You have often heard it said that you can if you believe you can. An old Latin proverb says, "Believe that you have it, and you have it." Belief is the #53 | | |
motivating force that enables you to achieve your goal. If you are ill and imbedded deeply within you is the thought or belief that you will recover, the odds are that you will. It's the belief or the basic confidence within you that brings outward material results. I speak of normal and mentally healthy people. I wouldn't tell a handicapped person that he could excel in baseball or football. Nor would I tell a woman who was quite plain-looking that she could make herself into a great beauty overnight, since the odds are against it. Yet these things could happen, for there have been many remarkable cures. And when more is learned about the powers of the mind, I firmly believe that we shall witness many cures that today's medical profession deems impossible. Finally, I would never discourage anyone; for in this life, anything can happen - and what can help bring it to pass is Hope. #54 | | |
Dr. Alexander Cannon was a distinguished British scientist and physician whose books on the general subject of thought stirred up controversy here and abroad. He declared that while today a man cannot grow a new leg (as a crab can grow a new claw), he could if the mind of man hadn't rejected the possibility. The eminent scientist claimed that if the thought is changed in the innermost depths of the unconscious mind, #55 | | |
then man will grow a new leg as easily as the crab grows a new claw. I know, such a statement may sound incredible, but how do we know that it will not be done some day? #56 | | |
Frequently I lunch with a group of medical men, all specialists in various branches of medicine and surgery. I know that if I voiced such an idea, they would suggest that I have my head examined. However, I find that some of these doctors, especially those more recently graduated from our better schools, are no longer closing their minds to the role that thought plays in causing and curing functional disturbances in the body. #57 | | |
A few weeks before I wrote this chapter, a neighbor came to me to explain how his warts happened to disappear. During a stay at the hospital, he had wandered out on the porch where another convalescent patient was conversing with a friend. Said the visitor to the other patient, "So you would like to get rid of the warts on your hand? Well, just let me count them, and they'll disappear." #58 | | |
My neighbor said he looked at the stranger for a moment, then said: "While you're about it, will you count mine, too?" He did, and my neighbor thought no more about it until after he had gone home and he happened to #59 | | |
look at his hands one day. "The mess of warts had entirely disappeared!" he told me. #60 | | |
I told this story to a group of doctors one day. A well-known specialist - and personal friend - grunted, saying, "Preposterous!" Across the table, another doctor who had recently been teaching in a medical school came to my aid, declaring that there were many authenticated cases of suggestion having been used to cure warts. #61 | | |
I was tempted to remind them that several years before, newspapers and medical journals had reported how Heim, a Swiss geologist, had removed warts by suggestion, and had also cited the procedure of Professor Block, another Swiss specialist, in his use of psychology and suggestion for the same purpose. Back in January, 1945, Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons set up the first psychoanalytic and psychosomatic clinic in this country for the purpose of studying the relationship between the unconscious mind and the body. I kept silent, feeling that I was too outnumbered for an argument. #62 | | |
Since this conversation, considerable publicity was given to the findings of Dr. Frederick Kalz, a noted Canadian authority who flatly
stated that suggestion works in many cases, even to curing warts that are infectious and caused by a virus. In a 1945 article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr. Kalz declared that, "In every country in the world, some magic procedures to cure warts are known . . . It may be anything from covering the wart with spider-webs to burying toad eggs on a crossroad at new moon; all these magic procedures are effective, if the patient believes in them."" In describing the treatment of patients with skin trouble, he says, "I have often prescribed the very same ointment, accompanied by some promising words, which has been tried unsuccessfully by some other medical man, and got credit for a quick cure." He also points out that X-ray therapy is especially suggestive; it works even when the technician fails to switch on the high power! Experiments with systematic fake irradiation bear out this observation. Here in Dr. Kalz's work we see actual examples of the magic of believing at work in the curing of warts and the treatment of skin trouble. #63 | | |
Another time my medical friends and I were discussing telepathy. I remarked that some of our greatest students and scholars believed in it. Dr. Alexis Carrel, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, was not #64 | | |
only a thorough believer in the phenomenon but declared that there was definite scientific proof that man could project his thought even at great distances into other minds. #65 | | |
"Oh, he was just a senile old man," remarked another specialist at the table, a nationally known member of the American Medical Association. #66 | | |
I looked at him with astonishment, for Dr. Carrel won the Nobel Prize for his medical research. When he put forth his ideas in that remarkable book, Man the Unknown, published in 1935, he was regarded as one of the world's foremost medical scientists and investigators. #67 | | |
I have no quarrel with the medical fraternity. Quite the contrary, for its members are generally sincere, able, and open-minded men, and a number are among my closest friends. However, some medical specialists, especially those inclined to restrict their studies to their respective fields, refuse to accept anything that may upset their early teachings and dogmatic beliefs. This resistance is not confined to the medical profession: countless specialists in other lines, including business, know very little outside of their chosen fields, and their minds are closed to any idea beyond their limited imaginations. Frequently, I have offered to lend books to #68 | | |
these various specialists - only to be told, after informing them of the contents, that they were not interested. #69 | | |
This is the paradox: Many apparently well-educated men and women, successful in their respective fields, will, in their broad ignorance, condemn the idea of thought power and make no endeavor to learn more about it -yet every one of them has unconsciously made use of it! Again, many people will believe only what they like to believe or what fits into their own scheme of things, summarily rejecting anything to the contrary. Countless men whose ideas developed the very civilization we live in have been hooted at, slandered, even crucified by the ignoramuses of their times. I think of the words of Marie Corelli, the English novelist who became world famous in the 19th century: #70 | | |
"The very idea that any one creature (human) should be fortunate enough to secure some particular advantage which others, through their own indolence or indifference, have missed is sufficient to excite the envy of the weak or the anger of the ignorant . . . It is impossible that an outsider should enter into a clear understanding of the mystical spiritual-nature world around him, and it follows that the teachings and tenets of that spiritual-nature world must be more or #71 | | |
less a closed book to such a one - a book, moreover, which he seldom cares or dares to try and open. For this reason, the sages concealed much of their profound knowledge from the multitude, because they rightly recognized the limitations of narrow minds and prejudiced opinions . . . What the fool cannot learn, he laughs at, thinking that by his laughter he shows superiority instead of latent idiocy."1 #72 | | |
Great investigators and thinkers of the world, including many famous scientists, are in the open today, freely discussing the subject and giving the results of their experiments. Shortly before his death, Charles P. Steinmetz, famous engineer of the General Electric Company, declared, "The most important advance in the next fifty years will be in the realm of the spiritual - dealing with the spirit - thought." Dr. Robert Gault, while professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, was credited with the statement: "We are at the threshold of our knowledge of the latent psychic powers of man." #73 | | |
Much has been written and said about mystical powers, unknown forces, the occult, metaphysics (beyond science), mental physics, #74 | | |
From The Life Everlasting by Marie Corelli. #75 | | |
psychology (the science of mind), black and white magic, and many kindred subjects, causing most people to believe that they are in the field of the supernatural. Perhaps they are for some. But to me, the only inexplicable thing about these powers is that belief makes them work. #76 | | |
During the years that I have appeared before luncheon clubs, business concerns, and sales organizations, as well as talking over the radio to thousands of people about this science, I have seen results that can be termed phenomenal. #77 | | |
As I said before, many have used it in their business to double, treble, even quadruple their incomes. My files are filled with letters from people in all walks of life, testifying what they have accomplished by using the science. As an instance, I think of Ashley C. Dixon, whose name was once known to thousands of radio listeners in the Pacific Northwest. A number of years ago, he wrote me voluntarily to say that he had studied this subject in an academic way, but had never fully believed it until he was forty-three, when he had only $65 to his name, no employment, and no jobs available. He set out to prove to himself that the science would work. I quote the following excerpts from Mr. Dixon's letter: #78 | | |
"Along came your book T.N.T. It put forth in workable form all that I had known before. It was like seeing Niagara Falls for the first time. One knew there was such a place; but confirmation was the actual personal contact with it. And so, T.N.T. gave me in print the facts I had known and used, but in a clear form. Here was something I could read and use day by day, holding the thoughts till they were fully demonstrated. #79 | | |
"What has all this been worth to me in dollars and cents? That, of course, is the question of the average man. He wants to see something . . . in the profit column; something material in the way of dollars and cents. Here's the answer. I have made a hundred thousand dollars, most of it in paid-up insurance and annuities. I have sold my business which costs me $5,000 (originally borrowed) for $30,000, and am now working on a contract to run for the next ten years which will net me $50,000 if I loaf; and more if I care to work. This is not a boast. It is a factual statement of what has actually happened in the past ten years . . . It cannot be done in a moment, or a day or a month, but it can be done." #80 | | |
In 1934, during the lowest point of the Depression, the head of the Better Business Bureau in a large Pacific Coast city heard of what was happening to firms and individuals who were following my teachings. He decided to investigate my work. Later he congratulated me publicly and subsequently wrote me as follows: #81 | | |
"My statement - that the teachings have done more to stimulate business here during the past year than any other single factor or agency - is based upon statements by numerous executives who have been using the theme successfully in their businesses . . . When I first heard of the phenomenal results you were obtaining, I was inclined to question the facts. They seemed too preposterous to be true. But upon investigation, talking with heads of firms using the theme and with salesmen who have doubled and trebled their incomes, as well as hearing many of your lectures and getting into the subject for myself, the terrific and dynamic force embraced by it all becomes apparent. It isn't going to be understood by everyone in a minute, but firms and individuals that accept what you have to give and follow through can expect some startling and extraordinary results. You have fully demonstrated that, and therefore are to be congratulated." #82 | | |
This man has since risen to great heights in the business world and has written me of having seen other practical demonstrations of the workings of this science. #83 | | |
When I started this book, I decided to check with some of the individuals and firms who had written me to certify the phenomenal results they had achieved by using this science. Without exception, every one testified to the continuing progress he had made. One of the most outstanding accounts was related by Mr. Don Quayle, once well-known to the Disabled American War Veterans, who was long active in veterans' affairs in the Northwest. In 1937, he wrote me: #84 | | |
"It was no easy matter, at first, to completely accept your ideas. But my circumstances and physical condition forced me to keep at it continuously until understanding came . . . You see, in February, 1924, I was stricken with partial paralysis of my lower limbs. I needed crutches to even get about at all, and at best, for only short distances, and at a snail's pace. For a bank executive who had been active in the business world this forced inactivity was not easy to get used to. It was bearable only because I received government compensation - my disability being considered due to service during #85 | | |
the World War. However, in 1933, the Government dropped me from the compensation rolls, and I was forced to make a living. My home and other properties were about to be repossessed. It was not a pleasant picture, nor a hopeful future. #86 | | |
"Necessity forced me to put into practice the principles you explained so well. Sticking to it proves them. Possibly I was favored because I couldn't quit the insurance and public accounting business - due to my inability to enter any other kind of work. But persistence gives confidence, and continued right mental attitude followed by consistent action will bring success. I haven't reached the degree of success I desire, but that does not bother me at all, for now I am making a good living, have saved my properties, and know the formula that leads to the fullest success. When you have that knowing inside you, fear vanishes, as do the obstructions to a continued life of all good." #87 | | |
I first met Mr. Quayle just after he had started his business with one desk in the front of a plumbing shop. In the following years, it was a pleasure to see him move from place to place, his business growing by leaps #88 | | |
and bounds, until he occupied the entire ground floor of a building on one of the main thoroughfares of a great western city. Realizing that his story of achievement was a remarkable one, I asked permission to quote his earlier letter. #89 | | |
"By all means, do so," he replied, "if you think it will help others. You might add that I now have the whole quarters at 20th and Sandy and I employ twenty-two people. I have just brought the business lot between 28th and 29th on Sandy where I shall build my own office building. I sincerely wish that all people would accept your teachings." #90 | | |
At the time I grasped this science, I had no idea that I was later to put it into book form. My primary thought was to use it to save my own organization from bankruptcy. I was then vice-president of an investment banking firm, and we had been caught in the economic crisis and were headed for disaster. #91 | | |
I don't know whether I was inspired, but I dictated the first draft of my brochure in its entirety in less than five hours, without notes or references of any kind before me. At the same time the idea for the brochure came to me, the words, "cosmic consciousness," floated before my mind. They #92 | | |
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But after T.N.T - It Rocks the Earth was published, it reached a woman author living in New York, who wrote me as follows: #94 | | |
"Seriously, I've been eating and sleeping [your] philosophy for the last ten years. It brought me to New York on no carfare; it sold my stuff to publishers when I had a lousy little job earning $30 a week . . .It took me to Europe a couple of times, and bought me silver foxes." #95 | | |
In the same letter, she urged me to read Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness, declaring that it contained brilliant accounts of the actual experience of illumination. When I did, I was astounded to discover that my experience actually paralleled the illuminations listed and explained by Dr. Bucke. In the original draft of my brochure, I had described in detail my experience with "brilliant white light." But subsequently, when I showed the manuscript to a close friend, he urged me to tone down the wording: "People won't know what you are talking about in referring to that 'white light' - some may think you've gone off the deep end." Consequently, I changed it. But those of you that know something about "cosmic illumination" and have read my earlier small book will catch #96 | | |
my reference to the "light." However, the memory of that singular experience will always remain with me: in those few seconds, I received more knowledge and understanding than I had ever received in years of reading and studying. #97 | | |
In the same period, it came to me in a flash why my firm was going on the rocks - not because of the threatening outside happenings and events, but because of the mental attitude of our employees. We were all succumbing to mass fear-thoughts: we feared that the Depression was weakening our spirit and sweeping everything downhill to financial disaster. With our own thoughts of ruin, we were attracting the disaster to ourselves. #98 | | |
It occurred to me that to save the firm and to begin fighting the Depression itself, all I needed to do was reverse the thinking of every person connected with our organization. I set about doing that very thing. As Frank W. Camp, who wrote the introduction to my brochure declared, it was followed "by the most remarkable transformation of individuals and organization as well." #99 | | |
I admit that some of my statements may be ridiculed by classroom #100 | | |
psychologists. But every day, thousands of people demonstrate for themselves that the science works. As for you, the reader, the main point to consider is whether it will work for you. The only way you can find out is to try it yourself. #101 | | |
I give you this science, in the confident knowledge that no matter how you use it, you will get results. But I do wish to repeat a warning given in my brochure: Never use it for harmful or evil purposes. Since the beginning, there have been two great subtle forces in the world - good and evil. Both are terrifically powerful in their respective scopes and cycles. The basic principle operating both is mind power - massed mind power. Sometimes evil appears to have the upper hand, and at other times good is at the controls. It is mind power that has built empires, and we have seen how it can be used to destroy them - history has recorded the facts. #102 | | |
