The Prosperity & Wealth Bible. Kahlil Gibran

emotions exhaust the life energy and leave a man only fractional strength for the stubborn ordeals of life. People suffer more real exhaustion and loss from the evils they fear but which never happen than they do from evils that actually materialize in their lives. At an old man’s funeral it was said of him: he had a multitude of troubles in life, most of which never happened. What an infinite pity that the time and strength which might be utilized in grand achievements for ourselves and the world, are too often wasted in worry, fear or envy with the one result of weakness and suffering and lost opportunities of usefulness?

      Fear has been called truly “the great hob-goblin of the race.” It magnifies our foes and minifies our friends. It is always saying: “There is a lion in the way!” Its cry is the cry of the coward servant of Elisha: “Alas! my Master, what shall we do?” It sees the foes, difficulties and magnifies them into gigantic proportions. “The tearful and the unbelieving” both go to the same doom according to Scripture.

      The whole progress of humanity nationally and individually is a progress from the dominion of fear to the realm of faith.

      Fear has a strange magnetic power a thought-creative power of materializing into our outward life the very objects feared! It seems to be a magnet with great force, drawing into the orbit of the life the very object feared by the mind. “The thing that I “feared,” said the sacred writer, “is that which came upon me.” Faith, on the other hand, says with Elisha: “They that are for us are greater than those that be against us.” Faith sees the angelic hosts ready to assist us in time of need. Let the student remember the axiom: “thought takes form in action and being.”

      The Way to Drive Out Worry, Fear, Etc.

      In place of centering our thought upon the Worry, Fears, Doubts and Irresolution, which constitute man’s mental poison, the proper method is to forget that these have controlled us, and put all our mental effort into the cultivation of their antidotes:

      Peace, Trust, Faith, Resolution, Courage. The expulsive power of a new and contrary idea or affection is recognized by all psychologists, and from the standpoint of mental science we should not allow the mind to dwell upon undesirable qualities or things. Think health, not sickness; success, not failure; courage, not fear; faith, not doubt; the increasing good coming into your life, not the evil.

      Especially is it necessary to enlarge and strengthen Faith, which is not a mere belief or assent of the understanding to certain statements but as Edward E. Beals expresses it: “Faith is the trolley pole which one raises to meet the Great Forces of Life and Nature, and by means of which one receives the inflow of the Power which is behind, and in all things, and is enabled to apply, that Power to the running of his own affairs.” The illustration is most apt and forcible. Faith is the vital bond of connection between the soul of man and its Infinite Source of supply. It is more. It is the great awakener of the latent forces in the soul of man. To the sick it uncaps the fountain of healing waters in the soul and floods the whole spiritual nature with new life and power. To the weak it brings strength; to the timid, courage; to the despairing, hope. Faith opens the soul’s interior vision and discloses the realities of the Spirit Realm realities that being recognized and patiently waited for, have the strange power of materializing themselves in our outward life conditions.

      We must assiduously cultivate Faith in ourselves. No man ever becomes truly successful who is deeply impressed with his own weakness or inferiority. It is the confident, hopeful men who carry with them the thought-vibration: “I can and I will” who win in life’s battle.

      If a man could keep his poor opinion of himself to himself, even then it would cripple him in his life work, but the more surely does it do so because every one’s fear thoughts however zealously he may seek to hide them in language or conduct create an atmosphere of doubt, timidity and fear about him that radiates into the minds of all who come in contact with him.

      Thoughts and Moods are Catching. No man can keep his thoughts entirely to himself. The air of negativity of doubt and irresolution with which multitudes of men surround themselves finds its way into other minds and becomes a barrier to success at every point.

      This lack of confidence in yourself, however, is most disastrous in its effects upon yourself, as it is a frost which kills all the budding plans, purposes and hopes which are so essential to success. Get rid then,

      I beg of you, of all false notions as to the limitations of your own powers for while it is quite true you have only developed these powers to a very limited extent, and there seems to be a very great difference between your life and the “lives of great men remember there is absolutely no limit to the extent to which your powers may be unfolded. You are vitally connected with the Storehouse of Divine Wisdom, Power and Strength and can draw at will and to any extent for “in God we live and have our being.” Potentially, therefore, you have more ability, undeveloped and unused, in your nature than all men of all the ages have ever exhibited.

      Cultivate, too, Faith in “the Power that makes for Righteousness/’ in the angelic wisdom and help, in a Higher Guiding Intelligence in your life, in “Destiny,” or your “Guiding Star” as the Great Souls, who have been World Leaders, have done.

      Cultivate absolute faith, too, in the Laws (which you are now mastering) of Financial Success and remember that the throne of God is no more stable, the revolution of the sun no more certain, the law of gravitation no more a fixture, than is the operation of these fixed laws of financial increase.

      With faith in self, in your fellows, in the Law, hold your head erect, assert to your own soul your Mastery of Conditions, and with the confidence of the “I can and I will” spirit, enter life’s arena.

      Helen Wilmans, of whose remarkable career we shall have more to say later, declares: “I made myself over completely. From being like a limp rag, I became sufficiently positive to conquer all my environments.” In another place she declares, “I became as a God and knew that no power could come against me.”

      Claim for Yourself Unlimited Power, Wisdom

      Until a man gets at least a glimpse into the depths of human nature he can never realize himself or life’s possibilities. So long as he measures himself and sets limitations on his forces, so long will he limit his achievements and all his life expressions.

      The True View is that no one can measure Man’s Greatness (that is your greatness) any more than he can fix a limit to God’s Greatness. Man as child of God, started on eternal progression, is germinally at least, a god, and the clearer his vision of this truth, the more constant his recognition of this fact, the faster will divinity manifest in his character and life. Every man (that means you) contains germinally at least not only all the attributes of human greatness (all the talent, ability, genius which men have ever given expression to in history) but also the fulness of divinity. The human race is a family of the Gods.

      You have, therefore, not one talent but the whole ten of human endowment. You have Genius, which is but concentrated energy and persevering will power. You have “all power” even as Jesus declared of himself. You are more than able to conquer. Hold this thought: it means success.

      Lesson 2 — Principles and Methods of Success: Keep Body and Mind in Tip-Top Condition

      If the mind is weakened by worries, vain regret, forebodings, or your mental forces spent in the inharmonious vibrations of envy, hatred, distrust or malice; or if the body is weakened by violation of natural law, or by excesses, over indulgence in appetite, passion, etc.; or if the mind and body are not in harmonious relation on Nature’s plan for their harmonic working, do not expect success. He who cannot conquer the world within, cannot conquer the world without. He who cannot regulate himself cannot rule over conditions and other people. The promise is: “He that over-cometh shall inherit all things” but it is also said that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

      In the first-class condition of mind and body and their harmonious working on Nature’s Plan, which we shall presently explain, is developed the power to tide one over difficulties, to triumph over conditions of inheritance, poor environment and seemingly insuperable