The Right To Be Rich
WHATEVER may be
said in praise of poverty, the fact
remains that it is
not possible to live a really complete or
successful life
unless one is rich. No man can rise to his greatest
possible height in
talent or soul development unless he has
plenty of money;
for to unfold the soul and to develop talent he
must have many
things to use, and he cannot have these things
unless he has money
to buy them with.
A man develops in
mind, soul, and body by making use of
things, and society
is so organized that man must have money in
order to become the
possessor of things; therefore, the basis of
all advancement for
man must be the science of getting rich.
The object of all
life is development; and everything that
lives has an
inalienable right to all the development it is capable
of attaining.
Man's right to life
means his right to have the free and
unrestricted use of
all the things which may be necessary to his
fullest mental,
spiritual, and physical unfoldment; or, in other
words, his right to
be rich.
In this book, I
shall not speak of riches in a figurative way; to
be really rich does
not mean to be satisfied or contented with a
little. No man
ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of
using and enjoying
more. The purpose of Nature is the
advancement and
unfoldment of life; and every man should have
all that can
contribute to the power, elegance, beauty, and
richness of life;
to be content with less is sinful.
The man who owns
all he wants for the living of all the life
he is capable of
living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of
money can have all
he wants. Life has advanced so far, and
become so complex,
that even the most ordinary man or woman
requires a great
amount of wealth in order to live in a manner
that even
approaches completeness. Every person naturally wants to become all that they
are capable of becoming; this
desire to realize
innate possibilities is inherent in human nature;
we cannot help
wanting to be all that we can be. Success in life is
becoming what you
want to be; you can become what you want to
be only by making
use of things, and you can have the free use of
things only as you
become rich enough to buy them. To
understand the
science of getting rich is therefore the most
essential of all
knowledge.
There is nothing
wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire for
riches is really
the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant
life; and that
desire is praise worthy. The man who does not desire
to live more
abundantly is abnormal, and so the man who does
not desire to have
money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal.
There are three motives
for which we live; we live for the
body, we live for
the mind, we live for the soul. No one of these is
better or holier
than the other; all are alike desirable, and no one
of the three--body,
mind, or soul--can live fully if either of the
others is cut short
of full life and expression. It is not right or
noble to live only
for the soul and deny mind or body; and it is
wrong to live for
the intellect and deny body or soul.
We are all
acquainted with the loathsome consequences of
living for the body
and denying both mind and soul; and we see
that real life
means the complete expression of all that man can
give forth through
body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no
man can be really
happy or satisfied unless his body is living fully
in every function,
and unless the same is true of his mind and his
soul. Wherever
there is unexpressed possibility, or function not
performed, there is
unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility
seeking expression,
or function seeking performance.
Man cannot live
fully in body without good food,
comfortable
clothing, and warm shelter; and without freedom
from excessive
toil. Rest and recreation are also necessary to his
physical life.
He cannot live
fully in mind without books and time to study
them, without
opportunity for travel and observation, or without
intellectual
companionship.
To live fully in
mind he must have intellectual recreations,
and must surround
himself with all the objects of art and beauty
he is capable of
using and appreciating.
To live fully in
soul, man must have love; and love is denied
expression by
poverty.
A man's highest
happiness is found in the bestowal of
benefits on those
he loves; love finds its most natural and
spontaneous
expression in giving. The man who has nothing to
give cannot fill
his place as a husband or father, as a citizen, or as
a man. It is in the
use of material things that a man finds full life
for his body,
develops his mind, and unfolds his soul. It is
therefore of
supreme importance to him that he should be rich.
It is perfectly
right that you should desire to be rich; if you
are a normal man or
woman you cannot help doing so. It is
perfectly right
that you should give your best attention to the
Science of Getting
Rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary
of all studies. If
you neglect this study, you are derelict in your
duty to yourself,
to God and humanity; for you can render to God
and humanity no
greater service than to make the most of
yourself.
[SOURCE: THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH]
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