Dynamic Thought, by Henry Thomas Hamblin [1921], at sacred-texts.com
THE Objective or Conscious Mind is the outer or surface mind of mind. It is the finite mind of very close limitations. It receives impressions through the organs of sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. It learns from books, speech, experience and experiment.
We have seen that the subliminal mind is one with the Infinite Mind of the Universe, differing only in degree and not in kind, yet this is useless if the objective mind does not make use of the potential powers lying dormant within.
We have also seen that the so called sub-conscious mind is pregnant with tremendous power, and that it is a wonderful intelligence
far exceeding anything that the objective consciousness can grasp or understand. Further that this is regulated and controlled by thoughts, impressions and suggestions, coming through the conscious mind. Therefore this great intelligence is ruled and governed, or ought to be, by the objective mind. Yet of what use is all this if the mind of the senses does not govern wisely or does not govern at all, but lets the sub-conscious mind run amuck, as it were, and acting upon instincts and false impressions, untruths and harmful suggestions, turn the whole life into an inferno of trouble and difficulty?
Therefore you will see that the objective mind, although very limited, is, in a way, the most important of all, at any rate as far as this life and consciousness are concerned, for through it the Ego governs or can govern the whole of the submerged mind.
The Ego is the "I" part of man. It is his personal individual inner self.
The real "YOU" is your individual Ego.
The real "YOU" within is seeking expression through your minds and then through your brain and body and outer life.
It can only do this properly when the Will is strong enough either to carry out, or force your minds to carry out, the commands of the Ego.
Suppose the real inner "YOU" says to the Will: I wish to succeed in this undertaking. We will imagine that "this undertaking" is a course of study which requires a great deal of application and perseverance, and a certain amount of sacrifice of pleasure for its accomplishment. It necessitates working while others are playing, the resisting of entreaties on the part of friends to join them in their pleasures.
After receiving its instruction, the Will passes on the order through the conscious to the sub-conscious mind, but unless your Will is naturally very strong it does this in a half-hearted manner. Although this supposed course of study is of the utmost importance, for without it you cannot succeed
in your profession or calling, yet the Will is so weak it cannot impress this sufficiently upon the sub-conscious mind, with the result that there is very little driving force behind your efforts.
For a time the studies go along successfully. For one thing the first lessons are always easy, and for another, there is the novelty and freshness of the new work, and the glow of self-satisfaction at having entered upon a self-appointed task.
But after a time the tasks get more difficult and require more application and concentration, the calls of friends to join them in their pleasures become more insistent, and the Will not being strong can no longer deal with the situation. The Will, through weakness, allows suggestions such as "the task is too difficult," "others are enjoying life why should not you?" "others can get on in life without working themselves to death, so why not you?" to pass down into the sub-conscious mind. The latter knowing no better and acting entirely upon suggestion, responds accordingly, with the result that the lessons are flung aside, games
are indulged in instead, and another failure is written large on the scroll of your life.
Suppose on the other hand that your Will has been reinforced by affirmations. First, the sub-conscious mind is deeply impressed. It realized that this self imposed task has to be accomplished somehow, no matter what the cost may be in hard work, perseverance, discomfort and self-sacrifice. Therefore from the very first there is great driving power put behind your efforts. A concrete well-defined image of the object of your endeavor, the successful ending of your studies, the pride of achievement, the pleasure it will give your friends, the great assistance it will be to you in your profession, the increased status, the enlarged income, the better house, the improved condition of living for those dependent upon you, all these combined in one sharply defined image, are impressed upon the sub-conscious mind so deeply that they form a pattern upon which the mind will concentrate all its intense energies, activities and powers. The energies and powers of the
mind working on definite lines laid down by the Will, create in the life a complete replica of the image which has been held in the mind.
When studies become difficult, instead of faltering, the mind puts forth greater effort, generates more power, and overcomes the subject of difficulty. When friends try to entice you to leave your task and join them in their pleasure, then entreaties fall upon deaf ears. You reply, "I must complete this course of study," or "I must pass this examination," "when I have succeeded and won the position I seek, then, and not until then, I will unbend a little."
This is why very few men succeed and many fail. Most men have not the staying power to succeed. They have the desire to succeed but they lack the force of character, and the necessary will-power to carry their plans to fruition. Some men are full of splendid ideas, but they never carry them out. They see their opportunities, but lack the strength to take advantage of them.
Such a man always has plenty of excuses
for his non-success--any reason but the right one. He will never admit that it was his Will that failed. Circumstances, he tells you, were against him. Nobody would help him at the critical moment. Something or other "happened," which accounted for his failure.
And so it was that he gave up his little business, just at the moment when it needed but a little push to get it past the corner and on the road to a permanent success. Now he works for another man and for the rest of his life will be a servant and nothing but poverty and the workhouse to look forward to in his old age. The number of men endowed with the necessary strength of will to succeed by will-power alone, is comparatively small. For one who can succeed in this way there are thousands who must fail. These thousands of failures might be turned into successes if they only realized the Power within them, and understood the wonders than can be wrought from affirmations, and mental imagery. Men and women endowed with but the ordinary amount of will-power can
achieve success beyond their wildest dreams when they have learnt to use their true Inward Powers, and to reinforce their Wills by the use of affirmations and mental imagery.
But it must not be thought that because you are being taught valuable metaphysical knowledge that you can neglect your Will. On the contrary the training of the Will is of the utmost importance.
In order to succeed you need imagination and vision--faith in yourself and the power within you--but more than all else, staying power is required, and this is largely dependent upon the strength of the Will.
Desire to succeed, energy, ambition, ability, intellect, imagination, capacity, large ideas, all are good, all vitally necessary for the achievement of success, but they are all useless if "staying power" is lacking. If the will is weak then nothing can be accomplished.
Therefore one of the primary objects of this Course is the building up within you
of that staying power, that strength of purpose, that stability of character, that inflexibility of Will, that are necessary for the achievement of the highest success.
While it teaches valuable metaphysical knowledge which gives you a tremendous advantage in life, because it reveals to you your inward powers, and shows you how to use them, yet these powers and forces have to be controlled by your Will, otherwise they may work harm instead of good.
Do not misunderstand me, I do not teach that, except in a very few cases, success can be won by will-power alone. It is not will-power that creates, inspires and attracts success. It is the subliminal mind that is the fountain of perpetual power and the storehouse of wisdom. It is the sub-conscious mind that provides the driving power, but it is the Will that provides the staying power.
The Ego decides what is to be done. It is the Will that compels the sub-conscious mind to carry out the wishes of the Ego. It is not the will that executes, it is the power of the sub-conscious mind.
All other systems of instruction with which I am acquainted teach a series of gymnastics for the objective mind, and a kind of Will training by brute force. It is a joyless quest-seeking success along these lines. It is equivalent to trying to start an automobile engine with the petrol turned off, or without first switching on the electric current.
"Scientific Thought" arouses the latent powers within, puts the student in touch with all the Cosmic Forces, and trains the Will in order to direct them towards the accomplishment of his ambitions.
The ordinary and time-honored way of trying to develop the Will by brute force is almost always unsuccessful, and, even when it succeeds, is an extremely slow and painful method.
In this course of lessons the strength of the Will grows almost imperceptibly. All the affirmations and exercises if done systematically and thoroughly will strengthen your will-power out of all knowledge. If you will pay great attention to the affirmations
and persevere with the visualizing you will find that your will-power will increase to such an extent that you will become a new creature. Therefore pay the greatest attention to these things so that your will-power may increase and its development keep pace with your increase of knowledge.
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Affirmations rob the training of the Will of half its terrors. If you affirm calmly and steadily and confidently that you will perform some difficult or unpleasant duty at a certain time, you will find, when the time comes, that there will be an impulse urging you to perform that duty. And when you screw up your courage and go and do the thing you dread or dislike, you find to your surprise that it is not half as difficult or unpleasant as you thought it would be.
This is the power of the sub-conscious mind. It not only urges you to act at the proper time, it also supplies you with the power to act.
It must be pointed out here that when the sub-conscious mind gives you this impulse, it must be obeyed. If, we will say, you have affirmed, both over night and early in the morning, that at 3 p. m. you will go into your chief's office and ask for a raise of salary, then when the time arrives go and do it. Fear will say, "he is very stern, unpleasant man and will only snap your head off--put it off for another day." Instead of listening to the voice of fear, deny it, and say, "there is no fear, man is a perfect mental creature and can know no fear," then affirm "I am courageous and fear no man," "I am Success. I attract Success by the Infinite Power within me," and buoyed up by this, go and see the man at once. You will find him far easier to deal with than you expected. If you do not get the raise, you may pave the way for it, or by finding out why your request is refused, you may be able to make a raise possible in the near future. In any case you have done yourself good, you have strengthened your Will, and lost your fear of a man you formerly rather dreaded.
[paragraph continues] If, however, you listen to the voice of fear, and put the dreaded interview off until the morrow, you do yourself a grievous harm.
If you affirm that you are going to do a certain act, and then do not do it, even when your faithful sub-conscious mind gives you the helpful impulse, then you are destroying your mental powers root and branch. You are deliberately slamming the door of progress and achievement in your own face.
If you have an alarm clock, and set it to act at a certain time in the morning, and then get up directly its bell rings, that clock will always awaken you. If, on the other hand, you turn over when the bell rings and go to sleep again instead. of rising, then never again will you he able to hear the clock ring. As an alarm clock it will be useless.
So it is with the sub-conscious mind. When it prompts, obey it, for if you do not, it will soon cease its promptings, and this wonderful power will be lost to you.
So you see that by the use of affirmations
you can so influence the powers within you that things impossible to you before become comparatively easy of accomplishment. The only condition being that you act with decision--that you go fearlessly forward and do exactly what you have planned to do.
Now I want you from this time forward to do each day something that is unpleasant or difficult but which you really ought to do.
It may be that you really ought to go to your dentist, you are aware that your teeth are getting rapidly worse and that the dentist could stop the mischief if he were given the opportunity, thus saving you much pain, loss and ultimate expense. You know that your digestion, and consequently your general health, are suffering through this neglect and yet you keep putting the matter off. It means the trouble of arranging appointments, the sacrifice of a certain amount of time, and the expenditure of money; also, it is unpleasant to say the least, so you have been letting the matter drift.
Or it may be that there is a certain man
you ought to go and interview. You know that if you could get him interested a lot of profitable business would follow. You have, however, put off visiting him from time to time because he is a great man and has an antipathy to people such as yourself. You know that if you do see him you will most probably be snubbed most unmercifully, and that no business will result. For these two reasons you have avoided what promises to be an unpleasant interview.
Whatever the unpleasant duty may be that you decide to perform, you should prepare the way by denials and affirmations.
For your visit to your dentist you can deny and affirm as follows: "There is nothing to fear at the dentist; there is nothing that he can do to me that I cannot take smiling." Therefore
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tomorrow at 11 a. m. I will write (or ’phone) for an appointment with Mr. ------. He will put my mouth in splendid order and this will benefit my health. |
After saying the affirmation over several times, visualize a picture of yourself in your office. You see yourself look at the clock on your desk. It is 11 o'clock. You see yourself take up the telephone and ring up Mr. ------ and hear yourself arrange an appointment. Or you see yourself dash off a note to your dentist asking for an appointment.
Next, you picture yourself in perfect health and your mouth in splendid order.
The next day you will have no difficulty in carrying out what you have affirmed.
If it is a difficult interview that you decide to undertake, make the affirmation for three or even seven days if possible before the interview takes place. Proceed as follows: Raise yourself up mentally into your perfect World of Mind and deny fear. Say: "I am a perfect radiant mental creature, I am one with the Infinite Universal Mind, therefore I am full of courage. No one can make me afraid." On ------ day at noon (or any other time you can arrange) I will interview Mr. -------. He will hear what I have
to say and the result of the interview will be satisfactory to me. I do this not by hypnotic power which is evil, not by mind domination, but by the Law of Attraction." After affirming in the usual way, visualize your interview. Imagine yourself engaged in conversation with Mr. ------, who seems interested in what you are saying. See yourself entirely at ease and quite natural in your manner. See yourself making a satisfactory end to your interview. Do this very earnestly every night and morning until the interview takes place. When it does take place you will find it will be more satisfactory than ever you had dared hope.
When you have learned in this way to act with courage and decision, you can leave off using affirmations for such small matters and use them for more important things.
As you progress in Scientific Thinking you will find wonderful possibilities opening up before you, so that you will always find a use for all the time that you can devote to denials and affirmations. As you advance in knowledge and power, you can
transfer your affirmations to more difficult problems, Your character is constantly growing in strength and virility, and things that were impossible at one time become easy of accomplishment, but always front of you lie fresh fields to conquer; there is no limit to the life of the Mind.
Before every affirmation, make the great mind cleansing denial, "There is no evil," and its complementary affirmation, "Only infinite good." Every time that you make use of these you have taken something evil out of your life and in its place put something good. If you use them a hundred times a day it will not be too many. You cannot use them too much.
The visible world is described by some deep thinkers and metaphysicians as "heaven obscured by a mist of matter and evil, through which it is seen but faintly and falsely." If this is so, and it is to a certain extent true, then every time that you make use of this great cleansing denial and affirmation you disperse some of the mist, so that you can see heaven a little more clearly. Be this as it may, it is certainly
true that the use of the denial of evil and the affirmation of good, do indeed remove evil and replace by good, so that life becomes happier, brighter, more prosperous, and harmonious; even the flowers and trees and our fellow creatures become far more beautiful and lovable than ever before. The world and life are surpassingly beautiful, but not if you view them with a jaundiced eye. If life and the world are not entrancingly lovely to you it is because your eyes are obscured by a mist of evil, or your mind is clouded so that you cannot perceive and understand.
If you will deny evil and affirm good at every possible moment, you will, every time you do so, make the beauty and grandeur of life and the loveliness of the world more apparent to your senses. If you will persevere day after day and week after week and month after month you will come to that stage when you will see things as they are, face to face; you will then be unable to find any words with which to express the glories which you behold.
And not only do beauty and loveliness, happiness, joy and content, come through the denial of evil, and the affirmation of good, but the same thing applies to circumstances. Poor or difficult or unpleasant circumstances are all evil. Poverty, lack and want, are, like disease, quite foreign to that which we know as "good." By the denial of evil we cast out all these undesirable conditions from our lives, and by the affirmation of "good" we attract into our lives true success and prosperity and freedom from every kind of lack and limitation.
Every time we do this we make our lives a little better. It is by constant and continual use that we not only stem the tide of evil but make progress in the right direction. Therefore the denial: "There is no evil," and the affirmation, "Only Infinite Good," should be as much a part of your life as breathing.
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Continue with the same general affirmation and visualizing exercises, and make
your own denials and affirmations as you need them every hour of the day.
Take a simple flower. Examine it carefully. Note its purity and sweet loveliness. All poets, who have ever lived, have never been able to describe, adequately, its beauty and fresh purity. This flower is an expression of the Universal Life of Mind, as I am an expression of the Universal Life of Mind, therefore we are brothers and sisters. There is only one Life, one Mind--the Universal, and I and this flower are but individual expressions of that Life and Mind.
This flower is a messenger from the Unseen. It tells me that there is no evil. The intelligence that produced this lovely emblem cannot be evil, cannot produce evil, therefore there is no evil, per se, only that which exists in my own animal mind.
Therefore I hear the voice of the flower say in silvery accents: "There is no evil, only infinite Good." And I am content.
Continue to practice concentration upon one thought or image to the exclusion of all other thoughts and images until the mind is perfectly calm. When you have thoroughly mastered this, and NOT before, you may begin to make use of this wonderful intelligence which you have harnessed to your service. This is explained fully in Lesson XI but in order that you may start getting results at once the following instruction is given: Just as you are falling asleep, calm and still the mind in the manner shown and when you have succeeded, bring your problem before your mind and affirm that while you sleep your Subliminal Mind will solve your problem and give you the answer in the morning. Next dismiss the matter from your mind and go to sleep. In the morning, when you are awake, refuse to worry about your problem or engage in nerve-racking thought about it; instead still the mind as before and the answer will
come. If you have been an early student of the Bible it may come in the form of a text; if you have been brought up on proverbs and worldly wisdom it may come in the form of some wise old saying, or, to some, it may come in the form of a whisper. The more you practice this, and make use of this faculty, the clearer and more certain will be the results.