An Experiment in Greatness
By MITCH HOROWITZ
Consider how rare it is that any of us strive to live by an ideal or principle.
Most of the time we merely seek ways to win praise and security, particularly from peer groups that we want to enter or remain in. We go along, looking for whatever we believe we can realistically expect in money, prestige, and approval.
I personally challenge you to an experiment that breaks with that approach to life.
Are you willing to dedicate nine months, the gestation period of a new life, to relinquishing your conventional sense of security, and redirecting your existence to a new, and possibly higher, principle—one of your own choosing?
First, I want you to select a book that expresses an ethical or spiritual outlook with which you passionately agree. Choose a work that has attained posterity, even if within a small circle, which confirms its pull on the moral imagination.
Your choice may be a sacred or ethical work such as the Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Ethics of the Fathers, Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, or the Beatitudes. It may be a modern self-help book such as Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Alcoholics Anonymous, or Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Or it may be an artist’s or philosopher’s vision of the good life such as Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Thoreau’s Walden, or Neville’s Resurrection.
The core requirement is that your book must summon you to a deeply felt, intimate goal or sense of purpose. The only restriction is that your chosen work must not require you to denigrate or obstruct another person’s search or striving for his own highest potential.
At the back of your choice should be the perennial questions: What do I want? How do I want to live?
Then, dedicate yourself to your book and its ideas with unreserved passion for nine months.
I recommend not discussing what you’re doing with anyone, with exceptions for members of a trusted support group, such as a twelve-step or Master Mind alliance. This is so you feel no pressure to submit your choices to the judgment of others, who may not share your values.
The spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti taught that the biggest barrier to creativity and personal excellence is seeking out and clinging to “respectability.” This is one of the maladies of modern life. We nest within our own subcultures and their attendant social and news media. We repeat what we’re supposed to want, or what we claim to value, often (and sometimes subtly) parroting what we think makes us look good to others. We stand for nothing. Hence, we never realize what we’re capable of.
Are you willing to risk all that for nine months?
In committing to an ethical idea, you must also be willing for your idea to be wrong. If your selected idea proves faulty or false that forms a steppingstone in your search for truth. And if it proves right, you are delivered to a higher state of conduct, from which to continue your search.
Think how wonderful it would be to invest yourself fully in one ideal. The very act of living for something immediately gives you an improved sense of self-possession and purpose. You experience the sensation of being “consciously right, superior, and happy,” as William James put it. You are set apart.
I challenge you: Select one sacred or ethical book. Live by its principles for nine months. Dedicate yourself to its ideal with total commitment and unreserved abandon. See what happens.
The first 9 people to leave a comment about what book they are choosing for this experiment, and why they chose it, will receive a free copy of Neville’s At Your Command signed by Horowitz. If you are among the first nine comments send your shipping address to 30DayMentalChallenge@gmail.com .
Mitch Horowitz is the author, most recently, of The Miracle of a Definite Chief Aim, coming in April 2017 from Gildan/Hachette.
I’m ready! I’m planning to concentrate on the works of Wallace D. Wattles this year–I believe that he combines self-actualization with social responsibility. Mitch, I really appreciate how you always bring things back to ethics. All the great New Thought authors, Wallace D. Wattles, always said that following the Golden Rule was necessary to true success.
Couldn’t have been published at a better time. I need to summon the very best from myself, as I am embarking on a new adventure: Retirement, relocation and providing as much assistance to my disabled son as possible, now that we’ll be living closer together. Thank you.
I am using Ralph W. Emerson’s Self-Reliance. It was one of my favorites growing up, but feel I have grown away from it. So, time to revisit and own ti.
Is this where I enter to receive a free book? I do love Neville and have not read that one!
Yes. Thanks for your interest. Can you say a bit more about what you like about Neville and why you would choose him for this 9 month challenge?
I choose Neville Goddard’s “Awakened Imagination” because I know that everything in the external world is myself pushed out, that imagination is what creates and is more powerful a force than intellect. I want my 2017 to be full of miracles using my imagination.
I am going to choose “The Power of Your Subconscious” by Joseph Murphy. It is simply, yet very powerful and focussing on applying these principles and making them part of who I am – immersing myself in it, will make a tremendous difference in my life
also Murphy studied with Neville, so I feel like I am getting the core of New Thought with that book.
I choose “Walden”. Having grown up near Concord, the area and its vibrations have always been a strong draw to me. Sadly, I have never read this book, but it has always been on my reading list. Transcendentalism is something that has always intrigued me, and this article was the tipping point to finally delve into the topic and read the book!
The Tao te Ching. At first I wondered which book to try, since I enjoy many of the titles shared above. But I chose this one since I have multiple versions of it and a few texts where authors explore the ideas within the ancient text. So obviously something about it speaks to me.
I’d chose Tao Te Ching holds the deepest resonate with my aspiration
This is a unique challenge and I am happy to participate.
I’ve been doing my own version of this experiment for vaying lengths of time, using many of the books and authors mentioned in the post, for about ten years. I will accept this challenge and try one of the books mentioned that I never managed to get around to: Walden. It’s been on my list and on my bookshelf or years. Thanks for lighting a fire under me to read it!
Neville’s Resurrection. I’ve read almost everything(I think) from Neville, and understood some/most of it. Not Resurrection. And I need to address that. I’m much more prone to his late ’40s/early ’50s work. As I told Mitch Horowitz I always come back to the 5 Lessons delivered in LA in ’48. Timeless, classic wisdom. No filler. No fluff. No filter. So I commit to this.
The book I choose is The Science of Mind Text book by Ernest Holmes. I find it is open to all that is new coming down the pike. Dr. Holmes was a man of vision, openness, and compassion who was definitely a man for his time , however his writings are timeless and I find that many of the New Thought writers say it as he did. He always said there is nothing new under the sun and when we are awake and aware we can access anything we need to know through the Spirit that flows through each of us equally, just as Jesus and other Christed ones taught. In my experience any tools we can access from others on track, are valuable to see what works for each of us. I’m so grateful for those who are sharing the work.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays
The book I’m presently working with is “The Spirit of Spinoza, Healing the Mind” by physicist-turned-psychologist Neal Grossman. It may not yet have attained posterity, but I expect it will be on the way after I’ve completed development of a class on “Emotional Freedom” based on this book. Managing emotions (rather than letting them manage you) is generally overlooked in Science of Mind literature. I will submit this class to Centers for Spiritual Living for consideration for its Science of Mind curricula. I beta-tested the first four weeks of the class at the Fort Lauderdale Science of Mind Center, where it was well received. Now I am getting ready to teach the remaining four weeks shortly.
I don;t think I made the top 9 and I still accept the Challenge….For the past 15 years I have done my best to live my the Principles and Practices found in the Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes…and my life has changed and evolved in amazing ways during those years. For 2017 I’ll choose The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. The book has been on my shelf for years and I’ve never done a real study of his work…So for the next 9 months..I;m all about Wallace and everything I can learn from his work.
P.S. IF a free book comes my way…cool..I’ll write a review…and if not..that;s cool…I’ll just buy a copy when it is released.
Peace and BLessings
I accept the challenge Mitch and I have chosen Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Thanks for the reminder to reach beyond the status quo. I chose this book because I would like to realize the abundance within me and realize that with sincere practice, dedication and intention that the guidance contained in the book WORKS! Thank you for the challenge. Apologies for duplicate posts–Don’t blame me- Mercury retrograde! 😉
Excellent format ~ Have been somewhat struggling with just this thing, the book in mind requires some exercises that, while not extremely lengthy, do require some time and have felt challenges balancing health issues with the timing of these exercises… Yet, the teaching IS one that excites me on a profound level…
I’ve chosen Resurrection by Neville. For some reason I find his writing compelling and I simply can’t stop reading his work.
Wonderful idea! I’m choosing The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn. Looking forward to a transformational year!
I am going to choose Neville’s book, Awakened Imagination This morning I had an epiphany about my future life. What a perfect time to start this project. I’m in.
I will choose Wallace Wattles The Science of Being Rich. I have read it before but never committed 9 months to it before. I am looking forward to it.
Thank you! What a great idea! Coincidentally, moments ago I decided to give up TV for Lent. I think I’m going with The Upanishads. Thanks for the brotherly nudge! You’re a blessing.