Chapter 6 Think and Grow Rich

CHAPTER 6
IMAGINATION
THE WORKSHOP OF THE MIND
The Fifth Step toward Riches
The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans
created by man. The impulse, the DESIRE, is given shape, form, and
ACTION through the aid of the imaginative faculty of the mind.
It has been said that man can create anything which he can imagine.
Of all the ages of civilization, this is the most favorable for the development
of the imagination, because it is an age of rapid change. On every hand one
may contact stimuli which develop the imagination.
Through the aid of his imaginative faculty, man has discovered, and
harnessed, more of Nature’s forces during the past fifty years than during the
entire history of the human race, previous to that time. He has conquered the
air so completely, that the birds are a poor match for him in flying. He has
harnessed the ether, and made it serve as a means of instantaneous
communication with any part of the world. He has analyzed, and weighed the
sun at a distance of millions of miles, and has determined, through the aid of
IMAGINATION, the elements of which it consists. He has discovered that his
own brain is both a broadcasting, and a receiving station for the vibration of
thought, and he is beginning now to learn how to make practical use of this
discovery. He has increased the speed of locomotion, until he may now travel
at a speed of more than three hundred miles an hour. The time will soon come
when a man may breakfast in New York, and lunch in San Francisco.
MAN’S ONLY LIMITATION, within reason, LIES IN HIS
DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF HIS IMAGINATION. He has not yet
reached the apex of development in the use of his imaginative faculty. He has
merely discovered that he has an imagination, and has commenced to use it in
a very elementary way. TWO FORMS OF IMAGINATION
The imaginative faculty functions in two forms. One is known as “synthetic
imagination,” and the other as “creative imagination.” SYNTHETIC
IMAGINATION:—Through this faculty, one may arrange old concepts, ideas,
or plans into new combinations. This faculty creates nothing. It merely works
with the material of experience, education, and observation with which it is
fed. It is the faculty used most by the inventor, with the exception of the who
draws upon the creative imagination, when he cannot solve his problem
through synthetic imagination.
CREATIVE IMAGINATION:—Through the faculty of creative imagination,
the finite mind of man has direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. It
is the faculty through which “hunc hes” and “inspirations” are received. It is
by this faculty that all basic, or new ideas are handed over to man.
It is through this faculty that thought vibrations from the minds of others are
received. It is through this faculty that one individual may “t une in,” or
communicate with the subconscious minds of other men.
The creative imagination works automatically, in the manner described in
subsequent pages. This faculty functions ONLY when the conscious mind is
vibrating at an exceedingly rapid rate, as for example, when the conscious
mind is stimulated through the emotion of a strong desire.
The creative faculty becomes more alert, more receptive to vibrations from the
sources mentioned, in proportion to its development through USE. This
statement is significant! Ponder over it before passing on.
Keep in mind as you follow these principles, that the entire story of how one
may convert DESIRE into money cannot be told in one statement. The story
will be complete, only when one has MASTERED, ASSIMILATED, and
BEGUN TO MAKE USE of all the principles.
The great leaders of business, industry, finance, and the great artists,
musicians, poets, and writers became great, because they developed the
faculty of creative imagination. Both the synthetic and creative faculties of
imagination become more alert with use, just as any muscle or organ of the
body develops through use. Desire is only a thought, an impulse. It is
nebulous and ephemeral. It is abstract, and of no value, until it has been
transformed into its physical counterpart. While the synthetic imagination is
the one which will be used most frequently, in the process of transforming the
impulse of DESIRE into money, you must keep in mind the fact, that you may
face circumstances and situations which demand use of the creative
imagination as well. Your imaginative faculty may have become weak
through inaction. It can be revived and made alert through USE. This faculty
does not die, though it may become quiescent through lack of use. Center
your attention, for the time being, on the development of the synthetic
imagination, because this is the faculty which you will use more often in the
process of converting desire into money. Transformation of the intangible
impulse, of DESIRE, into the tangible reality, of MONEY, calls for the use of
a plan, or plans. These plans must be formed with the aid of the imagination,
and mainly, with the synthetic faculty.
Read the entire book through, then come back to this chapter,
and begin at once to put your imagination to work on the building
of a plan, or plans, for the transformation of your DESIRE into
money. Detailed instructions for the building of plans have been
given in almost every chapter. Carry out the instructions best
suited to your needs, reduce your plan to writing, if you have not
already done so. The moment you complete this, you will have DEFINITELY
given concrete form to the intangible DESIRE. Read the preceding sentence
once more. Read it aloud, very slowly, and as you do so, remember that the
moment you reduce the statement of your desire, and a plan for its realization,
to writing, you have actually TAKEN THE FIRST of a series of steps, which
will enable you to convert the thought into its physical counterpart. The earth
on which you live, you, yourself, and every other material thing are the result
of evolutionary change, through which microscopic bits of matter have been
organized and arranged in an orderly fashion.
Moreover—and this statement is of stupendous importance—this earth, every
one of the billions of individual cells of your body, and every atom of matter,
began as an intangible form of energy.
DESIRE is thought impulse! Thought impulses are forms of
energy. When you begin with the thought impulse, DESIRE, to
accumulate money, you are drafting into your service the same “stuff” that
Nature used in creating this earth, and every material form in the universe,
including the body and brain in which the thought impulses function.
As far as science has been able to determine, the entire universe consists of
but two elements- matter and energy. Through the combination of energy and
matter, has been created everything perceptible to man, from the largest star
which floats in the heavens, down to, and including man, himself. You are
now engaged in the task of trying to profit by Nature’s method. You are
(sincerely and earnestly, we hope), trying to adapt yourself to Nature’s laws,
by endeavoring to convert DESIRE into its physical or monetary equivalent.
YOU CAN DO IT! IT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE! You can build a fortune
through the aid of laws which are immutable. But, first, you must become
familiar with these laws, and learn to USE them. Through repetition, and by
approaching the description of these principles from every conceivable angle,
the author hopes to reveal to you the secret through which every great fortune
has been accumulated. Strange and paradoxical as it may seem, the “secret” is
NOT A SECRET. Nature, herself, advertises it in the earth on which we live,
the stars, the planets suspended within our view, in the elements above and
around us, in every blade of grass, and every form of life within our vision.
Nature advertises this “secret” in the terms of biology, in the conversion of a
tiny cell, so small that it may be lost on the point of a pin, into the HUMAN
BEING now reading this line. The conversion of desire into its physical
equivalent is, certainly, no more miraculous!
Do not become discouraged if you do not fully comprehend all that has been
stated. Unless you have long been a student of the mind, it is not to be
expected that you will assimilate all that is in this chapter upon a first reading.
But you will, in time, make good progress.
The principles which follow will open the way for
understanding of imagination. Assimilate that whic h you
understand, as you read this philosophy for the first time, then,
when you reread and study it, you will discover that something has
happened to clarify it, and give you a broader understanding of the
whole. Above all, DO NOT STOP, nor hesitate in yo ur study of these
principles until you have read the book at least THREE times, for then, you
will not want to stop.
HOW TO MAKE PRACTICAL USE OF IMAGINATION Ideas are the
beginning points of all fortunes. Ideas are products of the imagination. Let us
examine a few well known ideas which have yielded huge fortunes, with the
hope that these illustrations will convey definite information concerning the
method by which imagination may be used in accumulating riches.
THE ENCHANTED KETTLE
Fifty years ago, an old country doctor drove to town, hitched his horse, quietly
slipped into a drug store by the back door, and began “dickering” with the
young drug clerk.
His mission was destined to yield great wealth to many people. It was
destined to bring to the South the most far- flung benefit since the Civil War.
For more than an hour, behind the prescription counter, the old doctor and the
clerk talked in low tones. Then the doctor left. He went out to the buggy and
brought back a large, old fashioned kettle, a big wooden paddle (used for
stirring the contents of the kettle), and deposited them in the back of the store.
The clerk inspected the kettle, reached into his inside pocket, took out a roll of
bills, and handed it over to the doctor. The roll contained exactly $500.00-the
clerk’s entire savings! The doctor handed over a small slip of paper on which
was written a secret formula. The words on that small slip of paper were
worth a King’s ransom! But not to the doctor! Those magic words were
needed to start the kettle to boiling, but neither the doctor nor the young clerk
knew what fabulous fortunes were destined to flow from that kettle.
The old doctor was glad to sell the outfit for five hundred dollars. The money
would pay off his debts, and give him freedom of mind. The clerk was taking
a big chance by staking his entire life’s savings on a mere scrap of paper and
an old kettle! He never dreamed his investment would start a kettle to
overflowing with gold that would surpass the miraculous performance of
Aladdin’s lamp.
What the clerk really purchased was an IDEA! The old kettle and the wooden
paddle, and the secret message on a slip of paper were incidental. The strange
performance of that kettle began to take place after the new owner mixed with
the secret instruc tions an ingredient of which the doctor knew nothing. Read
this story carefully, give your imagination a test! See if you can discover what
it was that the young man added to the secret message, which caused the
kettle to overflow with gold. Remember, as you read, that this is not a story
from Arabian Nights. Here you have a story of facts, stranger than fiction,
facts which began in the form of an IDEA.
Let us take a look at the vast fortunes of gold this idea has produced. It has
paid, and still pays huge fortunes to men and women all over the world, who
distribute the contents of the kettle to millions of people.
The Old Kettle is now one of the world’s largest consumers of sugar, thus
providing jobs of a permanent nature to thousands of men and women
engaged in growing sugar cane, and in refining and marketing sugar.
The Old Kettle consumes, annually, millions of glass bottles, providing jobs to
huge numbers of glass workers. The Old Kettle gives employment to an army
of clerks, stenographers, copy writers, and advertising experts throughout the
nation. It has brought fame and fortune to scores of artists who have created
magnificent pictures describing the product. The Old Kettle has converted a
small Southern city into the business capital of the South, where it now
benefits, directly, or indirectly, every business and practically every resident
of the city. The influence of this idea now benefits every civilized country in
the world, pouring out a continuous stream of gold to all who touch it.
Gold from the kettle built and maintains one of the most prominent colleges of
the South, where thousands of young people receive the training essential for
success.
The Old Kettle has done other marvelous things. All through the world
depression, when factories, banks and business houses were folding up and
quitting by the thousands, the owner of this Enchanted Kettle went marching
on, giving continuous employment to an army of men and women all over the
world, and paying out extra portions of gold to those who, long ago, had faith
in the idea.
If the product of that old brass kettle could talk, it would tell thrilling tales of
romance in every language. Romances of love, romances of business,
romances of professional men and women who are daily being stimulated by
it.
The author is sure of at least one such romance, for he was a part of it, and it
all began not far from the very spot on which the drug clerk purchased the old
kettle. It was here that the author met his wife, and it was she who first told
him of the Enchanted Kettle. It was the product of that Kettle they were
drinking when he asked her to accept him “for better or worse.”
Now that you know the content of the Enchanted Kettle is a world famous
drink, it is fitting that the author confess that the home city of the drink
supplied him with a wife, also that the drink itself provides him with
stimulation of thought without intoxication, and thereby it serves to give the
refreshment of mind which an author must have to do his best work.
Whoever you are, wherever you may live, whatever occupation you may be
engaged in, just remember in the future, every time you see the words “Coca-
Cola,” that its vast empire of wealth and influence grew out of a single IDEA,
and that the mysterious ingredient the drug clerk—Asa Candler—mixed with
the secret formula was. . . IMAGINATION!
Stop and think of that, for a moment.
Remember, also, that the thirteen steps to riches, described in this book, were
the media through which the influence of Coca-Cola has been extended to
every city, town, village, and cross-roads of the world, and that ANY IDEA
you may create, as 8OUfld and meritorious as Coca-Cola, has the possibility
of duplicating the stupendous record of this world-wide thirst-killer. Truly,
thoughts are things, and their scope of operation is the world, itself.
WHAT I WOULD DO IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS This story proves
the truth of that old saying, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” It was told to
me by that beloved educator and clergyman, the late Frank W. Gunsaulus,
who began his preaching career in the stockyards region of South Chicago.
While Dr. Gunsaulus was going through college, he observed
many defects in our educational system, defects which he believed
he could correct, if he were the head of a college. His deepest desire was to
become the directing head of an educational institution in which young men
and women would be taught to “learn by doing.” He made up his mind to
organize a new college in which he could carry out his ideas, without being
handicapped by orthodox methods of education.
He needed a million dollars to put the project across! Where was he to lay his
hands on so large a sum of money? That was the question that absorbed most
of this ambitious young preacher’s thought.
But he couldn’t seem to make any progress.
Every night he took that thought to bed with him. He got up
with it in the morning. He took it with him everywhere he went. He
turned it over and over in his mind until it became a consuming
obsession with him. A million dollars is a lot of money. He
recognized that fact, but he also recognized the truth that the only
limitation is that which one sets up in one’s own mind.
Being a philosopher as well as a preacher, Dr. Gunsaulus recognized, as do all
who succeed in life, that DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE is the starting point
from which one must begin. He recognized, too, that definiteness of purpose
takes on animation, life, and power when backed by a BURNING DESIRE to
translate that purpose into its material equivalent.
He knew all these great truths, yet he did not know where, or how to lay his
hands on a million dollars. The natural procedure would have been to give up
and quit, by saying, “Ah well, my idea is a good one, but I cannot do anything
with it, because I never can procure the necessary million dollars.” That is
exactly what the majority of people would have said, but it is not what Dr.
Gunsaulus said. What he said, and what he did are so important that I now
introduce him, and let him speak for himself. “One Saturday afternoon I sat in
my room thinking of ways and means of raising the money to carry out my
plans. For nearly two years, I had been thinking, but I had done nothing but
think! “The time had come for ACTION!
“I made up my mind, then and there, that I would get the
necessary million dollars within a week. How? I was not concerned
about that. The main thing of importance was the decision to get
the money within a specified time, and I want to tell you that the
moment I reached a definite decision to get the money within a
specified time, a strange feeling of assurance came over me, such as I had
never before experienced. Something inside me seemed to say, ‘Why didn’t
you reach that decision a long time ago? The money was waiting for you all
the time!’
“Things began to happen in a hurry. I called the newspapers and announced I
would preach a sermon the following morning, entitled, ‘What I would do if I
had a Million Dollars.’ “I went to work on the sermon immediately, but I must
tell you, frankly, the task was not difficult, because I had been preparing that
sermon for almost two years. The spirit back of it was a part of me!
“Long before midnight I had finished writing the sermon. I
went to bed and slept with a feeling of confidence, for I could see
myself already in. possession of the million dollars.
“Next morning I arose early, went into the bathroom, read the sermon, then
knelt on my knees and asked that my sermon might come to the attention of
someone who would supply the needed money.
“While I was praying I again had that feeling of assurance that the money
would be forthcoming. In my excitement, I walked out without my sermon,
and did not discover the oversight until I was in my pulpit and about ready to
begin delivering it. “It was too late to go back for my notes, and what a
blessing that I couldn’t go back! Instead, my own subconscious mind yielded
the material I needed. When I arose to begin my sermon, I closed my eyes,
and spoke with all my heart and soul of my dreams. I not only talked to my
audience, but I fancy I talked also to God. I told what I would do with a
million dollars if that amount were placed in my hands. I described the plan I
had in mind for organizing a great educational institution, where young people
would learn to do practical things, and at the same time develop their minds.
“When I had finished and sat down, a man slowly arose from his seat, about
three rows from the rear, and made his way toward the pulpit. I wondered
what he was going to do. He came into the pulpit, extended his hand, and said,
‘Reverend, I liked your sermon. I believe you can do everything you said you
would, if you had a million dollars. To prove that I believe in you and your
sermon, if you will come to my office tomorrow morning, I will give you the
million dollars. My name is Phillip D. Armour.”’
Young Gunsaulus went to Mr. Armour’s office and the million
dollars was presented to him. With the money, he founded the Armour
Institute of Technology.
That is more money than the majority of preachers ever see in an entire
lifetime, yet the thought impulse back of the money was created m the young
preacher’s mind in a fraction of a minute. The necessary million dollars came
as a result of an idea. Back of the idea was a DESIRE which young Gunsaulus
had been nursing in his mind for almost two y ears.
Observe this important fact... HE GOT THE MONEY WITHIN THIRTY-SIX
HOURS AFTER HE REACHED A DEFINITE DECISION IN HIS OWN
MIND TO GET IT, AND DECIDED UPON A DEFINITE PLAN FOR
GETTING IT!
There was nothing new or unique about young Gunsaulus’ vague thinking
about a million dollars, and weakly hoping for it. Others before him, and
many since his time, have had similar thoughts. But there was something very
unique and different about the decision he reached on that memorable
Saturday, when he put vagueness into the background, and definitely said, “I
WILL get that money within a week!”
God seems to throw Himself on the side of the man who knows exactly what
he wants, if he is determined to get JUST THAT! Moreover, the principle
through which Dr. Gunsaulus got his million dollars is still alive! It is
available to you! This universal law is as workable today as it was when the
young preacher made use of it so successfully. This book describes, step by
step, the thirteen elements of this great law, and suggests how they may be put
to use.
Observe that Asa Candler and Dr. Frank Gunsaulus had one characteristic in
common. Both knew the astounding truth that IDEAS CAN BE
TRANSMUTED INTO CASH THROUGH THE POWER OF DEFINITE
PURPOSE, PLUS DEFINITE PLANS. If you are one of those who believe
that hard work and honesty, alone, will bring riches, perish the thought! It is
not true! Riches, when they come in huge quantities, are never the result of
HARD work! Riches come, if they come at all, in response to definite
demands, based upon the application of definite principles, and not by chance
or luck. Generally speaking, an idea is an impulse of thought that impels
action, by an appeal to the imagination. All master salesmen know that ideas
can be sold where merchandise cannot. Ordinary salesmen do not know thisthat
is why they are “ordinary. A publisher of books, which sell for a nickel,
made a discovery that should be worth much to publishers generally. He
learned that many people buy titles, and not contents of books. By merely
changing the name of one book that was not moving, his sales on that book
jumped upward more than a million copies. The inside of the book was not
changed in any way. He merely ripped off the cover bearing the title that did
not sell, and put on a new cover with a title that had “box-office” value.
That, as simple as it may seem, was an IDEA! It was IMAGINATION.
There is no standard price on ideas. The creator of ideas makes his own price,
and, if he is smart, gets it. The moving picture industry created a whole flock
of millionaires. Most of them were men who couldn’t create ideas—
BUT—they had the imagination to recognize ideas when they saw them.
The next flock of millionaires will grow out of the radio business, which is
new and not overburdened with men of keen imagination. The money will be
made by those who discover or create new and more meritorious radio
programmes and have the imagination to recognize merit, and to give the
radio listeners a chance to profit by it.
The sponsor! That unfortunate victim who now pays the cost of all radio
“entertainment,” soon will become idea conscious, and demand something for
his money. The man who beats the sponsor to the draw, and supplies
programmes that render useful service, is the man who will become rich in
this new industry. Crooners and light chatter artists who now pollute the air
with wisecracks and silly giggles, will go the way of all light timbers, and
their places will be taken by real artists who interpret carefully planned
programmes which have been designed to service the minds of men, as well as
provide entertainment. Here is a wide open field of opportunity screaming its
protest at the way it is being butchered, because of lack of imagination, and
begging for rescue at any price. Above all, the thing that radio needs is new
IDEAS!
If this new field of opportunity intrigues you, perhaps you
might profit by the suggestion that the successful radio
programmes of the future will give more attention to creating
“buyer” audiences, and less attention to “listener” audiences. Stated more
plainly, the builder of radio programmes who succeeds in the future, must find
practical ways to convert “listeners” into “buyers.” Moreover, the successful
producer of radio programmes in the future must key his features so that he
can definitely show its effect upon the audience.
Sponsors are becoming a bit weary of buying glib selling talks, based upon
statements grabbed out of thin air. They want, and in the future will demand,
indisputable proof that the Whoosit programme not only gives millions of
people the silliest giggle ever, but that the silly giggler can sell merchandise!
Another thing that might as well be understood by those who contemplate
entering this new field of opportunity, radio advertising is going to be handled
by an entirely new group of advertising experts, separate and distinct from the
old time newspaper and magazine advertising agency men. The old timers in
the advertising game cannot read the modern radio scripts, because they have
been schooled to SEE ideas. The new radio technique demands men who can
interpret ideas from a written manuscript in terms of SOUND! It cost the
author a year of hard labor, and many thousands of dollars to learn this.
Radio, right now, is about where the moving pictures were, when Mary
Pickford and her curls first appeared on the screen. There is plenty of room in
radio for those who can produce or recognize IDEAS.
If the foregoing comment on the opportunities of radio has not started your
idea factory to work, you had better forget it. Your opportunity is in some
other field. If the comment intrigued you in the slightest degree, then go
further into it, and you may find the one IDEA you need to round out your
career.
Never let it discourage you if you have no experience in radio. Andrew
Carnegie knew very little about making steel—I have Carnegie’s own word
for this-but he made practical use of two of the principles described in this
book, and made the steel business yield him a fortune.
The story of practically every great fortune starts with the day when a creator
of ideas and a seller of ideas got together and worked in harmony. Carnegie
surrounded himself with men who could do all that he could not do. Men who
created ideas, and men who put ideas into operation, and made himself and
the others fabulously rich. Millions of people go through life hoping for
favorable “breaks.” Perhaps a favorable break can get one an opportunity, but
the safest plan is not to depend upon luck. It was a favorable “break” that gave
me the biggest opportunity of my life— but—twenty- five years of determined
effort had to be devoted to that opportunity before it became an asset.
The “break” consisted of my good fortune in meeting and gaining the
cooperation of Andrew Carnegie. On that occasion Carnegie planted in my
mind the idea of organizing the principles of achievement into a philosophy of
success. Thousands of people have profited by the discoveries made in the
twenty-five years of research, and several fortunes have been accumulated
through the application of the philosophy. The beginning was simple. It was
an IDEA which anyone might have developed.
The favorable break came through Carnegie, but what about the
DETERMINATION, DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE, and the DESIRE TO
ATTAIN THE GOAL, and the PERSISTENT EFFORT OF TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS? It was no ordinary DESIRE that survived disappointment,
discouragement, temporary defeat, criticism, and the constant reminding of
“waste of time.” It was a BURNING DESIRE! AN OBSESSION!
When the idea was first planted in my mind by Mr. Carnegie, it was coaxed,
nursed, and enticed to remain alive. Gradually, the idea became a giant under
its own power, and it coaxed, nursed, and drove me. Ideas are like that. First
you give life and action and guidance to ideas, then they take on power of
their own and sweep aside all opposition.
Ideas are intangible forces, but they have more power than the physical brains
that give birth to them. They have the power to live on, after the brain that
creates them has returned to dust. For example, take the power of Christianity.
That began with a simple idea, born in the brain of Christ. Its chief tenet was,
“do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Christ has gone back
to the source from whence He came, but His IDEA goes marching on. Some
day, it may grow up, and come into its own, then it will have fulfilled Christ’s
deepest DESIRE. The IDEA has been developing only two thousand years.
Give it time! SUCCESS REQUIRES NO EXPLANATIONS
FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS