The solution lies within the problem. The answer is in every question. If
you are presented with a difficult situation and you cannot see your way
clear, the best procedure is to assume that Infinite Intelligence within
your subconscious mind knows all and sees all, has the answer, and is revealing it to you now. Your new mental attitude that the creative intelligence is bringing about a happy solution will enable you to find the answer. Rest assured that such an attitude of mind will bring order, peace
and meaning to all your undertakings.
You are a creature of habit. Habit is the function of your subconscious
mind. You learned to swim, ride a bicycle, dance and drive a car by consciously doing these things over and over again until they established
tracks in your subconscious mind. Then, the automatic habit action of
your subconscious mind took over. This is sometimes called second nature
which is a reaction of your subconscious mind to your thinking and acting.
You are free to choose a good habit or a bad habit. If you repeat a negative thought or act over a period of time, you will be under the compulsion of a habit. The law off your subconscious is compulsion.
Mr Jones said to me, “An uncontrollable urge to drink seizes upon me, and
I remain drunk for two weeks at a time. I can’t give up this terrible habit.”
Time and time again these experiences had occurred to this unfortunate
man. He had grown into the habit of drinking to excess. Although he had
started drinking of his own initiative, he also began to realize that he
could change the habit and establish a new one. He said that while
through his will power he was able to suppress his desires temporarily, his
continued efforts to suppress the many urges only made matters worse.
His repeated failures convinced him that he was hopeless and powerless
to control his urge or obsession. This idea of being powerless operated as
a powerful suggestion to his subconscious mind and aggravated his weakness, making his life a succession of failures.
I taught him to harmonize the functions of the conscious and subconscious mind. When these two cooperate, the idea or desire implanted in
the sub mind is realized. His reasoning mind agreed that if the old habit
path or track had carried him into trouble, he could consciously form a
new path to freedom, sobriety and peace of mind. He knew that his destructive habit was automatic, but since it was acquired through his conscious choice, he realized that if he had been conditioned negatively, he
also could be conditioned positively. As a result, he ceased thinking of the fact that he was powerless to overcome the habit. Moreover, he understood clearly that there was no obstacle to his healing other than his own
thought. Therefore, there was no occasion for great mental effort or mental coercion.
This man acquired a practice of relaxing his body and getting into a relaxed drowsy, meditative state. Then he filled his mind with the picture of
the desired end, knowing his subconscious mind could bring it about the
easiest way. He imagined his daughter congratulating him on his freedom,
and saying to him, “Daddy, it’s wonderful to have you home!’ he had lost
his family through drink. He was not allowed to visit them, and his wife
would not speak to him.
Regularly, systematically, he used to sit down and meditate in the way
outlined. When his attention wandered, he made it a habit to immediately
recall the mental picture of his daughter with her smile and the scene of
his home enlivened by her cheerful voice. All this brought about a reconditioning of his mind. It was a gradual process. He kept it up. He persevered knowing that sooner or later he would establish a new habit pattern
in his subconscious mind.
I told him that he could liken his conscious mind to a camera, that his
subconscious mind was the sensitive plate on which he registered and impressed the picture. This made a profound impression on him, and his
whole aim was to firmly impress the picture on his mind and develop it
there. Films are developed in the dark; likewise, mental pictures are developed in the darkroom of the subconscious mind.
Realizing that his conscious mind was simply a camera, he used no effort.
There was no mental struggle. He quietly adjusted his thoughts and focused his attention on the scene before him until he gradually became
identified with the picture. He became absorbed in the mental atmosphere, repeating the mental movie frequently. There was no room for
doubt that a healing would follow. When there was any temptation to
drink, he would switch his imagination from any reveries of drinking bouts
to the feeling of being at home with his family. He was successful because
he confidently expected to experience the picture he was developing in his
mind. Today he is president of a multimillion dollar concern and is radiantly happy.
Mr Block said that he had been making an annual income of $20,000, but
for the past three months all doors seemed to jam tightly. He brought
clients up to the point where they were about to sign on the dotted line,
and then at the eleventh hour the door closed. He added that perhaps a jinx was following him. In discussing the matter with Mr Block, I discovered that three months
previously he had become very irritated, annoyed and resentful toward a
dentist who, after he had promised to sign a contract, had withdrawn at
the last moment. He began to live in the unconscious fear that other
clients would do the same, thereby setting up a history of frustration,
hostility and obstacles. He gradually built up in his mind a belief in obstruction and last minute cancellations until a vicious circle had been established. What I fear most has come upon me. Mr Block realized that the
trouble was in his own mind and that it was essential to change his mental attitude.
His run of so-called misfortune was broken in the following way: “I realize
I am one with the Infinite Intelligence of my subconscious mind which
knows no obstacle, difficulty or delay. I live in the joyous expectancy of
the best. My deeper mind responds to my thoughts. I know that the work
of the infinite power of my subconscious cannot be hindered. Infinite Intelligence always finishes successfully whatever it begins. Creative wisdom works through me bringing all my plans and purposes to completion.
Whatever I start, I bring to a successful conclusion. My aim in life is to
give wonderful service, and all those whom I contact are blessed by what
I have to offer. All my work comes to full fruition in divine order.
He repeated this prayer every morning before going to call on his customers, and he also prayed each night prior to sleep. In a short time he
had established a new habit pattern in his subconscious mind, and he was
back in his old accustomed stride as a successful salesman.
A young man asked Socrates how he could get wisdom. Socrates replied,
“Come with me.” He took the lad to a river, pushed the boy’s head under
the water, held it there until the boy was gasping for air, then relaxed and
released his head. When the boy regained his composure, he asked him,
“What did you desire most when you were under water?”
“I wanted air,” said the boy.
Socrates said to him, “When you want wisdom as much as you wanted air
when you were immersed in the water, you will receive it.”
Likewise, when you really have an intense desire to overcome any block
in your life, and you come to a clear-cut decision that there is a way out,
and that is the course you wish to follow, then victory and triumph are assured.
If you really want peace of mind and inner calm, you will get it, regardless of how unjustly you have been treated, or how unfair the boss has been
or what a mean scoundrel someone has proved to be. All this makes no
difference to you when you awaken to your mental and spiritual powers.
You know what you want, and you will definitely refuse to let the thieves
(thoughts) of hatred, anger, hostility and ill will rob you of peace, harmony, health and happiness. You cease to become upset by people, conditions, news and events by identifying your thoughts immediately with
your aim in life. Your aim is peace, health, inspiration, harmony and abundance. Feel a river of peace of flowing through you now. Your thought is
the immaterial and invisible power, and you choose to let it bless, inspire
and give you peace.
This is a case history of a married man with four children who was supporting and secretly living with another woman during his business trips.
He was ill, nervous, irritable and cantankerous and he could not sleep
without drugs. The doctor’s medicine failed to bring down his high blood
pressure of over two hundred. He had pains in numerous organs of his
body which doctors could not diagnose or relieve. To make matters worse,
he was drinking heavily.
The cause of all this was a deep unconscious sense of guilt. He had violated the marriage vows, and this troubled him. The religious creed he was
brought up on was deeply lodged in his subconscious mind and he drank
excessively to heal the wound of guilt. Some invalids take morphine and
codeine for severe pains, he was talking alcohol for the pain or wound in
his mind. It was the old story of adding fuel to the fire.