Whether you change your vocation or not, your actions for the present
must be those pertaining to the business in which you are now engaged.
You can get into the business you want by making constructive use of
the business you are already established in; by doing your daily work
in a Certain Way.
And in so far as your business consists in dealing with other men,
whether personally or by letter, the key-thought of all your efforts
must be to convey to their minds the impression of increase.
Increase is what all men and all women are seeking; it is the urge of
the Formless Intelligence within them, seeking fuller expression.
The desire for increase is inherent in all nature; it is the
fundamental impulse of the universe. All human activities are based on
the desire for increase; people are seeking more food, more clothes,
better shelter, more luxury, more beauty, more knowledge, more
pleasure--increase in something, more life.
Every living thing is under this necessity for continuous advancement;
where increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in at once.
Man instinctively knows this, and hence he is forever seeking more.
This law of perpetual increase is set forth by Jesus in the parable of
the talents; only those who gain more retain any; from him who hath not
shall be taken away even that which he hath.
The normal desire for increased wealth is not an evil or a
reprehensible thing; it is simply the desire for more abundant life; it
is aspiration.
And because it is the deepest instinct of their natures, all men and
women are attracted to him who can give them more of the means of life.
In following the Certain Way as described in the foregoing pages, you
are getting continuous increase for yourself, and you are giving it to
all with whom you deal.
You are a creative center, from which increase is given off to all.
Be sure of this, and convey assurance of the fact to every man, woman,
and child with whom you come in contact. No matter how small the
transaction, even if it be only the selling of a stick of candy to a
little child, put into it the thought of increase, and make sure that
the customer is impressed with the thought.
Convey the impression of advancement with everything you do, so that
all people shall receive the impression that you are an Advancing Man,
and that you advance all who deal with you. Even to the people whom you
meet in a social way, without any thought of business, and to whom you
do not try to sell anything, give the thought of increase.
You can convey this impression by holding the unshakable faith that
you, yourself, are in the Way of Increase; and by letting this faith
inspire, fill, and permeate every action.
Do everything that you do in the firm conviction that you are an
advancing personality, and that you are giving advancement to everybody.
Feel that you are getting rich, and that in so doing you are making
others rich, and conferring benefits on all.
Do not boast or brag of your success, or talk about it unnecessarily;
true faith is never boastful.
Wherever you find a boastful person, you find one who is secretly
doubtful and afraid. Simply feel the faith, and let it work out in
every transaction; let every act and tone and look express the quiet
assurance that you are getting rich; that you are already rich. Words
will not be necessary to communicate this feeling to others; they will
feel the sense of increase when in your presence, and will be attracted
to you again.
You must so impress others that they will feel that in associating with
you they will get increase for themselves. See that you give them a use
value greater than the cash value you are taking from them.
Take an honest pride in doing this, and let everybody know it; and you
will have no lack of customers. People will go where they are given
increase; and the Supreme, which desires increase in all, and which
knows all, will move toward you men and women who have never heard of
you. Your business will increase rapidly, and you will be surprised at
the unexpected benefits which will come to you. You will be able from
day to day to make larger combinations, secure greater advantages, and
to go on into a more congenial vocation if you desire to do so.
But in doing all this, you must never lose sight of your vision of what
you want, or your faith and purpose to get what you want.
Let me here give you another word of caution in regard to motives.
_Beware of the insidious temptation to seek for power over other men._
Nothing is so pleasant to the unformed or partially developed mind as
the exercise of power or dominion over others. The desire to rule for
selfish gratification has been the curse of the world. For countless
ages kings and lords have drenched the earth with blood in their
battles to extend their dominions; this not to seek more life for all,
but to get more power for themselves.
To-day, the main motive in the business and industrial world is the
same; men marshal their armies of dollars, and lay waste the lives and
hearts of millions in the same mad scramble for power over others.
Commercial kings, like political kings, are inspired by the lust for
power.
Jesus saw in this desire for mastery the moving impulse of that
evil world He sought to overthrow. Read the twenty-third chapter of
Matthew, and see how He pictures the lust of the Pharisees to be
called “Master,” to sit in the high places, to domineer over others,
and to lay burdens on the backs of the less fortunate; and note how
He compares this lust for dominion with the brotherly seeking for the
Common Good to which He calls His disciples.
Look out for the temptation to seek for authority, to become a
“master,” to be considered as one who is above the common herd, to
impress others by lavish display, and so on.
The mind that seeks for mastery over others is the competitive mind;
and the competitive mind is not the creative one. In order to master
your environment and your destiny, it is not at all necessary that you
should rule over your fellow men; and indeed, when you fall into the
world’s struggle for the high places, you begin to be conquered by fate
and environment, and your getting rich becomes a matter of chance and
speculation.
Beware of the competitive mind! No better statement of the principle of
creative action can be formulated than the favorite declaration of the
late “Golden Rule” Jones of Toledo: “What I want for myself, I want for
everybody.”