The Science Of Getting Rich
By
Wallace D. Wattles
#9
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.
__________________________________________________________________
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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