The Law of Success. Napoleon Hill

when one of the disciples (Judas Iscariot) broke faith the “Master Mind” immediately disintegrated and Jesus met with the supreme catastrophe of His life.

      When two or more people harmonize their minds and produce the effect known as a “Master Mind,” each person in the group becomes vested with the power to contact with and gather knowledge through the “subconscious” minds of all the other members of the group. This power becomes immediately noticeable, having the effect of stimulating the mind to a higher rate of vibration, and otherwise evidencing itself in the form of a more vivid imagination and the consciousness of what appears to be a sixth sense. It is through this sixth sense that new ideas will “flash” into the mind. These ideas take on the nature and form of the subject dominating the mind of the individual. If the entire group has met for the purpose of discussing a given subject, ideas concerning that subject will come pouring into the minds of all present, as if an outside influence were dictating them. The minds of those participating in the “Master Mind” become as magnets, attracting ideas and thought stimuli of the most highly organized and practical nature, from—no one knows where!

      Side Note: Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations. The only sin is limitation. As soon as you once come up to a man’s limitations, it is all over with him.—EMERSON.

      The process of mind-blending here described as a “Master Mind” may be likened to the act of one who connects many electric batteries to a single transmission wire, thereby “stepping up” the power flowing over that line. Each battery added increases the power passing over that line by the amount of energy the battery carries. Just so in the case of blending individual minds into a “Master Mind.” Each mind, through the principle of mind chemistry, stimulates all the other minds in the group, until the mind energy thus becomes so great that it penetrates to and connects with the universal energy known as ether, which, in turn, touches every atom of the entire universe.

      The modern radio apparatus substantiates, to a considerable extent, the theory here expounded. Powerful sending or broadcasting stations must be erected through which the vibration of sound is “stepped up” before it can be picked up by the much higher vibrating energy of the ether and carried in all directions. A “Master Mind” made up of many individual minds, so blended that they produce a strong vibrating energy, constitutes almost an exact counterpart of the radio broadcasting station.

      Every public speaker has felt the influence of mind chemistry, for it is a well known fact that as soon as the individual minds of an audience become “en rapport” (attuned to the rate of vibration of the mind of the speaker) with the speaker, there is a noticeable increase of enthusiasm in the speaker’s mind, and he often rises to heights of oratory which surprise all, including himself.

      The first five to ten minutes of the average speech are devoted to what is known as “warming up.” By this is meant the process through which the minds of the speaker and his audience are becoming blended in a spirit of PERFECT HARMONY.

      Every speaker knows what happens when this state of “perfect harmony” fails to materialize upon part of his audience.

      The seemingly supernatural phenomena occurring in spiritualistic meetings are the result of the reaction, upon one another, of the minds in the group. These phenomena seldom begin to manifest themselves under ten to twenty minutes after the group is formed, for the reason that this is about the time required for the minds in the group to become harmonized or blended.

      The “messages” received by members of a spiritualistic group probably come from one of two sources, or from both, namely:

      First: From the vast storehouse of the subconscious mind of some member of the group; or

      Second: From the universal storehouse of the ether, in which, it is more than probable, all thought vibration is preserved.

      Neither any known natural law nor human reason supports the theory of communication with individuals who have died.

      It is a known fact that any individual may explore the store of knowledge in another’s mind, through this principle of mind chemistry, and it seems reasonable to suppose that this power may be extended to include contact with whatever vibrations are available in the ether, if there are any.

      The theory that all the higher and more refined vibrations, such as those growing out of thought, are preserved in the ether grows out of the known fact that neither matter nor energy (the two known elements of the universe) may be either created or destroyed. It is reasonable to suppose that all vibrations which have been “stepped up” sufficiently to be picked up and absorbed in the ether, will go on forever. The lower vibrations, which do not blend with or otherwise contact the ether, probably live a natural life and die out.

      All the so-called geniuses probably gained their reputations because, by mere chance or otherwise, they formed alliances with other minds which enabled them to “step up” their own mind vibrations to where they were enabled to contact the vast Temple of Knowledge recorded and filed in the ether of the universe. All of the great geniuses, as far as this author has been enabled to gather the facts, were highly sexed people. The fact that sexual contact is the greatest known mind stimulant lends color to the theory herein described.

      Inquiring further into the source of economic power, as manifested by the achievements of men in the field of business, let us study the case of the Chicago group known as the “Big Six,” consisting of Wm. Wrigley, Jr., who owns the chewing gum business bearing his name, and whose individual income is said to be more than Fifteen Million Dollars a year; John R. Thompson, who operates the chain of lunch rooms bearing his name; Mr. Lasker, who owns the Lord & Thomas Advertising Agency; Mr. McCullough, who owns the Parmalee Express Company, the largest transfer business in America; and Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Hertz, who own the Yellow Taxicab business.

      A reliable financial reporting company has estimated the yearly income of these six men at upwards of Twenty-five Million Dollars ($25,000,000.00), or an average of more than Four Million Dollars a year per man.

      Analysis of the entire group of six men discloses the fact that not one of them had any special educational advantages; that all began without capital or extensive credit; that their financial achievement has been due to their own individual plans, and not to any fortunate turn of the wheel of chance.

      Many years ago these six men formed a friendly alliance, meeting at stated periods for the purpose of assisting one another with ideas and suggestions in their various and sundry lines of business endeavor.

      With the exception of Hertz and Ritchie none of the six men were in any manner associated in a legal partnership. These meetings were strictly for the purpose of co-operating on the give and take basis of assisting one another with ideas and suggestions, and occasionally by endorsing notes and other securities to assist some member of the group who had met with an emergency making such help necessary.

      It is said that each of the individuals belonging to this Big Six group is a millionaire many times over. As a rule there is nothing worthy of special comment on behalf of a man who does nothing more than accumulate a few million dollars. However, there is something connected with the financial success of this particular group of men that is well worth comment, study, analysis and even emulation, and that “something” is the fact that they have learned how to coordinate their individual minds by blending them in a spirit of perfect harmony, thereby creating a “Master Mind” that unlocks, to each individual of the group, doors which are closed to most of the human race.

      The United States Steel Corporation is one of the strongest and most powerful industrial organizations in the world. The Idea out of which this great industrial giant grew was born in the mind of Elbert H. Gary, a more or less commonplace small-town lawyer who was born and reared in a small Illinois town near Chicago.

      Mr. Gary surrounded himself with a group of men whose minds he successfully blended in a spirit of perfect harmony, thereby creating the “Master Mind” which is the moving spirit of the great United States Steel Corporation.

      Side note: You cannot become a power in your community nor achieve enduring success in any worthy undertaking until you become big enough to blame yourself for your