Yawn and Grow Rich Course
By Paul Adams – The Yawn Guy
SECTION 2: DESIRE
- Text in black (after legend) = original text of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- Text in blue = paragraph numbers and course instructions to you, the student
- DEMO = draw out pictures of real-life situations on paper using stick figures for you, your partner, your boss etc. Demos will help considerably with your understanding. Do not use a lot of words in the demo. Demo the ideas as they apply to your own life. You can also do demos at your discretion to help with any "non-demo" paragraph too. If you are feeling "light-headed" from too much theory, do lots of real-life demos until the light-headedness goes away.
- PRACTICAL = an assignment for you to do now before continuing to read further in the text. Sometimes it will be something for you to do later in the day, or a continuing action, and if so this will be stated.
- Text in green = explanation, not written by Napoleon Hill
- Mark the radio buttons ( | ) honestly as you do each paragraph. Note that these buttons will clear when you close your browser. It is not a good idea to leave lots of "Hmmm"s behind you. (That doesn't mean close your browser often!)
- Look up any word or phrase you don't understand when you first encounter it. This is important—don't guess or slide by without getting it. Use it in sentences of your own until you fully get it. This might take a few or it might take ten or more sentences.
- If you really can't understand a paragraph and it does seems like you understand every word, click on the "Didn't get it" link at the end of that paragraph. Follow the instructions you find there. This is different to a "negative reaction". "Didn't get it" means you have gone foggy or blank and didn't understand the paragraph, either the whole of it or some part of it.
- If you understood the paragraph, but have a negative reaction to the text, first make sure you understand the words the author is using, and the idea he is trying to put across. In other words, make sure your reaction is to what the author is saying, not to what you misunderstand him to be saying. If the reaction persists, click on the "Negative reaction" link and follow the instructions there. An example of a negative reaction would be "Oh! I'll never be able to do that!"
CHAPTER 2: DESIRE
THE STARTING POINT OF ALL ACHIEVEMENT
The First Step toward Riches
2.1 WHEN Edwin C. Barnes climbed
down from the freight train in Orange, N. J., more than thirty years
ago, he may have resembled a tramp, but his thoughts were those of a king!
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2.2 As he made his way from the railroad tracks to Thomas A. Edison's office, his mind was at work. He saw himself standing in Edison's presence.
He heard himself asking Mr. Edison for an opportunity to carry out the
one CONSUMING OBSESSION OF HIS LIFE, a BURNING DESIRE to become the
business associate of the great inventor.
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2.3 Barnes' desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcended everything else. It was DEFINITE.
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2.4 The desire was not new when he approached Edison. It had been Barnes' dominating desire
for a long time. In the beginning, when the desire first appeared in
his mind, it may have been, probably was, only a wish, but it was no
mere wish when he appeared before Edison with it.
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2.5 A few years later, Edwin C.
Barnes again stood before Edison, in the same office where he first met
the inventor. This time his DESIRE had been translated into reality. He was in business with Edison.
The dominating DREAM OF HIS LIFE had become a reality. Today, people
who know Barnes envy him, because of the "break" life yielded him. They
see him in the days of his triumph, without taking the trouble to
investigate the cause of his success.
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2.6 Barnes succeeded because he
chose a definite goal, placed all his energy, all his will power, all
his effort, everything back of that goal. He did not become the partner
of Edison the day he arrived. He was content to start in the most menial
work, as long as it provided an opportunity to take even one step
toward his cherished goal.
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2.7 Five years passed before the
chance he had been seeking made its appearance. During all those years
not one ray of hope, not one promise of attainment of his DESIRE had
been held out to him. To everyone, except himself, he appeared only
another cog in the Edison business wheel, but in his own mind, HE WAS
THE PARTNER OF EDISON EVERY MINUTE OF THE TIME, from the very day that
he first went to work there.
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2.8 It is a remarkable
illustration of the power of a DEFINITE DESIRE. Barnes won his goal,
because he wanted to be a business associate of Mr. Edison, more than he
wanted anything else. He created a plan by which to attain that
purpose. But he BURNED ALL BRIDGES BEHIND HIM. He stood by his DESIRE
until it became the dominating obsession of his life—and—finally, a
fact.
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2.9 When he went to Orange, he
did not say to himself, "I will try to induce Edison to give me a job of
some sort." He said, "I will see Edison, and put him on notice that I
have come to go into business with him." He did not say, "I will work
there for a few months, and if I get no encouragement, I will quit and
get a job somewhere else." He did say, "I will start anywhere. I will do
anything Edison tells me to do, but before I am through, I will be his associate."
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2.10 He did not say, "I will
keep my eyes open for another opportunity, in case I fail to get what I
want in the Edison organization." He said, "There is but ONE thing in
this world that I am determined to have, and that is a business
association with Thomas A. Edison. I will burn all bridges behind me,
and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want."
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2.11 He left himself no possible way of retreat. He had to win or perish!
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2.12 That is all there is to the Barnes story of success!
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2.13 A long while ago, a great
warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a
decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to
send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own.
He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy's country,
unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships
that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he
said, "You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot
leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice—we win—or we perish! They won.
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2.14 Every person who wins in
any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of
retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of
mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success.
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2.15 The morning after the great
Chicago fire, a group of merchants stood on State Street, looking at
the smoking remains of what had been their stores. They went into a
conference to decide if they would try to rebuild, or leave Chicago and
start over in a more promising section of the country. They reached a
decision—all except one—to leave Chicago.
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2.16 The merchant who decided to
stay and rebuild pointed a finger at the remains of his store, and
said, "Gentlemen, on that very spot I will build the world's greatest
store, no matter how many times it may burn down."
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2.17 That was more than fifty
years ago. The store was built. It stands there today, a towering
monument to the power of that state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE.
The easy thing for Marshal Field to have done, would have been exactly
what his fellow merchants did. When the going was hard, and the future
looked dismal, they pulled up and went where the going seemed easier.
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2.18 Mark well this difference
between Marshal Field and the other merchants, because it is the same
difference which distinguishes Edwin C. Barnes from thousands of other
young men who have worked in the Edison organization. It is the same
difference which distinguishes practically all who succeed from those
who fail.
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2.19 Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring
riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning
definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with
persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.
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2.20 The method by which DESIRE
for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of
six definite, practical steps, viz:
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2.21 First. |
Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It
is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money." Be definite
as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definiteness
which will be described in a subsequent chapter). |
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2.22 Second. |
Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money
you desire. (There is no such reality as "something for nothing.) |
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2.23 Third. |
Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire. |
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2.24 Fourth. |
Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action. |
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2.25 Fifth. |
Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you
intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what
you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the
plan through which you intend to accumulate it. |
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2.26 Sixth. |
Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before
retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU
READ—SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE
MONEY. |
2.27 It is important that you
follow the instructions described in these six steps. It is especially
important that you observe, and follow the instructions in the sixth
paragraph. You may complain that it is impossible for you to "see
yourself in possession of money" before you actually have it. Here is
where a BURNING DESIRE will come to your aid. If you truly DESIRE money
so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty
in convincing yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want
money, and to become so determined to have it that you CONVINCE yourself
you will have it.
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2.28 Only those who become
"money conscious" ever accumulate great riches. "Money consciousness"
means that the mind has become so thoroughly saturated with the DESIRE
for money, that one can see one's self already in possession of it.
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2.29 To the uninitiated, who has
not been schooled in the working principles of the human mind, these
instructions may appear impractical. It may be helpful, to all who fail
to recognize the soundness of the six steps, to know that the
information they convey, was received from Andrew Carnegie, who began as
an ordinary laborer in the steel mills, but managed, despite his humble
beginning, to make these principles yield him a fortune of considerably
more than one hundred million dollars.
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2.30 It may be of further help to know that the six steps
here recommended were carefully scrutinized by the late Thomas A.
Edison, who placed his stamp of approval upon them as being, not only
the steps essential for the accumulation of money, but necessary for the
attainment of any definite goal.
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2.31 The steps call for no "hard
labor." They call for no sacrifice. They do not require one to become
ridiculous, or credulous. To apply them calls for no great amount of
education. But the successful application of these six steps does call
for sufficient imagination to enable one to see, and to
understand, that accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good
fortune, and luck. One must realize that all who have accumulated great
fortunes, first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing,
DESIRING, and PLANNING before they acquired money.
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2.32 You may as well know, right
here, that you can never have riches in great quantities, UNLESS you
can work yourself into a white heat of DESIRE for money, and actually
BELIEVE you will possess it.
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2.33 You may as well know, also
that every great leader, from the dawn of civilization down to the
present, was a dreamer. Christianity is the greatest potential power in
the world today, because its founder was an intense dreamer who had the
vision and the imagination to see realities in their mental and
spiritual form before they had been transmuted into physical form.
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2.34 If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will never see them in your bank balance.
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2.35 Never, in the history of
America has there been so great an opportunity for practical dreamers as
now exists. The six year economic collapse has reduced all men,
substantially, to the same level. A new race is about to be run. The
stakes represent huge fortunes which will be accumulated within the next
ten years. The rules of the race have changed, because we now live in a
CHANGED WORLD that definitely favors the masses, those who had but
little or no opportunity to win under the conditions existing during the
depression, when fear paralyzed growth and development.
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2.36 We who are in this race for
riches, should be encouraged to know that this changed world in which
we live is demanding new ideas, new ways of doing things, new leaders,
new inventions, new methods of teaching, new methods of marketing, new
books, new literature, new features for the radio, new ideas for moving
pictures. Back of all this demand for new and better things, there is
one quality which one must possess to win, and that is DEFINITENESS OF
PURPOSE, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning DESIRE to
possess it.
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2.37 The business depression
marked the death of one age, and the birth of another. This changed
world requires practical dreamers who can, and will put their dreams into action. The practical dreamers have always been, and always will be the pattern-makers of civilization.
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2.38 We who desire to accumulate
riches, should remember the real leaders of the world always have been
men who harnessed, and put into practical use, the intangible, unseen
forces of unborn opportunity, and have converted those forces, (or
impulses of thought), into sky-scrapers, cities, factories, airplanes,
automobiles, and every form of convenience that makes life more
pleasant.
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2.39 Tolerance, and an open mind
are practical necessities of the dreamer of today. Those who are afraid
of new ideas are doomed before they start. Never has there been a time
more favorable to pioneers than the present. True, there is no wild and
woolly west to be conquered, as in the days of the Covered Wagon; but
there is a vast business, financial, and industrial world to be
remoulded and redirected along new and better lines.
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2.40 In planning to acquire your
share of the riches, let no one influence you to scorn the dreamer. To
win the big stakes in this changed world, you must catch the spirit of
the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization
all that it has of value, the spirit which serves as the life-blood of
our own country—your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our
talents.
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2.41 Let us not forget, Columbus dreamed of an Unknown world, staked his life on the existence of such a world, and discovered it!
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2.42 Copernicus, the great astronomer, dreamed of a multiplicity of worlds, and revealed them! No one denounced him as "impractical" after
he had triumphed. Instead, the world worshipped at his shrine, thus
proving once more that "SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS
NO ALIBIS."
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2.43 If the thing you wish to do
is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and do it! Put your dream
across, and never mind what "they" say if you meet with temporary
defeat, for "they," perhaps, do not know that EVERY FAILURE BRINGS WITH
IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT SUCCESS.
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2.44 Henry Ford, poor and
uneducated, dreamed of a horseless carriage, went to work with what
tools he possessed, without waiting for opportunity to favor him, and
now evidence of his dream belts the entire earth. He has put more wheels
into operation than any man who ever lived, because he was not afraid
to back his dreams.
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2.45 Thomas Edison dreamed of a
lamp that could be operated by electricity, began where he stood to put
his dream into action, and despite more than ten thousand failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality. Practical dreamers DO NOT QUIT!
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2.46 Whelan dreamed of a chain
of cigar stores, transformed his dream into action, and now the United
Cigar Stores occupy the best corners in America.
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2.47 Lincoln dreamed of freedom
for the black slaves, put his dream into action, and barely missed
living to see a united North and South translate his dream into reality.
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2.48 The Wright brothers dreamed
of a machine that would fly through the air. Now one may see evidence
all over the world, that they dreamed soundly.
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2.49 Marconi dreamed of a system
for harnessing the intangible forces of the ether. Evidence that he did
not dream in vain, may be found in every wireless and radio in the
world. Moreover, Marconi's dream brought the humblest cabin, and the
most stately manor house side by side. It made the people of every
nation on earth back-door neighbors. It gave the President of the United
States a medium by which he may talk to all the people of America at
one time, and on short notice. It may interest you to know that
Marconi's "friends" had him taken into custody, and examined in a
psychopathic hospital, when he announced he had discovered a principle
through which he could send messages through the air, without the aid of
wires, or other direct physical means of communication. The dreamers of
today fare better.
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2.50 The world has become
accustomed to new discoveries. Nay, it has shown a willingness to reward
the dreamer who gives the world a new idea.
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2.51 "The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream."
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2.52 "The oak sleeps in the
acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul,
a waking angel stirs. DREAMS ARE THE SEEDLINGS OF REALITY."
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2.53 Awake, arise, and assert
yourself, you dreamers of the world. Your star is now in the ascendency.
The world depression brought the opportunity you have been waiting for.
It taught people humility, tolerance, and open-mindedness.
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2.54 The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY which the dreamers of the past never knew.
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2.55 A BURNING DESIRE TO BE, AND
TO DO is the starting point from which the dreamer must take off.
Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness, or lack of ambition.
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2.56 The world no longer scoffs
at the dreamer, nor calls him impractical. If you think it does, take a
trip to Tennessee, and witness what a dreamer President has done in the
way of harnessing, and using the great water power of America. A score
of years ago, such a dream would have seemed like madness.
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2.57 You have been disappointed,
you have undergone defeat during the depression, you have felt the
great heart within you crushed until it bled. Take courage, for these
experiences have tempered the spiritual metal of which you are
made—they are assets of incomparable value.
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2.58 Remember, too, that all who
succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through many
heartbreaking struggles before they "arrive." The turning point in the
lives of those who succeed, usually comes at the moment of some crisis,
through which they are introduced to their "other selves."
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2.59 John Bunyan wrote the
Pilgrim's Progress, which is among the finest of all English literature,
after he had been confined in prison and sorely punished, because of
his views on the subject of religion.
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2.60 O. Henry discovered the
genius which slept within his brain, after he had met with great
misfortune, and was confined in a prison cell, in Columbus, Ohio. Being
FORCED, through misfortune, to become acquainted with his "other self,"
and to use his IMAGINATION, he discovered himself to be a great author
instead of a miserable criminal and outcast. Strange and varied are the
ways of life, and stranger still are the ways of Infinite Intelligence,
through which men are sometimes forced to undergo all sorts of
punishment before discovering their own brains, and their own capacity
to create useful ideas through imagination.
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2.61 Edison, the world's
greatest inventor and scientist, was a "tramp" telegraph operator, he
failed innumerable times before he was driven, finally, to the discovery
of the genius which slept within his brain.
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2.62 Charles Dickens began by
pasting labels on blacking pots. The tragedy of his first love
penetrated the depths of his soul, and converted him into one of the
world's truly great authors. That tragedy produced, first, David
Copperfield, then a succession of other works that made this a richer
and better world for all who read his books. Disappointment over love
affairs, generally has the effect of driving men to drink, and women to
ruin; and this, because most people never learn the art of transmuting
their strongest emotions into dreams of a constructive nature.
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2.63 Helen Keller became deaf,
dumb, and blind shortly after birth. Despite her greatest misfortune,
she has written her name indelibly in the pages of the history of the
great. Her entire life has served as evidence that no one ever is defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.
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2.64 Robert Burns was an
illiterate country lad, he was cursed by poverty, and grew up to be a
drunkard in the bargain. The world was made better for his having lived,
because he clothed beautiful thoughts in poetry, and thereby plucked a
thorn and planted a rose in its place.
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2.65 Booker T. Washington was
born in slavery, handicapped by race and color. Because he was tolerant,
had an open mind at all times, on all subjects, and was a DREAMER, he
left his impress for good on an entire race.
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2.66 Beethoven was deaf, Milton
was blind, but their names will last as long as time endures, because
they dreamed and translated their dreams into organized thought.
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2.67 PRACTICAL: Before passing
to the next chapter, kindle anew in your mind the fire of hope, faith,
courage, and tolerance. If you have these states of mind, and a working
knowledge of the principles described, all else that you need will come
to you, when you are READY for it. Let Emerson state the thought in
these words, "Every proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to
thee for aid and comfort shall surely come home through open or winding
passages. Every friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the great and
tender soul in thee craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace."Practical done
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2.68 DEMO: There is a difference between WISHING for a thing and being READY to receive it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes
he can acquire it. The state of mind must be BELIEF, not mere hope or
wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not
inspire faith, courage, and belief.
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2.69 Remember, no more effort is
required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than
is required to accept misery and poverty. A great poet has correctly
stated this universal truth through these lines:
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And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
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2.71 "For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
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2.72 "I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid."
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DESIRE OUTWITS MOTHER NATURE
2.73 As a fitting climax to this
chapter, I wish to introduce one of the most unusual persons I have
ever known. I first saw him twenty-four years ago, a few minutes after
he was born. He came into the world without any physical sign of ears,
and the doctor admitted, when pressed for an opinion, that the child
might be deaf, and mute for life.
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2.74 I challenged the doctor's
opinion. I had the right to do so, I was the child's father. I, too,
reached a decision, and rendered an opinion, but I expressed the opinion
silently, in the secrecy of my own heart. I decided that my son would
hear and speak. Nature could send me a child without ears, but Nature could not induce me to accept the reality of the affliction.
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2.75 In my own mind I knew that
my son would hear and speak. How? I was sure there must be a way, and I
knew I would find it. I thought of the words of the immortal Emerson,
"The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey.
There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right word."
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2.76 The right word? DESIRE!
More than anything else, I DESIRED that my son should not be a deaf
mute. From that desire I never receded, not for a second.
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2.77 Many years previously, I
had written, "Our only limitations are those we set up in our own
minds." For the first time, I wondered if that statement were true.
Lying on the bed in front of me was a newly born child, without the
natural equipment of hearing. Even though he might hear and speak, he
was obviously disfigured for life. Surely, this was a limitation which
that child had not set up in his own mind.
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2.78 What could I do about it?
Somehow I would find a way to transplant into that child's mind my own
BURNING DESIRE for ways and means of conveying sound to his brain
without the aid of ears.
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2.79 As soon as the child was
old enough to cooperate, I would fill his mind so completely with a
BURNING DESIRE to hear, that Nature would, by methods of her own,
translate it into physical reality.
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2.80 All this thinking took
place in my own mind, but I spoke of it to no one. Every day I renewed
the pledge I had made to myself, not to accept a deaf mute for a son.
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2.81 As he grew older, and began
to take notice of things around him, we observed that he had a slight
degree of hearing. When he reached the age when children usually begin
talking, he made no attempt to speak, but we could tell by his actions
that he could hear certain sounds slightly. That was all I wanted to
know! I was convinced that if he could hear, even slightly, he might
develop still greater hearing capacity. Then something happened which
gave me hope. It came from an entirely unexpected source.
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2.82 We bought a victrola. When
the child heard the music for the first time, he went into ecstasies,
and promptly appropriated the machine. He soon showed a preference for
certain records, among them, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary." On one
occasion, he played that piece over and over, for almost two hours,
standing in front of the victrola, with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case.
The significance of this self-formed habit of his did not become clear
to us until years afterward, for we had never heard of the principle of
"bone conduction" of sound at that time.
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2.83 Shortly after he
appropriated the victrola, I discovered that he could hear me quite
clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his mastoid bone, or at the
base of the brain. These discoveries placed in my possession the
necessary media by which I began to translate into reality my Burning Desire
to help my son develop hearing and speech. By that time he was making
stabs at speaking certain words. The outlook was far from encouraging,
but DESIRE BACKED BY FAITH knows no such word as impossible.
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2.84 Having determined that he
could hear the sound of my voice plainly, I began, immediately, to
transfer to his mind the desire to hear and speak. I soon discovered
that the child enjoyed bedtime stories, so I went to work, creating
stories designed to develop in him self-reliance, imagination, and a keen desire to hear and to be normal.
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2.85 There was one story in
particular, which I emphasized by giving it some new and dramatic
coloring each time it was told. It was designed to plant in his mind the
thought that his affliction was not a liability, but an asset of great
value. Despite the fact that all the philosophy I had examined clearly
indicated that EVERY ADVERSITY BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT
ADVANTAGE, I must confess that I had not the slightest idea how
this affliction could ever become an asset. However, I continued my
practice of wrapping that philosophy in bedtime stories, hoping the time
would come when he would find some plan by which his handicap could be
made to serve some useful purpose.
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2.86 Reason told me plainly,
that there was no adequate compensation for the lack of ears and natural
hearing equipment. DESIRE backed by FAITH, pushed reason aside, and
inspired me to carry on.
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2.87 As I analyze the experience in retrospect, I can see now, that my son's faith in me
had much to do with the astounding results. He did not question
anything I told him. I sold him the idea that he had a distinct advantage
over his older brother, and that this advantage would reflect itself in
many ways. For example, the teachers in school would observe that he
had no ears, and, because of this, they would show him special attention
and treat him with extraordinary kindness. They always did. His mother
saw to that, by visiting the teachers and arranging with them to give
the child the extra attention necessary. I sold him the idea, too, that
when he became old enough to sell newspapers, (his older brother had
already become a newspaper merchant), he would have a big advantage over
his brother, for the reason that people would pay him extra money for
his wares, because they could see that he was a bright, industrious boy,
despite the fact he had no ears.
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2.88 We could notice that,
gradually, the child's hearing was improving. Moreover, he had not the
slightest tendency to be self-conscious, because of his affliction. When
he was about seven, he showed the first evidence that our method of
servicing his mind was bearing fruit. For several months he begged for
the privilege of selling newspapers, but his mother would not give her
consent. She was afraid that his deafness made it unsafe for him to go
on the street alone.
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2.89 Finally, he took matters in
his own hands. One afternoon, when he was left at home with the
servants, he climbed through the kitchen window, shinnied to the ground,
and set out on his own. He borrowed six cents in capital from the
neighborhood shoemaker, invested it in papers, sold out, reinvested, and
kept repeating until late in the evening. After balancing his accounts,
and paying back the six cents he had borrowed from his banker, he had a
net profit of forty-two cents. When we got home that night, we found
him in bed asleep, with the money tightly clenched in his hand.
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2.90 His mother opened his hand,
removed the coins, and cried. Of all things! Crying over her son's
first victory seemed so inappropriate. My reaction was the reverse. I
laughed heartily, for I knew that my endeavor to plant in the child's
mind an attitude of faith in himself had been successful.
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2.91 His mother saw, in his
first business venture, a little deaf boy who had gone out in the
streets and risked his life to earn money. I saw a brave, ambitious,
self-reliant little business man whose stock in himself had been
increased a hundred percent, because he had gone into business on his
own initiative, and had won. The transaction pleased me, because I knew
that he had given evidence of a trait of resourcefulness that would go
with him all through life. Later events proved this to be true. When his
older brother wanted something, he would lie down on the floor, kick
his feet in the air, cry for it—and get it. When the "little deaf boy"
wanted something, he would plan a way to earn the money, then buy it for
himself. He still follows that plan!
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2.92 Truly, my own son has
taught me that handicaps can be converted into stepping stones on which
one may climb toward some worthy goal, unless they are accepted as
obstacles, and used as alibis.
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2.93 The little deaf boy went
through the grades, high school, and college without being able to hear
his teachers, excepting when they shouted loudly, at close range. He did
not go to a school for the deaf. WE WOULD NOT PERMIT HIM TO LEARN THE
SIGN LANGUAGE. We were determined that he should live a normal life, and
associate with normal children, and we stood by that decision, although
it cost us many heated debates with school officials. While he was in
high school, he tried an electrical hearing aid, but it was of no value
to him; due, we believed, to a condition that was disclosed when the
child was six, by Dr. J. Gordon Wilson, of Chicago, when he operated on
one side of the boy's head, and discovered that there was no sign of
natural hearing equipment.
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2.94 During his last week in
college, (eighteen years after the operation), something happened which
marked the most important turning-point of his life. Through what seemed
to be mere chance, he came into possession of another electrical
hearing device, which was sent to him on trial. He was slow about
testing it, due to his disappointment with a similar device. Finally he
picked the instrument up, and more or less carelessly, placed it on his
head, hooked up the battery, and lo! as if by a stroke of magic, his
lifelong DESIRE FOR NORMAL HEARING BECAME A REALITY! For the first time
in his life he heard practically as well as any person with normal
hearing. "God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform."
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2.95 Overjoyed because of the
Changed World which had been brought to him through his hearing device,
he rushed to the telephone, called his mother, and heard her voice
perfectly. The next day he plainly heard the voices of his professors in
class, for the first time in his life! Previously he could hear them
only when they shouted, at short range. He heard the radio. He heard
the talking pictures. For the first time in his life, he could converse
freely with other people, without the necessity of their having to
speak loudly. Truly, he had come into possession of a Changed World. We
had refused to accept Nature's error, and, by PERSISTENT DESIRE, we had
induced Nature to correct that error, through the only practical means
available.
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2.96 DESIRE had commenced to pay
dividends, but the victory was not yet complete. The boy still had to
find a definite and practical way to convert his handicap into an equivalent asset.
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2.97 Hardly realizing the
significance of what had already been accomplished, but intoxicated with
the joy of his newly discovered world of sound, he wrote a letter to
the manufacturer of the hearing-aid, enthusiastically describing his
experience. Something in his letter; something, perhaps which was not
written on the lines, but back of them; caused the company to invite him
to New York. When he arrived, he was escorted through the factory, and
while talking with the Chief Engineer, telling him about his changed
world, a hunch, an idea, or an inspiration—call it what you
wish—flashed into his mind. It was this impulse of thought which
converted his affliction into an asset, destined to pay dividends in
both money and happiness to thousands for all time to come.
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2.98 The sum and substance of
that impulse of thought was this: It occurred to him that he might be of
help to the millions of deafened people who go through life without the
benefit of hearing devices, if he could find a way to tell them the
story of his Changed World. Then and there, he reached a decision to
devote the remainder of his life to rendering useful service to the hard
of hearing.
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2.99 For an entire month, he
carried on an intensive research, during which he analyzed the entire
marketing system of the manufacturer of the hearing device, and created
ways and means of communicating with the hard of hearing all over the
world for the purpose of sharing with them his newly discovered "Changed
World." When this was done, he put in writing a two-year plan, based
upon his findings. When he presented the plan to the company, he was
instantly given a position, for the purpose of carrying out his
ambition.
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2.100 Little did he dream, when
he went to work, that he was destined to bring hope and practical relief
to thousands of deafened people who, without his help, would have been
doomed forever to deaf mutism.
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2.101 Shortly after he became
associated with the manufacturer of his hearing aid, he invited me to
attend a class conducted by his company, for the purpose of teaching
deaf mutes to hear, and to speak. I had never heard of such a form of
education, therefore I visited the class, skeptical but hopeful that my
time would not be entirely wasted. Here I saw a demonstration which gave
me a greatly enlarged vision of what I had done to arouse and keep
alive in my son's mind the DESIRE for normal hearing. I saw deaf mutes
actually being taught to hear and to speak, through application of the
self-same principle I had used, more than twenty years previously, in
saving my son from deaf mutism.
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2.102 Thus, through some strange
turn of the Wheel of Fate, my son, Blair, and I have been destined to
aid in correcting deaf mutism for those as yet unborn, because we are
the only living human beings, as far as I know, who have established
definitely the fact that deaf mutism can be corrected to the extent of
restoring to normal life those who suffer with this affliction. It has
been done for one; it will be done for others.
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2.103 There is no doubt in my
mind that Blair would have been a deaf mute all his life, if his mother
and I had not managed to shape his mind as we did. The doctor who
attended at his birth told us, confidentially, the child might never
hear or speak. A few weeks ago, Dr. Irving Voorhees, a noted specialist
on such cases, examined Blair very thoroughly. He was astounded when he
learned how well my son now hears, and speaks, and said his examination
indicated that "theoretically, the boy should not be able to hear at
all." But the lad does hear, despite the fact that X-ray pictures show
there is no opening in the skull, whatsoever, from where his ears should
be to the brain.
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2.104 When I planted in his mind
the DESIRE to hear and talk, and live as a normal person, there went
with that impulse some strange influence which caused Nature to become
bridge-builder, and span the gulf of silence between his brain and the
outer world, by some means which the keenest medical specialists have
not been able to interpret. It would be sacrilege for me to even
conjecture as to how Nature performed this miracle. It would be
unforgivable if I neglected to tell the world as much as I know of the
humble part I assumed in the strange experience. It is my duty, and a
privilege to say I believe, and not without reason, that nothing is
impossible to the person who backs DESIRE with enduring FAITH.
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2.105 Verily, a BURNING DESIRE
has devious ways of transmuting itself into its physical equivalent.
Blair DESIRED normal hearing; now he has it! He was born with a handicap
which might easily have sent one with a less defined DESIRE to the
street with a bundle of pencils and a tin cup. That handicap now
promises to serve as the medium by which he will render useful service
to many millions of hard of hearing, also, to give him useful employment
at adequate financial compensation the remainder of his life.
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2.106 The little "white lies" I
planted in his mind when he was a child, by leading him to BELIEVE his
affliction would become a great asset, which he could capitalize, has
justified itself. Verily, there is nothing, right or wrong, which
BELIEF, plus BURNING DESIRE, cannot make real. These qualities are free
to everyone.
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2.107 In all my experience in
dealing with men and women who had personal problems, I never handled a
single case which more definitely demonstrates the power of DESIRE.
Authors sometimes make the mistake of writing of subjects of which they
have but superficial, or very elementary knowledge. It has been my good
fortune to have had the privilege of testing the soundness of the POWER
OF DESIRE, through the affliction of my own son. Perhaps it was
providential that the experience came as it did, for surely no one is
better prepared than he, to serve as an example of what happens when
DESIRE is put to the test. If Mother Nature bends to the will of desire, is it logical that mere men can defeat a burning desire?
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2.108 Strange and imponderable
is the power of the human mind! We do not understand the method by which
it uses every circumstance, every individual, every physical thing
within its reach, as a means of transmuting DESIRE into its physical
counterpart. Perhaps science will uncover this secret.
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2.109 I planted in my son's mind
the DESIRE to hear and to speak as any normal person hears and speaks.
That DESIRE has now become a reality. I planted in his mind the DESIRE
to convert his greatest handicap into his greatest asset. That DESIRE
has been realized. The modus operandi by which this astounding result
was achieved is not hard to describe. It consisted of three very
definite facts; first, I MIXED FAITH with the DESIRE for normal hearing,
which I passed on to my son. Second, I communicated my desire to him in
every conceivable way available, through persistent, continuous effort,
over a period of years. Third, HE BELIEVED ME!
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2.110 As this chapter was being
completed, news came of the death of Mme. Schuman-Heink. One short
paragraph in the news dispatch gives the clue to this unusual woman's
stupendous success as a singer. I quote the paragraph, because the clue
it contains is none other than DESIRE.
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2.111 Early in her career, Mme.
Schuman-Heink visited the director of the Vienna Court Opera, to have
him test her voice. But, he did not test it. After taking one look at
the awkward and poorly dressed girl, he exclaimed, none too gently,
"With such a face, and with no personality at all, how can you ever
expect to succeed in opera? My good child, give up the idea. Buy a
sewing machine, and go to work. YOU CAN NEVER BE A SINGER."
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2.112 Never is a long time! The
director of the Vienna Court Opera knew much about the technique of
singing. He knew little about the power of desire, when it assumes the
proportion of an obsession. If he had known more of that power, he would
not have made the mistake of condemning genius without giving it an
opportunity.
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2.113 Several years ago, one of
my business associates became ill. He became worse as time went on, and
finally was taken to the hospital for an operation. Just before he was
wheeled into the operating room, I took a look at him, and wondered how
anyone as thin and emaciated as he, could possibly go through a major
operation successfully. The doctor warned me that there was little if
any chance of my ever seeing him alive again. But that was the DOCTOR'S
OPINION. It was not the opinion of the patient. Just before he was
wheeled away, he whispered feebly, "Do not be disturbed, Chief, I will
be out of here in a few days." The attending nurse looked at me with
pity. But the patient did come through safely. After it was all over,
his physician said, "Nothing but his own desire to live saved him. He
never would have pulled through if he had not refused to accept the
possibility of death."
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2.114 I believe in the power of
DESIRE backed by FAITH, because I have seen this power lift men from
lowly beginnings to places of power and wealth; I have seen it rob the
grave of its victims; I have seen it serve as the medium by which men
staged a comeback after having been defeated in a hundred different
ways; I have seen it provide my own son with a normal, happy, successful
life, despite Nature's having sent him into the world without ears.
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2.115 How can one harness and
use the power of DESIRE? This has been answered through this, and the
subsequent chapters of this book. This message is going out to the world
at the end of the longest, and perhaps, the most devastating depression
America has ever known. It is reasonable to presume that the message
may come to the attention of many who have been wounded by the
depression, those who have lost their fortunes, others who have lost
their positions, and great numbers who must reorganize their plans and
stage a comeback. To all these I wish to convey the thought that all
achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or its purpose, must
begin with an intense, BURNING DESIRE for something definite.
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2.116 Through some strange and
powerful principle of "mental chemistry" which she has never divulged,
Nature wraps up in the impulse of STRONG DESIRE "that something" which
recognizes no such word as impossible, and accepts no such reality as
failure.
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2.FDS PRACTICAL: Skim over the chapter again to refamiliarize yourself with the main ideas, then check over the False Data Stripping questions with regard to it, using the PaulsRobot3 FDSing module. Remember the idea is to FIND and deal with False Data, not to confirm that of course you don't have any. :). Once you have found and dealt with any false data, study this chapter once more before going on to the next one. You can decide which demos and practicals you should do again.
2.LEC FINAL PRACTICAL: Deliver a 3-5 minute
lecture (by the clock) on the main points of this chapter, without using
any notes at all. You don't have to use people for an audience; use
the dog or the wall if you prefer. If you don't know the subject well
enough to do this, do the entire section again, paragraphs 2.1 to 2.FDS,
including all demos. This is a test of your understanding, not your
ability to remember a few words or phrases. Working out how to explain
the main points to someone else—in words, ALOUD—is usually a very
valuable aid to your own understanding.
CONGRATULATIONS! END OF SECTION 2