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The main ideas from this information are: - Mental suffering is a result of being out of harmony with oneself and the law of one's being. - Good thoughts and actions produce good results, while bad thoughts and actions produce bad results. - Circumstances are a reflection of one's thoughts and can be changed by altering one's thought patterns. - Having a central purpose and focusing one's thoughts on that purpose leads to self-control and concentration. - Doubt and fear are enemies of success and should be excluded from one's thoughts. - Thoughts, when allied with purpose, become a creating force. In summary, this information emphasizes the importance of understanding the power of thoughts and their impact on one's life. It highlights the need to align one's thoughts with positive intentions and purpose in order to achieve success and overcome obstacles. suffering as a result of his good, and not of his bad qualities. And on the way to, yet long before he has reached that supreme perfection, he will have found working in his mind and life the great law which is absolutely just, and which cannot therefore give good for evil, evil for good. Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know, looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that his life is, and always was, justly ordered, and that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable outworking of his evolving, yet unsolved, self. Good thoughts and actions can never, in the long run, produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from coin to coin, nothing from metals to metals. Men understand this law in the natural world and work with it, but few understand it in the mental and moral world, though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating, and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it. Mental suffering is always the effect of error in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the law of his being. The goal and supreme use of such suffering is to correct and teach. Mental suffering ceases for him who is wise. There can be no object of burning gold after the drop has been removed, and the mind of a perfectly enlightened being cannot be agonized. The circumstances which a man encounters with suffering are the result of his own bleak outlook. The circumstances which a man encounters with blessedness are again the result of his own aptitude. Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of right. Wretchedness, not the lack of material possessions, is the measure of wrong. A man may be cursed and rich. He may be blessed and poor. Blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are wisely used, and the poor man only descends into wretchedness when he regards his lot as a burden unjustly imposed. Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural. A man is not widely conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being, and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings. A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences the search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others of the cause of his division, and builds himself up in strong and noble thought. He ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself. Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe. Justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life. And righteousness, not corruption, is the holding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world. This being so, man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right, and during the process of putting himself right, he will find that as he alters his thought towards situations and other people, situations and other people will alter toward him. The proof of this truth is in every person, and it therefore admits an easy investigation by systematic introspection and self-analysis. Let a man radically alter his thought, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will affect to the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot. It rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance. Thought of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallize into weak, unmanly, and irregular habits, which solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence, and slavish dependence. Lazy, apathetic thoughts crystallize into habits of disorder, unkindliness, and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances of confusion, foulness, and beggary. Respectful and condemnatory thoughts crystallize into habits of accusation and violence, which solidify into circumstances of hate, injury, and persecution. On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of grace and tenderness, which solidify into genial and funny circumstances. Selfless thoughts crystallize into habits of temperance and self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose and peace. Thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of strength and freedom. Energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of industry, which solidify into circumstances of achievement. Kind and loving thoughts crystallize into habits of considerateness for others, which solidify into circumstances of abiding comfort. A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce itself a character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thought, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances. Nature helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts which he most encourages, and opportunities are presented which will most freely bring to the surface both the good and evil thoughts. Let a man choose his thoughts wisely, and all the world will froth up toward him and be ready to help him. Let him put away bad thoughts, and lo, opportunities will spring upon every hand to aid his strong resolve. Let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, the very combinations of which, at every succeeding moment, it presents to you as the exquisitely adjusted picture of your ever-moving thoughts. You will be what you will to be. Let failure find its false content in that forward environment, but spirit scorns it and is free. It masters time, it conquers fate, it cowers that boastful trickster chance, and bids the tarry circumstance uncrown and fill a servant's place. The human will, that force unseen, the offspring of a deathless soul, can hew away to any goal, though walls of cram at injury. Be not impatient in delay, but wait as one to understand. When spirit rises and commands, the gods are ready to obey. Thought, Purpose, and Achievement Until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority, the bark of thought is allowed to drift upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction. They who have no central purpose in their life fall in easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead just as surely as deliberate wrongdoing, by a different route, to failure, unhappiness, and loss. For weakness cannot persist in a power-evolving universe. A man should conceive of a worthy purpose in his heart and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time. But whichever it is, he should steadfastly focus his thoughts upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into vague and infemoral fancies. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought, even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome. The strength of character he earns will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph. Those who are not prepared to conceive and dedicate themselves to a great purpose should fix their thoughts upon the flawless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their tasks may appear. Only in this way can the thoughts be gathered and focused, and resolution and energy be developed to its being done. There is nothing that may not be accomplished. The weakest will, knowing its own weakness and believing this truth, that strength can only be developed by effort and practice, will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself, and, adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop, and will at last grow strong. As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient exercise, so the man of weak thought can become strong by treating himself in thinking, to put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment, who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully. Having conceived of his purpose, a man should prudently mark out a straight pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left. Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded. Doubts are integrating elements which break up the straight line of effort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual, useless. Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplish anything, and never can. They always lead to failure. Purpose and energy are weakened when doubt and fear creep in. The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of this knowledge, and he who encourages them thwarts himself at every step. He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every thought is brought with power. His difficulty is wisely, bravely met and overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted, and they boom and bring forth fruit which does not fall prematurely to the ground. Thoughts, allied fearlessly to purpose, become creating force. He who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations. He who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers. This is the end of side three. Please fast forward this page to the end to queue up side four for your listening.
