Self Conquest
Every New Idea, or supposed New Idea, is a light which attracts the moths.
The "New Thought" is no exception.
About it flutter hysterical women, unbalanced men: the erratic and the irresponsible.
The possibilities of performing miracles, of healing the sick, hypnotizing the well, transforming poverty into wealth, and changing age to youth, are the rays of light which flicker through the darkness and draw them into the circle of radiance.
The self-indulgent fat woman subscribes to New Thought literature, pays for a course of lectures, and goes forth into the ranks of the unbelievers, proclaiming her power to become a sylph, and to cause others to become sylphs.
The extravagant and inconsiderate rush forth after having heard a discourse upon the power of mind over matter, and declare that they possess the secret of acc.u.mulating a fortune by occult means.
The lovers of the marvelous believe that they will become great healers in a brief s.p.a.ce of time.
Not one of these moth converts realizes that the very first step to take in the direction of "New Thought" is self-conquest.
The gourmand does not know that self-indulgence and a gross appet.i.te are incompatible with mental or spiritual growth, and will be insurmountable obstacles in her path toward symmetry.
The spendthrift does not take into consideration the fact that good sense, thrift and industry, must aid his mental a.s.sertion of wealth, and the miracle lover does not understand that something greater and more difficult is required than a mere wish to heal before healing powers can be obtained.
That the physical body and material conditions can be dominated by the divine spirit in man, is an incontrovertible fact.
But first, last and always, the lesser self must be subjugated, and the weak and unworthy qualities overcome.
The woman who desires to reduce her flesh cannot do so by reading occult literature, or joining mystic circles, or attending lectures, unless she permeates herself so thoroughly with spiritual truths that she no longer craves six courses at dinner, and three meals a day, and unless she overcomes her dislike for exercise.
The man who wishes to control circ.u.mstances must love better things than money before he can succeed. He must love, and respect, and believe in his Creator, and trust the Divine Man within himself, and he must ill.u.s.trate this love and trust by his daily conduct, and in his home circle, and in his business relations.
Once in a century, perhaps, is a man born with great powers already developed to heal the sick, or to do other seeming miracles. Such beings are old souls, who have obtained diplomas in former lives; but the majority of us are still in school, and we cannot become "seniors"
until we pa.s.s through the lower grades.
We must change ourselves before we can change material conditions: we must heal our own thoughts and make them sane and normal, before we can heal bodily disease in others.
It is not an immediate process. I have heard an old lady declare that she "got religion" in the twinkling of an eye, and she believed all people would be d.a.m.ned and burn in h.e.l.l fire, who did not pa.s.s through this sudden illumination.
It is possible that the religion which can worship a G.o.d cruel enough to burn his children in fire, can only be obtained in the twinkling of an eye; but the reverent, wholesome, and beautiful religion of "New Thought" must be grown into little by little, through patience, faith, and practice.
All that it claims to do it can do, but not instantaneously, not rapidly. We must first make ourselves over; after absolute control of our minds has been obtained, then, and only then, may we hope to influence circ.u.mstances and health.
The Important Trifles
You will find, in the effort to reach a higher spirituality in your daily life, that the small things try your patience and your strength more than the greater ones.
Home life, like business life, is composed of an acc.u.mulation of trifles.
There are people who bear great sorrows with resignation, and seem to gain a certain dignity and force of character through trouble, but who are utterly vanquished by trivial annoyances.
The old-fashioned orthodox "Christian" was frequently of this order.
Death, poverty, and misfortune he bore without complaining, and became ofttimes a more agreeable companion in times of deepest sorrow.
He regarded all such experiences as the will of G.o.d, and bowed to them.
Yet, if his dinner was late, his coffee below the standard, if his eye-gla.s.ses were misplaced, or his toe trodden upon, he become a raging lion, and his roar drove his affrighted household into dark corners.
There have been neighborhood Angels, who watched beside the dying sinner, sustained orphans and widows, and endured great troubles sublimely like martyrs. But if a dusty shoe trod upon a freshly washed floor, or husband or child came tardily to the breakfast-table, or lingered outside the door after regulation hour for retiring--lo, the Angel became a virago, or a droning mosquito with persistent sting.
The New Philosophy demands serenity and patience through small trials, as well as fort.i.tude in meeting life"s larger ills.
It demands, too, that we seek to avoid giving others unnecessary irritation by a thoughtless disregard of the importance of trifles.
A man is more likely to keep calm if he wakes in the night and discovers that the house is on fire, than he is if, on being fully prepared to retire, he finds the only mug on the third story is missing from his wash-stand, or the cake of toilet-soap he asked for the day before has been forgotten.
A mother bears the affliction of a crippled child with more equanimity than she is able to bring to bear upon the continual thoughtlessness of a strong one.
To be kind, means to be thoughtful.
The kindest and most loving heart will sometimes forget and be careless; but it cannot be perpetually forgetful and careless of another"s wishes and needs, even in the merest trifles.
Concentration
The New Thought includes _concentration of thought_, in its teaching; and he who learns that important art is not liable to frequently forget small or large duties.
It is he who scatters, instead of concentrates his mind powers, who keeps himself and others in a state of continual irritation by forgetting, mislaying, and losing, three petty vices which do much to mar domestic or business life.
Concentration is a most difficult acquirement for the mature mind which has been allowed to grow in the habit of thought scattering.
Wise is the mother, and as sure as wise, who teaches her child to finish each task begun before attempting another, for that is the first step in concentration.
Prentice Mulford, that great and good pioneer in the field of practical New Thought, tells us to apply our whole mental powers to whatever we do, even if it is merely the tying of a shoe, and to think of nothing else until that shoe is tied, then to utterly forget the shoe string, when we turn to another duty or employment. The next lesson in concentration he gives us, is to repeat the word often, to impress it upon the mind.
And then to declare each day that "Concentration is mine" will aid still farther in the acquisition of this great and important quality.
Meanwhile, since we can be so fortunate as to always surround ourselves with others who have acquired it, the student of the Higher Philosophy must learn to be serene and self-poised when he encounters life"s pigmy worries.
He must carry his religion into his bedroom and his office, and not forget it utterly when he loses his collar-b.u.t.ton, or misses his car, or finds his office boy has taken a parcel to the wrong address.
To build character necessitates a constant watch upon ourselves. The New Thought is not a religion of Sundays, but of every day.