The Prosperity & Wealth Bible. Kahlil Gibran

the possession of these qualities and assuredly we will find them developed in our characters and abundantly manifested in our lives.

      A fixed idea of Health, Happiness, Success, implanted in the mind by his power of Auto-Suggestion is worth more than a fortune to any man.

      In this way we should, by a steady habit of Auto-Suggestion, fix in the Subjective Mind the strongest possible faith in our own ability. Dr. Quackenbos of Columbia University has accomplished seemingly miraculous results in developing great ability in music and art in boys and girls in a few months by Suggestion, which would ordinarily have taken years of training, and which ability might never have manifested under any length of training but for the strange power which Suggestion has of calling out the latent powers of the soul. Suggestions given to a pupil under hypnosis are accepted with unquestioned faith, and faith seems to have a mysterious power of healing and inspiring, and especially of awakening talent lying dormant.

      Men generally can do what they believe they can do, and they cannot do what they believe they cannot do. We see this in the hypnotized boy who being told he cannot cross a certain line on the floor, struggles in vain to cross it, his belief holding him in captivity and utterly suppressing his natural physical powers.

      On the other hand, I have frequently heard the hypnotized lad, under suggestion that he was a noted orator, arise and deliver a surprising address, of which he was utterly incapable in his normal state. And I have seen the hypnotized subject leap over a man’s head under the stimulus of suggestion a feat he could not possibly accomplish in his waking state.

      No one knows the reserve powers of the mind. If you would awaken them, you must cultivate daily by Auto-Suggestion unlimited faith in yourself.

      Lesson 3 — Principles and Methods of Success: Make the World Your Debtor: Heaven Will Repay

      We know not how much faith the pupil may have in the Unseen Universe or in the Agency of Unseen Intelligences in Mortal Life, yet we shall venture to state the Law of Financial Success which has come down to us from very ancient sources, and is believed by many to have had an Occult origin. In fact, it purports to be a teaching revealed in these later days from a noted Hindu Scientist of four thousand years ago. It professes to be the law of worldly increase as seen from the standpoint of spirit life, and it is stated above in the Caption of this paragraph: “Make the World your debtor,” by serving humanity in every way, but especially on the highest possible plane of service, the spiritual. Make the debt as great as possible. Do all the good you can, every time you can, everywhere you can, in every way you can, and to every man.

      The underlying thought is that the Angels who administer God’s providence here on the mortal plane and are guardians over humanity, will accept as done unto themselves every act of kindness to mortals, and endeavor to repay not only in spiritual but also in temporal good.

      The thought of the kindly sympathy and help of the angels of God must bring strength and cheer to every worker for human good.

      Great Ideas and Projects Interest Great Minds

      Most lives, as we have already pointed out, are poor and mean in their outward expression and conditions because the individuals are mentally poor and poverty-stricken. Little thoughts, plans, ideals beget little interest, little effort, little zeal in the individual, and awaken little or no interest in other minds. The radical difference between the pop-corn man on the corner and the Captain of Industry or the financial magnate, is in the size of their ideas and conceptions. Pop-corn ideas beget a ‘pop-corn life; great ideas, projects, enterprises, on the other hand, rouse the soul of the individual to zeal, effort, courage, daring, commensurate with the great ideas.

      Great men cannot be approached with any project of a trifling character; time and mental force are too valuable to waste on things not “worth while.” If we accept the theory of an overshadowing spiritual universe thronged with guardian intelligences of humanity, we may well believe that the noblest intelligences over there will not enter into alliance with any mortal here, who is not doing something “worth while.”

      A man should continually plan greater and still greater enterprises for himself should have the courage and daring to embark upon these new enterprises trusting in the unfolding powers of his own soul, in the great law of evolution, in the angelic help, and in the “Star of Destiny” to crown his efforts with success. Great Ideas and Projects if accompanied by sound judgment, proper, plans and proportionate zeal produce Great Men and Great Success.

      Cultivate Strength of Will Power

      The Will is the directive faculty oi the soul and when in harmony with Nature may become the channel of personal and spiritual energy as real as the force of gravitation or electricity. If wrongly directed it cannot of itself insure success, for the human will must ever be subject to, and in harmony with, the Divine Will. Some teachers and writers speak as though the individual man simply by will power could set aside the laws of nature, or thwart the divine will as expressed in general law.

      Not so. As well assert that a man by taking hold of his boot straps could lift himself over a mountain. But where a man wills truth and righteousness or formulates any great plan in harmony with Nature’s ordination, the will of man thus becomes one with the Universal Will, which is a channel of the divine forces of the Universe. There seems to be no real limit to human achievement in harmony with nature’s laws if pursued unfalteringly by a strong and unconquerable will. The basis of all personal power resides in this will. All great and successful characters possess it in high degree.

      A strong will is a mighty cyclonic force in human nature that creates a current of vibrations toward its possessor, along which are brought to him the very objects willed.

      It operates by natural law yet its results seem at times miraculous.

      The pupil should by frequent affirmation to himself, in the temple of his own Soul, assert his Will and Ability to conquer all difficulties. Many have suggested this affirmation for constant use: “I can and I will.”

      The human will, that force unseen

      The offspring of a deathless soul,

      Can hew a way to any goal,

      Though walls of granite intervene.

      It was this Will Power developed in high degree, which transformed the little Corsican into the most magnificent military leader and conqueror the world ever saw, Napoleon Buonaparte. He would regard nothing as impossible, insisting that the word “impossible” was only found in the dictionary of fools, that it was not a French word at all. When told that the Alps stood in the way of his victorious march into Italy he simply said: “There shall be no Alps,” and the Simplon Pass was the result.

      Keep a Watchful Eye for Opportunities

      The seeker of wealth must keep all his mental faculties alert in watching for “openings” “chances,” “favorable tides.” and be fertile enough in plans and bold enough in courage, to turn them to account.

      “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.” Shakespeare says,

      “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at its flood, leads on to fortune.”

      A man should be ready in advance for these open doors. The man in service should always be ready for a higher post.

      He who does not more than fill his position is not fitted for a higher one. Read the lives of men who have risen from the lowest to the highest rung of the ladder and you will find men who have prepared themselves in advance, and by extra service prepared their own advance.

      When the door opens, enter. When Opportunity comes your way, seize her by the forelock for as the ancients declared she is bald behind. The Spanish have a motto:

      “Half the misfortunes in life come from holding in one’s horse when he is leaping.”

      “Remember: Money Comes from Doing”

      The pupil will bear in mind that