06 Nov A New Thought Philosophy of Life | Spirituality Podcasts
Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today’s podcast by announcing the publication of our new book “Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons.” This beautiful hardcover book includes essays from 50 of our most popular podcasts, delivering timeless wisdom on how we can live our best, most joyful life. It also makes for a truly wonderful Christmas gift, for adults both young and old.
You can purchase this heirloom-quality hardcover book for the special sale price of $19.99 until November 6th. To learn more, please visit the website InspirationalLifeLessons.com. Once again, that’s InspirationalLifeLessons.com.
Now, let’s move on to today’s reading, which has been edited and adapted from the book “Message of New Thought” by Abel Allen, published in 1914.
THE philosophy of New Thought offers a key to the essential life—the life worthwhile. New Thought is a philosophy of life. It leads us out of the labyrinths of weakness, doubt, and darkness into the sunlight of hope, strength, and courage.
The art of living is the art of thinking, for life has no values except as thought molds them — except as thought creates ideals for the individual to shape and pattern their life after. How we shall live is the most important question for humanity’s thought and consideration. It is paramount because during our lives we mold our character, either good or bad, which is the only asset we carry away at its close.
Life is not built to any fixed plan. One ideal will not suffice for all lives. Individuals cannot follow the same guide, because all persons differ and the orbits of their respective lives cannot be the same. Each person is endowed with some distinct and superior quality. The real purpose of your life should be to develop that gift and bring it into activity and expression.
We must, therefore, begin with the proposition that life is an individual function, a problem for each person to work out in the manner best suited to their own individuality. Your life must be shaped by your own ideal. It must follow your own line of cleavage.
We often ask ourselves, “What is the ultimate purpose of life?” Of course, millions of religious people would say that the real object of life is to observe certain formulas and requirements that will secure one a safe place in the next world when death ensues. But this does not answer the question or satisfy the inquiring mind.
Every person has one supreme ideal. Every person is turning their thought toward the future, with the hope of reaching one great result. What is this inward longing, what is all this striving, the labors of life, what is the goal of all our efforts, but happiness?
Ultimate happiness is the motive power of life. However, no two persons will agree on what constitutes ultimate happiness. Therefore no common ideal can be set up and established, by which to reach that desired state.
One person may think wealth to be the direct means of producing happiness, another travel, another work, another duty and service. We all map out and travel different roads to arrive at the one desired result. The essential fact is not what we may think will produce happiness (for the greater part of our thinking along these lines is defective and illusory), but the important thought for consideration is what, in fact, will lead us to the coveted goal.
Our lives and energies are largely wasted in an endeavor to follow our ideals of happiness. We spend the larger portion of life in discovering and laying aside cherished illusions and discarded ideals. Our greatest illusions, the ones that most monopolize our thought and energies, are those we treasure of happiness. They fade away and vanish as we travel along the highways of life.
After all, we gain much wisdom from Nature. If we have eyes to see, or ears to hear, Nature will furnish guides that will pilot us safely toward the essential life, which in its last analysis and ultimate meaning is a life of happiness.
READ THE ENTIRE ESSAY IN EVEREST: 50 MOTIVATIONAL LIFE LESSONS