(This is part 1 of a series where I take the classic personal development book Think and Grow Richand deconstruct it’s philosophical and pragmatic foundations. As Think and Grow Rich is a iconic text in the personal development literature, a thorough philosophical deconstruction will allow for a new paradigm of personal development to emerge. In other words, if you don’t want your sacred cows slaughtered and grilled up, you may want to click back on your browser now.)
Think and Grow Rich was published by Napoleon Hill in 1937. The publisher’s preface of my Ballantine Books edition starts off by calling this book “one of the most influential books of all time in pointing the way to personal achievement–to financial independence and to riches of the spirit beyond measurement in money.”
Many personal development authors explicitly mention Think and Grow Rich as a profound inspiration for their work, including Tony Robbins. In fact, when you step back from the field of personal development (especially after immersing one’s self in the field for years), the vast number of books, tapes, gurus, and websites all start to look similar, based on principles from Think and Grow Rich and other early works in the field of personal development.
I myself have already read Think and Grow Rich three times, and each time found it incredibly valuable. But that was when I was fully immersed in the personal development reality tunnel. Things have changed, to say the least….
After 7 or 8 years immersing myself in personal development literature (especially the Tony Robbins school), and even becoming a Life Coach, I burnt out on the overachievement and began looking for a better way. I’m still in the process of discovering this way, but I’m starting to get a sense of it.
I now have a sense of the fundamental assumptions and limitations of the field of personal development. Every field has it’s fundamental premises that go unquestioned, like “every individual seeks his own rational self-interest” for classical economics. It’s time however for me to use my training as a philosopher to make these assumptions and limitations explicit for all the world to examine critically.
New authors in the field of personal development keep rehashing the same old stuff. The personal development blogosphere is full of trite sayings, the same 1000 or so famous quotations, and restatements of premises developed in the 1930’s. There are a few of us on the edge, however, challenging the status quo and looking for a radically new paradigm. Among us rebels and freethinkers we are beginning to feel that it’s time for personal development to develop itself. I hope you’ll join me in my part of the emerging paradigm.
Over the coming days and weeks, I will be re-reading Think and Grow Rich cover to cover, and doing a critical analysis chapter by chapter here at PrecisionChange.com. I will then conclude with a summary of my critique, with directions for further investigation, and suggestions as to new premises for recreating the field of personal development (or creating an entirely new field from its ashes). If this experiment proves useful, I may go on to do the same for other foundational books in the field.
This kind of investigation is not for the feint at heart. It will probably not “win friends and influence people.” But I’ve always felt a burning desire to ask the kinds of questions that others fear to ask. If you too share my curiosity, if you’ve ever felt that something is amiss with personal development, then I invite you to join me in this inquiry. Heck–pick up a copy of Think and Grow Rich for yourself and dialogue with me in the comments here if you’d like. I could use the dialectic, even if we ultimately agree to disagree.
With that, here are my thoughts on The Preface and A Word from the Author.
Deconstructing the Publisher’s Preface
the philosophies and formulas which lead to success are made available to all who greatly desire to make money and to attain the rich spiritual satisfactions that achievement brings.
Perhaps the publisher is not a Christian and has therefore not heard 1 Timothy 6:10 which states, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
But I’m a philosopher and a magician, and so I examine ideas based on their logic and my direct experience–not solely because the book is said to be holy by a particular group. Notice however that “spiritual satisfactions” and worldly achievement are equated. This is contrary to nearly all classic spiritual texts, which tend to pit the spiritual life against the worldly.
Think and Grow Rich, and indeed all personal development literature, posits that one can “have it all”–enlightenment, personal wealth, health, happiness, great sex, and a fulfilling career. Is this true? Can one have it all? Or are there fundamental compromises one must make? Is the love of money the root of all, most, or even some evil? Does power corrupt? Or is power a “neutral” force that one has choice as to whether to use for good or ill?
If having-it-all (pursuing both worldly achievement and spiritual enlightenment) is possible without leading to corruption/evil/sorrow, then the good life is radically different than what the religious and philosophical traditions have stated. The good life is not necessarily then a life of virtue (Aristotle/modern happiness research), nor a life of renunciation or selfless service (Christianity), nor a life of taming and investigating the mind to reach states and stages of liberation (Buddhism/Yoga), nor a life dedicated to some divine force or godhead, but a life of personal worldly achievement and personal financial wealth.
If having-it-all is not possible without leading to corruption/evil/sorrow, then this having-it-all position is radically incorrect, a complete reversal of the teachings of all spiritual and religious traditions. If this is the case, then we should denounce this view as a corruption of the teachings of all the great religious and historical figures throughout history (including those individuals often quoted by contemporary personal development authors and speakers!).
In either case, it is of critical importance that we sort this matter out!
And of course, perhaps there is a middle view, that some amount of money and worldly achievement is a part of the good life, or some relationship to the world is the “right” relationship. Everyone must relate to the world, but what is the right relationship?
The riches within your grasp cannot always be measured in money. There are great riches in lasting friendships, harmonious family relationships, sympathy and understanding between business associates, and inner harmony which brings peace of mind measurable only in spiritual values.”
Again we have the premonitions of the having-it-all philosophy of personal development. The ultimate aim of life in this view is to not only have wealth, but to also have the intangible “riches” in relationships and inner peace. Every personal development book I’ve read since has echoed this having-it-all philosophy–not one has questioned it, advocated for moderate personal wealth or voluntary poverty, spoke strongly of compromise, or hinted at potentially corrupting effects of personal power.
Again, just to contrast views (not to choose one yet), a standard idea from religious traditions and cultural critics is that the only things of real value and importance are the relationships and inner peace, that money is merely a means to an end. To take this “money is means only” position seriously is to live in an entirely different way than to live by the “having-it-all” view.
Whenever I bring up this contrast in views, I often get a response like “well of course money is just a means to an end, but since many people want it, why not help people get what they want and then guide them towards what’s really valuable (aka the relationships and inner peace)?” Pragmatics are a different conversation than what is true, and also important to discuss. But first it is important to examine what is of ultimate value. If money or power or worldly achievement is the ultimate end of our philosophy of the good life, that is radically different than proposing that only satisfying relationships and inner peace are the ultimate ends of a good life, which then leaves open the question as to whether money and power and worldly achievement are good means to those ends.
In Think and Grow Rich–the foundational text for most personal development literature–the message is clear: you can have it all, and it’s a good thing to have it all. The ultimate aim of life is seen as having both personal wealth (which is implied as having more than most others) and satisfying relationships and inner peace. The philosophy of Think and Grow Rich is clearly not claiming that money and worldly achievement are mere means to getting satisfying relationships and inner peace. In the view of Think and Grow Rich, and indeed all of the personal development literature, money, power, and worldly success are seen as ends-in-themselves.
This position is clearly opposed to all philosophical positions that attempt to maximize or optimize collective happiness. Any philosophy that advocates for personal wealth as an end-in-itself implies that the aim of life is to have more money than most other people. Since it is theoretically impossible for everyone to have more money than most other people (i.e. only a small minority can be wealthy if wealth is defined as individual and comparative), then this philosophy of life must necessarily fail for most who adopt it in a given culture. In a competitive game, there are winners and losers. If the aim of the game is to win, many people will lose.
Personally, I’ve always been interested in having a philosophy of life that can include all other people’s happiness as important. Therefore, any philosophy that necessarily pits people against each other in a competitive game in order to reach the ultimate goal fails my criteria for a philosophy that everyone can adopt and at least theoretically reach the ultimate aim. Competitive games may be fun in other contexts, but when we are discussing ultimate aims, they necessarily exclude at least half if not more than half of people from achieving the aim of life.
Deconstructing A Word From the Author
In every chapter of this book, mention has been made of the money-making secret which has made fortunes for hundreds of exceedingly wealthy men whom I have carefully analyzed over a long period of years.
Did someone say The Secret? Yes, it is the same secret–what you focus on expands, or rather, when you focus your entire being on getting something, you are much more likely to get it.
Hill mentions that Andrew Carnegie gave him this secret, and even calls it a magic formula. This is significant for reasons we will get into later. To give you a preview, I contend that the techniques in Think and Grow Rich are indeed techniques of Magic, have Magical results, and actually come directly from the Western esoteric tradition of Magic, albeit misunderstood in their application to personal achievement instead of consciousness transformation. I also contend that the entire field of personal development can be seen as a branch of the Western esoteric tradition of Magic. Indeed, at least one esoteric writer in 1928 called some of the foundations of personal development “black magic”:
Though the demonism of the Middle Ages seems to have disappeared, there is abundant evidence that in many forms of modern thought–especially the so-called “prosperity” psychology, “will-power-building” metaphysics, and systems of “high-pressure” salesmanship–black magic has merely passed through a metamorphosis, and although its name be changed its nature remains the same.
~ Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages
The “word from the author” is filled with what would now be called “testimonials” for the secret magic formula for riches that the author will reveal throughout the book. This tradition continues in the first few pages of a personal development book (or on the back of a dust jacket for hardcover) and in long-form sales letters online.
Hill then goes on to say that this secret “cannot be given away, it cannot be purchased for money” and “serves equally well all who are ready for it.” I cannot help but think of the parallels of those monks and yogis who speak of enlightenment. Indeed, Hill is proposing enlightenment through material, worldly success, something I have written about before in discussing personal development as religion.
its [this book's] purpose [is] to convey a great universal truth through which all who are ready may learn what to do and how to do it!
Again, reference to “a great universal truth” makes me want to categorize this book as a work of religion, the religion of personal development. And not only that, but a book of yoga or magic–practical techniques for realizing the ultimate truths in one’s life (indeed, the main technique is a meditation, as we will see later). In this case once again, the ultimate aims to be realized are personal wealth, fame, happiness, harmonious relationships, health, and inner peace–having it all.
Next time, I’ll deconstruct chapter one. I’d love to hear your reactions and thoughts in the comments below.
~Duff