The Impression of Increase
WHETHER you change your vocation or not, your actions for the
present must be those pertaining to the business in which you are
now engaged.
You can get into the business you want by making constructive use
of the business you are already established in; by doing your daily
work in a Certain Way.
And in so far as your business consists in dealing with other
men, whether personally or by letter, the key-thought of all your
efforts must be to convey to their minds the impression of increase.
Increase is what all men and all women are seeking; it is the
urge of the Formless Intelligence within them, seeking fuller
expression.
The desire for increase is inherent in all nature; it is the
fundamental impulse of the universe. All human activities are based
on the desire for increase; people are seeking more food, more
clothes, better shelter, more luxury, more beauty, more knowledge,
more pleasure-- increase in something, more life.
Every living thing is under this necessity for continuous
advancement; where increase of life ceases, dissolution and death
set in at once.
Man instinctively knows this, and hence he is forever seeking
more. This law of perpetual increase is set forth by Jesus in the
parable of the talents; only those who gain more retain any; from
him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
The normal desire for increased wealth is not an evil or a
reprehensible thing; it is simply the desire for more abundant life;
it is aspiration.
And because it is the deepest instinct of their natures, all men
and women are attracted to him who can give them more of the means
of life.
In following the Certain Way as described in the foregoing pages,
you are getting continuous increase for yourself, and you are giving
it to all with whom you deal.
You are a creative center, from which increase is given off to
all.
Be sure of this, and convey assurance of the fact to every man,
woman, and child with whom you come in contact. No matter how small
the transaction, even if it be only the selling of a stick of candy
to a little child, put into it the thought of increase, and make
sure that the customer is impressed with the thought.
Convey the impression of advancement with everything you do, so
that all people shall receive the impression that you are an
Advancing Man, and that you advance all who deal with you. Even to
the people whom you meet in a social way, without any thought of
business, and to whom you do not try to sell anything, give the
thought of increase.
You can convey this impression by holding the unshakable faith
that you, yourself, are in the Way of Increase; and by letting this
faith inspire, fill, and permeate every action.
Do everything that you do in the firm conviction that you are an
advancing personality, and that you are giving advancement to
everybody.
Feel that you are getting rich, and that in so doing you are
making others rich, and conferring benefits on all.
Do not boast or brag of your success, or talk about it
unnecessarily; true faith is never boastful.
Wherever you find a boastful person, you find one who is secretly
doubtful and afraid. Simply feel the faith, and let it work out in
every transaction; let every act and tone and look express the quiet
assurance that you are getting rich; that you are already rich.
Words will not be necessary to communicate this feeling to others;
they will feel the sense of increase when in your presence, and will
be attracted to you again.
You must so impress others that they will feel that in
associating with you they will get increase for themselves. See that
you give them a use value greater than the cash value you are taking
from them.
Take an honest pride in doing this, and let everybody know it;
and you will have no lack of customers. People will go where they
are given increase; and the Supreme, which desires increase in all,
and which knows all, will move toward you men and women who have
never heard of you. Your business will increase rapidly, and you
will be surprised at the unexpected benefits which will come to you.
You will be able from day to day to make larger combinations, secure
greater advantages, and to go on into a more congenial vocation if
you desire to do so.
But doing thing all this, you must never lose sight of your
vision of what you want, or your faith and purpose to get what you
want.
Let me here give you another word of caution in regard to
motives.
Beware of the insidious temptation to seek for power over other
men.
Nothing is so pleasant to the unformed or partially developed
mind as the exercise of power or dominion over others. The desire
to rule for selfish gratification has been the curse of the world.
For countless ages kings and lords have drenched the earth with
blood in their battles to extend their dominions; this not to seek
more life for all, but to get more power for themselves.
Today, the main motive in the business and industrial world is
the same; men marshal their armies of dollars, and lay waste the
lives and hearts of millions in the same mad scramble for power over
others. Commercial kings, like political kings, are inspired by the
lust for power.
Jesus saw in this desire for mastery the moving impulse of that
evil world He sought to overthrow. Read the twenty-third chapter of
Matthew, and see how He pictures the lust of the Pharisees to be
called "Master," to sit in the high places, to domineer over others,
and to lay burdens on the backs of the less fortunate; and note how
He compares this lust for dominion with the brotherly seeking for
the Common Good to which He calls His disciples.
Look out for the temptation to seek for authority, to become a
"master," to be considered as one who is above the common herd, to
impress others by lavish display, and so on.
The mind that seeks for mastery over others is the competitive
mind; and the competitive mind is not the creative one. In order to
master your environment and your destiny, it is not at all necessary
that you should rule over your fellow men and indeed, when you fall
into the world's struggle for the high places, you begin to be
conquered by fate and environment, and your getting rich becomes a
matter of chance and speculation.
Beware of the competitive mind!! No better statement of the
principle of creative action can be formulated than the favorite
declaration of the late "Golden Rule" Jones of Toledo: "What I want
for myself, I want for everybody." |