Christian Larson – How Great Men Succeed

 

THERE are many essentials to a real permanent success, but there is one essential without which all the others become practically valueless. The man who succeeds is invariably impelled to press on and on by something within him that tells him he can. He may have no name for this something, nor may he give to its presence special attention. Nevertheless, he knows it is there, and it gives him an inner determination that nothing in the world can conquer or destroy. He is inwardly convinced that he will succeed; and this conviction is so powerful and so deeply rooted in the very foundation of his being that it refuses absolutely to be disturbed by any circumstance whatever. In the spirit of this conviction he proceeds with his eye single upon the goal in view, gaining ground steadily and demonstrating every day, through actual results, that his conviction is based upon fact.

But where does this conviction come from? Where do great minds receive this inner determination, the power of which is greater than any obstacle or adversity that can possibly be met in human life? And can anyone get possession of this interior something that simply must press on to victory, no matter what the circumstances may be?

These are questions of vital importance to every mind that longs for greater things, and it is the aim of the following pages to answer them in a manner that will be fully intelligible to all, and thoroughly satisfactory to the most exact.

To attain great success, we must inwardly feel that we can, and we must be inspired by a determination that is not only irresistible, but that is as deep as the fathomless depths of life itself. He can who thinks he can. He who thinks he can will use effectively all his present power and will steadily increase the capacity of that power. He who doubts his power, however, will fail to use it. And herein we discover one of the first causes of failure, as well as one of the greatest laws in achievement.

The less confidence you have in yourself, the less of yourself you will apply in action; while the more confidence you have in yourself, the more of yourself, and all of the powers and faculties you possess, you will use in whatever work you may be engaged.

Some minds naturally feel that they can, and there is a reason why. When we learn why they have this confidence, we may gain the same confidence; and success will come to us as surely as the rays of the rising sun. But other minds of equal, or even greater, ability are confused and depressed with so much doubt that not a single faculty gives expression to more than a fraction of its inherent power. In consequence, they fail where lesser minds reap rich rewards, thus proving conclusively that ability is not the only essential. There must be something back of ability that causes the full power of ability to be pushed to the front. All great men have this something and that is why they succeed; and we must also add that it is the possession of this something that makes them great, though this something is not beyond the many. It can be acquired by all normal minds; and to this rule there is no exception whatever.

Men who accomplish great things do not always have exceptional ability, but there is a power within them that turns all of their ability to the very best account. All that is in them is pushed up, so to speak, to the highest point of action and efficiency. Nothing in their nature is lost. Everything is put to work, and everything works effectively towards the great goal in view.

To possess exceptional ability, however, means great gain, providing the power to apply all of that ability is also present, and such ability not only can be developed, but should be developed. The fact, therefore, that a man does not possess exceptional ability at the present time need not prevent him from attaining exceptional success. By pushing to the front what ability he does possess, he can realize marked success at once, and that something that causes all ability to be pushed to the front can be gained by any mind without delay. Anyone can get that something now and begin a successful life now.

When a man thinks he can he awakens in his mind the power that can; and he thinks that he can because he is conscious of the power that can; that is, he inwardly feels the existence of that power. When you feel that you have the power to do what you wish to do, you cannot possibly doubt any more, nor can you fail when you proceed to use that power.

But how do successful men get this power, and by what means do they come to feel it so distinctly that they positively know they possess it?

To think that you can when you do not feel that you can is hardly possible, and it is only he who thinks he can succeed that does succeed. The man who does not feel within himself the power that can will doubt, and he who doubts that he can will suppress the power that can. Doubt must be removed before success can be gained, but doubt will not disappear until we inwardly feel that we can; that is, until we can actually feel the possession of all the power that is necessary to do what we have undertaken to do. When we know that we have the power, we know it. We know that we can. We are aware of the necessary power within us and this power is so positively determined to succeed that we find neither rest, peace, nor happiness until we proceed to apply it on the largest possible scale.

That something within that causes the full power of ability to be pushed to the front can be awakened and made active in everybody, because we all have it. This something is not a special gift for the few. It is inherent in every mind and is just as natural as life itself. In fact, it is inseparable from life, but thus far there are only a few who have learned to use it. Some of these were born with a natural aptitude in this direction, while others acquired the essential mental attitude later on, and this we all can do now. All minds are built upon the same principle. All minds possess the same possibilities. What one mind has accomplished, all minds can accomplish, and infinitely more.

We are only at the mere beginning of human attainment. Innumerable worlds in the vast mental domains are yet to be explored and conquered. A few know of their existence, but it remains for the future to discover all the wonderful and marvelous possibilities that these worlds may contain. No person, therefore, need doubt the existence of the extraordinary powers within him. We all have those powers, and to be just to ourselves and to the race, we must proceed to use now as many of those powers as we can understand now.

But the most important power is the power of that something that causes all other powers to become alive with all the force, all the ability and all the capacity that is latent within them.

When a man feels within himself that he can, his confidence in himself will express itself in various ways — depending upon whether his mind be crude or highly organized — but in any event, his efforts will produce success. If his mind be crude, or only partly developed, he may become brazen in his efforts and may not always depend upon legitimate push and enterprise; in fact, he may even employ methods that are questionable. When the power that can is aroused he must give it expression in some manner. He simply must proceed to do something, and whether his methods be crude or dignified he will never fail to reach his goal.

The power that can will work for a season through any channel, but it is only through strictly legitimate channels that it will work profitably in the long run, and produce final good as well as the greatest good. Though this power may bring wealth to captains of industry, whether their methods be sound or not, it is only through highly organized minds, where ability and character combine to the highest degree, that this power can produce real success. And it is real success, the working out of a great purpose, and the realization of the results expected through the culmination of that purpose, that all men and women of genuine ambition have in view. Therefore, we shall give no special attention to the misuse of any power or faculty in the human mind. Our prime object will be to learn how every element, force and faculty in our possession can be turned to good account. We know chat success must inevitably follow.

THE man who succeeds is convinced of the fact that he has the necessary power. He knows his power because he is in mental touch with his power. He not only knows that he has it, but he is in actual possession of it. He knows that he can and he has his hands on the power that can. This is the outer rim of his secret, but within this outer rim we find the real secret. Where did he gain his exceptional power and how did he place himself in mental touch with that power?

The first part of this question is answered by the fact that every mind is not only in possession of an enormous amount of available power, but is also in possession of the capacity to perpetually increase the supply of its own available power. The human mind is not only its own dynamo, but is so constructed that it can increase indefinitely the capacity of this dynamo; or, in other words, the energy generated by the present mental dynamo can be used in building additional mental dynamos. The power of man may, therefore, be increased to any degree desired and for any length of time desired. This statement may at first thought appear to be too strong, but it is based upon the most exact scientific research of modem psychology; besides, actual experience as far as we have gone proves the statement itself.

The second part of this question, how great men enter into mental contact with the power within them and thus become charged with that power, is answered by the one word, faith — a word which few understand. Nevertheless, it is one of the greatest words in existence, and it represents the greatest power in existence, a power through which all things become possible.

To have faith in yourself is to enter into the spirit of your life; that is, into the interior depths of your life, and to enter into the spirit of your life is to enter mentally into all the power that is contained in your life. You thus become conscious of the power that is in you. Your mind is placed in mental contact with this power and you become convinced that you have it Your mind is no longer confined to the shallow life on the surface of your being, but is gaining an actual grasp of all that there is in your entire being. You are no longer dependent upon those weak and limited forces that play upon the surface of existence. You are sounding the vast depths of your life and you are beginning to draw upon the inexhaustible forces of those depths.

The small mind is conscious of weak surface forces only. The great mind is conscious of everything on the surface and of the deep, inexhaustible forces within as well. That is the difference. And it is faith that makes this difference. It is faith that places the mind in conscious touch with those great interior depths.

The average man is in possession of simply the outside of his mental world, but the deepening action of real faith will give any mind full possession of all that is contained in this mental world. And when we know the real nature of faith, we shall understand the reason why. When you become conscious of all the power that is in you, your doubt disappears completely. You know that you can. You have aroused the power that can, and this power will not only give you the capacity to succeed, but it will give you the desire to proceed.

When you feel that you can, your desire to prove that you can becomes so immensely strong that nothing can hold you down. It is then that you feel within yourself the expanding power of a deep interior determination, the force of which becomes stronger and stronger until every element in your being is aroused to the white heat of invincible action. The depths of your being are stirred as never before. You feel the positive action of powers within you that you never knew before. Your whole life has become alive. You have discovered yourself — all that is in yourself, and you know that this combined all is great enough to carry through to a most successful termination, any undertaking that you may have in view. You need no longer try to think that you can. You know that you can. You can feel within yourself the unconquerable determination of the power that can.

Success comes inevitably when you feel that success is in you, and you will feel that success is in you when you arouse to action all that is in you. When you feel the interior action of a larger measure of your life you will want to succeed. You will have the ambition, and you will have the power to realize that ambition. It is this interior feeling that you can that produces ambition. And the fact that you have ambition proves that your mind is in touch with the great domains of life and power within you. Therefore, no mind can have an ambition without also having the power to carry through that ambition.

It is the power that can, ceaselessly clamoring for expression, that makes you ambitious to prove that you can. If that power was not alive within you, you could have no desire to use it. You could not know that it was there and you could feel no ambition. You begin to feel a deep, strong desire to do a thing when the power that you can do it is stirring within you, and not before. The power that produces a desire for success and the power that can promote that success is one and the same power.

This is a fact of extraordinary importance, because it proves that your ambition need not remain a mere ambition. Every ambition can be realized. Every ambition contains the power to reach its own goal. If the necessary power was not there, the ambition could not be there. To be ambitious is to be in touch with the greatest power within you. It is the feeling of this power within you that causes you to feel ambitious, and the moment you begin to feel this power you may begin to gain possession of this power. And by turning that power to practical use, you may proceed successfully to do the very thing you have the ambition to do.

When you feel a strong, continued, persistent desire to do a certain thing, you may rest assured that the power to do it has been aroused within you. You may proceed with a positive assurance of success. But you must apply the full force of the power that lies back of your ambition. This, however, the majority fail to do. Therefore, their ambitions are realized only in part, or not at all. But those who do apply the full force of this power invariably succeed. Their dreams come true; their desires are fulfilled; their ideals are made real. They rise steadily and surely, sometimes rapidly, and finally reach the highest places in the scale of achievement. They accomplish great things in every undertaking where they feel they can succeed and their secret is simple.

To understand this secret is to know how great men succeed, and as the secret is so very simple, anyone can understand it perfectly and apply it successfully.

Briefly stated, these are the facts in the case: First, to have the ambition to do a certain thing is to have the power to do it; second, the ambition to do anything can be developed and, in consequence, the power to do anything can be secured. Those who are not ambitious can become ambitious. Those who do not feel the possession of exceptional power can arouse such a power. Those who are not in mental contact with the subconscious world of mental power within them can enter into that contact and thus begin to draw more and more upon the inexhaustible.
To realize any special ambition, it becomes necessary to apply the full force of the power that is back of that ambition, and this can be done by entering positively into the real and inner life of that power. When you enter positively into the real life of a certain power, you make alive the whole of that power. You place in actual use all the power that is back of or within your ambition, and all the power that is in any ambition is sufficiently strong to bring about the realization of that ambition.

To enter positively into the real life of any power, the one great essential is to have real faith in that power. When you have faith in any power that is in you, your mind enters positively into the real interior world of that power; that is, into its vital essence or living force, and thus arouses into positive action everything that exists in the world of that power. This is the nature of real faith. This is how real faith works. It is evident, therefore, that nothing of importance can be accomplished without real faith.

Real faith is not a positive belief, but a positive action of the mind, a deepening action and an awakening action. Real faith is that positive, determined and penetrating action of the mind that enters into the spirit of a power, into the innermost life of a power and makes alive all that is in that power.

Faith goes into everything within the mind and arouses to action the best that is contained in the mind. Faith stirs up every dormant force that is in you and pushes to the front everything of worth that is in that force. Faith can do this because it is a positive action that acts, not on the surface of your being, but through and through the very life and essence of your being.

WHEN you have faith in yourself you enter mentally into all that is in yourself, and you arouse that all. In consequence, you feel greater power within you and thus become ambitious. If you are not sufficiently ambitious, and do not feel impelled by an irresistible something within you to press on and on, regardless of circumstances, to the very highest goal you can possibly picture, proceed to have more and more faith in yourself. Enter mentally into the spirit of every action in your being, into the very soul of every element or force in your system and try to arouse that greater power that you know to exist in the greater depths of your being. Then your life will no longer be shallow. You will no longer feel ordinary, incompetent and insignificant. You will feel that greatness has been awakened in your life, and the fact that there is extraordinary power in man will become to you a positive conviction. You will feel what all great men feel. You will feel that you can, and you will also feel such a strong desire to prove that you can, that you will find neither peace nor happiness until all your new found powers are put to work in the practical world.

To have faith in a certain faculty is to enter into the innermost world of that faculty and arouse all that that faculty may contain. Ambition will then become stronger in that faculty, and to succeed, through the application of the talents of that faculty, will become one of your greatest desires. Have more and more faith in your business ability, and ere long you will develop a stronger desire to succeed in the business world; and remember that back of every deep-seated desire of pronounced ambition, you will find all the power that is necessary to fulfill that desire.

Have faith in the faculties of music, art, literature, invention, or any other group that you may select, and the same results will be secured. Your greatest ambition, as well as your greatest power, will be found in that faculty in which you have the greatest faith. And the reason why is found in the fact that the more faith you have in a faculty, the more power and talent you arouse in that faculty. It is the nature of faith to enter into and arouse. Therefore, whenever you proceed to have faith, desire deeply and positively to enter into and arouse wherever your attention may be directed. You thus develop the real power of faith and as you increase your faith in yourself, you will increase your power, your ability and your working capacity in the same proportion.

There is a certain mental state that may be termed the prime essential in the attainment of success and this state originates invariably in faith — real faith — that deep, positive action of the mind that always tends to enter into and arouse. It is a strong, inner feeling informing you that you have the power to do what you desire to do, and this feeling is produced by the mind entering into all that is in you.

Some minds do this naturally, at least to a degree, and such minds always succeed. But all minds can be trained to enter into all that is in them and arouse that all into positive, practical action. Therefore, success is for everybody. The power of faith, perfectly understood and fully applied, is the secret.

When you have faith in yourself, you enter into the spirit of your being; that is, your mind no longer acts on the surface, but acts through and through everything that exists in your system. Accordingly, everything that is in you is acted upon, aroused and turned to use. And no person can fail to accomplish great things in life who awakens and applies all there is in him.

When you have faith in yourself, you arouse the best that is in you, and it is the best turned to use that produces real success. To have faith is to enter into the very spirit of the best, into the real life of the best. It is the nature of faith to do this. You cannot have faith in that which is useless or inferior. Faith turns attention upon the best only, and it finds the best in everything.

To have faith in everything is to concentrate attention upon the best in everything, and habitually think of the best that is in everything. And the mind develops into the likeness of that which we think of the most. Therefore, in the development of quality, worth and superiority, as well as greater ability and power, faith becomes indispensable.

You cannot have faith in the lesser; it is only the greater in which you can have faith. The moment you begin to have faith, you turn attention upon the greater. Your mind moves toward the greater. You enter mentally into the life and power of the greater, and thus gain possession of the richness of the greater.

To believe in yourself is to believe that there is more in you than you have thus far expressed. You will thus create in your mind a tendency to enter into and arouse this more, and the stronger your faith, the stronger will this tendency become. In consequence, you will enter more deeply and more truly into the more that is in you and arouse a greater and greater measure of this more.

How much of this more you can arouse, develop and turn to use need not concern your thought, nor should you think of any faculty or any power in your system as being limited. No actual limit has been found to any power in man, and as every power in the human system can be used to develop more power, it is evident that no limit ever will be found.

The problem in our present state of development is how to arouse all the power that is now latent within us, and the solution for this problem is faith. The more real faith you have in yourself, the more of your inherent power you arouse in yourself; and as this greater power is applied, your success will be greater in proportion, no matter what your vocation may be.

All great men have faith in themselves. They may not call it faith, but it is the same thing. It is that deep, determined, positive something in mind that tends to enter into and arouse, and that not only believes in greater possibilities, but is also determined to demonstrate those possibilities. All great minds have this something. They are, therefore, in close touch with the great inherent powers within them and are consequently arousing more and more of this power. This is their secret. They may have been born with the tendency to produce such a state of mind, or they may have acquired it in various ways, but it is something that does not come by chance. It comes through exact law and any one can acquire the great secret through the faithful and continuous application of that law. The law is the law of faith. You enter into and arouse all that is in you when you have faith in all that is in you.

Men and women who have succeeded began by having faith in themselves, faith in their talents, faith in the work they undertook to carry through. This faith might have been weak at times, but on the whole it was stronger than their doubts and fears, and accordingly they entered into and aroused at least a measure of the greater power within them. This measure determined their attainments and achievements. Where the measure was small, they gained but a step above the human mass, but where the measure was exceptionally large their lives towered mountains high above all the rest. And as they departed, they left names and deeds that can never die.

The majority of those minds, however, aroused their measure of power without a clear understanding of the law. They succeeded without knowing exactly how their success was attained. They used the law more or less unconsciously without having a full, intelligent control of its principle. They worked somewhat in the dark, but they were impelled by a something within them to press on and on. They obeyed that something and scaled the heights.

How this something was acquired within them in the first place need not concern us. We know it was faith, though we may not know how they originally secured that faith. This we know, however, that any mind can secure such a faith now; and we not only understand the law, but we can control the law through which a greater and a greater measure of power within us can be aroused. Therefore we, all of us, may rise to greater heights of attainment and achievement than has ever been known in the history of the world.

TO develop this something in yourself that tends to enter into the greater power within you and arouse that power, proceed with a deep, positive determination to have faith in yourself and in everything that exists in your life. Have more and more faith in your ability, in your power, in your capacity and in all things connected with the enterprise that you are trying to promote.

Have faith in yourself and you enter into and arouse the best that is in yourself. Have faith in your ability and you increase the power and efficiency of that ability.

To have faith is to enter into the spirit of the real life of that in which you express your faith, and to enter into the real life of any faculty or power, is to act upon all there is in that faculty or power.

When you have faith in anything within you, you act upon the kernel, or the core, or the vital spark of that particular thing. In brief, you act upon the real substance of the thing instead of the outer shell or surface; and this is your purpose. The moment the mind begins to act upon all that is in us, that all will become alive, and will come forth into actual expression in the world of practical use. Any man may succeed if he will only bring out all that is in him. There is enough in any person to give him success, the greatest success, and he may bring out everything that is in him by having faith in everything that is in him. The moment faith begins to animate the mind, every action of the mind will begin to enter into the deeper life of the mind and bring into action the greater power that is latent in the mind. This is the real nature of faith and it is an idea that must not be confounded with those beliefs to the contrary that we may previously have had on the subject.

When your faith in yourself does not cause your mind to enter into and arouse the all that is in yourself, you do not have any real faith. You have simply a superficial imitation. Real faith is a positive mental action that enters into the very spirit of every element and force in your being, and it not only enters into the all that is in you, but it brings that all out into a personal life where you can turn it to practical use. That is the faith that is faith. That is the faith that we all want That is the faith we all can get; and ail minds may succeed when they proceed with such a faith as the very soul of every thought and action.

The reason why is simple. The all that is in you is great enough and powerful enough to give you great success; and to have real faith in yourself, your whole self, is to bring out, into practical action, the all that is in yourself.

When you have faith in yourself, you turn the full force of your thought upon the vast depths of your life, and the full force of that thought begins to act upon all the power that is latent in your life. In consequence, you will become alive with power through and through. You will no longer be a weakling, but will feel yourself becoming a giant both in mind and soul.

To exercise the power of real faith, train your mind to concentrate, at all times, upon the greater life that is within the personal life, and thoroughly believe in that greater life. Try to enter into mental contact with the vast storage batteries of force that exist in the world of that greater life. The greater power of this inner world will soon awaken; then you will feel the coming forth of that something that makes men great.

As you grow in faith, that is, in the conscious feeling of the greater power that is in you, and as you deepen the vital action of that faith, you will arouse more and more of your power. Then you will know that you can. You will know that you can do what you desire to do, and your determination to prove it will become vastly stronger than it ever was before. You will become conscious of all that is in you. You will begin to realize that this all is powerful enough to overcome anything in your life and great enough to accomplish anything that you have planned for your life.

There is enough in any man to give that man unlimited success providing he works in that field for which he is adapted. The problem is to arouse all that is in the mind, the whole mind, conscious and subconscious, and to train that all for practical use.

The solution for the first part of the problem is faith — not mere belief, or a superficial self-confidence, but a strong, living faith — a positive determined, penetrating faith — a faith that actually goes into the greater and places the mind in full possession of the greater.

The solution for the second part is to put all your power to work in that field for which you have a natural aptitude. Go to work where your heart is. Have faith in that work. Have faith in your ability to succeed in that work as no one ever succeeded before. Enter into the spirit o£ that work. Live in the greater life and the greater possibilities of that work and believe that you have the power to make practical everything that is latent in those greater possibilities. Train your mind to work through the spirit of things; that is, give your attention, not to the surface of things, but to that greater world of power and possibility that is within things.

When you have faith in anything, concentrate your mind positively upon the real inner life of that thing; and when you try to have faith, turn your attention upon the real inner life of your understanding of things. To realize that you have faith is to enter into and arouse. Therefore, when you proceed to have faith, try to enter mentally into the greater and arouse the greater that may exist in that in which you have faith. Aim to make every action of faith deeper and stronger, more positive and more penetrating, and ere long you will gain full conscious possession of all the power, all the ability and all the capacity that your mental system may contain.

Do not attempt anything for which you are not naturally adapted. He who works in real faith can succeed to a degree in almost anything, but when he applies that same faith where he has natural ability, his success will be many times as great. If you have no special talent or natural ability, select some vocation that is rich in possibilities and that is open to you now; then give your life to it.

Work in faith. Be determined to succeed. Know that you can. Know that you have the power, and work in the consciousness of the vast interior life of that power. Have faith in every faculty that you apply in that work. Have faith in the purpose of the work and have faith in your ability to succeed in that work. Work in the faith that your ability is becoming greater every day and that you are gaining the power to take advantage of new and greater opportunities every day.

But in all your efforts, do not simply believe in yourself. Direct your mind to enter positively into the deeper life of every faculty and power in your being. Say that you have faith in everything that is in you. Say this a thousand times a day, and every time you say it, turn the full force of your thought upon all that is in you. the best that is in you, the limitless power that is in you. This is how you bring out the best that is in you and when the best that is in you is put to work, your success will be great indeed.

Whatever your purpose may be today, begin where you are and work yourself up into greater things. And begin by having the faith that you can — not a weak, mild faith, but a faith so deep, so positive and so strong, that every atom in your being is fired up to the white heat of unconquerable determination. With such a faith, you can proceed in the conviction that you will succeed; because if you work in such a faith, your success will be as certain as the sunrise of tomorrow.

Work constantly in the determined attitude of a penetrating faith, and failure becomes impossible. You cannot fail so long as you are growing in power, ability and practical efficiency. You cannot fail so long as you are growing in the power of desire to succeed, in the power of ambition to succeed, in the power of the determination to succeed. And all these things become stronger and greater in your life the more real positive faith you have in everything that is contained in your life.

WORK in the living action of a determined faith and obstacles will not be obstacles any more. What previously appeared to be obstacles you will now recognize as opportunities. You will now know that you have the power to transform every obstacle into an opportunity and in doing so you will have the opportunity to arouse and turn to use power that you never used before. Thus you will have no fear of obstacles and difficulties. You know that you can overcome them all, transform them all, and turn everything that is in them all to good account.

You are conscious of the power within you that can overcome anything. Through your faith you are entering into all that is in you; you are awakening all that is in you, and you know that the all in you is greater than any obstacle you can ever meet.

But the all in you does not exist simply on the surface. It exists through and through your entire being, and especially in the greater depths of your being. Therefore, to arouse the all every action of your mind must penetrate the depths, the real interior life force of every atom in your system; and here we find the supreme value of faith.

To inspire the mind with faith is to cause every mental action to enter into those depths and make alive the whole of your life, the whole of your ability, the whole of your capacity, the whole of your power. To live in the spirit of real faith is to place the mind in touch with the deeper life and the power there is latent in all things. You are thus living with greatness in the mental world and you are in constant contact with the “live wire” of universal power.

It is a well known fact that there is a limitless force that pervades all things, an infinite sea, so to speak, of energy and power within which we live and move and have our being. The vital current of this sea may be termed the live wire of the universe, and the problem is to place ourselves in such close contact with this current that we may constantly be charged with its inexhaustible power.

Faith is the secret, because faith enters into the inner life of things, and it is by entering into the inner life, or rather the depths of feeling and consciousness, that we place the mind in contact with this live wire. This wire lies in the depths of existence and great minds invariably touch these depths. That is the secret of their ability and extraordinary power.

But all minds can touch those depths.

Faith is the means of contact and any mind can have faith. Any mind can concentrate upon the greater power within — the all that exists in human life — and develop that deep, positive action of the mind that tends to enter into and arouse.

Have faith in everybody and you cultivate faith in yourself. Have faith in yourself and you will have faith in everything in the universe. And the more faith you have in everything, the more perfect will be your mental contact with the boundless life and the mental power that exists in everything. Believe in the all that is in everybody and make that belief deep, positive and strong. To doubt others is to produce doubt in yourself. But doubt will suppress the power that can, while faith will arouse the power that can.

When things look dark, proceed in the faith that you have the power to turn the tide. Enter into the innermost life of that power and thus you awaken every force that may exist in that power. You will thus become alive with a determination that positively cannot be conquered or destroyed; and that determination will be backed up with sufficient power to do what you are determined to do.

When you have faith in all the power that is in you, all of that power will be placed at your command. This is a positive fact. It is the power back of your determination that produces that determination, and as the cause is always as strong as its effect, the more determined you are to do a certain thing, the more power you will have with which to do it. And through the increase of your faith, this power will increase indefinitely until it becomes strong enough to turn any tide.

Therefore, no matter what your condition may be today, continue to have faith in all the power that is in you. You will become stronger and stronger every day. You will steadily work yourself up to that masterful position where you can control your circumstances and cause everything to turn in your favor.

Have faith. It is the royal path from adversity to prosperity. Faith gives you the power to do what you want to do. Faith can give you all the power you need; all the power you want. This is an exact, scientific fact. Faith connects the mind with all the power that is in you. Faith connects the mind with the limitless power of the universe. The idea therefore that faith can make all things possible is based upon a principle as sound as the very principle of life itself.

You can do anything if you have enough power. Faith will give you more and more power until you have as much as you can possibly require. So long as you increase your faith in yourself, you will increase the power in yourself, and you can increase your faith perpetually.

The deep positive action of real faith will increase your ability and working capacity. When you have faith in your ability, you enter mentally into the real inner life of that ability and you arouse all that is in that ability; but to this all there is no limit. You may awaken more and more power in any faculty and never find any limit to the amount of power that can be awakened.

The more power you develop in any faculty, the greater becomes the capacity of that faculty to develop more power. It is therefore evident that from the day you gain the real secret of faith, your advancement will be continuous, no matter what your work may be, or what may appear to be in your way. And you gain the real secret of faith by training every action of the mind to enter into and arouse the best, the richest, the greatest and the all that is in you.

Have faith in everything upon which you turn your attention and try to enter mentally into the all of that upon which you concentrate. You will soon have the secret. You will soon feel yourself becoming alive with more and more power, and from that day your real success will begin.

The real faith is always calm — deeply calm, but immensely strong. Though the positive, penetrating action of faith can arouse to the very highest pitch of intensity every element and force in your being, the faith itself is never excitable or agitated, never overwrought, never otherwise than calm, poised, masterful and serene. And herein lies the power of faith. It is as deep as the deepest depths of existence, but so calm and masterful in its action that it can control the force of any action. When the attitude of faith becomes agitated and overwrought, it ceases to be faith. It becomes mere shallow emotional intensity, the reaction of which will produce mental weakness and indifference. But shallow emotionalism, no matter how intense, cannot touch the depths of life and power. It cannot arouse the all that is in you, nor place your mind in contact with that inexhaustible energy that flows through the live wire of the universe. But real faith can do this, and that is the reason why he who has real faith will gain sufficient power, ability and capacity to accomplish anything he may have in view.

To promote your success, use all the power and ability you possess. Use all the practical principles you know through which you may increase your usefulness and efficiency. Combine all of these with work, all the work that you can possibly carry through; then add faith. When you add faith, you turn on the current, so to speak — the great invincible current of all the energy that is in you, and the machinery of your mental system will begin to move as you want it to move. The engine that is to carry you to the great goal your ambition is longing to reach, will begin to speed on, and it will continue to speed on until you are within the rich, fascinating city of success — the fair city of your lofty dreams. And remember so long as you are living and working in the deep, invincible spirit of faith, the current will be on; and the engine will continue to speed on so long as the current is on.

Expect all your faculties and powers to do what you want them to do. Expect them all to make good. Constant expectation, if deep and determined, will lead to faith, and faith leads to the continuous enlargement of mind, thought and soul. Continuous, positive expectation, combined with the most thorough application of all the power in your possession, will lead inevitably to the results expected; frequently to far greater results than expected.

When the mind is in touch with the greater depths of interior life and power, and continues to press on toward some lofty goal, all its efforts will become accumulative, and sufficient power will be gained to reach a still higher goal. Those who build well, always build better than they know. But the only minds who are really building well are those who, in their building, are turning to practical use the all that exists within them.

Men who succeed expect to succeed, and this expectation is continuous. They are determined, most positively determined. All their power is focused upon the goal in view, and they have so much faith in themselves and their work that they absolutely refuse to think of fail. In every instance there is an inner power at work and the all within them is alive.

Great men do not succeed through mere surface brains. There is something deeper at work in those brains, and that deeper something is aroused through faith — faith in themselves — faith in their purpose — faith in their ultimate victory.

The great man enters into the spirit of things. He is conscious of the vast, inexhaustible depths of his own interior being. He is in touch with the inner world of real power, and that is how he becomes something more than a mere cog in the wheel of industry. Through the awakening of all that is in him, he becomes not a cog in the wheel, nor even the wheel, but the power that drives the wheel.

You have that power in yourself. Arouse all that is in you and that power will come forth into actual personal possession. Then the great man in you will be placed at the helm, and the great goal you have in view will positively be gained. Expect results. Expect growth. Expect achievement. Expect increase. Expect a real, substantial, ever-growing success. Be determined to secure it and work in the spirit of that determination with all the power of unbounded faith. The door to the greater will open before you. You will realize your aim. You will reach your goal. You will scale the heights.

IN addition to faith — that deep, penetrating faith that tends to enter into and arouse, we must also have desire — ceaseless, persistent desire. And all great men are actually alive with such a desire. It is this desire that spurs them on towards the loftiest goal they have in view; it is this desire that lays hold upon the greater power aroused by faith, and causes that power to be concentrated upon the purpose they have undertaken to carry through.

That the power of desire is immense when it is thoroughly alive and in earnest, is a fact known to all, and the real truth concerning this power is well expressed in the following statements: “We get what we desire and in the full measure of that desire” and “We always get what we wish for if we only wish hard enough.” What it means to wish hard enough, however, is the problem, and what it is that truly constitutes desire, is a question few have answered.

To the many a desire is a mere wish for something, a wish that may be weak or strong, deep or shallow, according to the object desired; but iii any case the desire is looked upon as a mere feeling in the mind; nothing more.

There are a few, however, who have discovered that there is more in desire than a mere wish for the object desired, and it is these few who invariably get what they desire. By some they are called fortunate; and in a certain sense they are, because those who have learned how to get what they desire are certainly fortunate. Others give them credit for extraordinary ability, and this is also true; though they may not have exceptional mental attainments in every case, still they have the ability to use a power that the many know nothing about. By another group they are frequently accused of taking undue advantage of their fellow men, but this does not explain the secret of their success.

The man who has discovered the real power of desire can get what he wants without wronging anybody, and he will get what he wants, no matter how adverse the circumstances, how great the obstacle or how hopeless the aim.

Whatever you wish for, wish hard enough and you will positively get it. But the act of wishing hard is quite different from what we usually suppose.

You do not wish hard enough for anything unless you make that wish thoroughly alive with all the life and power that you can possibly arouse. You do not place in action the real power of desire unless you give your desire soul, the deep, strong, invincible power of soul.

When the force of your desire is just as deep as the deepest depths of your own interior life and just as strong as all the power that can possibly be contained in that life, your desire will be fulfilled. You will get what you wish for when all of you is in your wish. The reason why is simply understood as there is nothing mysterious or supernatural about the process through which results are obtained. It is only a matter of using all the power you possess instead of a small fraction.

When you make up your mind to reach a certain goal or accomplish something you have in view, results will depend upon how you use the inner or real power of desire. If your determination to succeed is shallow or superficial, you will accomplish but little. On the other hand, if that determination is as deep as the depths of your own life you will arouse the deepest force of your life, and those forces are not only powerful — they are positively irresistible, and that you should succeed with such power at your command is most evident.

When you make up your mind in this deep, strong sense, you are bringing into action the strongest and best there is in you. You are deeply in earnest and you feel deeply on the subject. In consequence, your desire to succeed will strengthen every atom in your entire being. Your whole being will become alive and when the power that is in you is alive with the deep, positive desire of invincible determination, there is no adversity or obstacle in existence that you cannot overcome.

Make yourself strong enough and great enough and there is nothing in the world that will not bend its energies in any manner required to serve the purposes of your supreme desire. Even the iron rails of destiny will bend at your command so that you may move in any direction and reach any goal you have in mind. And any person becomes strong enough and great enough when the deepest powers of his soul are aroused.

There is more in you than you ever dreamed, and there are times when this more becomes so strong that you feel as if you could master the universe. And those deeper feelings are not mistaken. Make yourself as strong as nature has given you the power to become and the universe will make way for any plan or project you may wish to undertake.

The secret is to use all the power in your present conscious possession. To develop more may not be necessary for a time. Arouse what can be aroused now and you have sufficient for anything you may wish to accomplish now. Any person can do what he makes up his mind to do and get what he wants when he makes use of all the power that he is conscious of; and all that power is invariably aroused when every desire is given soul.

Bring out all that power and make your wish alive with all that power; then you wish hard enough. That is what it means to wish hard enough, and you will get what you wish for.

YOU get what you desire and in the full measure of that desire when your desire is literally crammed with all the life and all the power and all the soul there is in you. Failure comes from halfhearted desire, honeycombed with doubt, or from those desires that are so shallow that they cannot arouse enough power to overcome a single obstacle.

Success demands not only the power to do things, but also the power to surmount every obstacle that may be met, and the power to transform every adversity into a rich and rare opportunity. But such power does not come from shallow thinking or from half-heartedness in feeling and desire.

He who would get the power to do what he wants to do must sound the depths of his being. He must learn to draw upon those deeper, finer forces of his mind and soul that alone can give him all the power he may demand. And he can do this when he deepens his desire and begins to work in a penetrating, determined faith. Every desire that is felt in the very depths of his being touches the vastness and the immensity of the greater within and the power of the greater within is invincible.

The real power of a deep, strong desire conies from the great interior domains within us. Therefore it is never crude nor uncertain in its action. Its action is not mere animal will or the domineering force of physical determination; nor does it correspond in any way with physical might and main. On the other hand, it is one of the most refined of all the forces of the system. In brief, it is actual soul force. But soul force is not something that pertains to some other state of existence. On the contrary, it is the very life of every tangible force in the universe here and now.

The soul of anything is the kernel, the core, the real substance, the vital spark — in brief, it is the thing itself.

The physical or tangible side of anything is the wire, so to speak, while the soul of that thing is the electrical current. This illustration gives us a more definite idea as to what is meant by the term soul as applied to the force of desire; and thus we can readily understand why desire becomes so much more powerful when it is given soul.

When you arouse the soul force of your system you begin to draw upon the limitless, and all your faculties and talents will begin to outdo themselves. You are not only bringing out the best that is in you, but you are going farther still. You are going back of the present capacity and you are arousing that deeper something in your life that can give perpetual increase to your capacity. Therefore it is but natural that you should accomplish what you have in mind and get what you wish for.

No one can fail who applies the best that is in him, but back of the best there is more. We all know there is. We all have had moments when we realized the limitless vastness of the great within; and whenever we have thought of the realization of those moments, something has convinced us that we can at any time, bring forth into actual use enough Of this superior power to reach any goal we have in view or scale any height to which the mind can aspire.

Give the deep, strong, invincible power of the soul to every desire and you will awaken those greater powers within you that can fulfill every desire; and in addition, you will cause every power in your possession to work for that which you aim to realize.

Desire gives definiteness to the powers we possess. When we have no definite desire, the forces and energies within us will scatter and be lost; but the very moment we begin to desire something with a deep, persistent desire, all our forces and energies will begin to work for the attainment of that something.

The stronger the desire, the more perfectly we concentrate upon that desire, and concentration is one of the chief essentials to greater success.

The stronger your desire along a certain line, the more force and energy you will express along that line, and the more power you express and apply to any action, the greater will be the result gained through that action.

Desire greatness with the soul of desire and you arouse the powers of greatness. Those powers are within you. They are positively there. It remains for you to bring them out, and you can if your desires are so deep that they stir the very depths of your innermost being.

Desire everything to change for the better and if that desire is as deep as your whole life, you will produce such changes in your whole life as are necessary to bring about all other changes you may have in view. Create the inner cause and the outer effect must inevitably follow.

Desire success with the deepest and strongest desire that you can possibly feel and you arouse those very powers within you that can produce success.

Desire an ideal environment and you awaken those qualities in your own nature that can build up that richer and better environment which you wish to enter. In consequence, you will ere long find yourself in such an environment, because like attracts like, and from superior causes come superior effects.

You invariably cause yourself to become what you constantly desire to become; that is, when that desire is so deep and so strong that it actually thrills with feeling, life and soul, and stirs into positive action every power that is latent within you.

There is enough creative energy and mental building material within you to make you a mental and spiritual giant. You therefore, need not hesitate to aspire to the very highest goal your mind can possibly picture. It is in you to become what you want to become, and what is in you can be brought out into positive action through the penetrating power of a deep, soul desire.

Whatever you desire never fail to give that desire your very life, your whole life and the full power of the deepest, strongest, finest life that you can possibly arouse from the Inexhaustible depths of your own soul.

Do not simply express a wish. Express more, and make this more as large, as high and as powerful as you can. Give your wish soul, not mere sentimental soul, but that expression of invincible soul that will press on and on to the goal in view no matter what the obstacles may be. Make your wish alive and be so thoroughly in earnest that every atom in your being thrills with the positive determination to make that wish come true.

Never attempt, however, to use mere mental force. The soul of desire is far deeper than mind and infinitely more powerful than mind. Try to feel this soul whenever you express the power of desire; and when you do feel it, try to feel more and more of the real life of the soul. Try to feel the finer elements and the finer forces that exist within all physical life and all mental life.

Try to deepen and enrich your consciousness from one grade of soul to a deeper, richer grade of soul until you are conscious of the immensity and vastness of your own superior within. Then you will know what it means to give the invincible power of soul to every desire. Then you will know why everything must pass before the deep, determined power of such a desire. Then you will know why those who possess the secret of real desire invariably scale the heights even though the whole world be against them and every imaginable obstacle in the way.

TO secure results in the various fields of action, two methods have been employed. The usual method has been to depend directly upon personal action and to think of personal action as the principal factor in the doing of things.

The other method has been to depend directly upon the power of thought; and where this method has received special attention, personal action has been given a secondary place or looked upon as simply an effect, while the power of thought has been viewed as the one sole cause.

The first or usual method, practically ignores the power of thought as a direct factor in success; while the second method minimizes the value of personal action. Neither method, however, is efficient when employed alone, because whatever man undertakes to do, he will find both personal action and the power of thought necessary to success.

To depend upon personal action alone is to fail to give that personal action the greatest amount of power obtainable. The power of thought is the power that is back of all personal action. Therefore, when the power of thought is not directly employed in connection with the personal action, that action will necessarily be weak.

And to depend upon the power of thought alone is to fail to give that power the proper expression. Nothing tangible can be done without personal action, as no power can produce results unless it acts through personal action.

The average person accomplishes but little as he usually depends almost entirely upon personal action; and as he permits the greater powers of thought to lie dormant, his personal action is naturally weak, limited and inefficient.

The same, however, may be said of the average idealist. He expects to get results through the power of thought alone. He ignores personal action to a degree and therefore does not give practical expression to the power there is in thought. In consequence, that power is scattered and but meager results are secured.

There is a tendency among idealists to act upon the belief that when the thought is right, the action will take care of itself. They also act upon the belief that the power of thought, if sufficiently strong, will produce results in some mysterious manner outside the domain of personal effort; and being true to this belief, they have not tried to combine the power of thought with personal action, not knowing that in the world of results there are two factors instead of one.

That the action will be right when the thought is right, is true only in a certain sense; that is, the action will be right when the right thought becomes action. But the power of thought never becomes action unless it enters personal action. The power of thought becomes action only when the will to do is just as strong as is will to think.

Certain actions of the mind will arouse the power of thought, but it requires entirely different actions of the mind to put that power to work. The average idealist arouses the greater power of his thought, but in too many instances, fails to put that power to work. In other words, he fails to express his power through personal action. It is therefore scattered, and his actual working capacity is made no greater than the capacity of those people who probably never dreamed of the power of thought.

To expect results from the mysterious actions of thought is to enter abnormal states of mind; and to enter such states is to fail. The only channel through which the power of thought can produce tangible results is through the action of the human personality, and the only normal action of thought is that action that is expressed upon or through the personality. Therefore all other action of thought is abnormal and, in consequence, misdirected.

To secure success combine the two great factors. Combine the power of thought with the power of personal action in everything that is undertaken. That is the secret of success, and great men invariably apply this secret Sometimes their application may be unconscious though usually it is more or less conscious. However, whether they fully understand the process or not, they constantly employ the principle, and that is how they reach the goal they have had in view.

To succeed, arouse all the greater powers that are within you and turn those powers into personal action. Put those powers to work. Apply those powers scientifically in connection with everything you do. Do not simply expect your thought to become action, but use your thought — the full force of your thought — IN every action.

Do not permit your thought to scatter. Do not throw out the force of your thought upon some imaginary achievement or possession. Hold all the power of your thought in yourself. Give the full force of your thought to your whole mind and body, to your own muscles, nerves, faculties and talents. Train all the great forces within you to express themselves through you, and through that which you are doing.

Think only of that which you actually intend to do or are doing, and concentrate the full force of your thought upon your present work. Then you will do something worthwhile, and it is the doing of things worthwhile that paves the way for whatever goal we may desire to reach.
To combine the power of thought with personal action recognize the power of thought as a leading factor in everything you do. Direct the full force of your thought into every action and express in every action the power of such states of mind as you know will add to the life, the force, the capacity and the efficiency of that action. Think that you can do what you are proceeding to do, and give your attention positively to what you have undertaken.

Do not simply try to see if you can, but think that you can; and be determined to prove that your thought is right. You thus give added life and power to your action and you double and treble the possibility of success.

Never doubt your capacity or have fear as to results. Believe in your power to carry out your purpose and think constantly of that power as you proceed in your work. Work in the conviction that you can do your work, and combine with your work the practical expression of all the power of mind and thought.

The power of thought produces results according to definite law, and the principal law involved is that law through which mental power tends to increase the power of personal action. And the power of thought invariably does increase the power and efficiency of personal action when properly combined with, and expressed through, that action.

The power of thought can strengthen and develop every mental faculty, improve every personal quality and rebuild the entire man according to a spiritual ideal. But this power must have actual expression, and expression is possible only through personal action.

The average person, when trying to use the power of thought, usually concentrates upon external conditions or upon some vague mental state. His power therefore is mostly scattered. He uses up energy to no purpose and not only fails to advance, but becomes a discouragement to those who are looking for better methods than the world in general can offer.

To use the power of thought in producing success, do not simply think that you are going to succeed. Success comes from the practical application of ability; therefore use your mental power in the development of greater ability, and combine that power with every effort that you make to apply that ability.

The greater the action, the greater the result in whatever the field of action may be; and the more mental power you give to that ability that is expressed in the action, the greater will be the action. To simply think that you will succeed, and permit the power of that thought to scatter wherever your uncontrolled tendencies may lead, is to prepare the way for failure.

When you think success or affirm success, concentrate the full power of your attention upon that ability or talent that you are using in the promotion of success. When you use the power of thought in promoting success, desire to increase your ability and constantly think of the increase of that ability.

If your success depends upon business ability, concentrate all the power of your thought upon business ability. Desire to develop your business ability and think that you can. In this manner your business ability positively will develop, and as it does, greater success must naturally follow.

Constantly will to cause the power of thought to make you more able, more competent, more efficient and more useful, and expect greater success for yourself as you make a greater man of yourself. Great men do this; you will become great by doing the same.

But when you think success and will success, you do not bring about success through some strange, mysterious force. By thinking success, you cause all your faculties to work more successfully. In consequence, ability and efficiency are increased, and you will steadily advance. When all of your faculties work more and more successfully, you, yourself, will work more and more successfully; and that is the secret of success.

The power of thought can remove every form of adversity, but it does not proceed by mysteriously acting upon those conditions that are in the way. On the contrary, it acts upon you alone, and in a manner that is both simple and effectual.

When you properly apply the power of thought in this connection, you give your mind a better insight into adverse conditions, and you secure better ideas as to how to work yourself out. The power of your thought does not directly remove adversity, but makes you so much stronger and so much greater than adversity, that you can remove it yourself through your own determined personal action.

When you are in any difficulty, use the power of your thought in strengthening and elevating your mind. Thus you will not only see how to act, but you can act with greater power; and you must act both with the power of thought and with the power of personal action if you would overcome what is in your way. The problem in overcoming anything is to know how to act, and to have the power to act effectually.

The power of thought, when properly concentrated upon your various mental faculties, will make your entire mind more brilliant. You can, through the use of interior thought force, positive desire, real faith and constructive thinking, work your mind up to a higher level; that is, you can bring your mind up into the upper story of consciousness, so to speak, and while there you may not only form superior ideas, but the very ideas that you need under the circumstances.

You will thus know how to act in order to overcome what is in your way, and by combining the power of your thought with that action, you will act effectually.

Thus adversity will be removed; the difficulty will be overcome; you will work yourself out, and reach the goal you have in view.

WHEN man becomes acquainted with himself, he invariably discovers that he can change himself and his environment through the intelligent use of the laws and powers of his own being; that he can build health, character and ability to any degree desired; that he can remove from his life what is not conducive to his welfare and happiness; that he can gain possession of more and more of that which is conducive to his welfare and happiness; that the possibilities within him have no limitations whatever, and that there is evidently no end to what he can do in the growth and development of himself and the world in which he lives.

The principle of this discovery has been demonstrated by thousands in every age. Results have been secured in every known field of human life and action, and some of these results have been so extraordinary as to almost appear miraculous.

When man makes this discovery, he no longer submits to things as they are. He no longer trains his mind to accept adversity in a meek and lowly spirit. He no longer thinks that it is necessary to give up to what appears to be the inevitable.

He has discovered that man holds his own life in his own hands, and proceeds to act accordingly. Man is supreme in his own life and in his own world. This we know. He may have his own way in everything. He may form his own ideals and make them all come true. He may plan his own future and realize every dream precisely as expected. He has the intellect to understand the principle and the power to apply the law.

But here we meet a problem, and a seeming contradiction of terms. Among those who have tried to understand the principle and apply the law, thousands have secured the results desired, but other thousands have not. They have either failed wholly or in part to produce those changes in themselves or in their environments for which they have labored so faithfully. They have seemingly done their part, and to all appearances have done it just as well as those who were more successful. Why they should fail may therefore seem difficult to understand, but it is simple enough.

There are many powers in man, but there is only one power that has controlling power, and that power is in the will. The purpose of the will is to control or direct all the other powers in man — to so direct those other powers as to cause them all to do what we want them to do. There is no limit to man’s inherent capacity; the subconscious cannot be exhausted neither in the quantity of power nor in the varieties of power. It is therefore evident that man can do with his life whatever he may desire, provided he can cause all his power to do whatever he many desire. And he can.

The controlling power of the will can cause any other power in man to do whatever the will may direct it to do. This controlling power of the will, however, must be used not simply to control for the sake of exercising control, but for the purpose of turning the other powers in man into those channels of action where the results desired may be produced.

Great men do this. That is what makes them great, and that is what gives them success. When man undertakes to change himself or his environment every power in his being must be directed to so act as to promote that change; and the first power to be so directed is the power of thought. The mind is creative and its power can create the change desired when properly directed.
This is a fact, however, that is fully recognized by all who have taken up the science and art of applied idealism, and they have, almost without exception given their mental powers the direction required; but they have, in too many instances, neglected to give that same direction to their other powers; and here we find the cause of failure.

To direct the mind to think towards the goal that is to be reached is the first essential, but the power of such thought will not produce any change in man until his personality is directed to live and express the idea conveyed by that thought.

The idealist wills to think, but does not always will to do. The belief that right action will invariably follow right thought is only partly true. Thought never becomes action unless the same will that willed to think also wills to act. The complete will controls both thought and action, and must act in both in order to produce results.

The creation of a new idea is not necessarily followed by the expression of that idea. The will that wills to create a new idea does not will to express that idea unless so directed by the mind. Some minds naturally combine the will to think with the will to act and it is such minds that secure the greatest results, frequently with but little effort.

Those minds that fail to secure external changes for the better after they have changed their thought for the better, fail because they do not naturally combine the will to think with the will to do. In those minds the will is not fully applied; that is, they will to think the ideal, or plan for the desired achievement, but they do not always will to work out those ideals and plans in tangible action. But when the will is so trained that it invariably wills to do whatever it has willed to think, every change in thought will be positively followed by a corresponding change in external conditions.

Man is as he thinks; but he is not always the product of all his thought. The only thought that gives formation to the character, the mentality and the personality of man, is the thought that contains the will to express itself. And the more such thought a man thinks, the greater and more successful he becomes.

All other thought is useless. To create thought and not give that thought the will to express itself is to waste both time and energy. Three-fourths of the thought created in the average mind, however, is of this kind. It takes shape in the mind but does not contain the will to work itself out into real tangible results.

The path to greater power of mind and personality may therefore be found, first, in training the mind to think only constructive thought; and second in giving every thought the will to act.

Eight thinking will produce right conditions in mind and body only when the will to act is just as strong and just as deeply felt as the will to think. Constructive thinking will promote the advancement of man both in attainment and in achievement whenever the desire to work out the ideal is just as strong and just as positive as the desire to imagine the ideal.

All thinking that pictures the greater and the better, and that is animated with a positive desire to attain the greater and the better, is constructive thinking. And all thinking is right that is based upon the principle that the ideal of everything contains the power to become real; that is, that the good that is inherent in everything is infinitely greater and more powerful than any mistake, imperfection or undeveloped condition.

The power of will is indispensable whether the action be physical or mental. We can do nothing until we will to do it, and what we wish to have done in any particular field of action, we must will to do in that field of action. What we wish to have done in the mind, we must will to do in the mind. What we wish to have done in the body we must will to do in the body. What we do in one part of the system will not be duplicated in some other part unless we so will it.

The power of thought will work itself out in personal life only when we will to convert that power into personal power. The ideal becomes real when the characteristics of the ideal are acted out in the real. Act in the real as you feel you are in the ideal. When you have seen the vision of the soul, will to make it come true in the body. You can.

But do not try to will with the mere surface action of the will. It is through the controlling power of the will, the inner, vital action of the will, that you cause your other powers to do what you wish to have done; and this controlling power constitutes the soul of will.

Give soul to your desire to act and the mind will act through the soul of the will; that is, through that force of the will that actually contains real will power. Thus you will consciously apply the controlling power of the will and succeed in doing what you want to do.

WHAT is here designated as real will power is a direct expression of the superior man within. There is a larger man within you. This interior man is the real you and infinitely greater and more powerful than your outer personality; and it is upon this interior man that you must depend for results.

Constantly think of this interior man as the ruling factor in your life and constantly expect this supreme factor in yourself to produce greater and greater results indefinitely. It is the superior man within that exercises real will power — the power that can control. Therefore to will to do what you desire to do, we must give the superior man within the right of way.

Act as if you were the superior man within and you will find that you are the superior man within. All great men do this, some consciously, some unconsciously. This is how their greater power wills to act. This how they place in action the controlling power of the will wherever they may desire to act; and this is how they almost invariably do whatever they will to do.

The visible person has no real will power. You gain possession of real will power when you begin to feel that you are the inner man within. That power of the will that can calmly, but absolutely, direct all the other powers in your being to do what you wish them to do comes from the depths of your life.

When your feeling of life is deep and when that depth of life is calm and strong, then you will gain that power that contains the controlling power. Then you gain what may be termed the indomitable will, and then you gain the power to work out in tangible life every change for the better that you may have planned in your mind.

Many minds are so constituted that they naturally give the superior man within the right of way; and it is such minds that secure the greatest results, not only in the science and art of applied idealism, but in any and every field of endeavor as well.

There are greater powers within you than you have ever expressed. If you will permit those powers to come forth more and more, you will steadily and rapidly advance, no matter what your work may be. If you are so constituted that you naturally give those greater powers the right of way, you will move towards the high places in life whether you understand those greater powers or not. You will forge to the front because you can feel something superior within you that prompts you to press on and on, overcoming every obstacle, and scaling every height.

But if you do not naturally give these greater powers right of way, you must train yourself to do so; and you can. When any mind takes up the science and art of applied idealism and tries to produce changes for the better, either in the mental world or in the physical world, results will depend upon two things; and in the last analysis these two are one.

If the mind naturally gives the greater power within the right of way and naturally gives every thought the will to express itself in tangible action, results will be forthcoming without fail. When the superior man within is in action, the will to think and the will to act become practically one will, and every mental change is invariably followed by a corresponding physical change. But no mental change can produce a corresponding physical change unless the new mental state contains the will to express itself; and since real will power is inseparably united with the superior man within, it is evident that we must permit this interior man to come forth if we desire interior mental changes to come forth.
That greater something within us that constitutes the controlling power of the will must be in action before we can will to do or become whatever we may desire to do or become.

To be so constituted that the greater man within is naturally given right of way is well, providing that tendency is cultivated; but if it is not cultivated, we will have results up to a certain point only, and there will be no further progress.

It is not necessary, however, to be so constituted naturally in order to secure results. The mind can readily be trained to work out into the tangible any new and improved condition. The will to think and the will to act can be made one, and the power of creation and expression can be made so strong that the moment we discern an ideal, it begins to become real.

What comes naturally to some can be developed in all, and the greatest results come not to those who depend upon a natural talent, but to those who take what they have, be it ever so little, and proceed to develop what they have to the highest degree possible.

We all have some will power. Whenever we move a muscle or utter a word, we use the controlling power of will to cause some other power to do what we wish to have done.

We can develop this function more and more until we cause every power we possess to do whatever we may wish to have done; and we develop this function whenever we will to work out in tangible action any and every change for the better that we have pictured in mind.

Will to do whatever you have willed to think; and will, not on the surface of the mind, but will with a ceaseless, determined will from the fathomless depths of your mind. Thus you will become in the real what you have desired to become in the ideal. You will work out your ambition. You will realize your dream, and you will cause the vision of the soul to come true.

We have all felt the power of the superior man within. We have all had moments when we knew that we were greater by far than the visible self had ever appeared to be; and those moments can be made not only more numerous, but an ever present realization.

We can train ourselves to feel more and more of the greatness within, and to express more and more of that greatness. We can do this by giving the larger interior man full right of way.

Let the power that is within you come forth. Let it even take full possession of your entire personality. It will never lead you wrong, but will instead, prompt you to press on and on regardless of circumstances until you reach the very highest heights you have in view.

Act as if you were this great interior man; think that you are; feel that you are; know that you are. Thus you give full expression to the greatest and best that is in you, and as you realize this expression you discover that it is all of you, and that the all of you is great indeed.

Henceforth, you can proceed to do in larger and larger measure what every awakened mind has discovered that man can do. You can change yourself, improve yourself and advance yourself. You can grow out of every unfortunate condition into any superior condition.

You can create health, harmony and happiness in abundance. You can live as you wish to live; become what you desire to become; increase perpetually your capacity to attain and achieve; build character and ability to the highest degree of efficiency and power, and place yourself upon that high pinnacle of being where you can truthfully say that your life is in your own hands and what your future is to be, you, yourself, have the power to determine.

 

The End

 

Christian Larson – Concentration

 

Christian Larson – How Great Men Succeed

 

Christian Larson – How to Stay Well

 

Christian Larson – How to Stay Young

 

Christian Larson – Your Forces And How To Use Them

 

Christian Larson – How the Mind Works

 

Christian Larson – Just Be Glad

 

Christian D Larson – Mastery of Fate

 

Christian D. Larson – The Pathway of Roses

 

Christian D. Larson – Poise and Power

 

Christian Larson – Business Psychology

 

Christian Larson – The Great Within

 

Christian Larson – What Is Truth

 

Christian D. Larson Biography