Thought and Purpose

Dear readers:

I think you will find this chapter on purpose (major goal) from the book "As a man Thinketh" pretty damn good. No matter how good or bad things might be going I refer to it from time to time and I have found it useful with re-aligning individual organizational thought and effort with mission, vision and goals and objectives. James Allen was one of the original founders of the Behavioral and Social Science of Psychology I believe.

You are able to replace the word he for she if you would like to. He is just the way the author wrote it many years ago.

Rom

“THOUGHT AND PURPOSE

UNTIL thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent

Accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to

"drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such

drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of

catastrophe and destruction.

They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pittyings, all of which

are

indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately

planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness,

and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe.

A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing

point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or

it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time

being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his

thought-forces upon the object, which he has set before him. He

should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself

to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into

ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road

to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails

again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must

until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will

be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new

starting-point for future power and triumph.

Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of a great purpose should fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of their

duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear. Only in

this way can the thoughts be gathered and focused, and resolution

and energy be developed, which being done, there is nothing which

may not be accomplished.

The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth that strength can only be developed by effort and practice, will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself, and, adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong.

As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong

by exercising himself in right thinking.

To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only

recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.

Having conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right

nor the left. Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded; they are disintegrating elements, which break up the straight line of effort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual, useless. Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They always lead to failure. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong thoughts cease when doubt and fear creep in.

The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages

them, who does not slay them thwarts himself at every step.

He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every, thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely

met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall prematurely to the ground.

Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than

a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers” (As A Man Thinketh by James Allen

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