Immoral thoughts place vulgar expressions on the human face divine. And those thoughts begin their defiling process upon the whole being of man. Vulgar thoughts, vulgar stories, immoral emotions and most of all, immoral actions wash the entire body and countenance in a mud bath of filth. And that filth lingers. If such thoughts, emotions and actions become habitual their defilement begins to write its permanent record upon the whole physical being of man.
No man is immune from the results of encouraged evil. No one can escape the results of his thinking and feeling habits. They are the chiseling tools by which faces are molded and carved. The waves of thought vibrations set the pattern the face and body must assume as time goes on. It takes time to mold a human form. It has to grow into the pattern held out to it. And none can escape from the design they themselves select to mold themselves by. The results are as inevitable as the pattern of the night following the day.
Discords, hates, fears, self-pity, greed, dishonesty, any of the perversions, any ugliness of thought and feeling are the carvers of the being of man. A line is etched here, another there, as tissues and muscles begin to sag and crumble before the onslaught of the sculptor's tools. Each individual is his own sculptor, his own constructor, his own engraver. "Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself divine attributes and powers of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beasts. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is his maker and master." (AS A MAN THINKETH -- James Allen). Man is not only the carver of his future but of his face, his figure and his life.
One of the reasons husbands and wives begin to look alike after years of congenial association is because they are in tune to the extent they think the same kind of thoughts.
No matter how exquisitely beautiful a girl may be in her girlhood or how handsome a boy may be in his youth, they can become broken-down, ugly human beings by middle life -- and very often are. Those who have nothing but a pretty face to offer a world will soon lose it unless their thoughts are as beautiful and lovely as their faces. And those who are homely and ugly can become attractive, even beautiful by the use of right thinking.
No matter how beautiful or how handsome, how perfectly formed an individual may be, how attractive and admired when youth still holds its throne, that individual will remold and remodel himself according to the thought patterns permitted to rule in his or her emotions.
There are those who have been very unattractive, even homely, in youth, who become good-looking in middle life. The face of youth is the face bequeathed through a heritage already ascribed to. But that bequest is only as temporary as the clean canvas awaiting the artist's brush, or the blank sheet awaiting the recordings of the scribe. A new, young face is but the plastic, unfinished handiwork of God, awaiting the course and decisions made by the individual himself. A new, young face is but a mass of soft, delicate clay awaiting the engraver's touch. Each individual is the engraver, the sculptor, the artist, the scribe and recorded as he carves and records his very thought. Some are only passing shadows and hence are speedily erased. Other thoughts become deep furrowed through habit and repetition.
Every thought and feeling that is out of harmony with the infinite song of the universe, the joy of love and praise and singing gratitude is sin. As sin begins to leave its mark the signs of age commence.
This is most easily observed in the faces of some movie stars. Their beauty is usually but a swift and passing dream -- a memory. Their handsome faces become too soon a vanishing gift of fading loveliness. For only a few short years they carry the glorified promise of that which was meant to be -- the promise of what was meant to have become permanent if only the higher laws had been fulfilled.
To be a great actor or actress, it is necessary to both think and feel each and every part. It is necessary to actually live them. Each part becomes real -- and that reality is engraved upon the plastic structure of the actor, leaving its indelible mark. If the parts are difficult or evil the individual is the more speedily destroyed. The character actors who take hideous, cruel parts are all short-lived.
The last part Wallace Beery played upon the screen caused his death. It was too intense, too violent and required too much abnormal thinking and feeling to permit Wallace to remain immune to its destructive force. Wallace was a kindly, understanding man with a big heart and he could not long survive the violence of the last parts he portrayed. Every strident word every cruel thought, every abhorrent deed, every strident emotion tore through his own being as he played the game of make believe too seriously. He lived his parts so completely and so convincingly he reaped the results of his own acting.
One of the most difficult and speedily degenerative professions is being a character actor when the parts one is called to play are cruel, ugly and vicious.
Yet the harm of pretending such parts is only secondary to actually being the type of individual who is lustful, greedy, avaricious, cruel, hate-filled, vengeful and completely immoral and wicked.
It is also very harmful for any individual, especially children, to behold a predominance of such plays -- or parts. This is the reason why comic books, which usually aren't funny at all but violent, tragic, vengeful stories of crime and evil, must be outlawed. This is also why violent television programs and violent movies are so injurious and so detrimental.
Any portrayed violence that claims the attention of an individual will leave its mark upon his being. To children, these are not only watched but re-lived -- even though it be in a second-hand way. And in the living, their wide-open minds drink in the vibrations which will begin to transform their very cells and tissues. Even in early childhood the sculptor is at work designing the form age will assume.
At the present day it is utterly impossible to shield an individual from all evil. To do so would not be wise and would accomplish no good at all. It would only make such an individual a "neutral", without his having been permitted to use his free-agency in making his own choice. Such an enforced condition is doubly harmful. Sooner or later one is going to be thrust out upon the battlefield of life to meet its issues, to be tested and tried. Those too shielded are the least prepared for the shock and reality of the battle of life. They are too easily conquered by the evil forces. But to be perfectly fit and prepared for the great testing does not require that one be hurled against extreme violence in infancy or early childhood.
One must meet life's issues in order to make decisions and use his free-agency. He must exert his power to choose in order to become strong and filled with understanding, wisdom and goodness.
Some erroneously believe that because Satan's evils and temptations are placed in man's path at every turn one should participate in every form of transgression in order to comprehend the great issues of life. This idea is not only false but extremely dangerous as well. Willful participation in evil removes all spiritual protection and leaves one completely exposed by his own folly. The idea of participating in transgression willingly, so one may know what it is all about, is one of the most deceptive impositions and insidious mockeries of Satan's destructive designs. And for those who accept his invitation to participate, even slightly, he has the power to glamorize his enticements and his defiling, broken laws.
The more one refrains from evil and temptation, both in thought and action, the stronger he will be and the less hold evil will have upon him.
There is no individual who lives upon this earth who will not have to face the enticings and temptations and the violent influence of darkness and evil until they are completely overcome by man's own progressive advancement. Children who have been too shielded and those who have relied on others to do their thinking for them develop no strength or power with which to resist evil when it is thrust upon them.
All children should be nurtured and cared for, but they should be taught to make their own decisions. Above all they should be TAUGHT TO LOVE. And all children should know the effects of hate and the power of love.
Children are taught vengeance and spite and retaliation almost from birth. The baby falls upon the floor and bumps itself and a doting loved one will hit the floor, saying, "naughty old floor for hurting baby." That, of course, may not be the exact situation or phrasing, but it is the general idea and by it almost every child is taught the harmful trait of revenge, vengeance, against anything and everything that hurts or injures him or stands in his way.
When the human thoughts and emotions can be trained to love, to feel compassion and kindness and to live in happiness, to know joy, then faith will not be far behind.
When peace can be established within a human heart, when love becomes the predominating attribute, the surpassing virtue and when gratitude sings forth in every cell and fiber, then will age be retarded and disease overcome. When that love and praising gratitude become the living reality of one's life youth can be retained. When one's being becomes so imbued with love that it is all his heart or emotions feel, all his soul knows and all his mind ever thinks, the ravages of age and sin will begin to be erased and youth can be reclaimed.
The full wage of sin is death. The intermediate wages of sin are deterioration, wrinkles, old age, illness and ugliness of action, appearance and thought. All of which lead to that grim back door of death.
Every unkind thought leaves a muscle weakened. Every angry word leaves its definite scar. Every thought of fear, envy or hate carves its etchings on the human form divine. Greedy, vengeful, immoral, evil thoughts, thoughts of worry or pain go out through every cell and tissue of the body, marking their trails and constructing their inroads of decay for every other ill and ugliness to follow on their heels.
It is not only necessary to train children to refrain from discords, negatives and anger, but they must also be taught WHY. It is most necessary that all be instructed in the principles of love and joy and the great powers of happiness and peace and how the laws work. As love is harbored, or is, to be more exact, generated in the human heart then sent out through the soul by man's own thought processes, his physical body will not only be renewed but will maintain the gift of eternal youth.
No young person can ever visualize himself or herself changing or growing old any more than the average human being figures on dying. These conditions are not the living concepts which mankind naturally has embedded in its instinctive make-up. Why? Because both old age and death were never intended in the beginning. Both are conditions Lucifer has imposed upon man through his yielding himself to the negative forces and influences of evil.
The first and great commandment fulfills the higher law perfectly and in its entirety. When the heart is opened so the divine Christ-like love can be generated through it, the great power of renewal is placed in the hands of the individual. When that love is sent into every cell, fiber, tissue and nerve of man's being, regeneration commences. When one uses his mind to keep this love forever uppermost, as he reverently and lovingly sends his adoration to God, his mind will begin to be enlightened and his understanding expanded. Then, when the three great forces within man -- heart, soul and mind -- are united with all one's strength, there is released the quickening, spiritual power of divine renewal right from within man's own being. The more one becomes aware of the infinite, ineffable power of this quickening life force within, the more speedily can his own body and face take on the properties of his lost youth. The law is eternal and unfailing. It has been incomprehensible to man only because man has never believed in Christ enough to LIVE the law.
This love is much more than the love of a man for a maid or the love of a maid for a man. This great love for God, which must be perfected, is completely beyond sex or personalities, although those who have been shot by cupid's arrow are much more alive and vibrant than those who are untouched by even this inferior type of personal love. The divine love is all-inclusive. It is as vast as eternity. It cannot be expressed in declamation or in flowery phrases. It is a love as deep as the soul and more real than life itself. This love that is required must be pure and unfeigned. It must be compassionate, tender and undefiled. It must be as far-reaching as the creative love of God. It must become the exclusive allness of those who travel the road of Light and receive of its powers and its renewing, quickening, vibrating glory. The perfect love is the great ONENESS with God.
When any individual lifts his eyes to the higher vision, to the glory of God, his heart expands in exquisite strains of released love. Then, when his mind and strength unite in maintaining these glorious gifts and redevelops them, the evils of his life will be completely overcome. For in this way old age is banished and death conquered. "Oh grave where is thy victory? Oh death, where is thy sting?" These things are overcome in the love of "Christ's redeeming Light, which has been given to abide in every man who cometh into the world".
By such overcoming, sin and death and Satan will be bound and will lose all power. Suffering, old age, ugliness of form and feature, disease and death are the scars of Lucifer's regime. Even these scars can be healed if only one will leave the darkness and step forth into the great Christ Light, triumphant and free.