A TALE AS OLD AS TIME
He who sees with his eyes is blind. ~Socrates
You have to want awareness greater than that which you currently have in order to be rewarded with the gift of knowledge and the power of thought. Explorers like Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world. Howard Carter’s thirty year affair with Egypt led to the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb. Russian explorer Baron Ferdinand Wrangel led the famed polar expedition north east of Siberia building the foundation for further valuable development and exploration into the Artic. Christopher Columbus provided Europe with a general awareness of the North American Continents. If it were not for these explorers of the physical world, our awareness of what our world yielded would have been nicely contained in a debacle of confused indifference. Fortunately these explorers did not cling to archaic ideas of exploratory boundaries. Neither should you. Your awareness of your thought power grows upon exploration just as these explorers expanded the fruits of their knowledge through physical expeditions.
It is ironic that we often refer to thought power as new age thinking. Bookstores delegate entire new age sections to books on thought. There is nothing new about the power your thoughts contain. Rediscovered, reconnected or remembered but not new. Believers in the power of thought have always peppered our history. The power of thought is as antiquated as the pyramids of Egypt. The list of advocates includes some of the most prestigious persons in history.
Ancient philosopher Socrates (470 BC to 399 BC) believed that the physical world was a duplicate image of the real world. To Socrates the mind held far greater power than any object. Physical objects were only temporary forms held like disappearing shadows void of a light source. To Socrates mental power was the source of enlightenment. Very few men, he felt, ever achieved this enlightenment. He believed that most men lived in caves of ignorance content with the world they saw.
In 1912 Charles Haanel (1866-1949), author, businessman and contributor to the New Thought Movement wrote “The Master Key System” in which he eloquently described the power of thought. In his book that remains just as popular today as it was at the turn of the century, Haanel gives instructions for harnessing the power of thought.
In 1908 Steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) commissioned then journalist Napoleon Hill to interview more than five hundred of the most wealthy achievers at the time including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Charles Schwab, F. W. Woolworth, William Wrigley Jr., and Theodore Roosevelt to identify the common threads of their success. In 1919 Napoleon Hill wrote to Charles Haanel expressing gratitude for the principals outlined in “The Master Key System” and acknowledging the influence Haanel’s work had on his own.
“The Laws of Success” published in 1928 and “Think and Grow Rich” published in 1937 outlined Napoleon Hill’s formula for success based on those five hundred interviews. Napoleon Hill examined the power of personal beliefs and the role they play in achieving personal success. According to Hill, 98% of people have few or no firm beliefs. This alone puts true success firmly out of their power.
Beliefs are an assimilation of like thoughts validated by your experience. Therefore, people’s thoughts are responsible for their pathways to success or failure. Substantial pieces of work exist in addition to Socrates, Carnegie, Haanel, Hill and the over five hundred interviewed subjects all crediting their experiences to the power of thought. Self-examination of your thoughts and beliefs is the only way to connect with your power. Taking command of your thoughts is no easy task. It requires the diligence of an explorer.
The diligent will stand before kings. The slack hand will be put down to forced labor. ~Proverbs
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