"All Nature is but art, unknown
to thee;
All chance. direction, which
thou canst not
see;
All discord, harmony, not
understood,
All partial evil, universal
good."
FOR centuries men have contended and
argued about evil and its influence on
the lives of men. They have spent their
energies and thought in speculating on
the nature of evil and trying to
discover its origin. They have
characterized it as a separate and
independent force, insidiously
operating on men's lives and leading
them on a downward path. They have
permitted their imagination to clothe
Satan with human and personal
characteristics, and have accorded him
a position of active force and power in
the moral government of the world. They
have painted him as an
active agent, possessing fiendish
instincts actively employed for man's
destruction, gloating over the victims
he leads away to their eternal
downfall. In their unrestrained
imagination, fanned by the fires of
ignorance and superstition, they have
given him powers second only to those
of God. The history of the Christian
Church has been the history of Satan.
Borrowing the idea of evil from ancient
pagan superstitions, they have
cultivated and fostered it, magnified
and strengthened it, until in the
delirium of their superstition they
represented it as incarnated in a being
active, powerful, and possessing all
the destructive instincts of a
demon.
While they thus exalted Satan to this
high station, they at the same time
told man he was weak, unworthy, sinful
by nature, and unable to cope with
Satan or resist his temptations.
Theology somehow never brought peace
and good cheer to the heart of man. It
has hung like a somber pall over his
life and destiny. It has shut out the
sunshine of joy, beauty, and gladness.
Man has tolerated it through fear
alone, not because he loved or
respected it. It has always wandered
through the valley of the shadow of
death, rather than over the hills of
light and beauty. it has cast its
darkened shadow over life's pathway,
rather than to illumine it with the
rays of joy and hope.
Theologians thought of evil, talked of
evil, and meditated upon evil, until it
had a fixed abode in the human
imagination. They dwelt upon evil more
than upon the good. They were not aware
that they were giving strength to the
supposed enemy against which they
inveighed and contended. The slogan has
ever been how to fight the devil, how
to overcome evil. They said good could
only prevail when Satan had been
dethroned and evil had been put
underfoot and demolished.
The theologian always approached the
problem from the wrong angle. He
preferred to be a destroyer rather than
a builder, and as a consequence he not
only did not destroy evil, but he gave
it added force and power by magnifying
its importance and exalting its
standard. He gave his thought to evil
till it became a habit. He
unconsciously grew into the likeness of
the so-called monster he sought to
destroy. Even Martin Luther could
follow this phantom, until in his
frenzy he could hurl an inkstand at an
imaginary fiend. He surpassed even the
imagination of the Catholic Church in
clothing Satan with importance.
The conceptions of New Thought,
regarding evil and its influence on
men's lives, are widely at variance
with these theological views. Its
estimate of evil is less exalted than
that accorded to it by theology. It
recognizes evil only as the absence of
good and as possessing only negative
qualities, functions, and powers. It
does not regard evil as a positive
force or entity, but, more properly
speaking, a misdirected energy, force,
or power, good of itself. It may be
said to be an improper use of a power
that is in itself good. In fact all
forces, powers, and energies in the
universe are created for good purposes
and are good in themselves. It is only
as they are improperly applied and
misdirected that they become evil or
other than good. "Evil is merely
privative, not absolute; it is like
cold, which is the absence of
heat."
The principle may be illustrated as
follows: The purpose of each of two
individuals is ultimate happiness. One
seeks it by energy, honest effort, and
self-denial, resulting in a prosperous,
contented, and peaceful life. The other
has a different plan in life. He seeks
the same end, but by the employment of
his wits, tricks, self-indulgence, and
intemperance, ending in misery, want,
and crime. The same energy was employed
in both instances. One was directed
wisely and accomplished certain
positive results; the other was
directed unwisely, with different
consequences. The wrong was not in the
energy, but in the manner in which it
was employed.
The best method of fighting evil is to
do good. The great problem is how to
direct wisely the energies and forces
of the world, not how to fight the
negative we call evil. When we can
displace negative by constructive
thoughts, evil by good thoughts, to
that extent can we eliminate evil. By
indirection only can we overcome
evil.
When Jesus said, Resist not evil, he
gave scientific advice, he spoke a
universal truth, he expressed the
wisdom of the ages. He also laid down
another law of equal importance, the
law of agreement; agree with thine
adversary quickly, a law based on the
same underlying principle. He
understood the laws of life, the laws
of mind, that man can accomplish
nothing by fighting negatives and
shadows, but can produce results only
as he constructs and builds and thereby
displaces negatives and shadows.
Man has been taught to think of a devil
and fear a devil, until he has a fixed
place in his imagination, The
theological teaching has always
impressed the subconscious mind with
the imaginative force and power of
evil. The theologian, ignorant of the
principles of psychology and the laws
of mind, has impressed these negative
thoughts upon the subconscious mind
until the thought of evil, its force
and power, has become the settled habit
of man.
The mind gives life to conditions to
which consciousness is directed. If we
sow negative thoughts in
the subconscious, we shall reap
negative results. When we consciously
dwell upon the subject of evil, we give
more life and power to evil. We grow
into the likeness of that we think of
most. We are shaped in the molds of our
own thought. We take on the character
of that which most engages our
attention. This is a scientific fact, a
basic law, a vital truth in the study
of these problems. It is therefore
evident that any system of thought or
training that gives the least
attention possible to evil and as much
attention as possible to good, will
directly lessen every form of evil and
increase every form of good.
The best way to overcome the devil is
to ignore him and do good; he will then
become good himself. We cannot expel
darkness from a room by fighting it,
but only by letting in more light.
Light is the only solvent for darkness;
good is the only solvent for
evil.
Emerson says: "Nerve us with incessant
affirmations. Don't bark against the
bad, but chant the beauties of the
good."
Except as the individual, either
actively or passively, invites and
entertains them, evil thoughts,
so-called malicious animal magnetism,
and similar imaginary powers and
influences find no place or recognition
in the code of New Thought. To the man
or woman of character, of positive and
normal thoughts, they are as harmless
as the rustling of leaves on another
continent. It is only the man of flabby
mind, with negative and passive
characteristics and qualities, that can
be affected thereby. The world does not
show marked advancement in thought by
changing the name of devil to malicious
animal magnetism. Whether we continue
to impress the subconscious with the
existence of a force or entity called
the devil or malicious animal magnetism
can make little difference; the
weakening effects are the same.
When man has learned that he has the
power within himself successfully to
resist all external influences, all
imaginary and evil forces, he will
become a free man and cease to be a
slave to all such visionary forces. Man
can only be free as he eliminates and
banishes the last vestige of fear from
his mind. Then only will his soul
expand, then only will he grow and
develop into the stature of
true manhood.
OPTIMISM
New Thought teaches a sane and healthy
optimism. Optimism produces positive
effects on character and a larger
outlook on life. Pessimism dwarfs the
soul and unfits a man for the larger
vision necessary for a successful and
useful life.
As we take a practical survey of life
and men in their various walks, we
observe as a rule that optimistic and
cheerful men succeed, and by the same
token gloomy and pessimistic men end in
failure. The optimist brings good
cheer, joy, and happiness to others;
the pessimist carries gloom and sadness
wherever he goes. The one breathes joy
and health from the atmosphere and sees
harmony and peace in all created
things. Like a spendthrift he tosses
that joy to others on his way through
life. To the other, Nature is a blank,
he breathes discontent, even the sky is
filled with somber clouds. He hears no
music, he carries no message of cheer
or comfort to his fellow-man. The one
attracts, the other repels.
One universal law holds good. He that
looks for joy and gladness will find
it. He develops those qualities in his
own soul thereby attracting those of a
kindred nature. The pessimist obeys the
same law; his soul invites only its own
kind.
True optimism is not generally
understood. The true optimist is not
one who sees only the sunshine at every
step in life. He is not one who refuses
to see that all things are not good,
and hopes for the best under
all-circumstances. But the true
optimist is one who sees the situation
from all practical standpoints. He sees
imperfect conditions when they exist,
but recognizes that inexhaustible power
within himself properly to direct the
seeming wrong and bring success out of
apparent failure. He lives in mental
sunshine because he has learned how to
make things right. He has faith in his
own inherent forces to accomplish
desired results. He does not say all is
good, when it is not good. He says, if
things are not right, I will make them
so. He does not deceive himself. The
true optimist has a supreme faith
coupled with untiring energy. He does
his best, and dwells in the happy
consciousness that his own will come to
him.
The optimist looks for the divinity in
man, the beauty in life, and worships
the omnipresent, indwelling God. Every
man has divine qualities, and he who
seeks them will be rewarded. The
qualities in every man attract like
qualities in other men. If they are
good, they attract the good. If bad,
they attract the bad. Man silently
radiates the good to his fellow-man. As
man speaks to men through the soul, he
awakens the same qualities and
instincts in their souls. The divine
responds to the divine.
The conscious influence of man is
small; the unconscious power, the inner
light, that silently radiates to other
men, is the real influence in life. Men
receive what they give. If they give
value, value is recognized and given in
return. It is the law of giving. Men
find their true place by what they
express in their own lives, by the
qualities they carry to their daily
tasks.
Our attitude toward life determines
what we get out of it. The world
catches our smile and in return smiles
back. If we carry frowns to the world,
we are compensated with frowns. The
optimist fills life with mental
sunshine, he illumines the world with
gladness and joy. He carries good cheer
to the lives of his fellows, he
radiates hope and peace from his life
and personality. His presence stills
the passions of men. He turns the
discords of life into music. He
unconsciously catches the rhythm of the
universe, he moves with its eternal
currents, he keeps step with the
vibrations of Nature, he breathes hope,
he finds the peace and harmonies of
life. When he passes over the great
divide, he leaves the world a little
better and life a little sweeter.
DEVELOPMENT OF
MAN
The chief function of New Thought is to
show the way for the symmetrical
development of man. The riddle of the
universe would be of no value, except
as we apply the knowledge thereby
gained in the further development of
ourselves. Knowledge is but the
plaything of man, until it is utilized
for his advancement. It gives value
only as it is used.
The results of science are beneficial
only as they help man in his upward
struggle. What is philosophy until it
is distilled into wisdom and used to
lead out and develop the higher and
better qualities of man? Religion is
not normal, that does not confer upon
man a normal and symmetrical
development. A religion that stops with
a creed does not meet the important and
essential wants of man. Man is a triune
being and requires a three-fold
development--physical, mental, and
spiritual. Until he is so developed, he
is abnormal. Until he is developed
physically, mentally, and spiritually,
he lacks some of the essential
qualities of a well-rounded man.
For some reason the Christian Church,
at least after it was Latinized under
the Roman hierarchy in the fifth
century, never practiced the art of
healing. It claimed apostolic
succession; that is, that it divinely
inherited the power possessed by the
Apostles, which was handed over to them
by Jesus. Yet it never gave to the
world an exhibition of its ability to
heal, a gift freely exercised by Jesus
and the Apostles, according to the
recorded accounts in the gospels.
There may have been a controlling
reason for this entire lack of effort
in manifesting any efficiency in the
art of healing. Making claim to powers
of healing was a different proposition
from the other prerogatives asserted by
the Church. It was dangerous to assert
its power to heal unless it had the
ability to make good. The claim, if
fraudulent, could be easily detected.
Men might measure results from
observation.
It was easy enough to assert the right
of Apostolic succession, the
separation of God and man, authority of
Church, priestly mediation, election,
and a host of other dogmas, for the
truth of such declarations could not be
weighed or measured by tangible
evidence. No risk, therefore, was
incurred in laying claim to their
truth. They could be established as
doctrines of the Church by an appeal to
ignorance and superstition, under the
mighty weapon of ecclesiastical
authority. But it was a dangerous
assumption of power to assert the
ability to heal, because unless it was
made good and demonstrated, the false
claim would be exploded. Assertion
without fulfillment would bring
derision and ridicule. Because the
Church had departed from the teachings
of Jesus and had become a
commercialized institution, it had lost
the power to heal and dared not make
such a claim to the world. The Church
confined its efforts to a blind
struggle for spiritual development
alone. Apparently it did not see
the necessity for a symmetrical
development, to round out and build the
perfect man.
Man requires a perfect body as a
suitable temple for the mind and a fit
tabernacle for the soul. Intellect,
soul, and body are mutually dependent.
Healthful thoughts produce healthful
impressions on the subconscious, which
in turn give expression in healthful
bodies. The conscious mind impresses
health, the subconscious expresses it.
Mind and soul cannot properly express
themselves in an imperfect body. The
physical man, the intellectual man, the
spiritual man, constitute the normally
developed man. He alone is the perfect
instrument of expression.
Intellect is imperfect until it finds
its expression in feeling, which the
soul only can supply. Mind does not
reach its zenith until it has touched
the universal, until the conscious mind
has come into touch with the
subconscious. The soul only can give
life and permanency to the utterances
of mind. What the soul speaks, lives.
What the intellect expresses, untouched
by the soul, is only for a day. The one
supplements the other. Thought is
without power until it is touched by an
emotion. Emotion vitalizes thought, it
gives it form, power, beauty, and
expression. The message touched by the
soul can be read and reread, and always
new beauties and new meanings are
revealed. The man that speaks from his
soul is heard. The man that writes from
his soul is read. These are the
immortals in the world of thought.
These are the masters whose thoughts
survive the ages..
A
RELIGION FOR TODAY
New Thought is not a religion of
yesterday, or a philosophy for tomorrow
but for today. It is a religion of life
and for man's use. Its purpose is to
teach man how to live now, and to find
the highest and best in life. Our
yesterdays are gone, our today is here.
"Yesterday is only a dream, tomorrow is
only a vision." We cannot control
the past, but we can perform the duties
of today. Today will be the past
tomorrow, we can only make it glorious
by acting well today.
"Away with the flimsy idea, that life
with a past is attended,
There's Now--only Now, and no
Past--there's never a past, it has
ended.
Away with its obsolete story and all of
its yesterday's sorrow;
There's only today, almost gone, and in
front of today stands tomorrow."
EUGENE F. WARE.
One trouble with the world is that we
have been living under religions of
bygone ages, instead of religions for
today. Each generation will practice a
religion suited to the spirit of its
own age. The narrow and intolerant
religions of the past could not
flourish today.
Say what you will, there are more
charity, kindness, and love in the
world today than in any age that
produced any of the religions of the
past. This change has been effected,
not so much from religious teaching,
but as the result of the spirit of
democracy and enlightenment. All the
religions of the past partook of the
age that produced them. The God men
worshiped was a reflection of
themselves. Hence the God men worship
today is unlike the God of the old
theologians. The present day religious
teachers make the mistake of trying to
make modern thought fit their
religions, instead of making their
religion fit modern thought.
Men will not worship a cruel God, when
the world is ruled by the spirit of
peace. When men conceive of the
universe as under the rule and dominion
of universal and permanent laws, they
cannot give reverence to a jealous and
capricious God. Whoever feels the
divine, like an enveloping presence,
cannot adore an absentee God.
We read many learned discourses about
the decline of church attendance and
the reasons therefor, but has the true
reason ever been stated? When the
Church utters thoughts suited to this
age, its sanctuaries will be crowded.
Men are as hungry today for spiritual
food as ever in the past. They object
to the quality that is set before
them.
We hear much about standing by the
religion of our fathers, and books have
been written on that subject. It is
said if their religion was good enough
for them, it is good enough for us.
That argument is based on sentiment
alone. If we had always observed that
principle, we should still be living in
the stone age and worshiping stone
idols. We honor our fathers for the
virtues they developed under their
religions. They walked by the best
light they had. Must we walk by the
same light, when we have found a
better? Who knows but they would be
traveling by the new light, were they
here? Jesus broke away from the God of
his fathers. as every great and
illumined soul has done.
We have heard nothing but the history
of revelation to other men and those
only who lived in the dim ages of the
past. We want a revelation of God to
us, instead of the history of a
revelation to others. Why should not
God reveal Himself today as much as in
any age of the past? Has the gulf
widened between man and God, so
that God refuses longer to reveal
Himself? Are there none worthy to
receive the divine message?
Men still need light. Why should God
cease to bestow it? God reveals Himself
to man the same as in the ages past. He
speaks through the same symbols as He
ever did. If we read them aright, we
must see and know God. If we listen, we
can hear the still small voice.
The outer forms of creation reveal the
inward and spiritual. Emerson, as he
cast his eyes over the landscape bathed
in the mellow rays of the setting sun,
was heard to say, "God, all is God."
Life was meant to be and can be made a
beautiful and grand reality. To those
who have caught the inner visions of
the soul, Nature forever yields a
message of light, a panorama of joy and
gladness. Listen to the evidence of
Helen Keller, who sees only with the
inner vision: "The splendor of the
sunset my friends gaze at across the
purpling hills is wonderful, but the
sunset of my inner vision brings purer
delight, because it is the worshipful
blending of all the beauty that we have
known or desired."
To him who sees, the stars of heaven
are envoys of beauty, the landscape is
a picture no artist can paint. The
spheres circling in their orbits and
the return of the seasons bespeak
divine order and wisdom. There is ever
a music of Nature to the listening ear.
When man's inner and outward senses are
harmonized, he sees sublimity in all
Nature, he hears the voice of God, "The
foot turns up no barren clod, But hath
upon it written God."
The great secret of life is to learn to
live in harmony with Nature's laws. The
laws of Nature are the laws of God, and
are for man's guidance and direction;
for is not man a part of Nature? These
laws have their punishments and
rewards, as unfailing as the tides of
the sea. The man who disobeys them
finds existence a disappointment and
life a failure. The man who obeys them
finds life a satisfying reality, a life
worthwhile. His world is filled with
harmony and satisfaction. When a man
has become conscious of this truth, and
learns to look to the light, the
intuitions of his own soul, for truth
and guidance, he has found the secret
path that leads to reality, to harmony
and things worthwhile. He has
acquired the control of things and and
circumstances; they yield themselves in
the presence of his personality; they
obey his will, he is master.
When the divine words were spoken to
man, over the wide, weltering chaos at
primeval creation, "Let there be
light," he was given dominion over all
the things of the earth. If he has lost
that dominion, it is because through
the long centuries there has been no
design on the spiritual trestle board,
resulting in utter confusion, from
which man has become unconscious of his
divine immanency and has thus
misconceived and misunderstood his own
powers. More properly, we may say the
designs have been false, separating man
from God and leading him away from the
consciousness of his own powers and
divine inheritance.
If there is a lost word, it is the loss
of the consciousness and knowledge of
the divine in man, that potentially man
possesses forces which when called
forth will make him master of self, of
circumstances and environment, and
bring him into harmony and unity with
God. High ideals, faith in the grandeur
and majesty of your own soul of man's
oneness with the divine, are necessary
and initial steps to this
mastery.
Emerson saw the importance of this
consciousness in man and thus expressed
himself: "It is easy to see that a
great self-reliance, a new respect for
the divinity in man, must work a
revelation in all the offices and
relations of men; in their religion; in
their education; in their pursuits;
their modes of living; their
associations; in their property; in
their speculative views."
NEW
THOUGHT AND
PROSPERITY
Poverty is not essential or perhaps not
conducive to the highest order of
spiritual development. Prosperity
should be every man's portion and is
necessary to a useful and well-rounded
life. It enables man to find time for
study and contemplation. It permits him
to stretch forth a helping hand to
assist his needy brother.
The first step to a life of financial
prosperity is the recognition of one's
own worth, the limitless possibilities
and powers within himself. Financial
acquisition is not always synonymous
with a successful life. Too often money
becomes master over the man.
A successful life is more. No life is
successful that does not result in the
mastership of the individual over
things. No slavery is more pernicious
than financial slavery. Success has
been defined as "The attainment and
preservation of a practical and
legitimate ideal." The useful life, the
constructive life, the life that lights
the pathways of others to higher
ideals, and awakens their consciousness
to the divine powers within themselves
and brings peace and contentment to him
who lives it, is the successful
life.
Money, wealth, and position do not
always bring happiness. Money is
sometimes the fruitful cause of
unhappiness. Externals, however
pleasing, however rich and varied they
may be, are not a sure sign of
happiness. The soul grows weary of
externals, they are cast aside and new
externals are necessary to take their
place. Gold is good or bad according as
we master it or let it master us.
"Meed of the toiler, flame of the
sea--
Such were the names of your poets for
me.
Metal of Mammon, curse of the
world,
Dug from the mountain-side, washed in
the glen,
Servant am I or the master of
men.
Steal me, I curse you; earn me, I bless
you;
Grasp me and hoard me, a fiend shall
possess you;
Lie for me, die for me, covet me, take
me--
Angel or devil, I am what you make
me.''
There is only one source of true and
enduring happiness, and that is from
within. It comes only when a man is at
peace with his own soul. Complete
happiness is ours only as we give
happiness to others. If there is one
discouraging feature observable in the
present outlook, it is that too many
men and women are imbued with the idea
that they must be constantly
entertained, that happiness comes from
externals alone.
CONSTRUCTIVE
THOUGHT
Constructive thoughts are the only
thoughts worth while. They alone build;
negative thoughts bring confusion and
destruction. One of the useful lessons
for man is so far to master himself
that he can rise above such negative
thoughts as fear, malice, hatred, envy,
revenge, and thoughts of similar
character. Such thoughts react on the
individual sending them forth and unfit
him for the useful and constructive
work of life. They destroy health, they
waste force, they remove energy, and
disqualify man for the accomplishment
of real and valuable results.
They impress the
subconscious with their disturbing
effects, to be again reproduced and
their bitter fruits garnered by the
individual.
The great lesson for man to learn is
that such negative thoughts as malice,
envy, and hatred do not injure or
affect the person against whom they are
sent, so much as the one who gives them
wings and sends them forth. Giving and
receiving is the work of life. What we
give, that we receive. This law holds
good in all we give; whether we send
forth thoughts to another or to our own
subjective minds, they come back,
either as benedictions or otherwise,
according to the character of the
thoughts sent forth.
Too long has the world been taught that
poverty was the mark of virtue and
moral worth. The Church has failed to
create ideals of better things and to
awaken that true consciousness in men,
of their own powers, to lead them to a
life of prosperity. They have been told
that the poor we should always have
with us. The charity extended has only
been for immediate relief. They have
not inspired the desire and
determination for better things, in
those to whom they have extended
charity. True charity is to cause the
individual to find himself, that he may
supply his own wants and rise to thrift
and prosperity.
It has been a favorite theme of the
theologians, to dwell on the poverty of
Jesus. Every circumstance and event in
his life have been emphasized to show
that Jesus was poor and had not where
to lay his head. They said Jesus was
the friend of the poor, because he was
himself poor. It is true that he was
the friend of the poor; he healed them
and ministered to their wants without
price. But he was the friend of more
than the poor, he was the friend of all
men and saw in every man a
brother.
How little they reckon of the wealth
and resources of Jesus, whom they
called poor! He was not poor. Nature's
storehouse stood open before him. He
whom the winds and waves obeyed, he who
fed the multitudes with a few leaves
and fishes, he who brought cheer and
gladness to the wedding-feast, "When
the conscious water looked up on her
Lord and blushed," was not poor. Plenty
and abundance were his without the
asking. Precious ointments anointed his
body, costly robes adorned his person.
The wealth of the universe was his to
use. His outstretched hand was always
filled. He used what he needed, he had
no use for more.
He did not discourage human labor and
effort, but encouraged industry in all
his
teachings. By his incomparable parables
he praised and commended the
industrious and
thrifty servants and condemned the
slothful. He looked upon work as the
normal business and function of man. He
read aright the analogies of Nature,
that all is work. "The Father works and
I work"; Nature works and man works. He
taught man to work and also to have
faith and confidence in results, that
he would garner where he had
sown.
When Jesus told his listeners to take
no thought of the morrow, he did not
intimate that they should neglect the
duties and work of today. His message
was not to cease from work, but to
forget anxiety. The sparrows work
unceasingly, and so should man. But why
worry about the rewards and the future?
His message to man was to work with a
purpose and trust to the Infinite Giver
of all for the just rewards and fruits
of his toil.
THE
LAST CHANCE
New Thought presents a religion of
life, and that the best preparation for
the continued existence of the soul,
after the last great change, is a life
worthwhile here. This has been the
message of the masters of thought in
all ages.
Nothing in man's life is higher than
duty; nothing is more ennobling than
service; nothing diviner than an
unselfish life. The consciousness of
such a life is the best asset to carry
over the last Great Divide. The
discipline thereby experienced will
best fit the soul for the enjoyment of
greater and better things. A religion
of works brings peace to the soul,
which it will have and enjoy "When the
last day is ended and the worlds lie
dead."
St. James believed in a religion of
works. With him "Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is
this, to visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world." New
Thought believes that the practice of
such a religion is the best preparation
for the soul's eternal enjoyment. The
theologian has said that a particular
belief is necessary for man's future
happiness and of more importance than
an upright and worthy life. At times we
have been told that the omission of
certain ordinances, such as that of
baptism and ceremonials, or the failure
to hold a registered membership in
certain institutions, were fatal to
man's eternal happiness. But since men
in modern times claim the right of
exercising reason regarding religious
and ultimate questions, these medieval
opinions no longer disturb their peace
of mind. Thoughtful men no longer
conceive of God as other than just.
They cannot understand that God would
punish a being, created in His own
image, for the failure to exercise a
particular mental conclusion. They do
not believe that God is less just than
man.
Jesus said: "Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that
doeth the will of my Father, which is
in Heaven." It will be observed that
the word "doeth" is the key to his
thought. In all history, no great
teacher laid more emphasis on duty and
conduct than the Man of Galilee. None
have been heard who spoke less of
belief.
What makes character? Is it a
particular belief? It is living a
life--a life useful, constructive, and
unselfish. Character is not quickly
formed, but it will determine our
future status and welfare. We are
living in eternity now. We are making
life a hell or a heaven as we live it
here. Have we any reason to believe it
will be otherwise in another state of
existence?
Man is an evolving being, growing,
striving, and moving onward toward the
perfect man. But it is unthinkable that
he should become perfect in an instant,
or otherwise than by the slow processes
of growth and evolution. We shall enter
the portals of our next state of
existence no better or worse than we
live here. If we have not built
character here, we shall not have it
there. If we have not lived in harmony
with God here, we shall not be in
harmony with him there.
Unless our souls are fitted for
enjoyment here, they will find none
elsewhere.
FEAR
Fear has no abiding place in the
philosophy of New Thought. New Thought
would eliminate it from man's mind, and
thus make him free. While fear
controls, man cannot be free.
Religious institutions, through fifteen
centuries or more, have ruled their
followers mainly through the influence
of fear, and are still wielding that
mighty and potent weapon. Fear has been
the enemy of man in all ages. Fear has
enslaved the individual to
institutions. The soul withers and
pines before its blighting
influence.
Fear has displaced man's will and made
him obedient to the wills of others. It
has made man a spiritual peon,
dependent on others for light and
guidance. It has drawn the curtain of
ignorance and superstition between man
and God. What has man to fear, but
himself? As man is what he thinks, he
has nothing to fear but his thoughts.
If man has done wrong, it is because
his thought was first wrong.
You have been told to implore God for
the forgiveness of your sins and that
they should all be blotted out. What
about yourself? Suppose God
should forget and wipe away your
iniquities, does that help you to
forgive yourself? Think back over the
years of your life and see if you
cannot find some spoken word or
neglected kindness to those who have
gone to their long rest, that you would
give your wealth to blot from
memory.
As Victor Hugo said: "One can no more
prevent the mind from returning to an
idea, than the sea from returning to
the shore. In the case of the sailor it
is called the tide; in the case of the
guilty it is called remorse; God
upheaves the soul as well as the
ocean."
If we violate no laws we pay no
penalties; if we break them, we suffer
the just consequences of our acts. What
a travesty on religion, that man can be
made to believe that someone stands
between him and God. If we are
punished, we punish ourselves; if we
are rewarded, we reward ourselves. "I
am the Captain of my Soul."
HAPPINESS
New Thought is the philosophy of joy
and happiness. Happiness is
indispensable to a life of the highest
accomplishments and to the normal and
symmetrical development of man. Much of
the theology of the world has been too
somber to admit of much happiness in
man's life. It has not looked upon
happiness as conducive to spiritual and
religious growth. Man was regarded
as
weak, and unable of himself to create a
happy or joyful mental state or
condition. To the
theologian happiness was not a
necessity or an indispensable condition
in man's life. He knew nothing of the
effect of happiness on health and
physical development. Happiness was
looked upon rather as the offspring and
effect of evil and sinister forces. The
religious face revealed sadness, rather
than joy. Even the religious garb
disclosed a sad tone to man's life and
personality.
Modern psychology has given happiness a
new place in man's life. The effect of
a happy mental state on health is now
so well understood that its discussion
is unnecessary. The poisonous toxins
produced by fear, anger, and similar
conditions of mind are likewise well
understood.
Modern psychology has revealed the fact
that happiness is a quality susceptible
of growth and can become a habit by
each individual creating cheerful
states of mind. It can be
cultivated as any other art or
accomplishment. Its growth depends on
the individual and the power of his
will. A strong will can produce
cheerful states of mind, just as a weak
will can be productive of morose mental
states. Cheerful attitudes of mind are
constructive, the opposites are
destructive.
Cheerful mental states do not depend
upon external circumstances. Happiness,
as before stated, comes from within. As
cheerful mental attitudes produce
health, they increase the power of
every function and every talent in man.
They illumine the mind, they enlarge
the understanding, they widen the
soul's vision. They send a current of
life and health through the body; they
bring joy, strength, and character to
the individual. Walt Whitman found good
fortune in himself:
"Afoot and light-hearted I take the
open road,
Healthy, free, the world before
me,
The long brown path before me, leading
wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good fortune--l
myself am good fortune."
.
NEW
THOUGHT AND MODERN
PROBLEMS
The principles enunciated in New
Thought have never been tried in the
solution of the social and economic
problems that constantly confront
society. After all the centuries of
theological teaching, the world is
still divided by contentions and
disagreements. Men are still separated
by antagonisms and dissensions, each
individual and class seeking to take
advantage of the other. Selfishness
still dominates man. Man's hand is
still raised against his fellow-man. If
it is not individual against
individual, it is organization against
organization, class against class.
Labor is arrayed in fierce warfare
against capital, and capital against
labor. Labor is in antagonism also with
itself. Public servants are still
dishonest. The briber still plies his
trade. The grafter is abroad in the
land.
It is lamentable that these conditions
should exist in this twentieth century.
There must be a cause. There is a cause
for every effect. Conditions can only
be changed as the cause is changed.
True reform is centered at the
cause.
The old teaching has not brought the
golden era so long desired. Men will do
right when they understand that no
other course will pay. They will cease
to do wrong when they know that every
wrong they perpetrate will recoil on
their own heads. In other words, when
the law of cause and effect, that
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap, is understood and so
thoroughly impressed upon men's minds
that they dare not ignore it, we may
confidently look for the dawn of a new
and greater era. When men fully
appreciate that for every wrong they
commit they punish themselves, that for
every unworthy act there is a swift and
relentless punishment, the restraining
influence of this teaching must have a
beneficial and permanent influence on
their lives and characters.
But, someone says, is not this maxim
old, that whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap, and has it not
always been taught? Yes, in a way, but
at the same time and with far more
emphasis the theological doctrine has
been impressed on man's mind that he
may escape this law and all its effects
and consequences if he will but
entertain a certain belief and conform
to certain rules. The whole
theological doctrine is subversive of
this law, and present-day society is
reaping the results.
When the laborer learns that every time
he cheats in his work, he is cheating
himself; that every time he robs his
employer, he is robbing himself; that
every act of cruelty he inflicts upon
his fellow-man, he inflicts upon
himself and all other men; that every
malicious thought he sends forth will
return to torment himself, he will get
rid of the distrust and hatred that now
control his life. He will then
entertain a different attitude toward
his fellow-man.
When the employer learns this lesson
and understands its full import, he
will profit in like manner. When he
fully realizes that whenever he
oppresses and enslaves the employee, he
oppresses and enslaves himself--that he
is under the dominion of the same in
exorable law--he will deal fairly,
justly, and kindly with him.
Following the trend of past teaching,
we have been looking for the bad in men
so long that we have forgotten to seek
the good. We operate upon the principle
of mistrust, rather than trust. We reap
what is due, a harvest of contentions
and strife.
Emerson says: "But because of the dual
constitution of all things, in labor as
in life, there can be no cheating. The
thief steals from himself. The swindler
swindles himself. . . . Human labor
through all its forms, from sharpening
of the stake, to the constitution of a
city or an epic, is one immense
illustration of the perfect
compensation of the universe,
Everywhere and always this law is
sublime."
"I say," says Carlyle, "there is not a
red Indian hunting by Lake Winnipic can
quarrel with his squaw, but the whole
world must smart for it. Will not the
price of beaver rise? It is a
mathematical fact that the casting of
this pebble from my hand alters the
center of gravity of the
universe."
We might beg to suggest that even
religious organizations might well
profit by the observance of these
principles. Even the followers of the
Prince of Peace are not at peace. It is
creed against creed, dogma against
dogma, and doctrine against doctrine.
Instead of a display of love, it is an
exhibition of contempt and hatred. They
find fault with the followers of one
religion, because of an act said to
have been committed nineteen hundred
years ago, which nevertheless
theologians said was preordained of God
from the beginning of the world. Yet
they still hate the Jews. They filled
the Jews' head with the egotistical
thought that the Jews were God's chosen
people. They so declared because they
had read it in a book written by the
Jews about themselves. Think of the
proposition, that God would pick out a
little handful of people and heap His
favors on them and ignore the other
races of the world. Greece, with her
heroes, her scholars, her artists, her
love of beauty, her greatness, could
not be considered with the chosen race.
Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle,
Socrates, Marcus Aurelius,
Seneca, and others were not among the
elect. The Jew alone was God's
favorite.
Then, because they also read that a
small mob of Jews crucified Jesus on a
charge of heresy, for fifteen centuries
they have kicked and cuffed the Jew
over Christendom, have driven him out
of Christian countries, confiscated his
property, penned him up in ghettos,
deprived him of civil or religious
rights, murdered him, all under the
banner of the cross; and still they
dislike the Jew. If the Jew has any
disagreeable qualities, who made them,
the Jew or the Christian? The
Jew is what the Christian
has made him. They still condemn the
Jew for the one act of the mob. Why, if
Jesus had not been crucified, there
would never have been a Christian
religion. Is it not time the Christian
world should take off its hat and
apologize to the Jew?
One claims to be the church of
authority, the others deny it. Each one
is sure it is right, and the others are
all wrong. Worshiping the same being,
they refuse to worship together. They
tolerate each other outwardly, only
because the law compels it. Where the
law does not compel it, we see one
Christian nation, with Church and State
united, driving out and murdering the
descend- ants of the nation which gave
them their sacred book.
The want of harmony and these
uncharitable opinions must continue to
exist so long as men conceive of God as
separated from man and dwelling in some
distant part of the universe. As long
as men entertain such ideas of God,
they will differ and quarrel as to who
are His chosen vice-regents and
ambassadors to carry out His plans and
transmit His orders and desires to men.
These institutions seem never to have
grasped the great truth that the same
hatred, ill-will, and malice they send
forth will return to themselves with
undiminished force; that if they sow
hatred, they will reap hatred. Thus the
yawning gulf of hatred and
exclusiveness is never closed. The law
of Jesus is forgotten, the law of
hatred supplants it.
''Alas, how much of life is lost,
How much is black and bitter with the
frost
That might be sweet with the sweet
sun,
If men could only know that they are
one.''
.
.
NEW
THOUGHT AND
INDIVIDUALISM
New Thought speaks to man as an
individual, and always proclaims an
intense and robust individualism. Men
can be normally and fully developed
only as individuals, and not as a class
or members of an institution. The
individual is the unit from which all
greatness springs.
New Thought ranks the individual above
institutions, as all masters of thought
have done. Institutions are made by
human units and are the product of
individual thought. They are no greater
than their creators. Jesus spoke to
individuals, and not to churches or
institutions.
The advocates of this teaching
recognize no spiritual authority save
the voice of the soul, speaking to each
individual. Each soul can interpret
aright the oracles of truth. They speak
by intuition to each soul. No other can
convey that meaning to us. He that has
found the light within and has felt the
promptings of his own soul asks no
authority how he shall worship God. His
knees bend only at the command of his
own manly soul, "The reliance on
authority means the decline of
religion, the withdrawal of the soul."
The soul is no follower. It knows its
own way, as the bird knows its course.
It follows its own light. Unerringly it
reaches up toward the divine. NOW New
Thought is a philosophy of the living,
a religion for today. It does not dwell
in the past. It leaves its yesterdays
behind as it advances to its work of
today. The present is the time of
opportunity, of action; the past holds
memories and reflections only. The past
was not perfect, the Golden Age is yet
to be. The world is steadily converging
toward that one divine event. Every
constructive life brings it
nearer.
Life is not enriched and nourished by
regrets and lamentations over the
lapses and faults of life. There is
nothing constructive or upbuilding in
such thoughts. They sap the energies of
the mind and unfit man for the highest
duty and expression for today. If we
indulge the memory, let it rest only on
the beautiful and cheerful spots of the
past.
Life is a series of experiences. We
must look upon each as necessary to
bring us to our present state of
development. If any had been lacking,
we should probably have been different
now. Each experience teaches a lesson;
each speaks words of wisdom and truth
to him who listens. They build up or
tear down character, according as we
read the lessons they impart. If we
interpret them aright, they bring
understanding and strength.
It brings neither peace nor strength to
brood and worry over the mistakes we
have made. We cannot recall them. They
belong to the past, we to the present.
Let us accept their lessons, forget
them if we can, and turn our faces
toward the rising sun. Each morning is
the beginning of a new life, the
exhilaration of hope newly born. Each
evening bespeaks the dawn of a new day.
Sparingly, at least, let us exercise
charity toward ourselves. At times, if
we can, let us blot out some of our
iniquities and remember them no more.
Let us remember the past only to profit
by its experiences in the work of
today.
New Thought believes in a sound and
glorified body as the only fit
habitation for the indwelling soul. it
teaches that health is man's normal
condition and that he is equipped for
the real work of life only as he
possesses a healthy body; that all
disease and sickness are the results of
consciously or unconsciously violated
law. Herbert Spencer said that the time
would come when it would be as
disgraceful to be found sick as to be
found drunk. Nature is constructive,
Nature is harmony. The soul cannot
properly manifest itself or find
harmonious expression except in a
healthy body.
"I have said, the soul is not more than
the body, and I have said the body is
not more than the soul," says Walt
Whitman. Carlyle says, "There is but
one temple in the universe, and that is
the body of man. Nothing is holier than
that high form. We are the miracle of
miracles, the great indescribable
mystery of God." We are each the center
of our universe, from which we
look forth to study and
contemplate the indescribable works of
God. We are equally as mysterious and
as little understood as the universe
itself, with its systems of worlds and
planets circling through the stretches
of infinity.
"Ever the soul reaches out and asks for
freedom. It looks forth from the narrow
and grated windows of sense, upon the
wide, immeasurable creation; it knows
that around it and beyond it lie
outstretched the infinite and
everlasting paths."
Victor Hugo says: "There is one
spectacle grander than the sea; that is
the sky. There is one spectacle grander
than the sky; that is the interior of
the soul."
Each of us is a symbol of God, an
epitome of the universe. As the old
knight said, "Let the universe be to
thee no more than the reflection of
thine own heroic soul."
