Visualizing Exercise

Law of Attraction Classics: Dynamic Thought - Greatest Power of All Powers - HT Hamblin

"Thoughts," said Prentice Mulford, "are things." "Thoughts," says T. Sharper Knowlson, "so far from being mere brain flashes, are, judging solely from their effects, real entities, apparently composed of spiritual substance, the nature of which is outside the range of discovery of our present faculties." "Thought," says Levy, "is not an event which dies in a world ethereal, supersensible, imperceptible; it has continually its likeness and repercussion in our organism." "Thought is not," says Ralph Waldo Trine, "as is many times supposed, a mere indefinite abstraction, or something of a like nature. It is, on the contrary, a vital, living force, the most vital, subtle and irresistible force in the Universe."

In our very laboratory experiments we are demonstrating the great fact that thoughts are forces. They have form, and quality, and substance, and power, and we are beginning to find that there is what we may term a science of thought.

We are beginning to find also that through the instrumentality of our thought forces we have creative power in reality. Many more authorities could be quoted, but these will suffice to show that thoughts are just as much "things" as town halls or mountains are "things." It is a great mistake to imagine that because you can see a thing with your physical eyes, feel it with your hands, or hit it with a hammer, that it is for that reason more real than something you can neither see nor feel. On the contrary the "Unseen" is vastly more powerful, lasting and forceful than anything you can see with your physical eyes. What you see with your eyes is only the effect of greater causes which are invisible.

"Everything exists in the unseen before it is manifested in the seen, and in this sense it is true that the unseen things are real, while the things that are seen are the unreal. The unseen things are cause; the seen things are effect. The unseen things are eternal; the seen things are the changing, the transient."

Thoughts then are "entities," are "things," are "forces," are vital subtle "powers." They, like everything else, and every other force in the universe, are subject to law. This law is the Law of Attraction.

Whatever thoughts you think will attract to you thoughts of a similar nature. According as you create good or bad thoughts, so do you determine whether your life shall be blessed or cursed. If you think a good thought and dwell upon it, and, as it were, nourish it with your meditations, it will not only bless and enrich your life, but will attract hosts of other thoughts of equal power and beauty, which will hasten to minister to you. Thus, if you think "Success" thoughts, and affirm them, and cling to them in the face of apparent defeat and failure, you will attract to yourself such a wave of powerful, upbuilding and inspiring thoughts that you will be lifted right over your difficulty and carried, as by invisible forces, along the path of accomplishment.

On the other hand, it is equally true that if you think a weak thought, a low thought, a vile thought, or a thought of failure, there will be attracted to you a host of thoughts of like character, which by their nature will curse you and drag you down. "Unto him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath" is simply the working of the Law of Attraction. Think "Success" and thousands of invisible forces will fly to your aid. Think "failure" and innumerable forces will help to make your failure even more complete.

If thought is the "greatest power of all powers," "the most vital, subtle and irresistible force in the universe," and if your thoughts have the power to attract other thoughts of a like character, then the choice of your thoughts is the 'nose important act of your life.

By choosing your thoughts you choose either success or failure, happiness or misery, health or disease, hope or despair.

Law of Attraction Classics: Dynamic Thought - The Law that Holds All Matter Together - H.T. Hamblin

A man is a small individualized part of the Universal Mind, alike in essence but infinitely less in degree. Just as the Universal Mind finds expression through all the Universe, so does man when awake to his own interior powers, express himself by the power of his thought, through his body, his work, his circumstances and his life.

Thus far can he go and no farther. In himself he is an epitome of the Universe, outside of the miniature Universe he has no jurisdiction. By this I mean that man has the power to do what he likes with his own life, but he has no right to dominate other people or to interfere with their lives.

I mention this because there is a pernicious practice being taught today. It is known as "mind domination." People are being taught that by using what is called the "hypnotic gaze," by telepathy and hetero-suggestion they can dominate other people. It is quite true; it can be done and is being done. This is precisely the same method as that practiced by certain criminals in America. By this method people are being deprived of money and property--they sign documents they do not wish to sign, simply because they are compelled to do so by "mind domination."

No one is to be safe from these misguided people. While you sit in a public room or theater somebody may be behind you concentrating his "hypnotic gaze" upon the back of your neck. When you receive a visit from a traveling salesman he may be working some of his mind dominating black art upon you in order to coerce you into acting against your better judgment, simply and solely that he may reap a temporary benefit.

This sort of thing is not only being practiced, but is being taught, both in this country and America.

I mention this in order to put you on your guard against such practices; first, so that you can avoid being hypnotized by these people, and second, that you should never under any circumstances use your mind forces in order to dominate other people. Whoever prostitutes his mental powers in this way is hurrying to disaster. To so misuse the tremendous powers of the mind is to destroy oneself, body and soul.

All who sink to these practices are deliberately creating for themselves an inferno of trouble. The powers of the mind are like electricity; for the latter, if used according to certain laws, produces beneficial results; if used in opposition to these laws, it burns, maims, and destroys. So it is with the powers of the Mind, used aright they lead to success, happiness and all accomplishment; if used wrongly they grind to powder.

Both Hypnotism and Mind Domination are being so largely used and taught that it is advisable to always work against them. These are really a revival of the "Black Magic" of bygone days. Sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, thaumaturgy, they are all the practice of the same power, and all who use them bring destruction upon their own heads. Sorcery, black magic, or hypnotism, or whatever you like to call it, is accomplished by the lower mind of man.

The higher self, the perfect mental or spiritual creature, the real Ego, has nothing to do with it. This is why hypnotic healing is always harmful. If a person is healed by hypnotic suggestion in about three months' time either the same disease will reappear, or a new and worse disease will manifest itself. But healing done by the higher perfect mind, that is one with, and forms part of, the Universal Infinite Mind, that is in turn one and part of the Infinite Principle of Good, such healing is permanent and can have no relapse.

By this we see that the higher mind is infinitely more powerful than the lower. Therefore Hypnotism and Mind Domination can be overcome and guarded against by the use of the higher Mental Powers.

To work against Hypnotism, it is necessary not only to live as much as possible in the atmosphere of your perfect World of Mind, but also to deny the power of Hypnotism to affirm the perfect power of the perfect Universal Mind of which you, your higher self, form a part. If you work in this way you will make yourself proof against all Hypnotism, Sorcery, Witchcraft and Malpractice of every kind.

The Law which keeps the Universe running so smoothly is the law of Attraction. It is this law that brought it together; it is this law that keeps it from falling apart.

Those who practice Mind domination are acting in direct opposition to this immutable law. They are trying to do by force that which should be accomplished by attraction, therefore they are encompassing their own mental, moral and physical disintegration.

All the Universe, in all its planes, is ruled by this law; in the Spiritual World it is called the Law of Love; in the Mental World the Law of Attraction; in the Material World it is known as the Law of Affinity. They all mean the same--in essence they are the same.

Just as the electrons are called together in the invisible aether, thus to form an atom so, in turn, are atoms brought together, and by vibrating at different rates of speed, create what we call form. Thus is matter (so-called) built up into all the beautiful forms we see, simply by the Law of Attraction.

It is this law that holds all matter together. If it failed, rocks would fly asunder and all things would disintegrate, because the power that attracted one atom to another would have ceased to operate.

It is the same in the Mental World, everything works according to this same law. It is because "like creates like" and "like attracts like" that it is possible to revolutionize our lives by the power of thought.

Law of Attraction Classics: Dynamic Thought - The Most Potent Force We Know - H.T.Hamblin

TO the ordinary "man in the street" a thought is an "airy nothing "--a mere flash in the consciousness--it comes, it goes, and there is an end to it. To the student of Mind however, thought is known to be the power that is greater than any other power--a force that controls all other forces. An American writer speaking of Universal Mind says:

"It thinks, and Suns spring into shape; It wills, and Worlds disintegrate; It loves and Souls are born."

It will thus be seen that thought is the origin of the visible Universe. All that we see around us is the result of thought. We may even go further, and say that all the invisible forces, which keep the wonderful machinery of the Universe working perfectly and smoothly, are but the thought-energies of the same Universal Mind.

As in the macrocosm so is it in the microcosm; the subliminal mind of man is the same in essence as the Universal Mind of the Universe; the difference is not one of kind but of degree.

In our world, our circumstances, our life, our bodies, we stand supreme, or rather we have within us the power, which properly directed, can make us supreme. This power is "Thought." Thought is so subtle, so elusive, that it has by the majority of men, been considered impossible of control, but the greatest philosophers, seers and leaders in the World's history have known differently.

All that they achieved, they accomplished through the power of thought; and this was possible because they had learned the art of thought control.

"What man has done, man can do." This was never so true as it is today, because the science of Mind is now being spread abroad, and that it is possible for quite ordinary people to learn how to control their thoughts, is now known to be a scientific possibility.

Dr. Abrams in his epoch-making book entitled "New Concepts in Diagnosis and Treatment; The Practical Application of the Electrotonic Theory in the Interpretation and Treatment of Disease," describes how he has discovered the energy of thought and measured it by means of an instrument called the Bio-dynamometer.

With one subject in a room with closed doors, and another subject, in another room, forty or more feet away, it was found that one subject could affect the other by a definite exercise of thought. Anger and emotion yielded an energy which produced an effect at a distance of eighty feet.

Dr. Abrams also found that there arts three great energy centers in the human body, the right and left side of the brain, called by him the right and left psychomotor areas; and the finger tips. When the brain is actively engaged in thought there is an increase in the discharge of energy from the psychomotor areas, and also from the finger tips.

It was also found that ordinary people discharged energy from one psychomotor area only, but a great thinker discharged energy from both. The amount of energy discharged in this way can be gauged by the fact that Edward Markham, the poet, discharged energy from his left psychomotor area alone equal to a resistance of sixty ohms.

As the energy discharged from a giant magnet with a lifting capacity of 400 lbs. to the square inch is only thirty-two ohms, we can form some idea of the immense power of thought which man possesses.

The flow of energy from the finger tips is also suggestive. In all ages the laying on of hands has been recognized as a healing act, now it is proved by scientific means to have been simply the power or energy of thought.

You will therefore see that "thought" so far from being "an airy nothing" or a mere flash in the consciousness is a wonderful and potent force, the most wonderful and potent force of which we know.

Law of Attraction Classics: Dynamic Thought - Visualizing Exercise -

Make denials and affirmations to suit your particular needs. Whatever you desire to do, affirm beforehand that you can do it, and that you will do it when the time for doing comes. Whatever disagreeable or difficult duty lies before you, deny failure, and affirm beforehand that you can and will do it, that already in your Mental World it is accomplished; then visualize yourself doing the thing calmly and without effort. Mentally see yourself dealing with a difficult or unpleasant matter, with calm dignity and ease. When the time for action arrives you will succeed.

Concentrate your whole attention upon the meditations. If you find your thoughts wandering through lack of concentrative power make use of the following denial and affirmation. First of all cleanse the mind by the denial of evil and calm and strengthen it by the affirmation of good. You have by so doing raised yourself into your perfect Mental World, breathing the pure air of perfect mental freedom. Now say, "Mind wandering cannot affect me. I am a perfect MIND, part of the great Universal Mind that is everywhere and works in and through everything. Therefore my mental powers are perfect. It was a mistake that made me think I could not concentrate; it was simply a delusion of the physical senses. Now I know that this could never be, because I am a perfect Mind gifted with God-like powers." Now affirm as follows: "Now I know that I can concentrate on any subject I please. My potential powers are infinite, I have only to develop them, I have only to 'try' and I must succeed." Working in this way you will develop tremendous powers of Concentration.

I send out my thoughts to all mankind and say: "Dear everybody, I love you." Like the beams of a searchlight my mental vision sweeps over all the continents and islands of the world, and visualizes all peoples, sending out to them a great beam of Love and Blessedness. Then it takes in all sky and sun and earth and sea, and the sweet breath of heaven. It embraces all animals and flowers and loveliness, it sweeps through a thousand sunsets and a million dew-washed fragrant dawns back to the one Source of all life--again affirming, "I love you, I love you." Then into my heart flows a great wave of divinest peace, a great inrush of the accumulated love-force of the invisible Universe, I become submerged in a sea of Infinite Blessedness. Thus in blessing others do I help to make the world a little better, and in return I am doubly blessed.

For this week's visualizing exercise take six small articles and examine them very carefully one at a time. For instance, if one article is a lead pencil, look at it and see in what respects it differs from other lead pencils. You notice its color; its shape, either round, hexagon or oval; its point, well sharpened or otherwise; the maker's name and trade-mark; what kind of lead, either BB, B or JIB; the name of the pencil itself; its condition, scratches on the surface of the polish; all these and many other points should be minutely noticed. Examine each article in turn and just as minutely. When you have examined them all, shut your eyes and visualize each article, and see every point and peculiarity in your mind's eye, just as you did with your physical sight. Change the articles for new ones from day to day.

If you lack knowledge of a certain subject and desire to gain this knowledge, then tell your subliminal mind what it is that you require; it will then either supply direct the knowledge that you need or bring to your notice the very book or course of lessons that you require. Also in solving your problems your subliminal mind may bring a sentence to your notice, which, directly you read it, tells you that it is the answer to your riddle. The more you can quieten the senses and the objective mind and rely upon your subliminal mind the greater will be your wisdom and understanding.

In the letter I have sent you this week I speak of visualizing and affirming the success that you desire to demonstrate, fn the same way hold the picture of perfect health ever before your mind. Let it be a constant inspiration and source of radiant joy.

Law of Attraction Classics: Practical Mental Influence - Affected by Thought

the phenomena of Mental Influence bears a striking analogy to that of the electrical or magnetic energy. Not only is this so in the phase of wave motion and transmission, but also in the phase of induction, as we shall see presently.

In physical science the term Induction is used to indicate that quality in a manifestation of energy which tends to reproduce in a second object the vibrations manifesting in the first object, without direct contact between the two bodies. A magnet will induce magnetism in another object removed from its space. An electrified object will tend to produce similar vibrations in another object by induction, over great spaces.

Heat waves travel along the ether, and tend to produce heat vibrations in objects far removed, notably in the case of the sun and the earth. Even sound waves will affect other objects in this way, as in the well-known instance of the glass or vase "singing" in response to the musical note sounded afar off. In fact, we see and hear by processes similar to those described.

And in this same manner that Thought-Waves carry the vibrations of the mind sending them forth to great distances, or lesser ones, tending to set up similar vibrations in the middle of other persons within their field force.

Thus a person feeling a strong degree of anger will pour forth waves of that degree of mental vibration, which, coming in contact with the brains of other persons, tend to set up a similar feelings or emotions and thus cause the person to "feel cross" or "peevish" or even to manifest a similar angry state of mind. We all know how easily a fight is started by a very angry person in a room sending forth violent vibrations.

One has but to remember the instances of mob violence to see how easily the "contagion of hate and anger" spread among people who allow themselves to be influenced. And not only is this true of undesirable emotions and feelings, but also of desirable ones. The influence of a good man who happens to be strong mentally spreads among those around him, influencing in them for good.

Orators, actors, preachers and teachers send forth strong within toll currents, which tend to produce mental conditions on the part of their hearers corresponding to the feeling held by the mind of the speaker. When you remember how this speaker swayed your feelings, or how that actor made you weep with pity, shiver with fear, or laugh with joy, you will see how Mental induction acts.

But not only is this true when we are in the actual presence of the person sending out the Thought-Waves, but it is equally true that we are influenced by persons far removed from us in space, often without their knowledge or intent, although sometimes (in the case of one who understands the principal most) with full knowledge and intent.

Law of Attraction Classics: Practical Mental Influence - Attracting Thought-Waves -

Then again there is another feature of the case that we must not lose sight of, and that is the Attraction between minds, by virtue of which one draws to himself the Thought-Waves of others whose thoughts are in accord with his own.

The contrary is true, for there is Repulsion between the minds of persons and the Thought-Waves of others whose thoughts are not in accord with his own.

The contrary is true, for there is Repulsions between the minds of persons and the Thought-Waves of others antagonistic to their thoughts. To quote a well-worn and much-used expression to illustrate this truth, "Like attracts Like," and "Birds of a Feather flock together."

There is ever in operation this marvelous law of Attraction and Repulsion of Mental Energy - Persons allowing their thoughts to run along certain lines, and permitting the feelings to be expressed in certain ways, draw to themselves the Thought-Waves and mental influences of others keyed to the same mental key-note. And likewise they repel the waves and influences of an opposing nature.

This is an important fact to remember in one's everyday life. Good attracts Good and repels Evil. Evil attracts Evil and repels Good. The predominant Mental Attitude serves to attract similar influences and to repel the opposing ones. Therefore watch carefully the character and nature of your thoughts - cultivate the desirable ones and repress the undesirable ones. Verily "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Some Thought-Waves sent forth with but little strength travel slowly and do not proceed very far from their place of emanation, but creep along like some smoke or fog, lazily and yielding. Other thoughts charged with a greater intensity of desire or will, dart forth vigorously like an electric spark, and often travel great distances.

The weak Thought-Waves do not last a very long time, but fade away or become neutralized or dissipated by stronger, forces. But the strong thoughts persist for a long time, retaining much of their vitality and energy.

In the same manner the Thought-Waves of a person will continue to vibrate around him wherever he goes, and those coming in contact with him will be impressed by the character of his vibrations in this way. Some men send forth gloomy vibrations in this way. Some men send forth gloomy vibrations, which you feel when you come in contact with them.

Others radiate good-cheer, courage and happiness, which conditions are induced in those with whom they come in contact. Many people will manifest these qualities so strongly that one can notice the effect the moment such persons enter a room. They carry their atmosphere with them, and the same is induced in the minds of others around them.

In the same way some people carry with them vibrations of Will-Power and Masterfulness that beat upon the minds of others, making them feel the power of such persons and conquering their own will-power and changing their desires.

Others manifest a strong power of Fascination or Attraction, in a similar manner which tends to draw others to them and to their desires and wishes. Not only does this principle operate in the phase of general mental atmospheres, but also in the phase of direct personal influence.

All forms of Mental influence operate along the lines of Mental induction, as herein described. The principle is the same in all cases and instances, although the manner of operation varies according to the particular phase of the phenomena manifested. Remember this as we proceed, and you will be able to understand the subject much better.

Law of Attraction Classics: Practical Mental Influence - Attraction Between Minds -

The ether with which space is filled carries these Thought-Waves in all directions, and the surface of the earth, particularly in the densely occupied portions, is filled with these waves.

These waves, carrying the mental vibrations, coming in contact with each other, tend to set up combinations on one hand, or else neutralize each other on the other hand. That is to say, if two sets of waves of a similar nature meet there is likely to be a combination formed between them just as between two chemicals having an affinity for each other. In this way the "mental atmosphere" of places, towns, houses, etc., is formed.

On the other hand if currents of opposing vibrations came in contact with each other, there will be manifested a conflict between the two, in which each will lose in proportion to its weakness, and the result will be either a neutralization of both or else a combination having vibrations of an average rate.

For instance, if two currents of mental energy meet, one being a thought of Love and the other Hate, they will neutralize each other if they are equal, or if one is stronger than the other, it will persist but robbed of much of its strength. If it were not for this neutralizing effect we would be largely at the mercy of stray currents of thought. Nature protects us in this way, and also by rendering us immune to a considerable extent.

But nevertheless we are affected by these waves to a considerable extent, unless we have learned to throw them off by knowledge of the laws and an enforcement of them by practice. We all know how great waves of feeling spread over the town, city or country, sweeping people off their balance.

Great waves of political enthusiasm, or War spirits, or prejudice for or against certain people, or groups of people, sweep over places and cause men to act in a manner that they will afterward regret when they come to themselves and consider their acts in cold blood.
Demagogues will sway them or magnetic leaders who wish to gain their votes or patronage; and they will be led into acts of mob violence, or similar atrocities, by yielding to these waves of "contagious" thought. On the other hand we all know how great waves of religious feeling sweep over a community upon the occasion of some great "revival" excitement or fervor.

The effect of these Thought-Waves, so far as the power of induction is concerned, of course depends very materially upon the strength of the thought or feeling being manifested in the mind sending them forth.

The majority of persons put but little force into the mental manifestations, but here and there is to be found a thinker whose Thought-Waves are practically "a stream of living will" and which of course have a very strong inductive effect upon the minds of others with whom the waves come in contact.

But it likewise follows that a number of persons thinking along the same lines will produce a great volume of power by a combination of their thought currents into great streams of mental force.

Then again there is another feature of the case that we must not lose sight of, and that is the Attraction between minds, by virtue of which one draws to himself the Thought-Waves of others whose thoughts are in accord with his own.

The contrary is true, for there is Repulsion between the minds of persons and the Thought-Waves of others whose thoughts are not in accord with his own. The contrary is true, for there is Repulsions between the minds of persons and the Thought-Waves of others antagonistic to their thoughts.

To quote a well-worn and much-used expression to illustrate this truth, "Like attracts Like," and "Birds of a Feather flock together." There is ever in operation this marvelous law of Attraction and Repulsion of Mental Energy- Persons allowing their thoughts to run along certain lines, and permitting the feelings to be expressed in certain ways, draw to themselves the Thought-Waves and mental influences of others keyed to the same mental key-note.

And likewise they repel the waves and influences of an opposing nature. This is an important fact to remember in one's everyday life. Good attracts Good and repels Evil. Evil attracts Evil and repels Good. The predominant Mental Attitude serves to attract similar influences and to repel the opposing ones. Therefore watch carefully the character and nature of your thoughts - cultivate the desirable ones and repress the undesirable ones. Verily "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Law of Attraction Classics: Suggestion is Power (Part 1)

Continued from Part I...

By thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak, create a nucleus, which is no sooner created than it begins to exercise an attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like character with its own, and if this process is allowed to go on undisturbed, it will continue until an external form corresponding to the nature of the nucleus comes out into manifestation on the plane of the objective and relative.

This is the universal method of Nature on every plane.

Some of the most advanced thinkers in modern physical science, in the endeavor to probe the great mystery of the first origin of the world, have postulated the formation of what they call "vortex rings" formed from an infinitely fine primordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring be once formed on the minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would be moving in pure ether and subject to no friction, it must according to all known laws of physics be indestructible and its motion perpetual.

Let two such rings approach each other, and by the _Law of Attraction_, they would coalesce into a whole, and so on until manifested matter as we apprehend it with our external senses, is at last formed. Of course no one has ever seen these rings with the physical eye. They are one of those abstractions, which result if we follow out the observed law of physics and the unavoidable sequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences.

We cannot account for the things that we can see unless we assume the existence of other things, which we cannot; and the "vortex theory" is one of these assumptions.

This theory has not been put forward by mental scientists but by purely physical scientists as the ultimate conclusion to which their researches have led them, and this conclusion is that all the innumerable forms of Nature have their origin in the infinitely minute nucleus of the vortex ring, by whatever means the vortex ring may have received its initial impulse, a question with which physical science, as such, is not concerned.

As the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world, so does biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also has its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established, operates as a center of attraction for the formation of all those physical organs of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of embryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the whole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same principle at work throughout the vegetable world.

All branches of physical science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form stands out as an accomplished fact.

Now if this were the universal method of Nature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its operation at a stage further back than the formation of the material nucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the _Law of Attraction_ on the material plane; but what is the force which originates the material nucleus?

Let a recent work on physical science give us the answer; "In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call Mind or Will." The quotation is from a course of lectures on " Waves in Water, Air and Ether," delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J. A. Fleming.

Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the originating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making a logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind, but are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science, when we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only action of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts we create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the nucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until the finished work is manifested on the external plane.

This is according to the strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we may therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought of anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus or center of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual externalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.

Law of Attraction Classics: Suggestion Is Power - Sports

This subtle force of the repeated suggestion overcomes our reason, acting directly on our emotions and our feelings, finally penetrating to the very depths of our subconscious minds. This is the basic principle of all successful advertising---the continued and repeated suggestion that first makes you believe, after which you are eager to buy. In recent years we have enjoyed a vitamin spree.

For centuries tomatoes were looked upon as poisonous. People dared not eat them until some fearless person tried them and lived. Today millions of people eat tomatoes, not knowing that they were considered unfit for human consumption. Conversely, the lowly spinach nearly went into the garbage pail after the United States Government declared that it did not contain the food values attributed to it for decades. Millions believed this and refused to honor Popeye's favorite dish any longer.

Clearly, the founders of all great religious movements knew much about the power of the repeated suggestion and gained far-reaching results with it. Religious teachings have been hammered into us from birth, into our mothers and fathers before us and into their parents and their parents before them.

There's certainly white magic in that kind of believing.

Such statements as "What we don't know won't hurt us" and 'Ignorance is bliss" take on greater significance when you realize that only the things you become conscious of can harm or bother you. We have all heard the story of the man who didn't know it couldn't be done and went ahead and did it.

Psychologists tell us that as babies we have only two fears: the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. All of our other fears are passed on to us or develop as a result of our experiences; they come from what we are taught or what we hear and see.

I like to think of men and women as staunch oak trees that can stand firm amid the many crosscurrents of thought that whirl around them. But far too many people are like saplings that, swayed by every little breeze, ultimately grow in the direction of some strong wind of thought that blows against them.

The Bible is filled with examples of the power of thought and suggestion. Read Genesis, Chapter 30, verses 36 to 43, and you'll learn that even Jacob knew their power. The Bible tells how he developed spotted and speckled cattle, sheep, and goats by placing rods from trees, partially stripping them of their bark so they would appear spotted and marked, in the watering troughs where the animals came to drink. As you may have guessed, the flocks conceived before the spotted rods and brought forth cattle, "ring-straked, speckled, and spotted." (And incidentally, Jacob waxed exceedingly rich.)

Moses, too, was a master at suggestion. For forty years he used it on the Israelites, and it took them to the promised land of milk and honey. David, following the suggestive forces operating on him, slew the mighty, heavily armed Goliath with a pebble from a slingshot.

Joan of Arc, the frail little Maid of OrlÚans, heard voices and under their suggestive influences became imbued with the idea that she had a mission to save France. She was able to transmit her indomitable spirit to the hearts of her soldiers and she defeated the superior forces of the English at OrlÚans.

William James, father of modern psychology in America, declared that often our faith in advance of a doubtful undertaking is the only thing that can assure its successful conclusion. Man's faith, according to James, acts on the powers above him as a claim and creates its own verification. In other words, the thought becomes literally father to the fact.

For further illumination of faith and its power, I suggest that you read the General Epistle of James in the New Testament.

Actually everyone who has ever witnessed a football or baseball game has seen this power of suggestion at work. Knute Rockne, the famous coach at Notre Dame, knew the value of suggestion and used it repeatedly, but always suited his method of applying it to the temperament of the individual team.

On one Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame was playing in a particularly grueling game, and at the end of the first half was trailing badly. The players were in their dressing room nervously awaiting Rockne's arrival. Finally the door opened, and Rockne came in slowly. His eyes swept inquiringly over the squad---"Oh, excuse me, I made a mistake. I thought these were the quarters of the Notre Dame team." The door closed, and Rockne was gone.

Puzzled and then stung with fury, the team went out for the second half---and won the game.

Other writers, too, have explained the psychological methods Rockne used and have told how Fielding Yost of Michigan, Dan McGuin of Vanderbilt, Herbert Crisler of Princeton, and dozens of others used the "magic" of suggestion to arouse their teams to great emotional heights.

Before the Rose Bowl game of 1934, the "wise" tipsters rated the Columbia team as underdogs. They hadn't counted on Coach Lou Little and his stirring talks to his players day after day. When the whistle blew for the end of the game, the Columbia men were the top dogs over the "superior" Stanford team.

In 1935, Gonzaga University beat powerful Washington State 13 to 6 in one of the biggest upset games ever seen in the West. Gonzaga was a non-conference team, while the Washington State team, because of its great record, was thought to be unbeatable. Newspapers at the time reported assistant coach Sam Dagley as having declared that Gonzaga played inspired football.

He revealed that for half an hour before the game, Coach Mike Pecarovich played "over and over" a phonograph record of one of Rockne's most rousing pep talks.

Years ago, Mickey Cochrane of the Detroit Tigers literally drove a second-division-minded group of baseball players to the top of the American League by using the power of the repeated suggestion. I quote from a newspaper dispatch: "Day after day, through the hot, hard grind, [Cochrane] preached the gospel of victory, impressing on the Tigers the 'continued thought' that the team which wins must go forward."

You see the same force actively at work in the fluctuations of the stock market. Unfavorable news immediately depresses prices, while favorable news raises them. The intrinsic values of stocks are not changed, but there is an immediate change in the thinking of the market operators, which is reflected at once in the minds of the holders. Not what will actually happen, but what security holders believe will happen causes them to buy or sell.

In the Depression years---and there may be years like them in the future---we saw this same suggestive force working overtime. Day after day we heard expressions such as, "Times are hard," "Business is poor," "The banks are failing," "Prosperity hasn't a chance," and wild stories about business failures on every hand, until they became the national chant.

Millions believed that prosperous days would never return. Hundreds, yes thousands, of strong-willed men go down under the constant hammering, the continuous tap-tapping of the same fearful thoughts. Money, always sensitive, runs to cover when fear suggestions begin to circulate, and business failures and unemployment quickly follow.

We hear thousands of stories of bank failures, huge concerns going to the wall, etc., and people readily believe them and act accordingly.

There will never be another business depression if people generally realize that their own fearful thoughts literally create hard times. They think hard times, and hard times follow. So it is with wars. When peoples of the world stop thinking of depressions and wars, they will become non- existent, for nothing comes into our economic sphere unless we first create it with our emotional thinking.

Law of Attraction Classics: The Link Between Creation and Desire

(Excerpted from "Secrets to the _Law of Attraction_" and "The Complete Thomas Troward Collection")

The fact that creation exists proves that the Universal Mind thinks differently, and we have only to look around to see that the true ideal is the exercise of creative power. Hence, so far from desire being a thing to be annihilated, it is the very root of every conceivable mode of Life. Without it Life could not be. Every form of expression implies the selection of all that goes to make up that form, and the passing-by of whatever is not required for that purpose; hence a desire for that which is selected in preference to what is laid aside. And this selective desire is none other than the universal _Law of Attraction_.

Whether this law acts as the chemical affinity of apparently unconscious atoms, or in the instinctive, if unreasoned, attractions of the vegetable and animal worlds, it is still the principle of selective affinity; and it continues to be the same when it passes on into the higher kingdoms which are ruled by reason and conscious purpose. The modes of activity in each of these kingdoms are dictated by the nature of the kingdom; but the activity itself always results from the preference of a certain subject for a certain object, to the exclusion of all others; and all action consists in the reciprocal movement of the two towards each other in obedience to the law of their affinity.

When this takes place in the kingdom of conscious individuality, the affinities exhibit themselves as mental action; but the principle of selection prevails without exception throughout the universe. In the conscious mind this attraction towards its affinity becomes desire; the desire to create some condition of things better than that now existing. Our want of knowledge may cause us to make mistakes as to what this better thing really is, and so in seeking to carry out our desire we may give it a wrong direction; but the fault is not in the desire itself, but in our mistaken notion of what it that it requires for its satisfaction. Hence unrest and dissatisfaction until its true affinity is found; but, as soon as this is discovered, the _Law of Attraction_ at once asserts itself and produces that better condition, the dream of which first gave direction to our thoughts.

Thus it is eternally true that desire is the cause of all feeling and all action; in other words, of all Life. The whole livingness of Life consists in receiving or in radiating forth the vibrations produced by the _Law of Attraction_; and in the kingdom of mind these vibrations necessarily become conscious out-reachings of the mind in the direction in which it feels attraction; that is to say, they become desires. Desire is therefore the mind seeking to manifest itself in some form which as yet exists only in its thought. It is the principle of creation, whether the thing created be a world or a wooden spoon; both have their origin in the desire to bring something into existence which does not yet exist. Whatever may be the scale on which we exercise our creative ability, the motive power must always be desire.

Desire is the force behind all things; it is the moving principle of the universe and the innermost center of all Life. Hence, to take the negation of desire for our primal principle is to endeavor to stamp out Life itself; but what we have to do is to acquire the requisite knowledge by which to guide our desires to their true objects of satisfaction. To do this is the whole end of knowledge; and any knowledge applied otherwise is only a partial knowledge, which, having failed in its purpose, is nothing but ignorance. Desire is thus the sum-total of the livingness of Life, for it is that in which all movement originates, whether on the physical level or the spiritual. In a word, desire is the creative power, and must be carefully guarded, trained, and directed accordingly; but thus to seek to develop it to the highest perfection is the very opposite of trying to kill it outright.

And desire has fulfillment for its correlative. The desire and its fulfillment are bound together as cause and effect; and when we realize the law of their sequence, we shall be more than ever impressed with the supreme importance of Desire as the great center of Life.