Characteristics Of Money (Chapter III)

Fear Not
Now that I have touched upon a "technique" which will help you acquire greater wealth, let me offer this further word of warning. If you want to have money, one thing you should never, never do, is worried about whether or not you will get the money you desire, or whether you will keep it. Let me elaborate.

In the bible, Job, the great sufferer of biblical times, makes the following remark: "Behold, the thing I fear has come to visit upon me." Now, stop and ask yourself -if you will- what those biblical words mean to those of us concerned about money today. Well, one thing they certainly mean is that if we insist upon constantly worrying about not having enough money , or if we habitually worry about losing the money we do have, then we are absolutely guaranteed not to worry in vain. For just as surely as Job was afflicted by his many maladies, so too shall we be afflicted by the lack or loss of money.

To take a more contemporary example, let us again consider the tragic case of "Poor old Mr. Hendrik (read Chapter II). As you will recall , he was elderly gentleman who never spent any his hard-earned savings. But the question is, "Why didn't he ?" Most likely it was because he was afraid that if he spent his money, he would become poor and hence would be forced to live like a pauper. The irony was, however, that because of his fear, he lived like pauper anyway! Or, to be more biblical about it, "The thing that he feared most came to visit upon him."

Next, you will be given a fuller explanation of the paradox of why we attract into our lives the very things we least desire. But, for now, suffice it to say, worrying about money is always extremely counterproductive. This principal holds true, even if you rationalize your worry with the old platitude that you are "just saving a little for a rainy day". I must put forward one other caveat at this time: if you really want to significantly increase the amount of money you are presently earning, the first thing you must do is learn to pay substantially more attention to what that "quite voice" that speaks within you, is saying. Put more prosaically: you must strive to become more less susceptible to influences outside of yourself and much more inclined to trust the instinct and feeling that lie within you. Let me elaborate.

Most people who fail to accumulate enough money to live in the style they choose are the same people who are most easily influenced by other people's opinion. For instance, they are often the people who let the writers of economic doom and gloom -whether in newspapers or the news broadcasts- do their thinking for them. But, as Napoleon Hill pointed out of his great book, Think and Grow Rich, opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. In fact, almost everyone has a flock of them ready to be foisted upon everyone who is willing to accept them. Therefore, if you know you have been unduly influenced in the past by other people's opinions, make up your mind right now -before you read more further- that from here on in, you are going to heed your own counsel, while keeping an attentive ear open for God's counsel. Remember, if you do, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot become financial successful within a very reasonable period of time.

Understanding Vs Memorization
As you read on through this article, you will develop an ever increasing awareness of the talent and abilities that lie deep within you. You should realize, that with the proper instruction, you can begin using these undeveloped talents to attract the good that you desire. But let me caution you once again that no amount of reading or memorizing will bring you the success you seek. It is only the understanding and application of the ideas in this book that will make the difference for you. Therefore, don't be in any hurry to finish this blog, because a complete reading should not your objective. So if you are able to properly digest only one chapter a day, that might be all that is necessary for you to arrive at your goal. If you are wondering why this blog is very meant to be "sipped and tasted", rather than devoured at one reading, bear in mind it is based upon over twenty years of careful analysis of the methods of both the very successful and the very unsuccessful.


Strength Through Sharing
One more word advice. Since very few -if any- people become great at everything by themselves, I would suggest you attempt to find at least one other with whom you can share and discuss the ideas.


Prosperity Consciousness
I believe you will agree it is an observable truth that human being will never enjoy anything they are not yet consciously aware of. For example, we did not enjoy the luxury of traveling in airplanes at tremendous rates of speed, until the Wright Brothers become consciously aware of " How to fly." Thomas Edison developed the conscious awareness of moving pictures and introduced us to a brand new form of entertainment. Dr. Jonas Salk became consciously aware of how to develop a serum that would combat the dreadful disease of infantile -paralysis- more commonly referred to as polio and as a result of Salk's new awareness, you very rarely hear of anyone contracting that disease today. Alexander Graham Bell became consciously aware of how to transmit the human voice over metallic wires and, as a result, we all now enjoy the use of telephone.

Needless to say, I could go on and on citing example after example. However, the point I want to bring to the forefront of your mind is that these inventions -or the knowledge bringing about these inventions- have always been here. In fact, all the knowledge there ever was or ever will be, is evenly present in all places at all times. But it took an individual to bring those thought that pattern together and form ideas which developed into what we call consciousness, before we could begin to benefit from them.

We are floating in an ocean of thought-energy, where all the knowledge there ever was or ever be, is present. We are also surrounded by abundance. Indeed, everywhere we look in nature, our eyes come in contact with abundance; for nature knows no such thing as failure. Therefore, there never has been, and there never will be, a lack of anything, except conscious-awareness. But if you are going to begin to penetrate this world of wealth, it is absolutely essential that you begin to think. In other word, you must open your mind to the stream of though-energy which will create an image, or a conscious of prosperity in your mind.

You are well aware there are literally thousands upon thousands of honest, good, hard-working people who labor diligently for their entire stay on his planet, yet never become wealthy. For those individuals, life is a constant grind from sun up until sun down. But the ideas presented on this article have been put here in the hope they will jar your mind and inspire you to open it up to this new type of thinking.

Consciousness is, and always has been, developed through thinking, and regardless of what your present situation in life may be, if you ever hope to improve it and truly become wealthy -as this article suggests you can- you must begin thinking of prosperity in your mind, now. Not when you finished the article. Not when you finish the chapter. Not tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. It must be done now. Thinking is the highest function of which a human being is capable. Yet, unfortunately, very few people "think." They merely trick themselves into believing that because there is some mental activity taking place in their mind, they are "thinking." But the truth is, most people are simply exercising the mental faculty called "memory." They are playing old movies, so old picture just keep flashing back on the screen of their mind.

It is imperative that you begin this new way of thinking at this moment, because as you do, every fiber of your being will become filled with this new though-energy. Your body is comprised of millions of cells and each one of them is influenced in its movement, by thought impulses. So the second you begin entertaining worrisome, fearful thoughts, your body become rigid and tense. As you begin to hold thoughts of prosperity and begin thinking of yourself as a very wealthy, prosperous individual who is surrounded by an ocean of thought energy, swimming in the sea of plenty, your body and mind will instantly move into a prosperous vibration and you will begin to attract -just like a magnet- everything necessary for you to become wealthy.

I know the uninitiated, these ideas are just about as bizarre as anything a person could think of. Nevertheless, they are true. For mental awareness of prosperity always precedes wealth in your material world. It is not difficult, therefore for children today, born into families of great wealth-like the Kennedy's or the Bronfman's that to think these prosperous thoughts and to have this prosperity consciousness, since that is only type of thinking they were subjected to, right from birth. We say that they have been conditioned in, or to, prosperity.

However, the majority of people have not been born into that kind of an environment and so they were not surrounded by that type of thinking. We must, therefore, develop an understanding of :

• How we have been conditioned
• Why we are getting the results we are getting
  
• How we can change our way of thinking or our conditioning

That is not an easy thing to do. It takes much discipline. It takes a tremendous desire. It takes a lot of diligent effort, which is the probable reason so few people ever actually change. Yet, I want you to know that regardless of how difficult it may be, it can be done and it can be done in a relatively short period of time. The compensation you will receive for your effort delight you. I know because I have done it and I know many, many other people who have done the same thing. Now it necessary for you to do it.


There Is Real Power Within You
Below the level of consciousness is the great treasure of your subconscious mind and that is the part of your personality we want to begin to influence through our new though-patterns. In order to make the issue definite and concrete, consider the following statement; any idea, plan or purpose may be planted in the subconscious mind by repetition of thought empowered by faith and expectancy. You might be asking : "Can this statement be demonstrated to be true through experimentation and observation or, is there any known method or technique by which the proof may be secured, and if there is such a method or technique , is it available to everyone?" These questions can all be answered with an emphatic yes. As you read, test, and experiment with the ideas that will come to you in the next chapter, you will answer all of these questions for yourself. And it is necessary that you answered them for yourself, because as human being, we will not truly believe something until we actually discover it for ourselves.


Mental Money
Begin immediately to play a mental game with yourself -get into the habit of visualizing yourself in the possession of great wealth. Think of some of the things you would do with that money and then mentally start doing them. Since your subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between actually doing something and visualizing yourself doing it, the exercise will be very quickly help you to develop a prosperity consciousness. Remember, it is an absolute law of your being, that you must have something mentally before you will ever have it physically.

Also understand that everyone talks to themselves mentally -in fact, some people do it out loud. Therefore, whenever you are carrying on your private conversation with yourself, always talk about how good it feels to be wealthy. Congratulate yourself on becoming wealthy and hear other congratulating you as well. You should realize that although this might appear to be a game you are playing, you are doing one of the wisest things you can possibly do -you are working from a higher to a lower potential.

You are embarking on a program of self-development. You are about to learn that there is much more to yourself than meets the eye, and you must apprehend this "hidden factor of your personality," if you are ever to develop yourself properly. In truth, you will never see the greatest part of you being because it is non physical in mature. In fact, you will soon become aware that you are constantly living simultaneously on three distinct planes of being: you are spiritual, you have an intellect, and you live in physical body. To understand this abstraction better, you must keep in mind that you are living simultaneously on three distinct planes of existence.

• The Spiritual Plane of Thoughts (Highest Potential)
• The Intellectual Plane of Ideas (Middle Potential)
• The Physical Plane of Result (Lowest Potential)

Therefore, by doing what I have suggested you do, you are merely using your divine nature to choose the thoughts (i,e. "Money is good," "I love people and I use money, ""Money is a servant; I am the Master,") which will build an idea. In our case, the idea happens to be that of "Great Personal Wealth," or "True Financial Success." Be very aware that ideas, such as the idea of financial success never form by themselves; the human personality must always into the process, by thinking the thoughts which can then be used to build the idea. That is the very thing that makes the human being godlike, or you could say, a creative creature the highest form of creation. So by holding this beautiful area, or picture of financial success in your mind, you will ultimately be able to cause the idea to manifest itself in your life.

Now, let's take a couple of steps backward. You will remember that I wrote in the previous paragraph, that you are working from a higher to a lower potential. What I mean by this is that you are working from

Thoughts ..... (Spirit)
to
Idea ..... (Intellectual)
to
Thing ..... (Physical)

Rather than working from
Thing ..... (Physical)
to
Thoughts ..... (Spirit)
to
Idea ..... (Intellectual)

As you have probably done in the past and as the vast majority of people will continue to do in the future. That is to say, most people will look at a result in their life and then let that result dictate the Thoughts they will then use to build their idea. For example, if they see that their bank account is empty (a result), they will choose to think thoughts of lack or loss and then they will use those thoughts to build the idea of poverty. However, since the idea they are holding in their mind must manifest in their future results, they are actually bringing about a repeat performance of the very thing which they say they don't want: namely, an empty bank account. It thus becomes a self-doom-fulfilling cycle they are living, and clearly, this is not the way our Maker has intended for us to live.

You might very well be saying to yourself that this is an absurd argument; for if a bank account is empty, it's empty. It just isn't realistic to look an empty bank account and be able to visualize great wealth. But I want you to know, this is the very kind of reasoning which perpetuates poverty and keeps poor people impoverished. You must begin to understand that the present state of your bank account, your sales, your health, your social life, your position at work, etc., is nothing more than the physical manifestation of your previous thinking. If you sincerely wish to change or improve your result in your physical world, you must change your thoughts and you must change them immediately.

If you take the time to really think through the information which is being presented, you will conclude that what has just been said makes perfect sense. In fact, anyone who truly understand the creative process will tell you what I have just said is not only right, but it is a natural law of your being -it is the way God works with and through the individual. This is also called prayer in some circle (prayer being the movement that takes place between spirit and form, with and through the individual). God has given you the ability to build any idea which you desire. You are Born Rich and your abundance is contained in thought. So be good to yourself, choose magnificent ideas, and cease permitting your physical world to control your thinking.

You can readily understand, by now, how everyone makes the great mistake. In Emerson's essay on Self-Reliance he said, "Envy is ignorance." In other words, to look at another person's accomplishments, or results, and then to envy them, is truly unwise. For those people first choose their thoughts, in order to build the picture in their mind of the good that is now manifest in their life; and they chose those thoughts from the infinite source of supply which is available to all of us.

That is what the great artist, Vincent Van Gogh, meant when he was asked how he did such beautiful work. He said, "I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream." In other word, he saw the picture in his mind first and then he made a replica on canvas-in oil, of the original in his mind. In truth, there has never been an original Van Gogh sold! As I am writing this I can see you reading it, and can almost hear you thinking, "That makes a lot of sense."

Characteristics Of Money (Chapter II)

Money has been a greater influence in our life than almost any other commodity you can think of. Indeed, the sudden loss or acquisition of money will effect your attitude to a tremendous extend. Therefore, you must agree that everyone should have a deep understanding of exactly what money is, and of the law governing its attraction. Yet, the sad fact is that not one person in ten does. Ninety-five people out of hundred settle for whatever they get, wishing they had more all the way from the cradle to the casket, never understanding that they could actually have had all they wanted.

You might have a tendency to let your mind wander off, either thinking about someone you know has earned a great deal of money or possibly about someone who has gone into bankruptcy. But I want to suggest that you have attempt to keep focusing only on yourself, because what someone else has or does not have, is not going to affect you and it is your financial situation that you want to improve.

Money is Important
One of the most prevalent misconception concerning money, relates to its importance. For example, how many times have you heard people say in conversation, "Money isn't everything." or "Money isn't important." or "I don't care about money." Well, the people who say these things might not care about money, but I'll bet their car dealer cares about it; their grocer does; and so does the person who holds their mortgage. In truth, there can be no denial of the fact that money is important to any person living in a civilized society. Therefore, to argue that it is not as important as this or that, is absurd. For nothing can take the place of money in the arena in which it is used!!

Money Is A Servant
Now that I have affirm the importance of money, let me backtrack to add this one word of caution: Always remember, money is a servant; you are the master. Be very careful not to reverse that equation, because many people of high intelligence have already done so, to their great detriment. Unfortunately, many of these poor souls love money and used people, which violated one of the most basic laws governing true financial success. You should always love people and use money, rather than the reverse!

Another myth many people like to accept about money is that is only comes as a result of luck or good fortune. For instance, whenever people gather to talk about someone they know who has been financially successful, there is always someone among them who will say, "He was just lucky," or "He was just in the right place at the right time." But I want to assure you in no uncertain terms, that although luck obviously plays some part in financial success, it is never sufficient in and of itself. Money is an effect and it and it must always be earn. Believe me, there are no free rides in this life and the only people who are making money the easy way either work in the mint or are on their way to jail, if they have not already arrived there. Therefore, always bear in mind that while good fortune is a factor in financial success, it must always be coupled with effort and hard work.


Money Must Circulate
A third thing you should now about money is that is valuable only as long as it being used. Once it has been taken out of circulation, it becomes as worthless as the old newspapers or empty beer cans that have been stashed away in the attic. In my home,at my book shelf, I have a silver beer stein. Now, whenever I go into my house, I'll take all the change from my pockets and put it into a cup. Then when the cup is almost filled, I give it to my sister and brother. Each of them take turns receiving the cup and of course they eagerly anticipate their turn. The point I want you to notice, however is that while the cup is being filled, the money in it has absolutely no value whatsoever; it just sits there, serving no useful function and not even drawing into interest.

However, as soon as the cup is filled and the money is turned over to one of my sister, it literally flies into action. For instance, just last week, Ryan, one of my cousins, received the money. He immediately took it from my hand, rushed off to a basket school and purchased several basket lesson with his inheritance. Now, I can't honestly say what the basket pro did with the money once he got it, but I do feel fairly safe in saying that he didn't just return it to a cup on his book shelf! No, there really isn't any dispute about it; money is not to be taken out of circulation -rather, it is meant to be used, enjoyed and circulated.

This bring me to an even more dramatic illustration of the same principle: namely, the story of "Old Mr. Hendrik." Mr. Hendrik was an elderly gentleman who lived a few doors down the street from our family when I was a boy. Although there was a tremendous age different between us, Mr. Hendrik and I became fast friends and I often used to watch him pushing his small junk cart up and down the block. You see, Mr. Hendrik worked as a junk dealer and he made his living by picking up the things other people had thrown away. As the year went by, however, Mr. Hendrik become more and more stoop from his arduous labors. After that, he passed away. Since he lived alone and apparently had no close relatives living nearby, the police entered his house to take stock of his possession. Not surprisingly, they found the house littered with many old furnishing and assorted memorabilia of Mr. Hendrik's past. However, much to their amazement, the police also discovered over one hundred thousand dollar ($1000) in old packed in boxes throughout the house!

Quick to up on so unusual an occurrence, the daily newspapers carried o front-page story the next day about Mr. Hendrik, in which it asked the obvious question: why would an individual worth well over $100,000, choose to keep his money stashed away in old boxes strewn haphazardly throughout his house??

Although I was still quite young at the time, I asked myself a similar question: namely, why would a person like Mr. Hendrik choose to live like a veritable pauper, when he had so much money at his disposal? He could have used his money for his own enjoyment. He could have invested it to earn a return for himself and to help create jobs for other people; or he could have just deposited it in the bank and earned interest on his money. But instead, he choose to put in a "jar on the shelf" and he thereby rendered it absolutely useless. No, my friends, there isn't any doubt about it -money is not meant to be hoarded. Rather, it is meant to be used, enjoyable and circulated. So please, whatever you choose to do with your money, don't make the same mistake that poor old Mr. Hendrik did!.

Prosperity Consciousness Exercise

Now that we have touched upon some of the characteristics of money, let us turn briefly to a simple technique which you can begin using immediately to start attracting the amount of money you desire. The first thing that I want you to do is to picture yourself, in your mind's eye, sitting in a room with several of your friend. Then I want you to visualize yourself announcing to them your intention become wealthy; at least wealthy enough to live the way you choose to live. Now, imagine how that would make you feel. If you are like most people, you would probably feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps you would feel so uncomfortable, that you might even retract what you had said by informing your friends you are only joking. You should understand, however that people who are wealthy never feel uncomfortable when the subject of money is brought up. "Why don't they," you ask? The most obvious answer would be, because they already have lots of it. But that is not the correct answer. You should realize that people don't feel comfortable about money because they have it; they have it because they feel comfortable about it. In other words, one of the reason that wealthy people have money is that they have developed that state of consciousness we will hereinafter refer to as, a "Prosperity of Consciousness." Therefore, it follows, if we wish to attract money to ourselves, we must begin to foster a prosperity of consciousness as well.

The question you should now be asking yourself is this: "How do I go about developing this prosperity consciousness for myself?" Let me explain. The best way to develop a prosperity of consciousness is to start seeing yourself, in your mind's eye, already in possession of the amount of money that you desire. The reason is so is that since the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between the actual possession of money and mere visualization, you will soon become very comfortable with the idea of money, As a result, you will start attracting it to yourself.

This may sound like a game you are playing, but let me assure you, it is one of the wisest things you can possibly do. For when you succeed in convincing your subconscious mind that you were wealthy and that it feels good to be wealthy, your subconscious mind will automatically seek ways of making your imaginary feelings of wealth manifest themselves in material form.

Chapter 1

Every human being has been "Born Rich;" it's just that most people are temporarily a little short of money! This blog has been written in an attempt to bridge the gap between where you currently are and where you want to be. Step by step, chapter by chapter, it will help you piece together the puzzle we most often refer to as "life", so you can build a picture of prosperity in your life. Indeed, life is very much like the Rubic's Cube because we have all the right pieces, and all the right colors, but it is frustrating, never-ending process, trying to get them to fit together. Inevitably, it seems, there are always at least one or two pieces we have left out.

As you journey this blog, you will soon become very aware I am not telling you anything you don't already know. I am just expressing the ideas in an organized, cohorent manner, which will enable you to achieve the result you have desired since you were first able to think. Every day, all over the world, million of "dreamers" purchase lottery tickets, wishing for someone to fortuitously pick their names, and drop a fortune into their laps. These people never seem to understand that the real joy in life comes not from having money handed to them on a "silver platter," but from going out and actually earning it themselves. Moreover, if the truth were known to you, you would realize that you already have the ability to achieve those things which you presently only dream about.

Let this article prove to be your Alladin's lamp. You have, in your hands, something which you have been searching for. This is a plan -a very simple plan- that will take you from where you are, to where you want to be. It is actually a deceptively simple plan. But do not let its apparent simplicity deceive you, because each chapter contains an idea which will prove to be of enormous value. These ideas are extremely effective. I have personality put each and every one of them to a test over the past quarter of a century. I have a watched thousand of people put these ideas to a test as well. I can tell you, therefore, from both my first and secondhand experiences, the result in many cases have been extraordinary.

For example, individuals with barely enough resources to meet their basic needs have become very wealthy. Others, who had pressing problems which caused them to be unhappy and depressed, have literally transformed themselves into happy, well-balanced individuals.

Now you have the opportunity to put these ideas to the supreme test, in your own life. What is it that you want? Know you can have it -you can have all of the things you want- but you must clearly understand and apply all of the ideas I am about to present to you. No amount of reading or memorizing will give you the success you desire. It is only the understanding and application of right-thinking that counts. So, regardless of what I, or anyone else, might say, you are going to have to prove these ideas for yourself.

I could have filled this article with scientific data, showing you -in black and white- exhaustive studies documenting the fact that this ideas actually do work. However, other than possibly satisfying the analytical side of your mind, that sort of information would be of a little practical use to you. Although I do use many examples in the following pages which describe how individuals, or possibly families, have put these ideas to work and have explained the benefit which they have derived, I have deliberately omitted any scientific research, as I have found that it serves little purpose, from a practical, or result-oriented, point of view. It will only slow you down and possibly cloud your thinking.

This article has been written in such a way that it actually maps out a mental course for you to take to reach any objective that you would like to reach. You can journey from one chapter to the next, each successive chapter lifting you to a greater awareness of yourself -your true self- and of your true abilities. You must, however, keep in the forefront of your mind one important fact: the reward which you will receive in this life, material or psychic, will not come to you because of your potential but, rather, because of your performance.

Before you begin, let me caution you once again, that reading and memorizing will never "make it happen" for you. It is only understanding and application of the right ideas that will produce the result you desire. Think about each idea very closely. They are all simple and easy to understand, but you must act on them.

Next chapter I will begin to relate money as we should, and we developed an understanding of why all great thinking people burn a basic principal deep into the recesses of their mind: that is "we should love people and use money." We also find out what happens to anyone who is careless enough to get that equation reversed. This will help you realize there is, in point of fact, no sin in great wealth. On the contrary, it is your duty to become wealthy.