As a Person Thinks by James Allen Chapter 1 Thought and Character The euphorism,
As a Person Thinks,
In their heart,
So are they,
Not only embraces the whole of a person's being,
But it is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance in their life.
A person is literally what they think,
Their character being the complete sum of all their thoughts.
As the plant springs from and could not be without the seed,
So every act of a person springs from the hidden seeds of thought and could not have appeared without them.
This applies equally to those acts called spontaneous and unpremeditated as to those which are deliberately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought,
And joy and suffering are its roots.
Thus does a person garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of their own husbandry,
Of their own management of their private affairs.
Thought in the mind hath made us what we are by thought was wrought and built.
If a person's mind has evil thoughts,
Pain comes on them as comes the wheel of the ox behind.
If one endure impurity of thought,
Joy follows them as their own shadow,
Sure.
A person grows by law and is not a creation by artifice,
And cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things.
A noble and godlike character is not a thing of is not a thing of favor or chance,
But is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking.
The effect of long-cherished association with godlike thoughts,
And ignoble and beastly character by the same process,
Is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.
A person is made or unmade by themselves.
In the armory of thought,
They forge the weapon by which they destroy themselves.
They also fashion the tools with which they build for themselves heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.
By the right choice and true application of thought,
A person ascends toward the divine perfection.
By the abuse and wrong application of thought,
They descend below the level of the beast.
Between these two extremes there are grades of character,
And a person has the power to be their maker or master of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this modern time.
In this modern time,
None is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this,
That a person is the master of their thought,
The molder of their character,
And the maker and shaper of their own condition,
Environment,
And destiny.
As a being of power,
Intelligence,
And love,
And the manager of their own thoughts,
A person holds the key to every situation,
And contain within themselves that transforming and regenerative agency by which they may make themselves what they will.
A person of sound mind is always in control,
Even in their weakest and most abandoned state.
But in this weakness and degradation,
They are the foolish landlord who misgoverns his household.
When they begin to reflect upon this condition,
And to search diligently for the law upon which they are being established,
They then become the wise landlord,
Directing their energies with intelligence and fashioning their thoughts to fruitful issues.
Such is the conscious manager,
And a person can only thus become by discovering within themselves the law of thought,
Which discovery is totally a matter of application,
Self-analysis,
And experience.
Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained,
And a person can find every truth connected with their being,
If they will dig deep into the mind of their soul,
And that they are the maker of their character,
The molder of their life,
And the builder of their destiny.
They may unerringly prove,
If they will watch,
Control,
And alter their thoughts,
Tracing their effects upon themselves,
Upon others,
And upon their life and circumstances,
Linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation,
And utilizing their every experience,
Even to the most trivial everyday occurrences,
As a means of obtaining their knowledge of themselves,
Which is understanding,
Wisdom,
And power.
In this direction,
As in no other,
Is the law absolute,
That they that seek,
Find,
And to them that knock,
It will be opened.
For only by patience,
Practice,
And ceaseless asking,
Can a person enter into the domain of self-knowledge.
I'm Carol.
Thank you for joining me in this reading.
