فصل دهم

CHAPTER TEN

In which the young man learns

to master his unconscious mind

AFTER THIS LONG AND HEARTFELT STATEMENT the old millionaire seemed exhausted, and be-came silent for several minutes. Then he continued, carefully stressing each word.

“The formula, or affirmation, I have given you is so powerful. Even if in the beginning you believe it highly unlikely you will ever become a millionaire, you will be able to become one. Just do the same thing with the formula that you did with the message on the computer — accept it as the truth. If you have faith that you will be able to accomplish something, you will.” “In the case of the computer,” the young man said, “I let myself be tricked. I lost my head. But this formula is a different matter altogether — I have a problem believing I can become a millionaire six years from now.” “Even if you don’t believe in the formula now, it’ll begin acting on you. The more you internalize it, the more powerful it becomes. It’s not your reasoning or conscious mind that you must convince. Remember the threat. Part of you — your imagination — accepted it as real. And the imagination is what some people call the unconscious mind. It is the hidden part of your mind, and much more powerful than the conpscious part. It guides your entire life. I could spend hours talking to you about the theory of the uncon-scious. But it’s enough for you to know that the un-conscious is extremely susceptible to the power of words. Now do you know why you are having so much difficulty believing the undeniable fact that you can become a millionaire in less than six years?” “Sorry. I don’t.”

“Well, the fact remains that for years and years you’ve been telling yourself you can’t. Words have been engraving themselves in your unconscious. Deeply. In fact, every experience, every thought you’ve ever had, every word you’ve ever heard has become indelibly etched in your unconscious. In the long run, this prodigious memory becomes your self-image. Without realizing it, your past experiences and your inner monologue have convinced you that you aren’t the type of person who can become a millionaire, even if, objectively speaking, you have all the qualities to do so, and you could do so, more easily than you can imagine. Your self-image, like everyone else’s, is so powerful that it unwittingly becomes your destiny. Outer circumstances end up matching the image you have of yourself with amazing precision. To become rich, you have to create a new self-image.” “Perhaps I can. I’m quite willing to try. The only snag is that I’m not really sure where to start.”

“Think about the threat you experienced. It wasn’t real, yet it affected you as if it was. All you have to do is play the same trick on yourself. Your unconscious won’t be any the wiser for it. Think about it: from childhood on, each suggestion you have accepted, whether true or false, in effect has tricked your un-conscious. You may have accepted something that was patently untrue. So now you’re going to experience the same thing. Your unconscious can be influenced at will; it is as easy as child’s play. And once it has been influenced in the way you want it to be, you will be able to obtain exactly what you want out of life. Why? Because your unconscious will be convinced that you can obtain all these things. It will accept them as true in the same way that it’s now accepting the fact that you can’t get more out of life. This ties in with what I said earlier. Man is the reflection of the thoughts stored in his unconscious.

“The most important thing is to pretend, as best you can, that something is true. Why does this work with the unconscious? Simply because, though the unconscious may be powerful, it cannot discriminate between truth and falsehood.” “Yes, but what happens if there’s a conflict between my conscious and unconscious? What happens if my conscious mind refuses to accept the idea of wealth?” “The best solution is repetition. This technique is commonly called self-suggestion. Each one of us is subject to it throughout our lives. Every day we are influenced by inner and outer suggestions. The inner monologue that all of us live with continually shapes our lives. Some of us repeat to ourselves that we will never be successful because we come from a family of losers, or because we have had failures, or because we think we haven’t had enough education, or don’t have enough money, or skills, or intelligence, or management ability, or good luck; and on and on it goes. So we drift from failure to failure, not because we don’t have the necessary qualities to succeed, but be-cause that’s how we unconsciously picture ourselves.

“Some people believe they will never attract a partner,” the millionaire continued. “And yet they have all kinds of attractive qualities. Potential partners run from them like the plague. The power of their self-image, which is the reflection of the uncon-scious, is responsible for this. It brings about the circumstances that make others avoid them.

“But the repetition of negative formulas, which have such a tremendous impact on our lives, can be used in a different way. And that’s what we’re going to do. The unconscious is a slave that can dominate us because it is immensely powerful. But it is also blind, and you have to learn how to play tricks on it.” The young man didn’t fully understand every-thing the millionaire was saying, yet he was eager to find out more.

“The beauty of this theory is that you don’t really have to believe in it to use it,” the millionaire said. “But to get results you have to put it to use: they won’t come magically on their own. Everything, as I’ve said, depends on repetition. Even if you don’t believe it at first, try it—at least for a couple of days. That’s long enough for you to start feeling its effects.

“This might seem simplistic, but let me tell you it is the most potent secret on the face of the earth. Words have tremendous power. Remember the first words of St. John in the Bible: ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ self-suggestion plays a major role in our lives. If you remain unaware of it, it will work against you more often than not. But if you decide to use it, all its tremendous power will be at your disposal.” “Well, I think you’ve convinced me to try,” said the young man, “although, to tell you the truth, I’m still a little skeptical.”

“That’s all right. Just remember to base your judgment on the results, rather than on intellectual criteria. Now, come with me and I’ll show you what to do.”