<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h1> AS A MAN THINKETH </h1>
<h3> BY </h3>
<h2> JAMES ALLEN </h2>
<br/>
<h3> FOREWORD </h3>
<p>THIS little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not
intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written-upon subject
of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory,
its object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and
perception of the truth that—</p>
<p>"They themselves are makers of themselves."</p>
<p>
by virtue of the thoughts, which they choose and encourage; that
mind is the master-weaver, both of the inner garment of character
and the outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have
hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in
enlightenment and happiness.</p>
<p>
JAMES ALLEN.
</p>
<br/><br/><br/>
<SPAN name="thought"></SPAN>
<h2> AS A MAN THINKETH </h2>
<br/><br/>
<h3> THOUGHT AND CHARACTER </h3>
<p>THE aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only
embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to
reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is
literally <i>what he thinks,</i> his character being the complete sum of
all his thoughts.</p>
<p>As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so
every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and
could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those
acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those, which
are deliberately executed.</p>
<p>Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits;
thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own
husbandry.</p>
<p class="poem">
"Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are<br/>
By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind<br/>
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes<br/>
The wheel the ox behind....<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
..If one endure<br/>
In purity of thought, joy follows him<br/>
As his own shadow—sure."<br/></p>
<p>Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause
and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of
thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and
Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the
natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of
long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and
bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the
continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.</p>
<p>Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he
forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions
the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy
and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of
thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and
wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the
beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character,
and man is their maker and master.</p>
<p>Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been
restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening
or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this—that man is
the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and
shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.</p>
<p>As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own
thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within
himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may
make himself what he wills.</p>
<p>Man is always the master, even in his weaker and most abandoned
state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master
who misgoverns his "household." When he begins to reflect upon his
condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being
is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his
energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful
issues. Such is the <i>conscious</i> master, and man can only thus become
by discovering <i>within himself</i> the laws of thought; which discovery
is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience.</p>
<p>Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained,
and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will
dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his
character, the moulder of his life, and the builder of his destiny,
he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his
thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon
his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient
practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even
to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining
that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power. In
this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute that "He that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened;" for
only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man
enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.</p>
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