IMAGINATION & CREATIVITY | Laws of Success 101

Lesson Six - Imagination / Using Your Creative Abilities

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IMAGINATION is the workshop of the human mind wherein old ideas and established facts may be reassembled into new combinations and put to new uses.

The modern dictionary defines imagination as follows:

The act of constructive intellect in grouping the materials of knowledge or thought into new, original and rational systems;
The constructive or creative faculty; embracing poetic, artistic, philosophic, scientific and ethical imagination.
The picturing power of the mind; the formation of mental images, pictures, or mental representation of objects or ideas, particularly of objects of sense perception and of mathematical reasoning! also the reproduction and combination, usually with more or less irrational or abnormal modification, of the images or ideas of memory or recalled facts of experience.

Imagination has been called the creative power of the soul, but this is somewhat abstract and goes more deeply into the meaning than is necessary from the viewpoint of a student of this course who wishes to use the course only as a means of attaining material or monetary advantages in life.

If you have mastered and thoroughly understood the preceding lessons of this Course then you know that the materials out of which you built your definite chief aim were assembled and combined in your imagination.

You also know that self-confidence and initiative and leadership must be created in your imagination before they can become a reality, for it is in the workshop of your imagination that you will put the principle of Auto-suggestion into operation in creating these necessary qualities.

This lesson on imagination might be called the "hub" of this Course, because every lesson of the course leads to this lesson and makes use of the principle upon which it is based, just as all the telephone wires lead to the exchange office for their source of power.

You will never have a definite purpose in life, you will never have self-confidence, you will never have initiative and leadership unless you first create these qualities in your imagination and see yourself in possession of them.

Just as the oak tree develops from the germ that lies in the acorn, and the bird develops from the germ that lies asleep in the egg, so will your material achievements grow out of the organized plans that you create in your imagination.

First comes the thought;
then, organization of that thought into ideas and plans;
then transformation of those plans into reality.

The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.

The imagination is both interpretative and creative in nature. It can examine facts, concepts and ideas, and it can create new combinations and plans out of these.

Through its interpretative capacity the imagination has one power not generally attributed to it; namely, the power to register vibrations and thought waves that are put into motion from outside sources, just as the radio-receiver picks up the vibrations of sound.

The principle through which this interpretative capacity of the imagination functions is called telepathy; the communication of thought from one mind to another, at long or short distances, without the aid of physical or mechanical appliances, in the manner explained in the Introductory Lesson of this course.

Telepathy is an important factor to a student who is preparing to make effective use of imagination, for the reason that this telepathic capacity of the imagination is constantly picking up thought waves and vibrations of every description.

So-called "snapjudgment" and "hunches," which prompt one to form an opinion or decide upon a course of action that is not in harmony with logic and reason, are usually the result of stray thought waves that have registered in the imagination.

In 1920, the recently developed radio apparatus has enabled us to understand that the elements of the ether are so sensitive and alive that all manner of sound waves are constantly flying here and there with lightning-like speed. You have only to understand the modern radio outfit to understand, also, the principle of telepathy.

So well has this principle been established, through psychological research, that we have abundance of proof that two minds which are properly attuned and in harmony with each other may send and receive thought at long distances without the aid of mechanical apparatus of any sort.

Rarely have two minds become so well attuned that unbroken chains of thought could be registered in this manner, but there is evidence sufficient to establish the fact that parts of organized thought have been picked up.

That you may understand how closely interwoven are the fifteen factors upon which this Course is based, consider, for example, what happens when a salesman who lacks confidence in himself, and in his goods, walks in to see a prospective buyer. Whether the prospective buyer is conscious of it or not, his imagination immediately "senses" that lack of confidence in the salesman's mind.

The salesman's own thoughts are actually undermining his efforts.

Let me will explain, from another angle, why selfconfidence is one of the most important factors entering into the great struggle for success.

The principle of telepathy and the law of attraction, through which like attracts like, explain many a failure.

If the mind has a tendency to attract from the ether those thought vibrations which harmonize with the dominating thoughts of a given mind, you can easily understand why a negative mind that dwells upon failure and lacks the vitalizing force of self-confidence would not attract a positive mind that is dominated by thoughts of success.

Perhaps these explanations are somewhat abstract to the student who has not made any particular study of the functioning processes of the mind, but it seems necessary to inject them into this lesson as a means of enabling the student to understand and make practical use of the subject of this lesson.

The imagination is too often regarded merely as an indefinite, untraceable, indescribable something that does nothing but create fiction.

It is this popular disregard of the powers of the imagination that has made necessary these more or less abstract references to one of the most important subjects of this course.

Not only is the subject of imagination an important factor in this course; but, it is one of the most interesting subjects, as you will observe when you begin to see how it affects all that you do toward the achievement of your definite chief aim. You will see how important is the subject of imagination when you stop to realize that it is the only thing in the world over which you have absolute control.

Others may deprive you of your material wealth and cheat you in a thousand ways, but no man can deprive you of the control and use of your imagination. Men may deal with you unfairly, as men often do; they may deprive you of your liberty, but they cannot take from you the privilege of using your imagination as you wish.

The most inspiring poem in all literature was written by Leigh Hunt, while he was a povertystricken prisoner in an English prison, where he had been unjustly confined because of his advanced views on politics.

This poem is entitled Abou Ben Adhem, and it is here re-printed as a reminder that one of the great things a man may do, in his own imagination, is to forgive those who have dealt unjustly with him:

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase)

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace

And saw within the moonlight of his room

Making it rich and like a lily in bloom.

An angel writing in a book of gold,

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the presence in the room he said:

"What writest thou?" - the vision raised its head,

And, with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"

Replied the angel, - Abou spoke more low,

But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves his fellow men.

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night

It came again, with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,

And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

Civilization, itself, owes its existence to such men as Leigh Hunt, in whose fertile imaginations have been pictured the higher and nobler standards of human relationship.

Abou Ben Adhem is a poem that will never die, thanks to this man who pictured in his imagination the hope of an ideal that is constructive.

The major trouble with this world today lies in our lack of understanding of the power of imagination, for if we understood this great power we could use it as a weapon with which to wipe out poverty and misery and injustice and persecution, and this could be done in a single generation.

This is a rather broad statement, and no one understands better than the author of this course how useless such a statement would be if the principle upon which it is founded were not explained in terms of the most practical, workaday nature; therefore, let us proceed to describe what is meant.

To make this description understandable we must accept as a reality the principle of telepathy, through the operation of which every thought we release is registering itself in the minds of other people.

We need devote no time to proving that telepathy is a reality, for the reason that this lesson on imagination cannot be of the slightest value to the student who has not sufficiently informed himself to understand and accept telepathy as an established principle.

We will take it for granted that you are one who accepts and understands this principle.

You have often heard of "mob psychology," which is nothing more nor less than some strong, dominating idea that has been created in the mind of one or more persons and registers itself in the minds of other persons, through the principle of telepathy.

So strong is the power of mob psychology that two men fighting in the street will often start a "free-for-all" fight in which by-standers will engage each other in battle without even knowing what they are fighting about, or with whom they are fighting.

On armistice day, 1918, we had evidence in abundance to prove the reality of the principle of telepathy, on a scale such as the world had never before witnessed.

I remember, distinctly, the impression made on my mind on that eventful day. So strong was this impression that it awakened me at about 3:00 o'clock in the morning, just as effectively as if someone had aroused me by physical force.

As I sat up in bed I knew that something out of the ordinary had happened, and so strange and impelling was the effect of this experience that I got up, dressed myself and went out in the streets of Chicago, where I was met by thousands of others who had felt the touch of the same influence.

Everyone was asking: "What has happened?"

What had happened was this: Millions of men had received instructions to cease fighting, and their combined joy set into motion a thought wave that swept the entire world and made itself felt in every normal mind that was capable of registering this thought wave.

Perhaps never in the history of the world had so many millions of people thought of the same thing, in the same manner, at the same time.

For once in the history of the world everybody felt something in common, and the effect of this harmonized thought was the world-wide "mob psychology" that we witnessed on armistice day.

In connection with this statement it will be helpful if you recall what was said about the method of creating a "Master Mind," through the harmony of thought of two or more persons, in the Introductory Lesson of this course.

We will bring the application of this principle a little nearer home by showing how it may be made to make or break the harmonious working relationship of a business or industry.

You may not have satisfied yourself that it was the harmony of thought of millions of soldiers that registered in the minds of the, people of the world and caused the "mob" psychological condition that was everywhere in evidence on armistice day, but you will need no proof that a disgruntled person always disturbs everyone with whom he comes in contact.

It is a well established fact that one such person in a place of employment

will disrupt the entire organization.

The time is almost at hand when neither the workers nor the employers will tolerate the typical "grouch" inside of a place of employment, for the reason that his state of mind registers itself in the minds of those about him, resulting in distrust, suspicion and lack of harmony.

One day the workers in a place of employment will no more tolerate one of their own who is a typical "negative Nelly" than they would tolerate a poisonous snake.

Apply the principle in another way:

Place among a group of workers one person whose personality is of the positive, optimistic type, and who makes it his business to sow the seeds of harmony around the place where he works, and his influence will reflect itself in every person who works with him.

If every business is "the extended shadow of one man" as Emerson stated, then it behooves that one man to reflect a shadow of confidence and good cheer and optimism and harmony, that these qualities may, in turn, reflect themselves in all who are connected with the business.

In passing to the next step in our application of the power of imagination in the attainment of success we will cite some of the most recent and modern examples of its use in the accumulation of material wealth and the perfection of some of the leading inventions of the world.

In approaching this next step it should be borne ill mind that

"there is nothing new under the sun."

Elevation, on this earth may be likened to a great kaleidoscope before which the scenes and facts and material substances are ever shifting and changing, and all any man can do is to take these facts & substances and re-arrange them in new combinations.

The process through which this is done is called imagination.

We have stated that the imagination is both interpretative and creative in its nature. It can receive impressions or ideas and out of these it can form new combinations.

As our first illustration of the power of imagination in modern business achievement, we will take the case of Clarence Saunders, who organized the Piggly-Wiggly system of self-help grocery stores.

Saunders was a grocery clerk in a small southern retail store. One day he was standing in a line, with a tin tray in his hands, waiting his turn to secure food in a cafeteria. He had never earned more than $20.00 a week before that time, and no one had ever noticed anything about him that indicated unusual ability, but something took place in his mind, as he stood in that line of waiting people, that put his imagination to work.

With the aid of his imagination he lifted that "self-help" idea out of the cafeteria in which he found it (not creating anything new, merely shifting an old idea into a new use) and set it down in a grocery store.

In an instant the Piggly-Wiggly chain-store grocery plan had been created and Clarence Saunders the twenty-dollar-a-week grocery clerk rapidly became the million-dollar chain-store groceryman of America.

Where, in that transaction, do you see the slightest indication of a performance that you could not duplicate?

Analyze this transaction and measure it by the previous lessons of this course
and you will see that -

Clarence Saunders created a very definite purpose.
He supported this purpose with sufficient self-confidence
to cause him to take the initiative to transform it into reality.
His imagination was the workshop in which these three factors were brought together and made to supply the momentum for the first step in the organization of the Piggly-Wiggly plan. Thus are great ideas changed into realities.

Lesson Six - Imagination / Using Your Creative Abilities

Page - 1.., Continue > 2.., 3.., 4...

Lesson Six - Imagination / Using Your Creative Abilities

Page - 1.., Continue > 2.., 3.., 4...

IMAGINATION is the workshop of the human mind wherein old ideas and established facts may be reassembled into new combinations and put to new uses.

The modern dictionary defines imagination as follows:

The act of constructive intellect in grouping the materials of knowledge or thought into new, original and rational systems;

The constructive or creative faculty; embracing poetic, artistic, philosophic, scientific and ethical imagination.

Imagination has been called the creative power of the soul, but this is somewhat abstract and goes more deeply into the meaning than is necessary from the viewpoint of a student of this course who wishes to use the course only as a means of attaining material or monetary advantages in life.

If you have mastered and thoroughly understood the preceding lessons of this Course then you know that the materials out of which you built your definite chief aim were assembled and combined in your imagination.

You also know that self-confidence and initiative and leadership must be created in your imagination before they can become a reality, for it is in the workshop of your imagination that you will put the principle of Auto-suggestion into operation in creating these necessary qualities.

This lesson on imagination might be called the "hub" of this Course, because every lesson of the course leads to this lesson and makes use of the principle upon which it is based, just as all the telephone wires lead to the exchange office for their source of power.

You will never have a definite purpose in life, you will never have self-confidence, you will never have initiative and leadership unless you first create these qualities in your imagination and see yourself in possession of them.

Just as the oak tree develops from the germ that lies in the acorn, and the bird develops from the germ that lies asleep in the egg, so will your material achievements grow out of the organized plans that you create in your imagination.

First comes the thought;

then, organization of that thought into ideas and plans;

then transformation of those plans into reality.

The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.

The imagination is both interpretative and creative in nature. It can examine facts, concepts and ideas, and it can create new combinations and plans out of these.

Through its interpretative capacity the imagination has one power not generally attributed to it; namely, the power to register vibrations and thought waves that are put into motion from outside sources, just as the radio-receiver picks up the vibrations of sound.

Telepathy is an important factor to a student who is preparing to make effective use of imagination, for the reason that this telepathic capacity of the imagination is constantly picking up thought waves and vibrations of every description.

So-called "snapjudgment" and "hunches," which prompt one to form an opinion or decide upon a course of action that is not in harmony with logic and reason, are usually the result of stray thought waves that have registered in the imagination.

So well has this principle been established, through psychological research, that we have abundance of proof that two minds which are properly attuned and in harmony with each other may send and receive thought at long distances without the aid of mechanical apparatus of any sort.

Rarely have two minds become so well attuned that unbroken chains of thought could be registered in this manner, but there is evidence sufficient to establish the fact that parts of organized thought have been picked up.

The salesman's own thoughts are actually undermining his efforts.

Let me will explain, from another angle, why selfconfidence is one of the most important factors entering into the great struggle for success.

The principle of telepathy and the law of attraction, through which like attracts like, explain many a failure.

The imagination is too often regarded merely as an indefinite, untraceable, indescribable something that does nothing but create fiction.

It is this popular disregard of the powers of the imagination that has made necessary these more or less abstract references to one of the most important subjects of this course.

The most inspiring poem in all literature was written by Leigh Hunt, while he was a povertystricken prisoner in an English prison, where he had been unjustly confined because of his advanced views on politics.

This poem is entitled Abou Ben Adhem, and it is here re-printed as a reminder that one of the great things a man may do, in his own imagination, is to forgive those who have dealt unjustly with him:

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase)

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace

And saw within the moonlight of his room

Making it rich and like a lily in bloom.

An angel writing in a book of gold,

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the presence in the room he said:

"What writest thou?" - the vision raised its head,

And, with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"

Replied the angel, - Abou spoke more low,

But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves his fellow men.

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night

It came again, with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,

And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

Civilization, itself, owes its existence to such men as Leigh Hunt, in whose fertile imaginations have been pictured the higher and nobler standards of human relationship.

Abou Ben Adhem is a poem that will never die, thanks to this man who pictured in his imagination the hope of an ideal that is constructive.

The major trouble with this world today lies in our lack of understanding of the power of imagination, for if we understood this great power we could use it as a weapon with which to wipe out poverty and misery and injustice and persecution, and this could be done in a single generation.

This is a rather broad statement, and no one understands better than the author of this course how useless such a statement would be if the principle upon which it is founded were not explained in terms of the most practical, workaday nature; therefore, let us proceed to describe what is meant.

To make this description understandable we must accept as a reality the principle of telepathy, through the operation of which every thought we release is registering itself in the minds of other people.

We need devote no time to proving that telepathy is a reality, for the reason that this lesson on imagination cannot be of the slightest value to the student who has not sufficiently informed himself to understand and accept telepathy as an established principle.

We will take it for granted that you are one who accepts and understands this principle.

You have often heard of "mob psychology," which is nothing more nor less than some strong, dominating idea that has been created in the mind of one or more persons and registers itself in the minds of other persons, through the principle of telepathy.

So strong is the power of mob psychology that two men fighting in the street will often start a "free-for-all" fight in which by-standers will engage each other in battle without even knowing what they are fighting about, or with whom they are fighting.

On armistice day, 1918, we had evidence in abundance to prove the reality of the principle of telepathy, on a scale such as the world had never before witnessed.

I remember, distinctly, the impression made on my mind on that eventful day. So strong was this impression that it awakened me at about 3:00 o'clock in the morning, just as effectively as if someone had aroused me by physical force.

As I sat up in bed I knew that something out of the ordinary had happened, and so strange and impelling was the effect of this experience that I got up, dressed myself and went out in the streets of Chicago, where I was met by thousands of others who had felt the touch of the same influence.

Everyone was asking: "What has happened?"

What had happened was this: Millions of men had received instructions to cease fighting, and their combined joy set into motion a thought wave that swept the entire world and made itself felt in every normal mind that was capable of registering this thought wave.

Perhaps never in the history of the world had so many millions of people thought of the same thing, in the same manner, at the same time.

For once in the history of the world everybody felt something in common, and the effect of this harmonized thought was the world-wide "mob psychology" that we witnessed on armistice day.

In connection with this statement it will be helpful if you recall what was said about the method of creating a "Master Mind," through the harmony of thought of two or more persons, in the Introductory Lesson of this course.

We will bring the application of this principle a little nearer home by showing how it may be made to make or break the harmonious working relationship of a business or industry.

It is a well established fact that one such person in a place of employment

will disrupt the entire organization.

The time is almost at hand when neither the workers nor the employers will tolerate the typical "grouch" inside of a place of employment, for the reason that his state of mind registers itself in the minds of those about him, resulting in distrust, suspicion and lack of harmony.

One day the workers in a place of employment will no more tolerate one of their own who is a typical "negative Nelly" than they would tolerate a poisonous snake.

Apply the principle in another way:

Place among a group of workers one person whose personality is of the positive, optimistic type, and who makes it his business to sow the seeds of harmony around the place where he works, and his influence will reflect itself in every person who works with him.

If every business is "the extended shadow of one man" as Emerson stated, then it behooves that one man to reflect a shadow of confidence and good cheer and optimism and harmony, that these qualities may, in turn, reflect themselves in all who are connected with the business.

In passing to the next step in our application of the power of imagination in the attainment of success we will cite some of the most recent and modern examples of its use in the accumulation of material wealth and the perfection of some of the leading inventions of the world.

In approaching this next step it should be borne ill mind that

"there is nothing new under the sun."

Elevation, on this earth may be likened to a great kaleidoscope before which the scenes and facts and material substances are ever shifting and changing, and all any man can do is to take these facts & substances and re-arrange them in new combinations.

The process through which this is done is called imagination.

We have stated that the imagination is both interpretative and creative in its nature. It can receive impressions or ideas and out of these it can form new combinations.