Part Sixteen
1916 work, complete introduction and 24 parts
Charles F. Haanel
Part Sixteen
THIS Part explains the nature of Wealth, it shows how it is created and upon what it depends. It shows why success is contingent upon an ideal higher than the mere accumulation of riches, it shows that success depends upon creative ability and explains the necessary condition for attainment. It explains why premature wealth is but the forerunner of humiliation and disaster. It explains the methods by which we may take our fate out of the hands of chance, and consciously make for ourselves the conditions which we desire, it tells how we may compel success by the utilization of scientific and exact methods, and it explains that while we have the ability to create harmonious and constructive conditions we also have the ability to create inharmonious and destructive conditions, and unfortunately, through ignorance of the law, this is what many are doing.
INTRODUCTION. PART SIXTEEN
The vibratory activities of the planetary Universe are governed by a law of periodicity. Everything that lives has periods of birth, growth, fruition and decline. These periods are governed by the Septimal Law.
The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the moon, the hay monies of sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, atomic structure. It governs the life of individuals and of nations, and it dominates the activities of the commercial world.
Life is growth, and growth is change. Each seven years period takes us into a new cycle. The first seven years is the period of infancy. The next seven the period of childhood, representing the beginning of individual responsibility. The next seven represents the period of adolescence. The fourth period marks the attainment of full growth. The fifth period is the constructive period, when men begin to acquire property, possessions, a home and family. The next, from thirty-five to forty-two, is a period of reactions and changes, and this in turn is followed by a period of reconstruction, adjustment and recuperation, so as to be ready for a new cycle of sevens, beginning with the fiftieth year.
There are many who think that the world is just about to pass out of the sixth period; that it will soon enter into the seventh period, the period of readjustment, reconstruction and harmony; the period which is frequently referred to as the Millennium.
Those familiar with these cycles will not be disturbed when things seem to go wrong, but can apply the principle outlined in The Master Key, with the full assurance that a higher law will invariably control all other laws, and that through an understanding and conscious operation of spiritual laws we can convert every seeming difficulty into a blessing.
PART SIXTEEN
1. Wealth is a product of labour. Capital is an effect, not a cause; a servant, not a master; a means, not an end.
2. The most commonly accepted definition of wealth is that it consists of all useful and agreeable things which possess exchange value. It is this exchange value which is the predominant characteristic of wealth.
3. When we consider the small addition made by wealth to the happiness of the possessor, we find that the true value consists not in its 'utility but in its exchange value.
4. This exchange value makes it a medium for securing the things of real value whereby our ideals may be realized.
5. Wealth should then never be desired as an end, but simply as a means of accomplishing an end. Success is contingent upon a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of riches, and he who aspires to such success must formulate an ideal for which he is willing to strive.
6. With such an ideal in mind, the ways and means can and will be provided, but the mistake must not be made of substituting the means for the end. There must be a definite fixed purpose, an ideal.
7. Prentice Mulford said: "The man of success is the man possessed of the greatest spiritual understanding and every great fortune comes of superior and truly spiritual power." Unfortunately, there are those who fail to recognize this power; they forget that Andrew Carnegie's mother had to help support the family when they went to America, that Harriman's father was a poor clergyman with a salary of only $200.00 a year, that Sir Thomas Lipton started with only one shilling. These men had no other power to depend upon, but it did not fail them.
8. The power to create depends entirely upon spiritual power; there are three steps, idealization, visualization and materialization. Every captain of industry depends upon this power exclusively. In an article in Everybody's Magazine, Henry Flagler, the Standard Oil multi-millionaire, admitted that the secret of his success was his power to see a thing in its completeness. The following conversation with a reporter shows his power of idealization, concentration and visualization, all spiritual powers:
9. "Did you actually picture to yourself the whole thing? I mean, did you, or could you, really close your eyes and see the tracks? And the trains running? And hear the whistles blowing? Did you go as far as that?" "Yes." "How clearly?" "Very clearly."
10. Here we have a vision of the law; we see "cause and effect," we see that thought necessarily precedes and determines action. If we are wise, we shall come into a realization of the tremendous fact that no arbitrary condition can exist for a moment, and that human experience is the result of an orderly and harmonious sequence.
11. The successful business man is more often than not an idealist and is ever striving for higher and higher standards. The subtle forces of thought as they crystallize in our daily moods are what constitute life.
12. Thought is the plastic material with which we build images of our growing conception of life. Use determines its existence. As in all other things our ability to recognize it and use it properly is the necessary condition for attainment.
13. Premature wealth is but the forerunner of humiliation and disaster, because we cannot permanently retain anything which we do not merit or which we have not earned.
14. The conditions with which we meet in the world without, correspond to the conditions which we find in the world within. This is brought about by the law of attraction. How then shall we determine what is to enter into the world within?
15. Whatever enters the mind through the senses or the objective mind will impress the mind and result in a mental image which will become a pattern for the creative energies. These experiences are largely the result of environment, chance, past thinking and other forms of negative thought, and must be subjected to careful analysis before being entertained. On the other hand, we can form our own mental images, through our own interior processes of thought regardless of the thoughts of others, regardless of exterior conditions, regardless of environment of every kind, and it is by the exercise of this power that we can control our own destiny, body, mind and soul.
16. It is by the exercise of this power that we take our fate out of the hands of chance, and consciously make for ourselves the experiences which we desire, because when we consciously realize a condition, that condition will eventually manifest in our lives; it is therefore evident that in the last analysis thinking is the one great cause in life.
17. Therefore, to control thought is to control circumstances, conditions, environment and destiny.
18. How then are we to control thought: what is the process? To think is to create a thought, but the result of the thought will depend upon its form, its quality and its vitality.
19. The form will depend upon the mental image from which it emanates; this will depend upon the depth of the impression, the predominance of the idea, the clarity of the vision, the boldness of the image.
20. The quality depends upon its substance, and this depends upon the material of which the mind is composed; if this material has been woven from thoughts of vigour, strength, courage, determination, the thought will possess these qualities.
21. And finally, the vitality depends upon the feeling with which the thought is impregnated. If the thought is constructive, it will possess vitality; it will have life, it will grow, develop, expand; it will be creative; it will attract to itself everything necessary for its complete development.
22. If the thought is destructive, it will have within itself the germ of its own dissolution; it will die, but in the process of dying it will bring sickness, disease, and every other form of discord.
23. This we call evil, and when we bring it upon ourselves, some of us are disposed to attribute our difficulties to a Supreme Being, but this supreme being is simply Mind in equilibrium.
24. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
25. Our ability to differentiate it into form is our ability to manifest good or evil.
26. Good and evil therefore are not entities, they are simply words which we use to indicate the result of our actions, and these actions are in turn predetermined by the character of our thought.
27. If our thought is constructive and harmonious we manifest good; if it is destructive and discordant we manifest evil.
28. If you desire to visualize a different environment, the process is simply to hold the ideal in mind, until your vision has been made real; give no thought to persons, places or things; these have no place in the absolute; the environment you desire will contain everything necessary; the right persons, and the right things will come at the right time and in the right place.
29. It is sometimes not plain how character, ability, attainment, achievement, environment and destiny can be controlled through the power of visualization, but this is an exact scientific fact.
30. You will readily see that what we think determines the quality of mind, and that the quality of mind in turn determines our ability and mental capacity, and you can readily understand that the improvement in our ability will naturally be followed by increase in attainment and a greater control of circumstances.
31. It will thus be seen that Natural laws work in a perfectly natural and harmonious manner; everything seems to "just happen." If you want any evidence of this fact simply compare results of your efforts in your own life, when your actions were prompted by high ideals and when you had selfish or ulterior motives in mind. You will need no further evidence.