There’s a bit of irony in The Physics of Success.
You see, I took great pains to make the science rock solid in The Physics of Success, clearly differentiating “Big Universe” physics from the quasi-metaphysical reliance on quantum mechanics I’ve seen around. Don’t get me wrong, quantum mechanics is great stuff. We wouldn’t be able to send text messages if we didn’t have quantum mechanics. The problem with it as far as success principles are concerned is that we are a) bigger than a quantum, and b) also interact with the rest of the universe, which is also bigger than a quantum.
The Physics of Success refers to BIG universe physics, and bases its logic on the fact that the Universe is a very, very, big place. In that Universe is something that you want, and the proper conscious application of Success Principles will guide you to that place in the Universe. There is a careful explanation of how this science applies to Success Principles, and how they apply to you.
Here’s the irony. I ended up with chapters on Miracles, Magic, and Casting (spells). Very scientific!
“Miracles” is there to bring our amazing technology to the forefront of the readers awareness. There are no actual miracles, per se, as in a requirement for sainthood. “Magic” is there to examine what the world would be like with actual magic, which turns out to be not very different than the one in which you and I live.
And finally, “Casting”. No excuses on that one. If you were to describe the process a wizard would go through in order to devise a spell, it’s going to be similar to what you would do to plot your success – figure out what you want, personalize it, enumerate what you are doing in exchange for whatever it is you want, put a date on it, and write it all down.
Oops! Did I just give away the big secret? Oh, well. Napoleon Hill sold some 60 million copies of Think and Grow Rich, so I guess it’s not really much of a secret if you tell it to 60 million people. If I handed you a stick and called it a magic wand you wouldn’t believe me, and what’s so different about waving a magic wand and “casting a spell”? Not much, really, which is probably why 60 million people didn’t get rich reading Think and Grow Rich. That’s why it is so important to understand exactly how this stuff works. Otherwise, I might as well be telling you to wave a stick in the air and maybe saying “alakazam” or something.
Think in terms of a road trip; you are here, and you want to go somewhere. There are probably many ways to get there; some ways are shorter, longer, faster, or slower than others. Some ways are boring and dull, some are interesting. Maybe your car will break down. Who knows? The idea is you know where you are going, and barring a catastrophe, you can generally get there from here.
[Just a side note – Once upon a time my Volkswagen blew an engine in Destruction Bay, Canada. I stuck my thumb out and got a ride to Haines with a National Guard convoy in time to catch my ferry to Ketchikan. If I can get out of the literal middle of nowhere with nearly zero resources and still arrive hundreds of miles away on time, there’s always a way!]
Before you take a road trip, you know where you are going, often to a specific address. You know why you are going, and why you need to be there. You know when you need to be there. You have likely consulted a map, and probably have a paper copy to take with you, even if you have a GPS, or a phone with a GPS. You know roughly how many hours it will take to get there, and whether you need to stop overnight, or switch drivers. You have a good idea how much gas you’re going to burn, and how much that will cost. You may change the oil, check the fluids, pack a cooler, and so on. Furthermore, you probably have all of this in place for the return trip as well.
So, what you have done is pretty much got all the pieces of a “spell” put together, and you can see there is no “magic” involved. When you plan a road trip, you are in familiar territory; you know what’s going on. You can imagine driving to a vacation spot a day or so away. If you’ve been there before, you can probably picture the whole trip. If you haven’t made the drive, you can probably relate it to another road trip in the past. It’s not as comfortable to visualize an abstract achievement as you would a road trip, but that’s exactly what The Physics of Success is telling us you should do. There’s a literal place out there where your achievement exists, and you need to plan that trip just like you would for your vacation destination. That last sentence is worth repeating: There’s a literal place out there where your achievement exists. You can’t see it, but then again, you can’t see your vacation destination until you get there, either.
Just like your road trip, what’s really important is the destination; in this case, exactly what it is that you wish to achieve. As long as you know where you are going, you can make progress. If you get a flat, if you get lost, or if your engine blows up in the middle of nowhere, you still know which way to go. You don’t just flip a coin at every intersection. You don’t flip a coin every time you see a gas station. You don’t flip a coin at every restaurant or hotel. If you are headed southwest, you go south or west or somewhere in between. When you apply success principles to your life – “cast a spell”, as it were – you are providing direction to your life.
Physics tells us we are moving through the Universe. We’ve known that since Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. It’s the “C” in E=MC², the constant speed (a.k.a., the “speed of light”). We are moving through a space-time continuum, and at any given instant there are many available paths. Not big changes, but little quantum changes. Without direction, you are simply doing the equivalent of flipping a coin at every intersection. When you know your destination, you aren’t flipping the coin any more. Every instant, the natural selection will be a figurative “south” or “west”, or better yet, “southwest”, always moving you closer to your chosen destination.
And that’s the trick; that’s the magic. The chapter on “Casting” is simply how you go about planning your journey, and the rest of the book explains how it works.
