Chapter Five: The Thought-Factor In Achievement
by James Allen
All that a man
achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own
thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean
total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man's
weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own and not another
man's. They are brought about by himself and not by another; and they can
only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his
own, and not another man's. His sufferings and his happiness are evolved
from within. As he thinks, so is he; as he continues to think, so he
remains.
A strong man cannot help
a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped. And even then the
weak man must become strong of himself. He must, by his own efforts,
develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can
alter his condition.
It has been
usual for men to think and to say, "Many men are slaves because one is an
oppressor; let us hate the oppressor!" But there is amongst an increasing
few a tendency to reverse this judgement and to say, "One man is an
oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves."
The truth is that oppressor and
slaves are cooperators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict each
other, are in reality, afflicting themselves. A perfect knowledge
perceives the action of law in the weakness of the oppressed and the
misapplied power of the oppressor. A perfect love, seeing the suffering
which both states entail, condemns neither; a perfect compassion embraces
both oppressor and oppressed. He who has conquered weakness and has pushed
away all selfish thoughts belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He
is free.
A man can only rise,
conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak,
abject, and miserably by refusing to lift up his thoughts.
Before a man can achieve
anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish
animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all animality
and selfishness, necessarily, but a portion of it must, at least, be
sacrificed. A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither
think clearly nor plan methodically. He could not find and develop his
latent resources and would fail in any undertaking. Not having begun to
manfully control his thoughts, he is not in a position to control affairs
and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently
and stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.
There can be no progress nor
achievement without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be by the
measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his
mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his
resolution and self-reliance. The higher his he lifts his thoughts, the
greater will be his success, the more blessed and enduring will be his
achievements.
The universe does
not favor the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious... although on the mere
surface it sometimes may appear to do so. It helps the honest, the
magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great teachers of the ages have
declared this in varying ways, and to prove it and to know it a man has
but to persist in making himself increasingly virtuous by lifting his
thoughts.
Intellectual
achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for
knowledge or for the beautiful and true in nature. Such achievements may
sometimes be connected with vanity and ambition, but they are not the
outcome of those characteristics. They are the natural outgrowth of long
and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish thoughts.
Spiritual achievements are the
consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the
conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure
and selfless, will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the moon
its full, become wise and noble in character and rise into a position of
influence and blessedness.
Achievement of any kind is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By
the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and
well-directed thought a man ascends. By the aid of animality, indolence,
impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends.
A may may rise to high success in
the world, even to lofty attitudes in the spiritual realm, and again
descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and
corrupt thoughts to take possession of him.
Victories attained by right
thought can be maintained only by watchfulness. Many give way when success
is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.
All achievements, whether in the
business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely
directed thought, are governed by the same law, and are of the same
method. The only difference is in the object of attainment.
He who would accomplish little
need sacrifice little; he would would achieve much must sacrifice much. He
who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.
Chapter Four
Chapter Six