No doubt the thought has occurred to you several times since beginning the study of these lessons that even should you attain perfect health, youth and beauty, yet you might not be able to live one hundred years because of the constant liability to an accident that might destroy the life of your body.

Many people die every year as the result of accident just as others die from disease, because they do not understand how to avoid it. Almost every life lost through accident could have been saved if the person had understood and heeded Nature's warning. Nature has provided us with the power of self protec tion. Look around you and see the vast amount of danger people make themselves liable to in performing the simplest acts, to say nothing of -the people who work among machinery, in building, manufacturing, etc., and yet come out without injury. When you consider the immense amount of possible danger that surrounds us at every step, you will admit that the number of accidents are very few.

What is this force that acts in our behalf for our protection? There is within man a power which does protect him to some extent from danger, and this same power would protect him absolutely if it were fully and normally developed. If man did not possess this intuitive power of discerning danger so as to consciously or unconsciously avoid it, he could not survive a single hour's existence. If you doubt this watch yourself for an hour on a busy street and see how many times you were so placed as to make an accident possible if you had not followed the advice from within and avoided it. An intelligence tells you, as you are about to cross the street, that to do so at that moment would be fatal, and you wait until that same voice tells you that your safety is assured; you then cross the street and all is well. You possibly do not analyze in words just what the inner voice says, because you are so accustomed to obeying it that its directions are followed automatically. In other words it has become a habit, a part of your very being. Some may say that it is reason which makes you do this, but it is not, for in critical moments there is no time to reason, nor do you stand and figure out the chances for and against you. While stopping to do this you would be placing yourself in further danger.

This constant watchfulness is exercised over the body by the mind that inhabits it, and demonstrates the power of mind over physical matter. The mind is in touch with all the conditions that approach the life. It reaches out in all directions and gathers the information best adapted to safely guide our lives. If we heed its instructions and warnings, we pass through the greatest dangers safely. If we rush on heedless of the mental advice, we usually meet with accident. At least we call it an accident when in reality it could and should have been avoided.

The secret of avoiding accidents lies in allowing the mind to have full control of the body, and in cultivating the finer mental instincts. We should listen to every dictate offered for the body's protection. If the intelligence comes to you mentally that there is danger in taking a certain journey, avoid it. Also apply this rule to every act of life. I do not mean for you to cultivate fear and become unnecessarily conscious of danger. Far from it. Instead you should at all times be calm and confident, but ever ready to recognize the warning of the watchful inner voice.

Bear in mind that an attitude of fear or inharmony is a menace to both life and limb. You always place yourself in danger when you permit the mind to lose control of the body. Apart from the physical destruction that results from extreme inharmony, such as quarrels, hatreds, feuds, etc., there is encouraged a risk that is dangerous to the life of the individual. All the senses are dulled by inharmony and especially by that discord produced by intense anger and excitement. An abnormal concentration on a wrong, be it real or not, destroys t\\e perceptive faculties. The footsteps become uncertain, the hands tremble, the heart action unsteady and the breathing power repressed. Under such abnormal conditions one is far more liable to accident, because he cannot intelligently perceive and follow the mental warning of danger.

Perfect safety is found only in perfect peace. When in a harmonious mental attitude the mind can express its power of protection. Be strong and resolute. Determine that you will forever banish all anger, depression, fear, jealousy, irritation, despondency and worry. You have the power to be a master and can be one if you only exercise your right. By cultivating power in self you become assured of protection. To be calm and well poised is to be a center of power. The weak are those who have no control of their feelings and emotions. They are in constant danger of accidents. The same attitude of mind that is essential for the prevention of sickness is necessary for the prevention of accidents.

Have you never had an impression or mental message come to you to change some plan which you were about to carry out, and upon following the suggestion found that it saved you from accident or danger? All people receive these messages. Some obey them and are protected, others heed them not and have reasons to regret it. When these messages come you will be unable to give any tangible reason for following them, but you will shrink from carrying out your plans as you had previously intended to. This is reason enough as you may know later. The mind is ever on the alert to guard and protect the body. The more you pay attention to these messages the more keen your perceptive faculties will become. This is a natural faculty provided for the protection of humanity. Those who suffer as a result of an accident either had not cultivated their natural power, or, as is most likely the case, refused to listen to the warning voice and be guided by it.

The power to receive these messages of warning is cultivated by use and destroyed by neglect. Those who are nervous, fearful or living inharmonious lives cannot make use of this wonderful power, because they either fear every undertaking or their attention is so absorbed with worry and self-imposed trouble, that the silent voice cannot be heard by them. To recognize the delicate impression or message your attitude must be calm and self controlled. It would be impossible to recognize a slight ripple on a stormy ocean, yet that same ripple would be very easily seen on the surface of a lake that had previously been calm and smooth. It is just so with these mental vibrations. Thus it becomes necessary for you to cultivate the art of perfect internal and mental repose or calmness if you would protect yourself from every form of danger.

Another wise precaution to be taken in avoiding accidents is to use good common sense and not join the masses in their frequently unintelligent and excited moods and demonstrations. Never risk life or limb in dangerous competitive sports. Do not kill any creature for idle sport. Use a camera instead of a gun when taking a vacation. Study the beauties of Nature instead of destroying its works. Cultivate a constructive instead of a destructive spirit. Destructive and cruel habits eventually react upon the person and injure him. Send out to all the world thoughts of peace and love and tbdy will become for you, a source of harmony and protection.

Accidents are the result of an incomplete mental development. Cultivate all the forces with which Nature has endowed you. Do not allow your physical development to monopolize your entire attention to the detriment of your mental forces. Muscle, without brain to intelligently use it, is worse than useless. Have perfect faith in the subtle mental messages of warning that come to you and never fail to obey them and you will be absolutely proof against accident and have an assurance of living one hundred years.