All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. – (pg. 34)
Everything that the human being is able to achieve, and everything that he/she is not able to achieve, is the outcome of his/her thoughts and the outcome of the resulting efforts or of unachieved efforts which are brought to fruition by means of the might of the thoughts. Once all the manifold details of the universe, which is regulated fairly, are considered, then it can be recognized that a total destruction and annihilation would come about were there a loss of the universal balance. – (pg. 188)
A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. – (pg. 34)
The human being himself/herself creates his/her strengths and weaknesses, his/her purity and impurity…Everything belongs to him/her alone, and nobody else, because he himself/she herself created and brought about everything – by means of the might of his/her thoughts. Therefore, the only human being who is able to alter everything, and actually change it, is that human being who also brought about the relevant things, by means of his/her thoughts. – (pg. 188)
His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His sufferings and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains. – (pg. 34)
The entire circumstances of life…belong, as a product created by oneself, only to that human being who created them himself/herself by means of the might of the thoughts; never do they belong to another. Joy and sorrow…come solely from his/her thoughts; consequently he/she becomes, and is, just the way he/she thinks. – (pg. 190)
A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition. It has been usual for men to think and to say, “Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.” Now, however, there is among an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, “One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.” – (pgs. 34-35)
Thereby, an oppressor, for example, gains might over a human being who allows himself/herself to be oppressed just because he/she begins to think and to manage his/her life according to the external influences. – (pg. 192)
The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict each other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor; a perfect Love, seeing the suffering which both states entail, condemns neither; a perfect Compassion embraces both oppressor and oppressed. – (pg. 35)
In this form the oppressed one begins to unknowingly cooperate with the oppressor, although both seemingly suffer because of the other. However, the suffering truthly does not occur because of the other; rather it takes the form that the oppressed one as well as the oppressor effectively suffer because of themselves. However, this fact is misunderstood and misinterpreted by both sides because there is an absence of the relatively absolutely fully developed knowledge which enables the recognition of the truth that the weakness of the oppressed one is just as destructive as the used might of the oppressor. Both the oppressor and oppressed behave fallibly and against all natural-creational laws of balance and of responsibility which must be individually borne. But this gives no reason for the condemnation of the one or the other, because, truthly, clarification is appropriate, and is demanded by that creational law which states that no human being should simply leave the other to go on living his/her errors; rather each should help every individual live. But that means, for both the oppressor as well as for the oppressed, that appropriate feelings for others and the necessary humaneness must be raised… – (pg. 192)
He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free. – (pg. 35)
Human beings who overcome their weaknesses and free themselves from, and can rid themselves of, any content of their thoughts which is based on selfishness…and many other things which are of the same kind or are similar, are soon no longer included among those who are regarded as oppressors or as oppressed ones. They are in fact free in themselves. – (pgs. 192-194)
A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts. – (pg. 35)
A raising of oneself only occurs in the evolutively appropriate context, in the knowledge of being successful, if the thoughts are neutral-positive-equalised, and react and behave constructively in order to be progressive in their might. But human beings who do not overcome their weaknesses and do not free themselves from the contents of all their negative and destructive thoughts, remain weak, wretched, and miserable, because their refusal to raise their thoughts brings increasing inner and outer unfreedom, which finally ends in affliction, illness and ruin. – (pg. 194)
Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any means; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed.– (pgs. 35-36)
However, before anything can be achieved and brought to fruition, the thoughts must raise themselves above any extreme immoderateness, and therefore eliminates it in order to make the necessary room for healthy, positive purposefulness. That means: in order to be successful, the human being must renounce his/her selfishness which, as a rule, degenerates into immoderateness. – (pg. 194)
A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither think clearly nor plan methodically; he could not find and develop his latent resources, and would fail in any undertaking. – (pg. 36)
And once the thoughts are controlled by immoderateness, then neither a clear thinking nor a methodical planning can come about, resulting in every determination having to therefore fail. Therefore, selfishness and immoderateness must be dissolved and eliminated in order to discover and develop one’s latent resources. (…) Only thereby can real, healthy and positive determinations and endeavors be created and brought to fruition. – (pg. 194)
Not having commenced manfully to control his thoughts, he is not in a position to control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently and stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts which he chooses. – (pg. 36)
If the human being does not begin to effectively control his/her thoughts then he/she also never gets into a position of really controlling his/her intentions and affairs. Furthermore, there is then also no opportunity to adopt and actually bear and fulfill the responsibility for oneself and the responsibility for one’s life as well as the responsibility for all external and internal circumstances and for the environment, and so forth…then he/she is not capable of acting independently and standing effectively on his/her own feet as well as coping with life itself. (…) The human being’s world and life are limited by his/her thoughts… – (pgs. 194-196)
There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self reliance. – (pg. 36)
Without an appropriate quantity of error-making there can therefore be no progress and no achievement. (…) The result of that is that every success, whether it has a wordly nature or personality-related nature, grows in proportion to the degree to which selfish, egocentric, imperious, egotistical, overbearing and arrogant, as well as excessive – and other- habits, qualities, fads, and characteristics, and so forth are overcome. Thereby, the powers of the consciousness, and therefore, the thoughts, must be concentrated on the development of the grasped Ziel-setting and plans, one one’s power of decision and self-confidence must be strengthened. – (pg. 200)
And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the greater will be his success, the more blessed and enduring will be his achievements. – (pg. 36)
The higher the human being raises his/her positive, healthy, good, creative and constructive thoughts, and tends and nurtures them in an equalised form, the more successful, upright, progressive and righteous he/she becomes. Thereby, the good, positive and idealistic values and endeavours which are worth bringing to fruition also increase, from which, finally, success is also achieved as well as lasting accomplishments. – (pg. 200)
The universe does not favor the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. – (pg. 36)
The fact is that the creational-natural laws and recommendations give their help in rightness to those who are mangnanimous, virtuous, studious, honest and fair… while the others – the fallible ones…fail and fall prey to pure, material values which bring no success in the form of consciousness-based and spiritual progress. And although it may appear otherwise from time to time in the bare surface, that indeed corresponds to nothing more than appearances and deception. – (pg. 202)
All the great Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to prove and know it a man has but to persist in making himself more and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts. – (pgs. 36-37)
This truth can be presented and taught in different kind and wise, yet at its core it is unalterable. Therefore it can also be recognized, proven and followed in various ways, yet every way thereby requires that one works at it incessantly, to become more virtuous and discerning of the truth and to become a true human being. – (pg. 202)
Intellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for the beautiful and true in life and nature. Such achievements may be sometimes connected with vanity and ambition but they are not the outcome of those characteristics; they are the natural outgrowth of long and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish thoughts. – (pg. 37)
Intellectual achievements and successes are also the result of the might of the thoughts. And everything beautiful and true in life, as well as all cognitions, all knowledge and all wisdom, lead back to thoughts. Even the formation of the nature and the world…Certainly, many such formations and achievements are sometimes based on ambition and vanity, but they are nevertheless not the product of these qualities…Such achievements therefore emerge from a natural series of long and laborious efforts pertaining to the consciousness-thoughts, and from pure, clear, selfless, constructive and progressive thoughts… – (pg. 204)
Spiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become wise and noble in character, and rise into a position of influence and blessedness. – (pg. 37)
Consciousness-based achievements – which concern factors related to character, morality and personality – and consciousness-based works, such as poetry, music, painting and fiction, and so forth, are the fulfillment of controlled and conscious as well as Ziel-setting efforts which are established and brought to fruition by means of thoughts. Therefore, if a human being lives constantly with pure, noble and exalted thoughts in mind, which only ever linger with that which is pure, positive, healthy and selfless – then he/she also builds in himself/herself a pure, noble, healthy and positive character, a corresponding morality and disposition and personality, and indeed he/she does this as certainly as the Sun reaches its zenith. – (pg. 204)
Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought, a man ascends; by the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends. – (pg. 37)
The bringing to fruition of the efforts and endeavours is the crown of the thoughts, and this testifies to the character of the thoughts. If these are directed at Ziele and are embedded in a conscious striving for bringing things to fruition and are embedded in decidedness, self-control and righteousness, then the self worth of the human being increases juts as do all values of the factors conditioned by evolution. But as a result of laziness, an absence of self-control, an absence of decidedness, unproductive and confused thinking, and as a result of an absence of interest and neglect of responsibility, the human being falls down into the abyss of depravity, misery, affliction and all other terrible things. (pgs. 204-206)
A man may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of him. – (pgs. 37-38)
The human being is able to raise himself/herself to a high level of success not only in himself/herself, rather also in his/her external surroundings and out in the wide world. In the consciousness-based realm he/she can even climb to elevated heights…Nevertheless, however, he/she is able to very quickly plunge into severe weaknesses and wretchedness, if he/she allows arrogant, selfish and corrupt thoughts to grasp possession of him/her… – (pg. 206)
Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure. – (pg. 38)
Victories can therefore only be attained and retained when they are given the required watchfulness. But if that is neglected, even when success appears to be so certain, then everything very quickly falls prey to negation and failure. – (pg. 206)
All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought, are governed by the same law and are of the same method; the only difference lies in the object of attainment. – (pg. 38)
Everything that the human being is ever able to achieve – regardless of whether it is in some sort of material-intellectual or purely coarse-material kind, such as in the form of businesses… or in values which pertain purely to the consciousness…is solely the result of clear, pure, positive, healthy and Ziel-directed thoughts and their might…The same laws, which, through, their governance, lead the positive, pure and healthy thoughts, also steer those which are unpure, wrong, bad, unhealthy and negative; consequently, in this regard, the method is therefore the same; the difference lies solely in the form of the thoughts and in their Ziel. – (pg. 206)
He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly. – (pg. 38)
Whoever wants to achieve much, must also take much on board in terms of efforts, errors and arduousness, in contrast to those who want to achieve little because they are shy of efforts, errors and arduousness. Whoever wants to achieve that which is high, must take even more efforts, errors and arduousness upon himself/herself, and whoever strikes for the very highest must take upon himself/herself the greatest arduousness as well as the most errors and efforts. – (pgs. 206-208)
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