CERTAIN HIGH CASTE societies in the Ear East conceived the idea that by persistent practice, the power of the eye as the source of magnetism could be developed to a degree that made it a weapon greatly to be feared. We are not seeking that end, as we do not think we live in anage when fear should rule mankind. But there are other reasons why the excessive and unusual power of the human eye should be developed, and these have been fully statedin the two preceding lessons. Behind these reasons there exists still another which has been touched upon in a past lesson and which will be further stated as we proceed; that of the collective generating of the latent magnetism of the body, which can be effected by a number of processes.

The eye has been described by scientists as a small-sized volcano; in most cases latent, quiet, sleeping in its embers, but the center of the most intensely heated zone, in all Nature, ready to glow when aroused.

What is known as the Oriental Practice is not by any means a newmethod. It has had uses in other departments, notably in developing a wonderful memory, and in stimulating thought, creating fertility of ideas, building inventive powers and avoidingmental breakdown. None of these purposes will be insisted upon in these lessons, although they will follow naturally. The trouble with the minds of unsuccessful people is that they are not alert in a way that wins results. Most of them are sluggish except in pursuit of the needs of the Four Appetites which generally rule mankind. This kind of mental alertness results in placing them under the sway of craftier minds. The field of human activities in other directions is almost unlimited, and in them the powers of mental alertness and keenness are absent.

This explains why most lives are failures.

In the Oriental Practice as it was employed in the Far East, the results hardly warranted the time devoted to it had these people had other lines of usefulness in the world. They were not educated except in religious theories. They were not engaged in anything really worth while in life. Of course this gave them time for their practice; and led them into methods of concentration that, if their claims were to be believed, gave them knowledge of some of the mysteries of other powers of a superhuman nature. If such claims were in fact true, there was nothing gained by what they acquired.

We are in this world primarily to live the life that is thrust upon us.

No normal human being is a hermit; hence our duty lies far and wide among mankind. The more people we meet the better it is for us. Interests are interwoven everywhere. Duties involve home and the social relations, as well as business, professional and productive activities; and the practice indulged in by other peoples who are not so interbound in their duties, does not help us except in the very limited use we make of it.

But any natural and highly beneficial practice that will stimulate the brain into its best uses, and start a new line of habits tending to establish great mental keenness and alertness, will at the same time develop collectively the latent power of magnetism where now it is diffused in the body. Thus the Oriental Practice, kept within such limits, serves a double purpose:

1. It produces, so far as its influence reaches, what is called the Magnetic Eye.

2. It creates collectively a fund of magnetism from the diffused magnetism of the body.

Its direct result in accomplishing these two ends is found in developing the habit as a natural gift of separating details from masses, following the plan set forth in the two preceding lessons;and basedon the two following accepted facts:

1. Persons who do not possess as a natural gift the power of separating details from masses are never mentally magnetic.

2. Persons who do possess this power as a habit, and thereby as a natural gift, are exceedingly magnetic mentally, and become more so as they put this power into daily and practical use in dealing with other persons.

The method now to be pursued is what is called cumulative.

A process is cumulative, at least in art and particularly in this practice, that begins with the least unit, adds one at a time, and so goes on, always beginning at one. No other plan succeeds in this branch of the training. But few readers will understand what is meant by always beginning with one, or the first unit, or any one unit whether the same is the first or not.

Take a step to an open door leading to an adjoining room; give one quick glance at the contents of that room; then withdraw. While out of the range of vision of those contents, mention one article that is in the room. This is the first unit. The same article may or may not be included in the next glance. Go again to the door, look into the room, and withdraw, mentioning two articles in the room. Repeat by taking a third glance, which must be as quickly done as the eye can look. Again repeat by taking a fourth glance, always going out of sight of the room, and name aloud the four articles that are seen in the fraction of a second. Try now to name five articles that are seen at a fifth glance after retiring from the sight of the contents. Then six, and so on until you are not able to add any more.

What is meant by cumulative will now be explained.

After reaching your limit in the number of articles that can be seen in a fraction of a second, rest for any length of time that you may choose. Progress and development take place during periods of rest, but following periods of activity of the mind.

When you feel again an interest in resuming the practice, tart with one unit; not with the number following where you left off. There are two kinds of mistakes that you can make at this stage.

1. The first mistake is to try to see how many articles you can take in at a glance, instead of beginning with one, and adding one at each trial.

2. The second mistake is in not going back over the same ground after taking a rest.

A room in an ordinary house would not contain enough articles to reach a real test. The mind by the cumulative process will soon be able to include from fifty to one hundred items in less than one second of time. Women train themselves to see in one very brief look everything that another woman has on at Easter time, meaning everything that is visible. In the present style of dress the number of articles is limited compared with those of a generation ago. We once heard a woman witness in court describe an occurrence in which a well-dressed woman participated; and on being asked to tell what she saw, enumerated twenty-five items worn by the other woman, although she declared that she was passing at the time and did not stop to see all that was happening. She first noted what a well-dressed person of her sex was wearing, and then lost interest in the other matters.

This method of seeing details in mass is of very limited benefit unless it can be made to grow by the cumulative plan.

The Chinese employ the shop-window system, but do not make it cumulative except in the early stages of the training. The plan is to walk along the street past a shop window and to note only one item at first. Then they walk past the window again, and note two items. Then three; four, etc., and by actual test it was proved that the experimenter, in less than one second of time, could see more than five hundred details and could describe them accurately. Claims have been made that one person reached more than five thousand items. We are willing to stop at a much smaller number; although what the human brain can be trained to do is unbelievable until known.

The principle involved in the method is all that interests us.

It requires the growing use of the mind as the agent of separating details in the human face, and of reading what is behind those details in the mind; and for the purpose of highly developing this power, the Oriental Practice is exceptionally valuable.

As personal magnetism is power, first over self, then over all human beings with whom you come in contact, it must follow that the ability to know what is in the mind and purposes of other persons, is one of the most valuable and important adjuncts to this power.