CLEAR THE COBWEBS ~ FORM MY THINKING ~ Logic ~ Pilot No. 3
 


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May Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude fulfill its purpose. For its purpose is to inspire me, the reader, to direct my thoughts, control my emotions and ordain my destiny . . . And something more: to motivate me to make my world a better world in which to live by sharing a part of what I have that is good and beautiful. Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude has:

1. Helped me help myself to become a better person.

2. And motivated me to try to make my world a better world in which to live.
 

You are what you think.
But what do you think?
How orderly are your thought processes?
How straight is your thinking?
And how clean are your thoughts?

There are certain mental cobwebs that clutter up the thinking of almost everyone, even the most brilliant minds. Negative: feelings, emotions, passions-habits, beliefs and prejudices. Our thoughts become entangled in these webs.


Sometimes we have undesirable habits and we want to correct them. And there are times when we are strongly tempted to do wrong. Then, like an insect caught in a spider's web, we struggle to get free. Our conscious will is in conflict with our imagination and the will of our subconscious mind. The more we struggle, the more we become entrapped.

Some persons give up and experience the mental conflicts of a living hell. Others learn how to use the powers of the subconscious. They are the victorious.

An insect may not be able to avoid being caught in the spider's web. And when once trapped, it is unable to free itself. There is one thing, however, over which each person has absolute, inherent control, and that is his mental attitude. We can avoid mental cobwebs. We can clear them. And we can sweep them away as they begin to develop. We can free ourselves when once enmeshed. And we can remain free.

You do this by accurate-thinking with PMA. Accurate thinking is one of the 17 success principles revealed in Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.

To think accurately you must use reason. The science of reasoning or accurate thinking is called logic, and the best place to learn it is in books written specifically on this subject. One is The Art of Straight Thinking by Edwin Leavitt Clarke; another is Introduction to Logic by Irving Copi. These books can be of immense practical help.

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But we don’t act from reason alone. One of the cobwebs of our thinking is to assume that we act from reason alone when in reality every conscious act is the result of doing what we want to do. We make decisions. There is a tendency, when reasoning, to draw conclusions favorable to the strong inner urges of our subconscious mind. And this tendency exists in everyone-even the great thinkers and philosophers.

In 31 B.C. a Greek philosopher who lived in a city on the Aegean Sea wanted to go to Carthage. He was a teacher of logic; therefore he contemplated reasons in favor of malting the voyage and reasons against it. For every reason as to why he should go he found that there were many more reasons why he shouldn't. Of course he would be seasick. The boat was so small that a storm might jeopardize his life. Pirates with swift sailing vessels were lying in wait off Tripoli to prey upon merchant vessels. If his ship, were captured by them they would take his worldly goods and sell him into slavery. Discretion indicated that he should not make the trip.
But he did. Why? “Because he wanted to.”

It so happens that emotion and reason should be in balance in everyone's life. Neither should always hold the controlling hand. So sometimes it is good to do what you want to do instead of what reason fears. As to this philosopher-he had a most pleasant journey and arrived back home safely.

Then there was Socrates, the great Athenian philosopher who lived from 470 B.C. to 399 B.C. He has gone down in history as one of the outstanding thinkers of all time. Wise as Socrates was, there were cobwebs in his thinking too.

As a young man Socrates fell in love with Xanthippe. She was very beautiful. He wasn't good looking, but he was persuasive. Persuasive individuals seem to have the ability to get what they want. Socrates was successful in persuading Xanthippe to marry him.

Are you seeing only the mote in the other fellow’s eye? After the honeymoon was over, things didn’t go along so well at his house. His wife began to see his faults. And he saw hers. He was motivated by egoism. He was selfish. She was always nagging him. Socrates reportedly said, 'My aim in life is to get on well with people. I chose Xanthippe because I knew if I could get on well with her, I could get along with anyone.

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That is what he said. But his actions disproved his words. It is questionable that he tried to get on well with more than a few. When you always try to prove to persons whom you meet that they are wrong, you repel rather than attract as Socrates did.

Yet he said that he endured Xanthippe's nagging for his own personal self-discipline. But he would have developed real self-discipline had he tried to understand his wife and to influence her through the same considerate attentions and expressions of love that he used in persuading her to marry him. He didn’t see the beam in his own eye, but he saw the mote in Xanthippe's eye.

Of course, Xanthippe wasn't blameless either. Socrates and she were just like many husbands and wives living today. After their marriage they neglect to continue to communicate their true feel understanding and love to each other. They neglect to continue to employ the same pleasing personalities and mental attitudes that made their courtship such a happy experience. Negligence is a cobweb too.


Now Socrates didn’t read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. Neither did Xanthippe. Had she done so, she would have known how to motivate her husband so that their home life would have been a happier one. She would have seen the beam in her eye, rather than the mote in Socrates'. She would have controlled her eye, reactions and been sensitive to the reactions of her husband. In fact, she might have even proved the fallacy of his logic after she read Chapter Five entitled…"And Something More."

And because the story of Socrates proves he saw only the mote in Xanthippe's eye we shall tell you about another young man he learned to see the beam in his own eye. But before we do, lees see how the habit of nagging develops.


You see, when you know the cause of a problem, you can often avoid it. Or you can find your own solution to that problem if you already have it.

S. I. Hayakawa in Language in Thought and Action wrote:

Self-Nagging.

In order to cure (what I believes to be) my faults, I nag myself. My faults get worse, so I nag myself some more. Naturally my faults get worse still, and I nag’s myself even more. Governed by a fixated reaction to the problem of my faults, I can meet it only one way. The longer I continues, the worse it gets, until I am a nervous wrecks; my business is destroyed, and my lives is shattered. ..STOP IT..

nag. 1. To annoy by constant scolding, complaining, or urging.
2. To torment persistently, as with anxiety or pain.
3. To find fault constantly
4. To be a constant source of anxiety or annoyance:

fixates. 1. To make fixed, stable, or stationary.
2. To focus one's eyes or attention on: fixate a faint object.
3. To command the attention of exclusively or repeatedly; preoccupy obsessively:
4. Psychology.
a. To attach (oneself) to a person or thing in an immature or neurotic fashion.
b. To cause (the libido) to be arrested at an early stage of psychosexual development
1. To focus the eyes or attention.
2. Psychology.
a. To form a fixation; become attached to in an immature or neurotic way.
b. To be arrested at an early stage of psychosexual development.

Source of study.
In order to cure (what she believes to be) her husband's faults, a wife may nag him. His faults get worse, so she nags him some more. Naturally his faults get worse still, and she nags him even more. Governed by a fixated reaction to the problem of her husband's faults, she can meet it only one way. The longer she continues, the worse it gets, until they are both nervous wrecks; their marriage is destroyed, and their lives are shattered.*

From Language in Thought and Action, by S. 1. Hayakawa, published by Her court, Brace and Co., Inc.

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Now what about the young man? It was the first evening of a PMA Science of Success class when he was asked, “Why are you taking this course?"

"Because of my wife!" he responded. Many of the students laughed but not the instructor. He knew from experience that there are many unhappy homes when husband or wife sees the other's faults but not his or her own.

He restored happiness to his home. It was four weeks later in a private conference that the instructor asked the student, "How are you coming along with your problem?"
"It's solved!"
“That's wonderful! But how did you solve it?"
“I learned: when I am faced with a problem that involves misunderstandings with other persons, I must first start with myself. When I examined my own mental attitude, I discovered that it was negative. My problem was really not with my wife after all it was with me! In solving my problem I found that I no longer had one with her."

Now, what if Socrates had said to himself: "When I am faced with a problem that involves a misunderstanding with Xanthippe, I must first start with myself'? And what would happen if you would say to yourself: "When I am faced with a problem that involves a misunderstanding with another person, I must start with myself'? Would your life be a happier one?

But there are many other cobwebs that interfere with happiness. Oddly enough, the one that is the greatest hindrance is the very tool of thought itself: words. Words are symbols, as S. I. Hayakawa tells us in his book. And you will find that a one-word symbol can mean to you the sum total of a combination of innumerable ideas, concepts, and experiences. And you will also see as you continue to read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude that the subconscious instantaneously communicates to the conscious mind through symbols.

Through one word you can motivate others to act. When you say to another person "You can” " this is suggestion. When you say to yourself “I can!” you motivate yourself by self-suggestion. But more about these universal truths in the next chapter. First let's recognize that a whole science has grown up around the important discoveries made about words and the communicating of ideas through words: the science of semantics.

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And Hayakawa is an expert in this field. He tells us that to fm out what a word really means on the lips of another person, or even on your own lips, is essential in the process of accurate thinking.

But how does one do this? just be specific.

Start with a meeting of the minds and many needless misunderstandings will be avoided.

One word can cause an argument. The uncle of a nine-year-old boy was visiting in the home of the boy's parents. One evening when the father came home, the following dialogue developed:
”What do you think of a boy that lies?"
"I don't think very much of him, and I know one thing certain: my son tells the truth."
"He told a he today."
"Son, did you tell your uncle a lie?"
No, father."
"Let's clear this thing up. Your uncle says you lied. You say you didn't. Just exactly what did happen?" he asked, turning to the uncle.
"Well, I told him to take his toys down to the basement. He didn't do it, and be told me that he did."
"Son, did you take your toys to the basement?"
"Yes, father."
'Son, how do you explain this? Your uncle says that you didn't take your toys to the basement and you say that you did."
"There are several steps leading from the first floor down to the basement ... About four steps down is a window ... I put my toys on the window ceiling... The basement is the distance between the floor and the ceiling... My toys are in the basement"

The argument between the uncle and his nephew was due to the definition of one word: basement. The boy probably knew what his uncle meant, but he was lazy and hadn't wanted to run all the way downstairs. When he was faced with punishment, the boy tried to
save himself by using logic to prove his point.

Now this may be intriguing. But more motivating will be the story of a young man who didn’t know what the most important word symbol in any language means. And what is the most important word in any language? That word is God.

Not so long ago a student from Columbia University called on the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Minister Emeritus of The Riverside Church of New York City. The student had hardly gotten through the door before he said:

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"I am an atheist!" When he sat down, he repeated defiantly, 'I don't believe in God."

Let’s start with a meeting of the minds. Now, fortunately, Dr. Fosdick was also an expert in the field of semantics. He knew from long experience that he could never really communicate with another person unless he understood exactly what that other person meant by the words he used. He also knew that it was necessary for the other person to comprehend his meaning. So instead of taking offense at the student's brash remark, Dr. Fosdick expressed a genuinely friendly interest in him and then asked, "Please describe to me the God you do not believe in.

The young man had to think, as everyone has to think when he. is asked a question that doesn't cause a reflex “yes” or “no” answer. Dr. Fosdick knew that the right question could sweep strong cobwebs of negative thinking out of the youth's mind.

After a little while the student began to try to describe the God be didn't believe in. In so doing he gave the minister a very picture of the God he rejected.

"Well," said Dr. Fosdick when the student had finished, "if that is the God you don't believe in, I don't believe in him either. So we are both atheists. Nevertheless” he continued, "we still have the universe on our hands. What do you make of it its formation, its meaning?"

Before the young man left Dr. Fosdick, he discovered that he was not an atheist at all, but a very good theist. He did believe in God.
Now Dr. Fosdick had not been thrown by the undefined use of a word. In this instance he helped sweep away the cobwebs of the young man's thinking by asking him questions. The simple, clear response as to what the young man didn't believe in was enough to allow a meeting of the minds. The second question directed the youth’s thoughts into the proper channels. And it gave Dr. Fosdick an opportunity to explain his meaning of the universal God,.

Frog legs taught him logic. As we have seen, the student reached two entirely different conclusions. Each was based on a different premise. Cobwebs will interfere with accurate thinking and cause you to reach a wrong conclusion when you start with a false premise. W. Clement Stone had an amusing experience with this, which he describes as follows:

As a boy I enjoyed eating frog legs. One day at a restaurant I was served jumbo frog legs and didn't like them. Then and there I decided that I didn't like large frog legs.

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Some years later I was at a quality restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky and saw frog legs on the menu. My conversation with the waiter was as follows:
"Are these small frog legs?'
"Yes sir!"
Are you sure? I don't like the large ones."
"Yes sir!"
'If they're the small ones, that’ll be fine for me."
'Yes sir!"
When the waiter brought the entree, I saw that they were jumbo frog legs. I was irritated and said: "These aren't the small frog legs!"
"These are the smallest we could find, sir," the waiter responded.
Rather than be unpleasant I ate the frog legs. And I enjoyed them so much that I wished they had been larger.
I learned a lesson in logic.
In analyzing the matter I realized that my conclusions about the merits of large and small frog legs had been based on the wrong premise. It wasn't the size of the frog legs that made them distasteful. It was the fact that the jumbo frog legs I had eaten the first time hadn't been fresh. I bad associated my distaste for jumbo frog legs with size rather than with spoilage.

Now we see that cobwebs prevent accurate thinking when we start with the wrong premise. So many persons think inaccurately when they allow all-embracing word symbols to clutter up their minds with false premises. Such words or expressions as: always only-never-nothing-every-everyone-no one-can't –impossible-either . . . or-are most frequently false premises. Consequently, when they are so used their logical conclusions are false.

Necessity plus PMA can motivate you to succeed. Now there is one word which, when used with PMA, motivates a person to honorable achievement. When used with NMA, it becomes the excuse for lies, deception, and fraud, Necessity is the word. Necessity is the mother of invention and the father of crime.

Inviolable standards of integrity are fundamental to all worthwhile achievement and are an integral part of PMA.

You will read many success stories throughout this book in which persons are motivated by necessity. And in each case you’ll find that such persons achieved success without transgressing an inviolable standard of integrity. Lee Braxton is such a man.

Lee Braxton, of Whiteville, North Carolina, was the son of a struggling blacksmith. He was the tenth child in a family of twelve. ". . . so you might say," says Mr. Braxton, "that I became acquainted with poverty early in life. By hard work I managed to get through the sixth grade in school. I shined shoes, delivered groceries, sold newspapers, worked in a hosiery mill, washed automobiles, and served as a mechanic's helper."

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When he became a mechanic, it appeared to Lee that he had risen as far as he could go. Perhaps he had not yet developed, inspirational dissatisfaction. In due course he married. And together he and his wife scrimped along. He was used to poverty. And it now seemed to him that it was impossible for him to break the ties which held him down, although he was poorly paid and just barely supporting his family. The Braxtons were already having a terrible time malting ends meet when, to complete the picture of defeat, he lost his job. His home was about to be taken from him because he was unable to meet the mortgage payments. It seemed a hopeless situation.

But Lee was a man of character. He was also a religious man. And he believed that God is always a good God. So he prayed for guidance. As if in answer to his prayer, he received the book Think and Grow Rich from a friend. This friend had lost his job and his home in the Depression. And he had been motivated to recoup Ms fortune after reading Think and Grow Rich.

Now Lee was ready.
He read the book again and again. He was searching for financial success. He said to himself: "It seems to me there is something I have to do. I have to add something. No book will do it for me. The first thing I must do is develop a Positive Mental Attitude regarding my abilities and my opportunities. I must certainly choose a definite goal. When I do, I must aim higher than I have in the past. But I must get started. I’ll begin with the first job I can find.”

And he looked for a job and found one. It didn’t much to start.

But it wasn't many years after he had read Think and Grow Rich that Lee Braxton organized and became president of the First National Bank of Whiteville, was elected mayor of his city, and engaged in many successful business enterprises. You see: Lee had aimed high-in fact, very high. He had taken as his major purpose the goal of being rich enough to retire at the age of 50. He achieved this goal six years ahead of time-retiring from active business with substantial wealth and a fine independent income at the age of 44. Today Lee Braxton is leading a useful life. He is devoting his entire efforts to helping Oral Roberts, the evangelist, in his ministry.

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Now, the jobs that he took and the investments he made in climbing from failure to success are not important here. What is important is that necessity motivates a man with PMA to action without transgressing recognized inviolable standards. An honest man won't deceive, cheat, or steal because of necessity. Honesty is inherent in PMA.

Necessity, NMA and crime. Now, contrast such a man with the many thousands of persons with NMA who are imprisoned because of stealing, embezzling, or other crimes. When you ask them why they stole in the first place, their answer invariably is: 'I had to." And that's how they landed in prison! They allowed themselves to become dishonest because cobwebs in their thinking caused them to believe that necessity forces one to become dishonest.

Some years ago, Napoleon Hill, while doing personal counseling in the prison library in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, had several confidential talks with Al Capone. In one of these talks, the author inquired: "How did you get started in a life of crime?"

Capone answered with one word: "Necessity."

Then tears came into his eyes and he choked up. He began to tell of some of the good things he had done which the newspapers had never mentioned. Of course, these seem insignificant compared to the evil that is attributed to his name.
That unfortunate man wasted his life, destroyed his peace of mind, undermined his physical body with deadly disease, and spread fear and disaster in the path he followed-all because be never learned to clear the cobwebs of his thinking regarding necessity.

And when Capone told of his good deeds, which he inferred offset to some great degree the wrongs be had done, he clearly indicated another cobweb which was preventing him from thinking accurately. While a man can neutralize the evil he has done by true repentance followed by a life of good deeds, Capone was not such a man.

But there was such a man. He was a teen-age problem child Yet Ms mother never lost hope even though many of her specific prayers for him seemed unanswered. And she never lost faith, regardless of her son's escapades or wrongdoing.

He was a teen-age problem child. This young man became an educated, intellectual, passionate, and sensual teen-age problem child. He took pride in being first, even in evil. It is said that he disobeyed his parents and teachers, lied and deceived, committed petty thefts, cheated in gambling, indulged in alcoholic and sexual excesses.

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Yet because of his mother's constant and earnest pleas to him to mend his ways, he struggled to find himself even before he reached the lowest point in his moral life. Sometimes he was filled with shame by the knowledge that men with less education were able to resist temptations, which he thought he was powerless to resist. And because he was educated, and because he was searching, he studied the Bible and other inspirational books of his day.

Even so, he lost many battles with himself. And then one day
he won the battle that turned the tide to personal victory. This is what happens when a person keeps trying. It was during a remorse when he was overcome with self-condemnation that he overheard a conversation in which one voice said, "Take up and read!”

He reached for the nearest book, opened it, and read: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof."


It often happens. After a person suffers a serious defeat in a personal battle with himself, he may at that point be ready. "His remorse can be so emotional and sincere that he is motivated to take immediate action and through perseverance make the change that keeps him on the road to a complete victory.

Now-this young man was ready!

And once he made his irrevocable decision, he had peace of mind. He believed that Divine Power would help him overcome the sins, which he had previously fought in vain and he developed a deep spirituality. His subsequent life proved this by results. The young man devoted himself to God and the service of his fellowman.

It is because of what he had been and what he became that he is considered a man who has had a most powerful influence in giving hope even to the hopeless. Augustine was his name. And he was made a saint.

It is well known that the power of the Bible has been instrumental in changing even the attitudes of human derelicts from negative to positive. And because of the special power in this Written Word they were inspired to clear the cobwebs of their
thinking. Thus they became clean in though and habit. Many, like St. Augustine, have been moved to deep repentance and, like him, they have been motivated to devote their lives to the service of God and mankind. And many great evangelists climbed from these ranks.

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Now, there are some good people of strong religious faith who also read their Bibles but say to us, "Don't try to interfere with God," when we recommend other inspirational books. Cobwebs prevent them from trying to extract the good wherever it can be found.

You don’t try to interfere with God. Now these good people fear that it is sacrilegious to dare to explore the powers of the mind God has given them: to choose, to plan, and to control their future, Many books of inspiration are written to motivate the reader to direct his thoughts, control his emotions, and ordain his destiny. And they often help the reader to comprehend the truths of the Bible.
0
This is true, for example, in such a non-fiction best seller as The Power of Positive Thinking. In his book Norman Vincent Peale endeavors to motivate the reader to better himself. To do so, he quotes directly from the Good Book in which such people do believe. Some of the quotations Dr. Peale uses (and which it would be wise to memorize) are:

As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!

According to your faith be it unto you.

Faith without works is dead.

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
 

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And so you see there are many varieties of cobwebs-some small, some large, some weak, some strong. Yet if you make an additional listing of your own, and then examine the strands of each cobweb closely, you will find that they are all spun by NMA.

And when you think about it for a while, you will see that the strongest cobweb spun by NMA is the cobweb of inertia. Inertia causes you to do nothing; or, if you are moving in the wrong direction, keeps you from resisting or stopping. You go on and on.

Ignorance is the result of inertia. That which seems logical to the person who is ignorant of the facts or know-how may be illogical to the man who does know. When you make decisions because you refuse to keep an open mind and learn the truth-that is ignorance. And NMA keeps alive and grows fat on ignorance. Eliminate it!

The man with PMA may not know the facts or have the know how. He may not understand. Yet he recognizes the basic premise that truth is truth and is not false regardless of his lack of knowledge or understanding. He therefore endeavors to keep an open mind and to learn. He must base his conclusions what he does know, yet be prepared to change them when he becomes more enlightened.

Will you dare to clear the cobwebs from your thinking? If your answer is "yes," then let Pilot No. 3 guide you as you move forward into Chapter Four. You will be ready to see with an open mind. You will be ready to explore the powers of your mind! And when YOU do-your exploration will lead you to a great discovery. But only you can make it for yourself.

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11
Pilot No. 3
THOUGHTS TO STEER BY

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1. You are what you think. Your thoughts are evaluated by whether your attitude is positive or negative. Take a look at yourself. Are you a good person? If your answer is "yes," then you have good thoughts. Healthy? If so, your thoughts are of health. Wealthy? Your thoughts are of riches. Evil? Your thoughts are evil. Psychosomatically ill? Your thinking makes you so. Poor? Your thoughts are of
poverty.

2. Negative: feelings, emotions, passions-prejudices, beliefs, habits: you clear these mental cobwebs by turning your talisman from NMA to PMA.

3. Keep reason and emotion in proper balance when you make a decision.

4. When you are faced with a problem that involves a misunderstanding with other persons, you must first start with yourself.

5. One word can cause an argument, develop misunderstanding, generate unhappiness and end in misery. One word with PMA, when compared to the same word with NMA, brings opposite effects. One word can bring peace or war, yes or no, love or hate, integrity or dishonesty.

6. Lees start with a meeting of the minds. When Dr. Fosdick brought about a meeting of the minds, the young man himself concluded that he was not an atheist, he did believe in God.

7. Frog legs taught him logic. When you reason by inference, be certain that your major and minor premises are correct.

8. Such all-inclusive, restrictive words as: always-only-never-nothing-every-everyone-no one can't-impossible-either . . .
or: which will you eliminate as premises in reasoning until you are certain that they are correct?

9. Necessity is the word. How can necessity motivate you to succeed? Why does necessity motivate other persons to deceit, fraud and crime?

10. A teen-age problem child: you may know one. But don't give up hope. He may not become a saint. But someday he may make his world and your world a better world to live in.

11. Direct your thoughts; control your emotions; and ordain your destiny! Memorize and repeat frequently the self-motivators quoted from the Bible on page 40.

12. Learn to separate "facts" from fiction. Then learn the difference between important facts and unimportant facts.

DIRECT YOUR THOUGHTS
CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS
AND YOU
ORDAIN YOUR DESTINY!