Making a change in your life is a lot easier to talk about than to actually do. We’ve all heard about how people will get involved in various addictions or bad habits, and kind of let their life fall apart around these choices. Until one day they hit rock bottom and have no choices left other than to take steps to get out of the problem they’re in.

I have known people who are, for instance, addicted to alcohol and/or gambling. They are creative and manage to find ways to keep on going so that they are always able to have the alcohol they want or to have that extra little bit of money to gamble. After all, with gambling, the next step you take might be the right one and suddenly you will make back all the money that you lost over the years. This is the big one! This time, Lady Luck will be on your team.

This time you will know when to stop drinking. After all, all you have to do is say no. There’s no reason or rationality to this kind of thinking. With alcoholism or any other addiction, it’s really hard to get out of the problem you’re in if your mind is always distracted by wondering where your next drink is going to come from, or by having your mind clouded by the alcohol itself.

There are other situations that we get in to and not realize that they are just as addictive, or just as troublesome to the lives we want to have. I’m talking about things like work habits and getting in debt habits, and ways of trying to find your way back to the life you originally planned to have. No one ever ever planned to have a life where every phone call was a debt collector. Or every rent day was a day to be dreaded because there wasn’t enough money for the rent. Or where the sight of the utility truck on the street brought a sinking feeling to your heart because you knew that they were coming to turn off your electricity.

The route to this kind of poverty is very similar to the route to addiction. These routes are often littered with poor choices. A lot of the things that cause us to make the wrong choices are really nothing more than inexperience or urgency or lack of planning or lack of thinking. There’s a kind of a knee jerk reaction to most things that come up such as, Can I afford to buy this…fill in the blank. It can be a toy, it can be an item of clothing, a piece of jewelry, a vacation.

These poor choices end up leading you into a life where you cannot clear your mind to make the necessary changes. Whichever your addiction is, stop. Get help. Try to envision a life where each day did not involve chasing after another drink, another gambling dollar, or avoiding the landlord. Concentrate on that feeling of comfort and let it grow.

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Concentration is the art of thinking about a subject or a fact in its intimate associations, to the exclusion of other and unrelated subjects or facts. It is a free movement within the circle of connected ideas. Mind-wandering is straying outside the circumference of that circle. To develop this ability to concentrate we have to employ interest and will-power. Thus the means are as simple as the results are profound, for the average man who can look long and continuously at a thing, reflecting thoughtfully on what he sees, may make discoveries that come as a surprise even to the person of genius.

The Art of Thinking

The material that we gather by means of the senses, especially sight and hearing, must be rightly understood, properly classified and correctly judged in its relation to other material. To understand is to know what experience brings us. This enables us to classify it. To judge correctly is to think about facts or ideas without straying from the truth concerning them. The tendency to stray is so strong, due to the influences of temperament, nationality, education, and chance happenings, that if the student desires to make some progress in the art of thinking he must first obtain the detachment of mind and the mental adjustment referred to in a previous lesson; then he must master the elementary principles of evidence, and acquaint himself with the scientific method.

Books and Reading

The lesson on Books and Reading is one of several indications that Pelmanism appeals to every side of the mind’s activities, not the money side only, although it rightly appeals to that. To know something of the history of men’s thoughts as recorded in all kinds of books is to have inspiration for business as well as solace, even happiness, in days that are dark and dreary. The story of the stars is more romantic than a novel, and the biography of a merchant may be more entrancing than a play.

Room should be made in your life for the helpful friendliness of books. You will then never have to look for a means of killing tune. You will never have time enough for all the books you wish to read. The real gain, however, is in the broadening of your mind, the increase of its range of ideas, and the ability to assess their comparative values. You will be able the better to create new ideas of your own, for the keen intelligence required in your daily work will prevent you from allowing books to dominate your own thinking. They will do no more than .prompt you to think more deeply and comprehensively about your business and professional concerns, while they add other benefits in the form of mental poise, courage, and contentment.

The Subconscious

The deeper life of the mind, hidden away in the subconscious, is always a topic of interest to thoughtful people. Its mystery is part of its attraction, but its ungauged powers, as seen in various phenomena, normal and abnormal, make an unusual appeal to the imagination. It is an appeal that needs safeguarding.

We saw in discussing the question of personality that too much attention may be an evil, resulting in self-conscious display and artificiality. So in regard to the subconscious life: introspection does more harm than good. There is a further analogy. Just as personality expands more naturally and safely the less we trouble about it, so the subconscious life will act more satisfactorily the more we forget it and, concern ourselves with the right conduct of (fur conscious moments.

This does not mean that it is impious to draw aside the veil which hides the hidden life. We have to learn all we can about every function of the mind, but research should be left in the hands of those who are qualified for the work. Most of us are too busy to spare the time, and even if we had the time, we may not have the necessary technical knowledge.

What we have to avoid is forming the habit of introspection—that habit which prompts us continually to peer into our consciousness if by any chance we can discover the evidences of a subconscious happening. We gain little or nothing by such a discovery; indeed, we shall have spent time and energy only in confirming what was very likely discovered years ago. No one need plume himself that lie can educate the subconscious by direct effort so as to increase his chances of making money, and thus draw ahead of his competitors. The only successful method of getting the best out of the life below consciousness is to make conscious operations increasingly efficient.

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How Ideas Result in Objects

The Woolworth Building was primarily an idea; then it existed on paper in the shape of the architect’s plans; finally, it became actual in steel and stone. An artist’s picture passes through various stages ere it is ready for the public view, and a poet’s poem (witness Poe’s explanation of how he wrote The Raven) is often a transition from thought to printed expression which involves wide knowledge as well as fine feeling. The main point, however, is that the idea always comes first. Now there are tens of thousands of men and women in America today who have the initial idea for accomplishing great things. They have vast opportunities before them; chances of success beyond their highest dreams. Why do so many of these people fail? Simply because they have not realized the first principle of Pelmanism, which is that external success must first be internal success. Their ideas are neither new nor clever. Further, it is one thing to have a new idea; quite another thing to make it actual. What is needed in so many instances is an increase of mental ability; there is no proper correspondence between the idea itself and the power to make it an objective reality. Successful men always have this adjustment between   the world within and the world without. They have   better ideas than the average man because their abilities have, had a better training, and they can devise, ways and means for making those ideas go.

How to Reach the Larger Life

Is not this an ideal which is worthy in itself? And is not the effort to attain it calculated to bring a peculiar satisfaction? You cannot strive for its achievement without feeling benefit, and the benefit itself is appreciable. Keep physically fit. Get your aim clear and definite (Lesson II); live a full life of the senses (Lesson III); learn the secret of will-power (Lesson IV); of concentration (Lesson V) and this broad and comprehensive life of mind and body will in due time be yours. It is no imaginary possession, but a reality. Interest is found everywhere. Dull days are no more.

The Power of Purpose

On the emotional side Pelmanism’s most distinctive feature is the place given to interest and aim. The second lesson, where we drive this truth home, has changed the course of hundreds of lives. Instead of mental drift there comes a definite purpose, and instead of dissipated energies there develops a steady growth in mental powers, working cohesively toward an intelligent end. Life has ceased to be uninteresting. Work is an enthusiasm. The future is a promise.

These highly desirable results are brought about because the student finds his right position in the world; he discovers his work and is enthusiastic about it. The world within and the world without are harmonized. Life gets a new meaning. Mental abilities begin to develop. The range of power is extended. All the while the student is realizing himself. He is not a nonentity. He counts one. The day is not long enough for the work he wants to do and for the pleasures he would enjoy.

Mental Sensibility

Another vital truth is expounded in the third lesson, under the heading of “Knowledge and the Senses.” That truth may be summed up in the word Sensibility, which means quickness and understanding of response to external impressions. There are impressions coming to us from nature; from men and women individually, and in social’ groups; and from our general surroundings. These impressions may be lost upon us unless we train our senses up to the efficiency standard. A great financial success may stare us in the face, and yet we may not see it. The failure to notice a detail may mean the difference between getting a contract and losing it. Inability to use the senses of sight and hearing with speed and accuracy and also with an ever widening sphere of action, entails losses of every kind; financial, scientific, literary, artistic. But when training has sharpened the senses and made them responsive, we perceive that which escapes the average eye and ear; and, in consequence, we gain immeasurably. Minute things which other people thought unimportant are seen to be items with immense financial possibilities; and, to speak of different things, the foliage of spring which to most men is merely a pleasant picture of green, conveys a subtle message of joy that brings happiness to the soul. The world is a dull place to those whose mind life is confined to a few daily impressions, oft repeated. To the man who is alive it throbs with interest, and offers untold chances of wealth, of artistic enjoyment, and of human welfare.

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The right way to train the subconscious is to train the conscious. Just as you diet yourself carefully, avoiding dangerous concoctions as well as others that are good but which may not suit you; so, on the same principle, you select the mental material which, after being dealt with on the conscious plane, sinks down into the subconscious. A man whose conscious mind is a mass of selfish and evil motives — a sink of iniquity — cannot expect to have holiness in his subconscious region. That region is for the most part what he has made it. If it is foul, the fault is mainly his own. If, further, he should appear in the dock, charged with a crime, and pleads that he did it “suddenly, without thinking,” he may be speaking more of the truth than his accusers will admit; for, as likely as not, there was a considerable amount of unconscious suggestion in doing what he did. The impulse came from beneath.

Music and Memory

 As a result of inquiry and experiment we have somewhat modified our attitude toward the question of memory for music. Previously, we had stood out for a specific difference in the recollection of music, even going as far as to say that the memorization of music depends upon conditions entirely different from those involved in the ordinary mental processes of recollection. To some extent we still hold to this opinion, for music, in spite of much that is said to the contrary, does not represent a clearly defined set of ideas. It may be a stimulus to thought, but it cannot correctly be said to portray thought in the manner of language. Nevertheless, it is possible so to emphasize this inability as to make music a thing without reason or intelligence, and entirely dependent upon feeling. This would be absurd. Whatever mystical element there may be in understanding, and even in recalling, music, there are certain factors in both processes which are common to all mental processes. For instance, the purely mechanical arrangements of the score are apprehended, by sight, just as are the letters on the printed page. It is with these items that we concern ourselves in the pages that follow. So many students have asked us for help that we have felt it our duty to give them the benefit of our inquiries into the subject.

Phrase Divisions

 Take any musical composition and divide it into phrases. A phrase may include from four to eight bars, and as a general rule eight should be the maximum. The length of the phrase, however, will naturally depend upon the type of composition, and as far as possible each division should contain one musical phrase. In Sinding’s “Rustle of Spring” – to take a simple example—the divisions would naturally occur at the 4th, 8th, 12th bars, and so on. Take the first phrase of four bars; play it over and over again FROM THE MUSIC, say ten to twenty times—then close the book and play the phrase ten times from memory. Open the book again, play the second phrase from the music ten to twenty times. Now close the book, begin at the first bar (that is, the commencement of the piece), and play the two phrases from memory, without a break (i. e., from the first to the eighth bar) trying it over ten times. When you can play the two phrases successfully from memory open the book again, commence with the third phrase (bars 9-12) play that phrase ten to twenty times, as before. Close the book and play the three phrases together, without a break, ten times. Continue in this way, adding a new phrase each time, first playing it ten to twenty times from the music and then going back to the commencement of the piece and playing from memory down to the last phrase you have memorized.

The law of repetition has a much larger place in memory for music than in any other sphere of knowledge or practice.

 This method demands some time, initially, but the student will find that having memorized one composition by this means he is developing the habit of memorizing music, and the second composition attempted will present fewer difficulties, until eventually it will be necessary to play each phrase a smaller number of times than were originally required.

Auditory Memory in Music

 This form of musical memory depends upon the power of the brain to recall in imagination a succession of sounds. This power can be developed by practice. Begin with a simple melody, two or three lines in length; play it through once on your instrument, and then try: to reproduce the sound of it mentally without using the instrument or looking at the music. Then, still without referring to the music, try to reproduce the melody on the instrument. When this can be accomplished with some degree of certainty, increase the difficulty by taking a passage of simple harmony instead of melody. Here, again, the Anglican single chant, from its structure, rhythm, and the limitations of its compass, affords a useful material for early practice. It is this form of musical memory which is evinced by those who “play only by ear and not by note.”

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 First, as to the terms we shall use. The word subconscious means that which is below the conscious level; but the word unconscious often conveys the same idea; and there are cognate words like co-conscious, subliminal, supraliminal, and several others used to describe operations and results which are out of the conscious sphere. For our purposes it is not necessary to discuss these words at length; all we want to make clear is the fact that certain fundamental operations are outside our normal consciousness, and in some respects beyond our control. These we shall call subconscious. It has been truly said that, “man does not live by consciousness alone. ” There is a hidden world within us, and it has a great deal more to do with our success and our general welfare than you may have imagined.

Hypnotism and Suggestion

 The phenomena of hypnotism and suggestion are not explainable except by the hypothesis of the subconscious. Let us take the ease of a man who on being hypnotized is told that on the following day, at 3 p. m. he will write a letter to a friend with whom he has not corresponded for years. On being awakened out of the hypnotic condition he is asked whether he can recall anything which has been said to him and he answers in the negative. But the next day at 3 o’clock he begins to write that letter under the impression that it is entirely his own idea. There have been too many experiments of this kind to doubt their genuineness. Certain questions naturally arise: Where is the suggested idea from the time of its inception to the time it becomes operative” How is it that the individual is totally unconscious of the origin of the suggestion? What enables him to act at the right moment? These questions are practically answered if we accept the hypothesis of the subconscious. If we reject it, they merely accentuate the mystery.

Psycho-Analysis and the Unconscious

 In recent years the school of medical psychologists founded by Freud and his co-workers has created a deep and world wide interest in the Subconscious, or, as they prefer to call it, the Unconscious. It would take too long even to outline their doctrines, or the severe criticisms which have been passed upon them, so we shall be content with the exposition of the central idea. The method used is called Psycho-analysis, which simply means that in tracing the origin of ailments, both physical and mental, an inquiry is made into the history of the patient’s thought, believing that the chief, if not the sole, cause of his evident trouble is to be found in some forgotten happening which has thus in some way become detached or split off from consciousness, but which is nevertheless capable of causing a lot of mischief. It is clear that this hypothesis postulates the existence of an Unconscious sphere of mental action, and, as will be seen later, the numerous and far reaching applications of the method employed are so striking, in spite of evident exaggerations, that even critics who do not accept the basis of psycho- analysis acknowledge the significance of the underlying idea: they see in it a theory as impressive in the field of psychology as natural selection is in the field of science. We do not agree with all the conclusions of the psycho-analysts, but this does not prevent our interest in their work nor our confidence in their ultimate accomplishment of much good service, both to psychology and medicine. Out of the present conflict raging around the subject will arise a body of truth that cannot but further the progress of psychology.

Summary of Evidence

 If the student will now turn back and reread the evidence we have accumulated he will have little or no difficulty in accepting the existence of the subconscious. It shows how we gain experience without knowing it. It supplies the best working explanation of how knowledge is retained in the mind. It accounts for skill which demands no effort for its execution and it offers the only rationale of the ability to solve profound problems or to originate new ideas during sleep. It gives the only rational interpretation of the phenomena of Hypnotism and Suggestion; and it is the very center and foundation of Psycho-analysis.

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English Literature

 The same method is employed in Literature. If a close acquaintance with a period of English, Literature is desired, the only true plan is to study the actual books of that period, not summaries or analyses written by historians and critics. But no period can be severed from those which go before and come after it, consequently here again the comprehensive survey should be undertaken first of all. Such a survey is found in Pancoast’s Manual of English Literature. The wide sweep of this volume gives the student a sense of perspective; he is less likely to estimate falsely the importance of any special period  he has chosen, and more likely to interpret its authors in the light, of the influence which then prevailed.

Philosophy

 The subject may be Philosophy: Having read a book on Platonism, picked up by chance, a reader has had his curiosity aroused, and desires. to know more about what philosophers have thought and written. How ought he to proceed? He should first read a general history, and there is none better than Lewes’ Biographical History of Philosophy.

Along with this an introduction to the problems of philosophy should be taken in hand. Sellar’s Essentials of Philosophy, is a modern and very competent account of matters as they stand at present. After this, the student can select his own special department, be it metaphysics, time and space, the absolute, or any one of the many branches of so large a subject.

How to Read

 Read with the spirit of Expectation. It is to be presumed that the author whose work is before you and whose name is well known, has given a good deal of time and reflection to the matter and form of his expression, consequently you are justified in your expectant attitude. To approach the book in the spirit of prejudice, or antagonism, may result in your losing much that is good and beneficial. Some authors have a difficult style and they may be secretly proud of it; but their thoughts are often worth digging out Youwill never take the trouble to do this if your mind is full of antipathies.

 A certain measure of , sympathy is necessary for the interpretation of any author; we must sit by his side, so to speak, and see and feel with him, in order to understand his intention, and evaluate his results. Prejudice and antagonism prevent this mental maneuver. They compel us, as it were, to confront the author, consequently we do not perceive his meaning, for we cannot in that position look through his eyes and feel with his heart.

How to Use a Public Library

 Let us suppose you have decided to write an article on “Unused Sources of Energy.” Your own collected information is soon put into shape, and you repair to, the local library for a further supply. What action do you take when you get there? It depends a good deal on whether or not you have a clear idea of what you want. There will be no obscurity in this respect if you have already thought out your own scheme. To go to the reference room with merely a general notion, is to waste a lot of time unprofitably; but if on your slip of paper, 0r in a note-book, you have definite points to look up, you can direct your attention to the most likely quarters.

Index to Periodicals

Let us imagine your notes contain the following:

1. Article in Magazine some years ago on “Harnessing the Sun.”

2. Article on “Using Using the Tides,” by a man of science.

You have other entries, but these are articles you can remember reading at the time they appeared. The problem is to find them and read them again. You therefore ask for Poole’s Periodical Index, and when you have found the references you ask for the bound volumes of the journals concerned. Prosecuting your search in other directions, you ask for The Reader’s Guide, The Cumulative Rook Index or Fortescue’s Subject Index, all the volumes, and under the words “Energy,” “Sun,” “Tides,” and probably “Efficiency,” you may discover that writers have expressed views on the subject which are entirely new to you, even though eventually you may not agree with them. You next consult the London Library Subject Index in the same way; and if Potter Briscoe’s Subject Index is handy, you consult that also, turning last of all to the catalog of the Library itself.

 Then there are the Encyclopedias, large and small; they are all worth looking into, and the articles frequently end by referring the reader to the best authorities. It is hardly possible to pursue a line of investigation such as that suggested without finding material which may confirm previous ideas or modify them considerably.

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 We now come to a study of the conditions which make the expression of personality possible; and we shall find that they are of two kinds; (a) states of mind, and (b) forms of action. By a state of mind we mean a specific mental quality, such as self-reliance, courage, sincerity, enthusiasm, and purpose. By forms of action we mean specific methods of giving expression to the states of mind. /Let us look at these.

Egotism

 What is the origin of his confusion? It may be a shy nature, or social inexperience. It is more likely to be one or both, plus an extra-sensitive disposition. He is anxious to be well thought of, and winces at criticism. In short, he is something of an egotist; he needs less introspection, and more than a dash of don’t-care-what-others-think-or-say.

Our reference to him here is to show how impossible it is for such a man to express latent personality. His eyes are turned inward, not outward, yet the social occasion demands that he shall listen to others, not watch himself; consequently, he is unable to meet these demands, and feels his failure acutely. The cause of all the trouble is lack of self-confidence, due to divided attention; at one and the same moment he tries to forget himself and to remember himself.

How to Develop Personality

 Having outlined what we may call the compound elements of personality, we shall now devote some attention to the question; “How is personality developed?” With many people it is not developed at all; it is repressed.

 This may be unintentional on their part, indeed, they may not be conscious of the fact, but there can be no doubt that inherited tendencies, unhelpful surroundings, the absence of good friendships, lack of a sense of adjustment, and other factors, are responsible for repressed personality.

Now the remedy in such cases is to find some suitable form of expression, and as will be seen in a moment or two, the remedy is at hand, and just as effective in its results as it is simple in its operation. But first of all we must show the relationship between impression and expression.

Studies in Self Knowledge

 Draw up a list of those things which arouse, or tend to arouse the emotion of fear. Study the list, long or short, as the case may be, and ask, “Why do these things make me afraid? Is it a justifiable feeling in each case? if not, why should “I not abolish it? If it is justifiable now, need it be so always?”

A Specimen List

Below is given a list supplied by a student just as he wrote it.

1. That I shall lose my situation and be unable to provide for self and family.

2. That I shall fall ill and lose my salary, which I cannot afford to do.

3. I am afraid of the boss, whose savage manner makes me nervous and unable to do justice to myself.

4. I am always afraid I shall never succeed in anything, because all my efforts in the past have been failures. I have really tried.

Analysis: This man proved to be highly strung, modest, and self-distrustful, but he possessed many good and reliable qualities. His great failings were lack of ambition and the ease with which untoward events discouraged him. These had a physical basis in part, but a strict discipline made him a new man in body and mind.

Memorizing Figures

 We have now to consider the question of the memorization of figures. Here at once we find ourselves faced with special difficulties if we have no System to aid us. A mere number is in itself abstract. For example, the number 63 means nothing to us until it is made objective by being attached to something definite; but when we speak of 63 horses, we have something concrete with which the mind can deal. Another difficulty in connection with figures is that they are not commonly combined in any fixed order, and so are liable to be transposed without any apparent indication of the change. Thus, the height of Popocatapetl, the greatest crater of Mexico, is 17,783 feet above sea level, but if we write down the height from memory, there is nothing to show us that the figures 13,787, or even 71,783 are less correct than 17,783. In this respect, figures differ from words, for if we take the phrase “the greatest crater of Mexico,” we should probably realize in writing it if we transposed any of the letters. The number of men enlisted by the Federal Government during the Civil war in the U.S.A. was 2,320,854. Very few persons could recall these figures with accuracy after the lapse of a week without repeating them occasionally during the interval. By the Pelman System, however, it is possible to commit these figures to memory with such certainty that they may be recalled without hesitation after a considerable period of non-revival.

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What Personality Is

 The subject of Personality is confessedly difficult, partly because the several meanings of the word are often confused, but mainly because in the last analysis personality is itself inscrutable. In this lesson, however, we shall confine our use of the word to those characteristics which are in a peculiar sense the property of the individual, and which have the effect of arousing the emotional interest or antagonism of other people. (The Oxford Dictionary defines Personality as “that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which makes a person what he is as distinct from other persons.”)

In this sense everybody has personality. A useful illustration is found in handwriting. We all use the same script and the same words, nevertheless, each person manages somehow to individualize his penmanship in such a way that he can pick it out from among thousands of other specimens; and we might achieve the same result if we studied his handwriting long enough to master its differences from the work of other pens. Now it is these differences in their number and significance that are of most account. A man’s handwriting may be dissimilar from that of every other man, and yet it may be weak and ill-formed, or it may be full of character. In like manner, a man’s personality may be different from that of his fellows, and yet it may be quite insignificant or, on the other hand, profoundly impressive.

Personal Magnetism

 Nobody seems to know what personal magnetism really is in itself, but we have all experienced it. Some people attract us and interest us deeply, just as others unfailingly repel us. The repellent people generally carry with them qualities which explain our aversion, and in some eases this is true of attractive people; they have characteristics which we call pleasing.  But the influence itself is elusive; it is all around them, vague and invisible, like an atmosphere.

 Some theorists assert that men and women whose mental vibrations are of the same pitch of intensity are mutually attracted, and that aversions are explainable by pronounced differences in this respect. It is an interesting guess, but without’ proved scientific basis. Certainly attraction and repulsion between particles suggest likeness and unlikeness, and it is not impossible that our preferences and aversions depend on unconscious similarities and divergencies.

Positive vs. Negative People

 As a rule, people with strongly marked personalities are positive, not negative; they are far more ready to affirm than to deny; they are more keen on Yes than No. The effect of this attitude on the whole of their activity is progressive; like life itself, they are all for movement and expression; and the effect on other men an women is exhilarating. We see it in every sphere of society, for even in circles where one does not look for educated intelligence one can find pronounced character. It is seen in a factory girls’ national outing, where a popular member of the company is invited to enter every frolics, because “she knows how to ‘kid’ every man who looks at us.” It can be seen in the influence of great men, Emerson for instance, of whom an intimate friend said that no one who met him was ever the same again.” (Woodbury’s Talks with Emerson, p. 75.)

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Catenation

 The word itself is derived from the Latin word catena, which means a chain, and a chain consists of a varying number of links. In catenation, the two unconnected ideas which are to be joined together are called “extremes,” and the method of uniting “extremes ” is by the insertion of “intermediates” between them.

To illustrate the process of catenation, let us suppose you wish to remember together the two unconnected words “horse” and “sky.” These two words are the extremes, “horse” being the first extreme, and ” sky ” the other extreme, and they may be united by inserting between them the two intermediates, “head” and overhead.” Thus the whole catenation would run:

HORSE—head—overhead—SKY

This is practically a short “series.” “Horse” and “head” are connected under the division of Whole and Part. Between “head” and “overhead”  the connection is Similarity of Sound; while between “overhead” and “sky” the connection would be classified as Object and Attribute.

 Catenation, indeed, is an application of the Pelman Principles of Mental Connection. If you desired to set up a connection between the words Window and Lion, you would look upon them as the first and last words of a short series. What you need are a few connecting words, like the stepping stones from one bank of a stream to the other. So you say;

WINDOW—wind—roar—LION

 You can use catenation to connect together any two or more unconnected words or ideas. Suppose you are going shopping and wish to dispense with the little paper list of things you, want to buy; namely, a hat, a notebook, a lamp, a pair of opera-glasses, an umbrella, and a pair of gloves. You can catenate these words into a series, thus: HAT–covering–book cover—NOTE-BOOK–paper—burn—LAMP—-glass–OPERA-GLASSES —seeing–sea–wet—UMBRELLA—handle—hand –GLOVES.

 A reader may object that if the hat and the gloves were to be purchased at the same shop there would be some danger of buying the former and forgetting the latter unless the list were repeated at each stage of the journey. It is not a serious objection, and if there is anything in it, the shopper can catenate the objects to be purchased according to the route that will be traversed and the establishment where purchases will be made. The old fashioned paper list has its uses where minute details, e. g. weights and measures are involved, but even these can be compassed after a little practice.

How to Catenate

 The proper method of making a catenation and fixing it in the mind is; (1) Take the two extremes; (2) insert suitable intermediates to connect the extremes;  (3) analyze or classify mentally the nature of  the connections; (4) repeat the catenation forward and backward from memory; and (5) repeat the two extremes together from memory without repeating the intermediates.

In making a catenation, the chief facts to be borne in mind are (1) that each stepping-stone or “intermediate” must take you farther away from your starting point, or first “extreme” and nearer to your destination, the last “extreme”;   and (2) that you should not have more stepping-stones or “intermediates ” than are required. It is rarely necessary to use more than three intermediates, and in most instances one or two, are sufficient. Often a catenation can be effected by one intermediate only. Each intermediate should, as far as possible, be a single word,

The Need of Practice

Many students are rather discouraged because their first attempts at rapid catenation are not a success. This is unfortunate. To acquire skill in anything calls for time and practice. Catenation is no exception. Take pairs of simple extremes at first, and try to invent suitable intermediates, timing your efforts closely. Keep the record. After a week’s practice of ten minutes daily, you will find that you are gaining in aptitude, partly because of the exercise and partly because your efforts are not inhabited by self-distrust. Nimbleness of thought-associations is matched by readiness of word supply.

Care must be exercised not to use Similarity of Sound too frequently, otherwise several catenations may become mixed in an unfortunate manner. Follow, first, the more logical associations. They are more enduring. A humerous catenation, using similarity, of sound, will certainly endure longer than one that is scientific but dull; nevertheless, Numerous effects are not usually so spontaneous or successful as those of a more serious type.

It has been said that instantaneous catenation is a direct affect of the subconscious and the use of the association test in psycho-analysis lends some support to this notion. But this is outside of our present field. All we desire, at present, is to urge the practical values of rapid catenation and to emphasize the need of practice in order to realize those values. A little time, a little effort, and a little, perseverance; these are the requirements, and they are, at this stage, well within the Pelmanist’s  reach.

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