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