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    James Allen

    ClearWater
    ClearWater


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    Post  ClearWater Sat Mar 21, 2020 6:32 pm

    James Allen is most known for his book 'As a Man Thinketh'.  It's a great book, and I definitely recommend seeking it out if you've not yet read it. What I really wanted to focus on in this first post is the book that immediately followed it - 'Out from the Heart'.  This book is short and concise, describing Allen's essential view on the way to truth. While it make take many readings to fully absorb some details, it can be read in one sitting, and its essence can be quickly grasped.  Over recent months I've found myself reading it and listening to the audio recording repeatedly, so it seems appropriate to create a thread.



    "As the heart, so is the life. The within is ceaselessly becoming the without. Nothing remains unrevealed. That which is hidden is but for a time; it ripens and comes forth at last. Seed, tree, blossom, and fruit are the fourfold order of the universe. From the state of a man’s heart proceed the conditions of his life. His thoughts blossom into deeds; and his deeds bear the fruitage of character and destiny.

    Life is ever unfolding from within, and revealing itself to the light, and thoughts engendered in the heart at last reveal themselves in words, actions, and things accomplished.

    As the fountain from the hidden spring, so flows forth a man’s life from the secret recesses of his heart. All that he is and does is generated there. All that he will be and do will take its rise there.
    "
    mudra
    mudra


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    Post  mudra Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:06 pm

    This is so beautifully written Clearwater.
    So fresh, so pure , so clear as water  Cheerful
    And so welcome too.
    I'll read this man.

    Thank you my friend
    Flowers

    Love for You
    mudra
    Carol
    Carol
    Admin
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    Post  Carol Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:16 pm

    James Allen Hqdefault
    Lovely


    _________________
    What is life?
    It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

    With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
    ClearWater
    ClearWater


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    Post  ClearWater Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:14 pm

    Thank you mudra.
    Thank you Carol.

    Flowers

    As the world is going through a challenging time, I find a fire rising in my heart which has been mostly dormant for a while.  I can't be sure if it's connected to these recent events, but the timing of it suggests that as a possibility.  It's the sort of fire that inevitably results in transformation with just a little bit of stoking.  Reading through this book seems to do just that.  I would like to share the entire book here, but that would not be appropriate.  I will share a passage or two from each chapter in the coming days, and if something is felt in the reading of it, I very much encourage you to read the full book.

    Chapter 1: The Heart and the Life
    Man is the keeper of his heart; the watcher of his mind; the solitary guard of his citadel of life. As such, he can be diligent or negligent. He can keep his heart more and more carefully. He can more strenuously watch and purify his mind; and he can guard against the thinking of unrighteous thoughts—this is the way of enlightenment and bliss.
    mudra
    mudra


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    Post  mudra Wed Mar 25, 2020 8:35 am

    I decided to listen to James Allen's book this morning when I woke up.
    On and off I would fall asleep while paying attention to it so that there were sentences that sunk in more than others. Then I really fell asleep and what is beautifull is that I dreamed I was flying, a type of dream I have had on occasion and particularly love as it gives me such a great sense of freedom. It must have been at least 17 years I hadn't had one that I was conscious of.
    This was so nice to have as we go through these locked down times.

    Thank You Clearwater to have made this possible and for James Allen's words to trigger it sunny

    love from me
    mudra
    ClearWater
    ClearWater


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    Post  ClearWater Wed Mar 25, 2020 12:15 pm

    That is fantastic mudra!  cheers

    Dreams can be a magnificent experience, that's for sure.
    I'm happy to hear of your morning adventure.   Big Grin 3



    Chapter 2: The Nature and Power of Mind
    Mind is the Arbiter of life. It is the creator and shaper of conditions, and the recipient of its own results. It contains within itself both the power to create illusion and to perceive reality. Mind is the infallible weaver of destiny. Thought is the thread, good and evil deeds are the "warp and woof" or foundation, and the web, woven upon the loom of life, is character. Mind clothes itself in garments of its own making.

    Man, as a mental being, possesses all the powers of mind, and is furnished with unlimited choice. He learns by experience, and he can accelerate or retard his experience. He is not arbitrarily bound at any point, but he has bound himself at many points, and having bound himself he can, when he chooses, liberate himself.




    Chapter 2: The Nature and Power of Mind
    The way of enlightenment and peace is not gained by assuming authority and guidance over other minds, but by exercising a lawful authority over one’s own mind, and by guiding one’s self in pathways of steadfast and lofty virtue.
    A man’s life proceeds from his heart and his mind. He has compounded that mind by his own thoughts and deeds. It is within his power to refashion that mind by his choice of thought. In this manner he can transform his life.
    ClearWater
    ClearWater


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    Post  ClearWater Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:23 pm

    Chapter 3: Formation of Habit
    A boy, when commencing to learn a trade, cannot even handle his tools right, much less use them correctly, but after long repetition and practice, he plies them with perfect ease and consummate skill. Likewise, a state of mind, at first apparently incapable of realization, is, by perseverance and practice, at last acquired and built into the character as a natural and spontaneous condition.

    In this power of the mind to form and reform its habits, its conditions, is contained the basis of a man’s salvation. It is the open door to perfect liberty by the mastery of self. For as a man has the power to form harmful habits, so he equally has the same power to create habits that are essentially good.




    Chapter 3: Formation of Habit
    Anger and impatience are natural and easy to thousands of people, because they are constantly repeating angry and impatient thoughts and acts. And with each repetition the habit is more firmly established and more deeply rooted.

    Calmness and patience can become habitual in the same way—by first grasping through effort, a calm and patient thought, and then continuously thinking it, and living in it, until "use becomes second nature," and anger and impatience pass away forever. It is in this manner that every wrong thought may be expelled from the mind; that every untrue act may be destroyed; that every sin may be overcome.
    ClearWater
    ClearWater


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    Post  ClearWater Sat Mar 28, 2020 8:56 pm

    Chapter 4: Doing and Knowing
    It is a common error to suppose that the Higher Life is a matter of reading, and the adoption of theological or metaphysical hypotheses, and that Spiritual Principles can be understood by this method. The Higher Life is higher living in thought, word, and deed, and the knowledge of those Spiritual Principles which are imminent in man and in the universe can only be acquired after long discipline in the pursuit and practice of Virtue.

    The lesser must be thoroughly grasped and understood before the greater can be known. Practice always precedes real knowledge.




    Chapter 4: Doing and Knowing
    In learning a trade, say that of a mechanic, a boy is not at first taught the principles of mechanics, but a simple tool is put in his hand and he is told how rightly to use it. He is then left to do it by effort and practice. As he succeeds in plying his tools correctly, more and more difficult tasks are set before him, until after several years of successful practice, he is prepared to study and grasp the principles of mechanics.



    Chapter 4: Doing and Knowing
    Thus practice ever precedes knowledge even in the ordinary things of the world, and in spiritual things, in the living of the Higher Life, this law is rigid in its demands.

    Virtue can only be known by doing, and the knowledge of Truth can only be arrived at by perfecting oneself in the practice of Virtue. To be complete in the practice and acquisition of Virtue is to be complete in the knowledge of Truth.

    Truth can only be arrived at by daily and hourly doing the lessons of Virtue, beginning with the simplest, and passing on to the more difficult. A child patiently and obediently learns his lessons at school by constantly practicing, ever exerting himself until all failures and difficulties are surmounted. Likewise does the child of Truth, undaunted by failure, and made stronger by difficulties, apply himself to rightdoing in thought and action. As he succeeds in acquiring Virtue, his mind unfolds itself in the knowledge of Truth, and it is a knowledge in which he can securely rest.
    ClearWater
    ClearWater


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    Post  ClearWater Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:09 am

    Chapter 5: First Steps in The Higher Life
    Seeing that the path of virtue is the Path of Knowledge, and that before the all-embracing Principles of Truth can be comprehended, perfection in the more lowly steps must be acquired, how, then, shall a disciple of Truth begin?

    How shall one who aspires to the righting of his mind and the purification of his heart—that heart which is the fountain and repository of all the issues of life—learn the lessons of Virtue? How does he thus build himself up in the strength of knowledge, destroying ignorance and the ills of life? What are the first lessons, the first steps? How are they learned? How are they practiced? How are they mastered and understood?

    The first lessons consist in overcoming those wrong mental conditions which are most easily eradicated, and which are the common barriers to spiritual progress, as well as in practicing the simple domestic and social virtues. The reader will be better aided if I group and classify the first ten steps in three lessons as follows: Vices of the Body to be Overcome and Eradicated

    First Lesson - Discipline of the Body:
    1st step: Idleness, Laziness or Indolence
    2nd step: Self-Indulgence or Gluttony

    Second Lesson - Discipline of Speech:
    3rd step: Slander
    4th step: Gossip and Idle Conversation
    5th step: Abusive and Unkind Speech
    6th step: Frivolity or Irreverent Speech
    7th step: Critical, Captious or Fault-finding Speech

    Third Lesson - Discipline of Tendencies:
    8th step: Unselfish Performance of Duty
    9th step: Unswerving Rectitude or Moral Integrity
    10th step: Unlimited Forgiveness

    The two vices of the body, and the five of the tongue, are so called because they are manifested in the body and tongue. Also, by so definitely classifying them, the mind of the reader will be better helped. But it must be clearly understood that these vices arise primarily in the mind, and are wrong conditions of the heart worked out in the body and the tongue.

    The existence of such chaotic conditions is an indication that the mind is altogether unenlightened as to the real meaning and purpose of life, and their eradication is the beginning of a virtuous, steadfast, and enlightened life.

    But how shall these vices be overcome and eradicated? By first, and at once, checking and controlling their outward manifestations and by suppressing the wrong act. This will stimulate the mind to watchfulness and reflection until, by repeated practice, it will come to perceive and understand the dark, wrong, and erroneous conditions of mind, out of which such acts spring. It will then abandon them entirely.




    Chapter 5: First Steps in The Higher Life
    It will be seen that the first step in the discipline of the mind is the overcoming of indolence or laziness. This is the easiest step, and until it is perfectly accomplished, the other steps cannot be taken. The clinging to indolence constitutes a complete barrier to the Path of Truth. Indolence consists in giving the body more ease and sleep than it requires, in procrastinating, and in shirking and neglecting those things which should receive immediate attention.

    This condition of laziness must be overcome by rousing up the body at an early hour, giving it just the amount of sleep it requires for complete recuperation, and by doing promptly and vigorously, every task, every duty, no matter how small, as it comes along.

    On no account should food or drink be taken in bed. And to lie in bed after one has awakened, indulging in ease and reverie, is a habit fatal to promptness and resolution of character, and purity of mind. Nor should one attempt to do his thinking at such a time. Strong, pure, and true thinking is impossible under such circumstances. A man should go to bed to sleep, not to think. He should get up to think and work, not to sleep.

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