I read this book and took notes on key points over the course of 3 days.
The lessons continue to inspire me and bring me peace, joy and enlightenment.
I continue to attract abundance in my life in great part due to this book. Ernest Holmes, along with teachers like Napoleon Hill, continue to help me raise my awareness of how plentiful life is.
And so, I share these notes with you.
Enjoy!
PS. The posts from the last few days and many of the posts going forward will be directly inspired from The Creative Mind and Success.
THE CREATIVE MIND AND SUCCESS NOTES
PART 1
AN INQUIRY INTO THE TRUTH
The starting point of our thought must always begin with our experiences
“As the father hath life within himself, so hath he given it to the son to have life within himself…”
MAN'S PLACE IN CREATION
Why did God create man and make him a free agent?
THE BEGINNING OF UNDERSTANDING
Law is not physical or material but mental and spiritual. Law is God’s method of operation
OUR CONDITIONS GOVERNED BY OUR THINKING
In your life you are the cause. There is nothing but mind and nothing moves except as mind moves it
Some are limited and bound by law through ignorance. This law is sometimes called ‘Karma’, it is the law that binds the ignorant and gives freedom to the wise
With a tremendous grasp of the power of true spiritual thought, Jesus even called forth bread from the ethers of life and at no time did he ever fail to demonstrate that when one knows the truth, one is freed by that knowledge
UNCONSCIOUS CREATION
“I say that ye are gods and every one of you sons of the most high…”
FIRST STEPS
Mind must cast back all or none
We should tell every man who will believe what his real nature is; show him to overcome all limitations; give him courage; show him the way
We may sympathize with people but never with trouble, limitation, or misery
HOW TO ATTAIN STRENGTH
We must think only what we wish to experience
We must not hear, think, speak, read or listen to limitation of any kind
This does not mean that we must be afraid to think lest we create the wrong image, but it does mean that the way most people think can produce nothing but failure
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”
WHAT WE WILL ATTRACT
Put every negative thought out of your mind once and for all. Declare your freedom. Know that no matter what others may say, think, or do, you are a success, NOW, and nothing can hinder you from accomplishing your good.
MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF ATTRACTION
Most of the inner processes of thought have been unconscious; but when we understand the law all that we have to do is embody consciously what we wish, and think of that only, and then we shall be drawn silently toward it
Persistent, firm determination to think what we want to think, regardless of all outer evidence to the contrary. We look not to the seen but to the unseen
HOW TO ATTRACT FRIENDS
One of the first things to do is to learn to love everybody
Love is the greatest healing and drawing power on Earth
Love is the sole impulse for creation. The man who does not have it as his greatest incentive in his life has never developed the real creative instinct
Think of the whole world as your friend but you must also be friend of the whole world
Know that everyone wants you to have the best, affirm this wherever you go and then you will find things just as you wish them to be
To him who loveth much, much will be forgiven
People are dying for real human interest, for someone to tell them that they are all right
Which person do we like better: the one who is always full of trouble and fault-finding or the one who looks to the world as his friend and loves it?
"I help, therefore I am helped; I uplift, therefore I am uplifted"
"I am now surrounded by all love, all friendship, all companionship, all health, all happiness, all success. I am one with life. I wait in the silence while the great spirit bears this message to the whole world"
"He must remember that whatever he gets is his to use but not his to hold"
god will work through us if we will let him, but we must act in the outer as though we were sure of ourselves. our part is to believe then act in faith
jesus said "all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them"
he can create such a strong mental atmosphere of success that its power of attraction will be irresistible
without mental clearness on the part of the thinker, there can be no real creative work done. as water will reach only its own level, so mind will return to us only what we first believe
we are always getting what we believe, but not always what we want
THE POWER OF WORDS
the words which i speak, they are spirit and they are life
by our words we are justified and by our words we are condemned
this does not mean power through effort or strain but power through absolute conviction or faith
how careful, then, we should be what kind of words we are speaking
everytime we speak, we are using power
WHY BELIEF IS NECESSARY
as water will freeze into the form that it is poured, so mind will solidify only into the forms that our thought takes
be willing to receive what you send out
no thought of discouragement or disorder should ever be created, but only positive assurance, strong thoughts of success, of divine activity, the feeling that with god all things are possible, the belief that we are one with that great mind. these are the thoughts that make for success
this life is continually giving to us all that we could ask for, wish or think into it
what we must do is provide that already-having-received attitude.
nature must be obeyed before it will work for us
nothing can happen to us that is not first accepted belief in our own consciousness
we may not always be aware of what is going on within, but practice will enable us to control our thought more and more so that we shall be able to think what we want to think regardless of what may seem to be the case
as soon as we become rich in our thought then we will be rch in our expression
in the center of your own soul choose what you want to become, to accomplish; keep it to yourself. every day in the silence of absolute conviction know that it's now done
life is consciousness and not years. it is thought and not conditions we are dealing with
life is from within outward, and never from without inward
MONEY A SPIRITUAL IDEA
the true idea of money is not material - it is spiritual
daily declare that all the power in the universe is daily bringing to us all that we can use
refuse to talk poverty or limitation
see money coming to you from every source and from every direction
realize in your life the presence of an omnipotent power
ACTION
our work is no longer done in any sense of doubt or fear, for we know that we are dealing with something that never makes a mistake
there must be mental alertness before there can be physical activity
activity is genius
the man who is active in his thoughts doesn't have to sit by himself to think
the wide awake person can find so many things to do that he hasn't the time even to begin in this life and he knows that eternity is necessary to carry out the ideals that he has already evolved
IDEAS OF THE INFINITE
when you want to know a certain thing or how to begin a certain line of action: 1) you must be quiet within yourself until you realize the presence of absolute intelligence all around you 2) get a perfect picture of what you desire, you cannot get a picture unless you know what you want. put your mind in touch with universal mind, saying just what you are waiting for 3)ask for it, believe that you are receiving it and wait 4)after a few minutes declare that you now know, even though you may not seem to know, yet in the depths of consciousness you have received the impression 5) give thanks that you now receive DO THIS EVERY DAY UNTIL YOU GET SOME DIRECTION
DON'T BE A LEANER
to thine own self repair, wait thou within the silence dim, and thou shalt find him there
when you have a real thing to do, keep it to yourself. just know in your mind and keep still about it
we are all sending out a constant stream of thought; the clearer it is, the better it will manifest (Law Of Cause & Effect)
When we tell our friends what we are going to do, they confuse our thought by laughing about it or by doubting our capacity to do so large a thing. when we become the least bit negative it will react and we will lose that power of clearness which is absolutely necessary to good creative work
when you want to do a big thing, get the mental pattern, make it perfect, know just what it means, enlarge your thought, keep it to yourself, pass it over to the creative power behind all things, wait and listen and when the impression comes, follow it with assurance. don't talk to anyone about it, never listen to negative talk or pay any attention to it and you will succeed where all others fail
we are living in the outer world of effects and in the inner world of causes
we are not limited by actual boundaries, but by false ideas about life and by a failure to recognize that we are dealing with the infinite
we must stick to it until we gain the mastery of all our thought and in that day we will rise never to fall again
we must be good-natured with ourselves, never becoming discouraged or giving up until we overcome. feel that you are always backed by an omnipotent power and a kind father of love and the way will become easier
our idea of prayer is the accepting of a thing before we get it
growth and realization are always from within and never from without
ONE LAW AND MANY MANIFESTATIONS
the law of electricity will either light our house or burn it down
there is no likelihood of using the law for harmful purposes if we always use it for a more complete expression of life
TRANSCENDING PREVIOUS CONDITIONS
if a man repents, his sins are blotted out and remembered no more forever
under certain conditions, we do not have to suffer for wrongdoing - a changed attitude toward the law
the law would still work out if we continued to use it the wrong way but when we reverse the cause, that is think and act in a different way, then we have changed the flow of the law
as law works without variation, so does the law of attraction work the same way. all we have to do is drop the undesired thing from our thought, forgive ourselves and start anew
to fear to make conscious use of the law would be to paralyze all efforts of progress
UNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTANDING
realize that everyone in the world is a friend, prove this by never saying anything unkind to or about anyone
anything unlike god doesn't exist, anything that embodies god is eternal
we must become what we want and we will never be able to do that while we still persist in seeing what we do not want, no matter where we see it
it is a comfort to know that we do not have to make things happen, but that the law of divine love is all that we will ever need...it will relieve the overworked brain and the fagged muscle just to be still and know that we are one with the all in all
another thing we must eliminate is talking about limitation - for we get only that which we think
build a more stately mansion under the supreme wisdom and the unfailing guidance of the spirit; and we will do unto all even as we would have them do unto us. there is no other way.
NO UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE
know that you are dealing with a sure thing and that all you have to do is to know positively into it and wait for the results to come in the outer...then do what your own good sense tells you to do - this is the thought of god through you
victory will always be on the side that the majority of your thoughts rest on in absolute acceptance
VISUALIZING
it must be remembered that we are dealing with a power that is like the soil of the ground, which will produce the plant when we plant the seed
our thought is the seed and mind is the soil
plant only what you want to harvest
be convinced and rest in peace
WHERE DEMONSTRATION TAKES PLACE
we do not have to project our thought, because mind is right at hand and never leaves us at any time all we have to do is know within ourselves and when we are absolutely convinced, we will have made the demonstration
if you have a simple childlike faith, it will produce
each victory will strengthen us until the time will come when we will no longer have to say i hope but I KNOW
PART 2
TREATMENTS
all the practitioner has to do is convince himself, to know to believe and that thing will happen to him which he states
"in him we live and move and have our being" Living Intelligence
If our outer thought were never confused, we should at all times draw from this infinite source of knowledge
we become confused in the outer so that the surface of the mind is in turmoil, no longer clear and transparent, and we cannot get the clear vision, the real guidance, and we get things wrong because we do not see clearly
FOLLOWING UP A THOUGHT
great men are the ones who get a vision and then go to work to make it come true, never looking to one side but with one-pointedness and calm determination, stick to the thing until it is accomplished
THE SINGLE STREAM OF THOUGHT
unless we are working with people who think as we do, we had better be working alone
we do nothing to leave the world in order to control our thought, but we do have to learn that we can stay right in the world and still think just what we want to think, regardless of what others are thinking
one single stream of thought daily sent out into creative mind will do wonders; within a year the person who will practice this will have completely changed his conditions of life
the way to practice this is daily to spend some time in thinking and in mentally seeing just what is wanted; see the thing just as it is wished and then affirm that this is now done. try to feel that what has been stated is the truth
words and affirmations simply give shape to thought; they are not creative. feeling is creative and the more feeling that is put into the word the greater power it will have over conditions
our action must never be negative, it must always be affirmative, for we are dealing with something that cannot fail
keep the thought clear and never worry about the way that things seem to be going
this must be believed as never believed before
ENLARGING OUR THOUGHT
we can never stand still in our thought. either we will be growing or else we will be going back. as we can attract to ourselves only what we first have a mental likeness of, it follows that if we wish to attract larger things, we must provide larger thoughts. this enlarging of consciousness is so necessary that too much cannot be said about it
when you stop enlarging your thought, you stop growing
beware of lack of imagination, he cannot conceive of anything more to follow than that which has already happened
there is no reason why a man who is already doing well should not be able mentally to conceive of a still better condition
let go of everything else, drop everything else from your thought
mentally see more coming to you than has ever come before
believe that mind is establishing this unto you, and then go about your business in your regular way
never see limitation, never dwell upon it and above all else never talk limitation to anyone
ALWAYS BE GATHERING
no matter what big thing happens to us we should still be expecting more and more. even when we think that we have at last arrived; right at the moment when it seems as though life had given us all that we could stand; right here let it be a beginning for still greater things
MENTAL LIKENESS
we can draw from the infinite only as much as we first think into it. it is at this point that so many fail, thinking that all they need to do is to affirm what they want and it will follow
while it is true that affirmations have real power, it is also true that they have only that which we speak into them
as we cannot speak a word that we do not know, so we cannot make an affirmation that we do not understand. we really affirm only that which we know to be true
KEEPING THE THING IN MIND
never let go of the mental image until it becomes manifested, daily bring up the clear picture of what is wanted and impress it on the mind as an accomplished fact
this impressing on our own minds the thought of what we wish to realize will cause our own minds to impress the same thought on universal mind. in this way we shall be praying without ceasing.
15 minutes, 2x per day is enough time to demonstrate anything, but the rest of the time ought to be spent constructively
DESTROY ALL THOUGHTS THAT WE DO NOT WISH TO EXPERIENCE
"I am one with the almighty; I am one with all life, with all power, with all presence. I am, I am, I am."
"all is well."
know that there is no law but god's law, that the soul sets its own law in the infinite and our slightest wish is honored by the father mind
know that all good and all god is within you; all life and all power; never say "i fear" but always "i trust" because i know in whom i have believed.
DIRECT PRACTICE FOR PROSPERITY PG 78
he who sees most clearly and believes most implicitly will make the greatest demonstration
all thought seeks expression along the lines of least resistance
let us clothe ourselves in the great realization that all power is ours and that nothing else can enter; let us fill the atmosphere of our homes and places of business with streams of positive thought
FOR THE FEEBLE HANDS AND HELPLESS PG 82
DRAWING YOUR OWN INTO YOU
realize that life is your friend and companion; feel the divine companionship, feel that you are one with all life; declare that, as this thought awakens in your mind, so does it awaken within the mind of the whole race; feel that the world is being drawn to you; love the world and everyone in it, include yourself. the world seeks strength, be strong. the world loves love, embody it. see the good in all people, let go of all else.