WisdomLeads #4: As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

Hi,

You know what?

I was thinking that the day we are born we know we have to die. But in between these two points is the stretch of time which we called as life. Every day on this stretch of time we move inch by inch and day by and day until we reach to our final point-our death beds. With touch-me-not approach we look at this death friend all our lives. And with leave-you-not approach it embraces us, at the end of our lives. How interesting, isn’t this axiomatic truth of our lives?

In between these two points of birth and death in our lives, every day we come across this Hamletian dilemma, to be or not to be. So, this question remains unanswered till the time we dive deep down into our own selves and listen to our internal voice and find out the true purpose in our human life.

Listening to such a voice said Buddha that, “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” And this is what Allen explains in Chapter No. Four of As a Man Thinketh.

Chapter 4: Thought and Purpose

Allen begins the chapter by saying that, “Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.”He says that a man who does not have a central purpose in life fall easy prey to all petty worries, fears and troubles and these signs of weakness cause failure and unhappiness in his life. Thus Allen says that a man should have “a legitimate purpose in heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts.” This purpose may be any spiritual pursuit or worldly objective and man must spend his time and energy in its pursuit with single mindedness and self discipline. He must not allow “his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imagining. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought.” In this endeavor, even if he fails, the strength of his character gained in the process will be the measure of his true success and this will act as a starting point for his new venture.

Furthermore he says that those who are not prepared for a great purpose in life should fix their “thoughts upon the faultless performance of their duty,” no matter how insignificant their task may appear. I think this is what the Zen practitioner do, to live with  mindfulness, and this is what Eckhart Tolle explains in his great book, The Power of Now. To live each moment  with full heart and give 100% focus and attention to it . And says Allen that it is in this way a man can develop the power of resolution, with the help of which, he can accomplish anything.

This focus and resolution need to be developed with consistent efforts and practice with doses of patience mixed well. In this way even a person with weak thoughts can develop right thinking, just like a weak person who can make himself stronger by regular exercising and physical training. When such a man begins to think with a purpose then he joins the league of all those who consider failure as a stepping stone to their success and “who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.”

Deleting all doubts and fears from his mind, a man must focus on his purpose and “should mentally mark out a straight pathways to its achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left.” Because these energy drainers or what Allen calls, “disintegrating elements” never allow the man to achieve his set purpose. He says further, “thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They always lead to failure.” And on the other hand when we make the powerful thoughts as our friends, then these weaker thoughts take an escape from the back end door. Therefore Allen says that “doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts at every step.”

Concluding the chapter, thus Allen says that “he who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome.” And when these thoughts are “allied fearlessly to purpose”, they become “creative force.”

In this mental gym I am ready to smash all my doubts and fears into smithereens and ready to lead a life full of meaning, purpose and creative force? Are you with me?

Although this post was truly tough one for me but I wrote this post for both of you Devanshu and Mugdha because you have immense faith in me!