South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-09-24
FOCUSING ON A
SINGLE PURPOSE
The Direction of the Stream of
Energy Along One Path the
Way of the Genius.
BY MARY CHAMBERS.


A strong man and woman see the
point TO which they are striving and
go directly towards il. They see
nothing else. There is nothing else.
They waste no time in futile thought
upon futile reckonings and suppo-
sitions.
This is strength of purpose. Some
times we call it genius. 1t is the one
way in which great things are done;
more, it is the only way in which
any thing is done thoroughly.
1t is the welding of thought and
action into a living whole. 1t is the
crystallizing of desire into initiative.
the shortest way between the points
of initiative and accomplishment.
1t is single mindedness, without
which action is weak and energy is
difTuse. Mark you, 1 am speaking of
action now, and not only of thought.
A great brain that cOmprehends and
takes heed of all good and all bad
upon all sides of a question may be
deeply philosophic in thought but il
must be narrowed down to one single
difficult action. A fanatic accom-
plishes more than a skeptic, for fana-
ticism sees but one path to one point,
and needs must drive hard along that
path, whereas skepticism sees the
opening to many paths, and, though
not necessarily disbelieving, doubts
them ALL
1t all reminds me very much of a
searchlight Focused to a point it
thrOwsthrOws a beam of light into the
black night. Untouched, it is diffused
into a misty glow without direction,
without force 10 penetrate into the
dark. Throwing feeble rays upon
each and every side, it has no one
concentrated beam TO pierce beyond.
SO it is with you and me-or, at
all events. with most of us. I guar
antee that / have caught you out, and
that you must admit that what / sug
gest is true.
Your thoughts are diffuse and your
actions weak You cannot control
yuOr brain TO a singleness of purpose.
Let us suppose that there is some
thing which you desire to accomplish.
You know what you want. Now, how
do you set about attaining it?
At the back Of your mind you know
what you want, and at the back of
you a great deal of your determine
ton remains. You cannot see, clearly
and continuously, the point TO which
you wish TO arrive. You cannot think
steadily and uninterruptedly of your
desire.
A thousand and one distractions
present themselves. You have TO do
is this to be attended TO and the
other to be expected of you. A hun
dred of your pleasures and relaXatiOns
thrust themselves in upon your
thoughts and cloud your brain-sap
its strength and dissipates it's energy.
Perhaps with an effort you bring
yourself back TO a consideration of
your first idea and work hard TO con-
centrate. But the effort is great, and,
even so,syou are unable to retain your
concentrated powers.
You complain that you have so
many things to do that il is impos-
Sible for you 10 adjust your life to the
accomplishment of one thing. or your
environment is such that every
thought or evey action has first to
triumph over alien and extraordinary
difficulties before 1t may be account
ed a particle of good as endeavor.
Some of you go a long step further
and tell me that the ATTN osphere'' in
which you are placed is antipathetic
to the best in yOu-in other words
that the influences of surrounding
thought and and color overwhelm
you.
To each of you I can fairly
answer.
Yes. I understand And to each and
to all of you l can as fairly state.
Every one Of your distractions is a
sign of weakness; every one of your
difficulties is a feebleness; every one
of your complaints is a fear"
Do not think, that in thus giving
your answer, am harsh. What I
have said is what is. And what 1
knOw-possibly more clearly than
any of you do yourselves-is the in
tense and immense difficulty of gain
ing and cultivating this single-mind-
edness, this genius of unseviating di
rectness.
Difficult? OF course it is difficult
almost beyond belief; and if it were
not so it would not be worth striving
after.
But / tell you now. frankly and
firmly, without a shadow Of doubt,
that concentration of mind is the
basis of all success: that no man and
no woman ever did great work with
out this gathering together of the
forces of the mind and directing them
into one single channel of energy.
If you once see your goal never take
your eyes off it until you have passed
threshold OF achievement. If you
once make a decision and know il
70 be good storm the hills and rush
the valleys, watch and take the
straightest, shortest road 20 its ac-
cOmplishment.
That is the one sure way 10 success.
Don't forget to attend the 18th an
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