Speaker 1: Lessons three and four of the power of concentration. Lesson three,
How to gain what you want through concentration. The ignorant
person may say, how can you get anything merely by
wanting it? I say that through concentration you can get
anything you want. Every desire can be gratified, but whether
it is will depend upon you concentrating to have that
desire fulfilled. Merely wishing for something will not bring it.
Wishing you had something shows a weakness and not a
belief that you will really get it. So never merely wish.
As we are not living in a fairy age. You
use up just as much brain force in vain imaginings
as you do when you think of something worthwhile. Be
careful of your desires. Make a mental picture of what
you want, and set your will to this until it materializes.
Never allow yourself to drift without helm or rudder. Know
what you want to do, and strive with all your
might to do it, and you will succeed. Feel that
you can accomplish anything you undertake. Many undertake to do things,
but feel when they start they are going to fail,
and they usually do. I will give an illustration. A
man goes to a store for an article. The clerk says,
I'm sorry, we do not have it. But the man
that is determined to get that thing inquires if he
does not know where he can get it. Again, receiving
an unsatisfactory answer, the determined buyer consults the manager and
finally he finds where the article can be bought. That
is the whole secret of concentrating on getting what you want.
And remember your soul is a center of all power,
and you can accomplish what you will to. I'll find
a way or make one. Is the spirit that wins.
I know a man that is now head of a
large bank. He started there as a messenger boy. His
father had a button made for him with a pea
on it, and put it on his coat. He said, son,
that pea is a reminder that some day you are
to be the president of your bank. I want you
to keep this thought in your mind. Every day, do
something that will put you nearer your goal. Each night,
after supper he would say, son, what did you do today.
In this way, the thought was always kept in mind.
He concentrated on becoming president of that bank, and he did.
His father told him never to tell anyone what the
peace stood for a good deal of fun was made
of it by his associates, and they tried to find
out what it stood for, but they never did until
he was made president. And then he told the secret.
Don't waste your mental powers and wishes. Don't dissipate your
energies by trying to satisfy every whim. Concentrate on doing
something really worth while. The man that sticks to some
thing is not the man that fails. Power to him
who power exerts Emerson success today depends largely on concentrating
on the interior law of force. For when you do this,
you wi awaken those thought powers or forces, which, when
used in business, ensures permanent results. Until you are able
to do this, you have not reached your limit in
the use of your forces. This great universe is interwoven
with myriads of forces. You make your own place, and
whether it is important depends upon you. Through the indestructible
and unconquerable law, you can in time accomplish all right things.
And therefore do not be afraid to undertake whatever you
really desire to accomplish and are willing to pay for
in effort. Anything that is right is possible. That which
is necessary will inevitably take place. If something is right,
it is your duty to do it, though the whole
world thinks it to be wrong. God and One are
always a majority, or in plain words, that omnipodent interior law,
which is God and the organism that represents you, is
able to conquer the whole world. If your cause is
absolutely just don't say I wish I was a great man.
You can do anything that is proper and you want
to do, just say you can, you will. You must
just realize this, and the rest is easy. You have
the latent faculties and forces to subdue anything that tries
to interfere with your plans. Let the troubles and responsibilities
of life come thick and fast. I am ready for them.
My soul is unconquerable. I represent the infinite law of
force or of all power. This God within is my
all sufficient strength and ever present help in time of trouble.
The more difficulties, the greater its triumphs through me, The
harder my trials, the faster I go in the development
of my inherent strength. Let all else fail me. This
interior reliance is all sufficient. The right must prevail. I
demand wisdom and power to know and follow the right.
My higher self is all wise. I now draw nearer
to it. Lessen four. Concentration, the silent force that produces
results in all business. I want you first to realize
how powerful thought is. A thought of fear has turned
a person's hair gray. In a night. A prisoner condemned
to die was told that if he would consent to
an experiment and live through it, he would be freed.
He consented. They wanted to see how much blood a
person could lose and still live. They arranged that blood
would apparently drop from a cut made in his leg.
The cut made was very slight, from which practically no
blood escaped. The room was darkened, and the prisoner thought
the dropping he heard was really coming from his leg.
The next morning he was dead through mental fear. The
two above illustrations will give you a little idea of
the power of thought. To thoroughly realize the power of
thought is worth a great deal to you. Through concentrated
thought power, you can make yourself whatever you please. By thought,
you can greatly increase your efficiency and strength. You are
surrounded by all kinds of thoughts, some good, others bad,
and you are sure to absorb some of the latter
if you do not build up a positive mental attitude.
If you will study the needless moods of anxiety, worry, despondency, discouragement,
and others that are the result of uncontrolled thoughts, you
will realize how important the control of your thoughts are.
Your thoughts make you what you are. When I walk
along the street and study the different people's faces, I
can tell how they spent their life. It all shows
in their faces, just like a mirror reflects their physical countenances.
In looking in those faces, I cannot help thinking how
most of the people you see have wasted their lives.
The understanding of the power of thought will awaken possibilities
within you that you never dreamed of. 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. I want you to thoroughly realize the
importance of your thoughts and how to make them valuable.
To understand that your thoughts come to you over invisible
wires and influence you. If your thoughts are of a
high nature, you become connected with people of the same
mental caliber, and you are able to help yourself. If
your thoughts are tricky, you will bring tricky people to
deal with you, who will try to cheat you. If
your thoughts are right kind, you will inspire confidence in
those with whom you are dealing. As you gain the
good will of others, your confidence and strength will increase.
You will soon learn the wonderful value of your thoughts
and how serene you can become even when circumstances are
the most trying. Such thoughts of right and good will
bring you into harmony with people that amount to something
in the world, and that are able to give you
help if you should need it, as nearly every one
does at times. You can now see why it is
so important to concentrate your thoughts in the proper channels.
It is very necessary that people should have confidence in you.
When two people meet, they have not the time to
look each other up. They accept each other according to instinct,
which can usually be relied on. You meet a person
in his attitude creates a suspicion in you, the chances
are you cannot tell why, but something tells you have
no dealings with him, for if you do, you will
be sorry. Thoughts produce actions. Therefore, be careful of your thoughts.
Your life will be molded by the thoughts you have.
A spiritual power is always available to your thought, and
when you are worthy, you can attract all the good
things without a great effort on your part. The sun's
rays shine down on our gardens, but we can plant
trees that will interfere with the sunlight. There are invisible
forces ready to help you. If you do not think
and act to intercept these, these forces work silently. You
reap what you sow. You have concentrated within powers that,
if developed, will bring you happiness greater than you can
even imagine. Most people go rushing through life, literally driving
away the very things they seek. By concentration, you can
revolutionize your life, accomplish infinitely more and without a great
effort within yourself, and you will find the greatest machine
ever made how to speak wisely. In order to speak wisely,
you must secure at least a partial concentration of the
faculties and forces upon the subject at hand. Speech interferes
with the focusing powers of the mind as it withdraws
the attention to the external, and therefore is hardly to
be compared with the deep silence of the subconscious mind,
where deep thoughts and the silent forces of high potency
are evolved. It is necessary to be silent before you
can speak wisely. The person that is really alert and
well poised, and able to speak wisely under trying circumstances
is the person that has practiced in the silence. Most
people do not know what the silence is and think
it is easy to go into the silence, but this
is not so. In the real silence, we become attached
to that interior law, and the forces become silent because
they are in a state of high potency, or beyond
the vibratory sounds to which our external ears are attuned.
He who desires to become above the ordinary should open
up for himself the interior channels which lead to the
absolute law of the omnipotent. You can only do this
by persistently and intelligently practicing thought concentration. Hold the thought
in silence. I will allow my higher self to have
complete control. I will be true to my higher self.
I will live true to my conception of what is right.
I realize that it is to my self interest to
live up to my best I demand wisdom so that
I may act wisely for myself and others. In the
next chapter, I will tell you of the mysterious law
which links all humanity together by the powers of co
operative thought, and chooses for us companionship and friendsh