The Law of Success in 16 Lessons is a book that I have been meaning to get around to reading. It was the forerunner of the more famous Think and Grow Rich by the same author, Napoleon Hill. So, as I make my way through the book, I thought I would provide a little summary of each chapter. By the way, if you want to read the book yourself, you can get a free copy here.
The first chapter is about the ‘master mind’ concept which suggests that when a small number of people are focussed upon some common goal, provided that they are in a state of perfect harmony, a super-consciousness, known as the master mind, is created. This super-consciousness can then be accessed by each of the people in the group for the purpose of receiving ideas and inspiration from the other people in the group.
The author says that he was unable to find reference to this concept in textbooks and essays on the human mind. However, the idea that some kind of mental internet or cosmic consciousness exists has certainly been around for a long time. Perhaps, this is not quite the same thing as the master mind but it is certainly in the same territory. Furthermore, I can also remember someone, at some time, referencing the remarks of Jesus, “when two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst (Matt 18:20″ as providing support to this same idea.
You will probably be aware that Napoleon Hill’s study and attempt to come up with a complete philosophy of success was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world at the time. Hill apparently learned about the master mind idea directly from Andrew Carnegie and, in this first chapter, he states that the ability to group people together for the purpose of benefitting from the master mind was Carnegie’s secret weapon.
Essentially, Hill says that when two (or more) people are grouped together, a third mind is always formed, but it might not be a master mind. Instead, a super-consciousness which is the very opposite of a master mind, negative in spirit, can instead emerge. Hill is at pains to assert that the individual minds that make up the master mind must be in a state of perfect harmony for the mastermind to be created and he spends quite a bit of time emphasising that point.
The important quality that is required of effective leaders, according to Hill, is the ability to group people who are capable of blending their mental ability in order to create a master mind from which to benefit. This is the principle which, Hill says, was responsible for the accumulation of the Carnegie fortune. Much of remainder of the first chapter concerns his attempts to justify the basic idea that it is possible to transmit and receive thoughts.
If you read the more popular book Think and Grow Rich, like many other people, you will probably be impacted, to some extent, by the secret that Hill says is contained in that book. He speaks about the secret frequently, but does not reveal it directly. As a consequence, that secret is something for which many people are often left searching.
Hill says that the secret comes in two parts. If you want to know this secret, part one is revealed in my little book Napoleon Hill’s Awesome Secret. Part two is something that he says will come to you when you are ready to receive it. The reason I mention the secret in this article is because I have heard people suggest that this idea of the master mind in chapter one of The Laws of Success in 16 Lessons is the second part of his secret.
Personally, I don’t think so and after finally understanding what I believe to be that second part, I do agree with the author that the second part of the secret can only come to you when you are ready to receive it. Yes, you could very easily be told the second part of the secret, but then its impact would be lost entirely. That is why he wrote Think and Grow Rich in the way he did, so that when the secret finally opens itself to you, you will not only understand it, but you will also be able to see the power of it.
