How The Mind Works
	The Greatest Mind Of All <  Previous Contents Next  >

In order that we may rise in the scale of life the mind must fix attention upon the ideal. And the ideal may be defined as that possible something that is above and beyond present realization. To become more and accomplish more we must transcend the lesser and enter the greater. But there can be no transcending action unless there is a higher goal toward which all the elements within us are moving; and there can be no higher goal unless there is a clear discernment of the ideal.

The more distinctly the mind discerns the ideal, and the more frequently the ideal is brought directly before the actions of attention the more will the mind think of the ideal; and the mind invariably moves towards that which we think of the most. The man with no ideals will think constantly of that which is beneath the ideal, or rather that which is the opposite of the ideal; that is, he will think the most of that which is low, inferior and unworthy. In consequence he will drift more and more into the life of nothingness, emptiness, inferiority and want. He will steadily go down into the lesser until he wants for everything, both on the mental and physical planes.

The man, however, who has high ideals will think the most of the greater things in life, and accordingly will advance perpetually into the possession of everything that has greatness, superiority and high worth. The wise men of the past declared that the nation with no visions would perish. And the cause of this fact is simple. When we are not going up we are going down. To live is to be in action and there is no standstill in action. To continue to go down is to finally perish. Therefore to prevent such an end we must continue to go up. But we cannot continue to go up towards the higher unless we have constant visions of the higher. We cannot move mentally or physically towards that which we do not see. Nor can we desire that of which we have never been conscious.

In like manner the individual who has no ideals and no visions of greater things will continue to go down until his life becomes mere emptiness. Thus everything in his nature that has worth will perish, and finally he will have nothing to live for. When he discovers himself he will find that there are but two courses to pursue: To continue to live in the vale of tears he has made for himself; or to ascend towards the heights of emancipation, those heights which can be reached only by following the lofty vision.

It is the visions of greater things that arouse the mind to greater action. It is higher ideals that inspire man to create more nobly in the real, and it is the touch of things sublime that awakens in human nature that beautiful something that makes life truly worth living. Without ideals no person will ever attain greatness, neither will there be any improvement in the world. But every person who has ideals, and who lives to realize his ideals, will positively attain greatness, and will positively improve everything, both in his life and in his environment.

It must be clearly evident to all minds who understand the true functions of the ideal that the life of man will be worthless unless inspired by the ideal, and also that everything that is worthwhile in human existence comes directly from man's effort to rise towards the ideal. Such men, therefore, who are constantly placing high ideals before the world in a manner that will attract the attention of the world -it is such men who invariably have the greatest mind of all.

The majority have not the power to discern the ideal clearly without having their attention aroused by the vivid description of some lucid mind that already does see the ideal. But when their attention is aroused and the ideal is made clear to their minds, they will begin at once to rise in the scale. That individual, therefore, who is constantly placing high ideals before the minds of the many is causing the many to rise towards the more worthy and the more beautiful in life. In consequence he is not only doing great things himself, but he is causing thousands of others to do great things. He is not only awakening the superior powers in his own nature, but he is also awakening those powers in the natures of vast multitudes. His mind, therefore, is doing work that is great indeed.

However, to place ideals before the minds of others, it is not necessary to make that particular purpose a profession, nor is it sufficient to reveal idealism in the mere form of written or spoken words. Actions speak louder than words and the man who does things exercises a far greater power for good than the man who simply says things. The ideal can be made a vital and a ruling element in every vocation. And all men and women can reveal the ideal through their work without giving voice to a single word concerning any particular system of idealism.

But it is not necessary to be silent concerning those sublime visions that daily appear before the mind, although it is well to remember that we always secure the best results when we do a great deal more than we say. The man who makes his work an inspiration to greater things will invariably do greater and greater work and he will also cause thousands of others to do greater work. He will make his own ideals practical and tangible, and will make the ideal intelligible to the majority. For though it is true that great words inspire the few, it requires great deeds to inspire the many.

The man who makes his own life worthwhile will cause thousands of others to make their lives worthwhile. In consequence the value and happiness that he will add to the sum total of human existence cannot possibly be measured. He is placing great and living ideals before the world and must therefore be counted among those who possess the greatest mind in the world.

The man who performs a great work has achieved greatness, but his work is the work of one man only. That man, however, who places high ideals before the minds of the many, thereby awakening the greatness that is latent within the many, causes a greater work to be performed by each one of the many; thus he gives origin to a thousand great deeds, where the former gives origin to a few only. That he is greater in exact proportion is therefore a fact that cannot be disputed. For this reason we must conclude that the greatest mind of all is invariably that mind that can inspire the greatest number to live, think and work for the vision.

To awaken the greatness that is latent in man is to awaken the cause of everything that has real worth in the world. Such work, therefore, is the greatest of all great work and it is a work that lies within the power of everybody. For we all can awaken the greatness that is latent in other minds by placing high ideals before those minds.

The great soul lives in the world of superior visions and aims to make those visions real by training all the powers of mind and personality to move towards those visions. And here it is highly important to realize that when the powers of mind and personality steadily move towards the ideal they will create the ideal more and more in the present, thereby making the ideal real in the present.

To live where there is neither improvement nor advancement is to live a life that is utterly worthless. But improvement and advancement are not possible without ideals. We must have visions of the better before we can make things better. And before we can make things better we must discern the greater before we can rise out of the lesser.

To advance is to move towards something that is beyond the present; but there can be no advancement until that something is discerned. And as everything that is beyond the present is ideal, the mind must necessarily have idealism before any advancement can possibly take place.

Everything that is added to the value of life has been produced because someone had ideals; because someone revealed those ideals; and because someone tried to make those ideals real. It is therefore evident that when lofty ideals are constantly placed before the mind of the whole world we may add immeasurably to the value of life, and in every manner conceivable.

The same law through which we may increase that which is desired in life we may apply for the elimination of that which is not desired. And to remove what is not desired the secret is to press on towards the ideal. The ideal contains what is desired, and to enter that which is desired is to rise out of that which is not desired. Through the application of this law we eliminate the usual method of resistance, which is highly important, because when we antagonize the wrong or that which is not desired we give life to the wrong, thereby adding to its power. For the fact is we always give power to that which we resist or antagonize. In consequence we will, through such a method, either perpetuate the wrong or remove one wrong by placing another in its place.

However, no wrong was ever righted in the world until the race ignored that wrong and began to rise into the corresponding right. And to enter into this rising attitude is to become an idealist. It is the idealist who reforms the world. And the greatest reformer is invariably that man whose conception of the ideal is so clear that his entire mind is illumined by a brilliant light of superior worlds. His thought, his life, his word, his action in brief, everything connected with his existence, gives the same vivid description of the ideal made real. And every person with whom he may come in contact will be inspired to live on those same superior heights of sublime existence.