21.
The following is an actual case history illustrating how the law of assumption works:
One day, a costume designer described to me her difficulties in working with a prominent theatrical producer. She was convinced that he unjustly criticized and rejected her best work and that often he was deliberately rude and unfair to her. Upon hearing her story, I explained that if she found the other rude and unfair, it was a sure sign that she, herself, was wanting and that it was not the producer, but herself that was in need of a new attitude.
I told her that the power of this law of assumption and its practical application could be discovered only through experience, and that only by assuming that the situation was already what she wanted it to be could she prove that she could bring about the change desired.
Her employer was merely bearing witness, telling her by his behavior what her concept of him was. I suggested that it was quite probable that she was carrying on conversations with him in her mind which were filled with criticism and recriminations.
There was no doubt but that she was mentally arguing with the producer, for others only echo that which we whisper to them in secret. I asked her if it was not true that she talked to him mentally, and, if so, what those conversations were like.
She confessed that every morning on her way to the theatre she told him just what she thought of him in a way she would never have dared address him in person. The intensity and force of her mental arguments with him automatically established his behavior towards her.
She began to realize that all of us carry on mental conversations, but, unfortunately, on most occasions, these conversations are argumentative… that we have only to observe the passerby on the street to prove this assertion… that so many people are mentally engrossed in conversation and few appear to be happy about it, but the very intensity of their feeling must lead them quickly to the unpleasant incident they themselves have mentally created and therefore must now encounter.
When she realized what she had been doing, she agreed to change her attitude and to live this law faithfully by assuming that her job was highly satisfactory and her relationship with the producer was a very happy one. To do this, she agreed that, before going to sleep at night, on her way to work, and at other intervals during the day, she would imagine that he had congratulated her on her fine designs and that she, in turn, had thanked him for his praise and kindness. To her great delight, she soon discovered for herself that her own attitude was the cause of all that befell her.
The behavior of her employer miraculously reversed itself. His attitude, echoing as it had always done, that which she had assumed, now reflected her changed concept of him.
What she did was by the power of her imagination. Her persistent assumption influenced his behavior and determined his attitude toward her.
With the passport of desire on the wings of a controlled imagination, she traveled into the future of her own predetermined experience.
Thus we see it is not facts, but that which we create in our imagination, which shapes our lives, for most of the conflicts of the day are due to the want of a little imagination to cast the beam out of our own eye.
It is the exact and literal-minded who live in a fictitious world.
As this designer, by her controlled imagination, started the subtle change in her employer’s mind, so can we, by the control of our own imagination and wisely directed feeling, solve our problems.
By the intensity of her imagination and feeling, the designer cast a kind of enchantment on her producer’s mind and caused him to think that his generous praise originated with him. Often our most elaborate and original thoughts are determined by another.
We should never be certain that it was
not some woman treading in the winepress
who began that subtle change in men’s mind,
or that the passion did not begin in the mind
of some shepherd boy, lighting up his eyes
for a moment before it ran upon its way.
. . . William Butler Yeats
22.
“Man ought always to pray and not to faint.”
Here, to pray means to give thanks for already having what you desire.
Only persistency in the assumption of the wish fulfilled can cause those subtle changes in your mind which result in the desired change in your life. It matters not whether they be “Angels”, “Elisha”, or “reluctant judges”; all must respond in harmony with your persistent assumption.
When it appears that people other than yourself in your world do not act toward you as you would like, it is not due to reluctance on their part, but a lack of persistence in your assumption of your life already being as you want it to be.
Your assumption, to be effective, cannot be a single isolated act; it must be a maintained attitude of the wish fulfilled.
And that maintained attitude that gets you there, so that you think from your wish fulfilled instead of thinking about your wish, is aided by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled frequently.
It is the frequency, not the length of time, that makes it natural. That to which you constantly return constitutes your truest self.
Frequent occupancy of the feeling of the wish fulfilled is the secret of success.
23.
All objective (visible) states were first subjective (invisible) states, and you called them into visible by assuming the feeling of their reality. The creative process is first imagining and then believing the state imagined. Always imagine and expect the best.
The world cannot change until you change your conception of it.
“As within, so without”
Nations, as well as people, are only what you believe them to be. No matter what the problem is, no matter where it is, no matter whom it concerns, you have no one to change but yourself, and you have neither opponent nor helper in bringing about the change within yourself.
You have nothing to do but convince yourself of the truth of that which you desire to see manifested. As soon as you succeed in convincing yourself of the reality of the state sought, results follow to confirm your fixed belief.
You never suggest to another the state which you desire to see him express; instead, you convince yourself that he is already that which you desire him to be.
Realization of your wish is accomplished by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled. You cannot fail unless you fail to convince yourself of the reality of your wish.
24.
Within that blankness we call sleep there is a consciousness in unsleeping vigilance, and while the body sleeps this unsleeping being releases from the treasure house of eternity the subconscious assumptions of man.
25.
Let us assume the feeling
“I AM Christ,”
and our whole behavior will subtly and unconsciously change in accordance with the assumption. Our subconscious assumptions continually externalize themselves that others may consciously see us as we subconsciously see ourselves, and tell us by their actions what we have subconsciously assumed of ourselves to be. Therefore let us assume the feeling
“I AM Christ,”
until our conscious claim becomes our subconscious assumption that
“We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory.”
Let God Awake and his enemies be destroyed. There is no greater prayer for man.