As a Man Thinketh | Page 6

to himself No such
conditions can exist as descending into vice and its attendant sufferings apart from
vicious inclinations, or ascending into virtue and its pure happiness without the continued
cultivation of virtuous aspirations; and man, therefore, as the lord and master of thought,
is the maker of himself the shaper and author of environment. Even at birth the soul
comes to its own and through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those
combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own purity
and, impurity, its strength and weakness.
Men do not attract that which they _want,_ but that which they _are._ Their whims,
fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires
are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in
ourselves; it is our very self. Only himself manacles man: thought and action are the
gaolers of Fate--they imprison, being base; they are also the angels of Freedom--they
liberate, being noble. Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly
earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with
his thoughts and actions.
In the light of this truth, what, then, is the meaning of "fighting against circumstances?" It
means that a man is continually revolting against an effect without, while all the time he
is nourishing and preserving its cause in his heart. That cause may take the form of a
conscious vice or an unconscious weakness; but whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the
efforts of its possessor, and thus calls aloud for remedy.
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves;

they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can
never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as
of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared
to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much
more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life?
Here is a man who is wretchedly poor. He is extremely anxious that his surroundings and
home comforts should be improved, yet all the time he shirks his work, and considers he
is justified in trying to deceive his employer on the ground of the insufficiency of his
wages. Such a man does not understand the simplest rudiments of those principles which
are the basis of true prosperity, and is not only totally unfitted to rise out of his
wretchedness, but is actually attracting to himself a still deeper wretchedness by dwelling
in, and acting out, indolent, deceptive, and unmanly thoughts.
Here is a rich man who is the victim of a painful and persistent disease as the result of
gluttony. He is willing to give large sums of money to get rid of it, but he will not
sacrifice his gluttonous desires. He wants to gratify his taste for rich and unnatural viands
and have his health as well. Such a man is totally unfit to have health, because he has not
yet learned the first principles of a healthy life.
Here is an employer of labour who adopts crooked measures to avoid paying the
regulation wage, and, in the hope of making larger profits, reduces the wages of his
workpeople. Such a man is altogether unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds himself
bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches, he blames circumstances, not knowing
that he is the sole author of his condition.
I have introduced these three cases merely as illustrative of the truth that man is the
causer (though nearly always is unconsciously) of his circumstances, and that, whilst
aiming at a good end, he is continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging
thoughts and desires which cannot possibly harmonize with that end. Such cases could be
multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this is not necessary, as the reader can, if he
so resolves, trace the action of the laws of thought in his own mind and life, and until this
is done, mere external facts cannot serve as a ground of reasoning.
Circumstances, however, are so complicated, thought is so deeply rooted, and the
conditions of happiness vary so, vastly with individuals, that a man's entire
soul-condition (although it may be known to himself) cannot be judged by another from
the external aspect of his life alone. A man may be honest in certain directions, yet suffer
privations; a man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth; but the
conclusion usually formed that the one man fails _because of his particular honesty, _and
that the other _prospers