• General Overview
  • The Certain Way: Wealth is an Exact Science
    • Wealth is lawful: a science of getting rich exists; doing things in a Certain Way guarantees wealth with mathematical certainty
    • Not environment, talent, thrift, or capital: none of these determine riches; method does, and lack of capital does not prevent starting
    • Opportunity is open: no one monopolized wealth; inexhaustible intelligent Substance supplies endless riches to those who act rightly
    • Right to be rich: everyone may have all things needed for fullest unfoldment of body, mind, and soul; desire for riches is praiseworthy
    • Poverty is self-caused: the race is always rich; individuals stay poor only by not following the Certain Way
  • One Substance, One Mind: Thought Creates Reality
    • Formless Substance: intelligent thinking stuff fills the universe and is the original material of all things
    • Thought creates forms: a thought impressed on Formless Substance produces the thing imaged
    • Human creative power: man is a thinking center who impresses thoughts on Substance and causes creation
    • Think truth, not appearances: hold health amid disease and abundance amid poverty; appearances otherwise form in mind
    • Increasing life: God wants you rich; desire for riches is universal life seeking fuller expression through you
  • From Competition to Creation: The Mental Regime
    • Create, don't compete: rise out of competitive thought; take nothing from anyone; your success can leave others with more
    • Definite vision: form a clear mental image of exactly what you want; vague desires cannot be transmitted
    • Faith and gratitude: believe your riches are already yours; thankfulness aligns mind with Formless Intelligence
    • Use of will: will is only for compelling yourself to think and act in the Certain Way, never for coercing people or things
    • Shut out opposing pictures: avoid poverty memories, pessimistic news, and conflicting systems; keep attention on wealth
  • Action in the Present: Efficiency and the Right Business
    • Thought plus action: thought impels creation, but personal action in your present environment receives what comes
    • Act now and fully: fill your present place, do all that can be done each day, and put faith and purpose into every act
    • Success per act: not quantity but the power put into each separate act; every day is success or failure
    • Right business: strong desire to do a thing proves the power to do it; change by growth, never hurry
    • Use value: give every person more use value than the cash value you take; this conveys the impression of increase
  • The Advancing Life Applied
    • All callings: physician, preacher, teacher, lawyer, or wage-earner — the advancing life works infallibly
    • Wage-earner: work each day successfully to advance yourself, not merely to please an employer; hold faith always
    • Impress everyone with increase: the creative person is a center from which increase radiates to all who deal with him
    • No lack of opportunity: trusts cannot hold the creative mind; if blocked, move to new fields
    • Seeming failure: hold faith and gratitude; a larger good will replace what was withheld
  • Summary of the Science
    • Creative plane: unite with Formless Intelligence; the competitive mind cannot harmonize with the always-creative substance
    • Gratitude aligns: continuous sincere thanksgiving ensures thoughts are received and creative forces set in motion
    • Established order: creative energy works through natural growth, industry, and commerce; act daily in that order
    • Fixed purpose: keep the purpose to get rich through realizing your mental image; riches come by proportionate return
    • Certainty: definiteness of vision, fixity of purpose, steadiness of faith, and depth of gratitude yield exact riches
• Deep Dive
  • Preface
    • Purpose and Audience
      • Practical manual: not a philosophical treatise, for those who need money first
      • Target readers: want results, lack time for deep metaphysical study
      • Basis for action: accept scientific conclusions on faith, then act
    • The Exact Science
      • Exact science: applied principles make failure impossible
      • Proof by practice: act without fear or hesitation to verify truth
      • Universal promise: everyone who does this will certainly get rich
    • Philosophical Foundations
      • Monistic universe: One is All, All is One; one Substance manifests as many
      • Eastern origin: foundation of Oriental philosophies and Western idealism
      • Cited authorities: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Emerson
      • Further reading: Hegel, Emerson, The Eternal News, What is Truth?
      • Author's choice: plainness and simplicity of style above all else
  • Chapters I–III
    • The Right to be Rich
      • Complete life requires wealth: no one reaches full mental, spiritual, or physical development without money to command things.
      • Development through use: humans unfold body, mind, and soul by using material things, and society makes money the means of access.
      • Right to riches: every person has an inalienable right to all things needed for fullest unfoldment; contentment with less is sinful.
      • Desire is praiseworthy: wanting riches is wanting more abundant life, and not desiring it is abnormal.
      • Body, mind, and soul equally matter: denying any one dimension, including through poverty, cripples full expression and happiness.
      • Poverty denies love: giving is love's natural expression, and the poor cannot bestow benefits on those they cherish.
    • There is a Science of Getting Rich
      • Exact science: getting rich follows fixed laws; doing things in a Certain Way brings wealth with mathematical certainty.
      • Not environment: rich and poor live side by side in the same place, so location alone does not determine wealth.
      • Not talent: average people get rich while gifted people stay poor; the difference is method, not ability.
      • Not thrift or business: misers stay poor, spenders get rich; every vocation has rich and poor practitioners.
      • Capital not required: lack of capital does not prevent wealth; starting the Certain Way begins the process of acquiring it.
    • Is Opportunity Monopolized?
      • Opportunity is open: no one is poor because others monopolized wealth; other channels always exist.
      • Ride the tide: opportunity periodically shifts direction; currently toward agriculture and allied industries in America.
      • Workers can rise: as a class or individually, workers may become masters by doing things in a Certain Way.
      • Supply is inexhaustible: visible and invisible resources exceed all possible need; nature constantly produces more.
      • Original Substance is intelligent: Formless Stuff thinks, seeks more life, and responds to human needs.
      • Poverty is self-caused: the race is always rich; individuals stay poor only by not following the Certain Way.
  • Chapters IV–V
    • The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich
      • Thought is the only power: tangible riches come from a thinking Substance; a thought in it produces the imaged form.
      • Man as thinking center: can originate thought and impress it on Substance to cause creation of what he images.
      • Three core propositions: thinking stuff fills the universe; thought creates its image; man can create by impressing thought.
      • Think truth, not appearances: hold health amid disease and abundance amid poverty; appearances otherwise form in mind.
      • Master mind: sustained truthful thought is hardest work; the one who masters it conquers fate and gets what he wants.
      • Faith as first step: accept the three propositions absolutely; reject doubt and contrary teachings without speculation.
    • Increasing Life
      • God wants you rich: the living Substance desires increase; life must multiply itself, and it can express more through you.
      • Desire for riches is life seeking fulfillment: the same power that makes the plant grow.
      • Full life purpose: want physical, mental, and spiritual expression without excess; not swinish pleasure, intellect alone, or altruism alone.
      • Make the most of yourself: you help others most by getting rich; God requires no self-sacrifice.
      • Create, don't compete: rise entirely out of competitive thought; take nothing from anyone—your success can leave others with more.
      • Unlimited supply: never fear trusts or visible supply; Substance creates limitless wealth for you.
  • Chapters VI–VIII
    • How Riches Come to You
      • Use value over cash value: give every man more use value than the cash value you take from him.
      • Unfair bargains: selling what does not add to another’s life wrongs them; leave such businesses.
      • Business as a ladder: organize work so each employee can advance daily toward riches.
      • Mental image and faith: picture what you want, claim it as already yours, and let Substance bring it.
      • Desire is divine: your want for riches is God’s urge for fuller expression through you.
      • Ask largely: do not limit yourself to small comforts; faith determines what you receive.
    • Gratitude
      • Gratitude as adjustment: relate harmoniously to Formless Intelligence through deep, constant thankfulness.
      • Law of Gratitude: grateful mental force reaches God; the reaction moves what you want toward you.
      • Gratitude keeps power: without it you lose connection with Power and fall into dissatisfied thought.
      • Mind takes its form: dwelling on the best makes you become the best; dwelling on the poor attracts poverty.
      • Faith from gratitude: a grateful mind expects good, and expectation becomes living faith.
      • Be grateful for all: even plutocrats and politicians have arranged the lines along which your riches come.
    • Thinking in the Certain Way
      • Definite picture: form a clear mental image of exactly what you want; vague desires cannot be transmitted.
      • Hold it continually: keep the vision before you like a compass, without needing special exercises or occult stunts.
      • Strong desire: wanting riches intensely keeps your mind fixed and overcomes laziness.
      • Purpose and faith: behind the vision, resolve to realize it and believe it is already yours.
      • Mental ownership: live in the imagined house, wear the clothes, and take possession in mind with thankfulness.
      • Pray without ceasing: hold your vision with purpose and faith while working, not by repeated words or special hours.
  • Chapters IX–X
    • How to Use the Will
      • Will’s only legitimate use: compel yourself to think and act in the Certain Way, never to coerce people or things.
      • No outward force: projecting will at others or objects tries to coerce God; Substance already wants to give.
      • Keep mind at home: form a mental image of what you want; hold it with faith and purpose while will keeps you on course.
      • Positive impressions only: steady faith sends currents toward you; doubt and fear send currents away.
      • Guard attention by will: fix your mind on wealth, not poverty; studying lack creates lack.
      • Poverty behind you: don’t read, talk, or dwell on poverty; help the poor by getting rich and inspiring them.
    • Further Use of the Will
      • Shut out opposing pictures: don’t revisit past financial troubles, parental poverty, or pessimistic news.
      • Ignore conflicting theories: avoid end-of-world books, muck-rakers, and occult studies; they start mental cross-currents.
      • World is becoming: see beneath bad conditions the Great One Life moving toward fuller happiness; think of riches coming in.
      • Getting rich is noble: creative wealth enables health, moral greatness, and love; competitive struggle degrades.
      • Help by example: the best service is to make the most of yourself; show the poor the way by creative success.
      • Stick to this system: read this book daily, avoid other systems until rich; thought in Substance creates the thing imaged.
  • Chapters XI–XIII
    • Acting in the Certain Way
      • Thought plus action: thought impels creation, but only personal action can receive what comes.
      • Act now: you can act only where you are, so act on present environment with whole mind.
      • No occult projection: don’t try to send thought out to do things; hold vision, purpose, faith, and let creative forces work.
      • Present business as bridge: use current job or environment as the means to move toward the right one.
      • Receive by giving value: you can’t take what arrives as charity; give more use value than you receive in cash value.
    • Efficient Action
      • Fill your present place: you grow by being larger than your current position; leave no work undone.
      • Daily success: every day is success or failure; do all that can be done that day.
      • Efficiency over quantity: not the number of acts but the power put into each separate act.
      • Make every act successful: hold your vision and put faith and purpose into whatever you do.
      • Contemplate in leisure: fix the picture in mind during spare hours so you can grasp it instantly while working.
    • Getting into the Right Business
      • Tools not enough: developed faculties matter, but the right use of them is what brings wealth.
      • Desire proves power: strong desire to do a thing shows the power to do it exists and can be developed.
      • Do what you want: satisfaction comes from the work you want; use uncongenial work only as a step toward it.
      • Change by growth: generally shift business or environment through growth, not hasty radical action.
      • Never hurry: when you hurry you become a competitor; stay creative, wait in doubt, and cultivate gratitude.
  • Chapters XIV–XVI
    • The Impression of Increase
      • Key thought: convey to every person the impression of increase in all transactions, however small.
      • Universal desire: all seek more life; increase is the fundamental impulse of nature and the Formless Intelligence.
      • Creative center: you give increase to all who deal with you; quiet faith attracts, not boasts.
      • Use value: give customers more value than you take; they will return and the Supreme will send others.
      • Beware power-lust: competitive desire to dominate others destroys creative action; seek the common good.
    • The Advancing Man
      • All vocations: physician, preacher, teacher, lawyer, or wage-earner — the advancing life works infallibly.
      • Physician: hold clear vision and obey faith, purpose, gratitude; cure every curable case.
      • Clergy: teach the science of abundant life; demonstrate it personally; loyal following guaranteed.
      • Wage-earner: work each day successfully, not to please employer but to advance yourself; hold faith always.
      • Opportunities: the Advancing Man cannot lack chances; if blocked, move to a ten-acre farm — trusts cannot hold him.
    • Some Cautions, and Concluding Observations
      • Exact science: getting rich is mathematically certain; neither government nor industrial system can stop the creative mind.
      • Stay creative plane: never see supply as limited or act competitively; correct old thought instantly.
      • No anxious planning: handle emergencies as they come; obstacles dissolve as you approach in the Certain Way.
      • Guard speech: never admit failure, hard times, or doubt; speak only in terms of advancement.
      • Seeming failure: hold faith and gratitude; a larger good will replace what was withheld.
      • Ability is supplied: talent develops as needed; draw on the Source that empowered Lincoln. Study this book; avoid pessimistic influences.
  • CHAPTER XVII. Summary of the Science of Getting Rich
    • The Thinking Stuff of the Universe
      • Formless Substance: original thinking stuff permeates, penetrates, and fills all interspaces.
      • Thought creates: a thought in this substance produces the thing imaged by that thought.
      • Human creation: by impressing thought on formless substance, man causes what he thinks to be created.
    • From Competitive to Creative Mind
      • Competitive mind: cannot harmonize with Formless Intelligence, which is always creative in spirit.
      • Creative plane: requires uniting with Formless Intelligence, never competing.
      • Harmony shift: pass from competitive to creative mind to make thought effective.
    • Gratitude as the Unifying Force
      • Gratitude aligns: sincere gratitude for blessings unifies man's mind with Substance's intelligence.
      • Continuous feeling: remain on the creative plane only through deep, uninterrupted gratitude.
      • Reception: gratitude ensures man's thoughts are received by the Formless.
    • Vision, Faith, and Thanksgiving
      • Clear mental image: form definite image of things to have, do, or become.
      • Hold with gratitude: keep image while thankfully affirming all desires are already granted.
      • Leisure contemplation: spend spare hours contemplating the Vision with earnest thanksgiving.
      • Unwavering faith: frequent contemplation plus faith and gratitude sets creative forces in motion.
    • Action in the Established Order
      • Channels of growth: creative energy works through natural growth, industrial order, and commerce.
      • Daily activity: do all that can be done each day, each act in a successful manner.
      • More than filling place: receiving requires activity beyond merely filling present position.
      • Advancing Thought: hold the thought of Increase to communicate it to everyone encountered.
    • The Law of Proportionate Return
      • Use value over cash value: give every man more use value than cash value received, making each transaction add life.
      • Purpose fixed: keep the Purpose to get rich through realization of the mental image.
      • Certain riches: those who practice instructions will certainly get rich.
      • Exact proportion: riches equal definiteness of vision, fixity of purpose, steadiness of faith, depth of gratitude.
• Core Conclusion and Practical Takeaways
  • Core Principles
    • Exact science: getting rich follows fixed laws; doing things in the Certain Way brings wealth with mathematical certainty.
    • Original Substance: formless thinking stuff fills the universe; thought in it creates the thing imagined.
    • Creative over competitive: create, don't compete; take nothing from anyone and leave others with more.
    • Right to riches: every person may seek full life; desire for wealth is God's urge for greater expression.
    • Use value: give every person more use value than cash value received; each transaction adds life.
  • Mindset Shifts
    • Think truth, not appearances: hold health amid sickness and abundance amid poverty; sustained truthful thought masters fate.
    • Gratitude aligns: deep constant thankfulness unifies you with Formless Intelligence and keeps creative power flowing.
    • World is becoming: see the Great One Life moving toward fullness; ignore pessimistic news and cross-currents.
    • Poverty behind you: stop dwelling on lack, past failures, or hard times; fix mind on riches coming in.
    • Ability is supplied: talent develops as needed; draw on the Source that empowered Lincoln.
  • Daily Practices
    • Definite vision: form a clear mental image of exactly what you want; vague desires cannot be transmitted.
    • Hold with faith: claim the vision as already granted, without doubt, with purpose and thankfulness.
    • Pray without ceasing: hold the vision while working, not through repeated words or special hours.
    • Contemplate in leisure: fix the picture in spare moments so you can grasp it instantly while working.
    • Guard speech: never admit failure, hard times, or doubt; speak only in terms of advancement.
  • Action and Work
    • Act where you are: use present job as bridge; do all that can be done each day in a successful manner.
    • Fill your place: be larger than your current position; leave no work undone; growth shifts you onward.
    • Right business: do what you want; uncongenial work is only a step toward it; change by growth, never hurry.
    • Impression of increase: convey to everyone you meet the thought of increase, not competition.
    • Advancing man: physician, preacher, wage-earner all succeed by vision, faith, purpose, gratitude in daily acts.
  • Cautions and Promise
    • Stay creative plane: correct competitive thoughts instantly; never see supply as limited.
    • No anxious planning: handle emergencies as they come; obstacles dissolve as you approach in the Certain Way.
    • Shut out opposing pictures: avoid books and theories that start mental cross-currents; read this book until rich.
    • Seeming failure: hold faith and gratitude; a larger good will replace what was withheld.
    • Certain result: practice exact instructions and you will certainly get rich; riches equal vision, purpose, faith, gratitude.