It was a bright sunny day in San Francisco and I was strolling down Market Street. Not having lived in San Francisco very long, I met no one that I know, but it is a friendly city so I enjoyed the sunshine. The streets were not crowded, so when I passed people I did not have to scuffle and slide by those I passed.

Unconsciously I cam up close behind a lady, close to her, within several feet, when she turned suddenly and looked directly at me. I had made no sound walking, as I had on rubber soled-shoes; and there were the other sounds around me, the shuffling and clicking of heels, which were all so natural and would not attract anyone’s attention on a busy street.

I walked on down the street wondering at the directness of the look, and tried to remember if I had seen this lady before. No, I was sure I had not. I also remembered having had this happen before. Surely this has happened to you many times -- maybe you have not questioned it.

This incident of mine on Market Street is a perfect example of the unconscious transfer of the vibration of one person’s atmosphere into another person’s atmosphere, when the two atmospheres intermesh or come in contact with one another.

The foreign vibration of one transferring or being felt by the other tells the person there is a stranger around. How does it do it? Well, it acts just like having an infra-red lamp turned on your back or any other place where you did not see the source of the light, but felt it. This is done through the electro-magnetic field of one person being picked up by the other.

Let us take another example of this function of the atmosphere. Have you ever interviewed people for jobs or work where they will be going to play a certain part in a company, or church, in which you are working?

A man stands before me; we have never met before. I personally know nothing of the fellow as to his background or history. He came to me for a job -- this is our first interview. I am at my desk. He is standing just in front of it, until he sits down there. Somehow though, there is a personal feeling, an attraction which seems to be stirring inside of me. I like this fellow. Why? He is five-foot-eight, about forty, with more or less nondescript facial features. It is true he looks straight at you, but some people have developed this attitude toward people. He does not have a look of high intelligence, but I like to be near him.

We may size up a person, or try to find out "what makes him tick," who may live in the same club or hotel or apartment house. Each person thinks, at least subconsciously. Thinking is a process which produces and causes electrical waves of vibration -- electromagnetic waves -- to radiate from the brain and physical body. Whether we know it or not, this is a scientific fact. It also is a fact that as we think we build up in space around the physical body a vibratory pattern which we call man’s atmosphere (and it really is).

The description above is the nature of your personal atmosphere which is felt or sensed consciously or unconsciously by those we meet, and with whom we associate. This is why I liked to be near the young man on our first interview.

This is your atmosphere and every day in every way you are forming your atmosphere (and what will be in it) through which people must approach you -- also all the things that you will experience, and by this we mean the people you are going to draw to you. Then there are the things such as money, houses, cars, clothes, etc. And the things that put you in touch with these whether they can be accepted in your body -- that is, aside from their chemical content. Then we have our personal reaction to colors which are entirely our own reaction to them, for each person even sees colors differently. This has been proven in the selection of shades of colors by several people, and then calibrating their selection on a machine which has no past to affect its decision.

This atmosphere is also part of your protective mechanism in this atomic age, with the fallout of atom bombs and all of the other changes that are taking place.

This atmosphere is formed from your thinking, reactions to things that happen in this life of yours and its events, as well as those things you bring over from the last lifetime. There is also a certain amount of the pre-natal period experience which goes to make up some of your atmosphere, and which reflects in the soul thinking.

Thinking and action -- the conscious or unconscious acceptance of these and other things such as race, religion, national philosophy, childhood events, environment, etc. Form part of the thinking pattern and acceptance which changes your atmosphere. Let us not forget the real name of that which affects most of our thinking, mass mind, which is the composite pattern of what society wants to accept -- also wants us to accept, true or untrue -- as they say, "hook, line and sinker."

These all go to make up your atmosphere, or, as some think of it, your nature; but really it is the atmosphere around your body, as the air we breathe is part of the atmosphere of the earth. A person versed in astrology believes this atmosphere is determined at the hour of birth. Let us say here that the stars impel or make easier to happen, but do not compel, as man has free choice.

In short, a tide of circumstances first met you, through incidents of many lives. And thus entering this life cycle, you have a certain amount of things which go to setting up certain potential reactions -- a part of a predetermined pattern of know causes and action which also necessitates some thinking in the general understanding of life and what you are relating to, such as money, work, morals, etc., in whatever vein of thought or action your karma lies, in order for these things to be possible to appear in your life.

Jesus asked the people to "Repent and forsake their sins." The base word of repent, if you will stop and think -- the word pent means "stored or confined within a certain boundary". The prefix "re" means to reverse the action or in this case, to release. Thus to "Repent and forsake their sins" is to release and leave behind their errors and not to continue to carry them along through life. Some people will tell you, "It is a pretty heavy load I carry," and so they struggle on in their martyr pose. For you are a recipient of the present-day martyr complex if you do this.

This is not predestination, but depends on the action which is within your power to change and control. It is within the power of every person to do the right, wrong, or negative thing. All of these go into making up your atmosphere through which filter all sound, thought and reactions, through which the power of God manifests in your life. It determines what shall come into your life, as the God Force will be patterned in accord with the contents of your atmosphere and your acceptance.

Therefore, every person builds his own atmosphere through his thinking, action, the words he speaks or thinks, and previous action. This is what is generally thought of as his individuality, but is a lot more potent and serious in its far-reaching effect. It is your atmosphere -- your personal universe.

If this were the only truth connected with the subject, it would be of little concern or interest now to continue along with this line of study. With a correct understanding of the Universal function of the teachings of Jesus, and many of the other Great Masters, one may change his or her entire life.

Let us go further with our idea of education in terms of specialization as they do in colleges today -- to discipline memory, and train minds to follow one specific groove or line of science. It is true some certain subjects, such as a language, mathematics and history are taken by all. But are our students taught to think? Then because the student being turned out is so highly specialized in certain subjects and because our technology has reached out into visual space, we are apt to deceive ourselves in thinking and learning of twenty years ago, and that this method should give us a brighter future for our nation as a people. But was this training for the good of all, or was it for the benefit of a few, special privileged persons?

The real good of a man to himself and the good of the community and his country is what his atmosphere along with the others’ atmospheres will create as a nation, as a world. What comes through the masses of independent atmospheres thus becomes the mass mind which controls the thinking and has control of the masses and what they accept; also the acceptance of a thing such as the laws we ask our law-makers to pass, to control our movements, our associations with others, as to being right or wrong.

Then there are the unwritten laws of our societies in different countries. These laws are really not legal but they are the ones which say you send a card of thanks to your hostess after spending a pleasant evening in her home; also the many other business ethics which are generally observed they are accepted by the masses and therefore become part of the mass mind. But because these are accepted does not mean that they are right or wrong according to the Great Creator’s Law and Order of the Universe. Then this pattern of forces becomes the ever-impounding influence on the sub-conscious mind, whether you know it or not. This is what people must free themselves of in order to freely work with the Law and gain the God Consciousness.

It is very much like putting oneself in a huge sphere made of a transparent plastic -- the plastic being of paper thickness, which has been treated in a way to allow just certain light rays to pass through. This would be similar to the use of a filter on your camera. When a person wishes to take a picture on a bright day, or if he is interested in bringing out certain details in a picture, he uses a certain type of filter. In other words, only certain waves of light can pass through because of the filter, thus certain things in the picture will be stronger and others weaker. The filter is your atmosphere.

The question then, is, "What kind of atmosphere has the college built in the student’s personal atmosphere?" The college itself certainly has its own atmosphere in which the student remains for four years; and the teachers and teaching body have their atmosphere -- the pattern which has been set for teaching and the repetition of the teaching material -- these all go to build a distinct pattern. All of these have decided effect on the atmosphere.

Also, the nature of the atmosphere is determined by the response to pattern of itself and its motivation. In other words, this atmosphere will determine what a student will be able to conceive when he is ready to go to work -- conceiving the fundamental ideas for his company or employer for which he is being presumably hired as an Engineer, a Scientist, a Designer, or a Salesman.

The question in my mind is: If the student leaves college taking with him his new atmosphere, is he going to hold out any and all theories which were not commonly accepted by his college in the books which formed the course of study to which his atmosphere is now attuned at this time? Will he hold out new ideas not taught in the text he has studied? Is he not simply adrift on a sea of non-correlative and unscientific thought? By unscientific thought we mean contrary to the Laws of Nature of God, for after all, are we not functioning in the Mind of God and is not this Universe a manifestation of the Great Creative Mind of this Solar System?

Therefore, anything that does not take into consideration the Great Creative Force of the Universe -- can it have a positive functional lasting good? Anything that is not working positively for the evolving creation of God -- how can it live and last in the mind of God as a living science?

Now don’t look around and say that all this murder and evil, or negative action, has lasted for thousands of years. Remember that this time element is only a man-made point of consciousness.

Is there a safe anchorage to be found for this new worker? Does he have the tools to cope with this unspecialized world or God in which he must live and create? Let us see if he can start out and use what he has attained in school or must he re-adjust himself to the unknowns of the research group and what we call experience?

This atmosphere of his -- the atmosphere of all of us, whether we go to college or to no school at all -- is of the greatest importance. It is a mighty reality and through its vibrations must come the things that you are to receive. Though it is not understood by most people now, in this new age it will be taught as a fundamental part of the mental science. Undoubtedly it will be taught in more scientific terms, but he will have solved the problem of living. Its existence is as real as the noonday sun. We feel it every time we mingle with people. It sometimes attracts people good or bad -- sometimes it repels. Sometimes its reactions are felt stronger than other times. It is the medium of two lovers. If you want a man in your life, put one there -- the one that would be right for you or the one that you want; but you cannot accept a mate and reject this mate at the same time, as some have tried to do. Just as long as he is not already spoken for, he will come to you. He will also stay if you are capable of measuring up to this man of your dreams. This holds true with anything -- be sure you are adequate to be with, use or afford whatever the item may be.

When recognizing an unfavorable atmosphere surrounding a friend or associate, we attempt to change it. As a rule the results of such an attempt have been a failure; also the cause of much bad blood between people. In the first place it is not the other’s atmosphere that needs changing, but ours. Even though we recognize ours should be changed we usually declare, "Well, this is just me so I guess it will remain that way."

This subject has a far-reaching charm that reaches into the Holy of Holies of each and every person, for secretly 90% of the people alive have experienced one or another of these reactions, the sensing of the other fellow’s atmosphere, or a psychic manifestation of some sort.

You are not crazy because you function the way God made you. Let a person declare he is ill and he is sure to have what he wants. Let one declare repeatedly and openly, as he has, has inability to control his own atmosphere, and his whole existence evidences proof of his effort to do that very thing.

Does not the very fact that you entertain this thought lead you to ask the question, "Why should I want to even think about changing my atmosphere?" If you have not been successful in controlling this atmosphere of yours perhaps there is a deeper motivation, a deeper desire.

Again, some people have succeeded in their work of changing their atmosphere. Do we not all know people whose atmosphere has been wholly changed -- so much so that we were surprised, feeling almost they were not our former friend but some former reincarnation of theirs? How they accomplished this has been explained in many ways. We listen to the many versions but somehow the stories do not bring conviction; perhaps we are pretty well informed in the general knowledge of life. Where is the trouble?

Is all knowledge institutional? Is it that the logic of intellect ever refuses to light the way, or shed light from the source -- The Master Within? If so, we must recognize a higher guide than intellect to find the truth. Are you afraid of God? In order that we will not be confused, let us start out from this moment forward with a basic infallible Law that will lift the clouds and stop the wavering from one side of the road to the other, regardless as to whether we are Protestant, Catholic, Jew or Mohammedan. Here it is:

Man controls his own atmosphere, absolutely and without exception.

To prove this we leave the logic of school behind, at least insofar as logic being only applicable to the seen world. We must look within. We enter the throbbing silence of the intuitional with a conscious knowledge of the life-pulse all through us. One cannot refuse to do so, because the statement of our proposition makes it self-evident that Man cannot refer to the man as seen in your mirror, or the flesh alone. What you will see will be an outcropping of the cause of what and how you built your atmosphere.

Don’t forget, you can only see what can come through the filter of your atmosphere. This inner being is the impersonality of one’s own being; it is his unseeable -- it is the ego and should made manifest; it is eternal.

Man Controls Through His Choice

This means the true balance with the will made manifest. Thus the true Ego and Will have a way of their own on what the mind accepts, and the Great Creator or Creative Power of the Universe brings into material being, into your See (Visible) World - God made manifest!

Knowledge of power must precede the ability to use the power intelligently. These statements being true, this raises a question: How little does our conscious self know of the real Self within? This is a matter of the expanding consciousness of man, but we cannot discuss it here, for the purpose of this book is to lead the student to know his Power -- not to marvel why he has not known it before -- which he will.

It is true that many have learned of a seeming other God self to which they could appeal. They did not know the open scientific way to the reservoir of wisdom within; they guessed, and happily, guessed well sometimes.

In these days of power, atomic and other forms of natural power, the return of the Christ Consciousness, the new world, the appeal for facts and the need of true balance, the student demands demonstration. It is right that he does. It is well to make note here that the person might even have knowledge of his power and not exercise it. Knowledge of it may give courage and yet all this does not get the work done.

You may know you can learn German because of your acquaintance and discipline in languages, other than the first one acquired at your mother’s knee, but such knowledge alone without practice and technique of speech does not give a mastery of even the simplest phrase of German. Reason: from past experience in study of language you know what the results will be with faithful work and practice on your part, under the direction of a master teacher in that tongue.

All that reasoning is simple in learning a language. Now how far does it help us in the demonstration attempt? If we can control nothing without the knowledge of the power to be controlled, then this knowledge must precede the use of the power.

From where and whom shall such knowledge be gained? We turn to the Masters of the East and read the marvels done by them and still being done, and yet the story of their unfoldment is hard to reveal to the Western mind.

We look about us, hear of some shining examples of Mastery of self -- also of victory won in attaining consciousness by men who could only see to read the bright lights of the advertising. With this hope above the limitless path of "I can," these men have attained their goals. They have touched that one thing which is Humility; a state of humility that gave them the use of their power -- this power working through them. This is every man and woman.

But this is not a scientific approach and puts one in a state of confusion with indefinite ways to proceed to use of power. It is more a sense of blind faith; nevertheless they won, and this is not to be discounted.

The mind of this modern age of youth is looking for examples of these things which people cannot see or hear with their eyes and ears, to bridge the time/space gap in mind -- to take the work out of living. Is this going to be another time in history when youth shall lead the way as it did in the past?

If ever you were in a railroad accident where you suffered severe shock, have you not noticed that for weeks and months afterwards, upon picking up the paper, any newspaper, your eyes would quickly fall upon any item in it relating to or referring to a railroad happening or event -- perhaps a disaster. It seemed to you that such occurrences were increasing because you were always reading of them. Today we know your eye was directed to the paragraph by the action of the subconscious mind, from a motive in the nature of a warning.

The shock you had received previously made you absolutely still a moment. At that instant the subconscious mind became charged with one thought of enlightening you regarding railroads, whenever it might be on the subject; hence the seeming unconscious action.

The above is good material to build a fear complex into your atmosphere which would limit your freedom. Here too, in knowing of your power through your word, this can be erased.

Here is a demonstration of the fact that in knowing the power accessible throughout words and thought, we must keep all things out of the mind which we do not want to materialize, and be still while the subconscious receives the thoughts or patterns of what we desire. This is going to set up a vibration which will filter out any opposite action from being drawn into our life through our atmosphere.

Here then we find a condition, a state of mind and vibration building into our atmosphere, which has been created by us and nay event. To overcome this vibration in our atmosphere one has only to charge the subconscious mind with thoughts of security and peace.

This may be accomplished in different ways but all use the same basic principle. One of the simplest may be to sit alone 10 minutes a day and hold the thought "I am under complete protection and I am always in perfect harmony with the Universe." Soon the sitter will find that the stories in the newspapers will no longer bring themselves to the attention of himself or God. In the above case, the action which produced the condition was involuntary. The action to change the condition is voluntary and scientific; sometimes called by the religionist treatment, and rightfully so, for you are giving a new vibration to your atmosphere. Look over your list of friends for a moment and select one whom you have know for years who never gives a complete and frank endorsement of another person. Though he may appear to have marked tact with the praise of the other fellow, he invariably insists on qualifying phrases by way of criticism. Gradually you observed you could not come into his atmosphere without being treated to a budget of criticism of others.

The others might be friends, or might be public characters more or less well known. Your friend has learned to pride himself on his wonderful ability to discern faults quickly in those whom he meets.

Soon all his friends know what to expect when they come into his atmosphere.

They too find that within it they are likely to supplement him on the same lines; they too become fault finders. The effect of this on the one who created the atmosphere about himself is to intensify his bitterness, until even they who once listened willingly now withdraw from an atmosphere that has become too oppressive for them to breathe. No one would think it fair to lay this condition to the stars or to environment.

This fault finding is the surest way I know of creating headaches of all kinds and a lack of life force, because the person is rejecting another part of God when he rejects his brother Man.

Many of you will be able to recall a boy who in his early childhood experienced poverty and who, in boyhood, experienced a firm desire to go to college. If a little later that desire became a declared resolve, soon all avenues would open up to fulfill that desire. That desire and resolve created an atmosphere which attracted the force necessary to draw to him the things needed to attain the purpose of the young lad.

Many of these young men will tell us that as long as they were consistent and were taking every opportunity and never lost sight of their goal, help came unsought to get them on their way.

With a little reflection, illustrations will present themselves by the score as the causes that may produce this or that atmosphere. This is in accordance with our statement "Man controls his own atmosphere absolutely and without exception."

The foregoing now shows that your atmosphere is a product of your thought that makes it what it is, and thought work alone can change it. Although it be true that conditions are started as we have seen -- sometimes without any apparent "willing them to be," let us not forget, whether it be the acts and thought of this life span or the last life, or the things that we have stored up in mind before, you are still in command of the direction of the Creative Power of the Father within.

Remember what Emerson said: "Will is always miraculous, being the presence of God to men. When it appears in man he is a hero and all metaphysics are at fault. Heaven is the exercise of the faculties, the added sense of power."

The atmosphere that marks the strong individuality is universally ceded to be the product of the invisible emanation of thought centered on ideas.

Our proposition as to control of power now reduces itself to this: if we ourselves are master of our apparatus, we know we can control our thoughts and thus dictate the type of atmosphere we are going to maintain in our life -- meaning both the material and spiritual living and development we acquire.

Thus we see that our atmosphere is not a mythical principle but a space and time continuum around us, into which we pour the thinking and speech of our living, thus building up a live dynamic force field which is constantly changing as we might change our thinking patterns, and it will or will not permit certain things to come into our lives which we desire or do not desire, according to the thing we have set in our atmosphere.