Cosmic Habit Force (1963) by Napoleon Hill

We now approach the last lesson of Dr Hill's fabulous philosophy. It is not only the last lesson but also one of the greatest, and so is the author, Dr Napoleon Hill. [applause] Thank you.

[applause continues] Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

We come now to the end of the line, lesson 17, the climax of the entire philosophy of personal achievement. The title of it is "The Law of Cosmic Habit Force," the law of cause and effect, the comptroller of all natural laws, coordination of the universe. The purpose of this lesson is to describe the law by which one acquires habits, a law so stupendous in its scope and power that it may be difficult of understanding except by those who have a comprehensive knowledge of the sciences.

This law is known as cosmic habit force, that is, pertaining to the universe and the laws which govern it. This is the law by which the equilibrium of the whole universe is maintained in orderliness through established habits. The law forces every living thing and every inanimate particle of matter to adhere to and follow the vibrations of its environment, including, of course, the physical habits and the thinking habits of mankind.

The purpose of this course on which the previous lessons are based has been designed to enable one to establish habits that lead to financial security, health, and peace of mind necessary for happiness. In this lesson, we examine briefly the established law of nature which makes all habits permanent. With the application of the principles of this philosophy, one may set up the pattern of any desired habit, after which the habit is taken over by cosmic habit force and made to carry on automatically.

Here are some of the habits fixed by the law of cosmic habit force. The stars and planets as they are established in their fixed courses. Think what an astounding thing it is that for aeons and aeons, they have gone on and on, moving to some as yet unknown destiny, relating themselves to one another without chaos.

And the scenes of the year and the reproduction and growth of everything that grows from the soil of the Earth, each seed reproducing precisely its own kind without variation. And the reproduction of every living thing, from the smallest insect and the microscopic Infusoria on up to man. The chemical actions and reactions of matter, from the smallest particle of matter, the electrons and protons, to the largest particles of matter as they exist in the stars.

All actions and reactions of matter are based upon the fixed habits of cosmic habit force. The perpetuation of every living thing through the sex principle, each seed reproduces its own kind, but each individual reproduction is modified by the vibrations, that is, the environmental influences, of the environment in which it exists. Thought habits of individuals are automatically fixed and made permanent by cosmic habit force no matter whether they are negative or positive.

The individual creates the pattern of his thoughts by repetition of thought given on a different subject, but the law of cosmic habit force takes over these patterns and makes them permanent unless they are broken up by the will of the individual. Man is the only living creature that is equipped with the power of choice by which he may establish his own thought patterns or break up and rearrange them at will. Therefore let us now consider briefly some of the practical applications one may make of this great benefit.

Physical health: the individual may contribute to the healthful maintenance of his physical body by establishing habit patterns in connection with the following subjects. Thinking: a positive mind leads to the development of what is known as a health consciousness, and cosmic habit force carries out that thought pattern to its logical conclusion, but it will just as gradually carry out the picture on ill health consciousness created by the thought habits of the hypochondriac, even to the extent of producing the physical and mental symptoms of any disease on which the individual may fix his thought habits through fear. See the lesson on health maintenance for further details on that.

And in eating: the mental attitude and the thought patterns established while one is eating and during the following two or three hours while the food is being broken down to a liquid form for introduction into the body through the blood may determine whether the food enters the body in a suitable form for the maintenance of sound health. It is a well-established fact that the power of one's thought enters into and becomes a vital part of the energy that is carried into the body through the food and that worry, fear, and all negative thoughts poison the food. Therefore controlled thought habits during mealtime is of the utmost importance to the maintenance of sound health.

And work: here, too, mental attitude becomes a vital ally of the silent repairman that is working on every cell of the body while one is engaged in physical action. Therefore work should become a religious ceremony with which only positive thoughts are mixed. The famous Mayo brothers in Rochester, Minnesota, have discovered that four vitally important factors must be observed to maintain sound physical health: an equal balancing through thought habits of work and play, love and worship.

Work must be of one-- work must be well mixed with play and worship-- must be mixed with love, or ill health will occur in some form. Observe that here enters a sound explanation of one of the major reasons for adopting and following the habit of going the extra mile, that is, rendering more service and better service than one is paid for and rendering it in a pleasing mental attitude. This habit not only benefits one economically, but it enables one to work with a mental attitude that leads to sound physical health.

For comparison, consider the person who has the habit of griping and who performs all work grudgingly and in a negative frame of mind. It's a well-known fact that such individuals are seldom physically well but they are constantly ailing, some of it real, some of it imaginary, but all of it destructive of sound health. And in the elimination of body waste: this process takes place through the liver, the lungs, the pores of the skin, and the alimentary canal.

These eliminative processes function orderly when supported by the proper thought habits and diet habits, both habits being taken over and made permanent by cosmic habit force. A definite major purpose: through a combination of the principles of this philosophy, one may condition his mind and body to hand over to cosmic habit force the exact feature through his thought habits of the financial status he wishes to maintain, and these will be automatically picked up and carried out to their logical conclusion by an inexorable law of nature which knows no such reality as failure. This philosophy is a medium by which one's thought habits may be controlled until they are taken over by cosmic habit force, and it is well to here call attention to the fact that no one has ever been known to become financially independent without having first established a prosperity consciousness, just as no one may remain physically well without having first established a health consciousness.

It's a fact well known to psychologists that poverty-stricken people maintain a poverty consciousness, some of them from early childhood on through life. They think in terms of poverty. They fear poverty.

They talk poverty. They expect poverty, and that is precisely what they attract to themselves through this great law of cosmic habit force. And now as to the matter of fixations, fear fixations and faith fixations.

The word "fixation" to a doctor is something to be dreaded, for it connotes a fixed tendency of the mind to cling to the belief in a given form of illness and all such illnesses most difficult to cure. Fixations occur more frequently in connection with such diseases as cancer, tuberculosis, leprosy, and diabetes. But mental habits become fixed also, including both the poverty consciousness and the prosperity consciousness.

Fixed through the law of cosmic habit force, some of these are these: poverty, imaginary illness, laziness, envy, greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, dishonesty, drifting without aim or purpose, irritability of mental attitude, vanity, arrogance, cynicism, sadism, and the will to injure others. And here are some of the positives subject to fixation by the law of cosmic habit force: definiteness of a major purpose in life, make it a fixation by all means, faith, personal initiative, enthusiasm, willingness to go the extra mile, imagination, the traits of a pleasing personality, accurate thinking, and all the other traits recommended in this philosophy of individual achievement. One should develop fixations by all means, but one should take care to see that they are fixations on the subject of that which one wants, not that which one does not want.

Everything one does is the result of habit. Sometimes the habit is voluntary. Sometimes it's involuntary, such as the habit of breathing, circulation of the blood through the heartbeat, but all habits are made permanent unless broken up by the power of the will by the law of cosmic habit force.

The way to health, wealth, and happiness is by controlled habits. You can make your habits what you wish them to be. All habits that are voluntary begin by the control of one's thought habits, and these happen to be the only thing over which the creator has given man complete, unchallenged and unchallengeable control.

Nature breaks up established habits of man every so often through wars, drought, economic depressions, epidemics of disease, and other ways. All this breaking-up process is a means preparing the way for goals. It's foolish for man to speak of going back to the old party line in politics, the old orthodox form of fear and superstition of religion, the old slave way of dealing with workers, and the old way of wars as a means of settling differences between nations.

Nature is on the march, and the direction is forward, not backward. This age of world chaos is the creator's way of preparing the world for a better system of human relationships. Nature often tears down, reshapes, and rebuilds that which does not conform to her overall scheme.

So shall heredity and physical heredity, maintained through cosmic habit force as the means of perpetuating religious, political views, and so forth, both faults and truths. Communists are making an organized drive all over the world to indoctrinate the minds of the youths with the idea of communism by application of social heredity. Any idea, plan, or purpose which is repeatedly submitted to the mind of any person will be taken over by the law of cosmic habit force and made into a definite pattern which this law will carry out to the logical conclusion of that pattern.

This explains why it is so necessary for one to develop a success consciousness by applying the 17 principles of the science of personal achievement. Definiteness of purpose: the object in writing it out and repeating it daily as a prayer is solely to impress a clear picture of it on the subconscious section of the brain until the brain has been forced by the law of cosmic habit force to recognize the picture and devise ways and means of translating it into its material equivalent. Practical ways and means are used always, not supernatural.

This philosophy knows nothing about supernatural application of law. This procedure is in harmony with nature's purpose in having created man with a free mind to be used as he so desires. And applied faith, following the principles laid down in the lesson on faith, has the effect of giving one's definite purpose a sufficient fertilizer, so to speak, that is, giving it that-- it is giving it a favorable environment of atmosphere in which to germinate and grow.

We call this a success consciousness, and going the extra mile conditions one's mind to become and to remain positive, which also has the effect of creating a favorable environment in which cosmic habit force can operate freely without opposition from the conscious mind. And the mastermind: it sets up its favorable condition for the operation of cosmic habit force by removing personal limitations and developing faith. Self-discipline very definitely creates a favorable environment for the operation of cosmic habit force by removing all self-imposed limitations, fears, and negative emotions which, without discipline, control the mind and set up a favorable environment for a failure consciousness.

A pleasing personality provides a system of self-analysis by which one may rate himself on the 30 qualities of a pleasing personality. This lesson prepares a student to sail his way through life with a minimum of opposition from others and aids in the development of qualities which attract friendly cooperation from others. Personal initiative gives an outline of the factors which constitute sound leadership, 31 in number, and provide an analysis chart by which one may rate himself on these important success factors.

Profiting by failure: this lesson presents an outline of the 40 major causes of failure with an analysis chart by which the student may rate himself on each of these negative factors which so often stand in the way of success. Accurate thinking: this lesson broke down the factors which go to create accurate thinking and gave the simple fundamentals by which to determine the difference between facts and fiction and the difference between important facts and unimportant facts. Creative vision: this lesson outlined the difference between synthetic imagination and creative vision, calling attention to the fact that creative vision is the means by which one may procure dependable facts directly through infinite intelligence.

Success in its highest form: the crowning climax of which this peace of mind is attained little by little, day by day by the process of mind conditioning through the 17 principles of the science of personal achievement which enables one to take full possession of his own mind and to direct it to whatever ends he may desire through fixed habits of his own making. This higher degree of success is built like a prefabricated house, from carefully shaped parts and materials which have been patterned by a definite blueprint and carefully inspected for soundness before the parts were placed in the pattern. And the architect who builds this pattern is the great inexorable law of cosmic habit force.

"Bad habits are a monster so frightful of mien "that to be hated need to be seen. "But seen too oft, familiar with their face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace. " And the law of cosmic habit force slowly weaves its web around all thought habits, good or bad.

A habit is at first like a cobweb. Then it grows to be as strong as a cable. The creator has set up an automatic system of natural laws for the direction of the universe.

All these laws blend into and are guided by the overall law of cosmic habit force. You start the pattern off on any habit you wish to develop, and cosmic habit force will take over the pattern and make it a fixation. Two important basic fundamentals of this lesson.

First, the most important fact known to mankind consists in the definite knowledge that the creator has given man complete control over but one thing, and that is the control of the mind, the power of thinking, of making one's mental attitude whatever he desired it to be. And secondly, along with this profound gift of complete control over the mind, the creator has provided the means by which one may take full benefits from this gift. It consists of the law of cosmic habit force, by which self-made habit patterns will be taken over and made into fixations which operate automatically.

The conditions necessary to make effective use of the law of cosmic habit force are these. There must be a purpose and a plan for its fulfillment worked out by the individual. The plan must be properly timed according to the nature and extent of the purpose.

There must be a constant repetition of the purpose under highly emotionalized conditions until the pattern of the purpose is clearly fixed in the subconscious mind. The purpose must be backed by unyielding belief, faith in its fulfillment. Whether you recognize this truth or not, you are making use of cosmic habit force every minute of your life.

Your every thought, good or bad, negative or positive, is being picked up by cosmic habit force and woven into the pattern of your character. This explains why people who go through life with their thoughts predominantly fixed on fears and worries and doubts never find success or peace of mind but live in misery and poverty. Whatever the mind dwells upon, that is what cosmic habit force attracts to one.

One should have a definite technique for the application of the law of cosmic habit force so it will attract to them the desired things of life. Where cosmic habit force should be applied to first determine circumstances in order to take possession of the mind as nature provided it are here presented. Number one, definiteness of purpose, major and minor purposes.

Definite routine for developing health consciousness in the development and maintenance of a positive mental attitude. The habit of taking personal inventory every six months with an accurate listing of all assets and liabilities, including both tangible and intangible things. In the development of a system for applying the principle of going the extra mile in your job or profession or business or source of income.

In a system for mastering the six departments of the mind, as shown in the chart which accompanies this course. In a system for budgeting and making better use of time. In a system for recognizing and benefiting by the seed of an equivalent benefit in connection with all your failures, defeats, and adversities.

In a system for protecting yourself against outside negative influence similar to my three walls of protection. In a system of general self-improvement through study, reading, and association with those from whom you may benefit through emulation. In a system for developing faith in your own ability to attain the objects of your earthly destiny as laid out by yourself.

In a system for keeping your mind so busy working out ways and means to acquire everything you desire that no time will be left for you to waste it on things you do not desire. In a system for transmuting your sex emotion by directing it through creative habits connected with your definite major purpose. And in a system where one or more mastermind alliances from which you may borrow the education, personality, special knowledge, experience, and spiritual forces of others who cooperate with you and who you need in the attainment of your definite major purpose in life.

And I thank you. [applause] Thank you very much.