THE SECRET OF SUCCESS: How to Achieve Power, Success & Mental Influence (Complete William Walker Atkinson Collection). William Walker Atkinson
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rewards, and are not willing to "pay the price" of what is known as Success or the mastery of men. Many men who have mastered the occult power, scorn wealth, position and fame, and exert no desire for them, feeling that these things are unworthy of their power, and preferring to use the forces at their command for what they consider higher aims. They say with the prophet, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity," and with Puck, "what fools these mortals be." The law of compensations seems to even all things, and wealth, power and position do not always bring happiness. The old sayings: "uneasy the head that wears the crown," and "There is no rose without its thorn," are literally true.
However, I do not propose preaching a sermon on Life, nor do I wish to point at moral. Every individual must choose for himself, and no man can decide for another. I say, however, that whatever you do, do it right. There is only one way to do things, and that is to do them. You must "put your hand to the plow, and look not backward." Select your goal and then move straight toward it, sweeping from your path all obstacles. To accomplish your aim, you must have Desire strongly present, and much recognize your real self, the I AM, in order to exert what is generally known as "will power," in the furtherance of your plans.
In the preceding lesson I have defined Volation as "the conscious effort of the will, producing thought vibrations and impelling them toward a given object." The vibratory force may be exerted in the ordinary way - at short range, upon the occasion of a personal interview; it may also be exerted in a much less understood way, by means of long-range vibrations (sometimes called telepathy). The first form is quite common, and we all have seen exhibitions of it; the second form is somewhat rare, and those who understand it best have but little to say about it. It is practiced quietly, however, by many more person than we usually dream of in that connection. We see mild examples of it in what is known as Telepathy or Thought Transference, mind Reading, etc., but those who understand the subject very imperfectly usually give these exhibitions. I know several persons who have developed this power to a wonderful degree, and in no case will they consent to an exhibition of their power to any but a few chosen friends, with whom they are in perfect sympathy and who happen to be likewise familiar with the subject. These people know the real nature of the power of which they are making use, and will not degrade it by making it the subject of an ordinary show. They are content with their knowledge and seek to convince no one else. The are not looking for converts, and, in fact, discourage any attempt to make public their occult knowledge believing that the time is not yet ripe for such publicity, and that its promulgation at this time would result in its misuse.
The prime requisite for the acquirement of the art of Volation is the recognition of the power of the real self - the I AM. The more complete the recognition, the greater the power. I cannot give you specific directions for acquiring this faculty of recognition. You must feel it rather that reason it out. You will not be in doubt as to whether you are on the right track - you will realize it at once. As near as I can express it to you, is to say that you will feel that your body is as a suit of clothes, which, whilst covering you temporarily, its not YOU; that you are separate and apart from your body and superior to it, although for the time being connected with it. You will realize that even your mind is not YOU, but that is merely the instrument through which YOU manifest yourself, and which being imperfect, prevents the complete expression of your real self. In short, when you say or think "I AM," you are conscious of the existence of your real self, and feel the growth of a new sense of power within you. This recognition of the self may be but faint; but encourage it and it will grow, and whilst growing will manifest itself to your mind by impressing upon the latter the knowledge of the proper plan for further development. It is an example of "to him who hath shall be given, and to him who hast not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Their mere calling of the attention to the act may awaken the recognition in some, whilst others will find it necessary to reflect upon the idea and awaken to recognition of the truth more slowly. Some will not feel the truth. To such I say: the time is not yet ripe for your recognition of this great truth, but the seed is planted and the plant will appear in time. This may seem like the veriest nonsense to you now but the time will come when you will admit its literal correctness. To those who feel the first indications of the awakening of the real self, I say: Carry the thought with you and it will unfold like the lotus, naturally and gradually; the truth once recognized cannot be lost, and there is no standing still in nature. To those who recognize the truth, I would like to say more, but this is not the place.
The practice of concentration, as explained in a subsequent lesson, will enable anyone to develop this idea of the real self. The thought, "I AM," held in the Silence, whilst you are concentrating, will grow stronger and stronger.
To exercise the power of Volation in influencing others, in a personal interview, you have merely to make a strong mental demand of the other person, accompanied with a consciousness of your right to do so, and the veil that your command will be obeyed. You must fully expect that your command will be obeyed. In all mental processes the earnest expectation is a prime factor in producing the effect. If you have only a faint, half-hearted expectation, you will have only halfway results. You will realize the reason for this after you have completed this course, the matter being explained in subsequent lessons.
Now, do not understand that you will be able to approach anyone, and by simply willing and expecting the results, make that person do just what you will. You could do all of this if the person had no power of mental resistance, no Volic Force of his own to counteract yours. Some persons, unfortunately for themselves, have but little Volic Forces, and are but puppets in the hands of those who know the secret of personal influence; others have a little more of the force, and so on, until the high stages are reached.
I do say, however, that you will obtain some degree of success from this plan from every person with whom you come in contact, the degree of success depending entirely upon the degree of Volic Force of the other person, as compared with you own. You will understand this well after a few trials. Do not hesitate in commencing to practice this form of mental influence at once. You will improve by practice, and will grasp the theory better from having put it into practice. Remember the boy not being able to swim until he believed he could, and tried. You should of course use Volation in connection with the power of suggestion as explained in preceding lessons. You will be able to concentrate your powers of command by observing the exercises given in the lesson on Concentration. In other lessons, I will explain why these occult powers should not be used for any evil purposes or in working harm to anyone, but I think it well, at this point to caution students against any misuse of this power. Such practices, besides being wrong morally, will result to the disadvantage of the practitioner, and if persisted in, will wreck his prospects in the end. He may be successful temporarily but the result in the end will be disastrous. There are good occult reasons for this, and I hope that my warnings will be heeded by anyone reading this course. There is no harm in using this knowledge and information toward promoting your legitimate business interests and your welfare, providing always that no harm is inflicted on the person influenced. You may influence a man to deal with you, and if you treat him fairly, you are making no misuse of your powers. But, on the other hand, if you should influence a man for the purpose of swindling or cheating him or doing him other harm, you commit a great working for which you will some day suffer in proportion to the wrong perpetrated. I am not speaking of punishment in a future life, but right here in this world. "As ye sow so shall reap," holds well in this case. There is very little likelihood of your misusing your powers of Volation, for when you attain them fully; you will instinctively recoil from the idea of working evil by means of your newfound strength. There are, however, a few men in the world, who, like Satan, use their mighty power for evil, but, like Satan, these men are doomed to extreme misery and unhappiness. They are like fallen gods.
The best exercise for the development of Volation is of course Concentration, but it may be interesting to the student to be able to "try his hand" on a few simple tests so as to gain confidence in himself. I append a few exercises for this purpose. Many others will readily occur to the student. Try only easy tests at first, and then gradually work up to more difficult feats. Practice makes perfect.
Let me say here that when you "will" anything, do not get the notion that you must frown or clinch your fists or anything of that sort. The force is attained by a calm, undisturbed attitude, the "willing" being done in the form of a clam, earnest demand, and the thought that what you expect will occur. The