Only God is All Knowing. The attempt of mankind to store, build up, and utilize knowledge for his advantage will only result in a very limited accumulation of  information capable of improving a person’s knowledge. There is infinite knowledge just as the Universe is infinitely vast. Should we not consider it futile to aim for the attainment of more knowledge because doing so will only result in having complexities that can alienate us from the simple people ?

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks wisdom.”                                  — Proverbs 18:15

“For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”                       — Proverbs 2:10

These two passages by King Solomon teach mankind about benefits of gaining knowledge. The first says it makes man intelligent, while the 2nd helps our souls. Our minds improve with having more and more knowledge. Our innermost being represented by our souls gets nourished by such gains. Meditations way back in the past proved these to be true, unless you want to meditate for yourself to discover the same truth.

” Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”                            — Proverbs 12:1

A third major reason why we need to seek knowledge on an ongoing basis is because it is part of the need for us to be more disciplined, a great factor for making success more certain. Does anyone want to fall into a pit of sorrows ? Discipline ensures that does not happen. The reality is that we can encounter so many different situations in life wherein proper guidance is needed, and we need to learn ahead of encountering those situations.

Knowledge from the Lord is more valuable than silver and gold, in other words better than money. The Holy Bible says so in Proverbs 8:10 — “Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.” How can this be true ? Imagine yourself being a traveller      in a foreign land. Let us assume you  chose money instead of instructions and knowledge. Attracted by wonderful locations, you got lost and had to choose whether to cross a desert or return to the beautiful forest. In both options, your chances of getting lost will be high. Your money will be worth nothing in case the forest leads you to a den of wild animals. If you choose the desert, will there be water nearby ? Fool ! Instructions and knowledge could have saved your very life. Now you will cry for help when nobody is there except yourself.

” My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for the length of days and years of  life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” — Proverbs 3: 1-35

Knowledge coming from the Lord or knowledge founded on truth is closely linked to the Laws of God. It will prolong life. It will bring us more lasting peace. There was a time in the past when I used to enjoy eating a lot of barbecue. Even the fatty parts are so delicious, tempting to my taste, and irresistible. Ongoing acquisition of knowledge about the body made me discover that not all delicious food will be good for any human body. If we eat cholesterol rich meat frequently, that cholesterol will accumulate along the arteries until a part gets blocked. A heart attack will be a sleep away. Or sudden stroke can turn the body into vegetable-like living — cannot walk straight, cannot speak without saliva dripping, cannot shake hands without trembling, cannot hold the head steady. This is certainly not a way to make your day.

Proverbs 3: 1-35  also says we need the kind of success pleasing to the sight of God and man. Not all success will be good. The thief who succeeds in robbing innocent people will meet his eventual condemnation and probably be jailed or killed. A deceiver’s success can only be momentary because those victimized will hunt him down until they get their justice. We need the kind of success which gives Eternal Life for ourselves and that can save others as well.

We need to know how to love given different situations in life, because love is the fulfillment of the laws. Nowadays, in a time of complexities, Iran needs to be loved by having good business deals with the world. But that country’s interest in Nuclear enrichment has caused many countries to be anxious about the production and proliferation of nuclear arms, a condition considered very dangerous. Can Iran meet the conditions to deserve no oil embargo ? How to come to an amicable settlement is the knowledge that Iran needs today.

Allow as many foreign employees as required by the UN to work in the nuclear facilities of Iran, as a way of ensuring proper use for power consumption only ? Allow freedom to report safe or unsafe conduct coming from those foreign employees ? In short, if there is nothing to hide, why not ? This is easier said than done.

“Love does no wrong to others. So love fulfills the requirements of God’s Law.”                              — Romans 13: 10

In Napoleon Hill’s observation about mind chemistry, he noticed naggers to be capable of wiping out the ambition of a person (Laws of Success, p. 88). They possess a negative power made of poisonous words and spirit. Thus, whoever has such traits should not be made a part of the mastermind and should in fact be avoided.

“It is better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.”

— ( NLT 2007, Proverbs 25: 24 )

” Each tree is recognized by its own fruit…” — (ASV , Luke 6:44 )

” The king said to him: I will judge you by your own words, you evil servant…”

— (ISV 2008, Luke 19: 22 )

Therefore, one of the critical discipline we should all learn to practice is self-control over the tongue. Harmony is disrupted for every harmful, thoughtless language communicated to a person. Calling an accused a thief even without having a solid basis for doing so will humiliate the offended party and it will contradict the recommended due process of law. We are supposed to respect one another. So why throw insults that can destroy the reputation of another person ? Why not see the goodness in every person we meet knowing there is always something good about any individual ? The frequent reason for harsh language against another could be “familiarity”. As the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” The bible will point back to a failure to maintain the habit of reading, listening to, meditating, and reflecting on the Words of God as the major reason for a failure to practice self-control over every part of the body.

“The successful leader must possess the ability to change the color of his mind…to fit every circumstance that arises in connection with the object of his leadership…Moreover, he must possess the ability to change from one mood to another without showing the slightest signs of anger or lack of self-control.” (Laws of Success, p. 93)

Many organizational leaders fail to practice such a leadership, thinking that the art of getting people to fear their superiors will reap respect and better results. Unfortunately, fear develops “low productivity” and eventually, “low morale”  while it does force followers to respect their superiors. Fear severely limits human potentials to deliver the best results over the long term. Fear eliminates creativity and initiative based on a motivated spirit to become a better person. Before Jesus came, the people of God  lived in fear of violating laws of God, believing they will be cursed if they disobeyed. Coincidentally at that time, they were slaves to foreigners living in fear of God and fear of government. It was Jesus who taught the chosen people of God that “Love” is the fulfillment of the laws and not fear. The Lord set himself as the perfect example by living without fear and instead by loving mankind even while people were sinful and filled with imperfections.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” — (NLT 2007, John 16:33)

Jesus had no fear even when their boat was in danger of sinking because of the rough waters and Peter was so afraid. He simply calmed the Sea itself. When there were thousands following him and the apostles feared they would all go hungry because there was little to eat, he did not fear hunger for others and himself. Jesus had no fear even while he knew he was going to be crucified for teaching the truth for the salvation of those who believe in him.

Go praise the Lord and stop nagging, fault finding, belittling poor and less educated fellowmen. Pray for strength in character — one with the spirit of self control and seeing the positive side of every moment. When it rains, I see the farmers happy because they don’t have to water their crops and the land is easy to till. When it shines, I see the sunlight allowing fruit trees to bear fruits with the help of leaves and photosynthesis. Both rain and sunshine are good for people who remember to praise the Lord. At the back of every problem is an opportunity. “Be thankful always…”  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Look at the bright side of every person you meet and every situation you encounter. And you will learn to speak good messages more often. Question every negative thought that comes to your mind. And find that blessing in disguise once you are enlightened by the answers to your own questions. This is an internal battle within yourself, to discipline yourself until you too can say, “I have overcome the world.”

Do what needs to be done in your life. Earlier, some of the critical steps towards success were mentioned. Their importance had been explained. From becoming a part of a mastermind united with God to being in harmony with people who belong to that mastermind, the next concern is with regards to managing yourself such that prescribed discipline will be practiced. Some of those ways, particularly the fundamental teachings are found in the Scriptures. Let us review them. 

We must strive to fulfill Laws of God. St. Paul clarifies that living a strictly law abiding life can be a very difficult thing to do since experiences prove the presence of grey areas wherein even the righteous man can fail. In the first place, doing the Will of God presupposes knowing specific and timely decisions. Can anyone be sure about signs and wonders along with the right interpretation about God’s Will ? When the Holy Bible teaches:

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” — ( NLT 2007, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-5 )

The question is what we need to do in order to actually love. That brings us to many possibilities. One person says this option is the right way; another disagrees and believes another option is better. There can be poor members of society who believe kidnapping for ransom is better than dying without a fight in order to feed family members while in a state of poverty. Those who will lose money are rich anyway. Law enforcers say it is wrong to negotiate with criminals. Relatives of the kidnap victim will argue that such principles are acceptable for law enforcers because they have no relative to lose in the process of refusing to negotiate for the release of a hostage. If victimized relatives pay ransom money, there may be more such kidnappers eventually. If they don’t. their loved ones might be killed. What will be your argument if you are that relative threatened with life or death ?

Should a person sacrifice happiness for the sake of a desire like the enjoyment of just being who you are ? Henry Ford wanted to tinker with mechanical devices since his youth until he became super rich with his invention, the first Model T automobile.  Thomas Edison was an inventor and had the curious character that made him discover and patent over a thousand inventions. Harvey Firestone was so interested in wheels and quality production of rubber wheels. Were these great men not easily tempted like most other human beings to work with something else ? 

One common response of these models is the fact that they made a decision to choose their respective specialties. Although St. Paul mentioned Christians can be ALL things in Christ, any person cannot do everything in order to do ALL. We are limited by time, physical limitations, extent of knowledge, and any effort exerted. By thinking of all concerns in life, a person can become insane trying to know infinitely many details. Let’s face it. Every person has limitations. Our creator wants us to live life with the joy of experiencing all of his creation. But we know it is simply not possible. Choose  a workable aim that will be enjoyable to the last years of life. 

Once it is decided, align resources, time, and effort towards knowing more about your chosen direction. Your resources include the people who can be your companion even while they have their own choices of what to enjoy during their lifetime. Most of all, your most valuable resource which is your brain should be nourished with Words of God. Whatever is the choice of a lifetime should be serviceable in the Kingdom of God. Ultimately, a good life is one that helps build the lives of other people so that those who are inspired by your thoughts, words, and deeds will similarly help build God’s Kingdom. So now you might ask what is meant by building the Kingdom of God.

“God is Love.” — 1 John 4: 8

Therefore the Kingdom of God is love. To build it is to increase the Spirit of Love wherever you may be. The Holy Bible describes many stories of love for God and love for fellowmen. Study its contents, meditate, and reflect  on those stories as they apply to your lives if you wish to be satisfied with your way of loving. If you happen to be a ruler, are you loving the people entrusted to you ? Or are you violating their human rights, finding faults in their lives just because they are less educated, less understanding, less organized? Are you leading people to know and love God each day by your good examples ? Or are you trying to be self-righteous ? 

In the parable of the Talents, God gave each one the opportunity to bring back more talents. He was referring to souls of people. How many talented souls did you add in the Kingdom of God with all that you’ve done ?

If people are wondering why Napoleon Hill ‘s Laws of Success became a big hit and remains popular even nowadays, it is because his masterpiece is dedicated to improving the lives of fellowmen. We do observe most people either lose their way in the right way of a disciplined life or they have never known  how to apply their knowledge to do the right things from discovering their definite chief aims to carefully working their way towards achieving their goals. The hype of advertisements may be partly to blame for training minds to think in terms of instant wealth doing very little to make dreams come true. There are TV shows encouraging people to go to casinos, roll the dice, and jackpot. Or don’t you hear about other people saying that one has to steadily bet on a combination of numbers in order to win in the Lotto Jackpot Prize ? And there are many other forms of gambling with horses, cockfights, boxers, Bingo ! These options obviously tell us about very low chances of being able to raise capital, compared to calculated, serviceable businesses and other kinds of productive work.

Henry Ford followed the endeavor that was interesting from his point of view yet serviceable for others.He disliked the typical farm work. However, when it came to tinkering with mechanical activities, he seemed never to get tired of tearing down and fixing. He used to fix watches at an early age. Then he enjoyed fixing farm machines. By the age of 16 in 1879, he left home to become an apprentice in a machine shop of Detroit for 3 years, where he later overhauled farm machines, fixed steam engines, and eventually became an engineer by the age of 28 with the business of Thomas Edison, the Edison Illuminating Company. At the age of 30, he experimented with the internal combustion system of the engine. If you think he created a wonderful looking car soon after, take a look at the outcome of his experiments by the age of 33, in 1896. But don’t laugh !

Does this first car not look like the Filipino Coconut Vendor riding on his push cart that got modified with bicycle wheels ? That was Henry Ford on his first car ! His father wanted him to work in the farm and look like a normal person rather than like someone about to go insane. Yet Henry Ford pursued his intuition. It took him 7 more years of work as Chief Engineer to be able to create his Ford Motor Company ( by 1903 ) with no car produced for the next 5 more years. It was only at the age of 45, in 1908, when the first Model T was introduced. He improved on his cart on bicycle wheels and produced a marketable version shown below.

Still not satisfied, Henry Ford continued to improve Model T although it looked like this for the next 19 years. That means he was 64 by then. For him, this car was for the vehicle of the masses.

Consider his decades of dedicated work for the realization of his vision for society and compare that to the present day’s businessmen who want to get rich quick with “derivatives” — bankers using other peoples’ money just to enrich their own business with no benefit for the masses; highly educated bankers who have made it so difficult to extend capital for many other entrepreneurs because they tied up resources with their own desire to get rich quick and easy doing nothing but investing on derivatives. What kind of education did modern education teach ? Earn lots of money by cheating the public and practicing laziness. Just get confidential data to know where to invest cash and get rich quick. No sweat. Earn substantial interests from loans to people who need more cash and be assured of getting rich if they don’t pay by foreclosing properties of those who fail. All these great dis-service for humanity cannot be denied by the greedy, lazy rich.

The American Dream became a nightmare for the American masses.

Napoleon Hill studied the lives of three members of a mastermind in the 20th Century in America. They were described as follows: “All three of these men began their careers, business and professional, without capital and with but little schooling of that type usually referred to as education.” (p.67, Laws of Success)

However, they were friends who managed to be in harmony with each other. Their minds first of all formed a mastermind without their being aware about it. Positive minds. Creative minds. Thoughtful minds. Together they supplied the whole world with the combination of technologies we are all riding on nowadays, long after their lifetime — the motor vehicle on wheels. Henry Ford’s faith in the US ability to achieve economic independence brought about the creation of the River Rouge Plant, then the world’s largest industrial complex capable of producing its own steel and fabricating automobiles from raw materials to finished product “without reliance on foreign trade” (Wikipedia.org). Then he opened plants in UK, Canada, Italy, Germany, and subsidiaries in Australia, India, France, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Philippines, Mexico. Let me reiterate that he started with NO CAPITAL. So we are puzzled enough to ask how he became so rich. We will unravel this part after a parallel description of the accomplishments by Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone.

Most people know GE or General Electric appliances. GE was just one of the 14 companies founded by Thomas Edison who had only 3 months of formal schooling. He was removed from school because, according to those who wrote about him, he was not listening in class and kept his mind wandering elsewhere. It was as if he did not believe in what his teacher was talking about. And this irritated the teacher. When asked about his education, Thomas Edison remembered his mother as his educator, and not the teacher. Before his teenage years, he was a sales boy of candies and newspapers. Not only was he rejected in school at an early age, but also, he got fired by Western Union at the age of 20 for spilling sulfuric acid on the floor which leaked down onto the desk of his boss. He was experimenting on something during his free time in the night shift. Before he reached 30 years old, he sold his first major invention to Western Union. It was the first industrial research lab. He was awarded the equivalent of $202,000 (valuedin 2010) which was $10,000 way back in the late 1870s. Thomas Edison is known to have patented 1,093 inventions during his lifetime.

Picture of the mastermind of geniuses: Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone ( Left to Right) is shown below.

Will your automobile run without the battery ? If it is the Diesel compression type, people would have to push it first if without a battery. The sulfuric acid that got him fired from his work at Western Union came from the lead-acid battery he experimented on. What most vehicles will see nowadays is a modified, similar battery to start vehicles. Thomas Edison’s contribution to the automobile industry is connected to all the electrical system that powers up the vehicle.

Harvey Samuel Firestone was a High School Graduate. He got into the early rubber buggy tires of those carriage pulled by horses. Later he thought of introducing his own rubber tires which he believed would eventually be utilized by Henry Ford. By the time he reached 31 years old, he founded Firestone Tires and Rubber Company. To be more competitive, he also ventured into having his own rubber plantation and bought an abandoned foundry to manufacture his own high quality tires. From work, he raised $20,000 to start his own company. It became a billion dollar business.

Together, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone became known as the world’s greatest industrialists during their time. USA flourished greatly because of them.

 

Having reached a part of Laws of Success which says, “The great leaders understand the necessity of this recharging process, and, moreover, they understand how to accomplish this result. This knowledge is the main feature which distinguishes a leader from a follower ! Fortunate is the person who understands this principle sufficiently well to keep his or her brain vitalized or recharged by periodically contacting it with a more vital mind.” ( p. 61), some thoughts came to my mind. Although Napoleon Hill cites sex as a way to recharge, it really depends on with whom the person wishes to remain in harmony and to what extent the source can provide enough power to elevate the mind towards a leadership.

Proverbs 23: 26-28 should shed more enlightenment. It calls men to seek the Lord rather than seek people with low moral character. And it even says that mingling with whores would be like falling into a pit, an entrapment where problems will grow like a disease. This is one extreme.

“My son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways. For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth and wait for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men…”

In short, we should not recharge with just anybody because there are many instances when a wrong choice will break our harmony with the creator. Napoleon Hill cites meetings with fellowmen with the same motivations in life. Salesmen who draw encouragement from each other were mentioned. How about in our present world (a) where there has long been a wide gap between the rich and the poor, (b) where the very small minority control most of the wealth, (c) while the great majority are suffering with lack of basic needs, and (d) nearly a billion people worldwide are experiencing hunger and poverty ? Some say it is because of the unjust system. The rich have rights. The poors’ rights are not respected by the rich. Take intellectual property rights for an example. If it is the intellectual property of the poor, it is oftentimes ignored and stolen. Try doing the same against the rich and they lawyers will call the attention of law enforcers to crucify the violators of IPR. Others say the root of the problem is the educational system that ensures survival of those who can afford high cost of education, with exception to a fortunate few. Then there is the logic that the ultimate blame should be on the personalities behiind the system, because most of them are corrupt, living with double standards of judgements wherein favoritism benefits those who bribe, plunder, and bribe some more, use their influence to manipulate whoever they wish to exploit.

Evil begets evil. On judgement day, those who have lived their lives according to the precepts contrary to the teachings of God will reap the punishments they so deserve. This is our faith. Otherwise, let’s join the bandwagon of deceivers — people who say they believe in righteousness but actually practice the way of greed and injustice, etc..

We should recharge by praying after meditation on the Words of God. His promises are blessings for those who live according to His Ways and curses for those who stubbornly cheat. Praying is communicating with the Almighty and therefore recharging the soul with the Spirit who can strengthen our faith. While people sense so much imperfections, prayer refreshes our thoughts with perfections and positive thoughts. In those good thoughts, we should pray for the rise of good leaders to help all those who believe in overcoming the evil that grips the world. We should not be in harmony with existing evil leaders. Instead, next to being in harmony with God, we can ask the Lord to send us righteous people with whom we can recharge from time to time in order to remain productive, diligent, and firm in our faith to do only that which is good.

The Holy Bible makes us confident about the Divine Providence that in every generation, God sends His leading disciples in various fields of expertise. Let us pray and support the coming of genuine world leaders who can effect great changes in the spirit of righteousness.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (KJB Isaiah 40:31)

As we wait and pray, we should thank the Lord for the maintenance of World Peace, because this is a good starting point. It gives time to think, learn, meditate, and pray. Disturbed fields cannot allow good seeds to grow. At times, however, great men are born in hard times. Only the rich will say we are in a time of abundance. That is to say we can eventually discover great leaders because these are trying times for a growing population with apparently rising anxieties worldwide. May God enrich those who can save the greater majority of this world.

 

Perhaps in the past, or maybe even until now for all people who have not realized they have been targeting a shortsighted aim in life, the reason why our world has been very unstable is because of lack of knowledge and wisdom. Napoleon Hill noticed the “aimlessness” of the world which is why he dedicated an entire chapter to the teaching of having a Definite Chief Aim. He said: “This lesson will show you how to do away forever with aimlessness and fix your heart and hand upon some definite, well conceived purpose as a life-work.” (p.26)

In the previous article about the need to establish the right definite chief aim which will not only serve the good purpose of the present generation but also the future generations, we should realize the importance of peace as well as greater wisdom in making sound decisions to follow such a definite chief aim. What will establish lasting peace ? If people worldwide will have a common understanding of  what are considered right and which ones are wrong and if everyone strives to do what are generally known as righteous as each one also avoids doing what are generally wrong, then protests can be minimized. Disputes may be unavoidable. But seeing that a system seeks to resolve differences based on internationally accepted standards of justice, there should be better contentment. We know there are existing Human Rights organizations upholding righteous contentions in favor of people whose rights are somehow violated. The Ten Commandments of God have been recognized and accepted worldwide. So what is missing ?

Good leadership in the enforcement of laws that will protect our world against deceptive, corrupt, exploitative, unjust, and other types of evil characters who have managed to survive with wrong aims in life — aims that endanger the rest of human civilization directly or indirectly and aims that tend to destroy the natural environment of people — should be able to gain the respect of the greater majority of people. Most citizens of the earth are not rich. They suffer greatly as a result of socio-economic injustices practiced by those capable of exploiting fellowmen, the rich. So we ask where is the good leadership that can rule over those who do not seem to realize what is the meaning of a greater majority of people suffering in the world in terms of hunger, poverty, rising cost of living while household income is generally not improving. As of today, we place our hopes in the United Nations’ capability to at least report the truth. We hope for the media to press that international organization for its accountability to be made public everyday in every news. There are many questions that good leadership should answer as we simply live in confidence with our share of working towards a right definite chief aims.

Are people worldwide generally experiencing an improvement in the quality of life ? What are the criteria ? Or is the general population becoming poorer because costs of living have been steadily rising while productivity has been declining ?

Are there more people getting employed or becoming more productive each year ? Or are more people getting to be unemployed as the years pass ?

Are there more and more people becoming heavily indebted each year ? To whom ? Why ? Who are becoming richer — specifically which organizations and which families ? Why ? Where are all the resources going ? To which projects and why ?

Is there a greater percentage of people in the world who have realized all the basic needs of a human being ( food, clothing, education, and shelter ) ? Is our food supply growing proportionately to the growing population worldwide ?

Has there been growth in the number of believers in God when the estimated physical count is expressed in terms of  percentage to population ? Who are responsible for this accounting ? Why ?

Those of us who are not directly accountable for this type of  problems can practice confidence with the right chief aim even while such good leadership might not yet be existing. We simply have to make sure about our part of the accountability. Let’s just do our very best by studying the Words of God whenever we read, listen to, and experience the truth as they come into our lives. As earlier mentioned, we can do that by meditating on those parts of life. Remember that the Words of God are with God and are altogether life itself. God does not expect you to do what others are supposed to be doing. However, He does expect every believer to practice love for God and love for neighbors.

We are confident about having an All Knowing God who holds people with great wealth, talents, and power more responsible for things ordinary citizens cannot handle. We are confident of  His infinite understanding when judgement day comes. God has assured us: ” Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Therefore, our confidence should make us feel successful in the little roles we play in life even while the world might not realize responsible leadership for quite some time. Yet we should pray to God for His intervention so that more people will similarly be saved by having the same view about their simple lives.

Do Not Love the World ( 1 John 2: 15-17 )

There are 15 laws leading to success identified by Napoleon Hill after his lengthy research. Assuming a person is already a part of the mastermind that is in harmony with God, the following self-improvement guidelines will reap great benefits once applied:

1. Have a definite chief aim. Who do you want to be ultimately ? Or what is it you believe your talents can eventually achieve for the greater glory of God and to maximize improvements in your life over the long term, medium term, and short term. Consider that any career or vocation has its limits Old age can impose such limits. Any career or vocation will have to be adjusted to continue the fruitfulness of life even when we pass the time when the body’s strength declines due to natural aging. Otherwise, retirement will be the start of sorrowful years ahead. 

King Solomon experienced all the good things in life only to conclude everything was meaningless under the Sun. If you study his abundance up to the latter years, because of his worldly concerns for the present, he forgot to look way ahead into the future of the chosen people of God. He was fortunate to have inherited the Golden Age of Israelites under the rule of his father, King David. Then he gained skills, wisdom, wealth, power, and practically everything a man would ever want to experience in a lifetime during his time. He had the support of the religious leaders, rulers of other countries, scholars, including many wives and concubines. But King Solomon, in all his wealth and power, failed to ensure the transition of Israel’s golden age towards the future generations of God’s chosen people. By the time Jesus came, Israelites had become slaves to another foreign power. Persians became more powerful. Later, the Greek Empire then united the civilization of Asia, Europe, and Africa. And the Roman Empire ruled by the time Jesus was born. This was a period wherein the branch of Esau, the brother of Jacob whose people became known as Israelites, ruled over Judea. 

Is your definite chief aim as shortsighted as the wisest man known in the world of the Old Testament ?  Are you planning to uplift and satisfy only yourself in the present generation ? Those who have been considering Nuclear Holocaust in their lifetime would represent such people whose minds, hearts, souls, and spirit are actually self-righteous and not really Godly. They do not care about the future generations. Perhaps tired of all the blessings received in this world, they are ready to cling to chaos for our future, since after all, they would be dead by then. They do not care if their children and grand children will have a similar enjoyment shopping in cool Super Malls to have their share of the good lives of a developed civilization. 

Be sure to be wiser than King Solomon by learning from his mistake. Have Eternal Life in mind. Make way for the brighter future of your next generation by becoming good examples to them and by providing for their needs to reach that brighter future. 

“What profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? ( ISV 2008 Mark 8:36 )

Those who devote time, effort, care, and some resources for the upliftment of others, specially their own next generation, instead of burning themselves in order to acquire great wealth — these are the people who recognize Eternal Life. 

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

A definite chief aim must be for the fulfillment of God’s Will for man to love God and fellowmen. It is not for the love of “things” or pleasures. Love is not selfishness. We must consider God’s plan of salvation, God’s time frame which goes beyond a lifetime, and whatever good can be done within our limited time. There are instances when some might have to withdraw ambitions in order to save the souls of their loved ones, i.e. give closer supervision for children or grandchildren who failed to see a righteous way of life, so that they too will get back into the living body of God on earth. 

Remember the mission of Jesus. He came down from heaven in order to follow the definite chief aim of His Father, which is to lay down His Life as a ransom for all people who believe in Him, so that those who love God will be saved. 

There are many people in this world who think otherwise. Their concern is their own self-upliftment during their lifetime, spreading the false teaching of holding those supposed to be under their care accountable for their own responsibilities, and showing apathy for them even if they know about their loss of direction. Their Christianity is hypocritical because all their words and deeds are actually meant to uplift themselves during their lifetime.

May your definite chief aim be Christlike therefore. It can be very concrete and detailed. Yet it should lead towards our ultimate mission for God, for others, and our souls from the present to the future.

Earlier definitions of success are consistent with the biblical statement about the same word. As a matter of fact, there is an important clue most people have failed to follow in order to gain a high level of success. God said to Joshua,one of the only 2 who successfully entered the promised land, out of the millions of chosen people of God who were promised their land:

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” ( NIV Joshua 1: 7-8 )

If we want to score high according to the ideal set forth by God Himself, we have to be aware of that ideal. What is it? God wants us to be successful wherever we go. There are many possible directions all leading to prosperity and success. He gave us specific tips to have the best results regardless of which righteous way we choose to go. God recognizes that each one has a preferred course in the way of learning the truth as we live each day. As can be read, one tip is to be strong and very courageous. Notice how the Holy Bible is broad about what God is referring to. People are made up of body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit. We have to be strong and courageous in all of these by feeding ourselves with the sources of strength and courage for each and every part of us. The Book of God’s Laws contains great wisdom to guide us about how to obey the tips given to us from generation to generation. This is why we are told to embrace God’s Book and keep it ALWAYS on our lips. God wants us to meditate on it day and night so that we may be careful to do everything written on it. 

How many people follow these tips out of  a population of 7 billion ? Most probably, the response would be to say that only the monks who believe in the Holy Bible can possibly do this, since each day requires more than meditations in order to survive in a physical world. Meditation takes time and energy. What time and energy will be left for a person within 24 hours if day and night he meditates ? And how can anyone do every law written in the Scriptures ? We might even venture to say such a demand is unreasonable.

God knew all these human limitations and weaknesses. To make it more possible, He sent us His Son to show us the way. He completed the Scriptures with the help of the Apostles, and now tells us that each one has a different talent and a role in the Body of Christ. Now the individual does not have to do everything given just one body. Just do your role with faith in God. There are people who meditate about the Words of God for us, so that all that others who do not have enough time for the purpose, can simply read and/or listen for the purpose of discovering how those meditations will apply to their roles in God’s kingdom. Those who meditate in depth do get tired and require some rest. From time to time, even they will have to depend on the studies of other followers who found time to meditate.

The hope of Napoleon Hill to build better personalities who can get the cooperation of many other people is therefore reasonable for those who believe in God’s teachings. The success God has in mind for mankind involves a great body of faithful followers of righteousness and truth, while the personalities make up such a congregation of living bodies called the church.

It is but proper to admit having human limitations when it comes to realizing the ideals by depending on one’s own capabilities. Each one must depend on others with specific talents superior to the counterpart talents embodied within one person.

Using Syria’s President As An Example

Bashar Al-Assad is a doctor by profession. His religion, Alawi, belongs to a branch of Islam. The Koran contains the wisdom followed by Muslims. It is against human rights violations. How is it that Syria has been experiencing civilian deaths and many human rights violations?

He needs the counsel of religious leaders who have  superior wisdom than his because the fruits of his decisions have resulted in contradictions to  teachings of the Koran. He has to admit that he is not a religious leader with the right answers to his own problems with governing people. And pride is a big sin against Allah. Behind the government is a personality in need of further education. Is it not right to secure more wisdom from spiritual leaders who might know the better way towards Syria’s common good ? Is it not right to simply receive more wisdom from the teachings of Allah, and to obey ?

Be strong and courageous. Be careful to obey all the Laws of God. If you did not find the time and do not have the discipline to meditate on those Laws day and night, be humble enough to admit it. Depend on those who have dedicated their lives to such a discipline, in order to find answers to your problems. And most of all, remember God advised us all that it is the way to become successful wherever you go.

“Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls; but in the multitude of counselors, there is victory.” (World English Bible Proverbs 11: 14 )

No matter how complicated a person defines the term success, we can always observe from person to person that it is “relative” to whoever is defining it. An old person like Bob Hope was once asked at the age of 99 about what his birthday wish might be. He cheerfully answered: another year of life. He succeeded. Lester “Bob” Hope, a well known comedian whose verbal jokes stimulated laughter among Americans lived past the age of 100 by a few months. I could barely understand why people laughed at his short jokes in words, probably because my environment is not American. However, his movies were truly entertaining. At the age of 18 he was a boxer. By the age of  47, he knocked out the heavyweight champion, Jack Dempsey, in a rigged contest to entertain the US Airforce. At the age of 67, he fought the original Rocky I, Rocky Marciano, in another entertainment match wherein Bing Cosby was the referree.  At 71 years old, Bob Hope challenged and fought Sugar Ray Robinson to raise funds for Sugar Ray’s foundation for the Youth. His life was a success in the world from his point of view and the hundreds of millions of people he entertained worldwide. So what is success ?

Napoleon Hill’s serious definition of success was this:

” Success is “the attainment of your Definite Chief Aim without violating the rights of other people. Regardless of what your major aim in life may be, you will attain it with much less difficulty after you learn how to cultivate a pleasing personality and after you have learned the delicate art of allying yourself with others in a given undertaking without friction or envy.” ( Laws of Success, p. 25)

He further states:  ” You cannot enjoy outstanding success in life without power, and you can never enjoy power without sufficient personality to influence other people to cooperate with you in a spirit of harmony.” (p.25)

These definitions are very applicable to our world nowadays. Israelites and Palestinians are having difficulties living in harmony with each other. Iran’s cooperation for world peace, stability, and progress has not been secured. Worldwide there is hunger and poverty aside from the wide gap between the rich and poor, obviously due to “insufficient success” in alleviating hunger, poverty, and socio-economic injustices within the systems of co-existence.  Cost of wars to the USA alone was estimated to reach $ 3.7 trillion from the time of the bombing of World Trade Center in 2001.  Cost of war to the USA by failing to get the cooperation of Muammar Gaddafi to step down from power amounted to nearly $ 1 billion. Other NATO countries also incurred cost of war. Such amounts could have fed those hungry and employed the poor. Let’s not cry over spilled milk. Instead, we ought to cultivate positive building blocks of pleasing personalities among decision makers who can prevent further waste of resources, casualties, loss of direction, violation of human rights, and who can commit substantial capital to changing our world for the attainment of higher quality of lives for people worldwide. There are common problems like the diminishing oil supply, the rising cost of living, the worsening climate changes due to global warming, the growing population, aside from a significant rate of hunger and poverty worldwide.  Yet the more popular cooperation we hear and read about is in the practice of corruption, exploitation, so many illegal activities condoned by bribes.

The success we need is one wherein more and more people cooperate in doing what is known to be right and just. Pleasing personalities with the standard of righteousness rather than “double standards” must be unified in the progress towards improvements, becoming more influential in getting people to reform, to realize the truth about the common good, to go for self-improvements leading to checking weaknesses in order to become better characters.

But don’t get me wrong about the definition of success, because positive thinkers see the same word to mean simple experiences like those belonging to the sick who entered comfort rooms. When they came out, they shouted: “SUCCESS !”

Or consider students who worked so hard to complete their studies. When they passed the exams, they believed themselves to be successful. It could even mean the realization of  “No more pimples !”

One thing is for sure about a common feeling when one succeeds. There is a spirit of happiness in all experiences of success.