There is another class of intruders, which appear to come telepathically from other minds and from the objects around us. In these days of radio communications there need be no difficulty in believing that thoughts coming from other minds influence ours; that our own habitual thoughts hang about us when we are busily engaged, and discharge themselves upon us in our moments of quiet is a matter of common experience.

In many cases intruders of this second class do not excite particular personal emotions. Words, numbers, pictures, ideas, intelligible or unintelligible, come drifting before the mind; and often they have no connection with the incidents, purposes or emotions that govern our daily lives. They come from the things round about us, and from other persons. If the concentration is active and the mind kept vigorously working, these drifting thoughts will come and go, and though they may be seen floating past, they will not be anchored to the attention. If you find that any such drifting thought becomes insistent and persistent, you will also find that you are taking a personal interest in it, and some impatience, irritation, disappointment or anxiety has arisen. In this case the drifting thought has found a relative sleeping in your mind and has awakened it into activity. It should then be treated as an intruder of the first class.

You should become so calm mentally that, while your attention is bent upon one thing, you can merely notice the pictures drifting past without paying any attention to them. Later on, after you gain by practice the required calm and concentration, it will be worth while to examine such pictures in detail; but at the present stage any effort to do so would only divert your attention. The formula at this stage is: “Hello, you there again? All right; stay if you like, go if you like. I don’t care”.

Remember also that when you are thinking of one thing, or mentally concentrating, there is always a penumbra of other thoughts. Sometimes they swim close enough to the center to come into focus. Do not try to chase them out. Attend to what you are doing, and they will fade away.

anxiety, concentration, intelligible, intruders, personal emotions, personal interest, radio communications, telepathically