Why Your Thoughts Create Your World
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In this chapter, Dumont stresses the idea that our thoughts are incredibly powerful. He relates the story of a man actually dying from a thought experiment. Although I do believe thoughts are incredibly powerful, I doubt this story is actually true. It sounds like an urban legend to me. His ideas on how your thoughts attract people and situations to you ring true, and are very much in line with the law of attraction. Negative thoughts, in the form of anxiety, worry, despondency and discouragement are the result of the undisciplined mind. His final thought on the importance of speaking wisely was interesting, and something that I did not expect. His basic point seems to be that you need silence to concentrate, and to get in touch with your higher self (what he called the interior law, or the absolute law of the omnipotent). Speaking without thinking prevents us from doing this, and is thus to be avoided. Interesting idea. At any rate, here is my summary.
In Chapter 4 of “The Power of Concentration”, Dumont stresses that thought in and of itself is incredibly powerful. He offers two examples of this. One is the situation where a sudden shock or fright can turn a person’s hair grey. The other is a story in which a condemned man is offered a deal. He is told a test is to be performed on him to see how much blood a man can lose before he dies. A cut is to be made on his leg, and he is to be left alone all night in his cell. If he survives to the next morning, he will be given his freedom. Having nothing to lose, the condemned man agrees to this. What he doesn’t know, however, is that the real experiment is to test how this thought will affect him. When the cut is made on his leg, the amount of blood that is lost is so small that he couldn’t possibly expire from it. However, the room he is kept in is dark, and he can hear the dripping of water, which he thinks is his own blood. He believes he is bleeding to death, although in reality he is fine. What happens? The thought is so powerful, the man dies.
Thoughts create your friends and your environment. Positive thoughts attract positive people and events. Negative thoughts do the opposite. Most people rush through life, unaware that they are constantly driving away the people and situations that would make them happy. All it takes is to look within yourself, and you will discover the greatest machine ever made.
You must learn to speak wisely. Speech interferes with the focusing powers of the mind. You need deep silence to reflect. Real silence becomes attached to the interior law, the absolute power of the omnipotent.
Dumont ends this chapter with the following thought that you should hang on to:
In silence I will allow my higher self to have complete control
I will be true to my higher self
I will live true to my conception of what is right
I realize that it is to my self interest to live up to my best
I demand wisdom so that I may act wisely for myself and others
The REAL reason beyond rising Oil Prices (even Mark Steyn doesn’t know)
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Today, I came across another excellent article by one of my favorite writers, Mark Steyn. In it he exposes the hypocritical posturing of politicians who are attempting to blame everyone’s favorite whipping boy, big oil (Booo! Hissss!), for the rise in oil prices. However, they naturally ignore the fact that all of them, in one form or another, advocates polices that are limiting the supply of oil, and is therefore driving up prices as well. You can read the article, in all its brilliance, here.
However, in my opinion, Steyn misses the SINGLE BIGGEST reason for the rise in oil prices, which is the decline of the US dollar. The article I found here talks about this in more depth. The only thing this article misses is that ALL CURRENCIES, as they are based on paper, are losing their value. That’s what the documentary I linked to before, Fiat Currency, talks about. This should be a major issue, but so few people understand it, including economists but especially politicians, it just isn’t. We’re in for some interesting times ahead …
Chapter Three of “The Power of Concentration”
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I found Chapter Three of Dumont’s book much clearer than the previous chapter. I think the best point he made here was the importance of truly believing that you will accomplish something, as opposed to merely wishing it. You have to believe, right down to your core, that you can accomplish something. You have to commit yourself fully to what ever endeavour you are putting your mind to. If you merely wish for it, you are giving yourself an out to not accomplish it. As Yoda says, “do or do not, there is no try”. Anyway, here is my summary of Chapter Three from “The Power of Concentration”.
In Chapter Three, entitled “How to Gain What you Want Through Concentration’, Dumont explains that through concentration it is possible to get anything you want. However, concentration is much more than just “wishing’. If you only wish for something, it means you do not truly believe that you will get it. Rather, through the power of concentration, you need to acquire an all consuming belief that you will get the thing you desire. Feel you can accomplish what you undertake. When most people start a project, they assume they will fail from the onset. I’ll find a way or make one is the spirit that wins.
Dumont tells the story of a young boy who started work at a bank as a messenger boy. However, he desired to be the bank’s president. In order to help him, his Dad made him a small button with a “P” on it. This was to remind the boy that everyday he should do something that would move him closer to his goal to become the bank’s president. The boy didn’t tell anyone at the bank what the “P” stood for, and had to endure much fun at his expense for it. However, the “P” kept his mind focused, until one day he did become president of the bank. Only then did he reveal to his co-workers what the “P” stood for.
Concentrate on doing something worthwhile, Dumont urges. The man that sticks to something is not the man that fails. As Emerson said, “Power to him who power exerts”. Success today depends on concentrating in order to awaken you own Interior Law of Force. When you awaken these forces, permanent results are ensured. It is possible for you to make your own place in the universe. Whether it is an important or good place is up to you. If your cause is just, you can conquer the world. God and one are always a majority.
Dumont ends the chapter with the following quote:
Let the troubles and responsibilities of life come thick and fast. I am ready for them. My soul is unconquerable. I represent the infinite law of force, or of all power. This god within is my all sufficient strength and ever present help in time of trouble. The more difficulties the greater its triumphs through me. The harder my trials, the faster I go in the development of my inherent strength. Let all else fail me. This interior reliance is all sufficient. The right must prevail. I demand wisdom and power to know and follow the right. My higher self is all wise. I now draw nearer to it.
FIAT EMPIRE – A Great Documentary I found using Digg
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Dec 5, 2006 This Award-winning documentary video, featuring presidential candidate RON PAUL, was inspired by the book, “The Creature From Jekyll Island” This explains it all in layman’s terms anyone can understand.
Using Digg, I was able to find this really well done documentary on the gold standard, sound money, and the dangers of our current paper (fiat) money system. Going through the comment section, I found several arguments against this video that I wanted to comment on here.
Lame. This is a very weak argument. All money and valuation is “smoke and mirrors” – gold doesn’t hold an actual value – just intrinsic in the eyes of the people. There is no difference between our fake valuation of gold & silver vs our valuation of dollar bills and soon our valuation of a single number that represents our wealth in a computer database somewhere …
There is some truth to what the person is saying above. No good or service has an objective value. Something acquires a subjective value when people want it, and are willing to trade real good and services for it. People desire paper currency because they believe they can exchange it for other goods and services. However, what they don’t understand is that paper is not stable, as the government is able to print as much of it as they want. As a crime, this is not different than what counterfeiters do. All governments of all stripes do this. The advantage of having your money backed by something real is that government can’t do this.
Dollars are backed by the same force that everything is backed by: supply and demand. Just how gold really shouldn’t be worth what it’s worth (it’s just a shiny metal a neat ability to avoid oxidation), dollars can be exchanged for goods and services even though you can’t go to a bank and ask for something physical. And as long as we all agree to use dollars instead of chickens or gold as an exchange, then the system works.
My point above kind of answers this as well. He makes an interesting point, however, probably without intending too. As long as we all agree to use dollars … That’s kind of the rub, isn’t it? As the government keeps printing more money, that paper is worth less and less (this is called inflation). When this happens, people stop using it, and the currency collapses. People see their life savings wiped out, their lives ruined. See what happened to Germany in the 1930’s, or to a lot of Latin American or African countries today. It is always a bad idea to let anyone (whether counterfeiters or the government) create money out of thin air. Personally, I’d take chickens over the US dollar at this point.
It amazes me how many people can talk on this subject without having a graduate level constitutional law class or even an college economics class….
I bet this person has a university level education. This is going to be a future post all by itself, as it nicely shows the problem with our entire education system. Stay tuned.
Yoda, the Jedi Mind, and The Power of Concentration
A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious
mind. (to the invisible Ben, indicating Luke) This one a long time
have I watched. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was
doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these
things. (turning to Luke) You are reckless!
- Yoda – The Empire Strikes Back
As I was reading chapter two of “The Power of Concentration”, it struck me that what Dumont is saying is not unlike the Jedi training seen in the Star Wars movies. If you want to achieve anything, you must focus on where you are, and where you want to go. Everything else is a distraction. Ideally, you want to develop a Jedi mind that is able to block out all of the noise that is constantly vying for your attention.
I found Chapter 2 to be a slightly difficult read. Dumont writes in what I would call 19th century style. I found it difficult at times to fully comprehend what he was saying. Perhaps this is just the fault of my own untrained mind? Nonetheless, here is my summary for Chapter 2 of “The Power of Concentration”.
Most men, Dumont claims, do not posses the self-mastery that comes from the self-directing power of concentration. When these self-regulating faculties are not developed, the mind can be influenced by all kinds of impulses, appetites and emotions. This forces the mind to become impulsive, restless and irregular. If the self-regulating faculties are weak in development, it is impossible to have a strong, focused mind.
Dumont believes there are three possible factors for the mind to not have developed this self-regulating faculty. One of these is deficiency of the motors centers. This is actually a physical condition, which is hard to correct (although he does allude to another book, not yet published in 1911, which will deal with this). The second is an overly impulsive or emotional mind. To correct this, it is important to learn how to restrain anger, passion, and intense emotions. One should also avoid over simulative food and drink, and associate with other calm people as much as possible. The third factor is that the mind simply has not been trained, and the person is unaware of this.
The well trained, concentrated mind pays attention to all its thoughts, words, acts, and plans. When you let you mind wander, you are wasting your energy. If you are allowing yourself to get emotional on items that are not central to whatever it is you are trying to achieve, you are wasting energy. For example, reading sensational stories from the newspaper that do not affect you in anyway are a waste of time and vital force. Dumont makes a useful comparison, comparing the trained mind to that of a steam engine. When the mind is trained, the steam is only used to move the train quickly along the tracks to its goal. The untrained mind is like a steam engine in which all of the valves are open. Steam dissipates, energy is lost, and the train no longer speeds along to its goal.
Dumont also mentions the importance of taking deep breaths in order to calm and focus the mind. The mind is associated with muscle and nerve, so this must not be neglected if you want to develop mental concentration.
Thomas Edison’s Power of Concentration
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Below is my first summary for Chapter 1 of Theron Q Dumont’s “The Power of Concentration”. With these summaries, I’m trying to draw out the key points he seems to be making in as little space as possible. This leads to somewhat inelegant writing, as I’m always saying “Dumont says this”, and “Dumont thinks that”. However, I hope you are willing to put up with this. If you want to read the chapter yourself, feel free to subscribe to my newsletter on the upper right. You’ll get the complete book as a PDF.
One of the things that struck me from reading this first chapter is his point that successful people expect to succeed. They have a vision of what they want, and they just keep moving forward towards it. Thomas Edison is a fantastic example of this. When Edison was inventing the lightbulb, he had to suffer through hundreds of failures before he had something that worked. He was able to concentrate on what he wanted with a laser like intensity. I think we can all learn from this.
If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
- Thomas A. Edison
Summary for the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Theron Q Dumont’s “The Power of Concentration”
In order to make a success of anything, you must concentrate your entire conscious thought on the task. However, most people, as they have not trained themselves to focus on the positive, concentrate on negative, unhelpful things. With the training offered in this book, it is possible to train your mind to focus on the positive. Once you can do this, you will be aligned with what Dumont calls “The Laws of Success”, and you will be able to achieve anything you put your mind to.
Dumont believes that everyone is made up of two conflicting natures. One nature is positive and allows us to learn, grow, and prosper. Its opposite is negative in nature, and is a force for unhappiness and stagnation. Through focusing the will via concentration, Dumont believes it is possible to make the positive nature the dominant force in our lives. It is possible to be the director of one’s own life if one learns to concentrate and focus the will on desirable outcomes.
No matter how old you are, or what stage of life you are at, there are always opportunities. However, it is rare that opportunities come knocking at your door. Rather, you must know what you want and actively seek them out. Dumont notes that many people read excellent books on success, but few get anything out of them. The reason for this is that knowledge without action is useless.
Dumont believes it is a wise practice to seek out the good in all things and all people. If you project positive and helpful energy, people and situations will become more disposed towards you. We all need encouragement from time to time. Give and you shall receive.
Every moment of the day, we all have opportunities to improve our lives. Dumont suggests to start each month by reviewing the previous month, and deciding if it lived up to expectations. If it doesn’t, action should be taken to correct this for the current month. We cannot change the past, only learn from it, and correct for the future. Never shrink from difficult tasks, Dumont consoles, as one difficult task completed successfully is worth many easier tasks done well.
Dumont believes that any man can be a success. The price is effort, not money. He lists the key 3 ingredients as a deep desire, gathering knowledge to accomplish that desire, and then executing on that knowledge. The secret of success is to always improve and grow.
The difference between the successful man and those who are not is that the successful man expects to succeed. Consider inventors, Dumont consoles, who make hundreds of mistakes before they succeed. Use your trained mind to focus on what you want, and it will be yours.
The Power of Concentration and FeedaPALOOZA!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but on the upper right of this blog, I’ve added a “subscribe” button for a newsletter I’m planning on making. The newsletter will basically be a compilation of this blog, plus anything else I find that is interesting. I set this up using Aweber, which was fairly easy to do.
If you sign up for my newsletter, I will also send you a copy of “THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION” for FREE. What is “THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION”? Well, it’s a long out of print book that I’ve only heard fantastic things about. It’s basic premise is this. As human beings, all of us are pulled by two natures. One nature wants us to succeed, the other does not. These natures are manifested in our consciousness as positive and negative thoughts. If you want to succeed and be happy, you need to train your brain to focus on the positive and constructive thoughts, blocking out the negative and destructive. The problem we all have is that none of us have been trained to do this. It is this training that “The Power of Concentration” offers us.
Now, like I said, I have only just recently discovered this book, although I have only heard positive things about it. Here’s what I’m planning on doing. I’m going to read this book chapter by chapter, and post what I think about it here on my blog. I’ve only read a little bit about it, but what I’ve read so far is fascinating. If this sounds interesting to you, I suggest you sign up, download the book, and follow along with me. Maybe we can learn together? Here’s hoping. 
On another topic, Aaron Abber at FullTiltBLogging has a new initiative up called “FeedaPALOOZA”. What FeedaPALOOZA does is bring together a whole bunch of blogs in one place with the following intentions:
1) help bloggers promote their blogs
2) help readers find blogs and free e-books that they might find interesting
If you’re a blogger, or if you’re just interested in discovering some cool new blogs, I suggest you head over to FeedaPalooza to check it out.
Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I you are interested in making money online, I suggest you head over to Aaron’s site and sign up for his newsletter and free e-book, as I guarantee you’ll learn a lot.
That’s if for now!
All the Best,
- Dave
A Change in Direction and Focus …
In my previous post I talked about why this blog was no longer going to be an exclusively make money online blog. I mentioned an article from Jay at DatMoney, and Jay was kind of to post a comment. He notes in the comment that he had a friend who changed his blog from mmo to anything he wanted to talk about, and he has met with much success. I plan on doing the same thing.
It’s not like I no longer want to make money online, it’s simply that the focus has changed. Rather then coming from a place of wanting to make money online first, I’m going to focus on my interests and passions first, and then try and monetize that. You know what I mean? Before, I think I was really putting the cart before the horse, so to speak, whereas now I think I’m coming at it from the right angle. Take the site I set up earlier (you can read about it’s creation in the “niche inspector” category) at www.acne-solution-tips.com. The information there is actually good, but do I feel I’m really adding anything new to this topic? Thankfully, my acne days are long behind me. Did I have fun researching and writing the articles for this site? I’m curious by nature, but acne isn’t one of the topics that is high on my list. Do I want to set up another site similar to this one? Not particularly.
So, the question is, what is my plan going forward? Well, here’s what I’m going to be focusing on with this blog for the foreseeable future.
1. Politics / economics – I’ve always been interested in this stuff. However, I’m really going to focus on creating little youtube video’s on various topics, aside from just writing. I talked before in a previous post about how impressed I was with the video that was done on the declining American dollar and gold. This is the kind of thing I’m looking at. I think it would be a lot of fun.
2. I think I’m going to build a site all about Vancouver, where I live. There is so much to do here, and I haven’t been to too many places since I was a child. When you live in a great place, you typically don’t explore it that much. You figure, well, I can do that tomorrow. Not anymore. I’m going to really explore this city this summer, and I’m going to create a cool website about it. Stay tuned.
3. Health and Fitness Stuff. I’m always interested in health and fitness, plus I have some somewhat unconventional views on the subject.
4. As far as the Make Money Online Stuff, I think I’m mostly going to quote Aaron at FullTiltBlogging. If you’re interested in this, I suggest you go to his site and check it out.
Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now. For the rest of the week, I’m really planning on looking into the social networks, as I can see this being very helpful going forward.
Till next time,
- Dave
