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by Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986)
[ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Before his death in January 1986, Herbert W. Armstrong led a life of experience that took him from modest beginnings to diplomatic endeavors worldwide. His lifetime spanned a period that historians have termed unique. Mr. Armstrong was born in another century – the 19th – when the horse and buggy was considered the form of travel. During his youth, the idea of globe-girdling air travel and instantaneous electronic transmission were but fanciful – or unheard-of – dreams. A personal witness to two world wars and the development of major communication links like radio, television and computers, he was sobered by humanity's induction into the nuclear age.
Mr. Armstrong's young thoughts were molded during an age of massive industrial expansion, a time when the future seemed unlimited. Many of those thoughts are reflected in this timeless booklet, The Seven Laws of Success. Since first, being written in late 1960, the princples have stood the test of time: they transcend changes in society. Coupled with the wealth of Mr. Armstrong's recorded experience, they make this historical booklet a useful and valuable addition to anyone's library.
Mr. Armstrong, a recognized professional communicator, often commented that he thought this was his best piece of writing. It is the publisher's hope that this will prove true for today's reader also.]
 IT
EVER occur to you that there might be a reason why so many people make
a failure of life? Not only men and career women, but wives and mothers
too.
Are you one who is wrestling
with the problem of "making
ends meet"? Nearly all of us are. This problem need not mean failure
– yet it often leads to it.
It is a fact
– the vast majority do wind up failures.
Yet none need fail!
Take a look at the facts in the world.
Is THIS Success?
Every two minutes someone in
the United States attempts suicide. Each day nearly 70 persons succeed –
but is that success? The World Health Organization estimates that some one
thousand people commit suicide in the world – every
day!
Suicides now outnumber murders. Now various organizations
for the prevention of suicide are a reality! But the cause is
individual failure!
Only a minority, of course, go to this extreme, but
the overwhelming majority do end their lives in failure.
Much of the world is in current "prosperity." Yet
– in booming U.S. – more businesses failed in a very recent
year than in any other in the last twenty-six. Across the world streaks
the shocking trend of increasing failures. Scores of millions daily
allow the creeping cancer of failure to chain them to a life of unhappy
circumstances, from which only death promises release.
But why?
Why are only the very few really successful? Is it
mere chance – is it just happen – so – can
it be luck? Or are there definite reasons?
Why do all but the very few find themselves, by age
60 or 65, dependents? Why must there by old-age pensions, public welfare
aid, charities to support the non-crippled, non-handicapped helpless?
Why must children so often provide for aged parents – when
it ought to be the other way around?
I am going to tell you why!
There are definite
causes! Seven basic laws govern success! It is high time people come
to know them, and end this unhappy and needless tragedy!
Finding
the Answer
When I was a young man of twenty-three,
I was a member of the editorial staff of a national magazine. I was
sent on tours over the United States, covering ten or fifteen states
each tour. My assignment was investigating business conditions, reporting
workable ideas and facts. I interviewed businessmen and chamber of
commerce officials. I discussed with merchants and manufacturers their
problems. I searched out ideas and methods that had been successfully
applied in sales promotion, public relations, cutting costs, speeding
up turnover, increasing profits.
One of the things my editors assigned me to investigate
was the reason behind the success of the few, and the failure
of the many. Some 95% of smaller independent merchants were reported
by Dun and Bradstreet to be heading toward bankruptcy.
Of course, we were concerned then only with the success
or failure of men. But the same laws apply to the lives of women.
I asked the opinions of hundreds of businessmen. Most
thought success resulted merely from superior ability, and failure
from the lack of it. But this opinion consigned the majority to failure
from birth without a chance. If a man lacked the ability, he was foredoomed
to failure. There seemed nothing he could do about it. I was not satisfied
with this idea and later I proved it false.
The manager of the large J.L. Hudson department store
in Detroit thought failure generally resulted from lack of adequate
capital. A minority interviewed agreed with him. But this, also, made
dollars, and not the man, responsible for success or failure.
Actually, investigation showed
these to be contributing factors, but only that. A more prevalent
factor, I found, was fitting
the proverbial "square peg in the round hole." Most failures were misfits.
Most, had they known these seven laws, could have made a success
in the field where they best fit.
This quest for the reasons for success or
failure intrigued me. My research on this question did not stop with
these editorial tours. Observation and analysis of this problem has
continued through the years.
And I know, now, that no human being need ever
become a failure!
Failures are not foredoomed. Success does not just happen!
It is governed by seven definite laws. If you know them, and
apply them, the happy result, in the end , is assured.
Every individual was put on this earth for a PURPOSE!
Every person was put here to become a success. Every human ought to enjoy the
sweet taste of success – to find peace and happiness –
to live an interesting, secure, and abundant life! And in order that all might –
if willing – reap such full and abundant rewards, the Creator
set in motion actual, definite LAWS to produce that desired result.
The tragedy is that through the centuries and millenniums
man has turned his back on those laws – those causes of
the very success he craves! The world long ago ignored and forgot them.
Today, most people do not know what they are. Most people have
not followed a single one of the seven basic laws.
I ask in all candor – isn't
that a shocking state of human affairs? It is, in fact,
the colossal tragedy of all history!
You
Can't Buy it!
If some recognized authority
had a copyrighted plan to sell that was guaranteed to make all who
follow it prosperous and successful, I suppose people by the thousands
would flock to buy the plan.
One man had such a plan.
It was a sort of pseudo "psychological" religion.
He promised the plan would make its followers prosperous or rich –
the easy way, of course. Its propagator advertised that it had made him rich.
He boasted of his fine home, his great high-ceiling pipe-organ room.
The inference was that it would make its purchasers equally prosperous –
but he neglected to mention that it was the naïve dupes who bought
his bogus plan who made him rich.
This man stumbled onto an
advertising catch-phrase for a headline in magazine and newspaper
advertisements, which multiplied
responses. He used it for years. But ultimately it wore itself out.
This charlatan's "success" was neither real nor lasting. He was, himself,
a colossal failure.
The only way to true success is not a formula being
sold like merchandise.
You can't buy it with money. It comes to you free –
without money, and without price. There is a price, of course –
your own application of these definite laws. It is not guaranteed
to be the easy way – but it is guaranteed
to be the only way to real success!
Clark Gable – Success?
It so happens that on the very
morning of the day this was originally written, I read in a London
newspaper the obituary of Clark Gable, motion picture celebrity. I
suppose the world would rate him a great success. But was he?
Just what is success, anyway?
How can people win success when so few know what it
is?
I was struck with a number of things in this cinema-star's
obituary. My mind, of course, was on this theme, since I was at the
moment writing on it.
Clark Gable was heralded
on page one of this newspaper as king of the films. He was described
as "the romantic hero of 90
films." He was one of the first ten money-making stars in the years
1932-43, 1947-49, and 1955. That is 16 years. And the top film stars
make fabulous incomes. "He was," said the obituary, "one of the few
screen idols to stay the course for so long." But does all that spell
SUCCESS?
One of the "fascinating" things
mentioned about his life was that he had been married five times! Would we consider
at least three failures in marriage (one wife was killed in an air
crash) SUCCESS? The obituary said he cultivated "the furrowed
brow, the knowing frown, the half-closed eyes, those ears and the wise-guy
leer." They were not natural. He deliberately cultivated them
for the women. "Clark Gable," said the obituary, "had cultivated these
for the girls for nearly the whole of his romantic reign." You might
have called it his trademark. He would." "It's just a business to me,
always has been," he explained. It was just his way of "earning a living".
Rich Men I Have
Known
In my lifetime I have had close
and intimate contact almost constantly with recognized successful men.
From age 18, in early life – within the United States. From
middle-age – worldwide. I have read many books and articles
written by such men, numerous biographies and autobiographies of the
great and the near great – their experiences, their philosophies.
I know how these leaders among men think, how they act, what principles
and rules they follow.
One factor characterized nearly every one of these
men. They made money. They acquired material possessions. Many headed
big corporations. They achieved recognition as being important.
Significantly, most of these men practiced the first
SIX of the seven laws of success. That is tremendously important!
There was the president of a great motor car corporation
at the time when I was the young assistant secretary of the Chamber
of Commerce in his city. He made money. He was recognized in the world
as important. He rose to the top in his profession and industry. But
in the flash depression of 1920 his corporation passed into receivers'
hands, he lost his personal material gains – and he ended
his life a suicide! Was he, after all, a success? He neglected not
only the seventh, but also the sixth.
Then there were two great bankers whom I knew, one
of them quite intimately. This was Mr. Arthur Reynolds, president of
the then second largest national bank in America. I first knew Mr.
Reynolds when he was president of a bank in the city where I was born.
Later, as an ambitious and rising young advertising man in Chicago,
I went to him often for personal counsel and advice. He was always
interested, helpful. And I always considered his advice sound, and
followed it. Mr. Reynolds won a measure of national and worldwide fame.
Some thirty-five years later
I walked into his great bank and inquired of one of its many vice-presidents
whether he knew
where Mr. Reynolds had moved, and where he had died. I had heard that
he had retired and moved to our headquarters city, Pasadena, and died
there. This vice president had never heard of Arthur Reynolds. "Who
was he?" he asked.
He inquired around. No one he asked remembered Arthur
Reynolds. Finally the public relations secretary sent to the bank's
library, and presently a clerk brought a newspaper clipping. It was
the sole record the bank seemed to possess of its former president,
who, with his brother, was largely responsible for building up this
bank to its great size and importance. The clipping was from a San
Mateo, California, newspaper. It told of his death in that San Francisco
suburb.
After reading it, I handed the clipped obituary back.
"You'll certainly want to keep this," I remarked. "It
must be valuable to the bank."
"Oh, no," he replied. "If
you knew him, take it along."
And thus I carried from that
great bank what probably was the only record of this man in the bank
of which he was so long
president. His "success" was not lasting. It was not long remembered.
During his busy lifetime,
this man applied the first SIX of the seven rules of success. Yet
whatever success he achieved
was fleeting, and although he had accumulated money, acquired a nice
block of stock in the bank, lived in a fine home, became recognized
as important in his lifetime, all of his "success" died with him!
The other great banker was Mr. John McHugh. I first
knew him as president of a bank in a Midwest city. Then I had an hour's
interesting chat with him in the Willard Hotel in Washington during
the American Bankers' Association national convention in 1920. He was
then president of a well-known New York City bank. Later, consolidations
of several New York banks elevated him two offices higher than the
president of the then largest bank in the world. Yet some 36 years
later when I inquired about him at this great bank, the answer was
the same –"Who's he? Never heard of him!" His "success" did
not live after him.
But there is a real success that endures!
But IS This Success?
Yes, I have been privileged
to know many of the great and the near great – especially
in the American business world. I have known multimillionaire capitalist,
chief executives of great corporations and banks, cabinet members in
the national administration at Washington, authors, artists, lecturers,
college and university heads.
For the most of them, success meant the acquisition
of money and material possessions, and being of recognized status.
One important man I knew
was Elbert Hubbard, philosopher, prolific writer, publisher, lecturer,
known as "the Sage of East Aurora." "The
Fra," as he sometimes styled himself, became quite famous. He wore
semi-long hair under an extra-size hat, and a string bow tie. He was
said to be worth a half million dollars at a time when that equaled
three million or more on today's market.
He published two magazines, composed mostly of his
own writings, The Philistine, and The Fra. He boasted
the largest vocabulary of any man since Shakespeare. He published An
American Bible, shocking many of the religious yet explaining
that the word "bible" merely means "book", not necessarily implying sacred writings,
unless the word "HOLY" is prefaced. His "bible" consisted of his selection
of choice writings from American authors. He included Franklin, Emerson,
Paine, Jefferson, Lincoln, and, of course, Hubbard! He allotted
nearly half of the entire volume to Hubbard – and all other
famous Americans combined shared the remainder.
Hubbard was not the victim of an inferiority complex,
and he preached a positive philosophy. He did have rare insight
and wisdom in purely material matters, and a keen understanding of
human nature.
He knew that "important" men
craved flattery as an actor enjoys applause. A large share of his
fortune was made by writing
an almost endless series of booklets, captioned Little Journeys
to the Homes of the Great and the Near-Great. These were printed,
of course, in rare style in his own Roycroft Press. Dozens and scores
of America's rich and famous men paid Hubbard premium prices to write
them up in his inimitable literary style.
An interesting sidelight on Mr. Hubbard's concept
of success came spontaneously from his lips one Sunday afternoon. He
and I were chatting at his Roycroft Inn in East Aurora, New York.
"I asked a Unitarian minister," I said, "whether
he had ever been able to discern just what your religious belief
really
is – if any."
"Fra Elbertus" was interested at once. "And what did
he say?" he asked, curiously.
"He said he wasn't quite sure, but he suspected that
whatever your religion may be, it probably originated in your pocketbook
and bank account." There was no denial.
"Ho, ho," laughed Elbert Hubbard, "well,
I get away with it, don't I?"
But was Elbert Hubbard a real success, after all?
By human standards, I suppose he was. He knew and applied the first six of
the seven laws of success. He worked hard and industriously, and he
reaped a bounteous harvest – of money, popularity, acclaim.
He and his wife Alice Hubbard went down together into the depths of
the Atlantic when a German submarine sank the Lusitania. This
was one of the overt acts of the Kaiser's forces that plunged America
into World War 1.
But his fame did not appear to last. One seldom hears
of him any more.
Hubbard knew material values. But his agnosticism
closed the door – and threw away the key – that led
to an understanding of spiritual values. He never quite understood
the real PURPOSE of life itself. He wasn't sure whether there was a
Creator. He was convinced that fundamentalist or traditional "Christianity" was
an impractical superstition. He didn't know WHY humanity was placed
on the earth – or whether it just happened! He didn't know
man's real potential destiny. He didn't know the seventh law
of success. And, not knowing or following that seventh rule, he drove
himself, by the diligent practice of the six, in the wrong direction –
diametrically away from true success!
It Never Satisfied
What was the real meaning
of life to these "successful" men?
Their goal in life – their definition of
success – was material acquisition, recognition of status
by society, and the passing enjoyment of the five senses.
But the more they acquired, the more they wanted,
and the less satisfied they became with what they had. When they got
it, it was never enough.
Some "successful" men of
the world maneuver to get their pictures on page one of metropolitan
newspapers, or on the front
covers of national magazines. This inflates and briefly titillates
ego, but it never satisfies for long. There's nothing the public forgets
so quickly as yesterday's news!
Such men seek the flattery
of others, and engage in back-slapping to invite it. But, like an
actor's applause (the word
always makes me think of "applesauce") it doesn't last and leaves them
flat, with a gnawing inner hunger for something that will satisfy!
So they become restless, discontented.
Their bank accounts may be full, but their lives are
empty. And what they do acquire, which is never enough and never satisfies,
they leave behind when they die!
What is wrong?
Such men started out with the wrong goals. They had
not discerned the true values, but pursued the false.
Isn't it about time we learn the true definition of
SUCCESS?
Perhaps the prize example of all history is that of
an ancient king, who strove hard, accomplished much, gained fabulous
wealth. He experimented with every pleasure, to see whether it brought
happiness.
This man said to himself, "Come
now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself."
Continuing to describe his
experiment, this man wrote: "I
searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine – my
mind still guiding me with wisdom – and how to lay hold on
folly, till I might see what was good."
This ancient king was young enough to try to really enjoy
life. He could afford it, too. He was one of the wealthiest
men who ever lived – with the resources of a nation at his
command. If there was not enough money for a project he dreamed up,
he simply raised the taxes.
So, he continued writing
of his experiment in searching for happiness and success, "I went in for great works." Stupendous
national works and projects. "I built mansions, planted vineyards,
laid out gardens and parks for myself, in which I planted all manner
of fruit trees, making pools to water the trees in my plantations.
I bought slaves, both men and women, and had slaves born within my
household. I had large herds and flocks, larger than any before me.
I amassed silver and gold, right royal treasures; I procured singers,
both men and women, and many a mistress, man's delight. Richer and
richer I grew, more than any before me in my country .... Nothing I
coveted did I refuse myself: I denied my heart no enjoyment –
for my heart did feel pleasure in all this – so much I did
get from all my efforts.
"But," he concluded, "when
I turned to look at all I had achieved and at my efforts and trouble,
then it was all vain
and futile ... all was VANITY, and a striving after wind. Nothing in
this world is worthwhile.
"Utterly vain, utterly vain, everything is VANITY," wrote
this king, after his life of experimenting. All it led to was striving –
yes, always striving – and for what? "After WIND", he
concluded. All that a lifetime of hard work, vigorous application,
material accomplishment brought him, he concluded, amounted to no more
that a HANDFUL OF WIND!
This man was called the wisest man who had ever lived.
He was King Solomon of ancient Israel. But in all his costly experimenting
he never found the true values – the meaning of true and lasting
SUCCESS!
And WHY?
Simply because, with all his
wisdom, this man sought pleasure – happiness – success – his own
way, in materialism. In the beginning the Eternal Creator designated
and set in motion living laws for the very purpose of producing
happiness, abundant living, pure and continuous joy, in all humans
who would follow them. These are the seven great laws of SUCCESS. King
Solomon, like nearly all the world's "successful" men, applied diligently
the first six – but without the seventh, he started out in the wrong
direction. The more he strove, the farther he went – in the direction away from
true and lasting success.
He knew this seventh
law. But, "Solomon did
what was evil in the sight of the Eternal ... he did not keep what
the Eternal commanded. Therefore the Eternal said to Solomon, ‘Since
this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my rules
which I commanded, I will surely tear the kingdom from you' " (1 Kin.
11:6-11).
Now let me tell you the experience
of a modern king. He was a close personal friend of ex-King Saud
of Arabia, to whom I
have been personally presented. Wealth came suddenly to Sheik Ali of
Qatar (pronounced "gutter").
Qatar is a little Arabian country jutting into the
Persian gulf. The big oil boom recently came to Sheik Ali's little
kingdom. It paid the country of 35,000 population 50 million dollars
a year, of which 12 1/2 million went personally to old Sheik Ali, age
69.
Now what would you do with it, if you suddenly
came into 12 1/2 million dollars a year?
The answer, in all probability, is that you would
not do what you now think you would! That much money, coming suddenly
into one's hands, usually changes one's ideas completely. That's what
it did to old Sheik Ali.
Immediately he began to build big gaudy pink, green,
and gold palaces in the midst of malodorous mud hovels. They were air-conditioned,
ultramodern, even equipped with push button window curtains! And now
the newly wealthy sheik could avoid the 120-degree bake-oven summers
of the desert.
He chartered whole airliners and took with him a retinue
so large that his newly purchased palatial villa on Lake Geneva could
not hold them all, and they overflowed into various resort hotels.
Then Sheik Ali indulged in the $1,000,000 purchase
of a magnificent mansion overlooking Beirut – and the beautiful
Mediterranean. When King Saud paid him a royal visit, he presented
the king with 16 automobiles. One was embellished with gold. Old Sheik
Ali became so generous in his self-indulgences, that his debts,
over and beyond his fabulous income, soon mounted to 14 million dollars!
The news stories filtered around the world of how
the Sheik just simply could not make ends meet on a mere 12
1/2 million dollars a year! About the 1st of November, 1960, he abdicated
in favor of his son Ahmed, age 40. A new advisory council arranged
to pay old Ali's debts, and give him a pension large enough only to
provide for a mere handful of servants and a few wives.
Poor old Ali! He found it harder to make ends meet
on 12 1/2 million annual dollars than he did in comparative poverty.
The FIRST Law
Certainly NOTHING in life is
more important than to know: what is real success –
and how to achieve it.
What, then, is the first law of success?
Before stating even the first law, let it be said
that I am not considering here such general principles of character
as honesty, patience, loyalty, courtesy, dependability, punctuality,
etc., etc., etc., except as these are automatically included in the
seven rules. We may assume that one cannot become a real success without
these principles of right character.
But on the other hand, many are honest who have never
practiced a single one of the seven laws, specifically. Many may be
loyal, have patience, extend courtesy, be punctual, who are unsuccessful
because they have not applied a single one of these seven definite,
specific rules. Even so, each of these laws covers a vast territory.
Here, then, is the first law of success:
Fix the RIGHT Goal!
Not
just any goal. Most of the "successful "men
I have mentioned had goals. They drove themselves relentlessly to accomplishment.
But making money, gaining STATUS in the eyes of people, enjoying the
passing pleasures of the five senses, has literally strewn the pathway
of history with fears, worries, heartaches, troubled consciences, sorrows,
frustrations, empty lives and death.
These things may be had and enjoyed along with true
success. But they alone do not bring success. The right goal
includes something more.
In other words, the very first law of success is to
be able to define success! Once you have learned what success is make that your
goal in life.
Do you know that most people go through life without
any GOAL at all? In fact, most people, as I've said before, do not
know, and do not apply a SINGLE ONE of the seven laws of success!
Most people never think of having any PURPOSE in life.
They are not going anywhere, in particular.
If you have saved up money for a trip to Paris, or
Rome, or London for your vacation or holiday, you spend a lot of time
in excited anticipation PLANNING your trip – but you DO have
a definite DESTINATION – and all plans are laid to take you
to that particular destination – that GOAL. You know where you
are planning to go. Otherwise, how would you ever expect to arrive
there?
As I said once before, most people have no aim –
they are merely the victims of CIRCUMSTANCE. They never planned,
purposefully, to be in the job or occupation in which they find
themselves today. They do not live where they do by CHOICE that is,
because they PLANNED it that way. They have merely been buffeted around
by CIRCUMSTANCE! They have allowed themselves to drift. They have made
no effort to master and control circumstances.
The first law of success, I repeat, is to fix the
RIGHT goal. Not any goal. One could set a goal in which he
had little or no interest, and drift into inaction. The right goal
will arouse ambition. Ambition is more than mere desire. It is desire plus incentive –
determination – will to achieve the desire. The right
goal will be so intensely desired it will excite vigorous and determined
effort. It will fire one with incentive.
There should be an overpowering PURPOSE to life. Few
have ever known such purpose. Down through centuries and millenniums
thinkers and philosophers have pondered, and sought in vain to learn
whether life has a real purpose. Socrates, Plato, Augustine among others
speculated and reasoned, yet the true meaning of life eluded them.
This deepest and most important question in life remained to them a
mystery – an unsolvable enigma!
IF one could discover such an overall PURPOSE –
a definite purpose for which humans were put on earth – IF
one could discover a human potential greater than mere temporary existence,
one would think that PURPOSE would be the goal that should excite dynamic
ambition!
But – alas! Who has ever discovered such
an objective as life's aim?
Was there nothing greater to look forward to, for
my two prominent banker friends? Nothing greater than to enjoy fleeting
status, only to be forgotten by those who succeeded them?
What is there, after all, to live for?
I repeat! The first law of real success is to have
the right goal! The men I have described, rated eminently successful
in the world, all had goals. They applied diligently all of the first
six of the Success Laws. But failing the seventh, they misapplied the
first. Their success was fleeting.
The Vital Second
Law
And so, if you are to arrive
at SUCCESS in LIFE, you must first set the right goal, and then comes
the PREPARATION to achieve that goal.
So, the SECOND law of success in time sequence, is EDUCATION,
or PREPARATION.
How can one expect to accomplish his purpose unless
he acquires the know-how? One thing we need to know about life –
and many do not – is that humans do not come equipped with
instinct.
To this extent, the dumb animals have a certain advantage
over us. They do not have to learn. They never need weary their brains
with book learning.
The new born calf does not have to be taught how to
walk. It starts immediately to get up on its somewhat infirm and uncertain
legs. It may fall down on the first or second attempt, but in a matter
of a few moments it stands, even if a little unsteady at first. It
does not require a year or two – not even an hour or two –
the little calf starts walking in a few minutes! It does not
need to reason out any goals. It requires no textbooks, nor teaching.
It instinctively knows its goal – dinner!
And it knows, also instinctively, the way. On its own four legs it
proceeds immediately to the first meal!
I have repeated so many times: birds build nests –
by instinct. No one teaches them how. Five generations of weaver birds,
isolated from nests or nest-building materials, never saw a nest. When
nest-building materials were made accessible, the sixth generation,
without any instruction, proceeded to build nests! They were not crows'
nests or eagles' nests. They were the same kind of nests weaver birds
have built since creation. They had no minds to think out,
imagine, design, and construct a different kind of nest.
Of course dogs, horses, elephants, dolphins, and some
other animals can be taught and trained to do certain tricks. But they
cannot reason, imagine, think, plan, design and construct new and different
things. They do not acquire knowledge, perceive truth from error, make
decisions, and employ WILL to exercise self-discipline according to
their own reasoned wisdom and decisions. THEY CANNOT DEVELOP MORAL
AND SPIRITUAL CHARACTER.
But humans have it not quite so easy. Humans have
to learn, or be taught. Humans have to learn to walk, to talk,
to eat or drink.
We don't come to these basic accomplishments instinctively
and immediately like the dumb animals. It may take a little more time.
It may come a little harder. But we can go on to learn reading,
writing, and "rithmetic"!
Then we can go further, and learn to appreciate literature,
music, art. We can learn to think and reason, to conceive a new idea,
to plan, design, construct.
We can investigate, experiment, invent telescopes
and learn something about outer space and far-off planets, stars, and
galaxies. We invent microscopes and learn about infinitesimal particles
of matter.
We learn about electricity, laws of physics and chemistry.
We learn to use the wheel, construct highways, and roll over ground
faster than any animal. We learn to fly higher, farther and faster
than any bird. We learn how to take nature apart and make it work for
us. We discover and utilize nuclear energy.
But we have to LEARN – to STUDY –
to be EDUCATED – to be PREPARED for what we propose to do.
One if the first things we need to learn is – that
we need to learn!
Once you have learned enough to CHOOSE A GOAL, the second
step toward successfully accomplishing that goal is to LEARN
THE WAY – to acquire the additional education, training,
experience, to give you the know-how to achieve your goal.
Most people fail to set any definite goals. Having
no specific aims, they neglect the specialized EDUCATION to make possible
the attainment of their purpose.
Now all these men whose case histories I have recounted
had goals. They had the overall purpose of acquiring possessions, attaining
status, and enjoying the passing moments. As a means to this objective,
they had the specialized goals of succeeding in banking, industry,
politics, acting, writing, or whatever. They all EDUCATED THEMSELVES
for their particular profession or calling.
They were broad enough to realize that education included
not only book learning, but personality development, leadership, experience,
knowledge from contacts and associations, and from observation.
Yet these "successful" people
were not really successful. They not only chose an overall goal that
led them in the way of false
values, they also failed to equip themselves with the RIGHT education
to make possible that REAL LASTING success – fulfilling the
PURPOSE of life.
There is, then, a right and a false education.
These successful people were not lastingly successful.
Their education failed to teach them the TRUE VALUES. They chose goals
that led them in the way of false values that didn't last.
The entire system of education in this world neglects
to recapture the true values. Even the scholarly educators themselves
too often devote themselves to arduous years of research into non-essential
and useless channels.
The basic and most essential knowledge –
the true values, the meaning and purpose of life, the WAY to peace,
to happiness and abundant well-being – these basics are never
taught. Because I was given to see this decadence in modern education –
to recognize this tragic knowledge gap – I was led to found
a college that fills this need.
Right education must teach that all things are a matter
of cause and effect – that for every result, whether good
or evil, there is a cause. True education will teach the CAUSE of this
world's evils – of personal or collective troubles –
so that they may be avoided. Also it must instruct in the CAUSE of
this world's evils – of personal or collective troubles –
so that they may be avoided. Also it must instruct in the CAUSE of
the GOOD results, that we may know how to win them instead of the troubles.
Right education must not stop at teaching TO LIVE! It must know, and
teach, the PURPOSE of human life, and how to fulfill it.
Decadent education has spawned student revolt, which
has, on occasion, plunged many colleges and universities into states
of violence and chaos!
It's another significant tragedy of our time!
This world is disseminating false education that has
come down to us from the thinking, philosophizing, yet misguided pagans
who lacked a knowledge of the true values and purposes of life! The
true history of education is an eye-opening story in itself!
The Basic Third
Law
The all-important law coming
next in time order is GOOD HEALTH.
We are physical beings. The mind and the body form
the most wonderful physical mechanism we know. But man is made of matter.
He is basically 16 elements of organic, chemically functioning existence.
He lives by the breath of air – which is
the breath of LIFE itself. If the bellows we call lungs do not keep
inhaling and exhaling the oxygen-containing air, man won't live to
achieve any goal. You are only one heartbeat away from death! As the
lungs pump air in and out, so the heart pumps blood through an intricate
system of veins and arteries. These must be supported by food and water.
And so man IS just what he eats. Some of
the most famous physicians and surgeons have said that 90% to 95% of
all sickness and disease comes from faulty diet!
Most people are in utter ignorance of the fact that
it does make a difference what we eat! Most people, and the
customs of society, have followed a regimen of eating whatever tastes
good to the palate.
Adults are babies grown up. Observe a nine-month-old
baby. Everything that comes into his hands goes to his mouth!
My youngest brother may not like to read this in print,
but I remember when he was about nine months old, and had managed to
creep into the basement coal bin. We found him trying to eat little
chunks of coal – his mouth and face well blackened!
You may laugh at babies trying to eat silver cups
and chunks of coal. Or at people who dip small mice into a sauce, and,
holding them by their tails, drop them as a delicious delicacy into
their mouths.
If you do, they will laugh back at you. They will
tell you that mice eat clean grain and clean foods, while you dip slimy,
slithery oysters and other scavenger seafoods into cocktail sauces,
and consider them a delicacy!
You think adults have actually LEARNED any better
than nine-month-olds babies? Go to your fancy grocer's and you'll find
on his shelves canned eel and canned rattlesnake.
WHY? As I said, humans know nothing at birth! We have
to learn! But most of us do not know that! And, again, what
we don't know, we don't know that we don't know! And somehow,
ever since babyhood, most humans seem to have grown up putting everything
into the mouth. Most have grown up eating just whatever seemed to taste
good – and whatever they saw others eating. There has been
little education or even study about WHAT we ought – or ought
NOT – to eat.
Most degenerative diseases are modern diseases –
penalties for eating foods that have been demineralized in food factories –
usually an excess of starch, sugar (the carbohydrates) and fats. Others
are caused by a type of malnutrition – lack of needed minerals
and vitamins in foods. Then people try to put the "vitamins" back into
their systems by buying pills at the drugstore!
A famous director of a "Physical Fitness" program,
lecturing at Ambassador College, reminded us that the medical profession
has made great strides toward eliminating communicable diseases, yet
is having little success coping with the increase of the non-communicable
diseases – such as cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, kidney
diseases. These latter are affected by faulty diet.
Of course there are other laws of health –
sufficient sleep, exercise, plenty of fresh air, cleanliness and proper
elimination, right thinking, clean living.
Right now "jogging" has become the physical fitness
fad. Even men in their late forties read a book by a self-professing "expert", and
suddenly are straining their hearts running two miles every day. "More
and more exercise!" cry the faddists.
Why do humans tend to go to extremes? Exercise is
good – it profits a little – but like most things,
it can be carried past the law of diminishing returns. You can get
an overdose that can cause harm. We are prone to forget the admonition
of TEMPERANCE in all things.
What is the value of this excessive exertion in running
two miles a day? It induces blood circulation. It gets circulation
even to the extremities. And that is good. Stimulating blood
circulation is good. Stimulating blood circulation is important.
But we can also DESTROY HEALTH by going to unwise extremes. There is
as much danger in overdoing exercise as in neglecting it.
Circulation can be induced without over-exertion or
danger. I have never forgotten a lecture I heard as a young man in
the days of the Chautauqua. The lecturer had been physical trainer
to President Howard Taft. Immediately following the close of the Taft
administration, this physical trainer managed to secure a list of all –
or nearly all – of the centenarians in the United States.
He personally visited every one. He asked to what they attributed their
long life. One never used tobacco, and gave that as the reason. But
another used tobacco all his life and still lived past a hundred years.
One "tee-totaled" – but another drank beer and brandy all
his life. And so it went. When he had interviewed them all, he analyzed
his notes and was surprised to learn that ONLY ONE THING was common
to them all. Yet not one gave it credit for his long life. Every one
had taken a vigorous daily rub-down. Some with a bath towel, following
a daily bath. Some with a brush. But in one way or another, each had
stimulated blood circulation even to the extremities of toes and fingers
by daily rubbing or massaging.
Many ask how I (now in my nineties) keep up the energy,
vigor and drive. I'm sure there is more than one reason –
but I do not "jog" or go in for fads. I WALK – the best exercise
for one of my age. But ever since I heard that lecture, perhaps 60
or more years ago, I have taken a daily RUB-DOWN method. A generous-size
bath towel, following a daily shower. I try to get enough sleep. I watch elimination (very important). I try to be careful about my diet.
And I have a tremendous INCENTIVE – a driving PURPOSE in life,
because I have learned what is life's PURPOSE. That spurs
to action! I have a mission to accomplish that is more important than
my life. There's not much time left – and it MUST and WILL
BE ACCOMPLISHED! Besides all this I draw on a greater and higher Power.
I think that gives the answer.
The average person has never stopped to realize that
it is not natural to be sick. Sickness and disease come only
from violation of nature's laws of body and mind –
the physical LAWS of health. Most people have not learned that
there are any such laws! They suppose that occasional illness or disease
is natural in the course of life. Nothing could be farther from the
truth.
Sickness should not be taken for granted. Some authorities
go so far as to say that we do not catch a cold –
we eat our colds and fevers! They explain that a cold or fever
is merely the unnatural and rapid elimination of toxins and poisons
stored up in the glands, resulting from improper diet.
Now what about the great and the near-great of the
world? They usually do not know all there is to know about the laws
of good, vigorous health with clear, alert minds. But, compared to
the average of the population, they know a great deal. They
have, as a rule, enjoyed, shall we say, comparatively good
health!
As an example, the President of the United States
always has a White House physician who is constantly watchful over
the President's physical condition. A President is virtually required
to get in certain exercise. President Eisenhower played golf frequently.
President Kennedy took a daily swim. President Taft had a physical
trainer who watched the overweight President daily.
Yet, there are many things that even these important
people do not know about the causes of sickness, disease, debility.
One factor I think has worked universally in favor
of such men. Mental attitude does have considerable influence
on physical condition. Most "successful" men – as the world
evaluates success – do think constructively, positively, in
a mental attitude of confidence. They do not allow themselves to think
negatively or assume an attitude of fear, worry, or discouragement.
They do not allow themselves to get into uncontrolled moods of griping,
complaining. They enforce on themselves emotional balance. And, mindful
of the responsibilities on their shoulders, they probably put more
restraint on dissipation than most people.
Without health one is direly handicapped, if not totally
cut off from achievement. The fourth Law of Success is largely dependent on
good health.
The All-important
Fourth Law
A person may have chosen his goal. Having
it may have aroused tremendous ambition to achieve it. He may have
started out educating and training himself for its accomplishment,
and he may even have good health and still make little or
no progress toward its realization.
After all, success is accomplishment. It
is DOING. They say any old dead fish can float downstream, but it takes
a live one to swim up. An inactive person will not accomplish. Accomplishment
is DOING.
Now comes an all-important law.
The fourth success-law, then, is DRIVE!
Half-hearted effort might carry one a little way toward
his goal, but it will never get him far enough to reach it.
You will always find that the executive head of
any growing, successful organization employs drive! He puts
a constant prod on himself. He not only drives himself, he
drives those under him, else they might lag, let down and stagnate.
He may feel drowsy, and hate to awaken and get up
in the morning. But he refuses to give in to this impulse.
I remember the struggles
I once had with this situation. It was during one of my "Idea-Man" tours as a magazine editorial representative
at age 22. I was having quite a struggle with drowsiness. Yet I acquired
the habit of sleepily answering the morning telephone call and promptly
going back to bed and to sleep. Then I bought a "Baby Ben" alarm clock,
which I carried with me. But I found myself arising to turn it off,
then plunging back into bed. I was too drowsy to realize what I was
doing. I was not sufficiently awake to employ willpower and force myself
to stay up, get under the shower and become fully awake and alert.
It had become habit.
I had to break the habit. I had to put a prod on myself.
I needed an alarm clock that couldn't be turned off until I was sufficiently
awake to get going for the day.
So one night at the Hotel Patton in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
I called a bellboy to my room. In those days the customary tip was
a dime. A half dollar then had about the same effect that a $20 bill
would have today. I laid a silver half-dollar on the dresser.
"Do you see that half-dollar, son?" I
asked.
"Yes, Sir!" he answered,
eyes sparkling in anticipation.
After ascertaining that he
would be still on duty at 6:30 next morning, I said, "If you will
pound on that door in the morning at 6:30, until I let you in, and
then stay in this room and
prevent me from getting back into bed until I am dressed, then you
may have that half-dollar."
I found those bell-boys would, for a half-dollar tip,
even wrestle or fight with me to prevent my crawling back into bed.
Thus I put a prod on myself that broke the morning snooze habit and got
me up and going!
Often workmen never rise above whatever job they may
have because they have no drive. They slow down, work slowly, poke
around, sit down and rest as much as they can. In other words, they
must have a boss over them to drive them, or they would probably
starve. They would never become successful farmers – for a
farmer, to succeed, must get up early and work late, and drive himself.
That is one reason so many must work for others. They cannot rely on
themselves – they must be driven by one of more energy and
purpose.
Without energy, drive, constant propulsion, a
person need never expect to become truly successful.
Law
Number Five – for
Emergencies
One might suppose that if he
had a goal – and with it the ambition to achieve his purpose –
if he then became trained, educated, and experienced in pursuing it,
kept in good health, and constantly drove himself relentlessly toward
his objective, that he would be bound to accomplish it.
Important as these four laws are, they are not enough.
Life constantly encounters hazards, obstacles, unexpected
problems or setbacks. You may be proceeding along right on schedule,
when BANG! – out of nowhere comes an unexpected complication.
Some sudden circumstance arises which seems to stop you completely,
or at least set you back.
So, to meet these constantly arising problems, you
must have:
RESOURCEFULNESS!
When complications, obstacles,
unexpected circumstances appear to block your path, you must be equipped
with RESOURCEFULNESS to solve the problem, overcome the obstacle, and
continue on your course.
The old Slow Train Through Arkansas (I read
the book years ago) encountered a cow lying across the tracks ahead.
The train could not proceed toward its destination until that obstacle
was removed.
When we drove the old Model "T" from Iowa to Oregon
in 18 days back in 1924, we met repeated emergencies of motor troubles,
flat tires or blowouts. We had to solve the difficulties by patching
tires, putting "boots" in the casings, or doing our own repair work
by the roadside when the motor stalled.
I learned a lesson in determination and resourcefulness
on my first visit to Niagara Falls. It was on December 25th, probably
1913, with a silver thaw. I strolled out on Goat Island, which divides
the river just above the falls. At one point there was a huge rock.
It appeared as an impassible barrier to that rapid-flowing river, racing
to its destination, down over the falls, into the rapids below and
on to Lake Ontario.
I watched, intrigued. Did the rushing waters stop,
quit, give up? Not on your life! I was thrilled as I watched the water
swirl around the huge boulder – splash on over it, even find
a hole through it, dashing, crashing, roaring on toward its
goal!
The IBM people used to put
out a famous card found in many offices, which says "THINK!" –
and sometimes they deliberately spell it "THIMK?"
When sudden emergencies arise, then of all times you
need a clear mind, calm nerves, rapid thinking, sound reasoning!
You need RESOURCEFULNESS! You need a cool head, to quickly get
all the facts and make a wise decision.
Do you keep calm in emergencies, or lose your head
and go to pieces? Do you think rapidly, yet clearly and logically,
or do you freeze up and go dead?
To succeed, you need to cultivate the ability, and
the habit, of remaining unexcited, yet leaping to action on
high tension, reaching the right decision, then acting on it!
And now one would most certainly think that these
five laws should be all that is required to guarantee ultimate
success. And yet nine out of every ten who have all these five still
fail – without the important sixth law.
Importance of Number Six
Among the case histories recounted
in the beginning pages was that of the president of a major automobile
manufacturing corporation. He had utilized the first five of these
laws – that is, except he had the usual goal that leads in
the wrong direction. Yet in the flash depression of 1920, when he lost
his personal fortune, he committed suicide.
This man had reached the point where he was, to all
appearances, through! During life he had resourcefully solved
emergencies and problems that arose. But now, suddenly, it seemed that everything had
been swept from under his feet. Everything he had worked for. Everything
he had accumulated. Everything he had set his heart on! There was NOTHING
left! He was washed up – finished! So it seemed to him. I
never knew his private life.
He gave up! He committed suicide. So near success,
yet so far!
Yes, nine in ten, at least once or twice in a lifetime,
come to the place where they appear to be totally defeated! All is
lost! – apparently, that is. They give up and quit, when just
a little more faith and perseverance – just a little more
STICK-TO-IT-IVENESS would have turned apparent certain failure into
glorious success.
Law number six, then, is PERSEVERANCE – stick-to-it-iveness!
I know! I have reached that point more than once!
I, too, had everything swept out from under me in that flash depression
of 1920.
I had been making an income,
still in my twenties, equivalent to an executive's salary in today's
dollar value. But some
90 percent of it came from five or six big Midwestern corporations.
Most of these great corporations "went under" – that is, they
went into "receivers'" hands.
Later, in 1926, an advertising business I had started
on the west coast was wiped out from under me by an association decision
made in the east. A million-dollar project was dashed to oblivion by
the stock-market crash and depression of 1929. But I did not quit or
give up living. That was when my life GOAL was changed!
Even the first two years of the operation of Ambassador
College stared constant defeat in the face. Nearly everybody thought
we were through – we had failed! WHY, they wondered, didn't
I realize it and QUIT? In those days I had to listen to associates
around me talking constantly about "when this college folds up."
But it didn't fold up! By the year 1949 we
got over our first financial hump. Later, the second. Today, I think
we may be justified in saying that the college is, indeed, a glorious SUCCESS!
And our other operations today are worldwide on a major scale.
Still We Need Law
Number Seven!
Well now, it would certainly seem
that if one follows these SIX laws of success, nothing more should
be required!
But still, these "successful" men
I have described followed these six principles. They gained their
goals. They made money.
They attained recognized status. They enjoyed the passing pleasures.
Still their lives were empty – they were
never satisfied – they were discontented, they never found
lasting, permanent, enduring happiness – they did
not take their acquisitions with them when they died, and their fame
died with them!
What they lacked – what ALL lack who fail
of REAL success, application of Success Law number 7 – the
most important law of all! That is the ingredient that would have changed everything?
The Overlooked SEVENTH
Law
I have reserved this all-important
seventh Law till last to explain. But far from being least, it is first
in vital importance!
I have held it till now because 1) it is the very last one
that people will acknowledge and apply; and 2) being first in
making possible real success, I want to state it last so it
will remain stamped in the mind of the reader.
When serious illness strikes, people call the doctor.
It is automatic for most to rely on human professional knowledge and
skill – on material drugs, medicines and knives. But finally,
when the attending physician – perhaps with specialists called
in collaboration – gravely shakes his head and says there
is no more that medical science can do – it is now in the
hands of a higher Power – then, at last people cry out desperately
to the Creator God!
Is it possible that the living GOD might be a factor
in determining the success or failure of one's life? Few have thought
so.
People will ignore all their lives any idea of divine
guidance and help – yet if one should find himself on a foodless
and waterless raft after a shipwreck in mid-ocean, it is remarkable
how quickly he would begin to believe there really is a living God!
In last-resort desperation most people will cry out to Him whom they
have ignored, disobeyed, and set at naught all their lives.
Wouldn't it seem axiomatic that, if there is a compassionate
beneficent Creator standing ready and willing to give us emergency
help as a last resort, it would have been more sensible to have sought
His guidance and help all along? Yet some have acquired wealth, lived
luxuriously, and then, suddenly losing all, turned finally to God in
their economic distress. Others have committed suicide. Few, it seems,
will ever rely on their Maker and life-Sustainer until they feel helpless
and in desperate need. Even then the motive too often is selfish.
Yet, if we are to enjoy the good things of life –
freedom from fears and worries, peace of mind, security, protection,
happiness, abundant well-being – the very SOURCE of their
supply is the Great God! Since all comes from Him anyway, why not tap
the SOURCE from the very beginning?
But in our day of modern science, sophistication and
vanity, it has not been fashionable to believe in a Maker. In this
deceived world, knowledge of God has found little or no place in modern
education.
The ALL-IMPORTANT seventh Law of Success,
nevertheless, is having contact with, and the guidance and continuous
help of GOD!
And the person who does put this all-important
seventh law last is very probably dooming his life to failure
at the end.
Why of First Importance
Look again at the very first
Law, as it has been listed here. It is not merely choosing a goal –
any goal. It is setting as one's life-aim the right goal.
The "successful" of this
world all had goals. But their goals led to material ends. They sought
happiness in vanity,
pride of status, material acquisitions, physical activities and pursuits.
They sought the approbation of people. But people are human, and their
lives are temporary. Material objects, too, are not enduring, but wax
old until consigned to disuse.
The main goals of those supposed to be successful
in the world usually are two: Vanity – desire for
status; and money with the material things it will buy. But
happiness is not material, and money is not its source. Vanity, as
Solomon observed is like a striving after wind!
These men I have mentioned made money. Their bank
accounts may have been full, but their lives were empty. When they
acquired money, it never satisfied, and always they wanted more. These
monetary victories, these material acquisitions, gave, of course, a
thrill of satisfaction – but it never lasted!
This life-long struggle – this constant striving "after
wind" – striving after false values – left in its
wake a trail of fears and worries, apprehensions, disappointments,
heartaches, troubled consciences, discontent, empty lives, frustrations –
and finally, DEATH!
Oh yes, of course there were pleasures, moments of
excitement, periods of enjoyment. There were occasional thrills, temporary
sensations of delight. But always they were followed by periods of
depression. Always a gnawing inner soul-hunger returned. This in turn
drove them to seek satisfaction in the thousand-and-one events in the
world's whirl of material pleasures and pastimes. Yet these never filled
the void. They never satisfied the real inner hunger.
These people probably didn't realize it, but the hunger
was spiritual. And spiritual hunger is never satisfied by
material food!
The "successful" of this
world applied six of the success laws. But they left GOD out of the
picture, and the happiness
of real success out of their lives.
It seems almost no one, today, realizes HOW –
and WHY – we were made. WHAT we humans are, and WHY we are.
Why should we live in ignorance of these basics of knowledge?
Two basic and vital facts are overlooked:
1. While man was made a material being, of the dust
of the ground, sustained by eating material food and drinking material
water, he was made also to need spiritual food, and to drink
of the "living water" of God's Spirit. Without these spiritual needs
man cannot be truly and continually happy. Nothing else really
satisfies.
2. The Eternal Creator, who
made us in His own likeness, is creator of ALL that is. Everything
man needs to make life continuously
and abundantly satisfying, must come from Him. He is the SOURCE OF
SUPPLY. He is the GIVER of everything good. WHY must men ignore the
true SOURCE, and try to obtain where there is nothing to be obtained?
If I wish to draw clear, sparkling drinking water from a well, I will
go to a well filled with such water, not to one that is empty. God
says of our people: "For my people have committed two evils; they have
forsaken me the FOUNTAIN of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13).
And again He says: "Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and
eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour
for that which satisfieth not?" (Is. 55:1-2.)
Once again, look at the first of the Success
Laws. Stated another way, it is to DEFINE SUCCESS! And what constitutes
real Success? Once you have learned the true meaning of Success,
then you have found the only right goal.
The right goal sets the direction of your life's journey.
Success is the destination of that journey. Success is where you finally arrive –
and true Success includes a happy and enjoyable journey along
the way.
PURPOSE to Life?
Is there, after all, a PURPOSE
to life?
If we were put here by a Creator, would He have put
us here without a REASON? And a Creator with Mind and Power that could
have designed and produced the human mind and body could not have failed
to make available for humans every tool, ingredient and facility needed
to fulfill His Purpose!
Of course men cut off from God have no knowledge of
that Purpose. For that knowledge is not material, but spiritual knowledge.
And spiritual things cannot be seen – nor heard, felt, smelled
or tasted. Spiritual knowledge can be transmitted only by revelation.
And this world has rejected revelation. Men cut off from their Creator
of necessity are spiritually blind and ignorant, groping in the dark.
So they fail to seize the proper tools, ingredients and facilities.
But the Maker has sent an instruction book along
with the human mechanism He made. It contains all the real answers.
It reveals life's real PURPOSE – the potential destiny of
man! That instruction book, as Bruce Barton aptly said, is
the "book nobody knows." Almost no one knows that 95% of the
contents of that Book is virtually ignored by the professing Christian
clergy. Most scientists and educators today suppose, erroneously and
in ignorance of the facts, that the Bible is merely the book of an
ancient race of Jewish people, striving to devise a concept of a god –
in by gone days of ignorance and superstition. They don't examine the
Book, as they examine other data, to see what it says. They ignore
it as something beneath their pride of intellect to consider.
The religious Bible-believing fundamentalists generally
quote and use not more than some 5% of the Scriptures. Approximately
one-third of the entire contents of the Bible is devoted to ADVANCE
NEWS REPORTS, called, in religious terminology, prophecy. FEW pay any
attention to this third of the writings – and most seem devoid
of understanding.
What almost NO ONE realizes is that the ignored 95%
of that great volume is the INSTRUCTION BOOK which the Maker sent along
with His product – just as any manufacturer of a material
commodity does. Yet some scholars today have been surprised and shocked
to learn that this ignored, maligned, misrepresented Book contains
THE ANSWERS to life itself – reveals the PURPOSE of life –
the LAWS that govern it – the ANSWER to what IS Success, and
how to achieve it!
It has been like discovering a gold mine of knowledge
they did not know existed. They have found that it MAKES SENSE –
that, indeed, IT IS THE VERY FOUNDATION of KNOWLEDGE in just
about all areas – that it provides the only right approach to
the acquisition of further discoverable knowledge.
This ultimate potential destiny is the only TRUE
goal. It is your reason for being alive! It is the reason you were
born!
Those who have worked, striven, fought their way to
any other goal have been wasting their lives – living for
naught! They have, in true fact, been going nowhere! And how many,
since humans were first put here on earth, have really known that PURPOSE –
that one right goal of life? Very few, indeed!
The time when we need divine guidance, enlightenment,
and help, is at the very BEGINNING – at the time
when a young man or woman chooses that RIGHT GOAL. Without divine guidance
the wrong goal is always set.
That is why poor people possessing the least knowledge
and material goods sometimes appear to be the happiest. Actually
they were not happy. They merely are less discontented! They
have not progressed as far in the WRONG DIRECTION as those who smugly
and vainly supposed themselves to be their more intelligent betters!
Life has a PURPOSE. God has set in actual, inexorable
motion definite LAWS to PRODUCE for man every happiness, security,
and GOOD thing he desires – THE WAY OF LIFE that will fulfill God's
PURPOSE for our being!
LOOK! THINK! An automobile
was designed and built by its human makers to transport passengers,
and do it more speedily
and in more comfort than the old horse and buggy. Would it not be ridiculous
if the automobile had a mind and free volition of action, and it would
say: "That's silly! I don't think I was made to transport people. I
think I was made for some other purpose. I refuse to transport
people. I want to be an instrument for viewing the stars in the heavens."
Apparently it is only stupid, foolish man –
with POTENTIAL mind power and CAPACITY for intelligence beyond any
creature God has created – who says "WHY have you made me
thus?"
WHAT, then is the PURPOSE for which we were
put here?
Of this, mankind has totally lost all conception.
To people spiritually drunk on the false material concepts of our day,
the statement of that purpose would appear strange, absurd, impossible.
It SO FAR transcends anything conceived by humanity in this blinded
world that the statement of it would prove too great to be grasped
and accepted.
Suffice it to say – and I shall leave it
to another booklet to explain – man was put here for the PURPOSE
of being conformed to, and finally stamped with the exact perfect CHARACTER
of Jesus Christ! Write for the free booklet Why Were You
Born?
Christ is now stamped with the identical CHARACTER
IMAGE of God, as well as the shining, brilliant, glorified appearance of
God! For a mortal human to be transformed into that perfect
spiritual image means that we must be CHANGED!
The Bible pictures God as the Master Potter –
us as the clay. Indeed we are, literally clay images of God –
composed of the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). As we now bear only
the physical image of the "earthy", we shall when changed,
bear the spiritual image of the heavenly – of GOD (1 Cor.
15:47-49). So we are clay images with human minds that are free moral
agents. They may submit, or they may rebel. They have power of will,
and of decision.
Free to Choose
Understand
this! You are a free moral agent. God will never "cram" His religion down your throat." He
will never force you to decide His way or go His way. He not only allows you
to choose the wrong way – He compels you to make
your own decision. Otherwise His PURPOSE would be thwarted!
The living God has set two ways before us. One, His
Way, the cause of all the good things you want here and now,
plus eternal life in REAL SUCCESS continuously forever. The other the
way of self-centeredness, vanity, greed, envy – the way mankind
has gone, in rebellion against God and His Law – the way that causes all
unhappiness, suffering, evils, and ends in death. And God compels you
to choose! Yet He commands you to choose the
Way that leads to REAL SUCCESS (see Deut. 30:19).
You Need HELP
That ultimate TRUE Success is
something you cannot attain to by yourself. The ingredient you lack
is the GUIDANCE, the POWER and SPIRIT OF GOD.
You must make the decision. You must set
this right GOAL. You must set your will. You must
expend your full effort. You must WORK AT overcoming, growing
and developing spiritually, and sticking with it. Yet GOD supplies
the all-important ingredient – His power, His love, His faith –
His guidance – HIS LIFE!
Seventh Law Changes
Everything
Now look how DIFFERENT a whole
life becomes when this SEVENTH SUCCESS LAW is utilized.
First, it will completely alter your overall major
GOAL as I have just explained. Of course, you will have other minor
goals – such as the profession or occupation to provide material
needs, and HELP achieve the major goal. And these minor goals always
must be compatible with and contributing to the major goal.
Your main goal, now, will be spiritual and not material.
It will follow the WAY OF LIFE of the Ten Commandments. You will actually
LIVE BY every Word of GOD – that is, the Bible!
Now re-examine the Second Law of SUCCESS.
Your EDUCATION and entire preparation will be
DIFFERENT. You will seek to learn the TRUE VALUES of life –
yes, of this life as well as the hereafter! This means your
number one textbook will be the BIBLE. It will reveal to you the
MIND OF CHRIST. This will provide your mental APPROACH in all education
and practice.
Third, you will receive the KNOWLEDGE which God reveals about laws
of HEALTH.
Take the FOURTH LAW. If you are motivated by GOD'S
WORD, you'll have DRIVE. God commands that you do what you
do with your might! Apply yourself! Whatever is worth
doing is worth doing the very best you can! Nine Biblical passages
command that you apply your self with DILIGENCE! Ten other places in
the Bible command us to BE DILIGENT. And 36 Scriptures command, or
show the example of acting diligently! Many of these instruct
us diligently to seek God's guidance and help, several diligently to
keep His commandments.
How about the businessman? "Seest thou a man diligent
in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before
[obscure] men" (Prov. 22:29).
The Bible does not condone laziness or shiftlessness.
It counsels us to consider the ant and be wise. The Bible commands
industriousness!
Solving Problems
Now, Law Number FIVE.
No matter how intelligent, alert, or resourceful you may be, YOU NEED
GOD'S WISDOM and HELP in solving the constant problems and meeting
the recurring obstacles that beset life's path. Whether it is
in business, a profession, private life or what. The man who has CONTACT
WITH GOD, who can take these matters – these emergencies –
these problems – in the quietness of his private prayer room
to the Throne of Grace and seek God's counsel and advice IS GOING TO
HAVE DIVINE GUIDANCE! That is, of course, provided he is submissive,
obedient, diligent, faithful. WISDOM comes from GOD.
May I give you a personal example? God has blessed
His Work, and caused it to grow into a tremendous worldwide activity,
with offices around the world. God has set me in the position of human
director and leader over this expanding enterprise, employing hundreds
of people. We encounter problems of all kinds, constantly.
I have problems to solve, obstacles to hurdle, policies to set, decisions
to make which affect many lives – frequently involve many
thousands of dollars, even millions. It is a weighty responsibility.
Always – and I can remember it from at least
age 5 – I have desired to have UNDERSTANDING. But more than
fifty years ago, I discovered that I sadly lacked, yet sorely needed
WISDOM. Having dedicated my life to live, literally, according to
every word of God's Instruction Book – the Bible –
I obeyed this command of God: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God ... and it shall be given" (James 1:5). He has given me wisdom.
Of course He has allowed me to make mistakes – but never a
major mistake that could threaten His great Work.
Wisdom must be applied to every specific circumstance
individually. I learned many years ago the need of getting all of
the facts bearing on a case before making a decision. But it requires
more. God's Word says that in multitude of counselors there is safety.
In any important decision I call in the most competent possible counselors,
specialists in the field involved.
You simply cannot know, if you have never had this
divine help, how very, very much it means! We have been saved
hundreds of times from costly blunders. We are saved from worries and
the "headaches" most businessmen have to suffer over such problems.
We can proceed in CONFIDENCE – that assurance that is FAITH! What
a blessing! What a comfort, and a joy!
It PAYS Off!
People trying to live without
the living CHRIST in their lives are missing the most practical and valuable asset
they could have. In the language of our day, "IT PAYS OFF!" Of course,
we have to expend our own effort. We have to really THINK. We use
all our own effort. We have to really THINK. We use all our own resources
and natural resourcefulness. But we have that added SECURITY of divine
GUIDANCE. Often God simply works out CIRCUMSTANCES. He literally
gives us "the breaks"! IT PAYS!
Finally, now, look at Success Law Number SIX. Perseverance – Stick-to-it-iveness – Enduring – Never
quitting or giving up.
The Maker's Instruction Book seems full of this. Jesus'
parable of the sower and the seed showed the four classes. All heard
God's Message. All were given the opportunity. Three classes GAVE UP.
One never really got started. Two started out with joy and a great
flourish, but let former friends, the cares of this material life,
pleasures, choke them off, and discourage them. The other class of
quitters simply did not have the depth of strength of character within
themselves to stay with anything. They were just naturally quitters.
Even of those who went on, and endured, some were more diligent, more
resourceful, better prepared, more careful of health, and consequently
developed farther in accomplishment than others. Theirs will
be the greater reward!
Jesus Christ said, plainly, "He that endureth unto
the END, the same shall be SAVED" (Matt. 24:13).
Yes, these Seven Laws are the WAY, not only to business
and economic SUCCESS – they are THE LAWS that lead to rich,
rewarding, interest-filled, abundant living and, in the end, to ETERNAL
LIFE AND GLORY in the Kingdom of God.
It teaches you to choose the RIGHT GOAL. It teaches
you to STUDY, to show yourself approved to your Maker. It teaches you
to acquire KNOWLEDGE, right and true education – preparation
for success. It teaches you to watch your health. It teaches diligence –
drive – dedication, persistent application. It teaches resourcefulness,
and offers you divine help in applying it – and it teaches
staying with it to the end!
What a happy life God has made available! What blessedness –
what JOY! What SECURITY, this life of implicit living FAITH –
reliance on the Creator – GOD!
I know! I've been enjoying this life for more than
fifty years! It's a BUSY life – but it's interesting, thrilling,
happy, abundantly REWARDING! And to constantly look forward to the
OVERALL GOAL – an eternity in THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
I
want to SHARE that life with you! You may enjoy it too! bƒ
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