There is an old saying that a man may be worth only five dollars a day
from his eyes down, but he may be worth a million dollars a year from
his eyes up. That is to say, man’s value, both to himself and to the
community, lies in his _brain_, and the use he makes of it. Manual
labor is not well paid, proportionately, to creative brain work, so
that it is to our advantage to develop and utilize our brains to the
best possible advantage.
Cultivation of the mind will give us greater powers of concentration;
improved memory; stronger will; more poise; soul judgment; greater
wisdom; increased value. But mere book learning will not do this. We
must learn how to apply the mind in a practical way, to the problems of
daily life, and utilize the powers within ourselves. Curiously enough,
there is no text-book of this character in use in any school or college
in the world; but the necessity of such a practical work is obvious.
Boys and girls emerge from College without the slightest idea as to
how to apply their minds in any practical manner; their theoretical
knowledge is of but slight advantage to them. A few practical hints of
this character should, therefore, prove useful. I select the following
passages from Christian D. Larson’s excellent little book, “Your
Forces: and How to Use Them.” He says:
“To make thinking scientific, there are three leading essentials to be
observed. The _first_ is to cultivate constructive mental attitudes,
and all mental attitudes are constructive when mind, thought, feeling,
desire and will constantly face the greater and the better. A positive
and determined optimism has the same effect, and the same is true of
the practice of keeping the mental eye single on the highest goal in
view. To make every mental attitude constructive, the mind must never
look down, and mental depression must be avoided completely....
“The _second_ essential is constructive mental imagery. Use the
imagination to picture only what is good, what is beautiful, what is
beneficial, what is ideal, and what you wish to realize. Mentally see
yourself receiving what you deeply desire to receive. What you imagine,
you will think, and what you think, you will become....
“The _third_ essential is constructive mental action. Every action of
the mind should have something desirable in view and should have a
definite, positive aim.... When the average man thinks of the future,
he usually pictures a variety of conflicting events and conditions. He
has nothing definite in mind. There is no actual leadership therefore
in the mind, and nothing of great worth can be accomplished....
“Those people who fail, and who continue to fail all along the line,
fail because the power of their minds is either in a habitual negative
state, or is always misdirected. If the power of mind is not working
positively and constructively, for a certain goal, you are not going
to succeed. If your mind is not positive, it is negative, and negative
minds float with the stream. We must remember that we are in the midst
of all kinds of circumstances, some of which are for us and some of
which are against us, and we will either have to make our own way or
drift, and if we drift we go wherever the stream goes. But most of the
streams of human life are found to flow in the world of the ordinary
and the inferior. Therefore, if you drift, you will drift with the
inferior, and your goal will be failure.”
In this connection, it is well to remember that negative people and
non-constructive minds never attract that which is helpful in their
circumstances. The reason why so many people fail is due to the fact
that they do not fully and constructively apply the forces and powers
they possess, and the reason so many succeed only to a slight degree is
found in the fact that only a small fraction of their power is applied
properly. The positive and constructive use of the power of mind,
with a definite goal in view, will invariably result in advancement,
attainment and achievement; but if we wish to use that power in its
full capacity, the action of the mind must be _deep_. We must not
merely think from the surface of the mind; ideas and aspirations
must come from the deep within. Such ideals and thoughts only come,
as a rule, after a certain period of quiet and meditation. Hence
the necessity of being quite alone for a certain time each day--and
utilizing that time in actual reflection, and not merely in idling the
time away!
We have now learned something of the general functions and powers of
the mind; how it works, its mechanisms and “faculties.” Having this
ground-work, the next thing to do is to apply this knowledge in our
daily life, and this can be done by following out suggestions such as
those given above--provided the aspiration and the will be present,
to drive us onward to achievement and success. The mind of man is
assuredly his greatest possession; we must first understand it; then
use it! Theoretical and applied Psychology enable us to do this.