James Allen - Leicester, England-

Nov 28, 1864 - Jan 24, 1912

Author of "As A Man Thinketh" (HTML/PDF/MP3)

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.”

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