Speaker 1: What is mental fascination. Fascination means the act of fascinating
or state of being fascinated. The word fascinate springs from
the Latin word fastenar, meaning to enchant, be which charmed
by eyes or tongue, captivate, attract, etc. The definition of
the English word fascinate is as follows, to act upon
by some powerful or irresistible influence. To influence by an
irresistible charm, to allure or excite irresistibly or powerfully, to charm, captivate,
or attract powerfully. To influence the imagination, reason, or will
of another in an uncontrollable manner. To enchant, captivate, or
allure powerfully or irresistibly. The above definition is condemned from
a number of the best dictionaries and gives the cream
of the idea embodied in the word. My definition. In
this manual, I shall use the term mental fascination in
the sense of the action of a mental force that
powerfully influences the imagination, desire, or will of another. This
is my own broad definition, which includes all the varied
phenomena of personal magnetism, psychological influence, hypnotism, mesmerism, charming, et cetera,
et cetera, all of which I hold to be but
varying phases of phenomena of one force. These things are
all a bit of the same piece, In spite of
the claims to the contrary on the part of those
who did not like the relationship. The nature of the force?
What is the nature of the force which produces that
which we call mental fascination, which latter I have defined
as the action of a mental force that powerfully influences
the imagination, desire, or will of another. Mental fascination is
the manifestation? What is the nature of the mental force
that powerfully influences? As you will see in some of
the following chapters, there have been many theories advanced to
account for this force, the theories varying from magnetic fluids
to mere simple suggestions on the part of the influencing person.
Nearly every writer on the subject has had his own
pet theory. But although these theories varied and differed greatly,
the effects produced were about the same, which naturally leads
us to look for some common basic principle operating under
all forms. Regardless of the many theories advanced by those
producing the effects. It is the old story. Here, as elsewhere,
a man finds that he is able to produce certain
phenomena by certain methods. He works along practical lines for
a time, endeavoring to perfect his methods and increase the
variety and effectiveness of the phenomena. When he has advanced
along these lines, he begins to look around him for
a theory to fit the facts of the case. And
here is where he usually makes his mistake. He evolves
some fantastic theory which seems to him to account for
the effects produced, and then he endeavors to fit the
facts into the theory. If the facts will not so
fit in well, so much worse for the facts, and
he either discards the non conforming facts, or else ignores
or denies them. This has been the course of theorists
since the beginning. After a while, some man of a
more scientific mind examines the recorded facts and discovers the
true underlying principle and reckons the differing theories of the
original theorists by a new synthesis which combines the true
principles in all the other theories, discarding the pet hobbies
or prejudices of the previous authorities. And so it is
the case of mental fascination, as we shall see the
underlying theory. I shalt not have much to say about
theory in this book. I have explained the theory and
principle underlying mental fascination in my larger book entitled The
Secret of Mental Magic, of which this little manual is
a side light. In that book, I have explained the
underlying force beneath all forms of mental magic, and mental
fascination is one of those forms. It is the universal
mentative energy, of which and in which each individual mind
is a center of activity. I have also explained that
the mentative energy of each individual mind MI is and
may be transmitted from one person to another by means
of mentative currents or waves, and that these mentative currents
and waves tend to induce in the minds of other
persons the emotions or feelings existing in the mental states
of the person sending out the waves or currents. The
mental poles. I have also explained that there are two
mental poles, known as the motive and emotive poles, respectively,
which manifest will power and desire force respectively. Desire force
acts in the direction of drawing, pulling, attracting, luring, coaxing, charming, etc.
While willpower acts in the direction of compelling, forcing, driving, impelling, commanding, demanding, etc.
Desire always draws its object towards its dens, while will
always overpowers and compels its object, generally in the sense
of driving it into action. In mental fascination, both desire
force and will power are employed generally in combination. Desire
force has been called the feminine phase of menative energy,
and willpower the masculine, And in this as in everything else,
the combination of those two qualities produces the most marked results.
The student will be able to distinguish between the action
of these two phases of the force as he reads
the pages of this book in which instances of mental
fascination are given. That is all that I shall have
to say about theory in this book, except where the
various points are brought out in illustrating the examples given,
I must refer my students to My Secret of Mental
Magic for details of theory and principle. The present book
deals with the how rather than the why. Ey