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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
In "The Secret of the Ages," Robert Collier delves into the realms of self-improvement and personal development through a comprehensive analysis of success principles. Written in the early 20th century, the book intertwines motivational philosophy with practical strategies, employing a literary style that is both accessible and engaging. Collier employs a systematic approach to uncover the psychological mechanisms underlying achievement, emphasizing the law of attraction and the power of positive thinking. As a seminal work in the self-help genre, it stands as a testament to the burgeoning interest in individual agency and self-mastery during its time, echoing the transformative spirit of the early 1900s. Robert Collier, a prominent figure in the self-help movement, experienced firsthand the trials and tribulations of financial hardship and personal failure. This background catalyzed his quest for knowledge and understanding of successful living, motivating him to compile the insights and strategies that would later define his philosophy. His extensive exploration of the relationship between thought and achievement reflects both his scholarly pursuits and his personal journey towards fulfillment. I highly recommend "The Secret of the Ages" for anyone seeking to unlock their potential and harness the power of their thoughts. Collier's timeless wisdom and practical advice offer a roadmap to personal success that resonates with contemporary readers, making it an essential addition to the libraries of aspiring achievers and lifelong learners alike. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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The Secret of the Ages
Table of Contents
Introduction
Human potential comes into focus when thought, desire, and disciplined action are aligned toward a definite purpose, and the promise of that alignment—its power to reshape work, relationships, and daily decisions—forms the central current running through this enduring guide to personal achievement, urging readers to examine what they truly want, to cultivate the mental habits that sustain that aim, and to translate conviction into steady practice, not as a fleeting burst of enthusiasm but as a sustained course of conduct that gradually turns intention into habit and habit into results, while asking at every turn what inner resources remain unused.
Written by American author Robert Collier and first published in 1926, The Secret of the Ages belongs to the early twentieth‑century tradition of self‑help and New Thought. It is not a novel and has no fictional setting; its stage is the reader’s own life, from practical challenges at work to aspirations for health, prosperity, and purpose. Collier’s book appeared during a period when success literature surged in popularity, offering tools for personal advancement alongside a distinctly optimistic view of human capability. Readers encounter a genre piece that blends motivational counsel with a framework for mental discipline shaped by its time.
At its core, the book proposes a practical program for directing the mind toward clear aims, presenting ideas in accessible, persuasive prose. Collier organizes his counsel into brief, cumulative sections that build from attitude and desire to method and application, using examples to illustrate how principles might appear in everyday situations. The experience is partly conversational and partly instructional, with a steady, encouraging tone. Rather than abstract philosophy, the text offers stepwise guidance intended to be tested in ordinary life. The mood is confident and forward‑looking, asking readers to approach success not as chance but as a learnable, repeatable process.
The themes revolve around desire clarified into a definite objective, belief strong enough to sustain effort, and imagination trained to picture outcomes that guide action. Collier emphasizes the interplay of conscious intention and deeper mental habit, arguing for the value of sustained attention, constructive thinking, and persistence. He frames setbacks as information rather than defeat, and he treats opportunity as something readers can cultivate by preparing the mind. Throughout, the book urges a balance of inner conviction and outward effort—an ethic of responsibility that ties personal vision to consistent practice, without promising shortcuts, but encouraging a disciplined optimism about what focused thought can accomplish.
Collier’s voice is unmistakably instructive yet personable, blending the cadence of a mentor with the practical sensibility of a guide who expects readers to apply each idea. The style favors clear definitions, memorable analogies, and direct appeals to action. While it reflects the period’s brisk, success‑oriented rhetoric, it also pauses to reassure, to recap, and to turn general encouragement into concrete steps. The mood is steady rather than sensational, inviting readers to adopt daily routines of thought and effort. This approach allows the book to function both as a motivational spark and as a manual that rewards rereading, note‑taking, and methodical experimentation.
For contemporary readers, its relevance lies in the clarity it brings to goals, the discipline it advocates for attention, and the way it reframes agency in an age of distraction. The questions it raises—What do you truly want? How do you train the mind to serve that aim? How do you persist without rigidity?—remain timely across professions and life stages. Its emphasis on personal responsibility and constructive outlook complements modern conversations about habit formation and mindset. At the same time, recognizing the book’s historical context helps readers adapt its principles thoughtfully, translating early twentieth‑century formulations into practices suited to current challenges and opportunities.
Approached as a patient, cumulative practice, The Secret of the Ages offers a blueprint for aligning values, intention, and action. It invites readers to test ideas in small, repeatable ways, to measure progress by steadiness rather than spectacle, and to let imagination inform but not replace diligent effort. Those seeking a reflective yet practical companion to goal setting will find a resource that emphasizes clarity, persistence, and self‑trust. By starting with a defined purpose and building habits that support it, readers can use Collier’s framework as a living program—one that evolves with experience and turns aspiration into a sustained way of life.
Synopsis (Selection)
Robert Collier’s The Secret of the Ages is a motivational and self-help work that presents a method for attaining success, health, and wellbeing through directed thought. Written in the early twentieth century and framed within New Thought ideas, it develops a progressive argument from premise to application. Collier proposes that human beings possess an inner creative power capable of shaping circumstances when properly guided. The book is organized into short chapters that assemble a step-by-step approach, using anecdotes, illustrative cases, and practical suggestions. Its narrative moves from defining the mind’s faculties to outlining a discipline of desire, belief, and action designed to produce measurable results.
Collier begins by identifying what he calls the world’s greatest discovery: the realization that each person holds a latent power to translate ideas into reality. He likens this to a genie of the mind, responsive to clear commands. The conscious mind sets aims and forms definite pictures; the subconscious mind accepts and magnifies those impressions. Collier asserts a connection between individual thought and a universal source of intelligence or supply. This conceptual foundation frames the remainder of the book, in which the reader is urged to use mental tools deliberately, treating thoughts as seeds that, with consistent cultivation, yield corresponding outcomes.
The first practical element is desire, presented as the starting impulse of achievement. Collier emphasizes the need for a definite chief aim, not a vague wish. He advises specifying the objective, shaping it into a clear mental image, and maintaining it with sustained interest. Desire is linked to motive and service; goals that create value for others are portrayed as more readily supported by the laws he outlines. The text recommends translating desire into concrete statements and plans, thereby giving the mind an exact target. Without this clarified desire, the subsequent methods lack focus and momentum.
Belief is introduced as the necessary companion to desire. Collier argues that expectancy, confidence, and faith determine how the subconscious receives and acts upon an idea. Imagination is presented as a practical faculty for forming the mental equivalent of the goal. Techniques include affirmation, visualization, and what he terms scientific prayer, all intended to imprint the desired pattern on deeper mind. Repetition and emotional conviction are stressed to reinforce belief. Throughout, illustrative stories show individuals sustaining a vivid inner picture until circumstances align. The emphasis remains on methodical mental practice rather than chance or mere hope.
Collier devotes attention to the subconscious mind and habit formation. He holds that repeated thoughts and feelings become habits, which then guide behavior and attract conditions consistent with them. Fear, worry, and doubt are described as counter-suggestions that can dissipate constructive effort. The remedy offered is vigilance over mental content, the substitution of positive images for negative ones, and the cultivation of calm expectancy. He discusses the role of gratitude and confidence in maintaining a receptive state. The overarching theme is that inner discipline creates a steady channel through which ideas pass into action and results.
Action, planning, and persistence form the next phase. Collier claims that thought must be directed into organized steps, with initiative and decision moving the plan forward. He presents a master formula that blends desire, belief, and sustained effort. Setbacks are treated as tests that refine plans rather than final defeats. The book counsels daily work on the chief aim, continuous learning, and readiness to adapt tactics while holding the objective steady. Willpower is framed not as force against obstacles but as the steadiness that keeps imagination and conduct aligned until the desired condition appears.
The method is then applied to prosperity and business. Collier discusses money as a measure of service rendered and urges the reader to think in terms of value, usefulness, and fair exchange. He associates the law of supply with the mental equivalent: establishing a vivid picture of the contribution one offers and the compensation sought. Practical topics include salesmanship, leadership, efficiency, and opportunity recognition. Examples illustrate how clarity of aim and confidence attract resources, contacts, and solutions. Emphasis is placed on going the extra mile, developing specialized knowledge, and maintaining integrity to create enduring success.
Further chapters extend the principles to health, relationships, and personal influence. Collier links vitality to mental poise, constructive suggestion, and appropriate habits of rest, diet, and exercise. In human relations, he stresses goodwill, cooperation, and the harmonious use of speech and thought. Personal magnetism is described as the outward effect of inner conviction and sincere interest in others. The same sequence of desire, belief, and action is recommended for improving any area, with gratitude and cheerful expectancy sustaining the inner state that supports desired results. The guidance remains practical and repetitive for reinforcement.
The book concludes by summarizing its central message: individuals can direct their lives by forming a definite aim, believing in its attainment, and acting persistently in ways that serve others and align with universal law. Collier closes with encouragement to adopt daily mental practice, guard thought, and keep plans flexible while purpose remains fixed. The promise is not instantaneous transformation but a compound effect from disciplined thinking and steady work. The final impression is a program for self-direction, presented as accessible to any reader willing to apply the steps and maintain constructive expectation over time.
Historical Context
Published in 1926, The Secret of the Ages emerged from the commercial and cultural milieu of the United States during the Roaring Twenties. Robert Collier wrote within the orbit of New York’s publishing and advertising worlds, at a moment when mass production, electrification, automobiles, and radio were reshaping daily life. The nation was navigating the aftermath of World War I while celebrating rapid urban growth and consumer abundance. Credit systems and mail-order catalogues knit rural and urban markets, and a new managerial middle class prized efficiency and self-mastery. Collier’s promises of mental control, prosperity, and health reflect this distinctly American climate of technological optimism and personal advancement.
A decisive backdrop was the New Thought movement, rooted in the 19th-century mental healing ideas of Phineas P. Quimby (1802–1866) and popularized by figures such as Emma Curtis Hopkins, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore (Unity, founded 1889, Kansas City), Wallace D. Wattles (The Science of Getting Rich, 1910), and Charles F. Haanel (The Master Key System, 1912, St. Louis). New Thought taught that thought aligns with a universal intelligence to produce tangible results. Collier’s language of the "Universal Mind," visualization, and affirmation directly mirrors this spiritual-philosophical current. The book operationalizes these tenets for a mass readership, offering stepwise formulas that translate metaphysical optimism into practical routines.
Equally formative was the rise of mass advertising and mail-order commerce between 1900 and 1930. Rural Free Delivery (national by 1902) and the U.S. Parcel Post (launched 1 January 1913) enabled Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward to reach distant consumers; specialized agencies like N. W. Ayer & Son and Lord & Thomas professionalized persuasion. The Federal Trade Commission (established 1914) began policing deceptive claims, pushing copywriters toward demonstrable benefits and “reason-why” appeals. Collier built his career in this environment and later compiled The Robert Collier Letter Book (1931). The Secret of the Ages refracts advertising’s vocabulary—desire, demand, proof—into a program for self-direction, promising disciplined mental focus as the engine of results.
World War I (1914–1918; U.S. entry 1917) and the 1918 influenza pandemic formed a crucible of loss and uncertainty. The United States mobilized roughly 4.7 million personnel; about 116,000 Americans died in the conflict, and the flu pandemic killed an estimated 675,000 more domestically. Demobilization in 1919 brought economic and psychological readjustments for veterans and civilians alike. The book’s insistence on inner resources, calm confidence, and purposeful imagery echoes a broader, postwar search for control and meaning. Collier’s assurances that thought can reorganize health, fortune, and circumstance answered anxieties produced by mass warfare, sudden mortality, and volatile labor and price shocks.
The violent postwar slump of 1920–1921—marked by sharp deflation and unemployment spikes—was followed by the high-growth cycle of the mid-1920s. By 1926, factories produced record numbers of automobiles; installment credit (pioneered by firms like General Motors Acceptance Corporation, 1919) widened access to consumer durables. Radio broadcasting, inaugurated commercially by KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1920, created a national audience and advertising platform. Set at this crest, Collier’s book channels the era’s creed of boundless opportunity: it presents desire as a signal of innate capacity and urges readers to use visualization and goal statements as “mental blueprints,” mapping individual aspiration onto a landscape of expanding markets and mobility.
The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 (Black Thursday, 24 October; Black Tuesday, 29 October) and the Great Depression (1929–1939) powerfully shaped the book’s reception and afterlife. U.S. unemployment reached about 24.9% in 1933; industrial production fell by nearly half from 1929 levels; thousands of banks failed before the 1933 national bank holiday. In a society confronting scarcity and systemic breakdown, Collier’s promise of inner causation and persistence found an enlarged audience. New Deal measures from 1933 under Franklin D. Roosevelt altered the policy landscape, but many readers sought psychological instruments as well. Reprints and companion materials circulated as individuals turned to self-help to confront joblessness and recover confidence.
Progressive Era efficiency and managerial science also conditioned Collier’s approach. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) and the Gilbreths’ time–motion studies advanced a culture of measurability and system. Simultaneously, adult education and success literature—business courses, Chautauqua circuits, and practical manuals—framed improvement as a disciplined method. Regulatory milestones, including the 1914 FTC Act, pushed claims toward quasi-scientific terminology. Collier’s text adopts this idiom, speaking of mental "laws," repeatable procedures, and goal statements as if they were engineering plans. The book thus bridges spiritual aspiration with the era’s efficiency ethos, promising predictable outcomes when thought is organized with the rigor expected in factories and offices.
While optimistic, the book doubles as a critique of a period that celebrated prosperity yet offered limited security. By insisting that power resides in every mind, it challenges inherited class privilege and the fatalism of postwar and Depression-era hardship. It exposes the period’s anxieties—boom-and-bust cycles, precarious employment, and the pressure to perform—by recasting them as problems of orientation and purpose. Yet its focus on individual mastery implicitly questions laissez-faire inequities, suggesting that talent is widespread even if opportunity is not. The text’s faith in disciplined thought foregrounds personal agency while highlighting, by contrast, the social failures that made such psychological tools feel necessary.
The Secret of the Ages
VOLUME ONE
FOREWORD
"A fire-mist and a planet, A crystal and a cell, A jelly-fish and a saurian, cave where the cave-men dwell; Then a sense of law and order, A face upturned from the clod; Some call it Evolution, And others call it God."
—Reprinted from The New England Journal.
If you had more money than time, more millions than you knew how to spend, what would be your pet philanthropy? Libraries? Hospitals? Churches? Homes for the Blind, Crippled or Aged?
Mine would be "Homes"—but not for the aged or infirm. For young married couples!
I have often thought that, if ever I got into the "Philanthropic Billionaire" class, I'd like to start an Endowment Fund for helping young married couples over the rough spots in those first and second years of married life—especially the second year, when the real troubles come.
Take a boy and a girl and a cozy little nest—add a cunning, healthy baby—and there's nothing happier on God's green footstool.
But instead of a healthy babe, fill in a fretful, sickly baby—a wan, tired, worn-out little mother—a worried, dejected, heart-sick father—and there's nothing more pitiful.
A nurse for a month, a few weeks at the shore or mountains, a "lift" on that heavy Doctor's bill—any one of these things would spell H-E-A-V-E-N to that tiny family. But do they get it? Not often! And the reason? Because they are not poor enough for charity. They are not rich enough to afford it themselves. They belong to that great "Middle Class" which has to bear the burdens of both the poor and the rich—and take what is left for itself.
It is to them that I should like to dedicate this book. If I cannot endow Libraries or Colleges for them, perhaps I can point the way to get all good gifts for themselves.
For men and women like them do not need "charity"—nor even sympathy. What they do need is Inspiration—and Opportunity—the kind of Inspiration that makes a man go out and create his own Opportunity.
And that, after all, is the greatest good one can do anyone. Few people appreciate free gifts. They are like the man whom an admiring townsfolk presented with a watch. He looked it over critically for a minute. Then—"Where's the chain?" he asked.
But a way to win for themselves the full measure of success they've dreamed of but almost stopped hoping for—that is something every young couple would welcome with open arms. And it is something that, if I can do it justice, will make the "Eternal Triangle" as rare as it is today common, for it will enable husband and wife to work together—not merely for domestic happiness, but for business success as well.
Robert Collier.
I. THE WORLD'S GREATEST DISCOVERY
"You can do as much as you think you can, But you'll never accomplish more; If you're afraid of yourself, young man, There's little for you in store. For failure comes from the inside first, It's there if we only knew it, And you can win, though you face the worst, If you feel that you're going to do it." —EDGAR A. GUEST.
What, in your opinion, is the most significant discovery of this modern age?
The finding of Dinosaur eggs on the plains of Mongolia, laid—so scientists assert—some 10,000,000 years ago?
The unearthing of the Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, with its matchless specimens of a bygone civilization?
The radio-active time clock by which Professor Lane of Tufts College estimates the age of the earth at 1,250,000,000 years?
Wireless? The Aeroplane? Man-made thunderbolts?
No—not any of these. The really significant thing about them is that from all this vast research, from the study of all these bygone ages, men are for the first time beginning to get an understanding of that "Life Principle" which—somehow, some way—was brought to this earth thousands or millions of years ago. They are beginning to get an inkling of the infinite power it puts in their hands—to glimpse the untold possibilities it opens up.
This is the greatest discovery of modern times—that every man can call upon this "Life Principle" at will, that it is as much the servant of his mind as was ever Aladdin's fabled "Genie-of-the-lamp" of old; that he has but to understand it and work in harmony with it to get from it anything he may need—health or happiness, riches or success.
To realize the truth of this, you have but to go back for a moment to the beginning of things.
In the Beginning—
It matters not whether you believe that mankind dates back to the primitive Ape-man of 500,000 years ago, or sprang full-grown from the mind of the Creator. In either event, there had to be a First Cause—a Creator. Some Power had to bring to this earth the first germ of Life, and the creation is no less wonderful if it started with the lowliest form of plant life and worked up through countless ages into the highest product of today's civilization, than if the whole were created in six days.
In the beginning, this earth was just a fire mist—six thousand or a billion years ago—what does it matter which?
The one thing that does matter is that some time, some way, there came to this planet the germ of Life—the Life Principle which animates all Nature—plant, animal, man. If we accept the scientists’ version of it, the first form in which Life appeared upon earth was the humble Algæ—a jelly-like mass which floated upon the waters. This, according to the scientists, was the beginning, the dawn of life upon the earth.
Next came the first bit of animal life–the lowly Amoeba, a sort of jelly fish, consisting of a single cell, without vertebræ, and with very little else to distinguish it from the water round about. But it had life—the first bit of animal life—and from that life, according to the scientists, we can trace everything we have and are today.
All the millions of forms and shapes and varieties of plants and animals that have since appeared are but different manifestations of life—formed to meet differing conditions. For millions of years this "Life Germ" was threatened by every kind of danger—from floods, from earthquakes, from droughts, from desert heat, from glacial cold, from volcanic eruptions—but to it each new danger was merely an incentive to finding a new resource, to putting forth Life in some new shape.
To meet one set of needs, it formed the Dinosaur—to meet another, the Butterfly. Long before it worked up to man, we see its unlimited resourcefulness shown in a thousand ways. To escape danger in the water, it sought land. Pursued on land, it took to the air. To breathe in the sea, it developed gills. Stranded on land, it perfected lungs. To meet one kind of danger it grew a shell. For another, a sting. To protect itself from glacial cold, it grew fur. In temperate climes, hair. Subject to alternate heat and cold, it produced feathers. But ever, from the beginning, it showed its power to meet every changing condition, to answer every creature need.
Had it been possible to kill this "Life Idea," it would have perished ages ago, when fire and flood, drought and famine followed each other in quick succession. But obstacles, misfortunes, cataclysms, were to it merely new opportunities to assert its power. In fact, it required obstacles to awaken it, to show its energy and resource.
The great reptiles, the monster beasts of antiquity, passed on. But the "Life Principle" stayed, changing as each age changed, always developing, always improving.
Whatever Power it was that brought this "Life Idea" to the earth, it came endowed with unlimited resource, unlimited energy, unlimited LIFE! No other force can defeat it. No obstacle can hold it back. All through the history of life and mankind you can see its directing intelligence—call it Nature, call it Providence, call it what you will—rising to meet every need of life.
The Purpose of Existence
No one can follow it down through the ages without realizing that the whole purpose of existence is GROWTH. Life is dynamic—not static. It is ever moving forward—not standing still. The one unpardonable sin of nature is to stand still, to stagnate. The Giganotosaurus, that was over a hundred feet long and as big as a house; the Tyrannosaurus, that had the strength of a locomotive and was the last word in frightfulness; the Pterodactyl or Flying Dragon—all the giant monsters of Prehistoric Ages—are gone. They ceased to serve a useful purpose. They did not know how to meet the changing conditions. They stood still—stagnated—while the life around them passed them by.
Egypt and Persia, Greece and Rome, all the great Empires of antiquity, perished when they ceased to grow. China built a wall about herself and stood still for a thousand years. Today she is the football of the Powers. In all Nature, to cease to grow is to perish.
It is for men and women who are not ready to stand still, who refuse to cease to grow, that this book is written. It will give you a clearer understanding of your own potentialities, show you how to work with and take advantage of the infinite energy all about you.
The terror of the man at the crossways, not knowing which road to take, will be no terror to you. Your future is of your own making. For the only law of Infinite Energy is the law of supply. The "Life Principle" is your principle. To survive, to win through, to triumphantly surmount all obstacles has been its everyday practice since the beginning of time. It is no less resourceful now than ever it was. You have but to supply the urge, to work in harmony with it, to get from it anything you may need.
For if this "Life Principle" is so strong in the lowest forms of animal life that it can develop a shell or a poison to meet a need; if it can teach the bird to circle and dart, to balance and fly; if it can grow a new limb on a spider to replace a lost one, how much more can it do for you—a reasoning, rational being, with a mind able to work with this "Life Principle," with an energy and an initiative to urge it on!
The evidence of this is all about you. Take up some violent form of exercise—rowing, tennis, swimming, riding. In the beginning your muscles are weak, easily tired. But keep on for a few days. The "Life Principle" promptly strengthens them, toughens them, to meet their new need. Do rough manual labor—and what happens? The skin of your hands becomes tender, blisters, hurts. Keep it up, and does the skin all wear off? On the contrary, the "Life Principle" provides extra thicknesses, extra toughness—calluses, we call them—to meet your need.
All through your daily life you will find this "Life Principle" steadily at work. Embrace it, work with it, take it to yourself, and there is nothing you cannot do. The mere fact that you have obstacles to overcome is in your favor, for when there is nothing to be done, when things run along too smoothly, this "Life Principle" seems to sleep. It is when you need it, when you call upon it urgently, that it is most on the job.
It differs from "Luck" in this, that fortune is a fickle jade who smiles most often on those who need her least. Stake your last penny on the turn of a card—have nothing between you and ruin but the spin of a wheel or the speed of a horse—and it's a thousand to one "Luck" will desert you! But it is just the opposite with the "Life Principle." As long as things run smoothly, as long as life flows along like a song, this "Life Principle" seems to slumber, secure in the knowledge that your affairs can take care of themselves.
But let things start going wrong, let ruin and disgrace stare you in the face—then is the time this "Life Principle" will assert itself if you but give it a chance.
The "Open, Sesame!" of Life
There is a Napoleonic feeling of power that insures success in the knowledge that this invincible "Life Principle" is behind your every act. Knowing that you have working with you a force which never yet has failed in anything it has undertaken, you can go ahead in the confident knowledge that it will not fail in your case, either. The ingenuity which overcame every obstacle in making you what you are, is not likely to fall short when you have immediate need for it. It is the reserve strength of the athlete, the "second wind" of the runner, the power that, in moments of great stress or excitement, you unconsciously call upon to do the deeds which you ever after look upon as superhuman.
But they are in no wise superhuman. They are merely beyond the capacity of your conscious self. Ally your conscious self with that sleeping giant within you, rouse him daily to the task, and those "superhuman" deeds will become your ordinary, everyday accomplishments.
W. L. Cain, of Oakland, Oregon, writes: "I know that there is such a power, for I once saw two boys, 16 and 18 years of age, lift a great log off their brother, who had been caught under it. The next day, the same two boys, with another man and myself, tried to lift the end of the log, but could not even budge it."
How was it that the two boys could do at need what the four were unable to do later on, when the need had passed? Because they never stopped to question whether or not it could be done. They saw only the urgent need. They concentrated all their thought, all their energy on that one thing—never doubting, never fearing—and the Genie which is in all of us waiting only for such a call, answered their summons and gave them the strength—not of two men, but of ten!
It matters not whether you are Banker or Lawyer, Business Man or Clerk. Whether you are the custodian of millions, or have to struggle for your daily bread. This "Life Principle" makes no distinction between rich and poor, high and low. The greater your need, the more readily will it respond to your call. Wherever there is an unusual task, wherever there is poverty or hardship or sickness or despair, there is this Servant of your Mind, ready and willing to help, asking only that you call upon him.
And not only is it ready and willing, but it is always ABLE to help. Its ingenuity and resource are without limit. It is Mind. It is Thought. It is the Telepathy that carries messages without the spoken or written word. It is the Sixth Sense that warns you of unseen dangers. No matter how stupendous and complicated, nor how simple your problem may be—the solution of it is somewhere in Mind, in Thought. And since the solution does exist, this Mental Giant can find it for you. It can KNOW, and it can DO, every right thing. Whatever it is necessary for you to know, whatever it is necessary for you to do, you can know and you can do if you will but seek the help of this Genie-of-your-Mind and work with it in the right way.
II. THE GENIE-OF-YOUR-MIND
"It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the Master of my Fate; I am the Captain of my Soul." —Henley.
First came the Stone Age, when life was for the strong of arm or the fleet of foot. Then there was the Iron Age—and while life was more precious, still the strong lorded it over the weak. Later came the Golden Age, and riches took the place of strength—but the poor found little choice between the slave drivers’ whips of olden days and the grim weapons of poverty and starvation.
Now we are entering a new age—the Mental Age—when every man can be his own master, when poverty and circumstance no longer hold power and the lowliest creature in the land can win a place side by side with the highest.
To those who do not know the resources of mind these will sound like rash statements; but science proves beyond question that in the well springs of every man's mind are unplumbed depths—undiscovered deposits of energy, wisdom and ability. Sound these depths—bring these treasures to the surface—and you gain an astounding wealth of new power.
From the rude catamaran of the savages to the giant liners of today, carrying their thousands from continent to continent, is but a step in the development of Mind. From the lowly cave man, cowering in his burrow in fear of lightning or fire or water, to the engineer of today, making servants of all the forces of Nature, is but a measure of difference in mental development.
Man, without reasoning mind, would be as the monkeys are—prey of any creature fast enough and strong enough to pull him to pieces. At the mercy of wind and weather. A poor, timid creature, living for the moment only, fearful of every shadow.
Through his superior mind, he learned to make fire to keep himself warm; weapons with which to defend himself from the savage creatures round about; habitations to protect himself from the elements. Through mind he conquered the forces of Nature. Through mind he has made machinery do the work of millions of horses and billions of hands. What he will do next, no man knows, for man is just beginning to awaken to his own powers. He is just getting an inkling of the unfathomed riches buried deep in his own mind. Like the gold seekers of ’49, he has panned the surface gravel for the gold swept down by the streams. Now he is starting to dig deeper to the pure vein beneath.
We bemoan the loss of our forests. We worry over our dwindling resources of coal and oil. We decry the waste in our factories. But the greatest waste of all, we pay no attention to—the waste of our own potential mind power. Professor Wm. James, the world-famous Harvard psychologist, estimated that the average man uses only 10% of his mental power. He has unlimited power—yet he uses but a tithe of it. Unlimited wealth all about him—and he doesn't know how to take hold of it. With God-like powers slumbering within him, he is content to continue in his daily grind—eating, sleeping, working—plodding through an existence little more eventful than the animals', while all of Nature, all of life, calls upon him to awaken, to bestir himself.
The power to be what you want to be, to get what you desire, to accomplish whatever you are striving for, abides within you. It rests with you only to bring it forth and put it to work. Of course you must know how to do that, but before you can learn how to use it, you must realize that you possess this power. So our first objective is to get acquainted with this power.
