Here’s an interesting quote from William Walker Atkinson:
“There is a psychological law underlying this mental hunger that manifests as Ambition. And that law is: — that in order for that mental hunger to be manifested it must have ideals presented to the mind’s eye. Just as the gastric juices of the stomach may be stimulated and caused to flow by the sight, smell, or thought of food, so is this mental hunger produced by the sight, thought or idea of the things needed for its satisfaction.
Desire without Will is not Ambition. One may want a thing very hard, but if he does not arouse his Will sufficiently strong to actively co-operate with the Desire, his Ambition will “die a’borning.” And though one’s Will be as strong as steel, yet if there be not a strong Desire animating and inspiring it, it will not manifest as Ambition.
To manifest Ambition fully, one must first eagerly desire the thing—not a mere “wanting” or “wishing” for it, but a fierce, eager, consuming hunger which demands satisfaction. And then one must have a Will aroused sufficiently strong to go out and get that which Desire is demanding. These two elements constitute the activity of Ambition.
Look around you at the successful men of the world in any line of human effort and endeavor, and you will see that they all have Ambition strongly developed. They have the fierce craving of Desire for things, and the firm Will which will brook no interference with the satisfaction of the Desire.
Study the lives of Caesar, Napoleon, and their modern counterparts, the Twentieth Century Captains of Industry, and you will see the glare of this fierce Ambition burning brightly and hotly within them.
The trouble with the majority of the people is that they have been taught that one should take what was given him and be content. But this is not Nature’s way. Nature implants in each living being a strong desire for that which is necessary for its well-being and nourishment, and a strong will to gratify that natural desire.
On all sides in Nature, you may see this law in effect. The plant and the animal obey it, and are not afraid. But Man, as he ascended the scale of evolution, while seeing the necessity and advantage of curbing and restraining certain tendencies and desires, which if freely gratified, would work harm on himself and upon society, has swung to the other extreme.
In cutting off the dead branches of Desire, he has lopped off some live ones at the same time—that is, the majority of men have—the few who haven’t reach out and gather to themselves the good things of life, throwing the “cores” and leavings to the rest.”
Go deeper into your own desire and intention than ever before with the training Will Mastery.
