All temptation comes from within.

MEN fail to conquer, and the fight is indefinitely prolonged, because they labour, almost universally, under two delusions: first that all temptations come from without; and second, that they are tempted because of their goodness. Whilst a man is held in bondage by these delusions, he will make no progress; when he has shaken them off, he will pass on rapidly from victory to victory, and will taste of spiritual joy and rest.

The source and cause of all temptation is in the inward desire; that being purified and eliminated, outward objects and extraneous powers are utterly powerless to move the soul to sin or to temptation. The outward object is merely the occasion of the temptation, never the cause; this is in the desire of the one tempted.

A man is tempted because there are certain desires or states of mind which he has come to regard as unholy.

James Allen

Lack of thoroughness

The cause of the common lack of thoroughness lies in the thirst for pleasure.

EVERY employer of labour knows how difficult it is to find men and women who will put thought and energy into their work, and do it completely and satisfactorily. Bad workmanship abounds. Skill and excellence are acquired by few. Thoughtlessness, carelessness, and laziness are such common vices that it should cease to appear strange that, in spite of "social reform", the ranks of the unemployed should continue to swell, for those who scamp their work today will, another day, in the hour of deep necessity, look and ask for work in vain.

The law of "the survival of the fittest" is not based on cruelty, it is based on justice; it is one aspect of that divine equity which everywhere prevails. Vice is "beaten with many stripes"; if it were not so, how could virtue be developed? The thoughtless and lazy cannot take precedence of, or stand equally with, the thoughtful and industrious.

The mind that is occupied with pleasure cannot also be concentrated upon the perfect performance of duty.

James Allen

Doing little things

Thoroughness consists in doing little things as though they were the greatest things in the world.

THAT the little things of life are of primary importance is a truth not generally understood and the thought that little things can be neglected, thrown aside, or slurred over is at the root of that lack of thoroughness which is so common, and which results in imperfect work and unhappy lives.
When one understands that the great things of the world and of life consists of a combination of small things, and that without this aggregation of small things, the great things would be non-existent, then he begins to pay careful attention to those things which he formerly regarded as insignificant.

He who acquires the quality of thoroughness becomes a man of usefulness and influence.
James Allen

Will-power

Without strength of mind, nothing worthy of accomplishment can be done.

THE cultivation of that steadfastness and stability of character which is commonly called "will-power" is one of the foremost duties of man, for its possession is essentially necessary both to his temporal and external well-being. Fixedness of purpose is at the root of all successful efforts, whether in things worldly spiritual, and without it man cannot be otherwise than wretched, and dependent upon others for that support which should be found within himself.

The true path of will-cultivation is only to be found in the common everyday life of the individual, and so obvious and simple is it that the majority, looking for something complicated and mysterious, pass it by unnoticed.

The direct and only way to greater strength is to assail and conquer weaknesses.

James Allen

Problem of evil

Man is responsible only for his own deeds; he is the custodian of his own actions.

THE "problem of evil" subsists in a man's own evil deeds, and it is solved when those deeds are purified. Says Rousseau:
"Man, seek no longer the origin of evil; thou thyself art its origin."
Effect can never be divorced from cause; it can never be of a different nature from cause. Emerson says:
"Justice postponed; a perfect equity adjusts the balance in all parts of life."
And there is a profound sense in which cause and effect are simultaneous, and form one perfect whole. Thus, upon the instant that a man thinks, say, a cruel deed, that same instant he has injured his own mind; he is not the same man he was the previous instant; he is a little viler and a little more unhappy; and a number of successive thoughts and deeds would produce a cruel and wretched man.

An immediate nobility and happiness attend the thinking of a kind thought, or doing a kind deed.