people who live in beautiful homes, who have plenty to spend, who travel about in yachts and fine cars, are for the most part people who started out to accomplish some one definite thing. They had one clear goal in mind, and everything they did centered on that goal.
Most men just jog along in a rut, going through the same old routine day after day, eking out a bare livelihood, with no definite desire other than the vague hope that fortune will some day drop in their lap. Fortune doesn’t often play such pranks.
And a rut, you know, differs from a grave only in depth. A life such as that is no better than the animals live. Work all day for money to buy bread, to give you strength to work all the next day to buy more bread. There is nothing to it but the daily search for food and sustenance. No time for aught but worry and struggle. No hope of anything but the surcease of sorrow in death.
You can have anything you want — if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, have anything you desire, accomplish anything you set out to accomplish — if you will hold to that desire with singleness of purpose; if you will understand and BELIEVE in your own powers to accomplish.
What is it that you wish in life? Is it health? In the chapter on health I will show you that you can be radiantly well — without drugs, without tedious exercises. It matters not if you are crippled or bedridden or infirm. Your body rebuilds itself entirely every eleven months. You can start now rebuilding along perfect lines.
Is it wealth you wish? In the chapter on success I will show you how you can increase your income, how you can forge rapidly ahead in your chosen business or profession.
Is it happiness you ask for? Follow the rules herein laid down and you will change your whole outlook on life. Doubts and uncertainty will vanish, to be followed by calm assurance and abiding peace. You will possess the things your heart desires. You will have love and companionship. You will win to contentment and happiness.
But desire must be impressed upon the subconscious before it can be accomplished. Merely conscious desire seldom gets you anything. It is like the daydreams that pass through your mind. Your desire must be visualized, must be persisted in, must be concentrated upon, and must be impressed upon your subconscious mind. Don’t bother about the means for accomplishing your desire — you can safely leave that to your subconscious mind. It knows how to do a great many things besides building and repairing your body. If you can visualize the thing you want, if you can impress upon your subconscious mind the belief that you have it, you can safely leave to it the finding of the means of getting it. Trust the Universal Mind to show the way.
The mind that provided everything in such profusion must joy in seeing us take advantage of that profusion. “For herein is the Father glorified — that ye bear much fruit.”
You do not have to wait until tomorrow, or next year, or the next world, for happiness. You do not have to die to be saved. “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” That does not mean that it is up in the heavens or on some star or in the next world. It means here and now! All the possibilities of happiness are always here and always available. At the open door of every man’s life there lies this pearl of great price — the understanding of man’s dominion over the earth. With that understanding and conviction you can do everything, which lies before you to do, and you can do it to the satisfaction of everyone and the well-being of yourself. God and good are synonymous. And God-good-is absent only to those who believe He is absent.
Find your desire, impress it upon your thought, and you have opened the door for opportunity. And remember, in this new heaven and new earth, which I am trying to show you, the door of opportunity is never closed. As a matter of fact, you constantly have all that you will take. So keep yourself in a state of receptivity. It is your business to receive abundantly and perpetually. The law of opportunity enforces its continuance and availability. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
Infinite Mind saith to every man, “Come ye to the open fountain.” The understanding of the law of life will remedy every discord, giving “Beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
Believe that you share in that goodness and bounty. Act the part you wish to play in this life. Act healthy, act prosperous, and act happy. Make such a showing with what you have that you will carry the conviction to your subconscious mind that all good and perfect gifts ARE yours. Register health, prosperity and happiness on your inner mind and some fine morning soon you will wake to find that you are healthy, prosperous and happy, that you have your dearest wish in life.
The Soul’s Sincere Desire
Do you know what prayer is? Just an earnest desire that we take to God — to Universal Mind — for fulfillment. As Montgomery puts it — “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed.” It is our Heart’s Desire. At least, the only prayer that is worth anything is the prayer that asks for our real desires. That kind of prayer is heard. That kind of prayer is answered.
Mere lip prayers get you nowhere. It doesn’t matter what your lips may say. The thing that counts is what your heart desires, what your mind images on your subconscious thought, and through it on Universal Mind. “Thou, when thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogue and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.”
What was it these hypocrites that Jesus speaks of really wanted? “To be seen of men.” And their prayers were answered. Their sincere desire was granted. They were seen of men. “They have their reward.” But as for what their lips were saying, neither God nor they paid any attention to it.
“Thou, when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Go where you can be alone, where you can concentrate your thoughts on your one innermost sincere desire, where you can impress that desire upon your subconscious mind without distraction, and so reach the Universal Mind (the Father of all things).
But even sincere desire is not enough by itself. There must be BELIEF, too. “What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.” You must realize God’s ability to give you every good thing. You must believe in his readiness to do it. Model your thoughts after the Psalmists of old. They first asked for that which they wanted, then killed all doubts and fears by affirming God’s power and His willingness to grant their prayers. Read any of the Psalms and you will see what I mean. So when you pray, ask for the things that you want. Then affirm God’s readiness and His Power to grant your prayer. Glenn Clark, in “The Soul’s Sincere Desire,” gives some wonderfully helpful suggestions along these lines. To quote him:
“For money troubles, realize: There is no want in Heaven, and affirm:
“Our Heavenly Father, we know that thy Love is as infinite as the sky is infinite, and Thy Ways of manifesting that love are as unaccountable as the stars of the heavens.
“Thy Power is greater than man’s horizon, and Thy Ways of manifesting that Power are more numerous than the sands of the sea.
“As Thou keepest the stars in their courses, so shalt Thou guide our steps in perfect harmony, without clash or discord of any kind, if we keep our trust in Thee. For we know Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. We know that, if we acknowledge Thee in all our ways, Thou wilt direct our paths. For Thou art the God of Love, Giver of every good and perfect gift, and
