4 How the Cosmic Power Can Solve Problems

NINETY PER CENT OF PROBLEMS ARE HUMANLY CREATED

Change your thoughts and keep them changed, and you can transform your whole life! Mr. Fred Reinecke, an engineer, said to me recently that ninety per cent of the problems of the men in a plant were due to their personality defects and to their inability to get along with others. Then he added that only about ten per cent of the problems were of a technical nature.

THE RIGHT WAY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

There is a right way to talk, to walk, to drive a car, to bake a cake. Actually, there is a right and wrong way to do everything.

To live a full and happy life you must live according to certain immutable and eternal principles. You would not think of building a wheel off-center or of violating the principles of electricity or chemistry. Likewise, when you think, speak, act, and react from the standpoint of the Infinite Intelligence within you, you will find that your whole life will be one of joy, happiness, success, and peace of mind.

HOW CHANGED THINKING HEALED ULCERS AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Mrs. Wrongway was jealous and hateful toward the supervisor in her office; she had developed ulcers and high blood pressure. However, she became interested in the spiritual principle of forgiveness and goodwill. She realized that she had accumulated many resentful and grudging attitudes and that these negative and obnoxious thoughts were festering in her subconscious mind. She tried to talk with her supervisor in an effort to straighten matters out, but the woman brushed her off.

In a continuing effort to correct the situation, Mrs. Wrongway applied the principles of harmony and goodwill for ten minutes every morning prior to going to work. She affirmed as follows: I surround Mrs. X with harmony, love, peace, joy, and goodwill. There are harmony, peace, and understanding between us, and whenever I think of Mrs. X I will say, “God’s love saturates your mind.”

A few weeks passed, and Mrs. Wrongway went to San Francisco for a weekend. On boarding the plane, she discovered that the only vacant seat was the one next to her supervisor! She greeted her cordially and received a cordial and loving response. They had a harmonious and joyous time together in San Francisco. They are now attending my lectures together. Infinite Intelligence set the stage for the solution of this difficulty. Mrs. Wrongway’s changed thinking had changed everything, including a perfect healing of her ulcers and high blood pressure.

HOW THE COSMIC POWER EFFECTED A PROMOTION

I recall a young lady once telling me, in my study: “Everybody in my office dislikes me; there are several who even want me fired.”

I said to her, “Why don’t you resign and find another position?”

“What’s the use?” she said. “I’ve had six jobs this year so far.”

This young lady had a brilliant mind, was well educated, and was an outstanding legal secretary. Ninety per cent of her problem was in her personality.

I gave her a spiritual prescription and suggested that she take it regularly at least morning and night for several months. I told her to pray the following prayer for every man and woman in her office every day before she went to work:

I send out loving thoughts and feeling of goodwill, happiness, and joy to all those in my office. I affirm, claim, and believe that my relationship with each one of my co-workers will be harmonious, pleasant, and satisfactory. Divine love, harmony, peace, and beauty flow through my thoughts, words, and deeds, and I am constantly releasing the imprisoned splendor within me. I am happy, joyous, and free, bubbling over with enthusiasm, and I rejoice in the goodness of God in the land of the living and in the innate goodness of all people.

At the end of two months she received a wonderful promotion and was put in complete charge of the entire legal office.

HOW A MOTHER’S MENTAL MOVIE WORKED WONDERS

A mother in Beverly Hills was worried about her son failing in his final examination in medical college. At my suggestion, she stopped nagging and worrying about the boy, and instead began to paint a mental picture of graduation day when her son would receive his diploma.

Several times daily, she visualized the scene clearly, feeling the naturalness and joy of the whole procedure. She congratulated her son in her imagination and made a habit of this by practicing her mental movie for at least ten minutes three times daily. Whenever she was prone to worry, she flashed on the movie in her mind. She constantly saw the accomplished fact. She imagined being present at his graduation, and she saw the fulfillment of her dream.

Incidentally, I might add that shortly after her change of mental attitude, her son became intensely interested in his studies and showed remarkable improvement along all lines. Her feeling of success and triumph was subjectively communicated with Cosmic Power to her son, and he responded accordingly.

A HEALING OF PERSONALITY FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

A man whom I was interviewing recently said to me, “I’m all mixed up and tied up. I can’t get along with others; I’m constantly rubbing them the wrong way.”

This young man was hypersensitive, jittery, self-centered, and crotchety. In spite of all this, he wanted to have good relations with his co-workers and to get along well with them in every respect.

I explained to him that his present personality represented the sum total of his habitual thinking, early training, indoctrination, and emotional atmosphere plus the sum total of beliefs inculcated upon his mind but that he could transform himself. I explained to him that God indwells him and that all the attributes, potencies, qualities, and aspects of God were lodged in his deeper mind and could be resurrected and expressed in his personal life.

Accordingly, I gave him the following specific prayer for the purpose of transforming his entire personality and making him radiant, happy, joyous, and fabulously successful.

He affirmed feelingly and lovingly several times daily as follows:

God is the Great Personality, the One Life being expressed through me. God is, and His Presence flows through me now as harmony, joy, peace, love, beauty, and power, and I am a channel for the Divine. His wholeness, beauty, and perfection are constantly being expressed through me. Today I am reborn spiritually! I completely detach myself from the old way of thinking, and I bring Divine love, light, and truth definitely into my experience. I consciously feel love for everyone I meet. Mentally I say to everyone I contact, “I see the God in you, and I know you see the God in me.” I recognize the qualities of God in everyone. I practice this morning, noon, and night; it is a living part of me.

I am reborn spiritually now, because all day long I practice the Presence of God. No matter what I am doing—whether I am walking along the street, shopping, or going about my daily business—whenever my thought wanders away from God or the Good, I bring it back to the contemplation of His Holy Presence. I feel noble, dignified, and God-like. I walk in a high mood, sensing my oneness with God. His peace fills my soul.

As this man made a habit of allowing attributes and qualities of Cosmic Good to flow through his mind, his whole personality underwent a marvelous change. He became affable, amiable, urbane, and increased in understanding, and he now communicates vibrancy and goodwill wherever he goes. In addition, he has moved up several rungs on the ladder of success in his field of work.

HOW YOU CAN DEVELOP A MARVELOUS PERSONALITY

Emerson said that religion includes the personality of God. All the elements of personality are within God, such as love, peace, joy, beauty, laughter, happiness, power, harmony, rhythm, order, serenity, and proportion. God is also Law, and we express our Divine personality as we begin to operate the law and claim, feel, and know that these qualities and attributes are flowing through us. Then we become more God-like every day.

The word “person” comes from the Latin persona, which means a mask originally worn by Greek actors. In ancient times the Greek actor put on a mask and assumed the role of the person depicted by the mask. He dramatized through the mask the characteristics and qualities of the personality it suggested.

HOW A SECRETARY PRACTICED EMPATHY AND ESTABLISHED HARMONY AND UNDERSTANDING

The dictionary defines empathy as “the imaginative projection of one’s own consciousness into another being.” It might be called “sympathetic understanding.”

Mrs. Jean Wright, secretary of our organization, told me how she practiced this art in relation to another girl in an office where she formerly worked. This girl was very hostile, antagonistic, and quite obstreperous; a great misunderstanding seemed to be growing between them.

As a result, Mrs. Wright sat still a few times each day and projected herself into the mind of the other woman and looked out at herself through the other’s eyes; she then corrected what she saw and claimed: “God’s peace, harmony, and understanding reign supreme between us. Whenever I think of Miss S., I claim, ‘She is loving, kind, cooperative, and harmonious.’”

After about a week, the girl invited Mrs. Wright to her home for dinner; during the visit they were pleasantly surprised to discover that they had many interests in common. Eventually, these two women became fast friends as well as good associates in their work.

HOW A SILENCE BETWEEN SISTERS WAS BROKEN

Recently, while I was speaking in San Francisco under the auspices of The Institute of Religious Science, an old friend had breakfast with me at my hotel. She told me that her only sister would no longer speak to her; when she phoned her sister, the latter would hang up the phone with a curt phrase: “I’m busy; don’t bother me.”

My friend found it very difficult to understand her sister’s attitude, which on the surface seemed so unreasonable and stupid. I spoke to her, pointing out that if her sister had tuberculosis or cancer, she would not be angry with her. My friend answered, “Of course not. I would be most compassionate.”

Then I added, “Your sister has what we might call tuberculosis of the mind, and you must realize that many people have twisted, morbid, and distorted mentalities and are often referred to as mental hunchbacks.”

Suddenly she realized that she was not responsible for the mental state of her sister, no more than she might be responsible for someone who was an alcoholic, a schizophrenic, a psychotic, or a paranoid.

She said, “Oh, I see now! I am not responsible for her mental sickness and hostility toward me, and all I owe her, as Paul said, is love. I do love her and wish for her all the blessings of life.”

She prayed as follows: I completely surrender my sister to God. I radiate love, peace, and goodwill to her, and there are harmony, peace, and Divine understanding between us. I loose her and let her go.

After a few days, her sister called and apologized for her rudeness and hostility. She freely admitted that the break-up of her engagement had caused her to project her resentment and hostility not only to her sister but also to many others.

I might add that my friend was spiritually and emotionally mature, but she was overly concerned with the deformed and warped mentality of her sister.

Your understanding will keep you from anger, criticism, and hatred, or from seeking retaliation against the warped minds of others. Remember, you would not hate a person because of a physical deformity, such as that endured by a hunchback; rather you would be grateful that you were spared from such a misfortune.

The person with a distorted personality is very unhappy within himself and is a seething cauldron of inner turmoil. Quite frequently, he lashes out at those who have been most kind and generous to him, because their inner serenity, tranquility, and poise reveal his own disturbed emotional state; since he can’t reach their quietude, he unconsciously tries to drag them down to his own emotional debauch. Misery loves company!

HIS APPLICATION OF THE GOLDEN RULE RESULTED IN A WONDERFUL PROMOTION

I talked some months ago with a man who had earned a Ph.D. and had believed that his diploma would guarantee his success, prestige, and recognition; but he eventually discovered that there were men in his organization who had no degree at all and who earned far more money than he did and exercised greater responsibility.

I explained to this young man that there are many distinguished Ph.D.’s, linguists, professors, doctors, and similar brilliant and capable men from all walks of life who now inhabit Skid Row in Los Angeles and the Bowery in New York. These men usually attribute their trouble to alcohol or women; but the real reason is self-depreciation, self-condemnation, self-loathing, and lack of all contact with the treasure and wisdom of their Cosmic Powers, which could set them on the highroad to happiness, freedom, and peace of mind. They are down on themselves and they lack self-acceptance and true expression. Their habitual thinking attracts to them misery, suffering, and poverty. Yet these men, who are often highly educated, have at one time risen to the higher echelons in their respective fields. Their alcoholism, dope addiction, and abnormal behavior are but symptoms of their twisted and warped personalities.

The man of whom I am speaking was highly critical and jealous of his associates. He spoke of them with a touch of asperity in his voice. His trouble was his failure to practice the Golden Rule.

At my suggestion he began to treat others as he would wish others to treat him. He began to practice smiling and being kind, graceful, and pleasant with all his associates. He persisted in this attitude until it became habitual, and today he is one of the most affable, amiable, and loving personalities you could meet. His success is assured, and he has received a wonderful promotion which dramatizes the truth: change your thought pattern and you change your life!

YOU ARE NEEDED REGARDLESS OF YOUR AGE

Emerson said, “The Great Oversoul has need of an organ where I am, else I would not be here.” Sometimes I meet people who say, “Oh, my children are all grown up. They don’t want me or visit me any more.” Remember, God and His Cosmic World have need of you. There is no such thing as an unneeded or an unwanted person. Each person is a note in the grand symphony of all creation. There is a special and particular role for you to play. The Bible says, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:3).

The desert of confusion, lack, and limitation is your own mind, and you can now listen to the inner voice which speaks to you in the form of your heart’s desire and which is telling you to arise and to elevate yourself higher because God has need of you. Say to yourself: “God gave me this desire, and He reveals to me the perfect plan for its fulfillment in Divine order.” As you adhere to this truth, the way will open up and your desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose.

SAYING “YES!” TO LIFE IN COSMIC TRUTH

The Bible says: Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Matthew 5:37).

Say “yes” to all the ideas which heal, bless, inspire, elevate, and strengthen your life. Come to a clear-cut decision that you will accept only the eternal verities and spiritual values of life and then purposefully build these into your personality. Rejoice in your sense of oneness with the Infinite Intelligence and Infinite Mind and contemplate the wonders of your Divine sonship. Say “no” boldly to all teaching, ideas, thoughts, creeds, and dogmas which inhibit, restrict, and instill fear into your mind. In other words, accept nothing mentally that does not fill your soul with joy.

Realize that God is Life, and that He is your life now. God is Love, and His love fills your soul. God is Joy, and you are expressing the fulness of joy. God is Wisdom, and your intellect is anointed constantly with the Light from On High. God is peace, and you are expressing more and more of His peace in your thoughts, words, and deeds. As you make a daily habit of realizing these truths, you will develop a radiant personality and make a highway for your good in all ways and things.

HOW YOU CAN TRIUMPH OVER DEPRESSION AND ALL OBSTACLES

The Bible says: Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40:4).

When you are in the valley of despair, dejection, and melancholia, turn to the God-Presence within you and realize that external things and conditions are not causative. All things pass away. Conditions do not create other conditions.

The primary cause is your thought and feeling—i.e., your mental attitude, the way you believe. Conditions and circumstances are suggestive only; you have the power to reject or to accept them.

Decide, therefore, that Infinite Intelligence reveals the way out. Contemplate in your Cosmic thought the way you want things to be, and the mountain (problem) will be removed and the hill (obstacle or difficulty) will be shattered. As you claim that Divine law and order govern your life, the crooked (the ups and downs of life, the swings of fortune) shall be made straight and the rough places plain—i.e., you will begin to live a balanced life of growth, achievement, and advancement free from detours into sickness, accidents, losses, and foolish expenditures of energy, time, and effort.

As you keep your eyes on the Cosmic Power, and as you tune in on the Universal Wisdom within you and make contact through your thought and feeling, all the barriers, delays, impediments, and difficulties will disappear, and the desert of your life will truly rejoice and blossom as the rose.

SUMMARY

YOUR AIDS TO AUTHORITY

Change your pattern of thought-life and you will change your destiny.
There is a right way and a wrong way to use your mind. To live a full and happy life you must live according to principles of Cosmic Wisdom.
Infinite Intelligence will respond to you when you appeal to It, and set the appropriate stage for the solution of your problem.
A wonderful spiritual prescription is to pray for all those with whom you work, wishing for them all the blessings of life. What you wish for others, you also attract to yourself.
Flash a mental movie in your mind and see the happy ending. Picture frequently the fulfillment of your dream, and it will come to pass in your experience.
As you make a habit of allowing God’s attributes and love for all to flow through your mind and heart, you will develop a new, marvelous, and unique personality.
If you can’t get along with another person, practice empathy by practicing sympathetic understanding. Look at the situation through the other’s mind.
Don’t be overly concerned with the warped mentality of a relative, because you are not responsible for it. Radiate peace, love, and goodwill, and a Divine understanding will correct the situation.
The Great Oversoul of Cosmic Wisdom, or God, has need of you where you are; otherwise, you would not be here. You are wanted and needed now!
Say “Yes!” to all those Cosmic ideas which bless, heal, inspire, elevate, and dignify your soul.
When you are melancholy or depressed, turn to the Cosmic Power within you and let God’s river of serenity and love fill your soul. Realize that all things pass away, and the day breaks and the shadows flee away.