THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson
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states in passing, for he makes no attempt to demonstrate or prove the same, his idea being that it forms a different part of the general subject than the phase of "Dynamic Thought," to the consideration of which this book is devoted.
He also differs very materially from the Materialistic school in his conception of Force or Energy. Instead of regarding Force as a distinct principle, and as something of which Mind is but a form, he walks boldly out into the arena of Scientific Thought, and throwing down his gauntlet, proclaims his theory that "There is no such thing as Force apart from Life and Mind"—"All Force and Energy is the product of Life and Mind—all Force, Energy and Motion result from Vital-Mental Action—all Force, Energy and Motion is Vital-Mental Force, Energy and Motion."—"The Mind abiding in and permeating all Substance, not only has the power to Think, but also the power to Act, and to manifest Force and Energy, which are its inherent and essential properties."
He also takes the position that Mind is in and about and around Everything. And that "Everything is Alive and Thinking." And that there is no such things as "Dead-Matter," or "Blind-Force," but that all Substance, even to the tiniest Particle, is permeated with Life and Mind, and that all Force and Motion is caused and manifested by Mind.
He holds that all forms of Force, Energy and Motion, from the Attraction of the Particles of Matter, and their movements in response thereto, up to the Attraction of Gravitation, and the response of the Worlds, and Suns, and Stars, and Planets, thereto—are forms of Mental Energy and Force, and Action. And that from the tiniest atom, or particle, to the greatest Sun—all obey this Great Action of Mind—this Great Force of Mind—this Great Energy of Mind—this Great Power of Mind.
And upon this rock—this rock of Truth, he believes it to be—he takes his stand, and announces his belief, and bids all-comers take notice of what he believes to be a germ-thought that will grow, develop, and increase so that it will eventually permeate all Scientific Thought as the years roll along. He calls this theory "The Theory of Dynamic Thought."
CHAPTER III
THE UNIVERSALITY OF LIFE AND MIND
THE writer has deemed it advisable to preface his consideration of "Mind" in itself, as well as of Substance and Motion, with two chapters, the purpose of which will be to demonstrate that Mind, in some form or degree, is to be found in connection with all Things—and that Everything has Life—and that Mind is an accompaniment of all Life. To many the term "Mind" means only the "thinking quality" of man, or perhaps of the lower animals; and "Life" the property only of such organic creatures. For that reason it has been deemed advisable to point out that Life and Mind are found even in the lowest forms of substance—even in the inorganic world.
In this chapter and from now on, the writer shall use the term "the Mind," etc., to indicate the particular mental principle of the creature or thing—the bit of Mind that is segregated from the rest, and which each person thinks of as "mine," just as he thinks of "my" body, as distinguished from the universal supply of Substance. The term "Mind" will be used in its Universal sense.
And, the writer intends to use Elmer Gates' term, "Mentation," in the sense of "effort; action; or effect; in or of, the Mind"—in short, "mental process." The word is useful and when one has learned to use it, he will prefer it to the more complicated terms. Remember, then, please—"Mentation" means "Mental Process." Mentation includes that which we call "Thought," as well as some more elementary forms of mental process that we are not in the habit of dignifying by the term, Thought, which latter we usually reserve for mental process of a higher order.
So, then, "Mind" is the something of which one's particular Mind is composed; "The Mind" is that something possessed by one, by and through which he "thinks"; "Mentation" is mental process; and "Thought" is a advanced kind of Mentation. At least, the said words will be so employed in this book, from now on.
In this chapter, you are asked to consider the fact that Life is Universal—that Everything is Alive. And, that Mind and Mentation is an attribute of Life, and that, consequently, Everything has Mind, and is able to express a degree of Mentation.
Forms of Life, as we know them, are always seen as possessing two aspects, viz., (1) Body (Substance); and (2) Mentation (Mind). The two aspects are always found in combination. There may be living creatures who occupy bodies of so fine a form of Substance as to be invisible to the human senses—but their bodies would be "Substance" just as much as is the "body" of the granite rock. And, in order to "think," these beings would need to have a material something corresponding to the brain, though it be finer in quality than the rarest gas, vapor, of electric wave. No body, without Mentation; no Mentation without a body. This last is the invariable law of the world of Things. And naught but The Infinite—That-which-is-above-Things—can be exempt from that law.
In order to grasp the idea of the Universality of Mind, let us go back to the elementary forms of Things, and, step by step, see how Mentation manifests itself in every point on the scale from mineral to man—using bodies ranging from the hardest rock to that finest form of known Substance—the Brain of Man. As Mind advances in the scale of evolution it creates its own working instrument—the body (including the brain) and shapes, and moulds it to admit of the fullest possible expression of Mentation possible at that stage. Mind is the moulder—body (and brain) that which is moulded. And Inclination, Desire, and Will, are the motive powers leading to gradual Unfoldment, the impelling cause being the craving for Satisfaction.
We shall make our journey backward—and ignoring Beings higher in the scale, we shall start with Man. Leaving out of the consideration, for the moment, the fact of the existence of the "Ego," or "Spirit" of Man, which is higher than Body or Mind—and considering "the Mind of Man," rather than the Man himself—we have our starting point on the downward journey of investigation. We need not devote much attention to the consideration of the Mind of Man, at this stage, although we shall have much to do with it, later on.
But we may undertake a brief consideration of the descending degrees of Mentation as manifested by Man, as we pass down the scale in the human family, considering in turn, the Newtons, Shakespeares, Emersons, Edisons, and their brothers in intellect, in the field of mathematics, literature, music, art, invention, science, statesmanship, business, skilled workmanship, etc., respectively. From these high levels we pass down, gradually, through the strata of men of but a slightly lower degree of intellect—down through the strata of the "average man"—down through the strata of the ignorant man—down through the strata of the lowest type of our own race and time—down through the strata of the barbarian, then on to the savage, then on to the Digger Indian, the Bushman. What a difference from highest to lowest—a being from another world would doubt that they were all of the same family.
Then we pass rapidly through the various strata of the lower animal kingdom—from the comparatively high degree of Mentation of the horse, the dog, the elephant, etc., down through the descending scale of the mammals, the degree of Mentation becoming less marked at each step of the journey. Then on through the bird kingdom. Then through the world of reptiles. Then through the family of fishes. Then through the millions of forms of insect life, including those wonderful creatures, the ant and the bee. Then on through the shell-fish family. Then on through the community of sponges, polyps, and other low forms of life. Then on to the vast empire of the microscopic creatures, whose name is legion. Then on to the plant life, the highest of which have "sensitive cells" that resemble brains and nerves—descending by stages to the lower plant life. Then still lower to the world of bacteria, microbes, and infusoria—the groups of cells with a common life—the monera—the single cell. The mind that has followed us in this descent of life, from the highest form to the cell-like "thing" merely "existing" in the slime at the bottom of the ocean, has acquired a sense of awe and sublimity not dreamed of by "the man on the street."
The degrees of Mentation in the lower animal kingdom are well known to all of us, therefore, we need not devote much time to their consideration at this time. Although the degree of Mentation in some of the lowly forms of animal life, are scarcely above that of the plant life