Introduction
You often feel that external circumstances control your life, leaving you helpless against a tide of unwanted events and negative emotions. William Walker Atkinson explains that your mind acts as a dynamic center of attraction, constantly drawing matching people and conditions through the vibrational force of your thoughts.
Your mind operates as a spiritual magnet, and you can consciously direct its vibrational power to reshape your entire reality.
The book guides you from understanding thought as a real form of energy toward absolute self-mastery. You learn to manage your mental states, harness your willpower, and dissolve destructive habits.
- How does thought operate as a dynamic force?
- What mental methods raise your personal vibration?
- How do you conquer fear and claim your true desires?
1. Thought as Energy and the Law of Attraction
Thought is a real manifestation of energy operating through vibrations, and the Law of Attraction in the thought world draws matching circumstances, people, and experiences to the thinker.
The Vibrational Nature of Thought
Just as light, heat, and electricity operate through vibrations, thinking sets into motion fine ethereal vibrations that are real. When you think, you send out waves through a great sea of mind, making yourself a center of attraction for corresponding thoughts, people, and events.
Professor Elisha Gray noted unhearable sound-waves operating from 40,000 to 400,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second. Light ceases at 700,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second. A powerful magnet can attract 100 pounds of steel without visible force, demonstrating that invisible energy rules physical reality.
Thought-Waves and Thought Force act as invisible magnets that draw your dominant mental states into physical form.
Rejecting Discipleship for Self-Dependence
You must abandon blind discipleship and the habit of relying on spiritual teachers as moons reflecting dead light, instead cultivating your own active solar power and independence.
The author strongly criticizes followers who sit at a teacher's feet and repeat phrases like parrots. No human holds a monopoly on truth, and true growth requires personal effort and self-reliance. You can apply the Laughing Philosophy to puncture overly solemn, dogmatic teachings.
- Reject the bell-wether mentality of following a leader blindly.
- Stop accepting moonshine doctrines from secondhand sources.
- Cultivate inner authority and personal mental independence.
My Working Creed and Mind Power
Your mind holds the greatest of all forces, and positive thoughts combined with action and the gospel of hustle can alter environment, circumstances, and health.
William Walker Atkinson assumed editorship of New Thought magazine in December 1901 after experiencing a severe over-strain, physical and mental breakdown, and financial ruin. By applying these principles, you can transition from the I Can't plane to the dynamic I AM and I DO mindset.
2. Mentation, Attunement, and Self-Mastery
The human mind functions along two distinct lines. Active effort creates and changes conditions, while Passive effort follows the momentum of habit, heredity, or external suggestions.
The human mind operates through Active and Passive mentation, requiring deliberate will to raise your mental keynote and conquer the lesser self.
Active mentation requires a direct impulse and tackles new problems. Passive mentation operates automatically through ingrained habits or instinct, which William Walker Atkinson compares to plant appetency and animal instinct. Will is the outward manifestation of the real I AM, and mental culture differs from mental development.
Active Versus Passive Mentation
You navigate daily challenges by shifting between these mental modes. When you face an unfamiliar problem, active mentation steps in to create a new solution. Routine tasks run smoothly on passive mentation without demanding fresh conscious energy.
Raising Keynote and Mental Polarity
Similar to Marconi wireless instruments that pick up signals on a matched key, the human mind attracts thoughts of its corresponding pitch. Because negative thoughts are abundant, you must use conscious will to raise your mental keynote and practice shifting between positive tension and receptive relaxation.
You can shift your mental state from a negative to a positive pitch using affirmations, auto-suggestions, and will power to tune into higher thought-waves.
Conquering the Lesser Self
True self-mastery requires the sovereign I to establish order over the lower mental faculties, emotions, and passions through deliberate affirmation and exercise. Instead of being slaves to moods, worry, anger, or appetite, you must recognize the Real Self as master. Will acts as the instrument of the I, and by asserting control, you establish a connection with the Universal Will.
Practical exercises help you maintain this sovereign control:
- Repeat the words "I Am Asserting the Mastery of My Real Self" earnestly and positively at least once an hour during the day.
- Use the affirmation in moments of doubt, hesitation, or when tempted to act on the lines of the lesser self.
- Repeat the affirmation several times after retiring and settling to sleep.
- Form the mental image of the Real Self asserting its mastery over the lower planes of the mind, seeing the King on his Throne.
- Fix the mind firmly on the higher Self when tempted to burst into anger, feel cross, fearful, or jealous, rising above the feeling.
3. Will, Fear Transmutation, and Mental Control
Universal will power is accessed by training the mind, eradicating fear-thought, and managing thoughts like an engine through concentration.
The Secret of the Will
Every person possesses a storehouse of Universal Will Power. The key to its use lies in training the mind rather than the will itself. The mind acts as an instrument, and the supply of will power is proportionate to the fineness and training of that instrument. Mental laziness and weak desire are the true culprits behind perceived weakness of will.
You can awaken this force through simple daily actions:
- Say the words "I Am Using My Will Power" earnestly and positively immediately after finishing the article.
- Repeat the words frequently during the day, at least once an hour, and particularly when meeting something that calls for the exercise of will power.
- Repeat them several times after retiring and settling for sleep, backing them up with confident expectation.
- Perform at least one disagreeable task each day during the month, specifically choosing a task that would normally be shirked.
Conquest of Fear and Worry
Fear is a negative mental habit that acts as a powerful magnet for unwanted circumstances and must be eradicated by cultivating courage. Fear-thought causes unhappiness and failure because strong expectancy acts as a powerful magnet. Fighting a negative thought by trying to deny it directly wastes energy. Instead, the most effective method is to assume the positive mental attitude of courage, which lets in light and crowds out fear.
Nine-tenths of worries are over things which never come to pass. The other tenth is over things of little or no account. Worry wastes reserve energy and paralyzes action, whereas true desire stirs interest and engages the subconscious mind in problem-solving. Rather than fighting worry, you must transmute worry and discontent into desire and interest, coupled with the belief that a change can be made.
You can break negative race-thought by specific affirmations and actions:
- Instead of repeating "I'm not afraid," say boldly "I am full of Courage" or "I am Courageous."
- Assert "There's nothing to fear" to deny the reality of the object causing fear.
- Hold the mental picture of courage before the mind constantly until it becomes the normal mental attitude.
- Start doing things felt capable of doing if not afraid, affirming courage all the way through.
- Transmute worry into keen desire and interest, backed by the "I Can and I Will" idea.
- Practice concentration upon something right before you when worry thoughts fill the mind, as the mind can think of only one thing at a time.
The Law of Mental Control
Thoughts can be managed like a mental engine through concentration. Just as an engine can be sped up, it can also be slowed down. A competent mental engineer knows not only how to apply energy to work, but also how to stop the mental engine when work is finished. Trying to fight an obtruding thought by repeatedly declaring opposition wastes energy; instead, fixing the attention on an entirely different thought through an effort of will allows the unwanted thought to fade.
You can discipline the mind with two steady rules:
- Concentrate on mental work to the exclusion of everything else to eliminate waste motion and friction.
- Slow down the mind when resting by thinking of something as far different from the obtruding thought as possible, letting the unwanted thought go without a fight.
4. Habits, Emotions, and Brain-Cell Development
You can reshape your life by asserting the life-force, automating useful habits in the subconscious, managing emotions, and cultivating new brain-cells.
Asserting the Life-Force
Many people go through life in a half-hearted state of mere existence rather than active living. By asserting the inner life-force and refusing to be depressed by worries, individuals can revitalize their daily actions and experience an influx of energy. Stagnation can be overcome by consciously asserting the life-force and infusing energy into everyday tasks, thoughts, and words.
You can apply Mental Science using simple rules:
- Fix in mind the thought that the inner 'I' is very much alive, repeating the watchword at least once an hour.
- When feeling depressed, say 'I Am Alive,' take deep breaths while inhaling strength and life, and exhale old, dead, negative conditions.
Training the Habit-Mind
The subconscious mind acts as a habit-storehouse, requiring early and consistent automatic habits and strict avoidance of exceptions. Using William James's psychological insights, the author explains that nervous systems must be made allies by automating useful actions early. The mind resembles folded paper that tends to crease along the same lines, and yielding to a bad habit just once introduces the thin edge of the wedge that splits a resolution.
You must build reliable patterns through deliberate choices:
- Launch into a new habit or break an old one with as strong and decided an initiative as possible.
- Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit is securely rooted.
- Answer the question of what to do by choosing that which you would like to become a habit.
Psychology of Emotion and New Brain-Cells
Emotions are largely governed by habit and deepen through repetition, but they can be repressed, increased, or changed. Emotions such as jealousy, rage, worry, and fault-finding grow fat with exercise and create physical and mental poisons. To eliminate an undesirable emotion, you must refuse to express its outward movements, choke it out immediately with a firm command, and cultivate contrary dispositions. Count ten before venting anger to make its occasion seem ridiculous.
People are not slaves to their emotions because new brain-cells can be cultivated through positive mental attitudes while old cells atrophy from disuse. The brain serves as an instrument with millions of unused cells. By acting out positive mental attitudes and holding desired thoughts, the mind clears a path for beneficial traits and starves out negative tendencies through lack of nourishment.
You can direct your physical and mental responses directly:
- When a negative thought or feeling arises, take hold of it and firmly say 'Get out!' or 'Scat.'
- Go through the outward movements of preferred contrary dispositions, such as smoothing the brow, brightening the eye, and speaking in a major key.
- Act out the thought until it becomes a fixed habit, recognizing that action reacts upon the mind.
- Cultivate the opposite trait to a negative mental trait by thinking it out and acting it out.
- Cultivate a smile and a cheerful view to overcome the 'blues', insisting the mouth wears up-turned corners.
5. Desire, Dynamic Forces, and Claiming Your Own
Scattering thought-force across transient interests weakens your attractive power. It stops the subconscious mind from generating helpful plans. Desire is a manifestation of the Universal Life Love operating across nature.
Attaining success requires intense concentration, a ruling passion, and falling in love with the desired objective while eliminating mental leaks.
Make the desired objective your ruling passion and keep your mind on the main chance. Feed your fancy with the desired thing and see it as accomplished already without losing interest.
Many people possess abundant energy but waste it on trifles. When energy is coupled with invincible determination and directed by the Human Will, it becomes a powerful dynamic force.
The decisive difference between successful and unsuccessful people is energy guided by invincible determination and focused will.
Commit the motto Energy and Invincible Determination to memory. Say the words over and over to feel renewed life, circulation, and nerve-tingling energy. Use this motto as a daily working standard to become a person who accomplishes things.
Observers are often disappointed to find great industrialists or statesmen to be ordinary individuals in casual interaction. Their achievements stem from believing in themselves, concentrating fully while working, and preventing leaks of power when resting.
People often fail to attain good things because they view themselves as unworthy worms of the dust. As a child of the Infinite, you are merely claiming your own, which removes internal resistance and allows the Law of Attraction to work.
The author convinced a woman longing for a long-desired opportunity to stop repeating that it was too good for her, enabling her to take possession of it.
Stop crawling in your mind and drop the meek and lowly attitude of Uriah Heep. Throw back your head, look the world square in the face, and stop acting like a crawling thing. Demand and take what you need with strong desire, confident expectation, and courage in action.
The material items of this plane are merely temporary playthings in the Kindergarten of God meant for use, not enslavement. A Master of Circumstances enjoys playing the game fully, but remains willing to leave the toys behind when moving on.
The author compares people who refuse to claim their desires to the Emperor's little son who thought toy drums were too good for him.
Help yourself to the playthings of life without bashfulness and play the game well. Do not become unduly attached to your toys or allow them to make you their slave. Be willing to lay aside worn-out toys when it is time to pass into the next class.
People who expect continuous ill luck unconsciously draw the exact failure they anticipate. Conversely, successful people maintain an inner certainty of success that opens their minds to creative ideas.
A man arguing against thought attraction insisted ill luck relentlessly pursued him because every project went wrong, failing to see that his constant expectation of failure caused it.
There is no such thing as chance in the universe. Everything operates according to invariable law, cause, and purpose.
The physical fall of a stone down a mountainside is explained as the result of centuries of prior physical forces and causes.
Fall in with the operations of the Law and make it a part of yourself. Get into the currents of the Law and maintain your mental poise. Set your mind to the keynote of courage, confidence, and success to attract harmonious conditions.
Conclusion
The core principles of thought force, mental attunement, and dynamic desire unite to operate the Law of Attraction in your daily existence. You transform your reality not by wishing for external changes, but by raising your mental keynote, eliminating fear, and cultivating steady concentration. Mastering these forces requires constant vigilance over your mental states and deliberate direction of your subconscious machinery.
- Guard your mental atmosphere by refusing entry to negative suggestions and destructive emotions.
- Establish a clear mental image of your desire and hold it steadily before your consciousness without doubt.
- Practice daily concentration exercises to strengthen your will and gain absolute control over your attention.
- Transmute destructive mental states such as fear, anger, and worry into positive energy through direct mental command.
- Project your thought waves with calm confidence, knowing that matching circumstances and people will naturally respond to your vibration.
10 Key Ideas
- Your mind operates as a spiritual magnet that constantly draws matching people, conditions, and events through the vibrational force of your thoughts.
- The human mind operates through Active and Passive mentation, requiring deliberate will to raise your mental keynote and conquer the lesser self.
- Universal will power is accessed by training the mind, eradicating fear-thought, and managing thoughts like an engine through concentration.
- Fear is a negative mental habit that acts as a powerful magnet for unwanted circumstances and must be eradicated by cultivating courage.
- Thoughts can be managed like a mental engine through concentration, allowing you to direct energy to work or stop the mental engine when resting.
- You can reshape your life by asserting the life-force, automating useful habits in the subconscious, managing emotions, and cultivating new brain-cells.
- Emotions are largely governed by habit and deepen through repetition, but they can be repressed, increased, or changed by refusing outward expressions and cultivating contrary dispositions.
- Attaining success requires intense concentration, a ruling passion, and falling in love with the desired objective while eliminating mental leaks.
- By viewing yourself as a child of the Infinite rather than a worm of the dust, you can claim your own and remove internal resistance to the Law of Attraction.
- There is no such thing as chance in the universe, as everything operates according to invariable law, cause, and purpose.