0,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Andura Publishing
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
Experience the life-changing power of W. J. Colville with this unforgettable book.
Das E-Book wird angeboten von und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Ähnliche
Fate Mastered, Destiny Fulfilled
W. J. Colville
Author of The Law of Correspondences, The World’s Fair Text Book of Mental Therapeutics, Old and New Psychology, etc.
Among the many signs of philosophic progress in the present day, the great movement generically called metaphysical, may be fairly regarded as one of the most significant. It may truthfully be stated that the enormous interest now taken in all phases of psychical research, is rapidly evincing the renewed interest on the part of the general public in those mighty questions pertaining to predestination and free agency, which no theologian, scientist, or philosopher has yet proved able perfectly to explain.
We use two great words—Destiny and Fate—synonymously, though they are etymologically wide apart. By Destiny is properly meant, whatever is possible unto us; by Fate we should always understand the sum of those extraneous agencies and outward circumstances which appear in our path—to be manipulated and eventually mastered by us.
When we speak of divine foreordination we should at once turn our eyes to the ample field of nature outspread before us, for therein shall we find innumerable examples of the evolution of evolved capabilities. “Consider the lilies how they grow” is one of the best known quotations from the New Testament; but though humanity has been for many centuries invited to consider this beautiful natural process, we find but very few, even among thinkers, who imbibe to any large extent the obvious lesson taught in the vegetable realm.
The immutability of universal law is conceded on every hand; at this point the theologians and philosophers are completely at one, though the former often consider the latter unduly agnostic. When we proclaim the unchangeableness of universal order we of necessity proclaim the truth of necessary foreordination, but not in such a way as to contradict the expressive Talmudical saying, “All is regulated by Divine Providence except the conduct of man,” by which is clearly meant that while no one can procure any other flowers than lilies from lily bulbs, it is quite within our power to place hyacinth bulbs in future in the exact places where we formerly cultivated lilies, providing we will to do so.
A very eminent clergyman was once heard to remark upon the two columns of an arch which appeared like two unconnected pillars in different parts of a huge edifice, while the arch was spanned far above the line of vision of the ordinary observer. One of these columns he compared to the doctrine of predestination, the other to the doctrine of human free agency, and by means of this similitude he threw much clear light upon two of the most vexing problems the Church has ever undertaken to solve.
No system of philosophy can be in any way sufficient to meet the demands of human reason which takes into account only a portion of human experience. What Herbert Spencer calls “synthetic” philosophy is a system which at least endeavors to explain all the facts of human consciousness, though it can with fairness be stated that Spencer himself falls far short of explaining everything.
We are all conscious of a determination to better our condition by all lawful means in our power; we are none of us satisfied to believe that things are bound to be continuously as they now are; for, did we so believe, we should regard all effort to improve conditions as futile. When we read with open eyes the fascinating story of Joseph in Egypt, we are introduced to the very heart of this tremendous subject. Pharaoh dreams that there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of dearth in all his territory. This is inevitable, and no human foresight can change what is immutable; but visions would be useless if they could not both forewarn and forearm those who are privileged to enjoy them. The Pharaohs of the world, though monarchs, are too blind to read the signs in the heavens and in the earth; but the Josephs of the world are those in every age and clime, who can, as it is said, take time by the forelock, and by so doing, though they cannot make a season of scarcity a time of agricultural plenty, they place in store a large provision of food wherewith to feed an otherwise famishing multitude.
It is recorded of Buddha that he gave the following well-known Oriental proverb for the edification of his followers, “Rain soaks through an ill-thatched roof, but into a well-roofed house it cannot penetrate.” In these few expressive words we find a summing up of the whole philosophy of Karma, with which so many students of modern philosophy are well-nigh blindly wrestling.
We hear it said that a person is fated to meet with an accident, and that this has been foretold by some astrologer, palmist, or clairvoyant; but we fail to see how anyone can make any use of clairvoyance, palmistry, or astrology, who simply foresees coming events, but possesses no insight with reference to mastery over surrounding conditions.
No wise person wishes to borrow trouble, or to cross mentally some dangerous bridge before he confronts it physically, though all intelligent people would be glad to so foresee a coming event, that when it occurred they would be able to master it, instead of being mastered by it.
The very great interest in chirology, now so prevalent, can be turned to excellent account when the public has learned to discriminate properly between Fate and Destiny. Those who are well versed in the language of human hands say that the left hand largely indicates natural predispositions, while the right hand shows the use we are making of our varied opportunities. Hands, heads, and faces are certainly of different types, and to the student of character one type may appear, and should appear, quite as good as another.
We desire earnestly to impress the truth contained in the following mottoes upon all:—
First, We must agree to differ, but we must never disagree.
Second, One white sheep makes many.
No more disagreeable words fall on our ears than infection and contagion, but when they are redeemed they can be so employed as to convey the most exhilarating sentiment. Why should disease be infectious instead of health? Why should vice be contagious rather than virtue? The faith of Israel has ever been that the true mission of the Jew is to spread light and thereby illumine the darkness of the world. This is divine infection.
The Apostle Paul, who, as Saul of Tarsus, had been a pupil of the illustrious Gamaliel, one of the seventy elders who constituted the council called Sanhedrin, the highest in Israel, was evidently thoroughly indoctrinated with the ancient truth concerning election; therefore, he exhorted all to whom he spoke or wrote to use all diligence to make their calling or election sure. There is no connection whatever between true and false views of election. The Eternal Being must be regarded as impartial and as working incessantly through a changeless law of pure beneficence, and it seems like blasphemy to insinuate that some souls are better treated by the Eternal than are others. This point being settled in our minds, we are ready to go forth and examine the manifold differences which do most certainly exist between individuals in their present conditions. We have no desire to encumber the reader with a perplexing inquiry into re-embodiment, or any other difficult speculative doctrine, but we do desire to emphasize the attitude which everyone must take here and now toward his actual surroundings, before he can become the lord of fate and master of circumstance.
We should never say “under” circumstances, but only “in” them. Should someone say to you: What would you do under certain circumstances? you would be justified in replying, “Well, if I am under them you will have to ask them what they intend to do with me.” Now, if you substitute the word in for under, you, while acknowledging the limitations of your present environment, claim it is your mission to conquer it instead of being conquered by it.
When we speak of self-made men and women, we are not referring to people in any particular walks of life, but only to those who have (figuratively speaking) taken the bull by the horns instead of allowing the bull to take them by its horns. The “bull” must be met in either case, but it makes a great difference to you what attitude you take toward it when you meet it. We all know from experience that there is much truth in the proverbial saying, “Constant dripping wears away the stone.” They only make the obstructing stone a stepping-stone for their own advancement, who claim the right to utilize their inherent ability to gain the victory by means of that very stone which appears at first to be an insurmountable obstacle in their path to success and freedom.
The magnificent statement in the Book of Revelation, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things,” suggests the precise idea we are seeking to convey. What do we mean by things? This is a most important inquiry. All things made by hand (manufactured) can certainly be destroyed by the power that made them, but man has no power to add to or take from the original substance of the universe. We do not create atoms, but we arrange molecules; and the good or evil of any molecular structure made by man depends solely upon the wisdom or folly displayed in its construction. The much disputed sayings, “Whatever is, is right,” and “All is good, there is no evil,” can never be understood so long as people fail to discriminate between being and existing. Whatever is, is; this is an axiom, but that which is must be unchangeable, seeing that, though we can transform and transmute in a chemical laboratory, no chemist can either create or annihilate an ultimate atom.
