Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
- Ronald E. Osborn


Make Some Light!

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.

James Allen here reveals a truth: that which we receive is rightly aligned. Right action yields only right results—impure action yields impure results. Thus, man has the opportunity to accept the aligned nature of the universe and begin to focus upon and to energize good thoughts, word and action to yield good results. In the immortal words of ancient philosopher Hermes Trismegistus “As within, so without.”

When was a time that you held a thought, spoke a word, or took an action that created a positive result? What action will you commit to taking NOW—big or small—that creates a positive effect on your life or the life of one around you?

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In another and better world, things may be different, but in this world to grow is to change and to change is to have grown much.

- John Henry Cardinal Newman

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It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that one suffers because of one’s virtue; but not until a man has extirpated every sickly, bitter, and impure thought from his mind, and washed every sinful stain from his soul, can he be in a position to know and declare that his sufferings are the result of his good, and not of his bad qualities; and on the way to, yet long before he has reached, that supreme perfection, he will have found, working in his mind and life, the Great Law which is absolutely just, and which cannot, therefore, give good for evil, evil for good. Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know, looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that life is, and always was, justly ordered, and that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable outworking of his evolving, yet unevolved self.

James Allen here conveys that to the degree to which we experience suffering, we are holding within us the roots of that suffering. All outer expressions are simply feedback of where we are on our journey to purity. Herein lies the seed of compassionate Self-acceptance.

Are there areas in your life that you have judged yourself as powerless or unfulfilled? What would it look like for you to feel powerful and/or fulfilled in these areas? What one action can you take NOW—big or small—that you believe will move you closer to remaining in this powerful and/or fulfilled state?

Make Some Light!

A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor. - Victor Hugo

Make Some Light!

Circumstances, however, are so complicated, thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary so vastly with individuals, that a man's entire soul condition (although it may me known to himself) cannot be judged by another from the external aspect of this life alone. A man may be honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations; a man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually formed that the one man fails because of his particular honesty, and that the other prospers because of his particular dishonesty, is the result of superficial judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is almost totally corrupt, and that the honest man is almost entirely virtuous. In the light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience, such judgment is found to be erroneous. The dishonest man may have some admirable virtues which the other does not possess; and the honest man obnoxious vices which are absent in the other. The honest man reaps the good results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon himself the sufferings which his vices produce. The dishonest man likewise garners his own suffering and happiness.

James Allen here conveys that we are always more than we appear to be. No man is black or white, but shades of gray, growing through thoughts, words, actions and experiences in one direction or another; towards purity or murkiness. Outer expression alone is insufficient to evaluate the totality of a man-the honest man my hide dubious qualities, while the dishonest man may hold virtuous qualities. In truth, every man is both a sinner and a saint, and the totality of a man's life-results expresses in the outer world-both honest and dishonest man will experience happiness and suffering in line with his moral strengths and weaknesses.

Where do you experience a challenge in your life? What actions do your take or fail to take that contribute to this challenge? What different action can you take NOW-small or large-to shift this challenging circumstance in your life? What support do you need, from yourself or others, to begin to move away from the actions that create or perpetuate this challenging circumstance?

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I have introduced these three cases merely as illustrative of the truth that man is the causer (though nearly always unconsciously) of his circumstances, and that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts and desires which cannot possibly harmonize with that end. Such cases could be multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this is not necessary, as the reader can, if he so resolves, trace the action of the laws of thought in his own mind and life, and until this is done, mere external facts cannot serve as a ground of reasoning.

James Allen here introduces two essential concepts: (1) man is the sole creator of his circumstances, and (2) that creation is nearly always unconscious. This distinction explains how frequently a stated intention differs or competes with an unconscious intention that may be its direct opposite. Thus, man often works against his best efforts, self-sabotaging his conscious actions to feed his unconscious needs. The degree to which conscious action differs from stated intention reveals the unconscious master-the thought and need that is truly being served.

What have you always dreamed about doing, having or being? What would it feel like if you did, had or were that NOW? What has stopped you from doing, having or being this to date? What one action can you take NOW-big or small-to move towards doing, having or being what you've dreamed of?

Make Some Light!