introduction of master mind by nepolian hill

 Sexuality and the Master Mind

The great leaders understand the necessity of this recharging process and, moreover, they understand how to accomplish this result. This knowledge is the main feature that distinguishes a leader from a follower! Fortunate is the person who understands this principle sufficiently well to keep his or her brain vitalized or recharged by periodically connecting it with a more vital mind. Sexual contact is one of the most effective of the stimuli through which a mind may be recharged, providing the contact is intelligently made, between a man and woman who have genuine affection for each other. (Any other sort of sexual relationship is a devitalize of the mind.) Any competent practitioner of psychotherapy can recharge a brain within a few minutes. Before moving on from this brief reference to sexual contact as a means of revitalizing a depleted mind, it seems appropriate to point out that all of the great leaders, in whatever walks of life they have arisen, have been and are people of highly sexed natures.

There is a growing tendency on the part of the best-informed physicians and other health practitioners to accept the theory that all diseases begin when the brain of the individual is in a depleted or devitalized state. Stated in another way, a person who has a perfectly vitalized brain is practically, if not entirely, immune from disease. Health practitioners know that Nature, or the mind, cures disease in every instance where a cure is effected. Medicines, faith, laying on of hands, chiropractic, osteopathy, and all other forms of outside stimulant are nothing more than aids to Nature, or, to state it correctly, mere methods of setting the chemistry of the mind into motion to the end that it readjusts the cells and tissues of the body, revitalizes the brain, and otherwise causes the human machine to function normally. The most conventional practitioner will admit the truth of this statement. What, then, may be the possibilities of the future developments in the field of mind chemistry? Through the principle of harmonious blending of minds, perfect health may be enjoyed. Through the aid of this same principle, sufficient power may be developed to solve the problem of economic pressure which constantly presses upon every individual. We may judge the future possibilities of mind chemistry by taking inventory of its past achievements, keeping in mind that these achievements have been largely the result of accidental discovery and of chance groupings of minds.

        Chemistry and Economic Power

   Mind chemistry may be appropriately applied to the workaday affairs of the economic and commercial world. Through the blending of two or more minds in a spirit of perfect harmony, the principle of mind chemistry may be made to develop sufficient power to enable the individuals whose minds have been thus blended to perform seemingly superhuman feats. Power is the force with which humans achieve success in any undertaking. Power, in unlimited quantities, may be enjoyed by any group of people who possess the wisdom with which to submerge their own personalities and their own immediate individual interests, through the blending of their minds in a spirit of perfect harmony. Observe, profitably, the frequency with which the word harmony appears throughout this chapter. There can be no development of a Master Mind where this element of perfect harmony does not exist. The units of one mind will not blend with the units of another mind until the two minds have been aroused and warmed, as it were, with a spirit of perfect harmony of purpose. The moment two minds begin to take divergent roads of interest, the individual units of each mind separate, and the third element-the Master Mind that grew out of the friendly or harmonious alliance-will disintegrate.

   

    Examples of Mind Chemistry in Action

  We come now to the study of some well-known men who have accumulated great power (and also great fortunes) through the application of mind chemistry. Let us begin our study with three men who are known to be men of great achievement in their respective fields of economic, business, and professional endeavor. Their names are Henry Ford, Thomas A. Edison, and Harvey S. Firestone.

    Of the three, Henry Ford is by far the most powerful, if measured in economic and financial power. Mr. Ford is the most powerful man now living on earth. Many who have studied Mr. Ford believe him to be the most powerful man who ever lived. As far as is known, Ford is the only person now living, or who ever lived, with sufficient power to outwit the money trust of the United States. Ford gathers millions of dollars with as great ease as a child fills a bucket with sand when playing on the beach. It has been said, by those who were in position to know, that Ford, if he needed it, could send out the call for money, gather in a billion dollars, and have it available for use within one week. No one who knows Ford's achievements doubts this. Those who know him well know that he could do it with no more effort than the average person expends in raising the money to pay a month's house rent. And he could get this money, if he needed it, through the intelligent application of the principles on which this course is based. While Mr. Ford's new automobile was in the process of perfection in 1927, it is said that he received advance orders, with cash payments, for more than 375,000 cars. At an estimated price of $600 per car, this would amount to $225,000,000 that he received before a single car was delivered. Such is the power of confidence in Ford's ability. Thomas Edison, as everyone knows, is a philosopher, scientist, and inventor. He is, perhaps, the keenest bible student on earth; a student of Nature's bible, however, and not of the myriad manmade Bibles. Mr. Edison has such a keen insight that he has harnessed and combined, for the good of mankind, more of Nature's laws than any other person now living or who ever lived. It was he who brought together the point of a needle and a piece of revolving wax in such a way that the vibration of the human voice could be recorded and reproduced through the early phonograph. Edison first harnessed lightning and made it serve as a light for man's use, through the aid of the incandescent bulb.

 

     COURAGE IS THE STANDING ARMY OF THE SOUL WHICH KEEPS IT FROM CONQUEST, PILLAGE, AND SLAVERY. -Henry van Dyke

    

   Edison gave the world the modern moving picture. These are but a few of his outstanding achievements. The miracles that he performed (not by trickery, under the pretense of superhuman power, but in the very midst of the bright light of science) transcend all of the so-called miracles described in books of fiction. Harvey Firestone is the moving spirit behind the great Firestone Tire industry in Akron, Ohio. All three of these men began their business careers without capital and with little formal education. All three men are now well-educated. All three are wealthy. All three are powerful. Now let us consider the source of their wealth and power. Thus far we have been dealing only with effect; the true philosopher wishes to understand the cause of a given effect. It is a matter of general knowledge that Ford, Edison, and Firestone are close personal friends and have been so for many years, and that in former years they were in the habit of going away to the woods once a year for a period of rest, meditation, and recuperation. But it is not generally known-it may be doubted that these men know it themselves-that there exists between the three a bond of harmony that has caused their minds to become blended into a Master Mind, which is the real source of the power of each. This mass mind, developing from the coordination of the individual minds of Ford, Edison, and Firestone, has enabled these men to tune in on forces (and sources of knowledge) with which most people are unfamiliar. More than half this theory is known fact. For example, it is known that these men have great power and that they are wealthy. It is also known that they began without capital and with little schooling. And it is known that they form periodic mind contacts. It is known that they are harmonious and friendly. It is known that their achievements are too outstanding to be easily compared with those of others in their respective fields of activity.

   

   These men work with natural laws well known to all economists and natural scientists. As yet, chemistry of the mind is not suffici- ently developed to be classed, by scientific men, in their catalogue of known laws. A Master Mind may be created by any group of people who will coordinate their minds, in a spirit of perfect harmony. The group may consist of any number from two upward. Best results appear to come from the blending of six or seven minds. It has been suggested that Jesus Christ discovered how to make use of the principle of mind chemistry, and that His seemingly miraculous performances grew out of the power He developed through the blend- ing of the minds of the twelve disciples. It has been pointed out that when one of the disciples Oudas Iscariot) broke faith, the Master Mind immediately disintegrated and Jesus met with supreme catastrophe.

   

   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 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 participa- ting in the Master Mind become like magnets, attracting ideas and thoughts of the most highly organized and practical nature, from no one knows where! 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 the line by the amount of energy the battery carries. It is the same with 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 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, this same theory. 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, con- stitutes 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 with the speaker (attuned to the rate of vibration of the mind of the speaker), there is a noticeable increase of Enthusiasm in the speaker's mind, and he or she often rises to heights of oratory which surprise all, including themsel£ The first five to ten minutes of the average speech are devoted to what is known as warming up. This is the process through which the minds of the speaker and the audience are becoming blended in a spirit of peifect barmony. Every speaker knows what happens when this state of perfect har- mony fails to materialize on part of their 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 in less than 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.

Vibrations The "messages" received by members of a spiritualistic group probably come from one of two sources, or from both: • From the vast storehouse of the subconscious mind of some member of the group; orINTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 81

• From the universal storehouse, in which I believe all thought vibration is preserved.

Neither any known natural law nor human reason supports the theory of communication with a person who has died. Any individual may explore the store of knowledge in another's mind through this principle of mind chemistry, and it seems reason- able to suppose that this power may be extended to include contact with whatever vibrations are available in the ether, if there are any. Matter and energy (the two known elements of the universe) may be transformed, but neither created nor destroyed. The theory that all the higher and more refined vibrations, such as those of thought, are preserved grows out of that fact. It is reasonable to suppose that all vibrations that have been stepped up sufficiently will go on forever. The lower vibrations 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 and enabled them to contact the vast Temple of Knowledge recorded and filed in the ether of the universe. Inquiring further into the source of economic power as manifested by achievements in the field of business, let us study the Chicago group known as the Big Six, consisting of William Wrigley Jr., who owns the chewing gum business bearing his name, and whose individual income is said to be more than $15 million 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 upward of $25 million, or an average of more than $4 million a year per man.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. -EmersonINTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 83

Analysis of this entire group of six men indicates 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 lines of business. With the exception of Hertz and Ritchie, none of the six men was in any manner associated in a legal partnership. These meetings were strictly for the purpose of cooperating on a give-and-take basis, assist- ing one another with ideas and suggestions, and occasionally endorsing notes and other securities to assist some member of the group who had met with an emergency. 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 about a man who does nothing more than accu- mulate 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 member 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 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 that is the moving spirit of the United States Steel Corporation.84 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

Search where you will, wherever you find an outstanding success in business, finance, industry, or in any of the professions, you may be sure that behind the success is some individual who has applied the principle of mind chemistry, out of which a Master Mind has been created. These outstanding successes often appear to be the handiwork of just one person, but search closely and the other individuals whose minds have been coordinated with the creator's mind may be found. Remember that two or more persons may operate the principle of mind chemistry so as to create a Master Mind.

COMMENTARY

One of the notable success stories of the computer age is the Intel corporation, and as this edition is being readied for publication it is one of the leaders in the computer-chip industry. The most famous figure at Intel is Andrew Grove, the company's CEO, once an immigrant who supported himself waiting tables. Grove's keen skills as a manager, however, are only a part of the reason for Intel's success, for Grove is part of a Master Mind that includes Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, the men whose technical knowledge and innovation helped drive the company forward. Each of these men is brilliant in his own right, but together they have made Intel into one of the dominating companies in its field-and one of the most conSistently profitable businesses in the volatile high-tech industry.

When Knowledge Is Power

Power is organized knowledge, expressed through intelligent ifforts. No effort can be said to be organized unless the individuals engaged in that effort coordinate their knowledge and energy in a spirit of perfect harmony. Lack of such harmonious coordination of effort is the main cause of practically every business failure. I conducted an interesting experiment in collaboration with the students of a well-known college. Each student was requested to writeINTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 85

an essay-"How and Why Henry Ford Became Wealthy." Each was required to describe, as a part of his or her essay, what was believed to be the nature of Ford's real assets and of what these assets consisted in detail. The majority of the students gathered financial statements and inventories of the Ford assets and used these as the basis of their estimates of Ford's wealth. The sources of Ford's wealth included cash in banks; raw and fin- ished materials in stock; real estate (land and buildings); and goodwill, estimated at from 10 to 2S percent of the value of the material assets. One student out of the entire group of several hundred answered as follows: Henry Ford's assets consist, in the main, of two items, i.e., (I) Working capital and raw and finished materials; (2) The knowledge, gained from experience, of Henry Ford himself, and the cooperation of a well-trained organization which understands how to apply this knowledge to best advantage from the Ford viewpoint. It is impossible to estimate, with anything approximating correctness, the actual dollars and cents value of either of these two groups of assets, but it is my opinion that their relative values are: The organized knowledge of the Ford Organization 7S percent The value of cash and physical assets of every nature, including raw and finished materials 2S percent

Unquestionably the biggest asset that Henry Ford has is his own brain. Next would come the brains of his immediate circle of associates, for it has been through coordination of these that the physical assets he controls were accumulated.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 OWN MISTAKES AND REVERSES.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 87

Destroy every plant the Ford Motor Company owns, every piece of machinery, every atom of raw or finished material, every finished auto- mobile, and every dollar on deposit in any bank, and Ford would still be the most powerful man, economically, on earth. The brains that have built the Ford business could duplicate it again in short order. Capital is always available, in unlimited quantities, to such brains as Ford's. Ford is the most powerful man ( economically) because he has the keenest and most practical conception of the principle of organized knowledge of any man on earth. Despite Ford's great power and financial success, it may be that he has blundered often in the application of the principles through which he accumulated this power. There is little doubt that Ford's methods of mind coordination have often been crude; they were bound to be so in the earlier days of his experience, before he gained the wisdom of application that would naturally go with maturity of years. There can't be much doubt that Ford's application of the principle of mind chemistry was, at least at the start, the result of a chance alliance with other minds, particularly the mind of Edison. It is more than probable that Mr. Ford's remarkable insight into the laws of Nature was first begun as the result of his &iendly alliance with his own wife, long before he ever met either Mr. Edison or Mr. Firestone. Many a man who never knows the real source of his success is made by his wife, through application of the Master Mind principle. Mrs. Ford is a most remark- ably intelligent woman, and I believe that it was her mind, blended with Mr. Ford's, that gave him his first real start toward power. It may be mentioned, without in any way depriving Mr. Ford of any honor or glory, that in his earlier days he had to combat the powerful enemies of illiteracy and ignorance to a greater extent than did either Edison or Firestone, both of whom were gifted by natural heredity with a most fortunate aptitude for acquiring and applying knowledge. Ford had to hew this talent out of the rough, raw timbers of his hereditary estate.88 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

Within an inconceivably short period of time, Ford has mastered three of the most stubborn enemies of mankind and transformed them into assets constituting the very foundation of his success. These enemies are ignorance, illiteracy, and poverty! Anyone who can stay the hand of these three savage forces, much less harness and use them to good account, is well worth close study by the less fortunate individuals.

This is an age of industrial power in which we are living, and the source of all this power is organized ifJort. Not only has the management of industrial enterprises efficiently organized individual workers, but in many instances mergers of industry have been effected in such a way and to the end that these combinations (as in the case of the United States Steel Corporation, for example) have accumulated practically unlimited power. One may hardly glance at the day's news without seeing a report of some business, industrial, or financial merger, bringing under one management enormous resources and thus creating great power. One day it is a group of banks; another day a chain of railroads; the next day it is a combination of steel plants, all merging for the purpose of developing power through highly organized and coordi- nated effort. Knowledge, general in nature and unorganized, is not power; it is only potential power-the raw material out of which real power may be developed. Any modern library contains an unorganized record of all the knowledge of value to which the present stage of civilization is heir, but this knowledge is not power because it is not organized. Every form of energy and every species of animal or plant life, to survive, must be organized. The oversized animals whose remains have filled Nature's boneyard through extinction have left mute but certain evidence that nonorganization means annihilation.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 89

From the smallest particle of matter to the largest star in the universe, these and every material thing in between these two extremes offer proof positive that one of Nature's first laws is that of organization. Fortunate is the individual who recognizes the importance of this law and makes it his or her business to familiarize themself with the various ways in which the law may be applied to advantage. The astute businessperson has not only recognized the importance of the law of organized effort, but they have made this law the warp and the woof of their power. Without any knowledge whatsoever of the principle of mind chem- istry, or even that such a principle exists, many influential persons have accumulated great power by merely organizing the knowledge that they possessed. The majority of those who have discovered the principle of mind chemistry, and developed that principle into a Master Mind, have stumbled upon this knowledge by the merest of accident, often failing to recognize the real nature of their discovery or to understand the source of their power. I am of the opinion that all living persons who at the present time are consciously making use of the principle of mind chemistry in de- veloping power through the blending of minds may be counted on the fingers of two hands, with perhaps several fingers left to spare. If this estimate is even approximately true, there is little danger that the field of mind chemistry will become overcrowded. It is a known fact that one of the most difficult tasks anyone in busi- ness must perform is inducing associates to coordinate their efforts in a spirit of harmony. To induce continuous Cooperation between a group of workers in any undertaking is next to impossible. Only the most efficient leaders can accomplish this highly desired objective. But once in a great while such a leader will rise above the horizon in the field of industry, business, or finance, and then the world hears of a Henry Ford, Thomas A. Edison, John D. Rockefeller Sr., E. H. Harriman, or James J. Hill. Power and success are practically synonymous terms!90 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

One grows out of the other. Therefore, any person who has the k.nowledge and the ability to develop power through the principle of harmonious coordination of effort between individual minds, or in any other manner, may be successful in any reasonable undertaking that is possible of successful termination.

Harmony

It must not be assumed that a Master Mind will immediately spring, mushroom-fashion, out of every group of minds that makes pretense of coordination in a spirit of harmony! Harmony, in the real sense of the meaning of the word, is as rare among groups of people as is genuine Christianity among those who proclaim themselves Christians. Harmony is the nucleus around which the state of mind known as a Master Mind must be developed. Without this element there can be no Master Mind-a truth that cannot be repeated too often. In his proposal for establishing the League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson had in mind the development of a Master Mind to be composed of groups of minds representing the civilized nations of the world. Wilson's conception was the most far-reaching humanitarian idea ever created in the mind of man, because it dealt with a principle that embraces sufficient power to establish a real brotherhood of man on earth. The League of Nations, or some similar blending of international minds in a spirit of harmony, is sure to become a reality.

COMMENTARY

The League of Nations that Hill refers to was established in 1920, after the First World War, for the purpose of promoting world peace and cooperation. And though it was first proposed by President Woodrow Wilson, the United States never joined the organization, which seriously impeded its effectiveness.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 91

After the Second World War, The League of Nations was superceded by the creation of the United Nations, of which America was one of the founding nations. Unfortunately, the UN has not often lived up to Hill's conception of a Master Mind, which requires that the participants come together in perfect harmony

The time when such unity of minds will take place will be measured largely by the time required for the great universities and nonsectarian institutions of learning to supplant ignorance and superstition with understanding and wisdom. This time is rapidly approaching.

COMMENTARY

Failure to develop a Master Mind can create enormous, embarrassing fiascoes. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York owned a valuable piece of property on Columbus Circle, one of the city's busiest intersections. The old Coliseum there had been made obsolete by a new Convention Center, so the Transit Authority decided to sell the land to a developer for a new building. Several companies bid, and a winner was selected. When the design for the building was unveiled, however, there was enormous public outcry, for the building was so large that its shadow would lie over vast stretches of Central Park. So the developers paid for a new building deSign, but it, too, was greeted with public dismay, for it made only a token effort to address the many objections. Citizen groups circulated petitions and threatened lawsuits. Wealthy individuals who lived in the neighborhood protested just as loudly as did people on the street, because all felt that the park was threatened. The Transit Authority, the developer, even the city government tried to make the building happen, but at every turn they were stymied by people who were outraged. Finally, the developer gave up. Hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent on the project, the Transit Authority lost its sale, construction jobs were lost, and the Coliseum sat empty and unused for a decade. All this because the leaders of the project failed to create harmony among the people of the city.NEVER, IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, HAS THERE BEEN SUCH ABUNDANT OPPORTUNITY AS THERE IS NOW FOR THE PERSON WHO IS WILLING TO SERVE BEFORE TRYING TO COLLECT.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 93

The old religious orgy known as the revival meeting offers a favorable opportunity to study the principle of mind chemistry created within a Master Mind. It will be observed that music plays no small part in bringing about the harmony essential to the blending of a group of minds in such a meeting. Without music the revival meeting would be a tame affair. During revival services the leader of the meeting has no difficulty in creating harmony in the minds of his devotees, but it is well known that this state of harmony lasts no longer than the presence of the leader, after which the Master Mind that leader has temporarily created disintegrates. By arousing the emotional nature of his followers, the revivalist has no difficulty, with the proper stagesetting music, in creating a Master Mind which becomes noticeable to all who come in contact with it. The very air becomes charged with a positive, pleasing influence that changes the entire chemistry of all minds present. The revivalist calls this energy "the Spirit of the Lord." Through experiments conducted with a group of scientific inves- tigators and laymen (all of whom were unaware of the nature of the experiment), I have created the same state of mind and the same positive atmosphere without calling it the Spirit of the Lord. On several occasions I have witnessed the creation of this same positive atmosphere among a group of men and women engaged in the business of salesmanship, without calling it the Spirit of the Lord. I once helped conduct a school of salesmanship for Harrison Parker, founder of the Cooperative Society, of Chicago, and, by the use of the principle of mind chemistry that revivalists call the Spirit of the Lord, so transformed the nature of a group of three thousand men and women (all of whom were without former sales experience) that they sold more than $ IO million worth of securities in less than nine months and earned more than $ I million for themselves.94 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

It was found that the average person who joined this school would reach the zenith of his or her selling power within one week, after which it was necessary to revitalize the individual's brain through a group sales meeting. These sales meetings were conducted on very much the same order as are the modern revival meetings, with much the same stage equipment, including music and high-powered speakers who could exhort the salespeople.

COMMENTARY

Not to belabor the obvious, but the style of presentation that Hill refers to in commenting on the similarity between revival meetings and his sales meetings can also be seen at almost any self-help or personal-growth seminar.

Call it religion, psychology, mind chemistry, or anything you please (they are all based on the same principle), but there is nothing more certain than that wherever a group of minds are brought into contact, in a spirit of perfect harmony, each mind becomes immediately supple- mented and reinforced by the noticeable energy called a Master Mind. For all I profess to know, this uncharted energy may be the Spirit of the Lord, but it operates just as favorably when called by any other name. The human brain and nervous system constitute a piece of intri- cate machinery which but few, if any, understand. When controlled and properly directed, this piece of machinery can be made to perform wonders of achievement; and if not controlled it will perform wonders fantastic and phantomlike in nature, as may be seen by observing the patients of any psychiatric hospital. The human brain has direct connection with a continuous influx of energy from which we derive our power to think. The brain receives this energy, mixes it with the energy created by the food taken into the body, and distributes it to every portion of the body through the aid of the blood and the nervous system. It thus becomes what we call life.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 95

Every normal human body has a first-class chemical laboratory and a stock of chemicals sufficient to carryon the business of breaking up, assimilating, and properly mixing and compounding the food we take into the body, preparatory to distributing it to wherever it is needed as a body builder. Tests have been made, both with humans and animals, to prove that the energy known as the mind plays an important part in this chemical operation of compounding and transforming food into the required substances to build and keep the body in repair. It is known that worry, excitement, or fear will interfere with the digestive process, and in extreme cases stop this process altogether, resulting in illness or death. It is obvious, then, that the mind enters into the chemistry of food digestion and distribution. It is believed by many eminent authorities, although it may never have been scientifically proved, that the energy known as mind or thought may become contaminated with negative or "unsociable" elements, causing the entire nervous system to be thrown out of working order-digestion is interfered with and various diseases will manifest themselves. Financial difficulties and unrequited love affairs head the list of causes of such emotional disturbances. A negative environment, such as that existing where some member of the family is constantly nagging, will interfere with the chemistry of the mind to the point that the individual loses ambition and gradually sinks into oblivion. It is because of this fact that the old saying that a man's wife may either make or break him is literally true. In a subsequent lesson a section on this subject is addressed to spouses. Anyone knows that certain food combinations will, if taken into the stomach, result in indigestion, violent pain, and even death. Good health depends, at least in part, on a food combination that harmonizes. But harmony of food combinations is not sufficient to ensure good health; there must also be harmony between the elements of energy known as the mind.A MAN IS HALF WHIPPED THE MINUTE HE BEGINS TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIMSELF, OR TO SPIN AN ALIBI WITH WHICH HE WOULD EXPLAIN AWAY HIS DEFECTS.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 97

Harmony seems to be one of Nature's laws without which there can be no such thing as organized energy, or life in any form whatsoever. The health of the body as well as the mind is literally built out of, around, and on the principle of harmony! The energy known as life begins to disintegrate and death approaches when the organs of the body stop working in harmony. The moment harmony ceases at the source of any form of organ- ized energy (power), the units of that energy are thrown into a chaotic state of disorder and the power is rendered neutral or passive. Harmony is also the nucleus around which the principle of mind chemistry known as a Master Mind develops power. Destroy this har- mony and you destroy the power that can grow out of the coordinated effort of a group of individual minds. This truth has been stated, restated, and presented in every manner that I could conceive, with unending repetition. But unless you grasp this principle and learn to apply it, this lesson is useless. Success in life, no matter what one may call success, is very largely a matter of adaptation to environment in such a manner that there is harmony between the individual and their environment. The palace of a king becomes as a hovel of a peasant if harmony does not abound within its walls. Conversely, the hut of a peasant may be made to yield more happiness than the mansion of the rich man, if harmony exists in the former and not in the latter. Without perfect harmony the science of astronomy would be as useless as the bones of a saint because the stars and planets would clash with one another, and all would be in a state of chaos and disorder. Without the law of harmony an acorn might grow into a hetero- geneous tree consisting of the wood of the oak, poplar, maple, and whatnot. Without the law of harmony there cannot be proper organization of knowledge, for what, may one ask, is organized knowledge except the harmony of facts and truths and natural laws?98 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

The moment discord begins to creep in at the front door, harmony edges out at the back door, so to speak, whether this application is made to a business partnership or the orderly movement of the planets of the heavens. If you get the impression that I am laying undue stress on the importance of harmony, remember that lack of harmony is the first, and often the last and only, cause of failure! There can be no poetry nor music nor oratory worthy of notice without the presence of harmony. Good architecture is largely a matter of harmony. Without har- mony a house is nothing but a mass of building material, more or less a monstrosity. Sound business management plants the very sinews of its existence in harmony. Every well-dressed man or woman is a living picture and a moving example of harmony. With all these workaday illustrations of the important part that harmony plays in the affairs of the world-no, in the operation of the entire universe-how could any intelligent person leave harmony out of their Definite Chief Aim in life? Could any definite aim in life omit harmony as the chief stone of its foundation?

KNOWLEDGE AND POWER

The human body is a complex organization of organs, glands, blood ves- sels, nerves, brain cells, muscles, etc. The mind that stimulates to action and coordinates the efforts of the component parts of the body is also a plurality of ever-varying and changing energies. From birth until death there is continuous struggle, often assuming the nature of open combat, between the forces of the mind. For example, the lifelong struggle be- tween the motivating forces and desires of the mind, which takes place between the impulses of right and wrong, is well known to everyone.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 99

Every human being possesses at least two distinct personalities, and as many as six distinct personalities have been discovered in one person. One of man's most delicate tasks is that of harmonizing these mind forces so that they may be organized and directed toward the orderly attainment of a given objective. Without this element of har- mony, no individual can become an accurate thinker. It is no wonder that leaders in business and industrial enterprises, as well as those in politics and other fields of endeavor, can find it so difficult to organize groups of people so that they will function in the attainment of a given objective, without friction. Each individual human being possesses inner forces that are difficult to harmonize, even when placed in the environment most favorable to harmony. If the chemistry of the individual's mind is such that the units of the mind cannot be easily harmonized, think how much more difficult it must be to har- monize a group of minds so they will function as one, in an orderly manner, through a Master Mind. The leader who successfully develops and directs the energies of a Master Mind must possess tact, patience, persistence, Self-Confidence, intimate knowledge of mind chemistry, and the ability to adapt (in a state of perfect poise and harmony) to quickly changing circumstances, without showing the least sign of annoyance. How many are there who can measure up to this requirement? The successful leader must have the ability to change the color of the mind, chameleonlike, to fit every circumstance that arises in connection with the object of Leadership. Moreover, he or she must have the ability to change from one mood to another without showing the slightest signs of anger or lack of Self-Control. The successful leader must understand the seventeen laws of success and be able to put into practice any combination of these seventeen laws whenever the occasion demands. Without this ability no leader can be powerful, and without power no leader can long endure.100 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

The Meaning of Education

There has long been a general misconception of the meaning of the word educate. The dictionaries have not aided in the elimination of this misunderstanding, because they have defined the word educate as an act of imparting knowledge. The word educate has its roots in the Latin word educo, which means to develop from within; to educe; to draw out; to grow through the law of use. Nature hates idleness in all its forms. She gives continuous life only to those elements that are in use. Tie up an arm, or any other portion of the body, taking it out of use, and the idle part will soon atrophy and become lifeless. Reverse the order, give an arm more than normal use, such as that engaged in by the blacksmith who wields a heavy hammer all day long, and that arm (developed from within) grows strong.

Organized Knowledge in Action

Power grows out of organized knowledge. But, mind you, it grows out of it only through application and use. A person may become a walking encyclopedia of knowledge with- out possessing any power of value. This knowledge becomes power only to the extent that it is organized, classified, and put into action. Some of the best-educated people the world has known possessed much less general knowledge than some who have been known as fools, the difference between the two being that the former put into use what knowledge they possessed while the latter made no such application. An educated person is one who knows how to acquire everything needed in the attainment of their main purpose in life-without violating the rights of others. By that definition, many knowledgeable individuals come nowhere near qualifying as "educated." Similarly, it might also be a great surprise to many who believe they suffer from lack of learning to know that they are well educated.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 101

COMMENTARY

Henry Ford, as cited often, is one example. Another is Albert Einstein, who could barely eke out a living as a patent clerk until he began organizing his knowledge of physics. And U.S. President Harry S. Truman had nothing more than a high school education. He laughed once that he was such a poor speller that when he wrote the word dictionary, "1 had to look on the back to see how to spell the book itself. " But all of these men commanded power in different ways.

The Uses oj Learning

The successful lawyer is not necessarily the one who memorizes the greatest number of the principles of law. On the contrary, the successful lawyer is the one who knows where to find a principle of law, plus a variety of opinions supporting that principle, which fit the immediate needs of a given case. In other words, the successful lawyer is the one who knows where to find the law he or she wants when needed. This principle applies, with equal force, to the affairs of industry and business. Henry Ford had but little elementary schooling, yet he is one of the best-educated men in the world because he has acquired the ability to combine natural and economic laws, to say nothing of the minds of other men, that he has the power to get anything of a material nature he wants. During the First World War, Mr. Ford brought suit against the Chicago Tribune, charging the newspaper with libelous publication of statements about him, one of which was that Ford was an "ignoramus;' an ignorant pacifist, and so forth. When the suit came up for trial, the attorneys for the Tribune undertook to prove, through Ford himself, that their statement was true, that he was indeed ignorant, and with this object in view they catechized and cross-examined him on all manner of subjects.SEEK THE COUNSEL OF THOSE WHO WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF, EVEN IF IT HURTS YOU TO HEAR IT. MERE COMMENDATION WILL NOT BRING THE IMPROVEMENT YOU NEED.INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 103

One question they asked was: "How many soldiers did the British send over to subdue the rebel- lion in the Colonies in 177 6?" With a dry grin on his face, Ford nonchalantly replied: "I do not know just how many, but I have heard that it was a lot more than ever went back." Loud laughter erupted from court, jury, courtroom spectators, and even from the frustrated lawyer who had asked the question. This line of interrogation continued for an hour or more, with Ford keeping perfectly calm in the meantime. Finally, however, he was tired of the smart-alec lawyers, and in reply to a question that was particu- larly obnoxious and insulting, Ford straightened himself up, pointed his finger at the questioning lawyer, and replied: "If I should really wish to answer the foolish question you have just asked, or any of the others you have been asking, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push buttons hanging over my desk and by placing my finger on the right button I could call in men who could give me the correct answer to all the questions you have asked and to many that you have not the intelligence either to ask or answer. Now, will you kindly tell me why I should bother about filling my mind with a lot of useless details in order to answer every fool question that anyone may ask, when I have able men all about me who can supply me with all the facts I want when I call for them?" This answer is quoted from memory but it substantially relates Ford's answer. There was silence in the courtroom. The questioning attorney's jaw dropped down and his eyes opened wide. The judge leaned forward from the bench and stared at Ford. Many of the jury awoke and looked around as if they had heard an explosion (which they actually had). A prominent clergyman who was present in the courtroom at the time said later that the scene reminded him of what must have existed104 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

when Jesus Christ was on trial before Pontius Pilate, just after He had given His famous reply to Pilate's question, "Are you a king?" In the vernacular of the day, Ford's reply knocked the questioner cold. Up until that reply, the lawyer had been enjoying considerable fun at what he had believed to be Ford's expense, by adroitly displaying his general knowledge and comparing it with what he inferred to be Ford's ignorance as to many events and subjects. That answer spoiled the lawyer's fun! It also proved once more (to all who had the intelligence to accept the proof) that true education means mind development, not merely the gathering and classifying of knowledge. Ford could not, in all probability, have named the capitals of all the states of the United States, but he could have, and in fact had, gathered the "capital" with which to turn many wheels within every state in the Union. Education, let us not forget this, consists of the power with which to get everything one needs, when one needs it, without violating the rights of others. Ford comes well within that definition, as the fore- going incident shows.

COMMENTARY

As the example of Henry Ford demonstrates, power is organized knowledge expressed through intelligent efforts. Let us consider how a Master Mind facilitates the exercise of power. The current era has been called the Information Age, due in large part to the ease with which information is transferred through computers at speeds and in such volume that were unthinkable even a generation ago. But information is not organized knowledge. In fact, one of the chief complaints of many people is that they have far more information at their disposal than they know what to do with. A few minutes surfing the Internet in search of the answer to a particular question can produce a deluge of conflicting, ambiguous informationI N T ROD U C T ION TOT HEM A S T E R MIN 0 105

that does nothing to increase one's knowledge. Thousands of facts may have been gathered, but an understanding of those facts, including which are significant and which are not, is necessary before they can be considered knowledge. Still, as Napoleon Hill says, even such knowledge is not power; it is only potential power-the material out of which real power may be developed. Application of this potential power requires properly organized effort. Suppose you had collected the name and address of every CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Having this information represents a potential power-the ability to contact these men and women. Such power might or might not be useful to you. If you were attempting to sell a small starter home in need of much repair, you would be targeting a very unlikely group of buyers. If, on the other hand, you were selling a luxurious estate with state-of-the-art security and communications capability, this group of people would likely be more interested. Clearly, the knowledge you acquire must be suited to your task. If you were indeed selling such an estate and you never attempted to contact these CEOs, you would not be exercising the potential power of your knowledge -simply because you would have made no effort. And if you sent each of them a box of chocolates and some balloons with a handwritten note about your property, you would be making an effort but it would not be appropriate. However, if you printed a handsome brochure featuring photographs of the estate and outlining all its unique aspects, you would be applying your knowledge much more usefully-giving you the power to attract the attention of your potential buyers. So far, the selling of this estate has involved at least three separate tasks. First, the collection of the names of potential buyers; second, the creation of an appropriate selling tool; and third, its distribution to your potential buyers. Supposing you interested some of these people, you would also need someone to show the property and eventually to negotiate the terms of the deal. This means at least five different tasks, all requiring different kinds of knowledge. You could work to educate yourself for each of these jobs, or you could create a Master Mind alliance. You could begin by enlisting a direct-mail specialist to collect the list of names; that person could also contribute ideas for the brochure, which would106 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

be designed by a graphics artist familiar with all the necessary steps for production. You would handle showing the estate and selling it to your prospective buyers, and the fine points of the deal could be hammered out by an attorney. You would all be united behind a common purpose, dedicating your special skills to the task of making the sale. But who would have truly been responsible for making the sale happen? You, since you were the one who assembled the team that got the job done.

There are many learned people who could easily entangle Ford, theoretically, with a maze of questions, none of which he, personally, could answer. But Ford could turn right around and wage a battle in industry or finance that would exterminate those same people, with all of their knowledge and all of their wisdom. Ford could not go into his chemical laboratory and separate water into its component atoms of hydrogen and oxygen and then recombine these atoms in their former order, but he knows how to surround himself with chemists who can do this for him if he wants it done. The person who can intelligently use the knowledge possessed by another is as much, or more, a person of education as the one who merely has the knowledge but does not know what to do with it. The president of a well-known college inherited a large tract of very poor land. This land had no timber of commercial value, no minerals or other valuable appurtenances, therefore it was nothing but a source of expense to him, for he had to pay taxes on it. The state built a highway through the land. An "uneducated" man who was driving his automobile over this road observed that this poor land was on top of a mountain that commanded a wonderful view for many miles in all directions. He (the ignorant one) also observed that the land was covered with a growth of small pines and other saplings. This man bought fifty acres of the land for $10 an acre. Near the public highway he built a unique log house to which he attached a large dining room. Near the house he put in a gasoline filling station. NextINTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND !O7

he built a dozen single-room log houses along the road; these houses he rented out to tourists at $3 a night each. The dining room, the gas- oline station, and the log houses brought him a net income of $15,000 the first year. The next year he extended his plan by adding fifty more log houses, with three rooms each, which he now rents out as summer country homes to people in a nearby city, at a rental of $150 each for the season. The building material cost him nothing, for it grew on his land in abundance (that same land which the college president believed to be worthless ). Moreover, the unique and unusual appearance of the log bungalows served as an advertisement for the plan, whereas many would have con- sidered it a real calamity had they been compelled to build out of such crude materials. Less than five miles from the location of these log houses, this same man purchased an old worked-out farm of 150 acres, for $25 an acre, a price the seller believed to be extremely high. By building a dam, one hundred feet in length, the purchaser of this old farm turned a stream of water into a lake that covered fifteen acres of the land, stocked the lake with fish, then sold the farm off in building lots to people who wanted summer places around the lake. The total profit realized from this simple transaction was more than $25,000, and the time required was one summer. Yet this man of vision and Imagination was not educated, in the orthodox meaning of the term. Let us keep in mind that it is through these simple illustrations of the use of organized knowledge that one may become educated and powerful. In speaking of that transaction, the college president who sold the fifty acres of "worthless" land for $500 said: "Just think of it! That man, whom most of us might call ignorant, mixed his ignorance with fifty acres of worthless land and made the108 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

combination yield more yearly than I earn from five years of application of so-called education."

There is an opportunity, if not scores of them, in every state in America to make use of the idea here described. From now on, make it your busi- ness to study the lay of all land you see that is similar to the land that this man saw, and you may find a suitable place for developing a similar money-making enterprise. The automobile has caused a great system of public highways to be built throughout the United States. On practically everyone of these highways there is a suitable spot for a "cabin city" for tourists which can be turned into a regular money-making mint by the person with the Imagination and Self-Confidence to do it.

COMMENTARY

If you think that Hill's example of starting what we now know as a motel is out of date and no longer applicable, you are not seeing the ideas for the words. As this edition is being edited, Hill's advice is more than seventy-five years old, yet one of the most exciting new business ventures of this era might well have been inspired by that "out of date" story. Jeff Bezos did exactly what Hill suggested. He looked for a highway on which to set up a business. When he found the right place he opened a bookstore. The highway that Bezos found was the information highway and the bookstore was Amazon. com. Sometimes the innovation requires specialized education or technical exper- tise, but just as often the business itself is not especially new. The innovation is in finding the right highway. Lora Brody is another example of someone whose inspiration made her greater than the so-called experts. The author of several cookbooks, she noticed that many people were buying and enjoying the bread machines that had become so popular. But when she noticed that they were not fully satisfied with the breadINTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 109

they were making, her first right move was to write a new cookbook for bread machines. It was an instant success. Then she took her good idea even further. Huge corporations were manufacturing these machines, and other huge corporations were making mixes to use in them. But Brody alone realized that these appliances were different enough from traditional techniques that the old methods weren't enough. What bread machine bakers needed were additives, simple natural ingredients that professional bakeries used all the time. So she created a line of dough enhancers that could be added to any bread machine recipe, creating a better, more tasty loaf. Soon her "Bread Machine Magic" was in grocery stores and cooks' catalogs around the country, making home bakers happier and Lora Brody a wealthy and popular entrepreneur. The experts who had been involved in creating these machines, and the flour companies that thought to profit from their popularity, had looked right past a tremendous opportunity that one woman who organized her knowledge profited from. In the mid-1970s, computers were used by big businesses. They were giant, complicated machines too expensive for anyone else to afford, or such was the con- ventional wisdom at companies like IBM. Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak thought differently. In a garage in California they built a small computer that could fit on a desktop. The company they founded was called Apple. The Apple computer created a revolution in the computer industry-and made multimillionaires of Jobs and Wozniak, because they organized their knowledge in a way that no one had before. Ray Kroc saw that people wanted fast food, and he created McDonald's. Frederick W Smith saw that people wanted safe reliable delivery, and he created Federal Express. Bill Bowerman saw people jogging, and he created Nike to make special shoes for the new fad. There are similar opportunities everywhere, in every walk of life, in every area of human endeavor, to achieve success. This course can reveal new opportunities and strategies for personal success, but what it cannot do is give you the benefit of real education, of creating an understanding based on your own efforts. You must resolve to take the ideas that you absorb here and apply them in all your efforts.110 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY

As this course proceeds, you will learn more about the Master Mind, as well as all the other significant principles you must apply. You will begin to see how they all fit together into a harmonious whole, a manner of acting and thinking that takes best advantage of the way the world operates. But only through applying each of these principles will you truly understand how to integrate them. Remember: your own actions will educate you in the laws of success.

There are opportunities all around you to make money. This course was designed to help you see these opportunities and to inform you how to make the most of them after you discover them.

WHO CAN PROFIT MOST BY THE LAW OF SUCCESS PHILOSOPHY? Transportation Officials who want a better spirit of Cooperation between their employees and the public they serve. Salaried People who wish to increase their earning power and market their services to better advantage. Salespeople who wish to become masters in their chosen field. The Law of Success philosophy covers every known law of selling and includes many features not included in any other course. Industrial Plant Managers who understand the value of greater harmony among their employees. Employees who wish to establish records of efficiency that will lead to more responsible positions, with greater pay. Merchants who wish to extend their business by adding new customers. The Law of Success philosophy will help any merchant increase business by teaching how to make a walking advertisement of every customer who comes into the store.

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