Outwitting the Devil, part 2

"duty" is one of the most abused and misunderstood words in existence.  the first duty of every human being is to himself.  every person owes himself the duty of finding how to live a full and happy life. beyond this, if one has time and energy not needed in the fulfillment of his own desires, one may assume responsibility for helping others.

your theory is that too much help thrust upon the youth encourages him to drift and become indefinite in all things. you believe that necessity is a teacher of great sagacity, that defeat carries with it an equivalent virtue, that unearned gifts of every nature may become a curse instead of a blessing.

people who whine and beg god to assume responsibility for all their troubles and provide them with all the necessities and luxuries of life are too lazy to create what they want and translate it into existence through the power of their own minds

failure is a man-made circumstance. it js never real until it has been accepted as permanent. failure is a state of mind

the only thing of enduring value to any human being is a working knowledge of his own mind. the churches do not permit a person to inquire into the possibilities of his own mind, and the schools do not recognize that such a thing as a mind exists

sin is anything one does or thinks which causes one to be unhappy. human beings who are in sound physical and spiritual health should be at peace with themselves and always happy. any form of mental or physical misery indicates the presence of sin

it is a sin to accept from life anything one does not want because that indicates an unpardonable neglect to use the mind

faith is the absence of all forms of negative thought

faith is definiteness of purpose backed by belief in the attainment of the object of that purpose

the person who is not master of himself can never be master of others

accurate knowledge on the subject of sex is next to the top of the list. there is but one thing of greater importance to human beings. that is accurate thought...accurate thinking is aided by properly controlled and directed sex emotion because sex emotion is the same energy as that with which one thinks.

wise men keep their plans to themselves and refrain from expressing uninvited opinions. this prevents others from appropriating their ideas and makes it difficult for others to interfere with their plans
...the habit is a way of expressing egotism and vanity. the motive behind the habit is to attract the attention of others to impress them favorably. actually it has just the opposite effect. when the self invited speaker attracts attention, it usually is unfavorable

no single quality adds more to one's personality than the ability to speak with emotional feeling, force, and conviction but the speaker must not impose his speech upon others without being invited to do so

but what are people going to lean upon in the hour of emergency when they know not where nor to whom to appeal?
let them lean upon the only dependable power available to any human being...themselves! the power of their own thoughts. the only power they can control and may rely upon.

we tend to want to change other people when we can truly only change ourselves and how we react to others

if they knew the difference between temporary defeat and failure, they would not quit when they meet opposition from life. if they knew that every form of defeat, and all failures, bring with them the seed of unborn opportunity, they would keep on fighting and win. success usually is but one short step beyond the point where one quits fighting

failure often serves as a blessing in disguise because it breaks the grip of hypnotic rhythm and frees the mind for a fresh start

failure proves conclusively that something is wrong with one's aims or the plans by which the object of these aims is sought. failure is the dead end of the habit path one has been following, and when it is reached it forces one to leave that path and take up another, thereby creating a new rhythm...failure also forces people to learn many truths they would never discover without it.

hypnotic rhythm picks up the dominating motives, aims, purposes, and feelings of the contacting minds and weaves these into some degree of faith, fear, love, or hatred

successful human relationships, to endure as such must be formed of minds that naturally harmonize, quite aside from the question of having common interests as a means of bringing them into harmony.

adversity forces an individual to test his mental, physical,  and spiritual strength.  it thus brings him face to face with hjs weaknesses and gives him the opportunity to bridge them.
adversity forces one to seek ways and means to definite ends by meditation and introspective thought. this often leads to the discovery and use of tbe sixth sense through which one may communicate with infinite intelligence.
adversity forces one to recognize the need for intelligence not available except from sources outside of one's own mind
adversity breaks old habits of thought and gives one an opportunity to form new habits

failure is a blessing when it forces one to depend less upon material forces and more upon spiritual forces

life gives to everyone the power of positive thought, which is sufficient to master all circumstances of adversity and convert them into benefits 

the most important part of one's environment is that created by his association with others. all people absorb and take over, either consciously or unconsciously, the thought habits of those with whom they associate closely.

be careful of all forces which inspire thought; those are the forces which constitute environment and determine the nature of one's earthly destiny

Q: What class of people controls their environmental influences?
A: the non-drifters. all who are victims of the habit of drifting forfeit their power to choose their own environment. they become the victims of every negative influence in their environment.

Drifting is nothing but a negative state of mind, a state of mind conspicuous by it's emptiness of purpose

Every human being is duty bound to himself to remove from his environment every influence which even remotely tends to develop negative thought-habits

nature will not tolerate idleness or vacuums of any sort. all space must be and is filled with something. when the individual does not use the brain for the expression of positive, creative thoughts, nature fills the vacuum by forcing the brain to act upon negative thoughts.

Q: do you mean that if i drift along through life, without definite aim or purpose, the non-drifter may become my master, and time only serves to give the non-drifter a stronger and more permanent grip upon me?
A: that is stating the truth exactly

Q: what is wisdom?
A: wisdom is the ability to relate yourself to nature's laws so as to make them serve you, and the ability to relate yourself to other people so as to gain their harmonious, willing cooperation in helping you to make life yield whatever you demand of it.

"Victory goes to the people who know what they want and are determined to have it. They have mastered the habit of drifting. they have definite policies, definite plans, and definite objectives. Their opposition, which may outnumber them very greatly, has no chance against them because the opposition has no plan, no purpose, no policy except that of drifting along, hoping that something may turn up to help them."

stating in one brief sentence the most important part of this book:

One's dominating desires can be crystallized into their physical equivalents through definiteness of purpose backed by definiteness of plans, with the aid of nature's law of hypnotic rhythm and time!