CHAPTER I

THE MASTER MIND

In this book, there will be no discussion of metaphysical theories or philosophical hypotheses; instead, there will be strict adherence to the principles of psychology. Nothing will be said of "spirit" or "soul," but a great deal will be said about the "mind." There will be no speculation regarding the question of "what the soul is," or what becomes of the soul after the body dies. While these subjects are highly important and interesting, they belong to a different field of investigation and are outside the scope of this inquiry. We shall not even discuss "what the mind is"; instead, we shall confine our focus to "how the mind works."

For the purposes of this study, we shall be content with the fundamental assumption that "Every man or woman has a mind," and the corollary that when an intelligent person speaks of "myself," they are conscious that their "mind" has a more intimate relationship to that "self" than their "body" does. The "body" is usually recognized as something "belonging to" the "self," while the "mind" is usually so closely identified with the "self" that it is difficult to distinguish them in thought or expression.

Many philosophers and metaphysicians have attempted to tell us exactly what the mind is, but they usually leave us as uncertain as we were before the so-called explanation. As the old Persian poet A reference to Omar Khayyám’s Rubaiyat: "I came like Water, and like Wind I go... And out the door as In-did I went." said, we usually "come out the door by which we entered" in all such discussions and speculations concerning the