Thought and Character

Great, powerful champ of a chapter on Thought And Character from "As a

Man Thinketh" written by James Allen one of the original founders of the

Behavioral and Social Science of Psychology I believe.

You may replace the word he for she if it suits your fancy (your style or

preference) better so you do not get distracted and miss out on the

valuable content. He is just the way the author wrote more than 100

years ago I think.

Sincerely,

Rom A. Day, B.A. Industrial and Organizational Psychology with Marketing Minor, 1994, San Francisco State University (SFSU), San Francisco, California, U S A

An Individual American (Citizen of The United States of America), Thinker, do-er and American Voter

“THOUGHT AND CHARACTER

THE aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only

embraces the whole of a man's being, but

is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance

of his life. A man is literally what he

thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.

As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed,

so every act of a man 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 fruits;

thus does a man garner in the sweet

and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

"Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are By thought was

wrought and built. If a man's mind Hath

evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes The wheel the ox behind....

If one endure In purity of thought, joy

follows him as his own shadow--sure."

Man is a growth by law, and 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 favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued

effort in right thinking, the effect

of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and

bestial character, by the same process, is

the result of the continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.

Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he

forges the weapons by which he destroys

himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself

heavenly mansions of joy and strength and

peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends

to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse

and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the

beast. Between these two extremes are all

the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.

Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been

restored and brought to light in this

age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and

confidence than this--that man is the master of

thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of

condition, environment, and destiny.

As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his

own thoughts, man holds the key to every

situation, and contains within himself that transforming and

regenerative agency by which he may make himself

what he wills.

Man is always the master, even in his weaker and most

abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation

he is the foolish master who misgoverns his "household."

When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to

search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established,

he then becomes the wise master, directing

his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful

issues. Such is the conscious master,

and man can only thus become by discovering within himself the laws

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 man can find every truth connected

with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that

he is the maker of his character, the

moulder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly

prove, if he will watch, control, and

alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others,

and upon his life and circumstances,

linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and

utilizing his every experience, even to the

most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that

knowledge of himself which is understanding,

wisdom, power. In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute

that "He that seeketh findeth; and to him

that knocketh it shall be opened;" for only by patience, practice, and

ceaseless importunity can a man enter

the Door of the temple of knowledge” --(As A Man Thinketh by James Allen

Broad Park Avenue, IIfracombe, England; Printed in the United States of America)--.

webpage edited 2019 0723 10:00 P.M. MT; 07209/29/2017