Character Building Thought Power.pdf

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CHARACTER BUILDING THOUGHT POWER
by Ralph Waldo Trine
UNCONSCIOUSLY we are forming habits every moment of our lives. Some are
habits of a desirable nature; some are those of a most undesirable nature. Some,
though not so bad in themselves, are exceedingly bad in their cumulative effects,
and cause us at times much loss, much pain and anguish, while their opposites
would, on the contrary, bring as much peace and joy, as well as a continually
increasing power. Have we it within our power to determine at all times what
types of habits shall take form in our Iives? In other words, is habit-forming,
character-building, a matter of mere chance, or have we it within our own
control? We have, entirely and absolutely. "I will be what I will to be," can be said
and should be said by every human soul.
After this has been bravely and determinedly said, and not only said, but fully
inwardly realized, something yet remains. Something remains to be said
regarding the great law underlying habit-forming, character-building; for there is a
simple, natural, and thoroughly scientific method that all should know. A method
whereby old, undesirable, earth-binding habits can be broken, and new,
desirable, heaven lifting habits can be acquired, a method whereby life in part or
in its totality can be changed, provided one is sufficiently in earnest to know and,
knowing it, to apply the law.
Thought is the force underlying all. And what do we mean by this? Simply this:
Your every act - every conscious act - is preceded by a thought. Your dominating
thoughts determine your dominating actions. The acts repeated our own hands to
determine exactly what thoughts we entertain. In the realm of our own minds we
have absolute control, or we should have, and if at any time we have not, then
there is a method by which we can gain control, and in the realm of the mind
become thorough masters. In order to get to the very foundation of the matter, let
us look to this for a moment. For if thought is always parent to our acts, habits,
character, life, then it is first necessary that we know fully how to control our
thoughts.
Here let us refer to that law of the mind which is the same as is the law in
Connection with the reflex nerve system of the body, the law which says that
whenever one does a certain thing in a certain way it is easier to do the same
thing in the same way the next time, and still easier the next, and the next, and
the next, until in time it comes to pass that no effort is required, or no effort worth
speaking of; but on the opposite would require the effort. The mind carries with it
the power that perpetuates its own type of thought, the same as the body carries
with it through the reflex nerve system the power which perpetuates and makes
continually easier its own particular acts. Thus a simple effort to control one's
thoughts, a simple setting about it, even if at first failure is the result, and even if
for a time failure seems to be about the only result, will in time, sooner or later,
bring him to the point of easy, full, and complete control. Each one, then, can
grow the power of determining, controlling his thought, the power of determining
what types of thought he shall and what types he shall not entertain. For let us
never part in mind with this fact, that every earnest effort along any line makes
the end aimed at just a little easier for each succeeding effort, even if, as has
been said, apparent failure is the result of the earlier efforts. This is a case where
even failure is success, for the failure is not in the effort, and every earnest effort
adds an increment of power that will eventually accomplish the end aimed at. We
can, then, gain the full and complete power of determining what character, what
type of thoughts we entertain.
Shall we now give attention to some two or three concrete cases? Here is a man,
the cashier of a large mercantile establishment, or cashier of a bank. In his
morning paper he reads of a man who has become suddenly rich, has made a
fortune of half a million or a million dollars in a few hours through speculation on
the stock market. Perhaps he has seen an account of another mad who has
done practically the same thing lately. He is not quite wise enough, however, to
comprehend the fact that when he reads of one or two cases of this kind he could
find, were he to look into the matter carefully, one or two hundred cases of men
who have lost all they had in the same way. He thinks, however, that he will be
one of the fortunate ones. He does not fully realize that there are no short cuts to
wealth honestly made. He takes a part of his savings, and as is true in practically
all cases of this kind, he loses all that he has put in, Thinking now that he sees
why he lost, and that had he more money he would be able to get back what he
has lost, and perhaps make a handsome sum in addition, and make it quickly,
the thought comes to him to use some of the funds he has charge of. In nine
cases out of ten, if not ten cases in every ten, the results that inevitably follow
this are known sufficiently well to make it unnecessary to follow him farther.
Where is the man's safety in the light of what we have been considering? Simply
this: the moment the thought of using for his own purpose funds belonging to
others enters his mind, if he is wise he will instantly put the thought from his
mind. If he is a foot he will entertain it. In the degree in which he entertains it, it
will grow upon him; it will become the absorbing thought in his mind; it will finally
become master of his will power, and through rapidly succeeding steps,
dishonour, shame, degradation, penitentiary, remorse will be his. It is easy for
him to put the thought from his mind when it first enters; but as he entertains it, it
grows into such proportions that it becomes more and more difficult for him to put
it from his mind; and by and by it becomes practically impossible for him to do it.
The light of the match, which but a little effort of the breath would have
extinguished at first, has imparted a flame that is raging through the entire
building, and now it is almost if not quite impossible to conquer it. Shall we notice
another concrete case? A trite case, perhaps, but one in which we can see how
habit is formed, and also how the same habit can be unformed. Here is a young
man, he may be the son of poor parents, or he may be the son of rich parents;
one in the ordinary ranks of life, or one of high social standing, whatever that
means. He is good hearted, one of good impulses generally speaking, a good
fellow. He is out with some companions, companions of the same general type.
They are out for a pleasant evening, out for a good time. They are apt at times to
be thoughtless, even careless. The suggestion is made by one of the company,
not that they get drunk, no, not at all; but merely that they go and have something
to drink together. The young man whom we first mentioned, wanting to be genial,
scarcely listens to the suggestion that comes into his inner consciousness that it
will be better for him not to fall in with the others in this. He does not stop long
enough to realise the fact that the greatest strength and nobility of character lies
always in taking a firm stand on the aide of the right, and allow himself to be
influenced by nothing that will weaken this stand. He goes, therefore, with his
companions to the drinking place. With the same or with other companions this is
repeated now and then; and each time it is repeated his power of saying "No" is
gradually decreasing. In this way he has grown a little liking for intoxicants, and
takes them perhaps now and then by himself. He does not dream, or in the
slightest degree realize, what way be is tending, until there comes a day when he
awakens to the consciousness of the fact that he hasn’t the power nor even the
impulse to resist the taste which has gradually grown into a minor form of craving
for intoxicants. Thinking, however, that he will be able to stop when he is really in
danger of getting into the drink habit, he goes thoughtlessly and carelessly on.
We will pass over the various intervening steps and come to the time when we
find him a confirmed drunkard. It is simply the same old story told a thousand or
even a million times over.
He finally awakens to his true condition; and through the shame, the anguish, the
degradation, and the want that comes upon him he longs for a return of the days
when he was a free man. But hope has almost gone from his life. It would have
been easier for him never to have begun, and easier for him to have stopped
before he reached his present condition; but even in his present condition, be it
the lowest and the most helpless and hopeless that can be imagined, he has the
power to get out of it and be a free man once again. Let us see. The desire for
drink comes upon him again. If he entertain the thought, the desire, he is lost
again. His only hope, his only means of escape is this: the moment, aye, the very
instant the thought comes to him, if he will put it out of his mind he will thereby
put out the little flame of the match. If he entertain the thought the little flame will
communicate itself until almost before he is aware of it a consuming fire is raging,
and then effort is almost useless. The thought must be banished from the mind
the instant it enters; dalliance with it means failure and defeat, or a fight that will
be indescribably fiercer than it would be if the thought is ejected at the beginning.
And here we must say a word regarding a certain great law that we may call the
"law of indirectness." A thought can be put out of the mind easier and more
successfully, not by dwelling upon it, not by, attempting to put it out directly, but
by throwing the mind on to some other object by putting some other object of
thought into the mind. This may be, for example, the ideal of full and perfect self
mastery, or it may be something of a nature entirely distinct from the thought
which presents itself, something to which the mind goes easily and naturally. This
will in time become the absorbing thought in the mind, and the danger is past.
This same course of action repeated will gradually grow the power of putting
more readily out of mind the thought of drink as it presents itself, and will
gradually grow the power of putting into the mind those objects of thought one
most desires. The result will be that as time passes the thought of drink will
present itself less and less, and when it does present itself it can be put out of the
mind more easily each succeeding time, until the time comes when it can be put
out without difficulty, and eventually the time will come when the thought will
enter the mind no more at all.
Still another case. You may be more or less of an irritable nature-naturally,
perhaps, provoked easily to anger. Someone says something or does something
that you dislike, and your first impulse is to show resentment and possibly to give
way to anger. In the degree that you allow this resentment to display itself, that
you allow yourself to give way to anger, in that degree will it become easier to do
the same thing when any cause, even a very slight cause, presents itself. It will,
moreover, become continually harder for you to refrain from it, until resentment,
anger, and possibly even hatred and revenge become characteristics of your
nature, robbing it of its sunniness, its charm, and its brightness for all with whom
you come in contact. If, however, the instant the impulse to resentment and
anger arises, you check it then and there, and throw the mind on to some other
object of thought, the power will gradually grow itself of doing this same thing
more readily, more easily, as succeeding like causes present themselves, until
by and by the time will come when there will be scarcely anything that can irritate
you, and nothing that can impel you to anger; until by and by a matchless
brightness and charm of nature and disposition will become habitually yours, a
brightness and charm you would scarcely think possible today. And so we might
take up case after case, characteristic after characteristic, habit after habit. The
habit of fault-finding and its opposite are grown in identically the same way; the
characteristic of jealousy and its opposite; the characteristic of fear and its
opposite. In this same way we grow either love or hatred; in this way we come to
take a gloomy, pessimistic view of life, which objectifies itself in a nature, a
disposition of this type, or we grow that sunny, hopeful, cheerful, buoyant nature
that brings with it so much joy and beauty and power for ourselves, as well as so
much hope and inspiration and joy for all the world.
There is nothing more true in connection with human life than that we grow into
the likeness of those things we contemplate. Literally and scientifically and
necessarily true is it that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The "is" part is
his character. His character is the sum total of his habits. His habits have been
formed by· his conscious acts; but every conscious act is, as we have found,
preceded by a thought. And so we have it - thought on the one hand, character,
life, destiny on the other. And simple it becomes when we bear in mind that it is
simply the thought of the present moment, and the next moment when it is upon
us, and then the next, and so on through all time.
One can in this way attain to whatever ideals he would attain to. Two steps are
necessary: first, as the days pass, to form one's ideals; and second, to follow
them continually, whatever may arise, wherever they may lead him. Always
remember that the great and strong character is the one who is ever. ready to
sacrifice the present pleasure for the future good. He who will thus follow his
highest ideals as they present themselves to him day after day, year after year,
will find that as Dante, following his beloved from world to world, finally found her
at the gates of Paradise, so he will find himself eventually at the same gates. Life
is not, we may say, for mere passing pleasure, but for the highest unfoldment
that one can attain to, the noblest character that one can grow, and for the
greatest service that one can render to all mankind. In this, however, we will find
the highest pleasure, for in this the only real pleasure lies. He who would find it
by any short cuts, or by entering upon any other paths, will inevitably find that his
last state is always worse than his first; and if he proceed upon paths other than
these he will find that he will never find real and lasting pleasure at all.
The question is not, "What are the conditions in our lives?" but, "How do we meet
the conditions that we find there?" And whatever the conditions are, it is unwise
and profitless to look upon them, even if they are conditions that we would have
otherwise, in the attitude of complaint, for complaint will bring depression, and
depression will weaken and possibly even kill the spirit that would engender the
power that would enable us to bring into our lives an entirely new set of
conditions.
In order to be concrete, even at the risk of being personal, I will say that in my
own experience there have come at various times into my life circumstances and
conditions that I gladly would have run from at the time—conditions that caused
at the time humiliation and shame and anguish of spirit. But invariably, as
sufficient time has passed, I have been able to look back and see clearly the part
which every experience of the type just mentioned had to play in my life. I have
seen the lessons it was essential for me to learn; and the result is that now I
would not drop a single one of these experiences from my life, humiliating and
hard to bear as they were at the time; no, not for the world. And here is also a
lesson I have learned: whatever conditions are in my life today that are not the
easiest and most agreeable, and whatever conditions of this type all coming time
may bring, I will take them just as they come, without complaint, without
depression, and meet them in the wisest possible way; knowing that they are the
best possible conditions that could be in my life at the time, or otherwise they
would not be there; realizing the fact that, although I may not at the time see why
they are in my life, although I may not see just what part they have to play, the

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