Synthesized answer
The passages present "thinking" as a science that empowers personal agency by requiring the individual to form a clear mental image, hold fast to the purpose, and act with grateful faith [1]. This implies that the mind is the primary creative force: "Thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches from the Formless Substance" [4]. However, personal agency is not passive; the individual must also arrange their affairs to receive what they want and give "every man more in use value than he gives you in cash value" [1]. The mind's role is to impress thoughts upon a universal "thinking stuff" to cause things to be created [3].
Crucially, the passages limit personal agency by forbidding the use of willpower on others or on things. The science "does not require you to apply power or force to any other person" [2], and you must "use your will power upon yourself" to compel yourself to think and do the right things [2]. The mind's power is thus directed inward, not outward to coerce people or the universe. The passages do not explicitly discuss "promoting yourself" as a goal, but they imply that success comes from aligning one's thoughts and actions with a creative,…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
tself, refine itself, coin itself into double eagles, and come rolling along the roads seeking its way into your pocket. Under the impelling power of the Supreme Spirit, men’s affairs will be so ordered that some one will be led to mine the gold for you; other men’s business transactions will be so directed that the gold will be brought toward you, and you must so arrange your own business affairs that you may be able to receive it when it comes to you. Your thought makes all things, animate and inanimate, work to bring you what you want; but your personal activity must be such that you can…
no right to use your will power upon another person, even “for his own good”; for you do not know what is for his good. The science of getting rich does not require you to apply power or force to any other person, in any way whatsoever. There is not the slightest necessity for doing so; indeed, any attempt to use your will upon others will only tend to defeat your purpose. You do not need to apply your will to things, in order to compel them to come to you. That would simply be trying to coerce God, and would be foolish and useless, as well as irreverent You do not have to compel God to give…
Layout 2 ← Some Cautions, and Concluding Observations The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Delois Wattles Summary of the Science of Getting Rich Advert → Holyoke, Mass.: Elizabeth Towne, pages 152–155 2878 The Science of Getting Rich — Summary of the Science of Getting Rich CHAPTER XVII. Summary of the Science of Getting Rich. HERE 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…
Layout 2 ← Is Opportunity Monopolized The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Delois Wattles The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich Increasing Life → Holyoke, Mass.: Elizabeth Towne, pages 31–41 2865 The Science of Getting Rich — The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich CHAPTER IV. The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich. HOUGHT 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. Original Substance moves…
a corresponding form in the mind which observes it; and this can only be prevented by holding the thought of the TRUTH. To look upon the appearance of disease will produce the form of disease in your own mind, and ultimately in your body, unless you hold the thought of the truth, which is that there is no disease; it is only an appearance, and the reality is health. To look upon the appearances of poverty will produce corresponding forms in your own mind, unless you hold to the truth that there is no poverty; there is only abundance. To think health when surrounded by the appearances of…
More questions about this book
- Explain Wattles' "Science of Getting Rich" and its connection to "Mental Science" or "Constructive Science" as if to someone completely unfamiliar with these concepts, using only the information presented.
- How might Wattles' work, published in 1910 amidst other "self-help founders" and preceding the "New Thought movement," both align with and distinguish itself from the broader self-improvement landscape of his era?
- Based on "The Nautilus" advertisement, explain *how* the magazine aims to help individuals "do what they will to do" and "promote yourself," detailing the specific mechanisms and contributors mentioned.
- Given its 1910 publication date, what aspects of "The Science of Getting Rich" (as revealed through this excerpt and the Nautilus ad) appear to have a timeless appeal, and what elements seem distinctly characteristic of its historical period?