William Atkinson - The Complete Works of William Walker Atkinson

We know of no better way of illustrating the matter than by this fanciful figure of the “mental brownies,” in connection with the illustration of the “Mental Storehouse.” If you would learn to take advantage of the work of the Inner Conscious Brownies, form a mental picture of the Mental Storehouses on the several planes of the Inner Consciousness, in which are stored all sorts of knowledge that you have placed there during your lifetime, as well as the impressions that you have had passed on to you from the past—whether that past be the lives of ancestors, or past lives of yourself, take your choice regarding this. The information stored away has often been placed in the storage rooms without any regard to systematic storing, or arrangement, and when you wish to find something that has been stored away a long time ago, the exact place being forgotten, you are compelled to call to your assistance the little brownies of the mind, which you do by the silent command of “recollect this for me.” These brownies are the same little chaps that you charge with the task of waking you up at four o’clock tomorrow morning when you must catch your train—and they obey you well. The same little fellows will also flash into your consciousness the report, “I have an engagement at two o’clock with ]ones”—and looking up at your clock you can see that it is just a quarter before the hour of your engagement.

Well, if you will examine carefully into a subject which you wish to master, and will pass along the results of your observations to these Inner Conscious brownies, you will find that they will work the raw materials into shape for you in time. They will arrange, analyze, systematize, collate and arrange in consecutive order the various details of information which you have passed on to them, and will add thereto the various articles of similar information that they will find stored away in the various recesses of your memory. In this way they will group together various scattered bits of knowledge that you have forgotten. And, right here, let us say to you that you never absolutely lose anything that you have placed in your mind. You may be unable to remember to recollect certain things, but they are not lost—sometime later some associative connection will be made with some other fact, and lo! the missing idea will be found fitted nicely into its place in the larger idea—the work of our little brownies. Read the examples given in other lessons— they can be reproduced by you or anyone who will cultivate the “knack” of it. Remember Thompson’s statement that: “In view of having to wait for the results of these unconscious processes, I have proved the habit of getting together material in advance, and then leaving the mass to digest itself until I am ready to write about it.” This Inner Conscious digestion is the work of our little mental brownies.

There are many ways of setting the brownies to work. Nearly everyone has had some experience, more or less, in the matter, although often it is done almost unconsciously and without intent or knowledge. Perhaps the best way for the average person—or rather, for the majority of persons—is to get as clear an idea of what you really want to know as possible—as clear an idea or mental image of the question you want answered— and then, after rolling it around in your mind, giving it a high degree of voluntary attention, then, we say, pass it on to the Inner Conscious planes, with the mental command, “Attend to this for me—work out the answer, and then report to me,” or a similar order. This order may be made silently, or aloud if you wish—the forming of the words seems to give force to the order. Speak to the Inner Conscious workers just as you would to people in your employ, firmly but kindly. And, then—and this is an important point—you must accompany the order with an Earnest Expectation that your Will will be carried out. The clearer your belief the better will be the result. A doubt will interfere somewhat. The writer of this book once said: “Earnest Desire—Confident Expectation—and Firm Demand—these form the Triple Key of Occult Attainment.” And so it is, in this case as in many others. Talk up to your Inner Consciousness, and firmly command it to do your work—but also Earnestly Desire its accomplishment—and above all, Confidently Expect the desired answer. And then forget all about the matter— throw it off of your conscious mind, and attend to other tasks. And then in due time the answer will be forthcoming, and will flash before your consciousness—perhaps not until the very minute that you must decide upon the matter, or need the information. You may give your brownies orders to report by such and such a time, if you wish—just as you do when you tell them to awaken you for your train, or to remind you of your appointment.

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The late Charles Godfrey Leland, a well-known writer, and investigator along psychological lines, devoted several of the last years of his long life (he lived to be nearly eighty years of age) to an investigation of the operation of the Will along the general lines of Inner Consciousness. He, of course, did not use the term “Inner Consciousness,” but he recognized the existence of its planes of mental manifestation, and his ideas fit very nicely into the subject-matter and ideas advanced in this book, particularly so far as concerns the actual employment of the power possible to those who understand the subject. In connection with the idea of “automatic thinking,” which we have described in the two preceding chapters, under the head of “automatic thinking,” and “inner conscious helpers,” he uses the word “Forethought” (first employed in a similar connection by Horace Fletcher). He uses the term “Forethought” in the same sense that we use the term “mental command” to the figurative brownies of the Inner Conscious planes. We think it advisable to quote liberally from him in this lesson and the one immediately following, in which latter the “Leland Method” is described. Mr. Leland’s ideas are so practical, and so readily understood by the average person, that you will do well to read closely these quotations. Mr. Leland says:

“Forethought is strong thought, and the point from which all projects must proceed. As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse or projection of Will into the coming work. I may here illustrate this with a curious fact in physics. If the reader wished to ring a door-bell so as to produce as much sound as possible, he would probably pull it as far back as he could, and then let it go. But if he would, in letting it go, simply give it a tap with his forefinger, he would actually redouble the sound. Or, to shoot an arrow as far as possible, it is not enough to merely draw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If, just as it goes, you will give the bow a quick push, though the effort be trifling, the arrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it. Or, if, as is well known, in wielding a very sharp sabre, we make the draw-cut, that is, if to the blow or chop, as with an axe, we also add a certain slight pull, simultaneously, we can cut through a silk handkerchief or a sheep. Forethought is the tap on the bell; the push on the bow; the draw on the sabre. It is the deliberate but yet rapid action of the mind when before falling to sleep or dismissing thought, we bid the mind to subsequently respond. It is more than merely thinking what we are to do; it is the bidding or ordering the Self to fulfill a task before willing it.

“Forethought, in the senses employed or implied, as here described means much more than mere previous consideration or reflection, which may be very feeble. It is, in fact, constructive, which implies active thought. Therefore, as the active principle in mental work, I regard it as a kind of self-impulse, or that minor part in the division of the force employed which sets the major into action. Now, if we really understand this, and can succeed in employing Forethought as the preparation for, and impulse to, Auto-Suggestion, we shall greatly aid the success of the latter, because the former insures attention and interest. Forethought may be brief, but it should always be energetic. By cultivating it we acquire the enviable talent of those men who take in everything at a glance, and act promptly, like Napoleon. This power is universally believed to be entirely innate, or a gift; but it can be induced or developed in all minds in proportion to the will by practice.