Monday, January 4, 2010

As A Man Thinketh > Thought And Character

Finding the handle to self-improvement.
clipped from www.gutenberg.org


THE aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only
embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to
reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is
literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of
all his thoughts.


As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so
every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and
could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those
acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those, which
are deliberately executed.


Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits;
thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own
husbandry.

"Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are
By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind....


..If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow—sure."

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