First Morning

In aiming at the life of blessedness, one
of the simplest beginnings to be considered,
and rightly made, is that which we all
make every day-namely, the beginning
of each day’s life.

There is a sense in which every day
may be regarded as the beginning of a new
life, in which one can think, act, and live
newly, and in a wiser and better spirit.

The right beginning of the day will
be followed by a cheerfulness permeating
the household with a sunny influence,
and the tasks and duties of the day will
be undertaken in a strong and confident
spirit, and the whole day will be well lived.

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James Allen Morning and Evening Thoughts

First Evening

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.

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.

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Second Morning

None but right acts can follow right
thoughts; none but a right life can follow
right acts; and by living a right life all
blessedness is achieved.

Mind is the Master-power that moulds
and makes.
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes.
The Tool of thought, and, shaping what
he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand
ills;-
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.

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Second Evening

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful
jewels of wisdom. A man becomes calm in
the measure that he understands himself
as a thought-evolved being. . . .

And he as he develops a right
understanding, and sees more and more
clearly the internal relations of things by
the action of cause and effect, he ceases to
fret and fume, and worry and grieve, and
remains poised, steadfast, serene.

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Third Morning

To follow, under all circumstances, the
highest promptings within you; to be
always true to the divine self; to reply upon
the inward Voice, the inward Light, and to
pursue your purpose with a fearless and
restful heart, believing that the future will
yield unto you the need of every thought
and effort; knowing that the laws of the
universe can never fail, and that your own
will come back to you with mathematical
exactitude-this is faith and the living of
faith.

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Third Evening

Have a thorough understanding of your
work, and let it be your own; and as you
proceed, ever following the inward Guide,
the infallible Voice, you will pass on from
victory to victory, and will rise step by step
to higher resting-places, and your ever-
broadening outlook will gradually reveal
to you the essential beauty and purpose
of life. Self-purified, health will be yours;
self-governed, power will be yours, and all
that you do will prosper.

And I may stand where health, success,
and power
Await my coming, if, each fleeting hour,
I cling to love and patience; and abide
With stainlessness; and never step aside
From high integrity; so shall I see
At last the land of immortality.

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When the tongue is well controlled and
wisely subdued; when selfish impulses and
unworthy thoughts no longer rush to the
tongue demanding utterance; when the
speech has become harmless, pure,
gracious, gentle, and purposeful, and no
word is uttered but in sincerity and
truth-then are the five steps in virtuous
speech accomplished, then is the second
great lesson in Truth learned and mastered.
Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make
thy life
Rich, sweet and beautiful.

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Having clothed himself with humility,
the first questions a man asks himself
are:-

“How am I acting towards others?”
“What am I doing to others?”
“How am I thinking of others?”
“Are my thoughts of, and acts towards
others prompted by unselfish love?”
As a man, in the silence of his soul,
asks himself these searching questions, he
will unerringly see where he has hitherto
failed.

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To dwell in love always and towards all
is to live the true life, is to have Life itself.
Knowing this, the good man gives up
himself unreservedly to the Spirit of Love,
and dwells in Love towards all, contending
with none, condemning none, but loving
all.

The Christ Spirit of Love puts an
end, not only to all sin, but to all division
and contention.

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When sin and self are abandoned, the heart
is restored to its imperishable Joy.

Joy comes and fills the self-emptied
heart; it abides with the peaceful; its reign
is with the pure.

Joy flees from the selfish, it deserts the
quarrelsome; it is hidden from the impure.

Joy cannot remain with the selfish; it is
wedded to Love.

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In the pure heart there is no room left
where personal judgments and hatreds can
find lodgment, for it is filled to overflowing
with tenderness and love; it sees no evil,
and only as men succeed in seeing no evil
in others will they become free from sin,
and sorrow, and suffering.

If men only understood
That the heart that sins must sorrow,
That the hateful mind tomorrow
Reaps its barren harvest, weeping,
Starving, resting not, nor sleeping;
Tenderness would fill their being,
They would see with Pity’s seeing
If they only understood.

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To stand face to face with truth; to arrive,
after innumerable wanderings and pains, at
wisdom and bliss; not to be finally defeated
and cast out, but to ultimately triumph
over every inward foe-such is man’s divine
destiny, such his glorious goal; and this,
every saint, sage, and savior has declared.

A man only begins to be a man
when he ceases to whine and revile, and
commences to search for the hidden justice
which regulates his life. And as he adapts
his mind to that regulating factor, he
ceases to accuse others as the cause of his
condition, and builds himself up in strong
and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against
circumstances, but begins to use them as
aids to his more rapid progress, and as a
means of discovering the hidden power
and possibilities within himself.

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The will to evil and the will to good
Are both within thee, which wilt
thou employ?
Thou knowest what is right and what is
wrong,
Which wilt though love and foster?
which destroy?

Thou art the chooser of thy thoughts and
deeds;
Thou art the maker of thine inward state;
The power is thine to be what thou wilt be;
Thou buildest Truth and Love, or lies and
hate.

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The teaching of Jesus brings men back
to the simple truth that righteousness,
or right-doing, is entirely a matter of
individual conduct, and not a mystical
something apart from a man’s thoughts
and deeds.

Calmness and patience can become
habitual by first grasping, through effort,
a calm and patient thought, and then
continuously thinking it, and living in it,
until “use becomes second nature,” and
anger and impatience pass away for ever.

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Man is made or unmade by himself; in the
armoury of thought he forges the weapons
by which he destroys himself; he also
fashions the tools with which he builds
for himself heavenly mansions of joy and
strength and peace. By the right choice
and true application of thought man
ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the
abuse and wrong application of thought
he descends below the level of the beast.
Between these two extremes are all the
grades of character, and man is their
maker and master.

As a being of Power, Intelligence, and
Love, and the lord of his own thoughts,
man holds the key to every situation.

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