Clairvoyance and Occult Powers, William Walker Atkinson [best book clubs TXT] 📗

so common as is that of ordinary thought vibrations from brain to brain, but it is far more common that is generally supposed. It is particularly marked in cases of men of strong desire and will, and strong creative imagination. These vibrations awakening response in the minds of those in harmony with them, tend to draw to one those other persons whose general character will fit in with the desires and ideas of the first person, or to repel those who are not harmonious therewith. This explains the peculiar phenomenon of strong men in business, politics and other walks of life, drawing and attracting to them other men who will fit in with their general plans and aims.

This law works two ways. Not only do you draw such persons to you as will fit in with your plans and purposes, but you are attracted to them by the same law. Not only this, but you will find that through the peculiar workings of this law even things and circumstances, as well as persons, will seem to be moulded by your strong desires and ideas, providing your psychic vibrations are sufficiently strong and clear. Have you never noticed how a strong, resourceful magnetic man will seem to actually draw to him the persons, things and circumstances that he needs to carry out and manifest his plans and designs. To many, not understanding this great law, these things have seemed positively uncanny and mysterious. But, now-a-days, the big men of business and politics are beginning to understand these psychic laws, and to apply them deliberately and with purpose.

Some of the great leaders in the business world, and in politics, are known to deliberately start into operation strong psychic vibrations, and to send out strong psychic currents of attraction, by the methods that I have already explained to you. They, of course, are filled with a more than ordinary degree of desire and will and, in the second place, they create very strong and clear mental pictures of their plans working out successfully to a finish; then concentrate strongly on the thing; and lo! the effect is felt by all hands and on all sides. They "treat the public" (to use the term favored by some of the metaphysical cults of the day) by holding the mental picture of that which they strongly desire to come to pass, and by concentrating their thought and will strongly upon it.

A favorite mental picture of some of these men (who have been instructed by teachers of occultism), is that of themselves as the centre of a great psychic whirlpool, drawing to themselves the persons, things and circumstances calculated to bring success and realization to them. Others picture their thought-vibrations flowing from them like the rings in a pond into which a stone had been dropped, influencing a constantly widening circle of other persons; then they picture the persons being drawn to them in the manner just mentioned. They persist in this practice day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year—is it any wonder that they draw to themselves that which they desire?

Other persons of lesser caliber take similar advantage of the law in the same way, but on a smaller scale. In every community there are certain persons who seem to draw to themselves the patronage and custom of the community, in some peculiar way. In most cases this may be traced back to some form of psychic influence. I do not mean that these persons consciously and deliberately set these forces into operation. On the contrary, many of them do so more or less unconsciously, and without a knowledge of the underlying psychic principles involved. Such persons have stumbled on a portion of the psychic laws, and have used them more or less unconsciously and without understanding the real reason of the happening. They found out that certain mental states and certain mental pictures tended to produce certain results—that they "worked out"—and so they continued them. Some of these men think of the whole thing as something supernatural, and get to believe that they are being helped by some supernatural power; whereas, they are simply operating under a universal psychic law of cause and effect.

In America a number of teachers and writers have devoted much attention to this phase of the general subject of psychic influence. Cults have been formed upon this general basis, the main idea of their followers being that of attracting financial and other success by means of this phase of psychic force. One of the leading writers along this line, says: "An individual who has cultivated the faculty of concentration, and has acquired the art of creating sharp, clear, strong, mental images, and who when engaged in an undertaking will so charge his mind with the idea of success, will be bound to become an attracting centre. And if such an individual will keep his mental picture ever in his mind, even though it be in the background of his mind, when he is attending to the details and planning of his affairs—if he will give his mental picture a prominent place in his mental gallery, taking a frequent glance at it, and using his will upon it to create new scenes of actual success, he will create for himself a centre of radiating thought that will surely be felt by those coming within its field of influence.

"Such a man frequently 'sees people as coming to him and his enterprises, and as falling in line with his plans. He mentally 'sees' money flowing in to him, and all of his plans working out right. In short, he mentally imagines each step of his plans a little ahead of the time for their execution, and he concentrates forcibly and earnestly upon them. It is astonishing to witness how events, people, circumstances, and things seem to move in place in actual life as if urged by some mighty power to serve to materialize the conditions so imaged in the mind of the man. But, understand, there must be active mental effort behind the imaging. Day dreamers do not materialize thought—they merely dissipate energy. The man who converts thought in activity and material being throws energy into the task, and puts forth his willpower through the pictured image. Without the rays of the will there will be no picture projected, no matter how beautifully the imagination has projected it. Thought pictured in mental images, and then vitalized by the force of the desire, and will, tend to objectify themselves into material being."

The student will be interested in reading and hearing the various theories and explanations given by different writers and teachers to account for the phenomena of psychic influence. Once he has grasped the real scientific principles involved, he will be able to see the same in operation in all of the cases cited by the different teachers and writers, and will find that this fundamental principle fully explains and accounts for all of these cases, no matter how puzzling they may seem, or how mysterious they may be claimed to be by those mentioning them. Truth is very simple when we brush away the fantastic dressings which have been placed around it by those who have lacked knowledge of the true fundamental principles.

We see this same law or principle operating in very many different ways from those previously mentioned. For instance, we frequently find cases in which one person has a strong desire for a certain kind of assistance in his business or other work. He has almost given up hope of finding the right kind of person, for those whom he has tried have failed to measure up the requirements of the situation. If he will (and he sometimes does) follow the general plan just mentioned, he will set into operation the psychic forces which will attract that person to him, and him to that person. In some peculiar way, the two will be thrown together, and the combination will work out to the best advantage of both. In these cases, each person is seeking the other, and the psychic forces of attraction, once set into operation, serve to bring them together.

In like manner, one often draws to himself certain knowledge and information that he requires or is desirous of gaining. But, and you must always remember this, no miracle is worked, for it is simply a matter of the working out of natural laws of cause and effect—attraction and response to attraction—on the psychic or astral plane. Such a person will accidently (!) run across some other person who will be led to give him the key to the knowledge he seeks. Perhaps a book may be mentioned, or some reference to some writer be made. If the hint is followed up, the desired information comes to light. Many persons have had the psychic experience of being led to some book store and induced to examine a particular shelf of books, whereupon a particular book presents itself which changes the whole course of the person's life. Or, perhaps, one will pick up a newspaper apparently at random, and without purpose; and therein will find some information, or at least a hint in the direction where the information may be found. When one accustoms himself to the workings of psychic forces, these things soon become accepted as a matter of course, and cease to arouse wonder or surprise. The workings of the Psychic Law of Attraction is seen to be as natural and invariable as the law of gravitation, or magnetic attraction, once one has mastered its principles, and learned the methods of its application. Surely such a wonderful law is well worth study, attention, investigation, and mastery, isn't it?

A writer along the lines of Mental Science, which is really based on the principles which have been stated in this book, has the following to say regarding his system: "Wonderful results arise by reason of what has been called 'The Law of Attraction,' by the workings of which each person is continually drawing to himself the people, things, objects, and even circumstances in harmony and accord with his prevailing mental states. Like attracts like, and the mental states determine that which one draws to himself. If you are not satisfied with what is coming to you, start to work and change your mental attitudes and mental states, and you will see a change gradually setting in, and then the things that you want will begin to come your way. * * * A most important fact about the effect of mental vibrations upon people lies in the principle that one is more affected by vibrations in harmony with his own accustomed feelings and mental states, than by those of an opposite nature. A man who is full of evil schemes, and selfish aims, is more apt to be caught up by similar vibrations than one who lives above that plane of thought. He is more easily tempted by evil suggestions and influences, than one to whom these things are abhorrent. And the same is true on every plane. A man whose mental attitude is one of confidence and fearlessness, is not apt to be affected by vibrations of a negative, pessimistic, gloomy nature, and vice versa. Therefore, if you wish to receive the vibrations of the thoughts and feelings of others, you must place yourself in a mental attitude corresponding with those vibrations which you wish to receive. And if you wish to avoid vibrations of a certain kind, the best way is to rise above them in your own mind, and to cultivate the mental states opposite them. The positive always overcomes the negative—and optimistic mental states are always positive to pessimistic mental states."

Another writer on, and practitioner of Mental Science, in America, several years ago, explained her theory and practice by means of the term "corelation of thoughts and things." She held that when one thought positively, clearly and forcibly of a thing, he "related" himself