Alright guys, if you’re still here after 12 long chapter reviews, this is the end, my friend. The last one.

And as if to end off his characteristic weirdness with a bang, the author chooses to write about the sixth sense. But the parts that caught my eye wasn’t the X-files-esque title, but the mental visualisation and imagination techniques he used to tap into something deeper within him.

Like how every night, he chairs a “Invisible Counsellors” meeting in his imagination, with his heroes and giants of his time—Edison, Ford, Lincoln—and discussing, working, debating with them on the problems the author is trying to solve. Besides being able to enlist the elite thinkers of his time to his aid, he’s also trying to cultivate the qualities that he admire in each of the men. And “the results are often astonishing”, as he said. 

Fascinating. 

I’m a big fan of visualisation techniques, but this takes it to a whole new level. Almost like creating an alternate sandbox reality where you can play around with ideas, and move around as if you already acquired all the admirable traits that your heroes possess. The Matrix of your own making, for your own benefit. This is something I want to experiment with moving forward.

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 (13):

The sixth sense, the door to the temple of wisdom, the thirteen step to riches

The SIXTH SENSE is that portion of the subconscious mind which has been referred to as the Creative Imagination. It has also been referred to as the “receiving set” through which ideas, plans. and thoughts flash into the mind. The “flashes” are sometimes called “hunches” or “inspirations”.

Understanding of the sixth sense comes only by meditation through mind development from within. The sixth sense probably is the medium of contact between the finite mind of man and Infinite Intelligence, and for this reason, it is a mixture of both the mental and the spiritual. It is believed to be the point at which the mind of man contacts the Universal Mind.

While I was passing through the age of “hero-worship” I found myself trying to imitate those whom I most admired. Moreover, I discovered that the element of FAITH, with which I endeavoured to imitate my idols, gave me great capacity to do so quite successfully.

I followed the habit of reshaping my own character, by trying to imitate the nine men whose lives and lifeworks had been most impressive to me. These nine men were, Emerson, Paine, Edison, Darwin, Lincoln, Burbank, Napoleon, Ford, and Carnegie. Every night, over a long period of years, I held an imaginary Council meeting with this group whom I called my “Invisible Counsellors”. The procedure was this. Just before going to sleep at night. I would shut my eyes, and see, in my imagination, this group of men seated with me around my Council Table. Here I had not only an opportunity to sit among those whom I considered to be great, but I actually dominated the group, by serving as the Chairman. I had a DEFINITE purpose in indulging my imagination through these nightly meetings. My purpose was to rebuild my own character so it would represent a composite of the characters of my imaginary counsellors. Realizing, as I did, early in life, that I had to overcome the handicap of birth in an environment of ignorance and superstition, I deliberately assigned myself the task of voluntary rebirth through the method here described…… My method of addressing the members of the imaginary Cabinet would vary, according to the traits of character in which I was, for the moment, most interested in acquiring. 

All men have becomes what they are, because of their DOMINATING THOUGHTS AND DESIRES. I knew that every deeply seated desire has the effect of causing one to seek outward expression through which that desire may be transmuted into reality. I knew that self-suggestion is a powerful factor in building character, that it is, in fact, the sole principle through which character is built.

One of the blessings of maturity is that it sometimes brings one greater courage to be truthful, regardless of what those who do not understand, may think or say…while the members of my Cabinet may be purely fictional, and the meetings existent only in my own imagination, they have led me into glorious paths of adventure, rekindled an appreciation of true greatness, encouraged creative endeavour, and emboldened the expression of honest thought.

My original purpose in conducting Council meetings with imaginary beings, was solely that of impressing my own subconscious mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion, with certain characteristics which I desired to acquire. In more recent years, my experimentation has taken on an entirely different trend. I now go to my imaginary counsellors with every difficult problem which confronts me and my clients. The results are often astonishing, although I do not depend entirely on this form of counsel.

Seldom does any individual come into workable knowledge of the sixth sense before the age of forty. More often the knowledge is not available until one is well past fifty, and this, for the reason that the spiritual forces, with which the sixth sense is so closely related, do not mature and become usable except through years of meditation, self-examination, and serious thought.