How To Build A Better World: Faith

Okay, okay, I know – I already did an article in this “How To Build A Better World” series on belief and belief is the same thing as faith, isn’t it?

Some of you may even be beginning to think that this is sounding altogether too preachy.

Well, don’t cross your arms over your chest and get ready for a nap just yet because we’re just getting down to the nuts and bolts and this is heady stuff.

Heady! Get it? That’s a pun because the upshot of what Napoleon Hill had to say in Think and Grow Rich is that it’s all in your head.

Faith, in Hill’s parlance, is “a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion.”

You think about what you want You convince yourself that you are going to get it by telling yourself over and over that you ARE going to get it. You got it!

But beware! Remember the old computer programming adage “Garbage in, garbage out”? The same is true of our subconscious. If we put garbage – negative thoughts – in, we’re going to get negative results.

Let me explain it to you this way: I have been following a low-carb diet and have lost forty pounds. But lately, there has been a chocolate chip cookie calling my name. Now you know (Don’t you?) and I know that chocolate chip cookies don’t really call out to us.

But over time, I have convinced myself that chocolate chip cookies call my name as a way of excusing my occasional lapses (it would be rude to ignore them when they take the time to call me personally).

If I tell myself that often enough, I’m going to come to believe it and it is going to become true (in my mind, at least).

Or, I can tell myself that this one indulgence does not constitute the end of the world, that I am stronger than chocolate chip cookies, that I am the master of my destiny and the captain of my soul.

If I tell myself that often enough, I’m going to come to believe it and it is going to become true.

Now, forget about chocolate chip cookies (I know, the moment you are told not to think about something, that’s the only thing you can think of. Focus!)

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, complained to his Bishop once that he felt that he lacked faith. He was told to “Preach faith until you have faith.”

The point is that faith is a state of mind that can be developed. Faith is also the starting point for all accumulation of riches, the key ingredient in meeting our goals, an essential element in achieving any definite purpose and the ONLY known antidote for failure.

One of the prime causes of failure is our lack of self-confidence, our lack of faith in our self. But this handicap can be overcome by a simple arrangement of positive thought impulses stated in writing, memorized, and repeated until they become a part of your subconscious:

(1) I know that I have the ability to achieve my definite goal. I DEMAND of myself persistent, continuous action toward that goal and I here and now promise to take that action.

(2) I realize that the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily on the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture of that person.

(3) I know that through the principle of auto-suggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attainment. Therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of SELF-CONFIDENCE.

(4) I have clearly written down a description of my definite goal and I will never stop trying until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment.

(5) I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure unless it is built upon truth and justice. Therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will induce others to serve me because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness and cynicism by developing love for all humanity because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success.

I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory, and repeat it aloud once a day, with full FAITH that it will gradually influence my THOUGHTS and ACTIONS so that I will become a self-reliant and successful person.

All you need is a little faith and you can move mountains.