Prosperity Through Thought-Force: Some Other Things Part 4
Prosperity Through Thought-Force: Some Other Things Part 4
The lack of education will not be a bar to success. Wisdom and knowledge are not synonymous; neither are refinement and polish. Some of the most refined, gentle and estimable people are wholly without polish; while some of the smart set are puppets and snobs. If, however, the mind puts a limit on itself because of a lack of education and says, “Oh, he has a good education; of course he can do it; but I did not have that advantage and there is no use of my trying,” that thought will put a bar to all great progress. In general terms, we are just what we assume ourselves to be, but may be whatever we determine to be.
If you have a child of whom you desire to make a failure, just teach him that education, alone will make him a success, and nothing else will be required. You establish a limitation for him, and he will never, can never make the necessary effort to be a man unless his own power of observation shows him the David Harums of life and proves your teachings erroneous. By great men we do not refer to statesmen or noted people in any sense, but to the quiet, strong, forceful, and self-controlled man who always has enough and to spare of this world’s goods and who has conquered his spirit.
Neither does age prove any bar. Lack of youthful elasticity may make progress slow until confidence is acquired; but the sober judgment of mature years will counterbalance it. Spirit, your spirit, has always existed, will always exist in some form, and the time limit called age is only a measure of the length of existence in this body.
People whose minds never rise above the round of petty trifles, who constantly think of themselves instead of losing the consciousness of their own identity by thinking of their work entirely - concentrating on it - are apt to talk of themselves or of some one else instead of discussing matters of greater import. They are also apt to talk incessantly with but little to say and nothing worth hearing. If you are loquacious, find the cause; it will be in your mental condition.
If you receive a thought, you send it out again, reinforced, to be absorbed by another mind. If you think hate towards some fellow man, you add to your stock of hate and increase your thought current of hate, and that is sin. Attending theaters, ball games and similar places of amusement is not a sin, but rather a rest and recreation which add to your strength and should be cultivated. Low resorts, such as cheap variety theaters, with barroom attachment and female attendants, or the pistol-firing, blood-curdling drama of the hero rescuing the maiden and similar rot, contain a vulgar thought atmosphere and you, by absorbing it, weaken and degrade yourself. But a high-grade actor, from thinking strong thoughts (and he cannot be such an actor without vigorous thought) becomes strong, and his influence adds to your strength and improves your mind aside from the relaxation, which also benefits you.
Goodness, godliness, holiness, consist in building up the qualities of good will, strength, judgment, determination, confidence, courage, power, justice, gentleness, order, precision, force, calmness, and the resulting self-control; in short, of being a gentleman in the best sense of the word.
