Right and wrong thinking, and their results; the undreamed-of possibilities which man may achieve through his own mental control

H V

RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

AND THEIR RESULTS

The Undreamed-of Possibilities which Man may
achieve through his own Mental Control

BY

AARON MARTIN CRANE

BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

EfrUC.

PSYCH.

Ufi&Atf

Published December, 1905.
Set up and electrotyped, December, 1905.
Second impression, January, 1906.
Third impression, April, 1906.
Fourth impression, September, 1906.
Fifth impression, March, 1907.
Sixth impression, August, 1907.
Seventh impression, April, 1908.
Eighth impression, September, 1908.

Copyright, 1905,
By AARON M. CRANE.

All Rights Reserved.

Right and Wrong Thinkihg
and Their Results.

Nortoooto Qnvs

J. S. Cuahing ft Co. — lierwiek. & Smith Oo»

Norwood, Mm., U.S.A.

PREFACE

Some years ago this book was born into thought
by the perception of its fundamental principle, and
it has been growing ever since. During the inter-
vening years this principle and its allied ideas have
been presented more or less fully in the form of in-
dependent class lectures to many groups of persons.
It is w,'ith hesitation h?± it is now offered to the
public in its present form, beciuse it is still growing ;
but having seen the great advantages which have
come to many from the practice of its principles,
there arose the earnest desire to extend the Oppor-
tunity for similar help to greater numbers.

The first lesson to be learned in the school of life
is to understand one's own personality or individu-
ality, so as to estimate it at its true value, and to
be able to usi ft for good and to avoid using it for
evil. A man should know all that can be known
of the power which he is every day wielding simply
by being whtt he is and by thinking, looking, speak-

IV PREFACE

ing, and acting as he does. It is one's duty to make
the most and the best of what is in him; and he is
best equipped for this who knows himself most
thoroughly. The object of this book is to aid toward
the accomplishment of this end.

There appear to be two influences in this world
of ours, the good and the bad or the harmonious
and the discordant, which permeate all mankind
and shape and control all human actions. Wher-
ever there are two, if one is removed, the other re-
mains ; if the discordant is removed, the harmonious
will be left. Good, the absolutely harmonious,
must be the enduring and essential b/irause it is
from God. Then an imnsvumt part of the wcork of
every one is to remove the evil or discordant and
thus uncover the ood. This includes the whole
scheme of reformation, improvement, and progress.

Much of this book is devoted to external matters
which man can detach from himself and throw
away. By shaking out of his mind every cumber-
ing thought of discord and error he may disclose to
view the real man in all the perfection which his
Creator bestowed upon him, and thi i rise to that
divine height of purity and perfectic11 which has
heretofore been deemed inaccessible.

There is another topic, higher and even more

PREFACE V

attractive than this, which deals with the divine per-
fection inherent in man and in all creation; this is
to be the subject of another book which is planned

to follow this one.

AARON MARTIN CRANE.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER »AGB

I. Introduction i

II. Relation of Thinking to Bodily Action . 6

III. Intended Actions 15

IV. Actions not Intended 22

V. A General Proposition 23

VI. As seen by Others 35

VII. Mutual Reactions of Mind and Body . . 51

VIII. Influence of External Incidents ... 60

IX. The Rule 66

X. Discordant Thoughts ...... 78

XI. How to control Thinking .... 97

XII. Substitution 104

XIII. Immediate Action in

XIV. Persistence 115

XV. Not always Easy 123

XVI. Effect of the Physical Attitude . . .127

XVII. All One's Own Work 132

XVIII. Destruction of Discordant Thoughts . .137

XIX. Scylla and Charybdis 144

XX. Moral Discrimination 148

XXI. A Little Analysis and its Application . .153

XXII. Habit 158

XXIII. The Relation of Thinking to Health . .163

XXIV. Recapitulation of Principles . . . .177
XXV. The Worry Habit 186

vii

Vlll

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGK

XXVI. Business Success 196

XXVII. Undivided Attention 202

XXVIII. Importance of Early Training . . .208

XXIX. Three Notable Examples .... 216

XXX. The Penalty for Sin 220

XXXI. A Story and its Lesson .... 227

XXXII. The Story of a Contract . . . .236

XXXIII. The Story of a Note 241

XXXIV. A Discussion of the Stories . . . 244
XXXV. Sensitiveness 255

XXXVI. Sympathy 264

XXXVII. Suggestion 271

XXXVIII. Hypnotic Control 284

XXXIX. Environment 291

XL. Each is Responsible for Himself . .301

XLI. Thought Control is the True Self-control 313

XLII. Man the Architect of Himself . . .319

XLIII. Possibility of Perfection . . . .328

XLIV. The Teaching of Jesus 340

XLV. A Last Word 361

I U N I V E

RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING
AND THEIR RESULTS

INTRODUCTION

Notwithstanding the immense amount of atten-
tion which has been directed in a broad general way
to mind and its action, and although the construc-
tive and creative ability of mind through thinking
has been so long and so universally acknowledged,
yet we are just now beginning to recognize the
close and direct personal relation which thinking
bears to man. The limits of the power of mind
have never been clearly perceived, but recognition
of their extent continually enlarges as knowledge
and understanding increase.

The differences between ignorant and enlightened,
between savage and civilized, between brute and
man, are all due to mind and its action. All the
multifarious customs and habits of mankind,
whether simple or complex, though often attributed
to other causes, are, from first to last, the direct

i

2 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

results'. *cf thinking. The unwritten history of tht
evolution of clothing, from its rude beginnings in
the far-distant and forgotten past through all the
ages since man first inhabited the earth, though at
first glance seemingly simple, yet, as a whole, is
wonderfully complex and astonishing in its par-
ticulars. Its story is only the story of the applica-
tion of mind to the solution of a single one of the
vast multitude of problems connected with human
requirements,

It is true that our factories and paiaces, our
temples and our homes, are built of earthly material,
but mind directed their fashioning into the vast
multitude of forms, more or less beautiful, so lavishly
displayed by architecture in city and country. The
multitudinous products of constructive art which
are scattered in lavish profusion over the whole
earth are marvellous exhibitions of what mind has
done ; and these are being multiplied daily.

All the mechanical triumphs of every age are
products of mental effort. Without these man would
be in the condition of the animals. It has been
said that he owes his supremacy over the lower
creatures to his ability to construct and use tools,
but this also depends entirely on his superior ability
to think. The steam engine is one of these tools;

INTRODUCTION 3

and the story of its creation and of the vast amount of
mental effort which has contributed to its evolution
can be written only in its larger parts because of
the amount of time that has been expended upon it,
the magnitude of the work; and the minuteness and
complexity of its details.

In the domain of the fine arts more than elsewhere
the creations are intimately connected with mental
action and are distinctly marked as products of
mind. Music, vocal and instrumental, the single
singer or the multitude in the chorus, the one instru-
ment or the great orchestra, the country boy whistling
among the woods and hills or the grand opera in
magnificent halis — music everywhere, in all its
varieties and types, is a product of mental activity
and is a most subtle as well as most powerful ex-
pression of the mind of the composer. The dreams
of the sculptor which have been revealed in marble,
those of the painter in the figures on his canvas, the
beautiful in all artistic creations or expressions, are
the direct result of the finest thinking of the finest
minds. What a world of them there is in existence !
Yet the crumbling ruins of the past point to greater
worlds of them which have been destroyed by man
and time.

Even a yet more important product of mind is

4 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

the literature of the world ; in quantity, overwhelm-
ing; in variety, bewildering; in quality, whether
ancient or modern, such as to excite the intensest
wonder and admiration. There is no greater
monument to the mind of man than the things
which that mind has produced in science, philosophy,
religion, and letters. This has grown like those
ancient monuments to which every passer-by added
a stone, and it will continue to grow so long as the
human race exists.

Civilization with all that the word implies in
every one of its unnumbered phases, its origin,
continuance, progress, and present condition, is
directly and exclusively a product of mind; and
man owes to mind and its action all there is in the
external world except the earth and its natural
products. All religious, political, and social organ-
isms have their root in mind, and they have assumed
their present forms in consequence of the profound-
est thinking of untold generations of men. To the
same source man owes his own position, which is
superior to all else on the earth and " only a little
lower than the angels."

Notwithstanding the recognition of all these facts,,
it has remained for the scientific men of the present
day, through their own intellectual attainments and

INTRODUCTION 5

discoveries, to enlarge immensely upon this recogni-
tion and to show the complete supremacy and uni-
versality of mind in another domain. The horizon
is rapidly widening in the direction of the mind's
relation to man himself : and, as a result of the more
recent discovery of facts, man is beholding undreamed-
of possibilities which he may achieve through his
own mental control. From the vantage ground
already gained, mental and moral possibilities are
rising to view in the near distance beside which the
attainments of this and all past ages shrink into
insignificance.

Only in these more recent years has it been clearly
perceived that mind action is first in the order of
occurrence, and that it is the absolute ruler of
man himself as well as of all these wonderful works
which mind has created. Mind is the motor power
and governs everything, everywhere; but man can
control mind, and therefore, by that control, he
may be the imperious dictator of his mind's entire
course, and, rising thence to the highest pinnacle
of possibility, he may become the arbiter of destiny
itself.

H

RELATION OF THINKING TO BODIL\
ACTION

Mind is that which thinks. Thinking is mind
action. Thought is the result of mind action.
This is a statement of what mind does, but it is
neither a description nor a definition of mind. We
know about mind only through our consciousness
of its action, but because of this consciousness we
know what we mean when we speak of mind and
say it is that which thinks.1

In seeking for the sources of activity we find that
in ail human actions thinking is first in the order of
occurrence ; that is, man does not act unless he has
first thought.

A word, even the most idle or habitual, noticed or
unnoticed, must exist in the mind in the form of a
thought before the vocal organs can utter it. Think-
ing may precede utterance only by a space of time

1 It may be well to note definitely that thinking is not itself a
thing, but is only an action. Mind is the thing, just as the hand
is the thing, and its motion is only its action.

6

RELATION OF THINKING TO BODILY ACTION 7

too short to be measured, nevertheless the thought
of the word was in existence in the mind before the
word could be spoken ; and the same is true of every
other action. This statement is necessarily correct
because an expression, whatever its form, is always
the utterance, or outward indication or manifestation,
of some intention, emotion, thought, or feeling, and
can never precede what it expresses; hence an act
never precedes nor outruns thinking, but must
always follow it.

The mechanic first plans, and then he constructs
in accordance with his thinking. The architect
may find defects in what he has built and pull it
down to build in accordance with another plan, but
such incidents only afford added illustrations of the
truth of the proposition. He had to think before he
built ; the destruction was the result of thinking that
followed the building ; it preceded the pulling down,
and other thinking preceded the rebuilding. " If
there is one thing more than another which seems
to the plain man self-evident, it is that his will counts
for something in determining the course of events."
But willing is the result of choosing, and both choos-
ing and willing are modes of thinking.

This order of occurrence is fully illustrated in the
simple act of lifting the hand. Contraction of the

t RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

muscle causes the motion of the hand; an impulse
from the nerve causes the contraction of the muscle ;
some action in the brain sends the impulse along the
nerve; thinking is the motive power, and without
it there would not be any action of brain, nerve, or
muscle. These are only parts of a machine; over
them all is the power of mind without which the
machine could not move; just as without the fire
there could not be any steam in the boiler, and with-
out the steam there could not be any motion of the
piston, and without the motion of the piston the
machinery of the factory could not move.

Frequently something outside of the mind causes
the mind to act; but had the mind not acted, there
would have been no bodily action, or had the mind
acted differently, the bodily action would have been
different also. It was the mental act which caused
the bodily action and gave to it its peculiar char-
acter. But the mind may act independently without
any provocation or stimulation exterior to itself, and
the motion of the body will occur just the same,
showing that mind action alone is the essential in
the process.

If we grant all that may be claimed for the influ-
ence of external things upon the mind, it still remains
that the mind is the power behind all else in moving

RELATION OF THINKING TO BODILY ACTION 9

the body and that without it there would not be any
motion. Additional and final proof of the truth of
this proposition is found in the fact that if we remove
the mind, as in death, the body cannot move. The
nerves, muscles, tendons, and bones are parts of the
machine — wonderful though inert — which the
mind uses. In itself alone no portion of this machine
has any more power than a crowbar when it is not
grasped by the hand of the laborer.

" All acts are due to motive, and are the expression
of design on the part of the actor. This is as true of
the simplest as of the most complex actions of ani-
mals, whether consciously or unconsciously per-
formed. The action of the Amoeba in ingulfing a
Diatom in its jelly, is as much designed as the
diplomacy of the statesman, or the investigation of
the scientist." * But motive is a kind of thinking
or a state of mind, and thus this statement by Cope,
while it includes all the actions of the entire animal
kingdom under one general proposition, declares
that they are all due to mind and its action.

The investigations of physiologists show how sur-
passingly wonderful is the force of mind when acting
in connection with motion of the hand, even when

1 Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 440. The Amoeba is one of the
lowest forms of animal life.

IO RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

looked at from a material point of view. The fore^
arm, considered mechanically, is a lever. The dis-
tance to the fulcrum from the point where the power
is applied is, we may say, an inch. The distance
from the fulcrum to the point where the weight lies
in the hand is, say, fifteen inches. Then, in accord-
ance with mechanical laws, the power put forth by
the muscle to raise the weight must be fifteen times
as much as the weight itself. An ordinarily strong
man can raise a weight of fifty pounds. This means
that the mind, acting through the muscle, in this
instance exerts a force equal to fifteen times fifty, or
seven hundred and fifty pounds. This is the force,
represented in pounds, which the mind exerts in
such a case.

But this is not all. If this same muscle which has
operated under the force of seven hundred and fifty
pounds should be removed from the arm and one
end of it should be supported from a beam, a weight
of fifty pounds attached to the other end would tear
it asunder. This shows that the mind not only
exerts a force of seven hundred and fifty pounds in
lifting the weight, but at the same time a nearly
equal force in holding the muscle together. A
similar condition exists in connection with every
muscular movement of the body.

RELATION OF THINKING TO BODILY ACTION II

There is an intimate and most wonderful relation
between mind action and the action of the brain and
nerve tissues, and between the nerve tissues and the
various bodily organs. This relationship is such
that certain actions of the mind set the nerves and
muscles into activity. No one knows how the mind
affects the brain to control it, nor how the nerve
affects the muscle either to contract or to relax it.
No one knows what the medium is between the men-
tal and physical systems, nor even whether there is
a medium. We only know that after the mind acts
in its appropriate way these other actions follow in a
certain order.

There is an extensive literature on this subject
which sets forth many different theories and explana-
tions. Some insist that no connection whatever
exists between mind and matter, and therefore they
claim that it is too much to say that these actions
stand in the relationship toward each other of cause
and effect ; yet, practically, all admit that there will
be no muscular or other bodily action if the mind
does not act. This admission is sufficient because
it sets forth exactly the condition which exists in
connection with other cases of acknowledged cause
and consequence. Thus, astronomers say that the
sun causes the revolution of the planetary bodies,

12 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

but they have never been able really to show that any
connection exists between the sun and those bodies,
nor to give any satisfactory explanation of the phe-
nomenon.

Even if it be granted that the relationship is not
that of cause and consequence, but merely uniform
sequence, the sequence follows substantially the same
form and order as cause and consequence. It makes
small practical difference whether we call it a chain
of sequences or a chain of causes and consequences.
Therefore it is sufficient for the purpose of this dis-
cussion to say that mental action is the cause of
bodily actions for the reason that bodily actions
always follow appropriate mental actions, and never
occur without their initiative.

It is universally admitted that the facts of sensa-
tion prove the action of the body on the mind, and in
like manner the facts of volition just as conclusively
prove the action of the mind on the body. For in-
stance, pain may be claimed to cause a movement of
the body; but between the pain and the movement
was the mind action perceiving the pain and direct-
ing those bodily actions. With this direction and
adaptation pain has nothing whatever to do. It
may be said that man eats because he is hungry,
and that in this he is governed by physical sensation ;

RELATION OF THINKING TO BODILY ACTION 1 3

yet the consciousness of that sensation is a mental
act of perception without which he would not eat,
nor would there follow any of those complicated
actions connected with digestion and assimilation.
Thus analyzed it appears that it is mind action which
sets the whole train in motion.

In the normal person the mental control of mus-
cular action is wonderfully developed. The muscle
moves in exact obedience to the mental command,
as seen in the delicacy and accuracy as well as the
strength and force of the movements. Note the
forming of a letter with a pen on the written page,
the strokes of the artist's brush upon his canvas, the
exactness of touch of the musician's fingers upon
the keys when he produces the precise tone that is
required for the expression of his music — every-
where that delicacy and exactness are desired in the
muscle they are produced by the mental action. It is
called the result of training the muscle; in fact, it is
training the muscle to obey the mind. If the mind
has such control over muscular action, why may not
its control over the other functions of the body be
equally influential?

It may also be well to note right here a distinction
that has often been overlooked. The movement of
the arm is not the result of will power, A man may

14 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

will his arm to move as much as he pleases, but
unless the mind itself acts in a manner different
from simply willing the arm to move — unless the
mind thinks something entirely distinct in character
from the thought of willing — the arm remains sta-
tionary. Even if it should be contended that the
motion of the arm is caused by will power, the fact
still remains that will power is mind power because
willing is a form of mental action and the result of
choice, and choice is itself a mental action; there-
fore the general proposition that bodily action is the
result of mental action is still correct.

These facts, clearly recognizable by every one,
prove that the mind is not simply a group of physi-
cal conditions and combinations in action, nor is it a
product of them, but that it is something entirely
distinct from the physical system though acting on
it, controlling it, and conferring on it powers which,
in itseif, it does not have ; and since every bodily action
may be resolved into elements closely similar to these
here considered, if not identical with them in char-
acter and relationship, the proof becomes complete.

That which thinks is the master power which moves,
directs, controls. The combination of brain, nerves,
muscles, ligaments, bones — these constitute a most
wonderful machine that the mind builds and uses.

m

INTENDED ACTIONS

All bodily actions may be separated into two
classes, those intended and those not intended.

Thinking is the cause of all intended actions.
The accuracy of this proposition is self-evident be-
cause intending, purposing, proposing, or designing is
in itself thinking, and this kind of thinking is always
the cause of this class of actions. One intends to
call on a friend. If he did not think about it, he
could not go. Having thought about it, if that think-
ing ceases, as, for instance, when he forgets, then
going becomes impossible. This illustration, though
simple, is conclusive of the truth of the proposition.

That a man has forgotten some mental action or
was not aware of it when it occurred is no proof
that it did not take place. A vast number of actions
are preceded by unrecognized thoughts, but this
does not furnish any exception to the universal truth
of the proposition. On the contrary, it serves to
sustain its accuracy; whether recognized or not,
the thought was there in the mind doing its work.

*5

1 6 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

A person is often able to recall unnoticed thinking
of which he would never have become conscious had
not some subsequent incident directed his attention
to it. Who has not been so absorbed in a book that
at the time he was not aware of a conversation going
on in the room, or even of remarks addressed to him-
self, yet afterward has distinctly remembered hearing
them ? Simple incidents like this show that thinking
often occurs without conscious recognition of it by
the thinker. Psychologists say that the amount of
unrecognized thinking is vastly in excess of that
which is recognized.

The action of the skilled performer on the piano
is an illustration of the way in which things that were
at first the result of intended and clearly recognized
thinking at last are done without any consciousness
of that thinking. With the beginner every action is
preceded by a fully recognized thought. The posi-
tion at the piano, the poise of the shoulders and head,
the control of the arms and hands, the action of the
fingers, and just how they must be moved in each
particular case for striking each key, and the force
of each stroke — all these are the subjects of con-
scious thinking on the part of the student. Not a
motion is made without previous thought, which in-
cludes not only the thought to move but also how that

INTENDED ACTIONS 1 7

motion is to be accomplished. After long-continued
repetition of the motions included in the first and
simpler lesson, when each thought has, so to speak,
worn its own peculiar channel into the brain and has
become so familiar that consciousness of it has some-
what waned, then a more difficult lesson is under-
taken. The thinking which preceded the simpler
actions gradually disappears, being displaced or
submerged by the attention given to more difficult
ones, until finally all conscious recognition of it
ceases. With each step the thinking connected with
the preceding practice drops gradually out of sight
until at last the performer's conscious thought is all
directed to expression. This requires careful atten-
tion to each of the many difficult and more delicate
peculiarities of every single motion which, in proper
combination, express the soul of music. These
motions are necessarily preceded by an immense
host of unnoticed thoughts, because without them
the performer would be motionless and the instru-
ment dumb.1 Each step suggests to the mind the

1 It is said that in rapid piano playing the finger makes twenty-
four movements in a second and that each movement involves at
least three muscular acts, making seventy-two of these acts in a
second. It would be extremely interesting if one were able to
compute in a similar manner the number of separate thoughts
which preceded each muscular act.

;8 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

jcxt one to be taken, and thus the series moves in
its accustomed order. Each motion is the result of
unnoticed thinking which is as intentional in its
character as it was when the beginner consciously
and purposely initiated it.

Baldwin records a remarkable instance of this
kind of action: "The case is cited of a musician
who was seized with an epileptic attack in the midst
of an orchestral performance, and continued to play
the measure quite correctly while in a state of ap-
parently complete unconsciousness. This is only
an exaggerated case of our conscious experience in
walking, writing, etc. Just as a number of single
experiences of movement become merged in a single
idea of the whole, and the impulse to begin the com-
bination is sufficient to secure the performance of
all the details, so single nervous reactions become
integrated in a compound reflex." l But the " im-
pulse to begin" is itself mental action, and without
it no step of the performance could be undertaken.

This " impulse to begin " a certain piece of music
which has been performed many times is followed
by the thinking which produces the first motion, and
that by the thinking and consequent action of the
second, and so on to the end. The habit of thinking

1 Elements of Psychology, p. 40.

INTENDED ACTIONS 19

a certain series of thoughts, each thought succeeding
another in an invariable order, becomes so fully
established by constant repetition that, once begun,
they follow each other in their regular order without
the conscious volition of the thinker. But if this
habit has not been fully established, or if it has
fallen into disuse from lack of practice, then diffi-
culties arise and conscious thinking has to be called
into action.

This tendency to do again what has often been
done is clearly stated by Baldwin: "The thought
of a movement has preceded and led to the move-
ment so often, that there is a positive tendency, at
the nerve centres, to the discharge of the energy
necessary to the accomplishment of the act along the
proper courses." *

The Italian psychologist, Mosso, has stated the
case excellently. He says: "Every movement [in
walking] is performed with difficulty; it is at first a
task painfully learned; gradually it becomes less a
matter of reflection; until at last one can scarcely
call it voluntary. We may not call it automatic,
because when the will to walk is wanting we do not
move, but when we have once set out to walk or to
make a journey, we may go on for a long time with-

1 Elements of Psychology ', p. 76.

20 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

out reflecting in the least that we are walking. . . .
Many have experienced such extreme fatigue that
they have slept while walking. There are endless
phenomena proving that movements that at first
cost a great effort of the will, become at length
so habitual that we perform them without being
aware of it." ■ The " will to walk," which is
thinking, sets in motion that series of mind actions
which results in walking, and the mind goes on
controlling and directing the machinery of the
body without the thinker's active consciousness.
Mosso's words here quoted would apply with equal
exactness to any series of complicated actions. The
writer does not consciously think how he shall form
his letters and words as he traces them; his con-
scious thought is engaged with the idea he wishes to
express; but thoughts he is not aware of are con-
tinuously directing the motions of the many muscles
which move the pen aright.

Lack of continuity of sense excitation has been
recognized by most people. When the hand is
placed in contact with any object, there is, through
the sense of touch, an immediate and definite con-
sciousness of certain conditions. If the hand re-
mains in the same position, simply resting there

1 Ftar, p. 99.

INTENDED ACTIONS 21

without effort, the consciousness of these conditions
gradually disappears. Though the course of activity
flows in the opposite direction, yet it is clearly recog-
nized that the mind itself affects the physical activi-
ties very much in the same way that the sense
excitations affect the mind. In the sense excita-
tions, continuous action results in their disappear-
ance from the mental horizon. May not the ele-
ments of consciousness which are aroused by mental
action fade out of sight in a similar way though the
mental activity be as constantly present as the physi-
cal conditions under the hand? If so, this presents
sufficient explanation of the disappearance from
consciousness of those thoughts which have been
made habitual by frequent repetition, and it also
explains many, if not all, of those actions which are
called reflex or automatic.

All this shows that " the thought of a movement,"
or " the impulse to begin," which is the mental inten-
tion to perform certain actions, is that which sets in
motion the complicated machinery of the body, and
its action could not occur without it. Therefore in
every minute particular the proposition holds true
that thinking, either noticed or unnoticed, is the cause
of all intended action,,

IV

ACTIONS NOT INTENDED

Not only does thinking precede all intended
human actions, but it also precedes all those which
were not intended.

A person does not often shed tears because he
proposes to do so. Usually tears come unbidden;
frequently after every possible effort has been made
to suppress them ; yet they flow because of thinking
which preceded them. The explanation is simple.
It is the office of the tear gland to furnish a fluid
to moisten the eye. The same delicate and inti-
mate relation exists between the mental condition
of grief and the action of the tear gland that exists
between other varieties of thinking and muscular
action. When the mind is filled with thoughts of
grief, increased activity in the tear gland follows, its
fluid is produced in an unusual and excessive quan-
tity, and the eyes overflow. Thoughts of grief
acting upon the tear gland stimulate it to excessive
action in just the same way that those thoughts

ACTIONS NOT INTENDED 23

which constitute intention move the hand. The
important fact in this connection is that although the
weeping is not intended, it is caused by a particular
mental action which precedes it. When the grief
ceases, the excessive action of the tear gland sub-
sides, the tears no longer flow, and the facial muscles
return to their usual condition.

Entirely different actions follow if the thinking is
of a humorous, witty, or ludicrous character. A
great many muscles all over the body, but particu-
larly in the chest, throat, and face, are thrown
into violent spasmodic activity which is uncontrol-
lable if the thinking is intense. This is clearly the
unintended effect of thinking, because it often
occurs when the desire not to laugh is very strong,
showing that in such cases intention plays only a
subordinate part. The laughter does not cease
until the thinking that produced it ceases, and it is
renewed with the renewal of that thinking. It is
clear that these muscles move in response to the
action of the person's mind, though without his in-
tention to move them.

Every one is aware of many physical changes
which are caused by changes in the mental condi-
tions. The mental state of anger will make the
heart beat more rapidly, send the blood rushing

24 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

through the body with increased velocity, and
flush or pale the face. Any sudden emotion of
grief or pleasure, unexpected news, either good or bad,
suspense or anticipation, waiting for news of some-
thing impending, — these and many other disturb-
ing thoughts make the heart beat faster or slower,
or even stop it entirely, according to the character
of the mental action. Thoughts of fear may cause
a cold perspiration to break out over the whole
body, send the blood away from its surface, or even
cause such muscular tension or paralysis that severe
illness follows, and sometimes death.

The unnoticed glandular changes are very numer-
ous. Propose some particularly appetizing food to
a hungry person, and instantly, without the slightest
intention, the thinking sets the salivary glands into
action. All the acts of digestion, assimilation, and
general nutrition are of this kind. It has been
shown conclusively that they are results of thinking,
that they vary with the variations of the thinking,
and that without it they do not occur; yet they are
not intended, and we are not even aware of the
existence of the larger part of them, nor of much
of the thinking which produces them.

Recent physiological experiments show distinctly
just what might have been expected from the com-

ACTIONS NOT INTENDED 2$

mon experiences of every one who has noticed the
flow of saliva in response to his own thoughts.
When food that he liked was offered to an animal,
it caused not only an abundant flow of saliva, but
of gastric juice as well, even though no food had
entered the stomach. More than that, when the
kind of food was recognized by the animal, the
character of the secretion was adapted to it, so that
each variety provoked the secretion of a special
kind of digestive fluid. The better the animal
liked the food, the more copious was the quantity
of those fluids which are necessary to digestion.
It was not necessary that the animal should even
see or smell the food. A purely mental condition
caused by suggestion or the association of acts was
enough, and it was shown that pleasure itself set
the physical actions into motion. On the contrary,
when food which was objectionable to the animal
entered the stomach, secretion of digestive fluid did
not follow. When communication between the
brain and the stomach had been cut off, so that the
mind could not send messages to the stomach and
its glands, not a drop of gastric juice was produced
even though the food which he liked had been shown
to him or had been introduced into the stomach, thus
showing that the presence of the food without any

26 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

mental stimulus does not induce the actions attendant
upon digestion and necessary to it.1 Something
more than mere mechanical contact was essential.

These experiments show beyond question that
digestion depends entirely upon some mental pro-
cess. Similarly, all bodily actions depend upon
thinking, whether that thinking is intended or not;
and without thinking, or when the thinking does not
reach the organs which should act, as when the
thought effect could not be communicated to the
glands of the stomach, there is no bodily action.

It must be remembered, however, that there
may be, and often is, a longer or shorter series of
unnoticed bodily or mental actions between the
inciting thought and the result which has attracted
attention. The observed condition may be at the
end of the series and far removed from the thought
that caused it. This intervention of unnoticed
intermediary incidents renders it difficult, and some-
times impossible, to discover the direct connection
between the final event and the thinking that pro-
duced it. Inability to trace the connection between
the observed consequence and its real cause does
not destroy the truth of the original proposition that
the cause existed in mental action.

1 Dr. Romme, in La Revue for August, 1902.

ACTIONS NOT INTENDED 2*]

Every sensitive person knows how the mental
state induced by hearing bad news will sometimes
interfere seriously with the act of digestion. Per-
haps the victim wakes the next morning with a
violent headache. His physician tells him that it
is due to a disordered stomach. The mental con-
dition of the day before has been forgotten by one
and is seldom heard of by the other, therefore both
insist honestly enough that the headache was not
caused by mental conditions. Yet he would not
have had the headache if he had not indulged in
that discordant thinking which disturbed the action
of certain nerves; this disturbance interfered with
the normal action of the stomach, which in its turn
affected the head. This is unintended bodily action
caused by thinking, and shows how easily some of
the incidents are overlooked which connect the
cause with the observed consequence.

The necessity for the presence and action of
mind is also seen in reflex actions and those which
seem to be automatic. When the exterior or sur-
face end of a nerve is excited, as by the prick of a
pin, psychologists say that this creates an activity
which extends along the fibres of the ingoing nerve
either to some central ganglion or to the brain;
that certain actions take place there, and then

28 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

another impulse is sent thence along the outgoing
nerve to the appropriate muscle, producing in it
the requisite action. These actions at the nerve
centre must be more or less complicated and of
peculiar character. Something must decide what
physical action should follow the recognized external
conditions, and then it must select from all the other
outgoing nerves the special one which shall carry
the message to the particular muscle which should
act, and must thus direct and control the specific
action which that muscle shall perform. This may
be merely to remove the hand from the position it
occupied when the finger was pricked, or it may be
to double the fist and inflict a blow, or it may be to
cause certain complicated actions which shall re-
move the offending object to another place. This
is more than mere mechanics. It is the action of
the master directing subordinates in accordance
with the recognized requirements of the situation.

Whether the person is aware of it or not, there
must be mental consciousness or recognition of the
conditions at the end of the disturbed ingoing
nerve, because something decides what is the ap-
propriate action, selects from many others the
proper agents to accomplish it, and inspires the
action in those agents. In every such case there

ACTIONS NOT INTENDED 20,

is selection or choice, and choice is itself a mental
action based on consciousness, which is also mental.
Discrimination must govern choice, and intelligence
must direct the proceedings. It is only mind that
examines conditions, decides whether or not to act,
selects from a number of possibilities, chooses the
kind of action to be undertaken by some one or
many muscles, and sends forth its behest through
the appropriate nerve to the right destination.

In every case the muscular action is a manifesta-
tion of more or less consciousness of surroundings,
discrimination, choice, and judgment. What occurs
corresponds exactly to the mental recognition of
the conditions. Because of repetition conscious
thinking emerges less and less into view until it
becomes habitual, and finally it passes entirely out
of sight, and the action is called automatic or
mechanical. A vast multitude of tendencies
toward these actions are inherited from birth, but
their origin was in the thinking of generations of
ancestors.

Thinking which originates solely in the mind and
has no connection with anything outside of it, may
act upon the nerve tissues and originate brain,
nerve, and muscle action, just the same as when
there is some outside incident to suggest it. Bald-

30 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

win says: "Suggestion by idea, or through con-
sciousness, must be recognized to be as fundamental
a kind of motor stimulus as the direct excitation of
a nerve organ." * All the organs of the body are
subject to stimulation by purely mental states;
that is, a nerve stimulus may come from within in
the form of a self-originating act of the mind. Not
only this, but psychologists and physiologists say
that these thought impulses may be made to change
nerve tracks already formed and even to originate
new ones and thus find outward expression in better
forms of doing. Not only will the severed nerve
reunite, but even when a piece of the nerve has
been removed, each of the two ends will send out
filaments toward the other until they are joined,
again, provided the distance is not too great.

It may be urged that the purely involuntary
muscles, so-called, act without previous thinking;
but as already shown, a vast majority if not all of
the reflex actions are clearly the results of intended
actions which have been very often repeated. The
distance from reflex action to what is known as
involuntary action may be very short, and the divis-
ion between them is never clearly defined so that
it is often difficult if not impossible to decide which

1 Mental Development of the Child and the Race, p. 104.

ACTIONS NOT INTENDED 31

is to be called reflex and which involuntary. Some
biologists, reasoning from the known to the un-
known, hold the opinion that all such actions are
consequences of conscious thinking. Their reason-
ing is all the more convincing when it is remembered
that mind is always attendant upon life, never
being found separate from it, and that life is the
progenitor and creator of all life; for life has never
been found without antecedent life. Then mind
acting in conjunction with life must be the power
which sets the involuntary muscles into activity.

The heart beats without our conscious attention,
yet we know that its action is greatly influenced
by mental conditions, such as anxiety, grief, fear, or
joy. Though we may not be able to discover any
special action of the mind upon the heart to keep
it going, yet when the mind is removed, as by death,
the heart ceases to act. This is true of all the so-
called involuntary organs,, and shows that mind
action of some sort is necessary to keep them in
motion. We do not think for the purpose of making
the heart beat, just as we do not think for the pur-
pose of making the tears flow; but our thinking
makes them flow and our thinking causes the heart
to beat. In one case we are aware of the thinking,
in the other we are not, -just as the piano player is

32 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

at one time aware of the thinking that moves his
fingers and at another time is not.

The physical body, separate from anything else,
is an inert material mass, incapable of originating
any action; therefore all its action must be pro-
duced by something other than itself. That which
causes its action must be mind.

The conclusion is unavoidable that thinking pre-
cedes and causes all those actions which were not
intended as well as those which were intended.
Since these two classes include all human actions,
it follows that thinking, or mind action, is always
first in the order of occurrence and is related to the
bodily actions as a cause is related to its consequence.

V

A GENERAL PROPOSITION

Thinking is the cause of all that a man is and
of all that he does. Then, since it is mind that
thinks, it follows that mind is antecedent to think-
ing and to all that is caused by thinking; therefore
mind is first. Mind stands as the cause behind all
which thus far has been considered. This is not
a new proposition; neither is there any mystery
about it. It is within the comprehension of every
one who has observed his own mental actions be-
cause it is a part of his own experience, and he
finds within himself the proof of the proposition.

Up to this place the subject has been considered
from an external point of view and the reasoning
has been inductive in its character. There is an-
other and larger method, the deductive, which
results in the same conclusions, only it enlarges
their scope and makes them universal in their
applications.

God is the one infinite First Cause and, there-
fore, the cause of all. As the one cause, or Creator,

33

34 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

He is the Creator of all. In one of the aspects in
which He is recognized by man, God is Mind;
therefore, in the largest and most inclusive possible
application of the term, in the infinite whole as in
each particular instance, mind and mind action is
first in the order of occurrence because God is
Mind and He is the first actor, and the originator
of all that is. This is the statement of a universal
proposition which includes all things that are.

Mind is an essential of man's existence; and its
action, which he perceives within himself and calls
thinking, is the first of all his actions in the order
of their occurrence, and the cause of all the others.
In this there is somewhat of likeness to the Infinite ;
and, though man and his activities are only inci-
dents in the midst of immensity, yet, in this respect
at least, he is following one universal order in obe-
dience to one central universal principle. Just as
all that exists is the result of the action of the in-
finite divine Mind, God, similarly all that man does
is the result of the action of man's own mind.

VI

AS SEEN BY OTHERS

A wise modern writer, following a declaration of
Socrates, has said that we should never ask who
are the advocates of any teaching, but only, is it
true? A statement of philosophy or principle once
made clear and understood is not strengthened by
appeal to any authority. While all this is undeni-
ably true, yet it is also true that the wisest of men
feel added confidence in their opinions when they
know that other wise men agree with them; hence
any man may be excused if he feels more comfort-
able when he finds that others, who have given the
subject more careful and thorough investigation
than he himself has been able to give it, unite in
the declaration that mind action precedes bodily
action as cause precedes consequence.

President Hall, of Clark University, is reported
as saying, before a session of the American Medico-
Psychological Society in Boston, that "the relations
between the body and the emotions are of the clos-

35

36 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

est," and "there can be no change of thought
without a change of muscle." He also suggests
the possibility that the right course in thinking
might develop muscle as well as the right course of
exercise. On President Hall's basis, if the proper
course of thinking is maintained the muscles will
take care of themselves.

Professor J. M. Baldwin, of Princeton, italicizing
his statement, says: "Every state of consciousness
tends to realize itself in an appropriate muscular
movement." 1

Professor C. A. Strong, of Columbia University,
says: "Recent psychologists tell us that all mental
states are followed by bodily changes — that all
consciousness leads to action. This is true of
desires, of emotions, of pleasures and pains, and
even of such seemingly non-impulsive states as sen-
sations and ideas. It is true, in a word, of the
entire range of our mental life. The bodily effects
in question are of course not limited to the volun-
tary muscles, but consist in large part of less patent
changes in the action of heart, lungs, stomach, and
other viscera, in the caliber of blood-vessels and the
secretion of glands."2

1 Elements of Psychology, p. 308.
8 Why the Mind has a Body, p. 20.

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 37

Professor James, of Harvard University, says:
11 All mental states (no matter what their character
as regards utility may be) are followed by bodily
activity oj some sort. They lead to inconspicuous
changes in breathing, circulation, general muscular
tension, and glandular or other visceral activity,
even if they do not lead to conspicuous movements
of the muscles of voluntary life. Not only certain
particular states of mind, then (such as those called
volitions, for example), but states of mind as such,
all states of mind, even mere thoughts and feelings,
are motor in their consequences." * Language can-
not be more positive or unequivocal, yet later he
stated the case with equal clearness though perhaps
in language a little less technical : —

"The fact is that there is no sort of consciousness
whatever, be it sensation, feeling, or idea, which
does not directly and of itself tend to discharge into
some motor effect. The motor effect need not al-
ways be an outward stroke of behavior. It may
be only an alteration of the heart beats or breathing,
or a modification of the distribution of the blood,
such as blushing or turning pale ; or else a secretion
of tears, or what not. But, in any case, it is there
in some shape when any consciousness is there;

1 Psychology, edition 1893, p. 5. The italics are his.

38 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

and a belief as fundamental as any in modern
psychology is the belief at last attained that con-
scious processes of any sort, conscious processes
merely as such, must pass over into motion, open or
concealed." l

Professor Ladd, of Yale, says: "Even the most
purely vegetative of the bodily processes are de-
pendent for their character upon antecedent states
of mind." 2

Professor Munsterberg, of Harvard, said, in his
Lowell Institute lectures, that the slightest thought
influences the whole body; and, further: "There
is never a particle of an idea in our mind which is
not the starting-point for external discharge," or
in less technical language, the starting-point for
some bodily action. In illustration he said that
thinking increases the activity of the minute per-
spiration glands of the skin. This has been meas-
ured so accurately by the proper apparatus that it
is possible to determine the activity or intensity of
a person's thinking by its effects upon those glands.

Hudson says: "No scientist will deny the exist-
ence within us of a central intelligence which con-
trols the bodily functions, and through the sympa-

1 Talks to Teachers, p. 1 70.

* Physiological Psychology, p. 75.

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 39

thetic nervous system actuates the involuntary
muscles, and keeps the bodily machinery in motion." '

An eminent French psychologist has stated the
conditions correctly regarding fear, and incidentally
of other emotions as well, when he says: "If we are
ignorant of danger, we do not fear it;" and this is
a plain statement of the experience of every one.
Fear, as all know, is a mental action or condition,
and therefore it follows that the acts caused by
fear are the consequences of mental action.

The whole is admirably stated in the declaration :
"He (the psychologist) acknowledges, in response
to a logical demand, that every single psychical
(mental) fact has its physiological counterpart." 2
But this is no more than Professor James has said
in his book, Talks to Teachers: "Mentality termi-
nates naturally in outward conduct," and he might
have added that this is unavoidable, for that idea
is included in the preceding quotations from his
pen.

Following in the same direction, the great English
naturalist, Romanes, says the fact of selective con-
traction is the criterion of mind and the indication of
consciousness, and he finds this fact of selective con-

1 The Law of Mental Medicine, p. 33.

2 Psychology and Life, p. 42.

40 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

traction in the lowest known creatures.1 He says also
that "all possible mental states have their signs."3
These signs must necessarily be those of external phy-
sical conditions which result from mental states.

President McCosh, of Princeton, says of emotion :
"It begins with a mental act, and throughout is
essentially an operation of the mind. Examine
any case of emotion and you will always discover
an idea as a substratum of the whole."

Professor Mosso, the Italian psychologist already
quoted, constructed an apparatus by which the body
of a man could be balanced in a horizontal position.
This was made so sensitive that it oscillated accord-
ing to the rhythm of the respiration. He says:
"If one speaks to a person while he is lying on the
balance horizontally, in equilibrium and perfectly
quiet, it inclines immediately toward the head.
The legs become lighter and the head heavier.
This phenomenon is constant, whatever pains the
subject may take not to move, however he may
endeavor not to alter his breathing, to suspend it
temporarily, not to speak, to do nothing which may
produce a more copious How of blood to the brain."

1 Quoted approvingly by Baldwin in Menial Development oj
Man, p. 2IO.

2 Quoted by Baldwin in Mental Development of Man, p. 222.

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 41

He says of the same experiment when the subject
was sleeping: "Scarcely had some one about to
enter touched the handle of the door, than the bal-
ance inclined toward the head, remaining immovable
in this position for five or six or even ten minutes,
according to the disturbance produced in the sleep.
. . . When all was quiet, one of us would inten-
tionally make a slight noise by coughing, scraping
a foot on the ground, or moving a chair, and at once
the balance inclined again toward the head, re-
maining immovable for four or five minutes, without
the subject's noticing anything or waking. ... It
was proved by my balance that, at the slightest
emotion, the blood rushes to the head." 1

These experiments show beyond question that the
slightest possible mental activity changes the course
of the blood and sends it to the head in such quanti-
ties as to destroy the equilibrium and to overweight
that end of the body. They show also how the
slightest thought has its physical effect, and, as in
the case of the sleeping man, that the thought
which is not perceived and does not awaken him
is as certain to affect his condition as the one of
which he is conscious.

Dr. William G. Anderson, director of the Yale

1 Fear, p. 97 and following.

42 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

gymnasium, has made similar observations upon
the athletes of that University with like results. A
man perfectly balanced on the table would find his
feet sinking if he went through mental leg gymnastics,
thinking about moving his legs without making
the movements. This shows that it is thinking
which sends the blood to the legs even when they
are entirely at rest. He balanced students before
and after their written examinations, and after the
mental test found that the centre of gravity had
changed toward the head, varying in different
cases from only a sixteenth of an inch to almost two
and a half inches.

Dr. Anderson says: "Experiments comparing
agreeable exercises with those that are not so agree-
able showed that movements in which men took
pleasure set in motion a richer supply of blood than
did those which were not to their liking. . . .
Pleasurable thoughts send blood to the biain; dis-
agreeable ones drive it away." Not merely the
thinking but its character or quality influences the
physical actions, and the old poet was right when he
wrote: "In whate'er you sweat indulge your taste.''

The stigmata are among the most extreme ex-
amples of the action of thinking in producing ab-
normal physical conditions. St. Francis of Assisi

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 43

furnishes the earliest historical case. His contem-
plation of the wounds of Jesus was of such an intense
character and so long continued that his own body
finally presented appearances similar to the mental
picture which he had so long entertained. Not
only were there similar wounds in his hands, in his
feet, and in his side, but the appearance of nails
in the wounds was so realistic that after his death
the attempt was made to draw them out, supposing
them to be really nails. There have been something
like ninety or a hundred well-authenticated cases
of a similar character since the time of St. Francis.
For a long while it was believed by many that these
conditions were results of self-inflicted wounds or
that the story of them was mere fabrication. Some
were probably fraudulent, but others were so well
authenticated as to remove all doubt. Parallel
cases of physical effects due to mental suggestion
are well known. Experiments are now often per-
formed in psychological laboratories which, by
means of mental action, produce appearances
similar to the stigmata.1 If abnormal physical
conditions of such extreme character can be pro-
duced by thinking, certainly healthy and normal

1 Encyclopedia Britannica, subjects "Stigmata" and "Stigma-
tkfction."

44 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

ones can be produced and maintained by the same
means.

Professor Elmer Gates, of the Laboratory of Psy-
chology and Psychurgy, Washington, D.C., showed
the same motor influence and effect of mind
action in an entirely different way. He plunged
his arm into a jar filled with water up to the point
of overflow. Keeping his position without moving,
he directed his thinking to the arm, with the result
that the blood entered the arm in such quantities
as to enlarge it and cause the water in the jar to
overflow. This is merely demonstrating by another
method the same facts that were shown by Professor
Mosso and Dr. Anderson.

Professor Gates went even further than this. By
directing his thoughts to his arm for a certain
length of time each day for many days he permanently
increased both its size and strength, and he in-
structed others so that they could produce the same
effect on various organs of the body, thus demon-
strating the accuracy of President Hall's statement
that muscle can be developed by a proper course
of thinking as well as by exercise.

Professor Gates has shown the causative char-
acter of thinking in a long series of most compre-
hensive and convincing experiments. He found

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 45

that change of the mental state changed the chem-
ical character of the perspiration. When treated
with the same chemical reagent, the perspiration
of an angry man showed one color, that of a man
in grief another, and so on through the long list
of emotions, each mental state persistently exhib-
iting its own peculiar result every time the experi-
ment was repeated. These experiments show
clearly, as indicated by Professor James's state-
ments, that each kind of thinking, by causing
changes in glandular or visceral activity, produced
different chemical substances which were being
thrown out of the system by the perspiration.

When the breath of Professor Gates's subject
was passed through a tube cooled with ice so as
to condense its volatile constituents, a colorless
liquid resulted. He kept the man breathing
through the tube but made him angry, and five
minutes afterward a sediment appeared in the
tube, indicating the presence there of a new sub-
stance which had been produced by the changed
physical action caused by a change of the mental
condition.1 Anger gave a brownish substance;
sorrow, gray; remorse, pink; etc., showing, as

1 This is distinctly a case where none of the actions were in«
tended, and yet were clearly caused by thinking.

46 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

in the experiments with the perspiration, that
each kind of thinking had produced its own pecul-
iar substance, which the system was trying to
expel.

Professor Gates's conclusions are very defi-
nite: "Every mental activity creates a definite
chemical change and a definite anatomical struc-
ture in the animal which exercises the mental
activity." And again he says: "The mind of
the human organism can, by an effort of the will,
properly directed, produce measurable changes
of the chemistry of the secretions and excretions. "
He also says: "If mind activities create chemical
and anatomical changes in the cells and tissues
of the animal body, it follows that all physiological
processes of health or disease are psychologic
processes and that the only way to inhibit, accel-
erate, or change these processes is to resort to
methods properly altering the psychologic, or
mental, processes."1 That is, the most effective
and best way to change these physical processes
is to change the thinking. And again he says:
"AH there is of health and disease is mind activ-
ity." And once more: "If we can know how to
regulate mind processes, then we can cure disease

1 Medical Times, December, 1S97.

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 47

— all disease."1 In another place he says:
"Mind activity creates organic structure, and
organisms are mind embodiments. " 2

In full accord with this is Professor Andrew
Seth, of the chair of Logic and Metaphysics in the
University of Edinburgh, who, at the close of a
long argument showing the priority of mind, con-
cludes: "But mechanism is thus, in every sense,
posterior to intelligence and will; it is a means
created and used by will. In a strict sense, will
creates the reflex mechanism to which it afterwards
deputes its functions."3 But will is a mental
action or condition, therefore mind action is veri-
tably first in the order of occurrence.

Cope, in summing up his exhaustive arguments
on the subject, clearly and concisely declares the
priority of mind and its creative power in these
words: " Structure is the effect of the control over
matter exercised by mind."4 A more definite
statement is not possible; all physical structure
is created and determined by mind as its cause.

Christison says: "It is a biologic axiom that
function precedes organism; for while we may

1 Medical Times, December, 1897.

2 New Crusade, October, 1897, P- 69.
8 Maris Place in the Cosmos, p. 105.
* Origin of the Fittest, p. 232.

48 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

also say that necessity develops function in much
the same sense that we say that it is the mother
of invention, it is evident that the use of means to
a given end implies the preexistence of a specific
potentiality, having a plan in the abstract, for only
the preexisting can be the cause of a necessity.
Thus it follows that something of a mind must exist
before a brain can be formed. " 1 In other words, the
necessity must be recognized before it can produce
any action; but that recognition of necessity is the
mental action which precedes all the other actions.

The great Lamarck, the pioneer of Darwin,
says: "It is not the organ, that is, the nature and
form of the parts of the body, which have given
origin to its habits and peculiar functions, but
it is, on the contrary, its habits, its manner of life,
and the circumstances in which individuals from
which it came found themselves, which have,
after a time, constituted the form of the body,
the number and character of its organs, and the
functions which it possesses."

Cope says: "The general proposition that life
has preceded organization in the order of time,
may be regarded as established." In connec-
tion with some consideration of "the law of use

1 Brain in Relation to Mind, p. 13.

AS SEEN BY OTHERS 49

and effort," he says that " animal structures have
been produced, directly or indirectly, by animal
movements," and that, "as animal movements
are primitively determined by sensibility, or con-
sciousness, consciousness has been and is one of
the primary factors in the evolution of animal
forms." He adds further on: "The origin of
the acts is, however, believed to have been in con-
sciousness. " * All this points to the one fact that
mind was the originator of organic structure,
because consciousness is an action of mind.

Evans, discussing the initial activities, says the
same thing: "In the germ of the animal body,
as in the seed of the plant, there is the living idea
of the future organism. And that idea forms the
body after the pattern of itself. It is function
(or idea) that creates the appropriate organ, and
not the organ that makes the function. For in-
stance, the heart is made to beat, and this action
commences before its tissues are formed, even when
it is only a mass of protoplasmic jelly. So it is
always the function, the idea, which creates its
organic expression. Thus it is, and of necessity
must be, in regard to the whole body." 2

1 Origin of the Fittest, pp. 422-425.

2 Primitive Mind- Cure, p. 125.

50 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

This array of authorities might be increased
indefinitely. Enough have been quoted to show
great unanimity of opinion on the fundamental
proposition that thinking is first in the order of
occurrence and that bodily actions follow thinking
as consequence follows cause.

vn

MUTUAL REACTIONS OF MIND AND BODY

Mental and physical actions, though abso-
lutely distinct, are most intimately connected.
As day and night are closely joined by the inter-
mingled light and darkness of twilight, so are the
mental and physical activities of human beings,
yet they are as clearly distinguishable from each
other as light from darkness. In this chapter
they are represented as entirely separate for the
purpose of attaining a clear understanding of their
mutual relations. They always occur in the fol-
lowing order : —

First. Mind action, or thinking, noticed or
unnoticed, precedes all other action.

Second. Mind action is always followed by
physical or bodily action of some kind, whatever
may be the explanation of the connection or
relation between the two.

Third. The mind perceives this resultant
bodily action or condition.1

1 Professor Strong in his book, Why the Mind has a Body, p. 318,
says : " The sequences of physical events upon mental are as uni-

51

52 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

Fourth. This second mental action unites
with the first and already existent mental action
or condition. The sum of both, in its turn, acts
on the physical in the same way that the first did,
and, by a force increased by the added impulse
of the second, it increases, intensifies, or otherwise
changes the resultant physical actions and conditions.

That is to say, the person becomes aware of the
changed physical condition consequent upon his
first thinking, and the mental state thus produced
is added to the one already in existence. Thus
a new mental condition is set up composed of the
original thought which produced the first bodily
action and of the other thought which succeeded
that bodily action. In their turn these two com-
bined again act upon the body with the increased
force of their combination. In this way the men-
tal and physical actions follow one another until
something occurs to arrest the progress or change
the course of the mental action.1

form as those of mental events upon physical, volition being as
regularly followed by movement as stimulus by sensation."

1 An order of occurrence introducing other elements might be
stated as follows: (i) mind, the thinker; (2) thinking, or mind
action; (3) the thought or idea, the result of thinking; (4) choice,
the result of combination and comparison of thoughts; (5) will,
the determination to act; (6) action. But this analysis does not
interfere with the above order nor weaken it.

MUTUAL REACTIONS OF MIND AND BODY 53

It appears very clearly from the foregoing analy-
sis that mental actions and conditions, in every
case, precede and cause all bodily actions and
conditions. It is not only mental action which
originates bodily action in the first place, but it
is mental action which afterward increases or
intensifies the bodily action; and it is through
the mind's recognition of bodily conditions, and
not otherwise, that the bodily actions become the
occasion for further bodily changes.

As has already been said, the mind may origi-
nate thought within itself independent of any
suggestion from an external source, and it is there-
fore correct to say that we often "feel" pure
thought; that is, we recognize the changed phys-
ical conditions following that thinking which
had no cause outside of the mind.1 This is neces-
sarily the case because, as Professor James says,

1 This mental consciousness of the new bodily conditions which
have been caused by thinking constitutes what we call "feeling";
and a person speaks as accurately when he says, " I feel sad because
of the loss of a friend," as when he says, " I feel hurt because of a
blow." In both cases the words are used to designate the mental
consciousness of certain new physical conditions, and include in their
meaning both the conditions and the consciousness of the changes.
In one case it is thinking that has changed the bodily conditions;
in the other it is thinking also, but we attribute the change to the
blow,

54 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

1 'All mental states are followed by bodily activity
of some sort." That it was thinking, even though
unnoticed, which caused the feeling and its peculi-
arities is shown by the fact that, if thoughts con-
sciously in the mind are changed, the feelings will
change with the change of thought. It is think-
ing alone which originates feeling and afterwards
becomes aware of it. The mind even notes its
own action as well as the actions of the vari-
ous portions of the body and of external things;
and each of these three may cause further action
in the mind, to be followed by other and consequent
action in the body.

The originating mental action, the first in the
series, being almost or quite instantaneous, is
often entirely unnoticed by the thinker; but this
failure to perceive it does not change the fact of
its existence, nor prevent its legitimate result from
taking place in the body. Because we are not
always aware of the initial or originating action of
the mind, and because of the consequent undue
prominence which, for this reason, is usually given
to those physical conditions which constitute the
second action in the series, the erroneous opinion
is entertained that physical action is sometimes
an originating cause. It is true that bodily condi-

MUTUAL REACTIONS OF MIND AND BODY 55

tions affect mental actions when the mind takes
note of them, just the same as when the mind
takes note of any action or condition external to
the body; but we must not lose sight of the fact
that if the mind does not take note of those bodily
conditions, no further bodily changes will take
place; besides, in every case the bodily con-
dition, whether noted by the mind or not, is
itself the result of some mental action which
preceded it.

This order of occurrence may be illustrated by
the case of the man and the bear, (i) The man
has, stored in his mind, certain ideas regarding
the dangerous character of bears. (2) When he
sees a wild bear in the woods, these ideas recur
and thoughts of danger (fear) dominate, if they
do not obliterate, all other thinking. (3) As a
consequence of this course of thinking, and prob-
ably without being conscious at the time of any
mental action whatever, he decides instantly that
the proper thing is to remove himself from the
presence of the bear as soon as possible; (4) and
therefore he runs. The running is a physical
action resulting from the preceding and somewhat
complicated mental actions. If he had not had
those previous thoughts about the character of

56 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

bears, or if he had not become aware of the pres-
ence of the bear (and this is a mental action), he
would not have run. That thinking which caused
fear was a necessary precedent to the running.
(5; As he runs, his mind notes the new bodily
conditions attendant upon his running, and these,
being discordant, increase the discordant thinking
already in his mind. Although his running began
because of his fear-thought, yet his running in-
creases his fear and he is more scared because he
runs. (6) The new mental condition of fright
occasioned by his mental perception of the physi-
cal action of running is added to the fear he had
before, and a panic follows. (7) But when he
perceives that he has put such a distance between
himself and the bear that he is safe (here also is
mental action resulting in the mental conclusion)
this thought of safety takes the place of his former
thoughts, (8) and he stops running.

Or the condition might be worse; on becoming
conscious of the nearness of the bear, and remem-
bering the bad things he has believed about bears,
his mental condition may be so intense as to induce
paralysis and make it impossible for him to move.
The intensity of his fear, increased by his recogni-
tion of his inability to move, may cause all physical

MUTUAL REACTIONS OF MIND AND BODY 57

action to cease. The man is thus frightened to
death. Thinking killed him.

Looking at the subject from the purely physical
point of view, the physiologist tells us there are
two kinds of nerve fibres, connected at their inner
ends by ganglia, each kind having entirely differ-
ent duties. Professor James sets this forth very
definitely and clearly in his Introduction to Psy-
chology, page 7, where he says: —

" Anatomically, therefore, the nervous system
falls into three main divisions, comprising —

" (1) the fibres which carry the currents in;

" (2) the organs of central redirection of them;
and

" (3) the fibres which carry them out.

" Functionally, we have sensation, central reflection,
and motion, to correspond to these anatomical
divisions."

The fibres which are included in Professor
James's first division are those which bring to our
consciousness the news from the outside world,
as the prick of a pin, the feeling of the object on
which the hand rests, the sound of the locomotive
whistle, the sight of an animal, or any one of the
numberless external things of which our senses
tell us. The second division, or "organs of cen-

58 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

tral redirection," i.e. the brain and ganglia, oi
nerve centres, receive the news from without and
change what might otherwise be mere unintelli-
gent mechanical action into actions that can only
be explained by the intervention of intelligence
giving its orders for the various activities wThich
are to take place. Every ganglion is an organ
where mind comes in contact with materiality to
control it or to be influenced by it, according to
the mental discipline which the mind has received.
This is the point where the mental appears to
touch the material to control it. Lastly, the fibres
of the third division carry the orders to those
organs which are to act and, in compliance with
mental direction, set up in them the requisite
activity.

Professor Ladd, of Yale, in the following tech-
nical language, describes very accurately these
actions and offices of the nerves in producing our
awareness of external things and our succeeding
physical actions: —

"To know that the mechanical or chemical
action of stimuli on the end organs of sense starts
a mysterious molecular commotion in the axis-
cylinders of the centripetal nerves, and that this
commotion propagates itself, as a process of an

MUTUAL REACTIONS OF MIND AND BODY 59

uncertain character, to the central nervous mass,
and there, as a process yet more mysterious, lays
the physical basis for a special forth-putting of the
life of conscious sensation; ... to know these
things, and the grounds on which they rest, is to
be scientific as respects physiological and psycho-
physical questions of the most important kind."1

1 Introduction to Philosophy, p. 60.

VIII
INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL INCIDENTS

Thinking is the initial act of all human actions,
but external incidents in many cases precede think-
ing and provoke it. Whenever the external sug-
gestive incident is taken into consideration, the
order of occurrence is as follows : —

First. The external incident presents itself.

Second. This is followed by thinking of some
kind.

Third. Some bodily action takes place which
is the result of that thinking.

Fourth. Then occur the events which follow
in their natural order.

We see the incident, we think about it, we act;
and then follow the events consequent on that
action. The factor governing our action and
deciding its character is the thinking and not the
occurrence. It is an error to believe that the
incident is the governing power. We fall into
this error because we fail to note the part played
by thinking.

60

INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL INCIDENTS 6l

Suppose a frightened horse has escaped from
his driver and is running toward a little child
at play in the street. Several persons see the
impending accident. One of these, with vivid im-
agination, but not directing his mental actions at
all, pictures to himself all the horrors that may
happen and is paralyzed by fear. Another thinks
only of himself and his own peril and stands still
or removes himself beyond all possible danger.
Yet another throws his arms about, gesticulating
wildly, perhaps screams. All he does arises from
his own mental distraction and adds to the con-
fusion and consternation already in progress.
Had another of those present been so absorbed
in other affairs that he did not see the runaway
horse, he would not have been disturbed by it, nor
would he have taken any action in relation to it.
Another, seeing exactly the same that the others
see, is actuated by an entirely different line of
thinking. " Quick as thought," he estimates the
distance and speed of the horse, his own possi-
ble speed and his distance from the child, decides
there is a chance for successful action, springs
to the rescue, and snatches the child from danger.

In the illustration we have (i) the external sug-
gestive incident of the runaway horse, (2) the

62 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

thinking of each person, and (3) his consequent
bodily action.

Although the action in each case was connected
with the same incident, yet it took its essential
character from the thinking and not from the
incident. This is without exception. Between
the incident or suggestion and the action is always
thinking. Without this thinking there could not
be any action. Neither the incident nor any sug-
gestion decides what the action shall be. The
thinking does that. This is true of all bodily
actions whether great or small, important or
trivial, observed or unobserved.

In the case under consideration the actions of
the persons who were present varied because their
thinking varied; the initial difference was in their
thinking. Each saw the same thing that the
others saw, and if the incident had been the gov-
erning and directing power, each would have done
the same things that the others did. Had a multi-
tude been present, there would have been as many
kinds of action as there were kinds of thinking.

Let two persons, walking in a pasture, come
unexpectedly upon a group of cattle feeding. One
of these persons has followed a course of think-
ing which has made him a lover of animals, and

INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL INCIDENTS 63

he is pleased, interested, and views them with
delighted attention. The thinking of the other
has been habitually turned in the opposite direc-
tion. His thoughts about them have been those
of fear, and now these recur to his mind, and he
is rilled with alarm. The actions of the two per-
sons are as different as their thinking. One
approaches the cattle with pleasure; the other
flies from them in terror. He does not understand
that his sense of danger is all because of his own
thinking, but believes it is because of the cattle.
If the cattle had been the real cause, the other
person would have been as fearful as he was. In
the same way we attribute the cause of our
own faults to others when it is really within
ourselves.

An extreme illustration, but one which has
occurred in actual life and which shows the extent
to which the power of thought has been carried,
is furnished by the inhabitants of India. The
man-eating tiger is an object of the greatest terror
to the majority of them, and they go to his jungle
only in large numbers and with every kind of
weapon at their command. On the other hand,
the man, whose thinking relative to the tiger is of
a contrary sort, goes into the jungle alone without

64 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

any weapons and stays there unharmed. If those
men who so fear the tiger would practise this man's
course of thinking, they, too, would be in the
same condition as he is and would be able to
do the things which he does. A change of men's
thinking would revolutionize the attitude of the
race toward animals, and of animals toward the
race.

Herein is the reason why some people do with
impunity what would be impossible for others to
do, or what they would be greatly injured by do-
ing. The difference is popularly attributed to
temperament, physical conditions, constitutional
characteristics, or some other personal peculiarity.
It is really due to states of mind — to thinking —
the thinking which each habitually does whether
noticed or unnoticed; this is often the result of
education or habit, and the right habit can be
created by continuous right thinking.

It does not need any further discussion to show
that our feelings and emotions are not caused,
as we ordinarily think, by something external to
ourselves; they are caused by our own mental
condition. If our thinking had been different, all
our succeeding actions would have been different
also. This has been recognized by the wise ones

INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL INCIDENTS 65

here and there all down the stream of time. Shake-
speare says : —

" The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

— not in things outside of us, whether near or
remote, but in our own thinking, therefore in our-
selves. More than seven hundred years ago good
old St. Bernard said: " Nothing can work me dam-
age except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry
about with me and am a real sufferer but by my
own fault." In the principles here set forth are
both the confirmation and the explanation of his
statement. The fault is solely in the thinking.
We may change our thinking and thus change
both our course and our conditions.

The cause of danger from our emotions lies
within ourselves; it is useless to try to run away
from it because we carry it with us as we run.
The recluse carries within his own mind the cause
of his difficulties, and this is why monasticism has
always been a failure and always will be. It is
not the temptation but the man's own thought
in connection with it that ruins him. In every
instance it is not the external incident but the
man's own thinking which directs, controls, and
decides what his course shall be.

IX

THE RULE

For the purposes of further discussion all think-
ing may be divided into two classes, harmonious
and discordant.

"Each brings forth after its kind." This is the
substance of a declaration contained in one of the
oldest writings in the world, and is only another
form for the philosophic proposition that the cause
always exists in its consequence, which is exempli-
fied as a fact wherever life and action have been
observed. Then the character of the cause must
determine the character of its consequence, and
consequences must correspond to causes. Since
thinking is the initial of all human action and is
causative in its character, therefore right or harmo-
nious thinking must produce right or harmonious
conditions, and erroneous, evil, or discordant think-
ing must produce erroneous, evil, or discordant
conditions. Consequently, control of the thinking
is of the very first importance because it is control

66

THE RULE 67

of causes, and control of causes is control of the
consequences which are to result from those causes.

The farmer plants corn, and corn springs up and
grows. The young of animals are of their own kind.
Even in the doctrine of evolution, which might
seem to furnish something different if not contrary,
the same principle prevails, for evolutionists tell us
that activity produces changes and conditions cor-
responding to its own character. Exercise of
strength in the arm produces more strength in the
arm; exercise of skill in the fingers results in more
skill in the fingers, and so on through the whole
list. Mental training produces mental ability of
the same kind as the training. Inactivity results
in atrophy, while a new form of activity is held not
only to develop increased activity of the organ used
but even a new organ.

This principle has long been recognized in a

limited way, as seen in the old adage, " Laugh and

grow fat," and in Shakespeare's ulean and hungry

Cassius." With the same import he says : —

" To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on ; "

but the conditions are even more positive, direct,
and immediate than these statements indicate.
In a very general way it is recognized that grief,

68 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

fear, and anger shorten life, and that sometimes,
when extreme in their intensity, they kill instantly;
while contentment, peace, and satisfaction produce
beneficial effects and tend directly and strongly to
prolong life. Anxiety, doubt, and despair paralyze.
Bitterness, greed, lust, jealousy, envy, and the like
cause men to commit all kinds of wrongful and
criminal acts, including even murder itself.

Such thoughts stamp their baleful impress on form
and feature, and when habitual or constant they
leave their permanent disfigurement. "Even a
momentary thought of anger, anxiety, avarice, lust,
fear, or hate distorts the features, impairs respira-
tion, retards or quickens the circulation of the blood,
and alters its chemical composition." * These re-
sults, the same in kind as the thinking that produces
them, are too widely known and appreciated to need
elaboration or comment. Good produces good;
evil produces evil; and this always, without ex-
ception.

It is unfortunate that, until recently, the larger
tendency has been to study the evil thoughts and
their results more than the good ones; but the
general proposition will not be disputed that good
thoughts produce results the opposite of those pro-

1 Tyner, The Living Christ, p. 194.

THE RULE 69

duced by the evil thoughts. "Love worketh no
ill," is a truism in the negative form that no one is
disposed to dispute, whatever one might be inclined
to say of the same proposition in the affirmative
form: "Love worketh only good." Similar things
may be said of all good or harmonious thoughts.

It is true that sometimes a result which is not good
appears to have been caused by good thoughts.
Especially is it so with good intentions. In all such
cases, if the causes are accurately analyzed, it will
be found that the evil came from some unobserved
ill which was connected with the good. Thus,
ignorance often results in erroneous judgment con-
cerning the character of the object sought or the
means employed.

As to the effects of erroneous thought on the
body, we have the authoritative utterances of ac-
knowledged scientific observers. President Hall
says: "The hair and beard grow slower, it has
been proved by experiment, when a business man
has been subjected to several months of anxiety.
To be happy is essential. To be alive, and well,
and contented is the end of life, the highest science
and the purest religion."

Professor Gates made some very interesting ex-
periments in this direction. He provided a spring

70 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

regulated to maintain an even degree of resistance,
and so arranged as to register the number of times
it had been pressed down. A man was required
to make depressions of this spring with his finger
until, from exhaustion, the finger refused to act.
This was repeated until Gates was able to determine
the average number of depressions which the man
could make under ordinary circumstances before
exhaustion occurred. Then, at different times after-
ward, he was asked to think about some subject
which would cause discordant thoughts, such as
the saddest thing that ever happened to him, or the
man he most hated, and on one occasion he was
asked to read Dickens's story of the death of Little
Nell. After much thinking on such a topic, so that
his mind was filled with the thoughts which it sug-
gested, he was required to depress the spring. The
average number of depressions possible under such
mental conditions was very much less than he had
previously made when his mind was in its usual
condition. On the contrary, harmonious thoughts,
as of love, peace, or anything good, raised the num-
ber of depressions above the average in a similar
large proportion. A great number of experiments
persistently showed similar results.
All this seems very wonderful because of the

THE RULE 71

manner in which it is presented, but it is of the same
character as indicated by the ordinary experience
and observation of every one. There are multi-
tudes of similar incidents in everyday life. Who
has not noticed that far less physical or mental
weariness or exhaustion follows an evening thor-
oughly enjoyed, no matter how hard at work one
may be, than follows the same length of time if
engaged in some enforced or disagreeable occupa-
tion ? In one case the thinking is harmonious, and
in the other it is discordant.

In direct connection with this idea Professor
James says: "I suspect that neither the nature
nor the amount of our work is accountable for the
frequency and severity of our break-downs, but
that their cause lies rather in those absurd feelings
of hurry and having no time, in that breathlessness
and tension, that anxiety of feature and that solici-
tude for results, that lack of inner harmony and
ease, in short, by which with us the work is so apt
to be accomplished." * The break-down does not
come so much from the work as from the discordant
thoughts attending it. Uncertainty, anxiety, worry,
fear, break a man down, but he can endure an
enormous amount of labor if, instead of these

1 Talks to Teachers, p. 214.

72 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

thoughts, his mind is filled with calmness, assurance,
courage, and confidence.

By an examination of its effects upon the system
Professor Gates undertook to discover the character
of those substances which he obtained by condensa-
tion of the breath of his subjects. The brownish
precipitate from the breath of angry persons when
administered to either men or animals caused
stimulation and excitement of the nerves. Another
substance produced by another kind of discordant
thinking, when injected into the veins of a guinea-
pig or a hen, killed it outright. He gives his con-
clusions on this point with definiteness and preci-
sion: "Every emotion of a false and disagreeable
nature produces a poison in the blood and cell
tissues." He sums up his results in the statement:
"My experiments show that irascible, malevolent,
and depressing emotions generate in the system
injurious compounds, some of which are extremely
poisonous; also that agreeable, happy emotions
generate chemical compounds of nutritious value,
which stimulate the cells to manufacture energy." ■

Only one specific case from ordinary life will be
cited. It is chosen from a host of others because
it is extreme as well as typical, and because its

1 The Art of Mind Building, p. 4.

THE RULE 73

authenticity cannot be questioned. Many similar
incidents are recorded in medical books.

The mother was strong, healthy, vigorous, mus-
cularly well developed, and not especially sensi-
tive, nor nervously organized, but rather the con-
trary. Her young babe was in perfect health.
Something occurred which threw the mother into a
fit of violent anger. Shortly afterward her infant
was hungry, and she gave it her breast. The little
one was soon after attacked with spasms and died
in convulsions within a few hours. It is acknowl-
edged by the highest authority that this was the
direct result of the . mother's anger. It does not
need Professor Gates's experiments to show that
she had poisoned her child. The mental state of
anger produced an active poison which found its
way to the mother's milk and killed the babe. In-
cidents of a similar kind pointing to the same con-
clusion, though differing in degree as the mental
states varied, have long been matters of observation
by medical authorities.1

1 At the Vermont State Agricultural Experimental Farm, similar
conditions are shown to prevail among animals. The milk of a
certain cow showed four hundred and eighty points with little va-
riation for several successive days. The cow's udder was scratched
with a pin, at which she was irritated and more or less frightened.
In all other ways she was treated as nearly as possible just as she

74 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

If discordant thoughts bring about such discordant
results, harmonious thoughts must produce har-
monious results of corresponding intensity. In-
stances will be found in profusion if sought for.
The only difficulty attending the search arises from
the fact that people are usually trained to conceal
their emotions by restraint of the outward expression.

All this is not so very new as it may at first appear.
We read in The Wisdom of Solomon: "By what
things a man sinneth, by these he is punished,"
showing that at least a fragment of this thought
was recognized by one of the old sages three thousand
years ago. Not far from the same time, perhaps
earlier, — the dates are uncertain, — one of the wise
old Buddhists of India said: "All that we are is
the result of what we have thought; it is founded
on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain
follows him as the wheel follows the foot of him who
draws the cart."

Although this is very strong language, yet it is so
reasonable that it should not create surprise. That

had been on the preceding days. At the next milking her milk
showed only four hundred points, a falling off of over seventeen
per cent. Men should he kind to the animals under their care for
economical reasons, if for no others; but what about the healthful
quality of milk produced under disturbing conditions ?

THE RULE 75

the consequence partakes of the nature of its cause
is a principle appearing in all experience. In each
case the physical conditions are of the same kind as
the mental states which caused them. Discordant
thinking debilitates and poisons the system; har-
monious thinking strengthens and nourishes it.

On the moral plane the situation is even more
obvious because that deals with actions which
were intended. A man may be angry with his
neighbor and hate him. This is a mental condition;
or, as McCosh would say, an emotion caused by a
mental act. Its result is apparent to every observer
in his treatment of the neighbor. His mental at-
titude toward another person may be just the re-
verse of this, and it results in another and a distinctly
different kind of conduct. The mental condition
of a person may make him covet strongly the prop-
erty of some one else, and his judgment (which is
the result of mental action) being unbalanced, he
steals; while another man, with well-balanced
judgment, and therefore thinking another kind of
thoughts, obtains the article he desires by honest
means. These contrary courses of action can only
result from two kinds of thinking; and they are
just as apparent in the highest actions in the moral
scale as in the lowest.

76 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

After all has been said that can be, the whole
may be summed up very briefly. Although they
may follow one another very rapidly, yet two thoughts
of opposite character cannot occupy the mind at
the same time. Each kind of thinking produces
results of exactly its own character. If one kind is
excluded, the other will present itself. If a person
would avoid discordant, physical, mental, or moral
conditions, let him empty his mind of all discordant
thoughts which create such conditions, fill it with
harmonious ones, and cultivate them. Thinking
is causative; if the discordant cause is excluded
from the mind, its evil consequences will not be pro-
duced. The rule for conduct necessitated by these
propositions is most obvious and simple : —

Cease thinking discordant thoughts.

This rule is an expression of the principle of re-
nunciation, a principle as old as the race; but it
strikes at the root of all human actions instead of
dealing with the topmost branches and leaves, as
rules generally do; and it also avoids all possible
interference of one person with another. Renun-
ciation of evil, as expressed in numberless forms of
"Thou shalt not," has been taught in one way or

THE RULE 77

another from the earliest times. The method of
avoidance has always held a prominent place in
ethical and moral teaching. The two contrary
aphorisms, "Avoid the wrong" and "Do the right,"
are bound together by a principle too strong to be
broken. Either includes the other, so that at last
the two are only one, both in theory and in practice.
The morality of avoidance of wrong and practice
of right is so axiomatic that it instantly forces itself
upon the conscience of every one who would become
better himself, or who would aid others to become
better. Compliance with this rule, which goes
down into the deeps of man's nature and deals
with the primal causes of all human actions, will
easily and thoroughly accomplish all desirable re-
sults.

X

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS

The rule set forth in the last chapter is vital,
for it strikes at the very root of all evil. How then
may its requirements be complied with? The
first step toward this object is to decide what thoughts
are discordant.

The wonderful subtlety of these thoughts often
hides their true character so that many persons who
entertain them are not aware of their real nature.
Some pay so little attention to the subject that dis-
cord continually rules their minds. Besides, large
classes of thoughts which are discordant are popu-
larly held to be admirable and therefore are care-
fully cultivated, and those who do not harbor them
are censured. This does not change results. All
such errors inevitably lead to greater confusion.
The list of discordant thoughts is long, and if one
sets about the work of their exclusion, he will be led
into a recognition and understanding of their char-
acter and quality that will far surpass any verbal

78

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 79

explanation which it is possible to make ; yet defini-
tions are of advantage, especially in the beginning.

Of course anger, hate, greed, lust, envy, jealousy,
and all malevolent thoughts are at once recognized
as discordant. To these must be added grief and
its attendants, regret and disappointment; fear,
doubt, and uncertainty, with their sense of respon-
sibility, anxietv, worry, and despair; and condem-
nation of all kinds, including self-condemnation,
with its self-consciousness, self-abasement, shame,
and remorse.

All sinful or erroneous thoughts are discordant
in their nature, and all discordant thoughts are
erroneous, though, in the correct meaning of the
word, not all discordant thoughts are sinful.

One error seriously influencing our decisions
regarding the character of our thinking arises from
the fact that, by many, a lesser degree of discordant
thinking is held to be different in character from its
more extreme manifestation. The character of a men-
tal condition does not change with any change in its
intensity. An act remains the same in its character
and in the character of its consequences regardless
of ignorance, misunderstanding, or any erroneous
opinion about it or connected with it. Thinking
which is held to be reprehensible if intense has the

80 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

same character in its milder forms and also when
mingled with thinking of another kind, even though
we deceive ourselves into the opinion that it is praise-
worthy in the lesser degree or when in combination
with other thinking.

We might as well say that if a weight does not
reach a given amount, it is something else besides
weight, or that it does not have any effect, as to say
that the milder degree of discordant thinking has
changed it to something other than what it was
when more intense, and, therefore, that it does no
harm. A ton is a ton, and a pound is a pound,
and both are the same in kind ; each acts in the same
way in its due proportion. If fifty pounds would
break down a support, twenty-five would seriously
weaken it, and ten or even one would proportionately
reduce its power of resistance.

Mental conditions are just as uniform in their
character and action. Anger of any degree, or in
any of its forms, is always anger however much it
may be lauded, and even when provoked by some-
thing which may be thought to make it justifiable.
In exact proportion to its intensity it always brings
evil to the one who indulges in it. One thought
never becomes united with another thought to their
metamorphosis as hydrogen and oxygen disappear

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 8 1

into water in their chemical union. Thoughts do
not have any such relation to each other.

Everyone is aware that extreme emotion sometimes
kills, that when it is indulged in to excess, it incapa-
citates for any kind of effort, while in lesser degree
it may pass by without notice. If extreme mental
states produce disastrous results, milder conditions
must, in their proportion, produce milder results of
similar character. Though the disadvantage may
be small, still it works its proportion of harm, and
the energy expended in overcoming its injurious
effects might have been stored up for future use or
employed in productive activities.

The mental condition of doubt is seldom recog-
nized as discordant, but is often held to be commend-
able or at least excusable, as well as unavoidable.
While it has phases that are only mildly discordant,
yet its uncertainty leads unavoidably to indecision of
action; and, when this is coupled with that sense
of responsibility which arises out of the anticipation
of possible unfavorable consequences, there follows
much discordant thinking in the form of anxiety
and worry. These are products of doubt and would
not appear except for its presence in the mind.
The two, doubt and responsibility, are the parents
of anxiety, fret, worry, and a large group of other

UNIVFR.QITV

82 RIGHT AND ^fRONG THINKING

discordant mental conditions. Whenever discord
appears, the cause which produced it must be dis-
cordant.

Anxiety, though often considered justifiable,
necessary, or even advantageous, and therefore
commendable, is a discordant mental condition.
In its milder forms, at least, it is seldom held to be
objectionable; but when the weight of responsibility
rests heavily and anxiety appears in its intensity,
its true character is clearly manifested in mental
conditions that are unequivocal in their inharmo-
nious peculiarities. Anxiety in its extreme manifes-
tation puts an effectual stop to all progress. When
under a keen realization of responsibility, who has
not hesitated to undertake a good deed, or, having
undertaken it, has not been greatly hindered by the
anxiety which attended its execution? These and
all their train spring from doubt and fear, and find
their legitimate result in worry and its disasters,
culminating in moral cowardice and despair.

Many people are prevented from doing what they
know to be wise because they fear the result, and
often because they are afraid that they will fear in
the course of the transaction or at the approach of
its crisis. There may not be anything but their
own fear to be afraid of; yet they are aware that

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 83

fear incapacitates, and the fear that they will fear
prevents any action. "I can't, because I know I
shall be afraid," is a frequent expression of a con-
trolling thought, and they who indulge it stand
paralyzed by the fear of their own fear; but this
which they have themselves created they may
themselves destroy.

One of the worst errors concerning fear is found
in the thought, old as historic man, that under
certain circumstances it is wise to fear. It is easily
understood how the old writer, who thought God
was a tyrant ruling in anger and desiring vengeance,
could readily believe that "The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom." No doubt that writer
really meant what we mean when we use the same
word ; but he was wofully wrong in his conception
of God's character. His declaration and the ideas
which caused it were widely prevalent not so very
long ago, and have aided immensely in leading
hosts of mankind into false opinions and their con-
sequent erroneous actions.

There is a similar error in all those forms and
actions of government which rest on fear for their
motive and efficiency. It is not possible for any
one, either child or man, to do his best nor to be his
best when under the dominion of fear; and yet not

84 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

only parents, but both Church and State, have held
that fear is salutary and have acted on that propo-
sition. Untold millions of lives have been dwarfed
and perverted, and laudable plans without number
have been thwarted or abandoned because of need-
less fear.

Hurry needs no definition. It arises from the
recognition that a certain object must be accom-
plished, or a certain amount of work must be done,
in a given time. If the time is sufficient, there is no
feeling of haste. If the time seems insufficient,
there follows a recognition of the necessity for haste,
and the result is hurry. This grows out of the doubt
which creates the fear that the work may not be
accomplished in the required time. Hence, it is
clear that the root of hurry is doubt or fear. The
verbal expression of the idea takes some form of
the declaration: "I am afraid I cannot finish in
time," which is the natural language of haste and
reveals its discordant character. Its essential exists
in the thoughts which constitute its root, and which
result in the peculiar sensations which always ac-
company it.

Abandonment of hurry does not involve the loss
of anything desirable; instead it results in impor-
tant advantages. Every one recognizes the truth of

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 85

the old saw: "The more haste, the less speed."
The mental condition which is produced by the
feeling of hurry is always an impediment to celerity
of action, often causes inaccuracy, and sometimes
results in destruction. In and of itself alone, there-
fore, hurry, like all other kinds of discordant think-
ing, is a disadvantage in just the degree of its
indulgence. Then abandon that mental condition
and use the effort thus saved to increase efficiency.
Grief in many of its forms is thought to be ad-
mirable. Especially is this the case if it is caused
by the death of friends. It is then looked upon as an
expression of kindliness of heart and as a token of
respect and love for the one who has gone. These
qualities are indeed admirable, but they are entirely
distinct from grief, although grief has been mis-
takenly praised for them, solely because its close
association with them has led to confusion of judg-
ment. Not to grieve for the loss of friends is con-
demned as hardness of heart; sorrow for wrong
doing is held to be right and laudable ; yet we know
that extreme grief often paralyzes and sometimes
kills, and that not infrequently sorrow for wrong
actions is so intense and absorbing as to unfit its
victim for activity in any right direction. Who
does not know among his acquaintances those who

S6 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

Have so grieved over business losses that they were
unable to procure the needed support for the ones
dependent upon them? Who has not known grief
for the loss of a child to render the parent, for a
time at least, incapable of discharging the ordinary
duties of life? Many cases of grief have resulted
in insanity. It is true that these are results of ex-
cessive grief; but all grief has the same character-
istics, and such extreme instances only emphasize
its injurious character. Gates shows by his experi-
ments that even mild grief unfits for vigorous
activities, a fact often noted by every observer.

To praise the milder forms of grief and condemn
its excessive indulgence, or to praise it when it has
one cause and condemn it when it has another, is
self-contradictory. If the extreme degrees are in-
jurious, the lesser ones are proportionately so. If
one is to be avoided, so should the others be. Grief
or regret, by itself alone, is never an advantage.
It never rights a wrong, nor removes an obstacle,
nor heals a wound. Shakespeare was correct when
he wrote: "None can cure their harms by wailing
them." Wailing only adds to them and makes them
worse.

All selfishness is not only discordant in its char-
acter, but it is morally wrong; and, though the

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 87

statement may seem harsh, yet, when accurately
analyzed, grief in every one of its forms and degrees,
even grief because of the loss of friends by death,
is largely if not wholly selfish. If questioned, the
mourner will himself admit that it is not the change
which has come to the beloved one which causes
his sorrow. It is his own loss which lies at the
foundation of his grief; and that is selfishness.

If there is any truth in the declarations of Chris-
tian religion, every shade of grief for those who have
gone before is in direct contradiction to professions
of love for the departed. If Christians half be-
lieved what they say they do, they would recognize
that in death there is not the slightest occasion for
grief, but rather for rejoicing because of the change
which has come to the one, who has gone.

Despair in its extreme manifestation is at once
recognized as discordant; its milder forms are also
discordant though they may come to the surface
under many and praiseworthy names. Even much-
lauded patience may be only that form of despair
in which one submits to the inevitable. So also is
resignation; and often Christian resignation, so-
called, is only despairing acquiescence in what are
wrongly thought to be decrees of Divine Providence.

There is a variety of despair, often indulged in by

88 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

many, which is not ordinarily classed as discordant,
but which is, nevertheless, extremely dangerous. It
finds utterance in the declaration, "I can't." This
is an expression of complete hopelessness and
voices a discordant thought that will paralyze the
strongest; will destroy the best, wisest, and most
fixed intentions; will put an end to the best-laid
plans, and will terminate the most energetic actions.
It injures everywhere and will bring disaster to
anything it touches.

The thought, "I can't," makes the difference be-
tween success and failure. The dull boy in school
is the one who, without making an effort, thinks
and says "I can't." The bright boy is the one who
thinks and says "I can." In the beginning there
may have been very little other difference, only one
gave up easily and the other not at all; the life of
one becomes a failure, of the other a brilliant success.

The only place where "I can't" has any value is
when used as a refusal to think or do wrong; even
then it is erroneous in form and does not express
the appropriate idea. The correct and more vig-
orous form under such circumstances would be, "I
will not"; for a person may be abundantly able to
do what he positively refuses to do.

"I can't" tends toward the cessation of all action

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 89

— that is death. "I can" tends toward activity
and gives power — that is life. Since we would
avoid the worst of evils, we should cease even to
think "I can't." If we would maintain life, we
should continue to think "I can." The man who
never recognizes defeat finally succeeds. It was
said that the great secret of General Grant's success
was that he never acknowledged, even to himself,
that he was beaten. The man who thinks he has
failed soon does so, and he who thinks he is a failure
speedily becomes one.

A man was bedridden. His physician said that
he had no disease, and that there was no reason
why he should not go about his business. The
physician was correct; the man was a victim of
his own thought. One day smoke came pouring
into his room. It was only a ruse of his doctor,
but the man thought the house was on fire. Think-
ing so, to him it was a reality. He forgot his in-
ability; the "I can't" thought was excluded from
his mind by another which for the moment was more
intense, and, in consequence, he got up, dressed,
and rushed out. "I can't," and not anything else,
had held him in bondage.

Banish even the suspicion of the discordant and
destructive thoughts of hopelessness, defeat, or

90 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

despair. Do that everywhere, especially in the
prosecution of the mental training here advocated.
Whatever the object, let its consideration be always
without a thought of discouragement, even when
examining its difficulties most carefully. Scrutinize
all obstacles for the purpose of finding how to over-
come them. If the project is worth the effort, there
is a way to accomplish it. That way will be found
if it is sought with a confidence which excludes all
doubt.

Patience is highly lauded and not unduly so when
contrasted with impatience ; but the two are closely
related. If its own special characteristics are ex-
amined, patience will be seen to occupy a paradoxical
position. When one excludes all of that discordant
thinking which is called impatience, he will not have
any occasion for the exercise of patience; that is,
when impatience is wholly put out of mind, patience
also disappears. Therein is its subtlety and deceit,
for patience has no possibility of existence without
some of those discordant thoughts which attend im-
patience; and in the cultivation of patience one
unsuspectingly allows and cultivates more or less
impatience at the very time when he flatters himself
that he has abandoned it. Hence, there is something
better than patience, and that is the condition which

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 91

exists in the mind after the entire exclusion of all
impatience. Until this can be attained patience is
desirable just as a lesser degree of evil is not so bad
as a greater. Patience may be a good intermediate
stage in one's progress, but it is unwise to "culti-
vate patience" as a final virtue because it is only
harboring a mild degree of error, which sometimes
verges close on despair.

Self-condemnation, with its allied lines of think-
ing, has been highly commended as a proper recog-
nition of one's own faults and mistakes. It is
continually taught both by precept and example
from infancy to old age. The little child is asked
if he is not ashamed of himself for an act which he
did not know was wrong; the man of business
teaches the inexperienced boy to blame himself for
the mistakes of ignorance; the moralist says one
ought to condemn himself for his wrong doing;
the Church universally advises sorrow and regret for
sins, and the deeper the penitence, or the greater the
condemnation of self, the more laudable it is thought
to be; and so on through the whole list of ethical
and moral teachers of every grade.

Self-condemnation is a woful waste of energy
which should be directed toward repair of the in-
jury done and avoidance of similar conditions in the

92 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

future. This does not in the slightest degree imply
less sensitiveness of conscience, less keenness of
judgment, nor less clearness of sight to perceive the
right and the wrong of things, nor less eagerness to
do the right and avoid the wrong ; on the contrary,
its absence gives place for more of these very quali-
ties and saves waste of vigor in both intellect and
muscle.

Self-condemnation at its best is discordant; and
the various forms of regret, grief over failures, self-
distrust which produces doubt and hesitation about
proposed or future actions, fear of not succeeding,
inefficiency, and repression, are among the many
serious and widespread evils resulting from it.
Whatever their cause, they right no wrongs, repair
no errors, set no bones, restore no life, change no act
that is past, and do no good in any way. Their
whole progeny is unworthy of any brave, true man.
The energy thus employed is worse than wasted
because it is used in work that is destructive,
occupying valuable time and absorbing valuable
strength which might otherwise be used in repair-
ing damages and recovering lost ground. A man
need neither repeat his sins, his mistakes, nor
his failures, nor need he condemn himself for
them.

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 93

If self-condemnation prevails in any considerable
degree, there will result such lack of confidence in
one's own ability as to thrust him out of his proper
sphere of activity into a lower one and to deprive
him of efficiency and executive ability everywhere
else as well as in this work of securing mental con-
trol. Such thoughts tend in every way to the degra-
dation and even to the complete destruction of the
thinker. Innumerable untimely graves are filled with
victims of self-blame and its products, — disgrace,
shame, remorse, and despair, — and yet self-condem-
nation has been held up as worthy of all praise by
educated, intelligent, and moral people who would
have known better if they had understood its true
character.

That the boy does not "cry over spilled milk"
does not indicate indifference to the loss of the milk ;
crying would only hinder him in his efforts to procure
more. That a person does not waste time in vain
condemnation of himself and his past actions, which
were probably performed in good faith and with the
best judgment possible on the information possessed
at the time they were begun, does not indicate lack
of understanding, nor want of discrimination, nor a
disposition to repeat the error. That one does not
sit in sackcloth and ashes for the crime or sin he

94 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

has committed is no proof that his determination
to abandon his evil course is not sincere.

Our great teacher, Jesus, the Christ, does not
advise discordant thinking of any kind. He points
out errors, wrongs, and sins, and holds them up to
view in their true light, never in the slightest abating
their enormity. He tells us not to repeat such things ;
but, so far as we have the record, he does not any-
where nor under any circumstances advise any one
to condemn himself or to regret anything he has
done, or to grieve over it. He speaks of repentance
and conversion, and in religious circles much stress
is rightfully laid upon these; but, unfortunately,
these English words as at present understood do not
correctly represent the meaning of the Greek words
for which they stand in the New Testament.

The Greek word metanoeo, which is translated
"repent," is thus defined by the lexicographers: "to
perceive afterwards, to change one's mind or pur-
pose, to change one's opinion, to have another mind."
This does not in the least indicate or require regret,
self-condemnation, or any other discordant thinking.
Jesus' exhortation was always to change the mind
for the better, never to spend time wailing over the
past, and it is entirely presumable that the connection
of discordant thinking with the true meaning of the

DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 95

word arose from the fact that very often such a
"change of mind" has been accompanied by
thoughts of grief, regret, and self-condemnation;
but the word itself does not convey such a meaning,
any more than do the phrases which are used to
define it. When the word was addressed to one who
was in the wrong, it set forth in strictly scientific
terms the easiest, simplest, and best method of
making a change in conduct from wrong to right,
for it simply means " change your mind" — no more,
no less.

Likewise the Greek word epistrepho, which is
translated " convert," contains within itself no mean-
ing indicating any discordant thinking whatever.
It is defined "to turn, to turn one's self, to turn
about, to turn around," etc., and is used figuratively,
as we say, "turn from the error of your ways"; or
as Peter said in his speech to the people which is
reported in Acts iii. 19: "Repent ye therefore, and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."
"Change your minds and thereby be turned about"
exactly expresses the full meaning and brings the
two words into such proximity that their mutual
relationship clearly appears. This turning about
is the natural and inevitable result of the change of
mind indicated by the true meaning of the word

g6 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

"repent." Both repentance and conversion will be
better understood, and their object better accom-
plished, if the thought about them is limited to the
rightful meaning of the words, and the judgment
is not warped by self-condemnation, grief, fear,
remorse, or any other discordant thinking.

XI

HOW TO CONTROL THINKING

Said an old Hindu sage who lived so long ago that
his name has been forgotten: "Let the wise man
without fail restrain his mind." His counsel would
have been better if he had said : "Let the wise man
without fail control his mind;" and perhaps that is
what he meant, for his real meaning may have been
lost in erroneous translation. Ever since his time,
and probably for a long while before, there have been
men who recognized with more or less distinctness
and earnestness the advisability of mental control.
To be able to abandon those varieties of discordant
and injurious thinking described in the preceding
chapter would constitute a very desirable element
of mental control and one which would lead directly
to most admirable results through complete self-
control. The question then becomes, how may we
rid ourselves of discordant thinking?

The answer is very simple. Stop thinking dis-
cordant thoughts. Turn from one subject and give

97

98 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

attention to another; change the thinking from one
thing to another; drop out of the mind those dis-
cordant thoughts which occupy it and think other
and harmonious thoughts.

Every one who observes his own mental actions
and methods is aware of countless changes of think-
ing following one another in rapid succession in
response to external suggestions or requirements.
The frequency of these occurrences will surprise all
those who have not turned their attention in this
direction. They will also discover that, under all
ordinary circumstances, these changes are made
without the slightest appreciable effort. All this is
normal, occurring in the usual course of mental
action. It is also ideal. It is toward such natural
and ideal action as this that all intentional efforts
to avoid discordant thinking should be directed.
To make similar changes intentionally every time
the discordant thoughts appear, thus dropping them
out of the mind and giving the attention wholly to
harmonious thoughts, is to comply with the rule in
every particular and accomplish every desirable
result.

The only unusual mental action involved in this
course is that the impulse to the action is to come
from within instead of from without. The change

HOW TO CONTROL THINKING 99

should be made purposely, promptly, because of
one's own choice, and in response to recognized
principle; but not in heedless compliance with the
suggestions of external circumstances or conditions.
If apprehension of either effort or difficulty arises in
the mind when proposing to abandon discordant
thinking, it should be instantly excluded because
it will inevitably lead to some form of the very
kind of thinking which is to be avoided. This
course of training depends on choice, must be
in response to choice, and should be accom-
panied by the least possible expenditure of will
or effort.

So much is said about exercise of the will that the
term has become enveloped in a cloud of words, its
true meaning has become obscured to the ordinary
mind, and its very existence is questioned by some
of the best-trained intellects. However that may be,
preceding what is usually recognized as the will, or
the determination to do, is choice which is without
conscious effort, while exercise of the will is always
accompanied by effort, sometimes severe. It all
finally resolves itself into a question of action in
response to choice, because choice lies at the founda-
tion of all these actions, however necessary exercise
of will may sometimes seem to be.

IOO RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

The requirement is merely to drop the discordant
thought — to let go of it as one lets go of a stone in
the hand — and this surely necessitates less exertion
than to hold on. This act of dropping the discor-
dant thought ought to be, and may be, nothing more
than the abandonment of effort in response to choice,
and it should not require any exercise of energy in
"enforcing the behest of the will," for there ought
not to be any of the strenuousness of "will"
about it.

Control of the thinking is one of the primary
actions of the mind and, like all such actions, can no
more be described than one can tell another how to
see or how to move. It is possible to say, "Look
there," or, "Hand me the book," but it is impossible
to instruct another how to see with the eye or how
to move the hand. The three mental actions which
are essential to this mental training are how to think,
how to stop thinking any particular thought which
may be in the mind, and how to change the
thinking from one thought to another. Although
there cannot be any direct explanation of these
primary actions, yet, through experience, every one
knows somewhat of how to accomplish them and
does not need any instruction beyond the suggestion
to begin.

HOW TO CONTROL THINKING' IOI

The method is most clearly and definitely set foftfr
by Strong when he says: "Suppose that, while
thinking, I come within sight of some painful memory
or inconvenient thought, and turn deliberately away,
saying, ' No, I must not think of that ; ' surely, by so
doing I cause the cessation of the corresponding
brain-event as effectually as if I went at the cortex
with a knife. It is as easy to turn the attention away
from an idea as to turn the eyes away from an object.
Nay more, it is as easy to turn the attention away
from a sensation. To make a visual sensation lapse
from consciousness, it is not necessary to look away,
but only to think away." l

Apropos of this subject, Edward Carpenter says:
"If a pebble in our boot torments us, we expel it.
We take off the boot and shake it out. And once the
matter is fairly understood it is just as easy to expel
an intruding and obnoxious thought from the mind.
About this there ought to be no mistake, no two
opinions. The thing is obvious, clear, and unmis-
takable. It should be as easy to expel an obnoxious
thought from your mind as it is to shake a stone out
of your shoe ; and till a man can do that, it is just
nonsense to talk about his ascendency over nature,
and all the rest of it. He is a mere slave and a prey

1 Why the Mind has a Body, p. 95.

102 RIGHT. AND WRONG THINKING

to the bat-winged phantoms that flit through the
corridors of his own brain."

President McCosh says: ''Though a man may
not be able to command his sensibilities directly,
he has complete power over them indirectly. He
can guide and control, if not the feeling itself, at
least the idea, which is the channel in which it flows.
... He may be able to banish the unholy idea by
calling in a more elevating one ; he may remove the
object out of the way or remove out of the way of
the object, and the flame left without its feeder will
die out. A man can thus control his feelings ; he is
responsible for them, for their perversion, for their
excess, and defect."

He who is really in earnest and perseveres in the
practice, doing his best to stop his discordant think-
ing in ways which his own intelligence and experi-
ence will suggest, will learn the whole lesson. There
is no secret about it, nor any copyright, nor patent.
By inheritance it is the right of every human being,
and every one who is in earnest will find the way to
claim his inheritance and control his thinking. In
practical mechanics, however much the boy may
have heard or read, he does not know much about
his work until he uses the tools, and by using them
learns certain things that cannot be verbally com-

HOW TO CONTROL THINKING IO3

municated ; so here, in the practice of these things,
one may learn for himself vastly more than can be
told in words. The earnest practitioner in mental
as well as in physical training will gain an under-
standing and a power which will enable him to do
what seemed impossible at the outset.

xn

SUBSTITUTION

Purposely putting out one thought and occupying
the mind with another may be called the method of
substitution. Exclusion of discordant thoughts
furnishes opportunity for harmonious ones to take
their place. If the purpose is intense enough, the
new thought will never have to be sought for,
because ceasing to think one thought uncovers
another which at once presents itself in the place
of the one which was discarded.

Decisive action at this point in the process is
especially important. On the instant and without
hesitation, seize the first thought which appears and
hold it tenaciously. When the dangerous intruder
has been dislodged, the positive, unwavering accept-
ance of the new thought will close the door and lock
it behind the ejected intruder. To occupy the mind
in looking about for some specially appropriate
thought will cause such indecision and vacillation
as will give the one excluded abundant opportunity

104

SUBSTITUTION IO5

to return. Do not stop at first to question the char-
acter of the newcomer. That can be decided later
when the mental control is more assured, and then
if another more desirable thought presents itself, it
may be accepted in its turn.

The mind must be active. The room which was
once filled with erroneous and discordant thoughts,
but which has been swept clean of them, must im-
mediately be filled with desirable ones so that there
may be no place for the return of the former objec-
tionable occupants. "We should have our prin-
ciples ready for use on every occasion" is as true
now as when Epictetus first declared it. Good
thoughts will then be ready to appear as soon as they
are given the opportunity by the turning out of bad
ones. Of course it is at all times and in every way
advantageous intentionally and consciously to bring
good thoughts into the mind and keep them there;
then evil ones will not have an opportunity to enter.

In the prosecution of this mental training employ-
ment of any kind is a decided advantage because it
keeps the mind occupied with a better kind of think-
ing than might otherwise fill it. Herein lies one of
the greatest benefits connected with labor. The
labor should not be such as results in great physical
fatigue, nor should it require such special attention

106 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

as to produce mental exhaustion. It should be
neither excessive nor insufficient, but adapted men-
tally and physically to the condition of the person
who is employed in it. If excessive, there is danger
of mental reaction through fatigue; if insufficient,
there is danger that the unoccupied mind may take
up some objectionable topic. Mental activity and
the character of that activity are the essentials ; the
labor is valuable only as an aid to control mental
action.

Herein, also, lies the advantage connected with
travel and change of scene. Under these circum-
stances nearly every one submits himself to the sug-
gestions of his new surroundings and allows his mind
to follow them without any effort at control. Re-
moval from the old familiar environment into scenes
of an entirely different character gives new sugges-
tions which substitute new lines of thinking in place
of the former habitual ones, and these changed men-
tal conditions bring fresh stimulus to the physical
system. It is change of thinking which causes the
beneficial result, not change of air.

The idle and frivolous need the change that stimu-
lates new thought more than those who are engaged
in productive work, because their thinking is far more
liable to be of an injurious character. This is the

SUBSTITUTION I07

secret of the physical degeneration which follows
lives of luxury or idleness; the poison is in the
character of their thinking.

Just at this place it may be well to note this self-
evident fact: exclusion of discordant, erroneous,
or immoral thinking gives just so much more time
and opportunity for the harmonious, truthful, or
moral thinking. From considerations of utility
alone, this is very important; the questions of
morality make it much more so.

A most excellent way to turn the thoughts from
discordant channels into harmonious ones is to look
habitually for the good, both in persons and in
things. It is an accepted fact that nothing can exist
which is wholly evil or entirely separated from good.
There was never a person who did not have some
good qualities or who did not do some good deeds;
nor ever a thing, however much it might be out of
place, that did not have somewhat of good in it or
closely connected with it. Then the search for the
good, if diligent and faithful, need never be in vain ;
and when found, it ought to be well and carefully
treasured. With this habit fully established, error
thoughts will seldom intrude. Steadfastly "Look
for the good in thine enemy."

The fact that good and bad are often close to-

108 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

gether, and that there is never anything wholly bad,
is well illustrated in the answer of the member of
the kirk, who had been charged with saying good
things of the devil — an unpardonable sin in the eyes
of those valiant old Scotch Presbyterians of former
days. Her answer and her defence was : "Ah weel,
mon, 'twere vera gude for a' the members o' the kirk
if they had his persistence."

The search for the good should be undertaken for
its own sake alone, and not with any ulterior or
secondary object in view. The one purpose should
always be kept fully to the front. If this search
for the good is prosecuted with the desire to secure
through it some other advantage, that second object
should be dropped out of the mind because its pres-
ence will tend strongly toward defeat. This is
because the action of the mind will be divided by the
pursuit of two objects and neither will receive its
whole attention, consequently each will fall short of
its rightful result. The hunter cannot aim his rifle
at two different objects at the same time with any
serious expectation of hitting either. To be double
minded is to invite defeat.

The whole subject may be well illustrated by the
case of the young lady who could not sleep because
the noises^of the city disturbed her. She was told

SUBSTITUTION I09

that every noise, whatever its character, had a
musical note and was advised to try to find that
note in each of the various sounds which she heard.
In compliance with this advice she abandoned all
attempts to go to sleep and pursued that one object
with the result that she slept soundly all night.
The explanation is that before she had dwelt strongly
on the discordant characteristics of the noises which
she heard, and, by her own thinking, had enlarged
her consciousness of the discord as well as of her
consequent sufferings, and thus she kept herself
awake. In her search for the musical- notes she
lost sight of the disturbing discordant conditions,
and she fell asleep because the discord no longer
disturbed her. If, during her search for the musical
notes and her contemplation of them, she had kept
in her mind the thought that she was doing this for
the purpose of inducing sleep, she would thus have
kept herself wide awake because her mental action
would have been divided between two objects, and
she would have been constantly aware of the fear
(discordant thought) that after all she might not
secure the coveted sleep. Let the mind be single.
If so much can be accomplished in the purely
physical way by singleness of purpose in the search
for the good, surely equally conclusive results may

IIO RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

be gained in moral and spiritual directions; and by
so much as these are more desirable will the conse-
quences be more valuable.

Therefore this search for the good, which is one
of the best methods by which harmonious thinking
may be substituted for discordant, should not be
limited to an attempt for the moment only. It
should be a life work, constantly in exercise, and it
should be pursued until complete success is at last
attained in the exclusion of every discordant thought.
Thus life will be made to shine brighter and brighter,
not alone for the one who practises the lesson and
learns it, but also for all his associates, until at last
it shall irradiate the world. We do not, nor can we,
live and make ourselves better for ourselves alone.
This is a work for self which does not have any
selfishness in it.

XIII
IMMEDIATE ACTION

The discordant thought often appears very
suddenly in response to external suggestion, and
sometimes that fact is made an excuse for allow-
ing it to pursue its course. The plea is, "It came
before I knew it;" but this does not justify any one
in allowing it to continue. One can think in one
direction just as rapidly as in another, and, if he
chooses to do so, he can stop the discordant thought
as suddenly as it appeared — even on the very
instant. The unexpected flash of anger can be
cast out of the mind with the same instantaneous-
ness that it started.

There is no difference in the rapidity of the
different kinds of thinking. It takes no longer
to think harmonious thoughts than discordant
ones, and no longer to exclude the discordant
thought than it did to admit it. If one is instan-
taneous, so may the other be. Though it takes a
little time for the mind to send its orders along

in

112 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

the nerve to the muscle, still, in itself alone,
thinking is very nearly if not quite instantaneous.

Of course, in all this there are those thoughts
which immediately precede an act, and others
which were antecedent and contributory to it.
The series may be a long one, running far back
into the past. Before a man murders another,
there must have been in his own mind thoughts
of greed, envy, anger, hate, desire for revenge, or
others of evil character. According to some state-
ments of modern science, these may have fol-
lowed one another through generations of ances-
tors. The first one of the series is more easily
controlled than any of its successors, and de-
struction of the first prevents the birth of any of the
others. They are all evil and discordant, and,
under the rule, each is to be abandoned as soon
as it appears, even though none of them point to
any immediate " overt act."

Indeed, the danger of the overt act does not
constitute the greatest danger. That really lies
in the first thought of the series. The woodsman
can split the log if he can only make an entrance
into the wood with the point of his wedge, and so
it is with thinking. A person should not allow
in his mind the smallest item of discordant thought,

IMMEDIATE ACTION II3

because it is there that the danger lies. It is the
point of the wedge, and safety lies in not admitting
even that.

That wise old Chinese philosopher, Lao-tsze,
said: "Contemplate a difficulty while it is easy.
Manage a great thing while it is small." If the
seed is destroyed, there will be neither the little
shoot nor the rank weed to be uprooted and cast
away. The trouble with many of us is that we do
not understand, and we allow weeds to grow until
they overrun the garden. Let there be neither
hesitation nor delay. Discordant thinking gathers
force and persistence with every moment it con-
tinues. Delay affords it an opportunity to intrench
itself, and this only increases the difficulty. If
one neglects the little fire, he cannot stop the big
conflagration.

The boy coasting, if he sees danger ahead, may
check his first movement with very little difficulty.
Whether the start is abrupt and the descent steep,
or more deliberate in the beginning and the descent
more gradual, the stop should be made with
decisive promptness the very instant that danger
is perceived. Halfway down the declivity, when
the velocity is great and the accumulated impetus
is considerable, the stop cannot be made so easily.

114 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

The boy may put down the brakes, but there is
danger of accident, and he must "play the game
out" even though he may conclude it sooner
because of his efforts. The better and easier way
is not to start ; or, having started, to stop at the
first movement.

The discordant thought should be dropped out
of the mind as quickly as a red-hot coal would be
dropped out of the hand, and another and har-
monious thought should be welcomed in its place
with equal celerity. Prompt and decisive action
here will save much future effort.

XIV

PERSISTENCE

Every least mental action has its result. By
the law of the persistence of energy, nothing ever
happens, however seemingly unimportant, with-
out its effect on succeeding events. Astronomers
say that the falling of a pebble moves the earth
out of its course in exact proportion to the size of
the pebble. Everything has its own value and
importance. Then we ought to seek out the
smallest manifestation of discordant thinking and
stop it, because the slightest objectionable thought
must have its result, and therefore it should never
be allowed to run its course. It would be a serious
mistake to suppose any thought too trivial to re-
quire attention.

The rule at Donnybrook Fair applies here:
"Wherever you see a head, hit it." The least is
not too small to be terminated if it is wrong. The
little error in its little beginnings ought to be
taken care of as soon as it is perceived. Through

"5

Il6 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

doing this, one becomes thoroughly prepared for
complete mastery of the larger ones whenever
they present themselves. Neglect of the little
ones will create inability to cope with the greater.
Indeed, if this rule is followed, the greater ones
will never appear.

It is equally important that the change when
once made should be steadfastly maintained.
If the erroneous or discordant thought returns,
it should again be instantly dismissed, and this
should be repeated with every return, regardless
of its frequency. To allow its continuance, even
for the briefest moment, means greater difficulty
in dealing with it. There should be no dallying
or postponement. The old German proverb is
exactly applicable in this place: "The street By-
and-by leads to the house Never."

Professor James gives such a vivid illustration
of the effect of failure to maintain constant control
of the thinking when once it has been undertaken,
and of the extremely slight suggestion which may
divert one's mind into its former channel, that
the paragraph is inserted here because of the
instruction it contains for those who are striving
after mental control. He says : —

"For example, I am reciting Locksley Hall

PERSISTENCE 117

in order to divert my mind from a state of sus-
pense that I am in concerning the will of a relative
that is dead. The will still remains in the mental
background as an extremely marginal and ultra-
marginal portion of my field of consciousness;
but the poem fairly keeps my attention from it,
until I come to the line, 'I, the heir of all the ages,
in the foremost files of time.' The words, 'I,
the heir,' immediately make an electric connec-
tion with the marginal thought of the will; that,
in turn, makes my heart beat with anticipation of
my possible legacy, so that I throw down the book
and pace the floor excitedly, with visions of my
future fortune pouring through my mind."1

Emotions are simply states of feeling induced
by mental conditions. Control of the thinking
will always control the emotions. Men and
women who do not exercise this control as they
should, thereby allow their emotions to control
them to their own destruction. If at the beginning
they had controlled their thinking, they would
have avoided the whole difficulty. Christison
writes, italicizing his words: "In normal mind
it can be controlled by the power of the will to
exclude or substitute ideas as directed."2 Every

1 Talks to Teachers, p. 87, 2 Brain in Relation to Mind, p. I2&

Il8 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

emotion becomes fully controllable by excluding
from the mind the thoughts which produced it.
This can always be done in the milder forms of
thinking, and exercising this control of the milder
forms will produce such a mental state that vio-
lent conditions will not occur.

Each person who attempts purposely to dismiss
discordant thinking will have experiences pecul-
iar to himself. Some thoughts will be more easily
set aside than others; and this will vary with his
own varying mental conditions. Many difficul-
ties will arise because his thinking heretofore has
been allowed to run on without direction and
subject to any external suggestion which prompted
it; others because he approaches the new course
of action loaded down with the idea that it requires
strenuous effort. Habits of long continuance are
not destroyed with a single effort, and perfection
of mental control is not attained at once. Many
difficulties are sure to appear, but by perseverance
they can be overcome. The work will be less
difficult and the action more persistent if one
realizes that the advantages to be gained vastly
outvalue the efforts involved.

As a matter of practice it will be best to begin
with that inharmonious thinking which seems

PERSISTENCE II9

the least difficult to overcome. The wise general
strives to divide the forces of his enemy and
attack each detachment separately, the weakest
one first. He thus defeats them more easily
because his own strength is greater than that of
the portion of the foe upon which all his efforts
are concentrated. The athlete did not begin
with great things but with the smaller ones, and
in the practice of these he gained the strength and
wisdom which enabled him to overcome the
larger ones.

It is best to follow a similar method in mental
training. Divide the enemy and attack the weaker
outposts first. These overcome, the intrenched
city will not then be so formidable. Lift the
smaller weight which is suited to the strength,
and the exercise will prepare one for the heavier
objects. The highest mountain peak can be
scaled only by first ascending the smaller elevations
which buttress it.

When the thought that seems of minor impor-
tance has been cut off and cast aside, another can
be undertaken, and then another. Facility will
come with practice, and what was begun with
difficulty will be ended with ease. Each suc-
ceeding task may be only a little more difficult

120 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

than the one already accomplished, and in each
he will find advantages arising from his experi-
ences with the former ones. Thus the work may
go on from one erroneous thought to another until
all discordant thoughts are thrust out.

Each morning let there be an intentional renewal
of confidence for the dawning hours. Begin the
day with hopeful consideration of the subject.
Recount the incidents of yesterday and make an
examination of the methods which were adopted
to avoid failure and to secure success. This care-
ful consideration of former successful efforts will
enlarge the understanding, strengthen the confi-
dence, and materially help to gain greater victories
in the coming day. Rejoice mentally and be
glad over each triumph. Be very glad. Glad-
ness alone invigorates powerfully, as do all har-
monious thoughts. Cultivate gladness. Depres-
sion disappears just in proportion as one cultivates
gladness and serenity.

It is probable that in the prosecution of this
work the beginner will meet with some surprises.
Not only will unexpected difficulties present them-
selves, and that which he expected to dispose of
easily prove very persistent, but he may even find
himself enjoying and really desiring to continue

PERSISTENCE 121

his indulgence in a line of discordant thinking
which heretofore he has suspected to be more or
less objectionable, and which, in his clearer under-
standing, he now knows to be so. In these expe-
riences the careful observer of his own mental
processes will gain much wisdom and many a
stimulant which will aid him to persist in his efforts
to achieve complete success.

Perhaps the greatest danger may arise from dis-
couragement. Under the stimulus of the first
enthusiasm all will probably go well, and there
will be many successes which will seem wonderful
and which may encourage the beginner to think
that the work is nearly completed. Possibly the
thought may occur that the necessity for so
much vigilance has passed, and this may cause a
little relaxation of attention and consequent care-
lessness; or there may be a sense of effort and
weariness. These are seductions to beware of,
because they are quite liable to be succeeded by
slips which are more or less serious and difficult
to overcome, and disappointment and discourage-
ment are almost sure to follow.

This is an important place in the course of men-
tal training, for a little hesitation and a little slip-
ping back into the old habits which are so seduc-

122 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

tive may be fatal to the purpose and cause the
abandonment of further effort. At the least it
will entail the necessity for greater effort than has
been before put forth in order to recover lost
ground. As in the case of the habitual drinker
who is trying to reform, little lapses, if allowed,
are almost sure to lead to more important ones,
and it will require more strenuous efforts to over-
come them than were requisite at the start. The
danger to the drinker is in his first dram, and in
this training the serious danger is in allowing the
little discordant thought, so small as to seem of
no consequence whatever, to continue unchecked;
but however great the task, steady persistence
and perseverance are sure to succeed at last.

XV

NOT ALWAYS EASY

It is not claimed that it always appears to be
easy to change the thinking in response to one's
own choice without reference to external sugges-
tions, or, as must often be the case, in direct oppo-
sition to them; nor will one acquire in a day the
power to do this every time and on the instant.
An established habit of any kind is not broken
by a few feeble attempts; but persistent, faithful,
determined effort will overcome the most dominant
habit that ever fastened itself on a human being.

The single condition necessary to success in this
mental training is that one should be enough in
earnest to persist in the repetition of the effort
every time the excluded thought reappears. The
ability to do this is in itself alone extremely valu-
able even if there were no other consideration.
Professor James well says, and none too strongly:
"The faculty of bringing back the wavering atten-
tion over and over again is the very root of judg-

123

124 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

ment, character, and will. No one is compos sui
if he have it not. An education which should
improve this faculty would be the education par
excellence." The ability to do this is at the basis
of success in securing control of the thinking, and
also at the basis of every success in life. The
method of doing it, as we have seen, is the very
perfection of simplicity and of effectiveness as
well, and James is correct when he says that this
is preeminently the best education. It ought to
be made the basis of all education, for what is
learned early in life is learned easily. It Is, how-
ever, abundantly worth the effort no matter how
difficult it may be.

One item of great importance in connection
with it is the fact that for its prosecution and
attainment one does not require salaried teachers,
nor ponderous books, nor any outlay beyond the
expenditure of one's own effort; nor does it re-
quire any change of living, nor absence from home,
nor from any occupation. It can be prosecuted
anywhere, under any circumstances, and in con-
nection with any other employment. One may
be his own instructor; indeed he must be, for
another cannot instruct him in this. He must
himself select and learn his own lessons, find out

NOT ALWAYS EASY 12$

and correct his own mistakes, and, indeed, do fo
himself all that a teacher would do for him in
another branch of training; but perseverance,
persistence, and the determination to succeed will
surely overcome all difficulties and bring success.
Any one can do it. The whole process consists
simply in ceasing to do what ought not to be done,
and in repeating that process whenever necessary.

The fact that a person can sometimes success-
fully control his thinking proves that he may do
it every time that he really so desires. What a
man has once done he can do again. This fact
is of the utmost importance here, because it indi-
cates beyond question that complete success is
attainable in spite of all difficulties. He has only
to banish the discordant thought each time it
returns.1

The one who is in earnest and persistently
pursues this object should not weary in it. Inci-
dents of more or less importance will present them-
selves from time to time through the whole course,
which will show the amount of progress that has
been made and the value of what has already been
attained. They will also show what is yet to be

1 " ' I am only telling you,' said the Tinker, ' what you could do
if you tried. Kittles ain't so hard to mend if you keep on.' "

126 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

done and how to do it. It will be strange if occa-
sions do not arise when the temptation to despair
will be almost overwhelming, and success will
seem almost impossible; but despair is one of the
worst of discordant thoughts and must be dis-
missed instantly, regardless of its source or prov-
ocation. There may also be incidents which
seem like failures, but they may all be overcome
and turned into successes. Let it be kept steadily
in mind that " difficulties are only things to be
overcome." The old Chinese proverb says;
"Remain careful to the end as in the beginning,
and you will not fail in your enterprise."

The only possible course is to persevere through
everything. There is no field of action wherein
greater or more valuable results can be achieved
with a given amount of effort. The way is straight
and narrow, but the prize at the end is as great
as man ever struggled for. Paul says of one who
is seeking better things: "Let him not be weary
in well doing, for in due season he shall reap if he
faint not." And we need never forget, for it is
forever true, that —

" We always may be what we might have been."

XVI

EFFECT OF THE PHYSICAL ATTITUDE

The character of the outward physical expres-
sion is of much importance. For instance, the
influence of the grief thought upon the body is
such as not alone to cause the tears to flow, but
also to give its own peculiar expression to the face,
to the gestures, and even to the attitude of the
whole body. So, likewise with the opposite emo-
tions of happiness, joy, or serenity, each produces
in the body its own characteristic expression.
In all cases the body follows the mind, and then
the mind is influenced by its recognition of the
bodily conditions caused by its own previous action.1

1 I have seen a person thrown into feverish conditions by his
own mental actions, and then frightened when he recognized the
physical conditions which his own mind had caused. The fright
was the result of his perception of the fever, was caused by that
perception and would not have occurred without it. If, when he
perceived the fever, he had also recognized its cause, there would
not have been any fear. Hence, though we speak of the influence
of the body upon the mind, that influence arises from and is caused
by mental action, namely, the mind's perception of the condition
of the body,

127

128 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

This bodily action upon the mind, through
its recognition of physical conditions, is so strong
that if the bodily attitude natural to any mental
mood is purposely assumed, that physical atti-
tude will so act upon the mind as to induce those
mental conditions which would normally produce
the assumed bodily expression. This influence
of the body upon the mind through the mind's
own action may be used for the control and
improvement of mental conditions.

The normal bodily expression for cheerfulness
is an erect spinal column, the head well poised,
and a general slightly upward direction of the
eyes. This very position which cheerfulness
would naturally give to the body will itself, if pur-
posely assumed and maintained, produce cheer-
fulness. In fact, the mental effect resulting from
this attitude is such that it is impossible for a per-
son to continue it for half an hour in walking or
any other physical activity and remain mentally
depressed.

One who is seeking to banish discordant think-
ing should assume that bodily attitude or expres-
sion which the desired harmonious thinking
would naturally produce. Let him smile whether
he feels like smiling or not. Even a forced smile

EFFECT OF THE PHYSICAL ATTITUDE 1 29

will assist toward banishing the mental discord.
"Assume a virtue if you have it not." Force a
smile that a spontaneous one may follow. It
will help toward the introduction of harmonious
thinking, and if this is fostered by the right men-
tal effort, the two will work together for immediate
success. But let it be a smile and not a grin; at
least let it have as much of smile and as little of
grin as possible. No one can force a smile with-
out producing somewhat of the smiling thought,
just as no one can assume the attitude of cheer-
fulness without somewhat of cheerfulness arising
in the mind. In this lies a large part of the rea-
son why the bodily attitude or expression is so
efficacious in bringing into realization the desired
mental condition. Behind the clouds which obscure
the vision the sun is always shining, and one need
not abide in the shadow except by his own choice.

The actor, whether in public or private life,
can achieve full success only by producing within
himself the mental conditions he would repre-
sent; and in like manner he who would win in
mental control will find a most powerful assistant
toward the production of the desired mental condi-
tion by assuming the physical attitude or expression
which represents the thought that he desires.

I30 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

Professor James, in his Talks to Teachers,
has a very strong paragraph on this subject:
"Thus, the sovereign voluntary path of cheerful-
ness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is
to sit up cheerfully, to look round cheerfully, and
to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already
there. If such conduct does not make you soon
feel cheerful, nothing else on that occasion can.
So, to feel brave, act as if you were brave, use all
your will to that end, and a courage-fit will very
likely replace the fit of feai. Again, in order to
feel kindly toward a person to whom we have been
inimical, the only way is more or less deliberately
to say genial things. One hearty laugh together
will bring enemies into closer communion of heart
than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling
with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.
To wrestle with a bad feeling only pins our atten-
tion to it, and keeps it still potent in the mind;
whereas, if we act from some better feeling, the
old bad feeling soon folds its tent like an Arab
and silently steals away."1

1 James is right in what he says about " wrestling," and the
reader will note that the dominant idea of this book is not to
wrestle with wrong thinking, but to drop it and, having thus put it
out of the mind, let it alone forever.

EFFECT OF THE PHYSICAL ATTITUDE 131

This is not hypocrisy. It is not done to deceive,
as hypocrisy is. It is done for the purpose of
banishing wrong thinking — it does it — and that
is praiseworthy.

xvn

ALL ONE'S OWN WORK

This work of excluding discordant thinking
from the mind does not involve any attempt to
proselyte or to interfere with others in any way.
It does not directly concern any one but the per-
son who is engaged in the work for himself, and
it certainly does not deal with any one else ; neither
ought another to interfere unless asked, because
such interference would not only be an imperti-
nence but a hindrance. Walt Whitman stated
the case clearly arid concisely when he wrote: —

" No one can acquire for another — not one.
No one can grow for another — not one."

This is true because one cannot either see, hear,
or think for another, but each must do these things
for himself. Because one's thinking is entirely
his own and cannot by any possibility be another's,
whatever is involved in thinking with all its con-
tingencies and consequences is necessarily one's

132

ALL ONE'S OWN WORK 1 33

own and depends exclusively upon one's own
efforts; but the exclusion of discordant thoughts
and the ushering in of harmonious ones is the
business of thinking solely, and therefore it belongs
to one's own self and cannot be delegated to
another. The actual cleansing of the temple
must be one's own work.

Other things depend more or less on the action
of some one else to hinder or to help, but a man's
thoughts need not depend in the least upon what
another does, or says, or thinks. A man's mind
is a domain where, unless he consents, no one but
himself can enter, and he need not allow another
to have the slightest control over it. His think-
ing is his own and never another's, and another's
need never be his unless he chooses to accept it;
therefore the responsibility is all his own also,
but the compensation for that lies in the fact that
his action may be unimpeded and uninfluenced —
free.

The law, in the person of an officer, can take
charge of one's body and transport it from place
to place or lock it up in prison, can dispose of a
man's property as it sees fit, and may compel him
to do many things which he himself does not wish
to do; but unless he allows it, no human power

134 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

can enter his mind to interfere with his thinking.
A man's thoughts are his own until he gives them
utterance, and in the world of his own mind each
man may reign supreme. It is the divine right
of every human being to think as he pleases.1

More important than the old poet imagined
was the truth he uttered when he said: "My
mind to me a kingdom is," and he would have
added to the accuracy and power of the expression
if he had said: "My mind to me my kingdom is."
A man's mind is indeed his own kingdom, and he
ought never to allow it to become the kingdom of
another wherein he himself is a subject. If a man
has trained his thinking, he may declare more
truly than the lone Selkirk: —

" I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute."

All this is most favorable to the prosecution of
mental training, because it places the whole work
of development in one's own hands, unimpeded

1 Holding to this principle, but forgetting that a divine right
relates to divine things, it has been widely held that a man has the
right to think what he pleases, provided his thoughts have no out-
ward expression in word or deed ; but the conclusion is irresistible
that a man has no more right to think wrong thoughts than he has
to do wrong deeds. Immoral thinking should be held in abeyance
as inflexibly as immoral action, for it is the root of all immorality.

all one's own work 135

and uninfluenced by others. A modern writer
has truly said, though with a note of sadness which
does not belong to it, that "in all its deepest expe-
riences the soul is solitary. Every crucial choice
must be solitary." Though this mental solitari-
ness is a necessity, it does not cause a man to hold
aloof from others, nor does it prohibit one single
valuable social pleasure or advantage; but it is
a boon, and a glory as well, and it may bring a
consciousness of power, dominion, and freedom
that cannot come from any other source. He,
who has trained his mind to obey his own behests
and has asserted and realized his rightful mental
supremacy over himself, can better enjoy contact
with his fellows and can reap greater advantage
from association with them. Over him there can-
not be any domination by others, whatever their
course, and he will enjoy a freedom that nothing
but mental control can give.

Here at last is ideal freedom, which, when coupled
with recognition of the self-control which is insep-
arable from it, gives man a sense of ability to be
and to do such as nothing else can. The greatest
strength lies in the vivid realization of this fact
when one really awakes to its existence. He can
himself, as he chooses, thrust aside impediments

I36 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

within himself without interfering with another,
and with no one to interfere with his action or to
ask why. This ability is not to be spasmodically
expressed, but is always to be steadily maintained.
In nothing else does man need to be alone, but
here he stands entirely alone and yet without any
sense of loneliness; indeed, this very aloneness
may become one of his greatest blessings, for,
having banished discordant thoughts, here one
may, as Emerson directs, "stay at home in his
heaven." The results for good may reach out
into the vast unknown of humanity in unexpected
and undreamed-of ways which were never planned.

XVIII

DESTRUCTION OF DISCORDANT
THOUGHTS

The advantage and efficiency of the course here
advocated rest in large part upon the important
fact, perhaps not often noted, that those things
a person is not thinking about are, to him, at the
time, as though they did not exist. Thus, through
forgetfulness, an object or an idea passes entirely
out of consciousness, and, to the thinker, during
the time of forgetfulness, it is as though it had
never existed. It can be brought back by recol-
lection, when the thinker will once more have it
in mind; that is, by the mental action it will again
become to him a reality.

The mere sight of a thing is not what gives it
reality, for to the sight of it must be added con-
sciousness of that sight. This consciousness is
itself a form of thinking which must take place
before the thing becomes a reality to the one who
sees it; therefore before it enters into consciousness

137

138 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

and after it passes out of consciousness it does not
exist to the thinker.

We laugh at the person who becomes so absorbed
in some special thought as to be wholly unaware
of everything else. To him, at the time, the one
thing he is thinking about is all there is in exist-
ence. On the other hand, he may be thinking
so intently as to make a thing real to him even
in its absence. A man was accustomed to shave
himself every morning before a mirror which had
hung for a long time in one particular place. The
mirror was removed, but for several days he went
as usual to the same place and shaved himself
without accident, just as he had done when the
mirror was there; but one morning his attention
was called to the absence of the mirror, and he cut
himself when he thus was made aware that he no
longer had its assistance. To those who are spe-
cially intent on one particular thing, the only thing
that exists is the one they are thinking about, and
that is existent to them whether it is to others or
not. The only difference between such a man
and the ordinary person lies solely in the fact that
he is recalled to consciousness of existent condi-
tions with more difficulty than others are.

Every one has sometimes been so engrossed as

DESTRUCTION OF DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 1 39

to be wholly unaware of things going on around
him; but this only indicates intense mental atten-
tion in one direction to the entire exclusion of all
else. Many a person has become so absorbed
in a game of cards as to lose all consciousness of
pain, and some have indulged in the game that
they might make themselves oblivious to both
physical and mental suffering. This is a form
of forgetf ulness ; the thought is no longer in the
mind, and, having passed out of the mind, it no
longer creates discord nor generates injurious
chemical substances in the body. When this is
made permanent it is called healing; and the per-
son who has trained himself so that he has com-
plete control over his mind can make it permanent
without the excitement of a game of cards.

Things are real to the thinker because they are
in his mind, and it makes no difference to him
how unreal they may be if he believes them to be
real. This is illustrated by all those who labor
under hallucinations. Non-existent things are
real to such persons, and often they are so intently
engaged in these unrealities and believe in them
to such an extent as not to be aware of the realities
which are pressing them.

But we do not need to go to the insane for ex-

140 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

amples. He who is fully persuaded that his friend
is false, however untrue that may be, is in the
same condition both mentally and physically as
if it were true. The world is full of such incidents,
and they have come within the observation of
every one. It is thinking that makes the thing
real, and in the absence of that thinking it does
not exist.

Two things are to be noted in this connection.
First, absence of the reality from the mind does
not destroy that reality; it only makes it unreal
to the one who is not thinking about it — makes
it, to him, as unreal as though it did not exist.
Second, presence of the unreality in the mind
does not make it a reality. It is real only to the
thinker; but, being real to him, its effects on him
are the same as though it were indeed a reality.
It is a well-known fact that a man who thought
he was bleeding to death died from the thought,
though he had not lost a drop of blood ; and there
are thousands of similar unnoted and unrecorded
instances.

The practice of substituting one thought for
another is admirable and is not to be abandoned
until something better can be done, but destruc-
tion of the discordant thought would be a far more

DESTRUCTION OF DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 141

effectual method. The exclusion of a thought
from the mind is, for the thinker, its destruction
while it is excluded; and its continuous exclusion,
so that it should never return, would be its com-
plete destruction for him. This is the supreme
result of constant practice in the exclusion of erro-
neous or discordant thoughts. If it is an erroneous
thought, or a thought of error, the error is thus
for him literally and completely destroyed. If
the whole world would thus exclude the erroneous
thought, it would no longer have any existence.

The correctness of this statement is more readily
perceived in those cases which concern an erro-
neous belief in the existence of something which
is easily recognizable as non-existent, such as
the supposed falsity of a friend who is not false.
While that falsity is a fact to the one who thoroughly
believes it, still its destruction is complete the
instant the thought is dropped out of mind, and
if the thought is dropped forever, then the destruc-
tion is forever. The same thing is true of the
fear of an impending disaster which will never
occur. Such fear can be so completely dismissed
from the mind that it is utterly destroyed. It is
the same with all erroneous thoughts.

The two methods of substitution and destruction

142 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

work together; substitution sustaining and assist-
ing the work, and, if persisted in, finally resulting
in total obliteration of the objectionable thoughts.
Some one has truly said that more than nine-
tenths of the ills of life are occasioned by anxiety
(thinking) about events that never happen.
Neither the things nor the anxiety exist except
in thought. Then if that thought is put out of
mind, or destroyed, those ills disappear forever.
They are destroyed.1

Though it is only a thought that is destroyed, yet
in that thought exists a cause; and let it not be for-
gotten that every discordant thought is the cause of
discordant mental and bodily conditions, and the
cause being destroyed, the consequences do not ap-
pear, so that literally the destruction of discordant
or erroneous thinking is the destruction of the pos-
sibility of wrong conditions. The man who quits
lying can do nothing else but tell the truth ; so, too,

1 The saddest fact in the world is sin, however it may he ac-
counted for. But here is a method whereby it may be destroyed,
and this is the method of Jesus, the Christ. (See last chapter.)
He would have us put all error (and that includes all sin) out of
the mind completely. To do this is the essential of forgiveness,
because to forgive means to put away; and when we have put away
from ourselves (by putting them out of mind) our own errors and
the errors of others, they will not any longer exist to trouble us.
When every one does this, there will no longer be any sin.

DESTRUCTION OF DISCORDANT THOUGHTS 1 43

he who destroys the discordant thoughts cannot do
otherwise than think harmonious ones, and the
destruction of all discordant thoughts would leave
in existence only those which are harmonious.
This would result in the production of none but
harmonious actions and the establishment of har-
monious conditions without any discordant ones
to interfere. This is the grand ultimate object. It
can be attained through mental control, and thus
men may rid themselves of more of the ills of life
and gain more of its advantages than one who has
not tried it would believe possible.

XIX
SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS

While avoiding Scylla the ancient Grecian
mariner had to beware lest he wreck on Charybdis.
In the attempt to avoid certain discordant thoughts
one must beware lest he fall into indulgence in others
of similar character which may arise in connection
with the effort.

It will be strange if disturbing thoughts do not
sometimes present themselves, but mental disquiet
of any kind must not for any reason be allowed in
any part of the process. That discouragement
which comes from occasional or even frequent fail-
ure must be dismissed as promptly as were the first
discordant thoughts; neither must it be recognized
as failure, but only as an incident in a process which
will terminate in success. Thus will be established
more securely and easily the habit which probably
was more than half formed when the discouragement
arose.

Along with the sense of disappointment and regret
144

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS 1 45

at temporary or incidental failure, and suggested by
it, is quite likely to come self-condemnation, and this
may be followed by grief, anxiety, discouragement,
and even despair. They never assist in the least;
they always hinder. It is not necessary to blame
one's self in order to correct an error which has been
made. No man is helped to be better by grieving
over the things he has done. Getting rid of one evil
is no advantage if another quite as bad is allowed to
arise in its place.

Ruskin states one side of the case correctly, clearly,
and strongly when he says: "Do not think of your
faults; still less of others' faults; in every person
that comes near you look for what is good and strong ;
honor that, rejoice in it; and, as you can, try to imi-
tate it, and your faults will drop off like dead leaves
when their time comes."

A sense of the responsibility or of the burden of
the work should not be allowed in connection with
the attempt to exclude, discordant thinking, nor
should there be any vestige of a thought of anxiety
lest the ejected thought return to create another
state of mental disquiet. If these are allowed, the
second state of that man will be worse than the first,
because he will be weighed down by two kinds of
erroneous thinking instead of one. Even though

I46 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

le may have successfully banished one set of thoughts
of which he wished to rid himself, he will find that
he has enslaved himself to another group as bad as
the first. To allow such thoughts to spring up
alongside the attempt to weed out others is not
to clear the field of discordant thinking, but to change
from one set of intruders to another ; or, worse than
that, to introduce another set, and this is the exact
reverse of the object aimed at. No one thought of
the discordant class should be admitted any more
than another, and there is no more reason or justi-
fication for harboring one than another; still less
is there any reason for allowing two. So far as any
one of them is allowed it defeats mental control and
its advantages just as effectually as would the con-
tinuance of the original erroneous thoughts.

In the beginning of this mental training strenuous
effort may seem unavoidable, but with persistent
practice better mental conditions will be established,
so that in most cases the change of thinking may be
accomplished without appreciable effort. From the
very first the thought that there may be any necessity
for such effort should be banished as far as possible,
because it induces more or less dread of the under-
taking and doubt of its success. Consciousness of
effort detracts from the ideal of the perfect action,

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS 1 47

and complete success is not reached until the change
of thought can be made without it.

The desired object may be accomplished thor-
oughly by entering into that perfect mental freedom
which arises from such exclusive devotion to the
work of the moment as to shut out all other con-
siderations, and to leave all the time and strength
for the business in hand. Indeed, this work when
rightly done is done so quickly in each succeeding
experience that there is neither time nor opportunity
for any other disturbing mental conditions than
those to which the effort was first directed. All this
may be accomplished without any diminution of
activity or energy ; instead there will be an increase
of effectiveness in all right directions.

XX

MORAL DISCRIMINATION

To stop thinking discordant thoughts does not
necessitate change of former conclusions as to the
kind, character, quality, or conditions of any subject
under consideration; these should remain undis-
turbed unless sufficient reasons appear for making a
change. A man may refrain from striking the person
he hates without changing his opinion of that man's
character ; and in like manner one may refrain from
angry or otherwise discordant thinking without at-
tempting to persuade himself that the other person
is praiseworthy.

One is not in the least aided, but rather is he hin-
dered, in his attempts toward harmonious thinking
by calling black white, bad good, wrong right, or in
any way trying to persuade himself into an incorrect
opinion. Such a course would falsify and degrade
one's standard of right, and that must necessarily
always be a serious disadvantage. It is lying to
himself, because even while he says an enemy is a

148

MORAL DISCRIMINATION 149

friend he knows he is not; and though all lying is
wrong, if there is any difference at all, it is worse to
lie to one's self than to any one else.

The search for the good in everything should not
be degraded into an attempt to see everything as
good or to think that bad is good. Such a course
would confuse the judgment as to what is good and
what is not good. There is already too much of that.
All ideas on these subjects should be kept as clear,
positive, and distinct as possible; and the line of
demarcation between the two should always remain
undisturbed. Good is good and bad is bad whatever
may be said or thought about them. If the bad
presents itself, it should be recognized, understood,
and known in its true character so as to be avoided ;
but this may be done without discordant thinking
of any kind whatever, and with the conscious cer-
tainty that the good is close at hand.

One can never afford to think that bad is good, nor
that his own defect is desirable, nor that his mis-
fortune is in itself an advantage ; neither of them is
ever a necessity, not even to teach lessons, because
if one's understanding is sufficient, he may learn the
lesson beforehand, and that will enable him to avoid
the adverse circumstances. Every one should stop
condemning the bad man, should stop being angry at

150 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

the ill turn his friend has done him, should stop his
regret for the misfortune which overtook him, and
stop self-condemnation because of his own defect —
should, in fact, stop all discordant thinking about
anything and everything — and he may do all this
without any change of his opinion about the object,
the person, or the affair. When this is done, he can
look at any and all things justly and fairly, see them
as they are, learn all that is to be learned about them,
arrive at correct conclusions, decide what is right or
advisable to do under the circumstances, and then
act upon his decision.

The true character of every error or mistake which
one may make should be correctly understood and
properly appreciated; but this can be accomplished
better and with more clearness, certainty, and ac-
curacy without discordant thinking than with it.
Avoidance of such thoughts does not imply avoidance
of a correct understanding of the rightful value and
character of the things with which one has come in
contact. The instant which has passed, the mistake
which has been made, the sin which has been com-
mitted — all these things should be divested of every
gloss of circumstance and of every fictitious appear-
ance, and then they should be studied carefully and
exhaustively so that they may be correctly under-

MORAL DISCRIMINATION 151

stood as they really are, to the end that in the future
they may be more easily avoided. This is reason-
able and practical, and conduct is thus more wisely
directed and becomes vastly more efficient.

There need not be any fear that those who per-
sistently attempt to exclude discordant thinking will
lose their recognition of the difference between right
and wrong because of such exclusion. On the con-
trary, the mental training here proposed will bring a
keener perception of those differences because the
practice of discrimination between the erroneous
and discordant on the one hand, and the true and
harmonious on the other, is necessary to successful
prosecution of the work. Indeed, no correct action
can be taken under the rule without more or less of
such discrimination; and, as a necessary result of
the exercise of such discrimination, one must become
possessed of an increased keenness and accuracy of
discernment, and therefore of judgment, as to the
true character of his thoughts and acts as well as a
clearer insight into the moral qualities of his thinking.
These desirable conditions will steadily increase as
he progresses. He will come to understand clearly
where before he doubted. Some things which
before were accepted as right will be questioned
until, finally, they will be better understood and

152 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

consequently rejected as wrong; and other things
which were once thought to be wrong may later be
found to be right. To one desiring to know what is
right (and every one in his best moments does) this
method will be most valuable.

In pursuing this course will be found an exem-
plification of Jesus' declaration: "Whosoever will
do [chooses to do] His [God's] will, shall know of
the doctrine [teaching]." The same thought
changed into different words might read: Who-
soever really and earnestly chooses to do right and
perseveres in doing it shall learn how.

XXI

A LITTLE ANALYSIS AND ITS
APPLICATION

Perhaps more often than otherwise discordant
thinking is provoked by some incident, condition,
or thing external to one's self. The connection in
the mind between thoughts and their causes is very
close, but there are two kinds of these thoughts, —
those which are simply thoughts about the occur-
rence without any quality of discord whatever, and
those which are also thoughts about the occurrence
but which are discordant in their character. These
are entirely distinct, therefore dismissal of the dis-
cordant thoughts does not necessitate dismissal of
all thought connected with an incident any more
than throwing out the decayed fruit necessitates
throwing out the perfect fruit also.

So complicated has become the ordinary life of
to-day that very little of our thinking is simple.
Analysis shows that all our thoughts are more or less
complex, being made up by the union of a multitude

*53

154 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

of elements, each with its distinct characteristics.
These may run along together in seemingly inextri-
cable union, yet they are distinct and do not in the
slightest depend upon each other for existence.
Such of these elements as are discordant may be
wholly excluded from the mind without any inter-
ference with the others and without any loss of
efficiency either in thinking or in acting, but with a
decided advantage to both.

This does not mean that the objects, duties, and
requirements from which discordant thoughts seem
to spring are to be abandoned, nor that a person is
to stop thinking about them ; it only means that one
should eliminate the discordant thoughts which may
arise in connection with them. There is a wide
difference between thinking about an object or
occurrence in a harmonious manner, as one ought,
and thinking discordantly, as one ought not.

These two kinds of thinking run so close alongside
each other that in the prosecution of mental control
it sometimes appears necessary to stop all thinking
about the provoking cause. In earlier attempts
this method is often the best and most successful.
If all thinking about the subject is put out of mind
for a little time, one will find that later he can enter
upon a full consideration of it without introducing

A LITTLE ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATION 155

any discordant mental conditions whatever, and the
proper consideration of the subject can then be
undertaken with a good prospect of arriving at
correct results.

It is only after all such thoughts have been swept
away that the mind is prepared for a keen, just, and
fair examination of the situation; the whole field
can then be clearly surveyed, and the best possible
decision made concerning the conditions and the
course to be pursued in connection with them.

A person's friend may have acted improperly
toward him, and he may recognize that he is himself
stirred by it to anger, regret, grief, or some other
kind of discordant thinking. This should be dis-
missed without a moment's hesitation. Every one
has experienced the physical sensations which suc-
ceed such thinking, and this dismissal should be so
instantaneous and so complete that no "feeling"
will follow the recognition of the incident. Mere
mental attention to this discordant " feeling" dis-
turbs the current of harmonious thinking even if
there were nothing else to interfere.

When the discordant thoughts are completely
excluded, one can make an accurate investigation of
the incident. How did it happen? What was the
cause ? Who was to blame ? Had he himself done

156 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

anything to provoke his friend to such a course?
What is right and therefore best to do under the cir-
cumstances? These and many other questions will
present themselves for decision, but not one of them
should be allowed to provoke any mental discord,
because, just in proportion to its intensity would that
discord inevitably tend toward inaccuracy of think-
ing and consequent erroneous conclusions; but in
its absence one may judge coolly and calmly and act
wisely.

Avoidance of discordant thinking does not mean
neglect of any duty nor shirking of any right under-
taking. On the contrary, it means more vigorous
and efficient activity in the discharge of every right
duty or obligation and more complete and effective
accomplishment of every right object. It means
removal of a large class of serious mental and physi-
cal hindrances to activity and efficiency. It means
avoidance of all the physical discords and discomforts
which are brought upon one's self by the useless
impediments produced by discordant thinking. It
means dispensing with the useless and injurious in
order that there may be more time and energy for
the beneficial and valuable. To cease such thinking
will leave mind and body clear, strong, able, and ready
to do more and better work along all right lines.

A LITTLE ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATION 1 57

We look upon the evils of to-day and are more or
iess disturbed by them, and the more closely they are
related to us the more considerable is our discordant
thinking and consequent discordant and injurious
emotion. We look upon the evils of a past century
and learn all the circumstances connected with them
with only a mild wave of discord. As we walk we
note the obstacle in the path, perhaps with regret,
or anger, or condemnation of the man who placed
it there, perhaps even with despair at our inability
to pass it ; or, we may so control ourselves that we
do not have the slightest mental disquiet, and, be-
cause of the absence of that discord, we find our way
past it all the more readily. We may so train our
thinking that finally, by habit thoroughly established,
we shall have no more discordant thoughts about
any event than we have about those which happened
thousands of years ago, or about those of the present
time which do not in the slightest concern us.

One ought not to consider his mental training
complete until he can, with entire equanimity, meet
all incidents which affect him personally and can
consider them carefully with entire freedom from
any discordant thinking or feeling.

xxn

HABIT

There has long been a tendency among moralists
to decry habit, perhaps because their attention has
been directed more frequently toward bad habits
than good ones, or they may have been more inter-
ested in destroying bad habits than in creating good
ones. The popular idea of the preponderance of
evil habits has also come, in part at least, from the
undue magnitude which evil has been allowed to
assume in the human mind, and from the consequent
belief that habit turns more largely toward evil than
toward good. This may be a relic of the " religious "
idea formerly so carefully cultivated by a consider-
able class of teachers of morality, and therefore
widely believed, that man is totally depraved and as
"prone to do evil as the sparks to fly upward."
Centuries ago Ovid wrote : —

" 111 habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."

This statement has the disadvantage of being
negative in character, thereby suggesting those dis-

158

HABIT 159

cordant thoughts which arise from doubts about
successfully overcoming an increasing evil; but
there is another and far more desirable view of this
subject which has the great advantage of being cor-
rect as well as encouraging.

Habit is the result of the natural tendency of the
mind to persist in doing those things which it has
many times been set to do. A new action is often
accomplished slowly and with difficulty, but repeti-
tion results in greater facility, and it may be con-
tinued until at last it is performed without conscious
effort or attention and without the exercise of any
volition beyond the choice to begin. This is the
origin of a majority, some say of all those actions
which are looked upon as reflex or automatic and
which seem to occur independently of any mental
action whatever; and in this way any action re-
peatedly performed may finally become reflex or
automatic. This being the case, the door is open
whereby a man can control not only his conscious
thinking, but by the control and creation of habit
may also create and control that thinking of which
he is not conscious.

The action of the piano player is an excellent
illustration of the way habit works for us. So is the
incident of that musician who was stricken with

l6o RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

epilepsy in the midst of his orchestral performance,
but who continued to play accurately to the end.
He had established the habit by his own long-con-
tinued efforts. It takes the musician a long time to
set up this habit, and he considers it well worth the
effort ; but the end sought in the control of discordant
thinking is vastly more valuable than the musical
accomplishment, however desirable that may be.

Habit works with absolute impartiality; for good
with the same facility and effectiveness that it does
for evil; for right thinking just as powerfully as for
wrong thinking; and the increasing momentum and
power of a good action repeated is just as great as
that of a bad one. One may easily control the initial
idea either to emphasize and repeat it or' to avoid it.
If a person persistently does that, the tendency,
whatever it may be, whether inherited or otherwise
acquired, and however firmly intrenched, can be
modified or destroyed. By constant repetition the
habit of avoiding discordant thinking may be estab-
lished just as firmly as any other, and with no more
effort, for habit, good or bad, is only action oft
repeated.

If one refuses to allow discordant thoughts to con-
tinue, stopping them every time he is conscious of
them, the habit will finally be so confirmed that

HABIT l6l

whenever the objectionable thought is presented,
the mind will of itself automatically refuse to enter-
tain it; and this, too, without any conscious atten-
tion from the person, just as the musician presses the
keys of his instrument without the least recognition
of the thinking which produces the motion. By
habit the mind will persist in not doing whatever it
has been trained not to do with the same readiness
and ease which it manifests in doing the things it has
been trained to do. Thus, this habit may be so culti-
vated that when any suggestions of discordant think-
ing arise they will "stop themselves." To establish
any habit the action of the mind only needs to be
given the right direction by continuous repetition,
but it is all-important that the obtruding thought
should be banished every time and on the instant
that it appears. Man should understand this fact,
be encouraged by it, and take advantage of.it.

An immense proportion of our good actions are
habitual, and that is as it should be. Professor
James says: "The fact is that our virtues are habits
as much as our vices." We should establish the
habit of good, useful, and virtuous actions as soon as
possible by setting up correct habits of thinking.

When Ovid's couplet is reversed it is as true as
when it is read in the way he wrote it; and in its

1 62 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

modified form it has the advantages of being just as
accurate as in its original form and also of giving
vastly more encouragement to those who are striving
to establish better mental conditions for themselves :

" Good habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."

XXIII

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO
HEALTH

The relation of thinking to every bodily action
from the smallest to the greatest is that of cause to
effect, therefore the same is true of the relation of
thinking to health and disease. Harmonious think-
ing is the cause; health is the effect. Discordant
thinking is the cause; disease is the effect. Each
person has built as he would; each person may
build as he will.

This becomes broadly apparent if the statement of
President Hall be accepted, that there is no change
of thought without a change of muscle. Still more
clearly does this appear in Professor James's declara-
tion that mental states always lead to changes in
breathing, general muscular tension, circulation,
and glandular or other visceral activity. These
point directly to the statement by Professor Gates
that anger, jealousy, hate, or any malevolent think-
ing causes the secretion in the system of various

163

1 64 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

injurious substances, including poisons. The cir-
culation of the blood and all other bodily functions
are interfered with by passion or emotion. Laughter
and tears are physical conditions involving changes
of muscles and of glandular secretions, and their
causes are purely mental. The same is true in all
bodily conditions.

But, objects one, I did not think of a headache,
yet I woke with it in the morning. Very true.
Neither did the thief think of stealing when he began
to wish for his neighbor's property; nor did the
mother, weeping over her lost son, think of shedding
tears ; nor did the man in a convulsive fit of laughter
plan to laugh. Had there been no thought of the
ludicrous, there would have been no laughter. Had
there been no thought of grief in the mother's mind,
there would have been no tears. Had there been
no desire for what was another's, there would have
been no stealing; and had there been no discordant
thought, there would have been no headache.

Professor Gates's experiments show the direct in-
fluence of thinking upon the health. He found that
anger produced a brownish substance which ap-
peared in the breath. He continued his experiments
until he had obtained enough of that substance so
that he could give it to men and animals as medicine

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO HEALTH 1 65

is administered. In every case it produced nervous
excitability or irritability. In his experiments with
another kind of thinking he obtained another sub-
stance from the breath which he injected in the veins
of a guinea-pig, and the pig died in a very few minutes.
After saying that hate is accompanied by the greatest
expenditure of vital energy, he enumerates several
of its chemical products, all poisonous, and concludes
by saying: " Enough would be eliminated in one
hour of intense hate, by a man of average strength,
to cause the death of perhaps fourscore persons, as
these ptomaines are the deadliest poisons known to
science."

He experimented with two young ladies. They
were first tested in various ways to ascertain their
general condition. One was then required to make
a list of all the delightful, pleasant, enjoyable, or
fortunate incidents in her life. The other made a
list of all the events of a directly opposite kind in her
life. He kept each thinking upon her own list as
continuously as possible for thirty days, and then
they were tested in the same manner as at the begin-
ning. The first had gained most remarkably, while
the second lost in nearly the same proportion.

All bodily actions and conditions, whether in-
tended or not, are consequences of thinking, and

1 66 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

since disease is a bodily action or condition, the ru\e
holds good for all diseases. Thoughts of grief,
regret, anxiety, or fear which follow bad news often
find their physical consequence in a disturbance of
the nerves of the stomach ; and, in exact proportion
to the intensity of these thoughts, they bring about
such a disordered condition of that organ as to im-
pair or even suspend digestion. We say, " It struck
to the stomach." This expression is figurative, but
accurate ; and nearly every one has had a similar
experience. If we examine ourselves, we find that
"it" was a thought or a group of thoughts. The
disturbed condition of the stomach caused by "it"
varies with the variation of the other attendant
mental and physical conditions. The disordered
stomach may affect the head, causing dizziness or
headache, or it may disturb the optic nerve so as to
cause dimness of vision, or it may act upon other
portions of the body in discordant ways, causing
debility, weakness, pain, or suffering of many kinds
and of longer or shorter duration, according to the
intensity, continuance, or frequency of the repetition
of the discordant thinking.

It is not necessary, as has been asserted by many,
that one should think of a special disease in order
to produce it. On the contrary, disease is seldom

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO HEALTH 167

caused by direct thought of the particular disorder
which afterward appears, although it may be so
caused and sometimes is; but discordant thoughts
of some kind set the train in motion. Sometimes
the train is a long one, with many physical and men-
tal actions and conditions existing between the initial
thought and the disease in which the series
culminates.

Although the incident which appears to be the
immediate cause of the disease may be purely physi-
cal in character, yet that incident must itself have
had its cause which, if sought, will at last be found
in some mental action or condition. Too small or
improperly shaped shoes may be worn until the feet
become distorted, diseased, and painful, and this
will change the whole attitude and action of the
person. When the shoes were selected, this result
was not thought of, least of all was it intended. It
may be said that the cause of this suffering was
purely physical, yet certain ideas regarding the size
and appearance of the shoes governed their selection,
and, causing that, caused all that followed, including
the suffering. Thus, the origin of it all was thinking,
even though remote from its consequences to the
health. Sometimes diseases of maturity and old age
may be clearly traced to some thinking of childhood

1 68 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

or youth which had long disappeared from the con-
sciousness of the person.

History is full of illustrations of diseases directly
caused by mental conditions, many of them noted
in the records of the medical profession. Dr. John
Hunter, the great English surgeon, suffered from
disease of the heart which he himself ascribed to his
fear of having contracted hydrophobia when dis-
secting the body of a patient ; and it is said that his
own death was the result of a fit of anger.

Although it is possible that in some instances there
may be such a combination of known circumstances
with known thinking as to show beyond question
that a particular disease was the result of some
special kind of thinking, yet it does not necessarily
follow that this disease is always the result of this
particular thinking, nor that this thinking always
produces this particular disease. We do not know
anything about the unnoticed or subconscious think-
ing and not very much about that which is undi-
rected ; that is, we do not know anything of the spe-
cific character of some of the causes, and of others
very little, consequently our knowledge is too in-
sufficient to enable us to draw special conclusions
which shall necessarily be correct.

It may be beyond question that a certain headache

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO HEALTH 1 69

was caused by anger, but it does not necessarily fol-
low that every headache has anger for its cause, nor
even that anger causes headache in a majority of
cases. There are more than a score of other mental
conditions which might result in headache, and there
is a large number of physical conditions besides
headache which may be caused by anger. Hence, it
is not possible to demonstrate that any given disease
is always produced by some one particular kind of
thinking.

This is illustrated by the fact that one man turns
pale from anger while another flushes. In one of
these cases the blood is sent away from the surface
by the same mental action which in the other sends
it to the surface. That the blood may take these
opposite directions in two different persons under
the impulse of the same kind of thinking indicates
clearly the erroneousness of singling out any one par-
ticular set of discordant thoughts as the cause of any
special infirmity. The attempt to banish certain
thoughts for the purpose of securing immunity from
a particular disease might be successful in eradicating
the disease in one person, but it might not have that
effect in another. The whole brood of discordant
thoughts should be banished, and the eradication of
any erroneous thought will be followed by good

I70 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

results even if it does not terminate the particular
disease in question.

To stop wrong or discordant thinking for the pur-
pose of securing good health is not the highest motive.
The moral considerations are the primal and most
important reasons for doing it, but to do it for reasons
of health is better than to continue the wrong think-
ing, and physical health is greatly to be desired. The
destruction of all wrong thoughts would eradicate all
disease as well as all erroneous actions, and would
purify the whole man.

The principles under consideration clearly ex-
plain the cause of relapse, or the recurrence of a
disease once cured. If the healing is followed by
the requisite change in the mental habits of the per-
son cured, that is, by the avoidance and eradication
of the thinking which caused the disease, then it will
not return. If there is no change in these habits, the
thinking which produced the disease in the first place
will produce it again. This explains why Jesus told
persons whom he had healed to go and sin no more.1
It also explains why he toid his disciples both to heal

1 The Greek word in this place translated " sin " might have
been translated " err " with equal faithfulness to its meaning. This
brings the subject into the broader and more general domain of
error and also lightens the condemnation for those whom he
addressed.

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO HEALTH 171

and to preach. Instruction (preaching) should
accompany every case of healing so that the cause
may be avoided in the future and then, of course,
there will be no recurrence of the disease.

But some one asks about those diseases which were
caused by physical excess; are they also results of
thinking? The answer is that they are, either
directly or indirectly, because every excess has for
its cause, back of all else, some mental action or con-
dition. This might have been changed in its be-
ginning or in its course, and then the consequences
would have been different. Delirium tremens foL
lows excessive use of alcoholic stimulants. It may
be claimed that drinking was the cause, and so it
was ; but the drinking was itself the result of think-
ing and would not have occurred had the man
ceased thinking those thoughts which led to it.

The condition is not changed even if drunkenness
is the consequence of heredity, or inherited tenden-
cies. In that case the series of thoughts and cir-
cumstances is merely lengthened by removing the
causative thinking farther away from the resultant
disease. Those inherited tendencies were the re-
sults of ancestral thoughts and consequent actions.
If the ancestor had avoided those thoughts he would
not have bequeathed "the legacy of damnation" to

172 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

his children. Yet, even when such an inherited
tendency exists, because thinking caused it rigid
control of one's own thinking will destroy it. Such
conditions may require greater effort than in most
other cases, but sufficient effort is possible, and if it
is continued steadily and firmly, the final triumph is
certain.

The incipient causes of those physical conditions
which are occasioned by accidents will always be
found in thinking, or in lack of thinking, which is in
the same domain. A man falls and breaks an arm
because he is thinking of something else than his
footsteps. The defective building falls and crushes
the occupants because the builder was thinking of
the greater gain he might make by less careful con-
struction or by the use of defective or cheaper mate-
rials. The railroad wreck was the result of a mis-
placed switch, and this in turn was caused by lack
of the attention of the switchman who thought the
train had passed, or that it was not due. And so on
through the entire chapter. When followed to their
ultimates, however much accidents may at first
appear to result from wholly physical causes, yet
mind and its action will at last be found to have been
their occasion in every instance. Even in a wider
and deeper way than all this, the very possibility of

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO HEALTH 1 73

breaking the bone or crushing the limb may be the
result of the habitual thought that the race has enter-
tained from time immemorial.

The catalogue of the diseases of immorality is a
very long one, and every day careful observers in the
medical profession are adding other names not here-
tofore suspected of belonging in that list. Thinking
is always the beginning of immorality, and therefore
thinking is the ultimate cause of all those diseases
occasioned by it. Immorality merely intervenes
between the thinking and the disease. Immoral
thoughts cannot be indulged in without producing
their mental and physical consequences. They not
only have their evil results in the disturbed or
diseased physical system, but they write their record
where it may be read by all men.

Those who recognize the causative character of
thinking sometimes say that all sickness is the result
of sin. While it is true that all sickness is the result
of error, it is also true that not all error is sin. Error
arises out of not knowing, and that is ignorance;
but though ignorance may be reckoned as erroneous,
it could hardly be classed as sinful. It is therefore
cruel, and very often unjust, to charge those who are
suffering from physical infirmity with being sinners.
This is condemnation, and all condemnation is to be

174 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

avoided because it is discordant; but, more than
that, in this place the condemnation may be mis-
placed and wholly undeserved. If the good man
who is sick only knew that wrong thinking is as bad
as wrong actions, he would stop his discordant think-
ing as effectually as he checked his erroneous actions.
He may be ill because of ignorance and error, but not
necessarily because of sin. Self-control, through
control of the thinking, may be the healing of every
conscientious person who has hitherto controlled his
actions, but who has only repressed his thinking.

Herein may be seen the reason why so many per-
sons are afflicted with disease even though their
" daily walk and conduct" is above reproach. The
good man who is always ailing may persistently keep
his discordant thoughts in mind but conceal them.
He knows he ought not to injure his neighbor, yet,
because of his ideas about what is right, he may
think it is his duty to condemn and despise him in
his heart. By sheer force of will such men control
the tongue, the hand, and all outward actions, but
leave the cause which would otherwise produce those
actions to prey unchecked and uncontrolled upon
themselves.

Discordant thoughts when repressed, like the fire
that is smothered but not extinguished, rankle within

THE RELATION OF THINKING TO HEALTH 1 75

all the more fiercely for their restraint, straining and
torturing the nerves, preventing the normal and
rightful glandular and visceral activity, ruining the
muscles, sapping the strength of the bones, generat-
ing those harmful secretions which create every
variety of disease and infirmity, burning the man
with fevers, freezing him with chills, starving him
with dyspepsia, and poisoning him with their
injurious chemical products.

Repressed thoughts are all the time striving for
expression or outlet in some form of physical activity ;
and, therefore, throughout their whole duration,
there exists the necessity for the counter-effort in
greater degree in order to keep the body in check.
The energy necessary to maintain muscular control
in the repression of discordant mental activity re-
quires strenuous and wearying exercise of the will
which increases the burden and is decidedly injuri-
ous to body, mind, and morals. None of this energy
would have been required had the thoughts been
dropped out of the mind as soon as they appeared.
Therefore, though a good man may not show it to
the world, yet all the time he may be ruining his
health and happiness with his discordant thinking.

Probably, in addition to all the rest, the man who
thus represses his thinking has, in most respects,

176 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

a high moral standard and a sensitive conscience
which is outraged by the presence of such thoughts.
This creates the keen mental discord of regret, self-
condemnation, grief, and remorse to furnish ad-
ditional, and equally discordant, and therefore
equally injurious, mental elements which do their
work as effectively as any others. Such thoughts
may remain dormant and unnoticed in the mind for
years, finally to flash out into expression at some
unfortunate moment very much to his own surprise
as well as to the surprise of his friends. Thus,
difficulty is piled on top of difficulty until it is no
wonder that such a man, though outwardly good,
fails to possess healthful vigor and elasticity. The
wonder is that he lives out half his days, but what
might he not be if he would only drop discordant
thinking !

XXIV
RECAPITULATION OF PRINCIPLES

In all human activities three occurrences follow
one another in regular order: (i) the external in-
cident; (2) the thinking which follows the incident;
and (3) the bodily action which is caused by the
thinking, is governed by it, and consequently takes
its character from it.1

Then, since the bodily action is governed by the
thinking, it is not governed by the circumstance
which provoked that thinking; and since the char-
acter of all bodily action is established and controlled
by the thinking exclusively, therefore it must be the
same with those conditions known as health and
disease. This conclusion being correct, then it
follows that those bodily conditions which are looked
upon as purely physical are always given their
character by the thinking.

Take for illustration a blow on the finger. There

1 The only exception to this order is in those cases where the
action originates in the mind itself without any stimulus from an
external occurrence.

177

178 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

are two avenues by which the blow comes into the
mental consciousness. One is along the nerve of
transmission through the hand, up the arm and neck
into the brain. The other is by the more direct
way of the light vibrations from the finger to the
optic nerve in the eye and thence along that nerve
to the brain. This last route is shorter than the
other, and the larger part of the distance is by a
method vastly more rapid than the nerves afford.
Hence, the "message" arrives sooner by this route
than by the first, so that one sees the blow before
he feels it.

Between the perception of the blow by way of
the line of sight and the perception by way of the
nerve, there is an appreciable instant of time,
ample in which to think, because thinking is prac-
tically instantaneous. According to the principles
here set forth, this thinking decides the character
of the action which shall follow the blow, and in
point of fact such is the case. This has been ex-
perienced by all those who have made careful ob-
servations of their mental and physical actions under
such circumstances. If the control of the mind is
rightly and completely maintained, so that there is
no discordant thinking preceding and during this
instant, there will not be any pain. This has been

RECAPITULATION OF PRINCIPLES 1 79

done repeatedly and may be done by any one who
will control his thinking.

Similar experiences have occurred not only in
connection with blows, but also with burns and other
accidents. There have been numerous cases where
boiling water has been poured over the hand or
other part of the body without pain or other ill
effects. Success in this has been so complete in
many instances that not only was there no pain,
but the blister and other usual physical results did
not follow. This can always be accomplished
whenever an interval of time exists between the
two announcements of the incident, provided the
person is on the alert and has trained himself in
the control of his thinking.

These experiences are of the simplest character,
and, because they are simple, the desirable results
are more easily accomplished, but they demonstrate
the accuracy of the general proposition because the
simple conditions on which they rest are the same
as those on which rest all bodily actions however
complicated. From facility in these simpler things
it is possible, as in any sphere of activity, to advance
to equally successful management of the more
complicated and difficult affairs.

The fact that harmonious thinking during the

180 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

interval controls and gives character to the bodily
actions is a physical and practical demonstration
of the principle, because if the thinking has been, as
usual, discordant, the usual pain will follow.

The necessity for complete exclusion of every
variety of discordant thinking is seen in the fact
that it is not always enough to avoid the discordant
thinking which is directly connected with the par-
ticular incident in hand. All discordant thinking
whatever must be excluded at the time in order to
gain complete success. One who was thoroughly
trained in this practice was surprised at failure and
unable to explain it until he remembered that dis-
cordant thinking, relating to an entirely different
subject, had been in his mind at the time.

Herein lies the possibility of perfect health; it
needs only that men shall follow the rule. With
the entire disappearance of those thoughts which
produce disease, disease itself must disappear, and
perfect health must follow.

This proposition is contrary to what has been
the trend of thought for centuries, and therefore
many abandon the subject without giving it due
consideration. Then again, to others the conditions
seem so simple that they do not see how it is possible
that such important results should follow such

RECAPITULATION OF PRINCIPLES l8l

simple causes; besides, perseverance is necessary
to success, and few care to persevere. Exclusion
of all discord is necessary, yet many think little
things are not worthy the requisite attention and
effort; and, for lack of that training which they
might have had through the management of the
little things, when they are confronted with the
larger difficulties, they meet discouragement, if not
failure. However, it still remains true that to at-
tain to perfect health it is only necessary to stop
thinking all discordant thoughts.

The impetuous restlessness of the American
branch of the English race and the intensity of
their activity are constantly spurring them on to
"do something." That is one reason why they
swallow such enormous quantities of drugs, even
compelling their physicians to prescribe medicines
when the physicians themselves are convinced that
their patients would be better off without them.
But here is a method of the opposite character. It
does not require the doing of something, but the
ceasing to do something — not activity, but rest.
It is not to do, but to stop doing.

Lao-tsze told his countrymen a half-truth which
points to a whole truth, even if couched in the nega-
tive form, when he said: "By non-action there is

1 82 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

nothing which may not be done." When righi
thinking is not interfered with by wrong thinking,
the right acting will take care of itself. If a man
ceases to think evil, he will cease to do evil, and
right will prevail, because there is then not anything
else for him to do. He who does not think about
stealing cannot steal. There is wisdom in the
advice which that old Hebrew prophet gave the
Israelites in their emergency: "Stand still and see
[observe] the salvation of the Lord." They were
not to do the work themselves, but only to stand
and see it done. God's working is always toward
the right. The persistent tendency of activity
throughout all things in nature is toward purifica-
tion. Stagnant water becomes impure; flowing
water becomes pure unless impurities are constantly
added. Even the Chicago drainage canal, bearing
all the filth of that great city, purifies itself in a few
miles so that at last even the chemist cannot detect
any impurities.

The same is true of the human body. No sooner
does an atom in the body become useless or injurious
than, without any conscious attention on the part
of the person, something goes to work to remove
that atom from the system. See, in Gates's experi-
ment, how soon the injurious substance evolved in

RECAPITULATION OF PRINCIPLES 1 83

the body as a consequence of anger was expelled
through the breath. This is only a single instance
among a vast multitude. Physiologists tell us that
some injurious substances appear in the perspiration
in less than a minute after they are swallowed. So
strong is this tendency in the human body that when
the offending object is of such a character that it
cannot be removed, it often occurs, as in the case of
a bullet, that a new and entirely distinct process is
set up, and the object is enclosed by an impervious
sheath which separates it from the surrounding
tissues and prevents it from doing any harm to the
system.

Even the old biblical writers recognized that the
iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children
only unto the third and fourth generation.1 So
great is the natural tendency of all organized life
toward purity ! This universal tendency of all
nature adds probability to the recognized possibility
of final absolute purity, and holds out to man an-
other strong encouragement to aid its accomplish-
ment by acting in accord with these basic mental
principles. Both mental and material creation con-
spires to the same end. If, then, men would stop
discordant thinking and thereby cease generating

1 Exodus xx. 5.

184 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

impurities within themselves, how quickly the
stream would run clear!

Why will not men aid this tendency by ceasing
to plant within themselves the seeds of death and
disease, and, instead, let their own harmonious
thinking pour in great fresh streams of purity,
health, and life? Even if the iniquities of the fathers
do continue for three or four generations, they
must sooner or later disappear as the filth disap-
pears from the running water, unless other impuri-
ties are continuously mingled with the stream of
pure life which God gives to every one. Suffering
is not the concomitant of life. There is no unavoid-
able necessity for it. Men are not always to suffer.
They can, and they ultimately will, put away dis-
cordant thinking, which is the primal cause of all
suffering.

A vision of the possibilities lying inherent in
these principles makes the old story of the length
of life before the deluge seem not altogether impos-
sible. What might not come to man if he would
let Nature have her own way and would cease pour-
ing poison into himself in the form of discordant
thinking? More than that, may there not be some
additional method whereby man may, by compliance
with other principles, entirely obviate the necessity

RECAPITULATION OF PRINCIPLES 1 85

of death and thus bring about a realization of the
prophecy of Paul who says that the last enemy to
be destroyed is death, thus indicating that death
shall at last cease? Evidently God did not mean
that men should be sick. Then He did not mean
that they should die. Paul and the old prophet
were right.1 " Death shall be swallowed up in
victory."

1 1 Corinthians xv. 54; Isaiah xxv. 8.

XXV
THE WORRY HABIT

He who would stop discordant thinking must
banish from his mind all anxiety for the future and
"let the dead past bury its dead," for anxiety about
the future is only another name for worry, and re-
gret for things done in the past is its twin sister;
both are distinctly antagonistic to all harmonious
thinking.

In the literal meaning of the word there is a strong
suggestion of the character and attendant conditions
of the mental state which it designates. One of
its old Anglo-Saxon ancestors, perhaps a grand-
parent, was used to indicate harm, while another
was the name for a wolf, and in Iceland it was the
name for an accused person. In our own times
the word in its literalness means to choke, to suffo-
cate, to bite at or tear with the teeth as dogs do when
fighting, or when "worrying" rats or other small
animals.

Metaphorically the word indicates a mental state
1 86

THE WORRY HABIT 187

fully the equivalent of the physical conditions in-
cluded in its more literal meaning. In its milder
phases it is disturbing, harassing, and harmful;
while with its intenser forms it does indeed seize
its victim by the throat, as a dog or a wolf might,
and choke, and suffocate, and tear with its teeth.
If we were to call worry into our consciousness as a
person, its aspect would be so terrible that men
would flee from it in horror.

The woman who said she "spent half her time
doing things and the other half worrying because
she had done them," belongs to a very numerous
and a very uncomfortable family. To worry over,
or regret, what is past is like rethreshing old straw.
Time so spent is worse than wasted, for it does not
change anything, it occupies valuable time, and no
form of useful activity drains the life energies as
this mental torture does. It robs one of sleep, sours
the disposition, warps the judgment, and makes the
mind weak and vacillating.

This is true of every form of anxiety or worry.
It is a waste of strength, complete destruction of
peace of mind, and one of the most disturbing ele-
ments which can invade a household. One individ-
ual with the worry habit can poison the atmosphere
for all with whom he is associated, for mental dis-

1 88 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

cord is easily communicated, and others are made
more or less miserable either by discordant sympathy
or by condemnation.

Thus the seed is multiplied, for to condemn an-
other or to give discordant sympathy by being
" sorry for him" is to fall into the same kind of an
error that he himself has committed. This con-
tagious thinking should stop in its very beginning.
That another is mentally disturbed is no excuse for
one's own discordant thinking, and to yield to such
an influence injures all concerned. As the weaver's
shuttle passes from side to side of the loom, so
thoughts pass from one to another, entangling many
in their meshes and weaving the web of life in bright-
ness or in gloom according as the thoughts are.

Anxiety and worry about the future have their
beginning in uncertainty and doubt, and these soon
develop into expectancy of evil with manifold visions
of things' that never happen. Here is the place
where effort for the destruction of worry should
begin. For illustration : A friend is on a journey.
There steals into the mind a thought of uncertainty
whether he will reach his destination and return in
safety. Right here in this doubt is the parting of
the ways. This first discordant thought, no matter
how small, should be instantly dropped out of the

THE WORRY HABIT 1 89

mind as unreservedly as a stone may be dropped out
of the hand. It can be done more easily right
here at the outset than at any other point, and
that will end all the trouble. If, instead of doing
this, the doubt is allowed to continue and to ex-
pand, the discordant thoughts will increase to the
same extent, and the discomfort will be exactly
proportional.

Perhaps it occurs to the mind that accidents
sometimes happen on the road. This thought in-
creases the mental disturbance until finally the
picture presents itself of some frightful affair once
read about, and this is followed by a condition of
worry which destroys all mental serenity and makes
life miserable. It is useless to say to the worrier
that his visions are entirely unreal. Probably he is
aware of that fact, and yet he makes them as real
to himself as any event that is passing, and his
suffering is as actual and as harmful as any suffering.

This vice, for it is a vice, is so insidious in its
approach, so positive in its assertions when it has
once made a lodgement in the mind, and so persistent
in its hold on its victim, that persuasion or entreaty
from another is seldom of any avail. It is not
enough to say to the person obsessed that not one
traveller in millions is ever injured, nor is it enough

I90 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

to say that his fears have no foundation save in his
own imagination, and that he has brought all his
suffering on himself. Such declarations to the con-
firmed mental inebriate rouse indignation which
seriously increases the discord, and he justifies him-
self by asserting that he cannot help worrying.

He can help it if he will. By his own act, with
which another cannot interfere, he can avoid all the
misery which worrying would bring into his whole
life, as well as the misery which he may inflict on
the lives of others. There is no occasion for it out-
side the victim's own mind. His own thinking and
that alone creates the disturbance, it has no exist-
ence outside of his own thinking, and a change of
his thinking can destroy it.

Not all at once can he do this, perhaps, but he
can do it by persistent endeavor. Back at the part-
ing of the ways, when the thought of uncertainty
first entered his mind, he might have given his
thinking a healthy and harmonious direction by
stopping the discordant thoughts which had been
suggested by uncertainty and doubt.

He may not have noticed the little thought which
began the series, or if he did, he probably considered
it too trivial to be worthy of any attention, still
less of any effort ; yet it was just the kind of thinking

THE WORRY HABIT 191

which ought always to be terminated on the instant.
To do that is all that is needed ; and that done, the
terrors which a fertile imagination might conjure
up will never present themselves. It matters not
whether it is worry about future possibilities or
anxiety over things which have passed; at its very
beginning is the place to assert one's right to be
"kept in perfect peace."

Having decided that he cannot stop worrying,
the victim makes no further effort, and the habit
becomes more firmly established with each surrender
to its wiles and its tortures until he becomes as com-
pletely subject to its control as any victim is to either
the morphine or the drink habit. The sense of
self-pity because his "sympathetic nature" makes
his sufferings greater than those of others increases
with the habit, and the mental discord goes on
generating its poison in its victim beyond the ability
of his system to expel it, developing finally into some
sluggish disease. When death follows no one calls
it suicide, but it surely belongs to that class.

Worry has killed more people than all the hard
work that was ever done. Booker Washington very
correctly and soberly set forth its results in a single
sentence: "I think I am learning more and more
each year that all worry consumes, and to no purpose,

192 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

just so much physical and mental strength thai
otherwise might be given to effective work." '
Hard work with a peaceful, harmonious mind wil\
never kill any one; and when it is accompanied by
serenity, hope, and joy, it builds up the system and
prolongs existence instead of shortening it; but
worry kills, and not to stop it is slow but certain
suicide as well as the destruction of much of the
joy in the lives of one's best and closest friends.
The victims all know the discomfort of it, yet in
many cases their failure to stop the worrying comes
from disinclination to make the necessary effort.

Whatever the incident or condition which sets
the worry thought into activity, the two are as dis-
tinct as one pebble from another. The incident is
wholly external to the person. The thinking and
the thought are entirely within the person. The
thinker may have no power over the incident, but he
need not concern himself about that; if he will
assert himself, he may have complete power over his
own thinking, to stop it or to allow it to go on.
The sooner and the more fully one recognizes that
it is not the incident, but one's own thinking, which
causes the trouble the better for him, because it
will make his work of reform far less difficult. His

1 Up from Slavery, p. 181.

THE WORRY HABIT 1 93

dominion over his own thinking may be absolute,
therefore he may set in motion a train of thoughts
entirely distinct from those first suggested by the
incident, and he may drive away the whole discord-
ant troop as completely as he would burglars from
his house or dogs from his sheepfold.

If one would make a careful and comprehensive
examination of the circumstances which provoke
discordant thinking, strictly confining himself to
this examination and excluding all inharmonious
thoughts, he would gain a knowledge of its cause
which would enable him to avoid such thinking
under all similar circumstances. Such a course
will also stimulate mental action, will be helpful
to him in all his relations to external circumstances,
will be healthful in its action upon his entire system,
generate life-giving products instead of poisonous
ones, and will give him strength to fulfil the duties
of each hour as they arise. Once started in the right
way, he may go on through his whole life with an
ever increasing recognition of better possibilities and
greater powers.

There are no variations in this course of procedure
except as the object varies, or as the thinking and
its duration vary. As in all mental conditions,
though the victim may have assistance from another,

194 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

yet the real effort must be made within himself.
This mental discipline cannot be begun too soon,
nor can it be exercised upon too insignificant con-
ditions. As soon as the milder, incipient stages of
the disease are observed the remedy should be un-
hesitatingly applied with determination and vigor.
It should be done in the same way if the disease
has progressed into the more extreme conditions,
and one must necessarily be one's own surgeon,
cutting off the offending thoughts without the slight-
est hesitation until, by persistent repetition of the
operation, he becomes his own master. Instead of
paralyzing himself with the weak, self-indulgent
thought that he cannot put out the worry, let him
dismiss it as he would an unwelcome intruder into
his privacy or an objectionable visitor to his home.
Let him put up a sign over the entrance to his mind,
"no loafers, beggars, nor thieves allowed here,"
and then relentlessly enforce the prohibition.

It will take a struggle at first, perhaps a square
stand-up contest, perhaps a "seven years' war," as
was that of our Revolution when the colonies won
their freedom, but it will be worth the effort, however
great that may be. To the person who excludes
worry from his mind and destroys the mental habit
the revolution will be more important than was that

THE WORRY HABIT 1 95

war to our nation. It means freedom, comfort,
happiness, health, and the prolongation of life.

This training will do more than enable one to
banish worry when it tries to invade the mind: it
will establish such a mental condition that the dis-
cord will not begin, and the eggs that hatch the vul-
tures of worry will never be laid. When the knowl-
edge and practice of this method become universal,
they will drive out all the "blue devils" that torment
the imagination, exorcise all the "spiritual obses-
sion" that was ever heard about, and prevent any
further increase in the population of the insane
asylums of the world.

XXVI

BUSINESS SUCCESS

Avoidance of discordant thinking is of immense
practical value in business affairs. The man who
gives himself over to disappointment, regret, grief,
anxiety, worry, or condemnation of himself or
others, is not doing anything to forward his business,
but he is consciously or unconsciously cultivating
a mental condition which will destroy his ability to
arrive at correct conclusions and to act upon them
promptly and efficiently; therefore, he is either
hindering or misdirecting the operations necessary
to success, and is wasting his mental and physical
strength on injurious activity. All discordant think-
ing should be stopped at once, and that energy which
has been expended in destructive discord should be
directed into productive channels. Let him care-
fully examine the situation, and use every mental
effort in making and prosecuting plans for success,
without allowing for a moment the thought of pos-
sible defeat to paralyze his energies. This is the

196

BUSINESS SUCCESS 197

advantage held by each one who has previously
trained himself in the exclusion of discordant think-
ing. One who has not done this should begin that
training at once. It all lies with himself, and it is
never too late to begin.

Herein is the difference between the man of
twenty or thirty and the one of fifty. If the older
man meets reverses, he seldom recovers himself. The
younger man, full of hope and confidence, but with-
out experience and ignorant of the difficulties ahead
of him, does not even expect them, but as one by one
they appear, fearlessly meets and overcomes them.
The older man has experienced all these difficulties,
foresees them all, is staggered by his vision of their
united magnitude, and supinely allows his own dis-
cordant anticipations to frighten him out of making
an effort; and yet, except for this, the older man
has great advantages over the younger because of
knowledge derived from his larger experience with
men and things. If the younger man could add to
his fearlessness the wisdom of the older one, there
is little that could stand before him; and if the
older man would divest himself of his doubts,
and fears, and anxieties, and would use all his
energy and wisdom in meeting the difficulties
which he foresees, and which, foreseeing, he can the

198 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

better cope with, he might snatch a brilliant success
from the very jaws of defeat. The world laughs at
the confidence of ignorant youth, but that very
confidence, which is really the absence of discordant
anticipations, is in itself one great reason for his
success. The world may well weep over that
degeneration in the older person which arises from
his fear of future dangers and difficulties. The
younger man overcomes the defects of ignorance by
his harmonious thinking which is unmodified by
fear of danger, while the older man, notwithstanding
his superior wisdom and ability, is defeated by his
own discordant thinking.

Herein is a large part of the reason why egotistic
persons with only a fair share of ability so often
succeed where others of greater ability fail. Their
own confidence creates an atmosphere which in-
spires others with confidence in them and their
plans, and, therefore, they receive assistance which
helps them to achieve success where those fail who
lack that trait. Men often succeed by the very
impetus of their own self-confidence, that is, by the
power of their harmonious thoughts and the absence
of self-distrust and self-condemnation; while others
with far greater ability signally fail for no reason
except their own hesitation and fear, born of doubt

BUSINESS SUCCESS 1 99

of themselves. In these two lines of thinking lie
two important elements of success or failure. There
is neither necromancy nor other mystery connected
with it. He who gives up his mind to be preyed
upon by doubt, fear, and irresolution is inviting his
own defeat and is himself ministering to it, but he
who resolutely dismisses all such thoughts is taking
the necessary first step toward success.

The man who delivers himself over to discordant
thinking is doing the same kind of thing, only in a
different way, that the other person does who
wastes his time and benumbs his faculties with
intoxicants. Many a man has sunk into uselessness,
become a burden to his friends and himself, a blot
on the name of humanity, solely because he has
allowed discordant thoughts to have possession of
his mind. Death and insanity find their causes,
immediate and remote, in the thinking which men
have indulged in.

The man seeking employment, who allows himself
to be a prey to despair or other discordant thinking,
unwittingly stamps upon his features and moulds
into his form and actions peculiarities which those
who otherwise would desire his services at once
recognize as reasons for refusing his application.
But if those thoughts are cut off as an excrescence

200 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

would be, and if the mind is filled with that hope,
expectancy, and confidence which come from the
thought that success is deserved and will be achieved,
the gait, the attitude, the glance of the eye, the whole
man become transformed, and success seeks him as
earnestly as he is seeking success.

It is related that a boy entered a place of business
and told the proprietor that his sign, "Boy Wanted,"
had fallen down. "Well," responded the man,
"why didn't you hang it up again?" "Because
you don't want one now. I'm the boy you wanted."
Whether the story is true or not, it illustrates the
confidence which follows the absence of fear, doubt,
and their attendant uncertainties, and which is a
strong element of success.

It is not enough that the exclusion of discordant
thinking shall be done only at the moment of neces-
sity. It should be the continuous mental habit, the
result of careful mental training. The stamp of
any habitual mental condition cannot be entirely
removed on the instant, but each person may al-
ways keep his mind in the right condition, and then
its physical expression will correspond, and there
will not be the other outward appearances to need
removal or control.

Before any man dismisses as "nonsense" this

BUSINESS SUCCESS 201

theory of business success through correct and har-
monious thinking, let him analyze his own mental
habits and compare the results in his business with
his varying mental conditions. Let him observe on
which days he has done his best work, with the least
expenditure of vitality — those filled with cheer and
hope and courage, or those in which doubt and de-
spondency held sway. On which days have those
associated with him responded best to his wishes?
When have things moved most harmoniously? If
every man will thus get acquainted with himself
and the results of his own mental attitude, he will
recognize ample reason why it is no longer good
business policy to waste his energy and destroy his
efficiency by discordant thinking.

But what if failure should come after strict ad-
herence to this rule of mental control — of what
advantage has it been to him who fails? This is
his advantage: he remains perfectly poised, his
judgment clear, his courage undaunted, his faith in
ultimate success unshaken; he is neither a nervous
nor a physical wreck, but, instead, is all ready to
make a new beginning and to profit by his past
mistakes.

XXVII
UNDIVIDED ATTENTION

What precedes shows clearly the method for
securing that undivided attention which is so es-
sential to success in all kinds of work, whether
mental or physical. "Mind your business" is a
wise injunction, even if blunt. It is all embraced
in the advice to dismiss all thoughts other than
those which pertain exclusively to that which is in
hand at the particular moment.

The accountant who allows his mind to wander
to other subjects when adding a column of figures
cannot do his work so rapidly or so accurately as
the one who shuts out all thoughts except those
connected with his work. He must cease thinking
of other things and think only of his addition. It
must be one thing at a time. The ability to exclude
one kind of thoughts from the mind enables one to
exclude any thought, therefore practice in the ex-
clusion of discordant thoughts will be an efficient
preparation for success in avoiding all thoughts

202

UNDIVIDED ATTENTION 203

which do not pertain to the work immediately in
hand.

When the accountant is in the middle of a long
column of figures, perhaps his employer asks him
a question. He should have so trained himself in
the control of his thinking that on the instant he
can shut out of his mind all thought of the work he
was doing when the question was asked, think of
nothing else but the subject proposed, and answer
the question as completely as though he had never
thought of his addition. Then, in its turn, that
subject, when he is done with it, should be dropped
out of his mind completely, and he should return to
the work he was doing when interrupted, with a
similar exclusion of all else but thoughts of the work
in hand.

Such changes should always be accomplished
without allowing irritation, impatience, anger, or
other discordant thinking because of the interrup-
tion. The accountant's time is his employer's,
his business is to do the work required by his em-
ployer, and whether his employer chooses to set him
at one branch of work or another does not concern
the employee. Many a clerk, because of occurrences
like this, has habitually allowed some form of irrita-
tion to take such possession of his mind as to interfere

204 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

seriously with his mental ability, ruin his efficiency,
and destroy his health. This has caused many a
nervous breakdown which was charged to over-
work or hard work when its cause was not the work
at all, but was solely the frequent irritation — some-
thing which the clerk himself might have wholly
avoided without any change of action on the part of
his employer.

What has been said is true of every occupation
and applies to activities of all kinds. The essential
condition is that, although nothing may be over-
looked or omitted, there should be one thing in the
mind at one time — and no more. The mental
ability to do this can be attained by the practice
already advocated, and the method can be applied
to all occupations.

The attention (attention is thinking) should be
directed to the one thing that a person is doing to
the total exclusion of everything else, whether the
work is simple or complicated. If complicated, the
attention should be fixed successively on each ele-
ment of the complication to the exclusion for the
time of all the others. When the first item of the
series is completed, let it immediately become a
thing of the past, because the mind ought to be fully
and exclusively occupied with the next; and so on

UNDIVIDED ATTENTION 205

successively, each in its order, omitting none. If
thoughts of other things besides the work in hand
are allowed to enter the mind, some point in the
execution of the work is liable to be overlooked or
perhaps forgotten entirely. The mind cannot suc-
cessfully attend to two things at once, for a part of
the mind can never accomplish as much as the whole,
and divided attention always causes inefficiency in
some direction. In mental or physical labor the
principle is the same, because mental action is at
the basis of the whole, and therefore the rule is the
same for both.

As in the mental so in the physical, it is only
through successful control of the smaller and more
minute or apparently insignificant things that abil-
ity is gained to grapple with the greater or more
abstract and general affairs. This is because the
physical action depends on the mental and is caused
by it. In every walk of life without exception, and
in every period of its course, control of the thinking
is of the greatest value and importance. The
earlier this control is attained the better, but it is
never too late to begin.

Sometimes an almost unnoticed but continuous
and persistent undercurrent of some kind of think-
ing entirely foreign to the work in hand divides and

206 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

receives more or less of the attention. This may
appear in any one of a thousand forms, having
originated in some incident or condition of large
or small importance which, for some indefinite
reason or apparently for no reason at all, has fastened
itself strongly upon the mind. Often this vaguely
noticed thought is more difficult to exclude from the
attention than one more consciously present, but
its presence is a continuous menace to undivided
attention ; for, panther-like, it stands ready to spring
into prominence through the slightest opening of
circumstance. When the mind is directly engaged,
it makes little difference whether it is mere revery,
listlessness, or vagueness which detracts from the
attention. The result will be the same. Whatever
the character of the intruder, success is gained only
by its complete exclusion.

Such a course of procedure as here indicated may
be called concentration of the mind upon the par-
ticular subject in hand, but concentration is usually
accompanied by consciousness of more or less
strenuous mental effort, and, as has already been set
forth, this mental exclusion should be accomplished
without effort — simply by letting go of all thoughts
except those directly required for the prosecution
of the work. Insomuch as there is stress and

UNDIVIDED ATTENTION 207

strain, there is instituted a second line of discordant
thinking running alongside of the one whose ex-
clusion is desired, and this gives the mind a double
duty to perform, thus defeating the object sought
by the very effort to accomplish it.

xxvin

IMPORTANCE OF EARLY TRAINING

The importance of the early education of children
is well understood, because it is recognized that
the early training lasts longest and most strongly in-
fluences life and character. A modern writer has
only echoed the opinion of all careful observers
when he says : " More that is elementary — a key to
all the rest — is learned in the cradle and beside
the mother's chair than in all after time." And a
great religious organization is said to hold that if it
can have the direction of the young life for its first
seven years it cares little who has it afterward.

Every one who has learned the value of the sug-
gestions set forth in these pages, whether through his
own experience in their practical application or
through his observation of others, has also learned
that much pain, suffering, difficulty, and perhaps
disaster might have been avoided if he had been
taught these things early in life. Recognition of
the advantages derived from such teaching takes

208

IMPORTANCE OF EARLY TRAINING 20Q

one back to the earliest days of childhood and sug-
gests many thoughts of lost possibilities.

He who attempts to instruct along these lines
often hears exclamations like these: "What if I
had been told when a child !" "Oh, if all children
were only taught this ! How it would save them, as
it would have saved me!" The world only half
recognizes the importance of the very earliest train-
ing. The child even when in the cradle may be
taught. "As the twig is bent the tree is inclined, "
and the earlier the bending, the more easily is it done.

Painful or disastrous experiences in hard places
are not necessary, and they would not have to be
endured if, before the time of their occurrence, the
proper instruction had been given and received.
The child need not burn itself in order to avoid the
hot stove, because it may be so instructed by the
wise parent that it will avoid the stove without
the painful experience. Similarly, in later years, the
person need not have the suffering and disease nor
the vice and immorality which arise from erroneous
thinking, if the proper early instruction has been
given.

Without knowing it, the mother is acting in com-
pliance with great fundamental principles when she
directs the crying infant's attention to something

2IO RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

different from the cause of its trouble in order that
the object of the crying may be forgotten. This
change of thought by change of external suggestion
is exactly what the physician expects when he sends
his patients to new scenes and surroundings. The
change of scene induces a change in thinking, and
in that way the infirmity is healed. He is merely
repeating the mother method.

It is only needed to teach the child to make such
mental changes himself while in the midst of the
circumstances and suggestions that cause the trouble.
This can be done by repeatedly calling the child's
attention to what happens when some one else
diverts his attention from the cause of his discord,
and showing him how he can do the same thing
himself without the intervention of another. Such
instruction is really cultivation of that most desirable
attainment, self-control, because each such incident
is really a practical lesson in the art. The impor-
tance of this method and its great advantages over
abrupt and violent arbitrary command have seldom
been fully understood or appreciated. One is along
right lines, inviting and receiving the cooperation
of the child. The other is wrong in principle and
invariably arouses opposition and resistance. One
makes. The other literally breaks.

IMPORTANCE OF EARLY TRAINING 211

Practical instruction in accordance with the true
principles can begin just as soon as the little one has
recognized his own thinking, and this occurs much
earlier than is usually supposed. Let the intelli-
gent adult turn backward in memory to the time
when he first recognized what it is to think. If he
has not done this before, he will be surprised to
recall how young he was when this experience first
came to him. The wise parent can by right sugges-
tion easily make this date much earlier than it
otherwise would be. Then, along with the injunc-
tions not to do this or that, can come the similar
injunction not to think of the disturbing thing, but
to think of something else. If begun early enough,
it is little more difficult to teach a child not to think
certain thoughts than to teach it not to perform
certain acts. Thus in earliest life the most desirable
mental habits may be established, and the foundation
may be laid for most valuable elements of character.

There is no need of complicating the child's
conditions with the large amount of contributing
information which the adult often requires before
his mind is satisfied of the accuracy of a proposition.
That can come later. The child naturally accepts
the parental assertion without question, and instruc-
tion can be reduced to its very simplest form.

212 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

Experience will bring all the rest, and with each
experience the habit will become more firmly
established.

Very early the child's observation can be directed
to the great though simple fact that thinking comes
first and that without thinking there will not be any
action. Important as this statement is, it is so
simple that it is entirely within the possibilities of
the child's comprehension, and an understanding of
this fact will greatly emphasize the parental instruc-
tion. All that will then be needed is cultivation of
the moral qualities and an explanation of their re-
lation to the thinking and acting, which should be
a part of the training of every child. Of course
there must be with this, as there is with all instruc-
tion of children, the frequent and patient repetition
of precept, explanation, and example. In any
kind of training of young or old it is line upon line
and precept upon precept. This education cannot
begin too soon, nor can it be prosecuted too assidu-
ously.

In this mental training of the child there is a wide
field for the parent and an equally wide one for
the kindergartner and the primary teacher, and
indeed for all teachers; but the secure foundation
ought to be laid before the young life comes in con-

IMPORTANCE OF EARLY TRAINING 213

tact with those who are called more advanced in-
structors. Instruction and practice must necessarily
continue until perfect control of the mental pro-
cesses has been gained, and the last trace of erro-
neous or discordant thinking has disappeared. Noth-
ing less than this should be the object of either child
or adult.

Training and education because of the child
should begin even earlier than this. Since think-
ing is the initial action among human actions, it
follows that the thought of the mother before the
child is born is a formative thought which, to a large
extent, decides the mental conditions and character
of the infant. Both observation and experiment
show that our basic proposition applies here with
the same force as elsewhere, though physical changes
are inoperative. The mental alone is efficacious.
Mutilations do not affect anything beyond the one
mutilated. The Chinese have compressed the feet
of their girl babies for centuries, yet the girls are
born with feet capable of normal development.
But the physical type of any race is not any more
persistent than their mental characteristics; indeed,
their physical peculiarities change with changed
mental conditions. The ancient Greeks attained
their beautiful bodily configuration by controlling

214 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

the mental habits of the mothers, and by thus influ-
encing the physical development of children they
controlled that of the whole people. Their object
was beauty of form. How much more important
and valuable are correct mental and moral charac-
teristics !

The mother, by control of her own thinking, can
make what she will of her unborn child. Here in
the very beginning of the new life is greater need,
greater opportunity, and greater advantage to the
child, than the future holds, for the foundation is
being laid. But this depends for its success upon
the power which the mother herself already pos-
sesses through her control of her own mental ac-
tions. Both parents have their part here, and there-
fore both should be ready for doing the appropriate
work in the best way; hence they should them-
selves be already in possession of thorough mental
discipline and self-control. This means years of
previous self-training for both, but it also means a
more advantageous start in life for the child and a
better outlook for its future prosperity and success.
It also means a better nation and a better race.

In view of these facts the statement of Dr. Holmes
that the training of a child should begin three hun-
dred years before its birth does not seem an exag-

IMPORTANCE OF EARLY TRAINING 215

geration. An incentive for all young persons to
maintain energetically and efficiently the cultivation
and practice of mental control lies in the fact that
by so doing they are preparing themselves to usher
into existence better children, more fully equipped
for their places in the world. Thus they are bene-
fiting not only themselves but those who are to be
dearer to them than their own lives. President Hall
sums up the whole in a very terse and true declara-
tion: " Every experience of body or soul bears on
heredity, and the best life is that which is best for
the unborn." That which is truly best for one is
really best for all.

The grand possibilities for improvement which
this opens up for the person, and through the per-
son for the race, are incalculable. The method is
simple. Here as much as anywhere, perhaps more
than anywhere else, appear the value and influence
of the right mental action of each in its effect on
others and on the world at large.

XXIX
THREE NOTABLE EXAMPLES

Napoleon Bonaparte possessed most remarkable
control of his thinking, which enabled him to exclude
from his mind completely all those thoughts which
he chose, and thus not only devote his entire atten-
tion to the one subject in hand, but even seemingly
to make himself over into another personage.

It is claimed that he was naturally humane, gen-
erous, and sympathetic. If this be true, then he
could effectually dismiss all such thoughts from his
mind, because he could become as hard as steel. At
one time he seemed dominated by one set of ideas,
and by another set at another time. He was, in-
deed, so changeable as to puzzle not only his biog-
raphers, but the world. So complete were his
changes that his admirers are uncertain which was
the real man. The probability is that one was as
real as the other, because his own statements indi-
cate that these peculiarities were the result of in-
tended change of thinking as the circumstances or

216

THREE NOTABLE EXAMPLES 21 7

his judgment dictated. "He compared his mind
to a chest of drawers, where each subject occupied
its separate space. In turn he opened each drawer.
No one subject got mixed with another. When all
the drawers were shut he fell asleep. Of course this
was not literally true, but during his best years it
came as near being literally true as is possible to the
human brain." *

In his life there were many instances of this per-
fect control of his own thinking. When his prepa-
rations had been made and his troops were engaged
in battle, if all was going as he had planned, he
could slumber peacefully while the most horrible
carnage was in progress. He did this repeatedly.
At Jena he slept on the ground while the battle
raged. At Austerlitz, after his arrangements had
been completed, he slept in the straw of a hut as
peacefully as an infant. These things were possi-
ble only through his great mental control; and
though there is much in his career that cannot be
commended and should not be emulated, yet his
mental control was most admirable. He is one of
the great examples of what can be accomplished by
this means, and every one may profitably pattern
after him in this respect.

1 Watson's Napoleon, p. 40 1.

2l8 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

George W. Smalley, writing of Gladstone, says:
"If Mr. Gladstone had one mental characteristic
more distinctly marked than another, it was his
power of absolutely excluding any given subject
from his mind and concentrating his whole intellec-
tual energy on some other subject. Always, what-
ever it was, one at a time. In the same way he
could and would exclude all subjects when the time
came for rest." ■

In the same article he quotes what Mr. Gladstone
says of himself: "Of course it has been an anxious
life. I have had to make many decisions of the
highest importance in public affairs. I have given
each one of them the best attention I could. I have
weighed arguments and facts, and made up my
mind as best I could, and then dismissed the sub-
ject. I have had to make a great many speeches,
and have made them as well as I knew how, and
then an end. But if, after I had taken a decision
or made a speech, I had begun to worry over it and
to say to myself, 'Perhaps I ought to have given
greater weight to this or that fact, or did not fully
consider this or that argument, or might have put
this consideration more fully in my speech, or
turned this sentence better, or made a stronger ap-

1 Harper's Monthly, August, 1S9S.

THREE NOTABLE EXAMPLES 210.

peal to my audience ' — if I had done this instead
of doing my best while I could and then totally dis-
missing the matter from my mind, I should have
been in my grave twenty years ago."

Jacob Riis says in his story of President Roose-
velt: "The faculty of forgetting all else but the
topic in hand is one of the great secrets of his success
in whatever he has undertaken as an official. It is
the faculty of getting things done. They tell stories
yet, that go around the board of class dinners, of
how he would come into a fellow-student's room for
a visit, and, picking up a book, would become im-
mediately and wholly absorbed in its contents, then
wake up with a guilty start to confess that his whole
hour was gone, and hurry away. In all the wild
excitement of the closing hours of the convention
that set him in the vice-president's chair, he, alone,
in an inner room, was reading Thucydides, says
Albert Shaw, who was with him. He was resting.
I saw him pick up a book in a lull in the talk the
other day, and instantly forget all things else."

XXX

THE PENALTY FOR SIN

Although exclusion of discordant thinking car-
ries with it avoidance of discordant physical condi-
tions, let it not be imagined that the sinner, by
the exclusion from his mind of such thoughts as
sorrow, regret, remorse, and self-condemnation, can
escape the rightful penalty for his deeds. His sin-
ful course is itself discordant and produces its own
discordant consequences from which there is no
escape except by abandoning it. Each discordant
condition has its own consequences, and the exclu-
sion of one of those conditions from the mind docs
not bring avoidance of the consequences of the
others. It is true that a man may avoid all the
suffering which might be caused by regret if he will
exclude regret from his mind, but that would not in
the slightest relieve him of the suffering which the
commission of sin has already caused.

It may be said that the suffering occasioned by
remorse for acts committed is directly attributable
to those acts themselves, for had there not been any

220

THE PENALTY FOR SIN 221

such acts, there would not have been any such
thoughts. Grant this; but each discordant thought
brings its own punishment, and the sinner would
have no more suffering from such thoughts than
would the virtuous person who, laboring under the
mistake that he has acted wrongly, gives himself
up to thinking of this kind.

A case in point is that of a clergyman of upright
and exemplary life and character who in some way
became possessed by the erroneous idea that he had
committed the unpardonable sin. His remorse and
despair were extreme, and he sank into his grave, a
victim of the discordant thoughts which were pro-
voked by his hallucination. It cannot be said that
his suffering and death were the result of his sin,
because he had not sinned; they were the result of
his discordant thinking.

Of course, in the case of the sinful man, as with
the innocent, suffering may be occasioned by grief,
regret, remorse, and the like, and it may be avoided
by avoiding such thinking; but that erroneous
thinking which culminates in what is called sin is
discordant in and of itself alone, and out of these
discordant conditions must come their legitimate
discordant results independent of whatever may
arise from any other source and in addition to it.

222 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

This discordant thinking and acting is a class b^
itself, and its results must stand in a class by them-
selves; therefore, though a man may banish all
other discordant thinking and acting and thus avoid
their consequences, yet he will still have the discord
caused by his sinning, and he cannot escape its
results.

Though such a man may present the appearance
of health and strength, yet his error will surely find
him out. One need not flatter himself that he can
evade the penalty of a single evil, sinful, or discord-
ant thought or action, by harmonious thinking and
pure conduct in all other particulars. The penalty
for the single violation can no more be avoided than
can the greater penalty when all the thoughts and
actions are discordant. Thinking produces actions
like itself; the error thought not only perpetuates
itself but develops and enlarges its own error, and
sooner or later suffering of some kind follows. It
is as inevitable as that consequences follow causes.
One must put away all sinful thinking and acting if
he would escape all penalty. Banished discord does
not leave any sting in its trail, but just so far as it is
indulged it will surely bear its bitter fruit.

The deed that is done is beyond recall; the word
that is spoken cannot be unsaid; the thought that

THE PENALTY FOR SIN 223

has flashed across the horizon of the mind has left
its image, like that of lightning across the sky, and
each has shot its consequences into the future.
There is nothing more inevitable than these conse-
quences, whether for good or for evil. The good
result from the good is just as sure as the bad result
from the bad; nature works with absolute impar-
tiality; it rests with each man to decide which it
shall be, good or evil. The world may never see
the consequences of a man's act; his most intimate
friends may not suspect it ; he may not himself con-
nect his condition with it; but the consequence is
inevitable.

Neither the world, nor the man's enemies, nor his
intimates, need to trouble themselves ; he will surely
reap the consequences of his conduct. Men,
whether friends or enemies, are always too prone
to condemn ; but, whatever their opinion, their con-
demnation can be neither right nor wise; nor is it
needed to bring about the results which are justly
due. Those who indulge in condemnation may
have no compunctions about it and may think it is
deserved by the culprit, yet such thinking is itself
discordant, and the penalty for discordant thinking
will never fail to reach him who sits in judgment on
another.

224 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

Even the libertine and the murderer who are
never found out, and those who escape punishment
by legal process, will get the just reward for their
course. Though the man who commits a wrong
may, in his own mind, justify himself for it, or, be-
cause of erroneous thinking, may even have the
opinion that he has done an admirable act, yet his
course will finally bring down upon him its conse-
quences in some form of suffering or deprivation
though it be nothing more than the condition of not
knowing, not understanding, and thus not receiving
and not having those desirable qualities or things
which otherwise would have been his. While such
deprivations may be considered mild punishment,
yet who can measure their extent or their impor-
tance ; and who shall judge ?

The punishment inflicted by man upon his brother
man is of the same general character, for it consists
almost wholly in depriving the condemned person
of what would otherwise belong to him and be en-
joyed by him. What else is a fine but depriving a
man of property; or imprisonment but depriving
him of freedom ; or the extreme penalty of the law
buc depriving him of his life? In one way or an-
other, part or all of these will come to the erring
man without the intervention of another; and with

THE PENALTY FOR SIN 225

them will come many other conditions which no one
else could inflict upon him. Of vastly more impor-
tance than all else is the loss of those mental and
moral qualities which the wrong-doer, by his own
action, deprives himself of. He finds indeed that
"the wages of sin is death" — death to all his nobler
and higher instincts.

For centuries the fear of hell has been considered
a restraint on the wicked; but the punishment here
noted is more unerring and more certain. There is
not any postponement to an indefinite future nor is
there any way of escape. It has its beginning in the
very act itself, even in the thought which produced
the act, just as the plant exists in the seed, the cause
in its consequence. The man who lies must tell a
dozen more to cover that one, and will always be
haunted by the fear of being found out. Thus the
error becomes its own punishment, which is from
within itself and is in the form of more and greater
error. The consequence must in every case be ex-
actly adjusted to its cause, therefore the punishment
must be exactly proportioned to the guilt. The
scales of natural justice are always balanced with
even fidelity. Gravitation is not more steadfast.
Indeed, error is the gravitation of morals, but it
does not have a stopping-place as the falling stone

226 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

has. It is itself the bottomless pit. It is its own
destiny, ordained and unchangeable. Principle
never changes; causation never falters nor wavers.
Paradoxical as it may seem, the way of escape
from punishment is included in this unwavering
inviolability of principle which punishes so relent-
lessly. There is forgiveness for the evil, but only
in the entire abandonment of the evil course of act-
ing, speaking, or thinking. Their continuance, or
the continuance of either of them, is the continuance
of the cause, and that is the inexorable and sure con-
tinuance of their consequences ; but it is the cause
which produces the consequences, and if the cause is
not allowed to exist, there will not be any conse-
quences. The seed of the thistle need not be
planted, and then there will not be any thistles;
but even if it has been planted and has already
sprung up, it may be cut down and its roots may
be dug out so as to exterminate it completely.

XXXI
A STORY AND ITS LESSON

Avoidance of discordant thinking is of great so-
cial as well as personal advantage to the one who
has attained it. It is a mild power, but it is of tre-
mendous effectiveness.

Whether we know it or not, we always arouse
thoughts in others similar to those which fill our
own minds. Anger in one person provokes anger in
others, and love begets love. Fear brings fear, and
confidence inspires confidence. The cheerfulness of
one person will pervade a roomful, and if persisted
in it may extend to a whole neighborhood. Even
the most retiring and least assertive have their influ-
ence upon others far beyond their own recognition.

Intention does not alone control the impression
made upon another, because there may be a differ-
ence between its character and the method of its
execution which may produce a result contrary to
that intended; besides, there may be some strong
dominant thought in the background which is quite

227

228 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

different from the intention. Mere possession of
this positive thought, without any effort or desire on
the part of the thinker, affects and influences others,
and the more earnest or positive the thought, the
more efficacious will it be, and the more certain and
definite will be the result. It does not need any
intention to influence others, but only the earnest
desire on the part of the thinker himself to be right
and to think right.

A teacher in one of the public schools of Boston
had an assistant assigned to her in her school-
room. This threw two strangers into close rela-
tionship during the school hours of every day.
They soon found that they were each in such a
mental condition that if either made a suggestion
or expressed an opinion it disturbed or irritated
the other. The mental disturbance or irritation
thus aroused was a mild form of anger, though
each would have preferred to call it by some other
name. This was of such frequent occurrence
that it colored the whole day. After mature
deliberation the teacher decided not to allow this
mental disquiet in herself. She resolved to stop
thinking the discordant or angry thoughts, how-
ever slight they might be.

The opportunity to put her resolution into effect

A STORY AND ITS LESSON 229

came very soon after it was made. The assistant
said something which irritated her. Affairs in
the room were in such a condition that she could
sit at one of the desks and labor with herself in
the attempt to stop her own discordant thinking.
During the effort she did not try in any way to
influence the assistant; indeed, she did not once
think of doing so. Her attempt was to change
her own mental condition and to cleanse her own
mind of all discordant thinking. Her work was
with herself alone.

She found that it required more effort and
occupied a longer time than she had anticipated,
but this only intensified her determination to set
herself right. After a while she experienced the
pleasure of success. The discordant thoughts
all disappeared and harmonious ones took their
places. A delightful revulsion of feeling followed.
A harmonious glow filled her whole being, and
she rejoiced that she had triumphed over her own
discordant thinking.

She sat in her place a little longer in order more
firmly to establish her present mental condition
and to fortify herself against a return of the dis-
cordant thinking, as well as to enjoy the pleasure
of her present satisfaction, when something

230 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

occurred which greatly surprised her. The assist-
ant came and sat down beside her, took her hand
in a half-caressing way as it lay upon the desk,
and, in a tone of voice which she had never recog-
nized from her before, asked about something
which was going on in the schoolroom. The
discord had also ceased in the assistant's mind,
and harmony had taken its place. The division
between them was healed.

Seemingly this was a little incident, but it is
important because it illustrates an important prin-
ciple of mental action which is always at work
between people who are thrown into close rela-
tionship with each other. By her earnest work
with herself to stop her own discordant thinking,
the teacher had changed the condition of her own
mind, and, without any intention or even thought
about it on her own part, this change had so
affected the assistant as to work a mental revolu-
tion in her mind also. The close relationship
between minds is such that when the teacher had
recovered her own mental poise the assistant,
without conscious thought or intention, regained
hers also.1 Such is the effect of banishing dis-

1 "Through waves of an atmosphere unseen by the physical eye,
the sound of the church bell is conveyed to our ears. Through the

A STORY AND ITS LESSON 23 1

cordant thoughts from one's own mind and intro-
ducing positive and harmonious ones in their
places.

The old saying that it takes two to quarrel is
true, and it is equally true that the mental rela-
tionship between man and man is such that it
takes two to be angry. If one of the angry parties
ejects all discordant thinking from himself and
waits without impatience or any other kind of
discordant thinking, the anger of the other one
must stop of itself. It has nothing to feed upon.

In the case of the teacher and her assistant it
is certain that there was discordant thinking;
perhaps at first it was only on the part of one (it
is of no consequence which), but it communicated
itself to the other, increasing as time went on, and
it continued until one of them assumed positively
the right mental attitude for herself, and then it
ceased with the other.

This incident suggests the course to be pursued
in all misunderstandings or quarrels. The one
who recognizes the situation should at once set

vibrations of an ether which the finest instrument cannot discern,
the light from distant stars is brought to our organs of vision. Is
it more wonderful to believe that through an unseen medium of
mind we are sending rays of silent influence into the lives of
others?" — Loren B. McDonald in Guarding the Thoughts, p. 17.

232 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

his own mind at peace, sweeping it clear of all
discordant thoughts concerning the attendant
actions and conditions, regardless of their charac-
ter and without any question of how or where they
originated or who was to blame; this done, he
should in every particular keep his mind in a con-
dition of perfect harmony toward the other — and
wait. Waiting will do the rest. "They also serve
who only stand and wait;" and especially is this
the case if, in addition to the waiting, they main-
tain the right mental condition.

Unless it comes about naturally and without
effort there should not be any verbal attempt at
reconciliation. Very often the best-intentioned
predetermined efforts of this kind fail of success.
Complete control of one's own mind in such cases
will never fail. This does not mean that when
one finds he has done wrong, he must not say so
to the one he has wronged; but even this is not
advisable until the confession can be made with-
out the slightest discordant stir in himself. Dis-
cord in one person rouses it in another, and even
allusion to the subject which has once caused
inharmony may arouse it again.

It should be expressly noted that in the case
just cited the teacher did not do the work in her-

1 1 N

A STORY AND ITS LESSON 233

self for the purpose of affecting the assistant, nor
for any other but the one sole object of making
herself right. This mental attitude is of first im-
portance. To purify one's own self for the sake
of purifying others is commendable, but it is not
so praiseworthy as when undertaken with the single
object of correcting one's own faults. It will
then better affect and assist others than if it were
undertaken for that object. It is only with one's
own self that one has to deal — never interfering
with another unless assistance is asked.

When there has been anger between two
people, for one of them to undertake by word or
deed to set the other right would frustrate all the
good intentions in the world unless the one who
attempts it has already first completely accom-
plished it in himself. Even then success may be
very doubtful. Indeed, just here is where grave
mistakes are often made in trying to solve any social
problem. Every person is prone to lay the blame
on another and then to try to make that other one
right instead of turning his whole attention to
correcting the error in himself. Correction of the
other person by one of the parties to a quarrel
is impossible in nine cases out of ten, and espe-
cially is this true when the discordant thought of

234 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

condemnation exists in the mind of the one who
makes the attempt.

Epictetus was right when he declared: "How-
ever he treats me, I am to act rightly with regard
to him ; for the one is my own concern, the other is
not." Acting and thinking are so closely allied that
this rule applies as much to the one as to the other.
It is a maxim of the soundest philosophy that
nothing another does can ever make it right for
me to do wrong, because wrong is never right, and
no combination of circumstances can ever make
it so.

When the teacher had removed the discord
from her own mind, she discovered that it had
disappeared from the assistant's also. Had she
attempted to correct the assistant's error instead
of correcting her own, the discord might never have
been healed. Although the assistant's action was
set in motion by what the teacher did, yet the
assistant's thinking and acting were her own and
not the teacher's. Another's thoughts become
our own only when we accept them as ours. Ref-
ormation is at last one's own work.

In fact, as seen in the principle set forth in these
pages, each can reform only one person in the world,
and that one is himself. However much the sug-

A STORY AND ITS LESSON 235

gestion to reform may come from another, yet
all reformation is essentially self-reformation,
because all thinking is one's own thinking, and
thinking is the causative power. This does not
exclude assisting some one else when assistance
is asked for, nor does it prohibit extending all
good feeling and brotherly love to others. Indeed,
the underlying principle requires this, because
otherwise one's own mind cannot be in a harmo-
nious condition; but the work is, after all, one's
own work with one's own self. When he has cast
out the beam from his own eye, then shall he see
clearly to cast out the mote from his brother's eye ;
but in the process of removing the beam he will
most probably have effected the removal of the
mote also, and therefore he shall then see that there
is nothing to be removed from the eye of his brother.

XXXII
THE STORY OF A CONTRACT

A man whom we will call Smith because that
is not his name had a contract with a carpenter
to build a house. When the work was about half
done, the carpenter came and said that he was in
distress because of certain financial obligations
which were about to mature, and that he would
be greatly accommodated if he could have imme-
diately all the money that would be due him when
the house should be completed. Smith had the
money in the bank and gave it to him. All went
well until the house was very nearly done. Then
the carpenter left it and went to other work, much
to Smith's disadvantage.

Several weeks passed, and, as there was no indi-
cation that anything further would be done on
the house, Smith sent to the carpenter and asked
when he was going to finish his work. The reply
came back that he had done all he intended to do
on the house and, besides, he was too mad to talk

236

THE STORY OF A CONTRACT 237

about it; whereupon Smith got angry, too, but
upon consideration he decided to make a practical
test of the principles which were so successfully
followed by the teacher. He put out of himself
all anger and condemnation of the carpenter, as
well as all other discordant thoughts, so that he
was able without mental discord to review the
whole transaction, his favor to the carpenter, the
disadvantage of the delay, and even the rudeness
of the reply to his inquiry. Then he went to see
the carpenter. When he met him and saw the
muscles of his face stiffen and his whole counte-
nance harden as he looked up, even that did not
rouse any discordant thinking in Smith's mind,
so thoroughly was he under the right mental con-
trol. They immediately began talking about the
unfinished work, and in less than ten minutes the
carpenter, without being requested to do so, offered
to go back and finish his job. Smith told him that
he might send one of his workmen, but he insisted
on going himself. The carpenter went and did
all the work required, including some extras which
he cheerfully declined to accept pay for.

The effective consideration in this case was the
successful effort that Smith made to clear his own
mind from discord. As in the case of the teacher,

2$ RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

here was also an entire absence of any attempt
to influence the carpenter by any mental means
whatsoever. No one's rights were assailed or
interfered with in the slightest. There was noth-
ing concealed or underhanded. There was no
compulsion or attempt at compulsion. All the
influence Smith exercised over the carpenter was
in a fair, face-to-face, open conversation, with only
harmony in his own mind behind his words. The
result was much pleasanter and far more success-
ful than any attempt at compulsion could have
been. Indeed, any such attempt, accompanied
as it would have been by recrimination and angry
words, would have intensified the carpenter's
feelings and defeated Smith's object. Where
anger has ruled, expensive lawsuits have grown
out of incidents of far less importance. It was
much cheaper than a lawsuit would have been in
the expenditure of both money and energy of every
kind, to say nothing of the long train of evils aris-
ing from hostile feelings. Nothing is necessary
in a dispute except that one of the parties shall
put away all discordant thinking.

Perhaps some one may claim inability to do as
Smith did under such conditions, and that may
be true ; but every one can do it on occasions of

THE STORY OF A CONTRACT 239

less importance; and if he does not let any inci-
dent slip, but accomplishes the exclusion of his
discordant thinking in each one of the smaller
affairs, he will soon be able to do the same thing
in the gravest and most important situations. As
an illustration of how business may be conducted
successfully, this incident has its lesson. If this
plan were followed by everybody, one large and
important class in the community would change
its occupation for a more productive one.

The same principle is illustrated in a dispute
which occurred over the boundary line between
two pieces of property. The owner of one piece
claimed that the fence was in the wrong place and
should be removed so as to include in his own
tract quite a strip of the land of his neighbor.
Angry feelings and discordant thinking resulted.
A lawsuit grew out of it and dragged along for
years. Each asserted that he cared very little
for the land, but insisted he was contending for a
principle. The quarrel grew and prospered with
small prospect of settlement until one of the parties
was tired out and sold his land to get rid of the
difficulties.

The purchaser was the very reverse of quarrel-
some, and all who knew the circumstances won-

240 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

dered that he had bought property encumbered
with a lawsuit. His action showed his wisdom.
At the first favorable opportunity he approached
the claimant and after a few pleasant words asked
him where he believed the fence ought to be. The
claimant pointed out the place very carefully.
When this had been definitely fixed, the new owner
said: "If you will move the fence to that place, I
will pay half the expense of the removal, since it
is a line fence." The claimant was surprised.
He had been met by a man who had only harmony
in his heart and was overcome by it. The fence
continues to stand in its old place, the lawsuit is
dismissed, and the two men are fast friends.

Such is the power of non-resistance when com-
bined, as it always should be, with harmonious
mental conditions in the mind of one of the parties
to a quarrel.

XXXIII

THE STORY OF A NOTE

A gentleman borrowed five hundred dollars
of a widow, giving his note. Soon afterward her
eldest son got into trouble of such a kind that
the penitentiary was in prospect for him. The
borrower investigated the situation, and found
that the young man had done wrong, but that the
action was without criminal intention. Older and
designing persons had taken advantage of his
inexperience and had made him a tool for the
execution of their own illegal purposes. The
borrower used his influence in the proper way,
saved the young man from disaster, and set him
on his feet. Warned and instructed by this expe-
rience, he made a man of himself. Not very long
afterward the second son of the widow fell into
serious, though not so grave, difficulties, and the
borrower extricated him also from his dilemma.
In the meantime the note was not paid because
the man was not able, and, too, although he had
not made any claim for it, he thought that he
241

242 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

ought to have some consideration for his services
to the two sons.

After a few years the widow died. Now there
must be a settlement; but the borrower hoped
the son who had been so efficiently befriended
would be made administrator of the estate. In-
stead, a son-in-law was appointed, a man who,
though successful in business, had the reputation
of not being very particular as to the methods by
which he attained success. This did not indicate
leniency about the payment of the note, but the
borrower allowed things to drift without any action
until the legal time for the settlement of the estate
had nearly expired. He then began to think
that the administrator had decided to let the whole
subject drop, when one day an officer walked
into his place of business and served a warrant
on him for a thousand dollars. Delay could no
longer continue. Something must be done. The
question was, "What?" The borrower decided
to begin by regulating his own mind, and succeeded
so well that without mental discord he could
think of all the incidents and persons connected
with the affair, including his own remissness in not
attending to the business as he ought to have done.

A few days before the time to appear and an-

THE STORY OF A NOTE 243

swer the warrant he sought out the administrator
and told him that he had come to talk about the
note. To the direct questions which the admin-
istrator asked he responded frankly that he made
the note in good faith, that the signature was his
own, that he received the money at the time he
gave the note, and that he had not paid anything,
not even the interest. Of course, such admissions
to the administrator would ruin his case in any
court. He then said that he thought two men of
average intelligence who wanted nothing but what
was right could themselves settle such a question
as this without the intervention of the law. He
maintained his own harmonious frame of mind
while he told the administrator the whole story,
and then the subject was discussed between them.
The result was that at the end of an amicable
conference of half an hour, without any sugges-
tion or request from the borrower, the adminis-
trator offered to "call the whole thing square"
without the payment of any money.

Avoidance of discordant thinking is of immense
and direct importance, and even of money value,
in business transactions; and yet all this is only
controlling the mental action so as to keep it within
the lines indicated by principle.

XXXIV

A DISCUSSION OF THE STORIES

These incidents, which are absolutely true,
are a practical demonstration of the importance
of thought control in all social and business affairs,
and they also show what may result from main-
taining one's own mind in harmonious conditions,
keeping it as closely as possible in the exact and
perhaps seemingly narrow way of undoubted and
unquestionable right without any attempt either
directly or indirectly to influence any one else.
They are illustrations of the action of a power
which, though not always recognized, is constantly
operating among men; and they show why some
persons utterly fail in their attempts, while yet
others hinder and even pervert their own efforts.
This power lies in the ability to control mental
conditions and to establish the right mental state
in one's own mind. This state, once established
and maintained, works effectually toward the
accomplishment of right results in one's own self
244

A DISCUSSION OF THE STORIES 245

and in others, and does this without any conscious
effort of the person.

The really efficient work for others must follow
work with one's own self. Without that all else
fails. In neither of these cases cited did the one
most interested attempt by any mental procedure,
either surreptitious or otherwise, to influence the
mind or actions of the other. In each case it was
a frank, open, face-to-face transaction. To have
done otherwise would have been specially repre-
hensible, and such a course would bear the same
relation to rightful mental action that stealing does
to legitimate financial transactions.

It is only a step from attempting to influence
another mentally and in the right direction, but
without his knowledge, to the attempt to influence
him in doubtful or wrong ways. After all, who
shall say that his own idea of right is absolutely
without flaw, or even what is advisable or best
for another? Can one always decide these ques-
tions for one's self? How much less, then, for
another, especially when the most sincere and
earnest convictions of the wisest men so contradict
one another ! And how shall one know what
another wishes unless the wish is expressed?
Secretly to influence another against his wishes

246 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

is to dominate him. Far too often has this under-
handed action been used to gain one's own purpose ;
and yet, many times, this has been done with the
sincere conviction that it was a kindness or a duty
and therefore was right and just and even praise-
worthy. How wisely did Burns sing: —

" When self the wavering balance shakes
Tis rarely right adjusted."

The thug of India not only believes he is right
in strangling his victim, but he also believes, as
sincerely and earnestly as any one else believes
the contrary, that it is his religious duty and that
his action will result in an immense advantage
to the one he strangles. He is as sincere in this
as most Christians are in their belief about what
they ought to do for others, or even in their belief
that what the thug does is wrong. Equally sin-
cere are most of those who attempt secret mental
influence. But the belief that they are right does
not make them so. Right is right, whatever may
be the opinion of any one about it; and however
conscientious one may be in an erroneous opinion,
that conscientiousness does not make that opinion
right.

There is only one thing either necessary or
advisable, and that is to set one's own mind in order,

A DISCUSSION OF THE STORIES 247

making it right according as one sees the right,
and then to leave the rest to the unrecognized but
sure working of correct principles; remembering,
of course, that this does not exclude a frank, open
discussion of the differences after discord has been
dismissed from the mind.

These incidents show the errors contained in
two widely accepted opinions of humanity, and
an understanding of these errors will greatly assist
him who is striving for mental self-control.

The first is the almost universal tendency to
lay the blame for one's failures or mistakes at
the door of some other person or to charge it to
the influence of one's surroundings. The Edenic
plea of both Adam and Eve — Adam because of
Eve, Eve because of the serpent (the serpent was
not asked to speak for himself) — has availed to
satisfy both men and women ever since the earliest
dawn of history; but it has not yet availed, nor
will it ever avail, to avert the natural consequences
of one's own acts.

Often it is enough to silence the average man's
conscience when he thinks that he would not have
committed the offence if it had not been for attend-
ant circumstances. It is thought excuse enough
for breaking an engagement to plead bad weather;

248 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

anything or everything outside the person, trivial
or important, is sufficient excuse to justify any
failure, any neglect, and very often even an overt
act. Though all this is wrong, yet every one is
accustomed to these excuses, and most of us have
used them in the attempt to satisfy our own com-
punctions and to effect an escape from difficulties
which we have ourselves brought upon our own
heads.

It is the mental condition that produces the
action in every case, and each person is responsible
for his own mental condition. Between the exter-
nal circumstance and our action is always our
own thinking, and it is that thinking and not the
external circumstance or condition which decides
what our action shall be. If Eve's thinking
about the tree and its fruit had been different, —
that is, if she had come to some different conclu-
sion about the questions presented in that connec-
tion, — her action would have been different. The
same is also true of Adam. It was not the ser-
pent and it was not the presence and character
of the tree, — though each had a part in the course
of events, — but it was their own final mental con-
clusion, which decided what their action should be.
That mental conclusion was their own, and not

A DISCUSSION OF THE STORIES 249

another's, and, therefore, no one else but them-
selves was responsible for their actions. Thus
it has always been with every Eve and every
Adam. Whether the story of Adam and Eve is
accepted as veritable history or considered as a
fable, it admirably illustrates a nearly universal
defect of humanity.

For the man who owed the note, a lawsuit with
the prospect of its attendant evils was all ready
to his hand. The same was impending over Smith
and the contractor. Had either Smith or the
man who owed the note failed to control his think-
ing, he might have said: "I was not responsible
for this trouble. Others began it." In both
cases the events as they transpired show that each
would have been himself responsible, because it
was clearly in his power to avert the disaster.
Every man claims praise for the good result as
the consequence of his right action. On the same
basis, how can he avoid blame if, by his own erro-
neous thinking, he increases the difficulty and
brings about evil results?

This leads to the consideration of a second mis-
taken but very prevalent opinion, and it also leads
to an understanding of the erroneous actions
consequent upon that opinion.

250 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

A large part of mankind are zealously striving
to reform all the rest of the world except them-
selves. Every one sees how another ought to
conduct himself, and each is doing his best to
effect the desired reformation in his neighbor,
because he believes with the good old Quaker,
"All the world is queer except thee and me, and
thee is a little queer." We have reformers on
all sides trying to persuade men to avoid every
evil that afflicts mankind; and we have govern-
ments with courts of justice and prisons attempt-
ing forcibly to prevent men from doing wrong or
to compel them to do right. All these means and
measures no doubt accomplish much good, at
least as educators; and the motive behind them
all is excellent.

In point of fact, however, no one can reform
another, although each can reform himself, and
by that reformation may so influence others that
they will also reform themselves. The reforma-
tion at last is one's own work done by one's own
self. Of course there may be and ought to be
wise suggestions, assistance, encouragement, advice,
counsel, thus giving much help to others in a
multitude of ways whenever it is desired; but,
notwithstanding all, the essential and only really

A DISCUSSION OF THE STORIES 25 1

vital and effective work must be done by one's
own self. This is because thinking is the funda-
mental act without which nothing can be accom-
plished, and one cannot think with another's mind
any more than he can see with another's eyes.

The teacher might have remonstrated with her
assistant, but probably it would have had no result
except to antagonize and irritate her and intensify
the already troublesome conditions. Without any
attempt whatever in that direction the effort of the
teacher to reform herself wrought wonders in the
reformation of her assistant.

The contractor was manifestly blameworthy
because he had not done all that he had agreed
to do, and he surely needed reforming. The
owner of the property by due process of law might
have compelled him to complete the work, but
there would not have been any reformative result
from that action. In any attempt to enforce
reform upon the contractor the result attained
through the self-reformation of the property owner
would have been lost, and in the end both would
have been worse off mentally and morally.

In the case of the note it is true that payment
might have been avoided by some legal process,
questionable or otherwise; but that would have

252 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

produced various and serious discordant condi-
tions for all concerned, and probably it would
have resulted in very serious injury to the bor-
rower. All these probabilities are in sharp and
unfavorable contrast with the harmonious results
which followed the borrower's reformation of him-
self.

The fact is clearly apparent in these and multi-
tudes of other incidents that, whether we intend
it or not, our unspoken thoughts influence those
with whom we come in contact; and this pre-
sents the control of our thinking in a new aspect
and gives it an immensely increased value when
considered in connection with our relationship
to our fellows. Max Miiller said: "The only
thing of consequence, to my mind, is what we
think, what we know, what we believe."

Herein is the secret of the immense influence
of good lives. As has been shown so clearly, the
kind of life one lives is the product of the kind of
thinking one does, and the good thinking sheds
itself abroad upon others as the sun radiates light,
without any intention or effort. Therefore Jesus
said: "Let your light shine." He did not say;
"Make it shine." Leave the light alone, but
have it, and it will shine of itself. Interference

A DISCUSSION OF THE STORIES 253

and assistance often hinder. The very best one
can do is to be. The measure of the influence of a
man, whether preacher or layman, is found in what
he is rather than in what he says; perhaps least
of all in what he intends.

This explains one great secret of the tremen-
dous power and permanence of the influence of
Jesus, the Christ, who not only taught and did
right, living the right life, but who also — the under-
lying cause of all — thought right. The results
which came to him will also come to us in propor-
tion as we keep ourselves right.

The opinion has generally been held that a
person has the right to think what he pleases, but
this is not correct. In one sense a man's thoughts
are not his own any more than are his words
when once uttered. We know the word from the
speaker goes out to bless or to curse, and recall
is impossible. It is the same with the thought
also. As he should not have uttered the wrong
word, so he ought not to have allowed the existence
of the wrong thought.

In point of fact every thought, whatever its
character may be, produces its definite result,
not only whether we will or not, but in spite of the
will we may exercise to prevent it. "Then every

254 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

thought of disease, every imagination of fear or
distrust or gloomy foreboding, would scatter, and,
like contagion, depress the lives of others. Then
every sentiment of hate would have in it a little
of the real effect of murder, every harsh judgment
would carry a vital effect of ill. Every thought
of doubt or despair would make it harder for others
to bear their burdens and believe in the infinite
good."1

This is a dark side of the picture, but it is not
overdrawn. A man is indeed responsible for his
speech and his acts; he is also equally responsible
for the thoughts which cause them, and he should
guard his thoughts even more carefully than he does
his acts. But there is a bright side also. A man
can control his thinking much more easily than he
can his speaking and acting when his thinking is
not first controlled. Better still, he can control that
thinking in the right direction, and when this is
done, its consequences are so controlled that they
need no attention whatever, and there is no further
responsibility nor danger.

1 L. B. McDonald in Guarding the Thoughts.

XXXV
SENSITIVENESS

Sensitiveness is the tendency or disposition to
be easily affected by external objects, events, or
conditions. We say that a person is sensitive who
is so delicately constituted that he is keenly suscepti-
ble of external influences or impressions, is easily
affected or moved by outward circumstances, and
responds quickly to very slight changes of condition.
Though so often misunderstood and condemned,
it is one of man's greatest blessings. The peculiar
sensitiveness of the optic nerve gives sight. De-
ficient sensitiveness of that nerve causes imperfect
sight; entire lack of it is blindness. The greater
its sensitiveness, the better the sight and the more
we may see, and know, and understand, if we will
only use it as we should; that is, if the perception
is followed by the right kind of thinking. This is
true of every perception.

Superiority in any sphere is unattainable without
that sensitiveness which confers larger knowledge

255

256 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

and understanding. There is much discussion
about what constitutes genius; at least one element
without which it cannot exist is an extreme degree
of this very sensitiveness, and the degree of sensi-
tiveness often determines the degree of genius.

It is this characteristic which enables the musician
to perceive shades of tone which another cannot
hear. It gives him information essential to the
execution of delicate musical passages impossible
to others who do not possess the quality in the same
degree; and in directing an orchestra or a chorus
it is this which enables him to perceive advantages
and defects which would pass unnoticed by one less
favored. This keenness of perception is indispen-
sable to leadership.1

On the other hand, there are persons who culti-
vate themselves into spasms over a discord, and, by
glorifying their suffering as a mark of superiority,
they unintentionally provoke similar disturbing con-
ditions in their associates. This agitation is the
result of their thinking, and thinking is entirely
distinct from sensitiveness. By avoiding their in-
harmonious thoughts about the discord they will

1 Theodore Thomas had so cultivated his sensitive ear that not
only could he detect the slightest discord, but he could tell which
one of the instruments in his large orchestra produced it.

SENSITIVENESS 257

also avoid the disturbance they create, and this
may be accomplished without the loss of a single
pleasure. An ear rightly trained to listen and to
catch the slightest variations may take note of all
the imperfections, but they will never bring pain if
the thinking is rightly controlled; and the more
sensitive the ear, the greater the pleasure, because
the mind can better perceive the exquisite beauties
of the music, dwell upon them, and luxuriate in
them.

The question is whether the mind shall be oc-
cupied with the defects of the music to the exclusion
of consciousness of its beauties, or occupied with
its beauties to the exclusion of its defects. Each
person may decide for himself which it shall be. If
he chooses discord it will be discordant in propor-
tion to the character and intensity of his thinking;
if harmony then harmony. The sensitiveness is
only a servant to minister to either pain or pleasure
at one's own behest, but it is very efficient and capable
of bestowing immense advantages if the thinking is
what it ought to be. This is the condition not only
in relation to music but in every case where sensi-
tiveness is concerned.

Psychologists say that in the beginning we were
not able to understand many of the messages of the

258 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

senses, but that through our experience we have
come to recognize without conscious effort the re-
lation to us of those things outside of ourselves
which are revealed by our senses. We are continu-
ally educating ourselves in the various phases of
sense perception, and we use that education for our
advantage. We should do the same with every
form of sensitiveness, including all the more subtle
and less understood faculties which minister to our
consciousness.

When two people first meet, they receive impres-
sions in addition to anything that is communicated
by the eye, the ear, or the clasp of the hands.
Through means and in a way not clearly under-
stood, each perceives something of the other and
recognizes conditions not revealed by the senses.
There are a vast number of these perceptions,
varying widely in their manifestations but of a simi-
lar general character. By comparing, analyzing,
combining, and otherwise examining, we may
continually cultivate our understanding of these
just as we have done with our sense perceptions.

The most important difficulty connected with
sensitiveness, but not an element of it, arises from
the fact that the mental attitude is often distorted
by allowing discordant thinking to follow experiences

SENSITIVENESS 259

which are not fully understood. Where we do not
fully understand we too often let fear govern us,
and we look for evil in all the dark places ; instead,
we should turn on the light so that we may know
the true character of the information which comes
to us through all avenues. Certain of these per-
ceptions are held by some to be " warnings," and,
if fear creeps in, the consequent discordant, and there-
fore disastrous, apprehensions which follow fear act
upon the whole physical system and bring a host of
evils along with them. There is great opportunity
for such results, because sensitive persons are more
easily injured than others — not by the " warnings,"
but by the greater intensity of their discordant
thinking.

It should be distinctly noted that the suffering
commonly attributed to sensitiveness does not come
from that source nor from the perceptions which it
confers, whatever they may be, but it does come
solely from the discordant thinking which, through
lack of mental control, is allowed to follow. Be-
cause of this entire separateness between sensitive-
ness and thinking, and because the suffering comes
from discordant thinking and not from sensitiveness,
the most keenly sensitive person may so train him-
self that he can stop his discordant thinking and thus

260 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

avoid all the injurious consequences which have
been erroneously attributed to sensitiveness, and at
the same time he may retain all the advantages
which may be derived from it and its perception.

Though sensitiveness is never an evil nor a dis-
advantage in itself, yet thousands condemn it,
condemn themselves for it, and are condemned by
others because of it. Many excuse themselves and
are excused by others for their erroneous conduct
"because they are so sensitive"; and for the same
reason still others are believed not to be responsible
for that which it is supposed they cannot avoid.
All this is wrong. Dr. Clifford Allbutt says truly :
"The attributing of overexcitability to nerve
structure in disease is absurd. No nervous mat-
ter was ever too excitable. To be excitable is its
business. In overexcitability a race-horse differs
from a jackass. The more excitable our nerves,
the quicker and higher our life." 1

If a person is mentally self-controlled, the greater
his sensitiveness, the greater will be the advantages
which he will derive therefrom, and by the proper
cultivation of his thinking he may add largely to
these advantages. Even that extreme degree which
seems to result in disease is not an exception, because

1 System of Medicine, Vol. VIII, p. 150.

SENSITIVENESS 26 1

the disease is the result of thinking and not of sensi-
tiveness, and when the thinking which caused it is
avoided, the disease will not appear, although the
sensitiveness is in no degree diminished. Control
of the thinking along these lines must be exercised
most rigorously. The discordant thoughts which
follow any perception must be dismissed abruptly
and with a positiveness which will not allow their
return. Because of his fear the sensitive person
continually hesitates and often refrains from doing
important things, thus directly impairing his effi-
ciency and adding another kind of discordant thoughts
to the stock already on hand. Fear is not sensitive-
ness, though the results of fear are very often mis-
takenly laid at its door. When the eye shows us
a strange object, we dismiss any fear which may
arise and investigate it. We ought to do the same
when our consciousness of something new comes
through any avenue of perception.

No one finds fault with his keen eyes which enable
him to see further or more minutely than others
do, though they may inform him of difficulties in
the way. Instead of finding fault with the diffi-
culties thus revealed, he rightly prides himself upon
the possession of fine eyesight and delights in all
the enjoyment and advantages which it brings. So

262 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

should each one congratulate himself, and be thank-
ful for every avenue of information which he pos-
sesses.

The thoroughbred horse derives his valuable
characteristics from his great sensitiveness, which
enables him to do many things that other horses
cannot do. In the hands of an incompetent driver
he can easily be ruined, but in the care of a wise
one he accomplishes wonders. The driver is the
one to be blamed for any disaster, and not the horse.
Just so it is with persons. The difficulty lies in
their own lack of that wisdom which would enable
them properly to control themselves. They allow
their minds to run riot in discordant thinking of
one kind or another, and in that way ruin themselves
and bring distress to those around them, all the
time erroneously blaming it upon their sensitiveness.

Let no one mistake for sensitiveness that which
is born of selfishness, jealousy, envy, or egotism,
for they have no connection whatever. The person
who is always getting " hurt " by some fancied
slight, some lack of appreciation or attention, should
never hide behind the plea of being sensitive, but
should face the truth squarely and recognize that
jealousy and self-love — not self-respect — breed the
thoughts which wreck his happiness.

SENSITIVENESS 263

Sensitiveness has been denounced as the bane of
many a life. It has been charged with the ruin
and death of untold thousands, and no one can
measure the grief which has been laid at its door.
And yet it was not sensitiveness that did all these
things, but it was the discordant and erroneous
thinking which its possessor allowed to riot through
his mind. What has been supposed to be a curse is
really a blessing. The curse is to be found in some-
thing else. Let each one dismiss discordant thoughts,
emancipate himself from the condition of a victim,
and become a victor, happy in the possession of
such a desirable quality. Use it wisely, as every
advantage should be used, for one's own benefit
and for the benefit of others, and it will prove itself
an in valuable servant,

XXXVI

SYMPATHY

Much is said in these days in praise of sympathy.
For the purposes of definiteness and proper dis-
crimination in the consideration of the subject it is
desirable to have a clear understanding of the mean-
ing of the word and its necessities and requirements.
Literally it means feeling identical with that which
another feels, and its meaning includes the condition
of being affected by the feelings or emotions of
another, whether they are of pleasure or of pain.
Such sensitiveness as would enable one to perceive
and understand the conditions, physical, emotional,
and mental, of another is a necessity without which
these results could not be attained. This includes
more than mere external affairs and surroundings.
There must not only be the ability to perceive and
understand these, but also the ability to enter quite
thoroughly and accurately into the whole situation
and experiences of another ; in other words, to put
one's self exactly in another's place, see from his

264

SYMPATHY 265

point of view, and estimate conditions by his stand-
ard. All helpful sympathy depends from first to
last upon a sensitiveness of perception and feeling
which shall enable one clearly to see the condition
of another, but with a self-control which shall per-
mit him to do so without perturbation of spirit or
any disturbed or disordered thought or feeling.

Next in order comes the mental action which
follows this recognition of conditions. As in all
other events, these two actions, the perception of
the condition and the thoughts which succeed this
perception, constitute the two essential elements of
the activity ; and it is as important that this mental
action should be right as it is that the perception
of conditions should be correct, because it is this
mental action which causes, guides, and directs
all that follows. It is in consequence of erroneous
action here that most serious mistakes are made.

It is wholly wrong to allow these recognitions so
to pervade one's being and so to absorb one's emo-
tional nature as to unfit him for helpfulness, for the
very object of all these mental conditions is to equip
us so that we may assist one another. Indeed,
that is one of the primal and important objects of
life itself, and whatever hinders or injures efficiency
in that direction is most clearly injurious and wrong.

266 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

The sight of a burn and one's consciousness of
the pain it causes may be allowed to suggest think-
ing which shall so fill the person with keen and realis-
tic feelings akin to the anguish of the sufferer as to
exclude all else. This is sympathy ; and it is made
up of the consciousness of the situation, the mental
actions which follow that consciousness, and the
physical feelings which are caused by those mental
actions. All this may be almost instantaneous,
and so intense as to create physical conditions
similar to those which were witnessed. This was
the case of the mother who, on witnessing an ac-
cident to her child's hand, was herself so moved by
the sight that her own hand was similarly injured,
though it was untouched except by her own thinking.
This is sympathy of the destructive kind. It is
created and its character is decided by the thinking
which follows the sight of the accident. The same
thing is illustrated in the case of the surgeon. If
he should allow his thoughts to run upon the fears
of his patient, or if he should fill his mind with
thoughts of the possible disastrous consequences of
an accident in the course of the operation, he would
wholly unfit himself for the work before him and
prepare himself to make the fatal mistake.

That this is not exaggeration is seen in the almost

SYMPATHY 267

universal experience of a man learning to ride the
bicycle. Unless he can take his mind off the ob-
ject with which he is liable to collide and think of
something else, the collision is certain despite the
rider's most strenuous efforts.

Similar mental actions are seen in thousands of
cases. Too often the sympathizer allows his mind
to run on painful, discordant, or dangerous conditions
to the exclusion of all else, literally filling himself
with similar conditions and utterly destroying any
possible efficiency in serviceable directions. Too
many think that this is the essential whole of sym-
pathy, and that those' who fail in this are hard-
hearted and unsympathetic. That is, they think
that we must mourn with those who mourn, weep
with those who weep, be angry with those who
are angry, despair with those who despair; and so
on through the whole list of inharmonious thoughts
and emotions. Unfortunately there is a large class
of sufferers who are never satisfied unless they
receive this perverted and pernicious sympathy.

All this is a serious mistake because it is discordant,
and discordant sympathy, like all other discord,
always results in injury to all who entertain it;
besides, the influence of mind upon mind is such
that even though no expression is given to the dis-

268 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

turbing thoughts, yet both parties will be affected bj
them.

Why does the wise physician welcome one visitor
to a patient and deny another? Because one mani-
fests sympathy in a way that makes the sick person
forget his pain and look cheerily out toward health
with thoughts uplifted and hopes renewed. The
other comes with pitying words and sorrowful looks
— sympathetic to the last degree, but as depressing
as a wet blanket. The welcome visitor is not wanting
in sympathy, and his appreciation of the situation
is as keen and comprehensive as that of the other,
but he refuses to allow his own mind to be occupied
with discordant thoughts. He has as much friend-
liness and affection for the sufferer as the other, but
is prompted by these emotions instead of by his
vision of the suffering. This is sympathy of the
right kind. It is sympathy with the best in man-
kind instead of the worst, and it results in helpful-
ness instead of injury.

We have considered sympathy in its relation to
suffering, but that is only one of its manifestations.
In its broader field it touches upon all human
activities, encouraging, cheering, and stimulating
mankind, turning failure into success and defeat
into victory. The sympathy of one strong, fearless

SYMPATHY 269

soul has strengthened many a fainting heart and
has built the bridge over which many have crossed
from despair to renewed hope and courage.

In the home, the schoolroom, in business and in
social life, everywhere, it is sympathy that brings
harmony and promotes happiness; but it must be
of the right kind, for emotional sympathy uncon-
trolled by reason and discrimination, like an in-
strument badly out of tune, is disturbing and
annoying.

This sympathy which has its root in sensitiveness,
when rightly used, is the bond between persons,
drawing them into the closest mutual relationship
and enabling them to be the most to each other
and to do the most for each other. Without it the
world of human beings would be a mere collection
or aggregation of integers with little more coherence
than grains of sand on the seashore.

Humanity depends upon sympathy far more
than it realizes and constantly receives it in unnoted
ways. We do not understand why, but a sense of
peace and strength comes as we look into some
face seen perhaps for the first time ; we hear a voice,
and something within us responds in harmony.
No one can measure its influence when this sympathy
goes out from one whose soul is so filled with love

270 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

for all humanity that he has an ear for every heart
pulse that is beating.

It has been said that "next to love sympathy
is the divinest passion of the human heart." It
might well be said that true sympathy is born of
that love which Jesus, the Christ, bade us have for
one another — a love which helps always, which
is pure in thought, and word, and deed; which
seeks always to elevate and strengthen. Of such
loving sympathy there can never be too much. It
may be given full range, for its fruit is always har-
mony. It has helped thousands back to life, health,
and happiness ; while its opposite, born not of love,
but of apprehension, fear, and all the mental imag-
inings of evil which enter into and create destruc-
tive sympathy, has hurled many other thousands
toward destruction and death.

XXXVII

SUGGESTION

Analysis of the elements of that relationship
which exists between man and man shows that in
its more subtle as well as in its more apparent activ-
ities suggestion plays an important and almost uni-
versal part. Who is there who has not over and
over again responded joyously to the hearty laugh
of a friend or been possessed by the opposite emo-
tion in response to the sad face of grief, even of a
stranger? This occurs though one may be ignorant
of the cause of the laughter or of the tears, and it is
the result of the suggestions conveyed by outward
expressions. It operates not only through deeds,
words, expressions of form and face, but also through
the unspoken thought. The yawn that goes around
the room in quick response to the unintended action
of a single member of the company is full refutation
of the assertion that suggestions do not have any
effect. Even the best-poised and most self-controlled
are not entirely free from their influence.

271

272 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

When undecided as to the course to be pursued a
suggestion from another frequently becomes a turn-
ing-point to influence the decision. Men, looking
for something which shall show them the way they
ought to go, in their dilemma often seek such sug-
gestions. The frequency of these occasions will be
surprising to one who has never taken note of them.
They are not aware that they are fostering a mental
condition which will render them more susceptible
to the influence, control, or even to the absolute
domination of another. They think they exercise
their own judgment in forming their conclusions
when really they have been seeking something to
influence that judgment and to aid them in their
decision. This is correct enough if the final deci-
sion is really their own. It is right to seek informa-
tion and advice from all sources, but at the last one
should decide the issue independently and of one's
self.

Every one is open to the suggestive influence of
external things as well as to the personal and men-
tal influence of others. This varies with character,
temperament, and experience, at last turning chiefly
on one's control of his thinking. Many are veered
this way and that by very slight suggestion. This
is especially noticeable in all weak characters, and

SUGGESTION 273

their susceptibility is the cause of their weakness;
but even the self-reliant and strong are also largely
influenced by friends and associates, and particu-
larly by those whom they believe to be possessed of
greater ability, experience, or wisdom. The differ-
ence is great between the weak hypnotic subject who
stands at one end of the long line and the well-bal-
anced, self-contained, and self-controlled person
who stands at the other end; but the difference is
small between any two who stand next each other in
that line, and one may glide from one condition
into the other by insensible degrees. Yet sugges-
tions do not necessarily control, for every one has re-
ceived many with which he has not complied, and
this fact implies the possibility of complete self-con-
trol even under the most extreme conditions of
suggestion.

Wise discretion is necessary on the part of those
who would wield an influence for good, and this
furnishes an additional reason for the exercise of
rigorous mental control for the advantage of others
as well as for one's own self. A recent writer ex-
claims: "How many thousands, nay millions, of
poor souls all over the world will have their lives
saddened by the drip of your tears who might have
been gladdened by the sunlight of your smile!"

2 74 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

This may be poetic exaggeration, but after all who
knows where the suggestive influence of a word, or
look, or even an unexpressed but positive thought,
shall cease ? If " the fall of a pebble echoes through-
out the farthest corridors of the universe," how much
more may a thought !

It is unquestionably a disadvantage to tell an-
other, whether acquaintance or otherwise, that he is
"out at the elbows." The strong probability is
that he knows it already, and an allusion to it will
tend to rouse discordant thoughts in his mind and
to intensify those already there, no one knows how
much to his harm. It would be far wiser to arouse
harmonious thinking with all its advantages by call-
ing his attention to some of his desirable or praise-
worthy qualities, or conditions, thereby encouraging,
stimulating, and aiding him to overcome whatever
is objectionable. These better conditions will not
be difficult to find even in the worst possible person,
especially if one has trained himself in the habit of
seeking them. Advantages will as surely follow
cheerful suggestions as harm will follow depressing
ones.

It is being widely recognized that all this is of
special value in health as well as in morals. The
wise physician understands that it is his duty to

SUGGESTION 275

cultivate confidence and cheerfulness not only in his
words but in the expression of his face, the tone of
his voice, and his whole manner toward his patient.

Hudson says of disease induced by erroneous sug-
gestion that it is safe to say that nine-tenths of all
the ailments of the human family may be traced to
this source.1

Albert Moll, who is good scientific authority on
this topic, and who cannot be accused of exaggera-
tion, says in his work on hypnotism: "There are
few people who are not injured when they are assured
on all sides that they look ill, and I think many
have been as much injured by this cumulative pro-
cess as if they had been poisoned."2

A single well-authenticated case of intentional
suggestion will illustrate the disasters which may
result. In one of the shops of a large manufactur-
ing company a young man of vigorous health was
subjected to the "practical jokes" of his fellow-
workmen. One morning a half-dozen of them sta-
tioned themselves just out of sight of each other
along the way he was to go to his daily work. The
first one accosted him pleasantly with inquiries after
his health and with various assertions that he was
not looking well. To all this he responded accord-

1 The Evolution of the Soul, p. 295. 2 Hypnotism, p. 357.

276 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

ing to the fact ; he had enjoyed a good night's sleep,
had eaten a hearty breakfast, and felt well in every
way. To the suggestion that he must have a head-
ache he answered in the negative. The next one
he met had questions and statements like the first,
only a little more positive in their character. To
these he did not respond with so much confidence as
at first. His positiveness decreased as each succeed-
ing fellow-workman whom he encountered met him
with stronger assurances of his ill health, until at
last, by these repeated suggestions, he was really
convinced that he was ill. On his arrival at the
shop, instead of going to his work he went to the
superintendent, asked for leave because of sickness,
went home, and was sick in bed two weeks under
the care of a physician. Of course the adept in
mental self-control would avoid all this by refusing
to allow the presence in his mind of the discordant
thoughts which had been suggested.

But it is not alone among the joking workmen of
the shops that this sort of thing occurs. Dr. Arthur
T. Schofield narrates the following: "Two medical
men were walking together, and one was saying that
he could make a man ill by merely talking to him.
The other doubted this. So, seeing a laborer in a
field, the first speaker went up to him and, telling

SUGGESTION 277

him he did not like his appearance, proceeded to
diagnose some grave disease. The man was pro-
foundly struck, left off work soon after, feeling very
ill, took to his bed, and in a week died; no suffi-
cient physical cause being found." '

In an article on hypnotism, which is only an
extreme form of suggestion, is governed by similar
fundamental principles, acts through similar men-
tal methods, and differs from it more in its complete-
ness than otherwise, Dr. Menard sets forth the in-
jurious effects and possibilities of suggestion. He
says: "When a subject is in the state of hypnosis,
his mind accepts without control the ideas that are
suggested to him, and these ideas are translated into
actions. . . . The subject who is persuaded that
he cannot raise his arm, open his eyes, rise from his
chair, or cross a threshold, really experiences those
forms of paralysis. He cannot move, because he is
convinced of the impossibility of movement. In
hypnosis, with or without sleep, if you give your
subject a glass of water to drink, telling him it is a
strong purgative, he will experience its effect, as if
it had been so really. . . .

"The idea need not have been introduced into the
mind during hypnosis and by another person; it

1 The Force of Mind ; or, the Mental Factor in Medicine, p. 96.

278 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

may spring up in the mind in an apparently spon-
taneous fashion, following a strong emotion due to
the erroneous interpretation of a special sensation.
The individual who believes himself ill is really so ;
he is not an imaginary sick man, but a man who is
sick because of his imagination. He may, as in
hypnotic experiments, be dyspeptic or paralyzed or
drunk by auto-suggestion. ... A conscious or
subconscious fixed idea is the cause of the whole
trouble." ■

In other words, the change of the mind — whether
that change occurs in consequence of the silent dic-
tum of the hypnotist, or in response to the verbal
suggestion of a friend, or because of a suggestion
received from some external action or condition, or
even in the course of one's own thinking and from
one's own conclusions — really produces in the
physical structure those conditions which have been
taken note of and accepted by the mind as real ; and
this occurs wholly regardless of the fact that those
conditions did not have any existence outside of the
thinker's own mentality.

What a wrong it is, then, even though with the
best intentions, to say to a person sitting by an open
window, "Aren't you afraid you will take cold?"

1 Cosmos (Paris), June 4, 1904.

SUGGESTION 279

The more earnest the speaker, the more surely will
the injury be inflicted. According to Dr. Menard,
the cold is far more liable to be caused by the sug-
gestion than by the exposure, and therefore the sug-
gestion is the more dangerous of the two. How often
at the table is heard the remark, "I am afraid that
will hurt you." This habit persistently followed is
more certain to cause injury than any kind of inju-
rious food. The same is true of a thousand simi-
lar well-meant cautions which any one can recall
from his own experience.

The number of cases is innumerable where care-
ful, anxious, painstaking, and conscientious mothers,
by their needless caution and care-taking, and by
their persistent suggestions of danger from cold, wet
feet, drafts, overexertion, and the thousand and
one other things which overanxiety presents to their
minds, have planted inability, effeminacy, decay,
disease, misery, and even death in the minds and
bodies of the children they love so well and care for
so anxiously. Similar error is wrought, not alone by
mothers, but by relatives, friends, acquaintances, and
incidental associates through their well-meant but
erroneous cautions, which are really suggestions
of impending evil. Herein is at least one reason why
the children of the poor are so often more vigorous,

280 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

hardy, and healthy than those of the wealthy.
These mothers have something else to do besides to
suggest evils to their children, and they do not have
time to educate them into disease, so the children
escape the infliction and are happier all their
lives.

Two things are worthy of note in this connection.
One is that the principle will work both ways. If,
as Menard says, change of mind will produce these
ills, a change of mind to the contrary direction will
cure them when once contracted. A guest who was
a confirmed dyspeptic and afraid to eat any but the
simplest food, was encouraged by his hostess, who
assured him with much positiveness that no one was
ever injured by anything eaten at her table. He
yielded to her suggestion, ate a good meal, partak-
ing of several articles of food which he had thought
were harmful, and was not injured. This experi-
ence so changed his mind that he lost his fear, con-
tinued to eat, and his dyspepsia of years' standing
was cured. Numerous similar instances of helpful
suggestion might be given.

The other point worthy of note is that if one has
so trained his mind as to exclude the harmful sug-
gestion, never allowing lodgement of the noxious
mental seed, he will have complete immunity from

SUGGESTION 281

all such harm. But to do this in the face of the
persistent endeavors of the "calamity howlers'7
necessitates both skill and tact, because no class of
a community is more thoroughly convinced that
they are right, and none more sincere and persistent
in their well-meant but pernicious endeavors. Their
motive is right. It is their method that is wrong.
They thoroughly believe all that they say, really
are solicitous for the welfare of their friends, and
often are greatly disturbed if their suggestions are
not heeded. These suggestions would soon cease
if one would keep his own mind steadily poised and
admit no discordant thoughts.

Of the same class are those who pursue a similar
course toward their friends in the sick room, and
toward those who complain of sickness in any de-
gree. They commiserate them, tell them how badly
they look, "sympathize" with them with the "sym-
pathy" which destroys, and enlarge upon the more
serious phases of their disease. These people seem
happy when they can tell one who is ill about the
extreme suffering of others in a like condition; and
if they know of some one who has died of a similar
disease they retail all the particulars to the sufferer
who lies there at their mercy. This kind of consola-
tion for the sick has a wonderful fascination for

282 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

those who indulge in it, and they think them-
selves comforters, but in reality they are human
vampires.

Such a habit indicates unhealthy, morbid mental
conditions. Its viciousness need not be enlarged
upon, but it cannot be too strongly condemned. No
one should need even a hint that he ought to avoid
all such suggestions of evil either to the sick or to
the well. Yet large numbers who recognize the
correctness of the general position here set forth
thoughtlessly indulge themselves in the vice, for
vice it is. What more can be said to influence such
persons to better ways? A multitude of publica-
tions set forth the evils which such a course entails,
but it is worth another effort if even a single person
is restrained by these words.

Looked at from one point of view, such sugges-
tions are little short of criminal. We are eager to
stop the career of him who robs another of his ma-
terial possessions, and he who poisons another's
food is held to be a murderer, yet people go on
poisoning the minds of their associates and robbing
them of their birthright of health and happiness, and
no one is held accountable. If it were possible,
there ought to be a law prohibiting such suggestions,
with due penalties for their utterance; but, better

SUGGESTION 283

still, each one may make such a law for himself and
then obey it.

If we desire habitually to scatter sunshine and
health among our fellows wherever we meet them,
not only our deeds and words, but our facial expres-
sions and our thoughts themselves, must be well con-
trolled and cheerful. If the right mental habits are
established, all the external expressions will take care
of themselves without attention or effort, and our
presence alone will carry suggestions of gladness
wherever we go.

XXXVIII
HYPNOTIC CONTROL

There is a broad and well- recognized sphere of
personal influence which, though widely discussed,
is not fully understood, and extremely conflicting
opinions are held about it. It assumes a multitude
of forms, sometimes exerts very positive control over
others, and is the result of peculiar conditions which
in some of their phases have received a very large
amount of systematic investigation, though the in-
vestigators have not reached an absolute agreement
among themselves.

Students of these phenomena, whether or not they
accept the more extreme doctrines of telepathy,
sooner or later become convinced that there is some
means of communicating thoughts and mental con-
ditions other than the more apparent methods of
speech, facial expression, gesture, and other action.
Some deny that these expressions exist except as
figments of imagination ; but the strong tendency of
scientific investigation is toward the opinion expressed

284

HYPNOTIC CONTROL 285

by a recent writer, "that thoughts pass in their own
subtle, silent way from mind to mind, and that no
man can think, however secretly, without spreading
the influence of his thought into the minds around
him."

Open as most of us are to the influence of verbal
suggestion, there is something more subtle which
may control us without our being aware of it. This
particular phase of personal influence finds its most
extreme and perhaps its worst form in what has
been called by the various names of mesmerism,
animal magnetism, and more recently hypnotism.
According to later authorities it is suggestion by
means of either the vocalized or unvocalized think-
ing which controls the hypnotized person. We have
no means of knowing how often this is the case in
ordinary life when there is no intention to hypnotize
and where none of its formalities are used. Through
it one mind may control another with more or less
of an approach toward an absoluteness which is
sometimes complete, and it is an important question
whether there is a defence against these varied sug-
gestive influences in any or all of their manifold
forms.

The mental habit of the vast majority of mankind
is to follow any suggestion that presents itself with-

286 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

out much direct control of one's own thinking unless
the subject is widely outside the ordinary track.
Random thinking is the rule with some persons,
whether it be merely aimless revery; the more or
less ecstatic drift of thought set up by sensuous sur-
roundings of various kinds, as light, color, or sound ;
the self-suggested mental action arising from the
memory of some past experience; the suggestive
word, or even the mere presence of another person.
These mental activities may be either pleasant to
the extent of intoxication or uncomfortable to the
extent of acute pain and distress; all of them are
injurious, and their indulgence is a worse than use-
less waste of time.

It appears most remarkable that no worse con-
sequences have followed uncontrolled, aimless,
objectless, haphazard, random mental action. For-
tunately, not all thinking is of this kind; and, for-
tunately for the good of the race, more often than
otherwise the general tendency of this unguided
thinking is toward more desirable things, because
every man is really seeking that which he considers
an improvement over his present condition or attain-
ment, and his thinking follows his strongest incli-
nation without any intentional control. But the
person who has really assumed full control of his

HYPNOTIC CONTROL 287

thinking and maintains it stands on a pedestal which
cannot be shaken. He guides his thoughts where
he will and can bid defiance to suggestions of every
kind. He is consciously himself, and not a weather-
vane to be veered about by every breath of influence.

The prominent characteristic of the fully devel-
oped hypnotic state is a condition wherein the nor-
mal mental powers are either dulled, suspended, or
in a state of abeyance, so that the mind accepts
without inquiry any statement and obeys without
objection any command suggested to it or thrust
upon it. Hence, the man's thinking being con-
trolled, his actions are controlled also. This is the
last step in personal influence. A man in this con-
dition is no longer free, because in abandoning the
control of his mind he has surrendered his freedom.
He is so completely the slave of another that he is
no longer himself, but is merely a machine, an au-
tomaton, a puppet, acting solely by another's guid-
ance and without "" any initiative, choice, or will of
his own.

Such abandonment of one's self to the control of
another cannot be anything but criminal on the part
of the one who purposely permits it, and also on the
part of the one who induces the condition. Suicide
may be worse, but this is temporary suicide, for the

288 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

man has allowed his own self to become inactive,
and for the time he is dead. The worst result of it
all is that this condition may be continued even into
his " waking moments," so that a long time after
the hypnotic state is supposed to have ceased, his
actions are sometimes controlled by the suggestions
received during his hypnotic condition. In view of
these acknowledged post-hypnotic actions of the vic-
tims it is impossible for any one to tell how far into
the future this influence may extend nor how inclu-
sive it may be.

This hypnotic condition and its results are possi-
ble only when a person has habitually allowed his
mind to follow in any direction toward which ex-
ternal circumstances pointed, and has thus made
himself an easy prey for the hypnotist, who depends
for his success upon his ability to control the think-
ing of his subject. Self-control and its abandon-
ment are exact opposites, and both cannot exist at
the same time in one person. The contrast between
them indicates at once the advantage of one and
the disadvantage of the other. If mental self-con-
trol is desirable, then it should be constantly main-
tained and ought never to be weakened by indulgence
in its opposite. In the mental condition which will
result from exercising the control advocated in these

HYPNOTIC CONTROL 289

pages, every suggestion, regardless of its source,
whether mental or otherwise, will be examined and
the kind and character of the thinking which shall
follow will be decided upon by the thinker himself
in compliance with his own understanding, choice,
or judgment. If a person purposely controls his
thinking at all times until the habit is well established,
then the habit itself, without conscious effort, will
work in the same direction. The mental action of
such a person is always within his own personal
volition and is controlled absolutely by himself;
therefore hypnotic suggestion has no power over
him, and he possesses complete immunity from all
such influence.

The man who has habituated himself to supremacy
over his own thinking is not only uncontrolled by
the external suggestions of which he is aware, but
also by those more subtle ones of which he may not
be conscious, because his own mental action of
which he is not conscious is so dominated by this
habit of self-control that the thinking of others
cannot influence him. This means that the power
of habit may be so strong that even a man's mental
action of which he is not aware is, unconsciously
to himself, wholly in abeyance to his own choice.
Such a man is free.

290 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

Here is not only efficient protection against all
hypnotic or mesmeric intrusion, but also against all
forms of improper or injurious external personal
influences of every kind whatever. He who con-
trols his own thoughts lives in his own castle, which
may be absolutely impregnable against assault from
within or without, whether insidious or open,
whether mild or violent. God means it to be so.
The man who does not thus have mastery of himself
is short of his own stature. The physically strong
may feel no self-confidence unless to their physical
strength they have added control of their thinking.
Neither need the physically weak be frightened
because of their weakness, for neither physical
strength nor weakness is a factor in the case. With-
out the exercise of any physical strength whatever,
each may maintain perfect mental control, thus
insuring absolute freedom to himself.

XXXIX
ENVIRONMENT

It is generally believed that man is to a very
large extent, if not wholly, subject to his environ-
ment, mentally and physically the creature of ex-
ternal circumstances or conditions and their sugges-
tions. While it is substantially true that in man's
present state, the stimulus from environment largely
decides his course and development, yet a little
attention to the statement of basic principles herein
set forth will show that this submission is not neces-
sary, and that man may become independent of
environment and largely if not completely its master.
An examination of historic conditions should con-
vince the most sceptical that too much importance
has been attributed to the influence of man's sur-
roundings.

The influence of climate has been held to be
largely the reason for the various conditions of
human beings in different localities, but it was not
a change in climatic conditions which caused the

291

292 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

changes in the character of the inhabitants of Eng-
land. The climate of that country is now sub-
stantially what it was centuries ago, and if it has
changed at all, that change is vastly less than the
changes in the character of the people. Does some
one say this is a case of development? Very true;
but that development is the result of a mental change,
and not of any change in environment except such
as the changes in thinking have produced.

Changes of thinking have created the differences
between the conditions of the inhabitants of Europe
before the time of the Caesars and their condition
to-day, but not change of climate nor any other
change in their natural environment. In many
points they have demonstrated their superiority over
environment, and by artificial means they have
modified environment itself. This is true of all
Europe.

Look at the varying stages of progress in the
different epochs of Greece and Rome — in their
earlier days, in the zenith of their prosperity, in the
degradation of their downfall, and in these modern
times — each stands out distinct from either of
the others. It was changes of thought which
wrought the revolutions — not changes of environ-
ment.

ENVIRONMENT 293

The Egypt of the Pharaohs had the same sun and
air, the same soil and water, that she has to-day,
but what are her rulers and people now compared
with those of the ancient centuries ! In the days of
their glory their environment was the same as to-
day, but the thoughts of that period have been lost.
The change that is now going on in that country
is not due to climate, but to ideas. Babylonia and
Assyria need only to be named as further examples.

The American Indians had inhabited this conti-
nent for centuries, but they did not develop along
the same lines as the white men who thrust them-
selves into that environment; yet the climate and
soil remain practically the same. Changes of envi-
ronment have been made by the new inhabitants,
but not changes in the characteristics of the inhabit-
ants by the environment. All the differences here
are clearly the result of a change of the inhabitants,
bringing different thoughts, ambitions, and aspira-
tions, and these are at the foundation of the new
development.

In the great southwest of the United States a
second change of inhabitants has taken place.
That region was settled by the Spanish earlier than
was New England. Its first change in condition
was distinctly along certain lines of thinking pe-

294 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

culiar to the Spaniard. The last seventy-rive years
have seen all that revolutionized, not by change of
climate, but by the introduction of another people
with other characteristics of thought. The climate
did not make the changes nor create either of these
three kinds of civilization. That was done by
thinking alone, and by the actions which that think-
ing necessitated. The climate is the same that it
has been from earliest history, but, by the domination
of a new set of ideas over the environment, even the
face of nature has been changed.

It is true that the environment of man in America
is very largely different from what it was when
Columbus discovered the continent, but man has
made those changes in response to the demands of
his own thinking. He has modified temperature
by erecting houses and providing facilities for warm-
ing them. He has modified atmospheric conditions
by cutting down trees, constructing irrigating canals,
and cultivating the soil. These changes were
caused by artificial means in obedience to the mind
of man. Nature did none of it except in response
to man's action.

When properly considered, history shows that
mind modifies, changes, and controls with less re-
gard to external conditions than is usually supposed.

ENVIRONMENT 295

Admit that in the extremes of heat and cold, of
fertility and barrenness, environment dominates;
but even these have been to a large extent modified
and overcome by what mind has done. The arid
plains of Arizona and New Mexico, like those of
Babylonia and Assyria, were once fertile fields
made so by irrigation, while what were once deserts
of our own great West are fast becoming fertile fields.

The case is plain. The facts of history already
cited apply to the entire environment as well as to
each incident or condition of it. Thinking is the
initial action, the antecedent and cause of all human
actions. Between any external condition or in-
cident and the bodily action which follows stands
the person's own thinking. Not the external con-
dition or occurrence, but the thinking, determines
what the bodily action shall be and its entire char-
acter. This thinking, as has so often been said,
may be entirely within man's control; therefore he
himself, and not his environment, is responsible for
the results, be they good or bad.

Men say that certain circumstances force them-
selves upon them and make certain lines of conduct
necessary; and this declaration appears to be true,
but that is because they allow it to be so. What-
ever seems to force man out of his way might have

296 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

been overcome by appropriate mental action, and
the difficulty might have been obviated.

The whole world is trying to excuse itself for
many of its failures, evil conditions, and actions
by charging the responsibility to environment.
The blame is attributed to everything contiguous
— not alone to persons, but animals, insensible
things, and the most trivial conditions. Nothing
is entirely exempt. The weather comes in for a
large share, and even the stars are held responsible
for our wrongdoing.

It is true that the external incident or condition
serves to set in motion certain trains of thought,
and these vary in different persons inexact accordance
with their varying opinions and habits of thinking,
but one is not necessarily subject to these thoughts.
He can control them; and, furthermore, a man
who has learned to exercise this control can instantly
separate the wheat from the tares in his mental
kingdom, and discard whatever is worthless or
harmful. It is all under his own control.

This is self-activity, and Harris well says: " Self-
activity is essentially different from relative and
dependent being, because it does not receive its
determinations from its environment, but originates
them itself in the form of feelings, volitions, and

ENVIRONMENT 297

thoughts." * All activity other than self -activity
may be discarded, and man may thus free himself
from the thraldom of environment. No man is
ever forced into any course of conduct, though he
may fall into it by allowing a change in his thinking.

If this statement of the principle is correct, then
the external suggestion, condition, incident, or
thing does not decide what a man's action shall be
except as he allows it to do so ; neither do any one
nor all of those things which surround him neces-
sarily give any more than merely incidental tone
or direction to his actions. Mind is supreme, even
over itself, in that it determines its own activities.

It is not the thing without, but the thought within,
which injures. The dyspeptic sitting at the table
loaded with viands is not injured by the food he
does not eat. Poison does not kill unless it is
swallowed and absorbed. The thought suggested
by the word one hears or the action one sees — that
is, by the environment — does not injure unless
it finds lodgement within a person's own mind.
Whether it finds such lodgement or not depends upon
the hearer and not upon the speaker. The speaker's
words may be entirely without influence upon the
hearer, they may not even be consciously audible,

1 Psychologic Foundations 0/ Education, p. 4.

298 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

and this is decided by the hearer's own course of
thinking. Each man is impervious to another's
thoughts and uninfluenced by them until he allows
his own thoughts to go the same way. The choice
is his own, and that choice decides his action.

It makes no difference what knowledge one may
have of the underlying principles and methods of
any course of action, nor how good one's sentiments
and intentions may be, if he does not take advantage
of every opportunity to use those principles and
methods in the practical application of them to
existent conditions. Nor will anything be accom-
plished by the casual thought which occupies the
mind for an instant only, nor by the forced thought
which is held for a brief time in contradiction to
the settled conviction. Such thinking is but slightly
operative, because of its light and transitory char-
acter. It is the habitual, determined thinking
arising out of settled convictions and opinions
which brings results.

By this persistence in right thinking man may
rise so superior to his environment that it shall
not injure him. This is seen in a thousand small
ways, all of which point to the larger possibilities
which are within reach, and these to others still
beyond. One person's mental attitude toward the

ENVIRONMENT 299

weather is such that changes of temperature, drafts,
wet feet, damp clothing, and a thousand other
minor conditions bring illness of more or less severe
character, while another goes through them all
with absolute impunity. One person will remain
out in the storm of wind, or rain, or snow, wet to
the skin, and suffer no inconvenience, while another
who has to cross a damp floor must put on over-
shoes or risk a cold or influenza. That these are
the results of mental conditions is proven by the
fact that multitudes of people have emancipated
themselves from this servitude by a change of mental
habit which they have themselves purposely brought
about. If one person can do this, another can;
and if it can be done in the lesser conditions, it can
in the greater also, and so on and on in greater still,
without limit.

It is not claimed that all physical occurrences
are now within man's control. The rock falls on a
man and crushes him. The fire burns him. The
frost freezes him. The water drowns him. He
has submitted himself to the influences of the ad-
verse forces of nature in minor particulars until,
in these extreme conditions, they dominate him
utterly. But it has been shown by actual experi-
ment that he is their master within a certain range

300 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

of circumstances, and that he may still further
extend the scope of his control. In the light of the
things which have already been accomplished it
becomes evident that man shall yet so understand
the power of mind and the principles on which it
acts as to assume control over all environment,
and thus place himself in the position set forth in
the story of his creation as we find it in the first
chapter of Genesis, wherein he is given dominion
over all the things of the earth.1

Who dares to say what the conditions will be when
all men, as is their right, assume absolute control
of their thinking? It rests with man himself to
decide whether he will continue to be the creature
of his surroundings, moulded and shaped and di-
rected by them, or will become absolutely superior
to the physical world about him. This is a re-
versal of present and past opinions, but when
accurate reasoning is applied to the principles
which govern the actions of mankind, a possibility
of achievement in overcoming what are now thought
to be dominating external conditions will be opened
to view, such as the wildest visionaries of human
progress have hardly dared to contemplate. This
is to be the special work of the twentieth century.

1 Genesis i. 26.

XL
EACH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIMSELF

The doctrine that in the present social conditions
the innocent very often suffer because of the acts
of the vicious and guilty is widely, if not universally,
accepted as true, though always accompanied by a
keen sense of its injustice. The proposition under
present consideration approaches this doctrine from
a different point of view. Correct reasoning must
rest upon accurate statements of principle, and must
be followed out with logical accuracy and in exact
compliance with such statements, else the conclu-
sion will be erroneous. The conclusions reached
by this exact reasoning may be in direct contradic-
tion to all sense perceptions; they may even be,
seemingly, beyond belief; but this does not in any
degree affect their accuracy. In every advance
made in the interpretation of the principles of
truth there has been heard the cry: "This is an hard
saying ; who can bear it ? "

We have seen that thinking is the first action
301

302 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

arising from a person's consciousness of an i iternal
incident or condition, and that, whatever its form
or intensity, it may be so perfectly under the thinker's
control that he may stop it instantly in any stage
of its progress, and substitute in its place that which
is wholly different in character and tendency. We
have seen that in every case the actions which follow
take their character from the thinking; therefore
those actions, like the thoughts which produce
them, are one's own. Thus the resultant actions
and conditions are shaped and directed by the person
himself. This places the responsibility for all one's
actions and conditions, as well as for their conse-
quences, wholly upon the actor himself, and prevents
him from justly shifting the responsibility upon
any one else.

The fact that men do not control their thinking
does not change the basic proposition, nor the
reasoning which has been applied to it, nor the con-
clusions arrived at, and therefore does not shift the
responsibility. Men can change their thinking if
they choose. Whatever the course pursued, it is one's
own act in every case. The man who sees the com-
ing locomotive and does not get out of the way is
just as responsible for the events which follow as
the man who chooses to throw himself in front of

EACH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIMSELF 303

it. Neither of them can rightly charge the blame
upon the engineer. What happens to the man is
the consequence of his own course, because his own
thinking and his consequent acting stood between
the sight of the on-rushing engine and the result;
had his thinking and actions been different, the
results would have been different also.

It may be true that at the time of his thinking
the man was ignorant of some essential condition.
Ignorance is very often a most important factor in
a train of circumstances, but it does not modify the
foregoing position, because it still remains that in
either condition, with or without the ignorance,
the action or the failure to act is the thinker's own.
Even his ignorance is probably the result of his
own course at some previous time. The engineer
is never held responsible on the ground that the
man crossing the track just around the curve did
not know the train was coming. The legal maxim,
old as law itself, "Ignorance of the law excuses no
man," is an illustration of the principle, and it
applies here as well as in purely legal affairs. In-
deed, it would not apply there if it were not uni-
versally true.

Much time and many circumstances may intervene
between the thinking and its final and objectionable

304 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

results ; and though that fact may increase the diffi-
culty of discovering the erroneous thought which
was really the cause, yet this does not change the
principle nor its application, nor does it shift the
responsibility. It only emphasizes the necessity for
the correct solution of each particular problem at the
time it arises.

It may be urged that by the law of heredity the
"sins of the fathers are visited upon their children. M
Let it be granted that this is so, and that the born
cripple is not himself the cause of his own suffering,
nor that the infant starving because of a drunken
parent brought its miseries upon itself — indeed,
let it be granted that a very large share if not all
the suffering which comes to children before they
have arrived at the age of responsibility is caused
by another, and that they are not responsible for
it — yet these facts are exceptions, and the condi-
tions are exceptional. Even if the law of heredity
holds, the principle also holds that their condition
is the result of thinking, though it may be the think-
ing of their ancestors. The thinking of the child
begins very early and increases rapidly, and so far
as his thinking is his own the responsibility for it
is his own also, so that when he has arrived at
maturity he is himself responsible for all those

EACH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIMSELF 305

sufferings which arise from his erroneous thinking.
That he has not been educated in the principles of
thought control and is therefore ignorant of them
is his misfortune, but it in no way relieves him of
his responsibility. Whatever tendencies a man may
have had at his birth, it is always within his power
afterward to change those tendencies by a change
of thinking.

A proof of this position is seen in the fact that most
of the really great heroes and reformers of the
world have come from what is called "the lower
orders." Jesus himself was not an exception. He
had few or none of those advantages of association,
education, training, and the like, which are sup-
posed to aid a man in his career. These were
possessed by the scribes, Pharisees, and priests;
but those men did not institute any reform, though
they were all the time trying to amend the ways
of individuals and of society, and were the custodians
of the social and moral welfare of their day and time.
Jesus had never been taught in the schools ; he was
not even from "the leading classes of society";
yet he leads the world. He was not a priest edu-
cated in any religion; yet he enunciated principles
which are changing and will continue to change
the religion and morals of the entire world until

306 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

it shall conform to his teaching. Is it urged that
he possessed supernatural ability? The career of
Mahomet was similar in these respects, and did
he have the aid of the supernatural? "Out of the
ranks" have the great reformers come.

Since the earliest days man has attributed his
own errors, failures, disasters, and crimes to what
some one else has done or has failed to do. The
almost universal desire to throw the blame for
one's own conduct upon another seems to be a
characteristic of human nature, and this error has
provoked a vast amount of wrong thinking by which
even the error itself has been maintained and per-
petuated.

The suffering of the good wife is very often at-
tributed to the wrong actions of the erring husband ;
but it was her own thinking which brought her to
her present situation. We have seen clearly that
it is neither surrounding circumstances nor the
acts of another, but our own thinking, which pro-
duces both bodily and mental conditions. Her
husband may be a drunkard; and years ago she
may have thought, as many girls do, that there
is no harm in an occasional glass, or even that
to take it is a praiseworthy exhibition of manly
freedom. She suffers from his neglect or even

EACH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIMSELF 307

from his blows because through her erroneous
thinking, perhaps only yesterday, perhaps years
ago, she placed herself in a position which gave
him the opportunity. If she had thought differently,
her course would have been different, and the evil
that followed would never have resulted.

But the case is even stronger than this. Though
the husband has done the worst things possible,
yet her suffering is from her own thoughts alone,
because that is the order of nature. She had the
power to change her thinking and exclude discordant
thoughts from her mind about him and his acts,
and to have done this would have changed her
whole succeeding course and condition, both men-
tally and physically. The mental pain does not
follow unless there is permitted in one's own self
the mental cause for it, neither does the physical
pain follow the blow unless the mental discord
occurs also. This is the ultimate position, and it is
the correct one.

Because of lifelong habit, the strong tendency in
such cases is to brood over the unfortunate condi-
tions and mentally to blame and to condemn the
erring husband and to expect nothing better from
him. In this way love soon dies out of the heart,
and bitterness takes its place. If, instead, the wife

308 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

will train herself to keep her mind free from criti-
cism and condemnation, to fill it with thoughts of
whatever good she has recognized in her husband,
and persistently to hold fast to her faith that he will
turn back to the right and assert his manhood, she
will not only change her own condition, but in time
will reap her reward in the reformation of her hus-
band. As it was with the teacher in a small thing
so will it be with her in large things. The law
which governs the falling pebble is the same law
which controls the motion of the earth. She should
eliminate the discordant thoughts from her own
mind and substitute harmonious ones in their
places, and in exactly the same degree in wrhich she
accomplishes this change in herself will be the change
for the better in her husband. An easy task ? No ;
but was anything worth while ever accomplished
without strenuous, persistent effort?

Because few are willing to undertake the mental
training necessary to accomplish this result does
not change the fact. Electricity is the same to-day
that it has been in all preceding centuries, but it
is not the fault of electricity that men have not
used it.

The principle here set forth does not in any case
exonerate the one who does the wrong. The liar,

EACH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIMSELF 309

the thief, the murderer, and every one who does
any evil whatsoever is himself wholly responsible
for what he does and can in no way escape the con-
sequences of his acts. Whatever responsibility be-
longs to his victim is no excuse for the one who
inflicts the wrong. Each alike ought to avoid his
own causative acts, and thus he will avoid their
consequences. Each is a sufferer; and his suffer-
ing is from his own hand, and upon his own head,
and is the consequence of his own acts.

Is this a hard doctrine? No, it is not, because
at the same time that it irrevocably fixes the respon-
sibility it shows how the error and the suffering
may be avoided. That the principle is unchange-
able is its virtue, and not its defect. Twice two is
always four, and principle always acts in the same
way whether in mathematics or in morals. It only
remains for man to recognize the principle and
act in compliance with it.

The conditions are the same, even in the supreme
illustration of all, which is here approached with
reverence. It is said that the sinless Jesus suffered
for the sins of a guilty world, and in one view of
the event this is true. In another it is wholly un-
true. His whole course, including its culmination,
was the result of his own action — of his own

3IO RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

thinking — indeed, of his own deliberate choice.
The temptation in the wilderness indicates clearly
that he then recognized the conditions and saw
that he might make himself the dictator of the
world instead of becoming the victim of the preju-
dices of men. His public entry into Jerusalem,
only a week before his crucifixion, shows that it
was not even then too late to change his course,
save himself from the cross, and become the politi-
cal ruler of Judea and of the world; and some of
the recorded events indicate that he understood
this clearly, yet he deliberately chose what he would
do. Later still, at the time of his arrest, when he
directed that all forcible opposition should cease,
he showed that he was following the course he had
mentally decided upon beforehand; and even then
he might have reversed all the subsequent proceed-
ings, for he said to Peter: "Thinkest thou that I
cannot pray to my Father, and He shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels?" The
evidence is incontestable that he could have avoided
the crucifixion. Instead, he chose it ! Then he
was responsible for the consequences. When we
think beyond the cross, as we can do now, and
think on the tremendous results for good which
followed his choice, made with full knowledge of

EACH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIMSELF 3II

the consequences to himself, we may well be over-
whelmed with awe.

This view does not detract in the least from its
impressiveness. On the contrary, the fact that it
was done with full knowledge of the conditions
and of the more immediate results, as well as with
the ability to avoid them, and therefore that it
was purely voluntary on his part and an act for
which, so far as he was concerned, he was himself
wholly responsible, only adds to its sublimity and
majesty. It was his slayers who knew not what
they did, and the true character of their action, in
so far as it related to themselves and to their respon-
sibility for it, was not changed by what he did. And
yet, the act was not in one slightest degree the less
efficacious for the benefit of ignorant, blind, strug-
gling, sinful mankind. He did it for them.

For ages men have been prone to charge their
sufferings to "the anger of the gods," or to "the
inscrutable purposes of divine Providence," or to
"the will of the Lord." It has been demonstrated
in the preceding pages that, in each particular
case, as well as when viewed from the larger stand-
point of the whole, these ills are the results of
one's own thinking and consequent doing. Then to
charge God with them is wholly false. God did

312 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

not create our troubles nor did He inflict them
upon us, nor did He make our erroneous thinking
necessary. It is nothing short of direct blasphemy
to charge God with our ills. They are the results
of our own wrongdoing. He made each man free
to think or not to think as he chooses. God is
good; and He is not responsible, either directly or
indirectly, for any ill, or evil thing, least of all for
the mistakes and sins of mankind, nor for their
consequent woes. The briefest consideration of
acknowledged psychological principles will refute
all such erroneous allegations against a loving
Father.

Man is meant for happiness, and that happiness
is within his reach. "The kingdom of heaven is
at hand" indeed, and man may dwell therein if
he will. Joy, pleasure, peace, are all the results of
right thinking, and there is no reason why every
one may not have them. The truth, the beauty,
the grandeur, the inspiration, the unspeakable
happiness, are for every man and are obtainable by
him. He does not need even to search for bliss;
it comes of itself as God made it to come.

XLI

THOUGHT CONTROL IS THE TRUE
SELF-CONTROL

Self-control has been lauded by philosophers,
moralists, and teachers ever since the earliest dawn
of civilization. Solomon is reported to have said
thousands of years ago: "He that ruleth his spirit
is greater than he that taketh a city." Perhaps
this saying was old even in his day, and was only
a repetition or an echo of what some other sage had
long before expressed. Certainly the greatest ruler
of men is the man who rules himself, for a man
cannot successfully rule others unless he also rules
himself. "Self-mastery is the greatest task to which
man has ever set his hand." Every earnest, sincere
soul has attempted it and has experienced both
success and defeat.

The first step toward accomplishing any object
is to know how. The principles under considera-
tion point clearly to the only method of attaining
complete self-control. Its secret lies in control of
the thinking, because mental actions originate and

313

j 14 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

control all others. In the words," Control the mind,"
is condensed all the wisdom, all the philosophy,
and all the counsel which has ever been given in
any effort to help mankind to acquire self-control.
Therein is the root of the whole matter, because
mind is the supreme power in man, and if the mind
is controlled, it will control all the rest.

Any course which does not include mental con-
trol does not constitute full self-control, because in
that case the most important factor in human life
is ignored. This fact is not widely recognized, or
if recognized, it is not appreciated, for if men under-
stood the importance of thinking as the source of
all other actions, they would perceive this great
secret of all true self-control.

Few ethical teachers pay much attention to this
point, overlooking it almost entirely in the care
given to the control of external actions. They
counsel the avoidance of erroneous acts and im-
moral deeds and call that self-control; as, when
one is angry they advise that he should not hit his
adversary with his fist nor abuse him with his tongue.
Of course in this there is a fragment of self-control
which is vastly better than to let the passions have
full sway in the actions.

The angry man who does not do the wrong deed

THE TRUE SELF-CONTROL 315

which his thoughts prompt is acting in a praise-
worthy manner; but that is neither the best nor the
most efficient method, for it leaves undone the most
important part of the work. It is control of only
the physical part of the self, while the mental goes
on without attention; this is repression, but repres-
sion is not true control. The thoughts and impulses
of such a man have to be restrained, kept back,
and resisted, even in their violence. To have cast
these thoughts out of the mind or to have destroyed
them at once wTould have been to go to the fountain
head of all activity and withdraw the poison that
was polluting the stream. It would have been to
remove the obstructions which had changed the
direction of the stream, and which had turned it
into wrong channels. This would have been true
self-control, because control of the whole, and it
would have left the stream to go freely on its own
right way.

True self-control does not consist in restraining
or resisting the action which is wrong, but it does
consist in doing that which removes all appearance
of necessity for resistance or restraint. It is not
muscular control, nor control of the will ; but it is
control of that thinking which is anterior to will,
and which creates both choice and will. In this

316 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

method the will is not busied strenuously hold-
ing something in check; but choice discards dis-
cordant thoughts — drops them out of mind — and
the whole work is accomplished. One method is
merely the act of choice; the other requires the
vigorous, perhaps strenuous, exercise of will power.
One soon releases the attention and becomes
restful; the other demands constant attention and
exhausts the energy. One is effective without
weariness; the other is exhaustive and always re-
sults in some sort of failure, often in disaster.

If discordant thinking is given free course with-
out more or less resistance or repression, control
of the actions sooner or later becomes impossible,
for such thoughts will ultimately do their work in
one way or another. The boiler which does not
furnish opportunity for escape of the steam must
burst if the fire is kept up, but it does not need a
skilled engineer to pull the fire out of the fire-box,
and then explosion is impossible. Any man can do
that ; neither is the learning of the schools necessary
to enable a man to stop his discordant thinking
and thus save himself from its disastrous conse-
quences. The simplest and humblest man in all
the world can accomplish that if he chooses to do so.

Self-control in its completeness is really emanci-

THE TRUE SELF-CONTROL 317

pation from the control of all other things than
self; that is, it is emancipation from the domina-
tion of all those things which provoke discordant
thinking. The man who allows himself to be
mentally disturbed is really, to the extent of that
disturbance, under the control of whatever suggested
it, however entirely he may fail to recognize his
condition. To practise the principle herein discussed
releases him from the control of circumstances, con-
ditions, and all those tendencies within and with-
out which have before held him in thraldom. It
frees him from everything except the necessity of
controlling himself.

As already shown, this mental training will es-
tablish such habits that no attention need be given
even to this control of self, because when the habit
of any class of mental actions is once set up, they
move on automatically, at least without any con-
scious care or attention, as those thoughts do which
direct the pen in forming the letters when one is
writing. That would be freedom from all control,
even from self-control. The whole of this essay
only shows that, when it is complete, " self-control,"
at last analysis, is a misnomer, because when one
has accomplished it, he is released from even the
control of himself.

3^8 right and wrong thinking

But the question may be asked, would not such
freedom result in wrong actions? The answer is
that under the conditions which are necessary for
the attainment of such freedom wrong actions
would be impossible, because when one has reached
this freedom he would have arrived at such an under-
standing, and would have set up such mental habits
based on that understanding, that there would no
longer be any inclination toward wrong. Then
error would no longer disturb the mind, because all
of it would have been cast out with the erroneous
or discordant thinking. Thus perfect self-control
would result in the absence of all control whatever,
because of the absence from the mind of every-
thing that would need to be controlled.

This is the freedom of untrammelled childhood.
It is the freedom of heaven. As a man approxi-
mates toward this ideal he departs from error and
approaches truth, right, and perfect freedom.

XLII

MAN THE ARCHITECT OF HIMSELF

It has been shown in the preceding pages that
man is the creat.ire of his own thinking, moulded
and fashioned by it, and that if he will, he may
control his thinking as he chooses. Then the con-
clusion is unavoidable and must be true in all its
comprehensiveness that, by control of his mental
actions, a man can make himself whatever he
chooses.

A glance at the principles will show the accuracy
of this conclusion with all its unlimited possibilities.
Thinking is the primal action and the cause, im-
mediate or remote, of all other human actions and
conditions. Man can control his thinking abso-
lutely. Control of the cause controls the result;
but thinking is the cause; then by controlling his
thinking man may make himself whatever he will.

It is true that complete control of the thinking is
at first dependent upon certain elements of char-
acter, but character itself is the result of habitual

319

320 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

thinking, and therefore it may be entirely changed
by appropriate thinking; that is, control of the
thinking, by turning it into new channels, may
destroy or remove present elements of character
and substitute new ones. This is merely dropping
out the objectionable elements and putting desirable
ones in their places, which all depends upon the
exercise of correct choice and persistence in main-
taining that choice.

Tremendous as the results may be, the conditions
by which they may be attained are wonderfully
simple. As has been so often said in these pages,
it is one's own thinking which produces his action
and determines its character. Even if he is induced
to modify his thinking and change his opinions
because of the advice or argument of another, yet
such changes are at last made by himself, and thus
the opinions become his own.

Change of character is not re-formation nor
creation in the exact meaning of the words. It is
not a making over of the old materials into some-
thing different, nor is it a making of new materials.
In point of fact, by this process nothing is, of itself,
either changed or modified. The whole work con-
sists in ceasing to do certain things and in doing
certain other things. The man stops thinking

MAN THE ARCHITECT OF HIMSELF 32 1

certain thoughts and consequently stops doing
certain acts of a corresponding character, and he
thinks thoughts of another character and therefore
performs other acts. A thought is never made over
into another kind of thought, nor is any act ever
made over into an act of some other kind.

The liar who stops thinking about lying cannot
lie any more; he necessarily tells the truth because
there is not anything else that he can do. The
thief who stops thinking about stealing cannot steal ;
indeed, whatever he may have been before, he is no
longer a thief; it was his thinking that made him a
thief; and only a return to that thinking can make
him a thief again. If a man stops thinking wrong-
ful, immoral, or sinful thoughts, then the wrongful,
immoral, or sinful actions cannot occur under any cir-
cumstances, and the man is no longer immoral or
sinful. It is the same in all wrongdoing. Neither
the liar nor the thief has changed anything either
in himself or outside himself, but each has simply
stopped thinking certain thoughts and consequently
has stopped doing certain deeds. One element is
removed and another is substituted in its place.
This comprises the whole work of re-formation, or
reformation, so called.

Every man, if he will set himself about it, may,

322 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

by persistent practice, put any class of erroneous
thoughts entirely out of his mind and thus wholly
destroy that error so far as he is himself concerned.
He has then freed himself from an extraneous some-
thing which was attached to him like a barnacle to
a ship, preventing his progress. When these are
all cast away, the man will stand out in his own
true character, manifesting his real self, and ready
for either the smooth or stormy seas which he may
encounter on his way.

The same man may, with even less effort, accept
a true thought and, by earnest conviction and con-
stant recognition, make it his own. It then becomes
a part of himself, coloring his whole life and making
him different from what he would have been without
it. In this particular he has literally builded him-
self anew, and there is no limit to a man's recon-
struction of himself by this method.

This aspect of evil, of our relation to it, and of the
method of its avoidance, eradication, and destruc-
tion changes the entire view of the subject, places
it on a new basis, and removes many of the difficul-
ties which have been connected with it.

Inherited tendencies are a barrier to action in
compliance with this principle only in so far as they
may be more difficult to overcome because deeper

MAN THE ARCHITECT OF HIMSELF 323

seated and of longer standing. They do not con-
stitute an exception. The control of inherited
tendencies in thinking is like the control of all other
thinking, is prosecuted in the same way, and may be
wholly within one's own power. Whatever their
character or the attendant difficulties, they stand
in the same relation to the person, his thinking,
and his actions as do all others. Whatever the in-
heritance, it can be utterly destroyed by persistently
refusing to think those thoughts which conduce to
it. That which is called "the disposition," or any
other peculiarity, however strongly intrenched by
inheritance or long-continued habit, can be changed ;
objectionable qualities can be eliminated, desirable
ones can be cultivated and enlarged, and others
can be added. There is not any predestination nor
any fatality except as one makes it by his own
thinking or lack of thinking. This statement of
the situation shows the absurdity of the doctrine of
fatality, at least when applied to human beings
and their actions. The only limitation is that which
one makes for himself by his own thinking or through
his failure to control his thinking.

One person inherits a tendency toward music
and cultivates it by continuous mental application,
resulting in wonderful attainments. A second per-

324 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

son, with equal initial advantage, follows some
other course, and the latent musical ability is never
developed. He makes something else of himself.
A third, with less natural capacity for music, spends
a lifetime in its cultivation, but does not attain the
proficiency of the first, who had at the beginning of
his career large advantages derived from the think-
ing and actions of his ancestors; yet the relative
progress of the third may be as great or even greater.

Two persons inherit a tendency toward some
evil course; one allows his thoughts to run in that
direction to his own destruction, while the other
resolutely takes the opposite way with his thinking
and makes a true man of himself. The number of
such instances will never be known because the one
who corrects his evil tendencies prefers not to parade
his earlier defects. There are not any "born
criminals," if by that term it is meant that they
cannot govern their inherited tendencies and escape
from them. The plea of an inherited tendency is
never a valid excuse for an evil deed, though it is a
sufficient reason for the palliation of man's condemna-
tion of his fellow-man, and also for holding out to
him a helping hand to steady him over the rough
places along the way of life.

After the usual consideration of inheritance,

MAN THE ARCHITECT OF HIMSELF 325

education, surroundings, and past indulgence, the
fact remains that the man's own thinking is the
cause of his actions and that by abandoning the
thought the actions will also be abandoned. By
this method, instead of lopping off the outer branches,
the axe is applied to the root of the error and the
whole is destroyed. When this is understood, what
an immense advantage it will be to all mankind!
They will then soon learn that it is far easier to con-
trol the thoughts than to control the actions when
the thoughts are not controlled — to destroy the
root instead of wasting time with the branches.

Even physical conditions, acquired or otherwise,
are the results of previous thinking, and, because
they have been produced by thinking, changed they
must be if a change in thinking is persistently con-
tinued. Thinking is the monarch who governs the
man and everything connected with him. The
invisible and intangible everywhere dominate the
visible and tangible. Invisible gravitation controls
not only the minute atoms, but the worlds, the suns,
and the whole material universe. A passing change
of thought changes the expression of the face for
the moment, and if the thought becomes habitual,
the changed expression becomes permanent. So
with everything else about the body, even the

326 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

motions and attitudes in walking, standing, and sit-
ting — whatever a man does. The man is not
subject to his features, but the features are subject
to the man, that is, to his thinking ; and they change
as his character changes — as his habit of thinking
changes.

All varieties of character-reading by the examina-
tion of external conditions and actions point to the
fact that it is the invisible and intangible mind which
fashions not only the face but the whole body. It
is the same with each item in the whole physical
system, because all changes occur in accordance
with invariable principle. It is not the bones of
the skull that shape the brain, but the brain that
shapes the skull; and, as it is mental activity that
develops and enlarges the brain, so it must be mental
activity that changes and shapes the skull. Thus
the mind by its action builds the whole body. By
controlling the builder, man builds and fashions
himself; therefore he is his own architect.

There is a preponderance of defective human
architecture because comparatively few have recog-
nized the all-important connection between thinking
and action; and a large proportion of the few who
do recognize it, doubting the possibility of success,
do not make any attempt to test the principle; while

MAN THE ARCHITECT OF HIMSELF 327

still others, after a spasmodic effort, are too indolent,
mentally, to persevere.

Man does not reach all his aspirations at a single
bound. Complete success in changing the thinking
requires persistent and perhaps long-continued
practice, but it will bring results as permanent as
the change which has been made in the thinking.
"We build the stairs by which we climb,', and he
who would build well the mansion for his soul
must be persistent, courageous, and confident.

XLIII
POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION

Avoidance of wrong because of the desire to
escape its results, even though that motive has been
most prominent in all the world's history, is not the
highest incentive, for it is only a negative aspect of
the moral problem. There is something better.
Doing right because it is right is an action which
is positive in its character; and to perform the right
action without any thought of reward and solely
for the sake of being right is to act from the highest
and holiest motive; but this does not hinder nor
prevent the reward which always follows right action.

The tree does not put forth its leaves and blossoms
because of the possible fruit which may result, but
it does certain things simply for the sake of the doing ;
and the fruit appears. Avoidance of evil thinking
always brings its natural recompense, and this rec-
ompense is as much its normal outgrowth as the
fruit of the tree; yet it is as distinct from all con-
sideration of price or wages as that fruit is. This

328

POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION 329

kind of fruitage is the most desirable that man
ever receives or enjoys. It is "the Fruit of the
Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden."

Perfection is the ultimate goal of man's best and
highest aspiration, but it is an attainment for which,
as yet, men have hardly dared to hope. They have
been taught that it is beyond their reach except as
it is approached through the gateway of death or
obtained by the intervention of some miraculous
power; yet, in a manner more or less continuous
and earnest or hesitating and desultory, every man
desires to do better and to be better than he is. From
this desire comes the progress of the world, for it
is always urging men toward the achievement of
something better than what they now have; and,
whatever may have been accomplished, this desire
outruns every achievement and beckons forward to
something better still.

It is a universal law that progress creates the
desire for still further progress, as in mechanics
the improvement of a machine stimulates its further
improvement. There may be lapses, one may even
go backward for a time, but the desire for better
things is as inherent in the heart of man as his very
existence itself, and it must finally become manifest.

Though man may not consciously recognize the

330 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

full meaning of this aspiration, yet it really includes
the desire for ultimate perfection and is a means
for its accomplishment because it necessitates con-
tinual progress in that direction, even though the
progress may be slow and irregular. No man can
be entirely satisfied until the last possible ideal has
been reached ; and this must ultimately be the reali-
zation of perfection.

To say that this perfection is not within man's
reach is to deny the goodness of God, because such
a statement implies that God has implanted in man's
nature aspirations toward good only to torture him
by refusing to allow their fruition. That would be
a cruel mockery, and if it were true, man would be
better than his Creator. But to say that perfection
is indeed within reach of every one is to extend to
mankind that encouragement which constitutes the
largest possible incentive to persistent effort. The
infinite Father has not given man the aspiration for
better things merely to deny him at the last. He
does not mock His children. The attainment of
this goal is more than a possibility : it is a certainty.

The method of securing this object has been
overlooked because of its extreme simplicity. Per-
sistence and steadfastness of choice in the right
direction are all that is required. It will not be

POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION 33 1

accomplished in a moment, nor in a day, nor a year,
perhaps not in a lifetime on this earth, but man may
be sure of its attainment. The world of mankind
must go on in its progress until at last, even on this
earth, it shall have gained it. Whenever or wher-
ever these desires may reach their fruition, this we
know, that each step taken in that direction, whether
here or elsewhere, whether now or hereafter, is a
step that is taken forever, and is just so much ac-
complished both for the one who has taken that
step and for all mankind. The good each man
does shines for all other men, and some one sees it
even though but dimly.

In one view which may be taken of man, he ap-
pears to be an aggregation of thoughts massed into
one personality or individuality. This may not be
the most exalted nor the most comprehensive way
in which he can be considered, but it is one correct
aspect. On this basis, if an analysis of the mental
elements which constitute that complex being whom
we call man should be carried to its ultimate so as to
make a complete separation of part from part, the
final result would be the possibility to divide these
elements into two classes, one composed of thoughts
which are wholly good without any evil whatever in
them ; the other of those which are not good and do

332 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

not contain any good whatever.1 Every man may
cast out of himself all those thoughts which are not
good. By doing that persistently the time must
come when all such thinking will have ceased,
leaving only those thoughts which are wholly good.
Then must he manifest perfection.

This simple reasoning is a complete and logical
demonstration of the possibility that man may
attain perfection. It is also a portrayal of the simple
but sure method by which perfection may certainly
be reached. Here is the Archimedean lever with
which to move the world, and not the lever only but
the fulcrum that Archimedes lacked, and, further-
more, the place on which the operator is to stand.
Each step will be an elevation into a purer, diviner
atmosphere and will itself be an incentive to further
effort.

It is as though one clothed in white were also
enveloped in exterior garments of black through
which some of the white is shining. As he drops
off the outside garments one after another, more
and more of the white shines through, until finally
when the last dark garment has been discarded, only

1 The word " good " is ordinarily used with more or less looseness
of meaning, but here it is used with that absolute signification
which admits of no comparative degree — the good is wholly good;
the separation is complete; the not-good has no good in it.

POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION 333

the pure white remains. Thus, when the dark
thoughts of discord and evil are cast away, there
remains only the pure being, Man, as God, his
Father, created him.

Because some sense of moral right, however un-
developed it may be, exists in each one, therefore
each one sees a condition for himself which he
thinks is better than he has already reached, and he
also recognizes that some of his thoughts are either
wholly erroneous or at least contain somewhat of
error. He is also conscious that within himself he
has the power to stop thinking some of those er-
roneous thoughts if he chooses. Ability to perform
an action once means the ability to do it again by
the exercise of the same choice and the same power,
and this means the ability to do it every time it is
necessary. Each repetition is accomplished with
less effort than before, and so the work goes on until
erroneous thoughts no more intrude.

It may be claimed that this requires acute analysis
of one's thoughts and that the wheat and the tares
are so wonderfully alike that it is sometimes im-
possible, even for the wisest, who scrutinize most
closely and see most clearly, to decide accurately
between the more delicate shades of good and evil
as they lie in close contact. In actual practice such

334 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

nice analysis and discrimination are not necessary.
A man has only to banish the one thought which he
knows to be discordant or erroneous, and to do this
he does not need any further understanding. The
eradication of this one thought is the beginning of
the work, and this beginning can be made at once.
When that has been accomplished, and the habit
of not thinking that thought has been established,
the understanding gained in the process will show
some other thinking that is wrong, and the experience
with the first thought will have given wisdom as
well as strength to eradicate a second one. Then
he will have clearer and more definite ideas with
regard to others about which he has not been so
decided. It is only one at a time ; but the removal
of one reveals another so long as there is one dis-
cordant thought left to be revealed, and this course
persevered in necessarily removes every evil thought
and leaves at last only the absolute good — that is,
it leaves only the perfect.

In practice, therefore, the fact that it is now im-
possible to draw an accurate line, leaving all the
good thoughts on one side and all the bad ones on
the other, is neither an obstacle to success nor an
occasion for delay. Indeed, this inability to complete
the analysis at first may be a positive advantage,

POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION 335

especially in view of the fact that if the whole were
attempted at once, the magnitude of the work might
be overwhelming. Besides, it is easier to attack the
host in detail rather than in a mass, and prosecution
of the work always brings wisdom and understand-
ing as fast as they can be used. The simplicity
arising out of the absence of any need of nice dis-
crimination and analysis, or of special educational
or philosophic attainments, or of the recognition of
the exact line accurately dividing the good from the
evil, — all of these combined constitute one of the
wonderful conditions of moral progress which makes
its pursuit possible for all mankind.

There is nothing mysterious, nor supernatural,
nor occult, nor anything beyond the bounds of
natural knowledge in this, nor does it require any
remarkable attainment of wisdom, nor any wonder-
ful ability, analytic or otherwise. It only requires
that there shall be the consciousness of one error,
and the determination to avoid it. By practice we
find that we can leave off that one, and that convinces
us that we can do the same with the next. Each
point attained is not only a positive advantage in
itself, but also in the other fact that it shows us that
we have the ability to take the next step. The way
is indeed strait, but it is simple and within the

336 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

comprehension of every one. Then every one can
walk in it, for every one can change his thoughts
at least once in response to his own choice, and when
he has done this once, can do so a second time.
This means that man may arrive at the goal of
absolute perfection because by choice he may
change one of his thoughts and by persistence all of
them; and, if he will, he may go in this way until
he no longer thinks any sinful, immoral, wrongful,
erroneous, or discordant thoughts, and when he has
accomplished this, since all his thinking will be right,
his conduct must be right also. When all men do
thus, all wrong will cease to be.

Exalted and sublime as this ideal is, it is eminently
practical and it should enter positively into every
occupation and inspire the regulation of every life.
It will not interfere with any rightful pursuit nor
hinder efficiency in any direction, but it will simplify
and purify every action. It will not make any man
less manly nor any woman less womanly, but it will
make each immeasurably better — the man more
of a man and the woman more of a woman in every
true relationship of life. Even if we advance only
a little toward the goal, that little is just so much
surely accomplished for all time.

This is an illustration and elucidation of the dec-

POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION 337

laration made by Jesus:1 " Whosoever will do His
will" (whosoever desires to do right, for God's will
is absolute Tightness) " shall know of the doctrine,"
or teaching. It also demonstrates the absolute
accuracy of his statement, because whosoever will-
eth to do this, that is, whosoever really desires to do
right, will diligently pursue that desire, and as he
progresses will also progress in his recognition of
what is right (" shall know of the doctrine"), and,
knowing that, shall know how to attain it. Many
have failed because they were self-deceived into
thinking they were desiring to do right (to do God's
will) when, in fact, they sought only the accomplish-
ment of their own erroneous wishes. They did not
seek the right regardless of all other things, there-
fore they failed ; but even if they did fail, that fail-
ure was only for a time, for ultimately they will see
their mistake and correct it. There is never a fail-
ure that is not followed by the possibility of some-
thing better than went before. The desire for better
things survives all failure and demands effort toward
their attainment, and that desire will never cease to
urge one on until the object is reached.

The traveller often approaches a point in his jour-
ney beyond which he cannot see his way, a place

1 John vii. 16.

338 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

where all things seem to end ; yet always as soon as
he reaches that point, the vista opens, and he finds
the path for his feet stretching farther out into the
distance. His foot is never planted on the last spot
within his vision without his being able to see the
place beyond for another step. It may be only a
very little way, and it may be either to the right or
to the left, but the light shines on the path a little
in advance; and when one who is really striving
after the right shall reach that which seems to be
the last point before him, there will then come a
new gleam lighting up the way still farther on. This
is the helpful element in all ideals. They are al-
ways in advance of present accomplishment, and
when once attained new and better ones always dis-
close themselves.

The man who is in earnest, who seeks right for
its own sake and not for any less worthy object, who
dares to abandon former opinions for better ones
newly perceived, and who dares to do the right, can
always see the way to at least one point farther.
The danger lies in not daring and therefore not do-
ing. There is no occasion for discouragement. We
know better than we do, and because we know better
than we do, next time we can do better than we have
done this time. An ideal attained always reveals

POSSIBILITY OF PERFECTION 339

another and diviner possibility. Each is a bow of
promise beckoning onward. God has arranged it
so in the beautiful order of His creation.

Man has vainly sought the fountain of youth in
things outside of himself. It is within. "The in-
ner joys and virtues are the essential part of life's
business," and if these are not obstructed by the
weeds and briers of discordant thinking, they will
flower most beautifully and fruit most bountifully
in all outward actions — and in life eternal.

Every man has the divine spark within himself.
He will never be without a guide to his actions if he
will only follow as far as he can see in the direction
toward absolute right. He need not wait, but may
at once begin his journey, filled with the certainty of
at last reaching the pinnacle of success in the goal
of perfection. Even when perfection is achieved,
though the difficulties and toils of the way are all
behind him, he will find before him all the beauty and
glory of God's infinite universe of absolute and per-
fect good in its limitless diversity. In this field a
man can never lack objects of interest for the exer-
cise of his choice and the expenditure of his activity,
because the variety of God's good is as infinite as
His creation, and man's progress will be from glory
to glory throughout endless duration.

XLIV
THE TEACHING OF JESUS

Thus far the subject has been discussed from
scientific, philosophic, ethical, and moral points of
view, but it will be incomplete if dismissed without
some consideration of its relation to the teaching of
Jesus, the Christ. To some minds this will appear
important, to others perhaps it will seem to be only
a repetition of statements already made, while those
who have never examined it in this aspect may find
in his teaching a phase not before suspected.

The moral and religious features of the work of
Jesus so eclipse all others that he is seldom thought
of as a philosopher or a scientist. It is the more
general opinion that he promulgated certain rules
for the guidance of mankind in their personal and
social relations, but more especially in their reli-
gious duties, whereby they may attain more har-
monious conditions, greater morality, higher spirit-
uality, and therefore more peace and happiness
here, and possibly eternal bliss hereafter. Those

340

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 341

who hold this opinion think that he did his work
without the aid of philosophy or science and without
any of the arts of the logician ; hence they suppose
that he held such matters more or less in contempt,
and that there is no connection, association, nor
relationship between his utterances and those of
philosophy and science. Indeed, scarcely a genera-
tion ago it was stoutly declared that science and re-
ligion were in open conflict; nor is it so very long
since the opinion was widely prevalent that the
teaching of Jesus is without system, and that it con-
sists of independent, disjointed declarations, having
little or no connection with one another, and some-
times, if not often, contradictory — an opinion which
has not yet wholly disappeared.

That there is a basic system, either philosophic or
scientific, on which rests all that Jesus said and did,
would be emphatically denied by many who think
themselves his devoted followers. They venerate
his words as the arbitrary edict of a god, and they
think that any other theory concerning them or him
would detract from the authority of his utterances
and the sublimity of his position. They would con-
sider it degrading to suppose that his rules for con-
duct are permeated by scientific truths, and still
more so to suppose that the authority of his utter-

342 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

ances could be strengthened by any recognition oi
their relationship to philosophic or scientific prin-
ciples.

It is most assuredly true that Jesus did not elabo-
rate any philosophic theory whatever, nor did he
make any pretence to a systematic or scientific ar-
rangement of his subjects, nor did he make any ap-
peal to men's reasoning faculties by the use of logical
formulas. It is one of his strongly marked pecu-
liarities that in most cases he merely cast his state-
ments in the axiomatic form and, without argumen-
tation, left their accuracy and truth to be perceived
by the same means that the truth of the axiom is
perceived.

His complete abnegation of self, his exact com-
pliance with the rules that he promulgated, his
measureless love for all men, even for his enemies,
— these have moved men to become his followers
and have taken possession of their hearts and minds
to the exclusion of other things. This ceases to be
a wonder when we consider how far he transcends
all others in these characteristics.

Granting the most extreme claims that have been
put forth regarding his divinity, still, if those claims
are true, — even because they are true, — his utter-
ances must be in accord with the absolute basic

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 343

truths of existence; and science and philosophy at
their best are only attempts to set forth and explain
the facts of existence, which are the divine truths of
God as manifested in the things about us. The
ultimate facts of existence and the knowledge and
explanation of them, so far as this knowledge and
explanation are accurate, must constitute the only
correct, enduring, and elemental basis of either sci-
ence or philosophy, and equally so of religion. All
truths, by whatever name they may be called, must
rest at last upon this basis and must be made up of
these elements; therefore each must be an expres-
sion of its portion of one entirely harmonious whole,
and consequently they must all be so linked together
in unity as to constitute a perfect system.

If this is the condition, then it must be possible to
make such an examination of the utterances of Jesus
as to discover their basis in the fundamental truths
of correctly stated science and also to find their expla-
nation in the principles of sound and enduring phi-
losophy. The world may not be ready to accept
this proposition now, because the statements of nei-
ther science, nor philosophy, nor religion are yet
either without deficiency or without flaw. When
they are so, it will be possible to see that the connec-
tion between each part and every other part, which

344 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

at present appears broken, is complete, and that
each is in perfect harmony with all the others. Then
it will be possible to show to the whole human race
the most powerful and convincing reasons for the
existence of Jesus' precepts, and the supreme rea-
son why they should be obeyed. This will im-
mensely enhance the value of those precepts in the
eyes of those who look to reason rather than to
authority, and it will not detract in the slightest from
the veneration and allegiance of those who accept
him chiefly on the basis of his deific authority, while
it will furnish both classes with abundant reason
why his words are as the words of God.

An examination will show that the principles set
forth in the preceding pages are inherent in the con-
stitution of man as he has been fashioned by his
Creator, and an application of them to the ethical
rules which Jesus gave to mankind for the guidance
of human conduct in the affairs of social life will
show that those rules rest for their foundation and
reasonableness, some wholly, others in part, upon
these principles. Because those rules are in accord
with immutable principle, they are scientific in the
full meaning of the word, and they are as exact and
universal within their domain as are the rules of
mathematics in the domain of that science. Thus

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 345

considered, these scientific principles furnish an ex-
planation of his rules and an elucidation of their
character which will make them better understood
and which, without depriving them of a particle of
their authority and sacredness, but instead adding
to both, will remove them forever from the domain
of arbitrary domination and dictation where they
have so long stood in the minds of many.

Some may sneer and say that this would place
ethics and morality among the exact sciences; but,
in view of the inextricable confusion and contradic-
tions among the opinions now held regarding these
subjects, even those who sneer must admit that if
such a result could be achieved, it would be ex-
ceptionally desirable. There must be fundamental
principles in morals as well as in mathematics if
human beings are not a congeries of haphazard hap
penings, but are created or developed in accordance
with principle; and there must be a true science of
morals just as there is of mechanics, and that sci-
ence must be just as exact in its principles and just
as inflexible in its multifarious applications. Each
step toward the elucidation of that science must be
as much more valuable than the earlier discoveries
in the natural sciences and mathematics as morals are
of more importance to mankind than are mechanics.

346 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

The basis on which so many of Jesus' rules rest for
their foundation is not anywhere stated in more
directly scientific terms than in what he says of
adultery. He recognizes the wisdom and validity
of the old law prohibiting the crime, but he sees also
that the scope of the law is too limited. As inter-
preted before his day it included only that part of
the crime which is, so to speak, above ground, but
it did not interfere with the root from which it springs,
the thoughts which precede and produce the act.
For the destruction of a plant, not only must the
top be cut off, which the law already attempted to
do, but the root which nourishes the top must be
dug up and destroyed. If the thoughts which pro-
duce the crime are allowed to continue, the outward
and visible actions are liable to appear with renewed
vigor regardless of the prohibition.1

These statements are scientific; Jesus quotes the
law approvingly and then, because of these scien-
tific reasons, he adds: "Whosoever looketh on a
woman to lust after her," that is, whosoever thinks
adulterous thoughts about her, "hath committed
adultery with her already," 2 thus so interpreting the

1 Lao tsze says: "Not contemplating what kindles desire keeps
the heart unconfused."
1 Matthew v. 27-30.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 347

terms of the law as to include in its prohibition
not only the crime but all those thoughts which
contribute to it and produce it. He does not de-
stroy the law, but by his interpretation he com-
pletes it. Compliance with what might be called
his addition to the law would render the law useless
as it stood before he made that addition, because
the offence against which the law aimed cannot
occur if the thought which would cause the offence
has been excluded from the mind. His interpreta-
tion of the law thus becomes the vital part of the
prohibition.

His position in this case rests for its validity upon
two distinct points: First, thinking is the cause of
the act ; second, if the cause is removed by ceasing
to think the thought, then that which would be the
consequence of such thinking cannot occur and the
act cannot be committed; therefore his prohibition
of adulterous thinking is strictly scientific, finding
the reason for its existence in pure science.

Jesus follows the simple statement of his proposi-
tion with the two tremendous illustrations of the
hand and the eye: "If thy right eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee." Whatever other
meaning these metaphorical words may convey,
they surely indicate that whenever one's thought is

348 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

the cause of his wrong actions, though it may seem
to him as desirable as his eye or his hand, that
thought is to be plucked out or cut off and as utterly
cast away as the eye or the hand might be. This
also is as strictly scientific as his interpretative addi-
tion to the law.

Thus we see that his words in this instance rest
for their basis on sound psychological principles as
modern science has discovered and explained them.
His form of expression has the characteristics of an
exact statement of scientific principle, viz. accuracy
and absence of modification or exception. All this
removes the precept from the charge of being mere
dictatorial domination, vindicates its claim to scien-
tific character, and, because there cannot be any
more exception to this rule than to a rule in mathe-
matics, it is at least one step toward placing morality
among the exact sciences.

What Jesus says about murder is similar in char-
acter. The law prohibited killing.1 Anger is the
root of murder as lust is the root of adultery. When
cultivated and intensified, anger finds its final ex-
pression and natural result in murder. Jesus affixed
the same penalty to unexpressed anger that the law
affixed to murder, thus placing the unuttered thought

1 Matthew v. 21-24.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 349

which might cause murder under the same prohibi-
tion as murder itself. Thus, in full accord with the
scientific proposition, he makes the thought (the
cause) the essential thing, for without it there would
not be any consequence. Having dealt with the
cause, he has no occasion to deal with consequences,
because without causes there would not be any con-
sequences; therefore for murder itself he expresses
neither prohibition nor penalty, and this, again, is ex-
actly scientific. When all anger is excluded from the
mind there will not be any murder. His method in
this is the same that he pursued in his discussion of
adultery and is equally scientific.1

The completeness with which Jesus would have
us exclude anger from our minds is shown in his
metaphorical statement: "Therefore if thou bring
thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first be recon-
ciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy
gift." Note here that the person addressed is not
directed to do anything with his brother. His sole

1 The same principle is observed in the practice in criminal
courts where it is held of the first importance to prove the
" motive," or the mental state which caused the act; only they use
it to assist in establishing the guilt of the person, he used it to
prevent the guilty action.

350 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

offence consists in the fact that he remembers that
his brother has something against him, and the one
thing for him to do is himself to become " recon-
ciled" to his brother. The literal definition of the
Greek word here rendered "be reconciled" is "be
changed throughout." Then he must not only put
anger out of his own mind, but he must do this so
completely as not to remember that his brother has
anything against him. When he has done this, he
is "changed throughout." This is complete exclu-
sion of discordant thinking.

His precept, " Judge not,"1 is of the same sort, and
equally scientific. Judgment is almost universally
considered necessary and praiseworthy ; yet any one
who analyzes mental conditions must recognize
that condemnation is the discordant mental begin-
ning of very much that is wrong. Condemnation
of others has been both the cause and the justifica-
tion of the worst acts of humanity, including murder,
war, and butchery generally. Each atrocity or out-
rage has resulted from the condemnation of one man
by another because of something that one has done
or has failed to do, and each war has been caused
by similar condemnation of one nation by another.

1 Matthew vii. 1-5. The Greek word which is here rendered
"judge" is also elsewhere translated "condemn."

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 35 1

All judgment, or condemnation, exists first in thought
before it can find expression in either words or deeds.
The condemnatory thought is discordant, therefore
on scientific grounds alone, considering the purposes
of health without regard to any question of morals,
condemnation ought to be excluded from the mind.
But this proposition applies in an equally scientific
way to morality, and as morals are the more im-
portant, there is so much the greater reason why
Jesus should say, "Judge not," and it is equally a
scientific necessity that his requirement should be,
as it is, so sweeping as to prohibit all such thoughts.

If the precept of Jesus concerning anger is com-
plied with in the perfect way indicated by the case
of the man bringing his gift to the altar, then this
one relating to judgment becomes unnecessary, be-
cause when the recognition of an offence has been so
completely thrust out of mind that one is no longer
aware that another has anything against him, there
cannot be any condemnation or judgment. On the
other hand, if one does not judge (condemn), there
will not be any anger. In this way do Jesus' pre-
cepts work together and harmonize, each aiding
toward compliance with the others.

His precept, "Take no thought for the morrow," *

1 Matthew vi. 34.

352 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

has been looked upon as unreasonable if not impos-
sible. "Take no anxious thought for the morrow,"
is the rendering in the Revised Version, and if this
is accepted, even those who object most strongly to
the rule as expressed by the earlier translation must
acknowledge that as it appears in the later form it
is reasonable, wise, and practicable ; and it then be-
comes another instance of a rule resting on scientific
principles for its foundation. Anxiety is a form of
discordant thinking, and the conditions of exact sci-
ence require its exclusion from the mind, just as set
forth by Jesus' precept.

Perhaps in no place has failure to understand him
been greater than in connection with his precept,
"Resist not evil," which, in part, rests on the same
scientific foundation as his propositions already con-
sidered. This rule is a practical continuation into a
more general form of his precepts concerning anger,
the recognition that one's brother has something
against him, and the one respecting judgment or
condemnation. Whoever complies with these in
their fulness will not violate this one, for he will not
allow his mind to be occupied either by thoughts of
the wrong done him, or by anger, or by condemna-
tion. Harboring thoughts of wrong at once arouses
condemnation and anger, and from these comes the

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 353

impulse to defend one's self and to punish the of-
fender — to resist the evil ; but if these are not
allowed, then the desire to resist will not arise.

Unnumbered centuries of practice contrary to these
precepts have made compliance with them seem
ineffective, unmanly, or cowardly ; yet evil has never
diminished in consequence of such methods. From
a little brand which at first could have easily been
extinguished by right mental control conflagrations
have developed which have brought ruin and deso-
lation in their wake. Hatred, bitterness, blighting
of homes and lives, legal strife, murders, wars, and
all forms of outrage and wickedness have grown
from small beginnings which would have disap-
peared instantly by compliance with these precepts.

His own course is the most brilliant example of
the wisdom of this precept. He did not resist evil
under the severest provocations of illegal arrest on
false charges, trial before prejudiced judges who had
decided beforehand that he must die, and execu-
tion by the same authority which had declared him
innocent. The result is an ever widening and deep-
ening stream of influence which has gone on through
all the centuries since, and which shall continue
through the centuries to come, until all error has
disappeared from among men.

354 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

In the language of the old Hebrew lawgiver:
"Thus shall ye put away evil from among you;"
and in no other way can the putting away be so
thoroughly accomplished as by obeying his precept,
"Resist not evil." The influence of the one who
obeys this is not limited to himself alone. The power
of his good thought extends even to the enemy, and
it will soon begin its work of transformation in his
mind. Like the rays of the sun, the thought which
causes one to refrain from resistance in the way
that he ought, penetrates the darkest places, de-
stroying the noxious germs of enmity, bitterness,
and strife.

Ruskin said: "There is no music in a rest, but
there's the making of music in it;" so, too, non-
resistance of evil is a rest in which there is the mak-
ing of that celestial music which is an expression of
the divine harmony.

The advantage of harmonious thinking is sci-
entifically set forth in the Beatitudes.1 The meek,
the merciful, they who do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, and the peacemakers have each dis-
missed some form of discordant thinking, and they
are among the blessed. Their blessedness is the
result of their mental condition. The climax oc-

1 Matthew v. 2-12.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 355

curs in what he says of the pure in heart, "for they
shall see God." Purity of heart can only be at-
tained by the complete exclusion of every impure or
discordant thought, and they who have attained this
have already the kingdom of heaven within them,
and God dwells in His kingdom and they shall see
Him. This, too, is strictly scientific.

His precepts touching forgiveness rest on the same
basis. The word " forgive " means to let go, to put
away, to cast out, to send away; and this is the
meaning not only of the English word, but of the
Greek word of which it is a translation. The es-
sential of forgiveness, then, lies in casting out of the
mind the wrong or offending thought. He would
have us always forgive 1 as we would be forgiven.3
Each one who earnestly desires forgiveness knows
that he himself wishes to have the last remembrance
or thought of the error which he has committed put
away and blotted out forever from the mind of the
one whom he has offended ; therefore this complete
casting away of all the discordant thoughts about
another is the essential constituent element of
complete forgiveness. It is also required by the
principles of exact science as well as by the words
of Jesus found in other connections.

1 Matthew xviii. 21 , 22. 2 Matthew vi. 12.

356 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

This leads to a consideration of the Golden Rule,
"As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also
to them likewise," ' a precept which includes within
its terms all his ethical teaching. Down in the
heart of every human being is the desire not only
to be exempt from physical injury by others, but also
from their evil or erroneous thoughts as well. If
each one should avoid discordant thinking about all
others as he would have others avoid it about him-
self, it would terminate all discordant or erroneous
thinking of every kind, and therefore all discordant
conduct would be ended. There would not be any
evil in the world, and its banishment would be
accomplished without any resistance whatever ;
indeed, resistance of evil prevents forgiveness,
perpetuates evil, and frustrates the grand object
sought, which is its destruction. This is again
the application of exact science to questions of
morality.

When the lawyer asked Jesus which is the great-
est requirement of the law, he answered: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength." 2 God is absolute perfection.
When a man loves perfection with all his heart, and

1 Luke vi. 31. 2 Mark xii. 30.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 357

soul, and mind, and strength, there will not be
any place for inharmonious thoughts. God is
love; and when one loves love with his whole
being, he will not have any discordant thoughts,
for in such love and in such loving there is no
discord. All this means: Fill the mind full with
love for God, and when the mind is full of this
love, neither imperfection nor discord can enter, but
they will be as a dream of the night which was
never remembered.

All this finds its culmination in what may appro-
priately be called the climax of his ethical precepts,
the one which directs men to the supreme act of
love: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies."1
Love is perfect harmony. Hate is discord. Be-
fore one can love his enemies, condemnation, anger,
hate, desire for revenge, envy, jealousy, covetous-
ness, and even "righteous indignation" toward them,
must all be utterly cast out of the mind along with
every other inharmonious thought. The precept
necessitates this exclusion, because all these are
inimical to love and cannot exist in the mind where
love is, nor can love exist in the mind where these
discordant thoughts are. Love and hate cannot
both occupy the same mind at the same time. The
1 Matthew v. 44-48.

358 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

exclusion of hate is the preparation for love, and
the entertainment of love is the prohibition of hate;
hence this precept also stands on a basis which is
distinctly scientific.

The language which he used in this connection,
when stripped of its explanatory illustrations, reads
thus : —

i. " Love your enemies.

2. "That ye may be the children of your Father
in heaven.

3. "Ye therefore shall be perfect even as your
Father in heaven is perfect." '

That love which loves enemies has nothing but
love for any man. This means the exclusion of
every discordant thought. The result of this ex-
clusion will be perfection. Perfection is a dizzy
height for man to contemplate. The best men have
looked toward it, but have not dared to hope for it,
either for themselves or their fellows, except as the
result of a miracle ; and the scientists, philosophers,

1 This is the language of the Revised Version and is almost
universally admitted to be more nearly the correct translation of
the original Greek. " Ye shall be perfect " is not a command,
but is a scientific declaration of what will result from the abandon-
ment of discordant thinking to such an extent as to enable one to
love his enemies; i.e. the complete exclusion of all discord from the
mind.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS 359

and best ethical teachers have never dared more
than to hint at it except as the remotest possibility ;
but Jesus taught it ; science and philosophy confirm
it ; and each Christian with humbleness of heart can
look up, take courage, and determine to win it.
That this can be accomplished has been made plain
again and again in these pages. We can love our
enemies only after we have first excluded all discord-
ant thinking about them; that done, we can truly
love them; and then we shall show forth that we
are indeed our Father's children, as perfect as He
is perfect ; and that is absolute perfection.

Wonderful as this perfection is, yet every precept
of Jesus, the Christ, aims at nothing less, and each
of them if complied with in its completeness will
bring this result. That he did not require impossi-
bilities of us is seen in the logical demonstration
that this seemingly most impossible of all his require-
ments is possible of attainment. Indeed, each one
of his precepts which is here considered may be
fulfilled to its ultimate by following his method —
the exclusion of discordant thinking from the mind.
Therefore no man need be discouraged by the tre-
mendousness nor by the sublimity and glory of the
object. Each may say with supreme confidence
and humility: "I, too, can master my own mind."

360 RIGHT AND WRONG THINKING

No man is working alone, for God Himself works
always with him who is seeking the right.

"Ye therefore shall be perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect.' '

XLV

A LAST WORD

There is no more fitting counsel for the close of
this book than is contained in the following words
from The School of Life, by William R. Alger : —

"And now there is one more lesson for us to
learn, the climax of all the rest ; namely, to make a
personal application to ourselves of everything which
we know. Unless we master this lesson, and act
on it, the other lessons are virtually useless, and
thus robbed of their essential glory. The only liv-
ing end or aim of everything we experience, of every
truth we are' taught, is the practical use we make
of it for the enrichment of the soul, the attuning of
the thoughts and passions, the exaltation of life. . . .
When we do what we know, then first does it put
on vital lustre and become divinely precious."

361

FOURTEEN DAY USE

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