By Ephrem Murindabigwi
“The power of thought. An experiment showing the power of thought. By concentration you can revolutionize your life and gain happiness greater than you can imagine. Concentration develops determination and perseverance. We all know that in order to accomplish a certain thing we must concentrate. It is of the utmost value to learn how to concentrate. To make a success of anything you must be able to concentrate your entire thought upon the idea you are working out. Success is assured when you are able to concentrate for you are then able to utilize for your good all constructive thoughts and shut out all the destructive ones,” according to Theron Q. Dumont.
Dumont is the pseudonym of the mental-training pioneer, late William Walker Atkinson—a great writer— in his 1918 book “The Power of Concentration”, a volume of rare courage.
“It is of the greatest value to be able to think only that which will be beneficial. Do not become discouraged, if you are unable to hold your thought on the subject very long at first. There are very few that can. It seems a peculiar fact that it is easier to concentrate on something that is not good for us, than on something that is beneficial. This tendency is overcome when we learn to concentrate consciously. If you will just practice a few concentration exercises each day you will find you will soon develop this wonderful power. Did you ever stop to think what an important part your thoughts, concentrated thoughts, play in your life?”
The power of thought and concentration in shaping our destiny
“Our two natures; one wants to advance; the other wants to pull us back. The one we concentrate on and develop determines what we will become. We can be completely controlled by our concentrated thought. Every man that is willing to put forth the necessary effort can be a success. The man that is best prepared to do things. The man selected to manage is not usually a genius. He does not possess any more talent than others.Very few men possess the power to concentrate as they should. Concentration means strength of mind. The person unable to concentrate never accomplished a great deal. The person that is able to concentrate gains the Power to control others.”
Success today depends largely on concentrating on the Interior Law of force, according to the author. “For when you do this, you awaken those thought powers or forces, which, when used in business, insures permanent results. Until you are able to do this you have not reached your limit in the use of your forces. This great universe is interwoven with myriads of forces. You make your own place, and whether it is important depends upon you. Through the Indestructible and Unconquerable Law, you can in time accomplish all right things and therefore do not be afraid to undertake whatever you really desire to accomplish and are willing to pay for in effort. Anything that is right is possible. That which is necessary will inevitably take place.
If something is right, it is your duty to do it, though the whole world thinks it to be wrong. ‘God and one are always a majority,’ or in plain words, that omnipotent interior law which is God, and the organism that represents you is able to conquer the whole world if your cause is absolutely just. Don’t say I wish I was a great man. You can do anything that is proper and you want to do. Just say: You can. You will. You must. Just realize this and the rest is easy. You have the latent faculties and forces to subdue anything that tries to interfere with your plans.”
The late Atkinson’s book states “The understanding of the power of thought will awaken possibilities within you that you never dreamed of. Never forget that your thoughts are making your environment, your friends, and as your thoughts change these will also. Is this not a practical lesson to learn?
Good thoughts are constructive. Evil thoughts are destructive. The desire to do right carries with it a great power. I want you to thoroughly realize the importance of your thoughts, and how to make them valuable, to understand that your thoughts come to you over invisible wires and influence you.”
This work maintains that thoughts certainly produce actions and that we therefore have to be careful of our thoughts. “Your life will be molded by the thoughts you have. A spiritual power is always available to your thought, and when you are worthy, you can attract all the good things without a great effort on your part. The sun’s rays shine down on our gardens, but we can plant trees that will interfere with the sun light.
There are invisible forces ready to help you, if you do not think and act to intercept these. These forces work silently. You reap what you sow. Most people go rushing through life, literally driving away the very things they seek. By concentration you can revolutionize your life, accomplish infinitely more and without a great effort. Look within yourself and you will find the greatest machine ever made.”
Harnessing the power of Mental Demand, concentration, and unwavering belief
“It is within your power to gratify your every wish. Success is the result of the way you think. The power to rule and attract success is within yourself. The barriers that shut these off from you are subject to your control. You have unlimited power to think and this is the link that connects you with your omniscient source. Success is the result of certain moods of mind or ways of thinking.
These moods can be controlled by you and produced at will, concentrated thought will accomplish seemingly impossible results and make you realize your fondest ambitions. If you will just realize that through deep concentration, you become linked with thoughts of omnipotence, you will kill out entirely your belief in your limitations and at the same time will drive away all fear and other negative and destructive thought forces which constantly work against you,” according to The Power of Concentration.
The book suggests a way to overcome the barrier of negative thinking. “Never stop to think of temporary appearances, but maintain an unfaltering belief in your ultimate success. The main thing for you to remember is to keep at bay the destructive and opposing forces of fear and anger and their satellites. There is no power so great as the belief which comes from the knowledge that your thought is in harmony with the divine laws of thought and the sincere conviction that your cause is right.
You may be able seemingly to accomplish results for a time even if your cause is unjust, but the results will be temporary, and, in time, you will have to tear down your thought edifice and build on the true foundation of Right. All just causes succeed in time, though temporarily they may fail. So if you should face the time when everything seems against you, quiet your fears, drive away all destructive thoughts and uphold the dignity of your moral and spiritual life.”
It underscores that when everything looks gloomy and discouraging, then is the perfect time to assert your mettle. You do so, by not succumbing to your disheartening circumstances; instead, working to control your moods through rendering them as calm, serene and bright as if all prosperity belonged to you. In other words, you then rejoice that you can manage your moods. “Be faithful in sowing the thought seeds of success, in perfect trust that the sun will not cease to shine and bring a generous harvest in one season. The man that is able to concentrate is the happy, busy man.
Time does not drag with him. He always has plenty to do. He does not have time to think over past mistakes, which would make him unhappy. If despite our discouragement and failures, we claim our great heritage, ‘life and truth and force, like an electric current,’ will permeate our lives until we enter into our ‘birthright in eternity.’”
The writer—the late Atkinson, through his book— emphasizes that the Mental Demand constitutes an invincible weapon in this aspect. According to him, this optimal resource seems an unreal power because it is intangible. But he contends that it constitutes the mightiest power in the world. “It is a power that is free for you to use. No one can use it for you. The Mental Demand is not a visionary one. It is a potent force, which you can use freely without cost. When you are in doubt it will counsel you. It will guide you when you are uncertain. When you are in fear it will give you courage. It is the motive power which supplies the energies necessary to the achievement of the purpose.
You have a large store house of possibilities. The Mental Demand makes possibilities realities. It supplies everything necessary for the accomplishment, it selects the tools and instructs how to use them. It makes you understand the situation. Every time you make a Mental Demand you strengthen the brain centers by drawing to you external forces. You can so intently desire a thing that you can exclude all distracting thoughts. When you practice this singleness of concentration until you attain the end sought, you have developed a Will capable of accomplishing whatever you wish.”
He underlines “So, if you wish to emerge into prominence, you must accomplish something more than the ordinary man or woman. It is easy to do this if you will but concentrate on what you desire, and put forth your best effort.
It is not the runner with the longest legs or the strongest muscles that wins the race, but the one that can put forth the greatest desire force. The one that has the greatest intensity of desire will win. He may outdistance the other by only a fraction of an inch, yet he gets the laurels.”
The author vehemently rejects the pretext of advanced age as a reason for not performing the greatest effort for you to achieve what seems impossible. “One of the names most honored among the great men of France is that of Littre, who wrote and compiled the great French dictionary- -a monument of learning. He is the man whose place among the forty immortals of France was taken by the great Pasteur, when the latter was elected to the Academy. Littre BEGAN the work that makes him famous when he was more than sixty years old.”