PERSONAL POWER (Complete 12 Volume Edition). William Walker Atkinson
Читать онлайн книгу.
been kept filled with the idea, until action results as a natural consequence. In order to act in the direction of one idea in preference to another; we must first dismiss the one and voluntarily attend to the other. The motorforce thus developed in connection with the dominant idea lies at the bottom of every higher act of Will.”
During the last quartercentury, or perhaps longer, there has been a great revival of interest in the subject of Thought, ThoughtForce, MindPower, or similar general conceptions involving the idea of the use of Thought in the direction of bringing about desirable conditions of physical health and strength, prosperity; happiness, and the general welfare of the individual. Under all of the many theories seeking to express the essential spirit of “this line of thought” (as many call it); and back of the various names, terms, and titles employed to indicate and to designate the same; there will be found the fundamental and basic idea and conception of the tendency of Thought, or Idea, to manifest itself in action, or in objective form and reality. The kernel of the conception is that of the power of the Ideal to become Real.
Thousands of persons, all over the world, have sought to demonstrate the power to create or to improve their environment, circumstance, health, success and ability, by means of Right Thinking. Many have fully demonstrated their ability to create (or at least to improve to a great extent) their own environment; to control circumstances; and to determine their own destiny; by the Power of Thought. They have proceeded upon the general principles expressed in the Biblical adage, “As a man thinketh, so is he”; and in the equally ancient Buddhistic adage, “We are that which we have thought.” Wrong Thinking is held by them to produce undesirable results and effects; while Right Thinking is held to produce desirable effects and results. The general conception may be expressed in the aphorism: “Ideas tend to reproduce themselves in external form and effects; the Ideal pattern tends to build around itself an objective material Reality.”
In most of these teachings, however, the element of Idea or Thought has been most strongly emphasized—overemphasized, in some cases, many have thought—while, at the same time, the element of Will has been underemphasized. In fact, this last element—that of Will—has been practically neglected in some cases, and in others even denounced as evil by some who prefer explaining the subject in the terms of quasireligious transcendentalism. But it is now being perceived by many of the most careful thinkers “along these lines” that a failure to include the Power of Will in connection with the Power of Thought results in depriving the individual of onehalf of his Mental Creative Power. The effort to exclude Will from association with Idea is akin to trying to assert the existence of a magnet with only one pole.
As a matter of fact, all the results obtained through the Power of Thought have been in part due to the correlated and co-ordinated Power of Will, though the persons obtaining these results have not been aware of this fact. Ideation without Volition—Thought without Will—is but the paralyzed, keensighted giant of the fable, who can do nothing of himself, but who requires the strong body, strong arms, and sturdy legs of the blindgiant before effective results may be obtained.
But, at the same time, we must ever remember that it is equally true that the blindgiant of Will cannot proceed intelligently or effectively until he has raised the paralyzed, keensighted Ideation to his shoulders. In this union alone is there the real strength of that which is called MindPower, ThoughtForce, or ThoughtPower. Of these two combined, coordinated, and correlated mental elements may it be said: “‘United, they stand; divided, they fall.”
To the many persons who are earnestly seeking to manifest Thought in action, objective form, and material results, but who, while obtaining results sufficiently satisfactory to justify them in asserting that “there is something in it”, still feel that they have “somehow, someway, not quite got hold of it”, the idea of the correlation and co-ordination of Ideation and Volition—Thought and Will—the partnership of the two giants—will come as a welcome revelation. Many such persons, once this idea has been presented to them, will recognize its truth by reason of their own experience. They will realize that they have at last discovered the secret of Personal Power, and they will then proceed to a greater and fuller manifestation of that power than has heretofore been possible to them in their “onesided” view of the principle involved.
On the other hand, there are many who have been striving for success by means of the application of WillPower alone. But in many cases this method has failed to attain the desired end. Such persons are often found wandering around aimlessly, traveling around and around in circles, like the blindgiant—ever moving, but never “getting anywhere”. They feel strong Desire and strong Will stirring within them, but they do not know in what direction to apply these forces. They want to move and to act, but they do not know where to move or in what direction to act. They are like the squirrel in the cage, constantly on the move, but never making a step of real progress.
It should require no argument to convince one that without a pattern or mold, mental or physical, it is impossible to create anything. Idea is a mental image, form, pattern or mold which is followed by Will when it exercises its motivepower in creative activity and effort. This being seen, how can anyone reasonably expect to create environment, conditions or circumstances, unless he first mentally creates the idea, image, pattern or mold—the type or form of that which he wishes to create in the objective, material world? Likewise, it should require no argument to prove that the clearer, the stronger, and the more complete the mental pattern, mold, or image—Idea, in short—really is, then the better, the more efficient, and the more complete will be the materialization of that idea.
Just as in Nature, every process of materialization has been preceded by an “idealization”, so in Man every achievement in the direction of materialization—all of his creative work and results—has been preceded by his “idealization”—the image formed in the mind by Ideation. This being so, every intelligent person must see that if one wishes to attain success in any creative undertaking, he should first strive to “idealize” and create a clear, strong, definite mental picture, pattern, or design of that which he wishes to materialize in objective form. Successful men, indeed, have always followed this method, though they may not have understood the psychology underlying their action, nor the great Cosmic principle involved in it. Many failures in life are due, directly or indirectly, to a failure to understand and to apply this principle.
Those who hold to the teachings of the New Metaphysical Movement (under some of its many names) concerning the Power of Thought, and the Power of Mind, will find in the ideas advanced in this book not a contradiction of their own beliefs and convictions, but rather an addition to them, and an explanation of them. All that they now believe concerning the Power of Thought and its manifestations, this book also holds to be true in principle, perhaps even more strongly and with greater certainty than do they, themselves. But this book strives to lift the conception of Dynamic Thought from the realm of shadowy unreality and ghostly being, to that of a living, real, acting, striving, Creative Power—the body of which is Volition (Will) and the mind of which is Ideation (Thought).
We ask you boldly to face this truth—to recognize, realize, and to manifest the TwinGiants of Personal Power, in whose being vibrates the energy, force and power of the Ultimate Principles of POWER Those whom POWER hath put together, let no man put asunder. In fact, no man can put them asunder if he would manifest Personal Power efficiently; for they are not two separate and distinct things—but rather the two poles or aspects of the same thing.
Let us now proceed to the consideration of the practical methods whereby the principles which have been considered, described and explained, may be manifested efficiently in actual effort in your life work. It is said that “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”: so let us proceed to the table upon which “the feast of good things” is spread.
VII
THE THREE FORMULAS
THE ANCIENT sages of Oriental lands were wont to remind their pupils that the practical rules and methods of manifesting or expressing Personal Power could be reduced to three