The Science Of Getting Rich
By
Wallace D. Wattles
#5 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.
__________________________________________________________________
1 - Preface
2 - The Right To Be Rich
3 - There Is A Science Of Getting Rich
4 - Is Opportunity Monopolized?
5 -The First Principle In The Science Of Getting
Rich
6 - Increasing Life
7 - How Riches Come To You
8 - Gratitude
9 - Thinking In The Certain Way
10 - How To Use The Will
11 - Further Use Of The Will
12 - Acting In The Certain Way
13 - Efficient Action
14 - Getting Into The Right Business
15 - The Impression Of Increase
16 - The Advancing Man
17- Some Cautions And Concluding Observations
18 - Summary Of The Science Of Getting Rich
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