I began the conversation by a protest against attributing the success
of Shakespeare so entirely to woman’s influence for “you cannot make a
statue out of basswood,” I said.
“Yes, you are right,” answered The Man, “but Shakespeare, you must
remember, won the love of this great woman, and thus proved his
capacity and ability to succeed. We succeed by means, that is by the
help of, others. Now take your pencil and paper and write what I speak--
“The word success scarcely carries the same meaning to two people, and
I will make no attempt now to a pedagogic definition of the word, but
simply a statement of facts which will not be disputed by any thinking
person.
“There are certain conditions which we see surrounding men that are
the reverse of success, and on these we are all agreed. So it might be
easier to state what success is not, than what it is.
“If we see a person whose face is filled with lines of anxious care,
proving to every passerby that the wearer of this look is nervous,
apprehensive, restless, fast losing the capacity for enjoying the good
things of life, we cannot call this person successful, though he is
a millionaire. Yet we find men whom we know are not worth a hundred
dollars, but their faces beam with the health that comes only from
right living. Their entire bodily attitude tells that they are in line
with the harmony of the universe. They are successful.
“The world is rich beyond the power of man to compute. We are just
beginning to turn the wheels of commerce with a motive power the vast
extent of which seems limitless, and which we use over and over again
without destroying its substance. The material things which go to make
life comfortable are in extent as boundless as is the oxygen which
makes the combustion that we call life possible. For do you think for
a moment that the Supreme Intelligence that quickened life into being
would make too much of this and only half enough of that, so men would
have plenty of air to breathe and plenty of water to drink, but only
half enough food or raiment?
“No, the world is rich--surpassing rich, but, alas! men are poor.
“One man gets many things more than he can use and makes himself poor,
that is, unsuccessful, by a vain attempt to keep that which in fact is
not his. He draws on the material world for more than he needs, but
fails to absorb from the world of spirit of the pure oxygen of life to
aid digestion; he is like a man who has eaten twice as much as he can
digest, he is full of fear and distrust and his life is a failure. He
is not a success.
“And we see men great and good in soul whose bodies are not properly
nourished and who shiver with the cold. This is not success.
“There is no virtue in poverty. To do without things we do not need
is both manly and right (for to do right is manly), but to deprive
ourselves of the bounties and blessings that have been provided for us,
is not only to be lacking in common sense, but it is to be guilty of
sin.
“So we say that the unsuccessful man is he who does not secure for his
_use_ all that which his being needs for its growth and advancement.
“I have spoken of the pure air we should breathe being supplied
in limitless quantities, but every physician knows that the most
prolific cause of disease is the breathing of a bad atmosphere. People
deliberately fire up the coal stove, close the drafts so that the
poison cannot escape up the chimney, shut down the windows and pray for
sweet, refreshing sleep. This is done as much out in the open country
as in the crowded city. At daylight this morning, just as the summer
sun was coming up from behind the far-away hills, I walked through the
sleeping village and noticed that in almost every house the windows
were tightly shut, blinds closed, and, of course, the doors locked to
keep out burglars, forgetful that the murderer who sought their lives
was already in the house.
“The rich in cities ride in closed carriages, breathing the same air
over and over. They are pale, yellow and despondent. The coachman rides
outside ruddy and full of life.
“Thousands upon thousands die yearly of consumption, a disease coming
entirely from improper breathing. If we use only a part of the
lungs, the rest of the cells collapse, decay and we die--die through
poverty--die through not using enough of that which is supplied so
plenteously. And, yet, air is free, but whether through ignorance or
inability (and ignorance is inability) we die, for nature takes no
thought of the individual. You must comply with her rules or suffer
from noncompliance. ‘Here are these good things,’ she says, ‘use them
freely;’ and if we do not know how to use them we suffer just as surely
as though we wilfully rebelled and knowingly said, ‘We will not use
them.’
“So if you ask me to define success, I will say that he is successful
who uses that which his well-being requires for its best development.
To fail is not to use what your physical, mental and moral well-being
demands. Whether you fail through ignorance of your needs or inability
to supply them makes no difference.
“Thus it might truthfully be said that no life is a complete success,
for no man lays hold on the forces of the universe and uses to the
fullest extent. So there are all degrees of success. Now I propose
to give a few plain and simple rules for securing to yourself that
which your body and soul demand, and when I speak of one’s ‘Being’ I
always mean body and soul--one no less than the other, for without soul
there would be no body--body is here the instrument of soul. And what
is more, I mean _worldly success_, for the world is but the sensual
manifestation of spirit. You cannot separate spirit from matter--matter
from intelligence.
“One of the worst mistakes man has made in times past has been the
attempt to separate things into two parts--the ‘sacred’ and the
‘worldly.’ All things are sacred. There is nothing above the natural.
There can be no ‘Super-Natural,’ without we say the supernatural is
natural, which is in fact the truth.
“The wheeling stars, the great sun which warms our planet into life
and light, every manifestation of beauty which we behold, man himself
with his aspirations, his longings and his unknown possibilities, are
_natural_. The natural is the all in all.
“We are here for growth, and live on the world. To achieve a success
here, is to achieve a worldly success; and the highest ambition any man
can have is to secure success, and the only success you can achieve
here is a worldly success.
“Success is the result of right thinking. ‘As a man thinketh so is he,’
and what is most encouraging to me is the thought that a gigantic brain
and a mighty grasp of mind are not at all necessary to success. The
secret is simple, and the wayfaring can comprehend it as well as the
prince. A few plain rules well followed and you are in the majority,
for all nature is on your side and working in your behalf. What need
you of influential friends? And yet the kind of thinking I am about to
describe will bring the noble and the powerful to your side. They will
seek your acquaintance, they will be your friends, and it will be their
delight to help you, for it is the way nature assists her children by
sending the love of good people. Night and day your spirit thinks. Stop
thinking now for five minutes and tell me what you thought. No, you
cannot stop. You may not remember what you thought, when you were in
your sleep, but you thought just the same. But, while you cannot stop
thinking you can direct the thought. You can control its tendency,
and in the course of time (not long either), you will think only good
thoughts--thoughts that will insure success to yourself and assist all
those with whom you come in contact.
“Success in every undertaking has come from a right mental attitude.
But your ambition must be worthy and founded on right or there can be
no success. There can be no such thing as a successful burglar, for
the act that is wrong brings a reaction that is weakness, defeat, and
disgrace--the end may be postponed for a day, but the result is no
less sure; while the reaction from a good act brings to the person an
increased self-respect, a power for good, and this is his reward.
“I will not attempt to give one plan for success in business, another
for success in religious work, and another set of rules for scholarly
attainment. We cannot separate life into parts, for there can be no
success in a business that is not right, but if your business is
honorable it affords you a most excellent opportunity for the exercise
of spiritual and mental attainment. You cannot imagine a sincere
follower of Truth being engaged in a bad business, and the personal
contact which a profession or business gives a man with other men
affords him the opportunity to let his light shine.
“The first requisite of success is to know what you desire. Misty,
uncertain hopes and changing wishes bring uncertain results. The reason
we hear so much of luck and chance in life is on account of the absence
of clear ideals. You must work out in your own mind what you wish to
achieve. Are you a clerk in a big store, and see yourself in the future
always as a clerk, you will always be one. Suppose, on the other hand,
you see yourself in imagination as the head of the establishment, and
hold this constantly in mind as you work away in your lowly position
day after day. This very thought is bringing you toward your ideal.
You will have an alertness for business, a desire to please, and the
welfare of the establishment will be constantly before you. You will
always be on time, and when there is extra work you will remain a
little later and never think of asking if you are to be paid for over
time.
“This cheerful and attentive disposition is sure to bring you
promotion, and even over the heads of older employees. When a foreman
is wanted for the head of a department you will be the one selected--no
mistake, it cannot be otherwise. The ideal you hold in your mind is
coming toward you sure. The whirligig of time, which is ever sifting,
assorting, and bringing to the top the best, is a spiritual law as
strong as fate--in fact, it is fate--and you will be the head of this
establishment, and a rich man.
“We do not say that to be the head of a big business and to be rich are
the chief ends for which to work, but as far as you prize these things,
you can only secure them in the way I have mentioned.
“If you are a country school-teacher, on a small salary, and never
expect to be invited to teach in a higher school, you never will. But
if your ambition is to be principal in a college, you can attain this
position. You will read the educational journals, and will know all
of the great teachers who now live, and all of those who have gone
before. Their names and lives will be familiar to you. You will dwell
in thought on the virtues of Roger Ascham, and Arnold of Rugby will be
your friend. You will attend the Teachers’ Institutes and take part,
too, and encourage the leader by your sympathy. You will attract to
your side all the good teachers in the neighborhood, and will soon be
in communication with the chief educators in the country, and your
promotion is sure as sunrise. As soon as you are made worthy by holding
fast to the ideal, you will be called up higher. But suppose you seek
to attain promotion by connivance and wire-pulling, your defeat is
certain. The thing to do is to be worthy and be ready to accept the
invitation promptly, and it will come.
“The necessity of this clearness of ideal which brings a calm certainty
of manner is more marked perhaps in the professions of law and healing
than elsewhere.
“We are just beginning to appreciate the fact that the good physician
heals more by his presence than his potions. A physician who believes
that man is made in the image of his Maker and that his body is the
dwelling-place of an immortal spirit, has ever before him a most lofty
ideal. To come within the atmosphere of such a man, clean in body and
pure in heart, is to absorb to a certain extent his qualities of mind,
which is a powerful force acting on the body for health. He fills the
patient with hope and faith, allays apprehension, calms the mind of
disorder, and allows the _vis medicatrix natura_ to act. A doctor of
this kind believes in his power to succeed--and he does. The lawyer who
fears the other side and is doubtful of his case and who believes the
judge is partial, has already lost his cause. But if he believes his
client is innocent and that the jury will clear him, if they can be
made to see the true state of affairs, brings judge and jury to this
way of thinking, and receives the verdict he asks for.
“To make people work against you and get the world in opposition to
you, just hold in thought that you are unfortunate and unlucky and
that no one appreciates you, and then the world is down on you sure
enough. You bring about the thing you fear. But what we want is men
who are positive without being pugnacious; men who are cheerful but
not frivolous. These are the successful men, and wherever they go they
carry help, health and healing.
“The second requisite of success is that you shall hold your thought in
the positive and not in the negative mood.
“Be on the lookout for good, and it will come to you. Avoid negation.
Shun controversy. Religious (?) disputes have hurt the cause of Truth a
thousand times more than all infidels and barbarians, for controversy
stirs up a train of thought and feeling that should never be aroused,
and which brings a reaction in the form of distrust, jealousy,
bickering and hate. The exercise of such hateful emotions disturbs the
poise of your mind and invites failure. If a man voices wrong thoughts
in your presence, do not be so vain as to imagine you can set him
straight by argument. Conversions are not made in that way. You need
not lend your assent to his wrong statements, but your silence will
be a powerful force acting on him and will tend to make him doubt his
infallibility, will set him to thinking seriously and may bring him
back into the line of Truth. If you had argued with him, the chances
are that his efforts to refute you would have sunk him deeper into his
error, for while you were talking to him he would have been thinking up
an argument to overthrow your efforts to put him right, and failure to
do so would have reacted on you and made you hot and impatient.
“Again I say, a positive and not a negative attitude are necessary to
success. Parents and teachers say to children, ‘don’t, don’t, don’t,’
thus sending to them and putting them in a negative element. Their
powers are not directed by this ‘don’t’ to secure what they need. They
drift rapidly, aimlessly from one worthless, mischievous waste of power
to another. Let the parent and teacher say ‘_do_,’ direct this force,
open a way for its use. You cannot gain force, power, by refraining
from doing. Power is gained by doing, and gained only by doing. What is
the great difference between the spirit of the Old and New Testaments?
The Old Testament is full of ‘Thou shalt nots,’ while the New is full
of positive force. Contrast Leviticus with the Sermon on the Mount,
the Ten Commandments with ‘Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy
laden and I will give you rest.’
“Positive moods come to all in greater or less extent. If we court
them, entertain them, they remain long with us. They only go when we
send them from us. If we keep a silent demand for them they will return
to us and the visit be longer than before. Put ourselves in the right
attitude and they will cease to be visitors, but will take up their
permanent abode with us, the mood will then here become a state.
“In such state success is inevitable. Each person may have success,
should have it. Should be satisfied with nothing less than success.
We have each felt moments of success, the exultation and life coming
from it. We must have this as our state of mind, continual success,
permanent success. Success, not necessarily, as the world understands
it. Success does not need to be defined; each one knows it, none can
be deceived about it. Success brings peace and rest and that highest
state of happiness we can know here on earth--a foretaste of Heaven.
This does not come by striving nor trying, ‘Not by might nor by power
but by my spirit, saith the Lord.’ It comes by holding ourselves in a
receptive attitude, ‘Hoping all things, believing all things.’ Looking
not back, but forward, living to-day. There must be definite, high,
pure purpose.
“The positive state is the state of hope and hope is an attribute of
God Himself. Nothing in the material or spirit world can withstand the
force of this positive state. It is in accordance with the laws of the
universe, and all the forces of the universe work with and for us when
we are in harmony with nature. We are then one with the Infinite and
all things are ours.
“To recapitulate we will say--you must see in your own mind definitely
what you wish to become. Hold in your imagination the clear, strong,
hopeful ideal.
“Avoid gloomy, despondent, negative people. If the weather is
unpleasant, don’t make it your continual theme of conversation. If you
have unpleasant bodily sensations or symptoms do not tell people of
them. This will cause you to be shunned by those whose help you need,
and you draw to yourself a sickly, weakly and uncertain thought element.
“Cultivate the positive state. Take the good wherever you find it, and
let the bad go, it will die through lack of attention.”