Applied Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY AND ACHIEVEMENT

_Being the First of a Series of Twelve Volumes on the Applications ofPsychology 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 PsychologyNEW YORK AND LONDON1919

1914

BY THE APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO

PREFATORY NOTE

_Lest in the text of these volumes credit may not always have been givenwhere credit is due, grateful acknowledgment is here made to ProfessorHugo 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 PondrayWarren, Dr. J. D. Quackenbos, Professor C. A. Strong, Professor PaulDubois, Professor Joseph Jastrow, Professor Pierre Janet, Dr. BernardHart and Professor G. M. Whipple, of the indebtedness to them incurred inthe 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 outerworld. The age is now at hand that shall harness the energies of mind, new-found in the psychological laboratory, and shall put them at theservice of humanity. 

Are you fully equipped to take a valiant part in the work of the comingyears?

[Sidenote: The Dollars and Cents of Mental Waste]

The greatest of all eras is at hand! Are you increasing your fitness toappreciate it and take part in it, or are you merely passing your timeaway?

Take careful note for a week of the incidents of your daily life--yourmethods of work, habits of thought, modes of recreation. You willdiscover an appalling waste in your present random methods of operation. 

How many foot-pounds of energy do you suppose you annually dump into thescrap-heap of wasted effort? What does this mean to you in dollars andcents? In conscious usefulness? In peace and happiness?

[Sidenote: The Means to Notable Achievement]

Individual mental efficiency is an absolute prerequisite to any notablepersonal achievement or any great individual success. Your mentalenergies are the forces with which you must wage your battles in thisworld. Are you prepared to direct and deploy _Achievement__ these forceswith masterful control and strategic skill? Are you prepared to use allyour reserves of mental energy in the crises of your career?

A Mighty and Intelligent Power resides within you. Its marvelousresources are just now coming to be recognized. 

Recent scientific research has revealed, beyond the world of the sensesand beyond the domain of consciousness, a wide and hitherto hidden realmof 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 whoseoperations you are unconscious and whose marvelous breadth and depth andpower have but recently been revealed to the world by scientificexperiment. 

In this _Basic Course of Reading_ we shall lay before you in simple andclear-cut but scientific form the proof that you have at your commandmental powers of which you have never before dreamed. 

And we shall give you such specific directions for the use of thesenew-found powers, that whatever your environment, whatever yourbusiness, whatever your ambition, _you need but follow our plain andsimple instructions in order to do the thing you want to do, to be theman 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 energiesis to be acquired by mere hygienic measures, put it from you. The ideathat you may come into the fulness of your powers through merewholesome living, outdoor sports and bodily exercise is an idea thatbelongs to an age that is past. Good health is not necessary toachievement. It is not even a positive influence for achievement. It ismerely a negative blessing. With good health you may hope to reach yourhighest mental and spiritual development free from the harassment ofsoul-racking pain. But without good health men have reached the summitof 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 aparticular field. The first occupation of the successful man is rarelythe one in which he achieves his ultimate triumph. In the changingconditions of our day, one needs a better weapon than the mere knowledgeof a particular trade, vocation or profession. _He needs that mastery ofhimself and others that is the fundamental secret of success in allfields 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 arecommonly regarded as essential to success. We shall do no moralizing. You will find here no elaboration of the ancient aphorisms, "Honesty isthe best policy, " and "Genius is the infinite capacity for takingpains. "

The world has had its fill of mere exhortations to industry, frugalityand perseverance. For some thousands of years men have preached to thelazy man, "Be industrious, " and to the timid man, "Be bold. " But suchphrases never have solved and never can solve the problem for the manwho 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 notqualities that can be assumed and discarded like a Sunday coat. Industryand courage and tact and confidence are well enough, but we must knowthe Why and the How of these things. 

It is well enough to preach that the secret of achievement is to befound in "courage-faith" and "courage-confidence, " and that the way toacquire these qualities is to assume that you have them. There is nodenying the undoubted fact that men and women have been rescued from thedeepest mire of poverty and despair and lifted to planes of happyabundance 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 anyother field so long as we continue to deal with materials we do notunderstand. Yet that is what all men are doing today. The elements oftruth are befogged in vague and amateurish mysticism, and the subject ofindividual efficiency when we get beyond mere preaching and moralizingis a chaos of isms. 

The time is ripe for a real analysis of these important problems, --aserious and scientific analysis with a clear and practical exposition offacts and principles and rules for conduct. 

Men and women must be fundamentally trained so that they can look deepinto their own minds and see where the screw is loose, where oil isneeded, and so readjust themselves and their living for a greaterefficiency. 

[Sidenote: The Virus of Failure]

The embittered, the superstitious, the prejudiced, all those whoscorpion-like sting themselves with the virus of failure, must be givenan antidote of understanding that will repair their deranged mentalmachinery. 

The conscientious but foolish business man who is worrying himself intofailure and an early grave must be taught the physiological effects ofideas and given a new standard of values. 

The profligate must be lured from his emotional excesses anddebaucheries, not by moralizings, but by showing him just how thesethings 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 faras true happiness is concerned, and how by scientific self-developmenthe can acquire greater riches within than all his vaults of steel willhold. 

This _Basic Course of Reading_ offers just such an analysis andexposition of fundamental principles. It furnishes definite andscientific answers to the problems of life. It will reveal to you unusedor unintelligently used mental forces vastly greater than those now atyour command. 

[Sidenote: Your Undiscovered Resources]

We go even further, and say that this _Basic Course of Reading_ providesa practicable formula for the everyday use of these vast resources. Itwill enable you to acquire the magical qualities and still more magicaleffects that spell success and happiness, without straining your will tothe breaking point and making life a burden. It will give you a definiteprescription like the physician's, "Take one before meals, " and aseasily compounded, which will enable you to be prosperous and happy. 

In the development of one's innate resources, such as powers ofobservation, imagination, correct judgment, alertness, resourcefulness, application, concentration, and the faculty of taking prompt advantageof opportunities, the study of the mental machine is bound to be thefirst step. It must be the ultimate resource for self-training inefficiency for the promoter with his appeal to the cupidity andimaginations of men as surely as for the artist in his search for poeticinspiration. 

[Sidenote: Man's Mind Machine]

No man can get the best results from any machine unless he understandsits mechanism. We shall draw aside the curtain and show you the mind inoperation. 

The mastery of your own powers is worth more to you than all theknowledge of outside facts you can crowd into your head. Read and studyand practice the teachings of this _Basic Course_, and they will makeyou in a new sense the master of yourself and of your future. 

In this _Basic Course of Reading_ we shall begin by giving you athorough understanding of certain mental operations and processes. 

[Sidenote: Abjuring Mysticisms]

We shall lead your interest away from "vague mysticisms" and emphasizesuch phases of scientific psychological theory as bear directly onpractical achievement. 

We shall give you a practical working knowledge of concentrative mentalmethods and devices. We shall clear away the mysteries andmisapprehensions that now envelop this particular field. 

In the present volume we shall begin with a discussion of certainaspects 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 withoutsome knowledge of the bodily machine through which the mind works. Theinvestigation of the mind and its conditions and problems is primarilythe business of psychology, which seeks to describe and explain them. It would seem to be entirely distinct from physiology, which seeks toclassify and explain the facts of bodily structure and operation. Butall sciences overlap more or less. And this is particularly true ofpsychology, which deals with the mind, and physiology, which deals withthe body. 

It is the mind that we are primarily interested in. But every individualmind resides within, or at least expresses itself through, a body. Uponthe preservation of that body and upon the orderly performance of itsfunctions 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 andmost immediately concerned. It furnishes him with information concerningthe existence and operations of other minds. It is in fact his onlysource of information about the outside world. 

First of all, then, you must form definite and intelligent conclusionsconcerning 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 willunderstand the bodily mechanism through which the mind operates, and aknowledge of this mechanism is bound to enlighten you as to thecharacter of the _mental_ processes themselves. In the second place, itis worth while to know the extent of the mind's influence over the body, because this knowledge is the first step toward obtaining bodilyefficiency through the mental control of bodily functions. And, finally, a study of this bodily mechanism is of very great practical importancein itself, for the body is the instrument through which the mind acts inits relations with the world at large. 

From a study of the bodily machine, we shall advance to a considerationof the mental processes themselves, not after the usual manner of workson psychology, but solely from the standpoint of practical utility andfor the establishment of a scientific concept of the mind capable ofeveryday use. 

[Sidenote: Fundamental Laws and Practical Methods]

The elucidation of every principle of mental operation will beaccompanied by illustrative material pointing out just how thatparticular law may be employed for the attainment of specific practicalends. There will be numerous illustrative instances and methods that canbe at once made use of by the merchant, the musician, the salesman, theadvertiser, the employer of labor, the business executive. 

[Sidenote: Special Business Topics]

In this way this _Basic Course of Reading_ will lay a firm and broadfoundation, first, for an understanding of the methods and deviceswhereby any man may acquire full control and direction of his mentalenergies and may develop his resources to the last degree; second, foran understanding of the psychological methods for success in anyspecific professional pursuit in which he may be particularlyinterested; and third, for an understanding of the methods of applyingpsychological knowledge to the industrial problems of office, store andfactory. 

The first of these--that is to say, instruction in methods for theattainment of any goal consistent with native ability--will follow rightalong as part of this _Basic Course of Reading. _ The second andthird--that is to say, the study of special commercial and industrialtopics--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 acquireperfect individual efficiency. And, most remarkable of all, we shallshow you how you may acquire it _without that effort to obtain it, thatstraining of the will, that struggling with wasteful inclinations anddesires, that is itself the essence of inefficiency_. 

The facts and principles set forth in this _Basic Course_ are new andwonderful and inspiring. They have been established and attested byworld-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 acollege course in psychology. But you have probably had no instructionin the practical application of your knowledge of mental operations. Sofar as we are aware, there are few universities in the world thatembrace in their curricula a course in "applied" psychology. For theaverage college man this _Basic Course of Reading_ will be, therefore, in the nature of a post-graduate course, teaching him how to makepractical use of the psychology he learned at college, and in additiongiving him facts about the mind unknown to the college psychology of afew years ago. 

In these books you will probe deeply into the normal human mind. 

You will see also the fantastic and distorted shape of itsmanifestations 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 orprofession. 

But mark this word of warning. To comprehend the teachings of this_Basic Course_ well enough to put them into practice demands from youcareful study and reflection. It requires persistent application. Do notattempt to browse through the pages that follow. They are worth all thetime that you can put upon them. 

The mind is a complex mechanism. Each element is alone a fitting subjectfor a lifetime's study. Do not lose sight of the whole in the study ofthe parts. 

All the books bear upon a central theme. They will lead you on step bystep. Gradually your conception of your relations to the world willchange. A new realization of power will come upon you. You will learnthat you are in a new sense the master of your fate. You will find thesebooks, like the petals of a flower, unfolding one by one until a greatand vital truth stands revealed in full-blown beauty. 

To derive full benefit from the _Course_ it is necessary that you shoulddo more than merely understand each sentence as you go along. You mustgrasp the underlying train of thought. You must perceive the continuityof the argument. 

It is necessary, therefore, that you do but a limited amount of readingeach day, taking ample time to reflect on what you have read. If anybook is not entirely clear to you at first, go over it again. Persistence will enable any man to acquire a thorough comprehension ofour 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 upof two departments, the mental and the physical. 

Your mind is the executive office of this personal corporation, itsdirecting "head. " Your body is the corporation's "plant. " Eyes and ears, sight and smell and touch, hands and feet--these are the implements, theequipment. 

We have undertaken to teach you how to acquire a perfect mastery of yourown powers and meet the practical problems of your life in such a waythat success will be swift and certain. 

[Sidenote: Business and Bodily Activity]

First of all it is necessary that you should accept and believe twowell-settled and fundamental laws. 

I. _All human achievement comes about through bodily activity. _

II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by themind. _

Give the first of these propositions but a moment's thought. You canconceive of no form of accomplishment which is not the result of somekind of bodily activity. One would say that the master works of poetry, art, philosophy, religion, are products of human effort furthestremoved from the material side of life, yet even these would haveperished still-born in the minds conceiving them had they not foundtransmission and expression through some form of bodily activity. Youwill agree, therefore, that the first of these propositions is soself-evident, so axiomatic, as neither to require nor to admit of formalproof. 

The second proposition is not so easily disposed of. It is in fact sodifficult of acceptance by some persons that we must make very plain itsabsolute validity. Furthermore, its elucidation will bring forth manyilluminating facts that will give you an entirely new conception of themind and its scope and influence. 

[Sidenote: The Enslaved Brain]

Remember, when we say "mind, " we are not thinking of the brain. Thebrain is but one of the organs of the body, and, by the terms of ourproposition as stated, is as much the slave of the mind as is any otherorgan of the body. To say that the mind controls the body presupposesthat mind and body are distinct entities, the one belonging to aspiritual 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 somepreconceived prejudices. You may be one of those who believe that themind is nothing more nor less than brain activity. You may believe thatthe body is all there is to man and that mind-action is merely one ofits functions. 

[Sidenote: First Step Toward Self-Realization]

If so, we want you nevertheless to realize that, while as a matter ofphilosophic speculation you retain these opinions, you may at the sametime for practical purposes regard the mind as an independent causalagency and believe that it can and does control and determine and_cause_ any and every kind of bodily activity. We want you to do thisbecause this conclusion is at the basis of a practical system of mentalefficiency and because, as we shall at once show you, it is capable ofproof 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 bodymakes mind-action depends altogether upon the point of view. And thefirst step for us to take is to agree upon the point of view we shallassume. 

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 andreligionist, who ponder the tie that binds "soul" and body in an effortto 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 onlyimmediate practical results. 

The speculative problem is the historical and religious one of themortality or immortality of the soul. The practical problem is thescientific one that demands to know what the mental forces are and howthey can be used most effectively. 

[Sidenote: What We Want to Know]

There is no especial need here to trace the historical development ofthese two problems or enter upon a discussion of religious orphilosophical questions. 

Our immediate interest in the mind and its relationship to the body isnot because we want to be assured of the salvation of our souls afterdeath. 

_We want to know all we can about the reality and certainty andcharacter of mental control of bodily functions because of the practicaluse 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 asthe mortality of the soul is concerned, he may be either a spiritualistor a materialist But spiritualism or materialism is to him only anintellectual pastime. It is not his trade. In his actual work he seeksonly practical results, and so confines himself wholly to the actualfacts 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 heis not interested in the "creative origin" of material things. He doesnot attempt to discover "first" causes. 

[Sidenote: Science of Cause and Effect]

The practical scientist ascribes all sorts of qualities to electricityand lays down many laws concerning it without having the remotest ideaas to what, in the last analysis, electricity may actually be. He is notconcerned with ultimate truths. He does his work, and necessarily so, upon the principle that for all practical purposes he is justified inusing any given assumption as a working hypothesis if everything happensjust as if it were true. 

The practical scientist applies the term "cause" to any object or eventthat is the invariable predecessor of some other object or event. 

For him a "cause" is simply any object or event that may be looked uponas forecasting the action of some other object or the occurrence of someother event. 

The point with him is simply this, Does or does not this object or thisevent in any way affect that object or that event or determine itsbehavior?

[Sidenote: Causes and "First" Causes]

No matter where you look you will find that every fact in Nature isrelatively cause and effect according to the point of view. Thus, if arailroad engine backs into a train of cars it transmits a certain amountof motion to the first car. This imparted motion is again passed on tothe next car, and so on. The motion of the first car is, on the onehand, 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 relationto 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 offacts in Nature. 

[Sidenote: A Common Platform for All]

A man may be either a spiritualist, believing that the mind is amanifestation of the super-soul, or he may be a materialist, and ineither case he may at the same time and with perfect consistencybelieve, as a practical scientist, that the mind is a "cause" and hasbodily action as its "effect. "

Naturally this point of view offers no difficulties whatever to thespiritualist. He already looks upon the mind or soul as the "originatingcause" of everything. 

[Sidenote: Thoughts Treated as Causes]

But the materialist, too, may in accordance with his speculative theorycontinue to insist that _brain-action_ is the "originating cause" ofmental life; yet if the facts show that certain thoughts are invariablyfollowed by certain bodily activities, the materialist may withoutviolence to his theories agree to the great practical value of _treatingthese thoughts as immediate causes_, no matter what the history ofcreation may have been. 

Whatever the brand of your materialism or your religious belief, youcan join us in accepting this practical-science point of view as acommon platform upon which to approach our second fundamentalproposition, that "all bodily activity is caused, controlled anddirected by the mind. "

[Sidenote: Scientific Method with Practical Problems]

Ignoring all religious and metaphysical questions, we have, then, to askourselves merely: _Can the mind be relied upon to bring about or stop orin any manner influence bodily action? And if it can, what is the extentof the mind's influence?_

In answering these questions we shall follow the method of the practicalscientist, whose method is invariably the same whatever the problem heis investigating. 

This method involves two steps: first, the collection and classificationof facts; second, the deduction from those facts of general principles. 

[Sidenote: Uses of Scientific Laws]

The scientist first gathers together the greatest possible array ofexperiential facts and classifies these facts into sequences--that is tosay, he gathers together as many instances as he can find in which onegiven fact follows directly upon the happening of another given fact. 

Having done this, he next formulates in broad general terms the commonprinciple that he finds embodied in these many similar sequences. 

Such a formula, if there are facts enough to establish it, is what isknown as a scientific law. Its value to the world lies in this, thatwhenever the given fact shall again occur our knowledge of thescientific law will enable us to predict with certainty just what eventswill follow the occurrence of that fact. 

First, then, let us marshal our facts tending to prove that bodilyactivities 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 bodilyaction; that is to say, bodily action resulting from the exercise of theconscious will. 

[Sidenote: Source of Power of Will]

If you will a bodily movement and that movement immediately follows, youare certainly justified in concluding that your mind has caused thebodily movement. Every conscious, voluntary movement that you make, andyou are making thousands of them every hour, is a distinct example ofmind activity causing bodily action. In fact, the very will to make anybodily movement is itself nothing more nor less than a mental state. 

_The will to do a thing is simply the belief, the conviction, that theappropriate bodily movement is about to occur. _ The whole scientificworld is agreed on this. 

For example, in order to bend your forefinger do you first think itover, then deliberately put forth some special form of energy? Not atall: The very thought of bending the finger, if unhindered byconflicting ideas, is enough to bend it. 

[Sidenote: Impellent Energy of Thought]

Note this general law: _The idea of any bodily action tends to producethe action. _

This conception of thought as impellent--that is to say, as impellingbodily activity--is of absolutely fundamental importance. The followingsimple 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 hardabout the sound of each letter. 

[Sidenote: Bodily effects of Mental States]

Now, as they think of these letters, one after the other, watch closelyand you will see their lips move in readiness to pronounce them. Theremay be some whose lip-movements you will be unable to detect. If so, itwill be because your eye is not quick enough or keen enough to followthem in every case. 

Have a friend blindfold you and then stand behind you with his hands onyour shoulders. While in this position ask him to concentrate his mindupon some object in another part of the house. Yield yourself to theslightest pressure of his hands or arms and you will soon come to theobject of which he has been thinking. If he is unfamiliar with theimpelling 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 definethe word "spiral. " He will find it difficult to express the meaning inwords. And nine persons out of ten while groping for appropriate wordswill unconsciously describe a spiral in the air with the forefinger. 

Swing a locket in front of you, holding the end of the chain with bothhands. You will soon see that it will swing in harmony with yourthoughts. If you think of a circle, it will swing around in a circle. Ifyou think of the movement of a pendulum, the locket will swing back andforth. 

These experiments not only illustrate the impelling energy of thoughtand its power to induce bodily action, but they indicate also that thebodily effects of mental action are not limited to bodily movements thatare conscious and voluntary. 

[Sidenote: Scope of Mind Power]

_The fact is, every mental state whether you consider it as involving anact of the will or not, is followed some kind of bodily effect, andevery bodily action is preceded by some distinct kind of mentalactivity. From the practical science point of view every thought causesits particular bodily effects. _

This is true of simple sensations. It is true of impulses, ideas andemotions. It is true of pleasures and pains. It is true of consciousmental activity. It is true of unconscious mental activity. It is trueof the whole range of mental life. 

Since the mental conditions that produce bodily effects are not limitedto those mental conditions in which there is a conscious exercise of thewill, it follows that _the bodily effects produced by mental action arenot limited to movements of what are known as the voluntary muscles. _

On the contrary, they include changes and movements in all of theso-called involuntary muscles, and in every kind of bodily structure. They include changes and movements in every part of the physicalorganism, from changes in the action of heart, lungs, stomach, liverand other viscera, to changes in the secretions of glands and in thecaliber of the tiniest blood-vessels. A few instances such as arefamiliar to the introspective experience of everyone will illustrate thescope of the mind's control over the body. 

[Sidenote: Bodily Effects of Emotion]

Emotion always causes numerous and intense bodily effects. Furious angermay cause frowning brows, grinding teeth, contracted jaws, clenchedfists, panting breath, growling cries, bright redness of the face orsudden paleness. None of these effects is voluntary; we may not even beconscious of them. 

Fright may produce a wild beating of the heart, a death-like pallor, agasping motion of the lips, an uncovering or protruding of theeye-balls, a sudden rigidity of the body as if "rooted" to the spot. 

Grief may cause profuse secretion of tears, swollen, reddened face, redeyes and other familiar symptoms. 

Shame may cause that sudden dilation of the capillary blood-vessels ofthe face known as "blushing. "

[Sidenote: Bodily Effects of Perception]

The sight of others laughing or yawning makes us laugh or yawn. Thesound of one man coughing will become epidemic in an audience. Thethought of a sizzling porter-house steak with mushrooms, baked potatoesand 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 andpuckered mouth that I am going to suck the juice of this exceedinglysour lemon. As you merely read these lines you may observe that theglands in your mouth have begun to secrete saliva. There is a story of aman who wagered with a friend that he could stop a band that was playingin front of his office. He got three lemons and gave half of a lemon toeach of a number of street urchins. He then had these boys walk roundand round the band, sucking the lemons and making puckered faces at themusicians. That soon ended the music. 

[Sidenote: Experiments of Pavlov]

A distinguished German scientist, named Pavlov, has recentlydemonstrated in a series of experiments with dogs that the sight of theplate that ordinarily bears their food, or the sight of the chair uponwhich the plate ordinarily stands, or even the sight of the person whocommonly brings the plate, may cause the saliva to flow from theirsalivary glands just as effectively as the food itself would do ifplaced in their mouths. 

[Sidenote: Taste and digestion]

There was a time, and that not long ago, when the contact of food withthe lining of the stomach was supposed to be the immediate cause of thesecretion of the digestive fluids. Yet recent observation of theinterior of the stomach through an incision in the body, has shown thatjust as soon as the food is _tasted_ in the mouth, a purely mentalprocess, the stomach begins to well forth those fluids that are suitablefor 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 midstof cheering thousands, when riding at the blinding speed of ninety-twomiles an hour, the motorcycle of one of the contestants went wrong. Itclimbed the twenty-eight-foot incline, hurled its rider to instant deathand crashed into the packed grandstand. Before the whirling mass ofsteel was halted by a deep-set iron pillar four men lay dead andtwenty-two others unconscious and severely injured. Then the twistedengine of death rebounded from the post and rolled down the saucer-rimof the track. 

Around the circular path, his speed scarcely less than that of hisill-fated rival, knowing nothing of the tragedy, hearing nothing of thescreams of warning from the crowd, came another racer. The frightenedthrong saw the coming of a second tragedy. The sound that came from thecrowd was a low moaning, a sighing, impotent, unconscious prayer of thethousands for the mercy that could not come. The second motorcyclestruck the wreck, leaped into the air, and the body of its rider shotfifty feet over the handlebars and fell at the bottom of the trackunconscious. 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 grandstandwomen fainted and lay here and there unconscious. Many were afflictedwith nausea. With others the muscles of speech contracted convulsively, knees gave way, hearts "stopped beating. " Observe that these were whollythe effects of _mental_ action, effects of _sight_ and _soundsensations_. 

[Sidenote: The Fundamental Law of Expression]

Why multiply instances? All that you need to do to be satisfied that themind is directly responsible for any and every kind of bodily activityis to examine your own experiences and those of your friends. They willafford you innumerable illustrations. 

You will find that not only is your body constantly doing things becauseyour mind wills that it should do them, but that your body isincessantly doing things simply because they are the expression of apassing thought. 

The law that _Every idea tends to express itself in some form of bodilyactivity_, is one of the most obviously demonstrable principles of humanlife. 

Bear in mind that this is but another way of expressing the second ofour first two fundamental principles of mental efficiency, and that weare engaged in a scientific demonstration of its truth so that you willnot confuse it with mere theory or speculation. 

To recall these fundamental principles to your mind and further impressthem upon you, we will restate them:

I. _All human achievement comes about through some form of bodilyactivity_. 

II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by themind. _

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 thestandpoint of the mind. Our investigation has been largelyintrospective; that is to say, we simply looked within ourselves andconsidered the effects of our mental operations upon our own bodies. Thefacts we had before us were facts of which we had direct knowledge. Wedid not have to go out and seek them in the mental and bodily activitiesof other persons. We found them here within ourselves, inherent in ourconsciousness. To observe them we had merely to turn the spotlight intothe 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 thestandpoint of the body. To do this we must go forth and investigate. Wemust use eye, ear and hand. We must use the forceps and scalpel andmicroscope of the anatomist and physiologist. 

[Sidenote: Subordinate Mental Units]

_But it is well worth while that we should do this. For ourinvestigation will show a bodily structure peculiarly adapted to controlby a governing consciousness. It will reveal to the eye a physicalmechanism peculiarly fitted for the dissemination of intelligencethroughout the body. And, most of all, it will disclose the existencewithin the body of subordinate mental units, each capable of receiving, understanding and acting upon the intelligence thus submitted. And weshall have strongly corroborative evidence of the mind's completecontrol over every function of the body. _

Examine a green plant and you will observe that it is composed ofnumerous parts, each of which has some special function to perform. Theroots absorb food and drink from the soil. The leaves breathe incarbonic acid from the air and transform it into the living substance ofthe plant. Every plant has, therefore, an anatomical structure, itsparts 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 itconsists of a _honeycomb of small compartments or units_. Thesecompartments are called "cells, " and the structure of all plant tissuesis described as "cellular. " Wherever you may look in any plant, you willfind these cells making up its tissues. The activity of any part ortissue of the plant, and consequently all of the activities of the plantas a whole, are but the combined and co-operating activities of thevarious individual cells of which the tissues are composed. _The livingcell, 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 willfind that it is composed of parts or organs made up of different kindsof tissues, and these tissues examined under a microscope will disclosea cellular structure similar to that exhibited by the plant. 

_Look where you will among living things, plant or animal, you will findthat all are mere assemblages of cellular tissues. _

Extend your investigation further, and examine into forms of life sominute that they can be seen only with the most powerful microscope andyou will come upon a _whole universe of tiny creatures consisting of asingle cell_. 

[Sidenote: The Unit of Life]

Indeed, it is a demonstrable fact that these tiny units of lifeconsisting of but a single cell are far more numerous than the forms oflife visible to the naked eye. You will have some idea of their size andnumber when we tell you that millions may live and die and reproducetheir kind in a single thimbleful of earth. 

_Every plant, then, or every animal, whatever its species, howeversimple or complicated its structure, is in the last analysis either asingle cell or a confederated group of cells. _

All life, whether it be the life of a single cell or of an unorganizedgroup of cells or of a republic of cells, has as its basis the life ofthe 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 thecell is the unit of all life. Secondly, that _the big and complexorganisms have through long ages developed out of simpler forms_, theorganic life of today being the result of an age-long process ofevolution. 

What, then, is the cell, and what part has it played in this process ofevolution?

To begin with, a cell is visible only through a microscope. A humanblood cell is about one-three-thousandth of an inch across, while abacterial cell may be no more than one-twenty-five-thousandth of an inchin diameter. 

[Sidenote: Characteristics of Living Cells]

Yet, small as it is, the cell exhibits all of the customary phenomena ofindependent life; that is to say, it nourishes itself, it grows, itreproduces 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 wasoriginally supposed that a confining wall or membrane was an invariableand essential characteristic of cell structure. It is now known, however, that while such a membrane may exist, as it does in most plantcells, 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 certaindefinite structure, a very fine, thread-like network spreading from thenucleus throughout the semi-fluid albuminous protoplasm. It is certainlyin line with the broad analogies of life, to suppose that in each cellthe nucleus with its network is the brain and nervous system of thatindividual cell. _

All living organisms consist, then simply of cells. Those consisting ofbut one cell are termed unicellular; those comprising more than one cellare called pluricellular. 

The unicellular organism is the unit of life on this earth. Yet tiny andultimate as it is, every unicellular organism is possessed of anindependent and "free living" existence. 

[Sidenote: Mind Life of One Cell]

To be convinced of this fact, just consider for a moment the scope ofdevelopment and range of activities of one of these tiny bodies. 

"We see, then, " says Haeckel, "that it performs all the essential lifefunctions which the entire organism accomplishes. Every one of theselittle beings grows and feeds itself independently. It assimilatesjuices from without, absorbing them from the surrounding fluid. Eachseparate cell is also able to reproduce itself and to increase. Thisincrease generally takes place by simple division, the nucleus partingfirst, by a contraction round its circumference, into two parts; afterwhich the protoplasm likewise separates into two divisions. The singlecell is able to move and creep about; from its outer surface it sendsout and draws back again finger-like processes, thereby modifying itsform. Finally, the young cell has feeling, and is more or lesssensitive. It performs certain movements on the application of chemicaland mechanical irritants. "

[Sidenote: The Will of the Cell]

The single living cell moves about in search of food. When food is foundit is enveloped in the mass of protoplasm, digested and assimilated. 

The single cell has the _power of choice_, for it refuses to eat what isunwholesome and extends itself mightily to reach that which isnourishing. 

[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 avoidit when presented under similar circumstances. And having once foundfood in a certain place, it will afterwards make a business of lookingfor it in the same place. 

And, finally, Verwörn and Binet have found in a single living cellmanifestations of _the emotions of surprise and fear_ and the rudimentsof _an ability to adapt means to an end_. 

Let us now consider pluricellular organisms and consider themparticularly from the standpoint of organic evolution. The pluricellularorganism is nothing more nor less than a later development, aconfederated association of unicellular organisms. Mark the developmentof such an association. 

[Sidenote: Evolutionary Differentiation]

Originally each separate cell performed all the functions of a separatelife. The bonds that united it to its fellows were of the most transientcharacter. Gradually the necessities of environment led to a more andmore permanent grouping, until at last the bonds of union becameindissoluble. 

Meanwhile, the great laws of "adaptation" and "heredity, " the basicprinciples of evolution, have been steadily at work, and slowly therehas come about a differentiation of cell function, an apportionmentamong the different cells of the different kinds of labor. 

[Sidenote: Plurality of the Individual]

As the result of such differentiation, the pluricellular organism, as itcomes ultimately to be evolved, is composed of many different kinds ofcells. Each has its special function. Each has its field of labor. Eachlives its own individual life. Each reproduces its own kind. Yet all arebound together as elements of the same "cell society" or organized "cellstate. "

Among pluricellular organisms man is of course supreme. He is the oneform 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 thesimple idea that the human body is a single life-unit. This is thenaïve belief that is everywhere current among men today. Inquire amongyour own friends and acquaintances and you will find that not one in athousand 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 ofit as large as a pin-point is alive, with a separate and independentlife all its own; every part of the brain, lungs, heart, muscles, fatand skin. " No man ever has or ever can count the number of these partsor cells, some of which are so minute that it would take thousands in arow to reach an inch. 

"Feeling" or "consciousness" is the sum total of the feelings andconsciousness of millions of cells, just as an orchestral harmony is acomposite 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 wereof the same kind. But Nature is everywhere working out problems ofeconomy and efficiency. And, to meet the necessities of environment, there has gradually come about a parceling out among the different cellsof the various tasks that all had been previously called upon to performfor the support of the human institution. 

This differentiation in kinds of work has gradually brought aboutcorresponding and appropriate changes of structure in the cellsthemselves, whereby each has become better fitted to perform its part inthe sustenance and growth of the body. 

[Sidenote: The Crowd-Man]

When you come to think that these processes of adaptation and heredityin 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 ismade up of more than thirty different kinds of cells, each having itsspecial function. 

[Sidenote: Functions of Different Human Cells]

We have muscle cells, with long, thin bodies like pea-pods, who devotetheir lives to the business of contraction; thin, hair-like connectivetissue cells, whose office is to form a tough tissue for binding theparts of the body together; bone cells, a trades-union of masons, whoselife work it is to select and assimilate salts of lime for the upkeep ofthe joints and framework; hair, skin, and nail cells, in various shapesand sizes, all devoting themselves to the protection and ornamentationof the body; gland cells, who give their lives, a force of trainedchemists, to the abstraction from the blood of those substances that areneeded for digestion; blood cells, crowding their way through thearteries, some making regular deliveries of provisions to the othertenants, some soldierly fellows patrolling their beats to repel invadingdisease germs, some serving as humble scavengers; liver cells engaged inthe menial service of living off the waste of other organs and at thesame time converting it into such fluids as are required for digestion;windpipe and lung cells, whose heads are covered with stiff hairs, whichthe cell throughout its life waves incessantly to and fro; and, lastly, and most important and of greatest interest to us, brain and nervecells, the brain cells constituting altogether the organ of objectiveintelligence, the instrument through which we are conscious of theexternal world, and the nerve cells serving as a living telegraph torelay 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: "Aswe look at them arranged there like a row of bricks, let us remember twothings: 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 theseyoungsters have on the very banks of a stream that is bringing down tothem every minute stores of fresh air in the round, red corpuscles ofthe blood, and a constant stream of suitable food in the serum. But itis 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: "Thewhole interior, then, of the air-tubes resembles nothing so much as afield of corn swayed by the wind to and fro, the principal sweep, however, being always upwards towards the throat. All particles of dustand dirt inhaled drop on this waving forest of hairs, and are gentlypassed up and from one to another out of the lungs. When we rememberthat these hairs commenced waving at our birth, and have never for onesecond ceased since, and will continue to wave a short time after ourdeath, we are once more filled with wonder at the marvels that surroundus on every side. "

[Sidenote: Experiments of Dr. Alexis Carrel]

Remarkable confirmatory evidence of the fact that every organ of thebody is composed of individual cell intelligences, endowed with aninstinctive knowledge of how to perform their special functions, isfound in the experiments of Dr. Alexis Carrel, the recipient of theNobel prize for science for 1912. 

_Dr. Carrel has taken hearts, stomachs and kidneys out of livinganimals, and by artificial nourishment has succeeded in keeping themsteadily at work digesting foods, and so on, in his laboratory, formonths after the death of the bodies from which they were originallytaken. _

[Sidenote: Man-Federation of Intelligences]

We see, then, that every human body is an exceedingly complexassociation of units. It is a marvelously correlated and organizedcommunity of countless microscopic organisms. It is a sort of _cellrepublic_, as to which we may truthfully paraphrase: Life and Union, Oneand Inseparable. 

Every human body is thus made up of countless cellular intelligences, each of which instinctively utilizes ways and means for the performanceof its special functions and the reproduction of its kind. These cellintelligences carry on, without the knowledge or volition of our centralconsciousness--that is to say, _subconsciously_--the vital operations ofthe body. 

[Sidenote: Creative Power of the Cell]

Under normal conditions, conditions of health, each cell does its workwithout regard to the operations of its neighbors. But in the event ofaccident or disease, it is called upon to repair the organism. And inthis it shows an energy and intelligence that "savor of creative power. "With what promptness and vigor the cells apply themselves to heal a cutor mend a broken bone! In such cases all that the physician can do is toestablish outward conditions that will favor the co-operative labors ofthese tiny intelligences. 

_The conclusion to be drawn from all this is obvious. For, if everyindividual and ultimate part of the body is a mind organism, it is veryapparent that the body as a whole is peculiarly adapted to control anddirection by mental influences. 

[Sidenote: Laying the Foundation for Practical Doing]

Do not lose sight of the fact that in proving such control we are layingthe foundation for a scientific method of achieving practical success inlife, since all human achievement comes about through some form ofbodily activity. _

We assume now your complete acceptance of the following propositions, based as they are upon facts long since discovered and enunciated instandard scientific works:

_a_. The whole body is composed of cells, each of which is anintelligent entity endowed with mental powers commensurate with itsneeds. 

[Sidenote: Three New Propositions]

_b. _ The fact that every cell in the body is a _mind_ cell shows thatthe body, by the very nature of its component parts, is peculiarlysusceptible to mental influence and control. 

To these propositions we now append the following:

_c. _ A further examination of the body reveals a central mentalorganism, the brain, composed of highly differentiated cells whoseintelligence, as in the case of other cells, is commensurate with theirfunctions. 

_d. _ It reveals also a physical mechanism, the nervous system, peculiarly adapted to the communication of intelligence between thecentral governing intelligence and the subordinate cells. 

[Sidenote: An Instrument for Mental Dominance]

_e. _ The existence of this mind organism and this mechanism ofintercommunication is additional evidence of the control and directionof bodily activities by _mental energy_. 

The facts to follow will not only demonstrate the truth of thesepropositions, but will disclose the existence within every one of us ofa store of mental energies and activities of which we are entirelyunconscious. 

The brain constitutes the organ of central governing intelligence, andthe nerves are the physical means employed in bodily intercommunication. 

Brain and nerves are in other words the physical mechanism employed bythe mind to dominate the body. 

[Sidenote: Gateways of Experience]

Single nerve fibers are fine, thread-like cells. They are so small as tobe invisible to the naked eye. Some of them are so minute that it wouldtake twenty thousand of them laid side by side to measure an inch. Everynerve fiber in the human body forms one of a series of connecting linksbetween some central nerve cell in the brain or spinal cord on the onehand and some bodily tissue on the other. 

All nerves originating in the brain may be divided into two classesaccording as they carry currents to the brain or from it. Those carryingcurrents to the brain are called _sensory_ nerves, or nerves ofsensation; 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, thenerves 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 thebrain and spinal cord on the one hand to the muscles on the other. Theyare the lines along which flash all orders resulting in bodilymovements. 

[Sidenote: Nerve Systems]

Another broad division of nerves is into two great nerve systems. Thereare 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 thebrain and spinal cord on the one hand and the voluntary muscles on theother. The second, the sympathetic nerve system, consists of all thenerves of the unconscious or functional life; it therefore includes allnerves running between the brain and sympathetic or involuntary nervecenters 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. , iscontrolled through the cerebro-spinal system. All other functions of thebody, including the great vital processes, such as heart pulsation anddigestion, are performed unconsciously, are beyond the direct control ofthe 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 ofconsciousness, the apparatus through which the mind exercises itsconscious and voluntary control over certain functions of the body. Itis equally obvious that the _sympathetic system is not under theimmediate control of consciousness, is not subject to the will, but isdominated 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 areentirely distinct in their operations. On the contrary, they are in manyrespects closely related. 

[Illustration: SEPARATE NERVE CENTERS, PLEXUSES AND GANGLIA, THE "LITTLEBRAINS" OF THE HUMAN BODY]

Thus, the heart receives nerves from both centers of government, andbesides all this is itself the center of groups of nerve cells. Thepower by which it beats arises from a ganglionic center within the heartitself, so that the heart will continue to beat apart from the body ifit be supplied with fresh blood. But the rapidity of the heart's beatingis regulated by the cerebro-spinal and sympathetic systems, of which theformer 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, foryou can breathe slowly or rapidly as you will, but you cannot, by anypower of your conscious will, stop breathing altogether. 

Your interest in the brain and nerve system is confined to such facts asmay prove to be of use to you in your study of the mind. Theseanatomical divisions interest you only as they are identified withconscious mental action on the one hand and unconscious mental action onthe other. 

It is, therefore, of no use to you to consider the various divisions ofthe sympathetic nerve system, since the sympathetic nerve system in itsentirety belongs to the field of unconscious mental action. It operateswithout our knowledge and without our will. 

[Sidenote: Looking Inside the Skull]

The cerebro-spinal system consists of the spinal cord and the brain. Thebrain in turn is made up of two principal subdivisions. First, there isthe greater or upper brain, called the cerebrum; secondly, there is thelower or smaller brain, called the cerebellum. The cerebrum in turnconsists 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 theseparts 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 thelowest one and moving upward, we find first that the _spinal cord_consists of through lines of nerves running between the brain and therest of the body. At the same time it contains within itself certainnerve centers that are sufficient for many simple bodily movements. These bodily movements are such as are instinctive or habitual andrequire 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 ofequilibrium, and that it as well as the spinal cord operatesindependently of the conscious will, for no conscious effort of the willis required to make one reel from dizziness. 

As to the divisions of the greater brain or cerebrum, we want you tonote that the _lower brain_ serves a double purpose. First, it is thechannel through which pass through lines of communication to and fromthe upper brain and the mid-brain on the one hand and the rest of thebody on the other. Secondly, it is itself a central office for themaintenance of certain vital functions, such as lung-breathing, heart-beating, saliva-secreting, swallowing, etc. , all involuntary andunconscious in the sense that consciousness is not necessary to theirperformance. 

The next higher division, or _mid-brain_, is a large region from whichthe conscious will issues its edicts regulating all voluntary bodilymovements. It is also the seat of certain special senses, such as sight. 

Lastly, the _surface brain_, known as the cortex, is the interpretativeand 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 effectsof alcohol upon the mind. If a man takes too much alcohol, its firstapparent effect will be to paralyze the higher or cortical center. Thisleaves the mid-brain without the check-rein of a reflective intellect, and the man will be senselessly hilarious or quarrelsome, jolly ordejected, pugnacious or tearful, and would be ordinarily described as"drunk. " If in spite of this he keeps on drinking, the mid-brain soonbecomes deadened and ceases to respond, and the cerebellum, the organ ofequilibrium, also becomes paralyzed. All voluntary bodily activitiesmust then cease, and he rolls under the table, helpless and "dead"drunk, or in language that is even more graphically appreciative of thephysiological effects of alcohol, "paralyzed. " However, the deep-seatedsympathetic system is still alive. No assault has yet been made uponthe vital organs of the body; the heart continues to beat and the lungsto breathe. But suppose that some playful comrade pours still moreliquor down the victim's throat. The medulla, or lower brain, thenbecomes paralyzed, the vital organs cease to act and the man is nolonger "dead" drunk. He has become a sacrifice to Bacchus. He isliterally and actually dead. 

It seems, then, that the surface brain and mid-brain constitute togetherthe organ of consciousness and will. Consciousness and will disappearwith the deadening or paralysis of these two organs. 

[Sidenote: Secondary Brains]

Yet these two organs constitute but a small proportion of the entiremass 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 countlessramifications of motor and sensory nerves throughout the body, butthere are also separate nerve-centers or ganglia in every one of thevisceral organs of the body. These ganglia have the power to maintainmovements in their respective organs. _They may in fact be looked uponas little brains developing nerve force and communicating it to theorgans. _

[Sidenote: Dependence of the Subconscious]

All these automatic parts of the bodily mechanism are dominated bydepartments of the mind entirely distinct from ordinary consciousness. In fact, ordinary consciousness has no knowledge of their existenceexcepting what is learned from outward bodily manifestations. 

All these different organic ganglia constitute together the sympatheticnerve system, organ of that part of the mind which directs the vitaloperations of the body in apparent independence of the intelligencecommonly called "the mind, " an intelligence which acts through thecerebro-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 ofconsciousness, the abode of all the special senses, such as sight, hearing, etc. , and therefore our only source of information of theexternal world, but many organs of the body are under the joint controlof both systems. 

_So it comes about that these individual intelligences governingdifferent organs of the body, with their intercommunications, aredependent upon consciousness for their knowledge of such facts of theouter world as have a bearing on their individual operations, and theyare subject to the influence of consciousness as the medium thatinterprets these facts. _

It is unnecessary for us to go into this matter deeply. It is enough ifyou clearly understand that, in addition to consciousness, thedepartment of mind that knows and directly deals with the facts of theouter world, there is also a deep-seated and seemingly unconsciousdepartment of mind consisting of individual organic intelligencescapable of receiving, understanding and acting upon such information asconsciousness transmits. 

[Sidenote: Unconsciousness and Subconsciousness]

We have spoken of conscious and "seemingly unconscious" departments ofthe mind. In doing so we have used the word "seemingly" advisedly. Obviously we have no right to apply the term "unconscious" withoutqualification 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 sensedescriptive. It is merely negative. Death is unconscious; butunconsciousness is no attribute of a mental state that is living andimpellent and constantly manifests its active energy and power in themaintenance of the vital functions of the body. 

Hereafter, then, we shall continue to use the term consciousness asdescriptive of that part of our mentality which constitutes what iscommonly known as the "mind"; while that mental force, which, so far asour animal life is concerned, operates through the sympathetic nervesystem, 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 learnedthat the human body is a confederation of various groups of livingcells; that in the earliest stages of man's evolution, these cellswere all of the same general type; that as such they were free-living, free-thinking and intelligent organisms as certainly as were thoseunicellular organisms which had not become members of any group orassociation; that through the processes of evolution, heredity andadaptation, there has come about in the course of the ages, asubdivision of labor among the cells of our bodies and a consequentdifferentiation in kind whereby each has become peculiarly fitted forthe performance of its allotted functions; that, nevertheless, thesecells of the human body are still free-living, intelligent organisms, of which each is endowed with the inherited, instinctive knowledge ofall that is essential to the preservation of its own life and theperpetuation of its species within the living body; that, as a part ofthe specializing economy of the body, there have been evolved brainand nerve cells performing a twofold service--first, constituting theorgan of a central governing intelligence with the important businessof receiving, classifying, and recording all impressions or messagesreceived through the senses from the outer world, and, second, communicating to the other cells of the body such part of theinformation so derived as may be appropriate to the functions of each;that finally, as such complex and confederated individuals, each ofus possesses a direct, self-conscious knowledge of only a small partof his entire mental equipment; that we have not only a_consciousness_ receiving sense impressions and issuing motor impulsesthrough the cerebro-spinal nervous system, but that we have also a_subconsciousness_ manifesting itself, so far as bodily functions areconcerned, in the activity of the vital organs through the sympatheticnerve system; that this subconsciousness is dependent on consciousnessfor all knowledge of the external world; that, in accordance with theprinciples of evolution, man as a whole and as a collection of cellorganisms, both consciously and unconsciously, is seeking to adapthimself to his external world, his environment; that the human body, both as a whole and as an aggregate of cellular intelligences, istherefore subject in every part and in every function to theinfluence 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 ANDPHYSIOLOGY

[Sidenote: Striking off the Mental Shackles]

Stop a moment and mark the conclusion to which you have come. You havebeen examining the human body with the scalpel and the microscope ofthe anatomist and physiologist. In doing so and by watching the bodilyorgans in operation, you have learned that _every part of the body, evento those organs commonly known as involuntary, is ultimately subject tothe influence or control of consciousness_, that part of the humanintelligence which is popularly known as "the mind. "

Prior to this, as a matter of direct introspective knowledge, we hadcome to the conclusion that the influence of the mind over all theorgans 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 usto the same conclusion as did our study of the mind in its relations tothe body. 

Looked at from the practical science standpoint, the evidences thatmental activity can and does produce bodily effects are so clear andnumerous 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 fromthe point of view of the philosopher and religionist. It is because thethought 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 mindupon physical conditions, that the world has received with skepticismthe assertion of the influence of mind over body, and in fact doubtedthe intuitive evidence of its own consciousness. 

[Sidenote: The Awakening of Enlightenment]

The distinction between the two points of view has gradually come to berecognized. Today the fact that the mind may act as a "cause" inrelationship with the body is a recognized principle of applied science. The world's deepest thinkers accept its truth. And the interest ofenlightened men and women everywhere is directed toward the mind as anagency of undreamed resource for the cure of functional derangements ofthe body and for the attainment of the highest degree of bodilyefficiency. 

In some respects it is unfortunate that you should have been compelledto begin these studies in mental efficiency and self-expression withlessons on the relationship between the mind and the body. There is thedanger that you may jump at the conclusion that this course has somereference to "mental healing. " Please disabuse your mind of any suchmistaken 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 adeeper, broader and more vital purpose. It is the foundation stone of aneducational structure in which we shall show you how the mind may bebrought by scientific measures to a certainty and effectiveness ofoperation 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 bodilyactivity. _

II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by themind. _

The truth of these propositions must now be obvious to you. You mustrealize that the mind is the one instrument by which it is possible toachieve 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 oflatent 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 teachyou how to use it with confidence and with the positive assurance ofsuccess. _