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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Update at the bottom
For me this was the perfect way to end the year! In 2014 I have read a lot of books about neuroscience, subliminals and motivation and this small volume, which was written already in 1903, summarizes what I have discovered too:
The outside world is created by what you think in your heart.
It's impossible to "teach" such findings and James Allen does the only reasonable thing. He finds crystal clear words and challenges the reader to think about them. Accepting them will give you the power to grow and to use the huge potential of life.
I agree with others reviewers who pointed out that it's hard to accept such a message when you think about the Nazi concentration camps or Rwanda. On the other hand there is Viktor Frankl's [b:Man's Search for Meaning|4069|Man's Search for Meaning|Viktor E. Frankl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1535419394l/4069._SY75_.jpg|3389674]. We don't know why things happen around us but we can choose how to react and remain humans.
Update 7th Jan 2015
Maybe I found a solution for the dilemma that people will never choose to suffer willingly in Nazi concentration camps and that it sounds wrong that they create this life. Tom Cassidy calls it a script that runs insight you. If you don't choose then the script will do it for you based on the experiences in the past driven by pleasure and pain.
One can still argue that the circumstances are at times rough and one has no choice BUT there is always a choice and it's YOU who decides the values and believes to hold up. Pay attention when the script takes over and ask yourself what would you choose.
For me this was the perfect way to end the year! In 2014 I have read a lot of books about neuroscience, subliminals and motivation and this small volume, which was written already in 1903, summarizes what I have discovered too:
The outside world is created by what you think in your heart.
It's impossible to "teach" such findings and James Allen does the only reasonable thing. He finds crystal clear words and challenges the reader to think about them. Accepting them will give you the power to grow and to use the huge potential of life.
I agree with others reviewers who pointed out that it's hard to accept such a message when you think about the Nazi concentration camps or Rwanda. On the other hand there is Viktor Frankl's [b:Man's Search for Meaning|4069|Man's Search for Meaning|Viktor E. Frankl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1535419394l/4069._SY75_.jpg|3389674]. We don't know why things happen around us but we can choose how to react and remain humans.
Update 7th Jan 2015
Maybe I found a solution for the dilemma that people will never choose to suffer willingly in Nazi concentration camps and that it sounds wrong that they create this life. Tom Cassidy calls it a script that runs insight you. If you don't choose then the script will do it for you based on the experiences in the past driven by pleasure and pain.
One can still argue that the circumstances are at times rough and one has no choice BUT there is always a choice and it's YOU who decides the values and believes to hold up. Pay attention when the script takes over and ask yourself what would you choose.
I enjoyed Allan’s concept as a whole, although I didn’t agree with all of it.The idea that we are the sum product entirely of self authoring and that alone is interesting, albeit controversial. The book offers up a unique chance to self reflect on every thought, action, outcome and consequence in our life as one directly linked chain. One that’s apparently fixed to our head heart and soul.
Not my usual cup of tea, but it’s good to branch out & reflect, worth checking out.
Not my usual cup of tea, but it’s good to branch out & reflect, worth checking out.
This was quite the short book to consume through the audiobook format. The way it was written harkens back to a different time in the early 20th century, yet that didn't quite bother me too much because I was surprised at how some of the things James Allen wrote about remained relevant even in this day and age.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I appreciated some of the lines in this, but most of it felt like something a male podcaster would say... I don't hold most male podcasters in high regard.
"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts" (fair and true, for the most part-cognitive dissonance though?)
The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance (No, this is literally false)
Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought.(I know this is older...but I can hear a man mutter this into a podcast mic )
Overall, I am just going to say this is a sugary and dated text to not be taken literally.
"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts" (fair and true, for the most part-cognitive dissonance though?)
The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance (No, this is literally false)
Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought.(I know this is older...but I can hear a man mutter this into a podcast mic )
Overall, I am just going to say this is a sugary and dated text to not be taken literally.
2021 reread (listen): Keeping in mind when this was published I am being generous and giving this a rating reflecting it does articulate what it sets out to do.
That being said it kind of embodies the critiques men often embody (ha, it’s a good quip, you’ll see why soon) in their philosophical and intellectual rigour. Men almost always completely discount principles of the body and tend to characterize their mind as being detached from their body. Or reflect only upon nourishment of the body in service to the mind.
A through line for women of thought, generally, is grounded in principles of embodiment. Lived experience being reflected in the body and the marriage of the sum total of experience with the memories flowing from the perception of the body. For instance, a woman who gives birth has a body that changes, reflecting that experience. It’s an unacknowledged privilege of men that they never usually have to think about their bodies in any real sense because they generally hold rights, power, wealth, and peace of mind. Their anxieties being focused on legacy.
The more marginalized a person is, the more grounded their thoughts tend to be on issues of embodiment. They don’t have the luxury to do otherwise.
For me, this is such a disconnect with life that most thoughts on the character of men and a various anxieties come off as bloviating and sometimes laughable. To say nothing of, as I noted in my 2019 reading of this, the realities of mental health as we know it today.
So, yes. This was _fine_, for what it is.
2019: Interesting, but seriously antiquated in terms of mental health realities.
That being said it kind of embodies the critiques men often embody (ha, it’s a good quip, you’ll see why soon) in their philosophical and intellectual rigour. Men almost always completely discount principles of the body and tend to characterize their mind as being detached from their body. Or reflect only upon nourishment of the body in service to the mind.
A through line for women of thought, generally, is grounded in principles of embodiment. Lived experience being reflected in the body and the marriage of the sum total of experience with the memories flowing from the perception of the body. For instance, a woman who gives birth has a body that changes, reflecting that experience. It’s an unacknowledged privilege of men that they never usually have to think about their bodies in any real sense because they generally hold rights, power, wealth, and peace of mind. Their anxieties being focused on legacy.
The more marginalized a person is, the more grounded their thoughts tend to be on issues of embodiment. They don’t have the luxury to do otherwise.
For me, this is such a disconnect with life that most thoughts on the character of men and a various anxieties come off as bloviating and sometimes laughable. To say nothing of, as I noted in my 2019 reading of this, the realities of mental health as we know it today.
So, yes. This was _fine_, for what it is.
2019: Interesting, but seriously antiquated in terms of mental health realities.
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts."
This short work is built around the power of thought, and how it impacts our character, our circumstances, our health, our ideals, and leads us to serenity. A quick read, but not an easy one.
Favorite Quotes:
"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream."
"The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them. thwarts himself at every step."
"All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts."
"He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly."
This short work is built around the power of thought, and how it impacts our character, our circumstances, our health, our ideals, and leads us to serenity. A quick read, but not an easy one.
Favorite Quotes:
"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream."
"The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them. thwarts himself at every step."
"All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts."
"He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly."
“Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power.”