Speaker 1: The fourth lesson mental control, Part one. In our first
three lessons of this series, we have endeavored to bring
into realization within your mind. One the consciousness of the eye,
its independence from the body, its immortality, its invincibility and invulnerability.
Two the superiority of the eye over the mind as
well as over the body. The fact that the mind
is not the eye, but is merely an instrument for
the expression of the eye. The fact that the eye
is master of the mind as well as of the body.
That the eye is behind all thought. That the eye
can set aside for consideration the sensations, emotions, passions, desires,
and the rest of the mental phenomena, and still realize
that it the eye is apart from these mental manifestations
and remains unchanged, real and fully existent. That the eye
can set aside any and all of its mental tools
and instruments as not i things, and still consciously realize
that after so setting them aside, there remains something itself,
the eye, which cannot be set aside or taken from
That the eye is the master of the mind and
not its slave. Three, that the eye is a much
greater thing than the little personal eye. We have been
considering it to be that the eye is a part
of that great one reality which pervades all the universe.
That it is connected with all other forms of life
by countless ties, mental and spiritual filaments and relations. That
the eye is the center of consciousness in that great
one reality or spirit, which is behind and back of
all life and existence, the center of which reality or
existence is the Absolute or God. That the sense of
reality that is inherent in the eye is really the
reflection of the sense of reality inherent in the whole,
the great eye of the universe. The underlying principle of
these three lessons is the reality of the eye in
itself over and above all matter, force, or mind, positive
to all of them, just as they are positive or
negative to each other, and negative only to the center
of the One, the Absolute. And this is the position
for the candidate or initiate to take. I am positive
to mind, energy, and matter, and control them all. I
am negative only to the Absolute, which is the center
of being, of which being I am. And as I
exert my mastery over mind, energy, and matter and exercise
my will over them, so do I acknowledge my subordination
to the Absolute and gladly open my soul to the
inflow of the Divine will and partake of its power, strength,
and wisdom. In the present lesson and those immediately following it,
we shall endeavor to assist the candidate or initiate in
acquiring a mastery of the subordinate manifestations matter, energy, and mind.
In order to acquire and assert this mastery, one must
acquaint himself with the nature of the thing to be controlled.
In our advanced course, we have endeavored to explain to
you the nature of the three great manifestations known as
Hita or mind, substance, Prana or energy, and Akasa or
the principle of matter. We also explain to you that
the eye of men is superior to these three, being
what is known as Atman or spirit, Matter, energy, and mind,
as we have explained, are manifestations of the absolute in
our relative things. The Yogi philosophy teaches that matter is
the grossest form of manifested substance, being below energy and
mind and consequently negative to and subordinate to both. One
stage higher than matter is energy or force, which is
positive to and has authority over matter, matter, being a
still grosser form of substance, but which is negative to
and subordinate to mind, which is a still higher form
of substance. Next in order comes the highest of the three, Mind,
the finest form of substance, and which dominates both energy
and matter, being positive to both. Mind, however, is negative
and subordinate to the Eye, which is spirit, and obeys
the orders of the latter when firmly and intelligently given.
The eye itself is subordinate only to the absolute, the
center of being, the I, being positive and dominant over
the threefold manifestation of mind, energy, and matter. The eye,
which for the sake of the illustration, must be regarded
as a separate thing, although it is really only a
center of consciousness in the great body of Spirit, finds
itself surrounded by the triple ocean of mind, energy, and matter,
which ocean extends into infinity. The body is but a
physical form through which flows an unending stream of matter.
For as you know, the particles and atoms of the
body are constantly changing, being renewed, replaced, thrown off, and
supplanted one's body of a few years ago, or rather,
the particles composing that body have passed off and now
form new combinations in the world of matter, and one's
body of today is passing away and being replaced by
new particles. And one's body of next year is now
occupying some other portion of space, and its particles are
now parts of countless other combinations from its space, and
combinations they will later come to combine and form the
body of next year. There is nothing permanent about the body.
Even the particles of the bones are being constantly replaced
by others. And so it is with the vital energy
force or strength of the body, including that of the brain.
It is constantly being used up and expended, a fresh
supply taking its place. And even the mind of the
person is changeable, and the mind substance or keita is
being used up and replenished, the new supply coming from
the great ocean of mind into which the discarded portion slips,
just as is the case with the matter and energy.
While the majority of our students, who are more or
less familiar with the current material scientific conceptions, will readily
accept the above idea of the ocean of matter and
energy and the fact that there is a continual using
up and replenishing of one store of both, they may
have more or less trouble in accepting the idea that
mind is a substance or principle amenable to the same
general laws as are the other two manifestations or attributes
of substance. One is so apt to think of his
mind as himself the eye, notwithstanding the fact that in
our second lesson of this series, which showed you that
the eye is superior to the mental states, and that
it can set them aside and regard and consider them
as not i things. Yet the force of the habit
of thought is very strong, and it may take some
of you considerable time before you get into the way
of realizing that your mind is something that you use
instead of being you yourself. And yet you must persevere
in attaining this realization. For in the degree that you
realize your dominance over your mind, so will be your
control of it and its amenability to that control. And
as is the degree of that dominance in control, so
will be the character, great and extent of the work
that your mind will do for you. So you see,
realization brings control and control brings results. This statement lies
at the base of the science of Raja yoga, and
many of its first exercises are designed to acquaint the
student with that realization and to develop the realization and
control by habit and practice. The Yogi philosophy teaches that
instead of mind being the eye, it is the thing
through and by means of which the eye thinks, at
least so far as is concerned the knowledge concerning the
phenomenal or outward universe, that is, the universe of name
and form. There is a higher knowledge locked up in
the innermost part of the eye that far transcends any
information that it may receive about or from the outer world.
But that is not before us for consideration at this time,
and we must concern ourselves with the thinking about the
world of things. Mind substance in Sanskrit is called kita,
and a wave in the kita, which wave is the
combination of mind and energy, is called frita, which is
akin to what we call a thought. In other words,
it is mind in action, whereas kita is mind in repose. Frita,
when literally translated, means a whirlpool or eddy in the mind,
which is exactly what a thought really is. But we
must call the attention of the student at this point
to the fact that the word mind is used in
two ways by the Yogis, and other occultists, and the
student is directed to form a clear concept of each
meaning in order to avoid confusion, and that he may
more clearly perceive the true aspects of the things which
the word is intended to express. In the first place,
the word mind is used as synonymous with kita or
mind substance, which is the universal mind principle. From this kita,
mind substance, or mind, all the material of the millions
of personal minds is obtained. The sacond meaning of the
word mind is that which we mean when we speak
of the mind of any one, thereby meaning the mental
faculties of that particular person, that which distinguishes his mental
personality from that of another. We have taught you that
this mind in men functions on three planes, and have
called the respective manifestations one the instinctive mind, two the intellect,
and three the spiritual mind see fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy,
et cetera. These three mental planes, taken together, make up
the mind of the person, or, to be more exact,
they clustered around the eye form the soul of the individual.
The word soul is often used as synonymous with spirit,
but those who have followed us will distinguish the difference.
The soul is the ego surrounded by its mental principles,
while the spirit is the soul of the soul, the eye,
or real self. The science of Raja Yoga to which
these series of lessons is devoted, teaches as its basic
principle the control of the mind. It holds that the
first step toward power consists in obtaining a control of
one's own mind. It holds that the internal world must
be conquered before the outer world is attacked. It holds
that the eye manifests itself in will, and that that
will may be used to manipulate, guide, govern, and direct
the mind of its owner, as well as the physical world.
It aims to clear away all mental rubbish and encumbrances,
to conduct a mental house cleaning, as it were, and
to secure a clear, clean, healthy mind. Then it proceeds
to control that mind intelligently and with effect, saving all
waste power, and by means of concentration, bringing the mind
in full harmony with the will, that it may be
brought to a focus and its power greatly increased, and
its efficiency fully secured. Concentration and will power are the
means by which the Yogis obtain such wonderful results and
by which they manage and direct their vigorous, healthy minds
and master the material world, acting positively upon energy and matter.
This control extends to all planes of the mind, and
the yogis not only controlled the instinctive mind, holding in
subjection its lower qualities and making use of its other parts,
but they also develop and enlarge the field of their
intellect and obtain from it wonderful results. Even this spiritual
mind is mastered and aided in its unfoldment, and urged
to pass down into the field of consciousness some of
the wonderful secrets to be found within its area. By
means of Raja yoga, many of the secrets of existence
and being, many of the riddles of the universe are
answered and solved, and by it, the latent powers inherent
in the constitution of men are unfolded and brought into action.
Those highly advanced in the science are believed to have
attained such a wonderful degree of power and control over
the forces of the universe that they are as gods
compared with the ordinary men. Raja Yoga teaches that not
only may power of this kind be secured but that
a wonderful field of knowledge is opened out through its practice.
It holds that when the concentrated mind is focused upon
thing or subject, the true nature and inner meaning of
and concerning that thing or subject will be brought to view.
The concentrated mind passes through the object or subject, just
as the X ray passes through a block of wood,
and the thing is seen by the eye as it
is in truth and not as it had appeared before,
imperfectly and erroneously. Not only may the outside world be
thus explored, but the mental ray may be turned inward
and the secret places of the mind explored. When it
is remembered that the bit of mind that each man
possesses is like a drop of the ocean, which contains
within its tiny compass all the elements that make up
the ocean, and that to know perfectly the drop is
to know perfectly the ocean, then we begin to see
what such a power really means. Many in the Western world,
who have attained great results in the intellectual and scientific
fields of endeavor, have developed these powers, more or less unconsciously.
Many great inventors are practical yogis, although they do not
realize the source of their power. Any One who is
familiar with the personal mental characteristics of Edison will see
that he follows some of the Raja yoga methods, and
that concentration is one of his strongest weapons. And from
all reports, Professor Elmer Gates of Washington, d c. Whose
mind has unfolded many wonderful discoveries and inventions, is also
a practical yogi, although he may repudiate the assertion vigorously
and may not have familiarized himself with the principles of
the science which he has dropped into unconsciously. Those who
have reported upon Professor Gates's methods say that he fairly
digged out the inventions and discoveries from his mind after
going into seclusion and practicing concentration in what is known
as the mental vision. But we have given you enough
of theory for one lesson, and must begin to give
you directions whereby you may aid yourself in developing these
latent powers and unfolding these dormant energies. You will notice
that in this series we first tell you something about
the theory and then proceed to give you something to do.
This is the true yogi method, as followed and practiced
by their best teachers. Too much theory is time and
sings the mind to sleep, while too much exercise tires
one and does not give the inquiring part of his
mind the necessary food. To combine both in suitable proportions
is the better plan, and one that we aim to
follow Part two Mental drill and exercises. Before we can
get the mind to do good work for us, we
must first tame it and bring it to obedience to
the will of the eye. The mind, as a rule,
has been allowed to run wild and follow its own
sweet will and desires without regard to anything else. Like
a spoiled child or badly trained domestic animal, it gets
into much trouble and is of very little pleasure, comfort,
or use. The minds of many of us are like
menagries of wild animals, each pursuing the bent of its
own nature and going its own way. We have the
whole managery within us, the tiger, the ape, the peacock,
the ass, the goose, the sheep, the hyena, and all
the rest, and we have been letting these animals rule us.
Even our intellect is erratic, unstable, and like the quicksilver
to which the ancient occultists compared it shifting and uncertain.
If you will look around you, you will see that
those men and women in the world who have really
accomplished anything worth while have trained their minds to obedience.
They have asserted the will or were their own minds,
and learned mastery and power in that way. The average
mind chafes at the restraint of the will and is
like a frisky monkey that will not be taught tricks,
but taught it must be if it wants to do
good work, and teach it you must if you expect
to get any use from it, if you expect to
use it instead of having it use you. And this
is the first thing to be learned in Raja yoga,
this control of the mind. Those who had hoped for
some royal road to mastery may be disappointed. But there
is only one way, and that is to master and
control the mind by the will. Otherwise it will run
away when you most need it. And so we shall
give you some exercise design to aid you in this direction.
The first exercise in Raja yoga is what is called pratyahara,
or the art of making the mind introspective or turned
inward upon itself. It is the first step toward mental control.
It aims to turn the mind from going outward and
gradually churning it inward upon itself or inner nature. The
object is to gain control of it by the will.
The following exercises will aid in that direction. Exercise one
A place yourself in a comfortable position and, so far
as possible, free from outside disturbing influences. Make no violent
effort to control the mind, but rather allow it to
run along for a while and exhaust its efforts. It
will take advantage of the opportunity and will jump around
like an unchained monkey at first, until it gradually slows
down and looks to you for orders. It may take
some time to tame down at first trial, but each
time you try, it will come round to you in
shorter time. The Yogis spend much time in acquiring this
mental peace and calm, and consider themselves well paid for it. B.
When the mind is well calmed down and peaceful, fix
the thought on thee. I am. As taught in our
previous lessons, picture the eye as an entity independent of
the body, deathless and vulnerable, immortal real Then think of
it as independent of the body and able to exist
without its fleshly covering. Meditate upon this for a time,
and then gradually direg the thought to the realization of
the eye as independent and superior to the mind and
controlling saying. Go over the general ideas of the first
two lessons, and endeavor to calmly reflect upon them and
to see them in the mind's eye. You will find
that your mind is gradually becoming more and more peaceful
and calm, and that the distracting thoughts of the outside
world are farther and farther removed from you. See. Then,
let the mind pass on to a calm consideration of
the third lesson, in which we have spoken of the
oneness of all and the relationship of the eye to
the one life power intelligence being. You will find that
you are acquiring a mental control and calm heretofore unknown
to you. The exercises in the first three lessons will
have prepared you for this. The following is the most
difficult of the variations or degrees of this exercise, but
the ability to perform it will come gradually. The exercise
consists in gradually shutting out all thought or impression of
the outside world, of the body, and of the thoughts themselves,
the student concentrating and meditating upon the word and idea
I am, the idea being that he shall concentrate upon
the idea of mere being or existence, symbolized by the
words I am, not I am this, or I am that,
or I do this or I think that, but simply
I am. This exercise will focus the attention at the
very center of being within oneself, and will gather in
all the mental energies instead of allowing them to be
scattered upon outside things. A feeling of peace, strength, and
power will result. For the affirmation and the thought back
of it is the most powerful and strongest that one
may make, for it is a statement of actual being
and the turning of the thought inward to that truth.
Let the mind first dwell upon the word I, identifying
it with the self, and then let it pass on
to the word M, which signifies reality and being. Then
combine the two with the meanings thereof, and the result
a most powerful focusing of thought inward and most potent
statement of being. It is well to accompany the above
exercise with a comfortable and easy physical attitude, so as
to prevent the distraction of the attention by the body.
In order to do this, one should assume and e
easy attitude, and then relax every muscle and take the
tension from every nerve until a perfect sense of ease, comfort,
and relaxation is obtained. You should practice this until you
have fully acquired it. It will be useful to you
in many ways. Besides rendering concentration and meditation easier, it
will act as a rest cure for tired body nerves
and mind exercise too. The second step in Raja yoga
is what is known as tarana or concentration. This is
a most wonderful idea in the direction of focusing the
mental forces, and may be cultivated to an almost incredible degree.
But all this requires work, time, and patience, but the
student will be well repaid for it. Concentration consists in
the mind focusing upon a certain subject or object and
being held there for a time. This, at first thought,
seems very easy, but a little practice will show how
difficult it is to firmly fix the attention and hold
it there. It will have a tendency to waver and
move to some other object or subject, and much practice
will be needed in order to hold it at the
desired point. But practice will accomplish wonders. As one may
see by observing people who have acquired this faculty and
who use it in their everyday life. The following point
should be remembered. Many persons have acquired the faculty of
concentrating their attention, but have allowed it to become almost involuntary,
and they become a slave to it forgetting themselves and
everything else, and often neglecting necessary affairs. This is the
ignorant way of concentrating, and those addicted to it become
slaves to their habits instead of masters of their minds.
They become day dreamers and absent minded people. Instead of masters.
They are to be pitied as much as those who
cannot concentrate at all. The secret is in a mystery
of the mind. The yogis can concentrate at will and
completely bury themselves in the subject before them, and extract
from it every item of interest, and kim then pass
the mind from the thing at will, the same control
being used in both cases. They do not allow fits
of abstraction or absent mindedness to come upon them, nor
are they day dreamers. On the contrary, they are very
wide awake individuals. Close observers clear thinkers, correct reasoners. They
are masters of their minds, not slaves to their moods.
The ignorant concentrator buries himself in the object or subject
and allows it to master and absorb himself, while the
trained yogi thinkers assert the eye and then directs his
mind to concentrate upon the subject or object, keeping it
well under control and in view all the time. Do
you see the difference, then heed the lesson. The following
exercises may be found useful in the first steps of concentration.
A concentrate the attention upon some familiar object, a pencil,
for instance. Hold the mind there and consider the pencil
to the exclusion of any other object. Consider its size, color, shape,
kind of wood, consider its uses and purposes, its materials,
the process of its manufacture, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
In short, think as many things about the pencil as possible,
allowing the mind to pursue any associated bypaths, such as
a consideration of the graphite of which the lead is made,
the forests from which came the wood used in making
the pencil, the history of pencils and other inclements used
for writing, et cetera. In short, exhaust the subject of pencils.
In considering a subject under concentration, the following plan of
synopsis will be found useful. Think of the thing in
question from the following viewpoints. One the thing itself, two,
the plays from whence it came, three, its purpose or use,
four its associations, five its probable end. Do not let
the apparently trivial nature of the inquiry discourage you, for
the simplest form of mental training is us useful and
will help to develop your will and concentration. It is
akin to the process of developing a physical muscle by
some simple exercise, and in both cases one loses sight
of the unimportance of the exercise itself in view of
the end to be gained. B Concentrate the attention upon
some part of the body, the hand, for instance, and
fixing your entire attention upon it, shut off or inhibit
all sensation from the other parts of the body. A
little practice will enable you to do this. In addition
to the mental training, this exercise will stimulate the part
of the body concentrated upon, for reasons that will appear
in future lessons. Change the parts of the body concentrated upon,
and thus give the mind a variety of exercises, and
the body the effect of a general stimulation. See These
exercises may be extended indefinitely upon familiar objects about you.
Remember always that the thing in itself is of no importance,
the whole idea being to train the mind to obey
the will, so that when you really wish to use
the mental forces upon some important object, you may find
them well trained and obedient. Do not be tempted to
slight this part of the word because it is dry
and uninteresting, for it leads up to things that are
most interesting and opens a door to a fascinating subject.
D practice focusing the attention upon some abstract subject, that is,
upon some subject of interest that may offer a field
for mental exploration. Think about the subject in all its
phases and branches, following up one by path and then another,
until you feel that you know all about the subject
that your mind has acquired. You will be surprised to
find how much more you know about any one thing
or subject than you have believed possible. In hidden corners
of your mind, you will find some useful or interesting
information about the thing in question. And when you are
through you will feel well posted upon it and upon
the things connected with it. This exercise will not only
help to develop your intellectual powers, but will strengthen your
memory and broaden your mind and give you more confidence
in yourself. And in addition, you will have taken a
valuable exercise in concentration or tarana. The importance of concentration.
Concentration is a focusing of the mind, and this focusing
of the mind requires a focusing or bringing to a
center of the will. The mind is concentrated because the
will is focused upon the object. The mind flows into
the mold made by the will. The above exercises are
designed not only to accustom the mind to the obedience
and direction of the will, but also tend to accustom
the will to command. We speak of strengthening the will,
when what we really mean is training the mind to
obey and accustoming the will to command. Our will is
strong enough, but we do not realize it. The will
takes root in the very center of our being, in
the eye, but our imperfectly developed mind does not recognize
this fact. We are like young elephants that do not
recognize their own strength, but allow themselves to be mastered
by puny drivers, whom they could brush aside with a movement.
The will is back of all action, all doing, mental
and physical. We shall have much to say touching the
will in these lessons, and the student should give the
matter his careful attention. Let him look around him, and
he will see that the great difference between the men
who have stepped forward from the ranks and those who
remain huddled up in the crowd consists in determination and will.
As Buxton has well said, the longer I live, the
more certain I am that the great difference between men,
the feeble and the powerful, the great and insignificant, is
energy and invincible determination. And he might have added that
the thing behind that energy and invincible determination was will.
The writers and thinkers of all ages have recognized the
wonderful and transcendent importance of the will. Tennyson sings, all
living will thou shalt endure when all that seems shall
see of her shock. Oliver Wendell Holmes says the seat
of the will seems to vary with the organ through
which it is manifested to transport itself to different parts
of the brain. As we may wish to recall a picture,
a phrase, a melody, to throw its force on the
muscles or the intellectual processes. Like the general in chief,
its place is everywhere in the field of action. It
is the least like an instrument of any of our faculties,
the farthest removed from our conceptions of mechanism and matter
as we commonly define them. Holmes was correct in his idea,
but faulty in his details. The will does not change
its seat, which is always in the center of the ego.
But the will forces the mind to all hearts and
in all directions, and it directs the prana or vital force. Likewise,
the will is indeed the general in chief, but it
does not rush to the various points of action. But
since its messengers and couriers there to carry out its orders.
Buxton has said, the will will do anything that can
be done in this world, and no talents, no circumstances,
no opportunities, will make a two legged creature a man
without it. Ike Marvel truly says, resolve is what makes
a man manifest, Not puny, resolve, not crue determinations, not
er and purpose, but that strong and indefatigable will which
treads down difficulties in danger as a boy treads down
the heaving frostlens of winter, which kindles his eye and
brain with a proud pulse beat toward the unattainable will
makes men giants. The great obstacle to the proper use
of the will in the case of the majority of
people is the lack of ability to focus the attention.
The yogis clearly understand this point, and many of the
Raja Yoga exercises which are given to the students by
the teachers are designed to overcome this difficulty. Attention is
the outward evidence of the will. As a French writer
has said, the attention is subject to the superior authority
of the ego I yielded, where I withhold it as
I please, I direct it in turn to several points.
I concentrated upon each point, as long as my will
can stand the effort. Professor James has said the essential
achievement of the will, when it is most voluntary, is
to attend to a difficult object and hold it fast
before the mind. Effort of attention is the essential phenomenon
of the will, and Professor Haleck says the first step
toward the development of will lies in the exercise of attention.
Ideas grow in distinctness and motive power as we attend
to them. If we take two ideas of the same
intensity and center the attention upon one, we shall notice
how much it grows in power. Professor Sully says attention
may be roughly defined as the active self direction of
the mind to any object which presents itself at the moment.
The word attention is derived from two Latin words ad tendity,
meaning to stretch towards, and this is just what the
Yogis know it to be. By means of their psychic
or clearvoyant sight. They see the thought of the attentive
person stretched out toward the object attended to, like a
sharp wedge, the point of which is focused upon the
object under consideration, the entire force of the thought being
concentrated at that point. This is true not only when
the person is considering an object, but when he is
earnestly impressing his ideas upon another or upon some task
to be accomplished. Attention means reaching the mind out to
a focusing it upon something. The trained will exhibits itself
in a tenacious attention, and this attention is one of
the signs of the trained will. The student must not
hastily conclude that this kind of attention is a common
faculty among men. On the contrary, it is quite rare
and is seen only among those of strong mentality. Any
One may fasten his attention upon some passing, pleasing thing,
but it takes a trained will to fasten it upon
some unattractive thing and hold it there. Of course, the
trained occultist is able to throw interest into the most
unattractive thing upon which it becomes advisable to focus his attention.
But this in itself comes with the trained will, and
is not the possession of the average man. Voluntary attention
is rare and is found only amongst strong characters. But
it may be cultivated and grown, until he who has
scarcely a shade of it to day in time may
become a giant. It is all a matter of practice, exercise,
and will. It is difficult to say too much in
favor of the development of the faculty of tenacious attention.
One possessing this developed faculty is able to accomplish far
more than even a much brighter man who lacks it,
And the best way to train the attention under the
direction of the will is to practice upon uninteresting objects
and ideas, holding them before the mind until they begin
to assume an interest. This is difficult at first, but
the task soon begins to take on a pleasant aspect,
for one finds that his will, power and attention are growing,
and he feels himself acquiring a force and power that
were lacking before he realizes that he is growing stronger.
Charles Dickens said that the secret of his success consisted
in his developing a faculty of throwing his entire attention
into whatever he happened to be doing at the moment,
and then being able to turn that same degree of
attention to the next thing coming before him for consideration.
He was like a man behind a great searchlight which
was successively turned upon point after point, illuminating each in turn.
The eye is the man behind the light, and the
will is the reflector, the light being the attention. This
discussion of will and attention may seem somewhat dry to
the student, but that is all the more reason that
he should attend to it. It is the secret that
lies at the basis of the science of Raja yoga,
and the yogi masters have attained a degree of concentration,
will and attention that would be inconceivable to the average
men of the street. By reason of this, they are
able to direct the mind here and there, outward or
inward with an enormous force. They are able to focus
the mind upon a small thing with remarkable intensity, just
as the rays of the sun may be focused through
a sunglass and caused to ignite linen. Or on the
other hand, they are able to send forth the mind
with intense energy, illuminating whatever it rests upon, just as
happens in the case of the strong electric searchlight with
which many of us are familiar. By all means, start
in to cultivate the attention and will practice on the
unpleasant tasks. Do the things that you have before you,
and from which you have been shrinking because they were unpleasant,
Throw interest into them, and the difficulty will vanish, and
you will come out of it much stronger and filled
with a nuisance of power. Mentrum affirmation. I have a will.
It is my inalienable property and right. I determine to
cultivate and develo by practice and exercise. My mind is
obedient to my will. I desert my will over my mind.
I am master of my mind and body. I asert
my mastery. My will is dynamic, full of force and
energy and power. I feel my strength. I am strong,
I am forceful, I am vital. I am center of consciousness, energy,
strength and power. And I claim my birthright