The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII. Anon
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII - Anon страница 12

Название: The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII

Автор: Anon

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Спорт, фитнес

Серия:

isbn: 9781528765015

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ Why do some men lack energy? Mainly because they live aimless lives. They do what they must, and possibly most of them do it satisfactorily; but all the while they drift; they seldom pull themselves up to ask, “What am I aiming at?” As a consequence, two-thirds of their mental powers are going to waste. Take an illustration. We received a letter recently from a correspondent who said:

      “I want your advice. The head of my department is rather doubtful sometimes about his English, and he asks me what is right or wrong. He also asks me about points in the business, and I tell him. Now my contention is that if he is not equal to his job, and I am, I ought to be in it. What do you say?”

      We had to point out that not knowing all the circumstances of the case, we could not pronounce an authoritative opinion; but on the face of it, the head of the Department was an astute person who was picking the brains of a subordinate to his own advantage. Our correspondent was probably more competent in details than the other man was; but the other man had force, and our correspondent had little or none. He seemed to think the management would make him head of a department without any thinking, feeling or striving on his part. That is not the way things happen.

      15. We have met scores of men with adequate knowledge, but lacking in energy, and it is very remarkable to find how little some men know—men, too, in most commanding positions. Take the case of Charles Stuart Parnell. He was regarded by his followers as a sort of human deity; they looked upon his words as law from which there could be no appeal. And how did he view his followers? “In politics as in war,” he averred, “there are no men, only weapons . . . . while I am leader, they are my tools, or they go.” Here, then, is a man of striking and commanding personality; and yet he was so ignorant of literature that he thought he had made a mistake when he called Shakespeare a poet! There are hundreds of men in the country with greater knowledge, more accurate scholarship, keener conscience and higher ideals than those who conduct the affairs of the State, but it is action that counts. And behind action is energy, force, motive power—give it what name you please, so long as you see its importance as a factor in personal development. We do not, of course, undervalue the need of knowledge; we are simply stating the fact that it is not so important as we have been led to assume. Knowledge of the details of one’s own business is naturally a primary matter: ignorance of other things is apparently no drawback at all, except as it detracts from self-culture. Even so, we should be inclined to bracket energy and knowledge thus:—

images

      giving energy the first place. We can remember one instance at least where a man knew more about the science and art of provision dealing than any other man of his age, but he did not make a success of his knowledge—the power of initiative was lacking—also the ability to act in a crisis.

      16. It may be interesting to produce some endorsements of the claims made by the Pelman Institute in this lesson by professors and teachers of psychology.

      EMOTION GOVERNS THE WORLD.

      “Whatever feeling is, it is of vast importance in our mental life. Thoughtful people get too much in the habit of thinking that intellect is everything. Yet the world is governed not by thought, but by emotion.”

       F. Ryland, M.A., in

      The Story of Thought and Feeling, p. 147.

      FEELING BEFORE INTELLECT.

      “Daily experience shows that the affections, the propensities, the passions are the great springs of human life; and that, so far from resulting from intelligence, their spontaneous and independent impulse is indispensable to the first awakening and continuous development of the various faculties.”Auguste Comte, in

      Positive Philosophy, Vol. I., p. 463.

      THE NEED OF EMULATION.

      “The Emulative impulse tends to assert itself in an ever widening sphere of social life, encroaching more and more upon the sphere of combative impulse and supplanting it more and more as a prime mover of both individuals and societies.”Prof. McDougall, in

      Social Psychology, p. 294.

      DESIRE—WITH EXCLUSIVENESS.

      “In almost any subject your passion for the subject will save you. If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich; if you wish to be learned, you will be learned; if you wish to be good, you will be good. Only, you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them with exclusiveness, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.”Prof. Wm. James, in

      Talks on Psychology, p. 137.

      IMPULSE AS A BASIC POWER.

      “All intellectual and voluntary processes are elicited by the system of some impulse, emotion, or sentiment, and sub-ordinated to its end.”A. F. Shand, M.A., in

      The Foundations of Character, p. 67.

      THE FEELINGS ARE PRIMARY.

      “Mind is not wholly, or even mainly, Intelligence . . . it consists largely, and in one sense entirely, of Feelings.” Herbert Spencer, in

      Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, p. 192.

      WHAT IS FUNDAMENTAL?

      “What is fundamental in the character is the instincts, tendencies, impulses, desires and feelings, all these and nothing else.”

       Th. Ribot, in

      Psychology of the Emotions, p. 390.

      HOW MEN ARE GOVERNED.

      “Men are not governed by their abstract principles but by their passions and emotions.”

       Leslie Stephen, in

      The English Utilitarians, Vol. II., p. 329.

      FEELING AND THE SELF.

      “Feeling is subjective life par excellence.”

       Prof Sully, in

      The Human Mind, Vol. II., p. 2.

      These testimonies are all the more convincing when they are realised in active life. Think sceptically, doubtfully, cynically, hopelessly—and you do nothing; think positively, hopefully, generously—and you work towards your destiny. We may therefore say, “What I think, that I am.“ Thoughts decide our career.

      17. To have an ambition, therefore, is to have a plan of life—something to work for—a destiny to accomplish. A critic asks us if we are on the ascending line of life, or on—the other one. Put the question to yourself. Which is it? If it is the line of descension, we know what kind of thinking yours is—its emotions are engines for moving you in СКАЧАТЬ