read it and write down everything you learn from it THE MYSTERY OF SEX TRANSMUTATION

The Tenth Step to Riches

THE MEANING of the word “transmute” is, in simple language, “the changing, or transferring of one element, or form of energy, into another.”

The emotion of sex brings into being a state of mind.

Because of ignorance on the subject, this state of mind is generally associated only with the physical side of human nature. And because of the improper influences to which most people have been subjected in acquiring their knowledge about sex, this emphasis on the purely physical aspects of sex has created strong, and often destructive, biases in most people’s minds.

The emotion of sex has back of it the possibility of three constructive potentialities. They are:

the perpetuation of the human race
the maintenance of sound physical and emotional health
the transformation of mediocrity into genius through transmutation
“Sex transmutation,” which is involved in the third constructive potentiality, is simple and easily explained. It means the switching of one’s mind, or “dominating mental focus,” from thoughts (and consequent actions) of a merely physical expression to thoughts (and consequent actions) of another nature. It does not mean in any sense “celibacy” or “repression of natural instincts.” It does mean approaching sex and engaging in sexual conduct from a completely positive, completely constructive, balanced and appropriate state of awareness.

Sexual desire is the most powerful of human desires. Its exercise in proper relation and proportion to all other aspects of life is positive and healthy. People who are driven by this desire—in a positive, constructive sense—can “channel” it to develop keenness of imagination, courage, willpower, persistence, and creative ability that are all but unknown at other times. So strong and impelling is the desire for sexual contact that some people freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it. When “harnessed” and “redirected” constructively, this motivating force maintains all of its attributes of keenness of imagination, courage, and so forth, which may be used as powerful creative forces in literature, art, or in any other profession, calling, or undertaking—including, of course, the accumulation of riches.1

The transmutation of sex energy calls for the exercise of willpower, to be sure, but the reward is worth the effort. The desire for sexual expression is inborn and natural. The desire cannot and should not be submerged or eliminated. But it should not be allowed to dominate or dictate one’s behavior. It should be given an extra outlet through forms of expression which enrich the body, mind, and spirit. If not given this form of outlet, through the process of transmutation, it will seek outlets through purely physical channels.

A river may be dammed, and its water controlled for a time, but eventually it will force an outlet. The same is true of the emotion of sex. It may be submerged and controlled for a time, but its very nature causes it ever to be seeking a means of expression. If it is not transmuted into some creative effort, it will find a less positive, less productive outlet. Fortunate, indeed, are those individuals who have discovered how to give their sexual emotion an outlet through some form of creative effort, for they have, by that discovery, lifted themselves to the level of “genius performance.”

Research has disclosed these two significant facts:

The individuals of greatest achievement tend to be those who have highly developed sexual natures and who have learned the art of sex transmutation.
Generally speaking, those who have accumulated great fortunes and achieved outstanding recognition in literature, art, industry, architecture, and the professions, were motivated by the influence of romantic love for another person.
The research in which these astounding discoveries were made went back through the pages of biography and history for more than 2,000 years. Wherever there was evidence available in connection with the lives of men and women of great achievement, it indicated most convincingly that they possessed highly developed sexual natures.

The emotion of sex is an irresistible force against which there can be no such opposition as an immovable body. When driven by this emotion, individuals become gifted with a super power for action. Understand this truth and you will catch the significance of the statement that sex transmutation can lift one to genius-level performance.

The emotion of sex contains the secret of creative ability.

Destroy the sex glands, whether in a human being or a beast, and you have removed a major source of action. For proof of this, observe what happens to any animal after it has been neutered. A bull or a bulldog becomes thoroughly docile after it has been altered sexually. Sex alteration takes out of any male animal all the FIGHT that was in him. Sex alteration of the female has the same quieting effect.2

The 10 Mind Stimuli

The human mind responds to stimuli, through which it may be “keyed up” to high rates of vibration known as enthusiasm, Creative Imagination, intense desire, and so forth. The ten stimuli to which the mind responds most freely are:

the desire for sexual expression
love
a burning desire for fame, power, or financial gain—MONEY
music
close friendship between either those of the same sex or those of the opposite sex
a Master Mind Alliance based upon the harmony of two or more people who ally themselves for spiritual or temporal advancement
mutual suffering, such as that experienced by people who are persecuted
autosuggestion
fear
narcotics and alcohol
The desire for sexual expression comes at the head of the list of stimuli which most effectively step up the vibrations of the mind and, thus, “start the wheels” of physical action. Eight of these stimuli are natural and constructive. Two are destructive. The list is here presented for the purpose of enabling you to make a comparative study of the major sources of mind stimulation. From this study it will be readily seen that the emotion of sex is, by great odds, the most intense and powerful of all mind stimuli.

This comparison is necessary as a foundation for proof of the statement that transmutation of sex energy may lift one to genius-level performance. Let us find out what constitutes a genius.

Some wiseacre once said that a genius is someone who “wears long hair, eats odd food, lives alone, and serves as a target for comedians.” A better definition of a genius is “an individual who has discovered how to increase mental intensity and concentration to the point where he or she can freely communicate with sources of knowledge not available through ordinary levels of thought.”

The person who thinks will want to ask some questions concerning this definition. The first question will be, “How can one communicate with sources of knowledge which are not available through the ORDINARY ‘intensity’ and ‘concentration’ of thought?”

The next question will be, “Are there known sources of knowledge which are generally available only to geniuses, and if so, WHAT ARE THESE SOURCES and exactly how can they be reached?”

I shall offer proof of the soundness of some of the more important statements made in this book—or at least I shall offer evidence through which you may secure your own proof through experimentation. In doing so, I shall answer both of these questions.

Genius Is Developed Through the Sixth Sense

The reality of a sixth sense in human beings has been well established. This sixth sense is “Creative Imagination.” The faculty of Creative Imagination is one which the majority of people never use during an entire lifetime, and if used at all, it usually happens by mere accident. A relatively small number of people use WITH DELIBERATION, PURPOSE, AND FORETHOUGHT the faculty of Creative Imagination. Those who use this faculty voluntarily and with understanding of its functions are, by definition, geniuses.

The faculty of Creative Imagination is the direct link between the finite human mind and Infinite Intelligence. All so-called revelations referred to in the realm of religion, and all discoveries of basic or new principles in the field of invention, take place through the faculty of Creative Imagination.

When ideas or concepts flash into one’s mind through what is popularly called a hunch, they come from one or more of the following four sources:

Infinite Intelligence
one’s subconscious mind, wherein is stored every sense impression and thought impulse which ever reached the brain through any of the five regular senses
the mind of some other person who has just “released” the thought, or “picture” of the idea or concept, through conscious thought
the other person’s subconscious storehouse
The first, third, and fourth sources above are tapped through some mysterious process or processes, perhaps extra-sensory in nature and manifestation, which we cannot yet explain and which we do not even dimly comprehend. What we do comprehend is that these sources are tapped, every day around the globe, and that there are no other KNOWN sources from which “inspired” ideas or hunches may be received.

The Creative Imagination functions best when the mind is operating—or functioning, concentrating, “vibrating” (as a result of some form of mind stimulation)—at a level of intensity and awareness that is significantly higher than that of ordinary, normal thought.

When brain action has been stimulated through one or more of the ten mind stimulants, it has the effect of lifting a person far above the horizon of ordinary thought and permitting that individual to envision distance, scope, quality, and character of THOUGHTS that are not available on lower planes, such as the one where a person is engaged in the solution of the everyday problems of business and professional routine.

When lifted to this “higher level of thought” through any form of mind stimulation, an individual occupies, relatively speaking, the same position as one who has ascended in an airplane to a height from which may be seen objects beyond the horizon line that limits one’s vision while on the ground. Moreover, while on this higher level of thought, the individual is not hampered or bound by any of the stimuli which circumscribe and limit one’s vision while wrestling with the problems of gaining the three basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. The individual is in a world of thought in which ORDINARY, workaday thoughts have been as effectively removed as are the hills and valleys and other limitations of physical vision when that person rises in the airplane.

While on this exalted plane of THOUGHT, the creative faculty of the mind is given freedom for action. The way has been cleared for the Sixth Sense to function. It becomes receptive to ideas which could not reach the individual under any other circumstances. The Sixth Sense is the defining faculty which marks the difference between a genius and an ordinary individual.

The more this creative faculty is used, the more it becomes alert and receptive to thought vibrations originating outside the individual’s subconscious mind—and the more the individual will come to rely upon it and make demands upon it for thought impulses (hunches, inspirations, or insights). This faculty can be cultivated and developed only through use.

That which is known as one’s “conscience” operates entirely through the faculty of the Sixth Sense.

The great artists, writers, musicians, and poets become great because they acquire the habit of relying upon the “still small voice” which speaks from within through the faculty of Creative Imagination. It is a fact well known to people who have keen imaginations that their best ideas come through so-called hunches.

There is a great orator who does not reach his performance peak until he closes his eyes and begins to rely entirely upon the faculty of Creative Imagination. When asked why he closed his eyes just before the climaxes of his oratory, he replied, “I do it because then I speak through ideas which come to me from within.”

One of America’s most successful and best-known financiers followed the habit of closing his eyes for two or three minutes before making a decision. When asked why he did this, he replied, “With my eyes closed, I am able to draw upon a source of superior intelligence.”3

Dr. Elmer R. Gates of Chevy Chase, Maryland, created more than 200 useful patents, many of them basic, through the process of cultivating and using the creative faculty. His method is both significant and interesting to anyone interested in achieving “genius status,” a category to which Dr. Gates unquestionably belonged. Dr. Gates was one of the truly great, though generally less publicized scientists of the world.

In his laboratory he had what he called his “personal communication room.” It was practically soundproof and so arranged that all light could be shut out. It was equipped with a small table on which he kept a pad of writing paper. When Dr. Gates desired to draw upon the forces available to him through his Creative Imagination, he would go into this room, seat himself at the table, lower the lights, and CONCENTRATE upon the KNOWN factors of the invention on which he was working, remaining in that position until ideas began to flash into his mind in connection with the UNKNOWN factors of the invention.

On one occasion, ideas came so fast that he wrote continuously for almost three hours. When the thoughts stopped flowing and he examined his notes, he found they contained a description of principles which had no parallel among known scientific data. Moreover, the answer to his problem was intelligently presented in those notes. In this manner Dr. Gates completed more than 200 patents which had been begun, but not completed, by other inventors who were less resourceful than Dr. Gates. Evidence of the truth of this statement lies in the United States Patent Office.

Dr. Gates earned his living by “sitting for ideas” for individuals and corporations. While they may not have realized it, some of the largest corporations in America paid him substantial fees, by the hour, for sitting for ideas.4

The normal faculty of reason is often faulty because it is largely guided by one’s accumulated experience. But not all knowledge which one accumulates through experience is accurate. Ideas received through the creative faculty are much more reliable because they come from sources more reliable than any which are available to the reasoning faculty of the mind.

The major difference between the genius and the ordinary “crank” inventor can be found in the fact that the genius works through the faculty of Creative Imagination, while the crank knows nothing of this faculty. The scientific inventor (such as Mr. Edison or Dr. Gates) makes use of both the synthetic and the creative faculties of imagination.

For example, the scientific inventor operating in the genius mode begins an invention by organizing and combining known ideas, or principles accumulated through experience, through the synthetic faculty (the reasoning faculty). If this accumulated knowledge turns out to be insufficient for the completion of the invention, the scientific inventor then draws upon the other sources of knowledge that are made available through the creative faculty. The exact method by which this is accomplished varies with the individual, but this is the sum and substance of the procedure that genius inventors use:

THEY “STIMULATE” THEIR MINDS SO THAT THEIR BRAIN FUNCTIONS ON A HIGHER-THAN-AVERAGE PLANE AND AT A HIGHER-THAN-AVERAGE LEVEL OF INTENSITY, using one or more of the ten mind stimulants or some other stimulant of their choice.
THEY CONCENTRATE upon the known factors (the finished part) of their invention and create in their mind a perfect picture of unknown factors (the unfinished part) of their invention. They hold this picture in mind until it has been taken over by their subconscious mind, then they relax by clearing their mind of ALL thought and waiting for their answer to flash into their mind.
Sometimes the results are both definite and immediate. At other times the results are negative, depending upon the state of development of their Sixth Sense, or creative faculty.

Mr. Edison tried out more than 10,000 different combinations of ideas through the synthetic faculty of his imagination before he tuned in through the creative faculty and got the answer which perfected the incandescent light. His experience was similar when he invented the phonograph.

There is plenty of reliable evidence that the faculty of Creative Imagination exists. This evidence is available through accurate analysis of people who have become leaders in their respective callings without having had extensive educations. Lincoln is a notable example of a great leader who achieved greatness through the discovery and use of his faculty of Creative Imagination. He discovered and began to use this faculty as the result of the stimulation of love which he experienced after he met Anne Rutledge, a statement of the highest significance in connection with the study of the source of genius.

The pages of history are filled with the records of great leaders whose achievements may be traced directly to the influence of their beloved, the person who aroused the creative faculties of their minds through the stimulation of sex desire. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of these. When inspired by his first wife, Josephine, he was irresistible and invincible. When his “better judgment” or reasoning faculty prompted him to put Josephine aside, he began to decline. His defeat and St. Helena were not far distant.

If good taste would permit, I might easily mention scores of individuals well known to the American people who climbed to great heights of achievement under the stimulating influence of their spouses, only to drop back to destruction AFTER money and power went to their heads and they cast aside their original loves for someone new. Napoleon was not the only person to discover that sex influence, from the right source, is more powerful than any substitute of expediency, which may be created by mere reason.

The human mind responds to stimulation!

Among the greatest and most powerful of these stimuli is the sexual urge. When harnessed and transmuted, this driving force is capable of lifting individuals into that higher sphere of thought which enables them to master the sources of worry and petty annoyance which beset their pathway on the lower planes.

Unfortunately, only the geniuses have made this discovery. Others have accepted the experience of sexual urge without discovering one of its major potentialities—a fact which accounts for the great number of “others” as compared to the limited number of geniuses.

For the purpose of refreshing the memory, in connection with the facts available from the biographies of certain individuals, we here present the names of a few outstanding achievers, each of whom was known to have had a highly sexual nature. The genius which was theirs undoubtedly found its source of power in transmuted sex energy:

GEORGE WASHINGTON

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

ROBERT BURNS

THOMAS JEFFERSON

ELBERT HUBBARD5

ELBERT H. GARY6

OSCAR WILDE

WOODROW WILSON

JOHN H. PATTERSON7

ANDREW JACKSON

ENRICO CARUSO8

Your own knowledge of biography will enable you to add to this list. Find, if you can, a single individual in all the history of civilization who achieved outstanding success in any calling who was not driven by a well-developed sexual nature.

If you do not wish to rely upon biographies of persons who are no longer alive, take inventory of those whom you know to be individuals of great achievement today and see if you can find one among them who does not have high sexual energy.

It may be a controversial contention, but sexual energy is the creative energy of virtually all geniuses. There never has been and never will be a great leader, builder, or artist lacking in this driving force of sex.

Surely no one will misunderstand these statements to mean that ALL who are highly sexed are geniuses! Individuals attain the status of genius ONLY when, and IF, they stimulate their mind so that it draws upon the forces available through the creative faculty of the imagination. Chief among the stimuli which can produce this stepping up of mental functions is sex energy. The mere possession of this energy itself is not sufficient to produce a genius. The energy must be transmuted from desire for merely physical contact, into some other form of desire and action before it will lift one to the status of a genius.

Far from becoming geniuses because of great sex desires, the majority of people lower themselves, through misunderstanding and misuse of this great force, to the status of the lower animals.

Why Most People Seldom Succeed Before 40

I discovered from the analysis of more than 25,000 people that individuals who succeed in an outstanding way seldom do so before the age of 40, and more often they do not strike their real pace until they are well beyond 50. This fact was so astounding that it prompted me to go into the study of its cause most carefully, carrying the investigation over a period of more than 12 years.

This study disclosed the fact that one major reason why the majority of people who succeed do not begin to do so before the age of 40 to 50 is their tendency to DISSIPATE their energies through overindulgence in the physical expression of the emotion of sex. Most people never learn that the sexual urge has other possibilities which far transcend in importance that of mere physical expression. The majority of those who do make this discovery, do so after having wasted many years at a period when sexual energy is at its height, prior to the age of 45 to 50. This usually is followed by noteworthy achievement.

The lives of many people up to and sometimes well past the age of 40 reflect a continued dissipation of energies, which could have been more profitably turned into better channels. Their finer and more powerful emotions are sown wildly to the four winds. Out of this habit grew the term, “sowing one’s wild oats.”

The desire for sexual expression is by far the strongest and most impelling of all the human emotions, and for this very reason this desire—when harnessed and transmuted into action other than that of physical expression—may lift one into the “genius mode.”9

History is not lacking in examples of individuals who sometimes attained the status of genius with the aid of artificial mind stimulants in the form of alcohol and narcotics. Edgar Allen Poe wrote “The Raven” while under the influence of liquor, “dreaming dreams that mortal never dared to dream before.” James Whitcomb Riley10 did some amazing writing while under the influence of alcohol. Perhaps it was thus he saw “the ordered intermingling of the real and the dream, the mill above the river, and the mist above the stream.” Robert Burns wrote under the influence of intoxicants the immortal words, “For Auld Lang Syne, my dear, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for Auld Lang Syne.”

But let it be remembered that many such individuals have destroyed themselves in the end.11 Nature has prepared her own potions—for example, deep love, sexual drive, and the power of autosuggestion—with which people may safely stimulate their minds so they function on a higher plane that enables them to tune in to fine and rare thoughts which come from—no one knows where! No satisfactory substitute for Nature’s natural stimulants has ever been found.

The world is ruled and the destiny of civilization is established by the human emotions. People are influenced in their actions not by reason so much as by feelings. The creative faculty of the mind is set into action entirely by emotions and not by cold reason. The most powerful of all human emotions is that of sex. There are other mind stimulants, some of which have been listed, but no one of them, nor all of them combined, can equal the driving power of sex.

A mind stimulant is any influence which will either temporarily or permanently increase significantly the freedom, intensity, and concentration of thought. The 10 Mind Stimuli described earlier are those most commonly used. Through these sources, or combinations of them, one may commune with Infinite Intelligence or enter, at will, the storehouse of the subconscious mind—either one’s own, or that of another person, a procedure which is all there is of genius.

A teacher, who has trained and directed the efforts of more than 30,000 people involved in sales, made the astounding discovery that individuals with high sex drives generally make the most efficient salespeople. The explanation is that the factor of personality known as personal magnetism is nothing more nor less than sex energy. Individuals with high sex drives always have a plentiful supply of personal magnetism. Through cultivation and understanding, this vital force may be drawn upon and used to great advantage in relationships with other people. This powerful energy may be communicated to others through the following:

The handshake. The touch of the hand indicates instantly the presence of magnetism or the lack of it.
The tone of voice. Magnetism, or sex energy, is the factor with which the voice may be colored or made musical and charming.
Posture and carriage of the body. People with high sexual energy move briskly and with grace and ease.
The vibrations of thought. Highly sexual people, perhaps unconsciously, mix the emotion of sex with their thoughts, or may do so at will, and in that way may influence those around them.
Body adornment. People with high sex drives are usually very careful about their personal appearance. They usually select clothing of a style becoming to their personality, physique, complexion, etc.
When employing salespeople, the more capable sales manager looks for the quality of personal magnetism as the first requirement of a sales representative. Men and women who lack sex energy will never become enthusiastic nor inspire others with enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is one of the most important requisites in salesmanship, no matter what one is selling. The public speaker, orator, preacher, lawyer, or salesperson who is lacking in sex energy is generally a flop when it comes to being able to influence others. Couple with this the fact that most people can be influenced only through an appeal to their emotions, and you will understand the importance of sexual energy as a part of the salesperson’s native ability. Top salespeople attain the status of mastery in selling because they either consciously or unconsciously transmute the energy of sex into SALES ENTHUSIASM! In this statement may be found a very practical suggestion as to the actual meaning of sex transmutation.

Salespeople who know how to take their mind off the subject of sex itself and direct that energy into sales effort—with as much enthusiasm and determination as they would apply it to its original purpose—have already acquired the art of sex transmutation whether they know it or not. The majority of salespeople who transmute their sex energy do so without being in the least aware of what they are doing or how they are doing it.

Transmutation of sex energy calls for more willpower than the average person cares to use for this purpose. Those who find it difficult to summon willpower sufficient for transmutation may gradually acquire this ability. Though this requires willpower, the reward for the practice is more than worth the effort.

The entire subject of sex is one about which the majority of people appear to be unpardonably ignorant. The sexual urge has been grossly misunderstood, slandered, and burlesqued by the ignorant and the evil minded for so long that the very word “sex” has taken on lascivious and often sordid connotations. Men and women who are known to be blessed—yes, BLESSED—with high sex drives are frequently looked upon with suspicion and even contempt. Instead of being considered normal, healthy, and blessed, they are often considered abnormal, flawed, and even base.

Millions of people, even in this age of enlightenment, have inferiority complexes which they developed because of this false belief that a high sex drive is a curse. Yet statements about the virtue of sexual energy should not be construed as a justification for the libertine. The emotion of sex is a virtue ONLY when used intelligently and with discrimination. It may be misused, and often is, to such an extent that it debases, instead of enriches, both body and mind. The better use of this power is the purpose of the explanations in this chapter.

It seemed quite significant when I discovered that practically every great leader whom I had the privilege of analyzing was a person whose achievements were largely inspired by someone that individual loved deeply. In many instances, the beloved was a modest, self-denying spouse of whom the public had heard little or nothing, although in a few instances the source of inspiration turned out to be a lover. Perhaps such cases may not be entirely unknown to you.

Intemperance in sex habits is just as detrimental as intemperance in habits of drinking and eating. In the age we live in, sexual intemperance is common. This orgy of indulgence may help account for the relative shortage of great leaders today. No individual can avail himself or herself of the forces of Creative Imagination while dissipating them. Human beings are the only creatures on earth which violate Nature’s purpose in this connection. Every other animal indulges its sexual nature in moderation and with purpose which harmonizes with the laws of nature. Every other animal responds to the call of sex only “in season.” Human beings are inclined to declare “open season.”

Every intelligent person knows that stimulation in excess through alcoholic drink and narcotics is a form of intemperance which destroys the vital organs of the body, including the brain. Not every person knows, however, that over indulgence in sexual expression may become a habit as destructive and as detrimental to creative effort as narcotics or liquor.

A sex-obsessed individual is not essentially different from a drug addict! Both have lost control over their faculties of reason and willpower. Sexual overindulgence may not only destroy reason and willpower, but it may also lead to either temporary or permanent mental dysfunction. Many cases of hypochondria (imaginary illness) grow out of habits developed in ignorance of the true function of sex.

From these brief references to the subject, it may be readily seen that ignorance on the subject of sex transmutation forces stupendous penalties upon the ignorant, on the one hand, and withholds from them equally tremendous benefits, on the other.

Widespread ignorance on the subject of sex is due to the fact that the subject has been surrounded with mystery and beclouded by dark silence. The conspiracy of mystery and silence has had the same effect upon the minds of young people that the psychology of prohibition had. The result has been increased curiosity and desire to acquire more knowledge on this forbidden subject. And to the great shame of all lawmakers and most physicians—who by training are best qualified to educate youth on that subject—appropriate information has all too often not been made readily available.

Seldom does an individual enter upon highly creative effort in any field of endeavor before the age of 40. The average person reaches the period of greatest capacity to create between 40 and 60. These statements are based upon careful observation and analysis of thousands of men and women. They should be encouraging to those who fail to arrive before the age of 40, and to those who become frightened at the approach of old age. The years between 40 and 50 are, as a rule, the most fruitful. Individuals should approach this age not with fear and trembling, but with hope and eager anticipation.

If you want evidence that most people do not begin to do their best work before the age of 40, study the records of the most successful individuals known to the American people, and you will find it. Henry Ford had not hit his pace of achievement until he had passed the age of 40. Andrew Carnegie was well past 40 before he began to reap the reward of his efforts. James J. Hill was still running a telegraph key at the age of 40. His stupendous achievements took place after that age.12 Biographies of American industrialists and financiers are filled with evidence that the period from age 40 to 60 is the most productive age for almost everyone.

Between the ages of 30 and 40, people begin to learn (if they ever learn), the art of sex transmutation. This discovery is generally accidental, and, more often than otherwise, individuals who make it are totally unconscious of their discovery. They may observe that their powers of achievement have increased around the age of 35 to 40, but in most cases they are not familiar with the cause of this change—the fact that Nature begins to harmonize the emotions of love and sex in the individual between the ages of 30 and 40 so that they may draw upon these great forces and apply them jointly as stimuli to action.

Sex alone is a mighty urge to action, but its forces are like a cyclone—they are often uncontrollable. When the emotion of love begins to mix itself with the emotion of sex, the result is calmness of purpose, poise, accuracy of judgment, and balance. What person who has attained the age of 40 is so unfortunate as to be unable to analyze these statements and to corroborate them by his or her own experience?

When driven by the desire to please a member of the opposite sex, based solely upon the emotion of sex, individuals may be and usually are capable of great achievement, but their actions may be disorganized, distorted, and totally destructive. When driven by their desire to please someone they love, based upon the motive of sex alone, an individual may steal, cheat—even, in an extreme case, commit murder. But when the emotion of LOVE is mixed with the emotion of sex, these same individuals will guide their actions with sanity, balance, and reason.

Criminologists have discovered that some of the most hardened criminals can be reformed through the influence of a strong love. There is no record of a criminal’s having been reformed solely through the influence of sex. These facts are well known, but their cause is not. Reformation comes, if at all, through the heart, or the emotional side, not through the head, or the reasoning side. Reformation means, “a change of heart.” It does not mean a “change of head.” A person may, because of reason, make certain changes in his or her personal conduct to avoid the consequences of undesirable effects, but GENUINE REFORMATION comes only through a change of heart—through a DESIRE to change.

Love, romance, and sex are all emotions capable of driving individuals to heights of super-achievement. Love is the emotion which serves as a safety valve and ensures balance, poise, and constructive effort. When combined, these three emotions may lift one to the “altitude” of a genius. There are geniuses, however, who know but little of the emotion of love. Most of them may be found engaged in some form of action which is destructive or at least not based upon justice and fairness toward others. If good taste would permit, a dozen geniuses could be named in the field of industry and finance who ride ruthlessly over the rights of their fellow human beings. They seem totally lacking in conscience. The reader can easily supply his own list of such individuals.

The emotions are states of mind. Nature has provided human beings with a chemistry of the mind which operates in a manner similar to the principles of chemistry of matter. It is a well-known fact that through the aid of the science of chemistry, a chemist can create a deadly poison by mixing certain elements, none of which are in themselves harmful.13 The emotions may likewise be combined so as to create a deadly poison. The emotions of sex and jealousy, when mixed, may turn a person into an insane beast.

The presence of any one or more of the destructive emotions in the human mind, through the chemistry of the mind, creates a poison which may destroy one’s sense of justice and fairness. In extreme cases, the presence of any combination of these emotions in the mind may destroy one’s reason.

The road to genius consists of the development, control, and proper use of sex, love, and romance. The process involves encouraging the presence of these emotions as the dominating thoughts in one’s mind, and discouraging the presence of all the destructive emotions. The mind is a creature of habit. It thrives upon the dominating thoughts that are fed to it. Through the faculty of willpower, one may discourage the presence of any emotion and encourage the presence of any other. Control of the mind, through the power of will, is not difficult. Control comes from persistence and habit. The secret of control lies in understanding the process of transmutation. When any negative emotion presents itself in one’s mind, it can be transmuted into a positive, or constructive emotion, by the simple procedure of changing one’s thoughts.14

THERE IS NO OTHER ROAD TO GENIUS THAN THROUGH VOLUNTARY SELF EFFORT! Individuals may, for a time, attain great heights of financial, business, or other achievement solely by the driving force of sex energy, but history is filled with evidence that such people may, and usually do, carry with them certain traits of character which rob them of the ability to either keep or enjoy their fortune. This is worthy of analysis, thought, and meditation, for it states a truth, the knowledge of which may be helpful to all men and women. Ignorance of this truth has cost thousands of people their privilege of HAPPINESS, even though they possessed riches.

The emotion of love brings out and develops the artistic and one’s artistic and esthetic nature. It leaves its impress upon one’s very soul, even after the “fire” has been subdued by time and circumstance. Memories of love never pass. They linger, guide, and influence long after the source of stimulation has faded. There is nothing new in this. Every person who has been moved by GENUINE LOVE knows that it leaves enduring traces upon the human heart. The effect of love endures because love is spiritual in nature. Individuals who cannot be stimulated to great heights of achievement by love are, sadly, hopeless—they are dead, though they may seem to live. Even the memories of love are sufficient to lift one to a higher plane of creative effort. The major force of love may spend itself and pass away like a fire which has burned itself out, but it leaves behind indelible marks as evidence that it passed that way. Its departure often prepares the human heart for a still greater love.

So go back, at times, into your yesterdays and bathe your mind in the beautiful memories of past love. It will soften the influence of present worries and annoyances. It will give you a source of escape from the unpleasant realities of life, and just maybe—who knows?—your mind will yield to you, during this temporary retreat, some idea or plan which may change the entire financial or spiritual status of your life.

If you believe yourself unfortunate because you have loved and lost, perish the thought. One who has loved truly can never lose entirely. Love is whimsical and temperamental. Its nature is ephemeral and transitory. It comes when it pleases and goes away without warning. Accept and enjoy it while it remains, but spend no time worrying about its departure. Worry will never bring it back.

Dismiss also the thought that love never comes but once. Love may come and go, times without number, but there are no two love experiences which affect one in just the same way. There may be, and there usually is, one love experience which leaves a deeper imprint on the heart than all the others, but all love experiences are beneficial except to the person who becomes resentful and cynical when love makes its departure.

There should be no disappointment over love, and there would be none if people understood the difference between the emotion of love and the emotion of sex. The major difference is that love is spiritual, while sex is biological. Love is chemistry; sex is physics. No experience that touches the human heart with a spiritual force can possibly be harmful, except through ignorance or jealousy.

Love is, without question, life’s greatest experience. It brings one into communion with Infinite Intelligence. When mixed with the emotions of romance and sex, it may lead one far up the ladder of creative effort. The emotions of love, sex, and romance are sides of the eternal triangle of achievement-building genius. Nature creates geniuses through no other force.15

Love is an emotion with many sides, shades, and colors. The love which one feels for parents or children is quite different from that which one feels for one’s sweetheart. The one is mixed with the emotion of sex, while the other is not.

The love which one feels in true friendship is not the same as that felt for one’s beloved, parents, or children, but it, too, is a form of love.

Then there is the emotion of love for things inanimate, such as the love of Nature’s handiwork. But the most intense and burning of all these various kinds of love is that which is experienced in the blending of the emotions of love and sex. Marriages that are not blessed with the eternal affinity of love and sex, properly balanced and proportioned, cannot be fully happy ones—and seldom endure. Love alone will not bring happiness in marriage, nor will sex alone. But when these two beautiful emotions are blended, marriage may bring about a state of mind which is closest to the spiritual that one may ever know during earthly existence. When the emotion of romance is added to those of love and sex, the obstructions between the finite human mind and Infinite Intelligence can be removed. Genius status can be attained. And The Tenth Step to Riches can be mastered.