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Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection — Chapter-106: Lesson 10 Opportunity
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- Note: Work: The Personal Power Course, section 10 of 10.
Lesson 10 Opportunity Table of Contents Perhaps the hardest thing for the average person to become fully convinced of is that there is no limit to opportunity. We have become so accustomed to looking upon the field of business and professional life as overcrowded, and to seeing the positions of advantage already taken, that we are prone to think of ourselves as having no chance; but this is an error. And, since holding this belief paralyzes faith, and prevents us from advancing in a scientific manner to accomplish what we want to do, we shall devote this lesson to proving that opportunity is without limit. We have already shown you that there is wealth enough for all, so that your opportunity is not limited by lack in the natural supply; and we have shown you that if any power or talent is lacking in yourself, you may develop it; now we shall show you that your chances are not being taken away by your fellows; and that there is a Power at your service which is sufficient for every need. It is true that there is a sense in which opportunity is restricted. Some things have been done so well that the world does not need to have them done over again, and some things are being so efficiently done that the world does not need that you should do them also. It is of no use to write Shakespearean drama, if you write it just as Shakespeare wrote it; he did it well enough. But there is a splendid field for taking up American historical themes, and telling them with the lessons of modern thought, in Shakespearean blank verse. A play so written, dealing with Abraham Lincoln and his times as the great English bard dealt with his characters and their times, would make a tremendous hit. There is no opportunity for you to attain fame and fortune by doing just what Shakespeare did, but there is an excellent opportunity for you to do better than he did. There is little or no opportunity for you to develop a new petroleum field, and build up an industry in competition with the Standard Oil Company. That company has
the field pretty well covered, and is doing the service as well as the people require; and so long as they are satisfied with the service, they will not support a competing industry of the same kind. The oil industry is monopolized; but that is not the only thing you can work at. There are ten thousand times ten thousand different ways of doing everything; and nothing is being so well done but that there is a better way of doing it yet undiscovered. There are better ways of heating and lighting the world than by coal, gas, oil, and electricity; better sources of power than steam; better building materials than we are using in our houses, and better foods than we are eating. The undiscovered realms in nature are a million times as great as those which have been discovered and explored; and so long as this is true, there is no lack of opportunity. Do not look for opportunities to walk in the beaten track and do the same things others are doing, especially those which are being well enough done. Get into the place where growth is going on; do not attach yourself to that which is already full grown. There are some industries and professions which society is outgrowing, and which are declining; in these there is little or no opportunity for advancement. Do not learn an obsolete trade or profession; get into one that is on the upward grade. Do not manufacture stage coaches; they are no longer in demand; make automobiles. New wants are being created every day, and new industries are springing up to supply them; get in line with these, for here is where opportunity lies. Do not get false ideas as to the “respectability” of various professions. Better to be the successful proprietor of a five-cent theater than a physician in a community where nobody believes in taking medicine. So the field is wide, and opportunity is unlimited; and now let us go back to the questions of ability and power. You know, from what you have learned in the preceding lessons, that you have within you the POWER WHICH CAN; and you know that if you lack in some special talent, you have the power to develop that talent; furthermore, you have been told how to develop it. All this you have, or should have, thoroughly grasped. You have been told also that Nature is a Living Intelligence, and that this intelligence is all-powerful within its domain; and perhaps you have not fully grasped this in all that it means to you. Every living thing has intelligence after its own kind, and according to its form; but there is an Unformed Intelligence in all, through all, and permeating all; and this Unformed Intelligence is moving always toward more life for all.
This Intelligence being the source of all things, knows the real truth concerning all things; and when you come in touch with It you will have what is called an intuitive perception of truth; you will discover things. Things will open before your mind. It will not be hard for you to think of new ways, and new things to do, as described in the foregoing. If you get into the mental attitude of FAITH and ACTION described in these lessons, you are not going to have to painfully cudgel at your brain to discover something to do; you will be led to it, or it will be brought to you. Do not suppose that it is very difficult to invent new things, or to discover new methods; the new ways are already known, and you only need to come in touch with Mind which knows them. All that is necessary is that with absolute FAITH, you should do all that you can do NOW, and keep moving toward more life. It does not in the least matter that you cannot see the big thing you are to do; it will be shown to you, in due time, for there is ONE who knows. Have faith, and MOVE ON. Never stop to look at the obstacles in the way. You may be a “wage slave”; a mere cog in the industrial machine, with no apparent possibility of ever getting to be anything else; but all the difficulties are only apparent. Set your mind on what you want, not merely with desire, longing, aspiration, but with all these and with positive FAITH, and begin to move toward it. You may not see how you can take a single step toward it, but you can hold the constructive attitude of mind, and you can think and speak constructively; and you will soon see that a power outside yourself is moving in your behalf. New people will come into your life, and new ways of action will be opened to you; you will begin to advance, and you will go forward more and more rapidly as time goes on. There is one mental attitude which is fatal, and which you must avoid; and that is the attitude of believing yourself the victim of circumstances, condemned to a dreary grind from which escape is impossible, or very difficult. It is not so. They that are for you are very many more in number than they that are against you; the mountain round about you is full of chariots and horseman, if you will open your eyes and see them. There is nothing mystical or fanciful about this idea. The world is formed for the continuous advancement of life; and there must be a LAW back of the continuous advancement which we see, beginning in the single cell, and ending in the MASTER MIND. That law is that Nature's whole force moves with the advancing soul; this is a fact, and when you know it to be true, you can take advantage of it. It is a FACT that all things work together for good to those who advance with FAITH toward more life and who use every power and faculty
CONSTRUCTIVELY. There is no power in human industrial systems, or in monopolies to keep a man “down” who knows this fact, and who shapes his course accordingly. No workingman or working woman is irrevocably fixed and held in place by the “system”; the law of the advancement of life is stronger than any human system. It is a universal law, and applies to all; there can be no exception. You may say that it cannot be true that all workingmen should not take advantage of this law and rise to be capitalists, for then there would be no workingmen to do the work; but this does not hold good. As soon as any considerable number of workingmen and women begin to lead the advancing life, they, themselves, by virtue of the advancement, will change the system and open the way for increasing numbers of others. All that is necessary for the complete overthrow of the existing order is for a sufficient number of people to lead lives of continuous advancement within the existing order. These are basic facts which you must hold in mind. If you keep this faith, no matter how circumstances may combine against you, you will find that the difficulties are only apparent. When one road is closed to you, it will be because another and better one is to be opened. When you do not get the thing you hoped for, it will be because a better thing is being brought to you. Never be disappointed; know that every seeming reverse is the prelude to something better than you hoped for. If you move forward in the manner described in these lessons, life will be a continuous series of surprises, in that you will always be getting something better than what you expected. For example, I prepared a manuscript with great care, intending to sell it to a certain publication for fifty dollars. When it was ready, the magazine had so altered its plans that the work was rejected; and I pigeon-holed it, in full faith that my labor had not been in vain. Two years later my attention was called to the fact that another publication desired manuscript along that line, and I revised it and sold it for two hundred and fifty dollars. That is the way things will work for you, if you keep the faith, and show your faith, by your works. It is well to keep in mind the fact that the Intelligence of nature has no favorites, but is moving equally toward more life for all. To be in full harmony with this Intelligence, therefore, and so come fully under the operation of the law, you must move toward more life for all. What you want for yourself, you must want for everybody. If your aim is a mere selfish grasping for power, without regard for the rights or benefits of others, you MAY succeed, but you will often play a lone hand, and you MAY fail. Unless you are in complete harmony with the great Intelligence, you will not have the CERTAINTY of success. But if you are
in this complete harmony, it is absolutely certain that you will get what you want. Study and contemplation of the phenomena of Nature will give you an understanding of this Intelligent Power which is moving toward more life; and with this understanding will come FAITH. Then you must contemplate the fact that this same Power functions in YOU, until you have the same faith in the power within as in that without. The first essential to success is the faith that success CAN be attained, and that it certainly WILL be attained if the law is obeyed. Know that the thing you wish to do can be done, and that it certainly WILL be done if you take the right constructive action. Know that the right constructive action is within your power, for you can begin to move forward where you are, though ever so little; and so move forward. Keep your mind fixed on what you want, but if a better thing is shown to you, do not hesitate to take it; nothing is too good for you. Remember that advancement comes by constructive action, and that constructive action consists in doing perfectly everything that you can do where you are now. Never try to do tomorrow's work today, and never be satisfied with today's work unless it is done in the most perfect manner possible. Make the very most of today in every way; have the best of everything; never be satisfied with less than the best. Recognize the fact that the best is for you, and for everybody, and try to get for all what you are getting for yourself, but do not sacrifice yourself for others. You can only really help others by making the most of yourself for them. Never be disappointed; know that if you fail in one thing, it is because you have set in motion a force which is bringing you a larger and better thing. FAITH, and CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION as taught in these lessons, will CERTAINLY bring you health, wealth, love and mental power. The End