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Whether you change your vocation or not, your actions for the present must
be those pertaining to the business in which you are now engaged.
You can get into the business you want by making constructive use of the business
you are already established in; by doing your daily work in a Certain Way.
And in so far as your business consists in dealing with other men, whether
personally or by letter, the key-thought of all your efforts must be to convey
to their minds the impression of increase.
Increase is what all men and all women are seeking; it is the urge of the Formless
Intelligence within them, seeking fuller expression.
The desire for increase is inherent in all nature; it is the fundamental impulse
of the universe. All human activities are based on the desire for increase;
people are seeking more food, more clothes, better shelter, more luxury, more
beauty, more knowledge, more pleasure— increase in something, more life.
Every living thing is under this necessity for continuous advancement; where
increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in at once.
Man instinctively knows this, and hence he is forever seeking more. This law
of perpetual increase is set forth by Jesus in the parable of the talents; only
those who gain more retain any; from him who hath not shall be taken away even
that which he hath.
The normal desire for increased wealth is not an evil or a reprehensible thing;
it is simply the desire for more abundant life; it is aspiration.
And because it is the deepest instinct of their natures, all men and women
are attracted to him who can give them more of the means of life.
In following the Certain Way as described in the foregoing pages, you are getting
continuous increase for yourself, and you are giving it to all with whom you
deal.
You are a creative center, from which increase is given off to all.
Be sure of this, and convey assurance of the fact to every man, woman, and
child with whom you come in contact. No matter how small the transaction, even
if it be only the selling of a stick of candy to a little child, put into it
the thought of increase, and make sure that the customer is impressed with the
thought.
Convey the impression of advancement with everything you do, so that all people
shall receive the impression that you are an Advancing Man, and that you advance
all who deal with you. Even to the people whom you meet in a social way, without
any thought of business, and to whom you do not try to sell anything, give the
thought of increase.
You can convey this impression by holding the unshakable faith that you, yourself,
are in the Way of Increase; and by letting this faith inspire, fill, and permeate
every action.
Do everything that you do in the firm conviction that you are an advancing
personality, and that you are giving advancement to everybody.
Feel that you are getting rich, and that in so doing you are making others
rich, and conferring benefits on all.
Do not boast or brag of your success, or talk about it unnecessarily; true
faith is never boastful.
Wherever you find a boastful person, you find one who is secretly doubtful
and afraid. Simply feel the faith, and let it work out in every transaction;
let every act and tone and look express the quiet assurance that you are getting
rich; that you are already rich. Words will not be necessary to communicate
this feeling to others; they will feel the sense of increase when in your presence,
and will be attracted to you again.
You must so impress others that they will feel that in associating with you
they will get increase for themselves. See that you give them a use value greater
than the cash value you are taking from them.
Take an honest pride in doing this, and let everybody know it; and you will
have no lack of customers. People will go where they are given increase; and
the Supreme, which desires increase in all, and which knows all, will move toward
you men and women who have never heard of you. Your business will increase rapidly,
and you will be surprised at the unexpected benefits which will come to you.
You will be able from day to day to make larger combinations, secure greater
advantages, and to go on into a more congenial vocation if you desire to do
so.
But doing thing all this, you must never lose sight of your vision of what
you want, or your faith and purpose to get what you want.
Let me here give you another word of caution in regard to motives.
Beware of the insidious temptation to seek for power over other men.
Nothing is so pleasant to the unformed or partially developed mind as the exercise
of power or dominion over others. The desire to rule for selfish gratification
has been the curse of the world. For countless ages kings and lords have
drenched the earth with blood in their battles to extend their dominions; this
not to seek more life for all, but to get more power for themselves.
Today, the main motive in the business and industrial world is the same; men
Marshal their armies of dollars, and lay waste the lives and hearts of millions
in the same mad scramble for power over others. Commercial kings, like political
kings, are inspired by the lust for power.
Jesus saw in this desire for mastery the moving impulse of that evil world
He sought to overthrow. Read the twenty-third chapter of Matthew, and see how
He pictures the lust of the Pharisees to be called "Master," to sit in the high
places, to domineer over others, and to lay burdens on the backs of the less
fortunate; and note how He compares this lust for dominion with the brotherly
seeking for the Common Good to which He calls His disciples.
Look out for the temptation to seek for authority, to become a "master," to
be considered as one who is above the common herd, to impress others by lavish
display, and so on.
The mind that seeks for mastery over others is the competitive mind; and the
competitive mind is not the creative one. In order to master your environment
and your destiny, it is not at all necessary that you should rule over your
fellow men and indeed, when you fall into the world's struggle for the high
places, you begin to be conquered by fate and environment, and your getting
rich becomes a matter of chance and speculation.
Beware of the competitive mind!! No better statement of the principle of creative
action can be formulated than the favorite declaration of the late "Golden Rule"
Jones of Toledo: "What I want for myself, I want for everybody."
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