THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.ATTENTION AND INTEREST.
CHAPTER II.SELF-SUGGESTION.
CHAPTER III.WILL DEVELOPMENT.
CHAPTER IV.FORETHOUGHT.
CHAPTER V.WILL AND CHARACTER.
CHAPTER VI.SUGGESTION AND INSTINCT.
CHAPTER VII.MEMORY CULTURE.
CHAPTER VIII.THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTIES.
CHAPTER IX.FASCINATION.
CHAPTER X.THE SUBLIMINAL SELF.
CHAPTER XI.PARACELSUS.
CHAPTER XII.LAST WORDS.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
During
the past few years the most serious part of the author's study and
reflection has been devoted to the subjects discussed in this book.
These, briefly stated, are as follows: Firstly, that all mental or
cerebral faculties can by direct scientific treatment be influenced
to what would have once been regarded as miraculous action, and which
is even yet very little known or considered. Secondly, in development
of this theory, and as confirmed by much practical and personal
experience, that the Will can by very easy processes of training, or
by aid of Auto-Suggestion, be strengthened to any extent, and states
of mind soon induced, which can be made by practice habitual. Thus,
as a man can by means of opium produce sleep, so can he by a very
simple experiment a few times repeated—an experiment which I
clearly describe and which has been tested and verified beyond all
denial—cause himself to remain during the following day in a
perfectly calm or cheerful state of mind; and this condition may, by
means of repetition and practice, be raised or varied to other states
or conditions of a far more active or intelligent description.Thus,
for illustration, I may say that within my own experience, I have by
this process succeeded since my seventieth year in working all day
far more assiduously, and without any sense of weariness or distaste
for labour, than I ever did at any previous period of my life. And
the reader need only try the extremely easy experiment, as I have
described it, to satisfy himself that he can do the same, that he can
continue it with growing strength
ad infinitum, and
that this power will unquestionably at some future time be employed
with marvellous results in Education. For, beyond all question—since
any human being can easily prove or disprove it by a few
experiments—there is no method known by which inattention,
heedlessness, or negligence in the young can be so promptly and
thoroughly cured as by this; while on the other hand, Attention and
Interest by assiduity, are even more easily awakened. It has indeed
seemed to me, since I have devoted myself to the study of Education
from this point of view, as if it had been like the Iron Castle in
the Slavonian legend, unto which men had for centuries wended their
way by a long and wearisome road of many miles, while there was all
the time, unseen and unknown, a very short and easy subterranean
passage, by means of which the dwellers in the Schloss might have
found their way to the town below, and to the world, in a few
minutes.To
this I have added a succinct account of what is, I believe, the
easiest and most comprehensive Art of Memory ever conceived. There
are on this subject more than five hundred works, all based, without
exception, on the
Associative system,
which may be described as a stream which runs with great rapidity for
a very short time but is soon choked up. This, I believe, as a means
applied to learning, was first published in my work, entitled
Practical Education.
In it the pupil is taught the
direct method; that
is, instead of remembering one thing by means of another, to impress
the image itself on
the memory, and frequently revive it. This process soon becomes
habitual and very easy. In from one year to eighteen months a pupil
can by means of it accurately recall a lecture or sermon. It has the
immediate advantage, over all the associate systems, of increasing
and enlarging the scope and vigour of the memory, or indeed of the
mind, so that it may truly bear as a motto,
Vires acquirit eundo—"it
gains in power as it runs long."Finally,
I set forth a system of developing the Constructive Faculty—that
which involves Ingenuity, Art, or manual
making—as based
on the teaching of the so-called Minor Arts to the young. The
principle from which I proceed is that as the fruit is developed from
the flower, all Technical Education should be anticipated. Or begun
in children by practicing easy and congenial arts, such as light
embroidery, wood-carving or repoussé, by means of which they become
familiar with the elements of more serious and substantial work.
Having found out by practical experience, in teaching upwards of two
thousand children for several years, that the practice of such easy
work, or the development of the constructive faculty, invariably
awakened the intellectual power or intelligence, I began to study the
subject of the development of the mind in general. My first discovery
after this was that Memory, whether mental, visual, or of any other
kind, could, in connection with Art, be wonderfully improved, and to
this in time came the consideration that the human Will, with all its
mighty power and deep secrets, could be disciplined and directed, or
controlled with as great care as the memory or the mechanical
faculty. In a certain sense the three are one, and the reader who
will take the pains, which are, I trust, not very great, to master
the details of this book, will readily grasp it as a whole, and
understand that its contents form a system of education, yet one from
which the old as well as young may profit.It
is worth noting that, were it for nervous invalids alone, or those
who from various causes find it difficult to sleep, or apply the mind
to work, this book would be of unquestionable value. In fact, even
while writing this chapter, a lady has called to thank me for the
substantial benefit which she derived from my advice in this respect.
And, mindful of the fact that Attention and Unwearied Perseverance
are most necessary to succeed in such processes as are here
described, I have taken pains to show or explain how they may be
rendered more attractive, tolerable, and habitual to the fickle or
light-minded; this, too, being a subject which has been very little
considered from a practical point of view.But,
above all things, I beg the reader, laying aside all prejudice or
preconceived opinion, and neither believing nor disbelieving what he
reads, to simply try
it—that is to
test it in his own person to what degree he can influence his will,
or bring about subsequent states of mind, by the very easy processes
laid down. If I could hope that all opinion of my book would be
uttered only by those who had thus put it to the test, I should be
well assured as to its future.And
also I beg all readers, and especially reviewers, to note that I
advise that the auto-suggestive process, by aid of sleep,
shall be discontinued as soon as the experimenter begins to feel an
increase in the power of the will;
the whole object of the system being to acquire a perfectly free
clear Will as soon as possible. Great injustice was done, as regards
the first edition of this work, by a very careless though eminent
critic, who blamed the author for not having done what the latter had
carefully recommended in his book.There
are four stages of advance towards the truth: firstly, Disbelief;
secondly, Doubt, which is, in fact, only a fond advance towards
Disbelief; thirdly, Agnosticism, which is Doubt mingled with Inquiry;
and, finally, pure and simple Inquiry or Search, without any
preconceived opinion or feeling whatever. It is, I trust, only in the
spirit of the latter, that I have written; therefore I say to the
reader, Neither, believe nor disbelieve in anything which I have
said, but, as it is an easy thing to try, experiment for yourself,
and judge by the result. In fact, as a satisfactory and conclusive
experiment will not require more time, and certainly not half the
pains which most people would expend on reading a book, I shall be
perfectly satisfied if any or all my critics will do so, and judge
the system by the result.
