William Atkinson - The Essential Works of William Walker Atkinson - 50+ Books in One Edition

Begin by trying to read several words at a glance; then sentences; then several sentences; then a group of sentences; then paragraphs, and so on. In all this work of developing mental faculties, one must proceed as he would were he developing a muscle or set of muscles—by degrees.

EXERCISE 8.

A valuable exercise is that of taking mental stock of a room and its contents. Many women are able to do this without any instructions, but the powers of observation of most men are not great in this direction, so they should develop it. If you are a man and are studying these lessons with a woman she will be able to distance you in this exercise and probably most of the others. Many women seem to see everything that interests them, and many of them never forget what they have seen.

Go into a room and take a rapid survey of it and its contents, trying to get a good mental photograph of as many articles as possible—the size of the room, the height of the ceiling, the color of the paper, the number of doors and windows, the chairs, tables, carpet, pictures, etc. Then go out of the room and mark down what you have seen. Then compare with the room itself. Repeat until you have mastered the exercise. You will, by practice, be able to correctly describe any place you have visited, almost without effort, your powers of observation having automatically registered impressions, after you have trained them for a while.

EXERCISE 9.

At night, go over the affairs of the past day and endeavor to recollect and describe the things and persons with whom you have met and whom you have seen. It is surprising how little you will be able to recall at the start, and how much you will be able to recall after a little practice. This is not merely the ability to recall, but the ability to observe. Your subconscious mentality will recognize the necessity of noting things clearly and then placing them where they belong.

Table of Content

Treating of the receiving of impressions through the sense of hearing—The advantages of cultivating this faculty—The rules governing same—Instances of wonderful ear perception and memory, etc., etc., etc.—This phase of the subject is one which usually receives but scant attention from students, and yet some of the most remarkable instances of memory development depended upon the cultivation and development of “ear attention”—For long ages, the religious, philosophical and legal teachings of ancient races were transmitted from mouth to ear, the memory performing feats now deemed almost incredible, but which may be reproduced by any one devoting sufficient attention to the subject.

WE ARE in the habit of using the word perception as meaning the cognizing of something by the sense of sight, but the term is equally applicable to the cognizing or discerning of something through the medium of the sense of hearing. There is a great difference in individuals in matter of retaining impressions through these two senses. Some remember far more readily that which they see, while others find it much easier to recall a thing by the impression received from hearing. One man will remember an old acquaintance at once as soon as he sees him, while another will not recognize the face of the stranger, but will remember him at once when he speaks. We have known cases in which persons who had not been seen or heard of for years were recognized by one­time friends by their voices, heard over the telephone. We remember a case reported in the daily papers of a detective failing to recognize a noted criminal through his wonderful disguise and “make­up,” but who identified and arrested his man at once when the latter spoke, although it had been ten years or more since the detective had heard his voice. We have known men and women to recognize a former school mate whom they had not seen since childhood, simply by remembering the voice, although the childish treble had been replaced by the mature tones of the man or woman.

As a rule, impressions received through the eye are received more rapidly, but somehow the memory seems to hold better that which enters the mind by means of the ear. Many of us remember what we have heard, much more readily than that which we have read. Some writers hold, however, that in the case of remembering the words of lectures, etc., the ear is aided by the eye, in the direction of the remembrance of the appearance of the speaker, his gestures, expression, etc., and we are inclined to at least partially agree with this view. But the lecture seems to be much more “alive” when we hear it than when we afterwards read it in print. Perhaps the better plan is to both hear and then read the lecture or sermon, if possible, and thus get the benefit of both sense memories.

Musicians, of course, have trained their sense of hearing to a remarkable degree, and the musical ear can detect at once the slightest inharmony, or the most trifling variation from the proper note on the violin. But many others have also developed this faculty to a wonderful degree. Machinists can detect the slightest variation from the clear tone resulting from the tapping of a piece of machinery with a hammer. Railroad men can detect from the slight difference in the sound whether anything is the matter with the wheels or track while the train is running at a high rate of speed. Engineers will detect the slightest change in the song of the engines, and knowing that something is wrong somewhere will shut off the power at once. Old river pilots will recognize the sound of the whistle of any boat on the river, and the tones of the different church bells are recognized by residents of a large city. Telegraphers recognize the different styles of the various operators on their lines, and will detect the “style” of a new operator in a moment, merely from the almost imperceptible difference in the “tick” of the instrument.

In ages long since past, when written language was almost unknown, the knowledge and experience of one generation was passed along from father to son, from teacher to pupil, from mouth to ear. The utmost power of attention and concentration must have been employed by the hearer, for what was thus taught was retained and preserved intact and afterward delivered, in turn, to the son or pupil of the hearer. It is said that these students could repeat teaching of the greatest length without the omission or change of a single word. The poems of the ancient Greeks were thus passed along from generation to generation. Thus were the sagas of the Norsemen transmitted. And in like manner were the philosophies of ancient Persia and India handed down along the ages. The Oriental teachers distrusted stone and papyrus, and preferred that their sacred teachings be indelibly recorded in the brains of their pupils, and thus endure as a living truth.

It is related that, over two thousand years ago, a Chinese emperor became jealous of his ancestors and of the greatness of the past history of the nation. He sought to destroy all the historical, religious and philosophical records of the past, that in the future everything might date from his reign. He burned everything in the way of a written or graven record in the empire, including the works of Confucius. The past history of the empire was destroyed and lives to­day only in the shape of tradition, but the works of Confucius endure, intact, thanks to the wonderful power of memory possessed by an old Confucian sage, who had stored away in his mind the teachings received in his youth, and who managed to keep them hidden away until after the death of the iconoclastic Emperor, when he had the works of the great Chinese philosopher reproduced from his dictation. So perfect was his memory, that when, long years after, there was found an old Confucian manuscript, that had somehow escaped the fires of the former Emperor, it was found that the old sage had not missed a single word of the text. The Chinese of to­day have profited by this lesson, and writers say that if the Chinese classics were to be destroyed to­day, fully a million Chinamen could repeat them perfectly to­morrow, notwithstanding the fact that the feat would be almost equal to the reproducing of our Bible.