o
make the deduction that if God, the omnipotent, original,
all-dominating dynamo, gave the flesh of bird, beast and fish, and the
fruits and vegetables of the earth for mankind to feed upon, it is a
little ridiculous for one sect to eliminate as food all but the
special part of these aliments of which it approves. Thus, common
sense being affronted, all the rest of the teaching is likely to fall
upon stony ground and only be received by the faddists in tune to this
particular argument. No theory for the betterment of mankind will
succeed now with the mass of people or make any lasting mark upon time
unless its basic principle can stand practical dissection.

So that upon this subject of the power of thought, all that any one at
the present stage can do, no matter what his own personal beliefs may
be, is to try and awaken people to think about it themselves and make
their own investigations; to open a window for any soul to look
through and see what he can get from it for himself. Because, as yet,
the scientists and psychologists have not been sufficiently interested
in the idea to endeavour to prove and demonstrate it as an exact
science beyond all controversy. When this has been done, the
intelligent will credit it because they are convinced, and the
ignorant because they follow the others without reason.

All I hope to do by writing this article is to point out that the
power of thought is a vital factor in our lives, and can really affect
every hour of them for good or ill.

Thousands of people who read the new ethical or religious books which
are abroad, and even exploit their propaganda--thousands who attend
the various meetings and services and lectures of the different
societies, be they "New Thought" or any of the others on more or less
the same lines--never dream of applying the teachings to a single
ordinary thing, and still go on with their tempers and melancholy and
flurry and fuss, just as they did before they ever heard of the idea
that they can control and eliminate these things. An enormous majority
of the public are frightened at the very name of a new religion or
ethical teaching, and think it wrong even to investigate what it
teaches. But the broad-minded are unafraid of any knowledge, and can
gain good by knowing about all developments of human thought, provided
they approach each point with common sense and without hysteria,
dismissing the idea of what we are accustomed to call the
supernatural