384 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL POWER
It is the opinion of the editors of this updated edition that Napoleon Hill
would not have been deterred by the lack of scientific evidence. Hill's interest in
telepathy was purely practical, not in proving the existence of some parapsychic
phenomenon. The editors advise the reader to suspend any skepticism you might
have because the term telepathy has, in the intervening years, fallen out of favor.
Instead, pay attention to the perfectly logical and practical application Hill had in
mind when he used the term.Telepathy can be an important factor to a student who is preparing
to make effective use of Imagination, because this telepathic capacity of the
Imagination is constantly picking up thought waves and vibrations
of every description. So-called "snap judgment" and "hunches:' which
prompt one to form an opinion or decide upon a course of action that
is not in harmony with logic and reason, are usually the result of stray
thought waves that have registered in the Imagination.
That you may understand how closely interwoven are the seventeen
factors upon which this course is based, consider, for example, what
happens when a salesperson who lacks confidence in themsel£ and in
their goods, walks in to see a prospective buyer. Whether or not the
prospective buyer is conscious of it, his or her Imagination immediately
"senses" that lack of confidence in the salesperson's mind. The sales-
person's own thoughts are actually undermining their own efforts. This
will explain, from another angle, why Self-Confidence is one of the most
important factors entering into the great struggle for success.
The principle of telepathy and the law of attraction, through which
like attracts like, explain many a failure. If the mind has a tendency to
attract those thought vibrations which harmonize with the dominating
thoughts of a given mind, you can easily understand why a negative mind
that dwells on failure and lacks Self-Confidence would not attract a
positive mind that is dominated by thoughts of success.
Perhaps these explanations are somewhat abstract, but it seems
necessary to inject them here as a means of enabling the student to