HOW TO CONTROL FATE THROUGH SUGGESTION

BY

HENRY HARRISON BROWN

1906

How to Control Fate Through Suggestion by Henry Harrison Brown.

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CONTENTS

Introduction To Part 1

Part 1. The Science and Philosophy of Life

Introduction To Part 2

Part 2. Suggestion: Its Place and Power

Supplement To This Fifth Edition

INTRODUCTION TO PART 1

Some of the matter of these Essays has appeared in various journals and more especially in the Suggester and Thinker. It is here collected, revised, extended, improved, and put into a permanent shape for study. In its previous form, it attracted considerable attention and won much appreciation.

This volume contains the most important knowledge man can possess, i. e., knowledge of the Power to control his own Destiny. In his own life and that of many others, the author has seen the demonstration of this Power. The reader has but to follow the instructions herein laid down to reach that condition of realization which Jesus knew when he affirmed: "I and my Father are ONE."

The way is easy. Its principle is Truth. Its incentive is Love. Its result is Life "more abundantly." That there may be understanding, in Part I. the philosophy of Unity has been elucidated and verified by the Law of Vibration.

That this Principle of Unity and the Law of Vibration may be applied to daily thinking and living, in Part II the Principle of Suggestion is unfolded. This is an ever-present and an ever-active Principle. He who accepts, understands and applies it, attains mastery over all conditions. This principle is the basis of the many metaphysical movements of the day and, when intelligently obeyed, gives one all the power that any "healer" possesses.

That the reader may attain this power, methods of thinking and affirming are scattered through these pages. At the close, are affirmations for practice that all may, through a trained Will, learn "The Art of Living." The end and aim of the book is to help the reader to Self-Control. No perception of Truth ever gave man such Power as does this of Self-Suggestion, or, as we will term it, AFFIRMATION. It is the discovery that Thought is Force and that man can control, in its objective expression, this Infinite Sub- Conscious Life, which is the Real Man---the Ego--- and thus control Fate.

All the mystery of the ancient and modern schools is cleared away from the subject and all the misconceptions of theology are avoided. As Darwin investigated, and as Spencer reasoned, upon objective phenomena, the effects, so have I tried to investigate and reason upon the Cause, the Subjective man.

The Spirit that has inspired me is that of the Affirmation, ALL IS GOOD. I have tried to let it manifest in me under that New Commandment, "That ye love one another."

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., Nov. 1, 1901.

PART 1. THE SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

Unity.

Unity of nature is now the basic thought in science and in the new Philosophy. The ancient and child-man thought duality. This conception, which from earliest times has dominated the conceptions of man, has passed from the mind of the present thinker. With it must pass all the old conceptions of man and nature. With these conceptions, must also ultimately pass the customs, laws and theologies based upon the unscientific, primitive conception of nature as duality.

This conception of unity, as opposed to that of duality, is destined by evolution to work a revolution whose import it is now impossible to over-estimate.

Half Science.

Our science has not been half science, even since Darwin and Spencer gave it the key to all the knowledge which comes to the soul from the external consciousness by observation and reasoning. Darwin gave man his first true conception of the world without himself. The survival, in greater or less degree, of the idea of dualism in the scientific mind and in philosophic speculation, has so colored investigation that constantly there has arisen from it the idea of limitation, division, antagonism, contest, struggle, etc. This conception of duality has either been present or has been introduced as explanation in much scientific reasoning and, in the most independent minds, it has at least been recognized as a fact of nature. This conception is so false that the New and Coming Philosophy will bear the same relation to the old as the child does to the man.

Revolution.

It is safe to say that this conception of an all-pervading Unity is destined to work a change in thought and life greater than that wrought by Copernicus when he "changed the front of the universe," or by Jesus, when he lifted philosophy from Force to Love. Darwin and his co-workers not only threw miracle and supernatural into law, but they did more; they destroyed duality and, though this thought has been constantly permeating the common mind, it has been overlooked by philosophers. But common sense has joined unconsciously with the demonstrations of science and made mind and matter into one unity. The result of this can be only dimly foreseen. But this I prophesy:---in future, man will look within himself and not without, as now, for knowledge and direction---will find the universe in himself and not, as now, himself in the universe. This is the greatest change of front man has ever made. It is revolution, but until he makes it he is neither true nor free.

Tendency of Thought

This tendency of thought is seen in every new work in philosophy and in every new deduction of science. Few are there who dare to follow out to the end logical conclusions, or are free to give to the world the clearest light of their reasoning. Professor W. J. Powell, of the government ethnological bureau, has recently published a work which is destined to rank high in the future for its insight and its reasoning on the Oneness of nature. Professor McGee, in reviewing the book in The Forum, says of Prof. Powell: "Accepting the observed unity of matter and motion, Powell is able to escape that besetting dualism that has clung to the human mind ever since the sylvan savage first noticed front and rear, this side and that side."

"This observed unity" is the basis of reasoning and of life in Soul Culture. Soul Culture is, therefore, that coming thing which is neither religion nor science, but is the union of the two, Soul being the religious side, and Culture being the scientific side of the thought. Its first affirmation is Unity. This affirmation is constantly repeated until it becomes the instinctive thought, to solve all problems of life.

One--- Something.

All is One---Something! The name is of no consequence. I would not quarrel with one who would say Brahm, God, Force, or any other term that to him meant Unity. I find it more acceptable to say,---All is Spirit. What Spirit is, can be answered only by saying: Spirit is All and All is to consciousness only differing manifestations of Spirit.

Duality.

There are not two forces, two antagonistic somethings, warring in nature for mastery. These two things have heretofore been in the mind balanced. Some of these warring mental twins are God and Devil, angels and demons, men and women, spirit and body, mind and matter, matter and motion, matter and spirit, good and evil, health and disease, life and death---as separate entities. These are two only to the child-man, who reasons from appearances, but to him who looks at cause they will ever be manifestations of the One. There are no double standards. One reigns forever, and that one is Mind or Spirit--- omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Cause being One, there can be only harmony. There can he no antagonism; no struggle; no contest; no evil; no wrong; no progress. There can be only manifestation of the One in harmony and in purpose, or it would be self-destructive and there would in time be not even One.

Cause.

The One manifests in many million ways, but they are all harmony, all good and right, or they are all discord, and evil and wrong. To Cause---the One---these names are not given, but they are names man gives to effects. They are very readily transferable and are transferred so constantly that no standard as to good, etc., has ever been found permanent among any people, and never one for the race. The only one ever held in theory is the one in all theologies, which is the belief that the Supreme Power can do no wrong. But this has rarely descended to practical application. Yet its evidences how dimly man has seen, but how truly lie has ever felt, the fact which science to-day demonstrates, that the Universe is one energy. Thus, in the New Philosophy, these terms mean nothing when applied to nature, but are significant when applied to man himself. They mean in him effects of the one Cause. They are names for his convenience alone. They mean nothing as to Cause itself.

Fate.

Man is thus his own Fate, inasmuch as he has power to choose, to use and to name, and, as fast as he learns his power, to control the manifestations of the One, he shall decide how and when this power shall in manifestation serve him. Thus, in future, man, instead of being slave, or creature, to an outside power as in all the past, shall BE that power, and manifest as he chooses; shall make all other manifestations obey him instead of obeying, as now. He shall no longer fear a god outside himself, but reverence himself as a manifestation of the Indivisible God. He shall not only choose how he shall himself manifest, but he shall decide how all other manifestations shall affect him, or whether they shall affect him at all. And he shall control all manifestations of a less pitch in vibration than his own, be they manifestations known as heat or human thought. He will, by choice, adapt manifestations to himself, or himself to vibrations, until he finds his ideal of happiness, or, what is the same, until every manifestation of the One gives him pleasure.

Man.

All reasoning will hereafter he from Man, and from Man as center of the universe, and from the universe only as the circumference of Man. It is with Man alone, then, that Soul Culture deals. Man is to us the representative of All. In him we find All; and in studying him, we study All. If science wants to use the term Force, let it be understood that it is the same to Soul Culture as the term I use---Spirit. Not yet has Spirit to science the same meaning as Force. Therefore, Spirit is used here. Both are terms for THAT WHICH IS-THE I AM THAT I AM. For Truth knows only unity---"The one that inhabiteth eternity." Man is, therefore all the rest is. Without the ear, no sound; without the eye, no light; without the nerve, no sensation. Hence without Man, no anything. Without Man, no God---no One, Man is All,

Logic.

This is logic. Dare we accept it and live it? Soul Culture says: Yes. Can we demonstrate our logic to be the truth? Soul Culture does. Hence the "about face" that must come in science. Where it now looks outside Man to vibration, it will look within and declare Sensation to be All. For,despite learned libraries, all that is known is Sensation. When man is wise, he will study only Sensation for Sensation is to Man---All. Where man now knows only in part, all will then be opened to him. Where he "now sees through a glass darkly," he will then, as Spirit, see Cause face to face. How? By recognizing faculties in himself that allay him with Cause, by recognizing himself as part of the indivisible One. In fact. through his recognition of oneness with Spirit, he will declare himself Spirit, and hence regard himself as Cause. Nothing comes except by evolution. And, as the faculties we now manifest have been gradually developed because the Soul pushed them out and then they have been cultivated, so have the psychic faculties by which we take hold on Cause instinctively made themselves manifest. Now we have to be only equally wise in cultivating them. As our ancestors have been cultivating eye and hand, so must we cultivate these psychic faculties and by thus becoming a conscious factor in our own evolution, become soon consciously one with Unity.

Matter.

This intellectual position ignores entirely the thought of physical Man. Since matter and motion are one, Man cannot be two; i. e., matter and motion. If matter is, then physical Man is. If motion is, then Man is motion. Therefore, let us be logical and say:---All is matter, hence Man is matter--- or, say all is motion, hence Man is motion ---Spirit. Both physical and spiritual. Man cannot be. Science has decided this forever. There is only motion. Matter is only a form of motion; so is heat; so are the other so-called physical forces. By telepathy, thought and emotion have been demonstrated to be motion; therefore, no longer can Man be thought of as a physical being.

Evolution.

Here is the key to the coming evolution. This Man of unity explains the vagaries, sophistries, mysticisms of "Christian Science," Theosophy, and kindred movements. Their teachers perceive this truth dimly, but, lacking the scientific spirit, they have become blinded by the excess of light. Science will explain the manifestations of all these, as it has explained those with which it has already dealt and will find the One Force behind all. That force Man can know and master. Gods, angels, mahatmas, spirits, if they exist, are either human or of human creation. Above Man, there can be nothing; for, beyond "Spirit conscious of its own existence," (Hegel's definition of Man), nothing is possible. Man may manifest to infinity. Some man well developed may show himself to one less developed, and he who sees may say, "God,""Mahatma," etc, But what of that? What he is, I am.

Not Eddyism.

To declare that Man is not physical, is as far from the Eddy folly of saying, "You have no body," as it would have been, when Copernicus said, "The sun stands still," to have said, "There is no earth." We have body, as we have thought, and even the most strenuous Eddyite will think. Both body and thought are manifestations of force and only differ as heat and light differ---in pitch, (length and speed of vibration).To this conception of nature, are all these various systems of "Divine Science," "Christian Science," and other more or less true philosophies, bringing the common mind. They are Johns, some of them not clad even in the skins and camel's hair of truth, but all crying in a wilderness of materialistic thinking, "Prepare ye the way." And lo, here comes the Messiah of Science, saying;--"I am Unity,"

Sensation.

Sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, phosphorescence, X-ray, chemical affinity, and other known forms of force are now known to be one, differing only in rates of vibration. Therefore must we, in this thought of unity, now study man and regard not only body, but thought, love, hate, sorrow, sexual passion, and all other emotions as forms of the one energy, differing only in the rate of vibration. That is, we have to study only the effect of vibration upon self---that is, study Sensation.

Force.

As force and as a manifestation of force, Man can be as intelligently studied as have been the recognized forces of science and their effects. And, as Man has learned to control those for his benefit, so can he learn to control this force which is himself. He as force, manifests as thought, emotion, and psychic power. As he has interrogated nature and, by experiment, learned to weigh, measure and control what he calls physical force, he can, by experiment, learn to consciously use and control this force called psychic or spiritual. He is now almost entirely unconscious of it and it uses him instinctively as once did electricity. As he now uses one and is master, he can use the other and be MASTER OF SELF.

Intelligent Use

To learn to do voluntarily and consciously . what he is now doing involuntarily and unconsciously, i. e., manifesting life, is now the field of human achievement. I predict that when once man has found the way, he will have no use for all the present cumbrous machinery called science, nor for much of the present mechanical or motive powers. Occult manifestations of the One power will do all that is now done and more, with less labor, cost of friction than is possible even with liquid air. "Chalk marks don't draw cars," once said a railroad man. But we are much nearer to the time when some manifestation of force less tangible than chalk marks will draw cars, than was the possibility of lightning drawing them when Franklin drew it from the clouds, or we then were to the possibility of wireless telegraphy. Chinese used powder in play centuries before Christian nations used it to kill; so Hindoo jugglers use occult forces to-day, but the Anglo-Saxon will use them in work. I believe the Anglo-Saxon is "the coming man" who will not only conquer the world, but will also conquer the near, but unseen, realm of psychic power.

Spirit.

As spirit, to be e-du-coed (drawn out, educated) is man in the New Thought---Man is Spirit with unlimited power of manifestation. As the recognition of Man as soul and body has led to the present development, until now he finds himself limited in manifestation by this dual conception of Man and Nature, even so by this idea of unity of Nature and of Man as Spirit, will he be freed. He can then manifest without limitation and will thus usher in the new civilization waiting just ahead of us.

We are What We Think

All that has, in this thought of duality, . been affirmed of Man is false when he is considered in this thought of unity. Facts will not change, but our mental attitudes respecting them do change. This will virtually change to us all things, for facts are to us what we think them to be. This applies even to the one fact that makes all other facts possible---that one fact is ourselves. We are in manifestation what we think we are. Therefore, if we think we are body and mind, we shall manifest as body and mind; if we think we are worms of the dust, we shall live dust; if we think we are gods (as we are), we shall live as gods. Thus will this thought of the universe and of Man as Unity---as Spirit---work a greater revolution in life's manifestation than was ever wrought before by any discovery, invention, or philosophy.

Preparation.

He who would take up the study of Man as Spirit must be willing to lay aside all preconceived opinions of Man and Nature, forget all science has said except this thought of unity, for unity is the only fact, except the law by which it manifests,--- evolution,---that is of any practical benefit to him. In this study of Man, he is to ignore all present thought of body, thinking of it as only a manifestation of Spirit ---as the materialized clothing of Spirit. In this thought, all I have said and may say is true; under the old thought of duality, all I have said or may say is false. This. mental attitude is the one indispensable requisite. One may obtain facts in the supposed realm of matter while he is repugnant to them; but, in the psychic realm, to recognize facts, one must be receptive, otherwise he is like the blind man seeking to be convinced of color.

Vibration.

To the Soul Culturist, all thought of duality of essence has passed away, as have the myths of the middle ages, and he recognizes only a duality of manifestation, as Cause and Effect. To him in his relation to the Without (the external universe), there is only one Cause,---VIBRATION. This vibration is the only possible manifestation of Unity. In himself, he knows but one Effect,---SENSATION. Sensation is the only possible manifestation of Unity in him. This manifestation we call LIFE.

Sensation / Vibration

As the rates of vibration vary, so do the sensations vary. As the possible number of different vibrations is infinite, so the possible number of sensations is infinite. Man, then, is infinite in possibility here and now. He has only to develop his power to recognize sensations and of the many million vibrations that are constantly impinging upon him to choose those to which he will respond, and those which he will harness to do his work. Emerson's favorite saying may yet be true in mechanics: "Hitch your wagon to a star." Man will learn to recognize, to reproduce, and to enjoy those sensations he chooses; and will learn to ignore those which are to him unpleasant. He will thus become his own Fate and Destiny.

The New Man

New Man. will have no senses, but he will be sensation. He will not be limited to five senses, but will constantly increase his recognition of sensation, and, thus becoming more sensitive, he will, in the ages to come, find himself responsive to every vibration in space. Then he will know ALL. A textbook on Physics, "tip-to-date," now in use in our colleges, gives this definition of heat: "Heat is either a sensation, or that which produces a sensation." This is a definition that could be given of everything that man feels and of every feeling. It is true; the author told more than he intended. Everything external to man "is that which produces a sensation," and everything within him "is a sensation."

Definition by Physics

This is all the definition Physics gives of the phenomena of nature. We can say of air, water, electricity, light, etc., etc., they are sensations in man, and they are that which produces these sensations. But, really, the author could have said: "Heat is in man a sensation made by vibrations of a certain wave length and speed." This would also be true of everything else. He would have to go farther yet and give the length and speed of the wave. This would help the intellect to grasp an idea of heat, but the man knows by feeling what is beyond every possible definition. Heat is sensation. The child knows it by feeling, and the scientist knows no more. Where is the place to study heat, in stove or in man? Without man, there is no heat. To one under proper Suggestion, there is none. Again, the hypnotic subject under Suggestion is burned to a blister by a cold coin. Where is, heat? We answer,---in sensation. Thought can as well produce sensation as can those vibrations which science recognizes, for Thought is also a vibration. Now let science revise her definitions and her conclusions.

Finer Vibrations

Not with the ordinary vibrations caught by science does Soul Culture deal. It deals with those which science has not yet caught; with those that can burn with cold steel; with those that enable the surgeon to amputate without either anesthesia, or pain, or blood, or inflammation; with those that carry messages from mind to mind without wire or battery; and with those that enable lovers to enjoy a communion, each with each, though they are at antipodes. These vibrations produce sensations as palpable to the one able to recognize them as are those of heat and cold.

All Knowledge Possible

Thus is it that all knowledge is open to Man, not by the development of new senses, but by learning to recognize sensation as all of life to him, and by distinguishing those beyond the limit of the five senses. He will thus come to the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Psalmist and have "conscious dominion over all things." This is now seen in possibility. It is the object of Soul Culture to lead Man intelligently to this,---his own.

Race Sensitiveness

The [Human] race is growing more sensitive, and, as a result, is manifesting psychic powers to a marked degree. Inspiration is poured out in all directions as never before during the historic period. Invention, discovery, research, are in evidence, while literature of all kinds comes in floods, and from pulpit and platform the divine afflatus pours in tremendous streams. Everybody feels able to write or declaim. It is the developing power of man to feel the finer vibrations, and, though he does not know the reason and does not understand the power, yet, as he has instinctively obeyed the coarser ones, so is he instinctively obeying these. We thus account for the medium, the healer, and the psychic. It is thus we have our geniuses and our abnormalities, like Blind Tom. They are all acting as aspen leaves act in the wind, under the finer vibrations of Unity.

Diseases and Survival.

Because of this sensitiveness, there is an increase of disease and diseases,especially nervous diseases. They will increase until we learn how to control these finer forces. The "struggle for life" has now been transferred to the psychic plane, and those who cannot live under the intense strain on the organism, caused by this increased sensitiveness, must die off, leaving the hardier ones to keep up the stock

Saviors.

For this reason, there is a demand from the race instinct for saviors. In supplying this demand, they come in droves, each with varying perceptions of truth. The regular M. D.'s already fear for their trade, as it is going before the incoming tide of clairvoyants, magnetic healers, "Scientists" of many kinds, and, last of all, before Suggestive Therapeutics. These are all natural results of increased sensitiveness. Nature always balances her manifestations. With the illness, due to increased sensitiveness, relief comes in methods of healing adapted to that sensitiveness. As bleeding went out with the hardy pioneer age that could stand it, in came milder systems, and finally these came that discard medicine. Through use of Nature's finer forces, Man is not only healed of disease, but is made positive to unpleasant sensations. "You do not feel the prick of the pin," says the hypnotist. So says the intelligent healer: "You do not respond now to the vibrations of pain. As you will not see that which is unpleasant, or hear that which is discordant, so you will not feel that which is painful. You have within your control the power of sensation. You can feel only what you will."

Progress.

The progress of civilization depends now not on the arts and sciences, not on schools or churches, but on attaining the knowledge and mastery of these finer vibrations. These psychic manifestations often produce some disturbance in the body, causing one to depart from ordinary customs and manners. This causes some philosophers to cry: "Degeneracy."Some peculiar mental conditions cause others to cry,"Insanity is on the increase," or some peculiarity of conduct causes the cry, "Crime is on the increase,"while the cause is only an increase of psychic sensitiveness. The race is, at the close of this cycle, taking another step forward. Could one of the present croakers have seen the first eye that blinked at the sun and died from excess of sensation, but, dying, prophesied the eye of man, he would have said of that individual specimen of the species: "Degenerate." Could the medical professions that now cry "fraud" and "deterioration" in view of the many isms of to-day, have stood by the first man that made a bow, and seen how, by confinement and labor, he had changed from the rest of the tribe, they would have recommended change of climate and said: "The race is going physically and morally backward," when, in fact, it was going ahead, outgrowing the conservative's sight.

Law.

If some of the present over-anxious and meddling moral reformers who, failing to suppress vice and to regulate morals by law, are now trying to prevent the blessings of hypnotism from becoming known, could have seen primitive man lay off the skin of the animal he had worn, they would have exclaimed: "Immoral! The race is becoming too vile to live." Yet through similar changes has the race passed. The manifestations of Unity through humanity are progressive, despite prognostications of evil and decay. The race will pass safely through this change from instinctive action to intelligent and consciously predetermined action, and thus will dethrone every "absentee" god and enthrone Unity within. It will defy all law by being itself Law.

Conduct.

In all these changes, the Ego is manifesting more and more of its own infinity. The Ego power of perceiving what is, gradually reveals Truth to the intellect through sensation. "For thoughts," says Edward Carpenter, "are only dying feelings." When we feel deep enough, that is, when we suffer enough, we seek the cause and, in seeking, find and grow. Sensations that cannot be endured are avoided or cured. We learn to choose instinctively the pleasurable and to avoid the opposite. This is our only conscious way of deciding what the Ego wants. It is equivalent to Spencer's dictum, "Health-giving acts are pleasurable," and to Prof. Elmer Gates' discovery that "pleasurable emotions are healthful, and the opposite are poisonous." The Ego, which is a manifestation of Unity, finds by the sensation of pleasure the best way to unfold its individuality. It is Emerson's wise and comprehensive advice: "Trust the current that knows its way."

Ego Above Law.

By noting sensations, we discover regularity and coincidences that we call laws.

In the materialistic worship of this fetish of Law, sight is lost of the greater fact that Spirit (and therefore the Ego as a part of the undivided Spirit) is itself Law, and hence above all law.

Practical Work.

Here is a hint of the practical work of Soul Culture. It works with manifestation, with the design of controlling manifestation. It recognizes Soul not as something yet to be, or that which is beyond conception, but as something that now is. It works with Man as Soul. Soul Force, or Spirit, is as thinkable, as real, and as workable as electricity. Affirming as an individual, "I am the Spirit," the Soul Culturist Thinks Spirit, and lives Spirit, and manifests consciously the powers of Spirit. He acts that which he affirms, lives that which he professes, and knows himself as Spirit.

No Sickness.

As Spirit cannot feel pain, or be sick or die, he knows, as an individual Spirit, he cannot be sick, or have pain or die. These conditions are to him only manifestations of different mental attitudes or states of consciousness. They are real to his consciousness if he will think of them, if he will recognize them, but they are not real to him as Spirit. Whenever he changes his mental attitude and refuses to recognize them, they do not exist, for he, by recognition, becomes the creator of these conditions; they are the effects of his thinking.

Man His Own Creator of Conditions

It is the same with all unpleasant conditions called sorrow, grief, trouble, worry, jealousy---with all that makes one unhappy. They are in man effects of his feeling or thinking. They are produced in him by Suggestion as similar ones are produced in hypnotic subjects. Man is, therefore, his own creator. He can produce within himself, at will, either pleasant or unpleasant emotions, thus making himself, at will, happy or unhappy, well or sick, wise or foolish.

Recognition.

The first thing necessary for the development of this power is simply for one to recognize himself as Spirit. Jesus, who was spiritually developed, must have meant this when he said, "He that believeth and is baptized is saved," for all the water of "the river of life" would run off the unbeliever without producing any effect, because, by refusal to recognize the power, it would not exist for him. Small discharges of electricity kill, and extremely great ones are not felt; even so does this mighty power of Spirit pass through one constantly unrecognized, until sought for then it is found, as all else has been found, through recognition of sensation.

Scientific Faith.

This is asking of one only that same faith which the scientist has when experimenting. He would not experiment if he did not believe in the possibility of finding. Give the same ready mind to Spirit, and, in that receptivity, the Recognition will come. Once Recognition is, then all things asked for are possible.

Desire.

Next to Recognition, is Desire. It is the attitude of true prayer, "the heart's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed." In. desire, the way is open for the "current that knows its way" to flow unhampered.

Liberty.

Liberty of Spirit is thus won. Without this liberty, no spiritual growth. The last liberty to be won is "the liberty of the sons of God"---the liberty to act as Spirit, independent of all external conditions. Ignorance and fear have fettered and imprisoned the Soul with rites, ceremonies, customs, prejudices, laws, etiquette, conformity, policy, monetary considerations, social considerations, and hypocrisy, so that few dare to think their souls are their own, much less to say so, and, least of all, to live as Soul demands.

Be Thyself.

But he who would become developed in Spirit, must, above all other things, be free."Be thyself," is the first command of Soul Culture. Hark to its Prophet (Emerson) in his incomparable essay on "Self-Reliance": "Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist. Nothing at last is sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world." Liberty is the way, and the only way, to soul growth. It is the way man has ever traveled. There never is a precedent for any progressive step. Freedom never dwells in old temples. Like the nautilus, she is building herself a new dwelling each successive morn. Freedom is the ever growing stem of the tree of life. Conservatism is her grave, and the grave of all that is manly. Without liberty, man is dead a slave lives in his place. If one would gain power to be Destiny, he must be free.

Effort.

The next demand is Effort. All effort here must he spiritual. By physical effort, we can learn in that realm of vibrations termed matter. By intellectual effort, learn in the intellectual realm. "But spiritual things must be spiritually discerned." Methods of investigation in other fields are here of no use. Spiritual phenomena (or psychic, whichever term you please) occupy a field of their own, and must be found by their own methods. Effort must therefore be made as Spirit. That is, in Recognition of himself as Spirit, one must place himself in the mental attitude of receptivity and desire, and be willing to receive whatever comes. In this negative attitude of mind, he waits for the Ego to manifest as desired.

Non-Resistance.

The next law is:---Never antagonize anything. Never antagonize any thing, opinion or condition, even in feeling. All is Spirit, therefore All is Good. "Nothing but good can, or does come to me, therefore I will not antagonize any manifestation, but let it work in me the good whereunto it was sent. For all the possible evil results will be those I make by doubting the goodness of Unity in this manifestation, and, since I am my own Fate and since I make Fate by deciding how to receive each manifestation, I decide this is Good, for All is Good. I thus do as he did who first taught me Soul Culture. Resist not evil, but overcome it in the large affirmation, All is Good. I thus keep my mind quiet, to perceive and reveal truth. Were I to contend, I would not see clearly, neither would I reveal the truth, but would conceive much error. Therefore, I will henceforth think only Good---will never antagonize." Such must be the mental attitude of one who is anxious to lead the spiritual life.

Demonstration.

Demonstration must take the place of argument. Therefore the next law of Soul Culture is:---Never argue. "Let your light shine that men seeing your good works" shall know you are Spirit, shall know you love Truth. Affirm: Spirit, and, by living as Spirit, demonstrate your are Spirit. You live Spirit by thinking Spirit and by letting that thought control your life. Soul Culture comes through doing. Here again comes in the thought of the wise Teacher: "I must be about my Father's business" "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." "He that doeth the will of my Father, the same is my mother and sister and brother." "If ye love me, keen my commandments." He always insisted that through conduct spiritual development is demonstrated. Never once did he ask, "What do you think?" or "What do you believe?"

Self-Direction.

The next rule is:---Intend the mind in the direction in which you wish revelation. One familiar with the terms of hypnotism will understand when I say, control the mind by Auto- Suggestion. From the sub-conscious storehouse of all knowledge, the Ego itself, can thus be drawn whatever is desired in the way of wisdom. The mind can also thus be directed to the development of psychic faculties. These faculties take hold on infinity both of time and space. Nothing is hidden from Soul perception. All the Soul's powers are comprised in two, so aptly stated by Emerson thus: "The Soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth;" to perceive and to reveal truth being all that the Soul can do, yet, while the method of perception is ever one, there are many methods of revelation already recognized, and there may be many others to come in our future unfoldment. Perceptions are revealed merely as truth, or they are revealed in terms of time and space. We thus get the names respectively of intuition and inspiration, to designate the revelations of truth; of clairvoyance and telepathy, to designate those of space; of psychometry, to designate those of time. In practice, these shade into each other as, in ordinary life, shade the results of the different senses.

Life---Health.

The first manifestation of Spirit is Life. Therefore, the first function we come to is health. All conditions manifesting less than a normal state of health are those of less health, and not those of disease. They are the results of spiritual weakness; for some cause, Spirit does not properly manifest through the body. The chief, if not the only difficulty, is the impediment placed on the manifestation of Spirit by some false idea. Some affirmation of "Can't," of weakness, or some submission to conditions through belief in heredity or in the impossibility of relief, is the cause of ill health. There is no "let" to "the current that knows its way." Therefore, the first care of the Soul Culturist is "to let" his Spirit have its way in health. This is easy. Only let the body alone; keep the mind off of it, and expect it to be kept by the maker ---Spirit--well. He is to think and affirm only Health.

Spiritual Gifts.

We have a number of recognized psychic powers---"spiritual gifts"---but I wish to add a few that are not generally so recognized. The first is Music, the highest and purest expression of soul. All art is purely spiritual; and the purer the art, the nearer to pure Spirit. The more any attempt in art is removed from all considerations of life, except love for the art itself---removed from monetary considerations, from precedent, morality, etc.---the purer the art and the more perfect the manifestation of Spirit. Wagner is credited with the insight of saying "If we had real life, we should need no art." The love of the beautiful is the test of spiritual unfoldment. Beauty is Divinity. Hence all the fine arts are psychic in origin. Poetry is especially a psychic gift. It is the child of beauty and melody. Hence, from oracle to seance, we have the improvisatrice, and all men in their natural state and all children are poets.

Classification of Psychic Power.

Thus a classification of the psychic faculties which it is the province of Soul Culture to develop will include Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Landscape Gardening, Rhetoric, Poetry, Health, Inspiration, Intuition, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Prophecy and Psychometry. We here have a field comprising all there is in life worth living for, all there is to reward one for living, excepting the one thing that is above all others, and above all classification, for that one thing is the very highest manifestation of Life; it is the Everlasting Life, the pure life of the Spirit, dimly shining through the mists of error; it is---LOVE.

Love.

Love is the first and last expression of Spirit. Love is its highest and purest expression. It is the highest of which the intellect can conceive. It is ever the controlling force in life. Each individual is controlled by his loves; there is no progress for him in any line until his love is moved in that direction; he then moves without solicitation. All spiritual development is made manifest through love. It is the barometer of life recording in manifestation the progress of the soul's unfoldment. Love is all Paul declared it to be when he said: "The greatest of these is Love." It is all Jesus declared when he gave the new commandment, "Love one another," thus making it the one condition to spiritual life. It is all he meant when he said, "God is Love." To present human thought, Love is the highest known or possible manifestation of power. It represents to us the most beneficent, as well as the controlling, force of the universe within man, and, since it is such, it must be his God. It is the holiest as well as the most powerful of emotions. It is ever present, and is the force out of which all the rest come. Thought is Love reduced in potential and pitch.

Ultimate Power.

The Soul Culturist, therefore, must deal . with Love as his ultimate power, just as the electrician deals with his ultimate power. He does this by methods as rational. Recognizing it as the one force, the one manifestation of Unity, he seeks in Love alone to unfold his psychic powers.

Speed of Vibration.

The intensity of the vibrations of Light has been measured, but not those of magnetism, for they are too swift for any conception of time to enter into the calculation of them. Thought is swifter than magnetism by multiplied vibration, but Love is many times the multiplied vibrations of Thought. Love can be studied by its manifestations in sensation, as sound and light are studied and known.

Love's Pitch and Octaves,

Like all other forms in which Unity . manifests through vibration, Love has its pitch and its octaves and, somewhere in the infinite scale, each human life is placed. The only possible development of any life is to raise or lower its pitch, to increase or diminish its potential. How to do this, and how to transform Love to Thought in obedience to the mechanical Law of Conservation of Energy, is the secret the Sphinx of Time shall yet reveal.

Love of Truth.

There is one ever present starting point in Soul Culture---Love of Truth. This Love, it must not be forgotten, is power; as real power as is steam in the boiler. It is the power that manifests in the development of those faculties we de-sire. Love must be thought of as Force, must be held in our consciousness as Force, just as the electrician in the power-house holds, in his consciousness, Force as his thought of electricity. Love of Truth is our initial point. Love of Truth is the power with which we work. "God will not manifest himself to cowards,"says Emerson; he cannot, if He would, manifest in liars, hypocrites and slaves. Only to the extent that one is truthful, brave, honest and loving, has he any independent spiritual life. All that he may seem to have is but the race accumulation for which he has no responsibility, and hence in which he has no real possession; he is but using the race and animal instinct instead of being, as he should be, an independent, self-controlled individual. To the extent that men manifest love, they are spiritual. As far as they control their love through desire for truth and goodness, they are human, are outgrowing the tiger in them and leaving the remnants of the ape behind.

Safety.

In this love of truth alone is it safe to seek psychic unfoldment. To seek in any other love, is to fall into what the occultists call "black magic," which is the development of power without knowledge or guidance; is putting power into animal, into undeveloped man. This, like all undirected or wrongly directed power, injures temporarily the individual. The ultimate result---unfoldment---is, however, the same; but this road leads through, it may be, centuries of suffering. To seek in any other than love of truth, is to repeat the scandals, the sufferings, failures, and complicated work of the Christian sects and of mediumship; or to sink into the intellectual follies of sectarian "Christian Scientists," who have abandoned love of truth for love of a certain expression of truth and for "a founder" of a sect. Love of truth, pure and simple, is liberty; and, without liberty, no independent life, no living Truth.

The Law.

To seek in love of money, power, fame, or any lesser motive than love of Goodness and Truth, is to invite suffering and development through suffering. It is "to sow corruption" that one may reap the same. The law is: "Seek ye first the kingdom of Good and its right living, then all spiritual growth shall be added unto you." There is no limit to human manifestation when once, by this means, the way is opened. One thus becomes an Enlightened man. He lives in "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The light is in himself. He lives neither by the borrowed light of his neighbors, nor of his century.

Concentration.

In this Love-of-Truth, let one concentrate all his thoughts and desires for a time each day. In that concentrated state of mind, "let" the soul be heard. After you have, by desire and expectancy, given it direction, "let" it have its way. In hypnotic terms, after you have given yourself command by Auto-Suggestion, let the sub-conscious part of your being have its expression. All knowledge and power are either latent in the soul or lie behind the soul, ready, on opportunity, to flow into expression and, whenever they are "let," they flow. This condition of "letting" is that of natural somnambulence; of the artificial somnambulence of hypnotism; that of the "Scientist" when "In the Silence"; of the Hindoo in meditation; of the crystal gazer and the card reader. It is concentration. The thing upon which the gaze is concentrated, or whether or not there be anything, is unimportant. The mental state is all.

Involuntary Concentration.

This is identical with that natural condition of involuntary concentration in which the bookkeeper calculates in midst of noise, the editor writes and the mechanic works. The one does it on compulsion of necessity till it becomes habit, the other does it with a predetermined purpose and at will. Such concentration is the key to success in every direction; its opposite---diffusion---is the cause of all failure, be it failure in health, business or love. It is the key to all occult and ancient mysteries.

Practice.

One must, therefore, practice concentration until it becomes not merely habit, but a new instinct. One must learn to rise above the life of sense, to ignore the coarser vibrations and the sensations that arise from them, known as the five senses, and to live in the finer sensations. That the hypnotic subject does this and opens the door to the storehouse of the subconscious, demonstrates that every person, by the same process of Suggestion, can do the same. In Soul Culture, we are seeking to give liberty of expression to whatever latent knowledge the conscious Ego may desire and determine. The fundamental affirmation, I am Spirit, means, I am all that Spirit is. The Soul Culturist affirms:---Since Spirit is Truth, Love, Power, Wisdom, I am Truth, Love, Power, and Wisdom. I am any other possible manifestation that Spirit is. Spirit is all this in potentiality; I may be all this in manifestation. I am part of indivisible Spirit in Spirit. I am an individual manifestation of Spirit in Spirit. Even as an electric spark can say: "I am electricity in electricity, but I am also an individual manifestation of electricity," so can I say: "I am Spirit."

How to Consciously Manifest.

To manifest any of this latent wisdom and power consciously, one must believe he possesses and then try to manifest, even as he tried when a child his powers of locomotion which his parents taught him he possessed, and, believing, he tried and found. Believing he can gee, expecting to see, or at least hoping to see, one looks. Even so, hoping at least to see that which the external eye cannot see, let him who would see, look; and, in due time, he shall say with the poet-artist, William Blake: "I assert that I do not behold the outward creation, and that it is to me a hindrance and not an action. I question not my corporeal eye any more than I would question a window concerning a sight. I look through it, and not with it." And more; such an one shall see, as John saw, the spiritual city, not "coming down from heaven," but all about him, in the midst of which he lives, as he lives in this cruder city of the senses; that is, he lives in the spiritual, as he lives in the sense life, by sensation alone. He will have learned to recognize those finer sensations that come from the more beautiful and powerful, because more intensified, vibrations of Spirit.

The Coming Man.

His world will not be merely that which is seen and felt by the ordinary dull man; it will be that of the refined, sensitive "coming man" who will "feel" octaves of vibrations not sensed by one who lives in the octaves of the senses. This finer universe will be as real to him as the harmony that the uneducated, non-musical ear cannot hear is real to the ear of the leader of the orchestra; as real as the sunset, to whose vibrations the eye of the blind is not sensitive, is real to the eye of the artist. It is only a question of unfolded sensitiveness to the unseen, but ever present vibration and the recognition of the response born within the Soul.

Scientifically Attained.

All this desired condition can be as scientifically developed and cultivated as have been the recognition of sound in music, of light in painting, of touch in blind and of tact in society. By devoting a little time intelligently each day, less than it takes to make a musician, one may become clairvoyant, psychometric, or inspirational, and thus grow to the condition desired by Rev. John White Chadwick, a desire which is almost universal; it is beautifully prayed for in these words:

I might be strong to turn my eyes away

To where the eternal stars so plainly shine

Truth, Beauty, Good---and by that vision blest---

Lifting my heart to make its clearness mine---

Taste then, earthbound, the everlasting rest.

INTRODUCTION TO PART 2

From the Philosophy, we now turn to the Principle of Expression. From Science of Life, we turn to the "Art of Living." From "Preaching," we turn to "Practice," remembering that he who cannot "preach better than he practices" will never unfold. For the Ideal, which is the Real of the Soul, must necessarily precede all unfoldment.

That we live, is no evidence that we are now artists. That our lives are not what we desire is evidence that we are poor workmen and that we have not learned to be artisans even. We are bunglers. Disease, failure and unhappiness are evidences of the ignorant and bungling nature of our work. Since Life is power and Art, either useful or beautiful, is but the application of power under intelligent direction, we can make life an Art only by intelligently directing the one power by which Life is directed. That power is Thought. To think as we wish to be, is to BE that_ which we wish to be. Such thinking conies to him who knows the origin of his thought. He chooses only those thoughts which cause health, happiness and prosperity. Our thoughts are caused by Suggestion. To know what Suggestion to accept and thus make into an Affirmation and what Suggestion to ignore, is to control life's expression--- is to be Masters of Fate.

This is taught in Part II. It is recommended that this part be studied until it becomes as familiar as the alphabet. The principles will then be lived. The student will thus become an adept in the mystery of life and an Artist in living.

PART 2. SUGGESTION: ITS PLACE AND POWER

Definition.

Suggestion, in ordinary speech, means anything addressed to the senses, anything that causes an idea in the mind. Thus each individual thing in one's environment is, at all times, a Suggestion. A Suggestion is whatever from without awakens a thought, whatever "sets a man to thinking." It is thus an ever present factor in life; and, in this respect, it is true that "Suggestion rules the world." But, to rule, the Suggestion must be taken by the mind as truth. It is then converted into Auto-Suggestion.

Auto-Suggestion.

This is a Suggestion given by the individual to himself; it is born of conviction of truth. Each individual is controlled by his convictions, that is, by Auto-Suggestion by his Affirmations. In this view, it is not Suggestion but Auto-Suggestion---Affirmation---that rules the world; however, in common thought, this cause and effect, Suggestion and Affirmation, are one. Therefore, it is near enough in fact to say, "Suggestion rules the world," for, until man learns to give himself Suggestions independent of external condition, Suggestion is the primal manifestation of power. When he reaches that plane of development where he is controlled by Affirmation, he becomes, through this power of Affirmation, the creator of his own destiny.

Technical Definition.

But, while this is the meaning of Suggestion in ordinary speech, there is a technical use of the word. Suggestion, as used by mental scientists, suggestionists, and hypnotists, means an intelligent use of this ever present power with a predetermined purpose to create a certain idea in another's mind. It is intelligent use of Suggestion to cause a person to think and to act from a chosen thought. Like all other arts, it is the intelligent use of power. The Art of Suggestion is the greatest of all arts, and, as a consequence, is the one most potent for good.

Control of Evolution.

Civilization is but ideas materialized. Thoughts control life. While they are not things, they are power; thus they are the creator of things. The thought in mind of warrior, statesman, artist, becomes the victory, the state, the statute. As thoughts change, so does all external life change; all progress, all reform, began in the change of thought in some one individual. Heretofore this change has been, as in savage man, merely instinctive; but, as man, by conscious thought, has become a factor in changing the world into better conditions; as he has at will changed grass to wheat, and scrub to blooded stock, so is he now becoming a conscious factor in his own evolution. He is beginning to realize that the only power by which he has wrought has been that of Thought. He is learning that Thought is as easily controlled and made to do selected work as is steam or electricity. He has only to think rightly to have whatever he wishes, either in person or in environment.

"In His Heart."

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," said the ancient prophet. The key to this Affirmation is the words, "in his heart." Interpreted, it reads: "Profound convictions control the life." In scientific terms, it is this: Man is controlled by Affirmation. Therefore, to make life's expression what we wish, we are to hold our wish as to a reality, a profound conviction; it will then materialize. Life is as easily molded into desired forms as is clay by the potter. Clay takes the shape of the thought in the mind. The child's body at birth is molded by the mother's thought; he follows the evolution of that thought until he begins to think for himself; then he begins to reshape his body; and, somewhat consciously but to a greater degree unconsciously, he is doing this every moment of time. When he shall understand his power, he will shape body and environment, at will, to his desires.

Disease, Thought Created.

Thus, by Suggestion, man to-day, without intention, builds his body into disease, old age, weakness, pain and death; builds his environment into poverty and squalor, His mental conditions of unhappiness and sorrow have materialized. When he shall never hold these ideas of bodily decay, of pain, or poverty, but, in their stead, will hold "in his heart" ideals of youth, health, vigor and plenty, there will be to him no more of life's ills. He will have, instead, realization of these beautiful ideals.

Place of Suggestion.

This is the place and the power of Suggestion in the New Thought. This Art places in the control of man his fate by teaching him how to think. It demonstrates that, by right thinking, man may be now that which at times he dreams of being---ever youthful, healthful, happy and free from care. This is possible for all. The Art is as easily taught as is the use of the magnet. Many lives demonstrate it now. Would you know the law? Here it is: Never think a thing that you do not wish to materialize as a fact. I will put it in another way: Suggest to yourself that that is true which you desire to be true. "Believe and be saved," was the command of Jesus; believe that to be true which you wish to be true, and it will manifest in your life as truth.

Illustrations.

You wish health. Affirm Health. Think Health. Hold the picture of yourself in health before your mind, just as the artist holds that of the statue he is carving from the marble. Hold it persistently and you will create health. Do you wish relief from poverty? Hold the idea of plenty to use, to enjoy, not to hoard, not to oppress, but to bless, and it will as surely come as rose from bud. This is the power of the Christian Scientist, the Divine Scientist, the Mental Scientist, the Soul Culturist, the Hypnotist, the Suggestionist; they all use the power of Suggestion and Affirmation, each more or less understandingly. It is the power of priest, politician, street fakir, auctioneer; of teacher, doctor, and reformer. All of these use it instinctively, for it is all the power man has---the power of Thought.

Affirmation.

The technical word in evidence here is AFFIRMATION. Affirm that which you wish and it will manifest in your life. Learn a lesson from the hypnotist. He says to the subject: "You cannot get up." He repeats it until the subject, because he accepts it as truth, cannot get up. He says: "You have a toothache," and repeats it until the painless jaw really aches. So do we say to ourselves: "I am sick, poor, old, unhappy, weak, penniless," until we make ourselves so. Now turn about; "repent" and affirm the opposite. Say, "I am rich, happy, healthy," until you find life changing its aspects. It will change when you say this from conviction. Realize that as Mind (or Spirit) you are now potentially all you desire. It lies in you, waiting expression. For what one man is, all men are. If one manifests as health, happiness and wealth, all men can. Let that power which is life in you manifest your desire. By Affirmation, direct the life-flow your way.

All is Good.

One affirmation contains all that is necessary for Good. a perfect life. It is this: ALL IS GOOD. This is faith in the Providence of the Universe, faith in the intelligence and wisdom of that Almighty Power that out of Itself said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The All-Power is good. All manifestations come from It, therefore all are good. All is Good, used as an Affirmation, becomes reality---redeems the individual from all ills.

Power of Choice.

With this understanding of Suggestion as an ever-present factor in life, goes also the understanding that, whenever one has attained power to select Suggestions and to reject those he does not wish, he has attained the power of controlling his thought. To control thought, is to be the Conscious Creator of Destiny! ---to be the Master of Fate. So great is this fact that it requires desire, time and repetition before it can be realized in the daily manifestations of life. Therefore this principle of Suggestion is further unfolded.

How to Suggest.

Remember, a Suggestion is whatever is used intelligently to induce a desired mental condition in another mind. An Affirmation is a Suggestion accepted and made Truth. A statement of Truth in the indicative mood, present tense, is the controlling power in the individual life. We have here a basis from which to begin the work of assuming conscious control of life and of molding its expression to our will. Realizing that life has heretofore been controlled from without---that is, that we have Affirmed because Suggestions were accepted, that we have not heretofore thought of a choice in Suggestions we have accepted---we are ready to learn that we can suggest to ourselves; that Affirmations arising from desire can be voluntarily used. These Affirmations will control the expression of life.

The Great Law.

All the power of Suggestion is multiplied many fold when it becomes Affirmation born from desire. The Master in Life will use, as the power to control the Sub-conscious in its expression, Affirmations born in Desire. THAT WHICH HE WISHES TO BE, HE WILL AFFIRM THAT HE IS. This is the Great Law---the most important law man has yet discovered. By obeying this Law, he will control his life; will make the channel for "the current that knows its way." There is one mighty factor to use in this control: WILL. Grapple to this Affirmation--- I AM---with the WILL. With this grapple, there is no failure. Every Affirmation placed in charge of the Will and let alone will find expression, will be realized. When this is understood, when the beauty and necessity of Affirmation is seen, then the place and purpose of my monthly journal---NOW---will be appreciated. No matter what the culture, position, means or external condition may be, they are valueless in the life and are enslaving conditions until, by conscious Affirmation. through Will, they are used as the means of Soulgrowth---the means to self-mastery.

Morgan.

J. Pierpont Morgan is not master of self, though he is almost master of all earth's transportation, for he is liable to awaken any morning ill; to find himself paralyzed; to become demented; to find fire, flood, famine or war has reduced him to beggary. He can die by disease, bullet or starvation. The poorest tramp may outlive him, may be happier and may die richer. He has not conquered Fate, and will not until he realizes that all these things, the insignia of earthly power, are of no value to the Soul, which has power to create, to call at will all it needs; until he has passed beyond the necessity of disease and sorrow and even holds death at bay; and until he has learned that he can, at will, change these manifestations of crude vibrations of flesh for the finer ones of Spirit.

The Law of Life.

And yet Truth is so simple, the Mastery of Life. so easily acquired. A child may learn it.

It is laid down in this simple Law of Life: Affirm that which you desire to be as a present reality. Live as if it were already manifest and you shall find it manifest. I must repeat here that Truth Affirmed is the controller of life. Affirmations are the within side of Truth. No perception of Truth ever meant so much for mankind as this LAW. It means that all man ever dreamed is within his reach. He has to take it by Affirmation only. The line of evolution in man is toward Self-Control---Conscious direction of the manifestations of life. The animal is fast being outgrown, and MAN is coming into expression.

From Within or Without.

Controlled in some form, life must be. If not from Within, then from Without. The question I now place before you is this: Which shall it be? Will you be Self-Controlled or be the tool, the play, the slave of circumstances? To control railroads, telegraphs, labor, capital, armies, is to control the Without. It is not to control SELF. The person who controls these is himself controlled by them; is the slave of circumstances. The Without-Law of Suggestion is Absolute in sway where the Within-Law of Affirmation is not invoked intelligently and consciously. No matter what or where we are, we act under Thought. As long as we obey without choice Thought born of Suggestion, we are slaves of the Without. When that Thought is self-chosen, then God has assumed the throne in His Kingdom, the Within, and His edicts are Affirmations. Absolutely he reigns. His edicts are never disobeyed. They are instantly executed. "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there WAS light." No time between command and execution---no time between cause and effect.

Man is Coming.

This development reached, MAN has come; the HUMAN is here; the animal, the instinctive, the automatic, has died out. MAN is here and all things are subject to him. This power of choice in Suggestion is the dividing line between man and brute. As soon as an individual makes a conscious choice, he has crossed the dividing line and is on the road to manhood. When that power of choice has developed so that he chooses every expression of his life and all circumstances obey his will, then, and not till then, has he arrived at MAN'S estate. MAN is coming. MAN IS HERE, whenever one realizes his power to choose, his power to BE!

Teacher's Duty.

The whole duty of the teacher in all departments is to direct, by Suggestion, the thought of his pupil. This control may be early won in life. Suggestion does not determine character, but, through Suggestion, character may be developed and molded into Selfhood. A Suggestion once accepted becomes an Affirmation. The individual then manifests, not as any person or persons may desire, but according to his inherent character. As all force acts in accordance to the instrument within which it is confined, so thought, being force, will act according to the instrumentality through which it manifests. Character is, in Suggestion, a permanent factor, changing only as the unfolding Soul---the I Am---shall change it. -To illustrate: While this essay was in progress, a friend invited me to attend the theater. I had not thought of going, was not conscious of any desire to go. But the Suggestion aroused the desire. I consented and went. The power of Suggestion ceased when I said, "Yes." I went in my thought, acted in my way and enjoyed in my way. My individuality determined how the Suggestion should affect me after I had exercised my choice and said, "Yes."

To You the Victory.

So is it in all affairs of life. To excuse one for doing anything because he or she was influenced by another, is to undermine Selfhood by destroying personal responsibility. To attain Mastery, or to assist another so to attain, insist at all times upon personal responsibility for conduct. All persons have the power to choose, and, by choice, they DO control their life. Now let each bear the effects of that choice and, by experience, learn to choose wisely. Never affirm that you are not responsible, would you achieve success in any undertaking. To you alone belongs the victory. Defeat is impossible, for all experience is victory. Wisdom is the guerdon of all struggle. Thus is the knowledge of Suggestion and Affirmation the knowledge above all other knowledge. It is the wisdom that makes all other knowledge of use. It is the only real, practical knowledge. It is the wisdom of wise choice and action.

Power of this Book.

A graduate from one of our first universities and now a teacher in a Normal Schools, after passing through my classes, said "You have made all my other knowledge available." A physician said: "You have only made of practical value that which I knew beforehand, but I had never formulated the common experiences into Law." This little book will do all this for you if you will let it. How? Assimilate it mentally as you have yesterday's food. Make it a part of your mental constitution. AFFIRM ITS TRUTH.

Praise, Etc.

No Suggestion acts against one's desire and will. One which awakens opposition produces an effect opposite to that desired. Instinctively understanding this and acting upon the principle that each one is ready to be helped the way he desires to go, that each one is willing to accept happiness and success, the world has found praise, adulation, flattery, insignia, social distinctions, to be Power. The wise man will use all Power, and to understand Power and how to use it as Suggestion, is to win success.

Fear.

Suggestions born of duty, necessity and fear, control most lives. When one becomes unfolded, Love will give all the Suggestions. "Love is the fulfillment of the law." Fear is the "Father of Lies," of all ills and evils. "From all Fear, Good Lord, deliver us," should be in the Litany. To be free from Suggestions born of fear, is to be free from illness, failure, poverty and sorrow. These Suggestions should be ignored and the opposite ones immediately affirmed. Hold these last till they are the constant mental attitude, then no more Fear. Affirm, I AM FEARLESS!

No Power to Harm.

There is no power Without to harm. All power is lodged Within, where God's kingdom IS. Whatever is not in harmony with Truth is non-existent, hence has no power. Truth at all times is Power and is entirely GOOD. Therefore "Fear no evil.- Lies and slanders have no power; for they are devoid of Truth. Pay no attention to them. To attend to them even by so much as a thought or wish, is to put power into them. The harm comes from Within, not from the lie. Soon you will come to see that no one has power to harm you but yourself. A lie harms the teller. So is it with all the evil we would do to another. In settling with a business man recently, he remarked: "Since you have kept no account, are you not afraid that I have cheated you?" "You cannot," was my reply. "You can only cheat yourself. Every dollar that you take dishonestly will reduce your power in business, destroy your happiness and injure your health. You cannot take a cent from me, for my Supply is Infinite. The Lord IS my shepherd. I DO NOT WANT." "Well, I wish every one dealt so, it would be a better world," was his remark. "The world is all Good to me now," I replied as I walked out of the door. Take this lesson! Live it! Then ALL is GOOD to you.

Power of Scientists," Etc

Here again you have the secret of ". all the works of "Christian," "Divine," "Mental" and other "Scientists," "Metaphysicians," "Faith Healers," "Prayer Cures," etc., etc. The Power is exactly that which the hypnotist and the practitioner of "Suggestive Therapeutics" use. No matter if this be denied, he who has studied Suggestion knows that T. J. Shelton, Mrs. Helen Wilmans, Mrs. Eddy and all the rest use Suggestion. Not to use it, they must become non-existent. What other subtle forces there may be---and I think they are infinite as are the possible number of vibrations---yet the director of these forces is Suggestion. But for this power of Suggestion, they would never have a patient. Each paper, book or letter sent out by any Scientist is a Suggestion, and, as irrigating ditch carries water, so does the Suggestion carry the power these healers wield. The mistake is, that one claims All, and another All, when ALL have ALL. All work by the ALL-Power.

One Power to Heal.

As Life is ONE, there can be but ONE healing Power, and that is Life itself. No person ever healed another. Healers have used Suggestion and will more intelligently use it. Acceptance of the Suggestion---the Affirmation--- does the healing. The Suggestion may be conveyed in a thousand ways. Look, attitude, speech, anything addressed to the Ego through any of the five senses, or through any possible channel, is a Suggestion. Hence Telepathy is a most potent channel, because it arouses no opposition in the conscious life. Telepathy is the Power in absent treatments. Whoever has learned Concentration can do all Mrs. Eddy or Mrs. Wilmans does. It is the common heritage of man.

Cannon and Powder.

As chamber of cannon to powder, so is Suggestion to all Soul forces. It is the Conscious will of Man directing the expression of the Sub-Conscious life. It is Mastery! Remember:---To thus direct, to thus realize that the Divine power in you is subject to your Thought, is to attain the pinnacle of knowledge and have the All at your command. It is to be a Special Creator under the Absolute Law of Creation. We thus create our environment---Create ourselves. We become that which we wish to be. The road is through Affirmation. To control life, understand and control Suggestion and the results are those you have desired and chosen. This is to be your Affirmation daily: "I choose my life. I affirm Truth. Truth affirmed molds my body and environment to my desire, as potter molds clay. I make my life to my choice. I am creator." By thus affirming, you have become "Conscious Law" and "King of Kings."

Millennium Here.

Knowing the power of Suggestion, its intelligent use, we who have studied and practiced it see in it the fulfillment of the prophecy and expectation of the millennium. It is here now in every heart that affirms, ALL IS GOOD.

Fear.

Fear being the cause of all ills, failures and unhappiness, it is the first condition to be outgrown. To outgrow fear, learn how to Affirm Fearlessness. Let the thought used be this in any form of words you may choose to put it: "I am fearless. I dare to do anything I desire." Whenever anything comes to cause a thought of fear, make this affirmation. Then do in mind that which you fear and act it in the external when it is possible. Conquer fear by Affirmation and prove you have conquered by doing the thing feared. There is not an Affirmation that brings health and happiness sooner than this:---I AM FEARLESS!

Health.

For health, do not recognize disease in your thought. To think upon disease, to brood upon it, is to invite it---is to suggest it upon yourself. Therefore, think only of Health. Ignore disease in thought; think health. Let the Affirmation be something like this:

"I am Life. I am Spirit. I am Mind. As Life, I cannot know sickness. As Life, I am at all times well. As Spirit, I am well. Spirit cannot be sick. I am a perfect manifestation of Spirit. Perfection is health, peace and joy. As Mind, I am ever in perfect health. As Mind, I cannot be ill. I affirm myself Mind. I live as Mind above all death, pain, disease, decay, sorrow, failure and unrest. I am Soul. Soul is a perfect manifestation of God. God cannot know sickness or pain. I am ONE with God. I am well. I am not separate from Him. I live and move in this thought of Unity and manifest each day my oneness in health. I am Health! I am Peace! I am Joy!" Make these Affirmations and forget that you have made them by living them. Be, in expression, that which you Affirm. Life flows as naturally and as harmoniously as sunlight. Affirm! Forget! and let it flow.

Prosperity.

Affirm Success in all your undertakings. No matter what discouragements come, affirm Success. Declare yourself Prosperous. Let no thought of discouragement come into your mind. Affirm "All is Mine. From the ALL each day comes to me that which I need."

Affirm this and forget the necessity of affirming. In the Affirmation, you have sent a message to the only Power that can bring success to the sub-conscious, the Ego---and when you LET, the Ego will bring Success. Think Success, act as if you were Success, and you are Success. Failures come because, when we are tried, we fail to cling to the Ideal of Success. Hold to your Ideal of Success the tighter when seeming failure comes. Affirm Success under all trials and discouragements and success is as surely yours as the mist is, because of the persistent drawings of the sun.

SUPPLEMENT TO THIS FIFTH EDITION

To My Readers, Greeting:

Owing to the condensation of the matter in this edition, the type being set "solid," rather than "leaded," as in previous editions, we have the same amount of reading matter in less space. I am asked by the manager of "Now" Folk to fill this space with a word to the reader concerning the book and our growth since its first appearance.

This book is my first. We called it "My baby" for a year. It has sold, to our surprise, and taken my name all around the world. It has received praise and commendation wherever the English language is read. From none have I received finer appreciation than from several Hindu Swamis. An Arab teacher of occultism when reading it at the request of 0 Hasnu Hara, editor of "The English Magazine of Mysteries," replied when she asked his opinion of it: "That man knows!" To be tried by a jury of his peers is the desire of every author. I know by the only test possible the truth of that which I have here written. It is the test which I have recommended you in this book to use, i. e., DEMONSTRATION. "Learn to do by doing," is the only true method of education. I have demonstrated the thought of this book to be TRUTH by living it.

It is not possible to estimate how much this book has done to awaken an interest in Suggestion. But I know by many letters that it has been a factor in the world's evolution along the line awakening the consciousness of the Human Soul to a realization of itself as a manifestation of Omnipotence. It has brought many to a rational understanding of an intelligent application of this most important Law of Life, which is also the only Law of human control ---The Law of Suggestion.

When this book was first published there was far more confusion in the thought of Suggestion, even among teachers, than at present. The subject was shunned even by New Thought teachers generally, and was much muddled in the teaching of many and feared by others. Now it is a common word, well understood by all leading exponents of the various paths.

My magazine, then in its 2d Volume, was fearless in its annunciation of this Law, on its positive side known as Affirmation. Instructions and formulas for denials were then common. Now they are the exception. The Law of Suggestion is now so well understood that few teachers advocate negative propositions. Affirmation is Auto-Suggestion, and whatever I suggest, to myself, that I am.

Students are coming to understand that this Law of Suggestion lies at the base of occultism, both ancient and modern. It underlies Spiritualism and what are termed Suggestive Therapeutics and Magnetic healing; it is the life there is in Osteopathy, "Christian," "Divine" and "Mental" Science, and in the various systems of health treatments now attracting attention. Could suggestion be removed from any system of theology or medicine, it would fail. Authors upon reform and even those writing upon business success; are realizing the value of a knowledge of Suggestion.

For these reasons this little book fills a place among the more pretentious ones, since it brings the Law home to the individual; teaching him through its conscious and intelligent use how to control his fate and make his destiny to his will.

My co-laborers and myself are fast learning to direct our lives by Affirmation. We are realizing our power through Mental Pictures, through the Ideal, to direct our life. We are learning when we have made these pictures, to hold to them, and LET the Universal Life materialize them. We can build through Affirmation only. He who so consciously builds, builds to his will. This fact is one this book forces upon the consciousness of its readers. So many write me: "You have taught me that I can." I would, therefore, have this thought go with you as you lay it down: I have power to mould my life to my will. I mould it through the Law of Suggestion. I affirm and become that which I affirm.

When this book was written I had but recently begun my work in San Francisco, not dreaming what its evolution has been, and I was wholly unacquainted with the work of authorship and of publishing. I had obeyed the promptings of my Soul, my intuitions in settling here; I had obeyed them in writing and later in printing the book. Unexpected assistance opened the way to is publication. I started my magazine through the same faith, in Truth as I heard it in the inner consciousness. Two young men had joined me and with the publication of this we formed the nucleus of what has grown to be "NOW" Folk. We are now an incorporated company with a fair prospect of seeing my Mental Picture materialize:---my Ideal Mountain Home founded with hotel, sanitarium, schools, printing plant and various industries where mutual lovers work for mutual good, in love of their work. This Ideal is materializing. I have held it as a reality for ten years; as a dream for twenty-five years. It comes now in accordance with the Law of Expression, which is the Law by which all Ideals materialize. Ideals find objective expression according to the fidelity with which they are held as present realities. "According to thy faith" is not limited to improving bodily conditions, but covers the whole range of human experience; war and peace, business and home, love and duty, politics and religion, marriage and divorce, birth and death, are all controlled by this Law of Ideal Suggestion---That which I think, that I am!

Realizing this power of Thought, I had written before this book, the articles now composing "Man's Greatest Discovery" which I consider my most important book thus far, as it deals with the Power and the Principle of Individual Life. Upon this fact THOUGHT IS POWER. .. .all future science, philosophy and art will be based. From the knowledge of this fact all my works have originated and upon it all my instruction is based.

Through faith in our power, through right thinking, to create, are the plans of "NOW" Folk materializing. Thought will hereafter build that Home, Sanitarium and Schools, and whatever else we desire because we affirm. I have power to build my life to my desire. Daily are we learning where that power lies; daily learning how to direct it. But it is not our thought alone that will do this; we are reinforced by every thought our readers send us, be it for or against us, it makes no difference. The windmill uses every breeze, no matter from whence it comes. All power manifests in accordance with the instrument it uses. So Thought, being Power, when it comes to us from without, is used by our Mental attitude, and since we hold to nothing but Good, all power must manifest goodness for us. Therefore, all who think of us help us in any way in our work for Truth through Love of Truth.

Realizing the power of Thought to control external conditions, and the power of Suggestion to overcome conditions, I wrote my "Dollars want me," a brochure as revolutionary in its thought as in its title. "I want dollars" is the ordinary cry. "I want!" is humanity's cry, instead of being, as it should be, "I POSSESS!" Affirming possession, we enter into the realization of possession. Without this realization we may be poor with millions in our hands. "He is poor who thinks himself poor!" says Emerson. I can imagine no greater good I can do my fellows than to enable them to replace poverty thoughts and pictures with those of opulence. I wrote for this I say in my "Introduction" "To help you to rise above the drudgery of enforced labor!" I believe in freedom and in free men. Necessity is as much a Master as the slave-driver with a whip. I have the consciousness of knowing that the mere Suggestion "Dollars want me!" has changed the conditions of hundreds of its readers. I would like this little book to be scattered as a tract, for there could be no more effective arbitrator between capital and labor; no more humanizer for the selfish and idle; no more stimulating thought to the weary rich, than is the thought it bears: Wealth is for enjoyment through use.

"How to Control Fate" soon after its publication called forth my "Not Hypnotism but Suggestion," than which no book is more needed today by the masses. It is becoming common for the idler the foolish, the weak and the vicious to use "Hypnotism" as a scapegoat, and to excuse themselves by saying: "I was hypnotised!" when every expert in Suggestion knows that character determines the reception or rejection of a Suggestion; that where it is used as an excuse it is a case of lack of self reliance, a case always of self-hypnotism. No greater evil is possible than that teaching which lessens personal responsibility for conduct. The weak and vicious are ever seeking an excuse for that which they alone are responsible. Because of this, theories of predestination, heredity, karma, circumstance, influence, spirits, devil, or hypnotism are created and used as an excuse. Excuse is one of the most poisonous of thoughts, for it undermines character, weakens the powers of resistance, lessens faith in self and inculcates a belief in what is worse than ancient demonism by locating power in things outside the Soul. There is but one sure foundation for individual and for national integrity, but one sure foundation for character, and that is SELF RELIANCE. Self-reliance must find its rise in Self Knowledge and Self Respect. For this reason I feel that I am in my work practicalizing America's greatest essay... Emerson's "Self-Reliance." All my writings are pitched to the one keynote. BE THYSELF!

The object of this book, and all my books, magazines and lessons is to assist others in finding themselves, for each is Power to overcome all conditions and circumstances, and the Power with each is directed in the Will. This Will is trained and directed only through faith in self. "I Can is the Affirmation of Character, Health and Happiness. Self assertion its one name.

Through the success of these books I became aware of the world-wide interest now manifested in New Thought, and felt that this stream needed guiding and clarifying. Therefore I wrote my "New Thought Primer; Origin, History and Principles of the Movement." This book is also a child of "How to Control Fate," for my purpose was, as much as anything, to bring to the intelligent the thought this movement was also Evolution, and that human enfoldment had ever been controlled by the Law of Suggestion.

There is no creation. Progress is but the coming into expression of that which eternally has been. New movements arise in a conception which is but an extension of a previous conception, and that of a previous conception, and so on back to primitive man, of a divine, infinite and eternal idea, which finds expression through human ideals. These ideals become incorporated into institutions, and a civilization which later ideals modify. Thus external conditions are but the materialization of Thoughts born in Suggestions. So arose New Thought. From previous glimpses of Truth we have now grown to a larger vision.

In like manner came the philosophy and the art of Suggestion. It began in Mesmerism, came up through "Animal Magnetism" and other forms of using Thought consciously, to control conduct, until the discovery was made that Thought was the only power used, and that it was one's own thought within himself that did the work in him.

Suggestion lies solely in the individual's power to think and power to choose what to think. From its conscious use in controlling conduct and curing bodily infirmities we have learned that it is equally powerful in changing material conditions and in creating environment to desire.

Thus my six hooks have arisen. They are the evolution of the one idea: Thought is Power and can be intelligently directed to the creation of one's own self and environment.

Had this first book . ."My Baby". .not been received, the rest would not have been. This opened the way for these others and those which are yet to follow. In its effect upon author and publishers it demonstrated the truth of the principle it taught. It has been also a material help in carrying on our work, for it used to come to us that they might assist in the work.

The theme is not exhausted. In dealing with Thought we are dealing with the mightiest Power subject to Human control. In dealing with the Soul we are dealing with Infinity and Eternity. The growing consciousness of Power will be an eternal unfoldment. The evolution of an idea is endless. Every day a new book is needed to record the increased perception of this idea of Thought as Power. I have many new ones as ideals in my mind and I will print them as soon as they can materialize. I propose to write twenty-five pamphlets like this.

Thus there are twenty more to come. These written I then propose to write several large volumes, unfolding a system of "NOW" Philosophy. It is for this reason that I desire the Home I mentioned above to materialize. This will give the leisure, the opportunity and the means that I need. What I will call the system I am as much at a loss now to know as was Herbert Spencer for years concerning his own. But the name will come, the means will come and at the right time the hooks will materialize. We control Fate through Suggestion made as these are in faith in Principle, faith in Self. I know all who read this book wish me to see them materialize. Your thought will be an added power to help. Means are to come for the preparatory work of pamphlet printing, which is but an introduction to the greater work.

I am just entering the productive period of my life. I write this on my sixty-fifth birthday. Was never so well in body, so clear in mind or so in love with, or so enthusiastic in, my work as now. I never listen to a Suggestion of Age, weariness or relief. I am in embryo all now that I wish to be. As bud unfolds into bloom, so will you and I unfold only that which we now are. Suggestion to this effect creates a mental condition which makes it easy for the germs within to come into expression. Therefore now affirm with me:--- I am ALL now, I desire to be and I have power to bring that which I am into manifestation. For this reason that Philosophy which I am will write itself at the right time. This little book is the first chapter.

It seems proper for me thus to take you, my reader, into my confidence since this little book that introduced me to the world starts out on its new edition. I desired to tell you how successfully the Law has worked in my case since November, 1901, when it started on its mission. Ten thousand copies have been disposed of, and each one has carried its message---BE THYSELF! They have won for me the love of thousands whose words of cheer I can only in this way reciprocate.

Soon I will come to you with a little book upon "Concentration." I am so often asked "How to Concentrate?" and what it means, that in answer to these questions, I write this as the next number in this series. I have also ready for publication a work on "The Practical Application of Suggestion in Daily Life."If you are seeking unfoldment we shall long keep company. We will be companions on the way.

A most encouraging feature of modern progress is a realization of the interest in things material giving way before interest in Soul. Psychic Research Societies and investigations in laboratories for the beginnings of life are but evidences of a demand for that for which there is as yet no adequate supply. From personal experience and from the testimony of thousands, I affirm that rest is found only in the Principles upon which all New Thought paths are based. Hunger drives birds to grain fields and deer to the winter corral; so soul-hunger drives men and women from the starvation of fashion, social dissipation, from business mart and sanitarium to the Mental Scientist, where they learn that their only Power, their only Possession, is themselves. Where they come into the realization that happiness does not consist in material things, friends or conditions, but does consist in a purely mental attitude toward one's self and the universe. Happiness, like all else, is a mental habit. He is happy who decides to be happy. The Suggestion of happiness creates happiness. A Suggestion of misery will create it in a palace. A Suggestion of peace will create peace in the midst of tumult. When one says, "I am unhappy," he or she creates that condition within the mind. When one says, "I am happy," they create happiness within the mind, its only habitation. "The kingdom of heaven" is the kingdom of happiness. It lies only within the consciousness, and depends only upon the Affirmation one uses.

Thus does one become the Master of Fate through decision and self-determination? "What shall be the Affirmation under which I live?" is the question. It is as easy to say, "I am Happy," as it is the reverse; as easy to create a habit of using these words as it is the habit of using their opposite. Optimism and pessimism are mental habits. Which shall it be? is a question each must decide for himself.

A gentleman said to me last night: "I cannot tell you what I owe to your instruction. I was a pessimist and unhappy when I entered your class. I now see everything from an opposite point of view, and am an optimist." Through a course in Suggestion he had learned that not only was he that which he thought, but that each thing had the effect upon him that he thought it would. Through expectancy he created the conditions for the effect affirmed.

This change will come to every one of my readers when this Thought, I AM THAT WHICH I THINK I AM shall become to them the mental incentive of action. As I think I am. I will think only that which I wish to be. I will think ideal things, and thus create happiness.

Dear reader, as my last admonition, I affirm that Happiness is the subjective side, the Cause of health. Unhappiness is the subjective side and the Cause of disease. Choose! Which shall it be? The old prophet said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." "The kingdom of God is within." Him I serve.

Truly your friend,

HENRY HARRISON BROWN.

San Francisco, June 26, 1905.

Table of Contents

Introduction To Part 1

Part 1. The Science and Philosophy of Life

Introduction To Part 2

Part 2. Suggestion: Its Place and Power

Supplement To This Fifth Edition