Excerpts from
How to
lose your fears and find
YOUR KEY TO HAPPINESS
by
Harold Sherman
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Description
YOU
CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
This
book can unlock for you the secret of a happy and rewarding
life. The author gives you a definite method by which the
Key to Your Inner Self can open to you a vast
reservoir of creative power . . . power you have never
suspected exists within you.
He
shows you how to draw upon this truly amazing creative power
to bring you the things in life you most desire. Success
and purpose can be yours ... if you
will only reach out for and grasp
YOUR KEY TO HAPPINESS.
"Harold Sherman gives you the keys to Universal Power. He
opens up areas in your consciousness and reveals secret powers you
never
dreamed you had."
—Rev. Paul Martin Brunei,
noted minister
"I
can wholeheartedly well recommend his books to all who arc in search of
self-development."
—Dr. Ernest Holmes, author of SCIENCEOF MIND
It is human nature to worry. For most
people it is
almost
as
natural for them to worry as to breathe. But it’s high time, just the
same, if
you are the worrying kind, for you to be doing something about it. The
right mental attitude will lift a burden from your body and
mind. You will enjoy life as you never have before, relieved of the
tension and
strain of worry. Know that, rightly directed, the amazing creative
power
within you described in this book can protect you from many things you
now
fear. Fear need not rule you. Take command of
yourself and, by applying this mental method to your own specific
fears, drive
them from your consciousness and your life forever.
INTRODUCTION
THERE IS MUCH, very
much, I would like to say to you, could I meet and talk personally with
you,
who are about to read this book. But perhaps, if you will let yourself
feel
that I am talking to you now, alone, we can have a good visit together.
I have been asked by so many
thousands of men and women, as the
result of my radio talks on personal philosophy, how I came to
believe, as I
do, in the power of right thinking and the unquestioned existence
of a personal
God, that I feel this will be one of your first questions, too.
You have a right to ask me this
question for you are a searcher
after truth, as am I, and you have sought the answer to these age-old
and
perplexing problems in your life. Each seeker brings to the quest his
own
degree of belief or skepticism, based upon the nature of his past
experience.
While we of today have been told that “faith is the substance of things
unseen,”
few of us are willing to accept the evidence of faith unless we can see
its
works. Whatever your belief, or lack of belief, either in higher
powers within
yourself, or in a direct personal relation to God, you do not want
to be
deluded.
This was my own attitude, years
ago. Certain unusual mental experiences
had come to me which I could not explain in accordance with my youthful
concept
of this material world. It seemed fantastic and impossible, for
instance,
though radio was then being talked about, that human thought could ever
be transmitted
from one mind to another. And yet, there had been forced upon me
several
startling and undeniable evidences that my mind had received such
thoughts. I
was greatly disturbed by these happenings and found that I could
confide them
to few people for fear of being considered on the fringe of lunacy or
placed in
the category of an “abnormal child” who was subject to hallucinations.
The experiences impressed me so
deeply, however, that I resolved
to spend my life, devoting all the time I could possibly afford in a
study of
these strange and little-understood faculties of mind, with the hope
that I
might, at least, clarify for myself what these mental processes were
which
sometimes operated beyond the so-called normal. I thought the answer
might be
found in the religions and philosophies of the world, and so I began a
study of
them. I found much of inspiration but little of illumination. I became
more and
more certain that the spiritual principles uniformly extolled in
these various
beliefs and philosophic concepts, concealed great demonstrable
truths.
But how could I ever get at
them and reduce them to such a simple
and workable formula that I could prove these principles in my everyday
life?
When I sought the answer in the psychic field, I found myself venturing
upon
ground that scientists either feared or disdained to tread. It is only
in
recent years that the study of what is now called “extra-sensory
perception”
has been taken up by such eminent investigators as Dr. J. B.
Rhine, of Duke
University and Dr. Gardner Murphy, formerly head of the
Para-psychology Department
of Columbia University. These men, modern pioneers in the field of
research,
are still facing the ridicule of many fellow scientists but their
contributions
to the definitely growing knowledge of the higher faculties of mind,
already
loom large. They are being joined by increasing numbers of scientists,
research
workers, electrical engineers, astronomers and distinguished men and
women in
all walks of life who are giving testimony to the existence of these
powers
which I sensed as a boy.
You have felt flashes of these
same higher forces within you, from
time to time. We all have. But we have set them down to “coincidence”
or a “hunch”
or the work of intuition. Fortunately, for all ordinary intents and
purposes,
we are insulated from the automatic operation of these higher
powers of mind.
Our conscious mind, which deals strictly with our five physical senses,
sees to
that. We have trained our conscious mind to believe that these higher
powers do
not exist and that we cannot come by any knowledge unless it is brought
to us
through one or more of these senses–sight, hearing, taste, touch and
smell.
It is, usually, only when
something of serious emotional moment
happens to a close friend or loved one, that sufficient intensity of
thought
energy is created to transmit a message to our minds against the
resistance of
this conscious mind. This accounts for many men and women declaring
that they
knew when some dear one was taken suddenly ill or met with an
accident or
died. They still, perhaps, did not believe in telepathy or any kind of
a “psychic
manifestation” and offered an apology when telling of the incident, but
could
give no explanation.
These were the kind of
happenings, among others, for which I had
to determine the answer in order to gain peace of mind. If telepathy
and these
other uncharted powers of mind were really a fact, then it would
indicate that
man, himself, was more than a physical being; that perhaps the great
religions
and philosophies of the world spoke the truth when they declared that
man was
also spirit.
This is not the time or place
for me to take you with me on the
long and soul-trying years of investigation and research and
personal
experimentation I gladly entered upon in the belief that, if these
powers did
actually exist, any persevering human should be able to prove them in
his own
life and with his own I mind.
This book, which you now hold
in your hands, was written by me at
the conclusion of my search, after I had become convinced that I stood
upon a
firm foundation and that, insofar as I had been able to go, I knew the
way and
could trace and retrace my steps. I wrote this book first, as a means
of
crystallizing for myself, the knowledge which had come to me through
tested
life experience. The information herein contained has nothing to
do with
telepathy. It deals strictly with another phase of these higher
faculties of
mind–a great, God-given, creative power which exists within your
subconscious
mind and which you can learn to draw upon to bring you the things in
life you
most desire.
Two years after this volume was
first published, I entered into a
five months’ series of experiments in long-distance telepathy with the
Arctic
explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins. It was the first time I had attempted
such work
under scientific observation and, of course, I could not guarantee what
results
might be obtained. Wilkins was three thousand miles away in the Far
North,
searching for the lost Russian fliers, and I was then in my apartment
in New
York City.
Three nights a week, at the
prearranged time of 11:30 to 12
midnight, I made my mind receptive, by a method I had developed through
years
of private experimenting, and attempted to receive impressions from the
mind of
Wilkins as to what had happened to him that day, or was happening to
him, at
that very moment. When each night’s session was over, I typed copies of
what
had seemed to “come through” and mailed them to different, interested,
scientific
witnesses, one of whom was Dr. Gardner Murphy. Wilkins kept a
diary and log
and when the hundreds of impressions, recorded by me, were ultimately
checked,
an astonishing number of them was found to be highly accurate. The
complete
story of these experiments is now a part of another book, “Thoughts
Through
Space,” written with Sir Hubert Wilkins.
These experiments revealed to
me much additional unexpected
knowledge concerning the nature and operation of higher consciousness
in man.
What I was able to accomplish, I firmly believe, that you, or any other
person
of good mind, who is willing to put forth the same effort, could
reasonably
duplicate. My interest in telepathy and this type of mental phenomena
is
strictly scientific. I see no purpose being served through those who
make a parlor
game of it. We still do not know enough about these particular
faculties of
mind to take them so lightly or to experiment indiscriminately. I
mention this
work, simply to indicate to you the enormous possibilities ahead of
evolving
man.
Because you are living
essentially in this physical world you are
naturally interested in learning all you can about yourself which has
practical, everyday value. A most pressing question you want answered
is
whether or not you do possess a power within yourself capable of
solving all
life’s problems and whether or not this power is really a part of the
greatest
power that ever is or ever can be–the power of God.
These questions I can answer,
for you, because I have traveled the
road of investigation you, too, might have wished to travel could life
have
afforded you that opportunity. What I say to you in every sentence
in this
book, I say with all the conviction of my being, and with the desire to
pass on
to you whatever truth I have gained and been able to prove.
So, now that we have become
acquainted,
let us explore ourselves together.
We are all a part of this
great, wonderful, universal scheme of
things. Your birth, your being here on earth, wasn’t an accident
however
accidental it may have seemed. Remember this–you are something–and
something
cannot come from nothing. You must have existed in some form before you
were
born or you couldn’t be here today. And you did exist although you
are not
conscious of this fact–but you existed in the Mind of the great,
Infinite
Intelligence, God, your Father.
Don’t try to understand God. We
haven’t any words in any language
that can possibly describe to our limited intelligence what God really
is. This
is not the way to try to get an idea of God. But you can be sure that
this vast
Intelligence we call God is a Personal Being. And how can you be sure
of all
this? Because everything in the universe–everything on earth–has
personality, identity,
individuality. There is not a leaf on any tree which is exactly similar
to any
other leaf on any other tree of the countless trees in all the forests.
Each
leaf has some slight little difference which distinguishes it from all
others.
The same is true of the trillions upon trillions of snowflakes which
blanket so
much of the earth in our winter seasons. You’ve seen the photographed
and
beautifully magnified designs of these individual snowflakes. Haven’t
you
marveled at the forces of nature which could have created these
amazingly intricate
designs, seemingly on the spur of the moment, when cold currents
of air,
rushing together in the heavens, caused moisture to freeze and take on
these
white flaky forms!
Examine everything about you.
You will find no exact similarity
anywhere. What does this prove? It proves that this is not a
carbon-copy universe.
No duplicates are being created. Everything, no matter how seemingly
trivial or
insignificant to us, is an original–it has never existed before in just
exactly
this form and design and appearance. It will never exist again in just
this
way. Do you begin to see what I mean when I say that you are just as
important
to this great scheme of things as any other human on earth?
You were created for a definite
purpose. It was intended that you
were to have a definite place to fill in life. It is up to you to find
that
place. You have been created a creature of free will. This God-power
within
you is not going to compel you to do what you came into this world with
the
opportunity of doing. You must discover what this is and decide to put
forth
the effort to do it yourself.
The reason the world is in its
present state of threatened chaos
is because so many humans have failed to find their destined purpose in
life.
If you’re unhappy, if you feel you’ve been making no progress, if you
look upon
your life as a failure, if you can see little hope for the future, then
you
haven’t yet found your individual pattern in God’s great plan. I tell
you
positively that your pattern is there and that your inner self contains
the
knowledge of this pattern and will reveal it to you once you look
within
yourself for the right answer.
Up to now you may not have
realized that there was, and is, a
Higher Intelligence within your own mind which can guide you. You’ve
looked
everywhere else for the answer to your problems in life but within
yourself. I
told you a moment ago that you can never describe God, the Great
Intelligence,
in words, but I say to you now, you can feel His Presence in your own
mind and
heart and once you sense the Presence it will be an undeniable,
unmistakable experience
and you will then know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that you are
never alone
and that you have with you, at all times, all the power and wisdom you
need to
carry you happily and successfully along life’s rough road.
No one exactly resembling you
in physical body or personality has
ever existed before in all the countless ages of the past with all
the
trillions of human creatures who have lived. And no one ever again, in
all the
countless ages to come, and with all the trillions upon trillions
of humans
yet to be born, will ever exactly resemble you in physical appearance
or
personality. I want you to think of this great fact for a moment.
All of the unhappy experiences
you have had up to this present instant
have been brought about because you have either not been calling
upon this
power within or you have been misusing it. It’s through this life
experience
that you’ve been supposed to be awakened to the great
possibilities within
you. If you’ve reacted wrongly to what has happened to you–if you’ve
blamed
these things upon others or circumstances seemingly beyond your
control–then
you’ve not yet learned that there is a higher, finer way of doing
things. Until
you do learn, you are going to attract, through your own wrong
thinking, many
more wrong, unhappy happenings.
So, get busy on yourself. You
are the one person for whom you are
entirely responsible. Your world, your life can be better only if you
make it
so. As you improve yourself, you influence all others around you. Keep
in mind
that you came into this life with a purpose to perform. You can’t find
that
true purpose until you put aside your hates and bitter feelings.
There is going to come a time,
within the next few years, when for
you to persist in hating your fellow man, will be to put you out of
step with
all progress and with the laws of God as they were intended to operate
on this
earth. The happy, successful men and women in that day will be those
who have
learned to harness the God-power within them, to unite this Power,
harmoniously,
one with the other, to the end that the good of all may be served. This
day is
not so far distant as it may seem.
It makes no difference what age
you are–you’re going to have an
individual part in this new world if you waken to the spirit of God
within you
and let this spirit express through you. When this happens, you’ll not
only get
along with others, but you’ll have the understanding to get along with
yourself.
These thoughts may seem new to
you but what I am saying is what
ministers and educators and scientists are saying to you in a
different way.
At last, we humans are to know the real truth about ourselves and
this truth
is going to make us free, eventually, in body and in spirit. I
urge you to
accept what I have said on faith until you can prove the truth of it in
your
own life through the experiences I know you can attract by right
thinking.
Remember–an equal part of God,
the Great Intelligence dwells
within you. No man or woman, however prominent or
influential,
possesses more. Can’t you see then, the glorious opportunity, that we
all have,
to go forward together, with faith in each other, into the promised
land of
tomorrow?
It was not intended that man
should be
idle, that he should be dependent upon his fellow man or that he should
not
have opportunity to give full expression to his developing talents
and
abilities. But the way man has been compelled to live, has made him,
too often,
lose sight of what he came into this life to accomplish. The struggle
for existence
has taken from man the time he has needed to get acquainted with his
own self
and to discover that he has a God-given power within him which can
bring him a
happiness of body and mind of which he has not dreamed.
Is a man necessarily happy
because he slaves each day to earn
enough money to buy food and clothes and shelter for his loved ones and
himself? Is the rich man happy with his riches alone? Is a wife
satisfied with
the drudgery of housework? Are the duties of this world appealing in
themselves? You know they are not–not a single one of them. They have
to have a
purpose behind them–some vital, understandable reason why a person is willing to put forth an
effort and make sacrifices and strive to overcome obstacles.
You’ve got to feel that what
you are doing is worth while–that it’s
really counting for something, that it’s being appreciated by somebody,
that
you are playing a part with your fellow humans in making this world a
better
place in which to live. You may not put this purpose in so many words,
but if
you feel dissatisfied, and discouraged and can’t see any future in what
you are
now doing–then you are out of step with your intended destiny in life
and need
to gain a deeper knowledge of yourself in order to discover your real
place in
the great scheme of things. I tell you positively that you have a place
and no
one can fill this place but you. So take a moment now to ask yourself
if you
have, as yet, found your real purpose in life.
Have you ever stopped to
consider that you are where you are at
this very moment because of what you are? Each new experience you’ve
had in
life has changed you, has done something to you, has given you a
greater education,
a greater wisdom, a greater understanding than you’ve ever had before
whether
you realize it or not. You may say, “But I’m worse off today than I was
a few
years or months ago.” If you are, it’s because you haven’t made proper
use of
the experiences and opportunities you have had.
If you could only know it, your
failures have been just as important
to you as your successes. Your failures could have taught you how not
to do
things and what to do next time in order to attain success. But you may
have
been so upset by your failures that you regarded your time and effort
spent as
a total loss. Every man or woman who has gained any worth-while success
in life
has had to learn to rise above failure and to use each failure as an
added
steppingstone to success.
When Dr. Ehrlich was finally
able to give to the world his great
cure for syphilis he called it “606” because he had failed 605
heart-breaking
times before he succeeded in developing this preparation. And
Thomas Edison
made over 10,000 separate and distinct efforts before he found the
right
combination of elements which would make possible the electric light.
No woman becomes
a good cook the first time she boils water or bakes a cake. No man
jumps overnight
from office boy to the presidency of a company. No seed planted in the
ground becomes
a full grown tree the next morning.
The forces of nature and the
forces of man require time for their
unfoldment and development. You can hurry your own progress only by a
more
earnest application to the work at hand. There are no real short
cuts. The man
who spends his time getting promoted through pull and influence seldom
is able
to hold any important position for which he has not been fitted by
experience.
The person who reaches a goal through bluff and pretense can lose it
just as
quickly, once exposed.
You can’t get something in this
life for nothing–no matter how
hard you try. It may seem so to you as you observe the lives of others.
I’ve
had friends say to me, “Look at So-and-So, he’s always getting the
breaks! And
he doesn’t do a thing to earn them.” But these friends aren’t in the
best
position to judge. They can’t be in this man’s shoes. They can’t
possibly know
what sacrifices he’s made or what efforts he’s put forth in order to
get where
he has. All they can observe is the goal he has reached. If he has
arrived at
his goal through anything but honest effort and the application of his
talents
and experience, then he won’t last–he won’t succeed unless those with
whom he
works carry the load for him. Unhappily there are many in this life
carrying
just such a load for others.
The people who really do
succeed are people with a purpose. They
know where they are going and why they are going there. They’ve either
known it
early in life or they’ve discovered through bitter experience and
failure
their real intended purpose and this discovery has led them on to the
success
which up to that time had eluded them. You can’t really succeed in this
life
without a purpose. You can make money, get married, have friends, and
do all
the things that other people do in life but you’ll always be restless,
disappointed
and dissatisfied unless behind everything you do is a
consciousness of
purpose.
If you would be a happy,
contented and well-balanced person–physically,
mentally and spiritually–life must mean something to you
personally. It must
have a reason behind it and you must be able to feel that you’ve gained
something from life that can never be lost. Do you feel that way now?
Can you
honestly say, as you analyze yourself, that you’ve found your purpose
in life?
If you’ve not, then you can never be assured of lasting happiness until
you do.
Take this moment to give thought to what your purpose is or may be in
life. If
you know what your purpose is, then resolve to stand behind it with all
the
courage and energy and faith you possess.
The great need, today, for each
and every one of us is to find our
purpose. Without it we are as aimless in our journey on the sea of life
as a
ship without a rudder. We have nothing to steer us or guide us.
Why do so many people go to
pieces physically and mentally when
they suffer financial loss? Because such men and women have established
no real
values beyond those represented by the almighty dollar. Life has had no
meaning
to them without it, and they have seen no purpose in trying to go on
living.
Without money they were helpless, practically paralyzed in body and in
spirit.
And yet the greatest, most wonderful forces of life were still
about them,
ready to respond to their bidding the instant they gained a new sense
of values
and came to realize the purpose for their existence.
You see–you came into this
world to serve your fellow man and to
be served by him. You can’t get away from this responsibility. You
couldn’t
continue to live without the daily toil of thousands of men and women
whom you
will never see. But what you are doing, as unimportant as it may seem
to you,
must mean something to someone else. The more civilized we have grown
the more
dependent we actually have become upon one another. This is an age of
special
skills and talents. Few of us can do more than one thing exceedingly
well. But
what we can do well we give in exchange to others who can return to us
the
services we are incapable of performing for ourselves.
Can you now begin to see the
great pattern
behind all life? Can you begin to sense the great scheme of things? You
are as
indispensable and as vitally needed to this scheme as anyone else.
If you fail
in your part, in your purpose–then the contribution you were intended
to make
during your lifetime here will be forever lost. No one just like you,
with just
your qualifications has ever lived before–and there will be no one ever
again
with just your possibilities.
You may not have been born with
the physical and mental endowments
of someone else, but you do possess an absolutely equal portion of
this
God-given creative power within your own mind. No human being–and no
force on
earth–can take this power from you. It is yours to call upon as you
wish and if
you know your real purpose in life then you are in complete harmony
with the
working of this God-given power and you are certain to reach your goal
and
render your intended service.
Right now–this minute–whoever
you are–wherever you are–you can
call upon this God-given power within you by an effort of your will.
Deep down
within you, if you will think as you are reading these lines, you’ll
know what
you should have been doing with your life if you are not. Your real
inner self
knows what you came here with the opportunity of doing. It knows
whether you’ve
failed thus far in accomplishing it. It knows whether you’ve allowed
yourself
to become sidetracked on one of life’s many byways and whether you’ve
passed up
the opportunities which have been given you to make the most of
your life.
Yes, this part of God, the
Great Intelligence, which dwells within
you, knows all these things. But you have been created a creature of free
will. You will never be compelled to fulfill your intended destiny
in life.
This has been left to you as a matter of your free choice.
If you feel now that you have
failed in whole or in part–if you
feel that you’ve not lived up to the best that’s within you, don’t
waste any
time feeling bad over the past but find your purpose now and look ahead
to the
goal which can still be yours. This goal may never win you any earthly
recognition or reward; this goal may not bring you any plaudits of
the crowd
or financial gain or even human appreciation–but for you to have
realized in
your own mind and heart that you have a purpose to fulfill–that you
have a
rendezvous with your own destiny and that this calls for your doing the
best
you can in whatever situation you find yourself, no matter how great
the
obstacle or trying the circumstance, is for you to have lived your life
triumphantly and well.
Your purpose, then, is to meet
life the best you can, each step of
the way, in the knowledge and faith that all things of this world can
be taken
from you, but you still have lost nothing because you are at peace with
your
real self. You know now, at last, the truth of that old saying “Greater
is he
who gaineth his own soul, than he who taketh a city.”
There’s a new day dawning.
Perhaps from your hilltop in life you
cannot see this new day as yet. Perhaps you are still in the valley of
fear and
despair. Perhaps you’ve been enshrouded by the dark mantle of grief.
Perhaps it
seems to you that you can never know joy again. But even in the midst
of these
terrible world conditions I believe in this new day.
This day is dawning, first in
the hearts
and minds of men–in your heart and my heart–in your mind and my mind.
There’s a
complete change coming–a change in man’s attitude toward his fellow
man. We are
all going to know, beyond a shadow of doubt, why we are here together
on this
earth and what our individual and common purposes are. We’re going
to see
clearly, for the first time, what we need to do to work together with
peoples
of different nations but of the same human family. We’re going to see
that
since we each possess an equal part of God, the Great Intelligence,
within–none
of us should be favored over another. We’re going to realize that only
by giving
this God-power within us a free and unlimited opportunity for
expression can we
gain the happiness in life we seek.
This God-power has been with us
throughout our entire lives but we
haven’t begun to make full or intelligent use of it. If we had, World
Wars I
and II couldn’t have been–nor the other great wars of history. We
have
preferred to rely upon our animal natures, our own emotions and
material
desires, to get for us what we’ve thought we wanted. But, after we’ve
gotten
it–wealth, position, worldly power–we then know that it still doesn’t
mean
anything–that something deeply satisfying is missing–that until we feel
that we’ve
become united with something higher and finer within our own
selves, and have
found our real place in the scheme of things, nothing else we’ve
accomplished
matters.
Are you happy with wealth or
without it? Is it because you possess
wealth or because you lack wealth that you are unhappy?
In this new day that is dawning
you’re going to be compelled to
give up many things upon which you’ve placed high value but you’re
going to
possess other things of real and lasting value–the love and
understanding of
your fellow man. This one development alone is going to change the face
of the
earth and all things upon it. Those of you who fail to recognize this
fact and
insist on clinging to the old order of class distinction and race
prejudice and
creedal difference and various kinds of hates and fears are going
to find
yourselves out of step and unable to keep pace with the new marching
song of a
united humanity.
There’s a time of trouble and
possible
discord still ahead, but I can hear the strains of a new harmony
breaking
through. That is why I am urging you to gain the right to live your own
life
and then to find, at all costs, your real purpose in life. Once you do
this you’ll
be ready to take your part in the world of tomorrow.
I suggest to you now, that you
set aside a time, each day, preferably
in the evening after your day’s work is done, to sit quietly and look
ahead,
with confidence and faith in the future. Ask yourself each night
if you’ve
done everything humanly possible to further your purpose. Ask of this
God-power
within that you be given increasing knowledge and wisdom. Picture
yourself
being a better husband or wife–a better mother or father to your
children–a
better daughter or son to your parents, a better friend to all who give
you
their friendship, and a better person in every way.
If you will do this, your
purpose in life will reveal itself to
you. Each thought and act will take on new meaning and you will feel
yourself
unmistakably a part of the great plan for human betterment which is
unfolding
on this earth.
One of our great troubles in
the world of Today is the fact that
we developed so fast mechanically and scientifically, we couldn’t keep
pace
mentally and spiritually. We didn’t know how to use our mechanical
and
scientific marvels for our own good. We lost sight of the purpose
behind these
great inventions, which came through the minds of men as a result of
the
workings of this great God-given power within them.
These wonderful advances in
science and industry were intended to
free us all–not to enslave us, physically and economically–to free
us so that
we might find our real purpose in life and go forward together–all
races,
colors and creeds–toward a single great goal of human
achievement–Universal
Brotherhood. But somehow–because the lower side of us is still close to
animal
we got lost along the way. Somehow, our greeds and hates and prejudices
and fears
and distrust of our fellow man came in like a hurricane to destroy
these higher
and finer ambitions within us and bring upon the world this present
chaos. All
this time God, the Great Intelligence, has not deserted us but we have
deserted
Him.
This God-power is just as much
a part of us now as it has always
been. But, remember–we’ve been created creatures of free will and free
choice.
We’ll never be compelled to draw upon this God-power. We must do it of
our free
will. And when we do, we lift ourselves immediately above the animal in
us to
this higher self–this part of God, the Great Intelligence–and then
we know,
perhaps for the first time, that we really are more than animal . . .
that
there’s something in us which is eternal . . . something that is
going to survive
what we call death . . . something that knows it is here for a purpose
. . .
and that something is your own self–your own soul.
There’s so much to tell you
about yourself and I desire to make it
as clear to you as I possibly can. But I do not wish you to accept
these
statements of mine on faith alone. I want you to take them with an open
mind
and prove them out in your own life. It would be very difficult to
prove to an
African native that the air was full of sounds he could not hear unless
you had
a radio set with you and could turn it on and take these sounds out of
the air.
But all I’m telling you I’ve proved to my satisfaction in my own life.
And you
must prove these same truths for yourself.
Once you are convinced beyond
all doubt that this God-power dwells
within you, you’ll develop a courage and a faith you never dreamed
possible.
You’ll be able to face any condition in life, no matter how
difficult, with a
calmness and a poise and a confidence of overcoming it. This is what I
promise
you who will sincerely strive to understand yourself and to follow your
real purpose
in life.
How can you accomplish your
purpose in life? It can’t be done by
wearing yourself out physically and mentally with fears and worries and
all the
destructive emotions such as greed and hate. You see, your real
self knows why
you are here and what you are supposed to do with your life. But if you
get
mixed up with all your physical desires and fears and worries and
haven’t
learned how to control them, then you’re very apt to lose sight of your
goal
and live a restless, aimless, unsatisfactory, disappointed life.
You can easily recognize the
man or woman with a purpose. There’s
something magnetic and appealing about them which sets them apart. This
is
because these people have been knowingly using each experience
which comes to
them as a foundation stone in their life of purpose and they are
expressing
this purpose in everything they do.
A person may have a fine
singing voice and be technically perfect
in the rendition of every song, but unless he has lived and expresses
understanding and genuine feeling in his singing, he’ll never touch a
responsive chord in his listeners. Madame Schumann-Heink, who had two
sons on
each side of the first World War, took a little German folk song,
“Silent
Night–Holy Night,” and breathed into it her own mother-love, and
touched the
heart of all humanity.
Yehudi Menuhin, one of the
world’s greatest violinists, is noted
for the generous giving-out of his rare talent. A few years ago, in a
summer
concert at Lewisohn Stadium in New York, Mr. Menuhin remained
playing encores
long after the orchestra had left and the lights had been turned out.
He played
on under the stars, as his listeners joined their souls with his and
felt,
through the medium of music, a kinship with the finest things in life.
Purpose means everything to
each one of us, young or old. It’s
fine to have a book education, but unless it can be applied to life and
living
and the betterment of mankind, a person can be trapped by his own
intellectual
attainments and lose the very thing he’s seeking. It’s great to
become a
doctor but all the letters in the alphabet after his name will mean
nothing
until through his knowledge he saves a life. There’s no nobler
profession on
earth than motherhood but a mother has not attained her real purpose
until she
has trained her children to take their places in the world and has
given them
to the world.
You’ll find once your life is
dominated by your purpose that you’ll
want to give freely and joyously of your talents and services because
you’ll
know that they don’t belong to you alone and should not selfishly be
withheld
from the world. All of the planet’s great spiritual leaders, inspired
as they’ve
been by their high purpose, have recognized this great universal truth,
“It is
more blessed to give than to receive.” When you begin giving yourself,
in keeping
with your own purpose in life, you’ll commence growing and developing
and you’ll
know in your mind and heart that you’ve found your place in life, and
that the
world itself is better for your having lived!
Your life is just what you make
it by your thinking. The successful
man or woman pictures success and puts forth every effort to help bring
this
success to pass. No man can really succeed who lacks faith in himself.
This
creative power, within your mind, can’t work for you unless you have
this
faith. Your fears destroy this faith. They keep you from thinking right
and
acting right. If what you want in life has not come to you, it’s up to
you to
eliminate all fear thoughts.
I know that you, who read these
words, may
be living a life of fear and worry. You can’t bear the thought of being
alone,
or going out on the street by yourself. You’re afraid you may be losing
your
mind or that evil influences are surrounding you. Behind all this is,
perhaps,
a terrorizing fear of death.
And, I say to you who fear,
that you are never alone–that a part
of God, the Great Intelligence, dwells within you–that you only have to
learn
how to call upon this great and unlimited God-power in order to be
guided and
protected.
Remember–this power is supposed
to be your servant. It’s supposed
to take orders from you in the form of the mental pictures you give it
of what
you wish to be or do. And if your mental pictures are right–if your
thinking is
correct–what happens to you will be right!
You can’t possibly fear once
you’ve come really to know and feel
the presence of God–within you! There isn’t a force on earth–a man or
woman or
circumstance of any kind–that can really hurt or affect you so
long as you place
your faith in this God-power–and exercise your will to think
the right
thoughts. Once you do your part, God will do His.
But you must do your part first
and, when you do, you’ll find a
new strength and courage sufficient to meet every situation in life.
Faith in
yourself and faith in God are the key to mastery of fear.
Fear cannot remain in the
presence of faith. I give you now something
to repeat each morning as you awaken and each night as you drop off to
sleep: “Fear
knocked at the door–faith opened it–and there was nothing there.”
Courage, then, to face and
solve your life
problems as you should. Your Key to Happiness is knowledge of self and
I now
present to you, in the pages to come, this Key! But you must open the
door to
this new understanding, yourself. Do not read this book–STUDY it! Start practicing right
thinking
from this moment on–and good things will commence happening to
you. It won’t
be long before you’ll be joining the chorus of increasing thousands of
men and
women who are joyously testifying “It works!”
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