you, why just lie around and be a human doormat all your life; who cares! If a man is too lazy to be saved, why, just let him be -the other thing. It serves him right. Some of you fellows need a man around you with a spiked club, with instructions to give you a good bang every time you slack up and engage in mental wool-gathering. Stop your "moaning" and get down to business. Some people spend their life in dreaming of the hereafter, where they expect to spend their time "loafing around the throne." Now, they're sure to be fooled about that. All Nature is in motion, and God is working hard every day, and I believe that when you get to the other shore you will be confronted with a sign having thereon inscribed the words, "NO LOAFING PERMITTED." If you take an interest in your work, you rob it of its terrors. Start in, man, and work out your own salvation from poverty and unhappiness. Do it, and do it NOW.
The man who can concenter has at his hand a sure remedy for the "blues." How? Why, just by shutting off the unpleasant thought and concentering on a brighter subject. Now, don't say that you can't do this. You can do it, if you acquire the "knack." Thousands of people have found this plan a specific for the "blues," discouragement, worry, fear, and the rest. Try it, and you will find that life will appear entirely different to you. Try it, and you will feel so good that you would not call the President your cousin. Try it, and you will "feel the thrill of life along your keel," and will thank God that you are alive, instead of curing the day when you were born. You will do your work better; you will feel better; you will be better. Is it not worth the trial?
You may have an idea that you know something about concentering. Well, maybe you do; let's see. Take up a lead pencil and try to sharpen it properly. Take your time at it, and turn out a first class job. Now, see if you can concenter on that pencil sharpening, to the exclusion of all outside thoughts; try to devote your best energy and thought to the task at hand. For the moment, live for the sole purpose of getting an A-1 point on that pencil.
Well, how did it feel? Pretty hard job, wasn't it? Yes, I thought so. You need practice young man. Take up the exercises given in this lesson, and go over them until you can do anything, whatsoever, without your thoughts wandering. Anyone can concenter upon an agreeable task, but just give them an unpleasant or monotonous, job, and you will find that their thought will wander away in spite of them; that is, until they learn to concenter by an effort of the will. That is the test - the ability to concenter upon an unpleasant, unattractive, monotonous task. When you have overcome these troubles, you will know that you have broken the backbone of Waste Effort of Lost Motion. By concentering you are able to focus your attention, thought and energy upon a given thing, thereby obtaining the best possible results. The rays of the sun, when focused upon an object by means of a sunglass, produce a heat many time greater that the direct relay of the same source of light and heat. So it is with that attention. Scatter it and you get but ordinary results; but focus it upon the thing to be done, and you obtain a wonderful amount of energy. The concentering man focuses his attention, and thought force, upon an object, and the result is that his every action, voluntary and involuntary, is in the direction of the attainment of that object. As I said in a previous lesson, a man can have everything he wants if only he wants it hard enough. If his energies are focused upon a thing, to the exclusion of everything else, the force so generated and focused must bring the result.
The moral of all this is: "Whatsoever you do, do it with all your might." Do it in earnest. "Do one thing at a time, and do it well."
In order to obtain the best results from the thought-coerces, as explained in preceding lesson, you should acquire the art of concentering. By focusing the thought, you add to its strength, as a moment's reflection will show you. The exercises accompanying the preceding lessons should be accompanied by the exercises in concentering. These exercises are more or less tedious and monotonous, but should be persisted at until perfected. You will be repaid for your work by the conscious increase in your powers of concentering, which will be apparent from the first.
There is one thing more that I wish to say to you, before starting in with the exercises, and that is to point out to you the advantage of concentering, as a means of mental and physical rest. If this were the only result obtainable by the exercises, it would be worth your while to acquire it. Suppose you feel completely tired out by some physical or mental labor, and are sadly in need of rest. If you lie down, the thought, which has been occupying your mind, returns to haunt you, and prevents your mind from obtaining the much-needed rest. Now, the theory is that each thought calls into operation and activates certain sets of brain cells - the other cells of course taking a rest in the meantime. This being the case, you will see, readily, that when one set of brain cells become utterly fagged out by excessive exercises and work, its only chance of getting an entire rest is for you to concenter upon an entirely different line of thought, shutting out the cells which you have just tired out, and which are still vibrating with excitement from the strong impetus given them. By concentering upon the new thought, the old cells are relieved from further work and obtain a much-needed rest. These cells are hungry for work, and may attempt to return to their task in spite of you, but if you have acquired proficiency in the art of concentering, you have learned to master them. You doubtless remember the time when your brain felt exhausted by the hard work of the business day, but when you pickup up an interesting novel you became so interested in it that your old brain cells "knocked off" for a while, and when the novel was completed you felt completely refreshed, not withstanding the fact that the reading of the book was in itself no slight exercises of the mind. That is the theory. Now, put it into practice, and you will have no need to complain of mental overwork. You will be able to put thoughts off and on, like your coat, changing them whenever you see fit.
I will now give you a few exercises, the practice of which will enable you to develop the power of concentering. In leaving this phase of the subject, I again would remind you that the underlying principle of concentering is the focusing of the attention upon a certain thought or action. Any exercise, which will strengthen the faculty of volitional inhibition of non-essential thought, will be of value, the exercises herein given here being merely furnished as suggestions of others.
The Practice of Concentering
Exercises in the concentering - Shutting out outside impressions - Conquering inattention - Cultivating will power - Training the body to obey the will - Volitional control of muscular movements - Not so easy of acquirements - Sitting still exercises - Controlling muscles of the arm – Exercises - Steadying the muscles – Exercises - Cultivate equanimity and mental and physical ease - Examples-Getting rid of ugly habits of motion - Volitional attention - Exercises developing same - Direction for additional exercise -Concentered attention upon outside object - General explanation - Miscellaneous exercises.
The fist requisite of concentering is the ability to shut out outside thoughts, sounds and sights; to conquer inattention; to obtain perfect control over the body and mind. The body must be brought under the direct control of the mind; the mind under the direct control of the will. The Will is strong enough, but the Mind needs strengthening by being brought under the direct influence of the Will. The Mind, strengthened by the impulse of the Will, becomes a much more powerful projector of thought vibrations, than otherwise, and the vibrations have much greater force and effect.
In these exercises I will begin with training the body to readily obey the commands of the Mind.
The first exercise, and one which must be mastered before the succeeding exercises are undertaken, is the control of the muscular movements. This, at first sight, may appear very simple, but a few experiments will convince you that you have much to learn. The following exercises will be of great benefit to you in acquiring perfect control of the muscles.
1. SIT STILL. This is no easy task. It will at first try your powers of concentering, to refrain from involuntary muscular movements, but by a little practice you will be able to sit still, without a movement of the muscles, for fifteen minutes or more. The best plan is to place yourself in an easy chair, assuming a comfortable position, then relax all over, and endeavor to remain perfectly quiescent for a period of five minutes. Continue this exercise until you can accomplish it with ease, and then increase the time to ten minutes. After you have