Part 1

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NUGGETS OF THE NEW THOUGHT

Several Things That Have Helped People

by

WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON

Associate Editor of "New Thought," Chicago; Author of "Thought Force," "The Law of the New Thought," etc.

Published by The Psychic Research Company, 3835 Vincennes Ave. Chicago, Ill., U. S. A. 1902

Copyright, 1902, By the Psychic Research Company, Chicago, Ill.

All Rights Reserved.

_Notice.--This work is protected by Copyright, and simultaneous initial publication in United States of America, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and other countries. All rights reserved._

PREFACE.

I do not like writing a preface--it seems too much like an apology. I have no special apology to tender for offering this collection of New Thought nuggets. They may possess no literary merit, but they have _helped_ men and women. With the exception of "The Secret of the I Am," these essays appeared from month to month in "New Thought," of which magazine I am associate editor. They were written hastily, principally upon the demand of the printer for "copy," and, for the most part, were printed just as they were written, there being no time for revision or polishing up. You may pick up any one of them and find many sentences needing straightening out--many thoughts which could be better expressed by the change of a few words. Knowing these things, I first thought that I would go over each essay and add a little here, and take away a little there, polishing up and burnishing as I went along. But when I looked over them, my heart failed me. There they were just as they were written--just as they were dug out of my mind--and I hadn't the heart to change them. I remembered the circumstances surrounding the writing of every one of them, and I let them alone. A "nugget" polished up would be no longer a nugget. And these thoughts are nuggets--I dug them myself. I will not say much regarding the quality of the metal--that is for you--but you see them just as they came from the mine--rough, unpolished, mixed with the rock, queerly shaped. If you think that they contain metal of sufficiently good quality, refine them, melt them and fashion them into something useful or ornamental. For myself, I like things with the bark on--with the marks of the hammer--with the original quartz adhering to the metal. But others are of different taste--they like everything to feel smooth to the touch. They will not like these nuggets. Alas, I cannot help it--I cannot produce the beautifully finished article--I have nothing to offer other than the crude product of the mine. Here they are, polish them up yourself if you prefer them in that shape--I will not touch them.

W. W. A. Chicago, October 2, 1902.

CONTENTS.

THE KEYNOTE.

"I Can and I Will"--The recognition--Equal to any task--A feeling of calm confidence--An abiding sense of power, reserve force and security--The Something within--The triple key to the door of attainment--The vibrations of Success 9

THE SECRET OF THE I AM.

The Ego--The physical plane--the mental plane--the new plane of consciousness--The Real Self--The "I"--The Temple of the Living Spirit--Development of the "I Am" consciousness.--The Higher Reason 12

"LET A LITTLE SUNSHINE IN."

The young people's song--Good "New Thought" doctrine--Plenty of sunshine in life, if you look for it--Don't make a dark dungeon of your mind--Throw open the windows of your soul--How to let a little sunshine in 17

THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.

The soul, as well as the body and mind, requires nourishment --The want, a promise of the fulfillment--The law of unfoldment --Nourishment provided when it is needed--Provided for in the Divine Plan--The feast of good things 19

LOOK ALOFT.

The old sailor's advice--The warning cry--Peace and content-- Mental balance recovered--The glory of the Universe--All governed by Law--The Law manifests everywhere--A reverent feeling of calm, peaceful faith--Look aloft 24

TO-MORROW.

The work and cares of to-day easy if we do not worry about those of To-morrow--The mysterious To-morrow and its terrors--The way to meet the cares of To-morrow--To-morrow's opportunities will come as surely as To-morrow's cares--Law supreme--No need to be afraid--The real To-morrow 26

IN THE DEPTHS OF THE SOUL.

Stores of information; rich mines of knowledge; uncut gems and precious metal awaiting the discoverer--Psychic and spiritual faculties--Strange attraction of soul to soul--The Rock of Ages--The Voice of the Soul 29

FORGET IT.

Why worry about the past--Hugging old sorrows to your Bosom-- What to do with them--Don't Poison your life--Pain brings experience--Learning your lesson--How to get rid of a gloomy thought--Throw it away--Forget it 34

THE KINDERGARTEN OF GOD.

Life a great school--Man a child learning his lesson--Preparing for higher grades--The game-task--What it all means--Things as they are--The rules wise and good--Each task means something-- Greeting the Kindergartner 36

THE HUMAN WET BLANKET.

Sees no good in anything--Expects the bad and gets it--Attracts it to him--Depresses everything and everyone--Carries an aura of negative depressing thought--Clammy--Puts out the fire of energy --Take Warning 39

AIM STRAIGHT.

Fear attracts as well as Desire--Learn to aim straight and aim at the right thing--Examples--The bowler--The bicyclist and the car--The bicyclist and the post--The boy and the marbles--Wisdom from the babe--Look straight; Think straight; Shoot Straight 41

AT HOME.

Don't be afraid--You are at home--Not here by chance--You belong here--YOU are the soul--YOU cannot be hurt--YOU cannot be banished--YOU are right in the universe, and there is no outside--Great things are before you--Make yourself at home 46

THE SOLITUDE OF THE SOUL.

Lorado Taft's group--Description--Each stands alone--Each is in touch with every other--Soul communion in silence--Silence is the sanctuary of the soul--The oneness of life and its apparent separateness--The message 48

JERRY AND THE BEAR.

The Law's plan of developing an individual--Folly of clinging to old worn out sheaths--The story of Jerry and the Bear--Who Jerry was--He meets the Bear--The fight--The result--The consequences --The change in Jerry--The moral 51

THE UNSEEN HAND.

The consciousness of the hand--When it first was felt--Always there--Now as the hand of a father--Now as that of a mother--A lover--A brother--Always guiding--Always leading--A mystery-- Some day we will know the owner of the hand 55

HOW SUCCESS COMES.

Seeking success through mental powers--Holding the thought alone not sufficient--How to get the real benefit of thought-force-- Fall in with the workings of the Law--Stand on your own feet-- One step at a time--"I Do" as well as "I Am" 58

THE MAN WITH THE SOUTHERN EXPOSURE.

Southern exposure as good a thing in a man as in a room--The man who faces the sun--Lives one day at a time and does the best he knows how, and is kind--Finds Joy and carries it to others-- Simple, loving, kind--Open yourself to the sun 60

A FOREWORD.

An individualist--Wearing no ticket or label--No one has a corner on Truth--Enough to go around--The Infinite Power back of all things--The Real Self is Spirit--The Law of Attraction --Fearthought--The Brotherhood of Man 63

PARTNERSHIP.

Next to marriage, partnership is the most important association --Mental partnerships--Be careful whom you choose as your mental partners--Get into partnership with the best thoughts--Dissolve partnership with the other kind--"I Can, I Will; I Do, I Dare." 65

THE SEEKERS.

The secret of life--the riddle of existence--Sought now as ever --The whyness of things--Attempts to answer the riddle--The Seekers--Fantastic creeds and queer philosophies--Revamping old ideas--The story of the man and the stars--The answer to be found within the soul 69

MENTAL PICTURES.

"I hang bright pictures in my mind"--Bright pictures encourage one; gloomy ones depress--Get rid of your old, gloomy mental pictures--Make a bonfire of them--Get rid of the particularly miserable one, first of all--Then put bright ones in their places 73

DON'T RETAIL YOUR WOES.

A miserable habit--It grows as it is fed--A nuisance to friends and neighbors--It brings to you more of the same kind--You will get what you look for--Looking for trouble brings it--Don't imagine that you are being "put upon"-- Don't retail your woes 75

LIFE.

There is in each of us a potential Something seeking for expression--The Something Within--The plant of life--No use trying to repress it, for develop it must--Life has a meaning --Growth, development and unfoldment--The lesson of life 79

LET US HAVE FAITH.

Faith necessary in every human undertaking--You have faith in man, but are afraid to trust GOD--The Universe if governed by Law--The Law is in operation everywhere--Don't be afraid--You are a part of the plan--Fall in with the Law--Have faith, have faith 83

DO IT NOW.

Do to-day's tasks now--Don't try to do to-morrow's work to-day, but be sure and do the day's work Now--The baneful effects of procrastination--Not fair to yourself--Demoralization attendant upon putting off things--The world looking for people who can do things Now 87

GET IN TUNE.

Marconi's wireless messages--Vibrations reach only the instruments attuned to the sender--The same law in operation on the mental plane--The correct pitch is the thing--Get in tune with the proper vibrations--Get the messages from the best senders 89

MENTAL TOXIN AND ANTI-TOXIN.

A new toxin--The microbes in the thoughts we think--The new anti-toxin--Thoughts may poison--Fear causes paralysis--Hate causes insanity--Fear and Hate have killed their thousands-- Gates' experiments--How to overcome the poison of bad-thinking 91

THE KEYNOTE.

"I Can and I Will"--The recognition--Equal to any task--A feeling of calm confidence--An abiding sense of power, reserve force and security --The Something within--The triple key to the door of attainment--The vibrations of Success.

"I Can and I Will!!!" Have you ever said these words to yourself with a firm conviction that you were speaking the truth--with the strong feeling that needed no other proof. If so, you then felt within you a thrill which seemed to cause every atom of your being to vibrate in harmony with some note in the grand scale of Life, sounded by the Real Self. You caught a momentary glimpse of the Inner Light--heard a stray note of the Song of the Soul--were conscious for the moment of YOURSELF. And in that moment of ecstasy you knew that untold power and possibilities were yours. You felt that you were in touch with all Strength, Power, Knowledge, Happiness and Peace. You felt that you were equal to any task--capable of executing any undertaking. For the moment there was no Fear in the world for you. All the Universe seemed to vibrate in the same key with your thought. For the moment you RECOGNIZED THE TRUTH.

But alas, the spirit of doubt, distrust, fear and unfaith called you again to Earth--and the vision faded. And yet, the remembrance of the sight--the echo of the sound--the remnant of the new-found strength--is with you still. You still find that memory to be a stimulus to great efforts--a comforting thought in times of weakness and trial. You have been able to accomplish much by the aid of the lingering vibrations of the mighty thought.

In times of great peril--grave perplexities--life and death struggles, a feeling of calm confidence and strength often comes to us, and we are borne on by a power _of_ us and _in_ us (and yet in everything else, too) that seems to lift us off our feet and sweep us on to safety--to peace--to rest. We are possessed of an abiding sense of power, reserve force and security. When extraordinary conditions confront us--when our bodies seem paralyzed--our minds stupefied--our will power gone, we are often made conscious of the existence of the Real Self, and it answers our involuntary demand, and comes to rescue with the cheering cry: "I AM HERE"!

Many of us have made use of this inner strength without realizing it. One day we were sorely distressed and made the demand, and lo! it was answered. We knew not from whence came this new-found strength, but we were conscious of the uplift, and felt more confidence in ourselves. The next time we _confidently_ demanded the aid, and again we were answered. We acquired that which we call confidence and faith in ourselves, and were carried over many a dark place and started on the road to Success. Our repeated success caused us to think and speak of our "luck," and we grew to believe that we had a "star," and took chances and risks that others would not dream of. We dared. We made some apparent failures, but we soon came to know them as only lessons leading to _ultimate_ success. The "I Can and I Will" feeling carried us over rough places safely, and we got to simply _know_ that we would "get there" in the end.

And so we went on and on, knowing that if we advanced three steps and slipped back two, we were still one step ahead. We had confidence, because we _knew_ that "things would come our way" in the end. And so long as we held this attitude, we _did_ succeed, and it was only when we lost heart at some unexpected slip--only when, after having attained success, we became dazed and frightened, and began to fear that our "luck might turn" and that we would lose all of our accumulations--it was only _then_, I say--that our star waned.

Talk with any successful man, and, if truthful, he will admit having felt, from the time of his first success, that he had some sort of "pull" with Fate--some "lucky star"--some special Providence operating in his behalf. He grew to _expect_ results--to have confidence in things turning out right--to have faith in _something_ of which he knew not the nature--and he was not disappointed. Things seemed to work in his favor--not always just in the way he expected, sometimes in an entirely different way--matters seemed somehow to straighten themselves out in the end--so long as he kept his "nerve." He did not know the source of his strength, but he believed in it and trusted it just the same.

Let us wake up and recognize this Something Within--let us begin to understand this "I Can and I Will" feeling--let us cherish it if we have it, and cultivate it if we have it not. Do you know that we are young giants who have not discovered our own strength? Are you not aware that there are powers latent within us, pressing forth for development and unfoldment? Do you not know that earnest desire, faith and calm demand will bring to us that which we require--will place at our hand the tools with which we are to work out our destiny--will guide us in the proper use of the tools--will make us grow? Do you not know that Desire, Faith and Work is the triple key to the doors of Attainment? There are possibilities before us, awaiting our coming, of which we have never dreamed. Let us assert ourselves--take up the key--unlock the doors--and enter our kingdom.

To accomplish, we must be possessed of earnest desire--must be as confident of ultimate success as we are of the rising of to-morrow's sun--we must have Faith. And we must work out the end with the tools and instruments that will present themselves day by day. We will find that Desire, Confidence, Faith and Work will not only brush aside the obstacles from our path, but will also begin to assert that wonderful force, as yet so little understood--the Law of Attraction--which will draw to us that which is conducive to our success, be it ideas, people, things, yes, even _circumstances_. Oh, ye of little Faith, why do you not see these things?

The world is looking for these "I Can and I Will" people--it has places ready for them--the supply does not begin to equal the demand. Pluck up courage ye unfortunate ones--ye doubters--ye "I Can't" people! Begin the fight by abolishing Fear from your minds. Then start to climb the ladder of Attainment, shouting "I CAN AND I WILL" with all your might, drowning out the sound of the "buts," "ifs," "supposings," "you can'ts" and "aren't you afraids" of your wet-blanket friends at the foot of the ladder. Do not bother about the upper rounds of the ladder--you will reach them in time--but give your whole attention to the round just ahead of you, and when you have gained a firm footing on that, then look at the next one. One round at a time, remember, and _give your entire attention to each step_. Climb with Desire, Confidence and Faith inspiring each step, and the task will become a pleasure. You will be conscious of some mighty force attracting you upward and onward as you progress. And don't try to pull some other fellow off the ladder--there's room enough for both of you--be kind, be kind.

If you fail to feel the "I Can and I Will" vibrations within you, start in to-day, and _say_ "I Can and I Will"--THINK "I Can and I Will"--ACT "I Can and I Will," and get the vibrations started in motion. Remember that as the one note of the violin, if constantly sounded, will cause the mighty bridge to vibrate in unison so will one positive thought, held constantly, manifest itself both in yourself, others and things. So begin sounding the note to-day--this very moment. Sound it constantly. Send forth a clear, glad, joyous note--a note of Faith--a note of coming Victory. Sound it over and over again, and soon you will become conscious that the vibrations have commenced, and that the mighty structure of your being is quivering and vibrating to the keynote:--"I CAN AND I WILL."

THE SECRET OF THE "I AM."

The Ego--The physical plane--The mental plane--The new plane of consciousness--The Real Self--The "I"--The Temple of the Living Spirit--Development of the "I Am" consciousness--The Higher Reason.

"Lord of a thousand worlds am I, And I reign since time began; And Night and Day in cyclic sway, Shall pass while their deeds I scan. Yet time shall cease, ere I find release, FOR I AM THE SOUL OF MAN."

--Charles H. Orr.

Many of us are accustomed to thinking of ourselves on the physical plane alone. When we think of the Ego--the "I" of ourselves, we picture it as a human body with organs ranging from the finest--the brain, down to those of coarser atomic structure. To one living on this plane of consciousness the body is the _real_ self, and the Mind but an appendage to the body. Such a man speaks of "my mind" or "my soul," as he speaks of "my hat," "my coat," "my shoes"--as things belonging to him, which he uses, but which are not _him_. To him the Body is the real man--the Mind something useful to the body--the Spirit a nebulous hypothetical something of which he has but a hazy idea and no consciousness. He lives on the physical plane alone.

Others picture their "I" as Intellect or Mind, having control of the body and its organs, and having its abode in the brain, or brains, of the human being. To these people the Intellect is the Real Self, in fact to many of this class the Intellect is elevated to the position of God, and they bow down to and worship it. They realize the subjection of the body to the Mind, and are aware of the wonderful power of the latter over the particular body under its control; the bodies of others; the minds of others. To them the Intellect is the highest self, identical with the Spirit. They are conscious of the wonderful workings of the mind, but are conscious of nothing higher. To some of them death seems to end all, their idea of mind being that it is a product of the brain. Others feel that somehow, somewhere, their Intellect will maintain its existence, but it is merely a _belief_ or hope, based upon the words of others who have claimed authority to speak. They have no consciousness of pre-existence or future existence--no perception of that REAL SELF which _knows_ itself to be Eternal.

A third class have so far progressed along the Path of Life that they have crossed the borders of a new plane of consciousness. They are in a strange land--they see no familiar landmarks--they do not recognize the country that lies before them. Their friends, whom they have left just a few feet behind across the border, do not seem to realize the difference the short distance has made to those who have traveled it, and therefore doubt the prospect seen from the new point of view. Those who have crossed the border find that they have acquired a _consciousness_ of a real Existence. The "I" consciousness has passed beyond the Intellectual plane and is able to look back to that plane and the one still further back, the Physical plane. "I" recognizes the value of both Mind and Body, but regards them both as but instruments, tools or servants, with which to work. "I" feels that it has existed from the beginning (if beginning there was) and will exist until the end (if end there be). "I" feels a keen pleasure in mere existence--in the NOW. "I" knows itself to be a part of the WHOLE THING--knows that the UNIVERSE is its home. "I" knows itself to be a tiny drop of Spirit from the Great Spirit Ocean; a ray from the Supreme Sun; a particle of the Divine Being, encased in a material body, using that body and a force called Mind, with which to manifest itself. "I" does not at present _understand_ all things--far from it. It has not as yet been able to bring its tools to that degree of perfection. It merely _knows_ that it IS, and has ALWAYS BEEN, and ALWAYS WILL BE. "I" allows Intellect to indulge in speculations, but contents itself with the knowledge that it IS--it frets not itself with the problems of the past or future, but lives in the NOW, and knows itself to be a part of the WHOLE. "I" knows that it cannot be destroyed or injured--that it exists in accordance with Law (and that Law is Good) and asks no further light at this time, knowing that in its progress through matter, discarding sheath after sheath, more _knowing_ will surely come. It says trustfully and confidently, to the Absolute: "Thy Will be Done."

Knowing itself to be immortal, "I" has no fear of the death of the body--one body is as good as another to it--it is willing to lay aside the body as it does a coat, when it has outworn or outgrown it. Knowing itself to be impregnable to harm, "I" has no Fearthought--it fears nothing. Knowing that the Law is working for development (always for ultimate good) "I" is not disturbed by the cares, troubles and sorrows of Life--it knows them for what they are. The body may be in pain, the mind may be burdened with sorrow, but "I," _knowing_, smiles.