Volume 8, Issue 9, page 4

MIND CAN BE
AFTER MUCH
PRACTICE

By ALBERTA M. O'CONNELL,

ONCENMTION is holding the mind on one subject to the exclusion of
every other subject. Here. as in the modes of
meditation and creation, you must have a specific subject upon
which to concentrate, and it may be any quality,
thought, or thing

This mode of mind is perhaps the most forcefui of the three
modes. It is, therefore, always an active, positive
condition of mind. The habit of concentration is not acquired in
a short time, but is a matter of growth, a matter of
practice. The average person cannot-ol does not-hold his mind for
10 consecutive seconds on one subject.

For example, take the creation of a, bundle of money. Try to hold
your mind on that $100creation, as mentioned
in my article last month. for a few moments. After a few seconds,
you begin to wonder whether that creation is
really coming. then you bring your mind back to your subject and
look atthat mental picture for another couple of
seconds. Then you suddenly remember that there is a magnetic cord
attached to each demand that goes forth from
you, and you wonder if that magnetic cord is all right; then you
try to see the cord, and the first thing you know,
you have lost sight of the money and are creating a magnetic cord
attachment to your demand. Suddenly, you
become conscious that your mind is wandering and you wonder if
you are concentrating right-and thus your thoughts
skip from one thing to another and you learn by experience that
concentration is gained only by patient and
constant practice.

Knowing something about the law of periodicity, which makes and
unmakes habits, you may take advantage of
it in learning how to concentrate. Some suggestions may be
helpful to you in acquiring this art of concentration and
making it a habit of thought. Select an hour in the morning, or
take a part of the same hour that you give to
meditation; give the first 10 or 20 minutes to meditation and the
remainder of the time to concentration*

If this practice ispersisted in for several days in succession,
you will find your concentration becoming easier,
because the law of periodicity will beoperating with you-and the
impetus thus given to concentration soon makes
the practice a habit of mind.

Look at your mental creation quietly, but intensely. Think of the
picture-say the money -for about 20 minutes.
Concentration means looking at your picture. It is not very hard
.work to sit and look at $100; indeed, it can be
made a very pleasant thing to do, if you realize that it is
yours. Concentration should always be a pleasant exercise
of will, a quiet but positive condition of mind. Let the mind
rest entirely upon your mental picture and claim it by
saying or thinking,"This is mine, because I have created it."

It is a mistake and waste of physical force to make hard workof
concentration. The regular practice of
concentration will greatly quicken your power. and enable you to
do thoroly and

4 The AB

speedily everything you undertake. The successful men of the
world are those who have practiced, and have acquired
the art of concentrating upon special lines.

Hundreds of mental scientists and Christian Scientists of our
times, and the occultists thruout the years, have
demonstrated these truths. You may believe these principles, but
you will never know them until you demonstrate
them for yourself. If you persist in practicing the rules given.
you can draw to yourselves anything you care to
picture.

If you desire success, social position, any spiritual, mental, or
physical thing, it can be gained by simply
creating and holding the picture in your mind. It makes no
difference whether the thing you create is good foryou to
have, or whether you misuse it after you get t, you will get
whatever you clearly picture. f you want a thousand
dollars for the purpose of helping a poor family, or to hire .- a
man to murder another, it makes no difference with
the operation of the law. Your demand will be met if you make
your picture of the thousand dollars., But if you
misuse your powers or direct your powers to the detriment of
another, you must take the consequences and these are
very direful, because the law of Justice acts much more quickly
upon persons who consciously misuse mental forces
than upon those who do wrong in a balf-conscious manner.

(EDITOR'S NOTE - Mrs. O'Connell neglects to point out harmful
acts on our p6art result. in " revenge pictures' in
the minds of those we harn- and these pictures are just as potent
as ours. Persons to whom things are always
happening* might check their friends and acquaintances and see
who among them may be creating these negative
forces-and what one has done to merit, or attract, them.)

It is always well to meditate before you create a thing. So many
persons arecontinually
creating an d demanding things they do not really want. Ask the
Supreme Consciousness, God,
Father-whatever you choose to call the Great Source-if there is
any reason why you should not
have the thing you desire; and when the impression comes, "there
is no reason why you should
not have it," then make your Picture, claim it for your oun, and
then concentrate upon it until it comes.

0

PRICE OF FREEDOM OF rEN IS THE CHA I N

In the religious land of Fervor, which is far to the South (In
the inner circles of
Scientology, "South" is the direction of aberration, like: How
aberrated? -howfar South?), I
came upon a man sitting beside the road. Around his neck hung a
millstone of considerable
weight. The light of happiness did not shine in his face.

"May I help you to undo the millstone from around your neck?" I
asked, being politely
reared and instructed by my elders in the art of helpfulness.

"No!" he answered fearfully. "It is of great value." Re clutched
it closer to him as he
darted nervous glances up and down the road

The road was empty save for us two.

"What is its great value?" I asked, for it seemed to be a very
ordinary millstone.

He looked at me as at a none-too-bright child.

"With it I can buy my freedom," he said.

If one has been politely reared and instructed by his elders in
the art of helpfulness, he
would do well to remember that the religious land of Fervor is
far to the South.

--Lorraine 9. Harr

E R R E E JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1962

I