{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17749/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17749","id":"gutenberg_17749","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17749","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: How To ...","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Mental suggestion"],"text":"E-text prepared by Ruth Hart (ruthhart@twilightoracle.com)\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n   In the Introduction, I have changed \"yet is is a very literal\n   truth\" to \"yet it is a very literal truth\". Also in the\n   Introduction, I changed the spelling of \"faculities\" to\n   \"faculties\" (other spelling remains unchanged). Finally, while\n   most of the proper names are capitalized, not all of them are,\n   and I have left the uncapitalized names as they appeared in\n   the original.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MYSTIC WILL\n\nA Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind,\nthrough the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible\nto Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence\n\nby\n\nCHARLES G. LELAND\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmerican Edition\nPublished by\nThe Progress Company\n515-519 Rand McNally Building\nChicago, Illinois\nEnglish Representatives:\nL. N. Fowler & Co.\n7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus,\nLondon, E. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nIn Memorium\n\nCharles Godfrey Leland\n\nAMERICAN AUTHOR\nWHO DIED MARCH 20, 1903\nAT FLORENCE, ITALY\nAGED 79\n\n\"_The good that men do lives after them_.\"\n\n\n\n\nPUBLISHER'S NOTICE.\n\nThis wonderful treatise was first published in England several years\nago, under the title of \"_Have You a Strong Will_?\" and has run\nthrough several editions there. In its original form, it was printed\nin quite large type, double-leaded, and upon paper which \"bulked out\"\nthe book to quite a thick volume. Some copies have been sold in\nAmerica, but the price which dealers were compelled to charge for it,\nin its original shape, prevented the wide circulation that it merited,\nand which its author undoubtedly desired for it, for it seems to\nhave been a labor of love with him, the interest of the race in his\nwonderful theories evidently being placed above financial returns by\nMr. Leland. Believing that the author's ideas and wishes would be well\ncarried out by the publication of an American edition printed in the\nusual size type (without the expedient of \"double-leading\" unusually\nlarge type in order to make a large volume), which allows of the book\nbeing sold at a price within the reach of all, the publisher has\nissued this edition along the lines indicated.\n\nThe present edition is identical with the original English edition\nwith the following exceptions:\n\n(1) There has been omitted from this edition a long, tiresome chapter\ncontained in the original edition, entitled \"On the Power of the Mind\nto master disordered Feelings by sheer Determination. As Set forth by\nImmanuel Kant in a letter to Hufeland,\" but which chapter had very\nlittle to say about \"the power of the mind,\" but very much indeed\nabout Hygiene, Dietetics, Sleep, Care of Oneself in Old Age,\nHypochondria, Work, Exercise, Eating and Drinking, Illness, etc.,\netc., from the point of view of the aged German metaphysician, which\nwhile interesting enough in itself, and to some people, was manifestly\nout of place in a book treating upon the development of Mental\nFaculties by the Will, etc. We think that Mr. Leland's admirers will\nfind no fault with this omission.\n\n(2) The word \"Suggestion\" has been substituted for the word\n\"Hypnotism\" in several places in the original text, where the\nformer word was manifestly proper according to the present views of\npsychologists, which views were not so clearly defined when the book\nwas written.\n\n(3) The chapter headings of the original book have been shortened and\nsimplified in accordance with the American form.\n\n(4) The title \"The Mystic Will\" has been substituted in place of that\nused in the original edition, which was \"Have You a Strong Will?\" This\nchange was made for the reason that the original title did not give\none the correct idea of the nature of the book, but rather conveyed\nthe idea of an inquiry regarding the \"iron-will,\" etc., which the\nauthor evidently did not intend. The use of the Will, as taught in the\nbook by Mr. Leland, is not along the lines of \"the iron-will,\" but is\nrather in the nature of the employment of a mystic, mysterious, and\nalmost weird power of the Human Will, and the title of the present\nedition is thought to more correctly represent the nature of the book,\nand the author's own idea, than the inquiry embodied in the title of\nthe original edition.\n\n(5) Several unimportant footnotes, references to other books, etc.,\nhave been omitted after careful consideration.\n\n(Those who would wish to read the book in its original English edition\nwill be able to procure it from the English publisher, Mr. Philip\nWellby, 6 Henrietta street, Covent Garden, London, W. C, England.)\n\nTo the few readers of this book who are not familiar with the author,\nMr. Charles G. Leland, it may be said that this gifted man was an\nAmerican by birth, but who lived in Europe for many years before his\ndeath. He died March 20, 1903, at Florence, Italy, at the ripe age of\n79 years, active until the last and leaving unpublished  manuscripts,\nsome not completed. He lived up to his ideas and profited by them. His\nwritings are spread over a period of nearly, or fully, fifty years,\nand his range of subjects was remarkable in its variety, style, and\ntreatment.\n\nAmong his best known works were \"Practical Education,\" \"Flaxius,\" \"The\nBreitmann Ballads\" (which introduced his well-known character \"Hans\nBreitmann\"), \"Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling,\" \"Wood Carving,\"\n\"Leather Work,\" \"Metal Work,\" \"Drawing and Designing,\" \"The Minor\nArts,\" \"Twelve Manuals in Art Work,\" \"The Album of Repousse Work,\"\n\"Industrial Art in Education,\" \"Hints on Self Education,\" and many\nother works along the lines of Manual Training, etc., and the\nDevelopment of the Constructive Faculties; \"Kulsop the Master, and\nother Algonquin Poems and Legends,\" \"The Alternate Sex,\" and many\nother works, some of which are now out of print, but a number of which\nmay be purchased from, or through, any bookseller. There has been\nrecently published a biographical work embodying his memoirs, written\nand edited by his beloved niece, Mrs. Pennell, to which volume all\nadmirers of this wonderful man are referred.\n\nEvery subject touched upon by Mr. Leland was brightly illuminated by\nthe power of his marvellous mind. He seemed to be able to go right to\nthe heart of the subject, seizing upon its essential truth and at the\nsame time grasping all of its details. His mind was so full of general\ninformation that it fairly oozed out from him in all of his writings.\nThe reader will notice this phenomenon in the present book, in which\nthe author has evidently had to fight his own mind in order to prevent\nit from intruding all sorts of valuable and varied general information\nin among the particular subjects upon which he is treating. While not\na professional psychologist, Mr. Leland has given utterance to some of\nthe most valuable and practical psychological truths of the last fifty\nyears, his contributions to this branch of human thought is sure to be\nrecognized and appreciated in the near future. It is hoped that this\nlittle book will carry some of his valuable precepts and ideas to many\nwho have never had the advantage and pleasure of his acquaintance up\nto this time.\n\nIt is believed by the publisher that this popular edition of Mr.\nLeland's valuable work upon the Use of the Will, issued at a nominal\nprice, will carry the author's teachings to the homes of many of those\nwhom Lincoln called the \"plain people\" of this American land, who need\nit so much, but who would not have been able to have purchased it\nin its original shape. This work has been well known in England,\nbut here, in America, the birthplace of the author, it has been\ncomparatively unheard of. It is to be hoped that this edition will\nremedy this grievous fault.\n\nApril 11, 1907  THE PUBLISHER.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n   Introduction . . . 13\n\n   Chapter I.--Attention and Interest . . . 19\n\n   Chapter II.--Self-Suggestion . . . 28\n\n   Chapter III.--Will-Development . . . 34\n\n   Chapter IV.--Forethought . . . 48\n\n   Chapter V.--Will and Character  . . . 58\n\n   Chapter VI.--Suggestion and Instinct . . . 66\n\n   Chapter VII.--Memory Culture . . . 74\n\n   Chapter VIII.--The Constructive Faculties . . . 81\n\n   Chapter IX.--Fascination . . . 85\n\n   Chapter X.--The Subliminal Self . . . 100\n\n   Chapter XI.--Paracelsus  . . . 109\n\n   Chapter XII.--Last Words . . . 116\n\n\n\nTHE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.\n\nDuring the past few years the most serious part of the author's study\nand reflection has been devoted to the subjects discussed in this\nbook. These, briefly stated, are as follows: Firstly, that all mental\nor cerebral faculties can by direct scientific treatment be influenced\nto what would have once been regarded as miraculous action, and which\nis even yet very little known or considered. Secondly, in development\nof this theory, and as confirmed by much practical and personal\nexperience, that the Will can by very easy processes of training, or\nby aid of Auto-Suggestion, be strengthened to any extent, and states\nof mind soon induced, which can be made by practice habitual. Thus,\nas a man can by means of opium produce sleep, so can he by a very\nsimple experiment a few times repeated--an experiment which I\nclearly describe and which has been tested and verified beyond\nall denial--cause himself to remain during the following day in a\nperfectly calm or cheerful state of mind; and this condition may, by\nmeans of repetition and practice, be raised or varied to other states\nor conditions of a far more active or intelligent description.\n\nThus, for illustration, I may say that within my own experience, I\nhave by this process succeeded since my seventieth year in working\nall day far more assiduously, and without any sense of weariness or\ndistaste for labour, than I ever did at any previous period of my\nlife. And the reader need only try the extremely easy experiment, as I\nhave described it, to satisfy himself that he can do the same, that he\ncan continue it with growing strength _ad infinitum_, and that this\npower will unquestionably at some future time be employed with\nmarvellous results in Education. For, beyond all question--since any\nhuman being can easily prove or disprove it by a few experiments--\nthere is no method known by which inattention, heedlessness, or\nnegligence in the young can be so promptly and thoroughly cured as by\nthis; while on the other hand, Attention and Interest by assiduity,\nare even more easily awakened. It has indeed seemed to me, since I\nhave devoted myself to the study of Education from this point of view,\nas if it had been like the Iron Castle in the Slavonian legend, unto\nwhich men had for centuries wended their way by a long and wearisome\nroad of many miles, while there was all the time, unseen and unknown,\na very short and easy subterranean passage, by means of which the\ndwellers in the Schloss might have found their way to the town below,\nand to the world, in a few minutes.\n\nTo this I have added a succinct account of what is, I believe, the\neasiest and most comprehensive Art of Memory ever conceived. There\nare on this subject more than five hundred works, all based, without\nexception, on the _Associative_ system, which may be described as a\nstream which runs with great rapidity for a very short time but is\nsoon choked up. This, I believe, as a means applied to learning, was\nfirst published in my work, entitled _Practical Education_. In it the\npupil is taught the _direct method_; that is, instead of remembering\none thing by means of another, to impress _the image itself_ on the\nmemory, and frequently revive it. This process soon becomes habitual\nand very easy. In from one year to eighteen months a pupil can by\nmeans of it accurately recall a lecture or sermon. It has the\nimmediate advantage, over all the associate systems, of increasing and\nenlarging the scope and vigour of the memory, or indeed of the mind,\nso that it may truly bear as a motto, _Vires acquirit eundo_--\"it\ngains in power as it runs long.\"\n\nFinally, I set forth a system of developing the Constructive Faculty--\nthat which involves Ingenuity, Art, or manual _making_--as based on\nthe teaching of the so-called Minor Arts to the young. The principle\nfrom which I proceed is that as the fruit is developed from the\nflower, all Technical Education should be anticipated. Or begun\nin children by practicing easy and congenial arts, such as light\nembroidery, wood-carving or repousse, by means of which they become\nfamiliar with the elements of more serious and substantial work.\nHaving found out by practical experience, in teaching upwards of two\nthousand children for several years, that the practice of such easy\nwork, or the development of the constructive faculty, invariably\nawakened the intellectual power or intelligence, I began to study the\nsubject of the development of the mind in general. My first discovery\nafter this was that Memory, whether mental, visual, or of any other\nkind, could, in connection with Art, be wonderfully improved, and to\nthis in time came the consideration that the human Will, with all its\nmighty power and deep secrets, could be disciplined and directed, or\ncontrolled with as great care as the memory or the mechanical faculty.\nIn a certain sense the three are one, and the reader who will take the\npains, which are, I trust, not very great, to master the details of\nthis book, will readily grasp it as a whole, and understand that its\ncontents form a system of education, yet one from which the old as\nwell as young may profit.\n\nIt is worth noting that, were it for nervous invalids alone, or those\nwho from various causes find it difficult to sleep, or apply the mind\nto work, this book would be of unquestionable value. In fact, even\nwhile writing this chapter, a lady has called to thank me for the\nsubstantial benefit which she derived from my advice in this respect.\nAnd, mindful of the fact that Attention and Unwearied Perseverance\nare most necessary to succeed in such processes as are here described, I\nhave taken pains to show or explain how they may be rendered more\nattractive, tolerable, and habitual to the fickle or light-minded;\nthis, too, being a subject which has been very little considered from\na practical point of view.\n\nBut, above all things, I beg the reader, laying aside all prejudice or\npreconceived opinion, and neither believing nor disbelieving what he\nreads, to simply _try it_--that is to test it in his own person to\nwhat degree he can influence his will, or bring about subsequent\nstates of mind, by the very easy processes laid down. If I could hope\nthat all opinion of my book would be uttered only by those who had\nthus put it to the test, I should be well assured as to its future.\n\nAnd also I beg all readers, and especially reviewers, to note that I\nadvise that the auto-suggestive process, by aid of sleep, _shall be\ndiscontinued as soon as the experimenter begins to feel an increase in\nthe power of the will_; the whole object of the system being to\nacquire a perfectly free clear Will as soon as possible. Great\ninjustice was done, as regards the first edition of this work, by a\nvery careless though eminent critic, who blamed the author for not\nhaving done what the latter had carefully recommended in his book.\n\nThere are four stages of advance towards the truth: firstly,\nDisbelief; secondly, Doubt, which is, in fact, only a fond advance\ntowards Disbelief; thirdly, Agnosticism, which is Doubt mingled with\nInquiry; and, finally, pure and simple Inquiry or Search, without any\npreconceived opinion or feeling whatever. It is, I trust, only in the\nspirit of the latter, that I have written; therefore I say to the\nreader, Neither, believe nor disbelieve in anything which I have said,\nbut, as it is an easy thing to try, experiment for yourself, and judge\nby the result. In fact, as a satisfactory and conclusive experiment\nwill not require more time, and certainly not half the pains which\nmost people would expend on reading a book, I shall be perfectly\nsatisfied if any or all my critics will do so, and judge the system by\nthe result.\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n    \"Unto many Fortune comes while sleeping.\"--_Latin\n    Proverb_.\n\n    \"Few know what is really going on in the world.\"--\n    _American Proverb_.\n\nIt is but a few years since it suddenly struck the gay world of comic\ndramatists and other literary wits, that the Nineteenth Century was\ndrawing to an end, and regarding it as an event they began to make\nmerry over it, at first in Paris, and then in London and New York, as\nthe _fin-de-siecle_. Unto them it was the going-out of old fashions in\nsmall things, such as changes in dress, the growth of wealth, or \"the\nmighty bicycle,\" with a very prevalent idea that things \"are getting\nmixed\" or \"checquered,\" or the old conditions of life becoming\nstrangely confused. And then men of more thought or intelligence,\nlooking more deeply into it, began to consider that the phrase did in\nvery truth express far more serious facts. As in an old Norman tale,\nhe who had entered as a jester or minstrel in comic garb, laid aside\nhis disguise, and appeared as a wise counsellor or brave champion who\nhad come to free the imprisoned emperor.\n\nFor it began to be seen that this _fin-de-siecle_ was developing with\nstartling rapidity changes of stupendous magnitude, which would ere\nlong be seen \"careering with thunder speed along,\" and that all the\nrevolutions and reforms recorded in history were only feeble or\npartial, scattered or small, compared to the world-wide unification of\nhuman interests, led by new lights, which has begun to manifest itself\nin every civilized country. That well nigh every person or real\nculture, or education guided by pure science, has within a very few\nyears advanced to a condition of liberal faith which would have been\nin my university days generally reprobated as \"infidelity,\" is not to\nbe denied, and the fact means, beyond all question, that according to\nits present rate of advance, in a very few years more, this reform\nwill end in the annulling of innumerable traditions, forms of faith\nand methods. _Upharsin_ is writ on the wall.\n\nMore than this, is it not clear that Art and Romance, Poetry and\nLiterature, as hitherto understood or felt, are either to utterly\nvanish before the stupendous advances of science, or what is perhaps\nmore probable, will, coalescing with it, take new forms, based on a\ngeneral familiarity with all the old schools or types? A few years ago\nit seemed, as regarded all aesthetic creation, that man had exhausted\nthe old models, and knew not where to look for new. Now the aim of Art\nis to interest or please, by gratifying the sense or taste for the\nbeautiful or human genius in _making_; also to instruct and refine;\nand it is evident that Science is going to fulfill all these\nconditions on such a grand scale in so many new ways, that, when man\nshall be once engaged in them, all that once gratified him in the past\nwill seem as childish things, to be put away before pursuits more\nworthy of manly dignity. If Art in all forms has of late been quiet,\nit has been because it has drawn back like the tiger in order to make\nthe greater bound.\n\nOne of the causes why some are laying aside all old spiritualism,\nromance and sentiment, is that their realisation takes up too much\ntime, and Science, which is the soul of business, seeks in all things\nbrevity and directness. It is probable that the phrase, \"but to the\npoint,\" has been oftener repeated during the past few years, than it\never was before, since Time begun, of which directness I shall have\nmore to say anon.\n\nAnd this is the end to which these remarks on the _fin-de-siecle_ were\nwritten, to lay stress upon the fact that with the year Nineteen\nHundred we shall begin a century during which civilized mankind will\nattain its majority and become _manly_, doing that which is right\nas a man should, _because it is right_ and for no other reason, and\nshunning wrong for as good cause. For while man is a child he behaves\nwell, or misbehaves, for _reasons_ such as the fear of punishment or\nhope of reward, but in a manly code no reasons are necessary but only\na persuasion or conviction that anything is right or wrong, and a\nprinciple which is as the earth unto a seed.\n\nFor as the world is going on, or getting to be, it is very evident\nthat as it is popularly said, \"he who will tell a lie will generally\nnot hesitate to commit perjury,\" so he who cannot be really honest,\n_per se_, without being sustained by principle based only on tradition\nand the opinion of others, is a poor creature, whose morality or\nhonesty is in fact merely theatrical, or acted, to satisfy certain\nconditions or exigencies from which he were better freed.\n\nThis spirit of scientific directness, and economy of thought and\ntrouble by making the principle of integrity the basis of all forms,\nand cutting all ethical theories down to \"be good because you\n_ought_,\" is rapidly astonishing us with another marvellous fact which\nit illustrates, namely, that as in this axiom--as in man himself--\nthere are latent undiscovered powers, so in a thousand other\nsayings, or things known to us all, used by us all, and regarded as\ncommon-place, there are astounding novelties and capacities as yet\nundreamed of. For, as very few moralists ever understood in full what\nis meant by the very much worn or hackneyed saying, \"we ought to do\nwhat is right,\" so the world at large little suspects that such very\ndesirable qualities as Attention, Interest, Memory and Ingenuity, have\nthat within them which renders them far more attainable by man than\nhas ever been supposed. Even the great problem of Happiness itself, as\nreally being only one of a relative state of mind, may be solved or\nreached by some far simpler or more direct method than any thinker has\never suggested.\n\nIt all depends on exertion of the _Will_. There are in this world a\ncertain number of advanced thinkers who, if they knew how to develope\nthe _Will_ which exists in them, could bring this reform to pass in an\nincredibly short time. That is to say, they could place the doctrine\nor religion of Honesty for its own sake so boldly and convincingly\nbefore the world that its future would be assured. Now the man who can\ndevelope his will, has it in his power not only to control his moral\nnature to any extent, but also to call into action or realize very\nextraordinary states of mind, that is, faculties, talents or abilities\nwhich he has never suspected to be within his reach. It is a\nstupendous thought; yes, one so great that from the beginning of time\nto the present day no sage or poet has ever grasped it in its full\nextent, and yet is is a very literal truth, that there lie hidden\nwithin us all, as in a sealed-up spiritual casket, or like the\nbottled-up _djinn_ in the Arab tale, innumerable Powers or\nIntelligences, some capable of bestowing peace or calm, others of\ngiving Happiness, or inspiring creative genius, energy and\nperseverance. All that Man has ever attributed to an Invisible World\nwithout, lies, in fact, within him, and the magic key which will\nconfer the faculty of sight and the power to conquer is the _Will_.\n\nIt has always been granted that it is a marvellously good thing to\nhave a strong will, or a determined or resolute mind, and great has\nbeen the writing thereon. I have by me the last book on the subject,\nin which the faculty is enthusiastically praised, and the reader is\ntold through all the inflexions of sentiment, that he _ought_ to\nassert his Will, to be vigorous in mind, _etcetera_, but unfortunately\nthe How to do it is utterly wanting.\n\nIt will be generally admitted by all readers that this _How to do it_\nhas been always sought in grandly heroic or sublimely vigorous\nmethods of victory over self. The very idea of being resolute, brave,\npersevering or stubborn, awakens in us all thoughts of conflict or\ndramatic self-conquering. But it may be far more effectively attained\nin a much easier way, even as the ant climbed to the top of the tree\nand gnawed away and brought down the golden fruit unto which the\nman could not rise. There are _easy_ methods, and by far the most\neffective, of awakening the Will; methods within the reach of every\none, and which if practised, will lead on _ad infinitum_, to\nmarvellous results.\n\nThe following chapters will be devoted to setting forth, I trust\nclearly and explicitly, how by an extremely easy process, or\nprocesses, the will may be, by any person of ordinary intelligence and\nperseverance, awakened and developed to any extent, and with it many\nother faculties or states of mind. I can remember once being told by a\nlady that she thought there ought to be erected in all great cities\ntemples to the Will, so as to encourage mankind to develop the\ndivine faculty. It has since occurred to me that an equal number of\nschool-houses, however humble, in which the art of mastering the Will\nby easy processes _seriatim_ should be taught, would be far more\nuseful. Such a school-house is this work, and it is the hope of the\nauthor that all who enter, so to speak, or read it, will learn\ntherefrom as much as he himself and others have done by studying its\nprinciples.\n\nTo recapitulate or make clear in brief what I intend, I would say\n_Firstly_, that the advanced thinkers at this end of the century,\nweary of all the old indirect methods of teaching Morality, are\nbeginning to enquire, since Duty is an indispensable condition,\nwhether it is not just as well to do what is right, _because_ it is\nright, as for any other reason? _Secondly_, that this spirit of\ndirectness, the result of Evolution, is beginning to show itself in\nmany other directions, as we may note by the great popularity of\nthe answer to the question, \"How not to worry,\" which is briefly,\n_Don't! Thirdly_, that enlightened by this spirit of scientific\nstraightforwardness, man is ceasing to seek for mental truth by means\nof roundabout metaphysical or conventional ethical methods (based on\nold traditions and mysticism), and is looking directly in himself,\nor materially, for what Immaterialism or Idealism has really never\nexplained at all--his discoveries having been within a few years much\nmore valuable that all that _a priori_ philosophy or psychology ever\nyielded since the beginning. And, finally, that the leading faculties\nor powers of the mind, such as Will, Memory, the Constructive\nfaculty, and all which are subject to them, instead of being entirely\nmysterious \"gifts,\" or inspirations bestowed on only a very few to any\nliberal extent, are in all, and may be developed grandly and richly by\ndirect methods which are moreover extremely easy, and which are in\naccordance with the spirit of the age, being the legitimate results of\nEvolution and Science.\n\nAnd, that I may not be misunderstood, I would say that the doctrine of\nDuty agrees perfectly with every form of religion--a man may be Roman\nCatholic, Church of England, Presbyterian, Agnostic, or what he will;\nand, if a form aids him in the least to be _sincerely honest_, it\nwould be a pity for him to be without it. Truly there are degrees in\nforms, and where I live in Italy I am sorry to see so many abuses or\nerrors in them. But to know and do what is right, when understood, is\nrecognising God as nearly as man can know him, and to do this\nperfectly we require _Will_. It is the true _Logos_.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nATTENTION AND INTEREST.\n\n    \"To the fairies, Determination and Good-Will, all things are\n    possible.\"--_The Man of the Family, by_ C. REID.\n\nIt happened recently to me, as I write, to see one afternoon lying on\nthe side walk in the Via Calzaioli in Florence what I thought was a\ncommon iron screw, about three inches in length, which looked as if it\nhad been dropped by some workman. And recalling the superstition that\nit is lucky to find such an object, or a nail, I picked it up, when to\nmy astonishment I found that it was a silver pencil case, but made to\nexactly resemble a screw. Hundreds of people had, perhaps, seen it,\nthought they knew all about it, or what it was, and then passed it by,\nlittle suspecting its real value.\n\nThere is an exact spiritual parallel for this incident or parable of\nthe screw-pencil in innumerable ideas, at which well-nigh everybody in\nthe hurrying stream of life has glanced, yet no one has ever examined,\nuntil someone with a poetic spirit of curiosity, or inspired by quaint\nsuperstition, pauses, picks one up, looks into it, and finds that It\nhas ingenious use, and is far more than it appeared to be. Thus, if I\ndeclare that by special attention to a subject, earnestly turning it\nover and thinking deeply into it, very remarkable results may be\nproduced, as regards result in knowledge, every human being will\nassent to it as the veriest truism ever uttered; in the fullest belief\nthat he or she assuredly knows all _that_.\n\nYet it was not until within a very few years that I discovered that\nthis idea, which seemed so commonplace, had within it mysteries and\nmeanings which were stupendously original or remarkable. I found that\nthere was a certain intensity or power of attention, far surpassing\nordinary observation, which we may, if we will, summon up and _force_\non ourselves, just as we can by special effort see or hear far better\nat times than usually. The Romans show by such a phrase as _animum\nadjicere_, and numerous proverbs and synonyms, that they had learned\nto bend their attention energetically. They were good listeners,\ntherefore keen observers.\n\nLearning to control or strengthen the Will is closely allied to\ndeveloping Attention and Interest, and for reasons which will soon be\napparent, I will first consider the latter, since they constitute a\npreparation or basis for the former. And as preliminary, I will\nconsider the popular or common error to the effect that everyone has\nalloted to him or to her just so much of the faculty of attention or\ninterest as it has pleased Nature to give--the same being true as\nregards Memory, Will, the Constructive or Artistic abilities, and so\non--when in very truth and on the warrant of Experience all may be\nincreased _ad infinitum_. Therefore, we find ignorant men complacently\nexplaining their indifference to art and literature or culture on the\nground that they take no interest in such subjects, as if interest\nwere a special heaven-sent gift. Who has not heard the remark, \"He or\nshe takes such an _interest_ in so many things--I wish that I could.\"\nOr, as I heard it very recently expressed, \"It must be delightful to\nbe able to interest one's self in something at any time.\" Which was\nmuch the same as the expression of the Pennsylvania German girl, \"_Ach\nGott_! I wisht I hat genius und could make a pudden!\"\n\nNo one can be expected to take an interest at once and by mere will in\nany subject, but where an earnest and serious Attention has been\ndirected to it, Interest soon follows. Hence it comes that those who\ndeliberately train themselves in Society after the precept enforced by\nall great writers of social maxims to listen politely and patiently,\nare invariably rewarded by acquiring at last shrewd intelligence, as\nis well known to diplomatists. That mere stolid patience subdues\nimpatience sounds like a dull common-place saying, but it is a silver\npencil disguised as an iron screw; there is a deep subtlety hidden in\nit, if it be allowed with a little intelligence, _forethought_, and\ndetermination towards a purpose. Let us now consider the mechanical\nand easy processes by which attention may be awakened.\n\nAccording to ED. VON HARTMANN, Attention is either spontaneous or\nreflex. The voluntary fixing our mind upon, or choosing an idea,\nimage, or subject, is _spontaneous attention_, but when the idea for\nsome reason impresses itself upon us then we have enforced, or _reflex\nattention_. That is simply to say, there is active or passive\nobservation--the things which we seek or which come to us unsought.\nAnd the \"seeking for,\" or spontaneous action can be materially aided\nand made persevering, if before we begin the search or set about\ndevoting Attention to anything, we pause, as it were, to determine or\nresolve that we _will_ be thorough, and not leave off until we shall\nhave mastered it. For strange as it may seem, the doing this actually\nhas in most cases a positive, and very often a remarkable result, as\nthe reader may very easily verify for himself. This Forethought is far\nmore easily awakened, or exerted, than Attention itself, but it\nprepares it, just as Attention prepares Interest.\n\nAttention is closely allied to Memory; when we would give attention to\na subject for continued consideration, we must \"memorize\" it, or it\nwill vanish. Involuntary memory excited by different causes often\ncompels us to attend to many subjects whether we will or not. Everyone\nhas been haunted with images or ideas even unto being tormented by\nthem; there are many instances in which the Imagination has given them\nobjective form, and they have appeared visibly to the patient. These\nhaunting ideas, disagreeable repetitions or obstinate continuances,\nassume an incredible variety of forms, and enter in many strange ways\ninto life. Monomania or the being possessed with one idea to the\nexclusion of others, is a form of overstrained attention, sustained by\nmemory. It is _enforced_.\n\nMere repetition of anything to almost anybody, will produce remarkable\nresults; or a kind of Hypnotism Causing the patient to yield to what\nbecomes an irresistible power. Thus it is said that perpetual dropping\nwill wear away stones. Dr. JAMES R. COCKE in his \"Hypnotism,\" in\nillustrating this, speaks of a man who did not want to sign a note, he\nknew that it was folly to do so, but yielded from having been \"over\npersuaded.\" I have read a story in which a man was thus simply\n_talked_ into sacrificing his property. The great power latent in this\nform of suggestiveness is well known to knaves in America where it is\nmost employed. This is the whole secret of the value of advertising.\nPeople yield to the mere repetition in time. Attention and Interest\nmay in this way be self-induced from repetition.\n\nIt is true that an image or idea may be often repeated to minds which\ndo not think or reflect, without awakening attention; _per contra_,\nthe least degree of thought in a vast majority of cases forms a\nnucleus, or beginning, which may easily be increased to an indefinite\nextent. A very little exercise of the Will suffices in most cases to\nfix the attention on a subject, and how this can be done will be shown\nin another chapter. But in many cases Attention is attracted with\nlittle or no voluntary effort. On this fact is based the truth that\nwhen or where it is desired, Attention and Interest may be awakened\nwith great ease by a simple process.\n\nIt may be remarked on the subject of repetition of images or ideas,\nthat a vast proportion of senseless superstitions, traditions or\ncustoms, which no one can explain, originate in this way, and that in\nfact what we call _habit_ (which ranks as second nature) is only\nanother form or result of involuntary attention and the unconsciously\ngiving a place in the memory to what we have heard.\n\nFrom the simple fact that even a man of plain common-sense and strong\nwill may be driven to sleeplessness, or well nigh to madness, by the\nhaunting presence of some wretched trifle, some mere jingle or rhyme,\nor idle memory, we may infer that we have here a great power which\n_must_ in some way be capable of being led to great or useful results\nby some very easy process. I once wrote a sketch, never completed, in\nwhich I depicted a man of culture who, having lost an old manuscript\nbook which he had regarded in a light, semi-incredulous manner as a\n_fetish_, or amulet, on which his luck depended, began to be seriously\nconcerned, and awaking to the fact, deliberately cultivated his alarm\nas a psychological study, till he found himself, even with his eyes\nwide open as an observer in terrible fear, or a semi-monomaniac. The\nrecovery of his lost charm at once relieved him. This was a diversion\nof Attention for a deliberate purpose, which might have been varied\n_ad infinitum_ to procure very useful results. But I have myself known\na man in the United States, who, having lost--he being an actor or\nperformer--a certain article of theatrical properties on which he\nbelieved \"luck\" depended, lost all heart and hope, and fell into a\ndecline, from which he never recovered. In this, as in all such cases,\nit was not so much conviction or reason which influenced the sufferer\nas the mere effect of Attention often awakened till it had become what\nis known as a fixed idea.\n\nA deliberate reflection on what I have here advanced can hardly fail\nto make it clear to any reader that if he really desires to take an\ninterest in any subject, it is possible to do so, because Nature has\nplaced in every mind vast capacity for attention or fixing ideas, and\nwhere the Attention is fixed, Interest, by equally easy process, may\nalways be induced to follow. And note that these preliminary\npreparations should invariably be as elementary and easy as possible,\nthis being a condition which it is impossible to exaggerate. In a vast\nmajority of cases people who would fain be known as taking an interest\nin Art begin at the wrong end, or in the most difficult manner\npossible, by running through galleries where they only acquire a\nsuperficial knowledge of results, and learn at best how to _talk_\nshowily about what they have skimmed. Now to this end a good article\nin a cyclopaedia, or a small treatise like that of TAINE'S \"AEsthetic\"\nthoroughly read and re-read, till it be really mastered, and then\nverified by study of a very few good pictures in a single collection,\nwill do more to awaken sincere _interest_ than the loose ranging\nthrough all the exhibitions in the world. I have read in many novels\nthrilling descriptions of the effect and results when all the glories\nof the Louvre or Vatican first burst upon some impassioned and\nunsophisticated youth, who from that moment found himself an Artist--\nbut I still maintain that it would have been a hundred times better\nfor him had his Attention and Interest been previously attracted to a\nfew pictures, and his mind accustomed to reflect on them.\n\nBe the subject in which we would take an interest artistic or\nscientific, literary or social, the best way to begin herewith is to\ncarefully read the simplest and easiest account of it which we can\nobtain, in order that we may know just exactly what it is, or its\ndefinition. And this done, let the student at once, while the memory\nis fresh in mind, follow it up by other research or reading,\nobservations or inquiries, on the same subject, for three books read\ntogether on anything will profit more than a hundred at long\nintervals. In fact, a great deal of broken, irregular or disjointed\nreading is often as much worse than none at all, as a little coherent\nstudy is advantageous.\n\nMany people would very willingly take an interest in many subjects if\nthey knew how. It is a melancholy thing to see a man retired from\nbusiness with literally nothing to do but fritter away his time on\nnothings when he might be employed at something absorbing and useful.\nBut they hesitate to _act_ because, as is the rule in life, they see\neverything from its most difficult and repulsive side. There is no man\nwho could not easily take an intelligent interest in Art in some form,\nbut I venture to say that a majority of even educated people who had\nnever taken up the subject would be appalled at it in their secret\nhearts, or distrust its \"use\" or their own capacity to master it. Or\nagain, many put no faith in easy manuals to begin with, believing, in\ntheir ignorance, that a mere collection of rudiments cannot have much\nin it. We are all surrounded by thousands of subjects in which we\nmight all take an interest, and do good work, if we would, selecting\none, give it a little attention, and by easy process proceed to learn\nit. As it is, in general society the man or woman who has any special\npursuit, accomplishment, or real interest for leisure hours, beyond\nidle gossip and empty time-killing, is a great exception. And yet I\nsincerely believe that in perhaps a majority of cases there is a\nsincere desire to do something, which is killed by simple ignorance of\nthe fact that with a very little trouble indeed interest in something\nis within the easy reach of all.\n\nI have dwelt on this subject that the reader may be induced to reflect\non the fact, firstly, that if he wishes to learn how to develop his\nWill and strengthen it, it is absolutely necessary to take an\n_interest_ in it. I beg him to consider how this art of acquiring\nattention and interest has been, or is, obscured in most minds, and\nthe difficulties of acquiring it, exaggerated. Secondly, I would point\nout that the method of process for making a Will is so closely allied\nto that laid down for Attention that it will seem like a deduction\nfrom it, both being allied to what may claim to be an original Art of\nMemory, to which I shall devote a chapter in its due place.\n\nFor as I hope clearly to prove it is an easy matter to create a strong\nwill, or strengthen that which we have, to a marvelous extent, yet he\nwho would do this must first give his _Attention_ firmly and fixedly\nto his intent or want, for which purpose it is absolutely necessary\nthat he shall first _know his own mind regarding what he means to do_,\nand therefore meditate upon it, not dreamily, or vaguely, but\nearnestly. And this done he must assure himself that he takes a real\ninterest in the subject, since if such be the case I may declare that\nhis success is well nigh certain.\n\nAnd here it may be observed that if beginners, _before_ taking up\nany pursuit, would calmly and deliberately consider the virtues of\nAttention and Interest, and how to acquire them, or bring them to bear\non the proposed study or work, we should hear much less of those who\nhad \"begun German\" without learning it, or who failed in any other\nattempt. For there would in very truth be few failures in life if\nthose who undertake anything first gave to it long and careful\nconsideration by leading observation into every detail, and, in fact,\nbecoming familiar with the idea, and not trusting to acquire interest\nand perseverance in the future. Nine-tenths of the difficulty and\ndoubt or ill-at-easeness which beginners experience, giving them the\nfrightened feeling of \"a cat in a strange garret,\" and which often\ninspires them to retreat, is due entirely to not having begun by\ntraining the Attention or awakened an Interest in the subject.\n\nIt has often seemed to me that the reason for failure, or the ultimate\nfailing to attain success, in a vast number of \"Faith cures,\" is\nsimply because the people who seek them, being generally of a gushing,\nimaginative nature, are lacking in deep reflection, application, or\nearnest attention. They are quick to take hold, and as quick to let\ngo. Therefore, they are of all others the least likely to seriously\nreflect _beforehand_ on the necessity of preparing the mind to\npatience and application. Now it seems a simple thing to say, and it\nis therefore all the harder to understand, that before going to work\nat anything which will require perseverance and repeated effort we can\nfacilitate the result amazingly by thinking over and anticipating it,\nso that when the weariness comes it will not be as a discouraging\nnovelty, but as something of course, even as a fisherman accepts his\nwet feet, or the mosquitoes. But how this disposition to grow weary of\nwork or to become inattentive may be literally and very completely\nconjured away will be more fully explained in another chapter. For\nthis let it suffice to say that earnest _forethought_, and the more of\nit the better, bestowed on aught which we intend to undertake, is a\nthing rarely attempted in the real sense in which I mean it, but\nwhich, when given, eases every burden and lightens every toil.\n\nMere _forethought_ repeated is the easiest of mental efforts. Yet even\na little of it asserted before undertaking a task will wonderfully\nfacilitate the work.\n\n\"Hypnotism,\" says Dr. JAMES R. COCKE, \"can be used to train the\nattention of persons habitually inattentive.\" But, in fact,\nforethinking in any way is the minor or initiatory stage of\nSuggestion. Both are gradual persuasion of the nervous system into\nhabit.\n\nAnd on this text a marvelous sermon could be preached, which, if\nunderstood, would sink deeply into every heart, inspiring some while\nalarming others, but greatly cheering the brave. And it is this.\nThere are millions of people who suffer from irritability, want of\nself-control, loquacity, evil in many forms, or nerves, who would fain\ncontrol themselves and stop it all. Moralists think that for this it\nis enough to convince their reason. But this rarely avails. A man may\n_know_ that he is wrong, yet _not_ be able to reform. Now, what he\nwants is to have his attention fixed long enough to form a new habit.\nFind out how this can be done, and it may in many cases be the\nsimplest and most mechanical thing in the world to cure him. Men have\nbeen frightened by a scarecrow into thorough repentance. \"A question\nof a few vibrations of ether, more or less, makes for us all the\ndifference between perception and non-perception,\" or between sight\nand blindness. Accustom any such moral invalid to being Suggested or\nwilled a few times into a calm, self-controlled state and the habit\nmay be formed.\n\nAnd to those who doubt, and perhaps would sneer, I have only to say\n_try it_. It will do them good.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nSELF-SUGGESTION.\n\n    \"In thy soul, as in a sleep,\n    Gods or fiends are hidden deep,\n    Awful forms of mystery,\n    And spirits, all unknown to thee:\n    Guard with prayer, and heed with care,\n    Ere thou wak'st them from their lair!\"\n\nThe records of the human race, however written, show that Man has\nalways regarded himself as possessed of latent faculties, or\ncapacities of a mysterious or extraordinary nature: that is to say,\ntranscending in scope or power anything within the range of ordinary\nconscious mental capacity. Such for example is the Dream, in which\nthere occurs such a mingling of madness with mysterious intuitions or\nmemories that it is no wonder it has always been regarded as allied to\nsupernatural intelligence. And almost as general as the faith in\ndreams as being _weird_ (in the true sense of the much-abused word) or\n\"strangely prophetic,\" is that in _fascination_, or that one human\nbeing can exercise over another by a mystic will and power a strong\ninfluence, even to the making the patient do whatever the actor or\nsuperior requires.\n\nHowever interesting it may be, it is quite needless for the purpose\nwhich I have in view to sketch the history of occultism, magic or\nsorcery from the earliest times to the present day. Fascination was,\nhowever, its principal power, and this was closely allied to, or the\nparent of, what is now known as Suggestion in Hypnotism. But ancient\nmagic in its later days certainly became very much mixed with\nmagnetism in many phases, and it is as an off-shoot of Animal\nMagnetism that Hypnotism is now regarded, which is to be regretted,\nsince it is in reality radically different from it, as several of the\nlater writers of the subject are beginning to protest. The definition\nand differences of the two are as follows: Animal Magnetism, first\nformulized by ANTON MESMER from a mass of more or less confused\nobservations by earlier writers, was the doctrine that there is a\nmagnetic fluid circulating in all created forms, capable of flux and\nreflux, which is specially active or potent in the human body. Its\naction may be concentrated or increased by the human will, so as to\nwork wonders, one of which is to cause a person who is magnetized by\nanother to obey the operator, this obedience being manifested in many\nvery strange ways.\n\nStill there were thousands of physiologists or men of science who\ndoubted the theory of the action or existence of Animal Magnetism, and\nthe vital fluid, as declared by the Mesmerists, and they especially\ndistrusted the marvels narrated of clairvoyance, which was too like\nthe thaumaturgy or wonder-working attributed to the earlier magicians.\nFinally, the English scientist, BRAID, determined that it was not a\nmagnetic fluid which produced the recognized results, \"but that they\nwere of purely subjective origin, depending on the nervous system of\nthe one acted on.\" That is to say, in ordinary language, it was \"all\nimagination\"--but here, as in many other cases, a very comprehensive\nand apparently common-sensible word is very far from giving an\nadequate or correct idea of the matter in question--for what the\nimagination itself really is in this relation is a mystery which is\nvery difficult to solve. I have heard of an old French gentleman\nwho, when in a circus, expressed an opinion that there was nothing\nremarkable in the wonderful performances of an acrobat on a\ntight-rope, or trapeze. \"_Voyez-vous monsieur_\" he exclaimed;\n\"_Ce n'est que la mathematique--rien que ca_!\" And only the\nImagination--\"all your Imagination\" is still the universal solvent in\nPhilistia for all such problems.\n\nHypnotism reduced to its simplest principle is, like the old\nFascination, the action of mind upon mind, or of a _mind upon itself_,\nin such a manner as to produce a definite belief, action, or result.\nIt is generally effected by first causing a sleep, as is done in\nanimal magnetism, during which the subject implicitly obeys the will\nof the operator, or performs whatever he suggests. Hence arose the\nterm Suggestion, implying that what the patient takes into his head to\ndo, or does, must first be submitted to his own mental action.\n\nVery remarkable results are thus achieved. If the operator, having put\na subject to sleep (which he can do in most cases, if he be clever,\nand the experiments are renewed often enough), will say or suggest to\nhim that on the next day, or the one following, or, in fact, any\ndetermined time, he shall visit a certain friend, or dance a jig, or\nwear a given suit of clothes, or the like, he will, when the hypnotic\nsleep is over, have forgotten all about it. But when the hour\nindicated for his call or dance, or change of garment arrives, he will\nbe haunted by such an irresistible feeling that he _must_ do it; that\nin most cases it will infallibly be done. It is no exaggeration to say\nthat this has been experimented on, tested and tried thousands of\ntimes with success and incredible ingenuity in all kinds of forms and\ndevices. It would seem as if spontaneous attention went to sleep, but,\nlike an alarm clock, awoke at the fixed hour, and then _reflex_\naction.\n\nAgain--and this constitutes the chief subject of all I here discuss--\nwe can _suggest_ to ourselves so as to produce the same results. It\nseems to be a curious law of Nature that if we put an image or idea\ninto our minds with the preconceived determination or intent that it\nshall recur or return at a certain time, or in a certain way, after\nsleeping, it will _do so_. And here I beg the reader to recall what I\nsaid regarding the resolving to begin any task, that it can be greatly\naided by even a brief pre-determination. In all cases it is a kind of\nself-suggestion. There would seem to be some magic virtue in sleep, as\nif it preserved and ripened our wishes, hence the injunction in the\nproverbs of all languages to sleep over a resolve, or subject--and\nthat \"night brings counsel.\"\n\nIt is not necessary that this sleep shall be _hypnotic_, or what is\ncalled hypnotic slumber, since, according to very good authorities,\nthere is grave doubt as to whether the so-called condition is a sleep\nat all. _Hypnotism_ is at any rate a suspension of the faculties,\nresembling sleep, caused by the will and act of the operator. He\neffects this by fixing the eyes on the patient, making passes as in\nMesmerism, giving a glass of water, or simply commanding sleep. And\nthis, as Dr. COCKE has experienced and described, can be produced to a\ndegree by anyone on himself. But as I have verified by experiment, if\nwe, after retiring to rest at night, will calmly yet firmly resolve to\ndo something on the following day, or be as much as possible in a\ncertain state of mind, and if we then fall into ordinary natural\nsleep, just as usual, we may on waking have forgotten all about it,\nyet will none the less feel the impulse and carry out the\ndetermination.\n\nWhat gives authority for this assertion, for which I am indebted\noriginally to no suggestion or reading, is the statement found in\nseveral authorities that a man can \"hypnotize\" another without putting\nhim to sleep; that is, make him unconsciously follow suggestion.\n\nI had read in works on hypnotism of an endless number of experiments,\nhow patients were made to believe that they were monkeys or madmen, or\numbrellas, or criminals, women or men, _a volonte_, but in few of them\ndid I find that it had ever occurred to anybody to turn this wonderful\npower of developing the intellect to any permanent benefit, or to\nincreasing the moral sense. Then it came to my mind since\nSelf-Suggestion was possible that if I would resolve to work _all_ the\nnext day; that is, apply myself to literary or artistic labor without\nonce feeling fatigue, and succeed, it would be a marvelous thing for\na man of my age. And so it befell that by making an easy beginning I\nbrought it to pass to perfection. What I mean by an easy beginning\nis not to will or resolve _too_ vehemently, but to simply and very\ngently, yet assiduously, impress the idea on the mind _so as to fall\nasleep while thinking of it as a thing to be_. My next step was to\n_will_ that I should, all the next  day, be free from any nervous or\nmental worry, or preserve a hopeful, calm, or well-balanced state of\nmind. This led to many minute and extremely curious experiences and\nobservations. That the imperturbable or calm state of mind promptly\nset in was undeniable, but it often behaved, like the Angel in H. G.\nWells' novel, \"The Wonderful Visit,\" as if somewhat frightened at, or\nof, with, or by its new abode, and no wonder, for it was indeed a\nnovel guest, and the goblins of \"Worry and Tease, Fidget and Fear,\"\nwho had hitherto been allowed to riot about and come and go at their\nown sweet mischievous wills, were ill-pleased at being made to keep\nquiet by this new lady of the manor. And indeed no mere state of\nmind, however well maintained, can resist everything, and the\nmildest mannered man may cut a throat under great provocation. I\nhad my lapses, but withal I was simply astonished to find how, by\nperseverance, habitual calm not only grew on me, but how decidedly it\nincreased. I most assuredly have experienced it to such a degree as to\nmarvel that the method is not more employed as a cure for nervous\nsuffering and insomnia.\n\nBut far beyond perseverance in labor, or the inducing a calmer and\nhabitually restful state of mind, was the Awakening of the Will, which\nI found as interesting as any novel or drama, or series of active\nadventures which I have ever read or experienced. I can remember when\nmost deeply engaged in it, re-reading DE QUINCEY'S \"Confessions of an\nOpium Eater.\" I took it by chance on my birthday, August 15, which was\nalso his, and as I read I longed from my very heart that he were\nalive, that I might consult with him on the marvelous Fairyland which\nit seemed to me had been discovered--and then I remembered how Dr.\nTUCKEY, the leading English hypnotist, had once told me how easy it\nwas for his science to completely cure the mania for opium and other\nvices.\n\nAnd this is the discovery: Resolve before going to sleep that if there\nbe anything whatever for you to do which requires Will or Resolution,\nbe it to undertake repulsive or hard work or duty, to face a\ndisagreeable person, to fast, or make a speech, to say \"No\" to\nanything; in short, to keep up to the mark or make any kind of effort\nthat _you_ WILL _do it_--as calmly and unthinkingly as may be. Do not\ndesire to do it sternly or forcibly, or in spite of obstacles--but\nsimply and coolly make up your mind to _do it_--and it will much more\nlikely be done. And it is absolutely true--_crede experto_--that if\npersevered in, this willing yourself to will by easy impulse unto\nimpulse given, will lead to marvelous and most satisfactory results.\n\nThere is one thing of which the young or oversanguine or heedless\nshould be warned. Do not expect from self-suggestion, nor anything\nelse in this life, prompt perfection, or the _maximum_ of success. You\nmay pre-determine to be cheerful, but if you are very susceptible to\nbad weather, and the day should be dismal, or you should hear of the\ndeath of a friend, or a great disaster of any kind, some depression of\nspirits _must_ ensue. On the other hand, note well that forming habit\nby frequent repetition of willing yourself to equanimity and\ncheerfulness, and also to the banishing of repulsive images when they\ncome, will infallibly result in a very much happier state of mind. As\nsoon as you actually begin to realize that you are acquiring such\ncontrol remember that is the golden hour--and redouble your efforts.\n_Perseverando vinces_.\n\nI have, I trust, thus far in a few words explained to the reader the\nrationale of a system of mental discipline based on the will, and how\nby a very easy process the latter may, like Attention and Interest, be\ngradually awakened. As I have before declared, everyone would like to\nhave a strong or vigorous will, and there is a library of books or\nsermons in some form, exhorting the weak to awaken and fortify their\nwills or characters, but all represent it as a hard and vigorous\nprocess, akin to \"storm and stress,\" battle and victory, and none\nreally tell us how to go about it. I have indeed only indicated that\nit is by self-suggestion that the first steps are taken. Let us now\nconsider the early beginning of the art or science ere discussing\nfurther developments.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nWILL DEVELOPMENT.\n\n    \"Ce domaine de la Suggestion est immense. Il n'y a pas un\n    seul fait de notre vie mentale qui ne puisse etre reproduit et\n    exagere artificiellement par ce moyen.\"--_Binet et Frere, Le\n    Magnetisme Animal_.\n\nOmitting the many vague indications in earlier writers, as well as\nthose drawn from ancient Oriental sources, we may note that\nPOMPONATIUS or POMPONAZZO, an Italian, born in 1462, declared in a\nwork entitled _De naturalium effectuum admirandorum Causis seu de\nIncantationibus_, that to cure disease it was necessary to use a\nstrong will, and that the patient should have a vigorous imagination\nand much faith in the _prae cantator_. PARACELSUS asserted the same\nthing in many passages directly and indirectly. He regarded medicine\nas magic and the physician as a wizard who should by a powerful will\nact on the imagination of the patient. But from some familiarity with\nthe works of PARACELSUS--the first folio of the first full edition is\nbefore me as I write--I would say that it would be hard to declare\nwhat his marvelous mind did _not_ anticipate in whatever was allied to\nmedicine and natural philosophy. Thus I have found that long before\nVAN HELMONT, who has the credit of the discovery, PARACELSUS knew how\nto prepare silicate of soda, or water-glass.\n\nHypnotism as practiced at the present day, and with regard to its\ncommon results, was familiar to JOHANN JOSEPH GASSNER, a priest in\nSuabia, of whom LOUIS FIGUIER writes as follows in his _Histoire du\nMerveilleux dans les Temps Modernes_, published in 1860:\n\n\"GASSNER, like the Englishman VALENTINE GREAT-RAKES, believed himself\ncalled by divine inspiration to cure diseases. According to the\nprecept of proper charity he began at home--that is to say on himself.\nAfter being an invalid for five or six years, and consulting, all in\nvain, many doctors, and taking their remedies all for naught, the idea\nseized him that such an obstinate malady as his must have some\nsupernatural evil origin, or in other words, that he was possessed by\na demon.\n\n\"Therefore he conjured this devil of a disorder, in the name of Jesus\nChrist to leave him--so it left, and the good GASSNER has put it on\nrecord that for sixteen years after he enjoyed perfect health and\nnever had occasion for any remedy, spiritual or otherwise.\n\n\"This success made him reflect whether all maladies could not be cured\nby exorcism . . . The experiment which he tried on the invalids of his\nparish were so successful that his renown soon opened through all\nSuabia, and the regions roundabout. Then he began to travel, being\ncalled for everywhere.\"\n\nGASSNER was so successful that at Ratisbon he had, it is said, 6,000\npatients of all ranks encamped in tents. He cured by simply touching\nwith his hands. But that in which he appears original was that he not\nonly made his patients sleep or become insensible by ordering them to\ndo so but caused them to raise their arms and legs, tremble, feel any\nkind of pain, as is now done by the hypnotist. \"'In a young lady of\ngood family' he caused laughter and weeping, stiffness of the limbs,\nabsence of sight and hearing, and _anaesthesia_ so as to make the pulse\nbeat at his will.\"\n\nM. FIGUIER and others do not seem to have been aware that a century\nbefore GASSNER, a PIETRO PIPERNO of Naples published a book in which\nthere was a special exorcism or conjurations, as he calls them, for\nevery known disorder, and that this possibly gave the hint for a\nsystem of cure to the Suabian. I have a copy of this work, which is\nextremely rare, it having been put on the Roman prohibited list, and\notherwise suppressed. But GASSNER himself was suppressed ere long,\nbecause the Emperor, Joseph II, cloistered--that is to say, imprisoned\nhim for life in the Monastery of Pondorf, near Ratisbon. One must not\nbe too good or Apostle-like or curative--even in the Church, which\ndiscourages _trop de zele_.\n\nBut the general accounts of GASSNER give the impression, which has not\nbeen justly conveyed, that he owed his remarkable success in curing\nhimself and others not to any kind of theory nor faith in magnetism,\nor in religion, so much as unconscious suggestion, aided by a powerful\nWill which increased with successes. To simply _pray_ to be cured of\nan illness, or even to be cured by prayer, was certainly no novelty to\nany Catholic or Protestant in those days. The very nature of his\nexperiments in making many people perform the same feats which are now\nrepeated by hypnotizers, and which formed no part of a religious cure,\nindicate clearly that he was an observer of strange phenomena or a\nnatural philosopher. I have seen myself an Egyptian juggler in Boulak\nperform many of these as professed _tricks_, and I do not think it was\nfrom any imitation of French clairvoyance. He also pretended that it\nwas by an exertion of his Will, aided by magic forms which he read\nfrom a book, that he made two boys obey him. It was probably for these\ntricks which savored of magic that GASSNER was \"retired.\"\n\nHaving in the previous pages indicated the general method by which\nWill may be awakened and strengthened, that the reader may as soon as\npossible understand the simple principle of action, I will now discuss\nmore fully the important topic of influencing and improving our\nmental powers by easily induced Attention, or attention guided by\nsimple Foresight, and pre-resolution aided by simple _auto_ or\nself-suggestion. And I believe, with reason, that by these very simple\nprocesses (which have not hitherto been tested that I am aware of by\nany writer in the light in which I view them); the Will, which is the\npower of all powers and the mainspring of the mind, can be by means of\npersuasion increased or strengthened _ad infinitum_.\n\nIt is evident that GASSNER'S method partakes in equal proportions\nof the principles of the well-known \"Faith Cure,\" and that of the\nWill, or of the passive and the active. What is wanting in it is\nself-knowledge and the very easily awakened _forethought_ which, when\ncontinued, leads to far greater and much more certain results.\nForethought costs little exertion: it is so calmly active that the\nweakest minds can employ it; but wisely employed it can set tremendous\nforce in action.\n\nAs regards GASSNER, it is admissible that many more cures of disease\ncan be effected by what some vaguely call the Imagination, and others\nMental Action, than is generally supposed. Science now proves every\nyear, more and more, that diseases are allied, and that they can be\nreached through the nervous system. In the celebrated correspondence\nbetween KANT and HUFELAND there is almost a proof that incipient gout\ncan be cured by will or determination. But if a merely temporary or\npartial cure can _really_ be obtained, or a cessation from suffering,\nif the ill be really _curable_ at all, it is but reasonable to assume\nthat by continuing the remedy or system, the relief will or must\ncorrespond to the degree of \"faith\" in the patient. And this would\ninfallibly be the case if the sufferer _had_ the will. But\nunfortunately the very people who are most frequently relieved are\nthose of the impulsive imaginative kind, who \"soon take hold and soon\nlet go,\" or who are merely attracted by a sense of wonder which soon\nloses its charm, and so they react.\n\nTherefore if we cannot only awaken the Will, but also keep it alive,\nit is very possible that we may not only effect great and thorough\ncures of diseases, but also induce whatever state of mind we please.\nThis may be effected by the action of the minds or wills of others on\nour own, which influence can be gradually transferred from the\noperator to the patient himself, as when in teaching a boy to swim the\nmaster holds the pupil up until the latter finds that he is\nunconsciously moving by his own exertion.\n\nWhat the fickle and \"nervous\" patients of any kind need is to have the\nidea kept before their minds continuously. They generally rush into a\nnovelty without Forethought. Therefore they should be trained or urged\nto forethink or reflect seriously and often on the cure or process\nproposed. This is the setting of the nail, which is to be driven in by\nsuggestion. The other method is where we act entirely for ourselves\nboth as regards previous preparation and subsequent training.\n\nI here repeat, since the whole object of the book is that certain\nfacts shall be deeply and _clearly_ impressed on the reader's mind,\nthat if we _will_ that a certain idea shall recur to us on the\nfollowing, or any other day, and if we bring the mind to bear upon it\njust before falling asleep, it may be forgotten when we awake, but it\nwill recur to us when the time comes. This is what almost everybody\nhas proved, that if we resolve to awake at a certain hour we generally\ndo so; if not the first time, after a few experiments, _apropos_ of\nwhich I would remark that \"no one should ever expect full success from\nany first experiment.\"\n\nNow it is certainly true that we all remember or recall certain things\nto be done at certain hours, even if we have a hundred other thoughts\nin the interval. But it would seem as if by some law which we do not\nunderstand Sleep or repose acted as a preserver and reviver, nay, as a\nreal strengthener of Thoughts, inspiring them with a new spirit. It\nwould seem, too, as if they came out of Dreamland, as the children in\nTIECK'S story did out of Fairyland, with new lives. This is, indeed, a\nbeautiful conception, and I may remark that I will in another place\ncomment on the curious fact that we can add to and intensify ideas by\nthus passing them through our minds in sleep.\n\nJust by the same process as that which enables us to awake at a given\nhour, and simply by substituting other ideas for that of time, can we\nacquire the ability to bring upon ourselves pre-determined or desired\nstates of mind. This is Self-Suggestion or deferred determination, be\nit with or without sleep. It becomes more certain in its result with\nevery new experiment or trial. The great factor in the whole is\nperseverance or repetition. By faith we can remove mountains, by\nperseverance we can carry them away, and the two amount to precisely\nthe same thing.\n\nAnd here be it noted what, I believe, no writer has ever before\nobserved, that as perseverance depends on renewed forethought and\nreflection, so by continued practice and thought, in self-suggestion,\nthe one practicing begins to find before long that his conscious will\nis acting more vigorously in his waking hours, and that he can finally\ndispense with the sleeping process.  For, in fact, when we once find\nthat our will is really beginning to obey us, and inspire courage or\nindifference where we were once timid, there is no end to the\nconfidence and power which may ensue.\n\nNow this is absolutely true. A man may _will_ certain things ere he\nfalls asleep. This willing should not be _intense_, as the old animal\nmagnetizers taught; it ought rather to be like a quiet, firm desire or\nfamiliarization with what we want, often gently repeated till we fall\nasleep in it. So the seeker wills or wishes that he shall, during all\nthe next day, feel strong and vigorous, hopeful, energetic, cheerful,\nbold or calm or peaceful. And the result will be obtained just in\nproportion to the degree in which the command or desire has impressed\nthe mind, or sunk into it.\n\nBut, as I have said: Do not expect that all of this will result from a\nfirst trial. It may even be that those who succeed very promptly will\nbe more likely to give out in the end than those who work up from\nsmall beginnings. The first step may very well be that of merely\nselecting some particular object and calmly or gently, yet\ndeterminedly directing the mind to it, to be recalled at a certain\nhoar. Repeat the experiment, if successful add to it something else.\nViolent effort is unadvisable, yet mere repetition _without thought_\nis time lost. _Think_ while willing what it is you want, _and above\nall, if you can, think with a feeling that the idea is to recur to\nyou_.\n\nThis acting or working two thoughts at once may be difficult for some\nreaders to understand, though all writers on the brain illustrate it.\nIt may be formulated thus: \"I wish to remember tomorrow at four\no'clock to visit my bookseller--bookseller's--four o'clock--four\no'clock.\" But with practice the two will become as one conception.\n\nWhen the object of a state of mind, as, for instance, calmness all day\nlong, is obtained, even partially, the operator (who must, of course,\ndo all to _help himself_ to keep calm, should he remember his wish)\nwill begin to believe in himself sincerely, or in the power of his\nwill to compel a certain state of mind. This won, all may be won, by\ncontinued reflection and perseverance. It is the great step gained,\nthe alphabet learned, by which the mind may pass to boundless power.\n\nIt may be here interesting to consider some of the states of mind into\nwhich a person may be brought by hypnotism. When subject to the will\nof an operator the patient may believe anything--that he is a mouse or\na girl, drunk or inspired. The same may result from self-hypnotism by\nartificial methods which appeal powerfully to the imagination.\nAccording to Dr. JAMES R. COCKE many of his patients could induce this\nby looking at any bright object, a bed of coals, or at smooth running\nwater. It is, of course, to be understood that it is not merely by\n_looking_ that hypnotism is induced. There must be will or determinate\nthought; but when once brought about it is easily repeated.\n\n\"They have the ability,\" writes Dr. COCKE, \"to resist this state or\nbring it on at will. Many of them describe beautiful scenes from\nNature, or some mighty cathedral with its lofty dome, or the\nfaces of imaginary beings.\" This writer's own first experience of\nself-hypnotism was very remarkable. He had been told by a hypnotizer\nto keep the number twenty-six in his mind. He did so, and after\nhearing a ringing in his ears and then a strange roaring he felt that\nspirits were all round him--music sounding and a sensation as of\nexpanding.\n\nBut self-hypnotizing, by the simple easy process of trusting to\nordinary sleep, is better adapted to action delayed, or states of\nmind. These may be:\n\n_A desire to be at peace or perfectly calm_. After a few repetitions\nit will be found that, though irritating accidents may countervene,\nthe mind will recur more and more to calm.\n\n_To feel cheerful or merry_.\n\n_To be in a brave, courageous, hearty or vigorous mood_.\n\n_To work hard without feeling weary_. This I have fully tested with\nsuccess, and especially mention it for the benefit of students. All of\nmy intimate friends can certify what I here assert.\n\n_To keep the faculty of quickness of perception alert_, as, for\ninstance, when going out to perceive more than usual in a crowd. A\nbotanist or mineralogist may awaken the faculty with the hope of\nobserving or finding with success.\n\n_To be susceptible to beauty_, as, for instance, when visiting a scene\nor gallery. In such cases it means to derive Attention from Will. The\nhabitually trained Forethought or Attention is here a _great_ aid to\nperception.\n\n_To read or study keenly and observantly_. This is a faculty which can\nbe very much aided by forethought and self-suggestion.\n\n_To forgive and forget enemies and injuries_. Allied to it is the\nforgetting and ignoring of all things which annoy, vex, harrass, tease\nor worry us in any way whatever. To expect perfect immunity in this\nrespect from the unavoidable ills of life is absurd; but having paid\ngreat attention to the subject, and experimented largely on it, I\ncannot resist declaring that it seems to me in very truth that no\nremedy for earthly suffering was yet discovered equal to this. I\ngenerally put the wish into this form: \"I will forget and forgive all\ncauses of enmity and anger, and should they arise I determine at once\nto cast them aside.\" It is a prayer, as it were, to the Will to stand\nby me, and truly the will is _Deus in nobis_ to those who believe that\nGod helps those who help themselves. For as we can get into the\nfearful state of constantly recalling all who have ever vexed or\nwronged us, or nursing the memory of what we hate or despise, until\nour minds are like sewers or charnel-houses of dead and poisonous\nthings, so we can resolutely banish them, at first by forethought,\nthen by suggestion, and finally by waking will. And verily there are\nfew people living who would not be the better for such exercise. Many\nthere are who say that they would fain forget and be serene, yet\ncannot. I do not believe this. We can all exorcise our devils--all of\nthem--if we _will_.\n\n_To restrain irritability in our intercourse with others_. It will not\nbe quite sufficient as regards controlling the temper to merely will,\nor _wish_ to subdue it. We must also will that when the temptation\narises it may be preceded by forethought or followed by regret. As it\noften happens to a young soldier to be frightened or run away the\nfirst time he is under fire, and yet learn courage in the future, so\nthe aspirant resolved to master his passions must not doubt because he\nfinds that the first step slips. _Apropos_ of which I would note that\nin all the books on Hypnotism that I have read their authors testify\nto a certain false quantity or amount of base alloy in the most\nthoroughly suggested patients. Something of modesty, something of a\nmoral conscience always remains. Thus, as Dr. COCKE declares,\nHypnotism has not succeeded in cases suffering from what are called\nimperative conceptions, or irresistible belief. \"Cases suffering from\nvarious imperative conceptions are, while possessing their reasons,\neither irresistibly led by certain impulses or they cannot rid\nthemselves of erroneous ideas concerning themselves and others.\" This\nmeans, in fact, that they had been previously _hypnotised_ to a\ndefinite conception which had become imperative. As in Witchcraft, it\nis a law that one sorcerer cannot undo the work of another without\nextraordinary pains; so in hypnotism it is hard to undo what is\nalready established by a similar agent.\n\n_One can will to remember or recall anything forgotten_. I will not be\nresponsible that this will invariably succeed at the first time, but\nthat it does often follow continued determination I know from\nexperience. I believe that where an operator hypnotizes a subject it\nvery often succeeds, if we may believe the instances recorded. And\nI am also inclined to believe that in many cases, though assuredly\nnot in all, whatever is effected by one person upon another can\nalso be brought about in one's self by patience in forethought,\nself-suggestion, and the continued will which they awaken.\n\n_We can revive by this process old well-nigh forgotten trains of\nthought_. This is difficult but possible. It belongs to an advanced\nstage of experience or may be found in very susceptible subjects. I do\nnot belong at all to the latter, but I have perfectly succeeded in\ncontinuing a dream; that is to say, I have woke up three times during\na dream, and, being pleased with it, wished it to go on, then fallen\nasleep and it went on, like three successive chapters in a novel.\n\n_We can subdue the habit of worrying ourselves and others needlessly\nabout every trifling or serious cause of irritation which enters\nour minds_. There are many people who from a mere idle habit or\nself-indulgence and irrepressible loquacity make their own lives and\nthose of others very miserable--as all my readers can confirm from\nexperience. I once knew a man of great fortune, with many depending on\nhim, who vented his ill-temper and petty annoyances on almost everyone\nto whom he spoke. He was so fully aware of this failing that he at\nonce, in confessing it to a mutual friend, shed tears of regret. Yet\nhe was a millionaire man of business, and had a strong will which\nmight have been directed to a cure. All peevish, fretful and\ntalkative, or even complaining people, should be induced to seriously\nstudy this subject.\n\n_We can cure ourselves of the habit of profanity or using vulgar\nlanguage_. No one doubts that a negro who believes in sorcery, if told\nthat if he uttered an oath, _Voodoo_ would fall upon him and cause him\nto waste away, would never swear again. Or that a South Sea Islander\nwould not do the same for fear of _taboo_. Now both these forms of\nsorcery are really hypnotizing by action on belief, and Forethought\naided by the sleep process has precisely the same result--it\nestablishes a fixed idea in the mind, or a haunting presence.\n\n_We can cure ourselves of intemperance_. This was, I believe, first\nestablished or extensively experimented on by Dr. CHARLES LLOYD\nTUCKEY. This can be aided by willing that the liquor, if drunk, shall\nbe nauseating.\n\n_We can repress to a remarkable degree the sensations of fatigue,\nhunger and thirst_. Truly no man can defy the laws of nature, but it\nis very certain that in cases like that of Dr. TANNER, and the Hindu\nascetics who were boxed up and buried for many weeks, there must have\nbeen mental determination as well as physical endurance. As regards\nthis very important subject of health, or the body, and the degree to\nwhich it can be controlled by the mind or will, it is to be observed\nthat of late years physiologists are beginning to observe that all\n\"mental\" or corporeal functions are evidently controlled by the same\nlaws or belong to the same organization. If \"the emotions, say of\nanger or love, in their more emphatic forms, are plainly accompanied\nby varying changes of the heart and blood-vessels, the viscera and\nmuscles,\" it must follow that changes or excitement in the physical\norgans must react on the emotions. \"All modes of sensibility, whatever\ntheir origin,\" says LUYS, \"are physiologically transported into the\nsensorium. From fiber to fiber, from sensitive element to sensitive\nelement, our whole organism is sensitive; our whole sentient\npersonality, in fact, is conducted just as it exists, into the\nplexuses of the _sensorium commune_.\" Therefore, if every sensation in\nthe body acts on the brain by the aid of secondary brains or\nganglions, it must be that the brain in turn can in some way act on\nthe body. And this has hitherto been achieved or attempted by\nmagicians, \"miracle-mongers,\" thaumaturgists, mesmerists, and the\nlike, and by the modern hypnotizer, in which we may observe that there\nhas been at every step less and less mysticism or supernaturalism, and\na far easier process or way of working. And I believe it may be fairly\nadmitted that in this work I have simplified the process of physically\ninfluencing mental action and rendered it easier. The result from the\nabove conclusions being that _we can control many disorders or forms\nof disease_. This is an immense subject, and it would be impossible\nwithin a brief sketch to determine its limits or conditions. That what\nare called nervous disorders, which are evidently the most nearly\nallied to emotions--as, for instance, a headache, or other trouble\ninduced by grief--can be removed by joy, or some counteracting emotion\nor mere faith is very well known and generally believed. But of late\nscience has established that the affinities between the cerebral and\nother functions are so intimately, extensively and strangely\nsympathetic or identical that it is becoming impossible to say what\ndisease may not be temporarily alleviated or cured by new discoveries\nin directing the nervo-mental power or will. The Faith-Cure, Magic,\nMesmerism, Religious Thaumaturgy and other systems have given us a\nvast number of authentic cures of very positive disorders. But from\nthe point of view taken by many people what has been wanting in all\nis, _firstly_, a clear and simple scientific method free from all\nspiritualism or wonder, and, _secondly_, the art of _Perfecting the\ncures by Perseverance_. For what will relieve for an hour can be made\nto cure forever, if we exercise foresight and make perpetuity a part\nof our whole plan.\n\nNow, as regards curing disorders, I beg the reader to specially\nobserve that this, like many other works, depends on the state of the\nmind; nor can it be undertaken with hope of success unless the\noperator has by previous practice in easy experiments succeeded in\nperfectly convincing himself that he has acquired control of his will.\nThus having succeeded in willing himself to work all day without\nfatigue, or to pass the day without being irritable, let him begin to\nconsider, reflect and realize that he _can_ make himself do this or\nthat, for the more he simply induces the belief and makes himself\nfamiliar with it, the stronger and more obedient his Will will be.\nHowever, this is simply true that to any self-suggestionist whatever\nwho has had some little practice and attained to even a moderate\ncommand over his will, a very great degree of the power to relieve\nbodily suffering is easy to develop, and it may be increased by\npractice to an incredible extent. Thus in case of suffering by pain of\nany kind in another, begin by calmly persuading him or her that relief\nhas been obtained thousands of times by the process, and endeavor to\nawaken belief, or, at least, so much attention and interest that the\nfact will remain as _forethought_ in the mind. The next step should be\nto promise relief, and then induce sleep by the showing a coin, passes\nwith the hands, etc., or allowing the subject to sink into a natural\nslumber. If there be no success the first time, repeat the experiment.\nGout, headaches, all forms of positive pain, severe colds, _anaemia,\ninsomnia, melancholia_, and dyspepsia appear to be among the ills\nwhich yield most readily to, or are alleviated (to the great\nassistance of a regular cure), by suggestion.\n\nAs regards curing disorders, producing insensibility to hunger and\nthirst, heat or cold, and the like, all are aware that to a man who is\nunder the influence of some great and overpowering emotion, such as\nrage or surprise, or joy, no pain is perceptible. In like manner, by\nmeans of persuasion, sleep, a temporary oblivion, and the skillfully\nawakened Will, the same insensibility or ignoring can be effected.\nThere is, however, this to be observed, that while in the vast library\nof books which teach mental medicine the stress is laid entirely on\nproducing merely a temporary cure I insist that by great Forethought,\nby conducting the cure with a view to permanence, ever persuading the\npatient to think on the future, and finally by a very thorough\ncontinuation and after-treatment many diseases may be radically\nremoved.\n\nTo recapitulate and make all clear we will suppose that the reader\ndesires during the following day to be in a calm, self-possessed or\npeaceful state of mind. Therefore at night, after retiring, let him\nfirst completely consider what he wants and means to acquire. This is\nthe Forethought, and it should be as thorough as possible. Having done\nthis, will or declare that what you want shall come to pass on\nawaking, and repeating this and thinking on it, fall asleep. This is\nall. Do not wish for two things at once, or not until your mind shall\nhave become familiar with the process. As you feel your power\nstrengthen with success you may will yourself to do whatever you\ndesire.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nFORETHOUGHT.\n\n    \"Post fata resurgo.\"\n\n    \"What is forethought may sleep--'tis very plain,\n    But rest assured that it will rise again.\"\n\n    \"Forethought is plan inspired by an absolute Will to carry\n    it out.\"\n\nIt may have struck the reader as an almost awful, or as a very\nwonderful idea, that man has within himself, if he did but know it,\ntremendous powers or transcendental faculties of which he has really\nnever had any conception. One reason why such bold thought has been\nsubdued is that he has always felt according to tradition, the\nexistence of superior supernatural (and with them patrician) beings,\nby whose power and patronage he has been effectively restrained or\nkept under. Hence gloom and pessimism, doubt and despair. It may seem\na bold thing to say that it did not occur to any philosopher through\nthe ages that man, resolute and noble and free, might _will_ himself\ninto a stage of mind defying devils and phantasms, or that amid the\ninfinite possibilities of human nature there was the faculty of\nassuming the Indifference habitual to all animals when not alarmed.\nBut he who will consider these studies on Self-Hypnotism may possibly\ninfer from them that we have indeed within us a marvelous power of\ncreating states of mind which make the idea of Pessimism ridiculous.\nFor it renders potent and grand, pleasing or practically useful, to\nall who practice it, a faculty which has the great advantage that it\nmay enter into all the relations or acts of life; will give to\neveryone something to do, something to occupy his mind, even in\nitself, and if we have other occupations, Forethought and Induced Will\nmay be made to increase our interest in them and stimulate our skill.\nIn other words, we can by means of this Art increase our ability to\npractice all arts, and enhance or stimulate Genius in every way or\nform, be it practical, musical or plastic.\n\nSince I began this work there fell into my hands an ingenious and\ncurious book, entitled \"Happiness as found in _Forethought minus\nFearthought_,\" by HORACE FLETCHER, in which the author very truly\ndeclares that _Fear_ in some form has become the arch enemy of Man,\nand through the fears of our progenitors developed by a thousand\ncauses, we have inherited a growing stock of diseases, terrors,\napprehensions, pessimisms, and the like, in which he is perfectly\nright.\n\nBut as Mr. FLETCHER declares, if men could take _Forethought_ as their\nprinciple and guide they would obviate, anticipate or foresee and\nprovide for so many evil contingencies and chances that we might\nsecure even peace and happiness, and then man may become brave and\ngenial, altruistic and earnest, in spite of it all, by _willing_ away\nhis Timidity.\n\nI have not assumed a high philosophical or metaphysical position in\nthis work; my efforts have been confined to indicating how by a very\nsimple and well-nigh mechanical process, perfectly intelligible to\nevery human being with an intellect, one may induce certain states of\nmind and thereby create a Will. But I quite agree with Mr. FLETCHER\nthat Forethought is strong thought, and the point from which all\nprojects must proceed. As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse or\nprojection of will into the coming work. I may here illustrate this\nwith a curious fact in physics. If the reader wished to ring a\ndoor-bell so as to produce as much sound as possible he would probably\npull it as far back as he could and then let it go. But if he would in\nletting it go simply give it a tap with his forefinger he would\nactually redouble the noise.\n\nOr, to shoot an arrow as far as possible, it is not enough to merely\ndraw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If just as it goes you\nwill give the bow a quick _push_, though the effort be trifling, the\narrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it.\n\nOr, if, as is well known, in wielding a very sharp saber, we make the\n_draw-cut_, that is if we add to the blow or chop, as with an axe, a\ncertain slight pull and simultaneously, we can cut through a silk\nhandkerchief or a sheep.\n\nForethought is the tap on the bell, the push of the bow, the draw on\nthe saber. It is the deliberate yet rapid action of the mind when\nbefore falling to sleep or dismissing thought we _bid_ the mind to\nsubsequently respond. It is more than merely thinking what we are to\ndo; it is the bidding or ordering self to fulfill a task before\nwilling it.\n\nForethought in the senses employed or implied as here described means\nmuch more than mere previous consideration or reflection, which may be\nvery feeble. It is, in fact, \"constructive,\" which, as inventive,\nimplies _active_ thought. \"Forethought stimulates, aids the success of\nhonest aims.\" Therefore, as the active principle in mental work, I\nregard it as a kind of self-impulse, or that minor part in the\ndivision of the force employed which sets the major into action. Now,\nif we really understand this and can succeed in employing Forethought\nas the preparation for, and impulse to, Self-Suggestion, we shall\ngreatly aid the success of the latter, because the former insures\nattention and interest. Forethought may be brief, but it should always\nbe energetic. By cultivating it we acquire the enviable talent of\nthose men who take in everything at a glance, and act promptly, like a\nNAPOLEON. This power is universally believed to be entirely innate or\na gift; but it can be induced or developed in all minds in proportion\nto the will by practice.\n\nBe it observed that as the experimenter progresses in the development\nof will by suggestion, he can gradually lay aside the latter, or all\n_processes_, especially if he work to such an end, anticipating it.\nThen he simply acts by clear will and strength, and Forethought\nconstitutes all his stock-in-trade, process or aid. He preconceives\nand wills energetically at once, and by practice and repetition\n_Forethought_ becomes a marvelous help on all occasions and\nemergencies.\n\nTo make it of avail the one who frequently practices self-suggestion,\nat first with, and then without sleep, will inevitably find ere long\nthat to facilitate his work, or to succeed he _must_ first write, as\nit were, or plan a preface, synopsis, or epitome of his proposed work,\nto start it and combine with it a resolve or decree that it must be\ndone, the latter being the tap on the bell-knob. Now the habit of\ncomposing the plan as perfectly, yet as succinctly as possible, daily\nor nightly, combined with the energetic impulse to send it off, will\nere long give the operator a conception of what I mean by Foresight\nwhich by description I cannot. And when grown familiar and really\nmastered its possessor will find that his power to think and act\npromptly in all the emergencies of life has greatly increased.\n\nTherefore Forethought means a great deal more, as here employed, than\nseeing in advance, or deliberate prudence--it rather implies, like\ndivination or foreknowledge, sagacity and mental _action_ as well as\nmere perception. It will inevitably or assuredly grow with the\npractice of self-suggestion if the latter be devoted to mental\nimprovement, but as it grows it will qualify the operator to lay aside\nthe sleep and suggest to himself directly.\n\nAll men of great natural strength of mind, gifted with the will to do\nand dare, the beings of action and genius, act directly, and are like\nathletes who lift a tree by the simple exertion of the muscles. He who\nachieves his aim by self-culture, training, or suggestion, is like one\nwho raises the weight by means of a lever, and if he practice it often\nenough he may in the end become as strong as the other.\n\nThere is a curious and very illustrative instance of Forethought in\nthe sense in which I am endeavoring to explain it, given in a novel,\nthe \"Scalp-Hunters,\" by MAYNE REID, with whom I was well acquainted in\nbygone years. Not having the original, I translate from a French\nversion:\n\n\"His aim with the rifle is infallible, and it would seem as if the\nball obeyed his Will. There must be a kind of _directing principle_ in\nhis mind, independent of strength of nerve and sight. He and one other\nare the only men in whom I have observed this singular power.\"\n\nThis means simply the exercise in a second, as it were, of \"the tap on\nthe bell-knob,\" or the projection of the will into the proposed shot,\nand which may be applied to any act. Gymnasts, leapers and the like\nare all familiar with it. It springs from resolute confidence and\nself-impulse enforced; but it also creates them, and the growth is\nvery great and rapid when the idea is much kept before the mind. In\nthis latter lies most of the problem.\n\nIn Humanity, mind, and especially Forethought, or reflection, combined\nin one effort with will and energy, enters into all acts, though often\nunsuspected, for it is a kind of unconscious _reflex_ action or\ncerebration. Thus I once discovered to my astonishment in a gymnasium\nthat the extremely mechanical action of putting up a heavy weight from\nthe ground to the shoulder and from the shoulder to the full reach of\nthe arm above the head, became much easier after a little practice,\nalthough my muscles had not grown, nor my strength increased during\nthe time. And I found that whatever the exertion might be there was\nalways some trick or knack, however indescribable, by means of which\nthe man with a brain could surpass a dolt at _anything_, though the\nlatter were his equal in strength. But it sometimes happens that the\ntrick can be taught and even improved on. And it is in all cases\nForethought, even in the lifting of weights or the willing on the\nmorrow to write a poem.\n\nFor this truly weird power--since \"the weird sisters\" in \"Macbeth\"\nmeans only the sisters who _foresee_--is, in fact, the energy which\nprojects itself in some manner, which physiology can as yet only very\nweakly explain, and even if the explanation _were_ perfect, it would\namount in fact to no more than showing the machinery of a watch, when\nthe main object for us is that it should _keep time_, and tell the\nhour, as well as exhibit the ingenuity of the maker--which thing is\nvery much lost sight of, even by many very great thinkers, misled by\nthe vanity of showing how much they know.\n\nYes, Foresight or Forethought projects itself in all things, and it is\na serious consideration, or one of such immense value, that when\nreally understood, and above all subjected to some practice--such as I\nhave described, and which, as far as I can see, is _necessary_--one\ncan bring it to bear _intelligently_ on all the actions of life, that\nis to say, to _much_ greater advantage than when we use it ignorantly,\njust as a genius endowed with strength can do far more with it than an\nignoramus. For there is nothing requiring Thought in which it cannot\naid us. I have alluded to Poetry. Now this does not mean that a man\ncan become a SHAKESPEARE or SHELLEY by means of all the forethought\nand suggestion in the world, but they will, if well developed and\ndirected, draw out from the mystic depths of mind such talent as he\n_has_--doubtless in some or all cases more than he has ever shown.\n\nNo one can say what is hidden in every memory; it is like the sounding\nocean with its buried cities, and treasures and wondrous relics of the\nolden time. This much we may assume to know, that every image or idea\nor impression whichever reached us through any of our senses entered a\ncell when it was ready for it, where it sleeps or wakes, most images\nbeing in the former condition. In fact, every brain is like a\nmonastery of the Middle Ages, or a beehive. But it is built on a\ngigantic scale, for it is thought that no man, however learned or\nexperienced he might be, ever contrived during all his life to so much\nas even half fill the cells of his memory. And if any reader should be\napprehensive lest it come to pass with him in this age of unlimited\nsupply of cheap knowledge that he will fill all his cells let him\nconsole himself with the reflection that it is supposed that Nature,\nin such a case, will have a further supply of new cells ready, she\nnever, as yet, having failed in such rough hospitality, though it\noften leaves much to be desired!\n\nYes, they are all there--every image of the past, every face which\never smiled on us--the hopes and fears of bygone years--the rustling\nof grass and flowers and the roar of the sea--the sound of trumpets in\nprocessions grand--the voices of the great and good among mankind--or\nwhat you will. Every line ever read in print, every picture and face\nand house is there. Many an experiment has shown this to be true; also\nthat by mesmerizing or hypnotizing processes the most hidden images or\nmemories can be awakened. In fact, the idea has lost much of its\nwonder since the time of Coleridge, now that every sound can be\nrecorded, laid away and reproduced, and we are touching closely on an\nage when all that lies _perdu_ in any mind can or will be set forth\nvisibly, and all that a man has ever _seen_ be shown to the world. For\nthis is no whit more wonderful than that we can convey images or\npictures by telegraph, and when I close my eyes and recall or imagine\na form it does not seem strange that there might be some process by\nmeans of which it might be photographed.\n\nAnd here we touch upon the Materialization of Thought, which\nconception loses a part of the absurdity with which Spiritualists and\nOccultists have invested it, if we regard all nature as one substance.\nFor, in truth, all that was ever perceived, even to the shadow of a\ndream by a lunatic, had as real an existence while it lasted as the\nPyramids of Egypt, else it could not have been perceived. Sense\ncannot, even in dreams, observe what is not for the time an effect on\nmatter. If a man _imagines_ or makes believe to himself that he has a\nfairy attendant, or a dog, and _fancies_ that he sees it, that man\ndoes really see _something_, though it be invisible to others. There\nis some kind of creative brain-action going on, some employment of\natoms and forces, and, if this be so, we may enter it among the\nPossibilities of the Future that the Material in any form whatever may\nbe advanced, or further materialized or made real.\n\nIt is curious that this idea has long been familiar to believers in\nmagic. In more than one Italian legend which I have collected a\nsorceress or goddess evolves a life from her own soul, as a fire emits\na spark. In fact, the fancy occurs in some form in all mythologies,\ngreat or small. In one old Irish legend a wizard turns a Thought into\na watch-dog. The history of genius and of Invention is that of\nrealizing ideas, of making them clearer and stronger and more\ncomprehensive. Thus it seems to me that the word _Forethought_ as\ngenerally loosely understood, when compared to what it has been shown\ncapable of expressing, is almost as much advanced as if like the fairy\nHERMELINA, chronicled by GROSIUS, it had been originally a vapor or\nmere fantasy, and gradually advanced to fairy life so as to become the\ncompanion of a wizard.\n\nIf an artist, say a painter, will take forethought for a certain\npicture, whether the subject be determined or not, bringing himself to\nthat state of easy, assured confidence, as a matter of course that he\nwill _retain_ the subject he will, if not at the first effort, almost\ncertainly at last find himself possessed of it. Let him beware of\nhaste, or of forcing the work. When he shall have secured suggestive\nInterest let him will that Ingenuity shall be bolder and his spirit\ndraw from the stores of memory more abundant material. Thus our powers\nmay be gradually and gently drawn into our service. Truly it would\nseem as if there were no limit to what a man can evolve out of himself\nif he will take Thought thereto.\n\nForethought can be of vast practical use in cases where confidence is\nrequired. Many a young clergyman and lawyer has been literally\nfrightened out of a career, and many an actor ruined for want of a\nvery little knowledge, and in this I speak from personal experience.\nLet the aspirant who is to appear in public, or pass an examination,\nand is alarmed, base his forethought on such ideas as this, that he\nwould not be afraid to repeat his speech to _one_ person or two--why\nshould he fear a hundred? There are some who can repeat this idea to\nthemselves till it takes hold strongly, and they rise almost feeling\ncontempt for all in court--as did the old lady in Saint Louis, who\nfelt so relieved when a witness at _not_ feeling frightened that she\nbade judge and jury cease looking at her in that impudent way.\n\nHaving read the foregoing to a friend he asked me whether I believed\nthat by Forethought and Suggestion a gentleman could be induced\nwithout diffidence to offer himself in marriage, since, as is well\nknown, that the most eligible young men often put off wedding for\nyears because they cannot summon up courage to propose. To which I\nreplied that I had no great experience of such cases, but as regarded\nthe method I was like the Scotch clergyman who, being asked by a\nwealthy man if he thought that the gift of a thousand pounds to the\nKirk would save the donor's soul, replied: \"I'm na prepairet to\npreceesly answer thot question--but I wad vara warmly advise ye to\n_try_ it.\"\n\nIt must be remembered that for the very great majority of cases, if\nreally not for all, the practicer of this process must be of temperate\nhabits, and never attempt after a hearty meal, or drinking freely, to\nexercise Forethought or Self-Suggestion. Peaceful mental action during\nsleep requires that there shall be very light labor of digestion, and\ndisturbed or troublesome dreams are utterly incompatible with really\nsuccessful results. Nor will a single day's temperance suffice. It\nrequires many days to bring the whole frame and constitution into good\nfit order. Here there can be no evasion, for more than ordinary\ntemperance in food and drink is _absolutely indispensable_.\n\nIt is a principle, recognized by all physiologists, that digestion and\nfixed thought cannot go on together; it is even unadvisable to read\nwhile eating. Thus in all the old magical operations, which were, in\nfact, self-hypnotism, a perfect fast is insisted on with reason. This\nis all so self-evident that I need not dwell on it. It will be\nneedless for anyone to take up this subject as a trifling pastime, or\nattempt self-suggestion and development of will with as little\nearnestness as one would give to a game of cards; for in such a\nhalf-way effort time will be lost and nothing come of it. Unless\nentered on with the most serious resolve to persevere, and make\ngreater effort and more earnestly at every step, it had better be let\nalone.\n\nAll who will persevere with calm determination cannot fail ere long to\ngain a certain success, and this achieved, the second step is much\neasier. However, there are many people who after doing all in their\npower to get to the gold or diamond mines, hasten away even when in\nthe full tide of success, because they are fickle--and it is precisely\nsuch people who easily tire who are most easily attracted, be it to\nmesmerism, hypnotism, or any other wonder. And they are more wearisome\nand greater foes to true Science than the utterly indifferent or the\nignorant.\n\nThis work will not have been written in vain should it induce the\nreader to reflect on what is implied by patient repetition or\nperseverance, and what an incredible and varied _power_ that man\nacquires who masters it. He who can lead himself, or others, into a\n_habit_ can do anything. Even Religion is, in fact, nothing else.\n\"Religion,\" said the reviewer of \"The Evolution of the Idea of God,\"\nby GRANT ALLEN, \"he defines as Custom or Practice--not theory, not\ntheology, not ethics, not spiritual aspirations, but a certain set of\nmore or less similar observances: propitiation, prayer, praise,\nofferings, the request for Divine favors, the deprecation of Divine\nanger, or other misfortunes\"--in short, Ritual. That is to say, it is\nthe aggregate of the different parts of religion, of which many take\none for the whole. But this aggregation was the result of earnest\npatience and had good results. And it is by the careful analysis and\nall-round examination of Ideas that we acquire valuable knowledge, and\nmay learn how very few there are current which are more than very\nsuperficially understood--as I have shown in what I have said of the\nWill, the Imagination, Forethought, and many other faculties which are\nflippantly used to explain a thousand problems by people who can\nhardly define the things themselves.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nWILL AND CHARACTER.\n\n    \"And I have felt\n    A Presence that disturbs me with the joy\n    Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime\n    Of something far more deeply interposed,\n    Whose dwelling is . . . all in the mind of man;\n    A motion and a spirit that impels\n    All thinking things.\"--_Wordsworth_.\n\nAs the vast majority of people are not agreed as to what really\nconstitutes a Gentleman, while a great many seem to be practically, at\nleast, very much abroad as to the nature of a Christian, so it will be\nfound that, in fact, there is a great deal of difference as regards\nthe Will. I have known many men, and some women, to be credited by\nothers, and who very much credited themselves, with having iron wills,\nwhen, in fact, their every deed, which was supposed to prove it, was\nbased on brazen want of conscience. Mere want of principle or\nunscrupulousness passes with many, especially its possessors, for\nstrong _will_. And even decision of character itself, as MAGINN\nremarks, is often confounded with talent. \"A bold woman always gets\nthe name of clever\"--among fools--\"though her intellect may be of a\nhumble order, and her knowledge contemptible.\" Among the vulgar,\nespecially those of greedy, griping race and blood, the children of\nthe thief, a robber of the widow and orphan, the scamp of the\nsyndicate, and soulless \"promoter\" in South or North America, bold\nrobbery, or Selfishness without scruple or timidity always appears as\nWill. But it is not the whole of the real thing, or real will in\nitself. When MUTIUS CAIUS SCAEVOLA thrust his hand into the flames no\none would have greatly admired his endurance if it had been found that\nthe hand was naturally insensible and felt no pain. Nor would there\nhave been any plaudits for MARCUS CURTIUS when he leapt into the gulf,\nhad he been so drunk as not to know what he was about. The will which\ndepends on unscrupulousness is like the benumbed hand or intoxicated\nsoul. Quench conscience, as a sense of right and obligation, and you\ncan, of course, do a great deal from which another would shrink--and\ntherefore be called \"weak-minded\" by the fools.\n\nThere is another type of person who imposes on the world and on self\nas being strong-minded and gifted with Will. It is the imperturbable\ncool being, always self-possessed, with little sympathy for emotion.\nIn most cases such minds result from artificial training, and they\nbreak down in real trials. I do not say that they cannot weather a\nstorm or a duel, or stand fire, or get through what novelists regard\nas superlative stage trials; but, in a moral crisis, the gentleman or\nlady whose face is all Corinthian brass is apt like that brass in a\nfire to turn pale. These folk get an immense amount of undeserved\nadmiration as having Will or self-command, when they owe what staying\nquality they have (like the preceding class) rather to a lack of good\nqualities than their inspiration.\n\nThere are, alas! not a few who regard _Will_ as simply identical with\nmere obstinacy, or stubbornness, the immovability of the Ass, or Bull,\nor Bear--that is, they reduce it to an animal power. But, as this\noften or generally amounts in animal or man to mere insensible\nsulkiness--as far remote as possible from enlightened mental action,\nit is surely unjust to couple it with the _Voluntary_ or pure\nintelligent _Will_, by which all must understand the very acme of\nactive Intellect.\n\nTherefore it follows, that the errors, mistakes, and perversions which\nhave grown about Will in popular opinion, like those which have\naccumulated round Christianity, are too often mistaken for the truth.\nPure Will is, and must be by its very nature, perfectly _free_, for\nthe more it is hindered, or hampered, or controlled in any way, the\nless is it independent volition. Therefore, pare Will, free from all\nrestraint can only act in, or as, Moral Law. Acting in accordance with\nvery mean, immoral, obstinate motives is, so to speak, obeying as a\nslave the devil. The purer the motive the purer the Will, and in very\ntruth the purer the stronger, or firmer. Every man has his own idea of\nWill according to his morality--even as it is said that every man's\nconception of God is himself infinitely magnified--or, as SYDNEY SMITH\ndeclared, that a certain small clergyman believed that Saint Paul was\nfive feet two inches in height, and wore a shovel-hat. And here we may\nnote that if the fundamental definition of a gentleman be \"a man of\nperfect integrity,\" or one who always does simply _what is right_, he\nis also one who possesses Will in its integrity.\n\nTherefore it follows that if the pure will, which is the basis of all\nfirm and determined action, be a matter of moral conviction, it should\ntake the first place as such. Napoleon the First was an exemplar of a\nselfish corrupted will, CHRIST the perfection of Will in its purity.\nAnd if I can make my meaning clear, I would declare that he who would\ncreate within himself a strong and vigorous will by hypnotism or any\nother process, will be most likely to succeed, if, instead of aiming\nat developing a power by which he may subdue others, and make all\nthings yield to him, or similar selfish aims, he shall, before all,\nseriously reflect on how he may use it to do good. For I am absolutely\npersuaded from what I know, that he who makes Altruism and the\nhappiness of others a familiar thought to be coupled with every effort\n(even as a lamb is always painted with, or appointed unto, St. John),\nwill be the most likely to succeed. There is something in moral\nconviction or the consciousness of right which gives a sense of\nsecurity or a faith in success which goes far to secure it. Hence the\nwilling the mind on the following day to be at peace, not to yield to\nirritability or temptations to quarrel, to be pleasing and cheerful;\nin short to develop _good_ qualities is the most easily effected\nprocess, because where there is such self-moral-suasion to a good aim\nor end, we feel, and very justly, that we _ought_ to be aided by the\n_Deus in nobis_, or an over-ruling Providence, whatever its form or\nnature may be. And the experimenter may be assured that if we can by\nany means _will_ or exorcise all envy, vanity, folly, irritability,\nvindictiveness--in short all evil--out of ourselves, and supply their\nplace with Love, we shall take the most effective means to secure our\nown happiness, as well as that of others.\n\nAll of this has been repeated very often of late years by Altruists;\nbut, while the doctrine is accepted both by Agnostics and Christians\nas perfect, there has been little done to show men how to practically\nrealize it. But I have ever noted that in this Pilgrim's Progress of\nour life, those are most likely to attain to the Celestial City, and\nall its golden glories, who, like CHRISTIAN, start from the lowliest\nbeginnings; and as the learning our letters leads to reading the\ngreatest books, so the simplest method of directing the attention and\nthe most mechanical means of developing Will, may promptly lead to the\nhighest mental and moral effect.\n\nPrayer is generally regarded as nothing else but an asking or begging\nfrom a superior power. But it is also something which is really very\ndifferent from this. It is a formula by means of which man realizes\nhis faith and will. Tradition, and habit (of whose power I have\nspoken) or repetition, have given it the influence or prestige of a\ncharm. In fact it is a spell, he who utters it feels assured that if\nseriously repeated it will be listened to, and that the Power to whom\nit is addressed will hear it. The Florentines all round me as I write,\nwho repeat daily, \"_Pate nostro quis in cell, santi ficeturie nome\ntumme_!\" in words which they do not understand, do not pray for daily\nbread or anything else in the formula; they only realize that they\ncommune with God, and are being good. An intelligent prayer in this\nlight is the concentration of thought on a subject, or a _definite_\nrealization. Therefore if when _willing_ that tomorrow I shall be calm\nall day or void of irritation, I put the will or wish into a brief and\nclear form, it will aid me to promptly realize or feel what I want.\nAnd it will be a prayer in its reality, addressed to the Unknown Power\nor to the Will within us--an invocation, or a spell, according to the\nmind of him who makes it.\n\nThus a seeker may repeat: \"I _will_, earnestly and deeply, that during\nall tomorrow I may be in a calm and peaceful state of mind. I _will_\nwith all my heart that if irritating or annoying memories or images,\nor thoughts of any kind are in any way awakened, that they may be\npromptly forgotten and fade away!\"\n\nI would advise that such a formula be got by heart till very familiar,\nto be repeated, but not mechanically, before falling to sleeps What is\nof the very utmost importance is that the operator shall feel its\nmeaning and at the same time give it the impulse of Will by the dual\nprocess before described. This, if successfully achieved, will not\nfail (at least with most minds) to induce success.\n\nThis formula, or \"spell,\" will be sufficient for some time. When we\nfeel that it is really beginning to have an effect, we may add to it\nother wishes. That is to say, be it clearly understood, that by\nrepeating the will to be calm and peaceful, day after day, it will\nassuredly begin to come of itself, even as a pigeon which hath been\n\"tolled\" every day at a certain hour to find corn or crumbs in a\ncertain place, will continue to go there even if the food cease.\nHowever, you may renew the first formula if you will. Then we may add\ngradually the wish to be in a bold or courageous frame of mind, so as\nto face trials, as follows:\n\n\"I _will_ with all my soul, earnestly and truly, that I may be on the\nmorrow and all the day deeply inspired with courage and energy, with\nself-confidence and hope! May it lighten my heart and make me heedless\nof all annoyances and vexations which may arise! Should such come in\nmy way, may I hold them at no more than their real value, or laugh\nthem aside!\"\n\nProceed gradually and firmly through the series, never trying anything\nnew, until the old has fully succeeded. This is essential, for failure\nleads to discouragement. Then, in time, fully realizing all its\ndeepest meaning, so as to impress the Imagination one may will as\nfollows:\n\n\"May my quickness of Perception, or Intuition, aid me in the business\nwhich I expect to undertake tomorrow. I _will_ that my faculty of\ngrasping at details and understanding their relations shall be active.\nMay it draw from my memory the hidden things which will aid it!\"\n\nThe artist or literary man, or poet, may in time earnestly will to\nthis effect:\n\n\"I desire that my genius, my imagination, the power which enables man\nto combine and create; the poetic (or artist) spirit, whatever it be,\nmay act in me tomorrow, awakening great thoughts and suggesting for\nthem beautiful forms.\"\n\nHe who expects to appear in public as an orator, as a lawyer pleading\na case, or as a witness, will do much to win success, if after careful\nforethought or reflecting on what it is that he really wants, he will\nrepeat:\n\n\"I will that tomorrow I may speak or plead, with perfect\nself-possession and absence of all timidity or fear!\"\n\nFinally, we may after long and earnest reflection on all which I have\nsaid, and truly not till then, resolve on the Masterspell to awaken\nthe Will itself in such a form that it will fill our soul, as it were,\nunto which intent it is necessary to understand what Will really means\nto us in its purity and integrity. The formula may be:\n\n\"I _will_ that I may feel inspired with the power, aided by calm\ndetermination, to do what I desire, aided by a sense of right and\njustice to all. May my will be strong and sustain me in all trials.\nMay it inspire that sense of independence of strength which, allied to\na pure conscience, is the greatest source of happiness on earth!\"\n\nIf the reader can master this last, he can by its aid progress\ninfinitely. And with the few spells which I have given he will need no\nmore, since in these lie the knowledge, and key, and suggestion to all\nwhich may be required.\n\nNow it will appear clearly to most, that no man can long and steadily\noccupy himself with such pursuits, without morally benefiting by them\nin his waking hours, even if auto-hypnotism were all \"mere\nimagination,\" in the most frivolous sense of the word. For he who will\nhimself not to yield to irritability, can hardly avoid paying\nattention to the subject, and thinking thereon, check himself when\nvexed. And as I have said, what we summon by Will ere long remains as\nHabit, even as the Elves, called by a spell, remain in the Tower.\n\nTherefore it is of _great_ importance for all people who take up and\npursue to any degree of success this Art or Science, that they shall\nbe actuated by moral and unselfish motives, since achieved with any\nother intent the end can only be the bringing of evil and suffering\ninto the soul. For as the good by strengthening the Will make\nthemselves promptly better and holier, so he who increases it merely\nto make others feel his power will become with it wickeder, yea, and\nthrice accursed, for what is the greatest remedy is often the\nstrongest poison.\n\nStep by step Science has advanced of late to the declaration that man\n_thinks all over_ his body, or at least experiences those reflected\nsensations or emotions which are so strangely balanced between\nintellectual sense and sensation that we hardly know where or how to\nclass them. \"The sensitive _plexi_ of our whole organism are all\neither isolated or thrown into simultaneous vibration when acted on by\nThought.\" So the Will may be found acting unconsciously as an emotion\nor instinct, or developed with the highest forms of conscious\nreflection. Last of all we find it, probably as the result of all\nassociated functions or powers, at the head of all, their Executive\npresident. But _is_ it \"the exponent of correlated forces?\" There\nindeed doctors differ.\n\nThere is a very curious Italian verb, _Invogliare_, which is thus\ndescribed in a Dictionary of Idioms: \"_Invogliare_ is to inspire a\nwill or desire, _cupiditatem injicere a movere_. To _invogliare_\nanyone is to awake in him the will or the ability or capacity, an\nearnest longing or appetite, an ardent wish--_alicujus rei cupiditatem\na desiderium alicni movere_--to bring into action a man's hankering,\nsolicitude, anxiety, yearning, ardor, predilection, love, fondness and\nrelish, or aught which savors of Willing.\" Our English word,\n_Inveigle_, is derived from it, but we have none precisely\ncorresponding to it which so generally sets forth the idea of\ninspiring a will in another person. \"Suggestion\" is far more general\nand vague. Now if a man could thus _in-will_ himself to good or moral\npurpose, he would assume a new position in life. We all admit that\nmost human beings have defects or faults of which they would gladly be\nfreed (however incorrigible they _appear_ to be), but they have not\nthe patience to effect a cure, to keep to the resolve, or prevent it\nfrom fading out of sight. For a _vast_ proportion of all minor sins,\nor those within the law, there is no cure sought. The offender says\nand believes, \"It is too strong for me\"--and yet these small\nunpunished offenses cause a thousand times more suffering than all the\ngreat crimes.\n\nWithin a generation, owing to the great increase of population,\nprosperity and personal comfort, nervous susceptibility has also\ngained in extent, but there has been no check to petty abuse of power,\nselfishness, which always comes out in some form of injustice or\nwrong, or similar vexations. Nay, what with the disproportionate\ngrowth of vulgar wealth, this element has rapidly increased, and it\nwould really seem as if the plague must spread _ad infinitum_, unless\nsome means can be found to _invogliare_ and inspire the offenders with\na sense of their sins, and move them to reform. And it is more than\nprobable that if all who are at heart sincerely willing to reform\ntheir morals and manners could be brought to keep their delinquencies\nbefore their consciousness in the very simple manner which I have\nindicated, the fashion or _mode_ might at least be inaugurated. For it\nis _not_ so much a moral conviction, or an appeal to common sense,\nwhich is needed (as writers on ethics all seem to think), but some\npractical art of keeping men up to the mark in endeavoring to reform,\nor to make them remember it all day long, since \"out of sight out of\nmind\" is the devil's greatest help with weak minds.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSUGGESTION AND INSTINCT.\n\n    \"Anima non nascitur sed fit,\" ut ait.--TERTULLIANUS.\n\n    \"Post quam loquuti sumus de anima rationali, intellectuali\n    (_immortali_) et quia ad inferiores descendimus jam gradus\n    animae, scilicet animae mortalis quae animalium est.\"\n    --PETRUS GREGORIUS THOLOSANUS.\n\nIt must have struck many readers that the action of a mind under\nhypnotic influence, be it of another or of self, involves strange\nquestions as regards Consciousness. For it is very evident from\nrecorded facts, that people can actually reason and act without waking\nconsciousness, in a state of mind which resembles instinct, which is a\nkind of cerebration, or acting under habits and impressions supplied\nby memory and formed by practice, but not according to what we\nunderstand by Reason or Judgment.\n\nAll things in nature have their sleep or rest, night is the sleep of\nthe world, death the repose of Nature or Life--the solid temples, the\ngreat globe itself, dissolve to awaken again; so man hath in him, as\nit were, a company of workmen, some of whom labor by day, while others\nwatch by night, during which time they, unseen, have their fantastic\nfrolics known as dreams. The Guardian or Master of the daily hours,\nappears in a great measure to conform his action closely to average\nduties of life, in accordance with those of all other men. He picks\nout from the millions of images or ideas in the memory, uses and\nbecomes familiar with a certain number, and lets the rest sleep. This\nmaster or active agent is probably himself a Master-Idea--the result\nof the correlative action of all the others, a kind of consensus made\npersonal, an elected Queen Bee, as I have otherwise described him or\nher.\n\nBut he is not the only thinker--there are all over the body ganglions\nwhich act by a kind of fluid instinct, born of repetition, and when\nthe tired master even drowses or nods, or falls into a brown study,\nthen a marvelously curious mental action begins to show itself, for\ndreams at once flicker and peer and steal dimly about him. This is\nbecause the waking consciousness is beginning to shut out the world--\nand its set of ideas.\n\nSo consistent is the system that even if Waking Reason abstract\nitself, not to sleep, but to think on one subject such as writing a\npoem or inventing a machine, certain affinities will sleep or dreams\nbegin to show themselves. When Genius is really at work, it sweeps\nalong, as it were, in a current, albeit it has enough reason left to\nalso use the rudder and oars, or spread and manage a sail. The reason\nfor the greater fullness of unusual images and associations (_i. e._,\nthe action of genius) during the time when one is bent on intellectual\ninvention is that the more the waking conscious Reason drowses or\napproaches to sleep, the more do many images in Memory awaken and\nbegin to shyly open the doors of their cells and peep out.\n\nIn the dream we also proceed, or rather drift, loosely on a current,\nbut are without oars, rudder or sail. We are hurtled against, or\nhurried away from the islands of Images or Ideas, that is to say, all\nkinds of memories, and our course is managed or impelled, or guided by\ntricky water-sprites, whose minds are all on mischief bent or only\nidle merriment. In any case they conduct us blindly and wildly from\nisle to isle, sometimes obeying a far cry which comes to them through\nthe mist--some echoing signal of our waking hours. So in a vision ever\non we go!\n\nThat is to say that even while we dream there is an unconscious\ncerebration or voluntarily exerted power loosely and irregularly\nimitating by habit, something like the action of our waking hours,\nespecially its brown studies and fancies in drowsy reveries or play.\n\nIt seems to me as if this sleep-master or mistress--I prefer the\nlatter--who attends to our dreams may be regarded as Instinct on the\nloose, for like instinct she acts without conscious reasoning. She\ncarries out, or realizes, trains of thought, or sequences with little\ncomparison or deduction. Yet within her limits she can do great work,\nand when we consider, we shall find that by following mere Law she has\neffected a great, nay, an immense, deal, which we attribute entirely\nto forethought or Reason. As all this is closely allied to the action\nof the mind when hypnotized, it deserves further study.\n\nNow it is a wonderful reflection that as we go back in animated nature\nfrom man to insects, we find self-conscious Intellect or Reason based\non Reflection disappear, and Instinct taking its place. Yet Instinct\nin its marvelous results, such as ingenuity of adaptation, often far\nsurpasses what semi-civilized man could do. Or it does the same things\nas man, only in an entirely different way which is not as yet\nunderstood. Only from time to time some one tells a wonderful story of\na bird, a dog or a cat, and then asks, \"Was not this reason?\"\n\nWhat it was, in a great measure, was an unconscious application of\nmemory or experience. Bees and ants and birds often far outdo savage\nmen in ingenuity of construction. The red Indians in their persistent\nuse of flimsy, cheerless bark wigwams, were far behind the beaver or\noriole as regards dwellings; in this respect the Indian indicated mere\ninstinct of a low order, as all do who live in circles of mere\ntradition.\n\nNow to advance what seems a paradox, it is evident that even what we\nregard as inspired genius comes to man in a great measure from\nInstinct, though as I noted before it is aided by reflection. As the\nyoung bird listens to its mother and then sings till as a grown\nnightingale it pours forth a rich flood of varying melody; so the poet\nor musician follows masters and models, and then, like them,\n_creates_, often progressing, but is never _entirely_ spontaneous or\noriginal. When the artist thinks too little he lacks sense, when he\nthinks too much he loses fire. In the very highest and most strangely\nmysterious poetical flights of SHELLEY and KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, I\nfind the very same Instinct which inspires the skylark and\nnightingale, but more or less allied to and strengthened by Thought or\nConsciousness. If human Will or Wisdom alone directed _all_ our work,\nthen every man who had mere patience might be a great original genius,\nand it is indeed true that Man can do inconceivably more in following\nand imitating genius than has ever been imagined. However, thus far\nthe talent which enables a man to write such a passage as that of\nTENNYSON,\n\n    \"The tides of Music's golden sea\n    Setting towards Eternity,\"\n\nresults from a development of Instinct, or an intuitive perception of\nthe Beautiful, such as Wordsworth believed existed in all things which\nenjoy sunshine, _life_, and air. The poet himself cannot _explain_ the\nprocesses, though he may be able to analyze in detail how or why he\nmade or found a thousand other things.\n\nIt is not only true that Genius originates in something antecedent to\nconscious reflection or intellect, but also that men have produced\nmarvelous works of art almost without knowing it, while others have\nshown the greatest incapacity to do so after they had developed an\nincredible amount of knowledge. Thus Mr. WHISTLER reminded RUSKIN that\nwhen the world had its greatest artists, there were no critics.\n\nAnd it is well to remember that while the Greeks in all their glory of\nArt and Poetry were unquestionably rational or consciously\nintelligent, there was not among them the thousandth part of the\nanxious worrying, the sentimental self-seeking and examination, or the\nIntroversion which worms itself in and out of, and through and\nthrough, all modern work, action and thought, even as mercury in an\nair-pump will permeate the hardest wood. For the Greeks worked more in\nthe spirit of Instinct; that is, more according to certain transmitted\nlaws and ideas than we realize--albeit this tradition was of a very\nhigh order. We have lost Art because we have not developed tradition,\nbut have immensely increased consciousness, or reflection, out of\nproportion to art It was from India and Egypt in a _positive_ form\nthat Man drew the poison of sentimental Egoism which became\ncomparative in the Middle Ages and superlative in this our time.\n\nIt is very evident that as soon as men become self-conscious of great\nwork, or cease to work for the sake of enjoying Art, or its results,\nand turn all their attention to the genius or cleverness, or character\nor style, self, _et cetera_, of the _artist_, or of themselves, a\ndecadence sets in, as there did after the Renaissance, when knowledge\nor enjoyment of Art was limited, and guided by familiarity with names\nand schools and \"manners,\" or the like, far more than by real beauty\nin itself.\n\nNow, out of all this which I have said on Art, strange conclusions may\nbe drawn, the first being that even without self-conscious Thought or\nexcess of Intellect, there can be a Sense of Enjoyment in any or every\norganism, also a further development of memory of that enjoyment, and\nfinally a creation of buildings, music and song, with no reflection,\nin animals, and very little in Man. And when Man gets beyond working\nwith simple Nature and begins to think chiefly about himself, his Art,\nas regards harmony with Nature, deteriorates.\n\nWe do not sufficiently reflect on the fact that _Natura naturans_, or\nthe action of Nature (or simply following Tradition), may, as is the\ncase of Transition Architecture, involve the creation of marvelously\ningenious and beautiful works, and the great enjoyment of them by\nInstinct alone. It is not possible for ordinary man to even understand\nthis now in all its fullness. He is indeed trying to do so--but it is\ntoo new for his comprehension. But a time will come when he will\nperceive that his best work has been done unconsciously, or under\ninfluences of which he was ignorant.\n\nHypnotism acts entirely by suggestion, and he who paints or does other\nwork entirely according to Tradition, also carries out what is or has\nbeen suggested to him. Men of earlier times who thus worked for\nthousands of years like the Egyptians in one style, were guided by the\nfaith that it had been begun by the Creator or God.\n\nFor men cannot conceive of creation as separate from pre-determined\nplan or end, and all because they cannot understand that Creative\ninnate force, _potentia_, must have some result, or that the simplest\nLaw once set agoing awakens, acquires strength in going and develops\ngreat Laws, which, with an all-susceptible or _capable_ material to\nwork on, may, or _must_, create infinite ingenuities, so that in time\nthere may be an organic principle with sentiency, and yet no Will,\nsave in its exponents, or working to end or aim, but ever tending to\nfurther unfolding \"a seizing and giving the fire of the living\" ever\nonwards into Eternity, in which there may be a million times more\nperfect \"mind\" than we can now grasp.\n\nNow, having for many years attempted at least to familiarize myself\nwith the aspect or sound, of this problem, though I could not solve\nit, it seems at last to be natural enough that even matter (which so\nmany persist in regarding as a kind of dust or something resistant to\nthe touch, but which I regard as infinite millions of degrees more\nsubtle), may _think_ just as well as it may act in Instinct. It is,\nindeed, absurd to admit souls to idiots or savages, who have not the\nsense to live as comfortably as many animals, and yet deny it to the\nlatter. When we really become familiar with the idea, it appears\nsensible enough. But its opponents do _not_ become familiar with it,\nit irritates them, they call it Atheistic, although it is nothing of\nthe kind, just as if we were to say that a man who bravely and nobly\npursued his way in life, doing his duty because it was his duty, and\ngiving no thought as to future reward or punishment, must needs want\n_soul_ or be an Atheist.\n\nIf all men were perfectly good, they would act morally and\ninstinctively, without consciousness of behaving well, and if we felt\na high ideal of Art it would be just the same. When Art was natural\nmen never signed their names to their work, but now the Name takes\nprecedence of the picture.\n\nTherefore, as we go backward into the night of things, we find, though\nwe forget it all the time, that Instinct or the living in the Spirit\nof Law, had its stars or planets which shone more brilliantly than\nnow, at least in Faith. Thus, there are two sources of Creation or\nAction, both based on Evolution, one being unconscious and guided by\nNatural Law, and the other which is conscious and grows out of the\nfirst. Hence _cognito ergo sum_, which well-nigh all men really\nunderstand as _cogito, ergo sum Deus_. Or we may say that they assume\n\n    \"Because _I_ think, then God must _think_ like me!\"\n\nNow to come to Hypnotic thought, or suggested mental action. I would\ninfer that, according to what I have said, there may be two kinds of\nmentality, or working of the mind--the one under certain conditions as\neffective or resultant as the other; the first being--as it was in the\norder of time--Unconscious or Instinctive; the other, conscious and\nself-observant.\n\nFor the man who built a Romanesque Cathedral worked by the\nsuggestiveness of minds which went before him, or Tradition. He was\ntruly, as it were, in a kind of slumber; indeed, all life was more or\nless of a waking dream in those dim, strange days. \"Millions marched\nforth to death scarce knowing why,\" all because they were _told_ to do\nso--they felt that they must do it, and they did it. \"Like turkeys led\nby a red rag,\" says CARLYLE. And the red rag and the turkey is an\nillustration of Hypnotism in one of the books thereon. Instinct _is_\nHypnotism.\n\nNow I have found that by suggesting to oneself before sleep, or\ninducing self by Will or Forethought to work gladly and unweariedly\nthe next day, we do not _think_ about self or the quality of what we\ndo to any degree like what we would in working under ordinary\nconditions. Truly it is not thoroughgoing or infallible in all cases,\nbut _then_ it must be helped by a little wide-awake self-conscious\nwill. But this is certainly true, that we can turn out _better_ work\nwhen we urge our creative power to awake in the morn and act or aid,\nthan if we do not.\n\n    \"For there are many angels at our call,\n    And many blessed spirits who are bound\n    To lend their aid in every strait and turn;\n    And elves to fly the errands of the soul,\n    And fairies all too glad to give us help,\n    If we but know how to pronounce the spell\n    Which calls them unto us in every need.\"\n\nThat spell I have shown or explained clearly enough.\n\nAnd, finally, to recapitulate, Instinct in its earlier or simpler form\nis the following laws of Nature which are themselves formed by motive\nlaws. In Man the living according to Tradition is instinct of a higher\norder, and the one or the other is merely being ruled by Suggestion.\nThe more free Will is developed and guided by reflection, or varied\ntradition and experience, the less instinct and the more intellect\nwill there be.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nMEMORY CULTURE.\n\n    'Twas wisely said by Plato, when he called\n    Memory \"the mother of the Intellect,\"\n    For knowledge is to wisdom what his realm\n    Is to a monarch--that o'er which he rules;\n    And he who hath the Will can ever win\n    Such empire to himself--Will can do all.\n\nThere is nothing in which the might of the Will can be so clearly set\nforth as in the _making_ of memory. By means of it, as is fully proved\nby millions of examples, man can render his power of recollection\nalmost infinite. And lest the reader may think that I here exaggerate,\nI distinctly assert that I never knew a man of science, familiar with\ncertain facts which I shall repeat, who ever denied its literal truth.\n\nAs I have already stated, there are two methods, and only two, by\nmeans of which we can retain images, facts or ideas. One of these is\nthat which in many varied forms, which are all the same in fact, is\ndescribed in the old _Artes Memorandi_, or Arts of Memory. There are\nseveral hundreds of these, and to the present day there are professors\nwho give instructions according to systems of the same kind. These are\nall extremely plausible, being based on Association of ideas, and in\nmost cases the pupil makes great progress for a short time. Thus, we\ncan remember the French for bread, _pain_, Italian _Pane_, by thinking\nof the pan in which bread is baked, or the difficult name of the\ninventor, SSCZEPANIK (pronounced nearly _she-panic_) by thinking of a\ncrowd of frightened women, and which I remembered by the fact that\n_pane_ is the Slavonian for Mr. or Sir. For there is such a tendency\nof ideas to agglutinate, and so become more prominent, as we can see\ntwo bubbles together in a pool more readily than one that we can very\nsoon learn to recall many images in this way.\n\nBut after a time a certain limit is reached which most minds cannot\ntransgress. VOLAPUK was easy so long as, like Pidgin-English, it\ncontained only a few hundred words and no grammar. But now that it has\na dictionary of 4,000 terms and a complete grammar it is as hard to\nlearn as Spanish. It invariably comes to pass in learning to remember\nby the Associative method that after a time images are referred to\nimages, and these to others again, so that they form entire categories\nin which the most vigorous mind gets lost.\n\nThe other method is that of _direct_ Memory guided by Will, in which\nno regard is paid to Association, especially in the beginning. Thus to\nremember anything, or rather to learn _how_ to do so, we take\nsomething which is very easy to retain--the easier the better--be it a\njingling nursery rhyme, a proverb, or a text. Let this be learned to\nperfection, backwards and forwards, or by permutation of words, and\nrepeated the next day. Note that the repetition or _reviewing_ is of\nmore importance than aught else.\n\nOn the second day add another proverb or verse to the preceding, and\nso on, day by day, always reviewing and never learning another\nsyllable until you are sure that you perfectly or most familiarly\nretain all which you have _memorized_. The result will be, if you\npersevere, that before long you will begin to find it easier to\nremember anything. This is markedly the case as regards the practice\nof reviewing, which is invariably hard at first, but which becomes ere\nlong habitual and then easy.\n\nI cannot impress it too vividly on the mind of the reader, that he\ncannot make his exercises too easy. If he finds that ten lines a day\nare too much, let him reduce them to five, or two, or one, or even a\nsingle word, but learn that, and persevere. When the memory begins to\nimprove under this process, the tasks may, of course, be gradually\nincreased.\n\nAn uncle of the present Khedive of Egypt told me that when he was\nlearning English, he at first committed to memory fifty words a day,\nbut soon felt himself compelled to very much reduce the number in\norder to permanently remember what he acquired. One should never\noverdrive a willing horse.\n\nWhere there is a teacher with youthful pupils, he can greatly aid the\nprocess of mere memorizing, by explaining the text, putting questions\nas to its meaning, or otherwise awaking an interest in it. After a\ntime the pupils may proceed to _verbal memorizing_, which consists of\nhaving the text simply read or repeated to them. In this way, after a\nyear or eighteen months of practice, most people can actually remember\na sermon or lecture, word for word.\n\nThis was the process which was discovered, I may say simultaneously,\nby DAVID KAY and myself, as our books upon it appeared at almost the\nsame time. But since then I have modified my plan, and made it\ninfinitely easier, and far more valuable, as will be apparent to all,\nby the application of the principles laid down in this book. For\nwhile, according to the original views, Memory depended on Will and\nPerseverance, there was no method indicated by any writer how these\nwere to be created, nor was energetic Forethought considered as\namounting to more than mere Intention.\n\nNow I would say that having the task selected, first give energetic\nforethought, or a considerate determination to master this should\nprecede all attempts to learn, by everybody, young or old. And when\nthe lesson is mastered, let it be repeated with earnestness and\nserious attention before going to sleep, with the _Will_ that it shall\nbe remembered on the morrow. And it will be found that this process\nnot only secures the memory desired, but also greatly facilitates the\nwhole course and process.\n\nIt is to be noted that by this, or any process, we do not remember\neverything, but only what is first considered and measured by\nForethought. Also that by it the Memory is never overcharged at the\nexpense of Intellect, for the exertion of will in any way strengthens\nthe mind. To explain the immense power which this all implies, I\nobserve:\n\nThat previous to the invention of printing, it was usual for students\nto get their text-books by heart. Thus in India, according to MAX\nMULLER, the entire text and glosses of PANINI'S Sanskrit grammar were\nhanded down orally for 350 years before being committed to writing.\nThis work is about equal in size to the Bible.\n\nThere are Indian priests now living who can repeat accurately the\nwhole poems of the _Mahabarata_ of 300,000 _slokas_ or lines.\n\nThat these incredible feats were the result of a system of memorizing\nsimilar to what I have explained.\n\nThat the _Guzlas_ or Slavonian minstrels of the present day have by\nheart with remarkable accuracy immensely long epic poems. I have found\nthe same among Algonkin Indians, whose sagas or mythic legends are\ninterminable, and yet are committed word by word accurately.\n\nI have heard in England of a lady ninety years of age whose memory was\nmiraculous, and of which extraordinary instances are narrated by her\nfriends. She attributed it to the fact that when young she had been\nmade to learn a verse from the Bible every day, and then constantly\nreview it. As her memory improved, she learned more, the result being\nthat in the end she could repeat from memory any verse or chapter\ncalled for in the whole Scripture. The habit had marvelously developed\nher intelligence as well as memory.\n\nNow I confidently declare that if this lady had submitted what she\nlearned to the suggestive-will process she could have spared herself\nhalf the labor. And it is to be observed that as in time the labor of\nreviewing and the faculty of promptly recalling becomes easier and\neasier till it is simply mechanical, so the memorizing by suggestion\nbecomes more _facile_ until it is, so to speak, only a form. And as it\nbecomes easier the foresight strengthens till it wields an _absolute_\npower.\n\nIf the reader is interested in this subject of developing the memory,\nI would refer him to my work on Practical Education in which it is\ndiscussed with reference to recalling objects through all the Senses.\n\nNo one who has made even a very slight trial of the process of\nimpressing on the mind before sleep something which must be\nremembered, can fail to be convinced ere long of the truth that there\nis in it a marvelous power which will with easy and continued practice\nenable him to recall whatever he pleases. It follows as a matter of\ncourse, that this would be of incredible value in education, but\nnotwithstanding the vast discussion of this subject which is ever\ngoing on, it does not seem to occur to a living man that we should\ndevelop and train the mental faculties, such as memory and quickness\nof perception, as well as set them to hard work.\n\nIt is also safe to say that there is not a man living who was educated\nfrom boyhood upon this principle, and yet I am confident that no\nscientist in existence, knowing the facts on which my statement is\nbased, will deny that it is as easy to develop the mental factors\nalluded to, as to learn a language or play on the piano. It is not a\nmatter of theory but of facts. Millions of men have in the past\nacquired the faculty of being able to repeat and remember whatever\nthey heard, if they earnestly attended to it. Earnest attention in\nthis case means a strong exercise of forethought, or determination to\nan end or given purpose. In Iceland, that which has since become the\nEnglish common law, was at an early date very fully developed, without\nany books or writing. And there were lawyers who had by heart all the\nlaws, and incredible numbers of precedents, as appears from several\nsagas, among others, that of The Burnt Njall.\n\nOur present system of Education is that of building houses without\nfoundations. No one suspects or dreams what mighty powers there are\nlatent in us all, or how easily they may be developed. It would not be\nso reprehensible if men entirely neglected the subject, but they are\nalways working hard and spending millions on the old system, and will\nnot even make the least experiment to test a new theory. One reason\nfor this is the old belief that we are all born with a certain quantum\nof \"gifts,\" as for example memory, capacity, patience, _et cetera_,\nall more or less limited, and in reality not to be enlarged or\nimproved. The idea is _natural_, because we see that there are very\ngreat differences, hereditary or otherwise, in children. But it is\nfalse. So we go to work to fill up the quantum of memory as soon as\npossible by violent cramming, and in like manner tax to the utmost all\nthe mental faculties without making the least effort to prepare,\nenlarge or strengthen them.\n\nI shall not live to see it, but a time will come when this preparation\nof the mental faculties will be regarded as the basis of all\neducation.\n\nTo recapitulate in a few words. When we desire to fix anything in the\nmemory we can do so by repeating it to ourselves before we go to\nsleep, accompanying it with the resolution to remember it in future.\nWe must not in the beginning set ourselves any but very easy tasks,\nand the practice must be steadily continued.\n\nIt has been often said that a perfect memory is less of a blessing\nthan the power of oblivion. Thus THEMISTOCLES (who, according to CATO,\nas cited by CICERO, knew the names and faces of every man in Athens)\nhaving offered to teach some one the art of memory, received for\nreply, \"Rather teach me how to forget\"--_esse facturum si se oblivisci\nquae vellet, quam si meminisse docuisset_. And CLAUDIUS had such an\nenviable power in the latter respect that immediately after he had put\nto death his wife MESSALINA, he forgot all about it, asking, \"_Cur\ndomina non veniret_?\"--\"Why the Missus didn't come?\"--while on the\nfollowing day, after condemning several friends to death, he sent\ninvitations to them to come and dine with him. And again, there are\npeople who have, as it were, two memories, one good, the other bad, as\nwas the case with CALVISIUS SABRINUS, who could recall anything in\nliterature, but never remembered the names of his own servants, or\neven his friends. But he got over the difficulty by naming his nine\nattendants after the nine Muses, while he called his intimates Homer,\nHesiod, and so on. This scholar would truly seem to have drunk of the\ntwo fountains sacred to Trophonius, by the river Orchomenus in\nBoeotia, one of which bestowed memory and the other oblivion. And like\nunto them is the power of the Will, aided by Forethought and\nSuggestion, for while it properly directs and aids us to remember what\nwe will, it _per contra_ also helps us to forget.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTIES.\n\n    \"He who hath learned a single art,\n    Can thrive, I ween, in any part.\"\n        --_German Proverb_.\n\n    \"He would have taught you how you might employ\n    Yourself; and many did to him repair,\n    And, certes, not in vain; he had inventions rare.\"\n        --WORDSWORTH.\n\nWhen I had, after many years of study and research in England and on\nthe Continent, developed the theory that all practical, technical\neducation of youth should be preceded by a light or easy training on\nan aesthetic basis, or the minor arts, I for four years, to test the\nscheme, was engaged in teaching in the city of Philadelphia, every\nweek in separate classes, two hundred children, besides a number of\nladies. These were from the public schools of the city. The total\nnumber of these public pupils was then 110,000.\n\nMy pupils were taught, firstly, simple outline decorative design with\ndrawing at the same time; after this, according to sex, easy\nembroidery, wood carving, modeling in clay, leather-work,\ncarpentering, inlaying, repousse modeling in clay, porcelain painting,\nand other small arts. Nearly all of the pupils, who were from ten to\nsixteen years of age, acquired two or three, if not all, of these\narts, and then very easily found employment in factories or fabrics,\netc.\n\nMany people believed that this was all waste of money and time, and,\nquite unknown to me, at their instigation an inquiry was made of all\nthe teachers in the public schools as to the standing of my art pupils\nin their other classes, it being confidently anticipated that they\nwould be found to have fallen behind. And the result of the\ninvestigation was that the two hundred were in advance of the one\nhundred and ten thousand in every branch--geography, arithmetic,\nhistory, and so on.\n\nIt was not remarkable, because boys and girls who had, at an average\nage of twelve or thirteen, learned the principles of design and its\npractical application to several kinds of handiwork, and knew the\ndifferences and characteristics of Gothic, Arabesque, or Greek\npatterns, all developed a far greater intelligence in general thought\nand conversation than others. They had at least one topic on which\nthey could converse intelligently with any grown-up person, and in\nwhich they were really superior to most. They soon found this out. I\nhave often been astonished in listening to their conversation among\nthemselves to hear how well they discussed art. They all well knew at\nleast one thing, which is far from being known among aesthetes in\nLondon, which is that in Decorative Art, however you may end in all\nkinds of mixtures of styles, you must at least begin with organic\ndevelopment, and not put roots or flowers at _both_ ends of a branch\nor vine.\n\nThe secret of it all is that those who from an early age develop the\nconstructive faculty (especially if this be done in a pleasing, easy\nmanner, with agreeable work) also develop with it the Intellect, and\nthat very rapidly to a very remarkable degree. There are reasons for\nthis. Drawing when properly taught stimulates visual perception or eye\nmemory; this is strikingly the case when the pupil has a model placed\nin one room, and, after studying it, goes into another room to\nreproduce it from memory. Original design, which when properly taught\nis learned with incredible ease by all children, stimulates\nobservation to a remarkable degree. The result of such education is to\ndevelop a great general quickness of perception and thought.\n\nNow, be it observed, that if anyone desires to learn design or any\nart, it may be greatly facilitated by the application to it of Will\nand Foresight, and in the beginning, Self-Suggestion. He who\nunderstands the three as one, sees in it a higher or more energetic\nkind of self-discipline than most people practise. In the end they\ncome to the same as a vigorous effort of the Will.\n\nThus, having mastered the very easy principles of design which govern\nall organic development or vegetable growth (as set forth in a plant\nwith roots, offshoots, or crochets, and end ornaments, flowers, or\nfinials, with the circle, spiral, and offshooting ornaments; rings\nmade into vines and wave patterns; all of which can be understood in\nan hour with diagrams), let the beginner attempt a design, the simpler\nthe better, and reproduce it from memory. If on going to bed he will\nimpress it on his mind that on the morrow he would like to make more\ndesigns, or that it _must_ be done, he will probably feel the impulse\nand succeed. This is the more likely because patterns impress\nthemselves very vividly on the memory or imagination, and when studied\nare easily recalled after a little practice.\n\nThe manner in which most artists form an idea, or project their minds\nto a plan or invention, be it a statue or picture; and the way they\nthink it over and anticipate it--very often actually seeing the\npicture in a finished state in imagination--all amounts to foresight\nand hypnotic preparation in a crude, imperfect form. If any artist who\nis gifted with resolution and perseverance will simply make trial of\nthe method here recommended, he will assuredly find that it is a great\naid to Invention.\n\nIt is probable that half the general average cleverness of men is due\nto their having learned, as boys, games, or the art of making\nsomething, or mending and repairing. In any case, if they had learned\nto use their hands and their inventiveness or adaptability, they would\nhave been the better for it. That the innumerable multitude of people\nwho can do nothing of the kind, and who take no real interest in\nanything except spending money and gossiping, are to be really pitied,\nis true. Some of them once had minds--and these are the most pitiful\nor pitiable of all. It is to be regretted that novels are, with rare\nexceptions, written to amuse this class, and limit themselves strictly\nto \"life,\" never describing with real skill, so as to interest\nanything which would make life worth living for--except love--which is\ngood to a certain extent, but not absolutely all in all, save to the\neroto-maniac. And as most novelists now pretend to instruct and convey\nideas, beyond mere story-telling, or even being \"interesting,\" which\nmeans the love or detective business, I would suggest to some of these\nwriters that the marvelous latent powers of the human mind, and also\nsome art which does not consist of the names and guide-book praises of\na few great painters and the Renaissance _rechauffee_ would be a\nrefreshing novelty.\n\nThe ancient Romans were thoroughly persuaded that _Exercitatione et\nusu_ (by exercising the physical faculties in every way; by which they\nmeant arts as well as gymnastics; and by making such practice\nhabitual) they could develop intellect, in illustration of which\nLycurgus once took two puppies of the same litter, and had the one\nbrought up to hunt, while the other was nursed at home in all luxury;\nand when grown, and let loose, the one caught a hare, while the other\nyelped and ran away. So the word _handy_, in old English _hend_,\nmeaning quick, alert, or gifted with prompt perception, is derived\nfrom knowing how to use the hands. BRUSONIUS (\"Facetiae,\" Lyons, 1562)\nhas collected a great number of classic anecdotes to illustrate this\nsaying.\n\n_Recapitulation_. Those who desire to become artists, can greatly\nfacilitate their work, if beginning for example with very simple\noutline decorative designs, and having learned the principles on which\nthey are constructed, they would repeat or revise them to themselves\nbefore sleep, resolving to remember them. The same principle is\napplicable to all kinds of designs, with the proviso that they be at\nfirst very easy. This is generally a very successful process.\n\n_Fore thought_, or the projection of conception or attention with\nwill, is a marvelous preparation for all kinds of art work. He who can\nform the habit of seeing a picture mentally before he paints it, has\nan incredible advantage, and will spare himself much labor and\npainting out.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nFASCINATION.\n\n    \"Quaerit _Franciscus Valesius, Delrio, Gutierrus_, et alii,\n    unde vulgaris ilia fascini nata sit opinio de oculo fascinante\n    visione et ore fascinando laudando.\"--De Faseinatione\n    Fatatus. A. D. 1677.\n\nI have in Chapter Fifth mentioned several of the subjects to attain\nwhich the Will may be directed by the aid of self-hypnotism, preceded\nby Forethought. If the reader has carefully studied what I have said\nand not merely skimmed it, he must have perceived that if the power be\nfully acquired, it makes, as it were, new existence for its possessor,\nopening to him boundless fields of action by giving him the enviable\npower to acquire interest--that is to say agreeable or profitable\noccupation--in whatever he pleases. In further illustration of which I\nadd the following:\n\n_To recall bygone memories or imperfectly remembered sensations,\nscenes and experiences or images_.\n\nThis is a difficult thing to describe, and no wonder, since it forms\nthe greatest and most trying task of all poets to depict that which\nreally depends for its charm on association, emotion and a chiaroscuro\nof the feelings. We have all delightful reminiscences which make\nridiculous Dante's assertion that\n\n    \"There is no greater grief than to recall in pain\n    The happy days gone by;\"\n\nwhich, if true, would make it a matter of regret that we ever had a\nhappy hour. However, I assume that it is a great pleasure to recall,\neven in grief, beautiful bygone scenes and joys, and trust that the\nreader has a mind healthy and cheerful enough to do the same.\n\nWhat constitutes a charm in many memories is often extremely varied.\nDarkly shaded rooms with shutters closed in on an intensely hot\nAmerican summer day. Chinese matting on the floors--the mirrors and\npicture frames covered with _tulle_--silence--the scent of magnolias\nall over the house--the presence of loved ones now long dead and\ngone--all of these combined form to me memory-pictures in which\nnothing can be spared. The very scent of the flowers is like musk in a\nperfume or \"bouquet\" of odors--it _fixes_ them well, or renders them\npermanent. And it is all like a beautiful vivid dream. If I had my\nlife to live over again I would do frequently and with great care,\nwhat I thought of too late, and now practice feebly--I would strongly\nimpress on my mind and very often recall, many such scenes, pictures,\ntimes or memories. Very few people do this. Hence in all novels and\npoems, especially the French, description generally smacks of\nimitation and mere manufacture. It passes for \"beautiful writing,\" but\nthere is always something in really unaffected truth from nature which\nis caught by the true critic. I read lately a French romance which is\nmuch admired, of this manufactured or second-hand kind. Every third\npage was filled with the usual botany, rocks, skies, colors, fore and\nbackgrounds--\"all very fine\"--but in the whole of it not one of those\nlittle touches of truth which stir us so in SHAKESPEARE, make us smile\nin HERRICK or naive PEPYS, or raise our hearts in WORDSWORTH. These\nwere true men.\n\nTo be true we must be far more familiar with Nature than with scene\npainting or photographs, and to do this we must, so to speak,\nfascinate ourselves with pictures in life, glad memories of golden\nhours, rock and river and greenwood tree. We must also banish\nresolutely from our past all recollections of enemies and wrongs,\ntroubles and trials, and throw all our heart into doing so. Forgive\nand forget all enmities--those of Misfortune and Fate being included.\nDepend upon it that the brighter you can make your Past the pleasanter\nwill be your Future.\n\nThis is just the opposite to what most people do, hence the frequent\nand fond quotation of pessimistic poetry. It is all folly, and worse.\nOne result is that in modern books of travel the only truthful or\nvivid descriptions are of sufferings of all kinds, even down to\ninferior luncheons and lost hair brushes. Their joys they sketch with\nan indifferent skill, like HEINE'S monk, who made rather a poor\ndescription of Heaven, but was \"gifted in Hell,\" which he depicted\nwith dreadful vigor.\n\nI find it a great aid to recall what I can of bygone beautiful\nassociations, and then sleep on them with a resolve that they shall\nrecur in complete condition. He who will thus resolutely clean up his\npast life and clear away from it all sorrow _as well as he can_, and\nrefurnish it with beautiful memories, or make it better, _coute que\ncoute_, will do himself more good than many a doleful moral adviser\never dreamed of. This is what I mean by _self-fascination_--the\nmaking, as it were, by magic art, one's own past and self more\ncharming than we ever deemed it possible to be. We thus fascinate\nourselves. Those who believe that everything which is bygone has gone\nto the devil are in a wretched error. The future is based on the\npast--yes, made from it, and that which _was_ never dies, but returns\nto bless or grieve. We mostly wrong our past bitterly, and bitterly\ndoes it revenge itself. But it is like the lion of ANDROCLES, it\nremembers those who treat it kindly. \"And lo! when ANDROCLES was\nthrown to the lion to be devoured, the beast lay down at his feet, and\nlicked his hands.\" Yes, we have all our lions!\n\n_To master difficult meanings_. It has often befallen me, when I was\nat the University, or later when studying law, to exert my mind to\ngrasp, and all in vain, some problem in mathematics or a puzzling\nlegal question, or even to remember some refractory word in a foreign\nlanguage which would _not_ remain in the memory. After a certain\namount of effort in many of these cases, further exertion is\ninjurious, the mind or receptive power seems to be seized--as if\nnauseated--with spasmodic rejections. In such a case pass the question\nby, but on going to bed, think it over and _will_ to understand it on\nthe morrow. It will often suffice to merely desire that it shall recur\nin more intelligible form--in which case, _nota bene_--if let alone it\nwill obey. This is as if we had a call to make tomorrow, when, as we\nknow, the memory will come at its right time of itself, especially if\nwe employ Forethought or special pressure.\n\nWhen I reflect on what I once endured from this cause, and how greatly\nit could have been relieved or alleviated, I feel as if I could beg,\nwith all my heart, every student or teacher of youth to seriously\nexperiment on what I set forth in this book. It is also to be\nobserved, especially by metaphysicians and mental philosophers, that a\nyouth who has shown great indifference to, let us say mathematics, if\nhe has manifested an aptitude for philosophy or languages, will be in\nall cases certain to excel in the former, if he can be brought to\nmake a good beginning in it. A great many cases of bad, _i. e._,\nindifferent scholarship, are due to bad teaching of the rudiments by\nadults who took no _interest_ in their pupils, and therefore inspired\nnone.\n\n_To determine what course to follow in any Emergency_. Many a man\noften wishes with all his heart that he had some wise friend to\nconsult in his perplexities. What to do in a business trouble when we\nare certain that there is an exit if we could only find it--a sure way\nto tame an unruly horse if we had the secret--to do or not to do\nwhate'er the question--truly all this causes great trouble in life.\nBut, it is within the power of man to be his own friend, yes, and\ncompanion, to a degree of which none have ever dreamed, and which\nborders on the _weird_, or that which forebodes or suggests mysteries\nto come. For it may come to pass that he who has trained himself to\nit, may commune with his spirit as with a companion.\n\nThis is, of course, done by just setting the problem, or question, or\ndilemma, before ourselves as clearly as we can, so as to know our own\nminds as well as possible. This done, sleep on it, with the resolute\nwill to have it recur on the morrow in a clear and solved form. And\nshould this occur, do not proceed to pull it to pieces again, by way\nof improvement, but rather submit it to another night's rest. I would\nhere say that many lawyers and judges are perfectly familiar with this\nprocess, and use it habitually, without being aware of its connection\nwith hypnotism or will. But they could aid it, if they would add this\npeculiar _impulse_ to the action.\n\nWhat I will now discuss approaches the miraculous, or seems to do so\nbecause it has been attempted or treated in manifold ways by sorcerers\nand witches. The Voodoos, or black wizards in America, profess\nto be able to awaken love in one person for another by means of\nincantations, but admit that it is the most difficult of their feats.\nNor do I think that there is any infallible recipe for it, but that\nthere are means of _honestly_ aiding such affection can hardly be\ndenied. In the first place, he who would be loved must love--for that\nis no honest love which is not sincere. And having thus inspired\nhimself, and made himself as familiar as possible, by quietly\nobserving as dispassionately as may be all the mental characteristics\nof the one loved, let him with an earnest desire to know how to secure\na return, go to sleep, and see whether the next day will bring a\nsuggestion. And as the old proverb declares that luck comes to many\nwhen least hoped for, so will it often happen that forethought is thus\nfore-bought or secured.\n\nIt is known that gifts pass between friends or lovers, to cause the\nreceiver to think of the giver, thus they are in a sense amulets. If\nwe believe, as HEINE prettily suggests, that something of the life or\nthe being of the owner or wearer has passed into the talisman, we are\nnot far off from the suggestion that our feelings are allied. All over\nItaly, or over the world, pebbles of precious stone, flint or amber,\nrough topaz or agate, are esteemed as lucky; all things of the kind\nlead to suggestiveness, and may be employed in suggestion.\n\nWhat was originally known as Fascination, of which the German,\nFROMANN, wrote a very large volume which I possess, is simply\nHypnotism without the putting to sleep. It is direct Suggestion. Where\nthere is a natural sympathy of like to like, soul answering soul, such\nsuggestion is easily established. Among people of a common, average,\nworldly type who are habitually sarcastic, jeering, chaffing, and\ntrifling, or those whose idea of genial or agreeable companionship is\nto \"get a rise\" out of all who will give and take irritations equally,\nthere can be no sympathy of gentle or refined emotions. Experiments,\nwhose whole nature presupposes earnest thought, cannot be tried with\nany success by those who live habitually in an atmosphere of small\ntalk and \"rubbishy\" associations. Fascination should be mutual; to\nattempt to exert it on anyone who is not naturally in sympathy is a\ncrime, and I believe that all such cases lead to suffering and\nremorse.\n\nBut where we perceive that there is an undoubted mutual liking and\ngood reason for it, fascination, when perfectly understood and\nsympathetically used, facilitates and increases love and friendship,\nand may be most worthily and advantageously employed. Unto anyone who\ncould, for example, merely skim over all that I have written, catching\nan idea here and there, and then expect to master all, I can clearly\nsay that I can give him or her no definite idea of fascination. For\nFascination really is effectively what the old philosophers, who\nhad given immense study and research to the subject in ages when\nsusceptibility to suggestiveness went far beyond anything now known,\nall knew and declared; that is to say, it existed, but that it\nrequired a peculiar mind, and very certainly one which is not\nfrivolous, to understand its nature, and much more to master it.\n\nHe who has by foresight, or previous consideration of a subject or\ndesire, allied to a vigorous resolution (which is a kind of projection\nof the mind by will--and then submitting it to sleep), learned how to\nbring about a wished-for state of mind, has, in a curious manner, made\nas it were of his hidden self a conquest yet a friend. He has brought\nto life within himself a Spirit, gifted with greater powers than those\npossessed by Conscious Intellect. By his astonishing and unsuspected\nlatent power, Man can imagine and then create, even a spirit within\nthe soul. We make at first the sketch, then model it in clay, then\ncast it in gypsum, and finally sculpture it in marble.\n\nI read lately, in a French novel, a description of a young lady, by\nherself, in which she assumed to have within her two souls, one good,\nof which she evidently thought very little, and another brilliantly\ndiabolical, capricious, vividly dramatic and interesting _esprit_--to\nwhich she gave a great deal of attention. He who will begin by merely\n_imagining_ that he has within him a spirit of beauty and light, which\nis to subdue and extinguish the other or all that is in him of what is\nlow, commonplace, and mean, may bring this idea to exert a marvelous\ninfluence. He can increase the conception, and give it reality, by\ntreating it with forethought and will, by suggestion, until it gives\nmarvellous result. This better self may be regarded as a guardian\nangel, in any case it is a power by means of which we can learn\nmysteries. It is also our Conscience, born of the perception of\nIdeals.\n\nThe Ideal or Spirit thus evolved should be morally pure, else the\nexperimenter will find, as did the magicians of old, that all who\ndealt with any but good spirits, fell into the hands of devils, just\nas ALLAN KARDEC says is the case with Spiritualists. But to speak as\nclearly as I can, he who succeeds in winning or creating a higher Self\nwithin himself, and fascinating it by sympathy, will find that he has,\nwithin moral limits, a strange power of fascinating those who are in\nsympathy with him.\n\nWhereupon many will say \"of course.\" Like and like together strike.\nBirds of a feather flock together. _Similis similibus_. But it often\nhappens in this life, though they meet they do _not_ pair off. Very\noften indeed they meet, but to part. There must be, even where the\naffinity exists, consideration and forethought to test the affinity.\nIt requires long practice even for keen eyes to recognize the amethyst\nor topaz, or many other gems, in their natural state as sea-worn\npebbles. Now, it is not a matter of fancy, of romance, or imagination,\nthat there are men and women who really have, deeply hidden in\ntheir souls, or more objectively manifested, peculiar or beautiful\ncharacteristics, or a spirit. I would not speak here merely of\n_naivete_ or tenderness--a natural affinity for poetry, art, or\nbeauty, but the peculiar tone and manner of it, which is sympathetic\nto ours. For two people may love music, yet be widely removed from all\nagreement if one be a Wagnerian, and the other of an older school.\nSuffice it to say that such similarities of mind or mood, of intellect\nor emotion do exist, and when they are real, and not imaginary, or\nmerely the result of passional attraction, they suggest and may well\nattract the use of Fascination.\n\nThose who actually develop within themselves such a spirit, regarding\nit as one, that is a self beyond self, attain to a power which few\nunderstand, which is practical, positive, and real, and not at all a\nsuperstitious fancy. It may begin in imagining or fancy, but as the\nveriest dream is material and may be repeated till we see it visibly\nand can then copy it, so can we create in ourselves a being, a\nsegregation of our noblest thoughts, a superb abstraction of soul\nwhich looks from its sunny mountain height down on the dark and\nnoisome valley which forms our worldly common intellect or mind, or\nthe only one known to by far the majority of mankind, albeit they may\nhave therein glimpses of light and truth. But it is to him who makes\nfor himself, by earnest Will and Thought, a _separate_ and better Life\nor Self that a better life is given.\n\nThose who possess genius or peculiarly cultivated minds of a highly\nmoral caste, gifted with pure integrity, and above vulgarity and\nworldly commonplace habits, should never form a tie in friendship or\nlove without much forethought. And then if the active agent has\ndisciplined his mind by self-hypnotism until he can control or manage\nhis Will with ease, he will know without further instruction how to\nfascinate, and that properly and legitimately.\n\nThose who now acquire this power are few and far between, and when\nthey _really_ possess it they make no boast nor parade, but rather\nkeep it carefully to themselves, perfectly content with what it yields\nfor reward. And here I may declare something in which I firmly\nbelieve, yet which very few I fear will understand as I mean it. If\nthis fascination and other faculties like it may be called Magical\n(albeit all is within the limits of science and matter), then there\nare assuredly in this world magicians whom we meet without dreaming\nthat they are such. Here and there, however rare, there is mortal who\nhas studied deeply--but\n\n    \"Softened all and tempered into beauty;\n    And blended with lone thoughts and wanderings,\n    The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind\n    To _love_ the universe.\"\n\nSuch beings do not come before the world, but hide their lights,\nknowing well that their magic would defeat itself, and perish if it\nwere made common. Any person of the average worldly cast who could\nwork any miracles, however small, would in the end bitterly regret it\nif he allowed it to be known. Thus I have read ingenious stories, as\nfor instance one by HOOD, showing what terrible troubles a man fell\ninto by being able to make himself invisible. Also another setting\nforth the miseries of a successful alchemist. The Algonkin Indians\nhave a legend of a man who came to grief and death through his power\nof making all girls love him. But the magic of which I speak is of a\nfar more subtle and deeply refined nature, and those who possess it\nare alone in life, save when by some rare chance they meet their kind.\nThose who are deeply and mysteriously interested in any pursuit for\nwhich the great multitude of all-alike people have no sympathy, who\nhave peculiar studies and subjects of thought, partake a little of\nthe nature of the _magus_. Magic, as popularly understood, has no\nexistence, it is a literal _myth_--for it means nothing but what\namazes or amuses for a short time. No miracle would be one if it\nbecame common. Nature is infinite, therefore its laws cannot be\nviolated--_ergo_, there is no magic if we mean by that an inexplicable\ncontravention of law.\n\nBut that there are minds who have simply advanced in knowledge beyond\nthe multitude in certain things which cannot at once be made common\nproperty is true, for there is a great deal of marvelous truth not as\nyet dreamed of even by HERBERT SPENCERS or EDISONS, by RONTGENS or\nother scientists. And yet herein is hidden the greatest secret of\nfuture human happenings.\n\n    \"What I was is passed by,\n    What I am away doth fly;\n    What I shall be none do see,\n    Yet in that my glories be.\"\n\nNow to illustrate this more clearly. Some of these persons who are\nmore or less secretly addicted to magic (I say secretly, because they\ncannot make it known if they would), take the direction of feeling or\nliving with inexpressible enjoyment in the beauties of nature. That,\nthey attain to something almost or quite equal to life in Fairyland,\nis conclusively proved by the fact that only very rarely, here and\nthere in their best passages, do the greatest poets more than\nimperfectly and briefly convey some broken idea or reflection of the\nfeelings which are excited by thousands of subjects in nature in many.\nThe Mariana of TENNYSON surpasses anything known to me in any language\nas conveying the reality of feeling alone in a silent old house, where\neverything is a dim, uncanny manner, recalled the past--yet suggested\na kind of mysterious presence--as in the passage:\n\n    \"All day within the dreary house\n    The doors upon their hinges creaked,\n    The blue fly sang in the pane, the mouse\n    Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked,\n    Or from the crevice peered about;\n    Old faces glimmered thro' the doors,\n    Old footsteps trod the upper floors,\n    Old voices called her from without.\"\n\nYet even this unsurpassed poem does no more than _partially_ revive\nand recall the reality to me of similar memories of long, long ago,\nwhen an invalid child I was often left in a house entirely alone, from\nwhich even the servants had absented themselves. Then I can remember\nhow after reading the Arabian Nights or some such unearthly romance,\nas was the mode in the Thirties, the very sunshine stealing craftily\nand silently like a living thing, in a bar through the shutter,\ntwinkling with dust, as with infinitely small stars, living and dying\nlike sparks, the buzzing of the flies who were little blue imps, with\nnow and then a larger Beelzebub--a strange imagined voice ever about,\nwhich seemed to say something without words--and the very furniture,\nwherein the chairs were as goblins, and the broom a tall young woman,\nand the looking-glass a kind of other self-life--all of this as I\nrecall it appears to me as a picture of the absence of human beings as\ndescribed by TENNYSON, _plus_ a strange personality in every object--\nwhich the poet does not attempt to convey. This is, however, a very\nsmall or inferior illustration; there are far more remarkable and\ndeeply spiritual or aesthetically-suggestive subjects than this, and\nthat in abundance, which Art has indeed so reproduced as to amaze the\nmany who have only had snatches of such observation themselves.\n\nBut the magicians, SHELLEY, or KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, only convey\n_partial_ echoes of certain subjects, or of their specialties. It is\nindeed beautiful to feel what Art can do, but the original is worth\nfar more. And if the reader would be such a magician, let him give his\nheart and will to taking an interest in all that is beautiful, good\nand true--or honest. For that it really can be done in all fullness is\ntrue beyond a dream of doubt. By the ordinary methods of learning one\nmay indeed acquire an exact, mechanically drawn picture, which we\nmodify with what beauty chance bestows. But he who will learn by the\nprocess which I have endeavored to describe, or by studying with the\n_will_, cannot fail to experience a strange enchantment in so doing,\nas I have read in an Italian tale of a youth who was sadly weary of\nhis lessons, but who, being taken daily by certain kind fairies into\ntheir school on a hill, found all difficulties disappear and the\npursuit of knowledge as joyful as that of pleasure.\n\nI have heard hypnotism, with regard to fascination, spoken of with\ngreat apprehension. \"It is dreadful,\" said one to me, \"to think of\nanybody's being able to exercise such an influence on anyone.\" And\nyet, widely known as it is, instances of its abuse are very rare.\nThus, when Cremation was first discussed, it was warmly opposed,\nbecause somebody _might_ be poisoned, and then, the body being burned,\nthere could be no autopsy! Nature has decreed some drawback to the\nbest things; nothing is perfect. But to balance the immense benefits\nlatent in suggestion against the problematic abuses is like condemning\nthe ship because a bucket of tar has been spilt on the deck.\n\nSincere kindness and respect, which are allied unto identity, are\nthe best or surest key to love, and they in turn are allied to\nfascination. Here I might observe that the action of the eye, which is\na silent speech of emotion, has always been regarded as powerful in\nfascination, but those who are not by nature gifted with it cannot use\nit to much good purpose. That emotional, susceptible subjects ready to\nreceive suggestion can be put to sleep or made to imagine anything\nterrible regarding anybody's glance is very true, just as an ignorant\nItalian will believe of any man that he has the _malocchio_ if he be\ntold so, whence came the idea that Pope Gregory XVI had the evil eye.\nBut where there is _sincere_ kindly feeling it makes itself felt in a\nsympathetic nature by what is popularly called magic, only because it\nis not understood. The enchantment lies in this, that unconscious\ncerebration, or the power (or powers), who are always acting in us,\neffect many curious and very subtle mental phenomena, all of which\nthey do not confide to the common-sense waking judgment or Reason,\nsimply because the latter is almost entirely occupied with common\nworldly subjects. It is as if someone whose whole attention and\ninterest had been at all times given to some plain hard drudgery,\nshould be called on to review or write a book of exquisitely subtle\npoetry. It is, indeed, almost sadly touching to reflect how this\ninnocent and beautiful faculty of recognizing what is good, is really\nacting perhaps in evil and merely worldly minds all in vain, and all\nunknown to them. The more the conscious waking-judgment has been\ntrained to recognize goodness, the more will the hidden water-fairies\nrise above the surface, as it were, to the sunshine. So it comes that\ntrue kindly feeling is recognized by sympathy, and those who would be\nloved, cannot do better than make themselves truly and perfectly\n_kind_ by forethought and will, and with this the process of\nself-hypnotism will be a great aid. For it is not more by winning\nothers to us, than in willing ourselves to them that true Love\nconsists.\n\nLove or trusting sympathy from any human being, however humble, is the\nmost charming thing in life, and it ought to be the main object of\nexistence. Yet there are thousands all round us, yes, many among\nour friends or acquaintances, who live and die without ever having\nknown it, because in their egotism and folly they conceive of close\nrelations as founded on personal power, interest or the weakness of\nothers. The only fascination which such people can ever exercise is\nthat of the low and devilish kind, the influence of the cat on the\nmouse, the eye of the snake on the bird, which in the end degrades\nthem into deeper evil. That there are such people, and that they\nreally make captive and oppress weaker minds, by suggestion, is true;\nthe marvel being that so few find it out.\n\nBut in proportion as this kind of fascination is vile and mean,\nthat which may be called altruistic or sympathetic attraction, or\nEnchantment, is noble and pure, because it acquires strength in\nproportion to the purity and beauty of the soul or will which inspires\nit. It is as real and has as much power, and can be exercised by any\nhonest person whatever with wonderful effect, even to the performing\nwhat are popularly called \"miracles,\" which only means wonderful works\nbeyond _our_ power of explanation. But this kind of fascination is\nlittle understood as yet, simply because it is based on purity,\nmorality and light, and hitherto the seekers for occult mysteries have\nbeen chiefly occupied with the gloomy and mock-diabolical rubbish of\nold tradition, instead of scientific investigation of our minds and\nbrains.\n\nThere is also in truth a Fascination by means of the Voice, which has\nin it a much deeper and stronger power or action than that of merely\nsweet sound as of an instrument. The Jesuit, GASPAR SCHOTT, in his\n_Magio Medica_ treats of Fascination as twofold: _De Fascinatione per\nVisunt et Vocem_. I have found among Italian witches as with Red\nIndian wizards, every magical operation depended on an incantation,\nand every incantation on the feeling, intonation, or manner in which\nit is sung. Thus near Rome any peasant overhearing a _scongiurasione_\nwould recognize it from the _sound_ alone.\n\nAnyone, male or female, can have a deep, rich voice by simply subduing\nand training it, and very rarely raising it to a high pitch. _Nota\nbene_ that the less this is affected the more effective it will be.\nThere are many, especially women, who speak, as it were, all time in\nitalics, when they do not set their speech in small caps or displayed\nlarge capitals. The result of this, as regards sound, is the so-called\nnasal voice, which is very much like caterwauling, and I need not say\nthat there is no fascination in it--on the contrary its tendency is to\ndestroy any other kind of attraction. It is generally far more due to\nan ill-trained, unregulated, excitable, nervous temperament than to\nany other cause.\n\nThe training the voice to a subdued state \"like music in its softest\nkey,\" or to rich, deep tones, though it be done artificially, has an\nextraordinary effect on the character and on others. It is associated\nwith a well-trained mind and one gifted with self-control. One of the\nrichest voices to which I ever listened was that of the poet TENNYSON.\nI can remember another man of marvelous mind, vast learning, and\naesthetic-poetic power who also had one of those voices which exercised\ngreat influence on all who heard it.\n\nThere is an amusing parallel as regards nasal-screaming voices in the\nfact that a donkey cannot bray unless he at the same time lifts his\ntail--but if the tail be _tied down_, the beast must be silent. So the\nman or woman, whose voice like that of the erl-king's is \"ghostly\nshrill as the wind in the porch of a ruined church,\" always raise\ntheir tones with their temper, but if we keep the former down by\ntraining, the latter cannot rise.\n\nI once asked a very talented lady teacher of Elocution in Philadelphia\nif she regarded shrill voices as incurable. She replied that they\ninvariably yielded to instruction and training. Children under no\ndomestic restraint who were allowed to scream out and dispute on all\noccasions and were never corrected in intonation, generally had vulgar\nvoices.\n\nA good voice acts very evidently on the latent powers of the mind,\nand impresses the aesthetic sense, even when it is unheeded by the\nconscious judgment. Many a clergyman makes a deep impression by his\nvoice alone. And why? Certainly not by appealing to the reason.\nTherefore it is well to be able to fascinate with the voice. Now,\n_nota bene_--as almost every human being can speak in a soft or\nwell-toned voice, \"at least, subdued unto a temperate tone\" just as\nlong as he or she chooses to do it, it follows that with foresight,\naided by suggestion, or continued will, we can all acquire this\nenviable accomplishment.\n\nTo end this chapter with a curious bit of appropriate folk-lore, I\nwould record that while Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus Magnus, and a host of\nother Norsemen have left legends to prove that there were sorcerers\nwho by magic of the soft and wondrous voice could charm and capture\nmen of the sword, so the Jesuit ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, declares that on\nthe seventeenth day of May, 1638, he, going from Messina in a boat,\nwitnessed with his own eyes the capture not of swordsmen but of sundry\n_xiphioe_, or sword-fish, by means of a melodiously chanted charm, the\nwords whereof he noted down as follows:\n\n    \"Mammassudi di pajanu,\n    Palletu di pajanu,\n    Majassu stigneta.\n    Pallettu di pajanu,\n    Pale la stagneta.\n    Mancata stigneta.\n    Pro nastu varitu pressu du\n    Visu, e da terra!\"\n\nOf which words Kircher declares that they are probably of mingled\ncorrupt Greek and ancient Sicilian, but that whatever they are, they\ncertainly are admirable for the catching of fish.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE SUBLIMINAL SELF.\n\nWhile the previous pages of this work were in the press, I received\nand read a very interesting and able Book, entitled, \"Telepathy and\nthe Subliminal Self, or an account of recent investigations regarding\nHypnotism, Automatism, Dreams, Phantoms, and related phenomena,\" by R.\nOSGOOD MASON, A.M., Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr.\nMASON, on the whole, may be said to follow HARTMANN, since he places\nThaumaturgy, or working what have been considered as wonders,\nmiracles, and the deeds of spiritualists, on the evolutionary or\nmaterial basis. He is also far less superstitious or prone to seek the\nmiraculous and mysterious for its own sake, than his predecessors\nin _occulta_, and limits his beliefs to proofs sustained by good\nauthority. He recognizes a second, or what he calls a subliminal Self,\nthe Spirit of our Soul, acting independently of Waking Conscious\nJudgment, a mysterious _alter ego_, which has marvelous power.\n\nThis second or inner self I have also through this work of mine\nrecognized as a reality, though it is, like the self-conscious soul,\nrather an aggregate than a distinct unity. Thus we may for convenience\nsake speak of the Memory, when there are in fact millions of memories,\nsince every image stored away in the brain is one, and the faculty of\nrevising them for the use of the waking soul, is certainly apart from\nthe action of bringing them into play in dreams. In fact if we regard\nthe action of all known faculties, we might assume with the Egyptians\nthat man had not merely eight distinct souls, but eighty, or even a\ncountless number. And as the ancients, knowing very little about\nmental action, classed it all as one soul, so we may call that which\nis partially investigated and mysterious, a second or inner \"soul,\"\nspirit, or subliminal self--that is to say provisionally, till more\nfamiliar with its nature and relations.\n\nDR. MASON, to his credit be it said, has not accepted for Gospel,\nas certain French writers have done, the tricks of self-confessed\nhumbugs. He has only given us the cream of the most strictly attested\ncases, as related by French scientists and people of unquestioned\nveracity. And yet admitting that in every instance the witness\nsincerely believed that he or she spoke the truth, the aggregate is so\nfar from confirming the tales told, that consideration and comparison\nwould induce very grave doubt. Thus, who could have been more sincere,\npurely honest or pious than JUSTINUS KERNER, whom I knew personally,\nSWEDENBORG, ESCHENMAYER and all of their school? Yet how utterly\nirreconciliable are all their revelations!\n\nTherefore, while I have cited illustration and example as affording\nunproved or hearsay evidence, I, in fact, decidedly reject not only\nall tradition, as proof on occult subjects, but all assertion from any\nquarter, however trustworthy, asking the reader to believe in nothing\nwhich he cannot execute and make sure unto himself. Tradition and\ntestimony are very useful to supply ideas or theories, but to actually\n_believe_ in anything beyond his experience a man should take\nsufficient interest in it to _prove_ it by personal experiment. And,\ntherefore, as I have already declared, I not only ask, but hope that\nno reader will put faith in anything which I have alleged or declared,\nuntil he has fully and fairly proved it to be true in his own person.\n\nThe history of true culture, truth, or progress has been that of doubt\nor disbelief in all which cannot be scientifically proved or made\nmanifest to sensation and reflection, and even in this the most\nscrupulous care must be exercised, since our senses often deceive us.\nTherefore, in dealing with subjects which have undeniably been made\nthe means of deceit and delusion thousands of times to one authentic\ninstance, it is not well to accept testimony, or any kind of evidence,\nor proof, save that which we can establish for ourself. The day is not\nyet, but it is coming, when self-evidence will be claimed, and\ngranted, as to all human knowledge, and the sooner it comes the better\nwill it be for the world.\n\nBut I would be clearly understood as declaring that it is only as\nregards making up our minds to absolute faith in what involves what\nmay be called our mental welfare, which includes the most serious\nconduct of life, that I would limit belief to scientific proof. As an\nexample, I will cite the very interesting case of the hypnotic\ntreatment of a patient by DR. VOISIN, and as given by MASON.\n\n\"In the summer of 1884, there was at the Salpetriere a young woman of\na deplorable type, Jeanne S----, who was a criminal lunatic, filthy,\nviolent, and with a life history of impurity and crime. M. Auguste\nVoisin, one of the physicians of the staff, undertook to hypnotize\nher, May 31. At that time she was so violent that she could only be\nkept quiet by a straight-jacket and the constant cold douche to her\nhead. She would not look at M. Voisin, but raved and spat at him. He\npersisted, kept his face near and opposite to hers, and his eyes\nfollowing hers constantly. In ten minutes she was in a sound sleep,\nand soon passed into a somnambulistic condition. The process was\nrepeated many days, and she gradually became sane while in the\nhypnotic condition, but still raved when she woke.\n\n\"Gradually then she began to accept hypnotic suggestion, and would\nobey trivial orders given her while asleep, such as to sweep her room,\nthen suggestions regarding her general behavior; then, in her hypnotic\ncondition, she began to express regret for her past life, and form\nresolutions of amendment to which she finally adhered when she awoke.\nTwo years later she was a nurse in one of the Paris hospitals, and her\nconduct was irreproachable. M. Voisin has followed up this case by\nothers equally striking.\"\n\nThis is not only an unusually well authenticated instance, but one\nwhich seems to carry conviction from the manner of narration. Yet it\nwould be absurd to declare that the subject neither deceived herself\nnor others, or that the doctor made no mistakes either in fact or\ninvoluntarily. The whole is, however, extremely valuable from its\n_probability_, and still more from its suggesting experiment in a much\nmore useful direction than that followed in the majority of cases\nrecorded in most books, which, especially in France, seem chiefly to\nhave been conducted from a melodramatic or merely medical point of\nview. Very few indeed seem to have ever dreamed that a hypnotized\nsubject was anything but a being to be cured of some disorder,\noperated on without pain, or made to undergo and perform various\ntricks, often extremely cruel, silly, and wicked--the main object of\nall being to advertise the skill of the operator. In fact, if it were\nto be accepted that the main object of hypnotism is to repeat such\nexperiments as are described in most of the French works on the\nsubject, humanity and decency would join in prohibiting the practice\nof the art altogether. These books point out and make clear in the\nminutest manner, how every kind of crime can be committed, and the\nmind brought to regard all that is evil as a matter of course. The\nmaking an innocent person attempt to commit a murder or steal is among\nthe most usual experiments; while, on the contrary, any case like that\nof the reform of Jeanne S---- is either very rare, or else is treated\nsimply as a proof of the skill of some _medico_. The fact that if the\nsuccesses which are recorded are _true_, there exists a _stupendous_\npower by means of which the average morality and happiness of mankind\ncan be incredibly advanced and sustained, and Education, Art in every\nbranch, and, in a word, all Culture be marvelously developed on a far\nmore secure basis than in the old systems, does not seem to have\noccurred to any of those who possessed, as it were, gold, without\nhaving the least idea of its value or even its qualities.\n\nHappiness in the main is a pleasant, contented condition of the mind,\nthat is to say, \"a state of mind.\" To be perfect, as appears from an\nenlarged study of all things or phenomena in their relations (since\nevery part must harmonize with the whole), this happiness implies duty\nand altruism, every whit as much as self-enjoyment. This agrees with\nand results from scientific experience. Under the old _a priori_\npsychologic system, _selfishness_ (which meant that every soul was to\nbe chiefly or solely concerned in saving itself, guided by hope of\nreward and fear of punishment), it was naturally the basis of\nmorality.\n\nNow, accepting the definition of Happiness as a state of mind under\ncertain conditions, it follows that it can be realized to a great\ndegree, and in all cases to some degree, firstly by forethought or\ncarefully defining what it is or what we desire, and secondly by\nmaking a fixed idea by simple, well-nigh mechanical means, without any\nresource to _les grands moyens_. According to the old and now rapidly\nvanishing philosophy, this was to be effected by sublime morality,\nprayer, or adjuration of supernatural beings and noble heroism, but\nwhat is here proposed is much humbler, albeit more practical. Reading\nimmortal poetry or prose is indeed a splendid power, but to learn the\nletters of the alphabet, and to spell, is very simple and unpoetic,\nyet far more practical. What I have described has been the mere dull\nrudiments. It is most remarkable that the world has always known that\nthe art of RAFFAELLE, MICHAEL ANGELO, and ALBERT DURER was based, like\nthat of the greatest musicians, on extensive rudimentary study, and\nyet has never dreamed that what far surpasses all art in every way,\nand even includes the desire for it, may all proceed from, or be\ndeveloped by, a process which is even easier than those required for\nthe lesser branches.\n\nHe who can control his own mind by an iron will, and say to the\nThoughts which he would banish, \"Be ye my slaves and begone into outer\ndarkness,\" or to Peace \"Dwell with me forever, come what may,\" _and be\nobeyed_, that man is a mighty magician who has attained what is worth\nmore than all that Earth possesses. Absolute self-control under the\nconditions before defined--since our happiness to be true must agree\nwith that of others--is absolutely essential to happiness. There can\nbe no greater hero than the man who can conquer himself and think\nexactly as he pleases. That which annoys, tempts, stirs us to being\nirritable, wicked, or mean, is an aggregate of evil thoughts or images\nreceived by chance or otherwise into the memory, developed there into\nvile unions, and new forms like coalescing animalcule, and so powerful\nand vivid or objective do they become that men in all ages have given\nthem a real existence as evil spirits.\n\nEvery sane man living, can if he _really_ desires it, obtain complete\nabsolute command of himself, exorcise these vile demons and bring in\npeace instead, by developing with determination the simple process\nwhich I have described. I have found in my own experience a fierce\npleasure in considering obnoxious and pernicious Thoughts as imps or\ndemons to be conquered, in which case Pride and even Arrogance become\nvirtues, even as poisons in their place are wholesome medicines. Thus,\nhe who is haunted with the fixed idea, even well nigh to monomania,\nthat he will never give way to ill temper, that nothing shall disturb\nhis equanimity, need not fear evil results any more than the being\nhaunted by angels. Now we can all have fixed or haunting ideas, on any\nsubject which we please to entertain--but the idea to create good and\nbeneficent haunting has not, that I am aware, been suggested by\nphilosophers.\n\nThat mental influence can be exerted hypnotically most directly and\ncertainly by one person upon another is undeniable, but this requires,\nfirstly, a susceptible subject, or only one person in three or\nfour, and to a degree a specially gifted operator, and very often\n\"heaven-sent moments.\"\n\n    \"However greatly mortals may require it,\n    All cannot go to Corinth who desire it.\"\n\nBut forethought, self-suggestion, and the bringing the mind to dwell\ncontinuously on a subject are absolutely within the reach of all who\nhave any strength of mind whatever, without any aid. Those of feebler\nability yield, however, all the more readily (as in the case of\nchildren) to the influence of others or of hypnotism by a master.\nTherefore, either subjectively or with assistance, most human beings\ncan be morally benefited to a limitless degree, \"morally\" including\nintellectually.\n\nWe often hear it said of a person that he or she would do well or\nsucceed if that individual had \"application.\" Now, as Application,\nor \"sticking to it,\" or perseverance in earnest faith, is the main\ncondition for success in all that I have discussed, I trust that it\nwill be borne in mind that the process indicated provides from\nthe first lesson or experiment for this chief requisite. For the\n_fore-thinking_ and hypnotizing our minds to be in a certain state or\ncondition all the next day, by what some writers, such as HARTMANN,\ntreat as magical process--but which is just so much magical as the use\nof an electrical machine--is simply a beginning in Attention and\nPerseverance.\n\n    \"So, like a snowball rolled in falling snow,\n    It gathers size as it doth onward go.\"\n\nWhen we make a wish or will, or determine that in future after awaking\nwe shall be in a given state of mind, we also include Perseverance for\nthe given time, and as success supposes repetition in all minds, it\nfollows that Perseverance will be induced gradually and easily.\n\nAnd here I may remark that while all writers on ethics, duty or\nmorals, cry continually \"Be persevering, be honest, be enterprising,\nexert your will!\" and so on, and waste thousands of books in\nillustrating the advantages of all these fine things, there is not one\nwho tells us _how_ to practically execute or do them. To follow the\nhint of a quaint Sunday School picture, they show us a swarm of Bees,\nwith hive and honey, but do not tell us how to catch _one_. And yet a\nman may be anything he pleases if he will by easy and simple practice\nas I have shown, make the conception habitual. I do not tell you as\nthese good folk do, how to go about it nobly, or heroically, or\npiously; in fact, I prescribe a method as humble as making a fire, or\na pair of shoes, and yet in very truth and honor I have profited far\nmore by it than I ever did from all the exhortations which I ever have\nread.\n\nNow there are many men who are not so bad in themselves in reality,\nbut who are so haunted by evil thoughts, impulses, and desires, that\nthey, being taught by the absurd old heathenish psychology that the\n\"soul\" is all one spiritual entity, believe themselves to be as wicked\nas Beelzebub could wish, when, in fact, these sins are nothing but\nevil weeds which came into the mind as neglected seeds, and grew apace\nfrom sheer carelessness. Regarding them in the light, as one may say,\nof bodily and material nuisances, or a kind of vermin, they can be\nextirpated by the strong hand of Will, much more easily than under the\nold system, whereby they were treated with respect and awe as MILTON\nhath done (and most immorally too), DANTE being no better; and they\nwould both have exerted their gigantic intellects to better purpose\nby showing man how to conquer the devil, instead of exalting and\nexaggerating his stupendous power and showing how, as regards Humanity\n(for which expressly the Universe, including countless millions of\nsolar systems, was created), Satan has by far the victory, since he\nsecures the majority of souls. For saying which thing a holy bishop\nonce got himself into no end of trouble.\n\nI say that he who uses his will can crush and drive out vile haunting\nthoughts, and the more rudely and harshly he does it the better. In\nall the old systems, without exception, they are treated with far too\nmuch respect and reverence, and no great wonder either, since they\nwere regarded as a great innate portion of the soul. Whether to be\ncleared out by the allopathic exorcism, or the gentler homoepathic\nprayer, the patient never relied on himself. There is a fine Italian\nproverb in the collection of GUILLO VARRINO, Venice 1656, which\ndeclares that _Buona volonta supplice a facolta_--\"strong will ekes\nout ability\"--and before the Will (which the Church has ever weakened\nor crushed) no evil instincts can hold. The same author tells us that\n\"The greatest man in the world is he who can govern his own will,\"\nalso, \"To him who wills naught is impossible.\" To which I would add\nthat \"Whoever chooses to have a will may do so by culture,\" or by ever\nso little to begin with. Nay, I have no doubt that in time there will\nbe societies, schools, churches, or circles, in which the Will shall\nbe taught and applied to all moral and mental culture.\n\nHe who wills it sincerely can govern his Will, and he who can govern\nhis Will is a thousand times more fortunate than if he could govern\nthe world. For to govern the Will is to be without fear, superior and\nindifferent to all earthly follies and shams, idols, cants and\ndelusions, it is to be lord of a thousand isles in the sea of life,\nand absolutely greater than any living mortal, as men exist. Small\nneed has that man to heed what his birth or station in society may be\nwho has mastered himself with the iron will; for he who has conquered\ndeath and the devil need fear no shadows.\n\nHe who masters himself by Will has attained to all that is best and\nnoblest in Stoicism, Epicureanism, Christianity, and Agnosticism; if\nthe latter be understood not as doubt, but free Inquiry, and could men\nbe made to feel what all this means and what power it bestows, and how\neasily it really is to master it, we should forthwith see all humanity\nengaged in the work.\n\nIt has been declared by many in the past in regard to schooling their\nminds to moral and practical ends that, leading busy lives, they had\nnot time to think of such matters. But I earnestly protest that it is\nthese very men of all others who most require the discipline which I\nhave taught, and it is as easy for them as for anybody; as it, indeed,\nought to be easier, yes, and far more profitable. For the one who\nleads by fortune a quiet life of leisure can often school himself\nwithout a system, while he who toils amid anxious thoughts and with\nevery mental power severely taxed, will find that he can do his work\n_far_ more easily if he determines that he _will_ master it. The\namount of mental action which lies dormant in us all is illimitable\nand it can all be realized by the hypnotism of Will.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nPARACELSUS.\n\nThat our ordinary consciousness or Waking Intellect, and what is\ngenerally recognized as Mind or Soul, includes whatever has been taken\nin by sensation and reflection and assimilated to daily wants, or\nshows itself in bad or good memories and thought, is evident. Not\nless clear is it that there is another hidden Self--a power which,\nrecognizing much which is evil in the Mind, would fain reject, or\nrule, or subdue it. This latent, inner Intelligence calls into action\nthe Will. All of this is vague, and, it may be, unscientific. It is\nmore rational to believe in many faculties or functions, but the\nclassification here suggested may serve as a basis. It is effectively\nthat of GRASSNER, or of all who have recognized the power of the Will\nto work \"miracles,\" guided by a higher morality. And it is very\ncurious that PARACELSUS based his whole system of nervous cure, at\nleast, on this theory. Thus, in the _Liber Entium Morborum, de Ente\nSpirituali_, chap, iii, he writes:\n\n\"As we have shown that there are two _Subjecta_, this will we assume\nas our ground. Ye know that there is in the Body a Soul. (_Geist_.)\nNow reflect, to what purpose? Just that it may sustain life, even as\nthe air keeps animals from dying for want of breath. So we know what\nthe soul is. This soul in Man is actually clear, intelligible and\nsensible to the other soul, and, classing them, they are to be\nregarded as allied, even as bodies are. I have a soul--the _other_\nhath also one.\"\n\nPARACELSUS is here very obscure, but he manifestly means by \"the\nother,\" the Body. To resume:\n\n\"The Souls know one another as 'I,' and 'the other.' They converse\ntogether in their language, not by necessity according to our\nthoughts, but what _they_ will. And note, too, that there may be anger\nbetween them, and one may belittle or injure the other; this injury is\nin the Soul, the Soul in the body. Then the body suffers and is ill--\nnot materially or from a material _Ens_, but from the Soul. For this\nwe need spiritual remedy. Ye are two who are dear unto one another;\ngreat in affinity. The cause is not in the body, nor is it from\nwithout; it comes from your souls (_Geisten_), who are allied.\nThe same pair may become inimical, or remain so. And that ye may\nunderstand a cause for this, note that the Spirit (_Geist_) of the\nReasoning Faculty (_Vernunft_) is not born, save from the _Will_,\ntherefore the Will and the Reason are separate. What exists and acts\naccording to the Will lives in the Spirit; what only according to\nthe Reason lives against the Spirit. For the Reason brings forth no\nspirit, only the Soul (_Seel_) is born of it--from Will comes the\nSpirit, the essence of which we describe and let the Soul be.\"\n\nIn this grandly conceived but most carelessly written passage the\nauthor, in the beginning thereof, makes such confusion in expressing\nboth Soul and Spirit with the one word, _Geist_, that his real meaning\ncould not be intelligible to the reader who had not already mastered\nthe theory. But, in fact, the whole conception is marvelous, and\nclosely agreeing with the latest discoveries in Science, while\nignoring all the old psychological system.\n\nVery significant is what PARACELSUS declares in his _Fragmenta\nMedicina de Morbis Somnii_, that so many evils beset us, \"caused by\nthe coarseness of our ignorance, because we know not what is born in\nus.\" That is to say, if we knew our mental power, or what we are\ncapable of, we could cure or control all bodily infirmities. And how\nto rule and form this power, and make it obey the _Geist_ or Will\nwhich PARACELSUS believed was born of the common conscious Soul--that\nis the question.\n\nFor PARACELSUS truly believed that out of this common Soul, the result\nof Sensation and Reflection, and all we pick up by Experience and\nObservation (and such as makes all that there is of Life for most\npeople), there is born, or results, a perception of Ideas, of right\nand wrong, of mutual interests; a certain subtle, moral conscience\nor higher knowledge. \"The Souls may become inimical;\" that is, the\nConscience, or Spirit, may differ or disagree with the Soul, as a son\nmay be at variance with his father. So the flower or fruit may oft\ndespise the root. The Will is allied to Conscience or a perception of\nthe Ideal. When a man finds out that he knows more or better than he\nhas hitherto done: as, for instance, when a thief learns that it is\nwrong to steal, and feels it deeply, he endeavors to reform, although\nhe _feels_ all the time old desires and temptations to rob. Now, if\nhe resolutely subdue these, his Will is born. \"The spirit of the\nReasoning faculty is not born, save of the Will. . . . what exists and\nacts according to the Will lives in the spirit.\" The perception of\nideals is the bud, Conscience the flower, and the Will the fruit. A\npure Will must be _moral_, for it is _the_ result of the perception of\nIdeals, or a Conscience. The world in general regards Will as mere\nblind force, applicable to good or bad indifferently. But the more\ntruly and fully it is developed, or as Orson is raised to Valentine,\nthe more moral and optimistic does it become. _Will_ in its perfection\nis Genius, spontaneous originality, that is Voluntary; not merely a\npower to lift a weight, or push a load, or force others to yield, but\nthe Thought itself which suggests the deed and finds a _reason_ for\nit. Now the merely unscrupulous use of Opportunity and Advantage, or\nCrime, is popularly regarded as having a strong Will; but this, as\ncompared to a Will with a conscience, is as the craft of the fox\ncompared to that of the dragon, and that of the dragon to Siegfried.\n\nAnd here it may be observed as a subtle and strange thing, approaching\nto magic apparently, as understood by HARTMANN and his school, that\nthe Will sometimes, when much developed, actually manifests something\nlike an independent personality, or at least seems to do so, to an\nacute observer. And what is more remarkable, it can have this freedom\nof action and invention delegated to it, and will act on it.\n\nThus, in conversation with HERKOMER, the Artist, and Dr. W. W.\nBALDWIN, Nov. 2d, 1878, the former explained to me that when he would\nexecute a work of art, he just determined it with care or Forethought\nin his mind, and gave it a rest, as by sleep, during which time it\nunconsciously fructified or germinated, even as a seed when planted in\nthe ground at last grows upward into the light and air. Now, that the\nentire work should not be too much finished or quite completed, and to\nleave room for after-thoughts or possible improvements, he was wont,\nas he said, to give the Will some leeway, or freedom; which is the\nsame thing as if, before going to sleep, we _Will_ or determine that\non the following day our Imagination, or Creative Force, or Inventive\nGenius, shall be unusually active, which will come to pass after some\nsmall practice and a few repetitions, as all may find for themselves.\nTruly, it will be according to conditions, for if there be but little\nin a man, either he will bring but little out, or else he must wait\nuntil he can increase what he hath. And in this the Will _seems_ to\nact like an independent person, ingeniously, yet withal obedient. And\nthe same also characterizes images in dreams, which sometimes appear\nto be so real that it is no wonder many think they are spirits from\nanother world, as is true of many haunting thoughts which come\nunbidden. However, this is all mere Thaumaturgy, which has been so\ndeadly to Truth in the old _a priori_ psychology, and still works\nmischief, albeit it has its value in suggesting very often in Poetry\nwhat Science afterwards proves in Prose.\n\nTo return to PARACELSUS, HEINE complains that his German is harder to\nunderstand than his Latin. However, I think that in the following\npassages he shows distinctly a familiarity with hypnotism, or\ncertainly, passes by hand and suggestion. Thus, chap, x, _de Ente\nSpirituali_, in which the Will is described, begins as follows: \"Now\nshall ye mark that the Spirits rule their subjects. And I have shown\nintelligibly how the _Ens Spirituale_, or Spiritual Being, rules so\nmightily the body that many disorders may be ascribed to it. Therefore\nunto these ye should not apply ordinary medicine, but heal the\nspirit--therein lies the disorder.\"\n\nPARACELSUS clearly states that by the power of Foresight--he uses the\nexact word, _Fuersicht_--Man may, aided by Sleep, attain to knowledge--\npast, present or future--and achieve Telepathy, or communion at a\ndistance. In the _Fragmenta, Caput de Morbis Somnii_ he writes:\n\n\"Therefore learn, that by Foresight man can know future things; and,\nfrom experience, the past and present. Thereby is man so highly gifted\nin Nature that he knows or perceives (_sicht_), as he goes, his\nneighbor or friend in a distant land. Yet, on waking, he knows nothing\nof all this. For God has given to us all--Art, Wisdom, Reason--to know\nthe future, and what passes in distant lands; but we know it not, for\nwe fools, busied in common things, sleep away, as it were, what is in\nus. Thus, seeing one who is a better artist than thou art, do not say\nthat he has more gift or grace than thou; for thou hast it also, but\nhast not tried, and so is it with all things. What Adam and Moses did\nwas to _try_, and they succeeded, and it came neither from the Devil\nnor from Spirits, but from the Light of Nature, which they developed\nin themselves. But we do _not_ seek for what is in us, therefore we\nremain nothing, and are nothing.\"\n\nHere the author very obscurely, yet vigorously, declares that we can\ndo or learn what we _will_, but it must be achieved by foresight,\nwill, and the aid of sleep.\n\nIt seems very evident, after careful study of the text, that here, as\nin many other places, our author indicates familiarity with the method\nof developing mental action in its subtlest and most powerful forms.\nFirstly, by determined Foresight, and, secondly, by the aid of sleep,\ncorresponding to the bringing a seed to rest a while, and thereby\ncause it to germinate; the which admirable simile he himself uses in a\npassage which I have not cited.\n\nPARACELSUS was the most original thinker and the worst writer of a\nwondrous age, when all wrote badly and thought badly. There is in\nhis German writings hardly one sentence which is not ungrammatical,\nconfused, or clumsy; nor one without a vigorous idea, which shows the\nmind or character of the man.\n\nAs a curious instance of the poetic originality of PARACELSUS we may\ntake the following:\n\n\"It is an error to suppose that chiromancy is limited to the hand, for\nthere are significant lines (indicating character), all over the body.\nAnd it is so in vegetable life. For in a plant every leaf is a hand.\nMan hath two; a tree many, and every one reveals its anatomy--a\nhand-anatomy. Now ye shall understand that in double form the lines\nare masculine or feminine. And there are as many differences in these\nlines on leaves as in human hands.\"\n\nGOETHE has the credit that he reformed or advanced the Science of\nBotany, by reducing the plant to the leaf as the germ or type; and\nthis is now further reduced to the cell, but the step was a great one.\nDid not PARACELSUS, however, give the idea?\n\n\"The theory of signatures,\" says VAUGHAN, in his _Hours with the\nMystics_, \"proceeded on the supposition that every creatures bears in\nsome part of its structure . . . the indication of the character or\nvirtue inherent in it--the representation, in fact, of its ideal or\nsoul. . . . The student of sympathies thus essayed to read the\ncharacter of plants by signs in their organization, as the professor\nof palmistry announced that of men by lines in the hand.\" Thus, to a\ndegree which is very little understood, PARACELSUS took a great\nstep towards modern science. He disclaimed Magic and Sorcery, with\nceremonies, and endeavored to base all cure on human will. The name of\nPARACELSUS is now synonymous with Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, Elementary\nSpirits and Theurgy, when, in fact, he was in his time a bold\nreformer, who cast aside an immense amount of old superstition, and\nadvanced into what his age regarded as terribly free thought. He was\ncompared to LUTHER, and the doing so greatly pleased him; he dwells on\nit at length in one of his works.\n\nWhat PARACELSUS really believed in at heart was nothing more or less\nthan an unfathomable Nature, a _Natura naturans_ of infinite resource,\nconnected with which, as a microcosm, is man, who has also within him\ninfinite powers, which he can learn to master by cultivating the will,\nwhich must be begun at least by the aid of sleep, or letting the\nresolve ripen, as it were, in the mind, apart from Consciousness.\n\nI had written every line of my work on the same subject and principles\nlong before I was aware that I had unconsciously followed exactly in\nthe footprints of the great Master; for though I had made many other\ndiscoveries in his books, I knew nothing of this.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nLAST WORDS.\n\n    \"By carrying calves Milo, 'tis said, grew strong,\n    Until with ease he bore a bull along.\"\n\nIt is, I believe, unquestionable that, if he ever lived, a man who had\nattained to absolute control over his own mind, must have been the\nmost enviable of mortals. MONTAIGNE illustrates such an ideal being by\na quotation from VIRGIL:\n\n    \"Velut rupes vastum quae prodit in aequor\n    Obvia ventorum furiis, exposta que ponto,\n        Vim cunctum atque minas perfert caelique marisque\n    Ipsa immota manens.\"\n\n    \"He as a rock among vast billows stood,\n    Scorning loud winds and the wild raging flood,\n        And firm remaining, all the force defies,\n    From the grim threatening seas and thundering skies.\"\n\nAnd MONTAIGNE also doubted whether such self-control was possible. He\nremarks of it:\n\n\"Let us never attempt these Examples; we shall never come up to them.\nThis is too much and too rude for our common souls to undergo. CATO\nindeed gave up the noblest Life that ever was upon this account, but\nit is for us meaner spirited men to fly from the storm as far as we\ncan.\"\n\nIs it? I may have thought so once, but I begin to believe that in this\ndarkness a new strange light is beginning to show itself. The victory\nmay be won far more easily than the rather indolent and timid Essayist\never imagined. MONTAIGNE, and many more, believed that absolute\nself-control is only to be obtained by iron effort, heroic and\nterrible exertion--a conception based on bygone History, which is all\na record of battles of man against man, or man with the Devil. Now the\nworld is beginning slowly to make an ideal of peace, and disbelieve in\nthe Devil. Science is attempting to teach us that from any beginning,\nhowever small, great results are sure to be obtained if resolutely\nfollowed up and fully developed.\n\nIt requires thought to realize what a man gifted to some degree with\nculture and common sense must enjoy who can review the past without\npain, and regard the present with perfect assurance that come what may\nhe need have no fear or fluttering of the heart. Spenser has asked in\n\"The Fate of the Butterfly\":\n\n    \"What more felicity can fall to creature\n    Than to enjoy delight with liberty?\"\n\nTo which one may truly reply that all delight is fitful and uncertain\nunless bound or blended with the power to be indifferent to\ninvoluntary annoying emotions, and that self-command is in itself the\nhighest mental pleasure, or one which surpasses all of any kind. He\nwho does not overestimate the value of money or anything earthly is\nreally richer than the millionaire. There is a foolish story told by\nCOMBE in his Physiology of a man who had the supernatural gift of\nnever feeling any pain, be it from cold, hunger, heat, or accident.\nThe rain beat upon him in vain, the keenest north wind did not chill\nhim--he was fearless and free. But this immunity was coupled with an\ninability to feel pleasure--his wine or ale was no more to his palate\nthan water, and he could not feel the kiss of his child; and so we are\ntold that he was soon desirous to become a creature subject to all\nphysical sensations as before. But it is, as I said, a foolish tale,\nbecause it reduces all that is worth living for to being warm or\nenjoying taste. His mind was not affected, but that goes for nothing\nin such sheer sensuality. However, a man without losing his tastes or\nappetites may train his Will to so master Emotion as to enjoy delight\nwith liberty, and also exclude what constitutes the majority of all\nsuffering with man.\n\nIt is a truth that there is very often an extremely easy, simple and\nprosaic way to attain many an end, which has always been supposed to\nrequire stupendous efforts. In an Italian fairy tale a prince besieges\na castle with an army--trumpets blowing, banners waving, and all the\npomp and circumstances of war--to obtain a beautiful heroine who is\nmeanwhile carried away by a rival who knew of a subterranean passage.\nHitherto, as I have already said, men have sought for self-control\nonly by means of heroic exertion, or by besieging the castle from\nwithout; the simple system of Forethought and Self-Suggestion enables\none, as it were, to steal or slip away with ease by night and in\ndarkness that fairest of princesses, La Volonte, or the Will.\n\nFor he who wills to be equable and indifferent to the small and\ninvoluntary annoyances, teasing memories, irritating trifles, which\nconstitute the chief trouble in life to most folk, can bring it about,\nin small measure at first and in due time to greater perfection. And\nby perseverance this rivulet may to a river run, the river fall into a\nmighty lake, and this in time rush to the roaring sea; that is to say,\nfrom bearing with indifference or quite evading attacks of _ennui_, we\nmay come to enduring great afflictions with little suffering.\n\nNote that I do not say that we can come to bearing all the\nbereavements, losses, and trials of life with _absolute_ indifference.\nHerein MONTAIGNE and the Stoics of old were well nigh foolish to\nimagine such an impossible and indeed undesirable ideal. But it may be\nthat two men are afflicted by the same domestic loss, and one with a\nweak nature is well nigh crushed by it, gives himself up to endless\nweeping and perhaps never recovers from it, while another with quite\nas deep feelings, but far wiser, rallies, and by vigorous exertion\nmakes the grief a stimulus to exertion, so that while the former is\ndemoralized, the latter is strengthened. There is an habitual state of\nmind by which a man while knowing his losses fully can endure them\nbetter than others, and this endurance will be greatest in him who has\nalready cultivated it assiduously in minor matters. He who has swam in\nthe river can swim in the sea; he who can hear a door bang without\nstarting can listen to a cannon without jumping.\n\nThe method which I have described in this book will enable any person\ngifted with perseverance to make an equable or calm state of mind\nhabitual, moderately at first, more so by practice. And when this is\nattained the experimenter can progress rapidly in the path. It is\nprecisely the same as in learning a minor art, the pupil who can\ndesign a pattern (which corresponds to Foresight or plan), only\nrequires, as in wood-carving or repousse, to be trained by very easy\nprocess to become familiar with the use and feel of the tools, after\nwhich all that remains to be done is to keep on at what the pupil can\ndo without the least difficulty. Well begun and well run in the end\nwill be well done.\n\nBut glorious and marvelous is the power of him who has habituated\nhimself by easy exercise of Will to brush away the minor, meaningless\nand petty cares of life, such as, however, prey on most of us; for\nunto him great griefs are no harder to endure than the getting a coat\nsplashed is to an ordinary man.","title":"The Mystic Will: A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":39797}