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diff --git a/13791-0.txt b/13791-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c177eba --- /dev/null +++ b/13791-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1761 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13791 *** + +Applied Psychology + + +PSYCHOLOGY AND ACHIEVEMENT + + +_Being the First of a Series of Twelve Volumes on the Applications of +Psychology to the Problems of Personal and Business Efficiency_ + + +BY + +WARREN HILTON, A.B., L.L.B. +FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY + + +ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE LITERARY DIGEST + +FOR + +The Society of Applied Psychology +NEW YORK AND LONDON +1919 + +1914 + +BY THE APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY PRESS + +SAN FRANCISCO + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +_Lest in the text of these volumes credit may not always have been given +where credit is due, grateful acknowledgment is here made to Professor +Hugo Münsterberg, Professor Walter Dill Scott, Dr. James H. Hyslop, Dr. +Ernst Haeckel, Dr. Frank Channing Haddock, Mr. Frederick W. Taylor, +Professor Morton Prince, Professor F.H. Gerrish, Mr. Waldo Pondray +Warren, Dr. J.D. Quackenbos, Professor C.A. Strong, Professor Paul +Dubois, Professor Joseph Jastrow, Professor Pierre Janet, Dr. Bernard +Hart and Professor G.M. Whipple, of the indebtedness to them incurred in +the preparation of this work._ + + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + I. ATTAINMENT OF MIND CONTROL + THE MAN OF TOMORROW + THE DOLLARS AND CENTS OF MENTAL WASTE + THE MEANS TO NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT + A PROCESS FOR "MAKING GOOD" + INADEQUACY OF BODY TRAINING + INADEQUACY OF BUSINESS SPECIALIZATION + FUTILITY OF ADVICE IN BUSINESS + THE WHY AND THE HOW + FUNDAMENTAL TRAINING FOR EFFICIENCY + THE VIRUS OF FAILURE + PRACTICAL FORMULAS FOR EVERY DAY + YOUR UNDISCOVERED RESOURCES + MAN'S MIND MACHINE + ABJURING MYSTICISMS + PSYCHOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIPS + ABODE AND INSTRUMENT OF MIND + MANNER OF HANDLING MENTAL PROCESSES + FUNDAMENTAL LAWS AND PRACTICAL METHODS + SPECIAL BUSINESS TOPICS + A STEP BEYOND COLLEGIATE PSYCHOLOGY + THE ETERNAL LAWS OF INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT + HOW TO MASTER OUR METHODS + + II. TWO LAWS OF SUCCESS-ACHIEVEMENT + THE ONE-MAN BUSINESS CORPORATION + BUSINESS AND BODILY ACTIVITY + THE ENSLAVED BRAIN + FIRST STEP TOWARD SELF-REALIZATION + +III. RELATION OF MIND ACTIVITY TO BODILY ACTIVITY + SPECULATION AND PRACTICAL SCIENCE + PHILOSOPHIC RIDDLES AND PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS + WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW + SPIRITUALIST, MATERIALIST AND SCIENTIST + SCIENCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT + CAUSES AND "FIRST" CAUSES + A COMMON PLATFORM FOR ALL + THOUGHTS TREATED AS CAUSES + SCIENTIFIC METHOD WITH PRACTICAL PROBLEMS + USES OF SCIENTIFIC LAWS + + + IV. INTROSPECTIVE EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY + DOING THE THING YOU WANT TO DO + SOURCE OF POWER OF WILL + IMPELLENT ENERGY OF THOUGHT + BODILY EFFECTS OF MENTAL STATES + ILLUSTRATIVE EXPERIMENTS + SCOPE OF MIND POWER + BODILY EFFECTS OF EMOTION + BODILY EFFECTS OF PERCEPTION + EXPERIMENTS OF PAVLOV + TASTE AND DIGESTION + BODILY EFFECTS OF SENSATIONS + THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EXPRESSION + + V. PHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY + INTROSPECTIVE KNOWLEDGE + DISSECTION AND THE GOVERNING CONSCIOUSNESS + SUBORDINATE MENTAL UNITS + WHAT THE MICROSCOPE SHOWS + THE LITTLE UNIVERSE BEYOND + THE UNIT OF LIFE + CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING CELLS + THE BRAIN OF THE CELL + MIND LIFE OF ONE CELL + THE WILL OF THE CELL + THE CELL AND ORGANIC EVOLUTION + EVOLUTIONARY DIFFERENTIATIONS + PLURALITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL + COMBINED CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE MILLIONS + EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN ORGANISM + THE CROWD-MAN + FUNCTIONS OF DIFFERENT HUMAN CELLS + CELL LIFE AFTER DEATH + EXPERIMENTS OF DR. ALEXIS CARRELL + MAN-FEDERATION OF INTELLIGENCES + CREATIVE POWER OF THE CELL + LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR PRACTICAL DOING + THREE NEW PROPOSITIONS + AN INSTRUMENT FOR MENTAL DOMINANCE + GATEWAYS OF EXPERIENCE + COURIERS OF ACTION + NERVE SYSTEMS + ORGANS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND SUBCONSCIOUSNESS + LOOKING INSIDE THE SKULL + DRUNKENNESS AND BRAIN EFFICIENCY + SECONDARY BRAINS + DEPENDENCE OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS + UNCONSCIOUSNESS AND SUBCONSCIOUSNESS + SYNTHESIS OF THE MAN-MACHINE + SUBSERVIENCY OF THE BODY + + VI. THE SUPREMACY OF CONSCIOUSNESS + STRIKING OFF THE MENTAL SHACKLES + THE AWAKENING OF ENLIGHTENMENT + THE VITAL PURPOSE + YOUR RESERVOIR OF LATENT POWER + + + + +ATTAINMENT OF MIND CONTROL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ATTAINMENT OF MIND CONTROL + + +[Sidenote: The Man of Tomorrow] + +The men of the nineteenth century have harnessed the forces of the outer +world. The age is now at hand that shall harness the energies of mind, +new-found in the psychological laboratory, and shall put them at the +service of humanity. + +Are you fully equipped to take a valiant part in the work of the coming +years? + +[Sidenote: The Dollars and Cents of Mental Waste] + +The greatest of all eras is at hand! Are you increasing your fitness to +appreciate it and take part in it, or are you merely passing your time +away? + +Take careful note for a week of the incidents of your daily life--your +methods of work, habits of thought, modes of recreation. You will +discover an appalling waste in your present random methods of operation. + +How many foot-pounds of energy do you suppose you annually dump into the +scrap-heap of wasted effort? What does this mean to you in dollars and +cents? In conscious usefulness? In peace and happiness? + +[Sidenote: The Means to Notable Achievement] + +Individual mental efficiency is an absolute prerequisite to any notable +personal achievement or any great individual success. Your mental +energies are the forces with which you must wage your battles in this +world. Are you prepared to direct and deploy _Achievement__ these forces +with masterful control and strategic skill? Are you prepared to use all +your reserves of mental energy in the crises of your career? + +A Mighty and Intelligent Power resides within you. Its marvelous +resources are just now coming to be recognized. + +Recent scientific research has revealed, beyond the world of the senses +and beyond the domain of consciousness, a wide and hitherto hidden realm +of human energies and resources. + +[Sidenote: A Process for "Making Good"] + +These are mental energies and resources. They are phases of the mind, +not of the "mind" of fifty years ago, but of a "mind" of whose +operations you are unconscious and whose marvelous breadth and depth and +power have but recently been revealed to the world by scientific +experiment. + +In this _Basic Course of Reading_ we shall lay before you in simple and +clear-cut but scientific form the proof that you have at your command +mental powers of which you have never before dreamed. + +And we shall give you such specific directions for the use of these +new-found powers, that whatever your environment, whatever your +business, whatever your ambition, _you need but follow our plain and +simple instructions in order to do the thing you want to do, to be the +man you want to be, or to get the thing you want to have._ + +[Sidenote: Inadequacy of Body Training] + +If you have any thought that the control of your hidden mental energies +is to be acquired by mere hygienic measures, put it from you. The idea +that you may come into the fulness of your powers through mere +wholesome living, outdoor sports and bodily exercise is an idea that +belongs to an age that is past. Good health is not necessary to +achievement. It is not even a positive influence for achievement. It is +merely a negative blessing. With good health you may hope to reach your +highest mental and spiritual development free from the harassment of +soul-racking pain. But without good health men have reached the summit +of Parnassus and have dragged their tortured bodies up behind them. + +[Sidenote: Inadequacy of Business Specialization] + +Nor does success necessarily follow or require long preparation in a +particular field. The first occupation of the successful man is rarely +the one in which he achieves his ultimate triumph. In the changing +conditions of our day, one needs a better weapon than the mere knowledge +of a particular trade, vocation or profession. _He needs that mastery of +himself and others that is the fundamental secret of success in all +fields of endeavor_. + +[Sidenote: Futility of Advice in Business] + +It is well to tell you beforehand that in this _Basic Course of Reading_ +we shall be content with no mere cataloguing of the factors that are +commonly regarded as essential to success. We shall do no moralizing. +You will find here no elaboration of the ancient aphorisms, "Honesty is +the best policy," and "Genius is the infinite capacity for taking +pains." + +The world has had its fill of mere exhortations to industry, frugality +and perseverance. For some thousands of years men have preached to the +lazy man, "Be industrious," and to the timid man, "Be bold." But such +phrases never have solved and never can solve the problem for the man +who feels himself lacking in both industry and courage. + +[Sidenote: The Why and the How] + +It is easy enough to tell the salesman that he must approach his +"prospect" with tact and confidence. But tact and confidence are not +qualities that can be assumed and discarded like a Sunday coat. Industry +and courage and tact and confidence are well enough, but we must know +the Why and the How of these things. + +It is well enough to preach that the secret of achievement is to be +found in "courage-faith" and "courage-confidence," and that the way to +acquire these qualities is to assume that you have them. There is no +denying the undoubted fact that men and women have been rescued from the +deepest mire of poverty and despair and lifted to planes of happy +abundance by what is known as "faith." But what is "faith"? And "faith" +in What? And Why? And How? + +[Sidenote: Fundamental Training for Efficiency] + +Obviously we cannot achieve certain and definite results in this or any +other field so long as we continue to deal with materials we do not +understand. Yet that is what all men are doing today. The elements of +truth are befogged in vague and amateurish mysticism, and the subject of +individual efficiency when we get beyond mere preaching and moralizing +is a chaos of isms. + +The time is ripe for a real analysis of these important problems,--a +serious and scientific analysis with a clear and practical exposition of +facts and principles and rules for conduct. + +Men and women must be fundamentally trained so that they can look deep +into their own minds and see where the screw is loose, where oil is +needed, and so readjust themselves and their living for a greater +efficiency. + +[Sidenote: The Virus of Failure] + +The embittered, the superstitious, the prejudiced, all those who +scorpion-like sting themselves with the virus of failure, must be given +an antidote of understanding that will repair their deranged mental +machinery. + +The conscientious but foolish business man who is worrying himself into +failure and an early grave must be taught the physiological effects of +ideas and given a new standard of values. + +The profligate must be lured from his emotional excesses and +debaucheries, not by moralizings, but by showing him just how these +things fritter his energies and retard his progress. + +[Sidenote: Practical Formulas for Every Day] + +It must be made plain to the successful promoter, to the rich banker, +how a man may be a financial success and yet a miserable failure so far +as true happiness is concerned, and how by scientific self-development +he can acquire greater riches within than all his vaults of steel will +hold. + +This _Basic Course of Reading_ offers just such an analysis and +exposition of fundamental principles. It furnishes definite and +scientific answers to the problems of life. It will reveal to you unused +or unintelligently used mental forces vastly greater than those now at +your command. + +[Sidenote: Your Undiscovered Resources] + +We go even further, and say that this _Basic Course of Reading_ provides +a practicable formula for the everyday use of these vast resources. It +will enable you to acquire the magical qualities and still more magical +effects that spell success and happiness, without straining your will to +the breaking point and making life a burden. It will give you a definite +prescription like the physician's, "Take one before meals," and as +easily compounded, which will enable you to be prosperous and happy. + +In the development of one's innate resources, such as powers of +observation, imagination, correct judgment, alertness, resourcefulness, +application, concentration, and the faculty of taking prompt advantage +of opportunities, the study of the mental machine is bound to be the +first step. It must be the ultimate resource for self-training in +efficiency for the promoter with his appeal to the cupidity and +imaginations of men as surely as for the artist in his search for poetic +inspiration. + +[Sidenote: Man's Mind Machine] + +No man can get the best results from any machine unless he understands +its mechanism. We shall draw aside the curtain and show you the mind in +operation. + +The mastery of your own powers is worth more to you than all the +knowledge of outside facts you can crowd into your head. Read and study +and practice the teachings of this _Basic Course_, and they will make +you in a new sense the master of yourself and of your future. + +In this _Basic Course of Reading_ we shall begin by giving you a +thorough understanding of certain mental operations and processes. + +[Sidenote: Abjuring Mysticisms] + +We shall lead your interest away from "vague mysticisms" and emphasize +such phases of scientific psychological theory as bear directly on +practical achievement. + +We shall give you a practical working knowledge of concentrative mental +methods and devices. We shall clear away the mysteries and +misapprehensions that now envelop this particular field. + +In the present volume we shall begin with a discussion of certain +aspects of the relation between the mind and the body. + +[Sidenote: Psychology, Physiology and Relationships] + +However we look at it, it is impossible to understand the mind without +some knowledge of the bodily machine through which the mind works. The +investigation of the mind and its conditions and problems is primarily +the business of psychology, which seeks to describe and explain them. +It would seem to be entirely distinct from physiology, which seeks to +classify and explain the facts of bodily structure and operation. But +all sciences overlap more or less. And this is particularly true of +psychology, which deals with the mind, and physiology, which deals with +the body. + +It is the mind that we are primarily interested in. But every individual +mind resides within, or at least expresses itself through, a body. Upon +the preservation of that body and upon the orderly performance of its +functions depend our health and comfort, our very lives. + +[Sidenote: Abode and instrument of Mind] + +Then, too, considered merely as part of the outside world of matter, +man's body is the physical fact with which he is most in contact and +most immediately concerned. It furnishes him with information concerning +the existence and operations of other minds. It is in fact his only +source of information about the outside world. + +First of all, then, you must form definite and intelligent conclusions +concerning the relations between the mind and the body. + +[Sidenote: Manner of Handling Mental Processes] + +This will be of value in a number of ways. In the first place, you will +understand the bodily mechanism through which the mind operates, and a +knowledge of this mechanism is bound to enlighten you as to the +character of the _mental_ processes themselves. In the second place, it +is worth while to know the extent of the mind's influence over the body, +because this knowledge is the first step toward obtaining bodily +efficiency through the mental control of bodily functions. And, finally, +a study of this bodily mechanism is of very great practical importance +in itself, for the body is the instrument through which the mind acts in +its relations with the world at large. + +From a study of the bodily machine, we shall advance to a consideration +of the mental processes themselves, not after the usual manner of works +on psychology, but solely from the standpoint of practical utility and +for the establishment of a scientific concept of the mind capable of +everyday use. + +[Sidenote: Fundamental Laws and Practical Methods] + +The elucidation of every principle of mental operation will be +accompanied by illustrative material pointing out just how that +particular law may be employed for the attainment of specific practical +ends. There will be numerous illustrative instances and methods that can +be at once made use of by the merchant, the musician, the salesman, the +advertiser, the employer of labor, the business executive. + +[Sidenote: Special Business Topics] + +In this way this _Basic Course of Reading_ will lay a firm and broad +foundation, first, for an understanding of the methods and devices +whereby any man may acquire full control and direction of his mental +energies and may develop his resources to the last degree; second, for +an understanding of the psychological methods for success in any +specific professional pursuit in which he may be particularly +interested; and third, for an understanding of the methods of applying +psychological knowledge to the industrial problems of office, store and +factory. + +The first of these--that is to say, instruction in methods for the +attainment of any goal consistent with native ability--will follow right +along as part of this _Basic Course of Reading._ The second and +third--that is to say, the study of special commercial and industrial +topics--are made the subject of special courses supplemental to this +_Basic Course_ and for which it can serve only as an introduction. + +[Sidenote: A Step Beyond Collegiate Psychology] + +In this _Basic Course of Reading_ we shall show you how you may acquire +perfect individual efficiency. And, most remarkable of all, we shall +show you how you may acquire it _without that effort to obtain it, that +straining of the will, that struggling with wasteful inclinations and +desires, that is itself the essence of inefficiency_. + +The facts and principles set forth in this _Basic Course_ are new and +wonderful and inspiring. They have been established and attested by +world-wide and exhaustive scientific research and experiment. + +[Sidenote: The Eternal Laws of Individual Achievement] + +You may be a college graduate. You may have had the advantage of a +college course in psychology. But you have probably had no instruction +in the practical application of your knowledge of mental operations. So +far as we are aware, there are few universities in the world that +embrace in their curricula a course in "applied" psychology. For the +average college man this _Basic Course of Reading_ will be, therefore, +in the nature of a post-graduate course, teaching him how to make +practical use of the psychology he learned at college, and in addition +giving him facts about the mind unknown to the college psychology of a +few years ago. + +In these books you will probe deeply into the normal human mind. + +You will see also the fantastic and distorted shape of its +manifestations in disease. + +You will learn the Eternal Laws of Individual Achievement. + +[Sidenote: How to Master Our Methods] + +And you will be taught how to apply them to your own business or +profession. + +But mark this word of warning. To comprehend the teachings of this +_Basic Course_ well enough to put them into practice demands from you +careful study and reflection. It requires persistent application. Do not +attempt to browse through the pages that follow. They are worth all the +time that you can put upon them. + +The mind is a complex mechanism. Each element is alone a fitting subject +for a lifetime's study. Do not lose sight of the whole in the study of +the parts. + +All the books bear upon a central theme. They will lead you on step by +step. Gradually your conception of your relations to the world will +change. A new realization of power will come upon you. You will learn +that you are in a new sense the master of your fate. You will find these +books, like the petals of a flower, unfolding one by one until a great +and vital truth stands revealed in full-blown beauty. + +To derive full benefit from the _Course_ it is necessary that you should +do more than merely understand each sentence as you go along. You must +grasp the underlying train of thought. You must perceive the continuity +of the argument. + +It is necessary, therefore, that you do but a limited amount of reading +each day, taking ample time to reflect on what you have read. If any +book is not entirely clear to you at first, go over it again. +Persistence will enable any man to acquire a thorough comprehension of +our teachings and a profound mastery of our methods. + + + + +TWO LAWS OF SUCCESS-ACHIEVEMENT + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TWO LAWS OF SUCCESS-ACHIEVEMENT + + +[Sidenote: The One-Man Business Corporation] + +As a working unit you are a kind of one-man business corporation made up +of two departments, the mental and the physical. + +Your mind is the executive office of this personal corporation, its +directing "head." Your body is the corporation's "plant." Eyes and ears, +sight and smell and touch, hands and feet--these are the implements, the +equipment. + +We have undertaken to teach you how to acquire a perfect mastery of your +own powers and meet the practical problems of your life in such a way +that success will be swift and certain. + +[Sidenote: Business and Bodily Activity] + +First of all it is necessary that you should accept and believe two +well-settled and fundamental laws. + +I. _All human achievement comes about through bodily activity._ + +II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by the +mind._ + +Give the first of these propositions but a moment's thought. You can +conceive of no form of accomplishment which is not the result of some +kind of bodily activity. One would say that the master works of poetry, +art, philosophy, religion, are products of human effort furthest +removed from the material side of life, yet even these would have +perished still-born in the minds conceiving them had they not found +transmission and expression through some form of bodily activity. You +will agree, therefore, that the first of these propositions is so +self-evident, so axiomatic, as neither to require nor to admit of formal +proof. + +The second proposition is not so easily disposed of. It is in fact so +difficult of acceptance by some persons that we must make very plain its +absolute validity. Furthermore, its elucidation will bring forth many +illuminating facts that will give you an entirely new conception of the +mind and its scope and influence. + +[Sidenote: The Enslaved Brain] + +Remember, when we say "mind," we are not thinking of the brain. The +brain is but one of the organs of the body, and, by the terms of our +proposition as stated, is as much the slave of the mind as is any other +organ of the body. To say that the mind controls the body presupposes +that mind and body are distinct entities, the one belonging to a +spiritual world, the other to a world of matter. + +That the mind is master of the body is a settled principle of science. +But we realize that its acceptance may require you to lay aside some +preconceived prejudices. You may be one of those who believe that the +mind is nothing more nor less than brain activity. You may believe that +the body is all there is to man and that mind-action is merely one of +its functions. + +[Sidenote: First Step Toward Self-Realization] + +If so, we want you nevertheless to realize that, while as a matter of +philosophic speculation you retain these opinions, you may at the same +time for practical purposes regard the mind as an independent causal +agency and believe that it can and does control and determine and +_cause_ any and every kind of bodily activity. We want you to do this +because this conclusion is at the basis of a practical system of mental +efficiency and because, as we shall at once show you, it is capable of +proof by the established methods of physical science. + + + + +RELATION OF MIND ACTIVITY TO BODILY ACTIVITY + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RELATION OF MIND ACTIVITY TO BODILY ACTIVITY + +POINT OF VIEW FROM WHICH YOU MUST APPROACH THIS PROBLEM + + +[Sidenote: Speculation and Practical Science] + +The fact is, one's opinion as to whether mind controls body or body +makes mind-action depends altogether upon the point of view. And the +first step for us to take is to agree upon the point of view we shall +assume. + +Two points of view are possible. One is _speculative_, the other +_practical_. + +[Sidenote: Philosophic Riddles and Personal Effectiveness] + +The _speculative point of view_ is that of the philosopher and +religionist, who ponder the tie that binds "soul" and body in an effort +to solve the riddle of "creation" and pierce the mystery of the +"hereafter." + +The _practical point of view_ is that of the modern practical scientist, +who deals only with actual facts of human experience and seeks only +immediate practical results. + +The speculative problem is the historical and religious one of the +mortality or immortality of the soul. The practical problem is the +scientific one that demands to know what the mental forces are and how +they can be used most effectively. + +[Sidenote: What We Want to Know] + +There is no especial need here to trace the historical development of +these two problems or enter upon a discussion of religious or +philosophical questions. + +Our immediate interest in the mind and its relationship to the body is +not because we want to be assured of the salvation of our souls after +death. + +_We want to know all we can about the reality and certainty and +character of mental control of bodily functions because of the practical +use we can make of such knowledge in this life, here and now._ + +[Sidenote: Spiritualist, Materialist and Scientist] + +The practical scientist has nothing in common with either spiritualists, +soul-believers, on the one hand, or materialists on the other. So far as +the mortality of the soul is concerned, he may be either a spiritualist +or a materialist But spiritualism or materialism is to him only an +intellectual pastime. It is not his trade. In his actual work he seeks +only practical results, and so confines himself wholly to the actual +facts of human experience. + +The practical scientist knows that as between two given facts, and +_only_ as between these two, one may be the "cause" of the other. But he +is not interested in the "creative origin" of material things. He does +not attempt to discover "first" causes. + +[Sidenote: Science of Cause and Effect] + +The practical scientist ascribes all sorts of qualities to electricity +and lays down many laws concerning it without having the remotest idea +as to what, in the last analysis, electricity may actually be. He is not +concerned with ultimate truths. He does his work, and necessarily so, +upon the principle that for all practical purposes he is justified in +using any given assumption as a working hypothesis if everything happens +just as if it were true. + +The practical scientist applies the term "cause" to any object or event +that is the invariable predecessor of some other object or event. + +For him a "cause" is simply any object or event that may be looked upon +as forecasting the action of some other object or the occurrence of some +other event. + +The point with him is simply this, Does or does not this object or this +event in any way affect that object or that event or determine its +behavior? + +[Sidenote: Causes and "First" Causes] + +No matter where you look you will find that every fact in Nature is +relatively cause and effect according to the point of view. Thus, if a +railroad engine backs into a train of cars it transmits a certain amount +of motion to the first car. This imparted motion is again passed on to +the next car, and so on. The motion of the first car is, on the one +hand, the effect of the impact of the engine, and is, on the other hand, +the "cause" of the motion of the second car. And, in general, what is an +"effect" in the first car becomes a "cause" when looked at in relation +to the second, and what is an "effect" in the second becomes a "cause" +in relation to the third. So that even the materialist will agree that +"cause" and "effect" are relative terms in dealing with any series of +facts in Nature. + +[Sidenote: A Common Platform for All] + +A man may be either a spiritualist, believing that the mind is a +manifestation of the super-soul, or he may be a materialist, and in +either case he may at the same time and with perfect consistency +believe, as a practical scientist, that the mind is a "cause" and has +bodily action as its "effect." + +Naturally this point of view offers no difficulties whatever to the +spiritualist. He already looks upon the mind or soul as the "originating +cause" of everything. + +[Sidenote: Thoughts Treated as Causes] + +But the materialist, too, may in accordance with his speculative theory +continue to insist that _brain-action_ is the "originating cause" of +mental life; yet if the facts show that certain thoughts are invariably +followed by certain bodily activities, the materialist may without +violence to his theories agree to the great practical value of _treating +these thoughts as immediate causes_, no matter what the history of +creation may have been. + +Whatever the brand of your materialism or your religious belief, you +can join us in accepting this practical-science point of view as a +common platform upon which to approach our second fundamental +proposition, that "all bodily activity is caused, controlled and +directed by the mind." + +[Sidenote: Scientific Method with Practical Problems] + +Ignoring all religious and metaphysical questions, we have, then, to ask +ourselves merely: _Can the mind be relied upon to bring about or stop or +in any manner influence bodily action? And if it can, what is the extent +of the mind's influence?_ + +In answering these questions we shall follow the method of the practical +scientist, whose method is invariably the same whatever the problem he +is investigating. + +This method involves two steps: first, the collection and classification +of facts; second, the deduction from those facts of general principles. + +[Sidenote: Uses of Scientific Laws] + +The scientist first gathers together the greatest possible array of +experiential facts and classifies these facts into sequences--that is to +say, he gathers together as many instances as he can find in which one +given fact follows directly upon the happening of another given fact. + +Having done this, he next formulates in broad general terms the common +principle that he finds embodied in these many similar sequences. + +Such a formula, if there are facts enough to establish it, is what is +known as a scientific law. Its value to the world lies in this, that +whenever the given fact shall again occur our knowledge of the +scientific law will enable us to predict with certainty just what events +will follow the occurrence of that fact. + +First, then, let us marshal our facts tending to prove that bodily +activities are caused by the mind. + + + + +INTROSPECTIVE EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +INTROSPECTIVE EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY + + +[Sidenote: Doing the Thing You Want to Do] + +The first and most conspicuous evidential fact is voluntary bodily +action; that is to say, bodily action resulting from the exercise of the +conscious will. + +[Sidenote: Source of Power of Will] + +If you will a bodily movement and that movement immediately follows, you +are certainly justified in concluding that your mind has caused the +bodily movement. Every conscious, voluntary movement that you make, and +you are making thousands of them every hour, is a distinct example of +mind activity causing bodily action. In fact, the very will to make any +bodily movement is itself nothing more nor less than a mental state. + +_The will to do a thing is simply the belief, the conviction, that the +appropriate bodily movement is about to occur._ The whole scientific +world is agreed on this. + +For example, in order to bend your forefinger do you first think it +over, then deliberately put forth some special form of energy? Not at +all: The very thought of bending the finger, if unhindered by +conflicting ideas, is enough to bend it. + +[Sidenote: Impellent Energy of Thought] + +Note this general law: _The idea of any bodily action tends to produce +the action._ + +This conception of thought as impellent--that is to say, as impelling +bodily activity--is of absolutely fundamental importance. The following +simple experiments will illustrate its working. + +Ask a number of persons to think successively of the letters "B," "O," +and "Q." They are not to pronounce the letters, but simply to think hard +about the sound of each letter. + +[Sidenote: Bodily effects of Mental States] + +Now, as they think of these letters, one after the other, watch closely +and you will see their lips move in readiness to pronounce them. There +may be some whose lip-movements you will be unable to detect. If so, it +will be because your eye is not quick enough or keen enough to follow +them in every case. + +Have a friend blindfold you and then stand behind you with his hands on +your shoulders. While in this position ask him to concentrate his mind +upon some object in another part of the house. Yield yourself to the +slightest pressure of his hands or arms and you will soon come to the +object of which he has been thinking. If he is unfamiliar with the +impelling energy of thought, he will charge the result to mind-reading. + +[Sidenote: Illustrative Experiments] + +The same law is illustrated by a familiar catch. Ask a friend to define +the word "spiral." He will find it difficult to express the meaning in +words. And nine persons out of ten while groping for appropriate words +will unconsciously describe a spiral in the air with the forefinger. + +Swing a locket in front of you, holding the end of the chain with both +hands. You will soon see that it will swing in harmony with your +thoughts. If you think of a circle, it will swing around in a circle. If +you think of the movement of a pendulum, the locket will swing back and +forth. + +These experiments not only illustrate the impelling energy of thought +and its power to induce bodily action, but they indicate also that the +bodily effects of mental action are not limited to bodily movements that +are conscious and voluntary. + +[Sidenote: Scope of Mind Power] + +_The fact is, every mental state whether you consider it as involving an +act of the will or not, is followed some kind of bodily effect, and +every bodily action is preceded by some distinct kind of mental +activity. From the practical science point of view every thought causes +its particular bodily effects._ + +This is true of simple sensations. It is true of impulses, ideas and +emotions. It is true of pleasures and pains. It is true of conscious +mental activity. It is true of unconscious mental activity. It is true +of the whole range of mental life. + +Since the mental conditions that produce bodily effects are not limited +to those mental conditions in which there is a conscious exercise of the +will, it follows that _the bodily effects produced by mental action are +not limited to movements of what are known as the voluntary muscles._ + +On the contrary, they include changes and movements in all of the +so-called involuntary muscles, and in every kind of bodily structure. +They include changes and movements in every part of the physical +organism, from changes in the action of heart, lungs, stomach, liver +and other viscera, to changes in the secretions of glands and in the +caliber of the tiniest blood-vessels. A few instances such as are +familiar to the introspective experience of everyone will illustrate the +scope of the mind's control over the body. + +[Sidenote: Bodily Effects of Emotion] + +Emotion always causes numerous and intense bodily effects. Furious anger +may cause frowning brows, grinding teeth, contracted jaws, clenched +fists, panting breath, growling cries, bright redness of the face or +sudden paleness. None of these effects is voluntary; we may not even be +conscious of them. + +Fright may produce a wild beating of the heart, a death-like pallor, a +gasping motion of the lips, an uncovering or protruding of the +eye-balls, a sudden rigidity of the body as if "rooted" to the spot. + +Grief may cause profuse secretion of tears, swollen, reddened face, red +eyes and other familiar symptoms. + +Shame may cause that sudden dilation of the capillary blood-vessels of +the face known as "blushing." + +[Sidenote: Bodily Effects of Perception] + +The sight of others laughing or yawning makes us laugh or yawn. The +sound of one man coughing will become epidemic in an audience. The +thought of a sizzling porter-house steak with mushrooms, baked potatoes +and rich _gravy_ makes the mouth of a hungry man "water." + +Suppose I show you a lemon cut in half and tell you with a wry face and +puckered mouth that I am going to suck the juice of this exceedingly +sour lemon. As you merely read these lines you may observe that the +glands in your mouth have begun to secrete saliva. There is a story of a +man who wagered with a friend that he could stop a band that was playing +in front of his office. He got three lemons and gave half of a lemon to +each of a number of street urchins. He then had these boys walk round +and round the band, sucking the lemons and making puckered faces at the +musicians. That soon ended the music. + +[Sidenote: Experiments of Pavlov] + +A distinguished German scientist, named Pavlov, has recently +demonstrated in a series of experiments with dogs that the sight of the +plate that ordinarily bears their food, or the sight of the chair upon +which the plate ordinarily stands, or even the sight of the person who +commonly brings the plate, may cause the saliva to flow from their +salivary glands just as effectively as the food itself would do if +placed in their mouths. + +[Sidenote: Taste and digestion] + +There was a time, and that not long ago, when the contact of food with +the lining of the stomach was supposed to be the immediate cause of the +secretion of the digestive fluids. Yet recent observation of the +interior of the stomach through an incision in the body, has shown that +just as soon as the food is _tasted_ in the mouth, a purely mental +process, the stomach begins to well forth those fluids that are suitable +for digestion. + +[Sidenote: Bodily Effects of Sensations] + +The press recently contained an account of a motorcycle race in Newark, +New Jersey. The scene was a great bowl-shaped motor-drome. In the midst +of cheering thousands, when riding at the blinding speed of ninety-two +miles an hour, the motorcycle of one of the contestants went wrong. It +climbed the twenty-eight-foot incline, hurled its rider to instant death +and crashed into the packed grandstand. Before the whirling mass of +steel was halted by a deep-set iron pillar four men lay dead and +twenty-two others unconscious and severely injured. Then the twisted +engine of death rebounded from the post and rolled down the saucer-rim +of the track. + +Around the circular path, his speed scarcely less than that of his +ill-fated rival, knowing nothing of the tragedy, hearing nothing of the +screams of warning from the crowd, came another racer. The frightened +throng saw the coming of a second tragedy. The sound that came from the +crowd was a low moaning, a sighing, impotent, unconscious prayer of the +thousands for the mercy that could not come. The second motorcycle +struck the wreck, leaped into the air, and the body of its rider shot +fifty feet over the handlebars and fell at the bottom of the track +unconscious. Two hours later he was dead. + +What was the effect of this dreadful spectacle upon the onlookers? +Confusion, cries of fright and panic, while throughout the grandstand +women fainted and lay here and there unconscious. Many were afflicted +with nausea. With others the muscles of speech contracted convulsively, +knees gave way, hearts "stopped beating." Observe that these were wholly +the effects of _mental_ action, effects of _sight_ and _sound +sensations_. + +[Sidenote: The Fundamental Law of Expression] + +Why multiply instances? All that you need to do to be satisfied that the +mind is directly responsible for any and every kind of bodily activity +is to examine your own experiences and those of your friends. They will +afford you innumerable illustrations. + +You will find that not only is your body constantly doing things because +your mind wills that it should do them, but that your body is +incessantly doing things simply because they are the expression of a +passing thought. + +The law that _Every idea tends to express itself in some form of bodily +activity_, is one of the most obviously demonstrable principles of human +life. + +Bear in mind that this is but another way of expressing the second of +our first two fundamental principles of mental efficiency, and that we +are engaged in a scientific demonstration of its truth so that you will +not confuse it with mere theory or speculation. + +To recall these fundamental principles to your mind and further impress +them upon you, we will restate them: + +I. _All human achievement comes about through some form of bodily +activity_. + +II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by the +mind._ + + + + +PHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY + + + + +CHAPTER V + +PHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY + + +[Sidenote: Introspective Knowledge] + +We have been considering the relationship between mind and body from the +standpoint of the mind. Our investigation has been largely +introspective; that is to say, we simply looked within ourselves and +considered the effects of our mental operations upon our own bodies. The +facts we had before us were facts of which we had direct knowledge. We +did not have to go out and seek them in the mental and bodily activities +of other persons. We found them here within ourselves, inherent in our +consciousness. To observe them we had merely to turn the spotlight into +the hidden channels of our own minds. + +[Sidenote: Dissection and the Governing Consciousness] + +We come now to examine the mind's influence upon the body from the +standpoint of the body. To do this we must go forth and investigate. We +must use eye, ear and hand. We must use the forceps and scalpel and +microscope of the anatomist and physiologist. + +[Sidenote: Subordinate Mental Units] + +_But it is well worth while that we should do this. For our +investigation will show a bodily structure peculiarly adapted to control +by a governing consciousness. It will reveal to the eye a physical +mechanism peculiarly fitted for the dissemination of intelligence +throughout the body. And, most of all, it will disclose the existence +within the body of subordinate mental units, each capable of receiving, +understanding and acting upon the intelligence thus submitted. And we +shall have strongly corroborative evidence of the mind's complete +control over every function of the body._ + +Examine a green plant and you will observe that it is composed of +numerous parts, each of which has some special function to perform. The +roots absorb food and drink from the soil. The leaves breathe in +carbonic acid from the air and transform it into the living substance of +the plant. Every plant has, therefore, an anatomical structure, its +parts and tissues visible to the naked eye. + +[Sidenote: What the Microscope Shows] + +Put one of these tissues under a microscope and you will find that it +consists of a _honeycomb of small compartments or units_. These +compartments are called "cells," and the structure of all plant tissues +is described as "cellular." Wherever you may look in any plant, you will +find these cells making up its tissues. The activity of any part or +tissue of the plant, and consequently all of the activities of the plant +as a whole, are but the combined and co-operating activities of the +various individual cells of which the tissues are composed. _The living +cell, therefore, is at the basis of all plant life._ + +[Sidenote: The Little Universe Beyond] + +In the same way, if you turn to the structure of any animal, you will +find that it is composed of parts or organs made up of different kinds +of tissues, and these tissues examined under a microscope will disclose +a cellular structure similar to that exhibited by the plant. + +_Look where you will among living things, plant or animal, you will find +that all are mere assemblages of cellular tissues._ + +Extend your investigation further, and examine into forms of life so +minute that they can be seen only with the most powerful microscope and +you will come upon a _whole universe of tiny creatures consisting of a +single cell_. + +[Sidenote: The Unit of Life] + +Indeed, it is a demonstrable fact that these tiny units of life +consisting of but a single cell are far more numerous than the forms of +life visible to the naked eye. You will have some idea of their size and +number when we tell you that millions may live and die and reproduce +their kind in a single thimbleful of earth. + +_Every plant, then, or every animal, whatever its species, however +simple or complicated its structure, is in the last analysis either a +single cell or a confederated group of cells._ + +All life, whether it be the life of a single cell or of an unorganized +group of cells or of a republic of cells, has as its basis the life of +the cell. + +For all the animate world, two great principles stand established. +First, that _every living organism_, plant or animal, big or little, +develops from a cell, and is itself a composite of cells, and that the +cell is the unit of all life. Secondly, that _the big and complex +organisms have through long ages developed out of simpler forms_, the +organic life of today being the result of an age-long process of +evolution. + +What, then, is the cell, and what part has it played in this process of +evolution? + +To begin with, a cell is visible only through a microscope. A human +blood cell is about one-three-thousandth of an inch across, while a +bacterial cell may be no more than one-twenty-five-thousandth of an inch +in diameter. + +[Sidenote: Characteristics of Living Cells] + +Yet, small as it is, the cell exhibits all of the customary phenomena of +independent life; that is to say, it nourishes itself, it grows, it +reproduces its kind, it moves about, and _it feels_. It is a _living, +breathing, feeling, moving, feeding thing_. + +The term "cell" suggests a walled-in enclosure. This is because it was +originally supposed that a confining wall or membrane was an invariable +and essential characteristic of cell structure. It is now known, +however, that while such a membrane may exist, as it does in most plant +cells, it may be lacking, as is the case in most animal cells. + +The only absolutely essential parts of the cell are the inner _nucleus_ +or kernel and the tiny mass of living jelly surrounding it, called the +_protoplasm_. + +[Sidenote: The Brain of the Cell] + +The most powerful microscopes disclose in this protoplasm a certain +definite structure, a very fine, thread-like network spreading from the +nucleus throughout the semi-fluid albuminous protoplasm. It is certainly +in line with the broad analogies of life, to suppose that in each cell +the nucleus with its network is the brain and nervous system of that +individual cell._ + +All living organisms consist, then simply of cells. Those consisting of +but one cell are termed unicellular; those comprising more than one cell +are called pluricellular. + +The unicellular organism is the unit of life on this earth. Yet tiny and +ultimate as it is, every unicellular organism is possessed of an +independent and "free living" existence. + +[Sidenote: Mind Life of One Cell] + +To be convinced of this fact, just consider for a moment the scope of +development and range of activities of one of these tiny bodies. + +"We see, then," says Haeckel, "that it performs all the essential life +functions which the entire organism accomplishes. Every one of these +little beings grows and feeds itself independently. It assimilates +juices from without, absorbing them from the surrounding fluid. Each +separate cell is also able to reproduce itself and to increase. This +increase generally takes place by simple division, the nucleus parting +first, by a contraction round its circumference, into two parts; after +which the protoplasm likewise separates into two divisions. The single +cell is able to move and creep about; from its outer surface it sends +out and draws back again finger-like processes, thereby modifying its +form. Finally, the young cell has feeling, and is more or less +sensitive. It performs certain movements on the application of chemical +and mechanical irritants." + +[Sidenote: The Will of the Cell] + +The single living cell moves about in search of food. When food is found +it is enveloped in the mass of protoplasm, digested and assimilated. + +The single cell has the _power of choice_, for it refuses to eat what is +unwholesome and extends itself mightily to reach that which is +nourishing. + +[Sidenote: The Cell and Organic Evolution] + +Moebius and Gates are convinced that the single cell possesses _memory_, +for having once encountered anything dangerous, it knows enough to avoid +it when presented under similar circumstances. And having once found +food in a certain place, it will afterwards make a business of looking +for it in the same place. + +And, finally, Verwörn and Binet have found in a single living cell +manifestations of _the emotions of surprise and fear_ and the rudiments +of _an ability to adapt means to an end_. + +Let us now consider pluricellular organisms and consider them +particularly from the standpoint of organic evolution. The pluricellular +organism is nothing more nor less than a later development, a +confederated association of unicellular organisms. Mark the development +of such an association. + +[Sidenote: Evolutionary Differentiation] + +Originally each separate cell performed all the functions of a separate +life. The bonds that united it to its fellows were of the most transient +character. Gradually the necessities of environment led to a more and +more permanent grouping, until at last the bonds of union became +indissoluble. + +Meanwhile, the great laws of "adaptation" and "heredity," the basic +principles of evolution, have been steadily at work, and slowly there +has come about a differentiation of cell function, an apportionment +among the different cells of the different kinds of labor. + +[Sidenote: Plurality of the Individual] + +As the result of such differentiation, the pluricellular organism, as it +comes ultimately to be evolved, is composed of many different kinds of +cells. Each has its special function. Each has its field of labor. Each +lives its own individual life. Each reproduces its own kind. Yet all are +bound together as elements of the same "cell society" or organized "cell +state." + +Among pluricellular organisms man is of course supreme. He is the one +form of animal life that is most highly differentiated. + +[Sidenote: Combined Consciousness of the Millions] + +Knowing what you now know of microscopic anatomy, you cannot hold to the +simple idea that the human body is a single life-unit. This is the +naïve belief that is everywhere current among men today. Inquire among +your own friends and acquaintances and you will find that not one in a +thousand realizes that he is, to put it jocularly, singularly plural, +that he is in fact an assemblage of individuals. + +[Illustration: MICROSCOPIC STUDIES IN HUMAN ANATOMY, PRIVATE LABORATORY, +SOCIETY OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY] + +Not only is the living human body as a whole alive, but "every part of +it as large as a pin-point is alive, with a separate and independent +life all its own; every part of the brain, lungs, heart, muscles, fat +and skin." No man ever has or ever can count the number of these parts +or cells, some of which are so minute that it would take thousands in a +row to reach an inch. + +"Feeling" or "consciousness" is the sum total of the feelings and +consciousness of millions of cells, just as an orchestral harmony is a +composite of the sounds of all the individual instruments. + +[Sidenote: Evolution of the Human Organism] + +In the ancient dawn of evolution, all the cells of the human body were +of the same kind. But Nature is everywhere working out problems of +economy and efficiency. And, to meet the necessities of environment, +there has gradually come about a parceling out among the different cells +of the various tasks that all had been previously called upon to perform +for the support of the human institution. + +This differentiation in kinds of work has gradually brought about +corresponding and appropriate changes of structure in the cells +themselves, whereby each has become better fitted to perform its part in +the sustenance and growth of the body. + +[Sidenote: The Crowd-Man] + +When you come to think that these processes of adaptation and heredity +in the human body have been going on for _countless millions of years_, +you can readily understand how it is that the human body of today is +made up of more than thirty different kinds of cells, each having its +special function. + +[Sidenote: Functions of Different Human Cells] + +We have muscle cells, with long, thin bodies like pea-pods, who devote +their lives to the business of contraction; thin, hair-like connective +tissue cells, whose office is to form a tough tissue for binding the +parts of the body together; bone cells, a trades-union of masons, whose +life work it is to select and assimilate salts of lime for the upkeep of +the joints and framework; hair, skin, and nail cells, in various shapes +and sizes, all devoting themselves to the protection and ornamentation +of the body; gland cells, who give their lives, a force of trained +chemists, to the abstraction from the blood of those substances that are +needed for digestion; blood cells, crowding their way through the +arteries, some making regular deliveries of provisions to the other +tenants, some soldierly fellows patrolling their beats to repel invading +disease germs, some serving as humble scavengers; liver cells engaged in +the menial service of living off the waste of other organs and at the +same time converting it into such fluids as are required for digestion; +windpipe and lung cells, whose heads are covered with stiff hairs, which +the cell throughout its life waves incessantly to and fro; and, lastly, +and most important and of greatest interest to us, brain and nerve +cells, the brain cells constituting altogether the organ of objective +intelligence, the instrument through which we are conscious of the +external world, and the nerve cells serving as a living telegraph to +relay information, from one part of the body to another, with the +"swiftness of thought." + +Says one writer, referring to the cells of the inner or true skin: "As +we look at them arranged there like a row of bricks, let us remember two +things: first, that this row is actually in our skin at this moment; +and, secondly, that each cell is a living being--it is born, grows, +lives, breathes, eats, works, decays and dies. A gay time of it these +youngsters have on the very banks of a stream that is bringing down to +them every minute stores of fresh air in the round, red corpuscles of +the blood, and a constant stream of suitable food in the serum. But it +is not all pleasure, for every one of them is hard at work." + +[Sidenote: Cell Life After Death] + +And again, speaking of the cells that line the air-tubes, he says: "The +whole interior, then, of the air-tubes resembles nothing so much as a +field of corn swayed by the wind to and fro, the principal sweep, +however, being always upwards towards the throat. All particles of dust +and dirt inhaled drop on this waving forest of hairs, and are gently +passed up and from one to another out of the lungs. When we remember +that these hairs commenced waving at our birth, and have never for one +second ceased since, and will continue to wave a short time after our +death, we are once more filled with wonder at the marvels that surround +us on every side." + +[Sidenote: Experiments of Dr. Alexis Carrel] + +Remarkable confirmatory evidence of the fact that every organ of the +body is composed of individual cell intelligences, endowed with an +instinctive knowledge of how to perform their special functions, is +found in the experiments of Dr. Alexis Carrel, the recipient of the +Nobel prize for science for 1912. + +_Dr. Carrel has taken hearts, stomachs and kidneys out of living +animals, and by artificial nourishment has succeeded in keeping them +steadily at work digesting foods, and so on, in his laboratory, for +months after the death of the bodies from which they were originally +taken._ + +[Sidenote: Man-Federation of Intelligences] + +We see, then, that every human body is an exceedingly complex +association of units. It is a marvelously correlated and organized +community of countless microscopic organisms. It is a sort of _cell +republic_, as to which we may truthfully paraphrase: Life and Union, One +and Inseparable. + +Every human body is thus made up of countless cellular intelligences, +each of which instinctively utilizes ways and means for the performance +of its special functions and the reproduction of its kind. These cell +intelligences carry on, without the knowledge or volition of our central +consciousness--that is to say, _subconsciously_--the vital operations of +the body. + +[Sidenote: Creative Power of the Cell] + +Under normal conditions, conditions of health, each cell does its work +without regard to the operations of its neighbors. But in the event of +accident or disease, it is called upon to repair the organism. And in +this it shows an energy and intelligence that "savor of creative power." +With what promptness and vigor the cells apply themselves to heal a cut +or mend a broken bone! In such cases all that the physician can do is to +establish outward conditions that will favor the co-operative labors of +these tiny intelligences. + +_The conclusion to be drawn from all this is obvious. For, if every +individual and ultimate part of the body is a mind organism, it is very +apparent that the body as a whole is peculiarly adapted to control and +direction by mental influences. + +[Sidenote: Laying the Foundation for Practical Doing] + +Do not lose sight of the fact that in proving such control we are laying +the foundation for a scientific method of achieving practical success in +life, since all human achievement comes about through some form of +bodily activity._ + +We assume now your complete acceptance of the following propositions, +based as they are upon facts long since discovered and enunciated in +standard scientific works: + +_a_. The whole body is composed of cells, each of which is an +intelligent entity endowed with mental powers commensurate with its +needs. + +[Sidenote: Three New Propositions] + +_b._ The fact that every cell in the body is a _mind_ cell shows that +the body, by the very nature of its component parts, is peculiarly +susceptible to mental influence and control. + +To these propositions we now append the following: + +_c._ A further examination of the body reveals a central mental +organism, the brain, composed of highly differentiated cells whose +intelligence, as in the case of other cells, is commensurate with their +functions. + +_d._ It reveals also a physical mechanism, the nervous system, +peculiarly adapted to the communication of intelligence between the +central governing intelligence and the subordinate cells. + +[Sidenote: An Instrument for Mental Dominance] + +_e._ The existence of this mind organism and this mechanism of +intercommunication is additional evidence of the control and direction +of bodily activities by _mental energy_. + +The facts to follow will not only demonstrate the truth of these +propositions, but will disclose the existence within every one of us of +a store of mental energies and activities of which we are entirely +unconscious. + +The brain constitutes the organ of central governing intelligence, and +the nerves are the physical means employed in bodily intercommunication. + +Brain and nerves are in other words the physical mechanism employed by +the mind to dominate the body. + +[Sidenote: Gateways of Experience] + +Single nerve fibers are fine, thread-like cells. They are so small as to +be invisible to the naked eye. Some of them are so minute that it would +take twenty thousand of them laid side by side to measure an inch. Every +nerve fiber in the human body forms one of a series of connecting links +between some central nerve cell in the brain or spinal cord on the one +hand and some bodily tissue on the other. + +All nerves originating in the brain may be divided into two classes +according as they carry currents to the brain or from it. Those carrying +currents to the brain are called _sensory_ nerves, or nerves of +sensation; those carrying currents from the brain are called _motor_ +nerves, or nerves of motion. + +[Sidenote: Couriers of Action] + +Among the sensory nerves are the nerves of consciousness; that is, the +nerves whereby we receive sense impressions from the external world. +These include the nerves of touch, sight, pain, hearing, temperature, +taste and smell. Motor nerves are those that carry messages from the +brain and spinal cord on the one hand to the muscles on the other. They +are the lines along which flash all orders resulting in bodily +movements. + +[Sidenote: Nerve Systems] + +Another broad division of nerves is into two great nerve systems. There +are the _cerebro-spinal_ system and the _sympathetic_ system. The first, +the cerebro-spinal system, includes all the nerves of _consciousness_ +and of _voluntary action_; it includes all nerves running between the +brain and spinal cord on the one hand and the voluntary muscles on the +other. The second, the sympathetic nerve system, consists of all the +nerves of the unconscious or functional life; it therefore includes all +nerves running between the brain and sympathetic or involuntary nerve +centers on the one hand and the involuntary muscles on the other. + +Every bodily movement or function that you can start or stop at will, +even to such seemingly unconscious acts as winking, walking, etc., is +controlled through the cerebro-spinal system. All other functions of the +body, including the great vital processes, such as heart pulsation and +digestion, are performed unconsciously, are beyond the direct control of +the will, and are governed through the sympathetic nerve system. + +[Sidenote: Organs of Consciousness and Subconsciousness] + +It is obvious that the cerebro-spinal nerve system is the organ of +consciousness, the apparatus through which the mind exercises its +conscious and voluntary control over certain functions of the body. It +is equally obvious that the _sympathetic system is not under the +immediate control of consciousness, is not subject to the will, but is +dominated by mental influences that act without, or even contrary to, +our conscious will and sometimes without our knowledge._ + +Yet you are not to understand that these two great nerve systems are +entirely distinct in their operations. On the contrary, they are in many +respects closely related. + +[Illustration: SEPARATE NERVE CENTERS, PLEXUSES AND GANGLIA, THE "LITTLE +BRAINS" OF THE HUMAN BODY] + +Thus, the heart receives nerves from both centers of government, and +besides all this is itself the center of groups of nerve cells. The +power by which it beats arises from a ganglionic center within the heart +itself, so that the heart will continue to beat apart from the body if +it be supplied with fresh blood. But the rapidity of the heart's beating +is regulated by the cerebro-spinal and sympathetic systems, of which the +former tends to retard the beat and the latter tends to accelerate it. + +In the same way, your lungs are governed in part by both centers, for +you can breathe slowly or rapidly as you will, but you cannot, by any +power of your conscious will, stop breathing altogether. + +Your interest in the brain and nerve system is confined to such facts as +may prove to be of use to you in your study of the mind. These +anatomical divisions interest you only as they are identified with +conscious mental action on the one hand and unconscious mental action on +the other. + +It is, therefore, of no use to you to consider the various divisions of +the sympathetic nerve system, since the sympathetic nerve system in its +entirety belongs to the field of unconscious mental action. It operates +without our knowledge and without our will. + +[Sidenote: Looking Inside the Skull] + +The cerebro-spinal system consists of the spinal cord and the brain. The +brain in turn is made up of two principal subdivisions. First, there is +the greater or upper brain, called the cerebrum; secondly, there is the +lower or smaller brain, called the cerebellum. The cerebrum in turn +consists of three parts: the convoluted _surface_ brain, the _middle_ +brain and the _lower_ brain. So that in all we have the _surface_ brain, +the _middle_ brain, the _lower_ brain and the _cerebellum_. All these +parts consist of masses of brain cells with connecting nerve fibers. + +[Sidenote: Brains Parts and Functions] + +And now, as to the functions of these various parts. Beginning at the +lowest one and moving upward, we find first that the _spinal cord_ +consists of through lines of nerves running between the brain and the +rest of the body. At the same time it contains within itself certain +nerve centers that are sufficient for many simple bodily movements. +These bodily movements are such as are instinctive or habitual and +require no distinct act of the will for their performance. They are mere +"reactions," without conscious, volitional impulse. + +Moving up one step higher, we find that the _cerebellum_ is the organ of +equilibrium, and that it as well as the spinal cord operates +independently of the conscious will, for no conscious effort of the will +is required to make one reel from dizziness. + +As to the divisions of the greater brain or cerebrum, we want you to +note that the _lower brain_ serves a double purpose. First, it is the +channel through which pass through lines of communication to and from +the upper brain and the mid-brain on the one hand and the rest of the +body on the other. Secondly, it is itself a central office for the +maintenance of certain vital functions, such as lung-breathing, +heart-beating, saliva-secreting, swallowing, etc., all involuntary and +unconscious in the sense that consciousness is not necessary to their +performance. + +The next higher division, or _mid-brain_, is a large region from which +the conscious will issues its edicts regulating all voluntary bodily +movements. It is also the seat of certain special senses, such as sight. + +Lastly, the _surface brain_, known as the cortex, is the interpretative +and reflective center, the abode of memory, intellect and will. + +[Sidenote: Drunkenness and Brain Efficiency] + +The functions of these various parts are well illustrated by the effects +of alcohol upon the mind. If a man takes too much alcohol, its first +apparent effect will be to paralyze the higher or cortical center. This +leaves the mid-brain without the check-rein of a reflective intellect, +and the man will be senselessly hilarious or quarrelsome, jolly or +dejected, pugnacious or tearful, and would be ordinarily described as +"drunk." If in spite of this he keeps on drinking, the mid-brain soon +becomes deadened and ceases to respond, and the cerebellum, the organ of +equilibrium, also becomes paralyzed. All voluntary bodily activities +must then cease, and he rolls under the table, helpless and "dead" +drunk, or in language that is even more graphically appreciative of the +physiological effects of alcohol, "paralyzed." However, the deep-seated +sympathetic system is still alive. No assault has yet been made upon +the vital organs of the body; the heart continues to beat and the lungs +to breathe. But suppose that some playful comrade pours still more +liquor down the victim's throat. The medulla, or lower brain, then +becomes paralyzed, the vital organs cease to act and the man is no +longer "dead" drunk. He has become a sacrifice to Bacchus. He is +literally and actually dead. + +It seems, then, that the surface brain and mid-brain constitute together +the organ of consciousness and will. Consciousness and will disappear +with the deadening or paralysis of these two organs. + +[Sidenote: Secondary Brains] + +Yet these two organs constitute but a small proportion of the entire +mass of brain and nervous tissue of the body. In addition to these, +there are not only the lower brain and the spinal cord and the countless +ramifications of motor and sensory nerves throughout the body, but +there are also separate nerve-centers or ganglia in every one of the +visceral organs of the body. These ganglia have the power to maintain +movements in their respective organs. _They may in fact be looked upon +as little brains developing nerve force and communicating it to the +organs._ + +[Sidenote: Dependence of the Subconscious] + +All these automatic parts of the bodily mechanism are dominated by +departments of the mind entirely distinct from ordinary consciousness. +In fact, ordinary consciousness has no knowledge of their existence +excepting what is learned from outward bodily manifestations. + +All these different organic ganglia constitute together the sympathetic +nerve system, organ of that part of the mind which directs the vital +operations of the body in apparent independence of the intelligence +commonly called "the mind," an intelligence which acts through the +cerebro-spinal system. + +Yet this independence is far from being absolute. For, as we have seen, +not only is the cerebro-spinal system, which is the organ of +consciousness, the abode of all the special senses, such as sight, +hearing, etc., and therefore our only source of information of the +external world, but many organs of the body are under the joint control +of both systems. + +_So it comes about that these individual intelligences governing +different organs of the body, with their intercommunications, are +dependent upon consciousness for their knowledge of such facts of the +outer world as have a bearing on their individual operations, and they +are subject to the influence of consciousness as the medium that +interprets these facts._ + +It is unnecessary for us to go into this matter deeply. It is enough if +you clearly understand that, in addition to consciousness, the +department of mind that knows and directly deals with the facts of the +outer world, there is also a deep-seated and seemingly unconscious +department of mind consisting of individual organic intelligences +capable of receiving, understanding and acting upon such information as +consciousness transmits. + +[Sidenote: Unconsciousness and Subconsciousness] + +We have spoken of conscious and "seemingly unconscious" departments of +the mind. In doing so we have used the word "seemingly" advisedly. +Obviously we have no right to apply the term "unconscious" without +qualification to an intelligent mentality such as we have described. + +"Unconscious" simply means "not conscious." In its common acceptation, +it denotes, in fact, an absence of all mental action. It is in no sense +descriptive. It is merely negative. Death is unconscious; but +unconsciousness is no attribute of a mental state that is living and +impellent and constantly manifests its active energy and power in the +maintenance of the vital functions of the body. + +Hereafter, then, we shall continue to use the term consciousness as +descriptive of that part of our mentality which constitutes what is +commonly known as the "mind"; while that mental force, which, so far as +our animal life is concerned, operates through the sympathetic nerve +system, we shall hereafter describe as "_sub_conscious." + +[Sidenote: Synthesis of the Man-Machine] + +[Sidenote: Subserviency of the Body] + +Let us summarize our study of man's physical organism. We have learned +that the human body is a confederation of various groups of living +cells; that in the earliest stages of man's evolution, these cells +were all of the same general type; that as such they were free-living, +free-thinking and intelligent organisms as certainly as were those +unicellular organisms which had not become members of any group or +association; that through the processes of evolution, heredity and +adaptation, there has come about in the course of the ages, a +subdivision of labor among the cells of our bodies and a consequent +differentiation in kind whereby each has become peculiarly fitted for +the performance of its allotted functions; that, nevertheless, these +cells of the human body are still free-living, intelligent organisms, +of which each is endowed with the inherited, instinctive knowledge of +all that is essential to the preservation of its own life and the +perpetuation of its species within the living body; that, as a part of +the specializing economy of the body, there have been evolved brain +and nerve cells performing a twofold service--first, constituting the +organ of a central governing intelligence with the important business +of receiving, classifying, and recording all impressions or messages +received through the senses from the outer world, and, second, +communicating to the other cells of the body such part of the +information so derived as may be appropriate to the functions of each; +that finally, as such complex and confederated individuals, each of +us possesses a direct, self-conscious knowledge of only a small part +of his entire mental equipment; that we have not only a +_consciousness_ receiving sense impressions and issuing motor impulses +through the cerebro-spinal nervous system, but that we have also a +_subconsciousness_ manifesting itself, so far as bodily functions are +concerned, in the activity of the vital organs through the sympathetic +nerve system; that this subconsciousness is dependent on consciousness +for all knowledge of the external world; that, in accordance with the +principles of evolution, man as a whole and as a collection of cell +organisms, both consciously and unconsciously, is seeking to adapt +himself to his external world, his environment; that the human body, +both as a whole and as an aggregate of cellular intelligences, is +therefore subject in every part and in every function to the +influence of the special senses and of the mind of consciousness. + + + + +The Supremacy of Consciousness + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SUPREMACY OF CONSCIOUSNESS + +CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM STUDIES IN HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY, ANATOMY AND +PHYSIOLOGY + + +[Sidenote: Striking off the Mental Shackles] + +Stop a moment and mark the conclusion to which you have come. You have +been examining the human body with the scalpel and the microscope of +the anatomist and physiologist. In doing so and by watching the bodily +organs in operation, you have learned that _every part of the body, even +to those organs commonly known as involuntary, is ultimately subject to +the influence or control of consciousness_, that part of the human +intelligence which is popularly known as "the mind." + +Prior to this, as a matter of direct introspective knowledge, we had +come to the conclusion that the influence of the mind over all the +organs of the body was one of the most obvious facts of human life. + +So, our study of the body as the instrument of the mind has brought us +to the same conclusion as did our study of the mind in its relations to +the body. + +Looked at from the practical science standpoint, the evidences that +mental activity can and does produce bodily effects are so clear and +numerous as to admit of no dispute. + +The world has been slow to acknowledge the mastery of mind over body. +This is because the world long persisted in looking at the question from +the point of view of the philosopher and religionist. It is because the +thought of the world has been hampered by its own definitions of terms. + +The spiritualist has been so busy in the pursuit of originating "first" +causes, and the materialist has so emphasized the dependence of mind +upon physical conditions, that the world has received with skepticism +the assertion of the influence of mind over body, and in fact doubted +the intuitive evidence of its own consciousness. + +[Sidenote: The Awakening of Enlightenment] + +The distinction between the two points of view has gradually come to be +recognized. Today the fact that the mind may act as a "cause" in +relationship with the body is a recognized principle of applied science. +The world's deepest thinkers accept its truth. And the interest of +enlightened men and women everywhere is directed toward the mind as an +agency of undreamed resource for the cure of functional derangements of +the body and for the attainment of the highest degree of bodily +efficiency. + +In some respects it is unfortunate that you should have been compelled +to begin these studies in mental efficiency and self-expression with +lessons on the relationship between the mind and the body. There is the +danger that you may jump at the conclusion that this course has some +reference to "mental healing." Please disabuse your mind of any such +mistaken idea. + +[Sidenote: The Vital Purpose] + +Health is a boon. It is not the greatest boon. Health is not life. +Health is but a means to life. Life is service. Life is achievement. +Health is of value in so far as it contributes to achievement. + +Our study of the relation between mind and body at this time has had a +deeper, broader and more vital purpose. It is the foundation stone of an +educational structure in which we shall show you how the mind may be +brought by scientific measures to a certainty and effectiveness of +operation far greater than is now common or ordinarily thought possible. + +[Sidenote: Your Reservoir of Latent Power] + +Remember the two fundamental propositions set forth in this book. + +I. _All human achievement comes about through some form of bodily +activity._ + +II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by the +mind._ + +The truth of these propositions must now be obvious to you. You must +realize that the mind is the one instrument by which it is possible to +achieve anything in life. Your next step must be to learn how to use it. + +_In succeeding volumes, we shall sound the depths of the reservoir of +latent mental power. We shall find the means of tapping its resources. +And so we shall come to give you the master key to achievement and teach +you how to use it with confidence and with the positive assurance of +success._ + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Psychology and Achievement, by Warren Hilton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13791 *** |