Author: "X"
The sub-title to this book is "An Inspiring Story of a Man's Discovery of the Inner Secret of Success and Power". Whether we are looking for personal or professional success (and the inherent power therein), I think that most of us at some point in our lives are on this journey. If we are successful in this journey, most of us stay on the path. For some, their whole life is dedicated to a search for the beginning of this journey.
My eyebrows went up when I saw that the author of this book was "X". If an author is not comfortable claiming his or her work, that is a red flag. The publishers have addressed this very issue in their "Publishers Statement" at the beginning of the book. Before this book was accepted for publication, the publishers asked under what category the book would be best placed: biographical, autobiographical, whether it was allegorical in nature, whether is was an actual, factual experience of an actual person, a composite of several persons experiences, or a work of fiction. For me, the answers to these questions would form the foundation for how seriously I was going to hold the "wisdom" within the book.
The answer that the author(s) gave was of a more than somewhat "ethereal" nature! In essence, the author(s) wished to let the story speak for itself. It was indicated that those for whom the book was intended would find it, and would understand the material. Those for whom the book was not intended might find the book, but they would not understand the material. The author(s) also felt that it was not essential for the reader to know whether the experience(s) within were of a factual nature, or were put together to show a point. In the same vein, it was not essential for the reader to know who the true author(s) were. In the end, the publishers felt it best to "let the story speak for itself".
Landau Book Company, New York, and L. N. Fowler & Company, London first published this book in 1922. It is copyright in 1922 to Edward E. Beals. Mr. Beals also co-authored the "Personal Power" series with William W. Atkinson in the early 1920's.
It would be good to remember that writing tends to reflect the society and culture of its time. This book is no exception. There is some background of the author(s) youth and early adulthood (the years of approximately ten into his late teens were spent in search of an undefined "something"; his twenties and thirties were spent searching for the secret power that enabled certain businessmen to 'do" things), and some indication of family influence (his mother defined success as the reward for honesty and morality; his father defined success as the reward of perseverance and hard work; one of his uncles defined held the belief that there was a certain something about some men that made them successful, but that it was beyond human understanding). There were also influences from the outside world, such as P.T. Barnum's "The Art of Money-Getting", and Samuel Smiles "Self Help".
As the author(s) business life progressed in his/their twenties and thirties, he/they came ito contact with many successful businessmen. He/they felt that each had a certain "something" about them that he/they could not define. His/their quest lead him/them to study metaphysical schools, what he/they term "quasi" or "pseudo" religions, occult and mystical cults. He/they then went into the study of philosophy, oriental and occidental.
All the time he/they were studying, the author(s) were steadily achieving some success in the material, business world (although he/they never felt that he/they got "ahead of the pack" in any manner). He/they never distinguished himself/themselves as he/they felt that they wanted to, nor did he/they ever achieve the personal or business success that he/they wanted to.
Around his/their fortieth year he/they lost it all � his/their business success, acquired wealth, good name, wife and children. He/they moved to a new city, and attempted to start over at the bottom of the barrel � in poor physical, mental and emotional health because of what he had gone through. He/they proved that the charges against him/them were false, thereby retaining his/their good name, but that did little to resurrect his/their life. He/they were living in a boarding house, essentially amongst others that were in his/their same station. In the basement of this boarding house was a "men's room", where the men gathered to smoke and talk.
It was in this men's room that he/they heard the other boarders mention a certain Colonel Forbes, a gentleman little understood, but greatly respected, by the other boarders. The sub-story of Colonel Forbes is quite an interesting one, but suffice it to say here that the Colonel was a Mason. He requested that the author(s) visit him in his rooms, where he gave him essentially three lessons for study.
(I have to insert a personal note here. After officially "pooh poohing" dreams and dream work, the author(s) proceed to gift the reader with a dream that came to them on the same night that he/they met the good Colonel. The dream was a significant one. Enough said.)
Essentially, the author(s) were told that he/they were about to experience a new level of consciousness. The Colonel also expounded at length on the "naturalness" of the dream, to take away any mystical import that might be there. He also spoke at length on the "I AM I" that is within each of us. After these lessons, the author(s) found their work life going much better, his/their understanding of things happening much faster. He/they also experienced a return to good physical health that was immediately noted by his/their co-workers.
The third lesson was in the perception of just what the "I AM I" was in its essential and fundamental nature, and its real and actual being. The Colonel gave the concept of the Supreme Presence-Power as threefold: (1) its Infinite Presence, in which all things must abide and be contained; (2) its Infinite Power, from which all activities must proceed and flow; and (3) its Infinite Immanence, by reason of which it is present and active in everything that is.
The author(s) went on to master their physical, mental and emotional selves. He/they went on to use these principles to lead a successful business life, and to carry their knowledge forward by extending help to others. The Colonel remained, largely through correspondence, it seems, a part of his/their lives.
The true secret to this book is a belief in a Divine Presence of some kind, and the belief that this presence dwells within us. This is very much a book of learning to walk the middle road in life. While the author(s) is wordy, and very much into the "right" and "proper" way to do things, discarding the occult and mystical for the "scientific", I do feel that there is wisdom here. It just takes a while to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I was interested in this book because of the time period that it came from, as well as the subject matter. I feel that it reflects its genre well, and that its inclusion in the library of someone interested in spiritual growth, and its application to the material world, would be a positive experience.
Ibis Press
2005
ISBN #0-89254-119-9
Bonnie Cehovet
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