opulence, wholeness and completeness that abounds within
the spiritual realm. In other words, it is impossible to feel poor
when you are conscious of being enveloped in the protective
care of a loving God, universal spirit, or whatever else you may
wish to call the spiritual-center of our universe. Let me repeat-
there never is, and there never has been any lack of supply
other than that which we have created for ourselves because
of our own limited awareness.
The Lightbulb Tale
The following story should help underscore this great
truth about your infinite source of supply. Visualize, if you
will, a poor couple who have spent their entire lives living in
the "backwaters" of civilization. Then imagine them suddenly
transported to a small village where, to their astonishment,
they discover that their new home is being lighted by
"electricity." Since they have had no previous experience with
that force-in fact they have never even seen an electric light
before, they are completely mesmerized by the little eight
candlepower electric bulbs which light their home.
Several months pass by and eventually the couple start
to regard the light-bulbs as an accepted facet of modern life.
However, one day a smooth-talking salesman appears at their
door, telling them their eight candlepower electric bulbs are no
longer adequate for their needs. He tells them they should buy
the new sixty candle-powered bulbs which have just "come on
the market." Since the couple has now become slightly more
adventuresome, they agree to let the salesman demonstrate
his "newfangled" product. As soon as the new bulb is plugged
in and the electricity turned on, the couple becomes transfixed
once again; for not only does the new bulb emit a light, it
actually illuminates the entire room. Never in their wildest
fantasies had the couple ever imagined that the source of the
new flood of illumination had been there all the time. Nor had
they realized this enormously increased light could originate
from the same current which fed their little eight candlepower
bulb.
It's strange! We smile at the naiveté demonstrated by this
poor couple, but the truth is, most of us are even less aware of
our own power, than this couple was of the power of electric
current. For like the couple in the story, we never even dream
that the infinite current which surrounds us could flood our
lives with a light more magnificent than the most powerful
light bulb ever devised. We never grasp the simple truth that
all we need to do to improve our results is to plug a larger,
more prosperous idea into the infinite current of life. Instead,
most of us strangle our supply with energy-impoverished
thoughts of doubt and fear, which entirely cutoff the inflow of
prosperity.
I want to exhort you, therefore, to resolve to change your
habitual pattern of thinking now. That's right, change it now,
and remember, the stream of plenty always flows towards the
open, expectant mind. You must understand you already have
in substance, if not in physical form, everything necessary to
produce prosperity in your material world. The two
determining factors for you to attain the results you want are:
1. desire, and
2. expectation.
Up to this point you might have been living the way the
masses live their entire lives, simply because you are
harboring the false assumption that desire is the only thing
which you need to reach your goal. But you must understand,
if your desire is not combined with the expectation that you
will receive what you desire, you will find yourself continually
frustrated and disappointed whenever you begin working
toward any kind of material goal.
When you cast your mind back over the experiences of
your own life, you will soon realize that whenever you did
reach a desired goal, you not only desired that goal but you
actually expected to attain it as well.
Let me repeat - desire without expectation is nothing
more than wishful thinking and as we have already pointed
out, since the vast majority of people wish positive but expect
negative, they seldom attain what they are after.
In his magnificent book The Science of Getting Rich, the
author, Wallace D. Wattles, gave us an excellent definition of
"desire." He said: "Desire is the effort of the unexpressed
possibility within seeking expression without through your
action."
In other words, your ideal, dream or goal - this wealth
you wish to see materialize - can only become a desire once it
has been properly planted in the subconscious mind. However,
once your desire has been firmly established, it is the
expectant attitude which ensures that your goal or dream is
not uprooted or replaced by any opposing or competing ideas.
In an effort to help you kindle this expectant attitude
toward "real wealth," let us journey together through some of
the preceding chapters in this book. As you will remember, we
began by discussing "money." We attempted to understand the
"true nature" of money and we arrived at the conclusion it is a
"useful, obedient servant." However, like all servants, we
learned it is useful to us only when it is being employed.
Therefore, we concluded, money must always be kept working
or otherwise circulating. For if it is not, as we have already
mentioned, it will become as useless as old newspapers
stashed away in an attic.
Next, we explored the idea relating to exactly "how much
money you want." You become aware of the fact it is necessary
to be very specific about how much money you need, to
provide the things you want, to live in the style you choose.
Once this figure had been decided upon, we then examined
the importance of building the image of ourselves already in
possession of this wealth, on the screen of our conscious
mind. We also talked briefly about the manner in which
images are formed and the role they play in our lives.
Then we examined the idea of "consciousness" and how it
was imperative to develop the prosperity which we seek in our
mind first, before we can ever attain it in our bankbooks. We
learned how we had to bathe our subconscious minds in a
concept of prosperity and how we had to see wealth as being
already in our possession.
In the chapter "Let Go And Let God," we became aware
we were co-creators. We became aware of how we had, in our
conscious mind, the ability to choose any thoughts we wanted,
to build any images which we chose to build. We then learned
how we could turn that image over to our subconscious mind
(the spiritual center of our being, and that part of us which
takes any idea or image we give to it, then willingly accepts it
and instantly begins to move it into physical form in our
world). We discovered that when we truly understand this
creative process of life and our role in it expectation becomes a
natural mind-set, regardless of how things might appear in
our outside world or what others might be saying to us. We
were told this absolute and unshakeable faith or belief in the
fact that our images are moved into form, is essential if we are
to become successful in our lives. We also gained an
awareness that all of this will happen once we begin to see
ourselves as nonphysical entities encased in physical bodies.
Once we realize our bodies are nothing other than the physical
manifestation of our nonphysical selves, we will understand
they are obedient servants of our mind, and they move and
have their being according to the vibratory rate of our minds.
You must reach the stage in your mental development
where you don't just believe that your image of material wealth
will manifest in form, but you actually know it will. It is at that
point you will begin to expect to receive the physical
expression of your image of wealth. No one and no thing will
be able to cause you to see in your mind anything but that.
Always remember, the truth is not always in the appearance of
things.
An elderly, wealthy gentleman being interviewed by a
newspaper reporter was asked at what point he became
successful. His answer was, "I was successful when I was
sleeping on a park bench because I knew where I was and I
knew where I was going." At this juncture in the book, you
know where you are and you know where you are going. So
expect to get there!
Your desire is the motor-power which will move you in
the direction of your dream and expectation is the attractive
force that will move your dream in your direction. So see
yourself moving toward the wealth you visualize and see the
wealth you visualize being attracted to you. Know that you will
come in contact with the wealth that is moving to you, and at
the right time. No one knows what period of time must elapse,
so don't become impatient if it doesn't materialize "overnight."
All we know for sure is a certain period of time must elapse
and the period of time which your image must take to
materialize is governed by the law of gender. The law of gender
decrees there is a gestation or incubation period for the
manifestation of all seeds, and, make no mistake about it, the
image of wealth you chose to build on the screen of your
conscious mind and then turned over to your subconscious
mind is a seed; and it is growing into physical form, in the
most fertile field of which you could ever conceive.
It is not necessary, at this point, for anyone else to see
this new wealth. It is not even necessary for anyone else to
believe you will receive it. The only thing necessary is that you
see it and you believe it. You see, the premise that Napoleon
Hill built his life's work on is absolutely true-anything the
mind can conceive and believe, it will achieve. Expressed
another way, "As a person thinketh in their heart, so are they."
(The early Greeks referred to the subconscious mind as the
heart.) Note that your subconscious mind can no more change
or alter your image, than an ordinary mirror can reflect back
to you an image different than the object you are holding in
front of it. But remember, as you think so are you, does not
mean as you tell people you think or as you would wish the
world to believe you think; it means your innermost thoughts,
which only you control, know the truth. That is what you
expect, so that is what you attract and that is what you will
ultimately receive!
Through studying the power of your subconscious mind,
or studying in depth the power or modus operandi of Spirit, it
will become easier and easier for you to come to expect the
good you desire. For all things are possible in Spirit, because
in its original state, Spirit is a sensitive, unseen, creative
substance whose sole purpose is expansion and fuller
expression; in other words, "growth." However, spirit or
creative substance, can only reproduce, expand and express
itself in a greater way in accordance with the limitation placed
upon the instrument through which it expresses itself.
Since Spirit is flowing to and through you, you are the
instrument. Therefore, the image or the ideas you hold in your
mind dictate the limits which are placed on the spiritual power
flowing to and through you. In this respect, you may be
compared to the light bulb the elderly couple had in their
home. You are an instrument through which spirit flows, just
as a light bulb is an instrument through which electricity
flows. When the old couple plugged in the eight candlepower
bulbs, the electricity was limited in its expression by the power
of the bulb. However, when the salesman plugged in the 60
candlepower bulb, the electricity was free to express itself to a
greater degree, and yet even then it was limited by the form
through which it flowed; namely, the new bulb. A 100
candlepower bulb would have permitted an even greater
expression, and so on and so on. Therefore, if you held an
image of poverty, that is what you will have seen expressed in
your results or your material world. However, since you are
now holding an image of prosperity, that is the image you will
see expressed in your material world.
The nonphysical creative substance, which is Spirit,
flows to and through the seed and expresses itself in its polar
opposite, physical form. As we have discussed on previous
pages, the modus operandi of Spirit is law and, of course the
law of attraction is a cause, and growth or expansion is the
effect. So keep visualizing yourself as a perfectly endowed
spiritual instrument without limitations of any kind. For if you
do, you will find it easy-in fact natural-to expect the good you
desire. You will understand that doubt simply obstructs the
unfoldment of your desire, so when you continually originate
images of doubt, you know you will never see the
materialization of the image you desire. Only the reproductive
creative spirit of life knows what you think, until your
thoughts become physical facts and materialize in your body
or your affairs. Then everyone with whom you come in contact
may know, because the intelligent energy rewards you openly
by reproducing your thoughts in physical form.
As A Man Thinketh
"As you think, that is what you become," should be kept
in the forefront of our minds constantly. For when you expect
something wonderful to happen, that is watching and praying
without ceasing. At those times when we are not feeling quite
up to par physically or our mind is becoming clouded with
doubt, we should realize it is time to pray with all the more
conviction or work at developing a stronger feeling of
expectation.
You must guard your mind constantly against doubt,
because it is a crippling vibration. Whereas most of the
