Accumulation is the power to reserve and preserve a part of the supply which we are constantly receiving, so as to be in a position to take advantage of the larger opportunities which will come as soon as we are ready for them. Has it not been said, “To him that hath shall be given”? All successful business men have this quality, well developed.

James J. Hill, who recently died, leaving an estate of over fifty-two million dollars said: “If you want to know whether you are destined to be a success or failure in life, you can easily find out. The test is simple and it is infallible: Are you able to save money? If not, drop out. You will lose. You may think not, but you will lose as sure as you live. The seed of success is not in you.”

This is very good so far as it goes, but any one who knows the biography of James J. Hill knows that he acquired his fifty million dollars by following the exact methods we have given. In the first place, he started with nothing; he had to use his imagination to idealize the vast railroad which he projected across the western prairies. He then had to come into a recognition of the law of abundance in order to provide the ways and means for materializing it; unless he had followed out this program he would never had anything to save.

Accumulativeness acquires momentum; the more you accumulate the more you desire, and the more you desire the more you accumulate, so that it is but a short time until the action and reaction acquire a momentum that cannot be stopped. It must, however, never be confounded with selfishness, miserliness or penuriousness; they are perversions and will make any true progress impossible.

Constructiveness is the creative instinct of the mind. It will be readily seen that every successful business man must be able to plan, develop or construct. In the business world it is usually referred to as initiative. It is not enough to go along in the beaten path. New ideas must be developed, new ways of doing things. It manifests in building, designing, planning, inventing, discovering, improving. It is a most valuable quality and must be constantly encouraged and developed. Every individual possesses it in some degree, because he is a center of consciousness in that infinite and Eternal Energy from which all things proceed.

Water manifests on three planes, as ice, as water and as steam; it is all the same compound; the only difference is the temperature, but no one would try to drive an engine with ice; convert it into steam and it easily takes up the load. So with your energy; if you want it to act on the creative plane, you will have to begin by melting the ice with the fire of imagination, and you will find the stronger the fire, and the more ice you melt, the more powerful your thought will become, and the easier it will be for you to materialize your desire.

Sagacity is the ability to perceive and co-operate with Natural Law. True Sagacity avoids trickery and deceit as it would the leprosy; it is the product of that deep insight which enables on to penetrate into the heart of things and understand how to set causes in motion which will inevitably create successful conditions.

Tact is a very subtle and at the same time a very important factor in business success. It is very similar to intuition. To possess tact one must have a fine feeling, must instinctively know what to say or what to do. In order to be tactful one must possess Sympathy and Understanding, the understanding which is so rare, for all men see and hear and feel, but how desperately few “understand.” Tact enables one to foresee what is about to happen and calculate the result of actions. Tact enables us to feel when we are in the presence of physical, mental and moral cleanliness, for these are today invariably demanded as the price of success.

Loyalty is one of the strongest links which bind men of strength and character. It is one which can never be broken with impunity. The man who would lose his right hand rather than betray a friend will never lack friends. The man who will stand in silent guard, until death, if need be, besides the shrine of confidence or friendship of those who have allowed him to enter will find himself linked with a current of cosmic power which will attract desirable conditions only. It is conceivable that such a person should ever meet with lack of any kind.

Individuality is the power to unfold our own latent possibilities, to be a law unto ourselves, to be interested in the race rather than the goal. Strong men care nothing for the flock of imitators who trot complacently behind them. They derive no satisfaction in the mere leading of large numbers, or the plaudits of the mob. This pleases only petty natures and inferior minds. Individuality glories more in the unfolding of the power within than in the servility of the weakling.

Individuality is a real power inherent in all and the development and consequent expression of this power enables one to assume the responsibility of directing his own footsteps rather than stampeding after some self-assertive bell-wether.

Inspiration is the art of imbibing, the art of self realization, the art of adjusting the individual mind to that of the Universal Mind, the art of attaching the proper mechanism to the source of all power, the art of differentiating the formless into form, the art of becoming a channel for the flow of Infinite Wisdom, the art of visualizing perfection, the art of realizing the Omnipresence of Omnipotence.

Truth is the imperative condition of all well being. To be sure, to know the truth and to stand confidently on it, is a satisfaction beside which no other is comparable. Truth is the underlying verity, the condition precedent to every successful business or social relation.

Every act not in harmony with Truth, whether through ignorance or design, cuts the ground from under our feet, leads to discord, inevitable loss, and confusion, for while the humblest mind can accurately foretell the result of every correct action, the greatest, most profound and penetrating mind loses its way hopelessly and can form no conception of the result due to a departure from correct principles.

Those who establish within themselves the requisite elements of true success have established confidence, organized victory, and it only remains for them to take such steps from time to time as the newly-awakened thought force will direct, and herein rests the magical secret of all power.

Less than 10 per cent of our mental processes are conscious; the other 90 per cent are subconscious and unconscious, so that he who would depend upon his conscious thought alone for results is less than 10 per cent efficient. Those who are accomplishing anything worth while are those who are enabled to take advantage of this greater storehouse of mental wealth. It is in the vast domain of the subconscious mind that great truths are hidden, and it is here that thought finds its creative power, its power to correlate with its object, to bring out of the unseen the seen.

Those familiar with the laws of Electricity understand the principle that electricity must always pass from a higher to a lower potentiality and can therefore make whatever application of the power they desire. Those not familiar with this law can effect nothing; and so with the law governing in the Mental World; those who understand that Mind penetrates all things, is Omnipresent and is responsive to every demand, can make use of the law and can control conditions, circumstances and environment; the uninformed cannot use it because they do not know it.

The fruit of this knowledge is as it were, a gift of the Gods; it is the “truth” that makes men free, not only free from every lack and limitation, but free from sorrow, worry and care, and, is it not wonderful to realize that this law is no respecter of persons, that it makes no difference what your habit of thought may be, the way has been prepared?

With the realization that this mental power controls and directs every other power which exists, that it can be cultivated and developed, that no limitation can be placed upon its activity, it will be come apparent that it is the greatest fact in the world, the remedy for every ill, the solution for every difficulty, the gratification of every desire; in fact, that it is the Creator’s magnificent provision for the emancipation of mankind.

Thoughts Are Things - Henry Van Dyke

I hold it true that thoughts are things;

They’re endowed with bodies and breath and wings;

And that we send them forth to fill

The world with good results, or ill.

That which we call our secret thought

Speeds forth to earth’s remotest spot,

Leavings its blessings or its woes

Like tracks behind it as it goes.

We build our future, thought by thought,

For good or ill, yet know it not.

Yet, so the universe was wrought.

Thought is another name for fate;

Choose, then they destiny and wait,

For love brings love and hate brings hate

Attainment

The nervous system is matter. Its energy is mind. It is therefore the instrument of the Universal Mind. It is the link between matter and spirit, between our consciousness and the Cosmic-Consciousness. It is the gateway of Infinite Power.

Both the Cerebro-spinal and the Sympathetic nervous systems are controlled by nervous energy that is alike in kind; and the two systems are so interwoven that their impulses can be sent from one to the other. Every activity of the body, every impulse of the nervous system, every thought, uses up nervous energy.

The system of nerves may be compared to a telegraph system; the nerve cells corresponding to the batteries, the fibres to the wires. In the batteries is generated electricity. The cells, however, do not generate nervous energy. They transform it and the fibres convey it. This energy is not a physical wave like electricity, light, or sound. It is MIND.

It hears the same relationship to the mind as a piano does to its player. The Mind can only have perfect expression when the instrument through which it functions is in order.

The organ of the Cerebro-spinal Nervous System is the Brain, the organ of the Sympathetic Nervous System is the Solar Plexus. The first is the voluntary or Conscious, the latter the involuntary or Subconscious.

It is through the Cerebro-spinal Nervous System and the Brain that we become conscious of possessions, hence all possession has its origin in consciousness. The undeveloped consciousness of a babe, or the inhibited consciousness of an idiot, cannot possess.

This mental condition--consciousness--increases in direct proportion to our acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is acquired by observation, experience, and reflection. We become conscious of these possessions by the mind; so that we recognize that possession is based on consciousness; this consciousness we designate the world within. Those possessions of Form that we acquire are of the world without.

That which possesses in the world within is Mind. That which enables us to possess in the world without is also Mind. Mind manifests itself as thoughts, mental pictures, words, and actions. Thought is therefore Creative. Our power to use Thought to create the conditions, surroundings, and other experiences of life, depends upon our habit of thinking. What we do depends upon what we are; what we are is the result of what we habitually think. Before we can Do, we must BE; before we can BE we must control and direct the force of Thought within us.

Thought is Force. There are but two things in the universe; Force and Form. When we realize that we possess this Creative Power, and that we can control and direct it, and by it act on the forces and forms in the objective world, we shall have made our first experiment in Mental Chemistry.

The Universal Mind is the ‘Substance’ of all force and form, the Reality that underlies ALL. In accordance with fixed laws, from Itself, and by Itself, is ALL brought into being and sustained. It is the Creative Power of Thought in its perfect expression. The Universal Mind is All Consciousness, All Power, and is Everywhere Present. It is essentially the same at every point of its presence, all mind is one mind. This explains the order and harmony of the universe. To apprehend this statement is to possess the ability to understand and solve every problem of life.

Mind has a two-fold expression--conscious or objective, and subconscious or subjective. We come into relationship with the world without by the objective mind; and with the world within by the subconscious mind. Though we are making a distinction between the conscious and the subconscious minds, such a distinction does not really exist; but this arrangement will be found convenient. All Mind is One Mind; in all phases of the mental life there is an indivisible unity and oneness.

The sub-conscious mind connects us with the Universal Mind, and thus we are brought into direct relationship with all power. In the sub-consciousness is stored up the observations and experiences of life that have come to it through the conscious mind. It is the storehouse of memory. The sub-conscious mind is a great seed plot in which thoughts have been dropped, or experiences conveyed by observation, or happenings planted, to come up again into consciousness with the fruitage of their growth.

Consciousness is the inner, and Thought is the outward expression of power. The two are inseparable; it is impossible to be conscious of a thing without thinking of it.