Rosicrucian Writings Online


The
THOUGHT OF THE MONTH
 
MAKING A NEW START
 
By THE IMPERATOR
[H. Spencer Lewis]

 
[From The Rosicrucian Digest January 1932]
 
 
I AM not going to speak this month about the customary habit of starting the year by turning over a new leaf. I think that it would be well for most of our members to take the book and throw it away instead of turning over a new leaf and start with an entirely new book or new record of life. A new leaf ought to be turned every day and every day of our life should afford us opportunity of improving ourselves and improving conditions around us.
 
As you sit reading this little talk of mine I visualize each one of you in your own home surroundings with an atmosphere around you like the setting of a stage for a play. I do not care what size or shape the room may be or how it is furnished. No matter what it may look like the only difference between your room and any room that can be set on the stage is a matter of footlights. But you have instead of footlights a supreme light coming from above and from all directions that should illuminate you more than footlights, spotlights and sidelights of the most illuminated stage in the world.
 
And just as the stage setting can be changed while the curtain is down and almost any kind of a room or environment created hurriedly between acts, so you are master of your present environment and can change the conditions around you and make them what you will. You are the master not only of the ship and its course but you are the master of everyone concerned with the equipment and appearance of that ship.
 
Certainly, the beginning of the year is a good time to make a new beginning in any direction. Mankind is always prone to seek some excuse for doing anything of a personal nature or that is out of the ordinary. Now you have one of the best excuses in the world for changing some of your habits, some of your customs, and some of your personal characteristics. It is the beginning of a new calendar year. Make a new start along certain lines and see how far you can carry these changes. You will find that the effort is exciting and the results fascinating and profitable.
 
One of the best things that you can put on your calendar for the coming year is the promise to yourself that you will do one kind thing every day. Now that does not mean running out to the street corner and standing and waiting for some crippled person or blind person to come by so that you can help him across the street nor does it mean buying a loaf of bread and taking it to some poor family. It means keeping your eyes and ears open throughout the course of each day, and when there is an opportunity to compliment someone or congratulate or praise someone for something he has done or is about to do, then do so with a smile and with a tone of conviction in your voice.
 
Make it your business to give someone a little uplift, a little boost, a little joy each day, no matter how you do it. Five cents given to a street urchin or telling your newsboy who sells you the paper to keep the change, will bring a smile and a little joy. Talking kindly to someone around you to whom you generally express a grouch will probably shock the heavens and convince them that the world is becoming better. Let loose the real self within you and throw yourself in harmony with all the rest of the universe by spreading some constructive thoughts, some helping thoughts, among those whom you contact occasionally or otherwise between each sunrise.
 
And make up your mind that this year is to be the biggest promotion year you have ever had. AMORC is planning to make 1932 the greatest year in its history so far as propaganda is concerned. During the past few months we have started many innovations and many improvements, and we have spent more sums of money in trying to help others and in advancing the idea of Rosicrucianism than we ever spent during so-called prosperous years. We have realized that because of the depression and general economic conditions more is expected of those who can give and we have added to our facilities for spreading Light, Life, and Love. You should start some propaganda for yourself just as though you were going to build up a new and different reputation among all your friends and acquaintances, or just as though you had moved recently into a new town and have to make yourself known in the most favorable light.
 
Try to impress everyone with the fact that you are more happy, more optimistic, more hopeful, than you have ever been. Then in the silence and in the privacy of your own life make up your mind that you are going to have your hopes and optimism realized. Go out and fight for your happiness as the Irishman, who said he would have peace even if he had to fight for it. The hour is at hand when the new generation is going to exert itself and show what it wants. You should join them in every locality and make next year the most helpful year in your life and the lives of others.
   

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