THE WORLD A REFLEX OF MENTAL STATES PART II

If circumstance had the power to bless or harms, they would bless and harm all people alike, but the fact that the same circumstances will be alike good and bad to different souls proves that the good or bad is not in the circumstance but only in the mind of those who encounter it. When you begin to realize this, you will begin to control your thoughts, to regulate and discipline your mind, and to rebuild the inward temple of your soul, eliminating all useless and superfluous material and incorporating into your being through thoughts alone of joy and serenity, of strength and life, of companion and love, of beauty and immortality; and as you do this, you will become joyful and serene, strong and healthy, compassionate and loving, and beautiful with the beauty of immortality. And as we clothe events with the drapery of our own thoughts, so likewise do we clothe the objects of the visible world around us, and where one sees harmony and beauty, another sees revolting ugliness. And as we clothe both events and objects with our own thought, so likewise do we clothe the souls of others in the garments of our thoughts. The suspicious believe everybody to be suspicious; liars feel secure in the thought that they are not so foolish as to believe that there is such phenomenon as a strictly truthful person; the envious see envy soul; misers think everybody is eager to get their money. Those who have subordinated conscience in the making of their wealth sleep with a revolver under their pillow, wrapped in the delusion that the world is full of conscienceless people who are eager to rob them. The abandoned sensualist looks upon the saint as a hypocrite; on the other hand, those who dwell in loving thoughts see in all that which calls forth their love and sympathy. The trusting and honest are not troubled by suspicious; the good fortune of others, scarcely know what envy means; and those who have realized the Divine within themselves recognize it in all being, even in the beasts. Do you wish for kindness? Be kind. Do you ask for truth? Be true. What you give of yourself you find; Your world is a reflex of you. If you are one of those who are praying for and looking forward to a happier world beyond the grave, here is the message of gladness for you: you may enter into and realize that happy world now; it fills the whole universe and it is within you, waiting for you to find, acknowledge, and possess. What you have to do is to believe this, simply believe it with a mind unclouded by doubt, and then meditate upon it till you understand it. You will then begin to purify and to build your inner world, and as you proceed, passing from revelation to revelation, from realization to realization, you will discover the utter powerlessness of outward things beside the magic potency of a self-governed soul.