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 re-shapes 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 the 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 appearances 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.