Excerpts from
How to Gain Harmony &
Health
New Thought Simplified
by Henry Wood
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Book Description
In this very rare book from 1903, Henry Wood, one of the early mentors
of the New Thought Movement, explains New Thought teachings and
principles in a way that just about anyone should be able to
understand. His book is an excellent and simple
formulation of what New Thought had come to mean at that period.
It frequently has been said that presentations of New
Thought principles are made in terms not readily intelligible to
beginners. In
the nature of the case, it is not easy to set forth a psychological and
idealistic system so that it shall be perfectly clear to all.
It is also true that there is a decided though often
unconscious
inclination among the exponents of any movement to fall into a
mannerism
which is distinctive. Writers upon New Thought are no exception to
this rule.
In this volume, the author does not claim to be
exempt
from such a tendency, but simplicity is his earnest aim. It is hoped
that
many who heretofore have been prevented from a careful investigation of
the New Thought may be able to grasp much of its inner spirit and
substance
through an attentive perusal of these pages.
A plain rehearsal of the foundation principles is
followed
by some comments upon their relation to other systems. An Appendix is
added
containing a few suggestive lessons in the most practical and
experimental
form.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 - It Whistles
Itself....................
Chapter
2 - Thought
Habit.........................
Chapter
3 - Thought Selection.....................
Chapter
4 - The Laws
of Life......................
Chapter
5 - How to Get Into the New Thought.......
Chapter 6 - Two Different Minds in One............
Chapter
7 - "Agree with Thine Adversary Quickly"..
Chapter
8 - The Comely Human Body.................
Chapter
9 - Faith.................................
Chapter
10 - The Right Idea of
God................
Chapter
11 - Do Years
Count?......................
Chapter
12 - Fear.................................
Chapter
13 - Avoid Extremes.......................
Chapter
14 - All
in One...........................
Chapter
15 - Scientific
Prayer....................
Chapter
16 - The Overcoming of Sleeplessness......
Chapter
17 - Varieties of Faith Cure..............
Chapter
18 - New Thought and Hygiene..............
Chapter
19 - New Thought and The Church...........
Chapter
20 - New Thought and The Bible............
Chapter
21 - New Thought and Christian Science....
Chapter
22 - New Thought and Modern Reforms.......
Chapter
23 - New Thought and Medical Profession...
APPENDIX.
Mental
and Spiritual Gymnastic Exercises..........
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Chapter 1
IT WHISTLES ITSELF
A boy who was whistling loudly as he walked down the
street
was told to "stop that whistling." He replied, "I ain't whistlin'; it
whistles
itself." It is much so with a large part of the thinking that is done.
It thinks itself.
The aforesaid boy was almost as automatic as another
kind
of whistling buoy, though his whistling was less useful. As the winds
and
waves set the buoy into action, so the automatic thinker thinks, mainly
because something stirs him from the outside.
There are mechanical automatons made in the shape of
a
man, which, by proper winding, not only will whistle but play a musical
instrument.
Who wants to be an automaton?
Ready-made thoughts are much like ready-made or
second-hand
clothes. They do not fit. If some one hits me, the ready-made thought
says,
hit back. I do not say that, but the automaton puts in his oar and
answers
for me.
Am I going to do my own thinking or let an automaton
do
it for me? Automatic thinking is not wise, well proportioned, or
helpful.
One cannot tell what it will bring. There may come:
"Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray,
Mingle,
mingle, mingle, you that mingle may."
The witches' cauldron in Macbeth did not contain a
more
ill assorted mixture, and the
"Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks,
Whoever
knocks!"
of the second witch well illustrates the invitation
of
the automaton to all corners.
As thinking is the fountain for all action, it should
not be turned loose to run at large. What a disorderly mob of thoughts
smuggle themselves into the mind! Stand at the gateway of consciousness
and see the procession enter. Could it be pictured upon a moving
panorama
or be acted upon the stage, what a dramatic medley would appear! It is
all because they think themselves. It is true that but a small
part
of them ever reach the climax of seen form, but they all tend that way,
and are fluttering to get loose. Every one of them wants to be hatched,
have a body and try its wings. Those which succeed will have the stripe
and color of the average that is within.
The brain is like a menagerie. Its caged mental forms
bear close resemblance, in their nature, to various beasts, birds, and
reptiles, tamed and untamed, gentle and savage. Perchance there may be
a sideshow of monstrosities, but we will not look in.
Mind is peopled with all this motley assembly because
it has left the door swinging on its hinges and the windows wide open.
The governor has abdicated, and the door-keeper is
off
duty.
A mind floating in a chaotic sea of of thoughts,
without
a ruling aim and positive ideal, is like a rudderless ship, at the
mercy
of winds, waves, and breakers.
WE are all creatures of habit. A deep rut is worn by
a
meadow brook because it has run in the same channel for a long time. It
is no less true of a thought channel. In either case it is not easy to
turn it into a new course.
Habit is a natural and universal law. As applied to
thought,
if we understand and control its action, it will perform wonders for
us.
Like an intelligent and trained assistant it multiplies our ability and
builds our character.
On the contrary, if we carelessly yield to its rule,
it
becomes tyrannical, and we drop into servitude.
Thoughts of all sorts come trooping along and knock
at
the door of mind. They are of all shades and qualities. There are the
high
and the low, the good and bad, the selfish and unselfish, the pure and
impure, the sickly and healthful, the fearful and courageous, the
God-like
and devilish, thoughts of love and hate, of cheer and despondency.
Which
will we admit? Each one that we receive makes its distinctive mark upon
us. Like a line of customers in a bank each one leaves a deposit.
We invite some favorite thoughts into our inner
reception-room
for a longer stay, and make them at home. Avoid this unless you wish to
become like them. We sooner or later manifest the effect of their
company.
Intimacy continued fastens their habit upon us.
These inner companions influence us far more than our
nearest personal friends. The latter are comparatively far away; the
particular
thoughts of which we cultivate the intimacy gradually give us their
features,
their accent, and all their mannerisms.
Thoughts steal in that we have not consciously
invited.
They will not always depart by word of command, but they may be elbowed
out by others which we choose, if they have not become too intimate.
Thought habit is character. You are what previous
thinking
has made you.
"All habits gather by unseen degrees, As brooks make
rivers,
rivers run to seas."
Get out of unwholesome ruts. It matters not whether
they
were made by past dogmatisms, by heredity, by other people, or by
yourself.
Their walls on either side are hardening.
Be your real self, and you will be original.
Originality
draws the world together in love and mutual appreciation. Each then
finds
outside just what he lacks in himself.
Truth follows no rut. It is better to search for it
than
to walk in the groove of some leader's estimate of it. New Thought
exponents
are no exception.
You must have your own New Thought, rather than that
which
belongs to someone else.
There is too much " I am of Paul," and "I am of
Apollos."
The genuine New Thought which you seek is impersonal
until
it becomes personal in you.
Other opinions and standpoints are good as aids and
suggestions,
but final authority should be within.
Your own religious denomination, political party,
class
or union is yours, because of concentrated and habitual thinking. You
have
entertained (how significant the word) fifty favorable thoughts in the
line of your own association as often as one regarding that of your
neighbor.
You have created your own horizon. You think that you
think as you do because it is reasonable, true, or wise. But you have
neighbors
equally intelligent and conscientious who think the same of their
respective
systems. Each has taken on the color and quality of his own habitual
thoughts.
That is the cause of his own present views, but you cannot make him
believe
it. The old saw is true --
"A man convinced against his will, is of the same
opinion
still."
What has been called the will is simply concentrated
thought
along a given line.
Bot it would be absurd to claim that people never
change
and make a new departure. In practice no working principle can be
pressed
to an extreme. Never before was there so little dogmatism and so much
openness
to truth, for its own sake, as there is today.
As people learn the nature, extent, and power of
thought
habit, there will be a still greater advance.
What we call physical habits are really thought
habits.
Thought results in action, and the same thought repeated causes a
repetition
of the act. Even the automatic act is always the result of the
automatic
thought. No man walks until be thinks walking, even though the thought
becomes unconscious as he takes step by step.
Man is man because he is a thinker. His action,
simple
or habitual, is only thought made visible.
An occasional inventive genius has spent his life in
an
effort to invent mechanical perpetual motion. But everyone already has
it within. When the thinking faculty is once set in motion, the same
impressions
tend to repeat their circuit indefinitely.
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