Success is a matter of attitude: thoughts become deeds

The phrase "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is" not only describes the entire nature of the People, but beyond that even every condition and every possible circumstance of his life.

The power of thought

A man is literally what he thinks he is Character is the sum of all his thoughts. Just as the plant springs from the seed and cannot exist without it, so all human actions spring from the hidden seed of his thoughts and could not have existed without them. This applies both to those actions that are termed "spontaneous" and "unintentional" and to those that are intentional.

Action is the flower of thought, and joy and sorrow are its fruits. Hence a person reaps the sweet and bitter fruits of his own agriculture. The thought in consciousness has shaped us. What we are by thought has been worked and built. When a person has bad thoughts in his consciousness, pain comes upon him, like the wheel behind the ox. If one has pure thoughts, joy follows him like his own shadow - certainly.

The Laws of Cause and Effect

Man is a growth according to the law of nature, he is not an artificial creature, and the law of cause and Effect applies in the hidden sphere of thoughts just as absolutely and inescapably as in the Welt of visible and material things. A noble and godlike character is not a matter of favor or chance, but the natural result of constant effort at right thinking, the result of a long-cultivated alliance with godlike thoughts. By the same process, an unworthy and coarse character is the result of constant entertaining of base thoughts.

Man creates or forfeits himself. In the forge of thought he makes the weapons with which he destroys himself. He also makes the tools with which he builds heavenly abodes of joy, strength and peace for himself. If he chooses the right thoughts and employs them truthfully, then man ascends to divine perfection. Through abuse and wrong use of thoughts, he sinks below the level of the animal. Between these two extremes lie all degrees of character, and man is their creator and master.

Man has the key to every situation

Of all the wonderful truths about the soul that have been renewed and brought to light in these times, none is more joyful or fruitful in terms of divine promise and trust than this: that man is master of thought, the shaper of character, and the creator and designer the circumstances, the environment and the fate.

As a being of strength Intelligence and love, as well as being the master of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation and harbors within himself that transforming and renewing means by which he can make himself what he wants to be. Man is always master, even in his weaker and more depraved condition. In its weakness and humiliation, however, he is the foolish lord who runs his "household" badly. When he begins to ponder his condition and diligently seek the law upon which his condition is based, he becomes the wise lord, directing his energies with wisdom and turning his thoughts to fruitful subjects.

On the way to insight

Such is a self-conscious master, and man can only become such when he discovers within himself the laws of thought. Such discovery is thoroughly a matter of action, self-analysis and experience. It is only by a great deal of searching and digging that gold and diamonds can be obtained, and man can find any truth connected with his being by digging deep into the mine of his soul. That he is the maker of his character, the shaper of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he can infallibly prove by observing, controlling, and changing his thoughts, their influence on himself, on others, and on his life and circumstances through patient ones exercise and follow up investigation.

Further, through patient practice and investigation, he should link cause and effect, and use all his experiences, even the most trivial, everyday occurrences, as a means to that Background of oneself that includes understanding, wisdom, strength. In this respect the law that "he who seeks shall find, and unto him that knocketh it shall be opened" is absolute as in no other respect, for it is only through patience, practice, and persevering urging that a man can pass through the gate of the temple step on wisdom.