“The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors, which make for the ultimate good of the individual.”

Allen further elaborates on the connection between the external and internal worlds, illustrating that one cannot think negative thoughts without experiencing negative outcomes in their lives. A person can grow and better their life only by thinking positive thoughts and directing those thoughts toward righteous goals and purposes.

“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean.”

Allen engages with mesmeric ideals of attraction in describing how people’s attitudes and thoughts create their life experiences. People who practice positive thinking experience righteous outcomes because people attract what they “are,” and Allen establishes early in the book that people are what they think.

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”

Personal responsibility is a key tenet of Allen’s teachings, as people’s thoughts create their circumstances. A person must accept their own role in their life’s outcome to improve their situation, as surrendering to the whims of the world leads people astray.

“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.”

Allen uses parallel structure to establish the importance of good thinking and good actions in creating a fulfilling life. The literary device emphasizes the correlative relationship that Allen establishes between thought, action, and circumstances.

“Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften towards him, and be ready to help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo, opportunities will spring up on every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame.”

Allen ends the second section, “Effect of Thought on Circumstances,” with a call to action for readers. Writing in the third person, he asserts that if people change their patterns of thought and action, the world around them will change in response, encouraging people to put his beliefs into practice.

“As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode unless you admit the air and sunshine freely into your rooms, so a strong body and a bright, happy, or serene countenance can only result from the free admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity.”

Using a simile, Allen compares the body to a house to engage with Phineas Quimby’s ideas about healing. A clean house requires fresh air, and a clean body requires fresh thoughts. Allen asserts (in tandem with Quimby) that health begins in the mind.

“They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe.”

Purpose is central to Allen’s argument, as he asserts that purpose lies at the center of the ability to practice positive thinking. Without something to direct thoughts toward, people suffer, and purpose creates direction that guides people toward a fulfilled life.

“The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.”

“Doubt and fear” are two examples of bad thoughts that lead people away from the good circumstances they could otherwise achieve. Allen asserts that people hold themselves back from achieving self-actualization because they fear failure, but fear is the very thing that brings failure about.

“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall prematurely to the ground.”

Allen continues the simile of the garden, comparing thoughts to seeds, and he adds texture to the comparison by referring to achievements as fruit. Releasing fear and doubt lets the fruit of achievement (from the plant of righteous thought) ripen.

“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man's weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man's; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another.”

Allen opens the fifth section, “The Thought-Factor in Achievement,” with a clear explanation of the role of personal responsibility in achieving goals, adding thematic texture to his exploration of habit, self-discipline, and personal responsibility as tools for self-actualization. Though Allen concedes that the world is not always “justly ordered,” and some circumstances outside a person’s control affect their life, the primary driver of a person’s circumstances is their thoughts, of which they are always in control.

“Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal.”

Allen reminds readers of the importance of having a positive vision and ideal, as well as positive thoughts. Even if one’s “environment,” or life circumstances, are less than perfect, one can seek improvement via the realm of thought.

“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart—this you will build your life by, this you will become.”

Allen uses lush language to describe the importance of both vision and ideals to creating a meaningful life. The language is nearly reverent, using the terms “glorify” and “enthrone” to illustrate the cruciality of vision and ideal in the development of Allen’s argument.

“Yes, 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.”

Allen acknowledges the difficulty of life and emotional control, especially in the context of grief and anxiety, but he asserts that people can rise above these feelings through the power of thought. Allen uses the imagery of a storm to describe the human experience, highlighting the tumultuous nature of being alive.