Claude Bristol was a hard-headed
journalist for several years, including stints as a police reporter and as
church editor of a large city newspaper. In this post he met
people from every denomination and sect, and later read hundreds of books on
psychology, religion, science, metaphysics and ancient magic. Gradually,
Bristol began to see the 'golden thread' which runs through all religions and
esoteric teachings: that belief itself has amazing powers.
Having
spent years thinking about the power of thought, he had assumed others knew
something about it too. He was wrong. Strangely, he found that most people go
through life without realising the effect that strong belief can have on
reaching their goals - they leave their desires vague and so they get vague
outcomes.
When
Bristol was a soldier in World War One, there was a period in which he had no
pay and couldn't even afford cigarettes. He made up his mind that when he got
back to civilian life "he would have a lot of money". In his mind
this was a decision, not a wish. Barely a day had passed after his arrival back
home when he was contacted by a banker who had seen a story on him in the local
newspaper. He was offered a job, and though he started on a small salary, he
constantly kept before him 'a mental picture of wealth'. In quiet moments or
while on the telephone, he doodled '$$$' signs on bits of paper that crossed
his desk. This definiteness of belief, he suggests, more than anything else
paved the way for a highly successful career in investment banking and
business.
Bristol
had learned the truth of philosopher William James' statement that "Belief
creates its verification in fact". Just as fearful thoughts set you up to
experience the situation you can't stop thinking about (the Biblical Job said:
'What I feared most had come upon me'), optimistic thoughts and expecting the
best inevitably form favourable circumstances.
Belief
and destiny
Napoleon
was given a star sapphire when he was a boy, accompanied by the prophecy that
it would bring him good fortune and make him Emperor of France. Napoleon
accepted this as fact, and therefore to him at least, his rise was inevitable.
Bristol
tells the intriguing story of Opal Whiteley, the daughter of an Oregon logger,
who believed herself to be the daughter of Henri d'Orleans, a Bourbon with a
claim to be King of France. There was a diary purportedly written by her
describing her royal parents, although most believed it to be a hoax.
Nevertheless, when Opal was in her twenties she was spotted in India, being
pulled along regally in a carriage belonging to the Maharaja of Udaipur; it
turned out she was living in the royal household. An Oregan newspaper man who
had known Opal in her childhood remarked: "It was uncanny, almost
supernatural, the manner in which circumstances suited themselves to her
plans."
This
brings us to the book's strongest message: that virtually anything can be
yours, and you can be anything, if you are able to develop a 'knowing' about it
that you don't ever need to question. Of Napoleon and Alexander the Great,
Bristol says, "They became supermen because they had supernormal
beliefs". Your belief about yourself and your place in the world is
arguably the major determinant of success.
The
subconscious servant
If you
can understand the relationship between the conscious and the subconscious
minds, Bristol says, you will get to the core of belief power. The subconscious
constantly works to express our deepest beliefs and desires. It is a faithful
servant which renews, guides and inspires, but to get the most from it requires
greater respect for and faith in what it can do. Because the subconscious
operates in terms of imagery, it is vital that we feed it mental pictures of
what we desire. It can then go to work in 'living up to' the image placed
before it, by giving us intuitions about what to do, where to go, who to meet.
Somehow,
the subconscious is connected to all other minds, and through the law of
radiation and attraction it can attract events and people to you that will
assist in making your dreams reality. However, it will only find ways to make
the image real if that image is clear and convincing - hence the importance of
the mental pictures of success you feed it. The force of belief cannot really
work in our favour until the belief becomes literally part of us, settled in
the subconscious mind as a fact.
Projecting
thought and belief
Bristol
notes that all the great electrical scientists - Edison, Steinmetz, Tesla,
Marconi - were interested in telepathy. It was not ridiculous to them that
thoughts could move through the air, that thoughts alone could affect things
if, like a good radio signal, they were strong and clear.
Bristol
borrows from New Thought principles to suggest that there is intelligence in
everything that exists in the universe and that we are all linked up by a kind
of universal mind; Jung had a similar idea with his 'collective unconscious'.
The force of your belief represents a transmitter to the universe that enters
the minds of other people and even inanimate objects. The more powerful your
'broadcast', the more likely that the world will pick it up and react
accordingly. It was not impossible, said the astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington,
that the physical laws of the universe could be made subject to human thought,
and modern quantum physics does not rule it out either. Bristol's explanation
is that a person with a strong belief will exist at a certain vibration that
seeks its like in the form of matter. Thus the startling conclusion: you do not
achieve deep felt goals by action alone, but are helped along depending on the
quality and intensity of the belief that they will be achieved.
The
power of suggestion
Charms,
talismans, good-luck pieces of any kind, alone do not bring good fortune,
Bristol says, it is the belief in their efficacy that is powerful. Why do
people chant, repeat affirmations, bang drums or count beads? Repetition is
another way to implant a suggestion into our minds, the 'white magic' which
enables us to turn a wish into an expectation. By ritualising it, by giving it
structure, the idea changes from being a mere wish to being imminent reality.
We give thanks for what is or is about to be. The 'terrific force of thought
repetition', Bristol says, first overcomes reason by acting on our emotions and
then penetrates into the subconscious where it is only a matter of time before
the thought is enacted. This, of course, is the principle behind successful
advertising and propaganda.
Bristol
includes a warning about misuse of the mental technology associated with strong
belief and suggestion: it is a power to be used constructively, not to achieve
dominance. His book is dedicated to 'independent thinkers of all times' who
wish to use belief for creative, life-affirming ends. He talks much of the
power of belief to physically heal, for instance.
Final
word
The
Magic of Believing
is rambling and its references are dated; you may find yourself saying 'get to
the point'. Some readers will also be turned off by the unscientific nature of
the book, yet the strange thing about it is that it can reveal more to you on
second, third or fourth readings. Bristol knew, after all, that ancient
esoteric writings were often purposely opaque to shield their secrets from the
uninitiated or those who might abuse them. You may not love reading this book,
but just having it around could serve as a valuable reminder of the power of
belief.
It
may also be difficult to stomach some of this 'mind stuff' as the author calls
it. He himself was sceptical, but then realised that we all summon the magic of
believing when we desperately want something to come into being. The show
pianist Liberace was said to have turned his life around after reading The Magic of Believing.
In a chapter on 'Women and the science of belief', Bristol evokes the names of
Marie Curie, Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science), Florence
Nightingale, Harriet Beecher Stow (author of Uncle
Tom's Cabin) and actess Angela Lansbury as examples of people who
drew upon the power of believing to achieve great things. Lansbury told an
interviewer, "[W]hen you've learned how to draw on your subconscious
powers, there's really no limit to what you can accomplish". The mental
powers of these women were tremendous, yet we can develop their same 'belief
intelligence' for our own lives.
