William Walker Atkinson - Your Mind and How to Use It: A Manual of Practical Psychology

It is not enough merely to have a sound mindone must also learn how to use it, if he would become mentally efficient.

Psychology is generally considered to be the science of mind, althoughmore properly it is the science of mental statesthoughts, feelings,and acts of volition. It was formerly the custom of writers on thesubject of psychology to begin by an attempt to define and describe thenature of mind, before proceeding to a consideration of the subject ofthe various mental spates and activities. But more recent authoritieshave rebelled against this demand, and have claimed that it is no morereasonable to hold that psychology should be held to an explanation ofthe ultimate nature of mind than it is that physical science be held toan explanation of the ultimate nature of matter. The attempt to explainthe ultimate nature of either is futileno actual necessity exists forexplanation in either case. Physics may explain the phenomena of matter,and psychology the phenomena of mind, without regard to the ultimatenature of the substance of either.

The science of physics has progressed steadily during the past century,notwithstanding the fact that the theories regarding the ultimatenature of matter have been revolutionized during that period. The factsof the phenomena of matter remain, notwithstanding the change of theoryregarding the nature of matter itself. Science demands and holds fast tofacts, regarding theories as but working hypotheses at the best. Someone has said that "theories are but the bubbles with which the grown-upchildren of science amuse themselves." Science holds severalwell-supported, though opposing, theories regarding the nature ofelectricity, but the facts of the phenomena of electricity, and theapplication thereof, are agreed upon by the disputing theorists. And soit is with psychology; the facts regarding mental states are agreedupon, and methods of developing mental powers are effectively employed,without regard to whether mind is a product of the brain, or the brainmerely an organ of the mind. The fact that the brain and nervous systemare employed in the phenomena of thought is conceded by all, and that isall that is necessary for a basis for the science of psychology.

Disputes regarding the ultimate nature of mind are now generally passedover to the philosophers and metaphysicians, while psychology devotesits entire attention to studying the laws of mental activities, and todiscovering methods of mental development. Even philosophy is beginningto tire of the eternal "why" and is devoting its attention to the "how"phase of things. The pragmatic spirit has invaded the field ofphilosophy, expressing itself in the words of Prof. William James, whosaid: "Pragmatism is the attitude of looking away from first things,principles, categories, supposed necessities; and of looking forwardtoward last things, fruits, consequences, facts." Modernpsychology is essentially pragmatic in its treatment of the subject ofthe mind. Leaving to metaphysics the old arguments and disputesregarding the ultimate nature of mind, it bends all its energies upondiscovering the laws of mental activities and states, and developingmethods whereby the mind may be trained to perform better and more work,to conserve its energies, to concentrate its forces. To modernpsychology the mind is something to be used, not merely somethingabout which to speculate and theorize. While the metaphysicians deplorethis tendency, the practical people of the world rejoice.

Mind is defined as "the faculty or power whereby thinking creatures,feel, think, and will." This definition is inadequate and circular innature, but this is unavoidable, for mind can be defined only in itsown terms and only by reference to its own processes. Mind, except inreference to its own activities, cannot be defined or conceived. It isknown to itself only through its activities. Mind without mental statesis a mere abstractiona word without a corresponding mental image orconcept. Sir William Hamilton expressed the matter as clearly aspossible, when he said: "What we mean by mind is simply that whichperceives, thinks, feels, wills, and desires." Without the perceiving,thinking, feeling, willing, and desiring, it is impossible to form aclear conception or mental image of mind; deprived of its phenomena itbecomes the merest abstraction.

Perhaps the simplest method of conveying the idea of the existence andnature of the mind is that attributed to a celebrated German teacher ofpsychology who was wont to begin his course by bidding his studentsthink of something, his desk, for example. Then he would say, "Now thinkof that which thinks about the desk." Then, after a pause, he wouldadd, "This thing which thinks about the desk, and about which you arenow thinking, is the subject matter of our study of psychology." Theprofessor could not have said more had he lectured for a month.

Professor Gordy has well said on this point: "The mind must either bethat which thinks, feels, and wills, or it must be the thoughts,feelings, and acts of will of which we are consciousmental facts, inone word. But what can we know about that which thinks, feels, andwills, and what can we find out about it? Where is it? You will probablysay, in the brain. But, if you are speaking literally, if you say thatit is in the brain, as a pencil is in the pocket, then you must meanthat it takes up room, that it occupies space, and that would make itvery much like a material thing. In truth, the more carefully youconsider it, the more plainly you will see what thinking men have knownfor a long timethat we do not know and cannot learn anything about thething which thinks, and feels, and wills. It is beyond the range ofhuman knowledge. The books which define psychology as the science ofmind have not a word to say about that which thinks, and feels, andwills. They are entirely taken up with these thoughts and feelings andacts of the will,mental facts, in a word,trying to tell us what theyare, and to arrange them in classes, and tell us the circumstances orconditions under which they exist. It seems to me that it would bebetter to define psychology as the science of the experiences,phenomena, or facts of the mind, soul, or selfof mental facts, in aword."

In view of the facts of the case, and following the example of the bestof the modern authorities, in this book we shall leave the considerationof the question of the ultimate nature of mind to the metaphysicians,and shall confine ourselves to the mental facts, the laws governingthem, and the best methods of governing and using them in "the businessof life."