"Self Help"

"Self Help" was a collection of essays written by Samuel Smiles during the Industrial Revolution. The main philosophy of the essay was that in order to succeed in life, you must continuously work hard and go beyond your limits, if you want success. He also says that the poor are not wealthy, because they do not work hard, and are just lazy. Smiles was born in Scotland, and was one of their 11 surviving children. He left school at 14 and was able to have an apprenticeship along with a doctor. He was raised with the belief that "The Lord will provide." This is quite controversial, as it goes against his initial theory that it is the individual who must look after themselves, and it is not their God that will look after themselves. He does not disprove religion and holy thinking, but he says that it cannot be relied on. Why didn't he just disprove religion? Why didn't he question God's reliability?
Smiles did have a trace of religious philosophy that came from his mother, and how she was raising nine children without a husband, and lived off of the philosophy that God will provide. He saw how hard his mother had worked and used her psychology to write the essay. However, i believe that he realized that one needs a motivation or positive force to fuel their self confidence to succeed, and in his mother's case, it was God.