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Chapter Two

The Basic Law of Prosperity

I learned the basic law of prosperity the hard way. I have been earning the right to tell you about it for a long time. Fifteen years ago, life looked hopeless for me. Widowed and with an infant son, I had no training for any type of work and, therefore, no means of income. My family during that period was not able to offer much financial assistance. If you could have seen me then, you would doubtless have said, “Prosperous thinking or no prosperous thinking, there goes a hopeless case.” It was during this miserable period that I learned about the power of our thinking as an instrument for success or failure. It soon became plain to me that my previous failures were due largely to my previous failure thinking; but that same power of thought, when rightly directed, could be the key to healthy, happy, successful living.

What a realization it was on the day I read the words of Solomon, As a man thinketh within himself, so is he (Prov. 23:7) And later the words of Job: Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee and light shall shine upon thy way. (Job 22:28) From the philosopher, James Allen, I learned: Through his thoughts, man holds the key to every situation and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills. I then excitedly surmised that my potential wealth, health and happiness were actually within me, waiting to be radiated outward into my world as healthy, wealthy, happy thoughts, feelings, expectations and decrees, which in turn would attract like results into my life.

As soon as I grasped this simple but all-powerful success secret and began applying it, the tide changed and my ships began to come in!

The way soon opened for me to literally work my way through business school. I thereafter became secretary to Joe Tally, a young lawyer who became mayor of our town, a candidate for Congress, and who later expanded the Tally law firm to include several attorneys and secretaries who served a number of prosperous clients. More recently Mr. Tally has served as President of Kiwanis International. At the height of my work with this attorney, I felt led to go into the ministry so that I might help others to realize and apply the spiritual and mental keys to healthy, happy, prosperous living that had meant so much to me. Upon thinking back, I now realize that consciously and unconsciously I invoked the basic prosperity law of radiation and attraction every step of the way. Recently, on meeting old friends whom I had not seen for many years, they exclaimed in astonishment, “Catherine, what has happened to you? You seem so different from the very serious, unsure, unhappy person we once knew. You now seem so happy and radiant, even victorious. Tell us your secret–how did you get that way?” I then explained to them the basic law of life that is discussed in this chapter and throughout this book. It is because of my own personal use of this basic law that I feel so strongly about it, and emphatically believe that it can work for you in even greater ways than it has for me! A number of people who have attended my prosperity lectures have used it with astounding success.

The Law of Laws

Truly the laws that govern prosperity are just as sure and work as the laws that govern mathematics, music, physics, and the other sciences. The Bible describes that basic law of prosperity when it speaks of sowing and reaping, or giving and receiving. The scientists describe it as action and reaction. By some it has been termed the law of supply and demand. Emerson described it as the law of compensation, whereby like attracts like. He declared that the law of compensation is the “law of laws!”

You Cannot Get Something for Nothing

I agree with Emerson that it is time the law of compensation was emphasized as life’s basic law. I like to think of this basic law of prosperity as radiation and attraction: that what you radiate outward in your thoughts, feelings, mental pictures and words, you attract into your life and affairs. But you cannot get something for nothing.

The reason why there is still poverty in this universe of lavish abundance is that many people still do not understand this basic law of life; they do not yet realize that they must radiate in order to attract, and that what they do radiate they constantly attract. Most people today still have to learn that they cannot get something for nothing, but must give before receiving or must sow before reaping. When they do not give or sow in terms of prosperity, they make no contact with God’s lavish abundance, and so there is no channel formed through which the rich, unlimited substance of the universe can pour forth its riches to them.

The truth of this was recently brought to my attention when I had contact with some people in a poverty-stricken area. I soon discovered that these people only wanted a “hand-out.” They were not interested in invoking the basic law of prosperity by giving or sowing first. Instead, they were trying to get something for nothing, which simply cannot be done. Thus they continued to live in poverty.

You Can Always Give Something

Perhaps you are thinking, “What could such a person give when he seems so in lack?” There is always something a person can give, either tangibly or intangibly, that will put him in touch with God’s rich supply. A widow with a house full of children once telephoned a counselor. She had no money or food for her children. It was lunchtime and her children had not eaten since the day before. She was desperate. The counselor who took the call knew well what it was like to find oneself in such a predicament. She had learned that the power of prosperous thinking could literally supply “manna from heaven” at a financially desperate period in her own life. With great compassion she explained the magic power of giving in some way, which would start the substance flowing back in appropriate form.

Of course, when she explained that the widow must give in order to receive, the widow’s first reaction was much the same that yours or mine might be the first time we were told we must give to receive. She lamented, “But that’s just it–I have nothing to give.” To which the counselor gently replied, “My dear, of course you have something to give. We always have something to give. Indeed, we always have more to give than we at first realize.” She then urged this frantic widow to look about her and to ask for divine guidance concerning what she could give. The widow was assured that this counselor would be praying with her in the faith that she would be divinely led as to how to give and how to receive thereafter. This counselor also told her that, after starting the flow of substance by giving, she was then to get ready to receive by preparing her table for that meal she so wished for her children; and by preparing her grocery list with which to shop, in the assurance that the money would manifest very soon for those groceries.

In faith the widow sat down and prayerfully asked what she had that she could give. Suddenly she remembered flowers growing in her yard, which she happily cut and gave to a sick neighbor who seemed overjoyed to receive them. Next she prepared her table with the best china, silver and linens in the house. This caused pleasure and excitement among her children, who then expectantly awaited a good meal. Just as she was completing her grocery list, someone who had been owing her money for a long time, dropped by and paid her $30 on their debt! Thirty dollars which she had long since given up ever getting back... If I could shout only one message to the whole world regarding life’s secrets, it would be this: That you cannot get something for nothing, but that you can have the best of everything when you give full measure for the good you wish to receive. Since I have been writing about prosperity, I have received a number of letters from people who do not yet understand this law and who are still trying to get something for nothing. One woman asked that $30,0000 be sent to her immediately to pay off old debts. She didn’t write once or twice, but three times before she was convinced she must use this basic law of prosperity and bring in her own supply.

Radiate and You Will Attract

Emerson might have been describing this law of giving and receiving or radiation and attraction when he wrote, “Great hearts send forth steadily the secret forces that incessantly draw great events.” And who are the “great hearts”? Those people who dare to think and radiate great thoughts and expectancies of success and prosperity instead of failure, trouble and limitation. There’s nothing great, unusual, or praiseworthy about failure, trouble and limitation. Anyone can experience those things by following the line of least resistance and by entertaining the usual failure thoughts that one constantly hears every day. How often one hears the complaint, “Everything happens to me. I just can’t win for losing. This is a tough world. The other fellow gets the breaks.” This beginning usually leads into a conversation filled with unpleasant experiences of the day, criticism of jobs, co-workers, families, the governments, world leaders, war, crime, disease and hard times, hard times, hard times. Each of us constantly uses the law of radiation and attraction whether we are aware of it or not. But if you wish to enjoy more prosperity and success in life, you have to consciously, boldly and deliberately take hold of your thoughts and feelings and redirect them toward prosperity and success. It is up to you to dare to choose and radiate outward through your thinking what you really wish to experience in life, rather than to get bogged down in unpleasant or failure experiences of the moment. These conditions can change as quickly as you can change your thinking about them.

A friend in the public relations business recently used the law of radiation and attraction with successful results. For some time he had desired a certain out-of-state account and had made every reasonable effort to obtain it. Finally, he decided that he would definitely entertain and mentally radiate the desire for that account strongly, deliberately and boldly; feeling that surely in due time he would receive that account or a bigger one. He quietly sat down and thought about that account as though he were already handling it. He went over that account in his mind and thought of all the ways he would attempt to serve that client’s best interests if he were handling their public relations. He thought about the account and the people involved for a long time and in great detail. He also declared over and over for a time: I am not discouraged. I am persistent. I go forward. I am determined to achieve success in God’s own wonderful way for me. When a sense of peace came over him, he dismissed the matter from his mind.

A few weeks later he attended a convention in which a number of his clients were involved. While swimming with several of them in a motel pool, he casually met the man whom he had been trying for months to meet who had charge of that out-of-state account. Right there in the pool they negotiated! When he joyously related his experience to me he declared, “It was doubtless that prosperity law of radiation and attraction that brought the happy results.”

I have observed in talking with hundreds of people who have gone from failure to success that it is what we really think deep within ourselves most of the time, rather than the “big front” we may put up to others, that unconsciously attracts like results to us. There is an age-old maxim that says, “We are where we are because we are what we are, and we are what we are because of our habitual thinking.”

Many people work hard to attract greater good in superficial ways without first habitually radiating its mental equivalent, and then they are sorely disappointed when their great efforts result in failure and disappointment. Once when I was talking with a lady who felt she would like to be married, I suggested that she invoke the law of radiation and attraction. After explaining that she must radiate before she could attract, I suggested that she prayerfully radiate these ideas over and over: Divine Love expressing through me now draws to me all that is needed to make me happy and my life complete.

A little later I began receiving reports from mutual friends that she was working hard on the attracting angle, but was radiating nothing more than telephone calls and obvious invitations to all the men of her acquaintance. Later she returned and reported that the suggested prayer method had not worked. Gently I reminded her that she had not radiated the “prayer method” suggested, but had radiated the “scare method,” which had not been suggested. The method had worked in reverse, because she had reversed the process.

A middle-aged widow more recently dared to try the radiation and attraction method for the same purpose. While floating in a swimming pool she silently affirmed over and over: Divine Love expressing through me now draws to me all that is needed to make me happy and my life complete. Presently she heard a man’s voice calling to her from the side of the pool, inquiring about the water which she assured him was wonderful. Soon he was in the water and a little later he was in her life as her husband.

Mental Preparation Comes First

What a thrill it is to realize that all things can be accomplished within the mind first; that your mind is your divine power for good! The reason all things can be accomplished mentally first is that the mind is the connecting link between the formed and unformed world.

It’s up to you in this wonderful age to claim your spiritual dominion of great good over everything, and to dare to subdue, change or reform your world as you wish! Of course, you have been given all of this power to produce good and only good. Man’s difficulties come when he uses this power in reverse. But what a sense of freedom it gives you to realize that whatever you center your attention upon steadily, constantly and deliberately in your thoughts, feelings and expectancies, forms the experiences of your life. When you realize this, life becomes easier, simpler and more richly satisfying. You then no longer feel that you have to argue, beg, reason, plead, or appeal to anyone for your desired good. Instead, you quietly go to work in your thinking to mentally choose, mentally accept and mentally radiate what you wish to experience in life. It gives you a victorious feeling even before the rich results begin to pour in.

Be Deliberate About Wealth

You’ve got to radiate deliberately in order to attract the good you desire; otherwise, you get into a limited trend of thought and produce limited results. What you do radiate or deliberately entertain mentally, you constantly attract. It may not appear that this law works in this exact way when you look at people who seem to be succeeding who apparently do not deserve it, but in due season their health, wealth and happiness crumble if it is not supported by a firm foundation of right thought and feeling. It is just a matter of the mills of the gods grinding slowly. Instead of fretting about whether the law of radiation and attraction is working rightly in the lives of others, proceed quietly to prove the laws of prosperous thinking for yourself.

A stockbroker whose business associates were watching the market reports and declaring how slow things were, slipped into a private office and quietly relaxed. As he did so, he began to radiate this thought: Everything and everybody prospers me now. Suddenly, the telephone began to ring and ring. Within a short time he had received more business by telephone than he had received through any channel in several days. A watch repairman’s business was slow. As he boarded an early morning bus, he, too, remembered the prosperity law of radiation and attraction and began to silently declare: Everything and everybody prospers me now. For the next few days he had many new customers come into his store to have watches and jewelry repaired. Soon he had received enough repair work to keep him busy for many weeks.

You Are Magnetic

Each of us is a magnet! And as a magnet, you do not have to force success and prosperity to yourself. Instead, you can develop that exalted, expectant, prosperous state of mind that is a magnet for all good things of the universe to hasten to you, rather than entertaining the tense, critical, anxious, depressed, unforgiving, possessive state of mind that is a magnet for all kinds of trouble and failure.

Since you can have the tangible and intangible equivalent of whatever you dare to choose, mentally entertain and radiate, stop thinking of things as apart from or outside yourself. Stop thinking that people, things, circumstances and conditions have power to hurt or harm you. Start realizing that nothing can stand between you and that good that you dare to choose mentally and radiate outward through your thoughts, feelings, words and expectancies. Choose and radiate mentally; choose and radiate emotionally; choose and radiate constantly and persistently. A woman recently told me that, since she had been invoking the power of prosperous thinking deliberately, everyone in her family had received wonderful blessings: Her husband had received several raises in pay, her brother has become president of his company; two sisters have retired with handsome incomes; another sister has become the first woman ever to hold a certain type executive position for her company; another brother has received a managerial position. A little leaven has leavened the whole loaf in that family.

Outer Steps Will Come Easily

Of course, I do not mean to imply through all these people’s experiences that you simply entertain and radiate the mental equivalent of the good desired, and then do nothing more. Often you have to take definite external steps as well. But you will discover that, by working out the mental concept of the desired good first, the outer steps will then unfold easily–almost automatically at times–without strained effort on your part. The more you turn your mind in rich directions, the less you seem to have to exert undue human effort to produce results. Work you will, but it will be work as satisfying self-expression rather than work just to survive. Your rich mind power and radiations seem to have a way of going forth and producing right opportunities, events and circumstances for prosperity and success, so that you almost unconsciously walk into them.

Release Your Pent-Up Substance

We are all filled with pent-up substance, energy and divine ability which wishes to work for us, through us and around about us. Psychologists declare that the average person uses only about 10 percent of his mind power. Medical authorities claim that the average person uses only about 25 percent of his physical power. Psychologists further state that man can release more result-getting power in one hour of concentrated use of his mind than in 24 hours of physical work; some psychologists even believe that man can release more result-getting power through one hour of concentrated thought than through a month of physical work. Surely there is great power within and around each of us for our use. You can release this pent-up substance, energy and power within you for prosperous living through releasing deliberate thoughts, feelings and mental pictures of success, prosperity and riches. As you do so, your rich thoughts, feelings and mental pictures are radiated outward into the rich, powerful ethers of this universe, where they make contact with the rich, universal substance. This rich, universal substance is filled with divine intelligence and power that then moves among and works through people, conditions and opportunities to attract that which corresponds with the rich radiations that you have sent forth, and the prosperous results then appear. Indeed, this wonderful universe is rich and friendly to everyone. It wishes all mankind to be prosperous, well, and happy, and for the affairs of man and the world to be in divine order.

At this point, however, don’t be too concerned about the theory of radiation and attraction. Just begin accepting it and using it as a prosperity secret. All of the prosperity laws stated throughout this book are but various ways of invoking this basic law of radiation and attraction. You will find your use of them a delightful, exciting, fascinating and richly rewarding process! I now invite you to begin soaring forth through the pages of this book, reminding yourself of these truths:

I am an irresistible magnet, with the power to attract unto myself everything that I divinely desire, according to the thoughts, feelings and mental pictures I constantly entertain and radiate. I am the center of my universe! I have the power to create whatever I wish. I attract whatever I radiate. I attract whatever I mentally choose and accept. I begin choosing and mentally accepting the highest and best in life. I now choose and accept health, success and happiness. I now choose lavish abundance for myself and for all mankind. This is a rich, friendly universe and I dare to accept its riches, its hospitality, and to enjoy them now!