Introduction: The Foundation That Launched a Million Dreams
When Napoleon Hill published “Think and Grow Rich” in 1937 during the depths of the Great Depression, he gifted humanity with more than a success manual—he revealed the hidden science of consciousness that creates all achievement. Commissioned by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie to study over 500 self-made millionaires across 20 years, Hill distilled their common traits into 13 principles that form the backbone of modern success philosophy.
As a foundational pillar of the COE philosophy, “Think and Grow Rich” provides the practical framework for transforming thoughts into reality. While later works like Reality Transurfing and Busting Loose expand into quantum metaphysics, Hill’s principles remain the essential starting point for anyone beginning their journey of conscious creation. His famous declaration—”Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”—has proven true for millions who’ve applied his teachings.
This isn’t about positive thinking or wishful affirmations. Hill uncovered the actual mechanism by which consciousness interacts with the field of infinite possibilities to manifest tangible results. His work bridges the practical business world with deeper spiritual truths, making it accessible to skeptics and believers alike.
The 13 Principles: A Complete System for Consciousness-Based Achievement
Hill’s genius lay in recognizing that success isn’t random but follows definite laws as precise as those governing physics. His 13 principles work synergistically, each building upon the others to create an unstoppable force for achievement:
Desire: Not mere wishing but burning, obsessive desire that consumes your thoughts and drives all action. This aligns with the COE principle that intense focus directs creative energy.
Faith: The ability to see your goal as already achieved, maintaining unwavering belief despite current circumstances. This mirrors the Reality Transurfing teaching about maintaining your “slide” until reality reflects it.
Autosuggestion: The technique of programming your subconscious through repeated affirmation with emotion. This creates the inner state that outer reality must eventually mirror.
Specialized Knowledge: General knowledge has little power—you need specific, organized knowledge directed toward a definite purpose. This prevents the scattered energy that pendulums exploit.
Imagination: The workshop where all plans are created, connecting you to Infinite Intelligence. Hill understood that imagination is literally the ability to image-in new realities.
Organized Planning: Dreams require practical vehicles for manifestation. This principle grounds spiritual laws in practical action steps.
Decision: Successful people decide quickly and change slowly. This prevents energy leakage through indecision and doubt.
Persistence: The sustained effort that transforms faith into reality. Like Zeland’s mirror principle, persistence maintains the projection until reality reflects it.
Mastermind: The coordination of knowledge and effort between two or more people creates a “third mind” with exponentially greater power.
Sex Transmutation: Channeling the most powerful human drive into creative achievement rather than mere physical expression.
Subconscious Mind: The connecting link between finite human consciousness and Infinite Intelligence.
The Brain: A broadcasting and receiving station for thought vibrations, connecting to the universal field of consciousness.
Sixth Sense: The apex of Hill’s philosophy—direct communication from Infinite Intelligence once the other principles are mastered.
Desire: The Starting Point of All Reality Creation
Hill’s first principle cuts straight to the heart of manifestation: without burning desire, nothing manifests. But this isn’t about casual wanting—it’s about cultivating an all-consuming obsession that reorganizes your entire consciousness around your goal.
The six-step formula Hill provides for transmuting desire into reality remains one of the most practical manifestation techniques ever developed:
- Fix the exact amount: Vague desires produce vague results. Specificity focuses consciousness like a laser.
- Determine what you’ll give: Understanding the law of compensation—that receiving requires giving.
- Establish a definite date: Deadlines create urgency that accelerates manifestation.
- Create a definite plan: Even imperfect plans provide vehicles for universal forces to work through.
- Write a clear statement: Written goals engage multiple levels of consciousness simultaneously.
- Read twice daily with emotion: Repetition with feeling programs the subconscious for automatic achievement.
This formula works because it engages every level of consciousness—conscious mind (planning), subconscious mind (emotional programming), and superconscious connection (through faith and repetition). It’s a complete technology for reality creation hidden in plain sight.
Faith and Autosuggestion: Programming Your Reality Generator
Hill understood that the subconscious mind is the reality generator, creating experiences that match its programming. Faith isn’t religious belief but the emotional acceptance of your desire as already achieved. This creates what Hill calls “thought vibrations” that attract corresponding circumstances.
Autosuggestion is the practical technique for developing faith. By repeating emotionally charged statements of your desired reality, you literally reprogram your subconscious to accept new possibilities. Hill emphasized that mere repetition without emotion is useless—the subconscious responds only to emotionalized thoughts.
This principle directly parallels Scheinfeld’s teaching about moving from Phase 1 (limitation) to Phase 2 (unlimited) consciousness. Through autosuggestion, we overwrite limiting programs with expansive ones, gradually shifting our entire reality experience.
Modern neuroscience confirms Hill’s insights. Repeated thoughts with strong emotion create new neural pathways, literally rewiring the brain for different perceptions and behaviors. What seemed like mysticism in 1937 now has scientific validation.
The Mastermind Principle: Exponential Power Through Aligned Consciousness
Perhaps Hill’s most revolutionary insight was the Mastermind principle—the recognition that aligned minds create a “third mind” greater than the sum of its parts. This isn’t just about networking or brainstorming. It’s about the literal fusion of consciousness fields that creates exponential creative power.
When two or more people align in harmony toward a definite purpose, they tap into what Hill called the “psychic phase” of the Mastermind. This creates:
Collective Intelligence: Access to knowledge and insights beyond any individual member’s capacity.
Amplified Faith: Group belief strengthens individual faith, maintaining vision through challenges.
Energetic Momentum: Combined thought energy creates an unstoppable force for manifestation.
Synchronicity Activation: Mastermind groups report remarkable “coincidences” and opportunities appearing.
This principle explains why isolation limits achievement while collaboration expands it. The COE philosophy recognizes that we’re all connected in the unified field of consciousness—the Mastermind principle simply makes this connection conscious and purposeful.
Persistence: The Bridge Between Thought and Reality
Hill’s emphasis on persistence addresses the crucial gap where most manifestation attempts fail. Like Zeland’s mirror principle with its inherent delay, Hill understood that reality requires time to reorganize around new thought patterns. Persistence maintains the new pattern until physical reality catches up.
But this isn’t about stubborn force. Hill’s persistence is intelligent—willing to adjust plans while maintaining the core vision. It’s the recognition that temporary defeat is just feedback, not failure. Every setback contains the seed of equivalent or greater benefit when approached with persistent faith.
The four steps to developing persistence align perfectly with COE principles:
- Definite purpose backed by burning desire: Clear intention with emotional fuel
- Definite plan expressed in continuous action: Practical steps that give universal forces a vehicle
- Mind closed to negativity: Protecting your consciousness field from limiting influences
- Friendly alliance with supportive people: Environmental reinforcement of your new reality
Breaking Through the Six Ghosts of Fear
Hill identified six basic fears that sabotage reality creation: poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, and death. These fears act like Zeland’s pendulums, draining energy and distorting consciousness. Hill’s antidote was simple but powerful: you cannot hold fear and faith simultaneously.
By consciously choosing faith over fear in each moment, you reclaim the energy that fear steals. This isn’t denial but conscious choice about where to direct your creative power. Fear focuses on what you don’t want, thereby attracting it. Faith focuses on your desires, magnetizing their manifestation.
The Subconscious as Reality Interface
Hill’s treatment of the subconscious mind reveals sophisticated understanding of consciousness mechanics. He described it as the intermediary between human consciousness and Infinite Intelligence—essentially the interface through which we access the field of all possibilities.
Key insights about the subconscious include:
Emotional Programming: It responds only to thoughts mixed with strong emotion No Discrimination: It acts on negative thoughts as readily as positive ones
Continuous Operation: It works 24/7, creating reality even while you sleep Direct Access: Through meditation and autosuggestion, you can program it consciously
This understanding transforms the subconscious from mysterious force to practical tool. By consciously feeding it thoughts aligned with your desires, you harness its reality-creating power purposefully.
Modern Applications and Quantum Connections
While Hill wrote before quantum physics emerged, his principles align remarkably with quantum discoveries:
Thought Vibrations = Wave Functions: Hill’s concept of thoughts as vibrations parallels quantum wave functions that collapse into particles (reality) through observation (consciousness).
Infinite Intelligence = Quantum Field: Hill’s supreme universal force mirrors the quantum field containing all possibilities.
Mastermind = Entanglement: The “third mind” phenomenon resembles quantum entanglement where separate particles act as one system.
Faith = Observer Effect: Hill’s faith principle parallels how observation determines quantum outcomes.
These connections validate Hill’s insights through modern science while maintaining their practical applicability. You don’t need to understand quantum mechanics to apply these principles—Hill made them accessible to anyone willing to persist in their application.
Integration with Reality Transurfing and Busting Loose
Think and Grow Rich provides the practical foundation that later consciousness teachings build upon:
Foundation: Hill gives you the discipline, planning, and persistence needed for any reality creation practice.
Navigation: Zeland’s Reality Transurfing adds sophisticated understanding of energy dynamics and pendulum awareness.
Liberation: Scheinfeld’s Busting Loose reveals the ultimate illusion, freeing you from all limitations.
Together, they form a complete journey from practical achievement through conscious navigation to ultimate freedom. Hill’s principles remain essential because they train the mental discipline required for advanced consciousness work.
Your Think and Grow Rich Practice
Napoleon Hill’s principles aren’t just historical curiosities—they’re living tools for modern reality creation. Here’s how to begin applying them:
Week 1-2: Desire Crystallization
- Apply the six-step formula to one specific goal
- Write your statement and begin twice-daily reading
- Feel the emotion of already achieving your desire
Week 3-4: Faith Development
- Create powerful autosuggestions for your goal
- Repeat with deep emotion morning and night
- Act as if your goal is inevitable
Week 5-6: Mastermind Formation
- Identify 1-2 people aligned with your vision
- Meet weekly for mutual support and brainstorming
- Experience the power of combined consciousness
Week 7-8: Persistence Practice
- Face any setbacks as temporary feedback
- Adjust plans while maintaining core vision
- Celebrate small wins building toward your goal
Conclusion: Your Foundation for Conscious Creation
Think and Grow Rich remains essential reading because it provides the practical discipline for consciousness-based achievement. While later teachings reveal deeper metaphysical truths, Hill’s principles train the mental focus and emotional control required for any reality creation practice.
The COE philosophy recognizes Hill’s work as the crucial bridge between conventional success thinking and true consciousness mastery. His principles take abstract spiritual laws and make them concrete through specific practices anyone can apply.
As you study Think and Grow Rich alongside Reality Transurfing and Busting Loose, you’ll discover how each builds upon the others. Hill provides the foundation, Zeland adds the navigation tools, and Scheinfeld reveals the ultimate freedom. Together, they offer a complete education in conscious reality creation.
Remember Hill’s ultimate message: you already possess everything needed to achieve any goal. The principles simply awaken and direct your inherent creative power. Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it truly can achieve—not through magic but through the natural laws of consciousness that Hill revealed.
Begin today. Choose one principle and apply it consistently for 30 days. As you experience results, add another principle. Soon you’ll discover what millions have learned: these aren’t just success techniques but tools for conscious evolution, transforming not just your circumstances but your entire experience of being human.
The journey from thought to reality awaits. With Hill’s principles as your guide, you possess the master key to achievement in any area of life. Use it wisely, persistently, and with faith in the infinite power within you.
