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THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH
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PREFACE
THIS book is pragmatical, not philosophical; a practical
manual, not a treatise upon theories. It is intended for the men and women
whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and
philosophize afterward. It is for those who have, so far, found neither
the time, the means, nor the opportunity to go deeply into the study of
metaphysics, but who want results and who are willing to take the conclusions
of science as a basis for action, without going into all the processes
by which those conclusions were reached.
It is expected that the reader will take the fundamental
statements upon faith, just as he would take statements concerning a law
of electrical action if they were promulgated by a Marconi or an Edison;
and, taking the statements upon faith, that he will prove their truth by
acting upon them without fear or hesitation. Every man or woman who does
this will certainly get rich; for the science herein applied is an exact
science, and failure is impossible. For the benefit, however, of those
who wish to investigate philosophical theories and so secure a logical
basis for faith, I will here cite certain authorities.
The monistic theory of the universe the theory that One
is All, and that All is One; That one Substance manifests itself as the
seeming many elements of the material world -is of Hindu origin, and has
been gradually winning its way into the thought of the western world for
two hundred years. It is the foundation of all the Oriental philosophies,
and of those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, and
Emerson.
The reader who would dig to the philosophical foundations
of this is advised to read Hegel and Emerson for himself.
In writing this book I have sacrificed all other considerations
to plainness and simplicity of style, so that all might understand. The
plan of action laid down herein was deduced from the conclusions of philosophy;
it has been thoroughly tested, and bears the supreme test of practical
experiment; it works. If you wish to know how the conclusions were arrived
at, read the writings of the authors mentioned above; and if you wish to
reap the fruits of their philosophies in actual practice, read this book
and do exactly as it tells you to do.
The Author
CHAPTER 1
The Right To Be Rich.
WHATEVER may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains
that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless
one is rich. No man can rise to his greatest possible height in talent
or soul development unless he has plenty of money; for to unfold the soul
and to develop talent he must have many things to use, and he cannot have
these things unless he has money to buy them with.
A man develops in mind, soul, and body by making use of
things, and society is so organized that man must have money in order to
become the possessor of things; therefore, the basis of all advancement
for man must be the science of getting rich.
The object of all life is development; and everything
that lives has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable
of attaining.
Man's right to life means his right to have the free and
unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest
mental, spiritual, and physical unfoldment; or, in other words, his right
to be rich.
In this book, I shall not speak of riches in a figurative
way; to be really rich does not mean to be satisfied or contented with
a little. No man ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of
using and enjoying more. The purpose of Nature is the advancement and unfoldment
of life; and every man should have all that can contribute to the power;
elegance, beauty, and richness of life; to be content with less is sinful.
The man who owns all he wants for the living of all the
life he is capable of living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of
money can have all he wants. Life has advanced so far, and become so complex,
that even the most ordinary man or woman requires a great amount of wealth
in order to live in a manner that even approaches completeness. Every person
naturally wants to become all that they are capable of becoming; this desire
to realize innate possibilities is inherent in human nature; we cannot
help wanting to be all that we can be. Success in life is becoming what
you want to be; you can become what you want to be only by making use of
things, and you can have the free use of things only as you become rich
enough to buy them. To understand the science of getting rich is therefore
the most essential of all knowledge.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire
for riches is really the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant
life; and that desire is praise worthy. The man who does not desire to
live more abundantly is abnormal, and so the man who does not desire to
have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal.
There are three motives for which we live; we live for
the body, we live for the mind, we live for the soul. No one of these is
better or holier than the other; all are alike desirable, and no one of
the three--body, mind, or soul--can live fully if either of the others
is cut short of full life and expression. It is not right or noble to live
only for the soul and deny mind or body; and it is wrong to live for the
intellect and deny body or soul.
We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences
of living for the body and denying both mind and soul; and we see that
real
life means the complete expression of all that man can give forth through
body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no man can be really happy or
satisfied unless his body is living fully in every function, and unless
the same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever there is unexpressed
possibility, or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire
is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance.
Man cannot live fully in body without good food, comfortable
clothing, and warm shelter; and without freedom from excessive toil. Rest
and recreation are also necessary to his physical life .
He cannot live fully in mind without books and time to
study them, without opportunity for travel and observation, or without
intellectual companionship.
To live fully in mind he must have intellectual recreations,
and must surround himself with all the objects of art and beauty he is
capable of using and appreciating.
To live fully in soul, man must have love; and love is
denied expression by poverty.
A man's highest happiness is found in the bestowal of
benefits on those he loves; love finds its most natural and spontaneous
expression in giving. The man who has nothing to give cannot fill his place
as a husband or father, as a citizen, or as a man. It is in the use of
material things that a man finds full life for his body, develops his mind,
and unfolds his soul. It is therefore of supreme importance to him that
he should be rich.
It is perfectly right that you should desire to be rich;
if you are a normal man or woman you cannot help doing so. It is perfectly
right that you should give your best attention to the Science of Getting
Rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies. If you neglect
this study, you are derelict in your duty to yourself, to God and humanity;
for you can render to God and humanity no greater service than to make
the most of yourself.
CHAPTER 2
There is A Science of Getting Rich
THERE is a Science of getting rich, and it is an exact
science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern
the process of acquiring riches; once these laws are learned and obeyed
by any man, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.
The ownership of money and property comes as a result
of doing things in a certain way; those who do things in this Certain Way,
whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich; while those who do not do
things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able they
are, remain poor.
It is a natural law that like causes always produce like
effects; and, therefore, any man or woman who learns to do things in this
certain way will infallibly get rich.
That the above statement is true is shown by the following
facts:
Getting rich is not a matter of environment, for, if it
were, all the people in certain neighborhoods would become wealthy; the
people of one city would all be rich, while those of other towns would
all be poor; or the inhabitants of one state would roll in wealth, while
those of an adjoining state would be in poverty.
But everywhere we see rich and poor living side by side,
in the same environment, and often engaged in the same vocations. When
two men are in the same locality, and in the same business, and one gets
rich while the other remains poor, it shows that getting rich is not, primarily,
a matter of environment. Some environments may be more favorable than others,
but when two men in the same business are in the same neighborhood, and
one gets rich while the other fails, it indicates that getting rich is
the result of doing things in a Certain Way.
And further, the ability to do things in this certain
way is not due solely to the possession of talent, for many people who
have great talent remain poor, while other who have very little talent
get rich.
Studying the people who have got rich, we find that they
are an average lot in all respects, having no greater talents and abilities
than other men. It is evident that they do not get rich because they possess
talents and abilities that other men have not, but because they happen
to do things in a Certain Way.
Getting rich is not the result of saving, or "thrift";
many very penurious people are poor, while free spenders often get rich.
Nor is getting rich due to doing things which others fail
to do; for two men in the same business often do almost exactly the same
things, and one gets rich while the other remains poor or becomes bankrupt.
From all these things, we must come to the conclusion
that getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way.
If getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain
Way, and if like causes always produce like effects, then any man or woman
who can do things in that way can become rich, and the whole matter is
brought within the domain of exact science.
The question arises here, whether this Certain Way may
not be so difficult that only a few may follow it. This cannot be true,
as we have seen, so far as natural ability is concerned. Talented people
get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant people get
rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically strong people get rich,
and weak and sickly people get rich.
Some degree of ability to think and understand is, of
course, essential; but in so far natural ability is concerned, any man
or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can certainly
get rich.
Also, we have seen that it is not a matter of environment.
Location counts for something; one would not go to the heart of the Sahara
and expect to do successful business.
Getting rich involves the necessity of dealing with men,
and of being where there are people to deal with; and if these people are
inclined to deal in the way you want to deal, so much the better. But that
is about as far as environment goes.
If anybody else in your town can get rich, so can you;
and if anybody else in your state can get rich, so can you.
Again, it is not a matter of choosing some particular
business or profession. People get rich in every business, and in every
profession; while their next door neighbors in the same vocation remain
in poverty.
It is true that you will do best in a business which you
like, and which is congenial to you; and if you have certain talents which
are well developed, you will do best in a business which calls for the
exercise of those talents.
Also, you will do best in a business which is suited to
your locality; an ice-cream parlor would do better in a warm climate than
in Greenland, and a salmon fishery will succeed better in the Northwest
than in Florida, where there are no salmon.
But, aside from these general limitations, getting rich
is not dependent upon your engaging in some particular business, but upon
your learning to do things in a Certain Way. If you are now in business,
and anybody else in your locality is getting rich in the same business,
while you are not getting rich, it is because you are not doing things
in the same Way that the other person is doing them.
No one is prevented from getting rich by lack of capital.
True, as you get capital the increase becomes more easy and rapid; but
one who has capital is already rich, and does not need to consider how
to become so. No matter how poor you may be, if you begin to do things
in the Certain Way you will begin to get rich; and you will begin to have
capital. The getting of capital is a part of the process of getting rich;
and it is a part of the result which invariably follows the doing of things
in the Certain Way. You may be the poorest man on the continent, and be
deeply in debt; you may have neither friends, influence, nor resources;
but if you begin to do things in this way, you must infallibly begin to
get rich, for like causes must produce like effects. If you have no capital,
you can get capital; if you are in the wrong business, you can get into
the right business; if you are in the wrong location, you can go to the
right location; and you can do so by beginning in your present business
and in your present location to do things in the Certain Way which
causes success.
CHAPTER 3
Is Opportunity Monopolized?
NO man is kept poor because opportunity has been taken
away from him; because other people have monopolized the wealth, and have
put a fence around it. You may be shut off from engaging in business in
certain lines, but there are other channels open to you. Probably it would
be hard for you to get control of any of the great railroad systems; that
field is pretty well monopolized. But the electric railway business is
still in its infancy, and offers plenty of scope for enterprise; and it
will be but a very few years until traffic and transportation through the
air will become a great industry, and in all its branches will give employment
to hundreds of thousands, and perhaps to millions, of people. Why not turn
your attention to the development of aerial transportation, instead of
competing with J.J. Hill and others for a chance in the steam railway world?
It is quite true that if you are a workman in the employ
of the steel trust you have very little chance of becoming the owner of
the plant in which you work; but it is also true that if you will commence
to act in a Certain Way, you can soon leave the employ of the steel trust;
you can buy a farm of from ten to forty acres, and engage in business as
a producer of foodstuffs. There is great opportunity at this time for men
who will live upon small tracts of land and cultivate the same intensively;
such men will certainly get rich. You may say that it is impossible for
you to get the land, but I am going to prove to you that it is not impossible,
and that you can certainly get a farm if you will go to work in a Certain
Way.
At different periods the tide of opportunity sets in different
directions, according to the needs of the whole, and the particular stage
of social evolution which has been reached. At present, in America, it
is setting toward agriculture and the allied industries and professions.
To-day, opportunity is open before the factory worker in his line. It is
open before the business man who supplies the farmer more than before the
one who supplies the factory worker; and before the professional man who
waits upon the farmer more than before the one who serves the working class.
There is abundance of opportunity for the man who will
go with the tide, instead of trying to swim against it.
So the factory workers, either as individuals or as a
class, are not deprived of opportunity. The workers are not being "kept
down" by their masters; they are not being "ground" by the trusts and combinations
of capital. As a class, they are where they are because they do not do
things in a Certain Way. If the workers of America chose to do so, they
could follow the example of their brothers in Belgium and other countries,
and establish great department stores and co-operative industries; they
could elect men of their own class to office, and pass laws favoring the
development of such co-operative industries; and in a few years they could
take peaceable possession of the industrial field.
The working class may become the master class whenever
they will begin to do things in a Certain Way; the law of wealth is the
same for them as it is for all others. This they must learn; and they will
remain where they are as long as they continue to do as they do. The individual
worker, however, is not held down by the ignorance or the mental slothfulness
of his class; he can follow the tide of opportunity to riches, and this
book will tell him how.
No one is kept in poverty by a shortness in the supply
of riches; there is more than enough for all. A palace as large as the
capitol at Washington might be built for every family on earth from the
building material in the United States alone; and under intensive cultivation,
this country would produce wool, cotton, linen, and silk enough to cloth
each person in the world finer than Solomon was arrayed in all his glory;
together with food enough to feed them all luxuriously.
The visible supply is practically inexhaustible; and the
invisible supply really IS inexhaustible.
Everything you see on earth is made from one original
substance, out of which all things proceed.
New Forms are constantly being made, and older ones are
dissolving; but all are shapes assumed by One Thing.
There is no limit to the supply of Formless Stuff, or
Original Substance. The universe is made out of it; but it was not all
used in making the universe. The spaces in, through, and between the forms
of the visible universe are permeated and filled with the Original Substance;
with the formless Stuff; with the raw material of all things. Ten thousand
times as much as has been made might still be made, and even then we should
not have exhausted the supply of universal raw material.
No man, therefore, is poor because nature is poor, or
because there is not enough to go around.
Nature is an inexhaustible storehouse of riches; the supply
will never run short. Original Substance is alive with creative energy,
and is constantly producing more forms. When the supply of building material
is exhausted, more will be produced; when the soil is exhausted so that
food stuffs and materials for clothing will no longer grow upon it, it
will be renewed or more soil will be made. When all the gold and silver
has been dug from the earth, if man is still in such a stage of social
development that he needs gold and silver, more will produced from the
Formless. The Formless Stuff responds to the needs of man; it will not
let him be without any good thing.
This is true of man collectively; the race as a whole
is always abundantly rich, and if individuals are poor, it is because they
do not follow the Certain Way of doing things which makes the individual
man rich.
The Formless Stuff is intelligent; it is stuff which thinks.
It is alive, and is always impelled toward more life.
It is the natural and inherent impulse of life to seek
to live more; it is the nature of intelligence to enlarge itself, and of
consciousness to seek to extend its boundaries and find fuller expression.
The universe of forms has been made by Formless Living Substance, throwing
itself into form in order to express itself more fully.
The universe is a great Living Presence, always moving
inherently toward more life and fuller functioning.
Nature is formed for the advancement of life; its impelling
motive is the increase of life. For this cause, everything which can possibly
minister to life is bountifully provided; there can be no lack unless God
is to contradict himself and nullify his own works.
You are not kept poor by lack in the supply of riches;
it is a fact which I shall demonstrate a little farther on that even the
resources of the Formless Supply are at the command of the man or woman
will act and think in a Certain Way.
CHAPTER 4
The First Principle in The Science of Getting Rich.
THOUGHT is the only power which can produce tangible riches
from the Formless Substance. The stuff from which all things are made is
a substance which thinks, and a thought of form in this substance produces
the form.
Original Substance moves according to its thoughts; every
form and process you see in nature is the visible expression of a thought
in Original Substance. As the Formless Stuff thinks of a form, it takes
that form; as it thinks of a motion, it makes that motion. That is the
way all things were created. We live in a thought world, which is part
of a thought universe. The thought of a moving universe extended throughout
Formless Substance, and the Thinking Stuff moving according to that thought,
took the form of systems of planets, and maintains that form. Thinking
Substance takes the form of its thought, and moves according to the thought.
Holding the idea of a circling system of suns and worlds, it takes the
form of these bodies, and moves them as it thinks. Thinking the form of
a slow-growing oak tree, it moves accordingly, and produces the tree, though
centuries may be required to do the work. In creating, the Formless seems
to move according to the lines of motion it has established; the thought
of an oak tree does not cause the instant formation of a full-grown tree,
but it does start in motion the forces which will produce the tree, along
established lines of growth.
Every thought of form, held in thinking Substance, causes
the creation of the form, but always, or at least generally, along lines
of growth and action already established.
The thought of a house of a certain construction, if it
were impressed upon Formless Substance, might not cause the instant formation,
of the house; but it would cause the turning of creative energies already
working in trade and commerce into such channels as to result in the speedy
building of the house. And if there were no existing channels through which
the creative energy could work, then the house would be formed directly
from primal substance, without waiting for the slow processes of the organic
and inorganic world.
No thought of form can be impressed upon Original Substance
without causing the creation of the form.
Man is a thinking center, and can originate thought. All
the forms that man fashions with his hands must first exist in his thought;
he cannot shape a thing until he has thought that thing.
And so far man has confined his efforts wholly to the
work of his hands; he has applied manual labor to the world of forms, seeking
to change or modify those already existing. He has never thought of trying
to cause the creation of new forms by impressing his thoughts upon Formless
Substance.
When man has a thought-form, he takes material from the
forms of nature, and makes an image of the form which is in his mind. He
has, so far, made little or no effort to co-operate with Formless Intelligence;
to work "with the Father." He has not dreamed that he can "do what he seeth
the Father doing." Man reshapes and modifies existing forms by manual labor;
he has given no attention to the question whether he may not produce things
from Formless Substance by communicating his thoughts to it. We propose
to prove that he may do so; to prove that any man or woman may do so, and
to show how. As our first step, we must lay down three fundamental propositions.
First, we assert that there is one original formless stuff,
or substance, from which all things are made. All the seemingly many elements
are but different presentations of one element; all the many forms found
in organic and inorganic nature are but different shapes, made from the
same stuff. And this stuff is thinking stuff; a thought held in it produces
the form of the thought. Thought, in thinking substance, produces shapes.
Man is a thinking center, capable of original thought; if man can communicate
his thought to original thinking substance, he can cause the creation,
or formation, of the thing he thinks about. To summarize this--
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are
made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills
the interspaces of the universe.
A thought, in this substance, Produces the thing that
is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing
his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about
to be created.
It may be asked if I can prove these statements; and without
going into details, I answer that I can do so, both by logic and experience.
Reasoning back from the phenomena of form and thought,
I come to one original thinking substance; and reasoning forward from this
thinking substance, I come to man's power to cause the formation of the
thing he thinks about.
And by experiment, I find the reasoning true; and this
is my strongest proof.
If one man who reads this book gets rich by doing what
it tells him to do, that is evidence in support of my claim; but if every
man who does what it tells him to do gets rich, that is positive proof
until some one goes through the process and fails. The theory is true until
the process fails; and this process will not fail, for every man who does
exactly what this book tells him to do will get rich.
I have said that men get rich by doing things in a Certain
Way; and in order to do so, men must become able to think in a certain
way.
A man's way of doing things is the direct result of
the way he thinks about things.
To do things in a way you want to do them, you will have
to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think; this is the
first step toward getting rich.
To think what you want to think is to think TRUTH,
regardless of appearances.
Every man has the natural and inherent power to think
what he wants to think, but it requires far more effort to do so than it
does to think the thoughts which are suggested by appearances. To think
according to appearance is easy; to think truth regardless of appearances
is laborious, and requires the expenditure of more power than any other
work man is called upon to perform.
There is no labor from which most people shrink as they
do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it is the hardest work
in the world. This is especially true when truth is contrary to appearances.
Every appearance in the visible world tends to produce a corresponding
form in the mind which observes it; and this can only be prevented by holding
the thought of the TRUTH.
To look upon the appearance of disease will produce the
form of disease in your own mind, and ultimately in your body, unless you
hold the thought of the truth, which is that there is no disease; it is
only an appearance, and the reality is health.
To look upon the appearances of poverty will produce corresponding
forms in your own mind, unless you hold to the truth that there is no poverty;
there is only abundance.
To think health when surrounded by the appearances of
disease, or to think riches when in the midst of appearances of poverty,
requires power; but he who acquires this power becomes a MASTER MIND. He
can conquer fate; he can have what he wants.
This power can only be acquired by getting hold of the
basic fact which is behind all appearances; and that fact is that there
is one Thinking Substance, from which and by which all things are made.
Then we must grasp the truth that every thought held in
this substance becomes a form, and that man can so impress his thoughts
upon it as to cause them to take form and become visible things.
When we realize this, we lose all doubt and fear, for
we know that we can create what we want to create; we can get what we want
to have, and can become what we want to be. As a first step toward getting
rich, you must believe the three fundamental statements given previously
in this chapter; and in order to emphasize them. I repeat them here:--
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are
made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills
the interspaces of the universe.
A thought, in this substance, Produces the thing that
is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing
his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about
to be created.
You must lay aside all other concepts of the universe
than this monistic one; and you must dwell upon this until it is fixed
in your mind, and has become your habitual thought. Read these creed statements
over and over again; fix every word upon your memory, and meditate upon
them until you firmly believe what they say. If a doubt comes to you, cast
it aside as a sin. Do not listen to arguments against this idea; do not
go to churches or lectures where a contrary concept of things is taught
or preached. Do not read magazines or books which teach a different idea;
if you get mixed up in your faith, all your efforts will be in vain.
Do not ask why these things are true, nor speculate as
to how they can be true; simply take them on trust.
The science of getting rich begins with the absolute acceptance
of this faith.
CHAPTER 5
Increasing Life.
YOU must get rid of the last vestige of the old idea that
there is a Deity whose will it is that you should be poor, or whose purposes
may be served by keeping you in poverty.
The Intelligent Substance which is All, and in All, and
which lives in All and lives in you, is a consciously Living Substance.
Being a consciously living substance, It must have the nature and inherent
desire of every living intelligence for increase of life. Every living
thing must continually seek for the enlargement of its life, because life,
in the mere act of living, must increase itself.
A seed, dropped into the ground, springs into activity,
and in the act of living produces a hundred more seeds; life, by living,
multiplies itself. It is forever Becoming More; it must do so, if it continues
to be at all.
Intelligence is under this same necessity for continuous
increase. Every thought we think makes it necessary for us to think another
thought; consciousness is continually expanding. Every fact we learn leads
us to the learning of another fact; knowledge is continually increasing.
Every talent we cultivate brings to the mind the desire to cultivate another
talent; we are subject to the urge of life, seeking expression, which ever
drives us on to know more, to do more, and to be more.
In order to know more, do more, and be more we must have
more; we must have things to use, for we learn, and do, and become, only
by using things. We must get rich, so that we can live more.
The desire for riches is simply the capacity for larger
life seeking fulfillment; every desire is the effort of an unexpressed
possibility to come into action. It is power seeking to manifest which
causes desire. That which makes you want more money is the same as that
which makes the plant grow; it is Life, seeking fuller expression.
The One Living Substance must be subject to this inherent
law of all life; it is permeated with the desire to live more; that is
why it is under the necessity of creating things.
The One Substance desires to live more in you; hence it
wants you to have all the things you can use.
It is the desire of God that you should get rich. He wants
you to get rich because he can express himself better through you if you
have plenty of things to use in giving him expression. He can live more
in you if you have unlimited command of the means of life.
The universe desires you to have everything you want to
have.
Nature is friendly to your plans.
Everything is naturally for you.
Make up your mind that this is true.
It is essential, however that your purpose should harmonize
with the purpose that is in All.
You must want real life, not mere pleasure of sensual
gratification. Life is the performance of function; and the individual
really lives only when he performs every function, physical, mental, and
spiritual, of which he is capable, without excess in any.
You do not want to get rich in order to live swinishly,
for the gratification of animal desires; that is not life. But the performance
of every physical function is a part of life, and no one lives completely
who denies the impulses of the body a normal and healthful expression.
You do not want to get rich solely to enjoy mental pleasures,
to get knowledge, to gratify ambition, to outshine others, to be famous.
All these are a legitimate part of life, but the man who lives for the
pleasures of the intellect alone will only have a partial life, and he
will never be satisfied with his lot.
You do not want to get rich solely for the good of others,
to lose yourself for the salvation of mankind, to experience the joys of
philanthropy and sacrifice. The joys of the soul are only a part of life;
and they are no better or nobler than any other part.
You want to get rich in order that you may eat, drink,
and be merry when it is time to do these things; in order that you may
surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed your mind,
and develop your intellect; in order that you may love men and do kind
things, and be able to play a good part in helping the world to find truth.
But remember that extreme altruism is no better and no
nobler than extreme selfishness; both are mistakes.
Get rid of the idea that God wants you to sacrifice yourself
for others, and that you can secure his favor by doing so; God requires
nothing of the kind.
What he wants is that you should make the most of yourself,
for yourself, and for others; and you can help others more by making
the most of yourself than in any other way.
You can make the most of yourself only by getting rich;
so it is right and praiseworthy that you should give your first and best
thought to the work of acquiring wealth.
Remember, however, that the desire of Substance is for
all, and its movements must be for more life to all; it cannot be made
to work for less life to any, because it is equally in all, seeking riches
and life.
Intelligent Substance will make things for you, but it
will not take things away from some one else and give them to you.
You must get rid of the thought of competition. You are
to create, not to compete for what is already created.
You do not have to take anything away from any one.
You do not have to drive sharp bargains.
You do not have to cheat, or to take advantage. You do
not need to let any man work for you for less than he earns.
You do not have to covet the property of others, or to
look at it with wishful eyes; no man has anything of which you cannot have
the like, and that without taking what he has away from him.
You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are
going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every
other man will have more than he has now.
I am aware that there are men who get a vast amount of
money by proceeding in direct opposition to the statements in the paragraph
above, and may add a word of explanation here. Men of the plutocratic type,
who become very rich, do so sometimes purely by their extraordinary ability
on the plane of competition; and sometimes they unconsciously relate themselves
to Substance in its great purposes and movements for the general racial
upbuilding through industrial evolution. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan,
et al., have been the unconscious agents of the Supreme in the necessary
work of systematizing and organizing productive industry; and in the end,
their work will contribute immensely toward increased life for all. Their
day is nearly over; they have organized production, and will soon be
succeeded by the agents of the multitude, who will organize the machinery
of distribution.
The multi-millionaires are like the monster reptiles of
the prehistoric eras; they play a necessary part in the evolutionary process,
but the same Power which produced them will dispose of them. And it is
well to bear in mind that they have never been really rich; a record of
the private lives of most of this class will show that they have really
been the most abject and wretched of the poor.
Riches secured on the competitive plane are never satisfactory
and permanent; they are yours to-day, and another's tomorrow. Remember,
if you are to become rich in a scientific and certain way, you must rise
entirely out of the competitive thought. You must never think for a moment
that the supply is limited. Just as soon as you begin to think that all
the money is being "cornered" and controlled by bankers and others, and
that you must exert yourself to get laws passed to stop this process, and
so on; in that moment you drop into the competitive mind, and your power
to cause creation is gone for the time being; and what is worse, you will
probably arrest the creative movements you have already instituted.
KNOW that there are countless millions of dollars' worth
of gold in the mountains of the earth, not yet brought to light; and know
that if there were not, more would be created from Thinking Substance to
supply your needs.
KNOW that the money you need will come, even if it is
necessary for a thousand men to be led to the discovery of new gold mines
to-morrow.
Never look at the visible supply; look always at the
limitless riches in Formless Substance, and KNOW that they are coming to
you as fast as you can receive and use them. Nobody, by cornering the
visible supply, can prevent you from getting what is yours.
So never allow yourself to think for an instant that all
the best building spots will be taken before you get ready to build your
house, unless you hurry. Never worry about the trusts and combines, and
get anxious for fear they will soon come to own the whole earth. Never
get afraid that you will lose what you want because some other person "beats
you to it." That cannot possibly happen; you are not seeking any thing
that is possessed by anybody else; you are causing what you want to be
created from formless Substance, and the supply is without limits. Stick
to the formulated statement:--
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are
made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills
the interspaces of the universe.
A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that
is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing
his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about
to be created.
Chapter VI.
How Riches Come to You
WHEN I say that you do not have to drive sharp bargains,
I do not mean that you do not have to drive any bargains at all, or that
you are above the necessity for having any dealings with your fellow men.
I mean that you will not need to deal with them unfairly; you do not have
to get something for nothing, but can give to every man more than you
take from him.
You cannot give every man more in cash market value than
you take from him, but you can give him more in use value than the cash
value of the thing you take from him. The paper, ink, and other material
in this book may not be worth the money you pay for it; but if the ideas
suggested by it bring you thousands of dollars, you have not been wronged
by those who sold it to you; they have given you a great use value for
a small cash value.
Let us suppose that I own a picture by one of the great
artists, which, in any civilized community, is worth thousands of dollars.
I take it to Baffin Ray, and by "salesmanship" induce an Eskimo to give
a bundle of furs worth $ 500 for it. I have really wronged him, for he
has no use for the picture; it has no use value to him; it will not add
to his life.
But suppose I give him a gun worth $50 for his furs; then
he has made a good bargain. He has use for the gun; it will get him many
more furs and much food; it will add to his life in every way; it will
make him rich.
When you rise from the competitive to the creative plane,
you can scan your business transactions very strictly, and if you are selling
any man anything which does not add more to his life than the thing he
give you in exchange, you can afford to stop it. You do not have to beat
anybody in business. And if you are in a business which does beat people,
get out of it at once.
Give every man more in use value than you take from him
in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business
transaction.
If you have people working for you, you must take from
them more in cash value than you pay them in wages; but you can so organize
your business that it will be filled with the principle of advancement,
and so that each employee who wishes to do so may advance a little every
day.
You can make your business do for your employees what
this book is doing for you. You can so conduct your business that it will
be a sort of ladder, by which every employee who will take the trouble
may climb to riches himself; and given the opportunity, if he will not
do so it is not your fault.
And finally, because you are to cause the creation of
your riches from Formless Substance which permeates all your environment,
it does not follow that they are to take shape from the atmosphere and
come into being before your eyes.
If you want a sewing machine, for instance, I do not mean
to tell you that you are to impress the thought of a sewing machine on
Thinking Substance until the machine is formed without hands, in the room
where you sit, or elsewhere. But if you want a sewing machine, hold the
mental image of it with the most positive certainty that it is being made,
or is on its way to you. After once forming the thought, have the most
absolute and unquestioning faith that the sewing machine is coming; never
think of it, or speak, of it, in any other way than as being sure to arrive.
Claim it as already yours.
It will be brought to you by the power of the Supreme
Intelligence, acting upon the minds of men. If you live in Maine, it may
be that a man will be brought from Texas or Japan to engage in some transaction
which will result in your getting what you want.
If so, the whole matter will be as much to that man's
advantage as it is to yours.
Do not forget for a moment that the Thinking Substance
is through all, in all, communicating with all, and can influence all.
The desire of Thinking Substance for fuller life and better living has
caused the creation of all the sewing machines already made; and it can
cause the creation of millions more, and will, whenever men set it in motion
by desire and faith, and by acting in a Certain Way.
You can certainly have a sewing machine in your house;
and it is just as certain that you can have any other thing or things which
you want, and which you will use for the advancement of your own life and
the lives of others.
You need not hesitate about asking largely; "it is your
Father's pleasure to give you the kingdom, " said Jesus.
Original Substance wants to live all that is possible
in you, and wants you to have all that you can or will use for the living
of the most abundant life.
If you fix upon your consciousness the fact that the desire
you feel for the possession of riches is one with the desire of Omnipotence
for more complete expression, your faith becomes invincible.
Once I saw a little boy sitting at a piano, and vainly
trying to bring harmony out of the keys; and I saw that he was grieved
and provoked by his inability to play real music. I asked him the cause
of his vexation, and he answered, "I can feel the music in me, but I can't
make my hands go right." The music in him was the URGE of Original Substance,
containing all the possibilities of all life; all that there is of music
was seeking expression through the child.
God, the One Substance, is trying to live and do and enjoy
things through humanity. He is saying "I want hands to build wonderful
structures, to play divine harmonies, to paint glorious pictures; I want
feet to run my errands, eyes to see my beauties, tongues to tell mighty
truths and to sing marvelous songs," and so on.
All that there is of possibility is seeking expression
through men. God wants those who can play music to have pianos and every
other instrument, and to have the means to cultivate their talents to the
fullest extent; He wants those who can appreciate beauty to be able to
surround themselves with beautiful things; He wants those who can discern
truth to have every opportunity to travel and observe; He wants those who
can appreciate dress to be beautifully clothed, and those who can appreciate
good food to be luxuriously fed.
He wants all these things because it is Himself that enjoys
and appreciates them; it is God who wants to play, and sing, and enjoy
beauty, and proclaim truth and wear fine clothes, and eat good foods. "it
is God that worketh in you to will and to do," said Paul.
The desire you feel for riches is the infinite, seeking
to express Himself in you as He sought to find expression in the little
boy at the piano.
So you need not hesitate to ask largely.
Your part is to focalize and express the desire to God.
This is a difficult point with most people; they retain
something of the old idea that poverty and self-sacrifice are pleasing
to God. They look upon poverty as a part of the plan, a necessity of nature.
They have the idea that God has finished His work, and made all that He
can make, and that the majority of men must stay poor because there is
not enough to go around. They hold to so much of this erroneous thought
that they feel ashamed to ask for wealth; they try not to want more than
a very modest competence, just enough to make them fairly comfortable.
I recall now the case of one student who was told that
he must get in mind a clear picture of the things he desired, so that the
creative thought of them might be impressed on Formless Substance. He was
a very poor man, living in a rented house, and having only what he earned
from day to day; and he could not grasp the fact that all wealth was his.
So, after thinking the matter over, he decided that he might reasonably
ask for a new rug for the floor of his best room, and an anthracite coal
stove to heat the house during the cold weather. Following the instructions
given in this book, he obtained these things in a few months; and then
it dawned upon him that he had not asked enough. He went through the house
in which he lived, and planned all the improvements he would like to make
in it; he mentally added a bay window here and a room there, until it was
complete in his mind as his ideal home; and then he planned its furnishings.
Holding the whole picture in his mind, he began living
in the Certain Way, and moving toward what he wanted; and he owns the house
now, and is rebuilding it after the form of his mental image. And now,
with still larger faith, he is going on to get greater things. It has been
unto him according to his faith, and it is so with you and with all of
us.
CHAPTER 7
Gratitude.
THE illustrations given in the last chapter will have
conveyed to the reader the fact that the first step toward getting rich
is to convey the idea of your wants to the Formless Substance.
This is true, and you will see that in order to do so
it becomes necessary to relate yourself to the Formless Intelligence in
a harmonious way.
To secure this harmonious relation is a matter of such
primary and vital importance that I shall give some space to its discussion
here, and give you instructions which, if you will follow them, will be
certain to bring you into perfect unity of mind with God.
The whole process of mental adjustment and atonement can
be summed up in one word, gratitude.
First, you believe that there is one Intelligent Substance,
from which all things proceed; second, you believe that this Substance
gives you everything you desire; and third, you relate yourself to it by
a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.
Many people who order their lives rightly in all other
ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude. Having received one
gift from God, they cut the wires which connect them with Him by failing
to make acknowledgment.
It is easy to understand that the nearer we live to the
source of wealth, the more wealth we shall receive; and it is easy also
to understand that the soul that is always grateful lives in closer touch
with God than the one which never looks to Him in thankful acknowledgment.
The more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme when
good things come to us, the more good things we will receive, and the more
rapidly they will come; and the reason simply is that the mental attitude
of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which
the blessings come.
If it is a new thought to you that gratitude brings your
whole mind into closer harmony with the creative energies of the universe,
consider it well, and you will see that it is true. The good things you
already have have come to you along the line of obedience to certain laws.
Gratitude will lead your mind out along the ways by which things come;
and it will keep you in close harmony with creative thought and prevent
you from falling into competitive thought.
Gratitude alone can keep you looking toward the All, and
prevent you from falling into the error of thinking of the supply as limited;
and to do that would be fatal to your hopes.
There is a Law of Gratitude, and it is absolutely necessary
that you should observe the law, if you are to get the results you seek.
The law of gratitude is the natural principle that action
and reaction are always equal, and in opposite directions.
The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise
to the Supreme is a liberation or expenditure of force; it cannot fail
to reach that to which it addressed, and the reaction is an instantaneous
movement towards you.
"Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you."
That is a statement of psychological truth.
And if your gratitude is strong and constant, the reaction
in Formless Substance will be strong and continuous; the movement of the
things you want will be always toward you. Notice the grateful attitude
that Jesus took; how He always seems to be saying, "I thank Thee, Father,
that Thou hearest me." You cannot exercise much power without gratitude;
for it is gratitude that keeps you connected with Power.
But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in
getting you more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot
long keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.
The moment you permit your mind to dwell with dissatisfaction
upon things as they are, you begin to lose ground. You fix attention upon
the common, the ordinary, the poor, and the squalid and mean; and your
mind takes the form of these things. Then you will transmit these forms
or mental images to the Formless, and the common, the poor, the squalid,
and mean will come to you.
To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become
inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things.
On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is
to surround yourself with the best, and to become the best.
The Creative Power within us makes us into the image of
that to which we give our attention.
We are Thinking Substance, and thinking substance always
takes the form of that which it thinks about.
The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best; therefore
it tends to become the best; it takes the form or character of the best,
and will receive the best.
Also, faith is born of gratitude. The grateful mind continually
expects good things, and expectation becomes faith. The reaction of gratitude
upon one's own mind produces faith; and every outgoing wave of grateful
thanksgiving increases faith. He who has no feeling of gratitude cannot
long retain a living faith; and without a living faith you cannot get rich
by the creative method, as we shall see in the following chapters.
It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being
grateful for every good thing that comes to you; and to give thanks continuously.
And because all things have contributed to your advancement,
you should include all things in your gratitude.
Do not waste time thinking or talking about the shortcomings
or wrong actions of plutocrats or trust magnates. Their organization of
the world has made your opportunity; all you get really comes to you because
of them.
Do not rage against, corrupt politicians; if it were not
for politicians we should fall into anarchy, and your opportunity would
be greatly lessened.
God has worked a long time and very patiently to bring
us up to where we are in industry and government, and He is going right
on with His work. There is not the least doubt that He will do away with
plutocrats, trust magnates, captains of industry, and politicians as soon
as they can be spared; but in the meantime, behold they are all very good.
Remember that they are all helping to arrange the lines of transmission
along which your riches will come to you, and be grateful to them all.
This will bring you into harmonious relations with the good in everything,
and the good in everything will move toward you.
CHAPTER 8
Thinking in the Certain Way.
TURN back to chapter 6 and read again the story of the
man who formed a mental image of his house, and you will get a fair idea
of the initial step toward getting rich. You must form a clear and definite
mental picture of what you want; you cannot transmit an idea unless you
have it yourself.
You must have it before you can give it; and many people
fail to impress Thinking Substance because they have themselves only a
vague and misty concept of the things they want to do, to have, or to become.
It is not enough that you should have a general desire
for wealth "to do good with"; everybody has that desire.
It is not enough that you should have a wish to travel,
see things, live more, etc. Everybody has those desires also. If you were
going to send a wireless message to a friend, you would not send the letters
of the alphabet in their order, and let him construct the message for himself;
nor would you take words at random from the dictionary. You would send
a coherent sentence; one which meant something. When you try to impress
your wants upon Substance, remember that it must be done by a coherent
statement; you must know what you want, and be definite. You can never
get rich, or start the creative power into action, by sending out unformed
longings and vague desires.
Go over your desires just as the man I have described
went over his house; see just what you want, and get a clear mental picture
of it as you wish it to look when you get it.
That clear mental picture you must have continually in
mind, as the sailor has in mind the port toward which he is sailing the
ship; you must keep your face toward it all the time. You must no more
lose sight of it than the steersman loses sight of the compass.
It is not necessary to take exercises in concentration,
nor to set apart special times for prayer and affirmation, nor to "go into
the silence," nor to do occult stunts of any kind. There things are well
enough, but all you need is to know what you want, and to want it badly
enough so that it will stay in your thoughts.
Spend as much of your leisure time as you can in contemplating
your picture, but no one needs to take exercises to concentrate his mind
on a thing which he really wants; it is the things you do not really care
about which require effort to fix your attention upon them.
And unless you really want to get rich, so that the desire
is strong enough to hold your thoughts directed to the purpose as the magnetic
pole holds the needle of the compass, it will hardly be worth while for
you to try to carry out the instructions given in this book.
The methods herein set forth are for people whose desire
for riches is strong enough to overcome mental laziness and the love of
ease, and make them work.
The more clear and definite you make your picture then,
and the more you dwell upon it, bringing out all its delightful details,
the stronger your desire will be; and the stronger your desire, the easier
it will be to hold your mind fixed upon the picture of what you want.
Something more is necessary, however, than merely to see
the picture clearly. If that is all you do, you are only a dreamer, and
will have little or no power for accomplishment.
Behind your clear vision must be the purpose to realize
it; to bring it out in tangible expression.
And behind this purpose must be an invincible and unwavering
FAITH that the thing is already yours; that it is "at hand" and you have
only to take possession of it.
Live in the new house, mentally, until it takes form around
you physically. In the mental realm, enter at once into full enjoyment
of the things you want.
"Whatsoever things ye ask for when ye pray, believe that
ye receive them, and ye shall have them," said Jesus.
See the things you want as if they were actually around
you all the time; see yourself as owning and using them. Make use of them
in imagination just as you will use them when they are your tangible possessions.
Dwell upon your mental picture until it is clear and distinct, and then
take the Mental Attitude of Ownership toward everything in that picture.
Take possession of it, in mind, in the full faith that it is actually yours.
Hold to this mental ownership; do not waiver for an instant in the faith
that it is real.
And remember what was said in a proceeding chapter about
gratitude; be as thankful for it all the time as you expect to be when
it has taken form. The man who can sincerely thank God for the things which
as yet he owns only in imagination, has real faith. He will get rich; he
will cause the creation of whatsoever he wants.
You do not need to pray repeatedly for things you want;
it is not necessary to tell God about it every day.
"Use not vain repetitions as the heathen do," said Jesus
said to his pupils, "for your Father knoweth the ye have need of these
things before ye ask Him."
Your part is to intelligently formulate your desire for
the things which make for a larger life, and to get these desire arranged
into a coherent whole; and then to impress this Whole Desire upon the Formless
Substance, which has the power and the will to bring you what you want.
You do not make this impression by repeating strings of
words; you make it by holding the vision with unshakable PURPOSE to attain
it, and with steadfast FAITH that you do attain it.
The answer to prayer is not according to your faith while
you are talking, but according to your faith while you are working.
You cannot impress the mind of God by having a special
Sabbath day set apart to tell Him what you want, and the forgetting Him
during the rest of the week. You cannot impress Him by having special hours
to go into your closet and pray, if you then dismiss the matter from your
mind until the hour of prayer comes again.
Oral prayer is well enough, and has its effect, especially
upon yourself, in clarifying your vision and strengthening your faith;
but it is not your oral petitions which get you what you want. In order
to get rich you do not need a "sweet hour of prayer"; you need to "pray
without ceasing." And by prayer I mean holding steadily to your vision,
with the purpose to cause its creation into solid form, and the faith that
you are doing so.
"Believe that ye receive them."
The whole matter turns on receiving, once you have clearly
formed your vision. When you have formed it, it is well to make an oral
statement, addressing the Supreme in reverent prayer; and from that moment
you must, in mind, receive what you ask for. Live in the new house; wear
the fine clothes; ride in the automobile; go on the journey, and confidently
plan for greater journeys. Think and speak of all the things you have asked
for in terms of actual present ownership. Imagine an environment, and a
financial condition exactly as you want them, and live all the time in
that imaginary environment and financial condition. Mind, however, that
you do not do this as a mere dreamer and castle builder; hold to the FAITH
that the imaginary is being realized, and to the PURPOSE to realize it.
Remember that it is faith and purpose in the use of the imagination which
make the difference between the scientist and the dreamer. And having learned
this fact, it is here that you must learn the proper use of the Will.
CHAPTER 9
How to Use the Will.
TO set about getting rich in a scientific way, you do
not try to apply your will power to anything outside of yourself.
Your have no right to do so, anyway.
It is wrong to apply your will to other men and women,
in order to get them to do what you wish done.
It is as flagrantly wrong to coerce people by mental power
as it is to coerce them by physical power. If compelling people by physical
force to do things for you reduces them to slavery, compelling them by
mental means accomplishes exactly the same thing; the only difference is
in methods. If taking things from people by physical force is robbery,
them taking things by mental force is robbery also; there is no difference
in principle.
You have no right to use your will power upon another
person, even "for his own good"; for you do not know what is for his good.
The science of getting rich does not require you to apply power or force
to any other person, in any way whatsoever. There is not the slightest
necessity for doing so; indeed, any attempt to use your will upon others
will only tend to defeat your purpose.
You do not need to apply your will to things, in order
to compel them to come to you.
That would simply be trying to coerce God, and would be
foolish and useless, as well as irreverent.
You do not have to compel God to give you good things,
any more than you have to use your will power to make the sun rise.
You do not have to use your will power to conquer an unfriendly
deity, or to make stubborn and rebellious forces do your bidding.
Substance is friendly to you, and is more anxious to give
you what you want than you are to get it.
To get rich, you need only to use your will power upon
yourself.
When you know what to think and do, then you must use
your will to compel yourself to think and do the right things. That is
the legitimate use of the will in getting what you want--to use it in holding
yourself to the right course. Use your will to keep yourself thinking and
acting in the Certain Way.
Do not try to project your will, or your thoughts, or
your mind out into space, to "act" on things or people.
Keep your mind at home; it can accomplish more there than
elsewhere.
Use your mind to form a mental image of what you want,
and to hold that vision with faith and purpose; and use your will to keep
your mind working in the Right Way.
The more steady and continuous your faith and purpose,
the more rapidly you will get rich, because you will make only POSITIVE
impressions upon Substance; and you will not neutralize or offset them
by negative impressions.
The picture of your desires, held with faith and purpose,
is taken up by the Formless, and permeates it to great distances-throughout
the universe, for all I know.
As this impression spreads, all things are set moving
toward its realization; every living thing, every inanimate thing, and
the things yet uncreated, are stirred toward bringing into being that which
you want. All force begins to be exerted in that direction; all things
begin to move toward you. The minds of people, everywhere, are influenced
toward doing the things necessary to the fulfilling of your desires; and
they work for you, unconsciously.
But you can check all this by starting a negative impression
in the Formless Substance. Doubt or unbelief is as certain to start a movement
away from you as faith and purpose are to start one toward you. It is by
not understanding this that most people who try to make use of "mental
science" in getting rich make their failure. Every hour and moment you
spend in giving heed to doubts and fears, every hour you spend in worry,
every hour in which your soul is possessed by unbelief, sets a current
away from you in the whole domain of intelligent Substance. All the promises
are unto them that believe, and unto them only. Notice how insistent Jesus
was upon this point of belief; and now you know the reason why.
Since belief is all important, it behooves you to guard
your thoughts; and as your beliefs will be shaped to a very great extent
by the things you observe and think about, it is important that you should
command your attention.
And here the will comes into use; for it is by your will
that you determine upon what things your attention shall be fixed.
If you want to become rich, you must not make a study
of poverty.
Things are not brought into being by thinking about their
opposites. Health is never to be attained by studying disease and thinking
about disease; righteousness is not to be promoted by studying sin and
thinking about sin; and no one ever got rich by studying poverty and thinking
about poverty.
Medicine as a science of disease has increased disease;
religion as a science of sin has promoted sin, and economics as a study
of poverty will fill the world with wretchedness and want.
Do not talk about poverty; do not investigate it, or concern
yourself with it. Never mind what its causes are; you have nothing to do
with them.
What concerns you is the cure.
Do not spend your time in charitable work, or charity
movements; all charity only tends to perpetuate the wretchedness it aims
to eradicate.
I do not say that you should be hard hearted or unkind,
and refuse to hear the cry of need; but you must not try to eradicate poverty
in any of the conventional ways. Put poverty behind you, and put all that
pertains to it behind you, and "make good."
Get rich; that is the best way you can help the poor.
And you cannot hold the mental image which is to make
you rich if you fill your mind with pictures of poverty. Do not read books
or papers which give circumstantial accounts of the wretchedness of the
tenement dwellers, of the horrors of child labor, and so on. Do not read
anything which fills your mind with gloomy images of want and suffering.
You cannot help the poor in the least by knowing about
these things; and the wide-spread knowledge of them does not tend at all
to do away with poverty.
What tends to do away with poverty is not the getting
of pictures of poverty into your mind, but getting pictures of wealth into
the minds of the poor.
You are not deserting the poor in their misery when you
refuse to allow your mind to be filled with pictures of that misery.
Poverty can be done away with, not by increasing the number
of well to do people who think about poverty, but by increasing the number
of poor people who purpose with faith to get rich.
The poor do not need charity; they need inspiration. Charity
only sends them a loaf of bread to keep them alive in their wretchedness,
or gives them an entertainment to make them forget for an hour or two;
but inspiration will cause them to rise out of their misery. If you want
to help the poor, demonstrate to them that they can become rich; prove
it by getting rich yourself.
The only way in which poverty will ever be banished from
this world is by getting a large and constantly increasing number of people
to practice the teachings of this book.
People must be taught to become rich by creation, not
by competition.
Every man who becomes rich by competition throws down
behind him the ladder by which he rises, and keeps others down; but every
man who gets rich by creation opens a way for thousands to follow him,
and inspires them to do so.
You are not showing hardness of heart or an unfeeling
disposition when you refuse to pity poverty, see poverty, read about poverty,
or think or talk about it, or to listen to those who do talk about it.
Use your will power to keep your mind OFF the subject of poverty, and to
keep it fixed with faith and purpose ON the vision of what you want.
CHAPTER 10
Further Use of the Will.
YOU cannot retain a true and clear vision of wealth if
you are constantly turning your attention to opposing pictures, whether
they be external or imaginary.
Do not tell of your past troubles of a financial nature,
if you have had them, do not think of them at all. Do no tell of the poverty
of your parents, or the hardships of your early life; to do any of these
things is to mentally class yourself with the poor for the time being,
and it will certainly check the movement of things in your direction.
"Let the dead bury their dead," as Jesus said.
Put poverty and all things that pertain to poverty completely
behind you.
You have accepted a certain theory of the universe as
being correct, and are resting all your hopes of happiness on its being
correct; and what can you gain by giving heed to conflicting theories?
Do not read religious books which tell you that the world
is soon coming to an end; and do not read the writing of muck-rakers and
pessimistic philosophers who tell you that it is going to the devil.
The world is not going to the devil; it is going to God.
It is wonderful Becoming.
True, there may be a good many things in existing conditions
which are disagreeable; but what is the use of studying them when they
are certainly passing away, and when the study of them only tends to check
their passing and keep them with us? Why give time and attention to things
which are being removed by evolutionary growth, when you can hasten their
removal only by promoting the evolutionary growth as far as your part of
it goes?
No matter how horrible in seeming may be the conditions
in certain countries, sections, or places, you waste your time and destroy
your own chances by considering them.
You should interest yourself in the world's becoming rich.
Think of the riches the world is coming into, instead
of the poverty it is growing out of; and bear in mind that the only way
in which you can assist the world in growing rich is by growing rich yourself
through the creative method--not the competitive one.
Give your attention wholly to riches; ignore poverty.
Whenever you think or speak of those who are poor, think
and speak of them as those who are becoming rich;as those who are to be
congratulated rather than pitied. Then they and others will catch the inspiration,
and begin to search for the way out.
Because I say that you are to give your whole time and
mind and thought to riches, it does not follow that you are to be sordid
or mean.
To become really rich is the noblest aim you can have
in life, for it includes everything else.
On the competitive plane, the struggle to get rich is
a Godless scramble for power over other men; but when we come into the
creative mind, all this is changed.
All that is possible in the way of greatness and soul
unfoldment, of service and lofty endeavor, comes by way of getting rich;
all is made possible by the use of things.
If you lack for physical health, you will find that the
attainment of it is conditional on your getting rich.
Only those who are emancipated from financial worry, and
who have the means to live a care-free existence and follow hygienic practices,
can have and retain health.
Moral and spiritual greatness is possible only to those
who are above the competitive battle for existence; and only those who
are becoming rich on the plane of creative thought are free from the degrading
influences of competition. If your heart is set on domestic happiness,
remember that love flourishes best where there is refinement, a high level
of thought, and freedom from corrupting influences; and these are to be
found only where riches are attained by the exercise of creative thought,
without strife or rivalry.
You can aim at nothing so great or noble, I repeat, as
to become rich; and you must fix your attention upon your mental picture
of riches, to the exclusion of all that may tend to dim or obscure the
vision.
You must learn to see the underlying TRUTH in all things;
you must see beneath all seemingly wrong conditions the Great One Life
ever moving forward toward fuller expression and more complete happiness.
It is the truth that there is no such thing as poverty;
that there is only wealth.
Some people remain in poverty because they are ignorant
of the fact that there is wealth for them; and these can best be taught
by showing them the way to affluence in your own person and practice.
Others are poor because, while they feel that there is
a way out, they are too intellectually indolent to put forth the mental
effort necessary to find that way and by travel it; and for these the very
best thing you can do is to arouse their desire by showing them the happiness
that comes from being rightly rich.
Others still are poor because, while they have some notion
of science, they have become so swamped and lost in the maze of metaphysical
and occult theories that they do not know which road to take. They try
a mixture of many systems and fail in all. For these, again, the very best
thing, to do is to show the right way in your own person and practice;
an ounce of doing things is worth a pound of theorizing.
The very best thing you can do for the whole world is
to make the most of yourself.
You can serve God and man in no more effective way than
by getting rich; that is, if you get rich by the creative method and not
by the competetive one.
Another thing. We assert that this book gives in detail
the principles of the science of getting rich; and if that is true, you
do not need to read any other book upon the subject. This may sound narrow
and egotistical, but consider: there is no more scientific method of computation
in mathematics than by addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division;
no other method is possible. There can be but one shortest distance between
two points. There is only one way to think scientifically, and that is
to think in the way that leads by the most direct and simple route to the
goal. No man has yet formulated a briefer or less complex "system" than
the one set forth herein; it has been stripped of all non-essentials. When
you commence on this, lay all others aside; put them out of your mind altogether.
Read this book every day; keep it with you; commit it
to memory, and do not think about other "systems" and theories. If you
do, you will begin to have doubts, and to be uncertain and wavering in
your thought; and then you will begin to make failures.
After you have made good and become rich, you may study
other systems as much as you please; but until you are quite sure that
you have gained what you want, do not read anything on this line but this
book, unless it be the authors mentioned in the Preface.
And read only the most optimistic comments on the world's
news; those in harmony with your picture.
Also, postpone your investigations into the occult. Do
not dabble in theosophy, Spiritualism, or kindred studies. It is very likely
that the dead still live, and are near; but if they are, let them alone;
mind your own business.
Wherever the spirits of the dead may be, they have their
own work to do, and their own problems to solve; and we have no right to
interfere with them. We cannot help them, and it is very doubtful whether
they can help us, or whether we have any right to trespass upon their time
if they can. Let the dead and the hereafter alone, and solve your own problem;
get rich. If you begin to mix with the occult, you will start mental cross-currents
which will surely bring your hopes to shipwreck. Now, this and the preceding
chapters have brought us to the following statement of basic facts:--
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are
made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills
the interspaces of the universe.
A thought, in this substance, Produces the thing that
is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing
his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about
to be created.
In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive
to the creative mind; he must form a clear mental picture of the things
he wants, and hold this picture in his thoughts with the fixed PURPOSE
to get what he wants, and the unwavering FAITH that he does get what he
wants, closing his mind against all that may tend to shake his purpose,
dim his vision, or quench his faith.
And in addition to all this, we shall now see that he
must live and act in a Certain Way.
CHAPTER 11
Acting in the Certain Way.
THOUGHT is the creative power, or the impelling force
which causes the creative power to act; thinking in a Certain Way will
bring riches to you, but you must not rely upon thought alone, paying no
attention to personal action. That is the rock upon which many otherwise
scientific metaphysical thinkers meet shipwreck--the failure to connect
thought with personal action.
We have not yet reached the stage of development, even
supposing such a stage to be possible, in which man can create directly
from Formless Substance without nature's processes or the work of human
hands; man must not only think, but his personal action must supplement
his thought.
By thought you can cause the gold in the hearts of the
mountains to be impelled toward you; but it will not mine itself, refine
itself, coin itself into double eagles, and come rolling along the roads
seeking its way into your pocket.
Under the impelling power of the Supreme Spirit, men's
affairs will be so ordered that some one will be led to mine the gold for
you; other men's business transactions will be so directed that the gold
will be brought toward you, and you must so arrange your own business affairs
that you may be able to receive it when it comes to you. Your thought makes
all things, animate and inanimate, work to bring you what you want; but
your personal activity must be such that you can rightly receive what you
want when it reaches you. You are not to take it as charity, nor to steal
it; you must give every man more in use value than he gives you in cash
value.
The scientific use of thought consists in forming a clear
and distinct mental image of what you want; in holding fast to the purpose
to get what you want; and in realizing with grateful faith that you do
get what you want.
Do not try to 'project' your thought in any mysterious
or occult way, with the idea of having it go out and do things for you;
that is wasted effort, and will weaken your power to think with sanity.
The action of thought in getting rich is fully explained
in the preceding chapters; your faith and purpose positively impress your
vision upon Formless Substance, which has THE SAME DESIRE FOR MORE LIFE
THAT YOU HAVE; and this vision, received from you, sets all the creative
forces at work IN AND THROUGH THEIR REGULAR CHANNELS OF ACTION, but directed
toward you.
It is not your part to guide or supervise the creative
process; all you have to do with that is to retain your vision, stick to
your purpose, and maintain your faith and gratitude.
But you must act in a Certain Way, so that you can appropriate
what is yours when it comes to you; so that you can meet the things you
have in your picture, and put them in their proper places as they arrive.
You can really see the truth of this. When things reach
you, they will be in the hands of other men, who will ask an equivalent
for them.
And you can only get what is yours by giving the other
man what is his.
Your pocketbook is not going to be transformed into a
Fortunata's purse, which shall be always full of money without effort on
your part.
This is the crucial point in the science of getting rich;
right here, where thought and personal action must be combined. There are
very many people who, consciously or unconsciously, set the creative forces
in action by the strength and persistence of their desires, but who remain
poor because they do not provide for the reception of the thing they want
when it comes.
By thought, the thing you want is brought to you; by action
you receive it.
Whatever your action is to be, it is evident that you
must act NOW. You cannot act in the past, and it is essential to the clearness
of your mental vision that you dismiss the past from your mind. You cannot
act in the future, for the future is not here yet. And you cannot tell
how you will want to act in any future contingency until that contingency
has arrived.
Because you are not in the right business, or the right
environment now, do not think that you must postpone action until you get
into the right business or environment. And do not spend time in the present
taking thought as to the best course in possible future emergencies; have
faith in your ability to meet any emergency when it arrives.
If you act in the present with your mind on the future,
your present action will be with a divided mind, and will not be effective.
Put your whole mind into present action.
Do not give your creative impulse to Original Substance,
and then sit down and wait for results; if you do, you will never get them.
Act now. There is never any time but now, and there never will be any time
but now. If you are ever to begin to make ready for the reception of what
you want, you must begin now.
And your action, whatever it is, must most likely be in
your present business or employment, and must be upon the persons and things
in your present environment.
You cannot act where you are not; you cannot act where
you have been, and you cannot act where you are going to be; you can act
only where you are.
Do not bother as to whether yesterday's work was well
done or ill done; do to-day's work well.
Do not try to do tomorrow's work now; there will be plenty
of time to do that when you get to it.
Do not try, by occult or mystical means, to act on people
or things that are out of your reach.
Do not wait for a change of environment, before you act;
get a change of environment by action.
You can so act upon the environment in which you are now,
as to cause yourself to be transferred to a better environment.
Hold with faith and purpose the vision of yourself in
the better environment, but act upon your present environment with all
your heart, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.
Do not spend any time in day dreaming or castle building;
hold to the one vision of what you want, and act NOW.
Do not cast about seeking some new thing to do, or some
strange, unusual, or remarkable action to perform as a first step toward
getting rich. It is probable that your actions, at least for some time
to come, will be those you have been performing for some time past; but
you are to begin now to perform these actions in the Certain Way, which
will surely make you rich.
If you are engaged in some business, and feel that it
is not the right one for you, do not wait until you get into the right
business before you begin to act.
Do not feel discouraged, or sit down and lament because
you are misplaced. No man was ever so misplaced but that he could not find
the right place, and no man ever became so involved in the wrong business
but that he could get into the right business.
Hold the vision of yourself in the right business, with
the purpose to get into it, and the faith that you will get into it, and
are getting into it; but ACT in your present business. Use your present
business as the means of getting a better one, and use your present enviornment
as the means of getting into a better one. Your vision of the right business,
if held with faith and purpose, will cause the Supreme to move the right
business toward you; and your action, if performed in the Certain Way,
will cause you to move toward the business.
If you are an employee, or wage earner, and feel that
you must change places in order to get what you want, do not 'project"
your thought into space and rely upon it to get you another job. It will
probably fail to do so.
Hold the vision of yourself in the job you want, while
you ACT with faith and purpose on the job you have, and you will certainly
get the job you want.
Your vision and faith will set the creative force in motion
to bring it toward you, and your action will cause the forces in your own
environment to move you toward the place you want. In closing this chapter,
we will add another statement to our syllabus:--
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are
made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills
the interspaces of the universe.
A thought, in this substance, Produces the thing that
is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing
his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about
to be created.
In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive
to the creative mind; he must form a clear mental picture of the things
he wants, and hold this picture in his thoughts with the fixed PURPOSE
to get what he wants, and the unwavering FAITH that he does get what he
wants, closing his mind to all that may tend to shake his purpose, dim
his vision, or quench his faith.
That he may receive what he wants when it comes, man
must act NOW upon the people and things in his present environment.
CHAPTER 12
Efficient Action.
YOU must use your thought as directed in previous chapters,
and begin to do what you can do where you are; and you must do ALL that
you can do where you are.
You can advance only be being larger than your present
place; and no man is larger than his present place who leaves undone any
of the work pertaining to that place.
The world is advanced only by those who more than fill
their present places.
If no man quite filled his present place, you can see
that there must be a going backward in everything. Those who do not quite
fill their present places are dead weight upon society, government, commerce,
and industry; they must be carried along by others at a great expense.
The progress of the world is retarded only by those who do not fill the
places they are holding; they belong to a former age and a lower stage
or plane of life, and their tendency is toward degeneration. No society
could advance if every man was smaller than his place; social evolution
is guided by the law of physical and mental evolution. In the animal world,
evolution is caused by excess of life.
When an organism has more life than can be expressed in
the functions of its own plane, it develops the organs of a higher plane,
and a new species is originated.
There never would have been new species had there not
been organisms which more than filled their places. The law is exactly
the same for you; your getting rich depends upon your applying this principle
to your own affairs.
Every day is either a successful day or a day of failure;
and it is the successful days which get you what you want. If everyday
is a failure, you can never get rich; while if every day is a success,
you cannot fail to get rich.
If there is something that may be done today, and you
do not do it, you have failed in so far as that thing is concerned; and
the consequences may be more disastrous than you imagine.
You cannot foresee the results of even the most trivial
act; you do not know the workings of all the forces that have been set
moving in your behalf. Much may be depending on your doing some simple
act; it may be the very thing which is to open the door of opportunity
to very great possibilities. You can never know all the combinations which
Supreme Intelligence is making for you in the world of things and of things
and of human affairs; your neglect or failure to do some small thing may
cause a long delay in getting what you want.
Do, every day, ALL that can be done that day.
There is, however, a limitation or qualification of the
above that you must take into account.
You are not to overwork, nor to rush blindly into your
business in the effort to do the greatest possible number of things in
the shortest possible time.
You are not to try to do tomorrow's work today, nor to
do a week's work in a day.
It is really not he number of things you do, but the
EFFICIENCY of each separate action that counts.
Every act is, in itself, either a success or a failure.
Every act is, in itself, either effective or inefficient.
Every inefficient act is a failure, and if you spend your
life in doing inefficient acts, your whole life will be a failure.
The more things you do, the worse for you, if all your
acts are inefficient ones.
On the other hand, every efficient act is a success in
itself, and if every act of your life is an efficient one, your whole life
MUST be a success.
The cause of failure is doing too many things in an inefficient
manner, and not doing enough things in an efficient manner.
You will see that it is a self-evident proposition that
if you do not do any inefficient acts, and if you do a sufficient number
of efficient acts, you will become rich. If, now, it is possible for you
to make each act an efficient one, you see again that the getting of riches
is reduced to an exact science, like mathematics.
The matter turns, then, on the questions whether you can
make each separate act a success in itself. And this you can certainly
do.
You can make each act a success, because ALL Power is
working with you; and ALL Power cannot fail.
Power is at your service; and to make each act efficient
you have only to put power into it.
Every action is either strong or weak; and when every
one is strong, you are acting in the Certain Way which will make you rich.
Every act can be made strong and efficient by holding
your vision while you are doing it, and putting the whole power of your
FAITH and PURPOSE into it.
It is at this point that the people fail who separate
mental power from personal action. They use the power of mind in one place
and at one time, and they act in another pace and at another time. So their
acts are not successful in themselves; too many of them are inefficient.
But if ALL Power goes into every act, no matter how commonplace, every
act will be a success in itself; and as in the nature of things every success
opens the way to other successes, your progress toward what you want, and
the progress of what you want toward you, will become increasingly rapid.
Remember that successful action is cumulative in its results.
Since the desire for more life is inherent in all things, when a man begins
to move toward larger life more things attach themselves to him, and the
influence of his desire is multiplied.
Do, every day, all that you can do that day, and do each
act in an efficient manner.
In saying that you must hold your vision while you are
doing each act, however trivial or commonplace, I do not mean to say that
it is necessary at all times to see the vision distinctly to its smallest
details. It should be the work of your leisure hours to use your imagination
on the details of your vision, and to contemplate them until they are firmly
fixed upon memory. If you wish speedy results, spend practically all your
spare time in this practice.
By continuous contemplation you will get the picture of
what you want, even to the smallest details, so firmly fixed upon your
mind, and so completely transferred to the mind of Formless Substance,
that in your working hours you need only to mentally refer to the picture
to stimulate your faith and purpose, and cause your best effort to be put
forth. Contemplate your picture in your leisure hours until your consciousness
is so full of it that you can grasp it instantly. You will become so enthused
with its bright promises that the mere thought of it will call forth the
strongest energies of your whole being.
Let us again repeat our syllabus, and by slightly changing
the closing statements bring it to the point we have now reached.
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are
made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills
the interspaces of the universe.
A thought, in this substance, Produces the thing that
is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing
his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about
to be created.
In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive
to the creative mind; he must form a clear mental picture of the things
he wants, and do, with faith and purpose, all that can be done each day,
doing each separate thing in an efficient manner.
CHAPTER 13
Getting into the Right Business.
SUCCESS, in any particular business, depends for one thing
upon your possessing in a well-developed state the faculties required in
that business.
Without good musical faculty no one can succeed as a teacher
of music; without well-developed mechanical faculties no one can achieve
great success in any of the mechanical trades; without tact and the commercial
faculties no one can succeed in mercantile pursuits. But to possess in
a well-developed state the faculties required in your particular vocation
does not insure getting rich. There are musicians who have remarkable talent,
and who yet remain poor; there are blacksmiths, carpenters, and so on who
have excellent mechanical ability, but who do not get rich; and there are
merchants with good faculties for dealing with men who nevertheless fail.
The different faculties are tools; it is essential to
have good tools, but it is also essential that the tools should be used
in the Right Way. One man can take a sharp saw, a square, a good plane,
and so on, and build a handsome article of furniture; another man can take
the same tools and set to work to duplicate the article, but his production
will be a botch. He does not know how to use good tools in a successful
way.
The various faculties of your mind are the tools with
which you must do the work which is to make you rich; it will be easier
for you to succeed if you get into a business for which you are well equipped
with mental tools.
Generally speaking, you will do best in that business
which will use your strongest faculties; the one for which you are naturally
"best fitted." But there are limitations to this statement, also. No man
should regard his vocation as being irrevocably fixed by the tendencies
with which he was born.
You can get rich in ANY business, for if you have not
the right talent for you can develop that talent; it merely means that
you will have to make your tools as you go along, instead of confining
yourself to the use of those with which you were born. It will be EASIER
for you to succeed in a vocation for which you already have the talents
in a well-developed state; but you CAN succeed in any vocation, for you
can develop any rudimentary talent, and there is no talent of which you
have not at least the rudiment.
You will get rich most easily in point of effort, if you
do that for which you are best fitted; but you will get rich most satisfactorily
if you do that which you WANT to do.
Doing what you want to do is life; and there is no real
satisfaction in living if we are compelled to be forever doing something
which we do not like to do, and can never do what we want to do. And it
is certain that you can do what you want to do; the desire to do
it is proof that you have within you the power which can do it.
Desire is a manifestation of power.
The desire to play music is the power which can play music
seeking expression and development; the desire to invent mechanical devices
is the mechanical talent seeking expression and development.
Where there is no power, either developed or undeveloped,
to do a thing, there is never any desire to do that thing; and where there
is strong desire to do a thing, it is certain proof that the power to do
it is strong, and only requires to be developed and applied in the Right
Way.
All things else being equal, it is best to select the
business for which you have the best developed talent; but if you have
a strong desire to engage in any particular line of work, you should select
that work as the ultimate end at which you aim.
You can do what you want to do, and it is your right and
privilege to follow the business or avocation which will be most congenial
and pleasant.
You are not obliged to do what you do not like to do,
and should not do it except as a means to bring you to the doing of the
thing you want to do.
If there are past mistakes whose consequences have placed
you in an undesirable business or environment, you may be obliged for some
time to do what you do not like to do; but you can make the doing of it
pleasant by knowing that it is making it possible for you to come to the
doing of what you want to do.
If you feel that you are not in the right vocation, do
not act too hastily in trying to get into another one. The best way, generally,
to change business or environment is by growth.
Do not be afraid to make a sudden and radical change if
the opportunity is presented, and you feel after careful consideration
that it is the right opportunity; but never take sudden or radical action
when you are in doubt as to the wisdom of doing so.
There is never any hurry on the creative plane; and there
is no lack of opportunity.
When you get out of the competitive mind you will understand
that you never need to act hastily. No one else is going to beat you to
the thing you want to do; there is enough for all. If one space is taken,
another and a better one will be opened for you a little farther on; there
is plenty of time. When you are in doubt, wait. Fall back on the contemplation
of your vision, and increase your faith and purpose; and by all means,
in times of doubt and indecision, cultivate gratitude.
A day or two spent in contemplating the vision of what
you want, and in earnest thanksgiving that you are getting it, will bring
your mind into such close relationship with the Supreme that you will make
no mistake when you do act.
There is a mind which knows all there is to know; and
you can come into close unity with this mind by faith and the purpose to
advance in life, if you have deep gratitude.
Mistakes come from acting hastily, or from acting in fear
or doubt, or in forgetfulness of the Right Motive, which is more life to
all, and less to none.
As you go on in the Certain Way, opportunities will come
to you in increasing number; and you will need to be very steady in your
faith and purpose, and to keep in close touch with the All Mind by reverent
gratitude.
Do all that you can do in a perfect manner every day,
but do it without haste, worry, or fear. Go as fast as you can, but never
hurry.
Remember that in the moment you begin to hurry you cease
to be a creator and become a competitor; you drop back upon the old plane
again.
Whenever you find yourself hurrying, call a halt; fix
your attention on the mental image of the thing you want, and begin to
give thanks that you are getting it. The exercise of GRATITUDE will never
fail to strengthen your faith and renew your purpose.
CHAPTER 14
The Impression of Increase.
WHETHER you change your vocation or not, your actions
for the present must be those pertaining to the business in which you are
now engaged.
You can get into the business you want by making constructive
use of the business you are already established in; by doing your daily
work in a Certain Way.
And in so far as your business consists in dealing with
other men, whether personally or by letter, the key-thought of all your
efforts must be to convey to their minds the impression of increase.
Increase is what all men and all women are seeking; it
is the urge of the Formless Intelligence within them, seeking fuller expression.
The desire for increase is inherent in all nature; it
is the fundamental impulse of the universe. All human activities are based
on the desire for increase; people are seeking more food, more clothes,
better shelter, more luxury, more beauty, more knowledge, more pleasure--
increase in something, more life.
Every living thing is under this necessity for continuous
advancement; where increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in
at once.
Man instinctively knows this, and hence he is forever
seeking more. This law of perpetual increase is set forth by Jesus in the
parable of the talents; only those who gain more retain any; from him who
hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
The normal desire for increased wealth is not an evil
or a reprehensible thing; it is simply the desire for more abundant life;
it is aspiration.
And because it is the deepest instinct of their natures,
all men and women are attracted to him who can give them more of the means
of life.
In following the Certain Way as described in the foregoing
pages, you are getting continuous increase for yourself, and you are giving
it to all with whom you deal.
You are a creative center, from which increase is given
off to all.
Be sure of this, and convey assurance of the fact to every
man, woman, and child with whom you come in contact. No matter how small
the transaction, even if it be only the selling of a stick of candy to
a little child, put into it the thought of increase, and make sure that
the customer is impressed with the thought.
Convey the impression of advancement with everything you
do, so that all people shall receive the impression that you are an Advancing
Man, and that you advance all who deal with you. Even to the people whom
you meet in a social way, without any thought of business, and to whom
you do not try to sell anything, give the thought of increase.
You can convey this impression by holding the unshakable
faith that you, yourself, are in the Way of Increase; and by letting this
faith inspire, fill, and permeate every action.
Do everything that you do in the firm conviction that
you are an advancing personality, and that you are giving advancement to
everybody.
Feel that you are getting rich, and that in so doing you
are making others rich, and conferring benefits on all.
Do not boast or brag of your success, or talk about it
unnecessarily; true faith is never boastful.
Wherever you find a boastful person, you find one who
is secretly doubtful and afraid. Simply feel the faith, and let it work
out in every transaction; let every act and tone and look express the quiet
assurance that you are getting rich; that you are already rich. Words will
not be necessary to communicate this feeling to others; they will feel
the sense of increase when in your presence, and will be attracted to you
again.
You must so impress others that they will feel that in
associating with you they will get increase for themselves. See that you
give them a use value greater than the cash value you are taking from them.
Take an honest pride in doing this, and let everybody
know it; and you will have no lack of customers. People will go where they
are given increase; and the Supreme, which desires increase in all, and
which knows all, will move toward you men and women who have never heard
of you. Your business will increase rapidly, and you will be surprised
at the unexpected benefits which will come to you. You will be able from
day to day to make larger combinations, secure greater advantages, and
to go on into a more congenial vocation if you desire to do so.
But doing thing all this, you must never lose sight of
your vision of what you want, or your faith and purpose to get what you
want.
Let me here give you another word of caution in regard
to motives.
Beware of the insidious temptation to seek for power over
other men.
Nothing is so pleasant to the unformed or partially developed
mind as the exercise of power or dominion over others. The desire to
rule for selfish gratification has been the curse of the world. For
countless ages kings and lords have drenched the earth with blood in their
battles to extend their dominions; this not to seek more life for all,
but to get more power for themselves.
To-day, the main motive in the business and industrial
world is the same; men Marshal their armies of dollars, and lay waste the
lives and hearts of millions in the same mad scramble for power over others.
Commercial kings, like political kings, are inspired by the lust for power.
Jesus saw in this desire for mastery the moving impulse
of that evil world He sought to overthrow. Read the twenty-third chapter
of Matthew, and see how He pictures the lust of the Pharisees to be called
"Master," to sit in the high places, to domineer over others, and to lay
burdens on the backs of the less fortunate; and note how He compares this
lust for dominion with the brotherly seeking for the Common Good to which
He calls His disciples.
Look out for the temptation to seek for authority, to
become a "master," to be considered as one who is above the common herd,
to impress others by lavish display, and so on.
The mind that seeks for mastery over others is the competitive
mind; and the competitive mind is not the creative one. In order to master
your environment and your destiny, it is not at all necessary that you
should rule over your fellow men and indeed, when you fall into the world's
struggle for the high places, you begin to be conquered by fate and environment,
and your getting rich becomes a matter of chance and speculation.
Beware of the competitive mind!! No better statement of
the principle of creative action can be formulated than the favorite declaration
of the late "Golden Rule" Jones of Toledo: "What I want for myself, I want
for everybody."
CHAPTER 15
The Advancing Man.
WHAT I have said in the last chapter applies as well to
the professional man and the wage-earner as to the man who is engaged in
mercantile business.
No matter whether you are a physician, a teacher, or a
clergyman, if you can give increase of life to others and make them sensible
of the fact, they will be attracted to you, and you will get rich. The
physician who holds the vision of himself as a great and successful healer,
and who works toward the complete realization of that vision with faith
and purpose, as described in former chapters, will come into such close
touch with the Source of Life that he will be phenomenally successful;
patients will come to him in throngs.
No one has a greater opportunity to carry into effect
the teaching of this book |