One of the first books I read up on wealth is The Science of Getting Rich.
Let’s be really honest with ourselves, especially when we are all alone at night, thinking about our life and dreams, we actually experience a mix of emotions — from excitement, to anxiety, doubt and worry about the possibility of our dreams coming true. Same dream, different angles of looking at it produces different emotions.
More specifically, when our eyes are wide open in the darkness of the night, we are thinking about where are we in our life right now and how far are we still from achieving our goals in life and realising our dreams.
And while some people feel the adrenaline of running and overcoming any hurdle to reach their goals, most feel intimidated and uncertain about having to go that distance.
Like it or not, most people spend their time right before they sleep worrying about their future, regretting about their past and wondering how is their future going to turn out.
Maybe you’re really comfortable with where you are at right now in your life, you’ve achieved most of your life goals and you’re living your dreams. But who wouldn’t mind more money? Or if you’re rich, and asked if you’d like to have more money, you’d most likely reply, “Sure, why not?”
But if you’re like me, still on the journey to carve a niche out of your career or business, exploring ways to succeed financially, in your business or career—actually, to succeed in all areas of life, then join me as I embark and progress along my journey of creating financial success.
Join me as I embark and progress along my journey of creating financial success.
I want to find out how do people get rich, beyond what they do for a living or the investments they pick etc.
By how I mean what are the deeper causes or factors that make someone more likely to become rich.
Or for this blog series, what really is The Science of Getting Rich?
Let’s jump right in!
The Science of Getting Rich — Attracting Financial Success Through Creative Thought
So the title caught my attention not just because it contained the two words, “getting rich”.
Actually the 3 words that caught my attention is “Science” and “Creative Thought”.
I mean I have watched the Law of Attraction video before and read The Secret, but to me, both the video and book just felt flighty. If everyone just need to think positive thoughts and send it out to the universe, then why is it that there’s still so many people not getting what they want after doing all of that?
Then of course these LoA folks will come up with a dozen of explanations of why and what they are not doing right and blah blah blah.
Sure but I want something more concrete that actually explains why do we have to do whatever they (the book or system or method, whatever) tell us to do and how does it all work.
Then, The Science of Getting Rich seemed to promise some kind of logic or explanation behind Law of Attraction, since it also highlighted on its book cover, “THE SECRET BEHIND The Secret”.
And “Creative Thought” sounds like a marketing gimmick but well it works enough to pique my interest to find out what on earth is that.
About Getting Rich
So the first 5 chapters, including introduction, lay the premise of the science of getting rich.
Originally published in 1910, this guy named Wallace D. Wattles sets the tone of the book right at the first sentence of his introduction,
This book is pragmatical, not philosophical. It is a practical manual, not a treatise on theories. It is intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money—for people who wish to get rich first and philosophise afterward.
Basically, it’s telling you to cast aside all your doubts right at the beginning. Ultimately it boils down to which do we want more, to get rich or understand the processes of getting rich.
We have a choice, stay broke and theorise or get rich first then theorise later. And he seems to be quite adamant about getting into action
If you wish to reap the fruits of their philosophies in actual practice, read this book and do exactly as it tells you to do.
Well fair enough, I’m the one who wants to get rich so I should try it out like an actual science experiment and see what results I reap.
Then he goes on to debunk the deeply-rooted beliefs about being rich, something like “money is the root of all evil”. And the following 4 points he made are extremely convincing because it makes sense:
Success in life is becoming what you want to be.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich.
the expression of love is often frustrated by poverty.
Love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving.
But because he set the premise of not wanting to dive too deeply into metaphysics or philosophy, he uses terms like “original substance”, “formless stuff” and “the raw material of all things” without going too much into detail.
We’re just supposed to not theorise and do exactly as he says, remember?
Language Needs To Be Updated?
The he talks about a God and how universe is a great living presence and I struggle to tie the 2 together (God & universe) because I see the potential argument most people will have in their minds. Didn’t God create the universe?
But I’m supposed to suspend my disbelief and just cast aside all my doubts for now. So despite the slightly archaic language, it takes a fair amount of effort to digest sentences like these:
Thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches from the formless substance.
Original substance moves according to its thoughts.
It’s so hard to relate to what he’s talking about.
The he goes on to talk about how our thoughts are like seeds, which now feels easier to understand than strange phrases like original substance.
“A seed, dropped into the ground, springs into activity, and in the act of living, products a hundred more seeds. Life, by living, multiplies itself.”
Paradigm Shift: How Do You Look At Things?
I personally find that there’s value in this book by Wallace D. Wattles but it takes a lot of effort to wrap your head around the language. It needs decoding but certain ideals, though lofty, do resonate with me.
He talked about how it is ok to enjoy things. And how it’s ok for us to have nice things. The key here seems to be understanding how things are created — which in this book is using the original substance. More so, getting rich is more than just self-gratification. It seems like he’s suggesting that getting rich requires a motivation that expands beyond the self.
There’s this sentence that stands out,
extreme altruism is no better and no nobler than extreme selfishness
It seems like when we get rich it’s not all about ourselves but neither should it be all about saving the world. The motivation, I gather, to getting rich seems to be more than just a balance of self and others, but the understanding that if we want to take care of others, we must first be able to take care of ourselves. And by taking care of others, we are taking care of ourselves. So it’s not an either-or situation, but two sides of the same coin.
Why do I say so?
You must get rid of the thought of competition. You are to create, not to compete for what is already created. You do not have to take anything away from anyone. You do not have to drive sharp bargains. You do not have to cheat or to take advantage. You do not need to let any man work for you for less than he earns. You do not have to covet the property of others or to look at it with wishful eyes. No one has anything which you cannot have the same. And, you can have it without taking what he has away from him.
Because most of us feel that when we take care of others, we are putting them in a position to be better than us. Or that if others have more than us or what we want, we start to feel the lack and the jealousy because we want what they have.
And that’s a mindset of competition — me versus you. And also a mindset of lack.
Which he is trying to tell us that keeping a mindset of competition and lack isn’t the recipe for getting rich.
You are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other person will have more than he has now.
Beyond the archaic and coded language, now I am curious and hooked.
I need to read on and find out how exactly can I get rich.
In his bestselling book, Wallace D. Wattles explains that “universal mind” underlies and permeates all creation. Through the process of visualization we can engage the law of attraction–impressing our thoughts upon “formless substance” and bringing the desired object or circumstances into material form.
The author emphasizes the critical importance of attitude: only by aligning ourselves with the positive forces of natural law can we gain unlimited access to the creative mind and its abundant rewards.
The Science of Getting Rich holds the secret to how economic and emotional security can be achieved in a practical, imaginative, and noncompetitive way, while maintaining a loving and harmonious relationship with all of life.
By living in accordance with the positive principles outlined in this book, we can find our rightful place in the cosmic scheme and create for ourselves an environment in which to grow in wealth, wisdom, and happiness.
Rhonda Byrne, in her book and DVD, The Secret, tells how a 100-year-old book entered her life and changed it forever. Here is that book. Written in 1910, The Science of Getting Rich inspired Byrne to create her bestselling DVD, and subsequently, to write her book. She has said that it “gave me a glimpse of The Secret. It was like a flame inside of my heart. And with every day since, it’s just become a raging fire of wanting to share all of this with the world.” “There is a science of getting rich. It is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches. Once a person learns and obeys these laws, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.” –Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich Buy The Book
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