Pook was by no means the first to make this assertion.
It is no coincidence that, through the ages, every teacher, prophet, wise man, and sage have agreed that "thought determines reality." They disagreed about many things, but it is only on this one point that they were in complete and unanimous agreement.
My favorite passage from the Bible is from Christ's Sermon on the Mount. I will share it with you:
"If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain: Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
This quotation is never far removed from my mind. The mountain of which Christ spoke was not a physical one, but a mountain built of all the things we fear, all the things we believe we cannot do, all the obstacles that stand in our way. They become a huge and intimidating mountain inside our mind, but if you create within yourself the virtue of FAITH you will say "Be gone!" and it will be gone.
More and more I come to see deeper and greater meanings in the teachings of Christ. Particularly, "seek, and ye shall find". What I take away from this is that whatever we believe is true about ourselves and the world, is what we are going to seek proof of, and we will always find it. If I believe the world to be a miserable craphole with no chance for myself to "move up", I will not be disappointed. If I believe that health, wealth, love, and happyness are off-limits to me, I will not be disappointed.
Yet, if I believe that I may accomplish anything, armed with my grains of mustard seed, I will not be disappointed!
Seek, and ye shall find!
Another work of which I am quite fond is James Allen's As a Man Thinketh. Originally published in 1902, it was an inspiration for the great works of Napoleon Hill that came later. I will share some of this as well: "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." I heartily recommend this book to all men who would make themselves.
The gist of this message, is that the only thing in this world over which we have complete authority, are our own thoughts. And consequently we discover that it is our thoughts that make us or break us. So if you can master your own mind, you can master your own reality as well.