The Master Key

CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION.

MENTAL EQUILIBRIUM.

Thought, our manner of thinking and self-control, or mental discipline are important factors in life’s achievements. On these depend our power of concentration and the mental equilibrium that must be maintained by those who wish to advance. It lies within the earnest student to create a world of thought wherein he may weather with calm fortitude the storms of mental life, for disappointment and sorrow pass no one by, and suffering is the loom in which character is made.

Mind can be so powerful a defensive arm in the battle of earthly existence, that, in behalf of his interests and welfare, the student should learn to measure its force, understand its almost limitless power, and educate himself to employ it judiciously. The student must learn to appreciate at its true value this force, given to him that he may be able to meet and conquer, not only exterior difficulties, but even greater and more subtle enemies from within.

Thought is a product of the mind, a mental vibration, and therefore, a force which penetrates even into the physical body and worldly affairs of mankind.

It is thought that slowly and unerringly builds up or tears down the whole moral fabric of our being. Consciously or unconsciously it acts upon everyone with whom you have near or remote contact. The great discoveries of science, the mechanical inventions, the master-pieces in music and art; all these, being achievements due to the patient and tireless efforts of the intellect, are but the results of concentrated thought.

If your thinking is inspired by high ideals, nourished by the practice of virtue and honesty, and is submissive to a will that sincerely directs it to its highest end, it will achieve moral, intellectual, and even material results of a positive character, as surely as sound seed planted in good soil will blossom and bear fruit following the natural law of its growth. Through the same certain process do evil results follow upon evil and sordid lines of thought, and hence the employment of this faculty for unworthy ends in any circumstances is a disintegrating action, morally disastrous to the individual, even though the material or intellectual aim has been accomplished.

Thought is a creative force—a fact that the student must always bear in mind. Every thought, be it good or evil, creates corresponding conditions. There is, however, a species of mental activity—if I may call it activity at all—which is akin to the flapping of canvas in the ill-trimmed sails of a vessel. It occupies some to the extent that they fancy they are thinking, but in reality they are floating aimlessly on the tide. Unless thought be employed for specific accomplishment, and guided and controlled by the will, it follows the line of least resistance and spends itself in idle dreaming. This dissipation of a great force weakens our mental and moral, and even our physical, faculties. It is in no wise different from the atrophy that follows upon non-use of our muscles in the work for which they were designed.

If we can say that any faculty of the human compound is more important than the faculty of thought—that one must be the will. It is the Divine part of man. Our most elementary concept of a successful man or woman is the concept of a compelling force—a great urging towards a result—and this is will, and every one of us possesses in a greater or less degree this faculty as an essential constituent of our individuality.

If we are to seek peace and moral strength in the highways of achievement the will must focus on worthy aims—our end must be Work well done rather than selfish advancement for its own sake. When the human will is directed by truth, honesty and confidence, man is guided and directed by an unerring vision of right, and even though failure should await his efforts, his whole moral nature has been strengthened by disinterested endeavor, and the way is prepared for some greater achievement with more telling results.

Reason is the mentor of the will—thoughts are its workmen. Reason plans the spiritual or material edifice; will is the foreman who controls and directs, keeping order and industry in the ranks of the workmen until the structure is complete. Thoughts, in other words, must be absolutely controlled by the will and directed by it into proper channels.

With the larger part of humanity, thoughts, like wayward, spoiled children, run hither and thither, seeking distraction and fair fields where no mental effort is required. The moment concentration is demanded—and this is speaking generally—they rebel, scamper off, and only a firm will can bring them bade. At first they sulk; the mind remains inactive, and all that has been gained apparently is a restless obedience on their part and a certain moral and mental strength, the result of persistent effort. But as thought was created subject to will, repeated and persistent effort on the part of this faculty reduces thought to docile and absolute obedience.

When you accomplish this, anarchy has been uprooted in the mental kingdom; a sensation of peace and strength is experienced in the re-establishment of order under the reign of reason and will. Infinite patience and untiring perseverance are important factors in the accomplishment of this result. The student of psychology and mental discipline must have no illusions concerning the arduous task that lies before him, and he must bring to it, not only courage and the determination to conquer, but a vigilance that never sleeps.

Few of today sufficiently realize the power of a thought; its danger and its creative potency. The minds of average human beings run riot. The majority of people even in this era of psychology and mental culture take little thought of what and how they think.

Actions are regarded to be the prime objects of consideration in their relation to the established order of things—they are learning only now, that if they would influence their actions with unquestioned certainty, they must cultivate the field in which their actions spring up and grow into actualities—and this field is the field of thought.

Many believe because their thoughts are their own and unknown to others, they imagine they can harbor all sorts of unworthy sentiments and feelings so long as they do not actually allow these feelings to betray themselves in corresponding actions. They do not realize that every bad mental habit indulged in against precept of perfection, not only inclines them to the act, but it lowers the ideal, and weakens their moral nature and power of resistance.

The Catholic Church recognizes how effective is thought in producing conditions since she requires her children to confess their sins of thought, and imposes penance for any deliberate evil intention, even though the act was never committed.

It follows, then, that our true worth or unworthiness lies in our manner of thinking, no matter how seemingly just or unjust we may outwardly appear. In the fortress of the mind alone is peace or unrest to be found, and in this the immutable law of compensation is made manifest.

The man who possesses all that life has to offer, who seems calm, prosperous, and upon whom fate apparently smiles, may be in a tumult of interior unrest and dissatisfaction. His outer life appears well ordered, while inwardly he is unforgiving, grasping and self-seeking. The apparently unfortunate being, on the contrary, who is generous, honest and distinterested in his thoughts, no matter how great may be his suffering, his privation, his unhappiness, possesses moral strength and clearness of vision, unknown to his prosperous brother; he has interior mental peace which gives content even in suffering. His life is pure at its fountain head—which is his world of thought—and this clear limpid stream runs through it in acceptance, resignation and the uplifting that comes from perfect harmony between his thoughts and his actions. Into such a life the whole world can gaze.

Thoughts are as important, and even more so, than words. Many are careful what they say, being fully alive to the disastrous or beneficent consequences of speech. It is equally important, therefore, to realize that although subtle and invisible in their efforts, thoughts are more potent than words. Words can be so empty, so feeble, while thought is always vital. We can say things we neither think nor mean, and such words carry no weight, but we must think things to feel them. Therefore the results of wrong thinking are much more harmful to the individual than anything he can say. They also pass on to others, in that subtle emanation which we call moral atmosphere, as a strengthening or disturbing influence, sometimes vaguely felt, sometimes imperceptible, but at all times positively active.

We must guard our thinking with the same circumspection we apply to speech, and could we realize this fact; and think as discreetly as we choose our words, believing it to be of equal importance, we would greatly simplify the task of thought control. There would be fewer regrets and anxious moments in life. A realization of what thought can accomplish will bend our energies toward learning how to employ this force, in order to attain the results they were meant to accomplish when properly controlled.

The discipline of the mind is hard and painful work, but its conquest more than compensates for the mental stress and earnestness it costs. Until mental control has restored order in the mind the thoughts that one would deny entrance to, struggle, clamor and batter on the door of the mind; while the thoughts that right reason urges one to entertain strain at the leash, seeking freedom to run where they will and give place to the discordant, idle brood that claim their habitual abiding-place.

The peculiar feature of this chaotic mental condition is that thought only becomes refractory when commanded. When free to sweep across the mind at will and according to mood, its strength is not perceived. If your thoughts be gloomy, unkind or bitter, the natural result is depression and bad temper. Should this mood persist, these discordant thoughts dwell peacefully and unmolested in the mind. Here you have a vicious circle—indulgence in discordant thoughts producing the mood; indulgence in the mood keeping the mind filled with these weakening and depressing thoughts.

Never lose sight of the fact that what you fear you attract. What you hope for and believe in you create; for mind is magnetic and attracts to itself whatever it frequently thinks about. It is fatal ever to parley with a thought one does not wish to entertain. Instantly it must be replaced by a concept, good and encouraging. Should the mind be filled with fear and dread—usually unfounded—of some impending danger, the picture should be reversed instantly, the mind forming an image of a happy successful issue to the situation. Even should the trend of your thinking be strongly and persistently in an evil vein, its seeming strength is fictitious and yields before a resolute act of the will. Here I am speaking not only of normal but undisciplined minds. Those suffering from neurasthenia, a disease in which the will is attacked, have neither the mental not the moral force to expel fixed ideas, which are one of the symptoms of the, malady.{1} Those same neurasthenics, however, can be cured by being taught to watch and control their thoughts, practising mental control for one minute at a time at first, until to reassert its authority becomes a habit of the mind.

How common it is to see people worrying about things that may never happen, mentally turning over situations that can be neither changed nor altered. This mental habit is demoralising to both body and soul, for such indulgence begets irritability and unrest; it weakens the nerves by the strain this manner of thinking puts upon the whole nervous system.

It is often necessary to entertain worrying, depressing and sad thoughts. Every situation must be looked at bravely and squarely if you are to know what strength and resource you must bring to bear upon it. You entertain such thoughts deliberately with the object of solving the problem, and such thinking is a deliberate act of the will. The introspection is normal and wholesome, and is accompanied by exterior activities directed to restoring happiness and peace of mind.

When sorrow comes, and death robs us of our loved ones, it is human and natural to grieve. Nature demands—within measure—the outward expression of grief which relieves the burdened heart, else sorrow eats within, and undermines the whole being. But in this legitimate indulgence in grief, if, instead of turning over in our minds the why and wherefore of our bereavement, or of dwelling upon the void in our lives, we strive manfully to fulfil the simple duties of our station in life, fixing the mind upon the task on hand, the mental and moral strength acquired through keeping the thoughts where the mind and hands are working, would give courage to bravely bear afflictions until time lays its healing hand upon our wounds. In the words of JOUBERT, "Dieu a ordonné au temps de consoler les Malheureux."

We have all known moments when we were besieged by worrying thoughts we really did not wish to entertain. Reason told us these thoughts were fruitless and depressing, and we knew full well they were demoralizing both to character and well-being. Notwithstanding this fact, we allowed these thoughts to harass our minds, dislodging them only temporarily in seeking some exterior distraction that enabled us to forget for the moment. This left them still master of the situation, for the distraction was but a weak surrender, not a firm and conquering act of will prompted by the realization that such thoughts were useless and harmful. The will is the sole, sure guardian of the mind, and when will acts in harmony with reason the mind is secure not only against these troublesome invaders, but is free to concentrate itself upon what is good, productive and useful. Furthermore, our happiness and peace of mind would not then be at the mercy of thoughts we do not wish to entertain and yet are powerless to banish completely.

Each student can prove to his own satisfaction that once having accomplished thought control, intellectual and moral qualities, and even material conditions, can be created by persistently holding the thought of that which one wishes to achieve.

By your manner of thinking you can entirely change your feelings in regard to others, and even help others to correct the faults that created your resentful attitude towards them.

As a student of Concentration and Mental Discipline, you must not forget that good is positive and evil is negative, and evil, being negative in its nature, should not be dwelt upon. To correct grave faults of character or disposition the mind must fix itself, not conspicuously upon uprooting these faults, but upon acquiring the opposite virtues. Should thoughts of bitterness and resentment for an injury done occupy the mind, it is not always possible to forgive the person simply because you believe it is Christian to do so. The mind inclines naturally to dwell upon the wrong done and the detestable character of the person who has done it. Each time these thoughts are indulged in, even though seemingly justifiable in the eyes of the injured party, hatred of the guilty person increases, and you see him only in his relation to yourself; all else in his life is ignored, however praiseworthy it may be. Nothing can bring about a change of heart save to resolutely dwell upon the one or more good qualities of that person or the good actions he has done in his life.

At first the evil inherent in many people rebels at this lenient attitude of mind, for their own evil tendencies grow and strengthen in thoughts of ill-will. A hard battle must now be fought, for your wrongs seem to fill up the whole horizon, and the poor sinner’s one redeeming quality appears but a trivial thing to consider. If these bitter and disturbing thoughts are instantly replaced by good thoughts each time they occur, be it one hundred times a day, one hundred times the moral nature has been strengthened, the mind disciplined; and when the battle seems to last beyond your strength to endure, suddenly all resentment disappears, giving place to feelings of pity and compassion towards your enemy. The mollification of your resentment at once relieves the tension in your moral nature, peace abides within, and you are once more free: for in yielding to evil sentiments you become their slaves. Students of Psychology can make it a habit to see only the good in people, by refusing to dwell upon their faults, however glaring they may be. If you are to accomplish this, it can be only by instantly turning the mind from the faults of your neighbor to the good qualities or virtues he may possess.

The man who labors to see only what is good in others, who remembers only the kind actions done to him, even though these kind actions may have been followed by much selfishness, neglect and ingratitude, is a man who eliminates from his life all mental friction. This must be so because goodwill and indulgence towards the weaknesses of others, fill his heart to the exclusion of unkind feelings, and a consciousness of his own failings, and a determination to correct them, arrests the tendency to criticise and condemn the faults of his neighbor.

This most desirable condition of soul can be brought about by our manner of thinking. Once we realize that the workings of the mind are according to psychological laws, we know that in learning these laws, and in acting in harmony with them, we inevitably arrive at self-control, happiness and interior peace, independent of place and condition.

In order to bring these truths home forcibly to himself the student must first realize that thought is creative: that by persevering in a certain manner of thinking he can, not only create qualities, sentiments and even conditions, but through thought he can also transform that which already exists. This being the case distressing and morbid thoughts should never be indulged in, save when the situation that begot them must be studied with a view to its removal. Should there be no remedy for the evil, no exit from the unhappy mental state, then it is the height of folly to dwell upon it. Depressing, anxious thoughts are powerless to change a situation, they only vitiate one’s mental, moral and physical vitality.

The mind must be turned to the few blessings, or perhaps the sole blessing one has; we must see only this blessing, and resist bravely the inclination to dwell upon the privations and disappointments in our lives. In so doing, the natural result is entire acceptance of the unhappy condition, and once acceptance enters the heart, peace comes with it to dwell within and sweeten our lives. Sometimes, in after years, we see the wisdom of not having obtained that for which we wept, and for which we uselessly cast a shadow over our lives by our grief and repining. This should teach us that a great unmutable power for right is behind our lives, ordering them to the accomplishment of the highest good. This highest good is ever and always our own ultimate peace and happiness.

The creative power of thought, resides in every human being in like measure, and was given to man to aid him to attain his full development and consequent happiness. The degree to which it can be taken advantage of depends upon individual effort and true faith in one’s self.

Our moral, intellectual, or material ideal must be chosen according to reason; that is, not attempting, save in the moral order, to accomplish results beyond our individual talents and capacities. We must nourish and strengthen the ideal by persistent thought of it, and persistent thought requires an act of the will, a combination which finds us in the harmonious employment of all our faculties towards a desired end. When this end or object is worthy and righteous, the powers of right are with the one who strives, and the efforts of men are fruitless to frustrate his work.

In whatever line creation is sought along—circumstances, health, mental virility, efficiency, or what not, Concentration, Faith, Belief, Realization and Mental Discipline will be factors that are indispensable. Everywhere in nature Concentration and Crystallization are necessary to the formation of matter in its various forms. It would be almost impossible for water to become ice if it were kept in constant motion. If one could see the activities of the mind rushing and whirling about first in one direction, then in another, they would gain some idea of the steadying effect of Mental Discipline. Concentration is like the provision of a channel to a quantity of water which is running over here and there, in twenty different directions, wasting, having no effect, but the placing of a deep channel would attract all the water, and its force would be sufficient to drive a mill.

Personal power is the desideratum of most people, for without it little headway in any direction can be made. He who would possess it must concentrate on it, though to possess it means that preparation for it should be made. No force is worth anything unless it is understood. A cheque for a thousand dollars would be useless to a South Sea islander or a native in the heart of a desert, so an influx of power would be out of place where a man had not learned the use of that power, where he had not created beforehand in himself some purpose to which power could be put when it was there.

Let character come first in all self-development, and there is no better way of employing Concentration than by applying it to this end; by building day by day a strong, evenly balanced character, all development afterwards will be sane. Whatever virtue a man would possess let him dwell on it in thought, meditating so to speak—not in the morbid sense, but—seeing and realizing himself as already the possessor of it, as he indeed is in his innermost center, and the longer he keeps this thought and belief before him the more indissolubly will it weave itself into his being until he is that virtue personified.

With a strong character gained by Will Culture, Scientific Concentration and Mental Discipline personal power is assured, and living on the superior side of life, on the highest side of the soul, as taught herein, the student gradually develops a power of mind that will enable him to cope with the vicissitudes of life. If to know oneself is one of the most important things a man can do there is nothing which will so help him as this practice of concentrating on those things one would have knowledge on, and after knowledge comes wisdom—before which all else pales into nothingness.

The training of the mind requires: first, a vigilant surveillance of thought in order to discover our failings in this regard; second, Concentration upon what is good, useful and true; and lastly, a directing of thought to the accomplishment of that which we desire.

Courage of the student to face the truth about himself, and the will to persevere in the work of reform in his world of thought, lead unquestionably to peace, to mental strength, and to the adjusting of his life to conditions however difficult the conditions may be.

This is the secret of true content, the content the world is unconsciously seeking, even when pursuing pleasure and vain gratifications that ever elude its grasp, or, when attained, are found to be Dead Sea fruit.

Part One

CHAPTER II.—LESSON ONE.

LOGICAL THINKING AND ETHICAL ORDER.

Franklin was asked one day how he happened to be so lucky as to see clearly into problems of physical science. "By always thinking of them," he replied. It is the same with ethical order; we only come near the ideal by always thinking or concentrating on it.

Scientific Concentration, which summed up is "Logical Thinking" intelligently applied, illuminates the student’s path, prevents his making mistakes and, eventually leads to success.

Those mistakes made by the student are never quite regrettable if, recognizing the wrong road, he seeks to return to the right one. The beginning of success is the knowledge of one’s faults. Many suffer today through faulty concentration as a close perusal of this work by the intelligent student will show.

Of the many faculties with which the human mind is possessed not one has been less utilized and brought intelligently under mental discipline and used to further and better one’s physical, mental and moral well being than that of Concentration. Scarcely a thought is given to it by many, as it does not seem to merit any particular attention. People have got on very well without it, some say, so why bother about it? The question is on a par with "What’s the good of anything?" and would be put by the same kind of an individual. There was not the same need for it in the past that exists today. Not that our ancestors were altogether idle, or had no brains, but that pressure was not so great, that their avocations were largely pastoral, and did not demand the focusing and intelligent concentrating of the powers of the mind for long together. Warring with each other certainly demanded watchfulness, and resourcefulness, but impulse and a ready with supplied it to a great extent. Times have changed since then, and man has become a much more mental creature, though from one standpoint he has never been anything else, but the life he has led has been more bosomed in mentality. By the very character of his makeup he has become more diverse in his talents; he has branched out in a thousand directions, as the unfolding life within sought expression. If he led the nomadic life today he would sink back to the animal. He may seek simplicity, because it permits the higher faculties of the mind their rightful expression, but it will not be the simplicity our forefathers associated with the word. A man may enjoy to the utmost the beauties of Nature and yet realize the joy of living in our complex civilization. Complexity cannot be avoided now, even were it desirable, which it is not, but to thoroughly extract the best from it a man must be able to adapt his mental faculties to the life lived. This cannot be done unless he has a knowledge of Scientific Concentration, because it is the gateway to the other powers of the mind. It should come almost first in the training of the mind, in the growth of the mentality, in brain-getting or growing. It is inseparably connected with success, of whatever that success may consist.

Its need, in fact, is much greater today than ever before, not only on account of the greater complexity to which reference is made above, but because evolution as a factor in life has modified and changed our nature and powers to some extent. Writers, noting the restlessness which is running through every stratum of society, attribute it to the education act passed in England in 1870 and also in this country, because prior to compulsory education illiteracy was very common, and the masses were not able to think as those who have benefited by it. No doubt there is a modicum of truth in the contention, but it does not explain all. Dissatisfaction with things was bound to be one result of education among the people, and the nonsensical teaching that it was the right of the brainless to confiscate the fruit of those gifted with initiative and push was certain to be a popular one. Changes of this character are necessarily slow, when measured by the life of an individual, and they might even be questioned, but that this force of evolution is operative will not be doubted by thinking people.

Students of history will be struck when making a comparison with the mental life of the nation of today with that of five hundred years ago. While all the great levers which function in the moving of man’s nature are as manifest today, there is a very different mentality seen and this suggests an idea which must have been increasingly apparent to everyone during the last decade—man is after all a mental and spiritual creature. That is to say, he is more mind than body. In prehistoric times when the physical vehicle was the all-important part of his being, when outward form was being fashioned to fit in with the life then lived there was no room for mind: the need for it had not been felt. Man’s varied wants were few and simple, and the mental principle could well be ignored. Today writers speak of man as being all mind; they affirm most emphatically that mind is all, that whatever form life may take it is only an expression of the mind or mental part of man. This view of life alters one’s whole outlook of it; the holding of such a theory gives more weight and power to the mind as the arbiter of man’s happiness. The view obtains more and more among thoughtful people that consciousness or life is imprisoned in the early ages of the earth in rock and stone, and as later times dawn passes into forms which permit a freer play of expression. Through the kingdom of Nature this life passes in turn, vitalizing, pulsing through the various forms which each kingdom provided for the purpose. When the human kingdom is reached more mentality is expressed, and it then becomes more evident that mind is at the base of all manifestation, and that man is the highest expression of this truth. The presence of the animal in man is too patent to question, but it is equally plain that man has the choice of allying himself with the lower or higher principles within him. In so far as he recognizes the basis of his being as mental and ignores the animal will he more fully realize within himself the truth of the assertion that man is nothing but mind and soul in expression.

It is because man is a mental creature that he so widely diverges from the animals. Unlike them he has a part of his nature which merely physical wants will not satisfy, save in the case of some very aboriginal tribes, and they scarcely count at the moment, for the higher animals are above them in intelligence. Man recognizes this difference, but he does not understand the full import of it. He does not as yet see in himself the highest expression of the Law, nor does he understand what the Law is. He obeys the law of his being, however, little dreaming the real causes and effects expressing themselves through him. It is clear to him that mind holds a dominating place in the world. He knows that it is the thinkers, the scientists, the philosophers who stand at the head of the race, because they have developed the highest part of their nature. He recalls what a vast space separates the amoeba from him. That tiny creature, the first form of sentient life, minus the five senses, no limbs, no ears, no head, no eyes, no stomach even. No wonder it is a popular starting point with all authors when comparing man as we now know him and from what he sprang first. It is a long way down the vistas of time since that period; every step in the upward path of man has been in the direction of mind, and today the Law is beginning to be understood which will lift man entirely out of the rut of unconsciousness, in which he has trudged all these aeons. The animals do not know why they are here, what the object of evolution is, the purpose of life; many men are in the same position, but here and there men have penetrated into the mysterious chasms and awe-inspiring laboratories of Nature, which yields her secrets reluctantly to the seeker after knowledge. Right along the ages growth has been insistent, but unconscious, and man has reached a point now where it should cease to be unconscious any longer.

Why? Because the physical growth has now reached its climax. There is no particular in which the human form could be improved. All that is necessary for its perfect functioning has been provided. Some writers think that man’s strong desire to fly will result in his providing his body with wings, but this desire for the conquest of the air without adventitious aids like aeroplanes and balloons does not necessarily require the sprouting of organs which would decidedly be in the way in many cases. Man has no fins, yet he can swim, so there is no need to imitate the birds. Indeed, among the Hindus and more than one Eastern race levitation has been known for thousands of years, and it is accomplished by counteracting the law of gravitation. The writer is acquainted with a disciple of Eastern philosophy who got to the point of discovery of the secret of levitation without having come in contact with Easterns, having worked out the theory from his own consciousness, but his brain refused to carry the discovery through. It is axiomatic that no question can be asked which cannot be answered, so that provided man was really in earnest and desired strongly enough to raise his own body without any outside agency he would indubitably accomplish it.

No, the human body is scarcely likely to alter in shape, or that other physical organs will be grafted on to it, but it is extremely probable that man will enlarge his conceptions of the kosmos, will demand to know why he is here, what his destiny is, how he may control it, how enjoy a wider use of power. All this is natural, because it is in the nature of mind to be unsatisfied with theories and explanations which are obviously not founded on truth. Truth is really what man seeks, though he may not always be aware of it. The desire to know is to know what IS, and what is can only be truth. I am constantly reminding students that the words good, beautiful and true are practically all the same, as Plato long ago taught. Some think that they will depreciate in the eyes of people if they openly confess to their neighbors or announce that they are searching for the truth. They fear the world will laugh at them, or take them for mere visionaries; then truth often seems to be so abstract, so diaphanous, so filmy, unreal, breathing of mysticism or the occult. Man has been searching for it, as a matter of fact, since he was first launched on this chain of globes, and the quest of the holy grail is no legend.

The desire for knowledge of self is apparent on every side, and it will no longer be satisfied with the old-time answers to its questionings. He must know; authority no longer carries any force or weight, for it has so often been found lacking in truth, and each man can only assimilate that portion of truth which he is able to make his own. To gain this knowledge, or even the lower knowledge, if I may divide knowledge in this way, man must possess the tool by means of which he can delve within himself for it, and what faculty of the mind can so materially assist him in either this work or the exploration of that vast territory of man’s being—the Subconscious—than Concentration.

Most writers have been content to dismiss the subject with a few words and the setting of some exercises; its difficulties have been carefully veiled, and its simplicity been delightfully described. With some people this is a sure way to get them to study a thing. Few are built like Browning’s Grammarian, who said:

"Let me know all! Prate not of most or least

Painful or easy."

In reality, Concentration is not a power which can be readily gained, one of the chief reasons being that it should be taken up after mind-training generally rather than precede it. Of course, to train the mind even Concentration to some extent is necessary, but it can only be practiced properly when we know something of the laws of thought and the possibilities of the soul, hence the failure of so many students to be able to concentrate after the perusal of a book or article professing to deal with it. It is no use telling a person that all he has to do is to get interested in a thing and he will be able to concentrate on it. This applies to a very limited area; it does not help one much with the varied duties of life, or the attitude of the mind and other faculties. Concentration can only be said to be satisfactory when we can apply it at any moment of our lives to whatever subject or problem we desire. Something more must be known concerning consciousness and its modes of action.

For his first lesson, then, the student must seek to gain some knowledge of the factors which constitute his mind, to see how best to train them, to eliminate from his mentality that which destroys the power to concentrate, how to direct and govern his feelings and emotions so that they shall bring about the formation of those elements so essential to the power to fasten the fangs of the mind deeply into any point and keep them there until he gives it permission to relax its hold. This is only a portion of the problem, but it leads directly to the path of Concentration, the end of the student’s goal in this course. The true and sincere student will not mind the spade work, for he gains a prize worth all the most brilliant jewels the world can offer him: he has gained The Master Key! After it study, the acquirement of learning, the acquisition of wisdom, the royal road to truth, power, self-culture in the widest sense are his. The deepest secret that Nature holds can be wrested from her by it, for the penetrative power of Concentration pierces the most impenetrable—or apparently so—veil.

Brains are necessary as a preliminary to Concentration, and the sluggish materials which bear that name must be cultivated, as I have pointed out in this work. They are not the prerogative of the few, though by the negative evidence offered we might imagine that they were most sparingly doled out by Nature. While they may be plentiful, however, they are used to so small an extent that their owners might often get on as well without them. No one knows how lethargic people are in regard to study or any mental work better than teachers. Those who have been many years in the teaching of Psychology can testify how difficult it is to get faithful students, no matter what advantages may be offered. The fact of education having to be enforced by law offers as striking a testimony as any to the mental apathy, the failure to see the advantages which spring from the cultivation of one’s mental powers and faculties. The cry that parents in the old days got on all right without education and they did not see why their minds could not do the same was very common at one time, and even today may be heard from time to time. There is almost a premium on ignorance among the working class in this country and also in other English-speaking countries, for in spite of the alluring facilities offered in cheap textbooks and free schools and institutions not twenty per cent of them speak their language grammatically. Self-culture is extremely distasteful to the great bulk: a football match or a baseball game would be more to the taste of the modern youth and a novelette to the modern maid. Anything which requires the exercise of the mind is given a wide berth. Even among the middle classes the shrinking from mental work is almost as marked, unless it have some connection with the avocation followed.

There is no disguising this tendency of the age, and before the student can profitably practice Concentration he must make up his mind that he is going to overhaul his mental stock-in-trade—gather the material together before he sets it to work on some task.

Many may regard their brains as being overtaxed; a very small portion of the brain-area has been used so far, though one may be sixty or seventy years old, unless he has passed his life in purely sedentary work, and only then when the work has been of a very varied description, a working journalist providing an example. The writer will admit that this is a busy age, an age of hustle and bustle, but it does not follow that we are overworked mentally, even if our work may be mental. There is a great fear of overtaxing the brain, and suffering from nervous breakdown, but none need overwork, provided he obtain sufficient sleep. A break in work is decidedly desirable, and those whose work is purely sedentary may obtain relaxation, even by taking up the study of another subject, because another portion of the brain will be employed thereby. Remember that just as water continually trickling down a hillside makes a channel for itself before long, so repeating certain trains of thought, or doing the same thing with the brain repeatedly, like a bookkeeper adding up columns of figures, makes a channel in the brain. If the convolutions of the brain were spread out they would be found to make a good sized area, and would satisfy the most ardent devotee of knowledge.

Mental Discipline must be begun now, and to do this light, sensational reading should be lessened almost to the point of extinction, because reading three lines on one subject is to commence a definite train of thought, which is broken the next minute, or often less than half a minute, by the intrusion of another subject. This diffuses or scatters the thought, and if those who are guilty of the habit only knew the amount of harm done their mental mechanism the writer feels sure they would abandon the habit at once. The custom of seeking to extract the pith from everything may be commendable in itself, but it works out with disastrous effects to the average mind, just as efforts to subsist on essences and concentrated foods in tabloid form do with regard to the body. The desire to get at the pith of a subject at the very commencement arises from a wish to avoid study, and this is not the right attitude of those who seek to acquire the faculty of concentration. In conversation, too, a thought should be kept until all concerning it of an interesting nature has been extracted, which does not mean wearing it threadbare. Diffusion essentially means surfacing things only, and Concentration means getting into the depths, a going to the center of a thing.

By Mental Discipline is meant the assertion of the I over the mind, which may strike some readers as odd, because they have generally associated themselves with their mind. They unthinkingly say "my mind," showing that the mind is not themselves, but something possessed by the real man, and that is really the fact. This course of Mental Discipline will not venture to define what the real man is, as it would take the student too far out of his way, but it is essential that he understand that the mind is only an instrument, just as the body is. Some people know from experience—often painful—that they do things at times that they really do not wish to do, possibly partaking of something which has up to now acted injuriously to them, or followed some course that they do not approve, yet felt, through their lack of Mental Discipline, that they had to follow. Begin to regard this mind, then, as something amenable to the will, to the true self, and being amenable it must of necessity be lower. Being lower it is the servant, and not the master as it really seems to be to most people. There is in reality not the slightest excuse for your shortcomings, your "little weaknesses," though you like to think there is, because it seems to exculpate you, and make you greater than you are. In truth, it only lowers you, weakens you, makes you less capable of bringing out the powers and principles within you, and the object of this course is to strengthen, to evolve.

It will be well to remind yourself daily that you are not your mind, that you are something infinitely far higher, and that in proportion as you recognize this truth you shall be able to subjugate the mind, and learn to concentrate, because if you are obsessed with the idea that you are at the mercy of your own mind you will accomplish nothing. I happened to state at a lecture I gave recently that anyone could control his thought if he wished, and in the discussion which followed a gentleman challenged the statement, because he had been trying for thirty years to do so and had not succeeded. On such a principle, if a man who had been trying to learn to play the piano for thirty years and had not succeeded, it might be laid down that no one could learn to play the instrument. The absurdity is apparent, yet almost as absurd objections are brought against the New Psychology. Because one man has not contacted his higher self he denies the existence of it. I grant the idea may be strange; there may be more evidence to support the popular theory that