We may question with wand of science

Explain, decide, discuss, But only in Meditation,

The Mystery speaks to us.

- John Boyle O'Reiley.

He always wins who sides with God.

To him no chance is lost. God's will is sweetest to him when

It triumphs at his cost.

- Old Hymn.

Into that realm of reverie where the soul feeds on immortal fruits and communes with unseen associates, the body meanwhile being left to the semblance of idleness - of all which, the man have given this valid justification: - "I loaf and invite my soul.

I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass."

- Moses Colt Tyler. (Life of Patrick Henry.)

Affirmations are power and used in any manner are to be recommended. Used till one forgets to use them, by no longer needing them. The Affirmation serving to create the mental habit of looking at affairs, conditions and experiences of life, from the point of view of the Affirmation.

But Oral Affirmations have great power and in beginning to obtain the self-control that comes from Concentration it is often wise to suggest aloud to yourself until you shall have grown the power of Silent-Suggestion. And even after you have attained considerable attainment in this silent power yon will find great help, when new conditions demanding new Affirmations arise, by speaking the words to yourself. The spoken word has a power in affecting the nervous system that the silent word has not. The gray matter of the brain and nerves, vibrates with the spoken word, as the violin string does to the stroke of the bow, and each vibration helps to make the cells responsive to the thought the words convey. It is wise to take possession of every factor that will help us in the development of Mastery. In the beginning of my study thirty years ago, I would repeat the chosen words till I became unconscious. Tennyson says he went into a trance through repeating and concentrating upon his own name. You choose an Affirmation in line with some desire. Talk to yourself in line of that desire. Place yourself, in imagination, in a chair opposite yourself and talk to yourself. In imagination, see yourself there.

If you are in the habit of doubting your ability in any line, tell your SELF that you have power, that you are a son of God, that you can do anything. Keep at it till you begin to fill up with power, till you feel as if you had taken stimulant, till the brain begins to reel. Let it reel till you fall to chair, lounge or floor unconscious and lie there till you awaken, saying, "I have won! I have won!"

Take a case of absent treatment! You wish to heal. Go into a room by yourself. Sit down by lounge, couch or bed. Imagine the patient there. See him, or her, lying there before you. Imagination is the CREATIVE faculty. Develop this power till you can FEEL that he is there. Then talk to him as IF he was there. He IS there when you SEE him there, for there is no space to thought. In this way, you can heal or help in any desired way. Learn to so concentrate upon this patient that you are oblivious of everything else. Imagine him well. He is well. Spirit knows no sickness. You are to see the spirit well and full of life. Tell him so. You will, in this way, learn to concentrate when you desire. A lady once came to me for treatment of her daughter. I agreed and, when the mother left, I sat down by my treating lounge. I brought the daughter there in imagination and made passes with my hands from head to foot, just as if she was there in body. Then I said: "Go to sleep and sleep till 3 p. m., when you will awaken with all these conditions passed entirely away." She did so awaken.

Suppose it is a case of business dealing with a man. Place him in like position. Talk to him as if he were really there. You will grow to think it without talking. This is concentration. It need not take you an instant to concentrate to give the thought power over yourself or to send it telepathically to others.

Absent-mindedness is involuntary concentration. Cultivate that condition so that you can enter it at will. Let it be voluntary concentration. Choose some theme and speak upon it when alone. Grow into the habit of losing yourself in thought and recalling yourself at will.

When you wish to know anything, tell yourself that you know and let it come to you as you let go of the conscious thought. An illustration: - I had an article to write to-day. Before I was fairly awake, it thought itself through my mind. After I dressed, I tried to recall it. The title included three subjects. I could not recall the last. The more I tried, the more it eluded me. At last, I gave up and said: "Well, if it is necessary, it will come." Later in the day, while I was dictating a letter, my thought ran in the same channel and took up the theme I had forgotten and followed it to the end. I let it run itself. This is concentration. Suppose you have a patient and you are puzzled as to what to do. You have studied the case and are undecided. By this study, you have given yourself an auto-suggestion born of desire. Now say, "Well, when the right time comes, I shall know," and forget all about it. It will suddenly dawn upon you from the sub-conscious. This suggestion and this forgetfullness is concentration Suppose it is a thought of business. You have considered the question and are unable to decide. Tell yourself that, at the right time, it will be clear to you.

It will come when you let go of it. "My word shall not return unto me void!" How shall it return if you do not let it go? It goes from you when you forget it once uttered in faith. Thus are you learning concentration.

You wish to go voluntarily into the sub-conscious. Do the same. Tell yourself what you wish. Sit down and let that wish be the controller of the hour. Give up! Forget that you have made the wish. Forget that you have the desire or that you have given the direction. Let your thoughts take, without your conscious direction, the line you have previously desired. Practice alone will bring the power to do this.

By a systematic application of the above, you will grow into a conscious control of your thought, as you have heretofore, through necessity, grown into an involuntary control. You can readily concentrate, when compelled, in your business. Affirm that it is easy to concentrate at will and DO it. LET the thought have full sway over you. I know of no other way to accomplish this but this: Pay Attention to a chosen thought. It is a good plan to practice self-suggestion in going to sleep. Tell yourself you are sleepy and go to sleep on Suggestion. Tell yourself you feel like yawning and let it yawn. Tell yourself that you are hungry and let the hunger come. Tell yourself that you wish some food and suggest the kind and let hunger for it come. Tell yourself that you wish to go, or to do something, and let the desire grow and obey. In this way, you get into the habit of living from the sub-conscious by self-direction and are "in the Silence" all the time. Concentration is not a thing for special occasions; it is for all times. When you have learned to "let the current have its way," you have learned the greatest lesson of life.

You will live above sense, will live subject at all times to the Spirit; will be led by intuition; will use your reason to apply Truth which flows into the consciousness by intuition to the objective life. Concentration, "in the Silence," is not a thing for special occasions; it is the condition of the devotee made constant. "Pray without ceasing," is the law. Desire, suggest and let. That is all. It is the lesson Jesus learned when he said: "Thy will be done." "May thy kingdom come," really means, "Let thy kingdom come." The kingdom of self-control! The kingdom of self-mastery! Concentration is the shutting out of the objective life. It is closing the five senses and letting the Soul be felt and heard in the silence.

Follow these directions. Practice as suggested and the Silence will become vocal.

The exercise of the Will, or the lesson of power, is taught in every event. From the child's successive possession of his several senses, up to the hour when he says "Thy will be done!" he is learning the secret that he can reduce under his will, not only particular events, but great classes, nay, whole series of events, and so conform all facts to his character. Nature is thoroughly mediative. It is made to serve. It receives the dominion of man as meekly as the ass on which the Savior rode. It offers all its kingdoms to man in the raw material which he may mould into what is useful. Man is never weary of working it up. He forges the subtle and delicate air into wise and melodious words and gives them wings as angels of persuasion and command. One after another his victorious thought comes up with and reduces all things, until the world becomes at last only a realized will, - the double of man.

- Emerson in "Nature."