The All Determining Influence of Thought

There is nothing of more importance in one's life than his own thought processes. You can not grow mentally unless you think, but the kind of thoughts you think determine in what direction you develop. In fact, everything concerning your life, mind and destiny is but the conglomerate effects of your own thought forces. If all phases of your existence are the result of the interior forces of thought, then the study and application of this wonderful force is the single most important fact of your life. More important than heredity, education, and environment, is the knowledge of your own thought processes and how they affect and determine everything that you are, as well as everything you experience. Every great mind has recognized the all importance of thought and many volumes have been written concerning this subject and it would be practically impossible to say anything new concerning thought. The best we can do here, is to take a look at what some of the world's greatest minds have had to say about thought power and you.

Wallace D. Wattles' writing in 1911 in his book How To Be A Genius, has this to say:

"Greatness is attained only by thinking great thoughts. No man can be great in outward personality until he is great internally; and no man can be great internally until he thinks. No amount of study can make you great without thought; but thought can make you great with very little study. There are altogether too many people who are trying to make something of themselves by reading books without thinking; all such will fail. You are not mentally developed by what you read but by what you think about what you read...Thinking is the hardest and most exhausting of all labor; and hence many people shrink from it... We never move forward until we begin to think. Read less and think more...Thinking is growth; you can not think without growing."

Reading then is compared to eating, while thinking is compared with digesting. If you eat a meal and it passes through your body without being assimilated, then it has done you absolutely no good. To read a book and not think about the materials read is equally wasteful. Life is too short for the reading of inferior books. Read only that literature which is of the highest, most inspiring nature. This will constitute your food for thought. When this mental nourishment is properly assimilated, the resulting growth will help exalt your mind to the realms of mental power which at present you have not the slightest conception.

Ralph Waldo Trine writing, in 1896, in his classic In Tune With The Infinite, has this to say about thought:

"Each is building his own world. We both build from within and attract from without. Thought is the force with which we build, for thoughts are forces. Like builds like and like attracts like. Everything is first worked out in the unseen before it is manifested in the seen...The realm of the unseen (thought) is the realm of cause. The realm of the seen is the effect."

In Trine's second book, published in 1896, entitled What All The World's A-Seeking, he comments further on the subject of thought:

"A thought, good or evil, results in an act of a like nature, in time a habit is formed, so runs life's law; what you live in your thought-world, sooner or later, you will find objectified in your life. Thought is the force underlying all...The type of thought we entertain both creates and draws conditions exactly the same in nature as the thought that gives it form. Thoughts are forces, and each creates of its kind, whether we realize it or not."

Henry Thomas Hamblin, writing in 1921, in his course entitled Dynamic Thought, wrote these words about thought:

"In our world, our circumstances, our life, our bodies, we stand supreme, or rather we have within us the power, which properly directed, can make us supreme. This power is 'thought'."

"If thought is the greatest power of all powers, the most vital, subtle, and irresistible force in the universe, and if your thoughts have the power to attract other thoughts of a like character, then your choice of thought is the most important act of your life. For one to govern his thoughts then is to determine his life. It is by controlling our thinking that we become captain of our Soul, master of our destiny."

Theron Q. Dumont, an instructor in the "Personal Arts" around Paris, France in the early 1900's, writing in his book The Power of Concentration, speaks of thought:

"Through concentrated thought power you can make yourself whatever you please...Never forget that your thoughts are making your environment, your friends, and as your thoughts change, these will also. Is this not a practical lesson to learn? Good thoughts are constructive. Evil thoughts are destructive. The desire to do right carries with it a great power... Thoughts produce actions. Therefore be careful of your thoughts. Your life will be molded by the thoughts you have...It is within your power to gratify every wish. Success is the result of the way you think...The power to rule and attract success is within yourself...You have unlimited power to think and this is the link that connects you with your omniscient source."

All authorities on the subject of thought power are in agreement that your thoughts determine everything about you; the shape and contour of your face, the demeanor and posture of your body, your health, your environment, your friends, your position in life, your personality, your intelligence, in fact, every phase of your entire existence is affected and directly determined by your thoughts. It has well been said that, "Mother Nature would gladly and abundantly bestow upon man all the treasures of the universe, if man did not create his own poverty through negative thought."

To think thoughts of success when surrounded by the appearances of failure, or to think thoughts of prosperity while surrounded by the appearances of poverty, or to think health while surrounded by the appearances of sickness is to become what is known as a 'master mind'. You control circumstances instead of them controlling you. You determine your own fate, your own position in life. For the individual who masters his own thoughts, there can be no failure. Any form of negativity is immediately transmuted into positive through scientific thought control. Once you have mastered the wonderful power of thought, the harder your trials, the greater will be your triumph over them. You will literally turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones. The very obstacles that before would have meant certain defeat, will be transformed into a positive energy that will carry you to heights of accomplishment you never conceived possible. Once the student sets his face to the light and makes up his mind to live up to the highest that is within him, he will become conscious of an invisible, irresistible force pushing him in the back, bearing him with unerring precision to the realization of his highest potential as a human being. The unfoldment of the God within.

Begin now to think about all this. Think deeply and continuously. Begin now to read only that literature that is the most inspiring and thought provoking. Turn your thought power to new lines of thinking, increase your mental circuitry every day by associating all new thoughts and ideas with all other thoughts of similar nature. Repeat the following lines until they become engrained in the gray matter of your living computer; in time they will become the directing principle of your life.

"I now realize that there are infinite powers within my own being. I now will that these powers find full expression in and through my life. From this moment on I will live up to the highest that is within me. Through the power of my thought forces I shall realize my full potential as a human being. I am here and now transformed into a new self. This self knows only success, power, health, strength, happiness, abundance, and prosperity. For the indescribable joy of my new life, I humbly am grateful."

In the words of Wallace Wattles:

"To be great and to have power, it is only necessary to conform your life to the pure idea of right as you find it in the great within. Every compromise that is made by you, is made at the expense of a loss of power. This you must remember."

Also remember that your thoughts determine your destiny. You inevitably grow into the likeness of that upon which you meditate. That which you visualize in your minds eye will surely come to pass. Your mind being one with the infinite Mind, possesses the same power only in lesser degree. You are a creative being. You are a body which is embodying a God. The power house of the universe stands ever ready to aid you in every way, to help you materialize your highest ideals and ambitions. The only thing that is required of you is to remove the obstacles of doubt, fear and ignorance.

Take careful note of the enormous amount of time you waste away thinking of frivolous, unimportant, mental fantasies. THIS DISSIPATION OF THE VITAL POWERS OF THOUGHT MUST CEASE IMMEDIATELY. From this moment on lift your mind from the mental quagmire of frivolous thought. Exalt your thinking into the proper channels of success, health, peace, prosperity, power, abundance, joy, love, etc. THINKING ALONG THESE LINES OF THOUGHT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR ENTIRE LIFE INTO THE PHYSICAL EQUIVALENTS OF THESE THOUGHTS. You live in your very own universe. In this universe you are God. You are the creator and controller of all things in this universe; without you it could not exist. You are the king of a vast domain, the kingdom of thought that lies inside your brain. Whether you rule as God, clown, or swine is entirely up to you, but as you control and create in your inner world, so will your outer world be an exact replica. Think like a God, act like a God, then you shall live like a God! Only when you have exalted your thinking to the highest view point can you live life to the fullest.

Remember--your thoughts are the only things that are eternally real in your universe. They are the invisible cause of which the outer world is but the effect. As you think, so shall you be, for your thoughts determine your destiny. For one to control his thoughts is the supreme fact of his existence. "The kingdom of God is within." (Luke 17:21). Where would you find God but in his kingdom? Look into your own soul and discover your noble identity, the power of your own being; know that you are one with the Infinite Mind and abide in that state. Know also that the creative power is constantly flowing into your mind; channel it only into those thoughts that you wish to have manifest in your life.

We end this lesson on the all determining influence of thought with the following lines:

CONTROL YOUR THOUGHTS CONTROL YOUR LIFE

Our lives are not controlled
by forces of any kind.

But our destinies are determined
By the thoughts that dwell in our mind.

We are like Gods,
Because we can create.

We can control our lives,
We can determine our fate.

We can do it now,
There's no need to wait.

Form the highest conception,
Of your highest ideal,

Meditate upon this vision,
And it will become real.

Create the highest image,
And let it be your goal.

This mental pattern,
Becomes your life mold.

Let the image of your desire,
Dominate your mind.

Let this vision be
The highest you can find.

For our lives are not controlled
By forces of any kind.

But our destinies are determined
By the thoughts that dwell in our MIND.