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We have briefly mentioned Napoleon
Hill in previous articles. He was not seeking contact with spirit beings
when he was suddenly confronted in his study by an unexpected and
uninvited intruder. Hill claims that an emissary came across the astral
plane. In a voice that "sounded like chimes of great music,"
this visitor from another dimension declared: "I come from the
Great School of Masters. I am one of the Council of Thirty-Three who
serve the Great School and its initiates on the physical plane."
Hill was informed that he had been
"under the guidance of the Great School" for years and had
been chosen by them to give the formula of success, the "Supreme
Secret," to the world: that "anything the human mind can
believe, the human mind can achieve." 1 Here again is the same lie
that turns one from God to the alleged power of the human mind. Norman
Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller try to link this occult power with
prayer and faith. Hill was not praying, but was introduced to a
mysterious source of "guidance" claiming to inhabit a
spiritual dimension ("a region beyond the power of our five senses
to know") from which "unseen, silent forces influence us
constantly." 2
Although he spoke and wrote a great deal about
"mind power" and "positive mental attitude" (a
phrase he was inspired by these entities to coin), Hill was convinced
that behind these forces were "unseen watchers" guiding the
destiny of those who were willing to submit to their leadership. There
was no limit to the success and wealth which these allegedly higher
beings would give in exchange for following their principles. Hill
claims to have gotten these secrets from contact with "The Great
School of Masters," of which he wrote:
Sometimes known as the Venerable
Brotherhood of Ancient India, it is the great central reservoir of
religious, philosophical, moral, physical, spiritual and psychical
knowledge. Patiently this school strives to lift mankind from spiritual
infancy to maturity of soul and final illumination. 3
Still a perennial bestseller even after 60 years, Hill’s
best-known book, Think and Grow Rich, has been credited with
changing the lives and influencing the careers of a large percentage of
America’s top business executives. Its 1941 edition contains
endorsements from United States Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Harding,
Wilson, and Taft; and from some of the world’s greatest scientists and
founders of America’s leading corporations: Thomas A. Edison, Luther
Burbank, John D. Rockefeller, F. W. Woolworth, William Wrigley, Jr.,
George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak), Robert Dollar (of Dollar Steamship
Lines), and others.
The Venerable Brotherhood of Ancient India taught Hill
the power of visualization. Following their advice, Hill visualized nine
famous men from the past sitting around a table as his
"advisers." And their advice proved to be remarkably sound and
profitable for Hill to follow.
As a result, Hill became very successful, and millions
of other people (including many of America’s leading business,
professional, and political leaders) adopted and proved the astonishing
power of this ancient shamanic technique in every area of their lives.
Though he clung to the idea that it was all imagination, from what Hill
wrote it is clear that visualization had opened the door to the world of
the occult:
These nine men were Emerson, Paine,
Edison, Darwin, Lincoln, Burbank, Napoleon, Ford and Carnegie. Every
night… I held an imaginary council meeting with this group whom I
called my "Invisible Counselors."
In these imaginary council meetings I
called on my cabinet members for the knowledge I wished each to
contribute, addressing myself to each member....
After some months of this nightly
procedure, I was astounded by the discovery that these imaginary figures
became apparently real. Each of these nine men developed individual
characteristics, which surprised me....
These meetings became so realistic that I
became fearful of their consequences, and discontinued them for several
months. The experiences were so uncanny, I was afraid if I continued
them I would lose sight of the fact that the meetings were purely experiences
of my imagination [emphasis in original].
This is the first time I have had the
courage to mention this.... I still regard my cabinet meetings as being
purely imaginary, but ... they have led me into glorious paths of
adventure... [and] I have been miraculously guided past [scores] of
difficulties....
I now go to my imaginary counselors with
every difficult problem which confronts me and my clients. The results
are often astonishing…. 4
Carl Jung also tried to deny the reality of the
entities that visited and guided him. Jung finally was forced to admit
their objective reality. Surely Hill could not really believe that his imagination
gave each one of his nine counselors "individual
characteristics," characteristics which he confessed surprised him.
And whence the wisdom that proved so beneficial on so many occasions
when problems beyond his ability to solve were presented to his
"imaginary" advisers? Of course, it is much more comfortable
to believe in the power of imagination than to accept the fact that one
has become the victim of an occult invasion.
Notes:
1. Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone, Success
Through a Positive Mental Attitude (Pocket Books, 1977), p. 44.
2. Napoleon Hill, Grow Rich with Peace of Mind
(Fawcett Crest, 1967), pp. 218-19, etc.
3. Ibid., p. 159
4. Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (Fawcett,
1979), pp. 215-19.
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