PERSONAL POWER (Complete 12 Volume Edition). William Walker Atkinson
Читать онлайн книгу.
practical diagram of the methods employed by POWER, and which also are to be followed in your manifestation and expression of Personal Power—both the Personal Power you now possess, as well as the cultivated, developed and trained Personal Power which you will acquire by applying the principles and methods embodied in the present instruction.
The ancient fable, which has been told by teacher to pupil in Oriental lands, for many thousand years, proceeds as follows:
Once upon a time, there dwelt in a vast forest two individuals, each of whom had been particularly blessed by the gods in certain ways, yet equally deprived of certain other particular blessings. Both of these individuals were giants in power, yet their power was so limited in certain directions that their lack was as great as was their possession.
The first of these forest-dwellers was a physical giant, filled with vigor and strength, and animated with a strong desire, longing and craving to move about, travel, and to play an important part in the world of men. But, alas! he had been born blind, and could find his way about the forest only by clumsily groping and feeling his way, stumbling along from tree to tree—always traveling in circles and never getting anywhere. He was never able to emerge from the forest, and to reach the world of men. The name of this giant was “VOLITION” which means, “The Power of Willing.”
The second of the forest-dwellers was a mental giant; possessed of wonderful powers of observation and perception, good judgment and discernment, able to reason and to plan, to imagine and invent. But, alas! he had been born with withered legs and paralyzed arms, and was unable to travel around and about by means of his own powers of locomotion, or to employ his arms in any natural activities. His great mental powers went to waste by reason of his physical deficiencies. In his way, he was quite as helpless as the physical giant. The name of this second giant was “IDEATION”, which means, “The Power of Thinking.”
And so, these two great giants—one a physical giant, the other a mental giant—dwelt apart from each other in the great forest; each being dependent upon friendly neighbors for his food and raiment; each living the life of a helpless beggar, and each unable to fulfill that destiny for which his great powers would seem to have fitted him. In neither existed that combination of “seeing” and “doing”—that necessary co-ordination of essential powers; yet each had what the other lacked, and each lacked what the other possessed. In each was Power going to waste—Power unable to express and manifest itself.
One day, the blind giant, groping and stumbling around in a circle, chanced to come near to the paralyzed giant. The latter called loudly to the former, and directed his steps to where the latter sat helpless. The two, meeting for the first time, conversed earnestly; before long a strong friendship was established between them. The bond of mutual sympathy, and of mutual need and lack, served to unite them in a mutual understanding and comradeship.
Then, there flashed into the mind of “Ideation” a brilliant thought. He saw at once, in a flash of intuitive insight, how the two giants might form a most advantageous partnership, to which each might contribute his own particular powers—the powers which the other lacked. “Volition” would contribute the body and physical strength—his strong body, strong legs, and strong arms; “Ideation” would contribute his strong sight, strong powers of observation and perception, strong powers of discrimination and judgment, strong powers of imagination, reasoning, and invention. The combination would be perfect, said “Ideation”; and “Volition” enthusiastically embraced the opportunity thus afforded him.
And so, “Volition”, the blindgiant, lifted up “Ideation”, the paralyzedgiant onto his shoulders; and the pair started forth through the forest, toward the world of men. Guided by the keen eyes and brain of “Ideation”, and carried by the sturdy legs and body of “Volition”, the pair traveled far and fared well.
The eyes of “Ideation” saw clearly and keenly; and his mind not only pointed out the best paths and roads to travel, but also planned well the journey. He mapped out new scenes of travel, and devised the best routes; and he discovered the places at which food and shelter were obtainable. He found work to be performed by “Volition”, and told him how to do it efficiently. In this way the pair supported themselves ably, under the direction of the keensighted and keenwitted “Ideation”.
On the other hand, “Volition”, the blind giant, with his superb physical strength, carried the pair easily and rapidly over the road, and performed the physical work which served to support the pair and to accomplish their jointpurposes. He did his work well—the work which such a strong, vigorous giant might be expected to do. Guided by “Ideation”, he no longer wasted time and effort in traveling about and in performing his tasks. His sturdy body, legs, and arms had found an equally strong pair of eyes, and a brain capable of functioning efficiently. And so, as has been said, the pair traveled far, and fared well.
The wise ancient Oriental teachers concluded their relation of the fable by the recitation of its moral and application, as follows:
“Here you have the story of Nature and of Man. Nature in her earlier years was like the blindgiant—filled with power and with longing to act, but unable to see its way before it. It stumbled and groped, often traveling around in circles and retracing its steps. Blind Nature, though strong of Will, was unable to perform its desired tasks as it wished to do; it made mistakes, it failed, it went ’round and ’round, ever trying to find a way—often proceeding into the ‘blind alleys’ of the forest, only to be forced to retrace its steps. It could not see; it often acted like a sleepwalker, with a strong purpose but lacking definite direction. Only when it evolved its Ideative powers and coordinated these with its blind Will, was it able to proceed with intelligence and in definite directions. This is the story of Nature, my sons. Thus does it work; thus does it proceed; thus does it create and accomplish.”
Then the sages continued: “And like unto it, is the story of Man. In each man there is the blindgiant of Will, full of energy and vigor, filled with the burning desire and urge to express and to manifest its powers of action; yet of itself capable merely of stumbling and blundering, groping and feeling its way, and usually traveling in circles. Likewise, in every man there is found the crippled and paralyzed Thought, keeneyed and keenwitted, resourceful, observing, discerning; planning, inventing; but of itself incapable of moving about and of performing efficient work. Only when human Thought mounts the shoulder of human Will, and points out the way, the road, and the direction; and only when human Will permits and submits itself to this direction and guidance, and consents to use its strong body, strong legs, and strong arms to pursue the path, and to perform the work so pointed out to it by human Thought; only when this cooperative partnership is formed in the mind of Man, and proceeds to manifest and express its combined and co-ordinated powers—only then do the united pair, the ‘twoinone’, become efficient, useful, and capable of effective and efficient expression and manifestation. This is the story of Man, my sons. Thus does he work; thus does he proceed; thus does he create and accomplish.”
Postponing for the moment the application of this principle to the Personal Power of Man, we would say that many of the brightest minds of philosophy have arrived at a similar conclusion concerning the character of Nature’s activities. But alas! many of them saw only one side of the story, and ignored the other. Some, like Schopenhauer, saw only the Will aspect, and sought to explain Thought as an evolution of WILL—a product of the activities of blindWill in Nature. Others, certain of the great Idealists, saw only the Thought aspect, and sought to explain Will as a product of evolved Thought.
Each of these schools of philosophy explained matters quite satisfactorily up to a certain point—but each failed to perceive the dualaspect of Nature’s activities the respective aspects of Will and Thought—the twinmanifestations, combined and co-ordinated as equal partners, each impotent without the other. Later philosophers, however, have seen the truth embodied in the ancient Oriental fable, and have sought to build systems of philosophy upon it—and the tendency is now in that direction. And this is well—for it is “the only way”
Schopenhauer postulated a Cosmic Blind Will as the Ultimate Principle of POWER, and explained the universe in its terms. Others followed him along these lines, with various modifications. Schopenhauer said: