THOUGHT-CULTURE/PART 4
CHAPTER IV.
THOUGHT-CULTURE
Thought-Culture
is based upon two general scientific facts which may be stated as follows:
I. The
brain centres of thought may be developed by exercise. While we do not assert
that the brain and the mind are identical, it is nevertheless a scientific
truth that "the brain is the organ of the mind" and that one of the
first requisites for a good mind is a good brain. It has been proven by
experiment that the brain-cells concerned in special mental activities multiply
in proportion to the active use of the special faculties employed in the mental
operation. It has also been ascertained that disuse of special faculties of the
mind tends to cause a process akin to atrophy in the brain-cells concerned in
the particular activity, so that it becomes difficult to think clearly along
those particular lines after a long period of disuse. Moreover, it is known
that the education and mental culture of a child is accompanied by an increase
and development of the brain-cells connected with the particular fields of
thought in which the child is exercised.
There is a
close analogy between the exercise of the brain-cells and the exercise of the
muscles of the body. Both respond to reasonable exercise; both are injured by
overwork; both degenerate by disuse. As Brooks says: "The mind grows by
its own inherent energies. Mental exercise is thus the law of mental
development. As a muscle grows strong by use, so any faculty of the mind is
developed by its proper use and exercise. An inactive mind, like an unused
muscle, becomes weak and unskilful. Hang the arm in a sling and the muscle
becomes flabby and loses its vigor and skill; let the mind remain inactive and
it acquires a mental flabbiness that unfits it for any severe or prolonged
activity. An idle mind loses its tone and strength like an unused muscle; the
mental powers go to rust through idleness and inaction. To develop the
faculties of the mind and secure their highest activity and efficiency, there
must be a constant and judicious exercise of these faculties. The object of culture
is to stimulate and direct the activity of the mind."
Experiments
conducted by scientists upon dogs have shown that in the case of dogs specially
trained to unusual mental activity, there has been a corresponding increase of
the number of active brain-cells in the particular parts of the brain concerned
with those mental activities. Microscopic examination of the brain tissues
showed the greatest difference between the brain structure of the trained dogs
and untrained ones of the same brood. So carefully were the experiments
conducted that it was possible to distinguish between the dogs trained in one
set of activities from those trained in another. Biologists have demonstrated
the correctness of the brain-cell development theory beyond reasonable doubt,
and ordinary human experience also adds its testimony in its favor.
In view of
the above, it will be seen that by intelligent exercise and use any and all
faculties of the mind may be developed and cultivated, just as may any special
muscle of the body. And this exercise can come only from actual use of the
faculties themselves. Development must come from within and not from without.
No system of outward stimulation will develop the faculties of the mind—they
may be cultivated only by an exercise in their own particular field of work.
The only way to exercise any particular faculty of thought is to think through
that faculty.
II. Not
only are the brain-cells developed by exercise, but it also appears to be a
fact that the mind appears actually to be nourished by
knowledge of the outside world of things. The raw material of thought is taken
into the mind and there is digested by the thought-processes, and is afterward
actually assimilated by the mind in a manner strikingly
similar to the processes of the physical organs of nutrition. A mind to be at
its best must be supplied with a normal amount of mental nourishment. Lacking
this, it tends to become weak and inefficient. And, likewise, if its owner is a
mental glutton and furnishes too much nourishment, particularly of a rich kind,
there is a tendency toward "mental dyspepsia" and indigestion—the
mind, unable to assimilate the mental food furnished it, is inclined to rebel.
Moreover, if the mind be supplied with mental food of only one kind—if the mind
is confined to one narrow field of thought—it weakens and the mental processes
become impaired. In many ways is this curious analogy apparent.
Not only
does the mind need development, but it also needs intelligent cultivation. For
it may be developed by improper objects of thought just as
well as by the proper ones. A rich field will grow tares and weeds as well as
good grain or fruit. Thought-culture should not be confined to the development
of a strong and active mind, but should be also extended to the cultivation
of a wise and intelligent mind. Strength and Wisdom should be combined.
Moreover there should be sought a harmonious and normal development. A
one-sided, mental development is apt to produce a "crank," while a
development in unhealthy mental fields will produce an abnormal thinker tending
dangerously near to the line of insanity. Some "one-idea" men have
great mental power and development, but are nevertheless unbalanced and
impractical. And insane persons often have strongly developed minds—developed
abnormally.
Some
authorities, holding special theories regarding the nature of mind, hold
that Thought-Culture is merely a training of the
faculties rather than a creation of new mental power, inasmuch
as the mind cannot be built up from the outside. This is a curious combination
of truth and error. It is true that the mind cannot be built up from outside
material, in the sense of creating new mind, but it is also true
that in every mind there is the potentiality of growth and development. Just as
the future oak is said to be in the acorn, so are the potentialities of
mind-growth in every mind waiting for nourishment from outside and the proper
cultivation. Brooks has well stated this, as follows: "The culture of the
mind is not creative in its character; its object is to develop existing
possibilities into realities. The mind possesses innate powers which may be
awakened into a natural activity. The design of culture is to aid nature in
improving the powers she has given. No new power can be created by culture; we
can increase the activity of these powers, but cannot develop any new
activities. Through these activities new ideas and thoughts may be developed,
and the sum of human knowledge increased; but this is accomplished by a high
activity of the natural powers with which the mind is endowed, and not by the
culture of new powers. The profound philosopher uses the same faculties that
the little child is developing in the games of the nursery. The object of
culture is to arouse the powers which nature has given us into a normal
activity and to stimulate and guide them in their unfolding."
In
connection with the objection above mentioned, it may be said that while the
development of the mind must come from within itself, rather than from without,
nevertheless, in order to develop, it must have the nourishing material from
the outside world in order to grow. Just as the body can grow from within only
by the aid of nourishment from outside, so the mind, while growing from within,
needs the material for thought which can come only from without itself. Thought
requires "things" upon which to exercise itself—and upon which it is
nourished. Without these outside objects, it can have no exercise and can
receive no nourishment. Thought consists in the perception, examination and
comparison of things, and the consequent building up new
combinations, arrangements and syntheses. Therefore, the perceptive
faculties are most necessary to Thought, and their culture is most necessary in
the general work of Thought-Culture.
It must
not be lost sight of that in Thought-Culture there is necessary a variety of
exercises and forms of nourishment. What will develop one faculty will exert
but a faint effect upon others. Each needs its own particular kind of
exercise—each its particular kind of mental nourishment. While it is true that
there is a certain benefit gained by the entire mind from an exercise of any of
its parts, this effect is but secondary in importance. A man well developed
mentally has been developed in each faculty, each in its own way. The faculty
of perception requires objects of perception; the faculty of imagination
requires objects of imagination; the faculty of reasoning requires objects of
reasoning; and so on, each requiring objects of exercise and nourishment of its
own kind—in its own class. In some persons some of the faculties are well
developed while others are deficient. It follows that in such a case the weak
faculties should be developed first, that they be brought up to the
general standard. Then a further general development may be undertaken if
desired. Moreover, in general development, it will be found that certain
faculties will respond more readily to the cultivation given, while others will
be slow to respond. In such cases wisdom dictates that a greater degree of
exercise and nourishment be given to the slower and less responsible faculties,
while the more responsive be given but a lighter development. In
Thought-Culture as in physical culture, the less developed and slower
responding parts should be given special attention.
In the
following chapters we shall point out the methods and exercises calculated to
develop the several faculties of the mind to the best advantage, in each case
giving general advice along the lines of the cultivation of the particular
faculty which will serve as general instruction regarding its culture. The
student should carefully study the entire work before he attempts to specialize
in the development of any particular faculty. The particular work may be aided
by an acquaintance with the entire field of Thought-Culture for many of
the faculties shade into each other in their activities and are always more or
less interdependent. For, be it remembered, the mind is a whole,
and not a mere aggregation of many parts. To understand the parts, one must
study the whole—to understand the whole, one must study the parts.
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