Excerpts from
"NEW
THOUGHT:
A 21st Century Awakening"
by Charles Brodie Patterson
Order
in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $7.95 (+ printing charge)
Book Description
This is a revised, gender-neutralised version of a rare book originally
published in 1913 and entitled What
is New Thought?: The Living Way. This book
is an excellent and easy to understand formulation of New
Thought philosophy by one of the truly
greats of the New Thought Movement. The book covers all aspects of this
ever-growing philosophy of life and gives glimpses of where we are
heading as a race. This book makes excellent reading and is one not to
be missed.
DEDICATED: To
THE FEARLESS SEEKER AFTER TRUTH, THE ONE WHO SEEKS TRUTH SOLELY
FOR THE SAKE OF TRUTH, WHO NEVER BELITTLES THEMSELVES BY
PRE-JUDGING, BUT WHO WITH UNBIASED
MIND PROVES ALL THINGS AND THEN ONLY HOLDS FAST THAT WHICH
IS GOOD.
CONTENTS
PART ONE |
Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION.................................................................................
Chapter 2 - A STATEMENT OF
PRINCIPLES..............................
Chapter 3 - THE UNDYING
IDEAL..................................................................
Chapter 4 - MAN'S
POTENTIAL POWERS...................................
Chapter 5 - REAL AND UNREAL
EMOTIONS.............................
Chapter 6 - DESIRE AND WILL........................................................
|
PART TWO
|
Chapter 7 -
MENTAL
AND
PHYSICAL POISE............................
Chapter 8 - HOW TO ACQUIRE
AND RETAIN HEALTH........
Chapter 9 - HARMONIC,
VIBRATION..........................................................
Chapter 10 - MAGNETIC
ATTRACTION....................................................
Chapter 11 - THE
SUCCESSFUL LIFE..........................................................
Chapter 12 - SUPER-MAN.........................................................................................
|
PART THREE |
Chapter 13 -
SHADOW
WORSHIP.....................................................................
Chapter 14 - THE ASCENT OF MAN..............................................................
Chapter 15 - THE MIND'S CULTIVATION...............................................
Chapter 16 - THE
DEVELOPMENT OF TALENTS.....................
Chapter 17 - THE AGE TO
COME....................................................
Chapter 18 - THE
BROTHERHOOD OF MAN..............................
|
PREFACE
IN its material
progress the
world is moving faster than it has
ever done at any period of the past. The science of the present is
constantly opening up a new world through its many and varied
discoveries. While the greater number of such discoveries are being put
to practical ends and purposes, yet it is doubtful with all the advance
made by science, and all the vast accumulations of wealth, whether man
in his mind is as happy or as contented as he formerly was.
While all the changes which
make for
his material well-being are taking
place, his mental unrest seems to increase. Up to the present time many
people have believed that through material accumulation mankind was to
become satisfied, but the world of man's consciousness is larger than
his outer environment. When his every outer need is satisfied, the
unrest will continue because heart and mind will have to become as
fully satisfied as man's physical nature before the unrest will cease.
In the past people have
believed in
much that was untrue, and both
mental and spiritual progress was retarded by false belief; and now,
while to a degree their eyes have been opened so that they are no
longer held in servile bondage to the old, yet they have not
sufficiently laid hold on the new to effect a true adjustment to life
and its laws. Unrest must continue until greater light comes, and with
its advent there will come peace to the mind and health for the body.
The great lesson yet to be
learned
is this, that man has been equipped
in every way spiritually, mentally, and physically to work out all his
own problems, whether they be little or great, and through the doing of
this to enter into the fullness of life. Through a knowledge of the
truth man may free himself from all kinds of bondage, whether it be the
bondage of physical pain or disease, or the bondage of mind in which he
may be to his own false thoughts and habits. A knowledge of the truth
will show the way whereby each and every false condition in life is to
be met and overcome.
This book has for its
principal
object the throwing of light on the
pathway of life in order to make it easier for people to overcome the
unrest of mind and body, and to show that through inner knowledge one
may become harmoniously adjusted to outer environment.
It is the firm conviction of
the
author that it is as easy to acquire
and retain health as it is to live in a state of pain and disease, but
this can only be achieved through knowledge and conformity to the laws
of being. No one need hope to accomplish a great work in life without a
whole, sound body; therefore if one can have such a body through their
own personal effort, how much better it will be thus to lay the
foundation of their work in a thoroughly satisfactory way.
Most people desire to be well
and
happy, but comparatively few know how
to attain such an end. They think that it is usually to be gained
through purely physical ways and means, and they therefore expend great
effort in that direction without really reaping any compensating gains,
while if the same amount of effort were spent in the development of
one's own innate power, the result would prove in every case far more
effective than any that could be attained in any other way.
Our lives can become what we
wish
them to become, when we accept the
lawful and the orderly way that comes from a recognition that
intelligence and power are within man's own consciousness, and that the
true legitimate outcome is an expression of perfect physical health and
strength.
Everything in life worth
having
demands some effort on the part of the
one who would receive. We make a mistake when we think that we can get
something for nothing. Sooner or later we must pay the price for all
that we receive. The natural way is to give first and receive
afterwards, so that if one earnestly desires health and strength, the
best way to receive them is through making the conditions necessary to
the receiving.
In this book I have given many
suggestions as to how the above ends may
be attained. I have not the slightest desire whatever to destroy any
one's faith, or to take away anything that has proven itself to be good
in the past. I do hope, however, to show a way which if followed will
make for still better things in life. Let me use this as an
illustration: ships that sail the ocean have their sides and bottoms
gradually covered with barnacles, and as these are ever on the increase
they soon come seriously to interfere with the speed of the ship, so
that after a time it becomes necessary to have the ship put into dry
dock, when all the barnacles are scraped off so that she may be able to
sail just as fast as she did in the beginning. Men and women are often
in much the same position as the ship. They acquire desires and habits
that should have no place in life; their minds become filled with
thoughts that tend to retard real progress, such as thoughts that worry
and make the mind anxious or fearful, thoughts and words that make for
fault-finding and unkindness, thoughts concerning others of prejudice,
judgment, and condemnation. All these are like the barnacles on the
ship.
If people are to make real
progress
in life, then they must leave all
these things behind them and acquire new ways and methods of thought
and action. The right way of doing is far more simple than the wrong
way, because if we follow the right we shall not have two courses of
action, one right and the other wrong, but only the one true way of
thinking and doing everything. If the mind of man is as variable as the
wind, so that one day the mind is warm and the next it is cold, there
will come little of true rest or peace into life. Some might urge that
this is necessary in order to give greater variety to life, but the
truth is life offers so much variety in all that is real, that we are
only depriving the mind of that which would make for its highest good
when we allow it to become engrossed in unreal thoughts and emotions.
Wisdom, power, happiness, and
health
may all be ours when we let go of
the unreal and lay hold with vital strength of mind and purpose upon
that which is true and lasting. Our highest ideals can be attained only
through consistent, persevering effort; and we should always remember
this, that the ideal is there in order to be fulfilled and through its
fulfillment to be succeeded by a still newer, grander and more lofty
ideal. This is the only way growth takes place in life.
For the encouragement of the
reader
who may not have realized as much
of health and happiness as desired, let me say this, that in any new
departure one may find it more or less difficult at first, but as time
goes by it will become evident that the things you are trying to do are
much easier of accomplishment than at first seemed possible. There are
some people who get it into their minds that the good things in life
are intended for other people but not for them, that a course of action
that would prove of the greatest help to another would not result in
any marked benefit to themselves. This is a mistake; the laws of life
will work just as much good for one person as for another. The whole
question is only one of right adjustment. If we are adjusted in the
true way, then we are bound to get the true effects. God does not give
to one and withhold from another. The sun shines for all, the rain
falls for all, and the results are only a question of how one is
adjusted to one or to the other.
Everything necessary to a
thoroughly
equipped life is awaiting the
individual who is quick enough to recognize it and to make it their
own. All things are ours, but unless we are using the things which
belong to us they will prove of little if any benefit to us. It is only
through the use of all the possessions we have acquired that we enter
into and acquire new and still greater possessions. Through the use of
mental faculties the mind grows strong; through the use of all the
physical organs the body grows strong. When we exercise our spiritual
attributes, we grow strong in a spiritual way. As no one can do this
for us, we come at last to see that it is of the greatest importance
that we should do it for ourselves, and when we start out and take this
course, then of us it may be truly said that we have consciously
entered the pathway that leads to the life eternal.
C. B. P.
Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION
I HAVE said elsewhere in this
book
that Law and Order are universal;
that the universe responds to it, the part as much as the whole. No
matter what phase of life we may examine into, we shall find neither
chance nor happenings, but every action a response to definite law.
There are many manifestations or expressions of law, but let it be
remembered that they are all but degrees of the one supreme Law of
life.
When the white ray is broken
up in
the spectrum, we have the seven
prismatic colors; so, when the great white Law of Love is broken up in
human life, we get its varying degrees of faith, hope, joy, peace,
gentleness— these are all differentiations of the universal Law of
Love, manifesting itself in different ways and degrees, yet each
partaking of the greater Law which gave it birth. An individual may
respond to any one or even more of these lesser laws, without
understanding other than a fraction of life; but he who has
entered into the white flame, the realm of the Law of Love, has entered
into a knowledge of the kingdom of God—has entered into the central
sphere, and has become one with God and humanity.
Oneness in the great
characteristic
of Love; whatever we love, we
become one with; true understanding comes with love. It is only
necessary to understand in order to see every difference pass away. The
ultimate end of life is to love, not to be loved, although that follows
us a natural sequence, but the greatest desire, the greatest prayer of
life should be to love with soul, and mind, and body; to radiate love,
as the sun radiates light. In the sunshine of love the mind knows no
fear; sin and all its disastrous consequences have no place where love
lives. Sin, disease, and death are only evidences of the lack of love
in the life. Where love is there is life, there is intelligence; where
love is there is the perfect fulfillment of all law; for man living in
it has passed from death unto life, has entered into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God.
We take many and varied paths
leading to this one great event of human
existence, but every path brings us in the end to the goal of the
heart's desire. There are ways leading to it by the green pastures and
the still waters, a gentle but an ever ascending way of life. There is
also the way of storm and tempest; there is the way through pain and
sorrow; yet all ways lead to God and lead to Love.
Every soul has within itself
the
guiding star, the light that is to
enlighten; this light is a divine spark of the living Love to lead us
to, and at last consciously to relate us to the living Flame, the Love
of God which passeth understanding.
All the way through, from the
lowest
plane of life up, we are working
out our salvation. We meet with what seems to be evil, with a continued
resistance from forces both within and without; we resist and we battle
with them; at times we are defeated, and again we overcome, but all
along the way of life the struggle is going on; a struggle not only for
the mastery of things, but for the mastery of one's self.
Through all the seeming evil,
through all the shadows of life, through
all the sorrow and pain, there is a longing, an up-reaching, that is
never satisfied with life as it seems to be. We realize that the life
is not full, is not complete; it is lacking in harmony; that all these
conditions as they come to be understood are seen to be only the
passing, the transient; all to be left behind as we press on to the
things which lie before. Every experience brings with it something of
the pure gold; every experience leaves behind something of the dross of
life; there is a divine alchemy working through it all, bringing the
good out of the evil, joy out of sorrow, and peace out of pain.
All things are working
together for
good; but there is never perfect
rest or peace, perfect knowledge or understanding, until we know of a
certainty that we are under the dominion of the Law of Love. Only as
this Law becomes fully expressed through us do we leave every
contradiction of life, love, and wisdom behind. Only under the Law of
Love does life become a glorious reality, a never ending day. When in
our souls and minds we respond to universal love, we have consciously
entered the great universe of etheric vibration, wherein the part is
vibrating harmoniously with the whole. Every glory here is succeeded by
a still greater glory, every joy by a greater joy; life is an unending
song of beauty; color and sound become so wonderfully entrancing that
well has it been said that— "Eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to know of the glories
that God hath prepared for him."
But with the new life all
things are
made new; the love and the wisdom
give to man a new consciousness, and this new consciousness is able to
enter into and understand life in a way it could never have been
understood by man's partial consciousness. Oneness is the key-note;
every part is seen and known in its relation to the whole—a universe
filled with a multiplicity of forms, but an all-pervading Spirit, both
within and without, directing and controlling, through a universal Law
of Love, each part and all parts of the great stupendous whole. So that
the enlightened soul perceives that God and His creation is all there
is; that in spirit we are one with God; that in our bodies we are one
with all forms; that the Spirit within is God, and the body without is
His handiwork; that whatever we possess or whatever we are comes from
the One Giver of every good and every perfect gift; that whatever we
are or whatever we may become, we can be nothing less nor anything more
than a manifestation of God's love and wisdom.
No matter on what plane of
development we find life, it is a
manifestation of Love. Every form is a symbol of divine power, all life
and all forms responding to the universal Law of Love. If it could only
enter into the mind of man that through Love he could accomplish all
things; he could be what he willed to be; he could free himself from
sin, pain, and death; he could be even as a God exercising dominion and
power; he would forsake at once the little ways and means of attainment
and lay hold on the everlasting ways of life; he would give up all, he
would sell all, in order to enter into the possession of the pearl of
great price. In a word, he would fulfill the whole law of life. The
spirit of Love would become the only guide that would lead him into the
way of all truth, of all righteousness.
In the spirit of Love there is
perfect freedom to live one's life
according to the divine Law that has been written into it. He would
perceive the plan; he would bring the personal will into harmony with
the universal Will so that he would become a perfect instrument,
through him divine Love and Intelligence would work for the upbuilding
of a new, a more beautiful world — a world that would express both
God's love and wisdom; and man, the son of God, would be its builder; a
world devoid of everything that is transitory; a world in which there
is no more night, no more sorrow and pain, no more disease or death,
but a world of eternal life and light; a world that is a real
manifestation of Love.
"NEW
THOUGHT:
A 21st Century Awakening"
by Charles Brodie Patterson
Order
in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $7.95 (+ printing charge)
|