Takeaways from James Allen book The Mastery of Destiny

 The Mastery of Destiny by James Allen

James Allen's The Mastery of Destiny is a spiritual and practical guide to shaping our lives as we wish. Key takeaways from the book.

• Fate vs free will (controversy between Fatalism and Free will Or Determinism and Free will) 
• Law of Cause and effect (causation) 
• Birth and Death are inevitable and they are not in our control
• Man proposes God disposes. 
• An act repeated a large number of times becomes unconscious, or automatic. 
• The character of an individual at birth is a combination of habits which he himself has built up by his own thoughts and acts during the course of his evolution. 
• Men reap what they sow. 
• As the individual reaps what he does, so the nation, being a community of individual, reaps also what it sows. (20) 
• Natural scientist vs divine scientist. 
• The book is based on the line, ” For man is man, master of his fate." Alfred Tennyson

Chapter 1 - Deeds, character, and destiny

The essence of chapter:-The deeds of a man build his character and shape his destiny. 

Man understands that he cannot control all the things in the universe. A superpower, fate, or destiny rules over man. A man lacks control over his predestined fate. Birth and death are inevitable. 

There has been a controversy over the years between fatalism and free will. Fatalism says that everything is predetermined and we have no control over our destiny. Free will implies that destiny or fate does not dictate our actions.

"Man chooses the cause (this is free will); he cannot choose, alter, or avert the effect (this is fate); thus, free will stands for the power to initiate causes, and destiny is involvement in effects" (13). 

If the character was given a man at birth, he would not be held responsible for his deeds. The characters have evolved over the years and are the combined result of an incalculable number of deeds.

"As the doer of his deeds and maker of his character, he is the moulder and shaper of his destiny" (14).

chapter 2- The science of self control 

The science of self-control, the most important of all the sciences, is almost forgotten. 

A natural scientist is one who understands and dominates the forces of external nature, but one who understands the internal forces of the mind is a divine scientist. The natural scientist follows five sequential steps to acquire knowledge. 

1.observation 2.experiment 3.classification 4.deduction 5.knowledge.

The divine scientist also follows the same steps but instead of focusing on external things, he studies his own mind. 

5 steps

1.Introspection, 2.Self analysis

3.Adjustment, 4.Righteousness

5.pure knowledge