THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson
with the wheels or track while the train is running at a high rate of speed. Engineers will detect the slightest change in the song of the engines, and knowing that something is wrong somewhere will shut off the power at once. Old river pilots will recognize the sound of the whistle of any boat on the river, and the tones of the different church bells are recognized by residents of a large city. Telegraphers recognize the different styles of the various operators on their lines, and will detect the “style” of a new operator in a moment, merely from the almost imperceptible difference in the “tick” of the instrument.
In ages long since past, when written language was almost unknown, the knowledge and experience of one generation was passed along from father to son, from teacher to pupil, from mouth to ear. The utmost power of attention and concentration must have been employed by the hearer, for what was thus taught was retained and preserved intact and afterward delivered, in turn, to the son or pupil of the hearer. It is said that these students could repeat teaching of the greatest length without the omission or change of a single word. The poems of the ancient Greeks were thus passed along from generation to generation. Thus were the sagas of the Norsemen transmitted. And in like manner were the philosophies of ancient Persia and India handed down along the ages. The Oriental teachers distrusted stone and papyrus, and preferred that their sacred teachings be indelibly recorded in the brains of their pupils, and thus endure as a living truth.
It is related that, over two thousand years ago, a Chinese emperor became jealous of his ancestors and of the greatness of the past history of the nation. He sought to destroy all the historical, religious and philosophical records of the past, that in the future everything might date from his reign. He burned everything in the way of a written or graven record in the empire, including the works of Confucius. The past history of the empire was destroyed and lives today only in the shape of tradition, but the works of Confucius endure, intact, thanks to the wonderful power of memory possessed by an old Confucian sage, who had stored away in his mind the teachings received in his youth, and who managed to keep them hidden away until after the death of the iconoclastic Emperor, when he had the works of the great Chinese philosopher reproduced from his dictation. So perfect was his memory, that when, long years after, there was found an old Confucian manuscript, that had somehow escaped the fires of the former Emperor, it was found that the old sage had not missed a single word of the text. The Chinese of today have profited by this lesson, and writers say that if the Chinese classics were to be destroyed today, fully a million Chinamen could repeat them perfectly tomorrow, notwithstanding the fact that the feat would be almost equal to the reproducing of our Bible.
The same custom maintains in India, where, although they have manuscripts two thousand years old, they have scholars who have stored away in their minds the great philosophies which have been handed down from a time when writing was unknown to their race. Sanscrit is a dead language, but it has been passed down in the transmitting of these religious and philosophical teachings—not only the mere words, but the accent, inflection and pronunciation as well. It is said that many Hindu scholars can today repeat the Vedas, containing nearly one million words. It takes years to accomplish the task of committing this to memory, a few lines being learned every day, much rehearsing and reviewing being done. The lesson is taught entirely by word of mouth, no reference to manuscript being permitted.
The Kabala, or Secret Teaching, of the Jews was thus transmitted, and the religious teachings of the Druids are believed to have likewise been transmitted and preserved. The ancient Greeks and Romans were adepts in this form of memory, and instances are cited where citizens could repeat word for word every important speech they had heard.
According to Max Muller, the entire text and glossary of Panini’s Sanscrit grammar were handed down orally for 350 years, before being committed to writing. This work alone is almost equal in size to the Bible. There are Hindu priests now living who can repeat accurately the entire poems of the Mahabarata, of 300,000 slokas or lines. The Slavonian minstrels of the present day have by heart immensely long epic poems. And the Algonquin Indians committed to memory and repeated accurately their sagas or mystic legends of almost interminable length. The ancient laws of Iceland were not written or printed, but were carried in the minds of the judges and lawyers of that land. And their sagas relate that the lawyers of that day were able to carry in their minds not only the laws themselves but also the innumerable number of precedents which had grown around the law.
Of course, there is no necessity for these feats of memory at the present time, but we do not doubt that if the necessity arose, modern men could soon duplicate the feats of the ancients.
Reading aloud will prove a great help in committing to memory that which is being read, and also in impressing upon the mind the meaning of the words. Longeve says: “Reading aloud gives a power of analysis which silent reading can never know. The eye runs over the page, skips tedious bits, glides over dangerous spots. But the ear hears everything. The ear makes no cuts. The ear is delicate, sensitive and clairvoyant to a degree inconceivable by the eye. A word which glanced at, passed unnoticed, assumes vast proportions when read aloud.”
Chapter VII.
Exercises in Ear Perception.
Treating of the development of ear perception and memory, following the preceding chapter, and giving numerous exercises designed to develop and cultivate the faculty of intelligent hearing—Instances of greatly developed ear perception show us that the majority of people have the sense of hearing but imperfectly developed, and place but little attention upon what they hear, and this faculty may be greatly developed and improved by intelligent practice—Good authorities have stated that “onehalf of the deafness that exists is the result of inattention,” and onehalf of the poor memories are traceable to the same cause—The exercises are designed to remedy this defect—This chapter includes a valuable system for memorizing things heard, following the lines laid down by the ancient Hindu teachers when transmitting their sacred teachings.
IT IS rather more difficult to formulate a list of exercises for the development of ear perception than to give a similar list of exercises for the eye. The development of ear perception along the lines we have laid down for eye perception would lead us into a field of little practical benefit. We would be accused of teaching our pupils the art of mimicry or ventriloquism, in stead of memory training. The ventriloquist, as you are, of course, aware, will so correctly reproduce the sounds of the human voice as heard from a distance, that our senses are completely deceived. His art is not merely the clever producing of sounds, but the cultivation of such a fine degree of ear perception that he can distinguish the faintest differences in the tones reaching him, and is thus enabled to reproduce them. Many children have this gift, and so accurately perceive and register the sound impressions reaching them, that they are able to reproduce same with a considerable degree of skill.
Great differences are noticeable among individuals regarding the development of the sense of hearing. Some have a very keen ear for sounds in general, or sounds appertaining to certain lines of occupation, etc., but have but a very moderate, or even poor, degree of perception of musical tones, while on the other hand many musicians are notorious for their dullness of perception of outside sounds. Then again, some are able to distinguish certain kinds of sounds very readily, and scarcely notice others.
Our statement, in a previous chapter, that attention and interest is necessary before the mind will register a clear impression which can be readily reproduced, is particularly true in the case of impressions received through the sense of hearing. Good authorities have stated that “onehalf of the deafness that exists, is the result of inattention.” This being the case it will readily be seen that the best way to cultivate improved ear perception is to cultivate attention and interest. This, perhaps, will be more easily understood when we remember that in many cases we are almost perfectly oblivious to the sounds around us, being intently occupied with some other subject, in which case the sounds enter our ears freely, but the mind being otherwise occupied fails to take cognizance of the impressions received. In many instances, however, we will be able to remember things which were said which at the time we failed to hear. This is the effect of the