Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14
Those Who Succeed

InOSe VINO succeed
Are those that have power of concentra-
ton. True concentration of mind. as Annie
Payson Call says. means the ability to drop
every subject but that conferred upon. Tell
one man to concentrate his mind on a diff
ficult problem until he has worked it out,
he will clinch his fists, tighten his throat,
hold his teeth hard together, and contract
nobody knows how many muscles in his
body. burning and wasting fuel in a hun
dred or more places where it should be
saved
This is not concentration Concentration
means the focusing of a force: and when
the mathematical faculty of the brain alone
If it is at the same time flying over all
other parts of the body in useless strain of
innumerable muscles.
Tell another man. one who works natural
ly. to solve the same problem. he will In
stinctively and at once erase all previous
Impressions in muscle and nerve, and
with a quiet, earnest expression. not a
face knotted with useless strain, will con-
centrIte upon his work. The result. 50 far
as the problem is concerned. may be the
same In both cases. but the result upon the
physique of the men who have undertaken
the work will be vastly different.
new movement can be learned with
facility In proportion to the power of
dropping at the lime all Impressions of
previous movements. Quickness and keen
ness OF sense gained only in proper
ton TO the power of qU.eting the senses
not in use and eraStng previous impressions
upon the sense which is active at the time.
Maudsley said that "he who is incapable
of guiding his muscles is incapable of con-
centrating his mind; and il would seem
to follow by a natural sequence that train
ing for the best use OF all the powers given
II mn loo md
tinue through tie nerves and the senses to
the mind, all by means of the WILL which
should gradually remove all personal con-
fractions and Instructions to the whole
some working Of the law of cause and eff
feet
Help a child to use his own ability of
gaining free muscles, nerves clear to take
Impressions through every sense, mind
open to recognize them. and a will alive
with interest and love for finding the best
In each new sensation or truth, and what
can he not reach in power of use to others
and in his own growth?
As Unused
rAy steal muscles become f1accid and pow
erless so the unused mental and moral
fiber becomes equally incapable, the I'M
used brain becomes something far less good
than it was the day it first knew con-
seriousness. The whole being is less worth
than ii was when it began.
And, moreover, those born of this being
whose owner has so stultified nature must
inherit the unused brain, the unused moral
nature. all that has resulted from the neg
lected of good opportunity and course
of life that has degraded by all the liXi-
Walton of luxury or demoralizing pleasure.
and must be less lofty and noble by all the
descent the parent has made till he found
the same level as that of those who never
had opportunities of culture, of enriching
experience, of fine pleasures, of benevolent
possibility. who have gone to sleep at night
too weary with toll to think, and gone to
work by daybreak too laboriouSly to learn
aught beyond the routine of work. and to
be deadened by the monotony of the days.
There always is one way in which every
one can be an agent of good in the wide
world, and that is by making ones self all
that is possible. For just so far as we
rise ourselves we not only raise the aver
age of virtue but we make ii possible for
others to rise with us, by association. by
example. by elm tng to us, by the mere
fact of our being what we are. Then
there ia at least one person doing the ut.
most. helping forward the types and show
ing what is within the reach of rich and
poor alike.
Blessed
IL the person who has learned to value
the right regard and care for himself or
herself There is a certain type of the
selhshly unselfish who think 1t out of Or
der to take thought about ones personal
self. If we try to convince such a person
that 1t is we'll and best for him to have
his hands always clearly he replies that
II is selfish for him 10 think about his
hands; that at present he entirely is I'M
conscious of them and only conscious Of
other peoples hands.
And he has given perfectly correct an
swer. For were he to give attention to his
hands 1t would make him conscious of
them, and at present he is (unhappily) I'M
conscious of them. But after he has ac-
irad hp hal of
will no longer be conscious of them, and
he will have meantime greatly enhanced
his power of usefulness. since he viii no
longer contaminate other people and other
peoples things.
1t Is indeed pernicious to care for ones
self in a self-centered spirit and with a
selfish object in view. And. II we cannot
get a wholesome view of the right care