Outwitting the Devil

by Andrea
(RLLoA moderator)

"Outwitting the Devil" by Napoleon Hill is an absolute must-read for a serious Law of Attraction follower, particularly if you have some challenges aligning yourself to your vortex all the time (like I do!)

"Outwitting the Devil" was written by Napoleon Hill in 1938, but was only just published for the first time this year. The reason for that is due to the controversial nature of the material, and how it equates all fears and lack of ambition (as well as the cause for all lack of success) as being the work of the Devil, literally. It is very explosive, and will likely upset a great many people, but if you want to know more about why many people do not ever succeed in reaching their dreams, this book will give you powerful insights!

I am only just over half-way through it myself, but I am so excited about everything I am learning by reading it, that I wanted to share it with you right away!

Here are some of the highlights thus far:

• Napoleon Hill shares some of his own failures and crises of faith as an introduction to how "Outwitting the Devil" came about in the first place. I have been inspired to know that "the founder" of the self-help movement suffered failures himself!


• The Devil in Napoleon Hill's narrative refers to people without a definite aim, or purpose in life, and those who have allowed their minds to be consumed by fear as "drifters" (just the word brings to mind a big problem many people have, doesn't it?!)


• "The majority of people begin to drift as soon as they meet with opposition, and not one out of ten thousand (people) will keep on trying after failing two or three times" (p. 104)


• Fear and failure facilitate the Devil's work because "failure breaks down one's morale, destroys self-confidence, subdues enthusiasm, dulls imagination, and drives away definiteness of purpose" (p. 104)


• There are many parallels drawn to Thomas Edison and his success after hundreds of "failures", in that he will always be remembered because he "converted failure into a stepping stone to (eventual) achievement while others used it as an alibi for not producing results" (p. 105) Wow!


• The Devil (fear) "controls people by making negative thinking and destructive actions pleasing to them" (p. 137)


• Advice for what to teach in public schools: "Teach children the true nature of the Golden Rule, and above all show them that through the operation of this principle, everything they do to, and for another, they do also to themselves." (p. 176)


• "Teach children the danger of believing anything merely because their parents, religious instructors, or someone else says it is so." (p. 176)


• "It is a sin to permit one's mind to be dominated by negative thoughts of envy, greed, fear, hatred, intolerance, vanity, self-pity, or discouragement, because these states of mind lead to the habit of drifting. It is a sin to cheat, lie, and steal, because these habits destroy self-respect, subdue one's conscience, and lead to unhappiness." (p. 182)


• The class of people who control their environmental influences are: "The non-drifters. All who are victims of the habit of drifting forfeit their power to choose their own environment. They become the victims of every negative influence of their environment." (p. 223)

See, I told you it was explosive stuff! And I could quote SO much more, too. But, for anyone who is determined to think for oneself and/or attract the reality you want to be experiencing, "Outwitting the Devil" is necessary reading.

The only drawback of this book, in my opinion, is that it is "annotated by" Sharon Lechter, whose comments and notes are pedantic, biased toward her own political and religious agenda, come across as "holier than thou" and are sometimes downright insulting.

Luckily, it is easy to skip over her "notes" and not read them because they are printed in a different typeface!

Otherwise an excellent book, and necessary reading for anyone who sincerely wants to Create their OWN Reality in life by aligning with the Law of Attraction!

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