MANY
people will scoff at the idea that there is an exact science of getting rich;
holding the impression that the supply of wealth is limited, they will insist
that social and governmental institutions must be changed before even any
considerable number of people can acquire a competence.
But this
is not true.
It is
true that existing governments keep the masses in poverty, but this is because
the masses do not think and act in the Certain Way.
If the
masses begin to move forward as suggested in this book, neither governments nor
industrial systems can check them; all systems must be modified to accommodate
the forward movement.
If the
people have the Advancing Mind, have the Faith that they can become rich, and
move forward with the fixed purpose to become rich, nothing can possibly keep
them in poverty.
Individuals
may enter upon the Certain Way at any time, and under any government, and make
themselves rich; and when any considerable number of individuals do so under
any government, they will cause the system to be so modified as to open the way
for others.
The more
men who get rich on the competitive plane, the worse for others; the more who
get rich on the creative plane, the better for others.
The
economic salvation of the masses can only be accomplished by getting a large
number of people to practice the scientific method set down in this book, and
become rich. These will show others the way, and inspire them with a desire for
real life, with the faith that it can be attained, and with the purpose to
attain it.
For the
present, however, it is enough to know that neither the government under which
you live nor the capitalistic or competitive system of industry can keep you
from getting rich. When you enter upon the creative plane of thought you will
rise above all these things and become a citizen of another kingdom.
But
remember that your thought must be held upon the creative plane; you are never
for an instant to be betrayed into regarding the supply as limited, or into
acting on the moral level of competition.
Whenever
you do fall into old ways of thought, correct yourself instantly; for when you
are in the competitive mind, you have lost the cooperation of the Mind of the
Whole.
Do not
spend any time in planning as to how you will meet possible emergencies in the
future, except as the necessary policies may affect your actions today. You are
concerned with doing today's work in a perfectly successful manner, and not
with emergencies which may arise tomorrow; you can attend to them as they come.
Do not
concern yourself with questions as to how you shall surmount obstacles which
may loom upon your business horizon, unless you can see plainly that your
course must be altered today in order to avoid them.
No
matter how tremendous an obstruction may appear at a distance, you will find
that if you go on in the Certain Way it will disappear as you approach it, or
that a way over, though, or around it will appear.
No
possible combination of circumstances can defeat a man or woman who is
proceeding to get rich along strictly scientific lines. No man or woman who
obeys the law can fail to get rich, any more than one can multiply two by two
and fail to get four.
Give no
anxious thought to possible disasters, obstacles, panics, or unfavorable
combinations of circumstances; it is time enough to meet such things when they
present themselves before you in the immediate present, and you will find that
every difficulty carries with it the wherewithal for its overcoming.
Guard
your speech. Never speak of yourself, your affairs, or of anything else in a
discouraged or discouraging way.
Never
admit the possibility of failure, or speak in a way that infers failure as a
possibility.
Never
speak of the times as being hard, or of business conditions as being doubtful.
Times may be hard and business doubtful for those who are on the competitive
plane, but they can never be so for you; you can create what you want, and you
are above fear.
When
others are having hard times and poor business, you will find your greatest
opportunities.
Train
yourself to think of and to look upon the world as a something which is
Becoming, which is growing; and to regard seeming evil as being only that which
is undeveloped. Always speak in terms of advancement; to do otherwise is to
deny your faith, and to deny your faith is to lose it.
Never
allow yourself to feel disappointed. You may expect to have a certain thing at
a certain time, and not get it at that time; and this will appear to you like
failure.
But if
you hold to your faith you will find that the failure is only apparent.
Go on in
the certain way, and if you do not receive that thing, you will receive
something so much better that you will see that the seeming failure was really
a great success.
A
student of this science had set his mind on making a certain business
combination which seemed to him at the time to be very desirable, and he worked
for some, weeks to bring it about. When the crucial time came, the thing failed
in a perfectly inexplicable way; it was as if some unseen influence had been
working secretly against him. He was not disappointed; on the contrary, he
thanked God that his desire had been overruled, and went steadily on with a
grateful mind. In a few weeks an opportunity so much better came his way that
he would not have made the first deal on any account; and he saw that a Mind
which knew more than he knew had prevented him from losing the greater good by
entangling himself with the lesser.
That is
the way every seeming failure will work out for you, if you keep your faith,
hold to your purpose, have gratitude, and do, every day, all that can be done
that day, doing each separate act in a successful manner.
When you make a
failure, it is because you have not asked for enough; keep on, and a larger
thing then you were seeking will certainly come to you. Remember this.
You will
not fail because you lack the necessary talent to do what you wish to do. If
you go on as I have directed, you will develop all the talent that is necessary
to the doing of your work.
It is
not within the scope of this book to deal with the science of cultivating
talent; but it is as certain and simple as the process of getting rich.
However,
do not hesitate or waver for fear that when you come to any certain place you
will fail for lack of ability; keep right on, and when you come to that place,
the ability will be furnished to you. The same source of Ability which enabled
the untaught Lincoln
to do the greatest work in government ever accomplished by a single man is open
to you; you may draw upon all the mind there is for wisdom to use in meeting
the responsibilities which are laid upon you. Go on in full faith.
Study
this book. Make it your constant companion until you have mastered all the
ideas contained in it. While you are getting firmly established in this faith,
you will do well to give up most recreations and pleasure; and to stay away
from places where ideas conflicting with these are advanced in lectures or
sermons. Do not read pessimistic or conflicting literature, or get into
arguments upon the matter. Do very little reading, outside of the writers
mentioned in the Preface. Spend most of your leisure time in contemplating your
vision, and in cultivating gratitude, and in reading this book. It contains all
you need to know of the science of getting rich; and you will find all the
essentials summed up in the following chapter.