Carson
Treading
The Way Of Champions
AN example
of a student treading the way of winners is told of how he got what he wanted
by getting in mind a clear picture of the things he desired, so that the
creative thought of them might be impressed on his subconscious. Subsequently,
he obtained his desires by following the instructions. By forming a mental
image of his house, he got it a few months later. In the same way you must form
a clear and definite mental picture of what you want. You cannot transmit an
idea unless you have it yourself.
You must have
it before you can give it. You cannot give what you don't have. When you want
to impress your wants on the subconscious, it must be coherent. You must know
what you want and be definite. You can never get rich by sending unformed
longings and vague desires. Get a clear mental picture of the house as you wish
it to look like. As the sailor has in mind the port toward which he is sailing
the ship, you must keep your face toward it all the time. You must not lose
sight of it anymore than the captain loses sight of his compass.
It isn’t
necessary to take exercises in concentration; nor set apart special times for
prayer and affirmation, nor go into the silence like the Rosicrucians, nor do
any occult stunts of any kind. What you need is the presence of mind to know
what you want and to want it badly enough so that it will stay in your thoughts
at all times. Spend as much of your time as you can contemplating the pictures
of your desire, that way you realize your desires. The more clear and definite
you make your picture, the more you dwell on it, bringing out all the
delightful details, the stronger your desire will be, the easier for you to
attain your wishes.
However,
behind the picture must be the purpose for which you want it. And emanating
from the purpose must be an invincible and unwavering faith that your desire is
already yours. That it is at hand, and you have only to take possession. Live
in your new house mentally until it takes form around you physically. In the
mental realm, enter into the full enjoyment of the things you want. Jesus said:
“Whatsoever things ye ask for when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and
ye shall have them.”
See the things
you want as if they were around you already. See yourself as the owner and user
of the property. Make use of them in your imagination, just as you would use
them when they are your tangible possessions. Hold to this mental ownership,
don't waiver for an instant in faith till you possess in reality. Then be
grateful to God for this, even in your vision. The man who can sincerely thank
God for the things, which as yet he owns only in the imagination, has real
faith. He will get rich, he will cause the creation of whatever he wants by his
undying faith.
You do not
need to pray repeatedly for things you want. “Use not vain repetitions as the
heathen do,” Jesus said, “for your Father knoweth ye have need of these things
before ye ask Him.” All you need do is to formulate your desires coherently,
and you then impress this whole desire upon your subconscious, which has the
power to implement what you want. Make your impression by holding the vision
with unshakable purpose, and with steadfast faith, you will attain your purpose.
The answer to
prayer is according to the vision and work, not according to your talking or
asking. There are no special hours or days for effective prayer. For
effectiveness, you must pray without ceasing, every time of the day. Oral
prayer is best for clarifying your vision and strengthening your faith. It
isn’t oral petitions, which get you what you want. The effective supplicant
thinks and speaks of all the things he has asked for in terms of actual
ownership. He imagines the environment and financial condition exactly as he
wants them. He lives all the time in the imaginary environment and financial
condition.
He holds to
the faith that the vision is being realized and to the purpose to realize his
goals. Faith and purpose in the use of the imagination make the difference
between the believer and the starry eyed skeptic. The only additional
ingredient is the continuous enforcement of your prayer by the application of
your will power. It is by your will that you determine upon what things your
attention shall be fixed.
Things are not
brought into being by thinking about their opposites. Righteousness isn’t going
to be promoted by studying sin and thinking about sin. No one ever got rich by
thinking about poverty. Never spend your time in charitable work, charity only
tends to perpetuate wretchedness. What concerns you is the cure for poverty.
Getting rich is the best way to help the poor. The poor do not need charity,
they need inspiration. The answer is to get rich by creation not by
competition. For the sustenance of riches, use your will power to keep your
mind fixed with faith and purpose on what you want.
Our champion
for today is §Benjamin Solomon “Ben” Carson, the retired American neurosurgeon
who did pioneering work on the successful separation of conjoined twins joined
at the head. Carson was born in September 1951 in Detroit, Michigan, United
States by a single mother, Sonya Carson. Ben studied psychology at Yale
University and medicine at the University of Michigan.
Carson was a
professor of neurosurgery, plastic surgery and pediatrics and director of
Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. He was inspired to pursue a
career in medicine when he heard stories in church of missionaries who heal
people physically, mentally and spiritually. At age 33, he became the youngest
director of Pediatric Neurosurgery in Johns Hopkins history.
After medical
school, he became a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Carson’s hand to
eye coordination and three-dimensional reasoning made him a gifted surgeon. He
is interested in maximizing the intellectual potential of every child. He
believed that with children, “what you see is what you get, when they’re in
pain they show it with a frown or when they are happy they show it by smiling.”
In 1987,
Carson made medical history by being the first surgeon to successfully separate
conjoined twins (the Binder twins) who had been joined at the back of the head.
The twins now survived independently. Carson retired from surgery on July 1,
2013. He has written four bestselling books: Gifted Hands, The Big Picture,
Take The Risk and Think Big. The first is an autobiography and two are about
his personal philosophies of success that incorporated hard work, and faith in
God. In 2000, Carson received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting
the Disadvantaged. In 2008, the White House awarded him the Presidential Medal
of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour. On July 8, 2013, Carson joined
The Washington Times as a weekly opinion columnist. Carson got married to
Lacena Rustin in 1975. They met at Yale University in 1971. They have three
sons.
