Think and Grow Rich (Ch 15)
Napoleon Hill
Watch The Video Summary of Think and Grow Rich
Exercise #21 – The Six Ghosts of Fear
Transcript
Welcome on board. I believe we are now on the exercise 21of the curriculum for the wealth creation mastermind. Today, we’re going to be wrapping up. It’s kind of a bittersweet episode where we’re wrapping up one book because every time I complete a read through of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill this early, oh my gosh—I mean I’ve got to go back to the beginning and start all over and study this even more deeply.
There’s so much content here and this entire concept of—everything that’s going on in the New Thought Movement which Napoleon Hill was an integral part of is all about the principle of life which is for fuller expression, greater expression, greater participation, always growth, and always this concept of the creative faculty of original source.
And so here we are now in chapter 15, the final chapter of the book. We’ve gone through 13 different principles starting with the principle of desire and going on to faith and autosuggestion; going all the way through all of the specialized knowledge and the use of the subconscious mind and persistence and on and on and on; the brain and the 6th Sense and making decisions and taking advantage of organized planning.
But this chapter is singular because it not only—it’s a 2 sided coin. On the one hand, he’s really pointing out that you can have it all by the same token you can prevent yourself from having it all. It is all right here in this chapter and it’s not as though the 6 ghosts of fear highlights the negative elements. It may seem that way, but it really exposes the… In the original book published in 1937, the chapter heading is how to outwit the 6 ghosts of fear indeed and not to succumb and be trapped by that element, that state of mind that holds you back.
The chapter is a phenomenal reference to do a deep, deep introspection into ourselves; and as we continue to study this material over and over and over again, we see our progress and we sense how our self inventory is changing month after month, year after year as we go through and continue to embrace and master this principle of the creative process, this method for thinking our reality into existence, thinking and acting our reality and not getting hung up on these 3 enemies of indecision, doubt, and fear that go hand in hand, that walk down the pathway together.
It is a fact that that so many people are indecisive. They can’t make a fast decision and Napoleon Hill points out that—well, actually it was Wallace Wattles who made the observation that highly successful people have the habit of reaching decisions rapidly and changing them very slowly if at all. Now interestingly decision is Principle number 7 in the Napoleon Hill philosophy of success.
And what happens with indecision? It leads to doubt and doubt leads to fear and it crystallizes into this “I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t move; maybe I should be overly cautious; maybe I should hold back; and maybe I should not make a move forward”. And this blending process is insidious. First of all, it just kind of creeps in to our minds; sometimes from the subconscious and sometimes from early program and we don’t even know it’s there.
These 3 are dangerous because what’s taking place is like a virus and they’re kind of germinating and growing even without their presence being acknowledged and without our even being aware that they are there. There are these 6 basic fears. One of the things that is great in New Thought is that we can actually boil down everything that holds us back to one word and that’s limitation. We are the only ones capable of limiting ourselves. It is not a paradox.
And so these 6 fears all have a place in feelings of limitation and they are of course the fear of poverty or of criticism or of ill health. Sometimes we are afraid of losing a love either to the end of the love itself or the death of a loved one. Sometimes we get to a point in life where we begin to fear old age or death itself holds a tremendous fear. We all go through this cycle of birth evolution, decline, and death and yet there is nothing other to any fear or any limitation than a state of mind.
Now think about a state of mind. That’s the birth place of thought and whatever that thought, the instant the thought reaches your conscious mind, you begin to implant that thought subconsciously into the subconscious and then broadcast that and this is the nexus of the law of attraction. So whatever we are thinking, we are taking the first steps at transmuting that thought into its physical equivalent.
Now this happens both voluntarily and involuntarily. What does that mean? It means voluntarily we’re taking control. We’re taking control of the state of mind we allow to exist, programming our thoughts consciously or we are susceptible and picking up almost unconsciously the thoughts that we are being bombarded with from others, from media, from social media, from people that we may trust, love, and allow into our lives.
So every human being has the ability—and this is the only thing that we have 100 percent control over, is what’s going on in our own mind. It is like clockwork and we have to take and program that clock work because this is what makes us different from a frog or a pigeon or a camel. I mean they’re just kind of going along with their inherent programming, but we have the ability to choose our thoughts and in so doing, having absolute control over our destiny.
Now can we control all circumstances? No, because there’re other people at play and we’re all in this mix, this sea, this stream of participation with the thoughts of others. But what we tend to do is have absolute dominion and control over how we respond to every circumstance and every input.
And so we absolutely cannot neglect to not only start the process of investigation, of gaining knowledge, and of gaining mastery, but we also have to again use the 8th principle in this philosophy and be persistent and never stop; because the only one responsible for self. No one can lift you up by themselves without your conscious, willing, and mindful decision.
So first of all, decide that you’re not going to settle for anything other than the highest form of physical, intellectual, and spiritual plenty, abundance, wealth, and riches. We are living in this abundant universe. I mean there’s an endless supply of energy and that’s all anything here is.
We now know about enough about quantum physics that at the elemental level down to the level of quarks, it’s just strings of energy. What is thought? What is thought? What is life, but energy? Life is a form of energy and so it’s in constant transmutation. And so what we have to do is decide and persist and break free of any limiting thoughts and that is what fear is. It’s a chain of limitation.
And so the crazy thing about limitation and fear is that it’s subtle. It’s deeply seated and it expresses itself as an emotion, as a feeling and. the way to identify it is: how are you? How are you showing up emotionally? Are you courageous? Are you in joy? Are you in a state of abundance? Are you in a state of excitement about the concept of the principle of life being one of increase and advancement and never ending expansion. That is what we’ve got a hold of here. That is what we’re doing in the wealth creation mastermind, wealth, abundant, masterminding our own reality.
And it’s like the fear of poverty is the most destructive and it’s a state of mind. It holds us back and destroys everything and that compromises us at our root level. And so what you’ve got to do is you got to go, “Hey, there’re 2 roads; one leading on to the prosperity and the other leading in the opposite direction which is poverty”; and you can tolerate absolutely no compromise between the two.
What we’re doing together is we are making a conscious choice to change the awareness on the planet to the elimination of a poverty mentality to be replaced only by the creative method of thought which is abundance. So that is what we are doing. We are causing a planetary shift and you my friends as the wealth creation mastermind, are the agents of change. That is our mission; so no compromise and only travel the road in one direction.
You know the symptoms of fear and you can tell if you are experiencing indecision or doubt or worry or over-caution, or if you’re procrastinating. If you’re just kind of stuck in a rock, understand, be honest, and be brutally honest with yourself. Look in the mirror and snap out of that. Do not allow that. Don’t tolerate it. If I am honest with myself, this has been my greatest enemy my entire life.
My grandmother, I love my nanny, but she used to whack me on the back of the head with a wooden spoon and say, “Johnny, stupido”. And here’s this little boy getting whacked on the back of the head by an authority figure that he loves with the implanted idea “I’m not worthy” I would do something wrong, I would get in trouble, I would get an inferior grade, and bam. So I have this…
Why did I become a portfolio manager? I hated it. I absolutely detested it. Why did I do it? Because I was afraid—I mean of what people would say. I needed to be loved and respected and revered. And yet here, now, doing what I’m doing is far more fulfilling. How did I get here? Because I’ve finally got to a point where I realized other people aren’t thinking about me; they’re too busy gazing at their own navel.
So this fear of criticism is ridiculous, but it does rob us of our initiative and destroys our power of imagination and limits our individuality. It takes away self-reliance and it just undermines us in all these different ways and it’s a state of mind. So are we being self-conscious? Do we have a little uncertainty or lack of poise or feeling that we’ve got to show up better? And sometimes that leads to a point, “I need to drive a newer car or I don’t want to take initiative, I don’t want to be overly ambitious.”
Then there’s this evil of the fear of ill health to the point that most people going to doctors are actually going for symptoms that are most of the time not even related to a disease. They’ve allowed their minds to become susceptible to the fear of ill health and that starts the process of decline. And boy is the human mind powerful? We actually have it in our ability to heal ourselves or destroy ourselves. Is that a crazy thought?
Are you being absolutely diligent about your health regimen? Are you taking responsibility? Are you fit? Are you working out? Are you drinking plenty of fresh water, filtered water? Are you giving yourself the best nutrient that you possibly can? Are you staying away from intemperance? Are you taking responsibility or are you allowing yourself to succumb into another fear of loss, a loved one leaving our lives one way or the other?
Oh, a broken heart is penetrating and piercing and it shows up sometimes in pettiness and jealousy and fault finding and just taking ridiculous risks. And the crazy thing about this one is age is such a gift of wisdom and balance and awareness and truth and beauty. It’s a gift and yet this throws a chill into the mind because the possibility—again a state of mind—that it might be lack or want or not enough money or comfort or loss of freedom or independence. It’s a gift.
This is an interesting image, a gravestone. But what is that on the gravestone? That is a tree of life. And what is life? If life is energy and energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely transformed, then all death is a transformation of life. Interesting, isn’t it? Now we’re no longer here in the corporal and we’re no longer here in the physical, but if life is truly energy, is death a transformation? Is death simply a transmutation into another form of energy?
So you know that question that we’re all sort of struggling with, where did I come from? Who am I? Where am I going? This is a worthy pursuit. One of the wonderful things we are engaging in the master mind is destructive thinking. This is vibration of fear. Look, it’s going to kick back; so guard yourself against it. The devil’s workshop is being susceptible to negative influences. So this is the power of this chapter, doing a deep introspection of building a wall around our mind, using our will power to create our state of mind.
Mind control is a result of self-discipline and habit. Develop it. Either you control your mind or it is in control of you. There’s no compromise and there’s no halfway point. We are engaged in a beautiful process of building a team a million strong. That’s our keeping our mind busy and that’s our definite plan that backed by a definite purpose.
Plato said it: “The first and best victory is to conquer self, but to be conquered by self is of all things the most shameful and vile”. Napoleon Hill pointed out that life is indeed a checker board and that you’re playing, every one of us against a partner who will not brook or tolerate any indecision because that player sitting across from you is time. If you hesitate, if you don’t move, or if you neglect moving promptly, your men are going to be swept from the board by time.
This is the value of being in mastermind. Next week, we enter the third, the introduction and chapter one, Hermetic philosophy of the Kybalion. What a great read! What a phenomenal philosophy, 7 hermetic principles!
Study this, contemplate, engage, subscribe to the wealth creation mastermind, read all the blogs, watch all the videos, engage in the newsletter, and decide exactly who you are. What do you want to be? What do you want to stand for? What’s the impact you want to make? What’s it going to take? Then engage with us and participate in our plan for financial freedom.
I want to really just—I cannot express my gratitude to you for what you’re doing, the difference you’re making, and this inspiration that you are creating as the Wealth Creation Mastermind. Thank you.
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John Rogers is a former Wall Street portfolio manager and served as CEO of Premium Enterprises and President of The Colorado Tire Recycling Center. He transitioned to digital marketing, founding WealthCreationMastermind.com to empower home-based entrepreneurs with cutting-edge strategies. Creator of the “Mastering the Art of Wealth Creation” online course, John has driven significant growth in network marketing, achieving the Blue Diamond rank and earning the title of Univera Associate of the Year in 2015. His expertise in leveraging technology for financial success transforms how entrepreneurs achieve their business goals.