The practice of tithing has been a lifelong habit with many. They think of their own money as amounting to 90 percent of whatever their net income happens to be and they set aside the 10 percent that belongs to God. The unfailing result is that such people are always free from financial difficulties. Though they may have other problems, they never remain in want.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in thine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Malachi 3:10).

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord (Leviticus 27:30).

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of thine increase: So shall thy bams be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (Proverbs 3:9, 10).

Jacob, after he had received the vision which told him that there is a mystical ladder reaching from earth to heaven—the ladder of scientific prayer and righteous activity—decided there and then to adopt the practice of tithing, realizing that God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace … (Genesis 28:20-21).

There is not the least obligation upon anyone to tithe until he reaches the state of consciousness when he will prefer to do so. To give grudgingly or from a supposed sense of duty, is really to give from a sense of fear. Some think that because they are in pressing difficulties it is impossible for them to tithe at the present time but they propose to do so as soon as circumstances improve. This is to miss the whole point—the greater the present necessity, the greater the need for tithing.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again (Luke 6:38).

The secret of demonstrating prosperity in the spiritual way—and on no other basis can your prosperity ever be secure—is to know to the point of realization, that the one and only source of your supply is God, and that your business or employment, your investments, your clients or customers are but the particular channel through which that supply is at the moment coming to you from God. The practice of tithing is really the concrete proof that you have accepted this position.

Read Psalm 27.

The Twenty-seventh Psalm is one of the great meditations in the Bible. When trouble of any kind comes into our life it is because we have allowed our consciousness to fall to the level where fear and limitation can reach us. Any mental activity that enables us to raise the spiritual standard of the soul is a form of prayer, and the Bible abounds in such forms.

The history of solving a problem is often this: An individual is worried about something, or he feels ill. As soon as he realizes his state, he declines to accept the condition and proceeds to bring about the necessary raising of his thought. He reads this psalm carefully, interprets it spiritually, allows his mind to dwell upon the principles enunciated, appropriates them to himself, thus regaining his peace of mind.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

This one verse is one of the most complete texts in the whole Bible. It might well be written over the portals of every church and school in the land, for within it is contained in embryo the complete Jesus Christ message. It postulates not merely the existence of God but the living Presence of God in man. The Inner Light is no mere passive or static presence, but a dynamic power—light, salvation, and strength.

“The Lord is the strength of my life.” Having promised us light, the psalm now goes on to promise strength or power. We are, in fact, to be “endued with power from on high” and need no longer trust to our own inadequate efforts.

This wonderful verse then sums up its great message in the word “salvation,” and with the penetrating psychological skill, it obliges us to ask ourselves, point blank, what there is now to be afraid of.

Read Psalm 27.

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

“The wicked” and “mine enemies” stand for our own thoughts, for our fears and doubts of every kind; and truly indeed do they sometimes come upon us as though “to eat up our flesh.”

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

The Psalmist reiterates his confidence and makes us, his readers, reiterate that our hearts, too, shall not fear. When you can say quietly and truthfully at any hour of the day or night “my heart shall not fear,” the world has no more power over you. You are free. War of various kinds may rise up against you, but you will be confident, and therefore you will be victorious.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

These two verses constitute a remarkable expression of what is often called the second birth. When you have reached that stage you do not allow any external happening really to grieve you, or frighten you, or hurt you, because you know that external things are but passing shadows of no permanent importance. This steadfast determination to dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold His beauty and to learn His secrets, means that you are set upon a rock and there your house of life is secure.

Read Psalm 27.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

This verse closes the first section with a burst of praise and thanksgiving and then moves into a form of supplication that is really affirmative. Praise and affirmation should be allied.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for fake witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

The Psalmist now prays for spiritual understanding and for peace of mind. The enemies, as always, are his own fears, and these fears take their rise in the fact that “false witnesses” rise up and confront him. And no one who has been through this experience will doubt the appropriateness of that telling phrase that our fears are things “such as breathe out cruelty.” Verily, doubt and fear are the cruelest things that can come into the life of man.

Read Psalm 27.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Here, the Psalmist once more makes it clear to his own mind that his reliance is indeed entirely upon the divine Power, and not upon his own limited intellect, or will power.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:13-14).

The closing phrase is a powerful exhortation to be active and steadfast in prayer. To “wait upon the Lord” does not in the least mean neglecting a problem in the hope that God will come along and solve it for you. Waiting on the Lord means praying constantly and systematically about your problem. No particular form of prayer is essential, but prayer there must be; that is, the conscious dwelling upon the Being of God.

If your intuitive nature is well developed, you will seldom need to use formal statements. This is excellent—for who will trouble to climb a ladder when he is strong enough to leap over the wall? However, many people lose the ability to receive intuitional messages when worried or frightened. Then the ladder will probably be their salvation.

Nevertheless, it must not be overlooked that very many people do all their praying with formal statements of Truth, but not through repeating affirmations like a parrot. Those who work like a parrot inevitably make the parrot’s demonstration—they remain in the cage. Of a good prayer who used the same phrases many times it was said by a friend: “He constantly uses the old affirmations, but be stuffs them with fresh feeling every time.”

Thoughtless people sometimes say that our affirmations and meditations are foolish because we state what is not so. “To claim that my body is well or being healed when it is not, is only to tell a lie,” said one distinguished man some years ago.

This is to misunderstand the whole principle. We affirm the harmony that we seek in order to provide the subconscious with a blueprint of the work to be done. When you decide to build a house your architect prepares drawings of a complete house. Actually, of course, there is no such house on the lot today, but you would not think of saying that the architect was drawing a lie. He is drawing what is to be, in order that it may be. So, we build in thought the conditions that will later come into manifestation on the physical plane.

What is your intelligence for if not to be used in building the kind of life that you want? Very primitive men in prehistoric times rejoiced when they found food growing anywhere, and then they waited, perhaps for years, until they happened to find another crop. Today we use our intelligence, and plant in good time the actual crops that we want; and the amount that we consider necessary. We do not sit about hoping that wheat or barley may fortunately come up somewhere. If we did that, civilization would collapse.

The time has come when intelligent men and women must understand the laws of Mind, and plant consciously the crops that they desire; and just as carefully pull up the weeds that they do not want.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me;… and they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work (Nehemiah 2:18).

Don’t Hurry. You are going to live forever—somewhere. In fact, you are in eternity now; so why rush?

Don’t Worry. You belong to God, and God is Love; so why fret?

Don’t Condemn. As you cannot get under the other fellow’s skin, you cannot possibly know what difficulties he has had to meet—how much temptation, or misunderstanding, or stupidity. You are not perfect yourself and might be much worse in his shoes.

Don’t Resent. If wrong has been done, the Great Law will surely take care of it. Rise up in consciousness and set both yourself and the delinquent free. Forgiveness is the strongest medicine.

… For there is no power but of God (Romans 13:1).

Read Psalm 24

The Twenty-fourth Psalm is the great summing up of the Bible teaching on letting God come into your life.

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof…

The key to the true meaning of this first stanza is found in the two pivotal words Lord and earth. In the Bible the word Lord means the I AM. The earth is a general term covering all expression or manifestation under the jurisdiction of the I AM. Now all trouble of every land really arises from the belief that the earth is subject to the dominion of some outer power or law that is able to govern it independently of the I AM. But the Law of Being is, that man is the image and likeness of God, and has full dominion over all his conditions, and this psalm emphasizes this wonderful fact by adding the world, and they that dwell therein.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?

The hill of the Lord, or His holy place, means the realization of God. It is that vivid, real sense of the Presence. When one attains to this he has a marvelous power of helping and healing others. To reach this state is the real object of all our prayers.

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart…

But who are the pure in heart? Fundamentally, purity means complete loyalty to the belief in one single, all-embracing, Omnipotent God, Our Father which art in heaven. Hold unswervingly to God—this is purity.

To keep one’s mentality consciously loyal to the One Power is only half the battle. The other half is to purify and re-educate the soul, not merely from the grosser sins that everybody recognizes, but from the thousand-and-one concessions to limitation belief that fill the everyday life of humanity. This is to have “clean hands,” and to be able to ascend that wondrous “hill of the Lord.”

Read Psalm 24

He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face….

To many it may seem that the purification of the heart will be a long and wearisome task, but we have to remember that when we pray it is God who works and not we. If you will use the power of the Word, old habits of thinking will fall away and new ones come in; and this is because you will receive your righteousness, or right thinking, from God. You have sought His face, and you must begin to express something of His nature, for we always grow unto that which we contemplate.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Gates and doors symbolize understanding and it is only by the attainment of a higher degree of understanding that the King of glory—the vivid realization of God which we are seeking—can come to our souls. We are then told to ask ourselves who the King of glory is, and for what He stands. He is nothing less than the Lord; strong and mighty in battle, and the battle he fights, of course, is our battle.

The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.

People sometimes accept the idea that a change of thought, plus turning to God in prayer, will transform their lives into harmony and freedom. The logic of this principle appeals to them, and they set to work upon it in earnest. Then, after a few days, they say, “Nothing has happened after all,” and they drop back into their old negative thinking.

That is extremely foolish. The results of many years of general negative thinking are seldom corrected in a few days. No one who goes upon a new physical diet or medical regimen expects to reap the advantages in so short a time. You must keep up the new way of thinking and refuse to be discouraged by seeming failures at first.

The right motive for adopting right thinking is that it is right, and that wrong thinking is wrong; and we should do right whether it seems to pay dividends or not. Of course, it does pay dividends—fabulous dividends—but it usually takes a little perseverance in the face of preliminary slowness.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Bible mentions the existence of an unforgivable sin, and this has greatly frightened innumerable Christians.

Let us be absolutely clear upon one point. There is no sin that a human being can commit that God will not forgive but there is one sin that he cannot forgive until we make it possible. This sin consists in shutting ourselves off from fresh inspiration or guidance from God. If your mind is already made up about everything appertaining to God; if you decide that you now know all the truth, and that you could not be mistaken; then it will not be possible for the Holy Ghost to open your eyes to error and lead you into higher truth. Naturally, as long as this is your state of mind, no help or improvement can come to you; and in that sense only is your sin unforgivable—unforgivable while it lasts. When you do change your attitude, enlightenment will come, and the sin will be destroyed.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

The only part of our religion that is real is the part we express in our daily lives. Ideals that we do not act out in practice are mere abstract theories. Actually, such pretended ideals are a serious detriment, because they drug the soul.

If you want to receive any benefit from your religion you must practice it; and the place to practice it is right here, where you are; and the time to do it is now.

A writer on prayer has said: “Knead love into the bread you bake; wrap strength and courage in the parcel you tie for the woman with the weary face; hand trust and candor with your coin you pay to the man with the suspicious eyes.” This sums up the Practice of the Presence of God.

Give to him that asketh thee … (Matthew 5:42).

Why has not your prayer been answered? Perhaps it has. Strangely enough, it often happens that we receive an answer to our prayer and do not recognize it. Some of us have had demonstrations in our possession for weeks or months and have not known it. This mistake is caused by outlining. We have unconsciously decided that the demonstration must take a particular form, and because that form does not appear, we think we have failed. Actually we probably have an even better demonstration than we expected, but for the moment we are blind to it.

If a boy prayed for a man’s hat (because he thought it would look well on him or make him grown up) he would not get it; since divine Wisdom knows that he could not wear it. He would get a good hat of the sort that would be useful to him. We often pray for things for which we are not really prepared; but if we pray scientifically this will not matter, since Creative Intelligence will send us the thing that we really need.

Seek God for His own sake, for the joy of being with Him, and demonstrations will take care of themselves.

I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:34).

You cannot have your cake, and eat it too.

You cannot have peace of mind, and have your ailment too.

You cannot have a sense of divine Love, and have your jittery nervousness too.

You cannot have a feeling of toleration and kindliness and faith, and have your digestive troubles too.

You cannot have harmony continually unfolding in your life, and enjoy gossip and criticism too.

You cannot have power in prayer, and the luxury of resentment and condemnation too.

You cannot build a new consciousness and a new body, and live mentally in the dead past too.

… choose you this day whom ye will serve … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom and instruction, and understanding (Proverbs 23:23).

All you have of Truth is what you understand of it—and what you understand you always demonstrate. It naturally follows from this that the only way to improve yourself and your conditions is to gain an increase in understanding. And the only way to gain an increase in understanding is to make practical use of the Truth you already know. Knowledge that you do not actually use is only intellectual knowledge and is barren, and even that fades out in time through lack of use.

You will never demonstrate or progress on mere theories that you have not put to the test. You will never demonstrate or grow spiritually on what is in a textbook or a lecture until you have begun to put such knowledge into practice. It is far better to have a thimbleful of spiritual knowledge and use it than to have a whole mountain of correct spiritual doctrine most of which you have never made work.

Think of God. Review some of the things that you know to be true about Him—His perfect goodness, infinite intelligence, all presence, limitless power, unbound love, and so forth. Claim that God who is all those things, is with you—and believe it.

Read a few verses of Scripture or any spiritual book that helps you.

Say silently that you forgive everyone who may seem to need it; without exception or mental reservation—and mean it.

Ask God to forgive you for all mistakes you have ever made; and say you accept His forgiveness—and mean it.

Claim that God is now inspiring you, teaching you, and healing you. Claim that He is giving you the greatest of all gifts—HIMSELF—because, having Him, you will have everything else too.

Give thanks in advance for the peace of mind, the harmony, and the spiritual growth that is yours—and mean it.

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High (Psalm 50:14).

It happens to some students of prayer who are especially zealous, giving much time to study and meditation, and making more than average progress, that a time comes when their ordinary daily work begins to seem dull, tiresome, and really not worthwhile. Such a person may actually have a very important and interesting position, which most people would consider ideal; but now he is no longer content or happy. He would like to throw up business life altogether and devote all his time to his spiritual development.

The healing of this problem is first to know that a great many people have to meet it. It is not at all uncommon or peculiar to one person; and those who have it always come through it and find themselves happier than ever before because this particular difficulty only happens to wholehearted and zealous people. Such people usually spend too much time in prayer and meditation, and become waterlogged.

Having come through that stage they always find themselves more interested in their business than ever before; they do much better work, and at the same time they progress much faster in their spiritual lives, and have a great deal more power in prayer than they ever had before.

I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee (Job 42:2).

When you have driven the devil out of every other corner of your heart, his last refuge is to take shelter in negative analysis. He will say, “You prayed before and nothing happened,” or, “You have been praying so long for that …” Or perhaps he will say, “There is no way that it can come about.”

When this kind of thing comes into your thought, do not be discouraged but rather rejoice, for this means that satan is positively in his very last ditch, and now is the time to clear him out; and if you will be loyal to God it will not be difficult. Now is the time to know the Truth quietly, and to hold to it in spite of false appearances. Now is the time to witness to the faith that is in you. No finer opportunity for a great step forward spiritually can ever come to you than this one. So take advantage of it and rejoice in your good fortune.

It is not when things are going well that we make our progress. It is not even when things are going wrong and yet we feel sure that we can handle them with prayer, that we advance. It is when, smitten by the temptation to discouragement or even despair, we yet stand for what we know is the Truth, and say with Job, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him (Job 13:15).

You form certain beliefs, for one reason or another—and then you have to live with them. When you were growing up, well-meaning people told you many negative things by way of warning, thereby implanting fears; and these fears are with you today, consciously or subconsciously. Other problems you brought here with you when you were born.

You meet your fears dramatized. The things that we fear in our hearts have a way of coming to us in the guise of other people’s acts; of business conditions; of a breakdown in some part of the body.

Thank God it is not necessary as a rule to delve into the recesses of the subconscious and dredge for these things. In the spiritual teaching, as given in the Bible, we learn that by beating the symptoms spiritually (not, of course, covering up symptoms, but beating them) the fear or false suggestion that caused the symptom disappears too, and the patient is free.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace … (Job 22:21).

The principal reason why prayers are not answered is because in our hearts we limit the power of God. The Bible constantly tells us that the people got into trouble because they limited the Holy One. When you say, “There is no way out of my difficulty,” what can it possibly mean except that you cannot see a way out? When you say, “It is too late now,” what can that possibly mean except that it is too late for you?

When you pray you are turning to the power of God and surely you will admit that God is omnipotent, and therefore nothing can be too difficult, or too late, or too soon for Him. You will surely admit that Infinite Wisdom knows at least more than you do, to put the thing rather mildly. Well, Infinite Wisdom takes action when we pray and so our own limitations do not matter—unless we think they do.

Children often find themselves completely overcome by a difficulty that a grown-up person easily solves. What to the child seems an impossibility is quite easy to his father, and so even our greatest difficulties are simple to God.

Infinite Wisdom knows a beautiful and joyous solution to any dilemma. Do not limit the power of God for good in your life.

… Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? … (Isaiah 50:2).

The world will take you at your own valuation. Your body will take you at your own valuation. Your business will take you at your own valuation; for the value that you really put upon yourself is the one that manifests. You may say, “But that cannot be true, because I know several people who are always boasting and pretending and yet no one ever takes them seriously.”

Please note that I said the value you really put upon yourself. People who boast, bluff, and pretend have really a poor opinion of themselves—or why would they ptetend? And it is this poor opinion or sense of inferiority that is demonstrated in the failure that such people always make of their lives.

The man who really believes that his wares are excellent does not dream of lying about them. The man who is satisfied with what he is has no incentive to pretend to be something he is not. The man who is conscious of substantial achievement has no desire to boast.

Nature always takes you at your own valuation. Believe that you are the child of God. Believe that you express Life, Truth, Love. Believe that Wisdom guides you. Believe that you are a special enterprise on the part of God—and what you really believe, that you will demonstrate.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be … (1 John 3:2).

There is a quaint old legend that is firmly believed in the artists’ colony in Paris. It appears that many years ago a poor struggling artist was so hard up that he did not have even enough money to buy a piece of canvas upon which to paint what he felt sure would be a masterpiece. Going along the quays he saw an old daub selling for a few sous, frame included. It was supposed to represent Napoleon III in full dress uniform, and doubtless had adorned some wall in the days of the Second Empire. That artist decided that he could clean off the picture and use the canvas for his own work.

Arrived home, he proceeded to remove Napoleon III, not a difficult task, and to his astonishment found that there was another picture underneath. The last artist had not even removed the original but simply worked over it. When the last traces of Napoleon III had disappeared, the student was amazed to discover what looked to him like a very fine Corot. He promptly submitted his find to the experts and it was pronounced a genuine Corot. Of course, his days of poverty were ended.

Whether this story be truth or fable, it is a perfect allegory of the nature of man as we know him. Outside we find the “marred image” showing limitation, sin, sickness, and inharmony—the unskilled daub; but underneath is the masterwork of the Great Artist, and our prayers act by clearing away the false accretions—the “many inventions” of the carnal mind—that the already existing Truth and harmony may appear.

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Read Psalm 46.

Among all the beautiful and heart-searching prayers of the Bible there is none that surpasses the wonderful poem that we call the Forty-sixth Psalm.

It begins, as do nearly all the Bible prayers, with an expression of faith in God. This is extremely important in practice. You need to affirm constantly that you do believe in God, not merely as a vague abstract concept, but as a real, vivid, actual power in life, always available to be contacted in thought; never-changing and never-failing. The Psalm closes with a command and an affirmation.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. This is really the whole Bible in a nutshell. Be still, and know that I am God. This is the very last thing that we want to do when we are worried or anxious. The current of human thought is always hurrying us along to its own ends, and it seems much easier to swim with it by accepting difficulties, than to draw resolutely away from these things, and contemplate God, which is the one way out of trouble. Even in your prayers there is a time to cease active work and, “having done all, to stand”—to be still, and know that I am God.

Life is a reflex of mental states. As far as you are concerned, the character that things will bear will be the character that you first impress upon them. Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you. If you put your condemnation upon anything in life, it will hit back at you and hurt you. If you bless any situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time it will gradually fade out.

Bless your body. If there is anything wrong with a particular organ, bless that organ. Bless your home. Bless your business. Bless your associates. Turn any seeming enemies into friends by blessing them. Bless the climate. Bless the town, and the state, and the country.

Bless a thing and it will bless you.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not retum unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

The subject of diet is one of the foremost topics of the present day in public interest. Newspapers and magazines teem with articles and book shops are filled with volumes unfolding the mysteries of proteins and vitamins. Experts are saying that you become the thing you eat. This is perfectly true, as far as it goes, but I am going to deal with the subject of dieting at a level infinitely more profound and far-reaching in its effects—mental dieting.

The food you furnish your mind determines the character of your life. The subjects that you allow your mind to dwell upon, make your surroundings what they are. As thy days, so shall thy strength be (Deuteronomy 33:25), which in modern language may be translated “as thy thoughts so shall thy life be.”

Everything in your life today—the state of your body, the state of your fortune, the state of your home, the present condition of every phase of your life—is entirely conditioned by the habitual tone of your past thinking. And the condition of your life next week, and next year, will be conditioned by the thoughts and feelings that you entertain from now onward. In other words, you choose your life.

Thought is the real causative force in life, and there is no other. You cannot have one kind of mind and another kind of environment. You cannot change your environment while leaving your mind unchanged. This is the real key to life; if you change your mind your conditions must change too—your body must change, your activities must change; your home must change; the color-tone of your whole life must change.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind … (Romans 12:2).

This may be called the Great Cosmic Law. The practical difficulty in applying it arises from the fact that our thoughts are so close to us that it is difficult, without a little practice, to stand back and look at them objectively. Yet that is just what you must learn to do. You must train yourself to choose the subject of your thinking at any given time, and also to choose the emotional tone.

If you are not determined to start in now and carefully select all day the kind of thoughts that you are going to think, you may as well give up all hope of shaping your life into the kind of thing that you want it to be. The way to start on a seven-day mental diet is to begin now.

To train yourself in the habit of thought selection will be difficult for the first few days, but it is the most interesting experiment that you could possibly make. You will be amazed at the things that you will learn about yourself. This week may be the most significant week in your whole life; not only will you be able to face your present difficulties in a better spirit, but the difficulties will go. You cannot change conditions directly—you have often tried to do so and failed—but go on the seven-day mental diet and conditions must change for you.

This then is your prescription. For seven days you must not allow yourself to dwell for a moment on any kind of negative thought. You must watch yourself for a week and must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind. This discipline will be so strenuous that you could not maintain it consciously for much more than a week, but a week will be enough, because by that time the habit of positive thinking will begin to be established. Some changes for the better will have come into your life, encouraging you enormously, and then the new way of life will be so attractive that you will find your mentality aligning itself almost automatically.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).

What is meant by negative thinking? A negative thought is any thought of failure, disappointment, or trouble; any thought of criticism, or spite, or jealousy, or condemnation of others, or self-condemnation; any thought of sickness or accident; or, in short, any kind of limitation. In practice you will never have any trouble in knowing whether a given thought is positive or negative. Even if your brain tries to deceive you, your heart will whisper the truth.

Second, you must be quite clear that what this scheme calls for is that you shall not dwell upon negative things. It is not the thoughts that come to you that matter, but only such of them as you choose to entertain and dwell upon. Many negative thoughts will come to you all day long. Some will be given to you by other people, or you will hear disagreeable news. These things, however, do not matter so long as you do not entertain them. An analogy is furnished by the case of a man who is sitting by an open fire when a red hot cinder flies out and falls on his sleeve. If he blows that cinder off at once, without a moment’s delay to think about it, no harm is done. But if he allows it to rest on him for a single moment, under any pretense, the mischief is done, and it will be a troublesome task to repair that sleeve. So it is with a negative thought.

Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee (Acts 8:22).

People often find that the starting of this seven-day mental diet seems to stir up difficulties. It seems as though everything begins to go wrong at once. This may be disconcerting, but it is really a good sign. Suppose your whole world seems to rock on its foundations. Hold on steadily, let it rock, and when the rocking is over, the picture will have reassembled itself into something much nearer to your heart’s desire.

Do not tell anyone else that you are on a diet. Remember that your soul should be the Secret Place of the Most High. When you have secured your new mentality, then tell the story to anyone else whom you think is likely to be helped by it.

Tel! ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation (Joel 1:3).

All the old traditions tell us that there is more than one path to the great Goal. Just as there is more than one road up every great mountain, and yet all roads meet at the top, so in the spiritual quest there are several roads, all of which lead in due season to the one great End.

There is the path of knowledge. True knowledge of divine things is one of the appointed paths to attainment; but that path is by no means for everyone. And there is the pathway of action—of organized activity—and the world needs this too; but this again usually calls for a special gift, and special circumstances in which to apply it. And there are others.

The shortest and the easiest pathway of all is the pathway of Love. It is the one pathway that is open to all, irrespective of what their personal conditions or circumstances may be. For everyman, everywhere, the true attainment awaits through the yoga of Love, for yoga means union and it is our union with God that makes the attainment possible.

There is no fear in love; but Perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment … (1 John 4:18).

… God is Love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16).

The way of Love, upon which you may step at any moment—at this moment if you like—requires no formal permit, has no entrance fee, and no conditions whatever. You need no expensive laboratory in which to train, because your own daily life, and your ordinary daily surroundings, are your laboratory. You need no reference library, no professional training; no external acts of any kind. All you need is to begin steadfastly to reject from your mentality everything that is contrary to the law of love.

You must build up by faithful daily exercise the true Love Consciousness. Love will heal you. Love will comfort you. Love will guide you. Love will illumine you. Love will redeem you from sin, sickness, and death, and lead you into your promised land.

Say to yourself: “My mind is made up; I have counted the cost; and I am resolved to attain the Goal by the path of Love. Others may pursue knowledge, or organize great enterprises for the benefit of humanity, or scale the austere heights of asceticism; but I have chosen the path of Love. My own heart is to be my workshop, my laboratory, my great enterprise, and love is to be my contribution to humanity.”

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28).