Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-20

past that makes possible the ripening of
modern thought under the more favor
able environments Of the present age.
How did the ancient scholar think? He
produced the best that was within the
universe OF thought, and to do that must
nave controlled the action of his mind.
Though no statement was left in the
writings of the ancients to indicate their
system of thought, their habits of study
and work afford the clue.
/ became convinced that the ancient
scholar thought in language-that is, he
placed his ideas away in his mind clothed
in words and sentences within the limits
of his vocabulary. Thus his brain became
stored, not with a confused tumble of
half-digested ideas, but with clearly
clothed thoughts, to be called up at will
and correlated, associated and combined
in the production of philosophical and
scientific theories.
l reasoned that a thought system of
this kind would inevitably lead up to a
classification of ideas in the mind and
1.-THE exercise of mental discretion as to
the kind of thoughts to which the mind
should devote itself. I went to work
rnethodically along these lines, and
whether 1t was or was not the system
employed by ancient scholars, the re-
suits greatly exceeded my most sanguine
expectations.
II iiiilitLl win " PllSlilS hSN oIoc
into words and sentences, within the
mind. and filing them away for future
/ reference, was slow and tedious, leading
to the rejection of much that 1 deemed
unworthy a place in the archives OF. the
memory. This process of discrimination,
lconstantly exercised, 500 developed the
| power to reject at will one class of
thoughts to make room for another-in
other words. to control the voluntary ac-
ton of the mind.
Thus the benefits of the system are
two-fold in character. In the first place,
the constant practice of placing new
thoughts and new ideas into mental lam
guage, and storing them away in the
memory in that form, enables the indi-
vidual to reproduce them properly
clothed for verbal expression or to be re-
duced to writing, as, the case may be.
The man who says if he could only talk
| and write as he can think, he could ac-
complish a great deal in a literary way,
overlooks the essential foundations of
speech.
He thinks in a tumble, and when COM
| PEELED to sort over a vast number of
half-digested ideas to find the thought
he desires to use in speech, his pretense
to coherent verbal expression is gone.
His weakness lies wholly in a false
method Of receiving impressions. Ma
ture intended man for a talking animal,
and the brain and the tongue SHOULD be
taught to co-operate-the latter express
ing in words what the former thinks. To
simplify expression then the thought,
when it enters the brain, should be
placed in language for the subsequent
use of the tongue-stand ready clothed,
as it were, for dress parade.
After awhile the practice of this Sys-
tenn leads the brain to mechanically place
it's thoughts into language, until every
idea that is retained in" the nj is
ready to spring, properly clothed, from
the lips of the speaker, or dance q prompt
attendance upon the swiftly gliding pen.
1t is not claimed for this system that
it will convert mediocrity into mental
power, but that it will enable any man,
| within the limits of natural ability. to
use his brains to the best advantage, in
that his mental work will become thor
oughly systematized, and one class of
thoughts will not interfere when an
|.other class is entitled tosthe. right of
way in the performance of the mental
tasks of the hour. n'@-3. r"
P Indirectly, however, the system will
improve the memory--not by strengthen
Fling any faculty, but by giving the mem
cry a better opportunity to exercise it's
ipowers. Often a man berates his poor
when trying to recall the de-
tails of a past event. Usually 1t Is not
his memory that is at fault. His memory
tfnay faithfully trace the feeble Inca
I mentS or the lDSC fued as luGy appear
| on the sensitive plates of the mind. The
trouble lies in the fact that the original
impressions were not properly made, and
the cannot go behind the re-
turns. Had the thoughts been. crystal
lied into language, and laid away in
that form, the memory would reproduce
them, unless that faculty was Inherently
weak. In this respect the system has a
strengthening tendency upon the mind,
to say nothing of its strictly iutilitarian
uses in the practical fields of literary
work.
The second of the two-fold benefits to
be derived from this system of thought
control lies in the mental equilibrium and
self-poise that it will bring to the in
dividual, and it's constant contribution
to his happiness and peace of mind. With
the ability to control the character of
ones thoughts-to dismiss one set of
ideas and take up another at will-comes
the power to lay aside the worriments Of
the day. 1t brings to the mind the power
Of adaptation to environment, n en-
ables the Individual to find peace and
comfort and happiness in the rseclusion
of his own thoughts. 1t makes unneces-
sary feverish and unhealthy eXcltements
to divert the mind from one class of
thoughts to another. In short, it places
within the control of the will, by easy
stages, hat splendid empire Of the soul
the mind of man. '.-'-