WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.680 Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest. Life comes at you fast, which 2 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:05.000 is why it's important to find some time to relax 3 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:09.439 a little U time enter Chumba Casino with no download required. 4 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:12.080 You can jump on any time, anywhere for the chance 5 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.400 to redeem some serious prizes. So treat yourself with Chumbuck 6 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:18.359 Casino and play over one hundred online casino style games, 7 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:21.679 all for free. Go to chumbucasino dot com to collect 8 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:25.960 your free welcome bonus sponsored by Chumpa Casino. No purchase necessary. 9 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:29.800 VGW group void where prohibited by Law eighteen plus. Terms 10 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.719 and conditions apply. Have you Googled yourself lately? 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You can start by 18 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.520 getting your free reputation report card at ReputationDefender dot com 19 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:59.719 or call eight hundred eighty one one forty nine seventy 20 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:01.479 five To Speak to an Expert. 21 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:08.040 Success Habits by Napoleon Hill, Free Accurate Thinking. Hello friends, 22 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:12.239 tonight we begin discussion of the subject of accurate thinking. 23 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:15.120 There are a lot of people in this world who 24 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.000 believe that they think accurately, but the majority of them 25 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.359 don't think at all. They just think that they think. 26 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:24.879 Accurate thinking involves certain factors which I'm going to explain 27 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:28.400 to you. They're not complicated, but I want to warn 28 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:30.319 you in advance that if you wish to become an 29 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:33.480 accurate thinker instead of a snap judgment thinker, you have 30 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.040 to have a technique. You have to follow a system, 31 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:39.719 and you have to stick to that system. First of all, 32 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:43.400 there are three important fundamentals in the business of accurate thinking, 33 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:46.359 and here they are. Number one is the principle of 34 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:50.519 inductive reasoning, based on the assumption of unknown facts or hypotheses. 35 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:54.280 Inductive reasoning means that you do not have all of 36 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:57.640 the facts, but you assume that certain facts must exist. 37 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:01.319 For example, if you are going to think accurately on 38 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.079 the subject of God, whether or not there is a God, 39 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.120 you've never met him. You've never seen him, you never 40 00:02:07.159 --> 00:02:09.479 have met anybody who has met him or seen him, 41 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:11.680 And yet your reasoning on the subject would have to 42 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.840 be of the inductive nature. When you begin to look 43 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:18.080 around at the marvelous organized factors in the universe and 44 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.520 in this little world in which we live, you would 45 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:22.599 be forced to the conclusion that there is such a 46 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:25.439 power as that which many call God. Whether you call 47 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:28.439 it by that name or some other, that would be 48 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:33.400 inductive reasoning. Number two, There is deductive reasoning based upon 49 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:36.560 known facts, facts that you know to be true, or 50 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:39.639 what are believed to be facts. There are a lot 51 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:42.439 of people who stumble on that one because they assume 52 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:45.599 to have facts when all they are dealing with is hearsay, evidence, 53 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:49.520 or gossip, something that they said, or something that I 54 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:52.960 read in the papers. When someone starts to tell me 55 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:56.360 something and prefaces his remarks by saying I see by 56 00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:00.000 the papers, I reach up figuratively speaking, and pulled down 57 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:02.840 my mental earmuffs and refuse to let anything he says 58 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.759 register in my mind. Because having been a newspaperman once 59 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:09.800 upon a time, and having known a great many newspapermen, 60 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:14.000 I do know that newspapers often make mistakes. They're not 61 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:18.360 always accurate. The third factor that enters into the business 62 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:21.919 of accurate thinking is logic, that is to say, guidance 63 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:25.800 by past experiences similar to those under consideration at a 64 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:30.759 given time. Logic, ladies and gentlemen, If you will take 65 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.919 the average circumstance where you're trying to do some accurate thinking, 66 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.719 and after you have reached your decision in connection with it, 67 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.560 or perhaps before you have reached your decision, if you 68 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:42.400 will submit the whole proposition to the principle of logic 69 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:45.400 to see whether it's logical that the opinion or decision 70 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:47.360 you are about to arrive at is correct or not, 71 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:51.280 you'll save yourself an awful lot of trouble. Those are 72 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.319 the three factors that go into the business of accurate thinking. 73 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.479 There are two major steps that you must take in 74 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.960 accurate thinking, and here they are two steps only. First, 75 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.360 you must separate facts or what you believe to be facts, 76 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:10.639 from fiction or hearsay evidence. That's the first thing you 77 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:14.240 do when you're dealing with any subject whereby you're going 78 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.759 to reach a decision in connection with your thinking, you 79 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.639 must immediately search all of the factors that enter into 80 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:22.639 that and see whether they constitute facts or fiction or 81 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:27.560 hearsay evidence. That's step number one. As I go along 82 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:31.079 analyzing this subject, Ladies and gentlemen, it would be very 83 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:33.600 beneficial to you if you would compare these rules that 84 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:35.639 I am giving you with your own method of thinking 85 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:39.240 and see wherein you fall short, if at all. It 86 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.560 might be a good idea for you to analyze some 87 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:44.160 of the people you know best by these rules to 88 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:47.839 see how many of them are doing accurate thinking. First, 89 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:52.839 you separate fact from fiction or hearsay evidence. Then, after 90 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:54.879 you've done that and you know what the facts are, 91 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:58.519 or believe that you know. You've made that separation, you've 92 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:01.680 thrown out the hearsay evidence. You're dealing only with those 93 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:04.639 things that you can prove. You separate those facts into 94 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:08.800 two classes, and one is called important and the other unimportant. 95 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.279 Would you know how to go about distinguishing the difference 96 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:16.319 between an important fact and an unimportant fact? How many 97 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:19.759 of you would be able to make that differentiation? Show 98 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:24.279 me by your hands, what don't you know the difference 99 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:28.240 between an important fact and an unimportant fact? Or are 100 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:32.879 you just overly modest? An important fact, Ladies and gentlemen, 101 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.160 may be assumed to be any fact that can be 102 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:37.519 used by you to an advantage in the attainment of 103 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:40.759 your major purpose, or any of your minor desires leading 104 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:44.319 toward the attainment of your major purpose. That to you 105 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:48.319 is an important fact, and all other facts are relatively unimportant, 106 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:50.959 and most of them are out and out worthless so 107 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:54.240 far as you're concerned. I could mention to you a 108 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:56.720 hundred facts of things that have happened since I left 109 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:59.000 my home in Saint Louis this morning and drove up 110 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:01.600 here to Paris, but I'll say ninety nine percent of 111 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:04.279 them wouldn't be of any importance one way or the other. 112 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:07.879 There's only one fact in connection with my trip up 113 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:10.480 here that is important, and that is that I arrived 114 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:12.959 here at this studio on time, and that I'm now 115 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.000 fulfilling my scheduled lecture. Now you know what an important 116 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.519 fact is. If you will watch yourself in connection with 117 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:23.279 your actions throughout the day, you will be amazed at 118 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:25.680 the number of unimportant facts that take up a lot 119 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:28.600 of your time, facts which, no matter how you handle 120 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.240 them or how you relate yourself to them, mean nothing 121 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:34.040 to you except a waste of time. If you are 122 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:37.000 going to be successful, people in the upper brackets of success. 123 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.600 If you're going to learn to think accurately and use 124 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:42.399 that knowledge to lift you high in the strata of success, 125 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:44.879 then you have got to learn not only to separate 126 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.160 important facts from unimportant facts, but you've got to form 127 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:51.040 a habit of devoting most of your time to important facts, 128 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:54.240 that is to say, facts that will bring you some definite, 129 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:57.800 discernible benefit leading toward the object of your major purpose 130 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:03.319 in life or the tainment of some of your minor purposes. Oh, 131 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:05.600 if you're going to follow that rule, there'll be a 132 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.759 number of bridge parties that you'll have to cut out. 133 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:10.920 There'll be a number of things that you indulge in 134 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:13.959 that you might just as well discontinue because you're only 135 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:18.920 wasting time and you're not dealing with important facts at all. Next, 136 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:21.160 I want to call your attention to the business of 137 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:26.120 having opinions. Opinions usually are without value because they are 138 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:31.800 typically based on bias, prejudice, intolerance, guess work, or hearsay evidence. 139 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:35.759 Most people have opinions about any and every subject that 140 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.720 you might imagine, and the majority of those opinions are 141 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.199 not worth anything at all because they are not arrived 142 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:45.240 at by practical or scientific means. Two men some time 143 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:49.040 ago were discussing the merits of doctor Einstein's theory of relativity. 144 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.639 One of them said, do you really believe in doctor 145 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:57.439 Einstein's theory of relativity? And the other man said, heck no, 146 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.600 What does that man know about politics? Anyway? He thought 147 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:05.879 the theory of relativity was a system of politics, yet 148 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:09.000 he had an opinion on it. It would be interesting 149 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:12.639 to you, and perhaps beneficial, my friends, if you would 150 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.519 study yourself carefully every time in the future that you 151 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:19.639 are getting ready to express an opinion about anything. Examine 152 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:22.680 yourself carefully to see how you came by the influences 153 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:26.079 and circumstances that enabled you to express that opinion, to 154 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:29.519 see whether they came from sound sources, from hearsay evidence, 155 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:32.000 or from something that you read or something you heard 156 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:38.240 from unreliable sources opinions, No opinion is safe unless based 157 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.919 upon known facts, or at least what are believed to 158 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:44.360 be facts, after you have exhausted all the possibilities of 159 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:48.200 searching for facts. No one should express an opinion at 160 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:51.240 any time about anything without a reasonable assurance that it 161 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:55.000 is founded upon facts. Had you ever thought of that 162 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.799 that you shouldn't express an opinion on any subject at all, 163 00:08:57.879 --> 00:09:00.399 unless it is based upon either known facts or what 164 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:03.639 you believe to be facts. Had you ever stopped to 165 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:06.440 think about it, that the vast majority of your opinions 166 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:10.240 are based upon something far different from facts or known facts. 167 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:13.120 You haven't made the effort to gain the facts, but 168 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:16.759 you have an opinion. Nevertheless, you have no right to 169 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.679 that opinion, because there's nothing on which to found it. 170 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:23.279 Someone asked me not long ago what my opinion of 171 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:27.799 the Korean War situation was. I said, well, that's a 172 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:31.639 question that can't be answered in one sentence. I have 173 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:34.679 a lot of opinions about it. I have a lot 174 00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:38.039 of opinions about the people who started it. I have 175 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:40.559 a lot of opinions about the way it's being conducted. 176 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.759 I couldn't answer with one opinion. I would have several opinions, 177 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:47.000 and all of them based upon what I have seen 178 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:51.000 happen since that war started. That is, they were based 179 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:56.320 upon facts. Advice, too, is often worth little or no attention. 180 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:01.440 Free advice volunteered by friends and a suaintances usually is 181 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:05.519 not worthy of consideration. Someone has said that anything in 182 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:07.879 the world that you get for nothing is worth exactly 183 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:10.519 the price you pay for it, and that is particularly 184 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:14.039 true of free advice. It makes no difference what you 185 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.759 want to do, what your plans are, where you're going, 186 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:19.360 or what you're doing, what your aims in life may be. 187 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.039 The moment you begin to talk about them, you'll find 188 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:24.879 a lot of people around you with a lot of 189 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:29.559 free advice, and particularly those closely related to you. When 190 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:33.399 I started to organize the world's first philosophy of individual achievement, 191 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.159 it's true that eventually I had some five hundred of 192 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:39.000 the most outstanding men of America who gave freely from 193 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:42.039 their experiences in order to help me complete this philosophy. 194 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.639 But all of those five hundred combined were nothing in 195 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:48.240 comparison with the free advice that I got from my 196 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.679 immediate family. 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So 218 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.600 join the more than four hundred thousand Virginians who have 219 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:59.240 enrolled on the marketplace. Go to Marketplace dot Virginia dot 220 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:03.120 gov to a pl brought to you by Virginia's Insurance Marketplace. 221 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.000 That's Marketplace dot Virginia dot gov. 222 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:11.240 And the advice was free. Of course I didn't have 223 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:15.440 to take it. Of course I didn't take it. If 224 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:18.240 I had taken it, I wouldn't be here tonight talking 225 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:21.799 to you about this business of accurate thinking. I had 226 00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:23.639 to learn to go on my own to do some 227 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.080 thinking of my own. Accurate thinking, and accurate thinkers permit 228 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:31.039 no one to do their thinking for them. If you're 229 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.360 going to be an accurate thinker in the strict sense 230 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.360 of that term, you have got to get into the 231 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:38.240 habit of becoming responsible for your own thinking and your 232 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.919 own opinions and your own ideas. It's all right to 233 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:45.039 seek information from other people. Get all the knowledge you can, 234 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:49.080 get all the facts you can. But in the final analysis, 235 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.039 don't let anybody make up your mind for you about anything. 236 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:55.440 Is that clear enough? Or shall I state it over? 237 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:00.159 Pretty clear? Isn't it? Don't let anybody make up your 238 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:04.080 mind for you about anything. Reserve unto yourself the last 239 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:07.879 word in your thinking. If you let others think for you, 240 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.759 you are taking the path of least resistance, like those 241 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.519 rivers I mentioned in a previous broadcast, and meandering without 242 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:19.320 self control, taking a crooked path. Don't be silly enough, though, 243 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:21.799 to think that you can do accurate thinking without some 244 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:25.440 help from the outside. Many times you'll have to have 245 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.559 a lot of outside help. That's why we have the 246 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:32.879 mastermind principle. Mister Edison was the most important and the 247 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:37.240 most successful inventor the world has ever known. His inventions 248 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:41.080 were based upon thinking. But before he could think accurately, 249 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:43.960 he had to have the scientific knowledge in brains and 250 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:46.720 education of men who helped him do his thinking, who 251 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:52.000 supplied the facts. He put those facts together in new combinations. 252 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.200 It's all right for you to seek information, but when 253 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.600 you get that information, you must submit it to the 254 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:00.919 law of logic. You must submit it to the law 255 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:03.720 of evidence, and make sure that when you make a decision, 256 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.840 the facts that you have accepted are real facts and 257 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:11.879 not merely hearsay evidence. Hearsay evidence is secondhand evidence you 258 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.200 cannot get to the bottom of, and it is inherently unreliable. 259 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:19.039 If you follow literally what I am suggesting to you, 260 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:20.960 you can see readily that you're going to have to 261 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:24.759 rearrange some of your habits. Matter of fact, you have 262 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.679 to rearrange radically some of your habits of thinking. You'll 263 00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:31.080 have to read your newspaper a little bit more carefully. 264 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:33.080 You'll have to read it with a question mark in 265 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:35.799 your mind. You'll have to question the things that you read. 266 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.519 You'll have to quit this business of being influenced by 267 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:41.039 what the gossiping neighbors say, and do a lot more 268 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:44.679 thinking on your own. It's not safe to form opinions 269 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:49.039 based upon newspaper reports. I see by the papers is 270 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:52.279 a prefatory remark, usually branding the speaker as a snap 271 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.480 judgment thinker I see by the papers, or I hear 272 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:01.919 tell or they say. When anybody starts volunteering information supposed 273 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.519 to be facts based upon those prefatory remarks, just close 274 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.039 up your ears and pay no attention unless you have 275 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:11.159 some supporting evidence, and you'll get along very much better 276 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:13.320 in your thinking than you have been doing in the past. 277 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.279 Scandalmongers and gossipers are not reliable sources from which to 278 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.759 procure facts on any subject. Scandalmongers gossipers did you ever 279 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:27.440 hear of any? Of course, you don't have any here 280 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:31.080 in your town, But in some communities they do have them. 281 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.519 I meet them in almost every community I go to, 282 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:37.080 and among all facets of people except my own audience. 283 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.120 Of course, they're above and beyond the business of passing 284 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:45.600 on scandal and gossiping small talk. Oh, there's a lot 285 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:49.519 of fun in gossiping. I hear some gossip oftentimes that 286 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.039 I get a great kick out of, especially when it's 287 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:55.679 about myself. Then I know more about the subject than 288 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:59.840 the person doing the gossiping. But that doesn't make any difference. 289 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.279 The gossipers will talk. But if you're going to be 290 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:05.600 scared off of your line of duty, or off of 291 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:08.519 your activities, or off of your plan or purpose in 292 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:11.759 life by what the gossipers say, ladies and gentlemen, you 293 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:15.120 might as well not start anything, because you won't get anywhere. 294 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:18.480 A long time ago, there was a man who passed 295 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:21.039 this way, a very gentle soul who came to the 296 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:23.120 world for the purpose of seeing if he could do 297 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.919 something to soften the nature of mankind and make men 298 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:29.559 live together a little bit more peacefully. He didn't get 299 00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:32.279 along so very well in the face of these gossipers 300 00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:36.399 and scandal mongers and small talk people. They didn't all 301 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:40.960 accept him. They killed him, But the spirit of Jesus 302 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.320 survived and changed the world in immeasurable ways. You'll not 303 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:47.919 be accepted. The moment your head sticks up above the 304 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:51.879 crowd in any sort of undertaking, the gossipers will begin 305 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.600 to take you apart, take you down to size. If 306 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.799 you let them do it. But if you're an accurate thinker, 307 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.440 you'll pay no attention to what is said about You'll 308 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:04.200 pay more attention to seeing that the unkind things said 309 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.480 about you are not true, and that's your entire responsibility. 310 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.240 If you're an accurate thinker, beyond that, you'll pay no 311 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:15.839 attention to what people say. Wishes are often fathers to facts. 312 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.960 Did you know that? Had you ever thought about that? 313 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.680 I wonder if you've ever been guilty of fathering facts 314 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:28.319 through wishes? Hopeful wishing, they call it. Sometimes most people 315 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:31.160 have a bad habit of assuming facts to harmonize with 316 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:34.680 their desires. One of the easiest things to do upon 317 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.119 the face of this earth is to assume facts to 318 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.240 fit the nature of what you want to do. Wishes 319 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:43.319 can only be converted to facts by taking action, not 320 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:47.519 merely assuming. I once had the experience of interviewing, over 321 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:51.680 an extended period of time, the late gangster Al Capone. 322 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:54.240 I was astounded to know that, far from him having 323 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:56.759 been a criminal offending the law and the people of 324 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:59.960 this country, he believed he was a very much maligned man. 325 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.680 He claimed Uncle Sam's long nose had been stuck into 326 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.599 a legitimate business that he was conducting. He said it 327 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:10.599 was legitimate. He said that by selling whiskey during prohibition, 328 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.279 he was merely selling a thirst quencher to people who 329 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.720 were thirsty. They were paying for it, they were glad 330 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:19.079 to have it, and Uncle Sam should have kept his 331 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:23.039 nose out of his legitimate business. He had sold himself 332 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:25.960 that idea. He had convinced himself that he was being 333 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.519 very much maligned by the law. I have never yet 334 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:32.519 met a person, a criminal, a person breaking the law, 335 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:35.359 that hadn't sold himself the idea that he was well 336 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.279 within the law, well within his rights, and the law 337 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.519 had no reason or right to touch him. It's one 338 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:43.839 of the easiest things in the world to justify what 339 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:46.519 you're doing in life. And if you don't watch yourself, 340 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:49.519 you'll justify yourself beyond the point of reason if you're 341 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:53.799 not an accurate thinker. Information is abundant, and most of 342 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.880 it is free, but facts have an elusive nature, and 343 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.799 generally there is a price attached to them. Somebody asked 344 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:03.000 me not long ago, why I didn't just go about 345 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:06.240 the country teaching this philosophy free of charge, not charging 346 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:08.839 anything for it. If I didn't need to make any money, 347 00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:12.880 do you know what I said to that person? I said, 348 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:16.960 do you belong to a church? He said, why, yes, 349 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.680 sure I do. I said, do you go to church? 350 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:25.599 And he said yes sometimes. I said, is your church 351 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:30.960 always filled on Sunday morning? Oh? No, oh no, he said, 352 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:34.480 very few of the seats are filled. And I said, 353 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:38.359 do you know what's wrong with the churches? He said no, 354 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:41.359 I don't know whether there's anything wrong with them or not. 355 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.880 I said, have you ever attended one of my lectures? 356 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:49.160 He said, yes, I attended all of your lectures here 357 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:52.519 up to the present time. This man, by the way, 358 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:56.480 lives in this community. I said, did you notice that 359 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.960 on the opening night of our radio broadcasts in Paris, Missouri, 360 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.440 one of the worst nights of the winter, that people 361 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.119 came from as far away as sixty five miles. They 362 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.039 showed up, They were all there. The room was entirely 363 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:13.440 filled and overflowing. Did you notice that? He said, yes, 364 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.240 I did. And I wondered about it. I wondered how 365 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.640 you did it. I said, well, I'll tell you how 366 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.359 I did it. I did it by charging them. That's how. 367 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:27.000 If I were running a church, I think probably i'd 368 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.599 place a price on each pew and make them pay. 369 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:32.960 The trouble with the churches is that they let em 370 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:37.440 get away without paying. Everything that's worth while in this world, 371 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:40.519 ladies and gentlemen should have a price upon it, and 372 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:43.440 does have a price upon it in one way or another. 373 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:47.839 The things that you give away absolutely free, people usually 374 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.400 value about as much as they pay for them. One question, 375 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.720 how do you know? Is the favorite question of the 376 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:58.599 accurate thinker. When the thinker hears somebody make a statement 377 00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.079 that he questions as being said, he immediately says, in 378 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.759 his mind, or openly and orally to the other man, 379 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:07.559 how do you know. If you'll get in the habit 380 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:10.599 of using that little sentence more often, you'll be surprised 381 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.039 at how many times you put speakers over the barrel, 382 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:15.599 because there are so many people that make statements about 383 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:17.960 things that they can't back up, and they can't give 384 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:20.359 you a satisfactory reason as to how they made the 385 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:24.880 statement or why how do you know? We don't ask 386 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:29.359 this question often enough. I was lecturing once on this subject, 387 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:31.920 and one of my listeners, who perhaps didn't lean too 388 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.079 much toward the religious side, said, doctor Hill, I don't 389 00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:38.799 want to embarrass you. I said, you go right ahead, 390 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:42.799 my friend. If you can embarrass me, you're really good, 391 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:47.119 because I've not been embarrassed even by experts. He said, 392 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.039 Suppose that I asked you that question, how do you know? 393 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:52.680 And I asked you if you believed in God, that 394 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:55.319 there was a God, and asked you, how do you know, 395 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.119 wouldn't you be in a fix? I said, my friend. 396 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:01.400 If there is one one thing in this universe in 397 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.079 connection with which there is more evidence of the existence 398 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.839 of than anything else, it is the existence of a God. 399 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.799 I wouldn't perhaps describe the god that you describe. I 400 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.839 might not call him by the name that you call 401 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:15.359