Lastly, we, like the plant, must individualize, must come to full blossom; in other words, must give forth the radiating beauty of a perfected life, must stand revealed to ourselves and to others, as a unit of power and a master over those laws that govern and control our growth. Each has a force within itself, and this force is the action of law set into activity by ourselves; it is through this consciousness that we begin to master laws, and to bring results through our conscious knowledge of their operation.

Life is a rigid conformity to laws, where we are the conscious or unconscious chemists of our own life; for when life is truly understood it is found to be made up of chemical action. As we breathe in oxygen, chemical action takes place in our blood; as we consume food and water, chemical action takes place in our digestive organs; in our use of thought chemical action takes place in both mind and body; in the change called death, chemical action takes place and disintegration sets in; so we find that physical existence is chemical action.

Life is made up of laws and as we make use of these laws, so do we get results.

If we think distress we get distress; if we think success, we get success. When we entertain destructive thought we set up a chemical action that checks digestion, which in turn irritates other organs of the body and reacts upon the mind, causing disease and sickness; when we worry, we churn a cesspool of chemical action, causing fearful havoc to both mind and body; on the other hand, if we entertain constructive thoughts, we set up a healthy chemical action.

When we entertain negative thoughts, we put into action a poisonous chemical activity of a disintegrating nature, that stupefies our sensibilities and deadens our nerve actions, causing the mind and body to become negative and therefore subject to many ills; on the other hand, if we are positive, we put into action a healthy chemical activity of a constructive nature, causing the mind and body to be come free from the many ills due to discordant thoughts.

These analyses can be carried through every avenue of life, but enough has been shown to indicate that life is largely chemical action, and that the mind is the chemical laboratory of thought, and that we are the chemists in the workshop of mental action where everything is prepared for our use, and where the product turned out will be in proportion to the material used; in other words, the nature of the thought we use determines the kind of conditions and experiences with which we meet; what we put into life we get out of life--no more, no less.

Life is an orderly advancement, governed by the “Law of Attraction.” our growth is through three seeming sections. In the first we are creatures of law, in the second users of law, and in the third we are masters of law. In the first we are unconscious users of thought power, in the second conscious users of thought power, and in the third we are conscious users of conscious power. So long as we persist in using only the laws of the first section we are held in bondage to them; so long as we remain satisfied with the laws and growth of the second section we shall never become conscious of a greater advancement. In the third section we awaken to our conscious power over laws of the first and second sections, and become fully awake to the laws governing the third.

When rightly understood, life is found not to be a question of chance; not a question of creed; not a question of nationality; not a question of social standing; not a question of wealth; not a question of power, NO--all of these have a place to fill in the growth of the individual, but we must all eventually come to know that Harmony comes only as the result of a compliance with Natural Law.

This rigid exactness and stability in the nature of law is our greatest asset, and when we become conscious of this available power, and use it judiciously, we shall have found the Truth which will make us Free!

Science has of late made such vast discoveries, has revealed such an infinity of resources, have unveiled such enormous possibilities and such unsuspected forces, that scientific men more and more hesitate to affirm certain theories as established and indubitable, or to deny certain other theories as absurd or impossible; and so a new civilization is being born; customs, creeds and cruelty are passing; vision, faith and service are taking their place. The fetters of tradition are being melted off from humanity, and as the dross of militarism and materialism are being consumed, thought is being liberated and truth is rising full orbed before an astonished multitude.

“We have caught only a glimpse of the possibility of the rule of mind which means the rule of spirit. We have just begun to realize in a small degree what this newly discovered power may do for us. That it can bring success in this world’s affairs is beginning to be understood and practiced by thousands.”

“The whole world is on the eve of a new consciousness, a new power and a new realization of resources within the self. The last century saw the most magnificent material progress in history. May the new century produce the greatest progress in mental and spiritual power.”

“Thought is deeper than all speech,

Feeling deeper than all thought,

Soul to soul can never teach

What unto itself is taught.”

Vibration

Before any environment, harmonious or otherwise, can be created, action of some kind is necessary, and before any action is possible, there must be thought of some kind, either conscious or unconscious, and as thought is a product of mind, it becomes evident that Mind is the creative center from which all activities proceed.

It is not expected that any of the inherent laws which govern the modern business world as it is at present constituted can be suspended or repealed by any force on the same plane, but it is axiomatic that a higher law may overcome a lower one. Tree life causes the sap to ascend, not by repealing the law of gravity, but by surmounting it.

The naturalist who spends much of his time in observing visible phenomena is constantly creating power in that portion of his brain set apart for observation. The result is that he becomes very much more expert and skillful in knowing what he sees, and grasping an infinite number of details at a glance, than does his unobserving friend. He has reached this facility by exercise of his brain. He deliberately chose to enlarge his brain power in the line of observation, so he deliberately exercised that special faculty, over and over, with increasing attention and concentration. Now we have the result--a man learned in the lore of observation far above his fellow. Or, on the other hand, one can be stolid in action, allow the delicate brain matter to harden and ossify until his whole life is barren and fruitless.

Every thought tends to become a material thing. Our desires are seed thoughts that have a tendency to sprout and grow and blossom and bear fruit. We are sowing these seeds every day. What shall the harvest be? Each of us today is the result of his past thinking. Later we shall be the result of what we are now thinking. We create our own character, personality and environment by the thought which we originate, or entertain. Thought seeks its own. The law of mental attraction is an exact parallel to the law of atomic affinity. Mental currents are as real as electric, magnetic or heat currents. We attract the currents with which we are in harmony.

Lines of least resistance are formed by the constant action of the mind. The activity of the brain reacts upon the particular faculty of the brain employed. The latent power of the mind is developed by constant exercise. Each form of its activity becomes more perfect by practice. Exercises for the development of the mind present a variety of motives for consideration. They involve the development of the perceptive faculties, the cultivation of the emotions, the quickening of the imagination, the symmetrical unfoldment of the intuitive faculty, which without being able to give a reason frequently impels or prohibits choice, and finally the power of mind may be cultivated by the development of the moral character.

“The greatest man,” said Seneca, “is he who chooses right with invincible determination.” The greatest power of mind, then, depends upon its exercise in moral channels, and therefore requires that every conscious mental effort should involve a moral end. A developed moral consciousness modifies consideration of motives, and increases the force and continuity of action; consequently the well developed symmetrical character necessitates good physical, mental and moral health, and this combination creates initiative, power, resistless force, and necessarily success.

It will be found that Nature is constantly seeking to express Harmony in all things, is forever trying to bring about an harmonious adjustment, for every discord, every wound, every difficulty; therefore when thought is harmonious, Nature begins to create the material conditions, the possession of which are necessary in order to make up an harmonious environment.

When we understand that mind is the great creative power, what does not become possible? With Desire as the great creative energy, can we not see why Desire should be cultivated, controlled and directed in our lives and destinies? Men and women of strong mentality who dominate those around them, and often those far removed from them, really emanate currents charged with power which, coming in contact with the minds of others, cause the desires of the latter to be in accord with the mind of the strong individuality. Great masters of men possess this power to a marked degree. Their influence is felt far and near, and they secure compliance with their wishes by making others “want” to act in accord with them. In this way men of strong Desire and Imagination may and do exert powerful influence over the minds of others, leading the latter in the way desired.

No man is ever created without the inherent power in himself to help himself. The personality that understands its own intellectual and moral power of conquest will assert itself. It is this truth which an enfamined world craves today. The possibility of asserting a slumbering intellectual courage that clearly discerns, and a moral courage that grandly undertakes in open to all. There is a divine potency in every human being.

We speak of the sun as “rising” and “setting,” though we know that this is simply an appearance of motion. To our senses the earth is apparently standing still, and yet we know it is revolving rapidly. We speak of a bell as a “sounding body,” yet we know that all that the bell can do is to produce vibrations in the air. When these vibrations come at the rate of sixteen a second they cause a sound to be heard in the mind. It is possible for the mind to hear vibrations up to the rate of 38,000 a second. When the number increases beyond this all is silence again; so that we know that the sound is not in the bell; it is in our own mind.

We speak and even think of the sun as “giving light,” yet we know it is simply giving forth energy which produces vibrations in the ether at the rate of four hundred trillion a second, causing what are termed light waves, so that we know that what we call light is simply a mode of motion, and the only light existent, is the sensation caused in the mind by the motion of these waves. When the number of vibrations increases, the light changes in color, each change in color being caused by shorter and more rapid vibrations; so that although we speak of the rose as being red, the grass as being green, or the sky as being blue, we know that these colors exist only in our minds, and are the sensations experienced by us as the result of the vibrations of light. When the vibrations are reduced below four hundred trillion a second, they no longer affect us as light, but we experience the sensation of heat.

So we have come to know that appearances exist for us only in our consciousness. Even time and space become annihilated, time being but the experience of succession, there being no past or future except as a thought relation to the present. In the last analysis, therefore, we know that one principle governs and controls all existence. Every atom is forever conserved; whatever is parted with must inevitably be received somewhere. It cannot perish and it exists only for use. It can go only where it is attracted, and therefore required. We can receive only what we give, and we may give only to those who can receive; and it remains with us to determine our rate of growth and the degree of harmony that we shall express.

The laws under which we live are designed solely for our advantage. These laws are immutable and we cannot escape from their operation. All the great eternal forces act in solemn silence, but it is within our power to place ourselves in harmony with them and thus express a life of comparative peace and happiness.

Difficulties, in harmonies, obstacles, indicate that we are either refusing to give out what we no longer need, or refusing to accept what we require. Growth is attained through an exchange of the old for the new, of the good for the better; it is a conditional or reciprocal action, for each of us is a complete thought entity and the completeness makes it possible for us to receive only as we give. We cannot obtain what we lack if we tenaciously cling to what we have.

The Principle of Attraction operates to bring to us only what may be to our advantage. We are able to consciously control our conditions as we come to sense the purpose of what we attract, and are able to extract from each experience only what we require for our further growth. Our ability to do this determines the degree of harmony or happiness we attain.