effective - outstanding illustrations of this are found in the stories of Alexander the Great and Napoleon in Alexander's day an Oracle proclaimed that whoever unloosened the Gordian knot would become ruler of all Asia Alexander you may remember with one stroke of his sword cut the knot and rose to tremendous Heights and power napoleon was given a star sapphire when he was a child with the prophecy that it would bring him luck and someday make him emperor of france could it have been anything but the supreme belief in the