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Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection — Chapter-101: Lesson 5 The Mental Side of Wealth-Culture
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- Note: Work: The Personal Power Course, section 5 of 10.
Lesson 5 The Mental Side of Wealth-Culture Table of Contents All wealth comes from Nature, and is produced from Nature by the applied intelligence of man. Man can gain wealth in only one of two ways; (a) by taking it from his brother man and (b) by producing it himself. If he takes it from his fellow man he must render a just equivalent in something which is not wealth, in service or knowledge, or else he is a robber or a parasite. If you are to take wealth from others who have produced it, you must study to give a full equivalent or you will become a parasite, and suffer degeneracy and atrophy of soul. No parasite can enter the Kingdom of God. The most dreadful of all the perils of our civilization is the peril which confronts the wealthy and the well- to -do; the danger of falling into the habit of parasitism. And it is possible to avoid being a parasite; it is possible, no matter what your business may be, to reach back through and beyond the people with whom you deal, and act directly on nature. Even though you are engaged in a business which in itself is not productive of wealth, you can apply your mind to Nature in such a way as to cause the creation of what you want; and to do this you must KNOW that Nature is a living intelligence. Nature is not a corpse; Nature is a living Presence. All the intelligence of men and women is but part of the Intelligence of Nature. The mental side of wealth-culture consists in so applying your mind to this Living Presence as to cause the removal of obstacles and difficulties, and to cause the things which you want to be moved toward you. This Intelligence is moving along clear and definite lines, toward the consummation of a distinct and definite purpose; and if you move along the same lines and work for the same purpose, she will certainly give you what you want. The purpose of Nature is the complete expression of life. She began with a single cell, and from that has produced successively higher and more
complicated organisms, until she has made man, who is capable of living to a limitless extent. Nature caused evolution, in her effort to bring forth a being who should be capable of living all the life there was to live. She began human life with the cave man, only a little above the brutes, and has produced successive generations of men, each a little higher than the last, and capable of living a little more. She began human society with slavery, and has brought it up through feudalism to capitalism, perfecting a system of wealth production so that men might be able to live much; and now she is going on to perfect the system of distribution that all men might live much. She has already perfected the system, so far as men and women who are willing to perform the labor of sustained and consecutive thought are concerned. The purpose of Nature, as revealed in all her works, is the continuous advancement of all life, into complete being. The purpose of Nature for you is that you should live all the life you are capable of living; but you must be careful not to get a one-sided conception of life. Life means all-round living; it does not mean mere physical indulgence, a denying of the mind and spirit for the body's sake. Nature never intended man to live that way. It does not mean selfishly living for intellectual growth and pleasure, denying the soul and body for the mind's sake. Nature never intended man to be a mere power -hunting intellectual vampire. It does not mean pure altruism, living solely for the soul, denying both mind and body, sacrificing one's self for others; that sort of life is as morbid and unhealthy as either of the foregoing. Nature intends you to live all around; to exercise every physical function naturally and pleasantly; to exercise and gratify your mind, and to use your soul. What nature requires of you, and all she requires of you, is to live, in every way, all the life you are capable of living; without lack anywhere, and without excess anywhere. It must be so, because we see that the purpose of Nature is Complete Life. If your purpose is to LIVE, and if for this purpose you desire wealth, and if your desire is just and high enough to deserve wealth, Nature will begin to move toward you in all her works, as soon as she becomes conscious of you. What you have to do is to make yourself known to her; to impress her with your desires. And you impress her only by your FAITH. You cannot so impress Intelligence by doubt or fear that it will move toward you. When you impress doubt and fear upon surrounding intelligences, they invariably move away from you; and when you impress them with FAITH, they invariably move toward you. If you can hold unwavering FAITH, you can so impress Nature that she will give you all that she desires you to have, and she desires you to have all the wealth that you
can use for the living of all the life you are capable of living. No matter who may theorize to the contrary, wealth is necessary for the living of a complete life. It may not be necessary to the living of a spiritual life, or an intellectual life, but it is necessary to the living of a complete life. Now you may see where we stand. You must get FAITH, and faith comes by perceiving facts. Here are the facts: Nature is a Living Intelligence; and this Intelligence is all-powerful through all her works. This Intelligence is moving in all toward complete living, and so must certainly give you all the essentials for all the life you are capable of living. This Intelligence is made conscious of you, and aroused to cooperation with you, whenever you begin to move forward with perfect faith. These are the facts, and they are indisputably true. KNOW that they are true, and KNOW that you are going to get wealth; that you are getting wealth. Turn back to the preceding lesson and read it again; and then move forward as it directs you, in the absolute certainty that you are GETTING WHAT YOU WANT. Have no doubts as to your ability; KNOW that whatever you lack can be developed. Have no doubts as to the power outside yourself; KNOW that the Intelligence whose manifestation Nature is, is all-power. Have no doubts as to the willingness of Nature to give you what you want; KNOW that her purpose is complete life for every living thing. ALL THE WEALTH THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE LIVING IS YOURS. Know that, and know that nothing can prevent you from getting what is yours, if you move forward with faith to take possession of it. When you take this line of proceeding, these results will follow: First, you will get out of the electrical, doubtful, uncertain state of mind, and into the poised, confident, magnetic state. You will begin to be able to judge between constructive actions and policies, and destructive actions and policies. This is where the electrical person, who lacks in faith, fails; he makes too many mistakes; he does too many things which are destructive in their tendency. He cannot classify his actions into constructive and destructive, because his judgment is made imperfect by fear. Get the faith described above, and you will soon become known as a person of good judgment, because you will judge by intuition and inspiration from the Great Intelligence; you will have a Perception of Truth, like that of Abraham Lincoln, and others of the Illuminati. You will make a few mistakes, and when you do one, you will be able to avoid ill effects, and turn it to advantage. But the results of your faith and action will not be, all of them, within yourself.
You will become conscious that a POWER outside of you is moving in your behalf. You will find that people and things are arranging themselves of their own volition, in such a way as to help you get what you want. Obstacles will be removed from your path, and favorable combinations of circumstances made. People who never heard of you may be brought long distances to do something which is necessary to your advancement; people who seem to be in your way may be transferred to other fields; most remarkable things may happen along this line. Most remarkable things certainly will happen, if you move forward with unwavering faith, doing in a successful manner everything that is possible, every day, and keeping your goal of perfect life in view. Nature positively WILL give life to those who obey the law; Nature MUST do so, for that is the purpose of Nature. No obstacle which appears to confront you need to discourage you in the slightest degree. You may be in an uncongenial business, and in an inharmonious and distasteful environment, and be unable to see the slightest prospect of finding a way out. In the most sordid surroundings, you may be longing for rest, travel, books, art, music, love; and while you KNOW that all these are absolutely necessary to the living of real life by you, the possibility of getting them may seem as distant as the stars. But the difficulty is only apparent. The same Intelligent Power which brings Halley's Comet back into our solar system after an absence of seventy years will bring you toward what you want. Business combinations of which you never dreamed will be made, so as to open the way for you; every obstacle will melt away as you approach it, or you will find a way around it. MOVE FORWARD IN FAITH, ACCORDING TO THE LAW, AND YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU WANT. The law applies to you as well if you are not in business for yourself. You may be a wage-slave, a mere cog in the machine of industry; you may see absolutely no prospect of advancement, or of ever getting to live more than you are living. But remember this: IF YOU ARE CAPABLE OF LIVING MORE THAN YOU ARE LIVING, THERE IS A WAY FOR YOU TO DO SO. All that is required to bring you under the operation of the law is the capability for a larger life than you can live where you are with the means you have. You may be a mill-hand, tied to a lathe or sewing machine, and the way of advancement and promotion may seem to be completely closed against you; no matter. Fix your mind on what you want, do PERFECTLY everything that you can do, both in working hours and out of them. This is a point you must consider; that you will not move forward very rapidly if you “rest” and relax your concentration as soon as the six
o'clock whistle blows. In season and out of season, during work and during play, keep your mind set on getting what you want. I do not mean that you are not to take rest or relaxation, but I mean that in your rest and relaxation you are to still DO EVERYTHING THAT YOU CAN DO WHICH WILL MOVE YOU TOWARD WHAT YOU WANT. You may not meet the person who is to open the way of advancement for you during work hours; you may meet that person in a five-cent theater or at a picnic for all I know; but the thing is to make constructive use of every personal meeting, and of everything you are brought into association with. This does not mean that you are to be forever TALKING about yourself, or your advancement, or about getting the thing you want, or getting out of your present environment. Generally, the less you talk about these things the better. Talk advancement; talk faith; when you ARE led to speak of yourself be perfectly frank, tell the truth, and speak with calm assurance; always THINK in terms of advancement and confidence, and always have FAITH. Before long you will find that other people are becoming interested in your future, and that they are planning to advance you. The writer of this lesson once came to the point where the possession of a typewriter was an absolute necessity to the continuance of his work; and at the right time, the typewriter was purchased and freely given “for the cause” by a man who, twenty-four hours previously had been an entire stranger, and who accidentally, as it appeared, learned of the need. This is the way things will happen to you, if you come under the operation of the law. You see that the essentials for wealth-getting seem finally to be reduced in number to two: Absolute and unwavering faith, and making constructive use of everything and of every person in your present environment. The two must go together. Napoleon, with all his ability, and his skill in bending men and circumstances to suit his purpose, would never have made himself master of Europe, but for his unshakable faith in his destiny; and he would have never mastered Europe by his faith, without continuous action. Know what you want; know that you can get what you want; know that you will get what you want. Make every action a success in itself, and do not omit any action which tends to bring you toward what you want. Follow closely and continuously the direction given in this and the preceding lessons, and all that you can use for the living of all the life you are capable of living will certainly be yours.