When the subject is under control, and hypnotised, for example, to see a picture on the wall where there is none, the whole mind of the subject is absorbed in seeing the supposed picture, and there is no time or power to detect the deception.
Many self-hypnotised people are equally at the mercy of some idea which is the pure invention of their fears.
Insanity best of all illustrates the nature of a direction of mind pure and simple, with the wonderful physical strength which sometimes accompanies the domination of a single idea.
All strongly opinionated people, those whom we call "cranks,"
the narrow-minded,
the creed-bound,
the strongly superstitious,
illustrate the same principle, and from one point of view are insane--insane so far as they allow a fixed state of mind to control their lives and draw the stream of intelligence into a single channel; whereas the wisely rounded-out character, the true philosopher, is one who, while understanding that conduct is moulded by thought, never allows himself to dwell too long on one object.
The point for emphasis, then, is this, namely, that in every experience possible to a human being the direction of mind is the important factor.
In health, in disease, in business, in play, in religion, education, art, science, in all that has been suggested in the foregoing, the principle is the same.
The directing of the mind, the fixing of the attention or will, lies at the basis of all conduct.
The motive, the intent, the impulse or emotion, gives shape to the entire life; for conscious man is always devoted to something.
Let the reader analyse any act whatever, and he will prove this beyond all question.
The Power of Silence by Horatio. W. Dresser - 1894
