THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson

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      We know that when some people enter a room, they bring with them an indefinable influence that becomes apparent to all. Certain houses and stores have atmospheres of their own, which are perceptible to those entering them. Some places are depressing to all who live or do business in them. Some salesmen impart a sense of confidence and trust at once, while others cause the reverse. Some persons attract—others repel.

      Some people seem to have a way of influencing the minds of others with whom they come in contact, so that these others will rally around the self-constituted leader, and thus cults, religion, and "isms" are formed. We all know how far a strong "magnetic" leader may carry his followers. We have seen many instances of it during the past twenty years. People have followed some of these leaders like a flock of sheep. And they will always do so, until the underlying principle is understood and people protect themselves.

      And all of these things go to form part of the phenomena of Mind-Power. Surely the subject is worth investigating.

      Now, as never before, the subject of the mystic forces of Mind-Power is attracting the attention of the majority of thinking people. In ages past, the knowledge of the subject was possessed by but the few, who jealously guarded it from the minds of the masses, the latter obtaining but scraps of the hidden knowledge, and that adulterated with the grossest superstition and attributed to the particular form of primitive religion prevailing in the particular place, at that particular time. And even now, notwithstanding the popular interest in the subject, but very few have arrived at a scientific understanding of the matter, and the majority take their knowledge of the New Psychology in the capsule of dogma and theory advanced by some particular cult or sect.

      Mind-Power has been known to the race, in one form or another, from time before history was written. In the earliest records we find many traces of it among all peoples. And, even today, it is known and practiced, in a more or less ignorant manner, by all races, from the people of the highest civilization known to us, down to the ignorant African Bushmen.

      Many have been turned away from a serious consideration of the subject by the fact that many of its forms have been accompanied by the grossest superstition, and the most absurd repulsive ceremonies. They have failed to see that underlying all the extravagant ideas and methods of application, there was to be found a fundamental law of Nature, as real and as constant as any other natural law or force. And, inasmuch as this law is in constant operation, and all are subject to its influence and effect, does it not become the duty of intelligent people to acquaint themselves with this mighty force or law, in order that they may understand its workings; take advantage of its benefits; and protect themselves against its misuse? Believing that there is but one answer to this question, this book has been written in order to throw light on a subject commonly left in the dark, or at least in the twilight of the human understanding.

      I am fully aware of the fact that many ingenious theories have been advanced by modern writers attempting to account for the phenomena of Mind-Power. But all students of the subject are aware that these theories, cleverly as they have been designed, are more or less self-contradictory, and many a reader has thrown aside the subject in disgust after a vain attempt at reconciling the opposing views. And to make the matter worse, various cults and sects and "isms" have sprung into existence, the promulgators and leaders of which have used the accepted phenomena of Mind-Power as a foundation upon which to build airy structures of religion, philosophy, and metaphysics.

      Many of these cults have practically claimed a monopoly of the great natural force, and have assumed the right to be the sole custodians of the secrets thereof, alleging that they have the "only real article—all others are base imitators," notwithstanding that all of them show that they have arrived at at least a working knowledge of the force, and are obtaining results—each obtaining about the same percentage of successes, notwithstanding the fact that each denies the other the fact of possessing the information and right to use it. Is it not apparent to any intelligent observer that they are all using the same great natural force, in spite of their conflicting theories—and that their results are obtained in spite of their theories, rather than because of them?

      In a former work, which has served as a basis for the present one, I grouped the phenomena of the manifestations of Mind-Power under the general term of "Mental Magic," the use of the term being justified by the following facts: The word "Magic" was derived from the Persian word "mag," meaning "a priest." The Persian priests were "wonder-workers," or "magicians," the latter word being derived from the word "Magi," the name of the hereditary caste of priests of ancient Persia and Medea. This Magian order, or esoteric cult of the Zoroastrian priesthood, represented the center of ancient occultism at that period of the world's history, and its influence was felt in all parts of the world, and continues down to this time. So highly were its members respected and considered, that the term "Wise Men," and "Magi" were synonymous. The "Three Wise Men" mentioned as appearing at the birth of Christ (Matt. II) were known as the Magi, or "wise men from the East."

      From the word "Magi" came the term "Magic," which Webster has defined as follows: "The hidden wisdom supposed to be possessed by the Magi; relating to the occult powers of nature; mastery of secret forces in nature; having extraordinary properties; seemingly requiring more than human power, etc." So we may consider the word "magic" to mean: "mastery of the occult forces of nature," the term indicating the existence of such forces, and the possibility of the mastery or control of them. And in ancient times, "magic" was always believed to be connected in some way with the use of the mind, particularly in its aspects of will, desire, and imagination. Effects were believed to result because some magician either "willed it"; "desired it to be"; or else "imagined it would occur";—in each case the result happening as a materialization of the mental conception or wish. "Wishing" was always believed to be a magical operation, and if we examine a "wish" we see it is composed of the use of the imagination, coupled with desire, and backed up with will. And so, I felt that I was justified in using the term "Mental Magic" in considering the various phenomena resulting from the manifestation of Mind-Power.

      But by the use of the term "Mental Magic," I meant more than the mere mental control of the "occult forces of nature." I meant that these "occult forces of nature" are themselves mental in character and nature, and that their control or mastery means simply the conscious use, control, mastery, and application of certain mental forces, called "occult," that are possessed by the race, and are used by all, either consciously or unconsciously. The mastery or control of these forces, means that one may learn to "knowingly" apply that which all have been using blindly and unknowingly. And as knowledge and intelligent use always means Power, the knowledge of the principles of these forces, and the consequent intelligent application of them brings power to those acquiring it.

      While it is true that that which is known as "magic" has always been mixed up with a mass of credulity, superstition, and meaningless forms and ceremonies, the close student will see that these excrescences and appendages necessarily arose from the superstitions of the mass of the people, and to the various forms of primitive religions that the race has fostered during the procession of the centuries and ages. The magicians were nearly always priests in the old days, that being the only career open to them, and one that enabled them to erect the barrier of primitive religious rites between their wisdom and the ignorance of the race.

      The careful student will be able to trace the possession of something real and true always manifesting among the various forms and ceremonies of the various ancient cults. There was always to be found an esoteric or inner cult, within the mass of the exoteric or ignorant priesthood and followers of the temples. There was always the light of Truth burning in the holy of holies of the temples, for those who were sufficiently advanced to worship at its shrine.

      And, among the dim records of the ancient mysteries that have come down to us from ancient India, Egypt, Persia, Chaldea, Babylon, Greece, and Rome, and the other old centers of civilization and culture, we may always find the underlying principle of the existence of some mighty force connected with the human mind—or more particularly, СКАЧАТЬ