1:58

These days

2:00

about the power of thought, and

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some people are disposed to sneer

2:05

at it, but there is more

2:08

in it than these persons suppose,

2:11

and they suffer because they don't realize

2:13

its power. Consider

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this, can you do anything

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without first thinking about it? Is

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any discovery or invention,

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any work of art or book, any

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newspaper or tool, any

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manufacturing or any crime,

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any deed, good or bad,

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ever performed without someone's

2:39

first thinking about it? In

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other words, everything that

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you do is first

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an idea in your mind, that

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is where it is first created. If

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you want to make a chair or

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a plan or a sailboat

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or a printing press or a

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bomb or a broom, it

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must first take shape in your

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mind as an idea.

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As a matter of fact, the idea

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of a thing is the real

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creation of it. The

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physical putting it together afterward

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is a mere copy of the idea

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in your mind. We

3:23

are accustomed to think that a

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certain amount of time and energy is

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required to make the visible

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copy of the idea, the

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visible chair or plow

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or broom, but the

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more perfectly we think it out, that

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is created as a complete idea

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in mind, the more quickly

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and perfectly we can create

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it in visible form. And

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as we think it out better and better, we

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find that we require less and less

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time to make the visible

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thing, and less and

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less energy. Newly

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invented machines, for instance, are

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usually crude, cumbersome,

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heavy, and require a lot of power

4:10

to operate them. But

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as they are perfected, that

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is, as they are thought out, they

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become lighter, simpler, more

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efficient, are operated

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by less power, and do their

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work more quickly. During

4:28

this process, the time

4:30

always comes when the thing that once took

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a long period, and much labor

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to make, is made at a speed

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so high that the production

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is in some cases almost instantaneous.

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If when we began making this thing,

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we had understood all the laws of its

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making, we could have made it

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instantaneously without going

4:54

through the process of learning

4:56

how. But that

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would have been a miracle, exactly.

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The difference between what we call

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a natural process and

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what we call a miracle is

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largely a matter of the time required

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to reach the desired end. But

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doing a miracle is merely a matter

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of understanding the laws by which

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it is done. The

5:22

first Ford car required

5:25

months of grueling labor to build.

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Within a relatively short time, though, Ford

5:31

plans could make about five and a half

5:33

cars a minute, or one

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about every 10 seconds. Is

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that a miracle? At one

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time, people would have thought so, but

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not today, because car

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manufacturers now have a better knowledge

5:48

of the mechanical laws involved.

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Knowledge of the laws involved in

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anything is not only the most

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valuable knowledge that we can have, but

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But it is absolutely essential.

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Henry Ford never would have made a car

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if he had started with no knowledge of

6:08

law. But he began

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by using what he knew about the

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laws of mechanics. And

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as he used the knowledge he had, his

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knowledge grew. Just

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as your muscles grow as you use

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them, or as intelligence

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grows by use, or

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anything else, and wouldn't

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Henry Ford have been foolish not to try

6:32

out his ideas based on

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the bits of knowledge he possessed? Think

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this over, and you'll see that

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anything we ever achieve is

6:43

accomplished by our knowledge of

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some kind of law.

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Health,

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wealth, happiness, success,

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prosperity,

6:54

freedom.

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Anything you want literally will come

6:58

to you if you will obey its laws.

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Just as literally as you obey the law

7:04

of gravitation. Now

7:07

of course you see the direction

7:09

of this argument. Our

7:12

work is not primarily to do something

7:14

hard that brings us sweat, breaks

7:17

the nails, tires the muscles,

7:20

and exhausts the wind. Anything

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that is a drudgery, not

7:25

at all. The secret

7:27

of getting what you want lies

7:29

in obeying the law governing getting

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what you want. What

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is that law? The

7:37

law of giving and receiving. Now

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you may be thinking, what have I

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to give? Perhaps

7:45

you conclude that you have nothing. But

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Henry Ford had nothing, at

7:51

the start, nothing but

7:53

an idea. Heinz

7:55

the Pickleman of 57 varieties

7:58

fame had nothing. at the

8:00

start, nothing but an

8:02

idea. Woolworth,

8:05

the five and ten cent store owner, had

8:08

nothing at the start, nothing

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but an idea. Arthur

8:14

Ashe, the tailor, who built a business

8:16

up from nothing to twelve million in

8:18

six years, had nothing

8:21

at the start, nothing

8:23

but an idea. The

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curious thing about it is that

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these entrepreneurs all had the

8:30

same idea. What

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was it? It was the

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idea of giving the world something

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that it needed, something

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of value. When

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they began acting on the idea by

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giving what they had to begin with, they

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learned how to give more, and

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so received more. And

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when they gave that, more came,

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until every one of them reached the

8:57

point where he was successful and

9:00

famous, and money

9:02

rolled in upon him faster than

9:04

he could use it. It

9:07

will work for you, this

9:09

law. It has worked for

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me. It is working for

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you and for me, whether we

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know it or not, whether we

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believe it or not. What

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you give out comes back to you,

9:23

multiplied. If

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you don't get what you want, it's

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nobody's fault but your own. If I

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don't get what I want, it's nobody's

9:34

fault but mine. The

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law works. If it works

9:39

for me slowly at first, that

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is because I must learn by giving

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what I have, before I

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can get more knowledge of the law and thus

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have more to give. But

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if I will give what I have, where

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I am, to someone who

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needs it, I'll gain the knowledge

9:58

and the things that I need. need. As

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I go on giving, I

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rapidly rise toward the point where I shall

10:06

do easily and instantaneously

10:10

the thing that now takes me a long time

10:12

to do, just as my

10:14

hand gains skill and speed

10:17

and ease with a hammer

10:19

or a drill or a baseball

10:22

or a boxing glove

10:24

or a camera

10:26

or an automobile. Eventually

10:29

by using all the knowledge I have of law

10:32

in giving service to the world, I

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shall gain the ability to do seeming

10:37

miracles, as Henry

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Ford, Ty Cobb, Thomas

10:42

Edison, Madame Curie,

10:45

Helen Keller and many

10:47

others have done. If

10:50

you believe that my argument

10:53

is sound, as it occurred to

10:55

you that the conclusion is not new,

10:58

it's as least as old as the

11:00

year 33 A.D. In

11:03

other words, it has been taught

11:05

to the world more or less ever

11:07

since the time of Jesus. In

11:11

fact, it was and is

11:13

His teaching. Many

11:16

people overlook the real teaching

11:18

of Jesus of Nazareth. But

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listen, didn't He say,

11:24

given it shall be given unto you? Whatever

11:28

you think about Jesus religiously,

11:31

did He know what He was talking about? Did

11:34

He state a law? I

11:37

believe that Jesus of Nazareth

11:39

did not merely found religion, but

11:41

that He taught a way to live, to

11:44

live happily, successfully,

11:47

prosperously. Didn't

11:50

He say, I came that

11:52

ye may have life and may have

11:54

it abundantly? In

11:56

other words, He taught not merely

11:59

a way to be good, and moral and honest

12:01

and industrious and all that,

12:04

but a way to live by the law

12:07

that brings success and money

12:09

and fame and love and

12:11

all the other things that we want.

12:15

And the law he taught was give and

12:18

give first if you want

12:20

to get anything. He

12:23

voiced the golden rule, whatsoever

12:26

ye would that others should do to

12:28

you, do ye even so

12:31

to them. The

12:33

wisest of the world's cynics

12:36

say that you have to pay some time

12:38

for whatever you get. Jesus

12:41

of Nazareth said in essence, pay

12:44

as you enter, select

12:47

what you want and pay

12:49

first. Maybe

12:51

this sounds impractical to you.

12:54

It did to me, but try

12:57

it out. I did. You'll

12:59

get results. I certainly

13:02

did. It won't fail

13:04

you. It hasn't failed

13:06

me.

13:07

Why?

13:09

Because there is just one maker

13:11

of law in the universe, and

13:13

that is the power we call

13:15

God. And that power

13:18

made the law of giving and receiving.

13:21

Give the best you have and

13:24

look for the best in return. Prove

13:28

me now says God, whether

13:30

I will not open the windows of heaven and

13:33

pour you out a blessing greater

13:36

than ye are able to receive.

13:39

His only condition is that we shall

13:42

give first. That's

13:44

all. Commonly we do

13:46

not take this sort of promise seriously,

13:49

but it is sound and true. If

13:53

you will stop thinking of God

13:55

as a joke or as a terror

13:59

or as a myth. or as a dream,

14:02

or as something far off and outside

14:04

everyday life, and

14:06

we'll think of him as the maker

14:08

of the law of gravitation and

14:11

of the law of love, one

14:13

of which is just as real as the other,

14:16

you'll get somewhere. If

14:19

you want to know how, the

14:22

whole secret lies in beginning.

14:25

The way to do it is to do it,

14:28

right where you are. Now

14:31

begin to give something good

14:33

to the person nearest to you, and

14:36

keep on doing it, no

14:38

matter what you seem to get back

14:41

at first.

14:42

Do

14:43

don't talk,

14:45

and you'll lift yourself out of your troubles,

14:48

no matter what they seem to be, or

14:51

how deeply you seem to be sunken

14:53

them.

14:54

Try it,

14:56

you'll be surprised. I

14:58

was. Try it as patiently

15:01

and as hard as you would

15:03

try to get a drink of water if you

15:05

were very thirsty. You'll

15:08

get a return, a reward,

15:11

that you don't even dream of yet. You

15:14

will. Don't let anybody

15:17

fool you about it. And

15:19

besides, if it doesn't

15:21

work, you don't have to keep on

15:23

with it. But you will

15:25

keep on if you give it a

15:28

fair chance to prove itself. Because

15:31

it works.