Have you a strong will? How to develop and strengthen will power, memory

Contents

PAGE

Introduction to New Edition ix

The Author's Preface xv

Introduction xxi

I. Attention and Interest 1

II. Self-Suggestion 12

III. Will Development 20

IV. Forethought 37

V. Wdll and Character 50

VI. Suggestion and Instinct . 60

VII. Memory Culture 69

VIII. The Constructive Faculties 77

IX. Fascination . . . . 82

X. The Subliminal Self 101

XI. Paracelsus 113

XII. Last Words 121

M S^mtoriam

CHARLES GODFREY LELAND

AUTHOR

Died March 20, 1903

At Florence, Italy

Age 79

Introduction To New Edition

The appreciation of the reading public, especially of the more thoughtful type, is certainly due the Publishers who have determined to bring out another edition of this unusually suggestive and stimulating work on the Will by the gifted American author, Mr. Charles G. Leland, who died at Florence, Italy, March 20, 1903, at the ripe age of 79 years. Through all these years and up to the very last, Mr. Leland was the earnest and indefatigable student of human problems, in all their various phases.

His writings, ranging over a period of fully fifty years, deal with an almost incredible variety of subjects, and always in an illuminating and suggestive style. His mind, in many respects, resembles the profound, versatile, and discriminating mind of Samuel Butler whose works, neglected until quite recently, have of late become a veritable storehouse of treasure to many thoughtful readers. There was published a few years ago a biographical work embodying the memoirs of Mr. Leland, written and edited by his niece, Mrs. Pennell, which will be of special interest to all who desire first-hand information of this gifted man.

His scholarly spirit, his wide range of learning, his deep and accurate knowledge of human nature, and especially, his genius for piercing through the externals,

ix

X INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION

brushing aside the nonessentials and thus getting to the very heart of his subject, have given to all his writings a peculiar insight and an indescribable charm.

After many years of study and research in England and on the Continent, the author had the opportunity to put his educational theories to the test before separate classes of some two hundred children in the city of Philadelphia with remarkable success. As the result of these "experiments," he published his well-known works on "Practical Education," and "Hints on Self -education," which reveal where his deeper interest lay and prepared the way for this later work on the Will.

His practical experience as well as his profound studies had convinced him that, while the inner life of man contains of necessity all the secrets of personal development and power, still for the vast majority this inner and mysterious realm was as yet an undiscovered country. He realized that most people are living far below their possibilities of efficiency and of power through ignorance of how to use the faculties with which they have been endowed. He saw that however great one's knowledge of outer facts might be, the knowledge of Self and its resident forces was to most people a closed book.

With this growing realization of the widespread ignorance on the part of men and women generally as to their own inner powers and as to any rational method of cultivating them — an ignorance that he clearly saw was limiting countless individuals everywhere both mentally and morally — it is not strange that the author devoted the later years of his life to further experiments in, and writing on what might

INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION xi

be truly called the practise of Self-culture. He knew that what people needed was not simply the ideal or the theory, but the practical method of how to put the theory into practice and thus realize the ideal in one's own personal life. While not in the technical sense a professional psychologist, he has nevertheless succeeded in translating into common speech some of the most essential and fundamental truths and principles of psychology so that he who runs may read. The goal he keeps constantly before him is the practical one, i.e, How can this principle be made most effective in the development of the Self and its hidden powers?

The author believes with Schopenhauer that the Will is the essential man, that it lies back of all else and determines all else. The true education of the Will, therefore, means the true education of the man. Only through the right development of the Will can a man achieve at length that highest of all the arts, — and the most difficult, — the art of Self-control. He believes that the supreme problem of human happiness can be truly solved only through the culture of the Will. "He who wills it sincerely can govern his Will, and he who can govern his Will is a thousand times more fortunate than if he could govern the world. For to govern the Will is to be without fear, superior and indifferent to all earthly follies and shams, idols, cants and delusions; it is to be lord of a thousand isles in the sea of life, and absolutely greater than any living mortal, as men exist. Small need has that man to heed what his birth or station in society may be, who has mastered himself with the iron will; for he who has conquered death and the devil need fear no shadows."

xii INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION

It is to be noted, however, that the author does not mean by "iron will" what we usually put into these words. He means rather, a Will that is emancipated through proper development from all limitations, a Will that operates freely and instinctively in the little as well as in the big crises of life, a Will that blends body with all its appetites and passions, mind with all its faculties and powers, and spirit with all its wondrous forces into one harmonious Whole, a Will that is "strong" simply because it knows itself for what it really is and what it can actually do, in the deep and central place it holds in the individual life.

The method advocated by the author for attaining this high degree of Will-culture or Self-development is the sound psychological method of Auto-suggestion. As he explains it, it is found to be not a slow, laborious, painstaking method before which one might well be inclined to shrink back. As a matter of fact, it is its very simplicity that may cause many to feel that such a simple method can possess little or nothing of real value. But this would be to miss the whole truth of the book and its practical power.

Modern psychology recognizes frankly today the tremendous and incalculable power exerted in our lives, both individual and collective, through Suggestion. There is no one who is immune to it, no one who escapes it. What we think, what we say, what we feel, what we do, — in short, what we are is, in the last analysis, chiefly due to this mighty power that is always at work in our lives. Auto-suggestion is the means by which we take this wondrous power into our own hands and employ it towards ends that we ourselves select. It means letting one's own mind de-

INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION xiii

termine just what suggestions shall control one's thoughts and actions instead of leaving it to chance environment or accidental associations or casual conversations or reckless impulses. The author has laid his hand on the great dynamic power of all life when he advocates Auto-suggestion as the method by which the results desired in Self-development can best be attained. This method has been demonstrated by psychology and proven in experience.

The difficulty will He for most people, as already stated, in the very simplicity of the method. They will fail to make the progress in Self-development that they truly desire, not because the pathway is too hard, but because it is too easy. And thus they will only have themselves to blame if the wondrous powers that He resident in ah men and women, remain in them, latent and undeveloped. If one wiU but continue to persevere in the use of Auto-suggestion as the author has so clearly set it forth in the pages of this book, there is not the sHghtest shadow of doubt of his experiencing the results the author here promises. It is simply another appHcation of the old and universal law of Cause and Effect. The failures of Hfe are chiefly due to the fact that, while we all profess to be desirous of achieving the effect, there are very few who wiU make the necessary effort to estabHsh the only cause of which the desired effect can come.

Mr. Leland does not write from the view-point of any particular cult, he represents no new school of thought as such. He has Hved widely and thought deeply and experimented scientifically with himself and with others, and the conclusions at which he arrives and the method of Self-development which he xiv INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION

advocates are both sane and practical, to be tested as he so earnestly urges, by each one for himself.

It is one of the hopeful signs of the times that a steadily increasing number of men and women everywhere are searching eagerly for the light that will lead them towards the heights of Self-development which they but dimly descry in the distance. They realize vaguely that "man is greater than he knows," but what they crave most of all is the actual knowledge as to how they may best awaken and direct towards highest ends the powers and forces now lying latent within them. To all such this book will come not merely as an inspiration towards the heights beyond, but what is still better, as the clear revelation of the pathway by which alone the heights may be attained.

John Herman Randall

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

During the past few years the most serious part of the author's study and reflection has been devoted to the subjects discussed in this book. These, briefly stated, are as follows : Firstly, that all mental or cerebral faculties can by direct scientific treatment be influenced to what would have once been regarded as miraculous action, and which is even yet very little known or considered. Secondly, in development of this theory, and as confirmed by much practical and personal experience, that the Will can by very easy processes of training, or by aid of Auto-suggestion, be strengthened to any extent, and states of mind soon induced, which can be made by practice habitual. Thus, as a man can by means of opium produce sleep, so can he by a very simple experiment a few times repeated — an experiment which I clearly describe and which has been tested and verified beyond all denial — cause himself to remain during the following day in a perfectly calm or cheerful state of mind ; and this condition may, by means of repetition and practice, be raised or varied to other states or conditions of a far more active or intelligent description.

Thus, for illustration, I may say that within my own experience, I have by this process succeeded since my seventieth year in working all day far more assiduously, and without any sense of weariness or distaste for labour, than I ever did at any previous period of my

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life. And the reader need only try the extremely easy experiment, as I have described it, to satisfy himself that he can do the same, that he can continue it with growing strength ad infinitum, and that this power will unquestionably at some future time be employed with marvellous results in Education. For, beyond all question — since any human being can easily prove or disprove it by a few experiments — there is no method known by which inattention, heedlessness, or negligence in the young can be so promptly and thoroughly cured as by this; while, on the other hand, by assiduity Attention and Interest are even more easily awakened. It has indeed seemed to me, since I have devoted myself to the study of Education from this point of view, as if it had been like the Iron Castle in the Slavonian legend, unto which men had for centuries wended their way by a long and wearisome road of many miles, while there was all the time, unseen and unknown, a very short and easy subterranean passage, by means of which the dwellers in the Schloss might have found their way to the town below, and to the world, in a few minutes.

To this I have added a succinct account of what is, I believe, the easiest and most comprehensive Art of Memory ever conceived. There are on this subject more than five hundred works, all based, without exception, on the Associative system, which may be described as a stream which runs with great rapidity for a very short time but is soon choked up. This, I believe, as a means applied to learning, was first published in my work, entitled Practical Education. In it the pupil is taught the direct method; that is, instead of remembering one thing by means of another,

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE - xvii

to impress the image itself on the memory, and frequently revive it. This process soon becomes habitual and very easy. In from one year to eighteen months a pupil can by means of it accurately recall a lecture or sermon. It has the immediate advantage, over all the associate systems, of increasing and enlarging the scope and vigour of the memory, or indeed of the mind, so that it may truly bear as a motto, Vires acquirit eundo — "it gains in power as it runs along."

Finally, I set forth a system of developing the Constructive Faculty — that which involves Ingenuity, Art, or manual making — as based on the teaching of the so-called Minor Arts to the young. The principle from which I proceed is that as the fruit is developed from the flower, all Technical Education should be anticipated or begun in children by practicing easy and congenial arts, such as light embroidery, wood-carving or repousse, by means of which they become familiar with the elements of more serious and substantial work. Having found out by practical experience, in teaching upwards of two thousand children for several years, that the practice of such easy work, or the development of the constructive faculty, invariably awakened the intellectual power or intelligence, I began to study the subject of the development of the mind in general. My first discovery after this was that Memory, whether mental, visual, or of any other kind, could, in connection with Art, be wonderfully improved, and to this in time came the consideration that the human Will, with all its mighty power and deep secrets, could be disciplined and directed, or controlled with as great care as the memory or the mechanical faculty. In a certain sense the three xviii THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

are one, and the reader who will take the pains — which are, I trust, not very great — to master the details of this book, will readily grasp it as a whole, and understand that its contents form a system of education, one from which the old as well as young may profit.

It is worth noting that, were it for nervous invalids alone, or those who from various causes find it difficult to sleep, or apply the mind to work, this book would be of unquestionable value. In fact, even while writing this chapter, a lady has called to thank me for the substantial benefit which she derived from my advice in this respect. And, mindful of the fact that Attention and Unwearied Perseverance are most necessary to succeed in such processes as are here described, I have taken pains to show or explain how they may be rendered more attractive, tolerable, and habitual to the fickle or light-minded; this, too, being a subject which has been very little considered from a practical point of view.

But, above all things, I beg the reader, laying aside all prejudice or preconceived opinion, and neither believing nor disbelieving what he reads, to simply try it — that is — to test in his own person to what degree he can influence his will, or bring about subsequent states of mind, by the very easy processes laid down. If I could hope that all opinion of my book would be uttered only by those who had thus put it to the test, I should be well assured as to its future.

And also I beg all readers, and especially reviewers, to note that I advise that the auto-suggestive process, by aid of sleep, shall be discontinued as soon as the experimenter begins to feel an increase in the power of the will; the whole object of the system being to ac-

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quire a perfectly free clear Will as soon as possible. Great injustice was done, as regards the first edition of this work, by a very careless though eminent critic, who blamed the author for not having done what the latter had carefully recommended in his book.

There are four stages of advance towards the truth: firstly, Disbelief; secondly, Doubt, which is, in fact, only a fond advance towards Disbelief; thirdly, Agnosticism, which is Doubt mingled with Inquiry; and, finally, pure and simple Inquiry or Search, without any preconceived opinion or feeling whatever. It is, I trust, only in the spirit of the latter, that I have written; therefore I say to the reader, Neither believe in nor disbelieve anything which I have said, but, as it is an easy thing to try, experiment for yourself, and judge by the result. In fact, as a satisfactory and conclusive experiment will not require more time, and certainly not half the pains which most people would expend on reading a book, I shall be perfectly satisfied if any or all my critics will do so, and judge the system by the result.

Introduction

"Unto many Fortune comes while sleeping." — Latin Proverb.

"Few know what is really going on in the world."

— American Proverb.

It is but a few years since it suddenly struck the gay world of comic dramatists and other literary wits, that the Nineteenth Century was drawing to an end, and, regarding it as an event, they began to make merry over it, at first in Paris, and then in London and New York, as the fin-de-siecle. Unto them it was the going-out of old fashions in small things, such as changes in dress, the growth of wealth, or "the mighty bicycle," with a very prevalent idea that things "are getting mixed" or "chequered," or the old conditions of life becoming strangely confused. And then men of more thought or intelligence, looking more deeply into it, began to consider that the phrase did in very truth express far more serious facts. As in an old Norman tale, he who had entered as a jester or minstrel in comic garb, laid aside his disguise, and appeared as a wise counsellor or brave champion who had come to free the imprisoned emperor.

For it began to be seen that this fin-de-siecle was developing with startling rapidity changes of stupendous magnitude, which would ere long be seen "careering with thunder speed along," and that all the revolutions and reforms recorded in history were only feeble or xxii INTRODUCTION

partial, scattered or small, compared to the world-wide unification of human interests, led by new lights, which has begun to manifest itself in every civilized country. That well-nigh every person of real culture or education, guided by pure science, has within a very few years advanced to a condition of liberal faith which would have been in my university days generally reprobated as "infidelity," is not to be denied, and the fact means, beyond all question, that according to its present rate of advance, in a very few years more, this reform will end in the annulling of innumerable traditions, forms of faith, and methods. Upharrin is writ on the wall.

More than this, is it not clear that Art and Romance, Poetry and Literature, as hitherto understood or felt, are either to utterly vanish before the stupendous advances of science, or what is perhaps more probable, will, coalescing with it, take new forms, based on a general familiarity with all the old schools or types? A few years ago it seemed, as regarded all aesthetic creation, that man had exhausted the old models, and knew not where to look for new. Now the aim of Art is to interest or please, by gratifying the sense or taste for the beautiful or human genius in making; also to instruct and refine; and it is evident that Science is going to fulfill all these conditions on such a grand scale in so many new ways, that, when man shall be once engaged in them, all that once gratified him in the past will seem as childish things, to be put away before pursuits more worthy of manly dignity. If Art in all forms has of late been quiet, it has been because it has drawn back like the tiger in order to make the greater bound

INTRODUCTION xxiii

One of the causes why some are laying aside all old spiritualism, romance, and sentiment, is that their realization takes up too much time, and Science, which is the soul of business, seeks in all things brevity and directness. It is probable that the phrase, "but to the point," has been oftener repeated during the past few years, than it ever was before, since Time begun, of which directness I shall have more to say anon.

And this is the end to which these remarks on the fin-de-siecle were written, to lay stress upon the fact that with the year Nineteen Hundred we shall begin a century during which civilized mankind will attain its majority and become manly, doing that which is right as a man should, because it is right and for no other reason, and shunning wrong for as good cause. For while man is a child he behaves well, or misbehaves, for reasons such as the fear of punishment or hope of reward, but in a manly code no reasons are necessary but only a persuasion or conviction that anything is right or wrong-, and a principle which is as the earth unto a seed.

For as the world is going on, or getting to be, it is very evident that as it is popularly said, "he who will tell a he will generally not hesitate to commit perjury," so he who cannot be really honest, per se, without being sustained by principle based only on tradition and the opinion of others, is a poor creature, whose morality or honesty is in fact merely theatrical, or acted, to satisfy certain conditions or exigencies from which he were better freed.

This spirit of scientific directness, and economy of thought and trouble by making the principle of integrity the basis of all forms, and cutting all ethical xxiv INTRODUCTION

theories down to "be good because you ought" is rapidly astonishing us with another marvellous fact which it illustrates, namely, that as in this axiom — as in man himself — there are latent undiscovered powers, so in a thousand other sayings, or things known to us all, used by us all, and regarded as common-place, there are astounding novelties and capacities as yet undreamed of. For, as very few moralists ever understood in full what is meant by the very much worn or hackneyed saying, "we ought to do what is right," so the world at large little suspects that such very desirable qualities as Attention, Interest, Memory, and Ingenuity, have that within them which renders them far more attainable by man than has ever been supposed. Even the great problem of Happiness itself, as really being only one of a relative state of mind, may be solved or reached by some far simpler or more direct method than any thinker has ever suggested.

It all depends on exertion of the Will. There are in this world a certain number of advanced thinkers who, if they knew how to develop the Will which exists in them, could bring this reform to pass in an incredibly short time. That is to say, they could place the doctrine or religion of Honesty for its own sake so boldly and convincingly before the world that its future would be assured. Now the man who can develop his Will, has it in his power not only to control his moral nature to any extent, but also to call into action or realize very extraordinary states of mind, that is, faculties, talents, or abilities which he has never suspected to be within his reach. It is a stupendous thought; yes, one so great that from the beginning of time to the present day no sage or poet has ever grasped it in its full extent,

INTRODUCTION XXV

and yet it is a very literal truth, that there lie hidden within us all, as in a sealed-up spiritual casket, or like the bottled-up djinn in the Arab tale, innumerable Powers or Intelligences, some capable of bestowing peace or calm, others of giving Happiness, or inspiring creative genius, energy, and perseverance. All that Man has ever attributed to an Invisible World without, lies, in fact, within him, and the magic key which will confer the faculty of sight and the power to conquer is the Will

It has always been granted that it is a marvellously good thing to have a strong will, or a determined or resolute mind, and great has been the writing thereon. I have by me the last book on the subject, in which the faculty is enthusiastically praised, and the reader is told through all the inflexions of sentiment, that he ought to assert his Will, to be vigorous in mind, et cetera, but unfortunately the How to do it is utterly wanting.

It will be generally admitted by all readers that this How to do it has been always sought in grandly heroic or sublimely vigorous methods of victory over self. The very idea of being resolute, brave, persevering, or stubborn, awakens in us all thoughts of conflict or dramatic self-conquering. But it may be far more effectively attained in a much easier way, even as the ant climbed to the top of the tree and gnawed away and brought down the golden fruit unto which the man could not rise. There are easy methods, and by far the most effective, of awakening the Will; methods within the reach of every one, and which if practiced, will lead on ad infinitum, to marvellous results.

The following chapters will be devoted to setting forth, I trust clearly and explicitly, how by an exxxvi INTRODUCTION

tremely easy process, or processes, the will may be, by any person of ordinary intelligence and perseverance, awakened and developed to any extent, and with it many other faculties or states of mind. I can remember once being told by a lady that she thought there ought to be erected in all great cities temples to the Will, so as to encourage mankind to develop the divine faculty. It has since occurred to me that an equal number of school-houses, however humble, in which the art of mastering the Will by easy processes seriatim should be taught, would be far more useful. Such a school-house is this work, and it is the hope of the author that all who enter, so to speak, or read it, will learn therefrom as much as he himself and others have done by studying its principles.

To recapitulate or make clear in- brief what I intend, I would say Firstly, that the advanced thinkers at this end of the century, weary of all the old indirect methods of teaching Morality, are beginning to enquire, since Duty is an indispensable condition, whether it is not just as well to do what is right, because it is right, as for any other reason? Secondly, that this spirit of directness, the result of Evolution, is beginning to show itself in many other directions, as we may note by the great popularity of the answer to the question, "How not to worry," which is briefly, Dont! Thirdly, that enlightened by this spirit of scientific straightforwardness, man is ceasing to seek for mental truth by means of roundabout metaphysical or conventional ethical methods (based on old traditions and mysticism), and is looking directly in himself, or materially, for what Immaterialism or Idealism has really never explained at all — his discoveries having been within a few years

INTRODUCTION xxvii

much more valuable than all that a priori philosophy or psychology ever yielded since the beginning. And, finally, that the leading faculties or powers of the mind, such as Will, Memory, the Constructive faculty, and all which are subject to them, instead of being entirely mysterious "gifts," or inspirations bestowed on only a very few to any liberal extent, are in all, and may be developed grandly and richly by direct methods which are moreover extremely easy, and which are in accordance with the spirit of the age, being the legitimate results of Evolution and Science.

And, that I may not be misunderstood, I would say that the doctrine of Duty agrees perfectly with every form of religion — a man may be Roman Catholic, Church of England, Presbyterian, Agnostic, or what he will; and, if a form aids him in the least to be sincerely honest, it would be a pity for him to be without it. Truly there are degrees in forms, and where I live in Italy I am sorry to see so many abuses or errors in them. But to know and do what is right, when understood, is recognizing God as nearly as man can know him, and to do this perfectly we require Will. It is the true Logos.