Thoughts on James Allen's 'As A Man Thinketh'

I recently read the classic by James Allen - As A Man Thinketh and found it so potent and inspiring. Each line is pregnant with meaning and possibilities. I encourage all who haven't read it to do so. You'll be glad you did. Anyway, below is a brief review of the book I put together for a few friends with whom I read the book and i thought I'd share it with you too. Enjoy!


AS A MAN THINKETH: THOUGHTS ON CONCEPTS AND UNDERLYING IDEAS

We find in James Allen's book "As a Man thinketh", a deeply inspired work. James Allen uses beautiful rhetoric and sublime phrases to express deep things. His insights are amazing and practically every line is viable and completely quotable. He spoke with great wisdom on the power of thoughts as the shapers of the entire man. Yet we see that there is an end in view here - character or Being. We see in this book that the man's actions are a major point in view. The thouhgts are a means. We might be led, perhaps at first reading or superficial perusal to believe that the thoughts are an end in themselves. However, a thorough reading of the book reveals how that the man's thoughts will have a direct impact on his actions. The question this raises in me is this - Can thought alone bring about transformation? Can a man, merely by thinking good thoughts, become a good man? Or is there some other thing to be added? I think, however, that the practical and pertinent question is this - can a man act outside of his thought processes? James Allen, it seems, would tell us no. He seems to say that even when this appears to be happening, there are subconscious forces at play. Meaning essentially that if I, in my cosciousness, choose to think on good things and yet I find bad things manifesting in me, then there is operating at a deeper than surface level, elements of darkness. A deeper consideration of this reveals that what this book offers is not something really as appealing as it may seem on the surface - it invites us to explore that complex world within us called I, where we must come face to face with our ugliest selves in a bid to either change them, or kill them if we are to have the high quality of life we desire. James Allen would have us believe that the heart is where the battle lies and not on our outside. Our assailants are within and our victories must first be internal before they can ever become external. One major aim, it seems to me, is serenity - that state that is inalienable to sainthood. We find that a whole chapter is dedicated to this state of being in the book. A state in which the man's thoughts are so pure and true as to produce an outward tranquility and very visible stability and strength- for is this not the basic assertion of the book - that your inner world defines your outer one? He also seems to suggest that cause and effect in the thought realm, like in the material world, are not subjective and you reap what you sow. There are principles governing the unseen realm and keys that open doors in our minds (good as well as bad). At the risk of over-simplifying an otherwise profound and insightful principle, I conclude that there are laws at work in the moral world. Align your thoughts in accordance with these laws and you enjoy the benefits of Citizenry. Spurn the laws and become an outcast. Yet these laws, because they are unseen, must be entered into by deep thought and meditation. This, though I perceive, is only the beginning.

Through My Horn-rimmed Spectacles: A poem

Hello world. Has there ever been a period in your life when you just got worn out trying to understand everything that happened around you? You know, trying to figure things out via cold and rational means? You know, I've been there and, frankly, I'm happier where I am now. The truth is, science will never be enough as a means to understanding our world (particularly the one inside us); neither will its cold, analytical and critical methods ever provide, when applied exclusively, the complete joys that can be derived from the wonderful phenomenon of being. This was the inspiration for this poem. I hope you like it and I hope it inspires you to live a fuller life, enjoying every single gift that God has given us... especially the ones we can't explain in diagrams, flowcharts and equations.


THROUGH MY HORN-RIMMED SPECTACLES


Colour is a mere selective emission
Of electromagnetic energy
And the taste and aroma of a home-cooked
Meal is nothing but biochemical interactions.
Through my horn-rimmed spectacles
A loved ones touch is mere sensory perception,
Relationships are sociological necessities
And love? Love is hormonal hyperactivity.
Through my horn-rimmed spectacles
This world is an asymmetric collection of facts
And though these are not tinted, A Dark Place.
Through my horn-rimmed spectacles
I cannot read beyond the text or
See beyond the grave where this
Brilliant biological machine must decay.
Everything is a watery, bitter blur. And life?
Life is pointless.

Over-familiarity: A Short Essay

Hello there. How are things going? I'm posting this essay because I believe there are many out there who can identify with it. If you're like me, then you've probably enjoyed feelings of wonder or admiration or even awe when experiencing something new or gaining some fresh insight into something "old". Whether its visiting a new place, lying in the grass, breathing morning air, eating some exotic fruit or falling in love, we will almost surely admit it was a sweet, spiritual experience. If that is true, then perhaps you have also known the feeling of gradually losing these initial internal stirrings and then settling into a state of indifference. It is this state of Sensory Complacency that leads us to a place of eventual blindness. There are many reasons we may become de-sensitized - stress, needs, desires and so on, but I have found that the most

common culprit is, in my experience, Over-familiarity. Einstein said:

.......................................................................................................................................................................

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

.

OVER-FAMILIARITY


Familiarity is a good thing
As it makes for safety and intimacy
But OVER-familiarity is a dangerous thing
Stripping Creation of its awesome beauty



The first time I was here, I thought it was beautiful. The scenery, the salubrious breeze, the birds flying so close by. All most enjoyable. All most spiritual.
But today I am frightened. Frightened because my journey to this place, my climb, did not fill me with excitement and expectation that soon the climb would be over and I would sit atop this mountain that I would have, once again, conquered, to breathe the air of God, to behold His marvelous creation, to sing a new song, write a new work or to just revel in the experience.

Today, the climb was (and I dread to use the word) routine. Every step perfected with practice. Not contemplating the mysteries of muscle function or the Providence in the friction between my shoes and these concrete steps giving me grip and preventing me from cascading helplessly and riotously into a broken heap at the bottom of this flight. Not considering that the air I now breathe so casually and automatically could, but a few days ago, have been caressing the cheeks of The Sphinx of Egypt or carrying the voice of a loving mother in prayer for her children. Not celebrating the miracle of life. Not growing and not discovering. It was like any other day I had been there I thought. But oh! Was I wrong! For every other time, each step had meant something, each breath so filling and every image captivating. I wonder how often we have allowed this subtle thief to pry into our hearts and to veil our hearts from the things truly beautiful; these elements of our world and the people with whom we share them. The sunrise, the breeze, the birds, the trees; the chatter, the silence, the stranger, the ambience.

Could I truly have used up all of its novelty? Perhaps appreciated and pensively considered all its elements. What about the distant haze, the sounds and colours? What about the grain of sand? No! There is no exhausting the surfaces upon which God has so kindly and deliberately inscribed, so clearly and indelibly, “ I AM!”

Toye ‘lanrewaju

Maybe

Like interlocking fingers
To be one with you
And like a symphony
To be a beautiful intricate harmony
Yet I wonder
Perhaps hands would rather warm themselves
Than lock in conflict of norm
And perhaps unison is the preferred arrangement
Of so small a choir of one.
Are these touches flippant merely?
These fleeting affectionate strokes so blissful
Caresses of vision broken by the slow flutter
Of smiling embarrassed lashes and flushed cheeks…
Raise my umbrella.
From this raining misgiving,
Shelter me.
Dodging now then jumping again playfully
In mucky puddles of unjustifiable fantasy
Till I find the sun from within
To soak me in the courage
To disperse this fluctuating uncertainty
And discover what may never be.