OK this is the long-awaited chapter where it gets really weird. But I thought I should share this chapter anyway since I talked about how unorthodox the book was. This chapter defines it. It’s also the longest chapter ever (pun intended…why am I not surprised?).

Some juicy bits:

Why we’ve all been thinking wrongly about having a strong sex desire

Because to access the faculties of the creative imagination, one needs to stimulate the mind some way. Allegedly, that primal energy called sex is a great way to do so. 

Why most men seldom succeed before forty

Because most men before forty waste their energy on physical expression of sex, not the creative transmutation of it. Kind of makes sense, I guess… ?

Why they say that behind every successful man is a woman

Building on the point above, the influence of someone of the opposite gender is a common ‘hack’ that people use to tap on that energy.

By this chapter, I’m really curious to investigate the author’s sources now. Did he read about tantric yoga or the Karmasutra or something… in the 30s?! I find it hard to imagine these ideas being anything but mainstream in the 1930s, and if not, how was the critical and public reception to these ideas? 

More notes below. Sharing them here as reference for myself, and for anyone who might find it useful. This is not a book review, just raw notes lifted directly from the book, with some minor edits, interpretations and categorisations of my own.

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Think And Grow Rich (10):

The mystery of sex transmutation, the tenth step to riches

Because of ignorance on the subject, this state of mind is generally associated with the physical, and because of improper influences, to which most people have been subjected, in acquiring knowledge of sex, things essentially physical have highly biased the mind.

Sex transmutation is simple and easily explained. It means the switching of the mind from thought of physical expressions, to thoughts of some other nature.

Sex desire is the most powerful of human desires. When driven by this desire, men develop the keenness of imagination, courage, willpower, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them at other times. So string and impelling is the desire for sexual contact that men freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it. When harnessed, and redirected along other lines, this motivating force maintains all of its attributes of keenness of imagination, courage, etc, which may be used as powerful creative forces in literature, art, or in any other profession or calling, including, of course, the accumulation of riches.

The transmutation of sex energy called for the exercise of willpower, to be sure, but the reward is worth the effort. The desire for sexual expression is inborn and natural. The desire cannot, and should not be submerged or eliminated. But it should be given an outlet through forms of expression which enrich the body, mind, and spirit of man. If not given this form of outlet, through transmutation, it will seek outlets through purely physical channels.

A river may be dammed, and its waters controlled for a time, but eventually, it will force an outlet. The same is true of the emotion of sex. It may be submerged and controlled for a time, but its very nature causes it to be ever seeking means of expression. If it is not transmuted into some creative effort it will find a less worthy outlet.

A better definition of a genius is, “a man who has discovered how to increase the vibrations of thought to the point where he can freely communicate with sources of knowledge not available through the ordinary rate of vibration of thought.”

“Genius” is developed through the sixth sense

The reality of a “sixth sense” has been fairly well established. This sixth sense is “Creative imagination”. The faculty of creative imagination is one which the majority of people never use during an entire lifetime, and if used at all, it usually happens by mere accident. 

When ideas or concepts flash into one’s mind, through what is popularly called a “hunch”, they come from one or more of the following sources:

1. Infinite Intelligence

2. One’s subconscious mind, wherein is store every sense impression and thought impulse, which ever reached the brain through any of the five sense

 3. From the mind of some other person who has just released the thought, or picture of the idea or concept, through conscious thought, or

4. From the other person’s subconscious storehouse

There are no other KNOWN sources from which “inspired” ideas or “hunches” may be received.

When brain action has been stimulated, through one or more of the ten mind stimulants, it has the effect of lifting the individual far above the horizon of ordinary thought, and permits him to envision distance, scope, and quality of THOUGHTS not available on the lower plane, such as that occupied while one is engaged in the solution of the problems of business and professional routine.

While on this higher level of thought, the individual is not hampered or bound by any of the stimuli which circumscribe and limit his vision while wrestling with the problems of gaining the three basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. He is in a world of thought in which the ORDINARY, work-a-day thoughts have been effectively removed.

The great artists, writers, musicians, and poets become great, because they acquire the habit of relying upon the “still small voice” which speaks from within, through the faculty of creative imagination. It is a fact well known to people who have “keen” imaginations that their best ideas come through so-called “hunches”.

The reasoning faculty is often faulty, because it is largely guided by ones accumulated experiences. Not all knowledge, which one accumulates through “experience”, is accurate. Ideas received through the creative faculty are much more reliable, for the reason that they come from sources more reliable than any which are available to the reasoning faculty of the mind.

The scientific inventor, or “genius”, begins an invention by organizing and combining the known ideas, or principles accumulated through experience, through the synthetic faculty (the reasoning faculty). If he finds this accumulated knowledge to be insufficient for the completion of his invention, he then draws upon the sources of knowledge available to him through his creative faculty. The method by which he does this varies with the individual, but this is the sum and substance of his procedure.

1. HE STIMULATES HIS MIND SO THAT IT VIBRATES ON A HIGHER-THAN-AVERAGE PLANE, using one or more of the ten mind stimulants or some other stimulant of his choice.

2. HE CONCENTRATES upon the known factors (the finished part) of his invention, and creates in his mind a perfect picture of unknown factors (the unfinished part), of his invention. He holds this picture in mind until it has been taken over by the subconscious mind, then relaxes by clearing his mind of ALL thought, and waits for his answer to “flash” into his mind.

Sometimes the results are both definite and immediate. At other times, the results are negative, depending upon the state of development of the “sixth sense”, or creative faculty.

Among the greatest, and the most powerful of these stimuli is the urge of sex. When harnessed and transmuted, this driving force is capable of lifting men into that higher sphere of thought which enables them to master the sources of worry and petty annoyance which beset their pathway on the lower plane. Unfortunately, only the genii have made the discovery. Others have accepted the experience of sex urge, without discovering one of its major potentialities.

Sex energy is the creative energy of all genii. There never has been, and never will be a great leader, builder, or artist lacking this driving force of sex.

Surely no one will misunderstand these statement to mean that ALL who are highly sexed are genii! Man attains to the status of genius ONLY when, and IF, he stimulates his mind so that it draws upon the forces available, through the creative faculty of the imagination. Chief among the stimuli with which this “stepping up” of the vibration may be produced is sex energy. The mere possession of this energy is not sufficient to produce a genius. The energy must be transmuted from desire for physical contact, into some other form of desire and action, before it will lift one to the status of genius.

Why men seldom succeed before forty

The major reason why the majority of men who succeed do not begin to do so before the age of forty to fifty, is their tendency to DISSIPATE their energies through over indulgence in physical expression of the emotion of sex. The majority of men never learn that the urge of sex has other possibilities, which far transcend in importance, that of mere physical expression. The majority of those who make this discovery, do so after having wasted many years at a period when the sex energy is at its height, prior to the age of forty-five to fifty. This usually is followed by noteworthy achievement.

The world is ruled, and its destiny of civilization is established, by the human emotions. People are influenced in their actions, not by reason so much as by “feelings”. The creative faculty of the mind is set into action entirely by emotions, and not by cold reason. The most powerful of all human emotions is that of sex. There are other mind stimulants, some of which have been listed, but no one of them, nor all of them combined, can equal the driving power of sex.

The transmutation of sex energy calls for more willpower than the average person cares to use for this purpose. Those who find it difficult to summon willpower sufficient for transmutation, may gradually acquire this ability. Though this requires willpower, the reward for the practice is more than worth the effort.

Millions of people, even in this age of enlightenment, have inferiority complexes which they developed because of this false belief that a highly sexed nature is a curse. These statements, of the virtue of sex energy, should not be construed as justification for the libertine. The emotion of sex is a virtue ONLY when used intelligently, and with discrimination. It may be misused, and often is, to such an extent that it debases, instead of enriches, both body and mind.

No man can avail himself of the forces of his creative imagination, while dissipating them. Man is the only creature on earth which violates Nature’s purpose in this connection. Every other animal indulges its sex nature in moderation, and with purpose which harmonizes with the laws of nature. Every other animal responds to the call of sex only in “season”. Man’s inclination is to declare “open season”.

Seldom does an individual enter upon highly creative effort in any field of endeavour before the age of forty. The average man reaches the period of his greatest capacity to create between forty and sixty.

Between the ages thirty and forty, man begins to learn (if he ever learns), the art of sex transmutation. This discovery is generally accidental, and more often than otherwise, the man who makes it is totally unconscious of his discovery. He may observe that his powers of achievement have increased around the age of thirty-five to forty, but in most cases, he is not familiar with the cause of this change; that Nature begins to harmonize the emotions of love and sex in the individual, between the ages of thirty and forty, so that he may draw upon these great forces, and apply them jointly as stimuli to action. 

Sex, alone, is a mighty urge to action, but its forces are like a cyclone—they are often uncontrollable. When the emotion of love begins to mix itself with the emotion of sex, the result is calmness of purpose, poise, accuracy of judgement, and balance.

The road to genius consists of the development, control, and use of sex, love, and romance. Briefly, the process may be stated as follows:

Encourage the presence of these emotions as the dominating thoughts in one’s mind, and discourage the presence of all the destructive emotions. The mind is a creature of habit. It thrives upon the dominating thoughts fed to it. Through the faculty of willpower, one may discourage the presence of any emotion, and encourage the presence of any other. Control of the mind, through the power of will, is not difficult. Control comes from persistence, and habit. The secret of control lies in understanding the process of transmutation. When any negative emotion presents itself in one’s mind, it can be transmuted into a positive, or constructive emotion, by the simple procedure of changing one’s thoughts. 

The emotions of love, sex, and romance are sides of the eternal triangle of achievement-building genius. Nature creates genii through no other force.

“Man’s greatest motivating force is his desire to please woman!” Take women out of their lives, and great wealth would be useless to most men. It is this inherent desire of man to please woman, which gives woman the power to make or break a man.

Some men know that they are being influenced by the women of their choice—their wives, sweethearts, mothers or sisters—but they tactfully refrain from rebelling against the influence because they are intelligent enough to know that NO MAN IS HAPPY OR COMPLETE WITHOUT THE MODIFYING INFLUENCE OF THE RIGHT WOMAN. The man who does not recognize this important truth deprives himself of the power which has done more to help men achieve success than all other forces combined.