Self-Improvement-eBooks.com
Choose from over 800 personal development ebooks and audios!
Learn how you can become a member of Cornerstone Book Club.
Many books and audios by James Allen available . . .

Click Here for full details.


 
James Allen
(1864-1912)

An unrewarded genius



James Allen is a literary mystery man. His inspirational writings have influenced millions for good. Yet today he remains almost unknown...... None of his nineteen books give a clue to his life other than to mention his place of residence - Ilfracombe, England. His name cannot be found in a major reference work. Not even the Library of Congress or the British Museum has much to say about him.

Who was this man who believed in the power of thought to bring fame, fortune and happiness? Or did he, as Henry David Thoreau says, hear a different drummer?...... James Allen never gained fame or fortune. That much is true. His was a quiet, unrewarded genius. He seldom made enough money from his writings to cover expenses.

Allen was born in Leicester, Central England, November 28, 1864. The family business failed within a few years, and in 1879 his father left for America in an effort to recoup his losses. The elder Allen had hoped to settle in the United States, but was robbed and murdered before he could send for his family.

The financial crisis that resulted forced James to leave school at fifteen. He eventually became a private secretary, a position that would be called administrative assistant today. He worked in this capacity for several British manufacturers until 1902, when he decided to devote all his time to writing.

Unfortunately, Allen's literary career was short, lasting only nine years, until his death in 1912. During that period he wrote nineteen books, a rich outpouring of ideas that have lived on to inspire later generations.

Soon after finishing his first book, From Poverty To Power, Allen moved to Ilfracombe, on England's southwest coast. The little resort town with its seafront Victorian hotels and its rolling hills and winding lanes offered him the quiet atmosphere he needed to pursue his philosophical studies.

As A Man Thinketh was Allen's second book. Despite its subsequent popularity he was dissatisfied with it. Even though it was his most concise and eloquent work, the book that best embodied his thought, he somehow failed to recognize its value. His wife Lily had to persuade him to publish it.

James Allen strove to live the ideal life described by Russia¹s great novelist and mystic Count Leo Tolstoy - the life of voluntary poverty, manual labor and ascetic self-discipline. Like Tolstoy, Allen sought to improve himself, be happy, and master all of the virtues. His search for felicity for man on earth was typically Tolstoyan.

His day in Ilfracombe began with a predawn walk up to the Cairn, a stony spot on the hillside overlooking his home and the sea. He would remain there for an hour in meditation. Then he would return to the house and spend the morning writing. The afternoons were devoted to gardening, a pastime he enjoyed. His evenings were spent in conversation with those who were interested in his work.

A friend described Allen as a frail-looking little man, Christ-like, with a mass of flowing black hair...... I think of him especially in the black velvet suit he always wore in the evenings, the friend wrote. He would talk quietly to a small group of us then - English, French, Austrian and Indian - of meditation, of philosophy, of Tolstoy or Buddha, and of killing nothing, not even a mouse in the garden.

He overawed us all a little because of his appearance, his gentle conversation, and especially because he went out to commune with God on the hills before dawn.

James Allen's philosophy became possible when liberal Protestantism discarded the stern dogma that man is sinful by nature. It substituted for that dogma an optimistic belief in man's innate goodness and divine rationality.

This reversal of doctrine was, as William James said, the greatest revolution of the 19th Century. It was part of a move toward a reconciliation of science and religion following Darwin's publication The Origin of Species.

Charles Darwin himself hinted at the change in belief in The Descent of Man. In that book he wrote, the highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts..

Allen's work embodies the influence of Protestant liberalism on the one hand and of Buddhist thought on the other. For example, the Buddha teaches, All that we are is the result of what we have thought. Allen¹s Biblical text says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Allen insists upon the power of the individual to form his own character and to create his own happiness. Thought and character are one, he says, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man's circumstances at any given time are an indication of his entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected with some vital thought element within him that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his development.

Allen starts us thinking - even when we would rather be doing something else. He tells us how thought leads to action. He shows us how to turn our dreams into realities...... His is a philosophy that has brought success to millions. It is the philosophy of Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking and of Joshua Liebman's Peace of Mind.

We become spiritually rich, Allen writes, when we discover the adventure within; when we are conscious of the oneness of all life; when we know the power of meditation; when we experience kinship with nature.

Allen's message is one of hope even in the midst of confusion. Yes, he says, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt. Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

Tempest-tossed souls, Allen continues, wherever you may be, under whatsoever conditions you may life, know this - in the ocean of life the isles of blessedness are smiling and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming.

And thus Allen teaches two essential truths: today we are where our thoughts have taken us, and we are the architects - for better or worse - of our futures.

The works of James Allen are eminently practical. He never wrote theories, or for the sake of writing, or to add another to the existing books. According to his wife, Allen wrote when he had a message, and it became a message only when he had lived it in his own life, and knew that it was good. Thus he wrote facts, which he had proven by practice.

The following book can be read on-line:
As A Man Thinketh


The following ebooks and audio books by James Allen are available for immediate download. The eBooks are in Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) format. They may then be read on your computer and printed out. The audio books are in WMA or Mp3 format, suitable for use on any computer or portable music player. They may also be recorded onto a CD.

Excerpts from the following books may be read online:

The Path to Prosperity

Eight Pillars of Prosperity

The Mastery of Destiny

Out from the Heart

The Heavenly Life

Entering the Kingdom

From Passion to Peace

Light on Life's Difficulties

The Life Triumphant

Through the Gate of Good

Man: King of Mind Body and Circumstance

Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success

The James Allen Trilogy (As A Man Thinketh, Above Life's Turmoil, and Byways to Blessedness)

As A Man Thinketh AudioBook (Unabridged audio book + ebook)

The Heavenly Life (Unabridged audio book + ebook)

The Way of Peace (Unabridged audio book + ebook)


The following books may be ordered using a Credit/Debit Card via our association with Amazon.com. When you click on one of the following links a new window will open with details of the book. It is recommended that you click the "Add to Cart" button right away. The book can always be removed from your cart later on if you change your mind. You can then close the window and continue browsing. When you are finished shopping, just click the "Checkout" link at top right of your screen to complete your order. You can click here to view your shopping cart and checkout also.

As A Man Thinketh
The Wisdom of James Allen I (5 books in 1)
The Wisdom of James Allen II (3 books in 1)
The Wisdom of James Allen III (4 books in 1)
As A Woman Thinketh
As I Think
As You Think
Entering the Kingdom
From Poverty to Power
The Mastery of Destiny
The Path of Prosperity
Above Life's Turmoil
All These Things Added
As A Man Thinketh (on Audio Cassette)
Eight Pillars of Prosperity
Life Triumphant
Light on Life's Difficulties
Man: King of Mind, Body and Circumstance
Morning and Evening Thoughts
Through the Gate of Good




Click on the above to play video

* * * Become Aware of Your Self Today * * *
www.RealizationSystem.com


  Click Here to read a free online book explaining the principles and practice of Mental Science.


Here are links to many other similar authors:


James Allen Ralph Waldo Trine Florence Scovel Shinn
Raymond Charles Barker Prentice Mulford Wallace D.Wattles
Henry Drummond H. Emilie Cady Charles Fillmore
Charles F. Haanel Louise L. Hay Mary Baker Eddy
Emmet Fox Ursula Gestefeld Emma Curtis Hopkins
Shakti Gawain George Bendall Henry T. Hamblin
Frederick Bailes Warren Felt Evans Catherine Ponder
Thomson Jay Hudson
Venice Bloodworth
Sidney A. Weltmer
Thomas Troward Ralph Waldo Emerson Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Christian D. Larson Henry Wood Phineas P. Quimby
William W. Atkinson Malinda Cramer Annie Rix Militz
Orison Swett Marden Charles Brodie Patterson Albert C. Grier
Fenwicke L. Holmes
Frank B. Robinson W. John Murray
Helen Wilmans
Lillian DeWaters
Horatio W. Dresser
Nona L. Brooks Brown Landone
Julia Seton Sears
Frank Channing Haddock
Claude M. Bristol
Dale Carnegie
Donald Curtis
Harold Sherman
F.W. Sears M.P.
James Dillet Freeman Norman Vincent Peale Genevieve Behrend
Eric Butterworth Marcus Bach Ernest Holmes
Julius/Annetta Dresser Elizabeth Towne Brother Mandus
Emile Coué
Theron Q. Dumont
Thomas Parker Boyd
Rebecca Beard Masaharu Taniguchi Joseph Murphy
Earl Nightingale
Jack Addington W. Clement Stone
Glenn Clark Joel S. Goldsmith David J. Schwartz
F. L. Rawson Napoleon Hill Ervin Seale
Alfred North Whitehead Walter C. Lanyon Uell S. Andersen
John Randolph Price Alan Cohen Agnes Sanford
Vernon Howard Neville Goddard Gary Zukav
C. Alan Anderson Robert Collier William Samuel
Marianne Williamson Deepak Chopra Wayne W. Dyer
Roy Eugene Davis Stuart Grayson Edwene Gaines