When I say that you do not have to drive sharp bargains, I do not mean
that you do not have to drive any bargains at all, or that you are
above the necessity for having any dealings with your fellow men. I
mean that you will not need to deal with them unfairly; you do not have
to get something for nothing, _but can give to every man more than you
take from him_.
You cannot give every man more in cash market value than you take
from him, but you can give him more in use value than the cash value
of the thing you take from him. The paper, ink, and other material in
this book may not be worth the money you paid for it; but if the ideas
suggested by it bring you thousands of dollars, you have not been
wronged by those who sold it to you; they have given you a great use
value for a small cash value.
Let us suppose that I own a picture by one of the great artists, which,
in any civilized community, is worth thousands of dollars. I take it to
Baffin Bay, and by “salesmanship” induce an Eskimo to give a bundle of
furs worth $500 for it. I have really wronged him, for he has no use
for the picture; it has no use value to him; it will not add to his
life.
But suppose I give him a gun worth $50 for his furs; then he has made
a good bargain. He has use for the gun; it will get him many more furs
and much food; it will add to his life in every way; it will make him
rich.
When you rise from the competitive to the creative plane, you can scan
your business transactions very strictly, and if you are selling any
man anything which does not add more to his life than the thing he
gives you in exchange, you can afford to stop it. You do not have to
beat anybody in business. And if you are in a business which does beat
people, get out of it at once.
Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash
value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business
transaction.
If you have people working for you, you must take from them more in
cash value than you pay them in wages; but _you can so organize your
business that it will be filled with the principle of advancement_, and
so that each employee who wishes to do so may advance a little every
day.
You can make your business do for your employees what this book is
doing for you. You can so conduct your business that it will be a sort
of ladder, by which every employee who will take the trouble may climb
to riches himself; and given the opportunity, if he will not do so it
is not your fault.
And finally, because you are to cause the creation of your riches from
Formless Substance which permeates all your environment, it does not
follow that they are to take shape from the atmosphere and come into
being before your eyes.
If you want a sewing machine, for instance, I do not mean to tell you
that you are to impress the thought of a sewing machine on Thinking
Substance until the machine is formed without hands, in the room where
you sit, or elsewhere. But if you want a sewing machine, hold the
mental image of it with the most positive certainty that it is being
made, or is on its way to you. After once forming the thought, have
the most absolute and unquestioning faith that the sewing machine is
coming; never think of it, or speak of it, in any other way than as
being sure to arrive. Claim it as already yours.
It will be brought to you by the power of the Supreme Intelligence,
acting upon the minds of men. If you live in Maine, it may be that a
man will be brought from Texas or Japan to engage in some transaction
which will result in your getting what you want.
If so, the whole matter will be as much to that man’s advantage as it
is to yours.
Do not forget for a moment that the Thinking Substance is through all,
in all, communicating with all, and can influence all. The desire of
Thinking Substance for fuller life and better living has caused the
creation of all the sewing machines already made; and it can cause the
creation of millions more, and will, whenever men set it in motion by
desire and faith, and by acting in a Certain Way.
You can certainly have a sewing machine in your house; and it is just
as certain that you can have any other thing or things which you want,
and which you will use for the advancement of your own life and the
lives of others.
You need not hesitate about asking largely; “it is your Father’s
pleasure to give you the kingdom,” said Jesus.
Original Substance wants to live all that is possible in you, and wants
you to have all that you can or will use for the living of the most
abundant life.
If you fix upon your consciousness the fact that the desire you feel
for the possession of riches is one with the desire of Omnipotence for
more complete expression, your faith becomes invincible.
Once I saw a little boy sitting at a piano, and vainly trying to bring
harmony out of the keys; and I saw that he was grieved and provoked
by his inability to play real music. I asked him the cause of his
vexation, and he answered, “I can feel the music in me, but I can’t
make my hands go right.” The music in him was the URGE of Original
Substance, containing all the possibilities of all life; all that there
is of music was seeking expression through the child.
God, the One Substance, is trying to live and do and enjoy things
through humanity. He is saying, “I want hands to build wonderful
structures, to play divine harmonies, to paint glorious pictures; I
want feet to run my errands, eyes to see my beauties, tongues to tell
mighty truths and to sing marvelous songs,” and so on.
All that there is of possibility is seeking expression through men.
God wants those who can play music to have pianos and every other
instrument, and to have the means to cultivate their talents to the
fullest extent; He wants those who can appreciate beauty to be able
to surround themselves with beautiful things; He wants those who can
discern truth to have every opportunity to travel and observe; He wants
those who can appreciate dress to be beautifully clothed, and those who
can appreciate good food to be luxuriously fed.
He wants all these things because it is Himself that enjoys and
appreciates them; it is God who wants to play, and sing, and enjoy
beauty, and proclaim truth, and wear fine clothes, and eat good foods.
“It is God that worketh in you to will and to do,” said Paul.
The desire you feel for riches is the Infinite, seeking to express
Himself in you as He sought to find expression in the little boy at the
piano.
So you need not hesitate to ask largely.
Your part is to focalize and express the desires of God.
This is a difficult point with most people; they retain something of
the old idea that poverty and self-sacrifice are pleasing to God. They
look upon poverty as a part of the plan, a necessity of nature. They
have the idea that God has finished His work, and made all that He
can make, and that the majority of men must stay poor because there
is not enough to go around. They hold to so much of this erroneous
thought that they feel ashamed to ask for wealth; they try not to want
more than a very modest competence, just enough to make them fairly
comfortable.
I recall now the case of one student who was told that he must get in
mind a clear picture of the things he desired, so that the creative
thought of them might be impressed on Formless Substance. He was a very
poor man, living in a rented house, and having only what he earned
from day to day; and he could not grasp the fact that all wealth was
his. So, after thinking the matter over, he decided that he might
reasonably ask for a new rug for the floor of his best room, and an
anthracite coal stove to heat the house during the cold weather.
Following the instructions given in this book, he obtained these things
in a few months; and then it dawned upon him that he had not asked
enough. He went through the house in which he lived, and planned all
the improvements he would like to make in it; he mentally added a bay
window here and a room there, until it was complete in his mind as his
ideal home; and then he planned its furnishings.
Holding the whole picture in his mind, he began living in the Certain
Way, and moving toward what he wanted; and he owns the house now, and
is rebuilding it after the form of his mental image. And now, with
still larger faith, he is going on to get greater things. It has been
unto him according to his faith, and it is so with you and with all of
us.