10 *39.内在世界是宇宙中一切供给的源泉,外在世界是喷涌而出的川流。我们接受容纳的能力,取决于我们对这一宇宙源泉的认知,每一个个体都是这种无限能量的出口,而每个人对于其他人而言也都是如此。*40.认知是一种精神过程,而精神行为正是个体与宇宙精神交互作用的体现;由于宇宙精神是一种无处不在的智慧,充斥天地万物,激发一切生命,这种精神的作用和反作用也就是因果关系的法则,但这一法则并非建立在个体之上,而是建立在宇宙精神之中。它并非是客观感受,而是主观进程,它的结果也将体现在一切境遇和经历的无穷变化之中。*41.为了释放生命,必须先有意念;万事因意念而立。一切事物的存在,都是这一基本物质的某种体现,万物由此而被创造出来,并不断被再创造。*42.我们生活在一片深不可测、可形可塑的精神实体的海洋之中。这种精神实体永远是生机勃发的。它极度敏感。它根据不同的精神需求而成形。它通过思想浇铸的模型或构造的母体而得以表达。*43.请记住:这种理念的价值仅仅在于对它的应用。对这一法则的实际领悟,将能使富足取代贫困,令智慧取代无知,变混乱为和谐,化暴政为自由。毫无疑问,站在物质和社会的角度上看,没有这更好的祝福了。*44.现在,让我们把它付诸实践吧:选一间可以独处、不受打扰的房间,坐直,保持身体放松,但不要懒洋洋地靠着。任思绪徜徉到能够达到完美静止的地方,持续一刻钟或半小时;连续做三四天或一个礼拜,直到你获得对身体的完全控制为止。*45.有些人会遇到极大的困难,也有人轻而易举就做到了。但要想取得进步,之前必须获得对身体的完全控制,这绝对是必不可少的。下周你将收到下一步的指导。在此期间,你必须完全掌握本章的内容。11 第二周:成功要靠自己简介潜意识是习惯的策源地。如果我们希望健康、富足、成功,我们就该让潜意识领会到自己的想法,它是我们的理想、抱负和想像的源泉。这种力量是人人具备,但却并非人人能够运用的。我们所遇到的困难,主要源自混乱的观念以及对自身真正兴趣的一无所知。当务之急是要发现自然规律,以便我们调整自己去适应它。因此,清晰的思路和精神上的洞察力具有不可估量的价值。一切过程,甚至包括思维过程,都是建立在坚实的基础上的。你的感觉越敏锐,判断越迅速,品味越高雅,道德感越缜密,才智越精深,志向越高远,现实生活所产生满足感也就越纯粹、越强烈。所以,如果对人类有史以来最优秀的思想进行研习,一定会获得至高的享受。在全新的诠释之下,精神的力量、效用与可能性,比最辉煌的成就、甚或比物质进步的梦想,都更加神奇。思想就是能量。积极的思想便是积极的能量;集中的思想便是集中的能量。集中于某一明确目标的思想将化作力量。这种力量一直被那些既不相信贫穷的美德也不相信自怜之美的人所利用。他们认识到,对贫穷或自怜的赞美,不过是懦夫的空谈。接收并彰显这种力量的能力,取决于认识无限能量的能力,这种能量一直就驻留在人的身上,不断创造、更新着人的身体和心灵,并时刻准备着必要的方式在人身上彰显出来。个体在外在生活中所彰显出来的东西,与他对这一真理的认知成正比。本章将阐述认知这种力量的方法。12 《第二章》*1.心智的运转,是由两种平行的行为模式产生的:一种是显意识,一种是潜意识。戴维森教授说:“那些想要用自己有限的显意识去说明精神行为整个范畴的人,无异于想要用一支蜡烛照亮整个宇宙。”*2.潜意识的逻辑运行是准确有序的,绝无出错的可能。我们的心智是一件精心设计的杰作,它为我们准备了最重要的认知基础,而我们却丝毫不能理解它的运转方式。*3.灵魂的潜意识,就像一位素不相识的慈善家,默默地为我们劳作,满足我们的需求,用成熟的浆果喂养浇灌我们;对思想过程的终极分解表明,潜意识是最重要的精神现象上演的舞台。*4.莎士比亚正是通过潜意识,毫不费力地领悟了最伟大的真理──而这真理就埋藏在一个普通学生的显意识之下;正是通过潜意识,菲迪亚斯创作了大理石和青铜雕塑,拉斐尔画出了圣母像,贝多芬写成了交响乐。*5.我们做事的从容不迫、尽善尽美,完全取决于我们不再依靠自己的显意识;弹钢琴、溜冰、打字、老练的商业行为等种种完美的技巧,统统取决于潜意识过程。一边在钢琴上弹奏华丽的乐意,一边引导一场风趣的谈话──这种奇迹充分体现了潜意识的神奇功效。*6.我们都清楚自己对潜意识的依赖。我们内心的思想越是伟大、高贵、卓越,我们就越明确地认识到,其源头就潜藏在我们的视野之外。我们发现,造物主赋予我们在艺术、音乐等方面的技巧、本能和美感,其源头或居所,全部在我们的潜意识之中。*7.潜意识的价值是无限丰富的;它激励着我们,警示着我们;它从记忆的储藏室中为我们提取姓名、场景和事件。它引导我们的思想、品味,帮助我们完成复杂的任务,任何显意识都没有能力做到这些。*8.我们可以随意徜徉;可以振臂欢呼;我们可以随心所欲地用眼睛去看,用耳朵去听。然而,我们不能停止自己的心脏跳动,阻止自己的血液循环,也无法压制躯体的生长,或是阻挠神经和肌肉组织的形成、骨骼的发育,以及其他种种生理机能。*9.如果我们比较这两组行为,一种是听从当前的意愿发号施令,另一种则宏伟庄严、有条不紊、毫不动摇、持续不变地进行;那么,我们便会对后者肃然起敬,并设法去解释其中的奥秘。我们立刻就会认识到,这些正是我们肉体生命的过程,我们无法回避这样的结论,即,这些至关重要的功能从它被创造以来就不受我们外在意愿的管制,不被各样的纷扰波动所影响,它自始至终被置于我们永恒而可靠的内在力量的管理之下。13 *10.在这两种力量当中,外在的可变能量被称作“显意识”,或是“客观意识”(针对以外在客体的意识)。内在的能量被称作“潜意识”,或是“主观意识”。后者能在精神层面发挥作用,并保障肉体生命功能的有序进行。*11.我们很有必要细察它们在精神层面上各自的功能,以及各自运行的基本准则。其中,显意识通过五种感官对生命外在的客体及其印象产生作用。*12.显意识具有鉴别识察的功能,同时负有选择的责任。它有推理的能力──包括归纳、推论、分析、演绎等等,这种能力可以得到很高的开发程度。它是意志以及由意志释放出的所有能量的策源地。*13.显意识不仅能够对其他的精神活动施加影响,也能够引导潜意识的活动。从这一方面来讲,显意识是潜意识的统治者和监护人,它对潜意识负责。正是这一高级功能,使它可以彻底扭转你的生活境况。*14.情况常常是这样的:由于潜意识不曾设防,因着接受了错误暗示的缘故,恐惧、焦虑、贫乏、疾患、冲突等各种阴云就会笼罩在我们上空。对这些,训练有素的显意识可以用警觉的保护行为把它们拒之门外。由此,显意识可以被称作潜意识重要领地的“门卫”。*15.一位作家曾这样描述这两种心智状态的主要区别:“显意识是推理的意志。潜意识是本能的欲望,是过去的推理意志的结果。”*16.潜意识从外界提供的前提中演绎出正确的推理。前提正确,潜意识便能得出准确无误的结论;反之,如果前提或暗示是错的,整个结构便会坍塌。潜意识不参与证明的过程。要防范错误信息的侵入,要仰赖它的“门卫”──显意识。*17.潜意识把接收到的所有暗示都看成是正确的,接着,它立刻就在此基础上进行处理,开始它浩大的工程。显意识提供的暗示,既可以是正确的,也可能是错误的。如果是后者,整个生命就要付出面临巨大危险的代价。*18.显意识有责任时刻警醒。当“门卫”擅自“离岗”,或者是误判,当显意识在纷繁复杂的环境下失去了冷静的判断力,那么,潜意识领域将成为无人之境,各种暗示都会乘虚而入。在惊慌失措的疯狂刺激中,在怒发冲冠时,在不负责任的乌合之众的怂恿之下,或者其他任何激情澎湃的时候,情况就非常危险了。此时,潜意识就向恐惧、憎恨、自私、贪婪、妄自菲薄等等来自外部环境或周围人们的负面力量敞开大门。结果通常是极其不健康的,会给人带来长时间的悲伤压抑。因此,保护潜意识领域不受错误印象的侵害至关重要。*19.潜意识通过直觉来感知。因此,其过程稍纵即逝。它不等待显意识的缓慢推理,事实上,它根本用不上这些推理。*20.潜意识从不打盹,也不休息,如同你我的心脏或血液一般。现已发现,只要对潜意识简单陈述需要完成的具体事项,实现所要求结果的力量就开始运转。这就是把我们与伟大的自然力量联系起来的能量之源。最值得我们潜心研究的深层14 原则,就在其中。*21.这一法则的运作十分有趣。那些将它付诸实施的人总是发现:当他们约见某人,并预想这将是一次困难的面谈时,某件发生在他们前面的事情会消融假想中的分歧,结果,一切都改变了,变得和谐融洽了。当面对商业上出现的困难时,他们发现自己可以驾驭局面,顺利推延时日,继而找出合适的解决方案。总之,一切都被料理妥当了。事实上,那些学会信任潜意识的人,都能找到可以由自己支配的无穷资源。*22.潜意识是我们内心准则和志向抱负的策源地。它是我们的审美趣味和利他理想的源泉。如果内在准则被一点一滴的逐步破坏,美感和利他的本能就会被颠覆。*23.潜意识不会争辩驳难。因此,如果它接受了错误的暗示,克服这些暗示的稳妥办法,就是利用强大的相反的暗示,不断重复,迫使潜意识接受,最终形成新的、健康的思维习惯的生活习惯,因为潜意识正是习惯的策源地。我们反反覆覆做某件事,就使之成为机械性的活动。它不再需要靠判断力行动,而是形成了潜意识固有的模式。如果是健康、正确的习惯,那对我们就是有利的。如果是错误、有害的习惯,治疗的良法便是认识潜意识的无限能量,并提醒它眼下的自由。具有创造性的潜意识,与我们内在的力量源泉相结合,立刻就会创造出我们暗示给它的那种自由。*24.小结:潜意识的正常功能从物质的层面讲,就是维护生命的常规运转,保存生命、恢复健康、照料后代,包括希望保存一切生命、提高整体环境的内在本能。*25.从精神的层面讲,潜意识是记忆的仓库;它是港湾,庇护着伟大奇妙的思想旅客,让他们的劳作不受时间和空间的限制;它是生命中实践主动性和建设性力量的源泉,它是习惯的策源地。*26.从心灵的层面讲,潜意识是理想、抱负和想像的源泉,是认识我们伟大本源的渠道,我们对这一伟大本源的认知,决定了我们对内在力量源泉的理解。*27.有些人可能会这样问:“潜意识如何改变环境呢?”答案是这样的:由于潜意识是宇宙精神的一部分,而部分和整体一定有共通之处,差别只是在量上。我们知道,整体的宇宙精神,是具有创造性的,而思想是心智惟一的活动方式,因此,思想必定也是具有创造力的。*28.但我们将会发现,简单思维,和有意识的、系统的、建设性的引导思维之间,有着巨大的差异。当我们如此引导我们的思维时,我们就和宇宙精神和谐统一了,我们就与“无限”步调一致了,我们就可以运用最强大的现有力量──宇宙精神的创造力。这与其他事物一样,是受自然法则支配的,这个法则可以叫做“吸引力法则”。这一法则是:精神是具有创造力的,它会自动与其客体相关联,并在客体中彰显出来。*29.上周我给你布置了一个练习,旨在获得对身体的控制。如果你已经实现了这15 个目标,你就可以准备进行下一步了。这一回你要开始控制自己的思想。如果可能的话,最好是在同一间居室、同一把椅子、同一个位置上进行。有时候总在一间居室可能不很方便,如果是这样的话,那就看情形而定,只要最好地利用可以利用的条件就行。现在,像前一次那样进入完美的寂静状态,你要约束一切思想,这将有助于你控制一切担忧、恐惧和焦虑的念头,使你学会仅仅保留那些你希望抱有的想法。持续训练,直到你完全掌握为止。*30.你做这个练习,可能每次都坚持不了很长时间。但这个练习是很有价值的,因为它能够切实有效地证明,有多少意念中的不速之客随时准备闯入你的精神世界。*31.在下周的新课中,你会接触到一个更有意思的训练,但在此之前,掌握本课的训练是必不可少的。因和果在思想的领域如同在肉眼所能见的物质世界中一样,关系稳定,绝不偏移。精神是一位高明的织女,同时纺织出内在性格和外部环境的衣袍。詹姆斯.艾伦16 第三周:态度决定一切简介我们头脑对待生活的态度,决定着我们的生活境遇。如果我们一无所望,我们就将一无所有;如果我们冀望颇多,我们将得到更多。只有当我们不敢坚持自己的权利的时候,世界才会变得苛刻。你已经知道人是能作用于宇宙的,这种作用和反作用的结果就是因与果的关系。所以,思想就是因,而你在生活中所遭遇的一切经历,都是果。既然这样,就不要再为过去或现今的一切境遇有丝毫的抱怨了吧,因为一切取决于你自己,取决于你能不能把环境塑造成你所希望的样子。努力开发精神能源吧,让它们在现实中实,它们会听命于你,一切真实的、长久的能力,都由此而来。坚持这一尝试,直到你看到这样的事实──只要你了解了你的潜能,坚定不移地朝着目标努力,你在生命的旅途中任何的努力都不会失败,因为精神力量随时随地都准备向坚定的意愿伸出援手,帮助你把想法和渴望变为明确的行动、事件和条件。刚一开始,生命中的一切功能及行动,还只是显意识的结果。但习惯渐成自然,那些起支配作用的念头渐渐浸入了潜意识的领域,然而它们仍然是充满智慧的。我们需要把它们变成自发的意识,或者说潜意识,这样就可以把我们的自我意识解放出来,关注其他。在新一轮的回合中,这些新的行动又渐渐变成了自然的习惯,继而成为潜意识,这样,我们的心智就可以再度从这一细节中解放出来,进一步投入到其他的行动中。当你实现了这些,你就找到了力量的源泉,它将使你能够得心应手地应对生活中产生的各种境遇。17 《第三章》*1.显意识和潜意识的必要互动在神经系统中也有相应的反应。特罗沃德法官司指出了影响这种交互作用的良方。他说:大脑──脊椎系统是显意识发生的器官,交感神经系统是潜意识发生的器官。大脑──脊椎系统是我们通过感官接收意识传输的渠道,并控制着全身的动作。大脑──脊椎系统的中枢在脑部。*2.交感神经系统也有一个中枢,它是一个神经节丛,在胃的后部,名叫太阳神经丛,是精神行为的渠道,而正是这种精神行为,在潜意识中支撑着身体的生命机能。*3.上述两种系统之间的连接,是通过“迷走神经”建立起来的,迷走神经从脑部延伸出来,作为大脑──脊椎系统的一部分,延伸到胸腔,其分支分布在心脏和肺部,最终穿过横膈膜,脱去表层组织,与交感神经交结起来,这就构成了两个系统的联结,使人成为一个物质上的“单一实体”。*4.我们知道,每一种想法都是通过大脑接收的,大脑是显意识的器官;它听命于我们的推理能力。当客观想法被认为是正确的,就会被传递到太阳丛,或是主观意识当中,成为我们生命的一部分,然后再作为事实传递给外界。当到达主观意识之后,这些想法就对推理论辩产生了免疫力,不再受其影响。所以,潜意识不能进行推理,它只是执行。它会把客观想法的结论全盘接受。*5.太阳丛被比作身体的太阳,因为它是分发能量的中枢机构,负责把全身不断产生的能量传递出去。这种能量是非常真实的能量,这颗太阳也是非常真实的太阳。它所传出的能量被真实的神经运送到身体的各个部位,并在环绕身体的大气中散播开来。he could now see forty times as well as she had ever been ableto see before.A new and exciting world of loveliness opened before her. She now found it thrillingeven to wash dishes in the kitchen sink. "I begin to play with the white fluffy suds in thedish-pan," she writes. "I dip my hands into them and I pick up a ball of tiny soapbubbles. I hold them up against the light, and in each of them I can see the brilliantcolours of a miniature rainbow."As she looked through the window above the kitchen sink, she saw "the flapping greyblackwings of the sparrows flying through the thick, falling snow."She found such ecstasy looking at the soap bubbles and sparrows that she closed herbook with these words: " 'Dear Lord,' I whisper, 'Our Father in Heaven, I thank Thee. Ithank Thee.' "Imagine thanking God because you can wash dishes and see rainbows in bubbles andsparrows flying through the snow 1You and I ought to be ashamed of ourselves. All the days of our years we have beenliving in a fairyland of beauty, but we have been too blind to see, too satiated to enjoy.If we want to stop worrying and start living. Rule 4 is:Count your blessings-not your troubles!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 16 -Find Yourself And Be Yourself: Remember There Is No One Else on EarthLike YouI have a letter from Mrs. Edith Allred, of Mount Airy, North Carolina: "As a child, I wasextremely sensitive and shy," she says in her letter. "I was always overweight and mycheeks made me look even fatter than I was. I had an old-fashioned mother who thoughtit was foolish to make clothes look pretty. She always said: 'Wide will wear while narrowwill tear'; and she dressed me accordingly. I never went to parties; never had any fun;and when I went to school, I never joined the other children in outside activities, noteven athletics. I was morbidly shy. I felt I was 'different' from everybody else, andentirely undesirable."When I grew up, I married a man who was several years my senior. But I didn't change.My in-laws were a poised and self-confident family. They were everything I should havebeen but simply was not. I tried my best to be like them, but I couldn't. Every attemptthey made to draw me out of myself only drove me further into my shell. I becamenervous and irritable. I avoided all friends. I got so bad I even dreaded the sound of thedoorbell ringing! I was a failure. I knew it; and I was afraid my husband would find itout. So, whenever we were in public, I tried to be gay, and overacted my part. I knew Ioveracted; and I would be miserable for days afterwards. At last I became so unhappythat I could see no point in prolonging my existence. I began to think of suicide."What happened to change this unhappy woman's life? Just a chance remark!"A chance remark," Mrs. Allred continued, "transformed my whole life. My mother-in-lawwas talking one day of how she brought her children up, and she said: 'No matter whathappened, I always insisted on their being themselves.' ... 'On being themselves.' ...That remark is what did it! In a flash, I realised I had brought all this misery on myselfby trying to fit myself into a pattern to which I did not conform."I changed overnight! I started being myself. I tried to make a study of my ownpersonality. Tried to find out what I was. I studied my strong points. I learned all I couldabout colours and styles, and dressed in a way that I felt was becoming to me. I reachedout to make friends. I joined an organisation-a small one at first-and was petrified withfright when they put me on a programme. But each time I spoke, I gained a littlecourage. It took a long while-but today I have more happiness than I ever dreamedpossible. In rearing my own children, I have always taught them the lesson I had to learnfrom such bitter experience: No matter what happens, always be yourself!"This problem of being willing to be yourself is "as old as history," says Dr. James GordonGilkey, "and as universal as human life." This problem of being unwilling to be yourself isthe hidden spring behind many neuroses and psychoses and complexes. Angelo Patri haswritten thirteen books and thousands of syndicated newspaper articles on the subject ofchild training, and he says: "Nobody is so miserable as he who longs to be somebody andsomething other than the person he is in body and mind."This craving to be something you are not is especially rampant in Hollywood. Sam Wood,one of Hollywood's best-known directors, says the greatest headache he has withaspiring young actors is exactly this problem: to make them be themselves. They allwant to be second-rate Lana Turners, or third-rate Clark Gables. "The public has alreadyhad that flavour," Sam Wood keeps telling them; "now it wants something else."Before he started directing such pictures as Good-bye, Mr. Chips and For Whom the BellTolls, Sam Wood spent years in the real-estate business, developing sales personalities.He declares that the same principles apply in the business world as in the world ofmoving pictures. You won't get anywhere playing the ape. You can't be a parrot."Experience has taught me," says Sam Wood, "that it is safest to drop, as quickly aspossible, people who pretend to be what they aren't."I recently asked Paul Boynton, employment director for the Socony-Vacuum OilCompany, what is the biggest mistake people make in applying for jobs. He ought toknow: he has interviewed more than sixty thousand job seekers; and he has written abook entitled 6 Ways to Get a Job. He replied: "The biggest mistake people make inapplying for jobs is in not being themselves. Instead of taking their hair down and beingcompletely frank, they often try to give you the answers they think you want." But itdoesn't work, because nobody wants a phony. Nobody ever wants a counterfeit coin.A certain daughter of a street-car conductor had to learn that lesson the hard way. Shelonged to be a singer. But her face was her misfortune. She had a large mouth andprotruding buck teeth. When she first sang in public-in a New Jersey night-club-she triedto pull down her upper Up to cover her teeth. She tried to act "glamorous". The result?She made herself ridiculous. She was headed for failure.However, there was a man in this night-club who heard the girl sing and thought she hadtalent. "See here," he said bluntly, "I've been watching your performance and I knowwhat it is you're trying to hide. You're ashamed of your teeth." The girl wasembarrassed, but the man continued: "What of it? Is there any particular crime in havingbuck teeth? Don't try to hide them! Open your mouth, and the audience will love youwhen they see you're not ashamed. Besides," he said shrewdly, "those teeth you're tryingto hide may make your fortune!"Cass Daley took his advice and forgot about her teeth. From that time on, she thoughtonly about her audience. She opened her mouth wide and sang with such gusto andenjoyment that she became a top star in movies and radio. Other comedians are nowtrying to copy her!