HOW TO HAVE CONSTANT ENERGY

A MAJOR-LEAGUE baseball pitcher once pitched a game

when the temperature was over one hundred degrees. He lost

several pounds as a result of the afternoon's exertion. At one

stage of the game his energy sagged. His method for

restoring his ebbing strength was unique. He simply repeated

a passage from the Old Testament—"But they that wait upon

the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with

wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they

shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

Frank Hiller, the pitcher who had this experience, told me

that reciting this verse on the pitcher's mound actually gave

him a renewal of strength so that he was able to complete the

game with energy to spare. He explained the technique by

saying, "I passed a powerful energy-producing thought

through my mind."

How we think we feel has a definite effect on how we

actually feel physically. If your mind tells you that you are

tired, the body mechanism, the nerves, and the muscles

accept the fact. If your mind is intensely interested, you can

keep on at an activity indefinitely. Religion functions

through our thoughts, in fact, it is a system of thought

discipline. By supplying attitudes of faith to the mind it can

increase energy. It helps you to accomplish prodigious

activity by suggesting that you have ample support and

resources of power.

A friend in Connecticut, an energetic man, full of vitality and

vigor, says that he goes to church regularly to "get his

batteries recharged." His concept is sound. God is the source

of all energy—energy in the universe, atomic energy,

electrical energy, and spiritual energy; indeed every form of energy derives from the Creator. The Bible emphasizes this

point when it says, "He giveth power to the faint; and to

them that have no might he increaseth strength." (Isaiah

40:29)

In another statement the Bible describes the energizing and

reenergizing process: "...in Him we live (that is, have

vitality), and move (have dynamic energy), and have our

being (attain completeness)." (Acts 17:28)

Contact with God establishes within us a flow of the same

type of energy that re-creates the world and that renews

springtime every year. When in spiritual contact with God

through our thought processes, the Divine energy flows

through the personality, automatically renewing the original

creative act. When contact with the Divine energy is broken,

the personality gradually becomes depleted in body, mind,

and spirit. An electric clock connected with an outlet does

not run down and will continue indefinitely to keep accurate

time. Unplug it, and the clock stops. It has lost contact with

the power flowing through the universe. In general this

process is operative in human experience though in a less

mechanical manner.

A number of years ago I attended a lecture at which a

speaker asserted before a large audience that he had not been

tired in thirty years. He explained that thirty years before he

had passed through a spiritual experience in which by self-

surrender he had made contact with Divine power. From then

on he possessed sufficient energy for all of his activities, and

these were prodigious. He so obviously illustrated his

teachings that everyone in that vast audience was profoundly

impressed.

To me it was a revelation of the fact that in our

consciousness we can tap a reservoir of boundless power as a

result of which it is not necessary to suffer depletion of

energy. For years I have studied and experimented with the ideas which this speaker outlined and which others have

expounded and demonstrated, and it is my conviction that the

principles of Christianity scientifically utilized can develop

an uninterrupted and continuous flow of energy into the

human mind and body.

These findings were corroborated by a prominent physician

with whom I was discussing a certain man whom we both

know. This man, whose responsibilities are very heavy,

works from morning until night without interruption, but

always seems able to assume new obligations. He has the

knack of handling his work easily and with efficiency.

I commented to the physician that I hoped this man was not

setting a dangerous pace that might possibly lead to a

breakdown. The physician shook his head. "No," he replied,

"as his physician I do not think there is any danger of a

crack-up, and the reason is that he is a thoroughly well-

organized individual with no energy leaks in his make-up.

He operates a well-regulated machine. He handles things

with easy power and carries burdens without strain. He never

wastes an ounce of energy, but every effort is applied with

maximum force."

"How do you account for this efficiency, this seemingly

boundless energy?" I asked.

The physician studied for a moment. "The answer is that he

is a normal individual, emotionally well integrated, and,

what is more important, he is a soundly religious person.

From his religion he has learned how to avoid drainage of

power. His religion is a workable and useful mechanism for

preventing energy leaks. It is not hard work that drains off

energy but emotional upheaval, and this man is entirely free

from that."

Increasingly people are realizing that the maintenance of a

sound spiritual life is important in enjoying energy and personality force.

The body is designed to produce all needed energy over an

amazingly long period of time. If the individual takes

reasonable care of his body from the standpoint of proper

diet, exercise, sleep, no physical abuse, the body will

produce and maintain astonishing energy and sustain itself in

good health. If he gives similar attention to a well-balanced

emotional life, energy will be conserved. But if he allows

energy leaks caused by hereditary or self-imposed emotional

reaction of a debilitating nature, he will be lacking in vital

force. The natural state of the individual when body, mind,

and spirit work harmoniously is that of a continuous

replacement of necessary energy.

Mrs. Thomas A. Edison, with whom I often discussed the

habits and characteristics of her famous husband, the world's

greatest inventive wizard, told me that it was Mr. Edison's

custom to come into the house from his laboratory after

many hours of labor and lie down on his old couch. She said

he would fall asleep as naturally as a child, in perfect

relaxation, sinking into a deep and untroubled slumber. After

three or four, or sometimes five hours he would become

instantly wide awake, completely refreshed, and eager to

return to his work.

Mrs. Edison, in answer to my request that she analyze her

husband's ability to rest in a manner so natural and complete,

said, "He was nature's man," by which she meant that he was

completely in harmony with nature and with God. In him

there were no obsessions, no disorganizations, no conflicts,

no mental quirks, no emotional instability. He worked until

he needed to sleep, then he slept soundly and arose and

returned to his work. He lived for many years, and was in

many respects the most creative mind ever to appear on the

American continent. He drew his energy from emotional

self-mastery, the ability to relax completely. His amazingly harmonious relationship with the universe caused nature to

reveal to him its inscrutable secrets.

Every great personality I have ever known, and I have

known many, who has demonstrated the capacity for

prodigious work has been a person in tune with the Infinite.

Every such person seems in harmony with nature and in

contact with the Divine energy. They have not necessarily

been pious people, but invariably they have been

extraordinarily well organized from an emotional and

psychological point of view. It is fear, resentment, the

projection of parental faults upon people when they are

children, inner conflicts and obsessions that throw off

balance the finely equated nature, thus causing undue

expenditure of natural force.

The longer I live the more I am convinced that neither age

nor circumstance needs to deprive us of energy and vitality.

We are at last awakening to the close relationship between

religion and health. We are beginning to comprehend a basic

truth hitherto neglected, that our physical condition is

determined very largely by our emotional condition, and our

emotional life is profoundly regulated by our thought life.

All through its pages, the Bible talks about vitality and force

and life. The supreme over-all word of the Bible is life, and

life means vitality—to be filled with energy. Jesus stated the

key expression, "...I am come that they might have life, and

that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) This

does not rule out pain or suffering or difficulty, but the clear

implication is that if a person practices the creative and re-

creative principles of Christianity he can live with power and

energy.

The practice ot the above-mentioned principles will serve to

bring a person into the proper tempo of living. Our energies

are destroyed because of the high tempo, the abnormal pace

at which we go. The conservation of energy depends upon getting your personality speed synchronized with the rate of

God's movement. God is in you. It you are going at one rate

and God at another, you are tearing yourself apart. "Though

the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding

small." The mills of most of us grind very rapidly, and so

they grind poorly. When we become attuned to God's rhythm

we develop a normal tempo within ourselves and energy

flows freely.

The hectic habits of this age have many disastrous effects. A

friend of mine commented upon an observation made by her

aged father. He said that in early days when a young man

came courting in the evening he sat with his intended in the

parlor. Time in those days was measured by the deliberate,

ponderous strokes of the grandfather clock, which has a very

long pendulum. It seemed to say, "There—is—plenty—of—

time. There—is—plenty—of—time. There—is—plenty—

of—time." But modern clocks, having a shorter pendulum

with a swifter stroke, seem to say, "Time to get busy! Time

to get busy! Time to get busy! Time to get busy!"

Everything is speeded up, and for that reason many people

are tired. The solution is to get into the time synchronization

of Almighty God. One way to do this is by going out some

warm day and lying down on the earth. Get your ear close

down to the ground and listen. You will hear all manner of

sounds. You will hear the sound of the wind in the trees and

the murmur of insects, and you will discover presently that

there is in all these sounds a well-regulated tempo. You

cannot get that tempo by listening to traffic in the city streets,

for it is lost in the confusion of sound. You can get it in

church where you hear the word of God and the great hymns.

Truth vibrates to God's tempo in a church. But you can also

find it in a factory if you have a mind to.

A friend of mine, an industrialist in a large plant in Ohio,

told me that the best workmen in his plant are those who get into harmony with the rhythm of the machine on which they

are working. He declares that if a worker will work in

harmony with the rhythm of his machine he will not be tired

at the end of the day. He points out that the machine is an

assembling of parts according to the law of God. When you

love a machine and get to know it, you will be aware that it

has a rhythm. It is one with the rhythm of the body, of the

nerves, of the soul. It is in God's rhythm, and you can work

with that machine and not get tired if you are in harmony

with it. There is a rhythm of the stove, a rhythm of the

typewriter, a rhythm of the office, a rhythm of an

automobile, a rhythm of your job. So to avoid tiredness and

to have energy, feel your way into the essential rhythm of

Almighty God and all His works.

To accomplish this, relax physically. Then conceive of your

mind as likewise relaxing. Follow this mentally by

visualizing the soul as becoming quiescent, then pray as

follows: "Dear God, You are the source of all energy. You

are the source of the energy in the sun, in the atom, in all

flesh, in the bloodstream, in the mind. I hereby draw energy

from You as from an illimitable source." Then practice

believing that you receive energy. Keep in tune with the

Infinite.

Of course many people are tired simply because they are not

interested in anything. Nothing ever moves them deeply. To

some people it makes no difference what's going on or how

things go. Their personal concerns are superior even to all

crises in human history. Nothing makes any real difference

to them except their own little worries, their desires, and

their hates. They wear themselves out stewing around about

a lot of inconsequential things that amount to nothing. So

they become tired. They even become sick. The surest way

not to become tired is to lose yourself in something in which

you have a profound conviction.

A famous statesman who made seven speeches in one day

was still boundless in energy.

"Why are you not tired after making seven speeches?" I

asked.

"Because," he said, "I believe absolutely in everything I said

in those speeches. I am enthusiastic about my convictions."

That's the secret. He was on fire for something. He was

pouring himself out, and you never lose energy and vitality

in so doing. You only lose energy when life becomes dull in

your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired doing

nothing. You don't have to be tired. Get interested in

something. Get absolutely enthralled in something. Throw

yourself into it with abandon. Get out of yourself. Be

somebody. Do something. Don't sit around moaning about

things, reading the papers, and saying, "Why don't they do

something?" The man who is out doing something isn't tired.

If you're not getting into good causes, no wonder you're

tired. You're disintegrating. You're deteriorating. You're

dying on the vine. The more you lose yourself in something

bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have. You

don't have time to think about yourself and get bogged down

in your emotional difficulties.

To live with constant energy it is important to get your

emotional faults corrected. You will never have full energy

until you do.

The late Knute Rockne, one of the greatest football coaches

this country ever produced, said that a football player cannot

have sufficient energy unless his emotions are under spiritual

control. In fact, he went so far as to say that he would not

have a man on his team who did not have a genuinely

friendly feeling for every fellow player. "I have to get the

most energy out of a man," he said, "and have discovered

that it cannot be done if he hates another man. Hate blocks his energy and he isn't up to par until he eliminates it and

develops a friendly feeling." People who lack energy are

disorganized to one degree or another by their deep,

fundamental emotional and psychological conflicts.

Sometimes the results of this disorganization are extreme,

but healing is ever possible.

In a Midwestern city I was asked to talk with a man,

formerly a very active citizen of that community, who had

suffered an acute decline in vitality. It was thought by his

associates that he had had a stroke. This impression was

given by the shuffling manner in which he moved, by an

extraordinary lethargic attitude, and by his complete

detachment of himself from the activities to which he had

formerly given a large portion of his time. He sat

despondently in his chair hour after hour, and often he would

weep. He exhibited many of the symptoms of a nervous

breakdown.

I arranged to see him in my hotel room at a certain hour. My

door was open and through it I could see the elevator. I

chanced to be looking in that direction when the elevator

door opened and this man came shuffling down the hall. It

seemed that at any moment he would topple over, and he

gave every evidence of scarcely being able to negotiate the

distance. I asked him to be seated and engaged him in

conversation, which conversation was rather fruitless, for it

revealed little enlightenment because of his tendency to

complain about his condition and his inability to give

thoughtful consideration to my questions. This was

apparently due to his enormous self-pity.

When I asked him if he would like to be well, he looked up

at me in the most intense and pathetic manner. His

desperation was revealed by his answer which was that he

would give anything in the world if he could regain the

energy and the interest in life which he formerly enjoyed. I began to draw out of him certain facts regarding his life and

experience. These were all of a very intimate nature and

many of them so deeply imbedded in his consciousness that

it was with the utmost difficulty that his personality yielded

them up. They had to do with old infantile attitudes, fears

that stemmed from earliest days, most ot them deriving from

the mother-child relationship. Not a few guilt situations

appeared. It seemed that over the course of the years these

factors had accumulated like drifting sand across the channel

of a river. The flow of power was gradually decreased so that

an insufficient amount of energy was passing through. The

man's mind was in such a complete state of retreating that a

process ot reasoning and enlightenment seemed quite

impossible.

I sought for guidance and found myself, quite to my surprise,

standing beside him and placing my hand upon his head. I

prayed, asking God to heal the man. I suddenly became

aware of what seemed to be the passing of power through my

hand which rested upon his head. I hasten to add that there is

no healing power in my hand, but now and then a human

being is used as a channel, and it was evidently so in this

instance, for presently the man looked up with an expression

of the utmost happiness and peace and he said simply, "He

was here. He touched me. I feel entirely different."

From this time on his improvement was pronounced, and at

the present time he is practically his old self again, except for

the fact that he now possesses a quiet and serene confidence

which was not present previously. Apparently the clogged

channel in his personality through which the passage of

power had been impeded was opened by an act of faith and

the free flow of energy was renewed.

The facts suggested by this incident are that such healings do

take place and that a gradual accumulation of psychological

factors can cut off the flow of energy. The further fact is stressed that these same factors are susceptible to the power

of faith to energy within an individual.

The effect of guilt and fear feelings on energy is widely

recognized by all authorities having to do with the problems

of human nature. The quantity of vital force required to give

the personality relief from either guilt or fear or a

combination of each is so great that often only a fraction of

energy remains for the discharge of the functions of living.

Energy drainage occasioned by fear and guilt is of such an

amount as to leave little power to be applied to a person's

job. The result is that he tires quickly. Not being able to meet

the full requirements of his responsibility, he retreats into an

apathetic, dull, listless condition and is indeed even ready to

give up and fall back sleepily in a state of enervation.

A businessman was referred to me by a psychiatrist whom

the patient had been consulting. It appeared that the patient,

generally regarded as quite morally strict and upright, had

become involved with a married woman. He had attempted

to break off this relationship but was encountering resistance

from his partner in infidelity, although he had earnestly

besought her to abandon their practice and allow him to

return to his former state of respectability.

She had threatened him with the possibility that she might

enlighten her husband concerning these escapades if he

insisted in his desire to cease the relationship. The patient

recognized the fact that if the husband became apprised of

the situation, it would result in disgrace for him in his

community. He happened to be a prominent citizen and

prized his high standing.

As a result of his fear of exposure and a sense of guilt he had

been unable to sleep or rest. And since this had gone on for

two or three months he was in a very serious slump in energy

and did not possess the vitality to perform his job efficiently.

Inasmuch as some important matters were pending, the situation was serious.

When the psychiatrist suggested that he see me, a clergyman,

because of his inability to sleep, he remonstrated by saying

there was no way in which a clergyman could correct the

condition which caused his sleeplessness, but, on the

contrary, he felt that a medical doctor might supply effective

medication.

When he stated his attitude to me I simply asked him how he

expected to sleep when he had two very annoying and

unpleasant bedfellows with whom he was attempting to

sleep.

"Bedfellows?" he asked in surprise. "I have no bedfellows."

"Oh, yes, you have," I said, "and there is nobody in this

world who can sleep with those two, one on either side."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I said, "You are trying to sleep every night between fear on

one side and guilt on the other, and you are attempting an

impossible feat. It makes no difference how many sleeping

pills you take, and you admit you have taken many such

pills, but they have had no effect upon you. The reason they

do not affect you is that they cannot reach the deeper levels

of your mind where this sleeplessness originates and which

is siphoning off your energy. You must eradicate fear and

guilt before you will ever be able to sleep and regain your

strength."

We dealt with the fear which was of exposure by the simple

expedient of getting him ready in mind to face whatever

might ensue as a result of doing the right thing, which was of

course to break off the relationship regardless of

consequences. I assured him that whatever he did that was

right would turn out right. One never does wrong by doing right. I urged him to put the matter in God's hands and

simply do the right thing, leaving the outcome to God.

He did that, not without trepidation, but with considerable

sincerity just the same. The woman, either through

shrewdness or some expression of her own better nature or

through the more doubtful expedient of transferring her

affections elsewhere, released him.

The guilt was handled by seeking God's forgiveness. When

this is sincerely sought it is never denied, and our patient

found surcease and relief. It was astonishing how when this

double weight was lifted from his mind his personality once

again began to function normally. He was able to sleep. He

found peace and renewal of strength. Energy quickly

returned. A wiser and thankful man, he became able to carry

on his normal activities.

A not infrequent case of diminishing energy is staleness. The

pressure, monotony, and unceasing continuity of

responsibilities dull the freshness of mind which a person

must have to approach his work successfully. As an athlete

goes stale so does the individual, whatever his occupation,

tend to come upon dry and arid periods. During such a

condition of mind the expenditure of greater energy is

required to do with difficulty what one formerly did with

comparative ease. As a result the vital powers are hard put to

it to supply the force required, and the individual often loses

his grip and power.

A solution for this state of mind was employed by a

prominent business leader, president of the board of trustees

of a certain university. A professor who had formerly been

outstanding and extraordinarily popular had begun to slip in

teaching ability and in the power to interest students. It was

the verdict of the students as well as the private opinion of

the trustees that this teacher must either recover his former

capacity to teach with interest and enthusiasm or it would be necessary to replace him. This latter expedient was

entertained with hesitancy for the reason that there still

remained a normal expectancy of several active years before

he reached the age of retirement.

The businessman above referred to asked the professor to

come to his office and announced to him that the board of

trustees was giving him a six months' leave of absence with

all expenses paid and with full salary. There was only one

stipulation, and that was that he go away to a place of rest

and give himself over to gaining a complete renewal of

strength and energy.

The businessman invited him to use a cabin which he himself

owned in a wilderness setting and made the curious

suggestion that he take no books except one book, the Bible.

He suggested that the professor's daily program be walking,

fishing, and some manual work in the garden; that he read

the Bible every day for such a period as would enable him to

read the Book through three times in the six months. He

further suggested that he memorize as many passages as

possible for the purpose of saturating his mind with the great

words and ideas which the Book contains.

The businessman said, "I believe that if you spend six

months outdoors chopping wood, digging in the soil, reading

the Bible, and fishing in the deep lakes you will become a

new man."

The professor agreed to this unique proposal. His adjustment

to this radically different mode of life was an easier one than

he or anyone who knew him expected. In fact, he was

surprised to find that he actually liked it. After he became

conditioned to active outdoor living he discovered that it had

an immense appeal for him. He missed his intellectual

associates and his reading for a while, but forced back upon

the Bible, his only book, he became immersed in it, and to

his amazement found, as he put it, "a library within itself." In its pages he found faith and peace and power. In six months

he was a new man.

The businessman now tells me that this professor has

become, as he puts it, "a person of compelling power."

Staleness passed away, the old-time energy returned, power

surged back, zest for living was renewed.