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“For life is the mirror of king and slave,

’Tis just what we are and do;

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come back to you.”

We often speak of psychology and metaphysics as new sciences, and think that the study of these began within the last half-century. Yet if you refer to the very first book of the Bible, you find more profound examples of applied psychology than in any textbook of today.

Take the story of Jacob as an instance. You remember how Jacob agreed to serve Laban seven years for the hand of Rachel in marriage. And how, through the guile of his father-in-law, Jacob had to serve a second seven years. Even then, when he would have gone back to his own country, Laban begged him to tarry yet a while longer, and agreed to pay Jacob as wages “all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the speckled and spotted among the goats.”

Since Laban first removed from the herds all cattle of this kind, the chances of Jacob’s getting rich on the speckled offspring of solid-colored cattle seemed poor indeed.

But Jacob evidently knew his Scriptures, and the idea we think so new, that first comes the “word” (or mental image), then the physical manifestation, was in his mind even when he made the bargain.

For what did he do?

“And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

“And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

“And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

“And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them unto Laban’s cattle.

“And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters that they might conceive among the rods.

“But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in; so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.

“And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.”

You have heard of the English cuckoo. Too lazy to rear and care for its own young, it goes to the nests of other birds when they are off seeking food, notes the markings on their eggs, then comes back later and lays in their nest eggs of those same exact markings!

Various saints of the middle ages are said to have had markings on their hands, feet and sides similar to those on the crucified Saviour, acquired from constant contemplation of His image. And only recently I read of an adopted child, which was reported to have developed markings similar in all respects to those of the real son of its foster-parents, although the son had died some months before the adopted child was born. The parents were satisfied it was a case of reincarnation, but it seemed to me merely a materialization in the foster-child of the images in the mother’s mind. She had grieved inexpressibly over her loss. She had adopted the waif to try to fill the void left by her own little boy. And striving to see in his every action some reminder of her lost one, those images so strongly held in her mind actually expressed themselves in the body of her foster-child.

It all comes back to that first line of the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John—“In the beginning was the Word.” For what is a “Word”? A mental image, is it not? Before an architect can build a house, he must have a mental image of what he is to build. Before you can accomplish anything, you must have a clear mental image of what it is you want to do.

Turn to the Scriptural account of the creation of the world. What is the outstanding fact you find there?

IN EVERY THING GOD CREATED, THE “WORD” CAME FIRST—THEN THE MATERIAL FORM!

Just listen: “And God said, Let there be light . . . And God said, Let there be a firmament . . . And God said, Let us make man . . .”

First the “word,” then the material form. Scientists tell us that words denote ideas, mental concepts—that you can always judge how far a race has advanced in the mental scale by the number of words it uses. Its vocabulary is the measure of its ideas. Few words—few ideas, few mental images.

Therefore, when God said—“Let the earth bring forth grass,” He had in mind a clear mental image of what grass was like. In other words, He had already formed the mold. As the Scriptures put it—“The Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.” He made the mental image, the mold. It needed then only to draw upon the energy about Him to fill that mold and give it material form.

And that is all you, too, need to do to give your word of power material form—first make the mental image, the mold, then pour into it the elements necessary to make that image manifest for all to see.

What do you want first? — Health — Happiness? Riches?

For perfect health, begin by taking the life out of every distorted image of sickness or imperfection. Charge those nerve centers of yours to withdraw their supporting hands, and let your image of disease collapse like the pricked bubble it is.

THEN IMAGE THE PERFECT MOLD OF WHATEVER ORGAN HAS BEEN DISEASED. Image the perfect mold of it so vividly that you can clearly see it in your mind’s eye, then charge The God in You to reach out with its millions of hands for all the elements it needs to make that perfect image manifest.

First the word (the mental image), then the creation. But the creation will never become manifest without faith. So when you have made your image, when you have set The God in You to work pouring into it the elements it needs for life, “believe that you receive!” See with the eyes of your mind that perfect organ functioning as it was meant to, and thank God for it!

For riches, the same principle holds true. Take your life out of every image of debt, of lack, of unfulfilled obligation. The God in you is a God of plenty. He cannot owe money. He cannot be limited. There are no circumstances powerful enough to force Him to live in poverty or want.

Yet He, remember, is devoted entirely to your advancement. So how can you be tied down by debt or limitation of any kind?

How? Because YOU have insisted upon it. Instead of a God of plenty, you have worshipped one of want. Instead of reaching out for what you needed, you have tied the hands of The God in You and tried to do their work with the paltry powers of your material hands.

Unloose The God in You! Give Him a job and set Him to work. Make your mental image of the great business or other service you long for, then set The God in You to work bringing to you every element you need to make that image real. And don’t wait until you receive the whole of it, but as fast as any element becomes manifest, USE it!

If you have only IOC, USE it to start your great idea. If you have only the idea, START it, even though you can take only the first step. First the word, remember, then the creation. And there can be no creation without faith.

Show your faith by using each element as fast as it makes itself manifest, even though there be no sign that any other element is following, and before you know it, your whole structure will be complete.

Have you ever read Genevieve Behrend’s account of how she got $20,000, when, from all material points of view, her chances of ever seeing that amount of money were just about nil?

“Every night before going to sleep,” she writes, in YOUR INVISIBLE POWER, “I made a mental picture of the desired $20,000 which seemed necessary to go and study with Troward. Twenty imaginary $1,000 bills were counted over each night in my bedroom, and then, with the idea of more emphatically impressing my mind with the fact that this twenty thousand dollars was for the purpose of going to England, and studying with Troward, I wrote out my picture, saw myself buying my steamer ticket, walking up and down ihe ship’s deck from New York to London, and finally saw myself accepted as Troward’s pupil. This process was repeated every morning and every evening, always impressing more and more fully upon my mind Troward’s memorized statement: ‘My mind is a center of Divine operations.’ I endeavored to keep this statement in the back part of my consciousness all the time, with no thought in mind of how the money might be obtained. Probably the reason why there was no thought of the avenues through which the money might reach me was because I could not possibly imagine where the $20,000 would come from. So I simply held my thought steady and let the power of attraction find its own way and means.

“One day while walking on the street, taking deep breathing exercises, the thought came: ‘My mind is surely a center of Divine operation. If God fills all space, then God must be in my mind also; if I want this money to study with Troward that I may know the truth of Life, then both the money and the truth must be mine, though I am unable to feel or see the physical manifestations of either. Still,’ I declared, ‘it must be mine.’

“While these reflections were going on in my mind, there seemed to come up from within me the thought: ‘I AM all the substance there is.’ Then, from another channel in my brain the answer seemed to come, ‘Of course, that’s it; everything must have its beginning in mind. The Idea must contain within itself the only one and primary substance there is, and this means money as well as everything else.’ My mind accepted this idea, and immediately all the tension of mind and body was relaxed. There was a feeling of absolute certainty of being in touch with all the power Life has to give. All thought of money, teacher, or even my own personality, vanished in the great wave of joy which swept over my entire being. I walked on and on, with this feeling of joy steadily increasing and expanding until everything about me seemed aglow with resplendent light. Every person I passed appeared illuminated as I was. All consciousness of personality had disappeared, and in its place there came that great and almost overwhelming sense of joy and contentment.

“That night when I made my picture of the twenty thousand dollars it was with an entirely changed aspect. On previous occasions, when making my mental picture, I had felt that I was waking up something within myself. This time there was no sensation of effort. I simply counted over the twenty thousand dollars. Then, in a most unexpected manner, from a source of which I had no consciousness at the time, there seemed to open a possible avenue through which the money might reach me.

“Just as soon as there appeared a circumstance which indicated the direction through which the twenty thousand dollars might come, I not only made a supreme effort to regard the indicated direction calmly as the first sprout of the seed I had sown in the absolute, but left no stone unturned to follow up that direction, thereby fulfilling my part. By so doing, one circumstance seemed naturally to lead to another, until, step by step, my desired twenty thousand dollars was secured.”

For happiness, the method is no different. Your God is a God of love, and real love can know no unhappiness, for love gets its happiness from giving.

There are laws to interfere with almost every other activity of humanity, but none to keep you from giving as much as you like. An unselfish giving results in getting, just as surely as planting results in harvesting. Give with no thought of reward but the good of the one you are helping, and good is bound to flow back to you.

Love begets love, you know, so take your life out of every thought of enmity, of repining, of unhappiness. In place of these, see yourself in your mind’s eye giving every manner of happiness to all whom you would have love you. Image that in your mind’s eye, then set The God in You to work bringing you opportunities to make all these loved ones happier. And as fast as each opportunity presents itself, USE it! No matter how tiny an opportunity it may be, use it! No matter if it be merely the chance to say a pleasant word, to give a kindly smile, to bring a happy thought, use it!

And in the using, you will find that doubly great happiness has come to you.

Each of us is a miniature sun, his circumstances and surroundings his solar system. If debts and disease and troubles form part of your system, what is the remedy? Let go of them, of course! If you want new planets of riches and youth and happiness, how can you get them? In the same way the sun does, and only in that way— by throwing off from yourself.

Remember this: Nothing can come into your solar system except from you or through you. If it comes from outside, it is not yours and has no power over you until you take hold of it mentally and accept it as yours. If you don’t want it, you can refuse to accept it, refuse to take hold of it, refuse to believe in its reality—then put in the place it seems to occupy, the perfect condition of your own imaging.

If there is something lacking in your solar system, you have only to “speak the word”—create the mental image, then hold to that image in serene faith until The God in You has filled it with those elements that make it visible to all.

It is your own fault when you allow yourself to become the victim of personal impotence or of undesirable external situations. As Emerson put it—“Nothing external to you has any power over you.” You fear these negative seemings simply because you BELIEVE in them, when all the time it is only that BELIEF that gives them power and authority.

Remember, YOU are the central sun of your own solar system. YOU have dominion over everything within that system. YOU can say what shall enter, what shall stay there. And you have infinite attractive power to draw to you anything of good you may desire. Nothing stands between you and your fondest desires but lack of understanding of or faith in this power of attraction.

But once you send out the desire, you must have perfect faith in the result. You cannot accomplish anything by expressing a desire and then spending your time fearing and worrying lest you will not find the work you seek, or not have the money in time to pay your bills, or that some other evil thing will happen to prevent good from coming to you. The law of attraction cannot bring both good and evil at the same time. It must be one or the other. And it is up to YOU to decide which it shall be.

“After any object or purpose is clearly held in thought,” says Lilian Whiting, “its precipitation in tangible and visible form is merely a question of time. Columbus saw in vision a path through trackless waters around the world. The vision always precedes and itself determines the realization.”

Dare you to say—“Every day in every way I am getting richer and richer”? If you dare—and will follow up the word with the mental image of yourself HAVING all the riches you desire—Spirit substance will make your word manifest and show you the way to riches.

You were designed by the Father to be master of your fate and captain of your soul. If you are not exercising that mastery, it is because you are lying down on the job. Instead of mastering your thoughts and mental images, you are letting them bow down before mere things.

No thing can make you unhappy if you will exercise your divine power of love and blessings towards it. Everything is good in its essence, and that good essence will respond to your call of blessing, and its good will come forth to meet you.

“The world stands out on either side

No wider than the heart is wide;

Above the world is stretched the sky—

No higher than the soul is high;

The heart can push the sea and land

Farther away on either hand;

The soul can split the sky in two,

And let the Face of God shine through.”