our souls,

from our unbending faith — and it is this that directs our fortunes and masters them to a far extent...

I do not know for certain whether there are magical deities holding a gilded wand that opens heaps of treasure before some people, while in the other hand they hold a black wand that opens before others black caverns holding nothing but worry and grief... But I know, and to a great degree I believe, that luck is the making of man himself — this creature who has mastered everything — and he himself can master his own luck...

In man — in every man — there is a strange sense, stronger than all his outward senses. Call it, if you like, the sixth sense. Its name matters little; what matters is that this sense, which exists in all people alike, is what directs our fortunes and rules over them. Some people believe in this sense, employ it, and profit from it; and some deny it, and their luck denies them... The source of this sense is the power of intuition and a fine, delicate sensibility; it quickens into action in some people and is absent in others.

Experience shows that this sense is all but missing in all people known for ill luck... and strong and effective in those known for good luck... Pessimism, hesitation, doubt, fear, and con-fusion of thought — all these traits accompany the ill-starred man, and they are apt to kill this sixth sense and paralyze it from any work; so misfortune inevitably settles upon those who bear them, and the more they complain of their bad luck, the worse and worse their luck grows...

And we see the second sort of people — those who command their nerves, keep their calm and their smile, trust themselves and all whom they consort with, and come to life with all the life that is

in their veins! — these hand over the reins of their affairs to their sixth sense without hesitation or doubt, and the doors of good fortune open before their faces, and happiness follows their lead however they wish...

So if you wish to change your misfortune into good fortune, you have only to surrender and rely upon your sixth sense. And let us always remember that it can be employed, if it is given freedom for absolute action, like a strong, trusty, watchful guardian whose

eye never sleeps, directing us and leading us to all that holds our happiness and our success...

No. Do not say: our lips do not know how to smile, and our past gives no encouragement, for there is not in it one flicker of hope or promise! This past of yours, of which you speak, is your sworn enemy; it bursts sour grapes in your eyes and blinds you... What have we to do with it, so long as there is a future holding armfuls of sweet hopes, to which a deep, warm faith joins us.