WHEN Edwin C. Barnes climbed down from the freight train in
Orange, N. J., more than thirty years ago, he may have resembled a
tramp, but his thoughts were those of a king!
As he made his way from the railroad tracks to Thomas A.
Edison’s office, his mind was at work. He saw himself standing in
Edison’s presence. He heard himself asking Mr. Edison for an
opportunity to carry out the one CONSUMING OBSESSION OF HIS
LIFE, a BURNING DESIRE to become the business associate of the
Barnes’ desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a
keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcended everything else. It was
The desire was not new when he approached Edison. It had
been Barnes’ dominating desire for a long time. In the beginning,
when the desire first appeared in his mind, it may have been, prob-
ably was, only a wish, but it was no mere wish when he appeared
A few years later, Edwin C. Barnes again stood before Edison,
in the same office where he first met the inventor. This time his
DESIRE had been translated into reality. He was in business with
Edison. The dominating DREAM OF HIS LIFE had become a reality.
Today, people who know Barnes envy him, because of the “break”
life yielded him. They see him in the days of his triumph, without
taking the trouble to investigate the cause of his success.
Barnes succeeded because he chose a definite goal, placed all
his energy, all his will power, all his effort, everything back of that
goal. He did not become the partner of Edison the day he arrived.
He was content to start in the most menial work, as long as it
provided an opportunity to take even one step toward his cherished
Five years passed before the chance he had been seeking
33
made its appearance. During all those years not one ray of hope,
not one promise of attainment of his DESIRE had been held out to
him. To everyone, except himself, he appeared only another cog in
the Edison business wheel, but in his own mind, HE WAS THE
PARTNER OF EDISON EVERY MINUTE OF THE TIME, from the
very day that he first went to work there.
It is a remarkable illustration of the power of a DEFINITE
DESIRE. Barnes won his goal, because he wanted to be a business
associate of Mr. Edison, more than he wanted anything else. He
created a plan by which to attain that purpose. But
he BURNED ALL BRIDGES BEHIND HIM.
He stood by his DESIRE until it became the dominating
obsession of his life—and—finally, a fact.
When he went to Orange, he did not say to himself, “I will try
to induce Edison to give me a job of some soft.” He said, “I will see
Edison, and put him on notice that I have come to go into business
He did not say, “I will work there for a few months, and if I get
no encouragement, I will quit and get a job somewhere else.” He did
say, “I will start anywhere. I will do anything Edison tells me to do,
but before I am through, I will be his associate.”
He did not say, “I will keep my eyes open for another
opportunity, in case I fail to get what I want in the Edison
organization.” He said, “There is but ONE thing in this world that I
am determined to have, and that is a business association with
Thomas A. Edison. I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my
ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want.”
He left himself no possible way of retreat. He had to win or
That is all there is to the Barnes story of success! A long while
ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for
him to make a decision which insured his success on the
battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe,
whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into
boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and
equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried
them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see
the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave
these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice-we win—
34
Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to
burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can
one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a BURNING
DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success.
The morning after the great Chicago fire, a group of merchants
stood on State Street, looking at the smoking remains of what had
been their stores. They went into a conference to decide if they
would try to rebuild, or leave Chicago and start over in a more
promising section of the country. They reached a decision—all
except one-to leave Chicago.
The merchant who decided to stay and rebuild pointed a finger
at the remains of his store, and said, “Gentlemen, on that very spot
I will build the world’s greatest store, no matter how many times it
That was more than fifty years ago. The store was built. It
stands there today, a towering monument to the power of that state
of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE. The easy thing for Marshal
Field to have done, would have been exactly what his fellow
merchants did. When the going was hard, and the future looked
dismal, they pulled up and went where the going seemed easier.
Mark well this difference between Marshal Field and the other
merchants, because it is the same difference which distinguishes
Edwin C. Barnes from thousands of other young men who have
worked in the Edison organization. It is the same difference which
distinguishes practically all who succeed from those who fail.
Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of
the purpose of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches.
But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession,
then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and
backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize
The method by which DESIRE for riches can be transmuted
into its financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps,
First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you
desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.”
Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for
definiteness which will be described in a subsequent chapter).
35
Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in
return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as
“something for nothing.)
Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess
Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire,
and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan
Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of
money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its
acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the
money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend
Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once
just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the
morning. AS YOU READ—SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE
YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.
It is important that you follow the instructions described in
these six steps. It is especially important that you observe, and
follow the instructions in the sixth paragraph. You may complain
that it is impossible for you to “see yourself in possession of money”
before you actually have it. Here is where a BURNING DESIRE will
come to your aid. If you truly DESIRE money so keenly that your
desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing
yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to
become so determined to have it that you CONVINCE yourself you
Only those who become “money conscious” ever accumulate
great riches. “Money consciousness” means that the mind has
become so thoroughly saturated with the DESIRE for money, that
one can see one’s self already in possession of it.
To the uninitiated, who has not been schooled in the working
principles of the human mind, these instructions may appear
impractical. It may be helpful, to all who fail to recognize the
soundness of the six steps, to know that the information they
36
convey, was received from Andrew Carnegie, who began as an
ordinary laborer in the steel mills, but managed, despite his humble
beginning, to make these principles yield him a fortune of
considerably more than one hundred million dollars.
It may be of further help to know that the six steps here
recommended were carefully scrutinized by the late Thomas A.
Edison, who placed his stamp of approval upon them as being, not
only the steps essential for the accumulation of money, but neces-
sary for the attainment of any definite goal.
The steps call for no “hard labor.” They call for no sacrifice.
They do not require one to become ridiculous, or credulous. To
apply them calls for no great amount of education. But the
successful application of these six steps does call for sufficient
imagination to enable one to see, and to understand, that
accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and
luck. One must realize that all who have accumulated great
fortunes, first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing,
DESIRING, and PLANNING before they acquired money.
You may as well know, right here, that you can never have
riches in great quantities, UNLESS you can work yourself into a
white heat of DESIRE for money, and actually BELIEVE you will
You may as well know, also that every great leader, from the
dawn of civilization down to the present, was a dreamer.
Christianity is the greatest potential power in the world today,
because its founder was an intense dreamer who had the vision and
the imagination to see realities in their mental and spiritual form
before they had been transmuted into physical form.
If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will
never see them in your bank balance.
Never, in the history of America has there been so great an
opportunity for practical dreamers as now exists. The six year
economic collapse has reduced all men, substantially, to the same
level. A new race is about to be run. The stakes represent huge
fortunes which will be accumulated within the next ten years. The
rules of the race have changed, because we now live in a CHANGED
WORLD that definitely favors the masses, those who had but little
or no opportunity to win under the conditions existing during the
depression, when fear paralyzed growth and development.
We who are in this race for riches, should be encouraged to
37
know that this changed world in which we live is demanding new
ideas, new ways of doing things, new leaders, new inventions, new
methods of teaching, new methods of marketing, new books, new
literature, new features for the radio, new ideas for moving pictures.
Back of all this demand for new and better things, there is one
quality which one must possess to win, and that is DEFINITENESS
OF PURPOSE, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning
The business depression marked the death of one age, and the
birth of another. This changed world requires practical dreamers
who can, and will put their dreams into action. The practical
dreamers have always been, and always will be the pattern-makers
We who desire to accumulate riches, should remember the
real leaders of the world always have been men who harnessed, and
put into practical use, the intangible, unseen forces of unborn
opportunity, and have converted those forces, [or impulses of
thought], into sky-scrapers, cities, factories, airplanes, automobiles,
and every form of convenience that makes life more pleasant.
Tolerance, and an open mind are practical necessities of the
dreamer of today. Those who are afraid of new ideas are doomed
before they start. Never has there been a time more favorable to
pioneers than the present. True, there is no wild and woolly west to
be conquered, as in the days of the Covered Wagon; but there is a
vast business, financial, and industrial world to be remoulded and
redirected along new and better lines.
In planning to acquire your share of the riches, let no one
influence you to scorn the dreamer. To win the big stakes in this
changed world, you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of
the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of
value, the spirit which serves as the life-blood of our own country—
your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents.
Let us not forget, Columbus dreamed of an Unknown world,
staked his life on the existence of such a world, and discovered it!
Copernicus, the great astronomer, dreamed of a multiplicity of
worlds, and revealed them! No one denounced him as “impractical”
after he had triumphed. Instead, the world worshipped at his
shrine, thus proving once more that “SUCCESS REQUIRES NO
APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.”
If the thing you wish to do is right, and you believe in it, go
38
ahead and do it! Put your dream across, and never mind what
“they” say if you meet with temporary defeat, for “they,” perhaps, do
not know that EVERY FAILURE BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN
Henry Ford, poor and uneducated, dreamed of a horseless
carriage, went to work with what tools he possessed, without
waiting for opportunity to favor him, and now evidence of his dream
belts the entire earth. He has put more wheels into operation than
any man who ever lived, because he was not afraid to back his
Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by
electricity, began where he stood to put his dream into action, and
despite more than ten thousand failures, he stood by that dream
until he made it a physical reality. Practical dreamers DO NOT
Whelan dreamed of a chain of cigar stores, transformed his
dream into action, and now the United Cigar Stores occupy the best
Lincoln dreamed of freedom for the black slaves, put his
dream into action, and barely missed living to see a united North
and South translate his dream into reality.
The Wright brothers dreamed of a machine that would fly
through the air. Now one may see evidence all over the world, that
Marconi dreamed of a system for harnessing the intangible
forces of the ether. Evidence that he did not dream in vain, may be
found in every wireless and radio in the world. Moreover, Marconi’s
dream brought the humblest cabin, and the most stately manor
house side by side. It made the people of every nation on earth
back-door neighbors. It gave the President of the United States a
medium by which he may talk to all the people of America at one
time, and on short notice. It may interest you to know that
Marconi’s “friends” had him taken into custody, and examined in a
psychopathic hospital, when he announced he had discovered a
principle through which he could send messages through the air,
without the aid of wires, or other direct physical means of
communication. The dreamers of today fare better.
The world has become accustomed to new discoveries. Nay, it
has shown a willingness to reward the dreamer who gives the world
39
“The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a
“The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in
the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. DREAMS ARE
THE SEEDLINGS OF REALITY.”
Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world.
Your star is now in the ascendency. The world depression brought
the opportunity you have been waiting for. It taught people
humility, tolerance, and open-mindedness.
The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY which
the dreamers of the past never knew.
A BURNING DESIRE TO BE, AND TO DO is the starting point
from which the dreamer must take off. Dreams are not born of
indifference, laziness, or lack of ambition.
The world no longer scoffs at the dreamer, nor calls him
impractical. If you think it does, take a trip to Tennessee, and
witness what a dreamer President has done in the way of
harnessing, and using the great water power of America. A score of
years ago, such a dream would have seemed like madness.
You have been disappointed, you have undergone defeat
during the depression, you have felt the great heart within you
crushed until it bled. Take courage, for these experiences have
tempered the spiritual metal of which you are made-they are assets
Remember, too, that all who succeed in life get off to a bad
start, and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they
“arrive.” The turning point in the lives of those who succeed,
usually comes at the moment of some crisis, through which they
are introduced to their “other selves.”
John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress, which is among the
finest of all English literature, after he had been confined in prison
and sorely punished, because of his views on the subject of religion.
0. Henry discovered the genius which slept within his brain,
after he had met with great misfortune, and was confined in a
prison cell, in Columbus, Ohio. Being FORCED, through
misfortune, to become acquainted with his “other self,” and to use
his IMAGINATION, he discovered himself to be a great author
instead of a miserable criminal and outcast. Strange and varied are
the ways of life, and stranger still are the ways of Infinite
Intelligence, through which men are sometimes forced to undergo
40
all sorts of punishment before discovering their own brains, and
their own capacity to create useful ideas through imagination.
Edison, the world’s greatest inventor and scientist, was a
“tramp” telegraph operator, he failed innumerable times before he
was driven, finally, to the discovery of the genius which slept within
Charles Dickens began by pasting labels on blacking pots. The
tragedy of his first love penetrated the depths of his soul, and
converted him into one of the world’s truly great authors. That
tragedy produced, first, David Copperfield, then a succession of
other works that made this a richer and better world for all who
read his books. Disappointment over love affairs, generally has the
effect of driving men to drink, and women to ruin; and this, because
most people never learn the art of transmuting their strongest
emotions into dreams of a constructive nature.
Helen Keller became deaf, dumb, and blind shortly after birth.
Despite her greatest misfortune, she has written her name indelibly
in the pages of the history of the great. Her entire life has served as
evidence that no one ever is defeated until defeat has been accepted
Robert Burns was an illiterate country lad, he was cursed by
poverty, and grew up to be a drunkard in the bargain. The world
was made better for his having lived, because he clothed beautiful
thoughts in poetry, and thereby plucked a thorn and planted a rose
Booker T. Washington was born in slavery, handicapped by
race and color. Because he was tolerant, had an open mind at all
times, on all subjects, and was a DREAMER, he left his impress for
Beethoven was deaf, Milton was blind, but their names will
last as long as time endures, because they dreamed and translated
their dreams into organized thought.
Before passing to the next chapter, kindle anew in your mind
the fire of hope, faith, courage, and tolerance. If you have these
states of mind, and a working knowledge of the principles
described, all else that you need will come to you, when you are
READY for it. Let Emerson state the thought in these words, “Every
proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to thee for aid and
comfort shall surely come home through open or winding passages.
Every friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the great and tender
41
soul in thee craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace.”
There is a difference between WISHING for a thing and being
READY to receive it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he
can acquire it. The state of mind must be BELIEF, not mere hope or
wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not
inspire faith, courage, and belief.
Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to
demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept
misery and poverty. A great poet has correctly stated this universal
“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
“For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
“I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.”
DESIRE OUTWITS MOTHER NATURE
As a fitting climax to this chapter, I wish to introduce one of
the most unusual persons I have ever known. I first saw him
twenty-four years ago, a few minutes after he was born. He came
into the world without any physical sign of ears, and the doctor
admitted, when pressed for an opinion, that the child might be deaf,
I challenged the doctor’s opinion. I had the right to do so, I
was the child’s father. I, too, reached a decision, and rendered an
opinion, but I expressed the opinion silently, in the secrecy of my
own heart. I decided that my son would hear and speak. Nature
could send me a child without ears, but Nature could not induce me
to accept the reality of the affliction.
42
In my own mind I knew that my son would hear and speak.
How? I was sure there must be a way, and I knew I would find it. I
thought of the words of the immortal Emerson, “The whole course
of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey.
There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we
The right word? DESIRE! More than anything else, I DESIRED
that my son should not be a deaf mute. From that desire I never
Many years previously, I had written, “Our only limitations are
those we set up in our own minds.” For the first time, I wondered if
that statement were true. Lying on the bed in front of me was a
newly born child, without the natural equipment of hearing. Even
though he might hear and speak, he was obviously disfigured for
life. Surely, this was a limitation which that child had not set up in
What could I do about it? Somehow I would find a way to
transplant into that child’s mind my own BURNING DESIRE for
ways and means of conveying sound to his brain without the aid of
As soon as the child was old enough to cooperate, I would fill
his mind so completely with a BURNING DESIRE to hear, that
Nature would, by methods of her own, translate it into physical
All this thinking took place in my own mind, but I spoke of it
to no one. Every day I renewed the pledge I bad made to myself, not
to accept a deaf mute for a son.
As he grew older, and began to take notice of things around
him, we observed that he had a slight degree of hearing. When he
reached the age when children usually begin talking, he made no
attempt to speak, but we could tell by his actions that he could
hear certain sounds slightly. That was all I wanted to know! I was
convinced that if he could hear, even slightly, he might develop still
greater hearing capacity. Then something happened which gave me
hope. It came from an entirely unexpected source.
We bought a victrola. When the child heard the music for the
first time, he went into ecstasies, and promptly appropriated the
machine. He soon showed a preference for certain records, among
them, “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.” On one occasion, he played
that piece over and over, for almost two hours, standing in front of
43
the victrola, with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case. The
significance of this self-formed habit of his did not become clear to
us until years afterward, for we had never heard of the principle of
“bone conduction” of sound at that time.
Shortly after he appropriated the victrola, I discovered that he
could hear me quite clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his
mastoid bone, or at the base of the brain. These discoveries placed
in my possession the necessary media by which I began to translate
into reality my Burning Desire to help my son develop hearing and
speech. By that time he was making stabs at speaking certain
words. The outlook was far from encouraging, but DESIRE BACKED
BY FAITH knows no such word as impossible.
Having determined that he could hear the sound of my voice
plainly, I began, immediately, to transfer to his mind the desire to
hear and speak. I soon discovered that the child enjoyed bedtime
stories, so I went to work, creating stories designed to develop in
him self-reliance, imagination, and a keen desire to hear and to be
There was one story in particular, which I emphasized by
giving it some new and dramatic coloring each time it was told. It
was designed to plant in his mind the thought that his affliction
was not a liability, but an asset of great value. Despite the fact that
all the philosophy I had examined clearly indicated that EVERY
ADVERSITY BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT
ADVANTAGE, I must confess that I had not the slightest idea how
this affliction could ever become an asset. However, I continued my
practice of wrapping that philosophy in bedtime stories, hoping the
time would come when he would find some plan by which his
handicap could be made to serve some useful purpose.
Reason told me plainly, that there was no adequate
compensation for the lack of ears and natural hearing equipment.
DESIRE backed by FAITH, pushed reason aside, and inspired me to
As I analyze the experience in retrospect, I can see now, that
my son’s faith in me had much to do with the astounding results.
He did not question anything I told him. I sold him the idea that he
had a distinct advantage over his older brother, and that this
advantage would reflect itself in many ways. For example, the
teachers in school would observe that he had no ears, and, because
of this, they would show him special attention and treat him with
44
extraordinary kindness. They always did. His mother saw to that,
by visiting the teachers and arranging with them to give the child
the extra attention necessary. I sold him the idea, too, that when he
became old enough to sell newspapers, (his older brother had
already become a newspaper merchant), he would have a big
advantage over his brother, for the reason that people would pay
him extra money for his wares, because they could see that he was
a bright, industrious boy, despite the fact he had no ears.
We could notice that, gradually, the child’s hearing was
improving. Moreover, he had not the slightest tendency to be self-
conscious, because of his affliction. When he was about seven, he
showed the first evidence that our method of servicing his mind was
bearing fruit. For several months he begged for the privilege of
selling newspapers, but his mother would not give her consent. She
was afraid that his deafness made it unsafe for him to go on the
Finally, he took matters in his own hands. One afternoon,
when he was left at home with the servants, he climbed through the
kitchen window, shinnied to the ground, and set out on his own. He
borrowed six cents in capital from the neighborhood shoemaker,
invested it in papers, sold out, reinvested, and kept repeating until
late in the evening. After balancing his accounts, and paying back
the six cents he had borrowed from his banker, he had a net profit
of forty-two cents. When we got home that night, we found him in
bed asleep, with the money tightly clenched in his hand.
His mother opened his hand, removed the coins, and cried. Of
all things! Crying over her son’s first victory seemed so
inappropriate. My reaction was the reverse. I laughed heartily, for I
knew that my endeavor to plant in the child’s mind an attitude of
faith in himself had been successful.
His mother saw, in his first business venture, a little deaf boy
who had gone out in the streets and risked his life to earn money. I
saw a brave, ambitious, self-reliant little business man whose stock
in himself had been increased a hundred percent, because he had
gone into business on his own initiative, and had won. The
transaction pleased me, because I knew that he had given evidence
of a trait of resourcefulness that would go with him all through life.
Later events proved this to be true. When his older brother wanted
something, he would lie down on the floor, kick his feet in the air,
cry for it—and get it. When the “little deaf boy” wanted something,
45
he would plan a way to earn the money, then buy it for himself. He
Truly, my own son has taught me that handicaps can be
converted into stepping stones on which one may climb toward
some worthy goal, unless they are accepted as obstacles, and used
The little deaf boy went through the grades, high school, and
college without being able to hear his teachers, excepting when they
shouted loudly, at close range. He did not go to a school for the
WE WOULD NOT PERMIT HIM TO LEARN THE SIGN
LANGUAGE. We were determined that he should live a normal life,
and associate with normal children, and we stood by that decision,
although it cost us many heated debates with school officials.
While he was in high school, he tried an electrical hearing aid,
but it was of no value to him; due, we believed, to a condition that
was disclosed when the child was six, by Dr. J. Gordon Wilson, of
Chicago, when he operated on one side of the boy’s head, and
discovered that there was no sign of natural hearing equipment.
During his last week in college, (eighteen years after the
operation), something happened which marked the most important
turning-point of his life. Through what seemed to be mere chance,
he came into possession of another electrical hearing device, which
was sent to him on trial. He was slow about testing it, due to his
disappointment with a similar device. Finally he picked the
instrument up, and more or less carelessly, placed it on his head,
hooked up the battery, and lo! as if by a stroke of magic, his lifelong
DESIRE FOR NORMAL HEARING BECAME A REALITY! For the first
time in his life he heard practically as well as any person with
normal hearing. “God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to
Overjoyed because of the Changed World which had been
brought to him through his hearing device, he rushed to the
telephone, called his mother, and heard her voice perfectly. The
next day he plainly heard the voices of his professors in class, for
the first time in his life! Previously he could hear them only when
they shouted, at short range. He heard the radio. He heard the
talking pictures. For the first time in his life, he could converse
freely with other people, without the necessity of their having to
speak loudly. Truly, he had come into possession of a Changed
46
World. We had refused to accept Nature’s error, and, by
PERSISTENT DESIRE, we had induced Nature to correct that error,
through the only practical means available.
DESIRE had commenced to pay dividends, but the victory was
not yet complete. The boy still had to find a definite and practical
way to convert his handicap into an equivalent asset.
Hardly realizing the significance of what had already been
accomplished, but intoxicated with the joy of his newly discovered
world of sound, he wrote a letter to the manufacturer of the
hearing-aid, enthusiastically describing his experience. Something
in his letter; something, perhaps which was not written on the
lines, but back of them; caused the company to invite him to New
York. When be arrived, he was escorted through the factory, and
while talking with the Chief Engineer, telling him about his changed
world, a hunch, an idea, or an inspiration—call it what you wish—
flashed into his mind. It was this impulse of thought which con-
verted his affliction into an asset, destined to pay dividends in both
money and happiness to thousands for all time to come.
The sum and substance of that impulse of thought was this: It
occurred to him that he might be of help to the millions of deafened
people who go through life without the benefit of hearing devices, if
he could find a way to tell them the story of his Changed World.
Then and there, he reached a decision to devote the remainder of
his life to rendering useful service to the hard of hearing.
For an entire month, he carried on an intensive research,
during which he analyzed the entire marketing system of the
manufacturer of the hearing device, and created ways and means of
communicating with the hard of hearing all over the world for the
purpose of sharing with them his newly discovered “Changed
World.” When this was done, he put in writing a two-year plan,
based upon his findings. When he presented the plan to the com-
pany, he was instantly given a position, for the purpose of carrying
Little did he dream, when he went to work, that he was
destined to bring hope and practical relief to thousands of deafened
people who, without his help, would have been doomed forever to
Shortly after he became associated with the manufacturer of
his hearing aid, he invited me to attend a class conducted by his
company, for the purpose of teaching deaf mutes to hear, and to
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speak. I had never heard of such a form of education, therefore I
visited the class, skeptical but hopeful that my time would not be
entirely wasted. Here I saw a demonstration which gave me a
greatly enlarged vision of what I had done to arouse and keep alive
in my son’s mind the DESIRE for normal hearing. I saw deaf mutes
actually being taught to hear and to speak, through application of
the self-same principle I had used, more than twenty years
previously, in saving my son from deaf mutism.
Thus, through some strange turn of the Wheel of Fate, my son,
Blair, and I have been destined to aid in correcting deaf mutism for
those as yet unborn, because we are the only living human beings,
as far as I know, who have established definitely the fact that deaf
mutism can be corrected to the extent of restoring to normal life
those who suffer with this affliction. It has been done for one; it will
There is no doubt in my mind that Blair would have been a
deaf mute all his life, if his mother and I had not managed to shape
his mind as we did. The doctor who attended at his birth told us,
confidentially, the child might never hear or speak. A few weeks
ago, Dr. Irving Voorhees, a noted specialist on such cases,
examined Blair very thoroughly. He was astounded when he learned
how well my son now hears, and speaks, and said his examination
indicated that “theoretically, the boy should not be able to hear at
all.” But the lad does hear, despite the fact that X-ray pictures show
there is no opening in the skull, whatsoever, from where his ears
When I planted in his mind the DESIRE to hear and talk, and
live as a normal person, there went with that impulse some strange
influence which caused Nature to become bridge-builder, and span
the gulf of silence between his brain and the outer world, by some
means which the keenest medical specialists have not been able to
interpret. It would be sacrilege for me to even conjecture as to how
Nature performed this miracle. It would be unforgivable if I
neglected to tell the world as much as I know of the humble part I
assumed in the strange experience. It is my duty, and a privilege to
say I believe, and not without reason, that nothing is impossible to
the person who backs DESIRE with enduring FAITH.
Verily, a BURNING DESIRE has devious ways of transmuting
itself into its physical equivalent. Blair DESIRED normal hearing;
now he has it! He was born with a handicap which might easily
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have sent one with a less defined DESIRE to the street with a
bundle of pencils and a tin cup. That handicap now promises to
serve as the medium by which he will render useful service to many
millions of hard of hearing, also, to give him useful employment at
adequate financial compensation the remainder of his life.
The little “white lies” I planted in his mind when he was a
child, by leading him to BELIEVE his affliction would become a
great asset, which he could capitalize, has justified itself. Verily,
there is nothing, right or wrong, which BELIEF, plus BURNING
DESIRE, cannot make real. These qualities are free to everyone.
In all my experience in dealing with men and women who had
personal problems, I never handled a single case which more
definitely demonstrates the power of DESIRE. Authors sometimes
make the mistake of writing of subjects of which they have but
superficial, or very elementary knowledge. It has been my good
fortune to have had the privilege of testing the soundness of the
POWER OF DESIRE, through the affliction of my own son. Perhaps
it was providential that the experience came as it did, for surely no
one is better prepared than he, to serve as an example of what
happens when DESIRE is put to the test. If Mother Nature bends to
the will of desire, is it logical that mere men can defeat a burning
Strange and imponderable is the power of the human mind!
We do not understand the method by which it uses every
circumstance, every individual, every physical thing within its
reach, as a means of transmuting DESIRE into its physical
counterpart. Perhaps science will uncover this secret.
I planted in my son’s mind the DESIRE to hear and to speak
as any normal person hears and speaks. That DESIRE has now
become a reality. I planted in his mind the DESIRE to convert his
greatest handicap into his greatest asset. That DESIRE has been
realized. The modus operandi by which this astounding result was
achieved is not hard to describe. It consisted of three very definite
facts; first, I MIXED FAITH with the DESIRE for normal hearing,
which I passed on to my son. Second, I communicated my desire to
him in every conceivable way available, through persistent,
continuous effort, over a period of years. Third, HE BELIEVED ME!
As this chapter was being completed, news came of the death
of Mme. Schuman-Heink. One short paragraph in the news
dispatch gives the clue to this unusual woman’s stupendous
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success as a singer. I quote the paragraph, because the clue it
contains is none other than DESIRE.
Early in her career, Mme. Schuman-Heink visited the director
of the Vienna Court Opera, to have him test her voice. But, he did
not test it. After taking one look at the awkward and poorly dressed
girl, he exclaimed, none too gently, “With such a face, and with no
personality at all, how can you ever expect to succeed in opera? My
good child, give up the idea. Buy a sewing machine, and go to work.
YOU CAN NEVER BE A SINGER.”
Never is a long time! The director of the Vienna Court Opera
knew much about the technique of singing. He knew little about the
power of desire, when it assumes the proportion of an obsession. If
he had known more of that power, he would not have made the
mistake of condemning genius without giving it an opportunity.
Several years ago, one of my business associates became ill.
He became worse as time went on, and finally was taken to the
hospital for an operation. Just before he was wheeled into the
operating room, I took a look at him, and wondered how anyone as
thin and emaciated as he, could possibly go through a major
operation successfully. The doctor warned me that there was little if
any chance of my ever seeing him alive again. But that was the
DOCTOR’S OPINION. It was not the opinion of the patient. Just
before he was wheeled away, he whispered feebly, “Do not be
disturbed, Chief, I will be out of here in a few days.” The attending
nurse looked at me with pity. But the patient did come through
safely. After it was all over, his physician said, “Nothing but his own
desire to live saved him. He never would have pulled through if he
had not refused to accept the possibility of death.”
I believe in the power of DESIRE backed by FAITH, because I
have seen this power lift men from lowly beginnings to places of
power and wealth; I have seen it rob the grave of its victims; I have
seen it serve as the medium by which men staged a comeback after
having been defeated in a hundred different ways; I have seen it
provide my own son with a normal, happy, successful life, despite
Nature’s having sent him into the world without ears.
How can one harness and use the power of DESIRE? This has
been answered through this, and the subsequent chapters of this
book. This message is going out to the world at the end of the
longest, and perhaps, the most devastating depression America has
ever known. It is reasonable to presume that the message may
50
come to the attention of many who have been wounded by the
depression, those who have lost their fortunes, others who have lost
their positions, and great numbers who must reorganize their plans
and stage a comeback. To all these I wish to convey the thought
that all achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or its pur-
pose, must begin with an intense, BURNING DESIRE for something
Through some strange and powerful principle of “mental
chemistry” which she has never divulged, Nature wraps up in the
impulse of STRONG DESIRE “that something” which recognizes no
such word as impossible, and accepts no such reality as failure.
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