Page 37 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

Verily, a BURNING DESIRE has devious ways of transmuting itself into its physi-
cal equivalent. Blair DESIRED normal hearing; now he has it! He was born with
a handicap which might easily have sent one with a less defined DESIRE to the
street with a bundle of pencils and a tin cup. That handicap now promises to serve
as the medium by which he will render useful service to many millions of hard of
hearing, also, to give him useful employment at adequate financial compensation
the remainder of his life.

The little "white lies" I planted in his mind when he was a child, by leading him
to BELIEVE his affliction would become a great asset, which he could capitalize,
has justified itself. Verily, there is nothing, right or wrong, which BELIEF, plus
BURNING DESIRE, cannot make real. These qualities are free to everyone. In
all my experience in dealing with men and women who had personal problems, I
never handled a single case which more definitely demonstrates the power of DE-
SIRE. Authors sometimes make the mistake of writing of subjects of which they
have but superficial, or very elementary knowledge. It has been my good fortune
to have had the privilege of testing the soundness of the POWER OF DESIRE,
through the affliction of my own son. Perhaps it was providential that the experi-
ence came as it did, for surely no one is better prepared than he, to serve as an
example of what happens when DESIRE is put to the test. If Mother Nature bends
to the will of desire, is it logical that mere men can defeat a burning desire?

Strange and imponderable is the power of the human mind! We do not under-
stand the method by which it uses every circumstance, every individual, every
physical thing within its reach, as a means of transmuting DESIRE into its physi-
cal counterpart. Perhaps science will uncover this secret. I planted in my son's
mind the DESIRE to hear and to speak as any normal person hears and speaks.
That DESIRE has now become a reality. I planted in his mind the DESIRE to con-
vert his greatest handicap into his greatest asset. That DESIRE has been realized.
The modus operandi by which this astounding result was achieved is not hard to
describe. It consisted of three very definite facts; first, I MIXED FAITH with the
DESIRE for normal hearing, which I passed on to my son. Second, I communi-
cated my desire to him in every conceivable way available, through persistent,
continuous effort, over a period of years. Third, HE BELIEVED ME!

As this chapter was being completed, news came of the death of Mme. Schuman-
Heink. One short paragraph in the news dispatch gives the clue to this unusual
woman's stupendous success as a singer. I quote the paragraph, because the clue
it contains is none other than DESIRE.

37

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

Early in her career, Mme. Schuman-Heink visited the director of the Vienna Court
Opera, to have him test her voice. But, he did not test it. After taking one look at