Following is the contents of Chapter 17 of The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles. Through the course of the book, Wattles develops and amplifies on these statements and considers them to be the essential points that anyone practicing the art of conscious creation must master. Without further ado:

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.

In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind; otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the Formless Intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit.

Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man’s thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.

Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his Vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude. This is the process by which the impression is given to the Formless, and the creative forces set in motion.

The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.

In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active; and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place. He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life; and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact.

The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich; and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.

The following paragraphs are excerpted from chapter 16, “Some Cautions and Concluding Observations”, of The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles.

I held something of a discussion with Peter in the comment section of this post on Why the Rich Get Rich and the Poor Get Poorer. He tried to argue that economics and the station to which you were born in life, the circumstances you were born into, were the main determinant of what happens in your life. I’ll concede the point to a degree–but only because the circumstances of your upbringing influence what you are taught, what you learn on your own, the lessons you take from life as it progresses, even (or especially) your beliefs on the subjects of wealth and opportunity.

While the subject of the book is that there is an actual science of getting rich, certain steps that if you take them you become rich, the underlying premise is that a person is in control of their own life and that control is wielded by thoughts and actions.

So to begin, we will start at the end of the book, or almost the end. This chapter summarizes the main points in the book, beginning with the question of whether there is a ’science of getting rich’.

MANY people will scoff at the idea that there is an exact science of getting rich; holding the impression that the supply of wealth is limited, they will insist that social and governmental institutions must be changed before even any considerable number of people can acquire a competence.

But this is not true.

It is true that existing governments keep the masses in poverty, but this is because the masses do not think and act in the Certain Way.

If the masses begin to move forward as suggested in this book, neither governments nor industrial systems can check them; all systems must be modified to accommodate the forward movement.

If the people have the Advancing Mind, have the Faith that they can become rich, and move forward with the fixed purpose to become rich, nothing can possibly keep them in poverty.  • Read the rest of this entry »

Do you question proven science? It is well-proven that if a group of people begins with a certain amount of certain raw materials, processes those materials in a certain way into new things, takes those new things and assembles them in a certain way, the end result is a plasma television. We don’t question this because it’s obvious–the plasma TV is on the shelf at your local Costco.

The same basic process works for everything that we see in the material world from buildings to roads, cars to clothes, jewelry to swimming pools. All these things have come into being by people acting in certain ways. Agreed?

The accumulation of wealth is the same. If a person believes in a certain way and acts in a certain way, wealth is the inevitable outcome, an outcome that is scientifically assured.

This is the premise of Wallace D. Wattle’s book, The Science of Getting Rich. There is a ‘recipe’, a scientific method, for attaining wealth–getting rich. If you follow the recipe, if you use your mind in a certain way, and act in a certain way, you’ll get rich. If you don’t follow it, you might still get rich (emphasis on the might) but it will likely be quite by accident or the result of the unconscious application of wealth principles. (As an aside, rumor has it that this book was the impetus to Rhonda Byrnes’ The Secret, although I haven’t verified this.)

Over the next few days, I’m going to reproduce the book here on The Fast Lane, chapter by chapter, with comments and observations. I am being more than a little selfish here–this is for MY benefit, as a way for me to better see ‘the error of my ways’. Obviously, since I am not yet wealthy, I have not been doing or thinking in the correct way. Duh.

I hope that whoever reads this can benefit from it too, if only to provide a platform for discussion or maybe an awakening of desire or sense of possibility.

P.S. I’m back–sort of. Original thought has been elusive of late, but that too is a product of the mind, yes?