THE SCIENCES OF GETTING RICHER
Ten Book Set
All Of Wattles Famous Books On Creating Wealth
The Ten Book Set Includes:
The Science Of Getting Rich (1910)
The Science Of Being Great (1910)
The Science Of Being Well (1910)
How To get What You Want (1907)
Promote Yourself (1910)
The Law Of Opulence (1905)
The 7 Principals Of Getting Rich (1910)
Health Through New Thought And Fasting (1924)
Making The Man Or The Woman Who Can (1909)
Special Biography Of Wallace D. Wattles (1816 - 1911) (50 famous quotations from Wattles included!)
Book One (Wattles Most Famous Book)
The Science Of Getting Rich
The book discusses the high-level psychological foundation of getting rich. As the author says:
"Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich."
But first, we have to define "rich." He says:
"The man who owns all he wants for the living of all the life he is capable of living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of money can have all he wants."
So different people will have different ideas of what it means to be rich, but at the very least, you must be able to do everything you want to do.
Directing Your Thoughts
After a bit more exposition, he gets to the first major argument:
"Thought is the only power, which can produce tangible riches from the Formless Substance. The stuff from which all things are made is a substance, which thinks, and a thought of form in this substance produces the form."
This is similar to the ideas in "As a Man Thinketh." Essentially, all richness starts in your thoughts, so you must properly direct those first.
"There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created."
This is where you start to see how people can take the idea too far and end up believing in The Secret. The point isn't so much that you can will success into your life, rather, that you must first direct your thoughts towards it. That's how I read it, at least.
Avoiding Competition
"You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now."
Focus on creation, not on beating people. Be your best self, and in doing so, help others be better.
"Remember, if you are to become rich in a scientific and certain way, you must rise entirely out of the competitive thought. You must never think for a moment that the supply is limited."
Abundance mindset, focus on seeing the world's resources as abundant, not limited, and you can have more of the creator mindset.
"Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business transaction."
More on the abundance mindset, don't just try to take value, create more of it. Lollapalooza effects.
Desire
"The more clear and definite you make your picture then, and the more you dwell upon it, bringing out all its delightful details, the stronger your desire will be; and the stronger your desire, the easier it will be to hold your mind fixed upon the picture of what you want."
This is where some of the ideas around "vision boards" come from. People get too wrapped up in the idea of visualizing their goals, instead of acting on them, and create these elaborate pillars to devote themselves to. Maybe this is what the author meant but I