偉大的願景
但凡有生命的物質，都有誕生、成長、發展和衰亡的周期。對於我們人類來說，我們的成長也有成長的周期，了解成長的周期非常重要，因為這意味著對我們生命的規律的掌握。
根據生命的階段性特點，我們把七年定為一個循環，每一個七年對我們而言都意味著一個新的階段。
懵懵無知的少幼年期是人生的第一個七年；接下來的第二個七年是兒童期，兒童期意味著對知識全麵的探索時期；下一個七年是青春期，第四個七年中我們將達到生理與心理發展的頂峰；第五個七年是事業發展期，在這個階段中，我們開始獲取財富、成就、住宅和家庭；從３５歲到４２歲的這七年是成熟期，無論是生活，還是事業，我們會達到成熟的頂峰，之後的七年是一個調整和恢複的穩定期。
我們的生命就是這樣在七年一輪回的周期中進行，了解這一規律，就可以很好地規劃我們的人生，順應人生發展的潮流。
- 什麽是財富
對於財富，可以有很多種解釋，但這些解釋的基本內容大體一致。財富包括一切具有交換價值、對人有用、令人愉悅的物品。正是因為財富具有可交換的價值，我們才可以用手中的財富換取各種各樣自己喜愛的物品。
- 財富的交換價值
財富不僅意味著我們擁有某種商品，同時，我們還可以用手中的財富換取更多自己想要的但原來不屬於自己的東西。如果不能進行交換，財富的意義就會大大縮水。
- 勤勞是財富的原因
我們常說勤勞可以致富，可見勞動是財富產生的原因，而財富是勞動的結果，財富是勞動的產物。
- 成為財富的主宰
財富是手段，不是目的。我們要學會駕馭財富，而不是被財富所駕馭。讓財富成為自己的主宰，自己服務於財富的做法是本末倒置。
- 遠大的理想比財富更為重要
財富不是判斷一個人成功與否的標準，決定一個人真正成功與否的標準要看他是否有比積聚財富更為遠大的理想。遠大的理想要比任何財富都更有價值。
- 理想導致成功
如果想讓自己成為事業成功的人，首先就要為自己樹立一個讓自己為之奮鬥的理想。確定了目的地才能知道該朝哪個方向走，心中有了這樣一個理想，你就能達到實現理想的途徑和方法。
- 普仁提斯·馬福爾德的名言
“成功的人也是那些有著最高的精神追求的人，一切巨大的財富都來源於這種超然而又真實的精神能量。”這是普仁提斯·馬福爾德留給我們的名言。但很不幸，有很多人不能正確認識這種能量，他們沒有一個具體的、固定的追求目標，沒有理想，他們渾身是勁，卻不知該往哪使。
- 成功者們自有遠大的目標
哈裏曼的父親是一個窮職員，年薪隻有２００美元；安德魯·卡耐基全家剛剛來到美國時，他的母親不得不靠幫人洗衣來養活一家人；富可敵國的托馬斯·利普頓從２５美分起家。可以說這些人在開始的時候根本沒有什麽權勢可以指望，但這並沒有成為阻擋他們成功的障礙，原因就在於他們有著遠大的目標。
- 石油大亨的經驗
億萬富翁、石油大亨亨利·Ｍ弗萊格勒同樣也有著遠大的追求．他總是不厭其煩地告訴自己：那就是自己想追求的：高大的鑽井，噴出的石油，巨大的油輪。一閉上眼睛，眼前浮現的就是這些。這就是成功的秘訣。
- 思想指導行動
思想總是先於行動並且指導著行動，不經過認真思考隻是魯莽行事，不會有好的結果。任何現象都自有其成因；因果相循環，這是自然的法則。思想是行動的原因，積極的思想才會導致積極的結果。
- 創造力是思想的結晶
一切的現實都來源於我們的創造力，而創造力又完全是思想的結晶。我們的思想越是豐富，知識越是廣博深刻，我們的創造力就越是驚人。
- 思想具有可塑性
思想就像我們童年時玩過的橡皮泥，我們要學會調整自己，使自己的思想變得更加積極樂觀，然後它們就會催生現實的成功。
- 引力法則
引力法則規定，我們在外在世界中的種種際遇，都與我們的內心世界相對應。那些進入到我們心靈的焦慮、恐懼、猶豫等消極的觀念，自然會給我們的將來帶來負麵的影響。
- 理想終究會成為現實
如果我們有意識樹立一個目標，懷有某種理想，那麽這種理想最終會在我們的生活中變為現實。所以，隻要我們懷有目標，就可以把命運緊緊地掌握在自己的手中。
- 思想是生命的原動力
一切的環境、際遇、成就，都是思想創造的結果，把握思想，就是把握命運。
- 有建設性的思想
有建設性的思想的特征是有勇氣、有膽識、有力量、意誌堅強，如果我們懷有有建設性的思想，那麽我們的行為也會表現出同樣的特征，從而建設積極的將來。建設性的思想總是充滿活力，充滿生命，它能夠生長、發展、壯大，它會為自己的成長汲取自己所需要的一切。
- 思想的兩麵性
思想具有兩麵性，如果我們的思想是建設性的、和諧的，我們彰顯的就是“善”；反之，如果我們的思想是破壞性的、不和諧的，我們彰顯的就是“惡”。
- 一切成功都並非偶然
一切成功都是靠自己的努力拚搏得來的，失敗者常常會抱怨有“超自然的神靈”在捉弄他們的命運，事實上卻絕非如此。成功者總是具有積極的思想、積極的行動，正是這些積極的思想與行動的“原因”導致了成功的“結果”，那些失敗者所抱怨的捉弄他們的命運之神，其實隻不過是他們消極、不平衡的心態而已。
- 心中懷有願景
願景會轉變為現實，這是絕對科學的事實。願景會改變我們的性格、能力、思想，進而改變我們的環境，讓我們控製自己的命運。沒有願景的人總是渾渾噩噩，虛度時日。心中懷有願景，你所渴望的目標自會實現，合適的人與合適的機遇，自會在合適的時間與合適的地點出現。
- 想像力也同樣重要
通過想象力我們可以把我們所希望的將來的每一個細節勾勒出來，形成視覺的圖景；這種思維的過程會在我們的心靈中留下印記，這些印記會變成我們的觀念和思想，乃至目標、願景。然後我們就會有偉大的計劃，執著而又堅定的行動方案，有意識地訓練你的想象力，讓它把你的理想勾勒出來，直到你心中的幻影變得清晰。然後它們就會變成現實。
- 理想終會成真
美好的理想會催生我們的行動，堅定、執著、自信的行動者，最終會收獲豐碩的果實。理想終會成真。
- 你自己亦是最好的證據
自然法則的運行是完美、和諧的。如果你需要證據，那些就回想一下你自己生命中的種種奮鬥努力吧，當你朝著一個方向堅定地努力之後，你收獲到的是什麽，你自己心裏最清楚。
- 想象力還需接受意誌的引導
想象力是一個糟糕的主人，卻是一個稱職的仆人，除非受到很好的控製，否則它就會使我們陷入五花八門的空想當中，結果導致我們精神的混亂。
- 要培養自己的洞察力
有洞察力的人會看得比普通人更遠。任何的理念都要經過透徹的分析，一切不是科學準確的東西都要加經摒棄。如果你這樣去做，你就不會在一些無謂的瑣事上浪費時間。洞察力是一切事業獲得成功的奧秘之一。
- 擁有偉大的精神圖景
我們的心中必須擁有一幅關於未來的偉大而又正確的精神圖景，我們正是按照這樣的精神圖景來建造我們的未來。一切的行動、愛、勇氣、信心都要服從於它，然後我們的夢想就會變為現實。
本課重點
１、一個人怎樣才能夠獲得財富？
——他的思想必須具有足夠的創造力。
２、財富真正的價值何在？
——在於它的交換價值。
３、比財富更為重要的是什麽？
——是遠大的理想。
４、為什麽說創造力是思想的結晶？
——因為我們的思想越是豐富，知識越是廣博深刻，我們的創造力就越是驚人。
５、為什麽思想是可以改造的？
——因為思想具有極強的可塑性。
６、思想的兩麵性指的是什麽？
——富有建設性的思想和具有破壞性的思想。
７、為什麽想象力還需接受意誌的引導？
——因為除非想象力受到很好的控製，否則它就會使我們陷入五花八門的空想當中，結果導致我們精神的混亂。
８、為什麽我們必須擁有正確的精神圖景？
——因為正確的精神圖景預示著我們擁有一個美好的將來。
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Part Sixteen
The vibratory activities of the planetary Universe are governed by a law of periodicity. Everything that lives has periods of birth, growth, fruitage, and decline. These periods are governed by the Septimal Law.
The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the moon, the harmonies of sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, atomic structure. It governs the life of individuals and of nations, and it dominates the activities of the commercial world.
Life is growth, and growth is change, each seven years period takes us into a new cycle. The first seven years is the period of infancy. The next seven the period of childhood, representing the beginning of individual responsibility. The next seven represents the period of adolescence. The fourth period marks the attainment of full growth. The fifth period is the constructive period, when men begin to acquire property, possessions, a home and family. The next from 35 to 42, is a period of reactions and changes, and this in turn is followed by a period of reconstruction, adjustment and recuperation, so as to be ready for a new cycle of sevens, beginning with the fiftieth year.
There are many who think that the world is just bout to pass out of the sixth period; that it will soon enter into the seventh period, the period of readjustment, reconstruction and harmony; the period which is frequently referred to as the Millennium.
Those familiar with these cycles will not be disturbed when things seem to go wrong, but can apply the principle outlined in these lessons with the full assurance that a higher law will invariably control all other laws, and that through an understanding and conscious operation of spiritual laws, we can convert every seeming difficulty into a blessing.
PART SIXTEEN
1. Wealth is a product of labor. Capital is an effect, not a cause; a servant, not a master; a means, not an end.
2. The most commonly accepted definition of wealth is that it consists of all useful and agreeable things which possess exchange value. It is this exchange value which is the predominant characteristic of wealth.
3. When we consider the small addition made by wealth to the happiness of the possessor, we find that the true value consists not in its utility but in its exchange.
4. This exchange value makes it a medium for securing the things of real value whereby our ideals may be realized.
5. Wealth should then never be desired as an end, but simply as a means of accomplishing an end. Success is contingent upon a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of riches, and he who aspires to such success must formulate an ideal for which he is willing to strive.
6. With such an ideal in mind, the ways and means can and will be provided, but the mistake must not be made of substituting the means for the end. There must be a definite fixed purpose, an ideal.
7. Prentice Mulford said: "The man of success is the man possessed of the greatest spiritual understanding and every great fortune comes of superior and truly spiritual power." Unfortunately, there are those who fail to recognize this power; they forget that Andrew Carnegie's mother had to help support the family when they came to America, that Harriman's father was a poor clergyman with a salary of only $200 a year, that Sir Thomas Lipton started with only 25 cents. These men had no other power to depend upon, but it did not fail them.
8. The power to create depends entirely upon spiritual power; there are three steps, idealization, visualization and materialization. Every captain of industry depends upon this power exclusively. In an article in Everybody's Magazine, Henry M. Flagler, the Standard Oil multi-millionaire, admitted that the secret of his success was his power to see a thing in its completeness. The following conversation with the reporter shows his power of idealization, concentration and visualization, all spiritual powers:
9. "Did you actually vision to yourself the whole thing? I mean, did you, or could you, really close your eyes and see the tracks? And the trains running? And hear the whistles blowing? Did you go as far as that?" "Yes." "How clearly?" "Very clearly."
10. Here we have a vision of the law, we see "cause and effect", we see that thought necessarily precedes and determines action. If we are wise, we shall come into a realization of the tremendous fact that no arbitrary condition can exist for a moment, and that human experience is the result of an orderly and harmonious sequence.
11. The successful businessman is more often than not an idealist and is every striving for higher and higher standards. The subtle forces of thought as they crystallize in our daily moods is what constitutes life.
12. Thought is the plastic material with which we build images of our growing conception of life. Use determines its existence. As in all other things our ability to recognize it and use it properly is the necessary condition for attainment.
13. Premature wealth is but the forerunner of humiliation and disaster, because we cannot permanently retain anything which we do not merit or which we have not earned.
14. The conditions with which we meet in the world without, correspond to the conditions which we find in the world within. This is brought about by the law of attraction. How then shall we determine what is to enter into the world within?
15. Whatever enters the mind through the senses or the objective mind will impress the mind and result in a mental image which will become a pattern for the creative energies. These experiences are largely the result of environment, chance, past thinking and other forms of negative thought, and must be subjected to careful analysis before being entertained. On the other hand, we can form our own mental images, through our own interior processes of thought regardless of the thoughts of others, regardless of exterior conditions, regardless of environment of every kind, and it is by the exercise of this power that we can control our own destiny, body, mind and soul.
16. It is by the exercise of this power that we take our fate out of the hands of chance, and consciously make for ourselves the experiences which we desire, because when we consciously realize a condition, that condition will eventually manifest in our lives; it is therefore evident that in the last analysis thinking is the one great cause in life.
17. Therefore, to control thought is to control circumstances, conditions, environment, and destiny.
18. How then are we to control thought; what is the process? To think is to create a thought, but the result of the thought will depend upon its form, its quality and its vitality.
19. The form will depend upon the mental images from which it emanates; this will depend upon the depth of the impression, the predominance of the idea, the clarity of the vision, the boldness of the image.
20. The quality depends upon its substance, and this depends upon the material of which the mind is composed; if this material has been woven from thoughts of vigor, strength, courage, determination, the thought will possess these qualities.
21. And finally, the vitality depends upon the feeling with which the thought is impregnated. If the thought is constructive, it will possess vitality; it will have life, it will grow, develop, expand, it will be creative; it will attract to itself everything necessary for its complete development.
22. If the thought is destructive, it will have within itself the germ of its own dissolution; it will die, but in the process of dying, it will bring sickness, disease, and every other form of discord.
23. This we call evil, and when we bring it upon ourselves, some of us are disposed to attribute our difficulties to a Supreme Being, but this supreme being is simply Mind in equilibrium.
24. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
25. Our ability to differentiate it into form is our ability to manifest good or evil.
26. Good and evil therefore are not entities, they are simply words which we use to indicate the result of our actions, and these actions are in turn predetermined by the character of our thought.
27. If our thought is constructive and harmonious we manifest good; if it is destructive and discordant we manifest evil.
28. If you desire to visualize a different environment, the process is simply to hold the ideal in mind, until your vision has been made real; give no thought to persons, places or things; these have no place in the absolute; the environment you desire will contain everything necessary; the right persons, and the right things will come at the right time and in the right place.
29. It is sometimes not plain how character, ability, attainment, achievement, environment and destiny can be controlled through the power of visualization, but this is an exact scientific fact.
30. You will readily see that what we think determines the quality of mind, and that the quality of mind in turn determines our ability and mental capacity, and you can readily understand that the improvement in our ability will naturally be followed by increase in attainment and a greater control of circumstances.
31. It will thus be seen that Natural laws work in a perfectly natural and harmonious manner; everything seems to "just happen." If you want any evidence of this fact simply compare results of your efforts in your own life, when your actions were prompted by high ideals and when you had selfish or ulterior motives in mind. You will need no further evidence.
32. If you wish to bring about the realization of any desire, form a mental picture of success in your mind, by consciously visualizing your desire; in this way you will be compelling success, you will be externalizing it in your life by scientific methods.
33. We can only see what already exists in the objective world, but what we visualize, already exists in the spiritual world, and this visualization is a substantial token of what will one day appear in the objective world, if we are faithful to our ideal. The reason for this is not difficult; visualization is a form of imagination; this process of thinking forms impressions on the mind, and these impressions in turn form concepts and ideals, and they in turn are the plans from which the Master architect will weave the future.
34. The psychologists have come to the conclusion that there is but one sense, the sense of feeling, and that all other senses are but modifications of this one sense; this being true, we know why feeling is the very fountain head of power, why the emotions so easily overcome the intellect, and why we must put feeling into our thought, if we wish results. Thought and feeling is the irresistible combination.
35. Visualization must, of course, be directed by the will; we are to visualize exactly what we want; we must be careful not to let the imagination run riot. Imagination is a good servant but a poor master, and unless it is controlled it may easily lead us into all kinds of speculations and conclusions which have no basis or foundation of fact whatever. Every kind of plausible opinion is liable to be accepted without any analytical examination and the inevitable result is mental chaos.
36. We must therefore construct only such mental images as are known to be scientifically true. Subject every idea to a searching analysis and accept nothing which is not scientifically exact. When you do this you will attempt nothing but what you know you can carry out and success will crown your efforts; this is what businessmen call far-sightedness; it is much the same as insight, and is one of the great secrets of success in all important undertakings.
37. For your exercise this week, try to bring yourself to a realization of the important fact that harmony and happiness are states of consciousness and do not depend upon the possession of things. That things are effects and come as a consequence of correct mental states. So that if we desire material possession of any kind our chief concern should be to acquire the mental attitude which will bring about the result desired. This mental attitude is brought about by a realization of our spiritual nature and our unity with the Universal Mind which is the substance of all things. This realization will bring about everything which is necessary for our complete enjoyment. This is scientific or correct thinking. When we succeed in bringing about this mental attitude it is comparatively easy to realize our desire as an already accomplished fact; when we can do this we shall have found the "Truth" which makes us "free" from every lack or limitation of any kind.
A man might frame and let loose a star, to roll in its orbit, and yet not have done so memorable a thing before God as he who lets a golden-orbed thought to roll through the generations of time.
H. W. Beecher
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Study Questions with Answers
151. Upon what does wealth depend?
Upon an understanding of the creative nature of thought.
152. Upon what does its true value consist?
Upon its exchange value.
153. Upon what does success depend?
Upon spiritual power.
154. Upon what does this power depend?
Upon use; use determines its existence.
155. How may we take our fate out of the hands of chance?
By consciously realizing the conditions which we desire to see manifested in our lives.
156. What then is the great business of life?
Thinking.
157. Why is this so?
Because thought is spiritual and therefore creative. To consciously control thought is therefore to control circumstances, conditions, environment and destiny.
158. What is the source of all evil?
Destructive thinking.
159. What is the source of all good?
Scientific correct thinking.
160. What is scientific thinking?
A recognition of the creative nature of spiritual energy and our ability to control it.
The greatest events of an age are its best thoughts. It is the nature of thought to find its way into action.
Bovee
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Part Sixteen
The vibratory activities of the planetary Universe are governed by a law of periodicity. Everything that lives has periods of birth, growth, fruitage, and decline. These periods are governed by the Septimal Law.
The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the moon, the harmonies of sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, atomic structure. It governs the life of individuals and of nations, and it dominates the activities of the commercial world.
Life is growth, and growth is change, each seven years period takes us into a new cycle. The first seven years is the period of infancy. The next seven the period of childhood, representing the beginning of individual responsibility. The next seven represents the period of adolescence. The fourth period marks the attainment of full growth. The fifth period is the constructive period, when men begin to acquire property, possessions, a home and family. The next from 35 to 42, is a period of reactions and changes, and this in turn is followed by a period of reconstruction, adjustment and recuperation, so as to be ready for a new cycle of sevens, beginning with the fiftieth year.
There are many who think that the world is just bout to pass out of the sixth period; that it will soon enter into the seventh period, the period of readjustment, reconstruction and harmony; the period which is frequently referred to as the Millennium.
Those familiar with these cycles will not be disturbed when things seem to go wrong, but can apply the principle outlined in these lessons with the full assurance that a higher law will invariably control all other laws, and that through an understanding and conscious operation of spiritual laws, we can convert every seeming difficulty into a blessing.
PART SIXTEEN
1. Wealth is a product of labor. Capital is an effect, not a cause; a servant, not a master; a means, not an end.
2. The most commonly accepted definition of wealth is that it consists of all useful and agreeable things which possess exchange value. It is this exchange value which is the predominant characteristic of wealth.
3. When we consider the small addition made by wealth to the happiness of the possessor, we find that the true value consists not in its utility but in its exchange.
4. This exchange value makes it a medium for securing the things of real value whereby our ideals may be realized.
5. Wealth should then never be desired as an end, but simply as a means of accomplishing an end. Success is contingent upon a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of riches, and he who aspires to such success must formulate an ideal for which he is willing to strive.
6. With such an ideal in mind, the ways and means can and will be provided, but the mistake must not be made of substituting the means for the end. There must be a definite fixed purpose, an ideal.
7. Prentice Mulford said: "The man of success is the man possessed of the greatest spiritual understanding and every great fortune comes of superior and truly spiritual power." Unfortunately, there are those who fail to recognize this power; they forget that Andrew Carnegie's mother had to help support the family when they came to America, that Harriman's father was a poor clergyman with a salary of only $200 a year, that Sir Thomas Lipton started with only 25 cents. These men had no other power to depend upon, but it did not fail them.
8. The power to create depends entirely upon spiritual power; there are three steps, idealization, visualization and materialization. Every captain of industry depends upon this power exclusively. In an article in Everybody's Magazine, Henry M. Flagler, the Standard Oil multi-millionaire, admitted that the secret of his success was his power to see a thing in its completeness. The following conversation with the reporter shows his power of idealization, concentration and visualization, all spiritual powers:
9. "Did you actually vision to yourself the whole thing? I mean, did you, or could you, really close your eyes and see the tracks? And the trains running? And hear the whistles blowing? Did you go as far as that?" "Yes." "How clearly?" "Very clearly."
10. Here we have a vision of the law, we see "cause and effect", we see that thought necessarily precedes and determines action. If we are wise, we shall come into a realization of the tremendous fact that no arbitrary condition can exist for a moment, and that human experience is the result of an orderly and harmonious sequence.
11. The successful businessman is more often than not an idealist and is every striving for higher and higher standards. The subtle forces of thought as they crystallize in our daily moods is what constitutes life.
12. Thought is the plastic material with which we build images of our growing conception of life. Use determines its existence. As in all other things our ability to recognize it and use it properly is the necessary condition for attainment.
13. Premature wealth is but the forerunner of humiliation and disaster, because we cannot permanently retain anything which we do not merit or which we have not earned.
14. The conditions with which we meet in the world without, correspond to the conditions which we find in the world within. This is brought about by the law of attraction. How then shall we determine what is to enter into the world within?
15. Whatever enters the mind through the senses or the objective mind will impress the mind and result in a mental image which will become a pattern for the creative energies. These experiences are largely the result of environment, chance, past thinking and other forms of negative thought, and must be subjected to careful analysis before being entertained. On the other hand, we can form our own mental images, through our own interior processes of thought regardless of the thoughts of others, regardless of exterior conditions, regardless of environment of every kind, and it is by the exercise of this power that we can control our own destiny, body, mind and soul.
16. It is by the exercise of this power that we take our fate out of the hands of chance, and consciously make for ourselves the experiences which we desire, because when we consciously realize a condition, that condition will eventually manifest in our lives; it is therefore evident that in the last analysis thinking is the one great cause in life.
17. Therefore, to control thought is to control circumstances, conditions, environment, and destiny.
18. How then are we to control thought; what is the process? To think is to create a thought, but the result of the thought will depend upon its form, its quality and its vitality.
19. The form will depend upon the mental images from which it emanates; this will depend upon the depth of the impression, the predominance of the idea, the clarity of the vision, the boldness of the image.
20. The quality depends upon its substance, and this depends upon the material of which the mind is composed; if this material has been woven from thoughts of vigor, strength, courage, determination, the thought will possess these qualities.
21. And finally, the vitality depends upon the feeling with which the thought is impregnated. If the thought is constructive, it will possess vitality; it will have life, it will grow, develop, expand, it will be creative; it will attract to itself everything necessary for its complete development.
22. If the thought is destructive, it will have within itself the germ of its own dissolution; it will die, but in the process of dying, it will bring sickness, disease, and every other form of discord.
23. This we call evil, and when we bring it upon ourselves, some of us are disposed to attribute our difficulties to a Supreme Being, but this supreme being is simply Mind in equilibrium.
24. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
25. Our ability to differentiate it into form is our ability to manifest good or evil.
26. Good and evil therefore are not entities, they are simply words which we use to indicate the result of our actions, and these actions are in turn predetermined by the character of our thought.
27. If our thought is constructive and harmonious we manifest good; if it is destructive and discordant we manifest evil.
28. If you desire to visualize a different environment, the process is simply to hold the ideal in mind, until your vision has been made real; give no thought to persons, places or things; these have no place in the absolute; the environment you desire will contain everything necessary; the right persons, and the right things will come at the right time and in the right place.
29. It is sometimes not plain how character, ability, attainment, achievement, environment and destiny can be controlled through the power of visualization, but this is an exact scientific fact.
30. You will readily see that what we think determines the quality of mind, and that the quality of mind in turn determines our ability and mental capacity, and you can readily understand that the improvement in our ability will naturally be followed by increase in attainment and a greater control of circumstances.
31. It will thus be seen that Natural laws work in a perfectly natural and harmonious manner; everything seems to "just happen." If you want any evidence of this fact simply compare results of your efforts in your own life, when your actions were prompted by high ideals and when you had selfish or ulterior motives in mind. You will need no further evidence.
32. If you wish to bring about the realization of any desire, form a mental picture of success in your mind, by consciously visualizing your desire; in this way you will be compelling success, you will be externalizing it in your life by scientific methods.
33. We can only see what already exists in the objective world, but what we visualize, already exists in the spiritual world, and this visualization is a substantial token of what will one day appear in the objective world, if we are faithful to our ideal. The reason for this is not difficult; visualization is a form of imagination; this process of thinking forms impressions on the mind, and these impressions in turn form concepts and ideals, and they in turn are the plans from which the Master architect will weave the future.
34. The psychologists have come to the conclusion that there is but one sense, the sense of feeling, and that all other senses are but modifications of this one sense; this being true, we know why feeling is the very fountain head of power, why the emotions so easily overcome the intellect, and why we must put feeling into our thought, if we wish results. Thought and feeling is the irresistible combination.
35. Visualization must, of course, be directed by the will; we are to visualize exactly what we want; we must be careful not to let the imagination run riot. Imagination is a good servant but a poor master, and unless it is controlled it may easily lead us into all kinds of speculations and conclusions which have no basis or foundation of fact whatever. Every kind of plausible opinion is liable to be accepted without any analytical examination and the inevitable result is mental chaos.
36. We must therefore construct only such mental images as are known to be scientifically true. Subject every idea to a searching analysis and accept nothing which is not scientifically exact. When you do this you will attempt nothing but what you know you can carry out and success will crown your efforts; this is what businessmen call far-sightedness; it is much the same as insight, and is one of the great secrets of success in all important undertakings.
37. For your exercise this week, try to bring yourself to a realization of the important fact that harmony and happiness are states of consciousness and do not depend upon the possession of things. That things are effects and come as a consequence of correct mental states. So that if we desire material possession of any kind our chief concern should be to acquire the mental attitude which will bring about the result desired. This mental attitude is brought about by a realization of our spiritual nature and our unity with the Universal Mind which is the substance of all things. This realization will bring about everything which is necessary for our complete enjoyment. This is scientific or correct thinking. When we succeed in bringing about this mental attitude it is comparatively easy to realize our desire as an already accomplished fact; when we can do this we shall have found the "Truth" which makes us "free" from every lack or limitation of any kind.
A man might frame and let loose a star, to roll in its orbit, and yet not have done so memorable a thing before God as he who lets a golden-orbed thought to roll through the generations of time.
H. W. Beecher
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Study Questions with Answers
151. Upon what does wealth depend?
Upon an understanding of the creative nature of thought.
152. Upon what does its true value consist?
Upon its exchange value.
153. Upon what does success depend?
Upon spiritual power.
154. Upon what does this power depend?
Upon use; use determines its existence.
155. How may we take our fate out of the hands of chance?
By consciously realizing the conditions which we desire to see manifested in our lives.
156. What then is the great business of life?
Thinking.
157. Why is this so?
Because thought is spiritual and therefore creative. To consciously control thought is therefore to control circumstances, conditions, environment and destiny.
158. What is the source of all evil?
Destructive thinking.
159. What is the source of all good?
Scientific correct thinking.
160. What is scientific thinking?
A recognition of the creative nature of spiritual energy and our ability to control it.
The greatest events of an age are its best thoughts. It is the nature of thought to find its way into action.
Bovee
