by this silent influence. Thus, if our thoughts and mental attitude
are of the wrong type, not only are our actions affected thereby,
but also we exert a silent influence that assists in driving the right
type of friends, opportunity, success and every possible good away
from us. The reverse also is equally true. By right thoughts and a
correct mental attitude we naturally attract to us all the good of
which our present life is capable.
[9] This may seem, at first sight, to be a sweeping statement, but
two homely illustrations will prove its reasonableness. First
we will take the case of a man committed to prison for
law-breaking. His environment is obviously due to his wrong
actions, the latter being the offspring of his thoughts, for
all actions spring from thoughts. Next let us take the case
of a man who is the trusted head of an efficient business.
Obviously his position is the result of his actions, for he
has climbed to it by hard work and faithful service, all due
in the first place to constructive thinking and a right attitude
of mind.
The Bible tells us that as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. It
is equally true to say that as a man _is_, so does he _think_, and,
that as he thinks, so do his outer life and circumstances become.
Therefore, as a man _is_, so is his environment. This may sound rather
metaphysical, but it is really quite simple, and proof meets us at
every turn. Take a man from slumdom and put him in nice surroundings,
and note what happens. Very soon he either drifts back to a slum or
turns his new house into a slum dwelling. Take a man of a higher type,
and put him in a slum, and soon he will either leave the slum or
change his slum dwelling into a more decent habitation. Put a slut
in a mansion, and she will turn it into a pig-sty, but put a woman
of a higher type in a hovel and she will make it clean enough to
entertain royalty. Therefore, before you can change a person's
environment it is necessary to change inwardly the person himself.
|