734 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-CREATION
COMMENTARY
In the year 2000, Albert Einstein was chosen by Time magazine as Person of the
Century. He was described by managing editor Walter Isaacson as "both the
greatest mind and paramount icon of our age" whose "extraordinary brilliance
made his face a symbol and his name a synonym for genius."
Had Einstein been born today, however, he might have been diagnosed in his
early years as having attention deficit disorder. As a child he was slow to learn to
talk. As a student he showed little promise and was even expelled from school.
Isaacson refers to him as "the patron saint of distracted schoolkids."
But what Einstein could do was the very thing Napoleon Hill refers to in this
lesson, for once Einstein set himself a "definite chief aim, II he had a phenomenal
ability to focus his concentration. His famous theories were all the result of
"thought experiments"-experiments that took place inside his mind! His
breakthroughs came, just as Hill suggests, by mentally organizing his knowledge
and "concentrating on many closely related subjects that blend into each other
and complete the main subject. IIAmbition and desire are the major factors that enter into the act
of successful Concentration. Without these factors the magic key is
useless, and the main reason why so few people make use of this key
is that most people lack ambition, and desire nothing in particular.
Desire whatever you may, and if your desire is within reason and
if it is strong enough, the magic key of Concentration will help you
attain it. There are many scientists and research psychologists who
believe that the power of prayer operates through the principle of
Concentration on the attainment of a deeply seated desire.
Nothing was ever created by a human being that was not first
created in the Imagination, through desire, and then transformed into
reality through Concentration.
Let us put the magic key to a test through the aid of a definite
formula.