The Secret of Success

Do not make the mistake of avoiding the use of Desire any more than you would refuse to use fire—but in both cases, keep the mastery in your own hands and avoid allowing control to pass from you to Desire.

Desire is the motivating force that runs the world, however little we care to admit it in many cases. Look around you and see the effects of Desire in every human act, whether good or bad. As one writer has said: "Every deed that we do, good or bad, is prompted by Desire. We are charitable because we desire to relieve our own inner distress at the sight of suffering; or from the desire for sympathy; or from the desire to be respected in this world, or to secure a comfortable place in the next. One man is kind because he desires to be kind—because it gives him satisfaction to be kind—while another man is cruel from precisely the same kind of motive. One man does his duty because he desires to do it; he obtains a higher satisfaction from duty well done than he would from neglecting it in favor of some weaker desires. The religious man is religious because his religious desires are stronger than his irreligious ones—because he finds a higher satisfaction in religion than in the pursuits of the worldly-minded. The moral man is moral because his moral desires are stronger than his immoral ones; he obtains a greater satisfaction in being moral than in being the contrary. Everything we do is prompted by Desire in some shape or form—high or low. Man cannot be desireless and act in any way. Desire is the motivating power behind all actions—it is a natural law of life. Everything from the atom to the monad original: "monad"; in this context, a monad refers to the simplest possible unit of life or a single-celled organism.; from the monad to the insect; from the insect to man; from man to Nature, acts and does things by reason of the power and force of Desire, the Animating Motive."

All of the above might, at first glance, seem to make man a mere machine, subject to the power of any stray desire that might happen to come into his mind. But this is far from being the case. Man acts not upon every desire, but upon the strongest Desire, or the average of his strongest desires. This average of desires is what constitutes his nature or character. And here is where the Mastery of the "I" comes in! Man need not be a slave or creature of his desires if he will assert his mastery. He may control, regulate, govern, and guide his desires in any direction that he pleases. Nay, more, he may even create desires by an action of his Will, as we shall see presently. By a knowledge of psychological laws, he may neutralize unfavorable desires and grow and develop—yes, practically create—new desires in their place. This is all achieved by the power of his Will, aided by the light of his reason and judgment. Man is the master of his mind.

"Yes," some close-reasoning critic may object; "yes, that is true enough, but even in that case, isn't Desire the ruling motive? Must not one desire to create these new desires before he can do so? Is not Desire always precedent to action?" This is very sharp reasoning, good friends, but all advanced occultists original: "occultists"; Atkinson uses this to mean students of the hidden laws of the mind and the "New Thought" movement, rather than anything supernatural. know that there is a point in which the Principle of Desire shades and merges into its companion—