C O NT ENTS

I INTR OD U C TI O N
II MIND A ND IT S M ATE R IAL
III TR AINING O F T H E PE R SP E C TIV E FAC UL TIE S
IV
M E M O RY A ND H O W O D EV E L O P I T
A SSO C IATI ON O F I D EAS
V
I MAG INATI O N A ND H O W T O C UL TIV ATE I T
H O W T O C O N C ENT R ATE T H E A TTENTI O N
VII
P SY C H O P H Y S I C AL D E V E L O P M ENT
V III
I$
TH E L O S T AR T S O F C H I L D H O O D

23

41

81

99

117

129

M y mi n d

t o me

Epi c t e tus

k i n gd om is

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
.

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
,

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

fa culties of the
s e rt a t i o n s up o n 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

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
-

A
M
P
R
E
E
N
T
A
L
S
U
M

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

we have always
s e a u s objurgations
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
,

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
of

10

ME N TA

L S UP R E M A

CY

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
s

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
r
i
a
t
and
graded
A
new
gymnasti
c
e
p
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

ND I TS U SES

But the perceptions are of little value

unless we remember what we have per
Y ou may have read all the
c e ive d
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

O ne
So memory is not enoug h
.

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

is wr ought in t o one
c ons ciousnes s

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

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
n
n
o
r
rmness
nor
individual
e
d
n
c
e
e
p
Ik Marvel says $
ity of chara cter

R es olve is what makes a man mani

fest
Will make s men giants
.

18

ME N TA

S UP R E M A C

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

FA C ULT I ES

S O C IA L

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

.

i
h
l
s
d
e
p

19

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
In

o ur

M EN TA L A C T ION

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
He c ann o t imagine an o ak
o a k t re e
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

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

P R OVERB

e ye s o

t hin gs

H INDOO

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


per c ep ti ons up o n

up o n th e
the th i n gs
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 ;
ossibly
it
was
gray
H
o
w
many
pe
o
p
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
and perceptions are easily
s enses
trained A month or two of discipline
such as I am about to describe will
Sh o w most marked and gratifying de
In mos t cases a few
ve lo pm e n t
,

26

M E N TA

S UPREM A

CY

months training is
sary ; for the habit
tion is soon formed
no further thought
matter takes c are of

TH E PER C EP TION S

all that is n e c e s
of close observa
and once fo rmed
is required The
itself
.

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
r
e
a
a
n
ce
o r na ture Of gr owin g wheat
p
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

built

ca

ll

o f I n c e n s e -b rea t hin g

s h e d,

28

morn

MENTAL S UPREM A

CY

hrill c la rio n o r t h e e c ho in g ho rn
No m o re s ha ll ro us e t hem f ro m t heir l o w l y

Th e Co c k

s s

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
.

30

M E N TA

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

EA R

TH E

H EA R

TO

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

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
?
n
Y
i
N
es
o
he
a
r
t
he
wat
c
h
w
o
u
y
creas e the dis tan ce foo t by foo t until
u
o
ca
n
n
o
l
o
n
g
er
hear
the
watch
y
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

S EN SE

TH E

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
arti cles belonging t o th o se
Of
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

S UP R EM A C

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
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
r
i
the
real
avor
of
the
fo
od
No
e
a
c
t
e
p
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
It is said that
w a s ever lost t o him
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

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

In fact it is
t h e m p o wer of mem o ry
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
artistic scientic o r
be literary
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

A
M
E
NTAL
SUPRE
CY
M

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

attention t o the matter

a h ab it

Of

of

T H E B A SI C

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

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

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

OF

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
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
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

S UPREM A

CY

of gures fo rward third line of gures

backward line of units down and so

i n o ther words this boy could see

on
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

S O P H O C LES
I ha ve

D EL

o od

U$ Y

t o t a ke
w i th

s ou l

a rt o

t he

up o n

rs t e x e c u t e d

t his

t ha t t o

or

m e m o ri e s
MM

fa c t

i h t im e ,

t ha t

a n y a c ti o n a t

c o n s c i o us

s u b c on s c i o us
-

an d

T H O M PSON

JA Y H UD SON

Wi t hin

t he

c ha m be rs

s e c re t

be

c rt

bi tua l

m e n ta l t ra in in g is

with

com es ,

up

Th e w h o le
ba s e d

o n ly

my

t hin gs

a ll

ha

t he

bra in ,
The

t h o u gh t s

m ys t i c

A w a k e bu t
Ea ch

by m a n y

on e,

s t a m ps

d ie s

li e lin k e d
c ha i n
and

lo , w ha t le gi on s

i t s im a ge

as

t he

o t he r

C O W PER

ME N TA

S UPR E M A

CY

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

all 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

ugge 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
s

62

ME N TA

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
too the wonderful
c ia t io n remembers
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

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

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

S UP R E M A C

\
'

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

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

18

68

M E N TA

CY

S UP R E M A

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

DO
questi o n t o ask a man said I
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
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
of $

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
i
r
a
t
e
times
in
publi
c
speaking
in
p
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
Afte r the idea o f a king
w a s co ntent
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
t
and
of
the
body
for
tha
t
ma
ter
t
o
o
)
(
;
that any act after it h a s been repeated
,

76

M E N TA

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

the p o wer of association

o f the mind
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

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
By the time
s ame analytical manner
you have trea t ed twenty di ff eren t Ob
in
ccordan
c
e
with
this
method
t
a
c
e
s
j
I
n
I
n
o
o
a
will
have
gone
far
t
ward
u
g
g
y
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
But f o r s uc h a man o r su ch
e n t i o us
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
the se c re t a ry the sale sman
c o un t a n t
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

in co mmon and that is a

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

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
An o ther man sees
o f human thought
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

saw

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

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

i n a t io n

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
An d thi s for a very goo d
t i re ly new
.

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

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

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

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

the fresh cut hay in the near by
e rs
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
ATT E NTI O N

TH E

A t t e n ti o n m a k e s t h e
MOT

G e n ius is m e re ly
t io n

I
L
L
e
u
n
i
s
W
g

HEL VET IU S

c o n t in u e d

a tt e n

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

L ORD CH ESTERF IELD

ri o r ge n ius
.

A t t e n ti o n i s t he s t u t ha t m e m o ry

JA M ES R USSELL L O W ELL
is m a d e o f
.

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

SIR
a t t e n t i o n t ha n t o a n yt hi n g e ls e

I SA A C NEW TON

O NC ENTR A TI O N o f
attention is o ne of

the
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
rI
o
f
c
on
c
entrati
o
n
may
be
well
n
l
e
p
p
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

the idea o f co n c en t ra t i o n

Thi s

0F
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

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

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
as

AT TENTION L A RGELY

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
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
H

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
and conscientiously done
s is t e n t ly
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
icture
whatever
p
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

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

Eff or t o f atten
Harvar d h a s s aid $
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

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
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

C ox replied $ I think it is my
set
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
s c io us ly

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

shin ing o nes o f the ages

I ndivi dual

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
A
s us

e xp re s s 1ve n e s s

Br owning wri te s in

P ar a c e l

Wh e re

t ru t h

a bi d e s

t o kn o w
1 18

in

fu lln e s s ;

dud

M
Y
E
T
A
L
SUPRE
A
C
N
M

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

ff

e c t i n g e n t ry

Suppo s e d t o be w i t ho u t

or a

light

$
.

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

a t o n e ment
e d ly refers to t his mysti c

AS
between spirit mind and b ody
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
i
m
and
your
heart
must
be
frigid
l
e
n
t
p
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
A
cc
us
t
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

S UP R E M A

CY

Exe rcis e No

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

all this work the great point is

to subordinate the body to make the
body obedient exible acquiescent
Those
an d interpretative of the mind
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
In

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

probabl y m o st if n o t all O ne
s ay
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

musi c painting act

ce e d in s o me art
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
O n no stage in the w o rld will
s o on
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

N o co nsecrated
lo s o ph e r has said $
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
squ a lid prl s o n c ells they have sent forth

thoughts that breathe ; under the

silent stars they have co n c eived
th o ughts a s high a s the stars them

selves They are th o se wh o thr ough

g rea t t ribulation
have been born
again a nd wh o a s little children have
entered int o the r ealm of peace wis
dom l ove and power the m ysti c King
dom of H e ave n
.

138

B O O KS B Y

W I LL IA M WA L KE R AT K IN S O N
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O rder of T H E E L I $ A BE T H T O WN E C O
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By

rs

s,

on

ra n s a

e r.

on

er

i er ne

THE

NAUT I L US
i a mo n th l y e fcien cy t o n ic for m ind b o dy and
bu sine ss I t i s r ecogniz ed a s the l e adi ng magazin e
O fthe Ne w Thought an d m e n tal heal in g m ove m e n t
I t de a l s dyn ami cally w i th prac ti cal subj ec ts con
t d wi th ev e ryday l i v in g
I T S E D IT O R i s E LI $ A B E T H T O WN E who se edi
t ial w h i ch are part f th e m aga zin e m on thly
are said to have th e l arg e s t nu mbe r O f readers O f
an y wom an s wri tings i n Am erica wi th
po s
sibl e e ception
I T S R EGU L AR C O N TRI BU T O R S in clude Edwi n
M arkh am O riso n S wett M a rde n D r Edward
B W a rm an Wi ll i a m W alke r A tk i ns on H ora ti
W D r sser Thom a s D rei er an d many othe rs
E ach numb er of N u ti lu contain s two o r th ree
b eauti ful ri gi n al poem s
IT S D E PARTMENT S are con tribution s to and from
i ts reade rs Th ey a re of m ark abl i n te re s t I n
Thin gs Th a t Mak e F or S uccess a mon th ly priz e
i s off e red to subs cribe rs for the be s t l et te r o n suc
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th e auth or of th e best suc ce s s letter publi hed

du ri n g th at pe ri od In F ami ly Counse l th e
mo s t popular departm e n t El iz abe th Tow e
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s
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from
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colors i l lu s trated w i th o ri gin al drawi ng s and h alf
Sub s cri pti on
p er year Addre ss
t o n es
T H E E L I$ A BE TH T O WN E C O
H O LY O KE MA SS
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