C O NT E NTS .

INTR ODU C TI ON 5
‘

MIND AND IT S 7

TRAI NI NG O F T H E PE R S P E C TIV E FAC UL TI ES . 23

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

A SSO C IATI ON O F I DEAS

I MAG INATI ON A ND H O W T O C UL TIVAT E I T . . 81

H O W T O C ON C EN T RAT E T H E A TT EN TI ON i. . 99

PSY CH O PHY S I CAL D EV EL O P M EN T

-
.

TH E L OS T A R T S O F C H I L DH OO D.
M y mind t o m e a k ingdom is .

Epi c t e tus .

Th e mind s the measure of the

’

m am —Wa t t s .

As a man thinketh in h is heart

—
,

so is he. J e s us .

The man d o es not c ontain the

min d $ the m i nd c ontains
—
m a m So cra t e s .

In the universe t here is nothing

great but man $ in the man
th ere is nothing great but
—
m i n d A ris t o t le .
 I .

I N T R O D U C TI O N .

N the b rie f arti cles whi ch

will make up thi s se r ies
my obje ct will be to pre
sent in the Sho rtest ,

plainest a nd mos t pra c ,

tica l manner method s

which in my experien c e and tha t of
,

many others who have be e n mo re o r

less un d e r my influen ce have s eemed ,

to b e c ondu c ive to in c reased men t al

efficien cy .

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

to l e a rm n g ; 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 there
is one r igh t way and the re a re a thou
,

sand wrong ways .

Now after trying it seems to me

, , ,

mo s t o f the wrong ways I h ave found ,

5
 I N TR ODUC TI O N .

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

in the s e articles I Shall try to expound
it to you Y ou need not expe c t an
.

essay on psychology or a series of dis

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

kind O n the other hand I shall s o

.
, ,

far as possible avoid text book terms -

—
,

and the text book tone both of whi ch

-

are quite absurd and quite futile I .

Shall try to give you bare fa cts I Shall .

try to give you plain directions ,

stripped of all verbal and pseudo s cie n -

t i fi c fl um m e ry for the acquisition of

,

men t al a c tivity and m ental supremacy .

W R C LA TSO N MD
. . .
, .

Ne w Yo rk
 M I N D A N D IT S M A T E R I A L .

I RST of all before you

,

are able to think at all ,

you must have some

thing to think about Y o u .

must have some mental

“
stock in trade An d.

this men t al sto ck in trade you c an g ain

only through the senses The appear .

ance of a tree the roar of the o cean the

, ,

odor of a rose the taste of an orange

, ,

the sensation you e xpe r1e n ce in han

—
dl in g a piece of satin all these are so
much material helping to form your
stock of mental images — “
the c ontent
of the consciousness 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 of thought are —
 SECRE TS OF

g aine d th r o ugh the senses sight hea r , ,

ing s mell taste tou ch and S O on

, , , , .

VA LUE OF TH E PERCEP TI O N S .

In a re cent article in a leading

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

s c ientist Dr A P eres has presented

, . .
,

s ome ideas which are s o thoroughly in

ac c ord with my own observations ex

tending over many years that I yield ,

to the temptation to quote Dr P eres . .

first makes note of modern degeneracy

in this respect I append a free trans
.

l a t l o n of a few extrac ts which seem to

me especiall y worthy of attention $
‘
Have we naught but arms and
legs ? Have we not also eyes and ears ?
And are not these latter organs n e ce s
sary to the use of the former ? Exe r
cise then not the m uscles only bu t the ,

senses that c ontrol them Thus was .

’

a c eleb rated philosopher wont to ex

press himself Nevertheless when we
.

measure a cuteness o f vision we find

th a t it is b e c omin g weak e r ; h ar dn ess
8
ME N TA L S UP REM A CY .

of hearing is on the in c re a s e ; we su ff e r
daily from la ck of skill in workmen ,

in domestics in ourselves ; a s to taste

—
,

and smell they are used up thus do

,

the inevitable laws of atavism a ct .

“
The trouble is that despite R ous ,

s e a u s objurgations we have always

’
,

paid too little attention 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 finally has
‘ ’

assumed the restri cted meaning o f

‘
mus cular education .
’

“
The senses which put us in c on 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 not to ,

do anyth ing which might d e r an ge their

wonderful mechanism .
$

The len gt h and exa ctness o f the

Sight the skill and sureness of the
,

hand the deli c a cy o f the heari ng a r e

, ,

9
of value to arti s t and art isan alike b y
the perfection and rapidity of work
that they insure Nothi ng em b ar
.

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

speak ready for anything His culti

,
.

v a t e d senses have become for him tools

of universal use The more perfect

.

his sensations the more justness and

,

clearness do his ideas acquire The .

education of the senses is the primary

form of intelle c tual education .

“
The influence of trainin g on 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 r e c ognizes the
slightes t rustling ; c ertain blind per
son s k n o w c olors b y touch ; the preci
sion o f jugglers is surprising ; the
gourme t re c ognizes the quality of a
wine among a thousand others ; odor
is with chemists one o f the mos t s ensi
tive rea ctions.

“
The sense s Opera te in two ways ,

eith er passively when the organ solely

, ,

fr om the fact that it is s ituate d on the

10
ME N TA L S UP RE M A C Y .

s urface of the body and independently ,

of the will is acted upon by exterior

,

bodies ; or actively when the organ , ,

directed and excited by the will goes , ,

so to speak in advance of the body to

,

receive the impression P as s ively we .

,

s e e hear touch smell ; actively we o b

, , , ,

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 on the sense organs the nerves -
,

and the brain are followed b y certain

,

mental operations These two things .

are often 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 ,

nowadays to educ ation c ontributes to

t h e tr ainin g of the senses b y d evelop
11
 SECRE TS OF

in g a tte n t i o n the h ab i t of ob se rva

,

ti o n but this does not suffi ce To per .

f e ct the senses and make each of them ,

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

Sible force and precision they must be ,

subjected to special exercises appro ,

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

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

There are of course a certain num

, ,
“
ber of s pecific or 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 upon the

person s character a n d habits of
’

thought they do not in themselves

, , ,

provide a c tual m a terial for thought .

If you c an imagine a person who

w a s blind and deaf who could not ,

smell or taste or feel or move ; he would

be quite unable to think for he woul d ,

have in his mind nothing about which

to think The material of thought
.
,

the mental stock in trade is gained ,

through the senses ; and in an y ra t ional $

12
‘
M E N TA L S UPRE M A C Y .

eff ort to train the mind w e must b egin

—
by training the senses the percep
tions as they are more a ccurately
—
,

called s o that we may s e e hear

, , ,

smell taste a n d feel with more pre c i

, ,

sion and keenness Trained percep

.

tions are the very foundatio n of all

mental power .

O ur system of training for mental

suprema cy will begin then with a , ,

brief study of the perceptions or ,

senses and the methods b y whi ch we

,

may gain the power of seeing more

clearly listening more intently of
, ,

feeling more delicately and in general

, , ,

of developing the perceptive powers .

M EM ORY A ND I TS USES .

But the perceptions are of little value

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

traveled the wide world over ; you may

have had all kinds of interesting and
—
unusual experiences ; but unless you
13
 SECRE TS OF

ca n re mem b e r W h a t you have read what ,

you have seen and what you have done

—you will have no real use of it all
,

“
Y o u will hav e gained no mental sto ck
in trade no material by the employ
,

ment of whi ch you may hope to a chieve

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

sary then for us to study not only

, ,

methods of 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 HE P O W ER OF A SS O C I A T IN G

But the memory itself is not enough .

I have known people of unusual powers

of memory who could not talk write , ,

—
or think well who were like the “

bookful blockhead l gn o ra n t l y read

,
r
,

with loads o f learned humor in his

head but who in spite of all their
,

experien c e and their recollection of it ,

had nothing to write nothing to s a y .

—
,

So memory is not enoug h O ne .

14
ME N TA L S UP RE M A CY .

must h a ve the power o f putting memo

—
ries together o f analyzing c ompar ,

ing c ontrasting and associating memo

—
, ,

ries until the entire mass of memo

“
ries whi ch form the c ontent of the
,

c ons ciousnes s is wrought in t o one

$

—
$

splendid homogeneous whole a mas s

,

of images ea ch one of which is inti

,

mately connected with many others ,

and all of whi ch are under instant com

mand of the c entral sovereign the —
will .

It will be ne cessary then to give , ,

special attention to this most impor

tant matter of analyzing c omparing , ,

and grouping mental images O f all .

the activities of the mind this faculty ,

“
c alled the power o f association is the ,
$

one most dire ctly c onducive to what is

gene ral ly c alle d a b rilliant mind .
$

I M A G IN A T I O N A ND JUD G M ENT .

The possession of trained percep

tions of a retentive memory and great
,

powers of asso ciation are of enormous

15
value b ut only when c om b ined wi th
—
another faculty im a gm a t io n and im
a g m a t i o n is merely the power of re c o m

b I n I n g c ertain memories in su ch a
fashi on that the combination is new .

Imagination is a faculty of the highest

possible importan c e Every splendid
.

achievement every invention every

, ,

b us I n e s s enterprise every gr e at poem

, ,

or b ook or picture has been not only

,

con ceived but c ompleted in imagination

before it be c ame actualized in fact .

A n d then it is necessary to be able

to c ompa re the mental pictures gath ,

ered b y the percept ions remembered

,

and classified by memory and associa

tion s o as to determine the relation of
,

these memories t o each other and their

application t o othe r ideas or mental
images And this valuable faculty of
.

the mi nd is c alled judgment .

N ECESSI TY FOR C O N CEN TRA T I O N .

Now in orde r t o d o well in any o n e

,

of the things of which I have been writ

16
M E N TA L S UP REM A C Y .

ing it is necessary that the entire mind

,

should be engaged upon that one thing .

To do anything well one must do only

that th i ng at that time And t his is .

parti cularly true of the action of the

mind The focusing of the entire
.

powe r of the mind upon one thing is

c ommonly known as con centration or
“
the power of attention .
$

S o essential is this power of c o n ce n

t ra t in g the entire m i nd upon the task
in hand that it is not too mu ch to say
that no great degree of mental power
c an eve r be gained without c on centra
ti on SO in our study of the practical
.

methods by which mental supremacy

may be a chieve d we shall pay special
,

attention to the development of this

invaluable fa culty .

But in order to do a nything with the

mind $o r with the body either for that ,

matter ) one must choose must wish ,

to do that thing And this choice this

.
,

decision to do something is called the ,

will The powe r to ch o o s e qui ckly and

.

17 «
d e ci s i ve ly a n d to a ct v i g o r o us l y u p o n
that ch o I ce 1s a r ather ra r e thing He .

who h a s that po we r is s ai d t o h a ve a
s t ron g will .

This question o f w ill a n d it s d e ve l op

ment is most import a n t Th e gre a t .

di ff eren ce b etween men b e tw e e n

s tr ong men an d weakl ing s b e tw een ,

th e honored and the disregarde d b e

—
,

tween the masters a n d the serfs is

will A man of s tr on g, unfa l te r ing
.

will i s sure to su ccee d eve n if his a bili

ties are medio c re ; but a man of weak
will no matter what h is abilities i s
, ,

not likely to achieve either su cces s or

honor among men .

A S a great psychologist h a s said $

The education of the will is really of
far greater importan c e than that of
“
the intelle ct . And again $
$
Without
thi s $will $ there c an b e neither inde
p e n d e n c
, e nor firmness nor individual
,

ity of chara cter .Ik Marvel says $

$

“
R esolve is what makes a man mani
fest . Will make s me n giants .
$

18
ME N TA L S UP REM A C Y .

The will like any other mental faculty

, ,

may be highly developed by training ;

and this with many practical exercises
, ,

also we will take up in its proper place .

I M P ORTA N C E OF T HE S O C IA L
FA C ULT I ES .

T he ab ove b rief outline of the men

tal powers e mbraces those which any
one may develop and use without help
from or association with other people .

The highest powers of the m 1n d how ,

eve r o r at any rate the most impres

, ,

sive powers o f the mind can be devel ,

oped only through contact W I t h others

—through social intercourse .

A man might have miraculously keen

perceptions perfect memory splendid
, ,

imagination infallible judgment in

, ,

—
domitable will he might have all o f
these ; and yet h e woul d miss the
reward s of mental supremacy unless
he were c apable of dealing with other
—
people unles s he were s o cially a cco m
pl i s h e d.

19
 In o ur e ff
orts to tr a i n t he powe rs of
th e mind therefore it will be n e ce s
, ,

s a ry to make a study of s o me of the

p rin c iple s aff e ctin g our rel a tions with

othe r people ; and s o we shal l in t he
sam e pra cti c al and straightforwa rd
way dis cuss sympath y a d aptability
, ,

an d s elf c ommand
-
. The important
question of verb a l expression a s applie d
to b o th speech and writing will al s o
re ce i ve Spe cial attention .

M EN TA L A C TI O N A U NI T .

In co n cl us 10 n you must no t fo rget

th a t a lthough I sp e ak of the variou s
,

men t al a c ts a s if they were separate ,

th is is done only for c onvenien c e of

dis cu ss ion and des c ription A S a mat
—
.

t e r o f f a c t the mind is one thing a

“ $
u ni t Al l the v ari ous fa culties a c t
.

toge th e r c ons t an tly O ne c anno t re

.

memb e r wha t a n oak tree looks l ike

u n l ess he h a s c areful l y obse rve d a n
o a k t r ee . He c annot imagine an oak
tree un l es s h e r ememb e rs it He c an
.

20
MEN TAL S UPREMA CY .

not judge of the di ff eren ce b e tween an

oak tree and a maple tree unless he
can I magine a picture of the two Si d e
by side And he cannot do any one of
.

these things without attention ; nor

again can he con centrate his attention
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 our task all the

easier and more interesting In this .

series I Shall begin by giving you some

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

smell more e fli cie n t l y But with every

.

moment of practi ce such as I advise

you will also be develo ping a more
exact and acute m emory a finer and ,

more expansive imagination a greater ,

power concentration and a s tro nger,

will When we come to dis cuss the

.

21
 SECRE TS OF

cul tiva ti o n o f the will power the e xe r

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

and other 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 of the en tire

22
M E N TA L S UPREM A CY .

T R A I NI NG O F T H E P E RC E P TI V E
FA C ULTI E S .

t he e ye s o f t hin gs .
—H INDOO
P ROVERB .

HA T fa r s ee i ng genius
-
,

Goe the o n ce said that

,

he regarded himself as
the center of all phenom
ena a sort o f focus to
,

which c o nverge d every

thin g in the universe out of whi ch
—
,

came Goe the He also claimed that

.

the real st a nd a rd for all things in life

w a s s imp l y the mass of sensations
that were appre ciable to the human
senses.

In other words Goethe understood

,

perfectly the now widely recognized

—
and widely ignored educational pri n
c ipl e that all mental a c tivity is based

23
up o n th e —the th i ngs
perc ep tions upon
we s e e an d hear and feel an d tas t e an d
smell .

A S well migh t y o u try to bui ld a

house without w oo d o r b ricks or sto n e
o r m o rtar as to try to think without
,
“
a good stock in trade of imp r essions $
,

images and memories g athere d b y the

,

senses and the per c epti o ns .

B LURRED M EN TA L P I C TURES .

O ne of the never failing mark s of

the common mind the untraine d in e f

, ,

fi cient mind is that the mental pi c

,

tures it c ontains are c onfused b lurred , ,

inexa c t A person with su ch a mind

.

will tell you that an auto c ar just

“
passed him on the road W a s it a .

big red car ? you ask Well he does

,
$
.
,

not quite know It might have been

.

red and yet he guesses it w a s bla ck ;

,

p ossibly it was gray How many peo

.

ple were in it ? Three or four or five

-
four he thinks Ask him t o give
,
.

you an outline of a book he h a s re a d

24
MENTAL S UP REMA C Y .

or a p l ay he has seen an d he is equ ally

,

h elpless .And so on .

S uch a person is the typical in e ffi

c ient Y ou will find thousands of
$

these in e fficie n t s filling unimportant

places in shops and office s And even .

the trivial duties of su ch positions they

are unable to perform properly They .

cannot read a line of shorthan d notes

and be sure of it s meaning ; they c an
not add a column of figures and be
certain o f the result without repeated
ch e ck in gs S u ch unfortunates are the
.

“
flotsam and jetsam of the c ommer $

c i a l world — the unfit who in the strug ,

gle for existence must necessarily be

,

crowded out by those whose mental

processes are more positive and more
exact.

The extent to which the perceptions

can be developed is almost incredible .

I know personally a bank teller who

can detect a counterfeit coin without
a glance at it judging only by weight
, ,

feeling a nd ring Another man of

, .

25
 SECRETS OF

my a c qu a in t an ce make s a large sala ry

merely by his ab ility to ju dge te a
—
through it s fl a vo r a tea taster . I
know an or chestra c ondu ct or wh o in ,

the full fortissimo o f his sixty pie c e

b and will dete ct a sl i ght error of any
,

one performer I c ould give many

.

other in s tan ce s within my own e xpe ri

ence of r emark abl e p o we rs of tr a i n e d
per ception .

T HE PERC EP TI O N S A RE E A SI LY
T RA IN ED .

F o r the en cour agement of those wh o

.

are aware that they d o not get the b est

possi b le s ervi c e f rom their sense s an d
—
perceptions that they d o not s e e all
there is to be seen hear exa ctly and
—
,

distinctly an d s o o n for the b e n e fi t '

of these I may say at once that the

s enses and perceptions are easily
trained A month or two of discipline
.

such as I am about to describe will

s h o w most marked and gratifying de

ve l o pm e n t
. In mos t cases a few
26
M E N TA L S UPREM A CY .

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

matter takes c are of itself .

TH E PERCEP TI O N S O F C H I LD REN .

F irst o f all a wor d ab out the senses

,

and per ceptions of children Just here .

is one of the gri evous defe cts of our

defe ctive school system It pra ctically.

ignores the fact that the child develops ,

not through reasoning but through ,

observation and activity The child .

observes everything His senses are

.

active and a cu te Childhood is the

.

time to a ccumulate observations and

experiences ; later they will form the
material for thought and general devel
O 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 OE

an d fa r r angin g the m as s of p e rc ep
.

tions are memories whi ch t he child

,

carries ove r from infan cy and chil d

hood into youth and adult ag e the ,

greater other things b eing equal will

, ,

be his intelle c tual po s s Ib il it ie S .

M OST O F Us A RE S EN SORI LY S TARVED .

Most of us are grossly defi c ient in

mental images At a test made n o t
.

long ago in Boston ei ghty pe r c ent o f .

the chil d ren h ad no ide a what a b ee

hive w a s like Over h al f o f th em h a d
,

no c on c ep tion o f a Sh eep, a n d ove r

nine tenths h a d n o not io n o f the a p
p e a ra n ce or na t ure Of growin g w h e a t .

O f c ourse th ey k new o f o th e r th in gs
whi ch the c ountry b red ch il d w ould n o t
know ; but fa n cy the los s in the im a g
in a t io n of o n e to wh om t he f o l l o wl n g
l ines a r ouse n o VI SI On of a pure rus ti c ,

ma tut inal s ce n e

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

b uilt s h e d,

28
MEN TAL S UPREM A CY .

Th e Co o k hrill c la rion or t h e e c hoin g horn

’
s s

N0 m ore S ha ll rous e t hem f rom t heir low l y

be d .

T HE GREAT S ECRET OF S EN SE
T RA ININ G .

T h e g reat secret of a t rue d evelop

ment of the perceptions is discrimina
—
tion the realization of di ff erences .

To the savage a sound is a sound ; to

the musician it is excru c iating dis c ord
or exquisite harmony To the musi .

c ia n a little depression in the groun d ,

a bent twig a turned leaf they are

,
—
nothin g ; to the savage they mean foo d ,

an enemy safety o r danger In the

, ,
.

printed page s the unlettered boor sees

only foolish black mark s on white
pape r ; b ut in those bl a ck marks the
m a n of e d u c ation s ee s that whi ch
makes his h eart b eat faster his eyes
—
,

swim with tears which tells h im

se c rets o f li fe the clodhopper will neve r ,

neve r kno w Th e d i ff eren ces are in the

.

traine d o r untraine d per ceptions .

Mo st of t he exer cise s whi ch I sh a ll

29
 SECRE TS OF
—
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 artificial feeling of inter
$
est .

Sothe first e x e rc I s e I S 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 it s dimensions weight colo r

.
, , ,

form markings lettering origin uses

, , , , ,

possibilities shortcomings ,
S ee how .

fully you c an write ab out the o b ject .

The result will probably n ot pl e a s e you e

.

Y ou will find that you have not nearly

the powers o f expressi on whi ch you
Supposed you possessed But it is — .

good training ; and with pra c ti ce y our

p ow e r s w i l l gr ow rapidly .

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

Y o u c an d o the s am e thi ng ou t of
doors L ook at a mountain peak the
.
,

ocean a ho rse a bird If you think

, ,
.

for a moment there is nothin g t o write

about these things read up Po em in
the Valley of Chamouni Byron s ,
’

splendid passage beginning R oll on ,

thou deep and dark blue ocean roll , ,

$

the supe rb poem in the book of Job

describing the h orse S helley s S ky ,
’

lark,
$
and SO on James Whitcomb
.

“
R iley has said $ There is ever a song
somewhere my child
,
And to find
the material for the song it is n e ce s
sary only to look with refined 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 looked at In the .

same way you should study also many

—
o ther natural objects autumnal tints ,

frost marks snowflakes trees both

, , ,

their general form and the shape o f

their leaves all the common flowers
,
.

L ast of all and I n many respects most

,

practically important of all make it ,

31
 SECRE TS OF

a h ab i t to ob se rve clo s e ly the h uman

fa c e Try to recognize and dis c rim i
.

nate the S igns of education refinement , ,

intelle c t in the face a s distin guished

, ,

from the stigm ata o f ignoran ce c oarse ,

ness and brutality

,
.

Another g ood e xe r cise for the train

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

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

an d of blue Then mix them together

.

in a receptacle Now grasp a handful

.

of the marbles give one glan ce at them

,

an d throw them back again Then .

note d o wn h ow man y of each c olo r

there were I n the hand At first you .

will find this di fficult In a sh o rt time .

,

however you will be able to distinguish

,

at a glance between say three red , , ,

—
five white and seven blue and three
,

red s ix white and Six blue with

, ,
—
corresponding development of the pow
ers of perception in all other di re c
tions .

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

32
M E N TA L S UP REM A C Y .

cise for the developmen t of the faculty

of sight is the following $
P rocure about a dozen white paste
board cards s a y three by five inche s
,

in Size Then with a small brush or

.

with a pen draw upon each a number

of small black circles The circles .

Should be s o lid black about one quar ,

ter inch in diameter O n the first card .

draw one on the secon d t w o and s o on

, , ,

until the l a st on which you will make

,

twelve Group them s o far as po ssible

.

in a c ircle .

Now to use them $ H o ld the c ards

fa c e downward and Shu ffle them .

Then take up the top one give one ,

brief glance at it and try to perceive,

how many b lack circles there are U pon

it Don t try to count during your
.
’

brief glance Don t squint scowl or ’

, ,

strain the eyes Merely glance and .

,

then try to remember and count what

you s a w At first you will probably
.

find it difli cul t to discriminate between

five cir cles an d Six ; after a time how ,

33
 SECRE TS OF

ever you will be abl e to de c ide in

,

s t a n t l y upon any number of circles up

to fifteen twenty or even more

, .

T RA ININ G T HE EA R TO H EA R .

F ew people know h o w to hear O f .

“
most it might well be sa id ears and
they h ear not I do not mean tha t
.
$

in most people the organ of hearing is

in any way defective but tha t as a ,

result of inattention and lack of pra c

tice they do n o t get clear vivid impres ,

S I On S from the s o unds wh i ch impinge

upon their auditory apparatus .

O ne of the b est m e tho ds of trainin g

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

of the robin thrush catbird b lackbird

, , , ,

—
swallow all these and the many
,

other sounds peculiar to the c ountry

Should b e carefully studied .

The sounds incidental to city life are

less picturesque and in a sense less
varied than those o f the c oun try ; and
34
M E N TA L S UPREMA 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 auditory

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 .

opportunities 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

’

melody of popular selections How .

many people not distin ctly musical

, ,
“
know the air of the So l d iers Chorus ’ $

“
from F aust the Toreador s Song
,
$ ’

“
from C armen or the overture to
,
“
Tannhauser ? And yet t hese are
$

things that we hea r every d ay on the

s treet o rgans .

A very fine exercise fo r the d evelop

men t of the hearing faculty is merely
to 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 upon the table at
35
 SECRE TS OF

wh i ch y ou are sit ting Now tu rn .

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

.

it ? Y e s plainly Move a foot two

,
.
,

fee t three four from the table C an

, , , .

y o u h e a r t he wat c h ? Y es N o.w i n

cre as e the dis tan ce foot by foot until

, ,

yo u c a n no lon g er hear the watch .

No w l isten $ listen $ C on c entrating the

attenti o n upon the soun d until o ut o f ,

t he Silen ce o r of a c on fusion o f sounds

, ,

the r e c o mes t o you the clear rhythm ,

i c al ti cking o f th e t iny me chanism

'

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

l eft ea r tu rne d t oward the wa tch The .

same p r a cti ce should of c o u rse b e

, ,

go ne through with the ri ght ea r .

T h i s exe rc ise is valuable not o nly in

c ul ti v a tin g the power o f hearing b ut ,

also in developing co n c entration of the

atten tion and will It is mere ly a n
other phase o f th e same method b y
whi ch an o rchest ra c ondu ctor can at ,

will s ele ct one instrument out of a

,

ban d and hea r only that one t o the

,

exclus i o n o f an y oth e r pie ce .

36
M E N TAL S UPREM A C Y .

T RA ININ G T HE S EN SE OF S M ELL .

We hear much to the e ff e ct that as ,

an animal man is inferior to the beasts

,

of the field ; 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 of men

,

c ompare favorably with any other ani

mal o f the same size and weight This .

is a biological fa c t
$
.

But in one respect at least he is , ,

distinctly inferior and that is as re ,

gards the sense of smell There are .

very few animals that are not b etter

equipped than man in this respe ct ,
.

Fo r this inferiority t here are many

reasons whi ch we c annot dis cuss in
,

this place .

I may remark however that I n s ome

, ,

people the sense of smel l is developed

to a s urprising degree I on c e knew .

37
 SECRE TS OF

a wo m a n we ll born a n d h ighl y e d u
,

c a t e d who while bl i ndfolded c ould

, ,

name any one of her friends w h o

came within a foot or two of her The .

same woman w a s also usually able to

determine by their odor the owner
, ,

s hip Of arti cles belonging to th o se

whom s he knew well I know another
.

woman wh o c an distinguish copper ,

brass ste e l and iron by their taste and

, ,

odor I may also 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 upon deli c a cy of the olfa ctory
sense .

A goo d method of training this sense

is the following $ P rocure a number
of small paste board or wooden boxes
su ch as are used by druggists in the
dispensing of pills or tablets Any .

druggist will provide them for a trifle .

Then put into each b ox a small quan

tity of one o f t he following sub stan ce s
cinna mon cloves red pepper mustar d
, , , ,

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

black pepper ginger A half dozen

, .

boxes are enough s electing for them ,

such of the above substances as are

most readily procurable To practic e .

this method Simply close your eyes

, ,

open a box 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 one of t h e fragrant oils such ,

as oil o f clove s W intergreen lemon

, , ,

verbena lavender, peppe rmint berga

, ,

mot nutmeg and so on It is a go od

, , .

plan als o t o take careful note of the

distin ctive odo r of the various fragrant
flowers s o that they may afte rward be
re c ogni z ed by the perfume which is
pe c ulia r to ea ch .

T RA ININ G FOR T HE T A STE .

The re are in reality only four

, ,

savors or ta s tes $ sweet sour bitter , ,

and salt A s I have just remarked

.

what we c all taste is very largely smell ,

or flavor The best way to develop

.

39
d e l i c a cy o f th e gust a to ry sense is to
e a t very Simple food and to put there ,

on ve ry little o r no seasoning in the

t

form of salt sugar mustard pepper

, , , ,

Vinegar or other c ondiment Then

, .
,

and then only will one be able to a p

,

p r e c i a t e the real flavor of the foo d No .

o ne,
fo r instan c e who is in the habit
,

of using pepper and other co n d1m e n t s ,

can really taste a strawberry .

In c onclusio n I want to e m phasize

,

two things $ first that a training of the

,

per ceptive powers is the b est p o s sible

investment one c an make ev en re —
gar d ing the matter f rom it s lowest
—
View poin t the monetary ; se c ond that ,

the exercises which I have suggested

in this chapter while they may seem
,

very Simple almost trivial will in

, ,

eve ry c ase where t hey are s eriously

practi ced add immensely n o t only to
,

the powers o f per ception b ut to pra c tical

effic ien cy o f every fa culty of the mind .
ME N TA L S UP REM A CY .

M E M O R Y AND H O W T O DE
VELO P IT .

Me m o ry is a c cum u la t e d g e n i u s .

JA M ES R USSELL L O W ELL .

Me m o ry is t he p e rma n e n ce o f p e r

c e p tio n.
— LA T SO N .

HE
value of a n y man to
himself and to the world
at large d epends in g reat
degree upon his mem
—
ory upon his ability to
re c all and to use at any
desired moment the re c olle c tion of
wha t he has seen heard experien ced
, , ,

or though t .

Memory is really the sto ck in t rade

of ou r mental life O ur perceptions
.

bring to us a vast mass of experiences

things that we have seen heard touched
—
, , ,

t a sted and smelled our thoughts an d

,

41
 SECRE TS OF

exp e r i e n ces But these things are va l

.

ua b l e o nly when they are held in the

memory F or unless they are remem
.
,

bered t h ey c annot b e used Most of .

us have forgotte n mu ch more than we

remember . We have stu died at
s chool at co ll e ge at h o me We have
, , .

r ead man y many b o oks We hav e

, .

had any number of interesting and in

structive c onversations We have .
,

some of us traveled and seen many

,

rare and curious things And of it all .

,

how much I s I n our possession at the

—
moment how much i s at our ready
—
c ommand ? Not o ne tenth p rob ab ly
not one hundredth .

Imagine the enormous l oss t o us .

Imagine the waste of time an d e ff ort .

Imagine what it would mean t o you o r

to me if instead o f possessin g a mem
,

ory whi ch preserved for us o nly one

hundredth of our experiences we c o uld ,

remember and apply at will one half ,

three quarte rs fou r fifths of what we

,

hav e b een thro ugh .

42
M ENTAL S UPREMA CY .

But th at I s I mpossible you say , .

Allow me to c ontradict you There have .

been many cases of recolle ctive power

whi ch prove otherwise The most .

striking of these was Ant o nio 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 rom being a mere

.

servant he rose until h e be c ame the

lib rarian of C osmo III the Grand .
,

Duke of Turin Ma gl i a b e cch i s mem

.
’
~

ory w a s prodigious ; nothing that he

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

after one reading he could repeat ver

batim any book in the library of his
patron who at this time owned o n e of
,

the largest colle c tions of the day .

“
Impossible you say Not at all
,
$
. .

I know a man who c an neither read

nor write except to sign his name He .

is an Irishman who began life in this

country with a pick and a s hovel To .

day he is a man of wealth and power ,

finan cially and politically He is a .

contractor real estate operator stock

, ,

43
 SECRE TS OF

spe cula t or an d is i n te re s te d in s everal

,

other lines of business He keeps no .

books and employs no b ookkeepers .

All his values dates and figures are

, ,

carried in his head ; and at any mo

ment he can tell to a c ent how he stands
with any of his business asso c ia t es .

Among the ancient Greeks it w a s

not at all unusual t o fin d an e d u c ated
patri c ian who c ould re c ite verb atim
the entire poems of Home r the Iliad —
and the O dyssey C yru s the Great
.

c ould c all by name any man o f h is

a rmy numbering one million Napo
, .

leon h a d power of m emory al mos t a s

r emarkab le Gladstone wh en present
.
,

ing t o P arliament his yearly b udget ,

woul d speak for several hours pre ,

senting mone t ary details running into

many million poun d s withou t one
glan c e at the written repor t l ying on
the table b efore him R obert G In ger
. .

S oll that grea t juri s t and b rillian t o r a

,

tor would attend a t rial l astin g many

,

days without taking any no tes Y et .

44
M E N TA L S UP RE 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

sitio u
.

And s o I might go on S cott Milton .

, ,

S hakespeare Washington C lay Web

—
, , ,

ster all these were remarkable for

t h e m power of memory In fact it is .

safe to s a y that every man who has ever

attained a high place among men has
been possessed of a retentive and exact
memory .

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

p r a c tical life whether one s ambition

,
’

be literary artistic scientific or

, , ,

merely the tra n sferring of dollars from

’
some one s pocket into his own as a—
practi c al asse t power of memory is of
,

the highest con ceivable value A good .

memory will give you an in c alculable

—
advantage over others a n a dvantage
which no other men t al qualifi c ation
will b a l an ce .

45
 SECRE TS OF

M EM O RY T RA ININ G NOT D I FF I C UL T .

—
The mind is like potter s clay it is
’

easily molded And there is no dire c

.

tion in which development i s s o easy

as in the department of memory Even .

a few days of practice along the lines

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

three months of conscientious training

will often be su ffi cient to metamorphose
a poor w
,
eak and inexa c t memory into
,

o ne that is tenacious and reliable .

T HE N A TURE O F M EM ORY .

In the introductory article of this

s e r ies I promised you that I would not
b e theoretical or descriptive but that ,

I would make these chapters purely

p r a c ti c al Now I intend to keep my
.
,

word ; but in order to make what fol

,

lows more intelligible and helpful it ,

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

momen t and make a few brief state
ments as to the nature of memory .

In th e firs t pl a ce I may s a y at o nce

,

46
ME NTAL S UPREMA CY .

t hat, in reality there is no such thing

,
“
as the memory 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 memory $ there
.

are only memo rie s When I s a y that .

I am not merely juggling with terms ;

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

I mea n just this $ Memory is not ,

a s 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 to 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 or tho ughts we r emember

easily ; other acts o r thoughts we re
member with di ffic ulty if at all If ,
.

some one were to describe to me the

details of a c ase of insanity symptoms , ,

history t r eatment I should remember

, ,

47
 SECRE TS OF

it a l on g time ; because a s a physi cian

, ,

I a m interested in psychiatry But .

,

although I listened patiently a day or

two a go to a lon g a cc ount of the Wall
S t r eet adventure s of an acquainta n c e
of mine I am quite su r e that I c ould
,

give no intelligent a c c ount thereof b e ,

c ause I k now little and care less about

su ch matters In the same way some
.

people have good memory for names ,

but c annot re c all faces others c an re

,

mem b er dates but have no po we r t o

,

recolle ct names And s o on

. .

The poin t is jus t t hiS We r em e m '

ber best the thin gs in wh ich we hav e

most interest the things with which
,

we are most familiar The little mem.

ory of any act or thought may stick in

—
the m I n d or it may not whether it is
or i s not remem b ered depends mainly
upon the amount of a ttention we have
given t o that a c t or that t hought at
the time it was o ccurring .

If therefore we would have fine

—
, ,

p o we rs of memory if w e d e s i re a
48
MEN TAL S UPREMA CY .

larg e supply of cl e ar vivi d memories ,

all under instant command it is essen ,

tial that w e Should pay to the thing

we wish to remember strict attention
and c areful study And this is really
.

“
the great se c ret of what is c alled good
memo ry .

In other words a memory is simply

,

a permanen cy a recurren ce of a per

, ,

c e p t io n ; and that memory i s clear and

c omplete just in proport ion as the pe r

c e p t io n was clear and c omplete If .
,

o n an introduction to a stran g er I ,

scarcely glan ce at his face and pay

little or no attention to the name I am ,

not likely to remember either the man

or the name If on the other hand
.
, ,

I look closely at him and attend care

fully to the name I shall be likely to
,

remember it perhaps for years

,
.

,
I myself frequ ently have presented
,

to me twenty fi ve or thirty strangers

-

in the course of an evening ; and I am

u s ually able afterward to recall all or
ne a rly al l o f their names and faces .

49
This is merel y the result of a h ab it of
attention to the matter .

T HE B A SI C LA W O F M EM ORY .

Now then based upon the prin ciple

, ,

just dis cussed we may formulate our

,

first rule for the development of mem

ory $ S tudy the obje c t yo u wish to
remember in all its phases in all its ,

peculiarities in all it s relation s F or

, .

the time being k eep every other thought

out of the mind Make the object part .

of yourself ; and you will never forget

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

anything fa c t figure idea prin c iple

, , , , ,

or plan to all of whi ch the same r ule

,

applies .

S o much for the rule ; b ut you w ould

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

one of the best ways I know is the

following
Y ou are walkin g down the street .

A carriage pa s ses at which yo u have

glan ced c asually Afte r i t h a s passed .
,

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

question yourself about it What kind

—
.

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

rouche brougham or what ? What w a s

, ,

the color of the wheels ? Had they

rubber tires ? How many horses were
there ? Their color ? The c oachman
bla ck or white ? The livery if any ? ,

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

again you would know them ? And

s o on .

By the time you have done this c on

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

will be surprised and delighted at the

I mprovement in your ability both to
perceive and to rememb er ; for as I ,

cannot reiterate too often the two , ,

perception and memory are pra cti c ally

,

one .

Well after passing the carn age and

,

getting all the good you can out of the

experience in an educational way you
—
,

will come to a Shop window the win

dow o f a toy 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 c onfuse you Take one glan c e .

at it and pass on
, .

Then a s k yoursel f what you s a w in

the window If practicab le have a
.

pad an d pen cil and write down ea ch

,

ar t i cle a s you rem em b er it This is .

the method employed b y the famous

—
c onj urer Rb b e rt Houdin a method
,

by whi ch h e so trained the memory both

of himself and of his young s o n that
th ey were able t o rememb er over thirty
thousand questio ns and answers which ,
“
for m e d the c ode o f their f amous s e c
$
o n d S igh t a ct .

Anothe r valuabl e meth o d o f mem

ory t raining is t o make it a r ule every
night eithe r b efore or after retiring
, ,

to review in detail the events of t h e

d ay This was t he metho d employed
.

b y th e great Edward Thurlow lord ,

h igh chancellor of Great Britain At .

first his memory was s o poor that he

w a s unable to re c all what he h ad e aten
fo r bre akfa s t Even tu al l y howe ve r
.
, ,

52
ME N TA L S UPREM A CY .

he developed one of t he m o s t r ema rk

able memories o n re c ord I know of
.

a numb er of c ases in whi ch this method

h a s proven of the utmost value .

Another very Simple and c onvenient ,

but at the same time very u seful ,

method of culturing the power o f re co l

le cti o n is the following $ Take some
interesting book, such as a historical
work or some attractive novel R ead
, .

a paragraph to yourself Slowly and

carefully Then close the book and

.

repeat aloud the substan c e of the se c

tion whi ch you have just read Make.

no attempt to repeat the passage word

for word S imply give the s ense of it
.

as yo u remember It matters little

.

whether you repeat the author s words

’

or use your own After your first

.

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 h ave learned this para

graph fai rl y well pass o n to the next
, ,

53
 SECRE TS OF

an d s o o n until you c ome to the l ast

,

paragraph on the page Then take .

that page a s your task and give an ,

account of the entire page After .

practi c ing this way on every para

graph and every page until the end of
the chapte r take the chapter as 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 first But it soon b e c omes inter

,
.

esting especially as you b egin to find

,

that although at first you were unable

,

to give any clea r idea of a paragraph

you ha d just read , you are soon able to
recall and to clearly express the sense
, ,

of an entire chapter without any great

e ff ort or difli cul t y .

This exercise trains not only 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 o ften quoted by him as being the

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

developing h is prodigious memory and

splendid oratorical ability .

A valuable variation o f 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 who desire the widest develop

—
ment a development of the power of
expression in writing as well as in
—
speech I s hould suggest that they
practice this exercise by b oth talking
and writing their memories of the pas
sage.

B y the time you have gone over one

book in this way talking o u t 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
, , ,

expression which will prove a surprise

,

and a delight to you .

55
 SECRE TS OF

T HE P I C TO RI A L FA C ULTY .

O ne o f the prime se c rets of memory

is to d evelop the ability to re c all before
the mind a picture of the obje ct desire d
—a vivid re colle ction of it s appear
ance When a schoolboy I dis c ov e r ed
.

that there was no use whatever in my

studying either my spelling or my ,

geography lesson All that was n e ce s

.

sary w a s f o r me to pass my eye slowly

fi

down the list o f w o rds for Spel ling 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 pic

’

ture of any word c alled fo r or of any

section of the map c overing ou r lesson .

In questi oning m us I c I a n S who are able

to play from memory long passages on
the piano or vio l in I find that in the
, ,

maj ority of cases they remember t h e

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

follo w the notes just as if the real page

were before them This power of V is
.

ua l iz in g memories h a s b e e n in some
ME NTAL S UPREMA CY .

people developed t o a s urprising

extent . The m n e m o s yn ic achieve
ments of the H o udin s and of Magli
a b e c ch i referred to above a s well as
,

of other pr o digies like the m a t h e m a t

ical wonder $ erah C olburn and his
—
, ,

prototype Ja cques In a udie the mem

,

ory feats of these depend largely in ,

some c ases entirely upon the Visual

,

izing faculty .

And what is the b est method of

developing this power of sight mem
ory ? There are several very Simple
and valuable F irst try t his $ Write
.

out in a clear hand a list of words in

column form The list Should c ontain
.

at first not more than five or six words ;

later it may be extended to twenty or
even thirty .

Now place your list of s ix words

before you and look at it for a moment .

Don t stare or strain the eye s Don t

’
.
’

—
try to remember the words yet This .

is the moment for observation for —

getting upon the photographic plate of
57
the min d a cl e a r me m ory pi cture of -

t h e list of words After a moment of

.

s t eady gazing cover the pape r and try

,

to remember exactly what the words

were and how they looked At fi rs t .
~

you are likely to find this difficult .

S oon it will be easy to remember Six

to recall the words passing up as well
,

as down the column Then gradually .

increase the number until you c an

handle at least twenty five -
.

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

to us e figures instead of words a rra n g ,

ing them at first as a square of four

figures and c alling each one o ff while
,

you remember its position Here .

again as soon as four is easy for

,

you I n c rease the number of fig

,

ures by two until you can retain

, ,

after a single look a cl e a r picture of

,

thirty six or more figures I have

- .

known a boy of twelve who was a ble to

—
remember sixty four fi gure s a s quare
-

of eight figures up and eight a c ross .

He would on request call o ff first line

, ,

58
MENTA L S UPREMA CY .

of figures forward third line of figures

,

backward line of units down and so

, ,

on — i n other words this boy could s e e

,

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

’

those Sixty four figures that was a b s o

-

l ut e l y as clear as the original ha d been

to the physical eye .

I may add that the b oy I re fer to

w a s not in any sense e x ceptional save ,

that he h ad become interested in the

“
tricks whi ch I taught him and his
$

fellows All o f them are now men of

.

notably fine me mory .

The same method may be Varied in

other ways F or instance letters may
.
,

be substituted for t he figures or wo rds

may be arranged in groups s a y twelve ,

in gro ups of thre e each the exer cis e ,

being to remember n o t only the word

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

po w er o f memory can be multiplied

indefinitely Th o se given above how
.
,

ever are more than suffi cient if prop

, ,

erly practice d .

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

S O P H O C LES .

I ha ve o n ly t o t a ke up t his or t ha t t o
fl o o d m y s ou l w i th m e m o ri e s —
.MM E .

D ELU$ Y .

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

firs t e x e c u t e d with c o n s c i o us e ffo rt be

com es , in t im e , s u b c on s ci o us a n d ha
-

bi tua l . T H O M PS O N JA Y H UDSO N .

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

m ys t i c c ha i n .

A w a k e bu t on e, a nd l o , w ha t l e gi on s

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

di e s .

C O W PER .
ME N TA L S UPRE M A C Y .

ASS O C I A TI O N O F I D E AS .

F a ll the operations o f
th e mind the one most
di r e ctly c ondu cive to
mental readiness is the
pow er of associating or
g r ouping ideas The man
.

o r w o man in W hom the power of asso

c ia t io n i s well developed h a s a mind

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

of th reads Each thread represents an
.

idea And of these thread i deas all

.
-

those whi ch are at all related a r e

g rouped together like s o many threads
tied in a knot ; so that if you touch one
of th e thr ead ideas you are instantly
-

in c ommuni c ation with all of that

g roup .

When idea s are grouped or associ

ated In this orderly manner any
thought coming into the mind wil l in
61
s t a n t ly sugge s t a l arge number of
related thoughts This means an a c .

tive an effic ient frequently a b rilliant

, ,

mind .

Now let us understand a t on c e that

“
what is c ommonly c alled education $

-
that is a mere kn o wledge of facts
,

no matter h ow ex tensive i t may b e ,

doe s not ne ce s sarily c onfe r th e powe r

of as s ociatin g or grouping ideas in s u ch
a manner that they are readily avail
able f o r purp o ses of sp e aking writing , ,

or thinking In d ee d I h av e k nown
.

men of vast l earnin g who c oul d no t

t al k well who coul d no t write well
, ,

wh o c ould not even think well A well

—
.

store d mind that is mere eruditi o n , ,

while it can be a cquired only by a per

s o n with a good memory does not by ,

any means ne cessarily imply the powe r

of a s s o cI a t io n .

O ne who possesses unusual powe 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 knotte d to

,

62
ME N TA L S UP REM A C Y .

gether Each idea suggested to him

.

c alls up in h is mind many re lated ideas .

In the mind of the merely erudite

man for instance the mention of the
, ,
“
word horse will arouse few if any
$
, ,

other mental pictures In the mind .

,

h owever of the person who h a s the

,
“ $
power of association the idea horse
awakens a la rge number o f interest
ing thoughts T here is the horse so.

superbly describ ed in the biblical poe m ,

Job There is the famous horse Eu

.

cephalus the war charger of Alexan

,

der the Great whom only he could ride

, .

The person with strong p o wer o f asso

c ia t io n remembers too the wonderful , ,

horse Kantara ridden by Gautama

, , ,

the Buddha Then he thinks of the

.

horse of Darius which b y neighing at ,

the critical moment cause d h is m a ster ,

—
to be elected king o f P ersia Darius
the Great He recalls to mind the
.

story of the great wo o den horse inside ,

of which the Greek soldiers were smug

gled into Troy to the d o wnfall of that
,

63
 SECRE TS OF

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

.
,

p owers of asso c iation will be able to

tel l y ou somethin g a b out the interest
ing history o f the horse both before ,

a n d sin c e it w a s first tamed and ridden

many thou s ands of years ag o b y Meli

ze u s Kin g o f Thessaly
, .

And SO with any other subje c t you

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

su ch a pe r son every idea is intimatel y

asso c iate d wi th many o the r more or
less related i d eas ; an d even though
,

h is a c tua l s to ck o f informa tion ma y b e

smal l h is mental images are s o closely
,

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

the p r a cti c al powe r an d usefulness of
his min d is greate r than in the c i se
of another pe rson with a large r stock of
knowledge and inferior power o f asso
c ia t io n .

Anothe r great advantage of well de -

ve l o p e d powers of association i s that it

is a l mos t a preventiv e o f forg etful

ness A s I have explained in the chap
.

t e r on t he tr ainin g of t h e memo ry tha t ,

64
M E N TAL S UPREMA CY .

whi ch we fully understand we do not , ,

c annot forget Now a complete un

,
.

de rs t a n din g of any idea is simply

the result of a proc ess of making that
idea the cen ter of a mass of associa
tions .

If you had to leave your boat in a

stream with a very rapid current you
would tie the b oat to the shores n o t ,

only W i th one m m but with several

ropes running to di ff erent points on
each Side of the stream And the more.

lines you tie th e b oat with and the

more dire cti o n s they ext end in the less ,

likely will yo ur boat be to escape and ,

the more r eadily c an you re c over it at

will The same principle applies to
.

ideas Each associational relation is

.

like a tiny thread binding o n e p a rt i cu

lar idea to another idea ; and when we ,

b ind that one parti cular idea to a great

many other ideas we make sure first
, , ,

that w e will not forget it and second , ,

that when there comes into the mind

any o n e o f t he i deas with whi ch we
65
have a s s oc ia ted the n e w i d ea the new
,

idea will imme diately be drawn into

the mind .

All this b eing true we will be r eady

,

to apprecia te the follo w ing important

statement $ It is ne c essary to get into
the mind a large stock of ideas ; this
can be do ne only by per ception and
memory ; but it is equally neces s ary
that the ideas and mem o ries in the
mind shall be so ass o ciated or grouped
that one idea I nstantly calls up many
other related ideas And this c an be
.

done only by developing the p o wer o f

ass o ciation .

H o w ASSO C I A T I O N S A RE M A DE
.

And here arises the pra c tical ques

tion $ How shall I s o train my mind
that the ideas it c o ntains shall be
closely associated each one with man y
,

others ?
In trying to give you an intelligible
answer to this question it will first be
necessary to discuss briefly som e thing
66
M E N TA L S UP RE M A C Y .

of the process by which ass o ciations

'

are formed I n the mind .

S ome one has said $ Thoughts a re

things . Now this statement is quite
$

meaningless unless we have a cle ar

idea as to what is m e ant b y the term
“
thing . But let us imagine for a
$

moment that the thing is something $

c on c rete c o mmo nplace and physical

—
, ,

like a brick a n ordinary buildin g

bri ck F or a thought may be regarded
.

as an object a thing just as a bri ck

, ,

c an be studied as an object a thing ,

.

Now in order to make associations

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

we must begin by studying our brick

analyzing it We will find that the
.

brick has fo rm c olor dimensions , ,

$ length breadth
,
thickness ) weight
, , ,

hardness roughness certain utilities

, ,

and possibilities history money value

, , ,

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

.

ing th e qualities peculiar to the object

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

18 t he fi r s ttep es s ential to the fo rma

s

tion of asso c iations F or it should be .

understood that most o f the ideas asso

c i a t e d with any particular obje c t are

based not upon that obje ct a s a whole

, ,

but upon some quality or qualities of

the obje c t .

Now havin g analyze d our b ri ck we

may take certain of its qualities and
on that basis make asso ciations b e
tween the brick an d other obje cts or
ideas If we take its form we shall find
.

that it is something like a wooden pav

ing b lo ck so mething like a book some
, z
,

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

usual c olo r o f the b ri ck red we note -

,

that i t r esembles terra cotta the build ,

ing material that it is a Shade f re,

quently seen in wall covering and rugs

and also found in the shingle stains
often used on the roofs of c ountry
houses A S to the uses of the brick
.
,

we find the brick c an be associated w ith

granite marble a n d other building
, ,

materials c obble Ston e s wo o den pav

, ,

68
M E N TA L S UP RE M A C Y .

ing blo cks concrete and various other

, ,

substances used for pavement and ,

s o on .

Now in all this we have gone

,

through four distinct processes of rea

soning ; and without these four pro c
,

esses no association between ideas

,

c ould exist F irst of all we analyze d

.

our brick ; next we extended our ideas

of it trying here and there until we
$

found certain obje cts whi ch c ould b e

asso c iated with the brick L astly we .

noted that every other obje ct we

thought of was either like the brick in
some certain particular or was entirely
“

unlike it in every particular These .

pro cesses we may call extension like ,

ness and unlikeness

, .

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

-
analysis extension likeness and un
—
, , ,

likenes s must be gone th rough in

order to make complete and valuable
associations .

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 pl e pr o s a i c an d com
, ,

m o n pl a ce obj e c t rendere d my explan a

tion mo re clear The same pro ce s s
.
,

the same treatment however may an d , , ,

in fa c t must be applie d to other an d

,

more compli c ated ideas .

F irst of all we analyz e the o bje c t

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

obje ct we study all its qualities a s we

did in the c ase of the brick If an .

idea we c onsider carefull y all it s

,

phases Then tra c e all i t s rela tions t o

.

other ideas noting in what respe ct it

,

resembles o r di ff ers from su ch othe r

ideas Then we Shall h ave g one
—
.

through the four p ro cesses analysis ,

extension likeness and unlikeness

, ,
.

To give you an instance il l us t ra t

ing this interesting and import ant
method $ Not long ago I w a s one o f a
number of guests at a c ountry house .

O ne evening when a number o f us we re

sitting on the porch the little da ughte r
,
“

of our hostess approache d with a d i sh

70
ME N TAL S UPREMA CY .

c ontaining some fine apples and said ,

“
to me $ Will you have an apple Doc ,
“
tor ? $
My dear that is a dangerous
,
“
question to a s k a man said I Do ,
$
.

you not know th at all the s in and mis

ery in the world came be c ause a woman
on c e asked a man to have an a pple
and be c ause he took it ? $

And the child laughed and said

O h I know Y ou mean the apple that
, .

Adam took from Eve C lever child $

.
$

Now my remark was made without

any cons cious e ff ort of mind whatever
—without any striving or delibe r ate
action of the will It was entirely sub
.

conscious and e ff ortless Afte rw ard I .

amused myself by tra cing out exa ctly

what my mind had done when the child
asked that question And this is what
.

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

idea apple and upon this bas e d my ex

$

tension F irst o f all I thought of the old

.

“
adage tender as the apple of the eye .

Then in rapid succession there cam e

71
i nto my m i n d memories of $ the apple
that William Tell i s said to have Shot
“
o ff the head of his s o n ; apples of go ld
in pitchers of Silver m entioned in the
$

“
Bible ; the apple of S odom the fruit ,
$

of the osher tree whi ch is b eautiful

,

externally but filled with a kind of

—
ashes therefore often used a s a s ym
bol for disappointment ; the apples of
the Hesperian field 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 .

Now all of these ideas found by e x ,

$
tension o f the ori g i nal idea a pple ,

were appropriate ; but none seemed

quite to fit Then c ame the thought
.

of t h e story of Eve and her proff er o f

“
the apple to Adam This exactly
$
.

fi tted the occasion And hen c e the

.

rep l y .

In this instan ce also you can easily

—
trace the pro c esses analysis exten ,

sion seeking resemblances or likenesses

, ,

and dis carding ideas less a pprOpria t e “

72
MENTA L S UP RE M A C Y .

or unlike And do not forget that in

.
,

the mind that is even fairly well

trained these pictures flash up with
,

incredible rapidity I know that in my

.

own m ind as in the instance just cited

, ,

six or seven pictures will often occur ,

and I will sele c t the o n e which it seems

appropriate to mention within the few ,

seconds that ordinarily intervene b e

tween a remark an d t he reply to it .

A SSO C I A T I O N A ND M EM ORY .

In an earlier paragraph I told you

that p roper asso c iation of ideas pra o
tically insured p o wer of mem o ry L et .

me n o w try to give you some notion

of how this principle of mental a ct iv
ity c an be utilized .

Let us take a simple instan c e Epic .

“
tetus says $ My mind to me a king
dom is . Now first of all we con
$
, ,

sider this splendid utterance until we

t horoughly understand and appreciate
it That is go od but it is not enough
.
,
.

—
We de sire t o possess this sentence to
73
 SECRE TS OF

make i t a par t o f our mental stoc k in

trade so that we can use it at appro
,

p ri a t e times in publi c speakin g in ,

writing or in conversation How shall

.

we do this ? Well w e have really four

,

ideas in t he quotation $ the mind a ,

kingdom c ontentment $implied ) an d

, ,

the personality of the man Epi ctetus

, ,

who w rote the senten c e .

Le t us first learn something o f Epi c

tetus L et us analyze h is Chara cter
.

and plac e a mental picture of him in

the midst of a network of asso c iations
which will make that pi c ture o f Epi c
tetus our own forever We find the
.

following p o ints for asso ciation $ A

— —
Slave b ecame free great phi l osopher
— — —
blameless life b anished friend of
Adrian and Mar cus Aurelius .

S o we may associate the pic ture of

Epi c tetus with the following ideas $
slaves who were great men ; great phi
IOSOph e rs who were banished ; men of
humble origin who 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 of Epictetus
, .

Now to return to Epi c tetus Se n ’

tence $ The three ideas kingdom , ,

mind c ontentment Should ea ch be

, ,

dwelt on for a moment in this wise

Kingdom a pla ce of vast extent un
, ,

limited resource s bo undless possi b ili

,

ties infinite powers much to explore

, , ,

much to c onquer And to Epi ctetus

.
,

his mind was like a kingdom ; and he

w a s c ontent Afte r the idea of a king
.

dom o f great extent take up the ,

thought of the mind and its possibili

ties Dwell o n this until you s e e how
.
,

to a man of intell e ct the mind is really

,

—
a kingdom a kingdom mo re interest
ing an d wonderful than any mere phys
I c al c ountry c ould possibly be Then .

ponder on t h e notion of c ontentme nt

in spite of humble circumstan ces .

Associate this with the idea of Tho

reau of Purun Dass o f D i ogenes o f
, , ,

Gautama and of Jesus o f N az a re th

,

75
 SECRE TS OF

al l o f whom were content to live simply ,

finding their kingdom in the mind and

“
soul. My kingdom is not of this
world said Jesus
,
.

Th ereafte r any of these ideas will b e

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

No w to work out in this way all the

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

hard work Happily however such a

.
, ,

method of formin g a s s o c 1a t i o n s of.

binding ideas into bundles or 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 O N SC I OUS A C T I O N B EC O M ES
U N C O N SC I OUS
It is a b e n e fi ce n t l aw of the min d
$and of the body too ,
,
for tha t ma t ter )
that any act after it h a s been repeated
,

76
ME N TA L S UPRE M A CY .

a certain number of time s tends to ,

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

without our knowledge A few months .

of c areful e ff ort will in practically

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

will possess without further care or

,

drill this most supe rb accomplishment

,

o f the mind — the p o wer of association .

It requires both care and attention

to form any d esirable hab it either of ,

mind or body ; but the habit once ,

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 words

,

into sentences and paragraphs the ,

—
pa ragraphs into pages all this takes
time a number of years O nce thor
, .

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 association F ew people have it t o
.

77
 S ECRE TS O F

any g re a t d egree In most people the

.

ideas are separate isolate d C ardina l

, .

Newman says of some seafaring men

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

great cities and wild regions ; they are

in the marts o f c ommer c e or in the
islands of the south ; they ga z e on
P ompey s P illar or on the Andes ; an d
’

nothing which meets them carries them

forward or backward to any idea b e
yond itself Nothing has
. any
relations ; nothing has a history or a
promise .
$
All this means in a word , ,

tha t these men have not the power of-

asso ciation .

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

clusters or groups we must for a time
,

give spe c ial attention to the matter .

A s a help to study along these lines ,

I c an re c ommend the following e xe r

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

possible value .

78
M E N TA L S UP REM 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 figurative way as to the ,

“
nature Of a r emark $ Her word s were
79
 SECRE TS OF

like a d a gge r thr us t into his Soul

“
or the e ff ect of 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 prove a mos t

valuable exercise Three o r four hours
.

over it will be time well spent Not .

that you are specially interested in the

“
subject knife its analysis or 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 of treating all subj ects in the
s ame analytical manner . By the time
you have treat e d twenty di ff eren t o b
j e c t s in a ccordan c e with this method ,

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

the invaluable a cc omplishment of as s o
c i a t in g ide a s
.
M E N TA L S UP RE M A C Y .

I M A GI N A TI O N AND H OW TO
C ULTI VA T E IT .

The m in d ca n m a ke s u bs t a n c e and

p p
e o l e p l a n e t s o f i ts o wn —B Y RO N .

The un i ve rs e t o m a n i s bu t a p ro e j
c

t io n 0 f his o wn in n e r c o n s c i o us n e s s .

KA NT .

F al l the powers o f the

mind imagination is the ,

most picturesque and in , ,

many respects the most ,

interesting Without it .

the world would be bar

r en No t merely would there be no
.

pictures no music no books but there

, , ,

would b e no houses no bridges no , ,

o c ean greyhounds no great b usiness

—
,

enterprises nothing in fact ; for ,

everything t hat man has made has

b een first conceived in the imagina
81
 S ECRE TS OF

t i o n be fo re i t w a s born i n to a ctua l
b ein g .

We c ann ot think of a person being

without any power of imagination ; for
that is an impossibility But many .
,

many people I am sorry to s a y are

, ,

g reatly defi c ien t in imagination ; and

t his lack of imagi nation alone is enough
to render them c ommonpla ce un in t e r ,

esting an d o f littl e use o r S i gnifi c a n c e

,

in the wo rld .

A man or woman may b e defi cient

in imagination and yet b e honest ,

stra i ghtfo rward h ard working c onsci

, ,

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

a woman the higher reward s o f life

are h opelessly unattainable He o r sh e .

may make an e x celle nt bookkeeper b ut ,

neve r an a cc ountant ; a skillful typist ,

but never a secretary ; a fai thful sto ck

b oy b ut never a sal esman The a o
,
.

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

, , ,

must have imagination .

O f c ourse when it c o mes to any a c

tu al cre ati v e wo rk painting s culp
-
,

82
ME N TAL S UPREM A CY .

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

, ,

the power of imagination highly ,

trained refined daring and Vivid is

, , , ,

the great essential The creato rs of

famous masterpieces have in instan ces , ,

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

—
thing imagination S o me of the great
.

a r tists have l i ved all their live S in mis

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

r ant Some have b een coarse some have

, ,

b een immoral some have b een c e cen

,

tric some have been almo st o r quite

,

insane B ut o n e thin g all have po s

—
.

s essed in co mmon and that is a

,

superb imaginat ion .

In no respec t I believe do men dif

, ,

fer so 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 women have

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

there anything that w a s espe cially in

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

there c ame to the churchyard a man

with a fi ne imagination a p oe t He ,
.

83
 SECRE TS OF

saw more than mere grass and trees

an d headstone s ; and he gave to the
wo rld the m ost perfect poem in the
English lan guage H is name was .

Thoma s Gray and the poem was the

,
“
famous Elegy in a C ountry C hurch
ya rd .
$

Thousands o f people had s een an

apple fall from a tree to the ground .

But one day a man with a great imagi

nation s a w that c om m onplace thing .

H is imaginati o n seized upon it and he ,

pro pounded Newton s t heory of the law ’

of gravitation one of the m ost impor

,

tant a chievements in the whole history

o f human thought Another man sees
.

h is m o ther s teakettle bo ilin g He

’
.

observes t hat the lid is rai s ed by the

expandin g steam His great imagina
.

tion starts fro m this homely detail ;

—
an d he gives to the world the steam
engine Napoleon poor obscure hun
.
, , ,

gry trudging up and down the streets

,

of P aris in searc h of emplo yment ,

d reams o f makin g all Europe o ne vast

84
MENTAL S UPREMA CY .

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

And s o we might go on indefinitely .

Enough perhaps to repeat that the

, ,

world s masters have always been pos

’

sessed of fine 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 work of any

nature whatever
I M A G IN A T I O N E A SI LY C ULT IVA TED .

P erhaps you feel that your own im a g

i n a t io n does not always serve you as well
as it should ; perhaps you are wishing
—
that it was better that you c ould pro
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 con ,

ve n i e n t l y and rapidly cultivated as the

im a g i n a t l o n And I may remark that

.
,

as in the case of other faculties the ,

85
me a n s t aken to cul ti va te the im ag ina
tion will at the same time ne cessa rily
train and s t rengthen the mentality in
eve ry other dire ction .

F i rs t of all it mus t b e unders t oo d

,

that the a ct of imaginin g of b rin ging ,

images b ef ore the mind is no t a s ep a ,

rate fun c tion o f the mentality b ut that ,

it is closely interwoven with partly ,

c onsists of in fact several other o f the

, ,

men t al faculties S o in d evelo ping the

.

p ower of imagination we must first

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

of imagination we s hall find that first

,

of all we must have some ma terial for

our image .

To mos t people the a c t of imagin a

tion means t h e creation of something
entirely new They think that the pi c
.

ture c reated by t he painter the poet , ,

the novelist is new in every detail

,
.

No w th is is a radical error The artist

, .

does not create anything that is e n

t i re l y new
. An d thi s f o r a ve ry good
86
M E N TA L S UPREMA CY .

—
eason there is not an d neve r will be
anything entire ly new Now as in the .
,
“
days of S olomon $ Ther e is nothing
new under the s un .

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

green ho r se with purple wings Y o u .

s ay $ S urely tha t is an entirely

,

new idea I say $ No it is me r ely

.
,

a new c ombination of four ve ry old

—
and c ommonpla c e idea s a ho rs e a ,

pai r of wings and the t wo c olors

, ,

green and purple An d s o in all c re

.

a t io n s no matte r wh a t they may b e

—
,

-
however new they may seem it is
only the combination that is new The .

mat erials c o mb ine d a re o l d a s ol d v ery , ,

oft en a s human th ough t itse lf

, .

We se e then that the first raw ma

, ,

t e ri a l for imagi nation 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 to state

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

more clear and vivid will be our power

87
 SECRE TS OF

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

up of those things The first task.
,

then of him who woul d develop h is

,

power of imagination is to edu c ate the

senses .

I M A G IN A T I O N A ND M EM ORY .

But the imagination requires more

than mere perception The things per .

c e ive d must b e remembered A th ing

.

—
that we have forgotten lost out of the
—
cons cious mind c annot be used as
material for an act of imagination .

And then the things perc eived and re

membered Should have b een grouped
and as s o ciated int o c lusters ; s o that
when one wishes to imagine a certain
picture he will have a vast amount o f
material in his mind from which to
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 iation ;

, ,

for $and here is my definition of im a g

in a t io n ) imagination is merely a com
88
MENTA L S UPREMA CY .

bination of per ception memo ry and , ,

association with initiative will This , .

is not at all text bookish ; but i t will

-

—
give you as the text books prob ably -

would not on such s hort acquaintan ce

-
a clear i dea of the process .

S O M E P RA C T I C A L E $ ERC SES I .

L et me state right here tha t you are

exercising your imagination all the
time during all your waking hours .

Y o u imagine thousands o f things every

day Everything you do every person
.
,

you g o to meet everything you s a y

,

these are all in the imagination before

they b e c ome realitie s Y our imagina
.

—
tion has much exercise but it is not ,

the right kind of exercise The men .

tal pictures are not clear and vivid .

How shall you make them So ? De

mand it of yourself And this br ings
.

me to your first practical exercise .

Get a good livel y novel s omething

, ,

full of a c tion and as near as possible

,

to the here and the now Make your .

 SECRE TS OF

se lf co m fo rt ab le a n d b egin to rea d .

When you c ome to the end of the first

pa r a graph s t op a n d image before your
,

mind a clear pi cture of what w a s ex

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

S ee it mountains s e a farmhouse c ity

, , , ,

residen c e co ld warm rainy b right

, , , ,
.

Try t o make it a s vivid a s it would b e

were you a c tually g a z in g on the s cene .

Tha t is what the write r of the story

did or you w o ul d not b e r ea ding it
, .

Durin g the next para g raph the s cene

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

it is a n e xe rcise Th e n c omes a pe r
.

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

sho rt d ark light p re po s s e s s m g r epel

, , , ,

lent ? How is he dressed ? F or ce

yourself to imagine every de t ail And .

s o on for a chapter
, .

By this time you will have h ad

enough for on ce ; but if you have a cte d
conscientiously in a cc ordan c e with my
hints you will feel an understan d ing
, ,

a n inte rest a n d a s ym pat hy W ith that

,
J

90
MEN TAL S UPREM A CY .

book and its characters tha t will s ur

prise you By the time you have read
.

a dozen chapters in this manner y ou

will have proven to yourself in many
ways that your imagination and in —
—
,

fa c t all your mental powers hav e

,

markedly imp r oved Besides y ou will

.
,

kn o w for the firs t time the r eal j oy o f

reading This is the kind o f r e a d ing
.

Emerson had in mind when he said $

“

“
There is the c reative reading a s w el l
as cr eative writin g .
$

Another method b y whi ch th e im a g

ing fa cul ty c an b e cultivated is the f o l
lowing $ Take fifteen o r twenty min
utes at the end of the day an d make a
det ailed review of its more important
o ccurren ces Take much time ; supply
.

every detail ; s e e and hear again every

thing that was said and done Exam .

ine each episode critically Wh at mis .

takes did you make ? In what way

could you have handled the situation
~

more easily advantageously diplo

, ,

m a t ic a l l y ? H ow w o ul d y o u p roceed
91
ag a in u n de r Simi l ar ci rcumstances ? In
this exer ci s e b e careful first to s e e
—
, ,

actually see clearly and vividly every

,

event person action detail of each

, , , ,

episode ; second in imagining how you

, ,

yourself and others might have a c ted

, ,

beware of c riticising the actions of

other p eople Try to fe el that what
.

ever went wrong you yourself ha d , , ,

you posse s sed suffic ient will sympathy , ,

delicacy intelligence and c ontrol might

, ,

have made it right Don t try to fini s h

.
’

all the events of the day ; that would

be impossible When the fifteen o r
.

twenty minut e s is up s t op This i s

‘

.
,

the method of P ythagora s who devote d ,

his entire evening to meditating on the

occurrences of the day .

F or developing the power of au d i

t ory imagination the following meth
ods are useful R ecall to mind the
.

words and melody of some familiar

song as rendered by a good Singer and ,

imagine how it sounds Hear the .

words note the quality of the voice

,
M E N TA L S UPREMA CY .

and accompaniment Three or four .

s ongs or three o r four repetitions of

the same song are enough for once .

C all up in your memory one at a

tim e the various sounds of the coun
try and hear them in imagination
the hum of 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

country .

Anothe r exercise of value is the fol

lowing $ R ecall Some experience of
your past which at the time m ade a
, ,

strong impression upon you R eview .

it in all its details slo wly and care

,

fully C o n sider its cau s es the means

.
,

whereby it would have been prevented ,

outside influences which a ff ec ted it the ,

consequen ces of the o c currence upon

yoursel f and others Wh at influence
.

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 means,

93
may i t b e avo i d e d ? T h i s method sh oul d
be followe d with v a rious experien ces .

A S you c an easi ly under s tand the e x ,

e rc ise develops fa r more than imagina

tion I t tea che s reason judgment

.
, ,

s elf c on t ro l an d th at thoughtful inte l

-
,

l ige n t c are o f the self whi ch is the

h appy m edium b etween b rutal s e l fi sh
nes s a nd b ase self abnegation
-
.

Another helpful e xe rc1s e I s the fol

lowin g $ R e c all some a ttra c tive l an d
s c ape th a t you hav e seen P ain t fro m
.

memo ry a pi cture of it $ S uppose it

w a s a running b roo k in the mountain s .

R emem b e r the r ocks a t the Shore the ,

t rees with their low h angin g b ranche s ,

the c ows tha t used to stand knee d eep

in th e w a ter a t noon C all to memory
.

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

hoarse cawing of th e c rows in the not

distant pines the oc c asional lowin g o f
,

a c ow in the a dj o m l n g field Hear the

.

laughte r of th e boys a s they co m e for

an early evening plunge in the c ool
still wa te r of the near by m ill pond
- .

94
M E NTA L S UPREM A C Y .

S mell again in imagina tion th e O der

of the earth the tree s the wild fl o w

, ,

e rs
, the fresh cut hay in the near b y -

meadow Go through it all minutely

.
,

resolutely Don t omit any detail

.
’
.

Then begin on the creative phase of

the imagination P aint a picture in
—
.

your mind first s a y a lands c ape a

, ,

View of a high mountain on the right ,

a great tree on the left between the

two a verdure clad h il l s I de beyond a ,

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

, ,

hangs the setting s un Add all th e .

d etails which I have not spa ce to enu

m erate .

C omp o se many pic tures like thi s

,
,

taking time to put in every little bush

and ro ck and cloud Unless you make .

the pi cture vivid and complete you will ,

mis s the real benefit of the exer ci s e .

Every picture ever painted has been

thus elaborated in the imagination of
the artist before it was o bj e ct ifi e d upon
th e c anvas .

Next a dd a c tion to you r pi cture .

95
Upon the lake is a little sailboat c on
t a I n In g a merry party How many ? .

How do they look ? How are they

dressed etc ? S uddenly a squall come s
, .

up The boat c apsizes Another boa t

. .

puts out from Shore and rescues t he

unfortunates And s o on . .

O ne of the most interesting and va l

u a b l e of exercises for the imagination

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

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

the end of the third chapter Now s it .

down and write out of your own im a g

in a t io n a s equ e l to the story from the
point at which yo u s t Oppe d readin g ‘

Who is going to marry whom ? How is

the villain to be puni s hed ? What is to
become of the adventuress and s o on .

Write another sequel at th e en d of the

fourth chapter At the end of the .

fifth the eighth the tenth chapters d o

, ,

the same thing .

Now in this exercise while the I n cI

’

dental literary practice is most valu

able the main point is t o train the im
,

96
ME N TA L S UP RE M A CY .

a g in a t i o nY ou Should th e r e fore th ink

, ,

imagine more than you write s etting ,

out the rest of the story a s you imagine

it in brief simple terms and yet ex
tended enough to be clear Take much .

time Better to work out one good

.
,

ingenious sequel in five hours than to

spend twice that amount of time in
doing hurried blurred and incomp l ete
,

work .

L astly make up an entire story Im

—
.

agine your hero if you like a he roine , .

Develop your situation and b rm g mat

,

ters t o a logical termination It is .

best training for the mind $for all the

other fa cultie s as well as for the im a g
in a t io n ) not to put the story into writ
ing until it is completed in thought .

S ome of the m o st su c ce ssful sto ry

writers follow this method neve r c om ,

mitting the story to writing until it

has been fully elaborated in the im a g
i mation The best plan is t o first block
.

out in the imagination the general plot

o f the story Then go over it again
.

97
 SECRE TS OF

an d a gain el abor atin g the Situations

,

and addin g details until the whole story

,

seems like an occurren ce in you r own

personal experien c e .

Then write it out making no sp ecial

,

attempt at literary form but striving

,

only fo r clearne s s a n d exa ctnes s of

des c rip t ion an d d etail Y o u may then
.

make a s e c on d c op y o r even a third ,

if you like with every writin g trying

,

to gain a m o re and more clea r mental

pi c ture of the personages s c enes and
, ,

oc curren ces whi ch make up yo ur s tory .

A few hou r s a week de voted to s tudy

along lines whi ch I have h ere sketched ,

will do wonders not only in cultivating

,

the power of imagination b ut in de vel

,

Opin g e v e ry de s ira b le quality o f mind .

ME N TAL S UPREMA CY .

H O W T O C O N C E N T R AT E TH E
A T T E N TI O N .

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

M OT .

G e n i us i s m e r e l y c o n t in u e d a tt e n

t io n
.
— H ELVETI US
A t t e n t i o n i s a s ure m a r k o f t h e s u p e
ri o r g e n ius — L ORD C H ESTERF IELD .

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

I f I ha ve m a de a n y i m pro ve m e n t in
t he s ci e n c e s i t is o w in g m o re t o pa t i e n t
a t t e n t i o n t ha n t o a n yt hi n g e l s e — SIR
I SA A C N EW TO N .

O NC ENTRA TI O N of t he
attention is one of the
maste r keys of powe r .

Without it one c a n a c
complish nothing great
or Significant The most .

p e rfe ct pe rc e pti o ns the

, m o st re t entive
99
memory th e m o st daring an d pict ur
—
,

esque imagination without con c entra

tion they c an eff ect nothing The .

p ri n c l p l e of c on c entration may be well

illustrated by a physical c omparison .

S uppo s e we take a football weighing

four o unces and propel it through the
air b y means of the charge of powder
generally used for a projectile of four
ounces weight What e ff e ct will the
’
.

impa c t of the football have ? None

whatever But s uppose we c o n ce n
.

trate the four oun ces weight into a ’

sphere of l ead less than half an inch

in diameter and pu t behind it the same
—
propuls ive for 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
centration the diff erence betwe en the
-

impingem ent that is harmle ss an d that

which is deadly .

And s o it is in the worl d of thought .

The thoughts of some people are like a

—
fo o t ball big expanded by wordy
,

100
MEN TAL S UP REMA CY .

wind Slow moving i n e fi e ct ive ; the

, ,

thoughts of others are like bullet s

concentrated ,
swift direct,
going ,

straight to the c enter without pause or

,

hindran ce .

“
This one thing I do said that pro
,

found philosopher P aul of Tarsus

,
.

And if we study the history of the

world s master s pI rit S we shall find
’

that this has been their policy The .

uncouth butcher who pushed Charles I .

from the throne and established a form

of government based on moral princi
ple instead of special right ; the pallid ,

undersized F rench advocate who in ,

the hope of establis hing his wild dream

of democracy sent the flower of F rench
,

aristo c racy walking up Dr Guillotine s.

’

stairway ; the i gnorant tinker who gave

to the world what is perhaps the great
est allegory in profane literature ; the
undersized plebeian C orsican a dve n
turer who made himself mas ter of the
,

—
world all th e se had for their motto
10 1
 SECRE TS OF

the idea o f c on c en t ra t ion Thi s o ne

thing I do .

Now what is meant by c on c ent r a

tion of the attention or a s it is s ome , ,

times called the power o f atten t ion ?

,

Y ou s e e in the kind of language whi ch

,

I am u sing to you we do not attempt ,

to express things with s cientifi c pre

c is i o n ; fo r that means the use no t only

of many many words but the i nt r o

, ,

du c tion of many new and to us un , ,

necessary words S o f o r our purpo se

.

we may use the term s con centration , ,

power of attention c o n cent r ation o f,

attention as if they meant th e s ame

—
,

thing a s they actually do .

W H A T IS C O N CEN TRA T I O N ?
Now what is con c entration ? In a
word concentration may be defined a s
,

being that state of mind in whi ch the

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

focused upon the thing he is doing or

thinking All a ctions and all tho ughts
.

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

not connected with what he is doing or

thinking are kept out of the mind ; and
all his forces are bent upon t h e task
in hand He who can do this has con
.

centration has the power of attention

,
.

He who has not this p ower must a c

quire it befo re he can hope to do or be
anything admirable o r worthy in the
world
Any one who has performed any
difli c ul t feat of strength s uch as lift
,
“
in g a heavy weight muscling him $
,

se lf up On the horizontal bar or trying

“
to make a track record at the hundred
“
yard dash o r the two twenty will
$
-
,
$

realize how large a factor in these

mus cular perfo rmances is the mer e
fact of 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 de s t ruc
tive o f success In a c robatic work
.
,

such as flying trapeze and flyi n g r i n gs ,

1 03
 SECRE TS OF

as wel l as I n Juggling and balancing ,

the same is true Acrobatic jugglers

.

and gymna s ts are always masters of

—
the art of attention o f c on c entration
as applied to their spe c ial feats .

AT TEN TI O N L A RGELY A N EGA T I VE A C T .

Now concentration is largely a nega

tive process ; it depends a s much upon
what you do not do as upon what ,

you do .

To take an example $ Y ou Sit down

to write a di fficult lette r The trolley .

car whizzes b y with it s Villainous

“
bang bang Y ou a re suddenly re
$ ‘

-
.

minded that you Should have go ne down

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

turn back to it Y ou write another

.

—
line or two and t hen suddenly you
,

hear the excited b ark of little F ido ,

the S cotch terrier Y ou go to the win

.

dow a n d look out Nothing the mat

—
.

ter only another terrier not quite so

S co t ch a c ross the street Y ou read .

1 04
ME N TA L S UPRE M A CY .

back a few lines of your lett er and

start again Y ou don t quite know
.
’

what to say Y our eye wanders round

.

the room Ah yes that suit to be

.
, ,

pres sed Y ou attend to this matter

. .

Then back to your letter And So on .

A half hour has passed and the letter ,

is only begun Now this is a fair ex

.

ample o f the lack of concentration

of a wandering mind And su ch a
habit of thought is an absolute bar to
any achievement that is helpful either
to one s s elf or to the world at large
’
.

And how Shall this tendency be over

come ? By what means may we gain
the power of bringing every faculty of
the mind to bear upon the task of the
moment without allowing any of our
,

thought or attention to wander I nto

other directions .

—
It is very Simple simple but not at ,

first easy Merely refuse to let the

.

mind wander Be the master of your .

—
mind o f yours elf R emember what .

“
Milton says $ He who is master of
 SECRE TS OF

himself is king o f men But of c ourse

.

you want more specifi c dire c tions than

“
this It is easy to s a y c oncentrate ;
.
,
$

bu t you need to kno w ex actly ho w t o

c oncentrate .

R emembering that attention 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 various e xe rcl s e s advised
in previous chapters of this series c an
not but be of the greatest value a s aids
to the development of the power of
attention Every e ff o rt of the mind
.
,

whether to per ceive ; t o re c olle c t to ,

asso c iate to imagine or to judge must

, ,

ne cessarily involve a c o nc ent ra t l o n of

the fa culties of the mind upon that
parti cular act whatever it may be
,
.

S o first of all I may assure you tha t

, ,

the practices I have advised if you ,

have fai t hfully foll o wed them will ,

have by t his time notably in c reased

your power of attention As a matter .

of fact such assurance o n my part is

,

1 06
M E NTAL S UP REM A C Y .

superfluous ; for if you have exercised

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

already have noted a marked change

in this direction as well as in others .

Do not all o w yourself to ove rlook the

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

of attention is necessarily involved .

There is no faculty of the mind in

whi ch you have s o many opp o rtunities
of exercise .

S o the first exer c ise I shall advise i s

that you go ove r carefully all the meth
o ds whi ch I have detailed in the chapters

on percepti o n memory association im

, , ,

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

, ,

c ia l e ff ort while doing them not to allow

the mind to wander for a moment from

the task in hand This alone if per
.
,

s is t e n t l y and conscientiously done ,

w o uld insure you a high degree of this

splendid intellectual accomplishment .

O ne of the best methods I know for

him or her who would begin at the
1 07
b eginni n g a n d learn to c on centrate the
attention is the following
S elect some task which while Simp le
, , ,

requires accuracy and close attention .

A s um in addition or multiplication is
well adapted for this purpose Now .

settle yours elf down to this ; resolving

t hat until it is finished and verified
, ,

you will not allow the mind to take in ,

or at any rate hold an y other idea or

,

p icture whatever .

While adding or multiplying the fi g

u res you wi ll suddenly find that there
,

pops into the mind some other idea

the clang of a bell $fire or the ambu
lance ) ; a shouting on the street $a
fight or a runaway ) a thought of 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 attention S hut .

the door on thes e outside thoughts .

Turn back to your work F or a time .

,

at any rate you cannot prevent the

,

intrusion of extraneous thoughts ; you

1 08
M E N TA L S UP RE M A CY .

$
?
A
can however resolutely refuse to allo w
, ,

them to remain in the mind At first .

they will come insistently again and , ,

again beating at the door of your con

,
“
s c i o us n e s s Let me in ; let me in $
.
,

they c ry Never mind those st upid

.

figures I am more interesting I

. .

am more important to you Y ou must .

,

you ought you ve got to think of me

,
’
.

“
L et me in But no says the trained
.
$
,
“
mind . This one thing I do O ne .

thing at a time I can think of but .

one obje c t at once ; and if I let you into

my mind I c an do justice neither to
you nor to my task Avaunt But . .

the haunters do not retreat so easily .

They return and return with in c redible

persisten cy They pound at the door .

of your mind They insist on in t rud .

ing and o cc asionally they get in

—
, .

Then don t worry or fret about ’

them Don t let them b other or excite

.
’

you Don t be discouraged S imply

.
’
.

bring the attention back to the original

s ubje c t of thought As Dr William . .

1 09
Jame s P rofesso r of Psycho l o gy in
,

Harvar d h a s s aid $ Eff or t of atten

,

tion is the essen tia l phenomenon o f

will .

Ano the r exer c ise f o r c on c en t ration

of the attention is Simp l y to c oun t .

C o un t one hundred b e ginning with 2

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

8 1 1 1 4 et c
, ,
O r b e g in n l n g with 2
, .
, ,

ad d 6 7 9 1 3 o r 1 7 ea ch time e 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 0 0 c ount d o wnwar d subtra ct ing

, ,

3 6 7 9 1 1 1 3 1 7 o r 1 9 ea ch t ime
, , , , , , , ,

e g 1 0 0 9 7 9 4 9 1 etc All this may

‘

.
.
, , , , .

seem very SI m pl e But you will find .

that unless you already have a very

,

finely developed power of atten tion ,

you will no t at fir st b e able to c omplete

the hundre d in a n y o f t hese exer c ises
without the entran c e into the mind o f
vagrant extraneous thoughts By the
,
.

time you are able to add o r subtract

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

110
ME N TA L S UP REM A C Y .

gratulate yourself on havin g a cqui red

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

F or the next exer c ise you will need

about three doz en large Sized blank
ca rds $ the b est si z e is about three by
five inches Upon one of these c ards
.

write a numbe r of four figures such ,

a s 43 5 7 Upon several others write

.

four figures ar ranged in a square as ,

4 7 and under that 93 Then o n sev .

eral c ards write Six figures a s 45 7 , ,

under whi ch you pla ce 23 6 or figures ,

such a s 4 7 52 and 96 under each other

, , .

O ther c ards should contain from seven

to ten numbers in a Simple column .

P repare a dozen of these card s .

Now to us e them $ S huffle the c ards ,

fa ce downward Draw one gi ve a .

,

r apid glance at its face and then re ,

peat aloud the numbers that you saw ,

first in the order in which they were

written i e 4 357 then backward
, . .
, , ,

7 534 . O r to take another card repeat

, ,

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

, , ,

11 1
 S ECRE TS OF

ap pe a r Then b a ckward 9 6 5 2 4 7 ;
.
, , ,

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

then up the tens column 9 5 4 and , , , ,

s o on .

After a few hours of practi ce su ch

as this you will be gi n to kn o w the fi g
,

ures on each card by memory This .

,

while a good thing in one way makes ,

the exercise of less value as a training

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

the se c ond s e t make a larger number

of figures on each card s a y something ,

like 9 4 7 8 5 3 2 0 1 under ea ch other

, , , ,

making a square o f nine fi gures or ,

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

line of twelve or fifteen single figure s ,

arranged a s for an example in addi

tion .

After a peri o d of practice with these

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

make another s e t This t ime make .

1 12
M E N TA L S UPRE M A C Y .

your figure squares still l a rge r R un .

them up to squares like this $ 4 7 0 2 ,

3 8 95 6 3 7 4 9 7 6 5 etc ; or make c o l l e c
, , ,
.

tions of numbers like 4 7 0 2 3 8 9 5 6 , , ,

etc making a list of perhaps fi ve or

Six lines of three figures each In my .

own experience along this line I have

known of stud ents who could remem
ber with unerring fidelity a figure
square consisting of sixty four figures -

arranged in a square as 4 8 9 6 4 3 2 5 , ,

9 3 8 4 2 739,
etc It seems incredible ;
.

but it is entirely true that after a ,

time it is quite as easy to re c all a

,

mental picture of sixty four figures as -

of twelve or Sixteen .

It is perhaps an improvement on the

above described practice to have the
assistance of another who will Shuffle
the cards and exhibit one for a fleeting
second Where you can get some one
.

to work with you it is a good plan fo r

,

the assistant to read a few lines of

prose s a y about twenty words at first
-

— wh i ch you afterwards repeat from

113
m em ory O r he may call out a li s t of
.

words or figures to which you listen

and whi ch you afterward repeat .

And now for the last and most 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 c on

s c ie n t l o u s l y you will a cq u ire the power

of c on centration to a gre a ter deg ree

and in a Shorter time than by all other
m e thods c ombined This exercise like .
,

most things that are great and impor

ta nt is also very SI m pl e It is thi s $
, .

Make every detail a work of art .

Think this ove r It means that you

—
.

do everything the most t rivial a cts

,

with stri c t an d ex clusive attention .

Are yo u la cing your b oots ? There

is a way in whi ch that homely little
a c t c an be performed mo re rapidly ,

ea s il y and satisfactorily than it c an

,

I n any other way S tanding walking.

, ,

d ressing one s s e lf writing Shaking

’
, ,

hands shaving handling knife a n d

—
, ,

fork op enin g a boo k al l thes e a n d a

,

11 4
M EN TAL S UPREM A C Y .

—
million othe r trivial acts if done c on
s c io us l yand attentively a ff ord a train ,

ing in concentration which it is a b s o

l ut e l y impossible to gain in any other
wa y When asked by some inquisitive
.

“
reporter the secret of his suc cess S un ,

$ “
set C ox replied $ I think it is my
attention to detail I pride myself .

upon the way I can wrap up a paper

parcel This is the true spirit
.
$
— “
the
$
pride of suc c ess Make every detail
.

a work of art .

And then the g ain $ Y ou d evel op not

o nly the power of c oncentration Y ou .

develop perception memory asso c iation , , ,

imagination will And this is one of the

,
.

most satisfa c tory results of the pra c

—
ti ce of mental training in developing
an y o ne fa culty you are at the same
tim e d evelopin g o thers But as re .

gards co n centration when you are ,

trainin g that you are at the same time

,

trainin g al l the othe r po wers of the

min d .

11 5
ME N TA L S UP RE MA C Y .

PS Y C HO P H Y S I C A L D E V E L O P
-

MENT .

human b ody is one

HE
a n entity In ordinary .

conversation we refer to
t h e individual as if he or
sh e were composed of
three di ff erent elements ,

the physical the mental and the spirit

, ,

ual In reality howev e r these three a re

.
, ,

merely di ff erent phases of one form

of activity The Spirit is the great
.

o mniscient,
omnipotent o mnipresent , ,

eternal thing which animate s both

mind and body Mind and body in
turn are merely representations of the
action of the spirit In the perfectly
.

organized individual spi rit mind and , ,

body would act together perfectly with

out friction without eff ort without
, ,

the necessity for any special training .

1 17
Th e re a re i n fa ct a fe w excepti on al
, ,

cases in whi ch spirit mind an d b od y

—
, ,

act with some degree o f harmon y in

which the pure imperson a l s pI rIt $t he
S at the Atman a s the wise Hindoo s
, ,

c all it ) a cts i n su ch a manne r a s t o

and mo vements ‘

of the I ndivi d ual .

shin ing ones of the a ges .

ment s o frequently referred to in the

writings of t he old philo sopher s Egyp ,

tian Hindoo C hi nese and He b rai c

, , ,
.

S u ch h a rm o n I o uS a c tion on c e a chieved ,

the in dividual is in immediate posses

and e xp re s s 1ve n e SS

AS Browning wri te s in Pa r a c e l
$
s us

Wh e re t ru t h a bi de s in f u l ln e s s ; dud
t o kn o w
1 18
ME N T A L S UPRE M A C Y .

Ra t her c o n s is t s in Op 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 l e n do r m a y

Tha n i n e ff e c t i n g e n t ry f or a l i gh t
Suppo s e d t o be w i t ho u t .

A wiser tea cher than B rowning

“
said $ S eek ye first the Kingdom of
Heaven and His righteousness ; and all
these t h m gs shall be added u nto yo u .

The Kingdom o f Heaven as used I n

this and other c ases by Jesus undoubt
e dl y refers to t his mysti c
“ —
a t one ment -
$

“
between spirit mind and b ody
, ,
AS .

a man thinketh in his heart s o is he .

$

Two P H A SES OF H UM A N A CT I O N .

In every human a c tion the r e are tw o

—
distin ct phases t hought and m otion .

Thoughts lie hidden in the gray cav

erns of the brain They are potential
.
,

latent . Motions are physical o bvi ,

ous Every t hought every impulse

.
, ,

every emotion has its ellipsis in some

action of the muscles ; and when such
11 9
 SECRE TS OF

th ough t i mpulse o r emotion is per

,

f e ct l y expressed I n muscular activity ,

we have the ideal human being In .

this connection it may be appropriate

to introduce two brief quotations from
the writings of P rofessor William
James of Harvard C ollege .

“
He says $ There is no more valu
able pre cept in moral education than
—
this if we wish to c onquer un de s ir
able emoti o nal tenden c ies in ours elves ,

we must assiduously and in the first ,

instance cold b l o o de dl y go through the

-
,

outward movements of those contrary

disp ositions we pr efe r t o cultivate .

S mooth the brow brighten the ,

eye c ontract the dors al rather than the

,

ventral aspect of the frame and speak ,

in the maj or key pass the genial com

,

p l im e n t and your heart must be frigid

indeed if it does no t gradually thaw .

And in another place the same a u

“
'

thor h a s said $ N o re ce pt io n without

reaction no impressi o n without correl
—
,

ative expression this is the great

,

1 20
MEN TA L S UPREMA CY .

maxim which the teacher ough t never

to forget An impression which sim
.

ply fl o w s in at the pupil s eyes or ears ’

,

and in no way modifies the active life ,

is an impression gone to waste It is .

physiologically incomplete It leaves .

no fruits behind it in the way of c apac

ity acquired Even as mere impres
.

sion it fails to produ ce its proper e ff e c t

upon the memo ry ; for to remain fully
among the acqui si tions of this latter
faculty it must be wrought into the
,

whole cycle of our operations Its .

motor consequences are what cli n ch it .

S ome e ff ect due to it in the way of

,

activity must return to the mind in

,

the form of the sensation of having

acted and c onnect itself with the im
p re s s I O n The.most durable impres
sions in fact are those on a c count of
, ,

which we speak or act or else are in ,

w a rdl y convulsed
$
.

O f all the many evil e ff e c t s of what

we call civilization the most blasting is ,

that it s general influence I s to break up

1 21
 SECRE TS OF

the close in ter rel a tio n b e tween th o ught

and motion In order to live the c on
.

v e n t i o n a l l ife of the well behaved man

-

or w o man one is c ompelled to con

s t a n t l y stifle and deny desires im ,

pulses thoughts and su ch denial in e v

, ,

it a b l y le a d s to i n j u ry of mi n d a n d body .

R ELA TI O N 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 nervous matter These .

changes o cc ur not only in the nervous

matter o f the brain bu t also in the
,

n erves whi ch c ause m u s c ular a c tion .

This is a large subje c t and it is

quite impossible within the limits of
a work such a s this to make it clear .

It may be said at once 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 motor

—
nerves that ea ch emotion and each
thought h a s a mus cular picture whi ch
is peculiar t o itself Now if t h e mus
.
,

cle s be free and flexible the tho ught ,

1 22
MEN TAL S UPREMA CY .

whi ch occupies the higher n e rve cen

ters will be translated by a c ertain
position o f the mus cles In other .

words a person 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 orators all those most su ccessful

on the stage I n politi c s or in so c iety
have b een d1s t in guishe d by th i s pe cul
iar expressivenes s .

In order to b e expressive several

things are requisite The b ody must .

be e re c t the j oints and hinges of the

,

b ody a s explained in previous chap

,

ters being each in its proper pla ce

, .

The re must have been acquired the

hab it of keeping the muscles in a state
Of relaxation and re c eptivity Among .

t he many e xe rcl s e s which t h e writer

h a s employed for the purp o se of devel
Oping this power are the few given
herewith A c areful study and pra c
.

ti ce of these exercises can hardly fail

to result in an increase in general
exp re s s ivene ss health a n d p e rs o n al ity
, , .

1 23
 SECRE TS OF

Exe rcis e Nc . 1 .

$Anti c ipation pleasura

,
b le expe ct a
tion .

Im a gine that some one is coming

toward you whom you v ery mu ch
wished to s e e Y ou would naturally
.

lean forward to greet him extending ,

one or b oth hands and smiling Now .

,

holding this idea this mental picture

, ,

before the mind allow the flexible body

,

to Show it forth in gesture facial ex ,

pression and a few words of greeting

,

spoken aloud Exactly what you do

.

does not in the least matter S imply .

hold the thought SO intentl y that for

the moment you a c cept the imagined
situation as real and let the body go
,
.

Thi s exercise may be varied in fi

n i t e l y by changing the pi c ture always , ,

however imagining a Situation such as

,

will produce a feelin g of pleasurable

anticipation .
M E N TA L S UP RE M A C Y .

Ex e rc is e No . 2 .

$Horror .

Imagine that you are looking at

some dangerous animal $a snake if ,

you are a man $ if a woman a mou s e ,

will answer every purpose ) that you

c a nnot escape Y ou naturally draw
.

back in horror .

L ike the former exercise in this you ,

—
are to forget the body entirely to let
—
it g o putting all your attention upon
the imagined situation In this e x e . r

cise a s in the preceding any situation

, ,

may be invented which will induce the

thought of horror .

Exe rcis e No . 3 .

$Joy ) .

Imagine some situation which would

awaken in you a state of joy and yield
the body up to the feeling .

1 25
 Ex e r c i s e Nc 4. .

Guilt ) .

Try t o imagine that you have co m

m i t t e d some crime s a y for instance
, , ,

theft Imagine that you are brought

.

before a judge and that you are ple a d

ing guilty and askin g fo r mer cy .

Allow this though t t o permeate mind

and b ody Showing by gestures and
,

atti t u d e you r app re c ia tion o f the s itu a

tion .

$A cc us at ion ) .

Ima gine that s o me o n e h a s co m

m it t e d a c rime against you ; that you
are fa cing him before a tri b unal .

Make y our a ccusation I f ne ces s ary in

, ,

words taking at the same time the

,

attitude app ropria te t o this emoti o nal

state .

1 26
M E N TA L S UP RE M A CY .

Exe rcis e No .

$Depressio n )
Imagine s uch circumstan ces as
would produce in you a feeling of de
press ion and yield the body to it .

These exercises although they may

,

seem unusual have powe rful and far

,

reaching results That this is true

.

any one may prove to himself in a week

of faithful practi c e It must be un .

de rs t o o d however that they cannot

,

be properly p ra ct I ce d until the body

h a s been made erect and thoroughly
flexi b le by a persevering practice of
the exercises des c ribed in preceding
chapters .

A S to mental images literature and ,

poetry a ff ord many suggestions David .

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 obinson C rusoe when he dis

,

c ove rs the fo o tprint in the sand Rip ,

12 7
Va n Winkl e on aw ak ening fr o m his
long 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 ord Vivid dramatic Sit

ua t io n s .

In all this work the great point is

to subordinate the body to make the ,

body obedient flexible acquiescent

, , ,

an d interpretative of the mind Those .

who are interested in any form of ex

p ressive art dramatic lyri c al or
, , ,

scenic will fin d thes e simple exer cises

,

of value .

12 8
M E N TA L S UPRE M A C Y .

TH E L O S T A R T S O F C H IL D HO O D .

Ex c e p t y e b e c o n v e r t e d a n d b e c o m e
a s l i t t l e c hi l dr e n y e s ha l l n o t e n t e r i n t o

t he k in gdo m o f h e a ve n . M A TT H EW
1 8, 3 .

Fo r f
0 i
s uc h
s t h e k i n gdo m o f h e a ve n .

-
M A T T H EW 19 1 4 ,
.

HE
more deeply the man
of science studies the
sayings attributed to
Jesus the S eer of Judea
, ,

the more profo undly is

he imp re s sed not only by
the brilliant intellect and wonderful
oratory of Jesus but by his marvelous
,

insigh t into subjects which were in his

time unkn own even to the most lu cid
thinkers of ancient times .

In the history of the race two thou

sand years is n o t a very long time a nd ,

129
 SECRE TS O F

p re vi ou s to the b egi nn i ng of th e Ch ri s
tian e r a there had been a cc omplishe d
al on g lines o f philo s ophi c al physical , ,

and co s m o l o gl c a l resear ch mu ch mo r e
than with all our b oasted erudition has
, ,

been done sin c e In fact s ome o f our

.
,

most striking d is c overies are me rely

corro b orations of knowledge o f the
Brahmins the C hinese the Phoeni cians
, , ,

and other of the ancient peoples who

lived th o u s ands of years before the
allege d a ppearan c e of Jesus of N a z
a r eth .

Ho w m uch o f thi s an c ien t knowl

e dge Je su s pos s essed i t is impossi b le to
s ay — p r obabl y most i f not all O ne .

thing is ce r tain $ S o me thin gs he knew

and s aid whi ch s o fa r a s we know
, , ,

were entirely original and iconoclasti c .

And on e of the s e things entirely new,

the n $and almost entirely n e w now ,

for that matter ) was to the e fi e ct that

in child study we should find the key
to the kingdom of heaven .

No w a s I h av e e xplained elsewhere
130
M EN TAL S UP REMA C Y .

in the s e Se rmon s of a S cientist t h e ,

Kingdom of Heaven $or the Kingdom

of God ) is not a place where good peo
ple go whe n they die The Kin g dom .

of Heaven is a state of mind of S pi rit

—
,

that state in whi ch s pirit therefo r e ,

mind therefore body a r e all th ree in

, ,

harmony with the Gre a t O ve rs oul an d ,

with His l aws .

F or us wh o a re a dult s who fo r ,

three four o r five de c ades have b e e n

, ,

guilty of the thousand th ou s an d ,

c rimes phys i c al mental spiritual

—
, , , ,

in c iden t al to c ommonpla ce livin g fo r

us it is ne cessary to be reb orn t o b e
radi c ally change d in spirit therefore ,

in min d and b ody b efore we c an ente r

,

the Kingdo m of Heaven t he physi cal ,

realm of pea ce rest and power S o

, , .

“
Jesu s s aid to the dis ciples $ Verily I
s a y unto you , except ye be c onverted
and be c ome as littl e chil d ren ye Shall ,

not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven .

B y which He meant e xactly what He

did when He said to Nic o demus $ Ex
1 31
 S ECRE TS OF

cept a man be born again he c anno t ,

s e e the Kingdom of God

$
.

O f t he many millions that have with ,

close attention and deep rev er ence read ,

the words I have quoted few if any , , ,

have seen the clear profound pra c , ,

tical wisdom of the statement of Je s us

that only the man the w o ma n who
, ,

became as a little child c oul d en ter into

,

the realm of peace and power .

And now let us analyze a little .

What is there about the child which we

should emulate ? What characteristics
h a s the child unpossessed by the adult
,

which when develop ed in the adult wi ll

give entran c e into 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 hard ,

and bitter experience which develops

poise and power that man loses the
,

simplicity trustfulness and tenderne ss

, ,

of childhood It is when in additio n

.
,

1 32
ME N TA L S UPREM A C Y .

to his adult powers he achieves the lost

,

arts and powers of childh o od that he ,

enters the Kingdom of Heaven .

W HAT A RE T HE L O ST ART S OF
C H I LD H OOD ?
L et us c onsider first some of the
physical characteristics of normal
childhood The healthy child is re
.

markable for his ere c t body his up ,

turned face his clear and far rea ching

,
-

voice the ease and grace of his move

,

ments his wonderful enduran ce That

, .

these are among the normal pow

ers of the average healthy child may be
determined by a few minutes of close
observation upon any playgr o und A .

moment s thought will Show how rare

’

are such powers among adults .

The healthy child is ere ct There .

fore the chest is high and expanded the ,

body is carried like an erect c olumn

and the breathing is slow and deep .

This gives the only conditions under

whi ch the n ormal tone of voice in song
1 33
or spee ch c an b e r eprod uc e d T h e .

erect c arriage means that the j oints

an d mus c les o f the body are in their
normal and me chani c al relation to ea ch
other .

S o we have in the normal child move

ments which are at o n c e rapi d gra ce
—
,

ful an d e c on o mi c al s o e c onomi c a l o f
,

vita l for c e that the child s enduran c e

’

h a s passed in t o a proverb Children

.

w ill keep on r omping for h o u rs a t a

time without fa t igue But an adult
.

wh o j oins in their play will usually b e

tired o u t in ten or fifteen minutes .

Wh y is this ? Be c ause the child moves

properly and the adult does no t move
properly Be c ause b o dily movement
.

is o ne o f the l o s t ar ts o f childhood .

A M ASTER OF T HE DI FF I CULT A RT
OF R EST .

And then the ab ility t o re s t T h e .

tired child throws himself down o n the

c ouch Or floor or ground and rests .

The tired adult on the othe r han d

, ,

1 34
M E N TAL S UPREMA CY .

often fi 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 or more

hours quite as fatigued as when he
went to bed F ew adults have retained
.

from childhood the power to rest F or .

the power to rest i s another one of the

lost arts of childhood ; and he who
would enter the Kingdom of Heaven ,

the realm of pea ce must be a master

,

of the di fficult art of rest .

The world is full of men an d women

whose most ardent ambition is to su c
ce e d in some art — musi c painting act , ,

ing writing And out of the multi

, .

tude who drudge laboriously unrest ,

in gl y at th e ir chosen task how 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 house ,
school
$
chu rch and
$
,
$

s o on . O n no stage in the world will

you find a c ting so true s o finished s o , ,

1 35
perf e ct an exp o si tion of the a ctor s c on ’

c e p t i o n of his part F rom a purely

.

technical st andpoint the dramatic ,

work o f the average healthy intelligent

—
,

child is beyond c ritici sm it is Simply

perfe ct .

And then the child s moral and ’

Spiritual qualities By nature he is

—
.

absolutely truthful truthful b oth 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 example .

Mi chelet that d e ep and tender phi

,
“
l o s o ph e r has said $
,
No c onsecrated
absurdity of mankin d would have s ur“

vive d one generatio n had not the man

$
Silen ced t h e objection of the child .

Do you r emember the first lie s they

told you ? How strange it seemed for
people people whom perhaps you loved
,

and feared and worshiped with the

pure white hot intensity of the child
,

h o w strange for them to do that $

S oon however you learned to do it
, ,

yourself learned the fat a l utility the

, ,

136
MEN TAL S UP REMA C Y .

c onvenien c e of the lie And s o the .

angel with the flaming sword waved

you away from the Eden of Un co n
q u e r a bl e Inno c en c e and only after
,

many years of wandering in waste

place s only b y b eing born again may
, ,

you re enter Eden the Kingdom of

-
,

Heaven .

And with the truthfulness o f child

,

hood the Simplicity the kindliness

—
, ,

the demo c ra cy , the I ndependen ce all

of these are among the lost powers of
childhood and all of these we must
achieve if we would posses s the highe st
p o wers of body mind and spirit , ,
.

“
Ex c ept ye be c ome as a little child
no true power physical artisti c intel
, , ,

lectual spiritual is possible To him

, , .

or her who in simplicity ac cepts the

teaching the kingdom is close at hand ;
,

“ $
and a little child Shall lead them .

The truly great of earth are not the

ones most highly polished by co n ve n
t i o n a l educational methods O n the .

othe r hand th e y are o ften the lonely

,

1 37
 M E N TA L S UP REMA C Y .

and the n egle cted They have starved

.

in garrets an d dreamed in hovels ; from

squ a lid prI So n c ells they have sent forth
“
thoughts that breathe ; under the $

silent stars they have c on c eived

thoughts a s high a s the stars them
“
selves They are those who through
.

g rea t t ribulation have been born

again a nd who a s little children have
, , ,

entered into the r ealm o f peace wis ,

dom love and power the m ysti c King

, , ,

dom of Heave n .

138
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