.\nYou will learn another lesson in this.\n\nWhen you have learned to work on, merrily--doing your best--living\nout each day's life--with Faith and Trust, Confidence and\nFearlessness--accepting the development of each day as meaning\nultimate Good--seeing and _feeling_ that the Law of Good is in full\noperation--being willing to accept whatever it may bring you--then,\nand not until then, good friend, will you begin to know what is LIFE.\n\n\n\n\nLET US HAVE FAITH.\n\nFaith necessary in every human undertaking--You have faith in man, but\nare afraid to trust GOD--The Universe if governed by Law--The Law is\nin operation everywhere--Don't be afraid--You are a part of the\nplan--Fall in with the Law--Have faith, have faith.\n\n\nWhen you take a journey by rail, you step into the car, settle\nyourself, take out a book and read, and give little or no thought to\nthe engine or engineer in charge of the train. You go rushing across\nthe country at the rate of fifty miles an hour, with no thought of\npossible disaster or accident, and for the time forgetting that there\nis such a person in existence as the engineer. You have absolute faith\nin the careful management of the road, and in the intelligence of the\nman who has been placed in the engine. The lives of yourself and\nhundreds of fellow passengers are practically in the hands of one man,\nand that man is a stranger to you--you have never seen him--you know\nnothing of his qualifications--you only know that the management has\npicked him out to safely conduct you across the country.\n\nYou take a steamship to Europe and place yourselves in the hands of a\nfew men who are total strangers to you. You stake your life on their\nskill, judgment and intelligence. You feel that they would not be\nwhere they are unless the management of the line considered them\ncompetent. It is all a matter of trust--of confidence. The same thing\nis true when you take your seat on a trolley car or on the elevated\nrailroad, or even in a stage coach or a private carriage. In each case\nyou place yourself in the charge of another person in whom you have a\ncertain amount of confidence, although he may be comparatively, or\nwholly, unknown to you.\n\nYou place your wealth in a bank, having confidence in its management.\nYou have business dealings with men whom you scarcely know, trusting\nto their honesty of purpose. In every transaction in life you are\ncompelled to have confidence in people. Your lawyer, your physician,\nyour grocer, your clerks are all taken on faith. One cannot get away\nfrom it. If confidence were destroyed the wheels of modern life would\nstop in a minute. The so-called hard-headed practical man may sneer at\nFaith, but it underlies every manifestation of the life of this\ncivilization.\n\nMan has faith and confidence in Man, but is afraid to trust GOD. He\nlooks about him and sees millions of worlds, each in its appointed\nplace, each revolving in its own orbit. He has faith that at a certain\ntime each world will be in a certain position, which position may be\ncalculated centuries in advance--but he lacks faith in the Power that\ncreated these worlds and keeps them in their places. He has faith in\ncertain Laws--but he doubts the existence of the Law-maker. He sees\nthe wondrous manifestation of Life in great and small. He takes\nadvantage of the telescope and the microscope and explores new\nregions, and finds the Law in operation everywhere--but he doubts the\nexistence of a great Law which governs his life--his incomings and his\noutgoings--his great deeds and his petty acts--he fails to realize the\ntruth of the saying that the hairs on his head are numbered, and that\nnot a sparrow may fall unnoticed.\n\nHe seems to think that if there is a GOD, he must have made the world\nand then ran away and left it to take care of itself. He fails to see\nthat Law must govern Man's life as it governs the unfolding of the\nleaf, the development of the lily. He fails to see that law is in full\noperation within him as well as without him. He fails to see that as\nhe opposes the operation of Law, pain comes by reason of the friction.\nHe fails to see that the only true philosophy is that which teaches\none to fall in with the operations of Law, and to let it work in him\nand through him.\n\nDo you think for a moment that GOD does not know what he is about? Do\nyou doubt the Supreme Intelligence which knows all things and is\nconscious of all things? Do you doubt the Supreme Power which\nmanifests itself in all forms of power? Do you doubt the Universal\nPresence which is in all places at all times? Do you suppose that the\nmanifestation is everything, and the manifestor nothing? Poor man!\n\nEither the Universe is without Law--without meaning--without reason,\nor it is the manifestation of Supreme and Infinite Reason. Either it\nis the work of a Demon who sits somewhere and grins and gloats over\nour misfortunes--our trials--our troubles--our pain--our follies, or\nit is the work of an All-knowing--All-powerful--All-present\nIntelligence-Power-Presence which has taken into consideration\neverything within the Universe, down to the tiniest thing--down to the\nmerest detail. And if this last be true, then everything that happens\nmust be in accordance with Law--everything that happens to us must be\nthe very best thing that could happen to us at that particular time\nand that particular place.\n\nThings are not run by blind chance--there is Law under everything.\nEverything has some connection with every other thing--every person\nhas a relationship with every other person. All is One--the\nmanifestations are varied, but there is but One reality. There is a\ngreat plan underlying all Life, and Life itself is in accordance with\nthat plan. Nothing ever _happens_. Every occurrence has a bearing\non every other occurrence. Chance has no part in the plan--everything\nis in accord with well ordered laws. There is always an end in view in\nevery thought, word or act. We are constantly being used for the\nbenefit of the whole. There is no escape--and when we get to\n_know_ we cease to wish to escape. He who understands not Law is\nconstantly struggling, striving, fighting and contending against it,\nand, producing friction, he feels pain. He who understands something\nof Law ceases to contend against it--he lets it work through him, and\nis carried along with a mighty force, doing each day the best he knows\nhow, expressing himself in the best possible manner, sailing to the\nright and to the left, with the wind and against the wind, but still\nbeing borne on by the mighty current and resisting it not. He enjoys\nevery mile of the journey, seeing new sights and hearing new\nsounds--moving on ever. He who understands not, rebels at being swept\nalong--he wishes to stay where he is, but there is no such thing as\nstaying--life is motion--life is growth. If you prefer to pull against\nthe tide--to row up stream--by all means do so. After a while you will\ngrow tired and weary, and will rest on your oars. Then you will find\nthat you are moving on just the same toward the unknown seas, and you\nwill find that it is much easier work rowing or sailing with the\ncurrent, or from one side of the river to another, than to attempt to\nstay in the same place or to pull up the stream.\n\nAll this fretting--all this worrying--all this contention and strife,\ncomes from a lack of Faith. We may assert fervently that we know that\nAll is Good, and that all is best for us, etc., etc., but have we\nenough faith to manifest it in our lives? See how we endeavor to tie\non to _things_, people, and environments. How we resist the steady\npressure that is tearing us loose, often with pain, from the places to\nwhich we have wished to stay fastened like a barnacle. The Life force\nis back of us, urging us along--pushing us along--and move we must.\nThe process of growth, development and unfoldment is going on\nsteadily. What's the use of attempting to resist it? You are no more\nthan a water-bug on the surface of the river. You may dart here and\nthere, and apparently are running things to suit yourself without\nreference to the current, but all the time you are moving along with\nit. The water-bug plan is all right, just so long as we do not attempt\nto stop the current or to swim right against it--when we try this we\nfind out very quickly that the current has something to say about it,\nand before long we get so tired that we are willing to fall in with\nthe law behind the current. And yet even the opposition is good, for\nit teaches us that the current is there--we gain by experience. The\nNew Thought does not teach people to stem the current or to swim up\nstream, although some teachers and some students seem to be of that\nopinion. On the contrary, the real New Thought teaches us of the\nexistence of the stream, and that it is moving steadily toward the Sea\nof Good. It teaches us how to fall in with it, and be borne further\nalong, instead of attempting to hold back and become barnacles, or to\ntry to push back up the stream. It also teaches us to live in the\nNow--to enjoy the darting backward and forward over the face of the\nwaters. It also tells us of the direction in which the current is\nmoving, that we may move along that way, without wasting our energies\nin trying to go the other. It teaches us co-operation with Law,\ninstead of opposition to it.\n\nWhy do we not have Faith? Why do we not see the great Plan behind it\nall? Why do we not recognize Law? As we have seen, we place our\nconfidence in the engineer of the train--the pilot--the captain--the\ncoach-driver, and the other guiding hands and yet we hesitate to trust\nourselves in the hands of the Infinite. Of course, it makes no\ndifference to the Infinite whether or not we repose trust in it. It\nmoves along just the same, guiding and directing--steering and\nregulating speed--it minds not our doubts and obstructions any more\nthan does the great driving-wheel mind the fly who is perched upon it\nand who does not like the movement and attempts to stop it by\nspreading out its wings and buzzing. The great wheel of the Universe\nis moving around, steadily and mightily. Let us go with it. And while\nwe are going let us spare ourselves the trouble and folly of the\nbuzzing, wing-spreading business.\n\nLet us part with Fear and Worry. Let us cease our imagining that we\ncan run the Universe better than the engineer who has his hand on the\nthrottle. Let us cease imagining that GOD needs advice on the subject.\nLet us stop this folly of saying \"Poor God, with no one to help him\nrun things.\" Let us trust the engineer. Let us have faith--let us have\nfaith.\n\n\n\n\nDO IT NOW.\n\nDo to-day's tasks now--Don't try to do to-morrow's work to-day,\nbut be sure and do the day's work Now--The baneful effects of\nprocrastination--Not fair to yourself--Demoralization attendant upon\nputting off things--The world looking for people who can do things\nNow.\n\n\nIf you have anything to do--do it. If you have any task to perform\nto-day--do it Now. If the matter cannot possibly be performed to-day,\nstop bothering about it, and get to work doing the things of to-day.\nBut don't get into that miserable habit of putting off things until\nlater in the day, or later in the week--do them _now_. The old\nproverb: \"Procrastination is the thief of time,\" is true, but it does\nnot go far enough. Procrastination is not only the thief of time, but\nthe thief of energy--the thief of efficiency--the thief of success.\n\nWe have had much to say about living in the Now--about not dwelling in\nthe past or fretting about the future. And all this is true, and I\nwill probably say it over and over again during the year, because I\nbelieve in it, and wish you to get acquainted with the idea. But\nliving in the Now does not merely mean the thinking of the thoughts of\nto-day--the carrying of the burdens of to-day--the meeting of the\nproblems of to-day. It also means the doing of the WORK of to-day.\n\nTo attempt to carry last year's burdens--or next week's\nburdens--to-day, is folly of the worst kind, as you well know. But it\nis equally foolish to put off to-day's work until to-morrow. It's not\ntreating to-morrow right--not giving it a chance. The Self of\nto-morrow is not exactly the Self of to-day. That is, it has grown a\nlittle and is the Self of to-day plus the added experience of the day.\nAnd it is just as selfish for the Self of to-day to attempt to throw\nhis burdens upon the Self of to-morrow as it would be for you to\nattempt to throw your burdens upon your brother or sister. It is not\nonly selfish, but it is hurtful to you--it impedes your growth.\nTo-day's work is set before you because of the lesson it contains, and\nif you refuse to accept your lesson, you are the loser. You cannot get\naway from the task. It will be placed before you again and again until\nit is performed, and you might as well do it at once, and get your\nlesson at the proper time, and not be compelled like the schoolboy to\n\"catch-up\" in his work. By putting off things until to-morrow, you are\nsimply heaping up troubles for yourself to-morrow, as to-morrow's own\nwork will have to be done as well as your leftover tasks, and the\nchances are that neither of them will be done properly. There's no\nsense whatever in this habit of procrastinating. It is folly of the\nworst kind.\n\nAnd not only in the immediate effects is procrastination hurtful to\none. One of the worst features of the case is the demoralizing effect\nit has upon the whole mental attitude of the man. It cultivates\nlaziness, indecision, shiftlessness, slackness and many other\nundesirable habits of thought and action. It manifests itself in\nnumberless ways in the character of the man who has allowed himself to\nbe tangled in it. It impairs his efficiency--affects his value.\n\nThen again, you are really unfair to yourself if you get in the way of\nputting off things. You never have any time to yourself if you have a\nnumber of old matters demanding your attention. The man who\nprocrastinates is never able to spare time for mental improvement,\nbecause he always has some old loose ends to wind up--some old tangle\nto straighten out. And he loses all idea of the value of time--of\ngetting the most out of every hour, every minute. The procrastinator\nis the veriest drudge--he has his nose to the grindstone all the time.\nHe never has any time he can call his own. He is a slave to his own\nhabit of \"laying things aside.\" Poor man.\n\nI am satisfied that half the failures of life--yes, three-quarters of\nthem--are due to the failure of persons to do the thing Now. Not only\nbecause of what they lose directly by this habit, but because of the\neffect it produces upon their character. The shiftless habit of\nthought manifests itself in action. The thought and action, long\npersisted in, will lead to a demoralization of the entire character of\nthe individual. He soon forgets how to do things right. And that is\nwhere so many people fail. The world is looking for people who can DO\nthings--and who can Do Them Now.\n\nIf you are one of the procrastinating kind, start in at once and get\nover it. Put up a sign before your desk, your sewing machine, your\nwork-bench, or wherever you spend most of your time, and have these\nwords in big black letters on the sign:--\"DO IT NOW!\" By carrying the\nthought of this NOW way of doing things, and letting it manifest\nitself in action as frequently as possible, you will find that before\nlong your entire mental attitude regarding work has changed, and you\nwill find yourself doing things when they should be done, without any\nparticular effort on your part. The mind can be trained and taught to\ndo things right. It needs a little courage, a little perseverance, a\nlittle will-power, but the result will pay you for your trouble. Start\nin to cure yourself of this bad habit. Start in at once. Do it NOW.\n\n\n\n\nGET IN TUNE.\n\nMarconi's wireless messages--Vibrations reach only the instruments\nattuned to the sender--The same law in operation on the mental\nplane--The correct pitch is the thing--Get in tune with the proper\nvibrations--Get the messages from the best senders.\n\n\nI have just finished reading an account of Marconi's wireless\ntelegraphy. It seems that when a message is sent from the Marconi\ntransmitter, the vibrations travel in all directions, and not alone in\nthe direction of the person to whom the message is sent. It would seem\nto the reader, at first, that any instrument, in any direction from\nthe sender, could and would be affected by the vibrations and would\ntake up and record them. But such is not the case, for Marconi finds\nthat he can attune his receiving instrument to a certain pitch, and\nthat the instrument will receive and record only vibrations emanating\nfrom a sending instrument attuned to the same pitch. This is true no\nmatter how near the instruments may be to each other, or in what\ndirection they may be from each other. And all instruments,\nirrespective of number, that may be within sending distance, will\nreceive the message providing they are attuned to the same pitch.\n\nNow just notice how much this corresponds to what we know of the\nworking of Thought-force. People whose minds are attuned to a certain\npitch will receive the vibrations from the minds of others whose\nmental keynote is the same. And if one maintains a high positive\nkeynote, he will not be affected by the vibrations emanating from the\nmind of another who may have a low negative pitch. The nearer to our\npitch the mind of another may be, the more we feel the sympathetic\nvibrations in our own mind; the greater the difference in the pitch,\nthe less we will feel in sympathy with him. This will account for the\ninstinctive likes or dislikes that many of us experience when coming\ninto the presence of other people. And how soon do people of kindred\nvibrations seek out and find each other in a mixed assembly. Many\nlikes, unexplainable by any theory of personal appearance, etc., arise\nfrom this cause.\n\nAnd as the Marconi instruments may have their pitch changed, so are\nour mental keynotes changed from time to time as we adjust ourselves\nto new conditions--as we grow. This will explain why two people, who\nat one time seemed to be in perfect attunement with each other, will\ndrift apart until at last they seem to have scarcely a thought or\nfeeling in common, and yet both of them may be good people, really\nanxious to be helpful to the other.\n\nBut this is not the only way in which the working of the Marconi\nsystem resembles the workings of the mind. I have often called your\nattention to the fact that the holding of certain mental attitudes\nresulted in the attraction to oneself of thought vibrations\ncorresponding to the general character or the thought held in the mind\nof the person. Let a man be filled with the spirit of Jealousy, and\neverything seems to feed that feeling. He hears of cases of\nfaithlessness on the part of other persons; every circumstance seems\nto confirm him in his belief. The actions of the loved one seem doubly\nsuspicious--signs of guilt are seen in every expression, every move.\nHe draws to himself the thought-waves of other minds vibrating on the\nsame pitch--like attracts like. Let a man drop into the Fearthought\ncondition, and immediately he feels the rush of Fear to his mind. Let\nhim cast aside Fear, and attune himself to the Fearless pitch, and he\nfeels an influx of Courage, Fearlessness, Confidence, Energy and other\npositive thoughts.\n\nAnd according to the character of your thoughts, will you draw to\nyourself people calculated to co-operate with you and be of assistance\nto you. Even things seem to shape themselves to fit in with the\nkeynote you have sounded.\n\nNot only do you attract to yourself people and things corresponding\nwith your mental pitch, but you send out thought-waves affecting\nothers creating impressions upon them. Go into the presence of an \"I\nCan and I Will\" man, and, if you are of the same kind, he will\ninstantly perceive it and will be glad to talk to you. On the other\nhand, approach a man of this kind, with your mind full of \"I Can't,\"\nand he will be conscious of inharmony and will want to be rid of your\npresence at once. Be a man with the southern exposure, such as I\ndescribed to you in another article, and you will find that you will\nextract and draw to yourself all the sunniness in the nature of people\nwith whom you come in contact. Be a human wet blanket, such as I have\ndescribed in another article, and you will find that you will get the\nmeanest qualities inherent in the nature of people with whom you come\nin contact--in fact you will be able to attract only that kind of\npeople who are as musty and unwholesome as yourself.\n\nGet rid of the old negative notes. Start in and cultivate the\npositive, joyous, active vibrations, until you reach the steady mental\npitch of the \"New Thought\" man. Then will all the negative vibrations\npass you by, finding no encouragement to enter your mentality--then\nwill you receive the bright, cheerful, happy, fearless vibrations\ncoming from others who have reached the same plane of thought.\n\nGet in tune--get in tune.\n\n\n\n\nMENTAL TOXIN AND ANTI-TOXIN.\n\nA new toxin--The microbes in the thoughts we think--The new\nanti-toxin--Thoughts may poison--Fear causes paralysis--Hate causes\ninsanity--Fear and Hate have killed their thousands--Gates'\nexperiments--How to overcome the poison of bad-thinking.\n\n\nIn these days of toxin and anti-toxin--of poison in sausages, oysters,\ncanned beef, ice cream--of anti-toxin serums (that often are more\ndeadly than the original toxin) for the prevention and cure of\ntuberculosis, leprosy, pneumonia, typhoid fever, tetanus, bubonic\nplague, diphtheria, and the rest of the list, it requires courage to\ncall the attention of the public to a new \"toxin,\" even if at the same\ntime we furnish an anti-toxin that \"anti-toxicates.\"\n\nWe shudder at the thought of microbes and bacilli--and thereby attract\nthem to us; we filter our drinking water, after boiling all the life\nout of it; we develop into microbe hunters, and see poison in\neverything we wear, eat, drink or breathe. But we overlook the\nmicrobes in the thoughts we think. We encourage the enterprising\ndoctor in his giddy chase after the nimble dollar, as he produces\nanti-toxin serums to order. The poor, broken-down cart horse is worked\novertime in producing filthy pus and serum for the serum-maniac to\ninject into our circulation. But we overlook the pure, harmless,\npowerful anti-toxin obtained fresh from the cells of the brain--Right\nThinking.\n\nThat Thoughts may poison, is a well-proven fact. Depressing thoughts\ninterfere with the cerebral circulation, impairing the nutrition of\nthe cells and nerve centers. The result is that the organs and tissues\nmanifest lost or impaired function--loss of general nutrition\nfollows--and a break-down is inevitable. Fear, worry, anger, envy,\njealousy, and other negative thoughts, reflect themselves most\ndisastrously in the human system. Fear has paralyzed nerve centers,\nand turned the hair white over night. A mother's milk has been\npoisoned by a fit of anger. Fear and Hate--father and son--have\nproduced insanity, idiocy, paralysis, cholerina, jaundice, sudden\ndecay of teeth, fatal anaemia, skin diseases, erysipelas, and eczema.\nEpidemics owe their rapid spread and heavy death rate to Fear and\nIgnorance. Epidemics may kill their dozens--Fear kills its thousands.\nAll the brood of negative, fearful, selfish, hateful thoughts manifest\nthemselves in physical conditions. Stigmata or marks upon the body,\ncaused by fear or desire, are quite common in the annals of medical\nscience and psychology.\n\nProfessor Gates, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., in\nhis investigation of the effect of mental states upon the body, found\nthat irascible, malevolent and depressing emotions generated in the\nsystem injurious compounds, some of which were extremely poisonous;\nhe also found that agreeable, happy emotions, generated chemical\ncompounds of nutritious value, which stimulated the cells to\nmanufacture energy. He says: \"Bad and unpleasant feelings create\nharmful chemical products in the body which are physically injurious.\nGood, pleasant, benevolent feelings create beneficial chemical\nproducts which are physically healthful. These products _may be\ndetected by chemical analysis_ in the perspiration and secretions\nof the individual. More than forty of the good, and as many of the\nbad, have been detected. Suppose half a dozen men in a room. One\nfeels depressed, another remorseful, another ill-tempered, another\njealous, another cheerful, another benevolent. Samples of their\nperspiration are placed in the hands of the psycho-physicist. Under\nhis examination they reveal all these emotional conditions distinctly\nand unmistakably.\" Remember, this is not \"the airy fancy of some\nenthusiastic Mental Scientist,\" but is the testimony of a leading\nscientific investigator in the laboratories of the Smithsonian\nInstitution, one of the best known scientific institutions of the\nworld. \"Chemical analysis,\" mind you--not \"transcendental imaginings.\"\n\nNow I have said enough about the toxin and some little about the\nanti-toxin of the Mind. I might go on for hours, stating example\nafter example; illustration after illustration, but the tale would\nbe just the same. Now what are you going to do about it? Are you\ngoing to keep on poisoning yourself and those around you with vile,\nmalignant thoughts reeking with the miasmatic effluvia of Hate--emitting\nthe noxious exhalation of Fear and Worry? Or will you cease being a\npsychic pest-house, and begin to fumigate and disinfect your Mind?\nAnd after getting rid of all the microbes of Fear and Worry and the\nbacilli of Hate, Jealousy and Envy, open wide the windows of the Mind\nand admit the bright Sunshine of Love, and the bracing air of\nConfidence and Fearlessness.\n\nCome, friends, let us get out of this habit of poisoning the air\nwith Fear, Worry and Hate Thought. Let us join the ranks of the\nDon't Worry company--the Fearless brigade--the invincible, conquering\narmy of Love. Let us be bright, cheerful and happy--the other things\nare not worth while. Let us be Confident, Expectant, Hopeful and\nFearless--these things are winners. Let us be filled with Love for all\nmen--and we will find that Life is one sweet song. Love, Faith and\nFearlessness, are the ingredients of Life's great Anti-Toxin. Try it\nand be blessed.\n\n\n\n\nElla Wheeler Wilcox\n\nUndertakes New Work.\n\n    FAVORITE AUTHOR BECOMES ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF THE NEW THOUGHT\n    MAGAZINE. BEST WRITING SHE HAS EVER DONE NOW APPEARING IN THAT\n    BRIGHT PUBLICATION.\n\nThe many friends and admirers of Ella Wheeler Wilcox will be\ninterested to learn that this gifted author and thinker has connected\nherself, in the capacity of associate editor, with the New Thought\nmagazine, and that hereafter her writings will appear regularly in\nthat bright publication, of which the aim is to aid its readers in the\ncultivation of those powers of the mind which bring success in life.\nMrs. Wilcox's writings have been the inspiration of many young men and\nwomen. Her hopeful, practical, masterful views of life give the reader\nnew courage in the very reading, and are a wholesome spur to flagging\neffort. She is in perfect sympathy with the purpose of the New Thought\nmagazine. The magazine is having a wonderful success, and the writings\nof Mrs. Wilcox for it, along the line of the new movement, are among\nher best. Words of truth, so vital that they live in the memory of\nevery reader and cause him to think--to his own betterment and the\nlasting improvement of his own work in the world, in whatever line it\nlies--flow from this talented woman's pen.\n\nThe magazine is being sold on all news stands for five cents. It is\nthe brightest, cleanest and best publication in its class, and its\neditors have hit the keynote of all sound success. The spirit of every\nbit of print from cover to cover of the magazine is the spirit of\nprogress and upbuilding--of courage, persistence and success. Virile\nstrength and energy, self-confidence, the mastery of self and\ncircumstances are its life and soul, and even the casual reader feels\nthe contagion of its vigor and its optimism.\n\nFREE.--The publishers will be pleased to send a handsome portrait of\nMrs. Wilcox, with extracts from her recent writings on the New\nThought, free. Address, The New Thought, 100, The Colonnades,\nVincennes Ave., Chicago.\n\n\n\n\nA FULL LIST\n\n...OF...\n\nImportant Books\n\nPUBLISHED BY\n\nThe Psychic Research Company\n\n3835 VINCENNES AVENUE\n\nCHICAGO\n\nAT THE\n\n_UNIFORM PRICE OF_ $1.00 _EACH, POSTPAID_\n\n[Pointing finger] Address all orders to Book Department THE PSYCHIC\nRESEARCH COMPANY to insure prompt attention. Remit by POSTAL ORDER or\nEXPRESS ORDER. If currency or stamps is sent, register the letter. If\npersonal check is used, add 10c. for exchange fee. ORDERS FILLED THE\nDAY THEY ARE RECEIVED.\n\n\n~Thought-Force~ (In Business and Every-Day Life)\n\nBy WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON\n\n    A wonderfully vivid book answering the questions: Can I make my\n    life more happy and successful through mental control? How can I\n    affect my circumstances by my mental effort? Just how shall I go\n    about it to free myself from my depression, failure, timidity,\n    weakness and care? How can I influence those more powerful ones\n    from whom I desire favor? How am I to recognize the causes of my\n    failure and thus avoid them?\n\n    Can I make my disposition into one which is active, positive, high\n    strung and masterful? How can I draw vitality of mind and body\n    from an invisible source? How can I directly attract friends and\n    friendship? How can I influence other people by mental suggestion?\n    How can I influence people at a distance by my mind alone? How can\n    I retard old age, preserve health and good looks? How can I cure\n    myself of illness, bad habits, nervousness, etc.\n\n    \"Thought-Force\" gives an answer to questions like these. The book\n    has been universally commended for its clearness and simplicity.\n\n    Bound in Purple Silk Cloth, Gold Lettering. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With One Year's Subscription to New Thought, both for $1.35.\n\n\n~Nuggets of the New Thought~ (In Press)\n\nBy WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON\n\n    A series of essays by this forceful writer, constituting the cream\n    of his magazine articles upon New Thought topics. The famous \"I\n    Can and I Will\" essay forms the opening chapter. \"The Secret of\n    the I AM,\" of which 40,000 copies have been sold, is also\n    contained in this volume. We heartily commend this book as\n    interpretative of the higher teaching. A most suitable gift book.\n\n    Silk cloth, purple and gold. Price $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, both, $1.35.\n\n\n~The Law of The New Thought~\n\nBy WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON\n\n    This is a plain answer to the oft repeated questions. \"What Is The\n    New Thought?\" \"What does it mean?\" \"What principles does it stand\n    for?\" \"Is it different from what is called Mental Science, or\n    Christian Science?\" The New Thought is quite different. It is so\n    broad and comprehensive in its bearing upon human life and human\n    happiness that it can only be defined by its name, New Thought.\n    Mr. Atkinson's new book not only explains what the law is upon\n    which New Thought is based, but teaches how it may be used to the\n    greatest good of men.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~The Heart of The New Thought~ (In Press)\n\nBy ELLA WHEELER WILCOX\n\n    A new book of original essays by this gifted woman dealing with\n    The New Thought in practice. This book will be off the press about\n    the beginning of December. A first edition of 50,000 copies has\n    been ordered. It deals with the practice of New Thought in our\n    daily lives. A helpful and inspiring book, fully equal to the very\n    best work this author has done.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~Mesmerism in India~\n\nBy JAMES ESDAILE, M.D.\n\n    A classic from the pen of a surgeon in the British Army, stationed\n    in India fifty years ago. A most fascinating work for the student\n    of practical psychology, containing the plainest description of\n    the methods then in vogue of inducing the artificial coma for the\n    performance of painless surgical operations.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~The Home Course in Osteopathy~\n\n    A clear and practical work, fully illustrated, for home use,\n    explaining the Theory and Practice of Osteopathy, Massage and\n    Manual Therapeutics, and illustrating all the different movements.\n    The only complete work of the kind ever published.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    Formerly sold at $5.00 in paper covers.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~Series \"A\"~\n\n    A masterly work dealing with two phases of development: the mental\n    showing forth in self-control and force of character: and the\n    spiritual as taught through Zoism, the new mental science. This\n    book makes plain that which is known as the Law of Mental\n    Currents, and teaches much that is new to the student of\n    metaphysics. It is clearly and simply written and has been warmly\n    endorsed by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~Series \"B\"~\n\n    This is a book for physicians, dentists, osteopaths and\n    professional nurses particularly, inasmuch as it deals with the\n    theory and practice both of suggestive therapeutics and magnetic\n    healing. It is intensely practical, and gives the clearest\n    directions how to proceed to induce the state of passivity\n    necessary for the curing of diseases by these means. It is\n    considered by all authorities to be the most complete work,\n    written purely for instruction's sake, ever put out. It is well\n    illustrated.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~Series \"C\"~\n\n    This is a compilation of new, copyright works dealing with the\n    practice of clairvoyance or crystal-gazing, human magnetism,\n    auto-suggestion, concentration, and mind reading in its two\n    aspects of muscle reading and true telepathy. This book really\n    tells how to perform mind-reading. In this it is unique; no other\n    work to our knowledge, being really useful in this regard.\n\n    Silk Cloth. Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~Series \"D\"~\n\n    Although this is the last of this series of books it is in some\n    respects the most important of any. A life-time of study and\n    practice will not exhaust its stores of knowledge. It deals with\n    Psychometry, Phrenology. Palmistry, Astrology, Mediumship and\n    Somnopathy. This last is a new word, coined by the author, Sydney\n    Flower, to define his discovery of a new method of educating the\n    young, i.e., during natural sleep. Of this method, a lady writing\n    in The Washington Post, of recent date, said: \"I never punish my\n    little ones, I simply wait till they are asleep, and then I talk\n    to them, not loud enough, you understand, to wake them, but in a\n    low voice. I tell them over and over that they must be good, I\n    suggest goodness to them, for I think the mind is just as\n    susceptible to suggestion during the natural sleep as during the\n    working state. I concentrate my mind on it, and I am confident\n    that before long all mothers will adopt my method. It is the best\n    way I know of to bring up children.\" This method is fully\n    described by its discoverer in this work, and the endorsements of\n    prominent physicians are given in full.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~The Mail-Order Business~\n\nBy SYDNEY FLOWER\n\n    This little book, if we are to judge by the testimony of those who\n    have paid for and read it, exactly fills the need of the many men\n    and women who are now looking to the mail-order field as a means\n    of starting in business for themselves in a small way. This book\n    is very practical, very simple, very much to the point. It teaches\n    how to enter the mail-order field, manufacture goods, buy, sell\n    and advertise articles, keep a card-check system, set of books,\n    etc., in short, how to conduct a small mail-order business on a\n    limited capital.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\n~The Mind's Attainment~ (In Press)\n\nBy URIEL BUCHANAN\n\n    Every reader of New Thought literature is familiar with the\n    charming literary style of Mr. Buchanan. This book, which will be\n    ready by the end of November, expresses more nearly the high\n    ideals of the author than anything he has hitherto published. It\n    gives the essence of a beautiful and Uplifting philosophy that\n    cannot fail to benefit and instruct humanity.\n\n    Silk Cloth, Purple and Gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid.\n    With New Thought, One Year, $1.35.\n\n\nTHESE BOOKS ARE PUBLISHED AND OWNED BY\n\nTHE PSYCHIC RESEARCH COMPANY,\n\n3835 VINCENNES AVENUE,\n\nCHICAGO.\n\n\nAll books are sold by this company upon the full refund principle of \"Your\nmoney back if the book does not suit you.\"\n\n\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nMinor typographical errors have been corrected without note.\n\nIrregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained\nas printed.","title":"Nuggets of the New Thought: Several Things That Have Helped People","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":43376}