LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Gl FT OF HJl Ik. Class 1 How To Control Fate Through Suggestion. By HENRY HARRISON BROWN FIFTH EDITION. FRIGE, 25 CENTS. 'NOW 1O5 STEINER ST., SAN FRANCISCO, LONDON: L. N. FOWLER & Co. 7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus, E. C. FOLK PUBLICATIONS. NOW, A Journal of Affirmation; the Latest Evo- lution of the New Thought. $1.00 a year. THREE CORRESPONDENCE CpURSES of Lessons which should be studied in every home, viz.: Suggestion, 25 Lessons; Art of Living, 25 Lessons; Psychometry, 12 Les- sons. Books by Henry Harrison HOW TO CONTROL FATE THROUGH SUGGESTION. GO pp. Paper, 25c. NOT HYPNOTISM, BUT SUGGESTION. 60 pp. Paper, 25c. MAN'S GREATEST DISCOVERY. 60 pp. Paper, 25c. NEW THOUGHT PRIMER. 64 pp. Paper, 25c. SELF-HEALING THROUGH SUGGESTION. 64 pp. Paper, 25c. DOLLARS WANT ME THE NEW ROAD TO OPULENCE. 24 pp. Paper, lOc. These are six epoch-making books. They have received highest commendation from the greatest thinkers of to-day, and from the many who have already bought and studied them. They are thought stimulators, and point the way to health, happiness and success. Others in Preparation. Folk, Publishers, 105 Steiner St. San Francisco, Cal. How TO CONTROL FATE THROUGH SUGGESTION. A Lesson in SOUL CULTURE BY- HENRY HARRISON BROWN, Author of "How to Control Fate through Suggestion," "Man's Greatest Discovery," etc., and Editor of NOW. In the Will work and thou shalt chain the wheel of Chance Emerson. Was somebody asking to see the Soul? See! Your own shape and countenance. Walt Whitman. ET * A Ik T7* J ,*.!_ Jc ijtti .ocnncm. ^^SABTpV S\< or THE \ f UNIVERSITY 105 STKINER STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 1906 LONDON: L. N. FOWLKR & Co., 7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus, E. C. OTUDY ME! ASSIMILATE ME! MAKE ME A ^ PART OF THY LIFE! I WILL THEN LEAD THEE TO HEALTH, PROSPERITY, AND HAPPINESS ::::::: To HIM WHOSE LOVE AND HELPFULNESS MADE NOW POSSIBLE. COPYRIGHTED, 1901 AND 1906, BY HENRY HARRISON BROWN Kutered at stationer's Hall, London Knglaud. INTRODUCTION. Some of the matter of these Essays has appeared in various journals and more especially in the Suggester and Thinker. It is here collected, revised, extended, improved, and put into a permanent shape for study. In its previous form, it attracted considerable attention and won much appreciation. This volume contains the most important knowledge man can possess, i. e., knowledge of the Power to con- trol his own Destiny. In his own life and that of many others, the author has seen the demonstration of this Power. The reader has but to follow the instructions herein laid down to reach that condition of realization which Jesus knew when he affirmed : "I and my Father are ONE." The way is easy. Its principle is Truth. Its in- centive is Love. Its result is Life "more abundantly." That there may be understanding, in Part I. the phil- osophy of Unity has been elucidated and verified by the Law of Vibration. That this Principle of Unity and the Law of Vibration may be applied to daily thinking and living, in Part II the Principle of Suggestion is unfolded. This is an ever-present and an ever-active Principle. He who accepts, understands and applies it, attains mastery over all conditions. This principle is the basis of the many metaphysical movements of the day and, when intelligently obeyed, gives one all the power that any "healer" possesses. That the reader may attain this power, methods of thinking and affirming are scattered through these pages. At the close, are affirmations for practice that all may, through a trained Will, learn "The Art of 100616 6 How TO CONTROL FATE Living." The end and aim of the book is to help the reader to Self-Control. No perception of Truth ever gave man such Power as does this of Self-Suggestion, or, as we will term it, AFFIRMATION. It is the discovery that Thought is Force and that man can control, in its objective expression, this Infinite Sub- Conscious Life, which is the Real Man the Ego and thus control Fate. All the mystery of the ancient and modern schools is cleared away from the subject and all the misconcep- tions of theology are avoided. As Darwin investigated, and as Spencer reasoned, upon objective phenomena, the effects, so have I tried to investigate and reason upon the Cause, the Subjective man. The Spirit that has inspired me is that of the Affirma- tion, ALL IS GOOD. I have tried to let it manifest in me under that New Commandment, "That ye love one another." SAN FRANCISCO, CAL V Nov. 1, 1901. PARTL The Science and Philosphy of Life* Unity* Unity Of nature is now the basic thought in science and in the new Philosophy. The ancient and child-man thought duality. This concep- tion, which from earliest times has dominated the con- ceptions of man, has passed from the mind of the pres- ent thinker. With it must pass all the old conceptions of man and nature. With these conceptions, must also ultimately pass the customs, laws and theologies based upon the unscientific, primitive conception of nature as duality. This conception of unity, as opposed to that of duality, is destined by evolution to work a revolution whose im- jport it is now impossible to over-estimate. Half Our science has not been half science, even Science* since Darwin and Spencer gave it the key to all the knowledge which comes to the soul from the external consciousness by observation and reasoning. Darwin gave man his first true conception of the world without himself. The survival, in greater or less degree, of the idea of dualism in the scientific mind and in philosophic speculation, has so colored investigation that constantly there has arisen from it the idea of limitation, division, antagonism, contest, struggle, etc. This conception of duality has either been present or has been introduced as explanation in much scientific reasoning and, in the most inde- pendent minds, it has at least been recognized as a fact of nature. This conception is so false that the New and Coming Philosophy will bear the same rela- tion to the old as the child does to the man. 8 How TO CONTROL FATE Revolution. It is safe to say that this conception of an all-pervading Unity is destined to work a change in thought and life greater than that wrought by Copernicus when he "changed the front of the universe," or by Jesus, when he lifted philosophy from Force to Love. Darwin and his co-workers not only threw miracle and supernatural into law, but they did more; they destroyed duality and, though this thought has been constantly permeating the common mind, it has been overlooked by philosophers. But common sense has joined unconsciously with the dem- onstrations of science and made mind and matter into one unity. The result of this can be only dimly fore- seen. But this I prophesy : in future, man will look within himself and not without, as now, for knowl- edge and direction will find the universe in himself and not, as now, himself in the universe. This is the greatest change of front man has ever made. It is revolution, but until he makes it he is neither true nor free. Tendency This tendency of thought is seen in of Thought. every new work in philosophy and in every new deduction of science. Few are there who dare to follow out to the end logical con- clusions, or are free to give to the world the clearest light of their reasoning. Professor W. J. Powell, of the government ethnological bureau, has recently pub- lished a work which is destined to rank high in the future for its insight and its reasoning on the Oneness of nature. Professor McGee, in reviewing the book- in The Forum, says of Prof. Powell : "Accepting the observed unity of matter and motion, Powell is able to escape that besetting dualism that has clung to the hu- man mind ever since the sylvan savage first noticed front and rear, this side and that side." "This observed unity" is the basis of reasoning and of life in Soul Culture. Soul Culture is, therefore, that coming thing which is neither religion nor science, THROUGH SUGGESTION. 9 but is the union of the two, Soul being the religious side, and Culture being the scientific side of the thought. Its first affirmation is Unity. This affirmation is con- stantly repeated until it becomes the instinctive thought, to solve all problems of life. One All is One Something! The name is Something* of no consequence. I would not quarrel with one who would say Brahm, God, Force, or any other term that to him meant Unity. I find it more acceptable to say, All is Spirit. What Spirit is, can be answered only by saying : Spirit is All and All is to consciousness only differing manifesta- tions of Spirit. Duality* There are not two forces, two antagonistic somethings, warring in nature for mastery. These two things have heretofore been in the mind balanced. Some of these warring mental twins arc God and Devil, angels and demons, men and women, spirit and body, mind and matter, matter and motion, matter and spirit, good and evil, health and disease, life and death as separate entities. These are two only to the child-man, who reasons from appearances, but to him who looks at cause they will ever be mani- festations of the One. There are no double standards. One reigns forever, and that one is Mind or Spirit omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Cause be- ing One, there can be only harmony. There can be no antagonism ; no struggle ; no contest ; no evil ; no wrong ; no progress. There can be only manifestation of the One in harmony and in purpose, or it would be self-destructive and there would in time be not even One. Cause. The One manifests in many million ways, but they are all harmony, all good and right, or they are all discord, and evil and wrong. To Cause the One these names are not given, but they are names 10 How TO CONTROL FATK man gives to effects. They are very readily trans- ferable and are transferred so constantly that no standard as to good, etc., has ever been found perma- nent among any people, and never one for the- race. The only one ever held in theory is the one in all the- ologies, which is the belief that the Supreme Power can do no wrong. But this has rarely descended to practical application. Yet its evidences how dimly man has seen, but how truly he has ever felt, the fact which science to-day demonstrates, that the Universe is one energy. Thus, in the New Philosophy, these terms mean nothing when applied to nature, but are signifi- cant when applied to man himself. They mean in him effects of the one Cause. They are names for his con- venience alone. They mean nothing as to Cause itself. Fate. Man is thus his own Fate, inasmuch as he has power to choose, to use and to name, and, as fast as he learns his power, to control the manifesta- tions of the One, he shall decide how and when this power shall in manifestation serve him. Thus, in fu- ture, man, instead of being slave, or creature, to an outside power as in all the past, shall BE that power, and manifest as he chooses ; shall make all other man- ifestations obey him instead of obeying, as now. He shall no longer fear a god outside himself, but reverence himself as a manifestation of the Indivisible God. He shall not only choose how he shall himself manifest, but he shall decide how all other manifestations shall affect him, or whether they shall affect him at all. And he shall control all manifestations of a less pitch in vi- bration than his own, be they manifestations known as heat or human thought. He will, by choice, adapt manifestations to himself, or himself to vibrations, until he finds his ideal of happiness, or, what is the same, until every manifestation of the One gives him pleasure. THROUGH SUGGESTION. 11 Man. All reasoning will hereafter be from Man, and from Man as center of the universe, and from the universe only as the circumference of Man. It is with Man alone, then, that Soul Culture deals. Man is to us the representative of All. In him we find All ; and in studying him, we study All. If science wants to use the term Force, let it be understood that it is the same to Soul Culture as the term I use Spirit. Not yet has Spirit to science the same meaning as Force. Therefore, Spirit is used here. Both are terms for THAT WHICH IS THE I AM THAT I AM. For Truth knows only unity "The one that inhabiteth eternity.'' Man is, therefore all the rest is. Without the ear, no sound ; without the eye, no light ; without the nerve, no sensation. Hence without Man, no anything. With- out Man, no God no One. Man is All. Logic* This is logic. Dare we accept it and live it? Soul Culture says: Yes. Can we dem- onstrate our logic to be the truth ? Soul Culture does. Hence the "about face" that must come in science. Where it now looks outside Man to vibration, it will look within and declare Sensation to be All. For, despite learned libraries, all that is known is Sensa- tion. When man is wise, he will study only Sensation, for Sensation is to Man All. Where man now knows only in part, all will then be opened to him. Where he "now sees through a glass darkly," he will then, as Spirit, see Cause face to face. How? By recog- nizing faculties in himself that allay him with Cause, by recognizing himself as part of the indivisible One. In fact, through his recognition of oneness with Spirit, he will declare himself Spirit, and hence re- gard himself as Cause. Nothing comes except by evo- lution. And, as the faculties we now manifest have been gradually developed because the Soul pushed them out and then they have been cultivated, so have the psychic faculties by which we take hold on Cause instinctively made themselves manifest. Now we have 12 How TO CONTROL FATE to be only equally wise in cultivating them. As our ancestors have been cultivating eye and hand, so must we cultivate these psychic faculties and by thus be- coming a conscious factor in our own evolution, become soon consciously one with Unity. Matter* This intellectual position ignores entirely the thought of physical Man. Since matter and motion are one, Man cannot be two; i. e., matter and motion. If matter is, then physical Man is. If motion is, then Man is motion. Therefore, let us be logical and say : All is matter, hence Man is matter or, say all is motion, hence Man is motion Spirit. Both physical and spiritual, Man cannot be. Science has decided this forever. There is only mo- tion. Matter is only a form of motion ; so is heat ; so are the other so-called physical forces. By telepathy, thought and emotion have been demonstrated to be mo- tion ; therefore, no longer can Man be thought of as a physical being. Evolution, Here is the key to the coming evolution. This Man of unity explains the vagaries, sophistries, mysticisms of "Christian Science," Theoso- phy, and kindred movements. Their teachers perceive this truth dimly, but, lacking the scientific spirit, they have become blinded by the excess of light. Science will explain the manifestations of all these, as it has ex- plained those with which it has already dealt and will find the One Force behind all. That force Man can know and master. Gods, angels, mahatmas, spirits, if they exist, are either human or of human creation. Above Man, there can be nothing ; for, beyond "Spirit conscious of its own existence," (Hegel's definition of Man), nothing is possible. Man may manifest to in- finity. Some man well developed may show himself to one less developed, and he who sees may say, "God," "Mahatma," etc, But what of that ? What he is, I am. THROUGH SUGGESTION, 13 Not To declare that Man is not physical, is Eddyism* as far from the Eddy folly of saying, "You have no body," as it would have been, when Copernicus said, 'The sun stands still," to have said, "There is no earth." We have body, as we have thought, and even the most strenuous Eddyite will think. Both body and thought are manifestations of force and only differ as heat and light differ in pitch, (length and speed of vibration). To this conception of nature, are all these various sys- tems of "Divine Science," "Christian Science," and other more or less true philosophies, bringing the com- mon mind. They are Johns, some of them not clad even in the skins and camel's hair of truth, but all crying in a wilderness of materialistic thinking, "Prepare ye the way." And lo, here comes the Messiah of Science, saying; "I am Unity," Sensation* Sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, phosphoresence, X-ray, chemical affinity, and other known forms of force are now known to be one, differing only in rates of vibration. Therefore must we, in this thought of unity, now study man and regard not only body, but thought, love, hate, sorrow, sexual passion, and all other emotions as forms of the one energy, differing only in the rate of vibration. That is, we have to study only the effect of vibration upon self that is, study Sensation, Force* As force and as a manifestation of force, Man can be as intelligently studied as have been the recognized forces of science and their effects. And, as Man has learned to control those for his benefit, so can he learn to control this force which is himself. He as force, manifests as thought, emotion, and psychic power. As he has interrogated nature and, by experi- ment, learned to weigh, measure and control what he calls physical force, he can, by experiment, learn to con- 14 How TO CONTROL FATE sciously use and control this force called psychic or spir- itual. He is now almost entirely unconscious of it and it uses him instinctively as once did electricity. As he now uses one and is master, he can use the other and be MASTER OF SELF. Intelligent To learn to do voluntarily and consciously Use* what he is now doing involuntarily and un- consciously, i. e., manifesting life, is now the field of human achievement. I predict that when once man has found the way, he will have no use for all the present cumbrous machinery called science, nor for much of the present mechanical or motive powers. Occult manifestations of the One power will do all that is now done and more, with less labor, cost of friction than is possible even with liquid air. "Chalk marks don't draw cars," once said a railroad man. But we are much nearer to the time when some manifesta- tion of force less tangible than chalk marks will draw cars, than was the possibility of lightning drawing them when Franklin drew it from the clouds, or we then were to the possibility of wireless telegraphy. Chinese used powder in play centuries before Christian nations used it to kill ; so Hindoo jugglers use occult forces to-day, but the Anglo-Saxon will use them in work. I believe the Anglo-Saxon is "the coming man" who will not only conquer the world, but will also conquer the near, but unseen, realm of psychic power. Spirit* As spirit, to be e-du-coed (drawn out, edu- cated) is man in the New Thought Man is Spirit with unlimited power of manifestation. As the recognition of Man as soul and body has led to the present development, until now he finds himself limited in manifestation by this dual conception of Man and Nature, even so by this idea of unity of Nature and of Man as Spirit, will he be freed. He can then manifest without limitation and will thus usher in the new civili- zation waiting just ahead of us. THROUGH SUGGESTION. 15 We are What All that has, in this thought of duality, We Think* been affirmed of Man is false when he is considered in this thought of unity. Facts will not change, but our mental attitudes respect- ing them do change. This will virtually change to us all things, for facts are to us what we think them to be. This applies even to the one fact that makes all other facts possible that one fact is ourselves. We are in manifestation what we think we are. Therefore, if we think we are body and mind, we shall manifest as body and mind ; if we think we are worms of the dust, we shall live dust ; if we think we are gods (as we are), we shall live as gods. Thus will this thought of the uni- verse and of Man as Unity as Spirit work a greater revolution in life's manifestation than was ever wrought before by any discovery, invention, or philos- ophy. Preparation* He who would take up the study of Man as Spirit must be willing to lay aside all preconceived opinions of Man and Nature, forget all science has said except this thought of unity, for unity is the only fact, except the law by which it manifests, evolution, that is of any practical benefit to him. In this study of Man, he is to ignore all present thought of body, thinking of it as only a manifestation of Spirit as the materialized clothing of Spirit. In this thought, all I have said and may say is true ; under the old thought of duality, all I have said or may say is false. This mental attitude is the one indispensable requisite. One may obtain facts in the supposed realm of matter while he is repugnant to them ; but, in the psychic realm, to recognize facts, one must be receptive, otherwise he is like the blind man seeking to be con- vinced of color. Vibration. To the Soul Culturist, all thought of duality of essence has passed away, as have the myths of the middle ages, and he recognizes only a 16 How TO CONTROL FATE duality of manifestation, as Cause and Effect. To him in his relation to the Without (the external universe), there is only one Cause, VIBRATION. This vibra- tion is the only possible manifestation of Unity. In himself, he knows but one Effect, SENSATION. Sensation is the only possible manifestation of Unity in him. This manifestation we call LIFE, Sensation* As the rates of vibration vary, so do the sensations vary. As the possible number of different vibrations is infinite, so the possible number of sensations is infinite. Man, then, is infinite in possi- bility here and now. He has only to develop his power to recognize sensations and of the many million vibra- tions that are constantly impinging upon him to choose those to which he will respond, and those which he will harness to do his work. Emerson's favorite saying may yet be true in mechanics: "Hitch your wagon to a star." Man will learn to recognize, to reproduce, and to enjoy those sensations he chooses ; and will learn to ignore those which are to him unpleasant. He will thus become his own Fate and Destiny. The The New Man will have no senses, but he New Man* will be sensation. He will not be limited to five senses, but will constantly increase his recogni- tion of sensation, and, thus becoming more sensitive, he will, in the ages to come, find himself responsive to every vibration in space. Then he will know ALL. A text- book on Physics, "up-to-date," now in use in our col- leges, gives this definition of heat: "Heat is either a sensation, or that which produces a sensation." This is a definition that could be given of everything that man feels and of every feeling. It is true ; the author told more than he intended. Everything external to man "is that which produces a sensation," and every- thing within him "is a sensation," THROUGH SUGGESTION. 17 Definition This is all the definition Physics gives by Physics* of the phenomena of nature. We can say of air, water, electricity, light, etc., etc., they are sensations in man, and they are that which produces these sensations. But, really, the author could have said : "Heat is in man a sensation made by vibra- tions of a certain wave length and speed." This would also be true of everything else. He would have to go farther yet and give the length and speed of the wave. This would help the intellect to grasp an idea of heat, but the man knows by feeling what is beyond every pos- sible definition. Heat is sensation. The child knows it by feeling, and the scientist knows no more. Where is the place to study heat, in stove or in man? Without man, there is no heat. To one under proper Suggestion, there is none. Again, the hypnotic subject under Sug- gestion is burned to a blister by a cold coin. Where is. heat ? We answer, in sensation. Thought can as well produce sensation as can those vibrations which science recognizes, for Thought is also a vibration. Now let science revise her definitions and her conclusions. Finer Not with the ordinary vibrations caught Vibrations* by science does Soul Culture deal. It deals with those which science has not yet caught; with thpse that can burn with cold steel; with those that enable the surgeon to amputate with- out either anesthesia, or pain, or blood, or inflamma- tion ; with those that carry messages from mind to mind without wire or battery; and with those that enable lovers to enjoy a communion, each with each, though they are at antipodes. These vibrations pro- duce sensations as palpable to the one able to recognize them as are those of heat and cold. All Knowledge Thus is it that all knowledge is open Possible. to Man, not by the development of new senses, but by learning to recog- nize sensation as all of life to him, and by distinguish- ing those beyond the limit of the five senses. He will 18 How TO CONTROL FATE thus come to the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Psalmist and have "conscious dominion over all things." This is now seen in possibility. It is the object of Soul Culture to lead Man intelligently to this, his own. Race The Anglo-Saxon race is growing Sensitiveness, more sensitive, and, as a result, is man- ifesting psychic powers to a marked degree. Inspiration is poured out in all directions as never before during the historic period. Invention, discovery, research, are in evidence, while literature of all kinds comes in floods, and from pulpit and platform the divine afflatus pours in tremendous streams. Every- body feels able to write or declaim. It is the develop- ing power of man to feel the finer vibrations, and, though he does not know the reason and does not understand the power, yet, as he has instinctively obeyed the coarser ones, so is he instinctively obeying these. We thus account for the medium, the healer, and the psychic. It is thus we have our geniuses and our abnormalities, like Blind Tom. They are all act- ing as aspen leaves act in the wind, under the finer vibrations of Unity. Diseases and Because of this sensitiveness, there is Survival. an increase of disease and diseases, especially nervous diseases. They will increase until we learn how to control these finer forces. The "struggle for life" has now been transferred to the psychic plane, and those who cannot live under the intense strain on the organism, caused by this increased sensitiveness, must die off, leaving the hardier ones to keep up the stock. Saviors. For this reason, there is a demand from the race instinct for saviors. In supplying this demand, they come in droves, each with varying per- ceptions of truth. The regular M. D.'s already fear for THROUGH SUGGESTION. 19 their trade, as it is going before the incoming tide of clairvoyants, magnetic healers, "Scientists" of many kinds, and, last of all, before Suggestive Therapeutics. These are all natural results of increased sensitiveness. Nature always balances her manifestations. With the illness, due to increased sensitiveness, relief comes in methods of healing adapted to that sensitiveness. As bleeding went out with the hardy pioneer age that could stand it, in came milder systems, and finally these came that discard medicine. Through use of Nature's finer forces, Man is not only healed of disease, but is made positive to unpleasant sensations. "You do not feel the prick of the pin," says the hypnotist. So says the intelligent healer : "You do not respond now to the vibrations of pain. As you will not see that which is unpleasant, or hear that which is discordant, so you will not feel that which is painful. You have within your control the power of sensation. You can feel only what you will." Progress* The progress of civilization depends now not on the arts and sciences, not on schools or churches, but on attaining the knowledge and mas- tery of these finer vibrations. These psychic manifesta- tions often produce some disturbance in the body, caus- ing one to depart from ordinary customs and manners. This causes some philosophers to cry: "Degeneracy." Some peculiar mental conditions cause others to cry, "Insanity is on the increase," or some peculiarity of conduct causes the cry, "Crime is on the increase," while the cause is only an increase of psychic sensitive- ness. The race is, at the close of this cycle, taking an- other step forward. Could one of the present croakers have seen the first eye that blinked at the sun and died from excess of sensation, but, dying, prophesied the eye of man, he would have said of that individual speci- men of the species : "Degenerate." Could the medical professions that now cry "fraud" and "deterioration" in view of the many isms of to-day, have stood by the 20 How TO CONTROL FATE first man that made a bow, and seen how, by con- finement and labor, he had changed from the rest of the tribe, they would have recommended change of climate and said : "The race is going physically and morally backward," when, in fact, it was going ahead, outgrowing the conservative's sight. Law* If some of the present over-anxious and med- dling moral reformers who, failing to suppress vice and to regulate morals by law, are now trying to prevent the blessings of hypnotism from becoming known, could have seen primitive man lay off the skin of the animal he had worn, they would have exclaimed : "Immoral ! The race is becoming too vile to live." Yet through similar changes has the race passed. The manifestations of Unity through humanity are pro- gressive, despite prognostications of evil and decay. The race will pass safely through this change from in- stinctive action to intelligent and consciously predeter- mined action, and thus will dethrone every "absentee" god and enthrone Unity within. It will defy all law by being itself Law. Conduct. In all these changes, the Ego is manifesting more and more of its own infinity. The Ego power of perceiving what is, gradually reveals Truth to the intellect through sensation. "For thoughts," says Edward Carpenter, "are only dying feelings." When we feel deep enough, that is, when we suffer enough, we seek the cause and, in seeking, find and grow. Sensations that cannot be endured are avoided or cured. We learn to choose instinctively the pleasurable and to avoid the opposite. This is our only conscious way of deciding what the Ego wants. It is equivalent to Spencer's dictum, "Health-giving acts are pleasurable," and to Prof. Elmer Gates' discovery that "pleasurable emotions are healthful, and the oppo- site are poisonous." The Ego, which is a manifestation THROUGH SUGGESTION, 21 of Unity, finds by the sensation of pleasure the best way to unfold its individuality. It is Emerson's wise and comprehensive advice: "Trust the current that knows its way." Ego Above By noting sensations, we discover regu- Law* larity and coincidences that we call laws. In the materialistic worship of this fetish of Law, sight is lost of the greater fact that Spirit (and therefore the Ego as a part of the undivided Spirit) is itself Law, and hence above all law. Practical Here is a hint of the practical work of Soul Work. Culture. It works with manifestation, with the design of controlling manifestation. It recognizes Soul not as something yet to be, or that which is beyond conception, but as something that now is. It works with Man as Soul. Soul Force, or Spirit, is as thinkable, as real, and as workable as electricity. Affirming as an individual, "I am the Spirit," the Soul Culturist Thinks Spirit, and lives Spirit, and manifests consciously the powers of Spirit. He acts that which he affirms, lives that which he professes, and knows himself as Spirit. No As Spirit cannot feel pain, or be sick or die, Sickness* he knows, as an individual Spirit, he can- not be sick, or have pain or die. These conditions are to him only manifestations of different mental attitudes or states of consciousness. They are real to his consciousness // he will think of them, if he will recognize them, but they are not real to him as Spirit. Whenever he changes his mental attitude and refuses to recognize them, they do not exist, for he, by recognition, becomes the creator of these conditions ; they are the effects of his thinking. 22 How TO CONTROL FATE Man His Own It is the same with all unpleasant Creator of conditions called sorrow, grief, trou- Conditions. ble, worry, jealousy with all that makes one unhappy. They are in man effects of his feeling or thinking. They are pro- duced in him by Suggestion as similar ones are pro- duced in hypnotic subjects. Man is, therefore, his own creator. He can produce within himself, at will, either pleasant or unpleasant emotions, thus making himself, at will, happy or unhappy, well or sick, wise or foolish. Recognition. The first thing necessary for the devel- opment of this power is simply for one to recognize himself as Spirit. Jesus, who was spirit- ually developed, must have meant this when he said, "He that believeth and is baptized is saved," for all the water of "the river of life" would run off the unbeliever without producing any effect, because, by refusal to recognize the power, it would not exist for him. Small discharges of electricity kill, and extremely great ones are not felt ; even so does this mighty power of Spirit pass through one constantly unrecognized, until sought for ; then it is found, as all else has been found, through recognition of sensation. Scientific This is asking of one only that same faith Faith. which the scientist has when experimenting. He would not experiment if he did not be- lieve in the possibility of finding. Give the same ready mind to Spirit, and, in that receptivity, the Recognition will come. Once Recognition is, then all things asked for are possible. Desire. Next to Recognition, is Desire. It is the atti- tude of true prayer, "the heart's sincere de- sire, uttered or unexpressed." In desire, the way is open for the "current that knows its way" to flow un- hampered. THROUGH SUGGESTION. 23 Liberty. Liberty of Spirit is thus won. Without this liberty, no spiritual growth. The last lib- erty to be won is "the liberty of the sons of God": the liberty to act as Spirit, independent of all external con- ditions. Ignorance and fear have fettered and im- prisoned the Soul with rites, ceremonies, customs, prejudices, laws, etiquette, conformity, policy, mone- tary considerations, social considerations, and hypoc- risy, so that few dare to think their souls are their own, much less to say so, and, least of all, to live as Soul demands. Be But he who would become developed in Thyself. Spirit, must, above all other things, be free. "Be thyself," is the first command of Soul Culture. Hark to its Prophet (Emerson) in his incom- parable essay on "Self-Reliance" : "Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist. Nothing at last is sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world." Liberty is the way, and the only way, to soul growth. It is the way man has ever traveled. There never is a precedent for any progressive step. Freedom never dwells in old temples. Like the nautilus, she is building herself a new dwelling each successive morn. Freedom is the ever growing stem of the tree of life. Conservatism is her grave, and the grave of all that is manly. Without liberty, man is dead ; a slave lives in his place. If one would gain power to be Destiny, he must be free. Effort* The next demand is Effort. All effort here must be spiritual. By physical effort, we can learn in that realm of vibrations termed matter. By in- tellectual effort, learn in the intellectual realm. "But spiritual things must be spiritually discerned." Meth- ods of investigation in other fields are here of no use. Spiritual phenomena (or psychic, whichever term you please) occupy a field of their own, and must be found 24 How TO CONTROL FATE by their own methods. Effort must therefore be made as Spirit. That is, in Recognition of himself as Spirit, one must place himself in the mental attitude of re- ceptivity and desire, and be willing to receive whatever comes. In this negative attitude of mind, he waits for the Ego to manifest as desired. Non- The next law is : Never antagonise any- Resistance. thing. Never antagonize any thing, opin- ion or condition, even in feeling. All is Spirit, therefore All is Good. "Nothing but good can, or does come to me, therefore I will not antagonize any manifestation, but let it work in me the good whereunto it was sent. For all the possible evil results w r ill be those / make by doubting the goodness of Unity in this manifestation, and, since I am m^. own Fate and since I make Fate by deciding how to receive each manifestation, I decide this is Good, for All is Good. I thus do as he did who first taught me Soul Culture. Resist not evil, but overcome it in the large affirma- tion, All is Good. I thus keep my mind quiet, to per- ceive and reveal truth. Were I to contend, I would not see clearly, neither would I reveal the truth, but would conceive much error. Therefore, I will hence- forth think only Good will never antagonize." Such must be the mental attitude of one who is anxious to lead the spiritual life. Demonstration. Demonstration must take the place of argument. Therefore the next law of Soul Culture is: Never argue. "Let your light shine that men seeing your good works" shall know you are Spirit, shall know you love Truth. Affirm Spirit, and, by living as Spirit, demonstrate your are Spirit. You live Spirit by thinking Spirit and by let- ting that thought control your life. Soul Culture comes through doing. Here again comes in the thought of the wise Teacher : "I must be about my Father's busi- ness" : "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." THROUGH SUGGESTION. 25 "He that doeth the will of my Father, the same is my mother and sister and brother." "If ye love me, keep my commandments." He always insisted that through conduct spiritual development is demonstrated. Never once did he ask, "What do you think?" or "What do you believe?" Self- The next rule is : Intend the mind in the Direction* direction in which you wish revelation. One familar with the terms of hypnotism will understand when I say, control the mind by Auto- Suggestion. From the sub-conscious storehouse of all knowledge, the Ego itself, can thus be drawn what- ever is desired in the way of wisdom. The mind can also thus be directed to the development of psychic faculties. These faculties take hold on infinity both of time and space. Nothing is hidden from Soul percep- tion. All the Soul's powers are comprised in two, so aptly stated by Emerson thus: "The Soul is the per- ceiver and revealer of truth ;" to perceive and to reveal truth being all that the Soul can do, yet, while the method of perception is ever one, there are many meth- ods of revelation already recognized, and there may be many others to come in our future unfoldment. Per- ceptions are revealed merely as truth, or they are re- vealed in terms of time and space. We thus get the names respectively of intuition and inspiration, to des- ignate the revelations of truth ; of clairvoyance and tele- pathy, to designate those of space ; of psychometry, to designate those of time. In practice, these shade into each other as, in ordinary life, shade the results of the different senses. Life The first manifestation of Spirit is Life. Health. Therefore, the first function we come to is health. All conditions manifesting less than a normal state of health are those of less health, and not those of disease. They are the results of spiritual 26 How TO CONTROL FATE weakness ; for some cause, Spirit does not properly man- ifest through the body. The chief, if not the only diffi- culty, is the impediment placed on the manifestation of Spirit by some false idea. Some affirmation of "Can't," of weakness, or some submission to conditions through belief in heredity or in the impossibility of relief, is the cause of ill health. There is no "let'' to ''the current that knows its way." Therefore, the first care of the Soul Culturist is "to let" his Spirit have its way in health. This is easy. Only let the body alone; keep the mind off of it, and expect it to be kept by the maker Spirit well. He is to think and affirm only Health. Spiritual We have a number of recognized psychic Gifts* powers "spiritual gifts" but I wish to add a few that are not generally so recog- nized. The first is Music, the highest and purest ex- pression of soul. All art is purely spiritual ; and the purer the art, the nearer to pure Spirit. The more any attempt in art is removed from all considerations of life, except love for the art itself removed from monetary considerations, from precedent, morality, etc. the purer the art and the more perfect the manifestation of Spirit. Wagner is credited with the insight of saying : "If we had real life, we should need no art." The love of the beautiful is the test of spiritual unfoldment. Beauty is Divinity. Hence all the fine arts are psychic in origin. Poetry is especially a psychic gift. It is the child of beauty and melody. Hence, from oracle to seance, we have the improvisatrice, and all men in their natural state and all children are poets. Classification Thus a classification of the. psychic of Psychic faculties which it is the province of Power* Soul Culture to develop will include Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architec- ture, Landscape Gardening, Rhetoric, Poetry, Health, Inspiration, Intuition, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Proph- ecy and Psychometry. We here have a field comprising THROUGH SUGGESTION. 27 all there is in life worth living 1 for, all there is to reward one for living, excepting the one thing that is above all others, and above all classification, for that one thing is the very highest manifestation of Life ; it is the Ever- lasting Life, the pure life of the Spirit, dimly shining through the mists of error ; it is LOVE. Love. Love is the first and last expression of Spirit. Love is its highest and purest expression. It is the highest of which the intellect can conceive. It is ever the controlling force in life. Each individual is controlled by his loves ; there is no progress for him in any line until his love is moved in that direction ; he then moves without solicitation. All spiritual develop- ment is made manifest through love. It is the barom- eter of life recording in manifestation the progress of the soul's unfoldment. Love is all Paul declared it to be when he said : "The greatest of these is Love." It is all Jesus declared when he gave the new commandment, ''Love one another," thus making it the one condition to spiritual life. It is all he meant when he said, "God is Love." To present human thought, Love is the high- est known or possible manifestation of power. It rep- resents to us the most beneficent, as well as the con- trolling, force of the universe within man, and, since it is such, it must be his God. It is the holiest as well as the most powerful of emotions. It is ever present, and is the force out of which all the rest come. Thought is Love reduced in potential and pitch. Ultimate The Soul Culturist, therefore, must deal Power* with Love as his ultimate power, just as the electrician deals with his ultimate power. He does this by methods as rational. Recognizing it as the one force, the one manifestation of Unity, he seeks in Love alone to unfold his psychic powers, 28 How TO CONTROL FATE Speed of The intensity of the vibrations of Light Vibration has been measured, but not those of mag- netism, for they are too swift for any con- ception of time to enter into the calculation of them. Thought is swifter than magnetism by multiplied vibration, but Love is many times the multiplied vibra- tions of Thought. Love can be studied by its mani- festations in sensation, as sound and light are studied and known. Love's Pitch Like all other forms in which Unity and Octaves* manifests through vibration, Love has its pitch and its octaves and, some- where in the infinite scale, each human life is placed. The only possible development of any life is to raise or lower its pitch, to increase or diminish its potential. How to do this, and how to transform Love to Thought in obedience to the mechanical Law of Conservation of Energy, is the secret the Sphinx of Time shall yet reveal. Love of There is one everpresent starting point in Truth. Soul Culture Love of Truth. This Love, it must not be forgotten, is power; as real power as is steam in the boiler. It is the power that manifests in the development of those faculties we de- sire. Love must be thought of as Force, must be held in our consciousness as Force, just as the electrician in the power-house holds, in his consciousness, Force as his thought of electricity. Love of Truth is our initial point. Love of Truth is the power with which we work. "God will not manifest himself to cowards," says Emerson ; he cannot, if He would, manifest in liars, hypocrites and slaves. Only to the extent that one is truthful, brave, honest and loving, has he any inde- pendent spiritual life. All that he may seem to have is but the race accumulation for which he has no responsi- bility, and hence in which he has no real possession ; he THROUGH SUGGESTION. 29 is but using the race and animal instinct instead of being, as he should be, an independent, self-controlled individual. To the extent that men manifest love, they are spiritual. As far as they control their love through desire for truth and goodness, they are human, are out- growing the tiger in them and leaving the remnants of the ape behind. Safety. In this love of truth alone is it safe to seek psychic unfoldment. To seek in any other love, is to fall into what the occultists call "black magic," which is the development of power without knowledge or guidance ; is putting power into animal, into undeveloped man. This, like all undirected or wrongly directed power, injures temporarily the indi- vidual. The ultimate result unfoldment is, how- ever, the same ; but this road leads through, it may be, centuries of suffering. To seek in any other than love of truth, is to repeat the scandals, the sufferings, fail- ures, and complicated work of the Christian sects and of mediumship ; or to sink into the intellectual follies of sectarian "Christian Scientists," who have abandoned love of truth for love of a certain expression of truth and for "a founder" of a sect. Love of truth, pure and simple, is liberty ; and, without liberty, no independent life, no living Truth. The Law* To seek in love of money, power, fame, or any lesser motive than love of Good- ness and Truth, is to invite suffering and development through suffering. It is "to sow corruption" that one may reap the same. The law is : "Seek ye first the king- dom of Good and its right living, then all spiritual growth shall be added unto you." There is no limit to human manifestation when once, by this means, the way is opened. One thus becomes an Enlightened man. He lives in "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The light is in himself. He lives neither by the borrowed light of his neighbors, nor of his century. 30 How TO CONTROL FATE Concentration* In this Love-of-Truth, let one concen- trate all his thoughts and desires for a time each day. In that concentrated state of mind, ''let" the soul be heard. After you have, by desire and ex- pectancy, given it direction, "let" it have its way. In hypnotic terms, after you have given yourself command by Auto-Suggestion, let the sub-conscious part of your being have its expression. All knowledge and power are either latent in the soul or lie behind the soul, ready, on opportunity, to flow into expression and, whenever they are "let," they flow. This condition of "letting" is that of natural somnambulence ; of the artificial som- nambulence of hypnotism ; that of the "Scientist" when "In the Silence" ; of the Hindoo in meditation ; of the crystal gazer and the card reader. It is concentration. The thing upon which the gaze is concentrated, or whether or not there be anything, is unimportant. The mental state is all. Involuntary This is identical with that natural Concentration, condition of involuntary concentra- tion in which the bookkeeper calcu- lates in midst of noise, the editor writes and the me- chanic works. The one does it on compulsion of .neces- sity till it becomes habit, the other does it with a pre- determined purpose and at will. Such concentration is the key to success in every direction ; its opposite dif- fusion is the cause of all failure, be it failure in health, business or love. It is the key to all occult and ancient mysteries. Practice* One must, therefore, practice concentration until it becomes not merely habit, but a new instinct. One must learn to rise above the life of sense, to ignore the coarser vibrations and the sensations that arise from them, known as the five senses, and to live in the finer sensations. That the hypnotic subject does this and opens the door to the storehouse of the sub- THROUGH SUGGESTION. 31 conscious, demonstrates that every person, by the same process of Suggestion, can do the same. In Soul Cul- ture, we are seeking to give liberty of expression to whatever latent knowledge the conscious Ego may desire and determine. The fundamental affirmation, I am Spirit, means, I am all that Spirit is. The Soul Culturist affirms : Since Spirit is Truth, Love, Power, Wisdom, I am Truth, Love, Power, and Wisdom. I am any other possible manifestation that Spirit is. Spirit is all this in potentiality ; I may be all this in manifesta- tion. I am part of indivisible Spirit in Spirit. I am an individual manifestation of Spirit in Spirit. Even as an electric spark can say: "I am electricity in elec- tricity, but I am also an individual manifestation of electricity," so can I say : "I am Spirit." How to To manifest any of this latent wisdom Consciously and power consciously, one must be- Manifest* lieve he possesses and then try to mani- fest, even as he tried when a child his powers of loco- motion which his parents taught him he possessed, and, believing, he tried and found. Believing he can see, expecting to see, or at least hoping to see, one looks. Even so, hoping at least to see that which the external eye cannot see, let him who would see, look; and, in due time, he shall say with the poet-artist, William Blake : "I assert that I do not behold -the outward crea- tion, and that it is to me a hindrance and not an action. I question not my corporeal eye any more than I would question a window concerning a sight. I look through it, and not with it." And more ; such an one shall see, as John saw, the spiritual city, not "coming down from heaven," but all about him, in the midst of which he lives, as he lives in this cruder city of the senses ; that is, he lives in the spiritual, as he lives in the sense life, by sensation alone. He will have learned to recognize those finer sensations that come from the more beautiful and powerful, because more intensified, vibrations of Spirit. 32 How TO CONTROL FATE The Coming His world will not be merely that Man* which is seen and felt by the ordinary dull man; it will be that of the refined, sensitive "coming man" who will "feel" octaves of vibrations not sensed by one who lives in the octaves of the senses. This finer universe will be as real to him as the harmony that the uneducated, non-musical ear cannot hear is real to the ear of the leader of the or- chestra ; as real as the sunset, to whose vibrations the eye of the blind is not sensitive, is real to the eye of the artist. It is only a question of unfolded sensitiveness to the unseen, but everpresent vibration and the recog- nition of the response born within the Soul. Scientifically All this desired condition can be as Attained* scientifically developed and cultivated as have been the recognition of sound in music, of light in painting, of touch in blind and of tact in society. By devoting a little time intelligently each day, less than it takes to make a musician, one may become clairvoyant, psychometric, or inspirational, and thus grow to the condition desired by Rev. John White Chadwick, a desire which is almost universal ; it is beautifully prayed for in these words : I might be strong to turn my eyes away To where the eternal stars so plainly shine Truth, Beauty, Good and by that vision blest Lifting my heart to make its clearness mine Taste then, earthbound, the everlasting rest. INTRODUCTION TO PART II. From the Philosophy, we now turn to the Principle of Expression. From Science of Life, we turn to the "Art of Living." From "Preaching," we turn to "Practice," remembering that he who cannot "preach better than he practices" will never unfold. For the Ideal, which is the Real of the Soul, must necessarily precede all un- foldment. That we live, is no evidence that we are now artists. That our lives are not what we desire is evidence that we are poor workmen and that we have not learned to be artisans even. We are bunglers. Disease, failure and unhappiness are evidences of the ignorant and bungling nature of our work. Since Life is power and Art, either useful or beautiful, is but the application of power under intelligent direction, we can make life an Art only by intelligently directing the one power by which Life is directed. That power is Thought. To think as we wish to be, is to BE that, which we wish to be. Such thinking comes to him who knows the origin of his thought. He chooses only those thoughts which cause health, happiness and prosperity. Our thoughts are caused by Suggestion. To know what Suggestion to accept and thus make into an Affirmation and what Suggestion to ignore, is to control life's expression is to be Masters of Fate. This is taught in Part II. It is recommended that this part be studied until it becomes as familiar as the alphabet. The principles will then be lived. The stu- dent will thus become an adept in the mystery of life and an Artist in living. PART n* Suggestion: Its Place and Power* Definition* Suggestion, in ordinary speech, means anything addressed to the senses, any- thing that causes an idea in the mind. Thus each in- dividual thing in one's environment is, at all times, a Suggestion. A Suggestion is whatever from without awakens a thought, whatever "sets a man to thinking." It is thus an ever present factor in life ; and, in this respect, it is true that "Suggestion rules the world." But, to rule, the Suggestion must be taken by the mind as truth. It is then converted into Auto-Suggestion. Auto- This is a Suggestion given by the indi- Suggestion vidual to himself ; it is born of convic- tion of truth. Each individual is con- trolled by his convictions, that is, by Auto-Suggestion by his Affirmations. In this view, it is not Suggestion but Auto-Suggestion Affirmation that rules the world; however, in common thought, this cause and effect, Suggestion and Affirmation, are one. There- fore, it is near enough in fact to say, ''Suggestion rules the world," for, until man learns to give himself Sug- gestions independent of external condition, Suggestion is the primal manifestation of power. When he reaches that plane of development where he is controlled by Af- firmation, he becomes, through this power of Affirma- tion, the creator of his own destiny. Technical But, while this is the meaning of Sugges- Dcfinition, tion in ordinary speech, there is a tech- nical use of the word. Suggestion, as used by mental scientists, suggestionists, and hypnot- ists, means an intelligent use of this ever present power THROUGH SUGGESTION. 35 with a predetermined purpose to create a certain idea in another's mind. It is intelligent use of Suggestion to cause a person to think and to act from a chosen thought. Like all other arts, it is the intelligent use of power. The Art of Suggestion is the greatest of all arts, and, as a consequence, is the one most potent for good. Control of Civilization is but ideas materialized. Evolution. Thoughts control life. While they are not things, they are power; thus they are the creator of things. The thought in mind of warrior, statesman, artist, becomes the victory, the state, the statute. As thoughts change, so does all external life change ; all progress, all reform, began in the change of thought in some one individual. Heretofore this change has been, as in savage man, merely instinctive ; but, as man, by conscious thought, has become a factor in changing the world into better conditions ; as he has at will changed grass to wheat, and scrub to blooded stock, so is he now becoming a conscious factor in his own evolution. He is beginning to realize that the only power by which he has wrought lias been that of Thought. He is learning that Thought is as easily con- trolled and made to do selected work as is steam or electricity. He has only to think rightly to have what- ever he wishes, either in person or in environment. "In His Heart/' "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," said the ancient prophet. The key to this Affirmation is the words, "in his heart." In- terpreted, it reads : "Profound convictions control the life." In scientific terms, it is this: Man is controlled by Affirmation. Therefore, to make life's expression what we wish, we are to hold our wish as to a reality, a profound conviction ; it will then materialize. Life is as easily molded into desired forms as is clay by the potter. Clay takes the shape of the thought in the mind. The child's body at birth is molded by the 36 How TO CONTROL FATE mother's thought; he follows the evolution of that thought until he begins to think for himself ; then he begins to reshape his body ; and, somewhat consciously but to a greater degree unconsciously, he is doing this every moment of time. When he shall understand his power, he will shape body and environment, at will, to his desires. Disease, Thus, by Suggestion, man to-day, without Thought intention, builds his body into disease, old Created* age, weakness, pain and death; builds his environment into poverty and squalor, His mental conditions of unhappiness and sorrow have materialized. When he shall never hold these ideas of bodily decay, of pain, or poverty, but, in their stead, will hold