Success and achivement

Success and achivement will not drop ready made from heaven into your lap. All

who succeed are gluttons for work, toiling whilst others play and

sleep. All teaching to the contrary is erroneous. To think that

success is going to come to you when it is unmerited, simply because

you make use of "affirmations" or employ mental "treatments," is folly

of the first water. On the other hand, to use the inner forces in

an occult way, so as to compel material things or "success,"

so-called, in any shape or form, to come to you, is black magic. One

who stoops to such practices becomes a black magician, earning for

himself a terrible retribution. There is only one way to succeed in

the affairs of life, and that is by raising oneself to greater

usefulness and service. By doing things better than they have been

done before, by bearing greater responsibility, you serve humanity

better, and therefore merit success. "It is more blessed to give than

to receive," said the Master, and this is true even in the practical

and material affairs of life. First, you must give better and more

valuable service: in other words, deserve and merit before you expect

to see it materialize. You must sow before you can reap: you must

become too big for your present position before you are capable of

occupying a larger one. You must grow and expand in every possible

way, and as you grow so will your success increase. Outward success

is only a reflection, so to speak, of what you really are, and a

result of greater and more valuable service to humanity. It requires

great effort and determination to get out of the rut, but so long

as your ambition is not ignoble or selfish, there will be found within

you power sufficient for all your needs.

To win success, either in the hurly-burly of life, or the more

difficult path of spiritual progress, demands imagination, vision,

courage, faith, determination, persistence, perseverance, hope,

cheerfulness and other qualities. These are all to be found within.

All these qualities lie more or less dormant within, and can be called

into expression if we believe that Infinite Power is ours.

Again, however, must the warning be repeated that this Power must

not be used for selfish self-aggrandisement, still less may it be

used, or, rather, mis-used, either to influence or dominate others.

If this Power is mis-used the results are terrible and disastrous.

Therefore, use the Power only for the achievement of good and noble

aims and in service which shall enrich the life of your fellows,

adding to the common good. Having arrived at this stage you must go

forward. There can be no holding back. Ever onward, the Divine Urge

is sending you, to greater achievement and accomplishment. Just as

surely as the planets must revolve round the sun and fulfil their

destiny, so also must you go forward. See to it, then, that your aims

and ambitions are based upon eternal wisdom, for upon this does your

whole future depend.
Within You is the Power
by Henry Thomas Hamblin