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Chapter 15 Part 1 · Think and Grow Rich | Book Podcast

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  Speaker 1: You are listening to Think and Grow Rich, written by
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon Hill. This is an independent edition containing the original
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  Speaker 1: 1937 core text, produced by audiopulse.org. It is not affiliated with, approved,
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  Speaker 1: or endorsed by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. We hope you enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 15, How to Outwit the Six Ghosts of Fear.
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  Speaker 1: Take inventory of yourself as you read this closing chapter
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  Speaker 1: and find out how many of the ghosts are standing
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  Speaker 1: in your way. Before you can put any portion of
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  Speaker 1: this philosophy into successful use, your mind must be prepared
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  Speaker 1: to receive it. The preparation is not difficult. It begins
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  Speaker 1: with study, analysis, an understanding of three enemies which you
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  Speaker 1: shall have to clear out. These are indecision, doubt, and fear.
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  Speaker 1: The sixth sense will never function while these three negatives,
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  Speaker 1: or any of them, remain in your mind. The members
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  Speaker 1: of this unholy trio are closely related. Where one is found,
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  Speaker 1: the other two are close at hand. Indecision is the
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  Speaker 1: seedling of fear. Remember this as you read. Indecision crystallizes
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  Speaker 1: into doubt. The two blend and become fear. The blending
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  Speaker 1: process often is slow. This is one reason why these
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  Speaker 1: three enemies are so dangerous. They germinate and grow without
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  Speaker 1: their presence being observed. The remainder of this chapter describes
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  Speaker 1: an end which must be attained before the philosophy, as
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  Speaker 1: a whole, can be put into practical use. It also
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  Speaker 1: analyzes a condition which has, but lately, reduced huge numbers
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  Speaker 1: of people to poverty. and it states a truth which
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  Speaker 1: must be understood by all who accumulate riches, whether measured
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  Speaker 1: in terms of money or a state of mind of
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  Speaker 1: far greater value than money. The purpose of this chapter
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  Speaker 1: is to turn the spotlight of attention upon the cause
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  Speaker 1: and the cure of the six basic fears. Before we
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  Speaker 1: can master an enemy, we must know its name, its habits,
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  Speaker 1: and its place of abode. As you read, analyze yourself carefully.
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  Speaker 1: and determine which, if any, of the six common fears
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  Speaker 1: have attached themselves to you. Do not be deceived by
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  Speaker 1: the habits of these subtle enemies. Sometimes they remain hidden
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  Speaker 1: in the subconscious mind, where they are difficult to locate
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  Speaker 1: and still more difficult to eliminate. The Six Basic Fears
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  Speaker 1: There are six basic fears, with some combination of which
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  Speaker 1: every human suffers at one tune or another. Most people
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  Speaker 1: are fortunate if they do not suffer from the entire six.
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  Speaker 1: All other fears are of minor importance. They can
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  Speaker 1: be grouped under these six headings. The prevalence of these fears,
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  Speaker 1: as a curse to the world, runs in cycles. For
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  Speaker 1: almost six years, while the Depression was on, we floundered
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  Speaker 1: in the cycle of fear of poverty. During the World War,
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  Speaker 1: we were in the cycle of fear of death. Just
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  Speaker 1: following the war, we were in the cycle of fear
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  Speaker 1: of ill health. as evidenced by the epidemic of disease
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  Speaker 1: which spread itself all over the world. Fears are nothing
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  Speaker 1: more than states of mind. One state of mind is
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  Speaker 1: subject to control and direction. Physicians, as everyone knows, are
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  Speaker 1: less subject to attack by disease than ordinary laymen, for
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  Speaker 1: the reason that physicians do not fear disease. Physicians, without
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  Speaker 1: fear or hesitation, have been known to physically contact hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of people, daily, who were suffering from such contagious diseases
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  Speaker 1: as smallpox, without becoming infected. Their immunity against the disease consisted, largely,
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  Speaker 1: if not solely, in their absolute lack of fear. Man
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  Speaker 1: can create nothing which he does not first conceive in
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  Speaker 1: the form of an impulse of thought. Following this statement
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  Speaker 1: comes another of still greater importance. Namely, man's thought impulses
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  Speaker 1: begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent whether
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  Speaker 1: those thoughts are voluntary or involuntary. Thought impulses which are
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  Speaker 1: picked up through the ether, by mere chance, thoughts which
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  Speaker 1: have been released by other minds, may determine one's financial, business, professional,
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  Speaker 1: or social destiny just as surely as do the thought
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  Speaker 1: impulses which one creates by intent and design. We are
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  Speaker 1: here laying the foundation for the presentation of a fact
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  Speaker 1: of great importance to the person who does not understand
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  Speaker 1: why some people appear to be lucky, while others of
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  Speaker 1: equal or greater ability, training, experience, and brain capacity seem
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  Speaker 1: destined to ride with misfortune. This fact may be explained
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  Speaker 1: by the statement that every human being has the ability
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  Speaker 1: to completely control his own mind, and with this control, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: every person may open his mind to the tramp thought
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  Speaker 1: impulses which are being released by other brains, or close
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  Speaker 1: the doors tightly, and admit only thought impulses of his
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  Speaker 1: own choice. Nature has endowed man with absolute control over
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  Speaker 1: but one thing, and that is thought. This fact, coupled
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  Speaker 1: with the additional fact that everything which man creates begins
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  Speaker 1: in the form of a thought, leads one very near
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  Speaker 1: to the principle by which fear may be mastered. If
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  Speaker 1: it is true that all thought has a tendency to
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  Speaker 1: clothe itself in its physical equivalent— and this is true
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  Speaker 1: beyond any reasonable room for doubt, it is equally true
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  Speaker 1: that thought impulses of fear and poverty cannot be translated
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  Speaker 1: into terms of courage and financial gain. The people of
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  Speaker 1: America began to think of poverty following the Wall Street
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  Speaker 1: crash of 1929. Slowly but surely, that mass thought was
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  Speaker 1: crystallized into its physical equivalent, which was known as a depression.
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  Speaker 1: This had to happen. It is in conformity with the
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  Speaker 1: laws of nature. The fear of poverty. There can be
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  Speaker 1: no compromise between poverty and riches. The two roads that
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  Speaker 1: lead to poverty and riches travel in opposite directions. If
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  Speaker 1: you want riches, you must refuse to accept any circumstance
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  Speaker 1: that leads toward poverty. The word riches is here used
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  Speaker 1: in its broadest sense, meaning financial, spiritual, mental, and material estates.
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  Speaker 1: The starting point of the path that leads to riches
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  Speaker 1: is desire. In chapter 1, you received full instructions for
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  Speaker 1: the proper use of desire. In this chapter, on fear,
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  Speaker 1: you have complete instructions for preparing your mind to make
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  Speaker 1: practical use of desire. Here, then, is the place to
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  Speaker 1: give yourself a challenge which will definitely determine how much
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  Speaker 1: of this philosophy you have absorbed. Here is the point
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  Speaker 1: at which you can turn profit and foretell, accurately, what
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  Speaker 1: the future holds in store for you. If, after reading
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  Speaker 1: this chapter, you are willing to accept poverty, you may
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  Speaker 1: as well make up your mind to receive poverty. This
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  Speaker 1: is one decision you cannot avoid. If you demand riches,
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  Speaker 1: determine what form and how much will be required to
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  Speaker 1: satisfy you. You know the road that leads to riches.
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  Speaker 1: You have been given a road map which, if followed,
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  Speaker 1: will keep you on that road. If you neglect to
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  Speaker 1: make the start or stop before you arrive, no one
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  Speaker 1: will be to blame but you. This responsibility is yours.
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  Speaker 1: No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility if
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  Speaker 1: you now fail or refuse to demand riches of life,
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  Speaker 1: because the acceptance calls for but one thing, incidentally, the
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  Speaker 1: only thing you can control, and that is a state
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  Speaker 1: of mind. A state of mind is something that one assumes.
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  Speaker 1: It cannot be purchased. It must be created. Fear of
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  Speaker 1: poverty is a state of mind, nothing else, but it
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  Speaker 1: is sufficient to destroy one's chances of achievement in any undertaking,
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  Speaker 1: a truth which became painfully evident during the Depression. This
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  Speaker 1: fear paralyzes the faculty of reason, destroys the faculty of imagination,
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  Speaker 1: kills off self-reliance, undermines enthusiasm, discourages initiative, leads to uncertainty
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  Speaker 1: of purpose. encourages procrastination, wipes out enthusiasm, and makes self-control
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  Speaker 1: an impossibility. It takes the charm from one's personality, destroys
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of accurate thinking, diverts concentration of effort. It
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  Speaker 1: masters persistence, turns the willpower into nothingness, destroys ambition, beclouds
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  Speaker 1: the memory, and invites failure in every conceivable form. It
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  Speaker 1: kills love and assassinates the finer emotions of the heart.
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  Speaker 1: discourages friendship and invites disaster in a hundred forms, leads
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  Speaker 1: to sleeplessness, misery, and unhappiness. And all this despite the
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  Speaker 1: obvious truth that we live in a world of overabundance
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  Speaker 1: of everything the heart could desire, with nothing standing between
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  Speaker 1: us and our desires, excepting lack of a definite purpose.
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  Speaker 1: The fear of poverty is, without doubt, the most destructive
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  Speaker 1: of the six basic fears. It has been placed at
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  Speaker 1: the head of the list because it is the most
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  Speaker 1: difficult to master. Considerable courage is required to state the
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  Speaker 1: truth about the origin of this fear, and still greater
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  Speaker 1: courage to accept the truth after it has been stated.
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  Speaker 1: The fear of poverty grew out of man's inherited tendency
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  Speaker 1: to prey upon his fellow man economically. Nearly all animals
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  Speaker 1: lower than man are motivated by instinct, but their capacity
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  Speaker 1: to think is limited. Therefore, they prey upon one another physically. Man,
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  Speaker 1: with his superior sense of intuition, with the capacity to
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  Speaker 1: think and to reason, does not eat his fellow man bodily.
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  Speaker 1: He gets more satisfaction out of eating him financially. Man
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  Speaker 1: is so avaricious that every conceivable law has been passed
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  Speaker 1: to safeguard him from his fellow man. Of all the
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  Speaker 1: ages of the world, of which we know anything, the
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  Speaker 1: age in which we live seems to be one that
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  Speaker 1: is outstanding because of man's money madness. A man is
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  Speaker 1: considered less than the dust of the earth unless he
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  Speaker 1: can display a fat bank account. But if he has money,
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  Speaker 1: never mind how he acquired it, he is a king
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  Speaker 1: or a big shot. He is above the law, he
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  Speaker 1: rules in politics, he dominates in business, and the whole
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  Speaker 1: world about him bows in respect when he passes. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: brings man so much suffering and humility as poverty. Only
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  Speaker 1: those who have experienced poverty understand the full meaning of this.
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  Speaker 1: It is no wonder that man fears poverty. Through a
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  Speaker 1: long line of inherited experiences, man has learned, for sure,
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  Speaker 1: that some men cannot be trusted. where matters of money
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  Speaker 1: and earthly possessions are concerned. This is a rather stinging indictment,
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  Speaker 1: the worst part of it being that it is true.
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  Speaker 1: The majority of marriages are motivated by the wealth possessed
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  Speaker 1: by one or both of the contracting parties. It is
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  Speaker 1: no wonder, therefore, that the divorce courts are busy. So
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  Speaker 1: eager is man to possess wealth that he will acquire
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  Speaker 1: it in whatever manner he can, through legal methods if possible,
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  Speaker 1: through other methods, if necessary or expedient. Self-analysis may disclose
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  Speaker 1: weaknesses which one does not like to acknowledge. This form
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  Speaker 1: of examination is essential to all who demand of life
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  Speaker 1: more than mediocrity and poverty. Remember, as you check yourself
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  Speaker 1: point by point, that you are both the court and
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  Speaker 1: the jury, the prosecuting attorney and the attorney for the defense,
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  Speaker 1: and that you are the plaintiff and the defendant, also,
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  Speaker 1: that you are on trial. Face the facts squarely. Ask
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  Speaker 1: yourself definite questions and demand direct replies. When the examination
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  Speaker 1: is over, you will know more about yourself. If you
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  Speaker 1: do not feel that you can be an impartial judge
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  Speaker 1: in this self-examination, call upon someone who knows you well
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  Speaker 1: to serve as judge while you cross-examine yourself. You are
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  Speaker 1: after the truth. Get it, no matter at what cost,
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  Speaker 1: even though it may temporarily embarrass you. The majority of people,
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  Speaker 1: if asked what they fear most, would reply, I fear nothing.
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  Speaker 1: The reply would be inaccurate because few people realize that
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  Speaker 1: they are bound, handicapped, whipped spiritually and physically through some
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  Speaker 1: form of fear. So subtle and deeply seated is the
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  Speaker 1: emotion of fear that one may go through life burdened
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  Speaker 1: with it, never recognizing its presence. Only a courageous analysis
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  Speaker 1: will disclose the presence of this universal enemy. When you
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  Speaker 1: begin such an analysis, search deeply into your character. Here
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  Speaker 1: is a list of the symptoms for which you should look.
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  Speaker 1: Symptoms of the fear of poverty. Indifference. Commonly expressed through
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  Speaker 1: lack of ambition, willingness to tolerate poverty, acceptance of whatever
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  Speaker 1: compensation life may offer without protest, mental and physical laziness,
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  Speaker 1: lack of initiative, Imagination, enthusiasm, and self-control. Indecision. The habit
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  Speaker 1: of permitting others to do one's thinking. Staying on the fence. Doubt.
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  Speaker 1: Generally expressed through alibis and excuses designed to cover up,
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  Speaker 1: explain away, or apologize for one's failures. Sometimes expressed in
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  Speaker 1: the form of envy of those who are successful, or
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  Speaker 1: by criticizing them. Worry. Usually expressed by finding fault with others.
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  Speaker 1: a tendency to spend beyond one's income, neglect of personal appearance,
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  Speaker 1: scowling and frowning, intemperance in the use of alcoholic drink,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes through the use of narcotics, nervousness, lack of poise, self-consciousness,
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  Speaker 1: and lack of self-reliance, over-caution, the habit of looking for
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  Speaker 1: the negative side of every circumstance, thinking and talking of
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  Speaker 1: possible failure instead of concentrating upon the means of succeeding,
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  Speaker 1: Knowing all the roads to disaster, but never searching for
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  Speaker 1: the plans to avoid failure. Waiting for the right time
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  Speaker 1: to begin putting ideas and plans into action until the
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  Speaker 1: waiting becomes a permanent habit. Remembering those who have failed
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  Speaker 1: and forgetting those who have succeeded. Seeing the hole in
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  Speaker 1: the donut, but overlooking the donut. Pessimism, leading to indigestion,
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  Speaker 1: poor elimination, auto-intoxication, bad breath, and bad disposition. Procrastination. The
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  Speaker 1: habit of putting off until tomorrow that which should have
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  Speaker 1: been done last year. Spending enough time in creating alibis
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  Speaker 1: and excuses to have done the job. This symptom is
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  Speaker 1: closely related to over-caution, doubt, and worry. Refusal to accept
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  Speaker 1: responsibility when it can be avoided. Willingness to compromise rather
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  Speaker 1: than put up a stiff fight. Compromising with difficulties instead
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  Speaker 1: of harnessing and using them as stepping stones to advancement.
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  Speaker 1: Bargaining with life for a penny instead of demanding prosperity, opulence, riches, contentment,
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  Speaker 1: and happiness. Planning what to do if and when overtaken
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  Speaker 1: by failure, instead of burning all bridges and making retreat impossible.
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  Speaker 1: Weakness of, and often total lack of self-confidence, definiteness of purpose, self-control, initiative, enthusiasm, ambition, thrift,
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  Speaker 1: and sound reasoning ability. Expecting poverty instead of demanding riches.
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  Speaker 1: Association with those who accept poverty instead of seeking the
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  Speaker 1: company of those who demand and receive riches. Money talks.
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  Speaker 1: Some will ask, why did you write a book about money?
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  Speaker 1: Why measure riches in dollars, alone? Some will believe, and
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  Speaker 1: rightly so, that there are other forms of riches more
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  Speaker 1: desirable than money. Yes, there are riches which cannot be
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  Speaker 1: measured in terms of dollars, but there are millions of
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  Speaker 1: people who will say, give me all the money I
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  Speaker 1: need and I will find everything else I want. The
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  Speaker 1: major reason why I wrote this book on how to
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  Speaker 1: get money is the fact that the world has but
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  Speaker 1: lately passed through an experience that left millions of men
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  Speaker 1: and women paralyzed with the fear of poverty. What this
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  Speaker 1: sort of fear does to one was well described by
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  Speaker 1: Westbrook Pegler in the New York World Telegram, viz., Money
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  Speaker 1: is only clamshells, or metal discs, or scraps of paper,
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  Speaker 1: and there are treasures of the heart and soul which
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  Speaker 1: money cannot buy. But most people, being broke, are unable
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  Speaker 1: to keep this in mind and sustain their spirits. When
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  Speaker 1: a man is down and out and on the street,
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  Speaker 1: unable to get any job at all, Something happens to
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  Speaker 1: his spirit, which can be observed in the droop of
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  Speaker 1: his shoulders, the set of his hat, his walk, and
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  Speaker 1: his gaze. He cannot escape a feeling of inferiority among
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  Speaker 1: people with regular employment, even though he knows they are
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  Speaker 1: definitely not his equals in character, intelligence, or ability. These people,
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  Speaker 1: even his friends, feel, on the other hand, a sense
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  Speaker 1: of superiority and regard him, perhaps unconsciously, as a casualty.
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  Speaker 1: He may borrow for a time, but not enough to
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  Speaker 1: carry on in his accustomed way, and he cannot continue
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  Speaker 1: to borrow very long. But borrowing in itself, when a
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  Speaker 1: man is borrowing merely to live, is a depressing experience,
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  Speaker 1: and the money lacks the power of earned money to
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  Speaker 1: revive his spirits. Of course, none of this applies to
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  Speaker 1: bums or habitual never-do-wells, but only to men of normal
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  Speaker 1: ambitions and self-respect. Money makes difference He sees thousands of
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  Speaker 1: other people, bookkeepers or clerks or chemists or wagon hands,
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  Speaker 1: busy at their work and envies them from the bottom
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  Speaker 1: of his soul. They have their independence, their self-respect and manhood,
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  Speaker 1: and he simply cannot convince himself that he is a
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  Speaker 1: good man too, though he argue it out and arrive
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  Speaker 1: at a favorable verdict hour after hour. It is just
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  Speaker 1: money which makes this difference in him. With a little money,
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  Speaker 1: he would be himself again, Some employers take the most
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  Speaker 1: shocking advantage of people who are down and out. The
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  Speaker 1: agencies hang out little colored cards offering miserable wages to
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  Speaker 1: busted men. $ 12 a week, $ 15 a week. An $ 18
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  Speaker 1: a week job is a plum, and anyone with $ 25
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  Speaker 1: a week to offer does not hang the job in
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  Speaker 1: front of an agency on a colored card. I have
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: a want ad clipped from a local paper demanding a clerk,
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  Speaker 1: a good, clean penman, to take telephone orders for a
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  Speaker 1: sandwich shop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $ 8
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  Speaker 1: a month. Not $ 8 a week, but $ 8 a month.
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  Speaker 1: The ad says also, state religion. Can you imagine the
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  Speaker 1: brutal effrontery of anyone who demands a good, clean penman
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  Speaker 1: for 11 cents an hour inquiring into the victim's religion?
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  Speaker 1: But that is what busted people are offered. You have
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: been listening to Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed this classic rendition. Find more stories
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: on audiopulse.org.