“The Resolute Will”

Energy of will—self-originating force—is the soul of every great character. Where it is, there is life; where it is not, there is faintness, helplessness, and despondency. We get out of life just what we put into it. The world has for us just what we have for it. It is a mirror which reflects the faces we make.Weak men wait for opportunities, strong men make them.

Among the oft-quoted maxims in our language there is none finer, or more replete with sterling truth, than that which often falls so lightly from men's lips: Adhere there is a will, there is a way." He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we are able, is almost to be so—to determine upon attainment, is frequently attainment itself.

The fact that mountains so often dwindle into molehills when we once resolutely determine to cross them, shows that, after every allowance for extraordinary cases, the old Saxon law is still true generally, and that he who intensely wills to do a thing will find a way. An intense desire itself transforms possibility into reality. Our wishes are but prophecies of the things we are capable of performing; while, on the other hand, the timid, feeble-willed man finds everything impossible because he believes it to be so.

He who resolves upon any great end, by that very resolution has sealed the great barriers to it, and he who seizes the grand idea of self-cultivation, and solemnly resolves upon it, will find that idea, that resolution, burning like fire within him, and ever putting him upon his own improvement. He will find it removing difficulties, searching out, or making means; giving courage for despondency, and strength for weakness.

Nearly all great men, those who have towered high above their fellowman, have been remarkable above all things else for their energy of will. Of Julius Caesar it was said by a contemporary that it was his activity and giant determination, rather than his military skill, that won his victories. The youth who starts out in life determined to make the most of his eyes and let nothing escape him which he can possibly use for his own advancement; who keeps his ears open for every sound that can help him on his way, who keeps his hands open that he may clutch every opportunity, who is ever on the alert for everything which can help him to get on in the world, who seizes every experience in life and grinds it up into paint for his great life's picture, who keeps his heart open that he may catch every noble impulse, and everything which may inspire him—that youth will be sure to make his life successful; there are no "ifs" or "ands" about it.

A resolute determination is desire plus expectation; for some reason, whether we can explain it to ourselves or not, we believe, but more, we know that sometime, somewhere, our dream is coming true. If the ground of our expectation be destroyed, then with it, but not till then, our determination dies.

History is full of examples of men and women who

have redeemed themselves from disgrace, poverty, and misfortune by a resolute determination. The consciousness of being looked upon as inferior, as incapable of accomplishing what others accomplish; the sensitiveness at being considered a dunce in school, has stung many a youth into a determination which has elevated him far above those who laughed at him, as in the case of Newton, Wellington, Goldsmith, Disraeli, Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Robert Fulton, and hundreds of others.

"Whatever you wish, that you are; for such is the force of the human will, joined to the Divine, that whatever we wish to be seriously, and with a true intention, that we become."

"If a man desires to develop himself along any line whatsoever," said Dr. J. Herman Randall, "the secret of his ultimate success will be found in this, that he has the determination and persistency to live constantly in the presence of his supreme ambition. When the conscious mind can see clearly the kind of power and mental force required, and impresses that idea upon the subconscious, with the deepest and strongest desire for its realization, the impression thus made will call forth, in time, the power and intelligence required.

"The law is this: 'The sub-conscious will respond with the exact quantity and quality, that you were conscious of, or that you mentally discerned, at the time the impression was made.' It is, therefore, extremely important to elevate the conscious mind into the largest and most superior states of thought and feeling possible, before the effort is made to impress the sub-conscious. Thus to live constantly in the deep interior feeling of greater power, greater intelligence, greater personal worth and greater mental brilliancy, is to constantly call upon the sub-conscious to produce these things in ever larger measure."