It remains to be said that we can deliberately cultivate a mood by concentrating upon it, and thus can predispose the mind to certain associations of thought, so that whatever may turn up in the world or in the mind will lead on to our purpose. This is the way in which concentration leads to success in our chosen vocation or avocation. It makes almost everything you meet a co-worker of yours.

Things coming within your purview are polarized by this, so that your experience is unified and you gain both knowledge and power. Or, if you have several purposes or pieces of work, you can turn from one to another when necessary with clear-cut precision by switching over your mood.

I will now give an exercise in the polarization of thought:

Exercise 4.
I pick the following subjects at random by casually opening a dictionary. The first word I light upon is “tranquillity”, the second “masticate”, the third “hexagon”, and the fourth “deep”. We will suppose you are going to concentrate and perhaps meditate on tranquillity, so as to understand and feel it better than you have done before, and we will suppose that you have come upon the ideas “masticate”, “hexagon” and “deep” and you want them to be polarized to “tranquillity”. The following are specimen operations, but you should also make your own:

(I) Think of mastication, with tranquillity in view as the goal of a mental series. Your thought must bridge the gap between these two, like an electric spark between two carbons. Hold on till you get the connection. Do not give up. Something will come; never mind if it seems silly. Here is one that comes to me: mastication —no toothache — tranquillity. That would come from someone who had been having dental treatment to remove pain. Here is another: mastication — good digestion — good sleep — tranquillity. There must be plenty more.

Now (2) Hexagon. Repeat the word, and look mentally at a hexagon with tranquillity in view. My first thought is that the hexagon is a well-balanced figure, well-poised, giving me a tranquil feeling which I could not so easily receive from a lop-sided diagram. Then, too, to me a hexagon suggests the familiar symbol of the interlaced triangles, which is interpreted by many

symbologists as the harmonious or balanced union of the triple mind (will, love and thought) with the triple world (matter, force and law), instead of the very symbol of tranquil power.

Now (3) Deep. “Still waters run deep.” Also deep thoughts make for tranquillity.

Use your own dictionary to get new words with which to experiment, and make your own connections for daily practice for a week.

chosen vocation, concentration, predispose