Chapter 5 of Christian Larson’s How The Mind Works
How The Mind Makes The Man
Man gradually grows into the likeness of that which he thinks of the most. This is another important metaphysical law, and is so closely related to the law presented in the preceding chapter that the analysis given for one will naturally explain the process of the other. However, this second law is distinct from the first one in many of its phases, and it is so full of possibility that the understanding of its application opens up a vast world of change and attainment along a number of lines.
We become like the thoughts we think because the creative power of thought is the only creative power that we have within us. And the energies of mind are constantly creating; and what they create now is just like the thoughts we think now. Since every physical condition, every mental state, and every phase of character since all these things are fashioned after our predominating thoughts, and since the capacity of every faculty and the quality of every talent are determined by the thoughts we think, we must naturally conclude that there can be no greater art than the art of correct thinking. In fact, to think is to occupy a position involving far greater responsibility than that of a thousand absolute monarchs. And when we realize this, we will not permit a single thought to take shape and form in our minds without first determining upon the value of that thought.
Why we grow into the likeness of that of which we think the most has been fully explained in the preceding chapter, and it is found in the fact that every impression formed in the mind will reproduce its kind and express its creations throughout the entire system. And though these impressions usually come from without in the first place, still they do not become real impressions until we accept them into our consciousness, or in thought, or in conviction. That is, many minds will think only what is suggested to them by environment, or what they are told to think by those in authority; still it is their own thought that shapes their lives.
Wherever the suggestion may come from, it is your thought about that suggestion that produces the effect.
The analysis of thought presented in the preceding chapter explains how the person is affected by thought, and how thought is always created in the likeness of those ideas, states or impressions that have established themselves in consciousness.
But to carry this analysis to its final goal we must discover why man becomes like his thought and also how he can think thought of a superior nature. And this we discover through the workings of the law now under consideration. In the first place man becomes like his thought because there is no other pattern in his being besides his own thought. The creative forces of his mind and personality always create according to the image and likeness of the strongest and deepest impressions in consciousness, and all such impressions are produced by the process of thinking.
When we use the term “thought,” however, we may refer either to the mental model, which is the result of mental conception, or we may refer to that thought which is the result of mental creation. The mental creation is patterned after the mental conception, and the mental conception is the result of our efforts to understand what we are thinking about. Mental conception is conscious and is therefore under our control, while mental creation is subconscious and is therefore beyond our control; but we do not have to control mental creation. Those creations will be just like our mental conceptions; therefore when we form only such mental conceptions as we like we shall have only such mental creations as we like. In consequence when we see mentally that which is superior and can form a true conception of what we see, we give to the creative energies a model that is higher than any we have given them before.
Accordingly the mental creations will be superior.
And here we should remember that these creations are not wholly abstract, but are in most instances as concrete or tangible as the body itself. The creative energies of the human system act both in the mind and in the body, though their central field of action is always in the subjective or inner side of things. In the body these energies constitute the vital forces and the nerve forces of the system, while in the mind they constitute all those energies or powers employed in thought, feeling or mental action of whatever nature.
When we examine these energies we find that they do not simply create conditions after the likeness of the predominating thought, but that they themselves also become just like the predominating thought, which fact illustrates the power exercised by such thoughts as hold the ruling position in our minds. From this fact we conclude that these forces will give vitality to the body that corresponds to the states of the mind. So, that if there is anything wrong in the subjective states of the mind these forces will convey those wrong conditions to the body, the reason being that these forces come from the subjective and cannot be different from the ruling conditions of their source.
The fibers and cells of the body are built up by these energies. Therefore the quality as well as the structures of the cells must correspond with the nature of the creative energies at the time. These energies build cells just like the patterns before them, and the patterns are formed by the subjective conceptions. When that part of the subjective mind that governs cell structures in the body becomes imbued with a more perfect idea of construction the creative energies will build more perfect cells. And when that part of the subjective mind that governs physical shape and form receives a better conception of shape and form, these creative energies will naturally build a body that is more perfect as to shape and form. Every function in the body is governed by a certain part of the subjective mind and the creative energies act through that particular function according to the present state of the subjective mind.
Therefore when more perfect patterns are placed in those parts of the subjective that govern the body, the creative energies will build a more perfect body. And when we know that these creative energies are building us a new body every year, according to the predominating pattern of the subjective, we can see how easily the new body we receive every year can be made more perfect if we will improve the subjective pattern. The creative energies construct brain cells in the same way, the quality being governed by the state of mind. And that part of the brain that is to receive the largest group of cells is determined by the tendencies of the mind.
In the world of talents and faculties the creative energies construct concepts so that every talent is actually composed of all the conceptions that the mind has formed while trying to understand the nature and possibility of that talent. In the formation of character the creative energies do their work in constructing desires, motives, purposes and the like. And in every instance they form these characteristics according to the predominating thought on the subject. In the construction of the spiritual attitudes and higher attainments the process is very similar though in these instances the pattern is gained through faith instead of subjective mentation.
Why man grows into the likeness of that which he thinks of the most becomes perfectly clear when we understand how the creative energies work; that is, that they always create after the likeness of the subjective pattern. And when we learn that the subjective pattern can be changed in any part of mind by thinking a great deal of a higher conception of that particular phase, we have the whole secret. When we think a great deal along any line with a higher conception before us we finally establish that higher conception in the place of the old one. When we hold an idea in mind a long time that idea will become a predominating idea; it will become larger and stronger than the other ideas and will consequently be selected as a model by the creative energies
The next question before us is how to think only of those things that we desire to grow into the likeness of. And this question is answered through the following metaphysical law: Man thinks the most both consciously and unconsciously of that which he loves the best. The simplest way to govern thought is to do so through love.
When we love the lofty and the noble we naturally think a great deal of those qualities without trying to do so, and in consequence we become more noble in thought, character and motives. If we wish to develop the greater and the higher within us we must love everything that contains greatness, and our love must be with the whole heart: that is, every fiber of our being must actually thrill with a passion for that higher something which we desire to develop.
Here we must remember that all intellectual or metaphysical methods for the development of talents or character, or anything of a superior nature within us, will fail unless we passionately love superior attainments. The man who loves honesty, justice and virtue will become honest, just and virtuous; though if he does not naturally love those things no amount of moral training can change his character. Millions of people are praying to become better, more noble and more spiritual, but too many fail to receive answers to such prayers. And the reason why is found in the fact that they do not love as deeply as they should those superior attainments for which they are praying. They may desire those things in a superficial way, but that is not sufficient. Real love alone will avail because such love goes to the very depth of life and touches the very essence of being itself.
When we, as a race, will begin to love the superior and the divine with the same depth that we love gold or material pleasures, we shall become a superior race. When we love divine qualities with the whole heart we shall think a great deal of such qualities and the more we will try to understand the inner nature of those qualities. The higher this understanding becomes the higher will our conception of the divine and the spiritual become. And the higher those conceptions are the higher will be our thoughts. And since the outer man is fashioned after the ruling thoughts of his mind, we shall in this way steadily rise in the scale of life until we become in mind and personality like those higher thoughts we have learned to think. In other words, we shall manifest in the without more and more of the divinity that is within. And that such a process would in time transform humanity into a superior race anyone can readily understand.
Love, however, is not mere sentiment, nor is it ordinary emotionalism. Love also has quality. There is ordinary love and there are the higher forms of quality. Therefore, the love with which we love must be developed into greater worth if we are to penetrate the realms of worth through our love.
The reason why we naturally think the most about what we like the best is found in the fact that there can be no division in love. When you actually love something that something will receive your undivided attention. And as all your thought goes where your attention is directed you will in this manner give all your thought both consciously and unconsciously to that which you love. This we all know from our own personal experience, and we shall find that everybody has had the same experience, thus proving universally the absoluteness of this law.
We have all seen people become beautiful in countenance and character after they had begun to love some high and noble purpose. And we can find thousands who have become more and more common because they have continued to love the ordinary. By living the ordinary they naturally became like the ordinary thus their mental actions became inferior, and both mind and personality became inferior in proportion. The elements of the body may be in a low state of action and express grossness, or they may be in a high state of action and express refinement; and the state of the mind determines what those actions are to be, whether they are to be crude or refined. The low, common mind invariably gives sluggish or crude actions to the system, and in such a person the physical form looks very much like ordinary clay. But a lofty mind, a mind that is living in the ideal and the beautiful, and in the realization of the marvelous possibilities of mind, gives highly refined actions to the body; and such a body will naturally be superior in fineness, quality and substance. It is therefore true that there are people who are made of a finer clay; not because they have come from so called noble ancestors, but because their thoughts have become beautiful, lofty and high.
The attitude of love towards all that is superior should be cultivated with the greatest enthusiasm, and the love itself should also be made superior as we advance in the realization of true worth. It is in this way that we shall find the true path and the simple path to high thinking, noble thinking and right thinking. And man grows into the likeness, steadily and surely, of that which he thinks of the most.
Since we think the most of what we love the best we should love passionately all that is beautiful and sublime; we should love all that is lofty and ideal; we should love the true side, the superior side and the genuine side in all persons and in all things. But we should never think of the inferior at any time. We should love the perfect, the divine and the spiritual in every soul in existence, and give the whole heart to the love of the sublime qualities of the Supreme. Thus we shall find that body, mind and soul will respond to the perfect thought that we thus form while living on the mental heights. Gradually we shall find all the elements of our nature changing for the better, becoming more and more like those sublime states of mind of which we are so vividly conscious while on the heights.