Last week, John Michael Greer wrote a lovely little introductory post on affirmations, where he lays out seven basic rules for constructing affirmations.  I already picked up a few here and there - usually in the answers of Magic Mondays - enough to realize William Walker Atkinson was not a good source for affirmations.  There is a particularly bad example in The Master Mind, but I can't put my finger on at present.  I do recall the first two sentences (and right there is a problem in that it is too long for easy memorization): "Don't be such a weakling!  You are stronger than that."

Ouch.  That is the one that stuck out like a broken thumb on the first read-through, and as far as bad examples go, that's a real winner of a loser.  It starts out in the negative, which the subconscious does not process, then go into the swamp of relatives.  Stronger than what, exactly?  You should be trying to pip the bulls-eye with a sniper rifle, not a sawed-off shotgun.

So with just the first part of one affirmation, we illustrate two major blunders.

Typing up the two authors' names, makes me wonder if I should adopt a third name myself.  You know, sort of as a pseudonym to tag onto my given and family names.  This also brings up the question: three names, or three parts of a name?

 I've been taking a look at some of William Walker Atkinson's early work, in particular prefaces and introductions, and found some interesting notes from the start of his writing career.  In the preface to his very first book, Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life, he writes:



So he was very aware he was not going to win any awards for elegant prose.  He carries this theme into the preface of his 1902 book, Nuggets of the New Thought, and writes:


In this one, he challenges critics to "polish them up yourself if you prefer them in that shape."  I've only looked in these two plus The Law of the New Thought (his first three books) from his early writings, but find it interesting that in two out of the three he felt a need to mention his writing style.  This kind of acknowledgement is absent from his later titles.  Perhaps by that time he decided his writing style was a known quantity, since he was also writing articles for Sydney Flower's magazine New Thought.  (N.B.-From what I've found so far, that Sydney Flower was quite the character.  He also copyrighted Atkinson's earliest books in both his name and his publishing house's name.  Oh, and the Post Office revoked his mailing privileges more than once for mail fraud.)

 I just finished up the last chapter of The Master Mind, and emailed it off to Temporary Reality.  If anyone else would like the files, drop me a line here or at my email (this username at g-male).

I may need a new printer cartridge, but most of it is printed out (What?  I can't even get a full book out of a printer cartridge these days?!?)  I have a red pen for the first pass-through, because Atkinson - whether writing under his own name or a pseudonym - definitely needed someone to edit his manuscripts for typos, misspellings, and grammar.  Then the real work begins: figuring out what needed to be cut out, where things need to be filled in, and what should stay.

 I have several tarot decks, and more on my wishlist at Amazon, but for a straightforward answer to a more practical question, my Hanson-Roberts deck is the one I'll use.  I used it Thursday afternoon, approximately 4:30ish, asking the question: "Is this project a good idea?"  Here is the deck's answer, using a ten-card cross-and-column spread:
1: The Star (XVII)
2: 8 of Swords, Reversed
3: King of Rods, Reversed
4: 2 of Swords
5: 10 of Rods
6: Knight of Pentacles
7: The Hierophant (V)
8: Queen of Rods, Reversed
9: Ace of Cups
10: King of Cups

My interpretation is: "The creativity is HERE.  It won't be all smooth sailing, but keep at it because it will be worth it.  (Now get to work!)"

 I called it a minor irritation, but it's turned out to be not so minor after all.  In fact, it's bugging the **** out of me now.  Atkinson really should have put a note in the introduction that it would be beneficial to go through his book The Master Mind prior to starting The Power of Concentration.  It really does break the concentration knowing (but not until the second lesson!) that the book has a prereq.

So, I am detouring already, and have started formatting The Master Mind.  Anyone who wants a copy of the Wordpad *.rtf files, just drop me an email: this username at ye olde gmaile.  I've done the first two chapters today.

 Since I seem to forget when I have a question for JMG's Magic Monday, I think I'll post up a note to myself here.  So, for this upcoming MM I want to ask about epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) and what modern magical uses it has, and also if he's found anything new since ENM went to print.

 Just to let folks know, I have finished formatting Dynamic Thought.  I'f anyone wants copies of these, broken down into chapters with a foreword, in Wordpad *.rtf document (which ought to be read by Word and Word clones) then email me - this username at gmail.  Yeah, I am a simple creature at times.

 Just a heads-up that Librivox finished up Dynamic Thought, making it the 8th completed audiobook for William Walker Atkinson.  It had been languishing in limbo when the original person who was doing it just stopped, so recently it was finished up by a group effort.  You can listen and download it here.

 I think I am beginning to get the hang of how subtitles of books in this era are phrased.  Like Patanjali, Swami Vivekananda offers some very basic absolute-beginner level advice on meditation.
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How hard it is to control the mind. Well has it been compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough someone made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion he jumps about for a whole day, so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey; incessantly active by its own nature, then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy of others whose desires meet with fulfilment, and last of all the demon of pride takes possession of the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind.

The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run on. The mind is bubbling up all the time. It is like that monkey jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait and watch. Knowledge is power says the proverb, and that is true. Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it. Give it the full length of the reins; many most hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts. But you will find that each day the mind’s vagaries are becoming less and less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer. In the first few months you will find that the mind will have a thousand thoughts, later you will find that it is toned down to perhaps seven hundred, and after a few more months it will have fewer and fewer, until at last it will be under perfect control, but we must patiently practise every day. As soon as the steam is turned on the engine must run, and as soon as things are before us we must perceive; so a man, to prove that he is not a machine, must demonstrate that he is under the control of nothing. This controlling of the mind, and not allowing it to join itself to the centres, is Pratyâhâra. How is this practised? It is a long work, not to be done in a day. Only after a patient, continuous struggle for years can we succeed.

 I'll be referring back to this later when I get into William Walker Atkinson's A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga again.  This is from chapter two, "The First Steps," in Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga:
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A god and a demon went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with him for a long time, and at last the sage told them, “Thou thyself art the being thou art seeking.” Both of them thought that their bodies were the Self. “We have got everything,” they said, and both of them returned to their people and said, “We have learned everything that is to be learned; eat, drink, and be merry;  we are the Self; there is nothing beyond us.” The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded, so he never inquired any further, but was perfectly satisfied with the idea that he was God, that by the Self was meant the body. But the god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking, “I, this body, am Brahman, so keep it strong and in health, and well‑dressed, and give it all sorts of bodily enjoyments.” But, in a few days, he found out that this could not be the meaning of the sage, their master; there must be something higher. So he came back and said, “Sir, did you teach me that this body is the Self? If so, I see all bodies die; the Self cannot die.” The sage said, “Find it out; thou art That.” Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were what the sage meant. But, after a time, he found that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and said, “Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self?” The sage said, “Find out for yourself; thou art That.” The god returned once more, and thought that it was the mind; perhaps that is the Self. But in a few days he reflected that thoughts are so various; now good, now bad; the mind is too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the sage and said, “Sir, I do not think that the mind is the Self; did you mean that?” “No,” replied the sage, “thou art That; find out for yourself.” The god went back, and, at last, found that he was the Self, beyond all thought; One, without birth or death, whom the sword cannot pierce, or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry, or the water melt, the beginningless and birthless, the immovable, the intangible, the omniscient, the omnipotent Being, and that it was neither the body nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied, but the poor demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for the body.
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I'll be posting a couple more stories, each individual.