James Allen

https://youtu.be/rBYeCFVRjvo

Two ways of creating success. One from a place of force and one from a place of real power, the world within. Evolving thought within and have that externalize as ideal emotions, behaviors, and actions that reflect a state of mind that is in alignment with the definite chief aim

The Power of Meditation

• Spiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is the mystic ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, from error to Truth, from pain to peace. Every saint has climbed it; every sinner must sooner or later come to it, and every weary pilgrim that turns his back upon self and the world, and sets his face resolutely toward the Father's Home, must plant his feet upon its golden rounds. Without its aid, I cannot grow into the divine state, the divine likeness, the divine peace, and the fadeless glories and unpolluting joys of Truth will remain hidden from me
• Meditation is the intense dwelling, in thought, upon an idea or theme, with the object of thoroughly comprehending it, and whatsoever I constantly meditate upon, I will not only come to understand, but will grow more and more into its likeness, for it will become incorporated into my very being, will become, in fact, my very self
• He who would secure any worldly advantage must be willing to work vigorously for it, and he would be foolish indeed who, waiting with folded hands, expected it to come to him for the mere asking. Do not then vainly imagine that I can obtain the heavenly possessions without making an effort
  • Only when I commence to work earnestly in the Kingdom of Truth will I be allowed to partake oof the Bread of Life, and when I have, by patient and uncomplaining effort, earned the spiritual wages for which I ask, they will not be withheld from me

The Two masters, Self and Truth

• Upon the battlefield of the human soul, two masters are ever contending for the crown of supremacy, for the kingship and dominion of the heart; the master of self, called also the "Prince of this world," and the master of Truth, called also the Father God. The master self is that rebellious one whose weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, self-will, implements of darkness; the master Truth is that meek and lowly one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, love, and instruments of Light
• There is one quality which pre-eminently distinguishes the man of Truth from the man of self, and that is humility. To be not only free from vanity, stubbornness, and egotism, but to regard one's own opinions as of no value, this indeed is true humility

The Acquirement of Spiritual Power

• Men and women of real power and influence are few, because few are prepared to make the sacrifice necessary to the acquirement of power, and fewer still are ready to patiently build up character
• To be swayed by my fluctuating thoughts and impulses is to be weak and powerless; to rightly control and direct those forces is to be strong and powerful
• The man that stands upon a principle is the same calm, dauntless, self-possessed man under all circumstances. When the hour of trial comes, and he has to decide between his personal comforts and Truth, he gives up his comforts and remains firm

The Realization of Selfless Love

• It is said that Michelangelo saw in every rough block of stone a thing of beauty awaiting the master-hand to bring it into reality. Even so, within each there reposes the Divine Image awaiting the master-hand of Faith and the chisel of Patience to bring it into manifestation. And that Divine Image is revealed and realized as stainless, selfless love
• To reach this Love, to understand and experience it, one must work with great persistency and diligence upon his heart and mind, must ever renew his patience and keep strong his faith, for there will be much to remove, much to accomplish before the Divine Image is revealed in all its glorious beauty

Entering into The Infinite

• To re-become one with the Infinite is the goal of man. To enter into perfect harmony with the Eternal Law is Wisdom, Love, and Peace. But this divine state is, and must ever be, incomprehensible to the merely personal
  • Personality, separateness, selfishness are the one and the same, and are the antithesis of wisdom and divinity. By the unqualified surrender of the personality, separateness and selfishness cease, and man enter into the possession of his divine heritage of immortality and infinity

Saints, Sages, and Saviors; The Law of Service

• The measure of a man's truth is the measure of his love, and Truth is far removed from him whose life is not governed by Love
• He who is patient, calm, gentle, and forgiving under all circumstances, manifests the Truth. Truth will never be proved by wordy arguments and learned treatises, for if men do not perceive the Truth in infinite patience, undying forgiveness, and all-embracing compassion, no words can ever prove to them
• It is given to the world to learn one great and divine lesson, the lesson of absolute unselfishness. The saints, sages, and saviors of all time are they who have submitted themselves to this task, and have learned and lived it. All the Scriptures of the world are framed to teach this one lesson; all the great teachers reiterate it. It is too simple for the world which, scorning it, stumbles along in the complex ways of selfishness
  • In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order

The Realization of Perfect Peace

• Come away, for a while, from external things, from the pleasures of the senses, from the arguments of the intellect, from the noise and the excitements of the world, and withdraw myself into the inmost chamber of my heart, and there, free form the sacrilegious intrusion of all selfish desires, I will find a deep silence, a holy calm, a blissful repose, and if I will rest awhile in that holy place, and will meditate there, the faultless eye of Truth will open within me, and I will see things as they really are
• This holy place within me is my real and eternal self; it is the divine within me; and only when I identify with it can I be said to be "clothed and in my right mind." It is the abode of peace, the temple of wisdom, then dwelling-place of immortality. Apart from this inward resting-place, this Mount of Vision, there can be no true peace, no knowledge of the Divine, and if I can remain there for one minute, one hour, or one day, it is possible for me to remain there always
• Subdue the animal within me; conquer every selfish uprising, every discordant voice; transmute the base metals of my selfish nature into the unalloyed gold of Love, and I shall realize the Life of Perfect Peace
  • Thus subduing, thus conquering, thus transmuting, I will, while living in the flesh, cross the dark waters of mortality, and will reach that Shore upon which the storms of sorrow never beat, and where sin and suffering and dark uncertainty cannot come