The Science of Being Great the Practical Guide to a Life of Power by Wallace D

OCTOBER 2011

The Science of Being Great The Practical Guide to a Life of Power by Wallace D. Wattles A Perfect World It’s not our circumstances but our attitudes that need improvement. QUICK OVERVIEW If Wallace D. Wattles lived in this century, his works would have undoubtedly found a large audience among those who patronize the self-help section of bookstores. Many of the theories, suggestions and tools in The Science of Being Great are mirrored today in 12-step programs, as well as in motivational speeches and books about how to improve your life. According to Wattles, the answer is simple Published in 1911 and within your control: To change their lives and the world, individuals need only change their attitudes. Wattles argued that the world was a perfect place for any given moment in time. The world is perfect for the individuals who live in it and for that exact moment in history. Any improvement needs to come from within, and Wattles clearly spells out the steps for internal change. Along the way, he meanders SUCCESS Points into in-depth discussions on religion and provides examples that are dated, but his This book will teach you message remains refreshingly modern. how to:

• Change your beliefs by APPLY AND ACHIEVE changing your self-talk It’s easy to focus on how others need to change, to complain, to feel superior, and to give in to the notion that the world is an evil place. But if you want to be • Train your mind with daily great, none of those are the right path to take. Instead, Wattles explains you need to thought exercises develop the attitude that your power and potential emanate from within. You need • Transform thoughts into action to believe that the world is a perfect place—despite its obvious imperfections. In other words, it’s perfect for those who live in it at any given moment. After you have • Shape your destiny with wrapped your brain around those notions, think about what you tell yourself day habitual thoughts after day, week after week, and realize that your actions follow your thoughts and words. If your self-talk is less than perfect, change what you believe and what you tell yourself, so that positive actions can ow from you. Wattles counsels that if you believe you are healthy, you will be. If you see yourself as nancially successful, that too will follow. If you want to be great, it’s in your hands—or at least, in your mind.

Page 1 SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES The Science of Being Great

his must be your point of view: The world and all fear, no cause for anxiety, nothing to worry about. Never it contains is perfect, though not completed. complain of any of these things. They are perfect; this is the “All’s right with the world.” That is the great very best possible world for the stage of development man fact. There is nothing wrong with anything; there has reached. Tis nothing wrong with anybody. All the facts of life you must contemplate from this standpoint. There is nothing wrong with nature. Nature is a great We do not know where the advancing presence working bene cently for the happiness of all. All things in Nature are good; she has no evil. She is not boundary of the mental powers of completed; for creation is still un nished, but she is going man is; we do not even know that on to give to man even more bountifully than she has given there is a boundary. to him in the past. Nature is a partial expression of God, and God is love. She is perfect, but not complete. So it is of human society and government. What though This will sound like rank folly to many, perhaps to most there are trusts and combinations of capital and strikes and people. “What!” they will say, “are not child labor and the lockouts and so on. All these things are part of the forward exploitation of men and women in lthy and unsanitary movement; they are incidental to the evolutionary process factories evil things? Aren’t saloons evil? Do you mean to say of completing society. When it is complete there will be that we shall accept all these and call them good?” harmony; but it cannot be completed without them. Child labor and similar things are no more evil than Behold it is all very good. See government and industry the way of living and the habits and practices of the cave as being perfect now, and as advancing rapidly toward being dweller were evil. His ways were those of the savage stage complete; then you will understand that there is nothing to of man’s growth, and for that stage they were perfect. Our industrial practices are those of the savage stage of industrial development, and they are also perfect. The Right Attitude Nothing better is possible until we cease to be mental There are two mental attitudes a man may take. savages in industry and business, and become men and One makes him like a football. It has resilience women. This can only come about by the rise of the whole and reacts strongly when force is applied to it, but race to a higher viewpoint. And this can only come about by it originates nothing; it never acts of itself. There is the rise of such individuals here and there as are ready for no power within it. Men of this type are controlled the higher viewpoint. by circumstances and environment; their destinies The cure for all this inharmoniousness lies not with the are decided by things external to themselves. The masters or employers but with the workers themselves. Principle of Power within them is never really active Whenever they reach a higher viewpoint, whenever at all. They never speak or act from within. they shall desire to do so, they can establish complete The other attitude makes man like a flowing brotherhood and harmony in Industry; they have the spring. Power comes out from the center of him. numbers and the power. They are getting now what they He has within him a well of water springing up desire. Whenever they desire more in the way of a higher, into everlasting life, he radiates force; he makes purer, more harmonious life, they will receive more. True, changes to his environment. The Principle of Power they want more now, but they only want more of the things in him is in constant action. He is self-active. “He that make for animal enjoyment, and so industry remains hath life in himself.” No greater good can come to in the savage, brutal, animal stage; when the workers begin any man or woman than to become self-active. to rise to the mental plane of living and ask for more of

Page 2 SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES The Science of Being Great

the things that make for the life of the mind and soul, if your practices are not such as to separate you from God, the industry will at once be raised above the plane of savagery thing you want will come to you in material form. and brutality. Make no thought-form of yourself in connection with But it is perfect now upon its plane; behold, in fact it is all disease or sickness, but form a conception of health. Make a very good. thought-form of yourself as strong and hearty and perfectly All this does not prevent you from working for better well; impress this thought-form on creative intelligence, and things. You can work to complete an un nished society, if your practices are not in violation of the laws by which instead of to renovate a decaying one; and you can work the physical body is built, your thought-form will become with a better heart and a more hopeful spirit. manifest in your esh. It will make an immense di erence with your faith and Make a thought-form of yourself, as you desire to be, and spirit whether you look upon civilization as a good thing set your ideal as near to perfection as your imagination is that is becoming better, or as a bad and evil thing that capable of forming the conception. Fix upon your ideal of is decaying. One viewpoint gives you an advancing and what you wish to make of yourself; consider well and be sure expanding mind and the other gives you a descending that you make the right choice; that is, the one that will be the and decreasing mind. One viewpoint will make you grow most satisfactory to you in a general way. greater and the other will inevitably cause you to grow Do not pay too much attention to the advice or suggestions smaller. One will enable you to work for the eternal things; of those around you: do not believe that any one can know, to do large works in a great way toward the completing better than yourself, what is right for you. Listen to what of all that is incomplete and inharmonious; and the other others have to say, but always form your own conclusions. will make you a mere patchwork reformer, working almost without hope to save a few lost souls from what you will BE YOURSELF grow to consider a lost and doomed world. Do not let other people decide what you are to be. Be what So you see it makes a vast di erence to you, this matter you feel you want to be. Do not be misled by a false notion of of the social viewpoint. “All’s right with the world. Nothing obligation or duty. You can owe no possible obligation or duty can possibly be wrong but my personal attitude, and I will to others that should prevent you from making the most of make that right.” yourself. Be true to yourself, and you cannot then be false to any man. When you have fully decided what thing you want to be, To exercise some sort of control form the highest conception of that thing that you are capable over others is the secret motive of of imagining, and make that conception a thought-form. Hold that thought-form as a fact, as the real truth about yourself, every selﬁ sh person. and believe in it. There is an invincible power in you, and the same power is in the things you want. It is bringing them to you and bringing you to them. THOUGHTS BECOME REAL This is a fact that you should impress upon your FORMING GOOD HABITS understanding: A thought held in thinking substance is a real The world is ruled by habit. Things are as they are only thing; a form, and has actual existence, although it is not because people have formed the habit of accepting them as visible to you. they are. When the people change their habitual thought about If you desire a thing, picture it clearly and hold the picture governmental, social, and industrial institutions, they will steadily in mind until it becomes a de nite thought-form; and change the institutions.

Page 3 SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES Habit rules us all. get the power to do what you want to do or to make yourself You have formed, perhaps, the habit of thinking of yourself as what you want to be. You have only to consider how to use a common person, as one of a limited ability, or as being more the power you have in the right way. And there is nothing to or less of a failure. Whatever you habitually think yourself to do but to begin. Use your perception of truth; you can see be, that you are. You must form, now, a greater and better some truth today; live fully up to that and you will see more habit; you must form a conception of yourself as a being of truth tomorrow. To rid yourself of the old false ideas you limitless power, and habitually think that you are that being. will have to think a great deal about the value of men—the It is the habitual, not the periodical thought that decides your greatness and worth of a human soul. You must cease from destiny. looking at human mistakes and look at successes; cease from No amount of praying or a rmation will make you great if seeing faults and see virtues. you still habitually regard yourself as being small.

There is a genius in every man and How to Be Great woman, waiting to be brought forth. You are already great within, but you are not yet doing the great things without. You cannot begin, on the instant, to do the great things. But you can always begin to do small things in a great way. MENTAL EXERCISES Here lies the whole secret. The purpose of mental exercises is to repeat certain • You can begin to be great today in your own home, thoughts over and over until the thinking of those thoughts in your store or office, on the street, everywhere; you becomes constant and habitual. The thoughts we continually can begin to make yourself known as great, and you repeat become convictions. What you must do is to repeat can do this by doing everything you do in a great way. the new thought of yourself until it is the only way in which you think of yourself. • You must put the whole power of your great soul in Habitual thought, and not environment or circumstance, to every act, however small and commonplace. has made you what you are. Every person has some central • Do not brag or boast of yourself; simply live in a idea or thought-form of himself, and by this idea he classifies great way. and arranges all his facts and external relationships. You are • No one will believe you if you tell him you are a classifying your facts either according to the idea that you great man, but no one can doubt your greatness if you are a great and strong personality, or according to the idea show it in your actions. that you are limited, common, or weak. If the latter is the • In your domestic circle be so just, so generous, so case you must change your central idea. Get a new mental courteous, and kindly that your family shall know that picture of yourself. you are a great and noble soul. Do not try to become great by repeating mere strings of • In all your relations with men be great, just, words or super cial formulas; but repeat over and over the generous, courteous, and kindly. thought of your own power and ability until you classify external facts, and decide your place everywhere bythis idea. • The great are never otherwise. This is your attitude. • Next, and most important, you must have absolute USE YOUR POWER faith in your own perceptions of truth. It is a tremendous thing; this fact that all you need is already within you; that you do not have to consider how to

Page 4 SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES TheBook Science Titile of Being Great

CONTROLLING YOURSELF, attention pass down the spinal cord and out over the nerves to the extremities, and as you do so think: “My nerves are in perfect order NOT OTHERS all over my body. They obey my will, and I have great nerve force.” The average person’s idea of a great man, rather than of one who •Next bring your attention to the lungs and think: “I am serves, is of one who succeeds in getting himself served. He gets breathing deeply and quietly, and the air goes into every cell of himself in a position to command men; to exercise power over my lungs, which are in perfect condition. My blood is puri ed them, making them obey his will. The exercise of dominion over and made clean.” other people, to most persons, is a great thing. Nothing seems to •Next, to the heart: “My heart is beating strongly and steadily, be sweeter to the sel sh soul than this. You will always nd every and my circulation is perfect, even to the extremities.” sel sh and undeveloped person trying to domineer over others, to •Next, to the digestive system: “My stomach and bowels exercise control over other men. perform their work perfectly. My food is digested and assimilated and my body rebuilt and nourished. My liver, kidneys, and bladder each perform their several functions without pain or Whenever they desire more strain; I am perfectly well. My body is resting, my mind is quiet, and my soul is at peace.” in the way of a higher, purer, •Then think, “I have no anxiety about ﬁ nancial or other more harmonious life, they will matters. I have no anxiety about my health, for I am perfectly well. I have no worry or fear whatever. I rise above all temptation receive more. to moral evil. I cast out all greed, sel shness, and narrow personal ambition; I do not hold envy, malice, or enmity toward any living soul. I will follow no course of action which is not in accord ‘with The very moment you begin to advance and are recognized my highest ideals. I am right and I will do right.” as one who is doing things in a great way you will nd yourself in danger. The temptation to patronize, advise, or take upon yourself the direction of other people’s a airs is sometimes almost irresistible. Avoid, however, the opposite danger of Nothing was ever in any man that falling into servility, or of completely throwing yourself away in is not in you. You can become the service of others. what you want to be. TRAINING YOUR MIND A mental exercise is an exercise, not in repeating words, but in Idealization the thinking of certain thoughts. The thoughts embodied in the Form a mental picture of yourself as you want to be, and at following exercise are the ones you want to think. You should take the greatest height your imagination can picture. Dwell upon the exercise once or twice daily, but you should think the thoughts this for some little time, holding the thought: “This is what I continuously. really am; it is a picture of my own perfection and advancing Take a time when you can have from twenty minutes to half an to completion. I will contemplate the facts of social, political, hour secure from interruption, and proceed rst to make yourself and industrial life only from this high viewpoint. Behold, it is physically comfortable. all very good. I will see all human beings, all my acquaintances, •First let your attention travel over your body, from the crown of friends, neighbors, and the members of my own household in your head to the soles of your feet, relaxing every muscle as you go. the same way. They are all good. Nothing is wrong with the Relax completely. universe, nothing can be wrong but my own personal attitude, •Next, get physical and other ills oﬀ your mind. Let the and henceforth I keep that right.”

Page 5 SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES TheBook Science Titile of Being Great

ACTION STEPS Get more out of this SUCCESS Book Summary by applying what you’ve learned to your life. Here are a few thoughts and questions to get you started.

1. Wattles writes that you can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. Make a list of three things you want to do.

2. The only person you can control is you, yet people spend much energy trying to change others’ actions. Identify a situation where you wasted energy trying to change someone else. How could you have used that energy to change yourself instead? About the Author 3. If we are controlled by our thoughts, then our fate is Much of Wallace Wattles’ life remains a mystery sealed by our mental pictures of ourselves. Does your almost 100 years after his death. Born into poverty in mental picture refl ect who you are or who you would like 1860, Wattles grew up on a farm in Illinois and apparently to be? had little formal education. Despite his humble origins, 4. It’s easy to fi nd fault; harder to fi nd virtue. Choose Wattles found his way to wealth, social prominence and someone in your life and list three virtues. fame as an author, although his most famous books were 5. The world is a perfect place, according to Wattles, and published around the time of his death. Wattles was a the only thing we need to change is our own attitude. proponent of the “New Thought” movement and ran for What have you been complaining about lately? How does your attitude about the subject of your complaint several positions with the Socialist Party. His daughter, need to change? Florence, has been quoted as saying that her father wrote almost constantly, that it was how he formed his “mental 6. We become what we continually think about. What do you tell yourself repeatedly? picture” of himself as a successful writer, a “personality of power” and an “advancing man.” He died at age 51 7. Form a mental picture of yourself as you want to be and at the greatest height you can imagine. Hold that thought! in 1911, the year that The Science of Being Great was published.