做自己命运的主人
恐惧意味着害怕、畏缩，毫无疑问它是一种消极情绪，心中怀有恐惧的时候，我们通常都会为了躲开危险而试图回避。人类因为有了能思考的大脑，恐惧的对象变得更为广泛，在丰富的想象力的作用下，使得人类恐惧无处不在，无时不有。
恐惧是由肾上腺素分泌的激素所产生的，它能够使神经中枢变得脆弱，影响到血液的循环，使我们的肌肉系统变得软弱无力。因此，恐惧影响着整个生命的状态，无论是大脑、神经、肌肉，还是整个身体。
形容恐惧的词汇是如此的丰富，害怕、不安、担心、恐怖、惊吓、惊慌、担忧、犹豫、胆怯、困扰、不安全感、忧心忡忡、沮丧、惊恐不安、惊讶、惊惶换措、畏惧、战栗、大祸临头、末日将至等等，足可证明人类恐惧的普遍存在，更说明人类战胜恐惧的任务是何等的艰巨。
恐惧与孤独又是紧密联系在一起的。当我们心中只有自己的时候，我们就会因为孤独而恐惧，但是如果我们能够与别人建立融洽的关系，相互关心，相互爱护，恐惧就会自动消失。总而言之，恐惧是一种过分的自我关注所产生的结果。当然，战胜恐惧的主要方式是获得一种强有力的力量。那么被我们称作“力量”的这种神秘的生命力到底是什么呢？我们中的很多人可能尚不清楚，但这并不影响我们使用这种力量。
其实，在我们的生命体中蕴藏着一种主要的力量，只要遵循这种力量的法则和原理，我们就可以让这种生命的能量如滚滚的江水一样涌入自己的胸怀，提升生命的潜能，从而最大可能地释放自己的潜能。就如同我们不知道电是何物。但是我们却知道如果遵循电的法则，电就会成为我们听话的工具；它能照亮我们的家庭、我们的城市，使机器发动起来，成为我们生活的最好的助手。
- 探索真理
人类对于真理的探索，已经有了合乎逻辑的方法，它是一种程序化的、系统化的进程，而不再是盲目的探险。
- 探索终极的动因
追根究底，所谓的探索真理，其实就是在探索终极的动因。回顾人类发展的历史，每一次重大的社会进步，都取决于我们对某种动因的掌握，而一旦我们能把这种动因确实，并有意识地加以控制，我们自身一切的遭遇都能在我们的展望和掌握之中。
- 人可以做自己命运的主人
所以，人生，绝不是一场赌博；人，也绝不是际遇的玩偶。我们要做自己命运的主人，也完全可以做自己的主人。
- 万物之间彼此联系
- 矛盾无处不在
- 事物是矛盾的，同时又是整体的
- 精神世界亦是如此
- 一切皆然
- 只有精神世界是永恒
物质在不断地变化，不断地更新换代。弹指一挥间，千年也会成为过去，而精神却是真实永恒的。如果我们身处一个大都市，看着这里的高楼大厦，车水马龙，这里的物质文明绝不是一个世纪之前的人所想象、企及的。而如果我们的子孙在百年之后站在我们今天的位置看这里，他对我们今天所拥有的一切会毫无概念，因为今天的一切早就在历史的长河里变得面目全非了。
- 世界在不断地变化
- 宇宙精神的演变
万物无时无刻不处于瞬息万变之中，变化的根源又来自于宇宙精神的演变，任何事物都逃不过这个体系。
- 精神世界是最重要的
- 精神世界是动态的
人类的思考能力正是我们的精神世界与宇宙精神相共振，并把宇宙精神转化成动态心智的能力。精神的运动结果就形成了我们所谓的心智、思考力。
- 使精神产生运动的驱动力
任何一件事物要想运动就必须供给它充足的动力和燃料。对于人的思考来说，食物就是使它产生运动的物质燃料。一个人不吃东西就无法思考。我们的思维，如果不借助一定的物质手段，当然也就不可能成为快乐与福祉的源泉。
- 积极的思想会产生积极的结果
- 因果循环的自然真理
自然法则统治整个自然界。而只有我们的思想才能够理解这些自然法则，而一旦理解了这些思想法则，我们的心灵就会充满了力量。
- 知识产生真理
我们从小到大，都在接受获得知识的训练，这些知识是我们的精神能量的发电站，我们获得的知识越多，精神的能量就越大。
- 精神的发电厂
- 什么是精神发电厂的原材料
这种看似神秘的原材料就是我们的思想。
- 思想具有最强大的力量
- 思想创造奇迹
- 看到现象背后的本质
透过现象看本质，我们必须充分意识到，一切事物的表象都并非真实：地球不是静止的；大地也不是平坦的……
- 理解更多的真理
按照这个思路走下去，总有一天——也许就在某个宁静的清晨，我们就会知道更多的宇宙精神运行的真理，而人类所有的思想和行为模式都会因此而做出调整和改变，人类将会因此变得更强大。这一天，指日可待！
本课重点
１、矛盾的对立面是什么？
——物质世界中存在着不计其数的矛盾对立面：事物总是有着不同的颜色、形状、大小；电有正负有两极；世界有宏观，也有微观。等等。
２、矛盾的对立面是分别独立的实体吗？
——不是，它们都是同一个事物整体。
３、在物质、精神和心灵世界中有一个最基本的创造性原理，这个原理是什么？
——宇宙精神，它是永恒的能量，万物都是由它而来。
４、我们如何与这个创造性法则相联系？
——通过我们的思考能力。
５、这种创造性法则是如何运行的？
——思想是种子，思想引发行为，行为产生现实中的结果。
６、为什么物质世界不是永恒的？
——物质在不断地变化，一切物质存在都会在历史的长河中变得面目全非。
７、真正永恒的是什么？
——精神世界。
８、什么是精神发电厂的原材料？
——人类的思想。
９、我们怎样才能够理解更多的真理、自然法则？
——透过现象看到事物的本质。
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Part Nineteen
Fear is a powerful form of thought. It paralyzes the nerve centers, thus affecting the circulation of the blood.
This, in turn, paralyzes the muscular system, so that fear affects the entire being, body, brain and nerve, physical, mental, and muscular.
Of course the way to overcome fear is to become conscious of power. What is this mysterious vital force which we call power? We do not know, but then, neither do we know what electricity is.
But we do know that by conforming to the requirements of the law by which electricity is governed, it will be our obedient servant; that it will light our homes, our cities, run our machinery, and serve us in many useful capacities.
And so it is with vital force. Although we do not know what it is, and possibly may never know, we do know that it is a primary force which manifests through living bodies, and that by complying with the laws and principles by which it is governed, we can open ourselves to a more abundant inflow of this vital energy, and thus express the highest possible degree of mental, moral, and spiritual efficiency.
This part tells of a very simple way of developing this vital force. If you put into practice the information outlined in this lesson you will soon develop the sense of power which has ever been the distinguishing mark of genius.
PART NINETEEN
1. The search for truth is no longer a haphazard adventure, but it is a systematic process, and is logical in its operation. Every kind of experience is given a voice in shaping its decision.
2. In seeking the truth we are seeking ultimate cause; we know that every human experience is an effect; then if we may ascertain the cause, and if we shall find that this cause is one which we can consciously control, the effect or the experience will be within our control also.
3. Human experience will then no longer be the football of fate; a man will not be the child of fortune, but destiny. Fate and fortune will be controlled as readily as a captain controls his ship, or an engineer his train.
4. All things are finally resolvable into the same element and as they are thus translatable, one into the other, they must ever be in relation and may never be in opposition to one another.
5. In the physical world there are innumerable contrasts, and these may for convenience sake, be designated by distinctive names. There are sizes, colors, shades or ends to all things. There is a North Pole, and a South Pole, an inside and an outside, a seen and an unseen, but these expressions merely serve to place extremes in contrast.
6. They are names given to two different parts of one quantity. The two extremes are relative; they are not separate entities, but are two parts or aspects of the whole.
7. In the mental world we find the same law; we speak of knowledge and ignorance, but ignorance is but a lack of knowledge and is therefore found to be simply a word to express the absence of knowledge; it has no principle in itself.
8. In the Moral World we again find the same law; we speak of good and evil, but Good is a reality, something tangible, while Evil is found to be simply a negative condition, the absence of Good. Evil is sometimes thought to be a very real condition, but it has no principle, no vitality, no life; we know this because it can always be destroyed by Good; just as Truth destroys Error and light destroys darkness, so Evil vanishes when Good appears; there is therefore but one principle in the Moral World.
9. We find exactly the same law obtaining in the Spiritual world; we speak of Mind and Matter as two separate entities, but clearer insight makes it evident that there is but one operative principle and that is Mind.
10. Mind is the real and the eternal. Matter is forever changing; we know that in the eons of time a hundred years is but as a day. If we stand in any large city and let the eye rest on the innumerable large and magnificent buildings, the vast array of conveniences of modern civilization, we may remember that not one of them was there just over a century ago, and if we could stand on the same spot in a hundred years from now, in all probability we should find that but few of them remained.
11. In the animal kingdom we find the same law of change. The millions and millions of animals come and go, a few years constituting their span of life. In the plant world the change is still more rapid. Many plants and nearly all grasses come and go in a single year. When we pass to the inorganic, we expect to find something more substantial, but as we gaze on the apparently solid continent, we are told that it arose from the ocean; we see the giant mountain and are told that the place where it now stands was once a lake; and as we stand in awe before the great cliffs in the Yosemite Valley we can easily trace the path of the glaciers which carried all before them.
12. We are in the presence of continual change, and we know that this change is but the evolution of the Universal Mind, the grand process whereby all things are continually being created anew, and we come to know that matter is but a form which Mind takes and is therefore simply a condition. Matter has no principle; Mind is the only principle.
13. We have then come to know that Mind is the only principle which is operative in the physical, mental, moral and spiritual world.
14. We also know that this mind is static, mind at rest, we also know that the ability of the individual to think is his ability to act upon the Universal Mind and convert it into dynamic mind, or mind in motion.
15. In order to do this fuel must be applied in the form of food, for man cannot think without eating, and so we find that even a spiritual activity such as thinking cannot be converted into sources of pleasure and profit except by making use of material means.
16. It requires energy of some kind to collect electricity and convert it into a dynamic power, it requires the rays of the sun to give the necessary energy to sustain plant life, so it also requires energy in the form of food to enable the individual to think and thereby act upon the Universal Mind.
17. You may know that thought constantly, eternally is taking form, is forever seeking expression, or you may not, but the fact remains that if your thought is powerful, constructive, and positive, this will be plainly evident in the state of your health, your business and your environment; if your thought is weak, critical, destructive and negative generally, it will manifest in your body as fear, worry and nervousness, in your finance as lack and limitation, and in discordant conditions in your environment.
18. All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions are of value only as they confer power. Events are significant only as they affect power; all things represent certain forms and degrees of power.
19. A knowledge of cause and effect as shown by the laws governing steam, electricity, chemical affinity and gravitation enables men to plan courageously and to execute fearlessly. These laws are called Natural Laws, because they govern the physical world, but all power is not physical power; there is also mental power, and there is moral and spiritual power.
20. What are our schools, our universities, but mental powerhouses, places where mental power is being developed?
21. As there are many mighty powerhouses for the application of power to ponderous machinery, whereby raw material is collected and converted into the necessities and comforts of life, so the mental powerhouses collect the raw material and cultivate and develop it into a power which is infinitely superior to all the forces of nature, marvelous though they may be.
22. What is this raw material which is being collected in these thousands of mental powerhouses all over the world and developed into a power which is evidently controlling every other power? In its static form it is Mind - in its dynamic form, it is Thought.
23. This power is superior because it exists on a higher plane, because it has enabled man to discover the law by which these wonderful forces of Nature could be harnessed and made to do the work of hundreds and thousands of men. It has enabled man to discover laws whereby time and space have been annihilated, and the law of gravitation overcome.
24. Thought is the vital force or energy which is being developed and which has produced such startling results in the last half century as to bring about a world which would be absolutely inconceivable to a man existing only 50 or 25 years ago. If such results have been secured by organizing these mental powerhouses in 50 years, what may not be expected in another 50 years?
25. The substance from which all things are created is infinite in quantity; we know that light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, and we know that there are stars so remote that it takes light 2,000 years to reach us, and we know that such stars exist in all parts of the heaven; we know, too, that this light comes in waves, so that if the ether on which these waves travel was not continuous the light would fail to reach us; we can then only come to the conclusion that this substance, or ether, or raw material, is universally present.
26. How, then, does it manifest in form? In electrical science a battery is formed by connecting the opposite poles of zinc and copper, which causes a current to flow from one to the other and so provides energy. This same process is repeated in respect to every polarity, and as all form simply depends upon the rate of vibration and consequent relations of atoms to each other, if we wish to change the form of manifestation we must change the polarity. This is the principle of causation.
27. For your exercise this week, concentrate, and when I use the word concentrate, I mean all that the word implies; become so absorbed in the object of your thought that you are conscious of nothing else, and do this a few minutes every day. You take the necessary time to eat in order that the body may be nourished, why not take the time to assimilate your mental food?
28. Let the thought rest on the fact that appearances are deceptive. The earth is not flat, neither is it stationary; the sky is not a dome, the sun does not move, the stars are not small specks of light, and matter which was once supposed to be fixed has been found to be in a state of perpetual flux.
29. Try to realize that the day is fast approaching -- its dawn is now at hand -- when modes of thought and action must be adjusted to rapidly increasing knowledge of the operation of eternal principles.
Silent thought, is, after all, the mightiest agent in human affairs.
Channing
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Study Questions with Answers
181. How are extremes placed in contrast?
They are designated by distinctive names, such as inside and outside, top and bottom, light and dark, good and bad.
182. Are these separate entities?
No, they are parts or aspects of one Whole.
183. What is the one creative Principle in the physical, mental and spiritual world?
The Universal Mind, or the Eternal Energy from which all things proceed.
184. How are we related to this creative Principle?
By our ability to think.
185. How does this creative Principle become operative?
Thought is the seed, which results in action and action results in form.
186. Upon what does form depend?
Upon the rate of vibration.
187. How may the rate of vibration be changed?
By mental action.
188. Upon what does mental action depend?
Upon polarity, action and reaction, between the individual and the Universal.
189. Does the creative energy originate in the individual or the Universal?
In the Universal, but the Universal can manifest only through the individual.
190. Why is the individual necessary?
Because the Universal is static, and requires energy to start it in motion. This is furnished by food which is converted into energy, which in turn enables the individual to think. When the individual stops eating he stops thinking; then he no longer acts upon the Universal; there is consequently no longer any action or reaction; the Universal is then only pure mind in static form -- mind at rest.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Part Nineteen
Fear is a powerful form of thought. It paralyzes the nerve centers, thus affecting the circulation of the blood.
This, in turn, paralyzes the muscular system, so that fear affects the entire being, body, brain and nerve, physical, mental, and muscular.
Of course the way to overcome fear is to become conscious of power. What is this mysterious vital force which we call power? We do not know, but then, neither do we know what electricity is.
But we do know that by conforming to the requirements of the law by which electricity is governed, it will be our obedient servant; that it will light our homes, our cities, run our machinery, and serve us in many useful capacities.
And so it is with vital force. Although we do not know what it is, and possibly may never know, we do know that it is a primary force which manifests through living bodies, and that by complying with the laws and principles by which it is governed, we can open ourselves to a more abundant inflow of this vital energy, and thus express the highest possible degree of mental, moral, and spiritual efficiency.
This part tells of a very simple way of developing this vital force. If you put into practice the information outlined in this lesson you will soon develop the sense of power which has ever been the distinguishing mark of genius.
PART NINETEEN
1. The search for truth is no longer a haphazard adventure, but it is a systematic process, and is logical in its operation. Every kind of experience is given a voice in shaping its decision.
2. In seeking the truth we are seeking ultimate cause; we know that every human experience is an effect; then if we may ascertain the cause, and if we shall find that this cause is one which we can consciously control, the effect or the experience will be within our control also.
3. Human experience will then no longer be the football of fate; a man will not be the child of fortune, but destiny. Fate and fortune will be controlled as readily as a captain controls his ship, or an engineer his train.
4. All things are finally resolvable into the same element and as they are thus translatable, one into the other, they must ever be in relation and may never be in opposition to one another.
5. In the physical world there are innumerable contrasts, and these may for convenience sake, be designated by distinctive names. There are sizes, colors, shades or ends to all things. There is a North Pole, and a South Pole, an inside and an outside, a seen and an unseen, but these expressions merely serve to place extremes in contrast.
6. They are names given to two different parts of one quantity. The two extremes are relative; they are not separate entities, but are two parts or aspects of the whole.
7. In the mental world we find the same law; we speak of knowledge and ignorance, but ignorance is but a lack of knowledge and is therefore found to be simply a word to express the absence of knowledge; it has no principle in itself.
8. In the Moral World we again find the same law; we speak of good and evil, but Good is a reality, something tangible, while Evil is found to be simply a negative condition, the absence of Good. Evil is sometimes thought to be a very real condition, but it has no principle, no vitality, no life; we know this because it can always be destroyed by Good; just as Truth destroys Error and light destroys darkness, so Evil vanishes when Good appears; there is therefore but one principle in the Moral World.
9. We find exactly the same law obtaining in the Spiritual world; we speak of Mind and Matter as two separate entities, but clearer insight makes it evident that there is but one operative principle and that is Mind.
10. Mind is the real and the eternal. Matter is forever changing; we know that in the eons of time a hundred years is but as a day. If we stand in any large city and let the eye rest on the innumerable large and magnificent buildings, the vast array of conveniences of modern civilization, we may remember that not one of them was there just over a century ago, and if we could stand on the same spot in a hundred years from now, in all probability we should find that but few of them remained.
11. In the animal kingdom we find the same law of change. The millions and millions of animals come and go, a few years constituting their span of life. In the plant world the change is still more rapid. Many plants and nearly all grasses come and go in a single year. When we pass to the inorganic, we expect to find something more substantial, but as we gaze on the apparently solid continent, we are told that it arose from the ocean; we see the giant mountain and are told that the place where it now stands was once a lake; and as we stand in awe before the great cliffs in the Yosemite Valley we can easily trace the path of the glaciers which carried all before them.
12. We are in the presence of continual change, and we know that this change is but the evolution of the Universal Mind, the grand process whereby all things are continually being created anew, and we come to know that matter is but a form which Mind takes and is therefore simply a condition. Matter has no principle; Mind is the only principle.
13. We have then come to know that Mind is the only principle which is operative in the physical, mental, moral and spiritual world.
14. We also know that this mind is static, mind at rest, we also know that the ability of the individual to think is his ability to act upon the Universal Mind and convert it into dynamic mind, or mind in motion.
15. In order to do this fuel must be applied in the form of food, for man cannot think without eating, and so we find that even a spiritual activity such as thinking cannot be converted into sources of pleasure and profit except by making use of material means.
16. It requires energy of some kind to collect electricity and convert it into a dynamic power, it requires the rays of the sun to give the necessary energy to sustain plant life, so it also requires energy in the form of food to enable the individual to think and thereby act upon the Universal Mind.
17. You may know that thought constantly, eternally is taking form, is forever seeking expression, or you may not, but the fact remains that if your thought is powerful, constructive, and positive, this will be plainly evident in the state of your health, your business and your environment; if your thought is weak, critical, destructive and negative generally, it will manifest in your body as fear, worry and nervousness, in your finance as lack and limitation, and in discordant conditions in your environment.
18. All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions are of value only as they confer power. Events are significant only as they affect power; all things represent certain forms and degrees of power.
19. A knowledge of cause and effect as shown by the laws governing steam, electricity, chemical affinity and gravitation enables men to plan courageously and to execute fearlessly. These laws are called Natural Laws, because they govern the physical world, but all power is not physical power; there is also mental power, and there is moral and spiritual power.
20. What are our schools, our universities, but mental powerhouses, places where mental power is being developed?
21. As there are many mighty powerhouses for the application of power to ponderous machinery, whereby raw material is collected and converted into the necessities and comforts of life, so the mental powerhouses collect the raw material and cultivate and develop it into a power which is infinitely superior to all the forces of nature, marvelous though they may be.
22. What is this raw material which is being collected in these thousands of mental powerhouses all over the world and developed into a power which is evidently controlling every other power? In its static form it is Mind - in its dynamic form, it is Thought.
23. This power is superior because it exists on a higher plane, because it has enabled man to discover the law by which these wonderful forces of Nature could be harnessed and made to do the work of hundreds and thousands of men. It has enabled man to discover laws whereby time and space have been annihilated, and the law of gravitation overcome.
24. Thought is the vital force or energy which is being developed and which has produced such startling results in the last half century as to bring about a world which would be absolutely inconceivable to a man existing only 50 or 25 years ago. If such results have been secured by organizing these mental powerhouses in 50 years, what may not be expected in another 50 years?
25. The substance from which all things are created is infinite in quantity; we know that light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, and we know that there are stars so remote that it takes light 2,000 years to reach us, and we know that such stars exist in all parts of the heaven; we know, too, that this light comes in waves, so that if the ether on which these waves travel was not continuous the light would fail to reach us; we can then only come to the conclusion that this substance, or ether, or raw material, is universally present.
26. How, then, does it manifest in form? In electrical science a battery is formed by connecting the opposite poles of zinc and copper, which causes a current to flow from one to the other and so provides energy. This same process is repeated in respect to every polarity, and as all form simply depends upon the rate of vibration and consequent relations of atoms to each other, if we wish to change the form of manifestation we must change the polarity. This is the principle of causation.
27. For your exercise this week, concentrate, and when I use the word concentrate, I mean all that the word implies; become so absorbed in the object of your thought that you are conscious of nothing else, and do this a few minutes every day. You take the necessary time to eat in order that the body may be nourished, why not take the time to assimilate your mental food?
28. Let the thought rest on the fact that appearances are deceptive. The earth is not flat, neither is it stationary; the sky is not a dome, the sun does not move, the stars are not small specks of light, and matter which was once supposed to be fixed has been found to be in a state of perpetual flux.
29. Try to realize that the day is fast approaching -- its dawn is now at hand -- when modes of thought and action must be adjusted to rapidly increasing knowledge of the operation of eternal principles.
Silent thought, is, after all, the mightiest agent in human affairs.
Channing
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Study Questions with Answers
181. How are extremes placed in contrast?
They are designated by distinctive names, such as inside and outside, top and bottom, light and dark, good and bad.
182. Are these separate entities?
No, they are parts or aspects of one Whole.
183. What is the one creative Principle in the physical, mental and spiritual world?
The Universal Mind, or the Eternal Energy from which all things proceed.
184. How are we related to this creative Principle?
By our ability to think.
185. How does this creative Principle become operative?
Thought is the seed, which results in action and action results in form.
186. Upon what does form depend?
Upon the rate of vibration.
187. How may the rate of vibration be changed?
By mental action.
188. Upon what does mental action depend?
Upon polarity, action and reaction, between the individual and the Universal.
189. Does the creative energy originate in the individual or the Universal?
In the Universal, but the Universal can manifest only through the individual.
190. Why is the individual necessary?
Because the Universal is static, and requires energy to start it in motion. This is furnished by food which is converted into energy, which in turn enables the individual to think. When the individual stops eating he stops thinking; then he no longer acts upon the Universal; there is consequently no longer any action or reaction; the Universal is then only pure mind in static form -- mind at rest.
