Mastery of Fate
	Making The Ideal Real <  Previous Contents Next  >

EVERY factor in the fate of man responds to the life of man; and every element in the life of man is governed, directed, changed or modified by the thought of man. Therefore, as thought goes, so will the creative causes of fate go also. For this reason, if fate is to be improved, thought must move upward and onward; and since thought follows ideals, to him who would master his fate, ideals become indispensable.

But it is not only necessary to have ideals; it is also necessary to make real our ideals. This, however, seems difficult for the average person to do, because between the real and the ideal there appears to be a gulf that he does not know how to bridge.

Even many of the greatest philosophers in the world have failed to realize in a practical way what their finer perceptions had discovered; though this is not strange, because it is the prophetic faculty that sees the ideal, and the scientific faculty that makes the ideal real; and these two faculties are not always found in the same man.

The complete man, however, has both; and he who would master his fate must be complete.

By the prophetic faculty we do not me the power to discern the future, because with the future we are not concerned; we are living in the eternal now and in the eternal now we shall always continue to live.

The prophetic faculty is the power to look back of things, within things and above things; thus discerning basic laws, fundamental principles and the unbounded possibilities that exist everywhere. It is seeing the ideal; and the ideal is not a mere mental picture, but the discovery of something higher, something better and something greater than what is actually realized now. The prophetic faculty discovers what can be done now if we choose to do it.

This faculty is developed through the constructive use of the imagination, the constant use of interior insight, and the practice of looking for the greater possibilities in everything with which we come in contact.

The mere discovery of the great is not sufficient; the ideal must be made real. It is not the dreaming of things, but the doing of things that produces a better fate and a larger destiny. But we must perceive the greater things before we can do the greater things; and to perceive the greater things is to have ideals. To make real the ideal, the scientific faculty is required; and this faculty develops through scientific thinking and through the practical application of every principle and law discovered.

To make real the ideal, the first essential is to remove from consciousness the gulf that seems to exist between present attainment and the greater possibilities. Refuse to think of this gulf, because to think of it is to impress the mind with the idea that the greater is beyond us. This impression will prevent mind from reaching the greater, and will also produce frequent states of despair. Such states not only weaken mind, but cause man to give himself up to the influence of environment.

A discouraged mind, submitting itself to environment, is impressed with failure, weakness, inferiority, and the tendency to go down grade; while the mind that is to master fate must go the other way.

To remove the seeming gulf from mind, turn attention not only upon the ideal you desire to reach, but try to see the ideal of yourself as well. By so doing you impress the ideal of yourself upon your mind; thoughts like the ideal self will be created, and your personal self becomes like the thoughts you think. Consequently, by a simple process, the personal self is made to improve constantly, daily becoming more and more like the ideal.

To realize constant personal advancement is to prevent all thoughts of discouragement, and also to enter the power of that law through which gain promotes gain, and much gathers more.

The law is that you begin to realize the ideal in your personal life when the personal self begins to grow into the likeness of the ideal. Therefore, to yearn for ideals while nothing is being done to make yourself more ideal, is to continue to keep yourself away from your ideal.

It is like that attracts like, and only those who are alike will be drawn into the same world; consequently, to live in the same world with your ideal, you must become like your ideal.

The ideal cannot come down to you; ideals never move that way; but you can go up to your ideal, and that is the true way for you to move.

To make any part of the personal self ideal, place before the creative powers of mind the corresponding ideal of your true self; and it must be remembered that your true self is not something distinct from your ideal self, because the two are one.

The ideal of yourself is you; you are the ideal side of yourself; the actual or external side of yourself is only a partial expression of the ideal or true self. The ideal side of man is the complete side; and the complete side is you. You are not the incomplete side, because if you were there would be no source for anything in your being; not even the incomplete or external side would have a source, and consequently could not exist.

Incompleteness cannot come from incompleteness, because an incompleteness is a partial effect of a complete cause. Incompleteness can come only from completeness; therefore, the fact that the personal self is incomplete proves that it comes from a self that is complete; and since you, yourself, cannot be complete and incomplete at the same time, you, yourself, must be the complete self, while the personal self is but a partial expression of the completeness that exists in you.

When you see this clearly, you will know that you are already ideal; that is, complete, and in possession of unlimited possibilities; and when you know that you are ideal, you will think of yourself as ideal. You will impress the ideal, and the greater possibilities upon mind, and your thoughts will not only be ideal, but will contain the power of the greater possibilities. This power will be expressed in the personal self, because the power of every thought is expressed in the personal self; consequently, the personal self will become larger, greater and more perfect, constantly making real the ideal.

To realize your ideal it is not necessary to change your present environment, or to adopt some radical mode of living; nor is it necessary to be transported to some other sphere.

The ideals that you see are in your own path, directly before you, and will positively be reached through a forward movement. We cannot see the ideals of another mind; therefore, the ideals that you see are in your own path, and can be reached by you. The secret is to move forward in your own life. Be yourself, and bring out all that exists in yourself, and you will gain both the power and the ability to reach what you have in view.

There will be no waiting time; and it is not necessary to become absolutely perfect to make real the ideal. The very moment you begin to develop the personal self into the likeness of the ideal self, the ideal life will begin to become real in the personal life; and the mind that impresses itself only with its own selected and superior impressions, will develop the personal self with the greatest rapidity.

To make real the ideal, the principle is to make everything in your life more and more like the ideal. Ideal friendship brings ideal friends; refinement in action, thought and speech brings refined people; greater ability brings greater results in the world of achievement; and better environments come when we develop the power to create the better. A beautiful mental life produces a beautiful physical existence; and by giving the best to the world, the best will surely return.