The Thought-Factor in Achievement -Lesson 5

In this study my personal notes are in the quotes throughout the passage.

ALL that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His suffering and his happiness are  evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.

This is the reason that training programs some times fail. The weaker (the trainee) must be willing to be helped. All of the power to develop the strength to succeed is contained in the man who will. He is the only one who can alter his condition. This is why I focus training on your responsibility to create your own environment for success. You must take control of your environment and recreate it for you own success.

It has been usual for men to think and to say, “Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.” Now,
however, there is amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, “One man is an oppressor because  many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.”

The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict each other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor; a perfect Love, seeing the suffering, which both states entail, condemns neither; a perfect Compassion embraces both oppressor and oppressed.

He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.

A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts.

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. ” Proverbs 16:32 The man who is in control of his thoughts is in better possession than the one who has all the possessions from conquering  a city. Being in control is the greatest position of power available to man.

Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any means; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed. A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither think clearly nor plan methodically; he could not find and develop his latent resources, and would fail in any undertaking. Not having commenced to manfully control his thoughts, he is not in a position to control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently and stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts, which he chooses.

There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance. And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the greater will be his  success, the more blessed and enduring will be his achievements.

Once a man possesses his thoughts rather than being possessed by them he has more power than all the rest. He is in a position where plans become clear, resolution is fixed, and independence is gained. Until you make your thoughts your servant you’re not ready to achieve.

The universe does not favor the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to
prove and know it a man has but to persist in making himself more and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts.

Intellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for the beautiful and true in life and nature. Such achievements may be sometimes connected with vanity and ambition, but they are not the outcome of those characteristics; they are the natural outgrowth of long and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish thoughts.

“I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.” Psalms 119:99 Greater intellectual achievements are the lot of the those who will make their meditations on the Word of God. They have learned to thionk outside themselves. They look to God for answers and direction. They don’t just think they meditate.

Spiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become wise and noble in character, and rise into a position of influence and blessedness.

Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends.

A man may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness
and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of him.

Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly
fall back into failure.

Did you get that? I have seen this too many times even in my own life. The victory leads to a point where the thoughts that brought me there left in the celebration and the victory was fleeting. You must maintain beyond the victory the very thoughts that brought the victory in the first place.

All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought, are governed by the same law and are of the same method; the only difference lies in the object of attainment.

He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.

What thoughts are you willing to sacrifice to achieve enduring success? Thoughts of selfishness, self-service, and self-indulgence will not result in lasting victory. Taking control of your meditations will give you greater power and understanding than all your teachers. Controlling your spirit gives you greater power than the one who conquerors a city. So what will you do? Will you master this one thing that is entirely in your possession? Will you choose to think only on those things that will bring the greatest good rather than the greatest personal satisfaction?