"You can advance only by being larger than your present place; and no man is larger than his present place who leaves undone any of the work pertaining to that place.

The world is advanced only by those who more than fill their present places.

If no man quite filled his present place, you can see that there must be a going backward in everything. Those who do not quite fill their present places are dead weight upon society, government, commerce and industry; they must be carried along by others at great expense. The progress of the world is retarded by those who do not fill the places they are holding; they belong to a former age and a lower plane of life, and their tendency is toward degeneration. No society could advance if every man was smaller than his place; social evolution is guided by the law of physical and mental evolution. In the animal world, evolution is caused by excess of life.

When an organism has more life than can be expressed in the functions of it's own plane, it develops the organs of a higher plane and a new species is originated.

There never would have been new species had there not been organisms which more than filled their places. The law is exactly the same for you; your getting rich depends upon your applying this principle to your own affairs."

--Wallace Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich


Jennifer

Nice post, Jennifer. I was particularly surprised that it was a quote by Wallace Wattles. But then, as I thought more about it, it began to make sense.

The first sentence seems to suggest that we must do all that we must do before we can go on to become something else. That we must be complete in our present life before we can go on to create a new life. That we must be complete in poverty before we can become rich.

That's a strange declaration, to say the least. Is that what you read from Wattles words?

No, you should actually read his book. He is referring to general evolution in that first sentance. When he mentions "his place" he means in essense his existance. Not his financial state.

He is saying in that chapter, basically, that you must desire to be more than you are. It has to be a heartfelt thing and require no apologies for the act of wanting. Wanting it. Wanting to be rich.

I believe that, especially in his time, it was considered by many, especially of a devout nature, to be a sin to desire wealth and riches. And lookie, they manifested one of the greatest economic disasters in written history.

His point throughout the book is that no man or woman is complete in God's eyes until they have achieved all they can be and wealth is part and parcel of that, should not be discouraged and certainly isn't a sin.

Jennifer

That's good. I like your interpretation better than mine. It makes more sense and is certainly more productive.

Cool post Jenni, Thanks for posting that! :thumb:

Wallace Wattles :hmm: Isn't he old?
It is amazing how that old information is still a foundation and valid.

Good post Jen:thumb:

Thanks Jennifer, cool post. I think 'The Science of Getting Rich' was one of the earliest weatlh creation books I read. It's a very very powerful book. Very ahead of this times he was...

I have loved reading Wattles, but found it difficult to keep focusing on this teachings. I think we really have to set our own pace, start our own internal engines running and refocus, refocus, refocus to operate in these truths... I hope that makes sense!

Powerful post,

The Science of Getting Rich is a great book, but it is a hard read because of the way the wrote years ago.:thumb: