Was Wallace Wattles Rich?

Things are rarely ever the way they seem.  Our lives tend to be complex even when they appear to be shallow and unimportant.  I did a little research on a book “The Science of Getting Rich” written by Wallace Wattles and I must admit that it left me somewhat perplexed.  Here was a person giving advice about how to get rich and he never seemed to make it in his own life.  One of the keys to market a success book is to draw attention to your own experience or resume of success.  So why is this book so popular after all these years when the author lacked a history of any great success at becoming rich?  I would like to address this question in this article, “Was Wallace Wattles Rich”.

Here are excerpts from a letter written to Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, the publisher of Nautilus magazine, by the daughter of Wallace Wattles, Florence Wattles, shortly after his death. This should give some insight:

“My dear Mrs. Towne,

Your letter of the 14th received . . . perhaps a little later I can write the romantic story of my Father’s life and make it really worthwhile. You knew, didn’t you, that he lost a good position in the Methodist Church because of his “heresy”?

He met George D. Herron at a convention of reformers in Chicago in 1896 and caught Herron’s social vision. I shall never forget the morning he came home. It was Christmas. Mother had put her last dollar into a cuff box and we had placed it beneath an evergreen branch which served for our Christmas tree and which we had illuminated with tallow candles and strung with popcorn. Finally Father came. With that beautiful smile he praised the tree, said the cuff box was just what he had been wanting – and took us all in his arms to tell us of the wonderful social message of Jesus, the message which he later embodied in “A New Christ.”

From that day until his death he worked unceasingly to realize the glorious vision of human brotherhood. For years his life was cursed by poverty and the fear of poverty. He was always scheming and planning to get for his family those things which make the abundant life possible.

In the first chapter of “How to be a Genius” he says: “Man’s greatest happiness is found in the bestowal of benefits on those he loves.” The supreme faith of the man never left him; never for a moment did he lose confidence in the power of the master Intelligence to right every wrong and to give to every man and woman his or her share of the good things of life.

When we came to Elwood (Indiana) three years ago, Father began a Sunday night lectureship in Indianapolis. This was our only source of income. Later he began to write for Nautilus and to word out his own philosophy. He wrote almost constantly. Then it was that he formed his mental picture. He saw himself as a successful writer, a personality of power, an advancing man, and he began to work toward the realization of this vision . . . . He lived every page of “How to be a Genius.” In the last three years he made lots of money, and had good health, except for his extreme frailty.

I have written this hurriedly, but I think it will give you an idea of the life struggle of a great man – his failure and success. His life was truly THE POWERFUL LIFE, and surely we can say, at least in Elwood, “The name of him who loved his fellow men led all the rest.”

With all good wishes, I am,

Very sincerely,

FLORENCE A. WATTLES”

Reference: http://wallacewattles.wwwhubs.com/

Let me draw attention to the two parts of Florence Wattles letter that I highlighted.  First, the heresy charge and getting kicked out of the Methodist church.  Use of the terms “Formless Substance” and “Formless Intelligence” in “The Science of Getting Rich” when obviously referencing God probably was enough to get him booted out of the Methodist church but I can’t say for sure, it may have been something else.  I will leave that discussion for another time and place, and probably someone else but I wanted to draw attention to this, you will see why later.  The second highlighted quote addresses our topic.  “In the last three years he made lots of money, and had good health, except for his extreme frailty.”  It should be noted that Wallace Wattles also wrote a book entitled, “The Science of Getting Well” yet he constantly struggled with his health.

Why did Florence mention that Wallace made a lot of money during his last years, and why did she emphasize that his health was better? It could have been that Florence, Wattles daughter, was just happy to be able to share that her father did achieve some measure of success in the areas of money and health since he wrote about success in his two books cited in this article.  Not unlike many other well known personalities where success is mostly posthumous, this seems to be the case here.  It would not be the first time a daughter embellished her father’s accomplishments; mine does it all the time.  If Wattle’s success included great riches it certainly would have been known to the publisher of many of his articles.

Here is the problem in my opinion, I think Wallace Wattles made a major mistake when he used the term “Science” in his works.  The term science is frequently used to denote “the fact”. Things are never that cut and dry and rigid in life and those who are proponents of the scientific method would be the first to admit that there are always exceptions if they value honesty.  Rhonda Byrne the force behind the bestseller, “The Secret”, who credited Wallace Wattles and “The Science of Getting Rich” as the inspiration for her book, caught a lot of flak from those who brought out this point of allowing for exceptions.  The truth of the matter is we just don’t know why certain principles work  sometimes  but not all of the time.  The criticism of the law or principle of attraction which was the content of The Secret reveals just this point.  Just talk to James Ray, one of the experts cited in The Secret, who was charged with the sweat lodge murders, if the law of attraction always works.

Many of the authors and proponents of “Self-help” ideas are guilty of the same thing that they accuse legalistic Christians of at times.  Legalistic Christians try to codify the whole experience of God and they do not give the proper emphasis to relationship with God and the possibility of not knowing everything concerning God and the Bible.  Self-help proponents codify self help principles and many times diminish that God is personal and desirous of relationship.  They also tend to not allow for the unknowing factor of life and experience. Can you see that they are essentially both doing the same type of thing?

A.A. Allen, a Pentecostal preacher, held healing crusades but he was never able to conquer alcoholism and died of cirrhosis of the liver.  Wallace Wattles died without ever becoming rich.  Both of them taught things that they never really experienced themselves.  I believe we need to allow for a God who is beyond finding out totally in this life.  We would do well to allow for a little grace when dealing with one another.

So how do we account for the popularity of Wallace Wattles, even after all of these years?  I think the key is in the title of his book, “The Science of Getting Rich”.  Most people are interested in “getting rich” or at least richer.  The internet is peppered profusely with articles, courses, and eBooks’ promising riches for a price.  Would Wattle’s book be as popular if it was only “the possibility of getting rich” and not “the science”?  I don’t think so – I mean it is the “science”.  Couple these two things, “getting rich”, and “science” and you have an almost fool-proof way of garnering attention.  This, I think, is the secret to the success of Wallace Wattles.

Some of the ideas in the book are quite good ones in my opinion therefore you will find a link to a free download of a pdf copy at the end of this article.  The idea of fulfilling our potential instead of competing against others is one example brought out by Wattles.  Another is the recognition of the spiritual root of things and how spirit precedes matter.  The Bible reveals this at the very beginning and addresses this key at numerous other places.  Life is about more than what you can see physically and even science is confirming this fact as technology grows.    In conclusion, was Wallace Wattles rich?  The answer appears to be no but this does not mean that he can’t teach us something of value in our attempts to live a truly successful life.

 Free Science of Getting Rich Ebook