Systematic Thot By Zarlivana Marvin PRELUDIUM With the object of setting before you a system of self-development which I have been able to make use of and which, therefore, contains no element of uncertainty or doubt, I present to you these pages. I know that if we cease to gaze at our shadow and stand where the light of truth falls full upon our face, "there is no such word as fail." This work is the reflection of the light that shines in my heart leading me on and on in the paths of truth that are eternal. I declare it is possible to direct thot, word and deed into a channel where only good will come to us. We can actually attain to our own ideals by persistent effort, changing voice, walk, expression, gesture and manner as befitting our conception of the highest expression of beauty and grace. May God Who gave this gift Above all gifts, now guide my pen. SYSTEMATIC THOT LESSON ONE Thot is the greatest factor in life, and it can be reduced to a science, thus making it exact; and it comes within the power of every individual, with a little care, to do so, by following a few simple rules herein outlined. The value of systematic thot cannot be over-estimated, since thot is the force from which all actions spring. The greatest of all cultivation is the cultivation of thot. Much has been said and written about the prodigality of our people as a nation and the waste of resources so bountiful, but every individual has in himself a wealth beyond valuation, in the power of thot. The nervous organism of the body is wrot upon and kept in ceaseless grind by unchained fancies, reminiscence, regrets, criticism, dissatisfaction, envy, hate, lust; the thousand and one flotsam and jetsam that cripple the mind, wear out the body, tarnish the soul and quench the spirit of mankind. When you see water running over the falls, you say, What power is going to waste; just as people said when they saw wild horses, What strength is going to waste. I tell you the cataract and the herd of mustangs are as nothing in matter of waste compared to that caused by the lack of system in the direction of thot force. The correction of thot, like charity, begins at home. We must do a lot of weeding out if we are ever going to have our thot be a power for good in ourselves and others. The good thot is choked and strangled out by that which is rank and useless. When we become as careful of our thot when alone, as we are of our language in the most polite society, we shall have made a long stride in the right direction. I have evolved a plan for systematizing thot that I find is a great help to me, and I am offering it in the hope that it may aid others in search of the means of getting the most good out of their allotted time. So many excellent things have been offered and yet I find an excuse for this one because I myself have been able to evolve it, try it out and prove its efficacy. I started to classify my thot in alphabetical order, taking only the first five letters of the alphabet. I placed the spiritual first, and all my thots of an exalted nature I placed in that "A" class, so I then knew just where they belonged and how much time I could devote to them. In the "B" class I placed the psychic. In the "C" class, the physical. Everything pertaining to the care of the body, breath, exercise, baths, thots concentrated for healing, and proper exercise of the various organs of the body that carry on the work of sustaining and perpetuating life, the nerve cen ters and elemination, all came under this one classification. All mental effort I regard as belonging to class "D." Of course, we understand that all thot is the exercise of the mentality, whether it be constructive or destructive. It is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, not only of life but of creation itself. Without the exercise of the highest order of mentality, we could not understand the spiritual, the psychic or the physical. To enjoy the first, perfect the second and perpetuate the third, we find much time must be given to understanding the laws governing the "D” class. That which pertains to educational matters and requires strenuous application in memorizing and research, and all thot outside of that, I placed in the "E" class. I have since been able to classify them farther, but for the present we will confine ourselves to these five classifications and fix them in our minds, considering them as the foundation of systematic thot. I had not been using this method long when I was surprised at the benefit received from it. I said, "Why, this is wonderful; it is too good to keep." Whenever I find anything that may be of value to others I want to pass it along. There is a giving that impoverishes not, and a withholding that tends to penury. The reason that led me to seek a method confining my thots within certain bounds and saying, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther," was to avoid drifting tendencies, wearing out the machinery of the body by an endless treadmill of thot that was of no advantage. Most of the ills of my life have resulted from that very fact. An illness that lingered and brot me close to the gates of death, where I seemed to be only able to keep breath in my body by cheerful, hopeful thot and prayer combined with rhythmic breathing, gave me knowledge of the effect of thot upon the physical body. A person nursing a grouch and bewailing his condition in a body that is at least able to drag itself about, does not realize the effect of thot to the same extent as does one who is completely reduced. He is unconscious of the havoc he is making of that body, to say nothing of the soul, by continuing in that unhappy state of mind. I have already stated that I regard all thot on spiritual understanding and realization above everything else in value. It is "A" when I awake, it is my very first thot. deed, I preface every thot with this one, rather being conscious of its presence, just as when looking about at all the beauties of nature in the springtime, we are conscious that the sun is shining. We see the beautiful coloring of plant and flower, we know the |