2 lines
9.4 KiB
JSON
2 lines
9.4 KiB
JSON
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "How does one attain serenity?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "THOUGHT AND PURPOSE\n\nUNTIL thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent\naccomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to\n\"drift\" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such\ndrifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of\ncatastrophe and destruction.\n\nThey who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to\npetty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings, all of which are\nindications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately\nplanned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness,\nand loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe.\n\nA man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set\nout to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing\npoint of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or\nit may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time\nbeing; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his\nthought-forces upon the object, which he has set before him. He\nshould make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself\nto its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into\nephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road\nto self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails\nagain and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must\nuntil weakness is overcome), the _strength of character gained_ will\nbe the measure of _his true_ success, and this will form a new\nstarting-point for future power and triumph.\n\nThose who are not prepared for the apprehension of a _great_ purpose\nshould fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of their\nduty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear. Only in\nthis way can the thoughts be gathered and focussed, and resolution\nand energy be developed, which being done, there is nothing which\nmay not be accomplished.\n\nThe weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth\n_that strength can only be developed by effort and practice,_ will,\nthus believing, at once begin to exert itself, and, adding effort to\neffort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never\ncease to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong.\n\nAs the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and\npatient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong\nby exercising himself in right thinking.\n\nTo put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with\npurpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only\nrecognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all\nconditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly,\nand accomplish masterfully.\n\nHaving conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a\n_straight_ pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right\nnor the left. Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded; they\nare disintegrating elements, which break up the straight line of\neffort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual, useless. Thoughts of\ndoubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They\nalways lead to failure. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong\nthoughts cease when doubt and fear creep in.\n\nThe will to do springs from the knowledge that we _can_ do. Doubt\nand fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages\nthem, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.\n\nHe who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His\nevery thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are\nbravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably\nplanted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall\nprematurely to the ground.\n\nThought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who\n_knows_ this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a\nmere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who\n_does_ this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his\nmental powers."}]}
|
|
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What is the core philosophy of As a Man Thinketh?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN ACHIEVEMENT\n\nALL that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the\ndirect result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe,\nwhere loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual\nresponsibility must be absolute. A man's weakness and strength,\npurity and impurity, are his own, and not another man's; they are\nbrought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be\naltered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own,\nand not another man's. His suffering and his happiness are evolved\nfrom within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he\nremains.\n\nA strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is _willing_ to\nbe helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself;\nhe must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires\nin another. None but himself can alter his condition.\n\nIt has been usual for men to think and to say, \"Many men are slaves\nbecause one is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.\" Now,\nhowever, there is amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse\nthis judgment, and to say, \"One man is an oppressor because many are\nslaves; let us despise the slaves.\"\n\nThe truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance,\nand, while seeming to afflict each other, are in reality afflicting\nthemselves. A perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the\nweakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor;\na perfect Love, seeing the suffering, which both states entail,\ncondemns neither; a perfect Compassion embraces both oppressor and\noppressed.\n\nHe who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish\nthoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.\n\nA man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his\nthoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by\nrefusing to lift up his thoughts.\n\nBefore a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must\nlift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in\norder to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any\nmeans; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed. A man\nwhose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither think\nclearly nor plan methodically; he could not find and develop his\nlatent resources, and would fail in any undertaking. Not having\ncommenced to manfully control his thoughts, he is not in a position\nto control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not\nfit to act independently and stand alone. But he is limited only by\nthe thoughts, which he chooses.\n\nThere can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice, and a\nman's worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his\nconfused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of\nhis plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance.\nAnd the higher he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and\nrighteous he becomes, the greater will be his success, the more\nblessed and enduring will be his achievements.\n\nThe universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious,\nalthough on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it\nhelps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great\nTeachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to\nprove and know it a man has but to persist in making himself more\nand more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts.\n\nIntellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to\nthe search for knowledge, or for the beautiful and true in life and\nnature. Such achievements may be sometimes connected with vanity and\nambition, but they are not the outcome of those characteristics;\nthey are the natural outgrowth of long and arduous effort, and of\npure and unselfish thoughts.\n\nSpiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations. He\nwho lives constantly in the conception of noble and lofty thoughts,\nwho dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as\nthe sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become wise and\nnoble in character, and rise into a position of influence and\nblessedness.\n\nAchievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of effort, the diadem of\nthought. By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity,\nrighteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid\nof animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of\nthought a man descends.\n\nA man may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty\naltitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness\nand wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts\nto take possession of him.\n\nVictories attained by right thought can only be maintained by\nwatchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly\nfall back into failure.\n\nAll achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or\nspiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought, are\ngoverned by the same law and are of the same method; the only\ndifference lies in _the object of attainment._\n\nHe who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would\nachieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must\nsacrifice greatly."}]}
|