1. I cannot retain a true and clear vision of any form of wealth IF I am constantly turning my attention to opposing pictures, whether they be external or imaginary.

2. I put poverty and all things that pertain to poverty completely behind me. If I have had them, I would not tell of my past troubles of a financial nature. I would not think of them at all. And if my parents lived with poverty, or if I had hardships in my early life, I would never think of such as anything other than experiences from which I learned valuable lessons of what not to do and what to do. To dwell on things connected to poverty is to mentally class myself with the poor for the time being, and it will certainly check (block, stop) the movement of things in my direction. "Let the dead bury their dead." as Jesus said.

3. I have accepted a certain theory of the universe as being correct, and rest all my hopes of happiness on its being correct. -- What can I gain by giving heed to conflicting theories?

4. I do not read books which tell me that the world is soon coming to an end. And I do not read the writing of muck-rakers and pessimistic philosophers who tell me that it is going to the devil. The world is not going to the devil; it is going to God; it is a wonderful becoming.

5. True, there may be a good many things in current conditions which are disagreeable, but what is the use of studying them when they are certainly passing away, and when the study of them only tends to slow their passing and keep them with us?. Why give time and attention to things which are being removed by evolutionary growth, when I can hasten their removal only by promoting the evolutionary growth as far as my part of it goes?

6. No matter how horrible the conditions may seem to be in certain countries, sections, or places, by dwelling on them I waste my time and destroy my own chances.

7. I interest myself in the world's becoming rich. I think of the riches the world is coming into, instead of the poverty it is growing out of. I bear in mind that the only way in which I can assist the world in growing rich is by growing rich myself through the creative method, not the competitive one.

8. I give my attention wholly to riches. I do not focus on poverty. Whenever I think or speak of those who are poor, I think and speak of them as those who are becoming rich, as those who are to be congratulated rather than pitied. Then they and others will catch the inspiration, and begin to search for the way out.

9. Because I say that I am to give my whole time and mind and thought to riches, it does not follow that I am to be sordid or mean.

10. To become really rich is the noblest aim I can have in life, for it includes everything else.

11. On the competitive plane, the struggle to get rich is a Godless scramble for power over others, but when we come into the creative mind, all this is changed. All that is possible in the way of greatness and soul unfoldment, of service and lofty endeavor, comes by way of getting rich, because all is made possible by the use of things.

12. If I lack for physical health, I will find that the attainment of it is conditional on my getting and being rich. I comprehend that only those who are emancipanted (free) from financial worry, and who have means to live a care-free existence, and follow hygienic practices, can have and and retain health.

13. I also know that moral and spiritual greatness is possible only to those who are above the competitive battle for existence; and only those who are becoming rich on the plane of creative thought are free from the degrading influences of comptetition. When my heart is set on domestic happiness, I remember that love flourishes best where there is refinement, a high level of thought, and freedom from corrupting influences, and these are to be found where riches are attained by the exercise of creative thought, without strife or rivalry.

14. I can aim at nothing so great or noble, I repeat, as to become rich, and I must fix my attention upon my mental picture of wealth to the exclusion of all that may tend to dim or obscure the vision.

15. I must learn to see the underlying Truth in all things; I must see beneath all seemingly wrong conditions the Great One Life ever moving forward toward fuller expression and more complete happiness.

16. It is the truth that there is no such thing as poverty; that there is only wealth.

17. Some people remain in poverty because they are ignorant of the fact that there is wealth for them. These facts can best be inspired to be learned by showing them the way to affluence in my own person and practice.

18. Others are poor because, while they feel that there is a way out, they are too intellectually indolent to put forth the mental effort necessary to find that way and travel it. For these, the very best thing I can do is to arouse their desire by showing them the happiness that comes from being rightly rich.

19. Others still are poor because, while they have some notion of science, they have become so swamped and lost in the maze of metaphysical and occult theories that they do not know which road to take. They try a mixture of many systems and fail in all. For these, again, the very best thing to do is to show the right way in my own person and practice. An ounce of doing things is worth a pound of theorizing.

20. The very best thing I can do for the whole world is to make the most of myself.

21. I can serve God and humanity in no more effective way than by being rich; that is, if I get rich by the creative method and not by the competitive one.

22. Another thing. Mr. Wattles asserts that this book gives in detail the principles of the science of getting and being rich, and if that is true, the practioner needs to read no any other book upon the subject. This may sound narrow and egotistical, but consider: There is no more scientific method of computation in mathematics than by addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; no other method is possible. There can be but one shortest distance between two points. There is only one way to think scientifically, and that is to think in the way that leads by the most direct and simple route to the goal (target). No one has yet formulated a briefer or less complex "system" than the one set forth herein. It has been stripped of all non-essentials. When I commence on this system, I lay all others aside and put them out of my mind altogether.

23. I read this book every day. I keep it with me. I commit it to memory. And I do not think about other "systems" and theories. If I do, I would begin to have doubts, and to be uncertain and wavering in my thought, and begin to make failures.

24. After making good and am rich, I may study other systems as much as I please. But until being quite sure that what is desired has been gained, Mr. Wattles says to not read anything on this line except this book unless it be the authors mentioned in the Preface.

Relevent portion of Preface quoted here:

"It is expected that the reader will take the fundamental statements upon faith, just as he would take statements concerning a law of electrical action if they were promulgated by a Marconi or an Edison, and, taking the statements upon faith, that he will prove their truth by acting upon them without fear or hesitation. Every man or woman who does this will certainly get rich; for the science herein applied is an exact science and failure is impossible. For the benefit, however, of those who wish to investigate philosophical theories and so secure a logical basis for faith, I will here cite certain authorities.

The monistic theory of the universe the theory that One is All, and that All is One; That one Substance manifests itself as the seeming many elements of the material world -- is of Hindu origin, and has been gradually winning its way into the thought of the western world for two hundred years (as of 1903). It is the foundation of all the Oriental philosophies, and of those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, and Emerson.

The reader who would dig to the philosophical foundations of this is advised to read Hegel and Emerson for himself."

25. Plus I read only the most optimistic comments on the world's news - those in harmony with my picture. Also, I do not dabble in theosophy, spiritualism, or kindred studies. Perhaps the dead still live and are near, but if they are, let them alone. I mind my own business.

26. Wherever the spirits of the dead may be, they have their own work to do, and we have no right to interfere with them. We cannot help them, and it is very doubtful whether they can help us, or whether we have any right to trespass upon their time if they can. Let the dead and the hereafter alone. I solve my own problem by getting and being rich. If I begin to mix with the occult, I will start mental cross-currents which will surely bring my hopes to shipwreck.

27. Now, this and the preceding chapters have brought us to the following statement of basic facts:

There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

A person can form things in our thought, and, by impressing our thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing thought about to be created.

In order to do this, requires passing from the competitive to the creative mind. I must form a clear mental picture of the things I desire, and hold this picture in my thoughts with the fixed PURPOSE to get what I desire, and the unwavering FAITH that I do get what I desire, closing my mind against all that may tend to shake my purpose, dim my vision, or quench my faith.

28. And in addition to all this, we shall now see that we must live and act in a certain way.

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