Unseen Guides by Dr. Napoleon Hill

After I had met with one failure after another, and each time was tempted to desert or neglect my major mission in life, I began to notice that the effects of each failure were immediately wiped out the moment I got back on the track and began to carry out my mission. This happened so often that it could not be explained away as a mere coincidence.

From personal experiences, I know there are friendly Guides available to everyone who will recognize them and accept their services. In order to avail oneself of the services of these unseen Guides, two things are necessary: first, one must express gratitude for their services; second, one must follow their guidance to the letter. Neglect in this respect will bring sure, if not always swift, disaster. Perhaps this may explain why some people meet with disasters, the cause of which they cannot understand; disasters which they do not believe to be the results of any fault on their part.

For many years I was so sensitive concerning the unseen Guides, whose presence I had felt, that I carefully avoided all references to them, in both my writings and in public lectures. Then, one day in a conversation with Elmer R. Gates, a distinguished scientist and inventor, I was overwhelmed with joy when I learned that he not only had discovered the presence of unseen Guides, but he had formed a working alliance with them which enabled him to perfect more inventions and procure more patents than had ever been granted to the great inventor, Thomas A. Edison.

From that day on I began to make inquiries of the hundreds of successful men who collaborated with me in the organization of the Science of Success, and discovered that each of them had received guidance from unknown sources, although many of them were reluctant to admit this discovery. My experience with men in the upper brackets of personal achievements has been that they prefer to accredit their success to their individual superiority.

Thomas A. Edison, Henry Ford, Luther Burbank, Andrew Carnegie, Elmer R. Gates, and Dr. Alexander Graham Bell went to great lengths in their descriptions of their experiences with unseen Guides, although some of these men did not refer to these invisible sources of aid as “guides.” Dr. Bell, in particular, believed the invisible source of aid was nothing but a direct contact with Infinite Intelligence, brought about by the individual’s stimulation of his own mind through a burning desire for the attainment of definite objectives.

Thorough the guidance of unseen forces, Madame Marie Curie was directed to the revelation of the secret and the source of supply of radium, although she did not know in advance where to begin looking for the radium, or what it would look like if she found it.

Thomas A. Edison had an interesting view as to the nature and source of the invisible forces which he used so freely in his work of research in the field of invention. He believed that all thoughts released by all people at all times are picked up and become a part of the ether, where they remain forever, just as they were released by the individuals; that anyone may tune in and contact these previously released thoughts by conditioning the mind, through definiteness and clearness of purpose, to contact any desired type of thoughts which may be related to that purpose. For example, Mr. Edison discovered that when he concentrated his thoughts upon an idea he wished to perfect, he could “tune in” and pick up from the great reservoir of the boundless ether thoughts related to that idea which had been previously released by others who had thought along the same line.

Mr. Edison called attention to the fact that water runs in course, through rivers and streams, renders a great variety of services to mankind, and returns finally to the oceans from which it came, there to become a part of the main body of water, where it is cleansed and made ready to begin its journey all over again. This coming and going of water, without diminishing or increasing its quantity, has a definite parallel in the energy of thought.

Mr. Edison believed that the energy with which we think is a projected portion of Infinite Intelligence; that this Intelligence becomes specialized into myriad ideas and concepts through the brain of man, and when thoughts are released they return, like the water returns to the oceans, to the great reservoir from whence the energy came, and are there filed and classified so that all related thoughts are arranged together.

Source: You Can Work Your Own Miracles Fawcett Columbine Book. Copyright 1971. Pgs. 45, 46, & 47.

Every Act Rewards Itself by Dr. Napoleon Hil

"Every act rewards itself." That is Emerson speaking. We shall visit with him soon. You realize, I am sure, that the reward of any act may not be a "reward" as such, but rather a penalty if that is what the act deserves. The act rewards itself, not you in the sense that is meant here, and so the "reward" is fitting.

This, you may say, is nothing but old-fashioned morality. Indeed it is. It is modern morality as well, valid when man invented the wheel, valid when, perhaps, man will invent the means to duplicate himself in a test tube. And it is more than morality. I have shown you the Law of Compensation at work in my life in the hope that you will stop and think of ways it has worked for you. You will see these ways as manifestations of cause and effect. You performed some action and that "got the ball rolling." But can it be an accident that thousands of years of commentary refer to the fact that the act of giving invariably precedes the act of receiving? That when we "cast bread upon the waters" it does come back?

We see the Law of Compensation as it brings us a better job, a sum of money, an opportunity to fulfill ourselves, a meeting with someone who turns out to be a lifelong partner in love and there is much we do not see. Unseen, silent forces influence us constantly. Some are good for us, some are harmful. This volume speaks on many pages of the solid, bread-and-butter aspects of life; but it speaks as well of the unseen and the omnipresent. As I show you how to be rich with peace of mind I also show you how to choose the friendly, invisible forces rather than the unfriendly, and how to make the favourable forces your allies.

Now let us sit down with Mr. Emerson by candlelight in his book-lined study:

Every act regards itself, or, in other words, integrates itself in a two-fold manner first in the thing, or in real nature; and secondly, in the circumstance, or in apparent nature. Men call the circumstance the retribution. The casual retribution in the circumstance is seen by the understanding; it is inseparable from the thing, but is often spread over a long time, and so does not become distinct until after many years. The specific stripes may follow later after the offense, but they follow because they accompany it. Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that unsuspected ripens within the flower of pleasure which concealed it. Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end pre-exists in the means, the fruit in the seed.

"There is a third silent party to all our bargains." Remember that! The Sage of Concord continues:

Men suffer all their life long, under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated. But it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself, as for a thing to be, and not to be, at the same time. There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfillment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God in you debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.

Source: Grow Rich With Peace of Mind. Pgs. 143 & 144. Ballantine Books. 1967.

Seth Godin on standing out | Video on TED.com

Seth Godin on standing out | Video on TED.com

Reading Resource

Hi everyone, just a short note:

Here's a resource that many of you may know already, but in case you don't here's prosperity consciousness from the Soul's Perspective:

http://www.iamuniversity.org/iamu/literature/corners/mastering_finances_business_corner/index.1.html

Enjoy!