Is thought an “airy nothing”?

Here’s an interesting quote by Henry Thomas Hamblin, another interesting New Thought author:

“To the ordinary “man in the street” a thought is an “airy nothing “–a mere flash in the consciousness–it comes, it goes, and there is an end to it. To the student of Mind however, thought is known to be the power that is greater than any other power–a force that controls all other forces. An American writer speaking of Universal Mind says:

“It thinks, and Suns spring into shape;
It wills, and Worlds disintegrate;
It loves and Souls are born.”

It will thus be seen that thought is the origin of the visible Universe. All that we see around us is the result of thought. We may even go further, and say that all the invisible forces, which keep the wonderful machinery of the Universe working perfectly and smoothly, are but the thought energies of the same Universal Mind.

As in the macrocosm so is it in the microcosm; the subliminal mind of man is the same in essence as the Universal Mind of the Universe; the difference is not one of kind but of degree. In our world, our circumstances, our life, our bodies, we stand supreme, or rather we have within us the power, which properly directed, can make us supreme. This power is “Thought.” Thought is so subtle, so elusive, that it has by the majority of men, been considered impossible of control, but the greatest philosophers, seers and leaders in the World’s history have known differently. All that they achieved, they accomplished through the power of thought; and this was possible because they had learned the art of thought control.

“What man has done, man can do.” This was never so true as it is today, because the science of Mind is now being spread abroad, and that it is possible for quite ordinary people to learn how to control their thoughts, is now known to be a scientific possibility.

You will therefore see that “thought” so far from being “an airy nothing” or a mere flash in the consciousness is a wonderful and potent force, the most wonderful and potent force of which we know.

A man is a small individualized part of the Universal Mind, alike in essence but infinitely less in degree. Just as the Universal Mind finds expression through all the Universe, so does man when awake to his own interior powers, express himself by the power of his thought, through his body, his work, his circumstances and his life. Thus far can he go and no farther. In himself he is an epitome of the Universe, outside of the miniature Universe he has no jurisdiction.

“Thoughts,” said Prentice Mulford, “are things.”

“Thoughts,” says T. Sharper Knowlson, “so far from being mere brain flashes, are, judging solely from their effects, real entities, apparently composed of spiritual substance, the nature of which is outside the range of discovery of our present faculties.”

“Thought,” says Levy, “is not an event which dies in a world ethereal, supersensible, imperceptible; it has continually its likeness and repercussion in our organism.”

“Thought is not,” says Ralph Waldo Trine, “as is many times supposed, a mere indefinite abstraction, or something of a like nature. It is, on the contrary, a vital, living force, the most vital, subtle and irresistible force in the Universe.””

It’s always interesting to read the perspectives of different New Thought authors. They may disagree on many things, but they always agree on the power of “Thought”.

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