stress of any mere external force; the criminal thought had long
been secretly fostered in the heart, and the hour of opportunity
revealed its gathered power. Circumstance does not make the man; it
reveals him to himself No such conditions can exist as descending
into vice and its attendant sufferings apart from vicious
inclinations, or ascending into virtue and its pure happiness
without the continued cultivation of virtuous aspirations; and man,
therefore, as the lord and master of thought, is the maker of
himself the shaper and author of environment. Even at birth the soul
comes to its own and through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it
attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which
are the reflections of its own purity and, impurity, its strength
and weakness.
Men do not attract that which they _want,_ but that which they _are._
Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but
their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it
foul or clean. The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in ourselves;
it is our very self. Only himself manacles man: thought and action
are the gaolers of Fate--they imprison, being base; they are also
the angels of Freedom--they liberate, being noble. Not what he
wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His
wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they
harmonize with his thoughts and actions.
In the light of this truth, what, then, is the meaning of "fighting
against circumstances?" It means that a man is continually revolting
against an _effect_ without, while all the time he is nourishing and
preserving its _cause_ in his heart. That cause may take the form of
a conscious vice or an unconscious weakness; but whatever it is, it
stubbornly retards the efforts of its possessor, and thus calls
aloud for remedy.
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to
improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does
not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the
object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of
heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth
must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can
accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a
strong and well-poised life?
Here is a man who is wretchedly poor. He is extremely anxious that
his surroundings and home comforts should be improved, yet all the
time he shirks his work, and considers he is justified in trying to
deceive his employer on the ground of the insufficiency of his
wages. Such a man does not understand the simplest rudiments of
those principles which are the basis of true prosperity, and is not
only totally unfitted to rise out of his wretchedness, but is
actually attracting to himself a still deeper wretchedness by
dwelling in, and acting out, indolent, deceptive, and unmanly
thoughts.
Here is a rich man who is the victim of a painful and persistent
disease as the result of gluttony. He is willing to give large sums
of money to get rid of it, but he will not sacrifice his gluttonous
desires. He wants to gratify his taste for rich and unnatural viands
and have his health as well. Such a man is totally unfit to have
health, because he has not yet learned the first principles of a
healthy life.
Here is an employer of labour who adopts crooked measures to avoid
paying the regulation wage, and, in the hope of making larger
profits, reduces the wages of his workpeople. Such a man is
altogether unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds himself
bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches, he blames
circumstances, not knowing that he is the sole author of his
condition.
I have introduced these three cases merely as illustrative of the
truth that man is the causer (though nearly always is unconsciously)
of his circumstances, and that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is
continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts
and desires which cannot possibly harmonize with that end. Such
cases could be multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this
is not necessary, as the reader can, if he so resolves, trace the
action of the laws of thought in his own mind and life, and until
this is done, mere external facts cannot serve as a ground of
reasoning.
Circumstances, however, are so complicated, thought is so deeply
rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary so, vastly with
individuals, that a man's entire soul-condition (although it may be
known to himself) cannot be judged by another from the external
aspect of his life alone. A man may be honest in certain directions,
yet suffer privations; a man may be dishonest in certain directions,
yet acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually formed that the one
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