The Theosophical Forum – June 1942

A GREAT PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS — G. de Purucker

When a man is in difficulties, the thing he must do is to act, to move. Attack is the secret of victory, whether it is a commercial matter, or propagating a philosophy, or answering questions, or whatever else it may be. In anything a man does he has chances of success if he moves, goes out, acts.

The great principle of success in anything is to go after your objective, to take the kingdom of heaven with strength, and then the gods are with you. It is really a wonderful psychological secret; and it is better to move and to act, even if you make mistakes, than it is to sit still. You will discover your mistakes as you go along, if you have ordinary prudence, and can modify and change from step to step. Keep pushing forward, instead of remaining always quiet and allowing things to rest — which last all too often degenerates into dormancy.

I believe that generally our speakers on the public platform might adopt this principle more than they do, just in a little thing like answering questions from the audience. If they would drop the defensive attitude which some have, and cease imagining that the man on the floor is trying to trip them or to trick them, and would simply attack the question, go right at it, answer it positively, in other words guide the thought, then all Theosophical meetings, interesting as they are, would be much more interesting. This is the way by which to make a meeting really lively and really interesting; and if you combine it with constant courtesy and a little humor, you become almost irresistible.



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