Maybe it's the approaching holidays, maybe it's the cold, or maybe it's just the natural product of an universe that manifests itself through the creative vehicle of inspiration. Whatever it is, for some days now I've had this recurring thought in my head. This "voice" that prompts me to blog about one of my favorite books,
The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles.
Many people who have read this book report having a transformative experience. They speak about not being able to put the little book down until they finished reading it. I was no different. After I learned this book had been the seed of the hit movie "The Secret", I sought it out. It didn't take long to find a free pdf of it out on the web (the book book was published in 1910 so it's in the public domain). I read it, or rather devoured it, and a few days later I got an audio version so I could listen to it in the car, I put on my iPod so I could carry it with me everywhere. I was drunk with the book's wisdom, and I couldn't get enough. It has been about 3 years now, and I still listen to it, occasionally but with the same enthusiasm as the first time.
The book did in fact influence me in ways I could not have imagined at the time. And it inspired me to leave job security to go into business for myself. I found the necessary capital, the people, the facilities, and the product. Applying the principles I learned from the book, I launched my business. That was January 2007, at the beginning of the worst economic recession since the great depression. What happened? Simple: I lost my way, I stopped applying the principles I had learned, and like so many others, I witnessed, in horror, my descent into near financial ruin. So I thought. And my thoughts were proved right, as they should have been for we are a result of all we have thought.
Strangely, in the midst of the storm, I found levels of mental peace I had not experienced before. The Science of Getting Rich brought me abundance in a completely unexpected way. It is as if the lack of prosperity I had sought was being matched by the wealth of serenity that I hadn't even considered that important. And, as I pull out of the economic crisis, the mental peace remains, more than enough peace to counter the moments of anger, fear, and frustration.
I can't stop thinking of the opening chapter in the book, the chapter titled "The Right To Be Rich," and more specifically the following passages:
Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich. No one can rise to his greatest possible height in talent or soul
development unless he has plenty of money, for to unfold the soul and to
develop talent he must have many things to use, and he cannot have these things
unless he has money to buy them with.
The object of all life is development, and everything that lives
has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable of attaining.
And so here it is, some rambling thoughts that I just had to put on my blog. I'll keep you updated int the near future on whether this inspired action to write about this topic continues to "nag" me.