They see mighty forces in operation—­mighty principles being worked out by those who little dream of the ultimate significance of that which they are doing.  Mighty things are before the Western world to-day—­wonderful changes are going on—­great things are in the womb of time, and the hour of birth draws near.  The men and women in the Western world feel within them the mighty urge to “accomplish” something—­to take an active part in the great drama of life.  And they are right in giving full expression to this urge, and are doing well in using every legitimate means in the line of expression.  And this idea of the Mental Attitude, or the Mental Image, is one of the greatest factors in this striving for Success.

In this lesson we do not purpose giving “Success Talks” for our students.  These lessons are intended to fill another field, and there are many other channels of information along the lines named.  What we wish to do is to point out to our students the meaning of all this strenuous striving of the age, in the Western world, and the leading principle employed therein.  The great achievements of the material world are being accomplished by means of the Power of the Mind.  Men are beginning to understand that “Thought manifests itself in Action,” and that Thought attracts to itself the things, persons and circumstances in harmony with itself.  The Power of Mind is becoming manifest in hundreds of ways.  The power of Desire, backed by Faith and Will, is beginning to be recognized as one of the greatest of known dynamic forces.  The life of the race is entering into a new and strange stage of development and evolution, and in the years to come MIND will be seen, more clearly and still more clearly, to be the great principle underlying the world of material things and happenings.  That “All is Mind” is more than a dreamy, metaphysical utterance, is being recognized by the leaders in the world’s thought.

As we have said, great changes are before the world and the race, and every year brings us nearer to the beginning of them.  In fact, the beginning is already upon us.  Let any thinker stop and reflect over the wonderful changes of the past six years—­since the dawning of the Twentieth Century, and he will be dull indeed if he sees not the trend of affairs.  We are entering into a new Great Cycle of the race, and the old is being prepared for being dropped off like an old worn out husk.  Old conventions, ideals, customs, laws, ethics, and things sociological, economical, theological, philosophical, and metaphysical have been outgrown, and are about to be “shed” by the race.  The great cauldron of human thought is bubbling away fiercely, and many things are rising to its surface.  Like all great changes, the good will come only with much pain—­all birth is with pain.  The race feels the pain and perpetual unrest, but knows not what is the disease nor the remedy.  Many false cases of diagnosis and prescription are even now noticeable, and will become still more in evidence as the years roll by.  Many self-styled saviours of the race—­prescribers for the pain of the soul and mind—­will arise and fall.  But out of it all will come that for which the race now waits.