THE SECRET OF SUCCESS, William Walter Atkinson [best management books of all time txt] 📗

was a dangerous man to defy, and so when he summoned Bishop Hugo
to Normandy, and the latter went forth to beard the lion in his den, few doubted
the outcome, and the bishop’s downfall was taken as a matter of course. When
the bishop landed in Normandy two friendly barons who informed him that the
king was in a terrible rage against him, and who advised him to send some
humble, conciliatory message to him before entering the royal presence. But the
bishop refused to do this, and proceeded boldly to meet his monarch. Richard
was sitting at Mass when the bishop entered. Hugo walked up to him, and
disregarding his frown, said,"Kiss me, my lord King!" Richard turned wrathfully
away, withholding his salute. But Hugo, gazing into his eyes, and shaking the
royal shoulder vigorously, repeated his demand. "Thou hast not deserved it,"
roared the king in anger and chagrin. "I have," retorted Hugo, shaking the royal
shoulder the harder. The king gradually dropped his eyes from those of the
bishop, and gave the kingly salute and kiss, and the bishop passed on calmly to
take part in the service. Hugo afterward defied the king in his council chamber,
and persisted in his refusal, and even ventured to rebuke his royal master for
infidelity to the queen. The council was astounded, for knowing Richard’s
courage and fiery temper they expected to see Hugo crush in a moment - but
instead he emerged the victor in the struggle of Spiritedness. The historian says:
"The Lion was tamed for the moment. The King acknowledged nothing, but
restrained his passion, remarking afterward, ‘If all bishops were like my lord of
Lincoln, not a prince among us could lift his head among them. ’"
And this was not the first time that this doughty Bishop of Lincoln had
vanquished a king. In his earlier days, shortly after King Henry Plantagenet had
created him bishop, he became involved in a fierce dispute with that monarch.
Henry was at Woodstock Park surrounded by his courtiers when Hugo
approached. The king feigned not to see the bishop, taking no notice whatsoever
of him. After a few moments of strained silence, the bishop, pushing aside a
powerful earl who was seated by the king’s side, took his place beside the king.
The king pretended to be mending his leather glove. The bishop cheerfully and
lightly said: "Your Majesty reminds me of your cousin at Falaise." Falaise was the
place at which Henry’s ancestor Duke Robert met Arlotta, the daughter of a
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tanner of leather, who bore him his illegitimate son who was afterward known as
William the Conqueror. The Bishop’s impudent allusion to the king’s ancestry
was too much for the latter, and he was badly worsted in the encounter and later
acceded to the wishes of the bishop.
But as Fothergill truly says: "It is a great mistake to suppose that this Will is
disposed to air itself on all occasions; far from it. It often has a tendency to
conceal itself, and is not rarely found under and exterior of much pleasantness.
There are men, and women, too, who present an appearance of such politeness
that they seem to have no will of their own; they apparently exist merely to do
what is agreeable to others; but just wait till the time comes, and then the latent
will-power is revealed, and we find under this velvet glove the iron hand - and no
mistake about it. It is the secret of the diplomatist. Talleyrand possessed it to a
remarkable degree, and was a cool, bold, successful diplomat; Cavour also
possessed this power and used it wisely. The blusterer and bragger are devoid of
it." It is a subtle, tenuous Power, resting latent beneath the surface and out of
evidence - but when needed it flashes forth like the dynamic electric spark,
driving all before it. It is an elemental force, of irresistible power.
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Latent Powers
The majority of you know by actual experience in everyday life that we have
within our physical organism that which we call "second-wind." We have essayed
some physical task, and after a bit found ourselves "winded," that is short of
breath, and we are tempted to stop and rest our panting bodies. But, we have also
found by experience that if we will stick to the task at hand the feeling of physical
distress will usually pass away, and we will gain what is called our "second-wind."
Now just what this "second-wind" is, is a matter that has long perplexed
physiologists, and even today they have not been able to hand us down a very
good guess at the underlying cause of the phenomenon. It seems to be a fresh
start acquired by reason of the opening up of reserve stores of vital energy –
latent physical power stored away for such emergencies. All persons who have
engaged in athletic sports know very well the details of this peculiar physiological
phenomenon – its actuality is too firmly established to admit any doubt.
And, as is often the case, examination shows a curious parallel between the
working of Nature on the mental plane and on the physical. Just as there is a
physical "second-wind," so is there a mental reserve force or latent energy upon
which we can draw and thus get a fresh start. The phenomena attendant upon
physical "second-wind," as noted above, is almost exactly duplicated by certain
mental phenomena. We may be jaded while performing some tedious bit of
mental work, and we begin to feel that we are "all in," when lo! Some new in –
and away we are off with a full mental "second-wind" doing our work with a
freshness, vigor and enthusiasm far surpassing the original effort. We have
tapped into a fresh source or supply of mental energy.
The majority of us have little or no conception of the reserve mental energies and
forces contained within our being. We jog along at our customary gait, thinking
that we are doing our best and getting all out of life that there is in it – think we
are expressing ourselves to our utmost capacity. But we are living only in the
first-wind mental state, and behind our working mentality are stores of
wonderful mental energy and power – faculties lying dormant – power lying
latent – awaiting the magic command of the Will in order to awaken into activity
and outward expression. We are far greater beings than we have realized – we are
giants of power, if we did but know it. Many of us are like young elephants that
allow themselves to be mastered by weak men, and put through their paces, little
dreaming of the mighty strength and power concealed within their organisms.
Those of you who have read our little manual entitled "The Inner Consciousness"
will recall what we said therein regarding the regions above and below the plane
of the ordinary outer consciousness. And on those hidden planes of the mind, are
untold possibilities – the raw materials for mighty mental tasks and achievement
– the storage batteries of wonderful accomplishment. The trouble with us is that
we do not realize the existence of these faculties. We think that we are merely
what we manifest in our ordinary dogtrot gait. Another problem is that we have
not had the incentive to take action – we have lacked the interest to do great
things – we haven’t wanted to hard enough. This "want-to-hard-enough" is the
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great inciting power in life. Desire is the fire which rouses up the steam of Will.
Without Incentive – and that means Desire – we accomplish nothing. Given the
great, earnest, burning ardent Desire as an animating force – the great incentive
to take action, and we are able to get up this mental "second-wind" – yes, third,
fourth, and fifth winds – tapping one plane of inward power after another, until
we work mental miracles.
We wonder at the achievements of the great men in all walks of life, and we are
apt to excuse ourselves by the sad remark that these people seem to "have it in
them," while we have not. Nonsense, we all have it in us to do things a hundred
times greater than we are doing. The trouble is not in greater than we are doing.
The trouble is not in the lack of power and mental material, but in the Desire and
Interest, and Incentive to arouse into activity those wonderful storehouses of
dynamic power within our mentality – we fail to call into our disposal, and which
is like all other natural powers and forces eager and anxious to be manifested and
expressed. Yes, that’s what we said "anxious and eager," for all natural forces,
penned up and in a static condition seem to be bursting with desire to manifest
and express into outer dynamic activity. This seems to be a law of life and nature.
Nature and all in it seems to be eager for active expression. Have you not been
surprised at yourselves at times, when under some slightly higher pressure and
incentive Something Within you seemed to break its bounds and fairly carry you
off of your feet in its rush into active work? Have you not accomplished tasks
under the s tress of a sudden urgent need, that you would have deemed
impossible in cold-blood. Have you not carried all before you when you "warmedup"
to the task, whereas your ordinary self would have stood around doing
nothing under ordinary circumstances.
Earnestness and Enthusiasm are two great factors in bringing into operation
these latent forces, and dormant powers of the mentality. But one need not stand
by and wait until you work yourself into a fit of fervor before the energies spring
into action. You can by a careful training of the Will – or rather, by a carefully
training of yourself use you Will – manage to get hold of the mental throttle, so
that you may pull it down and turn on a full head of steam whenever necessary.
And when you have once mastered this, you will find that you are not any more
tired when running under full pressure, than when you are crawling along - this
being one of the Secrets of Success.
To many a person, the term "The Will," means merely a firm, steadfastness of
mind, akin to Determination and Fixity of Purpose. To others it means something
like Desire. To others, it means "the power of choice," etc. But to occultists, the
Will is something far more than these things – it means a Vital Power – an Acting
Force of the Mind – capable of dominating and ruling the other mental faculties
as well as projecting itself beyond the mental organs of the individual and
affecting others coming within its field of influence. And it is in this sense that we
use the word "Will" in this lesson.
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We have no desire to take the reader into the dim realms of metaphysics, or even
into the lighter but still arduous paths of scientific psychology, but we must
acquaint him with the fact of the existence of this thing that we call Will Power,
and its relation to the "I." Of all the mental faculties or powers, that of the Will is
the closest to the "I" or Ego of the person. It is the Sword of Power clasped in the
hand of the Ego. One may divorce himself in thought from the other mental
faculties and states, but when he thinks of the "I" he is bound to think of it as
possessing that power which we call Will. The Will is a primal, original power of
the "I" which is always with it until the end. It is the force with which he rules (or
should rule) his mental and physical kingdom – the power of which his