From Poverty to Power Book Review
From Poverty to Power is Allen’s first book, published in 1901. Allen is known to be a pioneer of self help movement.
Allen described this book as
A book for all those who are in search of better conditions, wider freedom, and increased usefulness.
The book covers the nature of evil, and ways to get out of undesirable conditions to success, health and power.
Unlike the self help genre these days the book is short, to the point and clearly the author is under no pressure to add fluff to make the book longer. Search online and you will find some inexpensive editions.
I love self help books that add value with only a few hours of investment. This one fits the bill.
From Poverty to Power Book Summary
Note: This summary is made up of my notes, thoughts and highlights of important passages while reading the book. I keep updating the summary when I revisit it, and occasionally may edit it to reduce summary length. Don’t be surprised if it has changed between visits. The author’s words are in normal font, while my interpretations are in italics.
The Lesson of Evil
Unrest and pain and sorrow are the shadows of life.
It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil; it must be understood.
Evil is not an abstract some thing outside yourself; it is an experience in your own heart.
All evil is corrective and remedial, and is therefore not permanent. It is rooted in ignorance, ignorance of the true nature and relation of things, and so long as we remain in that state of ignorance, we remain subject to evil.
As evil is the direct outcome of ignorance, so, when the lessons of evil are fully learned, ignorance passes away, and wisdom takes its place.
The World a Reflex of Mental States
What you are, so is your world.
It matters little what is without, for it is all a reflection of your own state of consciousness.
All that you positively know is contained in your own experience; all that you ever will know must pass through the gateway of experience, and so become part of yourself.
Circumstances can only affect you in so far as you allow them to do so.
If circumstances had the power to bless or harm, they would bless and harm all men alike. The fact that the circumstances are alike to different souls proves that good or bad is not in the circumstance, but in the mind of him that encounters it.
Your world is a reflex of you.
The Way Out of Undesirable Conditions
Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.
Hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, lust, covetousness, all these are fires which bum, and whoever even so much as touches them must suffer the torments of burning. All these conditions of mind are rightly called “evil”.
The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within; the secret of all happiness as of all misery is likewise within.
There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide.
It is useless to desire more time, if you are already wasting what little you have.
The way to true riches is to enrich the soul by the acquisition of virtue.
If your real desire is to do good, there is no need to wait for money before you do it; you can do it now, this very moment, and just where you are.
Money does not constitute true wealth, nor position, nor power, and to rely upon it alone is to stand upon a slippery place.
Your true wealth is your stock of virtue, and your true power the uses to which you put it.
Rectify your heart, and you will rectify your life.
The Silent Power of Thought: Controlling and Directing One’s Forces
The most powerful forces in the universe are the silent forces.
It is foolish to ascribe war to the influence of one man, or to one body of men. It is the crowning horror of national selfishness.
The universe grew out of thought. Matter in its last analysis is found to be merely objectivized thought.
When anxiety steps in, correct judgment passes out.
There is no difficulty, however great, but will yield before a calm and powerful concentration of thought.
Every thought you think is a force sent out, and in accordance with its nature and intensity will it go out to seek a lodgment in minds receptive to it, and will react upon yourself for good or evil.
The difference between a savior and a sinner is this, that the one has a perfect control of all the forces within him; the other is dominated and controlled by them.
The Secret of Health, Success and Power
To dwell continually in good thoughts, is to throw around oneself a psychic atmosphere of sweetness and power which leaves its impress upon all who come in contact with it.
Where there is sterling faith and uncompromising purity there is health, there is success, there is power.
Many people complain that they have broken down through over-work. In the majority of such cases the breakdown is more frequently the result of foolishly wasted energy.
If you would secure health you must learn to work without friction.
To become anxious or excited, or to worry over needless details is to invite a breakdown.
Order your thoughts and you will order your life.
The foolish wish and grumble; the wise, work and wait.
Whatever your task may be, concentrate your whole mind upon it, throw into it all the energy of which you are capable.
Passion is not power; it is the abuse of power, the dispersion of power.
Let nothing draw you aside ; remember that the doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways.
The Secret of Abounding Happiness
Great is the thirst for happiness, and equally great is the lack of happiness.
Selfishness is the cause of all the unhappiness in the world.
Happiness is that inward state of perfect satisfaction which is joy and peace, and from which all desire is eliminated.
In so far as you succeed in losing yourself in the service of others, in that measure will happiness come to you, and you will reap a harvest of bliss.
It is in loving, not in being loved, The heart is blessed;
It is in giving, not in seeking gifts, We find our quest.
Whatever be thy longing or thy need, That do thou give;
So shall thy soul be fed, and thou indeed Shalt truly live.
Cling to self, and you cling to sorrow,
relinquish self, and you enter into peace.
Taking the first step with a good thought, the second with a good word, and the third with a good deed, I entered Paradise.
Lose yourself in the welfare of others; forget yourself in all that you do; this is the secret of abounding happiness.
The Realization of Prosperity
Prosperity, like happiness, is not an outward possession, but an inward realization.
He is poor who is dissatisfied; he is rich who is contented with what he has, and he is richer who is generous with what he has.
Nature gives all, without reservation, and loses nothing; man, grasping all, loses everything.
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