Outwitting The Devil (in Business and in Life)
A lot of folks have heard of Napoleon Hill and a lot of folks have read his 1937 success classic, Think And Grow Rich.
Which makes it strange that so few have read a book he wrote the very next year, Outwitting The Devil.
Or maybe it’s not that strange — as the book wasn’t actually released until 2011. Hill’s wife and, eventually, later members of his family were afraid the content of the book may be a little too out there for Hill’s previous readers.
See, in the book, Hill interviews the Devil.
Some folks suggest, Hill, with his connections to alternative spiritualities, may have engaged in a channeling exercise and really spoke with some disembodied spirit, claiming to be Old Scratch, himself. Others believe it, simply, to be a fiction.
Personally, I’m not really convinced of the existence of a sentient, malevolent spirit that embodies all evil and goes by the name of Satan. But I don’t think it’s beyond the scope of possibility that Hill made contact with some inner part of himself, some embodiment of his own or of humanity’s collective dark side and posed questions to it.
Either way, the book is full of wisdom, I feel. When Hill (under the moniker, Mr. Earthboud) asks the Devil how he keeps mankind stuck in the mud, under his thrall, he tells him he (among other things) encourages drifting.
Drifting is, put simply, going with the flow. Accepting the story you’re given; accepting the status quo. Heeding authority.
We bow to the dark one, we lose ourselves to sin when we don’t live the life we could live. When we trade out potential magnificence for an ordinary life of not trying. Not pursuing our passion.
That’s not un-similar to how the Bible describes sin. The Greek word for sin describes “missing the mark.” In the last days, God is said to spew out those who were “lukewarm,” lacking passion and conviction.
So, The Devil, Hill, and maybe even the Bible seem to be telling us, to write our own stories. To become the hero our own tales, and not to accept the life handed to us by those in power, be they presidents, priests, or employers.
Simple, but not easy, to be sure. We’re all born in different places, at different times, under different limitations. Living the life of your dreams is never as simple as just deciding to. If you want to fly, you have to contend with the law of gravity, somehow. If you want to transcend your current circumstances, you have to contend with them. The first step, I should think, is deciding on a different story. One you’re writing.
Simple, but not easy.
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