C O NT ENTS .

I INTR OD U C TI O N
.

5

II MIND A ND IT S M ATE R IAL

. 7

III TR AINING O F T H E PE R SP E C TIV E FAC UL TIE S

. . 23

IV . M E M O RY A ND H O W O D EV E L O P I T
T 41

V . A SSO C IATI ON O F I D EAS

I MAG INATI O N A ND H O W T O C UL TIV ATE I T . . 81

VII . H O W T O C O N C ENT R ATE T H E A TTENTI O N. 99

V III. P SY C H O P H Y S I C AL D E V E L O P M ENT
- 117

I$ . TH E L O S T AR T S O F C H I L D H O O D 129
M y mi n d t o me a k i n gd om is .

Epi c t e tus .

Th e mind s the measure o f th e

m am Wa t t s .

A s a man thinketh in h is heart

,

so is he. J e s us .

The man d o es n o t co ntain the

min d $ th e m ln d co ntains

m a m So cra t e s .

In the universe t h e re is n o thing

great but man $ in the man
th ere is nothing great but

m in d A ris t o t le .
 I .

INT R O D U C T I O N .

N the b rief arti cles whi ch

will make up thi s se r ies
my obje ct will be t o pre
sent in the sh ortest ,

plainest a nd m o s t pra c ,

tica l manner meth o d s

which in my experien c e and tha t o f
,

many o thers wh o have be e n m ore o r

less un der my inuen ce have s eemed ,

to b e c ondu c ive t o in c r e ased men t al

efcien cy .

It is sai d that there is n o r oyal r o ad

to learning ; and while in a sense this
is true it is also true that in all things
, , ,

even in mind trainin g there is a right ,

way a nd a wr o ng way o r rather th e re
is o n e r igh t way and the re a re a th o u
,

sand wr ong ways .

Now after trying it seems to me

, , ,

m os t o f the wr o ng ways I h ave found ,

5
 INTR OD UC TI ON .

wha t I b elieve to b e the right way ; and

in the s e articles I Shall try t o exp o und
it t o you Y ou need not expe c t an
.

essay o n psychology or a series of d is

s e rt a t i o n s up o n the fa culties of the
mind for there will be nothing of the
$

kind O n the other hand I shall s o

.
, ,

far as possible avoid text book terms-

and the text book t o ne b o th o f whi ch

-

are quite absurd and quite futile I .

shall try to give you bare fa cts I shall.

try t o give y o u plain directions ,

stripped o f all verbal and pseudo s cie n -

t i c um m e ry f o r the acquisition o f
,

men t al a c tivity and m ental supremacy .

W R C LA TSON MD
. . .
, .

Ne w Yo rk
 II .

MIN D A ND IT S M AT E R IA L .

I R ST of all before you,

are able to think at all ,

you must have some

thing t o think about Y o u .

must have s ome mental

stock in trade An d .
$

this men t al sto ck in trade you c an gain

only through the senses The appear .

ance o f a tree the r o ar of the o cean the

, ,

odor of a r o se the taste of an orange

, ,

the sensation you experien ce in han

dlin g a piece of satin all these are so
much material helping to form your
stock of mental images
the c ontent
of the consci ousness as the scholastic
,
$

psychologists c all it .

Now all these millions and millions

,

o f facts which make up our mental stock

in trade the material o f thought are
 S E C R E TS 0F

g aine d th r o ugh the s e nses sight hea r , ,

ing s mell taste t ou ch and s o o n

, , , , .

VA LUE OF TH E PER C EP TION S .

In a re cent article in a leading

F ren ch s c ienti c j ournal a well known ,
-

s c ientist Dr A P eres has presented

, . .
,

s o me ideas which are s o th o roughly in

ac c ord with my own observations ex

tending over many years that I yield ,

t o the temptation to quote D r P eres . .

rst makes note of modern degeneracy

in this respect I append a free trans
.

la t l o n o f a few extrac ts which seem to

me especiall y worthy o f attenti o n $

Have we naught but arms and
legs ? Have we not als o eyes and ears ?
And are not these latter o rgans n e ce s
sary to the use of the former ? Exe r
cise then not the muscles only bu t the ,

sens e s that co ntrol them Thus was .

a c eleb rated philos opher wont t o ex

press himself Nevertheless when we
.

measur e a cuteness o f visi o n we nd

th a t it is b e co min g w e ak e r ; h ar d ness
8
ME N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

of hearing is o n the in c r ea s e ; we su ff e r
daily fr o m la ck of skill in workmen ,

in domestics in ourselves ; as to taste

,

and smell they are used up thus d o

,

the inevitable laws of atavism a ct .

The trouble is that despite Ro us ,

s e a u s objurgations we have always

,

paid too little attenti o n to the hygiene

and education of the senses giving all ,

our care to the development of physical

strength and vigor ; so that the general

term physical edu c ation nally h a s

assumed the restri cted meaning o f

mus cular education .

The senses which put us in co n t a c t
,

with exterior objects have nevertheless

,

a primordial importance So .

great is their value that it is the inter

est and even the duty of man to pre
serve them as a treasure an d n o t to ,

do anyth ing which might der an ge their

wonderful mechanism .
$

The len gt h and ex a ctness o f the

sight the skill and sureness of the
,

hand th e deli c a cy o f the hear i ng are

, ,

9
of value t o arti s t and art isan alike b y
the perfection and rapidity o f work
that they insure N o thing em b ar
.

rasses a man s o traine d ; he is s o t o ,

speak ready fo r anything His culti

,
.

v a t e d senses have become for him tools

of universal use The more perfect

.

his sensati o ns the m o re justness and

,

clearness d o his ideas acquire The .

education o f the senses is the primary

form o f intelle c tual education .

The inuence of training o n the
senses is easily seen The adroit
.

mark sman never m l s s e s h is aim ; the

savage per c ei ve s a n d recognizes the
slightes t rustling ; c ertain blind per
son s k n o w c ol o rs b y touch ; the preci
si o n o f jugglers is surprising ; the
gourme t re cognizes the quality of a
wine am o ng a thousand others ; odor
is with chemists o ne o f the mos t s ensi
tive rea cti o ns
.

The sense s Opera te in tw o ways ,

eith er passively when the organ solely

, ,

fro m the fact that it is s ituated o n the

10
ME N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

s urface of the body and independently ,

of the will is acted upon by exterior

,

bodies ; or actively when the organ , ,

directed and excited by the will goes , ,

so t o speak in advance of the body to

,

receive the impression P as s ively we .

,

see hear touch smell ; actively we o h

, , , ,

serve listen feel sni ff By the e ff ect

, , ,
.

of the attention and by arranging our

organs in certain ways our impres ,

sions become more intense .

The impressions made by exterior
objects o n the sense organs the nerves -
,

and the brain are followed b y certain

,

mental operations These two things .

are o ften confounded We are in the .

habit of sayin g that our senses often

d eceive us ; it would be more just to
re c ogni z e that we do not always inter
pret correctly the data that they fur
nish us The art of interpretation
.
,

may b e learned .

The intuitive concrete form given ,

n owadays t o educ ation c ontributes to

t h e tr ainin g o f the senses b y d evel op
11
 SECRE TS 0F

in g atte n t i o n the hab i t o f ob s erva

,

ti o n but this d o es n o t suf ce T o per .

fe e t the senses and make each o f them ,

in it s own perce ptions a cquire all p o s

,

s ible force and precision they must be ,

subjected to special exercises appro ,

p ri a t e and graded A new

. gymnasti c
must thus b e created in all its de tails .
$

There are of course a certain num

, ,

ber Of s pecic o r racial impressions
$

and tendencies that come down through

what is c alled heredity ; b ut these are
merel y i nstin cts and impulses and ,

while they have an in fluen ce up o n the

person s character a n d habits o f

thought they do not in themselves

, , ,

provide a c tual m a terial for thought .

If y o u c an imagine a pers o n w h o
w a s blind and deaf wh o c o uld not
,

smell o r taste or feel o r move ; he would

be quite unable to think for he woul d ,

have in his mind nothing about which

t o think The material of thought
.
,

the mental st o ck in trade is gained ,

thr ough the senses ; and in an y ra t ional $

12
M E N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

eff o rt to train the mind w e must b egin

by training the senses the percep
tions as they are m o re a ccurately

,

called s o that we may s e e hear

, , ,

smell taste and feel with m o re pre c i

, ,

sion and keenness Trained per cep .

tions are the very foundatio n o f all

mental p ower .

O ur system o f training for mental

suprema cy will begin then with a , ,

brief study o f the per cepti o ns o r ,

senses and the methods b y whi ch we

,

may gain the power of seeing m o re

clearly listening more intently o f
, ,

feeling more delicately and in general , , ,

of developing the perceptive p owers .

M EM ORY A ND I TS U SES .

But the perceptions are of little value

unless we remember what we have per
c e ive d. Y ou may have read all the
wise books ever written you may have ,

traveled the wide world over ; you may

have had all kinds of interesting and

unusual experiences ; but unless y o u
13
 SECR E TS OF

ca n remem ber wh a t y o u have read what ,

y o u have seen and what y o u have d o ne

y ou will have n o real use o f it all
,

Y o u will ha v e gained n o mental st ock
$
in trade n o material by the empl o y
,

ment o f whi ch y o u may hope t o a chieve

menta l suprema cy It will be n e ce s
.

sary then for us to study n o t o nly

, ,

methods o f develop i ng power of per cep

tion b ut the means by which percep
,

tion may be retained and re c alled at

will.

T H E P O W ER O F A SSO C I A TIN G

But the mem o ry itself is not en ough .

I have kn own pe ople of unusual powers

of mem o ry who could not talk write , ,

or think well wh o were like the

bookful bl o ckhead I gnorantly read

,
.
,

with loads of learned humor in his

head ; but who in spite of all their
$
,

experien c e and their recollection o f it ,

had nothing to write nothing to s a y .

So memory is not enoug h O ne .

14
MENTA L S UP RE M A CY .

must h a ve the power o f putting mem o

ries together o f analyzing c ompar ,

ing c ontrasting and ass o ciating memo

, ,

ries until the entire mass o f memo

ries whi ch form the c ontent o f the
,

c ons ciousnes s is wr ought in t o one

$

splendid homogene o us whole a mas s

,

o f images ea ch o n e of which is inti

,

mately connected with many o thers ,

and all of whi ch are under instant com

mand of the c entral sovereign the
will .

It will be ne cessary then t o give , ,

special attention to this most impor

tant matter o f analyzing c omparing , ,

and grouping mental images O f all .

the activities o f the mind this faculty ,

c alled the power o f association is the ,
$

o n e m o st dire c tly c onducive to what is

gen eral ly c alle d a b rilliant mind .
$

I M A GINA T ION A ND JUDG M ENT .

The p o ssession of trained percep

tions of a retentive mem o ry and great
,

powers o f ass ociation are of enormous

15
value b ut o nly when co m b ined wi th

another faculty im a gl n a t io n and im
a gm a t i o n i s merely the power o f re c o m

b I n I n g c ertain mem o ries in su ch a

fashi o n that the combinati o n is new .

Imagination is a faculty o f the highest

p o ssible imp o rtan c e Every splendid
.

achievement every invention every

, ,

bus I n e s s enterprise every gr e at poem

, ,

o r bo ok o r picture has been n o t only

,

con ceived but completed in imaginati o n

befo re it be c ame actualized in fact .

An d then it is necessary t o be able

to co mpa re the mental pictures gath ,

ered b y the percepti ons remembered

,

and classied by memory and associa

tion s o as t o d etermine the relation o f
,

these memories t o each o ther and their

application t o othe r ideas or mental
imag es And this valuable faculty o f
.

the mi nd is c alled judgment .

NEC ESSI TY F OR C ON C EN TRA T ION .

N ow in o rde r t o do well in any o n e

,

of the things o f which I have been writ

16
deci s i vely an d t o act v i gorous l y upo n
that ch o I ce 1s a r ather ra r e thing He .

who has that powe r is s ai d t o ha v e a

s t ron g will .

This question o f w ill an d it s deve lop

ment is m o st imp o rt a n t The grea t .

di ff eren ce b etw ee n m e n betwee n

s tro ng men an d weakl ing s betw e en ,

th e h o n o red and the disregarde d b e

,

tween the maste rs and the serfs is

will A man o f s tro n g, unfa l te r ing
.

will i s sure t o su cce e d eve n if his a bili

ties are medio c re ; but a man of weak
will n o matter what h is abilities is
, ,

n o t likely to achieve either su cces s o r

h o n o r among men .

A S a great psychologist h a s said $

The educati o n of the will is really o f

far greater imp o rtan c e than that o f

the intelle ct .
$
And again $ Without
thi s $will $ there c an b e neither inde
p e n d e n
,
c e n o r rmness nor individual
,

ity of chara cter . Ik Marvel says $

$

R es olve is what makes a man mani

$
fest. Will make s men giants .

18
ME N TA L S UP R E M A C Y .

The will like any other mental faculty

, ,

may be highly developed by training ;

and this with many practical exercises
, ,

als o we will take up in its proper place .

I M P O R TA N C E O F TH E S O C IA L
FA C ULT I ES .

T he above b rief outline of the men

tal powers e mbraces those which any
one may develop and use without help
from or ass o ciati o n with o ther people .

The highest p owers of the m l n d how ,

eve r o r at any rate the most impres

, ,

sive p owers o f the mind can be devel ,

oped only through contact W I t h others

thr ough social intercourse .

A man might have miracul o usly keen

percepti o ns perfect mem o ry splendid
, ,

imaginati o n infallible judgment in

, ,

domitable will he might have all o f
these ; and yet h e w oul d miss the
reward s o f mental supremacy unless
he were c apable of dealing with other

people unles s he we re s ocially a cco m
pli s h e d .

19
 In o ur e ff orts to tra i n the powe rs of
the mind therefo re it will be n e ce s
, ,

s a ry t o make a study o f s o m e o f the

prin c ipl es aff e ctin g o ur rel a ti o ns with

o the r people ; and s o we shal l in t he
sam e pra cti c al and straightfo rwa rd
way dis cuss symp ath y a d aptability
, ,

an d s elf co mmand
-
. The imp o rtant
qu e sti o n o f verb a l e xpressi o n a s applie d
t o both sp eech and writin g will al s o
rece i ve sp e cial attention .

M EN TA L A C T ION A U NI T .

In co n clus 10n y o u must no t fo rget

th a t a lth o ugh I sp e ak o f the vari o u s
,

men t al a c ts a s if they wer e s eparate ,

th is is d o ne o nly for co nvenien c e o f

dis cu ss i o n and des c ripti o n A s a mat

.

ter o f fa c t the mind is o ne thing a

$
u ni t Al l th e va rI o us fa culties a c t
.

togeth e r co ns t an tly O ne c ann ot re

.

member wha t a n o ak tr e e lo oks l ike

un l ess he h a s c areful l y obse rve d a n
o a k t re e. He c ann o t imagine an o ak
tree u n le s s h e rememb e rs it He c an .

20
MENTAL SUPREMA CY .

n o t judge of the di ff ere n ce b e tween an

oak tree and a maple tree unless he
can I magine a picture of the t w o si d e
by side And he cann o t d o any o ne o f
.

these things with o ut attenti o n ; n o r

again can he con centrate his attenti o n
without an act of will .

S o we see that the v ariou s a cts o f

the mind per c eption memory imagi
, , ,

nation judgment attention and will

, , ,

are inextricably interdependen t and

that one act involves all the rest .

Happily this makes o ur task all the

easier and m o re interesting In this .

series I shall begin by giving y ou s ome

plain practical advice as t o the devel
o pm e n t o f the per ceptive p o wer s the
ability to s e e hear feel taste and
, , , ,

smell more e i cie n t ly But with every

.

moment of practi ce such as I advise

you will also be develo ping a more
exact and acute m em o ry a ner and ,

more expansive imagination a greater ,

power concentration and a s tro nger,

will When we c ome t o dis cuss the

.

21
 SECRE TS OF

cul tiva ti o n o f the will p ower the e xe r

cises will require the use of the per
c e p t i o n s the mem o ry the imagination
, , ,

and o ther faculties S o you s e e in

.
, ,

developing the mind in any one phase

of its activity you are at the same time
,

and by the same act adding to the

,

power and usefulness o f the en tire

22
M E N TA L S UPREM A CY .

I II .

T R AI NI NG O F T H E P E R C E P TI V E
FA C UL TI E S .

t he e ye s o f t hin gs .
H INDOO
P R OVERB .

HA T fa r s ee i n g genius
-
,

G o e the o n ce said that

,

he regarded himself as
th e center of all phen o m
ena a s o rt o f fo cus to
,

which c o nverge d every

thin g in the universe out of whi ch

,

came G oe the He als o claimed that

.

the real st a nd a rd fo r all things in life

w a s s impl y the mass of sensations
that w e r e appre ciable t o the human
senses .

In o ther w o rds Goethe understood

,

perfectly the now widely recognized

and widely ignored educational pri n
c iple that all mental a c tivity is based

23
up o n th e the th i n gs
per c ep ti ons up o n
we s e e an d hear and feel an d tas t e an d
sm ell .

A s well migh t y o u try t o bui ld a

h o use with o ut w oo d o r b ricks o r st o n e
o r m o rtar as t o try t o think with o ut
,

a g o od stock in trade o f imp r essi o ns$
,

images and mem o ries g athered b y th e

,

senses and the p er cep ti o ns .

B LURRED M EN TA L P I C TURES .

O ne o f the never failing mark s of

the comm o n mind the untraine d in e f

, ,

c ie n t mind is that the mental pi c

,

tures it co ntains are c onfused b lurred , ,

ine x a c t A pers o n with su ch a mind

.

will tell y o u that an aut o c ar just

passed him on the r o ad W a s it a .

big red car ? you ask Well he d o es

,
$
.
,

not quite know It might have been

.

red and yet he guesses it was bla ck ;

,

p ossibly it was gray H o w many pe

. o
ple were in it ? Three o r four or ve
-
four he thinks Ask him t o give
,
.

you an o utline o f a b ook h e h a s read

24
 SECRETS 0F

my ac qu a in t an ce makes a large sala r y

m e rely by his ab ility t o ju dge te a

through it s a vo r a tea taster . I
$

kn o w an o r chestra co ndu cto r wh o in ,

the full fortissim o o f h is sixty pie ce

b and will d e te ct a sl i ght err o r o f any
,

on e p e rfo rmer I co uld give many

.

o ther in s tan ce s within my o w n e xpe ri

ence of r emark abl e p o wers o f tra i n ed
per ception .

TH E PERC EP TION S A RE EA SI LY
T RA INED .

F or the en courage ment o f th o s e wh o

ar e aware that they do not get the b est
p o ssi b le s ervi c e fr o m their sense s an d

percepti o ns that they do not s e e all
there is to be seen hear e xa ctly and

,

distinctly an d s o o n for the benet

o f these I may say at once that the
s enses and perceptions are easily
trained A month or two of discipline
.

such as I am about to describe will

Sh o w most marked and gratifying de
ve lo pm e n t. In mos t cases a few
26
M E N TA L S UPREM A CY .

months training is

all that is n e c e s
sary ; for the habit of close observa
tion is soon formed ,
and once fo rmed
no further thought is required The .

matter takes c are of itself .

TH E PER C EP TION S O F CH I LD REN .

F irst o f all a wor d about the senses

,

and per ceptions of children Just here .

is one of the gri ev o us defe cts of our

defe ctive school system It pra ctically .

ignores the fact that the child develops ,

not through reas o ning but thr o ugh ,

observation and activity The child .

observes everything His senses are .

active and a cu te Childho o d is the

.

time to a ccumulate observations and

experiences ; later they will form the
material for th ought and general devel
0 pm e n t .

The child should be encouraged to

perceive and to remember All th e .

methods which I am about to describe

are applicable to children of less than
ten years ol d The m o re elabo ra t e
.

27
 SECRE TS 0F

an d fa r r angin g the m as s o f percep

tions are memories whi ch t he child
,

carries ove r fr o m infan cy and chil d

h o od int o y o uth and adult age the ,

greater o ther things b eing equal will

, ,

be his intelle c tual po s s 1bi1it ie s .

M OST O F U s A RE S EN SOR I LY S TA RVED .

M o st o f us are gr o ssly de c ient in

mental images At a test made n o t
.

long ag o in B o st o n eighty p e r cent o f .

the chil d ren h ad n o id ea what a b ee

hive w a s like over h alf of them h a d
,

n o co n c ep ti o n o f a sh eep, a n d over
nin e tenths h a d n o n o ti o n o f the a p
p e a ra n ce o r na ture Of gr owin g wheat .

O f co urs e th ey k new of oth e r th in gs

whi ch the co untry b red ch il d w ould n o t
kn o w ; but fa n cy the l o s s in th e im a g
in a t io n o f o n e t o who m the f o llo w mg
l in es ar ouse n o v1s 10n o f a pure rus ti c ,

m atut inal s cen e

The b re e zy ca ll o f I n c e n s e -b rea t hin g morn ,

built s h e d,

28
MENTAL S UPREM A CY .

Th e Co c k hrill c la rio n o r t h e e c ho in g ho rn

s s

No m o re s ha ll ro us e t hem f ro m t heir l o w l y
be d .

TH E GREA T S EC RET O F SEN SE

T RA ININ G .

T h e g reat secret o f a t rue d evelop

ment o f the perceptions is discrimina

ti o n the realizati o n of di ff erences .

To the savage a sound is a sound ; to

the musician it is ex cru c iating dis c ord
or e xquisite harm o ny T o the musi .

c ia n a little depression in the gr o un d ,

a bent twig a turned leaf they are
,

n o thin g ; t o the savage they mean foo d ,

an enemy safety o r danger In the

, ,
.

printed page s the unlettered b o or sees

only fo olish black mark s o n white
pape r ; b ut in th o se bl a ck marks the
man of edu c ati o n s ee s that whi ch
makes h is h eart b eat faster his eyes

,

swim with tears which tells h im

se c rets o f life the clodhopper will neve r ,

n ever kn o w Th e d i ff eren ces are in th e

.

tr ai ne d or untraine d per cepti o ns .

Most o f th e exer cise s whi ch I sh a ll

29
 SECRE TS 0F

d es c ri b e are qui t e simple many per ,

haps will seem trivial But remem

,
.

ber a s a great educator has sai d $

,

The point in education is

the power to attend to things which
may be in themselves indi ff erent by
arousing an articial feeling o f inter
$
est .

So the rst exercise is quite simple

simple but not easy Try it and s e e

. .
,

Take any object you like a book ,

a pen a pair of scissors L ay it on

,
.

the table before you Then take pen .

c il and paper and describe it S imply .

tell what you s e e C a n you ? I doubt

.

it Tell its dimensions weight c olo r

.
, , ,

form markings lettering o rigin uses

, , , , ,

possibilities sh o rtcomings ,
S ee h o w .

fully you c an write abo ut the o b ject .

The result will probably n or ple a s e you .

Yo u will nd that you have n o t nearly

the p owers of expressi o n whi ch you
supp o sed y o u possessed But it is .

g o od training ; and with pra c ti ce y o ur

powers w i ll gr ow rapidly .
J

30
M E N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

You c an d o the s am e thing ou t o f

d oo rs L ook at a mountain peak the
.
,

o cean a ho rse a bird If you think

, ,
.

fo r a moment there is n o thin g t o write

about these things read u p P o em in
the Valley o f Chamouni Byr o n s ,
$

splendid passage beginning R oll on ,

thou deep and dark blue ocean roll , ,

$

the superb poem in the book of Job

describing the h o rse S helley s S ky ,

lark,
$
and s o on James Whitcomb .

R iley has said $ There is ever a song
somewhere my child ,
And to nd
the material for the song it is n e ce s
sary only to look with rened and edu
c a t e d perception to look trying to s e e
all the variou s sides all the many ,

phases of the obj e ct lo oked at In the .

same way you should study also many

o ther natural objects autumnal tints ,

frost marks snowakes trees both

, , ,

their general form and the shape o f

their leaves all the common owers
,
.

L ast of all and I n many respects most

,

practically important of all make it ,

31
 SECRE TS 0F

a hab i t to ob s erve clo s el y th e h uman

fa c e Try t o recognize and dis c rim i
.

nate th e S igns of educati o n renement , ,

intelle c t in the face a s distin guished

, ,

fr o m the stigm ata o f ign o ran ce co arse ,

ness and brutality

,
.

An o ther go od e xe r cise for the train

ing o f the sight is this $ P ro c u re a
number of o rdinary marbles s a y three ,

dozen ; one d ozen ea ch of red of white , ,

an d of blue Then mix them together

.

in a receptacle N o w grasp a handful

.

of the marbles give o n e glan c e at them

,

an d throw them back again Then .

n o te d o wn h ow man y o f each c olo r

there were I n the hand At rst y o u .

will nd this di fcult In a sh o rt time .

,

however you will be able t o distinguish

,

at a glance between say three red , , ,

ve white and seven blue and three
,

red six white and si x blue W ith

, ,

corresponding development of the po w
ers of perception in all other d i re c
tions .

A very simple and ve ry g o o d e xe r

32
 SECRE TS 0F

ever you will be abl e to de c ide in

,

s t a n t ly upon any number of circles up

t o fteen twenty or even more

, .

T RA ININ G TH E EA R TO H EA R .

F ew people know h o w to hear . Of

most it might well be sa id ears and
they h ear n o t I d o not mean tha t
.
$

in m o st people the organ o f hearing is

in any way defective but tha t as a ,

result o f inattention and lack o f pra c

tice they do not get clear vivid impres ,

s 1 0n s from the s o unds wh i ch impinge

upon their auditory apparatus .

O ne o f the b est m etho ds o f trainin g

the hearing faculty is t o listen a t ten
t ive ly t o the varie d sounds of the c oun
try The humming o f insects the c ry
.
,

o f the r obin thrush catbird b lackbird

, , , ,

swallow all these and the many
,

o ther sounds peculiar to the co untry

Should b e carefully studied .

The s o unds incidental t o city life are

less picturesque and in a sense less
varied than those of the coun try ; and
34
M E N TA L S UPREM A CY .

yet if we speak only of the m u si c a l

,

advantages of the city there alone we ,

have material for a splendid audit o ry

training C oncerts the Opera social
.
, ,

music the phonograph even the han d

, ,

organs on the street provide Oppo rt u

n i t ie s for a training of the ear These .

opp o rtunities may be utilized in vari

ous ways O ne of the best and most
.

practical perhaps is to habitually re

, ,

quire o f one s self a knowledge of the

mel o dy of popular selections How .

many people not distin ctly musical

, ,

kn ow the air of th e So l d iers Ch o rus $

fr o m F aust the T o read o r s So ng
,
$ $

fr o m C armen o r the overture to
,
$

Tannhauser ? And yet t h ese are

$

things that we hea r every d ay o n the

s treet o rgans .

A very ne exer cise for the d evel op

men t o f the hearing faculty is merely
t o listen to the ticking of a wat ch A .

method which I have found very pra c

ti c al and helpful is the following $
P la c e the watch up o n the table at
35
 SECRE TS 0F

wh i ch y ou are sit ting No w tu rn .

t o wa rd it th e left ear C an you hea r

.

it ? Y e s plainly M ove a f o ot tw o
,
.
,

fee t thre e fo ur fr o m the table C an

, , , .

y o u he a r t he wat c h ? Y es . No w i n

creas e the dis tan ce foo t by foo t until

, ,

y o u ca n n o l o n g er hear the watch .

NO W l isten $ listen $ C on c entrating the

attenti o n up on the s o un d until o ut of ,

t he sil e n ce or o f a c onfusi o n of s o unds

, ,

th ere c o mes to y o u the clear rhythm ,

i c al ti cking o f the t iny me chanism .

All th i s time y o u a r e sittin g with you r

left ea r tu rne d toward the wa tch The .

same pr a cti ce should of cou rse b e

, ,

go n e thr o ugh with the ri ght ea r .

T h i s e xe r c ise is valuable n o t o nly in

c ul ti va tin g the p ower o f hearing b ut ,

als o in developing co n c entrati o n o f the

atten ti on and will It is mere ly a n
.

o ther phase o f th e sam e method b y

whi ch an orchest ra co ndu ctor can at ,

will s ele ct o ne instrument o ut o f a

,

ban d and hea r o nly that o n e to the

,

e xclus i o n o f an y oth e r p ie ce .

36
M E N TAL SUPREM A C Y .

T RA ININ G TH E S EN SE O F S MELL .

We hear much t o the eff e ct that as ,

an animal man is inferior t o the beasts

,

O f the eld ; but like a great deal e lse

,

that we hear it is not true a t least
,

not to any extent The truth is that

.
,

merely as an animal man is the master ,

piece O f creation In actual strength

.
,

enduran ce grace and r apidity of mo

, ,
.

tion the best physical types o f men

,

c ompare favorably with any other ani

mal o f the same size and weight This .

is a bi ological fa ct
$
.

But in one respect at least he is , ,

distinctly inferior and that is as re ,

gards the sense O f smell There are .

very few animals that are n o t b etter

equipped than man in this respe ct .

Fo r this inferi o rity t here are many

reas o ns whi ch we c ann o t dis cuss in
,

this place .

I may remark h owever that I n s ome

, ,

pe ople the sense o f smell is developed

to a s urprising degree I on c e knew .

37
 SECRE TS 0F

a wo m a n well b o rn a n d h ighl y e d u
,

ca t e d who while bl i ndfo lded co uld

, ,

name any o n e o f her friends w h o

came within a f oo t o r tw o o f her The .

same woman was als o usually able t o

determine by their Od o r the owner
, ,

s hip Of arti cles belonging t o th o se

wh o m s he knew well I know another
.

woman who c an distinguish c opper ,

brass ste e l and iron by their taste and

, ,

Odor I may als o add that what we

.

call taste is also largely smell The
$
.

achievements of tea co ffe e tobacco , , ,

and whisky experts depen d very

largely up o n deli c a cy of the Olfa ctory
sense .

A g ood method o f training this sense

is the foll o wing $ P rocure a number
of small paste b o ard or w o oden bo x es
su ch as are used by druggists in the
dispensing o f pills o r tablets Any .

druggist will provide them for a trie .

Then put into each b ox a small quan

tity O f one o f t he following sub stan ce s $
cinna mon cl oves red p epper mustar d
, , , ,

38
M E N TA L S UP R EM A C Y .

black pepper ginger A half dozen

, .

boxes are enough s electing for them ,

such of the above substances as are

most readily procurable To practic e .

this method S imply close your eyes

, ,

open a bo x at random and try to deter

mine what the substance is by the Odor .

This metho d may be varie d by hav

ing a number of small vials each con ,

taining o ne o f the fragrant oils such ,

as O il o f clove s W intergreen lemon, , ,

verbena lavender , peppe rmint berga

, ,

mot nutmeg and SO o n It is a go od

, , .

plan als o t o take careful note O f the

distin ctive o d or of the various fragrant
owers s o that they may afte rward be
re co gni z ed by the perfume which is
pe c ulia r t o ea ch .

T RA ININ G F OR T H E T A STE .

Th ere ar e in reality only four

, ,

savors o r ta s tes $ sweet sour bitter , ,

and salt A s I have just remarked

.

what w e c all taste is very largely smell ,

o r av o r The best way t o develop

.

39
d e l i cacy of th e gustato ry sense is to
e a t very simple food and t o put there ,

on ve ry little o r n o seas o ning in the

f

form o f salt sugar mustard pepper

, , , ,

vinegar or o ther c ondiment Then

, .
,

and then only will o n e be able t o a p

,

p r e c i a t e the real avor of the fo od No .

one ,
for instan c e who is in the habit
,

of using pepper and o ther co n dl m e n t s ,

can really taste a strawberry .

In conclusio n I want to e mphasize

,

two things $ rst that a training O f the

,

per ceptive powers is the b est p o s sible

investment o n e c an make ev en re
gar d ing the matter f r om it s l owest

view p oin t the m o netary ; se co nd that ,

the ex ercises which I have suggested

in this chapter while they may seem
,

very simple alm o st trivial will in

, ,

eve ry c ase where they are s eri ously

practi ced add immensely n o t o nly to
,

the p owers o f per cepti o n b ut t o pra c tical

efc ien cy o f every faculty o f the mind .

40
 SECRE TS OF

e xper i e n ces But these things are val

.

ua b le o nly wh e n they are held in the

mem o ry F o r unless they are remem
.
,

bered t h ey c annot b e used Most o f .

us hav e f o rg o tte n mu ch more than we

remember . We have stu died at
s chool at coll e ge at h o m e We have
, , .

r ead many many b o oks We hav e

, .

had any number of interesting and in

structive co nversations We have .
,

some O f us traveled and seen many

,

rare and curious things And o f it all .

,

h ow much I s I n o ur possession at the

m o ment ho w much i s at o ur ready

c ommand ? Not o n e tenth prob ab ly
not one hundredth .

Imagine the en o rmous lo ss t o us .

Imagine the waste O f tim e an d e ff ort .

Imagine what it would mean t o y o u o r

to me if instead o f possessin g a m em
,

O ry whi ch preserved for u s o nly o n e

hundredth o f our experiences w e c o uld ,

remember and apply at will o ne half ,

three quarte rs fou r fths of what we

,

have b e e n thro ugh .

42
M ENTAL SUPREMA CY .

But th at I s I mp o ssible y o u s a y ,
$
.

Allow me t o co ntradict you There have .

been many cases of recolle ctive power

whi ch pr o ve o therwise The m o st .

striking of these was Ant o ni o Magli

a b e c ch i who lived in Italy in the s e v
,

e n t e e n t h c entury F r o m being a mere

.

servant he rose until h e be c ame the

lib rarian of C osmo III the Grand .
,

D uke of Turin Ma glia b e cch i s m e m

.

o ry w a s pr o digi ous ; nothing that he

had ever seen o r heard or experien ced
w a s ever lost t o him It is said that
.

after o ne reading he could repeat ver

batim any bo ok in the library o f h is
patr on who at this time owned o ne of
,

the largest colle c tions of the day .

Impossible y o u say N o t at all
,
$
. .

I know a man who c an neither read

n o r write except to sign his name He .

is an Irishman who began life in this

country with a pick and a s hovel T o .

day he is a man o f wealth and p ower ,

nan cially and p olitically He is a .

contractor real estate operat o r stock

, ,

43
 SECRE TS 0F

spe cula to r an d is i n tere s ted in s everal

,

other lines of business He keeps no .

b o oks and empl oys n o bookkeepers .

All his values dates and gures are

, ,

carried in h is head ; and at any mo

ment he can tell to a c ent h o w he stands
with any o f his business ass oc ia t es .

Am o ng the ancient Greek s it w a s

not at all unusual to n d an e d u c ated
patri c ian wh o co uld re c ite verb atim

the entire p o ems o f H o me r the Iliad
and the O dyssey C yru s the Great
.

co uld c all by name any man o f h is

army numbering o ne million Na p o
, .

le o n h a d p o wer o f m emory al m o s t a s
r emarkab le Gladst o ne whe n p resent
.
,

ing to P arliament his ye arly b udget ,

w oul d speak fo r several h ours pre ,

senting m o ne t ary details running into

many milli o n p o un d s with o u t o n e
glan c e at the written rep o r t l ying o n
the table b efo re him Robert G In ger
. .

S oll that grea t juri s t and b rillian t o ra

,

t o r would attend a t rial l asting many

,

days with o ut taking any n otes Ye t .

44
M E N TA L S UP R E M A C Y

in his speeches to the jury lasting ,

sometimes many hours he never for ,

got O r missed a point of the oppo

siti o u
.

And s o I might go on S cott Milton .

, ,

S hakespeare Washington C lay Web

, , ,

ster all these were remarkable for

t h e m p o wer of mem o ry In fact it is .

safe t o say that every man wh o has ever

attained a high place among men has
been possessed o f a retentive and exact
mem o ry .

S o we c an s e e that as an asset in,

p r a c tical life whether o ne s ambition

,

be literary artistic scientic o r

, , ,

merely the transferring of dollars from

s ome o ne s pocket int o his o wn as a
practi c al asse t power of mem o ry is of
,

the highest c on ceivable value A good .

memory will give you an in c alculable

advantage over o thers a n a dvantage
which n o o ther men t al quali c ation
will b a l an ce .

45
 SECRE TS 0F

M EM O RY T RA ININ G NO T DI FF I C UL T .

The mind is like potter s clay it is

easily molded And there is n o d ire c

.

tion in which development is s o easy

a s in the department o f memory Even .

a few days O f practice along the lines

which I shall suggest will generally
make a noticeable di ff erence and two or,

three m o nths of conscientious training

will Often be su f cient t o metam o rphose
a poor w
,
eak and inexa c t memory into
,

o n e that is tenacious and reliable .

TH E NA TURE O F M EM ORY .

In th e intr o duct o ry article o f this

s er ies I promised y o u that I would not
be the o retical o r descriptive but that ,

I w o uld make these chapters purely

pr a c ti c al N o w I intend to keep my
.
,

w o rd ; but in o rder to make what fol

,

l ows m o re intelligible and helpful it ,

wi l l b e well just here to stop for a

m o m en t and make a few brief state
m e nts as to the nature of mem o ry .

In th e rs t p l a ce I may s a y at o nce
,

46
M E NTAL SUPRE M A CY .

t hat, in reality there is n o such thing

,

as the mem o ry This sounds very
.
$

mu ch like an Ol d fashioned Iri s h -

bull $
but it is me r el y a statement of
;
sober fa ct There is n o mem o ry $ ther e
.

are only mem orie s When I s a y that .

I am not merely juggling with terms ;

the di ff e ren c e is important and funda
mental .

I m ean just this $ Mem o ry is not ,

as we us e d to be taught many years

,

ago a faculty of the s oul a little
$

section of the brain t o be developed all

by itself Not at all Memory is
.

merely a t erm used t o describe the way

that certain a cts or t houghts tend to
remain in the mind And every act .

or thought has its own s eparate little

memory .

S ome acts o r tho ughts we r emember

easily ; o ther acts o r thoughts we re
member with difc ult y if at all If ,
.

some o n e were to describe to me the

details O f a c ase O f insanity symptoms , ,

history t r eatment I sh ould remember

, ,

47
 SECRE TS OF

it a lo n g time ; because a s a p hysi cian

, ,

I a m interested in psychiatry But .

,

alth o ugh I listened patiently a d ay or

t w o a go t o a l o n g a cco unt o f the Wall
S t r eet adventures o f an acquainta n c e
o f mine I am quite su re that I c ould
,

give n o intelligent a c c ount there o f b e ,

c ause I k now little and care less ab o ut

su ch matters In the same way s o me
people have g o od memory fo r names ,

but c ann o t re c all faces o thers c an re

,

mem b er dates but have n o powe r t o

,

recolle ct names And s o o n

. .

The p o in t is jus t this ; We r em e m

ber best the thin gs in wh ich we hav e
m o st interest the things with which
,

we ar e m o st familiar The little mem

.

ory o f any act o r th o ught may stick in

the m I n d o r it may not whether it is
or i s not remem b ered depends mainly
up o n the am ount O f a ttention we have
given t o that a c t or that t h ought at
the time it was occurring .

If therefore we w ould have ne

, ,

p o wers o f m em o ry if we de s i re a
48
This is merel y the result Of a h ab it of

attention t o the matter .

T H E B A SI C L A W O F M EM ORY .

No w then based up o n the p rin ciple

, ,

just dis cussed we may formulate o ur

,

rst rule for the devel opment Of mem

ory $ S tudy the Obje c t yo u W ish to
remember in all its phases in all its ,

peculiarities in all it s relati o n s F or

, .

the time being k eep every other th ought

out of the mind Make the object part .

of y o urself ; and you will never forget

it I s a y obj e c t but I mean o f c ourse
.
, , ,

anything fa c t gure idea prin c iple

, , , , ,

or plan t o all of whi ch the same r ule

,

applies .

So much for the rule ; b ut y o u w ould

like t o know exactly how to apply this
rule t o pra ctical development Well .
,

one o f the best ways I kn o w is the

following
Y ou are walkin g d own the street .

A carriage pa s ses at which y o u have

glan ced c asually After i t ha s p assed .
,

50
M E N TAL S UPRE M A C Y .

questi o n y o urself ab o ut it What kind

.

of a c arriage was it la n de a u b a ,

rouche brougham or what ? What w a s

, ,

the col o r of the wheels ? Had they

rubber tires ? H o w many horses were
there ? Their c o lor ? The c oachman
bla ck o r white ? The livery if any ? ,

How many oc cupants men or women ?
How dressed ? D O you remember all
thei r fa ces s o that if you s a w them
,

again y o u w ould kn o w them ? And

SO o n .

By the time you have d o ne this con

s c ie n t i o u s ly on a dozen occasions you

will be surprised and delighted at the

I mprovement in your ability both to
perceive and to rememb er ; f o r as I ,

cannot reiterate t o o often the tw o , ,

per cepti o n and mem o ry are pra cti c ally

,

on e .

Well after passing the car n age and

,

getting all the good you can o ut of the

experience in an educational way you

,

will come t o a shop window the win

d ow of a t oy shop le t us s ay Do n t
, .

51
s top t o look a t the w m do w ; that wil l
merely confuse y o u Take o ne glan c e .

at it and pass o n
, .

Then a s k y o urself what y o u s a w in

th e window If practicab le have a
.

p ad an d pen cil and write d o wn ea ch

,

ar t i cle a s y o u rem em b er it This is .

th e meth o d employed b y the famous

,
'

co nj urer R obert Houdin a meth od
by whi ch h e SO trained the mem o ry b o th
o f himself and o f his young s o n that
th ey were able t o rememb er over thirty
th o usand questi o ns and answers which ,

fo r m e d the co de o f their fam o us s e c
$
o n d S igh t a ct .

An o the r valuabl e m e thod o f mem

o ry t raining is to make it a r ule every

night eithe r b efore o r after retiring

, ,

t o review in detail the events of t h e

d ay This was the metho d employed
.

b y th e great Edward Thurlow lord ,

h igh chancellor of Great Britain At .

rst his memory was s o po o r that he

w a s unable t o re c all what he h ad e aten
for breakfa s t Even tu al l y howe ver
.
, ,

52
M E N TA L S UPREM A CY .

he devel oped o ne of th e m o s t rem ark

able memories O u re co rd I know of .

a numb er o f c ases in whi ch this method

h a s proven o f the utm o st value .

Another very simple and co nvenient ,

but at the same time very u seful ,

method of culturing the p ower o f re co l

le cti o n is the following $ Take some
interesting book such as a hist o rical
,

work o r s ome attractive n o vel R ead

, .

a paragraph to y o urself slowly and

carefully Then close the bo ok and

.

repeat aloud the substan c e O f the se c

ti o n whi ch you have just read Make .

n o attempt to repeat the passage word

for word S imply give the s ense o f it
.

as yo u remember It matters little

.

whether you repeat the author s words

or use your own After your rst

.

attempt ( whi ch is not likely t o b e a

striking su c ce ss ) read the paragraph
again and make a second e ff ort to re
call and express its g eneral meaning .

Whe n you have learned this para

graph fai rly well pass o n t o the next
, ,

53
 SECRE TS 0F

an d s o o n until y o u co me t o the l ast

,

paragraph on the page Then take .

that page a s your task and give an ,

account o f the entire page After .

practi c ing this way on every para

graph and every page until the end o f
the chapte r take the chapter a s a whole
,

and repeat it a s fully an d ex a c tly a s

you can .

This seems like hard work An d it .

is at rst But it soon b e co mes inter

,
.

esting especially as you b egin t o nd

,

that although at rst you were unable

,

to give any clea r idea of a paragraph

you ha d just read , you are s oo n abl e to
recall and to clearly express the sense
, ,

of an entire chapter with o ut any great

e ff ort or dii cult y .

This exercise trains not o nly the

memory but the perceptions the will
, , ,

and the powers of expression S O far .

as I know it was invented by Henry

,

C lay in hi s early farm boy days a n d

, ,

was Often quoted by him as being the

method which ha d done m os t toward
54
M E N TA L S UPRE M A CY .

developing his prodigious mem o ry and

splendid oratorical ability .

A valuable variati o n Of the above

exercise is to write out at length ,

instead of attempting to express in

spoken words your recollection of the
,

parag raph the page the chapter F or

, ,
.

those wh o desire the widest develop

ment a development of the p ower o f
expression in writing as well as in

speech I s h ould suggest that they
practice this exercise by b oth talking
and writing their mem o ries Of the pas
sage.

B y the time you have gone over o ne

book in this way talking out certain
,

passages and writing others you will ,

not only know that book in a way that

few people ever know any book ; but
you will have developed added powers
of attention will power memory and
, , ,

exp ression which will prove a surprise

,

and a delight to you .

55
 SECRE TS OF

T H E P I C TO RI A L FA C ULTY .

O ne o f the prime se c rets of mem o ry

is to d evelop the ability t o re c all befo re
the mind a picture o f the obje ct desire d
a vivid re colle ction of it s appear
ance When a schoolb oy I dis cov e r ed
.

that there was no use whatever in my

studying either my spelling o r my ,

geography lesson All that was n e ce s

.

sary was for me to pass my eye Sl owly

down the list of words for Spelling and
to look at the map of the parti cula r
section we were studying Afte r that .

I could bring up before me a clear p ic

ture of any word c alled fo r or o f any
section of th e map co vering o u r less o n .

In questi oning m us I C I a n s who are able

to play from memory long passages o n
the piano or vio lin I nd that in the
, f

maj ority of cases they remember t h e

appearan c e of the page O f musi c a nd ,

follo w the notes just as if the real page

were before them This power O f vis
.

ua liz in g mem o ries h a s b e e n in s o me

,
the min d a clear m e m ory p i cture o f -

t h e list o f w o rds After a moment o f

.

s t eady gazing cover the pape r and try

,

t o remember exactly what the w o rds

were and h o w they l o oked At rs t .
~

you are likely t o nd this difcult .

S oon it will be easy to remember s ix

to recall the words passing up a s well
,

as down the column Then gradually .

increase the number until y o u c an

handle at least twenty ve -
.

A useful variation of this e xe rcl s e I S

t o us e gures instead of w o rds a rra n g ,

ing them at rst as a square of four

gures and c alling each o ne o ff while
,

you remember its position Here .

again as so o n as four is easy fo r

,

you I n c rease the number Of g

,

ures by two until you can retain

, ,

after a single look a cle a r picture of

, F

thirty six or more gures I have

- .

known a boy of twelve w h o was a ble to

remember sixty four gure s a s quare
-

of eight gures up and eight a c r o ss .

He would o n request call o ff rst line

, ,

58
MENTA L S UPREM A CY .

of gures fo rward third line of gures

,

backward line of units down and so

, ,

on i n o ther words this boy could see

,

in h is mind s eye a mental pi c ture of

those S ixty four gures that was a b s o

-

lut e ly as clear as the o riginal ha d been

to the p hysical eye .

I may add that the b oy I re fer to

w a s n o t in any sense e x ceptional save ,

that he h ad bec ome interested in the

tricks whi ch I taught him and his

$

fellows All o f them are n ow men of

.

notably ne me mory .

The same method may be varied in

o ther ways F or instance letters may
.
,

be substituted for t he gures or wo rds

may be arranged in groups say twelve ,

in gro ups of thr e e each the e x er cis e ,

being t o remember n o t only the w o rd

but its position in relation to the other
words S O exercises for developing the
.

po w er o f memory can be multiplied

indenitely Th o se given above how
.
,

ever are more than suf cient if prop

, ,

erly practice d .

59
 Un i o n a c c o m p lis h e s a ll t hin gs .

S O P H O C LES .

I ha ve o n ly t o t a ke up t his or t ha t t o
o od my s ou l w i th m e m o ri e s MM .

D EL U$ Y .

Th e w h o le a rt o f m e n ta l t ra in in g is
ba s e d up o n t he fa c t t ha t a n y a c ti o n a t

rs t e x e c u t e d with c o n s c i o us e c rt be
com es , i h t im e , s u b c on s c i o us
-
an d ha
bi tua l . T H O M PSON JA Y H UD SON .

Wi t hin t he s e c re t c ha m be rs o f t he
bra in ,
The t h o u gh t s li e lin k e d by m a n y a

m ys t i c c ha i n .

A w a k e bu t on e, and lo , w ha t le gi on s

Ea ch s t a m ps i t s im a ge as t he o t he r

d ie s .

C O W PER .
ME N TA L S UPR E M A CY .

V .

A SSO C IA T I O N O F I D EA S .

Fall the op erations of

th e mind the one most
di rectly c ondu cive to
mental readiness is the
pow er o f associating o r
g ro uping ideas The man
.

o r w o man in wh o m the power of asso

c ia t io n i s well devel o ped h a s a mind

whi ch may b e likened t o a vast ske in

o f th reads Each thread represents an
.

idea And o f these thread i de a s all

.
-

th o se whi ch are at all related a r e

gr o uped together like s o many threads
tied in a knot ; s o that if you t ouch o n e
o f the thr ead ideas y ou are instantly
-

in communi c ati o n with all o f that

g ro up .

When idea s are gr o uped or associ

ated I n this orderly manner any
thought coming int o the mind wil l in
61
s t a n t ly sugge s t a l arge number o f
related th o ughts This means an a c .

tive an efc ient frequently a b rilliant

, ,

mind .

N o w let us understand a t o n c e that

what is c ommonly c alled educati o n $

that is a mere kn o wledge of facts

,

n o matter ho w e xtensive i t may b e ,

d o e s n o t ne cess arily c onfe r the powe r

o f as s o ciatin g o r gr ouping ideas in s u ch
a manner that they are readily avail
able f o r purp o ses Of sp e aking writing , ,

o r thinking In dee d I h av e k n own

.

men o f vast l earnin g wh o co ul d n ot

t al k well wh o c o uld n ot write well
, ,

who co uld not even think well A well

.

st ored mind that is mer e eruditi o n , ,

while it can be a cquired only by a per

s o n with a go o d mem o ry does not by ,

any means ne cessarily imply the p owe r

of a s s o cI a t io n .

O ne who possesses unusual p owe r of

asso c iating ideas is always interesting ;
often b rilliant His ideas are as I
.
,

h ave s ai d like thread s k n o tte d t o

,

62
ME N TA L S UP RE M A CY .

gether Each idea suggested to him

.

c alls up in his mind many re lated ideas .

In the mind of the merely erudite

man for instance the mention o f the
, ,

w o rd horse will arouse few if any
$
, ,

o ther mental pictures In the mind .

,

h owever of the pers o n wh o has the

,
$
p ower of association the idea horse
awakens a la rge number o f interest
ing thoughts T here is the h o rse so
.

superbly descri b ed in the biblical p oe m ,

Job There is the famous h o rse Eu

.

cephalus the war charger of Alexan

,

der the Great whom only he could ride

, .

The pers o n with strong p o wer o f ass o

c ia t io n remembers too the wonderful , ,

horse Kantara ridden by Gautama

, , ,

the Buddha Then he thinks of the

.

horse of D arius which b y neighing at ,

the critical moment cause d h is m a ster ,

to be elected king o f P ersia D arius
the Great He recalls to mind the
.

story O f the great wo o den horse inside ,

o f which the Greek soldiers were smug

gled into Troy to the d o wnfall o f that

,

63
 SECRE TS 0F

c ity An d l a s t ly the man with traine d

.
,

p o wers of ass oc iati o n will be able t o

tel l y o u som e thin g a bo ut the intere st
ing hist o ry of the horse both befo re ,

a n d S in c e it w a s rst tamed and ridden

many th ou s ands o f years ago b y Meli

ze u s Kin g o f Thessaly
, .

And so with any o ther subje c t you

mi ght s ugges t to h im In the min d o f
.

su ch a pe r s o n every idea is intimately

asso c iate d wi th many o the r m o re o r
less related i d eas ; an d even th o ugh
,

h is a c tua l s tock O f informa tion ma y b e

smal l h is mental images are SO cl o sely
,

c onne cte d and so quickly re c alle d that

the pr a cti c al p owe r an d usefulness of
his min d is greate r than in the c ds e
o f an o ther p e rson with a large r stock o f
knowledge and inferior p ower o f ass o
c ia t io n .

Anothe r great advantage of well de -

ve lo p e d powers of association is that it

is al m o s t a preventiv e Of forg etful

ness A s I have explained in the chap
.

t e r o n the tr ainin g O f t h e mem ory tha t,

64
have a s s oc ia ted the new i d ea the new ,

idea will imm e diately be drawn into

the mind .

All this b eing true w e will be r eady

,

t o apprecia te the follo w ing important

statement $ It is ne c essary to get int o
the mind a large stock o f ideas ; this
can be do ne only by p e r ception and
mem o ry ; but it is equally neces s ary
that the ideas and mem o ries in the
mind shall be s o ass o ciated or grouped
that one idea instantly calls up many
o ther related ideas And this c an be
.

d o ne only by develop ing the p o wer Of

ass o ciati o n .

Ho w ASSO C I A TION S A RE M A DE
.

And here arises the pra c tical ques

ti o n $ How shall I s o train my mind
that the ideas it c o ntains shall be
cl o sely associated each one with man y
,

others ?
In trying to give y o u an intelligible
answer to this question it will rst be
necessary to discuss briey s o m e thing
66
M E N TA L S UP R E M A C Y .

\ '

of the process by which ass o ciations

are formed I n the mind .

S ome one has said $ Thoughts a re
things . Now this statement is quite
$

meaningless unless we have a cle ar

idea as t o what is m e ant b y the term

thing . But let us imagine for a

$

moment that the thing is s omething $

c on c rete c o mmo nplace and physical

, ,

like a brick a n ordinary buildin g

bri ck F or a th o ught may be regarded
.

as an object a thing just as a bri ck

, ,

c an be studied as an object a thing ,

.

No w in o rder to make associations

aro und anything we must rst o f all
get a clear idea of that thing And so .

we must begin by studying our brick

analyzing it We will nd that the
.

brick has form c olor dimensions , ,

( length breadth
,
thickness ) weight
, , ,

hardness roughness certain utilities

, ,

and possibilities history m o ney value

, , ,

and s o on This process of d e t e rm in

.

ing th e qualities peculiar to the object

o r idea is called analysis ; and analysi s
67
 SECRE TS OF

18 the rs t s tep es s ential t o the fo rma

ti o n o f ass oc iati o ns F o r it sh o uld be
.

underst oo d that m o st o f the ideas ass o

c i a t e d with any particular o bje c t are

based n o t upo n that Obje ct a s a wh o le

, ,

but up o n s o me quality o r qualities o f

the obje c t .

Now havin g analyze d o ur b ri ck we

may take certain of its qualities and
o n that basis make asso ciati o ns be
tween the brick an d o ther o bje cts o r
ideas If we take it s form we shall nd
.

that it is s o mething like a wo o den pav

ing b l ock so mething like a b oo k some
, ,

thin g like a ciga r b ox If we take the .

usual c ol or o f the b ri ck red we n o te -

,

that i t r esembles terra co tta the build ,

ing material that it is a shade f re

,

quently seen in wall covering and rugs

and als o found in the shingle stains
often used o n the ro o fs o f country
houses A s t o the uses of the brick
.
,

we nd the brick c an be ass o ciated w ith

granite marble a n d other build ing
, ,

materials cobble sto n e s wo o den p av

, ,

68
M E N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

ing bl ocks c o ncrete and vari ous other

, ,

substances used for pavement and ,

s o on .

Now in all this we have gone

,

through four distinct pr o cesses of rea

soning ; and without these four pr oc
,

esses n o associati o n between ideas

,

co uld exist F irst Of all we analyze d

.

o ur brick ; ne x t we extended our ideas

Of it trying here and there until we

$

found certain obje cts whi ch could b e

ass oc iated with the brick L astly we .

n o ted that every o ther obje ct we

th ought O f was either like the brick in
some certain particular o r was entirely
unlike it in every particular These .

pr ocesses we may call extension like ,

ness and unlikeness

, .

S O these four pro cesses of re a s o n m g

analysis extension likeness and un

, , ,

likenes s must be g o ne th rough in

order to make complete and valuable
ass o ciati o ns .

In the example just given I chose for

my Object a brick because the mere fact
69
o f it s b ein g a S i m ple p r o s a i c an d com
, ,

m o n pla ce obj e c t rendere d my exp lan a

ti o n m o re clear The same p r oce s s
.
,

the same treatment however may an d , , ,

in fa c t must be applie d t o o ther an d

,

m o re co mpli c ated ideas .

F irst o f all we analyz e th e Obj ec t

from every standp o int and in every
par ti cular and detail If a co n c re te .

Obje ct we study all its qualities a s we

did in the c ase of the brick If an .

idea we co nsid e r carefull y all it s

,

phases Then tra c e all i t s rela ti o ns to

.

other ideas noting in what respe ct it

,

resembles or di ff ers fr o m su ch o the r

ideas Then we shall h ave go n e

.

thr o ugh the four p rocesses analysis ,

extensi o n likeness and unlikeness

, ,
.

To give you an instance illus t ra t

ing this interesting and imp o rt ant
method $ Not long ag o I w a s o n e o f a
number of guests at a c ountry house .

O ne evening when a number of us we re

sitting on the porch the little da ughte r
,

of our h o stess appr o ache d with a d i sh

70
ME N TAL SUPREMA CY .

co ntaining s o me ne apples and said ,

t o me $ Will you have an apple D oc ,

tor ? $
My dear that is a dangerous
,

questi o n t o ask a man said I DO,
$
.

y ou not know th at all the sin and mis

ery in the w o rld came be c ause a woman
on c e asked a man to have an a pple
and be c ause he t o ok it ? $

And the child laughed and said $

O h I kn ow Y ou mean the apple that

, .

Adam t o ok fr o m Eve C lever child $

.
$

N o w my remark was made with o ut

any co ns ci ous e ff o rt o f mind whatever
with out any striving o r delibe r ate
acti o n of the will It was entirely sub
.

c o nsci o us and e ff ortless Afte rw ard I .

amused myself by tra cing out e x a ctly

what my mind had d o ne when the child
asked that questi o n And this is what
.

happened $ Analysis girl o ff ers a p
ple O ut o f this analysis I selected the
.
$

idea apple and upon this bas e d my e x
$

tensi o n F irst O f all I thought of the O ld

.

adage tender as the apple of the eye .
$

Then in rapid succession there cam e

71
i nt o my m i n d mem o ries the ap ple
of $

that William Tell i s said to have sh o t

o ff the head o f his s o n ; apples o f go ld
in pitchers of S ilver m entioned in the
$

Bible ; the apple o f S o dom the fruit ,
$

of the o sher tree whi ch is b eautiful

,

externally but lled with a k ind Of

ashes therefore Often used a s a s ym
bol for disappointment ; the apples o f
the Hesperian eld said to b e gua rded
,

by the four mystic sisters t h e Hespe
rides ; t he apple for which P aris ran
his race .

N o w all o f these ideas f o und by e x

,
$
tensi o n o f the o rI gI n a l idea a pple ,

were appr opriate ; but n o ne seemed

quite t o t Then c ame the thought
.

of t h e story of Eve and her pr off er o f

the apple t o Adam This e x actly
$
.

tted the o ccasi o n And hen c e the

.

rep ly .

In this instan ce als o you can easily

trace the pr o c esses analysis exten ,

sion seeking resemblances or likenesses

, ,

and dis carding ideas less a pprOpria t e

72
 SECRE TS 0F

mak e i t a p ar t o f our mental st oc k in

trade so that we can use it at appr o
,

p r i a t e times in publi c speaking in ,

w riting o r in c o nversati o n How Shall

.

we d o this ? Well w e have really f our

,

ideas in t he quotation $ the mind a ,

kingd om co ntentment (
,
implied ) an d,

the pers o nality o f the man Epi ctetus

, ,

wh o w ro te the senten c e .

L e t us rst learn s o mething o f Epi c

tetus L et us analyze h is Chara cter
.

and plac e a mental picture of him in

the midst o f a netw o rk of ass oc iati ons
which will make that pi c ture o f Epi c
tetus o ur own forever We nd the
.

foll owing p o ints f o r ass ociati o n $ A

Slave b ecame free great phi lo s opher

blameless life b anished friend o f
Adrian and Mar cus Aurelius .

S o we may associate the pic ture o f

Epi c tetus with the foll o wing ideas $
slaves wh o were great men ; great phi
lo s Oph e rs who were banished ; men of
'

humble o rigin wh o became friends of

kings ; Ad r ian and Ma rcus Aure l ius

74
MENTAL S UPREM A CY .

any one of these will almost certainly

suggest to us the idea the mental pic ,

ture o f Epictetus
, .

N ow to return t o Epi c tetus sen

tence $ The three ideas kingdom , ,

mind c ontentment Should ea ch be

, ,

dwelt o n fo r a moment in this wise $

Kingd om a pla ce o f vast e x tent un
, ,

limited res our ce s bo undless possi b ili

,

ties innite p owers much t o expl o re

, , ,

much t o co nquer And t o Epi ctetus

.
,

his mind was like a kingdom ; and he

w a s co ntent Afte r the idea o f a king
.

d o m o f great extent take up the ,

thought of the mind and its p o ssibili

ties D well On this until yo u s e e h ow
.
,

to a man O f intell e ct th e mind is really

,

a kingd o m a kingd o m mo re interest
ing an d w o nderful than any mere phys
I c al c ountry co uld p ossibly be Then .

po nder on t h e n o tion o f c ontentme nt

in spite o f humble circumstan ces .

Ass o ciate this with the idea of Th o

reau of P urun D ass o f D io genes of
, , ,

Gautama and o f Jesus of N az a re th

,

75
 SECRE TS 0F

al l of wh o m were c o ntent t o live simply ,

nding their kingdom in the mind and

s oul
. My kingd o m is not of this
world said Jesus
,
$
.

Th ereafte r any o f these ideas will b e

likely t o sugge s t the epigram we are
studying ; for all o f these ideas are now
united t ogether b y the network of asso
c i a t io n s we have co nstru c ted .

No w to w o rk o ut in this way all the

many things whi ch y ou want to re
member and t o have at instant com
mand s eems of c ourse like very
, , ,

hard w o rk Happily however such a

.
, ,

method of formin g a s s o c I a t i o n s of ,

binding ideas into bundles o r clusters ,

as it were is necessa ry only until the

,

habit is onc e formed Then the mat .

ter goes on automati c ally of itself ,

.

C ON SC IOUS A C T ION B EC O M ES
U N C ON SC IOUS
It is a b e n e ce n t l aw of the min d
(and of the body t o o ;,
for tha t ma t ter )
that any act after it h a s been repeated
,

76
M E N TA L S UPR E M A CY .

a certain number Of time s tends t o ,

become automatic to do itself without
any sensation of e ff ort sometimes even ,

without o ur kn owledge A few months .

o f c areful e ff o rt will in practically

every case develop such a habit of asso
c i a t in g apposite ideas that the student ,

will possess without further care or

,

drill this most supe rb accomplishment

,

o f the mind the p o wer of association .

It requires both care and attention

t o form any d esirable habit either of ,

mind o r body ; but the habit o nce ,

formed no further care or attention is

,

necessary To learn to write for in

.
,

stance to form the letters to combine

, ,

them into words to elaborate the w o rds

,

into sentences and paragraphs the ,

paragraphs into pages all this takes
time a number of years O nce th o r
, .

oughly learned however as by a , ,

trained writer the practice of writing

,

requires no special care or e ff ort .

And s o with this important matter

of ass o ciation F ew pe ople have it to
.

77
 S ECR E TS OF

any g re at d egree In most pe ople the

.

ideas are separat e is o late d C ardina l

, .

Newman says of some seafaring men

that they nd themselves now in Eu
rope now in Asia ; they s e e vision s of
,

great cities and wild regi o ns ; they are

in the marts of co mmer c e o r in the
islands of the south ; they ga z e o n
P ompey s P illar o r o n the Andes ; an d

n o thing which meets them carries them

forward or backward to any idea b e
yond itself Nothing has
. any
relati o ns ; nothing has a history o r a
pr o mise
.
$
All this means in a w o rd, ,

tha t these men have not the power of

ass ociati o n .

In o rde r t o a rr an ge our ideas into

clusters o r gr oups we must for a time
,

give spe c ial attention t o the matter .

A s a help t o study along these lines ,

I c an re c ommend the fo llowing e xe r

cises whi ch have pr oven in my own
personal experien ce an d in that o f
others advised by me o f the g re ate s t
,

possible value .

78
M E N TA L S UP R EM A CY .

Take any Object you like a rose a ,

pencil a chair a wheel a knife Hav

, , ,
.

ing selected your object write out a list

of its peculiarities S ay you have taken

.

a knife a n ordinary table knife .

Now describe its form color size

, , , ,

Shape weight material and state its

, , ,

peculiarities hard cool Sharp heavy , , , ,

opaque elastic
,
.

Having written out this list of de

scriptive points take them up one by
,

one and think of what o ther objects

have the same quality F or instance .
,

in material the knife being of steel ,

with an ivory handle resembles all cut ,

lery and steel machinery di ff ering ,

from them n o t in material but p e r

haps in the manner and degree of the
tempering The ivory handle will
.

suggest a large number of articles

made of that material The sharpness .

of the knife suggests lancets sw o rds , ,

scissors and so on and may also be

, ,

applied in a gurative way as to the ,

nature Of a r emark (Her w o r d s were
79
 SECRE TS 0F

like a d a gger thr us t int o his

or the e ff ect O f a glan c e (An eye like
a bayonet thrust met mine ) and so on $
.

This treatment Of the Obje c t knife $

if done exhaustively will pr ove a mos t

valuable exercise Three or four hours
.

over it will be time well spent Not .

that y o u are specially interested in the

subject knife its analysis o r its r ela
,
$

tions but that in going through the

,

exercises with any Obj e ct whatever ,

you are getting your mind into the

habit o f treating all subj ects in the
s ame analytical manner By the time
.

you have trea t ed twenty di ff eren t Ob

j e c t s in a ccordan c e with this method ,

y o u will have gone far t o ward g a I n I n g

the invaluable a cco mplishment o f as s o
c i a t in g id ea s
.

80
 S ECRE TS 0 F

t i o n befo re i t w a s bor n i n to a ctua l

b ein g .

We c ann ot think o f a pers o n being

with o ut any p ower o f imaginati o n ; for
that is an imp o ssibility But many .
,

many pe ople I am sorry t o s a y are

, ,

greatly de c ien t in imaginati o n ; and

t his lack o f imaginati o n al o ne is enough
t o render them co mm o npla ce un in t e r ,

esting an d o f littl e use o r s i gni ca n c e

,

in the wo rld .

A man o r w o man may b e de cient

in imaginati o n and yet b e h o nest ,

stra i ghtfo rward h ard w o rking co nsci

, ,

e n t i o us But f o r s uc h a man o r su ch
.

a w o man the higher rewar d s o f life

are h opelessly unattainable He or She .

may make an e xcelle nt bookkeep er b ut ,

neve r an a cc ountant ; a skillful typist ,

but never a secretary ; a fai thful stock

boy b ut never a sal esman The a c
,
.

c o un t a n t the se c re t a ry the sale sman

, , ,

must have imaginati o n .

O f co urse when it c o mes to any a o

tu al cre ati v e wo rk p ainting s culp ,

88
ME N TAL S UPREM A CY .

ture musi c a l co mp o siti o n li tera tu r e

, ,

the p ower of imaginati o n highly ,

trained rened daring and vivid is

, , , ,

the great essential The creators o f

famous masterpieces have in instan ces , ,

la cked everyt hing el s e but this o n e

thing imagination S o me o f the great
.

a r tists have lIve d all their lives in mis

ery and want S ome have b een i gn o
.

r ant some have been c o arse som e have

, ,

b een imm o ral s o me have b een e cc e n

,

tric s o me have been almo st or quite

,

insane B ut o n e thing all have po s

.

s essed in co mmon and that is a

,

superb imaginat ion .

In no respec t I believe d o men dif

, ,

fer s o widely as in the power and a c t iv

ity of their faculty o f i maginatio n .

Hundre d s o f men and w omen have

walked and s a t in t he old c oun t ry
churc hyard and no o n e had ob serve d
,

there anything that w a s espe cially in

t e re s t in g o r picturesque But o n e day.

there c ame t o the churchyard a man

with a n e imaginati o n a poe t H e ,
.

83
 SECRE TS 0F

saw m o re than mere grass and trees

an d headstone s ; and he gave to the
w o rld the m o st perfect p oem in the
English language H is name was
.

Th o ma s Gray and the p o em was the

,

fam o us Elegy in a C ountry C hurch
ya rd .
$

Th o usands o f people had s een an

apple fall from a tree to the ground .

But o n e day a man with a great imagi

nati o n s a w that c om m onplace thing .

H is imaginati o n seized upon it and he ,

pro p o unded Newton s t heory of the law

o f gravitati o n o ne O f the mo st impor

,

tant a chievements in the whole history

o f human thought An o ther man sees
.

h is m o ther s teakettle bo ilin g He

.

Observes t hat the lid is rai s ed by the

e xpandin g steam His great imagina
.

ti o n starts fro m this homely detail ;

an d he gives to the world the steam
engine Nap o leon p o or obscure hun
.
, , ,

gry trudging up and d own the streets

,

of P aris in searc h of emplo yment ,

d reams o f makin g all Eur op e o ne vast

84
MENTAL SUPREMA CY .

empire his empi r e . And he all b u t
succeeds .

And SO we might g o o n indenitely .

Enough perhaps t o repeat that the

, ,

world s masters have always been p o s

sessed of ne and daring imagination ,

and that without great powers of im

,

a g in a t i o n there c an b e ac c omplished
,

no great or important w o rk Of any

nature whatever
I M A G INA T ION E A SI LY C ULT IVA TED .

P erhaps you feel that your own im a g

i n a t io n does not always serve you as well
as it Should ; perhaps you are wishing

that it was better that you c ould pr o
duce in it such improvement as to e n
able you to create some good and
worthy thing in the world In that .

case I am glad to be able to tell you

that of all the p o wers of the mind
, ,

none is capable of being so easily c on ,

ve n i e n t ly and rapidly cultivated as the

,

imagination And I may remark that

.
,

as in the case of other faculties the ,

85
m ea ns take n to cul ti vate th e im ag ina
ti o n will at the same time ne cessa rily
train and s t rengthen the mentality in
eve ry o ther dire cti o n .

F i rs t o f all it mus t b e unders tood

,

that the a ct o f imaginin g o f b rin ging ,

images b efore the mind is n ot a s epa ,

rate fun c ti o n o f the mentality b ut that ,

it is closely interw o ve n with p artly ,

co nsists of in fact several o th e r o f the

, ,

men t al faculties S o in d evelo ping the

.

p ower o f imagination we must rst

spea k o f these o ther fa culties whi ch are
really a p art o f it If we study an a c t
.

of imaginati o n we S hall nd that rst

,

of all we must have some ma terial fo r

o ur image .

To mos t pe ople the a c t o f imagin a

tion means t h e creation o f s o mething
entirely new They think that the pi c
.

ture c reated by t he painter th e p o et , ,

the novelist is new in every detail

,
.

No w th is is a radical err o r The artist

, .

does not create anything that is e n

t i re ly new
. An d thi s for a very goo d
86
M E N TA L S UPREMA CY .

reason there is n o t an d never will be
anything entire ly new N ow as in the .
,

days o f S olom o n $ Th er e is n o thing
new under the s un .
$

Y o u may imagine f o r instan c e a

, ,

green h or se with purp le wings Y o u .

s ay $ S urely tha t is an entirely

,

new idea I say $ No it is me r ely

.
,

a n ew combinati o n o f fo ur ve ry o ld

and commonpla c e idea s a h ors e a ,

pai r of wings and the t wo col o rs

, ,

green and purpl e An d s o in all c re

.

a t io n s n o matte r what they may b e

,

h owever n ew they may seem it is

only the combination that is new The .

mat erials co mb in ed a re Ol d a s Ol d very , ,

O fte n a s hu man th ou gh t itse l f

, .

We se e then that the rst raw ma

, ,

t e ri a l for im a gIn a t io n is our per

ce pt s the things we have seen and
heard and felt and smelled and tasted .

And it seems hardly nece s sary t o state

that the better service we have gotten
from our senses and perceptions the ,

m o re clear and vivid will be our power

87
 SECRE TS CF

to b ring b efore the min d images ma d e

up o f th o se things The rst task
.
,

then of him wh o w o ul d devel op h is

,

power o f imaginati o n is t o edu c ate the

senses .

I M A G IN A T ION A ND M EM ORY .

But the imaginati o n requires m o re

than mere perception The things per
.

c e ive d must b e remembered A th ing

.

that we have forg o tten l o st o ut o f the

cons cious mind c annot be used as
material for an act of imagination .

And then the things p er c eived and re

membered should have b een grouped
and as s o ciated int o c lusters ; SO that
when o n e wishes t o imagine a certain
picture he will have a vast am ount O f
material in his mind fr o m which t o
select materials for that picture .

In cultivating the power of imagina

tion then we mus t begin by edu c ating
, ,

per ception mem o ry and a s so c iati o n ;

, ,

for ( and here is my denition of im a g

in a t io n ) imagination is merely a com
88
 SECRE TS 0F

se l f co mfortab le an d b egin t o rea d .

Wh en y o u co me t o the end o f the rst

pa r a gra p h s top a n d image befo re y o ur
,

mind a clear pi cture of what w a s e x

pressed o r des c ribed W a s it a s cene ? .

S ee it m o untains s e a farmh o use c ity

, , , ,

residen c e co ld warm rainy b right

, , , ,
.

Try t o make it a s vivid a s it w ould b e

wer e yo u a c tually g a z in g o n the s cene .

Tha t is what the write r o f the st o ry

did o r you w o ul d n o t b e r ea ding it
, .

D urin g th e ne xt para g rap h th e s ce ne

is changed ; s o mething is add ed to the
pi ctu re S ee th i s Take mu ch t ime ;
.

it is a n e x e rcise T h e n co mes a p e r
.

s o n s a y a man
,
S ee him Is he tall
. .
,

Sh ort d ark light p re po s s e s s m g r epel

, , , ,

lent ? H ow is he dressed ? F o r ce
yourself t o imagine every de t ail And .

s o o n for a chapter
, .

By this time y o u will have h ad

en o ugh fo r o n ce ; but if y o u have a cte d
c o nscienti ously in a cco rdan c e with my
hints y o u will feel an understan d ing
, ,

a n inte rest a n d a sym pathy w ith that

,

90
MENTAL SUPREM A CY .

b o ok and its characters tha t will s ur

prise you By the time you have read
.

a d ozen chapters in this manner y ou

will have pr oven to yourself in many
ways that your imaginati o n and in

,

fa c t all your mental p owers hav e

,

markedly imp r oved Besides y ou will

.
,

kn o w f o r the rs t time the re al j oy o f

reading This is the kind o f r e ad ing
.

Emers o n had in mind when he said $

There is the c reative reading a s w el l

as cr eative writing .
$

An o ther meth o d b y whi ch the im a g

ing fa cul ty c an b e cultivated is the f o l
lowing $ Take fteen or twenty min
utes at the end o f the day an d make a
detailed review o f its m o re imp o rtant
o ccurren ces Take much time ; supply
.

every detail ; s e e and hear again every

thing that was said and d one Exam .

ine each episode critically Wh at mis .

takes did you make ? In what way

could you have ha n dled the situation
~

more easily advantage o usly diplo

, ,

m a t ic a lly ? H ow w o ul d y o u proceed
91
ag a in u n der S imi l ar ci rcumstances ? In
this exer ci s e b e careful rst to s e e

, ,

actually s e e clearly and vividly every

,

event pers o n action detail Of each

, , , ,

epis o de ; sec o nd in imagining h o w y o u

, ,

yourself and o thers might have a c ted

, ,

beware o f c riticising the actions of

other p e ople Try to fe el that what
.

ever went wrong yo u y o urself ha d

, , ,

you p o sse s sed sufc ient will sympathy , ,

delicacy intelligence and c ontr o l might

, ,

have made it right Do n t try t o ni s h

.

all the events Of the day ; that would

be imp o ssible When the fteen o r
.

twenty minut e s is up s top This i s , .

the method of P ythagora s who devote d ,

his entire evening to meditating o n the

occurrences of the day .

F or developing the p ower o f au d i

t ory imagination the following meth
o d s are useful R ecall to mind the
.

words and melody of some familiar

song as rendered by a g o od singer and ,

imagine how it sounds Hear the .

words n o te the quality of the v o ice

,
M E N TA L S UPREMA CY .

and accompaniment Three o r four .

s ongs or three o r four repetitions of

the same s o ng are enough for once .

C all up in your mem o ry one at a

tim e the various sounds O f the coun
try and hear them in imagination
the hum o f bees the sound of the wind
, ,

the rustling leaves the c ries of the va

,

ri o us bi r ds, the lowing of cattle an d ,

other noi s es pe culiar to the life o f the

c ountry .

An o the r ex er cise o f value I s the fol

l owing $ R ecall s o me experience of
yo ur past which at the time m ade a
, ,

strong impression upon you R eview .

it in all its details slo wly and care

,

fully Co nsider its cau s es the means

.
,

whereby it w ould have been prevented ,

outside inuences which a ff ec ted it the ,

consequen ces O f the oc currence upon

yourself and others Wh at inuence .

has it had upon your life since that

time ? Good ? Bad ? Why ? If good ,

may the s ame experience not be

realized again ? If bad by what m e ans,

93
may i t be avo i ded ? T h i s m ethod Sho ul d
be f o ll ow ed with va ri o us experien ces .

A s y o u c an easi ly under s tand the e x ,

e rc ise devel o ps fa r more than imagina

ti on I t tea che s reason judgment

.
, ,

s elf co n t r ol an d th at th o ughtful inte l

-
,

lige n t c are o f the self whi ch is the

h appy m edium b etween b rutal s e l sh
nes s a nd b ase self abnegati o n
-
.

An o th e r helpful e xe rcl s e I s the fo l

l owin g $ R e c all s o m e a ttra c tive l an d
s c ape that y o u have se e n P ain t fro m
.

mem ory a pi cture of it $ S upp o se it

w a s a running b r ook in th e m o untain s .

R em em b e r the ro cks a t the sh o re the ,

t rees with their l o w h anging b ranche s ,

the cows tha t used to stand knee d eep

in th e w a ter a t n oo n C all t o mem o ry
.

t h e tw i tte r of b irds in the foliage the ,

h o arse cawing o f th e c rows in the not

distant p ines the o c c asional lowin g Of
,

a cow in the a dj o I n I n g eld Hear the.

laughte r o f th e b oys a s they co me fo r

an early evening plunge in the cool
still water o f the near by m ill po nd
- .

94
M E NTA L S UPR EM A C Y .

S mell again in imagina ti o n th e O d or

of the earth the tree s the wild o w
, ,

e rs
, the fresh cut hay in the near by -

meadow Go through it all minutely

.
,

resolutely D on t omit any detail

.

.

Then begin o n the creative phase o f

the imagination P aint a p icture in

.

your mind rst s a y a lands c ape a

, ,

view o f a high mountain o n the right ,

a great tree o n the left between the

$

tw o a verdure clad hillside bey o nd a ,

lake above a blue s k y l ow up o n wh i ch

, ,

hangs the setting s un Add all th e .

d etails which I have not spa ce t o enu

m e rate .

Compo s e man y pic tures like thi s ,

taking time t o put in every little bush

and r ock and cloud U nless y o u make .

the pi cture vivid and c omplete y o u will ,

mis s the real benet of the ex er ci s e .

Every picture ever painted has been

thus elaborated in the imaginati o n of
the artist befo re it was o bj e ct i e d upo n
th e c anvas .

Next a dd a c ti o n to yo u r p i cture .

95
Up o n the lake is a little sailboat co n
t a I n In g a merry party How many ?
.

How d o they look ? How are they

dressed etc ? S uddenly a squall c o me s
, .

up The boat c apsizes Another boa t

. .

puts out from Shore and rescues th e

unfortunates And s o on
. .

O ne of the most interesting and va l

u a b le of exercises for the imagination

is this $ Y ou are r e ading a b o o k o f

ction and have reached let us s a y
, , ,

the end of the third chapter Now s it .

down and write o ut o f your own im a g

in a t io n a s equ e l to the story from the
point at which reading .

Wh o is going t o marry whom ? How is

the villain to be puni s hed ? What is t o
become o f the adventuress and SO o n .

Write another sequel at th e en d of the

fourth chapter At the end of the
.

fth the eighth the tenth chapters d o

, ,

the same thing .

Now in this e xercise while the m a

,

dental literary practice is most valu

able the main p o int is t o train the im
,

96
 SECRE TS CF

an d again elabor atin g the S ituations

,

and addin g details until the wh ole story

,

seems like an o ccurren ce in y o u r own

pers o nal experien c e .

Then write it out making n o sp ecial

,

attempt at literary fo rm but striving

,

o nly for clearne s s and exa ctnes s o f

des c rip t ion an d de tail You may then
.

make a s e co n d cop y o r even a third ,

if y o u like with every writin g trying

,

to gain a m o re and m o r e clea r mental

pi c ture of the pers o nages s c enes and
, ,

oc curren ces whi ch make up y our s t o ry .

A few h o u r s a week de voted to s tudy

al o ng lines whi ch I have h ere sketched ,

will d o w o nders n o t only in cultivating

,

the p ower o f imaginati o n b ut in de vel

,

Opin g every de s ira b l e quality o f mind .

ME N TAL SUPREMA CY .

VII .

H O W T O C O N C ENT R AT E TH E
ATT E NTI O N .

A t t e n ti o n m a k e s t h e ge n i u s W I L L

MOT .

G e n ius is m e re ly c o n t in u e d a tt e n

t io n .

HEL VET IU S
A t t e n t i o n i s a s ure m a r k o f t h e s u p e
ri o r ge n ius L ORD CH ESTERF IELD .

A t t e n ti o n i s t he s t u t ha t m e m o ry
is m a d e o f JA M ES R USSELL L O W ELL .

I f I ha ve m a d e a n y i m pro ve m e n t in
t he s ci e n c e s i t is o w in g m o re t o pa t i e n t
a t t e n t i o n t ha n t o a n yt hi n g e ls e SIR
I SA A C NEW TON .

O NC ENTR A TI O N o f the
attention is o ne of th e
maste r keys o f powe r .

Without it o ne c a n a c
complish nothing great
o r S ignicant The m o st .

p e rfe ct percep ti o ns the m o st re tentiv e

,

99
mem o ry the m o st daring an d pict ur

,

esque imagination without con c entra

tion they c an eff ect nothing The .

p rI n p le o f c on c entrati o n may be well

illustrated by a physical co mparis o n .

S upp o s e we take a football weighing

four o unces and propel it through the
air b y means O f the charge o f powder
generally used fo r a pr ojectile o f fo ur
ounces weight What e ff ect will the

.

impa c t Of the football have ? None

whatever But s upp o se we c o n ce n
.

trate the four o un ces weight into a

sphere o f l ead less than half an inch

in diameter and pu t behind it the same

propuls ive fo r c e what t hen will hap
pen ? Now the di ff eren ce between the
football and the leaden bullet is the
di ff erence betwe en di ff usion and c on

centrati o n the diff erence betwe en the
impingem ent that is harmles s an d that
which is deadly .

And s o it is in the w o rl d O f th ought .

The thoughts of s o me pe ople are like a

fo o t ball big e xpanded by wordy
,

100
 SECRE TS 0F

the idea o f co n c en t ra t i o n
Thi s on e

thing I do .
$

Now what is meant by co n c ent r a

tion o f the attenti o n o r a s it is s o me , ,

times called the power O f atten t i o n ?

,

Y ou s e e in the k ind of language whi ch

,

I am u sing t o you we do not attemp t ,

t o express things with s cienti c pre

c is i o n ; fo r that means the use n ot o nly

o f many many w o rds but the i nt ro

, ,

du c tion o f many new and t o us un , ,

necessary words S o f o r o ur purpo se

.

we m ay use the term s con centrati o n , ,

p o wer o f attenti o n c oncent r ati o n o f,

attention as if they meant the s ame

,

thing a s they actually do .

W H A T Is C ON C EN TRA T ION ?
Now what is con c entration ? In a
word c oncentration may be dened a s
,

being that state of mind in whi ch the

total and entire energies of the indi
vidual physical as well as mental a re
, ,

focused upon the thing he is do ing o r

thinking All a ctions and all th oughts
.

1 02
M E N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

not connected with what he is doing or

thinking are kept out o f the mind ; and
all his f o rces are bent upon t h e task
in hand He who can d o this has con
.

centrati on has the power of attention

,
.

He wh o has not this power must a c

quire it befo re he can hope t o do or be
anything admirable o r worthy in the
world
Any one who has performed any
d ii c ult feat of strength s uch as lift ,

ing a heavy weight muscling him ,
$

se lf up o n the horizontal bar or trying

to make a track record at the hundred

yard dash o r the two twenty will
$
-
,
$

realize h o w large a factor in these

mus cular perfo rmances is the mer e
fact O f concentration In these as .
,

well as in a great many other s o c alled -

physical feats such as jumping marks

, ,

manship Shot putting and s o on the

, ,

slightest wandering of the mind from

the work in hand is absolutely d e s t ruc
tive o f success In a c robatic work
.
,

such as ying trapeze and ying r ings ,

1 03
 SECRE TS OF

as wel l as I n j uggling and balancing ,

the same is true Acrobatic jugglers

.

and gymna s ts are always masters of

the art o f attention o f c on c entration
as applied t o their spe c ial feats .

AT TENTION L A RGELY A NEGA T I VE A CT .

Now concentration is largely a nega

tive process ; it depends a s much up o n
what you d o not do as up o n what ,

you d o .

To take an e x ample $ Y ou Sit down

to write a di fcult lette r The trolley .

car whizzes b y with it s villainous

bang bang
-
. Y ou a re s uddenly re
$

minded that you Should have go ne d own

town to get that book your wife
wanted But there s the letter Y ou
.

.

turn back t o it Y ou write another

.

line o r two and then suddenly you
,

hear the excited b ark of little F ido ,

the S cotch terrier Yo u g o to the win

.

dow and look out Nothing the mat

.

ter only another terrier not quite s o

S co t ch a c r o ss the street Yo u read .

1 04
 SECRE TS OF

himself is king of men H

But o f co urse
.

you want m o re speci c dire c tions than

this It is easy t o s a y c onc e ntrate ;
.
,
$

bu t y o u need t o k n ow ex actly h ow t o
c oncentrate .

R emembering that attenti o n is

merely the a c t Of applying the min d ,

the entire mind to the task in hand

, ,

you will understand that the faithful

pra c ti ce o f the vari o us e xe rcl s e s advis e d
in previ o us chapters of this series c an
n o t but be o f the greatest value a s aids
to the development o f the power of
attenti o n Ever y e ff o rt of the mind
.
,

whether t o per ceive ; t o re colle c t t o ,

ass oc iate to imagine o r t o judge must

, , ,

ne cessarily involve a co nc ent rati o n o f

the fa culties of the mind up o n that
parti cular act whatever it may be
,
.

S O rst of all I may assure you tha t

, ,

the practices I have advised if y o u ,

have fai t hfully foll o wed them will ,

have by t his time n o tably in c reased

your power of attention As a matter .

of fact such assurance o n my p art is

,

1 06
M E NTAL S UP R EM A C Y .

superuous ; for if y o u have exercised

a s I have dire c ted you ,
yourself will
, ,

already have n o ted a marked change

in this directi o n as well as in o thers .

DO n o t all ow yourself to ove rlo o k the

fa c t that whatever may be the mental
act in whi ch you are engaged the act ,

o f attenti o n is necessarily involved .

There is no faculty of the mind in

whi ch you have s o many opp o rtunities
O f exer c ise .

S o the rst exer c ise I shall advise is

that you g o ove r carefully all the meth
o d s whi ch I have detailed in the chapters

o n percepti o n mem o ry ass o ciation im

, , ,

a g in a t i o n and judgment making a s pe

, ,

c ia l e ff o rt while doing them not to all o w

the mind t o wander for a m oment from

the task in hand This alone if per
.
,

s is t e n t ly and conscientiously done ,

w o uld insure you a high degree of this

splendid intellectual accomplishment .

O ne of the best methods I know for

him or her who would begin at the
1 07
b eginni n g a n d learn t o co n centrate the
attention is the foll o wing
S elect some task which while S imp le
, , ,

requires accuracy and close attenti o n .

A s um in addition or multiplicati o n is
well adapted for this purp o se Now .

settle your s elf down to this ; resolving

t hat until it is nished and veried
, ,

you will n o t allow the mind to take in ,

o r at any rate hold an y o ther idea o r

,

p icture whatever .

While adding o r multiplying the g

u res you wi ll suddenly nd that there
,

pops int o the mind some o ther idea

the clang o f a bell ( re o r the ambu
lance ) ; a Shouting on the street ( a
ght or a runaway ) a thought o f the
landlady your tailor your gro cer
, ,
.

Now just here is where you are re

quired to make the essential act of c on

centration o f trained attenti o n S hut
u
.

the door on thes e outside th o ughts .

Turn back to your work F or a time .

,

at any rate you cannot prevent the

,

intrusion of extraneous thoughts ; y o u

1 08
Jame s P r o fess or of Psych ology in
,

Harvar d h a s s aid $ ,
Eff or t o f atten
ti o n is th e essen tia l phen o men o n Of
will .
$

An oth er e x er c ise f o r co n ce n t rati o n

Of the attenti o n is S impl y t o coun t .

C oun t o n e hundred b eginning with 2

and adding three ea ch time c g 2 5 , . .
, , ,

8 1 1 1 4 et c
, ,
O r beginning with 2
, .
, ,

ad d 6 7 9 1 3 o r 1 7 ea ch time c g
, , , , , . .
,

2 8 1 4 2 0 etc ; 2 9 1 6 2 3 3 0 e tc ;
, , , , .
, , , , ,
.

2 1 1 2 0 2 9 38 e tc
, ,
O r beginning
, , , .
,

with 1 00 co unt d ownwar d subtra ct ing

, ,

3 6 7 9 1 1 1 3 1 7 or 1 9 ea ch t ime
, , , , , , , ,

e g 1 00 9 7 9 4 9 1 etc All this may

.
.
, , , , , .

seem very S imple But you will nd .

that unless y o u already have a very

,

nely developed p ower of atte n ti o n ,

y o u will n ot at r st b e able t o c omplete

the hundre d in any o f t hese ex er c ises
with o ut the e ntran c e into the mind o f
vagrant ex trane ous th o ughts By the
,
.

time you are able t o add or subtract

freely in this way without any wan
derin g o f the attention yo u may con ,

110
ME N TA L S UP REM A CY .

gratulate y o urself o n havin g a cqui red

to an unusual degree the power of con
c e n t ra t e d attention .

F o r the nex t exer c ise y o u will need

ab o ut three doz en large sized blank
ca rds $ the b est S i z e is about three by
ve inches Up o n one of these c ards
.

write a numbe r of four gures such ,

a s 4 357 Up o n several o thers write

.

four gures ar ranged in a square as ,

4 7 and under that 93 Then on sev .

eral c ards write s ix gures as 4 5 7 , ,

under whi ch y o u pla ce 23 6 or gures ,

such a s 4 7 5 2 and 96 under each other

, , .

O ther c ards Should contain from seven

to ten numbers in a S imple column .

P repare a dozen of these card s .

Now t o use them $ S huffle the c ards ,

fa ce downward D raw o ne gi ve a .
,

r apid glance at its face and then re ,

peat al oud the numbers that y o u saw ,

rst in the order in which they were

written i e 4 35 7 then backward
, . .
, , ,

7 5 34 . O r t o take an o ther card repeat

, ,

4 7 5 2 9 6 in the o rder in whi ch th e y

, , ,

11 1
 S ECRE TS 0 F

a ppea r Then backward 9 6 5 2 4 7 ;

.
, , ,

then go down the units column 7 2 6 , , , ,

then up the tens c olumn 9 5 4 and , , , ,

so on .

After a few hours o f practi ce su ch

as this y o u will be gin to kn o w the g
,

ures o n each card by mem o ry This .

,

while a good thing in o ne way makes ,

the e x ercise o f less value as a training

in co n c entrati o n ; s o it will b e ne cessary
for you to make up another s e t In .

the se co nd set make a larger number

of gures on each card say something ,

like 9 4 7 8 5 3 2 01 under ea ch other

, , , ,

making a square o f nine gures or .

~

9 4 78 5 3 20 1 6 in a c olumn or a
, , , , ,

line of twelve or fteen single gure s ,

arranged as for an example in addi

tion .

After a peri o d of practice with these

cards you will nd again that you are
learning to remember the numbe rs from
previou s glances rather than from the
one last glance Then it is time to .

make an o ther s e t This t ime make .

1 12
m em ory O r he may call out a li s t of
.

w o rds or gures t o which y o u listen

and whi ch you afterward repeat .

And n ow for the last and m o st im

portant exerc is e whi ch I have to s ug
gest And I may s a y right here that
.

if you pra c tice persistently and co n

s c ie n t lo u s ly you will a cq u ire the p o wer

o f co n centrati o n t o a gre a ter deg ree

and in a Sh o rter time than by all other
m e th o ds c ombined This exercise like
.
,

m o st things that are great and impor

ta nt is als o very S imple It is thi s $
, .

Make every detail a work of art .

Think this ove r It means that y o u

.

d o everything the m o st t rivial a cts

,

with stri c t an d exclusive att enti o n .

Are y o u la cing y o ur b o o ts ? There

is a way in whi ch that h omely little
a c t c an be performed m ore rapidly ,

ea s il y and satisfactorily than it can

,

I n any o ther way S tanding walking

.
, ,

d ressing o ne s s e lf writing Shaking

, ,

hands Shaving handling knife a n d

, ,

fo rk open in g a bo o k al l thes e a n d a
,

11 4
M ENTAL S UPREM A CY .

milli o n othe r trivial acts if done c on
and attentively a ff ord a train
s c io us ly ,

ing in concentration which it is a b s o

lut e ly impossible to gain in any o ther
wa y When asked by s ome inquisitive
.

rep o rter the secret of his suc cess S un ,

$
set C ox replied $ I think it is my
attenti o n to detail I pride myself .

upon the way I can wrap up a paper

parcel This is the true spirit
.
$

the
$
pride o f suc ce ss Make every detail
.

a w o rk o f art .

And then the g ain $ Yo u d evel op not

only the p ower o f concentration Y ou .

devel op perception mem o ry asso c iation , , ,

imaginati o n will And this is o ne of the

,
.

m o st satisfa c t o ry results of the pra c

ti ce Of mental training in developing
an y o n e fa culty you are at the same
tim e devel opin g o thers But as re .

gards co n centrati o n when y o u are ,

trainin g that you are at the same time

,

trainin g al l th e o the r po we rs of the

min d .

11 5
There are i n fact a fe w excepti o nal
, ,

cases in whi ch spirit mind an d b od y

, ,

act with some d egree o f harm o ny in

which the pure im p ers on a l s pI rIt (t he
S at the Atman a s the wise Hind oo s
, ,

c all it ) a cts i n su ch a manne r a s t o

and mo vement s of the I ndivi dual .

shin ing o nes o f the ages .

$
ment s o frequently referred t o in th e
writings of t he o ld phil o s oph e r s Egyp ,

tian Hind oo C hi n e se and He b rai c

, , ,
.

S u ch h a rm o m o us a c tion o n ce a chieved ,

the in dividual is in immediate p o sses

and e xp re s s 1ve n e s s

A S Br owning wri te s in P ar a c e l
$
s us

Wh e re t ru t h a bi d e s in fu lln e s s ; dud
t o kn o w
1 18
ME NT A L SUPRE M A C Y .

R a t her c o n s is t s in O p e n in g o u t a w a y
Whe n c e t h e i m pris o n e d s p le n d o r m a y

Tha n i n e ff e c t i n g e n t ry f or a light
Suppo s e d t o be w i t ho u t .
$

A wiser tea cher than B rowning

said $ S eek ye rst the Kingd om o f
Heaven and His righteousness ; and all
$
these t h I n gs shall be added u nt o y ou .

The Kingdom o f Heaven as used I n

this and o ther c ases by Jesus und o ubt
$
e d ly refers to t his mysti c a t o n e ment - -

between spirit mind and b ody
, ,
AS .

a man thinketh in his heart s o is he .

$

Two PH A SES OF H U M A N A C T ION .

In every human a c tio n the r e are tw o

distin ct phases t h ought and m o ti o n .

Thoughts lie hidden in the gray cav

erns o f the brain They are potential
.
,

latent . Motions are physical Obvi ,

ous Every thought every impulse

.
, ,

every emotion has its ellipsis in some

acti o n o f th e muscles ; and when such
11 9
 SECRE TS O F

tho ugh t i mp ulse o r em o ti o n is per

, ,

f e ct ly e xpressed in muscular activity ,

we have the ideal human being In .

this c o nnecti o n it may be appr op riate

to introduce two brief quotations from
the writings Of P rofess o r William
James Of Harvard C ollege .

He says $ There is n o m o re valu
able pre cept in m o ral education than

this if we wish t o co nquer un d e s ir
able emoti o nal tenden c ies in ours elves ,

we must assidu o usly and in the rst

,

instance cold blo o de d ly go through the

-
,

outward movements of those contrary

disp ositions we pref e r t o cultivate .

S mooth the brow brighten the

,

eye c ontract the dors al rather than the

,

ventral aspect Of the frame and speak ,

in the maj or key pass the genial com

,

p lim e n t and your heart must be frigid

$
indeed if it does not gradually thaw .

And in another place the same a u

thor has said $ N 0 reception without
reaction no impressi o n without correl

,

ative expression this is the great

,

1 20
 SECRE TS 0F

the cl o se in ter relatio n be twe e n th o ught

and m o ti o n In order t o live th e co n
.

v e n t i o n a l l ife o f the well behav e d man

-

or w o man one is co mpelled t o c o n

s t a n t ly stie and deny desires im ,

pulses thoughts and su ch denial in e v

, ,

it a b ly l ead s to inj u ry o f min d a n d body .

R ELA T ION OF M IN D A ND B OD Y .

Mental a c tivity simply means cer

tain chemi c al and me chani c al ch a nges
occurring in nerv o us matter These .

changes occ ur n o t o nly in the nerv o us

matter o f the brain but als o in the
,

n erves whi ch c ause m u s c ular a c ti o n .

This is a large subje c t and it is

quite impossible within the limits o f
a w o rk such a s this to make it clear .

It may be said at o nce h o wever that

, ,

e a ch emoti o n and each t h ought h a s its

c orresponding out put along the m o to r

nerves that ea ch em o ti o n and each
th ought h a s a mus cular picture whi ch
is peculiar t o itself Now if t h e m us
.
,

cle s be free and exible the tho ught ,

1 22
MENTAL S UPREMA CY .

whi ch occupies the higher n e rve cen

ters will be translated by a c ertain
p o siti o n o f the mus cles In o ther .

w o rds a pers o n marked by su ch

,

pe culiarity will be expressive and in

t e re s t in g All the great singers a cto rs

.
, ,

and o rat o rs all those most su ccessful

o n the stage in p oliti c s o r in s oc iety
,

have b een distingui shed by th i s pe cul

iar expressivenes s .

In o rder t o b e e xpressive several

things are requisite The bo dy must .

be e re c t the j oints and hinges o f the

,

bo dy a s explained in previ o us chap

,

ters being each in its pr oper pla ce

, .

The re must have been acquired the

hab it o f keeping the muscles in a state
o f relaxati on and re ceptivity Am o ng .

t he many e xe rcl s e s which t h e writer

h a s empl oyed for the purp o se of devel
Oping this p ower are the few given
herewith A c areful study and pra c
.

ti ce of these exercises can hardly fail

t o result in an increase in general
exp res s ivene ss health a nd pers o n al ity
, , .

1 23
 SECRE TS OF

Exe rcis e N0 1 . .

(
Anti c ipati o n pleasura
,
b le e x pe ct a
tion .

Im a gine that some o n e is co ming

t oward you whom y o u v ery mu ch
wished t o s e e Y ou w o uld naturally
.

lean forward t o greet him e xtending ,

o n e or b oth hands and smiling N ow .

,

holding this idea this mental picture

, ,

before the mind allow the exible b o dy

,

to Show it forth in gesture facial e x ,

pression and a few words o f greeting

,

spoken aloud Exactly what you d o

.

does n o t in the least matter S imply .

hold the thought s o intentl y that for

the moment you a c cept the imagined
S ituation as real and let the b o dy go
,
.

Thi s exercise may be varied in

n i t e ly by changing the pi c ture always , ,

however imagining a situation such as

,

will produce a feelin g o f pleasurable

anticipati o n.

1 24
 Ex e r c i s e No 4. .

Guilt ) .

Try to imagine that you have co m

m i t t e d s o me crime s a y for instance
, , ,

theft Imagine that you are brought

.

before a judge and that yo u are ple a d

ing guilty and askin g for mer cy .

Allow this th o ugh t to permeate mind

and bo dy sh owing by gestures and
,

atti t u de y o u r app re c ia ti o n o f th e s itu a

ti o n
.

(A cc us at ion ) .

Imagine that s o me o ne h a s c o m
m it t e d a c rime against y o u ; that you
are fa cing him befo re a tri b unal .

Make y our a ccusation I f ne ces s ary in

, ,

words taking at the same time the

,

attitud e app ropria te to this em o ti o nal

state .

1 26
M E N TA L S UP R E M A CY .

Exe rcis e No . 6 .

(D epressio n )
Imagine s uch circumstan ces as
would produce in you a feeling of de
pressi on and yield the body to it .

These ex ercises although they may ,

seem unusual have powe rful and far

,

reaching results That this is true .

any one may prove t o himself in a week

of faithful practi c e It must be un .

d e rs t o o d however that they cannot

, ,

be pr operly practiced until the body

h a s been made erect and th o r o ughly
exi b le by a persevering practice of
the exercises des c ribed in preceding
chapters .

A S t o mental images literature and ,

poetry a ff ord many suggestions D avid .

at the b ier of Absalom Hero over the ,

body of L eander S ocrates drinking the

,

cup of hemlock Luther on the way to

,

Worms Hamlet before his father s

,

ghost R obins o n C rusoe when he dis

,

cove rs th e fo o tprint in the sand R ip ,

12 7
Van Win k l e on aw ak ening fr o m his
l o ng Sl e ep Mark Antony in his speech
,

to the R omans R egulus parting from

,

h is wife and children these and many

o ther s c enes a ff o rd V ivid dramatic S it

ua t io n s .

In all this work the great point is

to subordinate the body to make the ,

body obedient exible acquiescent

, , ,

an d interpretative of the mind Those .

wh o are interested in any form O f ex

p ressive art dramatic lyri c al o r
, , ,

scenic will n d thes e simple e x er cises

,

o f value .

12 8
 SECRE TS 0F

previ ou s to the begi n n i n g of the Ch ri s

tian e r a ther e had been a cco m p lishe d
al on g lin e s o f phil o s ophi c al physical , ,

and co s m o lo gl c a l resear ch mu ch m or e
than with all o ur bo asted eruditi o n has
, ,

been d o ne S in c e In fact s ome o f o ur

.
,

m o st striking d is coveries ar e me rely

c o rr obo rati o ns o f kn o wledge o f the
Brahmins the C hinese the P hoeni cians
, , ,

and o ther o f the ancient peoples wh o

lived th o u s ands o f years befo re the
alleged appe aran c e o f Jesus o f Na z
a r eth .

H ow m uch o f thi s an c ien t kn owl

e dge Je su s p o s s essed i t is imp o ssi b le t o
s ay probabl y m o st if n o t all O ne .

thing is ce r tain $ S o me things he knew

and s aid whi ch s o fa r a s we kn o w
, , ,

were entirely original and I con o clasti c .

And o ne o f the s e things entirely new,

the n ( and alm o st entirely n e w now ,

fo r that matter ) was to the e e ct that

in child study we should nd the key
to the kingd o m o f heaven .

N ow a s I h av e e xplain e d elsewhere
130
M ENTAL S UP R EMA C Y .

in the s e Se rm o n s of a S cientist th e ,

Kingd om o f Heaven ( or the Kingd o m

O f God ) is n o t a place where g oo d pe o

ple g o whe n they die The Kingd o m .

o f Heaven is a state o f mind of S pi rit

that state in whi ch s pirit therefore
,

mind therefo re b o dy a r e all th re e in

, ,

harm o ny with the Gre at O vers oul an d ,

with His l aws .

F o r us wh o a re a dult s wh o for ,

three fo ur or ve de c ades have b ee n

, ,

guilty o f the th ousand th ou s an d ,

c rimes phys i c al mental spiritual

, , , ,

in c iden t al t o co mm o npla ce livin g for

us it is ne cessary t o be rebo rn t o be
radi c ally change d in spirit therefo re ,

in min d and bo dy b efore we c an ente r

,

the Kingdo m o f Heaven t he physi cal ,

realm o f pea ce rest and power S o

, , .

Jesu s s aid to the dis ciples $ Verily I
s a y unt o you , e xcept ye be co nverted
and be c ome as little chil d ren ye Shall ,

not enter into the Kingdom o f Heaven .

$

B y which He meant e x actly what He

did when He said t o Nic o demus $ Ex
1 31
 S ECRE TS 0 F

cept a man be b o rn again he c ann ot ,

s e e the Kingd o m o f G o d
$
.

O f t he many milli o ns that have with ,

cl o se attenti o n and deep rev er ence read ,

the w o rds I have quoted few if any , , ,

have seen the clear profo und pra c , ,

tical wisdom o f the statement of Je s us

that o nly the man the w o m a n wh o
, ,

became as a little child c oul d e n ter into

,

the realm o f peace and power .

And n ow let us analyze a little .

What is there about the child which we

should emulate ? What characteristics
has the child unp o ssessed by the adult
,

which when develop ed in the adult wi ll

give entran c e int o the kingdom of God ?
Mind you it is not stated that chil
,

dren are in the Kingdom of Heaven .

Nor c an they be They lack the actual

.

knowledge the experience the poise

, , .

But it is in the experience the har d ,

and bitter experience which develops

poise and power that man loses the
,

simplicity trustfulness and tenderne ss

, ,

o f childh oo d It is when in additi o n

.
,

1 32
o r speech c an be r ep r o d uc e d T h e .

erect c arriage means that the j o ints

an d mus c les o f the body are in their
normal and me chani c al relation to ea ch
o ther .

S o we have in the normal child m ove

ments which are at on c e rapi d gra ce

,

ful an d e co n o mi c al SO e co nomi c a l o f
,

vita l fo r c e that th e child s enduran c e

h a s passed in to a pr o verb Children

.

w ill keep o n ro mp ing fo r h ou rs at a

time with out fa t igue But an adult
.

wh o j o ins in their play will usually b e

tired ou t in ten o r fteen minutes .

Wh y is this ? Be c ause the child m oves

p r op erly and the ad ult d o es n ot m ove
pr o perly B ec ause b o dily m ove m e nt
.

is o n e o f the lo s t ar ts o f childh o od .

A M A STER OF T H E D IFF I C ULT A RT

O F REST .

And then the ab ility to re s t T he .

tired child thr ows himself d own o n the

co uch o r o or o r gr o und and rests .

The tired adult o n the o the r han d

, ,

1 34
M E N TAL SUPREMA CY .

often dge t s t o sses fumes and wor

, , ,

ries because he can t sleep Then h is

.

Sleep when it c omes is not restful ;

, ,

and he awakens after eight o r more

hours quite as fatigued as when he
went t o bed F ew adults have retained
.

from childh oo d the power t o rest F or .

the power t o rest i s another one o f the

lost arts of childh o od ; and he wh o
w o uld enter the Kingdom o f Heaven ,

the realm of pea ce must be a master

,

o f the di fcult art Of rest .

Th e w o rld is full of men an d women

whose m o st ardent ambiti o n is t o su c
ce e d in s o me art musi c painting act , ,

ing writing And out o f the multi

, .

tude wh o drudge lab o riously unrest ,

in gly at th e ir ch o sen task h o w few

s u cc eed ?

But study the li ttle children .

Watch them at play when they believe

,

themse lve s unobserved They a re play

.

ing h ouse ,
sch o ol
$
chu rch and
$
,
$

s o on . O n no stage in the w o rld will

y ou nd a c ting so true s o nished s o , ,

1 35
perf e ct an exp o si ti o n o f the a ct o r s co n

c e p t io n o f his part F r o m a purely

.

technical st andpoint the dramatic ,

work o f the average healthy intelligent

,

child is bey o nd c riticism it is simply

perfe ct .

And then the child s m o ral and

spiritual qualities By nature he is

.

absolutely truthful truthful bo th in

the sense of seeing the truth and of tell

ing it until he is sedu c ed int o lying
by fear and bad ex ample .

Mi chelet that deep and tender phi

,

lo s o ph e r has said $
,
N o co nsecrated
absurdity o f mankin d would have s ur

vive d o ne generation had n o t the man

$
silen ced t h e objecti o n Of the child .

D o you r emember the rst lie s they

told y ou ? H ow strange it seemed fo r
people people whom p erhaps y o u loved
,

and feared and worshiped with the

pure white h o t intensity of the child
,

h o w strange f o r them t o do that $

S oo n h owever you learned to d o it
, ,

y ourself learned the fat a l utility the

, ,

136
 M E N TA L S UP R EMA CY .

and the n egle cted They have starved

.

in garrets an d dreamed in hovels ; from

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138
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W I LL IA M WA L KE R AT K IN S O N
M EM O RY ; H O W T O D EV E L O P T R A IN AN D
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