Man has banished many of his fears already. It is not a long run of the centuries since he quaked before the gloom of the forest, the solitude of the hills, the fog of the vast sea, and, creating innumerable G.o.ds and devils by that wizard of distortion, the imagination, lodged them in every object of existence under and in the heavens. He has gotten rid of these.
But when we observe the fear of water, the fear of tornadoes, the fear of lightning, the fear of fire, the fear of disease, the fear of accident, the fear of death, the fear of ridicule, the fear of public opinion, the fear of bankruptcy, the fear of self, the fear for self, the fear of others, the fear of failure, the fear of devils, the fear of a vindictive G.o.d, the fear of the future, the fear of a h.e.l.l--Oh, then, we know that the sun of light is not at his meridian height. We can yet get rid of these also. This is one of the world"s tasks. This is your task, if you would make the most of your self and life.
"There is yet very much land to be possessed." No one will possess all of that land in the present stage of existence. Some will be able to claim more than others, but they will err if they a.s.sume themselves to be favorites, and the "others" will do worse than err if they complain, "We, alas, are down on our luck." Be a.s.sured of one thing: all may be rid of their fears and the whole ma.s.s of distress induced by fears. All may acquire dauntless yet serene courage. In that state, if it be of the highest, as it may be, will come to them a peace, a happiness, an influx of buoyancy, a confidence, a sense of well-being, the like of which they have never known.
PRIME DENIALS AND AFFIRMATIONS.
You who now read this page are, thus, invited to begin our study by denying and affirming, as follows:
FIRST--THE DAILY REGIME OF DENIAL:
I deny the existence of error, so far as I am concerned.
I deny disease to be my necessary portion.
I deny the need of any of my fears.
I deny the reality of any cause for fear.
I deny that I am less than a king.
I deny that ignorance is an essential part of my lot.
I deny that poverty is decreed to me.
I deny that I am low-born or of bad blood.
I deny that I am "down on my luck."
I deny by my life that others are my superiors.
I deny that anything can hurt the essential ME.
I deny a vindictive G.o.d.
I deny that slavery is religious.
I deny that I am not the friend of the White Life.
I deny that I am mean, low or ign.o.ble in morals.
I deny that my best life depends on creeds.
I deny that the Universe is not for me.
I deny that health is not my rightful claim.
I deny that I am unhappy or depressed.
I deny that I am weak and a nonent.i.ty.
I deny that I shall not unfold forever.
I deny all that is opposed to my best welfare.
SECOND--THE DAILY REGIME OF AFFIRMATION.
I affirm truth to be my desire and possession.
I affirm health to be my rightful claim.
I affirm fearlessness of that which I have feared I affirm cause and reason only for courage.
I affirm that reason is independent of fear.
I affirm my sovereign selfhood.
I affirm that life is my perfect university.
I affirm that I am success.
I affirm that a part of the world"s plenty is for me.
I affirm myself the WHITE-LIFE equal of others.
I affirm my real self impregnable to hurt.
I affirm the Infinite Life to be my Friend.
I affirm that spirituality is true freedom.
I affirm myself the friend of the Infinite.
I affirm that mine is the WHITE-LIFE.
I affirm my independence of narrow creeds.
I affirm buoyant happiness as my present possession.
I am power!
I shall live and unfold forever.
It may be that all this is strange thought to you, almost meaningless, perhaps. You are invited, therefore, to remember that thousands of people have felt similarly at first, have then caught a glimpse of the truth here and there, and finally have experienced a wondrous recognition of the New Dawn which has now surely come to the world. It is significant that these are saying, "There is nothing else worth while in the whole earth."
Two men were sc.r.a.ping paint from a house preparatory to putting on. a new coat of color, One of them who had been helped back from mental unbalance, and helped solely by thought, broke a long silence and said: "This is the whole thing." He referred to the dawn of Real Life in himself.
If, now, this chapter has seemed to broach the subject of religion, remember, it does not deal with religion as you perhaps know religion. The only thing valuable in religion is the White Life within the human self. That alone is religion. Call it what you will. And it means just that courage which makes us buoyantly equal to any kind of life that is right. The methods of this book will prove of value to you, whether or no you go into the WHITE- LIFE phase of existence. But they will realize completest value if you will swing at the start clean out into the one greatest thought--"_I_ SURRENDER TO, AND _I_ RECEIVE, THE INFINITE WHITE LIFE."
It is because I desire every reader to get this perfect start in our study that I have indulged in the rather general outlook on the world"s New Dawn. Hereafter our work will be more specific and adressed to the varying conditions of the individual man or woman.
FEAR--THOUGHT AND FEAR--FEELING.
The INTELLECT coldly reflects What Is: An icy, crystalline lake portraying earth and sky In shadows beautiful as death-- And void of pulse, or warmth, or music of good life.
This is no Eye with which to view the world!
The SOUL reflects the universe With ECSTASIES of heat, of hue, of harmony!
Its INNER gaze creating Life in Fact, So, robing sheer Reality in colors ravishing, Giving it Voice, forming within it Heart, And vitalizing All with Feeling--Being"s blood.
This is our Eye, viewing the world it builds.
Fear blurs that Eye, while Reason clears: Pure mind lacks Pa.s.sion adding values to existence; (Who loves mere ghost--flowers born of moonlight?) Pure Feeling lacks in REASON, needing values, And, lacking so, fills Eye of Soul with fantasies, With wild distortions of imagination"s l.u.s.t.
(Who loves the fire--hued, smoke blooms of h.e.l.l"s Land?) And always Fear feeds Feeling"s grotesque growths Till Soul"s Eye on its own creation looks As on eternal Truth.
Then Truth and Nature, Deity and Man Evolve dread enmity and horrors multiple, And Soul flees terror-stricken on to Death.
Oh, I will rule heart"s Feeling for good Life, Given Soul"s Mind for this--naught else: That Reason may re--think the Beautiful and Happiness And see eternal Truth and Truth-Fact as my lovers-- Veracious Guardian Angels guiding all my way-- Cooperative, like the brain and heart of body, To lead my soul on Courage (not on Death) And make me worth the skill Of the illimitable years--a Mind--Man, whole!
--THE AUTHOR.
CHAPTER II.
FEAR AND REASON.
"In civilized life it has at last become possible for large numbers of people to pa.s.s from the cradle to the grave without ever having had a pang of genuine fear. Many of us need an attack of mental disease to teach us the meaning of the word."--William James.
We have all heard the seemingly discriminating remarks that fear is normal and abnormal, and that normal fear is to be regarded as a friend, while abnormal fear should be destroyed as an enemy.