The Secret and The Law of Attraction

You are the architect of your own life: it is yours to make or to mar.
By the power of thoughts you are building; are you building aright?

Is that the first line from the popular movie "The Secret?" A pearl of wisdom from one of the many sages and teachers Oprah interviewed on tv? Nope, it's the first line from the book The Power of Thought by Henry T. Hamblin whose book on the manifesting power of the mind was published in 1921!

Henry Hamblin wasn't alone in writing about the Law of Attraction and mind power by any means. The power of thought and the power of the mind was a pretty hot topic around the turn of the century…the LAST century, 1900! 

One of the most popular books on the manifesting power of thought was As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, published in 1904. In the Forward, he states:

"THIS little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written-upon subject of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth that--

"They themselves are makers of themselves."

by virtue of the thoughts, which they choose and encourage; that mind is the master-weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness."

(Now, there's a great, holistic way to eliminate stress…use the power of your thoughts to weave it away!)

Mind power was such a popular topic around 1900 that Allen even calls it "the much-written-upon subject." What happened? Why was it largely forgotten for a hundred years?

We will probably never know, but there is certainly no reason not to take advantage of the learning – the new and the old – on the Law Of Attraction available to you now.

Bill Simpson at The Conscious Living Foundation has a spectacular collection of e-books written around the turn of the century on the topic of the power to manifest whatever you put your thoughts and your mind to. From Allen to Wattles, these were the movers and shakers of the Law of Attraction in their time.

Below is a sampling of the titles available for download from the Free Inspirational and Motivational E-Books page at The Conscious Living Foundation. You may search down the page and download each title individually for free, as well as discover other gems of wisdom, or save time and purchase the entire collection (there are so many great titles!) in a few Zip files for a small donation. If you choose to download for free, please consider leaving a donation through PayPal.

Here is a small but representative list of:
Titles, Authors, year published, and available format

As A Man Thinketh, James Allen, 1904, Adobe Acrobat
 Secret of Success, William Walker Atkinson, 1907, MS Word 
Thought Force In Business and Everyday Life, William Walker Atkinson, 1900, MS Word 
Thought Vibration, William Walker Atkinson, 1906, MS Word 
Art and Science of Personal Magnetism, Theron Q Dumont, 1913, MS Word 
Power of Concentration, Theron Q Dumont, 1918, Adobe Acrobat 
The Power of Thought, Henry T. Hamblin, 1921, MS Word 
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill (parts I and II), 1937, Adobe Acrobat 
Thoughts Are Things, Prentice Mulford, 1908, MS Word
 Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles, 1910, MS Word & Adobe Acrobat
 Science of Being Well, Wallace D. Wattles, 1910, Adobe Acrobat

I'll leave you with these words to ponder from the first page of Thought Vibration by William Walker Atkinson, 1906:

"The Law of Attraction in the Thought World"

"THE Universe is governed by Law - one great Law. Its manifestations are multiform, but viewed from the Ultimate there is but one Law. We are familiar with some of its manifestations, but are almost totally ignorant of certain others. Still we are learning a little more every day - the veil is being gradually lifted.

"We speak learnedly of the Law of Gravitation, but ignore that equally wonderful manifestation, THE LAW OF ATTRACTION IN THE THOUGHT WORLD. We are familiar with that wonderful manifestation of Law which draws and holds together the atoms of which matter is composed - we recognize the power of the law that attracts bodies to the earth, that holds the circling worlds in their places, but we close our eyes to the mighty law that draws to us the things we desire or fear, that makes or mars our lives.

"When we come to see that Thought is a force - a manifestation of energy - having a magnet-like power of attraction, we will begin to understand the why and wherefore of many things that have heretofore seemed dark to us. There is no study that will so well repay the student for his time and trouble as the study of the workings of this mighty law of the world of Thought - the Law of Attraction."