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Wallace D. Wattles
Wallace D. Wattles
(1860-1911)
Wallace Delois Wattles wrote many books, among them Health Through New Thought and Fasting; The Science of Getting Rich; The Science of Being Great; and The Science of Being Well. It is for The Science of Getting Rich that he is most well-known, especially since it is one of the foundation books for the present day phenomenon “The Secret.”
He studied the various religious beliefs and philosophies of the world including those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Swedenborg, Emerson, and others. It was through his tireless study and experimentation that he discovered the truth of New Thought principles and put them into practice in his own life. He had been in poor financial as well as poor physical health for a large portion of his life, but was healed, and went on to write about his experiences.
He practiced the technique of creative visualization and as his daughter Florence related, "He wrote almost constantly. It was then that he formed his mental picture. He saw himself as a successful writer, a personality of power, an advancing man, and he began to work toward the realization of this vision. He lived every page ... His life was truly the powerful life."
Wattles says in the preface to “The Science of Getting Rich:”
The monistic theory of the universe is the theory that “One is All, and that All is One and that one Substance manifests itself as the seeming many elements of the material world” is of Hindu origin, and has been gradually winning its way into the thought of the western world for two hundred years. It is the foundation of all the Oriental philosophies, and of those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, and Emerson.
That paragraph in Wattles preface led this writer to believe that the reference to “Hindu origin” was strongly influenced by the works of William Walker Atkinson.
We are not speaking of Newton’s Law of Attraction. This Law of Attraction written of here is a theory in all New Thought that what one holds most clearly and strongly in mind is automatically attracted into one’s life and circumstances, in other words “your thoughts determine your destiny.”
Wattles' daughter, Florence, in a letter to Elizabeth Towne, publisher of Nautilis Magazine, wrote in part:
He met George D. Herron at a convention of reformers in Chicago in 1896 and caught Herron's social vision. I shall never forget the morning he came home. It was Christmas. Mother had put her last dollar into a cuff box and we had placed it beneath an evergreen branch which served for our Christmas tree and which we had illuminated with tallow candles and strung with popcorn. Finally Father came. With that beautiful smile he praised the tree, said the cuff box was just what he had been wanting - and took us all in his arms to tell us of the wonderful social message of Jesus, the message which he later embodied in "A New Christ." From that day until his death he worked unceasingly to realize the glorious vision of human brotherhood.
When Wallace Wattles passed away, he was a very wealthy man. He had truly unfolded health, wealth and happiness.
(1860-1911)
Wallace Delois Wattles wrote many books, among them Health Through New Thought and Fasting; The Science of Getting Rich; The Science of Being Great; and The Science of Being Well. It is for The Science of Getting Rich that he is most well-known, especially since it is one of the foundation books for the present day phenomenon “The Secret.”
He studied the various religious beliefs and philosophies of the world including those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Swedenborg, Emerson, and others. It was through his tireless study and experimentation that he discovered the truth of New Thought principles and put them into practice in his own life. He had been in poor financial as well as poor physical health for a large portion of his life, but was healed, and went on to write about his experiences.
He practiced the technique of creative visualization and as his daughter Florence related, "He wrote almost constantly. It was then that he formed his mental picture. He saw himself as a successful writer, a personality of power, an advancing man, and he began to work toward the realization of this vision. He lived every page ... His life was truly the powerful life."
Wattles says in the preface to “The Science of Getting Rich:”
The monistic theory of the universe is the theory that “One is All, and that All is One and that one Substance manifests itself as the seeming many elements of the material world” is of Hindu origin, and has been gradually winning its way into the thought of the western world for two hundred years. It is the foundation of all the Oriental philosophies, and of those of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, and Emerson.
That paragraph in Wattles preface led this writer to believe that the reference to “Hindu origin” was strongly influenced by the works of William Walker Atkinson.
We are not speaking of Newton’s Law of Attraction. This Law of Attraction written of here is a theory in all New Thought that what one holds most clearly and strongly in mind is automatically attracted into one’s life and circumstances, in other words “your thoughts determine your destiny.”
Wattles' daughter, Florence, in a letter to Elizabeth Towne, publisher of Nautilis Magazine, wrote in part:
He met George D. Herron at a convention of reformers in Chicago in 1896 and caught Herron's social vision. I shall never forget the morning he came home. It was Christmas. Mother had put her last dollar into a cuff box and we had placed it beneath an evergreen branch which served for our Christmas tree and which we had illuminated with tallow candles and strung with popcorn. Finally Father came. With that beautiful smile he praised the tree, said the cuff box was just what he had been wanting - and took us all in his arms to tell us of the wonderful social message of Jesus, the message which he later embodied in "A New Christ." From that day until his death he worked unceasingly to realize the glorious vision of human brotherhood.
When Wallace Wattles passed away, he was a very wealthy man. He had truly unfolded health, wealth and happiness.