Chapter 15
CLAIMING YOUR OWN
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IN a recent conversation, I was telling a woman to pluck up courage and to reach out for a certain good thing for which she had been longing for many years, and which, at last, appeared to be in sight. I told her that it looked as if her desire was about to be gratified that the Law of Attraction was bringing it to her. She lacked faith, and kept on repeating, “Oh! It’s too good to be true it’s too good for me! She had not emerged from the worm-of-the-dust stage, and although she was in sight of the Promised Land she refused to enter it because it “was too good for her.” I think I succeeded in putting sufficient “ginger” into her to enable her to claim her own, for the last reports indicate that she is taking possession.
But that is not what I wish to tell you. I want to call your attention to the fact that nothing is too good for YOU no matter how great the thing may be no matter how undeserving you may seem to be. You are entitled to the best there is, for it is your direct inheritance. So don’t be afraid to ask demand and take. The good things of the world are not the portion of any favored sons. They belong to all, but they come only to those who are wise enough to recognize that the good things are theirs by right, and who are sufficiently courageous to reach out for them. Many good things are lost for want of the asking. Many splendid things are lost to you because of your feeling that you are unworthy of them. Many great things are lost to you because you lack the confidence and courage to demand and take possession of them.
“None but the brave deserves the fair,” says the old adage, and the rule is true in all lines of human effort. If you keep on repeating that you are unworthy of the good thing that it is too good for you the Law will be apt to take you at your word and believe what you say. That’s a peculiar thing about the Law it believes what you say it takes you in earnest. So beware what you say to it, for it will be apt to give credence. Say to it that you are worthy of the best there is, and that there is nothing too good for you, and you will be likely to have the Law take you in earnest, and say, “I guess he is right; I’m going to give him the whole bakeshop if he wants it he knows his rights, and what’s the use of trying to deny it to him?” But if you say, “Oh, it’s too good for me! The Law will probably say, “Well, I wouldn’t wonder but that that is so. Surely he ought to know, and it isn’t for me to contradict him.” And so it goes.
Why should anything be too good for you? Did you ever stop to think just what you are? You are a manifestation of the Whole Thing, and have a perfect right to all there is. Or, if you prefer it this way, you are a child of the Infinite, and are heir to it all. You are telling the truth in either statement, or both. At any rate, no matter for what you ask, you are merely demanding your own. And the more in earnest you are about demanding it the more confident you are of receiving it the more will you use in reaching out for it the surer you will be to obtain it.
Strong desire confident expectation courage in action these things bring to you your own. But before you put these forces into effect, you must awaken to a realization that you are merely asking for your own, and not for something to which you have no right or claim. So long as there exists in your mind the last sneaking bit of doubt as to your right to the things you want, you will be setting up a resistance to the operation of the Law. You may demand as vigorously as you please, but you will lack the courage to act, if you have a lingering doubt of your right to the thing you want. If you persist in regarding the desired thing as if it belonged to another, instead of to yourself, you will be placing yourself in the position of the covetous or envious man, or even in the position of a tempted thief. In such a case your mind will revolt at proceeding with the work, for it instinctively will recoil from the idea of taking what is not your own the mind is honest. But when your realize that the best the Universe holds belongs to you as a Divine Heir, and that there is enough for all without your robbing anyone else; then the friction is removed, and the barrier broken down, and the Law proceeds to do its work.
I do not believe in this “humble” business. This meek and lowly attitude does not appeal to me there is no sense in it, at all. The idea of making a virtue of such things, when Man is the heir of the Universe, and is entitled to whatever he needs for his growth, happiness and satisfaction! I do not mean that one should assume a blustering and domineering attitude of mind that is also absurd, for true strength does not so exhibit itself. The blusterer is a self-confessed weakling he blusters to disguise his weakness. The truly strong man is calm, self-contained, and carries with him a consciousness of strength which renders unnecessary the bluster and fuss of assumed strength. But get away from this hypnotism of “humility” this “meek and lowly” attitude of mind. Remember the horrible example of Uriah Heep, and beware of imitating him. Throw back you head, and look the world square in the face. There’s nothing to be afraid of the world is apt to be as much afraid