Excerpts from
LESSONS IN
CONSTRUCTIVE SCIENCE
The
Personal
Power Course
by Wallace
D.
Wattles
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Book Description
Contains ten
lessons in
Contructive Science,
teaching you how to
use your own subconscious energies for health, prosperity and personal
achievement. The contents of this book was
originally published as
a series of lessons in Elizabeth
Towne's Nautilus magazine,
and was published in book form some 11 years after the author's passing
under the title The Personal Power
Course: 10 Lessons in Constructive Science.
The course is really a synthesis of Wattles'
philosophy and teachings in a very easy to understand form that anyone
of average intelligence should be able follow and put into practice.
The course is free from jargon, and the lessons given are very
practical.
Contents
Lesson 1 -
Fundamentals; Lesson 2 - The Physical Side of
Health-Culture; Lesson 3 - The Mental Side of
Health-Culture; Lesson 4 - The Physical Side of
Wealth-Culture; Lesson 5 - The Mental Side of Wealth-Culture; Lesson 6
- The Development of Talent.; Lesson 7 - The Retention of
Youth; Lesson 8 - Martial
Happiness; Lesson 9 - Special
Application; Lesson 10 -
Opportunity.
LESSON 1
Fundamentals
In order to get what you want, you must act;
and in order to act,
you must apply force. And it is self-evident proposition that the force
to be applied is one within yourself. If you are to use external
forces, they can only be made to act by compelling them to obey you;
and to compel them to obey you, you must use your internal force. So,
whether you
seek health, wealth, development, position or happiness, you must
expect to get it by applying your own inward force, and you cannot get
it any other way.
Is the force within you sufficient for the task?
Yes;
the force within
you is all the force there is, and contains the potentialities of all
life. All life is the same, and contains the same essentials, powers,
and possibilities. Nobody ever had a talent which you have not, either
as a developed or an undeveloped faculty. Nobody ever did a thing which
you cannot do by
developing the faculty or talent required; and since perfection has not
been reached in anything, nobody ever did anything so well but that you
can do it better. It is possible for you to become a better soldier
than Napoleon, a better lawyer than Daniel Webster, a greater orator
than Ingersoll, or a greater inventive genius than Edison; the power is
within you, and it is only a matter of development. And if you can eat
even a very little food and assimilate it, having it built into new
cells, you can have health. The force which can build a few new cells
can build you a
new body, if it is continuously directed in the right way.
Given, the fact that you have the force, it all
becomes a matter of
directing that force. The force being sufficient for the work, the sole
question is whether you can learn to use it constructively; for we must
bear in mind that every act of force is either constructive or
destructive in its tendency. Nature is always working along two general
lines; integrating atoms, drawing them together into forms, and
scattering and dispersing the same atoms; dissolving the forms. The
same agencies are employed in construction and destruction; there is no
duality, and we do not find two sets of forces at work. Nature, working
with the chemistry of life, with oxygen and the food particles of
matter, builds a great oak tree; but when it is finished it is already
dead at the heart, and Nature goes on with the same agencies - oxygen
and the chemical processes - to disintegrate its form. The same oxygen,
which is the principal agent in building our living bodies, is the
chief agency in disintegrating them when dead. It is a matter of
constructive or of destructive use of the same things whether we have
health or sickness, success or failure.
In our bodies, the process of cell construction
and of
cell destruction
are going on continuously; and whenever cell destruction in any part is
in excess of cell construction, we are dying in that part. Nothing can
save us then but a reversal of the process; we must make constructive
action equal to, or greater than destructive action. If constructive
action
equals destructive, we shall hold our own and continue to live; if
constructive action exceeds destructive action by even a very little,
we shall grow stronger, and the tissues of our bodies will grow finer
in texture, more flexible and beautiful, and more youthful in
appearance; all these
truths are self-evident. What we want, therefore, is to make
constructive action slightly exceed destructive action in every part,
so that a continual refining process may go on in our physical bodies.
This we can do.
In the matter of business success, we find the
same
basic principle
obtaining. Business success is a matter of using certain mental and
physical materials so as to combine them into a certain relationship.
To succeed in business, we must take certain people and certain things,
and combine them together in a certain way; and when we have done this,
we have succeeded. Just as, in building a house, the mason takes bricks
and mortar and combines them into a structure, so in business we seek
to take people, goods, money, and bring them into such relations to
each other as to form a certain structure. You are trying to build a
structure, and your materials are people, goods, and money.
The certainty and rapidity of the process will
depend
upon how great a
proportion of your actions are constructive. A good bricklayer may
waste a great deal of time by doing many things which are not essential
to his work at all; he can kill time in lighting his pipe, and in
various other ways. And a poor bricklayer may lose by imperfect
construction; part of his work may fall down, or he may have to tear it
down, changing activity from the constructive line to the destructive
one. The best bricklayer is he who wastes no time in irrelevant and
negative actions, and who loses none by destructive action; making
every act distinctly rightly constructive. That is what you must learn
to do in business; make constructive use of every person and thing.
In order to do this in his work, the bricklayer
must
have a pretty
clear idea of what he wants to build; he must know whether he is
working on a square house, or a circular chimney. And in order to build
your business structure, you must know what you want. Actions which
would be constructive upon a building of one type would be destructive
upon a
building of another type. If you are going to build a brick house, you
will not buy lumber for a frame house; you will buy brick. And the more
clearly you have in mind the house you wish to build even to its least
important details, the more completely you can provide the necessary
materials, and the more definite and constructive you can make every
action.
I cannot lay too much stress on the necessity of
wanting to do
something, and of knowing what you want to do and what you want to be.
You might as well put to sea without knowing which port you wish to
make as to start in life without a definite purpose. You cannot work
constructively unless you have in mind to construct something; and you
must have in mind a picture of that which you wish to construct. Aim
high; but know what you are aiming at; do not fire into the air. Hitch
your wagon to a star, but know what star it is, and know why you hitch
to it. What kind of structure would a bricklayer build who was not sure
whether he was working on a circular chimney or a square cottage?
We have now called your attention to two
fundamental
facts: first, that
you have within you the power to get what you want; and second, that in
order to use this power constructively, you must KNOW what you want.
We now proceed to the third fact, which is that
before
you can act
constructively, you must attain to a certain STATE OF MIND. We will
assume that there are two general states of mind, which we will call
the ELECTRICAL and the MAGNETIC. In the electrical state of mind, your
personality resembles a highly charged electrical conductor. There is a
constant giving off of energy on all sides, most of which escapes,
performing no work. Objects brought near are first violently attracted,
and then as violently repelled. Action is sudden, powerful, and
inconstant; therefore, often ineffectual. The expenditure of force may
be in any direction; there is no continuity of purpose.
In the magnetic state, there is always an
attraction
of certain things,
and always a repulsion of others. The action is fixed, certain, and
always in the same direction. There is no leakage, or waste of force. A
magnet is a center toward which certain things are irresistibly
impelled to move, and from which certain things are as irresistibly
driven. So among men, the electrical person sometimes attracts and as
often repels those whose friendship he seeks, but the magnetic person
always attracts those whom he seeks to attract. The actions of the
electrical personality are often destructive and disintegrating; but
every act of the magnetic person is a constructive act. So we must
learn to avoid the electrical mental state, and cultivate the magnetic
state.
As physical friction generates electricity, so
mental
friction causes
the electrical state of mind. Worry is mental friction, and the one and
only cause of worry is fear. Where fear is present, worry is also
present. It is all very well to talk of the uselessness of worry, the
folly of it, and so on; and it is all very well to tell you not to
worry, but you cannot help worrying, so long as you have any fear as to
the future. You can only eliminate worry by eliminating fear. You
cannot get rid of worry by telling yourself that it is useless, foolish
and harmful; so long as you have fear, you will worry just the same.
And you will have fear just as long as you have
doubt
or uncertainty.
So long as you have doubt or uncertainty as to whether you will get
well, you will worry about your health; so long as you have doubt or
uncertainty as to whether you will succeed in business, you will worry
about failure; and so on. Where there is no doubt or uncertainty as to
future health or success there can be no fear, and where there is no
fear, there can be no worry, or mental friction. So long as there is
doubt or uncertainty there must be fear; and as long as there is fear,
there will be worry, mental friction, and the electrical state of mind,
resulting in destructive action. So you must eliminate from your
thoughts all doubt and uncertainty that you will get well; that you
will succeed; that you will gain your point and get what you want. You
may have some uncertainty as to methods, but you must have none as to
ultimate results. You may not feel certain that you will succeed today,
or next week, but you must feel certain that you will succeed sometime.
Now, nothing can eliminate doubt but faith; and
only
certainty can
remove uncertainty. How can you make yourself CERTAIN that you will get
well, and that you will succeed? You can only do it by BELIEVING
something; by getting down to some basic FACT, the knowledge of which
will give you certainty. And here is the basic fact, stated in several
ways:
You have within you the power which can give you
perfect health; if
constructively used, it WILL give you perfect health, and you can
certainly learn to use it correctly. So there is no uncertainty as to
health.
You have within you the power which can bring
you to
abundance; if
constructively used it WILL bring you to abundance, and you can
certainly learn to use it constructively. So there is no uncertainty
about wealth.
You have within you the power which can develop
any or
all of your
talents; if constructively used it WILL develop them, and you can
certainly learn to use it constructively. So there is no doubt about
development.
Now, you have the bad habit of thinking of these
things as matters of
uncertainty; and you must get rid of this habit, and form the one of
thinking of them as matters of certainty. This you can do by making the
power within you the subject of constant meditation; by thinking it all
the time. As an abstract proposition, you know that you can get what
you want; keep thinking about this as a fact until you HABITUALLY think
that you can get what you want; and then keep on meditating and
considering until you continually FEEL that you can get what you want.
Continuous meditation upon the fact that you CAN get what you want will
in a very short time establish feeling that you CERTAINLY WILL get what
you want; and when that feeling is established, you will enter the
poised, or magnetic state of mind.
It is not enough to merely give your
intellectual
assent to the
proposition that you have within you the power which can; you must FEEL
that you have this power; and the feeling is only established by
continuously meditating upon the FACT. For a month, then spend all the
time you possibly can in pondering upon the fact that you have within
you the power which CAN accomplish what you want. It is not a theory or
a supposition, but a fact; think of it as a fact until you feel that it
IS a fact, and then you will have taken that first great forward step
in constructive thought and action.
LESSON 2
The Physical Side of Health-Culture
All building and re-building of the body must
commence with the
digestive process. It is through the digestive system that the
materials for new cells are supplied and prepared for use; so the first
step toward health and a perfect body must be to see that the digestive
and assimilative processes are properly carried on; that the right
materials are supplied and that they are properly prepared for the
constructive work. Just as you would commence to build a house by
laying a foundation, so you must commence to build a healthy body by
establishing a good digestion; the digestive process is the foundation
of all constructive work. No matter what your symptoms are; no matter
what your disease, or where it is located, you must begin your cure by
establishing perfect digestion and assimilation. The first step in
construction is to supply the builder with the right materials,
properly prepared.
What are the right materials? You know that
there is a
vast amount of
discussion and disagreement as to WHAT we should eat, and perhaps you
are confused and at sea between meat-eaters and vegetarians, raw
foodists and cooked foodists, and so on; you do not know what to eat,
and are almost afraid to eat at all for fear you will get the wrong
thing.
Let me lay down a proposition which will help
you. Any
of the plain
solid foods which are in common use will be sufficient for you, if you
have good digestion. If your digestion is good, and you have pure air
to breathe, you can live and build a perfect body on whole wheat bread
alone; on rice alone; on beans alone; on oats alone; on cornbread
alone; on any one of a dozen other things. And on a combination of
these ordinary foods, such as you may find on any working-man's table,
you can live to perfection, having every element that nature uses in
building the human body.
Let me tell you in the beginning, what to do
about all
this discussion
concerning calories, proteins, carbohydrates, raw foods, nuts, fruits,
meats, and so on; FORGET IT. Do not read any more of it, or listen to
any more of it; drop the whole business. What you want is to get so
that you will not have to carry a package of especially prepared foods
about with you, but may go where you like, and sit down to any table,
eat what is set before you, and get good results. This you can do, if
you go about it in the right way. Your grandfather, who chopped wood or
ploughed, or wielded a shovel for his living, did not think about food
science; and the less you think about it the better for you. All such
thought is fear thought.
First, regulate your breakfast, a very light
breakfast
is better to
work on. True, your grandfather always ate three heavy meals a day; and
it is also true that he probably did three times as much muscle work as
you are doing; and furthermore, it is true that he would have been far
better on the light-breakfast or no-breakfast plan. At noon eat those
things
which are the staple foods of man, the world around; the things which
the masses of people eat, everywhere. When the time comes for the usual
evening meal, eat the same foods, in the same way, if you are hungry;
and be sure that you do not eat unless you are hungry. Eugene
Christian's "Corrective Eating" lessons (price $1.98, address New York
City) are a liberal education on food combinations and diet.
So much for the time to eat, and the kind of
food to
eat; now as to the
manner of eating. If you do not wish to overeat, and if you wish to
thoroughly digest and assimilate your food, you MUST "fletcherize."
True, your grandfather did not practice fletcherism; but it is also
true that your grandfather lived under physiological, psychological,
social,
industrial, and sanitary conditions which were vastly different from
those under which you are living. There are no exceptions to this rule,
either; if you want perfect results, or even very good results from you
eating, you must fletcherize.
Fletcherizing consists in TASTING and CHEWING
every
mouthful of food
until it is reduced to a liquid, so that it gets away from you by
involuntary swallowing; and in holding a certain MENTAL ATTITUDE while
you are doing so. Begin your meal with the food you are most inclined
to eat, no matter what it may be; take a moderate mouthful, and taste
and chew until it disappears. When you feel that you have eaten enough,
stop; do not eat another mouthful, no matter who urges you, or how
tasty and inviting the food.
The mental attitude is simply one of cheerful
confidence that the food
so eaten will be perfectly digested and assimilated. This mental
attitude is not based on theory, but on physiological truth. If you do
not eat until you are really hungry, and then if you eat plain food
which you like, and fletcherize it, it cannot help being digested and
assimilated. Hunger
is a certain indication of digestive power; and where there is
digestive power, food which has been chewed to a liquid will certainly
be digested if you do not interfere with the process by fear-thought.
Fear thought is fatal to good digestion; you cannot digest food well
while you are thinking anxiously about the process of digestion. You
MUST eat your food with cheerful confidence.
To practice fletcherism, and to attain this
cheerful
confidence, some
will power and perseverance are required. You will frequently catch
yourself dropping back in into the old habits of bolting your food, and
of wondering whether it is going to "hurt you." Whenever you do this
you must call a halt, and start again. When, by years of practice, you
have formed a habit of doing a thing in a certain way, it is not easy
to form a habit of doing it in the opposite way; but it can be done;
and there is only one way to do it. That way is persistently,
repeatedly and continuously doing it in the way you WANT to do it,
instead of in the way you have habitually done it.
Suppose a man has the habit
of
wearing his hat a little on one side and
he determines to form the habit of putting it on straight. Twice in
succession he takes thought, and puts it on straight as he goes out;
the third time he finds, on getting into the street that he has it on
one side; and he instantly takes it off and puts it on as he wants to
wear it. So, day after day, he makes a point of instantly straightening
the hat whenever he finds that it is on one side; and by and by he has
by this continuous auto-suggestion formed the habit of THINKING of
himself with the hat on straight; and he will never put it on the side
again.
Take notice that your success or failure in all
things
is at stake in
this one matter. You are taking this course of lessons because you wish
to become self-controlling; you wish to become master of your own
destiny, and to rule over your environment, instead of being ruled by
it. How can you expect to control your environment unless you can rule
yourself in the manner and method of eating? Right here, on the
adoption of the no-breakfast plan and fletcherism, you win or lose the
whole battle. If you do without your breakfast a few mornings, and then
begin to nibble a cracker, or take a bite of toast; or if you practice
fletcherism for a week and then begin to grab and gobble in the bad old
way, I honestly advise you to go not further with these lessons. Do not
try to make any demonstrations in mental science until you can control
yourself in these simple matters.
The amount of discomfort you experience in
taking up
the no-breakfast
plan will depend on your mental attitude. Until quite recently
physiologists taught that a man could not live longer than ten days
without food; and in consequence, hundreds of people who were deprived
of food starved to death in from six to ten days. Within the past
decade, however, it has been demonstrated repeatedly that a person
whose mind is properly trained can fast for thirty or forty days with
little loss in weight, and often with no apparent diminution in
strength. This
proves that the people who have starved to death in ten days or less
have died because they had been trained to believe that they MUST
perish if they went beyond that limited period without food. If you
believe that way, you can
experience all the distressing feelings of incipient
starvation in going without your breakfast; or by confidently expecting
the opposite, you can do the hardest work in the forenoon, "on an empty
stomach" without the least discomfort, but with an actual gain in power
over the breakfast eater. This you can prove to be true by giving it a
thorough trial continuing long enough to get mentally adjusted to the
plan.
Aside from the above, the physical requirements
for
good health may be
summed up in a paragraph. Breathe pure air, especially when you sleep.
Open your windows WIDE both in summer and in winter; pile on the bed
clothes if you need them, or sleep in warm clothing, but have PURE AIR.
Bathe as often as necessary for perfect cleanliness; do not take cold
baths unless you enjoy them. Get a little all-round exercise of some
sort every day. And that is all. You do not need to work hard, or do
strange or unnatural things in order to be well. You do not have to
swallow drugs, or live on outlandish and freakish bills of fare. You do
not have to "assist nature" or interfere with nature, or to do yourself
violence in any way, externally or internally. Good health is a
perfectly natural thing, and no unnatural practices are necessary in
order to get it and keep it.
The cure of disease is a work of nature, and not
a
work of art. Breathe
pure air, keep clean, and get enough outdoor exercise every day; if you
desire to correct and develop bodily beauty, as you should, use Walter
Camp's "Daily Dozen," phonograph records to be had at any store.
For the coming month, then, concentrate on these
practices; remembering
what you learned in the first lesson - that you CAN do what is required
of you, and that if you DO what is required of you, you will certainly
get what you want. These laws have worked perfectly for thousands of
others, and they will certainly do so for you. Do not allow yourself to
doubt, worry, or get into the electrical state of mind; but maintain an
attitude of calm confidence which leads into the magnetic state. Do not
be discouraged because you find yourself frequently slipping back into
the old practices; each time you do so, take a new grasp upon yourself,
and keep right on; and by the time you practice the next lesson, which
will deal with the mental side of health culture, you will have made
great progress, and will be ready for another advance.
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