I have never been a fan of the Tony Robbins’ of the world, whether of the Joel Olsteen persuasion or the non-religious variety, with the former leaving a much more bitter taste in my mouth. As it turns out, the generations of long ago had no shortage of these geniuses.
As we were looking at old newspapers, magazines, and other vintage publications my Parents dug out of a relative’s house when she was placed in a nursing home I ran across an advertisement for the late great Dr. Orison Swett Marden, prognosticator of prognosticators, seers of seers, and all around success guarantor of the early twentieth century.
According to The Interwebs, Marden provided humankind with a several books, started a magazine called Success, and provided us with such ground breaking proverbs as,
“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.”
or the ever popular,
Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.”
One might legitimately scoff at my scoffing. After all, there is no doubt that some truth is buried in these platitudes. However, there are three primary ideas that “do comb my hair the wrong way”.* First, these individuals inevitably side-step other realities such as IQ, mental health, tragedy (Marden had his own to be fair), and other characteristics of the world that can cut many people off at the knees under just the right circumstances from which they are unable to “make [opportunities]”, and under which they may indeed need that evil of all evils, the “help of others”. Second, is the incredibly naive idea, lacking all nuance, that health, wealth, and prosperity are yours for the taking as the power “is in yourself alone”. Finally, there is the glaring reality that the man behind the curtain is successful most of all by telling you how to be successful, which is convenient to say the least.
To be fair, I am not saying all such individuals are preying on the weak to bring in phat stacks, or that they do not believe what they say. In addition, as I mentioned above, there absolutely is truth in their message. The simple fact is that their message is a) not of ultimate import (at least when speaking of financial gain), and b) is simplistic and lacks a reflection of other truths about the universe we live in i.e. its propensity for destruction despite one’s best efforts to thwart its evil designs for humanity.
However, it is fair to say that my conclusions are based on presuppositions. In my case, that God exists and that our ultimate purpose is to bring Him glory. Even in the case of “Christian” gurus this is not the impetus for their sage advise. Even without these presuppositions, the majority of self-help literature seems to rest on a shallow perspective of reality, and an opportunity for the author to succeed. I could be wrong however, it is hard to argue against Marden when none other than Theodore Rosevelt has this to say about him,
I am so deeply touched and pleased by your editorial in “Success” that I must write and tell you so.
Come to to think of it, the impetus for these thoughts is nothing more than a reaction to an ad in a 1919 newspaper that promises success or your money back. I have not actually read the collected works of Marden so it would be fair to dismiss my thoughts as the ramblings of a bitter, unsuccessful, “weak m[a]n wait[ing] for opportunities” to come to me.
* Joe voicing his displeasure with Uncle Pumblechook to Pip in Dickens’ Great Expectations
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Osteen
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orison_Swett_Marden
https://www.success.com/article/orison-swett-marden-an-original-thinker
