OR THE LAW OF ATTRACTION IN THE THOUGHT WORLD
by William Walker Atkinson
Chapter
XIV
The GREAT DYNAMIC FORCES
YOU have noticed the difference between the successful and strong men
in any walk of life, and the unsuccessful weak men around them. You are
conscious of the widely differing characteristics of the two classes,
but somehow find it difficult to express just in what the difference lies.
Let us take a look at the matter.
Burton said:
"The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference
between men, the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant,
is energy and invincible determination - a purpose once fixed and then
Death or Victory.
That quality will do anything that can be done in this world - and no
talents, no circumstances; no opportunities will make a two-legged creature
a man without it."
I do not see how the idea could be more clearly expressed than Burton
has spoken. He has put his finger right in the center of the subject -
his eye has seen into the heart of it.
Energy and invincible determination - these two things will sweep away
mighty barriers, and will surmount the greatest obstacles.
And yet they must be used together.
Energy without determination will go to waste. Lots of men have plenty
of energy - they are full to overflowing with it; and yet they lack concentration
- they lack the concentrated force that enables them to bring their power
to bear upon the right spot.
Energy is not nearly so rare a thing as many imagine it to be. I can look
around me at any lime, and pick out a number of people I know who are
full of energy - many of them are energy plus - and yet, somehow, they
do not seem to make any headway. They are wasting their energy all the
time.
Now they are fooling with this thing - now meddling with that. They will
take up some trifling thing of no real interest or importance, and waste
enough energy and nervous force to carry them through a hard day's work,
and yet when they are through, nothing has been accomplished.
Others, who have plenty of energy, fail to direct it by the power of the
Will toward the desired end. "Invincible determination" - those
are the words. Do they not thrill you with their power? If you have something
to do, get to work and do it. Marshal your energy and then guide and direct
it by your Will - bestow upon it that "invincible determination"
and you will do the thing.
Everyone has within him a giant will, but the majority of us are too lazy
to use it. We cannot get ourselves nerved up to the point at which we
can say, truthfully: "I Will”.
If we can but pluck up our courage to that point, and will then pin it
in place so that it will not slip back, we will be able to call into play
that wonderful power - the Human Will.
Man, as a rule, has but the faintest conception of the power of the Will,
but those who have studied along the occult teachings, know that the Will
is one of the great dynamic forces of the universe, and if harnessed and
directed properly it is capable of accomplishing almost miraculous things.
"Energy and Invincible Determination: -- aren't they magnificent
words? Commit them to memory - press them like a die into the wax of your
mind, and they will be a constant inspiration to you in hours of need.
If you can get these words to vibrating in your being, you will be a giant
among pygmies. Say these words over and over again, and see how you are
filled with new life - see how your blood will circulate - how your nerves
will tingle. Make these words a part of yourself, and then go forth anew
to the battle of life, encouraged and strengthened. Put them into practice.
"Energy and Invincible Determination" - let that be your motto
in your work-a-day life, and you will be one of those rare men who are
able to "do things."
Many persons are deterred from doing their best by the fact that they
underrate themselves by comparison with the successful ones of life, or
rather; overrate the successful ones by comparison with themselves.
One opt the curious things noticed by those who are brought in contact
with the people who have "arrived" is the fact that these successful
people are not extraordinary after all.
You meet with some great writer, and you are disappointed to find him
very ordinary indeed. He does not converse brilliantly, and, in fact,
you know a score of everyday people who seem far more brilliant than this
man who dazzles you by his brightness in his books.
You meet some great statesman, and he does not seem nearly so wise as
lots of old fellows in your own village, who waste their wisdom upon the
desert air. You meet some great captain of industry, and he does not give
you the impression of the shrewdness so marked in some little bargain-driving
trader in your own town.
How is this, anyway? Are the reputations of these people fictitious, or
what is the trouble?
The trouble is this: you have imagined these people to be made of superior
metal, and are disappointed to find them made of the same stuff as yourself
and those about you.
But, you ask, wherein does their greatness of achievement lie? Chiefly
in this: Belief in themselves and in their inherent power, in their faculty
to concentrate on the work in hand, when they are working, and in their
ability to prevent leaks of power when they are not working. They believe
in themselves, and make every effort count.
Your village wiseman spills his wisdom on every corner, and talks to a
lot of fools; when if he really were wise he would save up his wisdom
and place it where it would do some work.
The brilliant writer does not waste his wit upon every corner; in fact,
he shuts the drawer in which he contains his wit, and opens it only when
he is ready to concentrate and get down to business.
The captain of industry has no desire to impress you with his shrewdness
and smartness. He never did, even when he was young. While his companions
were talking and boasting, and "blowing," this future successful
financier was "swain” wood and saying” nothing."
The great people of the world - that is, those who have "arrived"
- are not very different from you, or me, or the rest of us - all of us
are about the same at the base. You have only to meet them to see how
very "ordinary" they are, after all.
But, don't forget the fact that they know how to use the material that
is in them; while the rest of the crowd does not, and, in fact, even doubts
whether the true stuff is there. The man or woman who "gets there",
usually starts out by realizing that he or she is not so very different,
after all, from the successful people that they hear so much about.
This gives them confidence, and the result is they find out that they
are able to "do things." Then they learn to keep their mouths
closed, and to avoid wasting and dissipating their energy. They store
up energy, and concentrate it upon the task at hand; while their companions
are scattering their energies in every direction, trying to show off and
let people know how smart they are.
The man or woman who "gets there," prefers to wait for the applause
that follows deed accomplished, and cares very little for the praise that
attends promises of what we expect to do "some day," or an exhibition
of "smartness" without works.
One of the reasons that people who are thrown in with successful men often
manifest success themselves, is that they are able to watch the successful
man and sort of "catch the trick" of his greatness. They see
that he is an everyday sort of man, but that he thoroughly believes in
himself, and also that he does not waste energy, but reserves all his
force for the actual tasks before him. And, profiting by example, they
start to work and put the lesson into practice in their own lives.
Now what is the moral of this talk?
Simply this: Don't undervalue yourself, or overvalue others. Realize that
you are made of good stuff, and that locked within your mind are many
good things. Then get to work and unfold those good things, and make something
out of that good stuff. Do this by attention to the things before you,
and by giving to each the best that is in you, knowing that plenty of
more good things are in you ready for the fresh tasks that will come.
Put the best of yourself into the undertaking on hand, and do not cheat
the present task in favor of some future one. Your supply is inexhaustible.
And don't waste your good stuff on the crowd of gapers, watchers and critics
who are standing around watching you work.
Save your good stuff for your job, and don't be in too much of a hurry
for applause. Save up your good thoughts for "copy" if you are
a writer; save up your bright schemes for actual practice, if you are
a business man; save up your wisdom for occasion, if you are a statesman;
and, in each case, avoid the desire to scatter your pears before - well,
before the gaping crowd that wants to be entertained by a "free show."
Nothing very "high" about this teaching, perhaps, but it is
what many of you need very much. Stop fooling, and get down to business.
Stop wasting good raw material, and start to work making something worthwhile.
