Book Review: The Science of Being Great
I finished reading the book The Science of Being Great by the American author Wallace Wattles (1860 - 1911). Wallace Wattles was a prolific American author in the self-help genre who put out his best works in the early 20th century. This might be an early book in the self-help genre, which is a relatively recent phenomena because in past generations, people would often read history or religious texts if they wanted to learn something new that would help them. This is a good book that definitely should be categorized as Religious Studies. Why? Because this book was really about how to be great not as how society defines it, but what true greatness is from a spiritual lens as defined by the Bible. As a practicing Christian, this is exactly the type of book I enjoy reading and learning from. I believe that we’ve perhaps lost sight of what it really means to be great in modern day 2026 and in our society overall. Maybe, just maybe, we are all chasing the wrong things and we are not as great as we think we are unless we align ourselves spiritually with the Creator. Wattles walks the reader over how to be great and breaks it down into an exact science, and I think the book is a fantastic one overall. I’m going to summarize the key points and save some quotes I want to remember for future reference.
“Only God knows all truth; therefore only God can have real wisdom or the
right thing to do at all times, and man can receive wisdom from God.”
A person is on the path to greatness only when they actively seek out who God is: As I’ve gotten older, I went through a journey over many years to realize I don’t care about achievements, status, money, material success, etc. too much anymore. Yes I need money to survive, but am I going to kill myself to become rich or define my success by my accomplishments or status? Nope, I don’t think so. But then society tells us, how could someone be great if they are not famous, or if they don’t accomplish something so grand that their name is etched in history? How could someone be great if they are not immensely rich and own an empire? How could someone be great if their co-workers or contemporaries are better than them? I’ve realized that the message we hear in society needs to be amended. It’s become so evident to me that knowing who God is gives someone the real source of true greatness, with the wisdom to know what to do in all situations. Contrary to popular belief, true greatness is having a strong character, staying humble, and always doing the right thing. It’s about showing mercy, justice, integrity, living ethically, and most importantly: serving other people and not just living to satisfy our own wants and needs. These values and lessons we can only learn if we get closer to God, because they are not natural human responses to our daily lived experiences. Therefore as said best in Luke 9;48, which is about as explicit as it gets: “For he who is least among you all - he is the greatest.” What does this mean? The “least among you” describes someone who actively seeks God, who humbles him or herself, and puts serving others as paramount. This is the true definition of greatness and all the teachings are in the Bible. This is the way.
“Nothing was ever in any man that is not in you; no man ever had more
spiritual or mental power than you can attain, or did greater things than
you can accomplish. You can become what you want to be.”
Any person can become great: The bottomline is, anyone can become “great” or become a “genius” if they desire to be. The only thing is they have to do it in the right way, with the right methods. It doesn’t really matter what a person’s family background is, socio-economic status is, what they’ve done in the past, etc. when it comes to being a great person. If a person is aligned with the Creator, there is actually NO way that they CAN’T become great. Why? Because alignment with God allows someone to have the right spirit, which leads to the right mindset, which ultimately leads to the right actions. One has to adopt the mindset that one is a “god among gods”, meaning that a person is never superior to anyone else, but also never inferior to anyone else. Practically speaking, it means to respect everyone in their domains of expertise, but never believe that anyone is better than you because you also have your own domains of expertise. It’s not certain that in life there are special people who are destined to do great things as main characters, while others are destined to be average and watch as non-player characters (NPCs). This becomes an absolute certainty however if we don’t grow, learn, and seek new challenges. We must be allergic to ignorance and avoid it at all costs! It’s important to learn from people that you admire, but never fall into the mental trap of putting them on a pedestal and thinking that they are better than you. It’s not true, because one can become just as great in their own domains of expertise with enough practice and dedication.
“You can never become a great man or woman until you have overcome
anxiety, worry, and fear. It is impossible for an anxious person, a worried
one, or a fearful one to perceive truth; all things are distorted and thrown
out of their proper relations by such mental states…”
A person can never become great if they allow anxiety, worry, and/or fear to hijack their life: Worry, anxiety, and fear are three of the most insidious emotions that we can feel as people. We all let one or multiple of these emotions take over sometimes, even though it’s often just thoughts that are not even true. These three emotions are extremely dangerous and must be kept in check at all times; otherwise, we become stunted people who timidly approach everything. The worst thing that could happen is we let these emotions cloud our mindsets and then let them limit our actions. Let me break down each emotion from my personal experience over many years. I’m not a psychologist, but I’ve observed that:
- Anxiety is a negative emotion that we get when we feel nervous about something, which then lowers our ability to face the specific situation head-on.
- Worry is a common phenomenon where we are negatively disposed to something that hasn’t even happened yet! There’s absolutely no evidence that the negative mental thoughts are actually going to happen, but we live as if they have already happened.
- Fear is a strong emotion where we let our thoughts race to the worst case scenario. This paralyzes us and leads to analysis paralysis and no action.
However if someone is truly on the path to greatness, then that person doesn’t need to be crippled by anxiety, worry, or fear! It’s so true: if one applies the two points made above, then one knows that God is in control of all situations and therefore anxiety, worry, or fear become totally manageable. Even in the worst situations imaginable, one can remain present and have total inner peace. I’ve personally experienced this multiple times in my life where I received inner peace that was divinely given in very high-stress situations that would have broken any other person. In fact the crazy thing is that I always bounce back from stressful situations and emerge stronger than ever! Why? Because I always pick up some lessons that make me sharper for the future knowing that it all happened for a reason. :)
“You will never do great things in the external world until you think great
things in the internal world; and you will never think great things until
you think about truth; about verities. To think great things you must be
absolutely sincere; and to be sincere you must know that your intentions are
right. Insincere or false thinking is never great, however logical and brilliant
it may be.”
A person must fully trust in what they perceive to be the truth, even if it’s unconventional or unpopular, in order to be great: This is something that people may know, but it’s very hard to put into practice. Everything about being a great person starts with having the right inner thoughts that get closer to the truth. What do you know to be true? Even if it’s unpopular or it’s not what your friends or family believe, what do you know to be true? Are you willing to act on it and possibly suffer consequences for it? And to reiterate the question for the third time, what do you know to be true? The bottomline is: only by taking calculated risks (not reckless risks) can someone have a chance to be great based on what they believe to be true. These thoughts must be nurtured and protected, no matter what anyone else says. It’s way too easy to let someone else’s opinions affect one’s own beliefs and let negativity or lies seep in if we are not careful. There are so many influencers, gurus, charlatans, and fake people out there that pretend to be someone they are not, and they influence us in a way such that we are deceived from what we know to be true and what’s best for us. Therefore our inner monologue has to be sincere, honest, and non-deceptive, filtering out the signals from the noise. We can let other people deceive us, but it’s also just as insidious when the person that fools us is ourselves. We often fool ourselves when we trust too much in ourselves, or our own abilities, or our current circumstances, without thinking that our situations could change on a dime. We talk ourselves into an over-inflated sense of delusion and we lose touch with reality. Therefore to get back to reality, always trust God and let him work through you. This way a person remains humble, but confident and that’s a formidable place to be in. A person who’s humble, but confident is someone who is ready for both “war and peace” metaphorically. No situation bad or good is going to shake him or her fundamentally; bad situations are not going to cause depression and morosity while good situations are not going to over-inflate the ego. The belief that any situation is surmountable, happens for a reason, and will lead to something greater powers the individual to always keep going!
“Do not talk about your greatness; you are really, in essential nature, no
greater than those around you.”
Truly great people don’t talk about their greatness; they know it internally and live it out instead: The truly great people in life never feel the need to prove themselves to anyone or tell other people about all the great things they’ve done. This is the same for truly confident people, they don’t need to tell other people about their confidence. This is true for any other adjective you can think of (i.e. smart, kind, generous, forgiving, bold, courageous, and more). Great people have an internal expectation that’s higher than any external expectation that could be levied on them by any other person. They act on what they believe about themselves instead through their actions, which does the talking for them. It’s all a paradox, kind of like the saying that says something along the lines of: the loudest person in the room may be the one that knows the least. I think the quiet approach is the right way because it keeps a person grounded and does not allow one’s ego or pride to take full control. When ego or pride takes over the steering wheel, it often leads to trouble and a state of mind that’s always reacting as opposed to dictating outcomes. Letting one’s ego, pride, and/or emotions dictate actions is what average people do, but this is not what the greats do. It’s such an oxymoron that the people who are quietly focused on greatness by doing the work, as opposed to excessive self-promotion or constant social comparisons, are the ones that eventually get recognized as being great. There’s something special about being so focused on doing the small tasks well and not worrying about any external forces or expectations that it results in someone who’s very grounded. The individual is always in control and can turn any situation around, no matter how bleak it may look from the outside. Internally they know that they can work through situations and problem-solve to find solutions. They don’t worry or panic and just keep marching on no matter what!
These are all my thoughts on The Science of Being Great by Wallace Wattles, a fantastic book and God bless.