About the Laurel Creek James
Allen Wisdom Series:
James
Allen, a 19th century English writer, is best known as the author of the
best-selling, inspirational classic, As a Man Thinketh. For nearly a
hundred years, this timeless work has motivated readers to lead more successful,
effective, and peaceful lives. James Allen is also the author of over twenty
other books, that are lesser known but equally powerful.
James Allen was an
advocate of ethics in all the areas of our lives. His goal was to reveal
universal spiritual principles to the masses in order to relieve people of their
suffering, empower the individual, and thus uplift humanity. Allen=s works focus on teaching
personal responsibility, finding the cause of personal problems within our own
selves, and revealing how each of us can harness our personal power to master
our own destinies. The wisdom contained in his works provides a valuable guide
for life.
The James Allen
Wisdom Series is a projected 6-volume set of The Complete Works of James
Allen published by Laurel Creek Press. Each Wisdom of James Allen
volume in the James Allen Wisdom series groups 3 to 5 of James
Allen=s short works into each
value-priced, gift-sized book. Edited for contemporary readers by Andy Zubko
(compiler and editor of The Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom), the works
contained in each volume are complete and unabridged. For clarity,
Zubko=s editing features breaking
down each chapter into subcategories, and rendering obscure or archaic words,
phrases, and punctuation into modern usage. James Allen often used the generic
masculine, as was the common practice of his time. This was retained in order to remain
true to his voice.
- Above Life’s Turmoil
- The Life Triumphant
- Out From the Heart
- Byways of Blessedness
- From Passion to Peace
-
The Heavenly Life
(Available Fall 2003)
Book IV) The Wisdom of James Allen IV
- Foundation
Stones
to Happiness & Success
- Men and Systems
- Eight Pillars of Prosperity
(Available Spring 2004)
Book V) The Wisdom of James Allen V
- Man:King of Mind, Body, & Circumstance
-
The Divine Companion
- Through the Gate of Good
- The Divine Companion
(Available Fall 2004)
Book VI) The Wisdom of
James Allen VI
- Morning & Evening
Thoughts
- Meditations: A Year Book
(Available 2005)
About James
Allen:
James Allen has been
called the “literary mystery man” of the twentieth century. Although his
best-selling classic, As a Man Thinketh, has sold steadily for many
decades, inspiring millions around the world to lead more successful lives,
little is known about the author himself.
What is known about
Allen is that he was born in Leicester, England in 1864. His father was a well-to-do businessman
who went bankrupt in 1878. A year
later, when James was 15, his father was murdered. James left school to work
full time to help support the family. He eventually married and became an
executive secretary for a large corporation.
At age 38, Allen retired from employment and he and his wife moved to a small cottage on the southwest shore of England to pursue a simple life of voluntary simplicity, spiritual self-discipline, and contemplation as taught by his mentor, Leo Tolstoy. During this period, Allen wrote over 20 works, earning a small stipend from royalties paid on his writing. He died in 1912 at age 48, a virtual unknown, untouched by fame and unrewarded by fortune. It was only after his death that the world gradually came to recognize the genius and inspiration of this English mystic’s work. The works he left behind are his loving bequest to the world.
The Vision of James
Allen:
“I
looked around upon the world and saw that it was shadowed by sorrow and scorched
by the fierce fires of suffering. And I looked for the cause. I looked around,
but I could not find it. I looked in books, but I could not find it. I looked
within, and found there both the cause and the self-made nature of that cause. I
looked again, and deeper, and found the remedy. I found one Law, the Law of
Love; one Life, the life of adjustment to that Law; one Truth, the Truth of a
conquered mind and a quiet and obedient heart.
“And I dreamed of writing books which would help men and women, whether
rich or poor, learned or unlearned, worldly or unworldly to find within
themselves the source of all success, all happiness, accomplishment, all truth.
And the dream remained with me, and at last became substantial; and now I send
forth these books into the world on a mission of healing and blessedness,
knowing that they cannot fail to reach the homes and hearts of those who are
waiting and ready to receive them.”
¾James
Allen