LESSON XIV. THE ART OF CONCENTRATING BY MEANS OF PRACTICAL EXERCISES (1) LEKTION XIV. DIE KUNST DER KONZENTRATION DURCH PRAKTISCHE ÜBUNGEN (1) LESSON XIV. THE ART OF CONCENTRATING BY MEANS OF PRACTICAL EXERCISES (1) LECCIÓN XIV. EL ARTE DE CONCENTRARSE MEDIANTE EJERCICIOS PRÁCTICOS (1) LEÇON XIV. L'ART DE LA CONCENTRATION PAR DES EXERCICES PRATIQUES (1) LESSON XIV.実践的な練習による集中力アップの技術（1） 제14과. 실전 연습을 통한 집중의 기술 (1) LESONDERDEEL XIV. DE KUNST VAN HET CONCENTREREN DOOR MIDDEL VAN PRAKTISCHE OEFENINGEN (1) LEKCJA XIV. SZTUKA KONCENTRACJI POPRZEZ ĆWICZENIA PRAKTYCZNE (1) УРОК XIV. ИСКУССТВО КОНЦЕНТРАЦИИ ВНИМАНИЯ С ПОМОЩЬЮ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ УПРАЖНЕНИЙ (1) DERS XIV. UYGULAMALI ALIŞTIRMALAR YOLUYLA KONSANTRE OLMA SANATI (1) 第十四课。通过实际练习集中注意力的艺术（一）

Select some thought, and see how long you can hold your mind on it. It is well to have a clock at first and keep track of the time. Am Anfang ist es gut, eine Uhr zu haben und die Zeit im Auge zu behalten. If you decide to think about health, you can get a great deal of good from your thinking besides developing concentration. Wenn Sie sich entscheiden, über Gesundheit nachzudenken, können Sie neben der Entwicklung der Konzentration auch viel Gutes aus Ihrem Denken ziehen. Think of health as being the greatest blessing there is, in the world. Don't let any other thought drift in. Lass keinen anderen Gedanken herein. Just the moment one starts to obtrude, make it get out. In dem Moment, in dem eine Person anfängt, sich aufzudrängen, muss sie verschwinden.

Make it a daily habit of concentrating on this thought for, say, ten minutes. Practice until you can hold it to the exclusion of everything else. Übe, bis du es unter Ausschluss von allem anderen halten kannst. You will find it of the greatest value to centralize your thoughts on health. Sie werden es als äußerst wertvoll erachten, Ihre Gedanken zur Gesundheit zu bündeln. Regardless of your present condition, see yourself as you would like to be and be blind to everything else. You will find it hard at first to forget your ailments, if you have any, but after a short while you can shut out these negative thoughts and see yourself as you want to be. Es wird Ihnen zunächst schwer fallen, Ihre Beschwerden zu vergessen, wenn Sie welche haben, aber nach kurzer Zeit können Sie diese negativen Gedanken ausschließen und sich so sehen, wie Sie sein möchten. Each time you concentrate you form a more perfect image of health, and, as you come into its realization, you become healthy, strong and wholesome.

I want to impress upon your mind that the habit of forming mental images is of the greatest value. Ich möchte Ihnen einprägen, dass die Gewohnheit, sich mentale Bilder zu bilden, von größtem Wert ist. It has always been used by successful men of all ages, but few realize its full importance.

Do you know that you are continually acting according to the images you form? Weißt du, dass du ständig nach den Bildern handelst, die du dir bildest? If you allow yourself to mould negative images you unconsciously build a negative disposition. Wenn Sie sich erlauben, negative Bilder zu formen, bauen Sie unbewusst eine negative Disposition auf. You will think of poverty, weakness, disease, fear, etc. Just as surely as you think of these will your objective life express itself in a like way. Genauso sicher, wie Sie an diese denken, wird sich Ihr objektives Leben in ähnlicher Weise äußern. Aussi sûrement que vous y penserez, votre vie objective s'exprimera de la même manière. Just what we think, we will manifest in the external world.

In deep concentration you become linked with the great creative spirit of the universe, and the creative energy then flows through you, vitalizing your creations into form. In deep concentration your mind becomes attuned with the infinite and registers the cosmic intelligence and receives its messages. In tiefer Konzentration stimmt sich Ihr Geist auf das Unendliche ein und registriert die kosmische Intelligenz und empfängt ihre Botschaften. You become so full of the cosmic energy that you are literally flooded with divine power. This is a most desired state. Dies ist ein höchst erwünschter Zustand. It is then we realize the advantages of being connected with the supra-consciousness. The supra-consciousness registers the higher cosmic vibrations. It is often referred to as the wireless station, the message recorded coming from the universal mind.

There are very few that reach this stage of concentration. Very few even know that it is possible. They think concentration means limitation to one subject, but this deeper concentration that brings us into harmony with the Infinite is that which produces and maintains health.

When you have once come in contact with your supra-consciousness you become the controller of your human thoughts. That which comes to you is higher than human thoughts. Ce qui vient à vous est supérieur aux pensées humaines. It is often spoken of as Cosmic Consciousness. Once it is experienced it is never forgotten. Naturally it requires a good deal of training to reach this state, but once you do, it becomes easier each time to do, and in the course of time you can become possessed of power which was unknown to you before. You are able to direct the expression of almost Infinite Power while in this deeper state of concentration.

Exercises In Concentration. The rays of the sun, when focused upon an object by means of a sun glass, produce a heat many times greater than the scattered rays of the same source of light and heat. This is true of attention. Scatter it and you get but ordinary results. But center it upon one thing and you secure much better results. When you focus your attention upon an object your every action, voluntary and involuntary, is in the direction of attaining that object. If you will focus your energies upon a thing to the exclusion of everything else, you generate the force that can bring you what you want.

When you focus your thought, you increase its strength. The exercises that follow are tedious and monotonous, but useful. If you will persist in them you will find they are very valuable, as they increase your powers of concentration.

Before proceeding with the exercises I will answer a question that just comes to me. This person says after he works all day he is too tired to practice any exercise. But this is not true. We will say he comes home all tired out, eats his supper and sits down to rest. Nous dirons qu'il rentre à la maison tout fatigué, mange son souper et s'assied pour se reposer. If his work has been mental, the thought which has been occupying his mind returns to him and this prevents him from securing the rest he needs. Wenn er geistig gearbeitet hat, kehrt der Gedanke, der ihn beschäftigt hat, zu ihm zurück und dies hindert ihn daran, sich die Ruhe zu verschaffen, die er braucht. Si son travail a été mental, la pensée qui occupait son esprit lui revient et cela l'empêche de s'assurer le repos dont il a besoin.

It is an admitted fact that certain thoughts call into operation a certain set of brain cells; the other cells, of course, are not busy at that time and are rested. Es ist eine anerkannte Tatsache, dass bestimmte Gedanken eine bestimmte Gruppe von Gehirnzellen in Gang setzen; die anderen Zellen sind zu diesem Zeitpunkt natürlich nicht beschäftigt und werden ausgeruht. Now if you take up something that is just different from what you have been doing during the day, you will use the cells that have not done anything and give those that have had work to do a rest. So you should regulate the evenings that you have and call forth an entirely different line of thought so as not to use the cells which you have tired out during the day. Also sollten Sie die Abende, die Sie haben, regulieren und ganz andere Gedankengänge hervorrufen, um die Zellen nicht zu verbrauchen, die Sie tagsüber müde gemacht haben. If you will center your attention on a new thought, you relieve the old cells from vibrating with excitement and they get their needed rest. Wenn Sie Ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf einen neuen Gedanken richten, entlasten Sie die alten Zellen davon, vor Aufregung zu vibrieren, und sie bekommen ihre nötige Ruhe. The other cells that have been idle all day want to work, and you will find you can enjoy your evenings while securing needed rest. Les autres cellules qui ont été inactives toute la journée veulent travailler, et vous constaterez que vous pouvez profiter de vos soirées tout en vous assurant le repos nécessaire.

When once you have learned to master your thoughts, you will be able to change them just as easily as you change your clothes.

Remember, the real requisite of centering is to be able to shut out outside thoughts—anything foreign to the subject. Now, in order to control your intention first gain control over the body. Nun, um deine Absicht zu kontrollieren, erlange zuerst die Kontrolle über den Körper. This must be brought under direct control of the mind; the mind under the control of the will. Dies muss unter direkte Kontrolle des Geistes gebracht werden; der Verstand unter der Kontrolle des Willens. Your will is strong enough to do anything you wish, but you must realize that it is. The mind can be greatly strengthened by being brought under the direct influence of the will. When the mind is properly strengthened by the impulse of the will it becomes a more powerful transmitter of thought, because it has more force.

The Best Time to Concentrate Is after reading something that is inspiring, as you are then mentally and spiritually exalted in the desired realm. Then is the time you are ready for deep concentration. If you are in your room first see that your windows are up and the air is good. Lie down flat on your bed without a pillow. See that every muscle is relaxed. Now breathe slowly, filling the lungs comfortably full of fresh air; hold this as long as you can without straining yourself; then exhale slowly. Exhale in an easy, rhythmic way. Breathe this way for five minutes, letting the Divine Breath flow through you, which will cleanse and rejuvenate every cell of brain and body.

You are then ready to proceed. Now think how quiet and relaxed you are. You can become enthusiastic over your condition. Just think of yourself as getting ready to receive knowledge that is far greater than you have ever received before. Now relax and let the spirit work in and through you and assist you to accomplish what you wish.

Don't let any doubts or fears enter. Just feel that what you wish is going to manifest. Just feel it already has, in reality it has, for just the minute you wish a thing to be done it manifests in the thought world. Fühlt einfach, dass es bereits geschehen ist, in Wirklichkeit ist es geschehen, denn in dem Moment, in dem ihr etwas wünscht, manifestiert es sich in der Gedankenwelt. Ressentez simplement que c'est déjà le cas, en réalité c'est le cas, car à la minute même où vous souhaitez qu'une chose soit faite, elle se manifeste dans le monde de la pensée. Whenever you concentrate just believe it is a success. Keep up this feeling and allow nothing to interfere and you will soon find you have become the master of concentration. You will find that this practice will be of wonderful value to you, and that rapidly you will be learning to accomplish anything that you undertake.

It will be necessary to first train the body to obey the commands of the mind. Zunächst muss der Körper trainiert werden, den Befehlen des Geistes zu gehorchen. I want you to gain control of your muscular movements. The following exercise is especially good in assisting you to acquire perfect control of the muscles.

Exercise 1

Sit in a comfortable chair and see how still you can keep. Setzen Sie sich in einen bequemen Stuhl und sehen Sie, wie still Sie bleiben können. This is not as easy as it seems. You will have to center your attention on sitting still. Watch and see that you are not making any involuntary muscular movements. By a little practice you will find you are able to sit still without a movement of the muscles for fifteen minutes. At first I advise sitting in a relaxed position for five minutes. Au début, je conseille de s'asseoir dans une position détendue pendant cinq minutes. After you are able to keep perfectly still, increase the time to ten minutes and then to fifteen. This is as long as it is necessary. Dies ist so lange wie nötig. But never strain yourself to keep still. Aber strenge dich niemals an, still zu bleiben. You must be relaxed completely. You will find this habit of relaxing is very good.

Exercise 2

Sit in a chair with your head up and your chin out, shoulders back. Setzen Sie sich auf einen Stuhl, den Kopf nach oben, das Kinn nach außen, die Schultern nach hinten. Raise your right arm until it is on the level with your shoulder, pointing to your right. Heben Sie den rechten Arm, bis er sich auf Höhe der Schulter befindet und nach rechts zeigt. Look around, with head only, and fix your gaze on your fingers, and keep the arm perfectly still for one minute. Regardez autour de vous, avec la tête seulement, et fixez votre regard sur vos doigts, et gardez le bras parfaitement immobile pendant une minute. Do the same exercise with left arm. When you are able to keep the arm perfectly steady, increase the time until you are able to do this five minutes with each arm. Turn the palm of the hand downward when it is outstretched, as this is the easiest position. Tournez la paume de la main vers le bas lorsqu'elle est tendue, car c'est la position la plus facile. If you will keep your eyes fixed on the tips of the fingers you will be able to tell if you are keeping your arm perfectly still. Si vous gardez les yeux fixés sur le bout des doigts, vous pourrez dire si vous gardez votre bras parfaitement immobile.

Exercise 3

Fill a small glass full of water, and grasp it by the fingers; put the arm directly in front of you. Remplissez un petit verre plein d'eau, et saisissez-le par les doigts ; placez le bras directement devant vous. Now fix the eyes upon the glass and try to keep the arm so steady that no movement will be noticeable. Fixez maintenant les yeux sur le verre et essayez de garder le bras si stable qu'aucun mouvement ne sera perceptible. Do this first for one moment and then increase it to five. Faites-le d'abord pendant un moment, puis augmentez-le à cinq. Do the exercise with first one arm and then the other.

Exercise 4

Watch yourself during the day and see that your muscles do not become tense or strained. Beobachten Sie sich im Laufe des Tages und achten Sie darauf, dass Ihre Muskeln nicht angespannt oder überlastet sind. See how easy and relaxed you can keep yourself. See how poised you can be at all times. Cultivate a self-poised manner, instead of a nervous, strained appearance. Kultivieren Sie ein souveränes Auftreten, statt eines nervösen, angestrengten Auftretens. This mental feeling will improve your carriage and demeanor. Dieses mentale Gefühl wird Ihre Haltung und Ihr Auftreten verbessern. Ce sentiment mental améliorera votre comportement et votre comportement. Stop all useless gestures and movements of the body. These mean that you have not proper control over your body. After you have acquired this control, notice how "ill-at-ease" people are that have not gained this control. Nachdem Sie diese Kontrolle erlangt haben, beachten Sie, wie „unwohl“ Menschen sind, die diese Kontrolle nicht erlangt haben. I have just been sizing up a salesman that has just left me. Ich habe gerade einen Verkäufer begutachtet, der mich gerade verlassen hat. Je viens de jauger un vendeur qui vient de me quitter. Part of his body kept moving all the time. Ein Teil seines Körpers bewegte sich die ganze Zeit. Une partie de son corps bougeait tout le temps. I just felt like saying to him, "Do you know how much better appearance you would make if you would just learn to speak with your voice instead of trying to express what you say with your whole body?" J'avais juste envie de lui dire: "Savez-vous à quel point vous auriez une meilleure apparence si vous appreniez simplement à parler avec votre voix au lieu d'essayer d'exprimer ce que vous dites avec tout votre corps?" Just watch those that interview you and see how they lack poise.

Get rid of any habit you have of twitching or jerking any part of your body. Befreien Sie sich von jeder Angewohnheit, irgendeinen Teil Ihres Körpers zu zucken oder zu ruckeln. Débarrassez-vous de toute habitude que vous avez de secouer ou de secouer n'importe quelle partie de votre corps. You will find you make many involuntary movements. You can quickly stop any of these by merely centering your attention on the thought, "I will not." Vous pouvez rapidement arrêter n'importe lequel d'entre eux en concentrant simplement votre attention sur la pensée "Je ne le ferai pas". If you are in the habit of letting noises upset you, just exercise control; when the door slams, or something falls, etc., just think of these as exercises in self-control. Si vous avez l'habitude de laisser les bruits vous déranger, exercez simplement un contrôle ; lorsque la porte claque, ou que quelque chose tombe, etc., considérez-les simplement comme des exercices de maîtrise de soi. You will find many exercises like this in your daily routine.

The purpose of the above exercises is to gain control over the involuntary muscular movement, making your actions entirely voluntary. The following exercises are arranged to bring your voluntary muscles under the control of the will, so that your mental forces may control your muscular movements.

Exercise 5

Move your chair up to a table, placing your hands upon it, clenching the fists, keeping the back of the hand on the table, the thumb doubled over the fingers. Bewegen Sie Ihren Stuhl zu einem Tisch, legen Sie Ihre Hände darauf, ballen Sie die Fäuste, halten Sie den Handrücken auf dem Tisch, den Daumen doppelt über den Fingern. Now fix your gaze upon the fist for a while, then gradually extend the thumb, keeping your whole attention fixed upon the act, just as if it was a matter of great importance. Richte nun deinen Blick eine Weile auf die Faust, dann strecke allmählich den Daumen aus, wobei du deine ganze Aufmerksamkeit auf diese Handlung richtest, als ob es sich um eine sehr wichtige Angelegenheit handelte. Then gradually extend your first finger, then your second and so on until you open the rest. Then reverse the process, closing first the last one opened and then the rest, and finally you will have the fist again in the original position with the thumb closed over the finger. Do this exercise with the left hand. Keep up this exercise first with one hand and then the other until you have done it five times with each hand. In a few days you can increase it to ten times.

The chances are that the above exercises will at first make you "tired," but it is important for you to practice these monotonous exercises so you can train your attention. It also gives you control over your muscular movement. The attention, of course, must be kept closely on each movement of the hand; if it is not, you of course lose the value of the exercise.

Exercise 6

Put the right hand on knee, both fingers and thumb closed, except the first finger, which points out in front of you. Legen Sie die rechte Hand auf das Knie, beide Finger und den Daumen geschlossen, außer dem ersten Finger, der nach vorne zeigt. Then move the finger slowly from side to side, keeping the attention fixed upon the end of the finger. You can make up a variety of exercises like these. It is good training to plan out different ones. The main point you should keep in mind is that the exercise should be simple and that the attention should be firmly fixed upon the moving part of the body. You will find your attention will not want to be controlled and will try to drift to something more interesting. Vous constaterez que votre attention ne voudra pas être contrôlée et tentera de dériver vers quelque chose de plus intéressant. This is just where these exercises are of value, and you must control your attention and see it is held in the right place and does not wander away.

You may think these exercises very simple and of no value, but I promise you in a short time you will notice that you have a much better control over your muscular movements, carriage and demeanor, and you will find that you have greatly improved your power of attention, and can center your thoughts on what you do, which of course will be very valuable.

No matter what you may be doing, imagine that it is your chief object in life. Peu importe ce que vous faites, imaginez que c'est votre objectif principal dans la vie. Imagine you are not interested in anything else in the world but what you are doing. Do not let your attention get away from the work you are at. Your attention will no doubt be rebellious, but control it and do not let it control you. When once you conquer the rebellious attention you have achieved a greater victory than you can realize at the time. Many times afterwards you will be thankful you have learned to concentrate your closest attention upon the object at hand.

Let no day go by without practicing concentrating on some familiar object that is uninteresting. Never choose an interesting object, as it requires less attention. Wählen Sie niemals ein interessantes Objekt, da es weniger Aufmerksamkeit erfordert. The less interesting it is the better exercise will it be. Je weniger interessant es ist, desto besser wird es sein. After a little practice you will find you can center your attention on uninteresting subjects at will.

The person that can concentrate can gain full control over his body and mind and be the master of his inclinations; not their slave. When you can control yourself you can control others. You can develop a Will that will make you a giant compared with the man that lacks Will Power. Try out your Will Power in different ways until you have it under such control that just as soon as you decide to do a thing you go ahead and do it. Essayez votre Volonté de différentes manières jusqu'à ce que vous l'ayez sous un tel contrôle que dès que vous décidez de faire quelque chose, vous allez de l'avant et vous le faites. Never be satisfied with the "I did fairly well" spirit, but put forward your best efforts. Ne vous contentez jamais de l'esprit « J'ai plutôt bien réussi », mais faites de votre mieux. Be satisfied with nothing else. Geben Sie sich mit nichts anderem zufrieden. Ne vous contentez de rien d'autre. When you have gained this you are the man you were intended to be. Wenn Sie dies erreicht haben, sind Sie der Mann, der Sie sein sollten. Lorsque vous avez acquis cela, vous êtes l'homme que vous étiez destiné à être.