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Page 9
I propose to be content with that seven hours and a half for the
present. "What?" you cry. "You pretend to show us how to live, and
you only deal with seven hours and a half out of a hundred and
sixty-eight! Are you going to perform a miracle with your seven
hours and a half?" Well, not to mince the matter, I am--if you will
kindly let me! That is to say, I am going to ask you to attempt an
experience which, while perfectly natural and explicable, has all
the air of a miracle. My contention is that the full use of those
seven-and-a-half hours will quicken the whole life of the week, add
zest to it, and increase the interest which you feel in even the
most banal occupations. You practise physical exercises for a mere
ten minutes morning and evening, and yet you are not astonished when
your physical health and strength are beneficially affected every
hour of the day, and your whole physical outlook changed. Why
should you be astonished that an average of over an hour a day given
to the mind should permanently and completely enliven the whole
activity of the mind?
More time might assuredly be given to the cultivation of one's self.
And in proportion as the time was longer the results would be
greater. But I prefer to begin with what looks like a trifling
effort.
It is not really a trifling effort, as those will discover who have
yet to essay it. To "clear" even seven hours and a half from the
jungle is passably difficult. For some sacrifice has to be made.
One may have spent one's time badly, but one did spend it; one did
do something with it, however ill-advised that something may have
been. To do something else means a change of habits.
And habits are the very dickens to change! Further, any change,
even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and
discomforts. If you imagine that you will be able to devote seven
hours and a half a week to serious, continuous effort, and still
live your old life, you are mistaken. I repeat that some sacrifice,
and an immense deal of volition, will be necessary. And it is
because I know the difficulty, it is because I know the almost
disastrous effect of failure in such an enterprise, that I earnestly
advise a very humble beginning. You must safeguard your self-
respect. Self-respect is at the root of all purposefulness, and a
failure in an enterprise deliberately planned deals a desperate
wound at one's self-respect. Hence I iterate and reiterate: Start
quietly, unostentatiously.
When you have conscientiously given seven hours and a half a week to
the cultivation of your vitality for three months--then you may
begin to sing louder and tell yourself what wondrous things you are
capable of doing.
Before coming to the method of using the indicated hours, I have one
final suggestion to make. That is, as regards the evenings, to
allow much more than an hour and a half in which to do the work of
an hour and a half. Remember the chance of accidents. Remember
human nature. And give yourself, say, from 9 to 11.30 for your task
of ninety minutes.
VII
CONTROLLING THE MIND
People say: "One can't help one's thoughts." But one can. The
control of the thinking machine is perfectly possible. And since
nothing whatever happens to us outside our own brain; since nothing
hurts us or gives us pleasure except within the brain, the supreme
importance of being able to control what goes on in that mysterious
brain is patent. This idea is one of the oldest platitudes, but it
is a platitude whose profound truth and urgency most people live and
die without realising. People complain of the lack of power to
concentrate, not witting that they may acquire the power, if they
choose.
And without the power to concentrate--that is to say, without the
power to dictate to the brain its task and to ensure obedience--true
life is impossible. Mind control is the first element of a full
existence.
Hence, it seems to me, the first business of the day should be to
put the mind through its paces. You look after your body, inside
and out; you run grave danger in hacking hairs off your skin; you
employ a whole army of individuals, from the milkman to the pig-
killer, to enable you to bribe your stomach into decent behaviour.
Why not devote a little attention to the far more delicate machinery
of the mind, especially as you will require no extraneous aid? It
is for this portion of the art and craft of living that I have
reserved the time from the moment of quitting your door to the
moment of arriving at your office.
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