The Infallible Laws of thought......

[Ramesh Kakar]

The Infallible Laws of thought:

(As told by James Allen,British philosopher in his classic self help book,’As The Man Thinketh'  -   first time published in 1903.)

Law 1

         A man’s mind is like a garden. A gardener keeps his garden free from weeds, similarly a man should weed out all wrong, useless and impure thoughts from his mind.  And just like a gardener grows the flowers and fruits which he needs, a man should also cultivate right, useful and pure thoughts. 

     By adopting this approach, a man will soon discover that he is the master gardener of his soul.

Law 2

A man can not suddenly commit a crime or ascend into virtue.  Thoughts, criminal or virtuous have long been secretly fostered into the heart and they are revealed with their full power at the hour of opportunity.   

Thus every thought, like a seed sown in the mind, will blossom itself sooner or later into an act, thereby bringing its own fruits of opportunities or circumstances. 

Good thoughts bear good fruits and bad thoughts bear bad fruits.

Law 3

         Man should understand that Law, not Confusion is the dominating principal of the universe. Justice, not Injustice is the soul and substance of life.And Righteousness and not Corruption is the moving force in the spiritual government of the world. He will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, likewise things and other people will alter towards him.

Allen gave a few examples to drive home his point:

• A man is wretchedly poor.He is anxious that his comforts should improve. Yet all the time he shirks his work  on the ground of insufficiency of his wages. Unless he alters his thought of shirking work, his fate will not improve. On the contrary, he will attract a still deeper wretchedness by harbouring this thought.
• A rich man is a victim of a painful disease as a result of gluttony. He is willing to    give large sums of money to get rid of it but he will not sacrifice his gluttonous desires. But unless he sacrifices his gluttonous desires, he will never get rid of  the disease.
• An employer adopts crooked measures to avoid paying fair wages to his employees and hopes to make large profits. Unless he alters his unjust thoughts, his business cannot flourish.

Law 4

      A particular train of thought when persistently followed, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its result on character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet SURELY, shape his circumstances.