Monday, September 21, 2009
As a Man Thinketh
"Man is made or unmade by himself, in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools by which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choices and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master." James Allen from the book As A Man Thinketh
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4 comments:
Thanks for posting this, Angela. The older I get, the more I'm convinced Allen was correct in his emphasis on our thoughts governing great hunks of our destinies. The evidence is in watching the lives of people around me. You can literally hear the self-fulfilling prophecies in their speech, which obviously reflects their thoughts. Those who remain positive in their core beliefs fare much better in terms of their personal satisfaction than those unfortunate souls who view their futures as a series of dire challenges.
Aha! but Buddha understood this 2500 years ago:
BUDDHA SAID:
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Greg, I agree! I saw this evidenced over and over again when I was home this summer. The same people doing the same thing and spewing the same mantra about how life is hard and never going to change. The entire circumstances of their lives wrapped up in the belief that better is not possible. It is all about what we believe to be true and attract into our lives.
My favorite university prof used to say repeatedly, "Whatever you believe to be true in principle is true in reality." Funny, I never fully understood that 'til years later. :-)
Rob! Nice to hear from you. I'd hoped you wouldn't give up on me once you found out I'm a bossy boots! hehe
Thank you for sharing these wise words of the Buddha. I think I'm going to post this on my classroom door. A great reminder for the young and old.
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