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Originally Posted by Michael Chui  Out of curiosity, does anyone know of a reference to this term previous to Stephen R. Covey's 7 Habits book? |
Although not a written text, I remember a friend in the mid-70's attending a seminar entitled "Abundant Living". I believe that the message had roots in Norman Vincent Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking". The jist of the seminar was get right with your cosmic creator, eliminate all negative thinking and you will be rewarded with material wealth. Apparently the "harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" stuff was of little concern to them since it obviously was referring to someone else.
An earlier text that relates to "the law of attraction" was written by the Sufi master, Hazrat Inayat Khan (July 5, 1882 – February 5, 1927) and is called "Mastery Through Accomplishment". Be advised (or for some of you "forewarned") that the end game for Khan was spiritual development as opposed to portfolio development.
I think for every "abundance" billionaire out there, you can probably find a "scarcity" billionaire. In my line of work, I deal with a lot of "moneyed" people and when they are reviewing invoices many are squeezing for every last penny, more of a "scarcity" mindset. They probably do switch to an "abundance" mindset when wanting to justify certain expenditures to themselves.
I'm not certain that the scarcity mindset is "false", but if the abundance thing works, I think it's because the thought of "possibility" opens the mind's reticular activating system and the brain then allows helpful information through the filter. No matter what the mindset, not much is going to happen without taking action when, for whatever reason, opportunities are recognized.