Chapter 1 - The Secret
Door to Success
by Florence
Scovel Shinn
A successful man is always
asked - "What is the secret of your success?"
"So the people shouted
when the priests blew with the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people
heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that
the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man
straight before him, and they took the city."--Joshua 6:20
A successful man is always
asked - "What is the secret of your success?"
People never ask a man who
is a failure, "What is the secret of your failure?" It is quite easy
to see and they are not interested.
People all want to know how
to open the secret door to success.
For each man there is
success, but it seems to be behind a door or wall. In the Bible reading, we
have heard the wonderful story of the falling of the walls of Jericho.
Of course all biblical
stories have a metaphysical interpretation.
We will talk now about your
wall of Jericho: the wall separating you from success. Nearly everyone has
built a wall around his own Jericho.
This city you are not able
to enter, contains great treasures; your divinely designed success, your
heart's desire!
What kind of wall have you
built around your Jericho? Often, it is a wall of resentment - resenting
someone, or resenting a situation, shuts off your good.
If you are a failure and
resent the success of someone else, you are keeping away your own success.
I have given the following
statement to neutralize envy and resentment.
What God has done for
others, He now does for me and more.
A woman was filled with envy
because a friend had received a gift, she made this statement, and an exact
duplicate of the gift was given her - plus another present.
It was when the children of
Israel shouted, that the walls of Jericho fell down. When you make an affirmation
of Truth, your wall of Jericho totters.
I gave the following
statement to a woman: The walls of lack and delay now crumble away, and I
enter my Promised Land, under grace. She had a vivid picture of stepping
over a fallen wall, and received the demonstration of her good, almost
immediately.
It is the word of
realization which brings about a change in your affiars; for words and thoughts
are a form of radio-activity.
Taking an interest in your
work, enjoying what you are doing opens the secret door of success.
A number of years ago I went
to California to speak at the different centers, by way of the Panama Canal,
and on the boat I met a man named Jim Tully.
For years he had been a
tramp. He called himself The King of the Hoboes.
He was ambitious and picked
up an education.
He had a vivid imagination
and commenced writing stories about his experiences.
He dramatized tramp life, he
enjoyed what he was doing, and became a very successful author. I remember one
book called "Outside Looking In." It was made into a motion picture.
He is now famous and
prosperous and lives in Hollywood. What opened the secret door to success for
Jim Tully?
Dramatizing his life - being
interested in what he was doing, he made the most of being a tramp. On the
boat, we all sat at the captain's table, which gave us a chance to talk.
Mrs. Grace Stone was also a
passenger on the boat; she had written the "Bitter Tea of General
Yen," and was going to Hollywood to have it made into a moving-picture;
she had lived in China and was inspired to write the book.
That is the Secret of
Success, to make what you are doing interesting to other people. Be
interested yourself, and others will find you interesting.
A good disposition, a smile,
often opens the secret door; the Chinese say, "A man without a smiling
face, must not open a shop."
The success of a smile was
brought out in a French moving-picture in which Chevalier took the lead, the
picture was called, "With a Smile." One of the characters had become
poor, dreary and almost a derelict; He said to Chevalier "What good has my
honesty done me?" Chevalier replied, "Even honesty won't help you,
without a smile." So the man changes on the spot, cheers up, and becomes
very successful.
Living in the past,
complaining of your misfortunes, builds a thick wall around your Jericho.
Talking too much about your
affairs, scattering your forces, brings you up against a high wall. I knew a
man of brains and ability, who was a complete failure.
He lived with his mother and
aunt, and I found that every night when he went home to dinner, he told them
all that had taken place during the day at the office; he discussed his hopes,
his fears, and his failures.
I said to him, "You
scatter your forces by talking about your affairs. Don't discuss your business
with your family. Silence is golden!"
He took my lead. During
dinner he refused to talk about business. His mother and aunt were in despair.
They loved to hear all about everything, but his silence proved golden!
Not long after, he was given
a position at one hundred dollars a week, and in a few years, he had a salary
of three hundred dollars a week.
Success is not a secret,
it is a System.
Many people are up against
the wall of discouragement. Courage and endurance are part of the system. We
read this in lives of all successful men and women.
I had an amusing experience
which brought this to my notice. I went to a moving picture theatre to meet a
friend.
While waiting, I stood near
a young boy, selling programs.
He called to people passing,
"Buy a complete program of the picture, containing photographs of the
actors and a sketch of their lives."
Most people passed by
without buying. To my great surprise, he suddenly turned to me, and said -
"Say, this ain't no racket for a guy with ambition!"
Then he gave a discourse on
success. He said, "Most people give up just before something big is coming
to them. A successful man never gives up."
Of course I was interested
and said, "I'll bring you a book the next time I come. It is called The
Game of Life and How to Play It. You will agree with a lot of the
ideas."
A week or two later I went
back with the book.
The girl at the ticket
office said to him - "Let me read it, Eddie, while you are selling
programs." The man who took tickets leaned over to see what it was about.
"The Game of Life"
always gets people's interests.
I returned to the theatre in
about three weeks, Eddie had gone. He had expanded into a new job that he
liked. His wall of Jericho had crumbled, he had refused to be discouraged.
Only twice, is the word
success mentioned in the Bible -- both times in the Book of Joshua.
"Only be strong and
very courageous to observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my
servant, commanded thee: turn not from it to the right nor to the left, that
thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law
shall not depart from thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein, for then shalt thou
make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success. Turn not to the right
nor to the left."
The road to success is a
straight and narrow path; it is a road of loving absorption, of undivided
attention.
You attract the things you
give a great deal of thought to.
So if you give a great deal
of thought to lack, you attract lack, if you give a great deal of thought to
injustice, you attract more injustice.
Joshua said, "And it
shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and
when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great
shout: and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall
ascend up, every man straight before him."
The inner meaning of this
story, is the power of the word, your word which dissolves obstacles, and
removes barriers.
When the people shouted the
walls fell down.
We find in folk-lore and
fairy stories, which come down from legends founded on Truth, the same idea - a
word opens a door or cleaves a rock.
We have it again in the
Arabian Night's Story, "Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves." I aw it made
into a moving picture.
Ali Baba has a secret hiding
place, hidden somewhere behind rocks and mountains, the entrance may only be
gained by speaking a secret word. -- It is "Open Sesame!"
Ali Baba faces the mountain
and cries - "Open Sesame!" and rocks slide apart.
It is very inspiring, for it
gives you the realization of how YOUR own rocks and barriers, will part at the
right word.
So let us take the
statement -- The walls of lack and delay now crumble away, and I enter my
Promised Land, under grace.
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