Self Conquest
very New Idea of supposed
New
Idea, is a light which attracts the
moths.
The "New Thought" is no ex-
ception.
About it flutter hysterical wo-
men, unbalanced men: the erratic and the irre-
sponsible.
The possibilities of performing miracles, of
healing the sick, hypnotizing the well, trans-
forming poverty into wealth, and changing age
to youth, are the rays of light which flicker
through the darkness and draw them into the
circle of radiance.
The self-indulgent fat woman subscribes to
New Thought literature, pays for a course of
lectures, and goes forth into the ranks of the
unbelievers, proclaiming her power to become a
sylph, and to cause others to become sylphs.
The extravagant and inconsiderate rush forth
after having heard a discourse upon the power
of mind over matter, and declare that they
possess the secret of accumulating a fortune by
occult means.
The lovers of the marvelous believe that they
will become great healers in a brief space of time.
Not one of these moth converts realizes that
the very first step to take in the direction of
"New Thought" is self-conquest.
The gourmand does not know that self-indul-
gence and a gross appetite are incompatible with
mental or spiritual growth, and will be insur-
mountable obstacles in her path toward symmetry.
The spendthrift does not take into considera-
tion the fact that good sense, thrift and industry,
must aid his mental assertion of wealth, and the
miracle lover does not understand that some-
thing greater and more difficult is required than
a mere wish to heal before healing powers can
be obtained.
That the physical body and material condi-
tions can be dominated by the divine spirit in
man, is an incontrovertible fact.
But first, last and always, the lesser self must
be subjugated, and the weak and unworthy
qualities overcome.
The woman who desires to reduce her flesh
cannot do so by reading occult literature, or
joining mystic circles, or attending lectures,
unless she permeates herself so thoroughly
with spiritual truths that she no longer craves six
courses at dinner, and three meals a day, and
unless she overcomes her dislike for exercise.
The man who wishes to control circum-
stances must love better things than money
before he can succeed. He must love, and
respect, and believe in his Creator, and trust the
Divine Man within himself, and he must illust-
rate this love and trust by his daily conduct, and
in his home circle, and in his business relations.
Once in a century, perhaps, is a man born with
great powers already developed to heal the sick,
or to do other seeming miracles. Such beings
are old souls, who have obtained diplomas in
former lives; but the majority of us are still in
school, and we cannot become "seniors" until we
pass through the lower grades.
We must change ourselves before we can
change material conditions; we must heal our
own thoughts and make them sane and normal,
before we can heal bodily disease in others.
It is not an immediate process. I have heard
an old lady declare that she "got religion" in
the twinkling of an eye, and she believed all
people would be damned and burn in hell fire,
who did not pass through this sudden illumina-
tion.
It is possible that the religion which can wor-
ship a God cruel enough to burn his children in
fire, can only be obtained in the twinkling of an
eye; but the reverent, wholesome, and beautiful
religion of "New Thought" must be grown into
little by little, through patience, faith, and
practice.
All that it claims to do it can do, but not
instantaneously, not rapidly. We must first
make ourselves over; after absolute control of
our minds has been obtained, then, and only then,
may we hope to influence circumstances and
health.
The Heart of the New Thought by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Chicago : The Psychic Research Company, c1902.
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