The Advancing Man
WHAT I have said in the last chapter applies as well to the
professional man and the wage-earner as to the man who is engaged in
mercantile business.
No matter whether you are a physician, a teacher, or a clergyman,
if you can give increase of life to others and make them sensible of
the fact, they will be attracted to you, and you will get rich. The
physician who holds the vision of himself as a great and successful
healer, and who works toward the complete realization of that vision
with faith and purpose, as described in former chapters, will come
into such close touch with the Source of Life that he will be
phenomenally successful; patients will come to him in throngs.
No one has a greater opportunity to carry into effect the
teaching of this book than the practitioner of medicine; it does not
matter to which of the various schools he may belong, for the
principle of healing is common to all of them, and may be reached by
all alike. The Advancing Man in medicine, who holds to a clear
mental image of himself as successful, and who obeys the laws of
faith, purpose, and gratitude, will cure every curable case he
undertakes, no matter what remedies he may use.
In the field of religion, the world cries out for the clergyman
who can teach his hearers the true science of abundant life. He who
masters the details of the science of getting rich, together with
the allied sciences of being well, of being great, and of winning
love, and who teaches these details from the pulpit, will never lack
for a congregation. This is the gospel that the world needs; it will
give increase of life, and men will hear it gladly, and will give
liberal support to the man who brings it to them.
What is now needed is a demonstration of the science of life from
the pulpit. We want preachers who can not only tell us how, but who
in their own persons will show us how. We need the preacher who will
himself be rich, healthy, great, and beloved, to teach us how to
attain to these things; and when he comes he will find a numerous
and loyal following.
The same is true of the teacher who can inspire the children with
the faith and purpose of the advancing life. He will never be "out
of a job." And any teacher who has this faith and purpose can give
it to his pupils; he cannot help giving it to them if it is part of
his own life and practice.
What is true of the teacher, preacher, and physician is true of
the lawyer, dentist, real estate man, insurance agent--of everybody.
` The combined mental and personal action I have described is
infallible; it cannot fail. Every man and woman who follows these
instructions steadily, perseveringly, and to the letter, will get
rich. The law of the Increase of Life is as mathematically certain
in its operation as the law of gravitation; getting rich is an exact
science.
The wage-earner will find this as true of his case as of any of
the others mentioned. Do not feel that you have no chance to get
rich because you are working where there is no visible opportunity
for advancement, where wages are small and the cost of living high.
Form your clear mental vision of what you want, and begin to act
with faith and purpose.
Do all the work you can do, every day, and do each piece of work
in a perfectly successful manner; put the power of success, and the
purpose to get rich, into everything that you do.
But do not do this merely with the idea of currying favor with
your employer, in the hope that he, or those above you, will see
your good work and advance you; it is not likely that they will do
so.
The man who is merely a "good" workman, filling his place to the
very best of his ability, and satisfied with that, is valuable to
his employer; and it is not to the employer's interest to promote
him; he is worth more where he is.
To secure advancement, something more is necessary than to be too
large for your place.
The man who is certain to advance is the one who is too big for
his place, and who has a clear concept of what he wants to be; who
knows that he can become what he wants to be and who is determined
to BE what he wants to be.
Do not try to more than fill your present place with a view to
pleasing your employer; do it with the idea of advancing yourself.
Hold the faith and purpose of increase during work hours, after work
hours, and before work hours. Hold it in such a way that every
person who comes in contact with you, whether foreman, fellow
workman, or social acquaintance, will feel the power of purpose
radiating from you; so that every one will get the sense of
advancement and increase from you. Men will be attracted to you, and
if there is no possibility for advancement in your present job, you
will very soon see an opportunity to take another job.
There is a Power which never fails to present opportunity to the
Advancing Man who is moving in obedience to law.
God cannot help helping you, if you act in a Certain Way; He must
do so in order to help Himself.
There is nothing in your circumstances or in the industrial
situation that can keep you down. If you cannot get rich working for
the steel trust, you can get rich on a ten-acre farm; and if you
begin to move in the Certain Way, you will certainly escape from the
"clutches" of the steel trust and get on to the farm or wherever
else you wish to be.
If a few thousands of its employees would enter upon the Certain
Way, the steel trust would soon be in a bad plight; it would have to
give its workingmen more opportunity, or go out of business. Nobody
has to work for a trust; the trusts can keep men in so called
hopeless conditions only so long as there are men who are too
ignorant to know of the science of getting rich, or too
intellectually slothful to practice it.
Begin this way of thinking and acting, and your faith and purpose
will make you quick to see any opportunity to better your condition.
Such opportunities will speedily come, for the Supreme, working
in All, and working for you, will bring them before you.
Do not wait for an opportunity to be all that you want to be;
when an opportunity to be more than you are now is presented and you
feel impelled toward it, take it. It will be the first step toward a
greater opportunity.
There is no such thing possible in this universe as a lack of
opportunities for the man who is living the advancing life.
It is inherent in the constitution of the cosmos that all things
shall be for him and work together for his good; and he must
certainly get rich if he acts and thinks in the Certain Way. So let
wage-earning men and women study this book with great care, and
enter with confidence upon the course of action it prescribes; it
will not fail. |