Mental Atitude and Thought as Causal Forces.
Nearly a century ago James Allen wrote "Above Life's Turmoil". A recent re-reading of this essay has given me food for thought, particularly with regards to the concept that we are each the maker of our own selves and conditions, because thought itself is causal and creative, and appears in our character, actions, and lives in the form of results.
There is a school of thought that there is a law within our minds that weighs our lives in "the faultless balance of equity". It upholds that, as nurturers of our own thoughts and mental attitudes, we, as individuals, are the makers of the state and condition of our lives. That concept is pretty hard to swallow upon first approaching it. I worked for 7 years at an inner-city Boys and Girls Club, and I witnessed daily the cycle of poverty and demoralization that perpetuated itself in the children of our community, many of whom had children of their own, and were themselves the children of child-parents (I knew several 30-year-old grandparents).
As children, patterns are set that affect our inner- and outer- world views, often for the duration of our lives. But children become adults, and as adults, we can alter the patterns from childhood that shape our thoughts. To do this requires introspection and self-examination, and a willingness to accept as fact that each of us is the orginator of our own thoughts. In knowing myself and being consciously aware of the effects of my thoughts, the realization follows that my circumstances are the effects of inward causes. There are no accidents in my life, for both its harmonies and antipathies are the responsive echoes of my thoughts. Thus, I am the victim of circumstances of my own creation.
That is a hard-learned understanding, but it is also an empowering one, as well. Because as I come to know myself, I sense that law within my mind that demands balance and equity: every impure and selfish thought that I send out comes back to me in my circumstances as some form of suffering, while every pure and unselfish thought returns to me in some form of blessing. On my really bad days this holds true and rings clear, lifting my spirits. I know myself not as a peon flailing about, but as a master of the consequences of my own mental attitude, and thus the master of my circumstances.
As a person thinks, so his/her life appears...
There is a school of thought that there is a law within our minds that weighs our lives in "the faultless balance of equity". It upholds that, as nurturers of our own thoughts and mental attitudes, we, as individuals, are the makers of the state and condition of our lives. That concept is pretty hard to swallow upon first approaching it. I worked for 7 years at an inner-city Boys and Girls Club, and I witnessed daily the cycle of poverty and demoralization that perpetuated itself in the children of our community, many of whom had children of their own, and were themselves the children of child-parents (I knew several 30-year-old grandparents).
As children, patterns are set that affect our inner- and outer- world views, often for the duration of our lives. But children become adults, and as adults, we can alter the patterns from childhood that shape our thoughts. To do this requires introspection and self-examination, and a willingness to accept as fact that each of us is the orginator of our own thoughts. In knowing myself and being consciously aware of the effects of my thoughts, the realization follows that my circumstances are the effects of inward causes. There are no accidents in my life, for both its harmonies and antipathies are the responsive echoes of my thoughts. Thus, I am the victim of circumstances of my own creation.
That is a hard-learned understanding, but it is also an empowering one, as well. Because as I come to know myself, I sense that law within my mind that demands balance and equity: every impure and selfish thought that I send out comes back to me in my circumstances as some form of suffering, while every pure and unselfish thought returns to me in some form of blessing. On my really bad days this holds true and rings clear, lifting my spirits. I know myself not as a peon flailing about, but as a master of the consequences of my own mental attitude, and thus the master of my circumstances.
As a person thinks, so his/her life appears...
posted by KR | 9/17/2004 08:50:00 PM
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